Hong Kong: FS attends World Economic Forum

Financial Secretary Paul Chan described the latest state of Hong Kongs return to normalcy and development opportunities while meeting a number of political and business leaders as the World Economic Forum (WEF) opened yesterday in Davos, Switzerland.

Using the annual meeting to his advantage, Mr Chan met Thai Minister of Finance Arkhom Termpittayapaisith. Apart from exchanging views on the current international economic and financial situation, they discussed further strengthening financial co-operation.

Mr Chan pointed out that Hong Kongs financial markets are deepening and broadening with the continuous expansion and development of the mutual market access schemes with the Mainland, thus better converging international and Mainland capital.

As such, he welcomed enterprises in Thailand to actively use Hong Kongs efficient fundraising platforms to finance large-scale infrastructure and other projects.

The Financial Secretary also met Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan. While outlining Hong Kongs latest directions and prospects of development, Mr Chan indicated that the city, in its position as an international financial centre, could help countries in the Middle East region to diversify their investments and manage risks. He added that there is ample room for mutual co-operation on various aspects.

Moreover, Mr Chan met the senior management of a number of international private equity firms and multinational companies, such as Managing Partner of EQT AB Marcus Brennecke and Founder & Chairman of Vista Equity Partners Robert Smith, to exchange views on capital market development, talent training and development opportunities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Mr Chan also attended the welcoming reception by the WEF in the evening.

This story has been published on: 2023-01-17. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
15th NA to convene third extraordinary meeting on January 18

The National Assembly Standing Committee has decided to convene the third extraordinary meeting of the 15th-tenure legislature to consider personnel affairs under its authority.









At the opening of 15th NA's second extraordinary meeting (Photo: VNA)

The meeting is scheduled to take place on January 18 afternoon at the NA House in Hanoi.



The decision is pursuant to the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the revised Law on Organisation of the NA, NA session regulations issued in the NAs Resolution No. 102/2015/QH13 dated November 24, 2015, said NA Secretary General and Chairman of the NA Office Bui Van Cuong.
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The Agro Chem Federation of India (ACFI) has urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to reduce import duty on crop protection chemicals and provide fiscal incentives to private players for undertaking research and development in the upcoming Union Budget for 2023-24. Observing that India has not invented any new crop protection chemical molecules in recent years because the cost is relatively high, Parikshit Mundhra, Chairman of ACFI in a release said that adequate incentives are needed to promote the domestic industry. "India presently has no choice but to import to ensure that Indian farmers are not deprived of new technological crop protection solutions," he said in the release on Monday. It also urged the government to bring down the GST on crop protection chemicals to 5 per cent at par with fertilisers. The federation said that the current GST of 18 per cent on chemicals is not in the interest of small and marginal farmers as they have to shell out more money to purchase crop protection chemicals. The industry body said the Department of Chemicals has shortlisted 40 molecules under the PLI scheme till the day, which includes seven crop protection chemical intermediates. As part of its Atmanirbhar plan, the Government launched Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes in varied sectors to make Indian manufacturers globally competitive, attract investments, enhance exports, integrate India into the global supply chain and reduce dependency on imports. ACFI now expects that some announcement regarding the extension of the PLI Scheme to more crop protection chemical intermediates will be made in the Budget. The government is in the process of finalising the Budget document to be presented on February 1. The formal exercise to prepare the annual Budget for the next financial year (2023-24) commenced on October 10. Budget 2023 is likely to be the last full Budget of the Modi government in its second term with the next Lok Sabha elections due in April-May of 2024. (ANI)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], January 17 (ANI/PRNewswire): Groundwater levels are in a critical state globally. India is the largest user of groundwater in the world - accounting for over 25 per cent of global extraction, with 256 Districts across India having critical/ over-exploited groundwater levels. On the other hand, heavy rainfalls have decimated the quality of soil and hence the quality of the crops grown by the farmers. Period 2017-21 saw an increase in spoilage of crops like sugarcane and rice in the areas surrounding Maharashtra. Taking into consideration the plight of farmers due to the overflowing of rainwater caused by deforestation, the government decided to compensate the farmers most affected by the floods. PROJECT JALTARA JalTara is the vision of Sri Sri Ravishankar, the founder of Art of Living, to rejuvenate India from its current water problems. The project aims at bringing about a positive change in the fate of farmers and villagers to terminate the issues of over-flooding and drought in rural areas. The bold prospect aims at recharge of over 30 trillion litres of groundwater every year across India. JalTara Project is a mindful initiative to solve India's water scarcity problem. The focus is to train farmers and villagers, the most important stakeholders for this project, to enable them to conserve monsoon water every year and store them in underground aquifers-- an integrated team of experienced geologists, watershed & project management experts for the purpose deployed. THE APPREHENSIVE APPROACH BEHIND JALTARA The JalTara methodology is quite impactful, and the problem lies in the adequate disposal of rainwater and efficient groundwater management. Groundwater is the backbone of the agriculture of India. It is a source of meeting over 80 per cent of India's water and agricultural requirements, but in the past few years, the groundwater level has been descending quickly. Due to deforestation and a disrupted hydrological cycle in recent years, the availability has been hampered. It has led to multi-dimensional water stress situations in most of the villages and farms of India. The approach of JalTara targets this problem statement effectively. People must rely on more than just groundwater to satisfy their hydrological needs, and rainwater needs to be managed efficiently. The concept of recharge pits is initiated to increase India's groundwater storage by trillions per year and diminish the water crisis. The exemplary and relentless efforts of the sevaks at Art of Living have helped achieve a few litres, and there is more on the path to come. EMINENCE OF THE PROJECT JalTara aimed to expand its base to districts around the Maharashtrian vicinity in 2022. It has achieved the planned targets so far under the guidance of the Art of Living foundation. An increase in the water table or 12-14 feet has been observed with an impact of 6.06 lakh litres per pit & 30.3 Crore litre water per village. This enabled farmers' ability to water more frequently & reduce the impact of waterlogged fields, resulting in increased crop yield by 42 per cent and increased farmer's income by 120 per cent, even though not a single reported case of spoiled crops due to waterlogging was reported. The focus has been to educate the villagers about the long-term value of water rejuvenation through tree plantation, validating the 'recharge pit in every arable plot' methodology, and demonstrating the projected benefits. Simple, standard pits are massively scalable - digging 4.5 pits per hour. About VVKI-Art of Living The Art of Living is solving India's water crisis, and the impeccable success of the project has recharged 30 million litres per year across India, erasing the water crisis for aeons to come. For more updates:Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/artofliving_sp/Tweet us at: https://twitter.com/artofliving_spPlease message us at: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/artofliving-sp This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
Sushant's sister, Priyanka Singh took to Twitter and shared a couple of pictures of Fudge, with the 'Kai Po Che' actor and announced the heartbreaking news.

"So long Fudge! You joined your friend's Heavenly territory... will follow soon! Till then... so heart broken," she tweeted.

https://twitter.com/withoutthemind/status/1615070196024348673

Soon after she shared the news, Sushant's fans took to the thread and offered heartfelt condolences to the family.

"R.I.P. FUDGE Nothing to say ..this is very heart breaking news to us all...but he is a true friend of Sushant and went to his friend to live happily with him forever and ever... Sushant Lived InDMomen," a fan commented.

https://twitter.com/MadhumitaroyC/status/1615163673860866050

Another fan wrote, "This is so heartbreaking Hope you both are united forever together in heaven."

"I am saddened to come to know this. I can only imagine how heartbreaking it is for you all.. even for us. Fudge was a receiver and giver of SSRs pure love. Another part of his life leaves us," a fan wrote.

https://twitter.com/justice4_ssr/status/1615076087884820482

https://twitter.com/tandav29257392/status/1615076829613948928

https://twitter.com/Tanutoor85/status/1615072045531791361

https://twitter.com/SandySR64457040/status/1615076149503365120

The heartbreaking news came a few days before Sushant Singh Rajput's birth anniversary on January 21.

The actor was found dead at the age of 34 at his Bandra residence on June 14, 2020, which created a lot of controversies.

Soon after his demise, the 'Chhichhore' actor's adorable photos and videos with Fudge had surfaced online. (ANI)
The opposition AIADMK in Tamil Nadu will commence a state-wide door-to-door campaign against the ruling DMK after Pongal holidays to highlight the state government's 'misrule' among the people. AIADMK's interim general secretary, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, popularly known as EPS, said at a recent party office-bearers' meeting that a direct grassroots connect with the people of the state is the need of the hour. AIADMK is in a tight spot after the party's state coordinator and former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS, was expelled from the party in July 2021. Former interim general secretary of the party, V.K. Sasikala, who was a close aide of late J. Jayalalitha, was also expelled from the party along with her nephew, T.T.V. Dhinakaran. Both OPS and Sasikala belong to the powerful Thevar community that calls the shots in southern Tamil Nadu. With AIADMK being the preferred political party of the Thevar community, the expulsion of these leaders dealt a body blow to the party in these belts. At the meeting, EPS told the party leaders that the DMK government under M.K. Stalin is gaining support at the grassroots level and there has to be a strong opposition exposing the 'misdeeds' of the government. The party has to overcome its own organisational weakness to counter the powerful DMK and hence, it has chalked out a strategy of directly meeting the people of the state. While EPS will not be travelling across the state, he will be part of the direct door-to-door campaign of the party aimed at the 2024 general elections. The party will look to provide sufficient number of seats to the NDA, given the fact that the BJP is looking for a major expansion in south India where it has presence only in Karnataka. Sources in the AIADMK told IANS that BJP's national leadership is for unity among the warring factions of the AIADMK, but EPS is not agreeable to this and wants to prove the BJP leadership that he is in full control of the party. The BJP leadership is trying for a rapprochement between EPS, OPS and Sasikala so that the anti-DMK votes are not split in Tamil Nadu. G. Manonmani, a professor of political science, told IANS, "The AIADMK is a powerful political entity in Tamil Nadu. However, the party is now divided into several factions and it has to overcome its own organisational issues to pose a challenge to the DMK. The central leadership of the BJP is in for a truce between all the factions of the AIADMK, so that peace prevails and the party functions as a single entity against the DMK." The DMK had won 38 of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 general elections, and Chief Minister Stalin has openly called upon the party cadres and mid-level leaders to win all the seats for the DMK-led alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. --IANS aal/arm ( 498 Words) 2023-01-16-23:10:04 (IANS)
Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai on Monday suggested Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to resign, or give a call of Goa bandh, or create a Constitutional crisis to pressurise the Central government to withdraw approval given to the Detailed Project Report of Karnataka. Sardesai was speaking at a mega public meeting over 'Save Mhadei' at Sanquelim in North Goa. Noted figures from all walks of life spoke on the occasion. "I give a deadline of 15 days to the government to get the DPR withdrawn, else they should give a call of Goa bandh. Let all political parties get united and make Goa Bandh successful. Even then if the Central government doesn't listen to the demand then the Chief Minister should resign and along with him rest all 39 MLAs should resign to create a Constitutional crisis," Sardesai said. Criticising the BJP government, Sardesai said that it has such an attitude that it is not giving opportunity to people to unite. "Government employees were threatened to transfer if they attended a meeting," he said. Making a sarcastic remark, he said: "You will not find the chief minister who sells the river of the state, you will find it only in Goa." He said that if a double engine is so powerful, "then why Sawant needed opposition to convince Amit Shah". "Even today, the Governor didn't utter a single word on Mhadei during his address in the assembly session. This government has betrayed the people of Goa," Sardesai said. He urged people to start a movement to protect the Mhadei river. "When the political class fails then people should rise and start an organic movement. Everyone should contribute for it," he said Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar said that he along with others had started a movement to save Mhadei in 1998, and he had many times brought to the notice of all the previous governments about developments of Karnataka to divert water. "DPR has got approval in a hasty manner. Karnataka has already taken the water from Mhadei. We need to be united to protect our Mhadei," he said. Thousands of Mhadei issue supporters were present during this meeting. Many of the speakers attacked the state and central government for giving a nod to Karnataka's DPR. Ever since Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the Centre has cleared the much disputed Kalasa-Bhanduri dam project in his state, people have started holding public meetings against the Central government's decision. Goa and Karnataka are currently battling out a dispute over the Kalasa-Bhanduri dam project across the water of Mhadei river at a central tribunal. Mhadei originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji. While the river traverses 28.8 km in Karnataka, it is 81.2 km in length in Goa. Karnataka plans to construct dams on the river, aimed at diverting the water into its water-starved Malaprabha basin in North Karnataka. --IANS sbk/pgh ( 494 Words) 2023-01-16-23:12:05 (IANS)
"We have set up 14 nakas to ensure that there is no movement of illegal cash, weapons, narcotics and other material. Announcement for polls likely to happen in 1-2 days," AK Das, sub-divisional police officer, Sadar told ANI.

The state Assembly elections in Tripura are slated to be held in March this year.

Earlier, last week, a team from the Election Commission of India (ECI), led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar flew down to the poll-bound state of Tripura to review elections preparedness.

The poll officers, including CEC Rajiv Kumar, EC Anup Chandra Pandey, and EC Arun Goel, reached Maharaja Bir Bikram Airport, Agartala.

"An ECI team led by CEC Sh. Rajiv Kumar along with EC Sh. Anup Chandra Pandey and EC Sh. Arun Goel arrived at MBB airport, Agartala today to review the poll preparedness for forthcoming assembly elections in Tripura," the official Twitter handle of the Chief Election Officer read. (ANI)
The incident pertains to Saturday night, while the woman was feeding the stray dogs at Chandigarh's Sector 53, furniture market was hit by a speeding vehicle.

The woman was rushed to the hospital and is under treatment at Sector 16.

According to the police, primarily investigations suggested that the speeding four-wheeler was travelling on the wrong side.

"The main accused is absconding. A case has been registered into the matter," police said, adding that the condition of the woman is out of danger.

Police's investigation into this matter is underway. (ANI)
During the first day of the two-day-long Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive meeting in New Delhi on Monday, attendees discussed a nine-point political resolution, moved by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, sources said. As per party sources, during the first day of the national executive meeting, Union Law Minister and party leader proposed a nine-point political resolution, which was seconded by Uttar Pradesh's Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya along with Karnataka's State Minister Govind Karjol. Union minister Kiren Rijiju highlighted several instances in the resolution accusing the opposition parties of running a negative campaign against the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a press conference at NDMC Convention Centre, New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that various topics were discussed during the meeting today which included the discussion on the Opposition's derogatory remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, G20, and Assembly elections. "Today a briefing has been held on how the activities of the 4 states are progressing which include Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Karnataka," she said. "There have been detailed discussions over 9 points introduced in the resolution for this year's NEC. The first discussion was on how opposition parties are using abusive language for attacking PM Modi ji," Sitharaman said. Accusing the Opposition of continuously running negative campaigns against the BJP and PM Modi, Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Supreme Court "crushed" their campaigns and "exposed them". "Opposition continuously ran negative campaigns against BJP and used abusive language to attack PM on many issues like Pegasus, Rafael deal, Enforcement Directorate money laundering, Central Vista, Economic basis-reservations, Demonetization. All these cases were fought in court and judgement has been in favour of the central govt. SC crushed Opposition's negative campaigns and exposed them through legal responses," she said. JP Nadda during the National Executive meeting said that the party has to win all nine state elections this year and then general elections in 2024. BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday briefed the mediapersons about party president JP Nadda's speech on the first day of the National Executive meeting. Addressing a press conference, Prasad said, "BJP chief JP Nadda said in the National Executive meeting that 2023 is very important and we have to fight and win nine state elections this year and then general elections in 2024." Prasad said Nadda called upon the entire executive to gear up for the elections to ensure victory in all nine States. "BJP chief also discussed recently concluded polls and that Gujarat's victory was historic and unprecedented. About Himachal polls, he said that we were supposed to change the tradition of changing government but we could not do that," Prasad said. He said 72,000 booths were marked in 100 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country where BJP was weak and where the party had to reach. "But reached 1.30 lakh booths and make people aware of the policies of the party," Prasad said. He said in the BJP National Executive meeting, Nadda highlighted the Panch Pran given by PM Modi which includes freedom from traces of the colonial past, holding pride in Indian tradition, commitment to making a developed India, unity in diversity, and making citizens responsible towards the nation. Prasad said that on the occasion of the completion of 200 years of Dayanand Saraswati, birth, BJP will organise a grand programme in February. He said the BJP chief also highlighted the work culture of New India citing the example of the COVID vaccination programme. "Putting an end to the past of slavery, we changed the 'Rajpath' which lasted for 75 years to 'Kartavya Path'. Taking pride in our traditions, we built the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, Mahakal Lok Corridor, restored the glory of Kedarnath and now the Ram Mandir," the BJP leader said. Quoting JP Nadda, Prasad said the BJP chief remarked that India has overtaken Britain to become the world's fifth-largest economy. Not only that, India has become the second largest manufacturer of mobile phones and more than 95 per cent of mobile phones used in the country are made in India. He said Nadda highlighted the fact that India is making semi-high-speed trains. India's fintech movement now contributes to 40 per cent of digital transactions worldwide. "This shows our resolve towards Make in India and making a developed India. Our resolution of a developed India seems to be coming true," he said. Quoting Nadda, Prasad said Defence deals during the BJP government are being done with complete honesty. "Border roads have been built up to 3,600 kms while the Defence Minister of Congress did not want to do so," Prasad said. Prasad said Nadda suggested that the BJP machinery learn from the Gujarat polls victory. He said Nadda asserted that BJP workers are working hard in Telangana and the party is confident to register a victory in the southern State. "During his address in the National Executive meeting, Nadda noted that it is for the first time that India's President comes from a tribal community and the deprived class has been respected by our party," he said. Ravi Shankar Prasad also cleared the buzz about the extension of the BJP president Nadda's tenure. He said, "There was no discussion on Nadda's tenure as BJP president which is scheduled to end this month." The two-day National Executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started on Monday at the NDMC Convention Centre in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Ministers including Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States and other senior party leaders also participated at the key meeting. (ANI)
The Bombay Stock Exchange Institute, in association with the District Administration Doda, and the Department of Labour and Employment on Monday started a 50-hour training programme under Mission Youth J&K for imparting training to unemployed youth in Banking, Insurance and Mutual Funds. Deputy Commissioner, Vishesh Paul Mahajan inaugurated the training programme in the presence of the ADDC, Pran Singh; Deputy Director, Employment, District Employment & Counselling Centre Idrees Lone; DIO DIPR, Doda Mohd Ashraf Wani, faculty members and participants (trainees) from across the district, read a press statement said on Monday. Deputy Commissioner, Vishesh Paul Mahajan asked the trainees to use the opportunity to groom their abilities to become employers to provide employment to unemployed youth. "The training programme aims to prepare them to become successful entrepreneurs with the startups capable of providing employment to others also," he said. Speaking on occasion, Pran Singh said that the training programme should upgrade the skills of youth in non-conventional economic sectors like Banking, Insurance, and Financial Services having high employability potential. Deputy Director of Employment, while giving a brief account of the training programme, informed that the 50-hour training was being conducted at Government Degree College Doda. "More than 50 unemployed youth have registered themselves on the first day today," he said, adding that the training was being imparted to unemployed youth under the Mission Youth initiative of the J&K UT Government. He said that more such training courses will be conducted in future to impart skills to enable unemployed youth to earn a dignified livelihood. Pran Singh also requested the aspirants to register on the designated portal Employment Department at www.jakemp.nic.in so that they can be called for such skill upgradation courses in the future. Faculty member Jyoti Parkash of the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute gave the detail of the 50-hour training courses and their scope for creating employment opportunities for trainees in different sectors across the country. (ANI)
Union Minister of State (MoS) Ashwini Choubey on Monday slammed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and alleged that there were two attempts of attack upon him in Buxar in the last 24 hours. Addressing a press conference, the parliamentarian from Buxar said, "During my programme in Buxar, a day-long fast against the atrocities on farmers, some miscreants, just 5-6 feet away from me came with swinging their sticks on air in an attempt to attack me, but my bodyguards and the police personnel nabbed three persons and saved me. If they wouldn't have caught them I don't know what would have happened then." "Not only this one person ran away with a country-made pistol wading through the police personnel, who were present in the line of duty. The police remained mute spectators and did nothing," he added. He said that regarding this he wrote to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Deputy Superintendent of Police and all the office bearers and informed them about the incident. "More importantly, when those policemen and the activists present there took those nabbed goons to the police station, surprisingly, to give protection to them, the police DSP there told our workers and PA that no problem, the minister is doing his work and the goons are doing their job. It is unfortunate to hear something like this from Bihar DSP," he said. He added that the three persons nabbed for attacking him were later released after being pressurised by some influential persons. "I want to ask Nitish Kumar, why the miscreants who were brought to the police station have not been arrested yet," he said, adding that he wants to ask under whose pressure the miscreants were released. "There were attempts of attack on me twice in the last 24 hours in Buxar", the Union Minister added. In what could be seen as a coincidence or otherwise, earlier on Sunday night, an escort vehicle in the convoy of Union Minister of State (MoS) Ashwini Choubey, overturned after an accident, while he was on his way from Buxar to Patna, wherein several cops were left injured. The Minister shared the video on Twitter in which he could be seen inspecting the escort vehicle that was overturned in the accident. Taking to Twitter, the minister said, "During the way from Buxar to Patna, the car of Koransarai police station, in the carcade has met with an accident in the canal of the road bridge of Dumrao's Mathila-Narayanpur road. Everyone is well by the grace of Lord Shriram. Going to Dumrao Sadar Hospital with the injured policemen and driver." The police personnel and the driver, with minor injuries, were rushed to Dumrao Sadar Hospital, where they are undergoing treatment. However, two cops with more injuries were shifted to the All India Medical Sciences, Patna. Ashwini Choubey had then informed that all the policemen and drivers were out of danger. "I have brought the injured policemen to Dumraon subdivision hospital. He is being given first aid. Two policemen have received more injuries. After first aid, I am leaving for AIIMS Patna with him. All policemen and drivers are out of danger," he said. (ANI)
After the successful conclusion of the month-long cultural unity programme, Kashi-Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during BJP national executive meeting on Monday asked party workers to sketch such events in future for strong cultural national unity. As per sources, the first day of a two-day-long BJP national executive meeting also witnessed some non-political decisions too. Laying emphasis on programs that bind the nation in one thread, PM Modi asked party workers, to insist on organizing more programs like the Kashi-Tamil Sangam, so that all the states share their culture, civilization and heritage with each other and the country unites culturally in the one thread of unity. "PM also stressed that there should be an exchange of languages and culture between states," sources said. According to party sources, other programmes like Mann Ki Baat, wherein PM Modi continuously connects with the public on topics of public concern and motivates them, were also discussed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November last year inaugurated the 30-day long 'Kashi Tamil Sangamam' in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Reflecting the significance of PM Modi's efforts of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat', the event aimed to celebrate, reaffirm and rediscover the age-old links between Kashi and Tamil Nadu - two of the country's most significant ancient origins for learning. Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday also told that the attendees of the BJP executive meeting thanked PM Modi for binding the nation firmly in a thread of unity through cultural heritage and cultural spirit. During the press briefing, about the first day of the national executive meeting, Union Minister and party leader Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters that the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam, held last year was also discussed. "Those who visited the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam have also been influenced and the program has also had an impact in Uttar Pradesh," Sitharaman told media persons. "And when the subject of Kashi-Tamil Sangam was discussed, the Prime Minister was congratulated for his cultural spirit to strengthen our heritage, whether it was the Kashi-Tamil Sangam or the fast progress in Ayodhya after the Supreme Court's decision. Be it the progress in Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar temple, the revival of the Buddha Circuit, work going on at Ram Circuit, for all these works, PM Modi was congratulated," Sitharaman said. She said that PM Modi's non-political programme related to the general public, Mann Ki Baat, where he incorporated the general public with a permanent bridge, a result of which people, across villages and the country, actively participated as a sense of service, whether it is of 'tree plantion', building roads, taking someone to hospitals, innovative photos, all these developments were discussed during the first day of the national executive meeting. (ANI)
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has hit back at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's "remote control" jibe at him, saying "I was made a CM by the people of Punjab, while you insulted the elected CM Captain Amarinder Singh." "Rahul ji, it is better if you don't speak rubbish in Punjab. The people of Punjab have made me the CM while Channiji was made by Rahul Gandhi. In just 2 minutes, you had removed the elected CM Captain Saheb from Delhi by insulting him. It is better you don't speak," tweeted Mann. https://twitter.com/BhagwantMann/status/1615013030529732610?s=20&t=yDq2Z-UMljypf0sSEsxAug Hitting back at the "remote control" jibe, Mann pointed out that he is an elected CM, unlike former CM Charanjit Singh Channi who was chosen by the Congress high command. Channi succeeded the elected CM Captain Amarinder Singh and remained the CM of Punjab for around 6 months from September 2021 to March 2022. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday took a swipe at Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, saying that he should run the state from Punjab instead of being a "remote control". Addressing a rally during the Punjab leg of his ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, the former Congress national president said, "Every state of India has a history, language and lifestyle. Punjab should be run from Punjab only, and not from Delhi." He said Mann should listen to the plight of the farmers and labourers of his state and work towards addressing them. "I would like to say to Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, that you are the CM of the state, and you should run the state from here. You should not come under Kejriwalji's pressure. You should work independently by listening to the farmers and labourers of the state. You should not be a remote control in the hand of someone else," Rahul said. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will end in Srinagar on January 30, with Rahul hoisting the tricolour there. (ANI)
Uttarakhand Police, acting on a viral Facebook video, rescued a mentally unstable elderly woman Hema Devi, a resident of Bhikiyasain in Almora district, from Mumbai and brought her home on Monday. On January 9, a video of the elderly woman went viral. The man who shot the video appealed for help for the woman. Taking immediate cognisance of the viral video, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami directed Pradeep Kumar Rai, SSP Almora, to bring the elderly woman from Mumbai to Almora soon. Acting on the instructions of the Chief Minister, SSP Almora took immediate action and directed PRO/ANTF in-charge Saurabh Kumar Bharti to get the information about the person making the video and to contact him and inform the family members of Hema Devi. After reaching Mumbai, the Almora police team and local Mumbai Police checked CCTV footage at various places and continuously at different places in Borivali, Kandivali, Malad, Andheri West and Lokhandwala, bus stations, railway stations, under flyovers/bridges and langars. Constant efforts were made to search for the woman with visits to night shelters, dharamshalas along with pasting her photo/pamphlets and showing them to the people. Almora police team consisting of Constable Yogesh Kumar and Constable Sain Ansari worked day and night for three days with the help of Mumbai Police, social worker Dan Singh Rajput and his team along with the President of Human Rights Foundation Mumbai, Meenakshi Sawant to search for the woman. As a result of tireless efforts, on the morning of January 14, the woman was found safe by the police teams. The woman had an old leg injury and her leg was swollen. After getting her treatment and health test down, the Almora police team along with the woman left from Mumbai on the morning of January 15 and reached Almora safely on Monday, January 16. (ANI)
In a shocking revelation, Rajasthan Director General of Police (DGP) Umesh Mishra on Monday said that 41 per cent of rape cases registered in the state are false. "It is noteworthy that out of the total cases of rape registered in our state, 41 per cent are found to be false, while at the national level, the percentage of false cases is only 8," Rajasthan DGP Mishra said while speaking to reporters during a press conference at the Rajasthan Police headquarters. Mishra also said that it is a misconception that Rajasthan ranks first in India in cases of rape, whereas the truth is that Madhya Pradesh ranks first and Rajasthan ranks second. He claimed that the reason behind this misconception is that the Rajasthan police register each and every such case. The reason for the low number of rape cases in Madhya Pradesh is the failure to register FIRs and not relatively less amount of crime. He mentioned that other states do not register cases in serious cases like rape and they start investigating them as complaints, instead. "Many times the criminals get the benefit of this and there is a danger of destruction of many important pieces of evidence," he added. He further stated that there are clear instructions to the police in Rajasthan that there should be no delay in registering a rape case. If there is a false case, FIR will be registered and legal action will be taken against those who have registered the false cases. "In the year 2022, there has been a total increase of 68 per cent in the proceedings against those who got false cases filed as compared to the previous year." He also said, "The national average of pending rape cases is 30 per cent, while in Rajasthan it is only 12 per cent, while the national average in getting punishment is 28 per cent. While in Rajasthan, the rate of getting punishment in such cases is 47.9," he added. Mishra said that the year 2022 was good for the Rajasthan Police in many ways. "There has been success in solving the cases of atrocities against women. In 2018, it used to take 211 days to dispose of these cases whereas now it is being disposed of in 69 days," he said. DGP Mishra said that the police are taking prompt action in the case of the POCSO Act also as a result, in the last 4 years, the death sentence was given in 12 such cases and 466 have been sentenced to life imprisonment or 20 years of rigorous imprisonment. DGP Mishra gave the account of the works of Rajasthan Police in 2022 by holding a press conference on Monday. Speaking on other issues, he said that digitisation is being done for paperless work. Also, weekly off for policemen has also started. DGP Mishra said that in the paper leak case, the police have launched an all-round attack on the accused. On the suggestion of the police, the government has assured to make an effective law to curb the mafias. Regarding the gang war in the state, he said that the Rajasthan Police has controlled the organized gangs to a considerable extent, although it still remains a challenge. Gangsters belonging to Haryana and Punjab come from the border districts. "This is a challenge but with the cooperation of the police of those states, we are tracking them down," he added. (ANI)
A day after 26 people were injured and one died during the 'Jallikattu' in Palmedu village, Madurai District Collector Aneesh Sekhar has said that extra measures have been taken for the safe conduct of the annual bull-taming sport. "The administration has decided to take extra measures for the safe conduct of the Jallikattu. The display area has been made different from the play area to reduce the risk of injuries," Sekhar told ANI. A bull tamer, who was critically injured during a Jallikattu event at Palamedu in Madurai, died at Madurai's Rajaji Government Hospital on Monday. Only 300 bull tamers and 150 spectators were allowed in the Palamedu Jallikattu competition. On Sunday in Avaniyapuram also, around 60 people were hurt, with 20 suffering serious injuries, while on Tuesday the Jallikattu event is being held in Alanganallur. Over 9,690 bulls and 5,399 tamers have registered online to participate in the Jallikattu in Avaniyapuram, Palamedu, and Alanganallur in the district. The popular bull-taming sport 'Jallikattu' also known as 'Eru Thazhuvuthal' and 'Mancuvirattu' practised in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on the day of Mattu Pongal. It is a sport where a bull is let loose among a crowd, and people participating in the sport are supposed to take control of the bull by holding on to its hump for as long as they can. The 'Mann Kuthal' process also takes place in which bulls are trained to develop their skills by digging their horns in the wet earth. Bulls are prepared to attack when someone tries to catch their hump. (ANI)
The incident is said to have occurred around 5 pm on Sunday.

The man who died was identified as Ramdavan.

On getting the information about the incident, the team of forest department rushed to the spot and sent the body for post mortem.

A team of officials from various divisions has reached to catch the leoprad.

Sarguja Wildlife Forest Conservator K R Badhai said, "There are three incidents of death, including two deaths in Janakpur forest range due to leopard attacks reported so far. In view of those incidents, the forest department has installed cages and trap cameras to catch the leopard. But still failed to catch the leopard."

"We have received permission from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) to catch the leopard by tranquilising it. An expert team of doctors have also reached here and efforts are on to catch the leopard at the earliest," he added.

Recently, on January 3, a woman died in due to a leopard attack. So far, three people have died, while a child sustained injuries, since December 2022 due to leopard attacks under Manendragarh forest division. (ANI)
Ahead of Republic Day, Delhi Police is hunting for four other terror suspects, besides the two who were arrested last week from the Jahangirpuri area in the national capital, sources said on Tuesday. According to the Delhi Police Special Cell sources, the terror suspects recieved weapons from Pakistan through the drop-dead method and were in touch with their handlers on the other side of the border through a social media app. "Delhi Police looking for 4 other suspects. They received weapons from Pakistan through the drop-dead method and were in contact with handlers in Pak on the Signal app. They got weapons at an unidentified location in Uttarakhand which is being verified," sources said. This comes after two terrorists were arrested from the Jahangirpuri area in Delhi earlier in January who, according to the police, were tasked to carry out the targeted attacks in various states. In the latest development, the Delhi Police got information about the involvement of 8 persons in the module. The police suspect the possible presence of four suspects in India presently. "Their handlers sitting at the border sent instructions on the Signal app, after which they shared the location of the bag full of weapons through Google Maps. About 8 people are involved in this module of terrorists out of which 4 can still be present in India only. 2 terrorists were used to provide weapons and 2 were used to send the Google location of the weapons to their bosses by keeping the weapons at a particular location," sources said. According to sources, the weapons recovered from the terrorists were found at an unknown location in Uttarakhand which is now being verified. Meanwhile, the two terror suspects arrested from the Jahangirpuri area of the national capital on Thursday were assigned to carry out targeted killings of rightwing leaders on January 27 and January 31, sources in the Delhi Police claimed on Monday. The Delhi Police had earlier said it arrested two ''suspicious'' men and recovered two hand grenades from their house in the Bhalswa Dairy area of Jahangirpuri. The Special cell of the Delhi Police had arrested the two suspects -- identified as Jagjit Singh (29) and Naushad (56). They were produced before the Patiala House Court on Friday and sent to police remand for 14 days. Police sources later claimed that three rightwing leaders of Punjab and Delhi were on their hit list and they had even set a date and time to take out two of their targets. Further, according to sources, the suspects, now in police custody, had receed two of their targets and had even taken note of their movements and daily schedules. The sources added that the suspects were to receive Rs 50 lakh on killing the first target, Rs 1 crore for taking out the second and Rs 1.5 crore for eliminating the third. Both had received Rs 5 lakh as token money through hawala operators, sources claimed further. Police said they carried out a raid at their rented house at the Shradha Nand Colony in the Bhalswa Dairy police station limits on Friday, under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and recovered hand grenades. The police said they also recovered three pistols and 22 live cartridges from the suspects. A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) also visited the house and collected blood samples on Friday. According to sources, it is alleged that the suspects killed a person in the house and shared a video of the killing with their handler. The police said they were in the process of finding out who was killed. Delhi Police earlier said it has information that Jagjit Singh has links to Khalistani terrorist Arshdeep Dalla. He is also a member of the notorious Bambiha gang and has been receiving instructions from anti-national elements based abroad, the city police said, adding that he is also a parole jumper in a murder case in Uttarakhand. Naushad is also associated with Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), a terror group which is based in Pakistan and primarily operates in Jammu and Kashmir. He has been a life convict in two counts of murder and has also served a 10-year sentence in connection with a case under the Explosive Act. The accused took up residence at the rented house last year, during Diwali, adding that the construction of their own house is ongoing, according to the neighbours. (ANI)
J&K Police and Army cordoned off the area in after gunshots were heard to nab the terrorists.

"On specific input, the joint area domination party of Army & Police tried to stop one suspected vehicle, terrorists fired and in retaliation two terrorists were killed. Arms/ammunition recovered near Court Complex in District Budgam. Details shall follow," tweeted Kashmir Zone Police.

https://twitter.com/KashmirPolice/status/1615218344956919808?s=20&t=Rzdr8pl1Cs0qb0D-18povQ

Further details awaited. (ANI)
Visiting high level delegation of China's Communist Party (CPC) on Monday promised that with regard to debt restricting, Sri Lanka would have "some good news soon". The delegation led by Vice Minister Chen Zhou, Head of the CPC International Department told this to Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena while assuring that China would stand by Sri Lanka in the current economic crisis. Responding to a query on China's assistance to Sri Lanka's debt restructuring, Chen Zhou has said: "Several Ministries and financial institutes of China are working closely on this issue for quite a long period. I'm confident that Sri Lanka will have good news very soon." "Sri Lanka is a very special friend of China and we are considering how we could assist Sri Lanka to get over the current crisis," Chen Zhou assured the Prime Minister. PM Gunawardena has said that Sri Lanka was looking forward to China's support in restructuring its debt at the moment and further strengthening its economy in the near future. Sri Lanka is desperately relying on $2.9 billion bridge loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that is expected to relieve country's crisis hit economy. But the region's super powers and leading creditors China and India are yet to announce their role on Indian Ocean island's debt restricting process. Recently, US Envoy for Sri Lanka Julie Chung stated that China is a "spoiler" as it keeps delaying in debt restructuring for Sri Lanka. The Chinese delegation also met President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Saturday and handed over letter from China's President Xi Jinping. During the meeting, President Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka looks forward to China's support in restructuring its debt at the moment and its economy in the near future. Following China's CPC delegation, External Affairs Minister of India, S. Jaishankar is to visit Colombo on Thursday and media reports indicated that he is to talk about restricting of Sri Lanka's debt. "India is expected to give a positive response to Sri Lanka's requirements," media reports stated. --IANS sfl/pgh ( 349 Words) 2023-01-16-19:36:03 (IANS)
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for a probe into the killing of former Afghan parliamentarian Mursal Nabizada, who was shot dead in Kabul on Sunday. "I can tell you that the Secretary-General is shocked by the killings of Mursal Nabizada, a former member of the Afghan parliament, and a member of her security detail. This happened in Kabul yesterday," UN chief's Associate Spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said during Monday's regular briefing for correspondents in New York. Guterres extended his condolences to the victims' families and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured. "The Secretary-General calls for a prompt, thorough, and transparent investigation and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice," Tremblay added. On Sunday, former Afghan lawmaker Mursal Nabizada and one of her security guards were killed in Kabul, Khaama Press reported. Kabul Security Department Spokesperson Khalid Zadran said that Nabizada, a former representative of Laghman province was killed by unknown gunmen in Kabul's 12th district. According to Zadar, unknown gunmen entered Mursal Nabizada's house in the "Ahmadsha Baba Mena" locality in the capital city. The gunmen shot dead two people, Khaama Press reported. Zadran said that those responsible had not been identified yet and the reason behind the killing remains unclear. During the attack, Nabizada's brother was also wounded. His family is, however, yet to comment on the incident. The Taliban representative said that further probe is underway into the killing of Nabizada. Nabizada, 32, was among the few female parliamentarians who stayed in the country after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. After the Taliban took over Afghanistan, it imposed policies severely restricting basic rights--particularly those of women and girls, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). They dismissed all women from leadership posts in the civil service and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school. The radical Islamic outfit also imposed a ban on women from working in non-government organisations (NGOs). Several rights groups say Taliban forces have carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former government officials and security force personnel. (ANI)
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday listed Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist under its ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. This listing comes after China last year put on India's bid to name the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader a global terrorist. In June 2022, India slammed China after it blocked the proposal to list terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the Sanctions Committee, also known as the UNSC 1267 Committee. "On 16 January 2023, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da'esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2610 (2021) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations," the UN said in a statement. India and the US have already listed Makki as a terrorist under their domestic laws. He has been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalizing youth to violence and planning attacks in India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir. Makki is the brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. He has occupied various leadership roles within LeT, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). He has also played a role in raising funds for LeT operations. In 2020, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court convicted Makki on one count of terrorism financing and sentenced him to prison, acccording to the US State Department. In the past, China has placed hurdles for the listing of known terrorists, particularly from Pakistan. It had repeatedly blocked proposals to designate Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based and UN-proscribed terrorist entity, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). (ANI)
Nepal's newly elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal also the chairman of Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Center is set to expand his cabinet, one month after getting appointed to the post. On Monday evening, the top leaders of the ruling coalition agreed on ministerial allocations. The meeting of the chiefs of four ruling parties the CPN (Maoist Centre), the CPN-UML, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), and the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) held at the prime minister's residence at Baluwatar on Monday reached the power-sharing deal. As per the agreement, the largest party in the coalition, the UML, will get a total of eight ministers along with two ministers of state; the CPN (Maoist Centre), which is leading the government, will get five ministries including the prime minister; and the Rastriya Swatantra Party and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party will get three ministries each along with one deputy prime minister each. The RSP will lead the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, and will also get one state minister. The party already has its chairman Rabi Lamichhane as deputy prime minister and home minister. From the RPP, its chairman Rajendra Lingden will join the government as deputy prime minister and energy, water resources and irrigation minister. Besides finance, the UML will get foreign, health, defence, agriculture and land management, among other ministries. But, according to a leader who was present at the meeting, there could be last minute changes in ministerial allocations before the swearing-in ceremony, which is scheduled for 1 am Tuesday. After Monday's meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane said the ruling coalition partners have finalised the ministerial allocations. But he did not disclose which parties got what ministries. "We will make the names public only after discussing today's decision in our respective parties," Lamichhane told journalists after the meeting at Baluwatar, adding that the President's Office has already been informed about the swearing-in ceremony. When asked if the Nagarik Unmukti Party and Loktantrik Samajbadi Party would also be joining the government anytime soon, he said, "It is unlikely that they will join immediately, but discussions are ongoing." According to him, the prime minister has called an all-party meeting for 4 pm Tuesday. JSP Chairman Upendra Yadav, however, said his party will not join the government now because it is not happy with the ministries offered to the party. "We have expressed our dissatisfaction over the power sharing deal," he said. Dahal, who was appointed the prime minister on December 25, was administered the oath of office and secrecy on the next day along with three deputy prime ministers and four ministers. Among three deputy prime ministers, UML's Bishnu Poudel leads the Finance Ministry, Maoist Centre's Narayan Kaji Shrestha leads Physical Infrastructure and Transportation and RSP's Rabi Lamichhane the Home Ministry. However, the four ministers three from the UML including Rajendra Rai, Jwala Kumari Sah and Damodar Bhandari, and Janamat Party's Abdul Khan have not yet been assigned portfolios. (ANI)
United Nations Security Council has designated Abdul Rehman Makki, the brother-in-law of 26/11 mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Saeed who has been given a safe haven in Pakistan, as a global terrorist under its ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. India's perseverance has largely been responsible for the stepping up of international pressure to designate the Pakistan-based, LeT deputy chief Makki as a global terrorist. This listing is seen as a major win for New Delhi after China in June 2022 blocked a joint proposal by India and the US to get the UNSC to list Makki as a global terrorist. Beijing put a last-minute "technical hold" on the joint proposal to put Makki on the UNSC's 1267 list of terrorists linked to al Qaeda and ISIL. The move by Beijing was condemned by India as "extremely unfortunate." "On 16 January 2023, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da'esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2610 (2021) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations," the UN said in a statement on Monday. Resolution 1267 provides for sanctions against individuals and entities that support or finance the acts or activities of ISIL, Al-Qaida, associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities. Makki is the deputy leader of LeT, an organisation that was later renamed the Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD), as a terrorist. Just like LeT, the JuD is also a UN-designated terror group. Also known as Abdulrahman Maki, he served as the head of 'foreign relations' department of the LeT and a member of its governing body or Shura and contributed to raising money for the LeT operations. In India, Makki is on the UAPA list of designated terrorists and is wanted in for his involvement in the Red Fort attack in Delhi in 2000, the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, and attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. The US has also placed Makki on its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists and has announced a USD 2 million reward for information that would convict him. When it comes to counter-terrorism, Pakistan has made limited progress on the most difficult aspects of its 2015 National Action Plan, specifically in its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay or discrimination, said the US State Department in its 2020 Country Reports on Terrorism. The country has failed to take adequate steps to counter-terrorism and prosecute terrorists including masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai attacks such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) founder Masood Azhar and LeT's Sajid Mir, the US-based report said. Moreover, China has also placed hurdles for the listing of known terrorists, particularly from Pakistan, repeatedly. The communist nation, an ally of Pakistan has blocked proposals to designate Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based and UN-proscribed terrorist entity, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). (ANI)
After former Afghan parliamentarian Mursal Nabizada was shot dead in Kabul on Sunday, a group of Canadian Members of Parliament called for immediate action to bring back eight Afghan women MPs who are left behind in complete desperation in Kabul as the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan under Taliban rule have made the lives of people miserable, Khaama Press reported. Mursal Nabizada, a former Afghan MP, and her bodyguard were shot and killed in her house in the centre of Kabul, according to Kabul Police on Sunday. One of the few MPs who remained in Kabul when the Taliban retook power was Nabizada. The investigation regarding the killing of Nabizada is underway. In a joint statement, six Canadian MPs stated that they had been working on bringing the eight remaining Afghan women MPs to Canada for more than a year, according to Khaama Press. The statement further added that women and girls are not safe in Afghanistan, especially not these courageous female MPs who paved the road for Afghan women under the previous administration. "We urge the Canadian government to act on this matter urgently and take immediate actions to assist in getting these women to safety," the statement read. Moreover, Afghan women Members of Parliament from the previous government who remained in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021, now face immediate threats, Khaama Press reported. Under the Taliban's rule, Afghans' quality of life has drastically worsened, especially for women and girls. Women are increasingly prohibited from engaging in public spaces, sports, jobs, and education as time goes on. Since 15 August 2021, the de facto authorities have barred girls from attending secondary school, restricted women and girls' freedom of movement, excluded women from most areas of the workforce and banned women from using parks, gyms and public bath houses. These restrictions culminate with the confinement of Afghan women and girls to the four walls of their homes. According to a UNICEF report released in August, the fact that girls in Afghanistan are deprived of secondary education has cost the country's economy at least USD 500 million over the past 12 months, which amounts to 2.5 per cent of GDP. (ANI)
(Corrects headline to clarify that Thunberg was detained but not arrested, spelling of town)

LUETZERATH, Germany, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was detained alongside other activists on Tuesday during protests against the demolition of the coal village of Luetzerath but the entire group will be released later in the day, according to police.

"There is no reason to hold them for days. It might take hours or they will go immediately," a spokesperson for regional police in Aachen said, speaking about the whole group of demonstrators.

Thunberg was held while protesting at the opencast coal mine of Garzweiler 2, some 9 km (5.6 miles) from Luetzerath, where she sat with a group of protesters near the edge of the mine.

The clearing of the village in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia was agreed between RWE and the government in a deal that allowed the energy giant to demolish Luetzerath in exchange for its faster exit from coal and saving five villages originally slated for destruction.

Activists have said Germany should not be mining any more lignite and should focus on expanding renewable energy instead.

Riot police backed by bulldozers removed activists from buildings in the village with only a few left in trees and an underground tunnel by last weekend, but protesters including Thunberg remained at the site staging a sit-in into Tuesday.

Thunberg was seen sitting alone in a large police bus after having been detained, a Reuters witness said.

"We are going to use force to bring you to the identity check, so please cooperate," a policeman said to the group, according to Reuters footage.

"Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity," a spokesperson for Aachen police told Reuters, adding one activist had jumped into the mine.

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Thunberg was carried away by three policemen and held by one arm at a spot further away from the edge of the mine where she was previously sat with the group.

She was then escorted back towards police vans.

The Swedish climate activist addressed the around 6,000 protesters who marched towards Luetzerath on Saturday, calling the expansion of the mine a "betrayal of present and future generations."

"Germany is one of the biggest polluters in the world and needs to be held accountable," she said. (Reporting by Wolfgang Rattay and Riham Alkousaa, Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Maria Sheahan, William Maclean)
One person was taken to the hospital after a rollover crash in Preble County Monday.

Crews were called to the intersection of state Route 503 and Pyrmont Road to reports of a single-car crash around 7:30 p.m.

When crews arrived on the scene they found one car on its top with the driver still inside, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol.

>> 2 taken to the hospital after 2 separate shootings in Xenia

MedFlight was called to the scene but could not fly due to weather, troopers confirmed.

The driver was taken to an area hospital by ambulance. Information about their condition was not available.

We are working to learn how serious the drivers injuries are and what led up to the crash.

We will update this story as we get new information.








A 12-year-old girl had her leg amputated after she waited 10 hours in an emergency room for her fracture to be treated, according to a lawsuit filed against a New Mexico hospital.

Meiah Tafoya fell while rushing to class at her middle school on Oct. 14, 2022, according to the complaint and a GoFundMe page organized by her mother.

She went to the emergency room at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque where she waited for 10 hours before staff told her that she could not be adequately treated there and would need to transfer to a different hospital, according to the complaint, which names Presbyterian Healthcare Services, the company that owns the hospital, as a defendant.

She was then taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she underwent four surgeries, including having her injured leg amputated, according to the lawsuit.

Had (she) been promptly treated at Presbyterian her leg would not have needed to be amputated, the lawsuit says. One or more of the surgeries she has undergone would also not have been necessary.

A spokesperson for Presbyterian Healthcare Services said in a statement that the hospital had recently been served with the complaint.

  we will reserve comment on pending litigation for the appropriate venue, the statement says.

The hospital wait

When Tafoya went to the hospital on Oct. 14, 2022, she was given an initial assessment, including a leg X-ray, when she arrived, the complaint says.

She was then told to wait, even though she was crying and visibly in pain, the complaint says.

Her mother asked staff multiple times when her daughter would be seen, and they replied each time that they were busy seeing patients in more serious condition, according to the lawsuit.

At some point during the 10-hour wait, the Tafoyas leg started to go cold. Her mother told an emergency room staff person, who said that they were still waiting on the results of her daughters X-ray, the complaint says.

... ER staff either did not read the X-ray or read the X-ray and did not promptly act upon the report, the complaint says.

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At no point during the wait did a doctor or nurse immobilize her leg, the lawsuit says. This contributed to internal blood loss and circulation issues, according to the complaint.

A life changed

Tafoya is now in a wheelchair and has not returned to school, Todd J. Bullion, a lawyer representing her and her mother, told McClatchy News.

She is inspiring with her optimism and her bravery, he said. Its truly an inspiration talking with her and seeing her approach her therapy and everything, taking her best shot at living a happy and normal life.

But the 12-year-old, who played trombone in the school band and enjoyed many activities, is now limited in what she can do and will eventually need to get a prosthetic leg.

Her mother, Stephanie Sedillo, who is a single mom of four, has had to take a leave of absence from her job so that she can take care of her daughter full-time, according to a GoFundMe page.

Bullion said the family is seeking damages to help cover the cost of Tafoyas medical expenses, as well as punitive damages. The family also hopes to prevent another incident like this from happening again.

Youve got to push and advocate for yourself, but thats exactly what Meiahs mom did here, he said. She told the staff what was going on, what was wrong and it was just ignored. Our hope with this case is that were going to drive change here in New Mexico and make sure that this doesnt happen to anyone here again.

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A 13-year-old is behind bars after allegedly shooting and killing another 13-year-old in Clairton Monday night.

According to Allegheny County police, the shooting happened in the 400 block of Wilson Avenue at around 9:19 p.m.

The victim, 13-year-old Chase Jones, was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Laquan Rich-Cabbagestalk, 13, has been charged with homicide in connection to the shooting and turned himself in to Allegheny County police Tuesday morning.

According to a criminal complaint, four children, including Jones and Rich-Cabbagestalk, were playing video games

The other two children, who police identified as classmates, told investigators they heard the gunshot, saw Cabbagestalk with a gun and then heard him say he was sorry before he ran from the home.

Police say they found a handgun when they searched the area around the home. They say the gun had been reported stolen.

Tuesday, 11 News spoke with Lee Davis, a violence prevention specialist, who stressed the need for counseling in communities where violence is more prevalent.

We have to get trauma support in place and it cant just be a one and done we have to get parents and providers to understand this is very important, it has to be ongoing, Davis said.

Davis, who works for Allegheny County, said if nothing else, parents and guardians have to get more involved to ensure that guns never fall into the hands of children.

More parental involvement, more community involvement. We got to get back to the village, Davis said.

Rich-Cabbagestalk is enrolled in the Clairton City School District, according to court documents. The district is closed Tuesday, according to a post on their website.

Due to a tragedy that occurred in our community, school will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday January 17th. We thank you for your flexibility and understanding at this difficult time. Our condolences go out to all those involved. If your child is in need of counseling services, please contact your building principal, the message states, signed by Superintendent Dr. Tamara Allen-Thomas.

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Rich-Cabbagestalk is charged with criminal homicide and possession of a firearm by a minor. Hes currently lodged in the Allegheny County Jail awaiting arraignment.

On Channel 11 News at 5 p.m., what a local advocate says needs to change to keep kids safe.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW

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Lisa Marie Presley death: What happens to Graceland? 13-year-old shot and killed, allegedly by another 13-year-old, identified 1 transported to hospital after train versus pedestrian incident in Fayette County VIDEO: 1 injured in Washington County house fire DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts
Warning: Some posts include subjects of verbal abuse. Please proceed with caution.

1. "Throwback to when I told my boss I was in the hospital, and she sent me a paragraph saying she didn't understand why I couldn't work."

2. "My boss wanted me to come in on days that I requested off, then threatened me when I said no."

3. "I got yelled at for not checking my emails when I'm not at work. I'm salary, and easily reach 40 hours a week  why should I be responsible for when I'm not at work? My boss then emailed the team and said we have to let him know when we are going to be out of contact during our time off."

4. "My former boss trying to tell people they have to clock out for bathroom breaks."

5. "My boss (who owns an insurance agency known for good hands) fired me because my mom died and my son had to quarantine on the same day."

6. "My boss sent out this email threatening discipline if we don't attend these weekly meetings, but I work nights from 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m."

7. "I just started working here 3 days ago, and I received this in an email from my boss."

8. "My boss denied my medical request a month in advance, and it was the first time I've ever requested a day off."

9. "My boss refused to pay me for working 9 full hours."

10. "I texted [this to] my boss after I tested positive for COVID."

11. "I put in my notice because my boss asked me if I could change the day I put my dog to sleep."

12. "My abusive ex-boss emailed me today asking for code I already provided when I left 'by tomorrow.' I quit this job months ago."

13. "I asked my boss for a bonus after working overtime during one of the top 5 biggest events in my state."

14. "My 16-year-old daughter working her first summer job received this message from her boss."

15. "My boss went radio silent after I asked for my checks."

16. And: "I quit my job yesterday, and this was my boss's reply."

Note: Some posts have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that Ukraine expects to receive the first tranche of EUR 3 billion this week. This will help maintain macroeconomic stability going forward, he said.

His action allegedly caused ammunition to detonate, ultimately killing at least three Russian conscripts and injuring a further 10. According to Baza, the explosion occurred in the building of the village hall. According to early reports, the soldier picked up the grenade initially "to win authority in the eyes of subordinates.

The official is believed to have been working on a request from the Russian authorities, who claimed the children needed to be sent to Moscow for a family reunion. However, this transfer was done without the consent of the Ukrainian government, and the consent of the children was also not recorded. The official has been suspending pending an investigation.

Minsk claims that the goal of the maneuvers is to increase interoperability during the joint execution of training and combat missions. During the exercises, Russian and Belarusian aviation plans to practice aerial reconnaissance, joint patrolling of airspace along the border, and aviation support of military groups. The Ukrainian military does not believe that these exercises pose an immediate threat to the capital.

IAEA director Rafael Grossi said he is proud to head this mission to Ukraine, that will be deployed "in all of the countrys NPPs to provide assistance in nuclear safety and security. This expanded presence will be in addition to the IAEA presence already in the country, including a monitor stationed at the occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.

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A rescue operation is underway, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported. No casualties or pollution is said to have occurred as a result of the accident. The vessel was en route from Ukraine to Istanbul under the flag of Palau, and is believed to have run aground due to a failure of the vessels rudder.

Thats according to a new poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Additionally, almost 50% of respondents are sure that the end of hostilities will take place within six months to a year. More than 13% of respondents say that it will take several months.

According to NABU, in his electronic income declaration for 2020, the legislator omitted information about a two-story duplex apartment and a parking space in the province of Alicante, Spain for EUR 190,000 (approximately $252,700 at the 2013 time of purchase). SAPO, in turn, reported that the lawmaker had failed to declare almost UAH 6.3 million in total assets (about $773,000 at the average 2013 exchange rate, or $172,279 on Jan. 16, 2023) in total. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

According to the Ukrainian military, Ukrainian forces in and around the town are trying to bleed the enemy dry, as well as preventing a breakthrough of Ukrainian defense lines. Russian forces continue to insist that the town is captured, though footage of Ukrainian defenders in the area continues to appear on social media.

The days long read: Six dangerous illusions about Russia

Former Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko lays out the six biggest misconceptions Western policymakers still hold about the Russian state, and warns against building policy mired in illusion.

Oleksiy Melnyk, director of foreign policy at the Razumkov Center, writes about the outlines of what a true victory would look like for Ukraine, and notes the possible conflicts that may occur between the Western and Ukrainian conceptions of peace.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Four men were arrested for suspected burglary early Tuesday morning.

>> MORE: Dayton man killed in shooting at Dayton apartment complex identified

Richmond Police in Indiana were called to a residence on Backmeyer Road after receiving reports of a burglary in progress, a spokesperson for the department stated.

The responding officer was able to quickly apprehend a vehicle attempting to leave the residence, the spokesperson continued.

The initial investigation revealed that the four men inside the vehicle were suspected of burglarizing the residence, the spokesperson said.

All four were arrested for burglary, specifically Level 2 burglary, the spokesperson stated.

The mens identities were released by authorities with the notice that all subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the spokesperson said.
A 40-foot sperm whale washed up dead on the shore of the Oregon coast, and officials believe a ship was likely the cause of the endangered animal's death.

The sperm whale washed up on a beach just south of Fort Stevens State Park in northern Oregon Saturday, according to the Seaside Aquarium. A video shared by the aquarium showed large gashes in the whale that "had been dead for a while before washing ashore."

Biologists on the scene performed a necropsy on the whale, and on Tuesday, officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries agency determined the cause of the whale's death.

Speed limits in the ocean?: Massive ships are killing endangered whales each year.

In this photo provided by Oregon State Parks, a dead sperm whale is seen washed up on the Oregon coast near Fort Stevens State Park in Clatsop County, Oregon on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023.

How did the sperm whale on the Oregon coast die?

Officials said the whale was killed after it was struck by a ship and then washed ashore.

"There was hemorrhaging, so that indicates that the animal was alive when it was struck," Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for NOAA Fisheries West Coast region, told the Associated Press.

Biologists performed the necropsy where the whale washed up, examining the animal and taking samples in order to learn about the health and condition of the whale.

Members of the NOAA's West Coast Marine Mammals Stranding Network removed the whales lower jaw and teeth in order to study them, but also to protect the remains from looters.

"Sperm whale teeth and jaws are very prominent and quite lucrative on the black market. We removed the jaws so it did not get liberated by other means," Milstein said.

The whale was an adult male around 20-year-old and "was generally in good health," Milstein said.

In this photo provided by NOAA Fisheries, a NOAA employee conducts a necropsy of a dead sperm whale beached on the Oregon coast near Fort Stevens State Park in Clatsop County, Oregon, on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, two days after it washed ashore.

An endangered species

Ships are one of the biggest dangers sperm whales face.

There have been few instances of ships striking sperm whales, according to the NOAA, but the animals are known to "raft" the ocean surface for around 10 minutes, making them more susceptible to hits.

The largest tooth whales in the world, sperm whales can be up to 60-feet long, weigh around 45 tons and live up to 60 years. They can be found throughout Earth's oceans, and usually are hunting for giant squid, sharks and other fish in the deep, dark sea waters, the NOAA says.

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The animal is listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act, as the population was badly decimated due to commercial whaling before the the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986. Officials believe the population is slowly increasing, but its unknown how many are alive worldwide.

More: 21-foot-long Orca whale dies after beaching itself in Florida

How can artificial intelligence protect whales?: Offshore wind company has a plan

What will officials do with the sperm whale's body?

Milstein said when whales wash ashore, they are often buried where they land. However he isn't sure if there is a plan to dispose of the carcass.

The whale's body remains on the beach, but the Seaside Aquarium advises beachgoers to only look at not touch the body.

"Any whale, dolphin, porpoise or pinniped can spread potential diseases to humans and pets," the aquarium said.

Contributing: Claire Rush, Associated Press

Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.

What's everyone talking about?: Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Endangered sperm whale found dead on Oregon coast was killed by ship
The Kremlin denied responsibility for a missile strike on a central Ukraine apartment building that has killed at least 44 people, including five children. Russia claims Ukrainian air defense systems caused the damage.

Hi, I'm Nicole with an update on Ukraine.

National Police Chief Igor Klymenko said search and rescue operations have been completed at the site of the nine-story building that housed about 1,700 people in Dnipro. Sixteen children were among the 79 people injured  28 of them hospitalized, 10 in serious condition, Klymenko said in a Facebook update.

Twenty people remain missing, including four children. Some people were trapped on upper floors, and some signaled for help with lights on their cellphones.

There is no doubt: Every person guilty of this war crime will be identified and brought to justice, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said. On Monday, Ukraine authorities began "criminal proceedings" against Russian soldiers blamed for the missile strike.

The Kremlin maintained the deadly civilian attack was Ukraine's fault:

The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "They strike military targets.

More on the Russia-Ukraine crisis:

Ukraines first lady Olena Zelenska scolded world leaders and corporate executives Tuesday at the World Economic Forums annual gathering in the snowy Swiss town of Davos for not all using their influence at a time when Russias invasion leaves children dying and a world struggling with food insecurity. Zelenska warned: We cannot allow a new Chernobyl to happen.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that his country's military would increase its forces from the current 1.15 million servicemembers to 1.5 million by 2026. He also pledged to increase the number of training grounds  including "in the new territories of Russia," apparently Ukraine.

First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska delivers a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 44 dead in Ukraine apartments rubble
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP)  An attack by the al-Shabab extremist group on a military facility north of Somalia's capital on Tuesday killed five soldiers, officials said. Somali troops repelled the assault, killing 21 al-Shabab fighters.

The group has claimed responsibility for the attack at the Hawaadley military facility in Xawaadley village in the Middle Shabelle region, 75 kilometers (about 45 miles) north of Mogadishu.

Somalias Chief of Defense Forces Gen. Odawa Yusuf Rage said that the attackers were repulsed by the brave Somali soldiers who were on high alert."

A senior military official, Col. Abshir Shataqey, was among those killed in the attack, Rage said.

Abdi Hassan, a soldier who was at the military camp, told The Associated Press that 12 soldiers were wounded. He said that the military had prior intelligence about the attackers, including their vehicle license plates.

Hassan said the morning attack started with a suicide car bombing at the camps entrance, and then two other suicide bombs exploded within the camp before a gunbattle ensued.

Somalias government is leading what is being described as the most significant offensive against al-Shabab in more than a decade.

The group has over the years held back the nations recovery from decades of conflict by carrying out brazen attacks in Mogadishu, and elsewhere.
Police outside of a home in Goshen, California. Tulare County Sheriff's Office via AP

A 6-month-old baby, her 17-year-old mother, and four others were killed on Monday in Goshen, California, in what law enforcement officials believe was an attack by a drug cartel.

"The level of violence ... this was not your run-of-the-mill low-end gang member," Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told the Los Angeles Times. The baby was found cradled in the arms of her mother, law enforcement officials said, and both had been shot in the head. An elderly woman and three men were also killed.

Authorities said the massacre could be linked to a narcotics-related search warrant carried out at the residence last week. A man was arrested, and it is not clear if he was one of the victims found on Monday, Boudreaux said. Because of their injuries, at least two of the victims will have to be identified by DNA testing, he added.

Two women who survived the attack told police that they spotted on surveillance cameras intruders coming onto the property. Authorities said they are searching for two suspects, but have not released any additional information. In a statement, Tulare County Supervisor Eddie Valero called the deaths "everyone's worst nightmare. These senseless acts of violence, especially with infants, children, and young adults, have no place in our communities."

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FORT PIERCE  St. Lucie County sheriff's detectives are investigating a shooting that left multiple people injured Monday during a Martin Luther King Jr. car show event.

The incident happened around 5:20 p.m. at Ilous Ellis Park, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Eight adults were shot and four others  one of whom was a child  were injured fleeing the scene, Tonya Woodworth, sheriff's spokesperson, confirmed Monday evening. One of the people shot was seriously injured, she said.

This is an ongoing investigation and the Sheriff's Office is actively working on leads, Woodworth said. As of 10 p.m. Monday, no one was charged for the mass shooting, she said.

Update:Woman dies after being shot at MLK Day car show in Fort Pierce, sheriff confirms

Here's what we know:Mass shooting at Fort Pierce MLK Day celebration leaves 1 dead

More from the shooting:Witness describes 'scary' scene in which 8 were shot Monday in Fort Pierce

More than 1,000 people were at the event, according to St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Brian Hester.

The event 772 MLK Car Show & Family Fun Day advertised live music, a local car show, kids bounce zone and more to honor and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from noon to 6 p.m., a calendar listing said on the City of Fort Pierce's website. The attached flyer said the car show was at 3:30 p.m.

There was at least one shooter, Hester said, adding he believes there is another involved. The shooting happened after a disagreement between two parties, according to a 10:30 p.m. update from the Sheriff's Office.

"Its sad that during celebration of someone who represented peace and equality that a disagreement resulted in a use of guns and violence to solve that disagreement," Hester said. "... So many innocent people were injured or hurt that were not part of the disagreement.

Mass shootings in 2023: MLK Day shooting in Fort Pierce is the 30th mass shooting in U.S. so far this year

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Two Sheriff's deputies were already on scene, working as security details for the event, Hester said. Neither of them saw who was shooting, he added.

Hester referred to the scene as mass chaos.

There were people laying behind cars, he said. It was kind of hard to tell who a victim was and who was just hiding.

This story will be updated as more information is released.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Fort Pierce, Florida shooting: 8 shot during MLK Day celebration
BERLIN (AP)  Police in western Germany carried Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and other protesters away Tuesday from the edge of an open coal pit mine where they demonstrated against the ongoing destruction of a village to make way for the mine's expansion, German news agency dpa reported.

Thunberg was among hundreds of people who resumed anti-mining protests at multiple locations in the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia a day after the last two climate activists holed up in a tunnel beneath the village of Luetzerath left the site.

The German government reached a deal with energy company RWE last year allowing it to destroy the village in return for ending coal use by 2030, rather than 2038. Both argue the coal is needed to ensure Germanys energy security that's squeezed by the cut in supply of Russian gas due to the war in Ukraine.

But environmentalists say bulldozing Luetzerath will result in vast greenhouse gas emissions. Germany is expected to miss its ambitious climate targets for the second year in a row.

Amid the heated coal debate in Germany, the European Union pushed forward on Tuesday with a major clean tech industrial project designed to boost its plans for a greener future as the 27-nation bloc pursues the goal of being climate neutral by 2050.

Elsewhere in western Germany, dozens of climate activists glued themselves to a main street in Germanys western city of Cologne and to a state government building in Duesseldorf. Near Rommerskirchen, a group of about 120 activists also occupied the coal railroad tracks to the Neurath power plant, according to police and RWE.

Those who refused to leave the tracks were carried away, dpa reported.

In addition, several people occupied a giant digger at the coal mine of Inden, while hundreds of other protesters joined a march near Luetzerath. The village itself was evacuated by the police in recent days and is sealed off.

Once again, there were a few clashes with the police.

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Several activists ran over to the Garzweiler open pit mine, according to dpa. They stood at the brink of the open pit, which has a sharp break-off edge. Police said it was dangerous and people were prohibited from staying there.

Thunberg had traveled to western Germany to participate in weekend demonstrations against the expanded mine and also took part in Tuesdays protest near Luetzerath. Police in nearby Aachen said a group of around 50 protesters got dangerously close to the rim of the mine and did not want to leave despite being asked to do so.

All the people in that group had to be carried away from the edge of the mine and were then temporarily held to determine their identities, police said. Photos from the scene showed Thunberg was one of those whom officers took away.

One protester was able to enter the mine, RWE said, calling the move very reckless, dpa said.

A police spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity as is customary in Germany, said he was not permitted to give out any details on Thunberg or any other individuals who participated in the protest due to privacy rules.

Police and RWE started evicting protesters from Luetzerath on Jan. 11, removing roadblocks, chopping down treehouses and bulldozing buildings.

Activists have cited the symbolic importance of Luetzerath for years, and thousands of people demonstrated Saturday against the razing of the village by RWE for the expansion of the Garzweiler coal mine.

___

Follow APs coverage of the climate and environment at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment
Jan. 16LEWISTON  Keith Hamilton Cobb, an actor and playwright, shared an evocative, rousing call to action Monday for an audience of hundreds in the Gomes Chapel to kickoff the college's first in-person Martin Luther King Jr. Day since 2020.

Best known for his roles in TV shows such as "All my Children" and "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda," Cobb also received acclaim for writing "American Moor," an off-Broadway play that examines race, Shakespeare and America.

"I don't suggest that any particular brand of activism is your job, or that if it is, it needs to be huge or sensational or internet worthy," Cobb said. "Rosa Parks simply said yes to saying no. And nothing was ever the same again.

This is simply to say, should it one day dawn on you that it is your job? As inconvenient as it may be, you say yes."

Activism, by its nature, is self-sacrificial, he said, noting that it can take many forms, both familiar and personal. Even "being wholly unapologetically who you are," is a form of activism, he said.

But too many people have lived their lives avoiding discomfort, rather than embrace the life's purpose that is revealed to them, he later said. "Your radical yes need not be of the immensity of Martin Luther King's."

He likened the world's current state to purgatory.

"Neither heaven nor hell, it is designed to be just comfortable enough for you to forget that you don't like it," Cobb said. "That is its very definition and its inherent danger. Here is where our exceptional societies go to die."

He challenged those in attendance not to "perpetuate sameness," but to create change.

"Nothing but more of what this is that we're living already comes of your silence, your complacence, your doubting of your own intellectual agency, your stifled creativity," he said.

"All men and women and the nonbinary are not created equal," Cobb said. "It's nonsense. What we are is equally human."

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The theme for Bates' MLK Day celebration this year was Art & Activism, the intersection of creation and change.

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Tyler Harper explained that it was an essay about civil disobedience written by poet and political activist Henry David Thoreau, which provided early inspiration for King, not a sociologist or political scientist as some might guess.

"As Dr. King would later account, 'Here, in this courageous New Englander's refusal to pay his taxes and his choice of jail rather than support a war that would spread slavery's territory into Mexico, I made my first contact with the theory of nonviolent resistance," Harper recited.

While Shakespeare may be little use in the operating room and reading Octavia Butler cannot teach us how to build a suspension bridge, Harper said that King "recognized the transformative power of art and activism, and of art as activism."

"Black activism has reshaped our ability to love, listen and care for one another in restorative ways," said Sam Jean-Francois, Bates Class of 2023. "Complacency is a technology of white supremacy. It teaches us that racialization, exploitation and globalized anti-Blackness are natural parts of life, rather than the disrupters that they truly are."

Beyond the keynote address, Cobb also led a viewing and discussion of his celebrated play, "American Moor," and facilitated a discussion about the legacy and racial politics of Shakespeare's infamous play, "Othello."

"Speak your whole truth with all your voice," Cobb implored. "Emerge from the wilderness and deliver your epistles irrespective of who is ready to hear them. You are the bringer of light and change, not the jackass whisperer."
Oleksii Arestovych, a non-staff adviser to Andrii Yermak, Head of the Presidents Office of Ukraine, has said that he has written a resignation letter after a "fundamental mistake".

Source: Arestovych on Facebook

Quote: "I have written a resignation letter. I want to show an example of civilised behaviour: a fundamental mistake [was made - ed.] , therefore I resign."

Details: Arestovych has written a letter to Andrii Yermak, the Head of the Presidential Office.

It is not yet known whether he has submitted a corresponding request to the Presidential Office and whether it has been granted.

The adviser also "made a joke" under his own post on the social network. According to Arestovych, the last time he wanted to resign, a full-scale invasion had begun.

After a Russian missile attack on a house in Dnipro, which has killed 44 people, Arestovych said that the missile was shot down by Ukrainian air defence forces, causing it to fall on a residential building.

Russian propaganda and officials picked up Arestovych's words.

After a public outcry, he had to apologise to Ukrainians and the victims of the attack.

For reference: Arestovych is known for his "calming videos" as well as the statement that active combat actions on the territory of Ukraine will end "within 2-3 weeks". His phrases (and even his photo) often become memes.

In 2017, Arestovych called the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) "a resort for boys". This statement caused a wave of outrage.

Background:

At the end of 2022, Andrii Yermak, the Head of the Presidential Office, said that Oleksiy Arestovych is in his place, has his own army of supporters, and communicates with them professionally.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!






ALBANY  Formerly incarcerated New Yorkers who are now making a difference in their communities will be honored Wednesday as advocates and lawmakers push for parole reforms.

Supporters of a pair of bills that would overhaul the states parole system will celebrate the accomplishments of those who have served time and are now making a positive impact as they gather at the State Capitol.

At the rally, state lawmakers will issue official proclamations to more than 30 of their formerly incarcerated constituents in recognition of their work and achievements post-prison, including mentoring young people, serving as HIV/AIDS peer counselors and addiction recovery specialists and running non-profits.

The planned action is part of a push for the passage of the Elder Parole and the Fair and Timely Parole bills, two long-sought measures that would streamline the parole process and make it easier for older inmates to become eligible for release.

Truly, its an honor to be able to formally recognize the incredible work of so many formerly incarcerated New Yorkers, whose contributions often go unseen, said Sen. Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn), chair of the Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee. Many of those receiving proclamations from their elected representatives experienced firsthand the failures of government policies for much of their lives.

According to the state Corrections and Community Supervision Department, more than 4,700 people in state prisons are considered older adults, meaning they are 55 or older.

The Elder Parole bill would allow the state Board of Parole to conduct an evaluation for potential release for incarcerated people ages 55 and older who have already served 15 or more years.

Last year, the Vera Institute of Justice reported that its review of 168 Parole Board hearing transcripts showed that most people who come before the board show significant signs of rehabilitation.

Roughly 10,000 people a year appear before the Parole Board. About 60% of those people are denied parole.

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In roughly 90% of those denials, the Vera report said, the board refuses parole at least in part based on the original crime or vague concerns about public safety.

Fair and Timely Parole would change the standards of parole, centering release on a persons rehabilitation while incarcerated, not on the original crime.

Vanessa Santiago served 17 years in prison and now runs GIA  Gift it Away, Inc., a mutual aid organization that provides free furniture and more to people in need.

I knew when I was released that I wanted to be an asset to my community and I havent looked back since, said Santiago, who also serves as a Queens community leader for the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign. Of course there have been challenges, but persistence breaks down resistance.

I organize with the RAPP Campaign because there are so many incredible women in prison I left behind, leading anti-violence programs and womens health programs and more, and I know they would do great work back home just like me if given the chance, she added.

Backers of the bills argue that passage of the two bills together would be especially important for minority communities, since the overwhelming majority of prisoners in New York are Black or Latino.

Currently and formerly incarcerated people have created some of the most effective anti-violence programs and victim awareness programs in our state, yet many are still languishing and dying behind bars with little or no hope of even being considered for release because of New Yorks outdated parole laws, said Jose Saldana, director of the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign.
PARIS (Reuters) -Most trains will be cancelled in France on Thursday, with flights also affected and Paris' subway heavily disrupted, as part of a nationwide strike against the government's plan to make people work longer before they can retire.

Opinion polls show a vast majority of French oppose the planned reform, which would see the retirement age pushed from 62 to 64, and Thursday will be a test of whether this can transform into a major headache for the government.

Unions have called workers to massively walk out of their job on Jan. 19 and take to the streets across France. The government has said it will stand its ground and called on workers not to paralyse the country.

Only one in three to one in five high-speed TGV lines will be operating, and only one in ten local TER trains, the SNCF train operator said.

International traffic on the Eurostar and Thalys lines is set to be nearly normal, while the Lyria connection with Switzerland will be heavily disrupted and other international train connections will be entirely cancelled.

In Paris, the vast majority of RER commuter trains will be cancelled, while three metro lines will be entirely shut down and many others will be disrupted, the RATP metro operator said.

Meanwhile, one in five flights to and from Paris' Orly airport are set to be cancelled.

The airport south of Paris, the city's second-largest, at this stage is the only one in the country where the strikes could lead to disruptions, a spokesperson for the DGAC aviation regulator said.

Seven out of 10 teachers will be on strike in primary schools, the leading union SNUipp-FSU said on Tuesday, while other sectors, from refineries to banks, are also set to be on strike.

France has a decades-long history of attempts to reform its pension system - one of the most generous and costly in Europe - and of protests to try to stop them.

That worked in 1995, when millions took to the street in what were the country's most disruptive social protests since May 1968. But several other pension reforms have gone through since despite protests.

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The legal retirement age will gradually increase to 64 from 62, while the number of years of contributions needed for a full pension will rise faster than previously planned and will be set at 43 years from 2027, according to the government's plans.

The reform is yet to be adopted in parliament, where President Emmanuel Macron does not have an absolute majority but is hoping to get the votes of the conservative Les Republicains.

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and GV De Clercq; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
By Abdi Sheikh

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Islamist fighters from al Shabaab on Tuesday stormed a military base in a part of central Somalia they were forced from last year, killing at least seven soldiers, including the base commander, an officer said.

Assailants from the al Qaeda affiliate rammed the base in the village of Hawadley with a suicide car bomb and then opened fire, Captain Aden Nur, a military officer in a nearby town, told Reuters.

"We repelled al Shaabab. We lost seven soldiers, including our commander," Nur told Reuters.

Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, saying it had killed "many apostate soldiers and their commander".

The base is located about 60 km (35 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu and was wrested from al Shabaab control in October last year by government forces and allied clan militias.

The offensive, which began in August, has made significant gains. On Monday, the government announced it had captured Harardhere, an al Shabaab stronghold on the Indian Ocean coast that it had held for a decade.

But as pressure on al Shabaab has grown, its fighters have struck back, stepping up gun and bomb attacks on the military and civilians, including in areas it has been chased from.

The group has been fighting since 2007 to topple Somalia's central government and impose its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

The insurgency has contributed to an acute food crisis in Somalia. More than 200,000 Somalis are suffering catastrophic food shortages, with some parts of central Somalia on the brink of famine.

(Writing by Elias Biryabarema; additional reporting by Feisal Omar; editing by Aaron Ross and Nick Macfie)
UPDATE: A 13-year-old shot and killed in Clairton has been identified.

Chase Jones of Clairton was identified by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner as the teen shot and killed Monday night.

Laquan Rich-Cabbagestalk, 13, been charged with homicide in connection to the shooting.

According to the complaint, Jones, Rich-Cabbagestalk, and two others were playing video games in a home in the 400 block of Wilson Avenue when the shooting occurred.

Rich-Cabbagestalk is enrolled in the Clairton City School District, according to court documents. The district is closed Tuesday, according to a post on their website.

Due to a tragedy that occurred in our community, school will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday January 17th. We thank you for your flexibility and understanding at this difficult time. Our condolences go out to all those involved. If your child is in need of counseling services, please contact your building principal, the message states, signed by Superintendent Dr. Tamara Allen-Thomas.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as information becomes available.

____________

ORIGINAL STORY: A teenager was shot and killed in Clairton Monday night.

According to Allegheny County 911, emergency crews were called to the 400 block of Wilson Avenue at 9:20 p.m.

Once first responders arrived, they found a teenage boy suffering from a gunshot wound.

He was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to contact Allegheny County police at 1-833-ALL-TIPS.

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MILAN (Reuters) - Amazon does not plan to cut any jobs in Italy despite a drop in volumes last year, trade unions said on Tuesday after a video meeting with a company representative.

Amazon.com Inc said earlier this month it planned to cut over 18,000 jobs globally and later disclosed it would shut three warehouses in Britain, sparking concerns there could be workforce reductions in other European countries.

Italian trade unions FIT-CISL, Filt-CGIL and UIL Trasporti said in separate statements that during the meeting, called in response to news reports, an Amazon Italy manager said there was no reason for Italian workers to worry.

The manager added that there would likely be cuts in the workforce in Britain and Spain, according to FIT-CISL.

Amazon Italy declined to comment on the meeting but said the company stood by the comments made by Chief Executive Andy Jassy on Jan. 5 about its plans to cut over 18,000 jobs.

(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, writing by Federico Maccioni; editing by Alvise Armellini, Jon Boyle and Jonathan Oatis)
By Allison Lampert, Jamie Freed and Doyinsola Oladipo

(Reuters) - U.S. and European airlines will benefit from pent-up demand for travel to China after its recent border reopening, but route approvals, fresh COVID-19 testing rules and not enough large aircraft remain barriers to rising sales, analysts and industry officials say.

Travel is returning to China, the world's largest outbound tourism market worth $255 billion in 2019, after the country ended mandatory quarantines on Jan. 8. Airfares from China are now 160% higher than before the pandemic, data from travel firm ForwardKeys shows, due to limited supply.

Iowa-based lawyer Jinying Zhan, 50, said he paid $1,600 for a one-way ticket in December to fly via Chicago and Dubai to Guangzhou.

"I haven't visited my family in three years, so I will go to the spring festival with my sisters," he said. "Flights were very expensive." Before the pandemic, he used to pay $1,000 to $1,500 for a round trip direct flight from Chicago.

A round-trip fare from San Francisco to Shanghai on United Airlines for a week-long trip in early March costs $3,852 in economy class and $18,369 in business class, according to a Reuters search on the airline's website.

Global airlines are running only 11% of 2019 capacity levels to and from China in January, Cirium data shows, but the figure is expected to hit 25% by April.

Booking website Expedia said it saw U.S.-China and Europe-China searches double after the reopening announcement.

Chinese airlines, with ample staff and widebody planes, and a cost and time advantage of roughly two hours from flying a more direct route using Russian airspace, are expected to be early winners.

But U.S. and European airlines, which have focused traditionally on the strong business travel market to China, and often cater more to the preferences of Western passengers, are poised to benefit from companies willing to pay a premium to rekindle face-to-face ties.

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Trips to China "are already on the books for many companies and travellers as they kick off a new business year," said Suzanne Neufang, chief executive of the Global Business Travel Association.

APPROVALS NEEDED

China's reopening comes as surging COVID infections have led the United States, Japan and others to require negative coronavirus tests from Chinese arrivals, discouraging travel.

Since regulatory approval from both countries is required to add flights, at a time of U.S.-China trade tensions, short-term capacity could be limited, industry sources said.

United, which had 584 flights to and from China in January 2019 according to Cirium, can now fly four times weekly from the U.S. to mainland China. United said it could add services pending government authorizations.

Since Jan. 4, Air China, Hainan Airlines and China Southern Airlines have filed schedules with the U.S. Department of Transportation proposing to increase flights to as much as daily on some routes.

"There are some things brewing," said U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg, but gave no further details on U.S. carriers adding more Chinese flights.

Foreign carriers seeking to add flights to China require approvals from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which did not respond to a request for comment.

American Airlines said this week it would fly non-stop from Dallas to Shanghai twice-weekly from March, dropping a current stop in Seoul. However, other flights were paused as it assessed market demand and government regulations.

Delta Air Lines expects to cautiously "rebuild capacity to China in line with demand starting later this year," President Glen Hauenstein said when the company reported quarterly results.

China, which accounted for about 5% to 6% of long-haul travel from Europe in 2019, is also a key market for some European carriers including Germany's Lufthansa, Bernstein analyst Alex Irving said.

But European and U.S. carriers may prioritize their widebody planes for lucrative trans-Atlantic travel this summer, leaving them stretched to accommodate fresh demand for China, said George Dimitroff, an analyst with Cirium.

Many Western airlines parked large planes when international traffic plunged and production of new twin-aisle jets has been limited.

(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal, Jamie Freed in Sydney and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington, Sophie Yu in Beijing, Nathan Gomes in Bangalore, Ilona Wissenbach in Frankfurt, Joanna Plucinska in London; editing by Ben Klayman and Chris Sanders)
Andrew Tate, left, and Tristan Tate arrive at a courthouse in Bucharest on January 10. DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images

Andrew Tate's bodyguard described life in his entourage in an interview while his boss is in jail.

Bogdan Stancu said Tate's Bucharest house thronged with women who thought they would marry him.

Fooling women with a fake relationship is part of the "loverboy method" authorities say Tate used.

Andrew Tate's bodyguard described how many of the women around him viewed the controversial influencer in an interview with the BBC.

Bogdan Stancu, who has worked at Tate's compound in Bucharest, Romania for two years, told the outlet the women around Tate thought they would marry him.

"Some of the girls misunderstood the reality and believed [they would] be his next wife," he said, describing their delusion.

Stancu speculated, without giving specific evidence, that this could have led to the allegations against Tate.

"When they realized the reality, it's easy to transform from a friend into an enemy, and make a statement to the police," he told the BBC.

Stancu also told the BBC that he continues to support Tate, who is in jail while Romanian police continue to investigate him.

There is another way to interpret Stancu's description of the women in Tate's circle. Wrongly believing you are in a relationship with somebody is a common feature of a type of human trafficking, which Romanian prosecutors have said Tate employed.

They said he used the so-called "loverboy" strategy to manipulate women into creating porn for his online business.

Romania's DIICOT investigations agency arrested Tate, his brother Tristan, and two Romanian women on December 29 for forming a criminal group. They face allegations of human trafficking and rape.

A press release by DIICOT posted after Tate's arrest cited the "loverboy" method, which Umar Zeb, a senior partner at the law firm J D Spicer Zeb Solicitors, told Insider is common in trafficking cases.

It works by "ensnaring vulnerable victims," Zeb said, and "tricking them into believing they are entering into a loving relationship."

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"Once the victims have essentially fallen in love, they are then coerced into various exploitative measures, including human trafficking for the sex industry," he said.

Andrew Tate's Bucharest compound. DANIEL MIHAILESCU/Getty Images

Tate has openly described how he recruited women for his business, in terms that closely resemble the loverboy method.

For example, on his now-deleted website, he said he would get women to fall in love with him so "she'd do anything I say, and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together."

Social media has played a huge part in enabling traffickers in the past few years, Zeb said when he spoke to Insider earlier for an article earlier in January.

"Not only can victims be sourced more widely due to the reach, the methods of coercion have changed," he said.

"What used to be a long-con, practiced over a lengthy time period, has now become a much quicker form of entrapment, as victims are threatened through blackmail, for example exposure of pornographic images, and violence."

Stancu told the BBC he would "never doubt Andrew" and called the women who have come forward with allegations "young and stupid."

Tate's lawyer Eugen Vidineac maintains that his clients are innocent, and disputes that there is any evidence against them.

Vidineac also told Romanian outlet Gandul that Tate is not the "violent, uneducated, abusive character" he is thought to be, and argued what he has said on social media should not be used as evidence against him.

Read the original article on Insider
Andy Cohen is explaining comments he made previously about Jen Shah, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City cast member who was recently sentenced to prison for her participation in a fraudulent scheme.

The clarification came after CNN host Chris Wallace grilled Cohen, 54, about his previous comments, speaking to the "Watch What Happens Live" host in a recent interview.

Wallace seemingly referred to a November US Weekly interview in which Cohen said he hoped Shah would not get jail time.

Why would you take her side against the thousands of people she defrauded? Wallace asked Cohen in their interview, which aired Jan. 15.

I think I was hoping that she was actually innocent, Cohen responded. I wouldnt have 

She pleaded guilty, Wallace interjected.

That was before she pled guilty, that I said that, I would think? Cohen said.

No, I think it was after, Wallace said.

Cohen told Wallace, Look, I dont know what the context of me saying that was, but I think that the context was, people kept demanding of me, what is her status with the show? And Im like, its up to the judge. Shes about to get sentenced to a lot of jail time.

On Jan. 17, Cohen further clarified his previous statements about Shah in a video in his Instagram story.

In his Instagram story on Jan. 17, Cohen addressed his previous comments about Shah. (@bravoandy via Instagram)

I got a lot of comments yesterday about the Chris Wallace interview, he said.

The thing thats getting picked up is that I said that I didnt think Jen Shah deserved jail time, or I didnt want her to get jail time, or something like that. I just want to clarify the context of what I said, he added.

I was saying it in response to people wanting to know if she was going to be back on the show, he continued.

I knew that there had to be some context, and I should have asked (Wallace) what it was because the context is different from the quote on its own, as often happens, Cohen concluded.

He then shared a screenshot of his quote to US Weekly about Shah from November 2022.

Shes being sentenced on Dec. 15, so I dont know what to say to people who want her on the show, he told the publication at the time. I hope that she gets no jail time whatsoever and she can come right back  but I have a feeling that shes not going to be available to be on the show.

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Shah, 49, was sentenced to more than six years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

The reality star was charged with participating in a telemarketing scheme that defrauded hundreds of people around the United States, according to a March 2021 press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York.

As part of the scheme, Shah and her assistant allegedly sold lead lists of contacts that their associates would then reach out to with so-called business opportunities that were, in reality, just fraudulent schemes, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a March 2021 statement.

Shah was arrested in 2021 while filming the second season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com
Shooting

A man shot and killed a fellow customer at a north Phoenix eatery's drive-thru after being confronted about his time ordering, court documents say.

Luis Fernando Parra Cruz, 39, of Phoenix has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Benigno Rivera Figueroa, 51, according to court documents. Parra Cruz was booked into jail Monday, and as of Tuesday morning, remained in custody on a $750,000 bond, jail records show.

Just before 4 a.m., officers responded to shooting at the Julioberto's Fresh Mexican Food Restaurant drive-thru, located at 229 E. Dunlap Ave., and found a man with a gunshot wound to his head, according to police and charging documents. He died there, police said.

A witness said a confrontation between Rivera Figueroa and his shooter ensued after Rivera Figueroa confronted the man in front of him at the drive-thru about "taking too long" at the window, according to court documents.

The restaurant's surveillance video showed Rivera Figueroa got out of his vehicle and approached the driver's side window of an SUV. He, briefly exchanged words with the driver and then punched the window pillar, according to court documents. The man in the SUV then pulled out a black semi-automatic handgun and "immediately" fired at Rivera Figueroa at close range, charging documents detailed.

The shooter was seen in the surveillance video talking with the drive-thru employee before driving off, according to court records.

Witnesses said the shooter asked whether there were surveillance cameras in the drive-thru, court documents show.

Investigators were able to identify Parra Cruz as their suspect through the license plate captured on the store's security video, according to charging documents.

When taken into custody, Parra Cruz said he was acting in self-defense, according to charging documents.

A .45 caliber handgun was retrieved from Parra Cruz's bedroom with investigators preliminarily linking it to the firearm used in the shooting at the restaurants, according to court documents.

Parra Cruz's next court hearing is set for Monday, court records show.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Argument about time spent at Phoenix drive-thru leads to murder, arrest
In the course of the past 24 hours, the Air Force of the defence forces of Ukraine carried out 10 strikes on clusters of manpower and military equipment, and a Su-25 attack aircraft was also shot down.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 18:16 on 17 January

Quote: "The enemy does not give up its intentions to seize Donetsk Oblast within the administrative borders. [Russian troops  ed.] are concentrating its main efforts on conducting an offensive on the Bakhmut front. [Russians] are conducting unsuccessful offensive actions on the Avdiivka front."

Details: During the day, the Russian occupiers launched four missile attacks, two of which hit a civilian target in the city of Kramatork, Donetsk Oblast. In addition, Russian forces launched 13 air strikes and carried out 23 attacks from multiple-launch missile systems.

On the Kupiansk and Lyman fronts, Russian forces try to improve their tactical positions; on the Novopavlivka, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson fronts, the Russians are on the defensive.

On the Volyn, Polissia, Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts, there are no significant changes, no signs of the formation of Russian offensive groups were detected. The Republic of Belarus continues to support Russian armed aggression, the rotation of Russian units undergoing training on the territory of Belarus continues.

Russians deployed mortars and artillery to attack the areas of the settlements of Mykolaivka in Chernihiv Oblast; Atynske in Sumy Oblast; Veterynaryne, Lukiantsi, Staritsia, Hatyshche, Vovchansk, Rybalkyne, Nesterne, Zemlianky, Bolohivka, Kamianka, Dvorichna in Kharkiv Oblast.

On the Kupiansk front, Russian troops fired in and around Kyslivka, Kotliarivka, Ivanivka in Kharkiv Oblast, as well as Novoselivske, Andriivka in Luhansk Oblast.

On the Lyman front, the enemy used the entire range of artillery to attack the areas of settlements of Ploschanka, Chervonopivka, Kreminna, Dibrova in Luhansk Oblast; Terny and Yampolivka in Donetsk Oblast.

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On the Bakhmut front, Russian troops used artillery to fire on the areas of the settlements of Verkhnokamianske, Vyyimka, Bilohorivka, Vesele, Soledar, Krasna Hora, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, Kurdyumivka, Druzhba, Zalizne, New-York in Donetsk Oblast.

On the Avdiivka front, Avdiivka, Vodiane, Nevelske, Heorhiivka, Marinka and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast came under Russian fire.

On the Novopavlivka front, Russian forces deployed artillery and mortars to attack the areas of the settlements of Vuhledar, Mykilski Dachi and Prechystivka in Donetsk Oblast.

On the Zaporizhzhia front, over 10 settlements were affected by artillery fire, in particular, Vremivka, Novopil in Donetsk Oblast and Temyrivka, Poltavka, Malynivka, Huliaipole, Mala Tokmachka, Novoandriivka, Shcherbaky, Stepove, Kamianske and Plavni in Zaporizhia Oblast.

On the Kherson front, occupiers continue terrorising civilians. In particular, Antonivka and Kherson were shelled by multiple-launch rocket systems, and civilians were injured.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Dan Evans clenches his fist during his victory over Facundo Bagnis (Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP) (AP)

Dan Evans overcame the heat and Argentinian Facundo Bagnis to battle into the second round of the Australian Open.

The British number two, who struggled with illness in the build-up to the tournament, was scheduled first up on what could be the hottest day of the fortnight.

He toiled for nearly three hours to open up a two-sets-to-one lead before the threshold was met for a suspension of play that lasted three hours.

On the resumption, Evans ensured he was not out on court for longer than was necessary, breaking serve in the seventh game for a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-4 victory.

The temperature was already above 30 degrees when play began, with Evans looking to repeat the result from the first round in 2017, when he defeated Bagnis in straight sets before making it to the fourth round.

The 32-year-old Argentinian is ranked 91st and has never won a main-draw match in Melbourne so on paper this was a kind draw but Evans made a poor start, dropping serve in his opening game.

He fought back well with a run of four games in a row but Bagnis was proving a dogged competitor and, although Evans recovered from 1-4 in the second set, a volley dumped into the tramlines allowed the Argentinian to level.

It was nip and tuck in the third before Evans gained the advantage with a break for 4-3, and he took the set before organisers announced the heat stress scale had hit five, the mark where continuing play outside is deemed dangerous.

Play finally resumed at 5pm, and Evans sealed the win after three hours and 29 minutes to set up a second-round clash with veteran Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Camila Giorgi answered questions about her vaccination status in a press conference at Melbourne Park (Vince Caligiuri/Tennis Australia/AP) (AP)

Italian player Camila Giorgi has denied obtaining a false Covid-19 vaccination certificate in order to compete in tournaments.

Italian media reported last month that a doctor, Daniela Grillone, had named Giorgi as one of the people who came to her seeking fake documentation.

Speaking for the first time about the allegations following a 6-0 6-1 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the opening round of the Australian Open, Giorgi insisted she had done nothing wrong.

The doctor has been investigated and she had troubles this year with the law a few times, said the 31-year-old, who is ranked 70th.

I did all my vaccination in different places. So the trouble is hers. Not me. So with that, Im very calm.

She (said) my name, of course, but there is more than 300 people who she give the names.

Several countries on the tennis circuit required players to be vaccinated to enter in 2021 and 2022, including Australia and the USA.

Giorgi admitted one of her vaccinations had been administered by Grillone and that she had used paperwork given by the doctor.

But she denied deliberately seeking out false documents, saying: No, not at all.

Giorgi, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2018, appeared not to understand when asked if she had attempted to check on the veracity of her vaccination or received an extra dose.
By Jasper Ward

(Reuters) - The Bahamas detained an increasing number of sea-borne Cuban migrants in 2022 compared with 2021, according to figures released to Reuters, as an economic crisis triggered an exodus from the Communist-run island.

The Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF) apprehended 623 Cuban migrants in 2022 compared with 17 the year before, according to RBDF figures provided to Reuters, with migrant interceptions picking up pace in recent months.

Cuban vessels typically end up in Bahamian waters after being blown off course or navigating the wrong way while trying to reach Florida.

Vessels are increasingly leaving from Cuba's central Ciego de Avila province, RBDF Commodore Dr. Raymond King told Reuters, an area that is closer to The Bahamas.

"The number of Cuban migrants intercepted thus far has increased significantly during the past two months," King said, noting that 61 Cubans have been intercepted in Bahamian waters so far this year.

Most Cuban migrants in 2022 arrived in the United States by the border with Mexico, though some still made perilous sea voyages.

The frequency of vessel departures from Ciego de Avila has increased from two to six vessels on average per day, King said. There were also more Cubans onboard each improvised vessel, with an average of eight to 20 people.

The expectation that the Biden administration would ease border restrictions known as "Title 42" was likely a factor in the increased migrant of 2022, he said.

But the United States in January expanded Trump-era restrictions to rapidly expel Cuban, Nicaraguan and Haitian migrants caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, while allowing up to 30,000 people from those three countries plus Venezuela to enter the country by air each month.

(Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Josie Kao)
Pekic / iStock.com

Gone are the days when you have to visit a physical bank branch to deposit a check, apply for a loan or open a credit card. And with the rise of online banks and neobanks, your choices of where to bank have expanded dramatically. But what does this all mean for you and your bottom line?

Find Out: What To Know If You Deposit More Than $10K Into Your Checking Account

Explore: Your Biggest Money Etiquette Questions Answered

Heres a look at how the evolution of the banking industry affects consumers.

Added Convenience and Flexibility

The banking industry has undergone significant changes in recent years, with a shift towards digital banking and an increasing focus on user-friendly tools and customer experience, said Dennis Shirshikov, finance and economics expert and head of growth at Awning.com.

Consumers now have access to their accounts 24/7 and can perform financial transactions whenever they want from wherever they are.

For many people, this has been a major convenience, as it allows them to manage their finances on the go and avoid the hassle of visiting a physical bank branch, Shirshikov said.

More Choices

Another change in the banking industry has been the increasing availability of financial products and services.

In the past, banks offered a relatively limited selection of financial products, such as checking and savings accounts, loans and credit cards, Shirshikov said. Today, banks and other financial institutions offer a much wider range of products, including investment products, insurance, and even online lending and wealth management services. This has given consumers more options and flexibility when it comes to managing their finances.

In addition to being able to easily access more financial products and services, the availability of more options allows consumers to comparison shop to find the best accounts for their needs.

Take Our Poll: Do You Think Bankruptcy Is an Acceptable Way To Escape Student Loan Debt?

Easier Access to Funds

Whether you want to take out a loan or send money to a friend, the rise of fintech firms has made giving and getting money much easier.

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Fintech firms have disrupted traditional banking models by offering innovative financial products and services that are often more convenient and cost-effective than those offered by traditional banks, Shirshikov said. For example, fintech firms have introduced new payment methods, such as mobile payments and peer-to-peer lending platforms, which have made it easier for consumers to manage their finances and access credit.

New Risks

While there are numerous advantages to being able to do all of your banking at the click of a button, there are also some risks involved.

The shift towards digital banking has introduced new risks, such as the possibility of cyber attacks or financial fraud, Shirshikov said. Its important for consumers to stay informed and be proactive in managing their finances to ensure that they are taking advantage of the benefits of the evolving banking industry while also protecting themselves from potential risks.

People Without Internet or the Non-Tech-Savvy Could Be Left Behind

Another downside of the shift towards digital is that this could leave some people without access to banking.

Theres an ongoing shift to digitize the banking industry, a concept which will take on a whole new reality as governments begin transitioning to central bank digital currencies, said Richard Gardner, financial technology expert and CEO of Modulus. This move will significantly affect consumers, particularly those who are aging and without technological access.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Banking 2023: How Bankings Evolution Is Affecting Your Money
The Indiana Senate race could perfectly encapsulate the Republican Partys internal struggles after a disappointing midterm. Jim Banks is diving into it first.

With Mike Braun retiring from the Senate to run for governor in the Hoosier State, Banks is maneuvering to overwhelm any opposition early. But the four-term congressman and his allies are still preparing for a possible clash with Mitch Daniels, a two-term governor of the state who is weighing a bid of his own.

I will be the first candidate in the race, Banks said in an interview about his bid for the seat. Mike Braun has been a good conservative senator and Indiana deserves a conservative senator to replace him.

Theres more on the line than just a safe red seat. After November midterm voters rebuked several Trump-aligned candidates, the GOP is wrestling with its identity.



The party is caught between two seemingly irreconcilable groups: a base animated by populist and provocative Trumpism, and influential independent and suburban voters. Indianas primary will be a vital marker for where the GOP ends up, regardless of whether Daniels runs. In some ways, the race has already begun, with Daniels already facing attacks from a wealthy outside group.

And already its apparent where the fault lines would lie in a Daniels vs. Banks match-up. While Daniels called for a truce on social issues more than a decade ago, Banks is a pugnacious culture warrior who says Daniels view of issues is way out of vogue in the Republican Party.

In the interview, he argued that social and cultural hot-button issues matter more than at any point in my lifetime. Hes vowing to prevent schools from teaching critical race theory, a framework that examines how racism has become ingrained in American institutions that most public schools deny teaching, and is pushing to restrict transgender athletes from competing in women's sports.

I'll never be calling for a truce on social issues or cultural issues," Banks said, noting that Hoosiers are "looking for a fighter in the United States Senate," not someone who would call for a truce.

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The 43-year-old Navy Reserve officer and former state legislator, who is known for his sarcasm and wry smile, has risen steadily in the GOP, forging close ties with Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the years and leading the conservative Republican Study Committee. His bid to become GOP whip fell short last month, instead steering his ambitions to the prime Senate opportunity.

Many Republicans see Banks as the favorite, but allies arent taking any chances. The conservative Club for Growth is running ads arguing that Daniels is not the right guy for Indiana anymore.

Its a development that actually makes the former governor and Purdue University president more likely to take on Banks, according to Mark Lubbers, a close friend and adviser. He accused Banks of being up to his eyeballs in the [Club for Growth] smear campaign.

For the sake of my friend Mitch Daniels, I hope he opts out of what these grifters have made of politics, Lubbers said. For the sake of my country, I hope Mitch runs and beats Banks to a pulp.

In an interview, Club for Growth President David McIntosh said hes prepared to spend $10 million or more in the race. He likened Daniels to former Gov. Pat McCrory (R-N.C.), who the Club attacked relentlessly in the 2022 North Carolina Senate race. McCrory lost in the primary to Ted Budd, then a House Republican, and Budd went on to win the general election.



If Mitch decides to run, it'll be like North Carolina, where it's the old Republican approach versus the new, more aggressive conservative base. And our donors are ready to take that on, said McIntosh, himself a former Indiana congressman.

The Republican Party has changed greatly in the 10 years since Daniels left the governors office, shifting more toward Banks ideology, particularly when it comes to successful primary candidates. And while Daniels has strong name recognition in the state, moderates dont exactly dominate the Indiana GOP.

Former Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) lost his 2012 primary to a more conservative rival, who then lost to a Democrat in the general election. This time, most Republicans think the primary is the whole ballgame.

I'm endorsing Jim Banks, said Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.). He's got the energy, hes got the conservative bona-fides.

Trumps now shaky stature within the GOP has Banks balancing his ties to the former president, walking a tricky line of seeking Trumps support and praising his past agenda while not yet fully embracing his presidential bid. Banks doesnt blame Trump for the GOP's underperformance in the midterms, instead castigating the party for not doing more when it last had congressional majorities.



In a private call last week, Banks recalled telling Trump: I'd be very glad to have his support if hed give it to me. We'd love to have him come to Indiana to campaign with me. He's very popular."

Daniels, on the other hand, spoke out when asked about MAGA Republicans in September.

Like many rising conservatives, Banks went from voicing reservations about Trump in 2016 to leaning heavily on his relationship with the heavy-fisted president.

He told POLITICO last July, before the midterms, that hed back Trump as soon as he gets in: If President Trump runs, he has my support. He echoed this view to other outlets as well days before the election, but then told Fox News Sunday afterward that hed save [his] endorsement for another place and time for the 2024 race.

When asked in the POLITICO interview about whether he would endorse Trump, Banks said hes focused on launching the Senate race and presidential politics will come later. He similarly demurred on whether he would support Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as GOP leader, calling it a hypothetical."



And though Braun voted against McConnell for leader and is one of the most conservative votes in the Senate, his Indiana colleague takes a different approach. Republican Sen. Todd Young voted for bipartisan marriage equality, gun safety and microchip laws last Congress.

Young will stay neutral in the primary and said Indiana is fortunate to have a deep bench of talented Hoosiers on the Republican side.

And the field could get more interesting. Former Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (R-Ind.) could throw his name in the ring, and second-term Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) has signaled interest in the seat.

I am not inclined to do it at this time, but many of my supporters would like me to still consider it, she said. I do not worry about who is in the race.

Still, she may refrain from running if Daniels wades into the race, according to two Republicans familiar with the dynamics.

Banks will make a show of strength this week, lining up endorsements from Reps. Pence and Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.). He is also expected to receive support from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who he describes as a model senator. McIntosh said while the Club for Growth likes Banks, it's not officially endorsing yet.

And Banks has a prime House perch as he fights for the Senate seat, leading the charge to push for spending cuts using the upcoming debt ceiling and government funding deadlines. He said his willingness to make moves like that will ultimately set him apart, whether or not Daniels makes the leap.

I have one of the most fiscally conservative voting records in the House or Representatives. And we need more of that in the Senate, Banks said.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  A trial in absentia opened Tuesday for Belarus' top opposition leader, who denounced the proceedings as a farce and urged the West to bolster support for the country's beleaguered opposition.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the main challenger in the August 2020 presidential election that extended President Alexander Lukashenko's rule and was rejected by the Belarusian opposition and the West as a sham.

Tsikhanouskaya, who left the ex-Soviet nation shortly after the vote under pressure from authorities, is on trial in absentia along with four other leading opposition figures. She is facing charges of high treason, conspiracy to seize power and undermining national security, and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Tsikhanouskaya said she learned from media reports about the closed-door trial, adding that she was unable to reach her lawyer appointed by the Belarusian authorities.

"It looks like farce," Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, where she is attending a global economic forum. I will be sentenced to years and years. The judge will give me so many years, as he is ordered to do.

In Washington, Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced the trial as politically motivated and said it relied on baseless charges.

He said in a statement that the State Department slapped U.S. visa restrictions on 25 individuals for their involvement in undermining democracy. Those targeted include members of the National Assembly of Belarus who approved legislation authorizing the death penalty for people convicted of attempted acts of terrorism, a charge Blinken said is used to repress and intimidate the democratic opposition and civil society.

We will not stand by as this regime continues to harass and repress peaceful protesters, the democratic opposition, journalists, unionists, activists, human rights defenders and everyday Belarusians, the statement said.

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In December 2021, Tsikhanouskaya's husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of organizing mass unrest and inciting hatred, allegations which he rejected. On Monday, the authorities leveled new accusations against him.

"The lawyer visits him once a week just to check if hes at least alive, because the conditions in prisons are awful," Tsikhanouskaya told the AP. He was put very often in punishment cells and when you are in prison, you do not have rights at all.

Her husband, a popular video blogger and activist, planned to challenge Lukashenko in the August 2020 vote, but was arrested in May 2020, two days after he declared his candidacy. Tsikhanouskaya, a former English teacher, ran in his place.

Tsikhanouskaya and other opposition activists rejected the official results that handed Lukashenko a sixth term in office as fraudulent. The vote triggered a months-long wave of unprecedented mass protests, the largest of which saw about 200,000 people taking to the streets of the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Lukashenkos government responded with a violent crackdown on demonstrations, arresting more than 35,000 and brutally beating thousands.

The authorities have continued their repression, and 1,438 people in Belarus are in prisons on politically motivated charges, according to human rights groups.

Tsikhanouskaya urged the West to state a clear strategy on Belarus and support the countrys opposition.

She emphasized that backing the opposition is particularly important because Russia used Belarus territory to invade Ukraine last Feb. 24 and stations its troops and weapons on Belarusian territory. Tsikhanouskaya noted that opposition activists in Belarus help gather information about Russian troop movements, adding that we deliver this information to Ukraine.

I dont want the world to overlook Belarus, to explain once again why Belarus is important, that without a safe, free, democratic Belarus, there will not be stable peace in the region," Tsikhanouskaya said.

___

Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.
By Tom Balmforth and John Irish

(Reuters) - Belarus put exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on trial in absentia on treason charges on Tuesday, in what the outspoken critic of veteran leader Alexander Lukashenko said would be a "farce and a show".

Tsikhanouskaya, 40, fled Belarus after running against Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election which was followed by mass protests over alleged electoral fraud. She faces a possible jail term of up to 15 years.

Following a crackdown on protesters, she became the head of an opposition-in-exile and denounced the election after Lukashenko, in power since 1994, declared himself the winner.

Tsikhanouskaya, who now lives in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, told Reuters in the Swiss resort of Davos that she did not expect the trial to be fair.

"In Belarus there are no honest trials. We live in absolute lawlessness in our country so tomorrow's trial will be a farce and a show but not real justice," Tsikhanouskaya said on Monday in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

She said she had asked for the necessary documents from the court-appointed lawyer, but had not received anything.

The BelTa state news agency said the trial had started on Tuesday morning. Tsikhanouskaya and several others were to be tried on charges of treason and attempting to seize power, the court said before the trial.

"Tsikhanouskaya, while on the territory of the Republic of Lithuania, proclaimed herself the winner of the last election... and the only national leader elected by the Belarusian people," the General Prosecutor's Office said.

A day before the trial was due to begin, Belarus brought new criminal charges against Tsikhanouskaya's jailed husband, a 44-year-old video blogger, who was arrested in 2020 while attempting to run for office against Lukashenko himself.

His arrest prompted Tsikhanouskaya to run for office in his place despite having no public profile, and she was allowed onto the ballot.

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Rights activists estimate about 1,500 people are in jail in Belarus on politically motivated charges. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia who has been in power since 1994, is a pariah in the West and a close ally of Russia.

Belarus also put rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski, and two others, on trial this month on charges of financing protests and smuggling money. They could face from seven to 12 years in jail on charges of financing protests and smuggling money.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kyiv and John Irish in Davos; Editing by Timothy Heritage)
As the world's elite convenes in Davos, Switzerland, for the 2023 World Economic Forum (WEF), all eyes will be on the attendees gathering to discuss top political and economic issues.

President Biden won't be among the WEF guests this year, though the U.S. is sending a delegation of officials. Meanwhile at home, the impending debt limit crisis continues to loom over Washington.

Here are the top three stories in politics to watch this week:

Sen. Chris Coons, Gov. Brian Kemp, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Sen. Joe Manchin, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, and Rep. Mikie Sherrill attend a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Biden skips Davos

President Biden is skipping the World Economic Forum and instead sending a delegation of officials, including Labor Secretary Marty Walsh and climate envoy John Kerry.

Former President Trump did not attend the WEF in 2019 but appeared at the gathering of world elites in 2018 and 2020, despite pressure from his former adviser Steve Bannon to not be seen as too much of a globalist by attending the forum.

With the exception of Trump's attendance, Biden skipping the event is not unusual for presidents in recent decades: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush all skipped Davos during their presidencies.

A number of senators will be in attendance, however. CNBC reported that Sens. Chris Coons (D-DE), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) are attending this year's meetings.

Yellen to meet with Chinese Vice Premier

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He while traveling abroad in Zurich, Switzerland, on Wednesday, marking the first time Yellen will meet with her Chinese counterpart.

The meeting this week follows up Biden's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last November on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia. It comes as China has faced increased scrutiny over its zero-COVID policies that prompted rare protests within the world's second-largest economy.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks at the Treasury Department in Washington, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

The U.S.-China talks also follow news that China's population shrank by 850,000 last year to 1.4 billion people  the first time China's population has declined since the 1960s, according to CNN.

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New economic data showed that China's GDP grew by 3% in 2022, which beat analysts' expectations slightly but still notched the second-worst year of GDP growth in China since 1976, according to the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. nears debt limit

The U.S. is expected to hit its debt limit on Thursday, according to a letter Sec. Yellen sent to Congress at the end of last week. The Treasury Department will use "extraordinary measures" to keep paying the government's bills on time, but that will likely run out sometime toward the end of the summer.

The so-called "X Date," when the government can no longer fulfill its obligations, is set to kick off what could be the most contentious political policy battle in quite some time.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy speaks to members of the news media outside of a Steering Committee meeting at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, U.S., January 11, 2023. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Conservatives argue that there should be cuts to entitlement programs, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is signaling that Republicans will push to reduce government funding.

Lets sit down together  lets look at the places that we can change our behavior, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said in an interview on Fox News. Why would we sit back and be so arrogant to say, No, theres no waste in government?

But that argument is not getting much traction from Democrats: "Fiscally demented" was how President Biden described Republicans on the issue when speaking at a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day breakfast in Washington on Monday.



Kevin Cirilli is a visiting media fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub and the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. Follow him on LinkedIn here.

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The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) launched the first-ever National Strategy to Advance Equity, Justice and Opportunity for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) Communities.

On Tuesday, a virtual event was hosted to release and discuss the latest strategy, which comprises action plans from 32 federal agencies, including all 15 executive departments in the Presidents Cabinet.

In the summer of 2022, the agencies began action plans aligned with the Biden-Harris Administrations broader equity agenda, representing a historic first for the federal government.

More from NextShark: Journalist critical of Duterte and Marcos administrations shot dead in the Philippines

Senior Biden-Harris Administration officials and national community leaders discussed issue areas highlighted in WHIAANHPIs annual report and efforts to address anti-Asian hate, prioritize data disaggregation, promote language access and ensure an equitable COVID-19 recovery.

Today signifies a historic commitment across government to advancing equity, justice and opportunity for our communities, said actor Daniel Dae Kim, a member of the Presidents Advisory Commission on AA and NHPIs.

More from NextShark: China's 'Internet Queen' Sparks Outrage After Giving Baby Her Husband's Last Name

Over the last few years of the pandemic, we have seen a disturbing uptick in violence and hate disproportionately affecting Asian American women and elders. From Atlanta to New York City to Dallas to San Francisco, our communities have experienced pain and trauma with lasting mental health impacts, including depression and anxiety. But history has also taught us how resilient and strong our communities are, and how the richest of our stories and lived experiences make up the very fabric of America.

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We hope this government approach gives our community access to resources, programs, funding and much needed support as our nation continues to recover from the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, he concluded

The 54-year-old actor also urged the AA and NHPI communities to engage in the strategy by sending in ideas and feedback to the federal government.

More from NextShark: 'Person of Interest' in Attacks of 3 Elderly People in Oakland Chinatown Identified, In Police Custody

On May 28, 2021, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14031 as anti-Asian hate surged throughout the nation, re-establishing and reinvigorating the WHIAANHPI.

During his administration, Biden directed the development of a government-wide interagency plan to advance equity, justice and opportunity for AA and NHPI communities.

The WHIAANHPI focuses on seven strategic priority areas of concern:

More from NextShark: Video of China plane carrying 132 passengers shows nosedive before mountain crash

Priority 1: Promoting belonging, inclusion, and combating anti-Asian hate and discrimination

Priority 2: Data disaggregation for AA and NHPI communities

Priority 3: Language access for AA and NHPI communities

Priority 4: Promoting equitable and inclusive COVID-19 response and recovery efforts

Priority 5: Capacity building for AA and NHPI communities

Priority 6: Federal workforce diversity

Priority 7: Outreach and engagement to AA and NHPI communities

Under the new strategy, information from the federal government will now be accessible in different languages to help the AAPI community.

The Internal Revenue Service developed landing pages on IRS.gov in 20 foreign languages, including Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, Khmer, Japanese, Urdu, Arabic, Gujarati, Bengali, and Punjabi.

Federal agencies have also begun working to provide greater funding to the AAPI community. In the last two years, the Small Business Administration has provided over $5 billion worth of loans to AAPI business owners. Federal spending from the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Agriculture on Hawaii and the Pacific Islands have also increased by over $80 million.

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On Monday morning, thousands of residents flooded the historic Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in southeast Washington, D.C. -- the throughway for the city's annual peace walk and parade in commemoration of the late civil rights icon.

More than 120 organizations registered to participate in the parade, the event's first return to force since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

"Just don't give up the fight. And that's what it means for me today," Denise Rolark Barnes, co-chair of the MLK Holiday DC Committee, told ABC News.

PHOTO: Attendees at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day peace walk and parade in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2023. (ABC News)

PHOTO: A large group gathers to watch a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, Jan. 16, 2023. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

"We have to continue to support each other, to fortify ourselves in the best way that we can," Barnes said of the significance of Monday's event.

Organizers also warned of the commercialization of the national holiday that to many may be seen as more of a day off from work and school than a moment to reflect and engage in activism.

"The holiday, as they say, is not a day off -- it's a day on," said Philip Pannell, executive director of the Anacostia Coordinating Council.

"Dr. King said everyone can be great because everyone can serve. So if people can do something to help make this a better community, then we're keeping the spirit of Dr King alive," Pannell said.

The peace walk and parade, attended by hundreds of area organizations and thousands of participants, commenced at the R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center, where groups geared up for a music-filled march ending at Anacostia Park in southeast Washington.

The parade and walk featured bands and choreographed dance troops, and community organizations set up stands offering free food, coffee and personal care products for attendees.

PHOTO: Philip Pannell, executive director of the Anacostia Coordinating Council, and Rev. Dr. Wanda Thompson of the Ambassador Baptist Church discuss the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day peace walk and parade in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 16, 2023. (ABC News)

PHOTO: People sing during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, D.C., Jan. 16, 2023. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Across Washington, President Joe Biden commemorated the holiday alongside Rev. Al Sharpton at the National Action Network's annual breakfast for King.

In a keynote address, Biden touted the work that he said his administration has undertaken to improve the lives of Black and brown Americans.

"We have a lot of unfinished work to do though," he said. "A lot of unfinished work. We have to keep building on it and defend our progress because of this new Congress."

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Biden, who also gave a sermon on Sunday at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist, where King had preached, highlighted investments in historically Black colleges and universities and Black-owned small businesses.

He told the audience, including civil rights leaders and members of Congress, that the United States stands at an "inflection point" on King's project of racial equality.

Martin Luther King III, right, the son of Martin Luther King Jr., accompanied by his wife Arndrea Waters King, left, speaks during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, Jan. 16, 2023. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

Biden received robust applause after noting his historic nomination of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the high court. "She's about the smartest one of all of 'em," he said.

Of what he called unfinished promises, Biden said he didn't want to hear a word from "the other side" about his college student debt forgiveness program, which is being challenged in court. He criticized Republicans for what he called efforts to stall debt cancellation that would largely benefit Black students, 70% of whom, he noted, receive Pell grants that would be wiped out completely if his program is enacted.

"The path is clear: To go forward, we need to go together. So let's be guided by Dr. King's light," Biden said, "and by the charge of scripture which is 'let us never grow weary in doing what is right.'"

PHOTO: President Joe Biden speaks to supporters at the National Action Network's Annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast, Jan. 16, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris marked the holiday at George Washington University, where she participated in a leadership and service event alongside students and staff and Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

Harris said the holiday was an opportunity to "work toward the ideals upon which our nation was founded, that we still have yet to achieve but we get closer each day when we believe in what is possible."

And at the National Mall, King's son Martin Luther King III, Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield and others gathered for a wreath-laying ceremony at King's memorial.

ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

Biden, Harris and thousands of DC residents celebrate MLK at local events originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
WASHINGTON (AP)  Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday that his country plans to "join the U.S. and Germany's efforts to train and arm Ukraine with advanced Patriot defense systems.

Rutte signaled the Netherlands' intentions at the start of a White House meeting with President Joe Biden. The Dutch defense ministry said that Rutte's announcement came after Ukraine had asked the Netherlands to provide Patriot capacity.

We have the intention to join what you are doing with Germany on the Patriot project," Rutte told Biden. I think that its important we join that."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that the Netherlands had agreed to send Ukraine a Patriot battery. "So, there are now three guaranteed batteries. But this is only the beginning. We are working on new solutions to strengthen our air defense, Zelenskyy said.

Rutte, who said he also spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday about the potential assistance, was more vague about the commitment in his public comments. He told Dutch broadcaster NOS that his government is in talks about what exactly it can contribute. The Dutch military has four Patriot systems, one of which is not in service, according to the defense ministry.

The idea is not only training, but also equipment, Rutte told NOS. He added that the Dutch military is now reviewing what exactly we have, how can we ensure that it works well with the American and German systems.

He added during a forum at Georgetown University that the decision was a recognition that we all have to do more as Ukraine enters a critical phase in the war.

Rutte spoke about the potential assistance as Ukrainian troops arrived at Oklahomas Fort Sill Army base to begin training on operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense system. The Patriot is the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks.

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Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said that training will last for several months, and train 90 to 100 Ukrainian troops on how to use the Patriot missile system.

Biden also used Tuesday's meeting to discuss U.S. efforts to further limit Chinas access to advanced semiconductors through export restrictions.

The administration has been trying to get the Netherlands on the same page since the U.S. Commerce Department announced in October new export controls aimed at China. The restrictions are intended to limit Chinas ability to access advanced computing chips, develop and maintain supercomputers, and make advanced semiconductors.

Together were working on how to keep a free and open Indo Pacific, and quite frankly the challenges of China," Biden said at the start of the meeting.

Administration officials have reasoned that the export restrictions are necessary because China can use semiconductors to create advanced military systems including weapons of mass destruction; commit human rights abuses; and improve the speed and accuracy of its military decision making, planning and logistics.

The Netherlands-based tech giant ASML is a major manufacturer of lithography machines that design and produce semiconductors. China is one of ASML's biggest clients.

CEO Peter Wennink played down the impact of the U.S. export control regulations soon after the administration unveiled them last fall. ASML said last year that it expected company-wide 2022 sales to be around 21 billion euros.

The U.S. has also been in talks with Japan on tougher export restrictions to limit the sale of semiconductor manufacturing technology to China. Rutte's visit comes after Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week for talks.

The U.S. and Japan, in a joint statement following meeting, said the two sides agreed to sharpen our shared edge on economic security, including protection and promotion of critical and emerging technologies.

Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin last week called on Japan and the Netherlands to resist U.S. pressure.

We hope the relevant countries will do the right thing and work together to uphold the multilateral trade regime and safeguard the stability of the global industrial and supply chains, he said. This will also serve to protect their own long-term interests.

Biden praised Netherlands as one of the United States strongest allies, and one that's proven very, very stalwart in its support for Ukraine since Russia launched in its invasion in February. The Netherlands has committed about $2.7 billion (2.5 billion euros) in support for Ukraine this year. The money will be spent on military equipment, humanitarian and diplomatic efforts.

The Netherlands providing Ukraine with Patriot assistance  whether the weapons systems, missiles or training  would be a major move for the NATO ally.

The training of Ukraine forces now underway in Oklahoma is to focus, in part, on how to maintain the battery that will be sent by the U.S. to Ukraine once training is complete. Each system has multiple components, including a phased array radar, a control station, computers and generators, and typically requires about 90 soldiers to operate and maintain, however only three soldiers are needed to actually fire it, according to the Army.

Some of the ongoing maintenance support, once the Patriot is on the battlefield, will be done remotely, Ryder said.

The Dutch prime minister, for his part, praised Biden for leading the international effort to back Ukraine.

I am convinced history will judge in 2022 if the United States had not stepped up like you did things would have been very different, Rutte said.

___

Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers Lynn Berry, Tara Copp and Colleen Long contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after meeting his British counterpart on Tuesday that Washington welcomed apparent progress in talks between Britain and the European Union aimed at resolving a post-Brexit trade row over Northern Ireland.

Blinken and Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly's talks at the State Department in Washington focused on support for Ukraine in its war with Russia but also touched on issues including ongoing talks regarding Northern Ireland.

Blinken reiterated the U.S. position that there must be a negotiated settlement that is acceptable to all sides.

"And we're heartened that in recent days the United Kingdom and the European Union have made substantive progress toward a negotiated solution," Blinken told a news conference after the meeting.

Cleverly told reporters he updated Blinken on the negotiations, which he said were "conducted in good faith with a genuine desire to get resolution to these important issues."

U.S. President Joe Biden, who often speaks with pride of his Irish roots, has underscored the importance of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement that ended decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland, although U.S. officials say Washington will not take sides over the rift.

Britain and the European Union agreed on Monday to press on with talks, despite gaps remaining between the two sides, amid renewed optimism after months of deadlock and hostility.

(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Josie Kao)
(Bloomberg) -- A few Brazilians following Jair Bolsonaro in Florida, where hes been on vacation since before his term ended last year, have one message to the former Brazilian president: dont go home.

Most Read from Bloomberg

A group with about a dozen supporters gathered outside the home where he has been staying in Orlando, according to a video published by Brazilian website Metropoles on Monday. It was a throwback to his years in office, when Bolsonaro often had informal chats with supporters when coming in and out from his official residence in Brasilia.

In the video, a smiling Bolsonaro cites a list of his government achievements to the group, who cheer him on with comments like youre the best. While the former president said last week he was planning on cutting his vacation short after a brief stint at a local hospital, he didnt acknowledge when one of his fans told him not to return to Brazil, where he is now being investigated for allegedly inciting rioters who stormed the nations capital on Jan. 8.

Bolsonaros presence in the US is becoming a growing headache for President Joe Biden. In as letter last week, 46 congressional Democrats urged him to expel the conservative leader from the country, writing that the US must not provide shelter for Bolsonaro after supporters incensed by his allegations of voter fraud ransacked government buildings in Brasilia.

Read More: Brazil Ups Pressure on Bolsonaro With Probe, Minister Arrest

Bolsonaros former Justice Minister Anderson Torres, who was also vacationing in Florida, was arrested upon landing in Brasilia on Saturday as part of an investigation into his alleged role in Jan. 8 attacks.

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In the video, which runs nearly 2 minutes, Bolsonaro said he fells sorry for what happened on Jan. 8, an unbelievable thing. Wearing a puffer jacket, he also said he had a few missteps while in government, without going into details.

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The Telegraph

The precise veracity of the large cache of intelligence documents that have apparently been leaked from the Pentagon might be open to question, but there can be little doubt about the negative impact that they are having on Ukraines war effort. Even if the release of the documents turns out to be part of a clever disinformation campaign by the Kremlins cyber-trolls, it could nevertheless prompt Ukraines high command to rethink its long-planned counteroffensive against Russian forces.
By Sachin Ravikumar

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain will seek to ban conversion therapy targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, cracking down on so-called treatments that claim to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Culture minister Michelle Donelan said on Tuesday the government would publish draft legislation soon, setting out proposals to ban conversion practices in England and Wales.

"The Bill will protect everyone, including those targeted on the basis of their sexuality, or being transgender," Donelan said in a statement.

Conversion practices, which may include extreme or harmful methods, are aimed at suppressing or preventing a person from being gay or existing as a gender different from the sex recorded at birth. A 2017 national LGBT survey people found that 5% of respondents had been offered conversion therapy and 2% had undergone it, with over half of it done by religious groups.

The British government said in 2021 it would introduce a ban on conversion therapy for LGBT people to prevent "abhorrent practices which can cause mental and physical harm", but later decided the ban would only cover lesbian, gay or bisexual people.

Donelan said on Tuesday the draft legislation will aim to cover transgender people as well, and that the government will ask for pre-legislative scrutiny of the bill by a joint committee.

Many campaigners have long called for a ban on conversion therapy, but others have argued that any ban should not outlaw conversations with clinicians or therapists helping people with gender issues.

"The legislation must not, through a lack of clarity, harm the growing number of children and young adults experiencing gender related distress, through inadvertently criminalising or chilling legitimate conversations parents or clinicians may have with their children," Donelan said.

Over two dozen health and counselling groups signed an updated memorandum of understanding last year, agreeing that "conversion therapy, whether in relation to sexual orientation or gender identity, is unethical and potentially harmful."

Separately, Britain said on Monday it would block a bill passed by Scotland's devolved parliament that makes it easier for people to change their legal gender.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James and Bernadette Baum)
The British comedian and podcaster Konstantin Kisin helped win over the crowd at a recent Oxford Union debate on wokeness by focusing on the example of climate activists who prefer showy displays of victimhood, such as the defacing of priceless works of art, to pragmatic approaches to addressing the problem.

There is only one thing we can do in this country to stop climate change and that is to make scientific and technological breakthroughs that will create the clean energy that is not only clean but also cheap, Kisin said during his remarks. The only thing wokeness has to offer in exchange is to brainwash bright young minds like you to believe that you are victims, to believe that you have no agency, to believe that what you must do to improve the world is to complain, is to protest, is to throw soup on paintings.

My speech at the Oxford Union is finally available. The debate was "This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far". As promised, I didn't hold back  pic.twitter.com/yV0bAPqAQB  Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) January 13, 2023

Kisin laid much of the blame at the feet of progressives for ignoring the environmental policies of non-Western countries such as China and India despite their status as leading global contributors of CO2 emissions.

If Britain was to sink into the sea right now, it would make absolutely no difference to the issue of climate change. You know why? Cause the future of the climate is going to be decided in Asia and Latin America: by poor people who couldnt give a sh** about saving the planet.

Since the residents of developing countries will never sacrifice quality-of-life gains to combat climate change, the West should focus on innovating new technology that will make green energy cheaper, rather than pushing people to consume less energy, Kisin argued.

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Kisin followed the prominent American public intellectual James Lindsay. Although Lindsay is an outspoken critic of wokeness, he argued against the motion. Its not just that wokeness has not gone too far, Lindsay told the audience. It cannot go too far.

Prior to the debate, campus reporting revealed that Oxford Union president Ahmad Nawaz had faced stiff internal opposition for hosting the discussion.

One member, Kajaanan Vijitharan, told the university paper that the main reason for her departure was that I could not justify serving under a President whom I believed to be morally reprehensible. One example that comes to mind is, when the motion This House Believes Woke Culture Has Gone Too Far was proposed, multiple members of committee  raised to the Presidents attention that the motion pandered to a right-wing ideology.

The debate resonated with a raucous audience that interjected occasionally to note objections and saw Kisins side carry the motion by a margin of 89-60, the Oxford Student reported.

Oxford Union, which defends the principle of free speech, is celebrating its bicentennial this year. The group reportedly held a motion on the right to offend earlier

More from National Review
Suspected mass killer Bryan Kohberger should get an F in his criminology class after the damning affidavit laid out evidence linking him to the murders of four University of Idaho students, according to a prominent criminal defence attorney.

Duncan Levin, the former assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DAs office and attorney at Levin & Associates who has represented clients including Harvey Weinstein and Anna Delvey, spoke exclusively to The Independent about the strength of the criminal case against the 28-year-old PhD student.

Based on the evidence outlined in the probable cause affidavit, Mr Levin said that Mr Kohberger did a poor job of covering his tracks and that the prosecution has a very strong case against him.

In short he should get an F in criminology class, he said. He did not do a good job of covering his tracks.

Mr Kohberger, who is presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial, is facing the death penalty for the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at a student rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on 13 November.

He was tied to the murders through DNA evidence, cellphone data, an eyewitness account and his white Hyundai Elantra, according to the bombshell probable cause affidavit released earlier this month.

At the time of his 30 December arrest, Mr Kohberger had just completed his first semester as a PhD student in criminal justice at Washington State University.

For years, he had shown a keen interest in criminals and the criminal mind, studying criminology at DeSales University in his home state of Pennsylvania  first as an undergraduate and then finishing his graduate studies in June 2022  before moving to the Washington-Idaho border town of Pullman to begin his PhD program.

While at DeSales, he studied under renowned forensic psychologist and leading expert on the BTK killer Katherine Ramsland and also carried out a research project seeking to understand how emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime.

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But, despite the suspects knowledge of the criminal justice system, Mr Levin said that the affidavit indicates investigators were able to find several damning pieces of evidence all pointing to him as the lone suspect.

Its an exceedingly detailed probable cause affidavit and frankly its pretty surprising that the prosecutors would include the level of detail they included in it, he said.

Bryan Kohberger enters Latah County Court in Moscow on 12 January for his status hearing (AP)

Usually probable cause affidavits are very bare bones as at the early stage of the investigation the police and prosecution dont want to lay out the entire case to the defence.

Here it was unusually detailed and I have to say looking at it it is a perfect case of where theres smoke theres fire.

He added: Theres so many damning pieces of evidence. The information here all points to Kohberger as the only person to have committed the crime.

The DNA evidence is one very, very important piece of information, Mr Levin said.

The affidavit revealed for the first time that a knife sheath had been left behind at the crime scene on the bed next to the bodies of Mogen and Goncalves.

DNA found on the sheath was matched to Mr Kohberger, using DNA obtained from trash taken from his parents home and a genetic genealogy database.

As well as the DNA evidence, cellphone data suggests that Mr Kohberger stalked the student home at least 12 times in the run-up to the night of the murders, according to the affidavit. The exact dates and times of these instances were not revealed in the affidavit but all bar one were in the late evening or early morning hours.

At the time of the murders, investigators believe Mr Kohberger then turned his cellphone off in order to try to avoid detection.

However, cellphone data places him close to the home on King Road at around 9am on 13 November  suggesting that he returned to the scene of the crime just hours after allegedly murdering the four victims at around 4am.

One of the victims surviving roommates was also able to partially describe the killer to investigators after she came face to face with him in the home. Her description matched that of Mr Kohberger.

Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle left to right (Zach Wilkinson/Moscow-Pullman Daily News/AP)

He was also tracked down through his white Hyundai Elantra, after investigators said a vehicle matching that description was spotted at the crime scene at the time of the murders.

On their own, each piece of evidence can be picked apart at trial, said Mr Levin  but altogether it makes an extremely tight case.

Any one of these could be drawn apart and attacked but when you put all of these strands together, you get an extremely tight case so far and it is still ongoing, he said.

We dont know for example if theres more DNA in the Elantra. I expect the prosecution will take his car down to the studs and you cant possibly clean a car well enough these days to outsmart technology.

Further evidence  and the cases that both the defence and the prosecution plan to lay out  will likely remain under wraps until Mr Kohbergers next court appearance in the summer.

The preliminary hearing was scheduled for 26 June at the request of Mr Kohbergers attorneys.

The entire week has been set aside for the hearing  when evidence of the case against Mr Kohberger will be laid out for the first time in court and when he is likely to enter a plea on the charges.

Until then, Mr Kohberger will be held behind bars at Latah County Jail after the judge ordered him to be held without bail.

The motive for the murders is unknown and it remains unclear why Mr Kohberger allegedly targeted the victims, with no known connection between the four students and the suspect. The murder weapon  a fixed-blade knife  is also yet to be found.
Generally, when a single insider buys stock, it is usually not a big deal. However, when several insiders are buying, like in the case of Cipherpoint Limited (ASX:CPT), it sends a favourable message to the company's shareholders.

While insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing, we do think it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing.

Check out our latest analysis for Cipherpoint

Cipherpoint Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when insider Carl Charalambous bought AU$254k worth of shares at a price of AU$0.024 per share. So it's clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price than the current share price (being AU$0.006). While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. We always take careful note of the price insiders pay when purchasing shares. As a general rule, we feel more positive about a stock if insiders have bought shares at above current prices, because that suggests they viewed the stock as good value, even at a higher price.

While Cipherpoint insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. The average buy price was around AU$0.006. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

There are always plenty of stocks that insiders are buying. So if that suits your style you could check each stock one by one or you could take a look at this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Insiders At Cipherpoint Have Bought Stock Recently

It's good to see that Cipherpoint insiders have made notable investments in the company's shares. In total, insiders bought AU$198k worth of shares in that time, and we didn't record any sales whatsoever. This is a positive in our book as it implies some confidence.

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Does Cipherpoint Boast High Insider Ownership?

I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Cipherpoint insiders own about AU$2.1m worth of shares. That equates to 36% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Cipherpoint Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. But on the other hand, the company made a loss during the last year, which makes us a little cautious. Insiders likely see value in Cipherpoint shares, given these transactions (along with notable insider ownership of the company). So while it's helpful to know what insiders are doing in terms of buying or selling, it's also helpful to know the risks that a particular company is facing. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 6 warning signs for Cipherpoint (of which 5 are concerning!) you should know about.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

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.

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McDaniel gets a boost from GOP donors

While Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel may be facing a challenge to her leadership in the GOP, theres one group that she can count on for support: donors.

In a letter obtained by The Hill, more than 150 Republican donors came out in support of McDaniel as she seeks another term as RNC chair, saying that her role in beefing up the partys fundraising and voter registration efforts should be enough to earn her another two years at the helm.



Ronna is a tireless fundraiser and a trustworthy steward of donor resources, the donors wrote in the letter, which was sent to RNC members. We are confident her continued leadership will put us in the best position to conduct a smooth and victorious 2024 Presidential election.

As investors in the Party and successful leaders in our businesses and communities, we believe Ronna should be elected to another term to continue this important work, which she will do with skill and determination, they added.

The letter was a much-needed show of support for McDaniel by some of the GOPs most prominent funders. Among those who signed on to the letter were mega-donors like Steve Wynn and Liz Uihlein, as well as former Trump administration officials like ex-Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and former Ambassador to Slovenia Linda Blanchard.



The context: McDaniel, who was hand-picked to lead the RNC by former President Trump after he was elected in 2016, is facing an open rebellion from many in the GOPs right flank. RNC members are set to meet in Dana Point, Calif. next week when theyll decide whether to give her another term as chair or replace her with someone else.



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Two other hopefuls are running for McDaniels job: RNC committee member Harmeet Dhillon and pillow salesman Mike Lindell, who has become one of the most vocal proponents of Trumps false claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him. Dillon is seen as the more serious challenger to McDaniel, and has also received public support from another group of Republican donors.

Also worth noting: Trump isnt taking a stance, despite his close relationship with McDaniel, telling the conservative podcast The Water Cooler on Monday that he would leave McDaniel and Dhillon to fight it out.

The 2024 Senate map

Its no secret that 2024 is shaping up to be a tough year for Senate Democrats. Theyre defending more than twice as many seats as Republicans are, including in a handful of GOP-leaning states. Whats more, at least one Democratic incumbent, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), is retiring, and there are questions about whether others will do the same.

Heres a quick look at the eight Senate seats that appear most likely to change party hands in 2024:

Arizona: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) is facing challenges from both sides after she left the Democratic Party to become an Independent. A three-way race could give Republicans a better chance to flip the seat.

Michigan: Stabenows retirement gives Republicans an open seat to target, while Democrats still have to figure out who they want to succeed the longtime senator.

Montana: Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) hasnt yet said whether he will run for reelection in 2024. At the same time, Montana isnt exactly a swing state. Trump carried it in 2020 by more than 16 points, while Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) won reelection that same year by 10 points.

Nevada: Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) is facing her first reelection bid in the state that played host to one of the closest Senate contests in the country last year.

Ohio: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) won reelection in 2018 in a state that has lurched to the right in recent years. But Ohio has only continued to move toward Republicans since then, and Brown likely has a steep challenge ahead.

Pennsylvania: Democrats may have pulled out a win in Pennsylvanias 2022 Senate race, but the states a perennial battleground that is sure to be a top priority for both parties come 2024, when Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) will face reelection.

West Virginia: Like Tester, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) hasnt said whether he will run for reelection in 2022. If he decides to retire, it would almost certainly take the seat out of play for Democrats, given West Virginias deep-red hue.

Wisconsin: Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) will face reelection in another perennial battleground where voters just reelected Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a conservative Trump ally, in November.

CHICAGO MAYORAL CANDIDATES READY FOR DEBATE

Some of the countrys largest cities are set to elect their top executives this year, and topping the list is Chicagos mayoral race.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is seeking a second term in office after making history in 2019 when she was elected as Chicagos first Black lesbian mayor. But shes frustrated many progressives, who say that shes failed to deliver on her promises after nearly four years in office.

Lightfoot now faces eight challengers, including Rep. Jesus Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.), who appears to be her most formidable opponent. All nine candidates are set to meet for a debate on Thursday, giving them a chance to make their case to voters ahead of the Feb. 28 election.

It appears unlikely that the race will end then. A candidate must receive at least half the vote to win the election outright, and given the crowded field of candidates, that would seem to be a tall order.



If no candidate emerges victorious on Feb. 28, the race will head to an April 4 runoff between the two top vote-getters



Of course, Chicago isnt the only big city with a mayoral election this year. Houston, Philadelphia, Dallas and Denver are all slated to select new mayors in 2023. Caroline has a breakdown of those races here.

DOLAN JUMPS INTO 2024 OHIO SENATE RACE

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) officially has his first big-name challenger.

Ohio state Sen. Matt Dolan jumped into the race for Browns seat on Monday. Dolan previously ran for his states other Senate seat last year, but came in third place in the primary. Republican J.D. Vance ultimately went on to win that race against now-former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio).

A lot can change in thirty years, but in that time Sherrod Browns commitment to his party has remained the same, Dolan said in a statement. Together with Joe Biden, Sherrod Brown has kicked Americas problems down the road for a generation. Their time is up.

Thats it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hills Campaign page for the latest news and coverage. See you Thursday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
A 10-month-old baby and his 16-year-old mother have been identified among the six victims shot dead in a cartel-style execution in a home in Goshen, California.

Alissa Parraz and her infant son Nycholas Nolan Parraz were found in a ditch outside the home in the early hours of Monday morning. Both victims had been shot in the head, the young baby found cradled in his mothers arms.

Police said that it appeared the mother had been trying to flee when she and her son were killed.

Parrazs grandfather Samuel Pina told the Associated Press that he cant wrap my head around what kind of monster would do this, as he confirmed that Parrazs uncle, her dads cousin, and her grandmother and great-grandmother were also killed.

Mr Pina said Parraz and her baby were living with her fathers side of the family in Goshen at the time of the attack.

In a heartbreaking Facebook post, Parrazs mother Shyla Pina spoke out about the pain of losing her daughter and grandson who she was yet to meet.

My heart is broken I am lost for words my beautiful daughter Alissa Parraz was only 16 teen and handsome grandson that I never got to meet in person was only 10 months old my kids family I hurt for u I dont wish this one any one, she wrote.

Alissa mommy loves u and my grandson so much I miss u more then u know, I wish u were here in my hands.

Investigators believe that two gunmen entered the address in Harvest Road, Goshen, and fired multiple rounds in the early hours of Monday morning.

The Tulore County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said at a press conference that officers were called to the home just after 3.30am local time to reports of multiple shots fired.

Actually the report was that an active shooter was in the area because of the number of shots that were being fired, he said.

Teen mom and infant son killed in Goshen shooting (Facebook)

Officers arrived on the scene to two victims dead on the street, and a third victim in the doorway.

Three more victims were then discovered inside the home, one of whom was still alive and rushed to hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

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In totaln, six people were killed while another two people who were inside the home survived after hiding from the gunmen, officials said.

Investigators are searching for at least two experienced kilers who targeted the family.

We also believe this was not a random act of violence. We believe this was a targeted family, said the sheriff.

The attack is believed to be gang-related, he added, coming just one week after police executed a search warrant for drugs at the family home.

The search resulted in one arrest and the seizure of guns, marijuana and methamphetamine.

I think its specifically connected to the cartel. The level of violence  this was not your run-of-the-mill, low-end gang member, said the sheriff, adding that the killers who what they are doing.

If [they] are specifically shooting everyone in the head, they know what they are doing ... [and] they are comfortable with what they are doing, he told The Los Angeles Times.

Goshen is a semi-rural community of about 3,000 residents 35 miles southeast of Fresno in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley.
HONG KONG  China said Tuesday that its population declined last year for the first time in six decades, a historic shift with profound implications for the worlds second-largest economy.

Officials from the National Bureau of Statistics said mainland China had 1.41175 billion people at the end of 2022, compared with 1.41260 billion a year earlier, a decrease of 850,000. There were 9.56 million births  a record low birth rate of 6.77 per thousand  and 10.41 million deaths.

The announcement was part of a larger release of economic data for 2022, a year when President Xi Jinpings strict zero-Covid policies weighed heavily on growth. Officials reported a 3% increase in gross domestic product, beating expectations but still one of the weakest figures in decades.

The economy is expected to improve in 2023 as China emerges from pandemic isolation, Kang Yi, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a news briefing in Beijing. He also said that Chinas population decline was not cause for worry and that the overall labor supply still exceeded demand.

The number of births in China has been declining for about a decade, undermining the ruling Communist Partys consumption-driven growth model and raising questions about whether China can overtake the U.S. as the worlds largest economy. The United Nations has said India will surpass China as the worlds most populous nation later this year.

Chinas 9.56 million births are a decrease of almost 10% from 2021, when about 10.6 million babies were born. The death rate of 7.37 per 1,000 people was up from 7.18 in 2021, when China recorded 10.14 million deaths.

As in other countries, a decline in births means an aging work force for China, which built its economic might largely on a manufacturing sector dependent on cheap labor. Officials said Tuesday that working-age people ages 16 to 59 made up 62% of the national population  down from about 70% a decade ago  while people 60 and older accounted for almost 20%.

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A major reason for Chinas declining population is the rise of the middle class, said Kent Deng, a professor of economic history at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Once you have well-qualified, well-educated urban people, they will decide not to produce a lot of kids, he said, especially given Chinas rising cost of living.

Covid is also believed to have played a role, although China appears to have experienced the vast majority of its cases and deaths in the last few months. After international criticism that it has not been transparent about the severity of its current outbreak, China said over the weekend it had recorded almost 60,000 Covid-related deaths since early December, when it abruptly ended three years of anti-Covid measures after rare mass protests. Experts say the true death toll could reach 1 million or more in the coming months.

Chinas total number of deaths from all causes in December is not yet known, Kang said, and is not reflected in the 2022 population statistics.

The figures announced Tuesday are the start of what is expected to be a long decline in Chinas population, which the U.N. says could reach 800 million by the end of the century. The U.S. population, by contrast, is predicted to grow from its current 337 million, mostly through immigration.

The worlds overall population reached 8 billion in November, according to the U.N.

Although populations are declining in many countries, this is the first time Chinas population has contracted since 1961, after a three-year famine spurred by then-leader Mao Zedongs Great Leap Forward industrialization drive, which is estimated to have killed tens of millions of people.

The country then experienced explosive growth through the second half of the 20th century, its population more than doubling. Concerned that overpopulation could hurt development, Chinese officials introduced a number of reproductive restrictions centered on the one-child policy, which was in force from 1980 to 2015.

While the one-child policy was effective in curbing population growth, critics say it resulted in rights abuses and a disproportionate number of men compared with women, especially in the countryside. It also fundamentally changed Chinese ideas about family size, Deng said, as parents realized they could achieve upward social mobility by investing more in educating a single child.

They can see the result, because they can send their kids to the best schools and then to the best universities, he said.

Chinese officials have anticipated the demographic crisis, allowing couples to have two children since 2016 and up to three children since 2021. A national policy document issued last year encouraged employers to provide child care and flexible working arrangements and local governments to offer preferential housing and other incentives. Xi promised additional measures to increase the birth rate at a party congress in October.

But the public has largely responded with indifference. A study published last year by the YuWa Population Research Institute, a think tank based in Beijing, found that Chinese peoples desire to have children was among the lowest in the world.

On Tuesday, the hashtag boosting enthusiasm for childbearing begins with reducing the burden was a top trending topic on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform.

The best way to reverse the trend, Deng said, is to provide family allowances of the kind offered by some governments in Europe.

You need a lot of resources to persuade the young Chinese that it is actually profitable to have a second child, he said.

The relative lack of support makes motherhood especially unappealing to young urban women like Beijing resident Nora Yang, who said she is 80% against having her own children.

The working environment is really unfriendly to mothers, said Yang, 24. Once they have a baby, its really hard to make more progress in their career.

Yang agreed with Deng that the government is not doing enough to change her mind.

If Chinese officials really want to encourage children, they should give money to those who have more babies, she said. Otherwise theyll fail.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
By Brenda Goh and Mark John

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - China's Vice-Premier Liu He welcomed foreign investment and declared his country open to the world on Tuesday after three years of pandemic isolation.

Liu's explicit pitch to global leaders gathered in Davos made it clear China wants international investors to play a key role in Beijing's attempts to revive its slowing economy.

"Foreign investments are welcome in China, and the door to China will only open up further," Liu, a top economic tsar and confidant of President Xi Jinping, said.

His speech to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting mentioned "strengthening international cooperation" and "maintaining world peace" 11 times.

Liu made his speech as the release of new population data sounded an alarm on a demographic crisis with profound implications for the world's second largest economy.

New GDP data also showed economic growth slumped in 2022 to the worst level in nearly half a century.

Liu's visit to the Swiss ski resort is the first trip abroad by a high-level Chinese delegation since Beijing abruptly began dropping its "zero-COVID" curbs that shielded its 1.4 billion people from the coronavirus last month.

That policy also cut off China from the rest of the world for the past three years, stifling foreign investment.

At Davos, Liu is sitting down with CEOs of finance, tech, consumer and industrial companies, a Chinese official familiar with the matter told Reuters. He will also meet other world leaders.

In his speech, Liu said he had caught up with many old friends, having last attended Davos in 2018. Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers told Reuters he spoke with Liu on Monday for more than an hour, without giving details.

On Wednesday, Liu will meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in Zurich for their first in-person meeting, although they have met virtually three time since she took office.

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Liu's speech was another sign of Beijing's increased engagement with other countries in recent weeks. A recent thawing of relations with Australia paved the way for China to resume imports of Australian coal after a three year halt.

And in November, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden met on the Indonesian island of Bali where they agreed to follow-ups, including a planned visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken in early 2023.

The visit by the high-level Chinese delegation to Davos also contrasted with the conspicuous absence of Russia, a key ally whose invasion of Ukraine China has refused to condemn.

WILL THE WEST BITE?

China's relations with the U.S. and its allies have grown more tense throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with Beijing and Washington sparring on issues from technology to Taiwan.

The bosses of global investor Fidelity International and accountancy giant EY on Tuesday were among the business leaders attending Davos who voiced concern about a potential decoupling of the two economies.

Liu's speech was aimed at addressing investor concerns, said Xingdong Chen, Chief China Economist and Head of BNPP Markets.

"Liu He, on behalf of Xi, wants to clarify the policy confusion and misunderstanding, and to reassure the world China will continue the market-oriented reform and opening."

The speech, he said, explained key concepts the ruling Communist Party has been pushing, such as the Chinese model of modernization and common prosperity.

"It seems the new leaders are reversing leftward policy changes and re-embarking on Deng Xiaopings line of reform and opening," he added.

Whether global investors and leaders buy into China's new sales pitch remains to be seen.

U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton, also in Davos, said he was highly worried about China's stance on Taiwan. Moulton, a Democrat, said the shift in tone did nothing to allay his fears.

Earlier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Europe must seek to work and trade with China, rather than decouple from it.

But she cautioned that Chinese subsidies were restricting access to the clean tech sector for European companies.

In addition to zero-COVID, the Chinese economy has been squeezed by a crisis in its vast property sector and a wide-ranging regulatory crackdown on sectors from technology to education, which have in turn hit foreign investment sentiment.

Liu referred to efforts by Chinese authorities to resolve a liquidity crunch in its real estate sector. He also said the country would continue to promote entrepreneurship and support the private sector, echoing recent signals from top Chinese officials that they would ease the crackdown.

Beijing was confident that China's economy would likely return to its normal growth trend in 2023 and was expecting more imports, corporate investment and consumption, he added.

He also called for more international cooperation, saying that more attention should be paid to the negative spillover effect of major countries' rate hikes on emerging markets and developing countries. He did not name the United States or the ECB, which have both hiked interest rates to stem inflation.

Asked about China's current COVID situation, Liu said that it was now steady and described the speed at which people were recovering as a surprise.

After lifting curbs, China has been hit by a wave of COVID cases that has emptied pharmacies, overwhelmed hospitals in many parts of the country and prompted some countries to impose entry restrictions on travellers from China.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh and Mark John; Additional reporting by Lananh Nguyen in Davos, Eduardo Baptista and Ma Rong in Beijing; Editing by Leela de Kretser and Alexander Smith)
A popular reality TV star convicted of fraud and tax evasion is set to serve her sentence in a Lexington prison.

Julie Chrisley, 50, the star of her familys show, Chrisley Knows Best, was scheduled to begin her seven-year sentence at the Lexington Federal Medical Center on Tuesday at noon. Chrisley Knows Best is a reality show that followed the Georgia family, formerly known for their wealth acquired by real estate. The show ran for nine seasons.

FMC Lexington is an administrative security federal medical center with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp serving 1,360 inmates, according to their website.

According to court documents, she was sentenced to seven years in prison for 10 charges related to bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, tax evasion, wire fraud, and obstruction.

She was allowed to self-report to the facility, court documents state. Chrisley was originally supposed to serve her sentence at a facility in Florida.

Her husband, Todd Chrisley, 53, was also sentenced to 12 years in prison for similar crimes. He also self-reported on Tuesday to a minimum-security prison in Pensacola, Fla.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro said Monday he would not accept any "order for the arrest" of his defense minister after a Guatemalan prosecutor accused the official of illegal acts.

Earlier on Monday, the head of Guatemala's Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity Rafael Curruchiche said his unit would begin "legal actions" against Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, a former UN anti-corruption investigator in Guatemala.

While Curruchiche announced arrest warrants for several individuals, including Guatemala's former Attorney General Thelma Aldana, he did not say Velasquez had been issued one.

Instead, the prosecutor said Velasquez would need to answer for "illegal, arbitrary and abusive acts" relating to an investigation into alleged bribery involving the Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht.

Velasquez, 67, led the UN-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala from 2013-2019, drawing global attention in 2015 for the body's investigations into a criminal ring that implicated Guatemala's then-president, who resigned and was arrested.

Velasquez "showed how to fight against corruption and we won't permit corruption to come after him," Petro wrote on Twitter, adding that he had summoned Colombia's ambassador in Guatemala to discuss the issue.

On Monday, Velasquez issued a statement on the "alleged investigation," saying that he had not been notified of any requests from Guatemalan authorities involving him.

"I have the peace of mind that the work carried out in the Central American country was done with total transparency and within the legal framework that supported CICIG's operations," Velasquez said in the statement.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Boyle; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Queen Elizabeth II, left, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on July 10, 2018. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry spills more British tea than a certain band of revolutionaries did 250 years ago  with results that may be just as upsetting to the current monarch as the Boston Tea Party was to George III.

Many wondered if the tell-all, published last week, would contain enough new revelations to sustain public interest in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, whose six-part docuseries Harry & Meghan premiered just last month on Netflix. The answer, so far, is a resounding yes: Spare is breaking sales records and has inspired more breathless headlines than virtually any other book in recent memory.

When it comes to juicy anecdotes, Spare is anything but: No tidbit is too salacious, too trifling or too controversial to make the cut. The erstwhile prince writes about losing his virginity to an older woman in a field behind a pub, tripping on mushrooms in Courteney Coxs bathroom and sexy rendezvous with his now-wife, the former Meghan Markle, early in their courtship. He also offers more sobering details, like the exact number of people he killed while serving in Afghanistan (25) and the belief he clung to for many years that his mother, Princess Diana, did not die in a Paris car crash but had actually disappeared.

And he is unflinching when it comes to his family, portraying the Windsors as a cold, dysfunctional and ruthless clan in which hugs are beyond the pale but leaking stories to the Sun about your own kin is standard practice. In Harrys telling, Charles is detached and relentlessly self-serving, William dull and peevish and Camilla a conniving stepmother straight out of Disney-villain central casting.

For all his anguished soul-baring and scandalous confessing, though, Harry cant bring himself to identify, much less condemn, the real source of his woes: the monarchy itself. As I eagerly gobbled up every gossipy morsel about wedding seating Harry was willing to share, I kept waiting for him to go there and critique the institution that fostered such wild entitlement and bitter resentment in the first place.

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Instead, he spends nearly 400 pages building a de facto case against the very concept of a hereditary sovereign  surely no one would choose to have an emotionally stunted dilettante like Charles in charge if they could  but ultimately dodges the very pertinent questions he raises about the dynasty he once epitomized.

For Harry, frostbitten todgers are fair game, but the M word is apparently the last real taboo.

No one wants to hear a prince argue for the existence of a monarchy, any more than they want to hear a prince argue against it, he writes in the closing pages of Spare. My emotions are complicated on this subject, naturally, but my bottom-line position isnt. Ill forever support my Queen, my Commander in Chief, my Granny. Even after shes gone. My problem has never been with the monarchy, or the concept of monarchy. Its been with the press and the sick relationship thats evolved between it and the Palace.

The claim that Harry  who called his book Spare, after all  has no problem with the concept of a hereditary monarchy, one that almost inevitably pit him against his older brother and his father against them both, seems disingenuous.

He devotes many of the memoirs pages to detailing the ways, overt and subtle, he was made to feel disposable and inferior from the moment of his birth, for no reason other than William got there first. Early on, Harry recalls how their bedroom at Balmoral was divided into two halves  his brothers larger and more luxuriously appointed. Later, in adulthood, this tension curdles in unexpected ways. William, allegedly resentful that he didnt get to pick what he wore on his own wedding day, tries to bully Harry into shaving his beard. Charles does not come off any better, looking the other way as his wife, Camilla, allegedly feeds stories to the tabloids about her stepsons in exchange for favorable coverage and constantly putting his personal interests ahead of theirs because, well, he can.

The pettiness described in Spare is staggering, with inane disputes over lip gloss rising to near-constitutional crises. And British republicans, sensing a moment of opportunity to revive their campaign against the monarchy after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, have glommed onto the ugly family drama.

Copies of "Spare" displayed at a book store in London earlier this month. (Kin Cheung / Associated Press)

This row is destroying the monarchy and any sense of mystery or mythology that has sustained it in the past. We can now see very ordinary, unimpressive people who are prone to quick tempers, fits of violence and petty jealousies, said Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchist group Republic, in a recent press release. Harry has also highlighted the cruelty of an institution that raises children according to a rigid pecking order, telling the younger ones they must always defer to the rights and rank of their siblings. This is no way to raise a family, it is no way to govern a country."

Indeed, it doesn't take a child psychologist to know that Harry grew up in an unhealthy environment, deprived of physical affection while being made to perform for the cameras. No matter how much you might love someone, you could never cross the chasm between, say, monarch and child. Or heir and spare. Physically but also emotionally, he writes. The older generation maintained a nearly zero-tolerance prohibition on physical contact. No hugs, no kisses, no pats. This, apparently, included moments of intense tragedy, like Dianas death. (Harry got a hand on the knee from his father.) When William embraced Harry upon his return home after a scary incident on the front lines in Afghanistan, it amounted to a flamboyant, unprecedented display of physical affection.

Whether hes being willfully naive or is simply in denial, Harry also seems to believe there is a meaningful distinction between the British press and the institution of the monarchy. Yet the two organisms share a deeply symbiotic relationship, and function as interdependent parts of a system that preserves wealth and power for a scant few. Saying my problem is not with the monarchy, its with the press is like saying my problem is not with sharks, its with their teeth.

And, on some level, Harry knows the institution is difficult to defend in a democratic, post-colonial era. As James Holt, a former palace spokesperson who now runs the Archewell Foundation, says in the first episode of Harry & Meghan: When you actually put [the monarchy] under pressure and you say that there is a family anointed by God, by blood, to rule over this country and other countries around the world, its a difficult conversation to have. And so in order for the institution to survive, it has to modernize, but it also has to have mass popular support.

That support, in turn, depends on a constant stream of publicity  most of it the good kind, celebrating the lavish weddings, jubilees and funerals but also the countless dutiful ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Put another way: The royals need the press to cover all their good deeds, otherwise we might start asking where those tiaras came from.

And this dependence on publicity breeds paranoia and resentment within the family. Harry recalls a particularly tense Christmas at Sandringham, marred by bitterness over the Court Circular  the annual record of the royal familys official engagements, which inspired the press to draw conclusions each year about who was a lazy mooch and who was a workhorse. Maybe the stress around all this stemmed from the overarching stress about the monarchy itself, Harry writes. The family was feeling the tremors of global change, hearing the cries of critics who said the monarchy was outdated.

Harry may be reluctant to condemn the institution more forcefully because of how fully he seems to have internalized the imperialist mindset. He devotes nearly a third of "Spare" to his military service in Iraq and Afghanistan, without thoroughly contemplating the role of the British Empire in their histories. And some of the more cringeworthy passages in Spare pertain to his experiences in Africa, a continent he seems genuinely to love but writes about using naive cliches: In Africa all distance dissolved. All creatures mingled freely. He even admits to considering getting a tattoo of Botswana on his foot during a drunken trip to Las Vegas. Instead, he winds up back in the tabloids after losing a round of strip poker.

Since they walked away from royal life three years ago, Harry and Meghan have assiduously rebranded themselves as progressive-ish celebrity philanthropists and multimedia entrepreneurs. Meghans Spotify podcast Archetypes aims to dismantle the labels that try to hold women back, while the docuseries Live to Lead, their second project at Netflix, earnestly profiles left-leaning icons like Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

They earned their liberal cred, such as it is, by distancing themselves from an archaic institution and calling out unfair treatment Meghan received based on her race, class and gender. Yet the Sussexes have yet to renounce their royal titles. In an otherwise friendly interview for 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper pointedly asked why they hadnt taken this final step. The (still) Duke of Sussex responded with a shrug: And what difference would that make?

The answer is: a big one.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Republican lawmakers unveiled a series of policy proposals in Hartford on Tuesday aimed at reducing energy costs, increasing reliability and strengthening oversight of utility companies.

Under their plan, Republican leaders said Connecticut families would save $362 million each year during a time of soaring fuel costs and rate hikes.

Individuals are facing unbelievable choices in their life because they cant afford a basic necessity in this state, Senate Republican Leader Kevin Kelly said. We can do better, particularly now when we have the resources to meet that challenge. But we have to look at both short-term and long-term solutions.

Republicans said their plan would immediately slash charges for all energy customers, diversify the states grid in the long term by expanding green energy options, and give rate regulators more independence and flexibility to protect consumers by separating the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The central pillar of the proposal would remove state-mandated charges that account for roughly 15 public policy line items from customer bills and shift the expense to the state budget  a move that Republicans said would save the average Connecticut family $210 a year, and allow legislators to better vet the cost and benefit of each program.

Specifically, the proposal seeks to nix the federally mandated congestion delivery charge and combined public benefits charge which fund certain state energy contracts, renewable and energy-efficiency programs, as well as electric costs for customers on education or financial hardship programs.

On Connecticut energy bills, these show up as the FMCC Delivery Charge and Comb Public Benefit Charge for Eversource customers and Non-Bypassable FMCC per kwh and Combined Public Benefits Charge for United Illuminating customers.

Thats an added cost to somebodys basic necessity, Kelly said. When people get their bills, they find other costs, other charges, other policy decisions that really rightfully belong in our general fund. For transparency and honesty purposes, those need to be on the budget, [and] off the bill.

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The Republican proposal comes on the heels of Gov. Ned Lamonts Energy Action Plan which looked towards the states wind farms and foreign energy sources to gain long-term sustainability capitalizing on federal and state-funded payment relief options to fill the gaps for residents struggling to pay bills this winter.

One Republican-supported item on Lamonts agenda is the long-term goal of supplying Connecticut with Canadian hydroelectric power via a channel through Vermont.

Republicans, including ranking member of the Energy and Technology Committee Rep. Bill Buckbee, said that a Hydro-Quebec partnership would diversify energy options in the state grid.

On the point of increasing competition, Buckbee said that he also wants to examine the reason behind Connecticuts lack of utility options and talk to companies about why they no longer do business in Connecticut.

Buckbee said he and his Republican colleagues are not looking to place blame, but to achieve solutions.

Were not looking to throw rocks and throw bricks. We want to find solutions and thats the critical piece we have to do right now because were just saying its not, this isnt something that affects one part of the population. This is every single person. We all worry about paying the bills. We want to make sure that light goes on. So the reliability of the grid is huge. The affordability of the grid is huge. And of course, we want to make [it as] green and environmentally friendly as we can, Buckbee said.

Sen Ryan Fazio, a ranking member of the Energy and Technology Committee, said that eliminating the states dual renewable energy classification and bringing all types of green energy, including hydropower, nuclear and trash-to-energy facilities, to the table would further this goal of sustainability and diverse competition.

Fazio and others said they are not seeking to further politicize this issue and that they are prepared to collaborate with Democratic lawmakers to realize their goals.

Connecticuts electricity costs have been far too high for far too long, Fazio said. This is an earnest attempt to actually reduce peoples costs and make Connecticut more affordable for everybody. Its not a political statement, its a solution, its a plan.

Alison Cross can be reached at across@courant.com.
Photo: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket (Getty Images)

Matt Schlapp, the chair of the American Conservative Union, has been sued by the same anonymous Republican operative who accused him of sexual assault at the beginning of the year. The operative was working on Herschel Walkers failed Georgia Senate campaign when Schlapp allegedly groped him in Atlanta.

Schlapp was aggressively fondling the accusers crotch and made repeated unsolicited and undesired advances against his accuser, the lawsuit filed in Virginia alleges. The mans attorneys said the accusations are corroborated by extensive contemporaneous evidence in a statement shared with The Daily Beast. We intend to keep a singular focus: to demonstrated that Matt Schlapp is a sexual predator who assaulted our client, the accusers lawyers at Hyland Law said in a letter.

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Schlapp has denied the allegations. This anonymous complaint demonstrates the accusers real agenda, working in concert with [The] Daily Beast to attack and harm the Schlapp family, Charlie Spies, Schlapps attorney, said in a statement to the Daily Beast. The complaint is false, and the Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual. No family should ever go through this, and the Schlapps and their legal team are assessing counter-lawsuit options.

Though the Daily Beast was the first outlet to report on the allegations, CNN, the New York Times and others have since done so as well.

The operative is also suing Schlapp and his wife, former Trump administration employee Mercedes Schlapp, for defamation and conspiracy, according to the New York Times. The defamation charges stem from initial statements denying the allegations, as well as a group text (you read that right) sent by Mercedes Schlapp to her neighbors, saying the 30-something man was a troubled individual whod been fired for lying.

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So far, the conservative movement is standing behind Schlapp. The American Conservative Union and its board (which oversees the CPAC), said they have full confidence in Schlapp. We know Matt Schlapps heart and his character, ACU board members Charlie Gerow and Carolyn Meadows said in a statement on Jan. 6. And we believe this latest attempt at character assassination is false.

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gop conspiracies - Credit: Composite based on a photograph by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images

Republicans launched their control of the House of Representatives with a sprawling, paranoid new initiative: The Select Committee on the Weaponization of Government, an interrogation of alleged efforts to silence and punish conservatives across federal agencies. The undertaking signaled the obvious political goal among Republican lawmakers to score points against the Biden administration and their Democratic opponents. It also signaled something more ominous: that Republicans intend to use their newfound power to turn fringe theories into mainstream politics.

The most noxious online conspiracies, the ones that a public official would once have been exiled for relaying and disseminating with any gravity, are now the focus of official congressional inquiries. The committee would also have full freedom to investigate any civil liberties-related issue and scrutinize how the federal government collected and used information about Americans, fueling right-wing paranoia about government overreach. But its not just this committee from which Republicans are launching conspiracies into the mainstream. Such thinking has leached into every corner of the GOP Houses agenda, from the first bills it passed to which Democrats will potentially be stripped of their committee assignments.

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Some in the party are sticking to the old model  use these to drum up controversy, and then pursue the usual Republican fare. For others, getting people focused on these theories isnt a means, its an end. Heres a guide to the conspiracies fueling the GOP-held House.

The Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory And Other Pandemic Conspiracies

House Republicans voted last week to establish a new panel under the House Oversight Committee to investigate the U.S governments response to Covid-19. The committee will interrogate the development of vaccines and treatments, a nod to unfounded vaccine skepticism that the GOP has embraced. Comer has specifically noted interest in investigating the effectiveness of the vaccines and the concerns that people are starting to raise with respect to side effects, he told The Washington Post last week, and has vowed congressional investigators would talk to the researchers and all of the people that were involved in vaccine development. Under Comers leadership, Oversight Republicans had also previously raised questions about the Surgeon Generals pandemic-related social media guidelines, which had been an effort to combat the disinformation now at the about the virus and vaccines. Comer had slammed the effort as actively censoring medical information and opinions on social media in a letter to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy last July.

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The committees chief preoccupation, however, is an unsupported claim that the pandemic began when the virus  either created through bioengineering or obtained from bats  escaped a lab in Wuhan, China. Both Comer and House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have asserted that Dr. Anthony Fauci and other Biden officials misled Americans about the virus origins because the alleged Wuhan lab received U.S. funding. Fauci was warned early on that the virus appeared manmade and pointed to a lab leak and instead of blowing the whistle may have attempted to cover it up, Comer alleged. Under the new panel, Republicans will investigate what the U.S. government knew regarding the origins of COVID-19 and when the government knew it, he said.

The so-called lab leak theory has never been substantiated. There is no evidence that the virus had been in a laboratory prior to the start of the pandemic and peer-reviewed scientific papers have put forth overwhelming evidence that the pathogen likely lept from animals to humans. Nevertheless, Comer and Jordan sent requests to more than 40 government officials and academic scientists last month, including the president of the nonprofit that subcontracted a U.S. grant to the Wuhan laboratory and four co-authors on an academic study that concluded Covid-19 was not engineered in a lab. (Fauci, for his part, has previously said he has a completely open mind about whether the outbreak originated in a lab, though has pushed back against lawmakers who have asserted the lab-leak theory in past hearings.)

The Disinformation Governance Board, an Orwellian Ministry of Truth

The new Select Committee on Weaponization of Government has included the Department of Homeland Securitys Disinformation Governance Board among its targets, Axios reported. The defunct effort had been charged with stopping disinformation from misleading Americans about threats to their safety. Lets say that there was a deep fake video about how to access disaster aid or how to get out of a city during a disaster released by a malign actor like Russia, China or Iran in order to put Americans in danger, Nina Jankowicz, the boards leader, told NPR last summer.

With an ominous-sounding name and a vague mandate, the board quickly fell victim to the very sort of campaign it was meant to combat. Right-wing lawmakers christened the effort as the Ministry of Truth, a nod to a government manipulation and propaganda effort in George Orwells 1984. Right-wing provocateurs, meanwhile, launched vicious, coordinated online attacks targeting Jankowicz. Just three weeks after the boards efforts began, DHS announced it would suspend it. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas conceded that the board could have done a better job of communicating what it is and what it isnt  enough for the boards very brief existence to come under scrutiny from House Republicans looking to retread the falsehoods surrounding it. House Republicans have delighted over the prospect of grilling Mayorkas over his agencys border enforcement efforts. This is yet another reason to haul him up to the Hill.

Rep. Eric Swalwells Ties To A Chinese Spy

Almost a decade ago, the FBI informed the California Democrat that one of his campaign volunteers was working for Chinese intelligence. Swalwell cooperated with the FBI to remove the spy from the country and privately informed then-Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) of his efforts. That was the end of it  until a Trump intelligence official leaked details of the episode in 2020. The FBI repeatedly stressed that Swalwell did nothing wrong, but that didnt stop conspiracies about Swalwells ties from taking root.

Now, McCarthy is repeating those claims as rationale for removing Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee. If you got the briefing I got from the FBI, you wouldnt have Swalwell on any committee, McCarthy said during a press conference on Thursday. My cooperation was leaked out of vengeance for my role in impeachment and is now weaponized by McCarthy as political payback, Swalwell tells Rolling Stone. The consequences are bigger than losing a committee seat: Swalwell has been fielding thousands of death threats to me and my family over McCarthys elevation of dubious ties.

The Justice Departments Investigation of Conservative Parents as Domestic Terrorists

Speaker McCarthy said that the new Select Committee on the Weaponization of Government will be tasked, in part, with interrogating how the Justice Department treated conservative protesters at school board meetings. The mandate stems from a warped interpretation of a memo Attorney General Merrick Garland issued in October 2021 that noted a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school officials and staff and asked the FBI to discuss strategies for addressing threats.

The disturbing spike arose at a moment when conservative parents had inundated school board meetings across the country under the banner of parents rights, a catchall for the anti-mask mandate, anti-critical race theory, anti-LBGTQ sentiment that emerged during the pandemic. Republicans claimed Garlands words equated concerned parents with domestic terrorists, as Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) said at the time, though no such assertion was made. It nevertheless became the Republican line: Why did he go after parents, and call them terrorists, simply because they wanted to go to a school board meeting? he told Fox News last year. Now, that false claim becomes a point of interrogation against Garland and his agency.

87,000 Internal Revenue Service Agents

Our very first bill will repeal the funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, McCarthy promised after he finally ascended to the speakership. He made good on that vow when House Republicans voted last week to strip $71 billion from the IRS budget. Promises made, promises kept, it seems  save for the fact that the Biden administration never set out to hire 87,000 IRS agents to go after families and small businesses, as Republicans alleged in a one-page description of their legislation.

The conspiratorial claim took hold after Democrats added funding to the IRS last year to hire some new IRS agents to scrutinize the wealthy and businesses, not the middle class, for underpaying on taxes. GOP lawmakers nevertheless began pushing the talking point that nearly 90,000 mostly armed new agents would hunt down and kill middle class taxpayers that dont pay enough, as Fox News commentator Brian Kilmeade put it. (In fact, only a fraction of IRS agents carry firearms.) Though Republicans have enshrined the falsehood in its first legislative act, the effort goes no further: The Democrat-controlled Senate refuses to take up the bill and Biden has vowed to veto it.

Big Tech Censorship

When Republicans assumed control of the chamber, there were obvious claims on which the party would train its attention, such as lawmakers obsession with Hunter Biden, his laptop, and whether Big Tech coordinated with Democrats to suppress important details about it before the 2020 presidential election. That effort began in earnest last week when House Oversight Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) sent letters to three former Twitter executives demanding details on the incident. But Hunter Bidens laptop is but a narrow slice of the larger GOP conspiracies over Big Tech censorship. The origins of the new Weaponization of Government panel come, in part, from revelations shared in the Twitter Files, a collaboration between Twitter owner Elon Musk and conservative journalists to illustrate cooperation between government agencies and social media platforms to achieve that objective. Jordan and Comer jointly wrote letters in December to top tech platforms to inquire about collusion with the Biden administration on the suppression of conservative voices in December.

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Daniel Ambriz, 43, and Drew Ramey, 39, were respectively killed on Dec. 31 and Jan. 8 in the area of an I-15 overpass on Barstow's East Main Street.

Two men who recently died on a high-traffic Interstate 15 exit in Barstow have been identified by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's coroner.

Daniel Ambriz, 43, and Drew Ramey, 39, were killed within a week of each other  Dec. 31 and Jan. 8  in the area of an I-15 overpass on Barstow's East Main Street, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Coroner Division website.

The Barstow men were killed in separate incidents after being hit by vehicles late at night.

The California Highway Patrol got a call around 2:10 a.m. Dec. 31 about Ambriz walking across traffic lanes of northbound Interstate 15, just south of East Main Street, within Barstow's city limits.

He then walked into the path of a 2019 Cadillac CTS, driven by a 24-year-old Lakewood man, according to CHP. Ambriz died at the scene.

An obituary published earlier this month includes a request from his family that people consider a donation in Ambriz's name to the Wounded Warrior Project or the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

A week after Ambriz's death, Ramey was found unconscious in the East Main Street roadway near the I-15 exits and given CPR by Barstow first responders, but he died at the scene. Barstow Detective Austyn Willis took over the investigation, and closed off both sides of the I-15 overpass for several hours.

Officers spoke with the driver of a vehicle that hit Ramey, Eric Zinn. The 42-year-old man showed signs of "being under the influence of alcohol," according to detectives.

Zinn was arrested and booked that night into High Desert Detention Center. Officers booked him on suspicion of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, but he was released from jail on Jan. 10, according to booking records.

Charlie McGee covers Californias High Desert for the Daily Press, focusing on the city of Barstow and its surrounding communities. He is also a Report for America corps member with The GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. McGee may be reached at 760-955-5341 or cmcgee@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @bycharliemcgee.

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Coroner IDs people killed in alleged car strikes at Barstow I-15 exit
On the 70th anniversary of the original Corvette reveal in New York City, a first-of-its-kind, all-wheel drive Corvette is here.

The 2024 Corvette E-Ray is the first ever electrified, hybrid Corvette featuring all-wheel drive. Chevrolet (GM) says the E-Ray is the only sports car pairing a naturally-aspirated (meaning non-turbocharged) V-8 engine with an electric motor. While the 6.2 liter V8 powers the rear wheels, the front axle is connected to an electric motor that can give the Corvette eAWD as Chevrolet calls it. This all-wheel drive system means this Corvette "can handle all seasons," Chevrolet says in the E-Ray launch video, meaning owners can use the car year round  even in snow.

Passenger side front 3/4 view of 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray 3LZ convertible in Silver Flare with Electric Blue stripe package driving on a curved mountain road. Pre-production model shown. Actual production model may vary. Model year 2024 Corvette E-Ray available 2023.

Corvettes must provide an exhilarating driving experience on backroads and tracks, and E-Ray nails it, said Tadge Juechter, Corvette executive chief engineer in a statement. The electrification technology enhances the feeling of control in all conditions, adding an unexpected degree of composure.

Combined, the V8s 495 hp and 470 lb.-ft of torque with the electric motors 160hp and 125 lb. ft. of torque give the E-Ray a combined 655 hp and 595 lb. ft. of torque. The non-plug-in, mild hybrid system uses a 1.9 kWh battery pack.

All told, the the electrified powertrain will send the E-Ray from 0-60 mph in a brisk 2.5 seconds, with the quarter-mile coming in at 10.5 seconds. Both of these figures are 0.1 seconds quicker than the top-of-the-line Corvette Z06.

The Corvette E-Ray with eAWD shown driving in the snow.

In addition, the E-Ray features a stealth mode, as Chevrolet calls it, allowing the car to operate in electric mode on the street up to speeds of 45 mph. Once the battery is depleted, the E-Ray will then switch to gas-powered mode  and harvest energy through driving and braking to recharge the battery. Chevrolet also says the E-Rays Active Fuel Management system uses the electric motor to extend 4-cylinder operation in different driving conditions.

Chevrolet did not release any estimated figures on mileage or electric-only range. The E-Ray will go on sale in 2023, starting at $104,295 in base 1LZ trim.

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View from driveras seat in 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray 3LZ coupe in Silver Flare with Two Tone Blue Interior. Pre-production model shown. Actual production model may vary. Model year 2024 Corvette E-Ray available 2023.



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Calgary, Alberta --News Direct-- Crestview Exploration Inc.

Calgary, AB - TheNewswire - January 17, 2023 - Crestview Exploration Inc. (CSE:CRS) (Frankfurt:CE7) (Crestview or the Company) is pleased to announce the results from the 2022 Hybrid-Source Audio Magnetotellurics (HSAMT) survey at the Rock Creek and Falcon gold-silver prospects in the Tuscarora Mountains of Elko County, Nevada. Four survey lines were carried out at Rock Creek and one lines was conducted at Falcon, for a total of approximately 6,800 meters surveyed. Please refer to Table 1 for line length and location coordinates.

Table 1

Survey Line Locations - UTM Zone 11N Line Length (meters) Easting Start Northing Start Easting End Northing End Rock Creek 1 1200 550938 4581198 552137 4581197 Rock Creek 2 1700 550584 4582207 552282 4582209 Rock Creek 3 1300 550482 4582981 551782 4582970 Rock Creek 4 1300 550481 4584280 551782 4584286 Falcon 1 1300 550424 4577320 551726 4577300

The lines were oriented E-W to cross the dominant structural fabric in the area. Please refer to Figure 1 for approximate locations and corresponding surface geology at Rock Creek. The four lines at Rock Creek were widely spaced across the length of the property, and the Falcon line was chosen to offset the inherited Falcon CSAMT data in the area of the historic mine.

The survey penetrated to approximately 800 meters depth, providing strong indicators for major structural and possible lithological changes. The uninterpreted figures for the line data is provided in Figures 2-6.

Figure 1

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Figure 2  Rock Creek Line 1

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Figure 3  Rock Creek Line 2

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Figure 4  Rock Creek Line 3

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Figure 5  Rock Creek Line 4

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Figure 6  Falcon Line 1

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Crestview is in the process of integrating this data with the other results taken to date, including the 2022 high-resolution mapping at Rock Creek. The surface lithologies and interpreted stratigraphic sections are being utilized to interpret possible lithology/Formation changes. Additionally, the vertical/sub-vertical structures (which reach the surface) in the HSAMT sections correspond well with the mapped faults.

There appear to be deep-penetrating anomalies in all of the HSAMT sections, which may represent favorable structures for hydrothermal fluid flow and subsequent alteration and mineralization. There is also a marked horizontal contrast in resistivity at Rock Creek, approximately below the 1,700-1,800 meter mark where the contour spacing begins to widen significantly. This contrast may represent a paleosurface between the upper volcanic sequence and the underlying Paleozoic metasedimentary sequence.

The section at Falcon corresponds well with the nearest CSAMT section Crestview inherited with the Falcon data (Ironwood Gold Corp.: Preliminary Assessment of Falcon Mine Property, 2012). In the inherited report, the low-resistivity signal at depth (below approximately the 1,800 meter mark) is interpreted to indicate extremely conductive altered carbonaceous lower plate sediments (Ironwood Gold Corp.: Preliminary Assessment of Falcon Mine Property, 2012).

Crestview is utilizing this and all other data collected to date to update and finalize drill targets for the 2023 program. The company aims to drill between 8,000 to 12,000 feet at Rock Creek, and another 2,000 to 3,000 feet at Divide in the coming field season.

Crestviews CEO, Chris Wensley, commented, we are very encouraged and excited by what we are seeing in the HSAMT data and how it corresponds with our mapping efforts. Crestview has now accomplished all of the preliminary work set out ahead of drilling at Rock Creek, including mapping, sampling, and collecting geophysical and geochemical data. We are now in a position to pick the best possible drill targets at Rock Creek, and we are eager to test the targets in 2023.

This News Release was prepared by J.A. Lowe, M.Sc. Geology, and has been approved by Alan Morris, M.Sc., CPG #10550.

Alan J. Morris is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed the scientific and technical disclosure included in this news release.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

Chris Wensley, CEO

About Crestview Exploration Inc:

Crestview Exploration is an experienced exploration company focused on the exploration and development of its portfolio of gold and silver properties located in prolific mining districts of Nevada.

The Rock Creek gold project is Crestview's flagship asset, with 74 unpatented lode mining claims wholly owned and controlled by CRS. The Rock Creek property was acquired in 2017, and the company went public in 2019. Emboldened by the results coming out of Rock Creek, Crestview strategically expanded on the land position with the acquisition of the nearby Divide Mine prospect in April 2020, and the acquisition of the Falcon silver-gold prospect in September 2022. Between the three properties, all targeting similar mineralization and likely the same hydrothermal system, Crestview now holds 260 total claims in close proximity of one another. These three gold prospects, along with the nearby Castile prospect, are situated in a region with proven "world class" gold deposits (including Midas, Jerritt Canyon, Betze-Post, Meikle, and Gold Quarry), where the potential of finding large, high-grade gold-silver deposits is favorable.

The Cimarron project is located in the San Antonio Mountains of Nye County, Nevada, and is comprised of 31 unpatented lode mining claims, including control of 6 historically producing claims associated with the historic San Antonio mine. The property is located in the prolific Walker-Lane trend, approximately 44 kms south of the "world class" Round Mountain deposit.

For further information please contact:

Chris Wensley, Chief Executive Officer

Tel: 1-778-887-3900

Email: Chris@crestviewexploration.com

Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain information that may be deemed forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address acquisition of the Property and future work thereon, mineral resource and reserve potential, exploration activities and events or developments that the Company expects is forward-looking information. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such 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 statements. There are certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking information. These include the results of the Companys due diligence investigations, market prices, exploration successes, continued availability of capital financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, and those additionally described in the Companys filings with the Canadian securities authorities.

Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company, investors are encouraged to review the Companys public filings at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward- looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE

View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/crestview-exploration-announces-results-from-the-2022-hsamt-survey-at-the-rock-creek-and-falcon-gold-prospects-in-elko-county-nevada-613453583
At the break of 2023, Croatia joined the Schengen Area and completely upped its attraction for tourists. European tourists will now be able to travel to the country with even more ease. British travelers and those outside of the Eurozone, may find increased difficulties. Internal land and sea borders are no more. Croatia now issues Schengen visas. In addition to becoming a Schengen Area, Croatia also joined the eurozone on January 1, 2023. March 26, 2023 is the next important date to keep in mind concerning travel to Croatia. Internal air borders will soon be lifted then.

The European Travel Information and Authorisation (ETIAS) will apply to all Schengen members and official candidate countries. Now that Croatia has joined the Schengen Area, ETIAS regulation will apply. This means that Schengen Area security systems will ensure travelers are eligible to travel through the region without a visa.

In November 2022, the European Parliament approved the lifting of internal border controls between the Schengen Area and Croatia. In a statement, Paulo Rangel MEP, EU rapporteur said Croatia is ready to join the Schengen free-travel area. It has fulfilled all the necessary conditions. Croatia met 281 recommendations in 8 areas of the Schengen acquis and underwent the most comprehensive evaluation for Schengen membership of any country so far.

Related: Turn Up The Heat In These Sexy Cities And Regions In Europe

What is the Schengen Area?

The Schengen Area is often described as one of the main achievements of the European project. It initially began with EU countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. Since then, it has gradually expanded to include 27 European countries. It is now one of the most prevalent free travel areas in the world.

According to ETIAS, Croatia is the 27th member of the Schengen Area. The country joined the Schengen Area on January 1, 2023.

Being a part of the Schengen Area means there are no internal border controls. This means that between countries in the Schengen Area, there are no checks at internal borders and there are harmonized controls at the external borders.

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According to Consilium Europa, the Schengen Area now covers 4 million square kilometers with a population of about 420 million people.

Here's why people travel to Croatia

Croatia has many destinations that pull travelers in each year. There are gorgeous Croatian islands and locations, including The Brijuni Islands, Crew (the second-largest island in the Adriatic, near Rijeka), Split, and Losinj. Traveling to Croatia also guarantees you will experience crystal clear waters and historic coastal towns.

Many people travel to Croatia for a different European experience in Europe. While Spain, Portugal, and Italy have long been top destinations for international travelers, Croatia appeals to those looking for something different. With over 1,000 islands, ample coastlines, and numerous ports, there is enough to keep travelers busy.

There are eight National Parks in Croatia, ideal for hiking or just taking in the gorgeous views. Those looking for activities and excursions are in for a treat, as the country is known for having great things to keep the adrenaline going. Expect really warm temperatures during most parts of the year.

The cities of Dubrovnik and Split were used as filming locations for the HBO hit series Game of Thrones. Dubrovnik was used extensively, serving as Kings Landing, the capital city of Westeros. Fans of the show visit from all over the world to see the city for themselves.

Croatias capital Zagreb is a popular tourist spot, too. There are endless things to see, including gorgeous cafes, restaurants, bars, and a thriving nightlife scene. The winter is an equally impressive time to visit; Advent Zagreb was awarded European Destinations Best Christmas Market for three years running.

Related: 10 Reasons To Visit Croatia
The expertise of Cubas light rum masters now appears on UNESCOs list of intangible heritage. The recognition acknowledges an eight-generation legacy on the island.

It is a recognition of the generations of Cuban rum masters and of the tradition of Cuban rum, rum master Asbel Morales, 54, told AFP.

In 1862, the islands first master rum producers perfected their abilities around Santiago de Cuba in the islands east. Today, they appear in local rum distilleries across the Caribbean.

Light rum manufacturers have passed down the secrets of the distilling process from generation to generation. Cane juice is the ingredient most associated with agricultural rum. However, for light rum, it is molasses, a thick black syrup obtained from sugar cane. It is the rum most commonly used in cocktail recipes and has a 40% alcohol level.

The Cuban distillers stated in their submission to the United Nations cultural organization UNESCO that master knowledge is more than simply a collection of talented distillers and that it also includes moral guidelines for public and private behavior.

Excellent practices

Master rum producers are also well-versed in its history and excellent practices, which extend beyond brand names and marketing.

In Cuba, there are now 14 master rum makers: three first masters, seven masters, and four apprentices.

In the past, the craft was a 100% male trade. However, that has changed and today there are two female masters and three female trainees.

Most of the members of this guild have studied chemistry. However, they must also have extensive taste, scent training, and many years of experience.

Rum is not only a spirit but also an important part of our cultural expression. It represents an important part of our culture, said Morales, who has been a master since 1993.

Master rum makers understand the composition and history of every barrel, cask rotations or repairs. They know combinations that give specific aroma, color, and body, according to the UNESCO proposal.

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Other Cuban practices have already been classified as intangible human heritage, such as the Tuma Francesa (2008).

The Tumba Francesa (French drum) is a set of songs and dances accompanied by percussion. This dance arrived in Cuba with French colonists and their Haitian slaves in the late 18th century.

Other Cuban cultural manifestations have also received this status from UNESCO. They are Cuban Rumba (2016), Punto Cubano (2017), and Las Parrandas (2018).

History

Cuban light rum emerged in 1862 in the city of Santiago de Cuba. An uninterrupted transmission of the Cuban light rum masters knowledge was passed along in aging cellars, mixture areas, and laboratories.

This knowledge is a set of traditional, scientific, sensory knowledge and techniques transmission that ensures the safeguarding of the Cuban light rum manufacturing process.

Regardless of brand, light rum masters follow an ethical code centered on respect for Cuban rum culture and its history and good practices, with ecoculture and harmony with the environment at its core.

The transmission of light rums master knowledge is a life-long learning process passed down from generation to generation and includes protecting aging cellars, knowing their contents and characteristics and the history of each barrel, and knowing which mixtures result in a given appearance, aroma, taste, and texture.

Masters form a guild-type community with selective admission that advocates for responsible consumption and acts as a cultural bridge between Cuba and the rest of the world.

Recently, Delta Air Lines announced it is resuming its operations from Miami to Cuba. The two daily nonstop flights will start on April 10, 2023, and they will connect Miami International Airport to the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, Cuba.

Related: What I Wish I Knew Before Solo Traveling To Cuba
Investigators have established a dedicated tip line to help find 35-year-old Brittany Tee, who has been missing for a week, the district attorney said Tuesday.

The tip line, which will take information from callers who wish to remain anonymous, is 508-453-7589.

It does allow us to move more quickly when we can eliminate different things and thats what the tips give us, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early, who for a third day in a row urged citizens to search their own properties -- sheds and garages, for instance -- to try to locate Tee.

His words came after the State Police Air Wing searched for Tee on Tuesday, as field crews continued their search for Tee, who was reported missing on Friday, Jan. 13. She was last seen leaving a Brookfield residence on Tuesday, Jan. 10 around 8:30 p.m. Investigators are also combing through Tees laptop and vehicle to try and find clues related to her sudden disappearance, Early said.

Give us a call: Air search planned, police urge publics help to find missing Brookfield woman

Theres an awful lot of people involved doing as much as they can to try and find some answers, Early said.

On Sunday, field crews used drones and cadaver dogs to search for Tee. The district attorney said police believe Tee left on foot, as investigators are in possession of her car.

When asked by media whether Tee may have been kidnapped, Early said, We have nothing that suggests she was kidnapped.

Its a search. Its not a crime scene. Its a search, he said.

He also said that Tees boyfriend has been cooperative with investigators.

The boyfriend has been very cooperative with us. Everyone has been very cooperative with us, Early said.

Investigators have established a dedicated Tip Line for info about Brittany Tee, 35, who has been missing from her #Brookfield home since 1/10. Our search by ground and air units and interviews by detectives continue. Please call 508-453-7589 if you have info or have seen her. pic.twitter.com/UL2gOAhh29  Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) January 17, 2023

Brookfield Police Chief Michael Blanchard said investigators are working hard to find Tee.

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The longer this goes on, the more frustration and anxiety builds amongst people, Blanchard said.

Blanchard asked everyone to remain positive and hopeful for her safe return.

He and Early both urged the public to contact police with any information on Tees whereabouts or if they see anything suspicious.

Brittanys sister, Bethany Tee, told Boston 25 that Brittany always stayed in touch with family and that her sudden lack of communication is highly unusual.

Shes loving, hardworking. She loves her niece and nephew very much. She would not leave on purpose, Bethany said earlier this week. We always talked to her almost daily. This is so out of the norm for her and thats what scares us. I just dont know.

Brittany Tee is described as 56, 120 pounds, and has brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a black winter coat, a hoodie, jeans, and work boots.

Tee is the latest case of a missing woman in Massachusetts to garner media attention in recent weeks.

Investigators are working two other unrelated missing person cases, including that of Ana Walshe, 39, a mother-of-three young children who suddenly disappeared from her Cohasset home on New Years Day, and that of Reyna Morales Rojas, 41, of East Boston, who was last seen in November 2022 after being dropped off in Somerville.

In the Walshe case, Anas husband, Brian Walshe, 46, of Cohasset, is now facing a murder charge in connection with his wifes death, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey announced Tuesday. He is also accused of misleading police in their investigation into her disappearance.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Dan Evans celebrates during his win over Facundo Bagnis (Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/AP) (AP)

Dan Evans revealed he does not wear a cap because of his big ears after battling through the heat to defeat Facundo Bagnis in the opening round of the Australian Open.

The British number two, who struggled with illness in the build-up to the tournament, was scheduled first up on what could be the hottest day of the fortnight.

He toiled for nearly three hours to open up a two-sets-to-one lead against his Argentinian opponent before the temperature threshold was met for a suspension of play that lasted from 2pm and 5pm.

On the resumption, 25th seed Evans ensured he was not out on court for longer than was necessary, breaking serve in the seventh game for a 6-4 4-6 6-4 6-4 victory.

The temperature was already above 30 degrees when play began, with Evans looking to repeat the result from the first round in 2017, when he defeated Bagnis in straight sets before making it to the fourth round.

Evans was bothered by the sun on his serve from one end and, asked why he did not wear a cap, said: Im pretty good in the heat, doesnt bother me. I have just never worn a hat and I have never liked wearing one. Doesnt feel comfortable. Big ears, I guess.

I was obviously very unlucky. I was first (on the schedule), and thats where the sun was, and it was super bright. I was messing around with the ball toss. Thats probably the reason I lost the second set.

Bagnis is ranked 91 and has never won a main-draw match in Melbourne but he made a good fight of the match.

Evans recovered from 2-0 down in the opening set and then fought back from 1-4 in the second only for Bagnis to break again.

He had just made the breakthrough by taking the third set when he was informed the match would be suspended.

I never even knew about the rule, to be honest, said Evans. I came back from the toilet, and then the guy said, Youre going in. I just knew it was hot. Once the wind stopped, it was horrible.

Evans would rather have carried on, though, adding: I had won the third. I felt like he was struggling. He was going to the towel a lot at the back of the court. And then it was quite long, and I had to start again. I didnt feel great going back out. But then I actually played very well.

The 32-year-old wrapped up victory after three hours and 29 minutes and will next meet veteran Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, who is playing his first tournament since the US Open in 2021 following knee surgery.
By John Irish

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Germany's allies on Tuesday ramped up pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to allow the supply of German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine for deployment against Russia's invasion, ahead of a crunch defence ministers meeting on Friday.

Berlin has so far resisted providing the modern tanks or allowing partners which have them to do so, saying Western tanks should only be supplied to Ukraine if there is agreement among Kyiv's main allies, particularly the United States.

Leopard battle tanks - the workhorse of armies across Europe - are widely seen as the only plausible choice to supply Ukraine with the large-scale tank force it needs. But they cannot be delivered without German re-export approval, so far withheld.

Western officials want to strike a balance between ensuring Ukraine can defend itself and not supplying arms that could encourage Kyiv to attack Russia itself or draw NATO into conflict with Moscow.

A day before Scholz heads to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, some of Ukraine's closest allies already at the WEF sought to pressure him into changing his mind.

"We hope and are trying to organise bigger support for Ukraine. We hope a few partners, allies, will give tanks to Ukraine," Polish President Andrzej Duda said at a WEF panel.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said he "strongly believes" Germany would provide Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

"We don't have the luxury for such delays. It must be done fast," he said, adding that the tank deliveries would be a strategic part of the next phase of the Ukraine conflict.

TANKS TOP GERMANY'S UKRAINE AGENDA

German Defence Secretary Christine Lambrecht quit on Monday, and Berlin said on Tuesday that a decision on tanks would be the first item on her successor's agenda. Two sources told Reuters that the Social Democratic (SPD) interior minister of the state of Lower Saxony, Boris Pistorius, would be appointed.

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In an interview with Reuters at the WEF, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Helsinki was ready to supply Leopards but was still awaiting a German green light.

"Finland has some of these tanks, but (just) a couple is not enough, but if there is a chain of service and delivery then it's valuable," he said.

"Ukraine needs it, but Germany has a key role in this."

He said part of the talks between allies also involved training and how to provide spare parts for the Leopard tanks.

Some German officials have signalled a softening of their view ahead of a meeting of Ukraine's allies in Ramstein in Germany on Friday where governments will announce their latest pledges of military support for Kyiv.

Germany has been cautious about approving weapons that could be seen as an escalation. Many allies say that concern is misplaced, with Russia showing no sign of backing down from its assault on its neighbour.

Britain broke the taboo over sending heavy tanks to Ukraine last weekend, pledging a squadron of its Challengers. But it has too few for them to form the basis of a Ukrainian force. U.S. Abrams battle tanks are also seen as inappropriate in large numbers because they run on turbine engines that burn too much fuel to be practical for energy-strapped Ukraine.

France has said it is considering giving tanks to Ukraine but defence sources have said its Leclerc model is not necessarily the best for Ukraine's situation.

Germany's new defence minister is expected to host U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday ahead of Friday's big meeting of allies at Ramstein air base.

"Important decisions will be made," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno said, adding that Madrid was at this point not able to supply Leopard tanks, which it also possesses.

(Reporting by John Irish and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Alex Richardson)
By John Irish

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Spain's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Madrid and London were closing in on a deal to find a definitive solution settling the post-Brexit status of Gibraltar.

The status of Gibraltar and how to police the border with Spain has been a point of contention since Britain's 2016 vote to leave the European Union. The peninsula was excluded from the exit deal reached between Britain and the EU.

"I see a constructive spirit from the British side on the agreement related to Gibraltar," Spain's Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Spain, Britain and the European Union agreed on Dec. 31, 2020, hours before Britain's full exit from the bloc, that Gibraltar would remain part of EU agreements such as the Schengen Area and Spain would police the port and the airport, pending a lasting solution.

The European Commission and Spain sent Britain a proposal including keep Gibraltar's land border to Spain open in late 2022 and ensuring free flow of people between Spain and the enclave.

"I think we are very close to the deal. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, but from the meetings I had with (British Foreign Secretary) James Cleverly I see that we both want the agreement and are really working on it," Albares said, without giving a timeframe.

"My experience with Brexit is that any timetable has never been respected," he said.

Spain ceded the rocky outpost at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea to Britain in 1713 but has long called for it to be returned. In 2002, 99% of voters in Gibraltar rejected the idea of Britain sharing sovereignty with Spain.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Party Central Committee relieves Nguyen Xuan Phuc of Presidency, Party positions

Nguyen Xuan Phuc, 68 years old, has stepped down as President of Vietnam after a number of senior officials were found to have committed violations in connection with COVID-19 test kits and repatriation flights.





Nguyen Xuan Phuc, former President of Vietnam.



The 13th-tenure Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam convened on Tuesday and decided to relieve Nguyen Xuan Phuc of all duties, including the Presidency, Politburo and Party Central Committee membership, and Chairman of the National Defence and Security Council for the 2021-26 term.



According to the announcement from the Party Central Committee, Nguyen Xuan Phuc is a key leader of the Vietnamese Party and State, born to a family with rich revolutionary history, and matured politically from the grassroots level.



He was entrusted by the Party Central Committee and the Politburo to hold many important Party and State leadership roles.



In the 2016-21, as he served as the Prime Minister of Vietnam, the Party recognised that Phuc had made many efforts in leading the national COVID-19 response and achieved important accomplishments.









Delegates voted at the meeting of the Party Central Committee on Tuesday in Hanoi.



However, the Party Central Committee noted that during his term, Phuc must bear the "political responsibility of the leader" as many officials, including two Deputy Prime Ministers and three ministers, had committed violations and shortcomings, causing very serious consequences.



Two former Deputy Prime Ministers, Pham Binh Minh and Vu uc am, have resigned from their positions, while two former ministers  former Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long and former Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh  and many officials have been criminally handled, in connection with the COVID-19 test kits and repatriation flights scandals.



"Fully aware of his responsibilities before the Party and people, Comrade Nguyen Xuan Phuc has submitted an application to resign from his assigned positions, and retire," the announcement from the Party Central Committee reads.



Based on the current regulations of the Party and State and considering the wishes of Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Party Central Committee has agreed to let him resign from the positions of the member of the Politburo, member of the 13th-tenure Party Central Committee, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and Chairman of the National Defence and Security Council for the 2021-26 term.



The Party Central Committee assigned the Politburo to direct relevant agencies to implement the procedures in line with regulations.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  The World Economic Forum says billionaire Elon Musk wasn't on the guest list for the annual meeting of business executives, global leaders and cultural trend-setters in Davos, Switzerland  despite what the Twitter owner claims.

Notables from European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen to actor Idris Elba are gathering in the ritzy Alpine town this week to talk about global issues ranging from war to climate change and technology's effects on security.

Musk wasn't there, though he says he was invited. Forum spokesman Yann Zopf knocked that down Tuesday, saying the last time the Tesla CEO got an invitation was not this year and not recently  last time in 2015.

Musk said in a tweet Dec. 22: My reason for declining the Davos invitation was not because I thought they were engaged in diabolical scheming, but because it sounded boring af lol."

He didnt specify when he got the invitation, but the tweet's timing suggested it was for this year. Musk did not immediately respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment Tuesday.

Organizers did extend invitations to Musk, as the boss of Tesla, to join a few times in the 2010s  the last being in 2015  but he never registered or attended the annual meeting, Zopf said.

The gathering has been criticized for a lack of concrete action that emerges after a series of sessions and speeches, while the forum itself has been the target of online conspiracy theories from those who believe the meeting involves a group of elites manipulating global events for their own benefit.

Multibillionaire Musk, one of the worlds richest people, can certainly afford to attend Davos.

Forum members pay between 120,000 to 850,000 Swiss francs ($130,000 to $921,000) for annual memberships depending on the level of affiliation they want.

Many executives trek to Davos to ride the coattails of the meeting and hobnob with corporate executives who flock to town, at times taking potshots at the forum from the sidelines. For example, Richard Branson, the British tycoon behind Virgin, has reputedly come to town several times without attending the meeting itself.

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Musk might be a bit busy to be palling around with the powerful in snowy Switzerland anyway.

While still grappling with the fallout from buying Twitter last year for $44 billion, Musk is facing trial over his tweet about taking Tesla private in 2018.

Jury selection begins this week and he'll have to explain his actions under oath in court in San Francisco after tweeting that he had lined up the financing to pay for a $72 billion buyout of the electric carmaker, which never happened. It culminated in a $40 million settlement with U.S. securities regulators that also required him to step down as the companys chairman.

He's also planning to step down as CEO but remain owner of Twitter, which he succeeded in taking private last summer but has alienated some users and advertisers with chaotic job cuts and changes to content moderation policies.

___

Follow APs coverage of the World Economic Forum meeting at https://apnews.com/hub/world-economic-forum.
A DeKalb County teenager has been arrested and charged in connection to a shooting at the Mall of America that left a 19-year-old dead just days before Christmas.

According to police in Bloomington, Minnesota, two groups of people began fighting inside the Nordstrom location at the mall when someone pulled out a gun and began firing. They say the entire incident lasted 30 seconds.

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A 19-year-old was killed in the shooting and another person was grazed by a bullet. Neither victims identity has been released.

By the next day, Christmas Eve, five people had been arrested, two 18-year-olds and three 17-year-olds.

The U.S. Marshals have now arrested 17-year-old Lavon Longstreet in connection to the deadly shooting. Longstreet was arrested at his home in Decatur on Tuesday.

It is unclear where the other suspects were from or why Longstreet was in Minnesota.

TRENDING STORIES:

He is currently being held in the DeKalb County Jail while he awaits extradition. He is facing murder and assault charges.

This is another example of guns being placed in the hands of immature young people, resulting in deadly consequences in what was once safe public places. The U.S. Marshals Service will continue to work with our state and local partners to get these guns off the streets and enhance the security of our communities, U.S. Marshal Thomas Brown said.

It is unclear when Longstreet will be extradited to Minnesota.

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IN OTHER NEWS:
Jan. 16A Delhi man is accused of carrying a deadly weapon while committing a burglary last summer.

Delaware County Acting District Attorney Shawn J. Smith announced Brock T. Freer, 45, was arraigned by Acting County Court Judge Gary A. Rosa on an indictment, a media release said. Freer was charged with first-degree burglary, a class B violent felony; fourth-degree criminal mischief and petit larceny, both class A misdemeanors.

According to the release, the indictment alleges that Freer entered or remained in a town of Delhi home on Aug. 28, "while armed with a deadly weapon  a loaded shotgun." While at the house, it is alleged Freer damaged a window screen and casement and stole food and alcohol beverages owned by the complainant, the release said.

Freer pleaded not guilty to the three-count indictment, the release said. He was committed to the custody of the Delaware County Sheriff's Office in lieu of $50,000 cash bail.

The case is scheduled for a conference in Delaware County Court on Jan. 23, 2023, the release said.
Shaiitarrio Brown and a pregnant Brittany King were residing in their vehicle when the toxins from the pepper balls rendered it uninhabitable, according to their lawsuit.

The city of Denver has agreed to pay $325,000 to a couple whose car was pepper ball-blasted in 2020 during demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, rallies in which they werent participating.

According to The Denver Post, Shaiitarrio Brown and Brittany King, who sued the city in 2021 for their injuries, were awarded settlement payments on Monday, which the Denver City Council approved.

The two claimed in their federal lawsuit that on May 30, 2020, they were driving close to Denvers Civic Center while doing their jobs for food delivery service DoorDash and were not harming anyone, The Post reported. A video of the early-morning incident that a bystander captured showed no sizable protester gatherings nearby.

(From left) Brittany King and Shaiitarrio Brown, who sued Denver, Colorado in 2021 for injuries sustained when police officers blasted their car with pepper balls, received a $325,000 settlement from the city this week. (Photo: Screenshot/YouTube.com/9News)

At an intersection, a Denver officer fired a small plastic ball known as a pepper ball  which contain irritating chemicals that burn the skin and eyes  at the couples car, causing Brown to step out of it and yell at authorities, You shot a car with a pregnant woman in it!

Per the bystander footage, officers reacted by firing dozens of pepper balls at Brown and the automobile, striking King  who was 19 weeks pregnant at the time  in the stomach and Brown in the face through an open car window.

It was pretty vicious, Brown reportedly told The Washington Post.

Toxins from the pepper balls filled their cars interior, in which Brown and King were residing at the time, The Denver Post reported. The polices actions rendered their vehicle uninhabitable due to the irritants.

According to The Washington Post, the couple claimed that officers confronted them after they drove away and went to an ambulance for medical attention. King had chemical burns and a broken hand, while Brown sustained wounds and bruises.

King said tests at the hospital revealed that the pepper balls chemicals were in her system, and she struggled to swallow or eat for months due to burns in her throat. According to the lawsuit, the pepper balls also included substances that could result in pregnancy loss or birth defects.

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When I was pregnant, it was just hoping, King recalled, according to The Washington Post. I was just waiting for birth. To see her that first time, to make sure shes okay.

The couples daughter, Brooklyn, was born in October 2020. She exhibited severe developmental deficits at the age of nine months, per their lawsuit. King said Brooklyn had hip dysplasia, a disorder that causes the hip joint of a newborn to be deformed.

According to an internal review of the incident conducted by Denvers Office of the Independent Monitor, there was no policy violation based on the available evidence.

Following the Black Lives Matter protests, Denver police were the target of numerous lawsuits. Twelve protestors hurt by police using pepper spray and non-lethal weapons received a $14 million jury verdict in March. Denver had already paid well over $1 million to resolve several previous cases involving protests by that point.

Brown and King, who are now engaged, left Denver because they claimed police there continue to make them feel uneasy. Brooklyn, now two years old, continues seeing specialists and has reportedly progressed.

We got money out of it, Brown said, The Washington Post reported. But weve still got no accountability, so theres no closure for us at the end of the day.

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The post Denver to pay $325,000 for blasting couples car with pepper balls appeared first on TheGrio.
Rain boots came in handy for Lola Weiselman, 7, at a flooded Kenneth Hahn Park Playground on Martin Luther King Jr. Day after a weekend of rain in Southern California. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

As the skies begin to clear and a relentless series of atmospheric rivers starts to move out, Californians are finally catching a break as they assess the aftermath of weeks of downed trees, landslides and devastating flooding.

River levels are receding in some areas, top climate officials reported in a briefing Monday, and the worst of the rain appears to be over.

One more storm system is forecast to roll through California on Wednesday, said California State Climatologist Mike Anderson, but it won't pack as much of a punch as the previous ones. The rain, which isn't expected to hit farther south than Santa Barbara, appears barely strong enough to qualify as an atmospheric river.

But officials caution the public to remain vigilant. Landslides, sinkholes and other hazards could still strike because the ground has received such a soaking, and tree branches  dried up from years of drought and whiplashed by high winds  remain a deadly hazard.

On Saturday, a woman was struck dead by a falling branch in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park, bringing the total number of storm-related deaths statewide to at least 20.

Flood watches from the National Weather Service remain in effect for some parts of the Bay Area and Central Coast, and a number of rivers in Southern California are forecast to reach close-to-flood levels later this week as excess water makes its way down the watershed.

The twice-annual "king tide," an exceptionally high tide that occurs when the sun, moon and Earth are in gravitational alignment, is also expected to bring high water levels to the coast this weekend.

Across the state, some roads remain so damaged that it will take weeks to clean up and months to repair them.

As evacuees return to their homes and businesses, the full extent of the flood damage will come to light in the coming days.

Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order on Monday to bolster staffing for emergency responses, and President Biden is expected to visit the Central Coast later this week to assess what additional federal support is needed.

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"Local flood managers across the state still have some work to do as the water recedes," said Jeremy Arrich, who manages the flood division at the California Department of Water Resources.

Arrich noted that in the last two weeks, the states Flood Operations Center has delivered almost 1 million sandbags and deployed staff to 50 incidents to help with broken levees, erosion and sinkholes.

"Maintaining agencies will need to inspect and patrol their levees to look for any damage that may have occurred  and then evaluate any long-term repairs that may be necessary," he said.

As for the ongoing drought, state water officials were cautiously optimistic in a briefing on Monday.

They noted that the snowpack  a critical bank of water for the state during dry summer months  is at "epic levels" and that Lake Oroville, the largest reservoir in the State Water Project, has risen 120 feet since early December and is now at 101% of its historical average for this time of year.

A few other reservoirs across the state have filled up so much in recent weeks that officials have had to release some water from them.

That said, two of Californias most critical reservoirs  Lake Shasta, at 51% of total capacity, and Trinity Lake, at 29%  still have a long way to go before getting back to average conditions, officials said. Communities across the Southwest largely relying on the Colorado River are also still very much in drought.

Anderson, the state climatologist, noted that unlike last winter, which began with some intense bursts of rain and then quickly dried out, another wet spell could possibly hit this winter because the infamously dry La Nina climate cycle appears to be transitioning back into neutral conditions.

But for now, Californians can look forward to at least two weeks of clear skies. When Anderson pulled up a precipitation map for the rest of the month, not a storm was in sight.

"First time weve seen that in a long time," he said. "No precipitation forecast for anywhere in the state."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
As recently as the 1990s, space exploration and travel were the exclusive domain of national or transnational governments. But in recent years private companies have begun cutting into that governmental dominance  and their encroachment is opening up vistas of opportunity for risk-tolerant investors.

Some estimates put the eventual value  say, by the 2030s  of the private space industry at $1 trillion or more. Potential sectors that investors should watch are space tourism, satellite launching, geospatial imaging, solar power generation, possibly even asteroid mining.

So, lets take a look at two space stocks, potential winners at two very different ends of this arena. But for all their differences, both are considered Strong Buys on Wall Street, and both offer investors opportunity for triple-digit upside in the coming year, according to TipRanks' database.

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (RKLB)

Well start with Rocket Lab, a firm working in the space-launch segment and a leader in the development of reusable small-payload launch vehicles. This is a high-potential niche, combining two major trends in orbital space travel  and Rocket Lab has taken a strong position. The companys Electron rocket, its flagship launch vehicle, is capable of putting a 300 kilogram payload into low Earth orbit, and over the course of 32 launches has successfully deployed 152 satellites. Electron is currently the only reusable small launch vehicle in service, and Rocket Lab is working to supplement its capabilities through development of the larger Neutron rocket  an ambitious program that will see a reusable rocket capable of putting a 13,000 kilo payload into Earth orbit, or carrying 1,500 kilograms to Mars or Venus.

Rocket Lab has been launching its missions from its New Zealand facility, but starting this month it will also be able to launch Electron rockets from US soil. The company has scheduled its first US launch from a launch complex at the Virginia Space Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport of the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on January 23. The US launch site will facilitate Rocket Labs work with customers from the US, both government and commercial entities. Overall, Rocket Lab hit 9 successful launches in 2022, a company record for one calendar year.

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The companys revenues have been showing consistent quarter-over-quarter gains. In the last reported quarter, 3Q22, the company showed a top line of $63.1 million, for a gain of 14% sequentially  and an impressive 1,093% year-over-year.

Covering this space launch firm for Morgan Stanley, analyst Kristine Liwag describes Rocket Lab as a diamond in the rough, and writes: We see opportunity in the markets indiscriminate treatment of Space companies and view RKLBs recent price performance presenting attractive risk / reward proposition for an early space mover with real revenue, an increasingly visible growth profile and initiatives underway that could potentially upend traditional launch economics."

"Moreover," the analyst added, "we expect satellite manufacturers reduced risk appetite in the current economic environment, along with recent setbacks to global launch capacity, to provide tailwinds to RKLB given its relatively strong space heritage (2nd most launched US rocket). We continue to view RKLB as a small launch standout with exciting potential as Neutrons development progresses and management makes headway toward long-term profitability goals while upholding its execution track record.

Liwag doesnt just write up an optimistic outlook, he backs it with an Overweight (i.e. Buy) rating on RKLB shares and a $10 price target that implies a one-year upside potential of 101% from current levels. (To watch Liwags track record, click here)

While the Morgan Stanley outlook is bullish, the Street generally is even more so. Rocket Lab has 7 recent analyst reviews, with a 6 to 1 breakdown favoring Buys over Holds  and the $10.96 average price target implies a 120% upside over the next 12 months, from the current trading price of $4.97. (See RKLB stock forecast)

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (ASTS)

The second space stock well look at, AST SpaceMobile, is based in Midland, Texas, and like Rocket Lab is closely involved with the private satellite industry. But where Rocket Lab focuses on launch technology, AST focuses on the satellites  and what they can do. Specifically, the company is working on putting satellites into low Earth orbit to provide space-based cellular broadband networking. The companys goal is to make space-based broadband into the global standard.

AST has achieved a number of important milestones over the past few months. Chief among those was the successful launch and deployment of the companys BlueWalker 3 satellite. This is a test platform for the technology, and will act as predecessor for the more ambitious constellation of five Block 1 Blue Bird satellites, tentatively set for launch before the end of this year. For now, BlueWalker 3 boasts the largest communications array every deployed on a commercial satellite in low Earth orbit.

In another important milestone, one with a vital impact on intellectual property, AST had, as of November 14 of last year, more than 2,600 granted patents and patent claims pending. In fields as competitive as private satellite launch and broadband networking, the protection of proprietary tech is as important as successfully deploying that tech.

On the financial end, AST reported revenues of $4.17 million in 3Q22, and a gross profit of $1.64 million. These numbers compare favorably to the $2.45 million top line and $347K profit in the prior-year quarter. The companys net loss per share came to 18 cents.

Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft has been covering AST SpaceMobile for several years, and is impressed with what he sees. Looking at the companys recent milestone achievements, he writes: In our view, AST's progress with BlueWalker 3 has substantially reduced the technical risks for the business plan. AST's first satellite was launched into orbit on September 10 and is currently testing various mechanical and technical elements for the system in space for the first time. On November 14, AST confirmed that BW3's array was successfully unfolded in low earth orbit, which represents a significant testing milestone, in our view."

"We remain bullish on AST SpaceMobile's long-term business opportunity given the company's large TAM, highly differentiated technology, partnerships with many of the world's largest mobile network operators (MNOs), and attractive wholesale/revenue share business model," Kraft summed up.

Kraft goes on to give this stock a Buy rating, and a $32 price target to indicate room for a stunning 516% share appreciation in the year ahead. (To watch Krafts track record, click here)

AST SpaceMobile is admittedly still a highly speculative company  but it has picked up 3 recent analyst reviews and they are all positive, making the Strong Buy consensus rating unanimous. Shares are trading for $5.19 and have an average price target of $20.67, suggesting a robust 298% upside on the one-year horizon. (See ASTS stock forecast)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
A diesel fuel spill has shut down a highway in Cherokee County.

The Cherokee County Sheriffs Office tweeted Tuesday that Knox Bridge Highway will be closed for an indefinite period west of the bridge due to the spill.

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At the time of their tweet, deputies were waiting on officials from the Georgia Department of Transportation to respond to the site of the spill.

There is no word on what caused the fuel spill.

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ROAD CLOSURE ALERT!!

Knox Bridge Highway west of the bridge will be shutdown for an indefinite period of time while deputies wait on GDOT to respond to a major diesel spill . pic.twitter.com/wKq9FP6OZl  Cherokee Sheriffs Office (@CherokeeSO) January 17, 2023

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IN OTHER NEWS:
Disney (DIS) has hit back at activist investor Nelson Peltz amid its ongoing proxy battle with the hedge fund billionaire.

"Nelson Peltz does not understand Disney's businesses and lacks the skills and experience to assist the board in delivering shareholder value in a rapidly shifting media ecosystem," Disney said in an updated proxy statement on Tuesday, adding: "The current Disney board is the right board for shareholders."

The company once again defended its stock performance under CEO Bob Iger's watch, noting during his first bout as chief executive Disney's total shareholder return totaled 554%, topping the 244% total return realized by the S&P 500 over that period.

Additionally, amid Peltz's repeated criticism of the company's $71.3 billion purchase of 20th Century Fox in 2019, Disney doubled down on its Iger-era acquisitions, which also included Marvel in 2009 and Lucasfilm in 2012.

The company argued the deals "transformed" the business into the media powerhouse it is today after Peltz told CNBC in a recent interview: "Fox hurt this company. Fox took the dividend away. Fox turned what was once a pristine balance sheet into a mess."

Disney shares, which were little-changed in early trading on Tuesday, are up about 4.5% since Peltz first announced his proxy battle on January 11.

At the time of that announcement, Disney revealed Nike executive chairman Mike Parker would take over Susan Arnold's position as chairman of the board and also recommended shareholders vote against Peltz in his efforts to win a seat on the company's board.

Peltz's Trian Fund Management said it owns approximately 9.4 million shares of Disney's stock, which equates to roughly $900 million. The hedge fund, which disapproved of Iger's surprise return, is pushing for additional cost cuts, operational adjustments, and a post-Iger successor  something the company wants as well.

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"Trian believes that Disneys recent performance reflects the hard truth that it is a company in crisis with many challenges weighing on investor sentiment," the hedge fund said in a statement last week.

"While we acknowledge that Disney, like many media companies, is undergoing a challenging pivot to streaming, Disney also benefits from owning best-in-class intellectual property, a more diversified business mix, and a Parks business that is enjoying all-time high profitability. As such, we believe that the Companys current problems are primarily self-inflicted and need to be addressed immediately."

Nelson Peltz founding partner of Trian Fund Management LP. speak at the WSJD Live conference in Laguna Beach, California October 25, 2016. The activist investor is currently engaged in a proxy battle with Disney.

Disney faced a rough 2022 as shares slid about 45%, marking the worst annual stock performance for the company since 1974.

Streaming profitability, the future of Hulu, and a possible ESPN spin-off all hang in the balance as Iger continues to navigate a bruised business beset with leadership challenges, unfavorable price increases, and a direct-to-consumer division struggling to turn a profit.

Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Media Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com

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By Dawn Chmielewski

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co on Tuesday defended its decision to deny Nelson Peltz a board seat, saying the activist investor "lacked the skills and experience" to help the media and entertainment giant.

The house of Mickey Mouse in a letter to shareholders also underlined the company's successes under Chief Executive Bob Iger, who recently returned from retirement to lead the company for a second time.

"Peltz does not understand Disney's businesses and lacks the skills and experience to assist the board in delivering shareholder value in a rapidly shifting media ecosystem," Disney said.

The billionaire last week formally launched his bid for a board seat to rescue the company from what he called a "crisis" of overspending on the streaming business, the purchase of 21st Century Fox and failed succession planning.

Peltz had an internal advocate, Marvel Entertainment Chairman Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter, who asked that the activist investor be added to Disney's board on a half-dozen occasions, according to Disney's preliminary proxy statement and accompanying materials filed with regulators. Perlmutter has been pressing the issue since July 2022, contacting former CEO Bob Chapek, director Safra Catz and other senior executives on behalf of Peltz.

Peltz's move is seen as a serious challenge to Iger and pits one of the most popular executives in Hollywood against the activist investor known for his work at consumer firms.

The billionaire investor told CNBC last week that Disney should buy the remaining stake in Hulu it does not already own or exit the streaming business. Disney has an agreement to acquire Comcast Corp's one-third interest in the Hulu streaming service as soon as January 2024.

Disney also needs to boost capital expenditure at its parks business, where it probably raised ticket prices "too hard," he said then.

DISNEY HITS BACK

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In its filing Tuesday, Disney said it was already working to improve profitability at the Disney+ streaming business that Iger helped launch in 2019 and was rolling out broader cost-cutting measures.

The company defended the acquisitions it made under the since-returned CEO Iger, including for Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. It said they were transformative and enhanced the companys value.

As early as July 11, 2022, Disney had been engaging in conversations with Peltz, according to the preliminary proxy filed on Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The activist expressed his support for then-CEO Chapek, and presented himself as someone who could be helpful if he joined the board.

Perlmutter, a Disney employee and shareholder, added his voice to Peltz's campaign to join the board, arguing at one point that the activist could help the embattled Chapek "solidify his position as CEO." Without Peltz's help, the Marvel chairman warned, "former executives including Mr. Iger, would be back at Disney."

As Peltz and Perlmutter continued to press their case, another activist was pounding on Disney's door - Daniel Loeb, chief executive officer of Third Point. In August, Loeb contacted Chapek and Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy to say he had invested in Disney and recommended changes. He agreed to a standstill with the Sept. 23 appointment of an independent director, Carolyn Everson.

Meanwhile, Peltz's campaign for a board seat intensified. He

notified Chapek on Nov. 8 that he had acquired $500 million in Disney stock, and planned to increase his stake to $1 billion. Peltz said his Trian group intended to nominate a sale of directors at the 2023 annual meeting unless he was named to the board.

The activist continued to seek a directorship even after the board fired Chapek on Nov. 20 and brought back Iger. In a video call three days later, Peltz rejected Iger and McCarthy's suggestion that they find a mutually acceptable independent director to serve on the board. Peltz said he would accept only the addition of himself to the board, according to Disney's account.

Disney's board elected not to offer Peltz a seat, citing concerns about "introducing further disruption to Disney's management team nine days into Mr. Iger's return."

On Jan. 11, Peltz took matters into his own hands. His Trian Fund Management issued a news release announcing its nominee to the board, Peltz, setting in motion the proxy battle.

Trian Fund Management, which owns a 0.5% stake, or roughly $900 million in Disney, declined to comment on Tuesday.

Unless Peltz settles with Disney, investors will vote this year on whether he should sit on the company's board. Last year, the annual shareholder meeting was held on March 9.

(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles and Eva Mathews and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Matthew Lewis)
MILFORD  A Douglas man is charged with attempted murder after police say he fired a gun at another man on Sunday outside a Water Street bar.

Police arrested Domingos Joao Texeira, 22, on Monday morning at his Douglas apartment after an investigation.

Milford police Detective Carlos Sousa said the incident occurred early Sunday outside of TD's Pub, 68 Water St., but no one immediately reported the incident. The alleged victim did so later that day, at 4:30 p.m., to the Hopedale Police Department.

"They contacted us and said they had a resident there saying they were a victim of shooting," Sousa said.

Dramatic rescue:A Hopedale man was missing for more than 24 hours. Here's how rescuers found him

Police began an investigation and discovered a shell casing outside the bar. The alleged victim and Texeira are "acquaintances," but the man said he had no idea why Texeira fired a gun at him.

"It appears Texeira had been involved in a verbal confrontation with someone earlier behind TD's, but the victim did not know why he was shot at," Sousa said.

No one was hit by the bullet, despite there being several people in the area, Sousa said.

"Everyone was very fortunate to be able to walk away and that no one was hurt," the detective said.

Wrongly convicted:Man linked to 1979 murder files federal lawsuit against Milford police, town

Milford police, along with the Douglas and Hopedale police departments and the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, arrested Texeira Monday at his Douglas apartment at 13 A St.

Texeira faces charges of attempted murder; assault with a dangerous weapon; discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling; carrying a firearm without an FID card; disturbing the peace; and disorderly conduct.

Police have not found a gun, Sousa said.

Texeira was ordered held without bail Tuesday during his arraignment in Milford District Court. He is due back in court Friday for a hearing to determine whether he is a danger to the public.

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Texeira's lawyer, Daniel Doyle, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Douglas man charged after shooting outside downtown Milford bar
People in our area and across the country honored Doctor Martin Luther King Junior on Monday.

Dr. King was assassinated in 1968 but his message of love and unity still resonates with people today.

>>PHOTOS: Dayton celebrates MLKs legacy with march

News Center 7s Gabrielle Enright said the cold weather did not stop people from marching and honoring a man who did so much.

Dr. King made the ultimate sacrifice, said Angela Worley, Dayton Pubic School Coordinator of Community Outreach Family Engagement and Student Activities. He gave his life for helping others for what he believed was right.

What Dr. King believed in was equality for everyone, something he spoke about in Alabama and Washington D.C. before he was shot and killed in April 1968.

>>Photos: The life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Enright says Worley helped organize Dayton Public Schools community drive-thru donation event. She said she wanted to continue Dr. Kings message in her own way.

This really helps us to teach us to take care of our own, to support our own, said Worley. We are donating and we are contributing but its all staying right back in our community and right back supporting us.

Each person who drove through got a special bag filled with personal care items. It was a small token to let them know someone cares.

>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: MLK Day events planned across the Miami Valley

Enright says Daytons chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the First African American sorority, also stepped up and helped made a difference in their community, just like Dr. King did.

(Monday) Today is Martin Luther King Day and as you know he was a community servant, said Cynthia Booker-Neilson. This day we celebrate MLK not as a day off, but a day of service, our mission is service to all mankind.

>>PREVIOUS COVERAGE: City of Dayton to hold events commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The City of Fairborn also hosted several events in honor MLK Day. About two dozen people took part in a unity walk and then many participated in an art and essay contest.

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Martin Luther King Junior day was officially recognized as a national holiday in 1986.

January 15 was chosen because it is Doctor Kings birthday.

Courtesy of WHIO

Courtesy of WHIO

Courtesy of WHIO

Courtesy of WHIO

Courtesy of WHIO

Courtesy of WHIO

Courtesy of WHIO

King at the age of 6. (Handout)

King graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 and from Boston University in 1955. (Southern Christian Leadership Conference/Handout)

While in Boston, he met Coretta Scott. They married in 1953 and would eventually have four children: Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter and Bernice. (Bahnsen Negative Collection/Handout)

In 1955, as the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, King was elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, the organization that was responsible for the successful Montgomery Bus Boycott from 1955 to 1956. (Gene Herrick/AP)

King's battle with the law continued. He was arrested thirty times for his participation in civil rights activities. Here he is being charged with loitering in 1958. (Charles Moore)

When he wasn't part of the civil rights struggle, King was a family man. He's seen here with his wife, Coretta, and four children (from left to right) Dexter, Yolanda, Martin Luther King III and Bernice.

In August 1963, thousands gathered for the March on Washington where King gave his famous

In 1964, King received the Nobel Peace Prize from the hands of Gunnar Jahn, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, in Oslo, Norway. At the time he was the youngest man ever to receive the prize. (File photo/AP)

On July 2, 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with King and other civil rights leaders present. (File photo/AP)

Bishop B. Jlian Smith, of the Episcopal District of the Christian Methodist Church (left), King (center), and Rev. Ralph Abernathy (right) during a civil rights march in Memphis, Tenn. in 1968. (File photo/AP)

The next day, an assassin's bullet struck King as he once again stood on the balcony. In June, James Early Ray was arrested in London and charged with King's murder. (File photo/AP/Time Inc.)

The family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. walk in the funeral procession of the slain civil rights leader on April 9, 1968. (File photo)
A 30-year-old man was driving with a female passenger when they ran out of gas on a Michigan interstate, authorities said.

The woman called the Detroit Regional Communications Center twice, requesting a quick response from the Freeway Courtesy Patrol, a program designed to help drivers in distress, according to Michigan State Police.

Before authorities responded late Monday, Jan. 16, the driver also called the dispatch center, according to a series of tweets from Michigan State Police Second District.

He reported that a man in a purple SRT car fired 150 shots into his vehicle with an AK-47, officials said.

State troopers responded to Interstate 94, in Detroit, at about 11:10 p.m.

Troopers arrived on scene to find no one injured and the vehicle was not struck, officials said. It was determined that the driver called 911 to get a quick police response due to his vehicle being out of gas.

Investigators also learned the driver was drunk, had a suspended drivers license and was wanted on fugitive warrants, according to the posts. The driver was arrested on a charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, officials said.

The driver was reported to have a blood alcohol content of .16, double the states legal limit.

The man was booked into the Detroit Detention Center, officials said.

Dad lied about baby being in stolen Jeep to get a better response, Texas sheriff says

Drunk driver swapped seats with passenger after crash that killed one, Florida cops say

I need help. Boy calls 911 to report drunk dad driving him to Las Vegas, CA cops say
Police are investigating a crash that left a 7-year-old cheerleader fighting for her life.

Now, the family is wondering why police havent charged the driver who hit them.

Channel 2s Tyisha Fernandes was in DeKalb County, where the crash happened on I-85 South in Chamblee just two days before Christmas. Ashley Askew said that the family car broke down on the highway, so she let the car drift to the to the HOV lane and stop on the left shoulder, which is when a woman slammed into their car.

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The child, Leyla Askew, was preparing for a big cheerleading competition in Las Vegas. Now, shes in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury.

My vehicle decided to stop, Ashley Marion, Leylas mother, said. Theres no way I can get all the way to the right when the speedometer is dropping and all these cars are flying past, so I was like, The closest lane is the HOV lane.

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Marion said several other cars moved out of the HOV lane to avoid hitting them, but one car didnt.

I was immediately knocked unconscious. I had no idea we were in an accident, Marion said. We get to the hospital and I found out my baby suffered a traumatic brain injury and she has to undergo surgery. I had to watch my baby for 17 days hooked up to a ventilator.

According to the police report, the driver stopped and gave her information to paramedics, but when a police officer told her to stand by, she left the scene with a relative.

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Police are not classifying the crash as a hit-and-run, but said they are still investigating.

Thats still leaving the scene of an accident, Marion said.

Fernandes did some digging and found that the driver, Juaoquim Washington, has a warrant out of Douglas County for failing to appear in court on speeding and drug charges.

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Fernandes spoke to Washington on the phone, who said DeKalb police let her leave the scene and that even she was surprised she wasnt arrested for that warrant out of Douglas County.

DeKalb County police said they stand by what they wrote in the police report, saying Washington left the scene before they could give her a citation.

The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with medical expenses.
During a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on Jan. 17, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that the Netherlands would join the U.S. and Germany in sending Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine.

I think that its important we join that, and I discussed it also this morning with Olaf Scholz of Germany, Rutte said, as quoted by Reuters.

Patriot systems are the most advanced air defense weapon in the U.S. arsenal that Kyiv has been long pleading for.

The U.S. announced it would supply Patriots to Ukraine at the end of December, ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys visit to Washington, D.C.

Germany also committed a Patriot battery in early January.

The systems aim to significantly improve the defense of Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure against regular Russian missile attacks.

Ruttes announcement comes ahead of the Ramstein defense summit on Jan. 20, where Western allies are expected to announce additional military aid for Ukraine.

Ramstein summits are held to coordinate efforts to provide military aid to Ukraine.

They were named after Germanys Ramstain Air Base, where the first summit was held in April 2022.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)  Dutch authorities arrested a Syrian man on Tuesday who is suspected of having been a security chief for the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra extremist groups during Syria's grinding civil war, prosecutors said.

It is suspected that from his position at IS he also contributed to the war crimes that the organization committed in Syria, the National Public Prosecutors Office said in a statement.

The 37-year-old man, whose name wasn't released, was detained in the small village of Arkel, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the port city of Rotterdam, prosecutors said in a statement.

The man is suspected of holding a managerial position in the security service of IS from 2015-2018, prosecutors said. For two years prior to that, he allegedly carried out the same work for Jabhat al-Nusra. Prosecutors say he held both functions in and around the Yarmouk refugee camp south of the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The suspect applied for asylum in the Netherlands in 2019 and later settled in Arkel, prosecutors said. He was scheduled to appear before an examining magistrate in The Hague on Feb. 20.

It wasn't the first time Dutch authorities arrested a suspect from the Syrian conflict. Last year, a Dutch court convicted two Syrian brothers of holding senior roles in Jabhat al-Nusra between 2011 and 2014.
Mark Rutte, the Dutch Prime Minister, told Joe Biden, the United States President, on Tuesday that the Netherlands would suggest passing a Patriot missile system to Ukraine, following the same offers from the USA and Germany.

Source: Reuters, citing Mark Rutte's statement during the visit with Joe Biden at the White House; European Pravda

"I think that it's important we join that, and I discussed it [offering Patriot missiles to Ukraine  ed.] also this morning with Olaf Scholz of Germany," Rutte said, not mentioning how many anti-aircraft systems Ukraine would receive, or the specific time of their arrival.

Earlier, the Bloomberg agency reported that the Dutch government can make a decision concerning sending a Patriot system to Ukraine, joining the US and Germany.

During the meeting with the US President, the Dutch Prime Minister recalled that the Netherlands had decided to spend an additional 2.5 billion euros to support Ukraine. Biden also thanked Rutte for being "very very stalwart" in this regard.

Biden and Rutte are expected to discuss further support to Ukraine, "as well as further cooperation in the fields of defence and security and strengthening of the bilateral trade relationship."

Background:

On 21 December, the USA announced a new military aid package for Ukraine worth $1.85 billion, which for the first time includes the transfer of the Patriot air defence system.

Thereafter, Germany also pledged to provide Ukraine with Patriots.

This week, about a 100 Ukrainian military personnel, who will be trained to operate and maintain Patriot air defence systems, have arrived at a base in Oklahoma. At this stage, 90 to 100 Ukrainian military personnel will be trained; these will be the operators or those who will be engaged in systems maintenance. The training will last several months.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch tech industry group FME on Tuesday called for the European Commission to draft a position on whether and how to restrict computer chip technology exports to China, saying "more unified and powerful action" was needed from Europe.

The call comes as Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visits U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington. The leaders are expected to discuss U.S. requests for the Netherlands to adopt U.S. rules introduced in October aimed at hobbling China's chipmaking industry to slow its technological and military advances.

The Netherlands is home to ASML Holding NV, a key maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. It had 15% of its sales to China in 2021, or 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion)worth, that could be affected if the Netherlands were to adopt the new U.S. rules.

"In these times ... of geopolitical tensions, national and European strategic autonomy is of great importance," said FME chairman Theo Henrar.

"The Netherlands would be helped by more unified and powerful action by the European Union."

Some European politicians, including Belgium's prime minister, have questioned whether the Netherlands should be left to negotiate chip policy with the U.S. alone, but Rutte on Friday denied feeling pressured by Washington over the matter.

The Dutch trade minister on Sunday said she shared U.S. concerns about over-reliance on Asian chipmakers and that chip technology had military applications, but the Netherlands would not simply adopt American rules.

FME represents the interests of 2,200 Dutch technology firms, including ASML and smaller equipment maker ASM International.

($1 = 0.9269 euros)

(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Mark Potter)
The Duval Republican Party is calling on Governor Ron DeSantis to petition the Florida Supreme Court to commence a statewide grandy jury to investigate the JEA scandal.

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<

The resolution calls for the proposed statewide grand jury to investigate violations of Florida law and report on actions of public officials, private individuals and business entities who misled Duval citizens on the proposed sale of JEA.

[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]

We need to know what happened, said Robin Lumb.

Lumb, who serves Duval County Republican Executive Committee, helped draft the resolution, which was unanimously approved by the local party Monday night.

He said he believes the federal grandy jury investigating the scandal, which led to the indictment of former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn, has run its course.

Zahn and another former JEA executive face federal conspiracy and wire fraud charges in connection with attempts to privatize the public utility.

INVESTIGATES: Councilmember Dennis offered job to resign, remove opposition to botched JEA sale

Lumb said unlike federal grand juries, which either decide to issue an indictment or not, a state grand jury would publish a report detailing not just criminal conduct, but a full account of what occurred.

There are people that were at the center of this, who were not necessarily working employees of city government, but whos conduct is to this day shrouded in mystery, said Lumb.

UNF political science professor Dr. Michael Binder said the resolution isnt binding, but it does signal where local Republican voters stand.

And says, hey. Look, this JEA matter is a mess. Wed like the state to look into it even further and I dont know anybody that disagrees with that outside Aaron Zahn, said Binder.

The resolution comes in the middle of a mayoral race where candidates have been taking shots at one another over alleged ties to the proposed sale of JEA.

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Republican mayoral candidates LeAnna Cumber and Daniel Davis have been the most aggressive on the airwaves, with Cumbers PAC putting out an ad hitting Davis over the JEA scandal last week.

Watch: Testimony on failed JEA sale

Davis took over $300,000 from JEA to promote privatization, said the narrator in the ad.

Cumber said the push for a statewide grand jury creates an opportunity for the public to learn more about Davis involvement in the push for privatization as head of the Jax Chamber.

Hes hanging around with Aaron Zahn and with everyone else involved and so hes got a lot to answer for, said Cumber.

But Dr. Binder pointed out Davis isnt alone in his proximity to the JEA scandal.

Three mayoral candidates are at least tangentially involved in this whether they were on Council or running the Chamber at the time, said Binder.

Read: JEA sale off the table

Aside from Cumber being on city council during the fallout, her husband Husein Cumber previously served as a JEA board member for years and even voted to confirm Zahn as CEO of the utility in 2018.

Cumber pushed back on the suggestion she or her husband had any involvement, and noted her husband was the second to testify against Zahn.

Including the fact that he had a resolution. It was his resolution that said that there would be no discussion of privatization at JEA and they ignored him, said Cumber.

The Davis campaign declined to comment on the resolution calling for the grand jury.

[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]

The Governors Office also did not respond for a request for comment.

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories
NEW YORK (AP)  Emerson Electric Co. is going public with its $7.6 billion bid for National Instruments, saying the company has avoided serious buyout negotiations since early last year.

Emerson bumped up its cash offer for the maker of scientific measuring equipment and software to $53 per share in November, up from a per-share offer of $48 that it had made back in May.

Shares of National Instruments jumped, closing Tuesday up nearly 11%.

Emerson said that it's tried numerous times to initiate private discussions with National Instruments Corp. since May. The St. Louis company said that when it provided its increased bid in November, National Instruments said it had formed a group to look at the proposal and evaluate options. But Emerson said since that time National Instruments has resisted engaging.

Emerson, which makes process controls systems, valves and analytical instruments, noted that it did meet with National Instruments earlier this month, but that National Instruments shared limited, high-level information about its business and was unwilling to provide more detailed information. Emerson said it was told by National Instruments that would be the extent of its engagement.

Last week National Instruments Corp. said that it was conducting a strategic review and put in place a poison pill, a financial maneuver that companies use to ward off unwelcome suitors.

The elements of each poison pill vary, but theyre all designed to give corporate boards an option to flood the market with so much newly created stock that a takeover becomes prohibitively expensive.

Although Emerson would have preferred to reach an agreement privately, given National Instruments announcement that it is undertaking a strategic review, and after refusing to work with us toward a premium cash transaction over the past eight months, we are making our interest public for the benefit of all National Instruments shareholders, Emerson President and CEO Lal Karsanbhai said in a prepared statement.

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National Instruments, which is based in Austin, Texas, said in a statement on Tuesday that it will evaluate Emerson's proposal and wants to pursue a comprehensive strategic review process inclusive of other counterparties rather than negotiate exclusively with Emerson, which (National Instruments) believes would be detrimental to shareholder interests.

Emerson is interested in National Instruments' differentiated electronic test and measurement offerings and technology stack of intelligent devices, controls and software.

Emerson has purchased 2.3 million shares of National Instruments and says that it has approval to increase its stake.

Shares of Emerson ended Tuesday down almost 7%.
A former Republican candidate was arrested in connection with shootings at Democratic officials' homes. China's birth rate declined for the first time in decades. And Tom Brady's career is at a crossroads after one of the worst playoff losses of his 23-year career.

 Hello! It's Julius with Tuesday's news!

But first: Could Jack and Rose both fit on the debris in "Titanic?"  A National Geographic special with director James Cameron will investigate the theory.

The Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here.

Details emerge about ex-GOP candidate linked to New Mexico shootings

Solomon Pena, a former Republican state legislative candidate in New Mexico, was booked into jail Tuesday in connection with a spate of drive-by shootings at Democratic elected officials' homes. Pena, who lost his bid for a state house seat in November, is accused of conspiring with and paying four other men to shoot at the homes. Bullets fired into one of the lawmakers' homes caused sheetrock and dust to land in the face of a 10-year-old girl as she slept, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint also reveals Pena was "upset he had not won the election for public office," adding that he encouraged accomplices to shoot at the homes during waking hours and "intended to (seriously injure) or cause death." Here's what we know about Pena's arrest.

Solomon Pena, center, a former Republican candidate for New Mexico House District 14, was arrested in connection with a recent series of drive-by shootings targeting Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico.

'Notoriously inaccurate' missile blamed for deadly blast in Ukraine

Six children were among at least 45 people killed when a "notoriously inaccurate" Russian missile slammed into an apartment building in Ukraine last week, authorities said Tuesday. National Police Chief Igor Klymenko said search and rescue operations have been completed at the site of the nine-story building that housed about 1,700 people in Dnipro. Sixteen children were among the 79 people injured  28 of them hospitalized, 10 in serious condition, Klymenko said in a Facebook update. Twenty people were still missing. Some people were trapped on upper floors, and some signaled for help with lights on their cellphones. Read the latest updates on Ukraine.

Before-and-after images capture devastation of Ukrainian apartment complex after missile attack

Emergency workers clear the rubble after a Russian rocket hit a multistory building leaving many people under debris in Dnipro, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023.

What everyone's talking about

The Short List is free, but several stories we link to are subscriber-only. Consider supporting our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today.

Greene, Gosar reinstated to committees

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia GOP congresswoman stripped of her committee assignments two years ago by the Democratic-led House after a series of menacing social media posts, has been reinstated by the Republicans who now run the chamber. Greene was named Tuesday to the Homeland Security Committee, her spokesman confirmed to USA TODAY. Arizona GOP Rep. Paul Gosar was also reinstated. He had been removed from his committees after being censured in 2021 for posting an anime video that was edited to show him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and attacking President Joe Biden. Gosar was named to the Committee on Natural Resources, media reports said. Read more.

Bidens most vocal Republican antagonists emerge from the sidelines  with subpoena power

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) talks to reporters on November 15, 2022 in Washington, DC. Greene was reinstated to a House committee assignment Tuesday.

How China's birth rate decline could affect the global economy

China's birthrate has declined for the first time in decades, China's National Bureau of Statistics reported Tuesday, a shift that experts say could influence the global economy. The world's most populous country's birthrate was 6.77 births per 1,000 people, a fall from 7.52 births per 1,000 in 2021, according to the statistics agency. Researchers believe the lower population growth rate could mean higher labor costs in China because of a smaller pool of workers. A shrinking labor force could make it harder for China's government to fund its public health and welfare costs, which would suppress China's economy. Read more.

Real quick

What's next for Tom Brady?

After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 31-14 shellacking by the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, quarterback Tom Brady's illustrious career has reached a new crossroads. The NFL's most decorated player heads into the offseason with an expiring contract yet seemingly several viable paths forward. But with a humiliating defeat serving as the capstone to his first sub-.500 pro season, one checkered with professional and personal adversity, Brady wasn't ready to discuss his future Monday, saying, "Its just been one day at a time, truly. Should he retire? Should he sign with a new team? Here's what Brady could do next.

Personally, I think one last run with the New England Patriots would be a nice way to cap off his career.

Tom Brady leaves the field after the wild-card playoff loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

A break from the news

This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Want this news roundup in your inbox every night? Subscribe to the newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tom Brady, Ukraine, Solomon Pena: The Short List
LOUISIANA, Mo. (AP)  The former police chief of a small northeast Missouri town is facing second-degree murder charges after his girlfriend's brother died of a drug overdose in his home last year.

William E. Jones, 50, the former police chief in Louisiana, Missouri, was indicted by a Pike County grand jury on seven charges in the death of 24-year-old Gabriel Thone, who was found dead on the floor of a bedroom in Jones' house in October.

Jones was arrested Friday and is being held on $1 million cash bail, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Thone was the brother of Jones girlfriend, Alexis Thone. Another of Thone's brothers also overdosed at the home but was revived by paramedics.

Jones was charged in October with several felonies, including drug trafficking and stealing the from police department's evidence locker. He was fired as police chief when those charges were filed.

Second-degree murder alleges a person died as the result of someone committing a felony. The underlying felony that prosecutors allege in Jones case is trafficking fentanyl.

Jones lawyer, Christopher Lozano, said Jones is innocent.

Hes only guilty of loving somebody with a drug problem  the girlfriend, Lozano said. Her two brothers were house guests, and its tragic. Thats it.

The girlfriend, Alexis Thone, 25, of O'Fallon, told investigators she didnt know where her brother got the drugs. Jones said he had no idea illegal drugs were being used in his home, court documents said.

Louisiana, a town of about 3,200 residents, is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) northwest of St. Louis.

In the case filed in October, Jones was accused in court documents of taking methamphetamine from the police department's evidence locker and throwing narcotic test kits in a dumpster before deputies arrived.

Alexis Thone also was charged with second-degree drug trafficking and possession of a controlled substance in October.
By Norihiko Shirouzu and Gilles Guillaume

BEIJING/PARIS (Reuters) -Renault SA and China's Geely Automobile Holdings are working to finalise a deal to bring Saudi Aramco in as an investor and partner to develop and supply gasoline engines and hybrid technologies, three people with knowledge of the talks said.

The Saudi oil producer has been involved in advanced discussions to take a stake of up to 20% in a previously announced but still-unnamed Geely-Renault powertrain technology company that the automakers are working to establish, the three people told Reuters.

Big oil firms have worked with automakers to develop sustainable fuels and hydrogen engines in recent years.

But if a deal is agreed, Aramco would be the first major oil producer to invest in the car business, as the rise of electric cars threatens to cut demand for conventional fuels.

According to a document prepared by the companies and viewed by Reuters, the aim is to establish a powertrain company this year with a production capacity of more than 5 million "low-emission and hybrid engines and transmissions" annually.

A 20% stake for Aramco would leave Renault and Geely with 40% each in the joint venture, which would combine a carve-out of the French automaker's existing combustion-engine production with Geely's gasoline and hybrid technology and related assets, the people told Reuters.

Renault and Geely both declined to comment. Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

The new joint-venture  codenamed "Horse" by Renault and "Rubik" by Geely  is aimed at developing more-efficient gasoline engines and hybrid systems at a time when the focus of much of the automobile industry has been on the capital-intensive transition to purely electric vehicles, two of the people said.

The financial terms of the potential investment by Aramco in the joint venture were not immediately known.

According to the document, Aramco's investment would be used to support development of decarbonisation technologies for gasoline engines.

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Aramco would also contribute to research and development of powertrain technologies, especially synthetic fuel solutions and next-generation hydrogen technologies, the document said.

The people who described the outline of the deal being negotiated asked not to be named because it has not been announced.

Last year, Aramco announced a partnership with Hyundai Motor Co to study advanced fuels that could be used in hybrid engines to reduce CO2 emissions.

SUBJECT TO BOARD APPROVALS

Aramco's deal with Geely and Renault still needs approval by the boards of the automakers, one of the people said. The three companies are working to complete a letter of intent in the coming weeks, one of the sources said.

Geely and Renault when they announced the new venture last year said it would employ 19,000 people at 17 powertrain factories and three research and development hubs.

By carving out its internal-combustion-engine business, Renault plans to focus on electric cars, part of the French automaker's effort to revamp its alliance with Nissan Motor Co.

As part of that, Renault is trying to convince Nissan to invest in its new electric vehicle unit.

For Geely, the deal with Renault extends its pattern of building partnerships to expand beyond China.

A strategic focus for the joint venture will likely be on an advanced four-cylinder engine, two of the sources said.

One way to use those engines would be as a dedicated power generator to supply a charge to a hybrid car's battery system, rather than powering the vehicle directly when the battery charge was low, one of them said.

In that kind of arrangement, gasoline engines could be designed to operate in an "exceptionally efficient mode", one of the sources said.

Geely previously announced a hybrid gasoline engine development deal with Mercedes-Benz and holds a stake in the German automaker.

The new Geely-Renault joint venture is not the only company betting on the view that fuel-efficient hybrids will remain part of the mix even as more automakers roll out electric vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp CEO Akio Toyoda has defended his company's continued investment in hybrids, such as the Prius, saying that electric vehicles remain expensive and that charging infrastructure is incomplete.

(Reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing, Gilles Guillaume in Paris, and Maha El Dahan in Dubai; editing by Bradley Perrett and Jason Neely)
Explosions rocked Russian Belgorod city on the night of 16-17 January. The governor of the oblast has stated that the air defence systems have been deployed.

Source: Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of Belgorod Oblast in the Russian Federation, on Telegram

Quote: "Our air defence system was activated over Belgorod and the Belgorod district. Emergency services are establishing the aftermath on the ground. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or damage."

Background: Mikhail Razvozhayev, the so-called governor of Sevastopol (Crimea), announced the shooting down of a drone over the city on 16 January.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Birmingham had to come from behind to beat Forest Green of League One (Getty_Sport_All_Published_Images)

Birmingham City produced a second-half comeback to avoid an FA Cup upset with a 2-1 win at Forest Green Rovers.

On a night of third-round replays, this tie saw the sides going at it for the first time - after their initial attempt to play the game 10 days ago was scuppered by a frozen pitch.

Goals from Lukas Jutkiewicz and Kevin Long ultimately sent the Championship Blues through after Rovers, currently bottom of League One, had gone ahead through Ben Stevensons stunning effort.

Birmingham now face a trip to Blackburn in the fourth round as reward for their efforts in Nailsworth.

Elsewhere, Harvey Elliotts sensational strike helped Liverpool put their Premier League woes to one side as they moved into the FA Cup fourth round by edging out Wolverhampton at Molineux.

After collecting the ball in his own half, Elliott took advantage of the backpedalling Wolves defence before lashing a 25-yard effort high into the net, beyond the reach of an out-of-position Jose Sa.

Elliott scored the only goal of the game for Liverpool (REUTERS)

Fabio Carvalho had a goal disallowed for offside but Elliotts goal was enough to secure a 1-0 win for the defending champions in this replay, with their initial fixture ending in a contentious 2-2 draw.

Earlier this month, Toti Gomes strike which would have secured a Wolves win was dubiously ruled out amid a VAR failure, but there was no such drama this time around.

Liverpools reward for prevailing in the Midlands is a trip later this month to Brighton, where Jurgen Klopps side were handily beaten 3-0 in the league to leave the Merseysiders ninth in the table.

Meanwhile, Sam Bell scored a superb winner nine minutes from the end of extra time to carry Bristol City to a 2-1 win at Swansea City.

The teams shared a 1-1 draw in their first encounter and could not be split over another 90 minutes as Mark Sykes opener for the Robins was cancelled out by Swans substitute Ollie Cooper.

But Bell cut in from the left in extra time and fired past Andy Fisher in the Swansea goal to settle the replay and reward his club with a home tie against West Bromwich Albion in an all-Championship clash.

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The Baggies ruthlessly exposed the 70-place gap between themselves and National League Chesterfield to prevail 4-0 at The Hawthorns.

Rogic scored one of West Broms four goals (PA)

John Swift scored the first then had a hand in the next two goals from Tom Rogic and Jake Livermore before substitute Jovan Malcolm headed in a fourth for West Brom, who were taken to a replay after a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Technique Stadium 10 days ago.

It was a 10th win in 12 games in all competitions for Carlos Corberans in-form side.

Elijah Adebayo scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner as Luton Town defeated Wigan Athletic 2-1.

Thelo Aasgaard volleyed Wigan ahead within seconds of the second half starting but Cauley Woodrow scored at the second attempt five minutes later after goalkeeper Ben Amos had done well to initially parry away.

Extra-time loomed but there was to be one final twist, with the ball being played in from the Luton left and Adebayo firing home from close range to earn the Hatters a clash against Grimsby.
Eky Akmal/EyeEm via Getty

A New York City private school for special-needs children with brain disorders is allegedly so filthy that students wheelchairs are teeming with cockroaches, and is run by a scandal-ridden chiropractor masquerading as a neurologist who preys on female staffers.

The disturbing accusations are detailed in a lawsuit obtained by The Daily Beast, which was filed Monday by a one-time employee who in December quit her job at the International Institute for the Brain (iBRAIN) on Manhattans Upper East Side.

In it, former iBRAIN publicity associate Katelyn Newman also claims, among other things, that the school hired at least one convicted felon who fraudulently posed for years as a doctor and fake U.S. Navy officer, subjects children to scientific experiments without proper consent, and lacks basic classroom necessities like pencils and chairs even as the state forks over up to $350,000 per student for tuition.

This is major crime, Newmans attorney, Kenneth McCallion, told The Daily Beast on Tuesday, noting his client was severely damaged by the entire experience, and had to start seeing a therapist to recover.

A former prosecutor now litigating civil cases, McCallionwho has previously contributed a handful of opinion pieces to The Daily Beastsaid he hopes to pique the interest of the Attorney General and the Board of Ed with the filing.

When Newman began working at iBRAIN in August 2022, the first thing she noticed was that the facility located on East 91st Street was extremely filthy and unsanitary, her lawsuit states. The floors were generally left unwashed, spiders and bugs everywhere, with often no toilet paper, paper towels, soap, hand sanitizer, or running water in the bathroom.

Cockroaches were so prevalent that they were sometimes nested in students wheelchairs, the filing goes on, noting that there was no working A/C at the height of the summer heat, and that plumbing leaks were routinely stuffed up with Dorito bags or whatever else was readily available.

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At one-point, some disgusting and gross-smelling residue started falling from the ceiling in [the] therapists office area, but there were no immediate instructions given to vacate the premises, it continues. The carcass of a rat could be seen for an extended time period before it was finally removed, and the ceiling over the entryway where the children entered the building was falling down.

But that wasnt the worst of it, according to Newmans lawsuit. iBRAINs so-called chief innovations officer, Dr. Victor Pedro, who claims to have once treated 80s pop star Paula Abdul with an experimental method medical experts say is quackery, held himself out as a neurologist or neuroscientist, Newman claims. However, he was a chiropractor from Rhode Island, not a neurologist or neuroscientist as he represented himself to be. Pedro called his innovative therapy Cortical Integrated Therapy (CIT), but he seemed to be the only practitioner of this controversial (and largely rejected) so-called therapy, Newman alleges, noting that iBRAIN administrators participated in neuro-conferences as part of their work.

Upon further digging, [Newman] found out that Dr. Pedro had graduated with a B.S. from the University of Vermont in 1981, moved on to Boston University to study dentistry, but ultimately became a chiropractor, graduating from the New York Chiropractic College in 1983, the suit states, adding that Pedros chiropractic license expired in December 2021. In 2017, the suit continues, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) rejected CIT as having shown no scientific evidence verifying the efficacy of CIT, nor any indication that CIT was subject to such evaluation.

Newman alleges Pedro showed her a presentation deck of brain power points... promoting various controversial techniques that had not been approved by the FDA or apparently any other governmental agency, and which basically, in [Newmans] view, used children as human guinea pigs for his experiments. Her lawsuit further accuses Pedro of sexual harassment, including making inappropriate comments about Newmans appearance and clothing, and regularly crossing the line from harmless flirtation over to something far more sinister.

Pedro and iBRAIN officials did not immediately respond to emails and voicemails from The Daily Beast on Tuesday seeking comment.

iBRAIN administrators routinely forged paperwork and falsified reports about the progress students were making, and performed proceduressuch as fixing childrens gastric feeding tubesthat they were not certified to do, according to Newman, who alleges one student had to go to the hospital [from a poorly-executed gastric tube adjustment] because his circulation was impeded, and his legs swelled up. Other kids showed up to the school nurse with bruises, cuts, bloody noses, and other evidence of neglect abuse, Newmans suit claims.

Eventually, Newman says she became concerned for her own safety and the children when she heard from other staff members and teachers at iBRAIN that there were ex-cons working there who had not been properly vetted with background checks. One of these employees was a Dr. Alim Shariff, who claimed to be a Harvard-educated behavioral psychologist and Naval Reserve officer, according to Newman. Shariff, whose real name is Rodney Robinson and is now facing federal prison over his alleged years-long ruse, was in meetings with upper management and worked with special-needs children every day, Newman states in her lawsuit, yet was not challenged regarding his phony credentials or the so-called clinical work he was engaged in, which, upon information and belief, turned out to be a complete fraud.

It is unclear specifically when Robinson, who was arrested and charged in February 2021, worked at iBRAIN; his name is no longer listed on the schools website. However, a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court says Robinson spent years posing as Shariff, and gained employment at multiple New York City area social service and rehabilitation providers using fake identification documents.

The longer she was there, the more suspicious Newman became of iBRAIN, which has a second location in Brooklyn. The school, which was the first in the U.S. to reopen as the pandemic continued to rampage across the nation, received some $1.8 million in emergency COVID funds under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, but paychecks were starting to bounce. Some staffers were told to pick up their salaries in cash from the school founders doorman on Central Park West. Others were paid by the founder himself, a lawyer named Patrick Donohue, who allegedly cut personal checks to cover iBRAINs payroll. (Donohue did not respond to multiple emails or a voicemail message left on his cellphone Tuesday.)

During COVID outbreaks, faculty and staff were allegedly forbidden from wearing face masks, even around immunocompromised children/teens, which, according to Newman, contravened New York States public health orders at the time. And while New York State was perhaps iBrains biggest benefactor, providing between $100,000 to $350,000 per student for tuition at iBRAIN, depending on the severity of the students disability, Newman says in her suit that she still saw a lack of basic materials necessary to effectively address student goals, such as educational toys, oral motor tools, sensory regulation objects, iPads, educational software, chairs, pencils, and other educational equipment.

Tuesday is going to be a #ParentWave since parents finally have an opportunity to take back control of their children's lives. Go to @Parent_Party platform to find candidates who took the #ParentPartyPledge https://t.co/kza9QDQf64  Patrick B. Donohue, JD, MBA (@SarahJanesDad) November 6, 2022

Last November, after being constantly degraded and disrespected by higher-ups, claiming she was subjected to verbal abuse and humiliation so severe she started seeing a therapist, Newman says she tried to quit. Her bosses promised theyd change their ways, and Newman gave it a shot. But the issues persisted, Newman claims, and on Dec. 13, she tendered her resignation.

After resigning but staying in touch with present and former employees, Newmans suit says iBrain administrators sent letters to her parents, fiancee, and several business and professional contacts, falsely alleging that she had violated the New York State Child Abuse and Neglect statutes, and that she had spread false, inaccurate and unfounded information that is damaging to iBRAIN. This, according to Newman, was retaliation meant to destroy her personal and professional reputation.

In totality, McCallion told The Daily Beast, it amounted to nothing less than psychological torture.

Newman is seeking a jury trial and damages to be determined in court.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The family of a Memphis, Tennessee, man who was hospitalized and died after a traffic stop by police are demanding the official release of body camera and security video of the encounter.

Tyre Nichols was taken to the hospital in critical condition after Memphis police officers stopped him for reckless driving on Jan. 7, the police department said in a statement the next day. Nichols died in the hospital three days later.

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the family, is asking for police to release video from the stop, saying in a statement that "all of the available information tells us that this was the tragic and preventable death of a young man."

Tyre Nichols. (Courtesy family)

"Nobody should ever die from a simple traffic stop  the footage is the only way to discern the true narrative of why and how that happened to Tyre," Crump said.

Family members also demonstrated outside the National Civil Rights Museum with protesters Monday, holding signs with photos of Nichols. Rodney Wells, Nichols' stepfather, was among the relatives protesting over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, NBC affiliate WMC reported.

"You shouldn't be on a dialysis machine, press machine, looking like this because of a traffic stop," Wells told WMC.

Police said a "confrontation" between Nichols and the officers occurred when they approached his car on Jan. 7. He ran away, and the officers pursued, police said.

"While attempting to take the suspect into custody, another confrontation occurred; however, the suspect was ultimately apprehended," the police department said in the statement Jan. 8. "Afterward, the suspect complained of having a shortness of breath, at which time an ambulance was called to the scene."

Police gave no details about the confrontation. A photo provided by his stepfather showed Nichols in the hospital with blood on his face and what appeared to be a swollen eye.

Relatives of Tyre Nichols at a news conference in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday. (WMC)

The police department said in its initial statement that the district attorney general's office had been contacted and that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had been asked to investigate. The officers, who were not publicly identified, were relieved of duty pending the outcome, a routine practice.

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Police Chief C.J. Davis said Sunday that the department was "serving notice" to the officers of "impending administrative actions." The department's statement said it expected to conclude the "administrative disciplinary and investigative process" in the next week.

"After reviewing various sources of information involving this incident, I have found that it is necessary to take immediate and appropriate action," Davis said.

Mayor Jim Strickland told residents that the city was "prepared to take immediate and appropriate actions" once the investigation was concluded.

"Make no doubt, we take departmental violations very seriously, and while we must complete the investigation process, it is our top priority to ensure that swift justice is served," Strickland said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has met General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Poland.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Force of Ukraine, Associated Press

Quote from Zaluzhnyi: "Today, I had my first personal meeting with General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Poland.

I have thanked General Milley for the unwavering support and assistance provided by the United States and its allies to Ukraine.

I have outlined the urgent needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the meeting of which will accelerate our [Ukraine's  ed.] victory."

Details: It was not only the first meeting between Zaluzhnyi and Milley, but also the first foreign visit of the Ukrainian General since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

On Tuesday, the top American military officer, US Army General Mark Milley, visited a place near the Ukrainian-Polish border and spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart in person for the first time. The place of the meeting was not disclosed.

The meeting underscored the growing ties between the two militaries and came at a critical time as Russia's war with Ukraine approaches the one-year mark, AP writes.

Milley and Zaluzhnyi's meeting lasted for a few hours. Before that, the two military leaders often talked about Ukraine's needs and the state of the war over the past year, but they had never met before.

Milleys spokesman, Army Col. Dave Butler, told two reporters travelling with the Chairman that the two generals felt it was important to meet in person. The reporters did not accompany Milley to the meeting and, under conditions set by the military, agreed to not identify the military base in southeastern Poland where they were located.

Quote from Bulter: "These guys [Milley and Zaluzhyi  ed.] have been talking on a very regular basis for about a year now, and theyve gotten to know each other," Butler said. "Theyve talked in detail about the defence that Ukraine is trying to do against Russias aggression. And its important  when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, theres a difference."

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Details: Butler said there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi would travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defence chiefs this week, but when it became clear on Monday that it would not happen, they quickly decided to meet in Poland, near the border.

While a number of U.S. civilian leaders have gone into Ukraine, the Biden administration has clarified that no uniformed military service members will go into Ukraine besides those connected to the embassy in Kyiv.

Butler said only a small group  Milley and six of his senior staff members  travelled by car to the meeting.

The spokesman said that the meeting would allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyis concerns and information to the other military leaders during the NATO chiefs meeting.

According to Bulter, Milley will be able to "describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that", and the way he [Milley  ed.] does that is one by understanding it himself but by also by how Zaluzhny understands it.

Milley also will be able to describe the new training of Ukrainian forces that the U.S. is doing at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. Milley, who got his first look at the new, so-called combined arms instruction during a nearly two-hour visit there on Monday, has said it will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks.

Milley and Zaluzhnyis meeting kicks off a series of high-level gatherings of military and defence leaders this week.

Milley and other chiefs of defence will meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group consists of about 50 top defence officials, including Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, and they work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.

AP also states that the meeting comes as the international community ramps up the military assistance to Ukraine, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the U.S. and the provision of a Patriot missile battery, tanks and increased air defence and other weapons systems by the U.S. and a coalition of European and other nations.

"It also marks a key time in the war. Ukraines troops face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where Russian forces  supplemented by thousands of private Wagner Group contractors  seek to turn the tide after a series of battlefield setbacks in recent months," AP adds.

Background: On 16 January, American General Mark Milley visited a training ground in Germany, where Ukrainian servicemen began training the day before. More than 600 Ukrainian troops began the expanded training program at the camp just a day before Milley arrived.

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The New Mexico and U.S. flags. Robert Alexander/Getty Images

A former New Mexico House candidate was arrested in Albuquerque on Monday, accused of conspiring to shoot at the homes of four Democratic lawmakers in December and January.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina announced on Monday evening that Solomon Pena, 39, has been "accused of conspiring with and paying four other men to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators." A Republican, Pena ran for House District 14 in the November election, and lost to the Democratic incumbent, Miguel Garcia.

The shootings took place Dec. 4 at Bernalillo County Commissioner Adrian Barboa's home, Dec. 8 at New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martinez's home, Dec. 11 at outgoing Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O'Malley's home, and Jan. 3 at state Sen. Linda Lopez's home. No one was injured.

Police said Pena, who served nearly seven years in prison after being convicted in 2007 of burglary, larceny, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and receiving stolen property, was arrested in a SWAT raid, and is one of five suspects in the conspiracy.

"The evidence we have is not only firearms, it's also cell phones and electric records, surveillance video, and multiple witnesses inside and outside this conspiracy that have helped us weave together what occurred," said Kyle Hartsock, deputy commander of Albuquerque Police's Criminal Investigations Division. "On the last shooting, we now have evidence too that Pena himself went on the shooting and actually pulled the trigger on at least one of the firearms that was used."

Police also revealed that after Pena lost the November election, he went "uninvited" to the homes of Barboa, O'Malley, and Lopez, and "provided them with documents that he said indicated fraud in the election results." Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller called the shootings "politically motivated" and an example of "right-wing radicalism," which is a "threat to our nation."

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Lexington police have arrested a man who allegedly fired shots at the headquarters of a company he used to work with, according to police.

Juan Ramos, 31, was arrested hours after the incident and charged with burglary and wanton endangerment, according to police. Jail records indicate Ramos was arrested near the scene of the incident.

Lt. Joe Anderson with the Lexington Police Department said officers were dispatched to the area of 2845 Palumbo Drive at 5:55 a.m. Tuesday for a report of shots fired. Ramos, who was recently terminated, fired approximately six shots at a Valvoline building nearby, according to Anderson.

According to court records, Ramos fired at Valvolines headquarters, which are located at 100 Valvoline Way in Lexington.

Police said Ramos was an employee at Valvoline, but a Valvoline representative later clarified to the Herald-Leader that Ramos was a contractor. Court records say Ramos had been banned from the building and was escorted off the companys property before he fired the gun.

Prior to the shooting, Ramos was inadvertently let inside the building and attempted to steal a television when he was told to leave, Anderson said. Ramos did not leave with the TV and fired the shots towards the building after leaving the property and crossing the street.

Nobody was hurt and no property was damaged, according to Anderson.

Shell casings were found on scene, Anderson said.

Editors note: This story has been updated after a Valvoline representative clarified that Ramos was a contractor, not an employee of Valvoline.
Andrei Medvedev

According to Medvedevs lawyer Brynjulf Risnes, the former Wagner mercenary is currently in custody in the Oslo area. Risnes stated that his client fled from Russia after witnessing war crimes in Ukraine.

Read also: Wagner Group has brought in more than 38,000 prison inmates: Podolyak

According to him, Medvedev witnessed the execution of deserters by Wagners internal security service.

In short, he felt betrayed and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, Risnes said.

The lawyer said he believed Medvedev had brought some evidence of war crimes with him to Norway and intended to share his information with war crimes investigation teams.

Read also: Ukraine to push for UN tribunal to investigate Russian crimes

In response, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder and financier of the Wagner Group, made a sarcastic statement in which he noted that Medvedev served in a non-existent Norwegian unit of the Wagner Group called Nidhyog, as he had Norwegian citizenship.

Prigozhin accused Medvedev of cruel treatment of prisoners and called his former employee very dangerous.

Risnes said that Prigozhins statements were untrue.

Read also: Ukraines SBU interrogates PMC Wagner members, digs more proof of war crimes

Russian human rights project Gulagu.net reported that Medvedev, after participating in a full-scale war against Ukraine, requested political asylum in Norway and is ready to testify after Prigozhin.

According to the projects reports, Medvedev  who was the commander and the entire 1st detachment of the 4th platoon of the 7th assault detachment of the Wagner Group  escaped from Russia on Jan. 12. He was placed in a center for violators of immigration law in Oslo.

Read also: Russias Wagner mercenary company recruiting political prisoners from Chechnya, says Ukrainian intel

Medvedev was the commander of Yevgeny Nuzhin, a convict and Wagner mercenary who surrendered to Ukrainian forces and was then exchanged in a prisoner swap.

After Nuzhin was exchanged and returned to Wagner, he was murdered by a sledgehammer blow to the head. Wagner mercenaries filmed the murder and posted the video online.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Maternity line Hatch has a new investor  and a new set of sister brands.

Marquee Brands quietly took a minority stake in Hatch, and has created the Hatch Collective, which will also operate Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Destination Maternity.

More from WWD

Hatchs founder and chief executive officer Ariane Goldman  who launched the modern maternitywear brand in 2011  is heading up the collective, which debuted a new site Tuesday. The structural shift comes more than three years after Marquee Brands bought Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod and Destination Maternity out of bankruptcy. Goldman declined to pinpoint the financials of Marquees investment in Hatch.

There is growth potential in the maternity category, according to a report by Technavio, which said the segment could grow $2.91 billion between 2020 and 2025, driven in part by increased demand from emerging countries. The fertility rate in the U.S. declined from 2015 to 2020, with a low of fewer than six births per 100 women between the ages of 15 and 44, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

Hatch is known for its modern maternity offerings, but theres limited competition in the maternity sector, though Adidas, Asos and H&M all sell maternity clothing. Motherhood Maternity and Destination Maternity do not have any freestanding stores, and there are plans to close Pea in the Pods New York and Chicago locations in the next few months. Destination Maternitys current business consists only of a licensing deal with Walmart.

Maternity is not a sexy category, Goldman said, noting that she was inspired to dive into the sector because people overlook this need. They think it is a finite period of time. The truth is that a freshman class of pregnant women come in round and round again, looking for a brand to offer them these solutions.

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With many mothers and mothers-to-be self-styling the clothes they wear during their pregnancies, the concept of maternitywear is dated for millions.

It is kind of dated. I like to look at it as new motherhood. Our offering is to provide her with solutions as she embarks on pregnancy and to get her through. Also, fourth trimester and after has become an explosive category for us. Through nursing, getting back to [feeling like] herself and getting back to work, we have extended that timeline to the first year of having a child, Goldman said.

Earlier this month, the 68 corporate employees and 12 store workers across the brands learned about the new vision and integration via a town hall meeting.

Goldman has no plans to dissolve any of the brands, she said, and will focus on differentiating the targeted customer base and value of each brand. Destination Maternity once had hundreds of stores, and still has a lot of brand equity, she said, though the current deal with Walmart is quite small.

The plan is to elaborate and blow out Motherhood Maternity, which wholesales to major retailers like Amazon and Macys with affordable pieces and is the real revenue driver, Goldman said.

Her goal is to modernize the product to reach more women at that price point, she said.

When she started Hatch following the birth of her first daughter, Goldman set out to create a company that played up modern maternitywear. What started as a 10-piece assortment has evolved into an omnichannel business that includes beauty, retail stores and broader wholesale relationships. With three Hatch stores in SoHo and the Upper East Side in New York and Brentwood, California, the company is scouting another location for this year possibly in Boston or Dallas.

The next year is going to be spent digesting these businesses, recognizing the synergies, understanding our strategy in the brand architecture, Goldman said. Individual strategies are expected to be devised for each brand within the next six months whether that be wholesale, direct-to-consumer or other channels.

Geared for women to wear before, during and after their pregnancies, the aspirational Hatch assortment is pricier compared to standard maternity clothes, with prices venturing into the hundreds of dollars and longevity meant to be a selling point.

Motherhood Maternity offers options with more value pricing. Its a different customer, a different household and likely different geographies, Goldman said.

Its Pea in the Pod that we have to figure out who the customer is and where she sits. I like to think of her of a more fashion-forward, higher-spending consumer, when it come to dresses. The brands dress prices fall between Hatch and Motherhood Maternity, with online styles priced from $66 to $178.

Pea in the Pod also needs some analysis to determine its place in the marketplace, Goldman noted.

Prior to launching Hatch, Goldman started and ran another apparel company, Twobirds, which made bridesmaids dresses that were designed to be worn again. She sold the company to a manufacturing partner in the summer of 2020, but declined to reveal the price.

Under the new plan, none of the maternity brands will be renamed, but fresher products, content, online services and customer experiences will be freshened up. In line with that, the Babe by Hatch online content platform will be extended with additional content and partnerships to give more women the opportunity to connect.

To build community, Hatch has hosted meet-and-greets for mothers-to-be, sleep training, CPR classes and diaper-changing tutorials for new fathers. During the pandemic, those events were digitalized and 25,000 people have since tuned in.

As of now, Babe by Hatch covers topics such as more stylish options than hospital gowns, vibrators during pregnancy, tips on safe exercise and self care based on moon signs. Free from any images of crying babies or harried mothers, the homepage targets mothers keen on fitness and self care, despite that not being a reality for many mothers.

Goldman said, Babe will be retooled and will be very thoughtful about how we can service all three brands. The common denominator is motherhood and that comes in any shape, form, skin colors or household income. What Im really excited about is thinking through how Babe can foster that conversation, she said.

Goldman said she never expected Hatch to evolve as it has. I never imagined that I would be absorbing the competition and having the pen to architect what this category looks like.
Fox News and the rest of the conservative-leaning side of the media wants to move on from Donald Trump, a recent Fox panellist claimed.

"Theres no doubt that the majority of conservative media  Fox first and foremost  has a strong desire to move on from Donald Trump and are not paying enough attention and giving him enough airtime and ink as they used to," NPR journalist and Fox News contributor Mara Liasson argued on MediaBuzz on Sunday.

Liasson added that its a different question whether conservative voters are also tiring of Mr Trump.

The NPR reporter pointed to recent examples like Mr Trumps often supportive hometown paper, the New York Post, derisively referring to him as  a Florida retiree , and only covering his recent 2024 campaign announcement on page 26. The Rupert Murdoch-owned Post has previously praised Mr Trump.

The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment.

Mr Trump rose to prominence in part because of his ability to attract around-the-clock news coverage on Fox News and beyond, but the relationship between the former president and the network has been fraying for years.

NY Post: Florida Man Makes Announcement > story deep inside on page 26. pic.twitter.com/rccr3OcD1P  Christine Romans (@ChristineRomans) November 16, 2022

Today's cover: Heres how Donald Trump sabotaged the Republican midterms https://t.co/YUtDosSGfp pic.twitter.com/vpI94nKuBh  New York Post (@nypost) November 10, 2022

Mr Trumps team reportedly hammered Rupert Murdoch after Fox News called the state of Arizona for the Biden campaign during the 2020 election .

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The media magnate has fired right back, publicly admonishing Mr Trump not to remain fixated on the past.

It is crucial that conservatives play an active, forceful role in that debate, but that will not happen if President Trump stays focused on the past, Mr Murdoch said at a News Corp stockholders meeting not long after the election. The past is the past, and the country is now in a contest to define the future.

Fox News rarely airs full Trump rallies anymore, and the former president is getting increasingly vocal in his criticism of his former ally.

He recently posted on Truth Social that he felt like the media was returning to its 2016 attitudes towards him, dismissing his political ambitions until he pulled off a shock win.

"Fox News and The Wall [Street] Journal were terrible to me, much like today, UNTIL I WON THE ELECTION. CNN, when they actually had great ratings, was terrificThey covered me no matter where I went, 24/7, Mr Trump wrote .

The tensions between Trump and the conservative establishment at large have been growing since Mr Trumps promised  red wave  of Republican victories didnt materialise during the 2022 midterms.

As The Independent reported , election-denier candidates copying the Trump style fared particularly poorly across the country.
A Fox News contributor on Sunday said the conservative network has a strong desire to move on from former President Donald Trump.

Mara Liasson, who is also a national political correspondent for NPR, made the comment during Fox News Media Buzz on Sunday.

Theres no doubt that the majority of conservative media  Fox first and foremost  has a strong desire to move on from Donald Trump, Liasson said, and [they] are not paying enough attention and giving him enough airtime and ink as they used to.

She noted that some coverage of Trumps 2024 presidential announcement by conservative media was less than enthusiastic.

I think you can just look at the New York Post or Fox News and remember, when he announced his election campaign, Florida man announces reelection, page 26, she said.

Shes not exaggerating. When Trump launched his campaign in November, the Post, which is part of Rupert Murdochs right-wing media empire, buried the news on page 26. The front page of the tabloid included a bottom-of-the-page note reading Florida Man Makes Announcement.

The Wall Street Journal, also owned by Murdoch, called Trump the Republican partys biggest loser in an editorial after the midterm elections. Meanwhile, several pundits on Fox News suggested that Trumps star had faded, and even Tucker Carlson wouldnt say which candidate he would support in a hypothetical Republican primary in 2024.

Murdoch has reportedly sought to distance his businesses from Trump and is turning instead to his potential 2024 rival for the Republican nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
FRAMINGHAM  Police said a missing Framingham woman has been found.

Madeline DeShavo, 33, was last seen about 6 a.m. last Thursdsay. But on Tuesday afternoon, she was discovered to be in Boston with family members and safe, police spokeswoman Lt. Rachel Mickens said.

Madeline DeShavo

DeShavo is described as being 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing 230 pounds. She is white with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Earlier:Framingham police say man not heard from since Dec. 6 is found and 'safe'

Police said it is believed DeShavo was driving her vehicle, a black Honda CRV with a state of Washington license plate  BFC2456. Police said she may be wearing white pants and a baggy white and yellow jacket.

Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date public safety news, follow him on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW or on Facebook at facebook.com/NormanMillerCrime.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Framingham police say woman missing since last week is found safe
TotalEnergies suspected of supplying fuel for Russian fighter jets

Paris prosecutors reasoned that the evidence base and proof of intentionality were insufficient to launch an official probe.

Read also: Paris restaurant manager forced to eat his words after kicking out two Ukrainian women, praising Putin

In August 2022, French newspaper Le Monde published a report that showed TotalEnergies remains active on the Russian market, supplying Moscow with gas condensate, which is then turned into aviation fuel for Russian warplanes.

Read also: French Supreme Court upholds $1.1 billion verdict in favor of Ukraines Oschadbank

Ukrainian people continue to suffer from daily vicious Russian war crimes, recently in Dnipro, that are funded by sales of Russian fossil fuels, often with collaboration of European fossil fuel companies, the message quotes Svitlana Romanko, founder and Director of Razom We Stand.

Read also: Ukrainian billionaire Zhevaho released from jail in France on bail of 1 million euros

TotalEnergies collaboration with Russia has been well documented and they must be held accountable.

Darwin Climax Coalition and Razom We Stand said they intend to appeal the decision, hoping the case may eventually get taken up by French authorities.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Workers at Honda of America are still looking for missing money and the company is now admitting to employees theyre dealing with two different issues.

Today was the day that the company had promised employees lump sum payments all in an effort to make things right after last weeks checks were wrong for many employees.

>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Some Honda workers will get less in their paychecks because of tax withholding errors

News Center 7s Mike Campbell spoke with a wife of a Honda worker, who didnt want to be identified because of fear of retaliation by the company against her husbands job. She told him that they checked their account Tuesday morning to find that her husband had been paid $234.

Their check didnt show up at all last Friday and they didnt receive a lump sum payment. They also said that their efforts to call hotlines and get help online havent helped so far.

Its extremely frustrating, she said. Were on the line of losing our place because of this.

The woman said her husbands paycheck has been wrong for several pay periods and now theyre in danger of being evicted.

We have my wedding ring, his wedding ring that we can sell, she said. I hate to do that, but I dont want to lose the place Im staying at.

A spokesperson for Honda said that lump sum payments went out to associates over the weekend and are reaching associates at various times depending on their banking institution.

News Center 7 previously reported that Honda told workers on Jan. 12 that employees with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) had tax withholding errors, making their checks short. In internal emails obtained by News Center 7, we learned that company now admits to ITS employees that there is a second systemic issue.

>> Shocked more than anything else; Some Honda workers hundreds of dollars short after payroll error

The HSA problem and tax withholding elections incorrectly transitioned to the companys new Human Resources and Payroll system. Many workers had their tax withholding defaulted to the highest tax bracket, which is married filing single. That caused their checks to also be much smaller than expected.

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The company told employees they are working to fix those two systemic issues, as well as scattered, individual issues.

We are investigating all reports received and will begin to correct pay discrepancies as soon as our next payday, Honda officials said in a statement.

Honda believes these payroll issues are a one-time glitch with their new payroll platform and that, starting with the next checks scheduled for Jan. 27, everything should go smoothly for their employees.
Over the past 24 hours, Ukrainian military repeled Russian attacks near over 20 settlements in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. They also targeted a control point, 11 Russian temporary bases, fuel storage and an ammunition depot, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in Jan. 17 report.

Russian forces continue to focus their efforts on attempts to capture the whole of Donetsk Oblast. According to the Ukrainian military, the Russian army launched two missiles, seven air strikes, and over 70 MLRS attacks against Ukraine, targeting civilian infrastructure.
Familes have been working for days to pick up the pieces after at least five tornadoes moved through parts of Georgia last week.

Channel 2s Ashli Lincoln was in LaGrange Monday, where it still looks like a bomb went off in one neighborhood. Victims Lincoln spoke to said that while they do have home insurance, right now they are strapped for cash trying to deal with hotel and moving expenses.

Kim and Dwayne Fields said theyre loading up and salvaging items from their tornado-ransacked home in the Lexington Park subdivision.

Gods got a better plan for us, Dwayne Fields said. We thought this was our forever home, but its not. He got something in store

[DOWNLOAD: Free Severe Weather Team 2 App for alerts wherever you go]

The Winston family said theyve still got a mortgage and other bills to deal with while they try to figure out a place to live, a car to drive and how to move forward.

Both the Winstons and the Fields anticipate spending more than $1,000 on temporary living and moving expenses.

Its been sleepless nights, Derek Winston said. Its been very stressful. We never went through anything like this before.

Krnisha Gamble is left trying to figure out where she and her two kids are going to live. She moved in with her aunt over the summer for a better home life after fleeing a crime-riddled LaGrange neighborhood. Tornadoes destroyed her aunts home.

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Its an unfortunate situation to happen twice back-to-back, but the main thing, like I said, Were still here, Gamble said.

The City of LaGrange has set up a GoFundMe to help tornado victims. You can donate to it HERE.

Officials in Spalding County said they will have to rebuild their power grid after 60% of it was damaged in the twisters. Power crews from 27 different cities in Georgia, as well as from Alabama and Florida, are helping them. There are still nearly 3,000 customers without power.

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About 400 students in Spalding cant live in their homes right now, prompting school officials to keep schools closed at least through Wednesday of this week.

[UPLOAD PHOTOS: Share your weather photos with us here]

Channel 2s Veronica Griffin was at a news conference Monday where county officials made a call for additional volunteers and donations during the continued recovery phase.

In Butts County, a man who lives in a mobile home park in Jenkinsburg said the owner of the park turned the Red Cross away on Sunday afternoon despite the fact that residents needed supplies.

The worker of Red Cross came back over and said, I apologize, we can not help youll out. The owner of this park has told us to get off the property, he said. I was heartbroken. It broke my heart.

The parks manager said the owner did turn the Red Cross away because the worker appeared to only be taking photos and didnt have emergency supplies on hand. The owner was concerned the photos would be used to shed a bad light on the mobile home park.

Residents said that the needs of the community should have come first.

Theres a lot of kids that live in that park, the man said. Theres a lot of families that are in need right now.

Anyone who needs help can call 1-800-RED-CROSS.




LUETZERATH, Germany (Reuters) -Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was detained alongside other activists on Tuesday during protests against the demolition of a village to make way for a coal mine expansion but was released after an identity check, according to police.

Thunberg was held while protesting at the opencast coal mine of Garzweiler 2, some 9 km (5.6 miles) from the village of Luetzerath, after police warned that the group would be removed by force if they did not move away from the edge of the mine.

The village in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia is being cleared to allow for the expansion of the mine. The mine's owner, RWE, agreed with the government that it could demolish Luetzerath in exchange for its faster exit from coal and the saving of five villages originally slated for destruction.

Activists have said Germany should not be mining any more lignite, or brown coal, and should focus on expanding renewable energy instead.

Riot police backed by bulldozers removed activists from buildings in the abandoned village last week, with only a few left in trees and an underground tunnel by last weekend, but protesters including Thunberg remained at the site staging a sit-in into Tuesday.

"We are going to use force to bring you to the identity check, so please cooperate," a policeman said to the group, according to Reuters footage.

"Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity," a spokesperson for Aachen police told Reuters, adding that one activist had jumped into the mine.

Thunberg was carried away by three police officers and held by one arm at a spot away from the edge of the mine and was then escorted back towards police vans.

The Swedish climate activist addressed the around 6,000 protesters who marched towards Luetzerath on Saturday, calling the expansion of the mine a "betrayal of present and future generations."

"Germany is one of the biggest polluters in the world and needs to be held accountable," she said.

(Reporting by Wolfgang Rattay and Riham Alkousaa, Writing by Victoria Waldersee; Editing by Maria Sheahan, William Maclean and Rosalba O'Brien)
Last September Getty Images banned the inclusion of AI-generated works in its commercial database over copyright concerns. On Tuesday, Getty Images announced that it is suing Stability AI, maker of the popular AI art tool Stable Diffusion, in a London court over alleged copyright violations.

"It is Getty Images position that Stability AI unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright and the associated metadata owned or represented by Getty Images absent a license to benefit Stability AIs commercial interests and to the detriment of the content creators," Getty Images wrote in a press statement released Tuesday. "Getty Images believes artificial intelligence has the potential to stimulate creative endeavors."

"Getty Images provided licenses to leading technology innovators for purposes related to training artificial intelligence systems in a manner that respects personal and intellectual property rights," the company continued. "Stability AI did not seek any such license from Getty Images and instead, we believe, chose to ignore viable licensing options and longstanding legal protections in pursuit of their standalone commercial interests."

The details of the lawsuit have not been made public, though Getty Images CEO Craig Peters told The Verge, that charges would include copyright and site TOS violations like web scraping. Furthermore, Peters explained that the company is not seeking monetary damages in this case so as much as it is hoping to establish a favorable precedent for future litigation.

Text-to-image generation tools like Stable Diffusion, Dall-E and Midjourney don't create the artwork that they produce in the same way people do  there is no imagination from which these ideas can spring forth. Like other generative AI, these tools are trained to do what they do using massive databases of annotated images  think, hundreds of thousands of frog pictures labelled "frog" used to teach a computer algorithm what a frog looks like.

And why go through the trouble of assembling and annotating a database of your own when there's an entire internet's worth of content there for the taking? AI firms like Clearview and Voyager Labs have already tried and been massively, repeatedly fined for scraping image data from the public web and social media sites. An independent study conducted last August concluded that a notable portion of Stable Diffusion's data was likely pulled directly from the Getty Images site, in part as evidenced by the art tool's habit of recreating the Getty watermark.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Republican Rep. Jim Banks, a combative defender of former President Donald Trump, announced on Tuesday that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat from Indiana being vacated by GOP Sen. Mike Braun.

Banks is the first candidate to formally enter the Senate race since Braun said in December that he would forgo a 2024 reelection bid and run instead for Indiana governor. Banks announcement comes days after Donald Trump Jr. and the Washington-based anti-tax Club for Growth began attacking former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as insufficiently conservative while Daniels ponders whether to also seek the Senate seat.

Banks criticized current Senate Republicans for cooperating too much with the Biden administration and allowing passage of a massive $1.7 trillion spending bill just before Christmas.

I just believe now more than ever that we need conservatives in the Senate who are going to fight back against radical Democrat policies instead of going along with it, Banks told The Associated Press. Republican primary voters are looking for a conservative fighter, someone to go to Washington and fight for Hoosier family values and against the radical, socialist and woke agenda that Democrats are pushing in Washington.

Banks released a campaign video announcement that invokes disputes over transgender girls' sports, blames China for COVID-19 and claims that anti-Americanism is being pushed in schools and the military, saying the radical Democrats and the spineless Republicans are going to do everything that they can to stop me.

Banks, 43, was first elected to Congress from a heavily Republican district in northeastern Indiana in 2016, the year after he returned from an eight-month military deployment to Afghanistan with the Navy Reserve.

He has since become a frequent Fox News Channel guest and Trump ally who voted against certifying Joe Bidens presidential election victory after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., months later rejected Republican leader Kevin McCarthys pick of Banks as the top GOP member on the committee investigating the deadly Capitol insurrection, citing the need to protect the reviews integrity.

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Banks backed McCarthy throughout his fight to become House speaker this month and has kept up ties with Trump, visiting with him since he left the White House and joining him on a 2021 trip to the U.S.-Mexico border. Banks said that last week he told Trump  who won Indiana by wide margins in 2016 and 2020  of his decision to enter the Senate race.

I told him Id like to have his support, hope he comes to Indiana and campaigns with me, Banks said. I was proud to fight alongside him for the America First policies and agenda that he pushed when he was president and believe strongly we need to go back to that.

Banks announcement could be the start of a competitive race for the Republican nomination in the GOP-dominated state, with one potential candidate being Ukrainian-born Rep. Victoria Spartz, who has been critical at times of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys government since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last February.

But the biggest factor could be whether Daniels decides to enter the race. The 73-year-old Daniels completed two terms as governor in early 2013 with high approval ratings and finished a decade as the high-profile president of Purdue University at the end of December.

Not waiting for Daniels' decision, the conservative Club for Growth released an ad last week reaching back to his time as President George W. Bushs budget director to criticize him for increasing the federal debt. It calls Daniels an old guard Republican clinging to the old ways of the bad old days.

Club for Growth President David McIntosh, who was an Indiana congressman in the 1990s, said the deep-pocketed group is ready to spend what it takes to make sure Hoosiers have a conservative in that Senate seat.

The group said Tuesday it was endorsing Banks in the race.

We think very highly of Jim Banks, McIntosh said. He is that type of new, young Republican leadership that people are looking for.

Mark Lubbers, a longtime Daniels friend and adviser, said the Club for Growth helped push failed Republican candidates as the party fell short of recapturing the Senate in last years election.

Sad to see that Jim Banks has thrown in with them, Lubbers said. And apparently they think its political genius to poke the bear with a sharp stick. Well see how that works out.

Banks, who was 31 when he was first elected to the state Senate in 2010 while Daniels was governor, has been eager to pull at political divides.

His congressional office Twitter account was suspended for a couple weeks in 2021 after he responded to a post about Biden administration official Dr. Rachel Levine becoming the first transgender four-star officer in the U.S. uniformed services by writing: The title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man.

Banks also lined up last year against Republican Indiana Gov. Eric Holcombs veto of a bill banning transgender females from competing in girls' school sports. He urged state lawmakers, who later overrode the veto, to send a message to the rest of the nation that Indiana values women.
Former president Trump said Monday that hell handle it if Florida governor Ron DeSantis decides to run against him in the 2024 presidential race.

While DeSantis has not formally announced whether he intends to run, he is largely considered a top GOP contender. DeSantis is likely to wait to make an announcement until after Floridas legislative session ends in May, according to several reports.

I got him elected, pure and simple, Trump said during an appearance on The Water Cooler podcast hosted by the Christian Broadcasting Networks David Brody. The former president credited the rallies he hosted for DeSantis with helping get the Florida Republican elected against Democrat Andrew Gillum in 2018.

So, now I hear he might want to run against me. So, well handle that the way I handle things, Trump said.

Trump previously lashed out against DeSantis shortly after the midterms in November, dubbing the governor Ron DeSanctimonious and taking credit for the Florida governors political rise. DeSantis had handily won a second term, while Trump was the subject of intense criticism among Republicans after many of his handpicked candidates failed to win on Election Day.

Ron came to me in desperate shape in 2017  he was politically dead, losing in a landslide to a very good Agriculture Commissioner, Adam Putnam, who was loaded up with cash and great poll numbers. Ron had low approval, bad polls, and no money, but he said that if I would Endorse him, he could win, Trump said in November.

He said he later boosted DeSantis past Gillum, then the star of the Democratic Party. Trump said he fixed DeSantiss campaign, which had completely fallen apart, by holding two massive Rallies.

And now, Ron DeSanctimonious is playing games! The Fake News asks him if hes going to run if President Trump runs, and he says, Im only focused on the Governors race, Im not looking into the future. Well, in terms of loyalty and class, thats really not the right answer, Trump said at the time.

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In the wake of the midterms, polling has shown mixed results for Trump, a FiveThirtyEight analysis found. Averages compiled by the election forecaster show that DeSantis is typically ahead in head-to-head polling against Trump, with DeSantis at 48 percent and Trump at 43 percent.

However, adding in other potential candidates seems to chip away at the governors lead. In national polling matchups that include DeSantis, Trump, and at least one other potential candidate, Trump has had an average lead of 41 percent to 31 percent since the midterms, per FiveThirtyEight.

On Monday, Trump also went on to criticize evangelical leaders who have not endorsed him after he announced his 2024 run, saying it is a sign of disloyalty.

Theres great disloyalty is the world of politics, and thats a sign of disloyalty, he said. Because nobody  as you know better than anybody because you do such a great job  nobody has ever done more for right-to-life than Donald Trump.

More from National Review
WASHINGTON  Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia GOP congresswoman stripped of her committee assignments two years ago by the Democratic-led House following a series of menacing social media posts, has been reinstated by the Republicans who now run the chamber.

Greene was named Tuesday to the Oversight and Accountability Committee, a post she had said she wanted. The panel will be at the forefront of investigating the Biden Administration. Greene also won a seat on the Homeland Security Committee.

"We will return the role of the Oversight Committee to investigating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement of the federal government, which is exactly what the American people are fed up with," according to a statement Greene issued Tuesday. "Joe Biden, be prepared."

In addition, Republicans reinstated Arizona GOP Rep. Paul Gosar, who similarly had been removed from his committees after being censured in 2021 for posting an anime video that was edited to show him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and attacking President Joe Biden.

Gosar was named to the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Oversight and Accountability according to his spokesperson.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., takes a selfie with the newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Jan. 6, 2023.

Neither move is a surprise since GOP leader Kevin McCarthy had vowed to reassign them to committees before he was elected House speaker earlier this month.

Greene had voted for McCarthy as speaker in each of the 15 rounds it took to finally elect him. Gosar had initially supported other candidates before getting behind the California Republican in the later rounds.

New York GOP Rep. George Santos, who has faced growing calls from within his party to step down, was named Tuesday to the Small Business and Science, Space and Technology committees, according to MSNBC and CNN. Both are considered minor panels but his appointment suggests Republican leaders are not pressuring him to resign despite revelations he lied during the campaign about his background and resume.

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More: Investigating the investigators: GOP creates panels to probe DOJ, China

Greene stripped of committees for threatening posts

Greene had been removed for a litany of social media posts that opponents deemed threatening and dangerous.

At one point in the floor debate over her fate nearly two years ago, then-Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., walked to the well of the House floor holding a poster board depicting a since-removed Facebook campaign ad by Greene showing her holding an assault weapon next to photos of three Democratic Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, part of a group known as part of the "Squad." The ad read: "Squad's Worst Nightmare."

"I urge my colleagues to look at that image and tell me what message you think it sends," Hoyer said as he addressed his Republican colleagues. "Imagine your faces on this poster."

McCarthy responded at the time that "this resolution sets a a dangerous new standard that will only deepen division within this House. For all their talk about norms and institutions, it's the Democrats who've acted to undermine the People's House at every turn."

Gosar censured by House over controversial video

Gosar faced widespread criticism after he posted an edited anime-style video to his social media accounts appearing to show him killing his colleague, Ocasio-Cortez, and attacking Biden.

It mimicked the theme song and introduction of Attack on Titan, a popular Japanese animation series. Twitter flagged the video for violating its rules against calls for violence. It was later deleted.

The House voted in favor of censuring Rep. Paul Gosar for posting an animated video that depicted him killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Gosar was defiant about being censured: "I do not espouse violence against anyone. I never have," he said. "There is no threat in the cartoon other than the threat that immigration poses to our country."

He had released an open letter apologizing to his colleagues but not to Ocasio-Cortez, stating that his staff had released the video and that nothing hateful was intended by the imagery.

Amid fallout, Santos receives committee assignments

Despite the growing calls from Republicans for the freshman lawmaker to resign after misleading New York voters during his run for office, McCarthy told reporters last week he still planned to allow Santos to serve on committees.

GOP Rep. George Santos says he'll respond to allegations about his background 'soon'

"The voters have elected George Santos. If there is a concern, he will go through ethics (committee)," McCarthy said during a press conference Thursday. "If there is something that is found, he will be dealt with in that manner but they have a voice in this process.

GOP leadership assigned Santos to the Small Business and Science, Space and Technology committees  both lower tier assignments.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House GOP places Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar back on committees
Greta Thunberg has been detained during a protest at a coal mine in Germany.

The Swedish climate activist was photographed being carried away from the mine in North Rhine-Westphalia by multiple police offiers and was later witnessed sitting alone on a large police bus.

Demonstrators have long opposed the deal struck by the German government to demolish the village of Luetzerath to make way for the expansion of the Garzweiler 2 coal mine  but protests came to a head last week as police cleared the village, leading to violent clashes.

Ms Thunberg was among 11 demonstrators forcibly ejected by police on Sunday, and was again carried away by officers on Tuesday after police claimed she was among a group of demonstrators who rushed towards the ledge of the opencast mine.

It was not yet clear what would happen to Ms Thunberg or the group she was detained with, or whether an activist who supposedly jumped into the mine was injured, Aachen Police said.

Key Points

Greta Thunberg detained at coal mine protest, German police say

Swedish climate activist physically removed from protest site two days earlier

Police officers pictured carrying activist away

18:00 , Andy Gregory

Here are images from the scene taken by photojournalist, showing Greta Thunberg being carried away by police officers and sitting alone on what is reportedly a large police bus:

Police officers carry Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg away from the edge of the Garzweiler II opencast lignite mine (AP)

(REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay)

Greta Thunberg detained during coal mine protest in Germany, police say

17:54 , Andy Gregory

Here is what the police have said about Greta Thunbergs detention, while protesting the expansion of a coal mine in North Rhine-Westphalia and destruction of a nearby village.

Greta Thunberg was part of a group of activists who rushed towards the ledge. However, she was then stopped and carried by us with this group out of the immediate danger area to establish their identity, a spokesperson for Aachen police told Reuters, adding that one activist had jumped into the mine.

Footage showed a police officer telling the group: We are going to use force to bring you to the identity check, so please cooperate.

17:52 , Andy Gregory

Good afternoon, were setting up this liveblog to keep you informed of the latest developments after police said Greta Thunberg had been detained at a protest in Germany.
Photo of Greta Thunberg being carried by cops



German police carted off and detained Greta Thunberg along with multiple other activists. Police claimed none would be charged, and that the detainment was to verify identities.

Greta Thunberg was briefly detained by German police at a demonstration over a coal mine expansion along with multiple other demonstrators on Tuesday. Thunberg was carried off by cops and was eventually seen sitting in a police bus alone. However, just a few hours later, the 20-year old Swedish climate activist was let go after her identification was verified, police reportedly told Reuters.

The police claimed all the other protestors would also be released without official arrest or charges, following ID checks, according to Reuters.

Read more

Police detained the activists amid ongoing protests against the expansion of an open-pit lignite mine near Lutzerath in western Germany. Lignite is known as the dirtiest form of coal. It is a soft, brown fossil fuelless energy dense than its shiny, black counterpartand it produces more CO2 emissions and other pollutants per unit energy than gas or any other type of coal. The mine near Lutzerath already yields about 25 million metric tons of lignite every year, and German utility RWE is aiming to increase that production capacity.

In order to complete the planned expansion, German authorities granted RWE permission to demolish the small village of Lutzerath. The towns residents were evicted in preparation, and the village had mostly been cleared of occupants by 2017. But then, environmental activists started moving in, in an attempt to occupy the site and slow down or stop the mines development.

Police removed almost all of those occupiers last week, some after two years of continual inhabitance in the condemned village, using what many activists described as excessive force. One video showed police charging protestors with batons. (In contrast, another video showed police, decked out head-to-toe in riot gear, struggling to stand upright in thick mud while being taunted and pushed over by a person seemingly in some sort of monk costume.)

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And though police stated on Friday, there are no further activists in the village of Lutzerath, thousands showed up to protests over the weekend, including Thunberg. In an address to the crowd on Saturday, she called the expansion of the mine a betrayal of present and future generations.

The German government has previously said its aiming to phase out coal as a power source by 2030. RWE agreed to end lignite-based energy generation on the same timeframe. In November, the countrys cabinet approved a draft law to shut down all but two coal-fired power plants in one northwestern German state. But a lack of Russian natural gas resources resulting from the war in Ukraine has thrown a wrench in the countrys planned energy transition, according to German authorities and government officials.



A lignite mine expansion seems entirely counter to the elimination of coal power within seven years, but RWE has claimed the deposits underneath Lutzerath are necessary, even for this winter, according to the BBC. The coal under the former settlement of Lutzerath, which is located close to the current edge of the Garzweiler opencast mine, is needed to make optimal use of the lignite fleet during the energy crisis, the energy company wrote in a press statement.

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By Neil Marks

GEORGETOWN (Reuters) - Guyana expects to soon receive a proposal from India for long-term purchases of the South American country's oil, President Irfaan Ali said on Tuesday, a new attempt to reach a government-to-government deal potentially leading to better sale terms for Guyana.

Guyana's government is entitled to a share of crude produced off the nation's coast by a consortium led by Exxon Mobil Corp . In 2022, Ali's government received a total of 13 cargoes of crude, and it expects to receive and export 17 cargoes this year, the finance minister said earlier this week.

"India has made it very clear that they have an interest in being one of the purchasers of Guyana's oil," said Ali in a press conference at the State House residence in Georgetown. "The technical teams will work and see what proposals India puts forward."

Ali traveled to India earlier this month, where he met with India's Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and encouraged oil companies to participate in an incoming bidding round for crude and gas explorations blocks.

India's ONGC Videsh is considering a bid for some of the 14 areas on offer, and refiner Indian Oil Corp also is looking to work in Guyana in collaboration with ONGC Videsh, two people close to the talks told Reuters.

Guyana and India in 2021 failed to reach an agreement for direct sales of Guyana's sweet crude to Indian state refiners.

(Reporting by Neil Marks; writing by Marianna Parraga)
By Nell Mackenzie

LONDON (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein doesn't believe Credit Suisse will default on its debt but if it does, the derivatives trade he has on the bank may win big, highlighting just how hedge funds use volatile markets to try and generate juicy returns.

Speculators increased bearish bets on the Swiss bank last year on concern about how much capital it would need to bolster its balance sheet in a confidence crisis deepened by unsubstantiated social media reports on the bank's financial health.

Hedge funds and other speculators borrowed just over a fifth of Credit Suisse's stock in order to short it as of Oct. 31, the highest level since at least 2006, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Weinstein told Reuters that he holds a dual long and short position on Credit Suisse's credit default swaps (CDS), derivative contracts that offer insurance protection and pay out when a company defaults on its debt. He is long 2-year and short 10-year protection on the bank.

"The curve trade in Credit Suisse reflects my view that one way or the other, in the next two years the drama around Credit Suisse will resolve for better or for worse. I believe it will be for better and that they recover," said Weinstein, offering a glimpse of his trading strategy.

Weinstein led a proprietary trading fund at Deutsche Bank which was spun out to start Saba Capital Management in 2009. Famously, the fund bet against JP Morgan's "London Whale" trading position in CDS indices in 2012.

Demand for a company's CDS can also attract investors seeking protection against the firm or betting on its demise. Credit Suisse's CDS surged in price through late November after the bank's $2.4 billion rights issue and the stock of the company fell to the lowest level in its 166-year history.

While bearish bets against Credit Suisse mounted in late 2022, Weinstein says he watched Credit Suisse's CDS price curve make less and less sense: the 2-year protection on the bank cost about the same as the 10-year.

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"I think Credit Suisses CDS and bond curves are mis-priced because they imply that the bank will be seen as similarly risky many years down the road as it is today," said Weinstein.

So, he bought the 2-year CDS and sold the 10-year CDS, what market traders sometimes call, a spread or straddle.

Weinstein's $4.8 billion hedge fund does best when markets are volatile. Amid 54 major central bank rate hikes, his main fund returned over 28% in 2022, according to industry research. In 2020, the same fund returned 73% after losses in 2021 and 2019, the research showed.

Investors have increasingly turned to CDS derivatives trades either to protect themselves or express a bearish view. CDS indices such as the iTraxx and CDX saw over $30 trillion traded in 2022, the most since during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to research by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Credit Suisse declined to comment.

(Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Susan Fenton)
Terrell Scott has always cared about the McDonough neighborhood where he grew up.

But he told Channel 2s Berndt Petersen that hell never forget the guy who used to terrorize his block.

He brought more devastation and desolation to a community that did not need it. He was feeding the next generation and young people drugs, Scott said.

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

Scott was that guy.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his crimes.

But he found a bible while behind bars, and with the help of a girl he grew up with and later married, he came back to that neighborhood a changed man.

I knew if he would be changed, hed impact other people. He led people when he was doing wrong, Scotts wife, Brandy, said. He could lead people doing right.

Several years ago, Scott, now known as Pastor Scott, founded Passion-Life Church and The River Refuge, a nonprofit that serves local children and families.

Many people are struggling to make ends meet, and sometimes struggling to keep their kids out of trouble.

TRENDING STORIES:

A few months ago, the nonprofit broke ground on whats known as The Malachi Project, a large community and youth center on Rodgers Street.

Its being built right in the middle of the neighborhood Scott knows so well.

Scott admits he once did some bad things around there, but now hes setting things right and aims to help as many children as he can.

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We are working to bring up the literacy rate, to equip them and just spend time with them. Father them so they dont get into gangs and a lifestyle like I was, Scott said.

If youd like to learn more about The Malachi Project, visit https://www.theriverrefuge.org/.

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IN OTHER NEWS:








Attorney Ben Crump speaks to reporters during a press conference to announce the filing of a civil lawsuit on behalf of Patrick Lyoyas family against the City of Grand Rapids and former Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr at the Westin in Detroit on Wednesday, December 7, 2022.

Nationally known civil rights attorney Ben Crump has been retained by the family of Earl L. Moore Jr., a homicide victim in Springfield on Dec. 18.

During a forum Monday, Springfield NAACP president Teresa Haley said Crump will be in Springfield on Thursday when two LifeStar emergency medical services workers have 9 a.m. appearances in Sangamon County court.

Peggy Jill Finley, 44, and Peter J. Cadigan, 50, both of Springfield, have been charged with first-degree murder of Moore, 35, who died from "compression and positional asphyxia," according to a forensic pathologist.

More:Family of Earl Moore Jr. retains attorney Ben Crump to represent them

Body cam footage from three Springfield Police officers captured the early-morning call that was originally received as a "shots fired" case in the 1100 block of North 11th Street.

Moore was placed face down on the stretcher and secured in with straps before being transported to HSHS St. John's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

Who is Ben Crump?

The Tallahassee, Fla.-based Crump has represented families in several high-profile civil rights cases, including Trayvon Martin, who was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida, in 2012; Michael Brown, who was killed by a law enforcement officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and Stephon Clark, who was killed by police officers in Sacramento, California, in 2018 and Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot and killed by three men in Brunswick, Georgia, in 2021.

Crump helped reach a $641 million settlement for Flint, Michigan, families, who were affected by poisoned water from the Flint River. Crump also helped reach settlements for the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Most recently, Crump took on the case of Jalen Randle, who was shot dead by a Houston police officer while fleeing on April 27.

Crump, 53, is a native of Lumberton, North Carolina. He graduated from Florida State University, majoring in criminal justice, and received his law degree from FSU College of Law. He is married to Dr. Genae Angelique Crump and has one child.

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Crump is the president and founder of Ben Crump Law, PLLC.

Crump hosted the A&E legal docudrama Who Killed Tupac: The Search For Justice and is the author of "Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People." He is a frequent contributor to MSNBC, CNN and USA Today.

Crump is being joined by Bob Hilliard of Hilliard Martinez Gonzales, a Texas-based trial law firm specializing in personal injury cases.

Crump on the Earl Moore Jr. case

In an earlier press statement, Crump said there is "no excuse" for the actions taken by Finley and Cadigan.

"EMS workers respond to some of the hardest moments in peoples lives, and their occupation calls for them to operate with care and compassion," the statement read. "Earl saw neither care nor compassion in his last moments when he was suffocating, strapped face down to a stretcher by LifeStar employees.

Currently, no lawsuits have been filed on behalf of Moore in Sangamon County Circuit Court or federal court.

Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, sspearie@sj-r.com, twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Ben Crump has been retained by the Earl Moore Jr. family in Springfield
A small seaside city in New England could soon see an influx in visitors after it was included on the New York Times list of 52 places to go in 2023.

In its report, the newspaper wrote, Travels rebound has revealed the depth of our drive to explore the world. Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? This years list has all those elements, and more.

The walkable and bikeable coastal city of New Haven, Connecticut, was one of just nine destinations in the United States to crack the global roundup of suggested travel spots.

New Haven, the Constitution States third-largest city, was founded in 1638 and its now home to 134,000 people.

New Haven boasts distinctive neighborhoods, an encyclopedic collection of great American architecture, a thriving cultural life and one of the best food scenes in the country for a city of its size, the NYT wrote.

The NYT recommended visitors check into the new Hotel Marcel, named for its architect, Marcel Breuer. It was recently renovated and is the first completely solar-powered, energy-neutral hotel in the country.

The report also highlighted NXTHVN, a cutting-edge, community-focused arts center that was built inside of two abandoned factory buildings in 2019.

Other American destinations on the list include:

Palm Spring, California

Greenville, South Carolina

Tucson, Arizona

The Alaskan Railroad

Charleston, South Carolina

Louisville, Kentucky

Grand Junction, Colorado

The Black Hills, South Dakota

To view the full report, click here.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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Crimes of fashion: A handful of Margot Robbies Chanel red carpet looks since 2021 (Getty/Shutterstock)

There is a woman who needs our help. Fans have been calling for her emancipation. They are concerned shes being held hostage. Stressing that she must be set free as soon as possible. But the thing she must be liberated from is somewhat unconventional. Its not a person. Its not some sort of corrupt conservatorship, or a dingy cell. The captor in question is, in fact, a luxury fashion brand. Its victim? Margot Robbie.

For months now, fashionistas and Robbie fans have been using the aforementioned language of entrapment  a little too seriously, actually  to describe her ongoing partnership with Chanel. The general consensus among them is that Robbie has been shackled by the French labels chains since she became one of its brand ambassadors in 2018. Namely, that shes been forced into a series of designs she doesnt actually like.

Whether theres any modicum of truth in this theory is impossible to tell. Nonetheless, in recent months, Robbies fans have been furiously pointing out the difference between the actors expression when wearing Chanel compared to other luxury brands. Margot Robbie in Bottega  in Chanel, tweeted one person alongside a series of photographs of the 32-year-old in the brands respective designs. Her face says it all they added.

Another viral tweet simply stated Margot Robbie when shes not in Chanel, alongside four recent snaps of the actor smiling in various ensembles by the likes of Bottega Veneta and Versace  it generated more than 21,700 likes and thousands of comments from people calling for an end to Robbies deal with Chanel.

The theory has gone so far that some have even started to suggest that Chanel has intentionally dressed the actor badly, with celebrity stylist Elliot Garnaut labeling her the worst-dressed celebrity, teasing that someone at Chanel obviously hates her. Even Vogue heralded Robbies new style era when she stepped out in an emerald green Bottega Veneta dress at the Governors Awards in LA last November.

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The comments have been circulating the internet for several months, but they picked up pace at the start of this year ahead of awards season  the time in which the red carpet becomes the most important stage for any fashion designer partnered with a celebrity to showcase their latest designs. Given that Robbie hadnt been seen in Chanel for a while, fans were hopeful that the partnership was over.

Much to their disappointment, the actor showed up to the Golden Globes last week in a custom haute couture gown from the label that involved more than 750 hours of work. The blush pink, crystal-covered halter-neck gown encapsulated a delicate, girlish aesthetic that marks a stark contrast from some of Robbies recent non-Chanel choices  see the variations of loose-fitting, leather tailoring she has been wearing to promote her latest film, Babylon, or the oversized pinstripe shirt she paired with thigh-high boots on a recent outing in London.

The main gripe, then, seems to be that by sticking by Chanel, Robbie is being made to wear clothes that simply dont reflect her personal taste. With a whole host of award ceremonies still to come, theres no telling just how much more Chanel looks the actors fans will have to suffer through. But she is hardly the first celebrity to become embroiled in a brand partnership that many believe to be out of sync with their natural style.

At the 2011 Oscars, Jennifer Lawrence famously wore a slim-fitting scarlet gown by Calvin Klein, a dress that evoked an old Hollywood silhouette. Its casual sensibility also seemed to reflect Lawrences own low-key, girl-next-door approach to fashion at the time. This all changed, though, when Lawrence struck up a $15m deal with Dior and swiftly started wearing grander, more lavish designs on red carpets  remember the strapless Cinderella-style ball gown she famously took a tumble in at the 2013 Oscars?

Before she got Dior-d, Jennifer Lawrence was famous for her low-key, girl-next-door red carpet looks like her 2011 Calvin Klein Oscar dress (Getty Images)

From a financial perspective, it makes sense for big brands to partner with big stars, which is why such arrangements have been a staple of Hollywood culture for years. But it seems like years of people wearing the same designer over and over again could soon be behind us. Even if the brands aesthetic does match yours, style is nothing if not an evolutionary process, something that changes over time alongside life experiences, personal politics, and the relationships we have with our bodies. All of these things have a huge impact on how we want to dress; one brand couldnt possibly account for so many transitions.

Moreover, the one-brand-fits-all model is wildly out of touch with the sartorial zeitgeist, which is predicated around cult vintage finds. Gone are the days where custom designer gowns packed the biggest red carpet punch. Oh no. If you want to make headlines for your look, its archival only, darling.

Celebrities have long favoured vintage, of course. In recent years, though, acquiring famous looks from the past has become fashions greatest pursuit, reflecting a degree of status that simply couldnt be achieved in anything new. The most obvious example is Kim Kardashian at last years Met Gala  she wore the iconic beaded dress worn by Marilyn Monroe to serenade John F Kennedy on his 45th birthday in 1962. Worth $4.8m, the dress was loaned to Kardashian by the historical memorabilia organisation Ripleys Believe it or Not!, and the reality TV star underwent an extreme weight-loss regime in order to fit into it.

Robbies vintage Versace dress at this weeks Sydney premiere of Babylon drew mixed (if better than usual) reviews (Getty)

This might be an isolated example, but seeking standout vintage items to wear on the red carpet has become common practice for celebrities. Its something weve seen from all of fashions major players in the last year, including Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Zendaya and Rihanna. Robbie has even been dabbling in it recently herself, sporting a vintage Versace gown from the 1990s at the Babylon Australia premiere on Monday. The look was almost a resounding hit among Robbies increasingly eagle-eyes fans had it not been for the red lace that had been attached to the dresss slit. Still, at least she was able to express some individuality.

With all this in mind, then, perhaps the death knell for long-standing celebrity brand partnerships is on its way. No matter how large the paycheck, theres only so many times one can continue wearing outfits they dont feel comfortable in. And while having to wear Chanel all the time is hardly a prison sentence, limiting oneself in this way defies the very thing that fashion is supposed to be about: taking risks, pushing boundaries, finding new ways to express yourself.

Robbie will find her feet, Im sure. In the meantime, her fans could benefit from toning it down a tad. Otherwise its only a matter of time until #FreeMargot takes hold of the internet. As uninspiring as some of her recent red carpet looks have been, Im not convinced a global liberation movement is the best approach.
The death of a woman who was being held in the Jefferson County Jail in Mount Vernon is under investigation by Illinois State Police.

Cady Moore, 31, of Mount Vernon was found unresponsive in her jail cell Sunday, the state police said in a news release Tuesday.

Jail personnel activated EMS and performed CPR. Moore was transported by ambulance to an area hospital where she was pronounced deceased, according to the news release.

An autopsy is pending, and no other information about the death was released.

The news release did not say why Moore was being held in the county jail.

Illinois State Police is conducting the investigation at the request of the Jefferson County Sheriffs Office.
Getty

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ordering Russian forces to seize the Donbas in eastern Ukraine by March, according to Andrei Yusov, a representative of Ukraines Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense.

Still, we can talk about the priority direction for the Rashiststhis is the Donbas, Yusov said Tuesday. This is the goal of capturing Donbas and the formation of a certain security zone there, already before March.

The alleged orders come just days after Putin called on Gen. Valery Gerasimov, who previously led Russias forces in Ukraine in the early days of the war last year, and promoted him to command Russias troops once again. The decision has raised questions about whether Putin is interested in standing up a new offensive operation.

Ukrainian intelligence, however, is not confident that Russia will be successful in seizing the Donbas by March, given that the Kremlins armed forces have failed to complete what was supposed to be a quick takeover campaign last February.

These are not the first dates. Each time these deadlines were postponed. It has been a year since the beginning of a full-scale invasion, and a year since they take Kyiv for three days, Yusov said. Nothing will work this time.

Putin: I Could Never Have Foreseen 2022s Unexpected Crises That I Created

The Kremlin has dodged questions about the Donbas orders in recent days. When asked to comment on the reports of the new aims, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov demurred.

No, I cannot [comment on it] and have zero intention of doing it, Peskov said, according to TASS.

Ukrainian authorities, including Ukrainian President Zelensky himself, have been suggesting that Moscow may be willing to launch a new assault in the new year to try to seize any initiative it can after a series of routs on the battlefield. Following months of logistics and morale problems among Russian forces, Ukraine launched numerous counteroffensives last year, forcing Russia out of territories in south and northeast Ukraine, including in Kherson.

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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has begun recognizing that the war may be about to enter a new phase. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the war was entering a decisive time, urging NATO Allies to send more weaponry to Ukraine to help secure a victory against Russia.

We are in a crucial phase of the war, Stoltenberg told German outlet Handelsblatt. It is therefore important that we provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win.

In the intervening days, Russia has continued its attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, according to a Tuesday briefing from Ukraines military. Just this weekend, Russian attacks rained down on an apartment complex in Dnipro, killing 44 people, according to the Mayor of Dnipro, Borys Filatov.

Having no significant achievements in the battlefield, the opponent strikes peaceful settlements, Spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andriy Kovalev said. The Russian aggressor continues to destroy infrastructure and civilian homes.

Russia has recently claimed that it is making gains in Soledar, where fierce fighting has taken hold. But despite moments of apparent success, Russias war effort has been riddled with infighting; Russias military claimed victory in Soledar, only to be contradicted by fighters from the mercenary group the Wagner Group, which has accused Russias government of taking credit for Wagners work in Soledar.

And although Russia has already staked its claim on Soledar, reports indicate Ukrainians are still fighting, RFE/RL reported.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. This factor can impact your investment portfolio as well as help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in MercadoLibre (MELI) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MELI for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

MercadoLibre's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at MercadoLibre's main business drivers.

Buenos Aires, Argentina based MercadoLibre, Inc. is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Latin America. The company is a market leader in e-commerce in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, and Uruguay based on unique visitors and page views.



The company also operates e-commerce platform in Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Portugal.



MercadoLibre reported revenues of $7.1 billion in 2021. The company offers a bunch of six integrated e-commerce services:



MercadoLibre Marketplace enables businesses and individuals to conduct sales, purchase online and list their merchandise.



MercadoLibre Classifieds offers online classified listing services for motor vehicles, real estate and services. These listing charge only optional placement fees and hence they are different from Marketplace listings.



MercadoPago FinTech platform allows users to send and receive payments seamlessly within MercadoLibres marketplace. Outside of this, merchants are allowed to process payments via websites, mobile apps and mobile point of sale.



MercadoLibre advertising program enables advertisers and seller to display their product ads on the companys webpages.



MercadoShops online webstores solution aids users in managing and promoting their online stores.



MercadoEnvios logistics service provides integration with third-party carriers and logistics service providers to the sellers on the companys platform.



MercadoLibre has four reportable geographic segments Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Other Countries. In 2021, Brazil generated 55.3% of the companys revenues. Argentina, Mexico and Other Countries generated 21.7%, 16.6% and 6.5% of revenues, respectively.



Effective Dec 1, 2017, MercadoLibre deconsolidated its Venezuelan subsidiaries. The company no longer includes the balances, results of operations and cash flows of the Venezuelan subsidiaries in its consolidated financial statements.

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Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio requires research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in MercadoLibre ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in January 2013 would be worth $12,476.04, or a 1,147.60% gain, as of January 17, 2023. Investors should keep in mind that this return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

The S&P 500 rose 171.56% and the price of gold increased 9.43% over the same time frame in comparison.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for MELI.

MercadoLibre is benefiting from strength in the commerce and fintech businesses. Robust product offerings and credit portfolio expansion are respectively driving the companys commerce and fintech revenues. We expect commerce and fintech revenues to be up 25.6% and 30% in 2022 year over year, respectively. Further, robust mobile-point-of-sale business and growing adoption of MercadoPago are driving the total payment volume growth of the company. Our estimate suggests that the total payment volume is likely to witness a 60.5% rise in the current year from the last years figure. Also, rapid adoption of Mobile Wallet remains a positive. However, mounting expenses related to warehousing, free shipping subsidies and mPOS discounts are major concerns. Also, rising e-commerce competition from players like Amazon and Rakuten poses a serious risk.

The stock is up 22.47% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 1 higher, for fiscal 2022. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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One simple way to benefit from the stock market is to buy an index fund. But if you choose individual stocks with prowess, you can make superior returns. For example, Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad (KLSE:SBAGAN) shareholders have seen the share price rise 14% over three years, well in excess of the market decline (4.6%, not including dividends). On the other hand, the returns haven't been quite so good recently, with shareholders up just 5.3% , including dividends .

Let's take a look at the underlying fundamentals over the longer term, and see if they've been consistent with shareholders returns.

Check out our latest analysis for Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad

Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad wasn't profitable in the last twelve months, it is unlikely we'll see a strong correlation between its share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Arguably revenue is our next best option. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally expect to see good revenue growth. That's because fast revenue growth can be easily extrapolated to forecast profits, often of considerable size.

Over the last three years Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad has grown its revenue at 41% annually. That's well above most pre-profit companies. While the compound gain of 5% per year over three years is pretty good, you might argue it doesn't fully reflect the strong revenue growth. If that's the case, now might be the time to take a close look at Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad. A window of opportunity may reveal itself with time, if the business can trend to profitability.

The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers).

You can see how its balance sheet has strengthened (or weakened) over time in this free interactive graphic.

What About Dividends?

When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. In the case of Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad, it has a TSR of 20% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence!

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A Different Perspective

We're pleased to report that Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad shareholders have received a total shareholder return of 5.3% over one year. Of course, that includes the dividend. That's better than the annualised return of 3% over half a decade, implying that the company is doing better recently. Given the share price momentum remains strong, it might be worth taking a closer look at the stock, lest you miss an opportunity. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad better, we need to consider many other factors. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad .

We will like Sungei Bagan Rubber Company (Malaya) Berhad 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 MY 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.

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Prince Harrys remarks on killing Taliban fighters mean the UK is in no position to preach over the execution of a British-Iranian, Tehran has said.

Irans foreign ministry announced at the weekend that Alireza Akbari  formerly a high-ranking official in Tehrans defence ministry  was hanged.

His death provoked widespread international backlash, with Rishi Sunak branding the killing cowardly.

Prince Harry faced backlash in the UK and Afghanistan for his comments about his kills

Now the Duke of Sussex has been drawn into the row by Irans foreign ministry, as it attempted to use recent comments about his military service in Afghanistan to portray the UK as hypocritical.

The British regime, whose royal family member, sees the killing of 25 innocent people as removal of chess pieces and has no regrets over the issue, and those who turn a blind eye to this war crime, are in no position to preach others on human rights, the foreign ministry tweeted on Tuesday.

The dukes remarks revealing the number of lives he took as an Apache helicopter pilot were criticised by fellow veterans as ill-judged when reports of them first surfaced ahead of the ghostwritten books publication last week.

But the estranged royal later hit out at what he claimed was a very dangerous media spin that he somehow boasted about what he described in the book as the taking of human lives over six missions.

British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari has been executed in Iran (Davoud Hosseini, IRNA via AP)

In his memoir Spare, he wrote that it was not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me, and recalled having viewed enemy combatants in the heat of battle as chess pieces that had been taken off the board.

Following the execution of 62-year-old Mr Akbari, Tehrans foreign ministry said: Britains encroachment on the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been met with a decisive response from the Iranian intelligence and judiciary.

Tehran also insisted the British regimes uproar and the support of some European self-proclaimed defenders of human rights was only a sign of their evasion and violation of law.

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Britain sanctioned Irans prosecutor-general Mohammad Jafar Montazeri on Saturday in response to Mr Akbaris execution.

Foreign secretary James Cleverly said the government was holding the regime to account for its appalling human rights violation, which prime minister Rishi Sunak condemned as a callous and cowardly killing by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people.

On Monday, Mr Akbaris Labour MP Andy Slaughter said he had been told by his family the regime had refused to release, and has threatened to destroy, his body.

Last week, United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk warned that criminal proceedings and the death penalty had been weaponised to stamp out dissent in Iran and punish people for exercising their basic rights  in what he alleged amounts to state-sanctioned killing.

At least four people have been executed since the protests began, according to the judiciary, and state media reported last week that three more anti-government protesters had been sentenced to death on charges of waging war on God.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Iran welcomes steps toward a reconciliation between Turkey and Syria and is ready to help move the efforts forward, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Tuesday.

The Iranian minister made the comments in Ankara, weeks after the Turkish and Syrian defense ministers held talks in Moscow. It was the first ministerial-level meeting between Damascus and Ankara since relations broke down with the start of the Syrian civil war nearly 12 years ago.

We are very pleased that the relations between Damascus and Ankara have undergone a change recently, Amirabdollahian said during a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu.

We think that any development between Ankara and Damascus  this positive development  will benefit our region, the two countries and (Iran). Considering its close relationship with these two countries, as the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will do our best to achieve this goal as soon as possible.

Turkey and Syria have stood on opposing sides of the Syrian conflict, with Turkey backing rebels trying to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. Iran, along with Russia, has supported Assads government.

Pressed by Russia, Turkey has agreed to engage with the Syrian government. Cavusoglu has said he could meet Syrias foreign minister next month.

Damascus has denounced Turkeys hold over stretches of northern Syria seized in a series of military incursions since 2016 to drive away Kurdish rebels. A statement from Assads office last week said that Moscow-backed talks with Turkey should aim to end the occupation and the support of terrorism" -- a reference to Turkeys backing of insurgents in Syria.

In todays meetings we emphasized that Irans contributions (to rapprochement with Syria) are very important, Cavusoglu said. In the process ahead, we will work in close cooperation with Iran on next steps and on steps that will bring solutions.
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian militant in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the latest in a bout of surging violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the 40-year-old man, identified as Hamdi Shaker Abdullah Abu Dayyah, was shot and killed by Israeli forces in Halhul, north of the West Bank city of Hebron.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade  an armed militia affiliated with Fatah, the secular political party that controls the Palestinian Authority  claimed the man as a fighter and said he had also been an officer in the Palestinian security forces.

The Israeli military said in a statement that troops in the area were fired upon and returned fire. It added that Israeli forces were investigating reports that the killed Palestinian was connected to an earlier shooting attack on an Israeli bus.

Tensions have soared in the West Bank, where the Israeli military has been conducting near-nightly arrest raids since last spring, after a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis that killed 19 people. Another 10 Israelis were killed in a second string of attacks later last year.

Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The Palestinians see them as further entrenchment of Israels open-ended, 55-year occupation of lands they seek for their future state.

On Monday, Israeli security forces shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian during an early morning raid in the West Bank, Palestinian health officials said. The Israeli army said forces entered the Dheisha camp and were bombarded by Molotov cocktails and rocks. It said soldiers responded with live fire.

Violence and unrest have raged for months in the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip  territories the Palestinians want for their hoped-for state. Some half-million Israelis now live in about 130 settlements across the West Bank. The Palestinians and much of the international community view the settlements as an obstacle to peace.

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Settler attacks in the West Bank have escalated in recent months, with the U.N. reporting last fall that Israeli settlers and civilians perpetrated over a hundred attacks against Palestinians last year, resulting in damage to Palestinian property and dozens of Palestinian injuries.

On Tuesday, the United States condemned an assault against a group of hikers, among them Palestinians and Americans, that happened last Friday at a nature reserve north of the West Bank city of Jericho.

Footage widely shared online shows Israeli settlers, cloaked in hoodies and waving sticks, ambushing the hikers from behind on a dirt path. Women scream and cry as one of the settlers hits them with his club. I'll break your head! he shouts at them in Arabic. The Israeli police have not announced any arrests of the suspects.

The U.S. Palestinian Affairs Office described the brazen assault as shocking.

Those who incite violence and exacerbate tensions must stop, it said.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 2022, according to figures by the Israeli rights group BTselem, making it the deadliest year since 2004.

Israel says most of the dead were militants. But Palestinian stone-throwers, youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations also have been killed.

___

Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Italy's Most Wanted Mafia Boss Matteo Messina Denaro Arrested In Sicily

Italian newspapers with the news of fugitive Matteo Messina Denaro's arrest on January 17, 2023 in Bari, Italy. Credit - Donato FasanoGetty Images

After 30 years on the run, Matteo Messina Denaro, one of Italys most wanted men, was arrested on Monday at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily, where he was undergoing treatment for cancer.

One of the bosses of the Cosa Nostra Mafia in Sicily, Denaro was one of Europols most wanted fugitives, known for his alleged involvement in dozens of Mafia-related murders and fatal bombings in Milan, Florence and Rome in the 1990s.

Denaro, whose location was well-protected for years, once allegedly boasted that a graveyard could be filled with the people hes killed.

Heres what to know.

A history of deadly crimes

Crime ran in Deranos family. His father and godfather were both members of the mob, as were his siblings. His brother, Salvatore Messina Denaro, was arrested in 2010 but refused to testify about Matteos whereabouts. In 2013, his sister, Patrizia Messina Denaro, was arrested and later sentenced to 14 years in prison for being a member of the Mafia.

He has been a fugitive since 1993, allegedly spotted in Brazil, Spain, Britain, and Austria but never captured.

Journalist Andrea Purgatori told the BBC that until the 1990s, murders were being committed on an almost daily basis. Messina Denaro committed some of the most violent and cruel crimes Italy can remember, Purgatori said.

His crimes were expansive. He was accused of killing two anti-Mafia judges in 1992, as well as strangling the partner of a rival Mafia boss, who was pregnant at the time of her death. He also allegedly kidnapped the 12-year-old son of a man who was testifying against him, holding him hostage for two years before strangling the boy then dissolving his body in acid to prevent the family from burying him.

In 2002, Denaro was convicted of a number of crimes in absentia and sentenced to life in prison.

Italys most wanted man

There have been numerous failed attempts to capture Denaro over the years. In May 2011, police were surveilling him at a farmhouse near his home town of Castelvetrano, but failed to arrest him, despite the involvement of hundreds of officers. His DNA was later found at the site. And in 2021, a British man was arrested at a restaurant in the Hague after anti-mafia police wrongly identified him as Denaro.

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Carabinieri General Pasquale Angelosanto, who heads the police forces special operations squad, said Messina Denaros health, along with a mix of old-school policing and modern technology, were key to his capture.

With time, police began weakening the tightly protected circle around Denaro that helped him long evade capture. Over a decade, police cracked down on anyone suspected of aiding or protecting Denaro, arresting over a hundred people. Several of his collaborators were arrested in 2020, making him more vulnerable.

Police wiretapped the homes of his family members, wholikely knowing they were being tappedonly spoke generally of people with cancer and cancer surgeries. This was enough for police to assume that Denaro was seeking treatment of some sort.

Investigators then gathered the details of all male cancer patients born in 1962 near Trapani, in western Sicily, and slowly narrowed down the search to five suspects.

They identified a man who had booked a treatment under the name of Andrea Bonafede, the nephew of deceased Mafia boss Leonardo Bonafede. But after analyzing Bonafedes phone records, they discovered that he was far from the clinic where he was meant to be having surgery one day, confirming that Denaro was likely using the name as an alias.

It all led to todays date [when] he would have come for some tests and treatment at the clinic where he was arrested, Angelosanto told reporters.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni traveled to Sciliy to congratulate the police after the arrest. Speaking outside the prosecutors office, Meloni said that while Italy had not yet won the war against the Mafia, this was a battle that was fundamental to win.

Its a day we can celebrate and tell our children that the Mafia can be defeated, she said.
Ash Jurberg with his wife and kids in Japan. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

I've always loved traveling and wanted to pass that love on to my twin boys.

My sons, my wife, and I plan our vacations together and have traveled to four continents.

Here's how we plan our vacations together to make sure we all have a good time.

To say I'm obsessed with travel is an understatement.

While I didn't have the opportunity to travel before graduating from college, I've since made up for it: I've visited 105 countries, worked for various travel companies, and spent a lot of time dreaming of travel.

Travel is in my soul, and I was hoping to pass this on to my twin sons. I wanted my children to see the world from a young age. We live in Australia, which is a long distance from most places, so a lot of planning and budgeting is required for overseas trips.

I knew if I wanted them to be as passionate about travel as I was, I had to get them to be involved in the planning process and give input into our travels. Here's how we make it work and plan vacations together we all enjoy.

We discuss where we want to go together

My wife, my two sons, and I all put three destinations on our wish list while planning a trip and talk about why we want to go to those places. It can stir up some lively debate, but most of the time, there is overlap, so picking the winning destination for our next family trip usually isn't too hard.

The discussion itself is fun to have, and we've found that involving the boys in the decision of where we travel ensures they get excited about where we're going.

It's never too early to learn about travel

One of the first books I bought for my sons was a travel book directed at young children. It was full of activities they could do, including travel-related puzzles and games, as well as sections where they could list dream travel activities, destinations, and attractions. It was a way to get them to think about the opportunities that travel presented.

They started writing in this book when they were 8, and now that they're 16, it's fun to look back at their earliest thoughts.

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Jurberg's son Charlie's travel book. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

We get them involved in our travels by making games for them and asking them to pick restaurants

Our first big overseas vacation was a safari in Namibia. This involved several days of long drives. Before we left, we printed out a list of birds and animals that we could spot.

We all had sheets, and as we drove, we played a game of "I spy" as we attempted to find wildlife on the list. This ensured they remained engaged on the drives and off their iPad.

Jurberg with his wife and kids in Fiji. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

We also ask our children to select one restaurant they want to eat at on each trip. This ensures they do some research on the destination and investigate the food culture of a place. We give them a budget, though, so they don't accidentally pick a Michelin-starred restaurant.

We do the same process with tourist attractions; we ask them to list one must-do attraction or tour. My kids are interested in Japanese anime, so before we visited Japan, we asked them to come up with a list of stores and places to visit.

Walking the streets of Tokyo, they excitedly pointed out points of interest they had seen in videos and Japanese movies they had watched. We spent a few hours visiting famous locations  well, famous to them  and this was a great way to explore Tokyo.

At the end of each day on vacation, we all list our top 3 things from the day

I keep a list of these in the notes app on my phone and now have a series of them from all past trips. This serves two purposes: It gives us something to discuss while we're there and bestows upon us memories for when we are home.

These notes also help us plan trips because we can look back on highlights to incorporate similar activities in future trips.

We don't shy away from a balance of educational activities and the fun stuff

Last year, we visited Washington, DC, for the first time, and anyone who has been there knows it is home to some of the world's best museums. While museums aren't often high on the list of things a child wants to do, the boys enjoy them from time to time.

We created a list of museums in Washington and asked the boys to look at them and pick the two that most interested them. Because they felt like they were the decision-makers, they put time and effort into this and chose two very interesting museums for us all to visit: the Holocaust Museum and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Jurberg and his sons in Washington, DC. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

We also try to find interesting ways to get around while we're traveling

My sons aren't overly fond of walking, so we try to find more-fun ways to see a city. We have done tours on electric bikes, e-scooters, and even sand-dune buggies.

This makes it more than just a sightseeing tour.

Jurberg with his wife and kids in Namibia. Courtesy Ash Jurberg

Perhaps the most important thing is to allow for plenty of downtime

One sure way to ruin a family holiday is to overschedule. Children can run out of energy and lose enthusiasm, so we always have time built into the schedule for relaxation.

We also try not to overdo early-morning starts so the kids have some days when they can sleep in. It's also vital to schedule some things for just me and my wife, so on every trip, we have an adults-only dinner.

When the boys were younger, we would find a local babysitter, but now we can save the cost because they can stay by themselves. This gives them the chance to recharge their batteries while we get some adult time  and maybe a few drinks.

By having everyone involved in the planning and research, we make it fun. Dreaming about our next vacation also helps pass the time between our trips.

I'm hoping both my sons will pass this love of travel down to their children. Who knows, maybe they'll even hand down their first travel-planning book.

Read the original article on Insider
By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Japan is engaged deeply on issues in Ukraine and is expected to roll out plans at the "appropriate time" to support Kyiv against Russia's invasion, White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell said on Tuesday.

"Prime Minister Kishida has a game plan and is already engaged deeply on issues in Ukraine," Campbell told a Center for Strategic and International Studies event.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met last week when Kishida was in Washington on the last stop in a tour of the G7 industrial powers.

"I fully expect that at appropriate time Japan will be rolling out specific plans to support Ukraine in a variety of ways. They are active in many of the contact group discussions about support for Ukraine and they are just a key member," Campbell said, adding that Japan was "stepping up".

Kishida last week stressed the importance of standing up to Russia's invasion, saying that if a unilateral change to the status quo went unchallenged, the same would happen elsewhere, including in Asia - an apparent reference to China's vow to reunite with self-ruled Taiwan, by force if necessary.

The Japanese premier also said the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May should demonstrate a strong will to uphold international order and rule of law after Russia's invasion.

Earlier in January, Kishida said he had told Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy in a phone call that he would consider an invitation to visit Kyiv depending on "various circumstances", but nothing had yet been decided.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions driven from their homes since Russia launched in February last year what it calls a "special military operation" to eliminate security threats in Ukraine. Kyiv and its Western backers call Russia's actions an unprovoked land grab.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom in Washington, editing by Mark Heinrich)
Jeremy Renner has returned home.

Late on Monday night, Renner, 52, replied to a Twitter post from the official Mayor of Kingstown account about the series' season two premiere. In his tweet, the actor indicated he was able to watch the new episode of his Paramount+ series from the comfort of his own home.

"Outside my brain fog in recovery, I was very excited to watch episode 201 with my family at home ," the Avengers star shared on Twitter.

Earlier on Monday, Renner had shared a photo to his Instagram Story showcasing a snowy scene at what appears to be his Reno-area, Nevada home, with a significant amount of snow piled high up on snowbanks and on top of roofs and trees in the area.

"Missing my happy place ..." Renner wrote in the caption, seemingly hours before he returned from the hospital amid his recovery after a New Year's Day snowplow accident on the property.

RELATED: Jeremy Renner's Family Is 'Thrilled with His Progress' Following Snowplow Accident, Says His Sister

Outside my brain fog in recovery, I was very excited to watch episode 201 with my family at home   Jeremy Renner (@JeremyRenner) January 17, 2023

Renner also shared a separate photo of a snowy road that appears to be in the area near his home to his Instagram Story late Monday night, in which he implored residents of the area to travel carefully.

"It's a rough ride over the pass," the actor wrote alongside the photo, which shows a significant amount of snow in the area. "Be safe out there Reno / Tahoe."

Jeremy Renner Posts Photo of Snowy Cabin as He Recovers at Hospital: 'Missing My Happy Place'

Jeremy Renner/Instagram

Renner was airlifted to a local medical center on Jan. 1 after he was ran over by an "extremely large piece of snow-removal equipment" he owns. The accident occurred as he cleared his driveway and helped his neighbors remove snow after a significant snowfall in the area, reps and Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said in the days after the incident.

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He suffered "blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries," according to a statement from his rep, and underwent emergency surgery the next day.

Renner, who spent his 52nd birthday in the hospital on Jan. 7, previously shared an update last Friday, when he posted a video of himself being taken into a room by a nurse for a medical scan to his Instagram Story.

TAORMINA, ITALY - JUNE 18: Jeremy Renner attends Baume & Mercier - 62 Taormina Film Fest Gala Dinner on June 18, 2016 in Taormina, Italy. (Photo by Venturelli/Getty Images)

Venturelli/Getty

RELATED: Jeremy Renner's Mayor of Kingstown Season 2 Premieres amid Star's Recovery from Snowplow Accident

"I wish you all a very special night," he wrote over the clip.

A source close to Renner told PEOPLE last Wednesday that while the actor is on the mend, he faces "a long road to recovery."

"Jeremy is making positive progress," continued the source, echoing a sentiment from Renner's sister Kym, who also told PEOPLE that The Avengers star was "crushing all progress goals."
Joe Manganiello attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. Rich Fury/VF22/Getty Images for Vanity Fair

Joe Manganiello learned that he's a descendant of slaves on PBS's "Finding Your Roots."

He's also descended from an escapee of the Armenian Genocide.

Manganiello told Rolling Stone his relatives are "survivors."

PBS's docuseries "Finding Your Roots" has changed "True Blood" star Joe Manganiello's understanding of himself forever.

In a clip of the show, which helps celebrities trace their ancestry, shared with Rolling Stone, host Henry Louis Gates tells Manganiello he's 7% Sub-Saharan African, which means he's descended from slaves.

Shockingly, the "Magic Mike XXL" star also learned that none of his DNA matches the Manganiello name. That means that the man Manganiello thought was his grandfather, Emilio Manganiello, isn't. His father's DNA revealed that his great-grandparents were William Henry Cutler, a Black man, and Nellie Alton, a white woman.

Because of the magnitude of the revelations, the show implemented its "ethics protocol," which allowed Manganiello to opt out of the episode if he wanted.

"We give them the option of getting out of the series if they want. Then nobody will know except me and a couple of producers. And there are a couple of people that have withdrawn over the years," Gates told Rolling Stone.

But Manganiello decided to share his family secrets on the show. "There are things that make sense now," he told the outlet. "I'm descended from survivors."

Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

Manganiello's great grandparents, Cutler and Alton, married in 1887, nearly a century before Loving V. Virginia was overturned, which allowed interracial couples to wed in modern-day America. A few generations before that, Manganiello's fifth great-grandfather, Plato Turner, was born in Africa and came to the US as a child slave, Rolling Stone revealed. Turner eventually served as a soldier for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.

Manganiello pointed out what a long journey Turner took "to come from West Africa in chains, on a ship, and to come to the United States and earn your freedom."

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He also noted that it was "backwards" that Turner fought in the Revolutionary War in an unsegregated army under the promise that "all men are created equal" only for there to be a Civil War to abolish slavery 100 years later.

The Late Late Show With James Corden/YouTube

The fact that he's a descendant of slaves considerably shifted Manganiello's sense of identity, he said, because he believed his father was "F.B.I." or "full-blooded Italian" growing up in Boston. The family thought that if they had Black ancestors, it would be because they were Sicilian.

"All of a sudden, I can see myself clearly for the first time," he admitted, adding that he felt like the person he saw in the mirror was "mirror completely out of focus" until now.

Manganiello's episode of "Finding Your Roots" airs on PBS February 9.

Read the original article on Insider
JERUSALEM (AP)  Jordan summoned the Israeli ambassador to Amman on Tuesday to protest a move by Israeli police to block the Jordanian envoy from entering a volatile holy site in Jerusalem. The incident quickly escalated tensions between the neighbors and reflected the heightened sensitivity around the sacred compound under Israels new ultranationalist government.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry said its ambassador to Israel, Ghassan Majali, was blocked from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalems Old City, the third-holiest site in Islam. The site, sitting on a sprawling plateau also home to the iconic golden Dome of the Rock, is revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

The compound is administered by Jordanian religious authorities as part of an unofficial agreement after Israel won control of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel is in charge of security at the site.

The Israeli police said that Majali arrived at the holy site without any prior coordination with police officials, prompting an officer at the compound entrance who didn't recognize the diplomat to notify his commander about the unexpected visit. While awaiting instructions, officers held up Majali, along with Azzam al-Khatib, the director of the Jerusalem Waqf. The ambassador refused to wait and decided to leave, Israeli police said.

Some two hours later, Jordanian state-run media reported that Majali finally entered the compound without showing any kind of permission and held talks with al-Khatib, who briefed him about the Israeli violations in Al-Aqsa.

Footage widely shared online shows Majali, among other Muslim worshippers, at the limestone Lions Gate entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City. An Israeli police officer blocks his path and yells at Majali in Arabic to go back, according to the video. Al-Khatib gets on the phone as the visitors argue with the officers amid the crackle of the policeman's walkie-talkie.

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Had the ambassador briefly waited a few more minutes for the officer to be updated, the group would have entered, the police said, stressing that coordination with Israeli police was routine ahead of such visits.

But Jordan described the move as an unusual provocation. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said the Israeli ambassador had received a strongly worded letter of protest to be conveyed immediately to his government. It said Jordanian officials do not need permission to enter the site because of the country's role as the official custodian and cautioned Israel against taking any actions that would prejudice the sanctity of the holy places.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Tuesday marked the second time that Jordan has summoned the Israeli ambassador to Amman since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new right-wing and religiously conservative government took power. Earlier this month, Israels minister of national security, the ultranationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited the Jerusalem holy site despite threats from the Hamas militant group and a cascade of condemnations from across the Arab world.

Jordan, along with the Palestinians and many Muslims, views Israeli visits to the compound as an attempt to alter the status of the site and give Jewish worshipers more rights there. Ben-Gvir and other far-right ministers who vow a hard-line stance against the Palestinians have threatened to test Israel's ties with Arab states  including Jordan and Egypt that have maintained decades-long peace treaties with Israel.

On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi hosted Jordanian and Palestinian leaders for talks on the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a joint statement, el-Sissi, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for Israel to halt all illegitimate, unilateral measures that undermine the creation of an independent Palestinian state and to maintain the status quo at the Noble Sanctuary.

The smallest change at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound  one of the regions most contested sites  could become a major new flashpoint between Israel and the Muslim world. Past Israeli actions there have triggered violent protests and wider conflicts.

___

Associated Press writers Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan, and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
An exterior view of Conner High School, Hebron, Kentucky as of 2016 Google Maps

A teen expelled for making a 'kill list' of fellow students is set to return to school in Kentucky.

The principal's own child was reportedly among the listed targets, local reports said.

Parents at the Kentucky school district voiced their alarm at a board meeting last week.

A student at a Kentucky school is set to return to class despite being accused of writing a "kill list" of fellow pupils, according to multiple reports.

The unnamed 14-year-old in Boone County, Kentucky, was charged with second-degree terroristic threats and expelled for a year after reports that he threatened a mass shooting online, NBC News affiliate WLWT reported.

Police said the teen admitted making the threats, per WLWT, but the current status of his charges is unknown as his record is sealed, NBC News reported.

He is now rejoining classes, at Conner High School, after a year's absence.

Parents  several of whom have kids who were named on the alleged list  voiced concerns at a school board meeting last week.

"When I received a call from the principal, it was emotionally devastating. All I could think about was my child in danger when they did nothing wrong," said Rob Bidleman, a parent of one of the children listed, according to WLWT.

Some parents who disagreed with the decision sympathized with principal Andy Wyckoff, whose own child was reportedly on the list, the outlet reported.

"I think it puts an unnecessary burden on Mr. Wycoff with his own son being on that list," the outlet quoted parent Karen Wells as saying. "He has to be impartial every day ... Obviously, this kid needs a community to get behind him to help him because one day he's going to be in our society."

After the meeting, Boone County School District Superintendent Matthew Turner sent a letter to parents saying that "all appropriate safety measures have been taken and are in place," according to WLWT.

"The Kentucky Constitution guarantees the right to a public education for every child without prejudice, and we are obligated to follow state law," he wrote, according to the report.

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While state regulations do not list any rules governing the return of a pupil after they have been expelled, a spokesperson for the Boone County School District told Insider that public school districts are not legally permitted to permanently expel a student.

As such, schools often need to find ways to reintegrate students who previously had significant behavioral struggles, they said.

January 17, 2023: This story has been updated to reflect information received from the Boone County School District.

Read the original article on Insider
Kevin McCarthy (right) says he won't push George Santos (left) out of office. Alex Brandon/AP Photo; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Kevin McCarthy told MSNBC he's always "had a few questions" about George Santos' CV.

A Santos staffer has been accused of impersonating McCarthy's chief of staff in 2020 and 2022.

McCarthy told MSNBC he has spoken to Santos about the impersonation scandal.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he's always had "questions" about beleaguered GOP Rep. George Santos' resume.

Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, McCarthy said: "I never knew all about his resume or not, but I always had a few questions about it."

MSNBC also asked McCarthy about a CNBC report published in January about Sam Miele, a Santos staffer. Miele impersonated McCarthy's chief of staff Dan Meyer during fundraising phone calls while Santos was running for office in 2020 and 2022, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

"You know, I didn't know about that. It happened  and I know they corrected it, but I was not notified about that till a later date," he said. McCarthy added that he had spoken to Santos about the impersonation scandal.

McCarthy, who has not taken a strong stance against Santos, said on January 11 that he will not force Santos out and will let the "voters decide" what to do with the New York congressman. The voters won't get to vote again on Santos' seat until November 2024.

The scandal-ridden Santos has admitted that he has lied about his education, heritage, and work experience, including made-up stints at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Questions about the congressman's real name have also been raised after he was seen introducing himself as "Anthony Devolder" in a video clip from 2019.

Prosecutors in Long Island said on December 28 that they have opened an investigation into Santos. Long Island Republicans and the New York State GOP in January also called on Santos to resign, but Santos has refused to do so.

Representatives for Santos and McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Kevin Spacey was given a lifetime achievement award by Italys National Museum of Cinema in Turin on Monday (16 January).

At the event, the actor gave his first speaking engagement in more than five years, during which time the actor has faced a string of sexual abuse allegations.

I have been so honoured to have been part of the creative process with so many remarkable people, Spacey told his Turin audience, per Variety.

The actor gave his gratitude to the museum for having had Le Palle  [Italian for balls] to invite me tonight.

He also thanked the museums director Domenico De Gaetano: By presenting this award, they are making a strong defence of artistic achievement and for that, they should be applauded.

Prior to the event, Spacey denied going underground since the allegations against him surfaced in 2017.

Kevin Spacey (Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/PA Images)

I live my life every day, I go to restaurants, I meet people, drive, play tennis, Ive always managed to meet generous, genuine, compassionate people, Spacey told Italian news outlets, refusing to speak to international press.

I havent hidden away, I havent gone to live in a cave, he said.

Italy has proved kind to the embattled actor. He is currently promoting his first film since 2017, which was filmed in Turin, Franco Neros detective tale The Man Who Drew God.

Last week, a new complainant came forward with seven sexual offence charges against Spacey that allegedly occurred between 2001 and 2005, which Spacey denies. The American Beauty star has previously denied five allegations relating to three other men.

In October last year, a New York jury concluded that Spacey did not molest actor Anthony Rapp, who had sought $40m (36m) in damages after alleging that a then-26-year-old Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance towards him when he was 14.

Spacey is due to go on trial in London in June to face sex offence charges spanning a period between 2001 and 2013 for several years of which he was the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre.
Jury selection in a civil trial against Elon Musk will begin Tuesday in San Francisco, after the Tesla CEO in 2018 misleadingly suggested via tweet that a $72 billion buyout was on the horizon. That online missive later landed the billionaire in hot water with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, who alleged Musk knew such a deal wasn't poised to materialize.

Musk and Tesla were each fined $20 million following an SEC investigation into the matter; Musk was also required to give up his seat as company chair for at least three years, NPR reports. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

But investors who owned Tesla stock during the period Aug. 7-17, 2018, later filed a class-action lawsuit against the billionaire, alleging he caused them financial harm with his tweets beginning Aug. 7. Per shareholders, the electric car company's stock prices "swung by roughly $14 billion" during the 10-day period addressed by the lawsuit, NPR summarizes. The judge in the case previously ruled that Musk's tweets were reckless and false  meaning the jury must now decide whether Musk knew they were misleading and if they caused material harm to investors. His defense team has argued that their client was, in fact, planning to take Tesla private, even if his claims about the deal were ultimately inaccurate.

Still, Musk's lawyers will face "an uphill battle" in the trial, especially considering the judge's prior verdict regarding the tweets, securities law professor Jill Fisch told The Wall Street Journal.

Depending on the outcome, Musk stands to suffer yet another significant financial blow, added law professor Adam Pritchard, speaking with Bloomberg. "Elon enjoys a good fight," Pritchard said. "He has a lot of money, and is apparently willing to take substantial risks with that money."

The proceedings will also likely shed light on "Musk's management style, given the witness list includes some of Tesla's current and former top executives and board members," like James Murdoch, son of media giant Rupert Murdoch, The Associated Press writes.

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Musk is expected to appear on the stand "as early as Wednesday," the Journal writes, and the trial is expected to last about three weeks, per The Guardian.

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Bryan Kohberger told a fellow Washington State University graduate student living in the same on-campus housing complex that he submitted his DNA for consumer genetic testing to explore his ancestry, the neighbor told the Idaho Statesman.

Kohberger, 28, was a Ph.D. student in WSUs criminal justice and criminology department. He now stands charged with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary in the killing of four University of Idaho students on Nov. 13.

Kohbergers neighbor said the two became acquainted while crossing paths on the residential property a handful of times after they each moved there in August. The WSU Ph.D. student lives across from the apartment where Kohberger resided until recently, and he said the two traded cellphone numbers.

In their longest interaction, on the first Friday night of the fall semester, they spent about an hour chatting, the man said. The Statesman agreed to grant him anonymity over privacy concerns to publish his account of his exchanges with Kohberger, including that conversation  months before Kohberger was arrested.

Moscow homicides suspect Bryan Kohbergers apartment, in Pullman, Washington, on Jan. 15, 2023. The large on-campus housing complex serves many Washington State University graduate students.

That August evening, the two grad students ran into each other in the large housing complexs parking lot next to their buildings, the man said during an interview at his apartment. Kohberger then asked him if he wanted to walk and talk, he said, and the two got to know each other a little while taking laps around the asphalt parking area.

During their discussion, Kohberger asked his neighbor, who is not from the U.S., whether he could identify Kohbergers ancestral background, the man said. The neighbor said he guessed Italy before Kohberger stated that he was of German descent.

He talked about his ancestors, the 30-year-old neighbor said. He had some sort of DNA test. I dont know how he got to that point.  It was just interesting to him.

The detail could shed new light on growing reports that investigators used public genealogy databases to land on Kohberger as the alleged killer. Citing law enforcement sources, multiple news outlets, including Fox News, CNN and ABC News, reported as early as the day after Kohbergers arrest that police employed the forensic technique to narrow their focus to Kohberger, while making no mention of the contentious method in the probable cause affidavit used to justify taking him into custody.

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A single source of male DNA was recovered from the button snap on a Ka-Bar brand leather knife sheath found on the bed next to the body of one of the four victims, police said. Police later matched the DNA from trash discarded at the Kohberger home in eastern Pennsylvania, where Bryan Kohberger was visiting his family for the winter break, to the profile taken from the knife sheath, according to the affidavit.

However, investigators didnt hone in on Kohberger and seek a search warrant for his cellphone data until after the investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) results came back identifying him, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told Slate.

Police said they first became aware of Kohberger on Nov. 29, when a WSU Police officer researched white Hyundai Elantras at the university while seeking information about such vehicles related to the crime, according to the affidavit. About a half-hour later, another WSU officer located Kohbergers vehicle parked outside his on-campus apartment, police said.

Law enforcement obtained search warrants for records of cellphones that used cell towers close to the area of the King Road home in Moscow where the victims were killed as part of this investigation, the affidavit read, without providing a date. Based on evidence, police believe the homicides occurred between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m., but Kohbergers phone did not register in the area between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

On Dec. 23, investigators obtained another search warrant for expanded records of Kohbergers cellphone dating to when police said he opened the account with AT&T on June 23, 2022, the affidavit read. The records showed him in the vicinity of his WSU apartment at 2:42 a.m. and appearing to leave the area five minutes later, with his phone not reporting to the network again until 4:48 a.m., south of Moscow along U.S. 95, near Blaine, Idaho, and north of Genesee.

Further review of the records showed Kohbergers cellphone in the area of the King Road home from 9:12 a.m. to 9:21 a.m. on Nov. 13, police said. In addition, his cellphone appeared to be in the same area at least a dozen times prior to that date, according to the affidavit.

A very serious person

Kohbergers neighbor told the Statesman that he was back in his home nation for WSUs winter break when he heard police arrested a suspect in the Moscow case. A friend posted a message in a group WhatsApp thread, he said, noting that the person lived in the mans housing complex. He said he immediately searched for more information on Google, and saw that Kohberger was the person accused in the deaths of U of I seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, junior Xana Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin.

Its shocking, the man said. Still seeing his picture on the news, its very shocking.

He thought back to Kohberger owning a white Hyundai Elantra that he parked in the lot where they walked together several months earlier. Moscow police were seeking information about anyone driving such a vehicle after they obtained video footage from the early morning hours of Nov. 13 that showed a white sedan in the area of the King Road homicides.

The last time he saw Kohberger, the man said, was either the last week of November or first week of December  two or three weeks after the incident roughly 9 miles away, which quickly drew national attention to the region. The neighbor said they greeted each other in passing, and he didnt notice or remember anything different about Kohberger from that short interaction.

He jogged his memory with the Statesman on Sunday, recalling his walk with Kohberger in August  what he said was his only substantive conversation with his neighbor. Their other exchanges entailed the two students just saying hello, and Kohberger suggesting they go on a hike together sometime.

As they strolled the complexs parking lot at the end of the fall semesters first week of classes, they talked over the sounds in the area of college students socializing, he said.

Many people here were partying, and you could hear it all over the city, the neighbor said. He said he was not into partying. He said theyre wasting their time, something like that.

Kohberger shared with him that he ate only one meal per day, the man said. Kohberger is vegan and has requested his meals in jail be in accordance with his preferred diet, NewsNation reported.

Bryan Kohberger enters an Idaho courtroom in Moscow for a status hearing, on Jan. 12, 2023. The accused killer waived his right to a quick preliminary hearing and is scheduled to appear again in court on June 26.

Over the course of Kohberger and his neighbors conversation, which included discussion of their areas of research in separate WSU doctoral programs, the man said he couldnt recall Kohberger ever smiling or laughing.

He was kind of serious  a very serious person, the neighbor said.

Investigators also appear interested in the mans recollections of Kohberger. Detectives with the Moscow Police Department last week contacted him about their relationship, he said, after they found his cellphone number in Kohbergers phone.

Just how we met each other, what was his personality, these kinds of things, he told the Statesman, declining to offer more specifics, citing the nature of the situation and law enforcements involvement.

Moscow Police Capt. Anthony Dahlinger, spokesperson for the department, would not confirm to the Statesman that investigators contacted and interviewed the neighbor, citing a gag order in the case. Latah County Judge Megan Marshall issued the nondissemination order on Jan. 3, barring law enforcement and attorneys from making statements outside of submitted court records.

The neighbor also said he provided police with a screenshot of his and Kohbergers brief text thread, which included just two messages, starting off with the man confirming his number to Kohberger after their Aug. 26 walk. The screenshot, reviewed by the Statesman, included a phone number with an eastern Washington area code, with the last four digits 8458. In the affidavit, police previously identified Kohbergers cellphone number having the same last four digits.

Hey (neighbor)! How is your semester so far? a text dated Sept. 21 that appeared to be from Kohberger read. The neighbor said he was too busy to reply at the time, and then later forgot. The two didnt text again, he said.

The neighbor said he didnt return to Pullman until after investigators performed a search of Kohbergers apartment on Dec. 30. A Whitman County Superior Court judge sealed those search warrants until March 1, citing threats to the public and law enforcement, and maintaining the integrity of the investigation.

Premature public disclosure of the details of this law enforcement investigation will create a serious and imminent threat to law enforcement, and could result in the premature end of this investigation which could create a threat to public safety, Judge Gary Libey wrote in the records, obtained by the Statesman.

Other neighbors recall night owl, mention of homicides

On Sunday, when a Statesman reporter visited Kohbergers apartment building, nearby tenants were mostly reluctant to answer questions. The resident directly below Kohbergers second-story unit had a sign taped to the front door: No Interviews. Thank you.

Several other neighbors either declined Statesman requests to speak about Kohberger or said they didnt know him. Angela Alvarez, a WSU senior psychology major, lives with her family in the other first-floor unit in Kohbergers building, but said she was unavailable to talk.

She previously told The Daily Beast that Kohberger was a night owl who generally kept to himself. He was frequently gone, Alvarez said, and shed rarely see him before midnight. He would usually park his white Elantra right in front of her unit, she said.

I always see his headlights flash in my front windows, Alvarez said.

The parking space was one of the few vacant in front of the building Sunday. As police took Kohberger into custody in eastern Pennsylvania, they also seized his vehicle.

Moscow homicides suspect Bryan Kohbergers student housing complex, in Pullman, Washington, on Jan. 15, 2023. Kohberger usually took the parking spot for his white Hyundai Elantra outside her first-floor window, according to a neighbor.

Another unidentified neighbor told CBS News last week that Kohberger at one point mentioned the Moscow killings to him.

He brought it up in conversation, asked if I had heard about the murders, which I did, the man said. And then he said, It seems like they have no leads. It seems like it was a crime of passion. 

Moscow Mayor Art Bettge used the same phrase a day after the homicides in an interview with The New York Times, before walking it back as just one of a number of possibilities.

A classmate of Kohbergers in WSUs graduate criminal justice and criminology program told the Statesman earlier this month that Kohberger was known for being outspoken and sharing his opinions during class. But when the nearby homicides were brought up during a class discussion, Kohberger stayed quiet.

He was completely silent, the classmate said.

Kohberger made his second appearance in Idaho court last week and remains in Latah County Jail with no bond. He is next scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on June 26.
KYIV (Reuters) - Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Tuesday he had held talks with German Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck on further support and assistance for Ukraine, including the transfer of weapons, and that "positive decisions" had been made.

He gave no other details of the meeting, which took place while the two were attending the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos, but Ukraine hopes Germany will provide it with tanks to resist Russia's invasion.

"We discussed further support and assistance. In particular, the transfer of weapons. Positive decisions have been made. Good news coming soon," Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

(Reporting by Max Hunder, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
On Tuesday, 17 January, Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraines First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, and Jozef Sikela, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, reached an agreement on setting up a working group for involving Czech enterprises in the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Source: Svyrydenko, at the Global Economic Forum in Davos, cited by the press service of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine and European Pravda

"We are grateful to Czechia for its military, financial and humanitarian aid in these dramatic times. Czechia is one of Ukraines key European partners, providing Ukraine with significant political and practical help, and one of our countrys five key weapons suppliers," Svyrydenko said.

Svyrydenko and Sikela discussed the upcoming meeting of the intergovernmental Ukrainian-Czech commission to be held in March 2023, and also reached an agreement on further cooperation in the energy sector and the integration of electricity markets.

Ukraines Ministry of Economy reports that the Czech government has been providing Ukraine with weapons and ammunition since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, specifically the ground combat systems and anti-tank and anti-aircraft equipment that the Ukrainian army needs.

The Czech Republic has provided Ukraine with 3 billion Czech crowns (about US$130 million) worth of military aid.

Background:

In October 2022, the Czech government approved a programme of humanitarian, stabilisation, reconstruction and economic aid to Ukraine. It is expected that 500 million crowns will be allocated for this purpose annually over the period from 2023 to 2025.

In January 2023, the Czech Cabinet of Ministers appointed former deputy Defence Minister Tomas Kopechny as governmental ombudsman for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Washington DC teacher Keenan Anderson was Tased for several minutes by LAPD officers before he died (Courtesy of Patrisse Cullors)

The LAPD has been accused of smearing the cousin of a Black Lives Matter co-founder who died after being repeatedly tased by officers.

High school teacher Keenan Anderson was tased six times after trying to run away from police following a traffic accident in Venice, Los Angeles, on 3 January.

A toxicology report released by police showed Anderson, 31, had cannabinoids and cocaine metabolite in his system when he died later in hospital after going into cardiac arrest.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has not yet ruled on his cause of death.

LAPD police chief Michel Moore told a press conference last week they were awaiting an autopsy report to determine a cause of death.

According to police, Anderson was in the process of committing a felony hit-and-run when he tried to run from officers.

Bodycam footage shows him in a distressed state begging for help, and at one point saying, Theyre trying to George Floyd me.

Anderson, the cousin of BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, was on a winter break from Washington DC when he was killed. He was the third Black or brown man to die after an encounter with the LAPD in 2023.

Melanie Ochoa, the director of police practices at American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, told VICE that the LAPDs statements about officer-involved killings were public relations actions, they are not a public information service.

I think the goal of the LAPDs PR machine is to have the public believe that the victim somehow caused their own death, she told VICE.

Similarly to after the death of George Floyd in 2020, right-wing commentators linked Andersons death to the evidence of drugs in his system in the toxicology report.

However, the presence of cocaine metabolite can remain in the system for anywhere from a few days to several months, depending on the test type and other factors, according to Healthline.com experts.

The LAPD and the ACLU did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Independent.

In a video statement accompanying the bodycam footage, LAPD Captain Kelly Muniz said investigations into deaths after use of force can often take up to a year to complete and often change as additional evidence is collected, analyzed and reviewed.
On January 14, during Russia's massive attack on Ukraine, a Russian missile hit a residential building in Dnipro

According to UK intelligence, Russia falsely implied a Ukrainian air defence missile was responsible.

The department stressed that as with the previous eight waves of strikes since Oct. 11, 2022, Russia primarily targeted the Ukrainian electricity grid.

(The Kh-22) is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets, as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas, reads the report.

Read also: Ukraine unable to shoot down Kh-22 missiles, says Air Force

While some missiles such as (the Kh-22) are unsuitable for precision strike, evidence from the Ukraine war suggests that the dysfunction of Russias long-range strike capability is more profound. It highly likely struggles to dynamically identify targets, and to access rapid and accurate battle damage assessment.

The agency reiterated similar weapons had been responsible for other incidents of civilian mass-casualties, including the Kremenchuk shopping centre strike of June 27, 2022.

According to Ukraines Air Force Command, five Kh-22 cruise missiles were fired from five Tu-22M3 long-range Russian bombers during the Jan. 14 mass missile attack. Additional missiles were launched from Russias Kursk Oblast and the Sea of Azov.

One of the Kh-22 missiles, which was launched from the air over Kursk Oblast at about 3.30 p.m. on Jan. 14, hit a high-rise residential building in the city of Dnipro, completely demolishing a nine-story section of the building.

Over 40 people are known to have been killed in the strike on the building, and 79 injured, 10 of whom are in a serious condition in hospital. Another 25 residents of the building are still listed as missing.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said Ukraine has no means to intercept Kh-22 missiles. The cruise missiles, which move at supersonic speeds (up to 4.6 times the speed of sound), are 5.8 tons in weight and carry a one-tone high-explosive warhead.

They have a low accuracy, and can strike anywhere within 100 to 300 meters of their intended target.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Jan. 16Southeastern Connecticut's casinos are on board with a Bridgeport lawmaker's revival of a plan to extend hours of liquor service in certain locales, though two top New London officials don't think it would be such a hot idea in the city.

Democratic state Rep. Christopher Rosario has introduced a bill that would establish a pilot program allowing liquor to be served until 4 a.m. at licensed locations in Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, New Haven, New London, Norwalk, Stamford, Waterbury and West Hartford as well as at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun.

Currently, liquor can be sold until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights and until 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday.

Rosario had floated a similar proposal in 2019, a year after the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe had begun pushing for later last calls at its Foxwoods Resort Casino in anticipation of a competing resort casino opening in Springfield, Mass. Since then, state and local authorities in the Bay State have authorized late liquor sales for patrons "actively" engaged in gambling at MGM Springfield and at Encore Boston Harbor in Everett.

In 2018, the Mashantucket and Mohegan tribes were planning on developing a third Connecticut casino in East Windsor, about 15 miles from Springfield, a project that's been put on hold.

"Our position is unchanged" Jason Guyot, Foxwoods' president and chief executive officer, said Monday of extended liquor hours. "We still feel it's important to stay competitive with entertainment venues in other states. ... Guests have choices, and we want to keep them in the state of Connecticut."

Guyot said there's no better place for later hours of liquor service than a casino, pointing to Foxwoods' more than 2,000 hotel rooms and numerous restaurants that can accommodate late gamblers. He said there's no data to support the argument that later liquor-service hours will create more unsafe highway conditions due to patrons hurrying to make last call at the casinos.

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More than 30% of Foxwoods' clientele comes from Massachusetts, Guyot said.

"The Mohegan position has been that such a time (4 a.m.) would make us more competitive and likely stop people from chugging at last call, and we could implement quickly," Chuck Bunnell, the Mohegan Tribe's chief of staff, wrote in an email. "We also feel that if expanded for certain cities it needs to be in casino licenses as well."

Rosario, in widening the scope of his bill, proposed three years ago the creation of "nightlife entertainment zones" to help businesses in designated locales compete with establishments in neighboring states where alcohol is served until 4 a.m. He said such competition primarily affects bars and entertainment venues in Fairfield County that compete for millennials with New York venues that have later hours of service.

Attempts to reach Rosario on Monday were unsuccessful.

"He's got to do what's right for his district, but I don't know how something like that (later hours of service) would be welcome here," Michael Passero, New London's mayor, said. "You're talking about the biggest city in the state (Bridgeport) and the smallest (New London). It doesn't sound like a good idea to me."

Passero said he would want assurances that municipalities have the right to opt out of any legislation extending hours of liquor service.

"It would have to be a local decision," he said. "I'd want to be sure the vast majority of people in the city supported it."

Brian Wright, the New London police chief, said he was against Rosario's proposal.

"As it is, bars and entertainment spots tend to be hotspots for police departments around closing time," he said. "They draw a lot of resources. You extend their hours and you're going to stretch the resources in an around those areas for longer periods of time. I don't think the benefits (of longer hours) would outweigh the possible perils."

"How much more revenue are you really going to generate in two more hours?" Wright asked. "In Connecticut, law enforcement in general is already understaffed."

b.hallenbeck@theday.com
Sabrina Davis chose a vivid pink blouse to wear to her Orlando presentation. It stood out amid the muted browns and greys of the Orange County government meeting room surrounding her.

She walked up to the podium, slightly nervous, and glanced at the lawmakers assembled before her.

Im here today to share my dads story, she told them. On Thursday, October 15 [2020], my dad stood up and died.

That presentation was not Davis first, nor did it promise to be her last. It was a continuation of a two-year effort to bring an end to Floridas medical malpractice loophole its critics have sarcastically dubbed the free kill law.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

Five days to kill

Davis remembers the phone call from her dad  the first of a series that would lead to his heart blockage. It was a Saturday. His complaint was about pain in his knee.

He told her he couldnt walk. She, like any dutiful daughter, suggested the former military man see a doctor, expecting him to waive it off.

He avoided hospitals at all costs, but I knew it was serious when he agreed, she recalled.

They drove to a Tampa-area facility near where he lived to get him checked out. His leg was red and swollen and felt warmer than usual to the touch. She and the family physician told the doctor that her father had a history of blood clots and suggested he order an ultrasound. She also told the doctor her father was taking blood thinners.

Davis said the doctor waived the recommendations, ordering her father to five days of bed rest instead.

Luke Sukhram (left), 8, and his mother Sabrina Davis (right) stand with a photo of her father, Keith Davis, in Gainesville, Fla. on Monday, November 1, 2021. Davis was a United States Navy veteran who passed away in 2020 due to medical negligence. (Photo by Kiara Cline)

My dad was awake, eating, drinking alive talking, making plans, she said. On Thursday, I was on the phone with my dad, when [the doctor] came in the room and said, Today, youre being discharged for physical therapy.

Davis said the doctor was in the room for mere seconds.

Nineteen minutes after we last spoke, I got a call from the hospital stating my dad was Code Blue, she said, a term for a patient with no pulse.

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Davis later found out her father toppled over when he tried to stand up.

When the doctor refused to order an autopsy, Davis said she paid for one out of pocket, knowing what the results would be.

Read: Girlfriend charged in boyfriends murder after he was killed during robbery, police say

Your dad has a 9-inch-long blood clot, that moved from his leg to his chest, she recalled him saying. 100% preventable.

Davis filed a complaint with the Florida Board of Medicine, which later settled with the doctor. Settlement documents show the doctor admitted no fault but, had the accusations been proven, admitted they wouldve been violations of multiple state laws. The doctor agreed to several fines and five hours of education classes about blood clots.

However, Davis found no success when she tried to take the doctor and the hospital to court. Lawyers kept asking how old she was (30) and if her dad was married (no).

They said they cant help me, she remembered.

David ran into Floridas medical malpractice exemption, also known as the free kill law. Buried in the codes about wrongful deaths is a specific carve-out limiting who can file a medical malpractice suit in the Sunshine State.

Read: Daytona Beach couple charged with child abuse, kidnapping, police say

Minor children of the decedent, and all children of the decedent if there is no surviving spouse, may also recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury, the law reads. The damages specified shall not be recoverable by adult children and by parents of an adult child with respect to claims for medical negligence.

In other words, if the person is an adult, unmarried and has no young children, no one can legally sue the doctor. In the past, insurers argued the law is necessary to keep malpractice insurance costs down, saying Florida is one of the most expensive states in the nation.

Davis says the practice is unfair, citing the fact that Florida is one of two states with a law like this on its books.

Theyre still billing my fathers estate for any unpaid medical bills and theres nothing I can do because no lawyer can help me and take my case because of this law, Davis said.

Increasing calls for change

There have been past attempts to strike free kill off Floridas books, with little success so far. However, the tides appear to be shifting thanks to efforts by Davis and other activists.

Florida legislators tried to get a bill striking the loophole from the books in 2022 but ran into headwinds in the Senate despite being backed by lawmakers in both parties.

The two bills died in the judiciary committee.

No bills have been formally filed ahead of the current session, but Davis said has a sponsor in both the Senate, where Miami-area Republican Ana Maria Rodriguez appeared to be poised to repeat her attempt to spearhead the effort.

Read: Three Central Floridians indicted for the kidnapping of immigrant working in Florida

Rodriguez and her staff did not respond to interview requests Monday, though many lawmakers were busy moving to Tallahassee ahead of committee meetings.

Davis trip to Orlando last week was in search of a House sponsor, who are limited in the number of bills they can introduce each year. Her story  and her bright pink blouse  got the attention she needed.

I would like to file the law, freshman Rep. Carolina Amesty (R-Windermere) said, smiling warmly. She told Davis to get in touch with her aide in the audience after her presentation.

Both Democrats and other Republicans voiced their support, with one Democrat offering to co-sponsor the legislation.

Reached by phone, Amesty said she was touched by Davis presentation and didnt believe the situation was right. She said she would spend her week in Tallahassee finalizing which bills shed introduce but sounded optimistic that the free kill legislation would be among them.

Read: Hundreds gather to honor Orlandos first Black city council member

Davis wasnt sure this attempt would succeed but said she was hopeful.

Its just overwhelming, she said. Sometimes I question myself when we speak. Are we really heard? [Amesty] reminded me that we are.

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.
Guangxi's first China-Europe freight train of 2023 departs from Liuzhou for Moscow

People's Daily Online) 18:43, January 16, 2023

Photo shows a China-Europe freight train bound for the Russian capital Moscow from Liuzhou city in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/Zhou Yijie)

A China-Europe freight train departed from the Liuzhou railway port in Liuzhou city, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Jan. 15, 2023, carrying 55 containers of heavy machinery such as graders, loaders and rollers bound for the Russian capital Moscow. This marks the first trip made by the Liuzhou-Moscow freight train service this year.

Since China Railway Nanning Bureau Group Co., Ltd. launched the Liuzhou-Moscow freight train service in May 2021, Liuzhou railway port and the Nanning international railway port have continuously been launching freight trains carrying heavy machinery. As of Jan. 15, 2023, 21 such trains had been operated and 2,057 containers of construction machinery had been shipped. So far, heavy machinery from Guangxi, including loaders and rollers, has been sold to over 170 countries and regions.

China and Russia signed a customs agreement on mutual Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) to facilitate customs clearance for enterprises in February 2022. Chinese machinery manufacturer Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd. is one of the companies listed as an AEO enterprise.

A crane moves a container in Liuzhou city in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Photo/Lin He)

Our export volume through the China-Europe freight train service doubled year on year in 2022 to over 270 million yuan (about $40.35 million), said Li Kailiang, an international business director of the company.

Li explained that Liugong will give full play to the AEO system between China and Russia and the companys 120-plus outlets in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) regions to expand its overseas market.

Tang Guide, director of the Liuzhou freight center of China Railway Nanning Bureau Group Co., Ltd., said the Chinese railway department will leverage the AEO system between China and Russia and the driving force of the RCEP, guarantee the safe and smooth operations of the China-Europe freight train service, and encourage more local export enterprises to develop business in Belt and Road countries using China-Europe freight trains.

(Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Du Mingming)
Protesters confront officers at People's Park in Berkeley on Aug. 3. (Stuart Leavenworth / Los Angeles Times)

To the editor: Once again, UC Berkeley wants to use People's Park for student housing, and once again, students and others have erupted in protest. This time, I am on the side of university officials and the cops.

People's Park in Berkeley has always seen a collection of stoners and others who lived on the margins. In 1969, the student body president-elect at UC Berkeley egged on the cops by announcing a march to retake the park.

My girlfriend and I were on our way to class, trying to avoid all of the racket. Our books were under our arms. A California Highway Patrol officer aimed his shotgun at us. We fled but still ended up in the hospital.

It was a dumb idea to provoke the cops, some of whom loved to chase people with billy clubs. One kid died and another was blinded.

Calling that day sacred is a hippie fantasy. We should have focused on stopping the Vietnam War, not picking a fight we were never going to win.

Mike Roddy, Alameda, Calif.

..

To the editor: A state court of appeals is concerned that loud partying by students residing in a dorm to be built on the site of People's Park might disturb the neighbors.

Is it serious? People's Park is in a gritty neighborhood populated mostly by students near Telegraph Avenue. There are several enormous dorms in the immediate vicinity already.

This is not a quiet suburban neighborhood. It's a perfect place for a dorm.

Erica Hahn, Monrovia

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  The Latest on the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned against the rise of far-right political movements inside the European Union and called for unity to fight what he described as the rotten seeds (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has planted in our countries."

In a speech Tuesday at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, Sanchez shared his concerns about far-right political parties being able to reach institutions and destroying the EU from the inside.

The socialist leader says he's especially concerned about it in those countries where these far-right forces have the support of the main conservative parties, that are opening the doors of governments for them.

He didnt mention any specific country or political party.

The center-left socialist leader faces general elections this year. Early polls suggest that the oppositions main conservative leader would need the support of a hard-right party to replace Sanchez.

___

Several minerals and mining executives and government executives say there are shortages of critical metals and minerals needed to advance the clean energy transition.

Anne-Laure de Chammard, executive board member and executive vice president at Siemens Energy AG, said on a Davos panel Tuesday that financing isn't a bottleneck for clean energy anymore, it is the supply chain and the availability of precious metals.

Mike Henry, CEO of mining giant BHP Group Ltd., says that with mines in decline, the world is going to need a lot more copper, cobalt and nickel.

As a miner, said Jeremy Weir, chair and CEO of commodities trading giant Trafigura Group Pte Ltd., the constraint is getting more metals and minerals out of the ground faster.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has some of the greatest mineral wealth in the world. But President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, also on the panel, said violence and illegal mineral extraction in the eastern part of the country is scaring investors.

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He also said international mining companies need to provide more things that will improve the daily lives of our communities, such as schools and hospitals.

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS:

 Ukraines first lady urges leaders to use influence amid war

 EU chief offers clean tech plan to compete with China, US

 World Food Program postpones, not averts Somali famine

 Elon Musk apparently wasn't on the Davos guest list

Follow APs coverage of the World Economic Forum meeting at https://apnews.com/hub/world-economic-forum

___

U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema says democracy is still alive despite her refusal to eliminate the filibuster so Democrats could pass legislation securing voting rights ahead of the 2022 election.

Sinema says Congress didnt pass the voting rights bill, then we had a free and fair election. She spoke Tuesday in a panel session with a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers and governors at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Sinema is a moderate senator from Arizona known for bipartisan deal-making. Her support for a Senate rule requiring support from 60% of lawmakers to pass most legislation was a major tension in her strained relationship with Democrats, who worry that allies of former U.S. President Donald Trump will interfere with elections.

Sinema left the Democratic Party late last year, registering as an independent as she nears the end of her first term. She hasnt said whether she will run for reelection in 2024.

The Arizona senator added that the push by one political party to eliminate an important guardrail and an institution in our country may have been premature and overreaching, in order to get the short-term victories they wanted.

She and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, another holdout on eliminating the filibuster rule, shared a high-five.

Sinema said the era of divided government is an opportunity for the country to reckon with extreme partisanship.

Lawmakers from both parties said theyre confident the United States will keep supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia despite a group of lawmakers who want to cut off aid.

Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Republican from Florida, said were going to liberate Europe, quote unquote, in 2023 just like we did in 1945. We understand that that is our duty.

__

The World Economic Forum says billionaire Elon Musk wasnt on the guest list for the annual meeting of business executives, global leaders and cultural trend-setters in Davos, Switzerland  despite what the Twitter owner claims.

Musk isnt among the notables gathering in the ritzy Alpine town this week to talk about global issues, though he says he was invited.

Forum spokesman Yann Zopf knocked that down Tuesday, saying the last time the Tesla CEO got an invitation was not this year and not recently  last time in 2015. Zopf says Musk has never registered or attended the annual meeting.

Musk said in a tweet Dec. 22: My reason for declining the Davos invitation was because it sounded boring.

He didnt specify when he got the invitation, but the tweets timing suggested it was for this year. Musk did not immediately respond to requests from The Associated Press for comment Tuesday.

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Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has repeated similar comments from last year that Ukraine should consider territorial concessions as a way to end Russias invasion, a suggestion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticized.

Kissinger spoke by video link Tuesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, saying various lines will need to be drawn to prevent the war from escalating. The 99-year-old again proposed that a cease-fire along the lines of invasion is a reasonable outcome of the military actions and not necessarily the outcome of a later peace negotiation.

He said the U.S. should support Ukraine and intensify military aid until a cease-fire line is either reached or accepted in discussions. He says this also would give Russia an opportunity to rejoin the international system and reassess its reliance on military force.

Kissinger notes that the destruction of Russia as state would open up the nuclear-armed territory to internal conflict and outside intervention.

He expressed admiration for Zelenskyy and the heroism of the Ukrainian people. Kissinger said that while he previously opposed Ukraines membership in NATO because he feared a conflict with Russia, he now believes Ukrainian membership in NATO too would be an appropriate outcome of the cease-fire process he describes.

Ukrainian leaders reject land concessions. Last years comments from Kissinger drew a retort from Zelenskyy that it was tantamount to European powers in 1938 letting Nazi Germany claim parts of Czechoslovakia to curb Adolf Hitlers aggression.

___

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin says that if Russia were to win the war in Ukraine, it would show that invading another country leads to gains of land or natural resources.

She says Europe and other Western democracies should send Putin the message that we will support as long as needed  five years, 10 years, 15 years, whatever it takes  we will support Ukraine, and this will not stop.

Speaking Tuesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Marin added that its for Ukrainians to decide when they are ready to negotiate, when they are ready to make some peace agreement.

She says the story might have been very different if Western is allies had acted stronger when Russia illegally annexed Ukraines Crimea peninsula in 2014.

The European Union member that shares a long border with Russia is seeking NATO membership. Marin says Finland believed it was best to stay out of the alliance for its own security but then it saw Russia is attacking another neighbor and we cannot rely on that relations anymore, so we have to seek partnership elsewhere.

All 30 NATO states must approve Finland and Sweden joining the Western military alliance, with just Turkey and Hungary yet to sign on. Turkey is demanding the Nordic countries tighten counterterrorism measures.

Marin says she has spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who relayed to her that there arent big issues with Finland, maybe Sweden. She emphasized that Finland and Sweden must join NATO together.

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The head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning World Food Program says support from donors like the United States and Germany have allowed it to postpone  though not entirely avert  famine in Somalia.

But WFP Executive Director David Beasley stressed that were not out of this yet.

He told The Associated Press that countries in the Horn of Africa have faced unprecedented climate impact from years of drought, and the U.N. agency had been expecting to announce famine in Somalia before donors stepped up in magnificent ways.

Speaking Tuesday at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Beasley warned that we still could end up with a famine technically in Somalia because famine-like conditions already exist.

When Beasley took the job in 2017, some 80 million people worldwide were on the brink of starvation and faced chronic hunger. Conflict, climate change and COVID-19 have caused that to balloon to 350 million today because of economic devastation and supply-chain disruptions.

___

The head of the International Monetary Fund is warning that letting international tensions fragment the global economy could cost trillions in lost growth.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva urged business and political leaders during the World Economic Forums gathering in Davos, Switzerland, to wake up and preserve global trade even as they look to insulate their supply sources from disruption.

Georgieva says the pandemic and Russias war in Ukraine showed that some redundancy is needed when it comes to where businesses source parts and raw materials.

But the smart way is to keep that to the level where we make the world economy more resilient and not drag the world into a place where we will be all poorer and we will be less secure.

Reorganizing supply chains in a way that doesnt restrict trade would reduce global growth by only 0.2% of global output. But if trade collapses, that could balloon to 7% of global economy over time, or $7 trillion  the size of the economies of Japan and Germany together.

My fear is, we are sleepwalking into this world. But hey, here is Davos! Wake up! Do the right thing! she said, drawing a round of applause.

___

Two top Ukrainian officials said reforms to the countrys economy to attract investors cant wait until the end of the war, even as utility workers struggle to repair infrastructure destroyed by Russian missiles.

Oleksiy Chernyshov, head of state energy company Naftogaz, said cutting red tape and reforming the countrys judiciary will be key in finding new investment to help rebuild the country.

He spoke Tuesday during a panel on Ukraines future during the World Economic Forum's gathering in Davos, Switzerland, with First Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, who is also economy minister.

Svyrydenko said the governments aim is to make Ukraine a favored destination for investors on the second day after the victory.

Before the war, Ukraine struggled to curb the influence of politically connected business figures known as oligarchs and to reform its legal system.

Economists working on the countrys reconstruction issues say the war offers the chance to accelerate reforms by making them an issue of patriotism and national survival.

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Samantha Power, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, announced that USAID would be providing more support for the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation.

Power, speaking during a panel discussion on democracy Tuesday at World Economic Forums gathering in Davos, Switzerland, said the program was developed in conjunction with the forum, with the private sector saying business is hard to do certain countries and asking USAID and other government actors to make it easier.

She says were going to surge support to Ecuador, Tanzania, countries like that again are doing those hard things to try to facilitate trade and not merely again the classic tool toolkit for democracy promotion.

Power said many countries are taking difficult steps to address problems as they try to implement political reforms. She said those efforts could be helped by public-private partnerships.

She urged businesses to check about investment opportunities in countries that are doing hard things, that are fighting for more transparency, fighting those anti-democratic forces.

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Polish President Andrzej Duda says efforts to build an international coalition that could send at least an armored brigade to Ukraine will take some time."

Duda stressed that Ukraine is asking for modern Western weapons and tanks as it has been fighting for Russia's invasion since February and is counting on the allies to each give a few or about a dozen tanks.

Speaking to Polish reporters after a panel at he World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, he said he's counting on Finland and on other European countries, including Germany, which have Leopard tanks.

Duda stressed that Germanys permission will be required for the German-made Leopard tanks to be handed over to Ukraine.

Britain has offered to provide its Challenger tanks, with Duda expressing thanks for the U.K. government.

___

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore emphasized the need to reform multilateral development banks if the world wants to rapidly decarbonize and meet its climate goals.

He pointed to the World Bank, whose leader David Malpass faced criticism in September for not directly answering when asked whether the burning of fossil fuels has contributed to global warming. Instead, he said, I am not a scientist.

He has denied Gore's accusations of being a climate denier. Fore said during a panel session at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday that if we have a global allocation system for capital that deprives the vast majority of people that live in developing countries from any meaningful access then we are kidding ourselves."

According to Gore, 88% of the projected increase in emissions of planet-warming gases will come from the developing world but most of them dont have access to private capital today.

He said that Nigerians, for example, have to pay an interest rate that is seven times higher than those in a European or North American country.

___

The leader of the Belarus opposition says a trial against her opening in Minsk is a farce and that she still hasnt been made aware of the charges.

Speaking to The Associated Press on Tuesday during the World Economic Forum gathering in the Swiss town of Davos, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said she feared Belarus was being overlooked by the war in Ukraine and warned that without a democratic Belarus there would be no stability in the region.

The elite gathering of political leaders, business executives and cultural trend-setters will tackle issues facing a divided world as 2023 begins with conflict and economic pressures.

Tsikhanouskaya said she would welcome a meeting with Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, who is also attending the meeting, or the Ukraine government but understood the sensitivity and the fears it could provoke Belrusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

___ Chinese Vice Premier Liu He laid out an optimistic vision for the worlds second largest economy following the battering it took over nearly three years of lockdowns, quarantines and strict COVID-19 containment measures.

Liu, a senior economic official on the State Cabinet, Chinas Cabinet, said Tuesday in an address at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, that if we work hard enough, we are confident that in 2023, Chinas growth will most likely return to its normal trend. The Chinese economy will see a significant improvement.

Liu said China expects to see a major rise in its imports, more investment by companies and return to regular consumption habits over the coming months. He says easing COVID restrictions ending quarantines for people arriving from abroad are key factors in the economys recovery.

His remarks come after China on Tuesday released data showing Chinas economic growth fell to its second-lowest level in at least four decades last year under pressure from anti-virus controls and a real estate slump.

Chinas economy grew by 3% in 2022, less than half of the previous years 8.1% rate. That was the second-lowest annual rate since at least the 1970s after 2020, when growth fell to 2.4%.

Liu emphasized government efforts to manage the earlier decline, particularly in supporting the real estate industry that accounts for 40% of all bank lending and 50% of local government revenue. After years of breakneck economic growth, he says Chinas goal is high quality economic development, reforming state-owned enterprises and supporting the private sector.

He also reiterated Chinas commitment to its carbon reduction goals and to improving its environment. China has said it will peak carbon output by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060. He says China will do so through a mix of renewables.

China, the worlds largest carbon emitter, relies on coal to generate most of its energy.

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U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says that despite nearly a $1 trillion committed by global philanthropies for various causes over the last few years, only 2% of this amount goes toward climate action.

He said Tuesday during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos that it's estimated from $7.5 billion to $12.5 billion of global philanthropy is directed toward climate action. He and others urged philanthropies across the world to come together and contribute more to climate action.

So how do we get there? Kerry asked about keeping global climate goals alive. He answered, Well, the lesson Ive learned in the last year  I learned it as secretary of state and it has since been reinforced in spades, is money, money, money, money, money, money, money.

The panel session also launched GAEAs Call to Action, the World Economic Forums new global effort to raise additional philanthropy that can fund climate action.

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The European Union is pushing forward with a massive clean tech industrial plan that not only should keep the continent in the vanguard of plotting a greener future but also guarantee its economic survival as it faces challenges from China and the United States.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented the outlines for her Green Deal Industrial Plan that will make it much easier to push through subsidies for green industries and pool EU wide projects that are boosted with major funding as the EU pursues the goal to be climate neutral by 2050.

Speaking Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, von der Leyen says the 27-nation bloc will become much more forceful in countering unfair trading practices, if they come from Washington, or more important, from Beijing.

Von der Leyens outline will now become the key driver for debate among the member nations before their 27 leaders meet for a Feb. 9-10 summit on the issue.

___

Ukraine's first lady hit out at Russia as the anniversary of the war in Ukraine nears, saying parents are in tears watching doctors trying to save their children, farmers are afraid to go back to their fields filled with explosive mines and that we cannot allow a new Chernobyl to happen."

Olena Zelenska also scolded government leaders and corporate executives in a speech Tuesday at the World Economic Forum gathering in the Swiss town of Davos for not always using their influence to do enough.

With the war raising inflation and expanding food insecurity in developing nations, she called it an insult to mankind and human nature to have mass starvation."

She says the war can expand beyond Ukraine's borders and worsen the crises but unity is what brings peace back."

Zelenska says she brought letters from Ukrainian leadership to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and to Chinese President Xi Jinping that she will give to Vice Premier Liu He, who's speaking Tuesday at Davos along with von der Leyen.

___

The head of the International Energy Agency says Russias invasion of Ukraine has spurred new support for renewable energy as worries over security of supply join environmental concerns.

But IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said Tuesday during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that investment in clean energy still lags far behind whats needed.

He says the disruption of oil and natural gas supplies from Russia means that the biggest driver of renewable energy growth today is energy security ... because home-grown renewables are the energy of peace.

Birol cited as progress the shift to battery-powered cars, saying they were only 3 in every 100 vehicles sold in 2019 but reached 13% last year. He says every other car in major markets will be electric by 2030.

He welcomed government support like the Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. and the EUs Fit for 55 goals but warned that rich countries efforts wont be enough if developing nations cant afford the transition to energy sources that emit less climate-changing carbon dioxide.

Right now, Birol says there is $1.50 in investment in clean energy for every $1 investment in fossil fuels: If we want to reach our target, the ratio needs to be one to nine.

___

Polish President Andrzej Duda is predicting that the German government will agree one day to send powerful Leopard tanks to Ukraine, citing Germanys membership in NATO and rising public support for Ukrainians beleaguered by Russias war.

The Polish leader quipped during a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday: We dont mention that Ukraine will win this war, we mention that Ukraine will not lose this war, before chuckling.

His Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nauseda, quickly replied: I mention that Ukraine will win this war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have been clamoring for more supplies of Western weaponry like tanks and air defense systems nearly a year into the war.

Duda said it was an important moment that NATO members, like Britain have vowed to send modern tanks to Ukraine, which could affect the thinking of Chancellor Olaf Scholzs government.

Scholz, who is speaking at Davos on Wednesday, has said Germany will weigh every step carefully and consult with its allies on further weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

Duda also said German public opinion was becoming stronger and stronger and stronger in favor of Ukraine, and he hoped that would result in the very needed decision to send Leopards to Ukraine.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP)  Arthur Ravenel, the former congressman and state lawmaker who helped build the Republican Party in South Carolina and get money for the graceful bridge that dominates the Charleston skyline and bears his name, has died. He was 95.

His family announced in a short statement that he died Monday. The statement did not give a cause.

Ravenel spent six decades in public service, elected to the state Senate, the state House and Congress. He also ran for governor and, late in life after retiring from the Senate, returned to public service as a member of the Charleston County School Board.

The $632 million bridge over the Cooper River connecting Charleston to Mount Pleasant is named in his honor, a thank you for the years he spent in Washington trying to get money for an iconic span that would fit the charming city where he spent most of his life.

Known to political friends and foes alike as Cousin Arthur, Ravenels ancestors fought for the Confederacy, and during the heated debate over removing the Confederate flag from the Statehouse dome in 2000, he once referred to the NAACP as the National Association for Retarded People, bringing calls for his resignation.

He later voted to remove the flag from the dome and place a similar one at the Confederate Soldier Monument on Statehouse grounds. Ravenel defended his actions by saying he didn't have a racist bone in his body, and African American colleagues said he was willing at times to help get their bills passed.

Ravenel recalled in a 2004 interview with The Associated Press that he was first elected to the House in 1952 as a Democrat when there were virtually no Republicans in the state.

You just heard about Republicans, he quipped. Sherman was one.

Ten years later, Ravenel got involved in the states fledgling Republican Party and was a national convention delegate in 1964 when Barry Goldwater was nominated for president.

Ravenel was elected to the state Senate as a Republican in 1980.

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The Democratic Party was getting more and more liberal, Ravenel recalled. As it got more liberal, we were able to recruit more and more people to run.

In 1986, Ravenel was elected to Congress from the coastal 1st Congressional District. He left eight years later to seek the Governors Mansion, but lost the GOP runoff to David Beasley, who went on to become governor.

Two years later, Ravenel returned to the state Senate on a platform of creating an infrastructure bank to pay for costly highway projects. The bank was instrumental in helping build the Charleston bridge, which had been discussed for decades but for which money could not be found.

Ravenel, a businessperson and private investor, loved the Senate above his other posts.

Youre dealing with people with soft Southern voices, and everyone is very polite, he recalled. Its small, and with 46 members, you can get something done.

Ravenel had six children, including a son, Thomas, who was elected state treasurer in 2006 but resigned the following year after his indictment on drug charges.

The younger Ravenel later pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison. He has spent his recent years as a star for five seasons on the reality television show Southern Charm, which chronicles Charleston socialites.

___

Bruce Smith, a longtime Associated Press journalist who retired in 2016, was the principal writer of this obituary. AP journalist Jeffrey Collins in Columbia confirmed the news.
The New Mexico GOP candidate accused of plotting shootings of Democrats' homes was "aggressive" and "erratic."

Police accused Solomon Pena of being the "mastermind" of a plot to shoot the homes of four Democratic elected officials in the state.

One official told NBC News that Pena appeared at his house after the election and spouted election conspiracies.

The failed New Mexico GOP candidate who police accused of plotting shootings at elected officials' homes in the state went to their houses shortly after he lost his election and was "erratic" and "aggressive," some of the targeted officials told NBC News.

Police said failed Republican candidate Solomon Pena was arrested on Monday in connection with the shootings and had gone to the targets' houses after he lost his local election.

Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa told NBC News that Pena showed up at her house right after the November election.

"He was sort of erratic in the points he was trying to make about the election, and about how many doors he knocked on and how the number of votes didn't match," Barboa said. She told NBC she called the police following the incident.

"He was at my door and he was aggressive. He was an election denier," said Barboa.

Barboa's home was one of the four targeted, Albuquerque police said. She had eight shots fired at her house on December 4, NBC News reported.

Former County Commissioner Debbie O'Malley  another whose home was allegedly targeted by Pena  shared a similar experience with NBC News, saying that Pena first showed up at her former home before tracking her to her new address.

Her house was later hit by 12 bullets overnight on December 11, police said.

"This guy came to my home. I was very concerned about it and it was very unsettling. He was angry about losing the election," she said. "He felt the election was unfair and untrue."

O'Malley told NBC that he did not threaten her at the time but she quickly called the police after he came by.

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Police believe Pena was the "mastermind" of a plot to shoot at the homes of four Democratic elected officials in the state, including two Bernalillo County commissioners and two state legislators.

New Mexico police accused Pena of hiring four men to carry out the shootings; he may have also personally shot at one of the houses himself.

Police believe Pena was motivated by anger over losing his election, which he lost to incumbent Democrat Miguel P. Garcia by nearly 50% of the vote.

He has previously dubbed himself "the MAGA king" and said he was "researching his options" after his loss, refusing to concede to his opponent in a tweet the day after the election.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Peggy Johnson is the CEO of Magic Leap, and could soon be competing against Apple if it launches a headset as expected. Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images

Magic Leap's CEO said more money coming into the augmented reality space from competitors is "good."

Under CEO Peggy Johnson, the company has pivoted to building enterprise-focused AR headsets.

Apple is rumored to be readying its own headset, which would compete against Magic Leap and Microsoft.

DAVOS, Switzerland  Having more competition, including one day Apple, enter the augmented reality space is "a good thing," Magic Leap CEO Peggy Johnson told Insider.

Apple is reportedly gearing up to launch its own headset this year, which would compete against other offerings from Magic Leap and Microsoft.

"I think anytime more money is coming into the space is a good thing," the AR tech company CEO said during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "The company's over 12 years old, so we've been carrying all of the water for a long time, for years, and so it's good to have others in this space, even competitive in nature. It's a positive for the space overall."

Johnson said more companies entering the AR space "brings more" momentum, energy, and developers, and that Magic Leap is focused on developing the 3D imagery ecosystem.

Under Johnson, Magic Leap has pivoted toward building its Magic Leap 2 AR headset for enterprise use rather marketing it at consumers. In its Early Access Program, Magic Leap worked with companies including Cisco, NeuroSync, and Brainlab to "refine and improve" its headset to be used for training, communication, and remote assistance, in settings like clinics, industrial environments, retail stores, and even defense.

But AR technology is cutting-edge, and that means it's not cheap. The Magic Leap 2 was made commercially available in the US, Canada, UK, EU, and Saudi Arabia last September, and has three editions ranging between $3,299 and $4,999 USD. Microsoft's Hololens 2 ranges from $3,500 to $5,200.

Apple is currently planning on announcing its long-rumored AR and VR headset this year, and will likely retail to consumers for somewhere between $2,000 and $3,000, Bloomberg reported. The headset is reported to look somewhat like ski goggles, and include auto-adjusting lenses and a physical dial to switch between virtual reality and the real world.

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If Apple's AR/VR headset does come out this year, it will be the company's newest product group since the Apple Watch in 2015.

Johnson pointed out that Apple is more consumer-focused, while Magic Leap is enterprise-focused, but said at some point, "we'll come circle back to consumer." She said it will take time for the headset itself to shrink in size to be more acceptable for consumer use the way mobile phones developed.

Read the original article on Business Insider
FILE - Gregory McMichael at a motion in Gwynn County Superior Court on Tuesday, Oct. 26, 2021. McMichael, who was convicted for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, recently was transferred to the Augusta State Medical Prison near Grovetown, Georgia.

One of the men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020 recently was transferred to the Augusta State Medical Prison in Grovetown, Georgia, according to Georgia Department of Corrections records.

Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was fatally shot on Feb. 23, 2020 while jogging in Glynn County. Gregory McMichael; his son, Travis; and, neighbor William Bryan followed Arbery in their trucks before assaulting and shooting him with a shotgun.

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Gregory McMichael, 67, of Glynn County, was sentenced on Aug. 8 to life in prison for murder and committing a federal hate crime. He was initially booked into the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in Jackson, Georgia on Aug. 23, but was recently transferred to the Augusta State Medical Prison, according to DOC records.

The medical prison provides "centralized acute, specialized medical ... services for male and female offenders," according to the DOC website.

The DOC has not released the reason for the transfer.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Ahmaud Arbery murder convict transferred to Georgia medical prison
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara on January 16, 2023. PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP via Getty Images

A passenger on the plane that crashed in Nepal live-streamed the final moments before the disaster.

Sonu Jaiswal, 29, filmed himself and his three friends as their flight prepared to land in Pokhara.

The harrowing footage also shows flames and a loud crash as the plane went down.

An Indian passenger live-streamed himself and his three friends on a passenger plane just seconds before it crashed in Nepal on Sunday, recording a harrowing glimpse into the fatal aviation disaster.

Sonu Jaiswal, 29, a father of three from Ghazipur, India, was traveling with his friends from Kathmandu to Pokhara when their Yeti Airlines flight crashed in a gorge, The Guardian reported.

They had planned to visit Nepal's temples and go paragliding in the Annapurna mountain range, before taking a train home in the evening, the outlet wrote.

Moments before the crash  Nepal's deadliest in 30 years  Jaiswal was streaming the plane ride on a Facebook live video, per The Guardian.

In the video seen by Insider, Jaiswal recorded the rolling landscape outside the window. The flight appeared to be proceeding normally, with Jaiswal smiling on camera and his three friends laughing and chatting.

The camera then began to shake violently, and screams and shouts were heard before bright flashes filled the screen. Flames and burning debris appeared on-screen before the footage cut out.

The Guardian spoke to Jaiswal's friend, Vishal Koswal, 21, who confirmed the video's authenticity. He told The Guardian he was meant to travel to Nepal with the group, but missed the trip because a relative died.

Koswal identified Jaiswal's companions in the video as Anil Rajbhar, 28, Vishal Sharma, 23, and Abhishek Singh Kushwaha, 23, saying the four were like "brothers" to him," per The Guardian.

"This all seems like a nightmare, I still cannot believe we have lost all of them," he told The Guardian.

Jaiswal's friends and family said they were watching his video on his Facebook account, and also verified that the footage was streamed from Jaiswal's account, the BBC reported.

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Insider was unable to independently verify the video's authenticity.

Nepalese army along with the police personnel recover the bodies from the wreckage of domestic Yeti Airlines that crashed with 72 people on board dead in Pokhara, Nepal on Monday, January 16, 2023. Saroj Baizu/NurPhoto via Getty Images

None of the 72 people on board are expected to have survived the crash, and 70 bodies have so far been recovered, Nepal's civil aviation authority said on Tuesday.

Another video filmed from the ground appears to show the plane moments before the disaster. The aircraft can be seen flying low before spinning sharply, and a loud boom can be heard shortly after.

Authorities are still investigating what caused the ATR 72 passenger aircraft to crash, and said searchers recovered the plane's black boxes on Tuesday, per Reuters.

The Ghazipur District magistrate's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Read the original article on Insider
(Bloomberg) -- As Democrats wring their hands about who might run  and win  once Joe Biden leaves office, Maryland Governor-elect Wes Moore emerges as if he were created in a political lab: a person of color who rose from poverty and served in combat. A Rhodes scholar and best-selling author on Oprah Winfreys radar. And through his work on Wall Street and the Robin Hood Foundation, he boasts a network of celebrity and hedge fund contacts.Moore has another trick up his sleeve. He embraces traditional Republican issues such as crime and the economy, a tactic that led him to the statehouse and offers his party a national blueprint for success. Moore scored a blowout November victory over Donald Trump-backed Republican Dan Cox to become the states first Black chief executive and just the third African-American ever elected governor.

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We went all around the state, even in places that weren't Democratic areas. We went out and we talked about the importance of patriotism, not because it was the thing to talk about, because most people were not, Moore said in an interview. I talked about it because it was personal and added a measure of an element of urgency to why we needed people to take this moment very seriously, he noted in a nod to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.And people responded, he added.

He also amassed a $14 million war chest sprinkled with the kind of names that boosts political careers. Winfrey cut an ad for him. His donor list includes hedge fund billionaires Paul Tudor Jones and Steven Cohen; Netflix Inc. co-founder Reed Hastings, Miguel and Jacklyn Bezos, the parents of Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, as well as entertainers Samuel L. Jackson and Gwyneth Paltrow. Moore is reminiscent of another governor of a small Southern state  Bill Clinton, like Moore a Rhodes scholar who rose to the presidency with a similar strategy of turning Republican-favored ideas into Democratic-sounding themes. And the comparisons to the first Black US president, Barack Obama, are unavoidable.I think it's important for all of us to be unapologetic. I think it's important for all of us to be ourselves, Moore said about discussing largely conservative themes like patriotism.

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The 44-year-old married father of two is scheduled to be inaugurated Wednesday in Annapolis. His resounding victory, sprawling network and background have placed him on the relatively short Democratic list of possible presidential candidates that includes Vice President Kamala Harris, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.Republicans are also looking to a younger generation of governors to fill their bench, including Floridas Ron DeSantis, 44; South Dakotas Kristi Noem, 51; Virginias Glenn Youngkin, 56 and Georgias Brian Kemp, 59.

In an especially divisive political time, Moore benefits by having a smooth transition from outgoing Republican Larry Hogan, who cast himself as a conservative alternative to the populist politics of Trump. He said he will present his budget two days after inauguration and unveil a legislative package the following day that will address education, transportation investments and filling a large number of state government vacancies.

But Moore also will be judged on how quickly he can jumpstart a Maryland economy thats had a sluggish post-pandemic recovery. And he will have to navigate thorny issues like the states economic competitiveness, education and crime, bringing together progressives and law enforcement. That will determine whether he remains in the White House conversation.

Chryl Laird, a University of Maryland political scientist, said she felt Obama vibes immediately when she heard Moores victory called.

I was like, Hes giving Obama, she said. He could have a good run at a time when the Democratic party has to be thinking about their young talent.

In the interview, Moore insisted that hes focused only on his new job and repeatedly demurred to any White House ambitions. But after prodding, he acknowledged that hes heard the chatter.

I'm humbled by the fact that people are paying attention to what took place in this race. I mean, we won Democrats, we won independents, we won a big chunk of Republicans. So it's humbling that people are paying attention to what we just pulled off, he said. Maryland is a traditionally Democratic state that Biden won by a 2-to-1 margin.

Its his cross-party appeal that gives national Democrats hope. During his campaign, Moore secured an endorsement from the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police, a group that traditionally favors Republicans. Laird said Moore also brings to mind the late former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican.

Laird said that Moore takes the reins of a state in relatively solid shape, so hell be evaluated on his stewardship of it and needs to serve a full term in order to have a track record that he could use as a possible springboard to greater ambitions.

His background underscores his ability to succeed in disparate environments. Moore, of Jamaican ancestry, attended community college and Johns Hopkins University before attending Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He served as a US Army captain and paratrooper in Afghanistan.

And, as his best-selling memoir recounted, he had a brush with the law at age 11. Moore and a friend were spray painting around their neighborhood when a police officer pulled up and put them in handcuffs. The officer gave the terrified Moore a stern lecture, urging him to choose a different life. Moores mother convinced her parents to borrow money so she could send him to a military boarding school.

His book also outlined the divergent path of a Black man also named Wes Moore in Baltimore who didnt have the same opportunities and was sent to prison with a life sentence.

Moore ended up working in finance for about six years before succeeding David Saltzman as chief executive officer of Robin Hood. Ray McGuire, one of Wall Streets most senior Black executives and a mentor of Moore, said he can envision Marylands governor-elect as a White House aspirant.

There is no ceiling for Wes Moore, McGuire said. Wes Moore has demonstrated the rare and unique ability to exist where the air is thin and the oxygen is limited.

--With assistance from Bill Allison, Cecile Daurat and Alexandre Tanzi.

(Updates with additional color from memoir in third to last paragraph.)

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A metro Atlanta teacher was charged with sexual assault and child molestation against a 13-year-old, police told Channel 2 Action News.

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

The teacher, Holly McQueen, recently worked for the Fulton County school district and, before that, worked at the Smitha Middle School in Cobb County.

Although McQueens last employment was with the Fulton County School District, the charges stem from incidents that allegedly happened at the middle school in Cobb County.

Channel 2s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell spoke to parents in the district who are outraged at the claims against McQueen.

I  Im livid. Im very, very angry as a parent that a child should go through this, one parent said. I think they did a good thing by putting that person in jail.

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McQueen is facing several charges, including sexual assault and molestation. Investigators believe the crimes occurred when McQueen worked at Smitha Middle School in Cobb County. According to the warrant, she engaged in sexual conduct with a 13-year-old victim multiple times during the spring semester of 2022, both at the school and the victims house.

Some allegations include McQueen convincing the victim to send her a nude photo on social media.

My children went to Cobb County Schools, but I didnt hear anything like this, a parent said. If I did, I would have pulled them out.

McQueens most recent employment was at the Fulton County School District.

The district sent Newell a statement saying,

Last week, the River Trail Middle School administration was notified by the Fulton County Schools Police Department of the charges made against Ms. McQueen related to incidents occurring in Cobb County. McQueen is no longer an employee of Fulton County Schools.

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The Cobb County School District said they cant comment because the case is still an active investigation.

Newell has filed an open records request for McQueens employment history.

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For the first time in weeks, the Mexican prosecutor who issued an arrest warrant is commenting on the Shanquella Robinson death investigation. Baja California Sur Attorney General Daniel de la Rosa Anaya made the comments during a press conference last Friday.

Channel 9s news partners, Telemundo Charlotte, translated the nearly two-minute remarks.

ALSO READ: Balloon release held in honor of Shanquella Robinsons birthday

There is no impunity in this case, de la Rosa Anaya said. Everything is under investigation.

De la Rosa Anaya says his office has asked for the extradition of the person responsible for killing Robinson. He previously said she died from a direct aggressor and made the comments after a video surfaced showing her being attacked. The suspect has not been officially named.

De la Rosa Anaya says his office is working with U.S. authorities. His investigators asked the U.S. for interviews with the other people who went on the trip to determine if they should face charges, as well.

It is important to obtain the court order with regard to whoever is responsible for this, but also if there were any accomplices, he said.

The FBI is also investigating Robinsons death. The lack of information and developments, in this case, could potentially be due to red tape.

A former federal prosecutor told Channel 9 that a U.S. Attorneys Office cant just unilaterally bring a murder charge when a U.S. citizen kills another U.S. citizen in a foreign country. It must be approved by the main Department of Justice in consultation with the Secretary of State.

De La Rosa Anaya says an immigration alert has been requested if the suspect enters or exits the country.

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MEXICO CITY (AP)  The environmental and financial costs of Mexicos Maya Train tourism project are already massive, but authorities revealed another, unexpected cost of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obradors pet project on Tuesday.

The Defense Department said the project will require over 6,500 soldiers and National Guard officers to permanently guard its tracks and stations, out of the country's total 166,000-member combined force.

Even though the railway is still under construction, the troops were already listed as assigned to the duty this week.

In comparison, that is more than double the number of officers assigned to drug eradication nationwide, and more officers than are assigned to all but three of Mexico's 32 states.

The 6,500 number is similar to the 10,000 officers assigned to protect all sensitive government installations nationwide.

It was not immediately clear why so many guards would be needed. A similar number of Guard officers were deployed in the Mexico City subway last week after city authorities expressed fears of sabotage. However, the government hasnt expressed any public concerns about sabotage on the Maya Train.

The 950-mile (1,500-kilometer) Maya Train line is meant to run in a rough loop around the Yucatan Peninsula, connecting beach resorts and archaeological sites.

Originally projected to cost around $8 billion, the train line now appears likely to rise to between $11 billion and $15 billion. Because no real feasibility studies were done, it is not clear whether the train will draw enough tourists or recoup its costs.

While some stretches of the train line run over existing tracks or alongside existing roads, other parts are being cut through the jungle, including a controversial stretch that cuts a 68-mile (110-kilometer) swath between the resorts of Cancun and Tulum.
Former Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna, shown in 2010, is on trial in the U.S. on federal charges of conspiring to traffic cocaine. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

Just a few days into the trial of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a witness dropped a bombshell allegation: A Sinaloa cartel associate testified that he had personally given Mexicos top drug cop briefcases full of cash  millions in bribes to let the cartel operate with impunity.

Now, the man who had been considered an architect of Mexicos anti-drug battle and a key partner of U.S. law enforcement is on trial in the same New York federal court. Genaro Garcia Luna  head of Mexicos version of the FBI from 2001 to 2006 and public security minister from 2006 to 2012  is accused of conspiring with the criminals he was ostensibly aiming to take down. Jury selection began Tuesday.

Garcia Luna, 54, who was arrested in December 2019, is the highest ranking Mexican official to face trial in the U.S. on drug-trafficking charges  four counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. Its as if the head of the FBI or Drug Enforcement Agency was accused of taking millions in drug money.

Garcia Luna frequently met with top U.S. security officials while in office and was often portrayed as the public face of Mexicos drug war. But prosecutors say they plan to show that Mexico's former top cop provided the cartel with safe passage for its drug shipments and with sensitive information about investigations into the cartel or rival gangs.

This is the most important national security and drug-trafficking trial of this century, even more so than El Chapos, said Rodolfo Soriano Nunez, a sociologist and former professor who has long studied the use of military force in Mexico.

We knew Chapo was dirty, Soriano said, but Chapo is nothing but a peasant from rural Sinaloa. Garcia Luna, by contrast, was a powerful public official who held the trust of Mexicos president from 2006 to 2012, Felipe Calderon, who mobilized the military and federal police in what became a bloody, more than decade-long battle against drug cartels.

It has the potential to unveil one of the key aspects of the so-called war on drugs here in Mexico, Soriano said, which is that of the ties, the links, the connection between political power and the so-called drug gangs.

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Mexico's President Felipe Calderon speaks to reporters in 2010 as Genaro Garcia Luna, then security minister, stands behind him. (Alexandre Meneghini / Associated Press)

The stakes of the trial

The testimony and evidence that could come out at the trial could have far-reaching consequences on both sides of the border.

With a career spanning three decades, Garcia Luna has intimate knowledge of the drug war in Mexico and ties to the countrys administrations going back to the early 2000s. And he had a particularly close relationship with the DEA and FBI from the latter part of President George W. Bush's second administration through President Obamas first, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor at George Mason University.

Revelations from the trial could be a major stain on past administrations in Mexico. To critics of the drug war, a conviction would confirm the failure of the joint U.S.-Mexico effort, which received billions of dollars in U.S. aid and was blamed for tens of thousands of deaths  but did little to reduce cartel violence or smuggling.

The collaboration has not resulted in the dismantling of drug-trafficking networks, said Correa-Cabrera. Today, the United States consumes more drugs than ever before, and through the border more drugs than ever before enter the United States.

The trial could put additional strain on declining security cooperation between the two countries. During the Calderon years, U.S. security agencies had essentially a free pass to go wherever they wanted in Mexico, Correa-Cabrera said.

Las agencias entraban hasta la cocina, said Correa-Cabrera, using a Mexican expression that translates as The agencies made it all the way into the kitchen. She noted that Mexicos current administration has shifted toward more limited cooperation with U.S. security agencies on Mexican territory.

And with the 2024 U.S. presidential election in sight, experts say the United States doesnt hold a lot of leverage to pressure Mexican authorities to change that, considering how much Washington relies on Mexico City to control U.S.-bound migration through Mexico.

Who is Garcia Luna?

As minister of public security from 2006 to 2012, Garcia Luna is widely regarded as the architect of Calderons controversial war on the drug cartels.

Garcia Luna started his career at the National Intelligence Center, Mexicos CIA equivalent, in 1989 and joined a special counterterrorism unit. After nearly a decade, he joined the federal police, and in 2001 then-President Vicente Fox named him head of the new Federal Investigation Agency.

At the agency, known as the AFI, which has since been dissolved, Garcia Luna led what was hailed as a transformation of Mexicos police forces.

In a series of interviews that Correa-Cabrera had with Garcia Luna in 2017 and 2018, he said that the federal judicial police had ties to drug trafficking and that he had been given the responsibility to clean it up.

AFI was the promise of a better police, one not connected to drug trafficking, she said.

The Mexican government at the time likened the new agency to the FBI. When Calderon took the presidency in 2006, he elevated Garcia Luna to his Cabinet.

Genaro Garcia Luna speaks during a 2011 ceremony in Mexico City. (Alexandre Meneghini / Associated Press)

Rumors and cold trails

Soon after Fox took office in 2000, the government captured several Sinaloa cartel members. But after that initial sprint, things quieted down. Opposition politicians and security experts started to question why the governments hunt for the elusive cartel leader El Chapo seemed to have gone cold.

Calderons declared war on the drug cartels shattered old alliances and drove drug lords to fight over the territory. There were high-profile arrests, but they were mostly from rival organizations such as the Zetas or the Beltran Leyva organization. Rumors of government favoritism toward the Sinaloa cartel grew louder.

During the heat of the drug wars in 2008, Mexicans in several states woke up to banners, or narcomantas, hanging from bridges or spread across the entrance to a cathedral that accused Garcia Luna of protecting drug dealers.

One of the most controversial claims appeared in a letter published in November 2012 in the pages of the well-regarded national newspaper Reforma. Writing from prison, Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villareal, a drug kingpin from the Beltran Leyva cartel, accused Garcia Luna and his closest associates of receiving narco money since 2002.

I can attest that he has received money from me, from drug-trafficking groups and organized crime, said Valdez, before adding, I may be guilty of a lot, but they, the officials, are part of the criminal structure of this country.

Officials said the accusations were an attempt by Valdez to gain privileges while in prison; Garcia Luna remained untouched. (Valdez was sentenced in 2018 by a U.S. judge to 49 years in prison.)

Garcia Lunas life in Miami

When Calderons term ended in 2012, Garcia Luna fell out of the public eye. Married with two children, he was granted permanent residency in the United States and was soon a routine guest at conferences hosted by American universities.

He started a private security consulting and risk management firm with offices in Miami and Mexico City. His clientele included foreign governments and companies, and his primary client was the Mexican government, his defense said in pretrial filings.

In 2018, he applied to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Before his arrest in Miami, he was living in a waterside mansion with a dock and boat for his use, all given to him by his business partners because he had no wealth to speak of at the time, Garcia Lunas defense wrote in a court filing.

Because his business partners wanted to ensure Mr. Garcia Lunas continued involvement with their business, they provided him a place to live in Miami, the defense wrote.

On to Brooklyn

It seems unlikely that Garcia Lunas trial  which is expected to last two months  will be as theatrical as that of Guzman, who was famous worldwide as an escape artist who had long eluded arrest.

But prosecutors have telegraphed in court filings that they expect to present numerous witnesses  including former high-ranking members of the Sinaloa cartel  to testify about the bribes Garcia Luna is accused of accepting.

The judge granted prosecutors' requests for an anonymous and partially sequestered jury, the same protections that were used during Guzmans trial.

The documents in the case are voluminous. Garcia Lunas public defender, assigned by the court after the defendants assets were seized, complained in initial court appearances about having to go through millions of pages of evidence with little support.

If found guilty, Garcia Luna could face a minimum of about 20 years and a maximum of life in prison.

Another arrest, at LAX

Mexico's current president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has called the case against Garcia Luna emblematic of the institutional corruption of his predecessors, especially Calderon, a longtime political adversary.

However, Lopez Obrador was furious when, the year after Garcia Lunas arrest in Dallas, U.S. authorities detained a former Mexican defense secretary, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, moments after he landed with his family at Los Angeles International Airport.

Like Garcia Luna, Cienfuegos was charged with collaborating with Mexican drug cartels while in office.

Lopez Obrador, facing fierce backlash from the powerful military, denounced the charges against Cienfuegos and demanded that Washington release the retired general. The Trump administration ultimately dropped the charges and returned Cienfuegos to Mexico, where he went free.

In Mexico, Lopez Obrador  who once assailed the deployment of the military against drug cartels  has been harshly criticized for greatly expanding the militarys role in internal security.

He is repeating the same mistakes" as Calderon, Soriano said.

Corona is a special correspondent. Times Mexico City bureau chief Patrick J. McDonnell contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft: Blockchain needs a 'ChatGPT style break-out moment'. Photo: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella told attendees at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that he believes in blockchain, web3 and metaverse innovations, but feels the sector needs a "ChatGPT moment".

"Blockchain is a technology that has a set of use cases, we at Microsoft support it today. A distributed database is a good thing, it has its uses.

"All of these three things, web3, blockchain and the metaverse, are all going to happen.

"But you need to have the killer apps, what is the use case that gets broad adoption, what is the ChatGPT moment for blockchain?"

Artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT was launched in November 2022 and has since racked up over a million users.

Read more: ChatGPT: three steps to master this AI tool

This is a leap into mass adoption that took social media platform Facebook (META) 10 months and streaming platform Netflix (NFLX) three years to match.

The new application's agility in capturing mass appeal has outpaced the more slowly evolving blockchain industry that began in earnest when Satoshi Nakamoto published the bitcoin (BTC-USD) white paper in 2008.

ChatGPT has eclipsed web3 as the prime tech buzzword of 2023. But, as the year progresses, whether it will be as disruptive to our personal and professional lives as has been forecasted remains to be seen.

Microsoft is going all in on ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence (AI) technology that could power a new search engine that could disrupt the dominance of Google (GOOG).

News site Semafor reported on Tuesday that Microsoft is investing $10bn (8.2bn) in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence firm behind ChatGPT.

This will value the San Francisco-based firm at $29bn, and industry analysts say that Google should pay close attention to the deal.

Watch: This AI tool could kill human creativity and is worrying the art world | The Crypto Mile

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is trained on a massive data set, and has been described as one of the most powerful language processing models ever created.

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It is a highly articulate artificial intelligence application which can write computer code as well as different types of text from haiku to jokes, corporate emails, business plans, academic essays and even piece of original fiction in the style of any writer you want, from Joyce and Dostoyevsky, to Shakespeare.

Read more: ChatGPT: What you need to know about the most talked about AI tool

What sets it apart from previous AI chat tools, is how it can respond to user prompts in natural-sounding language, responses that could easily be mistaken for a chat with a real human.

ChatGPT uses a combination of natural language processing, machine learning, and graph theory to measure a chatbot's ability to understand and respond accurately to customer inquiries.

Watch: Web3 sectors to watch in 2023 | The Crypto Mile
By Jeffrey Dastin

(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp on Monday said it is widening access to hugely popular software from OpenAI, a startup it is backing whose futuristic ChatGPT chatbot has captivated Silicon Valley.

Microsoft said the startup's tech, which it so far has previewed to its cloud-computing customers in a program it called the Azure OpenAI Service, was now generally available, a distinction that's expected to bring a flood of new usage.

The news comes as Microsoft has looked at adding to the $1 billion stake in OpenAI it announced in 2019, two people familiar with the matter previously told Reuters. The news site Semafor reported earlier this month that Microsoft might invest $10 billion; Microsoft declined to comment on any potential deal.

Public interest in OpenAI surged following its November release of ChatGPT, a text-based chatbot that can draft prose, poetry or even computer code on command. ChatGPT is powered by generative artificial intelligence, which conjures new content after training on vast amounts of data -- tech that Microsoft is letting more customers apply to use.

ChatGPT itself, not just its underlying tech, will soon be available via Microsoft's cloud, it said in a blog post.

Microsoft said it is vetting customers' applications to mitigate potential abuse of the software, and its filters can screen for harmful content users might input or the tech might produce.

The business potential of such software has garnered massive venture-capital investment in startups producing it, at a time funding has otherwise dried up. Already, some companies have used the tech to create marketing content or demonstrate how it could negotiate a cable bill.

Microsoft said CarMax, KPMG and others were using its Azure OpenAI service. Its press release quoted an Al Jazeera vice president as saying the service could help the news organization summarize and translate content.

(Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin; Editing by Leslie Adler)
A Massachusetts man recently charged with impeding authorities in their search for his missing wife is now charged with her murder, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Brian Walshe, 47, who has been behind bars since Jan. 7 on the charge mentioned above, will be arraigned Wednesday on this new charge related to his missing wife, Ana Walshe, 39, the Norfolk District Attorneys Office said.

The evidence supporting the charge is likely to be disclosed at his arraignment, District Attorney Michael Morrisey said in a video address. Any other details will not be disclosed until then, he added.

The murder charge comes one week after a prosecutor said a search of the couples home in Cohasset, southeast of Boston, found blood, as well as a damaged knife with blood on it, inside the basement.

Investigators are seen at the home of Brian and Ana Walshe on Jan. 9 after she went missing on New Year's Day.

Investigators are seen at the home of Brian and Ana Walshe on Jan. 9 after she went missing on New Year's Day.

Brian Walshe told investigators that he last saw his wife on the morning of Jan. 1 as she headed to catch a flight to Washington, D.C., for a work emergency. The following day, he was seen on surveillance video at a local Home Depot purchasing $450 worth of cleaning supplies, Norfolk First Assistant District Attorney Lynn M. Beland told a Quincy District Court judge during his initial arraignment.

It wasnt until Jan. 4 that the mother of three was reported missing to authorities. By then, Beland said Walshe had gone on a solo drive around the area, possibly violating court-ordered probation for a past federal wire fraud conviction. He allegedly later provided a number of inconsistencies to the police when asked where he had gone.

The fact that he was asked a specific question and he gave an untruthful answer that led investigators out of the area caused a clear delay in the search for the missing person, Ana Walshe, the previous police affidavit states. [Brian] Walshe intentionally gave the untruthful statement knowing investigators would need to travel and corroborate such statements.

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Brian Walshe has pled not guilty to the initial charge of impeding a police investigation. His attorney did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment Tuesday.

Related...
Another gathering. More shots ringing out. More people running. And more people hurt or killed.

The shooting at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration in a park in Fort Pierce was the 30th mass shooting in the United States so far in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

That's an average of two mass shootings a day.

MLK Day shooting:Woman dies after being shot at MLK Day car show in Fort Pierce, sheriff confirms

From the scene:Witness describes 'scary' scene in which 8 shot Monday in Fort Pierce

Here's what we know: Mass shooting at Fort Pierce MLK Day celebration leaves 8 shot, 1 dead

What happened in the MLK Day shooting in Fort Pierce, Florida?

An apparent feud between two rival gangs erupted into shots fired at a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration and car show with over 1,000 people present, according to St. Lucie County Chief Deputy Brian Hester. Eight people were shot, and four more  one of them a child  were injured in the ensuing rush to get away. One of the people shot, a 30-year-old woman who was at the party with her 6-year-old daughter, died the next morning.

#BREAKING #Update

At least 8 people have been shot at Martin Luther King event in Fort Pierce, Florida pic.twitter.com/cOduFUiqer  RawNews1st (@Raw_News1st) January 17, 2023

What is considered a mass shooting?

There isn't a firm definition. The Gun Violence Archive (and the Congressional Research Service) defines a mass shooting only on the number of people shot: four or more, not including the shooter.

"The FBI does not define Mass Shooting in any form," the GVA says on its methodology page. "They do define Mass Killing but that includes all forms of weapon, not just guns."The FBI also defines mass murder, which is four or more people killed by gun violence, bombings or any other intentional means.

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There may be a distinction made between private and public mass shootings, and mass shootings committed by foreign terrorists are not included no matter where the shooting occurs or how many people are killed.

The GVA numbers may differ from the FBI or CDC as they collect their data from 7,500 law enforcement, government and media sources. The CDC uses death certificates for gun deaths, according to the GVA, and they and the FBI rely on a sampling of courses and then extrapolate the numbers to get estimated totals. Incidents that cannot be verified are not included.

Mass killing database: Revealing trends, details and anguish of every US event since 2006

What was the last mass shooting before the MLK Day incident at Fort Pierce's Ilous Ellis Park?

Earlier Monday at least six people, including an infant, were shot and killed in Goshen, California. Authorities believe there were at least two shooters, and the incident wasn't a "random act of violence."

How many of the mass shootings in 2023 have happened in Florida?

As of Jan. 16, there have been five mass shootings in Florida.

Just over two weeks into the new year, 16.7% of all mass shootings in the U.S. so far have happened in Florida.

Police: Two killed, four injured in New Year's Day shooting in Ocala

Constitutional carry:DeSantis dodges 'heart beat' abortion bill question, says he's 'ready' for gun bill

'Dont knee cap the rights':Gov. DeSantis wont reform Florida gun laws, bats down Democrats demand for special session

How many people have died from gun violence so far in 2023?

According to GVA 1,948 people have died from gun violence in the United States as of midday Jan. 17. Of those, 826 were classified as homicide, murder or defensive gun use (DGU), 1,122 were suicides.

Gun violence has taken the lives of 16 children nationwide, with 23 more injured. 72 teenagers aged 12-17 have died, and 165 injured. Two officers have been killed, 12 injured, and law enforcement has killed 52 people and injured 32 more in officer-involved incidents, the GVA said.

Unintentional shootings accounted for 65 more deaths, the GVA said, and 65 people were killed by someone defending themselves. There were 35 murder-suicides.

'A bad day for ... hope': Another school shooting. More dead kids. Why gun control advocates see no end in sight

How many people died from gun violence in 2022?

44,272 people died from firearms last year, according to the GVA. There were 31 mass shootings in Florida in 2022.

Mass shootings in the U.S.:How many mass killings were there in 2022, and how does that compare with other years?

Rising death tolls:Bullet sales are rising and so are death totals in mass shootings. Can they be stopped?

Hurting the young:A record number of America's kids were injured or killed by gunfire in 2022

C. A. Bridges is a Digital Producer for the USA TODAY Network, working with multiple newsrooms across Florida. Local journalists work hard to keep you informed about the things you care about, and you can support them by subscribing to your local news organization. Read more articles by Chris here and follow him on Twitter at @cabridges

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Fort Pierce, Florida MLK Day attack is 30th mass shooting in 2023
A mother has died after rushing back into her burning home in an attempt to rescue her 6-year-old daughter stuck inside who also ended up dying in the fire.

The incident occurred at approximately 12:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, according to ABC News https://abc7ny.com/mother-daughter-deadly-fire-hazlet/12709478/Your text to link..., when flames began to envelop a single family home in Hazlet, New Jersey, that housed the Montanaro family.

MORE: 12-year-old girl stabs 9-year-old brother to death, police say

William Montonaro, along with his 40-year-old wife, Jackie Montanaro, their two daughters -- 8-year-old Elena and 6-year-old Madelyn -- and their Goldendoodle named Duchess were all sleeping inside their home approximately 40 miles south of New York City when the fire erupted.

William Montonaro, his wife Jackie and 8-year-old Elena were able to escape from the burning home but when the Montonaros realized that 6-year-old Madelyn was nowhere to be seen, both parents rushed back into the house in an attempt to save her from the burning building.

MORE: Mom and 4 kids run over at school bus stop by driver trying to escape police

Neither Jackie nor her daughter Madelyn made it out alive.

Jackie was a hero, William Montonaro said in a statement obtained by WABC. When I rushed back into the house for Madelyn I became enveloped with a massive amount of thick, hot black smoke. Without hesitation, Jackie then charged in with a mothers love and the courage of a police officer fueling her attempt to save our daughter.

PHOTO: A mother has died after rushing back into her burning home in an attempt to rescue her 6-year-old daughter stuck inside who also ended up dying in the fire in Hazlet, New Jersey, on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023. (WABC)

The familys dog, Duchess, also died in the fire.

"I am heartbroken. I have lost the love of my life - my beautiful wife, Jackie - and my sweet, loving, spunky little girl, Madelyn," Montanaros statement read. "We are extremely devastated Duchess is no longer with us, but we must remember she is now at rest alongside Jackie and Madelyn.

MORE: Incredible body camera footage shows hero cop catch people jumping from building engulfed in flames

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A GoFundMe page for the family has already raised over a quarter-of-a-million dollars in just a few days with nearly 3,500 people donating in support of the family so far, according to WABC.

This township is like a family and when a neighbor is hurting, a family member is hurting, Hazlet Deputy Mayor Peter Terranova told WABC in an interview following the tragedy. Weve been overwhelmed by the amount of support.

MORE: Suspected forest arsonist detained and tied to tree by local residents before arrest

Terranova said the family were very popular in town and were very helpful, [a] very community-knit family and we are all grieving. It is a tremendous loss.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office told WABC that the fire does not appear to be suspicious in nature hough the cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

MORE: 2 people charged with attempted murder after lighting man on fire during argument

Funeral arrangements have now been made for Jackie and Madelyn Montanaro with viewings for the two taking place on Wednesday and Thursday before they will both be laid to rest following their funeral service at St. Benedict R.C. Church in Holmdel, New Jersey, this Friday. A candlelight vigil for the family will take place at Hazlet Town Hall on Tuesday evening.

Mom dies trying to rescue 6-year-old daughter as family home burned down originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
By Saeed Azhar

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley is comfortable with its headcount after recent action to reduce jobs in December, Chief Financial Officer Sharon Yeshaya told Reuters on Tuesday.

"We're comfortable with where we are," she said when asked if more job cuts were being considered after a 2% reduction late last year.

Her comments came after Morgan Stanley reported a smaller-than-expected 41% drop in fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday as the bank's trading business got a boost from market volatility, offsetting the hit from sluggish dealmaking.

Morgan Stanley had cut 2% of its headcount in December, or about 1,600 jobs, a source had told Reuters earlier.

The latest comments came after Goldman Sachs Inc became the first major bank to commence large layoffs this year, letting go of more than 3,000 employees in its biggest round of job cuts since the 2008 financial crisis.

She also said the bank's mark-to-market losses on corporate loans include debt to Twitter Inc. Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp are among the banks that provided a $13 billion loan to finance Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter.

Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick last week said the company accounts for any mark-to-market losses on leveraged loans in its results, without giving details on any large deals.

"We mark our positions every week, and books profits or losses via its investment banking and trading arms, Borthwick said.

Yeshaya also said that the bank has 200 basis points of excess capital, which gives it the flexibility from an investment perspective and return of capital to shareholders.

"We remain committed to our buybacks and committed to our capital return strategy," she said, adding that the bank had bought $10 billion of stock last year.

Morgan Stanley had 15.3% in Common Equity Tier 1 capital or CET1.

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Mark Porter)
Dmytro Lubynets and Tatyana Moskalkova at negotiations in Turkey

This task is within the competence of the Ministry of Defence, Moskalkova claimed on Telegram on Jan. 17.

Read also: Russia cancels prisoner swap at last moment

"In our talks with Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets in Ankara we never raised the question of a (mass) POW swap, as I have always emphasized that such tasks are within the competence of the Russia's Ministry of Defence," she wrote on Telegram.

Moskalkova added the swap in question concerns 800 Ukrainians on the one hand and 200 Russians on the other hand. She said she considers such an exchange as "unequal" and "unjust."

Russia's Ombudsperson added that repatriation of wounded servicemen "has a completely different legal nature and different approaches laid down by the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War of 1949."

Read also: Ukraine initiates international mission to monitor conditions of Ukrainian POWs

In January a series of meetings of the Ukrainian and Russian Commissioners for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets and Tetiana Moskalkova, took place in Ankara, mediated by Turkey.

Lubinets said they discussed the issue of civilians Russia has held prisoner since 2014. The list of political prisoners of the Kremlin from Ukraine contains 158 names, mostly Crimean Tatars.

Turkish Ombudsman Seref Malkoc claimed Ukraine and Russia discussed a mass POW swap. He said Ukraine prepared a list of 800 prisoners and Russia named 200 people.

Read also: Ukrainian ombudsman speaks out about Russias abuse of POWs

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced his intent to establish a humanitarian corridor to Turkey for soldiers injured in the war in Ukraine.



Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Photo: The Canadian Press The group that regulates the practice of medicine in Ontario says it is limiting public access to its buildings due to safety concerns. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario says it has been receiving up to 200 emails a month consisting of serious threats against staff and council members. A woman types on a keyboard, in North Vancouver, B.C., Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

The group that regulates the practice of medicine in Ontario says it is limiting public access to its buildings due to safety concerns.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario says it has been receiving up to 200 emails a month consisting of serious threats against staff and council members.

The public can now observe the group's quarterly council meetings via a livestream, as the college says its safety is a priority.

In an email to The Canadian Press, a spokesperson for the college sent excerpts of some messages it has received in recent months.

Some messages indirectly threaten the group's members stating they should "settle their affairs."

Others call the group "satanists" and "monsters" for encouraging injections of COVID-19 vaccines to curb the spread of the virus.
Prince Harry has talked about his struggle with accepting the death of his mother, Princess Diana. Netflix; Peter Jordan/PA Images/PA Images/Getty Images

In interviews and in his memoir, "Spare," Prince Harry has spoken openly about Princess Diana.

He wrote he needed "proof" she had actually died  he believed she could still be alive until he was 23.

Prince Harry said that for many years after his mother's death, he only cried once.

Prince Harry said he doesn't have many childhood memories of Princess Diana because he "blocked them out."

Princess Diana, Prince Harry, and Prince William at Highgrove House in 1986. Tim Graham / Contributor / Getty Images

In the first episode of "Harry & Meghan," Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix docuseries, Prince Harry says he doesn't remember much of his younger years with his mother, Princess Diana.

Diana died in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36 as her limousine drove away from the paparazzi.

"I don't have many early memories of my mum. It was almost like, internally, I sort of blocked them out," he said during a confessional interview in the series, which premiered December 8. "But I always remember her laugh, her cheeky laugh. Her always saying to me, 'You can get in trouble, just don't get caught.' I'll always be that cheeky person inside."

Harry said he felt pressure to have a public royal wedding because he was "Diana's boy."

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle emerge from Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 after their wedding ceremony. BEN BIRCHALL/AFP via Getty Images

"There was an expectation, right? Diana's boy," Harry said in episode four of the couple's docuseries, pointing to himself. "There was an expectation to have a public wedding."

"It was like, 'Mission complete with William,'" Harry said of his brother's wedding to Kate Middleton. "'Now let's see if this goes the distance with Harry and then we can actually go, "Job done."'"

Then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana were married in a spectacular televised ceremony on July 29, 1981, in what was dubbed "the wedding of the century."

A record-breaking 750 million people across 74 different countries tuned in to watch the couple tie the knot, in addition to the 600,000 spectators who lined the streets of London.

According to the BBC, it marked "a high point" in the popularity of the British royal family in the 1980s, largely due to Diana's growing celebrity status.

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A reported 162 million viewers from around the world tuned in to watch William and Kate's royal wedding in April 2011, including nearly 22.8 million viewers in the US, according to Nielsen. Harry and Meghan also had a televised wedding ceremony, in May 2018, which was viewed by more than 29 million people in the US, Nielsen reported at the time.

He also said that Los Angeles was a place where his "mum was going to potentially live."

Prince Harry in "Harry & Meghan." Netflix

While Harry and Meghan's move to Los Angeles was seemingly unprecedented, Harry revealed in the sixth and final episode of "Harry & Meghan" that Princess Diana may have also had plans to move to the American city.

When discussing his own reasons for moving to LA, Harry said, "I came here because I was changed. I changed to the point that I had outgrown my environment."

"Therefore, this was the most obvious place to come," he continued. "You know, it's one of the places where I think my mum was probably gonna end up living potentially."

Before her death in 1997, Princess Diana had been planning to start a new life with her sons in Malibu, California, according to her former butler Paul Burrell and ABC News.

"She said, 'This is our new life, just won't it be great, think of the lifestyle the boys  nobody's judgmental here in America, you don't have the class system, you don't have the establishment,'" Burrell told "Good Morning America" in 2003.

Prince Harry said he "refused to accept" Princess Diana's death and believed she was still alive until he was 23.

A tribute to Princess Diana outside Kensington Palace in 1998. Fiona Hanson - PA Images/PA Images/Getty Images

"I say 100 percent it's a defense mechanism, right? I think for anyone, especially if you're a kid  you know, I was 12 years old," Harry told ABC's Michael Strahan ahead of the release of "Spare" in January. "I refused to accept that that was what had happened."

"I just refused to accept she was gone," Harry added in an interview with Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes." "Part of, she would never do this to us, but also, part of, maybe this is all part of a plan."

He told Cooper that he held out hope for "many years" that she would call and reveal where she was. It was only when he visited Paris, France, for the first time that he accepted her death, Insider's Lauren Edmonds reported.

He said that, for many years after his mother's death, he only cried once.

King Charles and Prince Harry at Westminster Abbey for the funeral service for Diana, Princess of Wales, September 6, 1997. Jayne Fincher/Getty Images

Harry explained that despite witnessing an outpouring of emotion from the British public and people around the world, he himself only cried once in the many years following the death of his mother.

"I cried once, at the burial, and you know I go into detail about how strange it was and how actually there was some guilt that I felt," Harry told Tom Bradby in ITV's "Harry: The Interview," which aired in January.

He also said he felt guilty that strangers appeared to be more outwardly devastated over Diana's death than he was.

Prince Harry receiving floral tributes at Kensington Palace after the death of his mother. Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty Images

"Actually there was some guilt that I felt, and I think William felt as well, by walking around the outside of Kensington Palace," Harry told Bradby. "There were 50,000 bouquets of flowers to our mother and there we were shaking people's hands, smiling."

"I've looked back over it all, and the wet hands that we were shaking but it was all the tears that they were wiping away," he said.

"Everyone thought and felt like they knew our mom," Harry added. "And the two closest people to her, the two most loved by her were unable to show any emotion at that moment."

He went into more detail in "Spare."

"I disliked the touch of those hands. What's more, I disliked how they made me feel: guilty," he wrote.

"Why was there all that crying from people when I neither cried nor had cried? I wanted to cry, and I had tried, because my mother's life had been so sad ... but I couldn't ... not a drop."

"Perhaps I had learnt too well, had absorbed too thoroughly the family maxim that crying was never an option  never," he continued.

Harry said he resorted to drinking and drug use to cope with the pain of his mother's death.

Prince Harry leaving a bar in 2003. Jon Buckle/Getty Images

"It was obvious to us as kids the British press' part in our mother's misery and I had a lot of anger inside of me that luckily, I never expressed to anybody," he told Anderson Cooper for "60 Minutes."

"But I resorted to drinking heavily. Because I wanted to numb the feeling, or I wanted to distract myself from how  whatever I was thinking. And I would, you know, resort to drugs as well," he continued.

Harry admitted in "Spare" that in addition to drinking heavily, he had also used cocaine in his teenage years.

Harry told Cooper that he experimented with psychedelics as a form of "medicine" for what he was going through internally.

"I would never recommend people to do this recreationally  but doing it with the right people if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine," he said. "For me, they cleared the windshield, the windshield of the misery of loss. They cleared away this idea that I had in my head that  that my mother, that I needed to cry to prove to my mother that I missed her. When in fact, all she wanted was for me to be happy."

Prince Harry recounted in "Spare" how he drove through the tunnel where Princess Diana died at the same speed to see if "it was possible" for the car to lose control.

The scene of Princess Diana's fatal 1997 car accident. JACK GUEZ / Staff / Getty Images

"I wanted to see whether it was possible, driving at the speed that [Diana's driver] Henry Paul was driving, that you could lose control of a car and plow into a pillar, killing almost everybody in that car. I need to take this journey. I need to ride the same route," Harry wrote.

"I sat back. Quietly I said: 'Is that all of it? It'snothing. Just a straight tunnel,'" he wrote. "I'd always imagined the tunnel as some treacherous passageway, inherently dangerous, but it was just a short, simple, no-frills tunnel."

"No reason anyone should ever die inside it," Harry said after going through the tunnel, according to the excerpt.

The prince wrote that he hoped the experience would bring him closure. However, he explained that despite feeling less "doubt" over what had happened, it only brought up more questions and pain.

"I'd thought driving the tunnel would bring an end, or brief cessation, to the pain, the decade of unrelenting pain," Harry added. "Instead it brought on the start of Pain, Part Deux."

Read the original article on Insider
ATLANTA (AP)  Dejounte Murray scored 12 of his 28 points in the final period as the Atlanta Hawks held off Miami's comeback attempt and beat the Heat 121-113 on Monday for their third straight win.

The Hawks (22-22), coming off back-to-back road wins against Indiana and Toronto, matched their season-best winning streak.

We've won three games against three good teams, Murray said. We just have to be consistent. That's the main thing for the rest of the year.

Trae Young added 24 points as the Hawks, who never trailed, moved back to .500.

In the matchup of teams trying to move up from their current spot as Eastern Conference play-in teams, Miami (24-21) had its three-game winning streak end despite Jimmy Butler's 34 points. Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 13 rebounds.

The Hawks made 8 of 12 3s and shot 67% overall from the field (26 of 39) to lead 70-50 at halftime. Miami outscored Atlanta 63-51 in the second half.

Tale of two halves, said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, who said the stark difference in his team's defensive effort was born out of them blowing the doors off us in the first half.

Added Spoelstra: There were too many mistakes to overcome in the second half.

The hot-shooting Hawks led by 26 points in the first half, but Miami pulled to within 111-106 on a jam by Butler. Murray, shooting over Victor Oladipo's tight defense, answered with a 3-pointer to push the lead to eight points with 1:36 remaining.

Tyler Herro kept Miami close with two last-minute baskets, including a 3-pointer.

A jam by Butler pulled the Heat to within 102-94 before the Hawks' seven consecutive points, including a 3-pointer by Young, stretched the lead back to 15 points.

Herro had 15 points in his return after missing three games due to left Achilles soreness. Miami's other usual backcourt starter, Kyle Lowry, missed his fourth consecutive game with a sore left knee.

AJ Griffin scored 12 points off the bench in the second quarter to help Atlanta keep its momentum following a 38-point opening period.

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Butler's jam sparked an 11-0 Miami run in the third period. Butler's two free throws ended the run which trimmed Atlanta's lead to 80-72.

Atlanta played up-tempo on offense, pushing the pace, in contrast to its 106-98 loss at Miami on Nov. 27, when the Heat ended the Hawks' streak of 40 games scoring 100 or more points.

After missing the last 10 games with a strained right calf, center Clint Capela had 12 points off the bench.

PICKING UP THE PACE

For the game, Atlanta shot 59.2% from the field (45 of 76) and made 13 of 27 3s.

I like the pace we are playing with on the offensive end of the floor, said Hawks coach Nate McMillan, who said before the game it was important his team was aggressive, but did not settle for quick 3s.

That was my mentality, be aggressive and get into the paint, Young said. ... We're just making more shots and getting more stops. That's the difference.

HONORING KING'S DREAM

A sellout crowd of 18,007, including former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, attended the game. The 90-year-old Young worked with Martin Luther King in Atlanta as a leader in the civil rights movement. The dReam Center Church of Atlanta choir performed and there was a halftime tribute to King.

We need to make sure we continue to honor the day and continue to fight for his dream, McMillan said.

TIP-INS

Heat: PG Gabe Vincent made his fourth start for Lowry. F Caleb Martin returned from a strained left quad and had seven points. ... Also missing the game were F Nikola Jovic (lower back stress reaction), F Duncan Robinson (right finger surgery) and C Omer Yurtseven (left ankle surgery).

Hawks: Atlanta ended a streak of three straight home losses. ... Young set a season high with four steals but matched his high with 10 turnovers. ... G Bogdan Bogdanovic (left quad soreness) had eight points in his return after missing one game. ... The Hawks played only their second home game after six road games in January.

UP NEXT

Heat: Continue three-game trip at New Orleans on Wednesday night.

Hawks: Visit Dallas on Wednesday night.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
An artist's concept of LUVOIR, a 15-meter telescope that was an early NASA concept for a future space telescope.



An artists concept of LUVOIR, a 15-meter telescope that was an early NASA concept for a future space telescope. The newly described Habitable Worlds Telescope wouldnt be quite as large as this.

NASA officials disclosed information about a planned next-generation space telescope, the Habitable Worlds Observatory, during a recent session of the American Astronomical Society,

In the session, Mark Clampin, the Astrophysics Division Director NASAs Science Mission Directorate, offered a few details about the telescope, which could be operational in the early 2040s.

Read more

The need for such an observatory is outlined in the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicines decadal survey on astronomy and astrophysics, a report assembled by hundreds of industry experts that serves as a reference document for the fields future goals.

One of the key findings of the most recent decadal survey was the necessity of finding habitable worlds beyond our own, using a telescope tailored specifically for such a purpose. The report suggested an $11 billion observatoryone with a 6-meter telescope that would take in light at optical, ultraviolet, and near-infrared wavelengths. (Hubble Space Telescope sees mostly in optical and ultraviolet light, while the more recently launched Webb Space Telescope images at mid-infrared and near-infrared wavelengths.)

The authors of the decadal survey suggested the Habitable Worlds Observatory as the first in a new Great Observatories program; basically, the linchpin in the next generation of 21st-century space telescopes. As Science reported, the decadal reports suggestion of an exoplanet-focused space telescope falls somewhere between two older NASA proposals, telescope concepts named HabEx and LUVOIR.

Exoplanets are found with regularity; its finding worlds with conditions that can host life as we know it thats tricky. Webb has spotted exoplanets and deduced aspects of their atmospheric chemistry, and other telescopes (even planned ones, like the Roman Space Telescope) are turning their gaze toward these alien worlds.

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An artists impression of the exoplanet, LHS 475 b, and the star it orbits.



An artists impression of the exoplanet LHS 475 b, recently discovered by Webb, and the star it orbits.

Unlike other telescopesboth operational and those still on the drawing boardthe planned Habitable Worlds Observatory would look specifically for so-called Goldilocks planets, worlds with conditions that could foster life.

The search for extraterrestrial life is a relentless goal of NASA. The Perseverance rover on Mars is collecting rock samples on Mars to learn, among other things, whether theres any evidence for ancient microbial life in a region of the planet that once was a flowing river delta. (An environment, its important to note, that scientists believe was similar to that where Earths first known life materialized.)

Beyond Mars, scientists harbor hope that future probes can poke around for signs of life in the subsurface ocean on Jupiters moon Europa or the methane sea on Saturns moon Titan.

But those are just venuesand hostile ones, compared to Earthwithin our solar system. Missions like TESS and the Kepler Space Telescope have detected thousands of exoplanets, but the fraction that are Earth-like is vanishingly small.

Like the Webb telescope, the future observatory will be located at L2, a region of space one million miles from Earth that allows objects to remain in position with relatively little fuel burn. (By saving fuel, the missions lifespans are prolonged.)

As reported by Science, Clampin said that the Habitable Worlds Observatory would be designed for maintenance and upgrades, which Webb is not. That could make the next observatory a more permanent presence in NASAs menagerie of space telescopes.

Hubble was famously serviced by humans in low-Earth orbit multiple times, due to a number of mechanical snafus and issues that have arisen over the telescopes 32-year tenure in space.

The Habitable Worlds Observatory repairs and upgrades (which would take place a million miles from Eartha little far for human repairs) would be done robotically, more in the style of a Star Wars droid than a hand from the IT department.

Space News reported that NASA will imminently begin seeking out nominations for people to join the Science, Technology, Architecture Review Team (START) for the new observatory. The first phase of the observatorys development is slated for 2029.

In November, Clampin told a House subcommittee that the Webb telescope had suffered 14 strikes from micrometeoroidsvery small bits of fast-traveling space rock that can damage the telescopes mirrors. Clampin said the NASA team was making some operational changes to make sure we avoid any future impacts, and the telescope was slightly repositioned to reduce the risk of future strikes.

One of the telescopes mirror segments was damaged by a micrometeoroid strike, but an analysis by the team found the telescope should meet its optical performance requirements for many years.

Of paramount importance to the astronomical community is that the budget and timeline of the new observatory stay on track. The Webb project was years late and way over budget. Space News reports that some scientists are calling for an expedited timeline that could see the Habitable Worlds Observatory launch by 2035.

The ball is well and truly rolling on the telescopes of the future. The question is how Sisyphean the roll of the ball will be.

More: Webb Telescope Spots Ancient Galaxy Built Like the Milky Way

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BUCHAREST (Reuters) -A NATO surveillance plane arrived in Romania on Tuesday to bolster the military alliance's eastern flank and help monitor Russian military activity.

The plane, the first to be deployed, landed at an air base near Bucharest and two more are expected to land later in the day and on Wednesday. They are due to stay for several weeks.

NATO announced last week it would deploy the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance planes to Bucharest, where they will start reconnaissance flights solely over NATO territory.

"In the context of Russia's illegal war against Ukraine, NATO will monitor military activity on the eastern flank with the help of AWACS aircraft," Romanian Defence Minister Angel Tilvar said on Facebook.

NATO has boosted its air presence in eastern Europe and the Baltics since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, using fighter jets, surveillance planes and tankers.

The aircraft deployed to Romania belong to a fleet of 14 NATO surveillance aircraft usually based in Germany. They can detect other aircraft hundreds of kilometres away, NATO said.

"As Russias illegal war in Ukraine continues to threaten peace and security in Europe, there must be no doubt about NATOs resolve to protect and defend every inch of Allied territory," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a Jan. 12 statement on the deployment.

(Reporting by Octav Ganea in Bucharest and Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP)  Nebraskas newly minted Gov. Jim Pillen proposed Tuesday to vastly increase K-12 public education funding using money from the state's huge cash reserve. It's a plan that even those typically critical of Republican education reform efforts say holds promise.

The plan, spread over measures to be introduced by at least three lawmakers, proposes to increase education funding by $2.5 billion through 2030 while still cutting property taxes.

Pillen said the money would be in addition to current state aid funding to schools. Currently, Nebraska's public schools are funded largely through local property taxes. The state provides equalization funding to schools to cover funding gaps in those districts with low tax revenues, high enrollment and/or large numbers of disadvantaged students.

Pillen held a news conference Tuesday with Republican lawmakers to unveil a plan that would provide $1,500 for each student, primarily those in the 180 school districts that either don't receive state equalization funding or receive less than $1,500 per student. Districts that receive more than $1,500 per student in state aid would not see that funding reduced.

No district will receive less aid than what they have today, Pillen said.

The plan would put up $1 billion in the first year, then $250 million each of the following six years, said Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood, who plans to introduce the funding portion of the package. Another portion of the package would lower property taxes by limiting year-over-year tax-collection increases. It would enact a cap of a 3% increase in revenue per year.

This provides dollar-for-dollar property tax relief, Clements said.

Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, who introduced the revenue cap Tuesday, said the cap has built-in flexibility for those districts that have a need to raise more revenue in a year than the cap allows. They can do that with a supermajority vote of the school board or voters, he said. The cap does not apply to proposed school bond issues, which are adopted or rejected at the ballot box.

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The package would also provide millions in additional funding to teach special education students.

Nebraska is nearly last in the country in education funding by the state, Briese said. This package can chip away at that dynamic.

Briese said proponents expect to be able to maintain the increased funding beyond 2030, but he did not detail how.

Nebraska ended the fiscal year in mid-2022 with a nearly $1 billion cash reserve, and fiscal forecasters predict a balance of $2.3 billion by this summer. Much of that additional revenue was garnered through federal pandemic recovery funding and boosts from rising inflation.

Pillen campaigned, in part, on changing Nebraskas school-funding formula to a per-student basis, often repeating his mantra of leave no child behind.

Critics had thumped a plan that would have dumped equalization funding in favor of educational savings accounts  which have been proposed in at least a dozen other states this year  saying it could cost Nebraska's largest districts up to $270 million.

But the plan announced Tuesday by Pillen was received with cautious optimism by those who usually find themselves squaring off against Republican-led education funding proposals.

Tim Royers, president of the Millard Education Association, spoke Tuesday for the Nebraska State Education Association, the union representing about 28,000 of the state's public school teachers.

We think there's a lot of promise in this, Royers said. For a long time, there's been a lack of state-level investment in our kids, and now we have a $2.5 billion proposal to do just that. That's exactly what we wanted to hear.

OpenSky Policy Institute, a Nebraska tax policy think tank that has long been critical of tax-cutting proposals, said it wants to study the plan to better gauge its long-term sustainability and affect on schools. But OpenSky executive director Rebecca Firestone offered rare praise for the effort.

We have long noted that the best way to address property taxes in Nebraska is to increase the share of state support for public K-12 education, she said.
After Dipak Pokhrel died in a crash while piloting a small Yeti Airlines passenger plane in 2006, his wife Anju Khatiwada used the money she got from her husband's insurance to pay for her own pilot training. On Sunday, Khatiwada was the co-pilot flying the Yeti Airlines plane that crashed on its descent into a new airport in Pokhara, Nepal, killing all 72 people on board.



A spokesman for the airline confirmed the fate of Khatiwada, 44, to various news agencies on Monday.



"She was flying the plane with an instructor pilot, which is the standard procedure of the airline," an unnamed airline official, who said they knew Khatiwada personally, told Reuters. "She was always ready to take up any duty and had flown to Pokhara earlier."



Khatiwada had regularly flown the popular tourist route between the country's capital Kathmandu and its second largest city Pokhara.

A rescue team recovers the body of a victim from the site of the plane crash of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft, in Pokhara, Nepal on Jan. 16, 2023. / Credit: STRINGER / REUTERS

Yeti Airlines spokesperson Pemba Sherpa said Kathiwada was a "skilled pilot" with a "friendly nature" who had risen to the rank of captain after thousands of hours of flying time.

"We have lost our best," Sherpa told the Associated Press.



Kathiwada's remains had not been identified amid the pulverized wreckage of the ATR-72 turboprop aircraft.



It remains unclear what caused the crash. A witness on the ground who recorded video of the plane's descent from his balcony said he saw it flying low before suddenly veering to the left and diving.



"I saw that and I was shocked... I thought that today everything will be finished here after it crashes, I will also be dead," Diwas Bohora was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.

An Indian passenger's harrowing 90-second video showed himself and his friends enjoying the descent into Pokhara before a sudden jolt knocks the camera unsteady, and the shot quickly fills with smoke and flames as passengers scream amid the chaos. The videos appear to corroborate reports that something brought the plane down with little or no warning.



A spokesman for Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority and Yeti Airlines confirmed that both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder  the so-called black boxes  were recovered from the site on Monday, which should help investigators determine the cause of the crash.



Nepal is home to some of the world's largest mountains, including Mount Everest, and the rough terrain and accompanying dramatic weather changes make for dangerous flying.

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As the fifth week of the double murder trial of accused family killer Richard "Alex" Murdaugh begins in Walterboro, S.C., Netflix is set to air its three-part docuseries, Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, on Wednesday, Feb. 22. All three episodes will be available the same day for viewers to binge watch and explore the scandals and criminal allegations surrounding the disbarred South Carolina attorney and the fall of his disgraced family dynasty.

E! News recently published a sneak peek of Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, calling it a "closely involved attempt to make sense of the years of dishonesty, misdeeds and misfortune that followed around a powerful familyand forever changed a small town in the process."

As Gannett/USA TODAY Network journalist Michael DeWitt Jr., who has covered the story for years and offers his experience and insight of the case in all three episodes, says in the trailer, "For over a century, the Murdaughs were law and order here in the 14th Circuit."

While other true-crime documentaries have explored the Murdaugh saga, Netflix hopes to take a deeper dive into this gripping, real-life Southern Gothic tale that has captured international audiences. The series explores the fatal February 2019 boat crash involving Murdaugh's younger son, Paul, the unsolved 2015 homicide of Hampton County teen Stephen Smith that has been linked to the Murdaugh family for undisclosed reasons by state police, and the June 2021 murders of Paul and his mother, Maggie, that Murdaugh was charged for, along with more than 100 other crimes.

The Murdaughs were one of South Carolinas most prominent families, but the death of teenager Mallory Beach in a drunken boating accident began the unraveling of their legacy. When Paul Murdaugh  the alleged driver of the boat  and his mother Maggie are found brutally murdered two years after the crash, a century of corruption, power, and cover-ups in the Lowcountry is brought to light. According to a Netflix media release, the three-part series will feature first-hand accounts from those on the boat that fateful night, many of whom have not spoken about the crash or double homicide of Maggie and Paul - until now.

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Alex Murdaugh's defense team:Here are some potential strategies for the defense in double murder trial

Who is in Netflix's Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal?

The docuseries includes interviews with victims, survivors and several S.C. Lowcountry residents close to the Murdaugh family - and the alleged victims of several crimes.

The three-part series will feature interviews with some of those close to the multiple Murdaugh cases, some of whom are speaking for the first time, including Paul's longtime girlfriend Morgan Doughty, Mallory's childhood friends Miley Altman and Connor Cook and Mallory's boyfriend Anthony Cook.

Courtroom analysis: The State's evidence likely to impact the Colleton County jury

Alex Murdaugh trial updates:State rests, but Murdaugh asks for case to be tossed out

Also featured is Hampton's own Michael DeWitt Jr., the Gannett/USA TODAY journalist and editor of The Hampton County Guardian who has been covering the crime saga since 2015, and has covered the Murdaugh family for almost two decades in his hometown.

DeWitt was recently featured on "48 Hours," "Dateline NBC," and "ABC's 20/20" for his professional, firsthand reporting of the Murdaugh crime saga and its impact on Hampton County. The S.C. Press Association has recently announced that DeWitt and his fellow Gannett journalists have earned several news and feature writing awards for their coverage of the crime saga and its impact on the S.C. Lowcountry community.

Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal. promo image in Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal. Cr. Netflix  2023

More about this Netflix series

Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal is directed by Julia Willoughby Nason and Jenner Furst (LuLa Rich; The Pharmacist). Executive producers are Michael Gasparro (showrunner), Julia Willoughby Nason, Jenner Furst (LuLa Rich; The Pharmacist).

Netflix is the world's leading streaming entertainment service with 223 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries, feature films and mobile games across a wide variety of genres and languages, according to the release.

Alex Murdaugh saga has specials on HBO Max and CNN too

The HBO Max three-part series, "Low Country: The Murdaugh Dynasty," explores the legacy of the Murdaugh family, whose decades of powerful influence over the legal system in the South Carolina Lowcountry unravel amid accusations of fraud, deception and murder.

It first aired Nov. 3, 2022.

A CNN Special Report aired Oct. 23, 2022.

This special, The Murdaugh Murders: A Twisted Tale of Power and Money, has three roundtable discussions with journalists, attorneys and alleged victims of the Murdaughs.

Whose who:Alex Murdaugh murder trial: Meet the SC lawyers, judge that will be in the spotlight

Bracing for the trial:Walterboro, Colleton County, SC braces for 'unprecedented' Murdaugh murder trial

What is the status of the Alex Murdaugh cases?

Murdaugh's double murder trial began Jan. 23 in the deaths of his wife and son and is expected to last until the end of February or early March.

Following the deposition of that trial, Murdaugh must then stand trial on the 100-plus other criminal charges levied against him. Trial dates and locations have not been set in these cases yet.

Along with the criminal charges, there is a slew of civil court cases against the disbarred South Carolina attorney.

Murdaugh has already signed a $4.3 million confession of judgment in one lawsuit involving the Gloria Satterfield Estate. The wrongful death suit of Mallory Beach could be heard as early as summer 2023, according to a report by John Monk of The State newspaper.

Trial dates have not been set for the remaining civil suits against Murdaugh.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Netflix docuseries on Murdaugh murders and SC crime saga set to air
Mark Rutte

During his meeting with the U.S. President Joe Biden, Rutte said the Netherlands will join the U.S.-German initiative to equip Ukraine with modern anti-air defenses.

Read also: Biden confirms Ukraine could soon receive Bradley fighting vehicles

The PM said he already discussed the matter with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On Jan. 16, Ukrainian soldiers arrived in the United States to train in operating Patriot SAM systems.

Read also: Allies to transfer Bradley & Marder IFVs, second Patriot battery to Ukraine

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak earlier said Ukraine expects to receive Patriot batteries by mid-Spring 2023, as it would take several months for Ukrainian troops to master the system.

On Dec. 21, 2022, the United States announced plans to provide Kyiv with a Patriot battery. The German government made a similar statement on Jan. 5.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Photo: . Former Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart. Photo supplied

The one-term former mayor of Vancouver has returned to Simon Fraser University, three months after losing the mayoral race to Ken Sim.

Kennedy Stewart announced Monday on Twitter that he has become the new director of the Centre for Public Policy Research and has a book deal based on his four years at city hall, from 2018 to 2022. Stewart had shut down his Twitter account in November, after losing to Sim of ABC Vancouver.

Stewart was an associate professor when he took a leave of absence in 2011 to become the NDP member of Parliament for Burnaby-Douglas. He was re-elected in Burnaby South in 2015 and then quit to run for mayor of Vancouver in 2018.

The universitys announcement of his new position touted Stewarts historical opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline, and his leadership of the campaign to bring electronic petitions to the House of Commons. It did not mention his $500 contempt of court fine for violating the protest injunction in 2018 or the broken campaign promise in 2018 to bring a similar electronic petition system to Vancouver city hall.

As mayor, Stewart led an organization with a $1.7 billion operating budget through the COVID-19 pandemic, moved forward reconciliation efforts, secured over $1 billion in social housing investment, oversaw the adoption of the Broadway Plan, and led the push to decriminalize drugs in British Columbia, said the news release.

Stewart became the 40th mayor of Vancouver, narrowly defeating then NPA candidate Sim in 2018 to succeed Vision Vancouvers thrice-elected Gregor Robertson.

Stewart lost Oct. 15 to Sim by 36,139 votes, becoming the first incumbent voted out of office since Mike Harcourt defeated Jack Volrich in 1980. Sims new party won a supermajority on city council and park board, promising to hire more police officers, restore public safety in Chinatown and approve more housing.

Stewart was originally elected in 2018 as an independent backed by the Vancouver and District Labour Council. In 2022, he formed a party called Forward Together and ran a slate of six council candidates under the banner, including his wife, Douglas College political science professor Jeanette Ashe, press secretary Alvin Singh and Premier David Ebys riding office manager Dulcy Anderson. Anderson came closest to being elected, falling 3,285 votes shy of Green incumbent Pete Fry for the 10th seat on council.

Stewart also announced Monday that his next book is due for publication later this year, Decrim: How We Decriminalized Drugs in British Columbia, through Douglas and McIntyre.

Stewarts previous title for the publisher was a co-editing project with Conservative MP Michael Chong and former Liberal MP Scott Simms called Turning Parliament Inside Out: Practical Ideas for Reforming Canadas Democracy.

Everything started for me while I was a graduate student at SFU in the 1990s, so I am excited to return and lead the Centre for Public Policy Research, said Stewart in the news release. SFU is an amazing place to learn and innovate and I hope the practical experience Ive gained from a decade in politics will add to the incredible environment at one of Canadas top universities.
A 14-year-old Kentucky student, who was expelled for allegedly writing a kill list last year, was allowed to return to school this month, sparking anger and outrage from parents who raised concerns over the safety of their children.

The parents spoke out against the decision to allow the teenager back during a recent school board meeting, saying it is emotionally devastating and dangerous to see their children attending the school with someone who threatened them.

The Boone County Board of Education allowed the student to attend Conner High School despite being charged with second-degree terroristic threats.

The eighth grade student had allegedly made threats against other classmates, including the son of the principal at Conner High School.

As a father of a child on the active kill list, my statements will reflect my opinions based on the information I received from Conner High School, said Rob Bidleman, a father of a student who he says was on the students active kill list, according to WLWT.

When I received a call from the principal, it was emotionally devastating. All I could think about was my child in danger when they did nothing wrong.

A mother, Deanne Corbin, told the school board meeting in Boone County: Whatever help he has gotten, he is still a threat to be in an environment which fostered him to want to do a mass shooting and make a list of our students of Conner Middle School that are now at Conner High School.

The allegations against the student came to light in November 2021 after a school resource officer was told about the students notebook. It allegedly had specific acts of violence in it and identified individuals, WXIX reported.

The student, who was interviewed by a school official, said he was merely writing the thoughts down that were in his head.

The principals own son was on this childs list of death threats, said a mother, Jenny Murray, according to WXIX. As dedicated and hard-working as he is  how is he not distracted by stress and anxiety, knowing that his son could be in danger?

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On Friday, Boone County School District Superintendent Matthew Turner wrote a letter to parents, saying said his hands are tied and urged them to talk to your local state legislator.

The Kentucky Constitution guarantees the right to a public education for every child without prejudice, and we are obligated to follow state law, Mr Turner wrote.

I can assure you all appropriate safety measures have been taken and are in place, he wrote. Conner High School remains a safe school.
The following items were taken from Niles Police Department bulletins. An arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt.

Nicio Delgado, 25, of the 1800 block of 61st Street, Cicero, was arrested Jan. 5 for driving on a suspended drivers license at the intersection of Ballard and Dee Roads, police said. A court date is set for Jan. 20.

Wilman Torres Valencia, 32, of the 3300 block of Cuyler Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 5 for driving without a drivers license on the 6800 block of Caldwell Avenue, police said. A court date is set for Jan. 20.

Elvira Holguin, 45, of the 4300 block of Howard Street, Skokie, was arrested Jan. 7 for driving without a drivers license at the intersection of Howard Street and Milwaukee Avenue, police said. A court date is set for Feb. 23.

Syed Asad, 21, of the 2800 block of Glenlake Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 7 for driving on a suspended drivers license and operating a vehicle with expired registration at the intersection of Oakton Street and Waukegan Road, police said. A court date is set for Feb. 17.

Darneisha McCoy, 25, of the 6000 block of Kenmore Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 7 for driving on a suspended drivers license at the intersection of Oakton Street and Ozanam Avenue, police said. A court date is set for Feb. 23.

Dwayne Williams, 34, of the 1300 block of Austin Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 8 for driving on a suspended drivers license at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Octavia Street, police said. A court date is set for Feb. 17.

Jerzie Ghirsy, 51, of the 1600 block of Mason Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 8 for operating a vehicle with its registration suspended at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Elmore Street, police said. A court date is set for Feb. 17.

Public intoxication

Billy Parker, 25, of the 2400 block of Joe Adler Drive, Plainfield, was arrested Jan. 8 on the 7300 block of Harlem Avenue for public intoxication and requiring emergency services, police said. A court date is set for Feb. 17.

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Criminal Defacement

A residence on the 7800 block of Monroe Avenue was spray painted with graffiti overnight Jan. 8, police said.

Burglary

A locker left locked in a locker room at the LA Fitness Center on the 5700 block of Touhy Avenue was found open with its contents taken Jan. 8, police said.

Speeding

Hansel Lopez-Perez, 20, of the 4900 block of Springfield Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 7 for speeding 69 mph in a 35 mph zone at the intersection of Dempster Street and Milwaukee Avenue, police said. A court date is set for Jan. 26.

Battery

David Falzone, 61, of the 7400 block of Oriole Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 7 with battery, simple assault and disorderly conduct after he pushed a juvenile employee of Walmart in the chest on the 8500 block of Golf Road, police said.

Driving under the influence

Mark Pasquinelli, 25, of the 600 block of Florence Drive, Park Ridge, was arrested Jan. 6 for driving under the influence of alcohol outside Chasers bar on the 9000 block of Milwaukee Avenue, police said.

Jamie Antonio, 33, of the 4800 block of Nelson Street, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 6 for driving under the influence after being seen asleep in a vehicle at the intersection of Howard and Lehigh Streets, police said. A court date is set for Feb. 23.

Alvin Varghese, 32, of the 8000 block of Odell Avenue, Chicago, was arrested Jan. 6 for driving under the influence of alcohol at the intersection of Harlem Street and Monroe Avenue, police said. A court date is set for Feb. 15.

Theft

Deonta Williams, 24, of the 700 block of Pearson Street, Des Plaines, was arrested Jan. 6 for removing $186 worth of merchandise from the Walmart on the 8500 block of Golf Road without paying, police said.
North Carolina license plates

Motorists in North Carolina can request personalized license plates that include terms related to the LGBTQ+ community after more than 200 previously forbidden terms were removed from the state's Do Not Issue list.

License plates with the words "GAYPRIDE," "LESBIAN," and "QUEER" were previously not available to purchase, public radio station WFDD reports.

However, for the first time in twenty years, the state's department of motor vehicles reviewed its policies on forbidden words at the direction of DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin, according to the station.

Initially, a team from the department's vehicle services division reviewed the list. Then, after identifying entries as questionable, they referred them to a committee of communications and legal staffers from the Department of Transportation and the Office of Civil Rights. As a result, 239 items were removed from the list, including more than two dozen terms related to LGBTQ+ communities.

"Anything on the do not issue list should not include the LGBT community," Goodwin told the station. "I don't know how long the terms that relate to the LGBT community were on that list. But with my administration they are coming off."

Still prohibited, however, are the terms "BISEXUAL" and "GAYS0K," as well as some terms relating to reproduction and ethnicity.

Goodwin said that the review process is ongoing and that words currently on the list may not be there forever.

"Things can slip through," Goodwin explained. "My aim is to be consistent with our approach, no plates of hate in this state."

To that end, his office has recalled at least eight license plates issued in error and containing offensive terms.

All of them included combinations of spellings that resulted in antisemitic phrases, WFDD reports.

Goodwin acknowledged the challenges in policing language but notes that some applicants try to be slick.

"Folks are crafty and conniving with the combination of letters," Goodwin said. "And then there are folks who say that, 'Well, this is the name of my child,' but the name of their child happens to be a name that in general parlance is not considered a name, but is considered offensive."
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP)  The Norwegian police unit that investigates war crimes said Tuesday that it wants to talk to a Russian asylum-seeker who reportedly is a former high-ranking member of the private Russian military contractor Wagner Group.

Norways National Criminal Investigation Service, which takes part in the investigation of war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court, said it was in contact with Andrey Medvedev and his Norwegian lawyer and would like to conduct an interrogation of him in the near future. Medvedev has the status of a witness.

Last week, Medvedev, who says he's fears for his life, fled to Norway where he sought asylum. In a video posted by the Russian dissident group Gulagu.net, Medvedev said he came under Russian gunfire before he crossed into the Scandinavian country.

Medvedev explained he had left the Wagner after his contract, initially from July to November, was extended without his consent, and was willing to testify about any war crimes he witnessed and denied he had participated in any.

In the video interview with France-based Gulagu, the ex-fighter says he feared experiencing the same fate as another recruit whose head was reportedly smashed in by a sledgehammer by the Wagner Group in a public execution. In a segment apparently filmed before he fled Russia, he asks for help from Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Federal Security Service, or FSB, among others. Gulagu's Vladimir Osechkin said that Medvedev and another man reached out for help in December.

He himself has said that he has been part of the Wagner Group, and it is interesting for the National Criminal Investigation Service to get more information about this period, the Norwegian police said in a statement.

Last week, police in Arctic Norway said a person had illegally entered from Russia by crossing the border, which is 198 kilometers (123 miles) long.

The man was detained by Norwegian border guards and the arrest was undramatic, police said, adding that he went to a private house in the border area and asked for help. Police in Norway said that they had been notified late Thursday by Russian border guards who discovered traces in the snow that could indicate that someone had crossed the border illegally.

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The Wagner Group, owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with ties to Putin, includes a large number of convicts recruited in Russian prisons who have spearheaded attacks in the war with Ukraine. The group has has become increasingly influential in Africa, where it has been pushing Russian disinformation, building alliances with governments and gaining access to oil, gas, gold, diamonds and valuable minerals.

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Lori Hinnant contributed to this report from Paris.

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

LONDON (Reuters) - It is not right for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to play such a big role in global health funding, but the group will not back away until others step up, its chief executive said.

The Gates Foundation has faced criticism that it has too much power and influence in the global health realm, including within the World Health Organization, without the requisite accountability.

In his annual letter released on Tuesday, chief executive Mark Suzman hit back at the criticism as he revealed that the foundation would spend $8.3 billion this year, its highest ever annual budget.

"It's not right for a private philanthropy to be one of the largest funders of multinational global health efforts," he said, adding that countries ought to be leading the charge.

"But make no mistake- where there's a solution that can improve livelihoods and save lives, we'll advocate persistently for it. We won't stop using our influence, along with our monetary commitments, to find solutions."

Suzman said the aim of the fund was not to set the agenda for the WHO or other global health groups, but to provide them with better options and data as they make key decisions.

Bill and Melinda Gates, the tech billionaires-turned-philanthropists who set up the foundation, have long defended their efforts amid questions over whether their vast payouts give them undue influence and impact in global development.

Alongside funding efforts to eradicate diseases like malaria and polio, the Gates Foundation is also the second biggest donor to the WHO, one of the issues that critics have regularly raised about its role, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I'd love it if many more governments would pass us on that list - because that would mean more lives saved," wrote Suzman.

Last year, the WHO agreed a deal that would see member states increase their guaranteed contributions, reducing the role of private donors and allowing the United Nations agency more flexibility on spending.

(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Democratic Rep. Richie Torres (N.Y.) in a new op-ed called fellow Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) a danger to our democracy and national security amid the slew of federal investigations the embattled first-term lawmaker is currently facing.

In a piece published by NBC News on Tuesday, Torres said that Santos, who defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in New Yorks 3rd Congressional District in Novembers midterm elections, lied to voters on almost every aspect of his personal and professional life, noting Santoss failures to tell the truth about his family heritage, education, business dealings, and philanthropic endeavors.

Under normal circumstances, the depth and breadth of his deception would shame one into resigning from public office, Torres wrote in his op-ed. But these are not normal times, and Santos is shameless not only in lying but in lying about his lying.

Torres also noted Santoss recent appearance on a podcast hosted by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) where he told the lawmaker that he has lived an honest life.

Never mind all the lies Santos has told and the multiple criminal investigations accusing him of wrongdoing, Torres noted in his op-ed.

Torres added that every American should be worried about the risk of Santos gaining access to classified information within his congressional duties, saying that it boggles the mind how anyone who could mislead people could be trusted to serve in a position in Congress.

The presence of this man in Congress is a danger to our democracy and national security, a disgrace to this institution, and a major distraction from the pressing problems that are far more worthy of our time, energy and attention, Torres wrote in his op-ed. Its time for Santos to recognize that he cannot serve the public he defrauded. His ability to govern has been weakened by a complete collapse of credibility.

Torres is the latest among New York-based lawmakers who have called for Santos to resign from his position in Congress.

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Santos, 34, is currently facing investigations from federal authorities over potential campaign finance violations and an investigation from Nassau County over the fabrications and lies he made during his campaign.

Torres, along with fellow New York Rep. Dan Goldman (D), earlier this month introduced legislation called the Santos Act that would require potential candidates to file more information about themselves when running for public office.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
American Exchange Group is once again starting off the new year with a major deal.

A year after the New York-based company acquired the Aerosoles brand, American Exchange Group said today it has completed the purchase of White Mountain Footwear for an undisclosed amount.

More from Footwear News

The privately owned White Mountain company has been based in Lisbon, N.H., since its founding in 1979. Its fashion-comfort collections  which include two made-in-China labels, White Mountain and Cliffs  are carried at top national retail chains such as Macys, DSW, Kohls, Boscovs, Amazon, Famous Footwear and Shoe Carnival.

With this acquisition, American Exchange Group said it plans to integrate White Mountains sourcing and manufacturing capabilities, structure and management with the Aerosoles brand, in order to expand the retail distribution for both brands, and also introduce the White Mountain and Cliffs lines to new categories and audiences.

I have been truly impressed with White Mountains experienced executive leadership team and their long, dedicated, tenured staff that has supported the brands growth over many years. I look forward to seeing them bring that success, commitment and enthusiasm to Aerosoles, said Alen Mamrout, CEO of American Exchange Group, in a statement.

A company representative confirmed that White Mountains leadership team will remain on board and it will keep its offices in New Hampshire.

White Mountain chief revenue officer Robert Geller said in a statement, We are looking forward to carrying on the 40-year tradition of the White Mountain brand under new ownership. Teaming up with American Exchange Group will allow us to grow and expand our business, add additional product categories and leverage synergies.

American Exchange Group is indeed a fitting partner for category expansion. The company is a designer, manufacturer and wholesale provider of fashion accessories for men, women and kids, producing everything from footwear, belts, socks and hats to smart watches and fitness trackers.

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It has already unleashed an aggressive expansion plan for Aerosoles. Earlier this month, the brand made a foray in the kids market with a line of girls shoes, and for spring 23, the label will introduce mens and womens flip-flops, mens socks, slippers and roller skates.

In a recent interview with FN, American Exchange Groups VP of licensing and brand development, Cynthia Nixon, said even more launches are in the works for Aerosoles. Im in conversation with multiple other companies with expertise in a vast array of product categories, from home to travel to sleepwear and, of course, apparel, she said.

Sign up for FN's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.
Photo: The Canadian Press Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) President Warren (Smokey) Thomas speaks to reporters at Queen's Park in Toronto on January 21, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The Ontario Public Service Employees' Union has filed a lawsuit against three former executives, alleging financial improprieties.

The union is seeking nearly $6 million it alleges was unlawfully transferred to former president Warren (Smokey) Thomas, former first vice-president/treasurer Eduardo Almeida and former financial services administrator Maurice Gabay, as well as millions more in damages.

OPSEU says since Thomas and Almeida left their positions last April, the union has been doing a forensic audit and alleges it has uncovered that Thomas and Almeida paid themselves "significant compensation" they weren't entitled to, used union money for non-business purposes, transferred union vehicles to themselves or family members and paid out strike fund cash to themselves and Gabay.

OPSEU's statement of claim alleges union money was used to pay the home repairs and moving expenses for someone with whom Gabay had a personal relationship.

The allegations have not been tested in court.

None of the defendants could be reached for comment and it is unclear if any has filed a statement of defence.

Current OPSEU president JP Hornick wrote in an update to members Monday that the allegations are "troubling."

"I want to be clear to you, our staff and members, and the people of Ontario who we dutifully serve, that we will not waiver in our commitment to seeking justice in this matter, and we have the full support of the Board to pursue all available legal avenues," Hornick wrote.
Close-up shot of lights on a police cruiser with a blurred background and dim lighting.

The male driver of what police said was a stolen truck died Monday after a pursuit that came dangerously close to the downtown Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, authorities said.

Police said the pursuit started around 12:30 p.m. near NW 63 and MacArthur Boulevard when an officer ran the tag on the truck and learned it was stolen.

Police Master Sgt. Gary Knight said the driver refused to stop for the officer.

A 50-minute pursuit ensued, with officers at one point giving up the chase while an Oklahoma City police helicopter followed the vehicle, Knight said.

When the driver got closer to downtown and the scheduled MLK parade, patrol officers picked up the pursuit and used a tactical vehicle intervention to stop the suspect, Knight said.

The vehicle rolled over near Oklahoma City Boulevard and South Lee Avenue.

Knight said the driver was found dead. Police did not release the exact cause of death Monday afternoon.

Knight did not speculate as to whether the suspect intended to drive into the parade.

It became a point where he was getting very close and we had to bring it to an end before he could reach the people at the parade, Knight told The Oklahoman.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Suspect dead after police pursuit near King parade in Oklahoma City
STORY: Thunberg was detained while protesting at the opencast coal mine of Garzweiler 2, some 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) from Luetzerath, where she sat with a group of protesters near the edge of the mine.

Thunberg was carried away by three policemen and held by one arm at a spot further away from the edge of the mine where she previously sat with the group.

She was then escorted back towards police vans.
A man from Grays Hill faces felony assault charges for allegedly attacking a woman with a pocketknife in his home after she rejected his requests for sex, according to the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office.

Ronnie Fripp, 65, was charged early Tuesday morning with assault and battery in the first degree, jail records show.

Deputies were called around 2 a.m. Tuesday to Fripps home on Paradise Lane in Grays Hill, just north of Beauforts city limits. Fripp told officers he had invited a woman over to help her stay out of the cold, but while the two were in bed, the woman suddenly began attacking him. He claimed he hit the woman with a hard object to stop her, according to Maj. Angela Viens, a spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office.

But the woman had a different story. She told police that after she declined Fripps sexual advances, he became violent and attacked her with a pocketknife, according to Viens.

The womans injuries corroborated her story: Officers found a five-inch laceration on her back, which police believe came from the pocketknife. Fripp did not appear to have any physical injuries, Viens said.

In South Carolina, first-degree assault and battery is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Fripps usage of the pocketknife to assault the woman elevated the crime to a first-degree charge.

Fripp was released Tuesday on a $5,000 surety bond from the Beaufort County Detention Center, court records show.

When we publish mugshots

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette publishes police booking photos, or mugshots, in the following instances:

In situations where a public figure or someone in a position of public trust is arrested

In cases where there is an immediate and widespread threat to public safety

In cases where the arrested person is accused of a crime reporters have evidence to believe involved numerous, unknown victims

Reporters will avoid using mugshots as lead images for online articles in order to limit their circulation on social media, except in cases where the public is served by the immediate identification of the accused. Reporters and editors may use discretion in situations that dont meet the criteria outlined in this policy but still present a compelling reason to publish a mugshot.
A Pocono Summit man is facing charges of terroristic threats and assault following a road rage incident that led to a confrontation near the Mount Pocono McDonald's Tuesday morning.

According to Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department, officers were dispatched to the fast food location on Route 940 just before 10 a.m. on Jan. 17, 2023, where they were advised a male suspect was wielding a machete. The suspect, later identified as Matthew T. Eannuzzi, 31, of Pocono Summit, allegedly fled the scene prior to the arrival of police, though no injuries were reported.

During the course of the investigation, police determined the altercation started as a verbal argument during a road rage incident. Eannuzzi allegedly got out of his vehicle with the machete, making threats to kill unidentified victims.

Officers were able to positively identify Eannuzzi and locate him at his home. The machete was confiscated, and charges  including a first-degree misdemeanor count of terroristic threats, a second-degree misdemeanor count of simple assault, a third-degree count of disorderly conduct, and a harassment charge  are pending.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Poconos man charged after police say he threatened people with machete
LOS ANGELES (AP)  A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday declared that porn performer Ron Jeremy is mentally incompetent to stand trial on dozens of rape and sexual assault counts.

Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Harris said in a hearing that after reviewing reports from both prosecutors and Jeremy's defense that he is in incurable neurocognitive decline" from which he is unlikely to recover.

Prosecutors asked that he be periodically reevaluated.

A hearing on placing the 69-year-old Jeremy, whose legal name is Ronald Hyatt, in a state hospital will be held next month.

Jeremy pleaded not guilty after a grand jury indicted him on 34 counts of sexual assault, including 12 counts of rape.

When he was arrested two years ago I said he would be found innocent of all charges, Jeremy's attorney Stuart Goldfarb said in an email. Two years have passed and with the additional discovery I received I believed he would have have been found innocent. It is unfortunate due to mental condition he will not go to trial and have the the opportunity to clear his name."

Jeremy, who has remained in jail since his arrest in 2020, did not attend the hearing.

An email seeking comment Tuesday from the District Attorney's Office was not immediately returned.

Nicknamed The Hedgehog, Jeremy has been among the best known and most prolific actors in the porn industry for decades, and became a recognizable pop cultural novelty through reality shows, public appearances and music videos.

He has long been a magnet for seekers of autographs and selfies, which is how he first encountered most of the women and girls aged 15 to 51 he is accused of assaulting between the 1990s and 2019.

According to transcripts of grand jury testimony from the women and girls obtained by The Associated Press, Jeremy would lure them into a small secluded space, often the bathroom of a West Hollywood bar and grill he frequents, trap them and sexually assault them.

The Los Angeles Times first reported that Jeremy would not be going to trial.

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The charges stemmed from a district attorney's task force set up to investigate entertainment industry sexual misconduct after reports about Harvey Weinstein in 2017 made the #metoo movement an international phenomenon.

Jeremy was among a very few men charged in the task force's work, along with Weinstein himself, who was convicted of rape and sexual assault in December.

Prosecutors are still deciding whether to retry Weinstein on several counts for which his jury was deadlocked. They plan to retry actor Danny Masterson on three rape counts after his jury failed to reach verdicts last month.

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
Photo: .

The Canadian Coast Guard is looking for people who want to work in remote areas of B.C. as assistant lightkeepers.

Instead of one position, a pool of qualified candidates is being put together to staff positions in various locations.

In order to do the job, people will need to depart from Victoria, Port Hardy, Tofino, Bella Bella or Prince Rupert. The deadline to apply is Dec. 31, 2023.

As the Assistant Lightkeeper you will be responsible for keeping watch at the station to ensure mariners are safe as they transit Canadas beautiful coastal regions, states the posting.

Kiri Westnedge, a communications advisor with the Canadian Coast Guard, says there are 58 lightstations in B.C., 27 of which are staffed.

"The position of lightkeeper involves being comfortable working in remote areas with few people, travel by boat or helicopter, and living on the edge of the ocean. It is a very unique job but it is not a job for everyone, says Westnedge.

Those who are successful in applying will act as "relief," she adds.

"Relief lightkeepers fill in for our resident lightkeepers so that they can take time off for purposes like vacation, training and medical appointments, she tells Glacier Media.

The lightstations ensure safe passage of mariners in the most beautiful, remote and rugged locations on B.C.s breathtaking coastline, the posting says.

Duties include handiwork, machine operation, maintenance and VHF (very high frequency) radio communication in remote marine environments, plus:



reporting local weather observations to MCTS (Marine Communications and Traffic Services);



relaying radio messages;



grounds maintenance of station;



dipping diesel fuel tanks from atop a ladder;



helping to refuel domestic diesel tanks;



dipping cisterns of rainwater collection;



scraping and painting buildings, decks and walkways;



testing the fire pump and hoses, and checking fire extinguisher.



Requirements for the job include maintenance experience with power tools, grounds work and knowledge of Microsoft Office.

"Experience working in isolated or semi-isolate locations is also helpful.

During the job, the individual must be prepared to travel by helicopter or boat, work 24/7 shifts in all-weather conditions and possess a valid restricted operators certificate (Maritime) or higher certificate. They must also have health Canada medical clearance and reliability status security clearance.

Assistant lightkeepers earn $45,241 to $60,707 per year.
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A tense interview between Prince Harry and Prince William has resurfaced amid the release of Spare.

The Duke of Sussex's unprecedented memoir hit shelves on Jan. 10, and his relationship with his elder brother was a major theme throughout. At one point in the text, Prince Harry, 38, recalled the time that he and Prince William lived together in Shropshire while training to be pilots at RAF Shawbury. The royal siblings were on different paths; Harry would learn to fly elite Apache helicopters, looking toward a second deployment in Afghanistan, while William was training to be a search and rescue pilot as it was deemed too dangerous for the then-second in line to the throne to see combat.

In Spare, Prince Harry wrote that he and "Willy" enjoyed sharing a cottage 10 minutes from the Royal Air Force base in 2009, their first time living together since Eton. He referenced a tense joint interview they gave at RAF Shawbury where his brother put him down, which has recently reemerged online.

RELATED: Prince William Steps Out for Solo Appearance as Royal Family Stays Silent Amid Spare Allegations

Prince William and Prince Harry attend a photocall during his military helecopter training course at RAF Shawbury on June 18, 2009 in Shawbury, England.

Anwar Hussein/WireImage

"How much inter-service rivalry is there between you two?" a reporter asked the brothers, who stood before a helicopter in army green flight suits. "None at all," Harry said, as William agreed, and they began to speak simultaneously.

"Everyone knows the Army is a part of the RAF, so " Harry said, as William cut him off. "I'm an old Household Calvary boy anyway, so it's fine," he said, referencing the regiment.

"And would you live together again, in as much experience being the same?" a journalist asked.

"Well, bear in mind, I cook him and feed him basically every day. I think he's done rather well," William said, as another reporter inquired about Harry's recent comment that he handled the dishes.

Prince William and Prince Harry attend a photocall during his military helecopter training course at RAF Shawbury on June 18, 2009 in Shawbury, England.

Anwar Hussein/WireImage

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"He does do a bit of the washing up, then he leaves most of it in the sink, and then it comes back in the morning and I have to wash it up," William said, as Harry replied and shook his head with a smile, "Oh, the lies."

"You find yourself tidying up after him?" a reporter asked, to which William answered, "Yeah, a bit of tidying. He snores a lot as well. It keeps me up all night long."

RELATED: Prince William Ignores Reporter When Asked If He's Read Prince Harry's Memoir

"They'll think we're sharing a bed now," Harry chimed in, eliciting a laugh from the press pack.

TRH Prince William and Prince Harry pose with their trainers (r) Daz Mitchell and (l) Craig Finch in front of a Griffin helicopter during a photocall at RAF Shawbury on June 18, 2009 in Shrewsbury, England.

Chris Jackson/Getty

Pointing to William's upcoming 27th birthday, another journalist asked if he expected to receive anything from Harry.

"Basically, he's probably only literally just realized that you said that now and hasn't got me a present, but I wouldn't expect anything else anyways. I'll be lucky to get a card," William said.

Elaborating on his ongoing pilot training, William said he was enjoying the instruction and excited about the future.

"It's quite a long way to go before I'm finished, but I'm looking forward to the challenges ahead and flying. To me, I didn't join the forces to be molly-coddled or treated any different. And as far as I'm concerned, in my eyes, if Harry can do it, then I can do it," he said. "I don't really separate us in that much difference."

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!

"And I think as a future head of the armed forces, it's really important that I at least get the opportunity to be credible and to do the job that I signed up for and to do the best I can. And that's all I ever wanted to do," he added.

Prince Harry book

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE The book jacket of Prince Harry's memoir 'Spare'

Sharing his side of the story in Spare, Prince Harry reflected, "While sharing that cottage we agreed to a rare joint interview, in an airplane hangar in Shawbury, during which Willy griped endlessly about my bad habits. Harry's a slob, he said. Harry snores."

"I cleaned up after myself, and I didn't snore. Besides, our rooms were separated by thick walls, so even if I did snore there was no way he heard," he said. "The reporters were having fits of giggles about it all, but I cut in: Lies! Lies! That only made them laugh harder. Willy too."

"I laughed as well, because we often bantered like that, but when I look back on it now, I can't help but wonder if there wasn't something else at play. I was training to get to the front lines, the same place Willy had been training to get, but the Palace had scuttled his plans," Harry wrote. "The Spare, sure, let him run around a battlefield like a chicken with his head cut off, if that's what he likes. But the Heir? No."

Prince Harry cover rollout

Jenna Jones

Prince Harry covers this week's exclusive issue of PEOPLE, now on newsstands, where he opened up about what he hopes his family takes away from his memoir.

"I want people to read my memoir and come to their own conclusions  I don't want to tell anyone what to think of it, and that includes my family," Prince Harry says. "This book and its truths are in many ways a continuation of my own mental health journey. It's a raw account of my life  the good, the bad and everything in between."
From the cost of tuition to the course requirements, incoming students consider a lot of different factors when picking a college that is right for them.

But that information isnt always clear or even accurate in some cases.

Now a new watchdog report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is calling on the U.S. Department of Education to improve how it investigates and penalizes misleading colleges and universities.

Education has not completed written procedures for investigating colleges and has not updated its written procedures for imposing penalties for substantial misrepresentation, the report said. Having complete and updated written procedures will help Education investigate the highest-risk colleges and impose appropriate penalties on those the agency finds to have engaged in substantial misrepresentation.

Students we spoke with said information on cost especially can determine how a student prepares financially and getting wrong information can have long-lasting consequences.

I feel like they can be more transparent, said Howard University student Sydney Kates. What youre thinking youre going to pay is right here and then you realize oh wait thats a lot more money than I thought. I dont have that kind of money. I didnt apply for this scholarship because I didnt think I needed to.

Students and parents deserve to be told the truth about college programs and the Department of Education needs to be held accountable for telling that truth to students, said Melissa Emrey-Arras, a Director in the Education, Workforce and Income Security Team for GAO.

The report points to concerns about colleges being misleading about things like the nature of their educational programs and the employability of their graduates.

It said the Department of Education imposed penalties on 13 colleges for substantial misrepresentation in FY 2016-2021.

If students are lied to, they may not be able to graduate from their programs, said Emrey-Arras. They may have trouble getting a job and they may have trouble paying back their student loans.

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In response to the report, the Department of Education agreed with the recommended changes and said it is working on updating and revising its policies for investigating and penalizing misleading colleges.

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The Moscow, Idaho, home where four University of Idaho students were killed on November 13. Nate Schweber/Insider

I traveled to Moscow, Idaho, after Bryan Kohberger was charged with killing four students there.

I knocked on doors across town, meeting locals wary of intense media scrutiny.

I was called a "creep" by some and greeted warmly by others.

"Tell them it was a Sasquatch."

That was a silver-haired Moscow man's advice for what his friend should say to the next out-of-town journalist asking about the quadruple homicide in November.

I traveled to Moscow, Idaho, for the first time after the December 30 arrest of Bryan Kohberger, 28, on charges of first-degree murder. Kohberger studied criminology at Washington State University in neighboring Pullman, Washington. Besides watching him grind his jaw during two brief court appearances, I knocked on doors and visited business all around trying to learn anything I could about him. I met nerve-rattled people weary and wary of the intense media scrutiny.

"It's crazy watching world news and seeing Moscow mentioned with Moscow," said grocer John Connelly, 35, a native who alternated his pronunciations between "oh" and "ow."

Something recurrent struck me. I had read that the last murder in Moscow was in 2015. In conversation, numerous people told me  unprompted  exactly where they were when it happened. Downtown buying a birthday card. In the kitchen fixing lunch. At a playground with friends. I realized how viscerally people would always remember the stabbings of the four shining University of Idaho students.

Missoula, Montana, another Pacific Northwest college town, is where I was born and raised. It made me relate to Moscow, with its walkable downtown of old brick buildings surrounded by some of the West's great scenery. The Palouse region is a hilly dreamscape, contour-plowed for wheat, vermiculited with snow, and specked with red barns. In the distances rise blue-forested mountains. The sunsets go on forever.

The region around Moscow is a hilly dreamscape. Nate Schweber/Insider

My search for details put me into some uncomfortable situations.

Seeing reports that Kohberger was a vegan who drank craft beer, I asked around at Rants & Raves Brewery in Moscow, which serves a filling vegan burger. By chance, a pair of traveling comics were on, and I craved some levity. The show was disrupted by the misogynistic shoutings of a marijuana farmer who proclaimed himself "a 27-year-old incel" because no woman could meet his standards. When I texted about this event to a dear college friend living in Boise, she replied: "North Idaho is a WEIRD place."

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Orofino native and pawn shop owner Sid Ulery, 69, pulled open his camouflage jacket, Superman-style, to make sure I saw the handgun strapped to his chest. We were talking about how Kohberger was from Pennsylvania.

"That's the reason we try to keep things as reclusive as we do," Ulery said, his eyes filling with tears. "We don't like it tainted. Anything that comes in from the outside is."

Bad feelings about outside scrutiny were acute in the apartment-packed neighborhood around the victims' house near campus. Some neighbors described it as a destination for cliquish and prickly fraternity brothers and sorority sisters. I've been a professional street reporter for 18 years and have never been called "creep," "creeper," and "gross" as much as when I canvassed this area.

The Corner Club bar, a Moscow favorite since 1948. Nate Schweber/Insider

But there were funny encounters where I heard a familiar resilience and irreverence.

When I asked Kate Miller, 30, proprietor of a Clarkston, Washington, coffee stand, her reaction to security cameras showing Kohberger close to her on the day of the murders, she was coolly philosophical.

"If you work long enough in customer service," she said, "statistics show you have a good percent chance of meeting a serial killer."

In the windowless Corner Club, a Moscow favorite since 1948, where two of the victims socialized, a bartender told me the name of its popular pink cocktail served in a large plastic tumblers was "The Kinda Fruity." But after 2007 it was renamed for ultraconservative Idaho Senator Larry Craig.

My "Larry Craig" cocktail. Nate Schweber/Insider

When I asked teenage members of Christ's Church if they now think Moscow is more dangerous, one young man answered yes.

"We saw a bull moose downtown," he said.

My beer at Slice Taphouse. Nate Schweber/Insider

All of us warmed ourselves around a crackling wood fire that burns on clear nights outside Slice Taphouse just off Main Street.

At closing time, an employee locking up invited me to stay as long as I pleased, throw more wood on the fire, and leave it to burn itself out.

Faith in humanity? It's still in Moscow. Pronounced with an "oh."

Read the original article on Insider
The search and rescue operation in Dnipro at the site of the house destroyed by Russia lasted 69 hours

The death toll from the deadly missile strike on Jan. 14 now stands at 44 killed, including five children,

Read also: SBU identifies Russian soldiers involved in deadly Jan. 14 attack in Dnipro

After 69 hours of rescue work around the clock, 39 residents of the building were rescued from the rubble, including six children. A total of 79 people were injured in the missile strike, including 16 children.

Deputy Head of the Presidents Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said 47 missing persons reports were received by the authorities. Of these, 23 were identified among the dead, while another four of them were found staying with relatives or being treated in hospital.

Read also:

On Jan. 14, a Russian supersonic cruise missile struck the multi-storey building with about 1,700 residents in Dnipro.

Two apartment blocks were completely ruined in the attack with dozens of people trapped under the rubble. About 200 apartments were damaged or destroyed, according to the presidential office.

Read also: Russia may have hundreds more Kh-22 missiles like the one used in Dnipro, Ukrainian Air Force says

The people who have lost their homes were provided with housing.



Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Rev. Bernice King. Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Politicians may like to quote Martin Luther King Jr., his youngest daughter, the Rev. Bernice King, said on Monday, but they aren't actually doing the work necessary to bring about the change he sought.

"We love to quote King in and around the holiday, but then we refuse to live King 365 days of the year," she said during an address at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where her father was once a pastor.

King said she is "exhausted, exasperated, and, frankly, disappointed" to hear elected officials repeat her father's words but "not set aside politics" to end police brutality and voter suppression. "He was God's prophet sent to this nation and even the world to guide us and forewarn us," she said. "A prophetic word calls for an inconvenience because it challenges us to change our hearts, our minds, and our behavior. Dr. King, the inconvenient King, puts some demands on us to change our ways."

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who leads the Ebenezer Baptist Church and is Georgia's first Black senator, said Martin Luther King Jr. was both a civil rights and faith leader, and "faith was the foundation upon which he did everything he did. You don't face down dogs and water hoses because you read Nietzsche or Niebuhr. You gotta tap into that thing, that God he said he met anew in Montgomery when someone threatened to bomb his house and kill his wife and his new child. He left the comfort of a filter that made the whole world his parish," and his faith became "the creative weapon of love and nonviolence."

Warnock was born in 1969, the year after King was assassinated. He said the two senators representing Georgia at the time were segregationists, with one loving "the Negro" as long as he was "in his place at the back door." There has been progress, though, and "because of what Dr. King and because of what you did ... I now sit in his seat," Warnock said.

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"Rikers: An Oral History," by Graham Rayman and Reuven Blau (Random House)

In these times, when people disagree about seemingly everything, just about everyone interviewed for this book concurs on the thesis: the New York City jails on Rikers Island stand as a failure in every way.

For inmates, a stay at Rikers can be harrowing. Inmate-on-inmate attacks are common  a buck fifty in Rikers parlance is a razor slash that requires 150 stitches to close.

How do blades get in? The same way drugs, phones and weapons infiltrate  visitors, incoming inmates and friendly guards. Gangs often emerge as the governance inside.

Rats, mice and roaches infest the place. The smells of vomit, body odor, urine and feces are pervasive. Medical care is uneven at best.

The mentally ill  estimated to be 40 percent of the jail population  suffer the most, preyed on by the stronger inmates and often relegated to solitary confinement.

This book presents the experiences of inmates, staff, lawyers and groups who work with those incarcerated at Rikers. Some held there plead guilty, even if they are innocent, just to get out of the nightmare, said Soffiyah Elijah, executive director of the Alliance of Families for Justice.

Staff, up to and including wardens, offer some of the most compelling critiques.

A corrections officer  the authors say those staffers hate the term guard  said he beat an inmate for an hour, including flushing the toilet while holding the inmates head in the bowl  all because the inmate disrespected him.

At 425 pages, the sheer number of voices in the book sometimes become repetitive and the speakers sometimes are incoherent. Nonetheless, the assembly of testimony presents a powerful portrait of a failed institution. The city had said it plans to close the facility by 2027.

Will the book foster some original thinking on what to do with people arrested, awaiting trial, unable to raise bail, serving sentences for relatively minor crimes or convicted of serious crimes and not yet transferred to state prison?

Story continues

Political will certainly seems missing in action.

Perhaps the most telling conclusion, and call to action, comes early on in the book: No one comes out of Rikers better than they entered.

You internalize the dehumanization (and) thats how you treat other people, said Eddie Rosario, who spent part of 1990 at Rikers. Youre never the same person again.
Photo: The Canadian Press European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

Senior members of the European Unions parliament conceded Tuesday that a corruption scandal ravaging the assemblys reputation could have happened to any political group, as Belgian prosecutors focus on lawmakers and an assistant from the main center-left bloc.

The leaders of a number of political groups in the European Parliament said that corruption inside the house  the EUs only publicly-elected institution  is almost impossible to stop, particularly if its carried out by a few determined members with criminal intent.

German lawmaker Manfred Weber, leader of the conservative European Peoples Party (EPP)  parliaments largest bloc  said the cash-for-influence affair has caused huge damage for the reputation of this house. He insisted, however, that this scandal is not a party political issue.

So far, six people are suspected of links to a crime gang paid by Qatar and Morocco to influence parliamentary decisions. Both countries reject the allegations. The accused include Greek Socialist and Democrats lawmaker Eva Kaili and her boyfriend Francesco Giorgi, an assistant to another S&D member.

The S&D forms the second biggest group in the 705-seat assembly. Prosecutors want the parliamentary immunity of two group lawmakers lifted. Others have resigned from senior posts. A long-serving political advisor was also suspended over serious misconduct related to the ongoing judicial investigation.

Parliament President Roberta Metsola has unveiled an overhaul of the assemblys rules, aiming to prevent former lawmakers from lobbying on behalf of businesses or governments soon after they leave office and to make publicly available the names of current members who violate the code.

Metsola also seeks tougher controls on all lobbyists and the public listing of any meetings that lawmakers may have with them. Spot checks would be introduced on lawmakers financial disclosures and their links to any country outside the 27-nation EU.

But its unclear whether the reforms can change old, bad habits. Current rules are already routinely ignored. Cases of foreign funded travel continue without members declaring the paid trips, and few lawmakers signal when they are given gifts worth more than 150 euros ($163), as they must do.

There is a lot of readiness when there are a lot of journalists looking at what is happening, but very quickly, when the media attention has gone, also the willingness to implement reforms is gone, Greens group leader Terry Reintke told reporters in Strasbourg, France.

Manon Aubry, leader of the far-left group known as The Left, acknowledged that any new rules meant to discourage offenders must be enforced. Without a stick, there will be deputies who continue to sell themselves and to sell democracy, she said.

In any case, Reintke said, curbing influence-peddling by a determined few is extremely difficult. Things like what we have seen with Eva Kaili  even when you have more transparency  if you have this amount of criminal energy you probably cannot 100% prevent them from happening, she said.

Kaili was removed as parliament vice president last month after she was jailed on suspicion of corruption, money laundering and membership of a criminal organization. The S&D has nominated Luxembourg lawmaker Marc Angel to replace her. A vote will be held on the matter on Wednesday.

The Greens will not support him. Theyre promoting French member Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield instead.

So far, opposition groups have mostly avoided taking cheap shots at the S&D, which is in the process of launching an independent inquiry. Lawmakers, advisors and parliament insiders concede that the corruption scandal  the biggest to hit the EU  could well have struck any party.

Nonetheless, the group does have a special responsibility to take action. The Socialists must be more committed to solve the problem and that is not yet the case, said Weber, the EPP leader.

Asked by The Associated Press whether she could have done more to stop S&D lawmakers from going astray, or voting against party policy, before the scandal came to light, group President Iratxe Garcia Perez said: Im sure we could have done something, but we need to know what it is that we could have done.

The challenge, she said, is in distinguishing misconduct from legitimate duties. If were constantly second guessing why a person voted one way or not, because there might be some possible link to corruption, then our work becomes impossible, Garcia said.

President Metsola hopes to have the new access and lobbying rules in place within a month.
(Reuters) - Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said late on Monday that British Foreign Minister James Cleverly, who has been sanctioned by Moscow over Ukraine, is yet to answer for his support of Kyiv.

Cleverly said on Monday he had been sanctioned by the Russian government and added that if that were the price for supporting Ukraine - he was happy to be sanctioned.

"Dear James, you don't understand," Zakharova wrote on her Telegram messaging app. "This is for the anti-Russian course and personal sanctions. But you still have to answer for the support of the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazism."

Russia framed its invasion of Ukraine as a battle against Nazism but Kyiv and its allies say this is a lie used to justify an unprovoked, imperialist land grab.

Britain said on Saturday it would send 14 of its Challenger 2 main battle tanks as well as other advanced artillery support in the coming weeks in what could be the first shipment of Western-made tanks to Ukraine.

(Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Michael Perry)
Re. B. Moores letter Unhappy with Strata Act (Castanet, Jan. 16)

I agree with B. Moore that (B.C. Premier) David Eby's knee-jerk reaction to put together ill-conceived changes to the Strata Property Act is a total disgrace.

Nothing was mentioned during his tenure as housing minister, but then again he didn't do much anyways. Now as premier, he feels he can dictate whatever he wants.

Basically his changes are outright trespassing on our private property, which I am sure is illegal if challenged in the courts. There was no chance for the Opposition to speak about the changes as the premier closed discussion and the Legislature for the Christmas break immediately after a quick vote on the changes.

Where is our democracy going if this premier thinks he can thwart all discussion at will?

I am sure he would argue vigorously if the City of Vancouver decided to reduce their carbon footprint by creating a community garbage bin on his wide driveway for the neighbourhood to use in an effort to reduce the multiple bins lined up on the streets.

Our 16-unit self-managed townhouse strata has been around for 28 years. All current and previous residents wanted to live here because it is a quiet retirement community. Everyone pitches in to help with maintenance.

Opening up our complex to a Lower Mainland investor who would find our $500,000 and less units very desirable as rental units will create a major headache for all of us. Renters do not have any interest in maintaining the property. The landlord could care less as any losses are tax deductible. We then would have to apply to Residential Tenancy Branch. which has long been known for slow, meaningless action against renters. Thank you very much Mr. Eby.

Does the government even care? I wrote to the newly appointed parliamentary secretary for Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, who happens to be the MLA for Vernon-Monashee, and she could care less about this issue her government has created for seniors throughout the province. I guess as an up and comer, she doesn't want to rock the boat.

I have also written to the premier's office and the new housing minister's office twice. You guessed it, no acknowledgement or reply. Total arrogance.

We have just had our special meeting to approve the creation of a 55-plus bylaw to protect our age limit. It is now at the lawyers for processing. However, we cannot stop rentals, so that only prevents one aspect of the problems. We have also passed a motion to create a no short-term rental bylaw to prevent AirBnB's operating in our complex.

It should be noted, the housing minister said the government did not think the 55-plus bylaws would be that prevalent in the community, as most complexes would not be able to muster the 75% approval to make the change.

Is a class action law suit needed to force the government to retract their aggressive changes to the Strata Property Act?

Are the housing minister and the premier prepared to attend a public meeting in the Okanagan to listen to the people? I doubt it, as we would not be able to provide the executive lunches and dinners that a meeting with rich landlords in the Lower Mainland could provide them.

It is often said people have a very low respect for our elected officials. This is one example of why we feel that way.

L. Thachuk, Armstrong
Anthony Scaramucci detailed his close relationship with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, his family, and how he felt after the extent of the FTX collapse came to light during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"I had a close relationship with [Sam Bankman-Fried], I considered him a friend," Scaramucci said during Casper Labs Blockchain Hub event. "So I have to tell you that the betrayal and fraudit's bad on a lot of different levels. It certainly hurt me reputationally."

While getting to know Bankman-Fried, Scaramucci said he also got to know his father, who was a tenured professor at Stanford Law School, and worked on a charity with Bankman-Frieds aunt. He also recalled traveling to Miami with Bankman-Fried and Shark Tanks Kevin OLeary, a former FTX spokesman, to host a mock Shark Tank for children.

I felt close to him, and I felt close to his family, he said.

Scaramucci Backs Former FTX US Execs New Crypto Venture: Report

Scaramucci, co-founder and managing partner of investment management firm SkyBridge Capital, told the audience that while he did not want to call FTX out for fraud in the past, he felt comfortable doing so now.

If anybody here has read Dante Alighieris Inferno, you know what the ninth circle of Hell is reserved for, Scaramucci said. Its for the betrayal of a friend who lives with the devilthe ninth circle of hell on the frozen lake, he said.

Despite the dark imagery, Scaramucci said that Bankman-Fried's actions don't mean the end of blockchain or crypto.

"That's why we have blockchain and crypto, because we're trying to create a decentralized situation where we don't have to like or trust each other," he said. "We can transact with each other in a way where the technology basically sanctifies."

"I am not going to stop the risk taking," he added, wrapping up the panel that was titled, "Not for the Faint of Heart: Reflecting on Decades of Wins, Losses, Bulls & Bears."

Story continues

SkyBridge's Scaramucci to SBF: 'Tell the Truth'

On November 11, 2022, FTX and several of its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy, days after a bank run on its FTT token. The following month, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States to face eight conspiracy counts.

Before his arrest, Bankman-Fried made several appearances, including an interview with New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin at the 2022 Deal Book Summitagainst his attorney's wishesduring which he attempted to explain the situation and apologize.

"I thought Sam was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto, I did not think he was the Bernie Madoff of crypto," Scaramucci said. "I got it wrong."

Before the collapse of FTX, Bankman-Fried offered bailouts to several crypto firms as the 2022 crypto winter dragged on. "The reason that I have been doing it, frankly, is because it doesn't seem clear to me that there are others who are stepping up and doing that," Bankman-Fried said during an interview on the Decrypt GM Podcast.

In September 2022, two months before FTX filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, FTX Ventures bought a 30% stake in Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital, worth around $45 million. At the time, Scaramucci's tone was more amicable towards the former billionaire, who now faces life in prison if found guilty on all charges.

"Sam is a visionary who has built incredible businesses that are synergistic with the future of SkyBridge," Scaramucci said at the time.
(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said hes in talks with allies over potentially supplying heavy tanks to Ukraine, but cautioned that any announcements would have to come in lockstep with others.

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I am always thinking about the situation, Scholz said in an interview on Tuesday with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait. We always act together with our allies and friends  we never go alone.

Scholz has been under pressure from allies to send German-made heavy Leopard battle tanks to Kyiv in the event that fighting intensifies in the spring. The chancellor has been criticized for his cautiousness as he held back from supplying heavy weapons, arguing that would risk provoking Russian President Vladimir Putin into escalating his conflict in Ukraine.

The chancellor won some respite earlier this month with an agreement to send 40 Marder combat vehicles and a Patriot air-defense system to Ukraine as part of a joint announcement with the US, yet the calls for more powerful Leopard tanks have continued.

Read More: Scholz Sees Germany Riding Out War in Ukraine Without Recession

We are supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary with all the means that we can use, Scholz said, adding that the aim is to avoid that this is going to be a war between Russia and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The UK on Saturday became the first country to confirm it will send its battle tanks to Ukraine, and European officials who deal with Berlin have said they expect Germany to follow suit in the near future. The government is expected to make a decision on tanks ahead of a meeting of senior defense officials from allied nations on Friday at the US airbase in Ramstein, Germany.

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Russias Move

Scholz emphasized that Russia must withdraw its troops from Ukraine in order for any negotiations to happen, and that Germany would support Kyiv for as long as necessary.

I am very happy that the Ukrainian president is ready for peace, Scholz said. Russia has to do something which they are as far as we see not ready to do and this is withdrawing troops  we are waiting for that.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine last year, the German chancellor abandoned Berlins postwar policy of not sending lethal weapons into combat zones and earmarked 100 billion euros ($108 billion) to modernize the armed forces on top of an increase in annual defense spending that is set to reach NATOs target of 2% of GDP next year.

The German government is in position to unlock dozens of German-made Leopard tanks for Ukraine, which could significantly boost Kyivs capabilities. Twelve other European countries have Leopards in their arsenals, but they need Berlins approval before they can transfer the tanks.

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Washington Post

Shannon Smith had been to Bali before, but it was her first trip back since the pandemic. This time, the Cairns, Australia, resident had come to Indonesia's "Island of the Gods" for a work conference in Nusa Dua, a resort hub at Bali's southern tip. While bouncing between Nusa Dua and popular tourist areas such as Kuta and Seminyak, Smith, who works in hotel management, noticed a few changes. There was more traffic on the roads, fewer visitors from Asia and more Russians. But the Balinese people
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are set to test each others mettle as they battle over the debt limit, government funding and the 2024 election.

The two leaders dont have much of a personal relationship, according to congressional aides and strategists, and their working relationship is off to a rocky start, with Schumer accusing McCarthy and his House GOP colleagues of pushing an extreme agenda that would undercut womens health care and cut Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Despite the shots, Schumer is hoping to develop enough rapport with McCarthy to avoid a government shutdown and to pass a debt ceiling hike that would prevent a downgrading of the nations credit rating  or worse.

Bigger legislative deals are much less likely, as is a warmer working relationship.

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Theres been no reason up until now for them to have a relationship, said Rodell Mollineau, a Democratic strategist and former aide to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

He noted that it doesnt help McCarthy with his own GOP conference to be compromising with Schumer.

So openly and publicly having a good relationship with Schumer doesnt help him, Mollineau said.

McCarthy has developed a back channel relationship of sorts with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), according to GOP aides.

McCarthy and McConnell dont often make public appearances together, but aides say they have a good relationship and meet regularly.

A GOP leadership aide told The Hill the two leaders try to meet at least once every congressional work period and rotate meetings between their two offices, using a private hallway between the two chambers.

McConnell and McCarthy have repeatedly split in public over high-profile bills, such as the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, legislation to address gun violence after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, a $280 billion bill to help the domestic semi-conductor industry, and the year-end $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package.

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McConnell voted for all four major bills while McCarthy voted against all of them.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are seen during a ceremony on Tuesday, December 6, 2022 to present Congressional Gold Medals to police officers who served during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. (Greg Nash)

McCarthys relationship with Schumer will be far more complicated in the 118th Congress because the new Speaker doesnt have the same freedom he had in 2021 and 2022 to vote against bipartisan and must-pass bills.

Its always a balancing act when different parties control different chamber. Obviously there will be some things they have to get done, and thats a three-way relationship with President Biden, as well, said Mike Lux, a Democratic strategist.

If McCarthy refuses to put legislation on the House floor to raise the debt limit or fund the government that can also get 60 votes to pass the Senate, it could lead to a default or shutdown.

The problem for McCarthy is that if he brings a compromise bill to the House floor, it could trigger a snap vote on whether he remains as Speaker. McCarthy agreed to a rules package that allows just one conservative to force a vote on a new Speaker.

I think McCarthy is going to be extremely dysfunctional because his caucus is extremely dysfunctional and the [House] rules package is ridiculous, Lux said. Democrats are going to need to press on getting the things done that have to get done such as raising the debt limit and funding government and we cant expect to get done many other things.

McCarthy in a television interview Sunday pointed out that the new House GOP majority has already passed legislation, such as a bill to cancel $72 billion in funding to hire new Internal Revenue Service agents and beef up the agencys auditing power.

McCarthy told Foxs Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo that he would like to see Senate Democrats from Republican-leaning states put pressure on their leadership to bring the House-passed legislation to the Senate floor for a vote.

He called on Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who are up for re-election next year, and others who say theyre moderates to work with the House.

Schumer has shown an ability to partner with Republicans.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., walks through Statuary Hall for final passage of the Republican tax reform bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Democratic leader worked with Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who at the time was the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to introduce the Endless Frontier Act in 2020, which later became the basis for last years $280 billion Chips and Science Act.

Schumer told CNN in an interview Friday that he hopes the new House GOP majority will mellow over the next few months and mainstream Republicans in the lower chamber will look to strike deals with Senate Democrats and the White House.

I dont want to have them just investigate and pass the crazy bills led by a few extremists, he said. I do believe  not in the next two weeks but in the next few months  many of the mainstream Republicans when you talk to them privately, they despise what the MAGA folks have done, will come back and that gives McCarthy some ability to come back and negotiate and get some real things done for the American people.

At the same time, Schumer is counting on the most conservative members of the House to overplay their hands, giving his party plenty of material to use in the 2024 elections. Senate Democrats face a difficult map in that cycle.

Accordingly, Schumer is mixing entreaties for common ground with sharp attacks portraying the House GOP conference as controlled by extreme conservative ideologues.

Unfortunately, what weve seen this week from House Republicans is more chaos and ultra MAGA proposals, he write in a Dear Colleague letter circulated on Friday.

Schumer, Jeffries team takes shape

Schumer, Jeffries call on MAGA Republicans to avoid default

McCarthy weighs in on defense spending cuts amid GOP divisions

I want to work with Speaker McCarthy to get things done, but so far, House Republicans have been focused on delivering for wealthy special interests and the extreme win of their party, he wrote.

Some House Republicans are talking about increasing the age for when future Social Security and Medicare benefits kick in as well as changing benefits for beneficiaries in their early 50s and younger.

Democratic strategists say that will help Biden and Democrats up for reelection in tough states, such as Sens. Jon Tester (Mont.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Sherrod Brown (Ohio), in 2024.

Democratic strategists say Schumer and Biden are relying on the House GOP providing them plenty of political ammo heading into the presidential election.

The House Republicans are going to pass some crazy things on their side, things that are outside the mainstream, things that will offend independent voters, different constituencies and I think thats the way Democrats will play up the MAGA extremism, Mollineau said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of N.Y., speaks during New York Gov. Kathy Hochuls inauguration ceremony, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink)

Schumer pledged in his letter to colleagues that Senate Democrats will be a firewall against House Republican extremism, pointing to the House GOPs formation of a new powerful Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.

The Democratic leader argued the panel will undermine and threaten law enforcement and shows theyre more interested in defending Jan. 6th insurrectionists and carrying water for the disgraced former president than protecting democracy, referring to former President Trump.

Democratic strategists say, however, that Schumer and Senate Democratic committee chairmen have limited power to counter House GOP investigations of the Biden administration other than to invite Cabinet officials to the Senate to tell their side of the story.

Senate Democrats can help the administration fight back against the House GOP by utilizing hearings with Cabinet secretaries and administration officials to refute the narratives coming from the Republicans. Every hearing will be an opportunity for Senate Democrats to help the White House set the record straight, said Matt House, a Democratic strategist and former senior aide to Schumer.

Schumer, however, hasnt said whether he expects Democratic-controlled Senate committees to take up investigations into Trumps involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol or his personal business dealings.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Young Tibetan entrepreneurs committed to developing hometown

People's Daily Online) 07:50, January 17, 2023

Suonanmu Cairang holds a meeting with his team. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

"The reason why I started a business is not to make big money, but to promote the development of my hometown based on the new development philosophy". After graduating from college in Chongqing, Suonanmu Cairang, a Tibetan man, returned to his hometown in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province to start a business instead of working at his college.

Before he started his business, he prepared by working in local internet, finance and tax companies. In 2017, he received investment by a Fortune 500 company to set up a technology enterprise in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which marked the start of his business journey. He brought his team with him to several cities and counties to carry out promotion work and expand the market. His enterprise then became the first Alibaba cooperative service provider in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

"The government's support is crucial to innovation and entrepreneurship," he said. Governments at all levels in China have introduced many preferential policies for small and micro enterprises. With the help of the local government, his team enjoyed three years of not having to pay rent. As a member of the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Youth Chamber of Commerce, interpretation of taxation and other related laws and policies are provided to help his enterprise.

His enterprise has become the service provider of intelligent offices for many government departments and enterprises in the prefecture, and received a number of accolades.

Gannan Youth Chamber of Commerce helps students in need. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

Combining Gannan culture with products to showcase the beauty of Tibetan culture from a modern perspective was the original aspiration for Tibetan Ning Shaoxian when he created the cultural and creative brand BOOJIA.

This post-90s entrepreneur and his team designed a wide range of products such as Tibetan lithographs, cultural and creative lipstick, backpacks with Tibetan characteristics, and Tibetan postcards to popularize Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Ning is also the director of the Youth Chamber of Commerce in the prefecture, which was founded in December 2018, a platform that offers resource exchanges and free consultations to young entrepreneurs and enterprises.

In recent years, the Youth Chamber of Commerce has taken on its social responsibilities, helping in poverty alleviation and setting up a long-term student aid foundation at a local primary school.

Ning hopes that all young entrepreneurs can join hands and pool their wisdom, and work together to realize their entrepreneurial dreams.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Du Mingming)
Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tours the Vital Metals rare earth elements processing plant in Saskatoon during a media event on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the Prime Minister's Office has apologized for leaving him off the invite list. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office has apologized for not informing him about a visit to the province this week.

Trudeau was in Saskatoon on Monday to tour a rare earth elements processing plant along with the city's mayor, Charlie Clark.

The premier was not on the invite list.

Moe complained on Twitter, calling the snub "disappointing" since the federal and provincial governments see eye-to-eye on the development of critical and rare earth minerals.

"The province was left off the list for reasons I don't know. Are my feelings hurt by this? No, certainly not. But this is a missed opportunity," he said Monday.

Moe told reporters in Regina that he wanted to "briefly" speak with Trudeau about further investments on rare earth elements in Saskatchewan and net-zero emissions strategies for processing plants.

Trudeau's office later apologized for not informing him of the visit to the province ahead of time, the premier said.

When asked about the tweet on Monday, Trudeau said there have been many opportunities to make announcements with Moe over the years.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office said Tuesday they have "nothing further to add."

Moe said he found out Trudeau was visiting Vital Metals in Saskatoon through the media on Monday morning, and that he would have attended the tour if he was invited.

"I got up and read the newspaper and was like, 'Whoa'," Moe said.

"When I go to Ottawa, I let the prime minister know I'm going to be in Ottawa. He can do the same."

Critical minerals were among the issues Trudeau, U.S. President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador discussed during a summit last week in Mexico.

Moe said that Trudeau "likely would have been informed" about a discussion between Saskatchewan and the U.S. on the same topic.

In December, Moe traveled to Washington, D.C., and met with several members of the Biden administration to discuss North American energy security.

Moe called the lack of co-operation a "missed opportunity" and said that "the perception of a provincial government and federal government not getting along isn't the way it should be."

Ottawa has signalled it wants Canada to become a global competitor in the market for rare earth elements used in products such as cell phones, televisions, computers, automobiles, wind turbines and jet aircrafts.

Canada has some of the largest known reserves of such metals in the world, said Natural Resources Canada, many of which are found in Saskatchewan.

China is currently the world's largest producer of rare earth elements, accounting for almost 60 per cent of global annual production, with most of the remaining 40 per cent shared between the U.S., Myanmar, Australia and Madagascar, the department said.

The premier wasn't the only one who described being snubbed by Trudeau's Saskatchewan visit on Monday.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations said it was dismayed that Trudeau did not visit Star Blanket Cree Nation, which reported last week that it found more than 2,000 anomalies in the ground near a former residential school site, including what is believed to be a fragment of a child's jawbone.

Trudeau said he spoke with the First Nation's chief on Friday to offer support from the federal government as the community seeks "healing and closure."
MUNCIE, Ind.  U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., visited Monday with area GOP officials at Republican headquarters in Muncie, talking about the future, including his effort to be elected Indiana governor in 2024.

Braun met with elected Republicans from Delaware, Madison and Henry counties Monday afternoon to talk about ongoing business in the U.S. Senate and listen to concerns as he campaigns to be elected governor as Gov. Eric Holcomb ends his second term next year.

Braun filed paperwork to run for governor in November. Two other Republicans have already announced a run to become Indiana's chief executive in 2024, including Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden. Holcomb cannot run for governor again due to term limits. He has been mentioned as a likely candidate for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Braun.

Mayor Dan Ridenour (left) and Council Member Ro Selvey (center) listen as U.S. Senator Mike Braun (right) talks about issues facing the U.S. Senate. Braun, R-Indiana, visited Muncie Monday as his campaign for Indiana Governor in 2024 gets underway in earnest.

Braun told the Star Press that his campaign for governor already has about the same amount of money as his two opponents. Earlier this month, Crouch said she has $3.1 million so far for her run. Braun's campaign reported $2.9 million and the Doden campaign reported $2.8 million.

Braun said he can use funds collected when he was considered a likely candidate for re-election to the Senate instead in his run for governor.

"I believe in term limits," Braun said of his decision to to not seek a second term.

He had planned to seek re-election to the Senate and serve one more term, but said he thinks he can accomplish more as governor than dealing with the way government works in Washington, D.C.

"You have to ask yourself where would your time be better spent," he said.

He said it takes "political backbone" to stand up and even address some issues in Washington. Important matters, such as fixing problems with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, don't get properly dealt with because the slightest mention of reform results in the opposition saying you are taking these things away, when that is not the case.

Braun said the problems can be fixed. Washington just "has to be run and managed better."

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The businessman from Jasper built a business distributing auto parts. He owns Meyer Distributing, which is operated by his children, but "they come to me for advice" every so often.

The company now employs about 1,500 people. He began his political career as a school board member.

It's important that issues regarding education, including what will be taught in schools, be managed at the state level, he said.

There are a number of people interested in replacing Braun in the U.S. Senate. In addition to Gov. Holcomb, who has not said if he will run, U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said Tuesday he was running for Braun's spot. Banks is a conservative who represents much of Northeast Indiana.

U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., has expressed an interest is running for the U.S. Senate. She represents much of East Central Indiana, including Muncie.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Sen. Braun huddles with local GOP as bid for governor gains traction
Jan. 16CHEYENNE  In hopes of addressing health care provider shortages and increasing access to mental health services, health care advocates pushed for two compact bills to move forward.

They were among the majority of stakeholders to testify Monday in the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee, which worked on the two pieces of legislation throughout the morning. Both bills passed the committee 3-2, with Laramie County Republican Sens. Lynn Hutchings and Anthony Bouchard voting no.

Senate File 10 was the first bill considered, and it is designed to increase the number of licensed professional counselors who can practice in-state. Wyoming would enter into an agreement with 16 other states, and counselors could "exercise multistate licensure privilege in other states" that are part of the compact. This would apply to both in-person and telehealth care.

"Our professional counselors would not bring this to you if they didn't feel confident that it was good for Wyoming, and good for our people," said Vicki Swenson, a member of the Wyoming National Alliance on Mental Illness Board.

Health care advocates said the compact would attract more counselors to the state, as well as give rural health care providers the opportunity to stay.

Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers Executive Director Andi Summerville told lawmakers that rural health care providers are difficult to retain because they can't build a thriving private practice in a very small area, and the "burden of getting licenses in other states to be able to do telehealth sometimes is prohibitive."

"This would allow some of those therapists in those rural communities to be able to provide services out of state and build out that practice," she said. "That is a huge benefit for our community mental health centers to be able to actually have physical folks in those communities."

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AARP Wyoming Director Tom Lacock also argued in support of the bill, and said the compact maintains the rights of the state's existing mental health licensure boards and the Legislature's power to determine who is able to practice, while also allowing for multiple delivery methods.

"For our members, access to care through telehealth means choices and independence, from issues such as weather, transportation or lack of providers in their own communities," he said. "We know the nation's older Americans have taken to telehealth visits, which previously only reimbursed when the visit originated from another physician's office."

While all of the testimony on the bill was positive and came from a variety of health care organizations, there were still concerns voiced by Hutchings and Bouchard.

"One of the things I find troubling is that this is not like a compact where we're bringing in mechanics to fix cars, doctors or dentists to work on teeth. This is psychology," Hutchings said. "This is dealing with our minds and the souls of the people in Wyoming. And as guardians of the people's liberties and their monies, and what we set forth as laws, it's important to me to do the right thing."

Hutchings said entering the compact with "God knows how many other states," who may be more liberal-minded or have unique issues, would give them the power to make rules and create a bylaw.

Wyoming Counseling Association representative Lindsay Simineo and Sen. Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, testified that this would not be the case.

Counselors who practiced in Wyoming would have to follow the state's rules and statutes.

"We believe it increases public safety for two reasons," said Simineo. "It lets those within the compact be on notice of what our state statutes are, and what our rules are, as well as we get to participate in that interstate database. We get to know who's in the database, who's practicing where and if there are any bad actors."

Pappas assured Hutchings that passing the bill would only clarify how the compact would operate and its limits, not change any Wyoming state law. He said he "didn't see where this fear of them being able to change something in Wyoming law is coming from. I just don't see that, because it can't happen."

Similar concerns were introduced by Hutchings when it came to Senate File 26, the other compact bill passed by the Senate Labor Committee. Despite pushback from the two Cheyenne lawmakers, it passed, as well.

The Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact authorizes psychologists not licensed in Wyoming to provide temporary in-person and telemedicine services for residents, which advocates argued would increase access to needed services.

"This compact is not about standard of care. It's not about limiting access. It is about licensure, and increasing the opportunity for access to care, and as well as for providers to easily practice across state lines," said Tammy Perrault, a representative from the Department of Defense State Liaison Office. "And that's why we at the Department of Defense support this and all other compacts."

Both bills passed the full Senate on first reading Monday and must get two more votes of support to move on to the House.

Jasmine Hall is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's state government reporter. She can be reached by email at jhall@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3167. Follow her on Twitter @jasminerhphotos and on Instagram @jhrose25.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic asked Russia to stop recruiting mercenaries in Serbia for the war in Ukraine.

Vucic criticized Russian websites and social media groups that publish recruitment ads by Russian state-backed mercenary company Wagner Group, a private army of tens of thousands which has played a prominent role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Serbian legislature bans its citizens from participating in foreign conflicts.

Why do you, from Wagner, call anyone from Serbia when you know that it is against our regulations? Vucic said on Serbian television on Jan. 17.

The Ukrainian National Resistance Center, an organization operated by Ukraine's Special Forces, stated that Russia gets the bulk of its mercenaries from the Balkans. A key recruiter is Serbian sniper Deyan Berich, who has fought for Russia since 2014.
Lauren Boebert has been lambasted for a tweet in which she quoted Dr Martin Luther King on the federal holiday honouring his legacy.

The far-right Colorado Republican tweeted a quote from Dr King on Monday.

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy, Ms Boebert tweeted, quoting Dr King from his 1963 book Strength to Love.

On this day, we remember his incredible legacy and contributions to this great nation, she said.

It didnt take long for Twitter users to slam Ms Boebert for invoking the memory of Dr King.

Your party is literally seeking to ban the teaching of his speeches in public schools, Lauren, Charlotte Clymer wrote.

They wont be able to remember his legacy when people like you want to ban schools from teaching children about it because you think it teaches them to hate America, Lauren, Twitter user Jax Persists wrote.

Several Twitter users used quotes by Dr King to criticise the GOP lawmaker.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death, Christian Christensen tweeted.

Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all Gods children, he added in another quotation of the civil rights leader, also noting that Dr King said that the evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.

The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed matter: the guaranteed incomeThe curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization he added in a separate quote.

Malynda Hale responded to Ms Boebert, tweeting that using his words to push your narrative that he would be vehemently against is really something.

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#MLK would be revolted by you, Alex Skolnick said. Either do a 180 and start behaving in a manner that reflects someone at least remotely aware of what he stood for (unlikely) or just stop. Full stop.

I cant begin to imagine what King would have to say about your crimes against the people of this country, political science professor Cynthia Boaz tweeted.

There is no way she doesnt see the sick irony, right? You shouldnt speak his name, much less use his words, North Carolina Democrat Erik Davis wrote.

California Democratic US Representative Robert Garcia tweeted that it was insane to me that extremists like Lauren Boebert, who are trying to destroy the social safety net, are quoting Dr King.

Truly one of the most get his name out of your mouth tweets on this day of MLK Jr remembrance, Jeff Yang wrote.

Which member of your staff put this out for you? I find it very hard to believe you could ever possibly know anything that Dr Martin Luther King had to say. You stand for everything he fought against. Shame on you, Twitter user Sandra Dee Bonadonna said.
The parents of a teenager say she graduated high school early and was headed out of state with her boyfriend to start a new life.

Now the teen and her boyfriend are dead after police say a wrong-way driver hit and killed them.

The teens mother told Channel 2s Tom Jones that it was a drunk driver who hit them.

They were just starting their lives, Tracie Lester said about her daughter Rylee Lester, 18, and her boyfriend Sebastian Arnold, 23.

Lester shared video that Rylee shot as she and Sebastian drove from Georgia headed for a new life in Oklahoma last week, Rylee loved imitating dogs and cats.

Woof, woof, woof. Meow, she said to the camera as Sebastian urged her to do it again.

The two were having so much fun as they traveled to their new homes. Four hours later both Rylee and Sebastian were dead.

She was my baby, Rylees mom said through tears.

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Lester said Rylee graduated early from high school in December. Sebastian was in school in Oklahoma and Rylee was joining him to attend school there, too.

As they drove through Arkansas on Interstate 40 around 2 a.m., tragedy struck.

This driver on the expressway going the wrong direction, and he was drunk. And they hit head on, is what Lester said police told her.

Rylee and Sebastian were killed. The driver was taken to the hospital.

Rylees mother is urging drivers, if you have too much to drink, put your keys down.

Call somebody. Theres no reason to get behind the wheel, Lester said.

Rylees parents told Jones that their hearts are broken.

Lester hangs on to the last words she said to her daughter before she left for Oklahoma.

And I just remember telling her that shes all I ever wanted. That I was so proud of her, Lester said.

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Funeral services for Sebastian were held Wednesday. Rylees funeral is Friday.

To help Rylees family with funeral expenses. CLICK HERE.

IN OTHER NEWS:
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Human rights groups urged Sri Lanka's government to release a prominent student activist who was arrested five months ago during anti-government protests triggered by the country's worst economic crisis and has been held without charges under harsh anti-terrorism laws.

Wasantha Mudalige was brought before a magistrate in Colombo on Tuesday who ordered him to be remanded until Jan. 31.

Seven human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, said that under the powerful Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has been used since 1979, courts routinely deny bail if it's opposed by the attorney general.

Mudalige is the convenor of the Inter-University Students Federation and was involved in months of anti-government demonstrations last year. The protesters demanded wide-ranging reforms to resolve the economic crisis that caused severe shortages of essential goods, fuel and medicine after Sri Lanka defaulted on its massive debt.

The protests culminated in the flight and resignation of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after thousands of people stormed his residence in July.

His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, initiated talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package that is contingent on reforms and debt restructuring. Wickremesinghe's government also gave sweeping powers to the authorities to crack down on the protests, arresting scores of activists.

Rights groups say the military has sought to curtail protests through intimidation, surveillance and arbitrary arrests since Wickremesinghe took office in July.

Many of those detained have been released on bail, but the rights group say authorities have used extraordinary powers to keep Mudalige in detention despite having produced no evidence of his involvement in terrorism.

The groups said in a statement Monday that for much of the time, Mudalige has been held in solitary confinement and poor conditions, which can violate the prohibition on torture or other ill-treatment under international human rights law.

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Mudalige was also arrested and jailed for more than three months in 2021 after protesting for the right to free education.

For months, opposition lawmakers, rights and student activists have been demanding the release of Mudalige and an end to the government crackdown on demonstrations linked to the economic crisis.

Government spokespeople did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Mudalige.

The rights groups also urged the government to repeal the anti-terror law, which allows for up to a year of detention without charge on the orders of the defense minister, a position currently held by Wickremesinghe.

In March, the government introduced some reforms to the anti-terror law. However, opposition and rights groups called them cosmetic and said the law still allows the detention of suspects without warrants and the use of confessions obtained through torture. They say the law, introduced during the countrys civil war in 1979, has been widely abused, causing a large number of innocent people to spend years in prison without trial.

Wickremesinghe was elected by Parliament to complete Rajapaksas term, which ends in 2024. He is unpopular because he is supported by lawmakers who are still backed by the Rajapaksa family, which ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades. Many accuse Wickremesinghe of protecting the Rajapaksas, who are widely blamed for corruption and misrule that led to the crisis.

Sri Lanka is effectively bankrupt and has suspended repayment of nearly $7 billion in foreign debt due this year pending the outcome of talks with the IMF. The countrys total foreign debt exceeds $51 billion, of which $28 billion has to be repaid by 2027.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A 69-year-old man has been convicted of a 2021 sexual assault that occurred while he was driving for Uber.

The assault happened on an August 2021 trip from Vancouver to Coquitlam. During the drive, Mohammed Abu Sayed sexually assaulted his female passenger, who was 21 at the time.

"(He) was given a six-month conditional sentence that includes two months house arrest, followed by 18 months of probation," states the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) in a press release.

During his probation, he's banned from driving for any ride-share services, taxis, limousines, or similar services. He's also been banned from any place minors are prohibited by a liquor license, including bars, liquor stores, and pubs.
Jan. 17Beginning on Wednesday, Hawaii lawmakers will start mulling what they think we need.

Beginning on Wednesday, Hawaii lawmakers will start mulling what they think we need.

Whatev.

What we really want is to legalize some form of gambling in Hawaii.

Oh, we can tsk-tsk here and tsk-tsk there. But most of us love to gamblefinancially, emotionally, pridefully.

We bet on golf holes, on birth announcements ("who had 7 pounds, 2 ounces ?"), on Merrie Monarch performances.

We drool, like Pavlov's dog, when we hear the "Wheel ... of ... Fortune " chant a minute after Joe Moore's sign-off.

There's a reason the Omni de-boarding area at Harry Reid International Airport has rows of wheelchairs, like an Indy start. Retired local folks will find a way to Vegas to play the double-bonus poker machines.

Free tacos are the reason University of Hawaii basketball fans root for that 62nd point.

It starts when we're young ("last one in is a rotten egg ") and goes to get-off-my-lawn age. At my late mother's assisted-living complex, residents would play bingo for canned goods. Nothing like the humming of "We Are the Champions " while hoisting corned beef or Spam.

Newspapers print point spreads. It was Football Fever, not just their rugged attractiveness, why the mugs of sports editor Curtis Murayama and columnist Dave Reardon appeared weekly during the fall.

One of the most clipped features in a sports section is the NCAA Tournament bracket.

Our need to wager is why a lifelong 49ers fan will root for a Ram and his fantasy-football points. It is why Auntie uses her mind's abacus to calculate the number of M &M's in a jar at the baby shower. It is why the okole-dialing uncle can figure out how to use his iPhone stopwatch to time the national anthem at the Super Bowl party. (Easy-money tip : Always bet the "over " when anybody from "The Voice " sings.)

Legalizing gambling would create a symbiotic partnership. Winning participants would get a rush, the state would get moolah from taxes and the juice. The revenue could go toward public schools, the University of Hawaii, affordable-housing construction, assisting the homeless, patching our streets ...

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Constituents are reasonable people, and we know there should be limits. While the two lawmakers propose making sports betting and poker legal on Oahu, this is a way to make it work :Gambling in Hawaii should be limited to sports betting.

While lotteries and scratch-off could produce more revenue for the state, the number of winners would be lower. Because we're a crab-in-the-bucket society, we wouldn't cheer for the neighbor who wins the lotto jackpot, anyway. Sports-only wagering eliminates the envy factor. By not including table games, there would be no need to build casinos. And poker should be kept as an activity among friends, where trading lies and pulling off bluffs are greater rewards than the pot.Implement a betting cap.

One of the arguments against gambling is to protect those susceptible to blowing their entire Friday paychecks by Friday night. Let's assume we're our braddah's keepera cap of, say, $200 a week, would curb outrageous betting. Wagers would be placed in person at one of the state-run facilities. Requiring a social-security number and valid ID would prevent using different names to circumvent the cap. Wagers also would be placed with a credit card, which would ensure betting within a person's meansand credit score. The credit-card company will tell you when you've bet enough. And the losers get to keep their kneecaps intact.No betting on Hawaii teams or individuals.

It's just better optics not to be able to wager on local high schools, the University of Hawaii, or Little League games. There's still Vegas for that.

Could some form of legal gambling work in Hawaii ? Probably.

Is it something many people would embrace ? You can bet on it.
Washington state is now trying to do away with the so-called Pink Tax or gender-based pricing, thanks to a group of high school students who have brought forward a new bill.

The Pink Tax refers to the idea that some products cost more for women than men, including razors, deodorant, body wash, feminine products and even car insurance.

A group of students from Lake Washington High School are behind the bill, which aims to ban gender-based pricing across the state. If the legislation passes, retailers would be unable to sell products or services at different prices based on gender.

In 2020, the Washington state legislature passed a bill that exempted sales and use taxes for feminine hygiene products.

The bill discussed in a public hearing on Monday would affect the pricing of many more products.

Past studies have found this issue disproportionately affects women, though it can happen to men as well, which is all the more reason to address it, said Gabrielle Heuer, a student at LWHS. To be clear, the intention of this law is not to needlessly regulate the economy, but rather to prevent discrimination.

A 2018 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office says no federal law currently prevents firms from charging different prices for mens and womens products.

While the office couldnt definitively conclude there was a Pink Tax on womens products, it did observe that womens versions of several types of personal care products sold at a statistically significant higher average price than versions of those products marketed towards men.

Some retailers have already taken action against gender-based pricing, including CVS, which said it plans to reduce prices on its store-brand menstrual products nationwide.

State Senator Manka Dhingra is sponsoring the bill, which is based on similar legislation previously passed in New York and California.

According to Dhingra, the law wouldnt affect products marketed to women with a legitimate reason to be more expensive, such as using more expensive ingredients.

There is absolutely no reason why one product should be more expensive than the other when they do not have different ingredients, said Dhingra. Frankly, we should be more inclusive than simply pink or blue.
The scene of what police said was an organized retail fraud outside the Ulta Beauty store at the Green Oak Village Place mall on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.

Five women have been charged in connection with an organized retail theft incident and police shooting at the Ulta Beauty store Thursday in Green Oak Township.

Prosecutors this week charged Shanel Webster, 29, Tirezah Scott, 50, Joya Williams, 36,  all of Detroit, and Laronda Chase, 25, and Kari Williams, 27, whose addresses are not clear, with multiple felonies in connection with the incident.

According to court records, Webster has been arraigned on 11 charges: organized retail crime, first-degree retail fraud, stolen property, uttering and publishing counterfeit bills or notes, assault with a dangerous weapon, two charges of fleeing a police officer in the third degree, two counts of assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer and two counts of malicious destruction of fire or police property. She is being held at the Livingston County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond.

Scott has been arraigned on five charges: organized retail crime, first-degree retail fraud, assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer, stolen property and deactivation/removal of a theft detection device. She is being held in the Livingston County Jail on a $250,000 bond.

Williams has been arraigned on four charges: organized retail crime, stolen property, first-degree retail fraud and driving while license was suspended/revoked/denied. She is being held in the Livingston County Jail with a $100,000 bond.

Chase and Williams were both arraigned on three charges: organized retail crime, stolen property and second-degree retail fraud. They have posted $100,000 bonds and are not currently in the Livingston County Jail.

All five women are all scheduled for probable cause conferences Jan. 31.

Livingston County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Carolyn Henry and Green Oak Township Deputy Police Chief Jason Pless could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The incident began when officers "responded to a report of four suspects, later determined to be five, who entered Ulta and were filling a bag with merchandise," at about 8 p.m., Green Oak police said in a press release.

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As officers arrived, one suspect fled on foot and was pursued by officers. Other suspects made it to two separate vehicles and were able to drive away.

One vehicle was stopped in the parking lot by officers, including Michigan State troopers.

While one trooper was attempting to arrest the woman who fled on foot, a vehicle involved drove directly at the trooper, according to Michigan State Police. The trooper fired his weapon at the vehicle and the car was struck, but no one was injured.

Then, the vehicle was stopped in the parking lot after colliding with the back of the Men's Wearhouse store in the mall.

State Police First District Public Information Officer Lt. Rene Gonzalez said there has been a string of incidents across the country at Ulta Beauty stores, but police did not yet know if this incident was connected. Ulta stores sell cosmetics and other beauty products.

Employees at the Ulta store declined to comment, but the company issued a statement.

"Organized retail crime impacts manufacturers, consumers, employees and communities," Ulta Beauty Director of Public Relations Crystal Carroll said in a statement Friday. "As our assortment, store footprint and brand awareness have grown, Ulta Beauty has increasingly become a target for these criminals."

Sophia Lada is a reporter for the Livingston Daily. Contact her at slada@gannett.com or 517-377-1065. Follow her on Twitter @sophia_lada.

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Suspects from Ulta robbery identified and arraigned on charges
Yury Martyanov/Kommersant Photo/AFP via Getty

LONDONSwitzerland will return millions of stolen dollars to sanctioned Russians accused of taking part in one of the worlds most notorious frauds, according to a court order seen by The Daily Beast.

The Swiss authorities have rejected an appeal against the decision to send back the stolen loot despite the knowledge that their investigation into the crime was corrupted by a Russian influence operation orchestrated by the notorious Trump Tower lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

Veselnitskaya held secret meetings with a consultant to the Swiss Federal Prosecutors Office who was fired and convicted after it emerged that he had been gifted luxury Russian vacationsincluding a bear hunting tripwhile he was working on the case. On one such trip he was joined by Swiss prosecutor Patrick Lamon and attorney general Michael Lauber, who posed for a photo together with senior Russian officials.

All three of the Swiss officials were involved in investigating the Magnitsky affair; a $230 million fraud uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky, who was jailed, beaten, and left to die in a prison cell after blowing the whistle on a massive tax scam against Hermitage Capital that implicated a number of Russia officials.

Since Magnitskys death, Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage, has led a global campaign for justice, which has succeeded in introducing anti-corruption sanctions laws in numerous countries including the U.S. and the U.K.

Several of the key players in the scam have since been sanctioned under those laws for playing a part in what many Western governments describe as a huge criminal conspiracy. An organised criminal group was involved in serious corruption through the misappropriation of the equivalent of $230m of Russian state property, according to the U.K. government.

The sanctioned individuals include Olga Stepanova, a senior Moscow tax official who signed off on documents relating to the fraud, and her husband, as well as Dmitry Klyuev, a banker who the U.K. government says planned the whole fraud.

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Trump Tower Lawyer Veselnitskaya Accused of Brand New Crime in Leaked Docs

All three of them will receive cash that was frozen in Switzerland by officials who were supposed to be tracing the stolen money.

Despite the conclusions made in London and Washington, D.C., Swiss authorities have gone along with Moscows claim that there was no criminal organization running the operation, which means they will not seize the totality of funds that have been traced from the frozen Swiss bank accounts to the massive fraud.

It would not have been possible to ascertain the existence of a criminal organization, or a gang involved in all the operations, reads a Swiss Federal Criminal Court Order issued on Nov. 23 and seen by The Daily Beast.

Switzerland will return 55 percent of the frozen funds to the Stepanovs, totaling $5.5 million, and 100 percent of the money frozen in Klyuevs account ($37,673).

They will also return 99 percent of the money traced to an account belonging to Denis Katsyv, the son of a Moscow government official, who was employing Veselnitskaya during her infamous attempt to lobby the Trump campaign back in 2016. She was in New York at the time as part of another trial related to the same $230 million fraud. Katsyv ultimately agreed to pay the U.S. $6 million to settle the suit which alleged he had laundered some of the stolen proceeds through his company Prevezon.

Veselnitskaya was later indicted for obstruction of justice when it emerged that she had secretly helped draft a supposedly independent statement from the Russian prosecutors office submitted to the court during the Prevezon case.

The Swiss, by contrast, are happy to send back $8.1 million to Katsyv.

The dilution of the forfeitures is part of the lax Swiss regulations on money laundering, which go against United Nations best practice and lessens the amount that can be seized every time the illicit cash is funneled through another account.

Mark Pieth, a former member of the G7s Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering and head of section on economic and organized crime at the Swiss Federal Office of Justice, said the way the punishment was watered down demonstrated the weakness of the Swiss system. In a nutshell the main challenge for Swiss prosecutors and courts is that they apply a theory that lets the forfeitable funds shrink continuously with every stage of laundering. The Swiss judiciary therefore privileges the cunning launderer, this on top of the general risks this country poses! he told The Daily Beast.

The court also deprived Hermitage of victim status in the case, which means the companys voice can no longer be heard in the process, even though Swiss officials originally said they had opened the probe because of the evidence presented to them by Hermitage.

Through this decision, Switzerland has truly gone to the dark side. At a time when everybody is coming down hard on Russia, the Swiss are moving in the other direction, Browder told The Daily Beast.

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As the country strengthens its forces against threats from China, Taiwans military has announced its plans to allow women in its reservist training for the first time.

On Tuesday, Taipeis defense ministry permitted about 200 discharged female soldiers to enroll in voluntary reservist training in the second quarter of this year as a means to bolster the nations forces.

This is the first year to include women in the reservists training so this year will be a trial program, Major General Yu Wen-cheng of the ministrys All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency said, according to Agence France-Presse. We will plan the training capacities according to the number of applicants.

More from NextShark: Air Force Veteran Beaten, Called 'Chinese Virus' in Unprovoked Attack in LA's Koreatown

According to Yu, the voluntary programs aim to strengthen the effectiveness of the retraining of reserve troops in combat skills to help improve the combat capabilities of reservists.

Taiwans first female leader, Tsai Ing-wen, noted that the extension of military service was needed to ensure the democratic way of life for our future generations.

No one wants war... but my fellow countrymen, peace will not fall from the sky, Tsai said.

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In December 2022, Taiwan said it would increase the four-month mandatory military service for men to one year, citing Chinas recent threats of military force.

Although women can volunteer to serve in the armed forces, only Taiwanese men are required to complete mandatory military service and reservist training.

Many military analysts have reportedly urged Taiwan to take additional measures to better prepare its civilian population for defense, including allowing women to train.

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Taiwan has been living under the constant fear of invasion as Beijing continues to claim Taipei as part of its territory.

China has vowed to seize the island one day, by force if necessary.

In recent years, Chinas threats have intensified under President Xi Jinping.

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Russias invasion of Ukraine has also exacerbated worries in the East Asian island as speculation has swirled that Beijing might move similarly.

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TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's economy likely expanded much more slowly in the fourth quarter compared to the prior quarter due to increased global economic headwinds denting demand for technology which is a key export, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) likely grew just 1.3% in October-December versus a year earlier, the poll of 20 economists shows, after it expanded 4.01% year-on-year in the third quarter.

Policymakers have said they expect full-year 2022 growth of around or less than 3%, slower than the 6.45% logged for 2021. That was the fastest rate in over a decade since it expanded 10.25% in 2010.

Economists' forecasts for preliminary GDP data due on Wednesday varied widely from a contraction of 0.1% to growth of 3.5%.

GDP last year peaked in the second and third quarters, with the fourth quarter hit by weakening electronics demand, and also coming off a high base, First Capital Management analyst Chengyu Liu said.

"Recent economic data released by the United States is also weak," Liu added. "It is expected that Taiwan's GDP in the first and second quarters of this year will not be good, with growth in the first quarter only 1.1%."

Demand for Taiwanese goods has been hit by COVID-19 controls and outbreaks in China, as well as soaring global inflation and tightening monetary policy.

The economy in China, Taiwan's largest trading partner, expanded 2.9% in the fourth quarter year-on-year, and 3.0% for the full year of 2022, badly missing the official target of "around 5.5%".

Taiwan's exports fell for a fourth straight month in December. Exports dropped 12.1% by value last month from a year earlier to $35.75 billion, the lowest level in 20 months.

Taiwan is a key hub in the global technology supply chain for giants such as Apple Inc, and home to the world's largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC).

Taiwan's preliminary figures will be released in a statement with minimal commentary. Revised figures will be released a few weeks later, with more details and forward-looking forecasts.

(Poll compiled by Madhumita Gokhale, Susobhan Sarkar and Carol Lee; Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Roger Tung; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
A Middletown man charged last week with child porn had just started teaching middle schoolers at a private Catholic school roughly five months ago.

Todd Philip Napolitano is now on administrative leave.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said in a press statement the seventh- and eighth-grade teacher at St. Charles Borromeo School had passed all of his background checks and child abuse clearances before he began working at the school in September.

"There was no prior indication that Mr. Napolitano was potentially involved in activity of this nature and no allegations of inappropriate behavior had been lodged against him during his brief time at Saint Charles Borromeo Parish School," the statement reads in part.

The Bucks County District Attorney's Office said Napolitano was sharing and downloading child pornography in November.

He was arraigned on Friday on felony charges of possessing child pornography, disseminating photography of child sex acts and criminal use of a communications facility. He was sent to Bucks County Prison on $1 million bail.

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The charges against Napolitano are allegations; he has not been convicted of any crime in this case.

A Bensalem detective monitoring use of a specific file-sharing program discovered 19 images of child pornography in mid-November, according to Napolitano's criminal complaint.

Investigators tracked the IP address of the computer to the teacher's home, police said. While serving a search warrant at the home Friday, Napolitano told authorities he used the program to download files, court documents state.

He told investigators he did download the files that contained child pornography, but then deleted them, Bensalem police said.

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The Archdiocese and the DA's office said the alleged activity did not involve any students.

Napolitano was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the case, according to the statement.

A message left for his attorney seeking comment Tuesday was not immediately returned.

Napolitano's preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 26.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: St. Charles Borromeo School teacher charged with possessing child porn
By Andrew MacAskill and Paul Sandle

LONDON (Reuters) - Tech bosses could be jailed in Britain if their platforms fail to protect children from online harm after the government agreed to toughen a proposed law to avoid the prospect of a first parliamentary defeat for the prime minister.

Rishi Sunak faced losing a vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday after 50 Conservative lawmakers and the main opposition party said they would support another amendment to the long-delayed Online Safety Bill.

The rebels had tabled an amendment proposing jail sentences of up to two years for tech bosses for failing to protect children from content such as child abuse and self-harm.

Michelle Donelan, the culture and digital minister, said in a written statement to parliament that the government agreed to changes to the legislation so executives could be jailed if they "consent or connive" to ignoring the new rules.

"This amendment will not affect those who have acted in good faith," she said. But it would provide "additional teeth to deliver change and ensure that people are held to account if they fail to properly protect children".

This is the third time that Sunak, who has a majority of 67, has backed down in the face of similar revolts in parliament since he took office in October. He previously gave in after rebellions on housing targets and restrictions on onshore wind farms.

Britain, like the European Union and other countries, has been grappling to protect social media users, and in particular children, from harmful content without damaging free speech.

The bill was originally designed to create one of the toughest regimes for regulating platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.

It aimed to make companies stamp out illegal content on their sites, such as revenge pornography and encouraging suicide.

However, the proposals were watered down in November, when the requirement to stop "legal but harmful content" was removed on the grounds that it could damage free speech. Instead platforms would be required to enforce age restrictions, the government said.

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Companies could face fines of up to 10% of turnover if they do not take measures to remove illegal content or restrict underage access.

Industry body techUK said threatening executives with jail would not help deliver an effective regime to protect children, but it would damage Britain's digital economy.

"The bill as drafted does have 'teeth' that will ensure compliance," it said, adding that the amendment created "significant legal jeopardy for firms" and would make Britain a less attractive destination for investors.

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Paul Sandle; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Alex Richardson)
Photo: The Canadian Press A Montreal hospital emergency room reopened this morning after being forced to reduce operations overnight following a sit-in by nurses who had threatened to resign if changes were not made. Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital is seen in Montreal on Aug. 23, 2014. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Officials at a major Montreal hospital are promising changes after almost 100 emergency room nurses demanded the resignation of their unit chief.

The ER at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital was forced to reduce operations last night because of a nurse-led protest.

Jean-Francois Fortin-Verreault, head of the health authority for east-end Montreal, told reporters today his goal is to keep the ER open and improve working conditions for nurses.

Fortin-Verreault says ambulances will transfer fewer patients to the ER to reduce the nurses' workload, adding that the unit chief has been moved to another part of the health network.

More than 90 of 115 nurses in the hospital's ER signed a petition demanding the unit chief resign, and many nurses have threatened to quit because they can no longer accept working mandatory overtime.

Health Minister Christian Dube is scheduled to speak with media today about the situation at the hospital, as well as the staffing shortages and ER overcrowding that are plaguing the province's health network.
(AFP via Getty Images)

A Texas man accused of killing 23 people in a racist attack at a Walmart store in El Paso will not face the death penalty if convicted, federal prosecutors have announced.

Patrick Crusius has been charged with 90 counts under federal hate crime laws and is set to face trial for the killings in January 2024.

The US Department of Justice announced its decision to not seek the death penalty against Mr Crusius, who is white, in a required filing in the federal court in El Paso on Tuesday.

The United States of America hereby notifies the Court and Defendant PATRICK WOOD CRUSIUS that the Government will not seek the death penalty in the instant case, the filing stated.

Investigators say that the suspect told authorities he had been targeting Mexicans when he drove 10 hours from Allen, Texas, to carry out the mass shooting on 3 August 2019.

No federal executions are being scheduled while the Justice Department carries out a review of death penalty reviews and procedures, which was ordered by attorney general Merrick Garland in 2021.

Mr Crusius has already pleaded not guilty in the state case where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The announcement comes weeks after Jaime Esparza, the former El Paso district attorney, became the US attorney for West Texas. Mr Esparza said in his previous job that he would seek the death penalty for Mr Crusius.

Yvonne Rosales, the previous district attorney leading the states case against Mr Crusius, resigned in November amid criticism about her handling of the case, and hundreds of others in El Paso.

A replacement prosecutor was appointed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in December.
Simon Bird thinks bringing back The Inbetweeners would be 'creepy'. (Getty Images)

The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird has said he thinks bringing back the show would be "sad and creepy".

The 38-year-old actor rose to fame as teenage schoolboy Will McKenzie alongside Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison in the hit E4 sitcom which ended in 2010.

Bird told the Radio Times when asked about bringing back the comedy: "My instinct is it would be a terrible idea. What was funny about these characters was the stage of life they were at.

Read more: Inbetweeners' James Buckley 'Struggles with anxiety make me scared to leave house'

"They could get away with some of the terrible things they said and did because they were still essentially children.

Blake Harrison, James Buckley, Simon Bird and Joe Thomas starred as Neil, Jay, Will and Simon in The Inbetweeners. (Getty Images)

"If they got back together now, Im not sure that would be funny. I think it might just be sort of sad and creepy."

The Inbetweeners, which also starred Emily Head, Emily Atack, Hannah Tointon and Greg Davies ran for three series between 2008 and 2010, following the antics of a group of teenage boys doing their A-Levels at comprehensive school.

The Inbetweeners Movie, released in cinemans in 2011, followed them on a lads holiday to Crete to mark the end of their exams and the sequel Inbetweeners 2 saw the friends travel to Australia.

A US adaptation of the series aire on MTV in 2011 but was cancelled after one season due to low ratings.

Joe Thomas, James Buckley, Simon Bird and Blake Harrison as Simon, Jay, Will and Neil in The Inbetweeners. (Getty Images)

The Inbetweeners Movie took over 2.5 million in cinemas on its opening weekend, making it the most successful opening weekend for a comedy film ever in the UK. This record was beaten by The Inbtweeners 2 which took 2.75 million in its opening weekend.

In 2019 the cast reunited for reunion special, Fwends Reunited, an interview with comedian Jimmy Carr.

Bird, who is also known for his starrigng role in Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner, married writer Lisa Owens in 2012 and they have two children together.

The actor has previously said he does not believe The Inbetweeners would be commissioned today, due to the sexism and homphobia expressed by the characters.

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Simon Bird with wife Lisa Owens (C) with Tim Key, Tamsin Greig,and Earl Cave at the 2019 London Film Festival. (Getty Images)

Bird told The Telegraph: "I rationalise it to myself by saying that at the time it was an accurate representation of the way teenagers talk to each other. Is that still the case now? I assume not.

Read more: Emily Atack criticises 'perverts' who are sending her inappropriate messages

"Although the programme was set in the 2000s, it was based on a pilot set in 1990, so even in the 2000s it wasn't really an accurate reflection of how teenagers spoke."

Watch: Inbetweeners star James Buckley and wife Clair talk about marriage
While other US states (and the rest of the world) inch towards goals of banning gasoline-powered cars, Wyoming is going in the opposite direction. The states legislature is considering a resolution that calls for a phase-out of new electric vehicle sales by 2035. Introduced on Friday, Senate Joint Resolution 4 has support from members of the states House of Representatives and Senate. The resolution says the state would need to build massive amounts of new power generation to sustain the misadventure of electric vehicles. Its goal is to phase out the sales of EVs entirely by 2035. Yes, EVs.

In the proposal, a group of lawmakers led by Senator Jim Anderson says Wyomings proud and valued oil and gas industry has created countless jobs and contributed revenue to the state. They add that a lack of charging infrastructure in Wyoming would make the widespread use of EVs impracticable. The legislation may partially be a political stunt, but Wyoming produced 85.43 million barrels of oil in 2021  its a crucial part of the states economy. But, Wyomings Carbon County also has one of the largest wind farms in the US.

 Mat Smith

The Morning After isnt just a newsletter  its also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

The biggest stories you might have missed

They could be the first Macs with WiFi 6E.

Multiple sources suggest Apple is prepping new MacBook Pro models for launch very soon. Bloombergs Mark Gurman teased last fall that these systems would share the same design as the M1 variants released in late 2021. They would center around new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips that would feature up to 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores in the Max. Dont expect a touchscreen or other major revisions. At least, not yet. They might be the first Macs to include WiFi 6E, though.

Story continues

Continue reading.

Googles game-streaming service shutters tomorrow.

Google has confirmed it will release a tool to enable Bluetooth support on the Stadia controller. You'll have to wait until next week to download it, but this should make the device useful for just about any title with gamepad support. Stadia as we know it is about to end, but Google's Immersive Stream for Games should ensure the cloud functionality lives on for other companies offering game streams. The team behind Stadia has also released a Snake clone, Worm Game, as a final gift to users.

Continue reading.

The technology could protect rocket launchpads and power plants.

TMA

Lightning rods, your time is up. European researchers have successfully tested a system that uses terawatt-level laser pulses to steer lightning toward a 26-foot rod. It's not limited by its height and can cover much wider areas  in this case, 590 feet  while penetrating clouds and fog. The laser ionizes nitrogen and oxygen molecules, releasing electrons and creating a plasma that conducts electricity. As the laser fires at a very quick 1,000 pulses per second, it's more likely to intercept lightning as it forms.

Continue reading.
(Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange Group and Thomson Reuters Corp will expand a long-term partnership that will include investments in the newsroom and an agreement to launch consumer subscription products, the companies said on Tuesday.

The agreement resolves a dispute over plans by Reuters News in 2021 to launch a subscription paywall for the Reuters.com website. The two companies did not specify a date when the paywall will launch.

Reuters, a division of Thomson Reuters, had planned to start charging for news on Reuters.com in 2021 but postponed plans shortly after announcing the launch.

The LSE bought financial news and information business Refinitiv, formerly a division of Thomson Reuters. It pays Thomson Reuters for news it distributes on Refinitiv terminals. Thomson Reuters holds a minority stake in LSEG.

At Thomson Reuters we are committed to investing in world leading journalism and talent, taking our partnership with LSEG to the next level, Steve Hasker, CEO of Thomson Reuters, said in a prepared statement.

The agreement will include an investment in 100 editorial roles in the Reuters newsroom focused on financial and markets coverage. It will include a "significant expansion" of Reuters India's financial file and China equities coverage.

PLX AI, a recently acquired financial news service powered by artificial intelligence that is integrated into Reuters News, will be expanded across additional markets.

"This collaboration will broaden our news offering, enhancing the speed and analysis of breaking news and increasing the value of services provided to LSEG customers, David Schwimmer, CEO of LSEG, said in a prepared statement.

(Reporting by Kenneth Li in New York; Editing by Howard Goller)
DES MOINES, Iowa  The internet is in love with a long-held tradition at the Iowa State Fair.

A TikTok video, posted by the account @_rhinestonecowboy, of the 2017 Iowa State Fair husband calling contest is currently going viral, amassing more than 1 million views so far on the video-sharing platform.

According to the Iowa State Fairs marketing director Mindy Williamson, the husband calling contest is a part of the Heritage competitions held in Pioneer Hall at the Fairgrounds and features about 12 to 15 entries every year.

Other contests include mom calling, hog calling, and more competitive family-friendly events.

The schedule of contests is posted in mid-summer before the fair starts and potential entrants can typically sign up an hour before the competitions begin at Pioneer Hall.

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The TikTok video, clipped from an Iowa PBS video of the contest, illustrates that years top five finalists' efforts to win the grand prize of $5.

All participants received a ribbon.

The video begins with the fifth-place finalist yelping, in-part, "Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, hurry up. I don't want be late," before the fourth-place finisher yodels her life partner's name. Then, the third-place finalist opens her presentation by singing her husband's name followed by a clip of the second placeholder, who shouted "DARRYL!"

The husband calling contest during the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines in August 2022.

Finally, the champion Bonnie Swalwell Eilert yelled her husband's name and then said, "Can you hear me? You get yourself in here right now. Come on! You know you're gonna be late again and you know that I want to get there on time," before repeatedly resuming calling her husband Roy's name.

Swalwell Eilert has participated in multiple Iowa State Fair competitions through the years.

Bonnie Swalwell Eilert of Newton tosses in the 51 and over category of the Ladies' Rubber Chicken Throwing Contest at the Iowa State Fair, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Bonnie Swalwell-Eilert of Newton, Ia., finishes the last morsels of her corndog in the corndog chomp at the Iowa State Fair in 2008

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Story continues

According to a 2017 Des Moines Register report, Eilert has won multiple husband calling contests and even appeared on the NBC talent show "Little Big Shots: Forever Young."

The top two comments as of Jan. 13 are, "Is this... real??" which received more than 111,000 likes and, "Sadly, as an Iowan, this is real. Welcome to the Iowa state fair," accompanied by two emojis and another 58,000 likes.

The Iowa State Fair is held each summer in Des Moines and this year's is scheduled for Aug. 10-20. For more information visit iowastatefair.org.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State Fair's husband calling contest on Tiktok is a real thing
Tomorrow X Together has unveiled Asia and U.S. dates for its Act: Sweet Mirage world tour that kicks off with two nights in Seoul, South Korea. The U.S. leg of the 21-date trek will begin May 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina before wrapping up in Los Angeles.

This will be the second world tour, a follow-up to 2022s Act: Love Sick, for the K-pop boy band composed of members Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai. Act: Love Sick took place across 13 cities with 19 shows and was the first concert tour headlined by the band in support of its second full album The Chaos Chapter: Freeze, which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 in 2021.

More from Variety

After opening night in South Korea, the band will hit Singapore on April 1 before heading out to Taipei, Taiwan four days later. Theyre set to play two nights each at four locations in Japan: Osaka, Saitama, Kanagawa and Aichi. Theyll similarly play two nights in Belmont Park, followed by Washington D.C., Duluth, San Antonio, Texas and will conclude in Los Angeles.

As of now, on-sale dates are still pending as the tour schedule on the bands site reads coming soon next to the dates and highlights a more to come notice.

The boy band will be releasing its 5th EP, The Name Chapter: Temptation, on Jan. 27; the collection will be the groups first full-length release since 2021.

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Tomorrow X Togethers Act: Sweet Mirage World Tour Dates:

March

Saturday-Sunday 25-26: Seoul, South Korea

April

Saturday 1: Singapore

Wednesday 5: Taipei, Taiwan

Friday-Saturday 14-15: Osaka, Japan

Tuesday-Wednesday 18-19: Saitama, Japan

Tuesday-Wednesday 25-26: Kanagawa, Japan

Saturday-Sunday 29-30: Aichi, Japan

May

Saturday 6: Charlotte, North Carolina

Tuesday-Wednesday 9-10: Belmont Park

Tuesday 16: Washington, D.C.

Friday-Saturday 19-20: Duluth

Tuesday-Wednesday 23-24: San Antonio

Saturday 27: Los Angeles

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Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Mark Milley

My first personal meeting with General Milley, CJCS, happened in Poland, Zaluzhnyi wrote.

Read also: Ukrainians name army commander Zaluzhnyi politician No. 2  poll

Extended my gratitude for the unwavering support & assistance provided by the United States and allies to Ukraine. Outlined the urgent needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, meeting which will accelerate our victory.

Read also: Zaluzhnyi sends NATO Christmas greetings and thanks for support

On Jan. 3, Zaluzhnyi had a phone call with Milley to discuss developments in the operational and strategic situation in Ukraine.

On Dec. 15, 2022, they discussed the supply of weapons, ammunition and equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the appeal of a 33-year-old transgender woman from Guatemala who is seeking asylum in a case her attorney calls life or death.

Estrella Santos Zacarias, whose claims of gender violence and discrimination were rejected by American immigration officials was deported to Mexico in 2019 where she has faced ongoing health and safety challenges, according to a sworn affidavit from her reviewed by ABC News.

Most recently, she was beaten at a bus stop by three people and, months prior, she was bludgeoned unconscious at her workplace, her affidavit states.

MORE: Mexico draws more asylum-seekers despite grisly violence

"A transgender woman who was deported by the US to Honduras earlier this year was murdered in the capital city of Tegucigalpa," Santos Zacarias' attorney, Sunny Shah, wrote in a letter to officials at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services seeking immediate humanitarian parole while her case is pending other appeals. "This is the harsh reality that Estrella will likely face if she is denied this request for parole."

Her legal team is seeking federal court review of an immigration judge's ruling that she had not demonstrated adequate evidence of likely future persecution and therefore didn't qualify for asylum.

PHOTO: Estrella Santos Zacarias, a Guatemala native and transgender woman, is seeking asylum in the U.S. Her case will be heard at the Supreme Court on Jan. 17, 2023. (Estrella Santos Zacarias)

The Biden administration argues in court documents that federal judges shouldn't get involved in the case, primarily because Santos Zacarias failed to exhaust other administrative appeals available to her at the time.

Immigration authorities also say they should generally have broad discretion over their decisions, free from the possibility of unnecessary judicial interference.

While Santos Zacarias' case hinges on technical arguments over jurisdiction and immigration procedure, its outcome could have significant implications for thousands of asylum-seekers hoping to challenge removal orders in court, immigrant advocates say.

More than 283,000 migrants applied for asylum to enter the U.S. between 2018 and 2020, according to the most recent data available from the Department of Homeland Security. Roughly 11% of them -- or 31,429 people -- were granted asylum during the same period.

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A 2021 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found an estimated 30,900 LGBTQ people applied for asylum in the United States between 2012 and 2017, with nearly 4,000 seeking asylum due to fear of persecution on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Most were natives of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

MORE: Transgender immigrants who fled Latin America still face uncertainty in the US

Upholding a requirement that applicants like Santos Zacarias file an additional appeal for reconsideration -- within the immigration system -- when their claims are rejected would further strain an apparatus already backlogged and overwhelmed, a group of legal services advisers told the high court.

PHOTO: The sun sets on the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Jan. 26, 2022. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters, FILE)

For Santos Zacarias, a Supreme Court decision in her favor could mean another shot at asylum and escaping what her attorney calls "imminent danger."

She has said, according to immigration records, that she first fled Guatemala for the U.S. as a teenager after suffering multiple sexual assaults, death threats, harassment and discrimination because of her gender identity.

"I am constantly living in fear wondering who will try to attack me next," she wrote in the signed affidavit to USCIS dated Nov. 1, 2022. "This has weighed heavy on me ... I desperately need your permission to return to the U.S. where I can live safely while my case is processing."

A Supreme Court ruling is expected in the spring.

Trans asylum-seeker appeals to Supreme Court as attorney warns of 'imminent danger' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Photo: The Canadian Press B.C. Premier David Eby speaks in Vancouver, on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. The B.C. government is promising up to $90 million over three years towards new industrial and manufacturing projects in response to the forest industry downturn. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

The British Columbia government is promising up to $90 million over three years to support new industrial and manufacturing projects in communities hurt by the downturn in the forestry industry.

Premier David Eby made the announcement in Prince George, where Canfor Pulp Products said last week it was closing the pulp line at its mill, eliminating 300 jobs by the end of the year.

The program will take applications for support from all manufacturing sectors, but the government says the BC Manufacturing Jobs Fund is aimed at areas experiencing economic impacts from changes in the forestry sector.

The funding could be used by a forestry company to buy new equipment to support new product lines, for example, or by a company that wants to build or expand a plastics-alternative manufacturing facility in a rural community.

The money is on top of $185 million in the current budget for supports to offset any economic impacts from the changing forestry industry.

In mandate letters to his ministers last year, Eby acknowledged that the province's forest sector has "never been under greater stress," and that change is needed to ensure the forest industry is sustainable.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  A man charged with threatening to kill a Kansas congressman is harmless, believing he has a special relationship with God and his weapons are meteors and plagues, not knives and guns, a defense attorney argued Tuesday during a federal criminal trial.

The trial for Chase Neill, 32, began amid what authorities says is a sharp rise in threats to the nation's lawmakers and their families. Prosecutors say Neill became fixated on U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner and threatened to kill him in a June 5 voicemail left with the Republican congressman's Topeka office.

Prosecutors argue that Neill was upset with LaTurner, meant the June message as a death threat and prompted LaTurner and his staff to beef up security at his Topeka office. But defense attorneys argued that Neill also threatened everyone in the universe in the same call, and his concerns included witchcraft, unidentified flying objects and Neill's claim that a host of U.S. government agencies were monitoring him.

Kirk Redmond, a federal public defender representing Neill, told jurors in his opening statement that authorities in Neill's northeastern Kansas hometown of Lawrence concluded after the June call that he was harmless and did not need to be arrested or sent to a mental hospital. Redmond said Neill never went anywhere near the congressman because he believes he can speak a word and it happens.

His weapons aren't knives and guns, Redmond said. His weapons are meteors and plagues.

Members of Congress have faced a sharp rise in threats in the two years since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. In October, an intruder attacked and severely beat former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosis husband with a hammer in their San Francisco home.

Local school board members and election workers across the U.S. also have endured harassment, intimidation and threats of violence. Police in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Monday arrested a former Republican candidate for a state House seat in a series of shootings targeting the homes or offices of elected Democratic officials, though none were injured.

Story continues

LaTurner was a Kansas state senator and state treasurer before winning his U.S. House seat in 2020. Until the Republican-controlled Kansas Legislature redrew political boundaries last year, LaTurners eastern Kansas district included Lawrence, home to the main University of Kansas campus, which is among the states most liberal communities.

In Neill's trial, after one of LaTurner's staffers testified as the first witness, Neill said he wants to represent himself. He had previously made that request through his attorneys Friday but withdrew it in court Tuesday morning before his jury was selected.

U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter ended the day early so that Neill could think more about his request overnight and told him, I think it is an unwise decision.

Neill said his attorneys weren't accurately portraying his beliefs. He said he didn't represent himself as God but conveyed messages from God using an Old Testament perspective, like prophets who spoke for God in the first person. A pretrial report on Neill said he saw himself as the Messiah.

When the first witness said Neill had talked about UFOs in a call in May, Neill interrupted by saying, I think the UFOs made national headlines.

He added, Just so I don't look crazy in the courtroom.

In court Tuesday, Neill wore khaki pants, a dress shirt and a navy blue jacket without a tie. He had a full beard. His ankles remained chained throughout the trial.

Teeter concluded during a hearing last month that "a preponderance of the evidence showed Neill was mentally competent to stand trial. The official notes from the hearing showed Teeter relied on a psychological evaluation of Neill, but that document is sealed and closed to the public.

In a separate order in August, a U.S. magistrate judge who refused to released Neill from custody said in that order that Neill suffered a head injury four or five years ago characterized as a head fracture.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Skip Jacobs played part of the June call during his opening statement. Jurors heard Neill identify himself as the Messiah and the Son of Man, a common description of Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible.

"I am saying I will kill you, but the insurance will say it's an act of God, Neill said in the call.

The call also included a threat against all members of Congress.

Jacobs told jurors that Topeka police started a patrol around LaTurner's home. His staffer testified that in May, the Topeka office remained locked when only one staffer was present and that after the June call, it remained locked even during business hours, and cameras were installed.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
The last five defendants charged in the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old Bronx native who they thought was a rival gang member have been sentenced, endinPolice arrested thirteen people affiliated with the murder of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, known by friends and family as Junior, in June 2018. The defendants, who were a part of a gang, have either pleaded guilty or been convicted of the crime.g the four-year-long case, reports ABC News.

Police arrested thirteen people affiliated with the murder of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, known by friends and family as Junior, in June 2018. The defendants, who were a part of a gang, have either pleaded guilty or been convicted of the crime.

The violent crime was caught on camera and went viral due to the shock of the incident, triggering protests demanding Justice for Junior. Guzman-Feliz was not a part of any gangs, local police said. But unfortunately, he resembled a rival gang member and was attacked after school outside a bodega.

As ABC reports, the incident left the Bronx community  and the world  horrified at such complete disregard for human life, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said.

The hunt for a rival gang member was set in motion by two opposing gang leaders.

According to prosecutors, they ordered lower-ranked members to kill the nemesis, leading the gangs leaders to 25 years behind bars.

The five gang members sentenced on Friday were the ones who dragged the 15-year-old out of a corner store where he tried to hide and get help from the store owner.

They all pleaded guilty to manslaughter and got sentenced to various terms between 12 and 18 years.

Since Guzman-Feliz was a part of the New York Police Department Explorers program, which shares career opportunities in law enforcement with the youth, the New York City Police Foundation launched a college scholarship in his honor.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) set a new record in 2022 for firearm interceptions by Transportation Security Officers at airport checkpoints.

TSA officers stopped more than 6,500 firearms at airport checkpoints.

>>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<<

According to a news release, the TSA made significant strides to improve transportation security and screening an average of more than two million passengers daily at airports across the country.

I am incredibly proud of our dedicated TSA employees who perform the critical task of securing our nations transportation systems each day, said TSA administrator David Pekoske. We had a very successful year that ended with the enactment of the FY 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which included funding to bring TSA employee compensation to a level commensurate with other federal employees, in addition to funding to expand collective bargaining rights for our non-supervisory screening workforce. For years, our employees have not been paid fairly, and securing pay parity was necessary from an operational standpoint as we continue to see increasing travel volumes and will also help our ability to recruit and hire new employees and retain the talent we have.

Read: Plan to redesign Downtown Orlando set to go into action in 2023

During 2022, TSA achieved the following highlights and accomplishments:

 TSA recognized the 20th year of checkpoint federalization as more than 400 airports nationwide reached this milestone anniversary.

 TSA improved security effectiveness and reduced physical contact by deploying 534 Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) units and adding 243 Computed Tomography (CT) X-ray scanners at airport checkpoints.

 The FY23 Omnibus Bill, which President Biden signed into law in December 2022, will enable technology deployments to continue across the agencys nearly 2,400 security checkpoint lanes.

 TSA worked with industry partners to enhance cybersecurity resilience for the nations critical pipelines and rail systems.

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 TSOs prevented more than 6,542 firearms from entering the secure areas of airports in 2022 with 88% of the firearms loaded.

 TSA also increased the maximum civil penalty for a firearms violation to nearly $15,000.

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 In March 2022, TSA recognized its Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) for 60 years of protecting domestic and international flights and providing a visible security presence for surface transportation modes.

 TSA trained and deployed more than 1,000 explosives detection canine teams at airports and mass-transit facilities to support large-scale events such as Super Bowl LVI, the Kentucky Derby, Indy 500 and enhance security operations at airports and surface transportation systems nationwide.

 When it comes to passengers, travel volumes returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2022, with TSOs screening 736 million passengers, averaging over two million passengers per day.

 In February, TSA opened its first TSA PreCheck lanes outside of the U.S. making its debut in Nassau, Bahamas.

 In late December 2022 President Biden signed into law the FY23 Omnibus Bill, which was a top priority for DHS and TSA, that includes funds to pay TSA employees at a level commensurate with other federal agencies.

 TSA hired its first-ever executive officer to lead diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility initiatives for the agency.

 TSA hired more than 10,000 new TSOs and opened its new TSA Academy West adjacent to Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas.

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Supporters of New College of Florida protest outside the Sarasota County Administration Building on Jan. 12, before a regular meeting of the Sarasota legislative delegation.

Foisting right-wingers on New College

One year ago, the governor of Tennessee announced a partnership with Hillsdale College, in Michigan, to build up to 100 affiliated charter schools in the state.

The school boards of every affected county voted to reject Hillsdale, a conservative Christian school known for disrespecting public school teachers. The partnership was withdrawn.

More:New College supporters criticize transformation plan

Editorial:Now's the time to protect college legacy

Now our governor is embracing the anti-intellectual carpetbaggers who were thrown out of Tennessee. He has appointed a Hillsdale professor and five other conservatives to the board of trustees at New College of Florida.

Hillsdale students cannot receive student loans because the college will not follow federal guidelines on discrimination and responding to sexual assaults in campus.

More:How to send a letter to the editor

Some will recall that Hillsdale was hired in 2022 to hold retraining seminars for Florida civics teachers, with a curriculum that included the end of separation of church and state and the little-known fact that slavery wasnt so bad after all. Hillsdale faculty lecture on topics like Black privilege and racial hysteria.

It is understood that Gov. Ron DeSantis has no follow-through, and his headline-grabbing actions often fizzle but using the New College board to insert a fringe group into a well-respected public school will cause real harm beyond the obvious harm to students and their families.Mike Weddle, Venice

Sustain founders legacy of excellence

Newly appointed board members seek to transform New College  the school I graduated from and which my father, Douglas Berggren, helped found  in a way that turns its mission upside down.

Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion, and his classical liberal arts model is blatantly political.

Opinion:New College founder would be appalled

New College of Florida has endured because it has always strived for excellence and relevance, instead of conforming to specific ideologies. Excellence has meant knowing ones discipline rigorously while questioning its fundamentals and the nature of academia.

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Students are encouraged to cross academic areas and commit to their education through contracts they help design. This makes them excellent problem solvers and innovators and has led to New Colleges consistently high rankings nationwide.

New College does not espouse indoctrination. Rather, freedom of thought is encouraged, and the college prides itself on creating a safe environment to respectfully exchange ideas.

My father once noted that New College attracts a highly diverse student body, giving them the opportunity to learn how to work together. The ability to genuinely engage with those holding opposing viewpoints to reach solutions is a skill that is necessary to face the serious challenges facing the country and planet.

Lynne Buchanan, Fletcher, North Carolina

Learn truth about Hillsdale College

A primary tenet of Hillsdale Colleges teaching is the use of critical thinking to verify any statements presented as fact.

More:Can governor re-create Hillsdale College?

Opinion:New College's legacy is on the line

Two recent Herald-Tribune op-ed pieces, plus readers letters, have been critical of the school. Perhaps readers should exercise critical thinking prior to accepting these negative pieces.

A good place to start is to visit the college website, https://www.hillsdale.edu, noting the 36 free online courses the school offers.

Hillsdale also publishes Imprimis, a bimonthly publication distributed free to over 6 million readers that highlights a speech from a noted individual that was presented at the school.

Paul Nielsen, Sarasota

Independence, not indoctrination

Overflowing with chutzpah, former Sarasota County Commissioner Christian Ziegler claimed on WEDU on Friday night that New College needs to change into a school that teaches how to think and not what to think.

This is an astonishing claim from one who supports banning books and curriculum that rewrites history to support a political agenda.

As a 1976 graduate (class of 1974) of New College, the father of a 2011 graduate, a former member of the New College Foundation Board and one who has spoken with alums, students and their parents on many occasions over the past 45 years, the one thing I can assure is that New College does not indoctrinate students.

The diversity of opinions, interests, abilities and personalities, and the lack of top-down mandates, result in something more akin to herding cats than a conspiracy.

That is not to say that New College is the perfect, precious little gem claimed by some. It needs to change to improve its economic viability and allow it to survive in this fraught political environment. But any attempt to change New Colleges free market of ideas into a factory of conservative ideologues is a tragedy.

Robert E. Turffs, Sarasota

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Governor's conservative trustees will harm New College, save mission
Unable to defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, Russia has turned to other tools. The first is the destruction of critical infrastructure in order to render Ukraine uninhabitable during the cold winter. The second is the imposition of negotiations. This second one deserves to be looked at more closely.

Read also: The towers of the Kremlin come into play: The conditions under which Putin will be removed from power

In fact, the Russian Federation has been trying to push through a restart of political negotiations since mid-summer, when the so-called grain deal was agreed upon. Russia saw it as a first step towards a broader agreement, it was supported in this by both Turkey and the UN. But for Ukraine, it was an obvious attempt to freeze a new demarcation line.

However, Russia will continue to try to draw Ukraine into negotiations. However, the main audience here is not so much Kyiv as its Western partners, and the key message of the Kremlin is that Ukraine will still not be able to liberate its lands, so negotiations on the status of territories and concessions are inevitable.

Read also: The new government of Israel resumes negotiations with Russia: What to expect in Ukraine

In the near future, Moscow will pursue several goals using this tactic. First, they will try to slow down the pace of supplies of Western weapons. Secondly, they will seek to freeze the actual front line, that is, their occupation of certain territory. For Ukraine, this outcome is unacceptable. Even Russia's nuclear ultimatum did not stop plans to liberate occupied territory. Therefore, the Kremlin will try to influence those who are financially providing for this counteroffensive: Western governments and public opinion in our partner countries. Thirdly, the Russian Federation will seek to destroy the unity of the international anti-Russian coalition, and to provoke harsh disagreements between supporters and opponents of premature agreements with the Putin regime.

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It is impossible to say unequivocally that Russia's calculation is unfounded.

The weak point of the current anti-Russian coalition is the lack of an unambiguous understanding of what a Ukrainian victory should look like. More precisely, it is not agreed upon how crushing the defeat of Russia should be. The West is completely unprepared for the destabilization or collapse of Russia as a result of its complete defeat on the battlefield. Therefore, it is not surprising that a cautious testing of the waters has begun behind closed doors: what should be considered a good moment to move from exclusively military methods to diplomacy? And among other things, is it worth it so fundamentally to stand for the liberation of Crimea and Donbas?

There is no doubt: Russia will try to convince the whole world that there is a difference between Crimea and the Donbas occupied since 2014, on the one hand, and the territory captured by the Russians in 2022 on the other. And according to the Kremlins plan, there will be supporters of the position in the West that Crimea and Donbas should be put outside the bounds of Ukraines counteroffensive actions.

Given this, on the diplomatic front, the Russian Federation could apply two scenarios.

Read also: Three options for the future of Russia

The first provides for short-term attempts to involve Ukraine and its partners in negotiations to buy time to prepare the Russian army for new attacks. This is practically a continuation of the status quo, but with significantly increased terror on the civilian population. The latter, according to Russia's expectations, should provoke not only a humanitarian catastrophe, but also pressure from the Ukrainian population on the government with a demand to start negotiating. This hope is useless. However, Russia will use this time to accumulate resources from mobilization and weapons from Iran and North Korea.

The second diplomatic scenario assumes that Moscow will focus on a medium-term format of negotiations without attempts to carry out full-scale offensive actions (while aggression in Donbas continues). The Russian Federation will try to duplicate the Normandy format in its general essence: mediation by a third party/parties, hostilities along the current line of demarcation, and de facto negotiations on the status of the occupied territories. This scenario could be triggered by various factors: another crushing defeat of the Russian army on the battlefield; clear plans by the West to supply Ukraine with the latest types of weapons for a large-scale counteroffensive (NATO-style tanks, long-range artillery, fighter jets), or a change in the position of Western elites towards greater commitment to the idea of negotiations.

In general, Russia will try to maintain its control over the occupied territories by both military and diplomatic methods. Moreover, it will not abandon plans for new attacks. But today, unlike in 2014, the Kremlin does not even have the trappings of trust as a negotiating party. The mood in Ukrainian society and authorities is categorical: only the complete liberation of the territory of Ukraine can be considered the end of this war. And it is precisely this adherence to Kyivs principles that will serve as a safeguard for any agreements at the expense of Ukraines sovereignty. However, in 2023, Ukrainian diplomacy will have to stubbornly resist the idea of starting negotiations when the matter should be decided on the battlefield.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
YUZHNOUKRAINSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said on Monday he hoped to make progress on a safe zone deal around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine, but stressed it was a tough negotiation.

Russian forces in March captured the Soviet-era plant, Europe's largest, soon after their invasion of Ukraine. It has repeatedly come under fire in recent months, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.

"The situation around the plant continues to be very, very dangerous," Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told reporters during a visit to Ukraine. "A nuclear accident, an accident with serious radiological consequences, is in nobody's interest."

Russia downplayed the IAEA's visit and its powers.

"The IAEA has neither statutory, nor technological, nor other capabilities to prevent a nuclear catastrophe in the event of attacks on nuclear power plants," Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the CEO of Russian state energy organisation Rosenergoatom, told Russian state TASS news agency on Tuesday.

"Therefore, from this point of view, the presence of IAEA inspectors at all nuclear power plants is ineffective and is in a greater part politically motivated."

Grossi, who said he hoped to meet in Kyiv with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other officials, acknowledged that brokering a protection zone was taking longer than expected.

"No one wants to have this zone if it is considered ... a military advantage for one side or the other, and I am trying to convince everybody this is not the case," he said. "It's about preventing a nuclear accident."

Grossi was making his sixth visit to Ukraine since the February invasion to implement recently announced plans for a continuous presence of nuclear safety experts at all of Ukraine's nuclear facilities.

He visited the South Ukraine plant near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk, about 350 km (220 miles) south of Kyiv, and was also scheduled to visit plants at Chornobyl and Rivne, establishing a two-person team of IAEA experts at each facility.

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The IAEA says it already has a permanent presence of up to four experts at Zaporizhzhia, and a two-member team is also expected at the Khmelnitsky plant.

Grossi, who previously said he hoped to broker a deal before the end of 2022, said last week that talks with Kyiv and Moscow had become more complicated because they involved not just diplomats, but also military officers.

Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia facility.

(Writing by Elaine Monaghan and Lidia Kelly; Editing by Josie Kao and Michael Perry)
By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday asked for the Biden administration's views on Apple Inc and Broadcom Inc's bid to revive their challenges to patents owned by the California Institute of Technology, in a dispute in which Caltech previously won $1.1 billion in damages from the companies.

The justices asked for the U.S. solicitor general's input on a lower court decision that prevented Apple and Broadcom from arguing the patents were invalid at trial.

Caltech had no comment on the Supreme Court's order. Representatives Apple and Broadcom did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Caltech, located in Pasadena, California, sued Cupertino-based Apple and San Jose-based Broadcom in 2016 in federal court in Los Angeles, alleging that millions of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and other devices with Broadcom Wi-Fi chips infringed its data-transmission patents.

A jury ruled for Caltech, ordering Apple to pay $837.8 million and Broadcom to pay $270.2 million. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit took issue with the amount of the award and sent the case back for a new trial on damages, which is set to begin in June.

Apple and Broadcom also told the Federal Circuit that they should have been allowed to challenge the patents' validity at trial. The patent-focused appeals court upheld the trial judge's decision to block the companies from making the arguments because they could have raised them in their petitions for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office review of the patents.

The companies appealed that decision to the Supreme Court last September. They told the justices that the Federal Circuit misread the law, which they said only bars arguments that could have been raised during the review itself, not in the petition.

Caltech has also sued Microsoft Corp, Samsung Electronics Co, Dell Technologies Inc and HP Inc, accusing them of infringing the same patents in separate cases that are still pending.

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Apple is a major purchaser of Broadcom chips, and in January 2020 reached a $15 billion supply agreement with the company. Apple reportedly plans to replace Broadcom's chips with an in-house design in 2025.

Broadcom has estimated that 20% of its revenue comes from Apple.

The case is Apple Inc v. California Institute of Technology, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 22-203.

For Apple and Broadcom: Bill Lee of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr

For Caltech: Kathleen Sullivan of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

(NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect that Caltech had no comment on the order.)

Read more:

Apple, Broadcom win new trial in $1.1 bln Caltech patent case

CalTech wins $1.1 billion jury verdict in patent case against Apple, Broadcom
A large group gathers to watch a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

ATLANTA  America has honored Martin Luther King Jr. with a federal holiday for nearly four decades yet still hasnt fully embraced and acted on the lessons from the slain civil rights leader, his youngest daughter said Monday.

The Rev. Bernice King, who leads The King Center in Atlanta, said leaders  especially politicians  too often cheapen her fathers legacy into a comfortable and convenient King offering easy platitudes.

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We love to quote King in and around the holiday. ... But then we refuse to live King 365 days of the year, she declared at the commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father once preached.

The service, organized by the center and held at Ebenezer annually, headlined observances of the 38th federal King holiday. King, gunned down in Memphis in 1968 as he advocated for better pay and working conditions for the citys sanitation workers, would have celebrated his 94th birthday Sunday.

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Her voice rising and falling in cadences similar to her fathers, Bernice King bemoaned institutional and individual racism, economic and health care inequities, police violence, a militarized international order, hardline immigration structures and the climate crisis. She said shes exhausted, exasperated and, frankly, disappointed to hear her fathers words about justice quoted so extensively alongside so little progress addressing societys gravest problems.

He was Gods prophet sent to this nation and even the world to guide us and forewarn us. ... A prophetic word calls for an inconvenience because it challenges us to change our hearts, our minds and our behavior, Bernice King said. Dr. King, the inconvenient King, puts some demands on us to change our ways.

President Joe Biden addressed an MLK breakfast hosted in Washington by the Rev. Al Sharptons National Action Network. Sharpton got his start as a civil rights organizer in his teens as youth director of an anti-poverty project of Kings Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

This is a time for choosing, Biden said, repeating themes from a speech he delivered Sunday at Ebenezer at the invitation of Sen. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer who recently won re-election to a full term as Georgias first Black U.S. senator.

Will we choose democracy over autocracy, or community over chaos? Love over hate? Biden asked Monday. These are the questions of our time that I ran for president to try to help answer. ... Dr. Kings life and legacy  in my view  shows the way forward.

Elsewhere in Washington, Martin Luther King III attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the national memorial to his father. And Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and person of color to hold the office, spoke to volunteers at a day of service project at George Washington University.

Thousands attended a memorial march in San Antonio. In Los Angeles, the Kingdom Day Parade returned after a two-year pandemic break.

Other commemorations echoed Bernice Kings reminder and Bidens allusions that the Beloved Community  Martin Luther Kings descriptor for a world in which all people are free from fear, discrimination, hunger and violence  remains elusive.

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In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu talked about advancing truth in an era of hyper-partisanship and misinformation.

Were battling not just two sides or left or right and a gradient in between that have to somehow come to compromise, but a growing movement of hate, abuse, extremism and white supremacy fueled by misinformation, fueled by conspiracy theories that are taking root at every level, she said.

Wu, the first woman and person of color elected mayor of Boston, said education restores trust. Quoting King, she called for overcoming the fatigue of despair to enact change. It is sometimes in those moments when we feel most tired, most despairing, that we are just about to break through, Wu told attendees at a memorial breakfast.

Volunteers in Philadelphia held service projects focused on gun violence prevention. The city has seen a surge in homicides that saw 516 people killed last year and 562 the year before, the highest total in at least six decades.

Some participants in the efforts signature project, led by Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, worked to assemble gun safety kits for public distribution. The kits include gun cable locks and additional safety devices for childproofing, according to organizers. They also include information about firearm storage, health and social services information, and coping in the aftermath of gun violence.

Other kits being assembled highlighted Temple University Hospitals Fighting Chance program and included materials to enable immediate response to victims at the scene of gunfire, organizers said. Recipients are to be trained in the use of the materials, which include tourniquets, gauze, chest seals and other items to treat critical wounds, they said.

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In Selma, Alabama, a seminal site in the civil rights movement, residents were commemorating King as they recover from a deadly storm system that moved across the South last week.

King was not present at Selmas Edmund Pettus Bridge for the initial march known as Bloody Sunday, when Alabama state troopers attacked and beat marchers in March 1965. But he joined a subsequent procession that successfully crossed the bridge toward the Capitol in Montgomery, punctuating efforts that pushed Congress to pass and President Lyndon Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Pettus Bridge was unscathed by Thursdays storm.

Maines first Black House speaker urged residents Monday to honor Kings memory by joining in acts of service.

His unshakable faith, powerful nonviolent activism and his vision for peace and justice in our world altered the course of history, Rachel Talbot Ross said in a statement. Talbot Ross is also the daughter of Maines first black lawmaker, and a former president of the Portland NAACP.

We must follow his example of leading with light and love and recommit ourselves to building a more compassionate, just and equal community, she added.

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At Ebenezer, Warnock, who has led the congregation for 17 years, hailed his predecessors role in securing ballot access for Black Americans. But, like Bernice King, the senator warned against a reductive understanding of King.

Dont just call him a civil rights leader. He was a faith leader, Warnock said. Faith was the foundation upon which he did everything he did. You dont face down dogs and water hoses because you read Nietzsche or Niebuhr. You gotta tap into that thing, that God he said he met anew in Montgomery when someone threatened to bomb his house and kill his wife and his new child.

King, Warnock said, left the comfort of a filter that made the whole world his parish, turning faith into the creative weapon of love and nonviolence.

While echoing Bernice Kings call for bolder public policy, Warnock noted some progress in his lifetime. As hes done through two Senate campaigns, Warnock noted he was born a year after Kings assassination, when both of Georgia senators were staunch segregationists, including one Warnock described as loving the Negro as long as he was in his place at the back door.

But, Warnock said, Because of what Dr. King and because of what you did ... I now sit in his seat.

Associated Press journalists Will Weissert in Washington, David Sharp in Portland, Maine, and Ron Todt in Philadelphia contributed.
By Andrew Chung and John Kruzel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday grappled with thorny questions of sovereign immunity as they weighed a bid by Turkey's state-owned lender Halkbank to avoid criminal charges in the United States for allegedly helping Iran evade American economic sanctions. The nine justices heard arguments in Halkbank's appeal of a lower court's ruling in favor of the U.S. government that allowed the prosecution of the bank to proceed.

The case tests Halkbank's contention that it is shielded from prosecution because, as an entity majority owned by the Turkish government, it should enjoy the same legal protections as Turkey. Sovereign immunity generally protects countries from facing legal action in another country's courts. The justices raised numerous concerns about curbing the U.S. government executive branch's authority to make decisions involving national security, as well as the potential consequences of criminally prosecuting one of a foreign government's entities. Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh said it would be "pretty bizarre" and "huge" for the court to tell a U.S. president that "this court is going to prohibit your exercise of national security authority." Halkbank, charged in New York in 2019, has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud, money laundering and conspiracy charges over its alleged use of money servicers and front companies in Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to evade U.S. sanctions. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch raised concerns that allowing the federal prosecution to proceed might open the door to U.S. states targeting foreign nations as well. States, Gorsuch said, could be "free to try to bring lawsuits against Mexico for this or that, or perhaps China because of COVID, or who knows what a creative state prosecutor might come up with?" Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor cautioned against giving federal or state prosecutors "the right to insult another nation by giving them this unbridled power to initiate suits."

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Some justices appeared open to sending the case back to the lower courts to further explore the extent to which U.S. law reflects international law in broadly disfavoring criminal prosecutions against foreign countries, and if Halkbank should enjoy the same legal status as Turkey for purposes of immunity.

"Who should be deciding under these circumstances in this case whether we have a foreign corporation versus their argument that this really is the state?" liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked Eric Feigin, a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department.

The bank said its view is backed up by a 1976 U.S. law called the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) that limits the jurisdiction of American courts over lawsuits against foreign countries. President Joe Biden's administration contends that the law does not apply to criminal prosecutions and, even if it did, the bank's actions fall under the law's exception to sovereign immunity for misconduct involving commercial activities.

Halkbank's case has complicated U.S.-Turkish relations, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan calling the American charges against the bank an "unlawful, ugly" step.

U.S. prosecutors accused Halkbank of converting oil revenue into gold and then cash to benefit Iranian interests, and documenting fake food shipments to justify transfers of oil proceeds. They also said Halkbank helped Iran secretly transfer $20 billion of restricted funds, with at least $1 billion laundered through the U.S. financial system.

The Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2021 ruled against Halkbank, concluding that even if the FSIA shielded the bank, the conduct for which it was charged falls under the commercial-activity exception.

Halkbank's attorney Lisa Blatt, emphasizing the dispute's unusual nature, urged the justices to dismiss the case.

"The world has been around for, like, 7,000 years and no country has ever tried another country, it's just never happened," Blatt said, though she did not explain that date.

"I'm not going to claim that we've been doing this for 7,000 years," Feigin said, adding that such prosecutions have occurred since the 1980s. "That's because of the rise of government-owned corporations concealing some very serious crimes."

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York and John Kruzel in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham)
KYIV (Reuters) - A senior Ukrainian official blamed Russia on Tuesday for carrying out the bulk of more than 2,000 cyberattacks on Ukraine in 2022, speaking at a news conference that he said was itself delayed because of a cyberattack.

The official, Yuriy Schygol, told reporters that his livestreamed conference was forced to start 15 minutes late because of a Russian hack, though he did not elaborate or present evidence for his assertion.

"All that the Russian hackers could do was to delay the start of our briefing by 15 minutes," said Schygol, head of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection.

During the news briefing, he said Ukraine had been hit by 2,194 cyberattacks in 2022, with 1,655 of those coming after Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion.

Government institutions sustained 557 cyberattacks last year, he told reporters, laying the blame for the bulk of the attacks at Moscow's door.

"Essentially all hackers who work with Russia, most of them don't even hide their affiliation they are all funded by the FSB (Russia's Federal Security Service), are on military service, or are in the employ of those agencies," he said.

There was no immediate comment on his allegations from Moscow.

(Reporting by Max Hunder; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Alexandra Hudson)
Ukraine has brought back 125 children who were illegally taken to Russia from the temporarily occupied territories. In total, Russia kidnapped almost 14,000 Ukrainian children.

Source: Daria Herasymchuk, Ukrainian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights and Child Rehabilitation, during the opening of Ukraine Is You project as part of the World Economic Forum in Davos

Quote: "We have managed to identify and verify the data of almost 14,000 children who were kidnapped and deported by the Russian army, and unfortunately, we can say that we only managed to bring 125 of them home. It appears that it is very little, but for each one, the fate of the Ukrainian child, such an important child, is at stake."

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russian troops have killed 456 children in Ukraine, Herasymchuk emphasised.

Photo: Ingward/Depositphotos

Quote: "But while our presentation was going on, we got to know that another child was pulled out from under the rubble in the Dnipro city, who was killed by the Ruscists."

According to Herasymchuk, 897 children have been injured due to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Quote: "Even if the body was not hurt by the bombings of the Russian Federation, the war affected every Ukrainian child. More than 7.5 million Ukrainian children, who lived on the territory of our country before the beginning of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation into Ukraine, suffered."

The World Economic Forum, which takes place every year in the Swiss resort town of Davos, began on 16 January and will continue until 20 January.

Background: Russians deported more than 13,000 Ukrainian children to the Russian Federation, the children's ombudsman said.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Sanna Marin

Read also: Ukraine already de facto a NATO member, says countrys defense minister

We can look down the history and ask ourselves the question, should Ukraine already be a member of NATO? Politico quotes Marin.

She added that the EU and Western allies should have been more decisive in rebuking Russias occupation and annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The PM said Finland is seeking NATO membership to avoid becoming a target for Moscows aggression.

We want to become a member of NATO because we dont ever again want war in Finland, she concluded.

Read also: Ukraines path towards NATO membership should persist despite war, Lithuania says

Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO months after Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Their accession is being held up by Turkey and Hungary, who are yet to ratify the alliances enlargement.

Read also: Ukraines path towards NATO membership should persist despite war, Lithuania says

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Ukraines membership depends on its success in the war with Russia.

On Sept. 30, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Ukraine applies for NATO membership on an expedited basis. The application was signed by the president, PM Denys Shmyhal, and Speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Russia is suffering from profound problems with its dysfunctional long-range missiles, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

Officials said there is evidence from Ukraine that the Kremlins missile systems are highly likely struggles to identify targets.

The update comes after a Russian missile hit an apartment building in Dnipro, killing at least 40 people and injuring multiple others.

Earlier, Russia sanctioned British foreign secretary James Cleverly in a punitive move over the Ukraine war and asked the top official about why he has supported neo-Nazism and the Kyiv administration run by Volodymyr Zelensky.

Dear James, you dont understand. This is for the anti-Russian course and personal sanctions. But you still have to answer for the support of the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazism, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said yesterday.

The British official, who will hold diplomatic talks with his US and Canadian counterparts starting today to rally more support for Ukraine, confirmed that he has been targeted by Moscow, and added that if that were the price to be paid for supporting the war-hit nation, then he was happy to be sanctioned.

Key Points

Putin suffering 'profound' problems with 'dysfunctional' long-range missiles

James Cleverly says he has been sanctioned by Russia

Russia questions 'dear' James Cleverly on his support for 'neo-Nazism'

Expanded US training for Ukraine forces begins in Germany

British Challenger tanks sent to war will burn - Kremlin

More than 7,000 civilians killed and over 11,000 injured in Ukraine war - UN

Putin suffering 'profound' problems with 'dysfunctional' long-range missiles

07:24 , Matt Mathers

Russia is suffering from profound problems with its dysfunctional long-range missiles, Britains Ministry of Defence has said.

Officials said there is evidence from Ukraine that the Kremlins missile systems are highly likely struggles to identify targets.

The update comes after a Russian missile hit an apartment building in Dnipro, killing at least 40 people and injuring multiple others.

Story continues

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 17 January 2023



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/cJMPkLSUgH



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/cOHXJS6j6E  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) January 17, 2023

Russian missile strips down apartment and reveals yellow kitchen in Dnipro attack

07:07 , Arpan Rai

Photo of a cheerful family kitchen yellow in colour visible from the ramshackled apartment which came under Russian missile attack has left people on social media shocked.

The house, belonging to Ukraines famous boxing coach Mykhailo Korenovsky who was killed in the attack over the weekend, was seen after the missile ripped apart the apartments external wall.

Another video on social media showed that the family had celebrated a childs birthday inside the bright yellow kitchen of the flat.

Saturdays attack on Dnipros building has claimed 40 civilian lives despite Russias claims that its attack on Ukraine did not target civilians.

The victims included three children, officials said.

The video from the same yellow kitchen, which you can see in the pictures from a destroyed by missile Dnipro apartment

The happy life of one of many families killed by putin & russians#RussiaIsATerroristState #Ukraine #UkraineWar #RussiaUkraineWar #RussianUkrainianWar https://t.co/nInhTbKFtB pic.twitter.com/RlO8SlreDd  Valery  (@ValeryKosta) January 16, 2023

Higher energy bills are here to stay, oil company boss warns

06:59 , Emily Atkinson

An energy boss has warned that sky-high energy prices are not going to fall anytime soon and may never return to pre-Covid levels.

The cost of wholesale energy began to rise after the easing of pandemic restrictions, before shooting up as a result of Russias invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions lodged against Moscow aimed at deterring further escalation.

But as countries seek to ditch fossil fuels in favour of alternative energy supplies  both to shed their dependence on Russian oil and pursue more environmentally-friendly futures  experts warn this could mean energy costs remain high.

Gas prices have returned to where they were before the Ukrainian invasion in recent weeks, in part due to warmer weather across Europe. Despite this, the boss of Norwegian energy giant Equinor has said he does not expect energy bills to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Higher energy bills are here to stay, oil company boss warns

Wagner Group member seeks asylum in Norway

06:40 , Arpan Rai

Russian man and Wagner operative Andrei Medvedev who reportedly is a former high-ranking member of the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group, has sought asylum in Norway, officials said yesterday.

The Norwegian directorate of immigration, also known by its Norwegian acronym UDI, confirmed to The Associated Press that the mercenary member has sought shelter in Norway.

For reasons of security and privacy, the UDI cannot comment further on this matter, UDI said in an email.

Read the full story here:

Wagner mercenary claims to dodge gunfire and tracker dogs in escape to Norway

Zelensky calls for more weapons and tanks after UK sends tanks: Thank you, Rishi

06:30 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked the British administration for helping Ukraine by sending military aid, latest in the slew of ammunition and military vehicles being poured into the war-hit country by the west.

Today, there is a good example from the UK. A new package of defence assistance has been announced - exactly what we need. Tanks, other armoured vehicles, artillery.

What we discussed with Prime Minister Sunak. I thank you, Rishi, I thank every Briton for the tangible and timely support! Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address yesterday.

He added: What happened in Dnipro, the fact that Russia is preparing a new attempt to seize the initiative in the war, the fact that the nature of hostilities at the front requires new decisions in the defense supply - all this only emphasizes how important it is to coordinate our efforts - efforts of all members of the coalition to defend Ukraine and freedom. And to speed up decision-making.

Explosions heard in Russias Belgorod

06:14 , Arpan Rai

Explosions have been heard in the Russian city of Belgorod and Belgorod district early this morning, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov reported via Telegram.

Authorities have activated air defence systems, the regional governor said.

Just 24 hours earlier, an explosion in Belgorod claimed three lives and wounded 16 others, officials said after an ammunition detonated at a Russian base at the Tonenkoye farm, in the Korochansky district. Another eight people have been reported missing.

Wagner mercenary claims to have dodged rifle fire and tracker dogs in high-stakes escape into Norway

05:54 , Andy Gregory

A Wagner Group commander who claims to have deserted the Russian mercenaries is willing to testify against its leaders has described a harrowing escape across a desolate Arctic frontier to seek political asylum in Norway.

Andrei Medvedev told human rights activists of a night spent dodging bullets, evading sniffer dogs and running across a frozen river in a night gown at the northernmost reaches of mainland Europe  in favour of the brutal retribution he claims to fear at the hands of his last employer.

You can read more details here:

Wagner mercenary claims to dodge gunfire and tracker dogs in escape to Norway

Russia defence minister visits Russian troops involved in Ukraine - official

05:46 , Arpan Rai

Russias defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited Russian troops fighting in the war Ukraine, the ministry said today.

Sergei Shoigu thanked the servicemen who courageously perform tasks in the special military operation zone, and presented state awards to the servicemen for their dedication and heroism, the ministry said in a statement on its Telegram messaging app.

Ukraine to take Russia to International Criminal Court for Dnipro missile strike

05:33 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukrainian authorities in the security service have already started gathering information about Russian military involved in preparing and and carrying out this strike on an apartment building in Dnipro.

This strike at Dnipro, as well as other similar strikes, falls, in particular, under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. And we will use all available opportunities - both national and international - to ensure that all Russian murderers, everyone who gives and executes orders on missile terror against our people, face legal sentences. And to ensure that they serve their punishment, Mr Zelensky said.

He added: There is no doubt: every person guilty of this war crime will be identified and brought to justice.

More than 7,000 civilians killed and over 11,000 injured in Ukraine war - UN

05:21 , Arpan Rai

The UNs office of the high commissioner for human rights has totalled the civilian casualties in the Ukraine war to more than 18,000 since the first day of Russian invasion in its latest update.

As of Sunday, the top UN office has recorded 18,358 civilian casualties in the country, out of which 7,031 people have been killed and 11,327 injured.

A total of 7,031 killed (2,784 men, 1,875 women, 177 girls, and 221 boys, as well as 35 children and 1,939 adults whose sex is yet unknown), the UNHCR said yesterday.

It added: A total of 11,327 injured (2,472 men, 1,764 women, 240 girls, and 325 boys, as well as 262 children and 6,264 adults whose sex is yet unknown)

In Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the UN authorities have recorded 9,853 casualties (4,102 killed and 5,751 injured).

Germanys defence minister quits after string of gaffes

05:10 , Arpan Rai

German defence minister minister Christine Lambrecht announced her resignation as her department steers the massive project of modernising the countrys military and oversees expanding weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

The minister said that she had submitted her resignation request to chancellor Olaf Scholz, adding that months of media focus on my person had stood in the way of a factual debate about the military and Germanys security policy.

The valuable work of the soldiers and many people in my department must stand in the foreground, she said.

Read the full story here:

Germany's defense minister resigns amid Ukraine criticism

Russia questions 'dear' James Cleverly on his support for 'neo-Nazism'

04:47 , Arpan Rai

Russia has asked British foreign secretary James Cleverly why he has supported neo-Nazism and the Kyiv administration just hours after sanctioning him.

Dear James, you dont understand. This is for the anti-Russian course and personal sanctions. But you still have to answer for the support of the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazism, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said yesterday.

Russia terms its invasion of Ukraine as a special military operation aimed at fighting Nazism but has targeted the former Soviet territorys civilian infrastructure and citizens by indiscriminately shelling and bombing the country with missiles.

Mikhailo Mudryk: Shakhtar to donate 20m of Chelsea transfer fee to Ukrainian soldiers

04:47 , Andy Gregory

Shakhtar Donetsk will donate more than 20million of the transfer fee received for Mikhailo Mudryk to Ukrainian soldiers, my colleague Ben Burrows reports.

The 22-year-old forward joined Chelsea for 88m on Sunday after the Blues moved late to hijack a move to Premier League rivals Arsenal.

Shakhtar held out in negotiations for the biggest possible fee with a portion now set to go to soldiers, defenders and their families in the ongoing defence against the Russian invasion.

Shakhtar to donate 20m of Mikhailo Mudryk transfer fee to Ukrainian soldiers

James Cleverly says he has been sanctioned by Russia

04:39 , Arpan Rai

British foreign secretary James Cleverly said he is the latest minister to have be sanctioned by Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Ive been sanctioned by the Russian government. Good. If this is the price for supporting Ukrainian freedom, then Im happy to be sanctioned #SlavaUkraini, he said on Twitter.

Doubling down on British governments support for Ukraine, Mr Cleverly said that he spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart after the UK promised military aid t Ukraine.

I spoke to my friend @DmytroKuleba following the announcement that the UK will provide Challenger 2 tanks and further military support to Ukraine. Ukraine will win. We will support you for as long as it takes, he said in another tweet.

I've been sanctioned by the

Russian government.



Good.



If this is the price for supporting Ukrainian freedom, then Im happy to be sanctioned #SlavaUkraini  James Cleverly (@JamesCleverly) January 16, 2023

Cleverly to urge US to step up support for Ukraine

03:38 , Arpan Rai

Foreign secretary James Cleverly is holding talks in Washington as he seeks to bolster support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russias invasion.

Mr Cleverly will meet US secretary of state Antony Blinken today before travelling to Toronto for talks tomorrow with his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly.

He is expected to use his visit to urge the allies to go further and faster in their support for the government in Kyiv, arguing that, with the right equipment, the Ukrainians can prevail against Moscow.

Cleverly to urge US to step up support for Ukraine

Expanded US training for Ukraine forces begins in Germany

03:34 , Andy Gregory

Washingtons new and expanded training scheme for Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday  with a goal of getting a battalion of some 500 troops back on the battlefield in the next five to eight weeks, General Mark Milley has said.

Expanded US training for Ukraine forces begins in Germany

CIA director warned Zelensky of assassination threat at secret meeting before Russia invasion, book claims

02:31 , Andy Gregory

The director of the Central Intelligence Agency travelled to Kyiv before the start of Russias war on Ukraine in order to inform Volodymyr Zelensky of a Russian plan to assassinate him, reports my colleague Andrew Feinberg.

In a forthcoming book, author Chris Whipple reports that at the same time Mr Zelensky was publicly dismissive of warnings from US officials that Moscow would soon launch its land invasion, he was getting a clandestine briefing from CIA Director Bill Burns about the threat on his life.

CIA warned Zelensky of assassination threat before Russia invasion, book claims

Residents mourn 40 dead in awful attack in Dnipro

01:19 , Andy Gregory

Dnipro was in mourning today after the Russian attack alleged to have killed 40 civilians and left 75 wounded, including 14 children.

A serviceman in uniform laid flowers and sobbed, clutching his head in grief next to an impromptu shrine to the dead at a bus stop across the street from a gaping hole where the nine-storey apartment block had stood, Reuters reported.

We all live in buildings like this one and we all imagine what if it happened to us. It is awful, Polina, a 28-year-old resident of the neighbourhood told the news agency.

Russia claimed it was not to blame for the destruction in Dnipro as it was caused by Ukrainian air defences. Kyiv says the apartment building was hit by a Russian ship-to-ship missile, a type that Ukraine does not have the capability to shoot down.

Dnipro attack underscores need for quicker arms supplies, says Zelensky

00:11 , Andy Gregory

The death toll from a Russian missile strike in city of Dnipro rose to 40 today, with dozens more missing, making it the deadliest civilian incident of Moscows three-month campaign of firing missiles at cities far from the frontline.

Officials expressed meagre hope of finding anyone else alive in the rubble, but president Volodymyr Zelensky said the rescue operation would go on as long as there is even the slightest chance to save lives.

Dozens of people were rescued from the rubble, including six children. We are fighting for every person, Mr Zelensky said in a televised address.

Speaking later in his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky said the Dnipro attack underscored the need to speed up decisions on arms supplies and coordinate all the efforts of the coalition defending Ukraine and freedom.

Cleverly to help persuade allies to provide Kyiv with tanks, says Kuleba

Monday 16 January 2023 23:21 , Andy Gregory

British foreign secretary James Cleverly has spoken to his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and confirmed his readiness to work together on persuading other nations to provide Ukraine with western-type tanks, the latter has said.

We also discussed new sanctions on Russias missile and drone industry aimed to put an end to Russian missile terror against civilians. I am deeply grateful to the UK for standing with Ukraine resolutely  2/2  Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) January 16, 2023

Mr Cleverly and Mr Wallace will meet allies to discuss further military support for Kyiv.

No 10 backs Ukraines effectiveness with British tanks, despite Kremlins threat

Monday 16 January 2023 22:36 , Andy Gregory

Downing Street has expressed confidence that Ukraine will use British tanks effectively after Russia claimed the Challenger 2s will burn on the battlefield, reports Sam Blewett.

No 10 said there is a plethora of evidence showing Volodymyr Zelenskys troops have used UK-supplied weapons successfully and minsters fully expected them to continue.

You can read more on todays developments here:

No 10 backs Ukraines effectiveness with British tanks, despite Kremlins threat

How George Orwells Animal Farm is helping Ukraine 76 years on

Monday 16 January 2023 21:48 , Andy Gregory

A first edition Ukrainian language copy of George Orwells Animal Farm is set to go on sale to raise money for a charity supporting refugees who fled the Russian invasion, reports my colleague Liam James.

The Ukrainian translation of the seminal satire of the Russian revolution was the only one to feature a foreword from Orwell  written at the behest of his publisher, who felt the author should introduce himself to the editions intended audience of Ukrainians displaced by the Second World War.

The 1947 copy of the book, also dubbed the refugee camp edition, is now set to be sold by London antique bookshop Jarndyce for 1,850 on 20 January on a first come, first serve basis.

How George Orwells Animal Farm is helping Ukraine 76 years on

Germany and Netherlands condemn Russias forced deportation of children

Monday 16 January 2023 21:04 , Andy Gregory

Germany and the Netherlands have condemned the deportation by Russians of thousands of Ukrainian children, calling it a deliberate policy of cruel and inhumane abductions that is tearing families apart.

Russia must account for the whereabouts of these children, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said at a joint press conference with her Dutch colleague Wopke Hoekstra in The Hague, according to the Associated Press.

Their parents, families, caregivers must no longer be in uncertainty and fear. These children have their homes with their families in Ukraine. These children did not leave their homes voluntarily. These children have been abducted.

Ms Baerbock said that German and Dutch ministers would work together with organisations including the United Nations and International Criminal Court on the issue.

This deliberate Russian policy is tearing families apart and traumatising children, said Mr Hoekstra. It is cruel and it is inhumane. And let me be clear that children abducted by Russia must be returned to their own country as soon as possible.

Ukraines infrastructure could collapse at any second, warns Kyiv mayor

Monday 16 January 2023 20:29 , Reuters

Ukraines infrastructure could collapse at any second as Russias sporadic missile attacks along with freezing winter temperatures put local authorities under increasing strain, Kyivs mayor has warned.

Vitali Klitschko and his brother Vladimir told Reuters that Ukraines Western allies had to speed up deliveries of air defence systems capable of downing Russian missiles.

We dont talk about the collapse, but it can happen ... at any second [because] Russian rockets can destroy our critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Vitali said, adding that there was currently a 30 per cent deficit in energy in the capital.

Its pretty cold in Ukraine right now so living without electricity and heating is almost impossible. The situation is critical. We are fighting to survive, he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos.

Russia will not launch land offensive from Belarus, says Tsikhanouskaya

Monday 16 January 2023 20:01 , Andy Gregory

Belaruss exiled opposition leader has said she does not think Russia will launch an offensive on Ukraine from her country after the two nations began military drills  but warned Moscow could launch more missiles strikes from its allys territory.

Moscow and Minsk started joint military exercises on Monday, triggering fears in Kyiv and the West that Moscow could use its ally to launch a new ground offensive in Ukraine.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos that she believed the drills aimed to scare the Belarus people about the possibility of war and make president Alexander Lukashenko appear to be doing everything to avoid conflict.

The other purpose is to threaten the Ukrainians, distract them and turn the attention of their troops from the eastern part of the country to the northern borders, said Ms Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus after a presidential election in 2020.

UKs surgeon general to visit Ukraine, says Ben Wallace

Monday 16 January 2023 19:32 , Andy Gregory

The UKs surgeon general will visit Ukraine, defence secretary Ben Wallace has said, after a call from former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith to provide Ukrainian troops with mental health support to help counter a large rise in suicides.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Wallace replied that the most senior uniformed medical officer in the British armed forces would visit Ukraine soon to see what more we can do to help those individuals especially suffering from the acute mental health challenges they have.

He added: It is easy to forget that there are lots of Ukrainians suffering either post-conflict through the suicide or indeed just ordinary individuals.

The tragedy is 10 months in  people get slightly immune to what they see on the telly and social media from what is really violence and destruction of a staggering scale.

Kyivs forces need more mental health support amid huge rise in troop suicides, MPs told

Monday 16 January 2023 19:01 , Andy Gregory

Ukraines armed forces need more mental health support, ministers have been told after hearing claims that an astonishing number of soldiers have died by suicide after their experiences on the battlefield.

Former Tory party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the Commons that the UK and US should provide mental health support for Ukraines armed forces due to the two countries experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sir Iain told the Commons that he had recently visited Ukraine while working with a charity, and heard calls for donations of more armoured ambulances and paramedics.

He also told the Commons: The third area they were keen on  and this is something that is shocking  is that the number of Ukrainian military committing suicide now as a result of battlefield stress is astonishing, they desperately need help.

They did ask that the US and the UK  who have experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc  could help by sending some people over to help train in those mental health practices.

UK to reevaluate size of its tank fleet, says Wallace

Monday 16 January 2023 18:33 , Andy Gregory

The UK could re-evaluate whether it needs a larger tank fleet based on the lessons of Ukraine, Ben Wallace has said, promising to build on the armys modernisation programme at pace.

The defence secretary told MPs: Even as we gift Challenger 2 tanks [to Kyiv], I shall at the same time be reviewing the number of Challenger 3 conversions to consider whether the lessons of Ukraine suggest that we need a larger tank fleet.

We will also build on the armys modernisation programme at pace, specifically on artillery. Im accelerating the Mobile Fires programme, so instead of delivering in the 2030s it will do this earlier this decade.

(screengrab/Parliament TV)

UK to double down on training Ukrainian troops on British soil, says Wallace

Monday 16 January 2023 18:04 , Andy Gregory

The UK is doubling down its training of Ukrainian soldiers on British soil, the defence secretary has said.

Ben Wallace told the Commons: Doubling down on the success of our basic training of Ukrainian military in 2022 in the United Kingdom, we are also now increasing this number this year to a further 20,000.

He added: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Lithuania, New Zealand and the Netherlands have already joined this effort, and Im pleased to say we are now going to be joined by a subgroup of Australian military to train in this country as well.

Britain to send Kyiv hundreds of armoured vehicles in most significant combat package to date

Monday 16 January 2023 17:39 , Andy Gregory

Britain will send hundreds more armoured vehicles to Ukraine, including Bulldog vehicles and Challenger 2 tanks, the defence secretary has told MPs.

Speaking in the Commons, Ben Wallace claimed that Britain will be the first country to donate Western main battle tanks, saying that Russia has managed to lose significant numbers of generals and commanding officers while failing to break the will of the Ukrainian people.

Announcing what he described as the most significant package of combat to date to accelerate Ukrainian success, Mr Wallace said that Kyivs allies must accelerate our collective efforts to dramatically, economically and militarily to keep the pressure on Vladimir Putin.

After discussion with the United States and our European allies, it is hoped that the example set by the French and us will allow those countries holding Leopard tanks to donate as well. I know there are a number of countries who want to do the same, he told MPs.

It is worth reiterating why we are doing this. In 2023, the international community will not let Russia wait it out while inflicting terrible suffering on Ukrainian civilians.

Russia makes first set of Poseidon nuclear-capable torpedoes

Monday 16 January 2023 16:40 , Liam James

Russia has produced the first set of Poseidon nuclear capable super torpedoes that are being developed for deployment on the Belgorod nuclear submarine, Tass reported, citing an unidentified defence source.

US and Russian officials have both described Poseidon as a new category of retaliatory weapon, capable of triggering radioactive ocean swells to render coastal cities uninhabitable.

The first set of Poseidons have been manufactured, and the Belgorod submarine will receive them in the near future, Tass, a state news agency, quoted the source as saying.

Tass said the main components of Poseidon, including a nuclear reactor to give the torpedo its own power source, had been successfully completed. The crew of the Belgorod nuclear submarine has also completed tests with models of the torpedo, Tass said.

Apartment building blast death toll rises to 40

Monday 16 January 2023 16:00 , Matt Mathers

The death toll from a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 40 on Monday with dozens more missing, making it the deadliest civilian incident of Moscows three-month campaign of hurling missiles at cities far from the front.

Kyiv says the mass civilian deaths, which it describes as terrorism, demonstrate why it needs more weapons to defeat Russian forces 11 months after they invaded. Russia denies intentionally targetting civilians.

Germanys Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday, while her government came under mounting pressure to let allies send Ukraine heavy tanks, at the start of what is expected to be a pivotal week for Western plans to arm Kyiv.

Taiwan could be next Ukraine, Japans prime minister warns G7 leaders

Monday 16 January 2023 15:50 , Matt Mathers

Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida told Western nations that east Asia could become the next Ukraine given a rise in Chinas aggression against Taiwan and North Koreas military activity.

During his first trip to Washington since his election in October 2021, Mr Kishida visited leaders of all members of the Group of 7 nations (G7), except Germany.

The Japanese president stressed the importance of standing up to Russias invasion of Ukraine, arguing that if a unilateral change to the status quo went unchallenged, the same would happen elsewhere.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:

Taiwan could be next Ukraine, Japans prime minister warns G7 leaders

Turkey renews offer to mediate in Russia-Ukraine war - Erdogans office

Monday 16 January 2023 15:10 , Matt Mathers

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan renewed his offer to help mediate an end to the conflict in Ukraine during a phone call on Monday with Russias President Vladimir Putin, Erdogans office said.

"During the call, President Erdogan reiterated that Turkey is ready to undertake the task of facilitating and mediating for the establishment of a lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine," it said in a statement.

The two leaders also discussed Russian grain and ammonia exports via the Black Sea, it added.

Putin and Erdogan discuss Ukraine by phone - Kremlin

Monday 16 January 2023 14:50 , Matt Mathers

President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone call where they discussed Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Monday.

The two sides discussed a potential prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, as well as normalisation of Turkish-Syrian relations, the Kremlin said.

"The exchange of views on the situation around Ukraine continued," the Kremlin said.

File: Russian president Vladimir Putin meets with Turkeys president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the Sixth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Astana on 13 October 2022 (SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 7,000 civilians killed in war so far - UN

Monday 16 January 2023 14:21 , Matt Mathers

More than 7,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbour last February, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Monday.

"Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects, including shelling from heavy artillery, multiple launch rocket systems, missiles and air strikes," an OHCHR statement said.

The UN rights office said it had confirmed 7,031 civilian deaths but believes actual casualty tolls are "considerably higher" given the pending corroboration of many reports and the inaccessibility of areas where intense fighting is taking place.

Most of the recorded civilian deaths occurred in government-held areas of Ukraine - 6,536 compared with 495 recorded in Russian-held areas. OHCHR did not attribute responsibility for the deaths.

Ukraine says the numbers of civilians killed could run into the tens of thousands. Both countries deny targeting civilians.

Buildings destroyed in Dnipro

Monday 16 January 2023 13:50 , Matt Mathers

A photograph shows a residential building destroyed after a Russian missile strike, in Dnipro on January 16, 2023 (AFP via Getty Images)

Local residents look at rescuers working on the building (AFP via Getty Images)
A Russian Su-25 attack aircraft has been shot down by defenders of Ukraine near Soledar in the Donetsk Oblast; the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine previously made the announcement.

Source: Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Quote: "On 17 January 2023, at about 15:20 on the Eastern front, near the city of Soledar, another Russian Su-25 attack aircraft was destroyed by a unit of anti-aircraft missile forces of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

Background: The General Staff reported that the Air Force shot down a Russian Su-25 attack aircraft on 17 January.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
Ukraines Defence Forces repelled attacks by the invaders near more than 20 cities, towns and villages in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts on 16 January.

Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, information as of 06:00 on 17 January

Quote: "Over the past 24 hours, the enemy has carried out two missile and seven air strikes and deployed multiple-launch rocket systems [MLRS] to conduct over 70 attacks on civilian infrastructure. Civilians were also killed and injured.

A threat of further Russian air and missile attacks on facilities all over Ukraine is high.

The enemy has not abandoned its intentions to capture the entire Donetsk Oblast, and it is conducting offensive actions on the Bakhmut and Avdiivka fronts.

Over the past day, units of Ukraines Defence Forces repelled Russian attacks near more than 20 settlements, including Bilohorivka (Luhansk Oblast) and Verkhniokamianske, Krasnopolivka, Spirne, Sil, Soledar, Bilohorivka, Bakhmut, Pivnichne, Kamianka, Vodiane, Nevelske, Marinka and Pobieda (Donetsk Oblast).

The enemy is trying to improve its tactical position on the Kupiansk, Lyman and Novopavlivka fronts and is on the defensive on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson fronts."

Details: On the Volyn, Polissia, Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna fronts, there were no significant changes in the situation; no signs of Russians forming offensive groups were detected. Nevertheless, areas in and around more than 15 settlements came under Russian tank, mortar and artillery fire. Among them are Krasne, Neskuchne, Vesele, Hatyshche, Vovchansk, Nesterne, Zemlianky, Novomlynsk, Dvorichna and Kamianka in Kharkiv Oblast.

On the Kupiansk and Lyman fronts, Russian forces fired in and around 15 settlements, including Kyslivka, Kotliarivka and Vyshneve (Kharkiv Oblast) and Novoselivske, Andriivka, Makiivka, Kreminna, Dibrova, Terny and Yampolivka (Luhansk Oblast).

On the Bakhmut front, Vyimka, Bilohorivka, Soledar, Krasna Hora, Paraskoviivka, Bakhmut, Klishchiivka, New-York and Vesele in Donetsk Oblast were attacked. Overall, more than 15 settlements were attacked.

Story continues

On the Avdiivka front, Russian forces fired on Heorhiivka, Avdiivka, Pervomaiske, Marinka, Vodiane and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast.

On the Novopavlivka front, the occupiers hit Vuhledar, Mykilski Dachi and Velyka Novosilka in Donetsk Oblast.

On the Zaporizhzhia front, Russian forces struck more than 15 cities, towns and villages, including Vremivka and Novopil in Donetsk Oblast and Poltavka, Malynivka, Huliaipole, Mala Tokmachka, Novoandriivka, Stepove, Kamianske and Plavni in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

On the Kherson front, the invaders continued terrorising civilians. Sablukivka, Kachkarivka, Olhivka, Tiahynka, Inhulets and Kherson came under Russian mortar and artillery fire.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has reported that the invaders have stopped broadcasting all Ukrainian TV channels and left only Russian TV in the temporarily occupied territories, including Zavodivka, Hornostaivka and Kairy in Kherson Oblast.

Ukraines Rocket Forces and Artillery units hit one command post, 11 clusters of manpower, a fuel storage point and an ammunition storage point belonging to the Russian invaders.

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KYIV (Reuters) - Ukraine's top general said he had outlined the "urgent needs" of his armed forces on Tuesday at a first personal meeting with the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, in Poland.

Ukraine is pushing to secure a fleet of modern battle tanks from Western countries that it hopes to use to drive out Russian forces which invaded last February, capturing swathes of territory in the south and east.

"I outlined the urgent needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the fulfilment of which will accelerate our Victory," General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi wrote in a statement on Telegram.

In an interview with the Economist in December, Zaluzhnyi said he needed 300 tanks, 600-700 infantry fighting vehicles and 500 howitzers to help his forces push back the invaders.

"I know that I can beat this enemy. But I need resources," he said.

The United States has been by far the biggest supplier of military assistance for Kyiv during the war.

Western allies are scheduled to meet at a U.S. airbase in Germany on Friday to pledge military support for Ukraine, with the focus on proposals to provide modern battle tanks.

German-made Leopard tanks, held by armies across Europe, are seen as the most likely option to be sent in large numbers, but they cannot be re-exported to Ukraine without Berlin's approval.

In his statement, Zaluzhnyi said he thanked Milley for "the unwavering support and assistance provided by the United States of America and allies to Ukraine".

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Max Hunder; Editing by Jon Boyle and Gareth Jones)
Solomon Pena, center, a Republican candidate for New Mexico House District 14, is taken into custody by Albuquerque Police officers, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in southwest Albuquerque, N.M. Pena was arrested in connection with a recent series of drive-by shootings targeting Democratic lawmakers in New Mexico. (Roberto E. Rosales/The Albuquerque Journal via AP) (Roberto E. Rosales/AP)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  A 39-year-old felon who overwhelmingly lost a bid for the New Mexico statehouse as a Republican paid for four men to shoot at Democratic lawmakers homes in recent months, including one house where a 10-year-old girl was asleep, police said.

The case against Solomon Pena, who had posted photos of himself online with Donald Trump campaign material, is one of dozens across the United States where people have threatened, and in some cases attempted to carry out, violence against members of Congress, school board members and other election officials. In Kansas, a trial began this week for a man who prosecutors say threatened to kill a congressman.

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Officials accuse Pena of paying $500 to four men to shoot at the homes of Democratic lawmakers. He went along for the final drive-by, his gun jamming as bullets ripped into the bedroom of the girl, police said.

The criminal complaint against the self-proclaimed MAGA king describes how anger over his landslide defeat in November led to attacks at the homes of four Democratic lawmakers in New Mexicos largest city. A SWAT team arrested him Monday afternoon, police said.

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Pena spent nine years behind bars after his arrest in April 2007 for stealing electronics and other goods from several retail stores as part of what authorities described as a burglary crew. He was released from prison in March 2016, and had his voting rights restored after completing five years probation in April 2021, corrections officials said.

Pena ran unsuccessfully in November against incumbent state Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, the longtime Democrat representing House District 14 in the South Valley. Pena got 26% of the vote.

Pena, whose criminal past came up during the campaign, repeatedly made baseless claims that the election was rigged against him.

I dissent. I am the MAGA king, he posted the day after the election.

On Nov. 15, he posted an image of himself in a Make America Great Again hoodie, saying Trump just announced for 2024. I stand with him. I never conceded my HD 14 race. Now researching my options.

Pena has an initial court appearance Wednesday on charges including multiple counts of shooting at a home and shooting from a motor vehicle, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, conspiracy and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

No one was wounded in the drive-by shootings. The New Mexico Republican Party said that: If Pena is found guilty, he must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Penas candidacy was challenged in state district court, with his opponent saying he wasnt eligible to seek office because he had not been pardoned by the governor, nor did he request to be pardoned.

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The court sided with Pena, finding that a state law that prohibits a felon from holding public office was unconstitutional. An appeal is pending.

Police said Pena had previously shown up uninvited at the homes of two elected officials with what he claimed were documents proving that he had won his race. There was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, or any irregularity involving enough votes to change a result, in New Mexico in 2020 or 2022.

The criminal complaint says that Pena hired a father and son with criminal histories of their own as well as two brothers whom authorities have yet to identify. In one of their text messages, Pena complained that officials certifying the election in November sold us out to the highest bidder.

The shootings began Dec. 4, when eight rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa. Days later, state Rep. Javier Martinezs home was targeted. On Dec. 11, more than a dozen rounds were fired at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie OMalley, police said.

The final related shooting, targeting state Sen. Linda Lopezs home, unfolded in the midnight hour of Jan. 3. Police said more than a dozen shots were fired, including three that Lopez said passed through the bedroom of her sleeping 10-year-old daughter.

The witness said one of the men told the shooters to aim above the homes windows to avoid striking anyone inside. Pena wanted them to shoot lower.

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Penas insistence that the men be more aggressive made the other participants uneasy since they knew that doing so would likely end in death or injury, said the witness, who faces criminal charges and has asked for leniency. Authorities said no such promises have been made.

The witness said Pena was there at the Lopez shooting to ensure better target acquisition.

The witness said Penas gun jammed and did not fire correctly but one of the other men fired multiple rounds from a Glock pistol into the Lopez home.

An appointed public defender for Pena did not immediate return messages seeking comment.

The shooting spree was scary, not just from my personal perspective, but the fact that our democratic processes that we believed so much in -- and that our country was founded on -- would be targeted in that way, Martinez, the Democratic lawmaker, said at a news conference on his first day as the top-ranked House leader.

Its long overdue that we lower the temperature. These are the things that can happen when the rhetoric gets out of hand, Martinez said.

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Lawmakers in the Democratic-run state have had to tread carefully over the years not to infringe on the right to bear arms, and it was only recently that firearms were banned from the state capitol. In Albuquerque, authorities have been struggling to address escalating gun violence and consecutive years of record homicides.

Detectives identified Pena as their key suspect using a combination of cellphone and vehicle records, witness interviews and bullet casings collected near the lawmakers homes.

Technology that can detect the sound of gunfire led an officer to Lopezs neighborhood shortly after the shots were fired.

The officer found bullet casings matching a handgun found later that morning in a Nissan Maxima registered to Pena. Around 1:30 a.m., about an hour after the shooting at Lopezs home, police stopped the Nissan about 4 miles from the lawmakers neighborhood.

The driver, identified as Jose Trujillo, was arrested on an outstanding warrant, leading to the discovery of more than 800 fentanyl pills and two firearms in the car.

Authorities said Tuesday the investigation was ongoing and more arrests were expected.

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Yamat reported from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Dmytro Kuleba

Its all nonsense, everything they (the Russians) are saying, he said.

Were not buying it, and more importantly, were glad to see that more and more countries arent buying it either.

Commenting on the Russian missile strike on a residential building in the city of Dnipro, Kuleba stressed it would not make the Ukrainians give up.

You cannot raise your hands and say: okay, were giving up because youre hitting residential buildings, killing fathers, mothers, children, spreading terror, the minister said.

Because we know if we do that, things will only get worse.

Read also: Ukraines allies will never force it into negotiating with Russia, Macron says

On Oct. 4, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy approved a National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) decision that outlaws negotiations with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Ukraines negotiating position will depend on Kyivs success on the battlefield, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Oct. 26.

Zelenskyy later said Ukraine could find a format to hold talks with Moscow only under the condition of a complete Russian withdrawal from all occupied Ukrainian territories, as well as its admission that the full-scale invasion was a terrible mistake.

At the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, on Nov. 15, Zelenskyy proposed a 10-point plan for achieving peace, which included restoration of Ukraines territorial integrity, respect for the UN Charter, compensation for all the damage caused by the Russian war, punishment for all war crimes, and security guarantees for the future.

Upon withdrawal of its troops from the western bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, Moscow declared its willingness for peace negotiations without any conditions.

However, it continues to carry out mass missile and air strikes on Ukraines energy system.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
Six Russian missile carriers in the Black Sea, including submarines, have been armed with an almost unprecedented number of Kalibr cruise missiles - up to 44, according to Natalia Humeniuk, spokeperson for the Southern Operational Command of the Ukrainian armed forces.

The estimate of missiles ready to launch was made after another Russian submarine was observed calling into port, presumably to be loaded with fresh Kalibr missiles, Humeniuk said live on Ukrainian television.

Since the full-scale invasion began, the most missiles Russia had had in the Black Sea at any one time was 48.

Among other cruise and ballistic missiles, Kalibrs have been among the main weapons that Russia has used to attack Ukraine's civilian infrastructure.

Kalibr missiles launched from the Black Sea were used in Russia's tenth mass missile attack on Ukraine, with several reported shot down by Ukrainian air defense.

Ukrainian intelligence has claimed that Russia is close to running out of its stockpile but added that it can still continue to produce 20 Kalibrs per month.

Russia boasted in December that it would never run out of these missiles.

Ukraine remains under threat of another missile attack, Humeniuk said.
Jan. 16For the first time in 50 years, Maine's only law school will begin holding classes Tuesday at its new home in Portland's Old Port.

The University of Maine School of Law has moved from its old location at 246 Deering Ave. into a new location at 300 Fore St.

Gov. Janet Mills, who graduated from the University of Maine School of Law in 1976 and went on to serve as Maine's Attorney General, came to Portland last week to attend the law school's open house and to recognize the opening of the new campus with students, law school faculty, and the University of Maine officials. Former Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justice Leigh Saufley is dean of the law school.

The 64,000-square-foot Fore Street office building also will house the University of Maine Graduate and Professional Center, the University of Maine Portland Gateway, and the University of Maine Graduate School of Business, according to a statement posted on the law school's website.

"It's really important that we're bringing together law, commerce, and public policy, and research in one building," Mills told News Center Maine at Thursday's open house. "This (new campus) brings all of this together where people can share their knowledge and help make Maine a better place."

In August 2021, Portland's Planning Board approved a change of use application that allowed the law school and related programs to move from its home on Deering Avenue to the Old Port location.

The school has occupied the eight-story law school building, which is adjacent to the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus, since 1972. In 2017, Architectural Digest named the building one of the eight ugliest buildings in America.

"The university building may look like a futuristic version of the Roman Colosseum, but the only battles happening with these walls are with the bar exam," Architectural Digest wrote in its review.

The Fore Street office building was renovated to accommodate the law school's needs. It is located near the center of the Old Port district, is near several downtown law firms, and is within walking distance of state and federal courts.

The former tenant of the building, the Council on International Educational Exchange, a nonprofit that helps students study abroad, had occupied the building since 2007, a year after it was built at the corner of Fore and Custom House streets.

The new law school will feature nine learning spaces with state-of-the-art technology; two classrooms with the capacity to seat 100; a fully staffed law library; a designated prayer room; legal aid clinics; a bicycle storage room; and a first-floor space with a fireplace and cafe.
Talks in Kyiv with the US delegation led by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, January 16, 2023

Read also: U.S. diplomat Nuland meets with Ukraine chief-of-staff Yermak in Kyiv

Besides Yermak, the meeting was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, head of Ukraines energy operator Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, and senior military leadership.

Yermak briefed Sherman on the situation on the battlefield and Ukraine in general, and thanked the United States for its continued assistance.

Ukrainians will never forget the assistance and support provided to us by the United States, the American people, the government, President (Joe Biden), and the Congress, Yermak said.

Read also: Biden confirms Ukraine could soon receive Bradley fighting vehicles

Ukrainian military commanders, in turn, outlined equipment needs they hope will be addressed in future U.S. military aid packages. In particular, the U.S. delegation was briefed on Ukraines air defense effectiveness against the Jan. 14 Russian air strikes.

Participants also discussed the efforts to restore Ukraines power grid and generation capacity in the face of continued Russian attacks.

Read also: Italy to transfer SAMP/T air defense battery to Ukraine

We are committed to openness and transparency of all information, because now we feel that when we are together in this battle, when the United States is with us  it is very important and brings victory closer, Yermak added.

Read also: US interests demand increased support for Ukraine, Condoleezza Rice says

Sherman also had a meeting with Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal, largely focused on U.S. economic assistance to Kyiv and the ways of helping Ukraine repair its energy sector.

On Jan. 6, the United States announced another $3 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, including the transfer of 50 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, 18 M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, and RIM-7 Sea Sparrow guided missiles.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
MEXICO CITY (AP)  The man who was once Mexico's top security official and in charge of fighting the drug cartels went on trial Tuesday on charges he accepted millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for helping the powerful Sinaloa Cartel move drugs and its members avoid capture.

Genaro Garcia Luna was best known as the mumbling, tough-looking former security secretary under ex-President Felipe Calderon, who spearheaded the bloody war on cartels between 2006 and 2012.

Prosecutors say Garcia Luna was so brazen he accepted tens of millions of dollars, often stuffed in briefcases. The evidence against him includes pay stubs, though whether they are from official jobs, private sector consultancy, cartel payments or other bribes is unclear.

They say he continued to live off his ill-gotten proceeds even after he moved to the United States, where he was arrested in 2019, though the defense says he was a legitimate businessman. Jury selection was scheduled to continue Wednesday in the trial scheduled to unfold over the next eight weeks.

In the end, the case could reveal the inner workings of how Mexican cartels have been able to operate so openly for so long: by bribing Mexican police and military right up to the top ranks.

For decades, Mexicos political elite, of all parties, has sought by any means to have security ministers, generals, police commanders, interior secretaries and high-ranking officials tried and imprisoned in Mexico.  All that to avoid them giving information on the ties between the drug cartels and politicians, said Mexican security analyst David Saucedo. Garcia Lunas trial in the United States breaks with that pattern.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has welcomed the trial, which is expected to cast light on corruption in the administration of Calderon, whom the president accuses of robbing him of the presidency in 2006.

But Lopez Obrador himself fought tooth and nail to avoid a U.S. trial of former Defense Secretary Gen. Salvador Cienfuegos on similar charges in 2020, at one point threatening to kick agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration out of Mexico unless the general was returned, which he was.

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The trial begins just days after U.S. President Joe Biden met with Lopez Obrador in Mexico City. The two governments pledged continued cooperation against the drug cartels, especially against the scourge of the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which contributed to more than 107,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S. in 2021. Lopez Obrador scrapped the civilian federal police force that Garcia Luna once led and put the military in charge of much of the country's security.

Its not the same to put a civilian PAN official on trial, as it is to put a defense secretary on trial, when your whole national security policy rests on the armed forces, said Ana Vanessa Cardenas, an international security analyst at the Anahuac University, referring to Calderon's conservative National Action Party.

Garcia Luna has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges and a continuing criminal enterprise. He could face decades in prison if convicted.

What he will face in a Brooklyn courtroom is a parade of government witnesses, including high-level cartel members of a kind not seen in Brooklyn since Sinaloa boss Joaquin El Chapo Guzman was convicted there in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison. Some accusations against Garcia Luna surfaced at the Guzman trial.

While holding public office, (Garcia Luna) used his official positions to assist the Sinaloa Cartel ... in exchange for multimillion-dollar bribes," U.S. Attorney Breon Peace wrote in a court filing last week. At trial, the government expects that numerous witnesses, including several former high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel, will testify about bribes paid to the defendant in exchange for protection.

In exchange for the bribes, Garcia provided the Sinaloa Cartel with safe passage for its drug shipments, sensitive law enforcement information about investigations into the cartel, and information about rival drug cartels, Peace wrote. These payments allowed the cartel at times to receive warnings in advance of law enforcement efforts to apprehend cartel members and to allow cartel members to be released if arrested.

Before convicting Guzman in 2019, jurors in his New York trial heard former cartel member Jesus Zambada testify that he personally made at least $6 million in hidden payments to Garcia Luna, on behalf of his older brother, cartel boss Ismael El Mayo Zambada.

The cartel is now believed to be run by Zambada and at least three of Guzman's sons, one of whom was arrested earlier this month on an extradition request from the United States.

Garcia Luna isn't the first top Mexican official arrested for involvement with drug traffickers. Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo was made Mexicos drug czar by President Ernesto Zedillo in 1996. He was arrested the following year after it was discovered he was living in a luxury apartment owned by the leader of the Juarez cartel, Amado Carrillo Fuentes.
(Bloomberg) -- A decision on sending Germanys Leopard battle tank to Ukraine will be easier if the US sends equivalent vehicles to the war zone too, according to Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck.

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The Green Party politician suggested to Francine Lacqua on Bloomberg Television that he is in favor of authorizing the supply of such equipment, and also some owned by Poland and Finland.

I argue that we will do that, he said, speaking in the Swiss resort of Davos, where he is attending the World Economic Forum. If America will decide that they will bring battle tanks to Ukraine, that will make it easier for Germany. You know our history, and we are little bit more reluctant there for understandable reasons.

Germany has faced mounting pressure to supply Ukraine with the Leopard after Poland and Finland announced that they wanted to send their own German-made combat vehicles. Chancellor Olaf Scholzs administration was likely to proceed with such a decision, two officials familiar with the governments thinking said on Friday.

UK Tanks

The UK this week became the first Western country to provide Ukraine with a modern main battle tank with its decision to supply some of its Challenger 2 vehicles along with extra artillery. That followed earlier announcements from the US, France and Germany that they will send infantry fighting vehicles.

Any decision on tanks will be one of the first for the new defense minister, Habeck said. He spoke after news emerged that Scholz plans to appoint Boris Pistorius to that post after Christine Lambrecht stepped down.

I know Boris Pistorius well, he is a very experienced politician, said Habeck. He is the right representative for the German army and he will be a man able to take strong decisions in short time  and this is what is needed.

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Ukraine must get all the military equipment that is needed to win the war, he added, with a caveat. The red line must be always that we are not engaged in a Third World War.

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A MILITARY BASE IN SOUTHEASTERN POLAND (AP)  The top U.S. military officer, Army Gen. Mark Milley, traveled to a site near the Ukraine-Poland border on Tuesday and talked with his Ukrainian counterpart face to face for the first time  a meeting underscoring the growing ties between the two militaries and coming at a critical time as Russia's war with Ukraine nears the one-year mark.

Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a couple of hours with Ukraines chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in southeastern Poland. The two leaders have talked frequently about Ukraine's military needs and the state of the war over the past year but had never met.

The meeting comes as the international community ramps up the military assistance to Ukraine, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the U.S. and the provision of a Patriot missile battery, tanks and increased air defense and other weapons systems by the U.S. and a coalition of European and other nations.

It also marks a key time in the war. Ukraine's troops face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where Russian forces  supplemented by thousands of private Wagner Group contractors  seek to turn the tide after a series of battlefield setbacks in recent months.

Army Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, told two reporters traveling with the chairman that the two generals felt it was important to meet in person. The reporters did not accompany Milley to the meeting and, under conditions set by the military, agreed to not identify the military base in southeastern Poland where they were located.

These guys have been talking on a very regular basis for about a year now, and theyve gotten to know each other, Butler said. Theyve talked in detail about the defense that Ukraine is trying to do against Russias aggression. And its important  when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, theres a difference.

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Butler said there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi would travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defense chiefs this week, but when it became clear on Monday that it would not happen, they quickly decided to meet in Poland, near the border.

While a number of U.S. civilian leader s have gone into Ukraine, the Biden administration has made it clear that no uniformed military service members will go into Ukraine other than those connected to the embassy in Kyiv. Butler said only a small group  Milley and six of his senior staffers  traveled by car to the meeting.

He said that the meeting will allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyi's concerns and information to the other military leaders during the NATO chiefs' meeting. Milley, he said, will be able to describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that, and the way he does that is one by understanding it himself but by also talking to Zaluzhnyi on a regular basis.

Milley also will be able to describe the new training of Ukrainian forces that the U.S. is doing at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. The chairman, who got his first look at the new, so-called combined arms instruction during a nearly two-hour visit there on Monday, has said it will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks.

More than 600 Ukrainian troops began the expanded training program at the camp just a day before Milley arrived.

Milley and Zaluzhnyi's meeting kicks off a series of high-level gatherings of military and defense leaders this week. Milley and other chiefs of defense will meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group consists of about 50 top defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and they work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.

The meetings are expected to focus on Ukraine's ongoing and future military needs as the hard-packed terrain of the winter months turns into muddy roads and fields in the spring.

After several months of losing territory it had captured, Russia in recent days claimed it took control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting, but if Moscows troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.

And in a barrage of airstrikes over the weekend, Russia struck Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 44.

Western analysts point to signs that the Kremlin is digging in for a drawn-out war, and say the Russian military command is preparing for an expanded mobilization effort.

___

Follow the AP's coverage of Russia's war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
Rescue workers search for survivors in an apartment building that was destroyed in a Russian rocket attack at a residential neighborhood in the southeastern city of Dnipro, Ukraine, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)

DNIPRO, Ukraine  Ukrainian emergency crews on Monday sifted through what was left of a Dnipro apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile, placing bodies from one of the wars deadliest single attacks in months in black bags and gingerly carrying them across steep piles of rubble.

Authorities said the death toll from Saturdays strike rose to 40 and that 30 people remained missing Monday. Tall cranes swung across the jagged gaps in a row of residential towers, the engines growling as residents of one of Ukraines largest cities watched largely in silence under a gray sky.

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About 1,700 people lived in the multistory building, and search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since the missile strike to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued and at least 75 were wounded.

The reported death toll put it among the deadliest attacks on Ukrainian civilians since before the summer, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project. Residents said the apartment tower did not house any military facilities.

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Oleksander Anyskevych said he was in his apartment when the missile struck.

Boom  and thats it. We saw that we were alive and thats all, Anyskevych said Monday as he went to the site to see his wrecked apartment.

He told The Associated Press that he knew people who died under the rubble. One of his sons classmates lost her parents.

Dnipro residents took flowers, candles and toys to the ruins.

All of us could be in that place, local resident Iryna Skrypnyk said.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called the strike, and others like it, inhumane aggression because it directly targeted civilians. There will be no impunity for these crimes, he said in a tweet Sunday.

Asked about the strike Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military doesnt target residential buildings and suggested the Dnipro building was hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense actions.

The strike on the building came amid a wider barrage of Russian cruise missiles across Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that it did not have the means to intercept the type of Russian missile that hit the residential building in Dnipro.

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Fierce fighting continued to rage Monday in Ukraines eastern Donetsk province, where military analysts have said both sides are likely suffering heavy troop casualties. No independent verification of developments was possible.

Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province make up the Donbas, an expansive industrial region bordering Russia that Russian President Vladimir Putin identified as a focus from the wars outset. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Kyivs forces there since 2014.

The Russian and Belarusian air forces began a joint exercise Monday in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and served as a staging ground for Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.The drills are set to run through Feb. 1, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said. Russia has sent its warplanes to Belarus for the drills.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, reported signs of the Kremlin taking steps to turn its Ukraine invasion into a major conventional war after months of embarrassing military reversals.

What Moscow calls a special military operation aimed to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, within weeks and to install a Kremlin-friendly regime there, but Russian forces ultimately withdrew from around Kyiv, the think tank said. Then came a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent months before the onset of winter slowed military advances.

The Kremlin is likely preparing to conduct a decisive strategic action in the next six months intended to regain the initiative and end Ukraines current string of operational successes, the Institute for the Study of War said in a report late Sunday.

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It noted reports indicating the Russian military command was in serious preparations for an expanded mobilization effort, conserving mobilized personnel for future use, while seeking to boost military industrial production and reshuffling its command structure.

That means Ukraines Western allies will need to continue supporting Ukraine in the long run, the think tank said.

NATO member nations have sought in recent days to reassure Ukraine that they will stay the course. The United Kingdom has pledged tanks and the U.S. militarys new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday.

Polands prime minister urged the German government to supply a wide range of weapons to Kyiv and voiced hope that Berlin would soon approve a transfer of battle tanks.

Other developments on Monday:

 Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson and the Kherson region, killing three people and wounding 14 others over the last 24 hours, regional Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevych said. In the city of Kherson, the shelling damaged a hospital, a children disability center, a shipyard, critical infrastructure and apartment buildings.

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 Russian forces struck the city of Zaporizhzhia, damaging industrial infrastructure and wounding five people, two of them children, the deputy head of Ukraines presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported.

 Russian air defenses downed 10 drones Monday over the Black Sea near the port of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed head of Sevastopol, reported.

Meldrum reported from Kyiv.
[Source]

Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned on Tuesday after the Communist party found him responsible for the wrongdoings of junior officials.

State media reported Phucs resignation on Tuesday.

The 68-year-old former prime minister was declared responsible for the violations and wrongdoing of officials that had been working under him at the time, according to the country's official news agency.

Fully being aware of his responsibilities before the party and people, he submitted an application to resign from his assigned positions, quit his job and retire, the Vietnam News Agency said.

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Two deputy prime ministers who were working under Phuc, Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam, were dismissed prior to Phucs resignation during an anti-corruption removal.

Phuc, whose position was largely ceremonial, was held responsible when several officials, including two deputy prime ministers and three ministers committed violations and shortcomings, causing very serious consequences, said the Vietnam News Agency, citing the Communist Partys Central Committee.

Vietnam is headed by four pillars: the powerful party's secretary, the president, the prime minister and the chair of the assembly.

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Phuc held the position of prime minister from 2016 to 2021 and was elected president in April 2021.

The government commended his previous achievements despite the current situation.

He has made great efforts in leading, directing and administering the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, achieving important results, the government said on Tuesday.

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In communist Vietnam, where political shifts are usually carefully managed in order to maintain stability, a sudden departure of the president is highly unusual.

A rare meeting will take place this week in which the legislature will discuss the approval of Phucs resignation.

A replacement for Phuc has not yet been announced, although three frontrunners are rumored to be in consideration: General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the current Minister of National Defence Phan Van Giang and To Lam, the current minister of public security.

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By Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen

HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has resigned after the ruling Communist Party blamed him for "violations and wrongdoing" by officials under his control, the government said on Tuesday, in a major escalation of the country's anti-graft campaign.

Phuc, a former prime minister widely credited with accelerating pro-business reforms, held the largely ceremonial post of president since 2021 and is the highest-ranking official targeted by the party's sweeping corruption crackdown.

Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by four "pillars": the party's secretary, the president, prime minister and speaker of the house.

Phuc, 68, was ultimately responsible for offences committed by many officials, including two deputy prime ministers and three ministers, the government said.

"Fully being aware of his responsibilities before the party and people, he submitted an application to resign from his assigned positions, quit his job and retire," it said in statement.

Phuc's office could not immediately be reached for comment and it was not clear if a replacement has been chosen.

Vietnam has been rife with speculation he would be removed following January's dismissal of two deputy prime ministers who served under him, as the party doubles down on a "blazing furnace" anti-corruption drive led by its powerful long-serving chief, Nguyen Phu Trong.

Last year, 539 party members were prosecuted or "disciplined" for corruption and "deliberate wrongdoings", including ministers, top officials and diplomats, according to the party, while police investigated 453 corruption cases, up 50% from 2021.

Trong earlier this month said the party was "more determined" and "more effective and methodical" in its approach, and vowed to deliver results.

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Opinions vary on the impact of the anti-graft drive on investment and policy.

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Le Hong Hiep of the Vietnam Studies Programme at the Singapore's ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute said the purge could pave the way for cleaner more capable leaders to rise.

"As long as the leadership reshuffles do not lead to radical policy changes, their impact on the economy will also be limited," Hiep posted on his Facebook account.

However, Ha Hoang Hop, a senior visiting fellow at the same institute, said Phuc's demise and uncertainty over the impact of the crackdown could unnerve investors.

"This could lead Vietnam to a time of instability that would worry foreign friends and investors," he said.

Phuc's resignation requires approval from the legislature, which sources on Monday said would hold a rare extraordinary meeting this week, adding to expectation that Phuc's fate had been sealed.

Phuc, who was known in Vietnam for his friendly approach and love for the national soccer team, was once tipped as a future party General Secretary, the state's most prestigious job.

As prime minister from 2016 to 2021, he oversaw an average 6% annual economic growth for Asia's burgeoning manufacturing powerhouse and helped further a liberalisation drive that included trade deals with the European Union and Pacific powers.

Despite his downfall, the government on Tuesday praised his achievements, particularly his pandemic response.

"He has made great efforts in leading, directing and administering the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control, achieving important results," it said.

(Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor and Martin Petty)
Lunchtime shouldnt be stressful for students.

But Emily Moore, policy analyst with Voices for Virginias Children, said it can be nerve-wracking for kids from lower-income homes.

She said some students worry about accruing more school debt because of the expense of school-provided lunches, while those who qualify for free lunch sometimes get teased.

Kids can bully each other, she said, they can be mean to each other.

Several legislators, including three from Hampton Roads, are pushing to end the stigma. Del. Mike Mullin, D-Newport News, has introduced a bill that would provide universal free breakfast and lunch to public school students across the commonwealth. The measure has been referred to the Committee on Education.

The genesis of this bill came from three of my four boys being in Newport News public schools and seeing how great it was that they went to 100% free lunch, Mullin told The Virginian-Pilot on Tuesday.

Newport News public schools started offering free meals to all students in 2019. Mullin said he heard positive feedback from parents, teachers and school administrators.

Students who are well fed are more active and engaged in class, and perform better on exams, he said.

Former first lady Dorothy McAuliffe said, rather aptly, that a student cant be hungry to learn if theyre still just hungry, Mullin said. I dont think there was a single person I spoke to who didnt see some positive results.

At a Monday press conference, Del. Danica Roem  who is carrying the bills accompanying budget amendment of roughly $271 million  said it would be less costly than an amendment submitted last year to help lure the Washington Commanders to Virginia.

What is our priority here in the Virginia General Assembly? Is it stadiums or is it feeding children? asked Roem, D-Manassas. It has to be feeding children.

Two delegates from Hampton Roads are co-sponsoring the measure, including Virginia Beach Republican Tim Anderson and Newport News Democrat Shelly Simonds.

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In an email, Anderson told The Pilot he was concerned that students given free or discounted lunches are receiving lower quality meals. He also worried about students being singled out and embarrassed in the lunch line.

Regardless of how rich or poor their parents are, they should always be treated equally, he wrote.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com
Hryhorii Tsekhmistrenko, a 28-year-old Canadian of Ukrainian origin who was a medical volunteer during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has been killed.

Source: Canadian public broadcaster CBC News with reference to the father and brothers of the deceased

Details: Hryhorii Tsekhmistrenko was a Ukraine-born Canadian citizen. He lived in Kinistino, Saskatchewan, for years with his parents before moving to Port Alice, on Vancouver Island, his father, Vitalii Tsekhmistrenko, told CBC News from Kyiv.

Tsekhmistrenko, known as Greg to friends, passed away between the night of 14 January and the morning of 15 January, a volunteer soldier said. He also said that he was going to Kyiv for Tsekhmistrenko's funeral.

When asked to confirm Tsekhmistrenko's death, Global Affairs Canada said it couldn't provide any information "due to security considerations."

Vitalii Tsekhmistrenko said that he and his wife had come to Kyiv from Canada to celebrate Christmas with his son. They were all together for the holidays.

Tsekhmistrenko's father said that Hryhorii arrived in Ukraine in January 2022, when hints of war started to show in the news. When Russia invaded Ukraine, he became a volunteer medic.

"He wanted to build a house on the water after the war," recalls the father of the deceased.

Recall: Hryhorii Tsekhmistrenko took part in Euromaidan movement in late 2013 and early 2014; his last name was on the list of activists detained by the police in February 2014.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!
There were several top performers across the state in boys and girls high school sports, but only one can be voted athlete of the week for Jan. 9-14.

To nominate a player for a future athlete of the week poll, email lnewsome@gannett.com.

Fans may vote in the poll below one time per hour per device. The poll closes at noon on Friday.

To submit high school scores, statistics, records, leaders and other items at any time, email clscoreboard@jackson.gannett.com.

OLE MISS FOOTBALL RECRUITING Why Ole Miss, Mississippi State made 4-star Daniel Hill's top 10, and how Tennessee impressed

ATHLETES TO WATCH From Madison Booker to Anna Grace Whitehead here are 23 Mississippi high school athletes to watch in 2023

Boys nominees

Braylon Barnes, Brandon: The sophomore had a team-high 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from deep along with five rebounds and two assists in Brandon's 73-37 victory over Petal on Jan. 10.

Devin Jones, Velma Jackson: The senior had a team-high 27 points in Velma Jackson's 71-48 victory over Pisgah on Jan. 10.

Josh Hubbard, Madison-Ridgeland Academy: The Ole Miss signee had a game-high 43 points as Madison-Ridgeland Academy cruised to 84-60 victory over Parklane Academy Friday.

KJ Sykes, Clinton Christian: Sykes helped lead Clinton Christian to its 14th consecutive victory with 24 points in Wednesday's 72-56 victory over Riverfield Academy.

DANDY DOZEN Meet the 2022 Clarion Ledger boys high school basketball Dandy Dozen in Mississippi

MISSISSIPPI STATE FOOTBALL RECRUITINGHow Zach Arnett, Mississippi State football salvaged early signing day period

Girls nominees

Madison Booker, Germantown: The Texas signee had a team-high 29 points and nine rebounds in Germantown's 57-53 victory over Madison Central Friday.

Emma Earwood, Tupelo: The senior had a hat-trick in Tupelo's 9-0 victory over Mooreville on Thursday.

Morgan Freeny, Leake Academy: The senior had 16 points, three assists and two rebounds as Leake Academy defeated 61-27 victory over Park Place Christian on Jan. 10.

Caitlin Hall, Clarksdale: Hall finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds as the Wildcats defeated Gentry 36-33 on Jan. 10.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Vote for Mississippi boys and girls high school athlete of the week Jan. 9-14
A Wallkill man accused of shooting a man outside of a restaurant in 2021 was sentenced Tuesday to seven and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree assault, a felony, the Orange County District Attorneys office said.

Hector Luna Jr., 28, who entered the plea in October, was also sentenced to five years of post-release supervision, according to the statement.

District Attorney David M. Hoovlers office said the plea agreement was reached after consulting with the victim and to avoid his re-victimization by testifying at a trial.

You You restaurant, Wallkill

The May 2021 grand jury indictment accused Luna of shooting the man outside of You You Asian Bar and Restaurant, in Wallkill, at about 9:15 p.m. on April 14, 2021. The victim had been dining there just prior to being shot and was treated at Garnet Health Medical Center.

The indictment had originally charged Luna with attempted second-degree murder as well as first-degree assault and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Wallkill: Man pleads guilty to assault in connection with shooting outside restaurant

Wallkill: Man indicted in shooting outside of restaurant

Pipeline: KJ nears completion as project cost rises to $118M

Luna was taken into custody at a Pike County, Pennsylvania, Hampton Inn hotel and waived extradition to face New York charges, the statement said.

Violent crimes, such as those committed by this defendant, have significant and often life-long impact on crime victims, Hoovler said in the statement. This disposition spares the victim the additional trauma of reliving this horrific incident in front of a jury. I applaud the joint efforts of the various law enforcement agencies that together brought this defendant to justice. As I have made clear, gun violence is a priority for my office and will not be tolerated.

Michael P. McKinney is a breaking-news reporter for the Journal News, the Poughkeepsie Journal, and the Times-Herald Record of Middletown.

This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Man sentenced in shooting outside of You You restaurant in Wallkill
Twitter

A failed Republican candidate for the New Mexico state legislature was arrested Monday in connection with a string of recent shootings at the homes and offices of local Democratic officials, police said.

Solomon Pena, 39, is accused of conspiring with four other men whom he allegedly paid to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said. It is believed that he is the mastermind behind this, Medina said, according to NBC News.

After ballistics evidence from one of the shootings led investigators to link him to the case, Pena was taken into custody by a SWAT team in Albuquerque following a brief standoff. Footage of the arrest taken by an Albuquerque Journal reporter showed a man in glasses and a sweatshirt meekly being escorted to a squad car before being patted down and placed inside the vehicle.

The first of the incidents tied to Pena occurred on Dec. 4, when eight rounds were fired at the southeast Albuquerque home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa. A few days later, the home of State House Speaker-elect Javier Martinez was targeted. Then, more than a dozen gunshots hit the home of former Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie OMalley.

Finally, on Jan. 3, eight shots were fired at the home of state Senator Linda Lopez, who said in a statement that three of the bullets had passed through her 10-year-old daughters bedroom.

APD essentially discovered what we had all feared, and what we all suspected, that these shootings were indeed politically motivated, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said Monday.

Police said they had no evidence to connect Pena to two other similar shootings in recent weeksa Dec. 10 incident at the former campaign offices of Raul Torrez, the states new attorney general, and a Jan. 5 report from outside the offices of newly appointed state Sen. Antonio Moe Maestas.

No injuries were reported in relation to any of the six shootings.

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Less than a month before the shooting at Barboas home, Pena lost the race for New Mexico Houses 14th District, which oversees the South Valley area of Albuquerque, by 47 percentage points. His Democratic opponent, state Rep. Miguel Garcia, secured 5,679 votes to Penas 2,033, according to the Journal.

I dissent, Pena tweeted on Nov. 9. I am the MAGA king.

Trump just announced for 2024. I stand with him. I never conceded my HD 14 race. Now researching my options. pic.twitter.com/sKVHhxG9Vq  Solomon Pena for NM (@SolomonPena2022) November 16, 2022

In the days following his defeat, Pena repeatedly insisted he had not lost the election, tweeting on Nov. 15 that he never conceded my HD 14 race and that he was [n]ow researching my options.

Over the summer, Garcia mounted a legal challenge attempting to block Pena from running for office, arguing that the 39-year-olds conviction for a spate of smash and grab robberies targeting several big-box stores in 2008 disqualified him. Pena served seven years in prison for the scheme. In September, a district judge ruled that a state law prohibiting former felons from holding office under most circumstances was unconstitutional, clearing the way for Penas candidacy.

I had nothing more than a desire to improve my lot in life, Pena said at the time, according to KOAT-TV.

State records obtained by the Santa Fe New Mexican in August reflected 19 felonies on Penas rap sheet, including burglary, larceny, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and receiving stolen property, the newspaper reported.

Reached for comment by the New Mexican, Pena initially invoked his Fifth Amendment privileges against self-incrimination before later telling the reporter that he believed only certain kinds of criminals, like a child rapist, would cause voters to balk at the ballot box. He later reportedly texted the reporter: I hope you are rich. Be at peace.

Editors note: This story has been updated with details about two shootings that police have since said dont appear to be connected to the suspect.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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James Paneral, foreground, and other participants in the Chicago "Critical Mass" leaderless bicycle ride get ready to leave from Daley Plaza in Chicago on Dec. 30, 2022. The rides takes place on the last Friday of each month. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Rebecca Resmans biking education group had long focused on teaching kids to safely ride bikes, hosting parent forums, family group rides and bike-to-school days.

But then three children were killed in car crashes last June, including 2-year-old Raphael Rafi Cardenas atop a mini-scooter in Lincoln Square and 11-year-old JaLon James biking to the store to get milk in Lawndale. The family of 3-year-old Lily Grace Shambrook, who was riding on the back of her mothers bike in Uptown when she was killed in a semi-truck crash, plans to file a lawsuit Tuesday against the companies and drivers involved with her death, Clifford Law Offices said.

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Chicago Family Biking had to more aggressively advocate for safe biking, founder Resman decided.

If youre not doing everything you can to prevent that, you got to reevaluate, she said.

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The group intensified its focus on Chicagos bike policies and infrastructure. Resman helped organize a coalition of bike and mobility advocacy groups, Safe Streets for All. Transit that Works, that launched in December with plans to make biking and transit center stage in the citys upcoming elections.

Its a shift happening across the city: pro-bike activists becoming more involved in Chicago politics. They range from gritty demonstrators in newly formed groups to professionals in established nonprofits, but they share a vision of radically re-imagined streets they hope will make biking safer and easier.

A group of bicyclists wait for another group to converge with before riding from the CTA California Blue Line station to the Garfield Park field house on Dec. 8, 2022. Bicyclists representing several organizations rode in groups to the field house to attend a Chicago Mobility Collaborative forum held by the Chicago Department of Transportation, where discussions took place about biking, walking, public spaces, and other topics. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

New bike infrastructure projects are set to roll out faster than ever across Chicago and political wins for cyclist groups are mounting, including City Councils unanimous approval in December of 40th Ward Ald. Andre Vasquezs ordinance to more regularly and severely penalize drivers for parking in bike lanes with two added city departments now able to issue tickets with fines raised to $250.

We have actual wins coming down the pipe, but just knowing that more politicians and representatives are thinking about this work and understanding the importance of it, that is the biggest win, Resman said.

The Safe Streets for All coalition plans to host a mayoral candidate forum and publicize politicians bike policy stances. Other organizations inside and outside the coalition focus on building political momentum online or getting people to ride together en masse. Some groups try more combative tactics, airing their frustration with car-dominated streets in driver-stalling protests.

These groups have really done a tremendous job of organizing and forcing elected officials and people in positions of power to listen to them, mayoral candidate and state Rep. Kambium Kam Buckner said.

[ Deadly stretch of Milwaukee Avenue raises concern among cyclists as the season gets underway ]

Buckner, who often commutes by bike and has ridden with activists, said he supports a bike grid, a core demand for many activists that would remold Chicago roads to create a broad network of bike-prioritized streets with lowered speed limits and bike protection.

Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st, has also seen an uptick in bike-focused activism in his cyclist-filled Logan Square ward.

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I think it is reaching a fever pitch now because Chicagos cyclists, scooter riders are really beyond tired of seeing people they love get injured, get killed just going about their daily transportation, he said.

La Spata helped the Chicago Department of Transportation add protected bike lanes to roads in his ward and made new bike infrastructure projects an option residents can vote for through participatory budgeting.

Other politicians, including Ald. Matt Martin, 47th, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who is running for mayor, have joined the call by activists for major bike infrastructure projects to be made across the city.

The people pushing the pedal

On one cold December night, the CTA bus didnt have a chance of passing the nearly 20 bikers stretched across the entire southbound lane of California Avenue. Neither did the cars, which filed into a line and drove, for a frustrating change, well below the speed limit.

And despite the drivers honks, the bikers intentionally taking up the road in the bike bus organized by activist group Chicago, Bike Grid Now! did not budge: The road was theirs, and they savored it.

Mike Perrino, 27, even played Wagners Ride of the Valkyries aloud as he pedaled his black Schwinn. The protest clogging the road wasnt just meant to keep bikers safer: It also aimed to get the drivers attention, he said.

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They dont care about our lives. But they do care when traffic is disrupted, he said as he rode. We have to give them a new problem to fix.

Bicyclists arrive at the Garfield Park field house on Dec. 8, 2022, as several organizations rode in groups to the field house to attend a Chicago Mobility Collaborative forum held by the Chicago Department of Transportation. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

His frustration stems in part from the troubling frequency with which automobile drivers hit bike riders. CDOT data shows that cyclists reported more than 1,700 crashes in 2022, many caused by cars and leading to hospitalization. Ten bike riders were killed in crashes last year, CDOT said.

The Bike Grid Now group formed in June and hosts regular group rides, outreach campaigns and slow moving, traffic building bike jams, organizer Rony Islam said. The group wants the city to build a new bike lane network, which would add bike infrastructure to 450 miles, or around 10%, of Chicagos roads on mostly residential streets spaced throughout the city, he said. The grid would work into the already grid-style streets and benefit drivers by creating smoother, safer traffic, Islam added.

It makes the streets safer for everybody. And that means people who are pedestrians, who are walking, in wheelchairs, no matter how you get around he said.

Since 2020, the city has annually added nearly 40 miles of bikeway investments, including protected and unprotected bike lanes, trails and greenways. Funding for the investments ramped up for 2022 and 2023, and the city also pledged in June to upgrade bike lanes currently protected by plastic delineators with new concrete barriers, CDOT said.

But the development isnt enough, Islam said. The construction is scattered and not well connected because some aldermen block bike infrastructure development in their wards, he added

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Chicago is like a drop in the bucket. Were getting some bike lanes, but its really not adequate, Islam said.

Bike Grid Now is just one of the new bike advocacy organizations emerging as Chicagos biking population grows. The number of bike riders in the city has jumped 34% in the last decade before a nationwide pandemic biking boom, CDOT said. Divvy bike and scooter ridership also exploded in recent years, with more than 7 million rides taken in 2022, the department added.

Bicyclist Ash Heyer has a Halsted Bike Bus T-shirt draped over her back while attending a forum at the Garfield Park field house on Dec. 8, 2022. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

In 2020, activist Courtney Cobbs co-founded Better Streets Chicago, a nonprofit that works mostly online to advocate for better walking, biking and transit infrastructure.

The Rogers Park resident, who commutes with an electronic bike and talks of near misses with aggressive drivers, views bike activism as self preservation.

I feel like every day youre essentially taking your life in your hands, said Cobbs, who has also written for Streetsblog Chicago, a news site focused on bikes and transit.

More residential bike lanes would make Chicago healthier, quieter, less congested and more accessible, Cobb said. But because building it would require the city to remove some parking and repurpose certain streets away from car use, many City Council members dont commit.

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Its a pet project, Cobbs said. Improvements will be made only when its convenient.

Pro-bike changes to Chicago streets strongly progressed under Mayor Rahm Emanuel before becoming a bigger priority under Mayor Lori Lightfoot, said Jim Merrell, advocacy director for Active Transportation Alliance, a transit, walking and biking advocacy group founded in 1985. Many of the citys grassroots bike advocacy organizations didnt exist five years ago, he added.

Its a sign of a healthy, robust movement, and exactly the kind of thing we need to build political will, Merrell said.

For decades, hundreds have regularly turned out to the Critical Mass group rides that start at 6 p.m. in Daley Plaza on the last Friday of each month. Chicago Family Biking offers similar Kidical Masses, where families with younger children can ride in groups around their neighborhoods. The organization hosted 75 family rides last year that often had over 50 riders, Resman said.

While many take part in the popular, calm group rides, other activists opt for more direct protests, like the demonstrators who stalled traffic in August at a busy DuSable Lake Shore Drive intersection along Grant Park.

A ghost bike memorial is seen as vehicles travel through the intersection of DuSable Lake Shore and Balbo drives on June 14, 2022. The ghost bike memorial was put in place at the intersection after Gerardo Marciales was struck and killed by a driver who ran the red light there earlier that year. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

After a driver killed 41-year-old Gerardo Marciales while riding a Divvy bike crossing the crosswalk near Balbo Drive in February, many drivers continued to run red lights at the intersection, said Perrino, who organized the demonstration where activists with neon vests and red stop signs stood in the crosswalk during red lights to block cars from running the light.

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Activists and family also placed a white-painted ghost bike at the site, a type of memorial that often arises to mark fatal crashes. The fatal crashes are common enough that activists buy ghost bike materials in bulk, said Christina Whitehouse, founder of the bike advocacy group Bike Lane Uprising added.

On 12/11 at 6:48 am a distracted driver drove onto the median at Balbo & LSD and crashed into the light pole and Gerardo's memorial ghost bike. Even though this intersection has proven deadly, it's been almost a month and the light pole has not been replaced.

1/- pic.twitter.com/Edu4y0N5jG  Bike Lane Uprising (@bikelaneuprise) January 10, 2023

In a win for the protesters, CDOT installed a pedestrian island and a concrete barrier at the intersection in October to prevent drivers from using a left turn lane to pass straight through red lights. But in December, the ghost bike honoring Marciales at the site was destroyed by a car.

Whitehouse founded Bike Lane Uprising in 2017 after she was almost run over by a commercial truck driver. The site she built allows local bikers to quickly document bike lane obstructions with photos. It has been used to log 50,000 such obstructions.

Bike Lane Uprising shirts on a ledge as founder Christina Whitehouse creates a large sign reading "Please Don't Kill Us" on Nov. 6, 2019. Whitehouse and other bicyclists lined the faded bike lane on Milwaukee Avenue to bring attention to the intersection where a 37-year-old woman riding a bicycle was struck and killed by dump truck earlier in the day. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

In November, the group tweeted a photo of Mayor Lori Lightfoots car caravan parked in a bike lane in front of a doughnut shop.

Parking in bike lanes so you can get doughnuts means you value doughnuts over the lives of bicyclists, the account tweeted. The mayor, who had irked bike advocates in May by calling Chicago a car city, criticized her security detail for parking in the bike lane shortly after the post sparked outrage.

Bikers tend to be civically engaged, Whitehouse said. She thinks theyve become an essential faction in city politics.

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You have to get cyclists votes. We will swing an election, Whitehouse said.

The road ahead

The citys current construction of bike lanes hasnt always taken the needs of Black and brown communities into consideration, said Oboi Reed, founder of Equiticity, a nonprofit focused on racial equity and mobility. He worries some of the groups calling for quickly installed, citywide bike infrastructure might also shut out those communities unique concerns.

His Equiticity group wants to instead first build out the social infrastructure for biking. The group helps get people bikes and organizes regular group rides to convince people biking is good for their communities, Reed said. He supports a bike grid because he believes better bike infrastructure can reduce traffic and interpersonal violence, but wants it to first be supported by the communities it will affect.

There should be a partnership that is resourced for community-based organizations to share power and have ownership in that planning process, and whatever comes out of it should reflect our identity, our needs and our history, he said.

CDOT officials leading the citys bike infrastructure efforts hold a similar view. They have heard the frustrations of some activists over the pace of bike lane construction, but believe development needs to be bottom-up, Deputy Commissioner Vig Krishnamurthy said.

It isnt one-size-fits-all because the city isnt created out of one mold, he said. You have to bring people along, or otherwise the change isnt lasting.

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The city plans to create neighborhood networks of connected bike infrastructure in certain neighborhoods where the city and residents believe it is needed while also connecting the different networks. The plan amounts to a bike grid, said CDOT Complete Streets director Dave Smith.

I think were seeing it happen, he said. Thats absolutely where were headed.

Still, the demand for bike infrastructure is just not there yet in some areas, so the city has focused on sparking interest, Krishnamurthy said. The push includes giving away 5,000 free bikes and shutting down major boulevards such as Drexel, Douglas and Logan to cars for a day.

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The rise in bike ridership, infrastructure and advocacy is creating a positive feedback loop that will continue to lead to more development, they said. But the gradual development underway is still not fast enough for some.

Bicyclists park inside the Garfield Park field house, Dec. 8, 2022, in Chicago. Bicyclists representing several organizations rode attended a Chicago Mobility Collaborative forum held by the Chicago Department of Transportation. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

As two transit officials at a December CDOT community meeting led a small group discussion and highlighted plans to make streets safer that leaned heavily on public messaging, frustration spread among the activists, mostly from Bike Grid Now.

Why not close DuSable Lake Shore Drive by downtown, one suggested. The changes need to be top-down and broad, activist Scott Rubin said.

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After the meeting, Rubin said he was disappointed. Piecemeal infrastructure tweaks and outreach campaigns telling drivers to go slower wont cut it, he said.

Chicago prioritizes car travel and kind of ignores everyone else, Rubin said. Its life or death for a lot of people.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jakesheridan_
Miami-Dade Police reported on Monday the results of a strict crackdown on Wheels Up, Guns Down riders this Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

The Wheels Up, Guns Down tradition involves people who choose to ride unusual vehicles like ATVs, dirt bikes and scooters on streets and highways during the third Monday of January, the federal holiday dedicated to the civil rights hero.

It started in 2015 to honor the memory of a slain biker killed in Philadelphia, whose case went unsolved, according to Herald archives, and it has since grown into a movement that attracts hundreds of outsiders to South Florida every year.

READ MORE: Police issue warning about Wheels Up, Guns Down  to both bike riders and drivers

Although the rides have mostly been peaceful since that first year, law enforcement agencies say some participants drive recklessly, break traffic laws and cause mayhem, as motorists ride over sidewalks, through medians or on the wrong side of the road. The riders, on the other hand, defend their actions as a nonviolent demonstration.

Miami-Dade Police, Miami Police and the Florida Highway Patrol, as well as police departments in Broward County, said last week that anyone who interfered with events in honor of MLK, would face consequences.

According to the press release Monday night, the initiative started Friday and ended at 7 p.m. Monday.

READ MORE: There hasnt been an escape for us. The importance of the Bikes Up, Guns Down movement

According to police, over that time law enforcement officers impounded two ATVs or All-Terrain Vehicles, eight motor or dirt bikes, and 372 grams of cocaine.

They also arrested 57 people on felony charges, 11 people on misdemeanor charges and three people in connection to traffic violations. Three people received moving traffic citations, while two others received non-moving citations.

In addition, police confiscated 10 firearms  nine guns and one rifle  and recovered two stolen vehicles.

FROM 2015: How patient cops, fuming drivers, defiant bikers merged on the road
Jan. 16OLYMPIA  Washington students may soon have another option in high school  a state-run apprenticeship program in a number of different fields.

As the Legislature looks to tackle workforce shortages this session, a bill sponsored by Rep. Jacquelin Maycumber, R-Republic, would set up a high school apprenticeship pilot program run by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the state's regional educational service districts.

It would help give students experience in a field that may not require a college education, especially those in rural areas who might not currently have a skills center available near them, Maycumber said.

"A lot of these kids, especially after COVID, have lost hope," Maycumber said. "Knowing that they have a skill to move forward with makes them feel fulfilled and gives them hope for the future."

Maycumber sponsored the bill last year as well, but it never made it out of committee. This year, the bill has more than 50 bipartisan co-sponsors.

The bill would require the program to set up two sites, one in Western Washington and one in Eastern Washington.

Washington's nine regional educational districts would implement the program. According to the bill, they would work with community colleges, labor unions, industry groups and other apprenticeship programs to identify industries and professions best suited for apprenticeship .

They would also have to work with school districts, charter schools and state-tribal schools to make the apprenticeships available to high schoolers.

Students could then learn about a trade, go through the apprenticeship and leave prepared to take a trades entrance exam.

Washington has 14 skill centers run by OSPI where students can take classes while in high school, but most are in urban areas. About 7,000 high school students take classes at the centers each year, according to the Washington State Skill Center Association. Snohomish County also operates an apprenticeship pilot program, similar to the one being proposed in this bill.

Story continues

Skills Centers director Charlie Brown said he knows the importance of this type of learning to students.

"We can use a lot more workers in our skilled trades today," Brown said at a House Education committee hearing Monday.

Maycumber said the closest skill centers to her district are in Wenatchee and Spokane, so a number of students in rural areas between them don't have a place to go.

"It's an unfortunate reality that many students can miss out on educational opportunities, solely because of where they live," Interlake High School student Pavan Venkatakrishnan, who serves on the state Board of Education, said at Monday's hearing.

Monday's public hearing drew mostly support, though there were some concerns from labor and trade groups about making language more specific in the bill.

John Traynor, of the Washington State Labor Council, said he supports strengthening these programs, but encouraged lawmakers to use more precise language to show that they are "pre-apprenticeship programs" done before students graduate and can take part in apprenticeships.

Erin Frasier, representing the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, said she supports the bill, but the Legislature also should look at converting existing programs in K-12 schools to be state-recognized with little to no cost to the state.

Creating more regional pathways and expanding current programs would provide a focused pathway for youth in trades, Frasier said.

Jeannie Magdua, of the Conservative Ladies of Washington, testified against the bill because she said it would take away local control from schools and put the decision-making on these programs in the hands of OSPI.

"This bill establishes a regional authority that blurs the line of checks and balances," she said.

Committee staff clarified that school districts would likely still get to decide if they want to take part in the apprenticeship program.

Legislative leaders in both parties have said workforce is a huge issue this year, and it will likely touch every other issue they try to tackle this session.

"There's probably no more widespread problem in our economy," House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, said in a legislative preview earlier this month.

House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, said failing to address workforce challenges could affect how the Legislature looks at a lot of other issues before them, such as housing, behavioral health and health care.

Along with expanding apprenticeship opportunities, both Democrats and Republicans said they will look at child care shortages, changing licensing requirements, particularly for some health care workers, and loosening educational requirements for certain positions..

Laurel Demkovich's reporting for The Spokesman-Review is funded in part by Report for America and by members of the Spokane community. This story can be republished by other organizations for free under a Creative Commons license. For more information on this, please contact our newspaper's managing editor.
Just because a business does not make any money, does not mean that the stock will go down. For example, although software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.

So, the natural question for Induction Healthcare Group (LON:INHC) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.

Check out our latest analysis for Induction Healthcare Group

Does Induction Healthcare Group Have A Long Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is the amount of time it would take to burn through its cash reserves at its current cash burn rate. When Induction Healthcare Group last reported its balance sheet in September 2022, it had zero debt and cash worth UK9.0m. Importantly, its cash burn was UK2.2m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of about 4.0 years from September 2022. Notably, however, analysts think that Induction Healthcare Group will break even (at a free cash flow level) before then. If that happens, then the length of its cash runway, today, would become a moot point. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Well Is Induction Healthcare Group Growing?

It was fairly positive to see that Induction Healthcare Group reduced its cash burn by 38% during the last year. And arguably the operating revenue growth of 94% was even more impressive. It seems to be growing nicely. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.

Can Induction Healthcare Group Raise More Cash Easily?

There's no doubt Induction Healthcare Group seems to be in a fairly good position, when it comes to managing its cash burn, but even if it's only hypothetical, it's always worth asking how easily it could raise more money to fund growth. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).

Induction Healthcare Group has a market capitalisation of UK21m and burnt through UK2.2m last year, which is 11% of the company's market value. Given that situation, it's fair to say the company wouldn't have much trouble raising more cash for growth, but shareholders would be somewhat diluted.

How Risky Is Induction Healthcare Group's Cash Burn Situation?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Induction Healthcare Group's cash burn. For example, we think its revenue growth suggests that the company is on a good path. And even though its cash burn reduction wasn't quite as impressive, it was still a positive. There's no doubt that shareholders can take a lot of heart from the fact that analysts are forecasting it will reach breakeven before too long. After considering a range of factors in this article, we're pretty relaxed about its cash burn, since the company seems to be in a good position to continue to fund its growth. Taking an in-depth view of risks, we've identified 3 warning signs for Induction Healthcare Group that you should be aware of before investing.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies, 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.

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West Des Moines police on Tuesday identified Chad Michael, 42, as the man who the day before wounded his girlfriend and then shot and killed himself.

Police said Jayme Ekis, 41, of West Des Moines, called police at 3:53 p.m. Monday saying a man with whom she was in a relationship had shot her. Officials arriving at the address in the 9000 block of Copper Drive found Ekis suffering from a serious gunshot wound and Michael dead from his self-inflicted shooting.

"Through the course of a detailed investigation, detectives have determined this unfortunate incident to be an attempted murder-suicide that took place at the residence," West Des Moines Police spokesperson Sgt. Jason Heintz said in a news release.

Officials took Ekis to a hospital, where she remained in serious condition Tuesday, Heintz said. He said she is expected to survive.

Des Moines Register staff writer Noelle Alviz-Gransee contributed to this article.

Francesca Block is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at FBlock@registermedia.com or on Twitter at @francescablock3.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: West Des Moines police name victim, shooter in attempted murder-suicide
West Des Moines Police are investigating the shooting of a woman Monday afternoon by a man who then shot himself.

At 4 p.m., police received a call from a woman who said a man with whom she was in a relationship had shot her.

Police responded to 9027 Copper Drive where they found the injured woman and the man, who was dead from an apparent gunshot wound. West Des Moines Police Department spokesman Jason Heitz said, "The female has been transported to a local hospital where she is receiving care for serious injuries."

"At this time, evidence is pointing the detectives to believe this was an attempted murder of the female before the male turned the weapon on himself," he said.

The names of both individuals are being withheld as the investigation continues. Heitz said police detectives remain on the scene to investigate.

Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Follow her on Twitter at @NoelleHannika or email her at NAlvizGransee@registermedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: West Des Moines police investigate apparent attempted murder-suicide
Westfield Police are seeking help in the search for vandals after pride flags were stolen and burned.

According to police, early Monday morning, two individuals, stole several gay pride flags from a South Maple St address.

This is the 5th time in the last year that this address has been targeted for the theft or vandalism of similar items, police say.

The males stole the flags, then burned the flags behind the YMCA before being picked up by a white vehicle behind the library.

The vehicle the men got into was last seen heading westbound on Court St.

Police believe that there is a third suspect, who recorded the entire incident.

Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Detective Tsatsos at 642-9385 or a.tsatsos@cityofwestfield.org.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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House Continues Voting For New Speaker After Three Failed Attempts

From left to right, Reps. Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, and Chip Roy, all right-wing Republicans, speak with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy during the second day of elections for Speaker of the House on January 04, 2023 in Washington, DC. Credit - Anna MoneymakerGetty Images

Less than two weeks after his chaotic ascent, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is already facing down a potential crisis. In a letter sent to McCarthy on Friday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned that the U.S. is expected to hit its $31.4 trillion debt limit on Thursday, January 19, and outlined a plan to delay the resulting default until the summer.

It is the first such debt limit fight since Republicans took control of the House, and McCarthy has signaled that he plans to leverage the negotiations to secure deep spending cuts, which President Joe Biden and a Senate controlled by Democrats strongly oppose.

Although Yellen appears to have bought lawmakers some time, hitting the limit would prevent the government from making the payments it has committed to and throw the global economy into a tailspin. If McCarthy is not able to wrangle his unruly conference and reach an agreement with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling in the coming months, millions of Americans are likely to face financial hardship.

What is the debt ceiling?

The debt ceiling is the amount of money the U.S. is allowed to borrow to pay for all of its commitments. The U.S. government borrows huge sums of money to cover its expenses. Congress created the debt ceiling decades ago to avoid the hassle of having to approve each new debt individually. Lawmakers have raised the debt ceiling dozens of times since then.

Despite some of the political messaging around the debt ceiling, Congress is not authorizing new spending when it raises it. Instead, lawmakers are allowing the government to take on enough debt to fulfill the spending obligations it has already made. Those expenses include Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, salaries for government employees, veterans benefits, and interest on existing debt.

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What would happen if the U.S. defaulted on its debt?

If lawmakers are unable to raise the debt limit in time, the U.S. would only be able to use incoming cash to pay its obligations, which would create a significant shortfall. Every program funded by the government would be at risk.

Anybody could pick their favorite program, says Maya MacGuineas, the president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Whether someone loves defense spending or food stamps or environmental research, there will be a pause on paying for all of those things.

Americans who arent directly dependent on government payments would also feel the effects if the U.S. defaults. In the past, even flirting with a default has caused economic turmoil. During a battle over the debt ceiling in 2011, the credit ratings agency Standard & Poors downgraded the United States top credit rating for the first time ever, with stock prices dropping significantly the next business day. The upcoming fight could go even farther, with The Washington Post reporting that House Republicans are preparing a contingency plan for prioritizing payments if lawmakers dont raise the debt limit in time.

Failure to meet the governments obligations would cause irreparable harm to the U.S. economy, the livelihoods of all Americans, and global financial stability, Yellen wrote in her letter.

Read more: In Debt Ceiling Fight, Kevin McCarthy Can Either Crash the Economy or Blink

The U.S. has never defaulted for failing to raise the debt limit in time, which means the consequences are unpredictable, but economists agree they would be dire. Were the U.S. to actually default, Treasury securities, widely considered to be among the most reliable investments in the world, would no longer be regarded as such, leading investors to demand higher interest rates to loan money to the US government. Those rates would carry over to consumers preparing to take on mortgages, car loans, or credit card debt. Stock prices would likely plummet, causing retirement savings to evaporate. Those consequences would almost certainly trigger a recession. While many analysts were already predicting a recession this year as the Federal Reserve grapples with record-high inflation, a recession set off by a U.S. default could be considerably more severe.

When could the debt limit start affecting Americans wallets?

Although Yellen wrote that the U.S. is expected to reach the debt limit on Thursday, the real crisis is likely some months away. Thats because she has invoked extraordinary measures, which will allow the Treasury to keep its debt below the limit while it waits for Congress to reach a more permanent solution. In recent years, Treasury secretaries have repeatedly used such measures, which involve temporarily suspending investments in certain retirement savings plans for government employees. Yellen herself used extraordinary measures in August 2021 to help the government avoid defaulting before President Biden signed a $2.5 trillion debt limit increase that December.

In her letter to McCarthy, Yellen predicted that extraordinary measures would keep the government afloat at least until early June. But she also warned that the Treasury is only estimating exactly how long it can continue paying Americas debts.

The period of time that extraordinary measures may last is subject to considerable uncertainty due to a variety of factors, including the challenges of forecasting the payments and receipts of the U.S. government months into the future, Yellen wrote.

Barring an unprecedented workaround, Congress will have to vote soon to either suspend or increase the debt limit. With Republicans now in control of the House, that will be easier said than done.

As part of the deal that allowed McCarthy to secure enough votes to become Speaker of the House this month, some right-wing lawmakers have demanded any increase in the debt limit come with deep spending cuts. Others hope to use the issue, a rare must-do item on the legislative agenda, as a bargaining chip to enact conservative policies. McCarthy said Tuesday he hoped to begin negotiations with other leaders and the president as soon as possible. But congressional Democrats and the White House say they will insist on a no-strings-attached debt limit increase.

This is not political gamesmanship, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Friday. This should be done without conditions. And thats how we see this process moving forward.

As it has in the past, a protracted stalemate could hurt the economy in the lead up to the debt ceiling deadline, even if lawmakers eventually reach an agreement. With both sides digging in their heels, the stage is set for another drawn-out congressional standoff in the months to come.

Ive seen very few deals that are difficult that Congress has done in advance of when they need to, MacGuineas says. I think nobodys going to want to compromise until they feel that they have no other choice but to do so. Instead, I think we will do this at the last minute possible with all sides acting as though theyre unwilling to compromise, which is the very crux of governing.
Marcus Robinson and other volunteers paint a classroom purple on Jan. 16, 2023, at Reavis Elementary Math & Science Specialty School in Bronzeville during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Martin Luther King Jr. slowly appeared as Jessica Patterson, a Chicago area artist, daubed paint on a large mural at a Bronzeville school and directed community members to fill in the outlines of his depiction standing amid children.

Alexander Perez, 31, took charge of some blue paint and followed Pattersons instructions as the mural  that will hang in the gym at the Donoghue Campus of the UChicago Charter School  began to pop with bright colors.

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Ill do the best I can to not mess this up, said Perez, who lives in Bronzeville. Who knows, maybe my kid will come to school here and I can say, I did the baby blue part.

Perez was among hundreds of people across Chicago who ventured out to perform service projects or find educational opportunities to honor the legacy of King, the civil rights leader who championed racial equity and protested discrimination.

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Those who participated said they viewed Martin Luther King Jr. Day, observed on the third Monday in January to honor his birthday of Jan. 15., not simply as a day off school or work but as a call for service and reflection on the activism and teachings of King.

Natia Brownlee, 39, of Roseland, brought her two boys, 11 and 7, to participate in the UChicago Charter Schools day of service, among about 450 people who signed up to do projects at different campuses, organizers said. Waiting for the event to get launched, Brownlee and the boys sat in an auditorium that the class of 1969 dedicated to King, the year after he was assassinated April 4, 1968.

They understand how he stood for peace, how he helped our community, Brownlee said of the conversations shes had with her children about King.

Participants at the UChicago Charter Schools Donoghue Campus broke into groups, with some helping paint the mural while others put together bags of treats for teachers and assembled brown bag lunches to be distributed at shelters.

Demetrius Snodgrass, 9, and Emily Levi-DAncona make sandwiches with other volunteers to be donated to area shelters, Jan. 16, 2023, at UChicago Charter Schools Donoghue Campus in Bronzeville during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Over at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, celebrations were winding down midafternoon after a busy day that saw almost 500 visitors come and go, according to receptionist Anthony Cole.

Unless people know from which they have come, they dont know where they are, and they certainly dont know where they should go, Cole said. We represent thousands of ancestors that came before us, their dreams, hopes and wishes and prayers.

Visitors took pictures as they walked through the museum after a morning full of activities such as childrens story time, a Boycott film screening and activity tables. Local leaders including U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth made an appearance to tour the space.

Outside the museum, a 1950s bus provided by Pace remained parked throughout the day to commemorate Rosa Parks role in the Montgomery bus boycott.

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Akoye Simms, 7, stands in the back of a 1949 GMC bus parked outside the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Jan. 16, 2023, in Chicago. On Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks, a Black woman, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white person in the same model of bus, resulting in the Montgomery bus boycott, led by Martin Luther King Jr. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Tamica Clark and her 10-year-old son, Amari, visited Chicago for the day from Munster, Indiana. She first heard of the DuSables celebration on the news and decided to bring her son along so he could learn about his ancestors, she said.

Its so important to really delve into your history so you know where your roots are, and to also not let history repeat itself, Clark said. Sometimes our kids dont understand that education wasnt always a given for a lot of us, we had to fight for it. And Martin Luther King, he did just that, for our kids to be able to have an education.

They participated in a virtual reality exhibit at the museum called The March that immersed them in the historic 1963 March on Washington and Kings I Have A Dream speech. It was as if they were walking along with protesters and listening to him in real time, Clark said.

Its visceral. Its so real, she said, adding that hearing stories from people who knew King firsthand, seeing artifacts once touched by ancestors and participating in immersive experiences is more engaging than social media for kids.

Shari Williams hugs her 8-year-old daughter Maya at the end of their visit to the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)

Inside the Chicago History Museum, visitors checked out a documentary screening, community fair and photo exhibit focused on the civil rights leaders time in Chicago.

Tiffany Rogers of Hyde Park stood in front two images showing the destruction caused by the 1968 Chicago riots that followed his assassination, carefully discussing the photos with her 5-, 7- and 11-year-old children.

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As African Americans, as Chicagoans, as Americans, as this next generation, to me its important to make sure they understand their history, Rogers said. Because so much of it is repeated.

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On the citys West Side, a group taking a racial justice-focused bike tour despite the rain stopped in front of the Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church, the North Lawndale church where King preached while living in Chicago. Dozens of volunteers were sharing free clothes, meat and produce with people in need, as the church community does every Monday.

At Stone Temples annual King celebration, Pastor Chris Harris of Bronzevilles Bright Star Church spoke from the same lectern King once sermonized behind.

Executive pastor Reshorna M. Fitzpatrick, center, speaks about the history of her church, Stone Temple Baptist Church, to a group of touring bicyclists on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Chicago. King preached at the church when he stayed in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

He raised the civil rights leaders idea of beloved community as he challenged the crowd sitting in the historic churchs pews to fight poverty, hate and violence in Chicago by reaching across the citys divisive, invisible lines.

Its not enough for us to come together once a year and link arms and sing the song We Shall Overcome,  Harris said, until we come over into each others communities and look out for one another.

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com

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MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday dismissed an open records complaint against a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission who served as a fake elector for former President Donald Trump.

Allegations that the elections commission violated the state open records law by wrongly withholding documents will go forward, but claims made against Commissioner Robert Spindell were dismissed by Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost.

The commission itself, not Spindell, is the legal authority that must maintain the records in question and be the target of any lawsuit seeking them, Frost ruled after oral arguments.

Madison-based law firm Law Forward, known for the liberal-leaning cases it takes, filed the lawsuit against the commission and Spindell. Law Forward attorney Scott Thompson said after the hearing that he remained optimistic the records would be turned over even though Spindell is no longer a party to the lawsuit.

Spindell's attorney, Mark Maciolek, called the judge's ruling a correct but technical one.

It does not relieve anyone in government of their obligations to preserve and produce public records, he said.

The lawsuit stems from a complaint filed by Law Forward with the elections commission in 2021. It alleged that Republicans illegally posed as Wisconsin electors in an attempt to convince the U.S. Congress to declare that Trump won the state in 2020, even though he in fact lost to President Joe Biden by about 21,000 votes.

Republican attempts to cast electoral college votes for Trump in seven swing states he lost were a focus of the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission last year rejected a complaint about the events, saying that Republicans who attempted to cast the state's 10 electoral college votes for Trump did not break any election laws. Spindell did not recuse himself from considering the complaint, even though he voted as one of the fake GOP electors.

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In a closed meeting, the commission voted unanimously to reject the complaint.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice concluded that Republicans were legitimately trying to preserve Trumps legal standing as courts were deciding if he or Biden won the election. That is the same argument that Trump allies and the fake electors from Wisconsin have made, including in testimony to the Jan. 6 committee.

Law Forward filed two lawsuits after the complaint was rejected.

In one pending action, the group alleges that Spindell should have been excluded from considering the complaint before the commission because his actions were at the heart of the matter.

The other case, heard Tuesday, alleged that Spindell and the elections commission failed to turn over records that Law Forward requested multiple times under Wisconsin's open records law. The law firm sought documents related to a comment Spindell made during the public portion of a November 2021 commission meeting where he openly discussed his decision not to recuse himself from considering the complaint related to fake electors. The commission had been considering the request in closed session only, which made Spindells comments unusual.

Specifically, Law Forward asked for communications surrounding material Spindell appeared to be reading from during the meeting. According to the lawsuit, the elections commission provided a single document that resembled what Spindell read from and said Spindell had no other related records.

Frost dismissed claims against Spindell, agreeing with his argument that the commission is the legal authority in charge of the records.

Law Forward brought the case on behalf of Paul Sickel, executive director of the Service Employees International Union's Wisconsin State Council.

The firm has also filed another lawsuit, currently pending in federal court, against the 10 electors and Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis seeking $2.4 million in damages. That case alleges Trump and his allies conspired to overturn his loss in the battleground state.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect the name of Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost. A previous version listed his first name as Robert Frost.
FORT PIERCE  St. Lucie County sheriff's detectives on Tuesday confirmed a woman died who was shot along with seven others during a Martin Luther King Jr. car show event Monday.

Four others  one of whom was a child  were injured fleeing the scene during the chaotic incident that happened around 5:20 p.m. Monday at Ilous Ellis Park, according to the Sheriff's Office.

St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara on Tuesday confirmed a 29-year-old woman he didnt identify died at HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital after being shot at the car show.

I'm here to sadly report that one of those victims died this morning, Mascara said. She's a ... Fort Pierce native who was at the party with her 6-year-old daughter. And now what was a shooting investigation has turned into a murder investigation.

Original story:8 injured, 1 seriously, during mass shooting at Martin Luther King Jr. event in Fort Pierce

What we know:Mass shooting at Fort Pierce MLK Day celebration leaves 1 dead

Mass shooting:Witness describes 'scary' scene in which 8 shot Monday in Fort Pierce

He said theyll provide updates as the investigation continues.

We want our community to play a role in solving this horrendous event that occurred (Monday), he said.

Mascara lamented the shooting happened on a day set aside to honor the legacy of nonviolence advocated by Martin Luther King Jr.

Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the young lady's family who lost her life in the senseless act. And our community in general, we sympathize with them, were sorry that this happened, Mascara said. But we are committed to put the people responsible for this act in jail and prosecute to the full extent of the law.

According to Chief Deputy Brian Hester, evidence collected at the scene shows the shooting was the result of a dispute between two rival Fort Pierce gangs.

There were over 50 shell casings that were recovered from the scene from three different calibers of weapons to support some of that information, he said.

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A number of law-enforcement officials were at the scene Tuesday with at least two canines, searching around various areas of the parking lot.

Hester said no suspects are in custody and none were identified, but he said leads were coming in. Theyre working with federal and state agencies on the investigation, he said.

This is priority for us. We have every available resource assigned to this investigation, he said.

Mass shootings in 2023:MLK Day shooting in Fort Pierce is the 30th mass shooting in U.S. so far this year

He declined to release any information related to possible suspects, but he warned anyone who may be helping those responsible to evade capture.

Let me be very, very clear that if you are thinking of or are hiding, supporting or aiding, helping in any way, any suspect, anyone involved in this heinous incident, Hester added. I can assure you that we will arrest you and we will charge you to the fullest extent of the law for partaking in that support.

He encouraged anyone with information to call a hotline set up Tuesday at 772-462-3230. Or call Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-800-273-TIPS.

Staff writers Will Greenlee and Corey Arwood contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Fort Pierce shooting: Woman dies from injuries at MLK Day event
A woman faces charges months after a child was hit with a car, eventually leading to that childs death, according to the Memphis Police Department (MPD).

MPD said a young girl was hit by a car on August 14, 2022 around 3:30 p.m. The car responsible, a blueish-green Toyota Scion with green rims, took off, police said. That girl was rushed to the hospital in critical condition but died four days later, according to MPD.

Months later, on January 16, 2023, Memphis Police said they found the car responsible on Compress Drive in Memphis. The driver of that car, 22-year-old Anisha Millon, was taken to a police station for questioning.

Police said that Millon waived her rights and gave police her account of that fateful night.

Millon told police that she was on her way home from work, driving her 2007 Toyota Scion, and was on her way to pick up her own children when a baby came into the street.

She claimed that she couldnt avoid hitting the baby, pulled over after the crash and thought about turning around, according to Memphis Police.

But, because she was scared, she left the scene and made no attempts to go back to the scene of the crash and check on the child, police said.

Memphis Police said Million even paid to have her blue car with green rims painted all black, concealing the original color, days after the crash.

Millon was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death, violation of financial law and not having a drivers license.

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams called for federal and state aid to address the migrant crisis.

The city recently received the largest number of asylum seekers in a single day, City Hall said.

Adams, a Democrat, traveled to the Texas border over the weekend to speak with migrants.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams traveled to the southern border over the weekend, continuing his public calls for federal and state aid to address the influx of asylum seekers into the US that he says is overwhelming the city he runs.

"Our cities are being undermined. And we don't deserve this. Migrants don't deserve this. And the people who live in the cities don't deserve this," Adams said on Sunday in El Paso, Texas, according to the Associated Press.

Adams, a Democrat, said sanctuary cities like New York that are experiencing a migrant crisis need assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to the Associated Press.

Adams' office declared a state of emergency last October as the number of people arriving in New York City strained the city's shelters and services. City Hall said in a statement on Friday that the city recently received 835 asylum seekers in a day, the largest number to date.

About 40,000 migrants have traveled to New York City in search of shelter since last spring, according to the city. New York City has opened 74 emergency shelters and four humanitarian relief centers, according to Adams' office. The associated cost is $1 billion for fiscal year 2023.

"We expect more from our national leaders to address this in a real way," Adams said on Sunday in Texas, according to The New York Times.

The city welcoming migrants seeking care and shelter is exacerbating New York City's homelessness crisis, Brad Lander, the city's comptroller, said earlier this month. In a Saturday tweet, Lander also criticized Adams' Texas trip, saying it did little to bring in the money that New York City needs to provide shelter and services.

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Earlier this month, Lander said 67,600 people are sleeping in shelters and 3,400 more are sleeping on the streets and in the subway. The Department of Homeless Services does not track the number of undocumented immigrants it looks after, Lander noted.

"The need for expanding and accelerating the distribution of rental assistance to low-income New Yorkers has never been more urgent than it is today," he said in testimony before the Human Resources Administration.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Daytona Beach woman was arrested and charged with the death of her boyfriend who was stabbed to death in a fight that escalated into a robbery attempt at a home last week, police said.

Kaylee Grigsby Leinum, 19, was being held Tuesday in the Volusia County Branch Jail on a second-degree murder charge.

Daytona Beach police Detective Sgt. David Dinardi said Tuesday that Leinum, and her boyfriend, Devyn Strickland, 21, who was stabbed to death, had plans to rob Leinum's ex-boyfriend when they went to his Shady Place home on Wednesday.

The plan was to take $1,000 that Leinum knew he had, Dinardi said.

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While at the home, the men argued over Leinum, and then Strickland pulled out a gun in an attempt to rob the ex-boyfriend, Dinardi said.

Strickland fired multiple shots at the ex-boyfriend, who was saved by a cell phone in his pocket that was hit by a bullet, said Daytona Beach police Chief Jakari Young.

The ex-boyfriend, then pulled out a knife and stabbed Strickland, police said.

Daytona Beach police spokeswoman Carrie McCallister said Strickland and Leinum then ran from the home.

Police located them near the Shady Place home and Strickland was transported to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach where he died, McCallister said.

"This was a case of self-defense," Dinardi said on Tuesday. "(The ex-boyfriend) was justified in killing Devyn Strickland."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona woman charged with murder in stabbing death-robbery
Andrew Tate, left, and Tristan Tate with Romanian police. Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images

Young women "misunderstood the reality" of life with Andrew Tate, his head of security said.

Bogdan Stancu, Tate's bodyguard, told the BBC "some girls" living on Tate's property "thought they'd be his next wife."

Tate is currently in jail on suspicion of human trafficking and forming an organized crime group.

Young women "misunderstood the reality" of life with Andrew Tate and thought they'd be his "next wife," bodyguard Bogdan Stancu told the BBC this week.

The American-British internet personality was arrested in December, alongside his brother Tristan, on suspicion of human trafficking and forming an organized crime group that manipulated women into making porn for their online business.

Tate's lawyer has said he and Tristan are innocent.

Speaking to the BBC, Stancu said many of the women living with Tate were under the age of 25.

He described Tate, 36, as "a little bit paranoid" and convinced that "somebody wanted to hurt him," though Tate was seemingly unsure who that somebody was.

Stancu said he never saw anything untoward at Tate's property in Romania but noted that "some girls thought they'd be his next wife."

Tate previously talked about manipulating women

Andrew Tate. Screenshot/YouTube - TateSpeech

Stefan Loredan, a legal expert in Dubai who has been following Tate's case, said the controversial celebrity's biggest legal challenge will be his own statements on rape and exploitation.

The Tate brothers have "been incriminating themselves through the social-media content that they've been creating in the last two to three years," Loredan recently told Insider.

Tate, for example, said in a since-deleted YouTube video that he moved to Romania from the UK because: "I'm not a fucking rapist but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free."

In another video, he said women are "not allowed out" when they stay at his house.

Story continues

In a statement from his website that no longer exists, Tate detailed his manipulation of women, saying: "My job was to meet a girl, go on a few dates, sleep with her, test if she's quality, get her to fall in love with me to where she'd do anything I say, and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together."

'I loved raping you,' one WhatsApp message from Tate said

Andrew Tate, left, and Tristan Tate arrive at a courthouse in Bucharest on January 10. DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images

Vice News reported this month that Tate sent a sexual assault accuser numerous messages about rape.

"I love raping you," Tate reportedly wrote in one WhatsApp message Vice shared in its story.

The WhatsApp texts formed part of the evidence that UK police collected when investigating Tate between 2015 and 2019. The Crown Protection Service, however, did not pursue rape charges against Tate in 2019.

Investigators in Tate's current case identified six women as potential victims of trafficking, BBC said in a separate story.

Two women  named only as Beatrice and Jasmin  came forward to say they are "not a victim" of Tate's.

They said the Tate brothers were not "aggressive or rude," and said they did not feel threatened.

Not much is known about the level of evidence Romanian investigators have gathered, the BBC said.

Authorities seized Tate's luxury properties and rare car collection earlier this month. If he is convicted, these assets could be used to compensate victims in the case, a spokesperson for Romanian authorities previously told Insider.

Read the original article on Insider
Bedford County Public Schools are projected to finish out this year with a positive operating budget balance, according to a second-quarter financial analysis recently presented to the school board.

Operating expenses are projected to come in at $773,772 under budget, said Randy Hagler, chief financial officer of BCPS. Operating revenues are projected to come in at about $1.2 million more than budgeted.

We look in very good financial shape this year, Hagler said.

Unless the currently robust Virginia sales tax unexpectedly falls off dramatically over the rest of this year, which is a major source of revenue used to fund public schools in the commonwealth, Hagler anticipated ending with a positive operating budget balance.

One future need identified by the divisions facilities committee falls under the nutrition budget. The division must spend down the nutrition fund balance to around $1.2 million from currently more than $3 million, according to Hagler.

The supervisor of nutrition indicated a need to replace outdated appliances, other kitchen equipment, and even things like cutlery. This need could be a major part of spending down the existing balance, according to the BCPS staff presentation.

According to District 5 representative and facilities committee liaison Georgia Hairston, one idea is to list some of the old appliances with GovDeals  a government surplus auction website billed as an online marketplace providing services to government, educational, and related entities for the sale of surplus assets to the public  with at least some of it expected to end up as scrap metal, and recoup some of the costs that way. The specific items to be replaced have not yet been listed in full.

Additional budget priorities will be identified over the next several months.

Fuel prices are a variable to keep an eye on in the upcoming budget, according to Hagler.

With the General Assembly convening in Richmond, a proposed state education budget is set to be hashed out over the next several months. This will affect how BCPS shapes its fiscal year 2024 budget and priorities, and might affect the remaining 2023 budget depending on what the assembly adopts, according to Hagler and BCPS superintendent Marc Bergin.

If is the operative word right now when it comes to the divisions projected expenditures for 2023-24, which Bergin emphasized last week as he presented some proposed items to budget for next year, and projected expenditures, as all are contingent on the budget adopted by the state.

The division could see an increase in state funding this year depending on what happens in Richmond, Hagler said.

Anticipated wage raises for teachers and school support staff are part of Gov. Glenn Youngkins proposed education budget. If the governors proposed budget gets adopted as it stands now, BCPS teachers and support staff would see a 1.35% step increase, a 3.65% cost of living adjustment, and up to a 1% bonus in 2024, according to the presentation given by Bergin.

BCPS reinstated employee pay steps last year.

Some grants are currently being pursued as supplemental money for BCPS, Hagler said, including grants for school nurse stipends and state-provided stipends for teachers furthering their education.
As the nation celebrated the life and legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, voices inside a crowded ballroom in downtown Lynchburgs Virginian Hotel rang out with a message of unity.

We shall overcome, the crowd sang in unison, holding hands through several verses of the key anthem of the American civil rights movement.

Held in person for the first time since 2020, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lynchburg Community Councils 23rd annual breakfast celebration honored the legacy of King, who was one of the nations most well known civil rights activists from the 1950s until his assassination in 1968.

The event coincided with nationwide celebrations of Kings life on the 37th Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States.

Brenda Hughes Andrews, one of four Black students who integrated E.C. Glass High School in 1962 after litigants sued Lynchburg Public Schools, gave the keynote address of the ceremony, delivering a message of unity and strength to love, as King would say, to city leaders and residents in attendance.

What made Dr. King a man we remember today instead of some others was his influence that he was able to have over other people, Andrews said. And his innate ability to inspire hope into the souls of people who had never seen themselves as valuable or worthy of first class citizenship.

Many city leaders attended, including Police Chief Ryan Zuidema, Fire Chief Gregory Wormser, several city councilors, school board members, and newly elected Mayor Stephanie Reed, who officially proclaimed Monday as Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Lynchburg during the ceremony.

She noted how humbled she felt being in the presence of so many amazing people who were part of the change in this city that carried on the legacy that Dr. King started.

The theme for the breakfast, strength to love, comes from the title of a book of the same name written by King Jr. and published in 1963, the same year King helped organize the March on Washington and delivered his famous I Have a Dream speech.

Quiniya Hubbard, who won first place in a community council essay-writing contest, spoke further on the theme of Mondays breakfast, saying the message holds great depth in the life of the late civil rights activist, but also in the lives of people today.

At its core, this theme speaks to the idea that true love requires strength and courage. And that is not something that comes easily or naturally to us, Hubbard read from her essay.

For Martin Luther King Jr., the strength to love was a cornerstone in his philosophy and a driving force of his activism. As a civil rights leader, he faced immense challenges and dangers in his efforts to bring about justice and equality for African Americans in the United States, she said.

Andrews said while it is true the struggle continues, she added, We who are African American have been both resilient and also a resistant part of much of that American history, as we have had to fight our way out of the shackles of slavery, racism and second-class citizenship.

Speaking about her own battle against inequality and racism, Andrews said about the time when she and three others integrated E.C. Glass High School, We disrupted an all-white environment. And where there is or was disruption, theres always the opportunity to change the status quo, which we did.

Clearly, in Strength to Love, Dr. King delivers the message that systems and hearts must be changed in order to end the evil of racism and discrimination in America, Andrews added.

This year marks the 61st anniversary of King Jr.s visit to the Hill City, when he visited Diamond Hill Baptist Church; the Anne Spencer house; the Lodge of the Fisherman at Cosby Woods, the only dining establishment in Lynchburg other than the hospital where Blacks and whites could dine together; and E.C. Glass High School, where he delivered his famous American Dream speech in March 1962.

Andrews, charging the crowd to make a difference before next years Martin Luther King Jr. Day, said the work is not done.

No, no, Lynchburg, Andrews said. We still are not satisfied. And we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
A south suburban police sergeant and a patrol officer under his command are facing federal charges alleging they robbed motorists of cash and drugs during traffic stops and extorted people in exchange for declining to press charges or tow their vehicles.

Jarrett Snowden, 34, of Lansing, and Antoine Bell Larry, 46, of Bolingbrook, both officers for the small village of Phoenix, were charged in a four-count indictment made public Tuesday with bribery conspiracy, extortion and attempted extortion.

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An arraignment date had not been set in the case as of Tuesday. Larrys attorney, Garry Payton, said he had not seen the indictment as of Monday morning and had no comment. Snowdens attorney could not be reached.

After the Tribune reached out to Phoenix officials seeking comment, police Chief Roy Wells issued a written statement Tuesday saying both officers were placed on unpaid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

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To avoid compromising the integrity of the federal governments investigation, we will offer no further comment, the statement read.

According to the 10-page indictment, Snowden and Larry agreed to use their official powers and positions as police officers to rob and extort people they pulled over in Phoenix and the neighboring suburb of Harvey, about 19 miles south of downtown Chicago.

The officers stole firearms, drugs and cash from targeted vehicles and their occupants, and also solicited cash payments in exchange for reducing, dropping or declining to press charges against the occupants, as well as allowing them to keep their vehicles instead of having them towed, the indictment stated.

In some instances, Larry and Snowden arranged for the victims to meet them at a nearby gas station with bribe payments, the indictment alleged.

To conceal the conspiracy, the officers at times used a bagman to collect the payments, and also had an agreement to sell the narcotics theyd stolen to a drug dealer and split any proceeds from the eventual street sales 50/50, the indictment alleged.

Afternoon Briefing Daily Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox each afternoon. By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

In all, the indictment lists seven separate acts of extortion or bribery between October 2020 and December 2021.

Phoenix and Harvey have long been hotbeds for corruption, with numerous police officers and politicians indicted over the years on charges ranging from extortion to murder.

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The sensational 1979 murder of then-Phoenix Mayor William Hawkins was allegedly carried out by members of his own police department who were angry he wasnt sharing siphoned-off government funds with them like he promised. A police lieutenant was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, while another officer was acquitted at trial.

In 2019, the U.S. attorneys office announced an array of corruption charges against people close to then-Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg, including Kelloggs brother, Derrick Muhammad, a Harvey police officer, accused of falsifying a police report to protect two convicted felons from possibly facing weapons charges.

Muhammad pleaded guilty and was sentenced in 2020 to nine months in prison.

jmeisner@chicagotribune.com
SYDNEY  Last July, the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, visited Jakarta where he said Chinas military has become significantly more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years.

While the U.S. has seemed fixated on Chinas growing verbal threats and military maneuvers around Taiwan, Milley and others, including some in Australia, are concerned that Chinas expansionist goals do not end with attempts to take over that free island nation.

Among those keeping an eye on Chinas activities here is Tom Switzer, executive director of the think tank Center for Independent Studies (CIS). Switzer believes Australian leaders are wrong when they think their policies determine what China does. The truth is, he says, most great powers are ruthless beasts: they play hard ball at every turn; and the stronger China gets, the more its likely to throw its weight around.

Switzer calls what China is doing wolf warrior diplomacy, where it uses its growing economic power to coerce or harm weaker states that implement policies not to Beijings liking.

Some commentators here claim Australia can rebuild trust with Beijing without acquiescing to its demands. Switzer disagrees and asks some important questions the government should consider: How do our leaders restore a dialogue with a hyper-nationalist China that wants us to kowtow? Doesnt that represent a serious threat to our sovereignty? Doesnt Beijings long list of demands as a prerequisite to improving relations make it harder for Canberra to do more to reboot relations with Beijing?

On its webpage, CIS asserts that China has been waging a global influence campaign across the globe. It is better understood as a strategic use of media technology and government resources allocated by the Chinese Communist Party in seeking to effectively influence media content and industries in targeted countries. It aims at changing global opinions and policy discourses in favour of its development model, patterns of managing inter-state relations, and justification of its prospective hegemonic status worldwide. Pushback actions against this effort of China have been occurring across many countries, however.

It is no secret how this influence works. Weve seen it in the U.S. where corporations and individual spokespersons for companies that manufacture products in China have been reluctant to criticize the communist regime for fear of losing money. At what point does it become a patriotic duty to start making products in America (and Australia) again instead of putting profits above the best interests of free nations? Journalists should ask this question of President Biden, congressional Republicans and GOP presidential candidates in 2024.

There is also the issue of propaganda. People of a certain age associate propaganda with Nazi Germany (Joseph Goebbels), Japan (Tokyo Rose) and the Soviet Union. But Chinas use of especially social media  TikTok being just one of many examples  has taken propaganda to a new and more highly sophisticated level.

One of the few media outlets that responds to Chinese disinformation and propaganda is The Epoch Times, denounced by some as a far-right newspaper associated with the Falun Gong quasi-religious movement. Yet it consistently presents information that counters what is coming from Beijing and its ideological allies.

One of the great seductions, especially in free societies, is that when one evil is defeated  Nazism, Japan, the collapse of the Soviet Union  it cant become reincarnated in new regimes and new dictators.

Eternal vigilance and the opposition to tyranny are the price free people must pay to maintain their freedom, which is not the natural state of humankind if one looks around the world.

That is true for Australia, Europe (Russias war against Ukraine) and the United States.
Shizuka visits Northern Tohoku region and spends a day in Yamagata, where she explores the stunning scenery and makes friends with locals.

She visits the scenic temple Yamadera. 1000 stones step lead to the top of the mountain where the visitors are rewarded with some of the most breathtaking views of the autumn foliage in Japan. After the hike, Shizuka stops by Enzou, a local restaurant, where they serve Yamagata's specialty: Ita soba aka soba on a board.

The adventure continues in Yamagata city, where Shizuka sets out to explore the city's nightlife. She visits three authentic izakaya restaurants in Hottonaru Yokocho, where visitors can truly get a grasp of Yamagatas flavors after dark. Diving into Yamagatas scrumptious seasonal specialties and locally brewed sake, Shizuka meets some of the friendliest locals and together, they enjoy an exciting night full of laughter and good food! ...continue reading
, Jan 17 ( news18.com ) - The world is full of cultures and traditions that fascinate us. While some of them make sense to us, others dont and as much as they seem bizarre, people following them continue to do so with complete faith.

One such fascinating ritual is Japans Shinto ritual where people dressed in white robes clap and chant before going into an ice water bath. The new years ritual in Japan saw a group of men bathe in ice water on January 14 to purify their souls and wish for good fortune this year. The Daily Mail reported that the believers gathered at the Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo to participate in the annual cold water endurance ceremony. Photographs captured the moment men poured wooden pots full of ice-cold water over their bodies. The photographs show the men dressed in white loincloths and headbands. ... continue reading
Google Cloud introduces new AI Tools for Retailers, AI Tool for personalised search

New Delhi, Wed, 18 Jan 2023 NI Wire

Google Cloud introduced four new AI technology based tools for the retailers, which is using the AI solutions developed by Google for searching a large number of products in the retailers online store. This tool enables the retailers to use the Google search capabilities for their retail portal. Now retailers will be able to use this tool searching for billions of products in their store in a much more natural way increasing the overall shopping experience of their customers.

In this release Google Cloud added and updated its AI Technologies for helping retailers in adding new features to its in-store shelf checking process. Google Cloud AI technologies will help retailers in adding more features to their in-store shelf checking process, which will enhance their ecommerce sites. These tools from Google Cloud will help in increasing the shopping experience of the stores customers.

Google Cloud introduced following services:

Personalized Search: These Google Cloud services will help in developing personalized search and browsing features for the retail store. This will help increase the customer experiences for ecommerce sites.



AI based cheking in-store shelves: An AI-powered solution for regularly checking the store shelves and including the best product in the search. This solution uses AI technologies and supports billions of products.



Intelligent product recommendation: These solutions include an AI-driven product recommendation system that can be used by the store owners for recommending the products to their customers.



Machine Learning tool for product display on the store : Google Cloud also includes a tool based on the machine learning technology for arranging the products on websites.

Google Cloud AI tools will help on-line store owners to better manage their products in the shelves and display the right products to their customers.

Personalized Search

Personalized Search results are very important for any e-commerce shopping portal, users are more likely to view/purchase the products from the personalilzed list. Google Cloud AI tool is an AI based software service that produces personalized search results, which enhances the feature of the e-commerce sites.

Google Clouds AI based personalized search technology will enhance the capabilities of Google Clouds existing Retail Search solution. Ecommerce shopping stores will be able to produce relevant presonalized results for the customers, helping e-commerce portal to provide intuitive online shopping experience to the customers.

This solution is well designed which uses the latest AI technologies for identifying the costumes preferences by analyzing their shopping, purchasing, browning, product selection in cart and others. This way with the use of this AI technology e-commerce store will be able to increase conversion rates and also satisfy the customers requirements.

AI technology uses the user behaviours and adjusts the presonalized results for the user. There are many technologies behind this and Google developed this product to provide best results for the users. More importantly all the data and analysis is specific to the website. This data is not shared between the customers and this is not connected with the customers activity on Googles other products.

AI based cheking in-store shelves

The new AI based product sorting solution is the best in the industry product discovery and selection in-store shelves. This solution is considering historical ordering information along with other parameters. This tool is known as Google Clouds Discovery AI solutions and available for the retailers on the Google Cloud platform. This product helps in improving the product discovery experience significantly.

Usually e-commerce websites use the category based bestsellers sorting or display manually created product list. This way of product selection and display takes a lot of time, which is in-sufficient in generating the best results. Google Cloud AI based solution will help e-commerce owners to get most out of their products inventory and display best presonalized results to the customers.

Intelligent product recommendation

The latest upgrades to the Google Clouds Recommendations AI system brings more features including personalized, highly-relevant, dynamic and actionable product listing as recommendation. This tool helps individual customers as well as big e-commerce websites.

This tool is powerful providing page-level optimization, allowing the store to display recommendations dynamically for each customer. This gives a very powerful tool to the store owners and will help in instantly increasing the sales. Tool is using machine learning for generating effective product recommendations per user session.

Machine Learning tool for product display on the store

The AI-Powered shelf-checking solutions will provide huge success to the retailers as developing such technologies are difficult. Most of the retailers were unable to do so in the past due to resources required to develop such solutions. This AI solution from Google Cloud will enable stores to distinguish and categorise the products accurately.

The Google Cloud AI solution identifies the products based on visual and text features, which is a promising solution for the store owners. This solution can work on a large scale and support billions of products. So, it's a very helpful solution for the large online retailers.

About Google Cloud

Google Cloud is one of the top cloud computing services in the world with a large number of servers to meet the enterprise computing needs. Google Cloud is an enterprise grade Cloud computing environment for accelerating the organisation's ability to digitally transform its business. Google Cloud is delivering enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Google's cutting-edge technology to the world. Companies are individuals who are using the immense power of Google Cloud to run todays demanding business applications. Check more details at Google Cloud AI Search Integration with retail store services.
The Council Bluffs Police Department is once again hosting its Citizens Police Academy, a program that began in 1992 to provide the public with a glimpse of how law enforcement goes about its daily duties.

Over the course of 12 weeks, students will learn about the different divisions within the police department, and the various services law enforcement is tasked with.

A lot of perception of police is through TV and movies, said Sgt. Cory Woodward of the Police Area Representative unit. Its pretty unrealistic.

The program is also designed to enhance law enforcements relationship with the communities it serves.

Especially after the last few years, theres been a lot of media attention towards a negative side of what some officers have done, Woodward said. So we try to get people in, try to have them understand what we do, how many things we deal with, how many different aspects of our job there is.

In addition to community engagement, classes will cover nearly every aspect of what the police department handles, including the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, the K-9 unit, chaplain services, crisis negotiation, criminal investigation, use of force training and forensics.

Each class will feature a speaker from a specific unit within the department, and a couple of representatives from the county, too, like Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber, and a member of the 911 communications center, which is run by the county. A detective from the Criminal Investigations Division will teach a case study of one of the departments murder investigations.

Woodward said that the informal setting allows officers and other speakers to let their guard down and have more frank and honest conversations about policing.

We can discuss things in more detail instead of short little sound bites, Woodward said. We can discuss openly our point of view and how we see things. People might have different experiences, and they get to share that with the class. Some people (have) brought up experiences that havent went well with the police.

Aside from active cases, pretty much all topics are open to discussion, Woodward said.

The first CPA class is this Thursday, Jan. 19, at 6:30 p.m. Most classes will be held at CBPD headquarters, located at 1 Ezra Jackson Way. Firearms training will be held at the Southwest Iowa Law Enforcement Training Facility and the practical exercise scenario will play out at Abraham Lincoln High School.
ROME  Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida, who achieved international stardom during the 1950s and was dubbed "the most beautiful woman in the world" after the title of one her movies, died in Rome on Monday, her agent said. She was 95.

The agent, Paola Comin, didn't provide details. But Lollobrigida had surgery in September to repair a thigh bone broken in a fall. She returned home and said she had quickly resumed walking.

A drawn portrait of the diva graced a 1954 cover of Time magazine, which likened her to a "goddess" in an article about Italian movie-making. More than a half-century later, Lollobrigida still turned heads with her brown, curly hair and statuesque figure, and preferred to be called an actress instead of a the gender-neutral term actor.

"Lollo," as she was lovingly nicknamed by Italians, began making movies in Italy just after the end of World War II, as the country began to promote on the big screen a stereotypical concept of Mediterranean beauty as buxom and brunette.

Besides "The World's Most Beautiful Woman" in 1955, career highlights included Golden Globe-winner "Come September," with Rock Hudson; "Trapeze;" "Beat the Devil," a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and "Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell," which won Lollobrigida Italy's top movie award, a David di Donatello, as best actress in 1969.

In Italy, she worked with some of the country's top directors following the war, including Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Pietro Germi and Vittorio De Sica.

Two of her more popular films at home were Comencini's "Pane Amore e Fantasia" ("Bread, Love and Dreams"Fantasy) in 1953, and the sequel a year later, "Pane Amore e Gelosia" ("Bread, Love and Jealousy"). Her male foil was Vittorio Gassman, one of Italy's leading men on the screen.

Lollobrigida also was an accomplished sculptor, painter and photographer, and eventually essentially dropped film for the fine arts. With her camera, she roamed the world from what was then the Soviet Union to Australia. In 1974, Fidel Castro hosted her as a guest in Cuba for 12 days as she worked on a photo reportage.

Lollobrigida was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, a picturesque hill town near Rome, where her father was a furniture maker. Lollobrigida began her career in beauty contests, posing for the covers of magazines and brief appearances in minor films. Producer Mario Costa plucked her from the streets of Rome to appear on the big screen.

Eccentric mogul Howard Hughes eventually brought Lollobrigida to the United States, where she performed with some of Hollywood's leading men of the 1950s and 60s, including Frank Sinatra, Sean Connery, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Yul Brynner.

Over the years, her co-stars also included Europe's most dashing male stars of the era, among them Louis Jourdan, Fernando Rey, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Alec Guinness.

While Lollobrigida played some dramatic roles, her sex symbol image defined her career, and her most popular characters were in lighthearted comedies such as the "Bread, Love" trilogy.

With lush eyelashes and thick, brown curls framing her face, Lollobrigida started a hairstyle rage in the 1950s known as the "poodle cut." Gossip columnists commented on alleged rivalries between her and Sophia Loren, another Italian film star celebrated for her physical beauty,

In middle age, Lollobrigida's romance with a man 34 years her junior, Javier Rigau, from Barcelona, Spain, kept gossip pages buzzing for years.

"I have always had a weakness for younger men because they are generous and have no complexes," the actress told Spain's "Hola" magazine. After more than 20 years of dating, in 2006, the then-79-year-old Lollabrigida announced that she would Rigau, but the wedding never happened.

Her first marriage, to Milko Skofic, a Yugoslavia-born doctor, ended in divorce in 1971.

In the last years of her life, Lollobrigida's name more frequently appeared in articles by journalists covering Rome's courts, not the glamour scene, as legal battles were waged over whether she had the mental competence to tend to her finances.

On her website, Lollobrigida recalled how her family lost its house during the bombings of World War II and went to live in Rome. She studied sculpture and painting at a high school dedicated to the arts, while her two sisters worked as movie theater ushers to allow her to continue her studies.

Photos: Actress Gina Lollobrigida over the years Italy Obit Gina Lollobrigida Italy Obit Gina Lollobrigida Italy Obit Gina Lollobrigida
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Speaker of Yemens House of Representatives Sultan Said al-Barkani has reaffirmed his countrys steadfast support to Moroccos territorial integrity and full sovereignty over its entire Saharan territory.

He voiced the supportive stand during the meetings he held separately Monday in Rabat with Moroccan peer Rachid Talbi Alami and Speaker of the House of Advisors Enaam Mayara.

Speaking to journalists, the Yemeni official stressed the importance of the respect of territorial integrity for the two countries. He thanked the Moroccan King, government, people and parliament for their continued support to Yemen which is facing major political, economic, military and security challenges.

During his meetings with Moroccan lawmakers, Mr. Al Barkani said Yemen looks forward to benefiting from the Moroccan parliament experiences, noting that Moroccan and Yemeni MPs have agreed to foster consultation and coordinate stands at international fora over matters of common concern.

Both Speakers of the Moroccan Parliaments Upper & Lower Houses hailed the friendship ties uniting the two countries and thanked Yemen for backing the Kingdoms territorial integrity.

They also called for joint Arab and international efforts to end the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and denounced the provocations of Iran-backed Houthi militias, threatening regional peace and stability.

Talks between Sultan Said Al-Barkani and Talbi Alami highlighted by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding meant to consolidate relations between the two legislative institutions.

Under the MoU, the two parties undertake to develop the links between Morocco and Yemen at the political, economic, cultural and scientific levels and work to strengthen parliamentary cooperation through regular dialogue and consultation on issues of common interest.

The MoU reflects the common desire to further consolidate and strengthen the relations of friendship between the Moroccan and Yemeni peoples and the shared determination to strengthen parliamentary cooperation, the House of Representatives said in a statement.

Mr. Al Barkani conferred the same day in Rabat with Moroccan foreign minister Nasser Bourita. Talks focused on bilateral relations, the Yemeni crisis and latest developments on the regional and international scene.
U.S., Japan urged to stop seeking to contain, suppress China: FM spokesperson

Xinhua) 08:11, January 17, 2023

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday urged the United States and Japan to quit their obsession with containing and suppressing China, stop dangerously ramping up their military build-up and propagating chaos in the world.

The comments come after a recent joint statement by U.S. and Japanese leaders claiming that the Indo-Pacific region faces growing challenges, including from actions inconsistent with the rules-based international order by China. They also stressed their commitment to strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance.

"The ugly playbook jointly used by Japan and the U.S. to tarnish China's image, interfere in China's internal affairs and suppress China's development is packed with danger and hypocrisy. We firmly reject it and have conveyed strong demarches," Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily press briefing.

Wang pointed out that Japan's actions cause people to wonder whether it is tearing itself away from post-war peaceful development and fear the growing danger of history repeating itself.

"Our message for Japan is that anyone seeking to jeopardize and risk the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific will be rejected and pushed back by countries across the region," said Wang.

The United States preaches the so-called "rules-based order", but is second to none when it comes to undermining the international rules and order, Wang said, citing U.S. practices such as unwarranted invasions of other countries, arbitrary unilateral sanctions and muscle-flexing in the Asia-Pacific by deploying warships and military aircraft, among other things.

"It must be pointed out that China will remain firmly committed to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. No country or force can hold back China's development. We will do what is necessary to resolutely defend our sovereignty, security and development interests," Wang added.

In response to a joint statement released following the recent U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee ("2+2"), Wang said it contains manipulated and misleading narratives aimed at justifying military build-up by propagating and hyping up the so-called "nuclear threat from China."

"We have always kept our nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required by national security. For any country, as long as they do not use nuclear weapons against China, they have no reason to worry about being threatened by China's nuclear weapons. This is the most meaningful transparency a country can provide," said Wang.

In fact, said Wang, it is the negative developments in the U.S. and Japan regarding nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation that require the vigilance of the international community. The U.S. has been developing low-yield nuclear weapons, lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons, while Japan has been sitting comfortably under the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" and even opposing and obstructing efforts to get the U.S. to relinquish its policy of first use of nuclear weapons, Wang added.

"We urge the U.S. and Japan to abandon the Cold-War mentality and bloc confrontation, fulfill their nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation obligations in good faith, and step up to their role in upholding regional and international peace and stability," said Wang.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The Chicago mayoral race might be a performance review of Chicagos current executive leader, but the election also presents an opportunity to review a group of political leaders the public never elected.

That group would be Chicago Teachers Union leaders who make up the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators and who are looking to place their guy in City Hall. The union has thrown its financial and public support behind mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson, a former CTU teacher and a political operative who still earned a salary as a legislative coordinator for the union as of June.

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Union leaders prominent involvement in the race reflects their priorities, none of which include Chicago Public Schools students. While CTU teachers provide an invaluable service to the city and society, the unions leadership uses its position to prioritize a political agenda over students needs, much to students detriment. For more than a decade, the unions increasing focus on politics correlated with a decline in CPS students academic performance and achievement  and the trend looks likely to continue.

The unions priorities shifted after the caucus took control of CTU in 2010. As the caucus amplified the unions image as that of a lobbying special interest, students test scores dropped. Based on an Illinois Policy Institute analysis of Illinois State Board of Education student proficiency data for third through eighth grades, between 2010 and 2014, the share of CPS students considered proficient in reading dropped by 29%. In math, that share dropped 30%. After a change in state testing  between 2015 and 2022  student proficiency dropped 33% in reading and 31% in math.

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As of the past full school year, nearly 80% of CPS students could not read at grade level. Just 15% met proficiency in math. In other words, students suffered as the union bosses played politics.

While test scores worsened, Chicago families began to look for other options. An Illinois Policy Institute analysis of CPS enrollment data reveals the district lost more than 87,000 students  a nearly 20% drop  between 2010 and 2022. At the start of the , 2022-23 school year, CPS enrolled a little more than 322,000 students, marking a loss of about 8,000 students from the previous year.

Rather than address the districts challenges, CTU leaders focus on promoting a political agenda through tactics that include aggressive striking, politicized demands during the collective bargaining process and financial support for political candidates. From 2012 to 2022, CTU led five strikes or work stoppages. Prior to the first strike in 2012, Chicago had not seen a teachers strike in 25 years.

Each time, the unions collective bargaining tactics grew more aggressive and political. In 2019, CTU leaders demanded provisions such as affordable housing  topics well outside the scope of traditional collective bargaining negotiations. In 2021, citing COVID-19 safety concerns, the union refused to teach classes in person, which forced the district to cancel classes. The unions politicized actions prompted Mayor Lori Lightfoot to tell The New York Times that CTU has ambitions to take over running the city government. The union repeated that a year later, leaving parents to scramble overnight to arrange care for their children as the union again canceled classes by posing as public health experts who knew better than the public health experts.

But money remains the strongest and most common way the union flexes its political muscle. Most of CTUs money now goes to politics. In 2021, 81% of the unions spending went to politics, administration and other leadership priorities, according to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis of the unions own financial reports. That means less than 20 cents of every dollar CTU spent went toward doing its supposed No. 1 job of representing teachers.

City, county, state and federal politicians benefit from CTUs enrichment. Johnson is only one of the most recent beneficiaries. And whether the unions hand-picked candidate wins the Chicago mayoral election, Johnsons campaign foreshadows more CTU time and energy directed to politics and less to students.

The mayoral election is an opportunity to ask whether union leadership and its priorities best serve students interests. Whether continued interruptions in students learning and declining test scores signify progress. Whether a group designed to represent teachers should be involved in politics at all.

Regardless of the outcome of the mayoral election, one thing is clear: Putting politics first and student success second is bad for our city.

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Matt Paprocki is president of the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
Israel has to openly recognize Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara territory in order to upgrade its ties with Rabat following the resumption of ties in the wake of Abraham accords, wrote Ilan Berman on the Jerusalem post.

Morocco and Israel resumed their diplomatic ties in late 2020 after a trilateral deal that included the US recognition of Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara.

Israel has kept ambiguity on the Sahara issue with some members of the cabinet voicing support for Moroccos sovereignty over the territory while others maintained support for a vague UN solution.

The disposition of Western Sahara isnt a governmental project but an issue that sits at the very heart of Moroccos national identity, wrote Berman, the senior vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington.

Recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara seems like a very good place to start, he said.

Israels recognition of Moroccos territorial integrity would yield tremendous benefits, facilitating greater collaboration between the two countries on issues ranging from food insecurity in Africa to Irans inroads into the continent, he added.

After highlighting the centrality of the Sahara to the whole Moroccan people, Berman explained that the territorial issue is a key metric of the health of Moroccos bilateral relationships.
The Sovereign Fund of Egypt (TSFE) and Etisalat Egypt have launched Erada Microfinance to provide access to a wide range of financial services to micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

Erada uses financial technology (FinTech) and provides access to a diversified set of innovative financial products for MSEs to expand their businesses, Mubasher.info reports.

The partnership, the media notes, is in line with Egypts Vision 2030 aimed at supporting financial inclusion and creating opportunities for the youth. Amr Abouelazm, an industry veteran in the area of non-banking financial services, is appointed as Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the microfinance facility.

The number of beneficiaries who have received microfinance loans in Egypt is on the rise, with a 46% annual growth rate according to September 2022 data, reaching some EGP 35.50 billion, and 3.80 million beneficiaries, of which 60%, or 2.30 million, were women, and 64% were youth.

CEO of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt Ayman Soliman said that Egypt is well positioned for an immediate and full launch of its digital economy in line with the funds Financial Services and Fintech Sub-funds strategy of creating value and returns across all sectors. The Fund is a privately managed sovereign investment fund with the objective of attracting private investments in Egypts underutilized assets to unlock value and create wealth for future generations, and contribute to the growth of Egypts economy.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled plans to take part in World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos because of the energy crisis affecting the country.

Vincent Magwenya, spokesman of the South African president said Ramaphosa will remain home to hold talks with Eskom and political leaders. Earlier reports said he would lead a government delegation to the WEF event in the Swiss Alps.

The country is experiencing record blackouts due to troubles at state-owned power utility Eskom over the past 12 months.

Due to the ongoing energy crisis, President Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Magwenya wrote on Twitter.

Currently the President is convening a meeting with leaders of political parties represented in parliament, NECCOM (National Energy Crisis Committee) and the Eskom board. Eskom has been for years unable to provide steady energy to the country over ageing coal power infrastructure.

The rainbow nation has to bear with scheduled blackouts that can last 12 hours a day. The blackouts have cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars in lost output, disrupting commerce and industry.

The opposition leading party, the Democratic Alliance, called on Saturday, on South Africans to join a protest march to voice their anger at the situation, Africa News reported.
Security forces are searching for at least 50 women that were abducted by suspected Islamist extremists in Burkina Fasos insurgency-hit northern Sahel region, a regional governor said Monday, January 16.

The women were kidnapped on January 12-13 while in the countryside gathering wild fruit near the town of Arbinda in Soum province, Lt. Col. P.F. Rodolphe Sorgho, the governor of Sahel, said in a statement. Several women managed to escape and return to their villages to raise the alarm. As soon as their disappearance was announced, efforts were launched to find all of these innocent victims safe and sound, Sorgho added. All means available are being used, in the air and on the ground, to find these women, a security source told the media. Aircraft are flying over the area to detect any suspect movement.

Burkina Faso has been overrun by jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, whose militants killed thousands, displacing nearly 2 million people in the West African nation. The failure of successive governments to stop the fighting has caused widespread discontent and triggered two military coups in 2022 to seize power.

A total of 116 security incidents were recorded during the second week of this month only, according to an internal report for aid groups, which represents more than 60% increase compared to the last week of December 2022.
Moncef Marzouki, a Tunisian former President, in exile in France, has called on the army to remove incumbent President Kais Saied and to restore power the people.

In an interview with Doha-based al Jazeera, Marzouki stressed that the armys responsibility is determined by the preservation of the homeland, and not by the person of Saied.

I reject the power of the army, but I assume it is the duty of the leaders of this institution to overthrow this illegitimate president and hand over power to civilians, he stressed.

It is not their duty to establish a military regime in Tunisia.

It is the second time Marzouki who led the country from 2011 to 2014, is calling to the army to remove Saied.

He made the same call in November 2021 and was sued by Saied. A court in Tunis indicted him for treason, on the back of article 23 of the penal code. The court sentenced him to four years in prison in absentia for working against the interests of the country.

Saied ordered a legal action to be taken against the former leader and his diplomatic passport to be seized after he accused him of treason following Marzoukis confession that he contributed to postponing the Francophonie Summit that was scheduled to take place on Djerba Island.

Marzouki has been an outspoken critic of Saied following his July 25, 2021 move during which he seized the executive and judiciary power and suspended the parliament.

The ex-leader lambasted Saied for being a political debutant that lacks ability to rule the North African country and pointed out that the July 25 move rolled backed the democratic gains made following the 2011 revolution.
Rabat hosted this January 16-17 the first meeting of the Monitoring Committee for Moroccan Israeli Defense Cooperation.

the General Staff of the Moroccan Royal Armed Forces (FAR) said in a statement that the meeting was held in accordance with high instructions from King Mohammed VI, the supreme chief and chief of General Staff of FAR.

The meeting was co-chaired by FAR Inspector General and Commander of the South Zone, Lieutenant General Belkhir El Farouk, and Dror Shalom, Director of the Office of Political-Military Affairs of the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

The meeting discussed the various areas of bilateral military cooperation, including logistics and training as well as the acquisition and modernization of equipment, the statement said.

The two sides welcomed the level of bilateral military cooperation, and agreed to further strengthen this cooperation and expand it to other areas, including intelligence, air defense and electronic warfare, said the statement which quoted Lieutenant General Belkhir El Farouk as saying that the Moroccan-Israeli military cooperation carries mutual interests and is based on trust and reciprocal support.

On the sidelines of the Monitoring Committees meetings, Moroccan and Israeli officials, both civilian and military, also exchanged views on bilateral cooperation.

The conclusions of the first meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Moroccan-Israeli defense cooperation were adopted this January 17, 2023 by both parties.

Morocco and Israel have been vowing to boost cooperation in all fields, particularly in security matters, since the two countries re-established diplomatic ties in December 2020.

Many Israeli officials have since then stressed Moroccos important contribution to regional peace and stability and vowed Israels determination to further advance cooperation with the Kingdom.

As part of cooperation in the military field, FAR acquired Israels Skylock Dome System in 2021. The Moroccan military also received five anti-drone defense systems from the same company as part of its approach to upgrade its defensive power.
The institution of the Commandery of the Faithful constitutes for the Jewish and Christian communities established in Morocco a token of peace, security and conviviality, said, Monday in the Vatican, the ambassador of the Kingdom to the Holy See, Rajae Naji Mekkaoui.

Speaking at the Pontifical Gregorian University, the ambassador highlighted the centrality and role of the Commandery of the Faithful in the protection of followers of different religions in the Kingdom, referring in this connection, to the categorical refusal of the late King Mohammed V to hand over Moroccan citizens of Jewish faith (to the Nazis) at the time of the Vichy regime.

This institution is, moreover, the pillar of interfaith dialogue, a necessary condition for peace in the world, added the diplomat, who was speaking at a meeting held as part of a forum on dialogue between Islam and Christianity.

Morocco, a land of welcome and openness, during twelve centuries, is a unique model of coexistence between different monotheistic religions, said Naji Mekkaoui, highlighting the tireless efforts of King Mohammed VI, Protector of Faith and Cults, for the preservation of the rights of Muslims and non-Muslims, without distinction between them.

Under the enlightened leadership of the Sovereign, Commander of the Faithful, the Kingdom, which draws its foundations in the pure values of Islam, makes religion a factor of peace and does not cease to multiply initiatives to maintain and promote tolerance, coexistence, living together and co-knowledge, she added.
There's a new attorney general in town.

But Mike Hilgers is no stranger to the Capitol or state government after serving six years in the Legislature as a Lincoln senator, including two years in the challenging role of leading 48 fellow senators as speaker.

There's a lot on his new desk now, including Nebraska water rights and the continuing challenge of human trafficking in the state, along with the approaching Feb. 28 U.S. Supreme Court hearing of arguments in Biden v. Nebraska, a case that will determine whether to allow the Biden administration's 2022 student loan debt relief plan to go into effect.

Hilgers will be in Washington for those arguments.

Nebraska is one of the lead states in challenging the Biden administration's executive action plan that would forgive up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year.

Former Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, along with attorneys general from five other states  Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina  filed the case, arguing that the administration exceeded its executive branch authority.

"Congress didn't authorize it," Hilgers said during an interview eight days after he was sworn into office, vacating Lincoln's District 21 legislative seat with two years to go in his second term.

Beau Ballard, Hilgers' former legislative aide, was chosen to fill the vacancy.

Now, Hilgers is "getting to know people" in the attorney general's office, building relationships and getting up to speed on pending cases and investigations.

"The train is going," he said, and decisions are being made.

Hilgers said he will be focused on Nebraska water rights, as that becomes an increasingly important concern.

Nebraska currently is preparing to exercise its rights under a century-old interstate compact that guaranteed access to South Platte River water flowing into the state from Colorado by already funding and preparing to build a $500 million canal system that would capture water from the river in Colorado.

With storm clouds forming between the two states, a spokesperson in the Colorado governor's office has described the so-called Perkins County Canal proposal as "this canal to nowhere."

Hilgers said he assumes his new role with "a good relationship" with the Legislature, although there are new members now that he needs to get to know.

Some senators are "among my closest friends in life, a second family," he said.

Hilgers said he "worked closely" with former Gov. Pete Ricketts as the speaker and expects to have "an outstanding working relationship" with Gov. Jim Pillen.

Ricketts and he have "very similar principles," the attorney general said. "We agreed on a lot  but not everything."

Pillen, he said, is "a very authentic, good person" who puts his family first.

Hilgers said he plans to stay alert to efforts by the Biden administration that may "try to take more power" than is granted by the Constitution.

"This administration sometimes goes outside its lanes. We have to keep a close eye on the administration. It will be a primary focus in this office."

Hilgers said he expects Sen. John Arch of La Vista to be a successful speaker as he begins the challenging task of managing 49 senators.

"It's all about knowing the body," Hilgers said. "It's his body now."

The Lincoln Journal Star's top photos from 2022
A Lincoln man who has presented himself as a professional dog trainer has been sued repeatedly over his business practices and was criminally charged in December with two misdemeanors over the alleged mistreatment of animals at his facility, according to court filings.

City prosecutors charged Willie Dove Sr. with animal cruelty and animal neglect Dec. 5  more than a month after a Lincoln woman reported the 40-year-old to the city's Animal Control Department and the Nebraska Department of Agriculture following an injury her dog allegedly suffered at Dove's facility, said Steve Beal, the city's Animal Control director.

The woman had boarded her 2-year-old corgi-Jack Russell mix at the east Lincoln business, Dove's Dog Academy & More, and took the dog to the vet following its boarding stay because of eye problems the dog was suffering, according to the complaint filed with the ag department.

A veterinarian determined the dog had been strangled, according to the complaint, obtained through a public records request.

The subsequent citation marked the first time Dove's dealings as a purported dog trainer led to criminal charges in Nebraska, according to state court records  but former customers have been raising alarm over his conduct with animals and business practices for more than two years.

A woman sued Dove in small claims court in December 2020 for $910 relating to her dealings with his previous business, Dove Dog Academy, which Dove operated in Waverly, according to court records.

It's unclear exactly why Dove owed the woman, Melinda Howell, more than $900. Attempts to contact Howell were unsuccessful.

Through his attorney, Sarah Newell, Dove declined to be interviewed for this story, instead offering a written statement.

"Because litigation is pending, Mr. Dove unfortunately cannot comment in detail about these allegations, but he very much cares about his clients and their satisfaction," Newell said.

"He continues to work diligently to provide quality service, he denies these charges, and we are working with veterinary professionals to provide broader insight into these allegations."

Dove didn't appear at the small claims hearing Jan. 28, 2021, leading Judge Laurie Yardley to award a default judgment to Howell for the $910 she sought plus $56 in additional costs, according to court records.

Dove didn't pay the sum, according to the filings. The court ordered the amount garnished from his paycheck at an Omaha funeral home.

That January 2021 ruling would not mark the last time Yardley sided against Dove in a small claims case. The judge did so again in April 2022, after Dove sued a former client, Sheri Dempsey, for $1,338.

In the filing, Dove accused Dempsey of pulling her dog from his training program "knowing she still owed a balance ... without any warning or notification" to Dove.

Dempsey describes the ordeal differently.

She had hired Dove in February to train her husky, Huli, in a two-week program that Dove indicated would feature near-constant one-on-one training involving Dove, who claimed to be a certified dog trainer, Dempsey told the Journal Star.

But red flags began to pop up for Dempsey less than a week into the program, she recalled.

Dove didn't interact with Huli when he first picked the dog up from Dempsey's house, she said. He didn't ask for vet info, food or a husky-grade harness before asking Dempsey to walk Huli to his car herself, she said.

He called Dempsey an hour after he left her house and said he had lost Huli when he opened his car door in Omaha, said Dempsey, who drove there to help search for the dog, ultimately turning Huli back over to Dove when they found him.

The next day, Dove called to say he was turning Huli's training over to a business partner, who Dempsey later learned was only paid to walk the dog for 20 minutes a few times per day, she said.

"I'm like, 'What the hell is going on here?'" Dempsey recalled. "I'm starting to realize I've been bamboozled."

Dempsey took Huli back from Dove's then facility at an office space at 70th and O streets  where Dove was never licensed to board dogs, according to ag department records  and took him home, terrified, covered in feces and, still, untrained, Dempsey said.

"My dog has never been the same," said Dempsey, who also took the matter to police on suspicion of fraud in a complaint that went nowhere.

"My dog is scared to death of everybody, other than my daughter and I."

In the counter claim she filed against Dove, Dempsey accused the businessman of falsely presenting himself "as a certified dog trainer and breeder, but instead left my dog in a kennel for over 15 hours (overnight)."

At an April 20 hearing in the small claims case, Yardley found Dove had misrepresented the services he would provide and ordered him to pay Dempsey $1,338  the amount she had paid upfront for the training  plus interest.

Dempsey said Dove hasn't paid.

Dove's Dog Academy was sued again in small claims court last week by a third former client, Brandi Dunning, who is seeking more than $2,500 from Dove after her Staffordshire terrier, Izzy, was diagnosed with contagious pinkeye and an ear infection after a week at Dove's facility, Dunning alleged in the filing.

Dunning had paid Dove $2,557 for a three-week boarding and training program that began Dec. 21, but after a week, she visited the academy to check on Izzy following a series of puzzling phone calls and text exchanges with Dove and his staff.

"Upon entering, we were met with an overwhelming smell of dog urine," she said in the filing. "Once we were finally allowed to see our dog, she had on her collar, a shock collar and a gentle leader.

"She looked very scared and sick."

Dunning took Izzy to a vet and ultimately never returned her to Dove's facility, she said.

She also filed a complaint against Dove's operation with the Better Business Bureau, where at least five customers have filed complaints against Dove in the past three years, according to the organization's website.

In response to one complaint in January 2022, Dove threatened legal action against the complaining party for "slander."

Dove appears to have taken steps to conceal prior complaints against his businesses and conduct from future prospective customers. He has made slight changes to his business's name multiple times in the past three years, according to licensing records and court filings.

Previous names include Dove Dog Academy, Dove's Heavenly Dog Academy and Dove's Dog Academy.

Dove's business has also recorded a run-in with the state Department of Labor, which issued a $500 citation against him last year over a wage complaint, according to department records.

And, despite the repeated claims filed against him and last month's criminal charges, Dove has so far continued operations, avoiding any licensing troubles with the Department of Agriculture or the city.

Department of Agriculture Inspector Rick Herchenbach twice checked in on Dove's training location in Waverly in 2020 and 2021 but never found any violations, according to inspection reports.

But when Dove opened shop at 237 S. 70th St. sometime in 2021, his facility was never inspected nor licensed, according to the list of inspections completed in Lincoln that year.

Dove moved to his current location  at 6800 P St.  in June 2022, but didn't seek a license to board animals until late September, when Herchenbach surveyed his new facility and ordered Dove to fix a hole in the wall and develop a written emergency vet care plan, according to his report.

By the time Herchenbach checked back in on Dove in early October, neither issue had been remedied, the inspector wrote in his report. Still, Dove  who had six dogs housed at his facility during that visit  was allowed to keep operating.

Herchenbach gave the academy an "acceptable" rating on his third visit to the P Street facility in late October.

But the inspector had to return to the business less than three weeks later following the reported injury to a dog in late October.

"Emergency vet plan is needed," he wrote in November, highlighting the same issue noted in the September report that Dove had failed to comply.

The vet plan isn't mentioned  as either compliant or non-compliant  in Herchenbach's Oct. 24 report, the only visit that yielded an "acceptable" rating, according to the records.

Reached by phone, Herchenbach referred questions to the ag department's public information office. Christin Kamm, the department's communications director, said investigators couldn't comment on the status of Dove's license because of an ongoing investigation.

Dove's business appeared to have been closed, at least temporarily, by Thursday afternoon. No one answered or returned a phone call at the academy Friday and Dove posted a message on the business's Facebook account Thursday night thanking customers who had supported him.

"I know we can't meet everyone's expectations and everyone's needs, but with that being said, for those who are 100% committed and put in the time and effort, man, it's been a blessing and an honor and privilege to work with you guys," he said, in part.

Dove did not indicate in the video whether the business had closed.

In response to specific questions over whether inspectors had shut the facility down, Kamm said she could not comment, again citing the ongoing investigation.

Beal, the head of Animal Control, said that whether the business remained in operation was entirely under the purview of the Department of Agriculture. The only license the city might issue a dog boarding operation is a grooming permit, Beal said.

"If he truly is doing pet grooming, then he has to have a permit for that, and he doesn't have one right now," Beal said. "So we're still involved in that aspect of this whole thing. Because he cannot operate a pet grooming business without having that permit from us."

An automated phone menu that plays for Dove's Dog Academy & More listed four services as of Friday: professional dog training, certified dog walking, certified pet-sitting and grooming.

Andrew Wegley's memorable stories of 2022 From grieving parents of a slain motorcyclist to a property owner in search of answers following a suspicious fire, a collection of five stories that ask, "Where's the justice?" 'Where's the justice?' "I really thought this would end up being fair," Marcia Selinger said after her son's death in a crash and the court case that followed. 'Things were supposed to get better' Former Lincoln Police officers say both the department and city leaders enabled wrongdoing for years. 'Justice for Diva' A Lincoln couple grapples with their dog's death  at the hands of a Lincoln Police officer  after the city denied their tort claim. Accident or arson? Investigators initially ruled the March fire at Mary O'Hare's rental property an accident. She suspects they're wrong.
A winter storm originally set to track farther south of North Platte has changed course for a direct hit on the area beginning early Wednesday morning.

Kenny Roberg, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office at Lee Bird Field, said accumulations could be as high as 10 inches across the area. The system will move across Colorado into southwestern and south central Nebraska.

As the storm system tracks across Kansas into Iowa and Missouri during the day on Wednesday, Roberg said, thats when well see the heaviest snow move across a good part of western and north central Nebraska.

The NWS Lee Bird Field issued a winter storm warning on Monday afternoon that included an expected 10 inches of snow along the Interstate 80 corridor from Deuel County in western Nebraska through Lincoln County.

North Platte City Administrator Layne Groseth said the city expects to declare a snow emergency Tuesday evening. Groseth said city crews would appreciate peoples cooperation in moving their cars early so plows can clear closer to the curbs.

Roberg said this much snow at this point in January is unusual.

Looking at the records that go back into 1880 or so, if we get this kind of snow, it would be a daily record amount of snowfall for Wednesday, Roberg said. So were looking for a potential for record snowfall. Thats even a high amount for January for that daily record in January.

He said the snow could extend into north central Nebraska as well.

Ill say the previous storms that weve had in December and into New Years, the heaviest has been across the Sandhills of north central Nebraska, Roberg said. This one in particular is looking at giving a heavy snowfall further south to include southwest Nebraska this time.

He said the amounts could vary and end up being a little bit less or a bit more, but recommended folks prepare for the higher amounts. The original forecast called for an inch or so across the North Platte area.

A few days ago North Platte was kind of on the northern edge of the swath of snow and maybe just catching an inch or two, Roberg said. Now that weve progressed a couple days, the track has kind of settled in where its going to be and were in a favorable track where its going to be a large swath of heavy snow.

Roberg said the moisture content could be very high.

With the highs on Wednesday looking to be in the upper 20s across the area, were going to have a lot of moisture working into the area, Roberg said. We expect that its going to be a wet, heavy snow, probably some pretty large flakes.

The snowfall rate could be right at an inch an hour or greater, which would be considered heavy snowfall rates.

Not only will the snow come down quite heavily, he said, but it will also have a lot of moisture content.

The moisture content could potentially be 0.90 of liquid.

So theres a lot of beneficial moisture with it, Roberg said.

He said wind wont be much of a factor, so blizzard conditions will not likely occur with winds variable from 15 to 20 mph.
A ChatGPT prompt is shown on a device near a public school in Brooklyn, New York, Jan. 5, 2023. New York City school officials started blocking the impressive but controversial writing tool that can generate paragraphs of human-like text. (Peter Morgan/AP)

Whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence is wending its way into virtually every corner of our lives. Our Google searches, email drafts and Facebook newsfeeds rely on AI. While AI-assisted Roombas clean our carpets, Amazons Alexa tells us its going to snow, or reminds us that, yes, Cate Blanchett has indeed already won two acting Oscars  for Martin Scorseses The Aviator and Woody Allens Blue Jasmine.

Now AI, in the form of a controversial app called ChatGPT, has made its debut in classrooms, and school districts across the country are scrambling to bone up on the technology and decide whether it should be seen as friend or foe.

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ChatGPT is the brainchild of OpenAI, a startup with ties to Microsoft. Its free, and it works much the way a search engine does, responding to a question or request. The big difference: ChatGPT generates text that convincingly approximates the syntax and flow of the human written word. Its versatility encompasses everything from poetry and essays to math problems and computer coding.

When we tried it, the website was so besieged by users that it became overwhelmed, and offered up only a quaint attempt at a sonnet that pleaded for patience. A brief excerpt:

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But alas, the server cannot cope,

And the error message rings loud and clear,

Please check back soon, it gently hopes,

As it begs for a moments reprieve, to reappear.

Hardly Shakespeare, but perhaps were setting the bar too high.

In any case, the app likely will be a boon for businesses, law firms, insurance companies and any other enterprise that relies heavily on boilerplate verbiage. In schools and colleges, however, the hand-wringing has begun.

The nations largest public school district, New York City Public Schools, has already banned students and teachers from using ChatGPT, citing negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content. Los Angeles Unified School District followed suit, explaining the measure as a way to protect academic honesty while a risk/benefit assessment is conducted.

Other districts are still weighing their options, including Chicago Public Schools. Chalkbeat reported that CPS is taking a hard look at the use of ChatGPT in classrooms, but has yet to impose any sort of ban. A CPS spokesperson, Chalkbeat reported, stated that the district is committed to providing students with a rigorous and engaging educational experience that incorporates technological advances. This includes tools that help students explore budding career pathways.

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CPS is right to review the merits of student and teacher use of ChatGPT, but its wrong in not taking the same route as New York and Los Angeles.

Cheating is as synonymous with classrooms as chalk and erasers. Yesteryear techniques ranged from crib sheets cupped in a students palms to a simple peek over the shoulder of a classmate. Todays digital age takes the potential for cheating to new levels, and ChatGPT makes it far too easy for struggling students to lean on AI-generated writing in place of what comes out of their own heads. Whats especially worrisome is that ChatGPTs syntax appears to be polished and natural enough to elude not just anti-plagiarism software but even the most seasoned educators scrutiny.

In a December 2022 article in the Atlantic, high school teacher Daniel Herman conveyed his trepidation about the app after testing it with a series of prompts ranging from a cover letter for a job at Starbucks to a research paper on the common threads that bind two disparate literary works, such as Homers The Odyssey and Dantes Inferno. Lightning fast, ChatGPT fulfilled every task without a hitch. What GPT can produce right now is better than the large majority of writing seen by your average teacher or professor, Herman wrote.

Were not Luddites, and we believe that technology must always be given space to advance the educational experience at every level, from preschool to university. ChatGPT may well have undeniable utility in a variety of classroom circumstances. First, however, school districts must determine how to best use ChatGPT without allowing its exploitation of student learning. Only then should it make its way into classrooms.

Technological leaps and anxiety over how those advances will integrate into our lives go hand in hand. An 1877 New York Times editorial railed at the advent of the telephone, saying, If any telephonic miscreant connects a telephone with one of the countless telegraphic wires that pass over the roofs of this City there will be an immediate end of all privacy. Guglielmo Marconi had doubts about his own invention  the radio: Have I done the world good, or have I added a menace?

ChatGPT, and the myriad other manifestations of AI, should be welcomed for what they are  game-changers that help us live better lives. But in classrooms, care must always be taken to ensure that a new means of educating helps rather than harms. Its incumbent on CPS and school districts across America to assess ChatGPT diligently, before rushing it into practice.

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With a price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 7.6x Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad (KLSE:DLADY) may be sending bullish signals at the moment, given that almost half of all companies in Malaysia have P/E ratios greater than 14x and even P/E's higher than 24x are not unusual. However, the P/E might be low for a reason and it requires further investigation to determine if it's justified.

Recent times have been advantageous for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad as its earnings have been rising faster than most other companies. One possibility is that the P/E is low because investors think this strong earnings performance might be less impressive moving forward. If you like the company, you'd be hoping this isn't the case so that you could potentially pick up some stock while it's out of favour.

See our latest analysis for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad

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If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report on Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad.

Is There Any Growth For Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad?

There's an inherent assumption that a company should underperform the market for P/E ratios like Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad's to be considered reasonable.

Retrospectively, the last year delivered an exceptional 195% gain to the company's bottom line. The latest three year period has also seen an excellent 135% overall rise in EPS, aided by its short-term performance. Therefore, it's fair to say the earnings growth recently has been superb for the company.

Shifting to the future, estimates from the two analysts covering the company suggest earnings growth is heading into negative territory, declining 64% over the next year. Meanwhile, the broader market is forecast to expand by 8.7%, which paints a poor picture.

In light of this, it's understandable that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad's P/E would sit below the majority of other companies. However, shrinking earnings are unlikely to lead to a stable P/E over the longer term. There's potential for the P/E to fall to even lower levels if the company doesn't improve its profitability.

Story continues

The Bottom Line On Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad's P/E

It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator.

We've established that Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad maintains its low P/E on the weakness of its forecast for sliding earnings, as expected. Right now shareholders are accepting the low P/E as they concede future earnings probably won't provide any pleasant surprises. Unless these conditions improve, they will continue to form a barrier for the share price around these levels.

Before you settle on your opinion, we've discovered 2 warning signs for Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad that you should be aware of.

If these risks are making you reconsider your opinion on Dutch Lady Milk Industries Berhad, explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there.

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.

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Sativus Tech Corp

Additional funding will be used to finalize the protocol for growing saffron in indoor vertical farms.

- An estimated 650 investors joined the Saffron Tech investor community.

- Saffron Techs market cap increases to $11 million.

- Sativus Tech Corp. (OTC: SATT) owns 70% of the shares of Saffron Tech Ltd.

Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sativus Tech Corps (OTC: SATT) subsidiary, Saffron Tech Ltd (a private Israeli company), today announced it has raised $1.3 million in additional funding from its recent crowdfunding campaign. The AgTech company that is growing saffron utilizing its unique proprietary technology, will use the funding to continue its R&D program and execute its go-to-market strategy. Approximately 650 new investors participated in the crowdfunding, expanding Saffron Techs shareholder community. Saffron Tech increased its valuation to $11 million after crowdfunding. Sativus Techs interest in Saffron Tech now totals 70% post-raise.

This latest equity raise reflects the confidence investors have in Saffron Techs abilities and its business plan, says Tal Wilk-Glazer, CEO, Sativus Tech. We are now well-positioned to accelerate our R&D program and execute our market entry.

Saffron Tech continues to achieve new milestones as it advances its mission to cultivate crocus sativus and create commercial quantities of the saffron spice. The company recently appointed Estee Rosen, former CEO of Novartis Israel, as Partnership Lead in the health-beauty-wellness industries. The company also recently reported promising results in its latest harvest of saffron grown in its proprietary indoor vertical farms.

Saffron is known for its anti-anxiety, antidepressant, and antioxidant properties. Saffron Tech aims to produce a consistent, pure, high-grade, and large-scale supply of saffron for the health, wellness, and beauty industries.

Story continues

About Sativus Tech Corp:

Sativus Tech Corp (OTC: SATT) is an AgTech company that uses its advanced vertical farming technology to increase the production of low yield food products in the global marketplace. The company focuses on the research, development, and commercialization of agriculture products that are high in demand but scarce in supply. A reliable production of these highly coveted food products can be used in various applications including pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, culinary, beauty, health, and wellness industries. Sativus Tech Corps technology offers a responsible and sustainable way to grow crops in a world confronted with environmental challenges and dwindling earth reserves, diminishing water sources and unstable weather conditions.

About Saffron Tech:

Sativus Tech Corp subsidiary, Saffron Tech, is revolutionizing the AgTech world by creating the protocols to grow saffron in indoor vertical farms. It is also increasing the production of the spice by multiplying the number of annual harvests. The pharmaceutical industry is now turning more of its scientific attention to saffrons medicinal properties, which are now being used in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications for ADHD, anxiety and more.

Forward-Looking Statements:

All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements," which may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "plans," "potential," "possible," "probable," "believes," "seeks," "may," "will," "should," "could" or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These factors include uncertainties as to the Company's international manufacturing and supply chain, market acceptance of the Company's smart luggage, successfully implementing the Company's growth strategy, dependence on key Company personnel, changes in economic conditions, competition and other risks including, but not limited to, those described from in the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 14th, 2022, and other filings and submissions with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligations to update these statements except as may be required by law. The Company intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Investor Relations:

Tal Wilk Glazer

CEO

(800) 608-6432

Press Inquiries:

info@saffron.ag




A Lee County Sheriffs Deputy is said to be recovering from exposure to a hazardous substance that investigators said could have been Fentanyl.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said nothing has been confirmed yet, but that they are fortunate that Narcan was available and applied immediately.

Friday night at 6:47 p.m. the Sheriffs Office received a 911 call reporting a possible drug overdose at a residence located in the 100 block of Lee Road 399 in Smiths Station, the LCSO report said.

Responding deputies made contact with Michael Shane Bodine Green, 29, who told deputies that he was fine and did not need assistance, the report said.

After identifying Green, deputies found there was an outstanding warrant in Russell County charging Green with attempted murder.

Deputies said they attempted to place Green in custody, but he resisted. Deputies employed a Taser, which they said was not effective, but they eventually were able to secure Green.

On the way to the Lee County Detention Center, the deputy transporting Green became disoriented and suffered difficulty breathing. The deputy stopped near the intersection of US Highway 280 and Lee Road 183 in the Salem community and notified the Sheriffs communication center that he was in distress, according to the report.

Jones said he heard the radio traffic from his vehicle and it was evident the deputy was in trouble.

Sheriff, Opelika police, Opelika Fire Rescue, ETS and ALEA trooper units responded to the deputys location and found him weak and barely responsive. Assisting deputies immediately applied Narcan and transported the deputy to East Alabama Health ER.

There, the deputy was stabilized and later sent home.

We deeply appreciate everyone that came to help because thats one of those situations where you just dont know, Jones said. Its something that when you hear that type of traffic on the radio, especially his voice obviously in distress, it just galvanized everyone into action. Everyone responded in a manner that certainly, I think, resulted in him being able to go home that night.

Green was also transported to the ER for treatment then to Russell County on release. Jones said Green has been charged with resisting arrest along with the outstanding warrant for attempted murder.

The Lee County Sheriffs Office is still investigating the type and source of the substance involved. Investigators said the probabilities indicate that the deputy was exposed to the hazardous substance, likely Fentanyl, during the process of taking Green into custody.

It just emphasizes the need for constant training and the proper equipment to respond and to address these types of situations that we have, whether it be drug substances, whether it be hazardous materials, Jones said. I just think it underlines the importance of having all the latest tools available and the best training that we can provide to our personnel not just with our agency, but law enforcement in general.
Please let her have spent 1.3mil on a sale painting. Rich people getting scammed is my favorite.

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$1.3 million wouldn't have been that much money to her even back then at that point of her career

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Madonna has just announced The Celebration Tour: 4 decades of music and her greatest hits!!



 Watch the tour announcement video: https://t.co/e5BKBi8lvj

 Full tour itinerary and ticket info: https://t.co/SMg2SqwAbk#madonnacelebrationtour pic.twitter.com/cgvbJJxI7t  Madonna (@Madonna) January 17, 2023 This must be a publicity stunt because she just announced a world tour.

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I submitted a post a few minutes ago

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It's a copy no doubt.

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It could also be a "version" of that particular painting that artist did as well. I'm thinking about the different variants of "The Scream" that are in four different museums.

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Her art collection is insane; she also owns Frieda Kahlo's "My Birth" along with several other pieces.

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You can say what you want about her, but she definitely isn't/wasn't stupid with her money with those kinds of investments

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In school I had borrowed the frida biography from the library and I was reading it before class started and I got in trouble because the teacher saw me looking at the photo section and My Birth was the one she decided to zone in on. She called my parents. I did try to explain it was from a book the school library approved.. and that it wasn't during class.

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What on earth? Was this Catholic school? It's literally a woman giving birth, nothing wrong with that!

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if you wanted to do a celebrity art collection post I would not turn up my nose at it 

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if madonna was down she'd say "return all the art you stole and I'll give this back"

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it'd be cool tho if it was the real one. being found again after all those years

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How can anyone have such great taste in art and such horrible taste for everything else?

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In some sad but related news; The museums in the Ukraine have all been looted. So now there's going to be Ukrainian art and artifacts on the black market soon. *sigh* I hate this sort of thing because once they get on the private market the items are lost for a very long time, and I have no respect for the lowlives who do this type of shit. I was watching this Border Patrol show and they got a package at MIA for "wooden statues" and it turned out they were stone artifacts from Nigeria; someone literally yanked them out of the ground from where they had been for centuries to sell to a private collector. Fortunately they were able to repatriate the items back to Nigeria, and the people in charge of their cultural affairs was very happy.

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Why are people like this. Greedy arseholes.

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https://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/03/the-mystery-calledikom-monoliths/ This is an article about the stone artifacts around Nigeria. There's a lot of excavation being done on different sites and they are finding all sorts of interesting things about the people who lived there hundreds of years ago. They are part of the history of the country, and for someone to steal them for a private collector... :/

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God, that reminds me of the looting and destruction of art and cultural artifacts by ISIS...

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only murders in the building whomst???

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European museums almost always house tons of art stolen from non Europeans so Idc if she does have it 

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LWT's piece on theft by museums (mostly about the British Museum's bullshit):





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It was a gift for a performance she did in a USO tour back then.

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Unhand her you pigs!

Her facial expression is killing me lmao

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The cop looking straight at the camera is getting to me too, like he knows this is going to blow up online.

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that is a man who just heard the curb theme starting off in the distance

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"Do what you must, I have already won."

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I know its a serious topic but I burst out laughing at that picture. She's just like 'ok, off we go peasants. My feet hurt anyway"

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lmao her face though



"yeah that's right, carry me around you filthy pigs"

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I read this as Greta Gerwig at first and got confused

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LOL same! If there wasn't her pic in the tweet I still would've thought it!

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The Green Party supporting this continues to baffle me.

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Well, they have great people with good intentions, but the party has always been very upper middle class and morally fluid when it comes to clinging to power. One can argue that every big party has skeletons in the closet, but Die Grunen has always been one marvellous shapeshifter! /geriatric millennial with friends in said party lol

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Aha, thanks for the insight.

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sounds a lot like belgium's green party, so sad

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Lol Yeah, people always say you elect the greens while you drive your Porsche SUV to your local organic market and thats pretty fitting.

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didn't they support to legalize sex with minors?

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They r the fucking worst (not even going to mention AFD) . I hope they dont win the Berlin Senat

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is the german green party serious or just vibes and wishes? do they support nuclear?

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Ja, es ist scheie dass #Lutzerath abgebaggert wird und wir #Grunen mussen uns das zurecht vorhalten lassen.



Dennoch sind die Grunen nicht plotzlich eine Kohlepartei, sondern kampfen schon seit Jahrzehnten gegen #Garzweiler. Wir haben einiges erreicht, nur leider nicht genug. pic.twitter.com/rOU8h3xvm7  Wolf-Georg Winkler (@der_wolf_aus_dd) January 16, 2023 To be fair, they have to govern with other parties which means they have to compromise. In this tweet you can see how far the expansion was originally planned (the black line) before the Green Party became part of the local government:

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love her, and love that shes getting arrested for justice as opposed to [checks notes] human trafficking???



andrew tate d*e challenge 

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Yes girl change the world and keep pissing off straight men.

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I worry about her safety tbh, incels in particular really hate her.

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she's always so chill in the face of this shit, good for her

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I love that photo.

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It's really hard to tell what's right or wrong with so much conflicting information but I read this (wanting to expand the coal mine) is also the protesters' fault because they were the ones who also protested against nuclear energy which, at the moment, is absolutely necessary. I love Greta's look.

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Indeed. Nuclear energy isnt even bad its fossil free and provides a security of supply and reduces dependency on other thermal generation like natural gas (which in Europe mainly comes from Russia) or coal which is the most polluting one.

I support Germany and any other nation in reopening the nuclear power plants instead of increasing coal mining or natural gas capacity.

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Nuclear energy isnt even bad



Protestors usually take issue with all that radioactive waste that we don't have a good system for disposing of other than to just bury it.



Uranium mining also isn't free of issues - from the health and safety of miners to the environmental impacts of mining.



Edited at 2023-01-17 08:17 pm (UTC)

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Nuclear energy definitely is not fossil free. Uranium extraction, transport and processing produces emissions. The long and complex construction process of nuclear power plants also releases tons of CO2, as does the demolition of decommissioned sites. And, last but not least, nuclear waste also has to be transported and stored under strict conditions  here, too, emissions must be taken into account.



Nuclear power releases 3.5 times more CO2 per kilowatt-hour than photovoltaic solar panel systems. Compared with onshore wind power, that figure jumps to 13 times more CO2. When up against electricity from hydropower installations, nuclear generates 29 times more carbon.



To blame it on people who pushed for the end of nuclear energy in Germany is extremely short sighted. From 2005 until 2021 the conservatives were in power and did absolutely everything to hinder renewables, cutting subsidies and creating more and more hinderances concerning the location of wind power turbines. They totally destroyed Germany's solar panel sector, which created the opportunity for China to become world leaders for its production.

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Its so insane that people are trying to frame nuclear power as "not bad". There are serious issues with it, denying them doesn't help anything. The idea that nuclear projects should ne started rather than renewable anywhere in the current world is insane. HUGE cost and serious dangers shouldnt be handwaved.



Real environmentalists fight for renewables for a reason.

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I've never understood the hate against nuclear energy. We just need to make it as clean as possible. I understand it's not a long term solution but currently it's better than the alternatives. There's no point harping on about making energy cleanernand shutting down coal mines, only to just importing coal from poorer countries and exploit their workers.

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Did they shut down the nuclear plants because of protesters though? That sounds unlikely.

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We need nuclear energy, we don't have a choice BUT the nuclear trash is still simply burried in the ground which can't be good. We are making a huge bet here, maybe way too big for humanity so I can't blame people who were against nuclear energy.

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climate activists who are against nuclear energy are clowns

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Protesting this and the expansion/extension of nuclear energy and coal mining is both right.

Germany has more capacity for renewable energy but the conservative party in multiple states has been blocking that for decades. According to them destroying a whole village is what has to be done and is acceptable, wind turbines are an absolute no go and destroy everything.

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she's a queen





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QUEEN



But thats makes sense Germany. Well be coal free by 2030, but let me destroy this one town in 2023 real quick even though its going to defunct in 7 years or less by the time they are done expanding.

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My friend's neighbouring villages were already shut down, there's also one that was flooded and when water levels are low you can see the tip of the church tower peep out D: And let's not forget the Hambacher Forst mess a few years ago (protesters were camping in the woods & living in trees for months). They're so deep into this project, they can't back out anymore. But yay, let's rip up the earth and later flood it!

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It was either destroy this last town and be coal free in 2030 or destroy more towns and end coal in 2037.

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This is my goal in life, to look (and feel) this unbothered on the daily. Holy fuck.  I love her.

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Her face is just like "welp"

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Between this and Mud Wizard Im enjoying the memes coming out of this protest (at the cops expense).

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Space solar power provides a way to tap into the practically unlimited supply of solar energy in outer space.

The Caltech Space Solar Power Project prototype launched into orbit as a part of an ambitious plan to harvest solar power and beam it back to Earth.

The Caltech Space Solar Power Project (SSPP) prototype launched into orbit, dubbed the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD), will test several key components of an ambitious plan to harvest solar power in space and beam the energy back to Earth.

Space solar power provides a way to tap into the practically unlimited supply of solar energy in outer space, where the energy is constantly available without being subjected to the cycles of day and night, seasons, and cloud cover.

For more lots more images, gifs and video, here are the links: 1st, Cal Techs press release. Then 2nd, the project web site.

The launch represents a major milestone in the project and promises to make what was once science fiction a reality. When fully realized, SSPP will deploy a constellation of modular spacecraft that collect sunlight, transform it into electricity, then wirelessly transmit that electricity over long distances wherever it is needed  including to places that currently have no access to reliable power.

A Momentus Vigoride spacecraft carried aboard a SpaceX rocket on the Transporter-6 mission carried the 50-kilogram SSPD to space. It consists of three main experiments, each tasked with testing a different key technology of the project:

DOLCE (Deployable on-Orbit ultraLight Composite Experiment): A structure measuring 6 feet by 6 feet that demonstrates the architecture, packaging scheme and deployment mechanisms of the modular spacecraft that would eventually make up a kilometer-scale constellation forming a power station;

ALBA : A collection of 32 different types of photovoltaic (PV) cells, to enable an assessment of the types of cells that are the most effective in the punishing environment of space;

MAPLE (Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment): An array of flexible lightweight microwave power transmitters with precise timing control focusing the power selectively on two different receivers to demonstrate wireless power transmission at distance in space.

An additional fourth component of SSPD is a box of electronics that interfaces with the Vigoride computer and controls the three experiments.

SSPP got its start in 2011 after philanthropist Donald Bren, chairman of Irvine Company and a lifetime member of the Caltech Board of Trustees, learned about the potential for space-based solar energy manufacturing in an article in the magazine Popular Science.

Intrigued by the potential for space solar power, Bren approached Caltechs then-president Jean-Lou Chameau to discuss the creation of a space-based solar power research project. In 2013, Bren and his wife, Brigitte Bren, a Caltech trustee, agreed to make the donation to fund the project. The first of the donations (which will eventually exceed $100 million) was made that year through the Donald Bren Foundation, and the research began.

Bren said, For many years, Ive dreamed about how space-based solar power could solve some of humanitys most urgent challenges. Today, Im thrilled to be supporting Caltechs brilliant scientists as they race to make that dream a reality.

The rocket took approximately 10 minutes to reach its desired altitude. The Momentus spacecraft was deployed from the rocket into orbit. The Caltech team on Earth plans to start running their experiments on the SSPD within a few weeks of the launch.

Some elements of the test will be conducted quickly. We plan to command the deployment of DOLCE within days of getting access to SSPD from Momentus. We should know right away if DOLCE works, said Sergio Pellegrino, Caltechs Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aerospace and Professor of Civil Engineering and co-director of SSPP. Pellegrino is also a senior research scientist at JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA.

Other elements will require more time. The collection of photovoltaics will need up to six months of testing to give new insights into what types of photovoltaic technology will be best for this application. MAPLE involves a series of experiments, from an initial function verification to an evaluation of the performance of the system under different environments over time.

Meanwhile, two cameras on deployable booms mounted on DOLCE and additional cameras on the electronics box will monitor the experiments progress, and stream a feed back down to Earth. The SSPP team hopes that they will have a full assessment of the SSPDs performance within a few months of the launch.

Numerous challenges remain: nothing about conducting an experiment in space  from the launch to the deployment of the spacecraft to the operation of the SSPD  is guaranteed. But regardless of what happens, the sheer ability to create a space-worthy prototype represents a significant achievement by the SSPP team.

Ali Hajimiri, Caltechs Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering and co-director of SSPP said, No matter what happens, this prototype is a major step forward. It works here on Earth, and has passed the rigorous steps required of anything launched into space. There are still many risks, but having gone through the whole process has taught us valuable lessons. We believe the space experiments will provide us with plenty of additional useful information that will guide the project as we continue to move forward.

Although solar cells have existed on Earth since the late 1800s and currently generate about 4 percent of the worlds electricity (in addition to powering the International Space Station), everything about solar power generation and transmission needed to be rethought for use on a large scale in space.

Solar panels are bulky and heavy, making them expensive to launch, and they need extensive wiring to transmit power. To overcome these challenges, the SSPP team has had to envision and create new technologies, architectures, materials, and structures for a system that is capable of the practical realization of space solar power, while being light enough to be cost-effective for bulk deployment in space, and strong enough to withstand the punishing space environment.

Pellegrino commented, DOLCE demonstrates a new architecture for solar-powered spacecraft and phased antenna arrays. It exploits the latest generation of ultrathin composite materials to achieve unprecedented packaging efficiency and flexibility. With the further advances that we have already started to work on, we anticipate applications to a variety of future space missions.

Hajimiri noted, The entire flexible MAPLE array, as well as its core wireless power transfer electronic chips and transmitting elements, have been designed from scratch. This wasnt made from items you can buy because they didnt even exist. This fundamental rethinking of the system from the ground up is essential to realize scalable solutions for SSPP.

The entire set of three prototypes within the SSPD was envisioned, designed, built, and tested by a team of about 35 individuals. This was accomplished with a smaller team and significantly fewer resources than what would be available in an industrial, rather than academic, setting. The highly talented team of individuals on our team has made it possible to achieve this, Hajimiri added.

Those individuals, however  a collection of graduate students, postdocs, and research scientists  now represent the cutting edge in the burgeoning space solar power field.

Were creating the next generation of space engineers, said SSPP researcher Harry A. Atwater, Caltechs Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science and the Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science, and director of the Liquid Sunlight Alliance, a research institute dedicated to using sunlight to make liquid products that could be used for industrial chemicals, fuels, and building materials or products.

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Success or failure from the three testbeds will be measured in a variety of ways. The most important test for DOLCE is that the structure completely deploys from its folded-up configuration into its open configuration. For ALBA, a successful test will provide an assessment of which photovoltaic cells operate with maximum efficiency and resiliency. MAPLEs goal is to demonstrate selective free-space power transmission to different specific targets on demand.

Many times, we asked colleagues at JPL and in the Southern California space industry for advice about the design and test procedures that are used to develop successful missions. We tried to reduce the risk of failure, even though the development of entirely new technologies is inherently a risky process, said Pellegrino.

SSPP aims to ultimately produce a global supply of affordable, renewable, clean energy. More about SSPP can be found on the programs website: https://www.spacesolar.caltech.edu/

***

Your humble writer says this is a huge success right now. And will add a thanks to a privateer investor, Donald Bren, his wife, Brigitte Bren, and his foundation. Sometimes great wealth gives back in a great way.

There isnt a failure possible in this. The test equipment is in orbit and the information, every byte, is a success. The question that exists is just how fully realized will the tests and experiments get? One hopes far enough to encourage more investment and further research.

By Brian Westenhaus via New Energy and Fuel

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The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives has pledged that it will spend its time and resources relentlessly investigating President Joe Bidens son Hunter. Arguably, Hunter Biden has made mistakes and may face some legal liability for his actions, but make no mistake. He is not the real target; the president is. The Republicans intent is to besmirch the reputation of the president before he formally announces that he will run again in 2024.

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The Republicans have totally demonized Hunter Biden to try to further their political self-interest. They are not truly interested in the pursuit of justice; they are vitally interested in the pursuit of power. Here is a news flash for them: Very few Americans find their pursuit of Hunter Biden to be important or credible.

Whats more is that it may politically boomerang and smack them in the face by making Joe Biden a sympathetic figure for being a loving father who is just supporting his son. This is behavior that every mother and father in America can understand.

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 Ken Derow, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

To McCarthy: How, exactly?

I just read that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, Weve got to change the way we are spending money wastefully in this country. Im looking forward to learning what different way he has in mind.

 Bill Page, Morton Grove

Reading the Constitution

During the midterms, the Republicans promised that they would read the Constitution aloud on the floor the very first day they took control of the House. I must have missed it.

 Richard Keslinke, Algonquin

The National Archives role

Standard protocol in any records retention system is the custodian has the approved recipient sign out for records. The custodian keeps track of who has what and follows up to make sure those records are returned.

So why hasnt the National Archives been cited for its role in not following up on the return of records by Donald Trump and Joe Biden? Is it releasing top-secret documents without any sign-out protocol? I shudder to think so.

 Jim Ciemny, Niles

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Where does blame go?

The evil Republicans have tried to blame President Joe Biden for the record number of immigrants crossing into the country. Where else does the blame go?

Oh, maybe to Vice President Kamala Harris, who was going to handle the situation? Where else does failure to enforce federal laws go?

Its only fair for sanctuary cities to share the burden.

 Dianne Kinzer, Springfield

Democracy can be messy

The title of the Jan. 10 column by Daniel DePetris and the column itself are not consistent (Speakership saga exposes Americas self-centeredness). I give the headline credit for greater accuracy and wish it had been more fully developed.

With respect to the content, Russia, China and Iran are not democracies and are not recognized as models. The United States is. Despite our imperfections, we are in essence the standard. Isnt our migrant problem evidence of that? Democracy can be messy  as the speakership saga proves. It will be used by our adversaries despite what DePetris thinks. (As a retired Foreign Service officer, I am so glad I am not expected to explain that the saga does not disprove democracy.)

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DePetris final statement  Its narcissism at its finest  is confusing. Is he arguing that it is not embarrassing to the United States, or is he saying that the saga itself was narcissistic? If the latter, I agree fully with him and the headline. However much one might hate to admit it, it is quite embarrassing. If nothing else, rendering a key part of the U.S. government inoperable for a week is not something responsible people would be proud of.

And it also can be termed hypocritical with all the references to the good of the nation while the motivation is not even party; it is self-interest.

Finally, one of the stated goals of the Republican House is to defeat attempts to raise the debt ceiling. That, too, smacks of a double standard. Every Republican president since Ronald Reagan has presided over an expansion of the federal deficit. Donald Trump added almost $8 trillion to the national debt.

 Julie McGrath, Palos Park

Why US history matters

About 20 years ago, I had a discussion with a retired couple from Cornwall, England, where there are extensive landholdings by Prince Charles, now King Charles III. Somehow, we got into students having to know the long list of kings and queens. In America, we dont teach the line of 46 presidents in schools, and we should.

Perhaps some history classes in some schools may teach an unsanitized history of the United States with all the warts and abscesses. My classes in high school and college  29 semester hours of history  in the 1960s skipped or whitewashed the terrible things the United States has done to people in what became the most powerful country in the world.

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Outside studies have shown me that millions of people who lived here were killed after the first Europeans arrived. We locked up people with Japanese ancestry in internment camps; they lost their homes, businesses and, some, their bank accounts. Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest became the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Like-minded Southerners killed thousands of nonwhite people.

We are responsible for the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands, of Indian children in boarding schools. The schools purpose was to assimilate them by destroying their culture and their language, cutting their hair and teaching them Christianity.

Students need to learn the people who started our quest for independence were not always the pinnacle of honesty and morality. Less than half of colonists supported independence, and 20% wanted to stay English, with the rest not caring.

Todays situation would seem less of a problem if students understood we are getting better than we were. Ignorance is not a blessing.

 Chuck Johnson, Morris, Illinois

A malnourished 2-year-old sits by his mother, left, who was recently displaced by drought, at a malnutrition stabilization center June 5, 2022, run by Action against Hunger in Mogadishu, Somalia. (Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP)

Lets save every child

The United Nations warns that more than 30 million children in the 15 worst-affected countries suffer from wasting  or acute malnutrition  and 8 million of these children are severely wasted, the deadliest form of undernutrition.

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You can find these children in Somalia, where a prolonged drought has caused severe food shortages. In neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya, children are also suffering hunger. In Yemen, infants have perished from malnutrition because of a never-ending civil war. Likewise, conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has worsened hunger and malnutrition. In South Sudan, the Sahel and other areas, a similar tragedy is unfolding for children.

Conflict and climate change have increased the number of kids at risk of deadly malnutrition. Children younger than 5 years old are most in danger. We must increase our efforts to stop child malnutrition.

We need to be committed to saving every child, whether its in Yemen, Haiti, South Sudan or Somalia. We must continue increasing funding for global nutrition programs so nonprofits like Edesia in Rhode Island can produce lifesaving PlumpyNut. This enriched peanut paste is fed to children in hunger crisis zones and saves them from deadly malnutrition. UNICEF and the World Food Program need a steady supply of these foods, so there has to be timely funding and capacity to produce and distribute.

We have to make sure there are not gaps in the feeding programs where some kids get left out and starve. There cannot be funding shortages, ration cuts and suspension of aid programs in these afflicted nations as there has been in the past. Each of us can write letters to elected officials urging more support for the Food for Peace program with an emphasis on global infant nutrition.

Every child we save from deadly malnutrition also saves a family. Every life we save brings the world that much closer to the true peace we all deserve in 2023 and beyond.

 William Lambers, Cincinnati

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Problem with grandstanding

Moral grandstanding has become inescapable in contemporary culture. Folks seem to be tripping over each other to express their righteousness to whoever will listen. You need not possess a scintilla of personal virtue. You need only to expose those of ostensibly lesser virtue to win at this game.

Its not necessary to push your own beliefs (if you have any). One can impress receptive throngs by simply calling out scoundrels and bumblers. No expenditure of your own resources is required. By asserting how horrific they are, youre suggesting how honorable you are. It costs nothing.

You can optimize the plaudits youre getting by joining hands with like-minded grandstanders. These allies in outrage can provide reassurance that your sanctimonious chiding is making a difference.

 Scott Thompson, Bloomington, Indiana

Gov. J.B. Pritzker shakes hands with state Rep. Bob Morgan after Pritzker signed comprehensive legislation to ban military-style rifles Jan. 10, 2023, at the Illinois Capitol. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Gun rights not absolute

The Second Amendment states: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. The problem with people who shield themselves with the Second Amendment is that many know (or care) only about the second part of that sentence. The first part should explain to most why this right is not absolute and not guaranteed in perpetuity.

Quite simply, we no longer need, or want, our citizens to be part of a militia, well-regulated or not. If you want to use military-grade weaponry, join the military.

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The First Amendment has evolved over time by adding categories of unprotected speech including obscenity, child pornography, defamatory speech, false advertising and true threats.

Perhaps the First Amendment has evolved because there is no free speech lobby pouring millions of dollars into the campaigns of politicians whose support they wish to purchase.

 K.P. Pecho, Mokena

Join the conversation in our Letters to the Editor Facebook group.

Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
China has undergone three distinct phases in its reaction to COVID-19 since the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission reported the first small cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan city in Hubei Province on 31 December 2019. The first phase was the quick implementation of the zero-COVID policy that allowed for the fast economic bounce back of China in just the second quarter of 2020. This was a time when elsewhere more than 3.9 billion people in more than 90 countries or territories having been asked or ordered to stay at home by their governments. The second phase was marked by repeated lockdowns in various areas of China, including several of its major cities, as outbreaks of COVID-19 and related strains of the virus prompted full lockdowns under the strict zero-COVID policy. The third phase was prompted by nationwide protests against such continued all-encompassing lockdowns and comprised of the effective shelving of the policy that, in turn, has led to huge waves of infections and deaths. The next phase, which may well arrive earlier than many people expect, is likely to be the bounce back of Chinas economy.

To put this economic bounce back into context: the massive disparity between Chinas enormous economy-driven oil and gas needs and its minimal level of domestic oil and gas reserves meant that China almost alone created the 2000-2014 commodities super-cycle, characterised by consistently rising price trends for commodities used in a booming manufacturing and infrastructure environment. As late as 2017, Chinas high rate of economic growth allowed it to overtake the US as the largest annual gross crude oil importer in the world, having become the worlds largest net importer of total petroleum and other liquid fuels in 2013. More specifically on the economic side of the equation, from 1992 to 1998, Chinas annual economic growth rate was basically between 10 to 15 percent; from 1998 to 2004 between 8 to 10 percent; from 2004 to 2010 between 10 to 15 percent again; from 2010 to 2016 between 6 to 10 percent, and from 2016 to 2022 between 5 to 7 percent. For much of the period from 1992 to the middle 2010s, much of this activity was focused on energy-intensive economic drivers, particularly manufacturing and the corollary build out of infrastructure attached to the sector, such as factories, housing for workers, road, railways and so on. Even after some of Chinas growth began to switch into the less energy-intensive service sectors, the countrys investment in energy-intensive infrastructure build-out remained very high.

Related: Indias Oil Imports From Russia Jump 33 Times To Record High



It is extremely difficult to gauge the current level of infections and deaths from COVID-19 and its related strains, as Chinas National Health Commission (NHC) stopped publishing daily COVID-19 case data on 25 December 2022, a practice that had been in effect since 21 January 2020. However, during a recent press conference, Kan Quancheng, a senior official in Henan - China's third most populous province  revealed that nearly 90 percent of people there had now been infected with COVID-19 and its related strains, which equates to around 88.5 million people in just that province.

Cases have risen to these levels in large part due to the zero-COVID policy and its strict implementation, as only extremely limited immunity to the virus has been allowed to develop. At the time of effectively shelving the zero-Covid policy, China still did not have an effective vaccine against the disease or any variant thereof, despite offers from all major vaccine-producing countries to make such supplies available to it. China also did not have an effective post-infection anti-viral, again despite offers from several Western countries to make such anti-virals and post-infection treatments available to it. Adding to these negative factors, as highlighted by OilPrice.com recently, is that China suffers from an extreme shortage of intensive care unit capacity in hospitals.

Although this unrestrained surge of COVID infections has caused an even deeper impact on activity in the near-term - which Eugenia Victorino, head of Asia strategy for SEB in Singapore exclusively told OilPrice.com likely dampened to 2022 GDP growth of 2.8 percent  Chinas annual Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) signalled in the middle of December that boosting growth will be the priority in 2023. Investments in research and development in high tech sectors will be accelerated, specifically in new energy, AI, biomanufacturing, and quantum computing, she said. Although the CEWC called for greater market access for foreign capital especially in modern services industry, the long-term policy direction of greater self-reliance in key sectors will be maintained and on fiscal policy, public spending will maintain the necessary intensity, she added. Therefore, there are upside risks to our 5.5 percent GDP growth forecast for 2023, she concluded.

With COVID infections having peaked on the east coast, and although a difficult time lies ahead for central and rural China, activity will begin to accelerate by March at the very latest, thinks Rory Green, chief China economist for TS Lombard, in London. We noted in December that China was looking to kick-start consumer activity and sentiment in 2023, a message emphasised in [Premier] Xi Jinpings New Year speech, Green exclusively told OilPrice.com Beijing is trying to reset domestic and international economic and political relations by toning down Common Prosperity and Wolf Warrior rhetoric and, more important, delivering stronger growth, he added. We think that China is rapidly moving from COVID coma to reopening boom and that a GDP target of above 5 percent will be established for 2023 and that Xi will look to report GDP comfortably above that floor, he underlined.

This said, it may be that the previously near-automatic feed-through of increased China economic growth on oil prices is not as marked this time around as in previous years. Chinas central leadership is relying on reopening and the removal of negative policies - property, consumer internet, and geopolitics - rather than aggressive stimulus, to drive activity, Green told OilPrice.com. For the first time, a cyclical recovery in China will be led by household consumption, mainly services [as] there is clearly a great deal of pent-up demand and savings - about 4 percent of GDP - following three years of intermittent mobility restrictions, he added.

For oil prices, he underlined, it is apposite to note that transportation accounts for just 54 percent of Chinas oil consumption, compared to 72 percent in the US and 68 percent in the European Union. Last year, net oil and refined petroleum imports were 8 percent lower by volume than the pre-pandemic peak, with infrastructure and export-oriented manufacturing partly offsetting lower mobility and less property construction. Demand drivers should switch this year, with travel rising and property less negative, while infrastructure and manufacturing slow, said Green. The certain outcome is an increase in oil demand - we estimate a 5-8 percent increase in net import volumes  but this is unlikely to cause oil prices to surge, especially as China is buying at a discount from Russia, he concluded.

By Simon Watkins for Oilprice.com

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Russias 2022 invasion of Ukraine has forced a dramatic restructuring of energy markets in the west, with many European nations vowing to wean themselves off Russian energy products. The UK has been one of the more successful countries in achieving this target after committing to end imports of oil and coal from Russia by the end of 2022 and even recently legislated for a ban on Russian gas. By October, UK imports of Russian energy were down to a trickle, with the country buying just 2 million of oil, but zero coal or gas from Russia. But reports have now emerged that India has been offering a back-door for imports of Russian oil into Britain, blunting the countrys efforts to restrict funding for the Kremlin. Some British buyers have effectively replaced imports directly from Russia with imports from Russian-fed refineries, thereby indirectly supporting the Russian oil industry.

Although such a supply chain is actually legal under UK rules, still it cannot be overlooked because this is another covert way to fund Putins war. Before the war began nearly a year ago, it was pretty rare for Indian refiners to process Russian crude. The refiners have always exported to Europe, but they are now exporting even more because its more attractive as Europes diesel prices are higher and also buying more Russian crude because Russia is offering heavy discounts.

Related: Indias Oil Imports From Russia Jump 33 Times To Record High

Indeed, Oleg Ustenko, adviser to Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky, says these companies are exploiting weaknesses in the sanctions regime.

The UK must close the loopholes that undermine support for Ukraine by allowing bloody fossil fuels to continue flowing across our borders. About one in five barrels of the crude oil that they process is Russian. A big chunk of that diesel they produce now will be based on Russian crude oil, he has said.

Kpler data has revealed that the Jamnagar refinery on Indias west coast imported 215 shipments of crude oil and fuel oil from Russia in 2022, 4 times as much as it bought in the previous year. Meanwhile, the UK has imported a total of 10m barrels of diesel and other refined products from Jamnagar since the war began, 2.5 times what it bought during 2021 with Trafigura, Shell Plc (NYSE: SHEL), BP Plc (NYSE: BP), PetroChina Co. (OTCPK: PCYYF) and Indian multinational conglomerate Essar Group the key buyers.

According to Bloomberg's oil strategist Julian Lee, Russia's flagship Urals have been trading at a massive discount of as much as 40% to the international Brent crude oil. In contrast, in 2021, Urals traded at a much smaller discount of $2.85 to Brent. Urals is the main blend exported by Russia. Indeed, Moscow could be losing ~$4 billion a month in energy revenues as per Bloomberg's calculations.

Europe Importing Russian LNG

But the UK is hardly the only culprit in Europe as far as helping fund Putins war machine goes. Whereas supplies of Russian pipeline gas--the bulk of Europes gas imports before the Ukraine war--are down to a trickle, reports have emerged that Europe has been hungrily scooping up Russian LNG.

Europe has been working hard to wean itself off Russian energy commodities ever since the latter invaded Ukraine. The European Union has banned Russian coal and plans to block most Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 in a bid to deprive Moscow of an important source of revenue to wage its war in Ukraine.

But ditching Russian gas is proving to be more onerous than Europe would have hoped for, with the Wall Street Journal estimating that the blocs imports of Russian liquefied natural gas jumped by 41% Y/Y in the year through August.

Russian LNG has been the dark horse of the sanctions regime, Maria Shagina, research fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, has told WSJ. Importers of Russian LNG to Europe have argued that the shipments are not covered by current EU sanctions and that buying LNG from Russia and other suppliers has helped keep European energy prices in check.

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Although Russian LNG has accounted for just 8% of the European Union and UKs gas imports since the start of March, the trade runs counter to the EUs efforts to deprive Russia of fossil-fuel revenue.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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President Joe Bidens decision to authorize U.S. supermajor Chevron to recommence lifting crude oil in Venezuela breathed hope into President Nicolas Maduros plans to rebuild the countrys shattered oil industry. The harsh January 2019 sanctions imposed by Bidens predecessor Donald Trump cut Caracas off from global energy and financial markets, nearly bankrupting Venezuela. That caused petroleum production to spiral lower and Venezuelas economic as well as humanitarian crisis to accelerate, further impacting Caracas finances. For these reasons, the national oil company PDVSA is incapable of mustering the immense amounts of capital required to rebuild Venezuelas heavily corroded energy infrastructure. This will impede efforts to tap into the substantial wealth held by Venezuelas vast petroleum reserves, which at 303.5 billion barrels are the world's largest, and rebuild a shattered economy. There are fears, as the devastating environmental catastrophe unfolds in Venezuela, those immense hydrocarbon reserves will become a costly stranded asset.

In as little as two decades, Venezuelas petroleum output has collapsed. Political purges, an exodus of skilled labor, chronic malfeasance and corruption, harsh U.S. sanctions and a dire lack of capital are all responsible for Venezuelas oil industry falling into wreck and ruin. After peaking at an annual record of 3.1 million barrels of oil per day for 1998, prior to Hugo Chavezs presidency, the OPEC members petroleum output has plunged to levels not seen since before World War Two. Annual average production plummeted to an 80-year low of 569,000 barrels per day for 2020, while a year later, it only averaged 636,000 barrels daily and remains at around that level, with Caracas reporting 693,000 barrels per day for November 2022. This means Venezuelas oil output is around a third of the 2.04 million barrels per day pumped during 2017, which was the last year where output exceeded that amount.

As a result, Venezuelas oil exports, which are one of Caracas few sources of hard income, have foundered. This is because Trumps 2019 sanctions prevent Venezuela from shipping petroleum to the U.S., a key market that was receiving over 40% of the OPEC members oil exports. By 2021, Venezuelas oil exports had plummeted to a multi-decade low of 448,000 barrels per day, most of which, according to OPEC data, were shipped to Asia, where China is a key buyer regardless of U.S. sanctions. This brutally impacted Caracas fiscal income and further exacerbated Venezuelas economic collapse because petroleum is responsible for 99% of export income and a quarter of gross domestic product. For 2019 alone gross domestic product contracted by a catastrophic 27.7% and then by a ruinous 30% during 2020.

This triggered a severe financial crisis for Caracas, causing any available capital for repairs to Venezuelas heavily corroded infrastructure to all but dry up, further weighing on plans to expand oil production. That is not only responsible for weak production volumes but also PDVSAs inability to hit the targets set by Maduro, thereby preventing Caracas from exploiting Venezuelas tremendous oil reserves to generate the tremendous funds required to rebuild a shattered economy. Indeed, the condition of Venezuelas petroleum infrastructure is so dire that pipelines, storage facilities and intermittently running refineries regularly spew oil and noxious fumes into the environment. Various sources claim PDVSA, due to a chronic lack of resources and malfeasant management, makes little effort to clean up spills, further aggravating the unfolding ecological disaster. The environmental harm is so severe it will take billions of dollars and years to clean up existing spills, with the damage in many places, such as Lake Maracaibo, considered irreversible.

These events are adding to the tremendous burden associated with rebuilding Venezuelas energy infrastructure so that production can be restored, and the country can benefit from its vast petroleum reserves. Estimations vary, but external experts believe it will take $110 billion to $250 billion invested over a decade to rebuild Venezuelas energy infrastructure and restore production to over 2 million barrels per day. Then there is the need for skilled labor and crucial parts that, along with that substantial capital, can only be provided by Western oil supermajors which, because of U.S. sanctions, are prevented from investing in Venezuela. Even Washingtons decision authorizing Chevron to restart lifting oil at its joint ventures with PDVSA will fail to lift production and generate the tremendous investment required. You see, there are strict conditions imposed on Chevron including banning payments to Caracas and expanding operations beyond those that existed in January 2019.

Plans to exploit Venezuelas considerable oil wealth are further complicated by around three-quarters of the countrys reserves being predominantly comprised of very sour extra-heavy petroleum, which with an API gravity of 8.5 degrees, does not flow when extracted. This type of oil must be upgraded, where it is mixed with diluent, a form of ultra-light petroleum so that it can flow to be transported and processed. For these reasons, lifting extra-heavy oil consumes copious amounts of energy, making it highly carbon-intensive to extract. The Carnegie Endowment rates Venezuelas Merey grade, which is the primary export blend, as one of the most carbon-intensive oil varieties produced globally, emitting 604 kilograms of greenhouse gases per barrel produced. Venezuelas Tia Juana and Hamaca grades produce even more greenhouse gas emissions to extract, with only Canadas oil sands ranked as more carbon-intensive.

Heavy sour crude oil blends like Merey, which has an API gravity of 16 degrees and 2.45% sulfur content, are costly, complex and carbon-intensive to refine into high-grade low emission fuels. Only refineries specifically configured to process those types of petroleum can accept its as feedstock, thereby limiting the market. As a result, heavy and extra-heavy sour crude oil is becoming increasingly unpopular in a world where governments are aggressively decarbonizing their economies and oil companies are seeking to become net-carbon neutral. It is for these reasons, along with strict U.S. sanctions, that energy supermajors TotalEnergies and Equinor chose to exit Venezuela during mid-2021 despite the decision incurring substantial losses for both companies. Those factors will deter foreign oil companies from considering whether to invest in Venezuela, which is already considered an extremely risky jurisdiction.

While there are signs that the Biden White House intends to take a more nuanced approach to a Maduro-led Venezuela, existing tough U.S. sanctions remain the key deterrent to foreign energy investment. No western petroleum company will risk the severe penalties which accompany those sanctions. That, along with existing geopolitical hazards, notably a corrupt autocratic regime with a history of nationalizing oil assets, essentially makes Venezuela uninvestable for foreign oil companies. This means the pariah state will not receive the hundreds of billions of dollars and technical expertise crucial to rebuilding a shattered hydrocarbon sector. PDVSA lacks to the capital needed to refit ramshackle industry infrastructure, making it near-impossible for a state-controlled oil company to grow petroleum output above current volumes. Any efforts to rebuild Venezuelas petroleum operations are complicated by the immense environmental crisis unfolding in Venezuela and threatening an ecologically sensitive region. For these reasons, Venezuelas substantial oil reserves could very well transition from a source of considerable wealth to become a costly stranded asset that will leave a legacy of environmental destruction for decades to come.

By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com

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Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest crude oil exporter, is open to discussing oil trade settlements in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, Saudi Minister of Finance, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, told Bloomberg TV in an interview in Davos on Tuesday.

The Saudi signal that it could be open to talks about oil trade arranged in non-dollar currencies could be another threat to the current dominance of the U.S. dollar in global oil trade.

There are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it is in the US dollar, whether it is the euro, whether it is the Saudi riyal, Al-Jadaan told Bloomberg TV.

I dont think we are waving away or ruling out any discussion that will help improve the trade around the world, the Saudi minister added.

The Saudi riyal has been pegged to the U.S. dollar for decades, while the Saudi oil exports continue to support the petrodollar system from the 1970s in which the worlds top oil exporter prices its crude in U.S. dollars.

However, Saudi Arabia is willing to deepen its strategic cooperation in oil trade with China, the worlds largest crude oil importer.

Last month, China and Saudi Arabia agreed to expand crude oil trade as they upgraded their relations to a strategic partnership during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

China, for its part, plans to make its own currency, the yuan, more prominent in international oil trade.

During a visit to Saudi Arabia last month, Xi Jinping pledged to ramp up efforts to promote the use of the yuan in energy deals, suggesting at a summit in the Saudi capital that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries should make full use of the Shanghai Petroleum and Natural Gas Exchange to carry out its trade settlements in yuan.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Ultimately, OPEC+ will be looking for less volatility this year, which means it is unlikely to act pre-emptively on recession fears or intervene with oil prices below $100.

Last year, OPEC+ cut production by 2 million barrels per day in November in order to stabilize the market, a move that Washington believed was politically motivated.

According to Energy Intelligences 2023 oil market outlook, OPEC+ is targeting a calmer market for 2023, and a likely price range target of around $80-$90 per barrel.

The OPEC narrative for 2022 was largely about the realities of supply and demand against the backdrop of a post-pandemic war that sparked sanctions and a European energy crisis with the counterweight of a Chinese covid crisis.

From the Saudi standpoint, OPECs move to cut production by 2 million barrels per day in November last year - while highly controversial in Washington - served to stabilize the market.

From the U.S. standpoint, it was all about politics, at a time when the Biden administration had been doing everything in its power - begging, threatening, cajoling - to get OPEC to increase production to bring down oil prices. When OPEC+ responded not only by refusing to increase production but by actually cutting production, it was viewed in Washington as politically motivated - even a concession to Moscow.

Numerous articles then began to appear in the Middle Eastern press most prolifically, with GCC officials explaining how OPECs moves throughout the year worked to stabilize markets.

In October, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz told the Saudi state news agency, SPA: As I have emphasized multiple times, in OPEC+ we leave politics out of our decision-making process, out of our assessments and forecasting, and we focus solely on market fundamentals. This enables us to assess situations in a more objective manner and with much more clarity and this in turn enhances our credibility.

The rationale, based on what the Saudis call the Ukraine crisis, which prompted predictions of major supply losses that could see some 3 million bpd taken off the market. Those predictions caused panic and led to oil price volatility. As the prince points out, these projected losses did not materialize.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a September 2022 paper, notes: Cyclical oil price fluctuations (as opposed to persistent shifts in levels) drive OPECs decisions, suggesting that OPECs objective is to stabilize the oil price rather than countering fundamental shifts in demand and supply.

Now, with a war still raging, the million-dollar question is, what does OPEC+ want now, and will it get what it wants by pursuing its stated strategy of patient market stabilization?

In its new 2023 oil market outlook, Energy Intelligence posits that OPEC+ is targeting a calmer market for 2023, and a likely price range target of around $80-$90 per barrel, and will, as such, likely move to act if oil starts rising above $100, which would be seen as too volatile and reminiscent of earlier in 2022.

Likewise, Energy Intel suggests that OPEC+ will proceed with extra caution this year, noting that while there might be some tweaks to the 2 million bpd output cut last November, any output increase would require a clear demand pickup or supply disruption (e.g. Russia), and is unlikely to be agreed pre-emptively.

The report also predicts that we will only see a bigger cut in output if a recession has a significant impact on demand.

Again, while there is a lot of recent talk of a global recession, with an apparent two-thirds of business leaders meeting at the 2023 World Economic Forum in Davos saying it is likely this year, OPEC would not likely act preemptively on this.

And in the meantime, Energy Intel predicts that strong growth from Norway, the U.S., Brazil, and others would make an OPEC+ output increase more challenging, as would any issues with the cartels dwindling spare capacity.

While the still-raging war in Ukraine will continue to rock the geopolitical boat, Energy Intel sees less room for a renewal of U.S.-Saudi tensions right now, which is less likely when oil prices are at their current lows.

The key aspects of the market that OPEC+ will be monitoring will be Russian oil production and how sanctions and new price caps really affect the numbers. While there have been many reports of sanctions hitting Russian revenues - and plenty suggesting the opposite - a recent account from Bloomberg said Russias seaborne crude exports managed to hit their highest level since April last week, which will suggest to OPEC that Moscow will ride this out.

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But it wont just be geopolitics that OPEC watches closely. According to Energy Intel, there are some internal cartel issues that could surface, including the potential for the UAE to (once again) become emboldened enough to push for higher quotes, as well as what the report refers to as OPECs underlying problem of unrealistic baseline quotas.

Early on Tuesday, better-than-expected data on Chinese GDP growth may give some support to oil prices, but with COVID uncertainty still putting a chokehold on demand predictions, oil was not expected to respond excessively to this news. The market was also waiting with bated breath for OPECs own 2023 oil market outlook later in the day.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Chinas Vice Premier Liu He told the World Economic Forum that life has returned to normal in the Asian nation, with covid infections now past their peak.

Liu He told the WEF at Davos on Tuesday that China will return to its pre-pandemic growth trend this year, Bloomberg reported. In its latest MOMR, also published on Tuesday, OPEC said it sees Chinas economic growth forecasts unchanged from last months views, at 3.1% for last year and 4.8% for 2023. The oil exporters group adjusted world oil demand downward in the third quarter last year, with Chinas demand slipping. OPEC sees global oil demand growth unchanged this year, according to Tuesdays MOMR, at 2.2 million bpd, although OPEC cautioned that this forecast remains surrounded by uncertainties including global economic developments, shifts in Covid-19 containment policies, and geopolitical tensions.

According to OPEC, Chinas crude oil imports continued on the path of recovery in November at 11.4 million bpd, with preliminary data showing its imports remained at similarly high levels..

China released its fourth-quarter economic data earlier in the day, which showed Chinas economythe worlds second biggestgrew 2.9%. While this beat analyst expectations, Chinas full-year 2022 economic growth of 3% came in significantly below Chinas official target of 5.5% due to its zero-covid policies, which are now behind it.

The oil industry is closely monitoring Chinas economic data to get a handle on global crude oil demand growth, with OPECs decisions

Analysts are revamping their estimates for Chinas economic dataand its thirst for oilbased on their recent covid policy shift that has backed away from its tightly implemented zero-Covid strategy.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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European and Indian oil companies are reviewing the terms of Guyanas first-ever licensing round as they consider bidding in the process that will award 14 shallow and deepwater offshore blocks in May 2023, Reuters reports, quoting sources with knowledge of the matter.

Last month, Guyana launched its first licensing round for offshore oil and gas exploration and production, which is expected to offer a different model of production sharing agreements than the ones in place with U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil, the first and biggest oil producer operating in Guyana.

The government of Guyana says it is developing a new model to reflect the indicative terms and guidelines for the licensing round as well as introduce comprehensive provisions reflective of the developments in the oil and gas industry and international best practices observed in other jurisdictions.

Despite the still unfinished job with the new PSAs, companies from India and Europe are considering bidding in the round, hoping to obtain acreage in the worlds newest oil hotspot.

ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of Indian state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), is considering a bid for some of the blocks up for grabs, while refiner Indian Oil Corporation evaluates working in Guyana in collaboration with ONGC Videsh, according to Reuters sources.

Guyana has become a hotspot for exploration and development in recent years after Exxon and its partners found more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent offshore the South American country.

Exxon helped make Guyana the latest oil-producing and oil-exporting nation in late 2019. Since 2015, when it first discovered oil offshore Guyana, Exxon has made more than 20 discoveries offshore Guyana.

By 2027, Exxon plans to produce more than 850,000 bpd of crude oil from Guyanas offshore, the U.S. supermajor said in a presentation on its investor day in March 2022. Guyana is a strategically important development for Exxon this decade, together with the U.S. Permian Basin, Brazil, and LNG projects around the world, Exxon said last month.

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By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Refinitiv data showed gas flowing to the Freeport LNG plant thats been shuttered since going offline in June after suffering damage from an explosion.

The gas flows, according to an anonymous Reuters source, were within the plants pre-treatment facility and were maintaining the flare system.

Last week, Freeport LNG denied the Reuters rumors that Freeport LNG would delay its planned startup from the second half of January until February, telling Oilprice.com that Freeport LNG had no change to our restart timeline. We are still targeting the second half of this month for the safe, initial restart of our liquefaction facility, pending regulatory approvals.

Freeport, responsible for some 20% of total LNG exports from the United States and generating $35 billion in revenue during the first nine months of 2022, served Europe well last year as the continent looked to squelch a growing energy crisis this winter.

US natural gas futures spiked nearly 7% earlier in the day before retreating to a still robust 5.64% increase at 2:00 p.m. ET, coming off an 18-month low on Monday on reports of colder weather that lie ahead over the course of the next two weeks, and as the data showed gas flowing to Freeport LNG, sparking hopes that the United States could once again ratchet up LNG exports, easing heavy domestic inventories with export capacity restricted since June.

Freeport LNG confirmed to Oilprice.com on Tuesday that they are still targeting the second half of this month for the safe, initial restart of our liquefaction facility, adding that there was no change in our timeline. Freeport did not comment on whether it had filed the necessary restart request with federal regulators.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Germany could end up spending less than planned on its power and gas support packages if prices dont spike again, the German Finance Ministry told Reuters on Tuesday.

Germany introduced at the end of last year so-called energy price brakes to support households and businesses against the impact of soaring energy prices. The government said it would allocate $217 billion (200 billion euros) for the so-called defensive shield. At the end of September, the German government ditched earlier plans for a gas levy on consumers and instead introduced a gas price cap to curb soaring energy bills.

Last autumn, the German government was planning to spend as much as $90.4 billion (83.3 billion euros) on funding the planned cap on electricity and gas prices in 2023. The proposed financing for energy price caps would represent 42% of the planned 200-billion-euro defensive shield.

Now that energy prices have dropped from the records set at the end of the summer and early autumn of 2022, Germany could spend less on the energy bill relief packages.

But The actual financial needs depend heavily on the further development of gas and electricity prices for end consumers, a spokesperson for the Finance Ministry told Reuters when asked if the lower energy prices in recent weeks would change the forecast of spending on the package.

The mild weather at the start of 2023, comfortable gas inventory levels, and still weak demand in Asia dragged European benchmark gas prices down to a 16-month low on Monday. That was due to ample supply and on reports Chinese importers are trying to divert February and March shipments to Europe amid weak prices at home and high inventories, according to Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank.

Norway became Germanys single-largest natural gas supplier in 2022, overtaking Russia, as total German gas imports dropped by 12.3% compared to 2021, the German Federal Network Agency, Bundesnetzagentur, said earlier this month.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Kazakhstan has secured approval from Russia to use its pipeline infrastructure to transport 300,000 tons of oil to buyers in Germany in the first quarter of this year, a state-run company announced on January 13.

Kaztransoil, a state-owned oil transportation company, said in its statement that oil sourced from the Karachaganak field in western Kazakhstan will be pumped through Russias Druzhba pipeline and be delivered to Poland via Belarus before reaching Germany.

Deliveries in January will amount to 20,000 tons.

Kazakh Energy Minister Bolat Akchulakov recently told reporters that Kazakhstan planned to export 1.5 million tons to Germany via Russia in 2023, but that this volume could be ramped up to 7 million tons.

There is enough capacity [in the pipeline system]. The main thing is the consumers [from Germany] to take it. We have never had major problems with Russia in terms of pumping, Akchulakov said earlier this year.

Approval from Russia was far from guaranteed, though. The oil that Germany is buying from Kazakhstan is intended to partially make up for the shortfall of crude deliveries precipitated by a boycott on Russian products imposed following the start to the invasion of Ukraine.

And the amount Kazakhstan is supplying falls far short of the 20 million tons per year that Russia used to sell Germany.

European Union restrictions on the supply of Russian oil related to material transported by sea, but they do not prevent third countries from using Russian infrastructure to get their commodity onto the European market.

Much of the talk last year was about how Kazakhstan was exploring export routes that avoided Russia altogether. Key to this was the so-called Middle Corridor, which entails loading oil onto tankers that would then cross the Caspian Sea before unloading crude onto freight transport traveling through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. This route is still limited in scope and far costlier than using Russian routes.

If Russia has agreed to this arrangement, it is unlikely as a favor to Kazakhstan.

As Nurlan Zhumagulov, head of the Energy Monitor analytical website, speculated in a post on Facebook in December, Kazakhstan may look to import an amount of oil from Russia commensurate to the one it is sending to Europe. That crude could be sent to domestic refineries, Zhumagulov wrote.

It [would be] an ideal model that satisfies everyone  Russia, Kazakhstan and Germany, Zhumagulov wrote.

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What is more, Kazakhstan has a trump card. In December, it reached an intergovernmental agreement with Russia valid until 2034 on allowing its territory to be used for the transit of oil to China. Since China has now emerged as one of Russias most important oil customers, Kazakhstan has thus earned leverage for deployment in its own energy trading deals with the West.

By Eurasianet.org

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A three-bedroom, 6,085-square-foot condo on the 73rd floor of the main 76-story tower in the recently completed One Chicago complex on the Near North Side was listed Monday for $13.95 million and already has a buyer.

The full-floor unit was placed on the market by developer JDL Development with a contract pending to sell it, suggesting that a deal was struck between the as-yet unidentified buyer and the developer even before the deal was made public.

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The unit has four bathrooms, direct elevator access, wide plank European oak wood floors, full-height windows, a custom-designed OBrien Harris kitchen, Ketra circadian lighting in the bedrooms, and primary bathrooms with floor-to-ceiling slab porcelain, Kalista fixtures and custom-built vanities.

Nancy Tassone of Jameson Sothebys is the listing agent.

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If the condo sells for more than $10 million, it would be the latest in a steady stream of $10 million-plus house and condo sales in the Chicago area since the start of 2022.

One Chicago consists of 77 condos starting on the 44th floor. Thus far, only about 20 units have had recorded sales by JDL. Among the highest-price are a three-bedroom, 3,705-square-foot 56th-floor unit that sold in June for $6.1 million, and a three-bedroom, 3,663-square-foot condo on the 44th floor that sold in November to a Delaware limited liability company for $5.64 million.

The second-highest asking price at One Chicago at present is a 57th-floor unit that is available for $4.95 million.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news.
Via AG Metal Miner

The Stainless Monthly Metals Index (MMI) rose 14.58% from December to January as nickel prices retreated.

Nickel prices continued to rally throughout December. But by January, prices began to show minor pullbacks that could become the beginning of a short-term sideways trend. Until prices break the new range, the market direction will remain unclear. Market volatility, however, remains high. This stems mainly from the lower overall volume in the LME exchange and leaves significant risk in the market.

Licenses at Low Levels

Import licenses remain at very low levels. As a result, there could be allocations at the domestic mills when inventory overhang resolves. Still, imports will take several months to catch up with demand. The first two weeks of January had brisk order intake at the service center level. Mills also reported that order intake was strong. Meanwhile, the alloy surcharge will increase in February, which should spur on shipments.

Global Nickel Output Could Jump 20%

A few months ago, brokers reportedly balked as Xiang Guangda looked to add to his short positions. Xiang Guangda is the founder of Tsingshan Holding Group and the man responsible for the March squeeze that broke the LMEs nickel contract. Now, emerging reports are detailing how the global nickel market could be due for a considerable uptick in production with Tsinghsan at the head.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, Tsingshan is negotiating with struggling Chinese copper producers about a potential material switch. Clearly, Tsingshan hopes to capitalize on the current high price premiums for refined nickel. Should others adopt a similar strategy, this would allow China to roughly double its year-over-year production. As a result, we could see total global output rise by around 20%.

Future Direction of Nickel Prices

Of course, there is no guarantee the output shift will happen at all or to that extent. Analysts already expect nickel production to rise due to increased efforts in Indonesia. This alone would support a projected global surplus for years to come, and nickel prices would react accordingly. Meanwhile, copper prices are now on the rise. And while the market forecasts a surplus in 2023, rising copper demand will pressure that in the long term.

There is no denying that Tsingshan is a major market player. Moreover, last years attempts to add to short positions seem to add some credence to these new reports. Of course, any sharp increase in supply would likely weigh significantly on nickel prices. Many will recall that while other base metals saw sharp retracements last year, low liquidity limited nickels downside price movement. Since bottoming out in mid-July, prices have returned to levels above their pre-squeeze highs. This leaves the market ripe for a correction, especially if 2023 brings lower stainless demand. The same would be true if the EV and energy transition sectors lose any momentum.

Nickel prices remain historically high in spite of March-July retracement. Source: Insights

This story proves that even in a broken market, Tsingshan remains a driving force. Indeed, Xiang Guangda can still shift supply dynamics, even with all the controversy and a more limited trading presence.

GCH Plans Nickel Futures Alternative to LME

Meanwhile, as the LMEs nickel contract remains broken, others are looking to take its place. For instance, Global Commodities Holdings (GCH) will launch a physical nickel trading platform beginning in late February. According to the company, the platform aims to become an alternative to the LMEs nickel futures contract.

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Last Marchs nickel squeeze caused a mass exodus from the LMEs nickel contract and left many upset about how the LME handled the crisis, as nickel prices were severely impacted. While the contract ultimately survived, it remains plagued by low liquidity and the resulting volatility. Up to this point, market makers have shown no interest in returning. Still, only time will tell whether the traders and investors are willing to make the move or opt out of the nickel market entirely.

Back in May, the CME indicated it was exploring its own nickel contract. If one or both of these take shape in a meaningful way, it could mean the LME is on its way out as the optimal exchange for prices in physical contracts.

By Nichole Bastin and Katie Benchina Olsen

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Natural gas futures bounced off 18-month lows during the holiday session period as the latest runs of long-term weather models suggest winter might not be over for the Lower 48.

US NatGas futures for February delivery moved up 21 cents to $3.63 per million British thermal units. The price is now trading above the 76.4% Fibonacci retracement level of the main drop from the high of $10 in August 2022 and the low of $1.43 in June 2020.

The price of NatGas tumbled to an 18-month low last week as mild weather boosted injections into storage facilities by slashing demand. Last week, the Energy Information Administration announced a rare rise in inventories of 11 billion cubic feet in stocks.

However, as we've pointed out in recent weeks and even days, first in "US NatGas Prices Slide To 18-Month Low On Warm Spell; Some Models Forecast Cold Blast In Weeks" and "California Pounding Continues, But Upcoming Large-Scale Weather Pattern Change On The Way," as well as "Siberia Records Minus-80 Degrees As Talk Of Polar Vortex Grows," long term weather models are showing the increasing possibility for colder weather.

The latest run of the Global Forecast System (GFS) shows the possibility of the return of winter by the end of the month.

Both GFS and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) models for the Lower 48 show the possibility of a cold spell -- when both long-term models suggest colder weather, the likelihood increases.

More mainstream meteorologists, such as Ryan Maue, are now pointing out that a wicked cold spell might be headed for the Lower 48.

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100%. Combination of Greenland and Siberian polar vortex to unload on Lower 48 in 13-17 day time frame.  Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) January 15, 2023

"Winter coming back," tweeted Weather forecaster Joe Bastardi.

Week 2 all ensembles go to positive TNH which is widespread cold stormy pattern for US. Winter coming back pic.twitter.com/8hBFEezXlm  Joe Bastardi (@BigJoeBastardi) January 15, 2023

NatGasWeather said cold returns around Jan. 26-30 and might last through the first week of Feb.

Weekend weather data trends colder for Jan 26-30 and has led to higher nat gas prices to open new trading week. Longer-range data suggests cold can last into first week of Feb. Although, still very light demand the next 7-days to trudge through first. #natgas #oilandgas pic.twitter.com/S4u71B5pAV  NatGasWeather.com (@NatGasWeather) January 16, 2023

Winter isn't over yet.

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It was just a couple of days ago we first noted that Tesla was getting blowback in China, where it has slashed prices in order to try and spur demand for its vehicles. Over the last few days, that anger towards the company appears to be ramping up in the U.S., as well, after Tesla also slashed prices domestically.

Such was the takeaway from a new Bloomberg article that spoke to several Tesla owners and "fans", who didn't seem happy about the company's recent move to slash prices.

One 32 year old Tesla "fan girl" named Marianne Simmons told Bloomberg: I feel like I got duped. I feel like I got taken advantage of as a consumer. Right off the bat, Im out $13,306. Its such a large reduction that its going to affect a lot of people who just bought a vehicle.

She had just shelled out $77,000 for a white Model Y. I would not buy a Tesla again. Thats saying a lot for me. I was a huge Tesla fan girl. Id go with a competitor like Lucid or Rivian, she added.

Ivan Drury, director of insights for research website Edmunds.com told Bloomberg: For any existing owner its a kick to the teeth. Anyone who bought a Tesla recently will feel an immediate impact and wish they leased it.

Another new Tesla owner, Andrew Checketts, from Santa Barbara, California, told Bloomberg that Tesla was "hounding" him about discounts at the time he made his purchase - but if he had waited, he could have saved far more money. He said: I have solar scheduled to be installed soon. Really having a hard time giving Tesla any more of my money and cant even look at the car this morning."

Owner Jack Bradham, who purchased a black Model Y long-range edition in December, is irked that the vehicle got a $12,000 discount right after he purchased it. He said customer service from Tesla has been non-existent: Theres no one to contact. I called and tweeted to them, no response."

The price drops are hitting the resale value of Teslas also. Austin Flack, another owner, tried to list his 2018 Model 3 with the Full Self-Driving Beta software package for $51,000 last month. He has since reduced the price to $36,000 and fears he'll have to try and cut it to $30,000.

As the report notes, the base price of the Model Y is down an astonishing 20% to start the year, with the vehicle now listed at $53,000. The Model S plaid is down 14%.

The situation in the U.S. echoes that of China, where customers stormed showrooms to protest price cuts.

Customers were demanding rebates and credits, claiming that they had overpaid for the same cars that weren't marked down at the time they were purchased, a new report from Reuters says. Prices of Tesla vehicles in China are now between 13% and 24% lower than they were in September.

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The opening of Fovero Greek & Homestyle Kitchen in Papillion is tentatively scheduled by early February, and the wait has been agonizing for area residents.

Lori Long has continued her months long tease of the new restaurant in Tara Plaza. Since the announcement in early November that Grecian Gyros had been sold less than a month after its 30th anniversary, local foodies have been clamoring for information.

When the Times visited with Long last week, brown paper shielded the restaurants windows to hide the renovations. Standing in the half-open doorway, she said there would be no early peeks for the press but promised the whole atmosphere will be very cheery and welcoming.

The new name seems reassuring. Fovero means amazing, Long said, and she even double-checked with a friend from Greece to make sure she got the right word.

This has been here for 30 years, based on the Mediterranean food. Its popular and has a big following, she said. We will still have the Greek entrees, dishes, you name it.

However, Foveros Facebook and Instagram pages are promising something more. Posting after posting features handcrafted lasagnas, soups, casseroles and baked goods galore.

When I told my Dad I was buying a Greek restaurant, he said But youre Polish, Long laughed. I said yes I am and thats why I am bringing in what I do.

I am adding in homestyle cooking. We will have specials like dumplings and sauerkraut  I am a South Omaha girl  cabbage rolls, soups, desserts. I am big on desserts. And we are going to add breakfast on the weekends.

Most of Foveros menu will feature family recipes, especially those of her late mother, Susie Kitta. Long, a former educator and school administrator, was a longtime diner of Grecian Gyros. She would eventually bake cinnamon rolls to sell at the eatery on Sundays.

When the opportunity arose to buy the place, Long said she decided the time was right to follow a dream of opening her own restaurant.

Julie Maben, who co-owned Grecian Gyros with husband, John Isbilir, was ready for a change from the seven days a week grind.

After 30 years of doing the restaurant, it gets to be pretty difficult, Maben said.

While it took months to work out the logistics for the turnover, Maben said she is excited what Fovero brings to the local dining scene.

Papillion needs more of a diner, she said. Her cooking and her baking are wonderful.

Meanwhile, Maben is focusing on her own new venture, Jules Catering. She said she is serving the same Mediterranean favorites, and was busy through the holiday season. However, the catering business will allow some vacation and travel time with her husband.

In addition to private affairs, Maben said she is in talks with area breweries and pubs to set up the occasional feast for patrons. Jules also has options for take and bake meals.

Tentative hours for Foveros are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays. Breakfasts will start at 6 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The restaurant will be open until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and on Sundays until 1 p.m.

I just want to open, Long said. We are working day and night to get it open.
Amazon has announced the opening of its first fulfillment center in Nebraska.

The facility, which has more than 1 million square feet of space, is now open in Papillion near Nebraska Highways 370 and 50.

It originally was slated to open in 2022. In July, officials announced that the project would be delayed until 2024.

At the time, a spokesman for the City of Papillion said Amazon officials informed the citys mayor and City Council of the delay, citing supply chain issues.

An Amazon spokesman said Tuesday that officials are always evaluating our network to ensure it fits our business needs and to improve the experience for our employees, customers, partners and drivers. Those needs, he said, prompted the opening of the Papillion fulfillment center.

The fulfillment center currently employs about 300 people. Officials said in a press release that theyre still hiring and they expect the center to employ 1,000 workers.

They will work alongside robots to pick, pack and prepare items for delivery.

The Papillion fulfillment center is Amazons fifth location in the Omaha area. Other facilities include delivery stations in Papillion and Omaha, an Amazon Air Gateway at Eppley Airfield, and a supplemental fulfillment center in Council Bluffs.

When the project was announced in fall 2020, the Greater Omaha Chamber estimated the facility would create a $203 million annual economic impact in the Omaha metro area.

According to Sarpy County records, land for the facility sold to an Amazon affiliate for $12.3 million.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of January 2023
The search for the Bennington Public Schools next superintendent is off to a healthy start following a board meeting Monday.

The school board already is preparing to select a search firm to start the process. Members will interview two or three search firms at a special meeting at 5 p.m. Friday before selecting the one the district will use.

The official launch of the search comes about a month after Superintendent Terry Haack announced his retirement, which will occur at the end of this school year. Hes led the district for nearly 19 years.

The search firm finalists will be narrowed down from a pool of six applicants before Fridays meeting. Haack said after a company is selected, it would take about six to eight weeks before superintendent finalists would be chosen.

There will be ample opportunity for public input, and as we move forward, it will be up to the board how they want to determine how to gather that input and how they would interview for their next leader of Bennington Public Schools, Haack told the board on Monday.

Bennington isnt the only district in the metro area searching for a new superintendent. The Omaha Public Schools will need to replace Superintendent Cheryl Logan, who plans to resign in June. The OPS board announced its request for search firm applications on Jan. 5.

The Ralston school district announced it had four finalists before selecting Jason Buckingham on Jan. 10 to replace Superintendent Mark Adler when he resigns in June.

In the Bennington search, the school board will look at the search firms experience and success in their services for like-sized school districts; quality of previous projects; and ability to complete the work quickly and efficiently.

Some members of the public said Monday that they want the school board to select a firm that closely aligns with Benningtons values and priorities.

Using a local firm or at least a firm from within our state will help ensure that someone that fits Nebraska values is selected as our next superintendent, said Bennington parent Tracee Baker.

The board also presented the final evaluation for Haack during Mondays meeting.

The evaluation says that the board generally agrees Haack demonstrates strong performance in the areas of educational leadership, strategic planning and budget administration. The board also noted Haack still could improve in growing relationships with the board and the community.

As Bennington continues to grow, it is essential to cultivate communication and feedback mechanisms that help key constituencies to be well-informed about district operations and strategic plans, the evaluation said.

Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of January 2023
Here comes the storm.  (1/4)



Winter weather will cause hazardous travel conditions and delays during this evening's commute. Snow will be the dominant precip type north of Interstate 80 with amounts of 8 to 15 inches. pic.twitter.com/S2plaJzU8e  NWS Omaha (@NWSOmaha) January 18, 2023

Snow could hit the Omaha area just in time for the evening commute on Wednesday.

A winter storm is expected to bring a mix of rain, freezing rain and sleet followed by snow, according to the National Weather Service.

The precipitation mix is expected to begin around 9 a.m. or later Wednesday, said Paul Fajman, a meteorologist with the weather services Valley office.

The precipitation is then expected to transition to snow Wednesday afternoon or evening. The timing of that transition will determine how much snow the area will see, Fajman said.

If its an earlier transition, we will see those snowfall totals closer to 7 inches, he said.

The highest potential for snowfall will occur between about 2 p.m. and 9 p.m., Fajman said.

The Omaha Public Schools and Millard Public Schools announced Tuesday afternoon that the districts will have a remote learning day Wednesday. The Bellevue Public Schools and the Council Bluffs, Westside, Papillion-La Vista, Elkhorn, Ralston, Bennington and Douglas County West districts announced that their schools will be closed Wednesday. In addition, the Archdiocese of Omaha announced that all Omaha Catholic schools will be closed.

The weather service is predicting 6 to 9 inches of snow in Tekamah, 45 miles north of Omaha, and 9 to 12 inches in Norfolk, which is about 120 miles northwest of Omaha. Nebraska City, about 45 miles south of Omaha, is expected to get up to 4 inches of snow.

Portions of west central Nebraska, including North Platte, could see up to 17 inches of snow, according to the weather service.
Prosecutors knew they were in for a tough fight when they went up against Omaha defense attorney J. William Bill Gallup.

Bill was always battling for his clients, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said Tuesday. When you went into court against him, you knew you were in for a fight. He was a no-nonsense guy, who was very good at what he did.

Gallup, 87, died Friday in his Omaha home after a lengthy illness, said Paula Gallup, his wife of 59 years. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, 6116 Dodge St.

Kleine said Gallup was a man of his word. He was known for saying what he thought and meaning what he said.

He was so well-prepared every time that he went into court, Kleine said. You could trust what he said and you knew that he always had his clients best interests.

Gallup came up with the epitaph The Defense Rests that is written on his tombstone, his wife said. Getting him to rest, even as his health failed, was nearly impossible, she said.

He had his brains about him until the very end, Paula said. He loved the law, and it was very hard for him not to be in the courtroom and office. You could set your clock by Bill Gallup going to work and coming home every day.

Gallup was born in Three Hills, Alberta, Canada, and moved with his family to western Nebraska and then Omaha. He graduated from Omaha Benson High School in 1953 and a received a bachelors degree from Omaha University in 1957, followed by a masters degree from the school in 1959.

A naturalized American citizen, Gallup served two years in the U.S. Army before enrolling in Creighton University Law School, graduating in 1964. He met his wife while attending law school.

We were both at a law fraternity party with other people, Paula said. We were introduced and that was it. Bill always said that he (left Creighton) with his degree in one hand and his wife in the other.

Upon graduation, Gallup worked as an assistant prosecutor for the City of Omaha and then the Douglas County Attorneys Office. He later worked for the U.S. attorney for Nebraska before entering private practice.

Gallup often said he was proud to be the only Nebraska attorney he knew to walk a client from death row to freedom. His diligence led to the overturning of the conviction and death sentence for Jeremy Sheets in connection with the 1992 abduction and slaying of a North High School student.

Adam Barnett told authorities that he and Sheets had kidnapped a girl at knifepoint. Barnett hanged himself in jail before he could testify at Sheets trial. The Nebraska Supreme Court agreed with Gallups argument that the trial court judge should not have allowed prosecutors to play Barnetts statement because Sheets was not able to confront his accuser.

Outside the courtroom, Gallup enjoyed reading and wrote numerous articles for legal magazines. He accepted an invitation to join the American Board of Criminal Lawyers and served as its president from 1982 to 1983.

A daughter, Bridget Gordman of Omaha, said her fathers sensitive side was most evident around his 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

He loved his grandchildren and all kids, really, Gordman said. People, I think, were surprised by how soft and patient he would be with them. He was very loving.

Other survivors include daughter Pamela Conrad of Malibu, California; sons Sean of Denver and John Jr. of Omaha; and sister, Djel Ann Brown of Omaha.
LINCOLN  In one of his first policy moves in office, Gov. Jim Pillen put his support behind three education funding bills that would, among other things, establish a $1 billion education fund.

Pillen announced the priority bills Tuesday at a press conference alongside 10 GOP state senators, including the three lawmakers introducing each bill. None of the bills would do away with the states current school funding formula, as Pillen previously had pushed for, but he called the legislation a good compromise.

I think this is a step that makes sense, Pillen said.

Legislative Bill 583, introduced by State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue, would provide $1,500 in foundational aid added to the existing funding formula for every public student in the state. This would amount to nearly $113 million in additional state aid, according to a press release.

The bill would also add a statutory provision requiring that 80% of special education funding be covered through federal and state dollars. That would require nearly $160 million in additional state support for special education.

Sanders said the additional foundation aid primarily will benefit school districts that currently do not receive equalization aid under the state funding formula, which for the 2022-23 school year amounted to 158 of Nebraskas 244 school districts. She estimated about 180 districts would see an increase in funding under the proposal.

Equalization aid was criticized by Pillen during his gubernatorial campaign, as it makes up the lions share of state education funding but is distributed to a minority of districts. Sen. Tom Briese of Albion said it was fairly pathetic how little equalization aid goes to rural school districts.

An OpenSky Policy Institute report from October noted that although equalization aid goes to only 86 districts, those districts serve 78% of Nebraskas students.

The additional funding in Sanders proposal would be covered under a separate bill proposed by Sen. Robert Clements of Elmwood, which he has yet to introduce. The measure would establish a $1 billion Education Future Fund as part of the states general fund. The states current education funding stands at about $1.07 billion.

Following the creation of the fund, Clements said the state would add an additional $250 million to the fund each year until it reaches $2.5 billion. Pillen said some of the states excessive cash reserve  projected to hit a record high $2.3 billion by the end of fiscal year 2025  would be used to support the fund.

Democratic Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont, the former Education Committee chair, last year proposed an education trust fund as a sustainable school funding source.

To ensure the previous two bills lead to property relief, Briese announced a separate bill, LB 589, which he described as a property tax asking cap. The bill would cap property tax revenue increases for school districts at 3% per year. Briese said the limit would be a soft cap that school districts could override through a supermajority vote of 75% of school board members or 60% of the districts registered voters.

Pillen did not have an estimate of how much property tax relief the three bills would bring.

It wont be enough, but its a heck of a good start, Pillen said.

State lawmakers from both parties have agreed that increasing state education funding was the best way to reduce property taxes, as most school districts heavily rely on property taxes for funding over state dollars.

OpenSky Executive Director Rebecca Firestone echoed this sentiment in an email statement Tuesday.

We appreciate the governors interest in increasing state aid to public education and investing more in our states children, Firestone said in the email. We have long noted that the best way to address property taxes in Nebraska is to increase the share of state support for public K-12 education.

Though Pillen campaigned as a fiscal conservative, he said he didnt see the legislation as an increase in spending, but rather an increase in investment.

These are investments into the future of our kids, Pillen said. And these are investments that will also allow us to have a great impact on cutting property taxes across the state.

Photos: 2023 Nebraska legislative session
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Orland Park officials are starting the process of revising a strategic plan for the village. (Mike Nolan / Daily Southtown)

Orland Park voters will be asked in a referendum April 4 whether they want to change the form of government the village has operated under for nearly four decades.

The Village Board approved the binding referendum Monday, stating the village manager now has final decisionmaking authority in key areas and acts as administrative and executive head of the village government for key purposes.

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The ballot question will ask voters whether to drop the managerial form. If approved, Mayor Keith Pekau said the village would still have a village manager, but with more narrowly defined authority.

That authority includes appointment and removal of all officers not required to be elected. The manager is not an elected position and not directly accountable to the electorate, according to the ordinance calling for the referendum.

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Under the managerial form, the authority of the mayor and Village Board is largely limited to legislative purposes, responsible for setting village policy and guidelines, approving ordinances, paying village bills and approving village budgets.

In seeking to abandon the managerial form of government, the mayor and trustees have determined that they should be responsible for the principal final executive and administrative decisions of the village, according to the ordinance.

While a village manager acts as the villages chief executive officer as far as overseeing village departments and day-to-day operations, that CEO role would be primarily filled by the mayor if the managerial form were to be abandoned.

Pekau said key decisions should be made by elected officials, who are directly beholden to residents.

Along with accountability should come the authority for making decisions that one is held accountable for, Pekau said.

Orland Park voters established the managerial form of government by referendum in November 1983, according to the villages website. The first village manager was hired in March 1984.

Then-Mayor Fred Owens led a campaign to bring the managerial form to Orland Park, which was experiencing significant commercial and residential growth, with a professional public administrator overseeing day-to-day village operations.

Owens, according to the village, realized elected officials who held other jobs and served in their elected positions on a part-time basis were not in the best position of running day-to-day operations.

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The mayors position is part-time, but was full-time when Pekau was elected to his first term in 2017.

Pekau said Tuesday there is no intention of making the position full time should the referendum be approved and the managerial form of government is abandoned.

In March 2019, before Pekau gained a majority of votes on the Village Board, trustees changed the position to part time with a corresponding cut in pay, taking effect with the spring 2021 election when Pekau won reelection to a second term.

As a full-time position, the job paid $150,000 annually, but that was slashed to $40,000 when the job became part time.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Months before the 2017 election, the Village Board approved changing the mayors job from part time to full time, with the added duties of being Orland Parks lead person on economic development.

Pekau said the move to put the question on the ballot does not reflect any dissatisfaction with the job manager George Koczwara is doing.

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He said this will allow residents to decide what authority the mayor and board should have.

Its appropriate for the people to make that choice, Pekau said.

Koczwara was hired as Orland Parks manager in September 2019 and previously was Crystal Lakes deputy city manager and finance director.

Before Koczwara was hired, former village Trustee Tom Dubelbeis was interim manager following the resignation in May 2019 of Joe La Margo, who had been manager since September 2017.

mnolan@tribpub.com
Corn production in 2022 rose in Illinois but dropped in Iowa, with the drought west of the Mississippi being blamed for a drop in total U.S. corn production.

Soybean production was down in Illinois and Iowa, as well as nationally.

Nationally, U.S. corn growers produced approximately 13.730 billion bushels of corn for 2022, down from 15.074 billion bushels in 2021.

Illinois farmers produced 2.27 billion bushels of corn, up from 2.2 billion bushels in 2021, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"Illinois had better weather than Iowa," said Tom Mueller, a farmer in Taylor Ridge, which is in Rock Island County.

There were times when some parts of the central, western and southern portions of Illinois got very dry, he said, but they got some timely rains that really helped them avert disaster.

Mueller said he had a very respectable corn crop. However, it could have been higher.

Usually in June he adds a little nitrogen to the corp. However: I couldnt get the fertilizer, and even if I could have it would likely have been prohibitively expensive. That probably cost me about 30 bushels an acre.

In neighboring Iowa, Scott County farmer Robb Ewoldt said his corn crop this year was the best weve ever grown.

Last year was the biggest corn crop weve ever grown, and we bested that this year by 20 bushels an acre, he said. It was big.

Ewoldt said the overall drop in corn production nationally likely was due to drought condition. In Iowa the drop in the state corn production likely occurred south of Des Moines, and that was because the crops were used as feed for cattle, he said.

Its tough to farm down there anyway, Ewoldt said. I know some folks who chopped more acres for feed for cows. Because of the drought, they had to find the feed for the cattle somewhere. So if Iowa did lose acres, it likely was in the southern part where they used the corn to feed the cattle and get them through the drought.

Still, the further west one got, the harder the drought became.

Nebraska, produced approximately 1.455 billion bushels in 2022, but that was down from 1.855 billion bushels in 2021.

But corn production dropped in many states. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, South Dakota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Pennsylvania all saw lower numbers.

Corn production rose in Minnesota from 1.39 billion bushels in 2021 to 1.46 billion bushels in 2022.

Nationally, soybean production dropped from 4.45 billion bushels in 2021 to 4.27 billion bushels in 2022. Illinois farmers produced 677 million bushels in 2022, down from 683 million bushels in 2021.

Still, Mueller said, this years soybean crop was the best Ive ever had. They didnt need that extra shot of fertilizer, and the weather was very good for them. I got them planted early, and thats proven to be the thing to do.

Ewoldt said his soybean crop, was the biggest average crop weve ever had. We bested last years crop by about 3 bushels an acre.

I know we are blessed in this area, Ewoldt said. The drought in the east-central portion of the state was not that bad.
Where to watch: YouTube, Viki

Sometimes comfort lies in the deliciousness of a well-told revenge drama. At some point in Chinas distant, fictional past, a war breaks out and a general and his son, Lin Shu, go to battle. But during the course of the war, the general is framed for taking part in a rebellion that resulted in the death of 70,000 soldiers.

Twelve years later, Lin Shu  now unrecognizable to those who knew him before  returns home, seeking revenge and justice. Its all very Count of Monte Cristo, with heaping doses of political intrigue and the frisson of watching whip-smart people try to outmaneuver each other.

Theres something supremely satisfying in seeing the intricate strategies unfold and the political chess game play out. Beyond that, the show, which is in Mandarin (English-subtitled version available), allowed me to brush up on my neglected Chinese language skills and bond with my mom, as we watched together. Youd think a story this plot-heavy wouldnt stand up to repeat viewing but it does, marvelously, allowing us to reenter this engrossing world to catch details missed the first time around.

 Janet Tu, assistant features editor
BLOOMINGTON  Bloomington drivers facing possible citations for headlight or taillight malfunctions may soon receive a more welcome slip of paper from police: a voucher for repairs.

This program will enhance traffic safety in our community and provide the financial support to anyone who needs light-related repairs, Bloomington Police Chief Jamal Simington said. This type of engagement is solution based and an act of true kindness to motorists, their occupants and a police officer that will never forget it.

Bloomington city and law enforcement officials on Tuesday unveiled plans to hand out vouchers worth $250 for parts and labor to replace broken headlights, taillights or turn signals. Patrol officers will carry the vouchers starting Feb. 1.

The program is called Lights On! and was started by Minneapolis based non-profit MicroGrants, which provides small grants to low-income people to help their career or business, said CEO Don Samuels.

Its a great opportunity to give to the community a totally safe program that we dont complaints (with) and were looking forward to that joy being spread among the citizens of Bloomington, Samuels said.

Funding comes from representatives of Country Financial, who donated $6,000 that was matched by MicroGrants. A spokesman said the Bloomington-based insurance company has donated more than $4 million since 2020 to organizations supporting first responders, as well as teachers, military servicemembers and veterans.

Samuels said Bloomington is the second municipality in Illinois to introduce the program, after Romeoville, and the organization plans to expand services nationwide.

I would have loved this when I was a patrol officer, said Sgt. Keil Nowers, head of community engagement with BPD.

Under the new program, an officer who initiates a traffic stop for a defective taillight, headlight or turn signal has the ability to issue a voucher if there are no other violations or citations necessary.

Instead of that, Nowers said, youre getting no ticket, and youre getting free money, even.

Last year, Bloomington police conducted over 11,000 traffic stops, Simington said. About 2,500 of those were for general equipment violations, and only 2% of those were issued citations, he said. Others received warnings.

When drivers receive a voucher, Simington said, it is signed and dated by the officer. They then have 14 days to get the malfunction repaired and will be asked to answer a survey related to the program and their experience.

If an officer does cite someone for a general equipment violation, the individual can bring in proof of the repair within seven days of that citation being issued, Simington said.

Vouchers can be used at Walmart, Autozone or Advanced Auto Parts locations in Bloomington-Normal, Nowers said.

The best part of it all, no taxpayer dollars are going in this either, he said. This is completely locally and MicroGrant-funded.

Simington said he learned about Lights On! through law enforcement newsletters and was first approached about a year ago.

The outcomes will be beneficial for the community and for the officers who extend this gesture, leading to positive interactions and more trust-building outcomes, Simington said.

Every officer at BPD will have access to the vouchers, officials said.

Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe joked that it would have been nice if the program started three weeks ago when he was stopped for a similar violation, but overall it will make a genuine difference in the community.

The police department takes the responsibility to protect and serve the city very seriously but they also place value on the work that they do with the residents to make our neighborhoods better places to live, Mwilambwe said. Policing is just one aspect of building a strong and safe community and partnering with this wonderful organization is a key part of that effort.

Close Six-year-old Jolie Elder, of Bloomington, strikes a pose as a 360 Photo Booth revolves around her for a video selfie at the Elegant Bridal Expo on Sunday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington. Her mother, Annie Elder, said her daughter will serve as the flower girl for a relative's upcoming wedding. The photo booth was set up by Selfie Space out of Peoria. Owner Renee Waller said they attend weddings, plus host small events at their "Selfie Museum" in Peoria. Her business first opened in August. From left, Zach and Taylor Lee, both of Bloomington, pose before a "Marry Me" selfie wall prepared Sunday by Selfie Space, of Peoria, while attending the Elegant Bridal Expo at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington. Their wedding date is planned for Aug. 21, 2024. The Copy Shop, 302 E. Washington St., Bloomington, displayed several wedding services Sunday at the Elegant Bridal Expo in Bloomington, as shown in this table arrangement of stylishly-printed invitations, guest books, menus and table number signs. From left, Jessica Gibson, manager for Janet's Cakes & Catering in Bloomington, chats with potential customers aside Jessica Newnum while tabling Sunday at the Elegant Bridal Expo at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington. FLOWER POWER: 200 brides fix up plans at Bloomington wedding expo Brides, grooms, bridesmaids and flower girls were busy preparing Sunday for "the big day" at the Elegant Bridal Expo, which returned for the 11th time that afternoon to the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington. Ashley Peecher, owner of the Springfield expo company, said they brought out 15 extra vendors this year, for a total of 60. She expected 200 "Very Important Brides" to attend, for a total of 700 visitors. Peecher said it was her 72nd expo her company has organized in the Twin Cities, Champaign, Peoria and Springfield. She also said she looks forward to helping brides plan their weddings, as well as promoting local businesses. Six-year-old Jolie Elder, of Bloomington, strikes a pose as a 360 Photo Booth revolves around her for a video selfie at the Elegant Bridal Expo on Sunday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington. Her mother, Annie Elder, said her daughter will serve as the flower girl for a relative's upcoming wedding. The photo booth was set up by Selfie Space out of Peoria. Owner Renee Waller said they attend weddings, plus host small events at their "Selfie Museum" in Peoria. Her business first opened in August. From left, Zach and Taylor Lee, both of Bloomington, pose before a "Marry Me" selfie wall prepared Sunday by Selfie Space, of Peoria, while attending the Elegant Bridal Expo at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington. Their wedding date is planned for Aug. 21, 2024. The Copy Shop, 302 E. Washington St., Bloomington, displayed several wedding services Sunday at the Elegant Bridal Expo in Bloomington, as shown in this table arrangement of stylishly-printed invitations, guest books, menus and table number signs. From left, Jessica Gibson, manager for Janet's Cakes & Catering in Bloomington, chats with potential customers aside Jessica Newnum while tabling Sunday at the Elegant Bridal Expo at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Bloomington.
100 years ago

Jan. 17, 1923: The Open Forum will add to its reputation for bringing notable people to lecture in Bloomington by presenting Edgar Lee Masters, the eminent poet, in a recital from his own works next Sunday. Mr. Masters is not only one of the foremost men of letters of our time, but the literary history of the period cannot be written without recognizing the contribution he has made to that which is distinctive, original and universal in our art.

75 years ago

Jan. 17, 1948: City parking meters will be used to collect funds to help with the effects of infantile paralysis. Aldermen voted unanimously to ask the public to drop their dime contributions to the March of Dimes in the parking meters. They will then be turned over to the county committee. This way of supporting the campaign came about after hearing a brief talk by Ben Arnold, city campaign chairman.

50 years agoJan. 17, 1973: The international road sign concept was used to come up with a new logotype for the Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System. Trustees adopted the use of a logo with a European flair to use on buses, bus stop signs and stationery. The logo, designed for the board by Robert Popelka, depicts a driver behind the wheel.

25 years ago

Jan. 17, 1998: A few months from breaking ground in Normal for its permanent campus, Heartland Community College is considering a plan to bring the school to downtown Bloomington, which could be revitalized by the presence of the school and its projected 5,000 students. Although specific figures havent been released, a group of downtown business leaders is attempting to lure Heartland with the promise of significant cost savings from the current $32 million price tag.

101 years ago: See vintage Pantagraph ads from 1922 Gerthart's Union Gas and Electric Co. Hoover Dr. J.A. Moore Dentists Moberly & Klenner W.P. Garretson W.H. Roland Pease's Candy Thor 32 Electric Washing Machine The Kaiser's Story of the War Ike Livingston & Sons Gossard Corsets Cat'n Fiddle 'Stolen Moments' Case Model X The Johnson Transfer & Fuel Co. The Pantagraph want ads Franklin Motor Car Co. 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' Calumet Baking Powder Mayer Livingston & Co. Newsmarket 'The Emperor Jones' 'California Fig Syrup'
The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) informs all Company Officials, Business Owners and the general public that there have been changes in the Fees and Charges on all transactions, including the Incorporation and Registration of Businesses, Amendments and the filing of Annual Returns effective 1st January, 2023.



In a statement signed by Jemima Mamaa Oware, Rigistrar of Companies, this is in accordance with the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2022 Act 1080 as passed by Parliament.



The changes in Fees and Charges would apply to the registration and amendment of Business Names, Subsidiary Business Names, Partnerships, External Companies, Professional Bodies as well as the Incorporation of Companies Limited/ Unlimited by Shares and Companies Limited by Guarantee.



"From the 1st of June, 2023, the ORC would, for the very first time be fully implementing section 126(7) of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) which states that where a Company defaults in complying with the filing of Annual Returns and Financial Statements, the Company and every officer of the company that is in default is liable to pay to the Registrar an Administrative Penalty of Twenty-Five penalty units for each day during which the default continues," she further stated.



The ORC from June 2023 is also going to fully enforce the penalty for failure to comply with the statutory provision on Annual Renewal of Partnerships registration.



From this year, failure to renew a Business Name (Sole Proprietorship)/Subsidiary Business Name for a period of 3 months after the year has ended would lead to the Lapse of the Business Name/Subsidiary Business Name.



To avoid such Business Names falling into the public domain and for anyone of interest to use it after it has been struck off the Business Names Register, Business Name owners can electronically renew their Businesses by dialing the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) Code *222# and follow the prompt to make payment with their Mobile Money wallet on the Ghana.Gov payment platform.



The ORC would also be introducing expedited/express services this year. This is to ensure that patrons of the services get their documents within forty-eight (48) hours.



The expedited/express services would be available at the Head Office in Accra and some Regional Offices when it commences after the first half of this year.



The ORC wishes to remind its cherished clients that payments on transactions are only to be made at its in-house Fidelity Bank or any other Fidelity Bank Branch.



The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) does not operate a Mobile Money Account or authorize same on its behalf. Under no circumstance should ORC clients transfer money to any Mobile Money Number in the name of the Office, Staff or a Lawyer.

CHANGE IN FEES AND CHARGES



The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) informs all Company Officials, Business Owners and the general public that there have been changes in the Fees and Charges on all transactions, including the Incorporation and Registration of Businesses, Amendments and the filing of Annual Returns effective 1st January, 2023. This is in accordance with the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2022 Act 1080 as passed by Parliament and earlier indicated in our Press Release dated 14th November, 2022.



The changes in Fees and Charges would apply to the registration and amendment of Business Names, Subsidiary Business Names, Partnerships, External Companies, Professional Bodies as well as the Incorporation of Companies Limited/ Unlimited by Shares and Companies Limited by Guarantee. Please visit www.orc.gov.gh/www.rgd.gov.gh or our Front Offices in Accra and The Regional Offices for further details on these new Fees.



From the 1st of June, 2023, the ORC would, for the very first time be fully implementing section 126(7) of the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) which states that where a Company defaults in complying with the filing of Annual Returns and Financial Statements, the Company and every officer of the company that is in default is liable to pay to the Registrar an Administrative Penalty of Twenty-Five penalty units for each day during which the default continues.



A penalty unit is established by the Fines (Penalty Units) Act 2000 (Act 572) and the current monetary value per penalty unit is GHC12.00. This means that effective 1st June, 2023, an administrative charge of GHc300.00 would be charged for each day the default continues against the Company and EVERY OFFICER of the Company until section 126 (7) is complied with.



The full implementation of the Companies Act, 2019 Act 992 by this section is being proposed now by Management and the Board to ensure Companies take the compliance of this requirement in the Act more seriously than they have done previously. Company Secretaries and Auditors should therefore kickstart the processes in getting these mandatory documents ready and on time to avoid paying this very punitive Administrative Penalty and sanction and push their Companies into a state of inactivity.



The ORC from June 2023 is also going to fully enforce the penalty for failure to comply with the statutory provision on Annual Renewal of Partnerships registration.



The Incorporated Private Partnerships Act,1962 (Act 152) section 8 (1) states that: Once in every year, the Partners of a Partnership SHALL deliver to the Registrar for registration a Statement in the Prescribed Form renewing the registration. Section 9(1), in the event of default in complying with sections 4,5,7 or 8 of Act 152, (a) Every Partner SHALL be liable to a fine not exceeding five (5) pounds for each day during which the default continues; The cost of five (5) British Pounds in Ghana Cedis per the current Bank of Ghana Foreign Exchange rate is Ghc60.00.



Partnerships, especially Auditing Firms on the Register, are to note accordingly and put their Books in order to renew the Partnership Registration and avoid paying this punitive penalty.



Additionally, the ORC is going to enforce section 5A (2) of the Registration of Business Names Act, 1962 (Act 151) on Annual Renewals. This states that without prejudice to any other liability prescribed by this Act, a registration which is not renewed in accordance with this section shall LAPSE and the Registrar may remove from the Register the Business Name of the person whose Registration has lapsed after the expiration of the period prescribed for the renewal.



From this year, failure to renew a Business Name (Sole Proprietorship)/Subsidiary Business Name for a period of 3 months after the year has ended would lead to the Lapse of the Business Name/Subsidiary Business Name. To avoid such Business Names falling into the public domain and for anyone of interest to use it after it has been struck off the Business Names Register, Business Name owners can electronically renew their Businesses by dialing the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) Code *222# and follow the prompt to make payment with their Mobile Money wallet on the Ghana.Gov payment platform.



The ORC would also be introducing expedited/express services this year. This is to ensure that patrons of the services get their documents within forty-eight (48) hours. The expedited/express services would be available at the Head Office in Accra and some Regional Offices when it commences after the first half of this year.



All Company Secretaries who are yet to comply with the directives issued by the ORC on the Name Changes in the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) are to submit a Special Resolution for a change of their Company Name by adding the appropriate suffix to the end of their Company Name. Companies who have not as yet adopted a Registered Constitution reflecting the changed name in place of their Companys Regulations are also being reminded to do so by the end of June, 2023.



The ORC wishes to remind its cherished clients that payments on transactions are ONLY to be made at its in-house Fidelity Bank or any other Fidelity Bank Branch.



The Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) does not operate a Mobile Money Account or authorize same on its behalf. Under no circumstance should ORC clients transfer money to any Mobile Money Number in the name of the Office, Staff or a Lawyer. Please be vigilant against fraudsters calling Company officials and Business Owners to make transfers to certain mobile numbers. We urge the General Public to ignore such calls or messages and cross check its validity with us through our official numbers.



Please contact us on 055-765-3130 (Telegram/WhatsApp) or 030-266-6081/030-266-4692. Follow us on our social media handles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram @ORC Ghana.



SIGNED.



JEMIMA MAMAA OWARE (MRS)



(REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES)





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Global business leader and Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines, Mesfin Tasew Bekele and board chairman, Girma Wake have confirmed their participation at the maiden Africa Prosperity Dialogues, which is being organised by the Africa Prosperity Network and its partners, including the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat and the Government of Ghana, the host nation.



Dubbed the Kwahu Summit, the first of these annual dialogues will take place from 26 to 28 January, 2023. Focusing on intra-Africa trade, the Africa Prosperity Dialogues bring together Africas political and business leaders to plan and work together on the all-important single market, the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) project for the continent.



Confirming his participation via email, to organizers, Mr Mesfin Tasew Bekele said it is a delight for him to join such an important dialogue series aimed at fast-tracking the implementation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.



Ethiopia Airlines



Mr Mesfin Tasew Bekele leads an organization which aims to become the most competitive and leading aviation group in Africa by providing safe, market driven and customer focused passenger and cargo transport, aviation training, flight catering, MRO and ground services by 2025.



Additionally, Mr Tasew Bekele and his team at Ethiopia Airlines are on a mission to ensure that Ethiopia Airlines becomes an airline of choice to its customers, employer of choice to its employees and an investment of choice to its Owner, and to contribute positively to socio economic development of Ethiopia in particular and the countries to which it operates in general by undertaking its corporate social responsibilities and providing vital global air connectivity.



About Mesfin Tasew





Mr. Mesfin Tasew was appointed as Group Chief Executive Officer of Ethiopian Airlines in March 2022. He joined Ethiopian in 1984 as Associate Engineer and progressed through the ladder and served in supervisorial and managerial positions in the Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering areas.





In 1997 and 1999, he was appointed as Director Operations & Technical Systems Support and Chief Information Officer, respectively. In 2006, he was appointed as Vice President of Maintenance and Engineering.





Mr Mesfin also served as Chief Operating Officer of Ethiopian Airlines from 2010  2021, and Chief Executive Officer of ASKY Airlines from April 2021 to March 2022.





Mr Mesfin also serves as a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Board of Governors. He holds BSC and MSc Degrees in Electrical Engineering from Addis Ababa University. He also holds Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Open University in the UK.



A.P. dialogues



The Africa Prosperity Dialogues are symbolically dubbed the Kwahu Summit because the Kwahus of Ghana, the host nation, represent entrepreneurialship and trade and are known to support each other excel in business. Kwahu is also the highest elevation of habitable lands in Ghana.



The organisers of the Kwahu Summit aim to support through enhanced intra-Africa trade, the elevation of Africa and her people to the highest summit of human living, dignity and prosperity.



The 2023 Africa Prosperity Dialogues is the first of what will be an annual event and being organised by the Africa Prosperity Network (APN) and its partners, which include the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat located in Ghana, the Presidency of the Republic of Ghana (the host nation of AfCFTA).



The other partners are; United Nations Development Programme (Africa), the Africa Prosperity Fund, the Ghana Investments Promotion Centre (GIPC), the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Africa-America Institute.



The Summit will bring into practical focus the continents critical challenges and industrialisation priorities and advance aggressively the commercial and infrastructural interventions to achieve the vision of creating the largest single market in the world of some 1.4 billion Africans.



Summit venues



The Kwahu Summit is a Pan-African economic platform which brings together the great minds and mights of Africa, both in Africa and the Diaspora, to think, plan and work together to expedite the implementation of the agreed initiatives within the AfCFTA and shape the Africa Agenda for Action.



The business and policy leaders dialogues which will take place on 26 - 27 January 2023, will be held at the Safari Valley Resort, in Adukrom, on the Akuapem Mountain.



On the 28 January 2023, the Peduase Presidential Lodge in Aburi, Akuapem Mountain, will host the presidential and business executives dialogues.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Ghanas largest privately-owned bank and pioneer of Agency Banking, Fidelity Bank Ghana has recently rewarded the winners of its maiden Agents promotion campaign dubbed Yenko Dubai.



The Yenko Dubai promo, which formed part of activities to mark Fidelity Banks 15th anniversary celebrations, sought to reward eight (8) of the Banks most outstanding Agents and Agent Network Staff with the ultimate prize of an all-expenses paid vacation to Dubai.



This is in recognition of the pivotal role Fidelity Agents have played in expanding the Banks reach and driving its inclusive banking agenda.



At the end of the promotion in December 2022, the agents of S-Duah Enterprise, (Kumasi), Kofhay Mobile Money Ventures (Berekum), Frimaud Ventures (Accra Central), Quickeagle Services (Kasoa), Brilin Top Enterprise (Nkawkaw), Mupaason Enterprise (Tarkwa), Majesty Authentic (Kasoa), and Frimpee A1 Enterprise (Sunyani) were rewarded with the ultimate prize after emerging as the 8 overall best performing agents.



Additionally, ten (10) other deserving Agents were also rewarded with a lunch date with executives of Fidelity Bank, while six (6) Agents were rewarded with a weekend staycation at the Maaha Beach resort in the Western region.



Thirty other Agents who performed commendably were also rewarded with brand-new mobile phones during the promo.



Commenting on the promo, the Director of Channels and Sales at Fidelity Bank, Mr. Godfred Attafuah, expressed his gratitude to all Fidelity Bank Agents who responded to the call and played various roles to make the Yenko Dubai promo a success.



We, at Fidelity Bank are proud to maintain our position as a leader in the Agency Banking space. We acknowledge that we could not have come this far without the support of our agent partners and for that we are grateful, he added.



The Head of Agency Banking at Fidelity Bank, Dr. David Okyere, also indicated that the introduction of the Yenko Dubai promo has positively impacted the performance of Fidelity Banks Agents.



The performance of Fidelity Banks Agents in the last few months has been highly impressive. In fact, there was over 100% achievement for most of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) set for the campaign. This shows how committed our Agents have been to Fidelity Banks agenda of financial inclusion.



Dr. Okyere thanked the various stakeholders who contributed to the success of the campaign.



He also urged the Agents to look out for other exciting campaigns in the near-future, especially as the Bank is slated to celebrate ten (10) years of providing Agency Banking services in Ghana in 2023.



Fidelity Agency Banking was introduced as an alternative distribution channel after Fidelity Bank became the first bank to receive approval from the Bank of Ghana to operate the Agency Banking model in Ghana in 2013.



Today, Fidelity Bank has over 5000 Agents across all the regions of Ghana and maintains the distinction of being the market leader in Agency Banking.



About Fidelity Bank



In a little over a decade, Fidelity Bank Ghana has grown from a discount house to a Tier-1 Bank and is now the largest privately-owned Ghanaian Bank in Ghana.



The bank currently serves its approximately 2 million customers in 75 branches across Ghana and is a leader in the digital banking space.



The bank has two subsidiaries, Fidelity Asia Bank Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary in Malaysia and Fidelity Securities Limited, an asset management firm.



In a short period of time, Fidelity Bank has become a household name in Ghana by adopting a customer-centric culture and delivering consistently on the promise of making a difference in the lives of all stakeholders.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has cautioned prospective presidential candidates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the upcoming presidential primaries to show sportsmanship, and all should support the candidate who will win the primaries.



Im confident that the NPP is a better option when it comes to governance of this country. I hope the NPP will work hard to win the next election, the former president said.



Former President Agyekum Kufuor made this known when Mr Joe Ghartey, former Attorney General and Minister for Justice in the then Kufuor Administration, now a presidential aspirant climbed the Aburi Mountains for a pilgrimage to the residence of former President Agyekum Kufuor.



The visit afforded Mr Ghartey the opportunity to formally inform President Kufuor of his intention to contest the upcoming NPP Presidential Primaries.



Former President Kufuor reminded Mr Ghartey that the NPP belonged to all of them, and no one was bigger than the party.



It is important at all times to protect the integrity of the party," the former president stressed.



Former President Kufuor commended Mr Ghartey for what he described as a burning ambition to offer himself for service to the people over the years.



He reminded those present that the Western Region, where Mr Ghartey came from was very much part of the independence struggle in Ghana.



Former President Kufour took note of Mr Ghartey service in the Akufo-Addo Administration and emphasized the role of the railway workers.



He reminisced on the famous "bottom tree" which was where the railway workers met to take decisions.



Former President Kufuor stated that he was happy with Mr Joe Ghartey's performance and professionalism when he served under him as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.



Former President Kufuor recalled that before Mr Joe Ghartey's appointment, he was his mother Obaapanyin Ama Dapaah's lawyer and subsequently, his elder sister, Nana Durowaa's lawyer.



For his part Mr Joe Ghartey used the opportunity to thank former President Kufuor for appointing him as Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in 2006.



Mr Ghartey reminded President Kufuor of several incidents during his tenure which brought a smile to his face and a twinkle in his eyes.



Mr Ghartey told the former President Kufuor that "during the time, I never felt under any pressure from him to take any decision one way or another."



Mr Ghartey assured former President Kufuor that he would not do anything to bring the party into disrepute.



He assured him further and said: "I would run a clean campaign and not disparage any of the other contestants since as he said, and I also agreed, we must campaign in such a way that will allow us to come together after the contest and pursue a common goal."





Source: GNA









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The General Secretary of the Great Consolidated Peoples Party (GCPP), Ato Dadzie, is alleging that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is having sleepless nights in his attempt to find capable hands to replace two of his cabinet ministers who have resigned to pursue their ambitions of becoming flagbearers for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).



It is believed that the resignation of the two ministers has triggered the call for the president to reshuffle his appointees.



The replacement of the two ministers, namely Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen formerly of Trade and Industry and Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, formerly of Food and Agriculture, according to the GCPP General Secretary, has become a nightmare for the president.



Mr Dadzie who is a lawyer by profession made this allegation while speaking as a panellist on the Ghana Yensom morning show hosted by Odehyeeba Kofi Essuman on Accra 100.5 FM, Thursday, January 12, 2023.



He said many of the NPP stalwarts are shying away from the appointments being offered them by the president because of the abysmal performance of the government in the last couple of years.



He explained that many of the would-be appointees are not comfortable being a part of the government.



The would-be appointees are rejecting the positions because they don't want to be seen as last-minute substitutes in the eyes of the public, he said.



He further alleged that some of the capable hands who have been approached by the president have refused to be part of the Nana Akufo-Addo-led administration.



He was of the opinion that the government in the last couple of years has not been attractive to Ghanaians hence the decision by the would-be appointees.



He also said that popular party supporters are refusing to be a part of the government at this last hour.



He stressed that many of the party stalwarts contacted by the president are refusing to take up the appointments because the government has underperformed to the disappointment of Ghanaians, particularly in the past year.



According to him, he is on the side of the party stalwarts who are refusing to take up appointments at the last minute, adding that many of them want to see a dollar-pegged at GHS 4.20 pesewas.



Which is it not the case as we speak? he quizzed.



They also want to see Diesel being sold at GHS 5 per litre which is also not the case under the current administration, he concluded.









Source: class fm









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The eight students of the Chiana Senior High School (SHS) who were dismissed for insulting the President have been asked by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to report to the headmistress of the school for further directions.



This is as a result of the reversal of their dismissal, following the intervention by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



The GES has thus referred the matter of the eight girls to the schools internal disciplinary committee to explore alternative sanctions other than dismissal.



It said the affected students were dismissed based on a recommendation from the schools Disciplinary Committee.



Dismissal



Last Thursday, the female students were dismissed by the GES for insulting President Akufo-Addo in a video they recorded and shared on social media.

They were suspended last year prior to the dismissal, which the GES said was to serve as a deterrent to other students.



They were seen in a widely circulated video using vulgar and unprintable words on the President.



The video was in reaction to the President's national address on the economy on November 30, 2022, the address which was afterwards popularly referred to as largent naime pas le bruit, to wit, money does not like noise or sika mp dede.



The GES also apologised to the President and the public on behalf of the students and the school.



Sanctions



The GES subsequently referred the matter to the schools disciplinary committee to explore alternative sanctions



After the dismissal letters were handed over to them, the students were seen in another video apologising for their comments.



However, following their dismissal, the President intervened when his attention was drawn to it.



A statement from the Ministry of Education said the sector Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, had directed the GES to revise its decision.



The dismissal of the students last week elicited mixed reactions from the public. While some thought it would serve as a deterrent to others, some individuals and bodies thought it would jeopardise their future.



Social, emotional learning



Meanwhile, the Northern Network for Educational Development (NNED), a network of education-focused civil society organisations, has called for the introduction of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in schools.



That, it said, would help students better understand their thoughts and emotions to become more self-aware, develop more empathy for others within their environment and make responsible decisions.



The network was of the view that the classroom was where students were often first exposed to people from different backgrounds who held differing beliefs and views, hence such an intervention would help put all students on an equal footing to succeed.



The call comes in the wake of the action and subsequent dismissal of the eight students of the Chiana SHS which stirred controversy, resulting in an intervention by President Akufo-Addo just a day afterwards for their reinstatement.



Commendation/weak supervision



A lead member of the Northern, North East and Savannah Regional Chapter of the NNED and Executive Director of Savanna Signatures, Stephen Agbenyo, said with the dynamics of democracy and the rights of everyone, it was important to also educate particularly students on their responsibilities.



While condemning the language of the students in the viral video and reminding all that the freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution was not absolute, the NNED lead member blamed the authorities of the Chiana SHS for the gross indiscipline exhibited by the students.



"In our view, the act by the students exposes the weak supervision in our second-cycle educational institutions by school authorities, especially on the part of teachers and management committees who have direct oversight responsibility of the schools," he said.



He further maintained that if the authorities of the school had been diligent and up to the task, those students would not have had the chance to use unauthorised gadgets (mobile phones) in the school to record themselves and share same on social media.



He lauded the President for showing leadership and a good heart in intervening and helping to save the future of the girls.

Source: graphiconline.com









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A man who drowned in a bathtub at a Green Oaks senior apartment building in Park Forest Jan. 10 was submerged a few days before being discovered, according to a police report.

Police responded to Victory Center, 151 Main St., at 4:45 p.m. Jan. 10 for a well-being check call after the buildings manager, Erin Brewer, said she hadnt seen resident James Gordon, 81, in about two weeks, according to the police report.

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Brewer told police Gordon frequently came downstairs from his apartment and she became concerned when other residents stated they had not seen him either, according to the police report.

On Tuesday, Brewer told the Daily Southtown it is an apartment building for seniors to live independently, which means it operates like a standard apartment complex. Brewer said like a landlord, she cannot enter an apartment without calling police for assistance.

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When officers entered the apartment and opened the door to the bathroom, they found Gordon in the bathtub partially submerged in water, according to the police report. The bathtub drain was closed and the faucet was trickling.

Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday By submitting your email to receive this newsletter, you agree to our Subscriber Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy >

Gordon had signs of rigor mortis  the stiffening of the joints and muscles of a body one to four days after death  and early signs of decomposition, according to the report.

He was pronounced dead at 5:06 p.m. Jan. 10, according to the Cook County medical examiners office.

The autopsy determined the cause of death to be drowning with cardiovascular disease and diabetes as contributing factors, and the death was ruled an accident.

Officers were unable to contact Gordons family, according to the police report. His next of kin had not been notified by the Cook County medical examiner as of Tuesday, said spokeswoman Natalia Derevyanny.

Officers spoke with a resident of the building who said he had not seen Gordon for about four days. Another resident told police she last saw Gordon Jan. 4, according to the report.

The apartments are part of Green Oaks and described on its website as an affordable assisted lifestyle community with studio and one-bedroom apartments, each with its own kitchenette, private bathroom and emergency response system.

The Illinois Department of Public Health classifies the building as senior apartments, which differ from a licensed assisted living facility falling under its jurisdiction, said spokesman Michael Claffey.
The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MoFAD) is collaborating with the Ghana Maritime Authority to ensure that human rights abuses against fishers aboard fishing vessels on Ghanaian waters are dealt with.



Additionally, all fishing vessels that have been cleared to fish on Ghanaian waters have been directed to insure their vessels and also refurbish them to ensure the safety of all crew members.



Speaking in an interview with Graphic Online on the sidelines of the 14th session of the Conference of the Ministers of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea, which ended in Accra on Friday, January 13, 2023, Madam Hawa Koomson, said nobody has the right to abuse any Ghanaian fishing observer on any vessel.



FCWC



The 14th session of the Conference of the Ministers of the Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea, which was done both in-person and online, was on the theme: Supporting effective fisheries management for a sustainable blue economy.



The conference was attended by the fisheries ministers of the six FCWC member states (Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Liberia, Benin and Cote d'Ivoire) or their representatives.



The sessions participants deliberated on the theme, reviewed the past years results, and agreed on a work plan and budget for 2023/2024.



The FCWC was established in 2007 to promote and facilitate cooperation in fisheries management between the member countries.



Abuses



For Madam Hawa Koomson, abusing any fishing observer means abusing the authority that put the observer on the vessel.



because if you abuse the observer, its me, the minister, you are abusing because he is representing me on the vessel at the expedition, she noted.



The Fisheries Minister said it is worrying for fishers or observers to be abused on fishing vessels, saying you cannot abuse the observer.



According to her, the Ghanaian fishing observer who got missing on a fishing vessel some years ago was still being investigated by the Marine Police.



That, Madam Hawa Koomson noted, the Ministry has not lost track of the case and that it will put more pressure on the police to expedite things.



She said the new directives on the safety of observers and fishers, as well as efforts to prevent human rights abuses on the vessels, will help to improve the welfare of all fishing crew members aboard any vessel on Ghanaian waters.



She explains that per the new arrangements with the Ghana Maritime Authority, all fishing vessels are strictly inspected under varied checklists before they are allowed to set sail.



For her, all the 19 vessels currently fishing on Ghanaian waters have good places for their crew members to sleep and cook.



Madam Hawa Koomson added that when the vessels also arrive at the ports, they are inspected and the fishing observers interrogated to find out if anyone had been abused either physically or verbally.



When the vessels arrive, we call the observer and ask him whether any form of abuse was done to him, she said.



She noted that formerly the observers were not given fish when they returned from sea but now they are given part of the catch.











Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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There is currently a heavy security presence in Buipe in the Savanna Region following some disturbances in the area.



The military and police presence comes after some persons stormed the police station and the palace of the Buipewura to demand the release of eight people who were arrested.



During the protest, an individual was injured when police fired a warning shot to disperse the protestors.



He has however been taken to the hospital for treatment.



According to citinews.com, eight persons were arrested for the alleged involvement in razing down some houses belonging to some Fulanis in protest against the enskinment of a Fulani as a chief of Mande.



The Secretary of Buipewura Jinapor II, Neripewura Abubakari Kitson Panfia, said measures have been put in place to restore calm.











Source: ghanaweb.com









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Founder and Leader of the Prophetic Hill Chapel, Prophet Nigel Gaisie, has asserted that his prophecy about John Dramani Mahama being re-elected was spiritually hijacked and manipulated.



Nigel Gaisie claims that it is not uncommon for evil spirits to hijack prophecies in the spiritual realm but his prophecy was instructed by God so it shall come to pass.



Prophecies can be hijacked. We can prophesy and it can be hijacked by spiritual powers or evil men, but that does not mean that the prophecy wont come to pass. With time it will surely come to pass. So, as were living lets pray for life all the prophecies will come to pass. The last election it was clear, where I am sitting as a prophet of God it went well for the NDC members. Anybody who doesnt wants to be biased will tell you the truth. Even the NPP members know that Im a prophet and what I said came to pass.



So, the prophecy was hijacked. And it is still in the womb of time waiting to manifest and if God permits 2024 it will manifest.

I have a mandate from God to make sure that the prophecy comes to pass.

I was in Israel praying and God said I should come and tell Ghanaians this, it will amaze you that the former president I dont even call him, and we dont talk, he said in an interview with Onua TV.



Prophet Nigel Gaisie during the 31-night watch service released a number of prophecies that he claims are bound to happen in 2023.



Gaisie outlined prophecies that relate to a nation he claimed was called The Republic of Yemp Nokware  a nation that bears similarities with Ghana.



He issued a disclaimer at the beginning of his prophecy session that his words were of the spiritual and not the physical world.



I want to say this is a disclaimer, I am in the spirit and I am in the church behind the pulpit. I am not talking in my human sense; I am talking as a spiritual person.



The intention is not to cause fear and panic, prophecies are utterances led by the spirit of God through vision, trans and dreams and our five senses, he added.



He mentioned three scriptures that backed his position on prophecies being divine and continued: On the strength of these scriptures, I repeat again, I am not prophesying to the nation and people of Ghana.



If you are in Ghana, you can respectfully log off or switch off your TV, I am prophesying to the Republic of Yemp Nokware.











Source: ghanaweb.com









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A directive to deny continuing students of the Commonwealth Hall at the University of Ghana access to the hall is still in place.



The management of University of Ghana (UG) introduced a residential policy which directed continuing students of Commonwealth Hall and male students of Mensah Sarbah Hall to be assigned to other residential facilities on campus.



Some students of Commonwealth Hall have been stuck outside the hall premises since the first day of reopening for students [Thursday 12th January 2023] due to the new directive.



Security has been beefed up on campus to prevent the affected students from occupying the hall.



Some stranded students on campus from Commonwealth Hall, usually referred to as Vandals, who spoke to Happy FMs / Etv.Ghanas Joseph Nii Ankrah said We came here and the schools security said they will not allow us to enter the hall. I have been here since 12th January with my luggage and other items. I dont know where they want us to go. I will sleep under the tree today, one of the frustrated continuing students said.



Another stranded student said. They have given me another hall which is very expensive, my parents cannot afford the fee. Lectures have started today; 16th January and Im supposed to go but because I dont have anywhere to stay and keep my belongings, I could not attend lectures. Im depressed and stressed about the whole situation.



It would be recalled that, some 8 disgruntled students of Commonwealth Hall secured an interlocutory injunction on January 6, 2023, restraining the management of UG from implementing the new residential policy and directing the school to revert to the status quo prior to the announcement of the policy.



However, the management of UG argued that the directive had taken off long before the injunction was secured, indicating that about 83 per cent of Commonwealth Hall students had agreed and accepted placement to other accommodation facilities provided by the university.



But on Thursday, January 12, 2023, some continuing students arrived on campus to see a heavy security presence, preventing them from accessing the traditional hall.



The measures which took effect from the beginning of the 2022 academic year, were to prevent future occurrences of violence between Commonwealth Hall and Mensah Sarbah Hall students. Continuing students of Commonwealth Hall and male students of Mensah Sarbah Hall are not to return to their halls or any of the traditional halls.



Rather, they have randomly been assigned to available rooms in the UGEL hostels available on campus.



Continuing female students of Mensah Sarbah Hall and students with special needs in both halls are exempted by this measure.



Also from the 2022/2023 academic year, only Level 100 and graduate students (Masters and PhD level) will be assigned to Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth Halls and subsequently, undergraduate students will vacate the halls at the end of Level 100 and could secure accommodation in the private hostels from Level 200 until completion.



For Level 100 students who opt for traditional halls, they will be randomly assigned to the halls and progressively, all the traditional halls (Mensah Sarbah, Commonwealth, Volta, Legon and Akuafo halls) will be reserved for Level 100 and graduate students only, culminating into a full in-out-out-out policy by 2025/2026.



To improve upon security on campus, the university council said it was installing CCTV cameras and Electronic Access control systems in all halls.









Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is a convention-defying politician in more ways than one. His signature policy since taking office, the digitalisation agenda, is one that has raised many eyebrows as it is out of the box.



Recently, his gold-for-oil policy is another unconventional idea he pulled out of a box to deal with a persistent problem.



This unconventional nature appears to be paying dividends in more ways than one for Bawumia. At a point where the country is facing numerous challenges and politicians remain unpopular, Bawumia appears to buck this trend.



Over the weekend, the Vice President managed to unwittingly turn a funeral into a rally ground as he was mobbed unendingly by attendees at the funeral of the late mother of Dr Dominic Eduah.



The Executive Director of the GNPC Foundation held the final funeral rites for his late mother at Ajumako in the Central Region.



The Veep appeared at the funeral with some other NPP members, but the crowd visibly went wild when his presence was announced.



He was unendingly mobbed by excited funeral attendees as the program was temporarily turned into a rally ground.



Samira Bawumia, who was in the company of her husband, also received tons of cheers.



The cheering throng signalled approval of Dr Bawumias expected Presidential bid.



Dr Bawumia has become accustomed to cheering crowds of late.



A few weeks ago, Bawumia was similarly hailed by the cheering masses in Tamale after single-handedly funding the renovation of Tamales Central Mosque.



Bawumia handed over the completed project to the leadership of the mosque including the Regional Chief Imam, Shaykh Abdul Salam.



During the ceremony, the leadership of the mosque expressed gratitude to the Veep over his selfless act whilst the gathered masses hailed him as a hero.



Bawumia is expected to run for the NPP flagbearer position although he is yet to formally announce his intentions.



He is expected to face stiff competition from former Trade Minister, Alan Kyeremanten, Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong and others.



However, whilst Bawumia has yet to formally announce his bid, many political observers place him as the firm frontrunner for the position and videos such as this prove how he evokes completely different reactions in the electorate than most of his other competitors.

Source: https://theghanaianvoice.com/









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This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

A visualization from space of the Godzilla dust storm on June 18, 2020, when desert dust traveled from the Sahara to North America. A UCLA study finds that an increase in microscopic dust in the atmosphere has concealed the full extent of greenhouse gases potential for warming the planet. Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

A new study shows that global atmospheric dustmicroscopic airborne particles from desert dust stormshas a slight overall cooling effect on the planet that has hidden the full amount of warming caused by greenhouse gases.

The UCLA research, published today in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, found that the amount of desert dust has grown roughly 55% since the mid-1800s, which increased the dust's cooling effect.

The study is the first to demonstrate the overall cooling effect of atmospheric desert dust. Some effects of atmospheric dust warm the planet, but because other effects of dust actually counteract warmingfor example by scattering sunlight back into space and dissipating high clouds that warm the planetthe study calculated that dust's overall effect is a cooling one.

Should dust levels declineor even simply stop growingwarming could ramp up, said UCLA atmospheric physicist Jasper Kok, the study's lead author.

"We show desert dust has increased, and most likely slightly counteracted greenhouse warming, which is missing from current climate models," said Kok, who studies how particulate matter affects the climate. "The increased dust hasn't caused a whole lot of coolingthe climate models are still closebut our findings imply that greenhouses gases alone could cause even more climate warming than models currently predict," he said.

Kok compared the revelation to discovering, while driving a car at high speed, that the vehicle's emergency brake had been partly engaged. Just as fully releasing the brake could cause the car to move even faster, a stop to the increase in dust levels could slightly speed up global warming.

While atmospheric desert dust levels have increased overall since pre-industrial times, the trend has not been steadythere have been upticks and declines along the way. Because there are so many natural and human-influenced variables that can cause dust levels to increase or decrease, scientists cannot accurately project how the amounts of atmospheric dust will change in the coming decades.

Some of the microscopic airborne particles created by burning fossil fuels also temporarily contribute to cooling, Kok said. But while scientists have spent decades determining the consequences of these human-made aerosols, the precise warming or cooling effect of desert dust remained unclear until now. The challenge researchers faced was to determine the cumulative effect of the known warming and cooling effects of dust.

In addition to atmospheric interactions with sunlight and cloud cover, when dust drops back to earth, it can darken snow and ice by settling on them, making them absorb more heat. Dust also cools the planet by depositing nutrients like iron and phosphorus. When those nutrients land in the ocean, for example, they support the growth of phytoplankton that take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, thereby causing a net cooling effect, Kok said.

Human actions have warmed the planet by 1.2 degrees Celsius, or 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit, since about 1850. Without the increase in dust, climate change would likely have warmed the planet by about 0.1 degree Fahrenheit more already, Kok said. With the planet nearing the 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit of warming that scientists consider especially dangerous, every tenth of a degree matters, Kok said.

"We want climate projections to be as accurate as possible, and this dust increase could have masked up to 8% of the greenhouse warming," Kok said. "By adding the increase in desert dust, which accounts for over half of the atmosphere's mass of particulate matter, we can increase the accuracy of climate model predictions. This is of tremendous importance because better predictions can inform better decisions of how to mitigate or adapt to climate change."

The researchers used satellite and ground measurements to quantify the current amount of microscopic mineral particles in the air. They determined that there were 26 million tons of such particles globallyequivalent to the weight of about 5 million African elephants floating in the sky.

They next looked at the geologic record, gathering data from ice cores, marine sediment records and samples from peat bogs, which all show the layers of atmospheric dust that had fallen from the sky. Samples from around the world showed a steady increase in desert dust.

Dust can increase as a result of drier soils, higher wind speed and human land-use changesdiverting water for irrigation and turning marginal desert regions into grazing and agricultural land, for example. While increases in dust levels due to those types of land-use changes have taken place primarily on the borders of the world's largest deserts, like the Sahara and Sahel in Africa and Asia's Gobi desert, Kok said, similar changes have taken place in California's Owens Lake and are occurring now in the Salton Sea, also in California.

But the factors that account for increased dust levels are not clear-cut or linear, Kok said, and whether the amounts of desert particulates will increase, decrease or remain relatively flat is unknown.

Kok emphasized that while the increase in atmospheric dust has somewhat masked the full potential of greenhouse gases to warm the climate, the findings don't show that climate models are wrong.

"The climate models are very useful in predicting future climate change, and this finding could further improve their usefulness," Kok said.

More information: Jasper F. Kok et al, Mineral dust aerosol impacts on global climate and climate change, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s43017-022-00379-5
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

Example Data Gap Area in Marin County. Credit: SHALLOW GROUNDWATER RESPONSE TO SEA-LEVEL RISE: Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties (2023)

Amid dramatic ocean swells and drenching atmospheric rivers, a new report lays bare a hidden aspect of sea level rise that has been exacerbating flooding in the Bay Area.

The report, which was released Tuesday, maps areas that could flood from groundwater hovering just a few feet, or even inches below ground. This layer of water gets pushed upward as denser water from the ocean moves inland from rising tides. On its way up, even before the water breaks the surface, it can seep into the cracks of basements, infiltrate plumbing, or, even more insidiously, re-mobilize toxic chemicals buried underground.

Communities that consider themselves "safe" from sea level rise might need to think otherwise, said Kris May, a lead author of the report and founder of Pathways Climate Institute, a research-based consulting firm in San Francisco that helps cities adapt to climate change.

"I started working on sea level rise, then I went into extreme precipitation, and then groundwater  but it's all connected," May said. She noted that hot spots where the soil is already saturated with rising groundwater were some of the first to flood when a recent series of atmospheric rivers dumped record rainfall onto California: "These huge storms really highlight the magnitude of the risk."

The new findings are the result of an unprecedented joint effort by May, the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI), UC Berkeley and a wide-ranging team of regulators, building officials, and flood-control agencies to identify where the groundwater along the bay shoreline is close to, or already breaking, the surface. A set of searchable maps, available online to the public, zooms in on Alameda, Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo countiesthe first of many jurisdictions that researchers hope will undergo this intensive data-refining process.

The maps build on a new but growing body of research. In 2020, another study led by the U.S. Geological Survey laid the groundwork for this issue along California's 1,200-mile coast, and state toxic substances control officials have since started their own mapping efforts to better understand how rising groundwater might affect contaminated land.

Similar research into vulnerable communities in Southern California is now also being conducted by a team led by Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Northridge.

This emerging flood risk raises many tough questions, but the data so far make clear the need for urgent action.

"We really need to focus on where contaminants may be mobilized by rising groundwater, because that could have an immediate impact on a 6-year-old, or a pregnant woman, or someone who has extra vulnerability in their immune system," said Kristina Hill, a UC Berkeley researcher who has been particularly concerned about underserved communities like Marin City and historically industrial areas like East Oakland, where much of the soil is contaminated. "This [remobilization] could be happening now while it's wet outside."

When talking about groundwater, there are two types to keep in mind: One, the kind researchers are now worried about, is the unconfined water that gathers in the pore spaces of soil very close to the surface. This is the water that runs off streets and soaks into the ground. The other type, confined in aquifers many hundreds of feet deep, is the water that we tap for drinking.

When the tide moves inland, the shallow freshwater tends to float on top of the denser saltwaterand gets pushed upward toward the surface as sea levels rise. Because the shallow groundwater is not consumed, few people have studied this layer of water in California.

Hill, who directs the Institute of Urban and Regional Development at UC Berkeley, first realized almost a decade ago that this shallow groundwater layer had been overlooked in sea level rise conversations. Together with May and Ellen Plane, who is now an environmental scientist at SFEI, she analyzed data from 10,000 wells across the Bay Area and concluded more than twice as much land could flood from groundwater as the ocean continued to rise.

Then, in a remarkable move to turn these first approximation studies into data that government agencies would actually use, the researchers called on the officials themselves to help fill in the data gaps. City and county staff tracked down geotechnical reports and other possibly useful records that had been archived in various (and often siloed) departments. They sifted through hundreds of PDFs and spreadsheets to compile all the underground data that had been gathered for construction permits and projects.

Public works staff then vetted the updated maps with their own observationssuch as storm drains that back up during high tide and roads that tend to flood even when it's not pouring.

Patterns emerged. Many of the communities most exposed to flooding were built along historical creeks or on top of filled-in wetlands. When you overlay 5.5 feet of sea level rise on the map, the water is projected to move back in to essentially every wetland area that has been filled.

Officials in San Francisco are already taking this data into account as they consider new building projects. Other cities and counties are starting to rethink their flood-protection optionsa traditional levee or seawall, after all, would do nothing to stop the groundwater as it moves with the rising sea.

Ultimately, officials need to figure out what to do with all the contaminated sites along the bay that are still awaiting cleanupor those that need to be further remediated, said Hill, who has been finalizing another set of maps that will show where, and in which direction, rising groundwater might remobilize harmful chemicals underground. The oft-used approach of "capping" a toxic waste site rather than actually removing the contamination from the soil, for example, may no longer be sufficient.

Regulators at the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board have been following all this research with great interest and are already diving into the updated maps, said Assistant Executive Officer Lisa Horowitz McCann. The board recently ordered 16 bayfront landfills to account for groundwater rise in their long-term flood protection plans, and caseworkers are now going through hundreds of cases to figure out which sites need further action.

"This data further empowersand actually legally supportsstronger actions that we can take," Horowitz McCann said. "We're looking at a bigger universe of cases now."

Researchers hope to continue this mapping work for the rest of the Bay Area. Next up is Contra Costa County in the East Bay, where a number of historically contaminated sites are being considered for redevelopment along the industrialized shoreline of Richmond.

A lot more work also needs to be done to understand what the actual damage will look like for gas lines, septic systems, foundations and other buried infrastructure, said Patrick Barnard, whose research team at the U.S. Geological Survey has done extensive flood modeling that is used by officials across the state.

"We need to start merging this information with the engineering world," he said. "We built everything assuming the soil is dry what does it mean to have it now be saturated all the time?"

Barnard has also been studying what scientists are starting to call "compound extremes." What do we do when seawater is trying to push in during a high tide, at the same time our rivers and storm drains are trying to flush excess rainwater into the ocean, and the ground can't absorb anything because the groundwater is also flooding?

"We looked at this in one case for the Napa River, and basically, your average annual winter storm could turn into the 100-year flood event if the ground is already saturated," he said. "Add any amount of rain on top of it, even amounts that are not usually catastrophic  and they turn into catastrophic impacts."

For Chris Choo, the planning manager for Marin County, helping the latest mapping effort has been eye-opening in more ways than one. She has spent years helping communities plan for climate change, and the challenges have only gotten more complicated the more each disaster seems to overwhelm the next.

"We went from drought, drought, drought and being really worried that we don't have enough water, to suddenly, within two weeks, seeing the impacts of having way too much of it," she said, noting not just the flooded roads that have kept her colleagues working around the clock, but also the powerful surf that ripped through much of California earlier this month and even split a pier in two.

"People still tend to think of these things as isolated terrible things, rather than as part of a collective shift  in what the future might hold," she said. "We live in nature and too often think of ourselves as separate from it  but nature is still very much in charge."

More information: Report: PDF

2023 Los Angeles Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Graphical abstract of the approach to developing a material with photocatalytic activity against organic pollutants and bacteria. Credit: St. Petersburg State University

Chemists from St Petersburg University have developed a method for purifying water from organic compounds using tin oxide nanoparticle based photocatalysts. The findings of the research are published in the Journal of Alloys and Compounds .

Water pollution is an acute environmental issue. Due to the high rate of industrial development and increasing volumes of wastewater, the ecology of water bodies is deteriorating. Scientists are therefore working hard to develop new ways of treating industrial discharges that would quickly and without unnecessary waste purify water from complex pollutants such as organic dyes.

One of the most promising approaches in wastewater treatment technology to purify water is to use photocatalysis. It is a process in which light energy is used to trigger chemical reactions to break down organic compounds into carbon dioxide and water through the presence of a catalysta special material in the form of nanoparticles. Until now, there has been no understanding of what exactly determines the efficiency and speed of such purification: the size of the particles, the features of their structure or their composition. The researchers from St Petersburg University have found the answer to this question.

The chemists from St Petersburg University proposed a systematic approach to matching a particular pollutant with nanoparticles for use in photocatalytic water purification units. The materials developed exhibit photocatalytic activity when exposed to visible light from ordinary diode lamps, which in all respects are cheaper and easier to operate than the ultraviolet ones used previously.

"We offer a fundamentally new approach, which can be compared to a road navigation system. For example, you can use an ordinary paper map when choosing a route to your destination, plotting your route yourself in real time, guided by road signs and the situation.

"We propose an algorithm similar to modern navigation systems which, for any desired destination, process several route options, analyze the current traffic situation and select the shortest route. Whereas previously the materials for photocatalysts were chosen almost at random, today this process is becoming thoughtful and well-founded," said Anastasiia Podurets, principal investigator of the project and an early career researcher in the Department of General and Inorganic Chemistry at St Petersburg University.

Nanoparticles based on tin dioxide containing three elements (cobalt, nickel, copper) were used. The research team of synthesis and research of nanoparticles and nanostructured materials carried out a large-scale study of nanoparticles formation processes and products of photocatalytic decomposition of pollutants under different conditions.

The scientists have found out that in order to create an effective catalyst, it is necessary to organize its synthesis in such a way that a solid body with the maximum number of oxygen vacancieslattice defects when there are no individual atoms in itis formed. It is the vacancies that allow the emerging electron-hole pairs to be transferred to the surface of nanoparticles, where they play a major role in the destruction of pollutant molecules. It is important not to have too many other defects, otherwise the result will be the opposite. The approach developed has been proven with the widely used organic dye methylene blue and the antibiotic oxytetracycline.

Studies on water remediation methods using nanoparticles have also been published in the journals Materials Chemistry and Physics and Journal of Hazardous Materials.

In addition to photocatalysis, the scientists demonstrated the antibacterial activity of the synthesized nanoparticles using E. coli bacteria. As the mechanisms of destruction of organic molecules are similar to those used for neutralizing bacteria, effective photocatalysts are also capable of destroying the corresponding bacteria.

The researchers say that this method is also applicable to other pollutants: Special calculations are needed to understand how to change the parameters of nanoparticles against different pollutants.

More information: Anastasiia Podurets et al, Experimental and computational study of Ni-doped SnO2 as a photocatalyst and antibacterial agent for water remediation: The way for a rational design, Journal of Alloys and Compounds (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.166950 Journal information: Journal of Hazardous Materials
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A. Satellite image showing nest boxes distributed across the eight sites that constitute the Putah Creek Nestbox Highway in Californias Central Valley in 2020. B. Red arrow indicates one of the study sites, as detailed in the map below, classified by habitat type alongside nest box locations. C. Inset map shows the location of the study area in northern California. Credit: Biological Conservation (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109885

Spring is the sweet spot for breeding songbirds in California's Central Valleynot too hot, not too wet. But climate change models indicate the region will experience more rainfall during the breeding season, and days of extreme heat are expected to increase. Both changes threaten the reproductive success of songbirds, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.

The study, published January 16 in the journal Biological Conservation, details how extreme heat and rainfall patterns have impacted songbirds along the Putah Creek Nestbox Highway in Yolo County.

While centered in the Central Valley, the study serves as a warning for other Mediterranean ecosystems.

"The changes happening in California's Central Valleyincreasing temperatures, wetter springs, greater variabilitythose impacts are happening across Mediterranean landscapes," said lead author Jason Riggio, a postdoctoral scholar with the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology. "In spaces where birds are already in an extremely variable climate, small changes will make a big difference."

The study also offers signs that some birds adapt to modified systems. For example, western bluebirds and tree swallows are finding as much reproductive success in orchards near Putah Creek as in their natural habitat. For these species, the orchards are not the ecological traps researchers initially expected them to be. Other species prefer to build their homes in riparian forest and grassland habitats.

Me first! No me! Tree swallow fledglings ready to meet the world. South Fork Preserve, Yolo County, California, June 2014. Credit: Evelien de Greef, UC Davis

Nestboxes of data

Climate models predict that regional precipitation is expected to decrease from October-January and to increase from February-Aprilpushing into the birds' breeding season. Also, an estimated 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) increase in average maximum temperature by 2100 will challenge species already at their temperature limits.

To study the impacts of these changes on songbirds, the researchers analyzed 11 years-worth of data collected by Nestbox Highway project staff and its cadre of undergraduate interns from the UC Davis Museum of Fish and Wildlife. This included 2,305 nesting attempts and more than 7,100 nestlings across four species of cavity-nesting songbirdswestern bluebirds, house wrens, tree swallows and ash-throated flycatchers.

They found that bird fitness declined amid extreme precipitation or temperatures. Wetter nesting periods lowered reproductive success and nestling weight in house wrens, tree swallows and western bluebirds. Higher temperatures during the breeding season also resulted in lower reproductive success and nestling weight for all four species.

"Across these results, it appears the effects of climate change in California's Central Valley and in Mediterranean systems globallyare likely to have broad and mostly negative impacts on cavity-nesting songbird reproduction," Riggio said.

He adds that there are still pockets of songbirds doing well in both natural and modified habitats, and that protecting the fragments of habitat left can benefit species confronting environmental changes.

Build a box, bring back a bird

Study co-author Melanie Truan, a research ecologist with the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, began the Nestbox Highway in 2000 as a graduate student in an effort to bring songbirds back to Putah Creek.

Many native cavity-nesting songbirds had lost their nesting opportunities as non-native birds increased and as large trees with the holes they favored were replaced by agricultural and other land uses. Western bluebirds, once abundant in the region, had become largely non-existent in the area.

One hundred nest boxes were installed that first year, attracting a family of bluebirds, among other birds. Now, more than 200 boxes draw hundreds of bluebirdsand several other bird speciesto Putah Creek and the surrounding region. Staff and undergraduate interns check the boxes weekly to record the progress of nesting attempts, eggs and nestlings. Before fledging, all nestlings are measured and banded.

"The Nestbox Highway project is the most uplifting and encouraging part of what I do," said Truan. "I'm so happy this project that started as a let's-see-what-happens conservation and education project is turning into something that can provide data for research."

The study also highlights the importance of long-term data sets to help unravel the impacts of climate and land-use change on birds and other species.

More information: Jason Riggio et al, Long-term monitoring reveals the impact of changing climate and habitat on the fitness of cavity-nesting songbirds, Biological Conservation (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2022.109885 Journal information: Biological Conservation
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The Yangtze finless porpoise is the world's only freshwater porpoise. Credit: Huangdan2060, licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Over 50 billion tons of sand is mined every yearand it's pushing species to the brink of extinction.

Researchers found that the Yangtze finless porpoise faced habitat loss and a reduced range as a result of the practice, but a suspension of sand mining offers hope that they could recover.

Our insatiable appetite for sand is pushing a critically endangered porpoise towards extinction.

After water, sand is thought to be the world's most extracted natural resource, with a vast range of roles including manufacturing and coastal defense. Its extraction impacts a range of freshwater and marine habitats, but despite its prevalence the industry remains largely unregulated.

A new study, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows that sand mining can have significant impacts on species that live in these ecosystems. Researchers found that populations of the Yangtze finless porpoise in Dongting Lake, China, were being found in increasingly smaller areas, likely as a result of sand mining.

Richard Sabin, the Museum's principal curator of mammals and who was not involved in the study, says, "Everybody needs sand. It's used for construction, glass manufacture, agriculture and much more, so there is enormous worldwide demand for it."

"Unfortunately, the extraction of sand is a hugely damaging industry. Wherever it takes place, it can have a huge effect on the surrounding ecosystems. In the face of massive demand for raw materials by humans, we have to ensure that nature is protected."

But the researchers also suggest that the porpoise is able to recover from these declines, if given the chance. Following a suspension of sand mining in the lake in 2017, the mammals returned to perturbed waters within two years, offering hope that their populations could begin to stabilize.

"Studies have shown that ecosystems and species can bounce back, when given the chance," Richard adds. "The Yangtze finless porpoise has a slow rate of reproduction, but with appropriate support to restabilize the ecosystem upon which it depends, there's every hope that it can recover."

What is the Yangtze finless porpoise, and what threats does it face?

The Yangtze finless porpoise is the only freshwater porpoise in the world. A member of the cetaceans, the group of animals which also includes dolphins and whales, two species and three subspecies of finless porpoise are currently recognized.

"The most widely distributed member of this taxonomic group is the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise," Richard explains. "This is found in a long strip of ocean from the Persian Gulf around to the East China Sea, and tends to inhabit fairly shallow coastal waters."

"In 2008, a second speciesthe narrow-ridged finless porpoisewas separated from the Indo-Pacific finless porpoise. It's found from the Taiwan Strait up to North Korea and Japan."

Whether the Yangtze finless porpoise is a species in its own right is still debated, but one aspect of its life which sets it apart from its relatives is its habitat. Genetic analysis suggests that the Yangtze finless porpoise diverged from its marine relatives between 5,000 and 40,000 years ago, entering freshwater rivers.

Sand mining has been suggested as one cause of the Yangtze finless porpoise's decline. Credit: Huangdan2060, licensed under CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

For thousands of years the porpoises have lived in these waterways, consuming a range of fish. But as humans have begun to settle along the rivers, the porpoise's close proximity to man has put it under pressure.

"It's been known for a long time that the Yangtze finless porpoise is the most critically endangered of its taxonomic group," Richard says. "Rivers are prime for exploitation in terms of damming for energy production, food harvesting and dumping effluent, and these can all put pressure on freshwater cetaceans."

"It's not that long since the Yangtze River dolphin was lost, and we don't want this porpoise to meet the same fate."

Overfishing, increased shipping traffic and noise pollution have all been linked with the decline of the porpoise, which only breeds once every 18 months or so. Its slow reproductive rate is one of the factors considered in a 2012 paper which suggests the species has an 86% chance of becoming extinct in the next century.

The threat of sand mining adds another factor to be considered. While the practice has been taking place for many years, the number of sand mining vessels on Dongting lake grew substantially after 2006, reaching a peak of 80 in 2013 when almost 70% of the lake was being mined for sand.

Can the Yangtze finless porpoise recover?

The researchers behind the current study of the porpoises conducted a number of surveys between 2006 and 2019 in Dongting lake, which is connected to the Yangtze River by a channel, using counts, acoustic surveys and the study of satellite images.

They found that sand mining was increasingly dividing up the population, with gaps between porpoises reaching as far as 27 kilometers in 2009. This is over a third of the porpoise's entire range in the lake, and could increase stress among the animals, particularly during pregnancy.

The researchers also found that the porpoise stopped being seen passing under the Dongting Lake Bridge and entering the channel that leads to the main body of the Yangtze River.

They suggested that the sheer number of mining boats on the water meant that they formed an effective barrier across the waterway, which could also prevent the porpoise's prey fish from reaching the lake.

However, there was room for optimism in the surveys. Sand mining on the lake was banned in 2017, and access to the Yangtze River restored, which has seen the porpoise return to areas of the lake it had previously avoided.

More recently, the Chinese government announced a crackdown on illegal sand mining along the river's entire length.

"The suspension of sand mining in 2017 was a very positive move, and could give this important ecosystem a chance to recover," Richard says. "It shows that nature can be given room to thrive even in one of the world's most rapidly industrializing countries, and hopefully the Yangtze finless porpoise will start to recover."

The situation of the Yangtze finless porpoise stands in stark contrast to the vaquita, a critically endangered porpoise found in Mexico. Fewer than 10 of this species are thought to survive as a result of being caught in gillnets, with fishing bans having so far proved ineffective.

Only by allowing space for nature, and limiting our impacts on ecosystems, will these rare porpoises have a chance of survival.

More information: Yi Han et al, Ecological impacts of unsustainable sand mining: urgent lessons learned from a critically endangered freshwater cetacean, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1786 Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

This story is republished courtesy of Natural History Museum. Read the original story here
La Grange Public Library has a new executive director.

Jennifer Hovanec has accepted the position and is scheduled to begin her new role in La Grange on Jan. 25., according to a news release.

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Hovanec has been serving as Circulation Manager at Northbrook Public Library, and as a Trustee for the Villa Park Public Library, the release said. She also served as the Calumet City Public Library Director. Hovanec earned her masters degree in library science from Dominican University, and her bachelors degree in English literature from Benedictine University.

I am honored to be joining the team at the La Grange Public Library as Executive Director, Hovanec said in the release. Both the Board of Trustees and staff wowed me with their enthusiasm for their community and passion for library work. I am looking forward to collaborating with the staff, trustees and community partners throughout the Village of La Grange.

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According to the release, the Library Board of Trustees began a national search for the new executive director in September with the assistance of Bradbury Miller Associates when former director Charity Gallardo accepted the role of Executive Director at Schenectady County Public Library System in Schenectady, New York.

We are thrilled Jenn will be leading our team. Her broad background in libraries and management, along with her infectious enthusiasm for the patrons and staff, make her a great fit for the La Grange community. We look forward to working with her, Library Board President Elizabeth Crewe, said.
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Climate, nuclear and Covid-19 threats made worst by misinformation in 2022 have left the "Doomsday Clock" countdown at 100 seconds to midnight.

Tick, tick, tick. An update is coming to the "Doomsday Clock," representing the judgment of leading science and security experts about the perils to human existence.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced on Tuesday that they will announce at 10:00 am (1500 GMT) on January 24 whether the time of the symbolic clock will change.

The organization describes the clock as a "metaphor for how close humanity is to self-annihilation."

A decision to reset the hands of the clock is taken annually by the Bulletin's science and security board and its board of sponsors, which includes 11 Nobel laureates.

For 2023, the Bulletin said they will take into account the Russia-Ukraine war, bio-threats, proliferation of nuclear weapons, the continued climate crisis, state-sponsored disinformation campaigns and disruptive technologies.

The hands of the clock are currently at 100 seconds to midnight.

It was originally set at seven minutes to midnight.

The furthest it has ever been is 17 minutes, following the end of the Cold War in 1991.

The Bulletin was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J Robert Oppenheimer and other scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project which produced the first nuclear weapons.

The idea of the clock symbolizing global vulnerability to catastrophe followed in 1947.

 2023 AFP
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This reprocessed colour view of Jupiters moon Europa was made from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In the coming years, NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) will send two robotic missions to explore Jupiter's icy moon Europa. These are none other than NASA's Europa Clipper and the ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), which will launch in 2024, and 2023 (respectively). Once they arrive by the 2030s, they will study Europa's surface with a series of flybys to determine if its interior ocean could support life. These will be the first astrobiology missions to an icy moon in the outer solar system, collectively known as "ocean worlds."

One of the many challenges for these missions is how to mine through the thick icy crusts and obtain samples from the interior ocean for analysis. According to a proposal by Dr. Theresa Benyo (a physicist and the principal investigator of the lattice confinement fusion project at NASA's Glenn Research Center), a possible solution is to use a special reactor that relies on fission and fusion reactions. This proposal was selected for Phase I development by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program.

The list of ocean worlds is long and varied, ranging from Ceres in the Main Asteroid Belt, the moons of Jupiter (Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa), Saturn (Titan, Enceladus, and Dione), Neptune's largest moon (Triton), and Pluto and other bodies in the Kuiper Belt. These worlds are all believed to have interior oceans heated by tidal flexing due to gravitational interaction with their parent body or (in the case of Ceres and Pluto) the decay of radioactive elements. Further evidence of these oceans and activity includes surface plumes and striated features indicating exchanges between the surface and interior.

The main challenge for exploring the interiors of these worlds is the thickness of their ice sheets, which can be up to 40 km (25 mi) deep. In Europa's case, different models have yielded estimates of between 15 and 25 km (10 and 15 mi). In addition, the proposed probe will need to contend with hydrostatic ice with varying compositions (such as ammonia and silicate rock) at different depths, pressures, temperatures, and densities. It will also have to contend with water pressure, maintain communications with the surface, and return samples to the surface.

NASA has explored the possibility of using a heating or boring probe to pass through the icy sheet to access the interior ocean. In particular, researchers have proposed using a nuclear-powered probe that would rely on radioactive decay to generate heat and melt through the surface ice. However, a team of NASA researchers led by Dr. Benyo has proposed a new method that would rely on something other than conventional radioactive isotopesplutonium-238 or enriched uranium-235. Instead, their method would involve triggering nuclear fusion reactions between the atoms of a solid metal.

Their method, known as lattice confinement fusion, was described in two papers published in the April 2020 issue of Physical Review C, titled "Nuclear fusion reactions in deuterated metals" and "Novel nuclear reactions observed in bremsstrahlung-irradiated deuterated metals." As Dr. Benyo explained in a recent NASA Glenn Research Center press statement:

"Scientists are interested in fusion, because it could generate enormous amounts of energy without creating long-lasting radioactive byproducts. However, conventional fusion reactions are difficult to achieve and sustain because they rely on temperatures so extreme to overcome the strong electrostatic repulsion between positively charged nuclei that the process has been impractical."

Conventional fusion methods generally come down to inertial or magnetic confinement. With inertial confinement, fuels such as deuterium or tritium (hydrogen-2 or -3) are compressed to extreme pressures (for nanoseconds) where fusion can occur. In magnetic confinement (tokamak reactors), the fuel is heated until it reaches temperatures in excess of what occurs at the center of the sun15 million C (27 million F)to achieve nuclear fusion. This new method creates fusion reactions within the confines of a metal lattice loaded with deuterium fuel at ambient temperatures.

This new method creates an energetic environment inside the lattice where individual atoms achieve equivalent fusion-level kinetic energies. This is accomplished by packing the lattices with deuterium at densities one billion times greater than in tokamak reactors, where a neutron source accelerates deuterium atoms (deuterons) to the point that they collide with neighboring deuterons, causing fusion reactions. For their experiments, Dr. Benyo and her colleagues exposed deuterons to a 2.9+MeV energetic X-ray beam, creating energetic neutrons and protons.

This process could allow for fast-fission reactions using lattices built from metals like depleted uranium, thorium, or erbium (Er68) in a molten lithium matrix. The team also observed the production of more energetic neutrons, indicating that boosted fusion reactionsaka. screened Oppenheimer-Phillips (O-P) nuclear stripping reactionsalso occur in the process. According to Dr. Benyo, either fusion process is scalable and could be a pathway to a new type of nuclear-powered spacecraft:

"The resulting hybrid fusion fast fission nuclear reactor will be smaller than a traditional fission reactor where a lower mass power source is needed and provide efficient operation with thermal waste heat from reactor heats probe to melt through ice shelf to sub-ice oceans."

A bonus of this new process is the critical role that metal lattice electrons whose negative charges help "screen" positively charged deuterons. According to the theory developed by project theoretical physicist Dr. Vladimir Pines, this screening allows adjacent deuterons to approach one another more closely. This reduces the chance that they will scatter while increasing the likelihood that they will tunnel through the electrostatic barrier and promote fusion reactions. According to NASA project principal investigator Dr. Bruce Steinetz, there are hurdles to overcome, but the project is off to a good start:

Artists concept of a proposed Europa lander spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

"The current findings open a new path for initiating fusion reactions for further study within the scientific community. However, the reaction rates need to be increased substantially to achieve appreciable power levels, which may be possible utilizing various reaction multiplication methods under consideration."

This type of nuclear process could be part of a Europa Lander, a proposed NASA mission that would build on the research conducted by the Europa Clipper and JUICE. With more study and development, this technology could also be used to create power systems for long-duration exploration missions, similar to NASA's Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) project. The same technology could enable new engine concepts like the Nuclear-Thermal and Nuclear-Electric Propulsion (NTP/NEP) NASA and other space agencies are investigating.

Finally, this proposed method could have applications for life here on Earth, providing a new kind of nuclear energy and medical isotopes for nuclear medicine. As Leonard Dudzinski, the Chief Technologist for Planetary Science at NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD), said,

"The key to this discovery has been the talented, multi-disciplinary team that NASA Glenn assembled to investigate temperature anomalies and material transmutations that had been observed with highly deuterated metals, We will need that approach to solve significant engineering challenges before a practical application can be designed."
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The minimum spanning network of the finless porpoise. Credit: Water Biology and Security (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.watbs.2022.100094

The finless porpoise, a relative of dolphins and whales, is native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, as well as the freshwater habitats of the Yangtze River basin in China. The Yangtze river's finless porpoise is one of the very few porpoises that live in fresh water. Its small size and cute 'smile' make it much loved in the country and beyond.

Beyond its adorable appearance, however, lies a dire truththe finless porpoise is critically endangered, with conservation attention and action remaining inadequate. This may be in part attributed to the disproportionate research efforts across the Indo-Pacific region. The spatial genetic structure of finless porpoise is poorly understood, which further led to poor phylogeographic knowledge and ambiguous taxonomic classification of many Indo-Pacific cetacean species.

To address this critical knowledge gap, a team of researchers from China and Thailand came together to investigate the spatial genetic pattern of the finless porpoise from the East China Sea to Gulf of Thailand, using both mitochondrial and autosomal DNA markers.

"We also included narrow and wide-ridged finless porpoises from the Taiwan Strait, which are usually taken as the inter-species divergence within the genus, as a reference to better illustrate the genetic stratification of the finless porpoise across the region," says first author of the study, Dr. Wenzhi Lin from the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering of Chinese Academy of Science.

"We found a minimum of four genetic populations within the study areas, corresponding to the narrow-ridged finless porpoise from the Taiwan Strait, and the three wide-ridged finless porpoise populations from the Taiwan Strait, together with the Pearl River Delta region and the Gulf of Thailand."

The minimum spanning network of the mtDNA control region found shared haplotypes among finless porpoises in Chinese waters, but those from the Gulf of Thailand formed a unique matriline lineage. The genetic differentiation, or divergence, within the South China Sea also appears to be higher than that of most finless porpoise populations examined to date.

"The Mantel test detected a strong correlation between the geographic and genetic matrices within the South China Sea, indicating that the divergence associated with isolation-by-distance has been accumulating in recent history," adds Lin.

The findings from the joint study are published in Water Biology and Security.

The team also notes that the relatively low level of divergence, especially those between neighboring locations, suggests the presence of ongoing, albeit low, gene flow. If proven so, the evolutionary significant unit should be clearly defined before conservation attention is applied to correctly direct efforts to populations with distinctive features.

"Inter-population connectivity should also be carefully evaluated, and conservation action may be required to maintain necessary gene flow," concludes Prof Songhai Li, senior scientist of the study.

More information: Wenzhi Lin et al, Novel insights into the spatial genetic patterns of the finless porpoise from East to Southeast Asia, Water Biology and Security (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.watbs.2022.100094

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Leonardos sketch showing the spiral motion of an ascending bubble from his manuscript known as the Codex Leicester

Prof. Miguel Angel Herrada, from the University of Seville, and Prof. Jens G. Eggers, from the University of Bristol, have discovered a mechanism to explain the unstable movement of bubbles rising in water. According to the researchers, the results, which are published in the journal PNAS, may be useful to understand the motion of particles whose behavior is intermediate between a solid and a gas.

Leonardo da Vinci observed five centuries ago that air bubbles, if large enough, periodically deviate in a zigzag or spiral from straight-line movement. However, no quantitative description of the phenomenon or physical mechanism to explain this periodic motion had ever been found.

The authors of this new paper have developed a numerical discretization technique to characterize precisely the bubble's air-water interface, which enables them to simulate its motion and explore its stability. Their simulations closely match high-precision measurements of unsteady bubble motion and show that bubbles deviate from a straight trajectory in water when their spherical radius exceeds 0.926 millimeters, a result within 2% of experimental values obtained with ultrapure water in the 90s.

The researchers propose a mechanism for the instability of the bubble trajectory whereby periodic tilting of the bubble changes its curvature, thus affecting the upward velocity and causing a wobble in the bubble's trajectory, tilting up the side of the bubble whose curvature has increased.

Then, as the fluid moves faster and the fluid pressure falls around the high-curvature surface, the pressure imbalance returns the bubble to its original position, restarting the periodic cycle.

More information: Miguel A. Herrada et al, Path instability of an air bubble rising in water, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2216830120 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A new study by a Western Sydney University researcher has explored a lethal fungal pathogen causing widespread biological disruption for frogs, assessing how responses differ by species across the globe.

Published in Functional Ecology, the study looked at the chytrid fungus pathogen which is considered the most devastating single disease on biodiversity, contributing to the decline of at least 501 amphibian species.

Lead author Dr. Nicholas Wu, from the University's Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, said the largest biodiversity decline caused by a single disease is chytridiomycosis, however, it is not known whether frogs infected with this fungus experience the same symptoms.

"Using a meta-analytic approach, the study revealed there are several commonalities in symptoms among frog species that provide a clearer idea of the mechanism of the disease, and therefore death," said Dr. Wu.

"These common symptoms can be used in conservation practices to predict how frogs who have not been exposed may respond to chytrid infection. For example, by swabbing a sick frog in the wild and knowing the pathogen load, we can predict what the animal might be experiencing without experimentally testing it directly.

"The findings suggest that if the pathogen load is low, the host may experience skin disruption only and changes in immune response, but at a high pathogen load, they will experience changes in reproduction and body condition."

With the growing number of emerging infectious diseases, meta-analytic approaches can be a useful tool to better understanding disease dynamics in an ecological context Dr. Wu explained.

"Emerging infectious diseases have contributed to the ongoing loss of biodiversity worldwide. How species respond to infectious pathogens depends on a myriad of environmental factors, as well as differences in the host and pathogen traits," he said.

"Different 'traits' related to an animal's fitness such as body condition, reproduction or metabolic rate may be more sensitive to pathogen load, and understanding similarities in trait sensitivity can help understand disease impact and help wildlife management efforts."

More information: Nicholas C. Wu, Pathogen load predicts host functional disruption: A metaanalysis of an amphibian fungal panzootic, Functional Ecology (2023). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.14245 Journal information: Functional Ecology
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Credit: Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (2022). DOI: 10.1007/s11783-022-1590-z

Reliable colorimetric analysis technologies have been widely praised for their highly sensitive and selective responses towards various contaminants in environmental monitoring. In principle, the chromogenic agent selectively reacts with the target in water samples, and the colored product reflects the specific absorbance spectrum.

Obeying the Lambert-Beer law, the absorbance is proportional to the concentration of the absorbing species, providing the basis for the qualitative and quantitative detection of contaminants in water samples. The observation by eye has the advantage of low cost, but the accuracy is unsatisfactory. The conventional photoelectron detector, such as the spectrophotometer and a microplate reader, is expensive and thus difficult to be applied in resource-limited or remote environments.

The application scenario of colorimetric analysis technologies has led to a keen interest in the balance of accuracy and cost. Considering both accuracy and cost, developing colorimetric analysis technologies on the commercial cellphone platform is gathering significant attention in environmental monitoring because of the low cost, high flexibility, easy to miniaturization, and widespread ownership of cellphone.

Notably, the outstanding advantages of cellphone-based colorimetric technology is expected to greatly accelerate the environmental and health-related analysis capabilities in the remote or less-developed countries and regions. However, the majority of reported studies focused on single-channel colorimetric detection, which led to a limited detection efficiency, especially facing with complicated contaminants in water samples.

Research on cellphone-based multi-channel sensing systems has gained growing interest because the systems have the potential to simultaneously detect multiple targets in a single measurement, and the involved techniques for the rapid assessment of water samples are fast, robust and inexpensive.

To realize the multi-channel sensing capability, a mainstream technology pathway is to directly capture the colorimetric images from 96-well plates using a cellphone camera. In all cases, the majority of strategies to improve the sensing capability of the cellphone-based system were based on a monochromatic light source, lacking universality and flexibility towards different contaminants which showed different absorption peaks.

In this work, the researchers from Harbin Institute of Technology Tsinghua University and Chongqing University proposed a cellphone-based colorimetric multichannel sensor for water environmental monitoring. A white LED array was used as the incident light to illuminate a 96-well plate. To improve the sensitivity of the sensor, a delicate optical path system was created by using a diffraction grating to split six white beams transmitting through the multiple colored samples.

The transmitted light from six wells was collected by six optical fibers and imaged by a cellphone camera after passing through a diffraction grating, which allows the cellphone CMOS camera to capture the diffracted light for image analysis. The image was captured by a custom-designed cellphone app for analysis using a specific algorithm, yielding detection results which were displayed using the same app.

This study entitled "A cellphone-based colorimetric multi-channel sensor for water environmental monitoring" is published in Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering.

The compact sensor was successfully tested for simultaneous detection of various environmental contaminants with an absorption wavelength range of 400700 nm, achieving high sensitivity, specificity and reliability. By introducing the diffraction grating for splitting light, the sensitivity was improved by over six folds compared with a system that directly photographed transmitted light.

As a successful proof-of-concept, the sensor was used to detect turbidity, orthophosphate, ammonia nitrogen and three heavy metals simultaneously with high sensitivity. Moreover, high stability (RSD of 0.37%1.60%) and excellent recoveries (95.5%106.0%) demonstrated that the sensor can conduct accurate detection in real water matrices.

Owing to the advantages of remarkable detection performance, low cost, easy operation, good portability, and multi-index measurement, the miniature sensor demonstrated in-field sensing ability in environmental monitoring, which can be extended to point-of-care diagnosis, food safety control and risk early warning, etc.

Notably, by introducing the biorecognition materials, such as enzyme, antibody and functional nucleic acid, the sensor has the potential to be smarter to realize the detection of trace organic matters. Further, it can be expected that this technology would allow the detection channels up to 96 on the premise of overcoming the limitation of the volume or numbers of the diffraction grating.

More information: Yunpeng Xing et al, A cellphone-based colorimetric multi-channel sensor for water environmental monitoring, Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering (2022). DOI: 10.1007/s11783-022-1590-z

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Cell-derived nanovesicles obtained from mesenchymal stem cells, which are able to accelerate would healing by mimicking natural cell-secreted extracellular vesicles. Credit: Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.10.022

National University of Singapore scientists have fabricated nano-sized vesicles from cells via a cell shearing approach that can be used for various biomedical applications.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are naturally occurring cell-secreted lipid-bound membrane vesicles found in all biological fluids. They have gained much attention for their potential role in several biomedical applications including diagnostic purposes (biomarkers), as therapeutic agents and as drug delivery systems. The use of EVs as therapeutic agents, particularly those obtained from stem cells, has shown regenerative and/or tissue reparative effects.

More importantly, EVs represent cell-free approaches as they are non-viable and work mainly via paracrine signaling, thus mitigating the challenges associated with cell-based therapy. However, several limitations need to be addressed before EVs can be extensively used as therapeutics, and these include long and tedious isolation processes, and low production yields.

In a recent paper published in Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, Associate Professor Giorgia Pastorin and her research team from the Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore, in collaboration with Assistant Professor Bertrand Czarny from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and researchers from the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI), prepared nano-sized vesicles from cells via a cell shearing approach for use in wound healing and tissue regenerative applications. They found that these nano-sized vesicles called Cell-Derived Nanovesicles (CDNs) mimic the EVs not only in terms of their physical characteristics but also in their biological cargos (proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids) and can be produced at much higher yields.

Prof. Pastorin said, "This research study shows that cell-derived nanovesicles hold promise for various biomedical applications. Our team has derived the nanovesicles from various cell types such as immune cells and stem cells for inflammation reduction and tissue regeneration, respectively."

In this study, Prof. Pastorin, and her doctoral student Dr. Yub Raj Neupane in collaboration with Dr. Harish K Handral from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, and Prof Czarny investigated the role that CDNs obtained from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC-CDNs) played in accelerating wound healing. As part of this investigation, high-throughput proteomics and gene ontology analysis were performed to identify the highly enriched proteins and their localization in these vesicles.

The researchers found that these MSC-CDNs activated a signaling pathway in human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cells. This increased the proliferation and migration of HDF cells towards the wound bed, along with an enhanced release of cell-proliferation related markers, growth factors and other cellular regeneration components to aid in the healing process.

This study also demonstrated that these MSC-CDNs enhanced the formation of new blood vessels in cell cultures. In murine models, they were found to promote healing at a similar extent when compared to MSC-EVs but with a healing rate that was almost twice as fast.

In future work, the team will continue exploring the use of these vesicles as therapeutic agents for cardiovascular diseases and for drug delivery purposes.

More information: Yub Raj Neupane et al, Cell-derived nanovesicles from mesenchymal stem cells as extracellular vesicle-mimetics in wound healing, Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.apsb.2022.10.022
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In some cases, conflict has become strikingly visually similar to a war video game. Credit: Dizfoto / Shutterstock

Amid the many salacious revelations in Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, one of the most concerning was not about his family. Harry revealed that he killed 25 members of the Taliban while serving in Afghanistan, and that he viewed them like pieces on a chessboard. His comments sparked criticism from top military figures and prompted Afghan families to call for his prosecution.

Harry's comments suggest that military technology has advanced such that a soldier can say with certainty the number of kills they have made. But it also reveals how much "gamification" of warfare could become part of the military mindset.

Advancements in technology have allowed warfare to become more remote and operators more distant from their targets. Some argue that this makes them more likely to make risky decisions. Remote warfare is exemplified by the use of drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) in the US war on terror.

Along with this has come gamification of warfare, where military operations and war video games have become indistinguishable in some regards. Over the last decade or so, militaries have used tech like video game controllers to carry out missions. And the gaming industry has spent large sums of money to improve human-computer interactions, which can aid in military training and improve the technology used during combat.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, aware of the increasing realism of computer games such as Call of Duty: Warzone and Battlefield, have been working with games producers to enhance their compliance with international humanitarian law. Just as in real life, the ICRC believes that these games should include virtual consequences for gamers' actions, and that players should be rewarded for following the rules of armed conflict.

Distant warfare

Gamification is partly a result of hundreds of years of warfare becoming more remote from its face-to-face combat origins. This has been a topic of debate since medieval times. The longbow allowed English archers to shoot from over half a mile away, leading to the eventual demise of rules of chivalry on the battlefield.

More recently, the rise of air power significantly increased the distance involved in warfare. This led to arguments that the further a target is from an attacker, the less the attacker may be aware of the human cost. In turn, this could result in the dehumanization of warfare, meaning the attacker may not fully appreciate the impact of their destruction. The research on this is mixed, but there is increasing evidence that the cost on drone operators is substantial.

While technology has "gamified" war it has also brought conflict home in a way not seen before. The advanced optics and surveillance cameras equipped to modern aircraft, and certainly in the case of drone operators, means that pilots may spend longer observing their targets, and have a greater understanding of the impact of their attacks than ever before.

Drone operators continue to watch events post-attack to assess the extent of the damage. While Harry flew as a helicopter pilot, he wrote in Spare about watching videos of the kill missions after returning to base. This review is essential for compliance with the law of armed conflict, and to ensure that the objectives for each mission have been met.

These factors, combined with the somewhat isolated environments where remote weapons operators are located, have been found to increase stress, mental fatigue, burnout and post-trauma responses particularly among drone operators, and those viewing events remotely.

Legal challenges

Drones are one of the most well-known aspects of remote warfare. But legally speaking, drone operators are akin to their colleagues in regular aircraft. They must follow the same rules to ensure compliance with the law, whether they are on the battlefield, in an aircraft or controlling a drone in a bunker under the Las Vegas strip.

All aspects of armed conflict are governed by international humanitarian law. This is primarily found in the Geneva Conventions, which balance military necessity (what needs to be done to achieve military aims) with humanity (protecting civilians, medical facilities and other objects from the ravages of war).

Any advancement in military technology must be used in a way that meets this standard. Attacks must be directed only at military objectives, which must be distinguished from civilian targets. Any likely loss of civilian life or damage to civilian property must not be excessive in relation to the direct and concrete military advantage. This means that any person conducting an attack must take feasible precautions to avoid or minimize the loss of civilian life.

The substantial improvement in reconnaissance and surveillance technologies means that states and their militaries have more information than ever to make decisions before attacking. In theory, states have an even higher level of obligation to verify the identity of their targets.

The gamification of warfare hasn't changed the laws that govern how conflict is conducted and who is held accountable. These laws are designed to protect civilians and retain the humanity of warfare. But Prince Harry's "chess piece" comments make clear that as combat becomes more distant, it is even more important to remember the humanity of those caught up in conflict.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Schematic diagram illustrating the mechanism how Asian summer climate is connected to the zonal flow over the Tibetan Plateau. (a) Climatological westerly flow prevails. (b) Easterly flow prevails such as in 2022. Credit: He Chao

In the mid-summer (JulyAugust) of 2022, extreme climate events occurred over subtropical Asia. Persistent heat waves hit the Yangtze River valley in East Asia, bringing secondary disasters such as drought, wildfires and power shortage. At the same time, frequent rainstorms and floods swept the desert areas from Western South Asia to West Asia.

The above two extreme climate events occurred simultaneously in subtropical Asia around 30N, on the eastern and western side of the Tibetan Plateau (TP), respectively. The possible linkage between them and their possible causes remain unclear.

A recent study, published in Climate Dynamics on Jan. 12, has highlighted the reversal of zonal flow over the Tibetan Plateau.

Heat waves in summer result directly from strong descending motion of the atmosphere, while rainstorms and floods are driven by strong ascent. "It is essential to understand why strong descent appeared on the eastern side while strong ascent appeared on the western side of the Tibetan Plateau in 2022," said Dr. He Chao, a research fellow from Jinan University, and the first author of the study.

Atmospheric flow is constrained by physical laws, and an important rule is that adiabatic air parcels must move along isentropic surfaces. Isentropic surfaces do not exactly follow a horizontal distribution, and they tilt slightly according to the thermal structure of the atmosphere. Therefore, adiabatic flow may move upward/downward along the sloping isentropic surface and generate vertical motion.

Following the atmospheric thermal structure over the Tibetan Plateau, the prevailing westerly flow near 30N induces descent on the western side and ascent on the eastern side, accounting for the formation of the desert climate on the western side and the humid climate on the eastern side of the Tibetan Plateau in summer.

However, the westerly flow over the Tibetan Plateau reversed into easterly flow in the summer of 2022, and it induced persistent descent and heat waves on the eastern side, and ascent and excessive rainfall on the western side of the Tibetan Plateau.

"The mechanism can be simply understood as a 'swap' of the climate states between the eastern and western sides, due to the reversed flow over the Tibetan Plateau in the summer of 2022," said Dr. He Chao.

The reversed flow is suggested to be caused by the synergistic effects of atmospheric internal variability and oceanic forcing. An atmospheric wave train in the mid latitudes brought a clockwise rotational flow on the northern flank of the Tibetan Plateau, and it weakened the westerly flow. This part of atmospheric circulation change is due to internal variability and thus highly unpredictable. Associated with a La Nina event, the tropical Indian Ocean was cooler than normal in the summer of 2022, and it further reduced the westerly flow over subtropical Tibetan Plateau and increased the possibility of a reversed flow.

"Understanding the dynamics of extreme climate is a pre-requisite for predicting extreme climate," said Dr. Zhang Lixia from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, a coauthor of the study. "This study explains the concurrent occurrence of extreme climates across East Asia and Western South Asia in the summer of 2022. The results have implications for both climate attributions and climate projections."

More information: Chao He et al, Extremely hot East Asia and flooding western South Asia in the summer of 2022 tied to reversed flow over Tibetan Plateau, Climate Dynamics (2023). DOI: 10.1007/s00382-023-06669-y Journal information: Climate Dynamics
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Publicly available salary information prompts organizations to reduce the gender pay gap, according to a new study from the University of California San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy.

The research counters previous assumptions that salary transparency creates more equal pay because it allows individual employees to negotiate for higher compensation.

"We find that when there is a standardization process that makes searching for compensation information very easy, then organizations as a whole have an incentive to improve equality to reduce the threat of public scrutiny," said Elizabeth Lyons, associate professor of management at the School of Global Policy and Strategy and coauthor of the study.

The study assesses how universities in Ontario responded to a policyfirst implemented in 1996that required all organizations to make salary information for those making over $100,000 public. The study finds these universities increased female pay by about 4%. Outside the province, where compensation data are private, female pay did not have the similar significant increase over the same time period in the study

"Universities most likely to anticipate higher scrutiny, such as top ranked institutions, responded more aggressively and quickly to improve gender pay equality by slowing the growth of male salaries as well as by increasing female pay," Lyons said.

Concerns organizations have over salary transparency are that it could lower worker morale and, in the university setting, could affect how donors or students perceive the institution. For private companies, backlash from customers over unequal pay could also harm a firm's reputation.

The paper published in the Strategic Management Journalcompares compensation of 32,000 different university employees across 1,400 academic departments in Canada over a 24-year period. The authors were able to access salary information for the provinces outside Ontario through a Statistics Canada dataset available to researchers.

"Importantly, salary transparency does influence gender pay inequality but not in the way we thought it would," said Lyons, who coauthored the paper with Laurina Zhang, an assistant professor in strategy and innovation at Boston University. "We expected that salary transparency would reduce inequality because females were going to see what their male counterparts were making and try to negotiate for more equal pay, but the data did not reveal changes at the individual level."

They were also surprised that despite little media attention around gender pay equality at the time the policy in Ontario was first implemented, institutions reacted by trying to get in front of the issue to reduce the gender pay gap.

"The strategy seemed to work because we did not see high profile news stories about gender inequality on Ontario college campuses," Lyons and Zhang said.

They added the results have major implications for salary transparency in the U.S., where organizations are under more pressure today to pay female and male workers equally than Canadian organizations were at the time of the study. It is estimated women in the U.S. make up to 14% less than men in the same position.

Mandates to make salary information public have been implemented in many states across the U.S. like California, Florida and Texas.

While some firms or governments argue salary transparency can be invasive, even dangerous, the authors conclude the findings imply that facilitating low-cost public monitoring of gender inequalities can motivate organizations to enact change.

The paper, titled "Salary Transparency and Gender Pay Inequality: Evidence from Canadian Universities," is published in the Strategic Management Journal.

More information: Elizabeth Lyons et al, Salary transparency and gender pay inequality: Evidence from Canadian universities, Strategic Management Journal (2022). DOI: 10.1002/smj.3483
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

An international team of scientists, including NYU Abu Dhabi researcher Nikolaos Georgakarakos and others from the U.S., Japan, and China, led by Jian Li from Nanjing University, has developed new insights that may explain the numerical asymmetry of the L4 and L5 Jupiter Trojan swarms, two clusters containing more than 10,000 asteroids that move along Jupiter's orbital path around the sun.

For decades, scientists have known that there are significantly more asteroids in the L4 swarm than the L5 swarm, but have not fully understood the reason for this asymmetry. In the current configuration of the solar system, the two swarms show almost identical dynamical stability and survivability properties, which has led scientists to believe that the differences came about during earlier times of our solar system's life. Determining the cause of these differences could uncover new details about the formation and evolution of the solar system.

In the paper, "Asymmetry in the number of L4 and L5 Jupiter Trojans driven by jumping Jupiter," published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the researchers present a mechanism that can explain the observed number asymmetry.

"We propose that an outwardin terms of distance to the sunfast migration of Jupiter can distort the configuration of the Trojan swarms, resulting in more stable orbits in the L4 swarm than in the L5 one," said Li.

"This mechanism, which temporarily induced different evolution paths for the two asteroid groups that share the orbit of Jupiter, provides a new and natural explanation for the unbiased observation, that the L4 asteroids are about 1.6 times more than the asteroids in the L5 swarm."

The model simulates the orbital evolution of Jupiter, caused by a planetary orbital instability in the early solar system. This led to the outward migration of Jupiter at a very high speed; a migration that the researchers hypothesize was the possible cause of the changes in the stability of the nearby asteroid swarms. Future models could expand on this work by including additional aspects of the evolution of the solar system, which could depict it with improved accuracy. This could include simulating the fast migrations of Jupiter at different speeds, and the effects of nearby planets.

"The characteristics of the current solar system hold as-yet unsolved mysteries into its formation and early evolution," said Georgakarakos.

"The ability to successfully simulate an event from an early stage of the solar system's development and apply those results to modern day questions can also be a key tool as astrophysicists and other researchers work to learn more about the dawn of our world."

More information: Jian Li et al, Asymmetry in the number of L4 and L5 Jupiter Trojans driven by jumping Jupiter, Astronomy & Astrophysics (2022). DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202244443 Journal information: Astronomy & Astrophysics
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Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

It was a cool Thursday morning in Cape Canaveral as the nation's first space shuttle was about to make its last ever trip into space.

Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off at 10:39 a.m. Eastern time on Jan. 16, 2003, from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-A with a crew of seven.

"The Lord has blessed us with a beautiful day here," mission commander Rick Husband said over the radio just before liftoff. "We appreciate all of the hard work everyone has put into this, and we are ready to go."

Husband's crew were shuttle pilot William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon, who was the first Israeli to go into space.

All seven died 16 days later when the shuttle disintegrated on re-entry, the result of a chunk of insulating foam that had broken off from the external fuel tank and hit the left wing of the orbiter during the launch. The damage was fatal as the extreme heat would be the vessel's demise as it streaked across the skies over Texas.

Columbia's final mission was the orbiter's 28th overall, the 113th mission for the shuttle program. It was the first of five space shuttles, launching on its first mission April 12, 1981, with the late John Young on board as commander along with pilot Robert Crippen.

Over 22 years, Columbia traveled more than 125 million miles orbiting the Earth 4,808 times while in space more than 300 days.

It ferried 160 astronauts over its career including Shannon Lucid, Story Musgrave, Eileen Collins, Charles Boldin and Sen. Bill Nelson.

The tragedy is one of three major ones in NASA's history, all occurring in the early part of the year. The seven deaths aboard Columbia, seven deaths from the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986, the deaths of three Apollo 1 astronauts in 1967 and others lost in the pursuit of space will be honored on NASA's Day of Remembrance later this month.

Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Complex will hold a ceremony Jan. 26 with events starting at 10 a.m.

2023 Orlando Sentinel.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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In this photo provided by the Pacific Rim Conservation, wildlife workers relocate Tristrams storm petrels on Hawaiis Tern Island, on March 29, 2022. Scientists are making a dramatic effort to save the birds in Hawaii by moving them to an island they never had inhabited. Credit: L. Young/Pacific Rim Conservation via AP

In a desperate effort to save a seabird species in Hawaii from rising ocean waters, scientists are moving chicks to a new island hundreds of miles away.

Moving species to save themonce considered taboois quickly gaining traction as climate change upends habitats. Similar relocations are being suggested for birds, lizards, butterflies and even flowers.

Concerns persist that the novel practice could cause unintended harm the same way invasive plants and animals have wreaked havoc on native species.

But for the Tristram's storm petrels on northeastern Hawaii's Tern Island, which is just 6 feet (1.8 meters) above sea level, the relocation of about 40 chicks to artificial burrows more than 500 miles (805 kilometers) away on Oahu could offer new hope. The species is considered vulnerable to extinction, and the goal is for the young petrels return to their new home when old enough to breed.

"Tern Island is washing away," said biologist Eric VanderWerf of the nonprofit Pacific Rim Conservation. "Climate change is causing a greater need for thisfor taking a species outside its known historical range."

A pending change to the U.S. Endangered Species Act by the Biden administration would make it easier to relocate some of the most imperiled species to places where they've not previously been recorded.

This July 13, 2012 IMAGE provided by the Smithsonians National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute photo shows a Guam Kingfisher in Front Royal, Va. As warming temperatures from climate change and invasive species alter habitats around the globe, some scientists and government officials are embracing animal like the kingfisher and plant relocations to prevent vulnerable populations from dwindling or going extinct. If a relocation is successful, the kingfishers would become one of the few species ever upgraded from extinct in the wild to critically endangered. Credit: Jim Jenkins/Smithsonians National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute via AP

In response, state wildlife officials and scientists have suggested moving a portion of some species struggling with climate change, including Key deer of southern Florida, the Karner blue butterfly of the Midwest and Northeast, desert flowers in Nevada and California and the St. Croix ground lizard in the Virgin Islands.

Republicans in western statesincluding Montana, New Mexico and Arizonaare against the proposal saying it could wreak ecological havoc as "invasive species" get purposefully introduced.

The proposal, which federal officials expect to finalize in June, reflects a "fundamental shift in the way we think of species protection and conservation," said University of Notre Dame biologist Jason McLachlan.

The issue goes beyond endangered species, McLachlan said, and raises questions about what should be considered "native" now that shifting temperatures are pushing some species to higher elevations or toward the planet's poles.

In this April 2018 photo provided by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a wildlife worker holds a Tristrams storm petrel chick in Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, Hawaii. Scientists are making a dramatic effort to save the birds in Hawaii by moving them to an island they never had inhabited. Credit: Amanda Boyd/USFWS via AP

Comparable temperature shifts in the past occurred over millennia, but the present one is happening over just decades and is drastically upending ecosystems. "Eventually we're going to have to start thinking about it in ways that will make peopleincluding meuncomfortable," he said. "To say this species is OK and this species is not OK, that's asking a lot of human beings."

To save storm petrels, VanderWerf said, scientists need to act before populations have crashed. "In 30 years, these birds will certainly be rare, if we don't do something about it," he said.

Relocation of species outside historical ranges is still a rarity, but U.S. wildlife officials have identified numerous threatened and endangered plants and animals already being affected by climate change: glacial stoneflies in Montana, emperor penguins in Antarctica, the Mt. Rainier ptarmigan, the saltmarsh sparrow of the Atlantic coast and numerous birds of Hawaii.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson Karen Armstrong said there are no current proposals to establish new populations of those particular species. "In the future, some species' ranges may shift due to climate change, or their current habitats might become unsuitable due to invasive species encroachment," Armstrong said in an email. "We view experimental population establishment outside of their historical ranges as a potential tool for their management and conservation."

In this Dec. 15, 2021, image provided by the Smithsonians National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, Erica Royer attaches a tracker to a Guam kingfisher in Front Royal, Va. As warming temperatures from climate change and invasive species alter habitats around the globe, some scientists and government officials are embracing animal like the kingfisher and plant relocations to prevent vulnerable populations from dwindling or going extinct. If a relocation is successful, the kingfishers would become one of the few species ever upgraded from extinct in the wild to critically endangered. Credit: Roshan Patel/Smithsonians National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute via AP

One plan now being considered by U.S. wildlife officials concerns birds native to Guam, where kingfishers were decimated by brown tree snakes accidentally brought to the island around 1950 on military cargo ships.

The last 29 wild Guam kingfishers were captured in the 1980s and have been bred in captivity to buy time. Under a pending proposal, nine kingfishers would be released back into the wild beginning this year on Palmyra Island, more than 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) away.

If a relocation is successful, the kingfishers would become one of the few species ever upgraded from "extinct in the wild" to "critically endangered."

The hope is that the Guam kingfisher, also known locally as sihek, will eventually be returned to their native island, if the tree snake is controlled, said Erica Royer, a bird expert at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C.

This 2013 image provided by the U.S. Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife shows the St. Croix ground lizard in Buck Island, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The once-controversial idea of relocating an imperiled species, like the the St. Croix ground lizard, to another island, country or continent for conservation is gaining increasing acceptance among scientists as a measure of last resort. Credit: Nicole F. Angeli/U.S. Virgin Islands Division of Fish and Wildlife via AP

"This kind of intensive management is necessary for us to have a reasonable shot at holding onto some species," said Don Lyons with National Audubon Society's Seabird Institute.

Yet the potential dangerand scientific debatelies in what humans can't predict. Humanity has been moving species around for centuries, often inadvertently and sometimes causing great harm.

A Karner Blue butterfly sits on a leaf after it was released at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission in Albany, N.Y., July 10, 2015. State officials and scientists have suggested moving a portion of some species struggling with climate change like the Karner blue butterfly. Credit: AP Photo/Mike Groll, File

Examples abound: Asian carp have spread through rivers and streams across the U.S. Starlings from Europe destroy crops and drive out songbirds. Zebra mussels from Eurasia decimate native populations. And kudzu vines from Japan planted to stabilize soils have spread to dozens of states where they choke out other plants.

Scientist Mark Schwartz at the University of California, Davis said he was initially skeptical of moving species for conservation when biologists began discussing the idea about a decade ago. The rapid rate of extinctions more recently has him thinking that sitting idle could be a costly error.

A Florida Key deer stands on the side of Overseas Highway in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in Big Pine Key, Fla., Sept. 13, 2017. State officials and scientists have suggested moving a portion of some species struggling with climate change like the Key deer. Credit: AP Photo/Alan Diaz, File

"Many, many species" must be moved or could go extinct, said James Watson, a conservation scientist at the University of Queensland in Australia, where increasingly severe, climate-fueled wildfires have forced conversations on relocations. Unprecedented fires three years ago likely destroyed the last habitats of some endangered species, he said.

"We've already played Russian Roulette with the climate, we're already on that ski runwe might as well take some more risks."

 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The purpose of Walliserops trilobite tridents had remained elusive for some time, but researchers now believe they were used in fights between males. Credit: Madison Mullen and image  Alan Gishlick

Fighting for mates may be a behavior that dates back over 400 million years.

A unique specimen suggests that male Walliserops trilobites fought each other using trident-like structures to win the opportunity to mate with females. So the history of jousting may go back much further than the Middle Ages.

A new paper, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that a group of ancient invertebrates known as trilobites may have "jousted" hundreds of millions of years ago.

Trident-like structures found on the heads of Walliserops trilobites may have been used by males to compete in fights for dominance, with the arthropods trying to flip their rival over.

If confirmed, this could represent some of the oldest evidence of sexual competition and sexual selection ever discovered.

Co-author Professor Richard Fortey OBE FRS, who is a Scientific Associate at the Museum, says, "The extraordinary Devonian trilobite Walliserops carried a unique, giant trident on its head, the purpose of which has long been a mystery."

"We now believe that it was used for jousting between males striving for dominance. The evolution of sexually motivated competition in animals is hundreds of millions of years older than we thought."

The paper also speculates that these trilobites may have been sexually dimorphic, meaning males and females were different in appearance. However, the authors note that more evidence will be needed to conclude if this is the case.

The team compared the weapons of living beetles to Walliserops to evaluate how it might have used its trident. Credit: Alan Gishlick

What is sexual selection?

Sexual selection is an evolutionary process affecting characteristics associated with reproduction. It affects both primary sexual characteristics, such as the genitals, and secondary features that influence reproduction, such as the tail of male peacocks or the antlers of deer.

These secondary features are used to help attract mates and to compete with rivals and are some of the most obvious examples of sexual selection in the animal kingdom. In many species however, the impacts of sexual selection are much more subtle, and it becomes even more difficult to detect in extinct species.

While there is some evidence of sexual selection in dinosaurs, such as the frills of Protoceratops, there isn't enough evidence to rule out the other potential roles these structures had.

Making comparisons to living species, such as comparing the horns of the extinct Megaloceros to living deer, can be one way to try and avoid this. When structures are found in fossils, however, these comparisons can sometimes be problematic because it's not clear what feature of a living species they compare to.

Ever since Walliserops was described in 2001, it has been similarly difficult to understand the role of trilobite tridents. While a role in sexual selection has been considered, other roles in defense, burrowing or sensing food are also possible.

To make the extraordinary claim that the tridents have a role in sexual selection, the researchers needed extraordinary evidence. They believe they have now found it in the collections of the Houston Museum of Natural History.

The four-pointed trilobite trident

The trilobite at the center of this study stands out from many other Walliserops specimens held in museums because of its unique trident. Instead of having three points, or tines, it is the only known individual to have grown four. The tines are all broadly equivalent in size and there is no sign of injury, which suggests it was born with four as a result of genetic mutation.

A four-tined Walliserops trifurcatus specimen is the key piece of evidence used by the researchers to argue their case. Credit: Alan Gishlick

Even more important than the four-tined trident itself is the fact that the specimen is fully grown. By making it to adulthood, it shows that the feature that makes it different from other trilobites didn't have a significant impact on its chances of survival.

This suggests that a role in feeding or digging is unlikely, because the changes the fourth tine causes to the overall shape of the trident would have made it more difficult to use for these purposes, limiting the individual's chance of survival.

It may have also influenced how likely the trilobite was to compete for mates, but the mating success of the individual, or lack thereof, would not have affected its survival chances. Deer with abnormal antlers, for instance, can still survive until they are fully grown.

While there are no characteristics of living animals that can be directly compared to the tridents of these trilobites, the striking weapons of rhinoceros beetles are broadly similar. These have large horns that can be as much as half of their body length and are used in fights between males during the mating season.

The researchers analyzed the shape of the Walliserops tridents and compared them to the weapons of beetles to try and understand how they might have been used. They found the trident shape was most similar to beetles that try to tip over their opponents with shovel-like weapons.

When the trilobites were alive 400 million years ago, it is believed they used their tridents to prod at each other before attempting to get underneath their rival and turn them over. While any trilobites that did get flipped were not necessarily stuck, the amount of time it could have taken to right themselves would have allowed victorious males the opportunity to mate with females.

It's possible that these females may have been trident-less if the trident is a sexually selected characteristic. In this case, females may have been inadvertently placed into a different group of species altogether, but this would be difficult to prove.

If the tridents are accepted as examples of sexually selected characters, they add to a growing body of evidence, such as the recent discovery of male claspers, which show that at least some trilobite species could be sexually dimorphic.

More information: Alan D. Gishlick et al, Trilobite tridents demonstrate sexual combat at 400 Mya, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2119970120 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

This story is republished courtesy of Natural History Museum. Read the original story here
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Locally caught fish in rivers and lakes could be a major source of exposure to "forever chemicals" PFAS, new research has warned.

Eating one freshwater fish caught in a river or lake in the United States is the equivalent of drinking a month's worth of water contaminated with toxic "forever chemicals", new research said on Tuesday.

The invisible chemicals called PFAS were first developed in the 1940s to resist water and heat, and are now used in items such as non-stick pans, textiles, fire suppression foams and food packaging.

But the indestructibility of PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, means the pollutants have built up over time in the air, soil, lakes, rivers, food, drinking water and even our bodies.

There have been growing calls for stricter regulation for PFAS, which have been linked to a range of serious health issues including liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses and several kinds of cancer.

To find out PFAS contamination in locally caught fish, a team of researchers analyzed more than 500 samples from rivers and lakes across the United States between 2013 and 2015.

The median level of PFAS in the fish was 9,500 nanogrammes per kilogram, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research.

Nearly three quarters of the detected "forever chemicals" was PFOS, one of the most common and hazardous of the thousands of PFAS.

Eating just one freshwater fish equalled drinking water with PFOS at 48 parts per trillion for a month, the researchers calculated.

Last year the US Environmental Protection Agency lowered the level of PFOS in drinking water it considers safe to 0.02 parts per trillion.

The total PFAS level in the freshwater fish was 278 times higher than what has been found in commercially sold fish, the study said.

Non-stick pans are among the products that use PFAS, which have been linked to a range of serious health issues.

'Greatest chemical threat'

David Andrews, a senior scientist at the non-profit Environmental Working Group which led research, told AFP he grew up catching and eating fish.

"I can no longer look at a fish without thinking about PFAS contamination," said Andrews, one of the study's authors.

The findings were "particularly concerning due to the impact on disadvantaged communities that consume fish as a source protein or for social or cultural reasons," he added.

"This research makes me incredibly angry because companies that made and used PFAS contaminated the globe and have not been held responsible."

Patrick Byrne, an environmental pollution researcher at the UK's Liverpool John Moores University not involved in the research, said PFAS are "probably the greatest chemical threat the human race is facing in the 21st century".

"This study is important because it provides the first evidence for widespread transfer of PFAS directly from fish to humans," he told AFP.

Andrews called for much more stringent regulation to bring an end to all non-essential uses of PFAS.

The study comes after Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden submitted a proposal to ban PFAS to the EU's European Chemicals Agency on Friday.

The proposal, "one of the broadest in the EU's history," comes after the five countries found that PFAS were not adequately controlled, and bloc-wide regulation was needed, the agency said in a statement.

More information: Nadia Barbo et al, Locally caught freshwater fish across the United States are likely a significant source of exposure to PFOS and other perfluorinated compounds, Environmental Research (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.115165 Journal information: Environmental Research

 2023 AFP
On Friday, state police in Queensbury arrested Karen Heibler, 48, of Fair Haven, on a warrant for felony third-degree grand larceny and first-degree falsifying business records.

On Sept. 19 at 4:39 p.m., police received a complaint from a Lake Luzerne business that an employee had been stealing money.

According to police, they determined that from December 2021 through August 2022, Heibler, who worked in a secretarial position for the company, took over $28,000 from the company without authorization. She also modified business records to conceal the theft, police said.

She was processed and arraigned at the Warren County CAP Court and released on her own recognizance.
CAMBRIDGE  The Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education has been awarded $85,000 in grants from the New York State Council on the Arts. The money will support general operations, open studio space, an artist commission and marketing, said David Snider, executive and artistic director.

Were getting more general operating aid, Snider said. Theres more money available from NYSCA than there was before COVID.

When Snider started at Cambridges community arts and education center in 2014, the organization received $35,000 a year in state support. Last year, it was $116,000 from various (pandemic) recovery funds, Snider said. All that is great.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature have invested $240 million in the states arts sector, according to a NYSCA news release. Since last spring, NYSCA has awarded $90 million under a streamlined application process.

Arts organizations have to explain what we do, why its important, and how it supports artists and the community, Snider said.

NYSCA used to limit arts organizations to one operating grant and one grant for support in another area per year, but he said now you can apply for unlimited grants, as many opportunities as you qualify for.

Last summer, Hubbard Hall began discussing a possible commission and artist residency with New York City performance artist Ian Andrew Askew. The grant gave us the shot in the arm to do it, Snider said. Askews work combines multimedia, theater, music, and performance looking at historical absurdities manufactured scarcities, and contrary negritudes, according to Askews website.

This is Hubbard Halls first artist commission grant from NYSCA. The organization received its first National Endowment for the Arts grant for artist residencies last year, according to Snider.

Hubbard Halls Sandbox program, which makes space on its campus available to artists, organizations and the community for free, will also benefit from NYSCA funding. The Hubbard Hall main stage, visual arts studio, dance studio, Lovejoy building and Freight Depot black box theater are available for rehearsals, performances, workshops and meetings. Battenkill Books, the Valley Artisans Market, Battenkill Chorale, Battenkill Community Services and the Cambridge Central School Drama Club are among the local organizations taking advantage of those spaces.

With the grant, weve got enough money to keep the lights on, Snider said. We have all this real estate and we want to make it available.

Snider recently applied to NYSCA for what he called a major grant for artist housing. After the conversion of several local motels to apartments, he said theres no short-term housing in the area. Thats hampered the arts center because visiting actors, musicians and other artists need places to stay while they develop a piece, rehearse and perform.

We should hear about (the grant) in April, Snider said. Thats really fast for NYSCA.

With the easing of pandemic restrictions, Hubbard Hall can have full audiences in its performance spaces. A concert by the Celtic band Coig and the CCS Drama Clubs Little Women, both in December, were well attended, Snider said.

Fun Home, the 2015 Tony Award winner for best musical, will play on the main stage from Feb. 3 to 12. Kirk Jackson will direct the show by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron, based on the graphic novel by Allison Bechdel. The cast includes professional actors and local children. Snider said that to the best of his knowledge, this will be the first production anywhere in the region of Fun Home.

The CCS Drama Club will do its spring musical, Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine from March 24 to April 2.

For more information about Hubbard Halls schedule and programs, visit www.hubbardhall.org.
New Jerseys legal weed prices are so high, few people can afford to be.

At least thats the assessment of one cannabis activist who spoke at Fridays meeting of the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission.

Chris Goldstein, who described himself as a longtime organizer for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, told commissioners during the public comment portion of the meeting that legalization must make cannabis available to people making $14 an hour.

That is not the case now, he said. He compared it to ending Prohibition, but having the only alcohol available for legal sale being $1,000 bottles of champagne.

Thats what a $480 ounce of cannabis plus tax looks like to a working class person in New Jersey today, Goldstein said.

At previous meetings, Jeff Brown, the executive director of the commission, has argued that prices will naturally drop as more distribution locations open throughout New Jersey.

As Popularity of Weed Edibles Rises, So Do Accidental Poisonings in Kids TUESDAY, Jan. 3, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- As more U.S. states legalize marijuana, the number of preschoolers accidentally eating cannabis "edibles" is rising in tandem, a new study shows.

New Jerseys cannabis industry appears poised for rapid growth in 2023, according to Brown.

The commission has been approving new licenses, and members say rapid progress is being made.

On Friday, the commission approved eight annual licenses, including two for cultivators and five for retailers. The board also approved six conversions of conditional licenses to annual licenses, and has been regularly approving licenses at its meetings.

Brown reported that the authority has received close to 1,500 license applications since legalization last year, and expects significant expansion in the industry in the coming years. Three more dispensaries have passed inspection and will be setting opening dates once permits are issued.

Still, on social media and in other forums, consumers have complained about the prices in New Jersey, unfavorably comparing them to the New York market, where the first dispensary opened in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan last month.

At Housing Works Cannabis on Broadway, run by a not-for-profit organization and the first legal dispensary in New York State, some strains of cannabis are available for $40 for an eighth of an ounce. Most, however, appear to be in line with New Jersey prices, such as La Bomba for $55 or Wedding Cake for $60.

Marijuana-Linked ER Visits by Seniors Are Rising MONDAY, Jan. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- New research out of California finds seniors are being treated in emergency rooms in significantly higher numbers for adverse side effects from cannabis consumption.

Cannabis strains typically have colorful names.

In Atlantic County, at The Botanist, the strains Robot Girl and Velvet Cookies are listed at $55.19 for 3.5 grams, roughly equivalent to an eighth of an ounce, and Bonkers and Willow Berry Kush are $60.19 for the same amount, according to their website.

In Vermont, which also began sales of cannabis last year, the lowest price at Mountain Girl Cannabis in Rutland City is $40 for an eighth of an ounce, while other strains, such as Key Lime Pie, sell for $50 for that amount, while California dispensaries have some strains selling for $30. There, too, some specialty options run as much as $66.50 for an eighth of an ounce.

But Goldstein instead compared the regulated cannabis costs to the black market, or what many advocates prefer to call the legacy market. He described it as a robust market, and other sources say black market weed has never been cheaper or more readily available in New Jersey.

For $200 or $250, I can get fire today on the underground market and not pay a tax, Goldstein said.

NORMLs analysis of national crime statistics shows marijuana arrests plummeted in New Jersey even before legal sales began last April. There were more than 30,000 arrests for possession in 2018, down to 200 in 2021, statistics show, and arrests for selling marijuana dropped from close to 3,000 statewide in 2018 to 44 in 2021.

When States Legalize Marijuana, Teens' Asthma Rates Rise MONDAY, Jan. 16, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Cannabis use in U.S. states where recreational use is legal could be contributing to children's asthma, according to new research.

People still get arrested for marijuana in New Jersey, which voted overwhelmingly to legalize in 2020. For instance, in October, two people were charged in Atlantic City with possession of more than the 6-ounce personal limit for marijuana and possession with intent to distribute, along with weapons charges, after police allegedly found more than 14 pounds of weed in their car, along with two 9mm handguns.

The commission said it sees significant progress in the past year.

According to Brown, more than 900 conditional licenses have been awarded, and of those 133 have submitted to convert to an annual license.

Staff and board members cite the number of those licenses that are either owned by minorities or fall under social equity qualifications, or are in an impact zone.

New Jersey has sought to create a diverse market, one that will bring the economic benefits of cannabis sales to areas that have seen the greatest numbers of marijuana arrests.

Wesley McWhite, the commissions director of diversity and inclusion, told the board a cannabis market that reflects the diversity of New Jersey is already taking shape.

This is direct evidence that New Jerseyans most impacted by the war on drugs with prior marijuana convictions are submitting applications, McWhite said. Our social equity framework is working.
OCEAN CITY  Speakers at Ocean Citys observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day called for a unified country, with hopes of bringing together not only different races but also healing the political divide.

We are a nation that should be united. But I want to tell you, the enemy wants to divide us, said the Rev. Marcia Stanford, pastor of the Macedonia United Methodist Church.

She suggested Congress get rid of Republicans and Democrats and Independents, and instead be people who are looking to serve America.

Progress has been made since the civil right movement, but Stanford said work remained for the country.

The day will come when it wont matter what color my skin is. All that will matter is where my heart is, Stanford said.

Stanford received a standing ovation for her comments, which were presented in an impassioned style like a sermon.

Other speakers joked about the difficulty in following her.

Should I even speak? said Mayor Jay Gillian, the next speaker in the program. He said Stanford is important to the Ocean City community.

Gillian said King preached unity in his life, even as he faced adversity.

In some ways we have come a long way since Dr. King. In other ways we have not, Gillian said. Its sad that our world is still so divided, not just by Black and white, but by blue and red, rich and poor, partisan and non-partisan.

Gillian called unity a powerful force.

He cited the unity felt after the injury of Damar Hamlin, when people did not think of his team, his region or his race, but prayed for his well being.

Faith was central to the messages at the event at the Ocean City Music Pier. The service began and ended with prayer, and several speakers cited Kings faith and their own.

Each year, two residents are honored with service awards presented in Kings name. This year, the awards went to John Loeper, a local historian who worked to preserve a former lifesaving station on Fourth Street, an early structure on the barrier island.

The first lifesaving station built on the barrier island in 1841, the second station in the state. He said the Lifesaving Service was integrated from the beginning, started by Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue Cutter Service, created to intercept smugglers, which later became the United States Coast Guard.

Also honored was Patrick Kane, the former president of the Ocean City Board of Education, a medical doctor who lost his reelection effort last year. He was honored for efforts to protect students from COVID-19.

He said the district worked with medical professionals to come up with the plan at the height of the pandemic and followed the most recent data in an effort to ensure the safety of students.

That included hosting a vaccine clinic for students and community members at the school.

Most of the speakers praised four students who presented their essays on King. Stanford said the children affirmed her hope for the future, and Keane praised their efforts.

Students Sofia Wright, Kendall Barnes, Sydney Halliday and Gabriel Meron each read their essays and spoke about the legacy of King and what they saw as the work remaining.

What I like about Dr. King is that he spoke with clarity and purpose, Wright said. The words he said and the ideas he offered still reverberate throughout the world today.

She said his words remain an inspiration.

Barnes spoke about Kings plea for peace and equality.

Martin Luther King Jr.s dream wasnt just for everyone to be considered equal with laws and society. His dream was for our world to become a more welcoming and accepting place, Halliday said.

Assemblyman Antwan McClellan presented each student with the recognition of the legislative team. Multiple members of City Council attended the event, as did representatives of Cape May County government and U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd.

He also spoke of unity, and praised the student speakers.

Martin Luther King didnt want us always to be separated, to always be arguing or fighting, Van Drew said. He wanted us to come together in love and in faith.

Many people visited the community over the long weekend, with the Boardwalk crowded on the sunny January afternoon.

Ocean Citys observance started with a day of service, with a cleanup organized in the community. After the Monday observation, participants gathered for a lunch at the back of the Music Pier.
Far right, Adeline Gallagher, 7, of Northbrook waves hello while making valentines for veterans. From left are Bronwyn Wood, 13, a seventh-grader from Glenview, Addi Tucker, 7, a second-grader from Northbrook and Addy Carlson, 7, also of Northbrook at the Northbrook United Methodist Church MLK Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 in Northbrook (1190 Western Ave.). (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

The annual MLK Day of Service returned to Northbrook United Methodist Church (1190 Western Ave.) on Jan. 16 after a two year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is our first year back since COVID, Im really excited, said Rev. Krista Paradiso of Northbrook, senior pastor at Northbrook UMC.

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Volunteers gathered for the four hour event on the Martin Luther King Jr., Federal Holiday for the MLK Day of Service, a church event which is approaching a one decade history of philanthropy.

A large cross is in the background as volunteers work. Back row, behind the table, are adults, from right to left, Janelle Wood of Glenview, Nancy Metzler of Northbrook and Karen Wells of Northbrook at the Northbrook United Methodist Church MLK Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 in Northbrook (1190 Western Ave.). (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

The legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. instills a message of service but, I think theres always more work to be done, Paradiso said.

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Right from a faith perspective, our tradition says that you will always have work to do, that we dont hear the poor will always be with you as an excuse but as a call to action, and a call to continually keep trying to do the work that makes the world more like we think it could be and should be, Paradiso said.

Service projects included blessing bags for the homeless, making Project Linus blankets and valentines for Lake County veterans, and washing medicine bottles for a ministry to distribute repurposed amber prescription and other secure top vials and containers to people globally in need of proper storage of medicine.

From right to left, all from Northbrook, are volunteers Phil Braden, Lisa Kirsch and Karen Glazer, staging donated items at the Northbrook United Methodist Church MLK Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 in Northbrook (1190 Western Ave.). (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

For 2023, the MLK Day of Service had four project co-chairs including Karen Glazer of Northbrook, Karen Wells of Northbrook, Heidi Ortiz of Glenview and Alice Lonoff of Northbrook.

My dream would be to end homelessness because its such a horrible problem, Glazer said. You go into the city and you see people sleeping in tents under bridges.

Blessing bags for the homeless include socks, water, shampoo, toothpaste, a toothbrush, toiletries, peppermints and granola bars as examples.

What were doing today is just a token, Glazer said. Its a small gift  just small things but were writing notes in every bag saying, you know, Somebodys thinking about you today.

Approximately 50 handmade valentines destined for North Chicago area veterans served by the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center will be delivered before Valentines Day.

Volunteer Michael Paradiso of Northbrook hand washes an amber prescription drug vial to donate. Paradiso is working at the Northbrook United Methodist Church MLK Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 in Northbrook (1190 Western Ave.). (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

Another dream is that our elder veterans, Glazer added, feel appreciated for their service.

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Nancy Metzler of Northbrook made valentines.

It was fun, its nice to be able to do something creative, Metzler said. Its so nice to be able to have this event (MLK Day of Service) again.

Janelle Wood of Glenview made valentine greetings with children Payne Wood, 11, a fifth-grader and Bronwyn Wood, 13, a seventh-grader.

Its a day to give back, that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a day that we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and its a day of volunteering, Janelle Wood said.

Addi Tucker, 7, a second-grader from Northbrook, sat with friends making valentines. Steve Tucker, Addis parent, said, I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the kids to come together with the church.

Leaning in on right is Adeline Gallagher, 7, of Northbrook who is here to help make valentines for veterans. From left are Addi Tucker, 7, a second-grader from Northbrook, Bella Dembov and Addy Carlson, both 7 and from Northbrook too. Taken at the Northbrook United Methodist Church MLK Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 in Northbrook (1190 Western Ave.). (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

In the kitchen, volunteers were busy cleaning the prescription drug containers. Many of the childproof caps were from Walgreens sourced amber vials.

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All from Northbrook, Rita Philbin, 11, a fifth-grader, Mari Paradiso, 12, a sixth-grader, Karen Watkins, Stefanie Malczyk and Michael Paradiso were among people working kitchen duty.

It is the least we can do, Michael Paradiso said while washing bottles under a running water tap.

Stefanie Malczyk said that if Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive, I think he would be more than pleased and delighted that so many people gather together to support and help people in need.

But, Theres still a lot to be done, theres always going to be more to be done and thats possibly finding any ways to help people in need who have already sacrificed so much, Malczyk added. It happens way too often to so many people.

Karen Watkins said, Many hands make the work faster. It also makes you feel good.

From right to left, Rita Philbin, 11, a fifth-grader and Mari Paradiso, 12, a sixth-grader, both from Northbrook, work among volunteers helping to clean recycled medicine containers to upcycle and donate. This scene was taken at the Northbrook United Methodist Church MLK Day of Service on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 in Northbrook (1190 Western Ave.). (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)

The MLK Day of Service was one way, to show our respect, Rita Philbin and Mari Paradiso both said.

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Rita and Mari are aware of Martin Luther King, Jr.s renowned 1963 speech, I Have a Dream.

I just want everybody to be peaceful with each other and accept each other for their differences, Rita said.

Maris dream is that, Everyone gets what they need to not just survive but thrive.

Thats a pretty big dream, Mari added, but I feel like it shouldnt be.

Visit Northbrook UMC at https://www.northbrookumc.org.

Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
Chikhali: Robbers break into the residence of a family vacationing in Goa

Ravindra Sopan Bhujbal (aged 34; a resident of Jadhavwadi, Chikhali) has filed a complaint against the unknown robbers

According to the report, the plaintiff, along with his family, had gone on vacation to Goa. Taking advantage of the situation, thieves broke into his residence and stole gold ornaments worth Rs 2 lakh 4 thousand, silver ornaments worth Rs 81 thousand, cash, other household items, and documents worth a total of Rs 3 lakh 90 thousand. All of this took place between January 12 and January 16.

A case has been registered at the Chikhali police station, and an investigation is underway.
Youth from Dhankawdi in Pune die by suicide after falling into a sextortion trap; accused are nabbed by Pune police from Rajastan

An accused has been arrested from Rajasthan in connection with the suicide of a youth in Dhankawadi after threatening to broadcast offensive photographs and videos and demanding ransom. Sahakarnagar police have arrested a 24-year-old youth from Raipur Suketi village in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district. A youth from the state has been arrested earlier in connection with the suicide of a youth in Dattawadi.

Two young men from Pune were duped into falling into a trap after professing friendship with a young woman on social media. The accused threatened the victim with exposing the clips on social media if they did not pay a ransom. Two youths from Dattawadi and Dhankawadi die by suicide as a consequence of the accused's threats. Following that, a squad of Dattawadi police searched the Rajasthan village of Gurugothia and arrested the offenders. The villagers of Gurugothia village had hurled stones at the cops at the time. According to the police investigation, the entire town was involved in sextortion.

The suicide case of a youth in the Dhankawadi area was being investigated by Sahakarnagar police. A case was registered for inciting the youth to commit suicide by threatening him with extortion. The police had received information that the youth of Raipur Suketi village was involved in sextortion. After that, Commissioner of Police Ritesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner Sandeep Karnik, and Deputy Commissioner Smartana Patil ordered to arrest of the accused. The police team left for Rajasthan under the guidance of Assistant Commissioner of Police Sushma Chavan, and Senior Police Inspector of Sahakarnagar Police Station Sawalram Salgaonkar.

Police Sub-Inspectors Hasan Mulani, Sanjay Gaikwad, Sagar Sutkar, Nikhil Rajwade, and Sagar Kumhar laid a trap in Raipur Suketi village. Police kept surveillance for eight days with the help of the Rajasthan Police. After that, the young man was arrested and brought to Pune. The court sent him to police custody for eight days. Senior Police Inspector Savalaram Salgaonkar said that many people of Raipur Suketi village are involved in the crime of sextortion.
Chopper-wielding goons terrorise people in various parts of city, cases filed

Despite strict action taken by the Pune police, the Koyta issue persists in several parts of the city. Within 24 hours, the city recorded three separate incidents in which two youngsters, including an auto driver, were seriously injured, and a woman was assaulted by a gang of youths in Haveli when she requested them to ride the bike cautiously. The first incidence occurred on Saturday at 10.30 pm in Lohiyanagar.

Prem Patole, 26, filed a complaint stating that a gang of four approached him and abused him over an old feud. One of them had a sickle hidden at his waist, which he retrieved and attacked Prems head with it. He attempted to respond with his hands, but the accused assaulted his left hand, while another accused hit him on his back and head. All of them then fled the scene, leaving him in a pool of blood.

Khadak police filed an FIR under sections 307, 324, and 504 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and relevant sections of the Arms Act. Following the incident, senior police inspector Sangeeta Yadav and his team arrested Ajay Bagari (21), Shailesh Bagari (21), Aniket Koli (21) and Bharat Koli (18), all residents of Lohiyanagar. All four accused have criminal records, and were booked earlier for several cases. In another incident, Sidharth Shivsharan (60), a resident of Ramtekdi, Hadapasar, filed a complaint at the Wanowari police station.

His son Rohit was heading home when he was stopped by the accused and was asked for money to buy cigarettes. When he refused, the accused assaulted him with sharp weapons. The Wanowrie police have booked Mahesh Shinde, Mangesh Jadhav and Ayush Kale, all residents of Hadapasar, under sections 307, 504 of IPC and relevant sections of Arms Act. The police arrested Jadhav and Kale on the basis of CCTV footage of the crime scene.

The third incident took place in Gorhe village on Sinhagad road on Sunday. A group of 10 to 12 people went to a stall and asked for a free cigarette. When the stall owner refused, the accused flaunted sharp weapons in the air and created terror. The Haveli police arrested accused Suraj Thakur (21), Nilesh Sah(23), Akshay Chavan (23) Sagar Patil (22) Aniket More (22), all residents of Haveli, in connection with the case. In yet another incident, a group terrorised locals after a woman requested them to ride their bikes slowly.

According to police reports, the woman was sitting in front of her house, and some children were playing nearby. The accused were riding recklessly in the area. When the lady approached them with this advice, they were enraged. They then came forward wielding sickles and wooden sticks. They terrorised local women and battered them. A video of this event, in which the youngsters were seen menacing women with weapons in their hands, went viral on social media. Police inspector Sadashiv Shelar attached with Haveli police station said, We received a call about the incident and also received the video. We immediately sent our teams and arrested the five who created a ruckus in the area. They have threatened to kill the women. Out of 11 accused, six are still at large, and we are tracing them.
The lone 911 call that was made on the morning of a triple homicide at Maquoketa Caves State Park came from the mother of the man police say was the killer.

As the sun rose on the popular park in Jackson County, Iowa, on July 22, two gunshots rang out. A little boy screamed and ran for help. His parents were shot, he said; there was blood.

A nearby camper took the boy by the hand, hurried toward the campground entrance and called 911. The contents of that call reveal more about what happened at the park than what investigators have been willing to disclose over the past six months, despite having concluded the case.

'He saw his parents were shot'

Cecilia Sherwin struggled with the pronunciation of Maquoketa.

After several attempts at describing her location, it clicked for the Jackson County 911 dispatcher: She was talking about Maquoketa Caves.

"Shooting, shooting," Sherwin said. "We heard it this morning and this kid screaming. He said his parents were shot and there's blood."

The 911 call, obtained by the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus through an Open Records request to Jackson County, lasts for 23 minutes. The dispatcher is heard asking questions of Sherwin and trying to call law enforcement. As he called the park ranger and the phone continued to ring, the dispatcher said, "Come on," just before the ranger's phone went to voice mail.

The connection between the dispatcher and Sherwin was briefly lost at one point, but she called back. The dispatcher again put her on hold as he tried to contact help.

Nearly 10 minutes after her initial call, the dispatcher asked more questions, including where she was in the park, exactly.

"At the entrance ... with the little boy," she replied. "He was screaming in the tent. We heard the shots."

The dispatcher had questions for the boy, too, so Sherwin handed him her phone.

"Who am I talking to?" the dispatcher asked.

"Me," the boy replied.

Then came some detail: The boy's name was Arlo. He was 9 years old. He was camping in a tent with his mom, his sister and his dad.

"I woke up and there was someone, like, someone in, like, black clothes and they had a weapon and my sister was screaming," Arlo said.

The dispatcher asked where his dad was. The boy paused, then replied, "I think they were hurt."

He repeated to the dispatcher that the man had a "small gun" and was wearing "black clothes." He then handed the phone back to Sherwin. A few seconds later, she could be heard asking the boy, "Honey, are you OK? What's wrong?"

The dispatcher assured them help was coming. A trooper and park ranger "aren't too far away," he said. An ambulance was standing by at the park's visitor center.

After 23 minutes, the 911 call concluded with the arrival of a park ranger.

Asked last week why she took the boy to the entrance of the park to call 911, Sherwin said, "We were running to safety, thinking someone in black was going to shoot us."

The discovery of bodies

Inside a tent near the entrance to the upper campground at Maquoketa Caves State Park, police found the bodies of Sarah and Tyler Schmidt, both 42, and their daughter, 6-year-old Lula.

Two weeks later, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, DCI, publicly disclosed the causes of the Schmidts' deaths: Tyler was shot and stabbed. Sarah was stabbed. Lula was shot and strangled. Arlo was the only member of the family from Cedar Falls to escape injury.

Anthony Sherwin, 23, had been traveling and camping with his parents, Cecilia and Joe. He was in his own tent. The campground had a total of about a dozen campers, Cecilia Sherwin had told the 911 dispatcher.

Anthony Sherwin's body was found "near the campground  a short distance away" but still inside the park, according to an investigator's remarks at a news conference on the day of the killings.

In addition to revealing the causes of death on Aug. 4, the Iowa DCI declared that Sherwin had been the killer: "... all evidence collected to this point substantiate Sherwin was the perpetrator of the homicides and acted alone."

His parents don't believe it. Neither his character nor the bit of evidence shared with them proves he did it, they said.

Cecilia Sherwin said her son sustained two gunshot wounds. She thinks the first would have been "debilitating" and wonders how he managed to shoot himself again.

Police have declined to answer any questions and have not publicly released any additional information since Aug. 4.

Public Records requests denied

The list of unanswered questions is long, but one in particular bothers Cecilia Sherwin because it seems simple to answer: Was the gun police say was used by her son to commit suicide the same gun that was used in the shootings of Tyler and Lula Schmidt?

She and her husband specifically asked one of the lead investigators whether a ballistics match was made. They didn't get an answer, she said.

The Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus also filed requests for public records under Iowa's Open Records law and the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA. The request sought incident reports, investigative documents, crime-scene summaries and autopsy reports.

"The records you seek are not public," replied Debbie McClung, strategic communications bureau chief, office of the commissioner, Iowa Department of Public Safety. "We can share immediate facts and circumstances of this case, which are contained in the press release links which Ive provided for you ..."

McClung was asked in an email on Jan. 11 whether the gun used in the suicide matched the one used in the slayings. She did not respond.

The Sherwins' requests for information also have either been denied or ignored, Cecilia Sherwin said. She was able to independently obtain her son's autopsy report, she said, but it only added to her confusion. She knew Anthony was wearing green shorts because she had given them to him the day before the shooting as she handed out the last of the clean clothes from the family's camping trip.

The autopsy listed the clothing Anthony was wearing, which included the green shorts. To the Sherwins, the clothing distinction is important because Arlo had been insistent the person who killed his family was wearing black.

"The reason we want the final report is that we want an independent review of what they say has happened because we believe Anthony was murdered and did not commit that crime," Cecilia Sherwin said.

The people who likely knew Anthony best  his parents  say he wasn't capable of killing and he had no connection whatsoever to the Schmidts. Why would he violently attack them at sunrise?

"We were told there was no motive and it was random," she said.

Investigative matters aren't the only details that remain under wraps. Police won't even tell the Sherwins where in the park their son's body was found, Cecilia Sherwin said.

"Why can't we know where our son's last moments on earth were, so we can put a small cross and flowers there? she asked.

Arlo Schmidt is being raised by extended family, according to reports from his hometown. Cecilia Sherwin regularly thinks of the boy, she said.
Its a gloomy Tuesday afternoon when the first knock sounds at the door.

A volunteer jumps up to welcome the first of what might be 30 elementary school age students to the bright and colorful Treat House, 510 Warren St., for a free after-school program operated by the nonprofit Project Renewal.

We are a stable spot, Ann Schwickerath, the organizations executive director, said.

And while the children do get treats  today its Goldfish crackers and juice  the nearly 50-year-old organization provides much more than that.

The first order of business is to ask each child if he or she has homework, and theyll work on that, maybe using one of 17 computers in the house. When homework is finished, kids are free to play a board game, read a book or just hang out.

Special programs are offered year-round by staff of the Figge Art Museum, Common Chord (formerly the River Music Experience) and the Davenport Public Library.

All the while, Project Renewal volunteers and staff strive to quietly affirm each child. They also try to teach how to resolve squabbles without fighting, use time constructively and interact with appropriate social behavior, in the words of the organizations website.

A visiting newspaper reporter sees an example of this when a volunteer suggests to Isaac, a second-grader, that he should introduce himself to the reporter. Isaac springs from a couch, walks over and extends his hand.

Amy Kersten, of Davenport, now in her ninth year of volunteering at Project Renewal, said her first impression of the place was that it was filled with laughter and high energy. It still is, and thats one of the reasons she stays. Another volunteer, PJ Slobogan, calls it a happy place to come to.

At present, 65 children are enrolled, kindergarten through 12th grade.

A change in the past several years is that older children are sticking around.

Previously, kids began drifting away once they got to upper junior high and high school.

We might not see them anymore, Schwickerath said. Maybe it (coming to Project Renewal) wasnt cool. But more kids have started staying with us longer, into high school.

And the organization has responded with programs just for them, offered in the evenings so teens who might have after-school extracurricular or part-time jobs can attend.

An emphasis of these programs is career exploration, looking at what the kids might do after high school. To that end, Project Renewal takes the kids on college visits  private and public four-year institutions as well as community college, trade school and apprenticeship programs  and has speakers come in to talk about various lines of work.

Staff also tries to caution the kids on possible pitfalls. In partnership with the Center for Alcohol and Drug Services, staff comes in to advise on decision-making, refusal skills, healthy hangouts and identifying trusted friends and adults.

Were walking through life with them so they can become productive in society, Schwickerath said.

And when school is out for the summer, Project Renewal picks up with a robust slate of programming from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

This includes swim lessons; work in math, reading and writing; craft projects and field trips. Kids have visited the Davenport Spray Park and Nahant Marsh in Davenport, the Wapsi Environmental Center near Dixon and Our Lady of the Prairie Retreat center near Wheatland, Iowa. Smaller groups have attended ballgames at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, visited Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley and have volunteered at Bix at Six training runs.

How Project Renewal got its start

The group traces its roots to 1972, when Sister Concetta Bendicente came to Davenport from Chicago to serve her order, the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. She moved to the neighborhood just west of downtown and began observing needs  people experiencing homelessness, kids playing on the railroad tracks, elderly people with no family.

She decided she could help and bought a condemned brick house on the corner of 5th and Warren that she fixed up and lived in to be a positive presence in the neighborhood and to serve as a base for helping those she encountered.

At that time, there werent all the great social service organizations there are now, Ann Schwickerath, executive director of Project Renewal, said. Sister Concetta did a little bit of everything, providing food, clothes, transportation and helping the homeless and elderly.

In time, the focus narrowed to children, and efforts were organized in 1974 under the auspices of a nonprofit organization. To serve more children, the organization purchased for park purposes a nearby vacant lot where a 1850s school once stood and, in 2002, a duplex that became the Treat House.

For the first 20 years, the staff was all-volunteer.

In 1993, Ann Schwickerath, then newly graduated from the University of Iowa where she majored in sociology and art education, came to work for the summer and never left.

She became executive director and was the only full-time employee for many years. The organization now has two full-time and three part-time staffers who work year-round, and it generally hires about eight seasonal staffers to help with summer programs, often work-study college students.

The organizations annual operating budget is about $245,000, with money coming from federal Community Development Block Grants administered by the city of Davenport, grants from area foundations and a great list of faithful private donors, Schwickerath said. The budget is expected to increase to $280,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1 with the hiring of an additional staff member and operation of the expanded space.

A point of pride for Project Renewal is that its original brick house is where Mother Teresa stayed in April 1976 when she was in Davenport to receive the Davenport Catholic Interracial Councils Pacem in Terris award. Mother Teresa was the founder of a religious order of nuns, known for her work with the poor and sick in India and other places in the world. In 2016 she was canonized as a saint.
The Quad-Cities St. Patrick Society is announcing details for its popular Grand Parade.

The annual festivities will begin March 17 with the introduction of the parade Grand Marshal, Irish Mother of the Year and St. Patrick Society scholarship recipient at the Gathering of the Clan Luncheon. Reservations to the luncheon are being accepted, and more information can be found online.

Parade day  March 18  will kick off with 10 a.m. Mass at St. Mary's, 2204 4th Ave., Rock Island. The parade will begin at 4th Avenue and 23rd Street, traveling through downtown Rock Island and over the Centennial Bridge into Davenport. Groups will make their way down W. Third Street to the RiverCenter at Perry Street.

The River Bend Food Bank will travel the parade route ahead of decorated floats and walking groups to gather monetary donations for the nonprofit's mission of combating food insecurity in the Quad-Cities.

The celebrations will continue at the Post-Parade Bash, 1-4 p.m. at the RiverCenter. The bash is member-only, but membership to the St. Patrick Society can be purchased at the door for $15.

More information on the parade and after party can be found at the St. Patrick Society website.

Ahead of the celebration, the St. Patrick Society is seeking nominations for Irish Mother of the Year and their scholarship recipient.

Irish Mother of the Year nominations must come in the form of a 150-word letter. Candidates should participate in their community, family and church, have a good sense of humor and pride in their Irish heritage. They also must be able to attend all the St. Patrick Society parade weekend activities.

Scholarship applicants must have a relative that is currently a member of the St. Patrick Society and demonstrate their ability to pursue higher education, through their GPA, SAT or ACT scores and class rank. Letters of recommendation are encouraged, and applications can be received from school counselors, at the St. Patrick Society website or from Matt Wissing, wissingm@yahoo.com.

The scholarship recipient will receive $1,500 from the St. Patrick Society at its luncheon.

Materials for both applications must be received through the mail by Feb. 18. Address Irish Mother nominations to St. Patrick Society Attn. Irish Mother Nomination, P.O. Box 4487, Davenport, Iowa, 52808, and scholarship applications to St. Patrick Society Scholarship, with the same P.O. box.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is accepting applications for the Community Agriculture Initiative.

This initiative supports the conservation efforts of Montanas farmers, ranchers and forest landowners from small acreage to large. NRCS accepts applications year-round, but applications for the current funding cycle must be submitted by Feb. 14.

Agricultural producers of all sizes provide local, nutritious food to their communities. Through this initiative, NRCS is prioritizing assistance to first foods efforts, farm to table projects, and many other types of community agriculture, NRCS State Conservationist for Montana Tom Watson, NRCS State Conservationist for Montana said. This includes an expanded set of conservation practices tailored to the conservation needs of small-scale ag producers.

The small acreage activities make traditional conservation practices used at a large scale more applicable to operations of all sizes. For example, some payment rates are now based on square feet rather than acres of implementation for practices like grazing management, irrigation water management, pest management and cover crops. In addition, some new practices have been added including low tunnel management and compost or compost plus biochar in small areas.

The Community Agriculture Initiative is funded through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and builds on the previous high tunnel initiative. Find information about community agriculture on the NRCS Montana website at nrcs.usda.gov/montana under State Programs and Initiatives.

For more information about this initiative and how to apply, contact your local NRCS office. Get contact information at nrcs.usda.gov/contact.
Virginias early voting law, with one of the nations longest periods for voters to cast ballots, would be cut sharply under a bill that moved from a House of Delegates subcommittee Tuesday.

The bill would cut early voting from the 45 days before Election Day to 14 days.

(The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, led by Democrats, on Tuesday defeated two bills to curtail absentee voting, as well as bills to ban drop boxes and require photo ID at the polls.)

The move to 14 days would be an important savings for local governments, said Del. Phil Scott, R-Spotsylvania, who sponsored the measure.

Localities concerns are so widespread that three separate, similar bills were filed this year, he said.

Democrats on the House Privileges and Elections subcommittee said the bills would reverse their efforts in 2020 and 2021, when they had majorities in both the House and state Senate, to make voting easier.

If you want less voting, just say so, said Del. Schuyler T. VanValkenburg, D-Henrico.

Del. Tara Durant, R-Fredericksburg, who filed a similar bill, said the aim was not to discourage voting, but to avoid the confusion that could result if ballots changed sometime during the 45-day period, if candidates dropped out, for instance.

The subcommittees Democrats pressed for data about how many people voted between 45 and 14 days before Election Day, but sponsors said they didnt have any.

Although campaigners to restrict absentee or early voting have previously said the aim is to reduce voter fraud, the backers of the Virginia bills did not make that argument this year.

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have said defending Virginias voting access laws is a top priority in the 2023 General Assembly session.

Democrats have a four-seat edge in the Senate while Republicans have a four-seat edge in the House.
A Senate subcommittee has defeated an initiative calling for Virginia colleges to report the salaries of employees working toward diversity, equity and inclusion.

The committee voted down Senate Bill 1197, which called for public colleges to publish the number of DEI officers they employ and their wages. Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, who sponsored the bill, said the combined salaries could pay for more than 1,000 full scholarships for students.

The bottom line is, there are some things not being disclosed, Reeves said.

According to a group called the Virginia Association of Scholars, DEI officers at the states public colleges earned a combined $15 million in 2020. Conservatives argue DEI initiatives limit free speech on campus and prevent merit-based achievement.

The University of Virginia spent the most, employing 38 officers who collectively earned $4 million. The universitys vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and community partnerships made $340,000.

James Madison University spent more than $2 million employing 31 DEI administrators. Both UVa and JMU spent more in 2021 than they did in 2020.

Virginia Commonwealth University was not included in the report because its data was not available, the authors said.

Two schools had no DEI officers in 2020, according to the report  Virginia State University and Virginia Military Institute. VMI later hired a chief diversity officer in 2021.

Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax City, questioned why colleges should be required to publish this information, which is already publicly available. Petersen called the bill overly confrontational.

The report from the Virginia Association of Scholars said its impossible to tell how much a college really spends on diversity, equity and inclusion , because not every employee who works on the issues has DEI in their job title.

The bill also called for universities to report the percentage of their expenditures on DEI, government relations, lobbying and compensation for presidents.
Bond was set Monday at $1.5 million for a South American man charged with breaking into an Oak Brook home Friday evening.

Anibal Miller-Valencia, 21, was charged with one count of home invasion, a Class X Felony, and one count of residential burglary, a Class 1 Felony. If convicted, Miller-Valencia faces serving 6-30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, according to information from DuPage County States Attorney Robert Berlin. Miller-Valencias bond was set by Judge Joseph Bugos. Miller-Valencias next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 6 for arraignment in front of Judge Ann Celine OHallaren Walsh.

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Oak Brook police responded to a call of a home invasion on the 400 block of Luthin Road at 6:38 p.m. Friday. Upon arrival, officers spoke to a teenage girl who was home alone at the time of the incident, police said in a release.

An investigation revealed that Miller-Valencia and two unknown accomplices reportedly drove to a nearby forest preserve parking lot and parked their car, police said. Police believe that the accomplices left the vehicle while Miller-Valencia waited behind.

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Police also believe that at approximately 6:30 p.m., the accomplices went to the home on Luthin Road, broke a rear glass door and entered the home. While they were in the home, the girl reportedly hid behind a door, and after a short time, the two men fled into a nearby wooded area.

While investigating the incident, officers found Miller-Valencia in the forest preserve parking lot sitting in the drivers seat of the car with the engine running, police said. He was arrested and taken into custody.

I cant imagine the terror this young victim must have felt when she heard glass breaking and unknown voices in her house while she was home alone, Berlin said in the release. Everyone has a right to feel safe in their own home, but for this young victim, that sense of safety has now been shattered.

The type of violent behavior alleged in this case also has a crippling effect on the entire community. Thanks to the quick response of the Oak Brook Police Department, one of the individuals suspected in this case is now in custody and if found guilty is facing a significant amount of time behind bars.

Oak Brook Police Chief Brian Strockis said the departments officers always work diligently to keep the community safe.

A persons home should be their safe haven, and this incident violated that space, he said. Im incredibly proud of our response to this incident and coordinated efforts of 21 other police agencies that responded to assist.

Strockis said the assisting departments responded with officers, drones, K-9s and a helicopter.

The response was quick and impressive, he said, while giving kudos to Oak Brook detectives who worked on the case throughout the weekend with Berlin and his office.

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Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
06-20-1962: Workmen measure Monumental Church with mammoth 'yardstick' Richmond's old Monumental Episcopal Church is hving its measurements taken. The measurements are needed to draw up plans for the proposed restoration of the 150-year-old church.

In June 1986, Historic Richmond Foundation leader John G. Zehmer Jr. (center left) reviewed roof plans with architect Kenneth MacIlroy at Monumental Church on East Broad Street in Richmond. The historic church, built as a memorial to those killed in the 1811 Richmond Theatre fire, was getting a new copper roof as a step toward preserving the building.

From the Archives: Monumental Church

Monumental Church on East Broad Street was built in 1814 as a memorial to those killed in the 1811 Richmond Theater fire. This fire killed 72 people including Virginias governor. That night, nearly 600 people had filled the theater for a post-Christmas day performance which was a local highlight of the holiday season. However, disaster struck when a chandelier was raised into the rafters before it was completely extinguished and in mere minutes, the building was consumed by flames.

The building was designed by Robert Mills, Americas first native-born architect and the only architectural pupil of Thomas Jefferson, according to the Historic Richmond Foundation which owns the building today. Mills won a competition to construct the memorial in 1812. The 70-foot octagonal auditorium was accentuated with Roman, Greek and Egyptian motifs and funerary imagery. The Richmond church is considered the most elaborate example of the four domed churches that Mills designed during his career. Nationally, it is considered one of the earliest and best examples of Greek Revival.

Monumental Church was deeded to the Medical College of Virginia in 1965. In 1971 it was designated a National Historic Landmark and Historic Richmond received the building in 1983 and continues to maintain it today.
Del. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, plans to run for the Virginia Senate in a special election this spring if Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, wins election to Congress next month.

Bagby, who dropped out of the Democratic primary race in the 4th Congressional District to support McClellan last month, said in an interview, I am definitely running when the seat becomes available.

That will depend on the outcome of the special election on Feb. 21 between McClellan and Republican Leon Benjamin to fill the seat vacated by the sudden death of Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th, on Nov. 28, three weeks after he won a fourth term in the heavily Democratic district.

If McClellan were to win and resign her Senate seat before the end of the 46-day session in late February, Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, would set the date for a special election to fill the current 9th District Senate seat, which includes all of Charles City County and parts of Richmond, Hanover and Henrico counties.

Bagby isnt alone.

Del. Dawn Adams, D-Richmond, said she is running for the Senate seat if it opens. She said Monday that she is not running for reelection in a new House district that also includes Del. Jeff Bourne, D-Richmond, and Del. Betsy Carr, D-Richmond. She said she made the decision in early December after reading of McClellans potential congressional bid.

I thought a lot about it and I feel this is where I could be of best service, Adams said Monday.

Alexsis Rodgers, chair of the 4th District Democratic Committee and former candidate for mayor of Richmond, confirmed Monday that she is actively making plans to run for the Senate seat and expects to make an announcement soon.

Bourne, who succeeded McClellan in the 71st House District in 2017, confirmed Monday that he is strongly considering seeking the party nomination for the seat.

Whoever wins would then face a potential primary and then a general election in November for the newly drawn 14th Senate District, 80% of which lies in Richmond, with the remaining 20% in Henrico.

I feel very confident in both districts, said Bagby, who has represented parts of Richmond and Henrico in the 74th House District for almost eight years, as well as Charles City under previous district lines.

I spend a lot of time working and playing in the city, he said. It would be nice to represent the people of the city.

Bagby, 46, lives on the Henrico side of the county line with Richmond, near the public housing complex where he grew up, now named St. Luke Apartments. He serves as chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, which has grown in both numbers and influence in the General Assembly and state politics.

Right now, our communities are facing real challenges  some new, and some that just require new leadership to finally solve, Bagby said in a statement. Virginians deserve a leader with a proven track record of delivering for Virginia families, and the ability to bring the region together to tackle the most pressing issues on Virginians minds  like growing our education system, increasing access to affordable housing and childcare, and strengthening our infrastructure.

He was close to McEachin, as was McClellan, who is vice chair of the Black caucus. So when both ran for the Democratic nomination to succeed the late congressman, it posed a quandary for the areas Black community. Bagby dropped out of the firehouse primary race after Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, jumped into it and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a former governor and Richmond mayor, endorsed McClellan.

Its too soon to say who else will seek the Democratic and Republican nominations for the Senate seat if McClellan wins the congressional race, or whether she would endorse anyone in a Democratic nominating contest.

The question is, does McClellan support [Bagby] for the seat? said Bob Holsworth, a veteran political scientist in Richmond. I think there was an assumption when he got out [of the congressional race], there would be support for him being a good soldier.

McClellan spokesman Jared Leopold said: Senator McClellan is focused on her race for Congress and is not focused on any endorsements in a potential state Senate vacancy.

Close The Rev. Martin Luther King,Jr., and VP Joseph E. Lowery, and Wyatt Tee Walker, Executive Director of the SCLC meet at First African Baptist Church, Sept. 25, 1963 for the SCLC convention Richmond police blocked off a crowd in the 100 block E. Broad St. in April 1968 after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On July 2, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Petersburg for the first convention of the Virginia unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the national civil rights group that King led. Standing with him are SCLC officials Curtis Harris of Hopewell (center) and Milton Reid of Petersburg. The Virginia unit had about two dozen affiliates across the state. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (left) with Virginia SCLC Officials Rev. Curtis Harris of Hopewell (center), Dr. Milton Reid of Petersburg. In August 1963, protesters boarded a bus at the Leigh Street YMCA in Richmond for a trip to the U.S. Capitol to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. An estimated 2,500 Virginians were among the roughly 250,000 marchers at the protest, which called for civil rights legislation and featured Dr. Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream speech. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Learning Week Tab. 1968 Members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference marched about 30 strong over the Martin Luther King Memorial bridge between Colonial Heights and Petersburg. This was the 29th anniversary of MLK's assassination. Members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference marched about 30 strong over the Martin Luther King Memorial bridge between Colonial Heights and Petersburg. This was the 29th anniversary of MLK's assassination. Jack Mills, Virginia president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, carried this portrait of Martin Luther King during the symbolic walk of social unity across the MLK Bridge connecting Colonial Heights and Petersburg Thursday, October 30, 2003. After the walk he sits with it during the ceremony that dedicated the new bridge. Richmond-based sculptor Paul Di Pasquale prepares an alternative eye configuration for an original full-scale clay model for a bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The sculptor was showing the clay model to a group of visitors from the Hopewell Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation Inc. committee that is overseeing a project to put the bronze bust in the Ashford Civic Plaza in Hopewell. At right is committee member Curtis Harris. Richmond-based sculptor Paul Di Pasquale (left) displays the original full-scale clay model for a bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that is to be placed in the Ashford Civic Plaza in Hopewell early this spring. Curtis Harris (second from right) and Avon Miles, both of whom are members of the Hopewell Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation Inc. committee that is overseeing the project. Committee members John Weigel and Belinda Piercy were also present. They are in Di Pasquale's studio on National St. in Richmond. Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, chief of staff for Martin Luther King, holds photos of when he and MLK were in the Birmingham jail in 1967. Photo taken Monday, August 12, 2013. Mary Lauderdale, Visitor Services Manager of the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, stands before an image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the exhibits at the new museum in Richmond, VA Monday, April 18, 2016. With President Obama obscured by television lights and press stands, his image is seen on a giant monitor in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech given on the site. Aug. 28, 2013. Participants pray during the benediction at a Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. at Fifth Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Jan. 16, 2012. Herbert V. Coulton, Sr. is surrounded by memorabilia including photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr. and plaques commemorating his efforts in the Civil Rights movement. Coulton will be honored for his efforts on Wednesday at the Pentagon. In the photograph he is holding, he is on the left and King is on the right. Members of the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School Choir wait for the mass meeting to begin at the Ashe Center commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday Monday, January 15, 2007. 16 photos of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, from the Times-Dispatch archives The Rev. Martin Luther King,Jr., and VP Joseph E. Lowery, and Wyatt Tee Walker, Executive Director of the SCLC meet at First African Baptist Church, Sept. 25, 1963 for the SCLC convention Richmond police blocked off a crowd in the 100 block E. Broad St. in April 1968 after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On July 2, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was in Petersburg for the first convention of the Virginia unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the national civil rights group that King led. Standing with him are SCLC officials Curtis Harris of Hopewell (center) and Milton Reid of Petersburg. The Virginia unit had about two dozen affiliates across the state. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (left) with Virginia SCLC Officials Rev. Curtis Harris of Hopewell (center), Dr. Milton Reid of Petersburg. In August 1963, protesters boarded a bus at the Leigh Street YMCA in Richmond for a trip to the U.S. Capitol to participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. An estimated 2,500 Virginians were among the roughly 250,000 marchers at the protest, which called for civil rights legislation and featured Dr. Martin Luther Kings I Have a Dream speech. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Learning Week Tab. 1968 Members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference marched about 30 strong over the Martin Luther King Memorial bridge between Colonial Heights and Petersburg. This was the 29th anniversary of MLK's assassination. Members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference marched about 30 strong over the Martin Luther King Memorial bridge between Colonial Heights and Petersburg. This was the 29th anniversary of MLK's assassination. Jack Mills, Virginia president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, carried this portrait of Martin Luther King during the symbolic walk of social unity across the MLK Bridge connecting Colonial Heights and Petersburg Thursday, October 30, 2003. After the walk he sits with it during the ceremony that dedicated the new bridge. Richmond-based sculptor Paul Di Pasquale prepares an alternative eye configuration for an original full-scale clay model for a bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The sculptor was showing the clay model to a group of visitors from the Hopewell Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation Inc. committee that is overseeing a project to put the bronze bust in the Ashford Civic Plaza in Hopewell. At right is committee member Curtis Harris. Richmond-based sculptor Paul Di Pasquale (left) displays the original full-scale clay model for a bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that is to be placed in the Ashford Civic Plaza in Hopewell early this spring. Curtis Harris (second from right) and Avon Miles, both of whom are members of the Hopewell Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation Inc. committee that is overseeing the project. Committee members John Weigel and Belinda Piercy were also present. They are in Di Pasquale's studio on National St. in Richmond. Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, chief of staff for Martin Luther King, holds photos of when he and MLK were in the Birmingham jail in 1967. Photo taken Monday, August 12, 2013. Mary Lauderdale, Visitor Services Manager of the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, stands before an image of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the exhibits at the new museum in Richmond, VA Monday, April 18, 2016. With President Obama obscured by television lights and press stands, his image is seen on a giant monitor in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech given on the site. Aug. 28, 2013. Participants pray during the benediction at a Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. at Fifth Street Baptist Church in Richmond, Jan. 16, 2012. Herbert V. Coulton, Sr. is surrounded by memorabilia including photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr. and plaques commemorating his efforts in the Civil Rights movement. Coulton will be honored for his efforts on Wednesday at the Pentagon. In the photograph he is holding, he is on the left and King is on the right. Members of the Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School Choir wait for the mass meeting to begin at the Ashe Center commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday Monday, January 15, 2007.
GOP-led bills to unhitch Virginia from Californias tailpipe emissions standards came to a halt Tuesday as a Senate committee voted for them to be passed by indefinitely  meaning they will not progress this legislative session.

The Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources voted to stop the five bills on party-line votes of 8-7.

Last year, Democratic legislators passed a bill to put the brakes on some pollution from tailpipe emissions by hitching Virginia to Californias emissions standards.

California is the only state granted the ability to set emissions standards that are more robust than what is federally allowed. Without the purview to set its own, last year Virginia became one of 16 states to adopt Californias standards.

But, its Californias consideration of a ban on the sale of gas-powered vehicles that made several Virginia GOP lawmakers want to decouple Virginia from Californias standards.

I spend a lot of my time in the Northern Neck and the Middle Peninsula, but also those areas that are slower to have resources, Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, told The Times-Dispatch last month when he filed his now-defeated bill on emissions standards. It might not be appropriate for them to have all electric vehicles in the same time frame as Arlington and Alexandria.

McDougle also questioned the feasibility of adopting electric vehicles by 2035 in areas that may not have built out enough fast-charging infrastructure. (Virginia has received federal funding to aid with building out fast-charging infrastructure, but its mostly along major roads.)

Sens. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg and Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, sponsors of two of the other defeated bills, expressed concern over whether the states electrical grid could handle an influx of electric vehicles (both senators also own EVs) and if Virginia could meet the incremental emission reduction goals laid out in the existing law.

Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, a member of the panel, said that in and outside of Virginia the transition to widespread electric vehicle use is coming and noted how major vehicle manufacturers have pledged to produce zero emission vehicles by 2040.

Its coming sooner than a lot of people thought two years ago and we can either get ahead of it and prepare and take care of the infrastructure money that is coming to build our infrastructure, McClellan said during the meeting. Or, we can put our heads in the sand and pretend oh this isnt happening.

As we transition, there are opportunities to create new jobs and industries, she added.

Questions linger over what the future used-car market could look like should Virginia keep the Clean Cars Act. Democratic legislators stressed that the law applies to only cars sold beginning in 2026.

A handful of representatives of trade organizations, environmental groups and Virginias Department of Natural and Historic Resources attended the meeting and spoke for repealing the legislation or for remaining tethered to Californias law.

The idea of repealing the Clean Cars Act proved popular among Republican legislators  with others filing similar bills in the House of Delegates. Gov. Glenn Youngkin mentioned the idea in his State of the Commonwealth speech last week.

The GOP-led House will take up similar bills in future committee meetings, and should those clear the chamber, they are likely to also fail in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Kelli Lemon and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Paul Williams are back for a new episode of After the Monuments. In this episode the two are catching up on recent events such us the removal of Richmond's last-standing Confederate monument, the Virginia governor's proposed history standards and the story of the six-year-old in Newport News, Va., who shot a teacher.

More episodes of After the Monuments will follow weekly.

About After the Monuments

Co-hosted by Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Michael Paul Williams and Kelli Lemon, After the Monuments captures the zeitgeist of a nation struggling to move from symbolic to substantive change on racial issues.

The podcast analyzes current events about race through a historical context, examining the ideas of leading Black thinkers over time, and encouraging broader and deeper insights into racial tensions, divisions and reconciliation.

Williams and Lemon, both with the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Va., engage with a wide range of guests to bring context, relevance and resonance to events, going well beyond breaking-news headlines.
(Image: New Straits Times)

Grab Malaysia has updated the peak hour fares and incentive structure for its e-hailing service, with the aim to provide its drivers with fairer compensation, especially for their time spent stuck in traffic during peak hours.

Effective immediately, Grabs new fares during peak hours will now be based primarily on the time needed to complete a ride, while the distance covered plays a secondary role. With this, the fare per minute will be increased from the existing 20 sen to 43 sen, whereas the fare per kilometre is reduced from 70 sen to 25 sen in the Klang Valley. Meanwhile, the base and minimum rates remain unchanged at RM2 and RM5, respectively.

Heres a quick look at how the new fares compare to the previous rate:

In a statement, Grab explained that this update is driven by comments from its driver partners, many of whom highlighted that the existing fares do not offer sufficient compensation for the time spent in a jam during peak hours. Please note that we need to balance the higher fare per minute with a lower fare per km as maintaining the existing fare per km will result in a significant increase in fare levels, causing a drop in demand from passengers, it further explained.

With this compromise, Grab said that passengers should see little to no change in what they have to pay, with only minor increases or decreases depending on the hours of their rides. To better illustrate this point, Grab also shared the current and new fare calculations for two scenarios where passengers travel a similar distance (10km), but at different hours (peak versus regular hours). The fares are calculated based on the formula: base fare + (trip distance x fare per kilometre) + (trip duration x fare per minute)):

With the new fare structure, customers will likely need to pay slightly more during peak hours when riding in busy areas, where traffic is heavy.

Meanwhile, customers who make trips that take faster to complete, such as trips on clear highways during regular hours, will enjoy lower fares.

In response to this update, vice president for the Grab Drivers Malaysia Association (GDMA), Mohd Azril Ahmat said that the fare adjustment is disappointing, given that most drivers prefer to work during non-peak hours. Based on the feedback Ive gotten from some drivers today, they are expecting at least a 30% reduction in earnings. This is because they reduced the earnings based on distance, which is down to just 25 sen. My concern now is that other ride-hailing companies will follow the same fee structure, he said.

Founder of online radio station Ehailing.fm, Fazal Kamarudin also said that the fee adjustment was shocking. From 70 sen per kilometre to 25 sen doesnt make sense. I hope that Grab can study the fee structure again, and the relevant authorities should look into the matter, he added.

(Image: The Star/Azman Ghani)

Aside from introducing the new fares, Grab also rolled out two new incentives  namely the Far Pickup Bonus and Hourly Cashback  to replace existing initiatives (Time Booster and Cashback Bonus) and to better motivate its driver partners. Specifically, the Far Pickup Bonus incentive will offer Grab drivers a compensation of 25 sen to 35 sen for each minute of pickup after five minutes. Meanwhile, the Hourly Cashback incentive rewards drivers with cashback multipliers of up to 2x, based on the number of rides that theyve completed in the previous four weeks, on a rolling basis.

(Sources: Grab, The Star)

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Human resources (HR) solutions agency Randstad Malaysia has said that employees in Malaysia can expect a salary adjustment of 3% to 20% in 2023. Revealed in its latest Job Market and Salary Trends Report (2023), Randstad also said that high-growth industries in particular  such as technology and manufacturing  are likely to make more significant changes to their internal salary structures this year.

In the report, Randstad shared that recruitment activities were already at an all-time high in 2022 as companies in Malaysia strive to expand their workforce. In 2023, this trend is expected to continue, although the pace may moderate slightly, and employers will also be more focused on candidates for niche or specialised roles. Additionally, 74% of local employees indicated that salary and benefits are a key priority when looking for a new employer. Given these trends, there is a clear need for companies to review and revise their salary benchmarks to remain competitive in retaining and attracting new talent.

The agency also singled out technology, manufacturing, and construction as three specific sectors that will see the most updates to their renumeration packages as companies engage in fierce competition to attract talent. This is as there are currently more jobs than the supply of talent in these markets  all of which are set to see new transformations and trends.

(Image: Malay Mail/Choo Choy May)

The tech sector, for instance, is expected to expand significantly in the coming years, especially with the development of 5G technology in Malaysia, whereas the manufacturing sector is actively expanding its workforce to fulfil backlogs and new orders. The construction sector, meanwhile, is in need of individuals with specific skillsets to contribute to the development of commercial property and infrastructure.

That said, Randstad also stressed that companies hiring strategies should not rely solely on improved salaries; it should also be complemented by steps to manage talent expectations and to upskill the workforce with learning and development training programmes.

Change is crucial to thriving in Asias rapidly evolving business landscape. With people serving as the backbone of any organisations success, business leaders must learn to address employee expectations for more effective talent attraction and management efforts, the country director of Randstad Malaysia, Fahad Naeem commented.

On top of highlighting the likelihood of salary adjustment in 2023, Randstad noted as well that many international companies are cutting back on recruitment activities with the global economy slowing down. However, some these companies may also decide to move their business units and headcount from Europe to Southeast Asian countries as another form of budgetary control. If this happens, then Malaysias labour market will benefit from the creation of new jobs, as well as the inflow of top-tier global talent.

(Sources: Randstad, The Edge Markets)

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AICM seizes two Aeromar hangers for outstanding debt

Mexico City, Mexico  The Mexico City International Airport (AICM) reported the seizure of two Aeromar hangars for an outstanding debt of approximately 500 million pesos.

For the time being, the hangers are in charge of the Secretary of the Navy (Semar). The seizure will not hinder the regular operations or maintenance of the airline.

In a joint statement with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), authorities said they had met with legal representatives of the company to require payment or the signing of a guaranteed debt acknowledgment agreement, however, there was a refusal from the company to comply with its obligations.

On January 16, airline executives will meet with the AICM Legal Affairs Department to seek a definitive payment agreement with a non-extendable term and by means of a guarantee to the total satisfaction of the AICM authorities.

The airline has been going through a financial crisis for several years. In 2019, Aeromar workers warned that the company was in a technical bankruptcy. With the covid-19 crisis in 2020, the airline had a rebound to some US destinations, but its situation led to a cut in wages and later, to the non-payment of benefits that has extended to date.

Since 2021, both the pilots union and the flight attendants union called a strike that has been extended several times. Despite the situation, company managers say they are looking for fresh capital.

Danilo Correa, CEO of the airline stated in October of 2021 that there were two companies interested in investing up to $100 million USD in Aeromar, something that to date, has not happened.
FGE hack likely by former imprisoned businessman

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  Quintana Roo FGE head Oscar Montes de Oca says their recent hack was via a former state businessman who was recently released from prison. In an interview with Radio Formula, Montes de Oca said the man was able to bribe disloyal public servants inside the FGE to leak the information.

The Attorney General of the State (FGE) of Quintana Roo, Oscar Montes de Oca, said that Carlos M, a former area businessman who was jailed for extortion in 2020, actually claims to be behind the attack.

He explained that a few days ago, Carlos M released a video acknowledging that he infiltrated public servants and offered reward money for videos of specific law enforcement personnel, one of whom, was Montes de Oca.

The FGE head said they are moving forward with their investigation and already have an institutional strategy.

Carlos M, the man believed behind the cyber attack, was arrested in the state of Yucatan in 2020 and eventually jailed on extortion charges. He spent 23 months in Chetumal prison before being released to house arrest in October of 2022.
Mexican Air Force and National Guard to provide Maya Train security

Riviera Maya, Q.R.  Security along the 1,500 kilometer Maya Train route will be left in the hands of the National Guard and Mexican Air Force. On Monday, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, head of Sedena, said the entire route will have approximately 5,000 elements for security.

During AMLOs Monday morning press conference, Sandoval said that security will also consist of personnel boarded on the cars.

The Mexican Air Force and the National Guard will be in charge of all the security of the Maya Train , the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Crescencio Sandoval Gonzalez, reported on Monday.

Regarding the security of the Maya Train, it will be covered by National Guard personnel and supported by personnel from the Mexican Air Force. The security of the train will be in the 1,554 kilometers of railways, stations, terminals, archaeological zones, workshops and garages, he detailed.

According to the report presented at the morning conference at the National Palace, about 5,000 members of the National Guard and the Mexican Air Force will provide surveillance and security to users of the Maya Train as well as in the archaeological zones along the more than 1,550 kilometers of route.

For this, railway security battalions are going to be created, although there is already one battalion, there will be another one to provide security in the archaeological zones, he added.

Facilities for the National Guard and Mexican Air Force are currently being built along the entire route of the Maya Train.

The Mexican Air Force will participate with helicopters on the entire route to increase the security of the entire Maya Train route. These helicopters will be in air bases, some are built, others are in the process, which will be in Palenque, Chetumal, Tulum and Merida, he explained.

According to the federal government plan, the Maya Train will be inaugurated in December of this year, with its first Merida to Cancun test run in July.
Navy search continues for missing Cozumel dive tourist

Cozumel, Q.R.  A tourist diving off the southern end of the island of Cozumel remains missing. On Monday afternoon, personnel from the Naval Search, Rescue and Maritime Surveillance Station began to look for the missing diver after he failed to resurface.

He was part of a group of tourists who went on an escorted dive Monday at the Santa Rosa Reef. When he failed to resurface with the others around 3:00 p.m., authorities were called in.

Navy personnel began a search for the missing diver after being notified of his failure to resurface and the crews failure in locating him underwater. There is a possibility that the man was dragged by the strong sea currents. A search alert has been extended to local fishermen in Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.

Authorities have not identified the man, however, according to preliminary information, he is reported to be a North American tourist.
Interview: PwC global chairman optimistic about China's economy

Xinhua) 08:16, January 17, 2023

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The global chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Monday that he was bullish on the economic outlook of China, given its strong consumer base, technological advancement and top exporter's position.

"You've got a large domestic base of consumers that still has a lot of needs," Bob Moritz told Xinhua at the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

The executive said China is probably one of the most advanced countries in the world in its "use of technology in new and different ways."

On the other hand, China, as a top exporting country, has the potential to become a world leader in the production of high quality consumer goods as well as technological development.

In October, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global economic growth forecast to 2.7 percent for 2023, but forecast a 4.4 percent growth for China.

Commenting on the prospective growth of mid-single digits, Moritz said it is important for both China and the world "as we think about how it impacts sources, goods, services and economic development."

Moritz emphasized the importance of globalization, as more trade and business cooperation between China and the rest of the world will be needed.

"Globalization has been thought about sometimes ... (as having) no meaning anymore. I would disagree with that," he said. "The world needs global trade."

"The world is dealing with problems that are not country specific and bounded by geographic borders ... We have to rewire the world thinking about how to solve our problems. We have to get all the players at the table," he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A Merrillville man faces felony charges after allegedly stabbing a friend after a night of heavy drinking for his birthday, according to court documents.

Joseph Caldwell was charged Dec. 31 with battery by means of a deadly weapon. He posted a $5,000 bond on Jan. 5.

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His next hearing is March 2 before Lake Superior Judge Samuel Cappas.

Hobart Police were called Dec. 31 to a Speedway gas station, 4732 W. 61st Avenue. A man sitting in the back of a car had a stab wound in the lower right side of his stomach.

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A fight started after they pulled into the gas station to change a flat tire, according to charges.

Witnesses initially lied, saying they didnt know Caldwell. Later, it emerged he knew the stabbed man, who did not want to press charges, according to the affidavit.

The victim said he was stabbed by someone he didnt know, before he declined to let police photograph his wounds and further refused to cooperate with investigators.

Another woman told police both men were brothers. They started arguing in the area and got into a physical fight, but didnt see the stabbing, she said.

Yeah, man, I had to fight him off, Caldwell said when officers asked what happened. He slapped me and called me (an expletive).

Caldwell had slurred speech and watery, bloodshot eyes, according to the affidavit.

(He) kept coming at me, so I slashed at him with my little box cutter from work, Caldwell added.

He said the knife was somewhere north of the gas station, but officers didnt find it.

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The victim declined medical treatment and refused to be taken to the hospital. Both he and Caldwell were booked in Hobart City Jail for disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

Later at the station, the victim told police as they pulled into the gas station, he was going to call his wife, but Caldwell said dont call that (expletive), according to the affidavit.

They got out of the car and started to fight, before the victim noticed he was slashed and bleeding from the stomach, charges state.

Caldwell fought people when drunk, the victim said. He felt bad and didnt want him to get in trouble with the law.

The victim said hes knew Caldwell for 15 years, who was like a little brother.
New anti-smoking laws on PDC beaches will be eased in says Zofemat

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  Areas once marked for smoking are being removed from all Playa del Carmen beaches. The head of Solidaridad Zofemat says that in their place, notices will remind people that smoking in public spaces is now against the law.

Maria de Lourdes Varguez, the Director of the Federal Maritime Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat) for Solidaridad, says that all ashtrays and areas once marked for smokers are being removed from all municipal beaches.

She said that there is a lot of environmental awareness in Playa del Carmen regarding cigarette butts on beaches, but still, the new laws need to be brought in a little at a time.

It has to be little by little. It cannot be implemented drastically, she said adding that there is a lot of environmental awareness in our municipality. What we are going to start doing is picking up ashtrays, removing signs where it indicated that smoking was allowed, she said.

Varguez said that it will not be easy, especially with tourists, but Zofemat personnel will be placing signs in strategic places informing everyone that smoking on beaches is now against the law.

On January 15, reforms to the General Law for Tobacco Control entered into force making it illegal to smoke in public spaces across Mexico.
Nine rescued by tanker in Quintana Roo waters off Isla Mujeres transferred to INM

Isla Mujeres, Q.R.  Nine people were rescued from aboard a small boat by a cargo vessel in Quintana Roo waters. The nine were spotted in their boat by a passing tanker Sunday.

The tanker loaded the three women and six men onto their boat from where they notified Quintana Roo authorities. The tanker found the nine floating in waters approximately 316 kilometers southeast of Isla Mujeres.

A Mexican navy vessel set out to meet the tanker.

For the above and with the objective of safeguarding human life at sea, the departure of a Defender-type vessel from the Naval Search, Rescue and Maritime Surveillance Station (ENSAR) of Isla Mujeres was immediately ordered in order to go to the designated area, managing to intercept the aforementioned cargo ship seven nautical miles (approximately 13 kilometers) north of Isla Mujeres to receive the nine people, the Navy said in a statement.

Once Mexican personnel reached the tanker, the nine people of foreign origin were transferred to Isla Mujeres where they were attended to by Naval Health personnel, finding them in good health.

They were eventually taken to the pier of the Puerto Juarez Naval Station where they were received by authorities of the National Institute of Migration to carry out the corresponding legal procedures.
Four juveniles were hospitalized with serious injuries Monday after their vehicle collided with another on U.S. 460 in Montgomery County.

The crash occurred shortly before 4 p.m. at the intersection with North Fork Road in Elliston, the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office said in a news release.

Fire and rescue units from Montgomery County and surrounding jurisdictions responded to the scene, which involved two vehicles.

One of those vehicles was occupied by the four juveniles. Inside the other was a 60-year-old female, who was uninjured, the sheriffs office reported.

The juveniles sustained serious injuries and were transported to local hospitals, the sheriffs office news release continued. The crashs cause is under the investigation of the departments Crash Team.
More than two years after a mob of Donald Trump supporters temporarily took over the U.S. Capitol, a Roanoke woman has been charged with joining the riots.

Casey Jane Tryon-Castro appeared in federal court Tuesday afternoon for an initial appearance on six charges that include resisting law enforcement and stealing a police riot shield during the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.

Magistrate Judge Robert Ballou set a $15,000 unsecured bond and ordered Tryon-Castro to appear by video conference in Washington, D.C.s federal court, where she will stand trial, for a Jan. 24 hearing.

Tryon-Castro is charged with participating in a civil disorder, theft of government property, entering a restricted area of the U.S. Capitol, disorderly conduct, engaging in physical violence and impeding passage through government grounds.

Footage from police body cameras, surveillance cameras and public videos showed Tryon-Castro with an unruly crowd that had gathered near an entrance to the Capitol on its Lower West Terrace, according to a criminal complaint.

Tryon-Castro, whose age was not available Tuesday, can be seen standing face-to-face with law enforcement just after pepper spray was used in an effort to turn the mob back. She then made her way to the front line of police and joined other rioters in pushing against the officers, court records state. She is accused of then grabbing a police riot shield and passed it to other people in the crowd.

Angry about what Trump has called a stolen election, thousands stormed the Capitol  where lawmakers were meeting to certify an election won by President Joe Biden  after the now-former president urged them at a rally earlier in the day to fight like hell.

At first, authorities were unable to identify Tryon-Castro after she appeared on a You Tube video posted by an account named The Black Conservative Preacher. She was given the label 060-AFO, which stands for one of the people suspected of assaulting a federal officer.

The suspect was also seen on Twitter posts, standing on the steps of the Capitol at about 2:45 p.m. as the crowd moved toward a tunnel leading into the building.

As 060-AFO made her way forward in the crowd, a wooden pole is visible in her right hand, states an affidavit from an FBI agent that is included with the 18-page criminal complaint.

After being pushed out of the tunnel, a woman later identified at Tryon-Castro reappeared about one minute later. Video taken from a fellow rioter then shows her joining a mass that pushed against a line of police officers and pulled a riot shield from one of them, according to the complaint.

We gotta get the shields to the front, yall!, she allegedly yelled. Im pushing! At about 3:18 p.m., police were able to clear the tunnel of rioters.

Later, authorities determined though law enforcement databases and tipsters that 060-AFO might actually be Tryon-Castro. They visited her Roanoke home on Jan. 25, 2021. In a voluntary statement, Tryon-Castro said she had traveled to Washington, D.C. with a family member and other individuals, according to court documents.

She also identified herself as the woman pictured in a variety of photographs and videos, federal authorities say.

It was not clear Tuesday why nearly a year passed before Tryon-Castro was charged and taken into custody.

Federal authorities continue to make arrests in the Jan. 6 uprising. Nearly 950 people from across the country have been charged, included six others from Western Virginia.
A Troutville woman who called 911 last week to report that she had shot her husband has been charged with two felonies.

Rhonda Larue Hinkley, 50, has been charged with malicious wounding and using a firearm in the commission of a felony, the Botetourt County Sheriffs Office said in a press release Tuesday.

At about 1:20 p.m. Jan. 12, the Botetourt County Emergency Communications Center got a 911 call from a female reporting she had shot her husband, the sheriffs office said.

Sheriffs office deputies and Virginia State Police officers went to the scene, a residence on Westview Road in Troutville.

There, authorities found Hinkley standing in the driveway with her hands in the air, and her husband, 49-year-old Walter Thomas Hinkley, with a single gunshot wound lying in the gravel.

Botetourt County Fire & EMS Department personnel took Hinkleys husband to LewisGale Hospital with life-threatening injuries, the sheriffs office said. Hinkley was taken to the Botetourt-Craig Regional Jail, where she is being held without bond.

The preliminary investigation has determined that the shooting was an isolated incident involving domestic violence between a husband and wife and the firearm was recovered at the scene, Tuesdays press release concluded.

The shooting remains under investigation by the sheriffs office. Hinkley is scheduled to be arraigned on the two felony charges Wednesday, Jan. 18, in Botetourt County General District Court.
The newest face on the Roanoke City Electoral Board said during a Jan. 28, 2021 podcast that he believed Donald Trump actually won the 2020 presidential election, and probably by millions of votes.

During a different episode in March 2021, Al Bedrosian also suggested Democrats had abandoned policymaking to attract votes  and instead were relying on election fraud to win elections.

Bedrosian offered no evidence in the podcasts to support either statement. And hes not talking about them now.

The ex-Roanoke County supervisor joined the Roanoke City Electoral Board Jan. 1. He made the above comments during separate episodes of a short-lived 2021 podcast, U Cant Say That! The shows feature Bedrosian and Greg Aldridge, who once led the now-defunct Roanoke Tea Party.

Twelve episodes, including an otherwise undated 2020 version labeled pilot, are still available for viewing on the News Guardians YouTube channel. At least one episode has been taken down and made private.

Ive watched all the still-public ones. For the most part, Bedrosian comes across as the better-grounded speaker, as they bandy over a wide range of different topics. Overall, they spend a tiny fraction of show time discussing the 2020 election or election fraud.

The first instance was during a January 26, 2021 episode, at 14:36, when Bedrosian said:

In years past, I think there have been a lot of elections that have been frauded elections. They just put [in] the person they want. Never before in the history of America do I remember seeing a million people come to Washington because they are not happy about the fraud.

Not that anything was done, because it just seemed, like pushed over, Bedrosian said. But we are not dumb anymore. Our eyes are open to an extent.

When asked about that comment last week, Bedrosian claimed he was referring to historical election fraud. As of Monday morning, that episode had garnered 58 views on YouTube.

A subsequent review of the other U Cant Say That! episodes revealed that shortly after President Joe Bidens inauguration, Bedrosian said he believed Trump actually won the 2020 race.

That happened during the Jan. 28, 2021 podcast, beginning around the 12:14 mark. Bedrosians comments followed a suggestion by Aldridge that Democrats had more or less scapegoated Trump into losing the election. Bedrosian disagreed.

Im not going with the fact that, uh, that he [Trump] was the reason he lost. I think he won, actually. Can I say that? I can say that, right? I can say that on this show, Bedrosian said.

I think, I think he probably won by millions of votes, Bedrosian said, adding emphasis to millions. So I think its a ru-, I think were seeing stuff not clearly.

At that point, Aldridge interjects: Oh, sure, and were never gonna know what the actual, legal, legitimate outcome of last years election is.

Bedrosian agrees and adds: We wont know.

Moments later in that conversation, at 13:10, Bedrosian mused about getting involved in local election-administration.

Id be very interested in this whole registrars office thing and how you really stay more on top of that even in a place like Roanoke City, Roanoke County, Salem, Bedrosian said. (As of Monday, that episode had garnered 126 views on YouTube.)

On the March 9 podcast, Bedrosian suggested Democrats had abandoned trying to attract votes through policymaking, and were instead relying on election fraud to maintain political power. Here are his words, which begin at 39:06 in the YouTube video:

I guess, there was a time when you needed some kind of policy at the end of the day that was good for the average person, because when it comes time to vote, that person looks at his pocketbook and starts voting for the one that helped them the most.

But it seems now, if also combined with what youre saying, you also fix the elections, and you have, uh, sketchy if not total fraud in elections, you dont even need any of your policies to really work anymore. You just do them, and when election time comes around you still win, because who knows if the votes were real or not?

And the Democrat wins again and everybody says Oh, I guess they were doing a good job, even though everyone starts suffering from the policies. (As of Monday, that episode had 28 views.)

Bedrosian has not returned phone calls, texts or an email from this newspaper regarding the Jan. 28 and March 9 podcasts. Besides detailing quotes from the podcasts, the email included links to the videos and time stamps for the remarks in question.

Among the questions I posed in the email was whether Bedrosian currently believes Trump won the 2020 election, and if so, by how many millions of votes. I also asked Bedrosian whether his views on the 2020 outcome fueled his desire to serve on the board.

Each county and independent city in Virginia has its own three-person electoral board. Appointed members serve staggered three-year terms, so that one members term concludes each year. Under state law, the boards are organized according to which political party holds the governors office.

When its a Democrat, Democrats occupy two of the three seats on each electoral board. When the governors a Republican, Republicans get two of the board seats.

But the changeover doesnt typically occur until the January following a new governors inauguration. It usually happens after one board members term expires at the end of the inaugural year. The replacement must be from the same political party as the governor.

Control of electoral boards across the state flipped from Democrats to Republicans on Jan. 1, when Democrats rotating off the boards were replaced by Republican appointees.

Before the flip, the Roanoke City Electoral Board was composed of Chair Sharon Lazar, a Democrat, Anna Goltz, also a Democrat, and Charles Shell, a Republican. Goltzs term expired Dec. 31, and because of Youngkins election, state law required she be replaced by a Republican.

Charlie Nave, who chairs Roanokes Republican Committee, nominated three Republicans to fill the seat in a Dec. 15 letter to the judges of Roanokes Circuit Court. The first nominee was Bedrosian. I highly recommend Al Bedrosian, Nave wrote.

The other two Republican nominees were Maynard Keller, who ran for The Roanoke City Council in November (but lost) and Paulette Lawson. I am also pleased to recommend Maynard Keller and Paulette Lawson for your consideration, Nave wrote in that letter.

Chief Circuit Judge Chris Clemens appointed Bedrosian Dec. 20. Its customary for the chief judge to follow party leaders recommendations.

Also in December, Lazar announced her resignation with one year left in her term. She said she resigned because it was getting more difficult for her to do the physical work a seat on the board requires.

Her husband, Roanoke Democratic Chair Mark Lazar, recommended in a letter to the court that Goltz be appointed to fill the year remaining on his wifes term. Clemens made that appointment as well.

Its unclear whether Nave knew of Bedrosians perspectives about election fraud and the 2020 outcome at the time Nave nominated Bedrosian. Nave hasnt responded to a voice message left at his law office, or two emails sent there.

Among questions I posed in the emails were why Nave promoted Bedrosians appointment over Keller and Lawson, and whether Nave was aware of Bedrosians 2020 election views at the time he recommended the appointment.

Although the all-Democrat Roanoke City Council has no power to alter Electoral Board appointments, its members have taken notice of Bedrosians.

Last week I read the above Bedrosian quotes to Mayor Sherman Lea, who sounded surprised. Lea wondered whether Bedrosian still believes Trump won the election, or if hes since changed his mind.

The facts regarding the 2020 election are well known, Lee said. Is he still caught up in this election-theft fiasco, when its been proven there was nothing wrong with that election? With the Jan. 6 Committee, there was testimony from Trumps own staff that even Trump knew he lost the election.

Moreover, many of the Republicans who lost in 2022 believed that Trump won, Lea added. Just to keep pushing that shows they havent learned their lesson.

City Councilman Luke Priddy suspects more Republican election deniers have recently been appointed to electoral boards across the commonwealth, as Democratic appointees rotated off and were replaced by Republicans.

I doubt this is unique just to the city of Roanoke, with the shift to two Republicans on each board, he said.

Priddy also noted Bedrosian took an oath of office, which is a serious matter.

Hes still charged with following the law and carrying it out, Priddy said. While Al has rather extreme views, I do like to think deep down [fair elections are] what he really wants.

The Roanoke City Electoral Board last met Dec. 19. It hasnt yet scheduled its first meeting of 2023. But the first meeting of the year could prove interesting.

Perhaps well find out then if Al Bedrosian still believes Trump won the 2020 election.

Contact metro columnist Dan Casey at 981-3423 or dan.casey@roanoke.com. Follow him on Twitter:@dancaseysblog.
CHRISTIANSBURG  Cody Rush is launching a Republican campaign for Montgomery County circuit court clerk.

Rush, 34, is the son of former Del. Nick Rush, R-Montgomery, who served on the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors before his election to state office.

Incumbent Erica Conner, a Democrat reelected in 2015 and the countys clerk since 2007, has not yet announced if shell seek another term this year.

Rush said he began developing familiarity with the clerks office well over a decade ago when he was a member of the Young Republicans group at Christiansburg High School. Along with other local races, Rush said he helped out with the campaign of Conners predecessor, Allan Burke.

Rush said he knew Burke his entire life due to his dads own involvement in politics over the years.

On some of his reasons for seeking the position, Rush said he views locally elected jobs as impactful  if not more impactful  as state and national ones.

Local level leadership is more important than who we send to [Washington] D.C., Rush said in an interview Tuesday. They have more of an impact on our daily lives than who we send to Washington.

Rush said the clerks office handles a number of important day-to-day needs for residents. He listed functions such as the issuance of concealed handgun permits and marriage licenses and the recording of deeds and wills.

Residents interact with the office during some of the best and worst times of their lives, Rush said.

Other functions of the office include the recording of adoptions, divorces, election results and court judgements. The office also collects fines and costs from court proceedings.

Rush, noting Conners longtime control of the seat, said hes looking to bring a fresh pair of eyes to the challenges facing the office.

I think its just really important that we have strong conservative leadership running that office, and for the past 16 years, we havent had that, Rush said. Rush said his service in the Army includes more than a decade of experience in military leadership. He said that is what he believes sets him apart.

Rush, a fourth-generation service member, attended Virginia Tech on a four-year Army scholarship and was a member of the Corps of Cadets. In 2011, he earned a bachelors degree in political science  with a minor in leadership  and was commissioned as an active duty armor officer. He was later assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, where he served as both a tank and scout platoon leader in the 1st Cavalry Division. Rush deployed to Iraq in 2017 to support Operation Inherent Resolve, where his work included advising an Iraqi general officer to help defeat terrorist group ISIS and protect Baghdad, according to information in an announcement he released Tuesday.

Rush and his family moved to Northern Virginia in 2019 where took on a legislative liaison role that involved advising members of Congress and Army senior leaders on military, veterans and defense-related issues.

In addition to his degree from Tech, Rush holds two masters degrees in information technology management and legislative affairs, respectively, from Webster University and George Washington University.

Rushs campaign material touts goals of being fiscally conservative, modernizing the clerks office and protecting the countys history. Regarding the history goal, he said he will continue efforts to digitize records, ensure citizens have access to records of historical significance and work with local historical societies to explore their ability to display historical documents to help them tell the communitys story.

Among other goals, Rush said he plans to establish an advisory committee that will review major decisions hes considering. He said he will also like to explore the offering of plastic card versions of concealed carry permits, which are already provided elsewhere in the state. He said plastic permits are much more durable.

Rush currently lives in Riner with his wife and two children.

Conner, when asked Tuesday about this years campaign, wrote in an email:

I havent yet announced my plans, but I plan to soon, and will be sure to let you know when I do. Everything is going great in our office and the democratic process is alive and well in Montgomery County.

Clerks of court are the only elected officials in the state to serve eight-year terms and are often among the highest-paid local officials.
After a state Senate committee derailed legislation that would charge dealers with murder if a user dies after an overdose, Gov. Glenn Youngkin heatedly promised a full court press to move a similar House of Delegates bill through the Senate and on to his desk.

I dont understand it. Here we have 2,600 deaths just last year from overdoses, Youngkin said in an interview Tuesday with the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Left liberal Democrats want to stand up for dealers, over victims," he said. "They want to stand up for dealers over families. They want to stand up for dealers over Virginia."

The bills would bring drug dealers up on felony homicide charges  basically, second-degree murder  if a user dies of an overdose.

The House version, sponsored by House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, made it past that Republican-led bodys gatekeeper criminal justice subcommittee on a party-line vote last week.

But the Senates version died when all but one of the Democratic majority in the Judiciary Committee voted to kill it on an 8-7 vote. Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, broke with his Democratic colleagues to vote for the bill.

Advocates who work with addicts said the felony homicide bill would undermine Virginias efforts to encourage drug users to call 911 if they see someone overdosing.

The House bill would have to win approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee before it could move to the full Senate, where Democrats will have a 22-18 majority.

Youngkin highlighted the felony homicide bill as a top priority in his state of the state speech last week, saying it is essential to hold dealers accountable when their drugs cause a fatal overdose.

You know 76% of those overdose deaths are from fentanyl, he said. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says as little as 2 milligrams  the equivalent of 10 to 15 grains of salt  is a lethal dose.

Virginias good Samaritan law protects people who use drugs from being prosecuted for possession if they report someone they are with is overdosing, opponents of the felony homicide bill said the problem was that it did not cover situations where one user shares drugs with anotherlegally, thats distribution.

Right now, if you give someone sitting beside you drugs and they overdose and die even if you call 911, you can be charged with felony homicide, said Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover, who sponsored the Senate bill.

But after a 2014 ruling from the Virginia Supreme Court, if a drug dealer sells the drugs and then leaves and the person overdoses, he cant be charged, McDougle said.

If the House measure also fails in the House, the issue likely will be a feature of GOP legislative campaigns in the fall. All 40 Senate seats and all 100 House seats are up for election in November. At present Republicans hold a four-seat edge in the House. Democrats will hold a four-seat edge in the Senate when Democrat Aaron Rouse is sworn in on Wednesday for a Senate seat representing Virginia Beach.

PHOTOS: Youngkin's State of the Commonwealth address
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Naturally occurring coal deposits are called "seams" in the mining industry. Wherever such veins occur, coal-seam fires (like the one under Centralia) are apt to break out.

"They are quite common," Anupma Prakash  a geologist at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks  tells us in an email.

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China's 3,106-mile (5,000-kilometer) coal mining belt is notorious for its seam fires. So is the town of Jharia, India, where unwanted fires have claimed about 41 million tons (or roughly 37 million metric tons) of coal since 1918.

"The issue is more prevalent in areas where coal was extracted in the past with limited efforts to ensure that the 'hole' left from the extraction ... was filled up," says Prakash. Mines that don't provide "structural support" to keep the ground from collapsing likewise risk seam fire outbreaks.

Granted, humans aren't always responsible. Down in New South Wales, Australia, there's a famous coal seam under Mount Wingen that's been burning for 6,000 years straight. Scientists think it was first ignited by an ancient brush fire or lightning strike.

" " Smoke from below curls through the abandoned town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. Scott Drzyzga /Flickr (CC By 2.0)

And coal doesn't need much encouragement to catch fire. Under the right circumstances, the material can actually light itself ablaze through spontaneous combustion.

"The decomposition of pyrite present in coal produces heat, and in some cases, this self-heating can start the coal on fire. This is a problem even where coal is transported long distances in ships," says research geologist Allan Kolker in another email exchange.
Kahlil Byrd, left, is joined by his brothers Kamryn and Shalon in holding signs during a meeting at the Gary Westside Leadership Academy in Gary, Indiana Wednesday May 18, 2022. The meeting included public comment as the Distressed Unit Appeal Board considers a two-year contract for MGT Consulting which currently manages the state-run district. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

A proposed state Senate bill establishes a new governing structure for the Gary Community School Corp. with the state Secretary of Education appointing the seven-member body.

Members also dont have to live in Gary under the bill.

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State Sen. Ryan Mishler, R-Bremen, authored Senate Bill 327 thats heading to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which he chairs. No hearing date was listed on the Indiana General Assemblys website.

Mishlers bill is a long way from becoming law, said state Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, even though Republicans hold super majorities in both chambers.

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Melton and his fellow Gary delegation members are working with Mishler to come up with a more palatable measure, Melton said.

I feel confident were going to work something out, Melton said Tuesday.

State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, took to the stage to assure members of the public that MGT Consulting representatives would hear their questions and concerns during meeting at the Gary Westside Leadership Academy in Gary, Indiana Wednesday May 18, 2022. The meeting included public comment as the Distressed Unit Appeal Board considers a two-year contract for MGT Consulting which currently manages the state-run district. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

Mishlers bill states once the distressed status of the district is ended, the governing authority regains its authority and can hire a superintendent.

Gary Democratic lawmaker Rep. Vernon Smith authored House Bill 1491 that provides for elected school board members, beginning this year. The bill calls for the end of state control by June 30, 2024. Melton authored a similar measure, Senate Bill 436.

Meanwhile, Gary Mayor Jerome Prince said he will meet with lawmakers, including Mishler, next week in Indianapolis to ensure the bill contains provisions that are in the best interest of our constituency.

Smith called Mishlers bill a work in progress, saying it lacked many elements.

I filed a will of the people bill, said Smith who said the Gary delegation has been meeting with citizens for the past few months.

Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, speaks during a meeting at the Gary Westside Leadership Academy in Gary, Indiana Wednesday May 18, 2022. The meeting included public comment as the Distressed Unit Appeal Board considers a two-year contract for MGT Consulting which currently manages the state-run district. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

Like Smiths bill, Melton said his bill also calls for an elected school board.

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This is a long legislative session and as we go through the process, myself and the Gary delegation will be working with our colleagues to fight for local representation for Gary citizens, Melton said.

His bill, along with Smiths, ends the takeover status; establishes a school board election process; directs the school board to appoint a superintendent; restores authority to the board; creates safeguards as the district sells school property and requires loan forgiveness for state advances from the Common School Fund.

Carole Carlson is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Graphical Abstract. Credit: Matter (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2022.11.027 A team of researchers from China, the U.S., Italy and New Zealand reported that ocean temperatures hit a new record high last yearthe 10 zettajoule increase marked the hottest year ever recorded in the world's oceans. Also, an international team of earth scientists were surprised when they found a magma chamber growing under a Mediterranean volcano. The chamber was found under Kolumbo using a new imaging technique that can produce high-resolution pictures of the properties of seismic waves. And another international team of researchers found via the development of a new model that mineral processes miles below the surface of the Earth are different than what has been theorized.

In technology news, a team with members from Universite Paris-Saclay- CNRS, Sorbonne Universite, Universite Grenoble-Alpes-CEA-LETI, HawAI.tech, and Aix-Marseille Universite-CNRS developed a Bayesian machine based on memristorsthe new design is expected to allow machine-learning algorithms to run using less energy. Also a team with members from Lund University and Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne designed and built a working feathered robotic wing, which they claim paves the way to flapping wing drones. And a combined team from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University found that the chatbot ChatGPT is capable of writing fake study abstracts that were convincing enough to fool scientists. And a team at Westlake University, in China, working with a colleague at the National University of Singapore, developed a 3D-printing technique for fabricating hydrogel-based electronics, which they say is significantly cheaper than conventional methods.

In other news, a team with members affiliated with several institutions in Spain found evidence showing that COVID-19 vaccines also prevent the SARS-CoV-2 virus from infecting the brain. The finding suggests the vaccines should prevent symptoms such as impaired taste and smell, cognitive loss and malaise associated with long COVID. Also, a team at QingDao University of Science and Technolgy in China demonstrated an optical tractor beam capable of pulling larger macroscopic objects than existing tractor beams. And finally, a team at Johns Hopkins University announced that they were making progress toward the development of a nasal spray that could be used to ward off virtually all respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19.

 2023 Science X Network
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  The head of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning World Food Program says support from donors like the United States and Germany have allowed it to postpone  though not entirely avert  famine in Somalia but stressed that were not out of this yet.

WFP Executive Director David Beasley said countries in the Horn of Africa have faced unprecedented climate impact from years of drought, and the U.N. agency had been expecting to announce famine in Somalia before donors stepped up in magnificent ways.

And weve been able to  I dont know if the right word is avert famine  but we definitely have postponed it, he told The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday. Weve been fortunate so far, given the climate shocks inside Somalia. But were not out of this yet.

But he warned that we still could end up with a famine technically in Somalia because famine-like conditions already exist.

Once you officially declare to be a famine, well, its too late, Beasley said.

Famine is the extreme lack of food and a significant death rate from outright starvation or malnutrition combined with diseases like cholera. A formal famine declaration means data shows more than a fifth of households have extreme food gaps, more than 30% of children are acutely malnourished and over two people out of 10,000 are dying every day.

Beasley, who has announced plans to step down in April, has parlayed his political experience as a former Republican governor of the U.S. state of South Carolina to wrest greater funding for the World Food Program from Washington under both the Biden and Trump administrations.

The United States announced $411 million in additional funding for Somalias crisis last month after a report by the U.N. and other experts said more than 8 million Somalis are badly food insecure because of drought and high food prices. Thousands have died.

When Beasley took the job in 2017, some 80 million people worldwide were on the brink of starvation and faced chronic hunger. Conflict, climate change and COVID-19 have caused that to balloon to 350 million today because of economic devastation and supply-chain disruptions.

You think you cant get any worse. Then the breadbasket of the world is shut down: Ukraine, Beasley said. Now (the country has) the longest bread lines in the world, alluding to Russias war that has upended food production and exports from Ukraine.
DNIPRO, Ukraine (AP)  Ukrainian emergency crews on Monday sifted through what was left of a Dnipro apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile, placing bodies from one of the wars deadliest single attacks in months in black bags and gingerly carrying them across steep piles of rubble.

Authorities said the death toll from Saturdays strike rose to 40 and that 30 people remained missing Monday. Tall cranes swung across the jagged gaps in a row of residential towers, the engines growling as residents of one of Ukraines largest cities watched largely in silence under a gray sky.

About 1,700 people lived in the multistory building, and search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since the missile strike to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued and at least 75 were wounded.

The reported death toll put it among the deadliest attacks on Ukrainian civilians since before the summer, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project. Residents said the apartment tower did not house any military facilities.

Oleksander Anyskevych said he was in his apartment when the missile struck.

Boom  and thats it. We saw that we were alive and thats all, Anyskevych said Monday as he went to the site to see his wrecked apartment.

He told The Associated Press that he knew people who died under the rubble. One of his sons classmates lost her parents.

Dnipro residents took flowers, candles and toys to the ruins.

All of us could be in that place, local resident Iryna Skrypnyk said.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called the strike, and others like it, inhumane aggression because it directly targeted civilians. There will be no impunity for these crimes, he said in a tweet Sunday.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the Dnipro strike, saying attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law and must end immediately, U.N. associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said Monday.

Asked about the strike Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military doesnt target residential buildings and suggested the Dnipro building was hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense actions.

The strike on the building came amid a wider barrage of Russian cruise missiles across Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that it did not have the means to intercept the type of Russian missile that hit the residential building in Dnipro.

Fierce fighting continued to rage Monday in Ukraines eastern Donetsk province, where military analysts have said both sides are likely suffering heavy troop casualties. No independent verification of developments was possible.

Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province make up the Donbas, an expansive industrial region bordering Russia that Russian President Vladimir Putin identified as a focus from the wars outset. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Kyivs forces there since 2014.

The Russian and Belarusian air forces began a joint exercise Monday in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and served as a staging ground for Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.The drills are set to run through Feb. 1, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said. Russia has sent its warplanes to Belarus for the drills.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, reported signs of the Kremlin taking steps to turn its Ukraine invasion into a major conventional war after months of embarrassing military reversals.

What Moscow calls a special military operation aimed to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, within weeks and to install a Kremlin-friendly regime there, but Russian forces ultimately withdrew from around Kyiv, the think tank said. Then came a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent months before the onset of winter slowed military advances.

The Kremlin is likely preparing to conduct a decisive strategic action in the next six months intended to regain the initiative and end Ukraines current string of operational successes, the Institute for the Study of War said in a report late Sunday.

It noted reports indicating the Russian military command was in serious preparations for an expanded mobilization effort, conserving mobilized personnel for future use, while seeking to boost military industrial production and reshuffling its command structure.

That means Ukraines Western allies will need to continue supporting Ukraine in the long run, the think tank said.

NATO member nations have sought in recent days to reassure Ukraine that they will stay the course. The United Kingdom has pledged tanks and the U.S. militarys new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday.

Polands prime minister urged the German government to supply a wide range of weapons to Kyiv and voiced hope that Berlin would soon approve a transfer of battle tanks.
Seguin, TX (78155)

Today

Mostly cloudy early, then sunshine for the afternoon. High 81F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low around 60F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
By Brenda Goh

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - India's Maharashtra state on Tuesday signed a deal with Taiwan's Gogoro and automotive system maker Belrise Industries under which the two firms will invest $2.5 billion over eight years in building battery-swapping infrastructure across the state.

Announced on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the partners said the memorandum of understanding aimed to establish batteries as a leading source for mobility and energy storage in Maharashtra, India's wealthiest state with 120 million residents which is looking to reduce its use of fossil fuels.

Shares in Gogoro Inc rose 7.1% after the deal was announced. The companies will start deploying the infrastructure this year and hope that it will encourage energy vehicle use as well as help to reduce energy costs for farmers.

"Maharashtra state is looking for a platform in which converting to green has many different devices, mobility device, storage device, smart city devices; what we're working on is more like a platform enabling this to happen," Gogoro Chief Executive Horace Luke told Reuters, describing the deal as "huge" for the Taiwanese firm.

Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra's deputy chief minister, said the state hoped they would set an example for other states in India to transition to smarter sustainable cities.

Gogoro is known for its green-hued battery swap distribution network for riders in Taiwan and makes its own vehicles as well as batteries. It told Reuters in November that it hoped to diversify internationally.

India's Belrise Industries Ltd, previously known as Badve Engineering, produces about one third of all two-wheel and three-wheel chassis made in the country.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh)
More than 20 children in Indonesia have suffered stomach burns after eating a street snack frozen with liquid nitrogen to participate in a viral TikTok trend.

The snack is locally known as chiki ngebul and named after a popular Indonesian brand of packaged snacks, reported Jakarta Times.

In recent months, the snack, also known as dragons breath, became part of a TikTok trend in which children recorded themselves eating it with smoke from the liquid nitrogen coming out of their mouths.

The government has urged greater vigilance and warned against the use of liquid nitrogen in ready-to-eat food.

Liquid nitrogen (could reach temperatures) of minus 190 deg C. So if it comes into contact with the skin it can cause frostbite or cold burns... It could also cause respiratory and digestive problems if inhaled and swallowed (in large amounts), the Health Ministrys director for environmental health Anas Maruf was quoted as saying at a press conference last Thursday.

Authorities said the first case was reported in East Javas Ponorogo regency in July 2022 when a child developed freeze burns after consuming the snack.

According to the Indonesian ministry of healths director general Maxi Rein Rondonuwu, skin burns and severe breathing difficulties are other potential risks, reported The Guardian.

Authorities have issued advisories to mobile hawker food outlets against selling such snacks and have also asked schools to educate children about the dangers.

While no deaths have been reported according to the health ministry around 25 children have been affected, with two hospitalised.

Dr Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian doctor and researcher of global health security at Griffith University, said to the outlet that while the snack has been around for several years, and liquid nitrogen is commonly used in food, they are now more easily available.

Maybe now its decreasing [in price] and not only easier to access but also the number of new businesses using this liquid nitrogen is also increasing, he said, adding that many food handlers dont know how to use liquid nitrogen properly.
By Asif Shahzad

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has made a conditional offer to his Indian counterpart to open talks on all outstanding issues between them, including disputed Kashmir, which he believes could be facilitated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is let's sit down at the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues, like Kashmir," Sharif said in an interview with Al Arabiya news channel, telecast by Pakistan's state run TV on Tuesday.

However, a statement issued by Sharif's office after the interview aired added that such talks would only be possible if India restored the autonomous status in the part of Kashmir it rules that was revoked in 2019.

"Without India's revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible," it said.

The Indian foreign affairs ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. New Delhi has ignored such calls from Pakistan on Kashmir's status in the past.

In the interview, Sharif said he had taken up the issue with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed on his recent visit to the Emirates.

"He's a brother of Pakistan. He also has good relations with India. He can play a very important role to bring the two countries on the talking table," Sharif said.

'NOTHING BUT MISERY'

The two arch-rival nuclear powers have fought three wars since independence from British rule in 1947. Two of the wars were over Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region, which both the nations claim. Each controls half of the region.

The two neighbours came close to war again in 2019, when India launched an air strike inside Pakistan to target what New Delhi said was a militant training facility.

Tensions were again inflamed when India unilaterally revoked the autonomous status of its part of Kashmir later in 2019, which Sharif said resulted in "flagrant" human rights violations.

Story continues

India has faced a decades-long insurgency in its part of Kashmir which is accuses Pakistan of stoking - an accusation Islamabad denies.

Official talks between the two countries have been suspended since then, although there have been some backdoor diplomacy attempts to resume negotiations - one brokered by the UAE in 2021.

Sharif said the wars between the two countries brought nothing except misery, poverty and unemployment.

"We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity and provide education, health facilities and employment to our people, and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, that's the message I want to give to PM Modi," he said.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Alex Richardson)
According to court documents, a 6-month-old child under Olson's care was diagnosed with abusive head trauma after she found the child unresponsive on Aug. 29. During an interview with investigators, Olson admitted she had become frustrated with the fussy baby and shook the baby on her hip "in a violent manner," causing the injury.

On May 11, a 2-year-old child was burned on the right hand after putting it in a pot of hot water that had been used to boil hot dogs at Olson's home. Olson ran the child's hand under cold water and applied burn cream to the injury, but did not notify the boy's parents or other medical providers for more than three hours, court documents said. By the time the parents were called, the skin had separated from the child's hand. Months later, the child still had not regained full circulation in the hand.
Niles police assisted the Skokie Police Department in responding to a stolen vehicle incident that resulted in a crash involving two Skokie police cars Tuesday morning, Niles police said.

According to a news releases from the department, Niles police were called to help respond to a a stolen vehicle investigation on the 7900 block of North Caldwell Avenue in Niles.

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Skokie police first observed the stolen vehicle in Skokie and began following it from there, said Niles Police Sgt. Dan Borkowski.

As Skokie police responded to the stolen vehicle, they reached the back parking lot of an apartment building on Caldwell, which prompted a male suspect to flee on foot and a second to flee in a second vehicle, a silver Hyundai SUV, police said.

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The SUV struck two Skokie police vehicles as it fled the scene, police said, and Skokie police officers apprehended the male suspect who had left the scene on foot at the intersection of Oakton Street and Caldwell Avenue.

Police said no injuries were reported and that Skokie officers traced and recovered the vehicle that had originally been reported stolen.

Niles police completed traffic crash reports for the crash involving the suspect vehicle and the two Skokie police vehicles, according to the department statement.
SIOUX FALLS -- The bookkeeper of a Lesterville, South Dakota, church was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months in federal prison for embezzling nearly $325,000 from two church parishes.

Steven Bares, 53, of Tabor, South Dakota, pleaded guilty in September in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls to wire fraud. After completing his prison sentence, he must serve two years on supervised release. He also must pay restitution to the churches.

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.

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  Denied access to survey some parcels of land along proposed liquid carbon dioxide pipeline routes, developers have sought rulings from Iowa judges ordering landowners to allow the surveys to proceed.

New lawsuits in Clay and Sioux counties were filed in December, bringing the total number to nine filed by either Summit Carbon Solutions or Navigator Heartland Greenway.

In all cases, the companies are seeking injunctions to prohibit landowners from denying survey crews entrance to their land to study the proposed pipeline routes. Landowners have filed counterclaims in many of them arguing that Iowa's laws giving pipeline companies the right of entry to private land to survey and examine it are unconstitutional.

Both are tactics seldom seen before in Iowa.

State law clearly authorizes enforcement of survey access by a company by injunction, said Don Tormey, a spokesman for the Iowa Utilities Board, which receives and rules on permit applications for underground pipelines.

"However, to the IUB's knowledge, lawsuits by pipeline companies to gain access to a landowner's property to survey have been rare in the past. If a landowner resists surveying, the issue is usually addressed without litigation," Tormey said.

Tormey said the IUB has no information on the number of landowners refusing to let surveyors onto their land either now or during past pipeline projects. He said the length of the proposed CO2 pipelines and the large number of landowners affected may be a factor.

Navigator plans to build a 1,300-mile pipeline collecting liquid CO2 from ethanol plants and fertilizer processors in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Illinois and transport it to a site in Illinois, where it will be injected deep beneath the surface. The pipeline would stretch 900 miles across 36 Iowa counties, including several in Siouxland.

Summit's plans call for a 2,000-mile pipeline collecting CO2 from ethanol plants in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and North Dakota and piping it to a North Dakota injection site. Of the 30 Iowa counties in the route, many again are in Siouxland.

Permit applications for both are before the IUB.

Both projects have staunch opponents, evidenced by landowners' unwillingness to allow surveyors on their property.

Navigator filed lawsuits against landowners in Woodbury, Clay and Butler counties in August. Summit sued in Dickinson, Hardin and Kossuth counties in September, and Clay and Sioux counties on Dec. 15. In its suits and requests for injunctions, Summit says landowners have refused to accept delivery of a second letter providing notice of the intent to enter their property to survey it.

"While Summit Carbon Solutions is not able to comment on the specifics of pending litigation, it's important to note the overwhelming majority of survey work done to this point has involved the owner voluntarily offering the company permission to access their land, there have been a limited number of instances where Iowa law has been invoked to allow this critical work to continue," Summit said in a statement.

Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, Navigator's vice president of government and public affairs, also noted the majority of landowners have granted surveyors access.

"What we don't hear about is how much survey work was done voluntarily," she said. "Surveys are an incredibly important part of the process. We think the code and the law is pretty clear as to notification and the steps to complete that survey. We truly want to be collaborative and follow the letter of the law."

Landowners who are resisting have banded together, hiring attorneys and coordinating their opposition.

It's likely due in part to experiences with the Dakota Access oil pipeline, which was completed in 2017 and traverses many of the same counties in the paths of the proposed CO2 pipelines, said Jess Mazour, conservation program coordinator of the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter.

In many cases, crop yield loss because of soil disruption from pipeline installation has been greater than what farmers were told to expect by Dakota Access, and payments from the company have not made up for the losses. With that information in hand, farmers are less likely to willingly give permission to have their land disturbed, much less surveyed, Mazour said.

"Everyone's prepared this time, and they're saying 'not again,'" she said.

The filing of lawsuits, however, caught opponents by surprise, Mazour said, but has solidified opposition, too.

"It just made people upset and even more steadfast in their opposition," she said. "If they're really just going to sue anyone who gets in their way, what kind of business practice is that and do we want those kinds of companies in Iowa?"

Vicki and William Hulse, of Moville, Iowa, were sued by Navigator in August after refusing to allow surveyors onto their land in northern Woodbury County. They responded with the claim that Iowa's laws giving pipelines the right to enter their land are unconstitutional.

A judge in September denied Navigator's request for an injunction that would have enabled surveyors to enter the Hulse's land. A trial is scheduled for Feb. 14, though that same judge is considering Navigator's motion for summary judgment seeking a ruling in its favor before trial. A trial in Navigator's lawsuit against Martin Koenig, of Sioux Rapids, Iowa, is scheduled for April 19 in Clay County. The Butler County cases were consolidated and scheduled for trial in May.

Vicki Hulse told the Journal last fall she and other landowners are doing what they believe is right and want others to know they're not powerless against the pipeline companies.

"I just want to be an example that you can stand up for yourself," Hulse said. "You can stand up and say no, this is my land."

Summit's lawsuits have yet to be scheduled for trial. Dennis and Kerry King, of Dickens, in Clay County and the Wilmer Hulstein Revocable Trust, in Sioux Center, in Sioux County, have yet to respond to the suits.
In her early 20s, Karisa Hunt learned the hard lesson of what happens when someone rations life-preserving medication.

Hunt was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a 4-year-old and has been on insulin since then to help control her blood sugar levels. But while in college and feeling guilty for saddling her parents with high copays for the insulin, she started lowering her prescribed dosage. It was a little less here, a little less there, she recalled recently.

It proved a life-altering decision, one that resulted in two surgeries in each eye and, ultimately, the complete loss of vision in her left one.

Once she was out of college and on her own health insurance plan, Hunt couldnt afford the $400 monthly copay. With rationing a no-go, she found another, still less-than-desirable solution: a low-cost, older version of insulin sold at Walmart.

It didnt control her diabetes nearly as well, and it left her sicker more often. She worried about long-term damage to her kidneys and the nerves in her limbs. Still, it cost her a doable $75 a month. She told herself she had no choice.

It felt like I was trading away years at the end of my life to stay alive now, said Hunt, 36, who works in marketing and lives in Commerce City, Colorado, just northeast of Denver.

But 2019 brought a welcome change: Colorado became the first state to pass a law that set a $100 limit on the monthly out-of-pocket expenses some diabetes patients would be required to pay for their insulin. All at once, she could afford the optimal insulin for her.

It felt like it was giving myself years of my life back, Hunt said.

In response to the steep rise in out-of-pocket costs for insulin over the past two decades, nearly two dozen states have passed measures in the past few years capping the out-of-pocket costs for some patients.

Last year, Louisiana and Maryland became the latest, bringing the total to 22 plus Washington, D.C. Other states are poised to consider similar measures this year, including Nebraska and New Jersey.

These proposed solutions are definitely a step in the right direction and address a big harm, which is when people ration because of affordability, said Dr. Jing Luo, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and its Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing.

But the state caps leave out many residents. They cover patients enrolled in state-regulated health insurance plans, which generally are individual health insurance policies sold on Affordable Care Act marketplaces as well as state employee health plans.

However, the state laws cant include most large employer and union health plans; those fall under federal government regulation.

Congress last summer imposed a $35 cap on copayments for insulin for Medicare beneficiaries, who are 65 and older. But Senate Republicans in August stripped out of a budget bill a measure that would have set a $35 cap for patients with private insurance. Some argued that it did not solve the underlying reasons for increasing insulin prices and that insurance companies would raise premiums to offset the cost, The Washington Post reported.

The financial burden of the caps falls on some combination of the players involved in the distribution of medicines  the manufacturers, the health plans and the pharmacy benefit managers, known as PBMs, which administer pharmacy benefits for health plans.

Those entities generally have opaque and somewhat contentious relationships that ultimately determine both drug prices and profit distribution among them. Critics have long complained that the lack of transparency makes it hard to tell whether patients pay reasonable amounts for their medicines.

Prices keep rising

Seven of the states with caps set a limit of $100 on copays for a 30-day supply of insulin, the highest amount among states, while others are significantly lower, according to a tally by the American Diabetes Association.

According to the diabetes association, 6 million U.S. patients take insulin.

Since the early 2000s, as manufacturers raised the price of insulin, the cost to patients rose.

One 2022 analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that for Medicare beneficiaries, out-of-pocket spending on insulin jumped from $236 million in 2007 to $1.01 billion in 2018, more than a 300% increase in that time. Thats in line with other analyses showing a near tripling of the price of insulin in the 2000s.

Colorado acts first

Inevitably, the costs to patients caused many to ration their insulin.

In a 2020 survey conducted by the Colorado attorney generals office, 40% of state residents using insulin reported that they resorted to rationing at least once a year. The report said that in some cases, diabetic patients said they took to fasting to try to control their blood sugar levels.

Colorado Democratic state Sen. Dylan Roberts became aware of the high out-of-pocket costs of insulin at a young age. When he was a boy in the early 2000s, his younger brother was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

I remember at the time this being such a burden, he recalled. Even at the time, it was immensely challenging for families, especially if you had no insurance.

Having taken office in 2017, Roberts became increasingly eager to pass a measure to help ensure diabetes patients can afford insulin.

It doesnt make any capitalistic or market sense that it costs so much, he said. And you have to take it, or you will die, so you are really being held hostage.

10 healthy habits for managing diabetes Get moving Get five a day Drink water Go whole Cut back on red meat Limit salt Keep an eye on portion sizes Eat breakfast Get your eyes and feet checked regularly Eat out less
A judge Friday sentenced a former Lincoln Police officer to probation and community service for assaulting a man while working off-duty in his police uniform as security at a local hospital more than two years ago.

Benjamin Rieker's attorney, Carlos Monzon, argued first for a new trial, saying Rieker believed force was justifiably necessary to remove the man from Bryan West Campus; he was acting in self-defense; and was entitled to use force when he shoved the 51-year-old down Oct. 31, 2020.

Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Tyson Moodie objected.

"It just seems like an attempt to relitigate what we litigated at trial," he said.

Lancaster County Judge Matthew Acton denied the motion.

In November, he found Rieker guilty of third-degree assault and false reporting following a 2-day bench trial.

Rieker, now 34, had been an officer for about 18 months when the incident occurred. He resigned from the department in January 2021, after a criminal investigation was launched into the incident at the request of then-Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister.

He since has lost his law enforcement license.

At sentencing Friday, Moodie said in a pre-sentence interview it appeared that Rieker "perhaps still was not taking responsibility for his actions."

"That's just disappointing, because I think if he would, he'd see that's probably what led him to some of the charges here," the prosecutor said in an apparent reference to the false reporting charge.

Monzon disagreed with that characterization.

"The PSI (pre-sentence investigation) is very clear that Mr. Rieker says that this was an unfortunate event and it's an unfortunate event from all sides," the defense attorney said.

Rieker declined an opportunity to say anything Friday.

But Monzon said other officers previously had warned Rieker the man, Jan Noch, had been known to carry weapons and had a history of being assaultive toward officers.

"Then, on the day in question, the actions that Mr. Noch took and the words that he was using, that is how and why Mr. Rieker acted the way he did," he said.

About a month later, Noch was facing felony charges for stabbing his neighbor then running to get him help. He's currently serving a four-year sentence.

Acton said he took into account that Rieker, who had only a DUI on his record before this, was in full police uniform when it happened but that Noch didn't suffer injury past the initial pain.

He also considered that Rieker seemed to express some regret, and character letters and letters from law enforcement on his behalf about use of force.

In the end, Acton sentenced Rieker to 18 months of probation, including victim empathy and anger management classes and 120 hours of community service.
MONTICELLO  A man was fatally shot after breaking into a Monticello man's home last week, according to Monticello's chief of police.

At 1:48 a.m. Wednesday, a man called 911 in Jones County to report someone trying to break in at his home in the 300 block of South Sycamore Street.

Before an officer arrived, the resident armed himself with a gun and shot the intruder, who had gotten inside and confronted him, according to the news release.

Authorities identified the alleged intruder as 30-year-old Patrick M. O'Brine. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man and a 10-year-old child at the home were uninjured, police said.

The incident remains under investigation.

Photos: Casino Assault, Jan. 3, 2021 010321ho-casino-still-1 010321ho-casino-still-2 010321ho-casino-still-3 010321ho-casino-still-4
Although they dont call Nebraska home, these fly-by residents have been regular visitors to the central Platte Valley for centuries. The yearly spring migration of 500,000, 4-foot tall, gray-feathered birds with jaunty red caps, who arrive in March and are usually gone by mid-April, has made an impact in both the birds' numbers and in our response to them. Visitors from around the country come to watch them fly from their roost on the river in the morning and stalk the corn stalks during the day from buses and blinds, and all of that is good for the state. The most recent economic study estimates that crane-related tourism in 2009 generated $8.08 million in direct economic impact by visitors in central Nebraska. And a survey done in 2010 showed that more than 70,000 crane watchers spent an average of 1.3 days in the region (75 percent of those who came to see the cranes were planning on spending at least one night).

And in the past 30 years, groups have worked to protect and maintain this river-side environment, with more than 10,000 acres of habitat set aside.
For the fourth consecutive year, Humanities Nebraska is providing a platform for Nebraskans across the state to connect through a tried-and-true pastime: writing a letter.

The nonprofit organizations Dear Stranger letter-exchange program officially kicked off on Wednesday. The premise of the program is for Nebraskans to make a connection with a complete stranger through the exchange of letters written about a predetermined prompt.

According to Mary Yager, the associate director of Humanities Nebraska, the program started in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and was an instant hit.

It was just a way to kind of try to continue our work in bringing people together when we couldnt meet for a while, Yager said. And it was pretty popular, so weve done it every year since.

The program itself isnt new, though. Yager said that Oregon Humanities originally conceived the Dear Stranger program and that it was easy for Humanities Nebraska to start the effort with the blueprint from Oregon.

Nebraskans interested in participating can submit a letter addressed to Dear Stranger, c/o Humanities Nebraska, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 330, Lincoln, NE, 68508. From there, Yager and the rest of the Humanities Nebraska team will find an appropriate match based on a few factors.

We divide the letters into short and long letters so that people who write a long letter might get a longer letter in response, and vice versa, Yager said.

She also noted that location is a big factor, too. Yager noted that they try to match people from the eastern part of Nebraska with people from the western part of Nebraska, and try to make sure theres enough of a distance buffer between any two people to maintain intrigue.

Interested parties have until Feb. 15 to submit a letter. After theyre submitted and Humanities Nebraska goes through the matching process, people will receive their letter from a stranger.

For most, according to Yager, that first letter exchange is the extent of their involvement in the Dear Stranger program. Those wanting to chat further with their new pen-pal can request their contact information upon mutual consent from the person theyve written to.

Yager says the program has led to new friendships.

I know that a few of our participants every year do connect beyond the first letter exchange and maintain a relationship over time, Yager said. I think some who participated the first year are still in communication today.

As far as participation goes, Yager said Humanities Nebraska is hoping for a rebound in 2023. The program had about 50 people participate in 2020 and that number doubled in 2021. She said that those figures tapered off last year, and credited that to more people willing to get out of the house and interact in-person.

Yager said their current participation demographic skews a bit older, but that they also have children participate and exchange letters each year.

With recent advances in technology, Yager feels that letter writing has kind of fallen by the wayside a little bit. She believes theres power in a handwritten letter, and she hopes Nebraskans utilize that power while making a new connection.

As long as people are interested in doing it, well continue to connect people through letter writing, Yager said.

Those interested in learning more about the Dear Stranger program can visit https://humanitiesnebraska.org/programs/dear-stranger/.

Top Journal Star photos for January 2023
OMAHA  Nebraska is taking another step into the as-yet uncertain future of nuclear power.

On Friday, the Nebraska Public Power District announced that it would undertake a study of potential locations for a small modular reactor, thanks to funding from the Legislature. The study will be funded through $1 million in federal dollars awarded to NPPD by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

Small modular reactors are the new type of nuclear reactor under consideration around the world. Utilities say the smaller reactors offer several advantages over the much larger traditional reactors by requiring less space, costing less to build and providing greater flexibility in where they can be built and how much electricity they generate.

However, critics say they remain unproven and carry the baggage of any nuclear reactor: no great solution for radioactive spent fuel, potential high costs to build and potential nefarious use of nuclear material.

Because they are so new, no such reactors have yet been built in the U.S.

Grant Otten, spokesman for NPPD, said the study will put NPPD in a better position should small modular reactors prove themselves and the district decide that nuclear power is something it wants to pursue.

Other major utilities in Nebraska and Iowa also have expressed interest in nuclear power. MidAmerican Energy has included nuclear among the options it is studying. The Omaha Public Power District has said it is monitoring developments in the industry.

The NPPD study will occur in two phases: determining the 15 best such sites within Nebraska, then whittling them down to four. The first phase is expected to be completed this spring and the second phase could take a year, according to the utility.

Factors used in evaluating sites include access to water and transmission lines and criteria set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Some models of the new reactors are less reliant on water, which means NPPD could study sites that arent along rivers, which has been where the states power plants have been built.

NPPD has contracted with the engineering firm Burns & McDonnell to assist with the study.

A nuclear power plant hasnt been built in Nebraska in 50-some years.

As a state, Nebraska has been taking a number of steps toward reopening doors to nuclear power. Most recently, the Legislature set aside money from the federal governments infrastructure bill for the study. In 2021, the Legislature unanimously approved allowing nuclear power to qualify for renewable energy incentives.

Safety would be paramount with any project, Otten said.

Small modular reactors are designed with very advanced safety features, he wrote in an email to the Omaha World-Herald. Further, if an SMR were to be built in Nebraska, it would have to meet Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations; and it would be operated and maintained to protect the safety of the public.

NPPD operates Nebraskas only nuclear station, Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville. OPPD used to operate the much smaller Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station near Blair, but closed it several years ago, citing costs. Construction at both Cooper and Fort Calhoun began in the 1960s, and they came on-line in the early 1970s.

The utilitys other major baseline plant, the Gerald Gentleman Station, runs on coal and is located near Sutherland.

Otten said NPPD remains committed to its existing baseload plants.

(Gerald Gentleman) and Cooper are both essential parts of NPPDs generation mix, for providing low-cost reliable power to our customers, he wrote. NPPD does not currently have any plans to retire either GGS or Cooper.

NPPD has said it plans to continue operating Cooper until its license expires in 2034. A decision on whether to seek a 20-year license extension for Cooper will be made at a later date.

Top Journal Star photos for January 2023
As Spring Festival approaches, the ongoing exhibition of traditional Chinese New Year pictures at the Guangdong Museum provides an artistic and cultural angle for understanding this important event.

Traditionally, New Year pictures are acquired and displayed in homes and other places to celebrate Chinese New Year.

The more than 300 pictures, and woodblocks used for making such pictures, at the exhibition come from museums and publishers in Foshan, Guangdong province; Taohuawu in Suzhou, Jiangsu province; Yangjiabu village in Weifang, Shandong province; Zhuxian town in Henan province; Mianzhu, Sichuan province; Wuqiang county, Hebei province and Tianjin's Yangliuqing township.

Among them, the history of New Year pictures from Zhuxian town in Henan province can be traced back to Kaifeng, the then capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).

New Year pictures mostly reached their peak during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in the aforementioned places that have contributed exhibits.

The exhibition at the Guangdong Museum in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, is themed on immortals, people, life and customs, and legends.

Traditionally, the preparations for celebrating the New Year start in the 12th lunar month. Late in the month, the picture of zaoshen, the kitchen god, is displayed in the cooking area for good luck in the new year, according to the organizer of the exhibition.

On Lunar New Year's Eve, pictures depicting menshen, or door gods, appear on front doors to guard the house from evil spirits. Door gods were initially pictured in a military style, but started to also feature figures resembling civil officials during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).In the Ming and Qing dynasties, celestial beings and auspicious animals also found a position on the door.

When the new year descends, images depicting gods of luck, fortune, longevity, happiness and wealth adorn houses.

Figures with a sacred status that also appear in the New Year pictures can include saints and immortals from Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist beliefs, as well as a number of "gods" that oversee various areas of life and business.

Among them, Zhong Kui, who is a mythological demon-killer, and Guan Yu, a general in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), who was later elevated to divine status following the Song Dynasty (960-1279), are famous examples.

Besides figures in human form, animals deemed auspicious also have a place in New Year pictures, including the dragon, tiger, deer, crane, goat, monkey, lion and cat. For example, a picture featuring the cat and butterfly expresses a wish for longevity, because maodie, or the names of the two animals (mao meaning cat and die meaning butterfly) joined together, is a homophone of the word pertaining to very old age  from 80 to 90. Additionally, the cat, by catching the mouse, guards the grains, and the silkworm that produces the materials for textile products.

Mortals followed divine figures, and began to appear in the New Year pictures, as people paid more attention to their own lives and development.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, many such pictures depicted beautiful women living a desirable life. In the pictures, they can be seen visiting quiet, natural surroundings, or staying in an exquisite room. They are often pictured doing embroidery, playing a musical instrument or chess, painting, nurturing children or enjoying some form of performance.

The most memorable New Year pictures, however, are perhaps those featuring one or more cherubic babies, often depicted holding a big fish, which express the hope of having a large family. Fish and lotus flowers in those pictures both have auspicious connotations.

New-style New Year pictures were first created in the liberated areas during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) in line with the political, military and economic needs.

After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, and with the support of the Ministry of Culture, more new-style works were created, alongside the more traditional themes. The new-style works cover themes on industrial and agricultural work, unity of the army and the people, healthcare and children's education.

In the 1980s, art publishers started to move away from their New Year picture business to other, more lucrative, sectors.

The third part of the exhibition focuses on New Year pictures that highlight traditional festivals, people's daily work, four seasons and current affairs.

Pictures featuring scenery and places of interest drew on traditional Chinese painting techniques and showed the influence of the Western artistic technique of linear perspective.

Flowers, birds, plants and insects, which were themes in traditional Chinese paintings, also featured in New Year pictures, often joined by auspicious elements.

In the final part of the exhibition, visitors can see historical figures and events, legends, as well as scenes and actors from traditional Chinese operas, in New Year pictures, with some being produced in a serial form.

During the late Qing Dynasty, and from the early 1910s to '40s, news-themed New Year pictures appeared, as novel things kept emerging during those turbulent times.

Alongside the pictures, the technique for making such pictures, which includes woodblock printing and a combination of woodblock printing and painting, are also displayed. The exhibition will run until March 29.
Today, my first novel is being published. Its the culmination of seven years of work and, uh, a large number of years of dreaming of writing a novel. Publication day for a debut novel can be a little overwhelming, Im toldyouve got all those TV news producers begging you for interviews. (They havent called me yet, but I assume they will soon.) Overall, though, pub day ought to be a time of joy, if slightly nervous joy: A thing you made, and care deeply about, is finally making its way into the world!

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But for me, and for a lot of other authors this winter, publication day is feeling a little bittersweet. Thats because were being published by HarperCollins.

About 200 HarperCollins publishing employees, primarily younger assistants and associates, have been on strike since November. Their demands are not outlandish and reflect the issues facing junior employees across publishing: They want the companys minimum starting salary increased from $45,000 to $50,000. They want the publisher to address diversity issues at the company. They also want to ensure all eligible employees are in the union.

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Ive loved my publishing experience with HarperCollins. Everyone Ive worked with has been a smart adviser and a fierce advocate for a slightly weird first novel in a challenging marketplace. And yet, since November, part of me has worried about today, knowing how conflicted Id feel. Because the publishing company thats set to collect money from the sales of my book has not budged. Directed, I have to think, by its owners, the corporate behemoth News Corp, HarperCollins hasnt even sat down to negotiate since the strike begandespite the chaos that the disappearance of 200 employees has caused, despite the pleas of many HarperCollins authors, and despite employees walking the chilly picket line outside headquarters daily.

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So heres my novel, which Ive spent years on. And heres my desire to feel joy and excitement about its arrival. And heres my sadness that many of the assistants and designers and marketers and salespeople who have helped get my book into stores remain poorly paid and disrespected. It creates a real dissonanceand Im not the only one feeling it.

I feel the exact same way, said Laura Zigman, whose novel Small World was published last week by Ecco, a Harper imprint. Zigman supports the strikers; she was a junior editor at a publishing house once upon a time, she said, and cant even imagine how much worse it is now. And she feels her desire to help her book into the world conflicting with her concern for the young employees at the house who are walking the picket lines.

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Its a total bummer, said Sean Adams, whose novel The Thing in the Snow was published earlier this month, even though his editor was on strike. You work so long on a book, and you dream of putting it outand your editor and your marketing person and your publicist, theyre all basically helping you achieve this dream. It saddens him, he said, to know that for many of those people, working at HarperCollins is no kind of a dream at all.

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The problem is that authors, though the public-facing emblems of a publishing house, dont actually work for the house and dont know whats going on there. I support the union, and I want them to be paid more, said Michael Schulman, whose book Oscar Wars will be published in February. And I certainly think that News Corp has the money to pay people more. The tricky thing, though, is knowing exactly what to do about it as an author.

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Were stuck in the middle, he said.

Its a grueling feeling, one I share. I put so many hours of work into this thing, Adams said. I want it to be a success! I want to be able to promote it. But I also want to show my support of the union. This has led to authors trying to hedge a bit, combining self-promotion with overt displays of union support: tweets or Instagram posts supporting strikers, along with photos of book covers and links to the union Bookshop.org link. The union, knowing how important author support is to their cause, helps: Theyll retweet you and send out photos if you walk the picket line with them. Another example of such hedging might be, for example, publishing a whole essay about your strike-related feelings on your books publication date.

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What do I owe the young striking employees of HarperCollins?

Exacerbating those feelings (and enriching the essay!) is the fact that my novel is, in part, about the travails of young publishing employees, and the responsibilities of more experienced ones. Vintage Contemporaries follows an idealistic book lover, Emily, through her careerfirst as a literary agents assistant, and later as an editor at a publishing house. As an assistant, shes overworked, underpaid, and dismissed. Through initiative and skill, she single-handedly raises a novelists career from the dead by selling their new book to a big publisher and, promised a share of the proceeds by her boss, is handed a $100 bill. When she cant take it anymore, she departs for a job at a publishing house and never looks back.

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A decade and a half later, her situation is entirely different. Shes a senior editor at a New York house, where she has the ear of Peter, the brilliant editorial director, and a great deal of freedom. She also feels responsibility to the younger employeesher first job after the agency was as Peters assistant, and she thinks of herself as both a protector of and an inspiration for the women who have followed her in that chair. But she realizes, belatedly, that those assistants and other junior employees dont view her, or the workplace, the way she does at all. What does she owe the company, and Peter, and what does she owe her younger colleagues, who are now going through their versions of what she went through long ago?

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So what do I owe the young striking employees of HarperCollins? Should I be delivering public statements about my support for the union? Sure, thats easy. But is that enough? Isnt the success of my book also success for a company thats currently behaving in a way I cant agree with? Should I be withholding my labor and refusing to promote my book entirely?

No, said Rachel Kambury, a striking associate editor at HarperCollins. Thats not your responsibility, she said. We dont want to harm HarperCollins authors. Indeed, the striking workers arent asking customers to boycott Harper titles, and have even created a Bookshop.org affiliate page where you can buy Harper books (heres a great example!) while also contributing to the unions strike fund, which supports workers who havent gotten paid for two months now.

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Theyre not asking us to fall on our swords, Schulman said. What theyre asking is really easy to do. Authors are encouraged to tweet, Insta, and email HarperCollins CEO to tell him we want the company to come to the bargaining table and not to hire temporary workers. Ive tweeted those tweets and sent those emails.

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While our messages of support are surely heartening to the union, it seems unlikely that any one author has the power to change News Corps mind. In the past, a corporation could be moved by shame, Zigman said. Now they dont care how bad it looks. I asked Jaime Green, series editor of Best American Science and Nature Writing and a former editor at Slate, if shed sent those emails, and she laughed, telling me about the polite autoreplies she receives, promising a response soon. Of course, she added, no human ever writes me back.

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In the meantime, my launch proceeds apace. Ive seen no evidence that the strike has affected my book at all; my editor and publicist are too senior to be eligible for the union. I do worry that they are being worked to death, soothing my neuroses and also tasked with the overflow surely resulting from so many of their colleagues going on strike. I worry, too, that other authors are in a worse position than I am. Less experienced authors are more likely to have junior staffers working on their books, meaning theyre more likely to bear the brunt of HarperCollins refusal to negotiatejust another way the inequities of publishing perpetuate themselves. Its impossible to tell if my launch would have gone differently, Adams said, if HarperCollins had simply negotiated and ended the strike. But Ive been proud to show solidarity. Im proud my editor is in the union.

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I asked Kambury, the striking editor, how HarperCollins authors should feel about the strike. Enraged? Upset? Disappointed? Emboldened, she said. Emboldened to demand what they need out of a book deal, to not expect anything less than what they deserve. She pointed out that HarperCollins employees talking to one another, after years of silence, about their salaries helped inspire the labor uprising that led to the strike. Authors talking to each other about their advances will help them stand up and advocate for themselves.

Do I feel emboldened? I dont know. I feel proud of my book and excited for its future and guilty about that excitement. But Im trying to get over it. The really sad part is that if youre in publishing, youre in it because you love it, said Laura Zigman. You love the books! Dan, you may feel guilty, but the best thing you can do is assume that all those striking workers want the best for you. Because they do.
President Biden is about to approve a policy that goes much farther than any previous effort to protect private companies from malicious hackersand to retaliate against those hackers with our own cyberattacks.

The 35-page document, titled National Cybersecurity Strategy, differs from the dozen or so similar papers signed by presidents over the past quarter-century in two significant ways: First, it imposes mandatory regulations on a wide swath of American industries. Second, it authorizes U.S. defense, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies to go on the offensive, hacking into the computer networks of criminals and foreign governments, in retaliation toor preemptingtheir attacks on American networks.

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Our goal is to make malicious actors incapable of mounting sustained cyber-enabled campaigns that would threaten the national security or public safety of the United States, the document states in a five-page section titled Disrupt and Dismantle Threat Activities, according to a draft exclusively viewed by Slate. (The document has not yet been publicly released, though it will be after Biden signs it, an event anticipated sometime this month.)

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Under the new strategy, the U.S. will disrupt and dismantle hostile networks as part of a persistent, continuous campaign. This campaign will be coordinated by the FBIs National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force working in tandem with all relevant U.S. agenciesa systematic collaboration that has rarely been attempted and never before publicized. Private companiesboth firms that are frequent targets of cyberattacks and firms that specialize in cybersecurity methodswill be full partners in this effort, both to alert the government task force of intrusions and to help repel them. (In the past, many of these firms, especially in Silicon Valley, have been reluctant to be seen cooperating with the government on these issues.)

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The new strategywhich was in the works for much of 2022 under the supervision of senior White House officialsstems from the growing recognition of two facts, which have long been obvious to specialists.

First, mere guidelines on cybersecuritywhich Washington has previously allowed private companies to follow voluntarilyhave, for the most part, failed to block major intrusions by foreign governments or cybercriminals.

Second, purely defensive measures have also had limited impact, as a clever hacker will eventually find ways around them.

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The United States has conducted cyber-offensive operations for many decades. Bill Clinton was the first president to acknowledge this fact publicly. In 2012, Barack Obama issued Presidential Policy Directive No. 20, which established strict controls, including that the presidents explicit permission was needed for all cyber-offensive operations. (Classified Top Secret, it was one of many documents leaked by Edward Snowden.) In 2018, President Trump signed National Security Presidential Memorandum No. 13, which loosened those controls, giving defense and intelligence agencies enormous leeway to mount offensive campaigns themselves.

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Gen. Paul Nakasone, who was and still is NSA director and Cyber Command chief (the two positions are generally held by the same four-star officer), was the chief advocate of that approach. In an article he later wrote for Foreign Affairs, he described the mission, with its greater latitude, as hunt forward and persistent engagement.

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Corporate lobbyists successfully resisted mandatory cybersecurity regulations on private companies for years. The new strategy recognizes that didnt work.

At the time, many feared that the end of tight controls would unleash excess and blowback, and ultimately harm security. But, as one official who used to be among the fearful told me last week, None of those horrible things happened.

As a result, Biden and his team decided to push the Trump-Nakasone policy further. The strategy that Biden is set to approve covers only those offensive operations designed to disrupt hostile actors attempts to hack into U.S. networks. At the same time, however, the Pentagon is drafting a new cyber strategy, which applies the White House papers principles to cyber policies, both defensive and broadly offensive.

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The other sections of the Biden paperwhich includes 30 pages dealing with purely defensive measuresoutline still more drastic departures from present policies to protect the nations critical infrastructure. That term, critical infrastructure, was coined in the mid-1990s and refers to economic sectorssuch as banking, finance, electrical power, water works, transportation systems, telecommunications, and emergency management servicesthat are essential to modern societies and are connected to computer networks, meaning they are vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all signed orders and created agencies to strengthen the resiliency of these sectors. A few aides to all three presidents tried to impose mandatory cybersecurity regulations on companies in these sectors, but corporate lobbyists successfully resisted their efforts, as did some economic advisers, who warned (perhaps correctly) that regulations would curtail innovation. So enforcement of the rules has been, until now, strictly voluntary.

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The new strategy stems from a recognition that voluntary measures in most of those sectors dont work. There are exceptionsfor instance, banks. Cybersecurity is central to their business; if they get hacked too often, customers will take their deposits elsewhere; banks also have the money to hire very good specialists. However, for public utilities, such as power plants, cybersecurity is very expensive. Mandatory regulations are needed to prod them into action.

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At the same time, the new strategy recognizes that uniform standards for all sectorswhich some aides under past presidents tried to formulatedont work either. As an alternative, more than a year ago, the Biden White House started analyzing each sector, in consultation with the federal agency that had authority over each sector and with the companies that would be affected by regulations.

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For instance, according to one official, the TSA identified 97 oil and gas pipelines that serviced at least 25,000 Americans. The White House then held three meetings with executives of the companies that owned the pipelines. At one meeting, after being vetted for security clearances, the executives were briefed by intelligence officials on the threats their pipelines faced.

As recently as a few years ago, many corporate executives perceived cyber threats as theoretical. Now they are obviously anything but.

Officials have also met with state utility commissions on the threats to electric power grids and on measures to improve security. Just before Christmas, in a bill signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York became the first state to issue new mandatory cybersecurity regulations. It will be assisted by a few federal experts as well as a chunk of the $1.5 billion that the White House is allotting to states that take this leap. Similarly, this month, according to one official, the EPA will issue new regulations on the cybersecurity of the nations waterworks.

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Context is another big difference between Bidens strategy and earlier attempts to impose regulations. As recently as a few years ago, many corporate executives perceived cyber threats as theoretical. Now they are obviously anything but. In 2020, Russias massive hack on SolarWindswhich affected system management tools on the computers of more than 30,000 agencies and firms involved in critical infrastructurewas a major wake-up call. In 2021, a criminal gangs ransomware attack on Colonial Pipelinewhich shut down the flow of gasoline and jet fuel to 17 states until Colonial paid 75 Bitcoins (at the time worth $4.4 million) to the hacker groupwas another.

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The Colonial hack couldnt have happened had even rudimentary security measures been followed. It was a big part of what led Biden to impose mandatory regulations on pipelines. The new strategy spreads such regulations across the other critical industries.

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Michael Daniel, Obamas cyberpolicy coordinator who now heads the Cyber Threat Alliance, a nonprofit group of security providers and IT firms, told me, Theres definitely been a shift in business thinking. Its one thing if your spreadsheets are wreckedquite another if its your pacemaker. With recognition that cyberattacks can cause physical damage, some degree of government regulation is inevitable.

Many of these companies also do business abroad, where regulations are much more stringent. If they need to follow regulations in Europe, Australia, or Canada, they might as well follow them here, too.

Still, the new strategy wont solve all the problems. There are several sectorsincluding food and agriculture, emergency services, and several manufacturing industrieswhere Congress would need to pass authorities to regulate. And the new Congress, at least on the House side, doesnt seem interested in passing much of anything, much less additional regulations on business.

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Even for sectors where the executive branch already has authority, the lines of authoritywhich agencies can write and enforce which regulations over whomarent entirely clear. During the drafting of the National Cybersecurity Strategy, the two White House officials in chargeAnne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies (appointed by Biden), and Chris Inglis, the national cyber director (a position newly created by Congress just two years ago)sometimes clashed over these matters. Compromises were made, and a consensus was reached between the two of them and among more than 20 federal agencies. Still, there are, inevitably, some lingering ambiguities, which are to be settled in a subsequent implementation strategy.

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It was way back in October 1997 when President Clintons Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection warned of cyber attacks that could paralyze or panic large segments of society and limit the freedom of action of our national leadershipadding, We must learn to negotiate a new geography, where borders are irrelevant and distances meaningless, where an enemy may be able to harm the vital systems we depend on without confronting our military power.

A quarter-century later, Bidens new strategy goes a long distance toward coming to grips with this new geography. But in many ways, were still negotiating.
In a recent interview with the Economist, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was asked how he balances the imperative of protecting as many Ukrainian lives as possible with his governments stated policy of retaking all Russian-occupied territory, an effort that could entail losing countless more of those lives. Zelensky rejected the premise:

The fact that the people withstood [the invasion] shows that they have a simple truth, and it resides in their family, in their land, in their flag. When they defend the land, it is not something abstract; it is real, it is part of it. Defending the land and the territory means only one thing: to protect life and purpose.

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In a moment of reading serendipity, I listened to a recording of Zelenskys interview just as I was reading the Scottish historian James Crawfords beguiling new travelogue/history/meditation The Edge of the Plain: How Borders Make and Break Our World. Crawfords reporting and research took place almost entirely before Russias invasion of Ukraine and he refers to it only in passing, but its hard not to think of the war, and the notion that life and territory could be inseparable, when you encounter a statement like what is a border, if not a story? It is never simply a line, a marker, a wall, an edge. First, it is an idea [] It can only ever be made. It can only ever be told.

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The war in Ukraine is a war over territory that is also a war between stories. Russian President Vladimir Putin, having apparently emerged from a COVID-isolation deep dive into the Kremlin archives, puts forth a narrative that Ukraine and Russia share a common historical and spiritual space that renders modern, internationally recognized nation-state borders irrelevant.

The notion that Ukraine is an artificial country was already historically dubious, and ironically, Putins violation of Ukraines borders appears to have done more to solidify Ukraines national identityits story, that isthan generations of Ukrainian nationalists have managed.

The war broke out after a period of time during which, as Crawford documents, borders moved back to the center of the global conversation. An unprecedented spike in global migration; the Brexit referendum; the rise of a crop of nationalist leaders, including Donald Trump, who repeatedly argued that without borders you dont have a country; a pandemic that resulted in the hasty throwing up of hard borders within countries as well as between them: All made it clear that despite the hype of previous decades, globalization and the internet were not about to render nation-states and national boundaries irrelevant. This doesnt seem likely to change. For all that Joe Bidens administration is a repudiation of Trumps, he has also embraced restrictive border enforcement policies and economic protectionism. Borders are here to stay.

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Crawford, a prolific writer and broadcaster in the U.K., endeavors to trace the history of borders back to the beginning. The title comes from the inscription on a pillar recently rediscovered in the British Museums collection that is believed to be the oldest surviving boundary marker: It separated the territories of the states of Lagash and Umma in present-day Iraq. The pillars text also includes the first known use of the phrase no mans land. Tying the past to present in a later chapter, Crawford graffitis the phrase, in ancient Sumerian text, on the separation barrier in East Jerusalem.

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After examining the origins of borders, Crawford takes a global tour of their present configuration. (As if to underline the books theme, he was frustratingly unable to visit all the case studies in the book due to pandemic-era travel restrictions, though to his credit as a writer, this doesnt hamper the narrative much.) Some of the most familiar examples are included. Crawford takes in the U.S.-Mexico border, the contested Israeli-Palestinian border, and Melilla, one of two Spanish enclaves surrounded by Morocco that are the last remaining European-controlled territories in continental Africa and have, in recent years, become a target for migrants seeking entry into Europe. Even in this well-trod territory, Crawford has a knack for finding original perspectives and observations.

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One of the refreshing aspects of Crawfords approach is that rather than leaning primarily on historians or political activists as his main sources, he gravitates toward artists who incorporate borders into their work. We meet Hans Ragnar Mathisen, a Sami artist who creates maps that both celebrate the Nordic indigenous groups culture and question officially accepted geographies; Marcos Ramirez and David Taylor, who erected dozens of obelisks marking the short-lived 1819 border between the U.S. and Mexico; and Marco Ferrari, whose work documents how the Italian-Austrian border is literally moving as a result of climate changedriven glacial melt. Fans of Thomas Pynchon will enjoy an extended riff on the 1997 novel Mason & Dixon and its historical subjects.

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Crawfords depiction of the modern reality of borders is often very dark, never more so than in exploring the work of anthropologist Jason de Leon, who describes his work as an ethnography of death based on study of the artifacts (and sometimes bodies) left by migrants attempting to cross the Sonoran desert of Arizona. And plenty of Crawfords sources argue that borders are merely artificial constructs that dont correspond with human or environmental realities.

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But it would be too simple to suggest the book merely condemns or dismisses borders. Those who imagine a world without borders may be pacifists in the John Lennon mold, but theyre just as likely to be imperialists.

Crawford quotes from Virgils Aeneid, in which Rome is designated by the god Jupiter himself as an empire without limit in either space or time. That borders are artificial is a concept that can be used by progressives to advocate for the rights of migrants, but alsoas Putin has shownby atavistic dictators to justify invading their neighbors.

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In her 2019 book, Democracy May Not Exist, which similarly looks to the ancient world for answers to contemporary political conundrums, activist and filmmaker Astra Taylor describes feeling herself cringe at political philosopher Wendy Browns basically commonsensical argument that democracy can only work in a community that is defined in its membership and, if its a territorial state, within the area under its control: To have a democracy there has to be a we. You have to know who we the people are, Brown argues. Without boundaries, any political community is either incoherent or absolutist.

In the view held by many liberals and progressives, then, borders are a necessary evil, or for radicals, the best available option until a better mode of political organization comes along.

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Crawford suggests that maybe we can do better. His book ends with a discussion of the so-called Great Green Wall, an ambitious project to combat desertification in Africas Sahelone of the worlds most politically unstable regions and one of the most threatened by climate change. The first idea for the wall, which was embraced by several governments and may have originated with Burkina Fasos folk-hero Marxist president Thomas Sankara, was for a literal wall of trees to hold back the encroaching Sahara. This was not a particularly practical plan and the literal wall has evolved into a more holistic approach to combat desertification through careful water use and land cultivation techniques, but the moniker has stuck.

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Crawford quotes a U.N. official working on the wall project, saying, Today the word wall somehow has negative connotations. But we try to explain it as a wall that doesnt divide people but unites them.

If this sentiment feels familiar to readers of The Edge of the Plain, its because it echoes an argument made several chapters and 2,000 years earlier by the Greek orator Dio Chrysostom who also argued, in Crawfords paraphrase, that borders could be tools of unity, not division [] like ties of blood, of marriage, the physical manifestations of kinship drawn across the landscape.

A world in which borders serve a purpose like this seems pretty distant, but Crawford seems to suggest that if all borders are stories, we could start by telling better ones. Borders, after all, may be the places where we are divided. But theyre also the places where we touch.
When a junior manager at the tech-consulting firm Accenture tried to organize her first work meeting in the metaverse, it was difficult to even log in. I am totally immersed in the metaverse, have a big headset on, and then I need to take off the Oculus, look on my phone for the two-factor authentication code thats been sent to my phone, then memorize the number, put my headset back on, and try to key it in, she told me, speaking on the condition of anonymity. But when you take off the Oculus it automatically goes to sleep mode, and I was trying to navigate the back-and-forth. She wasnt the only one who struggled with simply accessing an animated meeting room; by the time the meeting had concluded, some team members still hadnt made it in.

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Thats perhaps not the future that was promised when companies started going all-in on the metaverse last year. And the malaise is showing: Attention to and mockery of virtual and augmented reality developments has quieted down in recent months. Still, the money is pouring in, and companies of all stripes want a piece of this. McKinsey projects that the metaverse will transform from a sci-fi term to a $5 trillion enterprise by 2030. But, instead of speculation on virtual lands and hosting digitized nightclub parties, the latest push is focused on smaller-scale, more quotidian uses.

And whats more quotidian than your workplace? The roster for the recent Consumer Electronics Show included some ambitious plans for shifting your labor into the metaverse, like constructing a digital twin of your headquarters. Meta has also been trying this out in real time by implementing Horizon Worlds office space, Workrooms, for internal employee use.

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Not bad! Except for the fact that Metas hefty investments in VR have ravaged the companys finances, Horizon Worlds has fewer than 200,000 total users, Meta employees dont like having to procure all the necessary devices or even using Workrooms, and enthusiasm from the C-suite seems to have cooled. Clunky visuals, headset pains, nausea and dizziness during use, Zoom-fatigue hangovers, imperfect facial replications, and lack of actually additive features have alienated even the people who should be loving this metaverse tech the most; other offices that have used Workrooms have found out its difficult to interact with dense financial information or even to, like, type words.

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Yet companies, including some fields outside of tech, are still trying to make it happen, hence big corporations bringing on chief metaverse officers.

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So I decided to speak with executives whove incorporated the metaverse into their companies, and to workers whove been nudged by their bosses to check this thing out, to see whether any of this hype can really translate into corporate culture. What I found was that workers and bosses, perhaps unsurprisingly, tend to have differing views on the metaverses usefulness for daily tasks. Furthermore, businesses may be eager to take on metaverse tech not necessarily to make work easier, but for another reason entirely.

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The Accenture manager told me that over the past year, when our company rolled out a bunch of Oculus headsets to a large population to see how we might self-adopt the technology. I feel like we were guinea pigs in how the metaverse might be applied to more of a workplace social setting.

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But even during an introductory opt-in phase for VR experimentation, there were problemsmost notably accessibility issues, especially for staffers with motion sickness or other disabilities, as well as learning how to adjust to social customs in a digital setting. Basic etiquettes like figuring out how and where to stand next to other participants, learning specific tools, and shaping your 3D avatars look and attributes presented unexpected problems. The body shapes that were available in the [AltspaceVR app] didnt have characters that had breasts, the Accenture manager told me.

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The company continued to encourage use of metaverse tech, even offering headsets to new hires upfront. Still, nothing was forced for employees, the manager said; bosses were happy to see their reports using the tech to access apps for meditation and mental health. For the time being, it seems many of the Accenture managers colleagues are bearish on the tech and dont use their Oculus app much. (Theres little desire, she told me, for low-fidelity Minecraft virtual happy hour.)

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But she suspects the point may not be so much what they do with it as much as how Accenture can tout the hardware to its clients at large. My company would be invested in making other companies want to use the metaverse rather than care so much about how many virtual happy hours we are having in our Oculus, she said. Were selling you on an experience, were selling you on a new business model, were selling you on how your companies can integrate the future into your workplace. And I think that as long as other companies are buying, we will continue to make like its this great thing.

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One exec experimenting with VR-at-work just happened to be close to my own workplace: David Stern, founder and CEO of the Slate Groups Supporting Cast podcast platform. Stern had first worked on a VR experiment for Slate back in 2017, when the site launched a virtual chat show hosted on Facebook Spaces, but he only thought of it in a co-working context more recently, after using VR to play poker with friends and reading business analyst Ben Thompsons accounts of using virtual workspaces. Thats when he decided to purchase 10 Oculus Quest 2 headsets for his staff, who all work remotely, and see how they could all make best use of it: 45-minute meetings, occasional social outings.

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But hes experienced some of the same problems as the Accenture manager. Between forgetting to charge headsets, operating system updates, new app installation/updates, logging into accounts, screensharing between desktop and headset, theres just a lot that can go wrong, Stern wrote to me in an email. He and the staff enjoyed some metaverse capabilitiesthe three-dimensional immersion, the improved sound quality as compared with videoconference apps like Zoombut they might find the whole thing better suited for one purpose over the other. Im not sure its better for meetings, particularly if youre doing a lot of screensharing to look at someones desktop, he wrote. But it might be better in some ways for having an open conversation or a brainstorm.

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Hes not the only boss who is clear-eyed about the metaverses limitations even while trying it out. Rahul Mehra, a co-founder of the India-based automation startup Roadcast, sounds psyched about the prospects of metaverse-aided work, but frank about current impediments. Right now there are more disadvantages than advantages, he told me: low internet bandwidth speeds across South and Southeast Asia, lack of consistent and compatible software across differing brands of hardware, and a shortage of workers with the right skills to improve such issues. Mehra would rather be in the metaverse than a videoconference or group call, but as of now, hed still prefer a meeting in an actual office than an animated one. So would his employees, it sounds like: Some are of the opinion that maybe this software needs to be developed more or needs to be simplified, he said. The senior-most people in my company, who may be in the finance department or the HR department, are not really comfortable with this.

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Still, Mehra hopes to keep tinkering with the metaverse-as-office, like for job interviews with candidates in different regions of Asia. Plus, he thinks adoption could be key to making his business more attractive both to prospective partners and job candidates, a mentality many corporate managers, and companies like Accenture, also share: The people youre hiring also see that this company is very forward-thinking.

Assuming the tech improves, if corporations keep buying and distributing headsets, if every meeting becomes a VR or AR meeting, even proponents of this shift dont think itll be as massive a disruption as Mark Zuckerberg thinks it will be. Could I see people waking up and putting on a headset and then getting out of the headset at 5 in the evening? I hope not. And I dont see it, said Sean Hurwitz, chief executive of the Michigan company Pixo VR.

At any rate, it turns out an animated, interactive, gamified universe may be another opportunity for play over work. I do think its working, at least for social gatherings, and well continue using it for those for the foreseeable future, Stern wrote. The jury is still out on the productivity-centric use cases.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
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When New York-based dancer and actor James Monroe Stevko, 36, picked up a family photo album one day, he had no idea he was beginning a twelve-year journey uncovering his familys roots that would end up with him applying for citizenship of a small country thousands of miles away.

Leafing through the pictures, he came across a small card.

I think it was a military draft document. It had my great-grandfathers name and it said Rovnany, Czechoslovakia, Stevko recalls.

He found out that the village was in southern Slovakia near Poltar.

As he later found out, this was where his great-grandfather, Martin Elias Stevko, had been born before he emigrated to the USA. It was there that he met his wife, who herself coincidentally had Slovak roots, sometime around 1914.

Intrigued by his discovery, while in Prague in 2012 for a few months, Stevko went to visit a Slovak friend from New York who happened to be home at the same time. The pair decided to take a road trip and with his familys history still very much in his thoughts, they made sure they included a stop in Rovnany.

Visiting Rovnany (Source: Archive of J.M.Stevko)

There, after asking around, locals guided them to a house where a family bearing the name Stevko lived. The current owner listened carefully as the American told, his friend interpreting his words, the story of his familys roots and whether the man was a distant relative of his great-grandfather.
One of the Rams primary positions of need this offseason is outside linebacker. Leonard Floyd is the only proven starter on the team and theres a serious lack of talent at this position.

Fortunately, the Rams have the 36th overall pick in the draft and could find pass-rush help early in the second round.

Because Los Angeles is without a first-round pick again this year, the team hasnt been included in many mock drafts. But both Luke Easterling of Draft Wire and Dane Brugler of The Athletic went two rounds deep and pegged the Rams to select the same player.

In Bruglers second mock, he has the Rams taking Georgia edge rusher Nolan Smith, the same player Easterling mocked to Los Angeles.

Smith is 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, so hes a bit undersized as a pass rusher, especially by the Rams standards. They typically prefer bigger edge rushers such as Floyd, Terrell Lewis and Justin Hollins, who are all 6-foot-5. However, Smith fits well as a 3-4 edge rusher in the Rams scheme so his lack of size shouldnt be a concern.

What is somewhat worrisome is the fact that he only had 12.5 sacks in four years at Georgia. He didnt have the most productive career in college, which can be a sign of poor sack numbers at the pro level, but as a second-round prospect, the Rams should still be interested.

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8 offseason moves that would help Rams get back to playoffs in 2023

Story originally appeared on Rams Wire
Coffee, it appears, may have been disrupted enough. Techs favorite industry to rethink and revolutionize over the past few years has seen its fair share of newcomers looking to shake up your morning brew. But recently, two of the bigger names in the coffee tech spaceCometeer and Atomohave made significant cuts to their labor force, this after raising hefty rounds of capital. Within a wider market milieu in which financial conditions continue to tighten and monetary policy turns even more restrictive (per J.P. Morgan) the freewheeling days of influx after influx of exploratory venture capital into the outer reaches of the coffee space may have at last reached the plunger phase, like so many French press pots ready to brew.

It began back in December with Cometeer, the maker of flash-frozen coffee concentrate spheres. As we reported back in 2021, the Massachusetts-based company raised nearly $100 million across multiple rounds of funding, which they used to coax industry veterans to join the team as well as create limited edition, high-end frozen coffee box sets (including a Gesha). Since then they have worked with some of the biggest roasters in the country, including George Howell, Onyx Coffee Lab, Go Get Em Tiger, Black & White, and many, many more.

In late 2022 the company announced what some have depicted as sudden and unceremonious cuts to their workforce across departments, timed right before the holiday season. The reason for the layoffs, according to BevNet, is an attempt to cut costs. The brand did, however, choose to move forward with a tone-deaf marketing campaign which featured Cometeer emissaries doling out coffee to Goldman Sachs employees, themselves under threat of a looming downsize.

Similarly, the molecular coffee company Atomowhose various funding raises and attendant Bloomberg puff piece weve covered with some skepticism here at Sprudgeis going through their own strategic realignment, a soft-shoe term for layoffs. The Seattle-startup has raised over $50 million in investments, $40 million of that coming in June 2022, just six months ago, per GeekWire. The realignment is due to recently achieved a breakthrough that will help [Atomo] reach a larger segment of consumers and more quickly advance accessibility to sustainable coffee offerings, according to a statement attributed to CEO Andy Kleitsch.

After some digging, though, GeekWire found that Atomos workforce had grown to 50 employees according to LinkedIn, but the companys former human resources director states to GeekWire that Atomo recently let go of a lot of really valuable employees.

Perhaps the particular vein of disruption being offered by some of the latest crop of venture-backed coffee tech companies isnt really what the industry wants or needs, to say nothing of consumers, who anecdotally appear to be highly skeptical when it comes to actually spending money on most of this stuff. To be clear, its not to say that all capital investment in the coffee industry is bad, or that this approach can only lead to ruin. But one might reasonably wonder from all this recent news: after years of coffee tech and venture capital enjoying easy money together at the bar, might the bill be coming due?

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230116/iranian-foreign-minister-to-visit-turkey-on-january-17-for-syria-talks---reports-1106413626.html

Iranian Foreign Minister to Visit Turkey on January 17 for Syria Talks

Iranian Foreign Minister to Visit Turkey on January 17 for Syria Talks

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will visit Turkey on Tuesday, where he will meet with a number of high-ranking officials... 16.01.2023, Sputnik International

2023-01-16T23:19+0000

2023-01-16T23:19+0000

2023-01-17T01:03+0000

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turkiye

syria

mevlut cavusoglu

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The Iranian foreign minister will visit Turkey at the invitation of his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, the report said. During his visit, Amir-Abdollahian will meet with a number of officials to discuss bilateral relations, recent events and the situation in Syria. In addition, one of the likely topics for discussion will be the date of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Turkey. In December 2022, the defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey held trilateral talks in Moscow to discuss ways to resolve the Syrian crisis. The negotiations marked the first official meeting between the Turkish and Syrian defense chiefs in 11 years. In the same month, Ankara suggested that the Turkish, Syrian and Russian foreign ministers hold a meeting in February 2023, possibly in a third country. The war in Syria has been going on since 2011, with President Bashar Assad's forces fighting various armed insurgent groups. Since 2016, the Turkish armed forces have been also conducting air and ground operations in Syria against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which wants to establish a Kurdish autonomy in Turkey. Damascus has repeatedly called the presence of Turkish forces on the Syrian border illegal and urged Ankara to withdraw its troops.

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With Spring Festival around the corner, China's vast rural areas are making all-out efforts to counter potential challenges in COVID-19 control as people return to their hometowns.

A slew of measures has been implemented and resources have been mobilized to prevent infections and strengthen medical capacities across the countryside to ensure that long-awaited family reunions are joyful and safe.

Curbing virus spread

This year's Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, falls on Jan. 22. An optimized COVID response has brought about the busiest travel rush in three years, with 2.1 billion passenger trips expected to be made from Jan. 7 to Feb. 15, according to the Ministry of Transport.

With regards to COVID containment amid mass migration, a rural response task force under the State Council issued a letter to rural residents in early January, calling for improved health and hygiene awareness, reduced gatherings, among others, during the holiday.

Shouxian County in east China's Anhui Province expects to see approximately 220,000 people return home, many from densely populated regions such as Shanghai and Zhejiang, where infections have already peaked.

In order to keep the virus away from high-risk groups, "we suggest that people returning home take personal protection measures on their journeys, reduce contact with the elderly and children, and avoid crowds in rural areas," said Ma Keyi, an official with the county's health commission.

The county government has also advised people to register with their villages or communities after their arrival, so that local doctors are able to provide timely medical services if needed.

Boosting rural medical supplies

China has made rural areas a focal point in the country's current COVID response, with priority given to the supply of medicines.

The State Council inter-agency task force for COVID-19 response has established a system for coordinating the supply of drugs and other key medical supplies on a daily basis, said Nie Chunlei, an official from the National Health Commission (NHC).

He also noted that competent government departments have rolled out policies to help relevant enterprises expand their capacities, accelerate drug production, and better coordinate supply and demand.

"We are working at full steam to guarantee the medicine demand of primary-level medical institutions, especially township health centers," said Zhao Tianshan from Longxi Efong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, which specializes in producing TCM formula granules in northwest China's Gansu Province.

At a press conference on Saturday, NHC official Jiao Yahui said that monitoring has shown that supplies of drugs in township health centers have seen continuous improvement.

Grassroots medical institutions are now also better equipped. A total of 1.17 million finger pulse oximeters have been distributed to village clinics across the country, according to Jiao.

In Shouxian County in Anhui, every village clinic has received two finger pulse oximeters, which help doctors identify severe COVID-19 cases at an early stage. And 56 oxygen generators and 243 oxygen tanks have been distributed to the county's 25 township health centers.

Strengthening grassroots medical capacity

In the COVID fight, grassroots health workers and institutions have played vital roles in providing timely, convenient and tiered medical services in rural areas.

Village doctor Tao Junhong, 26, has won the hearts and trust of residents of Dadi Village in Puding County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. He is often affectionately referred to as the village's "Little Doctor."

"Our 'Little Doctor' often pays home visits to resolve our health problems, and he helps me take care of my husband, who suffered a stroke years ago," said Wang Jingzhen, whose 71-year-old husband has just recovered from a fever and coughing.

For over a month, the Puding County People's Hospital has been sending a four-person roving medical team to visit township health centers and village clinics, where they determine local medical treatment needs and offer support.

Central health authorities have ordered counties and townships to prepare standby vehicles to transport severe patients to upper-level hospitals as quickly as possible.

In Anhui's Shouxian County, about 50 standby vehicles have been mobilized. "I have a van, so I help transport patients when all the ambulances are busy. I have made over 50 trips since mid-December," said Zhang Wu, who signed a contract with the local government that will last until May.

To brace for a potential wave of infections, Shouxian has recently added 1,055 hospital beds to its medical system. About 61 percent of the county's approximately 4,000 hospital beds are currently occupied, according to the Shouxian health commission.

Nationwide, tier-three hospitals in urban areas have been directed to establish 24-hour telemedicine service connections with county hospitals.

Tier-three hospitals rank at the top of China's hospital grading system.

These hospitals have also been ordered to dispatch medical personnel to county hospitals to assist during special periods, including the Spring Festival holiday, according to Jiao from the NHC.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230116/james-comer-biden-refuses-transparent-investigation-into-classified-documents-case-1106413155.html

James Comer: Biden 'Refuses' Transparent Investigation Into Classified Documents Case

James Comer: Biden 'Refuses' Transparent Investigation Into Classified Documents Case

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden does not want a transparent investigation into the case of classified documents found at separate locations linked to... 16.01.2023, Sputnik International

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2023-01-16T21:14+0000

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On January 9, US media reported that the president's personal attorneys discovered the first batch of 10 classified documents pertaining to Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom at a Biden think-tank office, prompting a federal probe into the matter. A second batch of classified documents was discovered in the garage of the Biden residence in Wilmington, Delaware, while another one-page document was found in an adjacent room. He added that the Congress will continue to press the Biden administration for answers and information related to the discovered documents. The US Department of Justice is investigating how classified documents related to the period of Biden's vice presidency ended up in office and residential premises not authorized for their storage. The president's lawyers have promised full cooperation with the investigation, expressing confidence that it will establish the unintentional nature of what happened.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230116/reports-us-congressman-santos-received-money-from-russian-businessmans-relative-1106413385.html

Reports: US Congressman Santos Received Money From Russian Businessman's Relative

Reports: US Congressman Santos Received Money From Russian Businessman's Relative

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US Republican Congressman George Santos, who has admitted to fabricating portions of his background prior to his election to the US House of... 16.01.2023, Sputnik International

2023-01-16T21:49+0000

2023-01-16T21:49+0000

2023-01-16T21:49+0000

george santos

james comer

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Since 2020, Intrater and his wife each provided Santos's main campaign committee with a maximum of $5,800 in addition to tens of thousands more to committees associated with the congressman, the Washington Post said, citing the US Federal Election Commission's documents. The congressman himself said that Intrater's company was his "client," however, Santos's relationship with Intrater supposedly developed over the years and turned out to be deeper than was previously known, the newspaper claimed. According to the Securities and Exchange Commission data, Intrater sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Harbor City company, one of Santoss employers, which was accused of running a financial pyramid scheme, the report said. The ties between Santos and Intrater reflect the means of personal and political support enjoyed by the congressman, the Washington Post said. On Sunday, lead Republican on the House of Representatives Oversight Committee James Comer said that Santos may be removed from his post if found in breach of campaign finance laws. Comer called his fellow Republican lawmaker a "bad guy" and stressed that he disapproved of how Santos made his way to the Congress. Still, Santos is not the first politician who was not truthful about parts of his biography, Comer noted. In December 2022, federal prosecutors launched a probe into the claims against Santos. This past Monday, the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan government watchdog group, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission claiming Santos and his 2022 campaign committee also violated campaign finance laws.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230115/us-santos-may-be-removed-from-congress-if-finance-law-breach-proved-lawmaker-says-1106356946.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/dutch-prime-minister-to-talk-to-biden-in-washington-on-tuesday-1106418524.html

Dutch Prime Minister to Talk to Biden in Washington on Tuesday

Dutch Prime Minister to Talk to Biden in Washington on Tuesday

US President Joe Biden will welcome Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to the White House on Tuesday for talks ranging from transatlantic security to the conflict in Ukraine.

2023-01-17T08:32+0000

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The leaders are expected to discuss assistance for Ukraine. Rutte said on Monday that coordination of international military support would remain essential in the months ahead. The two leaders will also discuss cooperation on critical technologies, their vision for the Indo-Pacific region and preparations for the second virtual Summit for Democracy, which the two countries will co-host in March.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/eu-gas-exchange-prices-drop-below-610-per-1000-cubic-meters-for-1st-time-since-fall-2021-1106416998.html

EU Gas Exchange Prices Drop Below $610 per 1,000 Cubic Meters For 1st Time Since Fall 2021

EU Gas Exchange Prices Drop Below $610 per 1,000 Cubic Meters For 1st Time Since Fall 2021

Exchange gas prices in Europe fell by 15% on Monday, below $610 per 1,000 cubic meters for the first time since September 2021

2023-01-17T06:34+0000

2023-01-17T06:34+0000

2023-01-17T06:34+0000

energy crisis in europe

gas prices

gas

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weather

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European UGS are filled by 81.49% (-0.2%), containing 88.6 billion cubic meters as of January 16, which is 1.7 times higher year-on-year, the data from the Association of Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) and the London-based ICE exchange showed on Tuesday.Lower rates of gas withdrawal can be attributed to warm weather and increased wind power generation. According to WindEurope, wind power stations produced 25.8% of all electricity generated in the bloc on Monday, which is 1.7 times higher than the annual average figure of 15%. The decline in gas prices in Europe is caused by the cooling of the market due to a high occupancy rate for underground storage facilities, but European countries may still face a new price surge, analysts told Sputnik. Meanwhile, gas quotations are several times higher than they were in 2021. However, back in early March, gas quotations hit historical highs for four days in a row over fears that the import of Russian energy resources would be banned. On March 7, the price reached a record level of $3,892 per 1,000 cubic meters.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/expert-patrice-lumumbas-legacy-endures--resonates-across-the-world-1106429410.html

Expert: Patrice Lumumba's Legacy Endures & Resonates Across the World

Expert: Patrice Lumumba's Legacy Endures & Resonates Across the World

January 17, 2023, marks the 62nd anniversary of the death of the Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba. Sputnik has asked an expert to recall the deeds of DRC's national hero, his life and personality, comment on the legacy he left behind.

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2023-01-17T14:52+0000

africa

africa insight

democratic republic of the congo

drc

patrice lumumba

colonialism

colonization

belgium

independence

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Patrice Lumumba's impact on the world is as powerful as ever, said Lyudmila Ponomarenko, a professor at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) and author of books about Lumumba, in an interview with Sputnik.His deeds and vision, his personal viewpoints on various issues, still haven't lost their relevance and significance, his legacy continues, she explained.According to the professor, Lumumba found a place of honor in the history of Africa in general, and of the Congo in particular as a symbol of the struggle of African nations for independence and a leader of the first national government of the country. Lumumba's Role in DRC's Struggle for Independence Born in the east of the Congo in an ordinary peasant family, Lumumba achieved all his success himself, Ponomarenko underlined - "and that was a lot." After the Second World War, in many countries all over the world, especially in African states, there was an uptick in the national liberation movement. New independent African countries emerged on the global stage such as Guinea, Mali, and Ghana. The main feature of the party he founded was its nationwide reach, while about 100 other parties in the Belgian Congo were mainly formed on an ethnic basis and defended only the interests of individual ethnic groups, not viewing the nation as a whole. The path to independence was full of thorns and obstacles, she recalled. The country is very rich in minerals: "almost the entire periodic table is represented there, of course, Belgium did not want to give away these resources." At first, Lumumba highly appreciated European historical achievements and socio-political values, but over the years "he understood and realized that it was necessary to fight for independence." He wanted his people to be able to use the natural wealth of their own country.In 1960, as a result of the negotiations in Brussels, a date for the declaration of independence was set. In July of the same year, during the ceremony of declaring the independence of the Belgian Congo, Lumumba delivered his speech to the nation. According to the professor, at that time Lumumba was a young, very talented and hardworking leader "who truly believed in the triumph of justice." He spoke French well and many local languages and dialects. He had such human qualities "as sincerity, love for ordinary people, the ability to forgive," and sometimes, she added, he could be even gullible and naive - quite "a unique characteristic for a political leader." Lumumba as Country's Leader & Friendship With USSRTalking about the influence of global actors on the continent at that period, Ponomarenko stressed that the Soviet Union strongly supported the national liberation movements in Africa, while "the United States, on the contrary, was its ardent opponent." The USSR supported the first independent government headed by Patrice Lumumba and did it at the global stage, primarily at the UN.At the very beginning, Lumumba started to pursue an independent policy, and naturally, Ponomarenko emphasized, "the West did not need such a leader and head of the government". Therefore, the West began to oppose Lumumba. At first, he was invited to the United States, where he was told that he must give western companies access to all the minerals and resources of the country. After that, "creeping aggression" began against the national government of the country headed by Lumumba, the professor stated. He had to turn to the UN, to the "blue helmets", but "they essentially supported the former colonialists, the Belgians." Therefore, he was deeply disappointed with the actions of the UN. As for the circumstances of his death, she recalled that for a long time no one knew about the fate of Lumumba, and the whole world was puzzled. The details of this "terrible massacre" became clear and were made public after a thorough investigation only many years later. He was arrested and thrown into prison, and later, "was given to be torn to pieces by the worst enemy - Moise Tshombe." These events resonated in the Soviet Union, she says, where Lumumba's personality was highly appreciated, even though "the USSR did not have time to establish strong contacts with him." Lumumba did not have enough time to ask the USSR for help and support, although "if he had survived, he probably would have come to such a decision since he viewed the country and its leaders very positively." Lumumba's Legacy in DRC & Beyond Talking about the current political situation in the DRC, the professor claimed that not much has changed in the country since the time of Lumumba. It is largely attributed to the fact that "politicians-puppets of the West have long been in power" in the Central African state. In a country with "great natural resources, hunger and poverty are still vividly present." However, she underlined, Africans have started to understand the root causes of this situation. Therefore, "there are still positive changes," but in the people's perception of the world, and their place in it. Apart from that, previously, as a colony, the Congo was isolated from the whole world, it was not possible to travel to other countries and get an education. Now a new generation is growing in the country, she explained, new educated young people, and "they are the future."

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/how-many-himars-does-ukraine-have--1106427240.html

How Many HIMARS Does Ukraine Have?

How Many HIMARS Does Ukraine Have?

It were HIMARS rockets that the Ukrainian military used as they launched a deadly strike on a temporary deployment point of a Russian military unit in Makeevka earlier this month. So lets take a closer look at HIMARS

2023-01-17T15:06+0000

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HIMARS rockets were used by the Ukrainian military in the deadly strike on a temporary deployment point of a Russian military unit in Makeevka earlier this month. But how many of these weapons does Kiev possess?What is the M142 HIMARS?The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a US-made light multiple rocket launch system that was developed in the late 1990s and is designed to destroy enemy soldiers and materiel from a variety of ranges.The system, which is mounted on a five-ton military truck with an armored cab, features a container of six rockets capable of hitting targets 186 miles (299 km) away. The systems specialized precision munitions can destroy targets located at a distance of 310 miles (498 km). The missiles supplied to Kiev, however, have a range of up to 50 miles (80 km).HIMARS is typically armed with a GPS-guided multiple launch rocket system (GMLRS) missiles, as well as a single Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile.What is HIMARS' Power? With no officially available information on how powerful a HIMARS rocket is (apparently due to the fact that the info is classified), one Reddit user suggested in a post last year that the blast caused by a HIMARS launching a GLMRS rocket is probably equal to about 270 lbs of TNT [trinitrotoluene equivalent].How Much Does the M142 HIMARS Cost?One HIMARS system, including a launcher and a carrier - a standard truck frame from the US Armys family of medium tactical vehicles -, reportedly costs about between $4 million and $5 million.The price tag of one M31 GMLRS rocket stands at around $110,000. Ukrainian media reported last year that HIMARS full launch costs approximately $1,000,000.How Many HIMARS Does the US Military Have? There are 363 HIMARS systems in the US Army, with 47 more in the countrys Marine Corps. In 2021, the Pentagon signaled its desire to increase the number of these systems to about 547 in the foreseeable future.This was followed by a US media outlet reporting in September 2022 that the US Army is looking for companies that can build up to 100 HIMARS systems a year. The outlet claimed that from the 2024 to 2028 fiscal years, the Army is contemplating a minimum of 24 new launchers a year and a maximum of 96, totaling 120 to 480 over five years.How Many HIMARS Has the US Sent to Ukraine?The US reportedly supplied 20 HIMARS systems to Ukraine last year as part of Washington's hefty security assistance package to Kiev.In late September 2022, the Pentagon announced that it would supply 18 more HIMARS systems under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). This stipulates that they wont come from preexisting US weapons stocks and instead will be newly produced and delivered to Kiev once completed.How Many MLRS Does Ukraine Have?Right now, the Ukrainian military possesses a total of 15 M270 MLRS of various modifications. These include the French-made LRU MLRS, Germanys MARS II and the Italian MLRS-I that were supplied to Kiev after Russia launched its ongoing special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.Its hard to assess HIMARS systems effectiveness when it comes to the Ukraine conflict, especially given that the Tornado MLRS, which Russia uses in the special operation, prevails over HIMARS in terms of combat capability.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220830/washington-post-says-ukraine-using-dummies-of-himars-to-lure-russian-missiles-1100184406.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220812/ukraine-to-run-out-of-himars-missiles-within-next-3-4-months---reports-1099527279.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/japan-may-start-developing-cruise-missiles-with-interchangeable-warheads-in-2023--1106418901.html

Japan May Start Developing Cruise Missiles With Interchangeable Warheads in 2023

Japan May Start Developing Cruise Missiles With Interchangeable Warheads in 2023

The Japanese government has decided to start developing cruise missiles with interchangeable warheads with a range of over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles), as early as the the current year, Japanese media reported on Tuesday.

2023-01-17T08:47+0000

2023-01-17T08:47+0000

2023-04-06T12:15+0000

military

japanese self defense force (jsdf)

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The development of a prototype weapon may take place in the next financial year, which starts on April 1, the Japanese newspaper reported, citing sources. The missiles will be capable of carrying three types of warheads designed for conducting strikes, reconnaissance and creating jams in enemy's air defense systems. The missiles will be launched from high mobility vehicles, the media outlet added. The new cruise missiles, some parts of which are in development since 2018, are planned to be used in case of emergency, in particular, for eliminating enemy ships attacking the Japanese islands, the newspaper reported. In mid-December, Japan adopted three key documents on defense and security, namely National Security Strategy, National Defense Strategy and Defense Plan. All the documents provide for an increase of defense budget up to 2% of Japan's GDP by 2027, which is around 11 trillion yen ($81 billion). For comparison, the country's defense spending in 2022 amounted to 5.4 trillion yen, which is 1.24% of its GDP. The documents also include the possession of retaliatory strike capabilities, implying ability to target enemy bases. Until recently, this capabilities were implied in Japan's right to self-defense, but they were not officially recorded. This innovation marks a new course in Japan's defense policy.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230112/us-japan-military-buildup-in-asia-pacific-shatters-regional-stability-scholars-warn-1106260516.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/jeremy-clarkson-to-be-dropped-by-amazon-after-retired-royals-snub-apology-report-says-1106425675.html

Jeremy Clarkson to Be Dropped by Amazon After Retired Royals Snub Apology, Report Says

Jeremy Clarkson to Be Dropped by Amazon After Retired Royals Snub Apology, Report Says

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have already blighted the career of another British broadcaster. Piers Morgan lost his presenter's job on Good Morning Britain after questioning their claims that royal life was hellish.

2023-01-17T13:59+0000

2023-01-17T13:59+0000

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Amazon Prime is reportedly set to droop British broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson's shows after Prince Harry and his wife rejected his apology for a recent article criticizing them.The multi-millionaire stars of Amazon's rival Netflix refused to accept the apology in Clarkson's Christmas Day email on the basis that it was addressed to Prince Harry alone.In his regular column for British newspaper The Sun last month, the former Top Gear presenter attacked the couple over their Netflix tell-all series, where Harry sits meekly while his US former actress wife Meghan Markle pokes fun at his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. Clarkson wrote that he dreamt of seeing Meghan in a scene from HBO series Game of Thrones, where she is paraded naked through the city streets in shame as commoners pelt her with dung. The Sun issued an apology for the article within days.An official statement by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's spokesman also complained that Clarkson made his apology privately rather than grovelling to the wayward royals in public  although he has since done so. It also accused the journalist of spreading "conspiracy theories", "misogyny" and "hate".Amazon may now ditch Clarkson's two series on the subscription streaming service, Clarkson's Farm and Grand Tour.Clarkson would not be the first journalist to lose his job for criticising the couple, who have capitalised on their position as former royal insiders since renouncing their state duties as members in 2020.Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan was sacked from ITV's Good Morning Britain in 2020 for questioning Markle's claim she was nearly driven to suicide by life at the many royal palaces. It later emerged that the Duchess had personally complained to the programme about his comments.Prince Harry's kudos among Britons has further slumped since the publication last week of his victimhood-laden memoir Spare.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230110/prince-harrys-afghan-killing-boasts-just-a-play-for-state-funded-bodyguards-pundits-say-1106191011.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/kremlin-enlargement-of-russian-army-to-15-million-caused-by-wests-actions-1106425545.html

Kremlin: Enlargement of Russian Army to 1.5 Million Caused by West's Actions

Kremlin: Enlargement of Russian Army to 1.5 Million Caused by West's Actions

The enlargement of the Russian army to 1.5 million military personnel is caused by the actions of the West, as the security of Russia must be unconditionally ensured, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

2023-01-17T13:26+0000

2023-01-17T13:26+0000

2023-01-17T13:26+0000

russia

russian armed forces

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Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has held a meeting with the senior leadership of the Russian Armed Forces concerning the implementation of President Vladimir Putin's decision to increase the military's size 1.5 million. Putin's decree on the enlargement of the Russian Army came into force on January 1, 2023. According to the document, the staff strength of the Russian Armed Forces is set at 2,039,758 people, including 1,150,628 troops. According to Shoigu, changes in the Russian army, including an increase in its number to 1.5 million military personnel, will be implemented from 2023 to 2026.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221221/putin-almost-entirety-of-natos-military-potential-being-actively-used-against-russia-1105669223.html

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Poland to Transfer Leopard Tanks to Ukraine Only If Other Countries Do So - Prime Minister

WARSAW (Sputnik) - Poland will hand over its Leopard tanks to Ukraine only on the condition that other countries do so, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday.

"We clearly said that we are declaring the transfer of up to 14 modern Leopard tanks, but on the condition others transfer these tanks, to be able to arm an entire brigade or two," Morawiecki told reporters, as broadcast by national television.

At the same time, the prime minister urged Germany to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine.

"In this situation, the German contribution is of great importance. The largest state of the European Union, the strongest from an economic point of view, cannot sidestep from supporting Ukraine. So far, few weapons have been transferred," Morawiecki said.

Last week, Polish President Andrzej Duda, during his visit to the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, said his country would hand over a batch of Leopard tanks to Ukraine as part of an international coalition which the country seeks to build to organize joint hardware deliveries to Kiev.

Last week, media reported that France and Poland were pushing Germany to provide Ukraine with its Leopard 2 tanks. However, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said later that day that Berlin so far did not intend to supply Ukraine with Leopards.

In April 2022, Moscow sent a note to NATO member states condemning their military assistance to Kiev. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons did not contribute to the success of peace negotiations and would have a detrimental effect on the conflict.
You are here: China

A firefighter works at the site of a chemical plant explosion in Panjin, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Jan. 16, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has ordered all-out search and rescue efforts following a chemical plant explosion in the northeastern Liaoning Province on Sunday. Five people have been reported dead and eight are missing.

The incident occurred during maintenance at the plant's alkylation facility in Liaoning's Panshan County at approximately 1:30 p.m.

A team from the Ministry of Emergency Management has arrived at the site of the explosion.

Professional rescue forces have been deployed, including 443 firefighters equipped with 105 fire engines, according to the ministry.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/london-police-dismiss-serial-rapist-officer-who-went-undetected-for-decades-1106436567.html

London Police Dismiss Serial Rapist Officer Who Went Undetected for Decades

London Police Dismiss Serial Rapist Officer Who Went Undetected for Decades

Londons Metropolitan Police have dismissed an officer who pleaded guilty to raping dozens of women during a career at the Met spanning almost two decades, media said.

2023-01-17T18:18+0000

2023-01-17T18:18+0000

2023-01-17T18:18+0000

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David Carrick, 48, was arrested and charged with rape in October 2021 after a woman accused him of the crime. The complaint prompted a review of his previous behavior, revealing a hidden record of similar accusations. On Monday, he pleaded guilty to 49 attacks on women, including 24 rapes of 12 women. Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe ruled that his admissions amounted to gross misconduct and fired him, British TV channel reported Tuesday. Carrick has been described in the media as one of the United Kingdoms most prolific sex offenders. He joined the police in 2001 and was later tasked with protecting members of parliament and foreign diplomats. The Met admitted this week it had been warned about his conduct but did nothing. Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said, in response to the public outcry, that the police force had let women down and promised to "be ruthless about rooting out those who corrupt our integrity." "These failures are horrific examples of the systemic failures... I do know an apology doesn't go far enough, but I do think it's important to acknowledge our failings and for me to say I'm sorry," he said.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/multiple-deaths-as-al-shabaab-attacks-somali-army-base-after-government-captures-port-1106423344.html

Multiple Deaths as Al-Shabaab Attacks Somali Army Base After Government Captures Port

Multiple Deaths as Al-Shabaab Attacks Somali Army Base After Government Captures Port

According to Somalian authorities, the attack on a military camp in Hawadley town, in the Middle Shabelle region, on Tuesday morning resulted in 26 fatalities and numerous injuries, the media reported.

2023-01-17T13:03+0000

2023-01-17T13:03+0000

2023-01-17T13:03+0000

africa

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An attack on a military camp in Hawadley town in the Middle Shabelle region of Somalia resulted in 26 fatalities and numerous injuries on Tuesday, media has reported.Five government soldiers and 21 militants from the al-Shabaab group are among the deceased after a suicide bomber assaulted the base. Earlier on Tuesday, the army and terrorists engaged in combat, which was accompanied by loud gunshots and explosions. The attack took place just days after the army overran the important port of Haradhere, which the jihadist group had held for fifteen years.Al-Shabaab has lost sizable portions of its territory since August of last year, when government forces supported by clan militia launched an operation in southern and central Somalia.However, the group has continued to launch attacks, primarily against African Union forces and government structures. It carried out four lethal bombings in Hiram's center during the course of the previous week.Also last week, US Ambassador Larry Andre, Somali Minister of Defense Abdulkadir Mohamud Nur, and Somali National Army Chief Brigadier General Odowaa Yusuf Rage reportedly announced that weapons, vehicles, medical supplies and other equipment had been donated to the Somali Army, all of which is estimated to be worth approximately $9 million.In addition to heavy weapons, the United States provided construction and bomb disposal equipment.Earlier, Somali officials declared that Al-Shabaab jihadists were seeking negotiations amid mass offensives against them by the government. According to the country's deputy defense minister, talks are only possible with Somali militants but not with foreigners.An Islamist militant group with ties to the terrorist organization al-Qaeda*, Al-Shabaab has been organizing attacks against the federal government of Somalia for a long time in an effort to establish a strict interpretation of Sharia law there.*Terrorist groups banned in Russia and many other countries

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230108/al-shabaab-terrorist-group-seeks-dialogue-somali-govt-says--1106123657.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/musk-sued-over-tesla-tweets-that-cost-investors-billions-reports-say-1106427089.html

Musk Sued Over Tesla Tweets That Cost Investors Billions, Reports Say

Musk Sued Over Tesla Tweets That Cost Investors Billions, Reports Say

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is being sued over tweets from 2018 in which he said he had secured the funding to take the carmaker private, a claim that sent the stock on a rollercoaster ride, media reported on Tuesday.

2023-01-17T13:40+0000

2023-01-17T13:40+0000

2023-01-17T14:02+0000

economy

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tesla

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The securities-fraud lawsuit is seeking damages for investors who feel they were defrauded by Musk and Tesla of billions of dollars because the tweets about the funding being certain turned out to be false, the American media reported. The class-action case will go to court in San Francisco on Tuesday. Oral arguments could reportedly start the same day if the jury is selected. Some 190 potential jurors were asked ahead of time to fill out questionnaires about their views of Musk and related issues. Musk is expected to take the stand on Wednesday. Possible witnesses include Tesla board chair Robyn Denholm, several board members and the head of investor relations, Martin Viecha. This case is unusual, the WSJ said, because securities-fraud cases are usually solved pre-trial, but US District Judge Edward Chen made the defendants job harder when he ruled ahead of the trial that Musks social media statements were untrue and that he acted recklessly in making them. The defense team argued, in a pretrial brief cited by the daily, that Musk believed he had the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund on board to take Tesla private, at a cost which he estimated at $420 per share. Musk's initial tweet caused the Tesla stock to rally before it lost those gains following media reports that the funding had not been secured.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/nigerian-central-bank-governor-resumes-duty-amid-prosecution-by-secret-police-1106417393.html

Nigerian Central Bank Governor Resumes Duty Amid Prosecution By Secret Police

Nigerian Central Bank Governor Resumes Duty Amid Prosecution By Secret Police

The head of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who was accused of funding terrorism by the countrys secret police, has resumed duty after his annual vacation abroad, the bank has said.

2023-01-17T07:41+0000

2023-01-17T07:41+0000

2023-01-17T07:41+0000

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The head of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who was accused of funding terrorism by the countrys secret police, has resumed duty after his annual vacation abroad, the bank has said. His return was announced in a press release signed by Osita Nwanisobi, a director of corporate communications of the bank, on Monday. According to the statement, the head of the bank is ready to hold the first Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the year, scheduled for January 23 to 24, 2023. The statement underlined that Emefiele is committed to perform "the task before him in line with his oath of office and the policy direction of President Muhammadu Buhari.The governor reportedly had not been in the country for several weeks since mid-December following the investigation into the allegations of corruption and terrorism financing. The Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerias secret police, previously had sought an arrest warrant for the official, but it was denied by a Federal High Court, which demanded evidence. The secret police accussed him of financing terrorism, fraud, and other economic crimes that threaten national security.According to local media, the governor headed to his office on Monday with massive security, specifically military protection.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221223/nigerian-central-bank-head-accused-of-financing-terrorism-refuses-to-return-home-from-us--media-1105720367.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/reconciliation-center-says-terrorists-shelled-syrias-idlib-zone-twice-in-past-day-1106413926.html

Reconciliation Center Says Terrorists Shelled Syria's Idlib Zone Twice in Past Day

Reconciliation Center Says Terrorists Shelled Syria's Idlib Zone Twice in Past Day

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - - Maj. Gen. Oleg Yegorov, deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said at a... 17.01.2023, Sputnik International

2023-01-17T01:02+0000

2023-01-17T01:02+0000

2023-01-17T01:02+0000

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"Two shell attacks from the positions of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group were registered in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the past day," Maj. Gen. Yegorov said. The Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Control over the Movement of Refugees in the Syrian Arab Republic was established in February 2016. Its tasks include the signing of agreements on illegal armed groups and individual settlements joining the regime of cessation of hostilities, as well as coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/report-supply-of-british-tanks-to-kiev-will-leave-london-weaker-uk-military-chief-of-staff-says-1106415102.html

Report: Supply of British Tanks to Kiev Will Leave London Weaker, UK Military Chief of Staff Says

Report: Supply of British Tanks to Kiev Will Leave London Weaker, UK Military Chief of Staff Says

Late last week, the Russian Embassy in the UK said that Britains effort to transfer its Challenger 2 tanks to the Zelensky administration is meant to pressure other European governments to provide Ukraine with weaponry

2023-01-17T06:15+0000

2023-01-17T06:15+0000

2023-01-17T06:15+0000

uk

ukraine

challenger 2

battle tank

military

army

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UK Chief of the General Staff General Sir Patrick Sanders has warned that supplying Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine would leave Britain temporarily weaker, according to a British media outlet.The outlet also referred to a video posted on the UK armys intranet, where Sanders reportedly hinted at the militarys unease over the decision by No 10 to give heavy armor to Ukraine while also cutting the number of tanks in the British armed forces.The chief of the general staffs claims have purportedly prompted the Defense Secretary to start reviewing the decision to reduce the number of tanks in the British Army.A separate UK media outlet, meanwhile, underscored that the main question is what number of tanks, including UK ones, will give Kiev the chance to mount its own offensive.It added, What all that makes clear is that the UK donation of 14 Challenger 2s is not itself enough and that even if Britain wanted to go further from its nominal stock of 227, it could not provide anything like the volume required in isolation.The remarks followed Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters on Monday that the UK's provision of Kiev with 2tanks wont affect the course of the ongoing Russian special operation in Ukraine.He spoke after the Russian Embassy in London said in a statement that the UKs decision to send modern samples of heavy armor to Kiev was designed "to persuade other, less belligerent Western countries to follow suit and provide their own tanks to the Ukrainian armed forces."According to the embassy, we are witnessing yet more proof of the UK authorities disdain for the lives of ordinary Ukrainians, as well as its ever-growing direct involvement in the [Ukraine] conflict.Earlier last week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call that London would provide Kiev with 14 Challenger 2 tanks. The Prime Minister outlined the UKs ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine, including through the provision of Challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems, Sunak's office said.Since the beginning of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the US and its NATO allies have delivered more than $40 billion worth of weapons to Kiev. Moscow, for its part, has repeatedly said that the Western arms supplies to Kiev further prolongs the Ukraine conflict, and that convoys of those weapons become a legitimate target for the Russian army.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221230/uk-sends-counter-explosive-ordnance-equipment-to-ukraine-defense-ministry-1105904191.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221213/nato-faces-very-real-arms-shortages-due-to-ukraine-conflict-aims-to-fill-gap-us-envoy-says-1105426924.html

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supplies of challenger 2 tanks to ukraine, phone talks between uyk prime minister rishi sunak and ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky, russian special military operation in ukraine
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/russias-special-presidential-envoy-discussed-increase-in-imports-to-afghanistan-1106414080.html

Russia's Special Presidential Envoy Discussed Increase in Imports to Afghanistan

Russia's Special Presidential Envoy Discussed Increase in Imports to Afghanistan

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian special presidential envoy and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department, Zamir Kabulov, discussed with... 17.01.2023, Sputnik International

2023-01-17T03:09+0000

2023-01-17T03:09+0000

2023-01-17T03:09+0000

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zamir kabulov

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The discussions took place during Kabulov's visit to Afghanistan, which took place on January 11-13. The Taliban movement is under UN sanctions for terrorism.Earlier, Kabulov said Russia and Afghanistan had agreed to cooperate "on the most important goods for Afghanistan - wheat and oil products." Acting Afghan Commerce and Industry Minister Nooruddin Azizi told Sputnik in August 2022 that Kabul planned to buy about 1 million tonnes of diesel and the same amount of gasoline from Russia. Later reports said the agreement had been tentatively approved, and under the deal, Russia would also supply Afghanistan with 2 million tonnes of wheat annually.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/scholz-to-appoint-pistorius-as-new-german-defense-minister-1106420694.html

Scholz to Appoint Pistorius as New German Defense Minister

Scholz to Appoint Pistorius as New German Defense Minister

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will appoint 62-year-old Lower Saxony Interior Minister Boris Pistorius as the country's new defense minister, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said on Tuesday.

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On Monday, Scholz accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, who decided to step down after months of criticism from the media regarding her handling of the crisis in Ukraine. Pistorius will receive a certificate of appointment from the president of Germany and take the oath in the German German parliament, Bundestag, on Thursday, according to Hebestreit. "Pistorius is an extremely experienced politician with administrative experience, has been involved in security policy for many years and, thanks to his competence, assertiveness and big heart, is exactly the person who should lead the Bundeswehr [German armed forces] at this turning point," Scholz was quoted as saying in the statement.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/south-africa-to-make-power-cuts-thing-of-the-past-within-a-year-finance-minister-says-1106419952.html

South Africa to Make Power Cuts 'Thing of the Past' Within a Year, Finance Minister Says

South Africa to Make Power Cuts 'Thing of the Past' Within a Year, Finance Minister Says

South Africas government has a plan to improve energy supply in the country that will eventually lead to the end of the frequent power outages within a year or year and a half, according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

2023-01-17T11:07+0000

2023-01-17T11:07+0000

2023-01-17T11:07+0000

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South Africas government has a plan to improve energy supply in the country that will eventually lead to the end of the frequent power outages within a year or year and a half, according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. The minister commented on this issue on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, which kicked off on January 16. Among other important issues, the forum is expected to address the problem of energy supplies, as well as the energy crises currently faced by many countries throughout the world. He stated that within the next five months, there will be no need to implement so-called "stage 6" power cuts, which mean at least six hours without electricity daily, as facilities will be revamped and measures aimed at improving the situation will be taken, including demand management.According to him, the country's utility company Eskom doesn't have the problem with diesel due to lack of financing, but does have "a management problem." Eskom's management has long been a subject of criticism from the government as it failed to improve the energy situation, and some of its employees were accused of sabotage and criminality. According to the minister, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to refer to the power situation in the country and the efforts made by the government to improve it in his February 9 state of the nation address.Earlier, the president canceled his plans to attend the annual WEF meeting in Davos due to the urgency of stepping up efforts to combat the energy crisis in the country. To tackle the issue, Ramaphosa met with leaders of major political parties as well as with the National Energy Crisis Committee and the board of Eskom. At the same time, several South Africa's opposition politicians, a labor union and several business owners have reportedly expressed their intention to sue the government and the utility firm over frequent blackouts, stating that if the officials dont take measures by January 20, they will face legal action from those seeking relief for the damage caused by the blackouts.South Africa has been suffering from electricity shortages for almost 15 years, but the frequency of crippling blackouts, known locally as load shedding, reached unprecedented levels in recent months. The utility firm Eskom implemented power cuts on more than 200 days last year in order to reduce pressure on the grid following the breakdown of its old coal-powered plants.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20230116/south-african-president-to-skip-davos-forum-amid-energy-crisis-1106398928.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/south-korean-president-visits-seoul-built-barakah-npp-in-uae-1106420395.html

South Korean President Visits Seoul-Built Barakah NPP in UAE

South Korean President Visits Seoul-Built Barakah NPP in UAE

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, currently on a four-day state trip to the United Arab Emirates, has visited the Barakah nuclear power plant.

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2023-01-17T10:55+0000

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During his visit to the NPP, the South Korean leader accompanied by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan witnessed the launch of the plant's third unit and evaluated the progress in the construction of the fourth unit, the news outlet reported, citing a statement by Yoon's office. South Korean business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Executive Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung, also attended the ceremony marking the start of the operation of the NPP's third unit, according to the news agency. Seoul won the contract for the construction of the NPP Barakah, which means "God's blessing," in 2009. The completion of the station is scheduled for next year. Its expected power supply amounts to 5380 MW, which will cover a quarter of the UAE's demand. The Barakah nuclear power plant is the first NPP in the Middle East.

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China's air and water quality registered steady improvement in 2022, data from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment showed Tuesday.

The share of days with good air quality stood at 86.5 percent in Chinese cities at and above the prefecture-level, Jiang Huohua, an official with the ministry told a press conference.

The proportion of days with heavy air pollution was 0.9 percent last year, dropping to less than 1 percent for the first time, Jiang said.

The PM2.5 density, a key indicator of air pollution, dropped 3.3 percent year on year to 29 micrograms per cubic meter, falling below 30 micrograms per cubic meter for the first time since the data was first monitored.

The proportion of surface water at or above Grade III in the country's five-tier water quality system rose 3 percentage points year on year to 87.9 percent last year, while that of surface water below Grade V, the lowest level, stood at 0.7 percent, down 0.5 percentage points from 2021.

China will step up its efforts on pollution prevention and control in 2023, taking measures in various fields to fight against air, water and soil pollution, according to the ministry.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/swedish-newspaper-launches-cartoon-contest-to-mock-erdogan-as-nato-bid-lingers-1106416217.html

Swedish Newspaper Launches Cartoon Contest to Mock Erdogan as NATO Bid Lingers

Swedish Newspaper Launches Cartoon Contest to Mock Erdogan as NATO Bid Lingers

According to the newspaper's editor-in-chief Leonidas Aretakis, the aim is to "raise the problem with the government's handling of the NATO process."

2023-01-17T08:04+0000

2023-01-17T08:04+0000

2023-01-17T08:04+0000

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A satirical drawing competition, targeting Turkish President Recep Erdogan, has been launched by the socialist newspaper Flamman ("The Flame"). The best drawings will be published in the newspaper, and a prize sum of SEK 5,000 ($480) has been promised for the best depiction.According to the newspaper's editor-in-chief Leonidas Aretakis, the aim is to "raise the problem with the government's handling of the NATO process".The cartoon contest has been introduced with a remake of "Desecrate the flag," a left-wing classic from the 1960s by artist Carl Johan De Geer. The reworked illustration featuring a burning Turkish flag instead of the Swedish one was made with the permission of the artist.On social media, De Geer wrote that he "of course said yes, with joy" when Flamman contacted him to make a pastiche of the classic for the purpose of the competition.While the competition obviously may have consequences at the highest political level, possibly affecting Swedens NATO bid that hinges on Turkeys approval, Aretakis argued that the responsibility does not lie with Flamman.The contentious competition comes shortly after President Recep Erdogan was hanged in effigy outside Stockholm City Hall last week during a demonstration by supporters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The action had immediate consequences, as Turkey summoned Sweden's ambassador for talks and canceled Parliament Speaker Andreas Norlen's visit.Swedish Prime Minister and Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson and Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom condemned the effigy protest, calling it "disgusting." Aretakis, in turn, argued that it is "reprehensible" that Sweden's government "does everything to appease an oppressive regime."Turkey's president himself warned that relations with Sweden may become "much more strained" unless Stockholm takes a stand against the current situation. This was echoed by Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag, who argued that Sweden cannot expect Turkey's support for NATO membership, while "ignoring terrorist provocations."In May 2022, three months into the Ukraine crisis, Finland and Sweden submitted their NATO membership applications, citing a shift in the security situation in Europe. In doing so, they abandoned their long-standing principles of non-alignment, whereas the subsequent concessions to Turkey (including lifting a ban on arms exports to Ankara and renouncing cooperation with Kurdish organizations they previously embraced) drew criticism from the opposition. Some argued that the lengths to which both countries went to satisfy Ankara tarnishes their image as champions of human rights.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/the-great-fall-demographic-crisis-takes-toll-on-china-population-ebbs-for-first-time-in-decades-1106418621.html

The Great Fall: Demographic Crisis Takes Toll on China, Population Ebbs for First Time in Decades

The Great Fall: Demographic Crisis Takes Toll on China, Population Ebbs for First Time in Decades

China has long had a birth rate of under 2.1 children per woman, largely due to the one-child policy. But even as the policy was modified and then lifted in 2015, the birth rate has continued to shrink

2023-01-17T08:57+0000

2023-01-17T08:57+0000

2023-01-24T11:29+0000

china

population

birth rate

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China's population plummeted last year for the first time in six decades, the country's National Bureau of Statistics has revealed.According to the bureau, the number declined by about 850,000 to more than 1.4 billion at the end of 2022.Chinas male population stood at 722.06 million, while the female population was estimated at 689.69 million, and "the sex ratio of the total population was 104.69 (104.69 men per 100 women)," the statement read.The bureau also said that the population at the working age, from 16 to 59, amounted to 875.6 million (62% of China's total population), the number of people aged 60 and over was 280 million (19.8%) and population aged 65 and over was 209.8 million (14.9%).The gender balance of the Chinese population was seriously affected by the so-called "one-child" policy, introduced in 1979 in order to prevent overpopulation and famine. Under this policy, urban families only had the right to have only one child, while rural families could have two children, but only if the first one was a girl.In 2013, the Chinese authorities eased the restrictions. Couples, where at least one of the spouses was the only child in the family, were allowed to have a second child. Later, in 2016, all couples were allowed to have a second child. However, the measures not only did not cause a boom in the birth rate, they resulted in the exact opposite effect.In the summer of 2021, the authorities approved the adoption of amendments to the law on population. The amendments allowed families to have a third child and canceled all previously provided fines and payments.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221017/china-to-enact-policies-to-boost-birth-rates-1101910779.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/three-nato-awacs-surveillance-jets-arrive-in-bucharest-from-germany---defense-minister-1106432291.html

Three NATO AWACS Surveillance Jets Arrive in Bucharest From Germany: Defense Minister

Three NATO AWACS Surveillance Jets Arrive in Bucharest From Germany: Defense Minister

Three NATO AWACS surveillance jets have arrived in Bucharest from Germany to reinforce the alliance's eastern flank and monitor military activity at its borders, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said on Tuesday.

2023-01-17T15:36+0000

2023-01-17T15:36+0000

2023-01-17T15:37+0000

military

airborne early warning and control (awac) aircraft

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romania

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Earlier in the day, NATO said that AWACS surveillance jets were due to arrive in Romania some time on Tuesday to monitor Russia's military activity. NATO will trace military actions on its eastern flank using these aircraft, the minister added. AWACS surveillance planes belong to a fleet of 14 NATO surveillance aircraft that are usually based in the western German town of Geilenkirchen. NATO has been boosting its eastern flank on the border with Russia and Belarus since late 2021 by dispatching additional troops. In response to Moscow launching a special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, NATO has further reinforced the flank by sending additional ships, planes and ground troops to the region and putting them on high alert. The alliance also stated that the AWACS systems were capable of detecting jets at a distance of hundreds of miles, which made them a key element in NATO's deterrence and defense. The mission is scheduled to last several weeks.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/turkish-defense-minister-says-sweden-finland-not-meeting-requirements-to-join-nato-1106421347.html

Turkish Defense Minister Says Sweden, Finland Not Meeting Requirements to Join NATO

Turkish Defense Minister Says Sweden, Finland Not Meeting Requirements to Join NATO

Turkey has been observing that Sweden and Finland did not meet the requirements to gain NATO membership by leaving export restrictions in effect and supporting the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), labeled as terrorist by Ankara, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday.

2023-01-17T11:08+0000

2023-01-17T11:08+0000

2023-01-17T11:08+0000

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"We observe that Sweden and Finland do not fulfill the obligations under the [security] memorandum. We expect concrete measures of ceasing support for terrorist organizations and lifting export restrictions," the minister was quoted as saying by a Turkish newspaper. Akar also said that Ankara condemned a rally of PKK supporters in Stockholm, where the demonstrators hung a puppet of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan by its feet. The Turkish Foreign Ministry summoned the Swedish ambassador to Ankara in protest of the PKK rally. In addition, the Turkish Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case into the matter. In May 2022, three months since the onset of the Ukraine crisis, Finland and Sweden submitted their NATO membership applications, abandoning decades of neutrality and citing a shift in the security situation in Europe. The consideration of the bids was initially blocked by Turkey due to Helsinki and Stockholm's long-standing support for the PKK, which Ankara regards as a threat to its national security. In June, Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed a security memorandum that unblocked the beginning of negotiations on the accession of the two Scandinavian countries to the alliance. The parties agreed to strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism, including measures against the PKK, and lift restrictions on arms exports to Turkey. Only Turkey and Hungary have not yet approved the membership of the two new candidates out of the 30 members of the alliance.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/uk-watchdog-says-probation-service-failed-to-prevent-killamarsh-mass-murder-1106428975.html

UK Watchdog Says Probation Service Failed to Prevent Killamarsh Mass Murder

UK Watchdog Says Probation Service Failed to Prevent Killamarsh Mass Murder

The UK Probation Service has failed to adequately assess the threat posed by criminal Damien Bendall, and, thus, prevent him from murdering three children and one adult in the village of Killamarsh.

2023-01-17T13:59+0000

2023-01-17T13:59+0000

2023-01-17T13:59+0000

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In September 2021, Bendall killed his girlfriend, 35-year-old Terri Harris, her children 13-year-old John Paul Bennett and 11-year-old Lacey Bennett, as well as Lacey's 11-year-old friend Connie Gent. Bendal also confessed to raping Lacey. In December 2022, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. UK Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has ordered an independent review into the work of probation officers after it turned out that Bendal had previously been convicted of a number of violent offenses. The inquiry found that since 2010, Bendall had been convicted of multiple felonies, including robbery, possession of knives, committing grievous bodily harm and unintentional arson. The watchdog also said the police had held evidence of the sexual risk the criminal represented to children. The Probation Service's failure to properly assess the case led to the fact that Bendall was supervised by inexperienced officers, who, in their turn, missed opportunities to "amend his risk of harm classification," according to the review. Based on the findings, the inspectorate also prepared several recommendations for improvements to the UK Prison and Probation Service. The watchdog suggested, among other measures, ensuring the adequacy of risk assessments, lowering senior officers' workloads and making child safeguarding evaluations in all cases.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/us-struggling-to-revive-military-to-military-dialogue-with-china-report-claims-1106433249.html

US Struggling to Revive Military-to-Military Dialogue With China, Report Claims

US Struggling to Revive Military-to-Military Dialogue With China, Report Claims

The United States is struggling to resume military-to-military dialogue with China months after the meeting between heads of state Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, American media reported on Tuesday.

2023-01-17T15:53+0000

2023-01-17T15:53+0000

2023-01-17T16:18+0000

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rival powers

us

china

nancy pelosi

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Beijing has dismissed attempts by the US Defense Department to engage on security issues critical to avoiding a possible crisis between the United States and China, the report said, citing a senior US defense official. Engagement between the two countries came to a halt following a visit in August by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan despite protests by Beijing. In November, Biden and Xi met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia and discussed the situation concerning the Taiwan Strait. Later in November, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe in Cambodia to discuss the US-China defense relationship, regional and global security issues. Austin emphasized the need for open lines of communication between the United States and China. However, Beijing has since declined Washingtons attempts to develop a regular communications channel for defense issues, the report said. The Chinese military has also acted more recklessly toward US forces in the South China Sea since the relationship broke down, the report added. Nevertheless, the two countries maintain diplomatic contacts and are organizing a visit to China by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to media reports on Tuesday.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20221114/at-least-it-was-polite-observers-see-few-groundbreaking-moments-in-xi-biden-meeting-1104134425.html

https://sputnikglobe.com/20220328/us-prioritizes-china-as-top-security-threat-views-russia-as-acute-challenge-1094274456.html

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/us-taiwan-discuss-trade-facilitation-regulatory-practices-at-talks-in-taipei-ustr-1106430321.html

US, Taiwan Discuss Trade Facilitation, Regulatory Practices at Talks in Taipei: USTR

US, Taiwan Discuss Trade Facilitation, Regulatory Practices at Talks in Taipei: USTR

The United States and Taiwan held a four-day negotiating round in Taipei to discuss trade facilitation and good regulatory practices, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said on Tuesday.

2023-01-17T14:32+0000

2023-01-17T14:32+0000

2023-01-24T11:29+0000

us

taiwan

china

american institute in taiwan (ait)

asia

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The negotiating round for the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade took place from January 14-17. The USTR and Assistant US Trade Representative Terry McCartin led the US delegation. The delegation also included officials from the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the US Agency for International Development. The meeting was held under the auspices of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO). In August 2022, China suspended negotiations with the United States in a number of areas after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. China condemned Pelosi's trip in the strongest terms, saying it was a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan.

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https://sputnikglobe.com/20230117/youve-been-trying-to-kill-me-pompeo-book-claims-kim-jong-un-led-meeting-with-assassination-joke-1106437182.html

Youve Been Trying to Kill Me: Pompeo Book Claims Kim Jong-un Led Meeting With Assassination Joke

Youve Been Trying to Kill Me: Pompeo Book Claims Kim Jong-un Led Meeting With Assassination Joke

A new book by Mike Pompeo, who served as both US secretary of state and CIA director under former President Donald Trump, has recalled his life in politics.

2023-01-17T18:44+0000

2023-01-17T18:44+0000

2023-01-18T00:00+0000

viral

dprk

mike pompeo

kim jong-un

assassination

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A new book by Mike Pompeo, who served as both US secretary of state and CIA director under former President Donald Trump, has recalled his life in politics.One vignette of Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, which hit the shelves earlier this month, retells a secret April 2018 meeting with Kim Jong-un, president of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). In it,, Pompeo claimed: This small, sweating, evil man tried to break the ice with all the charm you would expect from a mass murderer.My team and I had prepared for this moment, but a joke about assassination was not on the list of things he may say when he greets you. But I was, after all, director of the CIA, so maybe his bon mot made sense, Pompeo added.The exchange came after months of ultra-high tensions between the US and DPRK, during which the small socialist state test-fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and Trump threatened the DPRK with fire and fury like the world has never seen.US and South Korean forces had long practiced a "decapitation strike" to kill the DPRK leadership, including everything from special forces to nuclear airstrikes, although Washington has denied drawing up such plans.However, there was some rapprochement between those events and the summit, during which time Pyongyang announced a unilateral moratorium on such missile tests and inaugurated the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics with South Korea under a united Korean flag.Following the release of his book, Pompeo was dragged across social media after a blurb about the book by none other than Pompeo himself did the rounds. One tweet that went viral mused that it was really embarrassing Pompeo couldn't find ANYONE else to praise his book.The former foreign minister and spy chief is considered to be one of several potential Republican candidates for the presidency in 2024, even though his former boss, Trump, has already formally announced his bid. Speaking to the press last month, Pompeo said hed make his decision in the spring of 2023 and that Trumps decision wouldnt affect him.

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Equine Guelph has issued a last call for its upcoming course on racehorse injury, lameness prevention and care.

Sponsored by Standardbred Canada, the Racehorse Injury/Lameness Prevention & Care online course starts next Monday (Jan. 23) and runs Jan. 23 - Feb. 3, 2023.

Learn daily practices from Equine Guelph on how to reduce the risk of injury and lameness in your racehorse. The course, valued at $95, is flexible and available 24/7 for busy horsepeople.

No previous online learning experience is required.

Standardbred Canada members can register for FREE at TheHorsePortal.ca/SC. Limited spaces are left!
Federal legislators, led by U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, are again attempting to enact a law banning members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from stock trading.

Nearly three dozen more members of Congress have signed on, with reintroduction last week, of the Transparent Representation Upholding Service and Trust (TRUST) in Congress Act.

Spanberger, D-7th, first partnered legislation in 2020 with Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican. It was reintroduced in 2021 and the legislators called for a vote on TRUST last year, but none was taken by then Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Back in the spotlight for 2023, the measure would require putting certain investment assets into a qualified blind trust during their entire tenure in Congress, effectively banning them from trading individual stocks.

Spanberger said it would create a firewall between members and their investments, making sure they cannot use their positions in the U.S. House or Senate to unethically inform investment decisions, influence the value of existing investments, or contribute to greater distrust by the American people.

A vote on the act is long overdue, said the congresswoman last week.

Last Congress, we saw the TRUST in Congress Act receive the most bipartisan support of any effort to do so. We saw tremendous momentum, we saw growing support in our districts, and we saw growing recognition across the political spectrum that such a reform needs to be made now, said Spanberger.

Original cosponsors of the TRUST Act include U.S. Reps. Scott Perry (R-PA), Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Nikema Williams (D-GA), Dean Phillips (D-MN), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Angie Craig (D-MN), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), Dina Titus (D-NV), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO); Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Dan Kildee (D-MI), Jason Crow (D-CO), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Young Kim (R-CA), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Katie Porter (D-CA), Paul Tonko (D-NY), Jared Golden (D-ME), Susan Wild (D-PA), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Grace Meng (D-NY), Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Joe Courtney (D-CT) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

Members of Congress hold privileged positions of power and access to classified information, and should not be able buy, sell and trade individual stocks during their time of service, said Andrew Lautz, Director of Federal Policy, National Taxpayers Union.

It erodes the publics trust and creates the appearance of corruption, something worth guarding against as much as corruption itself, added Nick Penniman, CEO of Issue One.

The TRUST in Congress Act is a commonsense solution that has received strong bipartisan support, and its time for our leaders to act and pass this bill into law, he said in a statement.

Based on how frequently and blatantly the 2012 Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act is violated by members of Congress, it is obvious the current situation is not working, said Kedric Payne, Vice President of Campaign Legal Center.
Authorities said a woman ran a fundraising scam for a young girl with a life-threatening illness. Tammy Ann Domenick, 53, formerly of Buckingham Court, Troutman, is facing six counts of felony obtaining property by false pretense. She is currently in custody in Arizona awaiting extradition to Iredell County.

Iredell Sheriff Darren Campbell, in a news release, said that a woman filed a report last July claiming she had been scammed out of money donated to a reported charitable organization.

The victims mother told deputies that she met Domenick online and started what she believed was a friendship with her, Campbell said.

Domenick presented herself as a marketing professional from the New York metropolitan area and had high level marketing and social media skills, Campbell said. The mother said her young daughter has a terminal illness and Domenick offered to start a fundraising campaign for her, Campbell said. The plan, Campbell said, was to host a major event called LKN Fest and was to use social media, news media and marketing to attract sponsors and donors. The beginnings of the plan, he said, called for Sip n Shop events throughout the Mooresville area to build up the event, Campbell said.

Detective Craig Scanella with the Iredell County Sheriffs Office Economic Crimes Unit began an investigation and interviewed the victims mother and numerous other vendors and sponsors who had signed up to assist with the event, Campbell said. All of these individuals and businesses donated money, jewelry, clothes, photo booths, health products and food, he said. Scannella obtained financial statements and bank receipts from the vendors.

Campbell said the vendors and the victims mother said the smaller events were a failure and the LKN Fest never became what Domenick promised.

Scannella soon learned that each vendor had a promissory contract from Domenick stating LKN Fest would be sold out due to being highly advertised on the news, social media and billboards, Campbell said. The vendors said none of this ever occurred and none of the vendors ever saw any financial return on their investment, and the victims family did not receive donation money from Domenick as she promised, Campbell said. At this time, the total amount of money unaccounted for is $29,174.99, he said.

After gathering all the evidence, Scannella attempted to contact Domenick, who said that she was no longer in North Carolina and was now in California, Campbell said. Domenick had also shut down all of her business social media pages, he said.

Scannella learned Domenick was in Arizona and started a new company that directly mirrored the one she was operating in North Carolina, Campbell said. Scannella contacted law enforcement in Mesa, Arizona, and made them aware of the warrants. Scannella then applied for and was granted full extradition of Domenick and authorities in Arizona were able to locate and arrest her.

She is currently in custody in Arizona and is fighting extradition back to North Carolina.

She has no listed criminal history.
Iredell-Statesville Schools Superintendent Dr. Jeff James, along with top officials from local law enforcement, held a news conference at Oakwood Middle School on Tuesday morning to discuss the events at two high schools that ultimately led to the expulsion of 10 students.

In 2023, we are calling on our parents, our students, and our community members to holding accountable to behavioral expectations that we have set on our school campuses, James said. We pledge that we will hold our students accountable so that our schools remain a physically and emotionally safe place to learn.

James, along with Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell, Statesville Police Chief David Olney and Troutman Police Chief Josh Watson each delivered statements affirming their commitment to keeping schools safe, particularly those most affected by the fights that led to the expulsions at Statesville High School and West Iredell High School.

Over the last several years, the Iredell County Sheriffs Office and I-SS has taken great strides to make sure our schools stay safe, Campbell said. We want to send a message that we take school safety seriously and were not going to tolerate the few that try to cause problems in our schools.

The fights happened predominantly at Statesville High back in the fall and stemmed from events and interactions that occurred outside of the school setting, according to the officials. However, it wasnt until recently that the expulsions were made official due to the state laws in place requiring an automatic appeal process be applied to all matters related to expelling a student, a fact that James is hoping that the North Carolina General Assembly can address.

We want them to untie our hands when it comes to school discipline, James said. It puts some our campuses in harms way. But theres a small group, roughly 2% that cause up to 65% of our most significant discipline. The matter of getting a student out of school for more than 10 days can take up to a month.

Neither I-SS nor the law enforcement officials believed that any of the violence that led to the expulsions was related to any serious gang activity.

There are loosely-connected groups that like to think they are (gangs), Campbell said. But there has not been anything thing that we would truly call gang activity.

Recommending expulsion was also not something taken lightly by I-SS officials. According to James, he not only poured over every students disciplinary record, but also their academic records.

Some of these students had records that dated back to K-5, he said.

The students that were expelled have a chance to appeal that decision after six months, but assurances have to be made to show the district that those students are no longer a threat to the student body and faculty at-large.

The students would like to be able to get an education every day without a fight breaking out in the hallway, James said.
Reaching for a tissue, putting on antiperspirant, or showering with soap takes on a whole new importance to wellbeing when those products arent easily accessible to a person. A community partnership is now making hygiene and other personal care items more readily available to those who need them.

Two churches in Marion are now home to One Day at a Time Boxes and plans are in the works to set up two more this year.

The project is a collaborative effort of Appalachian Community Connectors (ACC), Mount Rogers Community Services (MRCS), First United Methodist Church, and Ebenezer Lutheran Church.

Ginny Moorer, a leader with ACC and a trauma recovery coordinator with Mount Rogers, said the idea for the boxes came about through ACC conversations about needs that were unmet and how to get resources into the hands of those who need them. As the talks continued, the group focused in on information  brochures and fliers with details on how to access services for mental and physical health, dental care, and similar programs and toiletry/personal care items.

The boxes were created to provide supplies and resources to promote health and wellness for all citizens. We know that folks are only able to thrive once their basic needs are met, said Moorer.

Delivering Needed Items

The first task for the group was finding a way to make the items readily available and easily accessible.

ACC reached out to the News & Messenger about the possibility of reworking unused newspaper racks. The newspaper donated four to the effort.

Marions Tom Hower, an ACC member, took the lead on that aspect of the work.

He picked up the used racks a little more than a year ago, and then Emory & Henry College students reconditioned them. Hower said that required a fair amount of work, including removing the mechanisms, installing shelving, and general sprucing up.

They turned out well and are perfect for the project, he said, noting the boxes durability and tight seals.

However, for Hower, the boxes are more than a delivery system. The boxes enable us to provide a service, and present ACCs work to the community.

A need was identified in the community and we worked together to address it many people from lots of different sectors helped find a solution, said Moorer.

The Name

One of the people working to find those solutions was the late William Fields, who regularly reminded others and himself to take circumstances and life one day at a time.

The name of the boxes was inspired by William Fields well-known saying. He was an active member of the Appalachian Community Connectors and provided input as we began planning for the resource boxes prior to his passing, said Moorer.

Fields died in 2021.

The Basics

The One Day At A Time Boxes, according to Moorer, help meet needs by offering a variety of toiletries, feminine hygiene products, detergents and soaps, health supplies like tissues and hand sanitizer, and seasonal supplies like scarves, socks, and gloves. We hope the community can benefit from having access to these items that we all use every day.

Faith Communitys Role

To help reach people in need, the group turned to local churches.

ACCs Patty Warren explained, When our group met to discuss the boxes and where we should place them, we decided that one of our focuses should be to engage the faith community in our efforts.

She noted that churches have a strong presence in the community and people in need often turn to them for support.

First United Methodist Church in downtown Marion hosts a food pantry, is the site of regular meals for those in need, and offers a variety of community outreach programs. Since the church was already viewed by folks as a location to get food and additional support, Warren said, it seemed like a logical place to pilot this project. We connected with the church and they agreed to partner with us on this project.

In fact, the project coincided with plans the church was already exploring to offer the same kind of ministry, Warren said.

Since both the ACC and FUMC were thinking along these same lines, we decided that we would keep the One Day at a Time Box outside supplied with items and when the box was empty, there could be a sign that directed people to request these personal items inside the church. In order to sustain this project, both FUMC and ACC will collect donations of personal hygiene items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, tissues, feminine hygiene products, etc.).

The first One Day at a Time Box was placed at FUMC under the churchs portico.

Last month, the second one was put just outside of Ebenezer Lutheran Church, facing Main Street.

Community Support

Hower noted that these initial boxes are the first steps to see how the endeavor works. Were experimenting, he said.

Moorer added that ACC hopes to expand the effort and place two more boxes in the community this year.

Hower, Moorer and Warren encouraged community members to support the project. We would appreciate any donation of items, Hower said.

Anyone who would like to contribute to the project may connect with Moorer at ginny.moorer@mountrogers.org or call or text 276-239-0030. Items may also be dropped off at First United Methodist Church or Ebenezer Lutheran Church during business hours.

On behalf of Mount Rogers Community Services, Moorer said the agency is grateful for partnerships like this where we work together with caring folks and organizations whose passion is to create connections and work together for the health and well-being of every single person in their community.
Washington state and Cowlitz County school leaders are focusing on special education and mental health during the Washington state Legislative session that started last week.

Longview Superintendent Dan Zorn said he would like to see some more funding for special education. About 18.2% or 1,133 Longview students last year were eligible for special education services, though state funding for these services cap at 13.5%. Local taxes and federal funds help fill the gap, but Zorn said this Legislature could help raise the ceiling on what it funds.

Theres still about 3 or 4% who arent getting those state dollars, Zorn said.

Gunnar Guttormsen, Kelso School District student services and assessment director, said during a regional educational legislative forum that students mental health is suffering. Leaders from across the regional Educational Service District, which serves public schools in the Lower Columbia area, met in November to discuss legislative priorities.

Guttormsen said elementary students have found it difficult to regulate their emotions, which has sometimes led to violent behavior toward peers and staff. At the secondary level, more students have expressed suicidal ideation and feelings of hopelessness.

Its making it difficult for us to provide not only meaningful education for those students but also students around them, Guttormsen said.

Lavern Dollarhyde, counselor at Wallace Elementary School, said during the forum that more students need help with anxiety, depression, gender identity, racism and other challenges than before, reinforcing that more counselors in schools are needed.

They have really big mental health needs lately, Dollarhyde said.

State Superintendent Chris Reykdal has also said helping students access emotional health resources will stay on the top of priorities for the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction during this years legislative session.

Included in OSPIs list of priorities is getting students access to mental health resources, student learning recovery and increasing enrollment after about three years of fewer-than-average fulltime students.

(The Legislature) invested more resources into this question of student mental health and behavioral health, Reykdal said. They created supports in physical, social and emotional health. These include nurses, counselors, psychologists, student mental health, and theres another wave of that coming. ... More will be needed.
WENATCHEE  A biologist will talk about the revival of plants and animals on Mount St. Helens and an author will talk about her writing process in separate virtual lectures sponsored by North Central Washington Libraries.

Writer and biologist Eric Wagner, author of After the Blast: Mt. St. Helens 40 Years Later, will talk about the mountains revival in the four decades since the May 18, 1980, eruption. Wagners lecture is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 25 and will include a question-and-answer session. The library is partnering with Humanities Washington for the presentation.

Writer Yasmin Ramirez will discuss her memoir, Andale Prieta: A Love Letter to My Family, at 7 p.m. Feb. 9. Ramirez will talk about the story of her family, detail some of her writing process, and the playlist she created to accompany the book. She will be answering questions as well.

Her lecture is part of the NCW Virtual Reads series. Registration is required. People can register at the NCW Libraries website, www.ncwlibraries.org.

NCW Libraries operates 30 libraries across North-Central Washington, including the libraries in Coulee City, Ehprata, George, Grand Coulee, Mattawa, Moses Lake, Quincy, Royal City, Soap Lake and Warden.
When Cheddi Skeete joined Amazon's delivery drone project, it didn't take long before he noticed some things were awry.

There wasn't an onboarding process for new employees, he said. There wasn't a bathroom at one of the field sites, leaving the outdoors as the only option during shifts. And there were crashes. Lots of them.

Skeete lasted less than two years. He said he was denied promotions and ultimately fired in March after sharing concerns about the program and its crashes internally.

Now, almost a year since he was terminated as a program manager, Skeete is suing his former employer in King County Superior Court in Seattle. Through his attorneys, Skeete claims Amazon discriminated against him because he is a Black man and retaliated against him for raising safety concerns about the drone program.

"I care deeply about equal opportunity in the workplace, as well as the safety of Amazon's workers and the surrounding communities," Skeete said in a statement. "I hope this lawsuit holds Amazon accountable for the harm to me, but also encourages and forces them to take safety more seriously in developing their drone program."

Maria Boschetti, a spokesperson for Amazon, said in a statement Friday "these allegations are false and we look forward to proving that in court." The company declined to answer questions about the specific claims.

Back in 2013, Amazon began touting its vision to use autonomous drones to deliver packages  up to 5 pounds  to customers' homes in less than half an hour. After more than two dozen prototypes, the team  Prime Air  began piloting deliveries in Lockeford, California, last year.

As envisioned by Amazon, customers would place orders for Prime Air-eligible items. Drones would then fly to their backyards, hover, release the package and rise back up.

In April 2022, a Bloomberg investigation found the program was beset by technical challenges, high turnover and safety concerns, according to internal documents, government reports and interviews with 13 current and former employees, including Skeete. A crash that June prompted federal regulators to question the drone's airworthiness, Bloomberg wrote.

Skeete began working at the team's Pendleton, Oregon, headquarters in June 2020. On his first day, Skeete said he asked if he could develop an onboarding process for new employees, hoping to fill in a gap he noticed immediately.

Skeete worked as a flight assistant, which meant he would move and load drones during test flights. Each drone weighed about 80 pounds, measured more than 5 feet across, had up to six motors and multiple bladed fans, according to the lawsuit.

Skeete "was shocked to learn about the lack of safety protocols in drone testing," the lawsuit read. In his roughly two years working there, several drones crashed, including one that ignited a 25-acre brush fire.

In October 2020, after there were so many crashes that Amazon halted operations, Skeete said the company began checking the motors on the drones, one possible source of the malfunctions. Less than two weeks later, the drones were in the air again.

Skeete recalled raising concerns. It wasn't possible to check 180 motors in that amount of time, he said.

The following month, another drone crashed, according to the lawsuit. In December, drones malfunctioned and crashed again at sites in Pendleton and Seattle.

At the same time, Skeete said, Amazon began restricting employees' access to flight information, videos and pictures. "Leadership decided against transparency," Skeete's lawyers said in court papers.

In the field, Skeete also said he pushed management to respond to the lack of bathrooms on another Oregon site, in Corvallis. It took six months to resolve, according to the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Skeete was moving through the ranks of Amazon's internal system, starting as a Level 3 employee and rising to Level 4. Still, he felt he was consistently put at the wrong level and underpaid.

Skeete said Amazon told him it could not promote him from L3 to L4; instead, he would need to transfer laterally to get promoted. But, Skeete alleges, white employees made the switch from L3 to L4 without the same stipulation.

He again ran into roadblocks securing a promotion from L4 to L5, despite gaining a new title of program manager. Among about 67 Prime Air program managers, Skeete alleges, he was the only L4; all others were L5. Skeete also said he was one of only two Black employees among the Prime Air program managers.

Hoping to transfer teams, Skeete said his manager blocked him despite positive reviews and recommendations from other people at the company. Skeete believes those attempts to quash his job search related to the safety and workplace concerns he raised.

Skeete attempted to contact human resources three times with complaints of discrimination and retaliation, and to report safety concerns with the drone testing and potential violations of Federal Aviation Administration rules.

An HR worker later told Skeete they had "accidentally deleted" some of his complaints.

A month later, Amazon told Skeete there was no merit to his complaints, the lawsuit alleges, and fired him the same day.

In court, Skeete is seeking lost earnings as well as compensation for legal fees and emotional distress.
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Famous Vilnius (Wilno) buildings used in the research. Credit: Electronics (2022). DOI: 10.3390/electronics11213450

Unmanned aerial vehicles, drones, are no longer a surprise to passers-by during events or on a sunny afternoon in the city center. Drones, which have long been used in warfare, are now popular not only with professional and amateur filmmakers but also with researchers. Kaunas University of Technology scientist Rytis Maskeliunas together with a team of researchers from other Lithuanian universities used UAV technology to detect changes in building facades against a crowded city background.

With the emergence of digitized cities and digital twins, which makes it possible to observe the various changes in buildings, both external and internal, there are more and more novel opportunities to capture such data. Outdoor image processing is difficult in typical European metropolitan areas due to various obstructions to perspectives such as wires, overhangs, poles, and other parts of a building as well as dynamically changing weather conditions affecting the quality of UAV imagery.

A team of researchers, including Rytis Maskeliunas from the Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Department of Multimedia Engineering, chose to study the facades of buildings in Vilnius Old Town and surrounding areas.

"Vilnius is a very unique place architecturally. The city's Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is full of buildings that vary in style, from Gothic church spires to state-of-the-art glass structures," says Andrius Katkevicius professor at the Department of Electronic Systems, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, stressing that this is what motivated them to investigate whether algorithms would be able to work across such a wide range of styles.

Such a challenge, according to Maskeliunas, requires the use of smart signal processing solutions based on artificial intelligence to detect identify and classify buildings in the overall background of the city.

Separation of area contours with a Canny filter with a threshold value of 0.16 when (a) the sun is shining, (b) overcast. Credit: Electronics (2022). DOI: 10.3390/electronics11213450

Drone assessment of the technical condition of buildings

"The facade is the identity of the building, the architectural face that allows the building to be assigned to one or another category or style. Imagine if suddenly part of the facade of an old building in the Old Town was glazed or redecorated in some avant-garde manner. A drone flying by would record such a changeperhaps it is illegal construction or urban blight," says Darius Plonis, professor at the Department of Electronic Systems, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.

As the drone flies through the city and photographs building facades, the data is sent wirelessly to a computing platform that can determine what class of facade a particular building belongs to.

Maskeliunas believes that the drone's photographs of the facade could also be used to assess the technical condition of buildings: "Water penetration through seams, cracks in the decor or structure, discolouration of facade elements or potentially even dents in the surfacesall these determine the classification of a building and could potentially allow for a fairly accurate and automated assessment."

The Kaunas University of Technology researcher stresses that the parts monitored by the drone can also be analyzed independently of the facade as a whole, and their durability can be assessed by comparing the changes, both by visual inspection and concerning the building's design documentation, construction materials, and the different extent and severity of the damage.

An overcrowded city is a challenge

According to the researchers, the study aims to detect the boundaries of a building's facade in the face of changing weather and light conditions and to determine its actual style of it based on facade taxonomy. The complexity of the task depends on the shape of the building's facade, the natural conditions and the urban background behind it.

"For the algorithm, a congested city is the most difficult task to extract useful information, as buildings in city centers or old towns are very often obscured by various objects such as wires, trees and even festive decorations, and advertisements. Nevertheless, the UAV can collect a detailed, high-quality image of the facade from all angles," the researchers note.

Previously, using rudimentary mathematical models, the researchers could only identify buildings with a simple facade structure. In addition, the buildings to be classified had to be separated from each other, i.e. not share any common walls or at least be distinguishable stylistically.

According to Maskeliunas, identifying buildings with a similar facade structure poses many problems.

"Distance and environmental factors make it difficult to distinguish the contours of facade elements, and false contours can be caused by shadows or reflections, as well as camera angle and lens distortion. Simply extracting the correct shape does not guarantee successful further classification," says the researcher, emphasizing that these are the reasons why artificial intelligence-based signal processing solutions were used in this study.

Images of the urban landscape captured by drones can also be used for visual landmarks and to identify defects in historic buildings, and urban heritage sites, or for planning urban development.

"This is a very promising technology for monitoring high-rise buildings and apartment blocks, as it is difficult to see the top from the ground," the researchers add.

The research is published in the journal Electronics.

More information: Rytis Maskeliunas et al, Building Facade Style Classification from UAV Imagery Using a Pareto-Optimized Deep Learning Network, Electronics (2022). DOI: 10.3390/electronics11213450
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Commercial battery cells contain tapelike Scotch tapethat holds electrodes together and chemical decomposition of it creates a molecule leading to self-discharge. Credit: Bram Van Oost/Unsplash

It happens far too often: you plug your laptop in and walk away only to return hours or days later to find it has lost some of its charge despite sitting idle and unused.

The phenomenoncalled self-dischargehas frustrated users and industry alike, and puzzled manufacturers trying to determine why lithium-ion battery cells tend to lose some of their charge over time.

A researcher at Dalhousie has identified a surprisingly common culprit that, if replaced, could address an enduring problem for the industry.

"In commercial battery cells there is tapelike Scotch tapethat holds the electrodes together and there is a chemical decomposition of this tape, which creates a molecule that leads to the self-discharge," says Michael Metzger, an assistant professor and the Herzberg-Dahn chair and in the Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science.

"In our laboratory we do many highly complex experiments to improve batteries, but this time we discovered a very simple thing It's a very simple thingit is in every plastic bottle and no one would have thought that this has such a huge impact on how the lithium-ion cells degrade."

An unexpected discovery

Dr. Metzger and his colleagues wanted to understand why lithium-ion battery cells self-discharge. As part of their research, they opened several cells after exposing them to different temperatures.

They were stunned to see that the electrolyte solution in the cell was bright red, something they had never seen before.

They then began exploring the cause, placing cells with common electrolyte solution into ovens at four different temperatures. One at 25 C remained clear, while the sample at 55 C was light brown and the highest one at 70C was blood red. They did a chemical analysis and looked at the chemical composition of the electrolyte.

That's when they found that the polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, in the tape decomposes and creates the molecule that leads to the self-discharge. The molecule is called a redox shuttle because it can travel to the positive side of the electrode, then to the negative side and then back to the positive side. So, it shuttles between the electrodes and that creates the self-discharge, just like lithium is supposed to do. The problem is that the shuttle molecule is doing it all the time in the background, even when no lithium is supposed to move when the battery just sitting there.

"It's something we never expected because no one looks at these inactive components, these tapes and plastic foils in the battery cell but it really needs to be considered if you want to limit side reactions in the battery cell," he says of the tape made from PET, a strong, lightweight plastic used widely in packaging and pop bottles.

Commercially relevant

The researchers outlined their findings in two new papers and are catching the attention of industrial heavyweights seeking ways to improve their batteries' performance. Both papers are published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society.

Dr. Metzger recently visited a company in the States that relies on dependable, long-lasting batteries, and was asked about the tape issue after hearing about Dr. Metzger's novel discovery.

"The self-discharge is a super important metric for them," says Dr. Metzger. "One of the engineers said, 'I heard you guys found out something is wrong with PET tape.' So, I explained to him that it's causing this self-discharge and asked him, 'What are you using in your cells?' He said, "PET tape.'"

The information could lead to a fix that might involve replacing the PET tape with a more stable material that won't degrade.

"It's a commercially relevant discovery. It's a small thing but it can definitely help improve battery cells," he says.

More information: Sebastian Buchele et al, Reversible Self-discharge of LFP/Graphite and NMC811/Graphite Cells Originating from Redox Shuttle Generation, Journal of The Electrochemical Society (2023). DOI: 10.1149/1945-7111/acb10c Sebastian Buechele et al, Identification of Redox Shuttle Generated in LFP/Graphite and NMC811/Graphite Cells, Journal of The Electrochemical Society (2022). DOI: 10.1149/1945-7111/acaf44 Journal information: Journal of The Electrochemical Society
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An electric bus charging on the side of a street in Montreal. Funding public transit is a good way to reduce greenhouse emissions while ensuring economic equality in moving to clean transportation. Credit: Shutterstock

Electric vehicles have the potential to address climate change by producing significantly less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other air pollutants than conventional gasoline-powered vehicles.

To promote their use, the Canadian government incentivized the purchase of electric vehicles in 2019, making it easier for Canadians to buy zero-emission vehicles.

Yet, high prices continue to be a major barrier. Electric vehicles of all types, even after a decade of being on the market, remain too expensive for most Canadianseven after government incentives.

Prices for electric vehicles are increasing despite declining battery costs. The Tesla Model 3 is a classic example. Announced as an affordable car for the everyday person, it's starting price exceeds $60,000.

So, while high-income consumers can purchase expensive electric vehicles and acquire virtue-signaling advantages for saving the planet, lower-income consumers are stuck with conventional vehicles that pollute moreif they can afford them at all.

Electric vehicles are unaffordable

The average electric vehicle buyer in the United States is a middle-aged man with an income exceeding $100,000. This suggests that electric vehicle incentives, totalling about $2.2 billion in Canada, primarily go to the top 16 percent income bracketan already privileged group.

In order for lower-income people to benefit, electric vehicle prices need to decline. How can affordability be best addressed? MBA students at the University of Manitoba's I.H. Asper School of Business recently considered this question and reached an unexpected conclusion.

Rather than promoting individual electric vehicles for lower-income consumers, the answer appears to lie with having better public transit instead. We carried out a series of cost-benefit analysis calculations to arrive at this conclusion.

Electric vehicle incentives

Based on statistical trends from Employment and Social Development Canada reports from 2016 and 2021, we calculated that lower-income consumers make up about 10 percent of the populationabout 3.8 million Canadians, or 1.5 million households.

The first option for addressing electric vehicle affordability requires the federal government to provide enhanced incentives to low-income electric vehicle consumers. Such incentives would need to bridge the total cost of ownership gapthe purchase cost of the vehicle, plus operating and fuel costsbetween modest new electric cars and modest new conventional cars.

The funds to balance the total cost of ownership would be provided by government, hence the economic program cost, with two main benefits: GHG reductions and air quality improvement.

By switching from gasoline to electric, GHG reductions average about 4.2 tons per vehicle annually across the country. We used the federal government's social cost of carbon, which reflects future damage costs from releases today. It's important to note that the social cost of carbon is different than current federal fuel charges, which merely provide a price-signal to consumers. We calculate that these reductions would result in a benefit of about $210 annually per vehicle.

The reduction of other air pollutants would also improve air quality. This would have positive benefits on human health.

A second-generation New Flyer electric transit bus in Winnipeg in February 2017. Credit: Robert Parsons

We estimate this option would cost the government about $30 billion. After including benefits, the overall net cost would be about $20 billion. While this approach could overcome excessive electric vehicle prices, it would be a costly policy, especially considering there are other, more affordable options available.

Pay as you save programs

The second option is similar to an idea already available for home energy efficiency improvements, except applied to electric vehicles. This involves interest-free, pay-as-you-save loans from the federal government for lower-income households. Such a program was proposed in Manitoba in 2017.

Loans would cover the entire cost of modest electric vehicles over lifetime, but require consumers to make principal payments and pay for operating costs. Our calculations for this option, however, show an even higher overall net cost of about $35 billion, hence a poor policy choice.

The benefits would be the same, but no actual net annual savings would be achieved because of high electric vehicle prices. Lower-income consumers would be left paying more than they can afford.

Funding new public transport

The last two options involve fully funding additional new transit buses to meet the transportation needs of lower-income households. We estimate that about 30,000 buses are needed nationally. This would triple the number across the country, although in-depth investigation is needed to clarify requirements.

Funding new transit buses wouldn't just provide GHG reductions and air quality improvements, but also relieve traffic congestion. It would provide economic savings to households too, because people would not have to pay for cars or gasoline.

There are two options for the type of buses the government could fund. The first option involves funding 30,000 new diesel buses across Canada. Based on earlier research, we estimate this option would cost about $20 billion. This would result in an overall net benefit of about $30 billion and would include significant GHG reductions because less cars would be driven.

Alternatively, the government could fund 30,000 additional electric and hydrogen fuel cell buses, instead of diesel buses. We calculate this would cost the government about $38 billion with a smaller positive overall net benefit of about $17 billion. Emission reductions would be larger than that for diesel buses, yet our calculations show relatively consistent GHG reduction costs.

A transitional approach would be feasiblethe government could start by adding some additional diesel buses now and working to add more zero-emission buses gradually. Net emission reductions and positive economic benefits are achieved across this spectrum.

How do we move forward?

No matter which approach is chosen, the way forward will come with many difficult challengesoften unexpected. One interesting example is Winnipeg Transit, which discovered they are initially limited to only 100 zero-emission buses due to electrical capacity constraints, beyond which implementation becomes much trickier.

We also know public transit was hit especially hard by COVID-19 and is still suffering badly today. Growing public safety concerns are also a severe issue.

Public transit needs more governmental assistance to fully recover from the pandemic, but little further direct operational aid has appeared from the federal government.

Our results, while preliminary, suggest that public transit is a good way to simultaneously reduce GHG emissions while ensuring economic equality as we move toward clean transportation. Public transit warrants much more attention to help Canada's transportation industry fully recover.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Extent of hydropower development for each country and continent. National developed hydropower as a percentage of full profitable potential. The green areas represent countries in which hydropower development can be continued, the red areas represent countries whose developed hydropower exceeds the full profitable potential and the red hatched areas indicate countries whose developed hydropower exceeds the full feasible potential. The bar charts represent the full feasible, full profitable and developed hydropower (in TWh yr1) of each continent. Credit: Nature Water (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-022-00004-1

Scientists have analyzed data from nearly three million rivers across the globe to identify where hydropower stations could be sited with limited environmental impacts.

The analysis identified 124,761 potential locations that met the strict environmental criteria. Of those, 4,644 of the schemes could be run profitably and would be capable of generating an additional 5.27 Petawatt hours of energy per year, equivalent to a fifth of current global electricity use.

It identified potential locations initially based on high water flow and a necessary requirement for a hydropower plant to work. Sites that would come with an environmental cost were removed from the list.

The criteria for exclusion included instances where communities would have to be displaced, or forest or peatland ecosystems would be disturbed. Areas of significant heritage or biodiversity or where flood risk would be increased or where the construction process would degrade land, were also ruled out along with sites in earthquake-prone areas.

Professor Joseph Holden, Director of the water@leeds research group at the University of Leeds and one of the international team of scientists involved in the project, said the research will help redress the negative perceptions of hydropower.

He said, "Some hydropower schemes undoubtedly have been environmentally damaging. Our detailed analysis shows there is another side to the story. With careful planning and development, hydropower can make an important contribution to electricity generation. This major piece of work identifies where those sites are in the world.

"Hydropower can bring major benefits reducing the demand on coal or gas fired plants which are contributing to climate change."

Hydropower can be part of the mix of power generated from renewable resources, providing a source of power when electricity from wind and solar may be reduced because of weather conditions.

The study, "A global-scale framework for hydropower development incorporating strict environmental constraints," has been published in the inaugural edition of the scientific journal Nature Water.

The study looked at two main hydropower systems: where a dam collects water which is then channeled through a turbine to generate electricity; and diversion, where waterflow is rerouted from the river to power a generating plant further downstream.

Just over 80% of the potential power plants would involve dam building.

One of the environmental criteria that had to be met was ensuring that altered river flows downstream of dams would not be so excessive that other users and aquatic ecosystems would be severely impacted.

Lee Brown, Professor of Aquatic Science at the University of Leeds and one of the study's co-authors, said, "Freshwater ecosystems worldwide host diverse communities of plants and animals, but due to human modifications of the environment this diversity is being lost at faster rates than we see in terrestrial or marine ecosystems.

"To avoid further losses and reverse declines, it is vital that where dams are built, they maintain sufficient environmental flows to downstream sections of the river."

The analysis argues that small-scale hydropower plants based on the diversion approach could be sited in the Himalayas and Andes where valleys are steep, generating the necessary water pressure required to generate electricity.

Meeting electricity demand from hydropower

The study found that those countries with the greatest number of potential hydropower sitesMyanmar, Pakistan, Peru, Nepal and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia and Laos, could "...fully meet their total current electricity demand" by developing the sites earmarked as potentially profitable.

In addition, most African states could substantially meet their electricity demands through expansion of hydropower.

Professor Holden added, "The study offers a path to develop more sustainable global hydropower, enabling it to play a larger role in future energy resources while reducing negative impacts on the environment and societies."

More information: Rongrong Xu et al, A global-scale framework for hydropower development incorporating strict environmental constraints, Nature Water (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s44221-022-00004-1
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An overview of intelligent computing based on the fusion of human social space, physicalspace, and information space. Credit: Intelligent Computing (2023). DOI: 10.34133/icomputing.0006

Human society is on the verge of transforming from an information society to an intelligent society, where optimized computing can autonomously solve practical, real-world problems. Critically, this transition is dependent on the continued development of advanced computing theories and algorithms that impart varying degrees of intelligence to computing systems through autonomous perception, information gathering, analysis and reasoningfunctions once reserved only for living organisms.

Several of the world's top computing experts recently completed the first comprehensive literature survey of the intelligent computing field, a relatively new discipline dedicated to complex problem solving using artificial intelligence (AI). The review focuses not only on the theory behind intelligent computing, but also the fusion of intelligence and computing and its potential real-world applications.

An international team led by Shiqiang Zhu, a professor from the Zhejiang Lab in Hangzhou, China, published the review paper in the journal Intelligent Computing on Jan. 3 to serve as a timely reference for researchers and practitioners and foster further technological and theoretical innovations in the field.

Intelligent computing will eventually transition human society from an information to an intelligence era, where advanced computation will facilitate breakthroughs in scientific knowledge and the transition of humanity into a digital and sustainable society.

"Intelligent computing targets computational tasks with the minimum cost according to the specific [task requirements], matching adequate computational power, invoking the finest algorithm and obtaining optimal results," said the authors. "Its ultimate goal is to provide universal, efficient, secure, autonomous, reliable and transparent computing services to support large-scale and complex computational tasks."

"Various intelligent methods and high-performance computational architectures have been developed independently for years," the authors said. "The biggest hurdle for intelligent computing is  the fusion of intelligence abilities and computation capabilities and innovating the paradigm of 'computing by intelligence' and 'computing for intelligence.'"

More specifically, AI that uses deep learning, or learning by example, faces major hurdles in interpretability, generality, evolvability and autonomy before it can gain a stronger foothold in society. Most current AI technologies are not as dynamic or integrative as human intelligence and are only capable of performing very specialized tasks.

"There are also major theoretical and technical challenges to upgrading from data-based intelligence to a more diverse form of intelligence, including perceptual intelligence, cognitive intelligence, autonomous intelligence and human-machine fusion intelligence, to name a few," the authors said.

Researchers will need to further explore the fundamentals of human-like intelligence to better simulate more diverse forms of intelligence through computing. Knowledge, and the way it is created, stored and retrieved must also be better understood to develop more flexible systems that can accommodate data and models that will ultimately lead to self-learning systems capable of independently perceiving the environment.

Incredibly, the amount of computing capacity necessary to power AI applications is doubling every 100 days and is predicted to exceed one million times in the next five years. The digitalization of existing processes requires an enormous amount of computational power, and keeping pace with increasing volume requirements will be a continuing challenge. Software and hardware will also need to be designed in parallel to move toward more human-like data processing and facilitate these forms of non-linear, large-scale computing.

Despite these hurdles, the field of intelligent computing is at the cusp of forever changing human society. "[Intelligent computing] will provide universal, efficient, secure, autonomous, reliable and transparent computing services to support large-scale and complex computational tasks in today's smart society," the authors said.

These researchers and others across the world are developing the new theoretical computing methods, architecture systems and technical capabilities that will usher in an era of digital civilization and interconnect the entire world.

More information: Shiqiang Zhu et al, Intelligent Computing: The Latest Advances, Challenges and Future, Intelligent Computing (2023). DOI: 10.34133/icomputing.0006

Provided by Intelligent Computing
Legendary track star Usain Bolt is reportedly facing a horrible financial situation.

The track phenom, an eight-time Olympic Gold medalist, is bracing to lose millions of dollars.

The Gleaner, a Jamaican outlet, reported on the story earlier this week. In it, they wrote, A probe has been launched into millions of dollars reportedly missing from an account belonging to sprint legend Usain Bolt at Jamaican investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL), the sport stars manager Nugent Walker confirms.

The report notes that the investigation is ongoing.

A former employee at SSL is reportedly involved in the case also. The Gleaner has learnt that a former employee at SSL has been implicated in a massive fraud at the entity, including the missing sums from Bolts accounts, they wrote. According to The Gleaner report on the situation, discussions have reportedly been going on for two weeks.

Abka Fitz-Henley, a Jamaican reporter, added to the situation on Tuesday. Fitz-Henley noted that Bolts lawyers have demanded payment of under $13 million within the next ten days. Fitz-Henley tweeted, The lawyers say theyve been advised that Bolts account has been depleted from just under 13-million USD to just over12-thousand USD.

The lawyers say they've been advised that Bolt's account has been depleted from just under 13-million USD to just over 12-thousand USD. The letter from Bolt's lawyers to SSL was copied to several officials including Finance Minister Nigel Clarke and Prime Minister Holness.  Abka Fitz-Henley (@AbkaFitzHenley) January 17, 2023

This is obviously a terrible situation for the celebrated track star to be dealing with. For his sake, that all gets touched up quickly.

[The Gleaner, Abka Fitz-Henley]
A child holds an anti-war sign during a rally at Times Square in New York, the United States, Jan. 14, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

In 2023, will U.S.-China relations deteriorate further in the face of the never-ending militarization of U.S. foreign policy? Washington's military spending is increased substantially by the latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed late last year.



President Barack Obama back in 2012 announced the "Pivot" to Asia policy. The policy to contain China's rise had been a bipartisan foreign policy consensus since 2005. Almost two decades later, Washington's crusade against China continues.

Cold War mentality drives NDAA spending

The NDAA embodies the Cold War mentality that seems to permanently drive U.S. policy. It is no surprise that the legislation places additional emphasis on containing China. Using China's Taiwan island as a pretext for increased U.S. military presence in the eastern Pacific is not new. But today it seems to have risen to a fever pitch in Washington.

The NDAA calls for spending over $800 billion on defense. The legislation authorizes $45 billion more than the White House requested in order to better confront China. Confronting China with U.S. military power is seen by strategists as a way to "deter" China from unifying Taiwan island by force and expanding in the Asia-Pacific region.

During the Cold War, the U.S. policy of containment was designed to box in the Eurasian landmass. That meant confronting Russia in Europe and confronting China in Asia. The present NATO war in Europe using Ukraine as a proxy against Russia serves containment and is designed to "weaken" Russia. What is in store for Asia?

Washington's Asia policy today continues old Cold War strategy. The geopolitical objective to contain China and to blunt its rise remains in place. China's Taiwan island is the flashpoint.

The U.S. Congress appears to be in a state of delusion and hysteria. The Ukraine crisis demonstrates that. Will a similar crisis be avoided in the Asia-Pacific?

Key measures in NDAA

The NDAA contains a number of key measures directed against China. Blocking China's economic development and technology is part and parcel of U.S. containment strategy. Expanding and modernizing the U.S. Navy and adopting Cold War strategic concepts to confront China are part and parcel of the legislation.

On the technology front, restrictions on semiconductors, for example, have received much attention in recent months. The Biden administration continues to build significantly on the Trump administration's trade war and tech war. The idea is to deny China access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing technology thereby limiting China's ability to make the most sophisticated chips.

China, however, already has a substantial semiconductor capability at most levels. Although China, for now, is short of the very top level semiconductor design and manufacturing capability, this is not a long term problem. Logically, Chinese investment in this sector will lead to new technology and create growing job opportunities in the field. Certainly, China's science, technology, engineering, and math education system will overcome present day problems in this sector.

To add weight to the U.S. pivot to Asia, plans for increasing the U.S. Navy are being developed. Congress paid special attention to the modernization and expansion of the U.S. Navy in the NDAA. Various programs such as the "Pacific Deterrence Initiative" are being continued and strengthened.

The NDAA contains funding for a variety of Taiwan related actions. For example, the "Taiwan Enhanced Resiliency Act" (TERA) contained in the legislation provides major new funding for Taiwan. It is an update of the former "Taiwan Policy Act."

For the first time, however, Congress is funding a specific defense modernization program for Taiwan. Over $10 billion is authorized to modernize Taiwan's military capabilities. Over the next five years, this funding is planned for Foreign Military Financing Grants (FMF) and additional defense related loan guarantees are also provided for.

The legislation also includes funding for information warfare operations against China and support for Taiwan in international organizations. U.S. information warfare operations will be strengthened and directed against "disinformation, cyberattacks, and propaganda by the PRC."

Reflecting Washington's increasing anxiety about China, the NDAA directs the Executive Branch to provide Congress with new assessments on China's nuclear threat and also on how the Ukraine crisis affects China's policy on Taiwan island.

The NDAA contains funding for programs similar to the old Cold War "Assault Breaker" program designed to block a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. The concept today which is directed against China appears to include long-range sensors and bombers with smart weapons designed to find and destroy targets such as tanks, ships, and various other systems. Details of such an Assault Breaker II program will no doubt emerge in the coming months.

Congressional investigations planned

Congress is expected to intensify its anti-China activity in the new Congress. Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), promised to create a new special "Select Committee" to focus on investigating China as a national security threat. Of course, both the U.S. House and Senate already have Standing Committees on Foreign Relations, Defense, and Intelligence. So, there is no real need for a new committee when these other standing committees exist and have appropriate jurisdiction as well as investigative and oversight capabilities.

Nonetheless, this new select committee will be used for political grandstanding on China policy. This will stir the pot further in Congress over China. It would seem likely that such a committee filled with hawks will have a negative influence on U.S.-China relations.

U.S. imperial overstretch

A more hawkish Congress combined with an already hawkish Biden administration points to some rough sailing in U.S.-China relations over the next two years. But is Washington losing its grip on its far-flung empire? If so, what are the consequences for U.S.-China relations?

Although "the rise and fall" of empires is a schoolboy commonplace, this aspect of international situation does bear watching in the period ahead. Back in the early 1990s, academics debated the meaning of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its implications. Some argued that the U.S. should take advantage of the situation by preparing for the eventual emergence of a multi-polar world. Others argued that the U.S. should pursue a policy of hegemony in a "unipolar world."

The U.S. Establishment chose to pursue a policy of hegemony. That decision three decades ago continues to determine U.S. foreign policy and includes its military, diplomatic, economic, and information elements. But for how much longer can the United States in relative decline maintain such a policy?

Looking back on Western history, the decline of various past empires such as those of Athens, Rome, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, France, Britain offer some lessons. There are lessons from ancient China, India, and Persia as well. So far, the politicians in Washington seem to be oblivious not only to history but also to the present international situation. A combination of hubris and ignorance may explain the phenomenon of America's imperial overstretch and the inability of its leaders to chart a positive and sustainable future.

Washington must wake up to the trend of the times and the desire of the international community for peace and development. Failing that, the U.S. today focused on hegemony is playing a losing hand with inevitable consequences for its foreign relations including relations with China.

Dr. Clifford A Kiracofe is president of the Washington Institute for Peace and Development and former senior professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
The world was gripped on Tuesday by a police chase that involved a John Deere tractor.

Down in Boone, North Carolina, police were dispatched and pursued the John Deere tractor in the area of Highway 421. According to Watauga Online, The chase began in Boone during the 9 am hour, in the area o Highway 421 in the city limits.

The tractor driver reportedly hit at least two vehicles and pushed a dumpster into a church building, according to scanner dispatches at the time.

Spike strips were installed on the highway and after the tractor drove over them, police shot out the tractors back right tire. But the story doesnt end there.

At that point, the driver then turned around in a yard, rammed an LEO car, and then proceeded back onto old 421, then turned onto Elk Creek Road, the article wrote. Law enforcement noted at the time that sparks from the flat tires were causing damage to the roadway and the tractor was still traveling in the middle of the road.

Later, The tractor driver fled on foot and was caught in the 4600 block of Elk Creek Road, according to scanner dispatches at the time.

A hilariously ridiculous video of the chase was provided on Twitter, by way of TikTok user @mr.dangerousone.

There was a police chase this morning in Boone involving a John Deere tractor that lasted for more than an hour and topped out at 20 mph and YES THERE IS VIDEO https://t.co/IFZxSZNR2i pic.twitter.com/GAIlzEkfvP  Jeremy Markovich (@deftlyinane) January 17, 2023

Said video led to some hilarious reactions.

Im really surprised this wasnt Northern Michigan, wrote Angie McCullagh.

I'm really surprised this wasn't Northern Michigan. https://t.co/MquGTo86jB  Angie McCullagh (@AngieHiSeattle) January 17, 2023

When AMB and Bojangles collab on a sweet tea booze, tweeted Front Rowe Joe.

When AMB and Bojangles collab on sweet tea booze https://t.co/3gRgSvT2k1  Front Row Joe (@rhunterphillips) January 17, 2023

Amazing. True rural action. This will go down in town history, wrote Flannery.

Amazing. True rural action. This will go down in town history. https://t.co/u1HHoc5Hw7  Flannery (@soflantastic) January 17, 2023

For too long those driving tractors have thought they were above the law, tweeted SeenRockCity.

For too long those driving tractors have thought they were above the law https://t.co/e6fywcL1mp  SeenRockCity (@SeenRockCity) January 17, 2023

Chick Jacobs tweeted, I assume tractor guy was swerving to warm up the tires  ala NASCAR during a yellow flag?

I assume tractor guy was swerving to warm up the tires  ala NASCAR during a yellow flag? https://t.co/1VDFPFL215  Chick Jacobs (@NCWeatherhound) January 17, 2023

Dudes rock, wrote Jack.

Nathan Deal tweeted, Everyones done this on GTA V but man the cojones it takes to actually try this for real

Everyones done this on GTA V but man the cojones it takes to actually try this for real https://t.co/Ev60JB6ePR  Nathan Deal (@NattyD13) January 17, 2023

[Watauga Online]
Finding funding for instructional materials  something that has historically been done by the state  has become a difficult task for Texas school districts.

During their board workshop last Monday, the Bryan school district board of trustees unanimously approved a purchasing agreement of over $50,000 to be used on kindergarten through fifth grade ELAR/SLAR instructional materials.

While a similar agreement was approved by the board in 2019, Barbara Ybarra, the associate superintendent of teaching and learning, said circumstances have changed.

Instructional materials are typically and historically purchased by the state of Texas for all school districts, Ybarra said. It is a separate fund outside of the districts local budget and so in 2019 we came to the board seeking approval of the teachers request to move forward with [Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company] for our [English Language Arts] instructional materials.

With the establishment of the Instructional Materials Allotment [ILA], the district has been called to make arrangements with vendors rather than telling the Texas Education Agency what materials are needed.

While thats wonderful and it blends instructional materials along with technology, it has been lacking in full funding, Ybarra said. As we come to these adoptions now, the district has money at the state where we have to discern which vendor will we go, with whats approved by TEA and how many copies  digital and print  will we purchase?

Eight-year agreements were once typical, but the state has begun pushing for 10- and 12-year cycles. With a commitment to being respectful of taxpayer dollars, Ybarra said the district does not want to purchase eight years of print materials that will sit on a shelf unused.

The good news is the teachers adore these materials, and they use them all of the time, Ybarra said.

She added that ELA is typically the most expensive adoption, and when the board approved it, it was considering sixth through eighth grades. This led the district to move forward with an eight-year digital agreement adoption, as well as four years of print materials.

Now that the district is being tasked with paying for the print materials, the lack of state funding has become a larger issue.

Unfortunately, the Instructional Materials Allotment has been dwindling with each biennium and weve gotten fewer and fewer funds from the state to fund all of the proclamations as well as the technology purchases, Ybarra said. Specifically, this last biennium, it was severely cut and it was not funded to the extent that we have seen ever.

This means that many districts have to use local dollars to cover these purchases that were previously covered by the state. To add to it, multiyear contracts cannot be made with federal funding.

Ybarra said the district worked with its vendor, HMH, which said it is hearing this same complaint from multiple districts across the state. Therefore, the company agreed to a four-year plan, but it must be billed annually to leverage federal funding such as the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief [ESSER] fund.

ELA/R Elementary Coordinator Charlene Muehlstein worked with teachers and campus administrators to refine the quotes to ensure there was not any excess, Ybarra said. After going back and forth with HMH, they agreed to a four-year contract totaling $779,076.12, with $194,769.03 to be paid annually.

The first year [due Feb. 26, 2023] will be funded from ESSER II with the second payment [due Oct. 1, 2024] coming from ESSER III. From there, the district will know whether more state funding has come across or if it needs to seek funds elsewhere.

At that point, we are very optimistic and hopeful that we will see an increase in funding in the IMA, and perhaps we can return to that, Ybarra said. If not, we can set aside funds in Title I and State Comp-Ed [Compensatory Education] to cover the expenditures for the two additional years.

When board member Leo Gonzalez II posed questions regarding the amount of money these instructional materials cost, Ybarra and Superintendent Ginger Carrabine put him at ease by stating that the cost is typical, but paying for the materials has become an issue across the state.

To remind you, when we talked about legislative priorities and funding sources and school finance and all the cuts, IMA is a line item for every school district right now; were all having this conversation right now, Carrabine said. Theyve simply cut us so severely that everyones struggling to purchase instructional materials.

Board Vice President Deidra Davis echoed this sentiment.

Its very depressing or sad just thinking about the funding that was cut, but the encouraging side is that this is heavily utilized by our students, and the teachers love it, Davis said.

Ybarra agreed with Davis, stating that is the saving grace where funding is concerned.

GALLERY: 27th Annual MLK, Jr. Freedom March & Program
A white male Texan who was rejected by six Texas medical schools filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday claiming that they illegally consider race and sex during admissions because they accepted Black, Hispanic and female students whose academic credentials were inferior to those of white or Asian applicants.

Plaintiff George Stewart filed the lawsuit against Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, as well as their presidents, medical school deans and admissions officers.

The lawsuit comes as the conservative majority in the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to roll back policies that allow race to be considered in college admissions in two cases argued before the court last fall. The court is expected to rule on those cases this spring.

Those lawsuits were brought to the high court by the affirmative-action opponent group Students for Fair Admissions, a nonprofit led by Edward Blum. Blum played a key role in the legal challenge to UT-Austins admissions policy, which UT-Austin ultimately won. Now, the group is seeking to overturn Grutter v. Bollinger, a 2003 Supreme Court ruling that upheld U.S. colleges ability to consider race in admissions in certain cases.

In the new lawsuit against Texas medical schools, filed in U.S. District Court in Lubbock, Stewart is represented by America First Legal, a group created by Stephen Miller, a former policy adviser to former President Donald Trump, and Jonathan Mitchell, a former solicitor general for Texas and the legal architect of the states six-week abortion ban.

Stewarts lawsuit alleges that the admissions practices at the six medical schools violate the U.S. Constitution, including the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

According to the lawsuit, Stewart graduated from UT-Austin with a 3.96 grade point average and a biology degree. He scored a 511 out of a possible 528 on the exam required for admission, known as the MCAT, and spent two years applying to medical schools.

After he was rejected by the schools, Stewart filed an open-records request to obtain admissions data for each school, which included the race, sex, GPA and MCAT score of every applicant who applied for the 2021-22 school year.

The lawsuit says that according to an analysis of the data, the median and mean GPAs and MCAT scores of Black and Hispanic students were lower than those of white and Asian students. The lawsuit also says the data shows that accepted female students had lower MCAT scores than male students.

The data demonstrate that each of the defendant medical schools is providing admissions preferences to female, black, and Hispanic applicants while unlawfully discriminating against whites, Asians, and men in admissions decisions, the lawsuit alleges.

It also points to a policy at the John Sealy School of Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston that says the admissions committee seeks to admit qualified applicants who are underrepresented in medicine and economically disadvantaged.

A spokesperson for the University of Texas System declined to comment on the lawsuit. A Texas Tech University System spokesperson said the system had not yet been served with the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit states that Stewart is able and ready to reapply to each of the medical schools, but current policies prevent him from competing on equal terms with other applicants. Stewart is asking the court to prohibit the medical schools from considering race or sex in student admissions and would require the schools to choose applicants in a color-bind and sex-neutral manner.

Its the second lawsuit filed against a Texas university by an individual represented by the group as it tries to chip away at affirmative action, which Miller called an illegal equity polic[y] in a statement.

In September, a UT-Austin professor represented by America First Legal filed a class-action lawsuit against Texas A&M University, alleging a new faculty fellowship program discriminated against white and Asian applicants. In December, university lawyers filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, stating that the professors arguments were hypothetical because the professor never applied for the program and noting that he filed the lawsuit against the wrong entities.

The professor, Richard Lowery, dismissed the claims against the university system three weeks later and filed an amended complaint against Texas A&M University, President Kathy Banks, Alan Sams, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, Vice President for Diversity Annie McGowan and Vice President for Faculty Affairs N.K. Anand.
New York Mayor Eric Adams repeated calls for federal support for the citys migrant crisis and said he wants to unify his counterparts across the country during a weekend trip to El Paso, Texas.

After a day of meetings with local officials and asylum-seekers  which were entirely closed to the press  Adams repeated recent statements saying New York is at a breaking point.

New York cannot take more. We cant, he said Sunday while discussing the recent influx in arrivals.

The city saw 3,100 asylum-seekers during the seven days ending last Wednesday, according to the mayor.

This is a national problem, Adams said at a press conference alongside El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser. We must have real immigration reform and we must immediately have a short-term fix of making sure that the cost of this does not fall on our cities.

With other localities around the country sending migrants to the Big Apple, the citys shelter and emergency housing population could surpass 100,000 in the coming weeks, Adams warned Friday. He put the cost to city taxpayers at up to $2 billion.

The federal government should pick up the entire cost of what El Paso is going through and all of the other municipalities, he said.

Adams flew to the Texas city on Saturday for a trip that included stops at a local shelter, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility and a section of the notorious wall on the border with Mexico, according to the mayors press office.

His press secretary tweeted a video of Adams chatting with a group of asylum-seekers, drawing their applause.

Outside Sacred Heart Church, asylum-seekers overwhelmingly raise their hands to tell @NYCMayor they want to work, spokesman Fabien Levy posted. Mayor Adams has been calling on the federal government to expedite work authorization for asylum-seekers since last year.

Adams promised to make immigration a top priority at the U.S. Conference of Mayors this week in Washington, D.C.

This has fallen on our cities, he said. And I am now going to coordinate my mayors across the entire country to say, How do we respond to this directly?

He also lashed out at the governors of Colorado and Texas, who have been sending migrants to New York and other big cities.

I think they had a bipartisan disrespect for the cities. It was wrong and should not happen and should not continue to happen, Adams said.

In the short term, the Federal Emergency Management Agency needs to step in, he said.

There should be one coordinator to coordinate everything that is happening dealing with migrants and asylum-seekers in our country, he added.

After meeting with people who recently crossed over the southern border, the mayor said some are getting the wrong idea about New York.

There are websites that are advertising New York City, basically the streets are paved with gold, he said. Theres a conversation among those who are  asylum-seekers and migrants who are given the false impression that if you come to New York City, everything is fine. We have to give people adequate information.
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BLACKSBURG  Breakthroughs in bioplastics could help break down two of the worlds most pressing problems at once, says a Virginia Tech professor researching to improve production of food-based, cost-effective, decomposable plastic.

At Virginia Tech, Zhiwu Drew Wang is director of the Center for Applied Water Research and Innovation, and assistant professor for the Department of Biological Systems Engineering.

People already know a lot about the food waste problem, and they should also know a lot about the plastic problem, he said. But, Usually, people dont see the correlation between food waste and plastic waste.

In a specially designed lab, Wang is readying to upscale production of PHA-based bioplastic, repurposing waste food scraps. Its funded by a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and is a continuation of earlier grant-paid bioplastic research, he said.

I can convert food waste to plastic, Wang said. These two individual, separate problems can be addressed in this one technology, all together.

Having already completed lab-scale studies of bioplastic production at Virginia Tech for the U.S. Department of Energy, Wang is now tasked by the USDA to upscale the process and bring it closer to real-world uses.

There is a trend in the U.S. that universities should not only publish papers, Wang said. They should also develop technology that can be useful. Useful, thats the key word.

Uses for bioplastic are as wide-ranging as for regular plastic, but with the added benefit of lowering fossil fuel usage, and reducing trash that ends up in landfills or as litter, he said.

Our current plastic, part of that goes to the landfill, the rest goes to the ocean, Wang said. Plastic is non-biodegradable, so it will stay in the landfill or in the ocean for hundreds of years.

But bioplastic is biodegradable, which means bacteria and other natural organisms can break it down into simpler, further-decaying components. In fact, bacteria is key to making PHA bioplastic, Wang said.

Its as simple as that: grow the fat in the bacteria by using the food waste as the bacterias food, and then kill the bacteria to recover their fat, he said. Then process those fats into whatever bioplastic product I will want. For example, packaging film, thats a flexible plastic.

He said all food waste  whether it comes from a restaurant, home kitchen, processing company or even a slaughterhouse  contains three main components: fat, carbohydrates and protein.

Whatever food waste comes in, we separate them into those three factions, Yang said. And now we use three types of microbial communities to take care of them individually.

At an on-campus lab created just for this project, Wang and student researchers will sort food waste by the truckload.

Usually a university doesnt have a lab for pilot-scale studies, Wang said. Pilot-scale means its almost full-scale production. Its like a factory, rather than like a lab.

The product extracted from those fat, carb and protein-munching bacteria are PHAs, or Polyhydroxyalkanoates. Its a type of biopolymer, he said.

Most bioplastics are biodegradable in a landfill, Wang said. But PHA is the only bioplastic that is biodegradable in the ocean, so thats one advantage of this type of bioplastic.

For Wang, its not a question of whether the bioplastic production process works, but to what extent can he successfully scale up the operation? And how cost-effective is the technology at scale?

If I say I want to replace the fossil fuel-powered plastic, it might be too ambitious, Wang said. By now at least I can say We have the confidence that our technology can out-compete other bioplastic technology.

Electric cars, solar panels and bioplastics face similar challenges, he said. Newer, more environmentally sustainable technologies tend to be more expensive than traditionally established products that use fossil fuels.

Its still hard for bioplastic to compete with the fossil plastic in terms of cost, Wang said. But many big companies, they want to have a much better public image, so they hope they can pay a little bit more money to use the bioplastic.

Bioplastic research at Virginia Tech is one of three projects selected by the USDA to help develop new bioproducts from agricultural commodities, said Jewel Bronaugh, USDA deputy secretary of agriculture.

Its going to help us do this on a bigger platform, Bronaugh said. These particular projects all have an environmental justice component that we feel is really important.

For bioplastics connection to environmental justice, she said waste management facilities are usually located in underserved communities.

Its certainly exciting for this opportunity to be going to Virginia Tech, Bronaugh said. The research theyre trying to do with their project is going to create potential opportunities in rural communities and underserved communities.

Bioplastic fits into the idea of a circular economy, Bronaugh said. A circular economy emphasizes extending the lifespan of materials for as long as possible, different from current linear economies throwing so much away into landfills.

By that, we mean that we dont just pull resources out of rural communities, Bronaugh said. Were not just harvesting and consuming, but were regenerating in a sustainable manner the opportunities for new product development, new research and new economic development in rural communities.

Meanwhile at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a different pilot project is upscaling a process to convert swine manure into binding material for asphalt. Its another example of changing the narrative on what constitutes waste, said Wang at Virginia Tech.

The new direction for cleaning waste is to turn the waste into something valuable, thats the circular economy, Wang said. If everybody thinks waste is also a resource, then the world will become much better.
Olympic gold medalist Tommie Smith, who famously raised his fist at the 1968 Summer Olympics to protest racism, highlights this year's MLK Week at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Smith will deliver a keynote address during the MLK Commemorative Celebration at 6 p.m. on Jan. 25 in the Nebraska Union's Centennial Room on UNL's City Campus.

Smith took gold in the 200-meter sprint at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico, but he's perhaps better known for what happened after the race.

As the national anthem played during the medal ceremony, Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos raised their gloved fists to protest injustice against Black people in the U.S. The symbolic gesture thrust Smith into the spotlight as a human rights advocate.

We wanted to offer a speaker who has reflected the ideals of human rights, activism and its connection to a platform that allows for visibility and collective impact," Nkenge Friday, senior assistant vice chancellor for strategic initiatives at UNL and chair of the MLK Week committee, said in a news release.

Those interested are asked to register by Jan. 20 at mlkweek.unl.edu.

UNL's annual MLK Week will honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. with a number of events Jan. 23-28.

On Jan. 28, Cheryl Brown Henderson will deliver a keynote address at the annual MLK Banquet at 6 p.m. at the student union on UNL's East Campus.

Henderson is the daughter of Oliver Brown, the namesake of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, which established racial segregation in schools as unconstitutional.
YORK  Brandon Cruz, 21, of York, has received a plea agreement in a case where he was accused of threatening fellow migrant workers with a gun at their place of residence.

Cruz appeared in York County District Court this past week for a hearing to include his change of plea.

According to court documents, in late November, the York Police Department received a call that Cruz was involved in an altercation where he verbally threatened to kill and (mess) up several of the residents living in the migrant workers dwelling in the 2100 Block of North Division Avenue. Seven separate witnesses reported Cruz left and returned to the dwelling with a black handgun and was waiving it around and pointing it, saying, Dont think I wont kill you and Im going to (mess) yall up along with a steady flow of other threats.

Court documents indicate officers searched Cruz and his vehicle and could not locate the described handgun. Cruz denied having the gun and gave an account contrary to witness statements.

Witnesses that live in the dwelling were suffering enough emotional distress from the threats made by Cruz that they packed up their belongings and all went to a motel for the night because they did not feel safe to stay in their dwelling, even after Cruz had been arrested.

Initially, Cruz was charged with two counts of terroristic threats, both Class 3A felonies which carried a possible maximum sentence of three years in prison with 18 months of post-release supervision.

Following the plea agreement, the charges were amended to two counts of third degree assault, which are Class 1 misdemeanors that carry possible maximum sentences of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Cruz pleaded no contest to the amended charges.

Sentencing has been set for March 13.
China's rural areas strengthen COVID response as Spring Festival draws near

Xinhua) 08:21, January 17, 2023

*With Spring Festival around the corner, China's vast rural areas are making all-out efforts to counter potential challenges in COVID-19 control as people return to their hometowns.

*An optimized COVID response has brought about the busiest travel rush in three years, with 2.1 billion passenger trips expected to be made from Jan. 7 to Feb. 15, according to the Ministry of Transport.

*A slew of measures has been implemented and resources have been mobilized to ensure that long-awaited family reunions are joyful and safe.

HEFEI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- With Spring Festival around the corner, China's vast rural areas are making all-out efforts to counter potential challenges in COVID-19 control as people return to their hometowns.

A slew of measures has been implemented and resources have been mobilized to prevent infections and strengthen medical capacities across the countryside to ensure that long-awaited family reunions are joyful and safe.

CURBING VIRUS SPREAD

This year's Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, falls on Jan. 22. An optimized COVID response has brought about the busiest travel rush in three years, with 2.1 billion passenger trips expected to be made from Jan. 7 to Feb. 15, according to the Ministry of Transport.

With regards to COVID containment amid mass migration, a rural response task force under the State Council issued a letter to rural residents in early January, calling for improved health and hygiene awareness, reduced gatherings, among others, during the holiday.

Doctor Dong Xiuqin (R) hands over a health kit to villagers in Lingzishang Village of Fengnan District, Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 11, 2023. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

Shouxian County in east China's Anhui Province expects to see approximately 220,000 people return home, many from densely populated regions such as Shanghai and Zhejiang, where infections have already peaked.

In order to keep the virus away from high-risk groups, "we suggest that people returning home take personal protection measures on their journeys, reduce contact with the elderly and children, and avoid crowds in rural areas," said Ma Keyi, an official with the county's health commission.

The county government has also advised people to register with their villages or communities after their arrival, so that local doctors are able to provide timely medical services if needed.

BOOSTING RURAL MEDICAL SUPPLIES

China has made rural areas a focal point in the country's current COVID response, with priority given to the supply of medicines.

The State Council inter-agency task force for COVID-19 response has established a system for coordinating the supply of drugs and other key medical supplies on a daily basis, said Nie Chunlei, an official from the National Health Commission (NHC).

He also noted that competent government departments have rolled out policies to help relevant enterprises expand their capacities, accelerate drug production, and better coordinate supply and demand.

"We are working at full steam to guarantee the medicine demand of primary-level medical institutions, especially township health centers," said Zhao Tianshan from Longxi Efong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, which specializes in producing TCM formula granules in northwest China's Gansu Province.

At a press conference on Saturday, NHC official Jiao Yahui said that monitoring has shown that supplies of drugs in township health centers have seen continuous improvement.

Employees pack medicines at a pharmaceutical company in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

Grassroots medical institutions are now also better equipped. A total of 1.17 million finger pulse oximeters have been distributed to village clinics across the country, according to Jiao.

In Shouxian County in Anhui, every village clinic has received two finger pulse oximeters, which help doctors identify severe COVID-19 cases at an early stage. And 56 oxygen generators and 243 oxygen tanks have been distributed to the county's 25 township health centers.

STRENGTHENING GRASSROOTS MEDICAL CAPACITY

In the COVID fight, grassroots health workers and institutions have played vital roles in providing timely, convenient and tiered medical services in rural areas.

Village doctor Tao Junhong, 26, has won the hearts and trust of residents of Dadi Village in Puding County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. He is often affectionately referred to as the village's "Little Doctor."

"Our 'Little Doctor' often pays home visits to resolve our health problems, and he helps me take care of my husband, who suffered a stroke years ago," said Wang Jingzhen, whose 71-year-old husband has just recovered from a fever and coughing.

Ambulances and transfer vehicles park outside a health service center in Shouchun Town of Shouxian County, Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, Jan. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Fangqiang)

For over a month, the Puding County People's Hospital has been sending a four-person roving medical team to visit township health centers and village clinics, where they determine local medical treatment needs and offer support.

Central health authorities have ordered counties and townships to prepare standby vehicles to transport severe patients to upper-level hospitals as quickly as possible.

In Anhui's Shouxian County, about 50 standby vehicles have been mobilized. "I have a van, so I help transport patients when all the ambulances are busy. I have made over 50 trips since mid-December," said Zhang Wu, who signed a contract with the local government that will last until May.

To brace for a potential wave of infections, Shouxian has recently added 1,055 hospital beds to its medical system. About 61 percent of the county's approximately 4,000 hospital beds are currently occupied, according to the Shouxian health commission.

Nationwide, tier-three hospitals in urban areas have been directed to establish 24-hour telemedicine service connections with county hospitals.

Tier-three hospitals rank at the top of China's hospital grading system.

These hospitals have also been ordered to dispatch medical personnel to county hospitals to assist during special periods, including the Spring Festival holiday, according to Jiao from the NHC.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
China and Arab states are all developing countries. Combined, they account for one-sixth of the world's land mass, one-fourth of the world's population, and one-eighth of the world economy. Therefore, they face the shared mission and responsibility of advancing global cooperation and development.



Arab states are standing at a historical crossroads. Internationally, long-time interference by Western countries in their regional affairs has deprived them of many development opportunities. Domestically, fragile economic structures and social turbulences have plunged the states into economic distress. The average GDP growth of economies in the Middle East was around 4.1 percent in 2021, below the global average for that year. Countries in the region face mounting pressure to recover their economies and ensure people's livelihoods.

For China, it is confronted with serious external challenges and risks in its new journey of building a great modern socialist country in all respects. China's economy faces great headwinds as the United States adopts a policy of strategic competition toward China, the world economy is fluctuating, and the COVID-19 continues wreaking havoc around the world.

During his visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in September and October 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward initiatives that later developed into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). When addressing the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021, he proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI). BRI and GDI are a continuity of his conception of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and offer possible solutions to the difficulties facing humanity.

Arab states have actively supported and participated in these initiatives proposed by China. By early 2022, 20 of them had signed agreements on cooperation with China under the BRI, aligning the initiative with their national development plans, such as vision 2030 plans of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, Jordan 2025, Algeria's Vision 2035, Morocco's Mohammed VI Tangier Tech City Project, and Iraq's reconstruction list of 157 projects. Marked progress has since been made in Sino-Arab cooperation in the fields of financial connectivity, nuclear energy, new energy, and aerospace, and in the development of a Health Silk Road.

In support of the GDI, multiple Arab states have joined the Group of Friends of the GDI. On May 10, 2022, the China-Arab Friendship Organization Dialogue, co-hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Federation of Arab-China Friendship Associations, adopted a declaration, calling for parties concerned to act on the GDI, safeguard world peace with practical actions, and uphold the common interests of the Chinese and Arab peoples.

China and Arab states have maintained a long tradition of supporting each other on development issues. Back in December 1963, the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai proposed the five principles underpinning China's relations with African and Arab countries during a visit to the then United Arab Republic, a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971.

In the new era, the two sides should follow the guidance of the GDI to enhance cooperation, advance common development, and build a Sino-Arab community of a shared future.

Three areas should be prioritized.

The first is economic cooperation. China and Arab partners should implement the GDI in the Arab region and advance high-quality cooperation under the BRI.

For cooperation on industrial capacity, China should increase greenfield investment to help promote industrialization in the Middle East and increase local employment. For example, China can combine its technological strength in the photovoltaic industry with that of Arab states in cost, and increase production in the region.

More efforts should be made to advance negotiations for free trade agreements with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and individual Arab states. The agreements, after being signed, will enhance trade facilitation between China and Arab states, particularly in non-energy sectors. Once established, the China-GCC Free Trade Zone will make RMB-denominated oil pricing a reality and advance the process of internationalization of the Chinese currency. With oil exports settled in RMB and foreign direct investment in China by overseas capitals in RMB, China and the GCC will be able to conduct cooperation across the petroleum industrial chain.

The second is sci-tech cooperation. China and Arab states should seize the opportunities brought by the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation to narrow the technology gap. According to a report published by the U.S.-based Institute for Scientific Information, between 1980 and 2019, the Middle East's share in Web of Science indexed articles rose from two percent to eight percent, with half coming from researchers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, China's share soared from shy of one percent to 25 percent.

With such remarkable progress in science and technology on both sides, China and Arab states should step up technology transfer and innovation cooperation under the Belt and Road Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Action Plan and the Sino-Arab science and technology partnership program. These efforts can span the fields of information technology, modern agriculture, smart manufacturing, environmental protection, and especially digital economy.

The third is about exchanges of experience in state governance. China and Arab states should intensify exchanges of expertise and experience in national development. A key reason why developing countries have been lagging behind in development is their lack of independence in terms of institutions, education, and science and technology. Without a development path fit for local conditions, many countries have long been entangled in the vicious cycle of political unrest, social upheaval, and economic debacle.

In general, developing countries are weak in sci-tech innovation, and have to rely on foreign brains for progress. Exchanges among these countries are, therefore, of special importance for advancing South-South cooperation and accomplishing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

When addressing the High-level Dialogue on Global Development on June 24, 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China would set up a platform for experience and knowledge sharing on international development, a global development promotion center, and a global knowledge network for development, for the purpose of exchanging experience in state governance.

China and Arab states have both garnered extensive development experience from their respective time-honored history. China is the world's largest developing country. With its own development, China offers peer developing countries with an alternative path to modernization, and has attracted great attention from other members of the developing world, including those in Arab regions. China is ready to share its governance experience with all other developing countries. It also values the experience of Arab states. For example, China can learn from Dubai's experience in running its free trade zone.

In summary, to thrive in a world that is undergoing changes not seen in a century, China and Arab states must enhance solidarity and collaboration, set a good example for South-South cooperation, and make more contributions to human progress and prosperity.

Wang Jian is director of the Institute of International Relations, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
Building Access Control

BadgePass One Integrated with Schlage Intelligent Locks and Readers for Cloud-Based Access Control

Security solutions and products company Allegion US has integrated the BadgePass One platform with Schlage Intelligent Locks and Readers, the company said. It will offer a subscription service to save costs for users that includes all hardware and software needed to issue ID badges and control access privileges in large facilities like K12 schools.

The Schlage NDEB and LEB intelligent wireless locks are easy to install and seamlessly communicate with the software via WiFi, said Jeff Koziol, business development manager  PACS partners at Allegion.

The Reader Controller devices round out the solution by enabling real-time updates and offering an option for doors where wireless locks are not a fit.

BadgePass has worked with K12 schools nationwide to provide various security solutions, the company said. Benefits to schools of the new integration include:

Easy to use apps for badge production for employees, students, volunteers and more;

Customized, secure card designs for all types of cardholders;

Quick badge production process by capturing photos on a tablet or phone, eliminating the need for onsite PCs and long lines of students waiting to have pictures taken at registration or after the start of the school year;

Queued print jobs, allowing the badging office to print cards on their schedule;

Local printing at each school or centralized print;

Lower IT burden as no software, server, or printer drivers are needed onsite;

Cost-effective system subscription, including all software, hardware, supplies and service;

Automated monthly or annual payment options.

We chose to partner with Allegion because their hardware options help reduce common barriers to installation, including complex and costly wiring, said Derek Gibbs, EVP of Product Development at BadgePass. We started with credential issuance, giving customers the ability to enroll cardholder data and print ID badges right from their phone. He added that access control capabilities are now embedded in the system.

Allegion has supported successful integrations in two other BadgePass product lines: BadgePass Access Manager and TotalCard, according to a release.

A brochure and demo request for more information are available on this BadgePass One Access Control page.

Allegion secures people and assets with a range of solutions for homes, businesses, schools, and institutions, with its solutions focusing on security around the door and adjacent areas. Learn more at the companys information page.
AI Writing Detection

Is ChatGPT Writing Your Students' Homework? A New Technology Will Be Able to Detect It

AI writers like ChatGPT can often produce work that is, at least on first glance, indistinguishable from human writing. With a simple prompt like "write an expository essay on symbolism in Heart of Darkness," ChatGPT can spit out an organized, coherent, five-paragraph essay in seconds. (See results below.) And no two essays will be identical.

In some cases, help from an AI may be as acceptable as using a Google search as part of the research process. But in many cases, it will be unacceptable for classroom work.

So how do teachers deal with the growing ease with which AIs can complete student homework?

Turnitin, which is known for its technology used for plagiarism detection, has posted a technology preview that shows its software automatically detecting work written by an AI writer, even going so far as to show which parts of an essay were written by AI versus human and indicate where AI writing transitions into human writing.

In the technology demonstration, Turnitin showed the number of sentences in some sample essays that were written by an AI (24 out of 24 in one case) and highlighted text in different shades to indicate portions written by AI and portions partially written by AI.

In the demo, David Adamson, Turnitin AI scientist and former high school teacher, said, "That's what we hope to share with you in some form, not just a single magic number, but a bit of context when we're all done, so that you can have these discussions with your colleagues and with your students."

AI writing detection is not yet available in Turnitin's commercial release. But the company indicated its work is "far along in progress," and the technology will be available "in some form" in the future.

Further details of the technology can be found on Turnitin's sneak preview page. ChatGPT itself can be accessed and tested out for free at chat.openai.com. (Note that ChatGPT is often unavailable owing to heavy demand but is usually more accessible at night.)

Here's a sample essay on Heart of Darkness written entirely by ChatGPT with a simple prompt for the essay ("write an expository essay on symbolism in Heart of Darkness") and a separate prompt for the title ("write a title for this essay").

Exploring the Darkness of the Human Soul: Symbolism in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness

In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, symbolism is used to explore the theme of the darkness of the human soul and the imperialism that was taking place in Africa during the late 19th century.

One prominent symbol in the novel is the Congo River, which represents the journey into the unknown and the depths of the human psyche. The journey up the river represents the descent into the heart of darkness, both literally and metaphorically. It is also a symbol of the greed and corruption that drive imperialism, as the European characters are driven by a desire for wealth and power at the expense of the indigenous people.

Another symbol in the novel is the character of Kurtz, who represents the darkness within all human beings. He starts off as a model European colonizer, but as he delves deeper into the Congo, he becomes increasingly consumed by his own power and greed. He ultimately becomes a madman, representing the idea that the pursuit of wealth and power can lead to moral corruption and personal destruction.

The treatment of the African people by the European colonizers is also symbolic. They are depicted as subhuman and uncivilized, which represents the dehumanization that is a necessary aspect of imperialism. It also serves as a commentary on the arrogance of the European colonizers, who believed that they were superior to the people they were exploiting.

In conclusion, symbolism in Heart of Darkness is used to explore the theme of the darkness of the human soul and the corruption that is inherent in imperialism. The Congo River, Kurtz, and the African people are all symbols that help to reveal the true nature of the human condition and the consequences of greed and power.
Across Illinois, more than 90 county sheriffs have issued statements voicing opposition to HB 5471 Protect Illinois Communities, a law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week.

Most of the statements have similar wording, saying the act is unconstitutional based on the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Franklin County Sheriff Kyle Bacon said his job and his office are sworn to protect the citizens of the county, and calls it a job and responsibility he takes with utmost seriousness.

As your duly elected sheriff, my job and my office are sworn, in fact, to protect the citizens of Franklin County, Sheriff Kyle Bacon said in a statement posted on the sheriffs Facebook page.

Part of the duties that I accepted upon being sworn into office was to protect the rights provided to all of us in the Constitution. One of those enumerated rights is the right of people to keep and bear arms provided under the 2nd Amendment. The right to keep and bear arms for defense of life, liberty and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people, Bacon said in a statement posted to the sheriffs Facebook page.

Bacon says HB 5471 is a clear violation of the Second Amendment.

Johnson County Sheriff Pete Sopczak agreed.

The right to keep and bear arms for defense of life, liberty and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people. I, among many others, believe that HB 5471 is a clear violation of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Sopszak said. Therefore, as the chief law enforcement official for Johnson County, that neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the State, nor will we be arresting or housing law abiding individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this Act.

Other Southern Illinois sheriffs and states attorneys have issued statements saying the law is unconstitutional and that they will not arrest people for violating the rules of the law.

Those include: Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich, Union County Sheriff David Wilkins, Pope County Sheriff Jerry Suits, Saline County Sheriff Whipper Johnson, Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard, Williamson County States Attorney Ted Hampson, and Saline County States attorney Molly Kasiar.

These opinions are not limited to smaller Southern Illinois counties. The Belleville News Democrat reported that Metro-East sheriffs in Bond, Clinton, Monroe and Randolph counties also released statements disagreeing with the law and saying they would not enforce it. Even St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson, a Democrat, said he is opposed to the law, but did not say he would not arrest people who violate it.

The sheriffs of Jackson and Alexander counties have not issued statements supporting or in opposition of the new law.

Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Diederich said laws that restrict gun ownership typically do not affect persons who use guns for illegal activity. He says the laws do though, have an effect on law abiding citizens.

Guns are a part of our culture. This law puts a burden on every citizen and not criminals," Diederich said. Criminals are resourceful. If we could remove their ability to get guns, they would come up with another weapon.

He added that he expects to the law to be overturned in court, probably going to the Illinois or U.S. Supreme Court.
A 27-year-old Orangeburg woman pleaded guilty to several charges during a recent term of court at the Orangeburg County Courthouse.

Ashlyn Brooke Soles, 27, of 765 Five Chop Road, pleaded guilty to possession of a stolen vehicle valued more than $2,000 but less than $10,000, first-offense possession of less than one gram of methamphetamine or cocaine base and first-offense failure to stop for blue lights.

Circuit Judge Deandrea Benjamin sentenced her to two years in prison, but gave her credit for having already served seven months in jail.

She also ordered Soles to be housed in the addiction treatment unit in prison.

Prosecutors dismissed Soles charges of third or subsequent-offense DUS license not suspended for DUI and use of license plate other than for vehicle which issued.

In other recent guilty pleas:

Tyrese Davonta Peeples, 22, of 117 Perwalt Court, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to unlawful carrying of a pistol and possession of a firearm or ammunition by a person convicted of a violent felony.

Benjamin sentenced him to prison for six months.

Prosecutors dismissed his charge of first-offense possession of one ounce or less of marijuana.

Mac Kel Rondre Ryant, 22, of 309 Gramercy Lane, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense failure to stop for blue lights.

Benjamin sentenced him under the Youthful Offender Act for three years, suspended to 18 months of probation.

Prosecutors dismissed his charges of first-offense possession of a controlled substance, first-offense driving under the influence less than .10 and first-offense possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.

Devontae Shyheim Shivers, 26, of 1460 Cleckley Boulevard, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to second-degree domestic violence.

Benjamin sentenced him to two years in prison, suspended to 147 days. She gave Shivers credit for having already served 147 days in jail.

Prosecutors dismissed Shivers three charges of second-offense driving under suspension license suspended for DUI.

Mary Gantt Simmons, 45, of 910 Victoria Street, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to hit-and-run involving property damage.

Benjamin sentenced her to one year in prison, suspended to nine months of probation.

She gave Simmons credit for having already served one day in jail.

She also ordered Simmons to complete anger management.

Gerald Gregory Oneal Summers, 29, of 1237 Classic Road, Branchville, pleaded guilty to second-degree domestic violence.

Benjamin sentenced him to jail for 90 days, suspended to 24 months of probation.

She gave Summers credit for one day he already spent in jail.

Shes allowing his probation term to end early once he completes domestic abuse counseling.

Shawn Nicole Thomasson, 43, of 208 Lottie Lane, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession of cocaine and first-offense possession of narcotics.

Benjamin sentenced her to 100 days in prison and gave her credit for time served.

Prosecutors dismissed her charge of first-offense possession of one ounce or less of marijuana.

Juan Torres, 54, of 252 Dawsey Street, Cordova, pleaded guilty to second-degree non-violent burglary.

Benjamin sentenced him to seven years in prison, suspended to five years of probation.

She gave him credit for time served.

Takia Shanice Washington, 39, of Cemetery Road, Varnville, pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment.

Benjamin sentenced her to one year in prison, suspended to six months of probation.

She gave Washington credit for having already spent one day in jail.

Antquion Terell Watson, 41, of 105 Cocktail Lane, Holly Hill, pleaded guilty to first-offense failure to stop for blue lights.

Benjamin sentenced him to two years in prison, suspended to six months of probation.

Andrew Maurice White, 45, of 1153 A Hodson Drive, Orangeburg, pleaded guilty to first-offense possession with intent to distribute a scheduled drug.

Benjamin ordered him to pay a $100 fine or spend six months in prison.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang (L) and Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen attend a press conference after their talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Jan. 10, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

As a popular saying goes, do not be afraid to celebrate a promise when kept. In doing so, you are embracing the potential for a better world. In keeping with its unshakable promise made over three decades ago and following the footsteps of his predecessors, China's new Foreign Minister Qin Gang is beginning his term with a seven-day visit to five African nations - Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin, and Egypt - from Jan. 9-16. The visit also brought him to the African Union (AU) Headquarters and the League of Arab States Headquarters.



This visit is widely expected to restore momentum in China-Africa cooperation, help China's work in Africa and develop an integrated strategy that does three things: establishing continent-wide objectives for China and African nations with tailored regional strategies, expanding mutually beneficial economic cooperation and investment, and supporting African nations in its independent development and capacity building.

China's leadership in international realm makes it fulfil promises and commitments towards its friends and partners, which ultimately leads to building trust. This is the way to make nations and partners ready to cooperate and bear the burdens and outcomes to move forward together. This is one of the reasons why over the past three decades, China has kept its promise and has been committed to a diplomatic tradition to commence every year with a visit to Africa, which truly proves that China attaches great importance to its traditional friendship with African nations and the development of China-Africa cooperation. It also portrays China as a reliable and true friend that helps in difficult times.

A cherished partnership

China's unshakable willingness and commitment to its diplomatic engagement with the continent of Africa is a privilege that will forever be cherished by African people; this commitment cannot be compared to other partners of Africa. With regard to the reason why Qin visited these five African nations, these five African nations truly reflect China's foreign policy towards Africa. That is why in Angola, China would be looking to solidify its position as the nation's top trading and economic partner. As for Ethiopia, the nation could easily leverage Chinese knowledge of peace and security as well as comprehensive development to overcome its internal upheavals. As for the visit to the AU Headquarters in Ethiopia, coupled with the fact that Chinese contractors would soon finish building the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in the capital Addis Ababa, Qin's visit shows China's determination of championing multilateralism against unilateralism.

As for Egypt, as a major voice and significant connection between the continent of Africa and the Arab world, Egypt provides China with the opportunity to continue with the ongoing constructive dialogue on how to encourage development collaboration on both sides of the Red Sea. As for Gabon, China is the nation's largest economic and trading partner and top investor, and the visit will help fortify the synergy between the Emerging Gabon Strategic Plan and the Belt and Road Initiative, to diversify the nation's economy. As for Benin, the visit will help to promote the financing pact between China and Benin to support high-impact social and economic projects in the nation.

Likewise, the visit shows the Chinese belief that the continent of Africa should be a place for international cooperation, not for major-power competition or geopolitical gains. Qin's former role as Chinese ambassador to the United States puts him in a good position to promote China-Africa cooperation against the backdrop that the United States is increasing its presence in Africa.

Shared prosperity

In recent years, the Chinese government has extended its presence in Africa by not only building infrastructure, but also providing ICT and Internet services. This makes China's engagement across the continent vital because it is meeting the needs of local constituencies, from the creation of employment to providing required technology and related infrastructure. As such, China's lending, construction, investment, or other business activities are not inherently bad or dangerous for African nations. But rather, these various development projects represent an enormous opportunity for African people to create a continent where no African nation is left behind.

Likewise, China offers financial support and affordable proposals to local economies to build up economic strength to weather challenges. African leaders and citizens have appreciated not just the material help arising from the continent's relationship with China, but also the sense of not being patronised. African people like seeing their economies treated as business opportunities rather than places to run randomised trials for foreign aid with political strings attached. No wonder when the Chinese government conducts negotiations with African nations, it is looking at them as partners with whom it can expand business opportunities, rather than as recipients of charity.

Qin's visit will help to bring fresh impetus and great potential for China and Africa to create more hope in the next decade. That's because the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), industrial parks or special economic zones could be a major engine to connect Africa with the international market, and China could focus more on new infrastructure construction in the continent of Africa that would help to propel AfCFTA that has a market of more than 1 billion people and a combined GDP of over $3 trillion.

African nations and China could use this visit as an opportunity to reinvigorate Chinese investments in Africa, and explore further ways to incentivise Chinese government decision-makers and Chinese businesses to use joint ventures more frequently as the vehicle for their investments in Africa.

In conclusion, Qin's visit should be a starting point in the new era for China and African nations to work together to build a high-quality community of shared future for mankind that would grow into a community of collaboration that would help to meet the challenges in people-to-people harmony and safeguard the health of the people, promote social and economic recovery and help both African nations and China unleash development potential in the new era.

The author is executive director of the Centre for Nigerian Studies, Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University.
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Munguia allegedly fired the gun while the group was driving on Dell Range Boulevard. The shot struck 16-year-old Angelina Harrison, who attended Triumph High School.

Heath pulled the vehicle over, and Nicholson fled on foot with the gun. He was later found and taken into custody without incident.

Heath proceeded to the Frontier Mall parking lot and called police.
CHEYENNE  Wyomingites may see something similar to Floridas so-called Dont Say Gay law become a reality in Wyoming.

Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, is sponsoring a bill that would bar classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate... The act would take effect in July of this year if it becomes law.

Senate File 117, titled Parental rights in education, would also require school personnel to report changes in students well-being or use of services to parents and guardians under most circumstances, and to encourage students to discuss issues related to their well-being with their parents and guardians. School personnel would, however, be allowed to withhold information if they believed that disclosure would result in abuse, as defined under state statute.

In addition, schools would have to share information with parents and guardians about health care services and well-being questionnaires for students at the school. Parents and guardians would be allowed to decline having their students use those services or fill out questionnaires.

The bill directs school districts to create procedures for parents and guardians to file complaints if they believe the district isnt complying with these requirements.

For the moment, Dockstader said hes waiting to see how interested and serious people actually are about the proposed legislation. He said the bill comes out of statewide concern hes seen about what kids are being taught in schools.

In October, former State Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder, who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump for the midterm elections but ended up losing his primary race to current State Superintendent Megan Degenfelder, hosted an event that focused on what he saw as the sexualization of minors in schools. He told the Star-Tribune that he considered the topic to be the most pressing issue in education at the moment. The event was attended by roughly 150 people.

Many school board candidates around the state also ran on platforms in the 2022 elections that centered on this concern, some focusing in particular on ousting school library books that they described as pornographic.

The attention on these topics trickles down from a national stage, with the ideas behind Senate File 117 coming from outside the state as well.

Much of the language in the bill is the same as that in a Florida law that critics call the Dont Say Gay bill. The law, which was championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also bars educators from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, and in general teaching material that isnt considered age appropriate.

That law has been the subject of a lawsuit, with plaintiffs arguing that the law is unconstitutional and has a chilling effect on First Amendment rights, particularly for LGBTQ individuals, and that it violates equal protection rights.

A federal judge last dismissed the case in October, but plaintiffs refiled the lawsuit the following month.

Wyoming Education Association President Grady Hutcherson cited some of the questions that have come up over the course of that litigation when explaining his concerns about the bill in a statement to the Star-Tribune.

WEA agrees with an assertion published by the American Bar Association about this same legislation, recently passed in Florida: The law arguably runs afoul of the First Amendments stringent prohibition on viewpoint discrimination and imposes an unconstitutional chilling effect on disfavored speech, he said.

This bill opens the door for the State Board of Education to be asked to establish guidelines that step on constitutional rights and leave too many questions unanswered: Under this legislation, is it against the law for a teacher to assign a book that includes an LGBTQ+ character? Can a teacher assign a class speech asking students to talk about their families? What if a students parents are LGBTQ+? K-12 public school teachers and students enjoy certain basic rights to teach, learn and speak without government retaliation or censorship. This bill threatens those rights.

Hutcherson called the bill a wolf in sheeps clothing.

Parents undoubtedly enjoy rights in their students education. Educators want parents to be actively involved, engaged partners. But this bill doesnt protect those rights: Instead, it sows division. It is censorship and stigma. It works against creating safe, inclusive spaces for some of our most marginalized, at-risk student populations, he said.

Theres at least one other bill of a similar vein to Senate File 117 thats up for consideration this session.

House Bill 87, legislation sponsored by freshman Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, seeks to expand the definition of child pornography and reverse obscenity exemptions that are currently in place to allow for the teaching of sexual health topics.

Ward previously told the Star-Tribune that her sponsorship of the bill stems from the controversy over school library books some consider to be pornographic.

Several lawmakers who are members of or sympathetic to the hard line conservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus signed on as cosponsors for Wards legislation. The caucus, which has built a powerful stronghold in Wyomings House of Representatives, supports the bill, vice chair of the caucus Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, said in a text to the Star-Tribune. He added that the bill protects our students and empowers the parents to be included in the medical decisions of (their) children.

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PHOTOS: University of Wyoming community responds to breezeway incident University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming University of Wyoming Riley Skorcz Todd Schmidt Todd Schmidt University of Wyoming
CHEYENNE  After a House committee last week rejected amendments to up the vote requirement for overruling both the speaker and House majority floor leaders power over when and if bills are heard, the body as a whole adopted a similar amendment that imposes the higher threshold.

A complaint from the hard-line conservative Wyoming Freedom Caucus party spurred the discussion around the particular House rules that dictate how members of the House of Representatives can change the order of bills on the majority floor leaders general file, or pull bills out of the speaker's drawer. The caucus posted a statement on Facebook earlier this month stating that proposed updates to the House rules, which are reviewed every time there is a new Legislature, serve to concentrate power in the Speaker of the House, deviating from years of legislative tradition.

Lawmakers aligned with the caucus have focused in particular on a rule that says the House majority floor leaders general file list, which sets the order in which bills will be discussed each day, can be changed with a simple majority vote. The order of the general file list is important because bills automatically die if they dont reach certain deadlines.

Several lawmakers thought that change could only happen with a two-thirds vote. That lead lawmakers in the Wyoming Freedom Caucus to believe House rules were going to be tweaked in a way that would diminish the power of the new majority floor leader, Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett.

Neiman, whos in his second term in the Legislature, was one of several lawmakers aligned with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus who vied for legislative leadership posts in the November Republican Caucus. But he was the only one who was successful in that effort, earning the nomination in a 29-28 vote.

To be clear, under the Legislative Service Offices interpretation of the previous Legislatures rules, members of the House could change the order of bills on the majority floor leaders general file list with a simple majority vote of the body, unless the change occurred on the same day the general file was set, or on the last day that bills can be brought out to be heard. The latter cases would require a two-thirds vote, because certain House rules would need to be suspended. So the changes that the caucus was concerned about werent actually changes.

But attempts to overturn the power of legislative leadership are pretty rare, and this particular rule was unclear to many lawmakers. Some worried that wider knowledge of the simple majority vote requirement could open the door for more lawmakers to attempt to overrule the majority floor leaders decisions on when bills would be heard.

The majority floor leader does not want any more authority than what he has had, but my ask was that he would not have any less than what he was perceived to have had previously, Neiman said on the House floor Monday.

The House adopted an amendment on Monday that ups the vote requirement to a two-thirds majority for any change in the speakers or majority floor leaders decisions around the flow of bills through the Legislature.

Speaker pro tempore and member of the House rules and procedures committee Rep. Clark Stith, R-Rock Springs, warned the body before the vote that the amendment would be a big change to the status quo.

You would be giving the majority floor leader and the speaker essentially a veto over whether the bills get heard, he said.

But a lawmaker who pushed the amendment, Rep. Barry Crago, R-Buffalo, described it as an attempt at compromise.

Im not saying by bringing this amendment that the previous rules didnt work or that they were unfair, Crago said. What Im saying with this amendment is, its an attempt at compromise, which sometimes we need to do more of, and this is my attempt at helping further that belief.

A grasping effort to bring compromise and bridge the fractures in the House was pretty evident during the Houses debate on the amendment. At one point during the debate on the amendment, speaker of the House Rep. Albert Sommers, R-Pinedale, stepped down from his seat, asking Neiman to take his place while he spoke to the body from the floor.

I dont care how you vote on this one way or the other, Sommers said. But what I want to tell you it was a good faith effort by those that brought this to find a compromise.

The House rules and procedures committee already considered and rejected similar amendments on Wednesday.

Though several lawmakers on the committee were open to the idea of raising the vote requirement to two-thirds of the body, some were concerned that separating the amendments could end up with one amendment passing, and the other not. That would be a problem if the two-thirds vote applied to the House majority floor leader but not to the speaker, which would result in the majority floor leader having greater authority to prevent a bill from being considered by the full House than the speaker.

The committee instead moved along Wednesday an amendment that would just codify the Legislative Service Offices understanding of the House rule that dictates how order of bills on the majority floor leaders general file list can be changed. That amendment, however, was voted down earlier in the day Friday.

This article has been updated to clarify that the House procedure of main interest pertaining to the speaker was the procedure to pull bills from the speaker's drawer rather than the process for referring bills to standing committee that the speaker hasn't already referred. The latter would have already required a two-thirds vote prior to the amendment that was adopted on Monday.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will today turn the sod for the construction of the 112 mega watt (MWac) solar project.

The sod-turning comes almost three years after the consortium of bpTT and Shell were selected as the preferred bidder on the project which has caused an escalation in cost to taxpayers.
Trinidad and Tobagos murder toll has shot up to 164 with the killing of two men in separate
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Six people were killed in a shooting in central California in the Unites States early Monday morning, local media reported.

Two of the victims of the shooting in Goshen, Tulare County, are a 17-year-old mother and a six-month-old baby, reported KFSN-TV, a television station in central California.

The Tulare County Sheriff's Office said in a release posted on its Facebook page that deputies were called to a home in the 6800 Block of Harvest Road in Goshen just after 3:30 a.m. Monday local time for multiple shots heard.

The Sheriff's Office did not give details in the release. The agency only said that it is investigating the shooting and will update the shooting after they receive more information.

The KFSN-TV report said that deputies immediately noticed two victims dead in the street and then a third in the doorway of the home after they arrived at the spot.

Deputies found six victims in total. Five of them were declared dead at the scene. Another died at the hospital, according to the report.

Authorities believe there are at least two suspects at this time. They do not believe this was a random act and that there is a gang connection, the report added.
As I get older, I am starting to understand my grandparents better. I have seen things grow 
From Thursday, Jan. 19, through Sunday, Jan. 22, playwrights from across the country will be bringing their unjuried, uncensored productions to the Tucson Fringe Festival.

The fest, one of more than 40 fringe festivals that take place throughout the country, will feature a total of 46 performances, covering topics ranging from mind-altering trips to Narnia, to Ukranian ballet dancers to getting married late in life.

In Futukuchi Onna, Phoenix playwright Kristin Moran follows a woman who is inflicted with a Futukuchi Onna, a Japanese monster that appears as a heckling mouth on the back of her head, according to press materials.

J. Emily Peabody brings us the story of the countrys first woman elected to the U.S. Congress in Jeanette Rankin: Champion of Persistence.

The festival will feature works by creative minds from Florida, Kansas, California and at least six from Minnesota, a state that holds its own Fringe Festival each year in August.

These performers from Minnesota do Fringe back home so they have everything for their show ready to go, said James Pack, acting director at this years fest. It is convenient on my end. There are times when people will submit a show, they arent sure what they are going to do with it yet. They are figuring it out. Then they work through it by the time the show has to open for the festival.

Other times, people are like, Yeah, Ive done this show three times at other places and I am ready to go right now. Lets do it.

Anyone can submit a production pitch, whether theyve put on a stage show or not. Names are literally drawn from a hat as to who is picked each year.

Most audiences know this might not be a polished show, Pack said. That is the nature of Fringe. If its the first time being performed, the creator can use the opportunity to change things around, polish it up and take it to another festival.
Pima Community College: Pima Community College is a multiple finalist in the 2023 Bellwether Award competition, which honors outstanding and innovative community colleges across the U.S.

Pima is a finalist in all three categories of the Bellwether Award:

Instructional Programs and Services, which recognizes programs and services that foster or support teaching and learning.

Workforce Development, which identifies strategic alliances that promote community and economic development.

Planning, Governance, and Finance, which recognizes programs or activities that improve college efficiency and effectiveness.

There are 10 finalists in each category. They will compete Feb. 26-28, in San Antonio. In the competition, teams will conduct presentations before a jury of anonymous judges and fellow community college practitioners and CEOs.

The Bellwether Awards are conducted by the Bellwether College Consortium, which comprises dozens of community colleges that convene annually as an independent national forum for innovators to work as a think tank.

Northwest Medical Center: Northwest Healthcares local hospitals honored four registered nurses with its Nursing Excellence Award for 2022. These winners were selected from all 81 hospitals affiliated with Community Health Systems, one of the leading operators of general acute-care hospitals and outpatient care centers in 16 states.

The peer-nominated award was created to honor the critical role nurses have played in treating patients throughout the pandemic.

The recipients are:

Sophia Ho of Oro Valley Hospital

Karen Dytko of Northwest Medical Center Houghton

Tina Burgess of Northwest Medical Center Sahuarita

Jessica Sauer, who has been with Northwest Healthcare for a decade and currently works in the ICU, received the highest honor  the National 2022 Nursing Excellence Award. She is one of only 10 national winners.
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Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Monday held phone talks with Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic counselor to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said that in a world full of turbulence and changes, the healthy and stable development of China-France relations is of special significance.

As permanent members of the UN Security Council and independent major countries, China and France should strengthen strategic communication and play an important role in coping with global turmoil and changes, he added.

China, he said, is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with France, deepen strategic mutual trust and open up new prospects for the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership.

As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, China is willing to work with France and other EU member states to uphold mutual respect, dialogue and cooperation and mutual benefit, so as to inject new impetus into the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, Wang said.

For his part, Bonne said that France, which attaches great importance to its ties with China, is willing to work with China to strengthen high-level exchanges, deepen cooperation in innovation and technology and jointly draw a blueprint for future development.

Bonne said his country, which opposes the Cold War mentality and bloc politics, is willing to play an active role in expanding EU-China dialogue, upholding multilateralism, promoting global economic recovery and collaborating on tackling climate change.

France understands and supports China's anti-COVID measures, and believes China will prevail over the latest round of the outbreak, he said.

The two sides exchanged views on the important agendas for bilateral exchanges in the next step.
PHOENIX  The way Rep. Rachel Jones sees it, once you have paid off your house you should not have to worry about property taxes.

But the first-term Republican lawmaker from Tucson acknowledged there are a bunch of practical questions with her proposed legislation, including who would  or should  get a tax break. Her plan probably needs some major amendments to get any traction, she said.

But Jones said she decided to swing for the fences and start out asking for everything, figuring that gives her lots of negotiating room.

You go big, she told Capitol Media Services.

Some of it, Jones said, is philosophical.

Its awful that youre charged taxes on something you own, she said. Jones said that would be like buying a couch, paying the sales taxes and then having to pay some sort of fee for possessing it.

But she said her focus actually is narrower.

My main heart issue behind it are those, especially elderly folks who are on a fixed income, who lose their homes, Jones said. I just talked with a constituent whose uncle lost his home last year because of this very issue. Thats just unacceptable.

Only thing is, her House Bill 2315 does not have any sort of means testing. She acknowledged that means anyone who pays off a mortgage at any age  or even has the resources to buy a house for cash  would be entitled to escape all property taxes if her measure were to become law as written.

That is one thing I dont like about it, especially with all the Californians moving in, Jones said, referring to people with money who can buy a house outright with no mortgage. Thats not ultimately my mission accomplished at all.

Theres a related issue.

Some elderly will take out a reverse mortgage, using the equity in their paid-off homes to be able to stay there and pay other bills. And as HB 2315 is written, those people would go from paying no property taxes at all to once again having an annual bill.

Shifting the tax burden?

Jones also said she wants to be careful not to harm local governments which, unlike the state, are heavily dependent on property taxes. Schools also depend on locally raised taxes for budget overrides and paying off the bonds to build new schools.

I understand how much property taxes go to police, education, all those things, she said.

There might not be any net loss of revenues, though.

Most levels of government figure out how much they need to raise. Then they divide it into the total assessed valuation of the community. The result is a tax rate.

But if some property is removed from the tax rolls, that reduces the total assessed valuation. So the calculation divides the amount of money to be raised into that smaller base.

That, in turn, raises the tax rate that is imposed on everyone else who is not exempt from paying taxes  meaning the taxes not being paid by those with paid-off homes is shifted to them.

Jones said House research staff is crunching some numbers to figure out what that shift might be.

Im hoping to have a full, big compilation of all of that this week, she said.

Renters contributions

Jones said she sees another side, too.

There are a lot of renters in Tucson currently, she said. Its becoming a big rental market. I dont particularly like that people that are renting homes arent contributing to their community, either.

She said altering that could kind of take some of the pressure off of homeowners.

Jones acknowledged, though, that renters may not be getting an entirely free ride.

The landlords who own the homes and apartments are themselves paying property taxes, which they can pass on to tenants.

There is another unanswered question in HB 2315.

As crafted, it would exempt those without mortgages from paying any property taxes. Those include not just the basic levies to operate government but also the taxes that people voted to impose on themselves, such as overrides, bond debt and special districts for everything from fire protection to street lights.

That would mean people who are exempt from taxes are able to approve new levies that affect everyone else.

Thats a really good question, Jones said, adding shes going to have to think about that issue as her bill goes through the legislative process. She said shes a big fan of voter approval of taxes because thats the best way to get peoples opinion on something.

Pima Countys rate is highest

How much Arizona homeowners might save if Jones bill were to become law depends on both the value of the home and where they live.

The homes full cash value is roughly equal to about 80% of its market value. Owner-occupied homes are assessed for tax purposes at 10% of that value.

So a home valued by assessors at $350,000 has its property taxes computed based on $35,000. Assuming a tax rate of $9 per $100 of assessed valuation, thats about $3,150 a year.

But the tax rate can vary, with the Arizona Department of Revenue pegging the figure at anywhere from $3.39 in Greenlee County, which has the benefit of a copper mine to bolster its revenues despite a low tax rate, to $13.81 in Pima County.

These figures also vary within counties depending on taxes imposed by cities, schools and other special districts.

No date has been set for a hearing on Jones measure.
All Arizona voters will still be able to cast ballots by mail despite Republican Party efforts to kill the popular practice.

The state Court of Appeals rejected arguments by the state GOP and Kelli Ward, its chair, that allowing people to vote from their own homes or anywhere other than a polling place violates a constitutional requirement for a secret ballot.

There are sufficient safeguards built into Arizona law to ensure that each voter's choices are kept confidential as the Arizona Constitution requires, Judge Cynthia Bailey said, writing for the three-judge panel.

Tuesday's ruling is unlikely to be the last word. Republican Party attorney Alexander Kolodin plans to seek Supreme Court review, he told Capitol Media Services.

Arizona has had some form of early voting almost since the first days of statehood. But that was limited to special circumstances, ranging from military serving overseas to people who were incapacitated.

In 1991, however, state lawmakers approved no-excuse early voting, allowing anyone to request a ballot be sent to them that they can fill out at home, or anywhere, and either return by mail, put in a drop box or take directly to a polling location.

Early ballots made up more than 80% of the votes cast in the most recent general election.

Attitudes in the GOP changed, however, after the 2020 election when Donald Trump lost his bid for a new term as president. While he outpolled Democrat Joe Biden among Arizona voters who went to the polls on Election Day, Biden had an even larger edge among those who voted early.

Objections continued into the 2022 campaign, with Republican gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem suggesting the system of unrestricted mail-in voting was ripe for abuse.

The GOP lawsuit took a narrower focus, based on the constitutional requirement "that secrecy in voting shall be preserved.''

Strictly speaking, attorney Kolodin is not arguing that people can't have a ballot sent to them by mail.

What he told the judges, though, is that the constitutionally mandated secrecy can be maintained only if an official is present when someone casts a ballot, and that the official "then watches the voter enclose and seal the ballot in an envelope.''

Kolodin said that can't happen if someone is filling out a ballot at a kitchen table and sealing it there because it raises the possibility that someone else is present and watching.

He said it opens up the possibility someone could be coerced, or maybe paid, to vote a certain way. That can't happen if there is a "restricted zone'' around the voter, he said.

Judges say protections are adequate

Bailey rejected the argument, saying that's not what the Arizona Constitution requires.

"Arizona's mail-in voting laws preserve secrecy in voting by requiring voters to ensure they fill out their ballots in secret and seal the ballot in an envelope that does not disclose the voters' choices,'' she wrote for herself and the other two judges.

The judge also pointed out that state law requires election officials who open the envelopes to take out the ballots without unfolding or examining them.

"At no point can the voter's identifying information on their ballot envelope be lawfully connected with their vote,'' Bailey said. "These protections are adequate to ensure the preservation of secrecy in voting."

The judges were no more impressed with Kolodin's arguments that the ability of a voter to share his or her decisions with someone else violates the constitutional requirement for secrecy.

Bailey pointed out that state law prohibits taking photographs or videos within 75 feet of a polling place. Another statute make it a crime to show someone else's ballot to any person.

But she also noted that state lawmakers specifically created an exemption that allows voters to take pictures  and share images  of their own ballots with others without violating any laws.

And she said the Republican Party's argument there needs to be a "restricted zone'' around voters when they fill out their ballots is not what the Arizona Constitution requires.

"The Secrecy Clause's meaning is clear: When providing for voting by ballot or any other method, the legislature must uphold voters' ability to conceal their choices,'' she wrote. "The constitution does not mandate any particular method for preserving secrecy in voting.''

Kolodin contends the ruling erred in concluding voters can waive their right to secrecy.

"The Court of Appeals came down, without really any substantiation for it, and said it's waivable by the voter, which, of course, the framers of the Arizona Constitution never intended for it to be,'' he said. Kolodin said Tuesday's ruling provides "a very clean issue'' for the Supreme Court to review.

But he conceded there is no guarantee the state's high court will take up the issue.

In the Tuesday decision, Bailey said there is a remedy if the state GOP wants something more.

"The legislature is free to adopt the more stringent requirements urged by plaintiffs,'' the judge wrote. "But it is not constitutionally required to do so.''

Today in history: Jan. 17 1944: Monte Cassino 1955: USS Nautilus 1961: Dwight D. Eisenhower 1966: Simon & Garfunkel 1994: Northridge Earthquake 1995: Earthquake 2012: Cruise Ship 2016: Iran Prisoner Release 2017: Chelsea Manning 2017: Ryan Zinke 2021: Alexei Navalny 2021: National Guard
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.  Richard Blodgett, a single father, was jailed on a drug charge when a worker from Arizona's child welfare agency delivered the news: His son was brain dead and on life support  just days after being taken into state custody.

Blodgett screamed, cried and screamed some more. Jakob was his only son, a "darn cute," curious 9-year-old who loved remote control cars and video games.

Blodgett is now struggling to understand how it happened.

A medical examiner listed Jakob's death in late December as natural with complications from diabetes, a condition he was diagnosed with as a toddler. Specifically, Type 1 diabetes, which means his body was unable to produce enough insulin to survive.

Blodgett said he suspects the Arizona Department of Child Safety failed in its duty to protect his son, either by not monitoring his blood sugar levels or not ensuring that Jakob had enough insulin to prevent a serious, life-threatening complication known as ketoacidosis.

"They couldn't keep him alive for two weeks, two weeks," the father told The Associated Press while on a recent furlough from jail. "That's absolutely insane. That was my pride and joy. I'm lost. I'm completely lost. My family is completely lost."

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is investigating Jakob's death. The office declined a request for an interview with Sheriff Paul Penzone, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Department of Child Safety also declined to comment specifically on the case, citing confidentiality laws. But spokesperson Darren DaRonco said, in general, that foster parents are required to receive training from a medical provider before taking in a child with any medical condition.

DaRonco did not respond to further inquiries, including whether Jakob's insulin pump was removed and if the boy's regular doctor was consulted about his care  questions raised by Blodgett and his mother, Cheryl Doenges. They said Jakob could not manage the insulin on his own.

In the fiscal year that ended last June, about 26 children died while in the agency's custody, including from overdoses, medical conditions, natural and still undetermined causes. In the previous fiscal year, that number was 14.

The figures amount to a fatality rate of about 97 per 100,000 children during that period, the most recent for which data is available.

That rate is higher than overall deaths of children in Arizona. Nationally, about 55 children died per 100,000 children in the general population of all causes in 2020  similar to Arizona's number.

Karin Kline, director of child welfare initiatives at the Family Involvement Center in Phoenix, said the death of a child is a concern, especially if it happens under the custody of the state.

"Rest assured, somebody is going to look into it if there's an inkling that the death was a result of negligence or abuse," she said.

Jakob and his father were living at a motel when Blodgett was arrested in December. Blodgett, who already had a drug case pending and has spent time in prison, said was operating a backhoe much of the day and pulled over at a gas station to take a nap. The report from the Show Low Police Department corroborated as much, but officers wrote that they suspected Blodgett nodded off as a result of drug use.

Authorities ultimately found more than 4,000 fentanyl pills in Blodgett's possession, according to the report. Blodgett was booked into jail in Holbrook and charged with one count of drug possession, Navajo County Superior Court documents show.

Blodgett told the AP he had been using fentanyl for pain management after he dropped 300 pounds with weight loss surgery.

"I wasn't getting high. I wasn't abusing them. I was using them to be able to work and provide for my son," Blodgett said. "Unfortunately, they are illegal. I can't get around that. But they were stronger than my meds, and they were working."

Jakob was alone in the motel room when an officer picked him up and alerted the Department of Child Safety, according to the police report. Blodgett said someone at the motel always checked on his son, whom he called as police confronted him.

He told Jakob he got into trouble, and the boy asked if his father was going to be OK, Blodgett said. The two often traveled together in vast expanses of Arizona  taking selfies, stopping at gas stations to get snacks and playing with Nerf guns.

"The last time I got to see my son, he was already dead," Blodgett said.

Doenges couldn't make the trip to see Jakob at the hospital from Washington state where she lives because of bad weather. But she asked a friend in Arizona to sit with Jakob, pray with him and play music for him so he wasn't alone  even if he didn't know she was there.
WASHINGTON  Republican Karoline Leavitt hoped to be the youngest member of Congress at age 25, telling supporters in stump speeches this fall that without winning over young Americans, the GOP would lose elections and lose our country.

Every old person in the room always shook their head in agreement, she said in an interview.

Leavitt, a former Donald Trump staffer who had his endorsement, lost her House race in New Hampshire in November by about seven points. Party leaders, she contends, should focus on an issue they have long ignored: winning support from Gen Z and millennials.

Republicans managed to eke out a narrow majority in the House in the November elections, but it was the fifth midterm in a row in which voters under 30 favored congressional Democrats. The last time the parties were competitive for that demographic in House races was 2002.

Across the country, President Joe Bidens party outperformed expectations in the election in part because of the outsized support from younger Americans, data shows.

The Republican National Committee has poured funds into outreach to Black and Latino voters, groups that also trend Democratic. But GOP allies worry the party lacks a similar plan to make inroads with young voters from all ethnic groups.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel launched a review of the worse-than-expected Republican midterm and created an advisory council to guide strategy going forward, including on winning the youth vote.

RNC spokespeople did not respond to a request to interview McDaniel or a member of the council about the partys strategy to win the youth vote.

The establishment and the leadership needs to get on board, Leavitt said. If we want to win elections, we dont have a choice.
Temperatures in eastern Ukraine have been well below freezing in recent days, hardening the ground and opening a window for potential winter offensives by both sides.

But such pushes may not come, either now or during a more sustained cold spell.

Military analysts say that while the shift from muddy to frozen terrain is important in enabling the use of wheeled combat and support vehicles, its just one of many factors commanders would consider before a major new assault.

More important are the availability of reserves, equipment and ammunition, and the need to create weak spots in enemy lines.

Both sides are being stretched by slow but resource-sapping offensives. Russian forces are trying to take Bakhmut and nearby Soledar, while Ukrainian troops are attacking Kreminna and Svatove; all are small to mid-sized towns in the eastern Donbas region that Russia claims to have annexed but only partially occupies.

The situation around Soledar and Bakhmut is forcing our command to use more reserves in this direction, so it may be that in the close future there wont be enough left to conduct a big offensive in the south, from Zaporizhzhia, or anywhere else, said Igor Levchenko, head of strategic modeling at New Geopolitics, a Kyiv-based think tank.

How the conflict evolves is likely to be determined less by changes in weather than by the relative success each side has in wearing down the others forces and reconstituting their own by spring, he said.

The risk for Russia, according to a European defense official, is that in Bakhmut it makes only a minor tactical gain at the cost of huge personnel losses. A similar mistake in the summer left Russian forces exhausted and overstretched, opening the door for Ukraine to launch successful counteroffensives in the fall.

Though poorly trained, recently mobilized troops have shored up defenses around Kreminna and Svatove, slowing Ukraines advance. Taking Svatove would allow Ukraine to cut a key Russian logistics route for operations in the Donbas.

Newly announced supplies of armored fighting vehicles from the U.S., Germany and France, tanks from the United Kingdom and growing signs that NATO standard tanks could follow, would better equip Ukraine for a fresh offensive.

Ukraines general staff have been masters of operational design to date and will spend weeks or months setting conditions for the next, decisive phase of the campaign, Ben Hodges, a former U.S. lieutenant general and commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, said in emailed comments from Tbilisi, Georgia.

While Russia may aim to use mobilized recruits to prolong the war until support for Ukraine from its allies crumbles, I dont see that happening in 2023, Hodges said. Rather I see Ukraine liberating Crimea by the end of August.

Russias President Vladimir Putin annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, turning it into a support base for his forces in the rest of occupied Ukraine. Some military analysts have expressed skepticism at Ukraines capacity to retake it.

While falling temperatures hardened the ground in the east, theyve also been too low for soldiers to fight effectively away from shelter, as any offensive breakthrough would require.

The human factor is far more important than the vehicles they can move in winter, said Ed Arnold, a former British infantry officer now at the Royal United Services Institute, a London think tank. In freezing weather, morale, mobility and logistics all can get hammered, he said.

Frozen batteries for drones and radio sets have to be recharged twice as often, while low visibility can render unusable the surveillance drones needed for artillery to target defenses. With both sides running low on artillery shells, the need for precision offered by drones has already at times silenced guns along the front.

What we call the find aspect you need for any operation just becomes much more difficult, Arnold said. Even foot patrols that can normally cover 15-20 km in a day can suddenly only cover five, because theyre burning more calories, need to carry more food and just cant do as much in the difficult conditions.

Very low temperatures can favor defensive troops that enjoy effective logistics, according to Arnold, enabling them to maintain warmth and stockpile food at front-line positions for as many as 20 days. Those are luxuries unavailable to an advancing force, which has to be resupplied in real time.

The cold also can force errors, such as Russias decision to concentrate hundreds of troops in the relative warmth and comfort of a dormitory in Makiivka, within range of Ukraines HIMARS rockets. That saw 89 killed in a New Years attack, according to Russias defense ministry; Ukraine put the death toll much higher.

Most worrying to military planners, according to Arnold, is that a freeze can suddenly turn to thaw, leaving offensive troops exposed and unsupplied as wheeled support vehicles again become stuck in Ukraines notoriously glutinous mud. Tracked vehicles, such as tanks, can still operate but not if fuel tankers can no longer reach them.
A column by Mark Barabak on January 9th implied that President Taft vetoed statehood for Arizona in 1912 over the issue of women's suffrage. The truth is that he vetoed the draft state constitution because it included a provision for voter recall of judges, believing it would limit judicial independence. Arizona submitted a new draft without that provision and was admitted to the union in 1914, and promptly restored the recall provision.
 Flash

COVID-19 is spreading again across the United States, driven by factors including the recent holidays and fewer precautions, British newspaper The Guardian has reported.

Vaccine booster uptake has been "pitiful," Neil Sehgal, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, was quoted as saying in the report published on Sunday.

Antiviral uptake has been low, and few mandates on masking, vaccination and testing have resumed in the face of the winter surge, which is once again putting pressure on health systems, said the report.

New COVID hospital admissions in the United States are now at the fourth-highest rate of the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"Hospitals are at maximum capacity," Brendan Williams, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Health Care Association, was quoted as saying while speaking of his region's current rates.

"I'm not sure what the trajectory of this thing's going to be, but I am worried," he said.

In the past week, COVID-19 deaths in the United States rose by 44 percent, from 2,705 in the week ending Jan. 4 to 3,907 in the week ending Jan. 11.
Were gonna have some pain.

Residents might be alarmed by how often City Manager Mike Carter uses the word pain when discussing the upcoming massive road project planned for the Oklahoma 97 corridor, the busiest street in Sand Springs.

But Carter hopes residents will focus on a different word that starts with the same letter  progress.

I kind of tell people euphemistically that 2022 was the year of planning and engineering and 2023 will be the year of construction, Carter told the Sand Springs Leader recently.

And he hopes that when its all said and done, residents will be so happy with the progress that they wont dwell on the pain.

Were excited about this, he said. Its going to mean exciting things for our citizens.

The primary project that everything else will tie into is a $15 million design of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation to widen and rehabilitate Oklahoma 97 from where it intersects with Second Street north of U.S. 412 running south under the highway to where it intersects with the newly opened stretch of Main Street just north of the Arkansas River.

As part of the expansion, the state also will replace all of the traffic lights in the corridor, and the city is paying extra for the lights to be connected by fiber optic cable, which will allow more intelligent, real-time management of traffic flow and congestion.

ODOT put the project out for bids in the fall, but it garnered no interest.

Carter said the project was up against two others that were much larger and that since only a few companies are capable of such extensive work, the other projects got the bids.

ODOT pulled the project back and will put it out for bids again next month, when the climate is expected to be more favorable.

Construction should start late this spring or in the early summer, with the work taking 18 to 24 months.

Thats where the pain will come in.

But if theres going to be pain, why not do all of the painful things at the same time and get it over with?

Thats the citys thinking. Well, that and the fact that by coordinating some of its own projects to take place in tandem with the state work, the city can perhaps reap some cost-savings that can be reallocated to other needs.

As most local motorists know, a new extension of Main Street recently joined up with Oklahoma 97 on the east side of the highway just north of the Arkansas River Bridge. The timing was no accident.

We intentionally prioritized that project and pushed it to get it open before the Highway 97 project, Carter said. Were going to have growing pains. Its going to be tough to get through there. We needed that as a way for people to be able to get around.

Whats next for that intersection will be a dedicated right-turn lane from the highway's northbound lanes onto Main Street.

This project has been on the books for about 15 years, Carter said. When it was first envisioned, ODOT said they didnt think a turn lane was the right idea at the time, and the project was not approved.

The current ODOT administration, which Carter said has been wonderful to work with, agreed that the turn lane was needed and said that if the city would pay for it, the agency would allow it.

Although the future turn lane is paved at present, its not yet suitable for regular traffic.

We will construct a new turn lane there, and that will help people not have to go down and make a dramatic 90-degree turn like they do now, Carter said.

He said the city moved money around to expedite construction, adding that the project should be going to bid very soon, with the beginning of construction hoped for by summer.

Carter also dispelled one rumor about the project  that it has anything to do with a recent snafu when a train was stopped for hours on the tracks that cross Oklahoma 97 at that location.

This is not in relation to the train issue, he said. It takes awhile to get stuff like this engineered. Weve been looking at this and talking about it for six to eight months.

On the opposite side of Oklahoma 97, the city has just recently received permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a road over the levee at the south end of Case Community Park that will exit onto the highway south of Dutch Bros.

The new road will enhance traffic flow into and out of the park during large events such as the Fourth of July fireworks and Boo at Case Park, but a side benefit is that it will provide a bypass to Oklahoma 97 when necessary.

Carter said park patrons should not worry about the road becoming an extension of the highway.

Were going to put speed humps. Were going to do things to mitigate peoples speed, he said last week during his State of the City speech. Its not meant to be an expressway through the park.

Although the levee road, a 2017 general-obligation bond project, was held up for a time by the Army Corps of Engineers, Carter said the corps and Tulsa County District 12 Levee Commissioner Todd Kilpatrick have been generally helpful and supportive of the plan.

The project will be put out for bids soon, with construction expected to start sometime around the middle of the year, he said.

Carter is excited about all of the road work, but he points out that theres even more to be positive about.

Although ODOT will restripe Oklahoma 97, other city roads will get a new coat of paint, too.

One of the things we did when I came into office was doubled the budget for lane markings from $50,000 to $100,000, he said, adding that another striping package will be completed this year.

Also, as part of the work along Oklahoma 97, two 96-inch box culverts will be buried alongside the highway next to Dutch Bros and Chick-fil-A to convey stormwater from Morrow Road by Cox Supersaver and Walmart  an area where flooding has been a chronic problem  to the river.

That, in turn, will allow the city to reclaim land in the Sheffield Crossing development that is being used as a detention pond and use it instead for restaurant or retail development.

Road work and infrastructure improvements might not sound thrilling to many people, but Carter hopes residents will look past the pain and the tedium to the possibilities, such as the economic development opportunities the projects might facilitate.

Highway 97 is the key to attracting a bunch of these things to our city, he said.
An Oklahoman who prosecutors said was in the initial wave of rioters to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and was later identified by a fraternity brother has been sentenced.

A federal judge sentenced Levi Gable, 37, of Chouteau on Tuesday to two years of probation despite a request from prosecutors that he serve jail time, according to court records.

Gable pleaded guilty Sept. 23 in District of Columbia federal court to one misdemeanor count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

Law enforcement officers arrested Gable on May 26 at his Tulsa business, the same day he was charged in federal court with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds; and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

Gable admitted to the FBI during a Jan. 21, 2021, interview that he traveled to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and was near the Capitol when he saw people fighting with police and trying to get into the Capitol, according to court records.

But on multiple occasions Gable denied entering the Capitol building and did not express any remorse for participating in the Jan. 6 riot, according to prosecutors.

The FBI was tipped to Gables participation in the riot by a former college fraternity brother who reported seeing social media posts by Gable depicting videos of him and others inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.

In one social media post, Gable claims to be one of the first to enter the Capitol building because then-Vice President Mike Pence would not stand with the American people and challenge the results of 2020s stolen presidential election.

Prosecutors requested that Gable serve a 90-day jail term followed by one year of supervised release, 60 hours of community service and $500 in restitution.

In support of their request, prosecutors said Gable remained in the Capitol for about 30 minutes after entering with the initial wave of rioters, at times chanting Nancy over and over while law enforcement tried to secure the building. The chant was a reference to then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Prosecutors also noted that Gable was untruthful with investigators during his interview with FBI agents.

Gable did all this despite having previously served years in prison for armed robbery, an experience which should have, but did not, deter him from joining a violent mob and lying to law enforcement, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

An attorney for Gable wrote in a sentencing memo that the 37-year-old was profoundly remorseful for the behaviors that bring him before the court and painfully aware of the destructive force of those decisions.

Gable, in his sentencing memo, denied having traveled to Washington, D.C., to participate in or provoke an insurrection or a riot.

Mr. Gable honestly believed President Trumps lies about the elections and moreover, that the wrongful outcome of the election would be politically corrected, according to his sentencing memo.

After the rally, he made a deeply regrettable decision to wrongfully enter the Capitol with a mob of people, a restricted government building, according to his sentencing memo, noting that he did not act in a threatening or assaultive manner, destroy property or plan or prepare to enter the Capitol.

Gable included in the memo words of support from those who vouched for his character.

Featured video: Longtime partner of officer who died after Jan. 6 sues rioters and Trump over attack
Oklahomas next legislative session starts soon. Heres a look at lawmakers from the Tulsa area, plus contact information.

To find your senator, go to oksenate.gov/Senators.

To find your representative, go to okhouse.gov/Members.

For more info, go to oklegislature.gov.
Ho Chi Minh City expects to achieve a Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth rate of 7.5 to eight percent in 2023, chairman of the municipal People's Committee Phan Van Mai said during a meeting with foreign diplomatic missions and organizations on Monday. In particular, the service sector will contribute over 60 percent of the citys GRDP this year. Mai also expressed hope that the city will maintain its position as Vietnam's leading economic hub and called on foreign diplomatic agencies and organizations to continue supporting it. At the meeting, Mai said the citys key missions in 2023 are to improve the effectiveness of public works, administrative reforms, and the investment environment, as well as to boost economic development and ensure social welfare. He thanked foreign organizations for creating opportunities for the city to attract and take advantage of international resources in its socioeconomic recovery and development after the COVID-19 pandemic, and for supporting the city in implementing plans for 2021-25 and reaching important achievements in 2022. To hit this years targets for GRDP growth, besides its internal resources, the city is in need of companionship from international consulates, organizations, economic-cultural offices, and business associations in order to develop Ho Chi Minh City into a smart city and an economic, financial, trade, science-technology, and cultural hub in the region. Ho Chi Minh Citys development will correspond to its role as the leading economic hub of the country, a friendly destination for international friends, and a locality with favorable conditions and potential for foreign enterprises, investors, and citizens to live and work for a long term, Mai added. Roy Kho Ngee Seng, Singaporean Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, affirmed that the Consulate General wants to continue cooperating with the city in culture and art exchange, education, public administration, healthcare, green economy, and digital economy. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Ho Chi Minh City expects to achieve a Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth rate of 7.5 to eight percent in 2023, chairman of the municipal People's Committee Phan Van Mai said during a meeting with foreign diplomatic missions and organizations on Monday.

In particular, the service sector will contribute over 60 percent of the citys GRDP this year.

Mai also expressed hope that the city will maintain its position as Vietnam's leading economic hub and called on foreign diplomatic agencies and organizations to continue supporting it.

At the meeting, Mai said the citys key missions in 2023 are to improve the effectiveness of public works, administrative reforms, and the investment environment, as well as to boost economic development and ensure social welfare.

He thanked foreign organizations for creating opportunities for the city to attract and take advantage of international resources in its socioeconomic recovery and development after the COVID-19 pandemic, and for supporting the city in implementing plans for 2021-25 and reaching important achievements in 2022.

To hit this years targets for GRDP growth, besides its internal resources, the city is in need of companionship from international consulates, organizations, economic-cultural offices, and business associations in order to develop Ho Chi Minh City into a smart city and an economic, financial, trade, science-technology, and cultural hub in the region.

Ho Chi Minh Citys development will correspond to its role as the leading economic hub of the country, a friendly destination for international friends, and a locality with favorable conditions and potential for foreign enterprises, investors, and citizens to live and work for a long term, Mai added.

Roy Kho Ngee Seng, Singaporean Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, affirmed that the Consulate General wants to continue cooperating with the city in culture and art exchange, education, public administration, healthcare, green economy, and digital economy.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Italy's most wanted mafia boss, Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested by armed police at a private hospital in Sicily on Monday, where the man who has been on the run since 1993 was being treated for cancer. Nicknamed "Diabolik" and "'U Siccu" (The Skinny One), Messina Denaro had been sentenced in absentia to a life term for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, crimes that shocked the nation and sparked a crackdown on Cosa Nostra. Messina Denaro, 60, was led away from Palermo's "La Maddalena" hospital by two uniformed carabinieri police and bundled into a waiting black minivan. He was wearing a brown fur-lined jacket, glasses and a brown and white woolly hat. Judicial sources said he was being treated for cancer and had an operation last year, followed by a series of appointments under a false name. "We had a clue to the investigation and followed it through to today's arrest," Palermo prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia said. Magistrate Paolo Guido, who was also in charge of investigations into Messina Denaro, said dismantling his network of protectors was key in reaching the result following years of work. A second man who had driven Messina Denaro to the hospital was arrested at the scene on suspicion of aiding a fugitive. Images on social media showed locals applauding and shaking hands with police in balaclavas as the minivan carrying Messina Denaro was driven away from the suburban hospital to a secret location. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travelled to Sicily to congratulate police chiefs after the arrest. "We have not won the war, we have not defeated the mafia but this battle was a key battle to win, and it is a heavy blow to organised crime," she said. Maria Falcone, sister of the murdered judge, echoed that sentiment. "It proves that mafiosi, despite their delusions of omnipotence, are ultimately doomed to defeat in the conflict with the democratic state," she said. Fast cars, flashy clothes Messina Denaro comes from the town of Castelvetrano near Trapani in western Sicily, and is the son of a mafia boss. Police said last September that he was still able to issue commands relating to the way the mafia was run in the area around Trapani, his regional stronghold. Before he went into hiding, he was known for driving expensive cars and his taste for wearing finely tailored suits and Rolex watches. He faces a life sentence for his role in bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan that killed 10 people in 1993 and is accused by prosecutors of being solely or jointly responsible for numerous other murders in the 1990s. In 1993 he helped organise the kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy, Giuseppe Di Matteo, in an attempt to dissuade his father from giving evidence against the mafia, prosecutors say. The boy was held in captivity for two years before he was strangled and his body dissolved in acid. The arrest comes almost 30 years to the day since police arrested Salvatore "Toto" Riina, the Sicilian Mafia's most powerful boss of the 20th century. He eventually died in jail in 2017, having never broken his code of silence. "It is an extraordinary event, of historic significance," said Gian Carlo Caselli, who was a prosecutor in Palermo at the time of Riina's arrest. Despite the euphoria, Italy still faces a struggle to rein in organised crime groups whose tentacles stretch far and wide. Experts say that Cosa Nostra has been usurped by the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, as the most powerful organised crime group in Italy. "There is a sense that the Sicilian Mafia is not as strong as it used to be, especially since the 90s, they have really been unable to enter the drug market and so they are really second-fiddle to the Ndrangheta on that," said Federico Varese, Professor of Criminology at Oxford University.

Italy's most wanted mafia boss, Matteo Messina Denaro, was arrested by armed police at a private hospital in Sicily on Monday, where the man who has been on the run since 1993 was being treated for cancer.

Nicknamed "Diabolik" and "'U Siccu" (The Skinny One), Messina Denaro had been sentenced in absentia to a life term for his role in the 1992 murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, crimes that shocked the nation and sparked a crackdown on Cosa Nostra.

Messina Denaro, 60, was led away from Palermo's "La Maddalena" hospital by two uniformed carabinieri police and bundled into a waiting black minivan. He was wearing a brown fur-lined jacket, glasses and a brown and white woolly hat.

Judicial sources said he was being treated for cancer and had an operation last year, followed by a series of appointments under a false name.

"We had a clue to the investigation and followed it through to today's arrest," Palermo prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia said.

Magistrate Paolo Guido, who was also in charge of investigations into Messina Denaro, said dismantling his network of protectors was key in reaching the result following years of work.

A second man who had driven Messina Denaro to the hospital was arrested at the scene on suspicion of aiding a fugitive.

Images on social media showed locals applauding and shaking hands with police in balaclavas as the minivan carrying Messina Denaro was driven away from the suburban hospital to a secret location.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni travelled to Sicily to congratulate police chiefs after the arrest.

"We have not won the war, we have not defeated the mafia but this battle was a key battle to win, and it is a heavy blow to organised crime," she said.

Maria Falcone, sister of the murdered judge, echoed that sentiment.

"It proves that mafiosi, despite their delusions of omnipotence, are ultimately doomed to defeat in the conflict with the democratic state," she said.

Fast cars, flashy clothes

Messina Denaro comes from the town of Castelvetrano near Trapani in western Sicily, and is the son of a mafia boss.

Police said last September that he was still able to issue commands relating to the way the mafia was run in the area around Trapani, his regional stronghold.

Before he went into hiding, he was known for driving expensive cars and his taste for wearing finely tailored suits and Rolex watches.

He faces a life sentence for his role in bomb attacks in Florence, Rome and Milan that killed 10 people in 1993 and is accused by prosecutors of being solely or jointly responsible for numerous other murders in the 1990s.

In 1993 he helped organise the kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy, Giuseppe Di Matteo, in an attempt to dissuade his father from giving evidence against the mafia, prosecutors say. The boy was held in captivity for two years before he was strangled and his body dissolved in acid.

The arrest comes almost 30 years to the day since police arrested Salvatore "Toto" Riina, the Sicilian Mafia's most powerful boss of the 20th century. He eventually died in jail in 2017, having never broken his code of silence.

"It is an extraordinary event, of historic significance," said Gian Carlo Caselli, who was a prosecutor in Palermo at the time of Riina's arrest.

Despite the euphoria, Italy still faces a struggle to rein in organised crime groups whose tentacles stretch far and wide.

Experts say that Cosa Nostra has been usurped by the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, as the most powerful organised crime group in Italy.

"There is a sense that the Sicilian Mafia is not as strong as it used to be, especially since the 90s, they have really been unable to enter the drug market and so they are really second-fiddle to the Ndrangheta on that," said Federico Varese, Professor of Criminology at Oxford University.
Climate change is increasing malaria infections, the executive director of the world's biggest health fund said in Davos on Monday. Huge surges in malaria infections followed recent floods in Pakistan and cyclones in Mozambique in 2021, said Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. "Whenever you have an extreme weather event it's fairly common to have a surge of malaria," he said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos. The increase in extreme weather events, and the resulting large pools of standing water that attract mosquitoes, are leaving poorer populations vulnerable. He said climate change was also changing the geography of mosquitoes. The highlands of Africa, in Kenya and Ethiopia, are now succumbing to malaria because of a shift in the low temperatures that once made the area unsustainable for mosquitoes. Sands runs the world's largest global fund, which invests in fighting tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS in some of the poorest nations in the world. The fund, which set a target of raising $18 billion, has so far raised $15.7 billion, the largest amount of money ever raised in global health. Part of the shortfall, he said, was a billion dollar hit from currency fluctuations that affected donations. Looking ahead, climate change is just one of the factors that could hamper efforts to eradicate the diseases, Sands said. The war in Ukraine has led to a worsening of AIDS and tuberculosis. In middle income countries such as India, Pakistan and Indonesia, tuberculosis cases amongst the poorest populations are also rising. With fears of a global recession rising, Sands said those countries would come under increased pressure. "I think the big concern from our perspective is what happens to health budgets in the 120 or so countries we are investing." And even within those health budgets, how much is being taken up by COVID?"

Climate change is increasing malaria infections, the executive director of the world's biggest health fund said in Davos on Monday.

Huge surges in malaria infections followed recent floods in Pakistan and cyclones in Mozambique in 2021, said Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

"Whenever you have an extreme weather event it's fairly common to have a surge of malaria," he said at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos.

The increase in extreme weather events, and the resulting large pools of standing water that attract mosquitoes, are leaving poorer populations vulnerable.

He said climate change was also changing the geography of mosquitoes. The highlands of Africa, in Kenya and Ethiopia, are now succumbing to malaria because of a shift in the low temperatures that once made the area unsustainable for mosquitoes.

Sands runs the world's largest global fund, which invests in fighting tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS in some of the poorest nations in the world.

The fund, which set a target of raising $18 billion, has so far raised $15.7 billion, the largest amount of money ever raised in global health.

Part of the shortfall, he said, was a billion dollar hit from currency fluctuations that affected donations.

Looking ahead, climate change is just one of the factors that could hamper efforts to eradicate the diseases, Sands said.

The war in Ukraine has led to a worsening of AIDS and tuberculosis. In middle income countries such as India, Pakistan and Indonesia, tuberculosis cases amongst the poorest populations are also rising.

With fears of a global recession rising, Sands said those countries would come under increased pressure.

"I think the big concern from our perspective is what happens to health budgets in the 120 or so countries we are investing."

And even within those health budgets, how much is being taken up by COVID?"
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Russia's budget revenues in 2022 from the oil and gas industry increased by 28 percent or by 2.5 trillion rubles (36.4 billion U.S. dollars) from the previous year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Monday.

Despite sanctions by unfriendly countries, oil production in Russia amounted to 535 million tons last year, an increase of 10 million tons from 2021, while oil exports rose by 7 percent, Novak said at a government meeting.

Exports of liquefied natural gas increased by 8 percent to reach 46 billion cubic meters. Still, exports of pipeline gas declined due to sanctions and sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines, he added.

"Despite all the difficulties last year, the fuel and energy complex demonstrated stable operation, resistance to external challenges, and the ability to ensure our country's energy security," Novak said.
Scientists in Chile's Patagonia region are unearthing the southernmost dinosaur fossils recorded outside Antarctica, including remains of megaraptors that would have dominated the area's food chain before their mass extinction. Fossils of megaraptors, a carnivorous dinosaur that inhabited parts of South America during the Cretaceous period some 70 million years ago, were found in sizes up to 10 meters long, according to the Journal of South American Earth Sciences. "We were missing a piece," Marcelo Leppe, director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), told Reuters. "We knew where there were large mammals, there would also be large carnivores, but we hadn't found them yet." The remains, recovered from Chile's far south Rio de las Chinas Valley in the Magallanes Basin between 2016 and 2020, also include some unusual remains of unenlagia, velociraptor-like dinosaurs which likely lived covered in feathers. The specimens, according to University of Chile researcher Jared Amudeo, had some characteristics not present in Argentine or Brazilian counterparts. "It could be a new species, which is very likely, or belong to another family of dinosaurs that are closely related," he said, adding more conclusive evidence is needed. The studies also shed more light on the conditions of the meteorite impact on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula that may have triggered the dinosaurs' extinction some 65 million years ago. INACH's Leppe pointed to a sharp drop in temperatures over present-day Patagonia and waves of intense cold lasting up to several thousand years, in contrast to the extremely warm climate that prevailed for much of the Cretaceous period. "The enormous variation we are seeing, the biological diversity, was also responding to very powerful environmental stimuli," Leppe said. "This world was already in crisis before (the meteorite) and this is evidenced in the rocks of the Rio de las Chinas Valley," he said. A view of a fossil at the area where scientists discovered megaraptor fossils at 'Guido' hill in the Chilean Patagonia area, close to Torres del Paine park, in Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile in this undated handout photo provided by the Instituto Chileno Antartico on January 16, 2023. Photo: Reuters A man works at the area where scientists discovered megaraptor fossils at 'Guido' hill in the Chilean Patagonia area, close to Torres del Paine park, in Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile in this undated handout photo provided by the Instituto Chileno Antartico on January 16, 2023. Photo: Reuters A team works at the area where scientists discovered megaraptor fossils at 'Guido' hill in the Chilean Patagonia area, close to Torres del Paine park, in Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile in this undated handout photo provided by the Instituto Chileno Antartico on January 16, 2023. Photo: Reuters A woman holds a fossil at the area where scientists discovered megaraptor fossils at 'Guido' hill in the Chilean Patagonia area, close to Torres del Paine park, in Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile in this undated handout photo provided by the Instituto Chileno Antartico on January 16, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Scientists in Chile's Patagonia region are unearthing the southernmost dinosaur fossils recorded outside Antarctica, including remains of megaraptors that would have dominated the area's food chain before their mass extinction.

Fossils of megaraptors, a carnivorous dinosaur that inhabited parts of South America during the Cretaceous period some 70 million years ago, were found in sizes up to 10 meters long, according to the Journal of South American Earth Sciences.

"We were missing a piece," Marcelo Leppe, director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), told Reuters. "We knew where there were large mammals, there would also be large carnivores, but we hadn't found them yet."

The remains, recovered from Chile's far south Rio de las Chinas Valley in the Magallanes Basin between 2016 and 2020, also include some unusual remains of unenlagia, velociraptor-like dinosaurs which likely lived covered in feathers.

The specimens, according to University of Chile researcher Jared Amudeo, had some characteristics not present in Argentine or Brazilian counterparts.

"It could be a new species, which is very likely, or belong to another family of dinosaurs that are closely related," he said, adding more conclusive evidence is needed.

The studies also shed more light on the conditions of the meteorite impact on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula that may have triggered the dinosaurs' extinction some 65 million years ago.

INACH's Leppe pointed to a sharp drop in temperatures over present-day Patagonia and waves of intense cold lasting up to several thousand years, in contrast to the extremely warm climate that prevailed for much of the Cretaceous period.

"The enormous variation we are seeing, the biological diversity, was also responding to very powerful environmental stimuli," Leppe said.

"This world was already in crisis before (the meteorite) and this is evidenced in the rocks of the Rio de las Chinas Valley," he said.

A view of a fossil at the area where scientists discovered megaraptor fossils at 'Guido' hill in the Chilean Patagonia area, close to Torres del Paine park, in Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile in this undated handout photo provided by the Instituto Chileno Antartico on January 16, 2023. Photo: Reuters

A man works at the area where scientists discovered megaraptor fossils at 'Guido' hill in the Chilean Patagonia area, close to Torres del Paine park, in Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile in this undated handout photo provided by the Instituto Chileno Antartico on January 16, 2023. Photo: Reuters

A team works at the area where scientists discovered megaraptor fossils at 'Guido' hill in the Chilean Patagonia area, close to Torres del Paine park, in Magallanes and Antarctic region, Chile in this undated handout photo provided by the Instituto Chileno Antartico on January 16, 2023. Photo: Reuters
Switzerland will support Vietnam in practicing digital transformation toward a digital economy and green growth, Guy Parmelin, member of the Swiss Federal Council and head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, affirmed on Monday. Federal Councilor Parmelin made the affirmation at his talks with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, who is in Switzerland to attend the five-day World Economic Forums Annual Meeting, which kicked off in Davos the same day, according to the Vietnam News Agency. The host and guest expressed their delight at the good development of the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Switzerland over the past 50 years, especially in politics, diplomacy, economics, development cooperation, science and technology, and education and training. The increasing two-way trade between the two countries reached US$721.3 million in January-November, and Switzerland now has 197 active foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam worth a combined $1.89 billion, ranking 21st out of 140 countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian country, deputy PM Ha said. With a market of nearly 100 million people and 15 free trade agreements (FTAs) having been signed with its partners in the world, Vietnam has become an attractive market offering great opportunities for economic, trade, and investment cooperation to foreign investors, Ha told his host. In such a context, Vietnam is now transforming its economy to a new model of digital, circular, and low-carbon economy to attain sustainable and green development, Ha said. The Vietnamese official suggested that Swiss investors engage in projects with new, advanced, and clean technology and those in environmental protection, innovation, and modern administration in Vietnam. Ha asked his guest to facilitate Swiss entrepreneurs in doing long-term business in Vietnam, especially in such areas as finance, banking, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, agricultural product processing, renewable energy, and tourism. Regarding green growth, deputy PM Ha said Vietnam is in transition from fossil energy to renewable energy to reduce CO2 emissions toward fulfilling its international commitment to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050. He therefore hoped that Switzerland would participate in helping reduce emissions in developing countries including Vietnam. Federal Councilor Parmelin highly appreciated Vietnams commitment to net-zero emissions and congratulated the nation on achieving a Fair Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with G7 countries and partners. The host pledged that Switzeland will assist Vietnam in transitioning to a circular economy and practicing circular production and digital transformation toward a digital economy and green and sustainable development. Deputy PM Ha suggested that Switzerland continue to coordinate with Vietnam to promote the negotiation of an FTA between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and affirmed that Vietnam is ready to become a bridge for EFTA to access and expand its markets in the ASEAN region. The guest also congratulated Switzerland on being elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the first time. The two sides agreed to strengthen mutual coordination and support at multilateral forums and international organizations. Deputy PM Ha asked the Swiss government to create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Switzerland to stabilize their lives and integrate into the host society. After the talks, the host and guest co-chaired an exchange session with Swiss businesses and investors, at which leaders of many leading Swiss corporations expressed their impression with Vietnams economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and lauded Vietnams growth prospects in the coming time. These enterprises expressed their desire to expand their investment and promote business cooperation in Vietnam. Deputy PM Ha answered all the questions raised by the host businesses in relation to doing business and making investment in Vietnam. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Switzerland will support Vietnam in practicing digital transformation toward a digital economy and green growth, Guy Parmelin, member of the Swiss Federal Council and head of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research, affirmed on Monday.

Federal Councilor Parmelin made the affirmation at his talks with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, who is in Switzerland to attend the five-day World Economic Forums Annual Meeting, which kicked off in Davos the same day, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The host and guest expressed their delight at the good development of the traditional friendship between Vietnam and Switzerland over the past 50 years, especially in politics, diplomacy, economics, development cooperation, science and technology, and education and training.

The increasing two-way trade between the two countries reached US$721.3 million in January-November, and Switzerland now has 197 active foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam worth a combined $1.89 billion, ranking 21st out of 140 countries and territories investing in the Southeast Asian country, deputy PM Ha said.

With a market of nearly 100 million people and 15 free trade agreements (FTAs) having been signed with its partners in the world, Vietnam has become an attractive market offering great opportunities for economic, trade, and investment cooperation to foreign investors, Ha told his host.

In such a context, Vietnam is now transforming its economy to a new model of digital, circular, and low-carbon economy to attain sustainable and green development, Ha said.

The Vietnamese official suggested that Swiss investors engage in projects with new, advanced, and clean technology and those in environmental protection, innovation, and modern administration in Vietnam.

Ha asked his guest to facilitate Swiss entrepreneurs in doing long-term business in Vietnam, especially in such areas as finance, banking, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, agricultural product processing, renewable energy, and tourism.

Regarding green growth, deputy PM Ha said Vietnam is in transition from fossil energy to renewable energy to reduce CO2 emissions toward fulfilling its international commitment to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050.

He therefore hoped that Switzerland would participate in helping reduce emissions in developing countries including Vietnam.

Federal Councilor Parmelin highly appreciated Vietnams commitment to net-zero emissions and congratulated the nation on achieving a Fair Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with G7 countries and partners.

The host pledged that Switzeland will assist Vietnam in transitioning to a circular economy and practicing circular production and digital transformation toward a digital economy and green and sustainable development.

Deputy PM Ha suggested that Switzerland continue to coordinate with Vietnam to promote the negotiation of an FTA between Vietnam and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and affirmed that Vietnam is ready to become a bridge for EFTA to access and expand its markets in the ASEAN region.

The guest also congratulated Switzerland on being elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the first time.

The two sides agreed to strengthen mutual coordination and support at multilateral forums and international organizations.

Deputy PM Ha asked the Swiss government to create favorable conditions for the Vietnamese community in Switzerland to stabilize their lives and integrate into the host society.

After the talks, the host and guest co-chaired an exchange session with Swiss businesses and investors, at which leaders of many leading Swiss corporations expressed their impression with Vietnams economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and lauded Vietnams growth prospects in the coming time.

These enterprises expressed their desire to expand their investment and promote business cooperation in Vietnam.

Deputy PM Ha answered all the questions raised by the host businesses in relation to doing business and making investment in Vietnam.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
The Vietnamese Party Central Committee (PCC) on Tuesday agreed to let State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc quit the posts of a member of the Politburo and of the 13th PCC upon his request. The decision was made during a meeting at the headquarters of the PCC to consider Phucs wish to retire and leave all of his positionsa member of the Politburo, a member of the 13th PCC, State President of Vietnam, and chairman of the Council of National Defense and Security in the 2021-26 tenure. Nguyen Xuan Phuc is a key leader of the Party and the state. He has been appointed to many important positions in the Party and the state by the PCC and the Politburo. Holding the post of the prime minister in the 2016-21 tenure, he made great efforts in leadership, direction and operation of the countrys COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, achieving many important results. However, as the leader of the government, he must take the political responsibility when many high-ranking officials, including two deputy prime ministers and three ministers, committed violations and wrongdoings, causing serious consequences. The two deputy prime ministersPham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam had earlier resigned from their posts, while two ministers and many officials had faced criminal charges. Aware of his responsibility before the Party and the people, he tendered his resignation to retire. Based on the prevailing regulations of the Party and the state, the PCC accepted Phucs resignation. The PCC assigned the Politburo to direct relevant agencies to complete related procedures in line with the law. Phuc, 69, a native of Que Phu Commune, Que Son District, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, was a member of the PCC and the Politburo and a deputy of the National Assembly for many tenures. He was appointed as the State President of Vietnam on April 5, 2021 after holding the post of the prime minister of the country from 2016 to 2021. Earlier, he served as deputy prime minister, minister and chairman of the Government Office, vice-chairman of the Government Office, deputy head of the Government Inspectorate, and chairman of the Peoples Committee of Quang Nam Province. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

The Vietnamese Party Central Committee (PCC) on Tuesday agreed to let State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc quit the posts of a member of the Politburo and of the 13th PCC upon his request.

The decision was made during a meeting at the headquarters of the PCC to consider Phucs wish to retire and leave all of his positionsa member of the Politburo, a member of the 13th PCC, State President of Vietnam, and chairman of the Council of National Defense and Security in the 2021-26 tenure.

Nguyen Xuan Phuc is a key leader of the Party and the state. He has been appointed to many important positions in the Party and the state by the PCC and the Politburo.

Holding the post of the prime minister in the 2016-21 tenure, he made great efforts in leadership, direction and operation of the countrys COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, achieving many important results.

However, as the leader of the government, he must take the political responsibility when many high-ranking officials, including two deputy prime ministers and three ministers, committed violations and wrongdoings, causing serious consequences.

The two deputy prime ministersPham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam had earlier resigned from their posts, while two ministers and many officials had faced criminal charges.

Aware of his responsibility before the Party and the people, he tendered his resignation to retire.

Based on the prevailing regulations of the Party and the state, the PCC accepted Phucs resignation.

The PCC assigned the Politburo to direct relevant agencies to complete related procedures in line with the law.

Phuc, 69, a native of Que Phu Commune, Que Son District, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam, was a member of the PCC and the Politburo and a deputy of the National Assembly for many tenures.

He was appointed as the State President of Vietnam on April 5, 2021 after holding the post of the prime minister of the country from 2016 to 2021.

Earlier, he served as deputy prime minister, minister and chairman of the Government Office, vice-chairman of the Government Office, deputy head of the Government Inspectorate, and chairman of the Peoples Committee of Quang Nam Province.

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Here are todays leading news stories: Politics -- State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited and extended Tet (Lunar New Year) wishes to Most Venerable Thich Tri Quang, Supreme Patriarch of the Patronage Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday. -- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited and presented gifts to local armed forces and residents in northern Cao Bang Province ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. Society -- Chilly weather will persist in northern Vietnam on Tuesday due to the effect of a cold spell, while it will be sunny and partly cloudy in southern provinces, the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting reported. -- Ho Chi Minh City sets a goal to achieve a Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth rate of 7.5-8 percent in 2023, chairman of the municipal People's Committee Phan Van Mai said during a meeting with foreign diplomatic missions and organizations on Monday. -- The former director of Phu Bai International Airport in north-central Thua Thien-Hue Province was sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison for receiving bribes between 2017 and 2020. Lifestyle -- Ho Chi Minh Citys 43rd annual Spring Flower Festival kicked off at Tao Dan Park in District 1 on Monday evening and will open to visitors until the end of January 27. -- Tourist destinations in the Mekong Delta are expecting a sharp increase in the number of tourists during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday thanks to the launching of new tourism products. Business -- National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced that it will increase the number of flights to 108 with 20,000 seats between January 16 and 30 to meet skyrocketing demand during the Tet festival, the Vietnam News Agency reported. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Here are todays leading news stories:

Politics

-- State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited and extended Tet (Lunar New Year) wishes to Most Venerable Thich Tri Quang, Supreme Patriarch of the Patronage Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday.

-- Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited and presented gifts to local armed forces and residents in northern Cao Bang Province ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Society

-- Chilly weather will persist in northern Vietnam on Tuesday due to the effect of a cold spell, while it will be sunny and partly cloudy in southern provinces, the National Center for Hydro-meteorological Forecasting reported.

-- Ho Chi Minh City sets a goal to achieve a Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) growth rate of 7.5-8 percent in 2023, chairman of the municipal People's Committee Phan Van Mai said during a meeting with foreign diplomatic missions and organizations on Monday.

-- The former director of Phu Bai International Airport in north-central Thua Thien-Hue Province was sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison for receiving bribes between 2017 and 2020.

Lifestyle

-- Ho Chi Minh Citys 43rd annual Spring Flower Festival kicked off at Tao Dan Park in District 1 on Monday evening and will open to visitors until the end of January 27.

-- Tourist destinations in the Mekong Delta are expecting a sharp increase in the number of tourists during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday thanks to the launching of new tourism products.

Business

-- National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines has announced that it will increase the number of flights to 108 with 20,000 seats between January 16 and 30 to meet skyrocketing demand during the Tet festival, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

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Do Chi Thanh, former director of Phu Bai International Airport in Thua Thien-Hue Province, north-central Vietnam, on Sunday was sentenced to 15 years and six months behind bars for receiving bribes between 2017 and 2020. The Thua Thien Hue Peoples Court also handed down the same prison term on Tran Xuan Long, former chief of the office and accountant of the airport. In addition, Le Van Loc, former deputy director of the airport, and Le Quoc Cuong, former head of the airports aviation security division, got respective jail terms of nine and 2.5 yeras. Phung Tuan Duong, another former deputy director of the airport, will be put on probation for three years. All were charged with taking bribes. Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Hien, director of Hoang Phu Thinh Joint Stock Company, the operator of Vang taxis, and Nguyen Tien Duong, director of Thanh Cong Hue Taxi Joint Stock Company, the operator of Thanh Cong taxis, were each sentenced to seven years in jail for giving bribes. Also sentenced were Ly Dieu Thanh, chief accountant of Hoang Phu Thinh Joint Stock Company, and Tran Dinh Hai, deputy director of the company, who were subject to three-year and two-and-a-half-year probation, respectively. According to the indictment, Phu Bai International Airport was given permission to choose enterprises that could provide taxi services at the airport through tenders. On September 7, 2017, Do Chi Thanh established a tender team including Le Van Loc, Tran Xuan Long, and Le Quoc Cuong. Thanh later issued regulations on the selection of taxi operators permitted to work at the airport. In particular, three taxi operators would be accepted and given 12 parking slots for taxis and a lot to pick up passengers at the airport. In late September 2017, the airport held tenders and Hoang Phu Thinh Joint Stock Company and Thanh Cong Hue Taxi Joint Stock Company won with a winning price of VND505 million (US$21,443) and VND180 million ($7,643), respectively, per month. Under the regulations, the two firms had to pay VND342 million ($14,520) per month, the average of the two winning prices. After the tenders, Duong, director of Thanh Cong Hue Taxi Joint Stock Company, met Tran Xuan Long and begged him to reduce the price, saying that the company would find it hard to offer taxi services at the airport for a long time if it had to pay such a high fee. Do Chi Thanh and Tran Xuan Long agreed to reduce the monthly fee to VND285 million ($12,136) for Hoang Phu Thinh Joint Stock Company and VND200 million ($8,491) for Thanh Cong Hue Taxi Joint Stock Company. However, the fee stated in official contracts between the airport and the two taxi firms was only VND120 million ($5,094) per month. The remaining amounts would be given to Tran Xuan Long, who would share with other leaders of the airport. The directors of the two taxi firms agreed to the deal despite acknowledging that the act was illegal. Between October 2017 and December 2020, Thanh and Long received bribes worth nearly VND6.3 billion ($268,275) from the two taxi operators. Thanh also agreed to provide each taxi firm with an additional 12 parking lots and one pick-up slot to receive an additional VND12 million ($511) per month. The defendants violations caused losses of over VND12 billion ($511,220) to the state-run Airports Corporation of Vietnam. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!

Do Chi Thanh, former director of Phu Bai International Airport in Thua Thien-Hue Province, north-central Vietnam, on Sunday was sentenced to 15 years and six months behind bars for receiving bribes between 2017 and 2020.

The Thua Thien Hue Peoples Court also handed down the same prison term on Tran Xuan Long, former chief of the office and accountant of the airport.

In addition, Le Van Loc, former deputy director of the airport, and Le Quoc Cuong, former head of the airports aviation security division, got respective jail terms of nine and 2.5 yeras.

Phung Tuan Duong, another former deputy director of the airport, will be put on probation for three years.

All were charged with taking bribes.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Van Hien, director of Hoang Phu Thinh Joint Stock Company, the operator of Vang taxis, and Nguyen Tien Duong, director of Thanh Cong Hue Taxi Joint Stock Company, the operator of Thanh Cong taxis, were each sentenced to seven years in jail for giving bribes.

Also sentenced were Ly Dieu Thanh, chief accountant of Hoang Phu Thinh Joint Stock Company, and Tran Dinh Hai, deputy director of the company, who were subject to three-year and two-and-a-half-year probation, respectively.

According to the indictment, Phu Bai International Airport was given permission to choose enterprises that could provide taxi services at the airport through tenders.

On September 7, 2017, Do Chi Thanh established a tender team including Le Van Loc, Tran Xuan Long, and Le Quoc Cuong.

Thanh later issued regulations on the selection of taxi operators permitted to work at the airport.

In particular, three taxi operators would be accepted and given 12 parking slots for taxis and a lot to pick up passengers at the airport.

In late September 2017, the airport held tenders and Hoang Phu Thinh Joint Stock Company and Thanh Cong Hue Taxi Joint Stock Company won with a winning price of VND505 million (US$21,443) and VND180 million ($7,643), respectively, per month.

Under the regulations, the two firms had to pay VND342 million ($14,520) per month, the average of the two winning prices.

After the tenders, Duong, director of Thanh Cong Hue Taxi Joint Stock Company, met Tran Xuan Long and begged him to reduce the price, saying that the company would find it hard to offer taxi services at the airport for a long time if it had to pay such a high fee.

Do Chi Thanh and Tran Xuan Long agreed to reduce the monthly fee to VND285 million ($12,136) for Hoang Phu Thinh Joint Stock Company and VND200 million ($8,491) for Thanh Cong Hue Taxi Joint Stock Company.

However, the fee stated in official contracts between the airport and the two taxi firms was only VND120 million ($5,094) per month. The remaining amounts would be given to Tran Xuan Long, who would share with other leaders of the airport.

The directors of the two taxi firms agreed to the deal despite acknowledging that the act was illegal.

Between October 2017 and December 2020, Thanh and Long received bribes worth nearly VND6.3 billion ($268,275) from the two taxi operators.

Thanh also agreed to provide each taxi firm with an additional 12 parking lots and one pick-up slot to receive an additional VND12 million ($511) per month.

The defendants violations caused losses of over VND12 billion ($511,220) to the state-run Airports Corporation of Vietnam.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Yesterday marked 35 years since Home & Away launched on Australian television.

Alan Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, New South Wales, where he noticed locals were complaining about the construction of a foster home and against the idea of foster children from the city living in the area.

Patriarch Ray Meagher is staying in the Bay, having recently signed a new contract to stick with the Seven soap.

Speaking to The Scottish Sun, Meagher was asked why he had remained so long with the show, now extending back to January 17 1988.

I think the basic answer is the people. Weve got a wonderful crew and some of them have nearly been there as long as me, he said.

We have some wonderful actors who are now in the 10, 15 and 20 year bracket, and by and large Ive thoroughly enjoyed my time on the show.

I signed a contract last year for another five years! So Ill definitely see that out.

In 2019 Meagher signed a 3 year contract to 2022.

We work for 46 weeks of the year, but I have clauses where I can give producers a reasonable amount of notice for them to write me out to go to the UK and do pantomimes or to go to London and do Priscilla in the West End, he said at the time.

In this latest contract I said I wanted to work less weeks, so weve worked that out, but Ill still be there more often than not.

Im taking a tiny little bit of extra time  but its not a bridge to retirement, he confirmed.

Meagher is the sole remaining original cast member and he holds a Guinness World Record for being the longest-serving actor in an Australian serial.
Whats it like to work at a TV network?

Employment site Seek publishes 1000 company reviews a day submitted by former employees, including Australian TV networks.

They highlight the positive and the negative of companies and give a star rating out of 5 according to those supplied.

Like many workplaces, there are common themes about colleagues, management, hours, pay and technology.

Here are a sample of the reviews around networks drawn from across the past 5 years.

Note that in some cases they could also be referring to employment in radio, publishing etc. and Seek stresses neither they nor the employer can modify the review.

4.1: 10 / Paramount (45 reviews)

The good things:

The people make the place. There are amazing people here who value your effort and nurture your development.

Hybrid work arrangement  I currently do 2 or 3 days in the office and the rest at home. Work life balance is really great. Work is diverse and challenging enough to keep it enjoyable and myself interested. Fun company and team to work with.

Network 10 offers a great opportunity for growth and learning. Everyone on the team is supportive and keen to help in any way they can.

The people. The opportunities. The content. The inclusion.

Great development opportunities and a fantastic culture. There is never a dull moment at 10.

Ive never worked for an organisation so focused on its people. And these people love what they do and celebrate success together.

The challenges:

The pay could be better.

The technology here is a bit dated  for example our work computers are PCs, not laptops. Things are improving though. Also after merging with Viacom and then into the Paramount umbrella, connecting up all the technology infrastructure from these different entities is still a WIP.

Being part of a Global Network has the usual challenges, systems, bureaucracy etc. Working out how to navigate this is key.

We generally had to try and do more with less.. Which isnt always a bad thing!

There was little to no movement within the company and management who prioritised promoting men made moving up even more challenging. Sometimes people who were the most familiar with the details werent given enough input in decision-making processes, which I think is common everywhere, but is still frustrating & probably more so in a highly technical field.

A lot of people had \Egos\ and did not value you as a person. Sme nasty attitudes and Management was the worst.Appalling, and they dont know how to take care of their staff.

3.6: Foxtel (299 reviews)

The good things:

Good staff benefits, discounted products, free Foxtel and supportive Team Leader.

High Pay Rate, 3 breaks, flexible working rosters, friendly staff.

Very understanding company.

Free Foxtel and discounted broadband.

Good people. Good work culture.

Great company which genuinely tries to add fun to the working day. Diverse mix of employees, all inclusive atmosphere is expected and achieved. Highly skilled managers. Employees are not just numbers.

The challenges:

Low pay, high management turnover and restructuring, next to no career development or progression structure. Everything is always unfortunately about the budget , or lack thereof.

Sadly the company has felt like its on the decline the last few years. Plenty of redundancies, lack of development opportunities and management dont follow through on their promises and this is general due to making promises they know they cant keep.

No challenges Foxtel has too much support for you too ever feel challenged. the only challenge is being made redundant because you never want to leave this job.

The call quene was busy sometimes flat out non stop.

Budgets diminished, less staff, more workload for existing workers. No career advancement, stayed in same position for 5 years.

Mostly offshores to TCS in India which means job stability and security is very less. Management can decide any random day that your position is going to India.

3.6: ABC (93 reviews)

The good things:

Good culture, many supportive people, good reputation amongst the public.

Some really lovely people and lots of opportunities for improving audience and employee experience.

A work place where you feel youre working for the betterment of all Australians.

Working with the community.

Interesting place to work  good people  extremely diverse environment.

Job security, variety of work and smart, creative colleagues.

The challenges:

Extremely stressful work environment with constantly changing targets. Lack of understanding from central management and human resources.

Management can be very outdated  extremely political  a lot of waste.

No job security, top heavy management who are only interested in keeping their own jobs. Very little work life balance and never go on maternity leave, you will be made redundant. I never did but many of my colleagues did and they did not come back.

Poor management. No idea of the direction, for the projects I worked on they werent thought about and end up having no budget. I was originally told there was plenty of long term work so really wasted my time after turning down other roles.

Youre on call 24/7. Youre never off.

Appalling management. Totally self focused. Poor pay and little chance of career advancement.

3.4: SBS (55 reviews)

The good things:

Honestly would be the first company where the culture is genuinely inclusive and everyone you come into contact with is passionate, fun and enjoys working for the brand. One of the few places where you wont find many negative vibes, SLT and MD are very progressive and genuine people, this makes a real impact down the line.

The people are truly passionate about what they do. There are so many aspects to make you proud to work here. I have developed my career here and have had many opportunities for development and career progression. Their parental leave policy and other policies and procedures are very inclusive and supportive.

The people and the culture!!! without a doubt ! I have worked for a number of organisations and SBS is at the top as far as being included, respected and valued. Meeting people from the most incredible backgrounds is a highlight, with such diversity brings many strengths. SBS does live its values and has a down to earth culture. I am excited about the future and I am proud to be an employee of SBS.

The News team at SBS have a deep committment to their values and charter. They are nimble and committed to bringing a modern version of world news to Australian audiences.

Great colleagues. Great office space. Great connectivity to public transport. Great work-life balance. No one bothers you when you are on leave, after-hours or on weekends.

Great people and a really impressive focus on a healthy work culture. I always feel listened to and supported and I also really appreciate the feeling of trust from management. Its not about the money at SBS, its about the charter, and making peoples lives better

The challenges:

Overall remuneration can be a sticking point for some across the business, its not an organisation to work for if you are purely driven by $.

Being public service, some aspects can be a bit bureaucratic which can sometimes cause delays.

Lacking strong leadership, recognition, and motivation.

Budget and resource constraints. But everyone works together to make it happen.

Stale people, negative, horrible and inappropriate management, not a fair place.

About the only challenge about working at SBS is the salary. Its low compared to industry standard and you really need to ask for a pay rise, otherwise you wont get one unless you go for a new role.

3.0: Nine Network (56 reviews)

The good things:

Cutting edge technologies. Fantastic people to work with. Overall relaxed and enjoyable working environment.

Close to home. Xmas hamper.

Exciting and interesting job for a graduate journalist.

Great company and managers.

Most of the co-workers are amazing people.

Ive been able to learn new things, write stories and get noticed in the media industry. My skills have grown and Ive met new friends and future collab partners for future ventures.

The challenges:

Different departments can be quite siloed and this is not always great for collaboration and efficiency. Pay is getting better but not the highest paying in the market.

Management is non-existent, and long working hours (weekends / after hours) for little pay.

Lack of support, poor pay and flexibility and cliquey management.

Management. Lots of micro management from management that didnt know what their employees were doing. A lot of office politics as well.

Management and coworkers are hard to deal with, it is a toxic environment.

Can be clicky and being media, there are some big egos to deal with.

2.7: Seven Network (47 reviews)

The good things:

Awesome team culture. Always enjoyable coming to work when were all passionate about the same goals.

People are great and supportive. There is a diverse bunch of people who work collaboratively and want to be creative.

Hard working colleagues.

Nice work life balance.

Great culture, supportive environment and autonomous.

Everything. Loved it.

The challenges:

Its challenging to be in a side of a company with enormous growth whilst suffering from the same sort of cut-backs and restrictions placed on declining parts of the business.

The workplace culture is not great. When I look back on my experience, I realise just how badly I didnt see the toxicity. There are also many powerful personalities, both in the department I was in and in other areas that put everyone down. Also due to the age of the company and how much is going on, there is a lot to learn. Its information overload which took me a while to learn but I believe it did help me in the end.

Everything from start to finish. Double standards.

Technology department under construction former CEO was not aware of the importance of technology for TV

If youre on the bottom of the food chain, youre below everyone in all ways. The inequality is humongous.

Most of the staff are gossiping, toxic, story driven vultures. Pay is awful, hours are long. Editors dont care about employees.

Source: Seek
 Flash

China and Egypt have agreed to maintain mutual support, strengthen cooperation in various fields and deepen coordination in regional and international affairs, visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang told the press on Sunday.

Qin said that, during his visit to Egypt, the two sides had in-depth exchanges on implementing the important consensuses reached by the heads of state of the two countries, and reached broad consensus on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concerns.

China-Egypt traditional friendship and comprehensive strategic partnership are of high quality. In recent years, China-Egypt relations have achieved leapfrog development under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. Especially during the past three years, China and Egypt have strengthened their comprehensive strategic partnership by working together to fight the pandemic and helping each other, he said.

During this visit, both sides agreed that China and Egypt have solid strategic mutual trust and should continue to firmly support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns. China thanks Egypt for its valuable support on issues concerning China's core interests such as Taiwan and Xinjiang-related issues, firmly supports Egypt in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions, and supports Egypt in safeguarding national sovereignty and security and achieving development and revitalization, Qin said.

Both sides agreed that the Belt and Road cooperation between China and Egypt has yielded fruitful results and enjoys huge potential. China is ready to further synergize its development strategies with Egypt and jointly implement the Global Development Initiative. China is ready to work with Egypt to promote major projects, import more quality Egyptian products, and encourage more Chinese companies to invest and do business in Egypt to achieve greater mutual benefit and win-win results, he said.

Qin said the two sides agreed that China and Egypt, with their profound civilizations, should continue to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges, actively promote exchanges between their think tanks, youth and media, and build a deeper people-to-people bond.

Recently, China has optimized and adjusted its prevention and control measures in light of the changing situation of the pandemic, which will facilitate people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries. China appreciates Egypt welcoming Chinese tourists and believes that in the near future, the number of Chinese tourists and flights to Egypt will return to or even exceed the pre-pandemic level, Qin said.

The two sides agreed that China and Egypt share similar views and positions in regional and international affairs and need to work more closely to jointly promote the political settlement of regional hotspot issues, safeguard the basic norms governing international relations, safeguard the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs and safeguard the common interests of developing countries, he said.
ReportLinker

The Europe Military Helicopters Market is projected to register a CAGR of 15.91%. Key Highlights. Largest Market by Body Type - Multi-Mission Helicopter : Their ability to perform various combat missions is attracting several countries in the region to focus more on the procurement of these helicopters.

New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Europe Military Helicopters Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381487/?utm_source=GNW



Largest Market by Country - Italy : The countrys focus on amphibious support and special forces operations by procuring military rotorcraft is acting as a catalyst for its dominant position in the region.



Key Market Trends



Multi-Mission Helicopter is the largest segment by Body Type.



Rotorcraft demand is being fueled by an increase in military conflict, terrorism, border disputes, territory breach, and violation. To gain a military advantage over the opposition, the regional armed forces are also upgrading the capabilities of helicopters with cutting-edge technologies.

Ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine are encouraging various countries in the region to spend at least 2% of their GDP, which is a NATO standard, on their military. Thus, the countries are opting for the procurement of advanced helicopters to counter the threats in an effective way.

There are currently 3,363 helicopters in operation in Europe. With 1,632 helicopter operational forces, Russia possesses the most helicopters in the region. France and Italy have active fleets of 478 and 435 helicopters, respectively, after Russia. Multi-mission helicopters are expected to record the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Multi-mission helicopters can be used for close air support for ground troops and anti-tank operations to destroy enemy armor. Multi-mission helicopters are accountable for 38% of the total helicopter active fleet in the region, the highest, followed by others and transport helicopters, accounting for 32% and 30%, respectively.

A total of 901 helicopters are expected to be procured in Europe over the forecast period, mainly by Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the Rest of Europe, which may drive the demand for rotorcrafts in the region.



Italy is the largest segment by Country.



In 2021, Europe spent USD 418 billion on its military, an increase of 10% over 2020. Military R&D and weaponry purchases accounted for most of Europes defense expenditure rise. By the end of March 2022, numerous European NATO member nations announced plans to increase military expenditures in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, aiming to meet or exceed the NATO spending target of 2% of GDP or higher.

In total, 26 of the 27 European NATO nations had available financing for their armed forces in 2021. Among the 26 countries, 8 spent at least 2% of their GDP on the military in 2021, a decrease from 9 in 2020.

Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the Rest of Europe plan to purchase helicopters from 2022 to 2028. A total of 901 helicopters are expected to be delivered in Europe during the forecast period.

Russias major procurement includes the Mi-28NM attack helicopter and Mi-38 transport helicopter. The UK is also procuring an AH-64E attack helicopter and a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter.

France also ordered the H225M, the A400M transport helicopter, and the H160M utility helicopter. Germany is also procuring the NH-90 Attack Helicopters. During the forecast period, Romania and Hungary also plan to expand their fleet by procuring 60 and 18 helicopters.



Competitive Landscape



The Europe Military Helicopters Market is fairly consolidated, with the top five companies occupying 107.74%. The major players in this market are Airbus SE, BAE Systems, Leonardo S.p.A, MD Helicopters LLC. and Russian Helicopters (sorted alphabetically).



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381487/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Story continues

CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




By Timour Azhari and David Gauthier-Villars

BEIRUT (Reuters) - European prosecutors in Beirut this week examined bank transfer documents related to an investigation into whether Lebanon's central bank chief Riad Salameh and his brother embezzled public funds, four people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Prosecutors from Germany, France and Luxembourg, who are conducting a cross-border money laundering probe, suspect Riad Salameh and his brother Raja illegally took more than $300 million from the central bank between 2002 and 2015, European judicial officials said, mirroring a Swiss probe into the case.

A Lebanese judge charged Riad Salameh with illicit enrichment in March in a separate but related probe.

The central bank governor and his brother deny the accusations. Riad Salameh has said he is being made a scapegoat for Lebanon's deep financial crisis that erupted in 2019.

The European prosecutors, who have yet to file any formal charges, suspect the two men used some of the money to acquire real estate assets in France and across Europe, according to European officials and French court documents seen by Reuters.

Property and accounts worth $130 million have been frozen across Europe in connection with the case, according to European officials and French court documents.

The Salameh brothers have challenged the seizure of assets in France, their lawyers say. A French court is hearing the case.

The documents viewed by the visiting European prosecutors included bank records listing money transfers which Raja Salameh made via Lebanese banks, the people familiar with the matter said.

European officials said it would be the first time the prosecutors had seen the transfer details that could help track the flow of funds. Lebanese prosecutors conducting a parallel probe had not shared those findings until now, they added.

Lebanon's top prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat, did not respond to a request for comment on what documents were viewed by the European prosecutors.

Story continues

FINANCIAL COLLAPSE

The Salameh brothers have denied diverting or laundering public funds, saying the $300 million were earned as part of legitimate business activity.

They have said the probes are part of a coordinated campaign to blame Riad Salameh, who has been the governor of Banque du Liban over three decades, for Lebanon's 2019 financial collapse that has paralysed its banks and impoverished the nation.

The crisis erupted after Lebanon racked up huge debts over three decades after the 1975-1990 civil war.

A French lawyer for Riad Salameh said the case had been politicised and his client kept a strict separation of his money and central bank assets.

"In the case file I have access to, there is no diagram of financial flows that would directly implicate Riad Salameh through a confusion of his assets and accounts, and those of the central bank," the lawyer, Pierre-Olivier Sur, told Reuters.

Raja Salameh denied any embezzlement of public funds, a person close to the governor's brother said.

The 72-year-old governor has previously said his wealth was built up from money he earned as a banker at Merrill Lynch before he became governor in 1993.

The people familiar with the matter said banking records supplied by the Lebanese authorities were being examined by the team of European prosecutors who arrived in Beirut last week and who would stay until at least Friday.

They said the prosecutors on Monday began the first of about a dozen hearings with witnesses in Beirut, including current and former employees of the central bank, senior bankers and other financial officials.

The hearings are led by Lebanese judges who relay questions from the European prosecutors, they said.

Lebanese prosecutors gained access to the banking documents in May. Two Lebanese judicial sources and one European official said the data could not be shared at that time because Riad Salameh had filed a legal challenge against the magistrate conducting their investigation.

The magistrate was removed from the case a few days ago, Lebanon's Oueidat said, allowing for judicial cooperation with the Europeans to resume. Oueidat said a new judge would be appointed soon.

Riad Salameh retains the support of some of Lebanon's most powerful politicians, including Nabih Berri, the parliament speaker who has held that top post for decades.

($1 = 0.9236 euros)

(Reporting by Timour Azhari in Beirut and David Gauthier-Villars in Istanbul; Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul in Dubai and Laila Bassam and Maya Gebeily in Beirut; Editing by Tom Perry and Edmund Blair)
By Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's cabinet is likely to decide on Jan. 19 the fate of two influential Treasury officials, sources said, with nationalist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni seen as pushing to appoint figures closer to her right-wing administration in key jobs.

Rome is due to decide to either confirm or remove the Treasury department director general Alessandro Rivera and the head of state auditors Biagio Mazzotta, both at the centre of Italian policymaking for years.

The right-wing bloc, which swept to power in a resounding election victory in September, has until Jan. 24 to replace heads of ministry departments, but Meloni aims to make a decision over the two officials before her trip to Algeria scheduled on Jan. 22-23, three government sources said.

The Treasury declined to comment.

State auditors are responsible for ensuring that expensive measures laid out by ministers and lawmakers are funded by compensatory measures so as not to weigh on the public deficit, a role that often upsets ruling politicians.

Treasury Director General Rivera in particular is in the crosshairs of Meloni and her top aides, who are unhappy with his handling of Italy's main financial dossiers, the sources added.

These include the privatisation of national airline ITA Airways and efforts to relaunch the country's fifth largest bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), which is 64%-owned by the Treasury following a 2017 bailout that cost taxpayers 5.4 billion euros ($5.84 billion).

CRUNCH PHASE

Meloni said last month that MPS had been "very badly handled" so far at great expense to Italian taxpayers, a remark which some politicians took as an indirect criticism of Rivera.

However, Meloni conceded MPS's restructuring agreed last year by Rivera's top team with the European Commission "appears rather solid".

Soon after Meloni took office, Italy in November pumped another 1.6 billion euros into MPS as part of a planned 2.5 billion euro recapitalisation.

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With talks within key government figures entering crunch phase, the sources cautioned that Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti had so far rebuffed calls to replace Rivera, who served under three administrations.

Rivera deputises for the economy minister at G7 and G20 meetings and his department manages a public debt of roughly 150% of national output, the euro zone's second highest after Greece's.

ITA Airways chairman Antonino Turicchi and the head of public procurement agency Consip Cristiano Cannarsa are seen by separate government sources as potential candidates to replace Rivera.

Stefano Scalera and Stefano Cappiello, two Treasury officials who respectively help to implement Italy's post-COVID Recovery Plan and oversee financial regulation, are also under consideration for the position.

Contacted by Reuters, none of them replied to requests for comment.

Meloni will also in the next few months have to decide whether to replace or reappoint chairmen and CEOs when the boards of state-controlled energy groups ENI and Enel come up for renewal along with those of MPS, defence group Leonardo and power grid Terna.

($1 = 0.9225 euros)

(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Angelo Amante; Editing by Susan Fenton)
ReportLinker

The South America Specialty Fertilizer Market is projected to register a CAGR of 7.33%. Key Highlights. Largest segment by Speciality Type - Liquid Fertilizer : Liquid fertilizers can penetrate the the soil easily allow plants to absorb nutrients more quickly, reduce fertilizer waste and can be applied to either ground or foliar.

New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "South America Specialty Fertilizer Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381451/?utm_source=GNW



Fastest growing by Speciality Type - Liquid Fertilizer : Increasing trend in mechanization of the irrigation systems in the region, directly increase the demand for liquid fertilizers that allow plants to absorb nutrients quickly.

Largest Segment by Crop Type - Horticultural Crops : There is an increasing trend in the fertilizer use due to the shift of growers from field crop to horticultural crop, which led to a 1.46% increase in area between 2020-2021.

Largest segment by Country - Brazil : Brazil alone accounts for about 61% of the total crop area in the South American region. Which is about 74.61 million hectares of agricultural land in the country.



Key Market Trends



Liquid Fertilizer is the largest segment by Speciality Type.



Water-soluble fertilizers in South America accounted for 41.98% of total specialty fertilizer value in 2021. Water-soluble fertilizers (WSF) simplify nutrition management as nutrient levels are not affected by leaching or erosion. Fertigation makes the most important component of modern agricultural systems, such as hydroponic and drip irrigation techniques, simple to use with minimal effort.

Liquid fertilizers accounted for approximately 19.27% of the specialty fertilizer market in South America in 2021, as growers in South America are becoming more aware of the advantages of liquid fertilizers, which penetrate the soil easily and allow plants to absorb nutrients more quickly. They also help reduce fertilizer waste and can be applied to either ground or foliar. As a result, liquid fertilizers have a huge opportunity to expand in South America in the coming years.

The controlled-release fertilizer market in the region grew by 50.1% during the study period. It is estimated to record a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period.

The polymer-coated controlled-release fertilizers accounted for 56.96% of the total controlled-release market in 2021. Presently, the market is being driven by a growing interest in creating innovative and environmentally safe controlled-release fertilizers. The CRF market is expected to record a CAGR of 5.27% during the forecast period.

Slow-release fertilizers continuously release a small number of nutrients over time. They accounted for 61.03% of the market value during the study period.



Hence, with the growing market potential for specialty-type fertilizers, the segment is anticipated to grow significantly during the forecast period.



Brazil is the largest segment by Country.



Brazil is a growing market in terms of agriculture and is a major supplier of commodities like rice, maize, soybean, coffee, etc., to the international market. The specialty fertilizer market in Brazil was valued at USD 4.40 billion in 2021, with a volume consumption of 4.7 million metric tons.

Agriculture in Argentina is fundamental for its economy, and the country is a major grower and exporter of important crops like wheat, corn, and soybean annually, which consume a high amount of fertilizers. For instance, the average application rate of primary nutrients in the country is 259.4kg/ha, and Argentina accounted for 8.0% of the total specialty fertilizer consumption in the region in 2021.

There has been a growth in the consumption volume, which has increased from 15.8 million metric tons in 2017 to 18.3 million metric tons in 2021. The market value grew till 2019, when the COVID-19 outbreak globally caused trade and supply chain barriers. Since the region is highly import-dependent on fertilizers, the region saw a dip in 2020 to USD 3.00 billion.

Rest of South American countries like Chile, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, etc., together accounted for 52.0% of the total specialty fertilizer consumption in the region in 2021, with water-soluble fertilizers being the most consumed with a volume of 5.8 million metric ton.

Hence, the market for specialty fertilizers in the region is anticipated to grow due to the increased area under cultivation and increasing climatic risks that pose agricultural threats like droughts and heatwaves, boosting the adoption of efficient fertilizers.



Competitive Landscape



The South America Specialty Fertilizer Market is fragmented, with the top five companies occupying 9.92%. The major players in this market are Israel Chemicals Ltd, Mosaic, Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQM), TIMAC Agro and Yara brasil (sorted alphabetically).



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381451/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




A shooting in California that left six people dead was not a random act of violence, police have said.

The victims, including a 17-year-old mother and a six-month-old baby, were shot dead at a home in Goshen, Tulare County on Monday.

We do not believe that this is a random act of violence, we believe that this is very targeted, this is very personal, Tulare County Sheriffs Office said.

What we want to do is make sure we do everything we can to bring justice to the victims of this crime.

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The operator of membership warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean becomes the first in the region to reimagine the consumer shopping experience with new Toshiba, cloud-enabled, technology

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., January 16, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PriceSmart is the first retailer in Latin America to adopt the ELERATM Commerce Platform from Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions as the international membership warehouse club looks to transform its front-end experience for its members.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230116005117/en/

PriceSmart is the first retailer in Latin America to adopt the ELERA Commerce Platform from Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions as the international membership warehouse club looks to transform its front-end experience for its members. (Photo: Business Wire)

"We are honored and humbled that PriceSmart selected Toshiba as its transformation partner to harness the power of our platform to re-imagine their retail environment and create a greater connection with members," says Bill Campbell, Senior Vice President Head of Global Sales at Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. "From the start, transparency and open communication regarding the overall objective of the project, its timelines, and implementation approach were key factors to establishing this relationship."

As a highly skilled and technically savvy retailer, ELERAs self-enablement feature was crucial in PriceSmart's decision to incorporate ELERA into its entire IT, retail enterprise. The feature allows them to react to rapid changes in business and technology while incorporating new functionality and offerings in a self-directed, agile manner. Additionally, their broad base of operations in multiple countries creates unique opportunities for improved response times.

"We've selected the ELERA platform to extend our comprehensive scope of services and offerings to our members," says Juan Ignacio Biehl, Executive Vice President, Digital Experience and Chief Technology Officer at PriceSmart. "It was also important for our team to establish and learn the backend of the POS software solution together to determine specific capabilities for our retail needs."

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The rollout will begin by replacing PriceSmart's current legacy POS system with ELERA. Supported by Toshiba's premier business partner Rhiscom, Toshiba will provide services and update the retailer's hardware and operating systems as part of a comprehensive end-to-end solutions refresh. Industry leaders in system integration, Rhiscom developers will help ensure a seamless software implementation that will extend to consulting and maintenance services as the project progresses. The Toshiba TCxSky operating system will also be installed on the new hardware provided by Toshiba partner GBM.

"As a global leader in retail store technology, we look forward to working with PriceSmart and our valued business partner Rhiscom to deliver an engaging and unique experience across their Latin America clubs," continues Campbell.

Toshiba continues to earn positive interest from customers, partners, and industry analysts since ELERA launched. This year, the company was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: "Worldwide Point-of-Sale Software Vendors in Grocery and Food Store Retail 2022 Vendor Assessment (doc #US46743220, May 2022)."

About Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions is a global market share leader in retail store technology and retails first choice for unified commerce solutions. Together with a global team of dedicated business partners, we advance the future of retail with innovative commerce solutions that enhance customer engagement, transform the in-store experience, and accelerate digital transformation. To learn more, visit commerce.toshiba.com and engage with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

About PriceSmart

PriceSmart, headquartered in San Diego, owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in Latin America and the Caribbean, selling high quality merchandise and services at low prices to PriceSmart Members. PriceSmart operates 50 warehouse clubs in 12 countries and one U.S. territory (nine in Colombia; eight in Costa Rica; seven in Panama; five in the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, four in Trinidad; three in Honduras; two each in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Jamaica; and one each in Aruba, Barbados and the United States Virgin Islands). In addition, the Company plans to open a warehouse club in San Miguel, El Salvador in the spring of 2023 and a warehouse club in Medellin, Colombia in the summer of 2023. Once these two new clubs are open, the Company will operate 52 warehouse clubs.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230116005117/en/

Contacts

PriceSmart, Inc.

Rosa Soto

VP of Corporate Communications

rsoto@pricesmart.com

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions

Elizabeth Romero

Director, Corporate Communications

elizabeth.romero@toshibagcs.com
Scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda to be considered by Court of Appeal

The UK Governments plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda will be challenged at the Court of Appeal.

Two judges dismissed a series of legal challenges against the Home Offices policy in December, following a High Court challenge.

But, at a hearing on Monday, they gave the go-ahead for their aspects of their ruling to be reconsidered by senior judges.

The Court of Appeal will be asked to consider a range of issues, including whether the High Court judges were wrong to find there were sufficient safeguards to prevent asylum seekers being returned to a country where they were at risk of persecution, and whether the scheme is systemically unfair.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she remained committed to sending migrants to Rwanda as soon as possible (PA)

Lord Justice Lewis and Mr Justice Swift granted permission to appeal to a number of individual claimants and charity Asylum Aid.

Asylum Aid, which provides legal advice to asylum seekers and refugees, will challenge parts of the December ruling related to the safety of Rwanda for migrants.

In a statement, solicitor Carolin Ott of law firm Leigh Day, who represents the charity, said: Asylum Aid is relieved that the court has rightly recognised there are compelling reasons for its case to be heard in the Court of Appeal.

We look forward to presenting our clients case that the procedure adopted by the Home Office to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is unfair and consequently unlawful.

No date has been set for the hearing, and the Court of Appeal may also be asked to consider other issues which Lord Justice Lewis and Mr Justice Swift refused permission to appeal against.

In April last year, then-home secretary Priti Patel signed an agreement with Rwanda for it to receive migrants deemed by the UK to have arrived illegally, and therefore inadmissible under new immigration rules.

Several challenges were brought against the proposals, which were described at the time as a world-first agreement in a bid to deter migrants from crossing the Channel.

The first deportation flight  due to take off on June 14  was then grounded amid a series of objections against individual removals and the policy as a whole.

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Then-home secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan minister for foreign affairs and international co-pperation, Vincent Biruta, signing the deal in April (PA)

However, at the High Court in London in December, senior judges rejected arguments that the plans were unlawful.

Lord Justice Lewis, sitting with Mr Justice Swift, dismissed the challenges against the policy  which has already seen the UK pay Rwanda 140 million  as a whole.

However, they did rule in favour of eight asylum seekers, finding the Government had acted wrongly in their individual cases.

Following the ruling, current Home Secretary Suella Braverman said she remained committed to sending migrants to Rwanda as soon as possible.

The UK Government has refused to put a date on when the first flight to Kigali could take off, recognising the threat of further legal action.

The Home Office previously said ministers stand ready to defend against further legal challenges to the Rwanda deportation policy.
Peruvian farmers made their way to Lima to protest against President Dina Boluarte. Thousands of people mobilised following weeks of deadly unrest and a state of emergency. At least 42 people have died over 5 weeks of clashes between protesters and security forces.

On Monday demonstrations took place in the city of Cusco and the southern town of Ilave, where angry Castillo supporters called for the resignation of Boluarte, the closure of Congress and fresh elections.

Since the final decision lies with Lima, at least 3,000 protesters from Andahuaylas in south-eastern Peru were heading for Lima on Monday in a caravan of trucks and buses.

Watch video in player above.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari over a plane crash in the country.

In his message, Xi said that upon learning of the plane crash in Nepal, which caused heavy casualties, he would like to express deep condolences over the fatalities and offer sincere sympathies to the bereaved families on behalf of the Chinese government and people.

Also on Monday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a message of condolence to Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
The Maryland Made program works to help student-athletes at Maryland further develop themselves professionally and academically while creating relationships and a sense of community outside of the playing field.

Kirstin Nichols first got involved in the program during her freshman year after coming to her dream school to compete on the Track and Field team.

"I wanted to come to Maryland since I was a sophomore in high school. At the time I was really set on being a journalism major, and I knew Maryland has a really good journalism program, and it's super close to home."

"My freshman year of college, my teammate was the SAAC president so that definitely got it on my mind as a potential thing I might be interested in, in the future. I did think it was cool she was participating in all these different events that I didn't know about otherwise," said Nichols.

After hearing about Maryland Made, Nichols saw it as a way to make friends and get more involved with the closely-knit community of student-athletes at Maryland. She would then earn a role on the SAAC board, where she became the program's communications liaison.

"I got involved originally as the communications liaison for the SAAC executive board. I applied to that my freshman year of college. I was really interested in applying because that was the COVID year and I feel like I had gone all year without really getting to meet many people. I viewed it as a way to get to know more Maryland athletes. I was also excited about learning more about the communications and marketing perspective of the field I was in."
Dr. Nicholas Hudson to Lead Roman Pottery Studies at Greeces Athenian Agora

In a career-defining moment for archaeologist Dr. Nicholas Hudson, UNCW associate professor of art history, the American School of Classical Studies at Athens has named him the Roman pottery lead of excavations of the Agora of Athens in Greece.

Hudson, an expert in eastern Mediterranean archaeology, studies ancient pottery to learn more about the everyday lives of people. Since 1998, he has worked on archaeological projects in Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece to discover ways in which pottery was used during the Roman Empire.

Pottery is the most common archaeological artifact at ancient sites in the Mediterranean, which makes it a valuable tool for archaeological interpretation, Hudson explained.

By examining relics like large transport jars that would have contained wine and olive oil to smaller table vessels used for eating and serving, specialists like Hudson can draw conclusions about trading, the economy, and cultural trends in social drinking and eating.

My research has always explored innovative ways with which to approach archaeological ceramics to improve our understanding of past behaviors at an intimate, interpersonal level, he said.

Much of Hudsons work has focused on foodwayshow people procured, cooked and ate foodin the Roman Empire. His work in the Athenian Agora, which will begin this summer, will continue this trajectory.

The Athenian Agora, perceived as the cradle of western civilization, is an absolute bedrock institution for all archaeology related to the Greek and Roman world in the Mediterranean, Hudson said.

In ancient times, the Agora grew from being a marketplace for trading and socializing to a vibrant hub for city government and politics. Nearly 100 years of systematic excavations have produced unparalleled data sets of artifacts to study this transformation.

The American School of Classic Studies at Athensa consortium of nearly 200 North American colleges and universitiesoversees the research at the Agora, after being given the exclusive rights by the Greek government in 1931 to excavate the site. Scholars like Hudson have been digging there non-stop ever since.

Hudsons new role as Roman pottery lead will include examining a small section of the site that is still untouched, however, he is most excited about having access to the existing artifacts and data.

My primary interest is to stand on the shoulders of the influential figures who have studied Roman pottery in the Agora before meespecially Henry Robinson and John Hayesto move studies of the same material in new directions.

In a first-of-its-kind study, Hudson will use the vast body of work at the Athenian Agora to examine changing patterns of culinary traditions and social dining practices over the 600-year course of the Roman Empire.

My ambition is to better understand how the people of the Roman Empire expressed their social identities and worldviews through meal preparation and consumption, Hudson said. My intention is to use archaeology to provide a voice to the voiceless populations of imperial Roman history.

In addition to his research, Hudson will advise graduate students from other academic institutions around the world interested in studying Roman pottery in the Athenian Agora. He is also the author of the forthcoming book Communion. Dining at the End of Antiquity, which examines private dining experiences of the wealthy and poor and how they changed over time in relation to political and social changes.

-- Krissy Vick

#CAS
Students in the University of North Georgia's (UNG) Mike Cottrell College of Business toured Southern Companys Plant Vogtle last November at the invitation of Public Service Commissioner Tim Echols.

Louisa Schlesiger, Raven Dodson-Bankston, Sara Bruni, Tristan Taylor, all seniors pursuing bachelor's degrees in management; Joe Wytanis, a Cottrell Master of Business Administration student; and alumnus Matthew Frey attended the tour.

Hugh Scott, UNG lecturer of management, reached out to Echols about the opportunity. The students also participated in a post-tour segment on "Energy Matters," Echols' podcast.

Wytanis found the experience particularly insightful.

"As someone who works professionally in a completely different industry than energy, it was fun to learn about the systems and processes that contribute to a major part of our energy grid in Georgia," Wytanis said.

Schlesiger, a Lawrenceville, GA, resident, also appreciated the unusual nature of the tour.

I felt honored to participate in these experiences. Nuclear power is usually not something that is discussed in detail, nor do we get to see a nuclear power plant in person. So this was memorable," Schlesiger said. "Energy matters, especially for our generation and those that follow, so this felt like a starting point for me in terms of personal interest and career aspirations."

Scott already sees the possibilities for future similar student experiences.

"I'd love to incorporate this more into my teaching. It's a matter of finding out where students curiosity is and tying it back to the subjects youre discussing," Scott said. "These things are not just words in a textbook. When you can do these things, they become tangible."
The Long An WorldSteel Group building is at Lot Q9-10-15-16, St. No.7, Hai Son Industrial Park (Phase 3+4), Duc Hoa Ha Commune, Duc Hoa District, Long An Province. The building was designed with steel structure solutions manufactured at the WorldSteel Long An factory.

The development of the WorldSteel Group in recent years has led to the growth of the human resources apparatus, along with a need for an increase in workspaces. Following the people-centric strategy, the board of directors advocated building a large-scale headquarters, not only to expand business activities but also to create a convenient and comfortable environment that would stimulate creativity among employees.

The office building in Long An prioritises the operations team with the goal of responding quickly to activities related to production and quality, and the needs of domestic and international clients.

At the ceremony on January 14, Nguyen Khanh Lam, founder, chairman and general director of the company, said the building was built with full functions and multi-utilities: open workspaces, green landscaping, parks, and many other relaxation areas. "WorldSteel Group Long An aims to bring all employees peace of mind and happiness in their workplace," Lam said.

In 10 years of establishment and development, WorldSteel has resonated in the industrial construction industry with many projects in industrial parks across Viet Nam.

WorldSteel's prominent projects include general contractor of the Tien Giang Tongwei project, Hai Duong Tongwei of Tongwei Group, Hau Giang Sunpro Steel complex project, Tay Ninh Brotex yarn factory project Phase 3+4, the general contractor of the advanced battery factory complex project invested in by the Singapore GPPD Energy Co. in Binh Phuoc, many bidding packages in the Dung Quat-Quang Ngai Hoa Phat project.

Other key projects include the Long Son petrochemical project's H&I-8 warehouse 2 package, steel structure exports to foreign markets, especially in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar), Australia, and the United States.

The company has been awarded the AC472 certificate, a quality management system for official steel structure products for export to the US market.

In 2019, WorldSteel's first office building was built at 55 Le Thuc Hoach, Phu Tho Hoa, Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City.

WorldSteel also acts as the general contractor of a series of large industrial construction projects that are exporting steel structure projects to the international market.
HA NOI  In continuation of moving their production hubs, this year many of the giants in the world of technology and electronics have announced business expansion plans in Viet Nam.

Recently, Apple revealed that it will move its MacBook production chain to Viet Nam in 2023. It has asked Foxconn, its biggest supplier, to launch a MacBook production chain in Viet Nam from May this year, while making plans to produce Macbook Pros in Viet Nam.

In 2025, about 20 per cent of the total number of iPads and Apple Watches will be produced in Viet Nam, along with 5 per cent of the MacBooks and 65 per cent of AirPods. Currently, 25 out of the 190 partners of Apple are running their factories in Viet Nam.

Foxconn, after investing US$1.5 billion in Viet Nam, plans to invest an additional $300 million in the Fukang factory in Quang Chau Industrial Park in northern Bac Giang Province.

Another Apple supplier, Goertek has announced its additional $300 million investment in Bac Giang Province. Meanwhile, Lxshare, which will assemble iPhone 15 Pro Max, is running six factories in Viet Nam with a total of 40,000 labourers.

At the same time, computer producer Dell is striving to make sure all of its chips are produced outside China.

Electronics firm Pegatron is also building a factory worth about $481 million in Hai Phong, while considering moving its R&D centre from China to Viet Nam at a suitable time.

Many other big companies such as OPPO, HP and Bose are also considering the relocation of production plants to Viet Nam, while others, including Xiaomi, Bosch, Panasonic, Amkor, Sharp and Compal, also plan to expand their business presence in the country.

Particularly, Korean firm Samsung, after pouring $18 billion and launching Southeast Asias largest R&D centre in Viet Nam, also plans to raise its investment in Viet Nam to $20 billion.

Another Korean electronics company, LG, is also making plans to inject additional $4 billion in Viet Nam.

Dr. Ho Quoc Tuan, a lecturer at Bristol University, commented that Viet Nam is benefiting from the diversification of production locations of international businesses.

Experts attributed the phenomenon to Viet Nams advantages such as low-cost workforce, and the countrys engagement in 15 free trade agreements covering more than 50 countries, as well as Viet Nams political stability.  VNS
DAVOS  Viet Nam has identified green growth, and green transformation as important growth engines in the long term and is actively implementing a roadmap to realise such goals.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha made the statement as he attended and spoke at a session with corporations and investment funds on digital transformation, innovative start-ups, green finance and sustainable development held on Monday (local time) within the framework of the 53rd World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos.

According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Geneva, the dialogue was attended by Philipp Rosler, former Deputy Chancellor of Germany, Honorary Consul of Viet Nam in Switzerland, and leaders and representatives of a number of corporations and multinational investment funds.

Deputy PM Ha said Viet Nam was actively implementing a plan to amend and supplement the legal framework in order to mobilise and encourage green finance, technology, production, and investment, as well as properly implement green transition, energy transition, transition to a circular economy and low carbon economy.

In addition, with the need for digital transformation at all levels and in all fields, Viet Nam has strong demand for cooperation in digital transformation and exploitation of digital resources, he noted.

Deputy PM Ha called on corporations to step up investment, support Viet Nam in green growth, and well implement international commitments on sustainable development and climate change, including UNCOP26 commitments on net zero by 2050, and to raise more capital to implement the Just Energy Transition Partnership.

At the dialogue, Deputy PM Ha also answered many questions and concerns of investors.

Leaders of corporations expressed their impressions of Viet Nams GDP growth and congratulated Viet Nam on its economic development achievements, and highly valued Viet Nams economic prospects.

The investors expressed their strong impression of Viet Nams commitment to net zero made at UNCOP26 as well as the negotiation process for the Just Energy Transition Partnership, wishing to accompany the Vietnamese Government.

They said they would study investment opportunities and implement green projects in Viet Nam in the future.  VNS
by Nguyen My Ha

When writer Nam Cao wrote Chi Pheo in 1941, he not only created one of Viet Nam's literary masterpieces of the 20th century, but the fictional name he gave to his home village also became known across the country. Nam Cao's home village of ai Hoang has become Vu ai, a village of desperate human fates, who were forced into destitution and poverty.

The stories were written before the August Revolution, which gave birth to today's Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Later in 1982, based on several of his short stories, a black and white film was made titled, Lang Vu ai Ngay Ay, (Vu ai village in those days).

But the name of Vu ai once again made headlines across the country, not for its poverty or austerity, but for one of its delicacies  the fish stew.

Among the items for Vietnamese people's Tet food tray, the fish stew used to be a must-have. It seems that today, each village claims their delicacy is the best, but the fish stew often uses big fish living in the pond, and only caught at the end of the year, when they clean the pond and change the water.

The black carp, which often live in the lower bed of ponds, lakes or rivers, can weigh up to more than 10kg and measure 1.8m long. The best fish for the stew weigh from 4 or 5 to 7 kilos. They used to be caught in the wild, but due to recent high demand for Tet, the black carp are grown in fish farms and fed with snails and corn, thus are named snail carp.

Outside of Viet Nam, these fish are also found in the Amur river, and called black amur, or in China where it's known as black Chinese roach. Ha Noi's biggest freshwater lake, Ho Tay, or West Lake, is also home to black carp.

We made it to ai Hoang village to look at how these terracotta fish stew pots were made. Tran Duy The, 73, the masterchef of the fish stew, was demonstrating how he cleaned the fish, marinated the pieces and then heated the pot on wood furnaces for up to 14 hours.

He shows a fish of a little above 5kg, gutted it and cleaned it with fresh lemon juice, then again with rock salt. Then he marinated the fish with pounded ginger, galangal, dried shallot, chili, fish sauce, field crab sauce, lemon juice, pork belly meat and pepper.

Tran Duy The used to cook this fish stew for his fellow soldiers during his two times serving in the army. He joined the military first in 1972, then demobbed in 1975 when Viet Nam was reunified. In 1979, he picked up arms again to fight the border war until he retired in 1988. His fellow soldiers used to visit him in the village and he would cook for them. The dish was simple, little did he know then that it would be a source of additional income in his later years.

"My father shares his recipe with our sister," says Tran Duy Ninh, his youngest son, an army officer-turned-CEO of the family company. This is quite shocking, as in many craft families, the secrets are taught only to the daughter-in-law, not to their daughters, as they would marry out and spread the recipe out of the family circle.

"We believe that the further we share it, the more people would want to try our products," his son said. "And in cooking, even if you have the recipe, each person shall make a different dish, they shall not taste the same."

What he said is definitely true, because today, families living in the city can never have a wood furnace to cook a fish pot for over 10 hours. And even in ai Hoang village, each family's fish pot has a difference, you'll need to try them to tell.

In the rush for Tet, Ninh said his family would employ a couple of people to help with the processing, but the major chef shall be his father with his sister as sous chef.

"We need to keep our father in good shape, not to make him work too hard. In the end, it is still a home delicacy, cooked with love and care. So we want our father to be well and in good shape for Tet."

If you want to visit the village today, you can still ask for Vu ai Village, because it no longer stands for destitute, today's Vu ai means great fish pot stews. VNS
NEW YORK  UN Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix has lauded Viet Nams active engagement and strong performance in UN peacekeeping activities as well as the countrys commitments to implementing UN targets, especially the ratio of female Vietnamese peacekeepers.

Lacroix, who visited Viet Nam last month, made the praise while meeting Ambassador ang Hoang Giang, Permanent Representative of Viet Nam to the United Nations (UN) on January 16 to seek measures to further promote cooperation between Viet Nam and the UN.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General said that he witnessed and was impressed by the Vietnamese Engineering Units successful completion of difficult tasks assigned at the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

He said that the UN is willing to support Viet Nam during the process of preparing forces, training and carrying out pre-feasibility assessment as well as building the necessary capacity.

He said that the two sides should coordinate closely in defining areas for cooperation, which are of the UNs demands and Viet Nams experience and capacity, thus further bolstering the Viet Nam-UN partnership.

Ambassador Giang thanked the UN for assisting Viet Nams efforts in UN peacekeeping.

He underlined that promoting cooperation with the UN, including the increase of its involvement in peacekeeping activities, is one of the priorities in Viet Nams external relations. Viet Nam will continue to support targets and programmes of the UN within its capacity, including its commitments to increasing the number of women peacekeepers joining peacekeeping operations.

On the occasion, Ambassador Giang proposed that Under-Secretary-General Jean-Pierre Lacroix and UN agencies continue to give Viet Nam support in building capacity, especially for military and police forces joining peacekeeping operations, as well as other practical assistance, thus enabling Viet Nam to better meet requirements and demands of the UN in carrying out UN peacekeeping operations.  VNS
The move is part of the company's efforts to reduce its dependence on China and strengthen its supply chain in Southeast Asia. The investment in northern Vietnam would be greater than $250 million, according to a Reuters report. This will increase the footprint of its parent company in Vietnam where its electronic unit manufactures solar panels.

The company is looking to lease 80 hectares of industrial land to build the plant. The sources told Reuters that negotiations are currently taking place to choose a location for the Vietnam factory. Construction work is expected to begin by the middle of the year.

Once completed, the plant will export components to its planned assembly plant in Thailand. The Vietnam-based operation will also serve the local market through maintenance services and spare parts for BYD vehicles imported from China.

With the investment in Vietnam, BYD hopes to increase capacity, manage costs, and diversify manufacturing away from its operations in China, where demand has been high.

The company's expansion comes at a time when more manufacturers are ramping up their relocation out of China to reduce their reliance amid the trade conflict with the US and manufacturing disruption caused by China's Zero-COVID policy.

Chinas FDI inflows to Vietnam to increase: Agriseco Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow from China to Vietnam is expected to rise as China is to reopen its doors and resume flights between the two countries, according to Agribank Securities Company (Agriseco).

Vietnam emerges as an attractive alternative location for supply chain diversification According to a new global survey released by Germanys Container xChange this week, businesses around the world deem Vietnam and India as attractive alternative locations for the diversification of their supply chains away from China this year.
Dozens wounded from oil tanker explosion in central Thailand on January 17 (Photo source: laprensalatina.com)

Hanoi - An oil tanker explosion in central Thailand's Samut Songkhram province on January 17 injured dozens of people.

According to the Thai national daily Matichon, the explosion occurred at around 9:15 am local time when the tanker docked at a shipyard on Mae Klong River in Muang district exploded and caused a fire.

Several workers are reportedly missing and houses were damaged after the explosion.

Rescuers are trying to control the fire and evacuate the injured.

Thailand sees bright future for electric vehicle market in 2023 Thailand's electric vehicle (EV) market will continue to gain momentum in 2023, with sales expected to reach between 25,000 and 35,000 units, according to the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI).

Thailand says no Covid test needed for travellers from China Thai authorities said Thursday that travellers from China could enter the kingdom without pre-departure coronavirus tests, hoping their return would be a shot in the arm for the country's tourism sector recovery.

Thailand reports first case of XAY.2 variant Thailand has seen its first confirmed case of the XAY.2 variant of COVID-19 but people close to the patient were not infected, the Thai Health Ministrys Department of Medical Sciences said on January 6.
Specifically, the company delivered gifts to hundreds of pediatric patients and orphans at the Tan Trieu K Hospital in Hanoi and the Thien Than Shelter in Ho Chi Minh City.

The company also organised Thuong Minh (Love Oneself) activities to inspire the community during the year-end holiday season.

From the beginning of December, Generali Vietnam has organised the Thap sang nu cuoi dem Giang sinh (Lighting up the childrens smiles on Christmas Eve) programme which was wholeheartedly supported by many of Generalis staff and agents.

Generali has donated gifts to hundreds of pediatric patients at the Tan Trieu K Hospital in Hanoi and orphans at the Thien Than Shelter in Ho Chi Minh City

The programme delivered 180 gift sets including milk, snacks, toys, and money.

Concurrently, Thuong Minh has been sending mobile barbershops out on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to offer free haircuts to local drivers.

Concurrently, Generali also organised a series of Thuong Minh activities to promote the spirit of positive living among the public.

It is also handing out surprising and meaningful gifts, including food and home service vouchers to help thousands of people to rest and take care of themselves amidst the hustle and bustle of the year-end season.

The activities are part of the Thuong minh mot ti, cho doi nhu y (Love yourself a little to live the life you desire) campaign, which carries heartfelt healing messages.

The campaign aims to raise awareness and encourage changes so everyone can start living more positively and optimistically while loving themselves more.

I am glad that our community initiatives have always been wholeheartedly supported by our people and the community, said Tina Nguyen, Generali Vietnam CEO.

Apart from our positive business performance, we have closed the year on a beautiful note by successfully rolling out various community initiatives, including many campaigns and activities that have promoted our Live the Life You Desire message and inspired the community. All these efforts have contributed to Generalis commitment to becoming a lifetime partner to millions of Vietnamese families, Nguyen added.

In 2022, Generali continued to partner with the National Fund for Vietnamese Children to implement the community education programme Sinh Con, Sinh Cha in 10 provinces and cities across Vietnam, increasing the number of the programmes beneficiaries to 7,900 parents, children, kindergarten teachers, and staff.

Generalis community education programme Sinh Con, Sinh Cha brings benefits to more than 7,900 parents, children, kindergarten teachers, and staff

Sinh Con, Sinh Cha continued to successfully deliver useful parenting content on its digital channels, attracting millions of views, interactions, and positive comments from the community.

Additionally, the company also rolled out various charitable programmes to support 500 orphans who lost parents due to COVID-19, built a new kindergarten branch for disadvantaged children in Dak Lak province, and launched many other creative fundraising activities.

In recognition of the companys proactive and sustainable contribution to childrens development, in November, Generali was awarded the prestigious Saigon Times CSR certification for the third time in a row.

Generali Vietnam has also received commendations from the Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, recognising its outstanding contributions to Vietnamese childrens well-being and protection in 2020 and 2021.

Established in Vietnam in 2011 with the motto of Simpler, Smarter, Customer-Centric, Generali Vietnam has quickly established itself as a leading life insurer in the country, persistently pursuing the ambition of becoming a lifetime partner to customers.

With diverse distribution channels and a nationwide network of more than 80 GenCasa agency offices and customer service centres, Generali Vietnam is serving over 450,000 clients across the country.

AkzoNobel joins hands to make life more inspiring In early October, just a few days after Typhoon Noru made landfall, the people of Quy Nhon were surprised to see Cu Lao Xanh lighthouse wearing a new look. Nguyen Phi Anh Dao, head of Marketing, Decorative Paints at AkzoNobel Vietnam, shared the journey and the message behind the renovation of the Cu Lao Xanh Lighthouse.

Starbucks CSR initiatives gather pace The food and beverage sector in Vietnam is looking to capitalise on the economic recovery by kickstarting goals in corporate social responsibility. Patricia Marques, general manager of Starbucks Vietnam, explained to VIRs Quang Bao how the company is attempting to push forward with more initiatives in the name of sustainable development.
Malaysia's national debt totalling 346 billion USD (Photo source: nst.com.my)

Kuala Lumpur  Malaysia's national debt including liabilities has reached 1.5 trillion RM (346 billion USD), equivalent to over 80 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), according to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Addressing at a dialogue session on budget on January 17 morning, Anwar said the figure suggests that Malaysia's budget deficit will widen further than the earlier estimate of 5.8 per cent of the GDP for 2022.

The issue should be addressed urgently, he stressed.

Economic uncertainties are still not easing, he said, noting that the economy is still considered dim and this was also contributed by external factors including the Ukraine-Russia conflict as well as global recovery post-COVID-19.

The new 2023 Budget is expected to be tabled in the Parliament on February 24 on the basis of the draft law introduced by the previous government.

Previously, on October 7, 2022, former Finance Minister Zafrul Aziz proposed the 2023 Budget with a record total of 373.3 billion RM.

Malaysia's Toyo Ventures inks power plant deal with Sunway-PECC2 Toyo Ventures Holdings Bhd's subsidiaries have entered into an interim engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) agreement with a consortium led by Sunway Construction Group Bhd in relation to the Song Hau 2 Thermal Power Plant Project in Vietnam.
On January 16, SMBC announced that it has made its decision to terminate its capital alliance with Eximbank and started the divestment process.

SMBC and Eximbank terminated their strategic alliance on March 18. Since then, SMBC has been engaging in ongoing deliberations regarding the future status of its ownership stake in Eximbank.

As a result of this, SMBC came to the conclusion that it will liquidate its entire equity ownership in Eximbank. SMBC has so far decreased its equity ownership to less than 5 per cent.

Specifically, SMBC has sold 10.8 per cent of Eximbank's equity to domestic investors, reducing its ownership rate to 4.27 per cent. The Japanese lender had agreed to sell 132.8 million of Eximbank's EIB shares on January 13. Following the transaction, this foreign fund is no longer a major shareholder at the Vietnamese bank.

Meanwhile, SMBC will continue efforts to further enhance its Vietnam growth strategy, not only through SMBC Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City branches but also through collaborations with Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank  a bank with which SMBC entered into a Business Partnership Agreement in May  and its subsidiary VPBank SMBC Finance Co., Ltd.  a finance company in which SMBC Consumer Finance Co., Ltd. acquired an equity stake in FY2021.

SMBC terminates strategic alliance with Eximbank The Japanese financial giant Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) announced its exit from Vietnam's privately-held lender Eximbank on March 18.
Benjamin Kreuz, general manager of Six Senses Ninh Van Bay Resort. Photo: Six Senses Ninh Van Bay Resort

A breakdown of all the plastics used in our hotels worldwide identified that 80 per cent came from only 18 categories such as plastic cups, straws, or little napkin wraps. Today we are proud to be 95 per cent free of the 18 most unwanted items and with almost all single-use plastics being phased out of resort operations.

Sustainability is one of the most important pillars of our business. As a whole group, we are following detailed and ambitious Sustainability Operation Guidelines, ensuring that we are looking at the immediate area where our hotels are based and making contributions to the local society around us. One of our core values is to be locally sensitive whilst displaying global sensibility.

Highlights of our sustainable operations are our drive for renewable energy and our plastic-free campaign. Solar energy provides roughly thirty per cent of the total consumption in our resort through 800 solar panels and 5 solar hot water systems.

One of the great initiatives we have is sponsoring a Vietnamese NGO called Green Viet, and together, we are working on the conservation of black-shanked douc langurs, which are listed in Vietnams Red Book. Today langurs are only found in Southern Vietnam and Eastern Cambodia.

The Hon Heo mountain area behind the resort is one of their most prevalent habitats, where langurs visit the water reservoir and resort during the dry season. We now have 153 langur individuals living with us, split up into 16 families, and our guests can participate in hikes into the jungle to observe and learn about them.

Black-shanked douc langurs in Ninh Van Bay

We also completed biodiversity research to identify the flora and fauna around the resort and we are going to release a book to share the information with our guests. One great result of the study was that we found a new plant that is now officially registered as a new species. This plant only grows in Six Senses Ninh Van Bay. It is called the Six Senses Tumeric and blossoms in August and September.

New species called Six Senses Turmeric was found at Six Senses Ninh Van Bay in April 2022

Another programme is called Water for All. Here all our resorts set out to provide water fountains for schools or villages in remote areas where a lack of access to clean drinking water is still a big challenge. We provide them with water fountains that have an integrated filter system.

The biggest concern when you travel around Vietnam is that you see a lot of people drinking water from plastic bottles. By providing reusable bottles, we are helping people to step away from this. In 2022, we successfully provided 2504 students and teachers with drinking water and reusable flasks.

Personally, I think one of the greatest challenges we face is that to drive change, people need to be willing to change. Creating awareness is the most important first step. We cooperate with primary schools to sow the seed of sustainability in young children and reaffirm the message through continued activities.

For example, our Plogging event was a great success and we collected over 60kg of garbage with 55 students involved. Other examples of our community initiatives include sustainability talks for 99 local students and support scholarships for 10 underprivileged students.

Reusable flasks were distributed by the Water for All project

How do we commit and follow through? In each property, there is a Sustainability Fund which is generated from 0.5 per cent of the total revenue and is used to support the local community and preserve the surrounding nature.

To implement and oversee the various sustainability programs at Six Senses Ninh Van Bay, we have the Director of Sustainability, Emmy Nguyen Thi Thuy. She is part of the Executive Management Committee. Sustainability is considered by the most senior leaders of the resort and is at the front of our minds when taking crucial decisions for the future. We constantly drive ourselves, trying to identify new approaches to become even more sustainable and socially responsible.

Guest engagement

Now, do the guests change their behaviour? I think absolutely yes, they do. To cater for this need, we have programmes called Climate Warriors, Reconnect with Nature, Reconnect with Others, and Reconnect with the Family that include a wide range of activities that guests can choose to accomplish different goals.

There is an Earth Lab located in every Six Senses property around the world where guests will learn about sustainability through activities such as DIY workshops, educational tours and lessons, or fun and quirky activities such as collecting your own eggs from the chicken villa for breakfast.

Furthermore, I believe that sustainable tourism will become even more important. Guests are choosing destinations where they know there are programmes like ours in place and where they know that hoteliers operate with a high consciousness for the local surroundings and nature.

COVID-19's effects

Throughout the pandemic, there have definitely been changes in the mindsets of all of our stakeholders.

Firstly, for our hosts  our employees. We are proud of their commitment to and focus on being sustainable. It is great to say that within the team, people come up with new ideas to help us to achieve our goals. Educating them is of utmost importance, creating awareness to drive the change. They will go home, and when they share their knowledge with their families, that is where the change begins.

You can see that COVID-19 changed my employees and made them realise that mental health and wellness are very important. We have a worldwide programme at Six Senses called Mission Wellness dedicated to them. We have over 58 different activities to make sure that our employees are supported in different ways, be it financially, educationally, or from a wellness point of view.

As an example, we offer yoga and swimming classes, along with jogging and hiking tours, to all our hosts. We wish for them to reconnect with themselves, finding the right balance between health, privacy, and work.

Other very crucial stakeholders are of course our investors. With their funding and support, we can achieve many sustainability goals. It is not only the finance but also the joint drive to create new ways of being sustainable by exploring ideas together.

Potential

I have seen Vietnam as an absolutely incredible country. One of the biggest concerns I have is the development of housing and new hotels being built. If you look at what has been built in Nha Trang over the last few years, some of the buildings are destroying the environment. For the future of Vietnam, I hope to see environmentally conscious development  in particular for real estate projects

Vietnam has wonderful products, such as vegetables and the famous coffee from Da Lat. I want the local products of Vietnam to be used more in the tourism industry.

And last but not least, I think the travel infrastructure can be made a bit easier. Bus and train connections between cities are challenging, especially for tourists. If you want to travel sustainably in the country, then a good train connection is of course much better than taking a short flight.
According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam greeted more than 3.66 million international visitors in 2022 as many international flight routes were restored, more than 23.3 times higher than in 2021.

In terms of revenue from accommodation and food services, in 2022, many localities saw a significant increase compared to 2021. These include Ba Ria-Vung Tau with a rise of 155.6 per cent, Khanh Hoa (151.1 per cent), Ho Chi Minh City (121.6 per cent), Can Tho (121.3 per cent), Lam Dong (118.4 per cent), Danang (83.5 per cent), Hanoi (80.4 per cent), and Quang Ninh (57.8 per cent).

These positive results raised expectations for a strong tourism recovery during this year's Tet holiday. In order to stimulate the Tet tourism market, many localities and businesses have implemented international tourism promotion programmes and introduced interesting Tet-based tours to attract foreign tourists.

Cao Anh Tuan, sales director of Paradise Vietnam Group, said that this Tet holiday, the company saw a remarkable growth in the number of international tourists booking Halong Bay cruises.

On the occasion of the Lunar New Year this year, Paradise Vietnam has deployed many short cruises of 2-3 days to explore Ha Long Bay on the luxury Paradise Elegance cruise, the classic Paradise Sails yacht, and the Paradise Peak cruise in order to meet the short-term travel needs of international tourists. At the same time, we also added many traditional Tet experiences such as giving lucky money at the beginning of the year, serving typical dishes of the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, and more", said Tuan.

International tourists visit Duong Lam ancient village in Son Tay district

Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, director of Foreign Market Business Department at Vietravel, said that tourists will give priority to shorter tours and does not expect the long-duration tours to fully recover until 2025.

Tourism behaviour has changed significantly. Besides those simply visiting the natural landscape, sustainable tourism and wellness tours also increasingly attract visitors, said Thuy.

With the same view, Ly Truong Xuan, in charge of marketing at Vietnamtourism Hanoi, said that international tourists still prefer short-term tours such as the traditional 9-12-day Vietnam tour, combining destinations and experiences including Hanoi and Halong with stays in Hue, Danang, Hoi An, and Ho Chi Minh City.

The company has seen a large number of bookings for short-stay tours from the markets of Spain, Belgium, England, Germany, Israel, and more. During this year's Tet holiday, the company also combined many experiences for tourists to enjoy the traditional Tet atmosphere at destinations such as Yen Duc village in Quang Ninh province," said Xuan.

By easing the pandemic prevention policy and opening new flight routes, the tourism industry expects an explosion in the number of foreign visitors on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, boosting growth in 2023 and aiming to meet the target of about eight million international arrivals.

Competition heats up for holiday shopping storage The shortage of professional warehouse systems in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh is leading to stiff competition between e-commerce platforms in the coming festive season.

SABECO teams up with the government to help workers enjoy Lunar New Year As Vietnam's traditional festival known as Tet draws near, Bia Saigon  SABECO's leading brand  has joined hands with the government and authorities to ensure workers enjoy a happier Lunar New Year.

Cold weather to blanket northern Vietnam in Lunar New Year holidays The northern region is expected to celebrate the Tet (Lunar New Year) festival in cold weather, according to the National Hydrometeorological Forecasting Centre.

Regent Phu Quoc celebrates the Lunar New Year with flamboyant festivities Let Regent Phu Quoc provide the ideal scenario for your unforgettable Lunar New Year's Eve celebration with loved ones.
WAHOO  During this holiday season, the Saunders County Sheriffs Office increased their December patrols to take impaired drivers off the roadways. Additional deputies were on patrol thanks to an overtime grant from the Nebraska Office of Highway Safety. The enforcement period for the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over crackdown began Dec. 16, and lasted through Jan. 1, 2023.

In 2020, 6,412 drivers were arrested for DUI and there were 1,534 alcohol-related crashes. Among all alcohol-related crashes in Nebraska, there were 76 fatalities and an additional 602 injuries in 2020. Although final data is not available for 2021 crashes, preliminary data show 32% of all fatal crashes were alcohol-related and nearly 70% of fatalities were not buckled up. We must do everything we can now to stop these dangerous driving behaviors!

Driving after drinking is a choice. Choose to do the right and the safe thing: find alternate transportation, use a designated driver, or dont consume any amount of alcohol if you intend to or need to drive. Help us keep Saunders County communities safe by reporting any impaired drivers to the Saunders County Sheriffs Office at 402-443-1000.
LINCOLN  On Jan. 13, the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT) announced 13 proposals have been selected for funding in the seventh round of the County Bridge Match Program (CBMP). The program was created as a result of the 2016 Transportation Innovation Act (TIA), signed into law in April 2016.

In Saunders County, a bridge 6 miles south of Prague over a tributary of Wahoo Creek has been selected for replacement. The proposed structure is a concrete slab.

Since the passage of the Transportation Innovation Act, the Department of Transportation has worked with our partners to develop and implement a program that encourages innovation and improves the overall transportation system, said NDOT Interim Director Moe Jamshidi, noting that the program has been a great success. Through partnerships with counties and groups like NACO and NACE, weve been able to collectively address some of our states issues with rural bridge access.

The CBMP provides funding to counties for the innovative replacement and repair of deficient county bridges. The seventh Request for Proposals (RFP) was announced in October, with $5 million to be distributed to counties across Nebraska. Proposals were submitted by 43 counties and included 148 bridges.

The County Bridge Match Program has continued to make an impact in local communities by investing in bridges that, although small or rural, really matter to local communities and industry. Many of these aging bridges required load restrictions that hinder agricultural traffic, emergency access, and cause significant detours for users. This investment has provided much needed support to local bridge agencies that work hard to keep access safe and reliable, said NDOT Bridge Engineer Ross Barron.

Interest in the program remained strong again this year, with a large number of counties submitting proposals and a large number of bridges included in the proposals. Including this years selected bridges, the program has funded the replacement, repair, or removal of 370 deficient bridges since the first round of proposals were selected in January 2017.
Chinese FM calls for speedy implementation of China-Arab summit's outcomes

Xinhua) 08:43, January 17, 2023

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang (L) and Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit attend a press conference in Cairo, capital of Egypt, Jan. 15, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Dongzhen)

CAIRO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- China is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with Arab countries to implement the outcomes of the first China-Arab States Summit, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said here Sunday.

The summit was held successfully with fruitful results, Qin said while meeting the press with Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.

Three significant outcome documents were issued, namely the Riyadh Declaration of the First China-Arab States Summit, the Outline of the Comprehensive Cooperation Plan Between China and Arab States and a document on deepening the Sino-Arab strategic partnership for peace and development, Qin said, adding both sides also agree to make all-out efforts to build a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era.

Going forward, China is ready to strengthen communication and coordination with Arab countries to implement the outcomes of the summit, Qin said.

Firstly, China and Arab countries should jointly carry forward the spirit of bilateral friendship featuring "solidarity and mutual assistance, equality and mutual benefit, and inclusiveness and mutual learning." Both sides should uphold independence, focus on economic development, maintain regional peace and strengthen inter-civilizational exchanges, so as to make solid progress in building a China-Arab community with a shared future and contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, said the Chinese foreign minister.

Secondly, both sides should jointly implement the spirit of the Riyadh Declaration. The Declaration emphasizes maintaining international order and multilateralism based on international law, promoting the common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom of all mankind, opposing politicizing and instrumenting human rights issues and interfering in other countries' internal affairs, upholding the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, strengthening counter-terrorism efforts, and opposing "double standards" on fighting terrorism, strengthening dialogue among civilizations, safeguarding the diversity of civilizations, and opposing the "clash of civilizations" theory, he said.

Qin added that the two sides should jointly uphold the above spirit, safeguard international fairness and justice, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries.

Thirdly, both sides need to work together for more outcomes of practical cooperation. The Outline of China-Arab Comprehensive Cooperation Plan covers 182 cooperation measures in 18 fields, including politics, trade and economy, investment and finance. The eight major cooperation initiatives for China-Arab practical cooperation proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping cover 56 cooperation measures in eight areas, including development support, food security, public health, green innovation, energy security, inter-civilizational dialogue, youth development and security and stability, which meet the development needs and concerns of the Arab side, said Qin.

China will establish an effective working mechanism with Arab countries to implement the above-mentioned cooperation measures one by one, accelerate cooperation projects that are ripe for development and strive for more early harvests, Qin said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
WATERLOO  After a two-year hiatus, the traditional Martin Luther King Jr. Day Banquet came roaring back Sunday night, inspired by local civil rights leader Belinda Creighton-Smith.

Creighton-Smith, a pastor and university professor, encouraged a packed crowd at Electric Park Ballroom to continue working to end injustice.

This American dream came at quite an enormous price.  We cant deny it. It isnt until we talk about this stuff that we can be delivered from this stuff. It isnt until we deal with the stuff that we can heal from this stuff, she said.

She quoted passages from Kings iconic I Have a Dream speech and compared them with current events  a rise in hate crimes, efforts to suppress voting, mass shootings at grocery stores, the war on drugs disproportionately hurting minority communities.

The banquets theme was The Challenge of Living the Dream in Times Like These.

When have we been in times like these? Creighton-Smith asked.

Until we get out there and make our voices heard  we wont make a change, she added.

Her microphone malfunctioned, but she didnt miss a beat, continuing on and projecting her voice throughout the building until she was handed a new mike.

She said she is encouraged by seeing the young people and white suburban women take off their aprons and take to the streets as part of the Black Lives Matter movement in recent years.

I have a dream that one day our communities wont be so racially segregated.  I have a dream that there wont be any poor communities because poverty will be eliminated.  I have a dream today that folks will stand side by side to speak truth to power, she said. We wont be afraid to say the word Black. We wont be ashamed to say the word white. We will call it what it is and bring about change because we are dealing with this.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Day Banquet, a staple of the Waterloo community for more than 40 years, went virtual during the coronavirus pandemic in 2021 and 2022.

The event is organized by Social Action Inc. and proceeds from the banquet go toward the organizations youth programs.

Photos: Martin Luther King Jr. Banquet 2023 011523jr-mlk-banquet-1 011523jr-mlk-banquet-4 011523jr-mlk-banquet-3 011523jr-mlk-banquet-2 011523jr-mlk-banquet-6 011523jr-mlk-banquet-5 011523jr-mlk-banquet-7 011523jr-mlk-banquet-9 011523jr-mlk-banquet-8 011523jr-mlk-banquet-10
CHARLOTTE, N.C.  Lauren Overman has a suggested shopping list for her clients preparing to get an abortion. The list includes a heating pad, a journal, aromatherapy oils  things that could bring physical or emotional comfort after the procedure.

Overman is an abortion doula.

She has worked as a professional birth doula for many years. Recently, Overman also began offering advice and emotional support to people as they navigate having an abortion, often a lonely time. She makes her services available either free or on a sliding scale to abortion patients. Other abortion doulas charge between $200 and $800.

Overman is one of around 40 practicing abortion doulas in North Carolina, according to an estimate from local abortion rights groups  a number that could soon grow. North Carolina groups that train doulas said theyve seen an uptick in people wanting to become abortion doulas in the months since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

Every three months, the Carolina Abortion Fund offers free online classes for aspiring abortion doulas. Those sessions used to have 20 sign-ups at most, according to board member Kat Lewis. Now they have 40.

Its word of mouth. Its people sharing This is how I got through my abortion or miscarriage experience with the help of a doula. And someone being like, Thats amazing. I need that. Or I wanna become that, Lewis said.

Demand for training has also surged at the Mountain Area Abortion Doula Collective in western North Carolina, which started in 2019. Ash Williams leads the free four-week doula training and includes talks on gender-inclusive language and the history of medical racism. The course also includes ways to support clients struggling with homelessness or domestic violence.

The doula might be the only person that that person has told that theyre doing this.  Thats a big responsibility, Williams said. So we really want to approach our work with so much care.

Going to the clinic and holding a patients hand during the procedure are among the services abortion doulas can offer, but some clinics dont allow a support person in the room. So doulas like Overman find other ways to be supportive, such as sitting down with a woman afterward, to listen, share a meal, or just watch TV together.

Its holding space  being there so that they can bring something up if they want to talk about it. But also, there are no expectations that you have to talk about it if you dont want to, Overman said.

Overman uses Zoom to consult with people across the country, even in states where abortion is restricted or banned. She can help them locate the closest clinics or find transportation and lodging if theyre traveling a long distance.

Overman makes sure her clients know what to expect from the procedure, like how much bleeding is normal after either a surgical or medication abortion.

You can fill up a super maxi pad in an hour. Thats OK, she explained. Fill up one or more pad every hour for two to three hours consecutively, then thats a problem.

Abortion doulas are not required to have medical training, and many do not. Its not clear how many work across the U.S., because the job is not regulated.

There has been a jump in the number of people requesting her abortion doula services over the past several months, Overman said, from around four people a month to four every week.

If people are afraid to talk to their friends or relatives about an abortion, she said, sometimes the easiest thing to do is reach out to someone on the internet. A doula may start out as a stranger but can become a person who can be relied on for support.

Abortion in America: How access and attitudes have changed through the centuries Abortion in America: How access and attitudes have changed through the centuries Pre-1850: Abortions in early America are commonplace Mid-1800s: Birth of the American Medical Association shifts abortion oversight from midwives to doctors; abortion is criminalized 1960s: 'Back-alley butchers,' birth control, and protests 1970s: Roe v. Wade protects women's right to abortion; politics shift 1980s-2000s: Legal challenges to Roe v. Wade introduce restrictions 2020s: Roe v. Wade is overturned; Postal Service allowed to mail abortion medication
Russian Defence Minister hosts session on building up Russian Armed Forces

 Within the working visit to the Joint Group of Forces of the special military operation, the Minister of Defence of Russia has hosted a session with the deputy defence ministers, branch commanders-in-chief, and commanders on the implementation of the Russian Presidents decision to build up the Armed Forces to 1.5 million troops.

 General of the Army Sergei Shoigu noted that all the measures were to be combined into the Comprehensive Build-Up Plan of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In addition, they are to be harmonised with building the infrastructure for deploying troops (forces), the terms of supplying armament, military and special hardware, and materiel within the state defence order.

 The Russian defence chief added: The President of the Russian Federation decided to build up the Armed Forces to 1.5 million troops. The provision of military security of the country, the protection of the new regions and crucial facilities of the Russian Federation can be guaranteed only by reinforcing the elements of the Armed Forces as follows:

 to found two new inter-branch strategic territorial formations of the Armed Forces: Moscow and Leningrad military districts, as well as self-contained groups of forces in the new regions of the Russian Federation;

 to establish an army corps in the Republic of Karelia, three motorised rifle divisions as part of the Land Forces, and two airborne assault divisions as part of the Airborne Troops;

 to reorganise seven motorised rifle brigades in the Western, Central, Eastern military districts, and in the Northern Fleet into motorised rifle divisions;

 to reinforce the combat element of the Navy, Aerospace Forces, and Strategic Missile Forces.

 Large-scale changes of the Armed Forces structure, increase in their strength, amendment of military administrative structure of the Russian Federation to be introduced in 20232026 will require all the deputy defence ministers, branch commanders-in-chief, commanders of military districts, the Northern Fleet, and arms to take relevant appropriate decisions.

 The main emphasis is to be placed on manning troops (forces) with contracted personnel. It is also necessary to organise timely provision of units and formations with armament, military and special hardware, as well as other materiel, raise the number of training grounds in the military districts and new regions of the Russian Federation, prepare them for manoeuvres, define the training scope of cadets and students in the higher-educational institutions of the Ministry of Defence, and upscale the training scope of specialists in the training centres of the Armed Forces in accordance with heightened need of troops (forces) by increasing capacity of training centres and establishing the new ones. The whole set of measures is to be provided with relevant budget allocation.

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Statkraft has announced a major deal with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) fund Copenhagen Infrastructure IV K/S (CI IV) as part of its plans to develop up to 2.2 GW of offshore wind in Ireland. This partnership will see CIP acquire a 50% stake in Statkrafts offshore wind portfolio in Ireland.



The scope of the partnership includes the three phases of the

North Irish Sea Array

and the

Bore Array

. The proposed location for NISA is off the coast of counties Dublin, Louth, and Meath, while the site of the Bore Array has been proposed for the Celtic Sea.





Developing and building these projects is expected to require an investment of more than 4 billion by Statkraft and CIP by 2030.





The need for energy security and decarbonisation has never been as important, or urgent, as it is today. Ireland has a wealth of renewable energy resources right on its doorstep  energy that has largely remained untapped. Statkraft and CIP will now work together to bring that clean, green power to the Irish people, said David Flood, Head of Offshore Wind at Statkraft.





This deal marks a major development for Statkraft in Ireland as we scale up our offshore wind ambitions across Northern Europe. The countrys maritime area makes it ideal for large-scale offshore wind energy production  energy we can deliver in partnership with CIP. The companys track record in offshore wind coupled with our development expertise will enable us to harness the energy of the wind in the Irish Sea to create a green energy system designed for a decarbonised future, Flood added.





Nischal Agarwal, Partner in CIP, said: We are very pleased to be entering the Irish offshore market and look forward to developing these exciting projects together with Statkraft. In combining CIPs industrial background and international experience within offshore wind with Statkrafts experience of Irish renewables, the partnership will enable the provision of renewable power to Irish homes and businesses and contribute to reaching the governments ambitious decarbonisation targets.





Gry J. Aamodt, Statkrafts Head of Offshore wind in Norway, said: "The agreement and cooperation with CIP gives us access to expertise and experience from both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind projects. The projects in Ireland will make us even better positioned for the development of both Srlige Nordsj II, Utsira Nord and future projects in Norway.







The North Irish Sea Array is an offshore wind energy project being proposed for an area off the coast of counties Dublin, Meath, and Louth. NISA was one of seven offshore renewable projects to be issued with a Maritime Area Consent by the Government in December 2022. A planning application for NISA is scheduled to be submitted this year, with commencement of operations anticipated for 2026.





The Bore Array is a proposed Phase 2 offshore wind farm off the south east coast in the Celtic Sea.

For more information on offshore wind farms worldwide,

click here

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Malibu, CA, Jan 17, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - In this segment of The Ellis Martin Report we speak with Adam Smith, co-founder and VP of Business Development of Oroco Resource Corp. ( CVE:OCO ) ( ORRCF:OTCMKTS ).



Oroco is focused on the development of a large copper deposit at the Santo Tomas project in coastal NW Mexico. Santo Tomas hosts a multi-billion pound copper resource, defined by historical drilling and currently being confirmed by ongoing exploration drilling by Oroco. Copper mineralization at Santo Tomas is located at surface and therefore potentially amenable to low cost mining methods, is very well located with respect to the infrastructure that's essential to a large mining operation, and Mexico is among the world's top mining jurisdictions, with laws and trade agreements that protect the rights of mining companies.



Since commencing exploration and resource definition at Santo Tomas three years ago, Oroco has made a series of rapid advances, and the year ahead is rich with catalysts such as a formal resource definition and economic evaluation, each of which carries the possibility of a company valuation rerating.



These milestones will be achieved against the backdrop of a positive forecasts for the price of copper, possibly to historical highs as a result of dramatic shifts in metal's importance to industrial and consumer markets.



To listen to the Interview, please visit:

https://www.abnnewswire.net/lnk/6VB231V1





About Oroco Resource Corp





Oroco Resource Corporation (CVE:OCO) (OTCMKTS:ORRCF), founded in 2006, is a Canadian mineral exploration company with a history of and expertise in the development of resource opportunities in Mexico. Oroco is led by a management team with significant experience in exploration, discovery, development and operations in the mineral sector.

Oroco's focus is on the confirmation and expansion of the historical resource of the Santo Tomas porphyry copper project in Sinaloa State, Mexico, while continuing its assembly of neighbouring mineral concessions and the acquisition of certain other rights associated with the project. Oroco has a controlling interest in 8,908.79 hectares of contiguous mineral concession that cover and surround the known core of the Santo Tomas mineralized structure as well as the potential extensions of the historical resource to the north and south. This controlling interest increases as Oroco funds the additional exploration and development of the project.

The Santo Tomas project is a copper porphyry deposit which is historically defined by a total of 106 diamond drill and reverse circulation drill holes, totalling approximately 30,000 m. In July of 1994, Bateman Engineering Inc. conducted an economic assessment of the Santo Tomas project based on technical work by a team that included Mintec, Inc., Mountain States Research and Development, Inc., and Minetek S.A. de C.V. Bateman completed this study, termed "Santo Tomas Project, Sinaloa, Mexico, Pre-Feasibility Study." Current drilling activity is intended to confirm the historical project data and to further define the extent and quality of the resource.

While the economic assessment by Bateman contains favourable metallurgical test results and engineering designs that remain broadly acceptable today, the Company considers these historical economic studies and associated mineral resource estimates to be only conceptual in nature until confirmed by current technical programs.
Albuquerque police on Monday arrested the man they say is the mastermind behind a recent string of shootings targeting Democratic lawmakers homes.

The suspect, Solomon Pena, is a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for office in November, has made repeated claims that the election was rigged and appears to have attended the Jan. 6, 2021, riot in Washington, D.C.

Around 3 p.m. APDs SWAT team swarmed a condominium complex near the ABQ BioPark Zoo to execute a search warrant. They made announcements for Pena  who they said may be armed with a firearm  to surrender as drones flew overhead.

Within an hour officers had arrested Pena, who is accused of paying four men to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators, Police Chief Harold Medina announced Monday evening. Investigators also believe Pena was present for at least one of the shootings.

One of the four men Pena is accused of hiring, Jose Trujillo, is being prosecuted federally on drug trafficking and firearm charges but the names of the other suspects were not immediately released.

Pena ran unsuccessfully in the House District 14 race and claimed on social media he should have won the election. He also visited three of the targeted officials homes unannounced in November complaining the election was fraudulent and should not be certified.

APD essentially discovered what we had all feared and what we had suspected  that these shootings were indeed politically motivated, Mayor Tim Keller said at a news conference. They were dangerous attacks not only to these individuals  but, fundamentally, also to democracy.

Both Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, and the House Republican Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, issued statements applauding law enforcement and condemning violence.

There is no place in our society or our democracy for violence against any elected official or their families, and I trust the justice system will hold those responsible for such attacks to full and fair account, Lujan Grisham said.

Lane said the New Mexico House Republicans are grateful no one was injured in the shootings and referenced Penas criminal past  which had been a controversial issue during the campaign.

This is yet another example of a convicted felon unlawfully gaining access to firearms, which they are barred from owning or possessing, and using the weapon in a manner that causes public harm, Lane said.

Dems targeted

In early January APD disclosed that it was investigating several shootings targeting Democratic elected officials homes around the city.

They said Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboas Southeast Albuquerque home had been struck by eight bullets on Dec. 4 and a week later, on Dec. 11, more than 12 bullets hit County Commissioner Debbie OMalleys North Valley home.

On Jan. 3, shots rang out at state Rep. Linda Lopezs home in Southwest Albuquerque and three bullets went through her daughters bedroom as the 10-year-old slept.

After news of the investigation began to circulate, state Rep. Javier Martinez  the current nominee for House speaker and the representative for District 11 in Southwest Albuquerque  inspected his home and noticed it too had sustained damage from bullets. He had heard gunfire outside his home on Dec. 8 and believes thats when the shooting occurred.

Police also investigated gunshots fired near the campaign office for Raul Torrez as he ran for state Attorney General and near the office of State Sen. Antonio Moe Maestas, but a department spokesman said Monday detectives dont have any evidence linking Pena and his alleged accomplices to those shootings at this time.

ShotSpotter assist

The break in the case came after the shooting at Lopezs home.

More than a dozen shots were fired after midnight on Jan. 3, and police received a ShotSpotter notification.

Medina said responding officers found shell casings, but didnt immediately see any damage.

The state senator who represents District 11 later reported that a bullet struck the ceiling of her daughters room. She had awoken to gunfire and felt material falling from the ceiling.

Then, 40 minutes after the shooting, Bernalillo County Sheriffs deputies pulled over 21-year-old Trujillo, who was driving a Nissan Maxima registered to Pena.

Deputies arrested Trujillo on an unrelated warrant, and during an inventory of the car found 800 fentanyl pills and two guns, a Glock handgun with a drum magazine and an AR pistol.

The shell casings found outside Lopezs home were tested at APDs crime lab, and they matched the confiscated weapons, police said.

APD acting Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock with the Investigative Enhancement Division said detectives have electronic and cellphone records, surveillance footage and witnesses inside and outside of this conspiracy that have helped us weave together what occurred.

The persons doing the shootings  we are still investigating if they were even aware of who these targets were, or if they were just conducting shootings, Hartsock said.

He said Pena was at the shooting at Lopezs home and fired at least one of the guns.

Hartsock said the case is still being investigated and additional charges are likely to be filed against other people.

Failed candidacy

Penas candidacy came under scrutiny over the summer when his opponent, Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, D-Albuquerque, filed a court challenge to disqualify him because he had been convicted in 2008 of stealing large amounts of goods from several big box retail stores in a reported smash and grab scheme.

Pena served nearly seven years in prison.

In September, 2nd Judicial District Judge Joshua Allison ruled that a state law barring felons from holding office unless they are pardoned by the governor is unconstitutional so Pena remained on the ballot.

Less than two months later Pena lost the November election by more than 3,600 votes  garnering 2,033 votes to Garcias 5,679.

However, in frequent postings on Twitter, Pena maintained that he didnt lose and that the election was rigged.

On Nov. 15 Pena posted a photo of himself wearing a red Make America Great Again sweatshirt that appeared to have been signed in gold by Donald Trump and said Trump just announced for 2024. I stand with him. I never conceded my HD 14 race. Now researching my options.

He also posted a photo of himself that appears to be from Washington, D.C., that he said was one of the last pictures I have of the Jan 06 trip.

In a reply to someone calling him a criminal on Dec. 28 on social media Pena said, Everyone in the NM government who helped overthrow Trump are the active treasonists who must be placed in Guantanamo Bay Cuba for natural life. Once they are gone I can work on rebuilding Albuquerque.

On Nov. 17, in response to a Tweet by the New Mexico Secretary of State warning against attempts to manipulate the election certification process, Pena replied I will attempt to stop the certification in Bernalillo County, until a hand recount has been done. It was rigged!

Early signs

For Commissioners OMalley and Barboa and Sen. Lopez, Pena was a familiar face. He had visited each of their homes, uninvited, in the days following the election.

On Nov. 18, OMalley, Barboa, Charlene Pyskoty and Walt Benson voted 4-0 to certify the general election results. Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada missed the meeting.

OMalley  whose term as commissioner has since ended  told the Journal on Monday that Pena showed up at her home wanting to talk about what he alleged was election fraud, telling her he believed he should have received more votes because he had knocked on many doors during his campaign.

He gave me some papers and said I want you to respond,' she recalled.

She said the packet included what looked like Internet information about voter fraud and a letter.

She had no communication with him after that.

Pena was not hostile, OMalley said, but the encounter was unsettling enough that she notified law enforcement.

I thought it was odd, and he seemed a little anxious to me and a little, kind of aggressive, and that kind of put me on alert, she said.

BCSO personnel checked on her house but did not see anything, and OMalley did not think about the incident much until someone shot at her house a month later.

Police said Pena also has a black Audi sedan registered under his name, which matches the description of the vehicle he drove to OMalleys house in November.

Barboa said she had a similar encounter when Pena showed up on her doorstep asking her not to vote to certify the election results.

I know our addresses are public, but I was a little thrown off because its not usual that people come to our door, she said.

Barboa said they spoke and he handed her paperwork similar to what others who are questioning elections have given her and other officials during county commission meetings

The commissioner said she grew worried for Pena during the encounter as she thought he was making illogical claims about the results of his own race.

He was just sort of all over the place  the things he was putting together werent quite connecting or fitting, she said. You cant say because you knocked on a thousand doors, you know you got a thousand votes.

She said Monday she was pleased that police were able to make an arrest and quell some of her familys fear. Her daughter, she said, has been too afraid to bring her child over since the shooting.

Im hoping today that this is done that my daughter can bring my grandbaby here again, Barboa said, while choking back tears.

She said the ordeal will change the way she lives and that she is going to pursue new security strategies for herself and her family.

Plus, Barboa said, its distressing that elected officials are now going to take steps to shield themselves from the public  noting that the New Mexico Legislature has already removed some lawmaker contact information from its website in response.

All of that is going to change because of this and that breaks my heart as someone who believes the public needs access to our elected officials, she said.
Copyright  2023 Albuquerque Journal

A lawsuit alleges that a Cibola County couple and their two children were injured in 2021 when an Albuquerque police officer struck the rear of their vehicle on Interstate 40.

The suit alleges that the four family members were traveling east on I-40 near the Rio Grande exit when traffic slowed to a stop, according to a lawsuit filed in 2nd Judicial District Court.

Nicole Kulger and her two minor children were passengers in the vehicle driven by Brad Duran, all of Milan, the suit said. All four are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

When Durans vehicle came to a halt, it was struck from behind by an Albuquerque Police Department vehicle driven by officer Kenneth Skeens, the suit alleges.

The police vehicle was following too closely behind (Durans) vehicle at an excessive speed when traffic was coming to a stop, the suit alleges.

According to an accident report, Duran told an APD officer that he had to slam on his brakes to avoid striking a vehicle in front of him after traffic on I-40 came to an abrupt stop.

Durans sport-utility vehicle then was rear-ended by the APD vehicle, the report said. The collision caused Durans vehicle to roll forward, striking the rear of a vehicle in front of him, it said.

The APD Dodge Charger sustained heavy front-end damages and was towed from the scene, the report said.

Durans vehicle sustained moderate rear end damage and slight front end damage, but was drivable, it said. The report listed no injuries or citations.

Shane Maier, an Albuquerque attorney representing the family, said that Duran, Kulger and their two children later sought treatment for injuries at a Gallup hospital.

The suit alleges negligence by Skeen and the city of Albuquerque, who are identified as defendants. It seeks unspecified damages.
DNIPRO, Ukraine (AP)  The death toll from the Ukraine wars deadliest attack on civilians at one location since last spring reached 45 at an apartment building a Russian missile blasted in the southeastern city of Dnipro, officials said Tuesday.

Those killed in the Saturday afternoon strike included six children, with 79 people injured, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The toll included two dozen people initially listed as missing at the multistory building, which housed about 1,700, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidents office.

Emergency crews cleared some 9 metric tons (9.9 tons) of rubble during a non-stop search and rescue operation, the Dnipro City Council said. About 400 people lost their homes, with 72 apartments completely ruined and another 236 damaged beyond repair, it added.

People converged at the site Tuesday to lay flowers, light candles and bring plush toys. For a third day in a row, Dnipro resident Oleksandr Pohorielov came to mourn.

Its like coming to the cemetery to your family. Its a memory, to say a proper goodbye. To remain a human after all, he explained as an intense reek of burning emanated from the buildings ruins.

Volunteers helped Nadiia Yaroshenkos son escape from their third floor apartment on a makeshift ladder but their white cat Beliash refused to leave. He remains in his favorite place at a window that is now blown out, Yaroshenko said, desperately trying to see him from the courtyard with a flashlight.

We cannot reach the apartment even with rescuers because the apartment is in an emergency and dangerous condition. Walls could collapse there every minute, she said.

The latest deadly Russian strike on a civilian target in the almost 11-month wa r triggered outrage. It also prompted the surprise resignation on Tuesday of a Ukrainian presidential adviser who had said the Russian missile exploded and fell after the Ukrainian air defense system shot it down, a version that would take some of the blame off the Kremlins forces.

Oleksii Arestovychs comments in a Saturday interview caused an outcry. He said as he quit that his remarks were a fundamental mistake. Ukraines air force had stressed that the countrys military did not have a system that could down Russias Kh-22 supersonic missiles, the type that hit the apartment building.

Zelenskyy vowed to ensure that all Russian murderers, everyone who gives and executes orders on missile terror against our people, face legal sentences. And to ensure that they serve their punishment.

The British Defense Ministry said Tuesday that the weekend barrage of long-range missiles, the first of its kind in two weeks, targeted Ukraines power grid.

The Kh-22 was designed during Soviet times to strike enemy ships. It can also be used against ground targets, but with much less precision. Observers have said that Russia has increasingly used older weapons, including those intended for other purposes, to attack targets in Ukraine in what could be a sign of the depletion of Russian stockpiles of modern precision weapons. The U.K. ministry noted that the Kh-22 is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas, suggesting that might have been a factor in the deaths in the Dnipro.

Similar missiles were used in other incidents that caused high civilian casualties, it said, including a strike on a shopping mall in Ukraines central city of Kremenchuk in June that officials said killed more than 20 people.

The deadliest attack involving civilians before Saturday was an April 9 strike on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk that left at least 52 people dead, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project.

In Moscow, a makeshift memorial to the Dnipro attacks victims appeared in front of an apartment building, an unusual act in Russia, where even a hint of criticism of the governments special military operation in Ukraine is often suppressed. Amid snow, flowers and toy stuffed animals were laid at the monument of prominent Ukrainian writer Lesya Ukrainka, along with a photo of the destroyed building and a sign that read in Russian: Dnipro. 14.01.2023.

Attacks on civilians have helped stiffen international support for Ukraine as it battles to fend off the Kremlins invasion. The winter has brought a slowdown in fighting, but military analysts say a new push by both sides is likely once the weather improves.

Underscoring Russias growing military needs, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday that the countrys military would increase the number of troops from 1.15 million to 1.5 million in the coming years.

As part of the buildup, the military will form an army corps in the northwestern region of Karelia, near Finland, as well as three new motorized infantry and two airborne divisions. The military will also beef up seven motorized infantry brigades into divisions.

On the side of Ukraine, the top U.S. military officer, Army Gen. Mark Milley, traveled to the Ukraine-Poland border on Tuesday to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart for the first time. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in southeastern Poland. On Monday, Milley visited troops from Ukraine training at a military base in Germany under U.S. commanders.

Aid is also on the way from the Netherlands. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Tuesday in Washington that his country plans to join the U.S. and Germanys efforts to train and arm Ukraine with advanced Patriot missile defense systems.

It remains unclear if the Dutch will ultimately send Patriot systems, although Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Tuesday that the Netherlands had agreed to send Ukraine a battery of the equipment. So, there are now three guaranteed batteries. But this is only the beginning. We are working on new solutions to strengthen our air defense, Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian troops are at Oklahomas Fort Sill Army base learning how to operate and maintain the Patriot, the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has pledged to provide to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks.

Ukraines first lady was doing her part Tuesday to help. She pressed world leaders and corporate executives at the World Economic Forums annual gathering in Switzerland to exercise their influence against a Russian invasion she said is leaving children dying and the world struggling with food insecurity.

As the first anniversary of the war nears, Olena Zelenska said parents in Ukraine are in tears watching doctors trying to save their children, farmers are afraid to return to their fields filled with mines and we cannot allow a new Chernobyl to happen, referring to the 1986 nuclear power plant disaster.

What you all have in common is that you are genuinely influential, Zelenska told attendees. But there is something that separates you, namely that not all of you use this influence, or sometimes use it in a way that separates you even more.

Meanwhile, the head of the U.N. nuclear agency is visiting several of Ukraines four nuclear power plants this week to oversee the establishment of a permanent presence of inspectors at each of them to oversee operations and ensure safety.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Tuesday the missions will make a very real difference through supporting the Ukrainian operators and regulator in fulfilling their national responsibility of ensuring nuclear safety and security.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
BEIJING (AP)  Chinas population shrank for the first time in decades last year as its birthrate plunged, official figures showed Tuesday, adding to pressure on leaders to keep the economy growing despite an aging workforce and at a time of rising tension with the U.S.

Despite the official numbers, some experts believe Chinas population has been in decline for a few years  a dramatic turn in a country that once sought to control such growth through a one-child policy.

Many wealthy countries are struggling with how to respond to aging populations, which can be a drag on economic growth as shrinking numbers of workers try to support growing numbers of elderly people.

But the demographic change will be especially difficult to manage in a middle-income country like China, which does not have the resources to care for an aging population in the same way that one like Japan does. Over time, that will likely slow its economy and perhaps even the worlds, and could potentially keep inflation higher in many developed economies.

China has become older before it has become rich, said Yi Fuxian, a demographer and expert on Chinese population trends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A slowing economy could also pose a political problem for the ruling Communist Party, if shrinking opportunities foment public discontent. Anger over strict COVID-19 lockdowns, which were a drag on the economy, spilled over late last year into protests that in some cases called for leader Xi Jinping to step down  a rare direct challenge to the party.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported Tuesday that the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than the previous year. The tally includes only the population of mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macao as well as foreign residents.

Over 1 million fewer babies were born than the previous year amid a slowing economy and widespread pandemic lockdowns, according to official figures. The bureau reported 9.56 million births in 2022; deaths ticked up to 10.41 million.

It wasnt clear if the population figures were affected by a widespread COVID-19 outbreak following the easing of pandemic restrictions last month. China recently reported 60,000 COVID-related deaths since early December, but some experts believe the government is likely underreporting deaths.

The last time China is believed to have experienced a population decline was during the Great Leap Forward, a disastrous drive for collective farming and industrialization launched by then-leader Mao Zedong at the end of the 1950s that produced a massive famine that killed tens of millions of people.

Chinas population has begun to decline nine to 10 years earlier than Chinese officials predicted and the United Nation projected, said Yi, the demographer. At 1.4 billion, the country has long been the worlds most populous nation, but is expected to soon be overtaken by India, if it has not already.

China has sought to bolster its population since officially ending its one-child policy in 2016. Since then, China has tried to encourage families to have second or even third children, with little success, reflecting attitudes in much of east Asia where birth rates have fallen precipitously. In China, the expense of raising children in cities is often cited as a cause.

Zhang Huimin bemoaned the fierce competition young people face these days  a fairly typical attitude toward starting a family among her age group.

Home prices are high and jobs are not easy to find, said the 23-year-old Beijing resident. I enjoy living by myself. When I feel lonely, I can take pleasure in staying with my friends or keeping pets.

Yi said that his own research shows Chinas population has actually been declining since 2018, indicating the population crisis is much more severe than previously thought. The country now has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, comparable only to Taiwan and South Korea, he said.

That means Chinas real demographic crisis is beyond imagination and that all of Chinas past economic, social, defense and foreign policies were based on faulty demographic data, Yi told The Associated Press.

The looming economic crisis will be worse than Japans, where years of low growth have been blamed in part on a shrinking population, Yi said.

The statistics bureau said the working-age population between 16 and 59 years old totaled 875.56 million, accounting for 62% of the national population, while those aged 65 and older totaled 209.78 million, accounting for 14.9% of the total.

It also reported Chinas economic growth fell to its second-lowest level in at least four decades last year, although activity is reviving after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions that kept millions of people at home.

Any slowdown has wider implications. China became a global manufacturing powerhouse in the early 2000s. With millions of its citizens flocking from the countryside to its cities, Chinas seemingly endless supply of cheap labor lowered costs for consumers around the world for computers, smartphones, furniture, clothes and toys.

Its labor costs have already begun to rise  and changing demographics will likely accelerate that trend. As a result, inflation could creep higher in countries that import Chinas products, though production may also move to lower-cost countries such as Vietnam, as it already has.

On top of the demographic challenges, China is increasingly in economic competition with the U.S., which has blocked the access of some Chinese companies to American technology, citing national security and fair competition concerns.

If handled correctly, a declining population does not necessarily translate to a weaker economy, said Stuart Gietel-Basten, professor of social science at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi.

Its a big psychological issue. Probably the biggest, Gietel-Basten said.

According to the data from the statistics bureau, men outnumbered women by 722.06 million to 689.69 million, the bureau reported, a result of the one-child policy and a traditional preference for male offspring to carry on the family name.

The numbers also showed increasing urbanization in a country that traditionally had been largely rural. Over 2022, the permanent urban population increased by 6.46 million to reach 920.71 million, or 65.22%.

The United Nations estimated last year that the worlds population reached 8 billion on Nov. 15 and that India will replace China as the worlds most populous nation in 2023. Indias last census was scheduled for 2022 but was postponed amid the pandemic.

Gietel-Basten said China has been adapting to demographic change for years by devising policies to move its economic activities up the value chain of innovation, pointing to the development of semiconductor manufacturing and the financial services industry.

The population of India is much younger and is growing. But there are many reasons why you wouldnt necessarily automatically bet your entire fortune on India surpassing China economically in the very near future, he said.

Among Indias many challenges is a level of female participation in the work force that is much lower than Chinas, Gietel-Basten said.

Whatever the population you have, its not what youve got but its what you do with it  to a degree, he said.

___

Associated Press writers Huizhong Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, Kanis Leung in Hong Kong, and Chris Rugaber in Washington, and AP video journalist Emily Wang Fujiyama and video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing contributed to this report.
Solomon Pena is suspected of masterminding a string of shootings targeting New Mexico Democratic lawmakers homes between early December and early January.

Police believe Pena paid four men to carry out drive-by shootings at the homes of Bernalillo County Commissioners Adriann Barboa and Debbie OMalley; of Rep. Javier Martinez, and of Rep. Linda Lopez. Police also believe Pena himself participated in the shooting at Lopezs home.

THE BASICS: Born in April 1983, Pena is 39 years old. Hes listed as currently living in an Albuquerque apartment complex a few blocks from the ABQ BioPark Zoo. Although court records identify him as Solomon Pena, he spells his name as Pena on his website, social media and in correspondence.

PUBLIC CANDIDACY AND ELECTION CONTROVERSY: Last year, Pena was the Republican candidate for New Mexico House District 14 in the South Valley. In August, Penas Democratic opponent, incumbent Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, asked a judge to bar Penas name from appearing on the ballot because Penas felony criminal record would have prevented him from holding elected office. Second Judicial District Judge Joshua Allison, however, decided against Garcia, ruling that the state law that bars felons from holding office unless they are pardoned is unconstitutional. Pena lost that race by a significant margin, garnering 2,033 votes to Garcias 5,679.

CRIMINAL HISTORY: Pena served nearly seven years in prison after being convicted of several counts of commercial burglary, larceny and contributing to the delinquency of minor in 2008, according to earlier reports. He was part of a burglary crew that carried out smash and grab schemes using stolen vehicles to smash into stores including two Circuit City locations, as well as Hastings, K-Mart and Toys R Us, according to court records. During the ballot controversy, Penas attorney did not dispute records of his criminal history.

IN HIS OWN WORDS: Pena refused to talk about his criminal history with the Journal ahead of last years election. I stand with Donald J. Trump, he said in a subsequent text. I dont want anything to do with you. Pena also declined to fill out a candidate questionnaire with basic information about his background and platforms, although his opponent did. Penas Twitter account, though, shows him refusing to accept his loss, and repeatedly claiming that the election was rigged.

Once the rigging is stopped, I will be sworn in as the State Rep for district 14, Penas account posted on Dec. 12, weeks after the November election. I door knocked from June until Nov 08. It is rigged! Miguels own Dems were mostly against him.

Penas Tweets  which at times range from profane to misogynistic  show support for former President Donald Trump. In one, replying to a Republican Party of New Mexico post congratulating former GOP state Rep. Rebecca Dow on a leadership role in the party, Pena called Dow a prostitute.

That prostitute stood silent while Donald J. Trump was overthrown. I dissent.  Solomon Pena for NM (@SolomonPena2022) December 4, 2022

That prostitute stood silent while Donald J. Trump was overthrown, Penas tweet said. I dissent.

In another post, Pena tells another female candidate to drop 20 pounds.

Fact, another woman posted. liberal women are more attractive than conservative women.

Gross, Pena responds. U r effing ugly

In yet another Tweet, posted Nov. 13, Pena shows a picture of himself smiling near a group of people.

This is one of the last pictures I have of the Jan 06 trip. I lost that phone at the Trump rally in Phoenix, July 2021. Make America Great Again! pic.twitter.com/EJToLrD8md  Solomon Pena for NM (@SolomonPena2022) November 14, 2022

This is one of the last pictures I have of the Jan 06 trip, the post says. I lost that phone at the Trump rally in Phoenix, July 2021. Make America Great Again!

In response to a celebratory post-election Tweet from U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, the Democrat who won New Mexicos Second Congressional District in November, Penas account posted: Get the (expletive) outta here. It was rigged. You have no democratic claim to legitimacy. Make America Great Again!

Get the fuk outta here. It was rigged. You have no democratic claim to legitimacy. Make America Great Again!  Solomon Pena for NM (@SolomonPena2022) December 8, 2022

CURRENT CRIMINAL CASE: Pena is facing charges in connection with several shootings that occurred over about a month around Albuquerque.

On Dec. 4 around 4:41 p.m. eight shots were fired at County Commissioner Adriann Barboas home in SE Albuquerque. Barboa said bullets went through her front door as her family was preparing to celebrate Christmas. Then, Dec. 8, Rep Javier Martinez reportedly heard gunshots outside his home near the North Valley and, after the investigation was announced a month later, found damage presumably from gunfire to the house. On Dec. 11 in the early morning gunshots were fired at County Commissioner Debbie OMalleys home in the North Valley and more than 12 bullets struck the house. And on Jan. 3 just after midnight, eight shots rang out at Rep. Linda Lopezs home in SW Albuquerque. Lopez said that three bullets went through her 10-year-old daughters bedroom as she slept.

Pena, who was taken into custody Monday and booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center early Tuesday morning, is charged with four counts each of shooting at a dwelling, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit a shooting at a dwelling; and one count each of possession of a firearm by a felon, attempt to commit aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and criminal solicitation to commit a shooting at a dwelling. Its unclear who Penas attorney will be.

Police believe Pena masterminded the attacks. While nobody else has been charged in connection with the case, police have identified two other men linked to the investigation: 21-year-old Jose Trujillo and 41-year-old Demetrio Trujillo. Its not clear whether the two are related. Both are currently in jail on unrelated charges.
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The Grammy-winning musician talks about having a baby boy with wife Katharine McPhee after previously raising five daughters from previous relationships.

Jan 17, 2023

AceShowbiz - David Foster is still learning to find balance in raising a toddler at 73. Having a 23-month-old son called Rennie with his wife Katharine McPhee, the veteran musician admits that it's a "different" kind of challenge than he's used to.

David - who also has Allison, 52, Amy, 49, Sara, 41, Erin, 40, and Jordan, 36, from previous relationships - shared, "I had all daughters until my son and I love all my daughters immeasurably, but having a son is a little bit different."

The musician has also approached the situation with a different mindset. The Grammy-winning star - who married Katherine in 2019 - told PEOPLE, "At this point in my life, it's different again. Not better or worse, just different. I still work, I'm still gone a lot, but maybe the time is a little more precious to me because I got more runway behind me than I have ahead of me now."

David is also determined to pass his "wisdom" onto his son. He said, "I think that I can offer one thing to Rennie even though I won't be around when he's 50 or 40 even, or 30 maybe. I think I can offer him wisdom from my 72 years on the planet. And maybe that's not a bad trade-off. I hope so."

Meanwhile, Katharine previously insisted that the loved-up couple "don't care" about their age gap. The brunette beauty shared, "Of course, some people think it's a thing, but we don't we don't care. Here's the thing about social media [and] people who make comments ... You have to remind yourself that they make that comment and five seconds later, they're not thinking about you anymore."

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In a new statement responding to the former 'Top Gear' host's public apology, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex additionally accuse him of spreading 'hate rhetoric.'

Jan 17, 2023

AceShowbiz - A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has accused Jeremy Clarkson of spreading "hate rhetoric." The outspoken TV star took to Instagram on Monday, January 16, to apologize for a controversial article that he wrote about the royal couple, but a spokesperson for the duo has now disputed Jeremy's claim that he reached out to them both.

The spokesperson said, "On December 25, 2022, Mr. Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. The contents of his correspondence were marked Private and Confidential."

Jeremy sparked outrage in December when he wrote that he was "dreaming of the day" the duchess would be forced to "parade naked through the streets" while crowds threw excrement at her. The former "Top Gear" host has now been accused of spreading "dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny".

In a statement given to PEOPLE, the spokesperson said, "While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr. Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny. Unless each of his other pieces were also written in a hurry, as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate."

Jeremy previously took to Instagram to discuss his controversial newspaper article. The 62-year-old wrote on the photo-sharing platform, "Usually, I read what I've written to someone else before filing, but I was home alone on that fateful day, and in a hurry. So when I'd finished, I just pressed Send. And then, when the column appeared the next day, the landmine exploded."

"I therefore wrote to everyone who works with me saying how sorry I was and then, on Christmas morning, I e-mailed Harry and Meghan in California to apologise to them too. I said I was baffled by what they had been saying on TV but that the language I'd used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry," he continued.

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In a new interview, the 'No Problem' artist weighs in on the multiple issues at the Black Star Line Festival, which he and Vic Mensa hosted in the country a week ago.

Jan 17, 2023

AceShowbiz - Chance the Rapper has addressed the criticism against him after he and Vic Mensa hosted the Black Star Line Festival in Ghana a week ago. In a new interview, the Chicago rapper weighed in on the backlash for inviting Dave Chappelle as well other issues.

"I think it's something that Dave was actually shining a light on," Chance told Rolling Stones of Dave's inclusion in the festival despite his scandal surrounding his anti-trans comments. "That's where that conversation came from. Dave was making a comment about the comedy scene in Ghana when he said, 'I bet gay jokes go over so well here,' to which everybody laughed about."

The rapper continued, "And he was making a point to say that in Ghana, you can make jokes about things that are about gay people, about trans people, about a lot of social constructs, just about anything in the world. But you can't make a comment about the government there. That's not funny and that's not respected, and it can be dangerous. It's the complete opposite where we come from, where we can speak about the government all we want."

During the interview, Chance also talked about how his sets were delayed. When he eventually hit the stage at 5 A.M. local time, people had already left and it allowed unticketed guests to enter. "And by that time, obviously the crowd going from 50,000 to 1,500 - it's a lot of space. I think by that time the guards and everybody are likethere's no real reason to keep people out at that point," he explained.

"I think they let a few hundred people in that had stayed all night because the video towers also allowed you to see the show from outside of the square. I'm still processing the whole thing, everything. It didn't go all as planned, but it went perfectly," he noted.

Further elaborating on the situation, "The Highs & The Lows" spitter said that while "this is the second or third free one that [he's] done," he claimed that "none of them have been to the scale of 50,000 plus people." He shared, "Then for it to be overwhelmingly black and for it to be on the continent. And for a lot of people that was their first time in Ghana, whether they were American or of the diaspora. It was completely organized and put together by black folks on the continent. I think everybody was just very happy."

Despite the pushback, Chance dubbed the Black Star Line Festival, which was a celebration of art, culture and unity in the black community, "a really dope and deep moment."

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Things got explosive between the 'Rich Flex' rapper and a Clubhouse user as the Atlanta-based hip-hop artist told the man to 'shut the f**k up' in a leaked audio.

Jan 17, 2023

AceShowbiz - 21 Savage has become the butt of jokes on the Internet. The "Rich Flex" rapper has been trolled after an audio of him getting into a heated argument on social media app Clubhouse emerged.

The audio of the interaction went viral on Monday, January 16. In it, the Atlanta-based hip-hop star could be heard getting into it with someone from Chicago. Though what they were beefing over doesn't make it into the one-minute clip, the result was the "Her Loss" rapper promising that his detractor will die.

"You waited for this moment your whole life, so you could argue with a n***a on Clubhouse," the agitated 21 Savage said. "You keep letting all these Chicago n***as boost your head up, like y'all n***a ain't dying in real life, man. Stop playing."

When questioned by his detractor about his own team's losses, 21 Savage became more aggressive. "Every n***a that we beef with, 30 of they n***as get smoked and don't nothing happen to us," he fumed, "In real life, n***a. It's real life!"

Other voices could be heard trying to interject and 21 Savage went off again. "Aye, cap, you from Chicago. I advise you to shut the f**k up," the emcee added, " 'Cause the n***as that I f**k with up there spanking s**t, so stop playing. Y'all ain't spanking nothing, n***a." He later repeatedly said, "You will die," when one of the other men on the app tried to counter his claims.

Shortly after the audio made its round on the Internet, social media critics were quick to mock him. One person tweeted, "someone get 21 savage off clubhouse man bro itching for that RICO." Another remarked, "21 Savage needs a job. He clearly has too much time on his hands to be posted up in Clubhouse being too chatty." A third quipped, "Can 21 savage be deported back to the uk? Are those clubhouse interviews he giving enough to do it?"

21 Savage has made headlines previously from Clubhouse. In November last year, the rapper, born Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, caught backlash for saying Nas was not relevant to today's consumer.

21 Savage ended up backtracking on the comments and doing a song with Nas to show there was no ill will. Prior to that, in October of that year, 21 confronted fellow Clubhouse frequenter Wack 100 on the app for calling 21 a snitch.

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The 'Resume' rapper was reportedly headed for a music video filming with Ice Spice in New York when he was busted by cops for alleged weapons violation during a traffic stop.

Jan 17, 2023

AceShowbiz - Lil Tjay seemingly can't live without a gun, despite having had a bad episode with a firearm last year. The Bronx rapper has been arrested for gun possession in New York, six months after he survived a near-fatal shooting.

According to multiple reports, Tjay, whose real name is Tione Jayden Merritt, was pulled over by cops on East 183rd Street in the Fordham Heights section on Monday afternoon, January 16. He was inside a car with four other people during the traffic stop.

Upon searching the vehicle, law enforcement officials found two loaded guns. It is unclear why police pulled him over and searched the vehicle in the first place. Tjay and one of his friends were subsequently taken into custody and are facing charges for alleged weapons violation.

A video taken by a bystander shows the 21-year-old rap star being escorted by an officer to a police vehicle with his hands cuffed behind his back. The person who filmed the clip asked if he's okay, but he only briefly looked at the camera and didn't say anything.

Words are Tjay was headed for the shooting of Ice Spice's music video when he was pulled over. Earlier that day, he confirmed his schedule as he posted on his Instagram Story, "Video shooot today lol it's litt."

Lil Tjay and Ice Spice teased about a music video shooting before his arrest.

Ice Spice also teased the music video shooting, writing on her own Story, "video shoot tmm who poppin out??" She tagged Bronx, NY as the location. She has not addressed Tjay's arrest, but a video shows her proceeding with the filming without Tjay. She was seen being joined by Cleopatra during the filming.

Tjay's arrest comes just six months after he was shot seven times during an attempted robbery in Edgewater, New Jersey. The incident took place in the early hours of June 22. He was flown to Hackensack University Medical Center and underwent emergency surgery, while a second victim, 22-year-old Antoine Boyd, who is friends with the rapper, was also shot once and was in stable condition. Meanwhile, the shooter was also hit by gunfire, but managed to escape with help from an unidentified co-conspirator.

After spending months in the hospital, in September, a video surfaced of the "Resume" spitter walking out of a hospital room with the help of a nurse. At the top of the clip, he wrote, "The blogs said I was paralyzed and couldn't walk. But I started walking in a week after surgery. I beat the odds."

Earlier this month, he took to Instagram to share pictures of him showing his gunshot wounds during a performance in New Jersey.

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When speaking to Jason Lee on his new podcast show, the 'Bodak Yellow' femcee opens up about the harrowing moment when she and her husband found out about the late Migos rapper's tragic death.

Jan 17, 2023

AceShowbiz - Cardi B has gotten candid about the moment she and Offset learned the tragic news that his cousin Takeoff died. In a new interview with Jason Lee, the "Bodak Yellow" raptress detailed how her husband first reacted to the fallen Migos member's untimely passing.

In the Monday, January 16 episode of "The Jason Lee Podcast", Bardi broke down how she and Offset found out Takeoff had been killed last November. "We was in bad," the New York-born femcee began recalling.

"We was supposed to go to La La's party in New York and my daughter threw up all over my costume...We just fell asleep and out of nowhere, Offset phone kept ringing, my phone kept ringing," Cardi shared. "Offset picked up the phone and he's just like 'No!' He screaming and screaming. And I'm like, 'What's going on?' He's like, 'Takeoff is dead.' "

Cardi continued, "I smacked him, I was like, 'Don't say that.' He's just like screaming." The mom of two went on adding, "Throwing things. Throwing up. Running all over. I was just so scared. I was just crying so much. It was terrible."

Cardi, Offset and the hip-hop community were all shocked by Takeoff's death on November 1 last year. The 28-year-old rapper was shot and killed outside of 810 Billiards & Bowling in Houston when an argument turned into gunfire following a private party outside the venue.

Offset's first public reaction was to change his profile picture to Takeoff in tribute. Two weeks after the shooting, the 31-year-old emcee broke his silence on social media with a heartfelt statement.

Shortly after, Cardi admitted that it's hard to make Offset happy again. "We living our life normally, but deep down inside our hearts have been so heavy," the femcee claimed in a since-deleted Twitter voice note. "No lie, I have been feeling so hopeless trying to make my husband happy. Trying to make him crack a smile. Seeing him randomly cry, see him trying to distract his mind completely, schedules been changing, trying to keep up with work after everything that he's been going through these past couple of weeks."

Then in December, Offset confessed that he's faking his smile this whole time following his cousin's tragic death. "S**t not easy fake smiling and s**t tryna keep walking with my head up," he tweeted alongside a photo of the late rapper flashing a peace sign onstage.

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Lawyers from the firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP claim that they are left with no other choice but to use 'alternative means' to reach the Yeezy designer as he allegedly ghosts them.

Jan 17, 2023

AceShowbiz - Kanye West's lawyers are seeking to use newspaper ad to inform the rapper that they have decided to cut ties with him. According to court documents, lawyers from the firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP have been left with no other choice as the Yeezy designer allegedly ghosted them.

Obtained by TMZ, the legal paper stated that there's been "a breakdown in communication" between Ye and the law firm as they attempted to let him know they're no longer representing him. According to the firm, the "Donda" artist deactivated the phone number they previously used to get in touch with him.

The situation prompted his legal team to use "alternative means" to reach him and that includes putting ads out in 2 L.A.-based newspapers and publicly publishing the order from the judge that allows them to withdraw from the case. Described as a "multi-pronged approach," the move is designed to "apprise him of the Withdrawal Order" which would finalize him being dropped as a client.

"Publication of the Withdrawal Order's contents in two Los Angeles-area newspapers, where Ye appears to reside, will also apprise him of the Withdrawal Order," the legal filing reads. "Given Ye's public status, publication of the Withdrawal Order will likely garner significant media attention, resulting in broader publication and provide an even greater likelihood of apprising Ye of the Order."

Greenberg Traurig had been repping Ye in his copyright infringement case against Ultra International Music Publishing. On November 30, 2022, judge Analisa Torres granted the law firm's motion to stop representing the embattled star, but the firm is given only two weeks to serve him the necessary court documents.

The law firm isn't the only one who is struggling to contact Ye. The Chicago star's former business partner Thomas St. John, who is suing him for breach of contract, also claimed that he had been missing as he was unable to reach the rapper. In his $4.5 million lawsuit, Thomas stated that Ye hired him to be the Chief Marketing Officer of Donda with $300,000/month salary, but then stopped paying him.

Meanwhile, recent reports claimed that the musician enjoyed a new chapter in life with his new wife Bianca Censori. The couple allegedly tied the knot in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills, though the union may not be legally binding as they haven't filed a marriage certificate.

It was also said that the spitter and the Yeezy architectural designer went on a honeymoon in Utah following the nuptials. According to Daily Mail, the embattled star and the Yeezy architectural designer spent time at Amangiri resort last week.

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The 'Bloody Valentine' musician tells trolls to keep their 'insecurities' to themselves after he was mocked for comparing his Milan outfit to Jules from 'Euphoria'.

Jan 18, 2023

AceShowbiz - Machine Gun Kelly has fired back at trolls who mocked his style. The pop punk star - who is engaged to actress Megan Fox - faced negative comments about his fashion sense after comparing his Milan Fashion Week ensemble - a silver jacquard Dolce and Gabbana suit, complete with pointed metal finger covers - and spiky updo hairstyle to the style of Jules from the teen drama "Euphoria" - "if she went to Milan."

"I call this, if jules from euphoria went to milan (sic)," MGK - whose real name is Colson Baker - wrote on Instagram alongside his snaps from the event. He later reacted to the comments on Twitter, writing, "You can't comment about my style, if you have none." And sharing the tweet to his Instagram, he added in the caption, "Keep your insecurities to yourself."

The "more than life" star is known to match his bold red carpet outfits to his future wife's. The couple often turn up at public events in matching nail art and previously attended UN/DN LAQR's launch party chained together by their fingers.

MGK also said his unisex nail polish line for the brand was inspired by ancient myths and the God of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection, Cupid. He added, "Many of the men in Greek mythology were warriors or soldiers or gods who had used their strength, and then there was Cupid, who was poetic and beautiful. I wonder what a world of Cupids (would) look like instead of just people falling into what they think we have to be as 'men.' "

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The 'Magic Mike' actor confesses 'relationships are hard' for him as he reflects on his separation from then-wife Jenna Dewan, the mother of his daughter Everly.

Jan 18, 2023

AceShowbiz - Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan tried "for a really long time" to make their marriage work. The "Magic Mike's Last Dance" star and his "Step Up" co-star - who share daughter Everly, nine - called it quits in 2019 after almost a decade together, and the Hollywood star admits they tried their best to stay together but they were ultimately on different paths in life.

"We fought for it for a really long time, even though we both sort of knew that we had sort of grown apart," the 42-year-old actor, now in a relationship with his "Pussy Island" director Zoe Kravitz, 34, told the February 2023 issue of Vanity Fair magazine.

"I think we told ourselves a story when we were young, and we just kept telling ourselves that story, no matter how blatantly life was telling us that we were so different. But when you're actually parents, you really understand differences between the two of you. Because it is screaming at you all day long. How you parent differently, how you look at the world, how you go through the world."

Channing added about their split, "In the beginning, it was super scary and terrifying. Your life just turns on its axis. This whole plan that you had literally just turns into sand and goes through your fingers and you're just like, 'Oh, s***. What now?' "

The "Dog" director - who dated British pop star Jessie J between 2018 and 2020 - also admitted he's always feared heartbreak and often ends up "trying too hard" in relationships as a result. He explained, "Relationships are hard for me. Even though I am a bit of a monogamist. In business, I have no real fear of anything being destroyed. But heart things, when it comes to people I love, I have a really hard time. I end up trying too hard, you know?"

However, he's trying to live more in the moment and not think too far ahead about what may or may not happen in the future. Tatum added, "So I can actually experience these moments, instead of just trying to change it or something. Or being afraid that it's not going to work out how I wanted or something."

Read "Channing Tatum Is Back for Magic Mike's Last Dance" by Jessica Pressler in Vanity Fair's February issue, on newsstands January 24, and on VanityFair.com.

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WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2023  The American Chemical Society (ACS) Scholars Program awards renewable scholarships to undergraduate students from historically underrepresented groups who are majoring in chemistry-related disciplines and intending to pursue chemistry-related careers. Selected recipients are awarded up to $5,000 per academic year. To date, more than 4,000 students have received funding from the ACS Scholars Program.

In addition to providing financial support, the ACS Scholars Program pairs students with academic and professional mentors, provides access to internship experiences and offers conference travel awards.

Scholarship applications will be accepted online at the ACS Scholars Program website through March 1, 2023, for the 2023-24 academic year. There you can also find eligibility requirements, application advice and a webinar recording with important tips. For additional information, please send an email to scholars@acs.org.



Watch this short video to meet just a few of the thousands of ACS Scholars alumni who credit the program for helping them launch successful careers. The ACS Scholars Program is made possible by generous contributions from many corporations, foundations and individuals.
Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd. has joined hands with the Andhra Pradesh government to kick-off the Oral Health awareness program with Project Dr YSR Chinaravvu in the state. This will begin today from a school in the Nellore district, where Colgate-Palmolive India will work with the state government to educate children on oral health and build awareness on saying No to tobacco.

Chief guest at the occasion was Mr. Kakani Govardhan Reddy, Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture, Cooperation, Marketing and Food Processing, Government of Andhra Pradesh. He inaugurated the project with a lamp lighting session along with Prabha Narasimhan - MD & CEO, Colgate-Palmolive India. Present on the occasion were Dr. Satheesh Reddy - Vice President Dental Council Of India, District Education Officer Nellore, representatives from the National Health Mission, Administration and Poonam Sharma - Head CSR & Sustainability, Colgate-Palmolive India.

Ms. Vidadala Rajini, Hon'ble Minister of Health, Family welfare and Medical Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh said, "As part of our National Health Mission, the Andhra Pradesh government believes strongly in enabling the right primary healthcare as the first step in achieving health goals. We are excited to partner with Colgate India in the journey of elevating oral health awareness and preventive tobacco sensitisation for the school children of the state. This collaboration very well supports the Andhra state's Project DR YSR Chirunavvu - the brain child initiative of our Chief Minister Shri. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy garu. We deeply appreciate the efforts of Colgate India for providing dental medical equipment infrastructures in government dental colleges and hospitals, which will further strengthen better oral health for people of the state."

"We are honored to partner with the Andhra Pradesh government to contribute in achieving the common vision for improved oral health in India. The support from the Hon'ble CMs office and related departments on this partnership has been exemplary and Colgate Palmolive is grateful for their vision and commitment to Project Dr. YSR Chirunavvu. This project seeks to bring down the incidence of cavities and other dental problems in children through structured information on oral health and building the right oral care habits. For over 85 years Colgate Palmolive India has been committed to the improvement of oral health in India through programs like the Bright Smiles Bright Future program and this is another important step in that journey. We hope to reach about 4 million children in Andhra Pradesh with this project said Prabha Narasimhan, MD and CEO of Colgate-Palmolive India.

Colgate has partnered with the NGO Sambhav Foundation, to implement the school program. Beginning from the Nellore district, Colgate-Palmolive India will cover over 2600 government schools, before moving to other districts in Andhra Pradesh. True to its commitment to oral health, Colgate-Palmolive has also supported dental equipment and mobile dental vans in Government Hospitals of Kadappa, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

ORAL DISEASE BURDEN IN INDIA

Prevalence of oral diseases (2019) Prevalence of untreated decaying milk teeth in children 1-9 years (%) 43.3 Prevalence of untreated decaying of permanent teeth in people 5+ years (%) 28.8

Source: World Health Organisation (WHO) report 2022
Quaker, one of Indias leading brands in the breakfast cereal category and world leader in the Oatmeal segment, has launched an unique campaign, called Ab Breakfast Ko Banao Unskippable Breakfast. In support of the campaign, three videos have been released that demonstrate how adding the wholesome, delectable, and simple-to-make Quaker Oats Muesli to ones breakfast can turn it into a regular part of peoples everyday lives.

In the opening scene of the first movie, a family is seen rushing through breakfast and the morning rush in an effort to do everything at one go. In contrast, the protagonist of the second movie skips breakfast to start the day, which makes him angry when he gets stuck in traffic in the city. The third movie depicts the professional problems of a lady attempting to stay awake during a work meeting while feeling low on energy as a result of her unhealthily prepared breakfast.

In the films climactic reveal of the benefits of five grains  oats, wheat, maize, barley, and rice  along with fruit, nuts, and seeds, Quaker Oats Muesli is positioned as the perfect breakfast choice for individuals juggling busy morning schedules. This oat-a-licious product combines a delectable flavour with convenience and is a fantastic source of protein and fibre. With two flavourful variants  Fruit & Nut and Berries & Seeds  it provides a nutritious start to the day with a crunchy, multi-textural, and wholesome experience. It was created to provide Fuel For The Real Fit.

In conversation with Adgully, Sonam B Vij, Associate Director and Category Head  Quaker, PepsiCo India, speaks at length about the newly launched muesli category, the campaign strategy, and much more.

Quaker is one of the leading brands in the oats segment, but within the BFC category, there is a space that we thought we needed to expand. Given the upward trend of people moving towards healthier choices and lifestyle, we thought that this was the opportune time to bring out a product in the RTEC category. Muesli was the product that we were thinking about for some time now and we felt that this was the right time to do it.

Speaking about the launch, Vij said, We started with a digital-first approach, but as consumers are everywhere, so its an omnichannel experience that we are looking at to provide our consumers. Hence, we are going to be present in e-commerce, modern trade and retail.

About the markets, she noted, We are going to start by being present in some of the top cities and top markets for now and then penetrate further step by step.

On the new campaign, she remarked, We have launched our campaign  Ab breakfast ko banao unskippable  with three interesting TVCs. We did some research and found out that 44% of people were skipping breakfast and that is how we started thinking about how we get consumers to start consuming breakfast, which is the most important meal of the day. So, we aimed to address this with the launch of Quaker Oats Muesli and the subsequent campaign.
Unravel Data, the first DataOps observability platform built to meet the needs of modern data teams, today announced that Zia Mansoor has joined the companys Board of Directors. Mansoor currently serves as Microsofts Vice President of Data & AI, and has extensive expertise in go-to-market strategy and providing product and solution leadership across operational database, analytics, AI/Machine Learning, data governance, and business intelligence solutions.

We are excited to welcome Zia to our Board. Hes had tremendous success enabling customers to build efficient and scalable solutions while instilling a strong data culture within organizations. His appointment reflects our strong relationship with M12, Microsofts venture fund, a key investor in Unravel, said Kunal Agarwal, CEO of Unravel Data. We look forward to working together as Unravel continues to help organizations efficiently deliver data outcomes and effectively control skyrocketing cloud compute and storage costs.

Mansoor has held various positions at Microsoft for the last 15 years. Prior to his current role leading Worldwide Data and AI commercial business, he led Microsoft Canadas largest team of technical professionals as Vice President of Customer Success. Mansoor has helped numerous organizations accelerate their journey to the cloud and realize potential across all Microsoft commercial solution areas, including Modern Workplace, Azure (App Development and Infrastructure, Data and AI), Business Applications, and Security.

I am excited to work with Unravel Data, which has proven itself to be a fast-growing data observability company. Alongside my fellow advisors, I look forward to helping drive innovation in its data operations solutions. I have long admired the team, their work, and how they are leveraging AI to meet the growing opportunities for the modern data stack, said Mansoor.

Founded by data pioneers Kunal Agarwal and Dr. Shivnath Babu, Unravel Data understands that the exponential growth of data combined with the broad adoption of the public cloud requires an entirely new way to manage and optimize the data pipelines that support the real-time analytics needs of todays data-driven enterprises. Numerous Fortune 100 companies, including two of the top five global pharmaceutical companies and three of the top 10 financial institutions in the world, rely on Unravel Data to gain unprecedented visibility across their data stacks, proactively troubleshoot and optimize their data workloads, and define guardrails to govern costs and improve predictability. Customers who have deployed Unravel have been able to double productivity of data teams and ensure data applications run on time, while scaling costs efficiently in the cloud.

To learn more about how Unravel is leading the DataOps observability space, visit the new library of demonstration videos.
The latest edition of the India Influence report by Zefmo Media (Zefmo), now in its fifth edition, chronicles the growth of the influencer economy in 2022 and provides a peek into the global trends of 2023.

India to have more than 100 million content creators across all social media platforms in 2023, to become the largest base of influencers in the world.

Organised influencer marketing sector to breach Rs 3,000 crore ($375 million) in FY 2023-24; revenue share of micro-influencers to increase from 9% in FY 2022-23 to 14% in FY 2023-24.

The hyperlocal micro-influencers are disrupting the Indian influencer economy. Brands are tapping into these hyperlocal micro influencers sticky engagement quotient to further strengthen their connection with their customers. In its latest report on the influencer economy in India by one of the largest pure-play influencer marketing platforms  Zefmo lays out how the influencer marketing space is radically transforming itself to provide monetisation avenues for hyperlocal micro-influencers across Indias metros and hinterland. The report also underscores the normalization of mega-influencer fees, alongside visible trends in the form of fractional brand ambassadorship, and metaverse exploration.

The India Influence Report 2022 is a first-of-its-kind study of more than 1500 micro-influencers across 35 cities who shared their views on a range of topics, including brand collaborations, choice of platform, content formats, and future plans. In the previous reports, ranging from the year 2017 to 2022, some of the top takeaways included:

the emergence of video as the dominant content medium,

the popularity of short-video format amongst both influencers and their audience groups,

the rise of vernacular content among influencers,

increasing share of voice of micro-influencers, and

finance as a major influencer content genre.

In the current edition of the India Influence Report, Zefmo has incorporated inputs from micro-influencers to capture the essence of what a majority of new and emerging influencers are experiencing on a daily basis across India.

Shudeep Majumdar, Co-founder and CEO, Zefmo, said, In our most exhaustive influencer market report yet, our team went both broad and deep to collect inputs from a wide variety of emerging content creators. These influencers are at the heart of the creators economy and will dictate the content creation trends in times to come. It is heartening to learn that hyperlocal micro-influencers are pushing the boundaries of content creation while effectively monetizing them. Also, this years report sheds light on some of the emerging trends for 2023 which marketers may find useful in planning their marketing mix.

Sushmita Verma, Co-founder and COO, Zefmo, added here, At Zefmo, we have been working with vernacular, hyperlocal micro-influencers since 2017, but 2022 can be truly termed as the inflexion year for these influencers. With a growing base of over 1,50,000 influencers, Zefmo has been actively engaging hyperlocal micro-influencers to brands of all flavours and sizes. And it gives us immense joy to handhold micro-influencers and brands to traverse the mutually beneficial journey hand-in-hand.

Survey insights of India Influence Report 2022

Choice of social media platform : 38% - YouTube, 36% - Instagram, 11% - Twitter, 6% - Facebook, 9% - others

: 38% - YouTube, 36% - Instagram, 11% - Twitter, 6% - Facebook, 9% - others The ideal time period for videos : 23% - less than one minute, 27% - between one and three minutes, 22% - more than 5 minutes, 33% - cant say

: 23% - less than one minute, 27% - between one and three minutes, 22% - more than 5 minutes, 33% - cant say Sectoral split of brand campaigns : 53% - FMCG, 17% - D2C, 14% - Electronic devices, 9% - Finance, 7% - others

: 53% - FMCG, 17% - D2C, 14% - Electronic devices, 9% - Finance, 7% - others Preferred content language mix by the brands : 29% - Hindi and other regional languages, 38% - mix (bilingual) of English and regional languages, 33% - English

: 29% - Hindi and other regional languages, 38% - mix (bilingual) of English and regional languages, 33% - English Campaign duration and payout: 44% - increase in campaign duration and hike in payout, 34% - reduction in both campaign duration and payout (vs 2021), 22% - no change in either campaign duration or payout

Influencer marketing trends, 2023 and beyond

Trend 01: Metaverse exploration (NFTs) - Influencers, including those who have recently embarked on their social media journey, are increasingly focussing on how they can create multiple channels to both better engage and monetize via their presence in the metaverse as well as the creation of NFTs. While they remain cognizant of the market fluctuations when it comes to cryptocurrencies, a majority of influencers are bullish regarding the long-term prospects of cryptos and their positive impact on NFT valuations.

Trend 02: Fractional Brand Ambassadorship - Mega influencers, and even celebrities who have now embraced influencer marketing, are now open to the idea of fractional brand ambassadorship allowing smaller brands to afford them for brand promotion. Going forward, influencers and celebrities will be evaluating endorsing non-competing brands at a fraction of their brand ambassadorship fee due to this innovative model.

Trend 03: Hyperlocal Micro Influencer Monetisation - Brands across India are now embracing the power of micro-influencers to reach out to their customers. Moreover, brands are now relying on hyperlocal micro-influencers to talk in regional language and approach better relationships with their customers. In doing so, brands are forging a more personal relationship with their customers via these influencers. In turn, such influencers are able to monetize their content across established platforms. This phenomenon is adding to the democratisation of the influencer economy.

Trend 04: Merchandising & Productization - Influencers are keen to monetize their personal brand by promoting their range of merchandise. In addition, influencers are also converting their content streams into products, such as training courses and knowledge repositories. Over time, content streams have the potential to become knowledge banks on topics ranging from travelogues to coding.

Trend 05: Brand Agnostic Advocacy - Influencers are associating themselves with multiple brands without any particular affinity towards a certain sector. In fact, influencers are now embracing brands from various backgrounds that are more akin to their content genre rather than endorsing brands that are alike. On the brand side too, marketers are more open towards engaging with influencers whose content comes across as unique and has a high relatability factor with their audience.
The start of a new year is seen as bringing in new operational efficiencies, stronger strategies, a far greater emphasis on building deep bonds with various stakeholders and consumers. In keeping with the current market ecosystem, technology and a human approach are seen as going hand in hand.

As 2023 kicks off, Adgully has approached key industry leaders to Crystal Gaze into 2023, as part of our annual Trending Now series, to highlight the major trends and developments that they see dominating the industry in the year ahead.

Deepshikha Dharmaraj, Chief Executive Officer, BCW India Group, speaks about the key trends that will dominate the PR Industry this year, the digital-first phase of communications, a larger need for policy advocacy and public affairs, as well as focus area for BCW India Group in 2023, and more.

Key trends that will dominate PR industry in 2023

Digital-first communication: In the last three years, we have seen at least a decades worth of development and innovation on the digital front. From a digital-also, were now in the digital-first phase of communications. Traditional PR and technology dont just co-exist, but work seamlessly together. Additionally, technologies like Web3, Metaverse, AR/VR, AI, and ML, are offering a whole new dimension to immerse the target audience in the message even more. Conversations around ChatGPT, DALL-e, Writely and other AI-driven platforms taking over basic tasks are already abuzz. But just like with the Metaverse, we will have to keep reminding ourselves that technology is only as good as the person using it.

Increasing need for public affairs and advocacy: Global issues are taking more and more precedence in corporate life and the regulatory environment is becoming increasingly complex. There is a larger need for policy advocacy and public affairs. The aim for the industry should be to do both  educate clients on the changing landscapes, and inform the government on what the industry requires for its growth.

Purpose-driven: Companies are realising that for communication to be effective, it has to be authentic, and for that, it has to align with its purpose. Purpose is the true north for a company  the reason for its existence. But it cant just be a sentence to be put up on the companys website. It has to link through all the stakeholders  consumers, government, employees, community, partners and others. While there are mandates for ESG, DEI, etc, purpose goes beyond that. It helps align an organisations values and strategy to a shared vision.

Major expectations

One of the biggest expectations is to help clients engage with stakeholders in times of uncertainty. Whether or not there is a recession, there is certainly an anticipation of it. To manage that, it will be important to communicate clearly what goals and strategy will guide the organisation.

Given that India holds the presidency of G20 this year, businesses will want to engage with the government more frequently this year. There will, therefore, be a higher expectation from the public affairs community to facilitate this engagement.

There is also continued focus on managing people. After almost three years of disruption, the workplace is finally getting back on track. But perhaps in a much different way than it was. Expectations from the workplace have changed. BCWs Expectations at Work study identified the top expectations people have, and of the top 10, six are those that we can address with communications.

Major focus areas for BCW India Group in 2023

Our focus areas align with the expectations and trends I have mentioned above. And to deliver on that, our people are working together with a growth mindset. Open to change, curious, creative, and looking forwards  these are the indicators of a growth mindset. So, our biggest area of focus will be to continue nurturing this growth mindset in our people to take on the goals and imperatives of 2023.
Road Safety Week is organised annually to promote awareness on road safety measures and rules. This year the Mumbai Traffic Police has teamed up with &TV for an awareness campaign starting January 11-17, 2023. &TVs immensely popular and beloved bhabhis, Angoori (Shubhangi Atre) and Anita (Vidisha Srivastava), will reinforce numerous road safety measures like wearing helmets, seatbelts, no drinking and driving, among others. Both the bhabhis kicked off the public awareness drive, urging Mumbaikars to follow the rules in their unique style, characteristic of their on-screen personalities.

Talking about Road Safety Week, the Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Shri Pravinkumar Padwal, said, "Road safety is one of the most important goals for the Mumbai Traffic Police and it is our constant endeavour to create safer streets for the citizens of Mumbai. In continuation of this endeavour, we are happy to partner with &TV to spread awareness of various safety measures and traffic violations. Through the use of their popular characters, we hope to positively influence Mumbaikars to take road safety very seriously, for themselves and the safety of others.

On joining forces with the Mumbai Traffic Police for Road Safety Week, Vishnu Shankar, Chief Cluster Officer, &TV, Zing, Big Magic and Anmol, said, The Mumbai Traffic Police has always been at the forefront when it comes to road safety and their campaigns have been outstanding. We at &TV are honoured to partner with them on the occasion of Road Safety Week and keep our roads and communities safer together. Angoori Bhabhi and Anita Bhabhi, who enjoy tremendous love from their fans, will be seen urging Mumbaikars to follow the safety rules in their unique style. Apart from the on-ground campaign in Mumbai, we have developed a microsite where people across the country can send personalised road safety videos to their loved ones.

Adding to this, actor Shubhangi Atre, aka Angoori Bhabhi of Bhabiji Ghar Par Hai, said, I am delighted to be a part of a campaign that generates awareness about road safety. Understanding and following traffic rules are imperative to avoid endangering your life and others lives. My fans can click on andtvroadsafety.zee5.com and send my safety message videos to their loved ones. Vidisha Srivastava, aka Anita Bhabhi of Bhabiji Ghar Par Hai, adds, "Kudos to the Mumbai Traffic Police for their consistent efforts on educating and sensitising commuters on road safety. Let us all do our bit to make our roads safer for everyone.

&TV and the Mumbai Traffic Police urge every citizen to drive safely and follow the traffic rules, Kyunki Bhabiji Ghar Par Hai!

You can go to andtvroadsafety.zee5.com and send Angoori Bhabhis safety video messages to your loved ones
Harsh Shah has been appointed as Chief Digital Officer at Wunderman Thompson South Asia effective 17th January 2023. In his last stint, Harsh was with Dentsu Creative as President  West, and led operations, revenue, people and culture for Dentsu Webchutney, and regional business for the rest of Dentsu Creative. In his new role at Wunderman Thompson South Asia, he will be responsible for accelerating the digital transformation of the Wunderman Thompson Group, and working with all of its agencies across Creative, Communication, Tech, Health and Commerce to deliver an integrated solution to all clients across the Group.

Commenting on Harshs appointment, Shams Jasani, Chief Executive Officer, Wunderman Thompson South Asia, said, We are Delighted to welcome Harsh to the Wunderman Thompson Family. He brings in a wealth of experience across Digital, Technology and Commerce. Our work at Wunderman Thompson harnesses the power of creative, technology, and Commerce to drive unprecedented growth for some of the worlds biggest brands. We are glad to have Harsh onboard at a critical juncture when we are keenly looking at offering end-to-end capabilities to our clients at scale.

On his appointment at Wunderman Thompson South Asia, Harsh Shah, said, I am deeply excited by the vision drawn up at WT and my specific charter as a key growth partner. I look forward to drive this vision and unlock growth with my highly experienced and talented peers at the agency. In the ever-evolving social and economic fabric of the world, it is essential to look at culture and consumer demand as an important ongoing thread in what we do. Leading Digital at WT makes this journey especially thrilling for me.

Based out of Mumbai, Harsh will report directly to Shams Jasani, Chief Executive Officer, Wunderman Thompson South Asia.
A couple of weeks ago, while reading a splendid new biography of the nineteenth-century English landscape painter John Constable, I pulled off the shelf my go-to guide on all things about art, Paul Johnsons incredible work, Art: A New History. I have relied on this volume to boost my own meager knowledge of art more times than I can count over the past 20 years.

I hadnt thought about or heard anything about Paul Johnson in a few years. I knew that he had not published anything in some time, so as we are all wont to do, I Googled him and went on Wikipedia. When I saw that he was still alive, I breathed a sigh of relief.

My relief was sadly short-lived. Just last week, I saw the notice of Paul Johnsons passing. A great journalist and a world-renowned historian has left us. But what a legacy and body of work he has given us. The impact he has had on so many over these past 50 years is incalculable.

The range of subjects about which Johnson endeavored to write exceeds measure. There is simply no one in his league when it comes to the prolific nature and broad scope of his work. If an historian can count one book as being a groundbreaking and hugely impactful work, then that person can be considered blessed. But Johnson didnt just write one hugely influential book; he wrote several. Everyone has their favorites of the over 50 books he authored, but I will count three as magisterial.

The already mentioned Art: A New History surely belongs on that list. It is a magnificent 800-page guide to all things about art; the history, the great artists, and providing an historical context to art over the sweep of the centuries that is unsurpassed.

Johnson, a Roman Catholic, can count as one of his other great achievements the writing of A History of the Jews, still one of, if not the best, history of the Jewish people written in the past couple of hundred years.

For all his abundant and wide-ranging areas of scholarship, there is little disagreement on which work is Johnsons most influential book: Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Eighties. I read that book when I was in my mid-twenties, and it changed everything I had ever thought or learned about history. I have probably gone through three or four copies of that book, the dog ears, the notes, the pages torn from wear. No other book, outside of perhaps, Whittaker Chamber's Witness or Solzhenitsyns Gulag Archipelago had such an influence on me. I know I am not alone in making such a statement.

I could go on with examples from Modern Times ad infinitum, but just one will suffice here. After being educated in the public schools of America in the latter part of the 20th century, who would think that Calvin Coolidge was a great president? Paul Johnson, more than any other historian of his time, was responsible for resurrecting the image of one of our greatest presidents and one of our most misunderstood decades, the 1920s.

I hesitate to call Johnson a conservative, though he was. But then history is history, it isnt conservative or liberal. Not all historians appear to understand that fact. Howard Zinn was made famous, with no small help from Matt Damon and the movie Good Will Hunting. A good movie, but Zinns book, A Peoples History of the United States, was nothing but left-wing claptrap, a screed of leftist propaganda. We have lost so much ground to the Left in the war over our history and culture over the past half century, but a bulwark against that tide has been the efforts and yeoman work of the giant Paul Johnson, who with Modern Times and The History of the American People should be and hopefully will be, ranked at the top of last centurys historians of America, as opposed to the likes of Howard Zinn.

I never had the honor of meeting Paul Johnson; we only corresponded a few times. Back in 2004, as part of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, we planned a trip to Florence, Italy and I invited Paul Johnson to lead us on the tour. He accepted and I was thrilled at the prospect of spending a week in Tuscany with him. Unfortunately, just a short time before the trip, he fell and broke his hip. He was unable to make the trip, so we scrambled and invited Victor Davis Hanson to lead us.

He did, the trip and Victor were spectacular, and as they say, the rest is history. Hanson is one of the great historians that we have been blessed to have read over the past decades, with Martin Gilbert and Anthony Roberts being just two more amidst a plethora of great writers. Paul Johnson certainly stands among them, his impact being second to none. May he continue to influence us for decades and centuries to come.

Image: Alan Davidson
We've got to save Democracy, is the left's new talking point, designed to replace the old debunked Russia collusion hoax. Or as Kurt Schlichter said in Townhall, "Democrats Want to Destroy Democracy to Save It."

Democrats brought popcorn onto the floor of the House of Representatives to mock Republicans as they did due diligence in voting for the speaker of the House. Then the Dems even jeered when Rep. Kat Cammack (R) accused them of having alcoholic beverages on the floor in addition to popcorn.

The Democrats/socialists want to make this look like a circus for their media cameras. They ignore the fact that this is what Republican voters wanted their representatives to do. Democrats, by comparison, usually listen only to people who agree with them  not the peasants.

When finally elected speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy said, "Our nation is worth fighting for." How different this is from Pelosi, who said that in D.C., you have to seize power because it is not given. That shows the difference between the two philosophies  differences that many in the media just don't understand.

Recently, Susan Page published a book, Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power. It's telling that a book about a U.S. public servant talks about power rather than service, but Democrats always seem to be about power and not freedoms, democracy, or what is best for Americans.

On January 5, Pelosi said the Republicans' "cavalier attitude in electing a speaker was frivolous, disrespectful, and unworthy of this institution." She also said that "all who serve in the House share a responsibility to bring dignity to this body."

CNN's Chris Wallace and guest Stephen Colbert agreed and said that such problems would never have occurred under Pelosi. Colbert referred to Kevin McCarthageddon and referred to "people like Kevin McCarthy, who are overt hypocrites, who clearly sold their soul for political power and get nothing in return." (Democrats always seem to want a return on their investments.)

There is so much material to work with here that it's hard to know where to start.

First, of course the fight for the speakership wouldn't have happened under Pelosi. It wouldn't have happened under Stalin, Hitler, or Mao, either. As my dad said about the Democrat party, the Bolsheviks never break ranks (or they're never allowed to). For instance, a recent report says that less than 40 percent of Democrats approve of the Democrats' new House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries  but ordinary Democrats are never asked for their opinions.

As for people who sold their souls for political power, look at Pelosi and her career politician father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr. Nancy has reportedly said that her father taught her from a young age that "no one is going to give you power. You have to seize it." Since entering the political arena, she has obviously followed and echoed her dad's advice. History shows she has fought for as much power as she could get  like other totalitarians before her.

Her dad likely taught her the dark side of the political force as well. An FBI background investigation on D'Alesandro ordered by President Kennedy revealed some interesting facts about this career Democrat politician.

The FBI said there were allegations that daddy D'Alesandro associated with criminal elements when he was mayor of Baltimore and when he was a congressman. An FBI report said Pelosi's father was a "constant companion" of notorious mobster Benjamin Magliano as well as other mobsters. Another said that her dad got payoffs from applicants to the police force and that this helped him help some of his friends. An FBI source also said that in 1943, D'Alesandro attended a rally for the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship  a front group formed by the U.S. Communist Party.

It appears that Nancy's dad had concrete ideas on how to acquire and keep power  and who could help him do so. Unfortunately these apparently included mobsters and communists.

As for things that are frivolous, disrespectful and unworthy of Congress  the Democrats under Biden & Pelosi made those attributes a specialty. But what else would you expect from a Speaker of the House who tore up a copy of the President's state of the union speech on camera.

Frivolous: When the DNI, James Clapper, reported that there was no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump in the 2016 election, Nancy Pelosi said that a full investigation was still needed  likely by people picked by her, just like the nominally "bipartisan" January 6 committee. Basically, a dishonest, Stalinesque show trial scheme.

Disrespectful: Pelosi said that drag queens are what America is all about. She claimed she was honored to be seen with them  "because they knew their power." Again  it's all about power and not what is good for American society, families, or children. It's Democrat showmanship over substance, forced on people who have to pay her exorbitant salary. As an aside, it's funny how mocking blacks by wearing blackface is an insult (unless you're a Democrat governor), but men (?) mocking women in grotesque costumes is somehow OK.

Unworthy of Congress: In 2020, when Antifa and BLM were attacking the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, Nancy Pelosi referred to the rioters as First Amendment "protesters" and denounced federal agents as Trump's secret police. Her protesters tried to burn down the federal courthouse with people still inside  but they aren't considered violent. The police are.

Dignity of the Body: Other than tearing up Trump's State of the Union speech, Pelosi disgraced herself, her office, and the House when she sat behind the president looking like what the N.Y. Post called a "malfunctioning Stepford wife." They also said that "her lower face twitched, she muttered to herself, shook her head, smiled inappropriately, gazed around, chewed her lip or remained glued to her seat during standing ovations in honor of special guests." The Post finished by saying that this performance showed her petty hatreds and destroyed the myth that she was some sort of "master political strategist."

Responsibility to bring dignity to the House: Violating the First Amendment of the Constitution and civil rights of Americans does nothing to bring honor or dignity to the House or the government as a whole. Elon Musk's release of Twitter correspondences has started an avalanche of data indicating that the U.S. government colluded with social media to censor Americans and influence U.S. elections. One article even suggested that Biden apparatchiks pressured Facebook to censor the Fox journalist Tucker Carlson.

And that is just Pelosi. If you look at Joe, Hunter, and James Biden and their business dealings with the Chinese communists, it's even worse. Worse than that is the probability that the DOJ and FBI (our law enforcement entities) helped hide these facts from the American people. And these people all took oaths to uphold and defend the Constitution.

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
I thought the Afghanistan bug-out was the ultimate arms deal.

Biden abandoned billions of dollars of weapons, leaving them behind for the Taliban to enjoy. Which meant that our military  Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines  were out a lot of weapons and vehicles, aircraft and drones, and God alone knows what else. When youre in the middle of a bug-out, its hard to find the time to go take an inventory of equipment youll never see again. Why we didnt use a little C-4, which we were probably abandoning as well  to render all of those vehicles inoperable (a fancy term that means terminally broken) Ill never know. There must have been an angle.

The actual value of what was left behind was all over the map.

A quick review of contemporary headlines range from a CNN claim that we left behind $7 billion worth of materiel  a lot of money, equipment-wise, for sure. However, FactCheck.org insists that the Republicans inflated the cost of what the Taliban seized, claiming that $85 billion is too high an estimate. They came in with a marginally-deflated number, $82.9 billion.

Which is not far from what President Trump said in Alabama on August 22, 2021: Theyve left $83 billion worth of equipment behind, including brand new Apache helicopters, thousands of Humvee vehicles with armor guard, equipment that nobody has ever even seen before, it was so sophisticated.

A few days later, Trump expanded on his perspective of the weapons left abandoned.

In addition to the obvious, all equipment should be demanded to be immediately returned to the United States, and that includes every penny of the $85 billion dollars in cost. If it is not handed back, we should either go in with unequivocal military force and get it, or at least bomb the hell out of it, Trump said.

Whatever the loss, when the military loses a weapon, its time to go back to the manufacturer to get it replaced. Tankers without a tank arent much good to the Army, just as pilots without planes arent doing a whole lot for the Air Force. So it does matter how much weaponry assigned to the U.S. military  exempting those given to our Afghan allies  was left behind and need to be replaced.

One of the joys of that  at least to military equipment manufacturers  is that the replacement is not just brand-new, but almost always progressively enhanced in capabilities  and price.

Getting back to Afghanistan, the Government Accountability Office reported that between 2003 and 2016, the U.S. supplied Afghan defense and security forces with an arsenal that included 208 aircraft, 42,000 pickup trucks, 22,000 Humvees, nearly 9,000 MTV cargo and transport trucks, nearly 1,000 mine resistant ambush protected vehicles, nearly 200 armored personnel carriers and hundreds of thousands of rifles, pistols, machine guns, grenade launchers, rocket propelled weapons and night vision goggles. More had been provided between 2016 and August of 2021.

If those weapons came out of military stock  vehicles stored in armories waiting for the military to need them to fight our enemies du jour  they will be replaced with newer ones. However, new-built weapons ordered for Afghanistan were already written off. Their loss didnt hurt Americas military preparedness.

Regardless of what was given to the Afghans on our side during the war  but later captured by the Taliban  and what was abandoned  in good condition or totally junked  is up for debate. Whats not up for debate is that our armed forces  after turning over used-but-workable weapons and vehicles to our Afghan allies, or abandoning them in the desert for the Taliban to find -- had to go back to our military-industrial complex with orders for replacement equipment. Remember, a soldier without a rifle, a sailor without a ship, or a pilot without an airplane isnt worth much to Americas defense. Naturally, we have to replace that equipment.

Normally, equipment has a projected life-cycle, and is not replaced until it has ended its projected combat lifetime. A USS Virginia-class nuclear submarine is projected to last 42 years. If the Navy wants another one faster, it has to prove that the need is greater than had been planned. But if the Virginia is accidentally rammed while docking and essentially ruined, the Navy will go hat-in-hand to Congress asking for the funding for a replacement sub  and will probably get it.

But what about Ukraine?

Its hard to pin down, because that number of weapons required seems to grow astronomically, every time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky showed up in his olive-drab t-shirt to justify how his country  in defending against and defeating the Russians  is somehow supporting international democracy. But wait, thats a polemic for another time.

Last summer, The Hill reported that the Biden administration has committed nearly $13 billion worth of military assistance to the Ukraine since Russia invaded six months earlier. This support is made up of either state-of-the-art or recently downgraded  but still useful  arms and equipment. Because it takes so long to order, build, and ship brand-new equipment, everything sent came out of military armories, or even from active-duty units.

What are those weapons? Are they antiquated hand-me-downs? Not likely. Weve shipped  and this is far from a comprehensive list:

High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems

1,500 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided antitank missiles, known as TOW, which can destroy a tank up to 5,000 yards away.

155mm Howitzers  126 cannon and 806,000 artillery rounds, along with 126 tactical vehicles to tow the Howitzers into combat

National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems  an advanced system that can knock down a Russian MiG more than 100 miles away.

Seven hundred Phoenix Ghost Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems  combat drones  these are attack drones, not recon systems. These kill tanks, troops and anything else worth killing.

Seven hundred Switchblade Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems  light, short-ranged combat drones designed to attack troops and soft-skinned vehicles.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, and to date  check out the list in The Hill article  the Biden administration has committed at least as much to the Ukraine as was lost in Afghanistan when we bugged out. Maybe a lot more. Say, between Afghanistan and the Ukraine, the total is close to $175 billion in equipment. That's equipment that must be replaced before our military services will be ready to once again defend America.

Which means that this is a gold mine for the American military-industrial complex. Setting aside Hunter Bidens ties to the embattled nation, why was Biden so eager to support the Ukraine? And why was Congress so eager to support the Ukrainians with American-built, top-shelf weapon systems? Because defense contractors have factories and other support operations in virtually every congressional district in America. Because replacing those weapons means high-paying jobs at a time when were teetering on the edge of recession  if were not already there.

Dont believe me? Will you believe the military? How about Defense.gov?

Heres what they had to say, in an article published in September 2022.

Because so much gear has been pulled from U.S. military units, that equipment must now be replaced in order to sustain America's own readiness, and the Defense Department has already contracted with an array of manufacturers to give back to military units what was taken from them in order to support Ukraine. As we work with industry to accelerate production on both replenishment systems and direct procurements under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative or USAI, we're using a number of tools to get the funding moving, and the contracting happening quickly, Bill LaPlante, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said during a briefing today at the Pentagon.

Maybe abandoning billions of dollars in equipment in Afghanistan was the right thing to do. I dont see how thats possible, but maybe it made sense. Maybe it was all worn out and needed to be replaced. Why it then wasnt dynamited is beyond me.

And maybe it makes sense to support the Ukraine with state-of-the-art military equipment, including artillery, ammo, combat vehicles and so much more. And maybe the massive building blitz of replacement state-of-the-art equipment makes national defense sense, or even anti-recession sense. In 1934, FDR bought the Navy a couple of aircraft carriers, the famous USS Yorktown and USS Enterprise, because it meant jobs for unemployed blue collar workers, and theres nothing wrong with putting skilled workers back to work, is there? Or maybe it just makes sense to kowtow to military equipment manufacturers, companies whove been known to support politicians who support them.

Whats clear is this. Every vehicle, weapon and artillery shell we give to the Ukraine will be replaced, brand-new, at taxpayer expense. And maybe  just maybe  the degradation of Russias military might, and its fearsome reputation, which has been shattered, is worth billions of dollars. Time will tell, if we listen closely.

Ned Barnett, a military historian whos appeared a number of times on the History Channel, is currently working on a near-future novel about how the Chinese Communists tried to invade Taiwan after persuading North Koreas dictator, Kim, to launch the Second Korean War, a battle that tied up almost all the US military forces that might otherwise defend Taiwan. In addition to being the author of 40 published books, including ten historical novels set in the skies over the Pacific at the start of World War II, he works with other authors as a ghostwriter, writing coach, editor and  perhaps most important  as a marketing and promotion expert who can help books become bestsellers, and writers dreams into profitable writing businesses. He can be reached at nedbarnett51@gnail.com or at 702-561-1167.

Image: 7th Army Training Command, via Flickr // CC BY 2.0
Did the prolonged fight for the Speakers gavel create circumstances for change in Washington -- especially in the Republican party? For the first time in over a century, it took 15 rounds of voting, cajoling, compromise, and almost one fistfight to select a Speaker of the House. The MSM gleefully reported on the Republican clown show, predicting that the conflict would split the party. They even fantasized that it could result in a Democrat Speaker, in a majority Republican House of Representatives. What a sweet victory that would be. Well, the Republicans didnt break up, the Democrats didnt pull off an upset, and the MSM was blind to something much more significant.

The Dems screwed up -- again. They had an opportunity to pick the kind of Speaker theyd like to work with, and they squandered it. If theyd had their thinking caps on, they would have realized that it was to their advantage to vote for Kevin McCarthy -- the Republican. They probably could have even negotiated some concessions from McCarthy for their support -- because he wanted the job really, really bad. Had the Democrats done so, they could have pulled McCarthy over the finish line, and he would have become the Speaker despite resistance in his own party -- before he had to make concessions to that resistance.

It would have been business as usual in the House. The Republican leadership would talk big, but do little -- just the way the Democrats like it. The Republican base would become disillusioned, frustrated, and start thinking about sitting out the next election. There would continue to be no accountability for broken promises. Return to Democrat control would be a short two-year wait. For the Dems, it would be like a nice long vacation before returning to work.

But instead, the Democrats unanimously and consistently voted for someone who was never going to be voted the Speaker -- regardless of how many rounds of voting occurred. Their rabid base would rather see childish defiant gestures than shrewd tactical maneuvering. Theyre beginning to see the cost of that tactical error.

The Republican Freedom Caucus refused to vote for Kevin McCarthy until they got concessions -- and boy did they get them. McCarthy wanted the job so bad that he was willing to give up almost anything to get it. The Freedom Caucus figured that out, and played a masterful game of chicken. They got a lot. And what they got may end up changing the mindset of the whole Republican party.

The Freedom Caucus got:

A promise to push several conservative pieces of legislation

A commitment to fiscal constraints

Investigations of deep state corruption

And most significantly, rule changes

Those rule changes include such things as actually coming to work to do the job voters elected congressmen to do, and reading bills before voting on them (yes, theyve really been passing bills without reading them for years). Perhaps the most significant rule change is one that enables a single House member to call for a vote to remove the Speaker. If McCarthy steps out of line, they can start the contest for his job all over again. They got the ability to hold the Speaker accountable. What a novel concept -- accountability in government. I dont think weve ever seen that.

So, what happens when Speaker McCarthy tentatively takes a few steps to the Right (politically and morally), and his popularity explodes? Will he go from being a hostage of the conservatives, to being an enthusiastic supporter of their agenda?

He is beginning to take those baby steps. Hes preparing to remove several of the most repugnant Democrats from their committee assignments. The base is ecstatic. Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar can thank San Fran Nan for setting that precedent -- another tactical blunder.

He's making good on his promise to bring bills that the base wants to the floor. Bills that the House has passed so far include everything necessary to give the Democrats ulcers.

Rescind certain balances made available to the Internal Revenue Service

Born alive abortion survivors protection act

Protecting Americas Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act

Establishing the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party

Granted, these bills will likely be killed in the Senate or vetoed by the President. At least the Speaker is doing what he does have the power to do -- getting every House Democrat on record supporting the killing of newborn babies (aka abortion survivors). Letting the constituents of those Democrats know where their representatives moral compass points is also a measure of accountability -- no?

McCarthy is even talking about releasing all 14,000 hours of security footage from the January 6 insurrection of unarmed cosplay nuts and selfie photographers. Panic is setting in with the Dems. Apparently, they dont want the public to actually see what happened on that day.

The conservative base is beginning to praise Speaker McCarthy -- and he loves it. Will any other Republicans learn from McCarthys experience? Will they see that its safe to stop being the battered wife of politics? That they can fight back, and win? Will the Republicans finally realize that when one side wants freedom and the other tyranny, its not a time for comity and compromise? Its a time to fight. Will they come to realize that Trumps success was not an anomaly? His fighting spirit was how he succeeded -- and they can do the same.

How different will Washington be if the Republicans stop playing victim, start listening to the voters, and fearlessly deliver for them? I know thats a lot to ask -- and it wont happen overnight. But were seeing those baby steps. The next couple of years may be very interesting -- thanks to a colossal tactical error by overconfident Democrats.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker, and American Free News Network. He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

Image: Vikram Gupchup
One of the most important things I know is a fundamental mistake of Sigmund Freud. Siggie asked: "What do women want?"

Everybody knows that Siggie was asking the wrong question. It is not what women want, it is what they "expect." And what women expect is:

Women expect to be protected.

Once you read this, learn it, and inwardly digest it, life looks a lot different.

The limit case on women and protection is described in A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous. Yes, what does a woman do in Berlin in May 1945 when it's been invaded by the Red Army and she's already been raped a few times? Bueller? Anyone?

I say that a fundamental male skill in this world is to have your mind tuned to things that "women expect."

I bet you had never thought that "women expect to have gas stoves." I hadn't, which just shows that we men are all dumb or some'pn. It's obvious, now. Women like their gas stoves -- even Dr. Jill Biden -- and they all think it is ridiculous to ban them. But who knew, two weeks ago?

Okay. So the green transition stubbed a toe on the gas stoves issue. Trouble is that when it comes to "EVs," another vital step in the green transition, women are all in. They tell you proudly of their "EVs" and how they are up on the jargon, such as being "iced" at a charging station by a MAGA F-350 truck occupying the charging space.

But women should be terrified by "EVs." Suppose a nice liberal lady goes to the Seattle Symphony in her "EV" and it's a really cold night and she has to stop at a charging station on the way home in a supermarket parking lot at 11:00 p.m. and there are drug dealers about? Of course, there are three charging stations in the basement of Symphony Hall, but good luck getting ahead of the Gold Membership patrons -- or matrons, as the case may be.

But, ladies, what happens in ten years when there are 50 charging stations in the basement of Symphony Hall and one of the "EVs" has a battery fire -- in a basement parking garage full of EVs with nice explodable lithium batteries?

But women expect to be protected.

I think there is gold in them thar protection hills. We just have to learn how to implement the scare tactics.

Teacher rapists: 269 K-12 "educators were arrested on child sex-related crimes in the U.S. in the first nine months" of 2022.

Sexual harassment: "81% or eight out of 10 students experience sexual harassment in school" says La Wik.

Electric vehicle fires: "Statistics compiled by AutoInsuranceEZ found that for every 100,000 EVs, there are about 25 fires each year. But what happens in ten years when millions of bitter clingers are charging their decrepit EVs at Bill's Discount Charging down the street from Walmart?

Social Security: Experts agree that Social Security "combined trust funds would become insolvent [in 2032], because incoming tax revenue would be sufficient to pay only about 80% of scheduled benefits." That means cuts of 20 percent in Social Security payments. How protected will the average single childless TERF be then?

Medicare: Canada already has its MAID program (Medical Assistance In Dying) to relieve the pressure on its " free" health care program . Don't think it can't happen here, ladies.

Multiple sex partners: According to experts, "There was a strong association between number of sexual partners and having an STD: those women with 5 or more sexual partners were 8 times more likely to report having an STD than those with only 1 partner[.]"

Maybe there's a reason why honor among women is chastity, according to James Bowman in Honor: A History. You gotta keep yourself clean and pure if you want to have kids, ladies, or the STDs are gonna get you.

Rats: If you are a legacy media outfit like the Seattle Times you can't beat putting an article about rats in the Sunday Pacific NW Magazine this weekend. Why? Because nothing worries a woman more than a rat emerging into the toilet

And so on.

Now, the conceit of our lefty friends is that They Care about women, their rights, their welfare and their safety. But I say it's all a lie. Women's rights meant nothing in Berlin in May 1945, or in any blue city in America in 2023. Women's welfare adds up to nothing if she doesn't have a husband. Women are fundamentally unsafe -- especially in the Age of Depolicing -- without a man with a gun.

It's our job, each of us racist-sexist-homophobes, to teach our beloved women these practical facts of life.

Because women expect to be protected. And have gas stoves to cook with.

Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get his American Manifesto and his Road to the Middle Class.

Image: PxHere
The New York Times reports that China has admitted for the first time that its population is declining. (Ive heard from sources that this has been going on for some time; whats different is that China is admitting it.) Populations across the West are declining as well, including in the U.S. What does this mean for our children and grandchildren? The sure bet is that they will not live as we have lived.

In 1968, Paul Ehrlich and his wife wrote The Population Bomb, a book that quite literally changed (and is continuing to change) the Western world. Basically, it was premised on the Malthusian concept that a wealthy society, rather than planning for the lean years, simply produces so many people that its resources fail, at which point there is a horrible, painful, and violent collapse involving mass starvation and war as different nations fight for scarce resources.

What neither Thomas Malthus nor the Ehrlichs envisioned (although the Ehrlichs should have) was that technology would make such great advances that well-run countries are able to feed not only their own citizens but other countries citizens as well. Paul Ehrlich is still out there shilling his failed theories, and Western countries are still acting as if theyre real.

Image: Village School Children in China by Thomas Galvez. CC BY 2.0.

The result of Ehrlichs theories is that Western countries, which used technology to feed themselves and others, are no longer replacing themselves and are in steep demographic decline. Although its not literally a Western country, within the concept of the modern, developed world, China is the country that keeps the rest of us supplied with just about everything. And now, China has admitted that it also belongs on the demographic decline list, resulting from 50 years of its disastrous one child policy, which led to the mass murder of female fetuses and infants.

From the NY Times:

The government said on Tuesday that 9.56 million people were born in China last year, while 10.41 million people died. It was the first time deaths had outnumbered births in China since the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedongs failed economic experiment that led to widespread famine and death in the 1960s. [snip] Now, facing a population decline, coupled with a long-running rise in life expectancy, the country is being thrust into a demographic crisis that will have consequences not just for China and its economy but for the world. Indeed, data released on Tuesday showed that the Chinese economy last year had one of its worst performances since 1976, the year Mao died.

Theres more in the same vein. The gist is that China, like the rest of the West, will have a small young population incapable of supporting a massive older population. There will be labor shortages that will affect a world thats come to rely on Chinese productivity and a food shortage that will be disastrous domestically for China. When that happens, war usually follows.

Were not doing any better in America, where were also having a baby bust:

According to the US Census Bureau, the fertility rate - which measures how many children an average woman will give birth to during her life - was 1.6 in 2020. This falls far below the level of 2.1 needed to maintain current population levels.

There are many reasonswomen in the workforce, the expense of having a family, climate change panicbut they all mean the same thing: Americas native-born population is slowly vanishing.

Europe and Japan, of course, two regions with the culture and technology to beat Malthuss and Ehrlichs grim predictions, have experienced disastrous demographic slides for decades. Indeed, as I heard Ben Shapiro say, anywhere that the culture replaced religion with leftism has seen a population collapse. Thats because leftism has no reverence for life and family, it needs women to prop up the labor force, and the future is invariably grim.

There are countries and regions that are doing well. India is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. It has three factors that can help fight the Malthusian decline: Hard workers, a rising middle class, and a respect for real science, as opposed to woke science. Israel, too, has a booming population and is a huge contributor to advances in food and health, advances that benefit the whole world.

However, the other areas of population growth are regions that do not have the infrastructure to beat the Malthusian threat. If you look at this map, you can see that Africa, the Middle East, India (of course), Latin America, and the Malayan peninsula are where the worlds population is really taking off.

Image: Wikipedia.

Barring India, none of those regions have shown the capacity to grow their economies to keep up with their populations. Few have anything even approaching civil rights. And most of them (logically) have shown a willingness to use violence as a means to appropriate the resources they need for their own countries.

Xi Jinping has been trying to offset his countrys population decline through his Belt and Road initiative, where he stakes out interests in poor countries around the world (including in Europe). He may discover, though, as England did, that when your population shrinks, the residents of the areas you colonized tend to move to the home country and, suddenly, its a different country.

Although Robert Kennedys speechwriter made up the old Chinese curse May you live in interesting times, its a pretty accurate summation of the world in 2023. We are living in interesting times of the type that promise a poorer, more primitive, more violent future.
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) has introduced a bill that could make political criticism of non-white individuals by white people a federal crime.

You read that correctly.

The convoluted-- yet potentially extremely dangerous-- bill proposes that a white person who vilifies any non-white person, and whose words subsequently end up on social media, could themselves be guilty of committing a federal crime if those words were accessible by persons who are predisposed to engaging in any action in furtherance of a white supremacy inspired hate crime. Huh?

Who decides what constitutes a white supremacy-inspired hate crime under this proposed statute? Sheila Jackson Lee? Adam Schiffhead? If the left considers words themselves violence now, might saying Sheila Jackson Lee is an ignoramus be considered a white supremacy-inspired hate crime on a stand-alone basis? What constitutes vilification or political criticism? You can bet it will only and always fall to progressives to decide, with no agreed-upon limiting principle.

The proposed legislation, H.R. 61, is labeled the Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023. The LAWS Act, get it?

If someone were, unbeknownst to me, to commit a white supremacy-inspired hate crime against a person that I have politically criticized on social media (such as a post on American Thinker) at some point in the past, however justifiably, would I then have committed a federal crime myself? It appears that would be the case.

So, if I were to state that The Squad is to Congress as The View cohosts are to intelligent dialogue, or that Sheila Jackson Lee is a vile, race-baiting, authoritarian, I could be brought up on federal charges. For telling the truth. Screw the First Amendment. Yet the vile, race-baiting authoritarianand her ilk-- can say whatever the hell they want about Donald Trump (and family), Republicans, conservatives, Christians, and white people, also called honkeys, deplorables, etc., in general with no repercussions? That seems fair, just, equitable, inclusive, and anti-racist, does it not?

Yet if I were to call Adam Schiff, Larry Nadler, Nancy Pelosi, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Chuck Schumer, Eric Swalwell, Peter Strzok, John Brennan, et al. vile lying traitorous scumin other words if I were to tell the truth again I would be O.K. under this proposed law. (Though Id likely be savagedor worse-- by those I just named.)

This proposed bill, were it to become law, would be used by leftists to prohibit valid political criticism of any non-white person or group-- such as Black Lives Matter or Sheila Jackson Lee-- because such criticism could leave those levying it liable to federal charges.

Free speech? Freedom of the press? Quaint, anachronistic notions of a bygone era.

Many revile the occasional gridlock of a two-party system. Well, your time may have arrived. If this bill passes, welcome to a one-party state.

I wonder when the rest of us will feel vilified enough to successfully push back on this blatantly hypocritical, racist, authoritarian attack on democracy and sanity?

Image: AFGE, via Flickr (cropped) // CC BY 2.0
Washington, D.C.'s city council has just provided incontrovertible proof of the willful incompetence of the gun control movement. The same people who want to outlaw the possession of firearms by law-abiding people passed legislation to reduce penalties for carjacking, home invasion, and similar violent crimes. Use of a gun to commit a violent felony in the nation's capital can now be punished by no more than four years in prison. This makes it clear that the D.C. city council has no real desire to keep firearms away from violent criminals who really shouldn't have them, and the legislation is so dysfunctional that Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is certainly no conservative, intends to veto it.

It also makes Washington, D.C. the ideal place for carjackers, robbers, home invaders, and gun felons to ply their trades because, in contrast to almost every other jurisdiction in the United States, they won't get much prison time. If you want to stick a gun in somebody's face to demand money, then you should do it in D.C., where you can't get more than four years (unless U.S. attorneys step in, as discussed below).

If you want to force somebody out of a car at gunpoint, then D.C. is the place to do it. If you do it in Florida, you can get up to life in prison. The mere possession of a firearm during a crime of violence in Florida is punishable by ten years, or twice the five-year mandatory federal sentence available under 18 U.S. Code 924. If the offender shoots a victim during the felony, there's a 25-year mandatory minimum in Florida. Carjacking is punishable by up to 20 years in Texas, and life in prison if a weapon is used. It looks, in fact, as though you can do five or more carjackings in D.C. for the price of one in Texas, assuming consecutive sentences in D.C.

Pennsylvania Republicans have meanwhile proposed impeachment of Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner for apparently letting off violent criminals with lenient sentences. As but one example, a man who was charged with murdering a carjacking victim was let off with ten years. "McSwain's office alleges Tuggle shot Petersen in the chest, dragged him out of the car, robbed him, and left him for dead in the road as he screamed in pain." Pennsylvania law allows death or life in prison without possibility of parole for a crime of this nature, but Krasner allowed this felon to plead to third-degree murder in exchange for information the felon never provided.

But you can't impeach somebody for doing a poor job. What they really want is a recall election, which is not available. U.S. attorneys have, however, stepped in to do Krasner's job for him by adding charges under 18 U.S. Code 924. These are prosecuted in federal court, and Krasner has no say over them. This law says in part (emphasis is mine),

[A]ny person who, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime (including a crime of violence or drug trafficking crime that provides for an enhanced punishment if committed by the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon or device) for which the person may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, or who, in furtherance of any such crime, possesses a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence or drug trafficking crime  be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 5 years; if the firearm is brandished, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 7 years; and if the firearm is discharged, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years.

Charges of this nature were in fact filed against Petersen's killer, who now faces up to life in prison, noting that ten years is the minimum and not the maximum sentence for firing a gun during a violent crime. 18 U.S. Code 924 focuses squarely on individuals who should not have firearms, and prison is about the only place in the country where they cannot gain access to them. It is to be noted that, had this law been applied to George Floyd, he might still be in prison and still alive, as he would not have run into Derek Chauvin. Floyd was convicted of robbing a woman at gunpoint which means he brandished the firearm in question, but he never faced the federal charges for this.

If the D.C. city council declares open season on law-abiding citizens with relatively trivial punishments for crimes that could be punished by 20 or more years in prison elsewhere, then U.S. attorneys need to step in for every single case that involves a firearm to add no less than five to ten years to the consequences, depending on whether the gun is possessed, brandished, or fired during the crime.

Civis Americanus is the pen name of a contributor who remembers the lessons of history and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way. The author is remaining anonymous due to the likely prospect of being subjected to "cancel culture" for exposing the Big Lie behind Black Lives Matter.

Image via Pxhere.
The call to ban gas stoves in the U.S., based on environmental concerns, certainly drew backlash from an angry public tired of seeing their household appliances, critical possessions, and standard of living being targeted.

After all, they've already gotten our incandescent light bulbs and flush toilets in many quarters. They've meddled with the design of our cars and guns. They're trying to get our meat, telling us to eat bugs instead. Many consumers, and professional chefs, who say gas is best for cooking, simply put their collective foot down.

Where did this lunacy come from?

About where you'd expect  from our enemies.

According to the Washington Free Beacon:

The green energy group behind a study cited in Consumer Product Safety commissioner Richard Trumka Jr.'s call to ban gas stoves has partnered with the Chinese government to implement an "economy-wide transformation" away from oil and gas. Colorado-based nonprofit Rocky Mountain Institute, which published the December study that attributes 13 percent of U.S. childhood asthma cases to gas-stove use, is hardly staffed by an objective group of scientists. The organization is demanding "systemic change and economy-wide transformation" to address a climate crisis it says we must go to great lengths to avoid. In 2013, for example, the Rocky Mountain Institute joined forces with China's National Development and Reform Commission  the government agency tasked with planning the communist nation's economy  to produce a report that advised China to replace existing appliances and generators with "clean energy technologies."

So this green think-tank, which comprises non-scientists, takes money from China, has a Red Chinese oligarch as board member, and participates in ongoing projects with China's central planners, all under the rubric of "going green."

Anyone smell anything stinky here?

China has been trying for years to reduce our standard of living, in a sorry strategy of elevating its own. That makes U.S. energy production a top target, so removing gas stoves, or failing to permit new ones, pretty much meshes with that aim, as it reduces U.S. natural gas consumption.

What's China's agenda on natural gas?

Well, resource-wise, it has some of its own but not as much as it would like.

According to Worldometers.info, a statistical data site:

China holds 184 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves as of 2017, ranking 10th in the world and accounting for about 3% of the world's total natural gas reserves of 6,923 Tcf. China has proven reserves equivalent to 21.9 times its annual consumption. This means it has about 22 years of gas left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).

The U.S., meanwhile, has this:

The United States holds 322 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves as of 2017, ranking 4th in the world and accounting for about 5% of the world's total natural gas reserves of 6,923 Tcf. The United States has proven reserves equivalent to 11.9 times its annual consumption. This means it has about 12 years of gas left (at current consumption levels and excluding unproven reserves).

Some reports say that China has less than 3%.

Whether it's 3% or 2%, it's a fact that China would like to therefore get its hands on ours.

According to a report by the Department of Energy's U.S. Energy Information Administration, which ran in April 2022, they're ravenous for it:

China increased both natural gas imports and domestic production in 2021

In 2021, an average 35.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas was consumed in China, more natural gas than in any previous year. More than half of the natural gas consumed in China in 2021 came from domestic production, but China also imported record amounts of natural gas by pipeline and as liquefied natural gas (LNG), based on data from Global Trade Tracker and China's General Administration of Customs. Government policies promoting coal-to-natural gas switching to reduce air pollution and meet emissions targets have been a major factor in the rapid growth of both domestic natural gas production and natural gas imports in China. In March 2022, China's government released its 14th Five-Year Plan (202125), which sets the domestic natural gas production target at 22.3 Bcf/d by 2025, or 3.0 Bcf/d more than domestic production in 2021.

According to this piece that ran in Politico last fall, it's created problems for them:

China wants America's natural gas. Some lawmakers are worried.

China is buying up America's natural gas  sparking worries across Washington and fueling a potential new clash between the two global powers. Chinese energy companies are the fastest growing customers of American natural gas exports, purchasing nearly half the gas that U.S. companies agreed to ship in the last year. But some of those firms are working against U.S. interests  dealing in oil from sanctioned countries, drilling in areas notorious for human rights abuses or helping the Chinese military capture contested territory from its neighbors. As tensions between Washington and Beijing rise  and high natural gas prices squeeze American manufacturers  lawmakers from both parties are calling for the White House to consider new limits on the gas sales to China. They want more Chinese energy companies added to a trade blacklist and they're calling for the Biden administration to close a loophole that allows one major company already on that list to buy American gas and oil.

What better than to lower demand for natural gas in the U.S. by demonizing the use of gas stoves as "unhealthy" and leaving the rest to the energy companies to lobby Congress to open up exports of the product as a substitute?

China would like nothing more than to get its hands on our natural gas, even as it bankrolls think-tanks to tell us to shut our use of it down.

It has expended billions in LNG port capacity and storage and is already trying to hoard a lot of it.

Now the Chinese have cynically put out an idea for the greenie rubes out there to promote, that gas stoves are Bad For Us, hoping to scare low-information voters out there and gullible Democrat lawmakers that natural gas may be a health hazard, all to scarf up the unused natural gas in the wake of its legislated disuse in the U.S.

They're long-term players, and like Russia's President Vladimir Putin, who's been caught handing out money to greenie groups intent on promoting a halt to domestic fuel production in Europe and elsewhere, they see the green agenda as the lever for achieving their long term aims of reducing America's standard of living.

The Beacon notes that the think-tank study cited and picked up by the Consumer Product Safety commissioner, Richard Trumka, Jr., who promoted it and then said he didn't, was a junk study with no scientific rigor to it, done by non-scientists with irrelevant majors from college.

What a plan the Chicoms have, to separate Americans from their standard of living in order to take the remains of it for themselves.

Somewhere in Beijing, they must be laughing.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.
Yesterday the New York Post reported that a former top intelligence official who had previously signed the letter that claimed the Posts expose on Hunter Bidens laptop was Russian disinformation is now conceding that he knew a significant portion of the recovered files had to be real.

The man in question is Douglas Wise.

Wise is a former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director and was among the 51 former intelligence officials who signed a public letter on Oct. 19, 2020, claiming the Posts series of reports on Hunters shady overseas business dealing, had all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.

Among the other signatories of the letter were former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, etc.

The New York Post had carried a series of reports on Hunter's laptop that contained evidence that Biden, as vice president, used his influence to enrich Hunter.

Regular people have to work to earn a living and are hired based on their capabilities, experience, and expertise. Hunter faced no such challenges, thanks to Biden, Sr. who was vice president.

But that wasnt the only disgrace.

The laptop also revealed the depravity in Hunters personal life.

The laptop had photos of a drug-inebriated Hunter in flagrante delicto with a prostitute. There were text messages from Hunter where he used racist language.

It not only reflected on Biden's abuse of power to enrich his son but also revealed the immorality of the Biden family. A lot can be said about a person from the way his child behaves. Hunters behavior obviously reflected badly on Biden, whose reputation isnt exactly stellar.

The Democrats responded by launching a campaign to dismiss and suppress the story.

The letter signed was part of the 'dismiss' claim. The Russian disinformation claim also served as a link to the Trump-Russia collusion hoax. It allowed Democrats to claim that Vladimir Putin wanted President Trump re-elected.

Prominent reporters and pundits from various Democrat mouthpieces such as MSNBC, NBC, the Washington Post, the Daily Beast, CNN, and the New York Times collaborated to dismiss the story. NPR, which is funded by taxpayer dollars, claimed there were red flags in the Posts story.

Joe Biden, who remained hidden in his basement all through his 2020 campaign, gladly pushed the narrative of the reports of Hunters laptop being Russian disinformation even during the presidential debate.

Big tech worked to suppress the story.

Twitter baselessly claimed that the source was hacked materials and used this excuse to block the story. Twitter users who clicked the link to the story were shown an alert that the webpage may be unsafe. This usually dissuades people from accessing any site. Twitter also prevented users from sharing the New York Posts reports.

By mid-October 2020, Twitter locked both accounts of the New York Post and the Trump campaign for posting the Hunter laptop stories.

The first installment of Twitter Files offered proof that the social media giant worked closely with politized government agencies and Democrats to suppress Hunters laptop reports.

Twitter unlocked the NY Posts account on October 30, but the damage was already done.

During the 2020 presidential election, an unprecedented 69% of voters voted by mail or prior to election day. This means a significant number of citizens cast their votes either assuming that the Hunter laptop story was fake or did not know of it at all.

A NewsBusters poll revealed that 16% of Biden voters would have voted differently had they known of Hunters laptop. Another survey showed that 79 percent of Americans think Trump would have won reelection if voters had known facts about Hunter's laptop.

Back to Douglas Wise.

Wise is attempting to reinvent history by claiming the letter was merely a warning about the possibility that the Hunter laptop story was "Russian deceit.

He also attempted to distance himself from Hunter claiming that the letter did not "say Hunter was a good guy, it didnt say what he did was right and it wasnt exculpatory.

Wise claimed the letter referred to their view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue and concluded with the message: It is high time that Russia stops interfering in our democracy.

Despite the letters unambiguous statements, Wise insists that its critics, who include the "conservative journalist community, conservative politicians or just ultra-right wing extremists havent paid attention to the content.

Wise also has no remorse for signing the letter claiming the context is important, i.e., it was signed at the time when Trump's then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani was visiting Ukraine trying to dig up evidence on the Bidens."

Wise claimed that the laptops chain of custody left it open to alteration, i.e., Russians or even ill-intended conservative elements" may have planted incriminating evidence.

The laptop was abandoned by Hunter at a Delaware repair shop in 2019. When shop owner John Paul Mac Isaac viewed its contents, he alerted the FBI.

When investigators failed to respond, Mac Isaac gave a copy of the hard drive to Giulianis office; Giuliani then handed the hard drive copy to the Post on Oct. 11, 2020  three days before the first report was published.

The FBI seized the laptop and hard drive that December.

Late last year, Democrat mouthpieces such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and CBS News, all of whom dismissed the story in 2020, accepted that the computers contents were authentic.

Wise is more evidence of how deep the rot runs in the swamp. These rogue swamp chiefs are not only corrupt but are blatant about it. No longer do they consider protecting democracy their function. Instead, they have become Democrat proxies instead. Worse still, they are not even embarrassed or remorseful about it.

In their self-righteous minds, their opinions are of greater value than the votes of the people. Hence they manipulated the discourse leading to the 2020 elections to get the result they desired. They seem proud of this feat.

Consequently, the public is suffering on myriad fronts due to Biden's misgovernance, but that hardly matters to the swamp as long as they have power and means for pecuniary gains.

The public has been subjected to one disinformation campaign after another since Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016.

When disinformation becomes the norm and the guilty are never punished and the innocent are targeted, it breeds cynicism. It is natural to wonder about the point of exposing what we already suspected if there are no consequences  the election results of 2020 will never be undone and neither will the hardships suffered by the people due to Bidens misgovernance.

Recently the Republican-controlled House of Representatives set up the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which is expected to investigate the ordeal as part of its mission to look into inappropriate links between intelligence agencies and social media platforms in the wake of revelations that the FBI pressured Twitter to censor the Hunter Biden story.

The House Oversight Committee last week launched an investigation into the Biden familys business dealings.

Could there be hope?

Optimism has no perils.

UPDATE: The title of this post has been amended to reflect more accurately the post's contents.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License
Some people have to learn things the hard way. A case in point is Portland, Oregon. The politicians continue making poor decisions when it comes to public safety, and the city residents continue voting them back into office.

Now those decisions are weighing heavily on the city, but it is going to be hard for the politicians to walk them back, particularly because they will search desperately for a way to do it without accepting any blame.

Once again, the city set a new record for the number of homicides last year. A fatal stabbing in early December 2022 became the city's 91st homicide of the year and broke the previous year's total, which itself was a record year. The previous record had been 70 homicides in 1987.

It was not a record anyone wanted to break. Things didn't end there, either. The city finished out the year with 101 homicides.

Damala Badon, the mother of the 101st victim, told The Oregonian/OregonLive, "At some point, we have to be tired of burying our children, having our children's names turned into hashtags."

She is right.

Residents who are seeing their neighborhoods turned into war zones because of poor political decisions have to demand action and vote people into office who will take action to make their cities safer.

The problem is that there aren't enough people doing that. Chloe Eudaly, the city commissioner, who voted against large cuts in the police budget in 2020, was voted out of office rather than supported in her efforts to protect citizens.

The city had understaffed its police force for years. Then, in 2020, politicians reduced the police budget by $27 million because "defund the police" was the politically correct thing to do after the death of George Floyd. One councilperson tweeted proudly of the cuts. She had actually wanted to see nearly twice as much cut.

Manhattan Institute fellow John Ketcham told the DCNF, "A tripling in the annual number of homicides since 2019  far above the national trend  has further diverted officers from responding to other important calls. Some city leaders' repeated criticisms of the police have compounded understaffing to dampen morale further in the bureau, resulting in unprecedented struggles to hire and retain qualified officers. While the latest budget restored police funding, it will take time and political will to repair mutual bonds of trust."

In the face of the growing crime problem, politicians were virtually forced to add police officers last year. While it seems unlikely that adding 20 officers to the 773 sworn officers will help much, it was a baby step in the right direction.

They need more, though, which will be hard to get as long as politicians and activists call the police criminals while failing to prosecute actual criminals.

"Everyone knows that Portland elected officials embraced the 'defund the police' narrative in 2020, which has resulted in budget cuts, loss of police officers (to other jurisdictions or retirement), and difficulties in police recruitment," John Charles, president of the Oregon-based Cascade Policy Institute, told the DCNF. "But it's not clear how to reverse that, or whether reversing it would actually lead to fewer homicides."

In part because prosecutors aren't actually prosecuting criminal cases. This only encourages criminals because they know they can get away with the crimes.

The citizens of Portland are reaping what they sowed, and unfortunately for people like Badon, they aren't tired of burying their children yet.

Michael A. Letts is the CEO and founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.

Image via Needpix.
After years of flip-flopping, the ATF has issued a rule recharacterizing guns with pistol braces, making millions of currently owned guns subject to federal "short-barrel" rifle registration, together with a $200 tax. The effect of this rule change is particularly potent in Connecticut, where existing laws banning so-called "assault rifles" are immediately triggered. Owners there of handguns with pistol braces cannot merely remove the brace if the weapon has a "forward pistol grip" or "second hand grip"; these guns are effectively rendered instantly illegal due to the fickle federal rule change.

Prior to the rule change, Connecticut gun-owners could legally own pistols with braces that possessed features otherwise prohibited by Connecticut's 2013 ban on "assault weapons." Generally called "others," these in-between guns were classified as illegal handguns (barrel too long), not specifically banned under the state's definition of assault weapons (barrel under 16 inches, exclusive of pistol brace), and yet were long enough (when fitted with the brace, which acts as a butt extension) to evade federal classification as "short-barrel rifles" under the former ATF determination. The State of Connecticut classified them per federal rules as legally permissible, not as prohibited short-barrel rifles. With the ATF rule change, Connecticut "others"-gun owners will overnight find themselves in possession of illegal assault weapons.

Connecticut's assault weapon ban punishes illegal possession of an assault weapon as a class D felony subject to up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine...with a mandatory minimum one-year prison term! This penalty is reduced to a class A misdemeanor with up to one year in prison "if the violator can prove that he or she lawfully possessed the weapon before the ban[.]" There are an estimated 81,849 pre-ban legal weaponowners in Connecticut, who retained their otherwise prohibited weapons following that state's ban by registering them. Last year, Governor Ned Lamont publicly proposed making those guns illegal also. It is to be presumed he will pounce on the chance to ban the in-between "others."

The anticipated retroactive prohibition by ATF rule change of possession of what was a legal weapon in Connecticut may be alleged to be an "ex post facto" law prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. This defense won't likely fly. Presuming the State of Connecticut seeks to incorporate the "others" as illegal assault weapons under its existing statute, it will charge people with crimes not for having owned the guns before the rule change (which would be ex post facto, meaning "from a thing done afterward"), but for the ongoing current offense of possessing the gun presently in violation of existing law. Connecticut "others"-owners thus would not face prosecution for preATF rule change violations but would have to dispose of or surrender their guns in order to avoid criminal liability for a new offense that springs up with this controversial rule change.

This is the rub  the "others," unlike owners of unregistered and thus illegal pre-ban assault weapons, are registered. Connecticut implemented a postSandy Hook registry of the "others," which it could conceivably begin to investigate and compare with guns surrendered (or bought back, should the state implement such a policy in order to sidestep unconstitutional "taking" violations). Connecticut would be able to prosecute those possessions as class A misdemeanors; it is hard to imagine that prosecutors could successfully apply the preATF rule change five-year felony penalty.

Connecticut owners of these "others" guns find themselves in a panicked squeeze between the Scylla of federal rulemaking and the Charybdis of a state bent on banning their guns without mercy. If they register these weapons with the feds and pay the $200 fee, they are not free of the rocky perils of Connecticut criminal statutes that ban them as short-barrels. And if they simply remove the pistol brace (as many in other states are free to do), they cannot legally possess what remains under Connecticut law because of a non-detachable pistol grip or second-hand grip.

Joe Biden and Ned Lamont will doubtless clink champagne glasses at this predicament. Law-abiding Connecticut citizens transformed into criminals overnight by the sweep of a bureaucratic pen are not celebrating the loss of their property and liberty.

Image via Pxhere.
The American people are enduring a relentless woke oppression provoked by liberal elites and delivered by the Democrat Party. This woke assault is eroding bedrock concepts of western culture. The woke movement has blurred cultural norms and actively works to instill the perception that disagreement with their narrative is an exhibition of bigotry. They use the nexus of government and media to oppress freedom of thought, restricting liberty.

The keystone of American governance is liberty. Americas founding document declares liberty to be an unalienable right provided by our Creator. For government to suggest that personal thoughts and expressions must be altered to parrot what government purports to be correct is un-American.

Political factions enjoy the liberty to persuade the public to accept their ideas. They collect and spend great sums of money to accomplish this. It is incumbent upon the American people to understand these ideas and accept or reject them based on their merit. Political factions have no right or authority to use the government as a tool to create and disseminate propaganda to promote their ideas. Nevertheless, thats exactly whats happening today.

The State of Washington has determined that urgency, paternalism, individualism, and objectivity are aspects of white supremacy. This propaganda is disseminated by the Professional Education Standards Board in Washington for use in educating the states children. Democrats all over the country deny that critical race theory is being taught in public schools. The state calls its propaganda indigenous relational pedagogy, which they claim supports cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion standards.

Image: John Trumbulls Signing of the Declaration of Independence (edited). Public domain.

Children in Washington State are being taught to suspend logic and reason so woke propaganda will be accepted without question. When a teacher tells a child that exhibiting individualism and objectivity demonstrates evidence of racism, the child will likely accept the pedagogic propaganda as fact, clouding future judgment. This is immoral and an infringement of liberty.

The same problem exists at the federal level. Upon entering office, Biden issued Executive Order 13985 stating, a historic movement for justice has highlighted the unbearable human cost of systemic racism. In response to the Executive Order, by April 2022, all cabinet departments and 90 agencies responded to Bidens request for an ambitious whole of government equity agenda by publishing equity plans. Systemic racism is a dogma the Biden Administration is disseminating to indoctrinate the American people via the federal bureaucracy.

The Biden administration is selling this anti-American ideology abroad, too. Bidens Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told an assembly, the original sin of slavery weaved white supremacy into our founding documents and principles. The Chinese no longer need to create anti-American propaganda. Our government does it for them.

The Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v Clayton that Americans cant be discriminated against because of sexual identity or orientation. This is consistent with the principle of liberty holding that People should be able to express their choices as they see fit so long as no laws are violated.

The woke, unsatisfied with the courts decision, insist that Americans use pronouns and accept lifestyle choices that defy cultural norms defined by thousands of years of human interaction. The government demands their employees accept these woke concepts and push them into the culture as a demonstration of equity.

Equity is an invention of the liberal elite to feed the woke impulse. The Constitution demands equal protection under the law, not an illiberal government equity policy. How one chooses to address the woke impulse is an expression of individual liberty and not the business of the government or subject to a court ruling.

Americas government cant deny liberty to the people, but the people can abdicate their liberty to an oppressive government. If parents allow their childrens minds to be warped by government propaganda, they jeopardize their childrens liberty. If people parrot the prescribed woke liturgy, they surrender their own liberty. The people and their children become wards of the state only if they choose it.
Two contrasting news stories show that the anti-liberty left only cares about power and not about asylum seekers from socialism.

A report that the U.S. Coast Guard Returned 177 Cuban Migrants to the Communist Island contrasted with one that DHS Is Helping Illegal Migrants Avoid Deportation is direct proof that this was never about asylum seekers. It was always about setting up a permanent underclass to keep the fascist far-left in power until the country implodes, Cloward-Piven style.

Cuban refugees in their small boat will be sent back

YouTube screengrab (cropped)

Three recent news stories show that the fascist far left never really cared about the plight of asylees or anyone else for that matter. They only care about their power.

But what is the gaslight de jour from the leftist liars (sorry for the redundancy) on the border?

Do they still laughably claim its closed or is that just another way of oppressing us?

Tell us a lie and force us to believe it?

Nevertheless, it should be obvious to everyone thats informed -- excluding viewers of the national socialist media of course -- that Bidens opened the border to an illegal invasion along with deadly amounts of Fentanyl in the CCPs version of a new Opium war.

Ostensibly, this is to let in people who have been oppressed under far-left regimes. These are supposed to be asylum seekers, not economic refugees. Thus, you would think that asylum seekers from Communist oppression would be at the top of the list. But you would be wrong:

Around 177 Cuban migrants who were apprehended off the Florida coast earlier this month were returned to the island by the U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday, CBS Miami reports. The Cuban migrants were intercepted earlier in the month by the Coast Guard and repatriated by two Coast Guard cutters. Meanwhile, a group of around two dozen Haitians, who arrived by sailboat from Port-de-Paix, were taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection upon reaching Virginia Key, a small island near Miami.

So much for taking in asylum seekers, the excuse is that people shouldnt risk traveling when they dont have to. Then why have they thrown open the southern border to anyone and anything when the Darien gap is just as treacherous?

No, the fascist far-left doesnt want asylum seekers who will oppose them when they get to the states, proof that their rationale for trying to destroy the country overloading it with people is just another big lie.

This is contrasted with the report that DHS Is Helping Illegal invaders Avoid Deportation and that New York City Mayor Eric Adams is calling for a "national solution" and immigration reform. For those unschooled in the ways of the fascist far-left, reform has a special meaning for them. Usually, it means taking a problem they caused and exploiting it to expand their power base.

In this case, when they say reform due to the illegal invasion crisis, it means rewarding the invaders to make the crisis even worse, while still turning away true asylum seekers.

D Parker is an engineer, inventor, wordsmith, and student of history, the director of communications for a civil rights organization, and a long-time contributor to conservative websites. Find him on Substack.
Mayor Jorge Elorza (Providence, R.I.) is an accomplished race-baiter who never anticipated confronting charges of "racism" over his altruistic vision of launching a "truth and reparations commission."

The mayor is well known for his ugly accusations against white constituents, alleging their perpetrating "generations of pain and violence," but that's not his first line of offense. The best way for whites to atone for their sins against people "of color," according to Mayor Elorza, is to monetize their transgressions as far as the city budget will stretch.

That entailed a cash-grab of $10 million in a city budget already stretched to the limit. Then the mayor encountered a stumbling block to what would have been a payout of $346.00 for each black resident in Providence. Ironically, the funds could not be distributed on the basis of color because they had been earmarked from the federal government, which prohibits distribution of monies on a discriminatory color basis.

This didn't stop Mayor Elorza from sermonizing about "uncomfortable truths" to a growing number of unrepentant non-slaveholders (i.e., Caucasians). He was considered tone-deaf by many white constituents, who did not think of themselves as culpable for "systemic oppression" or give merit to the mayor's pushing the "white guilt" issues, according to social media posts.

The suggestion to "heal by discussing" did not go in the direction the mayor had in mind.

He is now confronting "uncomfortable truths" about the noble history of the tiny state's position on slavery  none of which was considered by the "truth and reparations commission." Chief among these historic facts is that Rhode Island was the first state to ban slavery, and Rhode Island mobilized more than 25,000 residents who served in the Civil War.

As a further testament to the courage of Rhode Islanders, more than 1,700 lost their lives in the conflict, and an astounding 20 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor.

Should the mayor include reparations for white families whose loved ones paid the ultimate price in the conflict?

This isn't the first time the mayor has found himself disparaged for his "equity" arguments and his misguided legislative attempts to "close the equity gap."

He was the target of a lawsuit filed by the city's former Department of Public Works director, Paul J. Thomas, who claimed he was fired for attempting to maintain integrity in hiring practices. The director refused to "hire unqualified people based on discriminatory color practices" and was "banned from hiring qualified applicants of a different ethnic background."

One thing Mayor Elorza cannot complain about is the color make-up of his 15-member city council. It is a diversity officer's dream come true, with all Democrats, including six Latino members, and several of African heritage.

Such a formidable "progressive" force continues to legislate a city now confronting its own "uncomfortable truths" about the horrible socioeconomic decline taking place in every aspect of life. The poverty level is a dispiriting 23 percent, crime continues to escalate annually (due to decriminalizing crime laws), and students in public schools are rated at an appalling level of academic proficiency.

There isn't any amount of "virtue-signaling" the mayor can offer that will hide his appalling track record, and he shows no sign of recognizing these ugly realities in his city. Perhaps he should divert his efforts from allocating funds based on skin color and targeting public statues for destruction to issues of real concern to the taxpayers of Providence.

Image: Cat Laine.
I am grateful to San Francisco's official African American Reparations Advisory Committee for the damage it has done to the notion that the current populace of the United States, none of whom were alive during slavery, owe some kind of debt to African Americans. Its draft proposal recently released would elevate into the top 2% of wealth every African American resident of San Francisco who meets its criteria.

The notion that but for the "harms" it cites, including mortgage discrimination, the construction of public housing, and the "war on drugs," every African American would be rocketed into the ranks of the wealthiest Americans is patently absurd. Adding on the debt forgiveness it demands  the cancelation of mortgage, student, and credit card debt  and the guarantee of at least area median income (currently $97,000 in the affluent Bay Area), regardless of any employment, for two and half centuries, exposes it as a greedy fantasy of people who want unearned wealth.

On the upside, it doesn't propose the massive looting of other people's earned wealth to any African American who can move to the city. The criteria:

To qualify, people need to have identified as black on public records for at least 10 years and be at least 18 years old. They also must qualify for two of a number of requirements, including having been born in the city or migrated to it between 1940 and 1996 and then lived there for 13 years.

These limits are related to the "harms" it cites, since slavery was never legal in California or San Francisco.

"San Francisco's international reputation as a shining progressive gem in the west is undermined by its legacy of mistreatment, violence towards, and targeted racism against Black Americans. While neither San Francisco, nor California, formally adopted the institution of chattel slavery, the values of segregation, white supremacy and systematic repression and exclusion of Black people were legally codified and enforced," the proposal reads.

The claim is that but for these "harms," the targeted residents and their descendants for the next 250 years would all have earned wealth putting them into roughly the top one and a half percent of Americans. (The top 2% of Americans have a net worth of $2,472,000, and the top 1% have $10,815,000.)

Here are the gifts demanded from the taxpayers of San Francisco.

[T]he committee proposed the city make a lump sum payment of $5 million to black residents who are at least 18 and have identified as black or African American on public documents for at least ten years. Residents must also meet at least two of eight other requirements. Among those requirements is that the resident is "personally, or the direct descendant of someone, incarcerated by the failed War on Drugs" or is a "Descendant of someone enslaved through US chattel slavery before 1865." (snip) The panel released a lengthy list of recommendations, another of which was to create a "a comprehensive debt forgiveness program" for black residents to cancel student loans, housing loans, and credit card debt in an effort to give "Black households an opportunity to build wealth." The report also suggests that the city offer financial compensation for families affected by "education harms" on black students, though it does not include specifics. Other proposals include allowing black residents who are eligible for reparations to receive first choice of subsidized rental units and prioritizing "members of San Francisco's current and past African American communities for employment opportunities, training programs, professional certification, partnerships and contracting."

It is interesting that people with $5 million in cash and no debts would be prioritized for subsidized public housing over, for example, destitute Asian immigrants working two jobs to make ends meet.

San Francisco's population is "majority minority," with Whites (including many Hispanics) constituting 41.9%, Asians 33.9%, multiracial people 9.9%, African Americans 5.3%, Native Americans, Alaskans, Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders 1.1% and "other races" 8.4% of the population. The idea that Asian- and Hispanic-descended people would happily fork over their tax money to make multimillionaires of Blacks and guarantee their descendants a high average income without working for 250 years is absurd on its face.

Thanks for totally discrediting your mission, folks.



Flag of San Francisco.
Google is rumored to be working on a Bluetooth tracking tag similar to what you see from Tile, Apples AirTag, and Samsungs Galaxy SmartTag. The rumor comes from Twitter user Kuba Wojciechowski (via XDA), who states the device is currently in development under Googles Nest team. Nest is generally the smart home arm of Googles hardware though. So a Bluetooth tracking tag might sound like an odd endeavor for the Nest brand.

With that in mind, Wojciechowski does point out that Nest handling development is not an admission of this being an upcoming Nest product. It is entirely possible that Nest is currently handling development but may end up passing it off to another team later further down the line.

The rumor mentions that Google could be looking to launch this device towards the end of the year. Which would put it around the time of its annual Fall Pixel event. That isnt to say that this is going to be a Pixel product either. Just that when you generally have a Google product launch towards the end of the year, it makes an appearance at this event. Its also possible that Google may mention this at its upcoming Google I/O conference that happens in May.

Google will offer a variety of different colors of its Bluetooth tracking tag

Details are somewhat light at the moment for this potential new device. But the rumor does contain some information about it. Google will potentially be offering this device in a few different colors. This isnt at all a stretch considering every device Google sells these days has at least two or three colors available. All of its Nest products, the Chromecast with Google TV, and all of the products in its Pixel line. So it makes sense here that Google would do more than one color for a tracking tag too.

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In addition to multiple color options, the tracking tag is said to have an onboard speaker. As well as support for UWB (ultra-wide band) and Bluetooth Low Energy. Both of which are used to accurately track the location of the tag.
Smartphone cameras have been getting better with each new generation. Industry analysts expect smartphones to beat DSLR cameras in terms of image quality in a year or so. This trailer for an upcoming short film is certainly affirmative of that claim. Show it to someone without saying anything and they probably wouldnt know it was recorded using a smartphone, not a professional camera. Yes, the trailer that you can watch below was shot on Samsungs Galaxy S22 Ultra by none other than Oscar-winning filmmaker Charlie Kaufman. The filmmaker shot the entire film on the 2022 Samsung flagship.

Samsungs Galaxy S22 Ultra was used to shoot a short film by an Oscar-winning filmmaker

Its not new for smartphone companies to partner with famous filmmakers to shoot short films using their latest devices. Apple has done it numerous times to showcase the camera capabilities of its new iPhones. Even Samsung has done it on at least a couple of occasions. The Korean firm teamed up with English film director Joe Wright, the director of Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, and Darkest Hour, in 2021 to make a short film using the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Titled Princess & Peppernose, you can watch the 20-minute film here.

In March last year, Samsung got Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown to make her directorial debut with a short film shot entirely with Galaxy S22 Ultras Nightography features. That came shortly after the Galaxy S22 launch. Now, a couple of weeks ahead of the Galaxy S23 launch, the Korean firm has now found a partner in Oscar-winning filmmaker Charlie Kaufman. The trailer for the new short film, titled Jackals & Fireflies, isnt anything groundbreaking. But its still incredible when you learn that the entire film is shot using a smartphone.

Samsung doesnt tell when this film will release. But, the timing of it suggests that the company is trying to build some hype around its Ultra smartphones ahead of the Galaxy S23 Ultra launch. The new flagship arrives on February 1. It will be the Korean behemoths first smartphone with a 200MP camera. The device should get the third-gen ISOCELL HP2 200MP camera that Samsung launched earlier today. The companys teasers have also suggested improved zoom capabilities and night photography. Overall, the Galaxy S23 Ultra should bring substantial camera improvements over the 2022 model.

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The new flagship will be accompanied by the vanilla Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+. Samsung will also launch the Galaxy Book 3 series Windows laptops during the same event. You can already reserve these unannounced Galaxy products for some extra benefits.
Samsung will launch the Galaxy S23 series in a couple of weeks with One UI 5.1 onboard. Based on Android 13, its a minor upgrade from the current version One UI 5.0. As usual, the new version will reach some older Galaxy flagships a few weeks after the Galaxy S23 lineup is official, which happens on February 1. Meanwhile, the company may have just inadvertently confirmed which flagship models will get the One UI 5.1 update.

Samsung recently released an update for the Galaxy Watch 5 series. It added zoom functionality to the Camera Controller app, something the company had already announced. However, the changelog noted that the new feature will only be available for connected Galaxy smartphones running One UI 5.1 or higher. But that isnt it. Samsung even said that flagship models released after the Galaxy S20 series or the Galaxy Z Flip will get the camera zoom functionality on the Galaxy Watch 5.

This essentially confirms that all Galaxy flagships launched in 2020 and beyond will get One UI 5.1. We are looking at the Galaxy S20 series, Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy Note 20 series, Galaxy S21 FE, Galaxy Z Flip, Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Galaxy Z Fold 2, Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 4, and Galaxy Z Fold 4. Unfortunately, we still dont know when the rollout will begin. The Galaxy S23 series is expected to arrive in stores in mid-February. One UI 5.1 update may reach a few Galaxy models by the end of next month.

The One UI 5.1 update should reach some Galaxy tablets as well

If history is any indication, newer models like the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 should get priority for this update. Samsung has been testing One UI 5.1 for these devices for some time now. But that said, One UI 5.1 is also in testing for the Galaxy S20 series. So you never know. Rest assured, we will let you know when the updates start arriving. Recent Galaxy tablets and a few premium mid-range smartphones may also get One UI 5.1. At least, some of the new features should trickle down to those devices even if the One UI version remains unchanged.

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Speaking of new features, it is not quite clear what One UI 5.1 will bring to the table. Samsung previously hinted that this update will add more customization options to Galaxy devices. We may get to learn more about the new One UI version closer to the Galaxy S23 launch early next month. If youre interested in the new Samsung flagships, you can reserve a unit now and get up to $100 in Samsung Credit.
(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 17 - Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro will have treatment in jail in Abruzzo for cancer after being caught in a Palermo clinic after 30 years on the run Monday, prison sources said Tuesday.

A special chemo therapy room is being set up in the L'Aquila jail where the 60-year-old superboss is being held.

The Cosa Nostra kingpin had been receiving chemo for metastasis of a liver tumour for a year under an assumed name when he was arrested in a major coup for Italian police.

He was Italy's most wanted man. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 17 - Chief 'Qatargate' suspect and centre-left Italian ex-MEP Antonio Panzeri on Tuesday cut a deal with Belgian prosecutors probing the alleged corruption case involving the Mideast country.

Panzeri signed a confession in exchange for jail time, a fine and the confiscation of all his criminal assets, estimated to be worth some one million euros," Belgian federal prosecutors said.

The plea bargain came after his lawyer said those probed risked up to four years in jail and media reported that Panzeri had given fellow suspect and Belgian MEP Marc Tarabella around 120-140,00 euros in the case.

It also came a day after a Brescia court approved a request by Belgian prosecutors for the extradition of his daughter in relation to the so-called Qatargate scandal.

Panzeri's wife, Maria Dolores Colleoni, had already seen the request for her extradition approved. The two cases will now be put to the supreme Court of Cassation.

Panzeri, who is in jail in Belgium, his daughter Silvia and Colleoni are accused of involvement in alleged efforts by Morocco and Qatar to condition EU affairs via bribery.

Panzeri has been charged with corruption along with fellow Italians Francesco Giorgi, an assistant to Democratic Party (PD) MEP Andrea Cozzolino and Niccolo' Figa'-Talamanca, the secretary general of the No Peace Without Justice NGO.

Greek MEP Eva Kaili, who was removed from her position as European Parliament vice president after the scandal exploded, has been charged too. Kaili is Giorgi's partner.

A total of around 1.5 million euros in cash has been seized by Belgian prosecutors from the homes of Kaili and Panzeri and from a suitcase in the possession of Kaili's father in relation to the case.

Kaili's lawyer recently denied media reports that Kaili, who has been in jail since December 9, has confessed to telling her father to hide packs of banknotes and to being aware of alleged illegal conduct by Giorgi.

The reports in the Belgian media said Panzeri had admitted involvement too and said he had alleged that Belgian MEP and fellow Socialist Tarabella had benefited from 'gifts' from Qatar.

Panzeri is a 67-year-old member of the left-wing Article One party and of the directorate of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) alliance, the oldest European caucus.

He was an MEP for three terms from 2004 to 2019, serving as chair of the subcommittee on human rights.

A European warrant for the arrest of Panzeri's wife and daughter said that the former MEP "seems to have developed and driven...a vast fraudulent organization". (ANSA).


PALERMO - The ROS unit of the Carabinieri police and investigators from the Palermo Public Prosecutor's Office have found the hideout used by Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who was arrested at a private clinic in the Sicilian capital on Monday after 30 years on the run, and is now held at a maximum-security prison in the central Italian city of L'Aquila



The hideout is in the town centre of Campobello di Mazara, in Messina Denaro,'s home province of Trapani, sources said.



It is the home town of Giovanni Luppino, the man who was arrested with Messina Denaro on Monday and is accused of helping him while he was a fugitive.



The home was searched inch-by-inch throughout the night and the operation was personally overseen by Palermo Deputy Chief Prosecutor Paolo Guido, who has been investigating the former Cosa Nostra fugitive for years.



The 60-year-old mobster was taken to the Abruzzo city of Pescara and is unlikely to ever return to his native Sicily.



According to media reports, Messina Denaro may be being held at L'Aquila prison .



This is a possible location because it is a maximum security facility equipped for the tough 41bis jail regime that mafia convicts are subjected to and because there is a good oncology centre in the city's hospital.



Messina Denaro was arrested at a clinic where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer for over a year.



Messina Denaro had been condemned to life in prison in absentia for involvement dozens of murders, including the 1992 bombings that killed anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the killing of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 12-year-old son of a mobster-turned-State witness who was strangled and dissolved in acid in 1996, and bombings in Milan, Florence and Rome in 1993.
TEL AVIV - Israeli authorities said Tuesday they had deported the Italian woman Stefania Costantini due to suspected links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).



She had been detained in a military raid in the Bethlehem area of the occupied West Bank on Monday, in the Deheishe refugee camp, before being taken to the Tel Aviv airport and repatriated.



The PFLP is considered a terrorist organisation by Israel.



Media outlets quoted Israel's intelligence service, Shin Bet.
Mafia boss Messina Denaro's hideout found and searched In the hometown of the man arrested with him in Plermo clinic

(ANSAmed) - ROMA, 17 GEN - The ROS unit of the Carabinieri police and investigators from the Palermo Public Prosecutor's Office have found the hideout used by Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who was arrested at a private clinic in the Sicilian capital on Monday after 30 years on the run.



The hideout is in the town centre of Campobello di Mazara, in Messina Denaro,'s home province of Trapani, sources said.



It is the home town of Giovanni Luppino, the man who was arrested with Messina Denaro on Monday and is accused of helping him while he was a fugitive.



The home was searched inch-by-inch throughout the night and the operation was personally overseen by Palermo Deputy Chief Prosecutor Paolo Guido, who has been investigating the former Cosa Nostra fugitive for years.



The 60-year-old mobster was taken to the Abruzzo city of Pescara and is unlikely to ever return to his native Sicily.



According to media reports, Messina Denaro may be being held at L'Aquila prison .



This is a possible location because it is a maximum security facility equipped for the tough 41bis jail regime that mafia convicts are subjected to and because there is a good oncology centre in the city's hospital.



Messina Denaro was arrested at a clinic where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer for over a year.



Messina Denaro had been condemned to life in prison in absentia for involvement dozens of murders, including the 1992 bombings that killed anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, the killing of Giuseppe Di Matteo, the 12-year-old son of a mobster-turned-State witness who was strangled and dissolved in acid in 1996, and bombings in Milan, Florence and Rome in 1993. (ANSAmed).




ROME - A law decree including a tightening of regulations on humanitarian ships "is not amendable and should simply be abrogated since it hinders rescues at sea", NGOs involved in migrant rescue efforts in the Mediterranean Sea said before a joint meeting of the constitutional affairs and transportation committees of the Camera dei Deputati, Italy's lower chamber of Parliament.



They suggested that, instead, "it is necessary to set up an investigative commission on what is happening in the Mediterranean".



The NGOs discussed and protested all the points in the measure, which was signed by Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi.



From Alarm Phone to Emergency, from ARCI to Open Arms, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Sea Watch, Sos Mediterranee, and Migrantes, all the associations used data to explain the negative effects of the decree on rescue efforts.



MSF mission chief Juan Matias Gil said that, "now we leave after the first rescue while before we conducted 4-5 rescues on average per mission." The average number of people rescued has thus dropped from 300 to 80.



The regulation, Sea Watch's Giorgia Linardi said, "creates problems. Recently we have been using smaller and faster vessels that can be present more in the search and rescue area".



The NGOs will be assessing the possibility of appealing the law decree.



"The Court of Cassation," Linardi stressed, "reiterated in 2020 that no one should neglect to save anyone who is in difficulty at sea." In the words of ARCI's Filippo Miraglia, "the sole concrete objective, beyond the criminalisation of rescues at sea, and thus of the NGOs that engage in them instead of the state, is to get the ships of the central Mediterranean away to limit their ability to operate".



The head of the Italian Refugees Council, Roberto Zaccaria, called the law decree "incongruous and discriminatory".
Palestinian killed in West Bank 'during shootout' Reportedly part of Palestinian Authority police

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, JAN 17 - A young Palestinian man was shot and killed on Tuesday morning by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint set up in Halhul near Hebron in the West Bank.



Military sources quoted by the Israeli state radio said that he had opened fire first against the soldiers, who had allegedly then shot back and killed him.



The Palestinian news agency MAAN reported that the man killed was named Hamdi Abu Dayeh and that he was a police captain.



Other media added that he had left a goodbye letter.



The Israeli army is investigating whether he was the one who shot at an Israeli bus in the same area two days ago.(ANSAmed).




French strike on Thursday to be 'difficult', says minister Urges those who can stay home to do so

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, 17 GEN - French transportation minister Clement Beaune has urged French citizens to prepare themselves for a "Thursday of inconveniences in transportation" due to a strike in the sector over pension reform.



He urged those who can do so to postpone or bring forward any planned movements and to choose to work remotely.



The situation on Thursday will be "very difficult" due to the first street demonstration against a reform backed by Emmanuel Macron, Beaune told state-owned TV France 2.



"I am addressing all those who can: any bringing forward or postponing of movement, or working remotely, is advised. I hope above all that it will not last," the minister said, noting that he is not able to predict repercussions that any sort of protracted strike might cause. (ANSAmed).




Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is holding talks in Washington as he seeks to bolster support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russias invasion.

Mr Cleverly will meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday before travelling to Toronto for talks on Wednesday with his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly.

He is expected to use his visit to urge the allies to go further and faster in their support for the government in Kyiv, arguing that, with the right equipment, the Ukrainians can prevail against Moscow.

His intervention comes after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced at the weekend that the UK is to become the first nation to supply Ukraine with modern Western tanks  a key demand of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Britain will send 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks, to be followed by around 30 AS90s  a move which the Ukrainians hope will unlock similar offers of support from other Nato allies.

Poland has offered to provide a company of German-built Leopard 2 battle tanks but, because they were originally imported from Germany, it would have to be signed off by Berlin before they can be re-exported.

In a statement ahead of his visit, Mr Cleverly said: The UK, US and Canada always have each others backs when it counts, protecting the rules-based order for nearly 80 years.

Today we stand united against (Vladimir) Putins illegal war, and we will continue to use our uniquely strong defence and security ties to ensure that, in the end, the Ukrainian people will win.

Mr Cleverly is also expected to use his visit to raise the issue of Iran following the execution of dual British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari, a former defence minister who was accused of spying for MI6.

In response, the UK temporarily recalled its ambassador to Iran while imposing sanctions on Tehrans prosecutor general.
Global superstar Harry Styles has joined the line-up of performers for the 2023 Brit Awards, organisers have confirmed.

The former One Direction star will share the bill with previously announced artists Sam Smith, Kim Petras and rock duo Wet Leg.

Both Styles and Wet Leg lead the nominations at this years Brits, both having secured four each.

Styles capped off a successful 12 months by earning nods for album of the year for Harrys House, song of the year for As It Was, artist of the year and best pop/R&B act.

Styles is nominated for four Brits at this years awards (Isabel Infantes/PA)

Following its release in May last year Harrys House debuted at No 1 on the UK album charts, US Billboard 200 and over 12 countries around the world.

It has remained in the UK Top Ten Album Chart since release.

In July, he was nominated for the Mercury Prize, a rarity among pop acts, and also further forged his acting career with roles in the films My Policeman and Dont Worry Darling.

Since launching his solo career, Styles has gained numerous prestigious accolades including two Brit awards, a Grammy, and an Ivor Novello Award among many others.

At this years Grammys he is nominated in six categories including album of the year, record of the year and song of the year.

Styles has played to more than two million people on his current tour (PA)

He is also the first man to appear solo on the cover of Vogue Magazine.

Since beginning his Love On Tour shows in the US in September 2021 he has played to a combined audience of more than two million people.

The tour is set to continue worldwide this summer, arriving in Europe in May supported by Wet Leg  with a string of UK dates starting on June 11.

The Isle of Wight duo, comprised of Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, are also nominated for album of the year for their chart-topping self-titled debut, which won plaudits for its sardonic lyrics and angular riffs.

They also received nods for group of the year, best new artist and best alternative rock act, as the awards entered a second year with gender-neutral categories.

Wooo weve been nominated for 327 Brit awards, see you in February @BRITs  #brits pic.twitter.com/mq58mmq48h  Wet Leg (@wetlegband) January 12, 2023

Last year, when the awards went gender-neutral for the first time, 18 female artists or all-women groups were nominated  the most in a decade. This year it was 20.

Elsewhere at the 2023 nominations, grime star Stormzy, The 1975, newcomer Cat Burns and dance music DJ Fred again.. all scored three nominations.

Artists including George Ezra, Arctic Monkeys, Nova Twins, Aitch and Dave claimed two.

Debut nominations went to K-pop girl group Blackpink, Eurovision star Sam Ryder, Kentucky rapper Jack Harlow and British grime and hip hop artist Kojey Radical.

Ryder, who came second at the Eurovision Song Contest this year before climbing to number one with his debut album, was among the nominees for best new artist.

Eurovision star Sam Ryder also earned his debut Brit nomination (PA)

In the international artist of the year category three of Americas biggest female acts  Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Lizzo  will battle it out for the prize.

This year four genre categories will be decided by the public via a vote on TikTok  alternative rock act, hip hop/rap/grime act, dance act and pop/R&B act.

R&B girl group Flo were previously announced as the winners of the 2023 Rising Star award.

The Brits Awards 2023 will take place on Saturday, February 11, and will broadcast live on ITV1 and ITVX from Londons The O2 arena.
Industrial action set to cause more disruption in days and weeks ahead

Industrial action in different sectors is continuing to cause disruption across the UK in 2023.

Services from education to health to transport are being hit by walkouts this month and beyond.

Here are some of the strikes planned:

 January 17

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) continues its national strike for 16 days between January 16 to February 6, which will see members in two local authorities strike each day.

Members of the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS) union are also continuing 16 days of rolling strikes, mirroring the EIS action.

Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland protest over pay outside the Corn Exchange in Haddington, East Lothian (Jane Barlow/PA)

 January 18

Royal College of Nursing (RCN) members in England will strike.

Unison members at the Environment agency will strike.

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 January 19

London bus workers at Abellio will go on strike.

RCN members in England will continue their strike.

EIS and AHDS members will also continue their strike.

 January 20

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 January 21

Around 300 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working as legal advisers and court associates in more than 80 courts across England and Wales will strike in a long-running dispute about a case management system called Common Platform.

 January 23

Unison members working for five ambulance services in England will stage another walkout.

Unite ambulance workers will also strike.

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

Ambulance workers will strike again in January (Danny Lawson/PA).

 January 24

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 January 25

London bus workers at Abellio will go on strike.

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 January 26

London bus workers at Abellio will continue their strike.

Physiotherapists will strike in a dispute over pay and staffing.

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 January 27

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 January 28

PCS members working in courts across England and Wales will strike again in a long-running dispute about a case management system called Common Platform.

 January 30

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

(PA Graphics)

 January 31

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 February 1

Teachers in England and Wales who are members of the National Education Union (NEU) will begin the first of seven days of walkouts.

A strike by 100,000 civil servants belonging to the PCS union will go ahead which will have an impact on governments, driving test centres, museums, ports and airports.

Aslef union train drivers will strike.

RMT union train drivers at 14 rail operators will also strike in the long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

Train drivers from the Aslef union will strike (Gareth Fuller/PA)

 February 2

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 February 3

Aslef and RMT union train drivers will strike again.

EIS and AHDS members will continue their strike.

 February 6

Nurses from 73 Trusts in England will strike in an escalation of industrial action by the RCN.

The RCN in Wales will also strike if progress is not made in negotiations by the end of January.

EIS and AHDS members will strike for a final day in this wave of action.

 February 7

RCN nurses in England and Wales will continue striking.

 February 9

Physiotherapists will continue their strike.

 February 14

Teachers from the NEU in Wales will strike.

 February 28

Teachers from the NEU in the Northern, North West, Yorkshire and The Humber regions in England will strike.

Teachers from the EIS will start a fresh wave of strikes in an escalation of the dispute.

 February to March

More than 70,000 staff at 150 universities across the UK will strike for 18 days between February and March in disputes over pay, conditions and pensions. The precise dates are expected to be confirmed next week.

 March 1

Teachers from the NEU in the East Midlands, West Midlands and Eastern regions in England will strike.

Teachers from the EIS will strike.

 March 2

Teachers from the NEU in the London, South East and South West regions in England will strike.

 March 13

Teachers from the EIS will begin a rolling programme of strikes for 20 days until April 21. The exact dates are not yet known.

 March 15

Teachers from the NEU in England and Wales will strike.

The NEU has said there will also be rallies held at Westminster to address the Government there and in Cardiff to address the Welsh Government.

 March 16

Teachers from the NEU in England and Wales will strike in a final day of walkouts.
Jeremy Renner says he is missing my happy place as he continues to recover from a serious snowplough accident.

The actor, known for playing the bow-and-arrow-wielding Hawkeye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), shared a picture of a snowy rural scene online, less than three weeks after the incident.

Renner was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after he was accidentally run over by his own six-tonne ploughing machine while trying to help a family member.

A picture shared to his Instagram story on Monday showed a high wall of snow, with the top of a house and snow-tipped trees peeking out.

Missing my happy place, the actor wrote.

In a later post he warned those living in the area to be safe out there.

He captioned another picture on his Instagram story: Its a rough ride over the pass.

Be safe out there Reno/Tahoe.

Renner has continued to share updates of his recovery process online as well as promotions for the new season of thriller series Mayor Of Kingston, in which he plays Mike McLusky.

He also thanked staff at the intensive care unit where he was taken following the incident, for beginning this journey.

The incident took place around the New Year, near the Mount Rose Highway, which links Lake Tahoe and south Reno as it straddles the Nevada-California border.

Immediately after the incident, Renner posted a picture of himself from his hospital bed, thanking fans for their support, but saying he was too messed up to type.

Scores of famous faces, including his Marvel co stars, praised the actor for his bravery and sent well wishes in the aftermath.
Michelle Obama has led US celebrities in hailing the patience and perseverance of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the magnitude of his legacy.

Monday marked Martin Luther King Jr Day  a public holiday in the US to remember the world famous activist and his fight for justice.

Dr King, who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 onwards, was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s fight for justice took patience and perseverance, leadership and compassion, and a love for humanity that all of us should strive for. #MLKDay  Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) January 16, 2023

He was well known for his I have a dream speech, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

Obama praised Dr Kings work, encouraging others to engage in community efforts to honour his legacy.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s fight for justice took patience and perseverance, leadership and compassion, and a love for humanity that all of us should strive for, she wrote in a series of posts.

Oscar-winning actresses Jennifer Hudson and Halle Berry, and Will and Jaden Smith were also among those to post online tributes to the minister.

Sharing a picture of herself on the set of 2021 Aretha Franklin biopic Respect, Hudson said: When it comes to a giant like Martin Luther King Jr., words never seem enough to capture the magnitude of his legacy.

A couple years ago, while filming Respect, I got to sit on the steps of Dr. Kings birth home. I sat there soaking in the significance of that place, and I imagined him sitting on these very steps as a child, unaware of the impact he would have.

As we honor him today, lets continue his dream, raising up more Dr. Kings that make this world a better place to live.

Berry wrote: Today we honour the work of Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr and all those that worked towards a better future for ALL people.

Smith and his son also both posted pictures in tribute to Dr King.
Mick Lynch urges Keir Starmer not to be vanilla politician and to back workers

Union leader Mick Lynch urged Sir Keir Starmer not to be a vanilla politician and to back workers rights as thousands of demonstrators gathered outside Downing Street to protest against the controversial strikes Bill.

The general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said the shadow cabinet should be promising to resolve pay disputes and rip up anti-union legislation if they win the next election.

He was joined Labour backbenchers Zara Sultana and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, as he made a speech to crowds braving subzero temperatures on Whitehall on Monday evening.

The protest was held to mark the second reading of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill in Parliament.

The proposed legislation would see the right to take industrial action restricted by imposing minimum service levels.

Bosses would be legally able to fire employees who ignore a notice requiring them to work on strike days.

The Bill is in response to the wave of strikes which has been sweeping across the country for months, in bitter disputes over pay, jobs, staffing and conditions.

Addressing demonstrators from a podium, Mr Lynch said: There are some people missing tonight. You get this every time you hear me.

Weve got Jeremy (Corbyn), hes with us, weve got SNP MPs, weve got Caroline Lucas from the Green Party.

But theres a big question  wheres the Labour front bench tonight?

The union boss said the Labour leader should not try to be a vanilla politician in a vanilla suit, adding: Come and stand with us  stand up for socialism, stand up for workers and lets change this going forward.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union and Unison were also present at the demonstration.

Mick Lynch and Eddie Dempsey of the RMT with former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Protesters chanted f*** the Tories and the people united will never be divided and others banged drums as they gathered in Westminster.

Addressing protesters, Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said she was keeping warm by thinking about how National Education Union (NEU) teachers had earlier voted to strike.

Its absolutely freezing but you know whats keeping me warm? The NEU just smashed their ballot, she told the crowd.

Picket lines, democracy, we are the champions of them and we are not going to accept any extra conditions on our ability to do that.

Mr Corbyn condemned disgusting levels of inequality in Britain under the Tory Government, while Ms Ribeiro-Addy, having come straight from Parliament, said the Bills introduction in the Commons had been absolutely disgraceful.

All we heard from the minister was lies, deceit and utter contempt for our public service workers, she told protesters.

Clare Keenan, from the PCS, described the Bill as an attack on my human rights and those of my fellow workers.

She said: You cant make people go to work five days a week and having to use food banks and removing their ability to protest.

Its just a hurdle that theyre putting in the way to stop workers from taking industrial action.

Retired George Hallam, who attended to show solidarity with workers, likened the Bill to anti-strike action under Margaret Thatchers government.

He said: I think the Government is chancing its arm because the last time it tried something like this was the 1970s.

Its worse than a sin, its a mistake, because theyre likely to get a bloody nose like they did back then.

Commenting on the protest earlier, Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: The protest at Downing Street is the start of a mass movement of resistance to this pernicious attack on the rights of working people to defend their jobs, wages and conditions against attacks from their bosses or cutbacks from the Government.

The Prime Minister is seeking to steamroller extremely severe restrictions on the right to strike through Parliament today, without any meaningful scrutiny.

Firefighters and other key workers, who kept our public services going during Covid, are at Downing Street, to tell Rishi Sunak that they will not accept this dictatorial assault on their democratic rights

Instead of launching draconian attacks on the rights of working people, the Prime Minister must provide the resources to resolve this dispute by paying firefighters and other workers a decent wage, to alleviate in-work poverty.
Almost 100 charities and organisations are collectively calling for a social energy tariff to help low-income and vulnerable older and disabled households heat their homes.

In an open letter to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the group including Age UK, Fair By Design, National Energy Action (NEA) and Scope warn that many older and disabled people, their carers and low-income households, are facing an uncertain future as they grapple with unaffordable energy bills.

A survey for Age UK suggests that 24% of over-60s are living in homes which are colder than they would like them to be, rising to 27% for older people with a disability.

The letter calls for targeted support for those on means-tested benefits, disability benefits and carers allowance, as well as those missing out on welfare support but still struggling with their bills.

It describes deep concern that the withdrawal of universal energy support from April will leave many older and disabled people in a increasingly desperate situation.

The cold weather can increase the risk of a heart attack or stroke, as well as hypothermia. Please check on your older friends, family, and neighbours this winter to ensure that they're wrapping up well and that their homes are warm: https://t.co/WQg47XV7eR pic.twitter.com/JdzTwrvqq2  Age UK (@age_uk) January 16, 2023

Charities said they were being inundated with calls from people in dire need, including those relying on medical equipment like dialysis machines and who were facing a daily struggle to keep their equipment turned on and stay warm and well.

NEA estimates that the energy crisis has pushed more than 6.7 million UK households into fuel poverty, up from 4.5 million in October 2021.

It predicts that the figure will jump to 8.4 million households when the Governments energy bills support scheme comes to an end.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: Imagine having to choose between staying warm, feeding your family or powering essential medical equipment.

This is the reality for increasing numbers of older and disabled households across the country.

If youd like more information about these payments, including what to do if your payment doesnt arrive, we have advice on our website:https://t.co/WhpraMyke9  Scope (@scope) January 5, 2023

Older people are struggling to get by now, and thats before another energy price increase comes their way in a few months time.

Many will simply not be able to cope with further price rises and were extremely concerned their health and wellbeing will pay the price.

There needs to be much more protection for those who have no other means of paying such extortionate energy costs.

The Government must introduce a social tariff for the energy market whilst prices are so high, and ensure we never face a crisis like this again.

Martin Coppack, director of Fair By Design, said: We need to make sure vulnerable households are protected from future hikes in energy prices.

This is why Fair By Design has been calling on the Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to introduce an energy social tariff.

This would benefit those in greatest need, who would no longer be faced with the impossible decision of going without essentials such as food just to be able to heat their homes.

The number of signatories to our joint letter to the Chancellor shows there is broad consensus on what the solution is.

We urge the Government to make good on its commitment to work with organisations like ours to consider the best approach for those struggling with their bills.

James Taylor, director of strategy at disability equality charity Scope, said: Astronomical energy bills are pushing disabled people to the brink.

Our helpline has been inundated with calls from disabled people whose bills have doubled or even quadrupled in a year.

Prices will rise again this April but disabled families have nothing left to cut back on.

They cant turn off vital, life-saving equipment and budgets cant stretch any further.

The Government must introduce a social tariff, a discounted energy rate, for disabled people before its too late.
Union leader Mick Lynch urged Sir Keir Starmer not to be a vanilla politician and to back workers rights as thousands of demonstrators gathered outside Downing Street to protest against the controversial strikes Bill.

The general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said the shadow cabinet should be promising to resolve pay disputes and rip up anti-union legislation if they win the next election.

He was joined Labour backbenchers Zara Sultana and Bell Ribeiro-Addy, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, as he made a speech to crowds braving subzero temperatures on Whitehall on Monday evening.

The protest was held to mark the second reading of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill in Parliament.

The proposed legislation would see the right to take industrial action restricted by imposing minimum service levels.

Bosses would be legally able to fire employees who ignore a notice requiring them to work on strike days.

The Bill is in response to the wave of strikes which has been sweeping across the country for months, in bitter disputes over pay, jobs, staffing and conditions.

Addressing demonstrators from a podium, Mr Lynch said: There are some people missing tonight. You get this every time you hear me.

Weve got Jeremy (Corbyn), hes with us, weve got SNP MPs, weve got Caroline Lucas from the Green Party.

But theres a big question  wheres the Labour front bench tonight?

The union boss said the Labour leader should not try to be a vanilla politician in a vanilla suit, adding: Come and stand with us  stand up for socialism, stand up for workers and lets change this going forward.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union and Unison were also present at the demonstration.

Mick Lynch and Eddie Dempsey of the RMT with former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Protesters chanted f*** the Tories and the people united will never be divided and others banged drums as they gathered in Westminster.

Addressing protesters, Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said she was keeping warm by thinking about how National Education Union (NEU) teachers had earlier voted to strike.

Its absolutely freezing but you know whats keeping me warm? The NEU just smashed their ballot, she told the crowd.

Picket lines, democracy, we are the champions of them and we are not going to accept any extra conditions on our ability to do that.

Mr Corbyn condemned disgusting levels of inequality in Britain under the Tory Government, while Ms Ribeiro-Addy, having come straight from Parliament, said the Bills introduction in the Commons had been absolutely disgraceful.

All we heard from the minister was lies, deceit and utter contempt for our public service workers, she told protesters.

Clare Keenan, from the PCS, described the Bill as an attack on my human rights and those of my fellow workers.

She said: You cant make people go to work five days a week and having to use food banks and removing their ability to protest.

Its just a hurdle that theyre putting in the way to stop workers from taking industrial action.

Retired George Hallam, who attended to show solidarity with workers, likened the Bill to anti-strike action under Margaret Thatchers government.

He said: I think the Government is chancing its arm because the last time it tried something like this was the 1970s.

Its worse than a sin, its a mistake, because theyre likely to get a bloody nose like they did back then.

Commenting on the protest earlier, Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: The protest at Downing Street is the start of a mass movement of resistance to this pernicious attack on the rights of working people to defend their jobs, wages and conditions against attacks from their bosses or cutbacks from the Government.

The Prime Minister is seeking to steamroller extremely severe restrictions on the right to strike through Parliament today, without any meaningful scrutiny.

Firefighters and other key workers, who kept our public services going during Covid, are at Downing Street, to tell Rishi Sunak that they will not accept this dictatorial assault on their democratic rights

Instead of launching draconian attacks on the rights of working people, the Prime Minister must provide the resources to resolve this dispute by paying firefighters and other workers a decent wage, to alleviate in-work poverty.
More than 100 applications have been received in the UKs 33rd round of offshore oil and gas licensing.

The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), which regulates the sector, said a total of 115 bids have been received from 76 companies, covering 258 blocks of the sea.

The licensing round for exploration and potential development opened in October.

115 bids across 258 blocks or part-blocks have been received in the UKs 33rd offshore oil and gas licensing round. The round, which will boost energy security, included 4 priority areas, which have known hydrocarbons. For more info, go to https://t.co/ZgsA72LLK8#energysecurity pic.twitter.com/4alFST134S  North Sea Transition Authority (@NSTAuthority) January 17, 2023

The NSTA says the bids will now be studied and those that go ahead could begin production in as little as 18 months.

Several different consents are needed after licences are granted but before production can begin, including ensuring it is in line with climate commitments.

While offshore licensing is reserved to Westminster, last week the Scottish Government published its draft energy strategy which discussed its policy on the North Sea.

Ministers in Edinburgh are consulting on whether to adopt a position of a presumption against new oil and gas drilling.

Ministers in Edinburgh launched their energy strategy last week (Jane Barlow/PA)

Nick Richardson, the NSTAs head of exploration, said: We have seen a strong response from industry to the (licensing) round, which has exceeded application levels compared to previous rounds.

We will now be working hard to analyse the applications with a view to awarding the first licences from the second quarter of 2023.

UK climate minister Graham Stuart said: Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine has led to volatile global energy markets.

Its fantastic to see such interest from industry in this round, with the awarded licences set to play an important role in boosting domestic energy production and securing the UKs long-term energy security of supply.
People are struggling with sleep, seeing friends less often and cutting back on hobbies due to financial concerns, research suggests.

Money worries are stopping people from engaging in some of the activities known to help protect mental health and prevent problems developing, according to a survey for the Mental Health Foundation.

Three in 10 UK adults who responded said they have experienced poorer quality sleep, while 23% said they socialised with friends less often over the previous month.

One in six respondents (15%) pursued a hobby less often, and 12% exercised less.

Some 3,060 adults aged 18 and over in the UK were surveyed for the charity by Opinium between November 7 and 14.

Alongside the polling, the charity has published a briefing: Mental Health And The Cost-of-living Crisis: Another Pandemic In The Making?

This sets out recommendations for UK leaders to tackle the mental health impacts.

The briefing says Governments must ensure suitable financial support schemes are available to prevent people experiencing poverty, financial stress, and related mental health problems, and make fast-track funding available for community organisations.

Mark Rowland, chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, called the cost-of-living crisis a public mental health emergency.

He said: We need good quality sleep.

We need to be able to do things we enjoy. We need exercise. We need to be able to spend time with people we love.

We need to do more than simply survive to have good mental health and wellbeing: we must thrive if we are to prevent mental health problems developing.

We need our governments to do more to alleviate the negative mental health impacts of the cost-of-living crisis.

A Government spokesperson said: We are protecting the most vulnerable from the pressures of rising prices with a package worth 26 billion, which includes our Energy Price Guarantee, capping the typical household bill at around 2,500 and saving 900 to April.

Were investing an extra 2.3 billion per year into mental health services by 2024, which will deliver an additional 27,000 mental health professionals and give two million more people the help they need.

We have also awarded 3.6 billion to the National Academy of Social Prescribing to support development of social prescribing, aiming to help thousands of people access innovative types of mental health support through a wide range of community-led social activities, services and opportunities.
Queen has been voted the Childrens Word of the Year after the country mourned the loss of Elizabeth II.

The Oxford University Press (OUP) said the findings highlight that the news has an impact on children and they absorb the language around current events.

More than 4,000 children aged between six and 14 were asked for words they felt had been important during 2022 and, based on the top themes, three words  Queen, happy and chaos  were shortlisted.

A separate poll, of a further 1,000 children by Opinium, was carried out to determine the Word of the Year 2022 from the shortlist of three.

The research from Oxford University Press (OUP) suggests that nearly half (46%) of those children chose Queen as their number one word.

This was followed by happy (36%) and chaos (14%).

When asked why they chose Queen, many children cited sadness and loss as well as feelings of pride in relation to the late monarch.

The Queen featured prominently in childrens lives over the past year, with last February marking 70 years since her accession to the throne.

This was followed by Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, and the country mourning her death at the age of 96 in September.

Many children across the UK will have taken part in Jubilee celebrations last year, and experienced the death of a monarch for the first time.

While more than half (52%) of girls questioned chose the word Queen, this was lower for boys at 39%.

The OUP report suggests the difference between the sexes could be because the Queen provided an important female role model for girls, or that they could relate to her more readily.

The Queen receives a posy from five-year-old Ashlynne Kingshot (centre) and her cousin, Leah, six, (left) during a visit to the Tower of London (Geoff Caddick/PA)

Helen Freeman, director of Oxford Childrens Books, said: It comes as no surprise that Queen is Childrens Word of the Year for 2022.

This not only reflects her majestys 70 years of incredible service, but over the past decade our research consistently reveals how attuned children are to the news and the impact current affairs have on their language.

Its vital we continue to invest in language development and ensure children have access to a wide range of vocabulary in order to feel equipped to process and discuss the news.

For more than a decade, lexicographers, experts and academic researchers in the childrens language department at the OUP have analysed the evolution of childrens language and self-expression.

Last years Childrens Word of the Year was anxiety, and in 2020 it was coronavirus.

The OUP also included a shortlist of three colloquial words  cool, sick/sic and slay  in its survey of 1,000 children.

Two in five (40%) chose cool to be their top slang word, ahead of sick/sic (28%) and slay (15%).
The Governments decision to move evacuated Afghan families hundreds of miles across England to new temporary accommodation caused considerable disruption to the education of children facing exams, the High Court has been told.

Three refugee families are bringing a legal challenge against the Home Secretary, alleging she failed to fulfil a commitment to help them rebuild their lives in the UK after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021.

They claim an offer to transfer them from a London hotel  in an area where children were studying and others had jobs  to further temporary accommodation in northern England was unlawful, the court was told.

Lawyers for the families say several children still do not have school places months after the move, while one woman is at risk of losing her job in the capital.

The families have launched a legal challenge against the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman (Victoria Jones/PA)

They accuse the Home Secretary, a role currently occupied by Suella Braverman, of failing to take into account the personal circumstances of the Afghan nationals when considering where they could be housed.

The Home Secretarys lawyers dispute the linked claims, saying individual situations were looked at but the Cabinet minister was not under an enforceable duty to provide accommodation to the families.

Martin Westgate KC, for the families, told a High Court hearing in London on Tuesday they were brought to the UK via resettlement schemes and settled in London over the course of a year.

They experienced upheaval when they were offered the move up north last September after their hotel ended its contract with the Government, the court was told.

Mr Westgate said the families had a vulnerability to a succession of temporary moves, with the transfer coming when some children were at a critical stage in their education.

The barrister said the families situation applies to many others who are in bridging accommodation and while he did not have current figures, last August some 9,667 people under the resettlement schemes were still living in hotels.

In written arguments, Mr Westgate said the UK Governments Operation Warm Welcome aimed to ensure Afghans arriving in the UK receive the vital support they need to rebuild their lives, find work, pursue education and integrate into their local communities.

This involved arranging temporary bridging accommodation in hotels until families could secure permanent housing  likely in the private-rented sector  with the support of public funding, Mr Westgate said.

Afghans who had worked with the British Army were evacuated from Kabul after the country fell to the Taliban (LPhot Ben Shread/MoD/PA)

While in London, he said, the families, among the 15,000 Afghans evacuated to the UK during the British militarys Operation Pitting, had established themselves in the area and children were making good progress in schools and had made friends.

Mr Westgate said: The families have been constrained to give up jobs, school places, support networks and other important ties only to be moved to further temporary accommodation, which may itself be brought to an end at any time. Children were taken out of school with no other placement arranged for them.

Whilst they remain in temporary accommodation, they are vulnerable to further moves  potentially to an indefinite string of temporary placements  so making it impossible for them to settle or to progress with their education and social development at any location.

He said there is no evidence the Home Secretary balanced the childrens best interests, no indication there was an inquiry into the availability of new school places and no consideration that several children faced exams this year.

He said while the families had not been forced to live anywhere, the practical reality is they had no option but to move.

Cathryn McGahey KC, representing the Government, said in written arguments that the bid to have the accommodation offers quashed and the families rehoused in or near where they previously lived was misconceived.

She said the interests of school-aged children had at all times been central to decision-making and individual circumstances were considered.

Ms McGahey said the availability of local education was taken into account when commissioning bridging accommodation.

She said a decision last summer to end the temporary housing of evacuated Afghans in London hotels was made due to cost and local migration pressures exacerbated by migrants arriving to the UK via small boats across the Channel.

The barrister said that as a result it was inevitable the families would be offered accommodation outside the capital, with the concern it was unrealistic for Afghans to find permanent rented homes there.

She said providing temporary accommodation was an operational measure and the Home Secretary was not under any enforceable duty to provide accommodation to the (families).

There was no published policy through which the Secretary of State purported to commit herself to providing bridging accommodation to these individuals, she added.

Ms McGahey told the court the Home Secretarys decisions were all fully within the lawful exercise of her discretion.

A claim brought by a fourth family has been withdrawn after private rented accommodation was found, the court was told.

The hearing before Mr Justice Henshaw concluded on Tuesday, with a judgment due at a later date.
A man wearing a camouflage uniform walks out of PMC Wagner Centre, which is a project implemented by the businessman and founder of the Wagner private military group Yevgeny Prigozhin, during the official opening of the office block in Saint Petersburg, Russia, November 4, 2022. (Igor Russak/Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A former commander of Russia's Wagner mercenary group who fought in Ukraine said he has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum in fear for his life after witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to the frontline.

Andrei Medvedev, who joined the group in July 2022 on a four-month contract, said in a video posted by the Gulagu.net rights group that he had crossed the border into Norway before being detained by Norwegian police.

Medvedev, an orphan who joined the Russian army and served time in prison before joining Wagner, said he had slipped away from the group after witnessing the killing of captured deserters from Wagner.

"I am afraid of dying in agony," Medvedev told Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the Gulagu.net rights group, which said it had helped Medvedev leave Russia after he approached the group in fear for his life.

He said he crossed the border, climbing through barbed-wire fences and evading a border patrol with dogs, and heard guards firing shots as he ran through a forest and over thin and breaking ice into Norway.

Norwegian police said a foreign citizen had been arrested on the night of Thursday to Friday after illegally crossing the Russian-Norwegian border in the Arctic and was seeking asylum.

His Norwegian lawyer said Medvedev was now in the "Oslo area" but did not give details.

"What is important for him (Medvedev) is that immigration authorities clarify his status as soon as possible," lawyer Brynjulf Risnes told Reuters.

Medvedev had not yet talked with Norwegian security police and no agreement for an interview had been made, Risnes said.

"I am sure that will be a question at some point," said Risnes, who declined to say where Medvedev was fighting in Ukraine.

"He says he has taken part in battle, which he says were clear battle situations ... and that he has not been in contact with civilians," said Risnes.

Visitors pose for a picture outside PMC Wagner Centre, which is a project implemented by the businessman and founder of the Wagner private military group Yevgeny Prigozhin, during the official opening of the office block in Saint Petersburg, Russia, November 4, 2022. (Igor Russak/Reuters)

Yevgeny Prigozhin, who founded Wagner, said that Medvedev had worked in a Norwegian unit of Wagner but had "mistreated prisoners".

"Be careful, he's very dangerous," Prigozhin said in a statement released by his spokeswoman. Prigozhin did not address the claims of killings or mistreatment of prisoners in the statement.

In interviews with Gulagu, Medvedev said he grew disaffected after his contract was repeatedly extended by Wagner without his consent. He said he had witnessed the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners who were brought to the front by Wagner.

Medvedev said losses were very high after Wagner began sending large numbers of prisoners to the front in the second half of 2022. Wagner's internal security service handed out extreme punishment, Medvedev said.

He said a man who was shown in November being executed with a sledgehammer had been part of his unit.

The Wagner statement did not address Medvedev's accounts of punishment and of battlefield losses, or that his contract was repeatedly extended.

Prigozhin has said his group is an effective fighting force because it had extensive battlefield experience, it is well supplied, has a meritocratic command system in which all can contribute and "the most severe discipline".

Russia sent forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, in what it calls a "special military operation" to "denazify" its neighbour and protect Russian security.
Overseas doctors share COVID-19 treatment experience with China

Chinadaily.com.cn) 08:51, January 17, 2023

Disease control and prevention workers collect samples from frozen products in Tianjin's Nankai district on Nov 9, 2020. [Photo/China Daily]

United by a common purpose, doctors across national borders are exchanging their expertise and experience online to improve the clinical treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Earlier this month, the Society of Chinese American Physicians and Entrepreneurs and the Alliance of North American Chinese Physicians presented an online lecture series to share treatment experiences with their peers in China.

"Our lecture is for the public good," said Chen Xiongying, the host of the lectures and president of the society, known as SCAPE. "The only hope is to share our experience with our Chinese counterparts and help them avoid detours. We believe this will benefit all and help ensure quality care for Chinese patients.

"For the lectures, eight doctors from key hospitals in the United States were invited. All have been battling the Omicron variant since last year. Their expertise covered infectious diseases, immunology, internal medicine, pediatric cardiology, respiratory medicine, critical care and other fields."

The program attracted many Chinese doctors, and online viewership reached 7 million.

"The Chinese doctors we have encountered are very diligent and dedicated," said Gao Lei, president of the North American alliance known as ANACP. Some of them were our classmates. They kept working even after they fell sick, which earned our respect."

The first lecture on Jan 1 was followed by others on Jan 2, 8 and 15.Qiao Renli, a doctor in the respiratory and critical care department at University of Southern California Medical Center, expressed his gratitude to Chinese doctors during the Jan 8 lecture.

"In 2020, Chinese doctors donated masks and other protective equipment to my hospital. Now they are working to protect our domestic families and friends. I want to express my sincere thanks to them," Qiao said.

Lu Xin, deputy director of the rheumatology and immunology department of China-Japan Friendship Hospital, attended the lecture on Jan 1. She said the academic and clinical exchange was very instructive for her as she approached her patients.

"The experience and progress of domestic and foreign clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of Omicron infections have reference value for the diagnosis and treatment of all types of COVID-19 patients," Lu said. "It is helpful as clinicians work to improve their diagnostic capabilities and treatment skills."

Previously, in mid-December, ANACP and Tsinghua University presented two lectures for ordinary Chinese people coping with the infection. Three US physicians  Wang Jin, an infectious disease specialist at Mercy Hospital in St Louis, Missouri, Lisa Huang from Virginia and Huang Li from California  wrote articles on COVID-19 prevention and treatment that were viewed 3.2 million times online.

Faced with urgent demand, SCAPE and ANACP agreed to host lectures on COVID-19 for Chinese doctors. For real-time communication, they set up four WeChat groups, which were soon joined by as many as 1,800 Chinese professionals. Chen, SCAPE's president, said there are no borders in the medical domain. "Since COVID-19 broke out, medical workers all over the world rushed to exchange their knowledge on prevention and treatment. This not only benefits ordinary people but is also helpful in developing new vaccines and medicines,"Chen said.

Gao, ANACP's president, said: "Through China-US communication, Chinese doctors can adopt mature treatment programs. They will not need to redo clinical trials on hormones and anticoagulant drugs that have been proved ineffective by their US counterparts. Meanwhile, China's experience will also help other countries redouble the fight against new variants in the future."

Saint Lucia Consulting, a medical advisory company, also invited doctors  this time from Singapore and the US  in December and January to present online lectures and share their experiences in COVID-19 intervention and developing treatment strategies.

Cai Qiang, chairman of the company, said he believes the key for a human community with a shared future is working together.

"Chinese patients and their families have various questions about COVID-19, especially patients with underlying conditions. To answer them, we did a lot of investigations and coordinated with doctors overseas before the lectures began," Cai said. "US doctors are very passionate about helping the Chinese people, even though they were in the middle of their Christmas holiday."

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
The husband of Ana Walshe, a Massachusetts mother of three who has been missing for more than two weeks, has been charged with her murder, according to a warrant issued from Quincy District Court on Tuesday.

Brian Walshe is scheduled to be arraigned on the charge on Wednesday, according to the district attorneys office in Norfolk County.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey declined to disclose what led to the murder charge, though he said in a video statement Tuesday that the "evidence in support" of the charge will likely be presented at the arraignment.

PHOTO: Brian Walshe, of Cohasset, faces a Quincy Court judge charged with impeding the investigation into his wife Ana' disappearance from their home, on Jan. 9, 2023. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Brian Walshe, 47, was previously arrested for allegedly misleading investigators after his wife was reported missing earlier this month. He entered a not guilty plea to the charge of misleading a police investigation at his arraignment in Quincy District Court last week and is being held on a bail of $500,000 cash or $5 million surety bond.

MORE: Police arrest husband of missing Massachusetts mom of 3 for allegedly misleading investigators

Ana Walshe, 39, was reported missing on Jan. 4 by her husband and employer, police said. She was reported last seen by a family member around 4 or 5 a.m. on Jan. 1 at her Cohasset home and was supposed to take a ride share to the airport for a flight to Washington, D.C. -- though police have not been able to confirm that she took a ride share, according to Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley.

PHOTO: In this image posted to her Facebook account, Ana Walshe is shown. (Ana Walshe/FaceBook)

Police confirmed she never boarded a flight out of Boston Logan International Airport, Quigley said. Neither her cellphone nor credit cards have been active since Jan. 1, he told reporters during a press briefing on Jan. 6.

Prior to his wife's disappearance, Brian Walshe made a trip to a local home improvement store to purchase a tarp and cleaning supplies, according to Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland. Police investigators found a knife and blood in the basement area of the Walshes' home, according to Beland.

Husband charged with murder of missing Massachusetts mom of 3: Prosecutors originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Former Mexican Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna, shown in 2010, is on trial in the U.S. on federal charges of conspiring to traffic cocaine. (Marco Ugarte / Associated Press)

Just a few days into the trial of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a witness dropped a bombshell allegation: A Sinaloa cartel associate testified that he had personally given Mexicos top drug cop briefcases full of cash  millions in bribes to let the cartel operate with impunity.

Now, the man who had been considered an architect of Mexicos anti-drug battle and a key partner of U.S. law enforcement is on trial in the same New York federal court. Genaro Garcia Luna  head of Mexicos version of the FBI from 2001 to 2006 and public security minister from 2006 to 2012  is accused of conspiring with the criminals he was ostensibly aiming to take down. Jury selection began Tuesday.

Garcia Luna, 54, who was arrested in December 2019, is the highest ranking Mexican official to face trial in the U.S. on drug-trafficking charges  four counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine. Its as if the head of the FBI or Drug Enforcement Agency was accused of taking millions in drug money.

Garcia Luna frequently met with top U.S. security officials while in office and was often portrayed as the public face of Mexicos drug war. But prosecutors say they plan to show that Mexico's former top cop provided the cartel with safe passage for its drug shipments and with sensitive information about investigations into the cartel or rival gangs.

This is the most important national security and drug-trafficking trial of this century, even more so than El Chapos, said Rodolfo Soriano Nunez, a sociologist and former professor who has long studied the use of military force in Mexico.

We knew Chapo was dirty, Soriano said, but Chapo is nothing but a peasant from rural Sinaloa. Garcia Luna, by contrast, was a powerful public official who held the trust of Mexicos president from 2006 to 2012, Felipe Calderon, who mobilized the military and federal police in what became a bloody, more than decade-long battle against drug cartels.

It has the potential to unveil one of the key aspects of the so-called war on drugs here in Mexico, Soriano said, which is that of the ties, the links, the connection between political power and the so-called drug gangs.

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon speaks to reporters in 2010 as Genaro Garcia Luna, then security minister, stands behind him. (Alexandre Meneghini / Associated Press)

The stakes of the trial

The testimony and evidence that could come out at the trial could have far-reaching consequences on both sides of the border.

With a career spanning three decades, Garcia Luna has intimate knowledge of the drug war in Mexico and ties to the countrys administrations going back to the early 2000s. And he had a particularly close relationship with the DEA and FBI from the latter part of President George W. Bush's second administration through President Obamas first, said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor at George Mason University.

Revelations from the trial could be a major stain on past administrations in Mexico. To critics of the drug war, a conviction would confirm the failure of the joint U.S.-Mexico effort, which received billions of dollars in U.S. aid and was blamed for tens of thousands of deaths  but did little to reduce cartel violence or smuggling.

The collaboration has not resulted in the dismantling of drug-trafficking networks, said Correa-Cabrera. Today, the United States consumes more drugs than ever before, and through the border more drugs than ever before enter the United States.

The trial could put additional strain on declining security cooperation between the two countries. During the Calderon years, U.S. security agencies had essentially a free pass to go wherever they wanted in Mexico, Correa-Cabrera said.

Las agencias entraban hasta la cocina, said Correa-Cabrera, using a Mexican expression that translates as The agencies made it all the way into the kitchen. She noted that Mexicos current administration has shifted toward more limited cooperation with U.S. security agencies on Mexican territory.

And with the 2024 U.S. presidential election in sight, experts say the United States doesnt hold a lot of leverage to pressure Mexican authorities to change that, considering how much Washington relies on Mexico City to control U.S.-bound migration through Mexico.

Who is Garcia Luna?

As minister of public security from 2006 to 2012, Garcia Luna is widely regarded as the architect of Calderons controversial war on the drug cartels.

Garcia Luna started his career at the National Intelligence Center, Mexicos CIA equivalent, in 1989 and joined a special counterterrorism unit. After nearly a decade, he joined the federal police, and in 2001 then-President Vicente Fox named him head of the new Federal Investigation Agency.

At the agency, known as the AFI, which has since been dissolved, Garcia Luna led what was hailed as a transformation of Mexicos police forces.

In a series of interviews that Correa-Cabrera had with Garcia Luna in 2017 and 2018, he said that the federal judicial police had ties to drug trafficking and that he had been given the responsibility to clean it up.

AFI was the promise of a better police, one not connected to drug trafficking, she said.

The Mexican government at the time likened the new agency to the FBI. When Calderon took the presidency in 2006, he elevated Garcia Luna to his Cabinet.

Genaro Garcia Luna speaks during a 2011 ceremony in Mexico City. (Alexandre Meneghini / Associated Press)

Rumors and cold trails

Soon after Fox took office in 2000, the government captured several Sinaloa cartel members. But after that initial sprint, things quieted down. Opposition politicians and security experts started to question why the governments hunt for the elusive cartel leader El Chapo seemed to have gone cold.

Calderons declared war on the drug cartels shattered old alliances and drove drug lords to fight over the territory. There were high-profile arrests, but they were mostly from rival organizations such as the Zetas or the Beltran Leyva organization. Rumors of government favoritism toward the Sinaloa cartel grew louder.

During the heat of the drug wars in 2008, Mexicans in several states woke up to banners, or narcomantas, hanging from bridges or spread across the entrance to a cathedral that accused Garcia Luna of protecting drug dealers.

One of the most controversial claims appeared in a letter published in November 2012 in the pages of the well-regarded national newspaper Reforma. Writing from prison, Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villareal, a drug kingpin from the Beltran Leyva cartel, accused Garcia Luna and his closest associates of receiving narco money since 2002.

I can attest that he has received money from me, from drug-trafficking groups and organized crime, said Valdez, before adding, I may be guilty of a lot, but they, the officials, are part of the criminal structure of this country.

Officials said the accusations were an attempt by Valdez to gain privileges while in prison; Garcia Luna remained untouched. (Valdez was sentenced in 2018 by a U.S. judge to 49 years in prison.)

Garcia Lunas life in Miami

When Calderons term ended in 2012, Garcia Luna fell out of the public eye. Married with two children, he was granted permanent residency in the United States and was soon a routine guest at conferences hosted by American universities.

He started a private security consulting and risk management firm with offices in Miami and Mexico City. His clientele included foreign governments and companies, and his primary client was the Mexican government, his defense said in pretrial filings.

In 2018, he applied to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Before his arrest in Miami, he was living in a waterside mansion with a dock and boat for his use, all given to him by his business partners because he had no wealth to speak of at the time, Garcia Lunas defense wrote in a court filing.

Because his business partners wanted to ensure Mr. Garcia Lunas continued involvement with their business, they provided him a place to live in Miami, the defense wrote.

On to Brooklyn

It seems unlikely that Garcia Lunas trial  which is expected to last two months  will be as theatrical as that of Guzman, who was famous worldwide as an escape artist who had long eluded arrest.

But prosecutors have telegraphed in court filings that they expect to present numerous witnesses  including former high-ranking members of the Sinaloa cartel  to testify about the bribes Garcia Luna is accused of accepting.

The judge granted prosecutors' requests for an anonymous and partially sequestered jury, the same protections that were used during Guzmans trial.

The documents in the case are voluminous. Garcia Lunas public defender, assigned by the court after the defendants assets were seized, complained in initial court appearances about having to go through millions of pages of evidence with little support.

If found guilty, Garcia Luna could face a minimum of about 20 years and a maximum of life in prison.

Another arrest, at LAX

Mexico's current president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has called the case against Garcia Luna emblematic of the institutional corruption of his predecessors, especially Calderon, a longtime political adversary.

However, Lopez Obrador was furious when, the year after Garcia Lunas arrest in Dallas, U.S. authorities detained a former Mexican defense secretary, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, moments after he landed with his family at Los Angeles International Airport.

Like Garcia Luna, Cienfuegos was charged with collaborating with Mexican drug cartels while in office.

Lopez Obrador, facing fierce backlash from the powerful military, denounced the charges against Cienfuegos and demanded that Washington release the retired general. The Trump administration ultimately dropped the charges and returned Cienfuegos to Mexico, where he went free.

In Mexico, Lopez Obrador  who once assailed the deployment of the military against drug cartels  has been harshly criticized for greatly expanding the militarys role in internal security.

He is repeating the same mistakes" as Calderon, Soriano said.

Corona is a special correspondent. Times Mexico City bureau chief Patrick J. McDonnell contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
FILE - Members of the Missouri House of Representatives recite the Pledge of Allegiance as they begin their annual legislative session, Jan. 5, 2022, in Jefferson City, Mo. Women who serve in the Missouri House will face a tougher dress code when they return to the floor this week after a debate that Democrats panned as a pointless distraction from the issues facing the state. The new rules require female legislators and staff members to wear a jacket such as a cardigan or blazer. The Republican lawmaker who introduced the change said it was done to ensure decorum and mirror the mens dress code. Democrats called it ridiculous, saying women should not be policed for their fashion choices. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Women who serve in the Missouri House will face a tougher dress code when they return to the floor this week after a debate that Democrats panned as a pointless distraction from the issues facing the state.

The new rules require female legislators and staff members to wear a jacket such as a cardigan or blazer. The Republican lawmaker who introduced the change said it was done to ensure decorum and mirror the mens dress code. Democrats called it ridiculous, saying women shouldnt be policed for their fashion choices.

Republican Rep. Ann Kelley, who introduced the amendment, said it cleans up language in current House rules so that the dress code for women will mirror the dress code for men.

It is essential to always maintain a formal and professional atmosphere on House floor and to ensure this happens, I have felt compelled to offer this amendment, she said during Wednesdays floor debate.

Her initial amendment said women would be required to wear business attire  specifically a jacket, which would include blazers and knit blazers. After spirited debate, a revised amendment was adopted to clarify that a cardigan could also be worn.

Men in the Missouri House of Representatives were already required to wear a jacket, shirt and a tie. Under the previous dress code, women were required to wear dresses or skirts or slacks worn with a blazer or sweater and appropriate dress shoes or boots. A second layer of clothing was not required.

Kelley said ensuring decorum was a key reason behind her proposal - an idea Democrats seized on.

Ive seen a lot of lack of decorum in this room in my two years here and not once has that lack of decorum spurred from someones blazer or lack thereof, said Rep. Ashley Aune, a Democrat. There are a lot of ways we could break decorum in this room. But a woman, what shes wearing, that is ridiculous.

Aune went on to say she has personally been asked about her attire, even though she was following the rules.

Do you know what it feels like to have a bunch of men in this room looking at your top trying to determine if its appropriate or not? she said.

Virginia Ramseyer Winter, an associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Health Professions and director of the Center for Body Image Research and Policy, said lawmakers shouldnt have even debated this because it unnecessarily put the focus on the way women look instead of the issues.

I think it reinforces the idea that we value women more for their appearance above other more important things like their intelligence and their contributions, she said.

Ramseyer Winter and other critics of the measure said the debate echoed the one over abortion restrictions lawmakers approved last summer after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

I do think that it also sends the message that we have to police womens bodies, she said.

Rep. Raychel Proudie, a Democrat, took issue with the amendment before it was amended to include cardigan. She pointed out that it wouldnt be easy for pregnant women to comply because they dont make jackets or blazers for women who are pregnant. That could be very uncomfortable, particularly in a pro-life state.

The dress code was a small part of a package of rules that state lawmakers ultimately approved last Wednesday.

There are some very serious things that are in this rule package that I think we should be debating, but instead we are fighting, again, for a womens right to choose something. And this time it is how she covers herself, Proudie said.

Lawmakers in other states have pushed back against dress code rules as sexist and culturally insensitive. Congress' longstanding ban on sleeveless tops and open-toes shoes generated a fight in 2017 before those rules were updated.

Missouri Republicans said the criticism of the dress code was overdone when all the rules did was clarify what is required.

Its a normal process for any entity regarding a professional work environment, Republican state Rep. Doug Richey said. We just happen to have a political context that we have to navigate and, because of that, it is ripe for some members to grandstand and try to make it into something that its not.

Still Rep. Peter Merideth, a Democrat, declined to vote on the dress code amendment because he didn't want to dare say what was appropriate or inappropriate for women to wear. In the House, there are 43 women and 116 men.

This is ridiculous, he said. Our people sent us here to pass laws  not fight about mandates and rules on womens clothing.
The 2018 killing of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, known as Junior, was caught on tape, sparking outrage

NEW YORK (AP)  The final five defendants were sentenced Friday in the fatal gang stabbing of a 15-year-old whose attackers mistook him for an underworld rival, a killing that unleashed outrage in New York and beyond.

Fridays sentencing marked an end to a slate of prosecutions in the June 2018 killing of Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, who was known as Junior. In all, 13 people have pleaded guilty or been convicted in the crime.

Captured on video, the killing left the Bronx community  and the world  horrified at such complete disregard for human life, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.

This undated file photo provided by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) shows Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, 15, who was attacked at a bodega in the Bronx borough of New York on June 19, 2018, and died after being slashed in the neck with a machete. (NYPD via AP, File)

Two gang leaders set the assault in motion by telling their underlings to go after members of another subgroup of their gang, prosecutors said. The two leaders were convicted of murder and sentenced last year to 25 years to life behind bars.

Guzman-Feliz wasnt affiliated with any gang, authorities said. Nonetheless, gang members zeroed in on him.

The five who were sentenced on Friday, plus a sixth who was sentenced Tuesday, dragged the youth out of a corner store where he tried to hide. All six pleaded guilty to manslaughter and got prison terms that vary between 12 and 18 years.

Five other defendants attacked the victim with knives and a machete, prosecutors said, citing trial evidence. The five were convicted of murder and got at least 23-year sentences; one was sentenced to life behind bars.

The crime triggered protests demanding Justice for Junior. Thousands of people paid respects at his funeral.

An aspiring police officer, Guzman-Feliz was a member of the New York Police Department Explorers program, which introduces young people to careers in law enforcement. The New York City Police Foundation established a college scholarship in his honor.

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The post Mistaken-identity gang killing case ends with 13 in prison appeared first on TheGrio.
As the number of people experiencing homelessness increases across the country, more cities and states have passed laws making it illegal to live out of tents and cars or sleep in public spaces.

More than 100 jurisdictions have had such bans on the books for years, according to the National Homelessness Law Center.In recent months, high-profile measures have been approved targeting homelessness in many western U.S. cities and across entire states.

Federal data shows 582,462 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2022. Experts warn more people will enter homelessness as housing costs increase, as has been the case for decades in cities such as New York and in much of California.

If visible, unsheltered homelessness continues to grow, city leaders will have an easier time passing measures advocates say criminalize basic needs such as sleep and sheltering oneself, Eric Tars, legal director for the National Homelessness Law Center, told USA TODAY.

"The danger is that the worse the housing situation gets, the more people we see on the streets, the more will be the push for these punitive policies," Tars said.

A woman pushes a cart past a tent along the sidewalk on Dec. 20, 2022, in Salt Lake City.

These states and cities have passed laws making it illegal to live in tents or sleep on public property:

Missouri bans sleeping in parks

On Jan. 1, a statewide ban on sleeping on state-owned land took effect in Missouri, making it a misdemeanor to sleep in public spaces such as parks or under bridges.

Experts say Missouri's law is concerning because it covers the state and adds pressure on top of municipal bans.

It's wrong to assume people experiencing homelessness can just leave and go to another state, Tars said.

People have an "assumption" that "homeless people are infinitely mobile and theyll go somewhere else," Tars said. "But most people, contrary to this notion of vagrancy and transience, are homeless in the community where they were once housed."

Missouri's law also restricts state funding for permanent housing, a model taken from template legislation created by the conservative Cicero Institute, according to Stateline, the Pew Charitable Trusts news service.

"To take funding away from housing that has the appropriate resources attached to it is devastating, problematic and perpetuates the issue of homelessness," said Kathy Connors, executive director of Gateway180 shelter in St. Louis. She added that people experiencing homelessness who are displaced from rural areas are forced to seek temporary services available only in cities, which is straining the system.

Gabe DeBay, Medical Services Officer with the Shoreline Fire Department, checks the blood pressure of a homeless man at a tent encampment during the hottest part of the day on July 26, 2022, in Shoreline, Washington. The Pacific Northwest is experiencing a heat wave with potentially record-breaking temperatures, which is expected to last for the rest of the week.

Tennessee makes it a felony to live in a tent

In July, Tennessee became the first state to make it a felony to live in a tent or sleep on state land.

Statewide bans have been introduced in recent years by legislators in five other states, Pew says.

"Policies like this are making homelessness worse," Tars said, because arrest, jail time and a criminal record put up steep barriers to employment, securing an apartment and accessing social services.

Portland, Oregon, bans tent living

The City Council in Portland, Oregon, voted in November to approve a plan to ban living in tents and will shift people living in encampments into six city-sanctioned mass encampment sites capped at 250 people.

The measure includes plans to build 20,000 additional affordable housing units and eventually would require everyone living on the streets to move into shelters, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon sent the Portland City Council a letter warning the new measure could be unlawful. Last month, the civil rights group sued the city of Phoenix over a similar ban, resulting in a temporary block from a federal judge.

Oregon's recently elected Gov. Tina Kotek started her term this week by declaring a state of emergency for parts of the state that have seen huge increases in unsheltered homelessness, including Portland.

Paskal Pawlicki from My Friends House Foundation, hands a bottle of water to a homeless man in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022.

Washoe County, Nevada, considers bans

In December, Washoe County Commissioners in Nevada voted 3-2 to consider an ordinance to ban camping in tents or vehicles and storing personal items in public when it poses "significant harm to any person, or public area." Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor or a $500 fine. Within the county, Reno and Sparks already had similar ordinances in place.

In 2021, 25% of young people experiencing homelessness served by the Eddy House shelter in Reno lived on the streets, CEO Trevor Macaluso told USA TODAY. He added that people displaced by sweeps in Reno and Sparks usually relocate their encampment somewhere else in the city, which makes the bans ineffective.

Los Angeles bans some homeless tent cities

A City Council-approved ban on tent living in certain areas was expanded in August 2022 to prohibit encampments within 500 feet of schools and day care centers after teachers and parents complained students couldn't access nearby sidewalks.

School administrators have said the ban isn't always enforced by the city and police, according to EdSource, an outlet covering education in California.

More recently, the mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach and Los Angeles County declared states of emergency over the homeless crisis aimed at speeding up services to reduce and prevent homelessness.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Homeless in the US: Tent cities banned as more people lose their homes
FILE - Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at Mar-a-lago on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump will be joined by two of his highest-profile South Carolina supporters at the first public campaign event of his 2024 White House bid later this month in the early voting state. Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham will be with Trump on Jan. 28 at the Statehouse in Columbia, where he will unveil his South Carolina leadership team. . (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  Former President Donald Trump will be joined by two high-profile South Carolina supporters  U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Gov. Henry McMaster  at his first public 2024 presidential campaign event in the early voting state later this month.

Trump will be at the Statehouse in Columbia on Jan. 28 and will unveil his South Carolina leadership team, according to a person familiar with the plans. That person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person wasnt authorized to speak publicly.

Trump's campaign had previously confirmed the South Carolina event but hadn't provided details.

The event will also include members of South Carolinas congressional delegation, as well as state lawmakers, according to the person.

U.S. Rep. Russell Fry, who with Trump's support ousted U.S. Rep. Tom Rice in a primary last year, told the AP on Tuesday that he would be at the rollout, saying Trump "delivered for the American people before and can do so again.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who defeated a Trump-backed opponent in her own GOP primary last year, told AP she would not attend the event, and that she would would wait to endorse a 2024 candidate once the field is set."

Until then, my powder is dry," she said.

Among remaining Republicans in South Carolina's U.S. House delegation, Rep. William Timmons' office said he would attend Trump's event, Rep. Jeff Duncans office said he would not, and a spokesman for Rep. Ralph Norman said his attendance wasn't certain. A representatives for Rep. Joe Wilson didn't immediately return a message Tuesday.

According to South Carolina government officials, the Trump campaign has blocked off 3 a.m. to 10 p.m. at a variety of sites inside and outside the Statehouse building, planning for 500 attendees.

Reservation information shared with AP promotes the event "as an opportunity to exemplify the strong support from elected officials in the state as we approach the one year mark to South Carolinas Republican Presidential Primary.

Some operatives and elected officials in South Carolina have been receiving calls from Graham asking for their support for Trump's reelection bid. At least two of the people asked had turned down the request, according to the person, who spoke with the pair.

Since announcing his latest presidential run in November, Trump has limited his public campaign appearances to events at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida before an invited crowd or in a virtual setting.

Trumps visit to South Carolina comes as two of the states top Republicans mull 2024 bids of their own.

Nikki Haley, a former governor and onetime U.N. ambassador, said she would take the holiday season to consider a White House campaign.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott has been making visits in other early voting states and launched a political action committee that could become a presidential campaign vehicle. A Scott spokesperson did not immediately comment Tuesday when asked if the senator would attend Trump's event.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
In this image provided by the U.S. Army, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley meets with U.S. Army leaders responsible for the collective training of Ukrainians at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Grafenwoehr, Germany, on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. At left is Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Hilbert, who is the commanding general for the 7th Army Training Command. Milley visited the training site in Germany for Ukrainian forces and met with troops and commanders.(Staff Sgt. Jordan Sivayavirojna/U.S. Army via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A MILITARY BASE IN SOUTHEASTERN POLAND (AP)  The top U.S. military officer, Army Gen. Mark Milley, traveled to a site near the Ukraine-Poland border on Tuesday and talked with his Ukrainian counterpart face to face for the first time  a meeting underscoring the growing ties between the two militaries and coming at a critical time as Russia's war with Ukraine nears the one-year mark.

Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a couple of hours with Ukraines chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in southeastern Poland. The two leaders have talked frequently about Ukraine's military needs and the state of the war over the past year but had never met.

The meeting comes as the international community ramps up the military assistance to Ukraine, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the U.S. and the provision of a Patriot missile battery, tanks and increased air defense and other weapons systems by the U.S. and a coalition of European and other nations.

It also marks a key time in the war. Ukraine's troops face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where Russian forces  supplemented by thousands of private Wagner Group contractors  seek to turn the tide after a series of battlefield setbacks in recent months.

Army Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, told two reporters traveling with the chairman that the two generals felt it was important to meet in person. The reporters did not accompany Milley to the meeting and, under conditions set by the military, agreed to not identify the military base in southeastern Poland where they were located.

These guys have been talking on a very regular basis for about a year now, and theyve gotten to know each other, Butler said. Theyve talked in detail about the defense that Ukraine is trying to do against Russias aggression. And its important  when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, theres a difference.

Butler said there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi would travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defense chiefs this week, but when it became clear on Monday that it would not happen, they quickly decided to meet in Poland, near the border.

While a number of U.S. civilian leader s have gone into Ukraine, the Biden administration has made it clear that no uniformed military service members will go into Ukraine other than those connected to the embassy in Kyiv. Butler said only a small group  Milley and six of his senior staffers  traveled by car to the meeting.

He said that the meeting will allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyi's concerns and information to the other military leaders during the NATO chiefs' meeting. Milley, he said, will be able to describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that, and the way he does that is one by understanding it himself but by also talking to Zaluzhnyi on a regular basis.

Milley also will be able to describe the new training of Ukrainian forces that the U.S. is doing at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. The chairman, who got his first look at the new, so-called combined arms instruction during a nearly two-hour visit there on Monday, has said it will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks.

More than 600 Ukrainian troops began the expanded training program at the camp just a day before Milley arrived.

Milley and Zaluzhnyi's meeting kicks off a series of high-level gatherings of military and defense leaders this week. Milley and other chiefs of defense will meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group consists of about 50 top defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and they work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.

The meetings are expected to focus on Ukraine's ongoing and future military needs as the hard-packed terrain of the winter months turns into muddy roads and fields in the spring.

After several months of losing territory it had captured, Russia in recent days claimed it took control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting, but if Moscows troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.

And in a barrage of airstrikes over the weekend, Russia struck Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 44.

Western analysts point to signs that the Kremlin is digging in for a drawn-out war, and say the Russian military command is preparing for an expanded mobilization effort.

___

Follow the AP's coverage of Russia's war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
FILE - In this image made from video of WisconsinEye feed, Commissioner Robert Spindell Jr. speaks during a virtual Wisconsin Elections Commission meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, dismissed an open records complaint against a Republican Wisconsin Elections Commission member who served as a fake elector for former President Donald Trump. Allegations that the elections commission violated the state open records law will go forward, but claims made against Commissioner Robert Spindell were dismissed by Dane County Circuit Judge Robert Frost. (WisconsinEye via AP) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

MADISON, Wis. (AP)  A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday dismissed an open records complaint against a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission who served as a fake elector for former President Donald Trump.

Allegations that the elections commission violated the state open records law by wrongly withholding documents will go forward, but claims made against Commissioner Robert Spindell were dismissed by Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost.

The commission itself, not Spindell, is the legal authority that must maintain the records in question and be the target of any lawsuit seeking them, Frost ruled after oral arguments.

Madison-based law firm Law Forward, known for the liberal-leaning cases it takes, filed the lawsuit against the commission and Spindell. Law Forward attorney Scott Thompson said after the hearing that he remained optimistic the records would be turned over even though Spindell is no longer a party to the lawsuit.

The Associated Press left a voicemail and sent an email to Spindell's attorney, Mark Maciolek, seeking comment.

The lawsuit stems from a complaint filed by Law Forward with the elections commission in 2021. It alleged that Republicans illegally posed as Wisconsin electors in an attempt to convince the U.S. Congress to declare that Trump won the state in 2020, even though he in fact lost to President Joe Biden by about 21,000 votes.

Republican attempts to cast electoral college votes for Trump in seven swing states he lost were a focus of the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission last year rejected a complaint about the events, saying that Republicans who attempted to cast the state's 10 electoral college votes for Trump did not break any election laws. Spindell did not recuse himself from considering the complaint, even though he voted as one of the fake GOP electors.

In a closed meeting, the commission voted unanimously to reject the complaint.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice concluded that Republicans were legitimately trying to preserve Trumps legal standing as courts were deciding if he or Biden won the election. That is the same argument that Trump allies and the fake electors from Wisconsin have made, including in testimony to the Jan. 6 committee.

Law Forward filed two lawsuits after the complaint was rejected.

In one pending action, the group alleges that Spindell should have been excluded from considering the complaint before the commission because his actions were at the heart of the matter.

The other case, heard Tuesday, alleged that Spindell and the elections commission failed to turn over records that Law Forward requested multiple times under Wisconsin's open records law. The law firm sought documents related to a comment Spindell made during the public portion of a November 2021 commission meeting where he openly discussed his decision not to recuse himself from considering the complaint related to fake electors. The commission had been considering the request in closed session only, which made Spindells comments unusual.

Specifically, Law Forward asked for communications surrounding material Spindell appeared to be reading from during the meeting. According to the lawsuit, the elections commission provided a single document that resembled what Spindell read from and said Spindell had no other related records.

Frost dismissed claims against Spindell, agreeing with his argument that the commission is the legal authority in charge of the records.

Law Forward brought the case on behalf of Paul Sickel, executive director of the Service Employees International Union's Wisconsin State Council.

The firm has also filed another lawsuit, currently pending in federal court, against the 10 electors and Trump attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and Jim Troupis seeking $2.4 million in damages. That case alleges Trump and his allies conspired to overturn his loss in the battleground state.

___

This story has been corrected to reflect the name of Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost. A previous version listed his first name as Robert Frost.
Police received more than 3,600 calls around domestic abuse in Northern Ireland over the Christmas period, figures show.

This includes 110 calls from domestic abuse victims and concerned loved ones on Christmas Day  an increase of 10% on 2021.

On New Years Eve, the police received 106 calls, an increase of 5% from 2021.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland released the figures following their annual Operation Seasons Greetings.

In total, police received 3,604 calls around domestic abuse over the Christmas period, from November 24 to January 2.

This year during our annual Operation Seasons Greetings we received 3,604 calls from victims of domestic abuse.If you or someone you know is suffering please contact us on 101 or 999 in an emergency. Read more: https://t.co/OalIgRLv4D pic.twitter.com/ArGdZNV8Or  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) January 17, 2023

Detective Superintendent Lindsay Fisher said reports of domestic abuse often increase on key dates such as Christmas Day and New Years Eve.

Although these figures are shocking, we know that a large number of incidents still go unreported to police and we will continue to encourage all victims to reach out to us for help, she said.

Behind each one of the statistics is a victim who, statistics suggest, has endured up to 35 incidents of abuse before coming forward to report.

We are determined to do all we can to protect them and bring perpetrators to justice.

Over the festive period, police made 753 arrests for domestic abuse offences, an increase of nearly 15% from 2021, and 340 of these resulted in a charge, an increase of nearly 17% from 2021.

Ms Fisher added: Domestic abuse, in all its forms, has no place in our society and tackling these crimes remains one of Police Service of Northern Irelands top priorities.

Those reporting domestic abuse can report to police on 101 or in an emergency always dial 999.

Police have advised if it is an emergency and youve dialled 999 but cannot speak then stay on the line and press 55 when prompted, then cough or tap in response to the operators queries.

A 24-hour Domestic and Sexual Abuse Helpline is available to anyone who has concerns about domestic or sexual violence, now or in the past, on 0808 802 1414.
Oklahoma officials looking for a missing 4-year-old girl found the remains of a child Tuesday, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said.

"At this time, the OSBI cannot confirm the remains are those of Athena Brownfield," the bureau said in a statement. "The remains will be transported to the Medical Examiner's Office in Oklahoma City for positive identification."

The couple who had been taking care of Athena Brownfield have been charged in connection with her disappearance.

The remains were found outside Rush Springs, a town in rural Grady County, about 60 miles south of Oklahoma City. Rush Springs is about 25 miles from Cyril, which is where a postal worker spotted Athena's sister wandering by herself this month.

On Monday, after a week of looking for the girl, investigators said their search had shifted to a "recovery operation" to find her remains.

Authorities have arrested two people in connection with the girl's disappearance while they continued searching for her Friday, Jan 13, 2023. (Trooper Eric Foster / AP)

Authorities and volunteers have been searching for Athena since Jan. 10, when a postal worker spotted her 5-year-old sister alone near the girls home in Cyril, the State Bureau of Investigation said.

Ivon Adams and his wife, Alysia Adams, have been arrested in connection with the case. The State Bureau of Investigation has said the couple are caretakers for the girls.

Alysia Adams, 31, was arrested Thursday by the Grady County Sheriffs Office on two counts of child neglect and booked into the Caddo County Jail on two counts of child neglect, the agency said.

Ivon Adams, 36, was arrested Thursday in Arizona and is scheduled to be extradited to Oklahoma on charges of murder and child neglect, the state bureau said.

It was not clear whether either had attorneys.

Alysia Adams was related to Athena and her 5-year-old sister, the state bureau said, adding the two siblings had been in her care for at least a year.

Officials have said the sisters' biological parents were cooperating with the investigation and had been interviewed by authorities. Athena's sister has been taken into protective custody, the state bureau said.


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STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan again disrupted gas supply to Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh), the State Ministers Advisor Mesrop Arakelyan said in a statement.

Azerbaijan continues actions aimed at depopulating Armenians from Artsakh, he added.

Azerbaijan is keeping the Lachin Corridor blocked since December 12, 2022. The corridor is Nagorno Karabakhs (Artsakh) only road to Armenia and the rest of the world. The blockade has caused an ongoing humanitarian crisis with widespread shortages of essential supplies such as food and medicine. Azerbaijan disrupted and then eventually restored gas supply early on during the blockade in December 2022.

Furthermore, on January 9 the electricity transmission line supplying energy from Armenia to Artsakh was damaged in the area controlled by Azerbaijan. Since then, Azerbaijan has been barring repair crews from accessing the site. On January 12, an internet blackout was reported in Artsakh. The internet cable was damaged in the area where the fake eco-activists are blocking the corridor. A day later, as a result of negotiations conducted by Russian peacekeepers, repair crews were allowed to access the site and internet was restored. The corridor remains blocked.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Assyrians are among those who are now stranded in Artsakh amid the Azeri blockade, Member of Parliament Zemfira Mirzoyeva from the Hayastan faction of the Armenian Parliament said.

Mirzoyeva, who represents the Assyrian community of Armenia in parliament, called on the international community to sanction Azerbaijan as the blockade entered the 36th day.

This provocation by Azerbaijan is even more cynical because the perpetrators of a crime against humanity are hiding behind the mask of so-called environmentalists. This provocation carried out by Azerbaijan has caused a grave humanitarian disaster in the Republic of Artsakh. I am saying this for the whole world to hear, today there are Assyrians who are stranded in Artsakh who went there for various reasons, they are unable to return because the road of life is closed, the lawmaker said.

Mirzoyeva said that unfortunately Azerbaijan continues to ignore the calls by the international community, many countries and the UNSC to open the corridor.

I think its high time that the international community, international organizations, countries that play a key role to impose sanctions against Azerbaijan, the country which is keeping 120,000 people blockaded, and its leaders, she said.

The MP called on international organizations dealing with the protection of national minorities to act to prevent Azerbaijans policy of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, which is targeting not only Armenians but also representatives of national minorities.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. President of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan appointed the former foreign minister David Babayan as his Advisor and special envoy.

Dear compatriots, friends, party members,

Today I was appointed advisor to the Artsakh Republic President - Presidential representative-at-large.

We will continue to serve our state and people, Babayan said on social media.
by Francis Khoo Thwe

The place of worship built in 1894 had a 'priceless' historical value for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Before setting fire to it, soldiers desecrated it by drinking and smoking inside. Catholics and Buddhists have lived together in harmony in the area for centuries. In the past year, the village has been attacked four times by militia, without any clashes or provocations.

Yangon (AsiaNews) - The Burmese military junta has launched a new attack against Catholics in Myanmar, burning one of the oldest and most important places of worship in the country to the ground.

The military targeted the historic Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in the village of Chan Thar, Ye U, Shwe Bo district, Sagaing Division. Built in 1894 and with 129 years of life behind it, inside it was celebrated the baptism of what would become Burma's first bishop.

It is a new wound for the religious minority, after two air force fighter jets carried out a raid in Karen State in recent days, destroying a church and killing five people including a child.

The first Catholic presence in the area, which refers to the diocese of Mandalay, dates back about 500 years and the village of Chan Thar itself arose and developed thanks to the work of descendants of Portuguese Catholics who then inhabited it for centuries.

Since the military coup in February 2021 that overthrew the democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi - now under arrest - and returned power to the army, soldiers have already attacked the area four times. Many - at home and abroad - consider the church a 'priceless historical site'.

In the village, the population has always been predominantly Catholic, scattered in 800 houses in close contact and harmony with two neighbouring Buddhist centres. Last year, the military set fire to the houses of Chan Thar on 7 May and a second time a month later, on 7 June 2022, destroying 135 buildings.

The third assault took place on 14 December, just before the start of the Christmas celebrations; the last was a few days ago, on 14 January 2023, when the Tatmadaw (Armed Forces) men razed and burnt almost all the houses.

Local sources, on condition of anonymity, report that the soldiers attacked and set fire to the church "for no apparent reason", because there was no fighting or confrontation going on in the area, and without any provocation.

The soldiers had been stationed in the area in front of the church since the evening of 14 January, and before leaving the area, they carried out an "atrocity" by setting fire to the building and "completely burning" the church, the parish priest's house and the centuries-old nunnery, which collapsed after being enveloped in flames.

The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption was a source of pride for Catholics in Upper Myanmar not only because of its centuries-old tradition, the baptism of the first bishop and the birth of three other archbishops and over 30 priests and nuns.

The place of worship was in fact a historical and cultural heritage for the entire country, including Buddhists, and proof of this is the climate of fraternal cooperation that was established between the different communities.

The church, bell tower and other buildings were destroyed on the morning of 15 January. Government soldiers, an eyewitness revealed, also "desecrated" the sacredness of the place by "looting, drinking alcohol and smoking" inside.

In response to the attack, a number of Burmese priests on social networks have been raising appeals to pray for the country and for the Christian community itself. On the other hand, there have been no official statements or declarations from the Archdiocese of Yangon and Card. Charles Bo.

In his message to the faithful published a few days ago on the occasion of the New Year, the cardinal had declared January as the "month of the ceasefire", addressing all parties - including the military - asking them to "silence their weapons" and "believe in a peaceful solution".

He had emphasised the value of 'dialogue' in conflict resolution and called for the resumption of the Panlong peace process. An appeal, as we can see these days, which has fallen on deaf ears on the Naypyidaw side.
by Dario Salvi

At least 80,000 people took to the streets against a bill proposed by Justice Minister Levin. For lawyers, magistrates and critics, it is a coup. For defenders, it is a simple revision to rebalance powers. Netanyahu's corruption and fraud trials loom in the background. President Herzog is trying a difficult mediation.

Milan (AsiaNews)  After only a few weeks in office, Israels new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has laid out its new priorities. One of them involves plans by Justice Minister Yariv Levin to undertake a major overhaul to the countrys justice system.

For its defenders, it is just a reform; for its detractors, it is tantamount to a regime change or a coup, turning Israel into a nation "without an independent judiciary" with a government free to act "arbitrarily".

Leading the charge against the changes are former judges, lawyers, and magistrates, plus many civil society groups. A first salvo came last week with a protest rally that brought together at least 80,000 people from different parts of the country.

"My parents immigrated from non-democratic regimes to live in a democracy," one woman, a second-generation Holocaust survivor, told the BBC. They came from the totalitarian regime to live freely. So seeing that destroyed is heartbreaking."

Like others, she expected Mr Netanyahu to try radical changes, but never thought he would go so fast.

A controversial reform

The proposed reform has elicited many labels. For Aharon Barak, an influential former Supreme Court Chief Justice, a man not prone to overemotional remarks, the bill is the beginning of the end of the Third Temple.

Such prophecy-laden words suggest nothing less than the extinction of Israel as seen by its own citizens, namely the only democracy in the Middle East; in its stead, it would become an authoritarian democracy.

This, at least, is the best-case scenario according to former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair, for whom it could end up even worst, in a "dictatorship of a casual parliamentary majority.

In such a nightmare scenario, the independence of the judiciary would end, corruption would grow, minority rights would be dead, and the country could be completely discredited.

To avoid this, opposition parties plan a general mobilisation to "save democracy".

But what does the reform entail? According to Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a simple majority in the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) will have the power to overturn Supreme Court rulings. This would allow the cabinet to pass laws without fear that they will be overturned by justices.

Politicians would also have greater influence on the appointment of judges and justices, because the majority of the members of the selection committee would be directly appointed by the cabinet.

Moreover, it would be easier to legislate in favour of Jewish settlements and outposts in the West Bank, without any interference from the courts who in past shielded Israel from international criticism against its expansionist policies.

The complex and delicate system of checks and balances between powers would be at risk, including the independence of the judicial branch, which would be weaker than the executive branch.

One change would touch the committee that appoints judges. At present, the governing coalition has three seats on the nine-member body; under the changes, the cabinet would get five seats.

Then there are suspicions that the reform will shield Mr Netanyahu from ongoing inquiries and legal woes involving charges of corruption, fraud and obstruction of justice. Since the first accusations were made, Netanyahu proclaimed his innocence, claiming that he was the victim of a plot.

Under the proposed reform, the Supreme Court would lose power in favour of the Knesset. At present, the court can reject bills approved by parliament if they contradict Israel's 13 basic laws, which serve as the countrys constitution, ranging from protecting human dignity to civil rights.

Levin's reform project includes an override clause that would give lawmakers the right to reintroduce a bill struck down by the Supreme Court with a majority of 61 (out of 120).

Despite criticism from magistrates, lawyers, judges and rights organisations who see the bill as a frontal attack against the judicial system, the government plans to go ahead.

Netanyahu defends the project. We will complete legislating the reforms in a way that will correct what needs correcting, Netanyahu said. The bill will totally protect individual rights and will restore the publics faith in the justice system that so much requires this reform.

Polarised society

The issue of citizens' trust in institutions, from the cabinet to the judiciary, is one of the factors that is polarising Israeli society, and can hardly lead to mediation between the parties.

A recent poll found that a 58 per cent of Israelis believe the Supreme Court should have the power to overturn laws passed by parliament if they conflict with democratic principles.

However, the Israeli Democracy Index, now in its 20th edition, shows that trust in courts plummeted to 42 per cent down from a multi-year average of 59.5 per cent.

The study also found that trust in parliament was just 18.5 per cent. Levels of trust were slightly lower among the countrys Arab minority.

In a country that is increasingly turning to the right, especially among young people, 85 per cent of Israeli Jews trust the army (IDF) against only 8.5 per cent for political parties.

Optimism towards the future is decreasing (49 per cent against 76 per cent in 2012) and the feeling of security plunged from 76 per cent in 2020 to 38 per cent in 2022, as did the sense of belonging to the state and its problems.

For Naomi Chazan, former deputy speaker of the Knesset and professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, All the signs today point to the fact that the new government in Israel is doing everything  consciously and systematically  to equate the common good with what it wants here and now.

In her view, The new Netanyahu government believes that it can repeat the mistakes of the past and ignore the experience of other beleaguered regimes. [. . .] This is foolhardy, arrogant, and mistaken. How this will play out will determine Israels fate.

The proposed changes exposed the fault lines in Israeli society, a country torn between those who want to preserve liberal and democratic ideals and those moving away from them.

President Isaac Herzog, who normally plays a largely ceremonial and guarantor role, issued a statement saying that he was trying to bridge the gap between the parties by meeting with various political leaders. To this end, he was ready to work to avert a historic constitutional crisis.

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by Mathias Hariyadi

Last week local workers demanded greater workplace safety, but did not receive the support of foreign colleagues, sparking clashes. Gunbuster Nickel Industri is owned by a Chinese tycoon who pledged big investments in Indonesia. Experts and residents fear more violence.

Jakarta (AsiaNews)  Production resumed today at a Gunbuster Nickel Industri (GNI) smelter in North Morowali regency after it was suspended in the wake of protests that broke out last week that left two Indonesian and one Chinese workers dead.

The situation is now under control thanks to large-scale action by police. Security forces have hit back those responsible, according to Central Sulawesi Police spokesperson Didik Supranoto. Meanwhile, the Indonesian government dispatched a special team to investigate the situation.

Amateur videos of the violence went viral on social media. In some, Indonesian workers can be heard blaming the government for conceding too much to the Chinese. Moreover, in December, two Indonesian workers died in workplace accidents.

On Saturday, workers represented by the National Workers Union (SPN) met with company officials presenting eight demands, including the implementation of occupational safety regulations, the provision of personal protective equipment to workers, a halt to wage deductions, and the rehiring of SPN members fired because they had gone on strike.

When the two parties failed to reach an agreement, Indonesian workers decided to go on strike. When Chinese employees refused to join them, clashes between local and foreign workers began. Vehicles were set on fire as were dormitories used by Chinese workers.

The GNI employs 11,000 Indonesian workers and 1,300 foreign personnel, the police said. Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry owns the smelter, which is operated by businessman Tony Zhou Yuan.

In addition to smelting, the company is involved in mining and mineral refining in the Xiangshui Industrial Economic Zone, Jiangsu province.

GNI was established in 2019, while the smelter was officially inaugurated by Indonesian President Joko Widodo two years later.

Some US$ 8 billion have been invested in three nickel smelters in North Morowali and are expected to have a combined workforce of 27,000.

President Widodo has always been open to Chinese investments and workers, but experts warn that this incident, combined with traditional anti-Chinese sentiments and high unemployment, could spark further violence in other parts of Indonesia.

There are at least 15 smelters in northern Morowali that use advanced technologies and hire thousands of workers, said Anton, a local resident who has been working in the mining industry for more than 10 years, speaking to AsiaNews.

As the demand for batteries soars internationally, the huge nickel deposits in Central Sulawesi province become, building smelters has been Indonesia's priority, he explained.

As the battery industry becomes fully developed, mining will become huge, but with some serious challenges, such as different treatment of domestic and foreign workers," Anton added. When social envy starts, the potential for mass violence looms.
The decision to quit was voluntary but comes after a long anti-corruption campaign. Last month, two deputy ministers were removed from the Politburo. The centralisation of power by the country's leader, Nguyen Phu Trong, continues.

Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies)  The President of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc, number two in the Communist Party, has voluntarily resigned and is no longer a member of Politburo.

This follows a corruption scandal that saw two deputy ministers removed from the top body in late December.

Vietnam's Communist Party, now increasingly linked to the general secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, the country's de facto leader, accused Nguyen Xuan Phuc, 68, of "violations and wrongdoings" while he was prime minister from 2016 to 2021, before becoming president, a largely ceremonial position.

As he was well aware of his responsibilities to the Party and the people, Phuc filed a request to resign from his positions and retire, the government said in a statement. However, to become effective, the resignation must be approved by Vietnams National Assembly.

As in previous cases of senior officials removed from the Politburo, the latter held an extraordinary meeting.

Political power in Vietnam rests on four "pillars": the party secretary, the president, the prime minister and the speaker of the National Assembly.

According to many analysts, Phuc was destined to become party secretary, but recently the rumour mill was in full swing that he was going to resign.

One of the consequences of Nguyen Phu Trongs blazing furnace anti-corruption drive is greater centralisation of power.

In 2022 alone, 539 party members were prosecuted or disciplined for deliberate wrongdoings. Police investigated 453 cases of corruption over the past year, a 50 per cent increase over 2021.
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The Western Slope Veterans Coalition Resource Center in Glenwood Springs will hold on Wednesday the first meeting in a new vets writers workshop series. The workshop is for veterans and their families to bring written works of any kind and is free of charge. Attendees can also sit in without sharing written work.
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Well, That Was Quick: Resolution to Ban EVs in Wyoming Dies in Committee

Written by Kevin Killough, Cowboy State Daily

Published Jan. 17, 2023

A Wyoming Senate resolution to phase out electric vehicles in Wyoming has died.

If it had passed the full Legislature, Senate Joint Resolution 4 would have made it a goal that the sale of new electric vehicles (EV) in the state be phased out by 2035.

It requested that Wyoming industries and residents voluntarily limit their sales and purchases of new EVs.

It failed to gain traction with the Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee meeting Jan. 16, but not without some debate.

Voluntary Compliance

The resolution was not a bill and, had it advanced all the way to becoming law, wouldnt have had the force of a ban.

Its sponsors have said the main purpose was to make a statement against states like California and New York, which are similarly banning the sale of gas-powered cars.

We didnt want to make a bill that would say that the dealerships have to really quit selling vehicles, said Sen. Jim Anderson, R-Casper, the resolutions sponsor. We just wanted to make a statement that there is a counter to stopping selling gas vehicles in other states.

While the resolution wouldnt have the force of law behind it, it still sparked some spirited testimony against it from representatives of Wyomings automotive dealerships and the Wyoming Outdoor Council.

Ignores Benefits

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, challenged the concern raised by some committee members that the adoption of EVs is a threat to Wyoming industries, including coal, oil and gas.

They still require energy, he said, which will be a challenge as EV use continues to grow.

Its exactly the type of challenge that Wyoming stands to benefit from, because we produce all types of power, Rothfuss said.

The vehicles also require lithium and rare earth minerals, of which Wyoming has large deposits.

Speaking after the committee meeting, Rothfuss told Cowboy State Daily theres an opportunity with EVs the resolution failed to grasp.

Were looking for our opportunities, because we have traditionally been one of the top five energy-producing states, Rothfuss said.

Risks And Hazards

Anderson introduced the resolution to the Senate Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, explaining SJ 4 was intended to support Wyomings oil and gas industries, which he said are under attack from states that move to outright ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles.

Our oil and gas industries are huge for Wyoming---and for that matter, every state in the West, Anderson said.

He said electric vehicles pose a hazardous waste risk, as the batteries are difficult to recycle and dispose of. The state also has a lack of charging infrastructure to support them.

My friends that have electric vehicles are having trouble with charging stations. They do not have enough charging stations in Wyoming, Anderson said.

Dealership Response

Marsha Allen, executive vice president of the Wyoming Dealers Association, testified against the bill, saying its message is extremely concerning.

We fully understand the frustrations toward mandates, actions that are taken by other states and even the federal level that trickle down to policy in Wyoming. We do not support those, Allen said.

However, dealerships across Wyoming sign sales and service agreements with manufacturers, she said. These require dealerships to invest in charging stations, training and tools.

The resolution would put dealers in direct conflict with their manufacturers sales and service agreements, Allen said.

As an example, Allen referenced Cadillac, which plans to produce only electric vehicles between 2025 and 2030. For dealers to keep selling the brand, they would need to make a minimum investment of $250,000 in infrastructure for charging stations and stronger lifts, as EVs are heavier than conventional vehicles.
kWh

Down Under, an iron ore company called Fortescue Metals Group is investing $6.2 billion in decarbonization by the end of the decade, hoping that by cutting the use of fossil fuels it could save even more than that in the long run. And one way to do that is to turn the companys fleet of over 240 mining haul trucks, which ate up 200 million liters (almost 53 million gallons) of fuel in 2021, into EVs.In the summer of last year, Fortescue struck a deal with German equipment manufacturer Liebherr to jointly develop a battery electric mining haul truck based on the T 264. Thats a 240-ton beast loaded with a 2,700 hp diesel engine and backed by 4,425 hp electric wheel motors.Under the deal, one of the 120 haul trucks Fortescue will purchase from Liebherr will become an electric prototype to be tested starting this year in the Pilbara region of Australia.For that to happen though, a battery pack was needed, and this week Fortescue announced it got just that. Put together by WAE Technologies ( until recently Williams Advanced Engineering), the system is simply breathtaking.Described as the largest battery of its kind, the hardware is a 1.4 MWh piece (thats 1,400, or about 24 times more than the battery capacity of a Tesla Model 3) that weighs 16 tons, is 3.6 meters (12 feet) long, 1.6 meters (5.2 feet) wide, and 2.4 meters (7.8 feet) high.The battery is not one-piece, but comprises eight separate sub-packs. Each of the sub-packs is made up of 36 modules, each of them with its own cooling and management systems.Were not told for how long the battery will be able to power the T 264 truck, but a couple of other juicy details have been made public. One would be the fact that when plugged in, the battery can be fast charged in just 30 minutes  although, to be fair, were not told if thats for the entire system or just one sub-pack. Another would be power regeneration, as the truck will be capable of generating energy as it drives downhill.Fortescue said the battery arrived at its workshop in Perth, where it will be assembled and then installed on the mining truck. It will then head to Pilbara for real-world testing.If successful, the electric mining beast will spawn an entire family of similar machines, which will be accompanied in the Fortescue fleet by hydrogen-powered haul trucks as well.
Photo: Flickr

Inspiring Jets For Years to Come

Photo: Flickr

Avia S-92: What's Fact and What's Fiction?

Photo: Flickr

Did The Israelis Fly German Jets?

Photo: Flickr

An Interesting Footnote in Aviation History

The Me-262 is a jet that needs no introduction. Perhaps no German WWII fighter on this side of the Bf-109 and possibly the Fokke Wulf Fw-190 is as recognizable as the Me-262 jet. But for how well-known and well-celebrated the world's operational first jet fighter is, its history post-1945 is largely forgotten.The Me-262 may have been conceived as a Nazi wonder weapon, but its history after the fall of the Third Reich is less cut-and-dry. Those who paid attention in history class need not hear another dissertation about the dog days of World War II. Something along the lines of Hitler getting too big for his britches before Stalingrad and then D-Day put his Wehrmacht in its place.As grossly oversimplified as that explanation may be, what matters in the case of the Me-262 is the timing. With its deployment date of April 1944, Herman Goering's Luftwaffe had plenty of time to become acquainted with the particulars of novel jet engines. As many as 11 to 12 months before the Second World War's end.Compared to Allied British and American jet fighters of the era, like the Gloster Meteor and Lockheed Shooting Star, it was clear the extra development time played very much in Messerschmitt's favor. Under the U.S. Army Air Force's Operation Luftwaffe Secret Technology (LUSTY), captured Me-262s remaining intact after Germany's surrender were transported to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, where this point was only proven further.Now the site of the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the base, then called Wright field, housed the Air Technical Intelligence branch of the Army Air Force's Technical Intelligence School led by Colonel Harold E. Watson. If there were any team well equipped enough in the money and brains departments to reverse German engineer technology, no other fit the bill better than 'Watson's Wizzers,' as they were known. In the end, many designs of post-war American, British, and Soviet jets became inspired by the efforts to uncover the true abilities of the Me-262.For instance, the wing-slat configuration of the famous North American F-86 Saber looked awfully familiar to that of the German jet. Of course, this feature is by no accident on the part of the Saber. But while the Soviets and Americans busied themselves reverse engineering the Me-262's technology, the Czechoslovakian Military took an altogether different approach, at least at first.Their answer to post-war jet fighters involved continuing the Me-262's production with factories and tooling left over from the German occupation. The Czechoslovak Avia group manufactured parts of the airframe during the war. By 1945, Avia was even building entire Me-262 airframes in kit form. Doing so using pre-assembled sections of airframes joined together by Czechoslovak laborers. They were some of the last German jets to take to the skies before the capitulation of all Axis forces.Overlapping with the reformation of the pre-war Czechoslovak State and subsequent adoption of state communism, these Czechoslovak Me-262s looked identical to their Second World War counterparts. Each unit's Junkers Jumo axial-flow turbojet engines were also holdovers from before the fall of the Luftwaffe. The results were nothing short of uncanny.It's as if one's mind struggles to comprehend a Messerschmitt 262 in anything other than Luftwaffe green with Luftwaffe roundels. Dubbed the Avia S-92 Turbina (Turbine), the Czechoslovak's entry into the jet age felt like using a video game cheat code to acquire jet-age military planes. In relation to the costly Soviet and American jets of the day, it was at least a time-conscious and price-effective approach on the part of the Czechoslovakians.The type's first test flight took place on August 26th, 1946. At the controls was Avia's chief test pilot, a man by the name of Antonin Krause. Though the S-92 was every bit the hot shot it was as its forbearers, the test airframe crashed the following month. In total, at least 12 Avia S-92 airframes were constructed, using the same four 30-mm cannons as the German Messerschmitt.Nine were built in the single-seat variant and a further three in the CS-92 two-seater configuration. All S-92s still flying after testing concluded had their Junkers Jumo 004 engines overhauled by in-house Avia engineers and dubbed the M-04. One airframe was trialed with the BMW 003 engine with negative results, switching to the M-04 soon after.This overhaul is thought to have extended the service life of each engine well past the 30 to 50 flight hours of the German Me-262 up to as many as 60 or more. However, murky record-keeping by post-war communist governments makes this hard to verify. What's even harder to verify is possibly the most historically significant part of the Avia S-92's story. Its alleged, yet unconfirmed, secretive service with the Israeli Air Defense Forces.So the story is told in the American author Bill Norton's biography of the IADF, Air War on the Edge; the Israeli response to newly acquired Gloster Meteor British jets by the Egyptians was one they likely wanted to keep quiet. The notion of the Jewish state operating an aircraft even remotely related to the Third Reich by heritage would have been a societal outrage in the newly formed country. Though no mention of any significance has ever been publicized, photographs taken by talented miniature model enthusiasts show what the Avia S-92 would have looked like in IADF markings.The sight of a Messerschmitt bearing the powerful symbol that is the Star of David is one that's no doubt shocking. It's almost unfathomable, given the context of the war. But these deceptively realistic models were created in the spirit of an interesting conspiracy theory shared on model airplane forums and fringe aviation websites . So the story goes, a secret deal was cut between the new Israeli government and the communist state of Czechoslovakia to procure a handful of Avia S-92s.Bill Nelson's book detailing the earliest days of the IADF deduces how the fledgling Air Force may have wanted the S-92 to be an introductory vehicle to help Israeli pilots understand and become used to jet technology as a whole. Hidden amongst a crate of Czechoslovak Avia S-199 piston fighters , the S-92s were purported to have entered Israel without so much as a peep."According to Egyptian and British intelligence, a jet fighter of unknown type exploded in flight inside Israeli airspace during April 1950. The British thought that it might be a de Havilland Vampire of unknown origin, while the Egyptians stated that they had information revealing that the IAF had secretly taken delivery of crated Avia S.92 jets." Nelson's book states. "The Czechs' Russian masters might have approved such a sale in the first half of 1950, and Israel may have felt an urgent need to answer the threat posed by the new Egyptian Meteors, which arrived in October 1949, to buy this, the only jet available to them."Admittedly, nowhere in the book does Nelson claim this story is true. Quite the opposite. "The Me 262 was hopelessly antiquated in 1950, and the late Second World War technology was of very limited service life. If the story is true, it is odd that the Israelis would not have admitted to operating the Me 262, no matter how briefly and unsuccessfully, since 1950."Some on forums, like key.aero , claim the S-92's only air-to-air kill was a single Egyptian C-47 cargo plane. Even then, this single air-to-air kill has yet to be verified by the Egyptians. In truth, Bill Nelson's book appears to be the only source of evidence linking the S-92 with the Israelis. Apart from some truly spectacular and realistic model art, that is.Whether or not it's legitimate, what this means for our purposes is that the much-anticipated dogfight between the German Messerchmitt 262 and the British Gloster Meteor that never happened in World War II likely didn't occur during the Arab-Israeli conflict either.By 1951, the Czechoslovakians had finally obtained Soviet-aligned jet fighters like the MiG-15. This allowed the nation to retire their hideously obsolete S-92s. As of 2022, the two remaining Czechoslovak S-92 airframes are on display at museums located in the modern-day Czech Republic.
The Mercedes-AMG G 63 4x4 is one of the latest cars to arrive in Manny Khoshbins garage. But while well probably never get to see his wife, Leyla, drive it, she definitely enjoyed using it as a prop in a new photoshoot.

6 photos Photo: Instagram / Leyla Milani
SUV

Celebrities usually treat family members with cars. And Missy Elliot is doing her bit. But it was not really for a family member this time, but someone equally close to her. She surprised her assistant, Keon Foley-Griffin, on her birthday with a great gift: a new car.The 51-year-old rapper shared the details about the present via Instagram Stories over the weekend, showing a black Range Rover with a silver bow up on the hood. Next to it was Keon, her assistant, and she smiled as she held her son and a set of car keys.Besides a new means of travel, her assistant also received a thoughtful message, because, on top of the picture, Missy Elliot wrote: "Happy born day to my sister/ friend/ assistant, my rider!" She continued, "I wanted to give you this truck last week because I wanted to see your surprised face!" The rapper added that her assistant works hard and is always there "no matter the hour," which is why she decided to go above and beyond for her.From the looks of it, theis not from the current generation that was introduced in 2022, but the previous one, the models fourth generation. Land Rover introduced it in 2012 and kept it on the market for almost a decade. It was available with three gasoline engine options and two diesels. Later on, in 2018, the British manufacturer also added a plug-in hybrid version.The one Keon received seems to be from the 2014 model year and it looks like it might be the 5.0-liter V8 Supercharged version. When shes not treating her close ones to new cars, Missy Elliot has quite a busy career. The four-time Grammy winner, who has been in the music industry for over three decades, will be honored next month at the Record Academys second annual Black Music Collective during Grammy Week. The list of honorees also includes Dr. Dre and Lil Wayne. All three of them will get the award for personal achievements in the music industry.The Black Music Collective group was founded in 2020 by musicians like John Legend, Jimmy Jam, and Quincy Jones, in an effort to find ways to drive Black representation and inclusion. The event will take place at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California, on February 2, ahead of the Grammy Awards, which will be on February 5.Besides this upcoming honor, Missy Elliot also received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star back in November 2021.
So, were not ready to really head out and colonize the solar system , and that is simply because we lack the tech to do so. Sure, we have satellites, spaceships, and space stations, and were planning even more, but as long as most of the hardware we use for space exploration needs to be put together here on Earth, there will be uncomfortable limits to everything we do.In recent years, some started pushing for in-space manufacturing of exploration tools, from space stations to ships. Freed from the restrictions of gravity and the size of current rockets and transport modules, well have all the liberty we want to get creative and really build the tools that will spread mankind among the planets and stars.Earlier this month, NASA awarded the Phase I grants for its yearly Innovative Advanced Concepts ( NIAC ) program. Several of the 14 winning projects have to do with in-space manufacturing, including the one were here to discuss today, the so-called Bend-Forming of Large Electrostatically Actuated Space Structures.The complicated name hides a project by MITs Zachary Cordero intended to create high-performance reflectors with dimensions greater than 100 meters (328 feet).Reflectors are nothing more than structures meant to reflect solar light. They can be used for anything from communications to solar sails and from satellites to other kinds of power generation, but current designs cant be larger than a few tens of meters because of the constraints of Earth-based launches: these things are sent up complete, but packed inside their transporters, and unfold one they reach the target orbit.Corderos method, called Bend-Forming, was not completely detailed to the public, but we are told it allows for the in-orbit creation of so-called smart structures that can have virtually any combination of size, mass, and stiffness. That means they can move away from the traditional design of space structures that includes the use of traditional trusses and tension-aligned components.Applying this method would create space structure with each of the lightweight trusses also acts as an actuator that can be engaged when needed, kind of turning a standard space structure into a shape-shifting one.Its unclear how much of the $175,000 NIAC grants went to Corderos idea, but the scientist says there are plans in place to use the method to make a microwave radiometry reflector and place it in geostationary orbit. From there, it should keep an eye out for atmospheric temperature profiles and map the internal structures of tropical cyclones.No date as to when the project should be ready was announced, but if successful the projects lead believes such tech will lead to significant improvements in storm forecasts as well as improved understanding of atmospheric processes related to the hydrologic cycle.
PHEV

That gave them a bundle of opportunities to showcase just about anything, from feisty WRC-inspired car concepts to overlanding-focused big and premium SUVs . But now the hype is over, and maybe it is time for Toyota to move its attention back toward the crucial North American market.There, it has an interesting year ahead of it. For example, the $27,450 Prius Hybrid Reborn looks sleeker than ever, and the $39,950 Crown crossover sedan has signaled the return to North America of the all-new sixteenth generation after the nameplates big hiatus, among others.The Japanese automaker is also keen on presenting even more goodies, such as the upcoming 2023 Prius Prime, the new Trailhunter series (most likely a measured response to Hondas TrailSport), or the 2023 Corolla Cross Hybrid. Notice how most of these introductions are all of the hybrid variety? Well, if we are to heed the advice of the rumor mill, more HEVs are coming, including best-selling nameplates.So, after we recently checked out the unofficial vision of a potentially upcoming 2024 Toyota 4Runner hybrid (sixth generation), now it is also the ripe time to witness the digital 2024 Toyota Tacomas hybrid introduction as the fourth iteration of the best-selling mid-size pickup truck. This fresh CGI also arrives courtesy of TopElectricSUV.com, and we can (again) almost bet our lunch-break pocket money on relying on lots of Toyota rumor mill whispers.Among the interesting highlights, we can certainly count on the full redesign arriving in the coming months to be the juiciest one, along with the potential arrival of the next-gen Tacoma with the companys new Hybrid Max powertrain. Naturally, the publication has illustrated the all-new mid-size pickup truck (which retained its sales crown in 2022 with 237k deliveries!) with lots of styling DNA taken from its bigger Tundra sibling.Alas, the powertrain credentials will not be shared among them, as the latters 3.4-liter twin-turbo hybrid V6 with 437 electrified ponies would represent overkill even for the TNGA-F platform shared with the latest Land Cruiser. Instead, the informal ideas regarding the fresh Tacoma (with a rumored starting MSRP of around $33k for the hybrid version) revolve around Crowns hybrid heart.As a reminder, the S235 crossover sedan packs a Hybrid Max turbo 2.4-liter inline four aided by two electric motors for a total system output of 236 horsepower. Well, it remains to be seen how many of these opinions do pan out in the real world  and in the meantime, we recommend taking all this with the proverbial grain of salt until theres some official word from Toyota on the Tacoma matters
AWD

kW

Mind you, the Porsche 911 Dakar is a finished product, but it appears that it needs some last-minute adjustments, hence why the Zuffenhausen brand put one to the test recently in the cold. Or thats what we think anyway.Nonetheless, the reason behind unleashing it in the white stuff is not that important. What truly matters here is that it looks even better in real-life images than it does sitting under the spotlight at a car show, or in the official press pictures that accompanied the release late last fall.Deemed by many enthusiasts as being the hottest 911 in decades, the new Porsche 911 Dakar has 2 inches (50 mm) more ground clearance than a stock911, and it can be further lifted by another 1.2 inches (30 mm) when engaging the off-road mode, available at speeds up to 105 mph (170 kph). A dedicated Rally mode is also included. The car features black plastic cladding on the lower parts of the body that makes it look more utilitarian, and rides on 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels, wrapped in 245/45 and 295/40 Pirelli Scorpion all-terrain tires respectively.It may be the hottest 911 in decades, but it is also one of the slowest, with a 150 mph (240 kph) electronically limited top speed. This was mandatory in order to preserve the meat on the tires. At least it is not slow to 60 mph (97 kph), with the sprint taking 3.2 seconds, according to Porsche. The 911 Dakar has four-wheel steering, dynamic engine mounts, and a curb weight of 3,552 pounds (1,611 kg). Power is supplied by the familiar twin-turbo 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine, which pushes out 473 hp (480 ps/353) and 420 lb-ft (570 Nm) of torque. The thrust is directed to the all-wheel drive system via an eight-speed PDK transmission.Anyone who can afford spending a couple hundred thousand dollars on a ride and has a soft spot for the 911 Dakar should go ahead and reserve a build slot while they still can, because production of the model will be capped at only 2,500 units. Pricing kicks off at $220,020, excluding the $1,450 destination charge, dealer fees, and options, which makes it a bit more expensive than a brand-new 911 Turbo S in the United States. It is likely that the jacked-up variant of the 911 will return for the next generation, even if the automaker hasnt said anything about it, and it might eventually become a regular in the family, hopefully with a more affordable price tag attached to it.
Full Self-Driving

There has been a flurry of crashes involving Tesla vehicles in the past two years, and in many cases, the drivers reported the car suddenly accelerated out of control. Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA) is more common than you might imagine as a crash cause, and it happens across all car brands. Nevertheless, accidents involving Tesla vehicles instantly gain more coverage because people react more emotionally to these kinds of stories.Tesla also uses driver-assist features with confusing names, like Autopilot and, which tricks people into thinking the car is smarter than it is. Often, these features are abused by drivers, and videos of people asleep behind the wheel of a Tesla are not uncommon. Nevertheless, having these assist features onboard also encouraged some drivers to put the blame on them in case of a crash. Its easy to claim the car is possessed by a malefic spirit that took over control and crashed it, but most of the time, such claims have been proven false.Investigators in Canada are working on another case of sudden acceleration , which caused a Tesla Model 3 to slam into a BC Ferries ramp in West Vancouver, British Columbia. According to eyewitnesses and police reports, the car suddenly accelerated into the gate at the Horseshoe ferry terminal on Saturday, January 14. Both the gate and the vehicle were severely damaged due to the crash, and the ferry ramp was closed for the rest of the day. The driver and the passenger were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.A spokesperson for the West Vancouver Police Department told North Shore News that the cause of the accident is still under consideration. The investigation favors either a mechanical cause or a driver error. In the former case, the car is to blame for not responding to the drivers input or accelerating on its own. In the latter, the driver pressed the accelerator instead of the brake pedal, which is a fairly common mistake Another cause could be the driver inadvertently leaving the traffic-aware cruise control (TACC). The feature can also be activated by mistake, as it is triggered by the same lever that controls gear selection. Without other vehicles in front, the car tends to resume the previously-set speed, which can take the driver by surprise. It happened before in at least two other Tesla high-profile crashes Over the summer, Teslas Autopilot Software Director Ashok Elluswamy shared interesting info that the Autopilot system can identify instances when the driver mistakenly presses the accelerator instead of the brakes. According to Elluswami, Tesla Autopilot prevents around 40 such crashes per day . Unfortunately, the system seems it's not yet good enough to avoid all such unintended acceleration events.
HP

One of the best news for yachting enthusiasts, especially the ones in Europe, is that the popular Boot Dusseldorf is finally coming back, after an extensive three-year hiatus. Like so many other events, it was seriously affected by the pandemic-caused cancellations, but now its finally back on track.Claiming to be Europes largest watersports exhibition, and certainly one of the most impressive displays of yachts and maritime equipment in the world, Boot Dusseldorf (or the Dusseldorf International Boat Show) is ready to kick off this weekend, and delight its visitors until January 29, 2023. This year, around 2,000 exhibitors will be showing off their latest developments, and almost 250,000 people are expected to attend.Yacht manufacturers that will be displaying at the event in Germany include big names such as Sunseeker, Princess, Silent Yachts, and Beneteau. One of the builders that have already announced important debuts at this years edition is the German Bavaria Yachts.Even if you might not be familiar with this brand, youll most likely be intrigued by its latest launch. The company has had remarkable success with its previous releases, the SR41 and SR36 lines. The Bavaria SR41 officially became the 2022 Boat of the Year in the UK, while the Bavaria SR36 was nominated for two major awards  the 2023 European Powerboat of the Year, and the 2023 Best of Boats.Bavaria SR33 is the youngest model, gearing up to show what it can do starting this weekend. At 11.4 meters (37.4 feet) its rather on the small side, but thanks to an ingenious layout its supposed to feel a lot more spacious. The elegant, balanced style is owed to the acclaimed Italian designer Marco Casali, while the Bavaria Yachts team took care of the engineering.Versatility is a keyword for this boat. For example, the sunbed at the stern can also be used for storage, can turn into a bench seat for the cockpit table, or can become a beach terrace right next to the water (together with an optional table).Below deck, the salon and the generous bed can be turned into a single, loft-like room with plenty of space. And, when additional sleeping accommodation is needed, the salon table can be lowered to provide an extra sleeping berth.The cockpit area is also surprisingly generous, and it includes a large table thats perfect for enjoying a fresh meal prepared at the wet bar (equipped with a fridge, sink, and cooking plate).Another highlight of the Bavaria SR33 is its "open-with-hardtop" structure, with large windows, thanks to which guests onboard can enjoy unobstructed, beautiful 360-degree views.In terms of power , the Bavaria SR33 claims to offer economical propulsion without killing the thrill of the ride, thanks to its double Volvo Penta and Mercruiser engines (of up to 700) plus a 380 HP single drive from Volvo Penta.More details about the new boat s pricing and specs will be revealed at the upcoming Boot Dusseldorf.
The Toyota Land Cruiser is the "Land Crusher" in the activists' campaign

SUV

Photo: Katy Rodda Still Wants 2m on Twitter

BMW, slammed for promoting oversized SUVs

Photo: Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives on Twitter

Toyota missed the start of the all-electric race

WATCH: Subvertisers in 14 European cities have hacked 400 corporate ad spaces with parody car adverts. #Toyota, and #BMW are using advertising to greenwash their public image whilst lobbying hard against climate regulations.#BanFossilAds #BeyondZero #BrusselsMotorShow pic.twitter.com/IM2TJue6is  Brandalism (@BrandalismUK) January 16, 2023

Calling themselves subvertisers, the activists claim that carmakers are misinforming prospective buyers. They also say that brands like Toyota and BMW are taking advantage of a phenomenon called greenwashing, which refers to deceiving customers about the positive impact of a product or a service on the environment.The people involved in the campaign that mocks BMW and Toyota through outdoor advertising received help from 12 artists who submitted witty artwork that replaced 400 billboards in 14 European cities. The action comes right as this years Brussels Motor Show car-centric event celebrates its 100th anniversary.Activists say that Belgiums capital city has lately been overwhelmed by billboards displaying all sorts of cars. They also argue that the messages associated with them are not honest. So, to put their own vision about these new vehicles out there, they decided to make use of the artwork all over Brussels. Overnight, the city was filled with new ads which painted a different perspective. They even managed to get them into bus stops, train stations, or inside subways.For example, Toyotas Land Cruiser got renamed the 'Toyota Land Crusher' and was joined by Crush the life or Dominate life slogans written in French and English. The UK-style number plate also reads "CO2 XXL" which is hinting at the vehicle's carbon footprint. This is how activists tried to emphasize thes large dimensions and its off-road capabilities which may be used to the detriment of protecting wildlife and their habitats.Another Japanese SUV can be seen in some adverts with a bright purple paint job, surrounded by nothing but smoke and destruction, while the writing says that this billboard is a commercial for the end of the world.The activists also claim that Toyotas transition to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) is not a real strategy. According to them, the automaker will continue manufacturing gas-guzzlers for decades to come. Toyotas CEO is also depicted as the protagonist of a horror movie where it's suggested that the only thing he sees worthy is oil and the environment doesn't matter.On the other hand, BMW has been targeted through even harsher artworks. Some display messages like When we test our emission, the test dummy  is you. Even though these are made by artists in a somewhat relatable design, the text and images replicate to some degree the official identity of the brand. This may make them look almost like they were approved and plastered everywhere by the manufacturer itself.Other posters depict a BMW X5 as the image of a guaranteed climate catastrophe.One of the artists who participated in this campaign said they picked BMW because of the Dieselgate-era emission scandals. Darren Cullen says that BMW "was one of the car manufacturers who installed emissions test cheating devices in thousands of their vehicles, which meant they released far more toxic fumes than regulators and consumers believed."The eco-warriors demand the UK and the EU introduce the same mandatory labeling for car advertisements as it is now standard practice for tobacco-based products. This may include even banning some ads before they can be shown to the public. The people involved in this movement also underline that BMW and Toyota carry out aggressive lobbying against climate policy and blame them for not selling more EV s.A spokesperson argued that Toyota isnt serious about its transition to zero-tailpipe emission vehicles and accused both the Japanese and German manufacturers of slick marketing campaigns that promote over-sized SUV models that clog up urban neighborhoods.The activists also hate the idea of all-electric SUVs because theyre too big and endanger people, a notion which was made clear last year by  The Tire Extinguishers .The results of the campaign have been spotted in Brussels, London, Berlin, Paris, and other ten major European cities from the UK, France, Germany, and Belgium. It is an effort made by three organizations  Brandalism, Subvertisers International, and Extinction Rebellion.While Toyota may struggle with finding the successful recipe for a great all-electric vehicle , BMW succeeded in offering customers alternative options to fossil-fuel-powered models. However, no matter what carmakers are currently doing, the UK and the EU have already made up their minds regarding vehicles that come with a tailpipe. If regulators stick to their plan, new gas- or diesel-powered vehicles will disappear from dealerships from 2035.Interestingly enough, the activists say that Toyota and BMW rank 10th and 16th, respectively, on the "anti-climate lobbying map" cropped up by InfluenceMap, a self-named "independent think-tank," which encompasses a UK nonprofit organization and a U.S.-based charity.For now, its not entirely clear if the authorities will seek to punish the eco-warriors or if the cities administrations will want reparations for what the organizations did. BMW and Toyota might also try to get reimbursements if they realize that their ads were not displayed properly. Its unclear if the activists paid for the advertising space or just replaced the original ads with the artwork. But, at least for now, the organizations behind this movement managed to attract people's attention. How effective their actions will be... Well, that's up for debate.Finally, besides overlapping with the 100th edition of the Brussels Motor Show, this campaign comes soon after it was uncovered that Exxon predicted what climate change would do to Earth but kept this information hidden from the public and relevant authorities. However, we reported about this back in 2017 when we showed you that Exxon lied about global warming for 40 years.
The Japanese carmaker explains that anticipating whats going to happen in the supply chain is still difficult, not only because of the global health issue (which could still hurt some of its suppliers) but also due to the lack of semiconductors.The shortage is showing signs of recovery, but Toyota says it cant ignore the impact that the lack of chips can eventually have on its production capacity. The company has previously suspended production at all its Japanese facilities due to the semiconductor crisis, with the yearly output eventually impacted as well.In 2023, Toyota believes it would be able to produce a maximum of 10.6 million units if everything goes according to the plan. However, the automaker acknowledges that the production challenges caused by the parts supply shortages could eventually impact this figure.Toyota says the baseline production shouldnt drop below 10 percent of the yearly target, so in theory, the company should still be able to produce over 9.5 million vehicles in 2023 no matter what.On the other hand, the uncertainty thats still swirling around in the automotive industry is the one that makes Toyota extremely cautious when it comes down to releasing production estimates for 2023. While some companies expect the global chip shortage to ease off gradually in the first half of the year and then be resolved completely towards the end of 2023, Toyota doesnt seem too optimistic that such a scenario is very likely.The prediction released by the Japanese automaker is in line with the expectations of other large companies in the market as well. A few months ago, GMs CEO Mary Barra said she expects the constrained chip inventory to remain a problem in 2023 a nd even beyond, therefore suggesting that the production of cars could still be impacted in the long term.Unfortunately, it doesnt look like the ridiculously long waiting times for new cars would be resolved anytime soon. Toyota says its continuously working with everybody involved in the supply chain to make sure cars would be produced and shipped as fast as possible, but we all know what this means. The constrained chip inventory continues to cause headaches for carmakers, and despite Toyotas efforts to achieve minimal fluctuation, the uncertainty could lead to production slowdowns.If anything, tech giant Intel has previously estimated the chip shortage would continue to wreak havoc in the world until the end of 2024 despite all investments in capacity, and judging by the current production struggles in the automotive space, this forecast is very likely to be spot on.
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In a statement, a Karabakh government body said that a pipeline supplying gas from Armenia and passing through Azerbaijani-controlled territory was again blocked by Baku early in the afternoon more than one month after Azerbaijani government-backed protesters blocked Karabakhs land link with Armenia

Azerbaijan is continuing its actions aimed at ethnically cleansing Artsakh, an aide to Ruben Vardanyan, the Karabakh premier, wrote on Facebook.

Vardanyan held an emergency meeting in Stepanakert of a Karabakh task force dealing with economic and other consequences of the continuing blockade. An official statement on the meeting said they discussed ensuring uninterrupted operation of vital facilities cut off from gas. It said Vardanyan instructed Karabakh officials to find alternative ways of supporting those facilities and meeting the minimum needs of the population.

The local gas operator Artsakhgas reported later in the day that gas is again flowing to Karabakh from Armenia. It said it is now making technical preparations for swiftly resuming gas supplies to Karabakh households.

The vital gas supplies were already disrupted on December 13 the day after the closure of the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia. They were restored three days later.

Supplies of electricity from Armenia to Karabakh were similarly blocked by Azerbaijan on January 10, leading to serious power shortages in the Armenian-populated territory. The resulting daily power cuts have hit particularly hard local residents using electricity to heat their homes. The absence of natural gas would only aggravate the problem.

We dont know what to think because wood stoves are becoming the only option, Nona Baghdasarian, a Stepanakert resident, told RFE/RLs Armenian Service before the restoration of the gas supply announced by the authorities.

Karabakh is also grappling with growing food shortages resulting from the blockade. Later this week, the authorities will start rationing some basic foodstuffs to ensure their even distribution to the population. Every local resident is to receive one liter of sunflower oil and one kilogram of rice, macaroni, buckwheat and sugar a month.

Karabakh food stores now mostly sell bread, milk and other dairy products made by local farmers and firms.

Even bread is not always available, said Baghdasarian. As for dairy products, only those who line up [outside shops] before 9 a.m. may manage to buy some of them.

The United States, the European Union as well as Russia have repeatedly urged the Azerbaijani side to unblock the Lachin Corridor. Baku has dismissed their calls and defended Azerbaijani protesters continuing to occupy a section of the corridor on ostensibly environmental grounds.
Lois Henry is the CEO and editor of SJV Water, a nonprofit, independent online news publication dedicated to covering water issues in the San Joaquin Valley. She can be reached at lois.henry@sjvwater.org. The website is sjvwater.org.
MANILA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Monday expressed his wish that his country and China will strengthen ties in the new year.

"Allow me to extend my warmest greetings as we welcome the Chinese New Year," Marcos said in a video message during a celebration held by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year to be celebrated this weekend.

This occasion provides an opportunity to look into the cultural and historical richness and strengthen the ties that bind the peoples of both countries, Marcos added.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said the upcoming Rabbit Year "marks a fresh start and rejuvenation" for the peoples of the two countries.

With Marcos' substantive state visit to China early this month, the vice president said she looks forward to closer bilateral ties between the Philippines and China "based on mutual trust and mutual respect."

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian stressed the need to "gear up the important consensus" forged during Marcos' Beijing visit "to new heights."

"Deepening friendly cooperation is what our peoples long for," Huang said, adding that both sides shall further promote the people-to-people exchanges.

"We are neighbors that can not be moved away. Therefore, we have every reason to share a peaceful neighborhood and no reason to attrit each other," Huang added. 
This photo taken on Jan. 16, 2023 shows a first-day cover with the stamps marking the Year of the Rabbit at Hungary's Stamp Museum in Budapest, Hungary. A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday.

The stamp was issued by Hungary's Stamp Museum in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, the country's Ministry of Economic Development, the China Cultural Center in Budapest and the Hungarian Post Office. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

BUDAPEST, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday.

The stamp was issued by Hungary's Stamp Museum in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, the country's Ministry of Economic Development, the China Cultural Center in Budapest and the Hungarian Post Office.

The sheet of four stamps was designed by graphic artist Krisztina Maros. It will be printed in 20,000 copies.

Against a red and white background, the stamps depict two pairs of rabbits in blue and white porcelain colors. The text over the image says "Year of the Rabbit" in Chinese and Hungarian. The stamp also features the Chinese symbols of Yin and Yang.

The launch ceremony was addressed by Yang Chao, interim charge d'affaires at the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, Marton Nagy, Hungary's minister for economic development, Barnabas Balczo, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Hungarian Post Office, and Jin Hao, director of the China Cultural Center in Budapest.

According to Yang Chao, the issuance of Chinese Lunar Zodiac stamps is a significant element of the cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and Hungary. It also symbolizes the strong friendship between the two peoples.

"The government of Hungary believes that it is extremely important to continue to strengthen the existing good relationships with China, and we are open to further cooperation," Nagy said.

Balczo recalled that the rabbit is the luckiest of the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac, and said he wished this would prove true for both countries in 2023.

The Year of the Rabbit stamp is the 10th Chinese Lunar Zodiac stamp issued by the Hungarian Post Office. 

Yang Chao, interim charge d'affaires at the Chinese Embassy in Hungary (L), shakes hands with Marton Nagy, Hungary's minister for economic development, at the launch ceremony of the Year of the Rabbit stamp at Hungary's Stamp Museum in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2023. A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday.

The stamp was issued by Hungary's Stamp Museum in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, the country's Ministry of Economic Development, the China Cultural Center in Budapest and the Hungarian Post Office. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Jin Hao, director of the China Cultural Center in Budapest, addresses the launch ceremony of the Year of the Rabbit stamp at Hungary's Stamp Museum in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2023. A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday.

The stamp was issued by Hungary's Stamp Museum in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, the country's Ministry of Economic Development, the China Cultural Center in Budapest and the Hungarian Post Office. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

This photo taken on Jan. 16, 2023 shows a first-day cover with the stamps marking the Year of the Rabbit in Budapest, Hungary. A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday.

The stamp was issued by Hungary's Stamp Museum in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, the country's Ministry of Economic Development, the China Cultural Center in Budapest and the Hungarian Post Office. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)
Donald Lu, the United States assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs (left), speaks with Bangladesh Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen at a meeting in Dhaka, Jan. 15, 2022.

A senior U.S. official highlighted tremendous progress made by Bangladesh in reducing alleged extrajudicial killings by its elite RAB security force, which Washington had sanctioned in December 2021 over gross human rights abuses.

Donald Lu, the United States assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, noted the progress as he wrapped a weekend visit to Bangladesh. Bilateral tensions arose in the wake of the U.S. sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and comments by the Biden administration about upcoming national elections in the South Asian country.

In commenting on the reduction of extrajudicial killings, Lu cited information from a newly published annual report by international watchdog Human Rights Watch.

If you have seen the statement this week by Human Rights Watch, they recognize, and we recognize, tremendous progress in the area of reducing extrajudicial killings by the RAB, Lu told a press briefing in Dhaka on Sunday.

This is amazing work. It shows that the RAB is able to carry out its important counter terrorism and law enforcement function while respecting human rights.

At the end of 2021, the United States announced it was imposing targeted sanctions against several commanders of RAB. It accused the unit of more than 600 enforced disappearances in the past 12 years, a similar number of extrajudicial killings, and the use of torture.

In the Bangladesh chapter of its World Report 2023 published last week, Human Rights Watch opened it by saying that the government had been able to rein in RAB following the U.S. sanctions.

Following the US Global Magnitsky human rights sanctions against Bangladeshs Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and some of its top commanders in December 2021, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances dropped dramatically, indicating that authorities have the ability to bring security force abuses under control, the report said.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the New York-based watchdog group said that another Bangladesh security unit, the Armed Police Battalion (APBn), was committing rampant abuse against Rohingya refugees, including extortion, arbitrary arrests, and harassment of refugees who were already facing violence from criminal gangs and armed groups.

Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that he had an excellent meeting with Lu on Sunday.

He emphasized protection of human rights, political freedom, and other issues, the minister told BenarNews on Tuesday.

I made it clear that the government is serious about the protection of human rights and political freedom of all parties.

The home minister said he also talked with Lu about Washington lifting the sanctions on RAB.

Donald Lu told me that lifting of the sanctions is a complex procedure. He told me that we were on the right track for lifting of the sanctions and hoped that it would be lifted with the completion of the procedures, Khan said.

According to Khan, the U.S. official told him that Washington had considered further sanctions in December, but held off because RAB had shown improvement in its duties.

As we are on the right track, they decided to hold off on further sanctions, the minister said.

No time-frame for sanctions removal

On Tuesday, BenarNews sought comments from the U.S. embassy in Dhaka about the procedures for lifting of the sanctions, but did not immediately hear back.

For his part, Lu said he had honest and open discussions with Bangladesh officials.

The U.S. has made a commitment on democracy and human rights that we will speak when we see problems and where we can offer suggestions, we will stand up for freedom speech, freedom expression and we look forward to working very closely with our partners here in Bangladesh, Lu said at the press briefing on Sunday.

During his meetings in Dhaka, Lu did not indicate a time frame for the removal of RAB sanctions, the U.S. embassy said in a statement on Tuesday.

We applaud the Government of Bangladeshs efforts in these continued reforms and encourage the Bangladesh government to conduct independent investigations of alleged extrajudicial killings, the statement said.

During his meeting, according to the Bangladesh home minister, he told Lu that the government had not been obstructing the opposition parties from holding peaceful political programs.

But the government would not tolerate any attempt to destroy public property and cause anarchy in the guise of political freedom, Khan said about their conversation.

The minister was referring to recent U.S. statements calling on Dhaka to ensure that upcoming elections be free, fair and transparent. Last week the Bangladesh foreign minister had responded to these comments by saying that Dhaka did not need lessons on democracy from other countries.

Sanctions saved many lives

Human rights activists, meanwhile, said the U.S. sanctions on RAB did have a positive effect on extrajudicial killings but that the unit as well as the police were now using a new tactic for detention.

Frankly speaking, the U.S. sanctions on RAB saved many lives that would have been lost on the pretext of the recovery of illegal arms and narcotics. The stereotypical narrative of crossfire with criminals has almost disappeared, Nur Khan, executive director of the rights body Ain-O-Salish Kendra, told BenarNews.

Many people are whisked away, and they are presented before court weeks after their unlawful arrests. In most of the cases, the law enforcers brand those arrested as suspected of militant activity, he said.

This type of practice is another form of human rights violation.

Nevertheless, Lus visit had smoothed relations between Dhaka and Washington, said Munshi Fayaz Ahmad, former chair of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.

Before the visit  the public perception was that Bangladesh-U.S. relations were not going in a smooth way. But after the visit, the two sides talked in a very amicable way on common issues. The tone has changed now, Ahmad told BenarNews.

From now on, I think, both sides will engage in constructive ways to maintain friendly relations.
A Chinese Coast Guard vessel (top) is seen near a ship of the Vietnam Marine Guard in the South China Sea, May 14, 2014.

Indonesian officials said they were not worried about the presence of Chinas largest coast guard ship in the Natuna Sea.

Jakarta has sent naval ships and a patrol aircraft to the area to monitor the Chinese ships movements but the Navys Chief, Adm. Muhammad Ali, said everything was under control.

Vietnamese analysts, however, are concerned the Chinese ships presence may signal a prolonged stand-off in the newly demarcated maritime boundaries.

Last month, Vietnam and Indonesia concluded talks on the boundaries of their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), which also lie within the imaginary nine-dash line that Beijing uses to demarcate what it calls its historical rights over almost 90% of the South China Sea.

An EEZ gives a state exclusive access to the natural resources in the waters and seabed.

Hanoi and Jakarta have not disclosed details of the agreement and China has not protested officially, but Beijings largest coast guard ship has been in the area between Vietnam and Indonesia since Dec. 30.

The CCG 5901, also the worlds largest coast guard ship, was still in the area on Tuesday, according to ship tracker Marine Traffic.

Past track of Chinas CCG 5901, the worlds largest coast guard ship, from Dec. 29, 2022, to Jan. 17. [MarineTraffic]

There are no problems

A spokesperson at the Chinese embassy in Jakarta told BenarNews the Chinese ship was in sea areas that China has jurisdiction in accordance with domestic law and international laws.

A United Nations tribunal in 2016 invalidated the nine-dash line but Beijing has so far rejected the ruling, insisting that China has jurisdiction over all areas within the line.

Its for the purpose of maritime security and order, the official was quoted as saying.

In response, Adm. Muhammad Ali told BenarNews on Tuesday we have at least three to four warships in Natuna on the ready and one marine patrol aircraft.

Ali added the Indonesian Air Forces drones would also be deployed for joint patrols in the North Natuna Sea.

There are no problems, he said.

Satya Pratama, a senior Indonesian government official and a former captain at Indonesias Maritime Security Agency Bakamla, said the presence of warships in the area is not abnormal.

The Indonesian Navy regularly patrols the area so I dont think the fact that the ships are there alone will escalate the tension, Pratama told Radio Free Asia.

It happened before. It is just parties sending messages, he said, adding that nobody would want additional tension in the area where the Indonesian government has just passed an oil and gas development plan.

Earlier this month, Indonesias Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Task Force (SKK Migas) approved the plan to develop the Tuna oil and gas field, also known as the Tuna Block, in the North Natuna area.

The Tuna Block lies entirely inside Indonesias EEZ and just 13 km (8 miles) from the border of the Vietnamese EEZ but the area is frequented by Chinese law enforcement and fishing boats.

Vietnams concerns

Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia have all accused China of disrupting their oil and gas exploration activities with frequent incursions by Chinese coast guard and maritime militia ships, leading to confrontations.

Vietnamese analysts said the deployment of the CCG 5901, dubbed the monster ship and armed with heavy machine guns, may be Chinas response to the Vietnam-Indonesia maritime limitation agreement.

Le Hong Hiep, Senior Fellow at the ISEAS  Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said the Chinese coast guard ships operating area is very close to the supposed boundary between Vietnam and Indonesia, and it is an indication of Chinas protest.

Viet Hoang, another Vietnamese analyst and university lecturer, said he fears this may signal a prolonged stand-off in the area.

China will not let it [the Vietnam-Indonesia agreement] go easily, he said.

In 2021, Chinese survey and coast guard ships loitered uninvited for almost a month in the North Natuna area, where Indonesias oil and gas exploration was underway.

Van Pham, who runs an independent research project focusing on the South China Sea, points to another area of Vietnams concerns  the Vanguard Bank.

Vanguard Bank is located within Vietnams EEZ. [Google Maps]

It is an entirely submerged feature that hosts three Vietnamese outposts, located within Vietnams EEZ and about 400 km (249 miles) from Indonesias Riau Islands, north of the Natuna Sea.

Chinese coast guard ships are known to be present at a very regular frequency around the Vanguard Bank, from where they monitor and from time to time harass Vietnams oil exploration activities nearby, said the chief administrator of the South China Sea Chronicle Initiative.

The Vanguard Bank is a known South China Sea flashpoint between Vietnam and China.

In July 2019, a Chinese Coast Guard contingent accompanied a Chinese survey vessel operating within Vietnams waters around the bank, causing diplomatic outcry and a tense, months-long standoff between the Vietnamese and Chinese coast guards.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a news service affiliated with BenarNews.
Officers from the police and military conduct a security check at the entrance of PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry, a Chinese-owned plant in North Morowali, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, Jan. 17, 2023.

Production resumed at a China-owned nickel smelter in Indonesia on Tuesday after a deadly weekend riot highlighted lingering tensions over the presence of Chinese workers in the Southeast Asian country.

Police said the violence erupted on Saturday at the PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) plant in Morowali, Central Sulawesi province, and was fanned by an allegedly false rumor that Chinese employees had attacked their Indonesian counterparts who were protesting over wages and labor safety.

An Indonesian worker and a Chinese worker were killed.

Information from the management shows 2,963 employees returned to work today, including 350 Chinese workers, Central Sulawesi provincial police spokesperson Didik Supranoto told BenarNews.

Indonesias manpower ministry said it was sending a team to investigate the violence, during which workers torched part of the plant.

The point of the investigation is to find out what caused the riot and resolve the existing problems so that similar incidents do not happen again, said the head of its provincial office, Arnold Firdaus Bandu.

Officials said 71 people were in police custody and 17 of them were considered suspects in connection with the violence.

Meanwhile, more than 700 police and soldiers have been deployed to maintain security around the plant, and there were no new tensions reported between Chinese and Indonesian workers, police spokesman Didik said.

They are getting along well, he said.

Some Indonesians have expressed concerns about what they see as an influx into the country of workers from China, accusing them of stealing menial jobs from locals.

The government insists that only Chinese nationals with specific skills are allowed to work in Indonesia, especially on Beijing-backed projects.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, there were more than 42,000 Chinese workers in Indonesia in 2022, accounting for about 44 percent of all expatriates in Indonesia.

Didik spoke about events leading up to Saturdays clash.

At a meeting between the workers union and the companys management on Friday, the employees demanded an upgrade to safety procedures, an end to wage cuts, reinstatement of employees whose contracts had ended, and better compensation for the families of two workers who were killed in a factory fire in December, he said.

Several demands were fulfilled, but some need follow-up, especially regarding the termination of employees whose contracts have expired, Didik said.

Local employees went on strike on Saturday and invited their Chinese co-workers to join, Didik said.

In the afternoon, security personnel managed to keep the tension under control. But late at night through Sunday morning, they became anarchic, resulting in fatalities, injuries and damage to company facilities, he said.

Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the national police chief, said a rumor about Chinese workers having beaten up local colleagues was false.

What happened was there was a call to strike  and there were attempts to coerce [other workers to join] and they were rejected, and rumors went viral that there were attacks by foreign workers on local workers, Listyo told reporters.

The National Police, assisted by the TNI [the military], is ready to provide security because this, of course, affects Indonesians who also work there, and this smelters activity certainly has provided added value for the country, he said.

Chinese companies dominate nickel smelting

The ministrys provincial office said PT Gunbuster did not give access to its officials who went there to investigate after a fire killed two Indonesian employees in December.

PT GNI was too strict and uncooperative. If they had been transparent, we could have given the workers understandings, he said.

According to the manpower office, GNI employs 12,247 people, including 1,312 Chinese nationals.

A member of the provincial legislative council, Muharram Nurdin, called for a thorough investigation.

Im asking the police to be neutral in handling the case. There should be no discrimination. If foreign workers violated any law, they must be punished, he said.

Muharram said the company should be penalized if it remained uncooperative.

We all hope that there will be no more unrest between Indonesian employees and foreign ones at PT GNI. And all the problems that exist are resolved properly, he said.

Indonesia imposed a ban on nickel ore shipments in 2020, prompting the European Union to seek a review by the World Trade Organization.

Chinese-linked companies dominate the nickel smelter industry in Indonesia, according to information from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the government policy requiring companies to refine commodities at home to make exports more valuable had attracted Chinese businesses.

After Singapore, China is the second largest foreign investor in Indonesia.

Chinese investments in Indonesia reached U.S. $3.6 billion in the first half of 2022, compared with $1.7 billion in the same period of 2021, according to the Indonesian Ministry of Investment last year.

China is also funding projects in Indonesia as part of Beijings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) worldwide infrastructure-building program. These include the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project, which is expected to be completed in June 2023.

Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.
Thai firefighters spray foam to extinguish the blaze on the Smooth Sea 22 oil tanker at Ruammitr Dockyard Co. Ltd. shipyard on the Mae Klong River in Samut Songkram province, Thailand, Jan. 17, 2023.

Updated at 1:50 p.m. ET on 2023-01-17

A huge explosion aboard an oil tanker killed at least two people including a Burmese national at a Thai shipyard and injured at least 10, while others were reported missing, the provincial governor and Marine Department of Thailand said Tuesday.

A video clip showed a fireball rising from the Smooth Sea 22 at around 9:20 a.m., said officials in Samut Songkram, a coastal province on the Gulf of Thailand southwest of Bangkok.

The ship was carrying more than 30,000 liters of bunker oil commonly used in marine and land-based steam power plants along with 2,500 liters of diesel fuel, said officials who had not yet identified a cause for the blast.

The tanker was docked at the Ruammitr Dockyard Co. Ltd., a shipyard on the Mae Klong River in Laem Yai subdistrict where welders were working on it as part of a maintenance procedure. Officials said the fire was extinguished by 3 p.m.

We found two bodies which are being forensically examined.  We have to determine if they are Thai or of foreign origin, Samut Songkram Gov. Somnuk Phromkeaw told reporters on Tuesday afternoon, adding that those injured were welders who were not among the tankers 17 crew members.

The provincial disaster relief center identified one of those killed as Tui, 36, of Myanmar. The identity of the second victim was not released, but the Marine Department reported that at least 10 were injured.

In a Facebook post, rescue worker Siridech Siricamhom said five people were missing as of 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, Somnuk and Marine Department officials noted that flammable products were stored on the tanker.

But to find the cause, we have to set up an expert committee to investigate the case. The results should be known in 10 days, said Puripat Teerakulpisut, the Marine Departments deputy director-general.

Sorapong Paitoonpong, Marine Department acting chief, ordered the shipyard shut down after the explosion.

Marine scientists urged authorities to contain any oil spill from seeping into nearby mangrove and seashore surroundings, which are home to Brydes whales, mollusks and fishes.

The explosion was the second involving a Smooth Sea Co. Ltd. ship in Thailand in less than a year.

On March 9, 2022, the Smooth Sea 2 carrying 1.8 million liters of gasoline/alcohol car fuel and 1.3 million liters of diesel fuel exploded in Samut Prakan, near Bangkok, killing one and injuring three others.

This report has been updated to include details about victims and comments from officials regarding an investigation into the cause of the explosion.
JERUSALEM, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Tuesday that an Israeli held captive in Gaza is alive, a day after Hamas released a rare video of him.

"Yesterday we received additional confirmation of what we have known all along - that Avera (Mengistu) is alive," Netanyahu said in a statement after a meeting with Ronen Bar, the chief of the Shin Bet internal security agency.

In a rare video released on Monday by Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, Mengistu is seen seated against a white background, appealing for Israel's help to free him.

Mengistu has been held in the Gaza Strip since he crossed into the Palestinian enclave in 2014. His family said in the past that the man, now 36, is suffering from mental health problems.

Mengistu "is a young man, not in the best of health, and Hamas is entirely responsible for his fate," Netanyahu said.

Israel has "not ceased its efforts to bring back Avera Mengistu and our other captives and missing persons," he added.

Hamas is reportedly seeking a prisoner swap deal in which Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for Mengistu's freedom. 
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OTIS  Its been 16 years since Andy Pyenson stopped raising chickens at his longtime business, the Otis Poultry Farm. A few years after that, his wife, Lynn Pyenson, began running the Farmington River Diner down Route 8 near the town center.

Now the couple  he is 72, she is 68  hope to cash out on their investments of time and labor, having placed both the farm and the diner on the market.

There is interest in the diner at 119 South Main Road, which is priced at $369,000 for the post-and-beam structure on an acre in the center.

And the farm is back on the market, after a purchase-and-sale agreement fell through months ago. The would-be buyers planned to operate a marijuana cultivation and retail facility on the nearly 25-acre farm. The farms list price is $995,000.

Both feel its time to bow out.

I love the place, Lynn Pyenson said of the diner, where she works from 3:30 a.m. until close. Dont get me wrong. But Im pushing 70. Im tired.

On some days, she runs the place alone. On days when it snows, she makes sure to feed the men who work at the nearby Commonwealth of Massachusetts Highway Department a hot breakfast early in the morning.

Im everybodys mother, whether they like it or not, Pyenson said.

The diner closed from March to July of 2020 due to the pandemic. When it reopened, Lynn Pyenson took out about half the seats, bringing the capacity from 45 to about 20, partly in deference to social distancing, but also because of the labor shortage. Its now open Friday through Monday for breakfast and lunch.

A native of Albany, N.Y., Lynn Pyenson grew up in Mechanicville, N.Y., working at her grandfathers restaurant, Central Dairy, and has spent most of her working life in restaurants.

The Pyensons met when she was working at the East Lee Steak House and he was, as Lynn Pyenson puts it, the egg man.

They married nearly 30 years ago in Otis, a second marriage for both; they have four children, four granddaughters and two great-grandchildren.

Andy Pyenson is clear on his reason for seeking buyers.

My wife and I would both like to spend some time enjoying whats left, he said.

The poultry farm, at 1570 North Main Road, is iconic in Otis. From Route 8, a la Burma Shave advertising, chicken coops are painted with the words Farm Fresh Eggs Laid Here and Egg Eaters Make Better Lovers.

Andy Pyenson grew up working on the farm started by his grandfather, David Pyenson, in 1904.

He now runs the sprawling country store at the Otis Poultry Farm alone, stocking pies, cookies, sweatshirts, wine, beer and local products, including cheese from Gould Farms. Chickens no longer lay eggs on the farm, but the store buys from local producers.

A restaurant on site, which Lynn Pyenson ran, closed during the pandemic and hasnt reopened. Lynn Pyenson still uses the commercial kitchen there for catering.

Andy Pyenson said he would like to see the next owner keep it somewhat as is, with the store, expand upon that.

Maggie C. Merelle, real estate associate at William Pitt Sothebys International Realty in Great Barrington, declined to comment on the diner listing, citing interest in the property.

Farms future

Chapin Fish and Jared Kelly, who are representing the farm through William Pitt Sothebys International Realty, and are principals of the Brockman Group in Monterey, spoke of the opportunities the farm holds for a new owner.

Any commercial operation will require a special permit, Kelly said of the farm, which went back on the market in December.

Were not narrowly focusing on marijuana or any one industry, he said.

While winter is not the busiest time for commercial real estate sales, Fish said there have been nibbles. That will quicken as we get further into winter and into spring. It really is awesome land.

He described the terrain as flat and gently rolling down to the road and up. The site lies near the headwaters of the Farmington River and has considerable road frontage.

Fish said Otis is a very innovative town, referring to its municipally owned wind turbine.

At the diner, Lynn Pyenson does the cooking, although her husband prepares all of the bacon in the Otis Poultry Farms kitchens. She often puts out treats she baked on table 9, the large double booth in the center of the dining room often occupied by locals. Last Friday, the offering on the communal table was monkey bread.

Through the years, film critic Gene Shalit, comedian and director Justin Long and bagel magnate Murray Lender have been customers of the diner.

Lynn Pyenson says that while travelers are welcome, the diner depends on the loyalty of area residents. We do need the tourists and the second-home owners, but we cant forget the local people.
The husband of a Massachusetts woman who's been missing for weeks has been charged with murder
PITTSFIELD  If these walls could talk, volunteer Laura Harbin-Waters thinks theyd have a lot to say.

Harbin-Waters stood alongside other volunteers at the Habitat for Humanity property at 58 Gordon St., white primer dripping from rollers and brushes as the crew was tasked with coating the second floor. The act, she said, was more than meets the eye. The volunteers gathered there were putting a bit of themselves into the home, rather than just painting it.

Were putting love here in the walls, Harbin-Waters said. And the person that lives here will feel it. Not consciously, but theyll feel it.

Harbin-Waters was part of a group of volunteers sent to the house by Berkshire Community College, as part of the Rev. Martin Luther King Day of Service, organized by the school alongside the Berkshire Branch of the NAACP. The day is celebrated in recognition of the birth of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., who was known for his advocacy and practice of nonviolent protest and demonstration.

The day of service saw participants head to play bingo at Soldier On, make cards for first responders and run youth activities at the Boys and Girls Club to pay forward Kings commitment to bettering communities around the world.

The event also featured a keynote speech from Charles Redd, the diversity, equity and inclusion officer for Berkshire Health Systems, at the First United Methodist Church. Redds speech highlighted the need for a service mentality every day to address the challenges facing Berkshire County.

Redd spent much of his time highlighting health disparities in the area. He noted that Berkshire County ranked 13th out of 14 counties in the commonwealth for health outcomes, leading to worse results for those suffering from chronic heart disease, diabetes, cancer and more compared to the rest of the state, based on a community health needs assessment from 2021.

One of the biggest factors in these outcomes is poverty, he said. Money affects how often someone sees a doctor, what kind of food they eat and whether or not they can afford the things their children need. The median income in Berkshire County is 25 percent lower than the state average, he said.

Much of the speech was highlighting resources and organizations in the county doing the work of addressing these disparities  including the NAACP, the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition, West Side Legends, the Berkshire Alliance to Support the Immigrant Community and the Southern Berkshire Rural Health Network to name a few.

These groups provide different services, but aim at a common goal, in his view. Redd refers to these organizations as dignity freedom fighters that help community members and provide a voice for the voiceless in health care settings and society at large.

I think a lot of times, people will link dignity and respect, Redd said. Respect is something that you earn  dignity is your inherent right to be treated fairly  that we all have.

This is not a sentiment for one day a year, he said. While the holiday is a nice reminder, he held up workers at these organizations as examples of those who try to promote Kings ideals every day.

Our job is really to move this forward, Redd said. Everything [King] did in his short life is carrying through after his death  there are people that carry that forward every day.

It was the first time the college was able to organize the event and volunteers in-person since 2020 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Anahid Avsharian, another participant at the Habitat house, said it was a refreshing change of pace.

Im glad to be back in person, Avsharian said. Meeting other people has been really sweet.

For Jenny Bell, another volunteer working at the site, it was the continuation of a longstanding tradition. Growing up in Washington, D.C., she said that King was a significant figure in local history.

Every year, doing something to honor Dr. King has always been part of my life, Bell said.

Its taken many forms over the years: In Washington, she helped prepare meals for homeless people. In New York City, she did homeless outreach. In Boston, when her kids were young, she helped them make cards and crafts for first responders.

During her first Martin Luther King Day in the Berkshires, she spent her time painting with Habitat.

Bell said that one of the lessons from King she connects with most is the idea of a "beloved community"  a society where caring and compassion drives policy that supports the elimination of poverty, hunger, and all forms of bigotry and violence, as relayed by Redd.

Bell said she felt a responsibility to be part of her community and seek out areas where residents need help. To see the real Pittsfield, she said, and advocate for solutions to problems the city must face. She wants to bring others along with her and raise awareness about poverty and struggle in the community.

What were doing today is just one little thing, but hopefully it inspires us to do more, Bell said.

"Beloved community" was a central theme in the keynote speech from Redd. Though the concept itself is a big task, his takeaway for the audience was simple: you can do this, too.

We all have neighbors, Redd said. We need to reach out our hand to see if they need help  to really be involved in your community and learn who your neighbors are.

Redd shared quotes from King, to drive home his point. One of them has a message he identifies with strongly: An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

He sees that sentiment playing out all over Berkshire County  and hopes to see it grow.

We have people in this community that are looking past themselves and giving back to the place where they live and giving people the opportunity to grow and to succeed, Redd said.
Senior Chinese diplomat, French president's diplomatic counselor hold phone talks

Xinhua) 09:00, January 17, 2023

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Wang Yi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Monday held phone talks with Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic counselor to French President Emmanuel Macron.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said that in a world full of turbulence and changes, the healthy and stable development of China-France relations is of special significance.

As permanent members of the UN Security Council and independent major countries, China and France should strengthen strategic communication and play an important role in coping with global turmoil and changes, he added.

China, he said, is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with France, deepen strategic mutual trust and open up new prospects for the China-France comprehensive strategic partnership.

As this year marks the 20th anniversary of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, China is willing to work with France and other EU member states to uphold mutual respect, dialogue and cooperation and mutual benefit, so as to inject new impetus into the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, Wang said.

For his part, Bonne said that France, which attaches great importance to its ties with China, is willing to work with China to strengthen high-level exchanges, deepen cooperation in innovation and technology and jointly draw a blueprint for future development.

Bonne said his country, which opposes the Cold War mentality and bloc politics, is willing to play an active role in expanding EU-China dialogue, upholding multilateralism, promoting global economic recovery and collaborating on tackling climate change.

France understands and supports China's anti-COVID measures, and believes China will prevail over the latest round of the outbreak, he said.

The two sides exchanged views on the important agendas for bilateral exchanges in the next step.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's mining production, one of the country's pillar industries, declined 9 percent year on year in November 2022, official data showed Tuesday.

Iron ore, diamonds and platinum group metals were the biggest negative contributors, which fell 19.4 percent, 21.5 percent and 22 percent, respectively, according to data released by Statistics South Africa.

Seasonally adjusted mining production decreased 0.4 percent in November compared with the previous month, the data showed.

In the three months ending in November, seasonally adjusted mining production dropped 1.9 percent when compared to the prior three months.

Along with the drop in production, mineral sales at current prices in the country decreased 15.2 percent year on year in November, with the largest negative contributors being gold, iron ore and platinum group metals, according to the data. 
NORTH ADAMS  Could opening a new peer recovery center in the city help reduce opioid deaths?

Wendy Penner, a member of the citys HEALing Communities Study coalition, thinks so. It seems like a missing piece, she said.

There are several across Western Massachusetts, but not in North Adams.

The public can learn more about a possible peer recovery center and weigh in during a meeting 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at 195 Ashland St. It is open to all, and the coalition is particularly looking for input from those in the recovery community.

Peer recovery centers offer support for people in recovery and anyone affected by addiction, and are run by those in the recovery community, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

What is really critically important is there is an understanding that this is meant to be an effort informed by and led by the voices of people in recovery, Penner said.

In 2019, North Adams and Pittsfield were selected to be part of the HEALing Communities Study, a multistate project studying overdose prevention and substance use disorder treatment through the National Institutes of Health.

Countywide, opioid overdose deaths have been rising over the last decade. Nine people died from opioid overdoses in North Adams in 2021, the most recent state data shows.

The North Adams coalition has been meeting since last year to discuss ways to address opioid overdose deaths.

Now, the group has around $300,000 in grant funding for the project to spend by the end of the year, and opening a peer recovery center is an idea the group is considering, Penner said. If the coalition decides to work on a center, it would need to find a host agency to work with and a location for it, ideally centrally located, on a bus line and visible.

The idea is a lot of recovery happens in church basement or spaces that are hidden, she said. Thats good for some people, but a recovery center is meant to be visible and accessible to all.
In the early church Christians used a fish symbol called an Ichthys to identify each others faith in secret circles, because many Christians were persecuted during that time. Ichthys is the ancient Greek word for fish, and it forms the acronym Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. The Christian fish symbol features the outline of a fish shown with two intersecting arcs.

Jesus uses the symbolism of fish when he first calls his disciples to join him. While theyre fishing in a lake, Jesus calls out to them. Mark 1:17 records: Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people. The Bible often mentions fish, which were a staple food for people during biblical times. When Jesus miraculously multiplied food to feed thousands of people who were listening to him teach, he turned only a few fish and loaves of bread into enough food to fulfill everyone in the large crowds. The Bible describes those two separate miracles, known collectively as feeding the multitude and separately as feeding the 5,000 and feeding the 4,000, in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, John 6, Matthew 15, and Mark 8. After Jesus resurrection, John 21:1-14 describes how Jesus appears to his disciples by the shore of the Sea of Galilee and gives them miraculous power to catch an extraordinarily large amount of fish. Then Jesus cooks some of the fish along with some bread and invites the disciples to join him to eat breakfast.

Symbol #4: The Candle

Candles have served as symbols of hope and spiritual enlightenment since ancient times. In many religions  including Christianity  light represents Gods presence, which brings hope and the enlightenment of wisdom. The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:5 that God is light, and 1 John 1:5-7 encourages us to walk in the light of relationships with God: This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Christians adopted the candle as a symbol of Jesus work giving hope and enlightenment to the world. Jesus serves as the ultimate light in our world, and he calls us to join him shining light into the darkness of our fallen world. In John 8:12, Jesus says: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. During his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus urges us all to shine our God-given lights into the world through good deeds, saying in Matthew 5:14-16: You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

The candle symbol reminds us that God is with us, so we can choose faith rather than fear in any circumstances. As Psalm 27:1 says: The LORD is my light and my salvation  whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life  of whom shall I be afraid?
Connect Everything Collective is an independent media company based in Cape Town, South Africa that is dedicated to capturing the zeitgeist of South Africa's and Africa's creative arts community.

Founded in 2021 by Candice Erasmus as a women-led business, together with head of content, and esteemed writer Holly Beaton, they have created a network of readers and exceptional creative changemakers through the lens of written and visual storytelling. With a reverence for the interview format, their vision for the publication lies in translation of print-style publishing into accessible, digital media.

The team curates stories and asks questions of South Africas emerging cast of international creatives. Some of their notable interviews thus far include Roger Ballen, Lea Colombo, Lukhanyo Mdingi, Nao Serati, Lady Skollie, Jack Parow, Gina Jeanz and an array of local artists, directors and musicians making waves in the industry within sub-Saharan Africa and internationally. Known as CECZA on social media channels, they are at the forefront of reporting on local events, art exhibitions and fashion.

Image by Koooooos

Connect Everything Collective also recently launched their column "Navigating Reality - Slightly Satirical, Mostly Factual", in which various guest writers are invited to offer insight, cushioned by doses of humour, on pertinent topics experienced by people in the 21st century.

It is Connect Everything Collectives vision to encourage reading and thoughtfulness in all areas of what it means to be human, and to be creative. Their second self-produced and funded cover as a digital publication was in March of 2022, with the renowned BROKE crew, a local brand with a cult-following that has appeared in Vogue Italia, Nowness and Highsnobiety. CEC is also home to a monthly fashion column called Interlude which covers sartorial insight locally and internationally in chapters, and is one of the only spaces in the country solely dedicated to collating interesting themes and topics around fashion.

Image by Keegan Foreman

Founded on a vision piqued by a nostalgia for publications like Vice, Dazed and i-D; our mission is to archive and celebrate culture as it is created within South Africa and sub-saharan Africa; one of the most critical regions beaming with minds and creativity like nowhere else in the world. Connect Everything Collective is a creative, communal home communicating the ideas and work of our region outwardly to the world, and we have only just begun says Candice Erasmus.

Check out CECs Vimeo which showcases our self-produced Connect Everything Collective productions.

Read more articles at www.ceconline.co.za

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Ofentse Moloko, a 37-year-old entrepreneur from the North West, says the support government gives to Black-owned companies operating in the poultry industry will contribute significantly to transforming the sector and ensuring food security in the country.

Source: Tookapic via Pexels

Moloko, the CEO and Managing Director of Baramakama Poultry, runs a family-owned egg-laying chicken company in Molote City, North West.

He believes that the sustainability of businesses depends on Black-owned companies occupying the entire value chain of the industry.

Baramakama received support to the tune of R50 million from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) and its development finance institution, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), as part of the Black Industrialists Programme.

We are the perfect example of the success that Black-owned companies can achieve with the support of government in the poultry industry, says Moloko.

The Black Industrialists Programme is part of governments efforts to accelerate the quantitative and qualitative increase and participation of Black Industrialists in the South African economy, selected industrial sectors and value chains.

Moloko recalls how his father, who started from nothing back in 2016, used his savings to invest back into the community of Molote City.

We decided to establish a poultry business, specifically in the layers as they showed the greatest opportunity for employment creation ,as well as massive room for economic and ownership transformation.

For almost three years, we persistently and continuously knocked on the doors of all the private banks in this country, but the doors were all slammed on us after months of completing their processes, mainly due to the land belonging to the community.

When the dtic and IDC decided to fund our business after a thorough due diligence process, it was like music to our ears.

The financial support from the dtic and IDC enabled Baramakama to expand its operations by adding five new automated chicken houses and a modern, state-of-the-art pack station. The family business has also managed to increase the premises carrying capacity from 100,000 hens to 280,000.

In addition, the company has now added 40 new jobs, while the number of permanent employees jumped from 80 to 112. Of these, almost 80% of the employees are young people, while 44% are women.

Today, our operation runs 24 hours per day and on average, we produce 225 000 eggs per day at full capacity. The support we received from government has made us a recognisable and important player in the industry, Moloko says.

Although he appreciates the importance and recognises the value of the support that government provides to Black Industrialists, Moloko strongly believes that government should consider extending its backing across the value chain of the poultry industry to achieve sustainability and ensure success.

Government support needs to cut across the value chain if we want meaningful transformation of the industry, and if we want the Black industrialists to play an important and discernible role in food security in the country.

This includes feed production, hatcheries, abattoirs, chick rearing, processing and market access.

Although we regard ourselves as a success after obtaining the support, we are left at the mercy of our key competitors from whom we source feed and hens. That makes us vulnerable as the supply tabs can and are regularly switched on and off, depending on how they want to control and benefit from the market conditions, Moloko says.

He does not pin all his hopes on the Poultry Sector Master Plan -- which was developed in close partnership between government and several stakeholders in the industry -- to increase the level of Black participation, particularly ownership across the value chain, employment creation and worker share-ownership in the sector.

Moloko is of the opinion that the decisions taken within the Poultry Master Plan depend on the existing big players in the industry, who, through their actions, do not easily allow Black players into the more profitable value chain channels.

However, he remains resolute and hopeful that with more Black players in the value chain, the industry will not only transform but also allow healthy competition to the benefit of all participants.
PayFast has officially announced a rebrand, one that sees it representing the offerings of both PayGate and SID - whose respective brands have been dissolved - under Network International.

PayFast's new brand identity includes a fresh logo and colour palette, represented under the network banner. It was unveiled at an exclusive media roundtable event held at the organisation's new headquarters located in the Southern Suburbs, Cape Town.

It houses employees from PayGate, SID and Network International under one roof, bringing the staff complement to 290.

"We wanted to create a new brand that was fresh and energetic - one that everyone we've brought together will associate with, both internally and externally - one that still speaks to the South African market, but can cater to markets outside of South Africa as well," says Williamson.

Network International is a company spun out of a large bank in Dubai more than 25 years ago, and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2019. Trading in the UK, it is the largest acquirer in the UAE and the leading enabler of digital commerce in the Middle East and Africa (Mea) region.

"Network International has established businesses and operations in about nine major markets and operates with customers in over 55 countries. It services more than 200 banks and financial institutions," says Chris Wood, regional managing director, southern Africa and Palops, the group of Portuguese-speaking African countries, at Network International.

"We're a processing company. We provide technology to banks, retailers, telcos and other fintechs to enable them to operate in what is obviously a very highly regulated and often complex payments environment.

Then we've got the acquiring side: which is where we, as a network, compete with the banks and actually provide acquiring language and services directly to merchants in South Africa.

"Then we've got the acquiring side: which is where we, as a network, compete with the banks and actually provide acquiring language and services directly to merchants in South Africa. The new PayFast organisation fits into that acquiring side, because we at Network International have a direct relationship with merchants."

Frictionless payment processes

Managing director at PayFast, Brendon Williamson says: "Because we now have different payment rails that we can potentially explore in terms of capabilities and solutions that we can build and offer merchants, it allows us to be a lot more diverse, a lot more exploratory in terms of our approach in terms of payments and allows us to offer consumers a better service by making their payment processes a lot more friction-less.

"Prior to the consolidation, we were very much focused on the micro SME merchants in terms of enabling online payments. We were an aggregator allowing smaller merchants to easily readily access the online space, which was ideal for start-ups. Now we're becoming a little more sophisticated in that we are focusing on the large enterprise merchants who don't have their own capabilities with their own banking partners to facilitate that process.

"This milestone represents a new era in the payments industry."

PayFast's new future blueprint

Williamson said PayFast is currently exploring "a whole bunch of new partnerships" but that he wasn't currently at liberty to disclose the details.

"There are potential acquisitions that we are viewing in the South African market to further enhance our offering and our services," he said. "It's really exciting to see what the new PayFast has to offer in terms of South Africa and southern Africa."

To be able to have an acquiring element of your business in-house gives me goosebumps in terms of the capabilities that are now provided to us in South Africa.

In the meantime, Wood said Network International is in the process of deploying its global leading payment technology stack in South Africa. "By April or May this year we will have a full network operating at full scale in South Africa. What that allows us to do as a network is to literally run an unlimited number of banks, telcos and retailers."

With time, he said, the local platform will be available to migrate southern African customers to SA on the local cloud.

New partnerships on the cards

The benefits to PayFast and Williamson's team, Wood says, is having that techstack driving Payfast's API integration of up to 180 partners.

"These partners become instantly available to PayFast and the broader group in terms of being able to plug in," says Wood.

"Whereas before we would normally work for a third party or partner to have these discussions, we now physically have an acquirer in the room which allows us to explore the acquiring element directly as a business, and pay customers as a supporting partner," says Williamson: "To be able to have an acquiring element of your business in-house gives me goosebumps in terms of the capabilities that are now provided to us as PayFast in South Africa.

"Operationally, PayFast gives merchants peace of mind that they are dealing with a single legal entity, without losing the comfort of dealing with familiar products and systems from the PayFast-, PayGate- and SID teams day to day.

"This is a major step in creating a unified brand and legal entity which solidifies a single vision to take us forward in business."
Court judgment has consequences for companies that invoice via email.

Image: The Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg has ordered Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs to pay R5.5m plus punitive costs to Judith Hawarden. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks/GroundUp

Judith Hawarden received an email from what she thought was Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) with the details of the account into which she paid the balance of money owed on a property sale.



But the email was forged and the money stolen. Hawarden sued ENS for the money.



In finding for Hawarden, the Gauteng High Court criticised ENS for relying on email, which is insecure, for invoicing her. The case likely has profound consequences for how companies invoice clients.



ENS also had to pay punitive costs for the way it handled the case.

One of South Africas leading law firms has been held liable for R5.5m which a property buyer intended to deposit in its trust account. The money was stolen as a result of fraudsters manipulating emails from an employee of the firm.

Johannesburg High Court Judge Phanuel Mudau has ruled that Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) must pay Judith Hawarden R5.5m, plus interest, and pay the legal costs of the lawsuit on a punitive scale.

In her arguments, Hawarden claimed that ENS owed her a duty of care, and that in corresponding with her, it also had a legal duty to warn her of the danger of business email compromise (BEC), that this was on the increase and that it was already prevalent.

She said the firm should have warned her, before she made any payment, that she should verify the account details, and it should have loaded its trust account details on online banking systems so that the account number would not have to be sent out on unprotected and unsafe emails.

ENS denied liability, claiming that Hawarden herself had been negligent in using an electronic transfer without ensuring that the bank details were correct.

The case dates back to 2019 when Harwarden put in an offer on a Forest Town property through Pam Golding Properties for R6m.

She paid a deposit of R500,000 directly to the estate agency.

The seller appointed ENS as the conveyancing attorney.

Hawarden received an email from Eftyhia Maninakis, a secretary in the property division of the law firm, with details of what was still required in order for the sale to go through and the option of providing a bank guarantee for the outstanding amount.

What Hawarden did not know was that this email was fraudulent, that a fraudster had intercepted the genuine email and altered the firms bank account details.

In response to this email, Hawarden telephoned Maninakis a few days later. Maninakis confirmed that she could transfer the outstanding amount in cash directly to ENS.

Hawarden received an email from what appeared to be Maninakiss email later that day - what she believed was a follow up to their earlier conversation.

That email contained the firms bank account number, as confirmed by First National Bank.

What Hawarden did not notice was that the email address was from ensafirca.com - not ensafrica.com.

Judge Mudau said the emails actually sent by ENS had been intercepted and forged and the bank account details were incorrect.

Further correspondence between Hawarden and Maninakis was also intercepted by the fraudsters, including an investment mandate which contained several warnings about BEC. This was after payment had been made but before the fraud was discovered.

The money was paid into the FNB account but was transferred out and the bank was unable to retrieve the misappropriated funds.

Hawarden, who has now retired, said in her evidence during the trial that nothing in the two emails alerted her to the fact that they were fraudulent and that she knew nothing of the dangers of business email compromise.

She said after she paid the money into the fraudsters bank account, she received a statement of account from ENS, to make a second payment. At the foot of that account was a warning urging readers to telephonically verify the firms banking details, a warning which had been absent on previous communications.

In evidence, Hawarden conceded that she had, during and after her divorce, dealt with large amounts of money - and that she had heeded the BEC warning on the Pam Golding correspondence - but said she trusted ENS implicitly and assumed they would take care of anything that was not safe.

Hawarden called a digital forensic expert witness, Anton Vant Wout, who prepared a video demonstration for the court showing the ease with which an email can be altered. He suggested alternative safer ways of communicating safer information.

He testified that there was no reason why ENS could not have used a secure portal.

Another witness, attorney Mark Heyink, an expert in information and communications technology law, testified that this type of cyber crime was a well-known risk.

Under cross examination he conceded that most attorneys sent invoices to clients by way of ordinary emails and PDF attachments and that his evidence reflected what ought to be done, not what actually happens.

ENS led the evidence of Maninakis who said she had not known that PDF documents could be manipulated until this incident.

She said she had not sent the initial mandate letter with the fraud warnings to Hawarden because she did not know at that stage that Hawarden was going to pay the money in cash, rather than by bank guarantee.

She also thought Hawarden was in safe hands because she was liaising with her own bank on the issue.

Judge Mudau said Hawarden blamed ENS for her loss because, she said, the firm should have done more to protect her and used more secure means to communicate with her. She contended that ENS was well aware of this type of fraud.

The evidence in this case shows that BEC attacks are rife, especially in the conveyancing industry. The parties experts agree that BEC has been around for many years.

ENS contends that if this court holds ENS liable, it would expose all conveyancers, big and small alike, to claims of the same kind by third parties, with whom they have no relationship, for losses they suffered at the hands of fraudsters who hacked their own email accounts.

ENS contends that the ripple effect thereof would not only extend to all firms of attorneys but indeed to all businesses who send their invoices, with their banking details, to their clients by email which is a near universal practice for all firms.

ENS submits that it is the responsibility of the debtor, who chooses to make an electronic payment, to ensure that it is paid into the right account, the judge wrote.

He said while Hawarden was not a client of ENS, the firm owed her a general duty of care as a purchaser of property.

ENS, as Hawarden contends, had control over the way its bank account details were conveyed to her. It chose to do this by way of an unprotected email attaching its bank account details as a PDF document which could be easily manipulated as the evidence clearly established.

ENS failed to safely communicate its bank details using technical safety measures ... Hawarden depended on [ENS] to act professionally.

The judge said the fact that most businesses sent their banking details by emails did not absolve the law firm from unsafe behaviour which it knew at the time was unsafe and knew to take precautions.

Viewed objectively, Hawarden cannot be faulted for placing her trust in the firm who she believed was a very large and reputable firm.

I have no difficulty in finding that the firms banking details were financially sensitive information and needed to be treated as such, that the risk of BEC was foreseen by ENS ... and that sending bank details by email is inherently dangerous.

The risk of loss to Hawarden was highly foreseeable by ENS.

The interests of society demand that a legal duty is recognised in this case, Judge Mudau said.

Punitive cost order

The judge awarded a punitive cost order because ENS breached Hawardens privacy by including irrelevant documents about her divorce and other investments and business dealings in the court papers. Hawarden had made her hard drive available to ENS to conduct a forensic investigation to determine where the hacking occured. ENS breached an undertaking not to copy certain documents on her hard drive.

This article was originally published on GroundUp.
Eskom said it would shorten power cuts from Tuesday morning, 17 January, as 14 generators come back on tap this week, but electricity shortages look set to continue at least into 2024.

Source: Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko

President Cyril Ramaphosa cancelled plans to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos this week over the crisis, prompting the rand to fall on Monday. On Sunday, his spokesperson said he was due to meet leaders of political parties, an energy crisis committee and Eskom's board of directors.

But even while Eskom said that from Tuesday power cuts would be reduced slightly, two opposition parties that attended a meeting with Eskom officials over the weekend said they had been told outages would persist well into next year.

Major source of frustration

The company implemented power cuts on more than 200 days last year, the most in a calendar year. The power shortages are a major source of frustration for voters ahead of 2024 elections that could see the governing African National Congress lose its majority in parliament for the first time.

Eskom's outgoing CEO Andre de Ruyter made a submission to political party leaders during an emergency meeting called by Ramaphosa on Sunday night.

"They told us what the plan is to procure new energy [generating capacity] and money, and the core of the message is that we will be saddled with power cuts even after 2024," Pieter Groenewald, leader of the Freedom Front Plus, told Reuters, echoing a statement by the EFF on the meeting.

Creaking coal-fire power stations, underinvestment in new generating capacity, corruption in coal supply contracts and foot-dragging on policies that would enable private providers to plug the shortfall with renewable energy have all conspired to leave South Africa woefully short of its power needs.

High degree of uncertainty

Eskom said from Tuesday the pattern would be Stage 4 rotational outages from 5am until 4pm, followed by Stage 5 from 4pm until 5am the following morning.

The utility said it had procured an additional 50 million litres of diesel, which would be used to manage pumped storage dam levels and limit power cuts.

However, Eskom added there was a high degree of uncertainty and these changes would only be possible if the units returned to service as planned.

In recent days, Eskom has been implementing Stage 6 outages, reducing supplies on the national grid by up to 6,000MW. Under Stages 4 and 5, the reductions are 4,000MW and 5,000MW, respectively.

Almost 22,000MW of its 46,000MW nominal capacity is offline for planned repairs or because of breakdowns.
The world of work has changed dramatically over the past three years and continues to be shaped by a number of overarching trends, from societal influences, to technology, economic and political factors, and even environmental concerns. From the pandemic to digitalisation, the rise of the gig economy to climate change, here are some of the factors shaping the labour market today and into the future.

Natashia Barnabas, IR Manager at Workforce Staffing

Rise of e-commerce and the digital economy

The Covid-19 pandemic caused far-reaching consequences across the world and in all sectors. Most businesses were affected negatively, but certain sectors such as those in the digital space as well as e-commerce, saw business skyrocket. This effect has continued as many people have come to prefer online shopping, and the growth in this sector continues, creating additional job opportunities nationally. We have noticed that this trend has brought more employment to the warehousing industry, and we expect this growth to continue.

From great resignation to gig economy

In the post-Covid era, we are experiencing a rapid trend called the great resignation, a phenomenon that has been noticed worldwide. Instead of staying in permanent full-time positions where they may not have had much work-life balance since the pandemic, many people are opting for different gigs because this offers more flexibility and the freedom to negotiate their own terms and conditions. The rise of the gig economy has drained businesses of talent, but at the same time, it opens up these opportunities for others who seek permanent employment.

While the gig economy is being touted as something new and innovative, the reality is that it is just an iteration of temporary fixed-term employment, which has existed for a long time. Those seeking it voluntarily are doing so to enable them to be more flexible in terms of time and commitments. For others, it has become the only way to make ends meet in a strained economic climate. This trend is seeing significant growth and is one of the major macro trends impacting the labour space for the foreseeable future.

4IR, the rise of automation and need for new skills

Advancing technology along with increased digitalisation and automation are part and parcel of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR). While these trends threaten job loss for low-skilled employees whose tasks can easily be replaced by machines, this also makes way for new, higher skilled positions with subsequently higher wages. There is an opportunity to upskill workers to enable them to move up the value chain, but the challenge that remains is that employees lack technology skills and knowledge. New skill sets are needed to leverage next-generation technologies effectively.

4IR will bring about significant disruption, including the evolution of jobs and careers paths that currently do not exist. We need to focus on the skills that will enable this, and training institutions need to adapt to the latest trends. Soft skills are an emerging trend in this aspect. Temporary employment gives job candidates the opportunity to grow their skill and experience, and flexible staffing models allow businesses to restructure their businesses to accommodate technological advances.

Globalisation, urbanisation, mobility, and demographics

Increasing globalisation creates additional employment opportunities throughout the supply chain and exposes employees to cross-border and international opportunities, helping to grow their skill and experience.

As the workforce becomes more digital, less permanent and more flexible, there is also a growing trend of remote workers moving away from cities and main centres. This is an opportunity to grow areas of the country that have previously seen outflows of people moving to cities in order to seek work. There is also a growing trend of the multigenerational workforce, with younger people seeking temporary employment and older people working past retirement age.

Resource scarcity and climate change

Dealing with the climate crisis means that alternative energy is in demand locally and globally, creating huge business and employment opportunities within the green energy space. These project-based initiatives can benefit significantly from the Temporary Employment Services (TES) industry because flexible labour is key in meeting seasonal, volume and production fluctuations. Moving forward, a reputable TES provider can supply the compliant and practical staffing solutions to allow energy producers to focus on growing their core business.

Increased focus on wellness

The combination of Covid-19, the gig economy, and generational attitudes toward employment, resulted in a growing focus on balance and wellness as part of the working environment. Employee wellness can take many forms, from counselling to relaxation areas, ergonomics, bringing pets to work, and more, and navigating this landscape is something businesses will have to take on board today and in the future.

The only constant is change

While many areas of the labour sector remain unchanged, others have seen dramatic shifts and changes deriving from the widespread impact of the pandemic and the increase in digital technologies. Skills required are changing, jobs available are changing, and the demands of employees from their employers are changing. Businesses need to prepare themselves to meet these changes to remain relevant and competitive in future.
To anyone doubting the availability of finance for South African business owners, consider this: Business Partners Limited has provided business loans totalling R19.5bn in over 71,600 transactions with business owners since its start in 1981, totalling R19.5bn worth of finance.

Jeremy Lang, chief investment officer at Business Partners Ltd

"Finance is clearly available, but entrepreneurs have to meet certain criteria to access these business loans. They also have to follow processes set out by each financier," says Jeremy Lang, chief investment officer at Business Partners Ltd.

"The key is to understand the financier you are applying to and the extent to which your business fits their client profile. When applying at Business Partners Ltd for finance," says Jeremy, "a good place to start is to work through the following questions to gauge and improve your chances."

1. Who are Business Partners Ltd and its target market?

Business Partners Ltd is a company that specialises in providing risk finance to small and medium businesses in South Africa and in certain other African countries.

Unlike many other financial institutions, it is focused solely on servicing small and medium businesses. It does not, for example, give out personal loans or finance the big-business sector. 'Risk finance' means that Business Partners Ltd does not necessarily disqualify businesses that do not have enough collateral to cover the whole loan, depending on the strength of the business.

Apart from finance, Business Partners Ltd also provides technical assistance to its clients as well as mentoring services and owns many business premises throughout South Africa which it rents out to small and medium businesses.

2. What kind of finance does Business Partners Ltd provide?

Business Partners Ltd loan sizes range from R500,000 to R50m, and include working-capital finance, business property finance, asset finance, as well as finance for buying a business, buying out a partner, or buying a franchise. The company is unique in that it regularly provides 100% finance for businesses that want to buy premises to trade from, thereby helping growing businesses to keep valuable working capital in their business instead of having to fork it out as a deposit.

3. What industries and sectors does Business Partners Ltd operate in?

Business Partners Ltd would consider applications from businesses in all industries except the following:

Outdoor primary agriculture. Because of the risk of adverse weather conditions, Business Partners Ltd avoids financing outdoor farming operations. However, indoor farming, hydroponics and tunnel farming do qualify, as well as the factory processing of farming produce



Underground mining operations



Non-profit organisations



Money-lending businesses.

Except for these exclusions, Business Partners Ltd does not red-line whole industries at times when they go through a slump. Each application is considered on its own merit.

Because the Business Partners Ltd evaluation process relies heavily on up-to-date verifiable financial information about the applying business, it cannot finance businesses in the informal sector. If your business operates informally to a certain extent, you will first need to hire expertise to set up formal systems in your operations for at least a year or two before applying to Business Partners Ltd.

4. What does Business Partners Ltd look for in an applicant?

There are three broad elements that Business Partners Ltd considers with each applicant:

The calibre of the entrepreneurs behind the business. Business Partners Ltd will look at the qualifications, experience, and involvement of the business owner.

The cashflow viability of the business. Are the revenues of the business such that it would be able to realistically afford the repayments of the loan and still be viable?

The financial risk of the loan for Business Partners Ltd. How much of the loan will not be covered by the collateral provided by the business?



It is the combination of these three main elements that determines whether a loan will be approved for finance by Business Partners Ltd or not.

5. What are the main reasons for turning down a finance application?

Most unsuccessful applications are turned down because the business is not viable, in other words, it will probably not make enough money to repay the loan and still be profitable. Another common reason is a bad credit score on the part of the business or the entrepreneur behind the business. One or two defaults in the record may not be disqualifying, provided the circumstances can be explained, but serial defaults will disqualify the application. High gearing of a business, in other words high levels of existing debt can also lead to the application being rejected.

6. Are there any other red flags that Business Partners Ltd looks out for?

Business Partners Ltd is wary of approving a loan when the information that a business provides is inconsistent, for example when the sales records do not correspond with the annual financial statements. Incomplete or outdated annual financial statements or management accounts are also stark warning signals.

Another red flag is unrealistic sales projections. Make sure your estimates of future sales and expenses are explainable, and generally in line with what reasonably can be expected in the market.

7. And what are the good signs that give Business Partners Ltd comfort?

Apart from a solid track record of making good profits - at least two years is a good rule of thumb - Business Partners Ltd also puts great store in the entrepreneur behind the business, specifically:

Are you committed to the business? It is a good sign if the owners have invested their own capital in the business and are involved in the running of the business.



The technical knowledge of the entrepreneur relating to the industry in which the business operates, and their understanding of the market and their customers.



The integrity of the business owners, reflected in their reputation, their relationships with their stakeholders such as their suppliers, workers and customers, and their practices such as tax compliance.



The owners passion and enthusiasm for what they are doing and for growing the business.



Good sustainable practices such as trying to minimise environmental impact and promote staff development.

8. How can you increase your chances of getting finance even further?

The level of commitment and business prowess of the entrepreneur are often apparent in the application. Invest the time and energy in preparing and checking the accuracy and relevance of the application and its supporting documents.

The involvement of high-quality professional practitioners such as accountants and lawyers also enhance the chances of your application.

9. How does the application process work?

A basic application form can be completed online via the Business Partners Ltd website. This must be filled in accurately and submitted with all the relevant supporting documentation. The application will go to an investment officer who will do an initial assessment. Business Partners Ltd commits to giving an applicant an initial, in-principal decision within a week of applying.

If the answer is a tentative yes, the investment officer will conduct a thorough due diligence process which will include meetings with the owners and site visits to the operations of the business. Information submitted in the application will be checked and verified. It is difficult to place a timeline on the due diligence process because it depends on the complexity of the business and the availability of all relevant information.

Once the due diligence process is complete, the report will be submitted to a Business Partners Ltd investment committee, which meets once a week. If your application is not approved at any point in the process, Business Partners Ltd will explain to you the reasons for turning it down.




The annual conference of the World Economic Forum begins today in Davos, Switzerland. Global elites landed in luxurious private jets over the last few days in airports around Davos to discuss important global challenges, such as climate change, behind closed doors.

"The rich and powerful are swarming to Davos to discuss climate and inequality behind closed doors using the most unequal and polluting form of transport: private jets," Klara Maria Schenk, transport campaigner for Greenpeace's European mobility campaign, told news website Politics.co.uk.

Greenpeace International published a new report that showed 1,040 private jets flew in and out of airports around Davos for last year's meeting, causing CO2 emissions from private jets to increase four times more versus a weekly average.

"Given that 80% of the world's population has never even flown, but suffers from the consequences of climate-damaging aviation emissions, and that the WEF claims to be committed to the 1.5C Paris Climate Target, this annual private jet bonanza is a distasteful masterclass in hypocrisy. Private jets must be consigned to history if we are to have a green, just and safe future for all. So-called world leaders must lead by example and ban private jets and useless short-haul flights," added Schenk.

WEF hopes to tackle what they believe is a climate crisis plaguing the world despite most attendees arriving by private jets, which are the most polluting mode of transport per passenger

The worlds elite has arrived in Davos on over 1000 private jets to lecture you about climate change. pic.twitter.com/2WyDiqLbV6  DiEM25 (@DiEM_25) January 16, 2023

And motorcades of WEF attendees were spotted in gas-guzzling SUVs and high-end sedans.

Over 2,500 delegates

Over 1,000 private jets

Motorcades



Yes, its the annual WEF Davos jamboree of hypocrisy where a bunch of elites / parasites preach to us plebs about saving the planet and use virtue as a smokescreen for their own greed. pic.twitter.com/MLL97DfFFz  James Melville (@JamesMelville) January 13, 2023

Meanwhile, climate protesters spent Monday morning blocking at least one airport used by the super-rich.

@debtforclimate activists blocking the elites arriving on private jets to attend #WEF - the 1% is responsible for the illegitimate debt of the global South & the climate crisis most felt in Africa & Asia. pic.twitter.com/3WeO4NMwKn  Payal Parekh (@payalclimate) January 16, 2023

and we are successful: the first planes have landed with WEF-guests, who are blocked from driving up to Davos by our activists. If you block climate action, we block you. We demand:#debtcancellationnow #polluterspay #stopneocolonialWEF #stopgreenwashing pic.twitter.com/Qr26S74GRr  Debt for Climate Switzerland (@Debt4ClimateCH) January 16, 2023

BREAKING: We are blocking the private airport used by #Davos23 attendees to demand the richest 1% pay their climate debt!#DebtforClimate is putting pressure on the global elites to demand debt cancellation for the Global South to enable a just transition!#MakeThemPay pic.twitter.com/s61c4lwZ4a  Debt for Climate (@DebtforClimate) January 16, 2023

5/6 We demand that the rich pay their #ClimateDebt through the unconditional cancellation of all foreign debts of countries in the Global South to enable #JustTransition and #polluters pay for the #LossAndDamage they cause in the countries most affected by the climate crisis.  pic.twitter.com/DAmljQpOxi  Debt for Climate (@DebtforClimate) January 16, 2023

"Davos has a perfectly adequate railway station, still these people can't even be bothered to take the train for a trip as short as 21 km. Do we really believe that these are the people to solve the problems the world faces?" Schenk said.

And remember, these elites will discuss how to reshape the world while guarded by soldiers and private security forces.

Given the unique nature of the event - with more than 50 heads of state and government, heads of the UN and EU etc expected to attend - security in #Davos is extremely tight. Army/police are everywhere and the whir of helicopters enforcing a strict no-fly zone is commonplace. pic.twitter.com/A3ts61TQAV  David Walsh (@David_M_Walsh) January 15, 2023

I remeber in the 90is. All was easy going with zero security. But what is happening in the last few years in davos, army/police present,is just batshit crazy arrogant. Took the picture today on way up to davos pic.twitter.com/QSDbFPdQ6Q  12grad Sonnig (@marcograss2) January 12, 2023

The fact that WEF attendees arrive in droves of private jets only to discuss the climate crisis is hypocrisy at its finest. If there was actually a crisis, wouldn't these so-called climate warriors take public transportation to save the planet? Maybe the crisis that WEF promotes is just manufactured hype.
Update: Internet sleuth 'Truth Ninja' has deducted that Hunter made a crackhead mistake after all, as the $49,910 in 'rent' matches the amount he paid at the "House of Sweden," an office space which was for his business.

Hunter Biden never paid his dad 49,910 for rent. The form was dated late 2018. His security deposit and time of lease (3/2017 to 2/2018) at House of Sweden match the the amount listed: 49,910. This was for his business Owasco. On purpose or not, he filled the form out wrong. pic.twitter.com/mq2y4eTjNk  Truth Ninja (@TruthNinja316) January 16, 2023

* * *

A Thursday tweet from the NY Post's Miranda Devine containing a background check for Hunter Biden has people asking questions.

"The now-52-year-old began listing the Wilmington home as his address following his 2017 divorce from ex-wife Kathleen Buhle  even falsely claiming he owned the property on a July 2018 background check form as part of a rental application," the Post reported.

Of note, this is the same house where classified documents were found.

Yet, upon closer inspection, Hunter lists the "Monthly Rent" as $49,910 - or roughly $550,000 for the 11 months he indicated he lived there?

In 2018 Hunter Biden claimed he owned the house where Joe Biden kept classified documents alongside his Corvette in the garage Via @jj_talking pic.twitter.com/L7c80MRRiS  Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) January 12, 2023

A Zillow search reveals that the most expensive home currently for rent in Wilmington, Delaware is going for $6,000 per month.

According to Town & Country magazine, Biden's home is worth around $2 million.

Could Hunter, a crackhead, have accidentally listed the annual rent payment to his father for the house which contained classified documents? Sure. But why was his wealthy ex-VP dad charging him rent in the first place, when Hunter was allegedly broke?

Trending Politics asks the quiet part out loud; was this Hunter's way of funneling money to his father?

After Hunters divorce was finalized in May of 2017, he was included in an email from his business partner James Gilliar about a venture with Chinese state-funded energy company CEFC China Energy. The email stated that Hunter and his partners would receive 20% of the shares in the new business, with 10% going to Hunters uncle James Biden and the other 10% being held by H for the big guy. Tony Bobulinski, another one of Hunters former business partners, claims that he had a meeting with Joe Biden regarding the CEFC venture on May 2, 2017, and that the president was the individual referred to as the big guy in Gilliars email. Additionally, Gilliar himself confirmed that Joe Biden was the big guy mentioned in a message found on the laptop.

And as the NY Post reports, "The following year, federal investigators began looking into whether Hunter and his business associates violated tax and money laundering laws during their dealings in China and other countries. Emails and other records related to the deals were found on the laptop, which Hunter dropped off at a Delaware repair shop in 2019 and never reclaimed."

"I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years," Hunter told his daughter Naomi in January, 2019. "Its really hard. But dont worry, unlike pop, I wont make you give me half your salary."

Of course, Hunter paid his daddy $50k a month in rent.



Heres a text message Hunter sent his daughter in 2019 saying he gives JOE BIDEN half his salary.



This was found on Hunters laptop.https://t.co/Ys1TzTlq3l pic.twitter.com/gsO8hP8r3b  kanekoa.substack.com (@KanekoaTheGreat) January 14, 2023

As the Post continues:

The laptop doesnt contain any direct evidence of such money transfers but shows Hunter was routinely on the hook for household expenses  including repairs to the Wilmington home. In December 2020, weeks after his father was elected president, Hunter Biden announced that his tax affairs were being investigated by federal authorities in Delaware, and said he was confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately. Recent reports have indicated investigators believe they have enough evidence to charge the first son with tax crimes  as well as with lying about his drug abuse on a federal form so he could buy a gun in 2018.

So, was the $49,910 'monthly' rent a simple crackhead mistake when that was in fact the annual payment amount, or did Hunter create "Exhibit A" for any honest prosecutors to pursue? We aren't holding our breath on the latter.
BISHKEK, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyzstan has temporarily restricted withdrawing foreign currency in cash from the country until the Cabinet of Ministers "makes a relevant decision," the cabinet said Monday in a press release.

The decision, signed by Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Akylbek Zhaparov, would ensure financial and economic security, stabilize the domestic currency market and protect national interests, the statement read.

Non-residents and foreign citizens are prohibited from withdrawing more than 5,000 U.S. dollars in cash.

The limit is 10,000 dollars in cash for residents and citizens of Kyrgyzstan. If they withdraw more, a fee of 10 percent of the amount exceeding the limit will be charged.

The Border Service of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan and the State Customs Service under the Ministry of Finance were instructed to take necessary measures to prevent the withdrawal of U.S. dollars in cash. 
SYDNEY, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The sails of Australia's iconic Sydney Opera House will be lit up in red on Jan. 23 to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year and welcome the Year of the Rabbit.

Dominic Perrottet, premier of the state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Monday the Chinese Lunar New Year is widely celebrated in the state's diverse communities. The lighting of the Opera House could be a symbol of good fortune, prosperity and happiness for everyone in the new year.

"While Lunar New Year is significant to many across the state, it also represents much of what we all stand and hope for in a new year, especially new beginnings," said Perrottet.

"To everyone celebrating the Lunar New Year, I wish you all prosperity, good health and fortune for the year ahead."

The Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is the most important holiday for Chinese people around the world and it falls on Jan. 22 this year, which marks the Year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese zodiac.

During the celebration period, some of Sydney's other popular attractions and main streets will see rabbit-shaped artworks that were designed by local illustrators.

A traditional dragon boat racing will also be held at Sydney's picturesque Darling Harbour over the weekend from Jan. 28. 
Achilles, Odysseus and the ancient history of reunions

Photo/Getty Images Odysseus recognises Achilles - disguised as a woman - amongst the daughters of Lycomedes in this 1620 oil painting by Frans Francken the Younger.

Joel Christensen is a professor of classical studies at Brandeis. This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

Celebrations are a joyous time of reuniting with family and friends. But afterward, people can sometimes be left uneasily mulling over their relationships. Annual returns home can induce an uncomfortable nostalgia in the tension between how the past is remembered and how the present is experienced.

As someone who studies ancient Greek myth and poetry, I often find myself making sense of my own life through my work. Even though many Greek myths are infamous for disturbing topics such as infanticide and incest, ancient audiences did look to their stories to make sense of themselves and their world.

The bittersweetness of family relationships and reunions turns out to be an important theme.

Heroes and families

What most people may remember from Greek myth are heroes like Hercules or Theseus, who make the world safe for other human beings by killing threatening monsters or punishing criminal humans. Hercules killing of the hydra, a dragon with regrowable heads, as one of his labors represent the forces of civilization conquering nature. At a fundamental level, these kinds of stories center on how heroes are capable of making life safer for human communities.

But most heroic narratives also emphasize how individual heroes are a poor fit for family life and may even come to threaten their communities. For example, one reason Hercules had to complete his many labors as a punishment was because he killed his first wife and their children due to a fit of madness sent by the gods.

One of the most famous Greek heroes, Achilles, underscores the antisocial aspect of heroes well in Homers Iliad. At the beginning of the epic, he actually prays for his people to suffer and die because they didnt preserve the honor he believed he had earned. Indeed, audiences often overlook that it is Achilles own desire to be honored that causes his people to suffer and the death of his companion Patroclus.

The most popular image of heroes is of a savior figure. But their stories also include details about isolation, alienation and the destruction of families, leaving little in the way of hope for relationships.

How we know who we are

Heroic failure in personal relationships helps to emphasize their alienation from their communities. Instead of being distractions, however, I think these personal challenges are part of the point of mythical narratives for audiences who dont live in fantasy worlds. Learning how to live a normal life is an important theme of the Homeric Odyssey, as it describes a 20-year-long journey of the famous hero of Homers Iliad, Odysseus, on his way home from the Trojan War to be reunited with his family.

This particular narrative from ancient Greece is an exploration of nostos, a word that means homecoming but has come to mean sweet in modern Greek. In the Odyssey, Odysseus reunion with his family is part of the difficulty of his homecoming.

Central to this difficulty is the question of who the hero is after 20 years at war. As psychiatrist Jonathan Shay argues in his 2002 book, Odysseus in America, Odysseus travels function as a metaphor for the challenge of reintegrating veterans as they return home.

Just as today, the return home is far more than a simple journey to an old place. For Odysseus, it was a return to the relationships that defined him before he left for Troy.

At its core, the Odyssey emphasizes that warriors come from communities and are defined by their families. As I explore in my recent book The Many Minded Man: The Odyssey, Psychology, and the Therapy of Epic, the Homeric epic is deeply interested in where our identities come from: memories, the stories we tell about them and the relationships that rely on both memory and story.

Acknowledging the past is crucial for Odysseus  and his audiences  because familiarity is necessary for recreating relationships as a bridge from our past to present selves.

A sequence of reunions occupies the epics second half. Odysseus meets his son, a mother figure  an enslaved nurse named Eurycleia  his wife Penelope and his father, Laertes. In each case he lies to them about his identity and has his identity confirmed by an external sign.

The signs are linked to stories from the past: Eurycleia recognizes the scar on Odysseus leg from a boar hunt when he was a child; Penelope uses the bed he built for them to test his identity; and his father doubts who he is until the two of them tour the orchard they tended together when he was young and Odysseus describes to him the varieties of trees and recounts who planted them.

These details often surprise modern readers who wonder why the Odyssey spends so much time on small encounters. Each reunion emphasizes that Odysseus is not truly home until he has reconciled who he is now with who he was before. He must also undergo a similar, more violent reckoning with the people he used to rule.

The cumulative effect of this sequence of reunions is to emphasize that individual identity is created and confirmed by other people. Outside of his home, Odysseus was a warrior; he cannot truly return until he remembers how to be a king, a father, a husband and a son.

Individualism vs. the hero

Odysseus famous homecoming  his nostos  provides part of the root of our modern word nostalgia, coined in 1688 to describe a kind of mad longing for the past. Literally meaning grief for/from a homecoming, nostalgia describes well that bittersweet feeling of coming to familiar places and memories, but feeling the distance and the passage of time.

Modern research is split over whether nostalgia is good for us. For some, yearning for the past can create anxiety and distress; for others, it can be a resource to create a stronger sense of self.

I believe the Odyssey acknowledges that nostalgia works both ways: It helps us remember who we were and drives us to navigate that uncomfortable space between our memories and our identities. The Odyssey works against the individualism of the basic heroic myth to help audiences think about how other people matter to us and how the stories we tell each other confirm and create who we are.
Australians may have shown their passion for spending on fashion over the past 12 months, but its been a rough year for plus-sized clothing outlet City Chic Collective.

The company is one of the most globally focused retailers on the Australian Securities Exchange and has significant ambitions to capture a larger slice of the $180 billion plus-sized womens fashion market, making numerous acquisitions over the past few years.

City Chic CEO Phil Ryan says the landscape the business operates in has become more competitive. Credit: Janie Barrett

Its share price has cratered from $5.03 at the start of 2022 to 53 this week  a decline of 89 per cent  and management has been warning investors since last year that the company is caught in volatile trading conditions, particularly overseas.

City Chic, which has 90 stores in Australia and New Zealand as well as operating the Avenue fashion business in the US, now generates 56 per cent of its sales in the northern hemisphere.
Commodities have the strongest outlook of any asset class in 2023, with a perfect macroeconomic environment and critically low inventories for almost every key raw material, according to the head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs.

This year has started with a pullback in prices driven by warm weather shock and rising interest rates, Jeff Currie said at a presentation in London on Monday. But demand in China starting to rebound and theres insufficient investment in supply, meaning the year as a whole will be a Goldilocks moment for rising prices, he said.

You cannot come up with a more bullish concoction for commodities, Currie said. Lack of supply is apparent in every single market you look at, whether it is inventories at critical operating levels or production capacity exhausted.

Goldman Sachs is bullish on the outlook for global commodities. Credit: AP

Currie sees parallels with the record run-up in commodities prices from 2007 to 2008. The only exception, he said, is European natural gas, where inventories look sufficient to get through this year.
An e-scooter has caught fire in a south-east Queensland house, setting the home on fire and forcing the family to go to hospital for treatment.

Paramedics were assessing four people. Credit: Jocelyn Garcia

Emergency services were called to Nelson Street in Bundamba about 6.15am on Tuesday.

One man in his 40s was rushed to Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital in a serious condition with significant smoke inhalation.

A woman in her 30s and two young children were taken to Ipswich Hospital for smoke inhalation, all in stable conditions.
TIRANA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of the governments of China and Albania signed here on Monday an agreement on mutual visa exemption for officials and citizens alike.

The agreement was signed by Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding and Albania's Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Megi Fino.

It means that no matter what kind of passport they hold, citizens of both China and Albania can enter each other's country without a visa.

In 2018 and 2019, Albania implemented a visa-free policy for Chinese citizens who arrived in the country for short visits during the busy tourist seasons. The following year, Albania allowed short-term visit for Chinese citizens without a visa. 
Dramatic photos showing the charred remains of e-scooters in the aftermath of fires and explosions have been released, as Queensland firefighters are called to almost one blaze caused by a lithium-ion battery each week.

The latest e-scooter house fire resulted in four people being hospitalised in Ipswich and followed another fire in Darra last week. Last year a man died during a caravan fire believed to have been started by an e-scooter battery.

The remains of an e-scooter after a fire. Credit: Queensland Fire and Emergency Services

Over the past six months, Queensland firefighters have been called to 24 house fires linked to lithium-ion batteries, with 48 in 2021-22.

As the popularity of private e-scooters rises, authorities have explained how their owners can avoid falling victim to a fire or explosion.
Worker shortage putting increasing pressure on businesses

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The decision for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines has taken on a life of its own, divorced from disciplined considerations such as cost, effectiveness, and alternatives. At best, the decision is ill-considered. At worst, its Treasury-busting lunacy.

Former head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Peter Jennings has claimed that Australias purchase of the subs  eight in total at an estimated cost of an additional $20 billion per year, out to about 2050  is necessary to deter China. Thats a big call in a number of ways.

Illustration Credit: Dionne Gain

In particular, what would the submarines deter China from doing? Is it to deter China from attacking Australia? There is no evidence that China even dreams of such a misadventure.

Australia is thousands of kilometres from China, and its approaches are characterised by maritime choke points and potential killing zones. Thats thousands of kilometres where its forces would be exposed to attack; thousands of kilometres of stretched supply lines requiring enormous and sophisticated logistics.
Money laundering, addiction and ruined lives: how a powerful lobby group has set up a multibillion-dollar industry.

Powerful banking executive Anna Bligh says the industry is ready to implement a cashless gaming solution, with hundreds of thousands of Australians already seeking self-exclusion tools on personal cards with the big four banks.

Bligh, the head of the industrys lobby group, said if the initiative was legislated banks would assist in its rollout, adding they were deeply aware of the harm caused by problem gambling.

Australian Banking Association boss Anna Bligh says banks are ready to implement a cashless gaming solution. Credit: Louise Kennerley

Should the NSW government legislate for this initiative, banks will, of course, engage with the government at an appropriate time and assist with implementation where possible, the Australian Banking Association boss said.

The future of the states gaming industry is firming as a key state election issue after NSW Labor vowed to cut the number of poker machines and launch a mandatory cashless gaming trial of 500 machines to counter the Perrottet governments pledge to enact sweeping gambling reform.
A Melbourne hairdresser has been ordered to pay significant costs to the family of a decorated World War II veteran after failing to win her battle for a significant portion of his $3.5 million estate, including the family home.

Norman William Maddock died in June 2020 aged 97. He had suffered a series of falls and been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder, paranoid ideation, cognitive difficulties and low mood in the two years before his death.

World War II veteran Norman Maddock and Marcia Reynolds.

In the 15 months before he died, Maddock changed his will three times, each time giving more assets and control of his estate to his friend, Marcia Reynolds (nee Bailey).

Last June, the Supreme Court of Victorias Justice Kate McMillan found Maddocks solicitor should have been more suspicious about Reynolds motives, saying the evidence suggested Reynolds was pushing the outcome of Maddock giving her his family home.
Climate change activist Greta Thunberg detained in Germany for second time

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Stanadyne is planning to triple its sales revenue from its India operations to about Rs 1,100 crore by 2027, Pinson told Business Standard. US-based auto parts maker Stanadyne is exploring a few locations in western and northern India to establish its second plant in the country. For this, the company plans an investment of Rs 200 crore, said its chief executive officer (CEO) John Pinson.



Stanadynes only plant in India is in Chennai and it employs about 700 people. The company manufactures fuel pumps and fuel injectors for agricultural and commercial vehicles. It sells them to automobile companies such as Bajaj Auto, Greaves, TAFE and Simpson.



Out of its total India revenues, about 75 per cent come from exports and only about 25 per cent from domestic consumption. The Chennai plant currently sends products to companies in Italy, the US, Mexico, China and Turkey. The revenue coming from India accounts for about 30 per cent of the companys total global revenue, Pinson said. About 60 per cent of Stanadynes total global revenues come from the US.

Also Read Sundram Fasteners wins $250 mn international contract to supply EV parts Indian consumers concerned about residual value of EV battery: Survey Auto firms have foot on price pedal, even as commodity costs tail off Maruti Suzuki's car transportation through rail doubles in five years Maruti Suzuki transported record 320,000 units via railways in 2022



This (expected domestic growth) is due to the fact that Stanadyne India is gearing up to launch new products for the Indian emission regulations. These products will start adding to the sales revenue in a phased manner. Stanadyne expects domestic and export market revenues from India to be 50 per cent each by 2027 as domestic demand for its products is rising, he said.



Real driving emission (RDE) norms, under which auto companies have to install a self-diagnostic device in their models to monitor emissions real-time, will be implemented in India from April this year. We will also benefit due to the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) volume growth expected in India. The combined effect will be that the domestic share will contribute 50 per cent, he said.


The deal is one of the largest won by an Indian supplier for this range of products of an EV platform, said Sundram Fasteners Ltd (SFL). The company plans to invest Rs 200 crore to support the new order under a six-year long purchase package, involving shaft sub-assemblies and drive gear sub-assemblies . . The international companys name was not disclosed. Sundram Fasteners, which serves original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and automakers, said on Tuesday it had won a $250-million contract by an international company to supply sub-assemblies for an electric vehicle (EV) platform.

The company said it will ship the parts from its powertrain divisions in Mahindra World City in Chengalpattu, Tamil Nadu, and Sri City in Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. The parts will be serviced from the companys warehouse in North America. Sundram Fasteners has estimated an annual sales peak of $52 million in 2026 with a supply of 1.5 million drive unit sub-assemblies per annum. .



The sub-assemblies will be used in the EV models like mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), battery electric vehicles (BEV), covering various segments including mid-size trucks, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and sedans. We are extremely delighted to win this prestigious award that marks a significant milestone in our Companys history. The $250-million supply contract, one of the largest in India, is a further testimony to our commitment to manufacture and supply high-quality industry-leading products such as sub-assemblies, which are used widely in various segments of the EV sector, said Arathi Krishna, managing director, Sundram Fasteners.

Also Read Sundram Fasteners' net profit rises 14.5% to Rs 138.03 cr during June qtr Auto component firm Sundram Fasteners posts 6% dip in Q2 net profit Smart fasteners are not just nuts and bolts Top headlines: Vehicle sales up 8% in Aug; Fitch affirms rating for 4 NBFCs EVs need the spark of regulation in India to accelerate transition: Experts Indian consumers concerned about residual value of EV battery: Survey Auto firms have foot on price pedal, even as commodity costs tail off Maruti Suzuki's car transportation through rail doubles in five years Maruti Suzuki transported record 320,000 units via railways in 2022 Triton EV to acquire AMW Motors' Bhuj manufacturing plant for Rs 210 crore

The Companys vast experience in manufacturing intricate products involving complex engineering will be aligned with the specific requirements of new customers under the contract and help them achieve superior performance parameters, it said in a statement.
Photo: Shahzid Chauhan

Muzaffar Ali's The Cheetahs in Main Art Gallery. (Photo: Shahzid Chauhan)

Maqaam at Bikaner House. (Photo: Shahzid Chauhan)

Also Read Art as investment: How to build a collection that will last in value Reliance Retail launches lifestyle departmental store format Centro Paintings, photos, passion: How to build an art collection for your home Centre lays down 75-point climate-friendly agenda under Mission LiFE Opposition parties treated Muslims as a vote bank, says Basit Ali SIDBI to partner with AMFI to support Bengal's women entrepreneurs Coal India subsidiary NCL to start M-Sand production, says ministry Amazon secures $8 bn in term loan to safeguard against economic headwinds Where's the New Year's party? It's everywhere, across restaurants & resorts Most of RFL lenders approve Rs 2.3k-cr OTS plan, on track to restart biz

Awaaz e Ishq. (Photo: Shahzid Chauhan)

This cold January, the walls of Bikaner House in Delhi are alive with frames from the life of the multifaceted Muzaffar Ali.On display are some 100 artworks spread through 11 sections of this beautiful heritage building, which was once the house of the maharaja of Bikaner and is now a vibrant cultural centre on the India Gate hexagon.Muzaffar Ali, 78, is a man who has journeyed to many destinations, and his artworks  paintings, collages, installations, furniture  capture five decades of that creative journey. So it is only apt that each of these sections should be called Makaam (destination).Through these works you see the filmmaker, the poet, the thinker, and the traveller who is captivated by the wonder of nature  with leaves, stones and horses holding a special place in his world. You also get a glimpse of the designer (in another lifetime, Muzaffar Ali was even involved in designing uniforms for the Air India crew and the interiors of its aircraft).So where does one start the tour of Muzaffar Ali: Mystic Journeys in Art?Perhaps from the gallery of leaves, a symphony in the soothing shades of the earth that could be read as an ode to eternity. The dried leaves and the aged barks, which are central to these paintings, tell you it is autumn, the magic of which the artist is celebrating. Autumn, after all, holds within it the promise of spring.A self-taught artist and a geology graduate from Aligarh Muslim University, Muzaffar Ali, whose subjects included botany, is clearly a keen observer of nature. The cheetah watching from one of the paintings is just another proof of that.The House of Kotwara, the couture brand he founded in 1990 and which is named after his home some 160 km from Lucknow, is also referenced in this exhibition through installations in the corridor leading to the room of leaves.Head to a different wing of Bikaner House and among the first things you encounter is a small painting of his father, Raja S Sajid Husain of Kotwara with his 1924 Rover outside La Martiniere College, Lucknow, and the photograph it recreates. On the wall running alongside the wooden staircase near the entrance is another one, this time of the Raja with his 1929 Isotta Fraschini in Scotland.Now, is it even possible to talk about Muzaffar Ali and not mention Gaman, his 1978 directorial debut that captured the despondent lives of migrants struggling to find a foothold in a big city? Or skip Umrao Jaan (1981) altogether?So intense is the hangover of these films that curator Uma Nair thought it best to put the Portraits section right in the beginning  so that people can see them and then move on to the many other things Muzaffar Ali is about, she says, laughing.So, there is a painting of Umrao Jaan (Rekha), her face and hand glowing in an otherwise dark composition. Theres also Khairun Nissa (Smita Patil from Gaman), her eyes looking down, reminiscent of the films last scene when she slowly closes the door after yet another day of a hopeless wait for her migrant, Ghulam Hasan (Farooq Shaikh). And, there is one  a vertical frame  of his muse, his wife Meera.
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Sheetal Sapale, president (marketing), AIOCD-AWACS said that at least 40 more brands are expected to be launched in this category, leading to a price erosion of at least 50 per cent. Indias Rs 20,000-crore cardiac drug market is in for a shake-up as generic launches of Novartis heart-failure drug Vymada begin. Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Monday announced the launch of their own brand of Sacubitril-valsartan tablets Sacu V, priced between Rs 19-35 per tablet.



According to IQVIA sales data, as of December 2022 moving annual turnover (MAT), the total cardiology market is estimated to be Rs 20,730 crore, growing at 7.7 per cent. The market for sacubitril-valsartan combination is estimated to be Rs 514 crore, with an annual growth of 37.2 per cent. Earlier in December, JB Pharma, which had acquired the Azmarda brand from Novartis AG, Switzerland for the India region for a consideration of Rs 246 crores in April 2022, had slashed its prices by half to Rs 39.6 per tablet. Only four companies were marketing Novartis drug in India who had acquired the brands from the innovator  Mankind, Dr Reddys Laboratories, JB Pharma apart from Novartis itself. Now, a slew of generic makers is set to enter.





The patents of the Entresto fixed-dose combination of sacubitril-valsartan expired on January 16. In a breather to Indian drug makers, the Delhi High Court has advised the assistant patent controller to hear Hyderabad-based drugmaker Natco Pharmas opposition to Novartis patent for the latters heart failure drug (a combination of sacubitril and valsartan).

Also Read Breather for Natco in Novartis cardiac drug case from Delhi High Court Price war begins for Novartis cardiac drug as JB Pharma cuts rate by 50% Bayer launches novel heart failure drug Verquvo for Rs 127 a pill Sun Pharma's Q1 margins likely to be hit on elevated input costs: Analysts Sun Pharma Q1 net profit soars 43% YoY to Rs 2,061 cr; revenue up 10% Gera Developments buys land in Pune for themed residential project PepsiCo plans to expand operation in Hyderabad, to add 1,200 workers Network18 posts Rs 76.8 mn net loss in December quarter amid ad slowdown Glenmark Pharmaceuticals launches drug to treat heart failure in India Lenders select Ramkrishna Forgings resolution plan for ailing JMT Auto



Alok Malik, executive vice-president and business head, India Formulations, Glenmark Pharma said, Heart failure is growing in India at an alarming rate; its prevalence is about 1 per cent and affects around 8-10 million individuals. Sacu V will be an affordable treatment option for patients for a drug that has shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalisation and to improve symptoms associated with heart failure. This decision by the court opens the door for Indian pharma players to launch their generic versions of the heart failure drug Vymada (sold globally as Entresto). Had the court upheld Novartis latest patent, it could have potentially scuttled the plans of several Indian drug companies to launch their generic versions of this popular cardiac drug.



Meanwhile, Indias price regulator is keeping a close watch on key drugs going off-patent. The Centre and the industry are working on a pricing mechanism for drugs that are going off-patent. The sacubitril-valsartan combination is currently prescribed to 30-35 per cent of heart failure patients, and doctors believe that this share can go up to 50-60 per cent with the right pricing.

While a final decision is yet to be made, the pricing mechanism is likely to set a ceiling price for drugs going off patent at 50 percent of the innovator price. Add to this, if there is any other drug which is already under price control in combination with the patented molecule, then one may take a ceiling price which is 20 per cent lower than the prevailing ceiling price, an industry source explained.




As part of the engagement with Infosys, JNTU-K will offer e-content on their website including self-learning material, assignments and projects, powered by Infosys Springboard, to accelerate digital skills development. Infosys today announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University  Kakinada (JNTU-K) to accelerate digital and life skills development across India through its online learning platform, Infosys Springboard.



Dr. G.V.R. Prasada Raju , Vice Chancellor, JNTU-K, said, We seek to improve the employability of the youth of Andhra Pradesh by providing them exposure to cutting edge technologies such as data analytics, mobility, AI, ML and cloud. We offer them extensive training through experiential and collaborative learning delivered via e-learning platforms along with opportunities for industry networking and access to research. JNTU-K has introduced 8 skill-oriented courses in collaboration with Infosys. Industry-relevant content will be made available, through Infosys Springboard, to 200+ affiliated institutions impacting about 1.5 lakh students. This will benefit not just students but members of their faculty too, to help implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, said the company in a press release.



Since its launch, Infosys Springboard continues to expand its reach to learners by growing its thriving community to more than 3.5 million registered users. Through its academia-industry collaboration initiative, Campus Connect, over 1,000 higher educational institutions have registered on the Infosys Springboard platform. Infosys, in line with its ESG Vision 2030, aims to enable digital skills at scale and empower over 10 million people in India through the Infosys Springboard program. We are delighted to collaborate with JNTU-K to support a generation of enthusiastic learners who have a strong aspiration to participate in our digital future. We are confident that this collaboration will contribute massively to the advancement of technical education in India and help youth build industry-relevant skills in a rapidly transforming world, said, Thirumala Arohi, Senior Vice President and Head  Education, Training and Assessment at Infosys.


The company has signed a binding term sheet to acquire 100 per cent of the share capital (on a fully diluted basis) of Sproutlife in tranches, expected to be completed over a period of 3 to 4 years. Diversified conglomerate, ITC, said on Tuesday, it would acquire 100 per cent of Sproutlife Foods Private Limited, makers of Yoga Bar healthy foods.



A further infusion of Rs 80 crore would be made through primary subscription, in one or more tranches, by March 31, 2025 or later. In an exchange filing, ITC said that acquisition of 47.5 per cent was on a fully diluted basis through primary subscription and secondary purchases. An initial investment of Rs 175 crore would be made for acquisition of 39.4 per cent, which is expected to be completed by February 15, 2023 or a later date mutually agreed upon.



The acquisition of Yoga Bar, which has a strong online presence, comes on the back of ITCs investments in D2C brands, Mylo and Mother Sparsh over the past one year. Purchase of balance shares taking the shareholding to 100 per cent would be determined based on pre-agreed valuation criteria and subject to fulfilment of various terms and conditions.

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Positioned as a digital first brand, Yoga Bar has a high salience of online sales (D2C, e-commerce platforms), with a growing presence in offline stores. According to a ITC statement, Yoga Bar has established itself as a leader in the bars segment and has built a strong market position in the muesli segment. The Yoga Bar acquisition, ITC said, would fortify its presence in the Rs 45,000 crore fast growing, nutrition-led healthy foods space. Its product portfolio comprises nutrition bars, muesli, oats and cereals.



Commenting on the acquisition, Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive, Foods Division, ITC Limited, stated, We believe that this investment is an exciting opportunity that aligns with ITCs Foods Business aspiration to build a formidable portfolio in the nutrition-led healthy foods space. The acquisition would also enable ITC to augment portfolio in the good for you space, which currently includes Aashirvaad multigrain atta, Aashirvaad Natures Super Foods, Farmlite range of biscuits, Sunfeast protein shake, B Natural Nutrilite ABC Beverage, among others. And leveraging ITC strengths in sales and distribution, sourcing, product development and digital, it is expected to be scaled up rapidly.



Suhasini Sampath Kumar and Anindita Sampath Kumar, co-founders, said, ITC has a long history of building world-class brands, leveraging its core competencies which encompass superior understanding of the consumer, strong backward linkages with agri supply chain and a deep and wide distribution network. We look forward to scaling the Yoga Bar brand offering superior and healthy consumer choices.



Post-pandemic there has been a growing interest in the D2C space. In December, Hindustan Unilever announced its entry into Indias health and wellbeing category by signing a deal to acquire a majority stake in Zywie Ventures, which sells plant based and clean-label consumer wellness brand under the brand name Oziva for Rs 264.28 crores. We are confident that this partnership will add to Yoga Bars competitive advantage and take it to the next level from the current Annualised Run Rate of over Rs 100 crore. We are delighted that ITC and Yoga Bar will work together to build one of the largest brands in the healthy foods space.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday ordered the immediate closure of a distillery and ethanol plant in Ferozepur after a months-long agitation against the unit by local villagers.

Alleging that the distillery was polluting groundwater in several villages and causing air pollution, the villagers staged demonstrations in front of the plant for the past six months under the banner of Sanjha Zira Morcha.

In a video message announcing the distillery's closure, Mann said, "For purity of Punjab's water, air and its land, and keeping in view the interests of the people, after consulting legal experts, I announce that orders have been issued to shut down the liquor factory in Zira with immediate effect.

"In future, too, if anyone takes law into one's hands, be it concerning pollution norms, laws related to mining or the Transport department, any law framed by the government, if anyone violates that deliberately or for any vested interests or for economic gain causes harm, no matter how big (powerful) that person may be, will not be spared."



The Samyukt Kisan Morcha had also expressed solidarity with the agitating Ferozepur villagers.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday made a statement on India's presidency of G20 at the party's national executive meeting as he asserted that the country's image has transformed globally in the last nine years of the Narendra Modi-led government.

During the convention, a statement on "garib kalyan" (ruling party's welfare policies) at the Centre and in states where it is in power was also made, with BJP Parliamentary Board member Sudha Yadav dismissing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's criticism about concentration of wealth.

Gandhi keeps raising the same issue without looking at figures about crores of people benefitting from the government's welfare policies, she said, accusing him of making false claims.

The attention given to the SC, ST, poor and backwards in the last nine years is unprecedented, she said.

Briefing reporters on the statement made by Jaishankar in the closed-door meeting, BJP vice president Baijayant Jay Panda quoted the minister, saying the world's view of India has changed in the last nine years.

When the Covid pandemic broke, there were concerns that India will be one country which may not manage it but now the G20 and the world in general is "full of admiration" as it not only dealt with the crisis but also reached out with help to other countries, he said.

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India used to depend on other countries during earlier crisis but it not only met the challenges of the pandemic on its own but also helped others, Jaishankar said.

Panda said BJP workers will in their individual capacity work to connect the society as the country hosts over 200 G20-related events over 50 places. It is an opportunity to connect the society and showcase India's progress and its rich heritage as delegates from not only the elite bloc of 20 leading economies but also many multilateral bodies like IMF will visit the country, he added.

India has also succeeded in keeping its economy strong, he said.

The statement on the welfare policies was made by Samrat Chaudhary, an OBC leader who heads the party's legislators in the Bihar legislative council.

Speaking to reporters on its content, Yadav said Modi had asserted that his government will be dedicated to the poor, deprived and backwards after he assumed office in 2014 and that he has worked to ensure it since then through a host of welfare policies.

"It was the Modi government under which the direct benefit transfer was used to help crores of the people receive money in their bank accounts even during the pandemic. Right from 'Har Ghar Jal', 'Housing for All' and the farmers' welfare policies, the Modi government has touched every segment of the society," she said.

From providing housing, electricity and water to the poor, it has launched numerous schemes to help different segments of the society. BJP governments in different states have also worked on these lines, she said.


Justice C Hari Shankar, while hearing the lawsuit by Subway IP LLC on Monday, said "Subway" and "Suberb", when used in the context of eateries serving submarine sandwiches, were not "deceptively similar" and their lettering, font and appearance were also easily distinguishable from each other.

The Delhi High Court has refused to restrain the sale of sandwiches under the name "Suberb" by a Delhi-based outlet, saying the global restaurant chain Subway cannot claim monopoly over the term "sub". The term, it said, was used widely by eateries for submarine sandwiches.



"Subway and Suberb, when used in the context of eateries serving submarine sandwiches are not, therefore, deceptively similar, as 'Sub' is publici juris (of public right) and common to the trade, and 'way' and 'erb' are neither phonetically nor otherwise similar. After the modifications undertaken by the defendant, the appearance of the defendant's red and white mark cannot be said to be deceptively similar to any of the plaintiff's," said the court in its order.

Rejecting Subway's plea for interim injunction against the Delhi-based outlet, the judge said "sub" was an abbreviation for "Submarine", which represented a well-known variety of long-bodied sandwiches, and it could not be said the defendant's "Suberb" mark infringed the "Subway" wordmark.



The high court also observed that there was substance in the defendant's contention that the "Subway" brand was so well-known that there was "hardly any chance that a person who wished to partake from a Subway outlet would walk into a Suberb outlet".

"No exclusivity can be claimed by the petitioner over the first part of its registered Subway mark, i.e, 'Sub'. The plaintiff cannot claim a monopoly over all two-syllable word of which the first syllable is 'Sub', especially when used in the context of eateries which serve sandwiches and similar items," it added.

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It also said the plaintiff did not hold any registration in respect to the "S" logo and it therefore could not allege any infringement in that regard. It added that the defendant had modified the decor, layout, wall hanging, menu cards and uniforms of the staff and its outlets so as not to retain any similarity with the plaintiff in this regard.



The court also rejected Subway's contention with respect to the infringement of its registered trademarks "Subway Club" and "Veggie Delite", noting that the defendant had changed the name of its sandwiches to "Veg Loaded Regular" and "Torta Club" and "quite obviously" the marks could not be said to be similar.

(With agency inputs)
The nearly 60,000 Covid-related deaths China reported for the first five weeks of its current outbreak, the largest the world has ever seen, may underestimate the true toll by hundreds of thousands of fatalities, experts were quoted as saying in a media report.

China's abrupt pivot from Covid Zero in early December (2022) unleashed a surge of omicron infections and led to 59,938 virus-related deaths in the nation's hospitals through January 12, Bloomberg news agency reported, citing the figures disclosed by the National Health Commission.

While the number swamps the few dozen deaths previously recorded in the official tally - which drew widespread criticism both at home and abroad, including from the World Health Organization (WHO) - experts say it's still likely to be an underestimate given the enormous scale of the outbreak and the mortality rates seen at the height of omicron waves in other countries that initially pursued a Covid Zero strategy, the news agency reported.

"This reported number of Covid-19 deaths might be the tip of the iceberg," Zuo-Feng Zhang, chair of the department of epidemiology at the Fielding School of Public Health at University of California, Los Angeles was quoted by the news agency as saying.

While the figure is roughly in line with what Zhang estimated might be coming from the country's hospitals, he said it's only a fraction of the total Covid deaths across the country.

Using a report from the National School of Development at Peking University that found 64 per cent of the population was infected by mid-January, he estimated 900,000 people would have died in the previous five weeks based on a conservative 0.1 per cent case fatality rate. That means the official hospital death count is less than 7 per cent of the total mortality seen during the outbreak, the news agency reported.

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The official toll translates to 1.17 deaths daily for every million people in the country over the course of five weeks, according to a Bloomberg analysis. That's well below the average daily mortality rate seen in other countries that initially pursued Covid Zero or managed to contain the virus after relaxing their pandemic rules.

When omicron hit South Korea, daily deaths quickly climbed to nearly seven for every 1 million people. Australia and New Zealand saw mortality nearing or topping four per million a day during their first winters with omicron. Even Singapore, which had a well-planned and gradual shift away from its zero tolerance approach, had deaths peak at about two per million people daily.

"These figures would suggest that China is having a very mild wave, with very few deaths per case," Louise Blair, head of vaccines and epidemiology at the London-based predictive health analytics firm Airfinity, was quoted by the news agency as saying. "It would be the lowest of any country/region abandoning a zero Covid policy."

It could be that many of the country's deaths occurred in nursing care facilities or at home, explaining some of the undercount, Blair said, as China's latest disclosure only counted hospital deaths. Reports of overwhelmed crematoriums around the country suggest excess mortality is at a high level.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently spoke with Ma Xiaowei, the director of China's National Health Commission, about the Covid-19 situation in the country. "WHO appreciates this meeting, as well as the public release of information on the overall situation," the United Nations' health agency said in a statement.

Chinese officials have provided information to the WHO on a range of topics, including outpatient clinics, hospitalisations, patients requiring emergency treatment and critical care, and hospital deaths related to Covid-19 infection.

The WHO is currently analysing the information, which covers early December 2022 to 12 January 2023, and allows for a better understanding of the epidemiological situation and the impact of this wave in China.

--IANS

sha/
India and the UK will launch the Young Professionals Scheme next month that will allow degree-holding Indian nationals in the age group 18-30 years to live and work in Britain for up to two years.

The scheme would be launched on February 28, according to a Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) statement issued after the 15th India-UK Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) held here.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra led the Indian delegation while the British side was helmed by Philip Barton, Permanent Under-Secretary, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

Barton also called on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

"Discussed our expanding bilateral relationship, including progress under our Roadmap 2030 and global issues," Jaishankar said on Twitter after meeting Barton.

According to a UK government statement, Barton said, "I am delighted to be here in New Delhi, at the start of 2023, to underline the UK's commitment to the 2030 Roadmap for deepening cooperation with India. Through our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the UK and India are together playing a key role in tackling the biggest challenges facing the world today, including food and energy security, economic recovery post-Covid and preventing future pandemics."



He also said the UK and India are increasingly working together multilaterally, including with the World Health Organisation and the international community on potential malaria and ebola vaccines.

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"I was pleased to hear from Foreign Secretary Kwatra about India's ambitious plans for its G20 Presidency. India is at the heart of the Indo-Pacific region, where half the world's people live and 50% of global economic growth is produced. The UK is committed to working closely with India in making its Presidency a success," he said.

During the FOC, Barton and Kwatra appreciated that letters formalizing the Young Professional Scheme were exchanged on the occasion of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on January 9 in London.

The UK-India Young Professionals Scheme will offer 3,000 places annually to 18 to 30 years old degree-educated Indian nationals to come to the UK to live and work for up to two years.

The programme will be reciprocal, also allowing UK professionals in the same position to participate in a professional exchange by living and working in India.

India overtook China as the largest source country for student visas issued by the UK in the 12 months ending June 2022, according to UK Home Office statistics.

The MEA statement said that India and the UK share a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, with the adoption of Roadmap 2030 for Future Relations.

The FOC provided an opportunity to review the progress made in the implementation of Roadmap 2030 despite the restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic, it added.

Both sides discussed issues like trade & economic cooperation, defence & security, science & technology, people-to-people relationship, health and climate change, the statement said.

The statement said that both India and the UK aspire for early conclusion of a balanced and comprehensive India-UK FTA that may intensify the economic engagement between the fifth and the sixth biggest global economies.

The two sides also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest, including Afghanistan, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, Commonwealth and United Nations, it said.

The UK appreciated India's contribution at the UN Security Council in 2021-22 as a non-permanent member and reiterated its support for UNSC reforms.

Britain also commended India's priorities as President of G20 this year as it looked forward to its participation. ?



Both sides agreed to maintain regular exchanges at political and senior official levels and hold the next FOC in London in 2024, the statement said.
Kerala Higher Education Minister Dr R Bindu on Tuesday said that the government is considering granting menstrual leaves in all the state varsities as recently announced by the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT).

The CUSAT on Saturday announced to grant menstrual leaves to its female students.

"Considering the mental and physical difficulties faced by female students during menstruation, the Kerala government is planning to extend this to all universities under the State Higher Education Department," Bindu said in a press release issued from her office today.

Menstrual leave was implemented in the CUSAT on the basis of demand from the student union led by SFI, the release said.

The CUSAT on Saturday announced an additional 2 per cent of condonation of shortage of attendance to female students in each semester on requests for "menstruation benefits" to female students.

Usually, only students who have 75 per cent attendance of the total working days will be allowed to appear for each semester examination. With menstrual leave giving two per cent condonation of shortage of attendance, the mandatory attendance would be brought down to 73 per cent for women students.

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A proposal from CUSAT Students Union and various students' organisations was formally submitted to the Vice-Chancellor recently and it was approved following which an order was issued, the varsity has said.
Light to moderate rain and a hailstorm with winds gusting up to 50 kilometers per hour is predicted to lash northwest India, including Delhi, next week, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday. The IMD said an active Western Disturbance is very likely to affect northwest India from January 21 to January 25. ...Read More


In his written submissions, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the entire argument of the AAP government about lack of power proceeds as if the Central Government is interfering in the legislative and administrative field of a full-fledged "State", violating the federal structure.

The Centre told the Supreme Court on Tuesday a fiction is being created by way of a public perception that the Delhi government has absolutely no control over the officers and employees working in the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.



"So far as the control is concerned, almost a fiction is created by way of a public perception that they have absolutely no control over the officers and employees working in GNCTD.This is fictional perception and far from truth," Mehta said in his submissions. "In the case of NCT of Delhi, the functional control vests in the elected wing and all officers/employees are required to function under the administrative control and supervision of the elected wing and implementing the programmes and policies of the elected wing which would reflect the wish and the will of the electorate, while the administrative control is vested both constitutionally and other in the President who exercises the same through the Lt. Governor.



A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud is hearing submissions on the Centre-Delhi government row over control of services.

Explaining the position of Delhi, Mehta said all All India Service officers, DANICS officers and all other officers working for GNCTD are under the functional control of the Ministers concerned, the Chief Minister of GNCTD and the Council of Ministers. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud is hearing submissions on the Centre-Delhi government row over control of services.

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"So far as the all senior and middle level officers are concerned (who are under the functional control of the elected Government and through whom the will and wish of the electorate in terms of the programmes and policies of the Government are to be implemented), their APAR are under direct control of the Chief Minister of Delhi either as reporting authority, reviewing authority or accepting authority," it said.

"Secondly, for any officer, the most important element of his service is career progression in terms of promotion which is based upon the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR).



The Centre had earlier told the top court the Constitution never contemplated a separate service cadre for Union Territories (UT), which are a mere extension of Union of India, and persons working in the UTs are working in "services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union".

The functional control for undertaking the government business lies with the minister concerned and for this purpose IAS officers and all other officers report to the minister, Mehta said.
Precious Melodies: If Martin Luther King, Jr. had a Playlist NEWS PROVIDED BY

Alveda King Ministries

Jan. 16, 2023



ATLANTA, Jan. 16, 2023 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by Dr. Alveda King, she is available for comment: Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Around the country, all of the memorials and community service days will, for a few hours, unify the nation. Under the brilliant glow of my uncle's words and the memory of his actions, many Americans will set aside our differences and work together.







Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy is universally celebrated. Few figures in modern history collectively bring people of divergent views together. I may be biased because he's my "Uncle ML," but you have to be a truly miserable person not to appreciate the good that his living gave to the world. His legendary "one blood" (Acts 17:26) declaration of one human race still resonates.



When I think of the areas that influenced Uncle ML, I must consider the music that engulfed our lives and the family home on Auburn Ave. The music was rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel music tradition of the Black church is the playlist of my life. It was the playlist of my uncle's life. Gospel music derived from the hard struggle of the African-American community combined with the truth of scripture was a source of comfort and inspiration for my uncle; and remains the same for me today.



Our family has sacrificed many lives on the altar of justice for this nation. In 1974, my beautiful grandmother Alberta Williams King was assassinated as she sat at the church organ while playing "The Lord's Prayer." That was the same year I published my first song - Let Freedom Ring.



As we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy, I want to look to the music that gave him courage in the darkest hours. Even on the day he was assassinated, the last request he made was to Ben Branch when he asked Branch to play Take My Hand, Precious Lord. His dear friend songstress Mahalia Jackson's recording of the song remains a classic today. It's quite possible that Branch already had that tune prepared to play that day because it was one of my uncle's favorites.



Many people are not familiar with the history of the song. Today it is celebrated and heralded around the globe. But it was not immediately accepted by the Christian community because of its roots. Take My Hand, Precious Lord was written by Thomas A. Dorsey, a musician who honed his craft performing blues and jazz. He rose to fame touring with Ma Rainey, who was not known for her wholesome concerts.



Like most extraordinary works of art, the song was conceived and born through tragedy. Dorsey wrote the song after he lost his wife to childbirth and his infant son within 24 hours.



The song speaks to the pain and anguish of a dark night that can only be conquered with God's hand. My uncle had many such nights and days as he worked to save the soul of America.



Already 2023 has brought my share of pain and anguish to my door. Two of my sweet "sisters in Christ"- Civil Rights icon Cleo Orange and freedom fighter Diamond (of Diamond and Silk) - have passed away. They will be missed. May God comfort and heal all of us who mourn. I find myself seeking comfort in prayers, scripture and favorite hymns.



In my book King Rules, I conclude with a chapter: If MLK Could Tweet. Today I honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with an addendum: If MLK Had a Playlist. Headlining this list is of course Precious Lord.



My upcoming album Freedom Melodies - to be released for Black History Month on February 3, 2023 - will highlight other favorites.



For a sneak preview, enjoy a fresh take on the 20th century Civil Rights anthem We Have Overcome.







Also, in tribute to the Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dream, I've covered The Impossible Dream. I am grateful that my Uncle M.L. taught us that, in God's hands, the Dream isn't so impossible after all.



The Impossible Dream - Alveda King Ministries



"I have a dream; it is rooted in the American Dream." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



Finally my friends, today for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday and the March for Life quickly following, I pray God's blessings for you and everyone. Let faith, hope and love guide you in the days ahead.



For more information on the King Family Legacy, including news about my parents Rev. AD and Naomi King, please check out King Family Legacy Featured Documentaries. Our ministry is funded by generous individuals like yourself. We have many ongoing projects that help us to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a world much in need of His message. Please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Alveda King Ministries.



About Alveda King:

Alveda C. King, PhD, serves as Chair of the America First Policy Institute's Center for the American Dream. She is the daughter of the late slain civil rights activist Rev. A. D. King and the niece of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as a Christian evangelist; graduate of Aidan University; and is founder of SPEAK FOR LIFE, and ALVEDA KING MINISTRIES (www.alvedaking.com). Dr. King is also an acclaimed author, Fox News Channel contributor, Fox Nation host, NEWSMAX blog contributor, twice elected to GA State House, past presidential appointee, 2021 recipient of the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a film and music industry veteran.



SOURCE Alveda King Ministries



CONTACT: Brian Mayes, 615-771-2040, brian@nashvillepublicity.com



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Pakistan's top election body has suspended the membership of 271 lawmakers across the country for not submitting their statements of assets and liabilities.

The statements have to be filed by December 31 every year, and the lawmakers were directed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit their financial statements up to June 30, 2022, by January 16, 2023. It also warned that failing to submit the financial statements would result in the suspension of their respective memberships.

The ECP said on Monday that those targeted include 136 Members of the National Assembly, 21 senators, and 114 Members of Provincial Assemblies.
Relations between South Korea and Japan have shown a clear trend of improvement recently following a period of "deep ordeal" in the past few years, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a message on Tuesday.

"Relations between South Korea and Japan went through the most difficult and deepest ordeal for the past few years, but they are showing a clear trend of improvement recently," Yoon said in the message, read by First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, at a joint Seoul conference of the two countries' private panels on helping develop bilateral relations.

Yoon stressed South Korea and Japan are "the closest and most important neighbors" that need to cooperate in all fields, including security and the economy. The president added the Seoul government will continue to make efforts toward "practical improvements" of the relations, Yonhap news agency reported.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also pledged to work toward improving bilateral ties in his message delivered by Koichi Aiboshi, Japan's ambassador to South Korea.

Kishida said he will maintain close communications with Yoon for a prompt resolution for pending issues.

Yoon has repeatedly expressed a commitment to improve the bilateral relationship in a departure from his liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in. The two neighbours have stepped up efforts to improve security cooperation against North Korea's provocations and threats.

Also Read China's legislator to meet S Korea leaders for talks on Seoul-Beijing ties Leaders of South Korea, Japan agree to work towards improving partnerships Seoul announces additional sanctions on Pyongyang for missile tests Leaders of South Korea, Japan agree to mend ties frayed over colonial past Kim threatens to use nuclear weapons amid tensions with US, S Korea Energy war, chip-battle, Taiwan in focus at WEF in a turbulent world order US military's expanded training for Ukraine forces begins in Germany Ahead of Jaishankar's visit, Sri Lanka Prez assures to fully implement 13A Iran to get Russian Su-35 fighters in next Iranian year, says lawmaker Like India said, 13A should be implemented: Sri Lanka president

--IANS

int/sha
In a major development, Pakistan-based deputy leader of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) Abdul Rehman Makki has been designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations, subjecting him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

The UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee added 68-year-old Makki, the brother-in-law of JUD/LeT Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, to its list of designated terrorists on Monday after China withdrew its hold on a joint proposal by India and the US.

Makki and other LeT/JUD operatives have been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalising youth to violence and planning attacks in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), the sanctions committee said, providing a statement for the reasons of Makki's listing.

Makki, born in Bahawalpur, Punjab Province of Pakistan, is the deputy chief of LeT and head of the political affairs wing of JUD/LeT.

According to a press release issued here, Makki also served as head of LeT's foreign relations department and member of Shura (governing body).

The UNSC 1267 Sanctions Committee said Makki, wanted by the Indian Government, was listed as being associated with ISIL or Al-Qaida for participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of, recruiting for, otherwise supporting acts or activities of, and either owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by, or otherwise supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Also Read Significant increase in presence of ISIL-K in Afghanistan: India tells UNSC Suspected LeT terrorist arrested in Bengaluru, four others detained 3 LeT terrorists trapped in J&K's Budgam encounter with security forces China holds India, US proposal to list Shahid Mahmood as global terrorist Pakistan accepts LeT terrorist's body for first time in over 3 decades China's economic growth falls to 3% in 2022, not even half 2021's rate Ukraine set to get 3 bn euros from EU this week: PM Denys Shmyhal China's population shrinks for first time since 1960s in seismic shift US expands premium processing of various visa and green card categories India among few nations evolving food systems for farmer-allied SMEs: Study

Makki is a US-designated terrorist and a member of JUD's Markazi (Central) Team and Daawati (proselytisation) team.

Makki was arrested on May 15, 2019 by the Pakistan Government and was under house arrest in Lahore. In 2020, a Pakistani court convicted Makki of terrorism financing and sentenced him to prison, the sanctions committee said.

China, an all-weather friend of Islamabad, has repeatedly placed holds and blocks on bids by India and its allies to list Pakistan-based terrorists.

In June last year, China had put a hold, at the last moment, on a joint proposal by India and the US to list Makki, the brother-in-law of JUD/LeT Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, under the 1267 Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

The sanctions committee said that while Makki has held his leadership positions within LeT and JUD, the LeT has been responsible for or had involvement in prominent attacks including the Red Fort Attack in which six LeT terrorists had stormed Red Fort on December 22, 2000 and had opened indiscriminate fire on the security forces guarding the Fort.

In the Rampur Attack, five LeT terrorists had attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Rampur on January 1, 2008 in which seven CRPF personnel and a rickshaw puller were killed.

Describing the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks as the most audacious attack by LeT in India, the committee said 10 LeT terrorists from Pakistan entered via Arabian Sea in Mumbai with pre-decided targets out of which Amir Ajmal Kasab was caught alive, rest were killed.

In the Karan Nagar, Srinagar attack of February 12-13, 2018, LeT Fidayeen (suicide squad) stormed into CRPF (23 Battalion) camp at Karan Nagar area of Srinagar in which one CRPF trooper was killed one Policeman was injured.

In the Khanpora, Baramulla attack of May 30, 2018, three civilians were shot dead by LeT militants while in the Srinagar attack of June 14, 2018, senior journalist & Editor in Chief of Rising Kashmir, Shujaat Bukhari, and his two Personal Security Officers (PSOs) were shot by LeT terrorists, the committee said.

In the Gurez/ Bandipora attack of August 7, 2018, four Army soldiers including a Major were killed as Army foiled a major infiltration bid by heavily armed LeT militants along the Line of Control (LoC) in Gurez Sector of Bandipora District, Jammu and Kashmir.

In November 2010, the US Department of the Treasury had designated Makki as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. As a result of this designation, among other consequences, all property, and interests in property, of Makki that are subject to US jurisdiction are blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with Makki.

In addition, it is a crime to knowingly provide, or attempt or conspire to provide, material support or resources to the FTO LeT, the US said.

The US Department of State's Rewards for Justice programme is offering a reward of up to USD 2 million for information on Makki, also known as Abdulrahman Maki.

Makki has occupied various leadership roles within Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO). He has also played a role in raising funds for LeT operations.

"In 2020, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court convicted Makki on one count of terrorism financing and sentenced him to prison. The United States continues to seek information on Makki because the Pakistani judicial system has released convicted LeT leaders and operatives in the past, according to information on the Rewards for Justice website.
A Yeti Airlines ATR 72-500 aircraft crashed in Pokhara in central Nepal on January 15 2023, killing at least 68 passengers on board. The aircraft was en route from Nepals capital Kathmandu to Pokhara, the countrys second largest city, situated under the picturesque Annapurna mountain range.

While the picturesque landscape of the country appeals to tourists, it poses significant challenges to aviation operators, who need to embrace and navigate the challenging environment.

The air crash on Sunday was Nepals worst aviation disaster since 1992. The country has been working to overcome its challenges in aviation.

A challenging landscape

Topography has gifted Nepal with picturesque landscapes, but posits unrivalled challenges to flight operations.

Nepal, situated between India and China, is home to eight of the worlds 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest or Sagarmatha. For flight operations, its an almost unrivalled, harsh environment with sudden weather changes that can make for hazardous conditions.

Also Read Investigation underway over midair crash of two planes at Dallas air show 68 dead, 4 missing in Nepal's worst airplane crash in three decades Nepal plane crash: At least 68 dead, rescuers search for 4 missing persons Plane crashes into New Hampshire building; all on board die: Official Difficult terrain, loose regulations: What makes Nepal so risky to fly Nations express 'deep concern' at Israeli punitive measure on Palestine UN blacklists LeT deputy chief Abdul Rehman Makki as 'global terrorist' China's economic growth falls to 3% in 2022, not even half 2021's rate Ukraine set to get 3 bn euros from EU this week: PM Denys Shmyhal China's population starts shrinking in 2022, first drop since 1960s

Airports built in mountainous regions often need to have shorter runways that can only accommodate turboprop-powered regional aircraft, rather than large jet airliners that can access larger cities in Nepal.

As a result, aviation carriers in Nepal have a variety of aircraft on their fleets. These craft vary in condition, presenting potential safety hazards.









The ATR 72 aircraft is one typical aircraft used by Nepali carriers. It is a turboprop-powered regional aircraft with a capacity between 44 and 78 passengers. These aircraft are manufactured by a joint venture of Airbus in France and Leonardo in Italy.

The aircraft involved in this crash had been in service for 15 years, a fairly typical age for an aircraft.

The final report on what happened to the tragic Yeti Airlines flight will take over a month to complete.



A growing and fast-changing industry

Nepal has welcomed private investment into its aviation sector since 1992. Yeti Airlines is one of 20 domestic carriers. The airline, headquartered in Kathmandu, flies to ten domestic destinations using ATR 72-500 aircraft. In addition, 29 international airlines operate into Nepals capital too.

With air travel in Nepal becoming more accessible and affordable, airport infrastructure development has remained far behind compared to the growth of air traffic. This has resulted in increasing congestion at airports, fare competition between airlines, and decreased safety records.

In fact, the country has recorded at least 350 casualties associated with aeroplanes or helicopters since 2000, which has raised questions about the effectiveness of its aviation safety regulations.

The aviation regulator in charge is the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, a government agency established in 1998.

Working hard to improve

Nepal became a member of the UNs International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in 1960. This membership obliges the country to abide by international conventions, ICAOs regulations, standards, and recommended practices in aviation safety.

While Nepals aviation industry has made significant efforts to improve safety, unfortunately the safety record still doesnt match up with the requirements of other civil aviation authorities.

In particular, the European Union banned all Nepali airlines from operating in the blocs airspace in 2013 after ICAO raised a red flag. That ban still hasnt been lifted, and Nepal remains on the EU Air Safety List.

Despite the tragic casualty record, Nepal has stepped up its efforts to improve aviation safety. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal has been focusing on improving safety in Nepali aviation  such as building improvements at airports, upgrading safety equipment, and fostering a positive safety culture by encouraging hazard reporting.

Nepals considerable improvement in safety measures and compliance with international standards was recognised by ICAO in 2018. However, the country must continue work on its aviation reform to make its skies safe for everyone.

Chrystal Zhang, Associate professor, RMIT University

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






Capital markets regulator Sebi on Tuesday proposed to introduce a blocking of funds facility for trading in secondary markets, a move aimed at safeguarding investors' money from misuse and default by stock brokers.

This is similar to Application Supported by Blocked Amount (ASBA)-like facility already available for the primary market which ensures that money from an investor gets moved only when an allotment happens.

In its consultation paper, Sebi said the proposed introduction of a blocking of funds facility for trading in secondary markets would allow investors to trade in secondary markets based on blocked funds in one's bank account, thereby eliminating the need to transfer funds to stock broker.

Also, the facility would provide client level settlement visibility (both pay-in and pay-out) to clearing corporations (CC) by direct settlement of funds and securities between client or investor and CC.

The process safeguards clients' assets from misuse, brokers' default and consequent risk to their capital.

Under the existing framework, clients' assets pass through stock broker and clearing member before reaching CC. Similarly, the pay-out released by CC follows a similar cycle of passing through clearing members and stock brokers before reaching the client.

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While CCs provide final settlement instructions to their members each day, it is the stock broker who settles obligations with clients.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sought comments from the public till February 16 on the proposal.

The markets regulator has suggested that Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Mandate service of single block and multiple debits can be integrated with the secondary markets to provide a block mechanism (similar to pledge-like mechanism in securities) whereby the clients will be able to block funds in their bank account for trading in secondary market, instead of transferring them upfront to the trading member, thereby providing enhanced protection of cash collateral.

Under the proposed model, funds would remain in the account of client but will be blocked in favour of CC till the expiry date of the block mandate or till the block is released by the CC, whichever is earlier. CC can debit funds from client account, limited to the amount specified in the block.

Further, while a UPI block upon creation would be considered towards collateral, the same would also be available for settlement purposes. For the clients who prefer to block lump sum amount, their block can be debited multiple times, subject to available balance, for settlement obligations across days.

"This comes with a dual advantage, whereby firstly it eliminates the need to transfer funds to the brokers and secondly, the funds blocked from savings accounts earn interest for the investor," Sebi said.

Effectively, the amount which earlier used to get transferred to the stock broker for trading in secondary market will remain in investors' bank account and can now earn interest for the investor, it added.

With regard to handling of collection of brokerage from clients opting for UPI block facility, it has been suggested that the brokerage should be kept outside the proposed UPI framework and carried out bilaterally between the client and the stock broker.

Alternatively, CCs should deduct standard rate of brokerage from the UPI block for all clients of a stock broker along with settlement dues and pass it to the stock broker. Such rate of brokerage can be decided by the stock broker but should be fixed at least for a quarter.
The key equity indices were trading with decent gains in early trade. The Nifty traded above the 17,950 level. PSU bank, IT and oil & gas shares were in demand while metal, pharma and media shares corrected.

At 09:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 218.23 points or 0.36% to 60,311.20 The Nifty 50 index added 60.20 points or 0.34% to 17,955.05.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.02% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.06%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,493 shares rose, and 1,070 shares fell. A total of 182 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 750.59 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 685.96 crore in the Indian equity market on 16 January, provisional data showed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

NTPC rose 0.75%. NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd. (NTPC REL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government of Tripura for Development of Floating and Ground Mounted based Renewable Energy Projects in the State of Tripura.

Also Read Sensex jumps 710 pts, PSU bank stocks advance Nifty below 18,400 level, PSU bank shares advance Benchmarks extend gains; Nifty hovers above 17,950; PSU banks advance Power shares gain Power shares edge higher Nifty climbs above 18,000; Sensex adds 387 pts; FMCG shares gain Stocks may open on flat note Sensex slides 168 pts, Nifty ends below 17,900; IT shares advance Quick Wrap: Nifty PSU Bank Index gains 1.57% Nifty settles below 17,900; Sensex down 168 pts; VIX jumps 3.89%

Siemens added 1.73%. Siemens has received an order for 1,200 locomotives of 9000 horsepower (HP) from Indian Railways. Siemens will design, manufacture, commission and test the locomotives. The contract has a total value of Rs. 26,000 crore (approximately), excluding taxes and price variation.

Angel One rose 0.91%. Angel One reported 38.3% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 227.7 crore on a 25.5% increase in total income to Rs 759.7 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

Global markets:

Asian stocks are trading mixed Tuesday as investors digest the Chinese economic data released today.

China reported 3% GDP growth for 2022. Retail sales in December declined by 1.8% from a year ago. Industrial production rose by 3.6% in 2022. The figure rose by 1.3% in December.

US stock market were closed on Monday, 16 January 2023, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to hold a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, as per reports. The two will hold a meeting to strengthen macroeconomic and financial policy coordination.

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Infosys Ltd is quoting at Rs 1533.6, up 0.53% on the day as on 12:44 IST on the NSE. The stock is down 20.16% in last one year as compared to a 0.78% slide in NIFTY and a 22.8% slide in the Nifty FMCG.

Infosys Ltd is up for a fifth straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 1533.6, up 0.53% on the day as on 12:44 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.43% on the day, quoting at 17970.95. The Sensex is at 60402.9, up 0.52%. Infosys Ltd has gained around 1.74% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty FMCG index of which Infosys Ltd is a constituent, has gained around 2.97% in last one month and is currently quoting at 29264.65, up 0.48% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 29.93 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 65.22 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark January futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 1535.55, up 0.57% on the day. Infosys Ltd is down 20.16% in last one year as compared to a 0.78% slide in NIFTY and a 22.8% slide in the Nifty FMCG index.

The PE of the stock is 28.38 based on TTM earnings ending December 22.

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South Africa: Entrepreneur hopes for meaningful transformation of poultry industry

Ofentse Moloko, a 37-year-old entrepreneur from the North West, says the support government gives to Black-owned companies operating in the poultry industry will contribute significantly to transforming the sector and ensuring food security in the country.

Moloko, the CEO and Managing Director of Baramakama Poultry, runs a family-owned egg-laying chicken company in Molote City, North West.

He believes that the sustainability of businesses depends on Black-owned companies occupying the entire value chain of the industry.

Baramakama received support to the tune of R50 million from the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic) and its development finance institution, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), as part of the Black Industrialists Programme.

We are the perfect example of the success that Black-owned companies can achieve with the support of government in the poultry industry, says Moloko.

The Black Industrialists Programme is part of governments efforts to accelerate the quantitative and qualitative increase and participation of Black Industrialists in the South African economy, selected industrial sectors and value chains.

Moloko recalls how his father, who started from nothing back in 2016, used his savings to invest back into the community of Molote City.

We decided to establish a poultry business, specifically in the layers as they showed the greatest opportunity for employment creation ,as well as massive room for economic and ownership transformation.

For almost three years, we persistently and continuously knocked on the doors of all the private banks in this country, but the doors were all slammed on us after months of completing their processes, mainly due to the land belonging to the community.

When the dtic and IDC decided to fund our business after a thorough due diligence process, it was like music to our ears.

The financial support from the dtic and IDC enabled Baramakama to expand its operations by adding five new automated chicken houses and a modern, state-of-the-art pack station. The family business has also managed to increase the premises carrying capacity from 100 000 hens to 280 000.

In addition, the company has now added 40 new jobs, while the number of permanent employees jumped from 80 to 112. Of these, almost 80% of the employees are young people, while 44% are women.

Today, our operation runs 24 hours per day and on average, we produce 225 000 eggs per day at full capacity. The support we received from government has made us a recognisable and important player in the industry, Moloko says.

Although he appreciates the importance and recognises the value of the support that government provides to Black Industrialists, Moloko strongly believes that government should consider extending its backing across the value chain of the poultry industry to achieve sustainability and ensure success.

Government support needs to cut across the value chain if we want meaningful transformation of the industry, and if we want the Black industrialists to play an important and discernible role in food security in the country.

This includes feed production, hatcheries, abattoirs, chick rearing, processing and market access.

Although we regard ourselves as a success after obtaining the support, we are left at the mercy of our key competitors from whom we source feed and hens. That makes us vulnerable as the supply tabs can and are regularly switched on and off, depending on how they want to control and benefit from the market conditions, Moloko says.

He does not pin all his hopes on the Poultry Sector Master Plan -- which was developed in close partnership between government and several stakeholders in the industry -- to increase the level of Black participation, particularly ownership across the value chain, employment creation and worker share-ownership in the sector.

Moloko is of the opinion that the decisions taken within the Poultry Master Plan depend on the existing big players in the industry, who, through their actions, do not easily allow Black players into the more profitable value chain channels.

However, he remains resolute and hopeful that with more Black players in the value chain, the industry will not only transform but also allow healthy competition to the benefit of all participants.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2023-01-17. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese vice premier to meet U.S. treasury secretary in Switzerland

Xinhua) 09:01, January 17, 2023

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen will meet in Zurich, Switzerland, on Wednesday to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in Bali island and strengthen macroeconomic and financial policy coordination, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce said Monday.

The economic and trade teams of China and the United States have maintained good communication, the spokesperson said in response to a media query.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The software solutions provider's consolidated net profit jumped 59.23% to Rs 48.20 crore on 12.74% increase in net revenue to Rs 254.92 crore in Q3 December 2022 over Q2 September 2022.On a consolidated basis, profit before tax (PBT) jumped 65.46% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 61.07 crore in Q3 December 2022.

Revenue from operations witnessed a growth of 26% Q3 YoY on the back of broad-based growth across all geographies. Subscription revenues (ATS/AMC and cloud) stood at Rs 84 crore, up 37% YoY. Annuity revenue streams (ATS/AMC, support, and cloud/SaaS) were at Rs 154 crore, up 38% YoY. Revenue from the sale of products/licenses was at Rs 58 crore. Profit after tax stood at Rs 48 crore in Q3 FY'23 (up 0.8% YoY).

EBITDA (adjusted for other income) jumped 56.8% QoQ and 1.8% YoY to Rs 58.90 crore in Q3 FY23. EBITDA margin stood at 23.1% in Q3FY23, higher than 16.6% in Q2FY22 and lower than 28.6% in Q3FY22.

Speaking about the results, Diwakar Nigam, chairman & managing director, Newgen Software Technologies said - "We are happy to share that we have made good progress and delivered strong performance across key business metrics. This is our first quarter with revenues exceeding Rs 250 crores. We witnessed a broad-based growth across all geographies, with overall Q3 revenue growth of 26% YoY. India and EMEA geographies continued to be major growth drivers with revenue growth of 40% and 27% respectively. The subscription revenues had been growing steadily at a healthy pace of 38% YoY. We closed significant cloud/ subscription license projects during the quarter."

"Overall, in the first 9 months of the year, we clocked in revenues of Rs 669 crores, indicating a 22% growth YoY. We witnessed 36 new logo wins in the 9 month period with Q3 clocking 16 new logo wins spread across geographies. This shows strong customer sentiment for enterprise-wide automation using NewgenONE low code digital transformation platform," said Virender Jeet, CEO, Newgen Software.

During the quarter, the company struck a cloud deal with a full-service financial institution in the Southeast region in America with $23.7 billion in assets and 193 offices across America. In India, Newgen won large sized projects from a leading public sector bank and a private sector bank.

Also Read Newgen Software slides after Q1 PAT drops 67% QoQ Newgen Software Technologies standalone net profit declines 2.94% in the June 2022 quarter Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Ltd leads gainers in 'A' group National Standard (India) Ltd leads gainers in 'A' group Newgen Software Technologies consolidated net profit rises 0.82% in the December 2022 quarter Kesoram Industries Ltd leads losers in 'B' group Volumes spurt at V-Mart Retail Ltd counter Healthcare shares edge lower Metal shares fall Consumer Durables stocks slide

Newgen Software Technologies is the leading provider of a unified digital transformation platform with native process automation, content services, and communication management capabilities. Globally, successful enterprises rely on Newgen's industry-recognized low code application platform to develop and deploy complex, content-driven, and customer-engaging business applications on the cloud. From onboarding to service requests, lending to underwriting, and for many more use cases across industries.

Shares of Newgen Software Technologies were down 1.21% at Rs 400 on the BSE.

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NTPC: NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd. (NTPC REL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Government of Tripura for Development of Floating and Ground Mounted based Renewable Energy Projects in the State of Tripura.

M&M: M&M announced pricing for the fun and fast XUV400, its first electric SUV, unveiled on World EV Day in 2022. The XUV400 is designed and engineered for car buyers looking to join the electric revolution. Set to take Mahindra's electrification journey forward, the all-electric SUV will be priced from Rs 15.99 lakh.

Siemens: Siemens has received an order for 1,200 locomotives of 9000 horsepower (HP) from Indian Railways. Siemens will design, manufacture, commission and test the locomotives. The contract has a total value of Rs. 26,000 crore (approximately), excluding taxes and price variation.

Angel One: Angel One reported 38.3% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 227.7 crore on a 25.5% increase in total income to Rs 759.7 crore in Q3 FY23 over Q3 FY22.

V-Mart Retail: A fire accident took place at one of the company's store located at Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on 16 January 2023. The company is in process of ascertaining the actual loss caused due to the fire.

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SGX Nifty:

Trading of Nifty 50 index futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could fall 7 points at the opening bell.

Global markets:

Overseas, Asian stocks are trading mixed Tuesday as investors await a slew of Chinese economic data.

US stock market were closed on Monday, 16 January 2023, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to hold a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, as per reports. The two will hold a meeting to strengthen macroeconomic and financial policy coordination.

Also Read Nifty above 18,000 level; India NSE VIX jumps 5% Benchmarks extend gains; Nifty hovers above 17,950; PSU banks advance Sensex jumps 710 pts, PSU bank stocks advance Nifty below 18,400 level, PSU bank shares advance Nifty reclaims 18,000 level; metal stocks advance Sensex slides 168 pts, Nifty ends below 17,900; IT shares advance Quick Wrap: Nifty PSU Bank Index gains 1.57% Nifty settles below 17,900; Sensex down 168 pts; VIX jumps 3.89% Barometers trade with modest cuts; Nifty below 17,900 Indices come off day's low; Nifty regains 17,900 mark; IT shares climb

Domestic markets:

Back home, the benchmark indices ended a volatile session with moderate losses on Monday. The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 168.21 points or 0.28% to 60,092.97. The Nifty 50 index shed 61.75 points or 0.34% to 17,894.85.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 750.59 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 685.96 crore in the Indian equity market on 16 January, provisional data showed.

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V-Mart Retail fell 1.43% to Rs 2767.55 after a fire accident took place at one of the company's store at Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, 16 January 2023.V-Mart Retail clarified that there was no loss or injury to human life. However, this has resulted in damage of inventory, fixed assets, cash and others in the store, thereby disrupting the operations of the aforementioned store. The company said that it has adequate insurance coverage and have already informed the insurance company about the incident. The company is in process of ascertaining the actual loss caused due to the fire.

Founded in 2002, V-Mart isacomplete family retail store chain offering apparel, footwear and accessories for men, women and kids. The company also offers a wide range of home furnishings, general merchandise, toys, tableware, utensils, and other home utility items.

V-Mart Retail reported net loss of Rs 11.31 crore in Q2 September 2022 as against net loss of Rs 14.14 crore in Q2 September 2021. Net sales rose 49.76% YoY to Rs 506.16 crore in Q2 September 2022.

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The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena on Tuesday told the Election Commission that the arguments placed by the Eknath Shinde camp on the flaws in the party's amended constitution were full of contradictions.

The Thackeray faction also sought more time from the poll panel to complete its arguments in a case related to the control of the organisation, following which the next hearing was fixed for January 20.

Talking to reporters after the hearing at Nirvachan Sadan here, Anil Desai of the Thackeray faction said the Shinde camp had said that the party's constitution changed by Uddhav Thackeray was flawed and later it claimed that Shinde was appointed as the 'chief leader' of the party under the provisions of the same constitution.

"The whole argument was contradictory," Desai said.

Another Thackeray camp leader, Anil Parab, questioned the validity of the designation 'chief leader', saying there is no such provision in the party constitution to appoint a person to the post.

Desai also claimed that the documents filed by the Shinde camp to support their claim over Shiv Sena were flawed and not in order.

Also Read EC allots 'two swords and a shield' poll symbol to Shinde faction of Sena Shinde faction posts Sule's photo sitting in CM chair; NCP files complaint Shinde faction to meet Election Commission on Friday over Sena poll symbol EC's Sena order doesn't mean Thackeray faction weak or demoralised: NCP SC to hear on July 20 Thackeray camp's plea on disqualification proceedings No end in sight to Cong, BJP leadership muddle in poll-bound Rajasthan Rahul gone, power gone from Rajasthan, quips BJP leader Arun Singh Pawar pitches for MVA allies to contest Maha Assembly and LS polls together Oppn legislators stage demonstration demanding Maharashtra guv's removal MVA's collapse, its aftermath kept political pot boiling in Maha in 2022

The Thackeray faction also told the EC that it should not decide on the Sena symbol dispute till the time the Supreme Court delivers its verdict in a related case pending before it.

In the last hearing on January 10, Mahesh Jethmalani, lead counsel for Shinde faction, had told the EC that the Shinde faction had passed a resolution in July last year to split the party as Thackeray had made changes to its constitution and compromised on ideology.

The Shinde faction's lawyers had said that Balasaheb Thackeray had drafted the Shiv Sena constitution in 1981 and changed it in 1999 to include a provision for organisational polls on the direction of the EC.

The Shinde faction argued that Uddhav Thackeray was elected as the Shiv Sena president, but this was not followed by elections for office bearers.

On Tuesday, Thackeray faction's lead counsel Kapil Sibal sought more time to complete arguments, on which the EC agreed and posted the matter for January 20.


Alphabet Inc's company will pay Rs 1,144 crore over first 10 years with a rental escalataion of 1.75 per cent every 12 years. Earlier, it had acquired a 464,000 sq ft facility at Adani Centre in Noida on a 10-year lease.

In a bid to expand the cloud infrastructure to cater to the growing demand in India, tech giant Google has signed a deal with Raiden Infotech India to pick up a data centre spread over 381,000 sq ft in Navi Mumbai through a lease of 28 years, a report by The Economic Times said.



Big tech firms are making huge investments in expanding their data centres. Recently, an IANS report stated that Microsoft has acquired Fungible, a provider of composable infrastructure. The deal was done to "enable high-performance, scalable, disaggregated, scaled-out data centre infrastructure with reliability and security".

The data centre in Mumbai will be an eight-storey building with a basement and a roof and is expected to be developed in next 24 months, the ET report added. The stamp duty on the property is over Rs 7.26 crore.



Another tech firm, CtrlS Datacenters Ltd, is also aiming to triple its number of data centres from the existing eight to about 25 by 2024-25 in India.

"The announcement further signals Microsoft's commitment to long-term differentiated investments in our data centre infrastructure, which enhances our broad range of technologies and offerings including offloading, improving latency, increasing data centre server density, optimising energy efficiency and reducing costs," Microsoft said in a blogpost.

Also Read Sachin Bansal-led Navi Tech gets Sebi green signal for Rs 3,350 cr IPO Adani aviation plan: A top airline may be shifted to Navi Mumbai airport Microsoft Fall Event 2022: Where to watch livestream and what to expect Microsoft Teams gets instant polls, schedule send, other features: Details More Apple services coming to Microsoft Xbox, Windows 11: Details here Apple likely to launch new M2-series MacBook Pro on Jan 17: Report Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 may feature 108MP camera, in-built S Pen slot Microsoft to add OpenAI's bot ChatGPT to Azure cloud services soon iQOO Neo 7 5G smartphone to launch in India on February 16: Details here Microsoft releases new Windows 11 preview build for Insiders in Dev Channel

It was in the process of expanding its footprint by an additional five million sq ft from the current 1.2 million sq ft space. As part of its expansion, the company's two million sq ft Hyperscale Datacenter Park in Navi Mumbai is under construction, while another similar size one in Hyderabad is ready for construction.
Gantry cranes and stacked containers at the Tanjong Pagar Terminal near the central business district in Singapore, on Nov. 7, 2021. Photo: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg)  Singapores exports came in weaker than expected in December, dragged down by a fall in shipments to China.

Non-oil domestic exports declined 20.6% from a year earlier, steeper than the median expectation for a 16% contraction in a Bloomberg survey. That follows a 14.7% fall in November.

Total trade decreased by 7.7% during the month from a year ago, according to a report released by the Enterprise Singapore. Total exports declined by 7.1%, while overall imports shrank by 8.2%.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva arrived in the financial hub Shanghai on Wednesday night with several delegations, beginning his four-day state visit to China. Xie Feng (left), a vice minister of foreign affairs, welcomed him and his wife at the airport. The following day, Lula visited New Development Bank and Huaweis innovation center in Shanghai. This marks Lulas third official visit to China as president

Apr 13, 2023 07:33 PM
Patrice Lumumba Archives

Anniversary is 1st since Lumumbas remains were returned last year from Belgium

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - The Congo commemorated Tuesday the 62nd anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Emery Lumumba, the countrys first prime minister.

The ceremony at a mausoleum in the national capital of Kinshasa was presided over by Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde, the first anniversary marked by the Congolese since Lumumbas remains were returned from Belgium last year, more than 61 years after his assassination.

In attendance were government officials, members of the Lumumba family and other dignitaries.

Lukonde paid tribute to the nations independence hero before leading government officials in laying a wreath at his mausoleum.

Nations of the world must remember great men who have marked their history through their struggle, said Lukonde.

He hailed Lumumba for a fight that he said helped get the country out of colonization.

Here is an opportunity to pay tribute to Patrice Emery Lumumba, the first time after his remains were returned. Today, we honor him and a lay wreath to pay tribute to him now that he is at home here in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said.

Lumumba was an anti-colonial icon at the time Congo acquired independence from Belgium on June 30, 1960.

He was toppled in September of that year and separatists from the southern region of Katanga and Belgian mercenaries executed him Jan. 17, 1961. They dissolved his body in acid.

Lumumbas remains were discovered decades later in Belgium, after a police officer, who took part in his assassination, boasted about his actions in the media.

Belgian authorities would eventually seize a tooth from the officer in 2016.

During a handover ceremony of the remains in Brussels, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo apologized for his country's moral responsibility in Lumumba's death.

Belgium's King Philippe also expressed his deepest regrets for the wounds of Belgian colonial rule.

Lumumba was born in 1925 in Onalua, in Sankuru province.

James Tasamba/AA
Faced with the possibility of being left behind in the shift towards EVs, Toyota has announced a radical shift in company policy and directi...
Ahead of Republic Day, Delhi Police is hunting for four other terror suspects, besides the two who were arrested last week from the Jahangirpuri area in the national capital, sources said on Tuesday.

According to the Delhi Police Special Cell sources, the terror suspects recieved weapons from Pakistan through the drop-dead method and were in touch with their handlers on the other side of the border through a social media app.

"Delhi Police looking for 4 other suspects. They received weapons from Pakistan through the drop-dead method and were in contact with handlers in Pak on the Signal app. They got weapons at an unidentified location in Uttarakhand which is being verified," sources said.

This comes after two terrorists were arrested from the Jahangirpuri area in Delhi earlier in January who, according to the police, were tasked to carry out the targeted attacks in various states.

In the latest development, the Delhi Police got information about the involvement of 8 persons in the module. The police suspect the possible presence of four suspects in India presently.

"Their handlers sitting at the border sent instructions on the Signal app, after which they shared the location of the bag full of weapons through Google Maps. About 8 people are involved in this module of terrorists out of which 4 can still be present in India only. 2 terrorists were used to provide weapons and 2 were used to send the Google location of the weapons to their bosses by keeping the weapons at a particular location," sources said.

According to sources, the weapons recovered from the terrorists were found at an unknown location in Uttarakhand which is now being verified.

Meanwhile, the two terror suspects arrested from the Jahangirpuri area of the national capital on Thursday were assigned to carry out targeted killings of rightwing leaders on January 27 and January 31, sources in the Delhi Police claimed on Monday.

The Delhi Police had earlier said it arrested two 'suspicious' men and recovered two hand grenades from their house in the Bhalswa Dairy area of Jahangirpuri.

The Special cell of the Delhi Police had arrested the two suspects -- identified as Jagjit Singh (29) and Naushad (56). They were produced before the Patiala House Court on Friday and sent to police remand for 14 days.

Police sources later claimed that three rightwing leaders of Punjab and Delhi were on their hit list and they had even set a date and time to take out two of their targets.

Further, according to sources, the suspects, now in police custody, had receed two of their targets and had even taken note of their movements and daily schedules.

The sources added that the suspects were to receive Rs 50 lakh on killing the first target, Rs 1 crore for taking out the second and Rs 1.5 crore for eliminating the third.

Both had received Rs 5 lakh as token money through hawala operators, sources claimed further.

Police said they carried out a raid at their rented house at the Shradha Nand Colony in the Bhalswa Dairy police station limits on Friday, under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and recovered hand grenades. The police said they also recovered three pistols and 22 live cartridges from the suspects.

A team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) also visited the house and collected blood samples on Friday.

According to sources, it is alleged that the suspects killed a person in the house and shared a video of the killing with their handler.

The police said they were in the process of finding out who was killed.

Delhi Police earlier said it has information that Jagjit Singh has links to Khalistani terrorist Arshdeep Dalla. He is also a member of the notorious Bambiha gang and has been receiving instructions from anti-national elements based abroad, the city police said, adding that he is also a parole jumper in a murder case in Uttarakhand.

Naushad is also associated with Harkat-ul-Ansar (HUA), a terror group which is based in Pakistan and primarily operates in Jammu and Kashmir.

He has been a life convict in two counts of murder and has also served a 10-year sentence in connection with a case under the Explosive Act.

The accused took up residence at the rented house last year, during Diwali, adding that the construction of their own house is ongoing, according to the neighbours.

(ANI)

Also Read: 41 per cent rape cases in Rajasthan false; Madhya Pradesh has most cases: Raj DGP
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Dr. Marisa Richmond, president of the Tennessee Federation of Democratic Womens Clubs and a co-chair of the Transgender Advisory Committee of the Democratic National Committee, will present the program at the monthly meeting of Greater Chattanooga Democratic Womens Club Thursday, Jan. 26, 6 p.m., at Hamilton County Democratic Party headquarters, 1089 Bailey Ave. The public is invited to attend, according to an announcement made by GCDWC President Pat Combs.

Dr. Richmond is a native of Nashville and is a transgender woman of color. She has served on the Democratic National Committee, was elected to four terms on the Davidson County Democratic Executive Committee and served as president of the Davidson County Democratic Women in 2013. She also served as a Tennessee Delegate to Democratic National Conventions in 2008, 2012 and 2020.

Dr. Richmond currently is a member of the Metro Nashville Historical Commission, past chair of the Metro Nashville Human Relations Commission, and the Davidson County General Sessions Court Judicial Equity Collective. Previously, she served many years as the president and lobbyist for the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition.

Dr. Richmond is a prolific author and speaker on transgender rights and has served on many boards at the local, state and national levels. She has been recognized for her work with many awards.

Dr. Richmond teaches history and womens and gender studies at Middle Tennessee State University and is a native of Nashville. She has three degrees, all in United States History. Her A.B. is from Harvard University, her masters from the University of California  Berkley, and her Ph.D. from George Washington University.
U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann released the following statement after being named the chairman of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee for the 118th Congress.

I am excited to be named the Chairman of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee in the 118th Congress. This is a critically important position for our great state and our nation, and I am humbled by the trust vested in me by Chairwoman Granger, Speaker McCarthy, and my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee.

The work of the Energy and Water Subcommittee is incredibly important to our nations long-term energy security and national security. I am excited to find bipartisan common ground to advance important initiatives like modernizing our nations nuclear stockpile and advancing groundbreaking nuclear fusion research. As Chairman, I will also work to cut all wasteful and unnecessary government spending and ensure that every dollar of the taxpayers money is responsibly allocated.

In this new role, I will continue fighting as Tennessees only appropriator in the House of Representatives for fiscal responsibility and our states priorities in Congress.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger (TX-12) said, I am proud to have selected Rep. Fleischmann to work alongside me as the chairman of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee. Congressman Fleischmann has worked diligently over the last four years to strengthen our homeland security, and as chairman of the Energy and Water Subcommittee, I know he will work to cut wasteful government spending and restore fiscal responsibility while meeting our military and energy security needs."
The Lee University mens track & field team opened its 2023 indoor season on Saturday at the UAB Vulcan Invitational. The Flames left the Birmingham CrossPlex with two Lee records and four NCAA Division II provisional marks.Cale Kassen won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.80 seconds to break Jeremiah McCains standard of 8.14. Kassens time also met the provisional qualifying mark and is currently the top time recorded in NCAA Division II. Cameron Stine finished 12th with a time of 9.22.Kassen and Stine finished in the top four of the high jump with Kassen clearing 2.00 meters and Stine making it over 1.90 meters for second and fourth, respectively.Eli Brooks set a Lee record on his way to a first-place finish in the pole vault. Brooks cleared 4.75 meters to eclipse Daniel Surmans previous record of 4.70 meters. Riley Margene placed seventh with a successful jump of 4.05 meters, while Randall Kramer was eighth with a height of 3.75 meters.Donoven Jackson finished second with a provisional time of 6.86 seconds in the 60-meter dash. In the event preliminaries, he stopped the clock at 6.93, while Kassen was ninth in the preliminary round with a time of 7.03.Justin Steele added another provisional mark in the 200-meter dash. He placed second with a qualifying time of 21.47, while Niquaine Henry finished ninth (22.51). Steele and Henry were joined by Nokia Masengu in the 400 where Steele won the race at 48.67. Henry was 10th (50.92) with Masengu right behind in 11th (50.98).Will Stone was the first of seven Lee runners to cross the finish line of the 3000-meter run. He placed third with the seventh-best provisional time of 8:12.24. Aaron Himes was fourth (8:19.88) and Matthew Fowler was sixth (8:20.79). Ezekiel Harless (8:27.52) was eighth, Adan Rodriguez finished ninth (8:28.69), Stephen Clark (8:50.20) placed 13th and Caleb Guthery recorded a time of 8:55.76 for 14th.Jacob Hatcher and Roberto Fajardo claimed first and second in a pair of events. Hatcher was first (1:55.15) in the 800-meter run and second in the mile (4:14.43). Fajardo was second in the 800 (1:55.44) and first in the mile (4:13.13). Ryan Lovelace and Evan Moore completed Lees representation in the mile. Lovelace was seventh (4:21.16) and Moore placed eighth (4:22.50).Myles Mann covered 12.41 meters to place seventh in the triple jump. He added a ninth-place finish with a long jump of 6.13 meters.Matthew Blacks weight throw of 17.23 meters was good for second in the event. Braxton Philpott was 10th with a throw of 12.52 meters. Camden joined Black and Philpott in the shot put. Williams was 10th with a mark of 13.82 meters. Black recorded a throw of 12.45 meters (13th) and Philpott was 19th with a toss of 10.49 meters.The 4x400-meter relay team of Henry, Kassen, Masengu and Steele posted a second-place time of 3:19.92.The Flames are scheduled for two meets this coming weekend with some of the team returning to the CrossPlex for the Samford University Open on Friday, while the rest will travel to Nashville for the Vanderbilt University Invitational on Friday and Saturday.The Lady Flames exited the Birmingham CrossPlex with two Lee records and an NCAA Division II provisional mark.Carissa Hall broke Liezl Therons long jump mark of 5.41 meters with a first-place finish of 5.61 meters. Jydia Faucette placed third with a leap of 5.22 meters. Hall added a seventh-place finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.38 seconds.Brynn Depinet was second in the pole vault after clearing 3.50 meters. The mark broke the record of 3.25 meters that had been held by Kendra Irvine for almost three years.Three Lady Flames took on the weight throw with Deborah Rubin finishing second with a provisional mark of 17.10 meters. Symphony Buxton was third with a throw of 16.73 meters and Samara Brinks placed 21st at 10.64 meters. The trio also competed in the shot put. Rubin was sixth (11.91 meters), Buxton was 10th (11.31 meters) and Brinks finished 20th (9.83 meters).Lee placed four runners in the top six of the mile run. Megan Adams was the winner at 4:59.00 with Lily Hare in second (4:59.97). Liza Kellerman (5:03.27) and Aria Hawkins (5:06.35) were fourth and sixth, respectively. Hawkins won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:16.83. Hare was sixth (2:18.92), Adams eighth (2:19.36) and Kellerman 11th (2:20.32).Julia Halterman, Olivia McLain and Katie Krueger were Lees representatives in the 3000-meter run. Halterman completed the circuit at 10:12.25 to finish second. McLains time of 10:19.40 put her in fourth, while Krueger was eighth (10:30.61).Liezl Theron cleared 1.60 meters to win the high jump. Sydney White finished fourth with a jump of 1.50 meters. Theron and White also competed in the 60-meter hurdles. Theron placed 14th (9.62) and White was 19th (10.21).Kristen Blevins was Lees top performer in the 60-meter dash after stopping the clock at 7.77 seconds in the semifinal. Baylie Murphy was 10th 7.89) in the preliminary round and 21st (7.95) in the semifinal. Jaila Whitaker posted a time of 8.03 (17th) in the prelims.Eve Hine led three Lee runners to the finish line of the 400-meter dash. Hine crossed the line at 57.71 to claim fifth place. Janay Ryan was ninth (59.02) and Kaia Martz was right behind in 10th (59.36).The 4x400-meter relay team of Faucette, Ryan, Martz and White posted a sixth-place finish with a combined time of 3:58.47.The Lady Flames are scheduled for two meets this coming weekend with some of the team returning to the CrossPlex for the Samford University Open on Friday, while the rest will travel to Nashville for the Vanderbilt University Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
Police responded to a shoplifting at 480 Greenway View Dr. via a phone call. An employee said four suspects were in the store and had a verbal dispute with one another. She didnt have an exact amount of merchandise that was stolen, but said it was around $50 of random items. The employee wanted a report of the incident and for the four to be trespassed from the property. Police explained to the woman that in order for police to trespass an individual, they needed to be on scene. The woman told police the suspects told her they would be back tomorrow to steal more stuff. The employee said if they were to come back that she would call the police to have them trespassed.

* * *

A woman on Browntown Road told police someone during the night sheared off the double mailbox and destroyed it. She says looking on the Internet she found that it will cost $1,000 to replace it.

* * *

A woman at apartments on Mountain Creek Road told police a young white male came by the office and asked for the womans apartment number and directions saying he had some legal documents. The man then went to outside the womans apartment building and sat in a black Jeep for at least a half hour, then left. The man was gone by the time police arrived. The residence was placed on the watch list.

* * *

An officer reported a black Ford pickup truck unoccupied and parked at E. 38th Street and Rossville Boulevard. The business was closed so the officer ran the VIN to the vehicle to verify that it was not stolen. The truck was not stolen.

* * *

An officer saw a black sedan driving north on Rossville Boulevard displaying a Tennessee tag which came back as not on file. The officer initiated emergency traffic lights and conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle at E. 41st and Rossville Boulevard. The driver told police he just got the car from his friend. The officer verified the car wasnt stolen and that the driver had no active warrants for his arrest. He was given a verbal warning.

* * *

Police spoke to two people in a verbal disagreement at the homeless camp at E. 12 Street and Peeples Street. The man and woman were very loud and disturbing the peace in the campsite. The guard wanted the two to leave the property for the remainder of the day, but not be trespassed. The officer saw the man and woman leave.

* * *

A woman on Bailey Avenue told police her tires had been slashed around 7 a.m. She had turned on her car to warm it up, and when she came back out, she found her tires slashed. The woman saw a man walking away down the alley from her residence. She said she didnt see the man actually vandalize her vehicle. She has had ongoing issues with him. She estimated the damage to the tires to be around $320.

* * *

A woman on E. 38th Street told police she was with her boyfriend and his cousin when the vehicle they were in caught fire in the engine compartment. They stopped and put out the fire and her boyfriend and boyfriends cousin took off in the van. The van was located right down the road, abandoned. The woman said she didnt know they left without her. Located in the van was a stolen motorcycle. The woman said she knew nothing about the motorcycle except that it was in the van before she got in it. She said her boyfriend and his cousin went out while she was at her cousins house and came back with the motorcycle.
While the Biden administration claims that their open border agenda is a compassionate and humane alternative to enforcing the immigration laws currently on the books, what we witnessed last week was anything but that. I spent two days on the ground at the Del Rio Sector of the U.S.-Mexico border with Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Senator Katie Britt, working with local, state, and federal law enforcement. Unlike President Bidens short, sanitized detour while flying to Mexico, we spent time with those victimized by the cartels and saw firsthand the unvarnished truth of Bidens border crisis.

Standing on the banks of the Rio Grande River early in the morning, I witnessed nearly two dozen illegal immigrants, including a pregnant woman and small children, wade across the near-freezing water and illegally enter the United States. They immediately turned themselves in. When we asked them why, they told us Biden said they could come. Cartels have capitalized on the administrations refusal to enforce the law and are now charging between $8,000 and $20,000 to smuggle migrants into our country. Large-group crossings have become commonplace, and the ensuing chaos allows cartels to distract and overwhelm Border Patrol. While agents are stuck in the office processing paperwork, cartel scouts order smugglers upstream to sneak criminal aliens, drugs, and other contraband into our country undetected.

Over the last two years, drug overdose deaths, largely driven by fentanyl, have become the leading cause of death for adults ages 18 to 45 years old. Last year alone, law enforcement seized over 14,000 pounds of fentanyl at the border, enough to kill over 3.3 billion people. This is just one devastating consequence of Bidens border crisis that has turned every state into a border state and every town into a border town.

During a roundtable discussion with former Mexican Congresswoman Rosa Maria de la Garza and human trafficking survivor Karla Jacinto Romero, we learned that cartels kidnap young women and girls to be exploited for sex and labor. Karla, who is truly one of the bravest women I have ever met, told us the heartbreaking story of how she was raped more than 40,000 times. While visiting the Harris Ranch, we heard from Texans about how smugglers will abandon both distressed and deceased migrants at the propertys edge, putting a strain on already overwhelmed emergency resources.

It is clear that we are experiencing a humanitarian and national security crisis, courtesy of President Biden. Biden ended the successful Remain in Mexico policy, terminated construction of the border wall, halted deportations, and pushed to end Title 42 expulsions. Americas immigration laws have remained unchanged since 1996, and never before have we had this many illegal immigrants entering our country. One thing, however, has changed: we now have a President who refuses to enforce our immigration laws.

Since Biden took office, law enforcement officials have recorded over five million attempts by migrants to enter our country illegally, and more than one million migrants have entered and evaded capture. In fiscal year 2022 alone, 98 terrorists were apprehended at the border. Bidens open border policies have emboldened the cartels and allowed them to profit off of raping migrants and killing Americans with fentanyl. Put simply, President Biden and the radical left created a crisis that has killed countless Americans, and made ignoring the rule of law their official policy.

In Washington, I will continue to work on legislation to address the humanitarian and national security crisis created by President Biden. We must immediately begin detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, build the wall, provide agents with better technology, and increase the number of border patrol agents. It is imperative we send a strong message to the cartels that they do not have free reign over our border and listen to our Border Patrol agents begging President Biden to enforce laws currently in place. These men and women working day and night to protect our country are true American heroes, and we owe them a great debt of gratitude.

Senator Marsha Blackburn

* * *

I want to begin that I do not condone illegal entry into this country. All immigrants should be treated as equally as possible. And though I do not live in Tennessee, all U.S. citizens have an interest in addressing illegal immigration in a meaningful manner.

But methinks Senator Blackburn and her fellow Republicans see or hear only what they want to see or hear, and not what they really saw or heard.

She began with the sympathetic story of the pregnant woman's crossing. And I'm sure that those the senator spoke with did say the reason for entering the country was that "Biden said they could come".

That was all Senator Blackburn wanted to hear. Just enough for her to continue the MAGA game plan of blaming President Biden for a problem he inherited as did all Presidents since Bill Clinton.

Everyday we are bombarded with ads to move to a new house, drive a new car, fly away, or go to a theme park or island. Do we go because they ads say we could come? No, of course not. If we go, it's because of our expectation of the experience we may have.

The expectation of the experience holds true for anyone leaving his or her home to come to the U.S. For these immigrants, it's not that Biden told them they could come. They want to enter this country for a better experience that what they may have now.

The next thing that Senator Blackburn wanted to only see or hear became apparent in her next sentences. She only "sees" cartels profiting from charging for illegal entries into this country, just to create chaos to smuggle drugs. While drugs are smuggled in, the immigrants are "seen" by her as mere pawns, not human beings. She provides no examples of how these humans are victimized by the U.S. She succeeds by leaving the reader thinking only about an intolerable flow of drugs into the country, which she "sees" as the sole reason all immigrants try to enter. Yet illegal immigration and illicit drugs are two different problems.

The senator describes a victim of human trafficking, which is not a border problem, and the abandonment of distressed and deceased migrants in Texas. Both are tragic. But she offers nothing about a compassionate or caring solution. She only "sees" making it exceptionally harder to enter as the only answer, thereby stopping the flow of drugs, which, she "sees" as the only problem.

She "sees" President Biden as the sole cause of the problem of immigrants bringing drugs into this country, and the barrier to immigration reform. So she "sees" the need to criticize and blame him constantly. Rather than working for a better solution regardless of its genesis, she "sees" herself as stopping any meaningful legislation solely because it was offered by President Biden or the Democrats.

She does not "see" that she has had ample opportunity to begin solving any immigration problem; she was first elected to the House in 2002. As with any legislation or acts by President Biden, she and the Republicans see themselves never compromising nor working with Democrats for the good of immigrants or the country.

Just meaningless rhetoric from a senator tooting her own horn, the major thing she likes to hear.

Joe Warren
Margaret Peg Lindsay Bookout passed away on a beautiful Monday morning, January 16, 2023, after a brief illness.

Peg lived most of her life in East Brainerd residing the most recent 25 years less than a mile from the house in which she was born on June 13, 1931, 40 years before I-75 would separate the two locations. She personally experienced East Brainerd growing from a rural community to a bustling suburb of Chattanooga and could recall agrarian anecdotes such as travel by mule on East Brainerd Road. Her parents were well-known, respected residents and Lindsay Avenue off Graysville Road is her fathers namesake.

An only child, she developed lifelong dear friendships with schoolmates, church friends, coworkers and five close double first cousins. Most significant among those friendships was her 70 years of marriage to her high school sweetheart Bob Bookout.

A devout Christian, Peg attended Concord Baptist Church for her entire 91 years aside from a short time living in Birmingham and a few other jaunts which were arranged by the US Army while Bob served during the Korean conflict. Over the years she eagerly participated in many activities of the church including the WMU and teaching Sunday School. Handwritten scriptures decorated her kitchen and her family will miss the comfort of being consistently prayed for.

A Tyner High School class of 1949 graduate, she later attended the University of Chattanooga (now UTC) as an adult, married mother, earning a degree in education. Prior to UC she worked as an artist at Olan Mills using oils and airbrushes, colorizing and retouching black & white portraits before smartphones and image filters made it easy. Her next career was in the Catoosa County school system, at several schools, in varied roles including teaching art. Later she and her husband Bob recognized that her art talent and his decades of experience in the printing industry made them a perfect match to purchase the Koenig Art Emporium at Hamilton Place Mall. They operated that store for 10 years, selling art and drafting supplies to local professional artists, sign painters and students along with consumer products such as fountain pens and custom picture framing. During that period they worked tirelessly seven days per week and made many friends of other mall workers, employees and customers.

Peg was a lifelong learner, memorizing poetry and scripture in her adolescence and continuing to enjoy art and sewing projects, reading and working on genealogy records until weeks before her passing. After she became a widow at 89 she embraced the computer and began emailing friends and family. She was selfless with her talents, always available to replace a button or hem a skirt and during retirement she sewed over 700 dresses for little girls which she donated to ministries in Africa. She taught English as a Second Language at Concord where she made several long-term friends.

Peg and Bob enjoyed RV traveling as retirees but her primary role was as caretaker of her centenarian mother, husband, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren whom she not only nurtured but tutored academically. She was a great-great-grandmother for several years and absolutely adored the little ones.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Frankye and Virgil Lindsay, infant sister Mary Francis Lindsay, son Charles Lindsay Bookout and husband Harold Robert Bob Bookout. Remaining relatives include a daughter, Alice Barlew (Leon Graham), grandsons, Jared (Kelly) Barlew and Jordan Barlew, great-grandchildren, Jake (Robert) Card-Johnson, Kyle (Brittany) Bowman, Lindsay (Jacob) Warner and Allison (Connor) Eischeid and great-great-grandsons, Oliver Card-Johnson, Crew Warner and Coen Eischeid.

Visitation will be at Heritage Funeral Home, 7454 East Brainerd Road, from 4-7 p.m. on Thursday, and 10-11 a.m. on Friday with a service to follow at 11 a.m. on Friday. Interment will be at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.
Over 40 vendors will gather their local history for the community to enjoy this Saturday at the Annual History Fair of the Soddy, Daisy & Montlake Historical Association. Genealogy, coal mining relics, Civil War relics, local American Indian artifacts, antique bottles from the area and just lots of local history will be on display.

"Also, again we will host Tracy Knauss, 'The Photo Doctor,' from Chattanooga," officials said. "If you have issues with an old photo - torn, discolored and blurry, or any other problem with a photo, 'The Photo Docto' can eliminate the problem.

"Sam Hall, the 2021 Tennessee Historical Merit Award winner, will have his chattanoogahistory.com website running to show the many photos of not only Chattanooga, but throughout Hamilton County. The great thing about so many of Sams photos  they are from glass negatives. Stefanie Haire with the picnooga.com website will also be there with photos from across the county."

The event will be held at the Soddy-Daisy High School in the Commons area. There will be at least three rows of tables, each having around 22 tables full of history.

"The Soddy, Daisy & Montlake Historical Association is proud of our local history and we want to show it to everyone who will come and spend some of their day with us," officials said. "If you have an interest in the local history of Soddy, Daisy or the mountain communities of Mowbray, Montlake and Flattop, their unique history will all be included.

"Do you have anything we might find of interest? If so, please bring it along. We will have people who might be able to assist you in determining what your item may be. Old photos from these areas? Bring these along as well. We will have a printer on site and can copy any photo, so you can take your photo home with you. Curtis Cecil and Kelly Flemings with the Soddy-Daisy Library will be there to make these copies of any historical photo or document you may bring. We try to collect these items for our museum.

'The Historical Association opened a museum in the old Soddy Bank building in July of 2017. We continue to strive to display new photos as they are brought to us. We make changes in the museum following the History Fair and we will reopen on March 31 and April 1  or sooner. "

The hours for the History Fair will be from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. They ask for a $5 donation from each adult not a member of the Historical Association. Students seven years to 18 years of age will enter with a $3 donation, and children under seven are encouraged to come, but there is no charge for them; they ask that they are accompanied by a parent or guardian.



"If you have a collection of local memorabilia, we would like for you to come and be a part of this event with a display. We have people coming from as far away as Nashville, Atlanta and Knoxville to spend a few hours in the area where they may have grown up, or maybe this is where their family lived," officials said. "Thanks and we look forward to seeing you on the 21st."

If you have any questions about the event, call 423-718-0528.
The City Council is deferring for one week action on a Request for Proposals for upgrading the Airport Inn on Lee Highway for supportive services for the homeless.

Council members spoke by video with Joda Thongnopnua, the mayor's chief of staff, about the project.

Council members wanted some stronger language regarding safeguards that had been promised earlier through the mayor's "contract with the community."

Council members spoke about the need for around the clock security, a fence at the rear, no tent camping and a ban on sex offenders.

Officials said it is projected that the provider will need to spend at least $5.5 million in upgrading the old hotel.

The Council was told that there could be two contracts - one for a developer on the project and another for a separate service provider.

Councilwoman Carol Berz said it is expected that similar homeless supportive facilities will be place elsewhere in the city. She said, "This is going to be the first one, and it needs to be a very good model."

The RFP had been due to come before the Council this Tuesday night, but it will be delayed until next Tuesday night.
Dr, Katie Duffy April F. Holland Dr. Martina Suttle Harris Previous Next

Erlanger Health System Foundation Board announces Katie Duffy, Dr. Martina Suttle Harris and April F. Holland as board members for 2023.



President of Erlanger Health System Foundation Julie Taylor stated, The Foundation is fortunate to have Dr. Duffy, Dr. Harris and Ms. Holland joining our board. They each bring their unique skills that will support our efforts to raise funds and awareness for the Erlanger Health System.



Dr. Duffy, PharmD, is a lifelong resident of the Chattanooga community.

She grew up in LaFayette and graduated from Gordon Lee High School. Dr. Duffy earned her bachelor of arts in English, doctorate of pharmacy and master of business administration from Mercer University. After completing her education, she returned to the area and started her 16-year career at Erlanger Health System, beginning in the inpatient pharmacy as a resident. She went on to serve as theinfectious diseases clinical pharmacy specialist, the clinical pharmacy director and the senior director of pharmacy. She left the pharmacy to then serve Erlanger as the vice president of operations. Recently, Dr. Duffy was appointed as the chief operating officer for University Surgical Associates. Dr. Duffy is passionate about the healthcare available in her community, especially as it pertains to pediatric patients. She has served on the Believe Bash Sponsorship Committee for the last three years.A Chattanooga native, Dr. Harris currently serves as interim dean of Nursing and Allied Health at Chattanooga State Community College. She graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a bachelor of science in nursing. In 1999 she earned her masters of science in nursing from Vanderbilt University, and in 2006 she earned a doctorate of education from Tennessee State University. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she served as a member of the Hamilton County Joint Task Force under the leadership of former Mayors Coppinger and Berke. Dr. Harris is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Downtown Rotary Club, and serves on several local community boards and professional nursing associations.Ms. Holland is a corporate transactional attorney and member of Miller & Martin PLLC, where she works with businesses through all stages of mergers and acquisitions matters on both the buy and sell sides. Ms. Holland also counsels individuals and companies in a wide range of general corporate law matters, including but not limited to, fund formation, securities and investment advisory matters, and state franchise registration filings. Ms. Holland has experience in industries ranging from technology, healthcare, flooring, transportation, insurance and bottling. She is the chair of the firm's Hiring Committee and the past chair of the firm's Inclusion and Diversity Committee.Erlanger Health System Foundation plays an integral role at the hospital and will continue to grow and evolve alongside the hospital as Erlanger becomes a private 501(C)3, said Foundation Board Chairman Less Lee. I continue to be inspired by the physicians and clinical staff as well as my fellow Foundation Board members and Erlangers staff as we look into the future of Erlanger together.The Erlanger Health System Foundation is governed by a board of directors comprised of volunteers led by newly elected 2023 officers, Chairman Less Lee, Vice Chair Rachel Allred, Secretary Dr. Dave Bhattacharya, Treasurer Larvizo Wright, Past Chair Lynn Mosier Bryant and Members At-Large Dr. Rachael Tindell and Jay Dale. The Board of Directors serves to build community awareness and raise funds for the Foundations fundraising initiatives.Erlanger Health System Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Erlanger. Their mission is to compassionately care for people by engaging the community to drive philanthropic and volunteer support. For more information regarding the Foundation and their efforts in fundraising, visit www.erlangerfoundation.org.
Ashland City homeowner and Riverview Lane resident David Schlundt was one of several area residents who expressed concerns about a quarry owned by Jason Walker of Walker, LLC, which they claim is operating in a residential area next to their homes, at the Ashland City Town Council meetings in December and January.It is an epic failure that Ashland City failed []
The college town of Moscow, Idaho, was thrust into the news in November 2022 when four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in their home while two other housemates slept nearby. The murders led to a month-long investigation. Idaho State Police, in conjunction with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies, arrested the suspected killer, Bryan Kohberger, a Ph.D. student at nearby Washington State University, at his familys home in Pennsylvania. 20/20 and 48 Hours have covered the case, but true crime enthusiasts are curious to see if Netflix produces a documentary on the case. Considering the streaming service providers penchant for true crime, it feels like a possibility.

An overview of the Idaho student murders

On Sunday, Nov. 13, a 911 call was placed around noon for an unconscious person at a Moscow, Idaho, home. The home was shared by five college students. According to Fox, police arrived and found the bodies of four victims instead. All were killed with an edged weapon sometime in the 4 am hour. Two other people were in the house at the time of the slayings. They were unharmed.

The scene of a quadruple murder in Moscow, Idaho | David Ryder/Getty Images

The victims, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, and Xana Kernodle, 20, were housemates. Ethan Chapin, 20, is the fourth victim. He was at the house as a guest of Kernodle. The pair were dating. Goncalves and Mogen were seen on a Live Stream at a food truck just hours before their deaths. Chapin and Kernodle were allegedly at a fraternity party just before the murders. Nothing seemed to be amiss in the hours leading up to the slayings. According to court documents, police believe Kohberger drove b the house several times before entering in the early morning hours of Nov. 13 and attacking. A surviving roommate reported seeing a man wearing a mask in the home that morning. 

The Grub Truck in Moscow, Idaho | Kevin Fixler/Idaho Statesman/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Idaho police, along with the FBI, narrowed their suspect pool to someone driving a Hyundai Elantra. They later asked the public for help finding it. Cell phone data and surveillance camera footage from the area appeared to place the 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate at the scene of the crime. Law enforcement agencies followed Kohberger across the country as he traveled home to Pennsylvania during the school break. He was arrested in his home state and extradited back to Idaho, where he will stand trial.

20/20 and 48 Hours have both jumped to cover the tragic case

20/20 and 48 Hours were both quick to cover the case. 48 Hours covered the case on Jan. 7. 20/20 followed with an episode that aired on Jan. 13, just one day after Kohberger appeared in court. Both episodes offered viewers an overview of the crimes and information about the alleged killer.

Still, a lot remains unknown about the case. Most specifically, police have not revealed a motive. In the days since Kohbergers dramatic arrest on the opposite side of the country from the murders, several people who allege to have spent time around Kohberger have come forward to tell their stories. They are largely conflicting. The Kohberger they knew largely depended on the time in his life that they knew him. Still, none of the close encounter stories have offered insight into why the Ph.D. student would have broken into a home and brutally murdered four occupants that he didnt seem to know.

That information may come later, or it may never be revealed to the public. However, the 48 Hours and 20/20 episodes felt premature. Some true crime enthusiasts are eying a longer, more involved documentary, and thats the type of content that Netflix does well. Will they be doing it? Well, not yet.

Netflix has yet to comment on whether or not theyll be creating a true crime offering on the case. The streaming service providers catalog is pretty full of true crime offerings already, though. The platform released a project that covered another infamous true crime case out of Idaho just two months before the deaths of the Chapin, Goncalves, Kernodle, and Mogen. Sins of Our Mother follows the disappearance and death of Tylee Ryan and J.J. Vallow. Their mother, Lori Vallow Daybell, stands accused of their murders.

Netflix released Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street and The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker this year. The streaming platform is set to premiere Tokyo Crime Squad: The Lucie Blackman Case in 2023, as well. More true crime series and documentaries are expected.

If Netflix opts to cover the case, it would likely be some time before subscribers see it. Kohberger last appeared in an Idaho courtroom on Jan. 12. A preliminary hearing is set for June 2023. No new information is expected to be released between now and the preliminary hearing. As a complete picture of the alleged murderer, and his victims, who were all described as bright, ambitious, and caring, comes into view, there will surely be more to the story.
Emily in Paris has become a surprising hit on Netflix, with a section of fans who cant get enough of the protagonist and her shenanigans in Paris. Although the first season of the series was very controversial and widely panned by audiences for its insensitive portrayals of French people, it has come out ahead with a fourth season on the way.

The cast of Emily in Paris recently revealed that Lily Collins had a lot more in common with her character.

[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Emily in Paris season three.]

Lily Collins as Emily Cooper | Stephanie Branchu/Netflix

Emily is a cheery character in Emily in Paris

Emily Cooper is an American college graduate with a Masters degree in communication. She lands an unexpected job opportunity in Paris, France, after her boss becomes pregnant and is unable to travel and make such a huge commitment.

Emilys task is to bring an American perspective and social media presence to the French marketing firm her American company acquired. When Emily lands in Paris, she immediately realizes that things are more difficult than she initially imagined.

While she enjoys the city and all it has to offer, she finds that its inhabitants arent as friendly as shed hoped. Her new coworkers are very dismissive, and her new boss Sylvie seems to hate her guts.

However, Emily chooses to look at every situation in a glass-half-full way. Along the way, she makes friends, and although she and her boyfriend break up, she meets a new man, Gabriel, with whom she engages in a love triangle.

Emily in Paris cast thinks Lily Collins is most like her character

Season 3 of Emily in Paris hit Netflix on December 21, 2022, and the cast has been up and about promoting it. In a recent interview with BuzzFeed Celeb, the cast of Emily in Paris engaged in a game of Whos Who. When asked who was more like their character, Camille Razat, who plays Camille on the show, pointed at Collins, to which the other female stars of the show agreed.

Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu said she felt she had more in common with her character Sylvie, but Collins disagreed. Collins said she initially thought Leroy-Beaulieu was like her character but admitted that when she got to know the French star, she got a different view of them.

I thought you were like your character, but then I was like, I dont understand. She loves nature, and shes an Earth angel, Collins said of Leroy-Beaulieu. Collins also said Razat was more like their character. The male actors agreed that William Abadie had the same elegance as his character.

What to expect for Emily in Paris season 4?

With season three out, fans are already looking forward to season four of Emily in Paris. In season three, Alfie returned to Paris after leaving for London in season two, and although he didnt inform Emily about his return, they reunited and patched things up.

Camille and Emily made a pact that forbade them from pursuing a relationship with Gabriel, but Camille broke the agreement and accepted his proposal. However, Camille interrupted their wedding by coming clean about their pact.

Not wanting to be a second option, Alfie breaks up with Emily, and she and Gabriel proclaim their feelings for one another, but Gabriel drops a bombshell on Emily, telling her that Camille returned from Greece because she was pregnant.

Season four will dive into Emily, Gabriel, and Camilles difficult relationship now that a baby is on the way. Camille might end up finding love with Sofia, as hinted in season three. Mindy may decide to leave Nicolas to be with Benoit, given their shared love for music. Emily may lose her job once more after Juliens frustrations with her and Sylvies promise to handle the situation.
In this photo released by the Office of the Secretary Department of the Interior, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks at the Sabinoso Wilderness in Las Vegas, N.M., July 17, 2021. The U.S. Department of the Interior renamed five places in four states that had featured a racist term for a Native American woman until Jan. 12, 2023.
HARTFORD  Much like Gov. Ned Lamonts inaugural speech last Wednesday, the bills filed in the first week of the General Assemblys five-month session offer Connecticut a hint of objectives to be pursued, if not a blueprint for producing them.

Senate Democrats filed 10 bills co-sponsored by all 24 members of the majority caucus, each a statement of a lofty purpose, such as Senate Bill 4: To promote fair and equitable housing opportunities in every community in the state.

Exactly how that would be accomplished is for another day.

This is just a very first step procedurally, said Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. We wanted to reserve these 10 numbers to show that these are the 10 themes that we want to address in the course of the session.

Lamont also made housing an issue in his speech, though his policy solutions have yet to be reduced to legislative language. He also promised a middle-class tax cut, details to come.

Adam Joseph, the governors communications director, said the administration will be offering specifics in the weeks leading to Lamonts budget address in February.

We look forward to working with our legislative partners to address issues that matter to Connecticuts residents, including: housing, health care, energy, climate, education and career readiness, Joseph said.

All were issues raised in his speech and are addressed in legislation filed this week.

The goal of Senate Bill 7 is timely, if vague. It seeks to promote a more equitable and transparent energy market that works in the best interest of Connecticuts consumers of energy.

With everyones electric bill recently jumping to reflect the competitive market costs of generating power, energy legislation may be in vogue this year.

House Bill 5013 provides a more specific, if whimsical, take on the issue than Senate Bill 7.

It states: That the general statutes be amended to require a vote by each chamber of the General Assembly on all electric or natural gas rate increases approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

PURA sets rates for transmission, roughly half a typical bill. The cost of generating power is set by the markets, not PURA, Eversource or United Illuminating.

The bill was filed by Rep. Christine Conley, D-Groton, who said lawmakers were getting lots of complaints from constituents about electric rates.

The current laws dont allow the legislature to do anything about it, so I put in a bill to start a discussion about how can we have a little more control over these rates, because the increases are really hard for a lot of families to pay right now, she said.

In legislative speak, start a discussion can be synonymous with dont hold your breath.

Mitch Gross, a spokesman for the company that provides power to the majority of Connecticut homes and businesses, Eversource, declined to address the unlikely prospect of lawmakers voting on electric rates.

We understand theres been a request for legislation and look forward to seeing the specific language, he said. Until we can review the bill, it would be inappropriate to comment.

Looney said not every bill is filed with the expectation that it will become law.

Some people put in a bill as a statement of an ideal or sometimes as a statement of protest, knowing that its not actually likely to result in legislation, but to strongly express a point of view on an issue and just to stake out a position, he said.

House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, agreed with Looney, but noted that sometimes unlikely proposals gain traction.

Were sort of in the megaphone process, making a statement, than seeing what can stick, Candelora said. You put your oar in the water, but if you can get some advocacy on an issue, sometimes to can go forward.

The General Assembly meets for three months in even-numbered years and five months in odd ones. Only in the longer session are lawmakers free to file individual bills; in the short session, they must be filed as committee bills.

Because any legislator can introduce any bill they want, you do get a mixture of things, said House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford.

Committees will screen individual bills, clearing some for public hearings  and allowing others to die without action. The first months of the session turn on getting bills voted out of committee to the floor of the House or Senate.

House members filed about four dozen bills on Wednesday, the first day of the session.

House Bill 5002 would extend bond covenant restrictions adopted in 2017 as a means to enforce so-called fiscal guardrails against overspending when revenues spike.

This starts the conversation, and it was important to all of us that we get this out early, said Rep. Maria Horn, D-Salisbury, the new co-chair of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.

This is a conversation that has a better chance of leading to the passage of a bill. It is co-sponsored by Horn and the top Democrats, Ritter and House Majority Leader Jason Rojas of East Hartford, and reflects a priority of the governor.

Rep. Jeff Currey, D-East Hartford, the new co-chair of the Education Committee, filed House Bill 5003, a measure co-sponsored by the House leaders to reform the states complex formulas for subsidizing local education.

Right now, we have a disjointed system of, I believe, 11 different formulas, Currey said. So were trying to wrap them all into one so that we get away from the internal and external battles when it comes to funding each budget cycle between our traditional public schools, our magnet schools and our charter schools, all of which are public schools.

House Bill 5004, filed by Rep. Matt Blumenthal, D-Stamford, with Ritter and Rojas is a good bet for passage. It would implement early voting, as permitted by an amendment to the Connecticut Constitution approved in November.

The bill does not yet specify exactly how early voting would be allowed.

Other bills and resolutions run the gamut.

Rep. Keith Denning, D-Wilton, is brand new, but one of his bills addresses an issue as old as Tesla cars: It would allow car makers to bypass dealers and directly sell motor vehicles, the only way Tesla does business.

Rep. Christie Carpino, R-Cromwell, proposed a constitutional amendment placing a limit of two terms on the governor. It might have been appreciated by the last governor, Gov. John G. Rowland, who was elected to three terms.

Rowlands third term was cut short by an impeachment inquiry, followed by resignation and a stint in federal prison.

This story originally appeared at ctmirror.org, the website of The Connecticut Mirror.
Have you ever laid awake late at night wondering what you would do if you only had one more day left to live? Lets be honest: we all have.

Would you travel to that European country youve always wanted to visit? Perhaps, or maybe the flight would take up too many of your dwindling hours.

Instead, you might try to initiate some social change or give back to the community. For others, spending time with family would be of utmost importance, right?

Well, if you have ever wondered what other people would do with their remaining twenty-four hours, one Reddit user recently opened up that can of worms.

They set the scene for the online community: your doctor tells you that you only have one day left, there are no laws, and you have infinite money. Then, they asked the people of Reddit how they would spend their final hours.

And surprisingly, most of the answers are seriously touching.

Of course, there were some jokesters who immediately commented, get a second opinion, in regards to the doctor bit. But then, many others actually detailed how family time would be their main priority.

Those who have partners or spouses shared how they would want to revel in the romance for as long as they could.

I would be glued to my partner those last few hours, and they would be glued to me. No money or illegal activities needed. Random_silly_name

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Last summer, I was on vacation with my family in Seville, Spain, and we ordered a traditional paella. To my surprise and amusement, it arrived at our table topped with a rabbit head.

Our meal reminded me of the popular Sichuan delicacy of spicy rabbit head and brought back memories of my childhood. I grew up in Chengdu, a city known for its mouthwatering food. We were poor, but on occasion, my grandma would buy me a rabbit head to snack on as a treat. It cost only six Chinese cents, but it would bring me so much joy.

According to the Chinese zodiac, 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit. The dinner on the Chinese New Year Eve is the most important meal of the year for Chinese. I wondered on that evening this year how many Chinese families feasts will include rabbit. Of course, not all Chinese eat rabbit head, as the sight of it on a table is not necessarily all that appealing.

In China, the lunar New Years Day is the first day of chun jie, or Spring Festival, which lasts for a half month. This year, Chinese New Years Day happens to fall on a Sunday (January 22). I wondered if Chinese church pastors and leaders would preach about the Chinese New Year and if they would mention rabbit in their sermons.

Christ has made rabbits clean

A few Chinese preachers I spoke with told me that they would likely mention the lunar New Year and say a few blessing words, but they do not plan to preach specifically about rabbit.

It is not unusual for Chinese preachers to give a sermon about the lunar New Year around Spring Festival. But older generation Christians in conservative Chinese house churches would regard the Chinese zodiac as a superstition that is harmful to the spiritual life of believers. Therefore, sermons mentioning the Chinese New Year would typically not touch on the animal of the year.

Some of such sermons would mention the Old Testament Passover story because of its connection to lunar New Year and to the Chinese practices of celebrating chun jie, such as putting chun lian (red couplets of blessing words) on both sides of the doorframereminding people of the Israelites putting blood on both sides of the doorframe on Passover night (Ex. 12:22). Other Chinese pastors may preach from the Chinese New Year custom of putting on new clothes to the biblical teaching for Christians to put on the new self (Eph. 4:24) and clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:14).

But no preacher would preach about rabbit just because its the Year of the Rabbit. There is simply not much for a Christian to preach about rabbit. There are only two verses in the Chinese Bible that mention rabbit (Lev. 11:6 and Deut. 14:7), so its too difficult to connect rabbit to the Christian faith without stretching it. (Wen-lian Chang, a well-known Taiwanese Christian writer and former environmental science professor, did write an article about the uncleanness of rabbit as food, but he was giving scientific explanations for the uncleanness, saying that rabbit carries the most parasites and viruses in its body among the worlds grass-fed animals.)

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However, this is not to say that the long-eared animal has nothing to do with the Christian faith.

Image: plej92 / Getty

Both verses that mentioned rabbit are part of the Mosaic laws about food in the Old Testament. Both say that rabbits are unclean, just like pigs, so their meats should not be eaten as food. This would easily bring up a faith-related question: Arent Christians supposed to obey Gods laws? How can Christians eat rabbit or pork (the most consumed kind of meat for Chinese), against the food laws in the Old Testament?

The answer to this question is in the Gospel of Christ. The key to understanding the Mosaic laws is that they are the shadow of Christ, as Vern Poythress explained in The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses. The ceremonial laws of cleanness and uncleanness in the Old Testament signify and foreshadow the way in which God cleanses sin. But Gods redemption is fulfilled by Christ and his crucifixion. Consequently, all foods are cleansed by the Word of God and by prayer now offered in the name and power of Christ. The Mosaic laws are a foretaste of the saving grace of Jesus Christ as the ultimate atoning and redeeming sacrifice.

That is why Jesus, who told the disciples he came not to abolish but to fulfill the Old Testament law (Matt. 5:17-18), taught them that all foods were to be reckoned clean (Mark 7:19). In Acts 10, God told Peter three times to eat all kinds of animals, including those that the disciple considered unclean, and indicated he should not call anything impure that God has made clean. (Acts 10:15) The apostle Paul said that although the heretic hypocritical liars ordered believers to abstain from certain foods, everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Tim. 4:2-4).

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So, the essence of Christian faith is not about the religious regulations of not eating this or not touching that. The Gospel of Christ has set us free, and we have freedom of conscience when it comes to food. Although eating and drinking is taken seriously for the Spring Festival celebration in the Chinese culture, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).

This also means that we should not abuse our Christian freedom. I have the right to do anything, you saybut not everything is beneficial (1 Cor. 6:12). If eating rabbit head causes my brother or sister to fall (because it is too gross or unhealthy for them), I will not eat rabbit head.

The Good News overcomes bad astrology

It is customary for the Chinese to say blessings related to the zodiac animal of the lunar year, but for the Year of the Rabbit, a lot of the popular contemporary sayings are just homophonic puns containing tu (), the Chinese word for rabbit. They dont have any zodiac significance or reference. (And some of them may not be appropriate for Christian preachers to use in their sermon.)

The omen of the rabbit in Chinese zodiac mythology is actually not auspicious. Many of the online zodiac-based, fortune-telling tips about the Year of the Rabbit warn readers about the dangers of misfortune brought by the rabbit for mysterious astrological reasons. Readers are cautioned to avoid offending the God of the Year (tai sui) because this particular Year of the Rabbit brings with it double bad luck that only repeats itself once every 60 years. Newly-weds are advised not to have new babies born in the Year of the Rabbit.

Thankfully, few Chinese, especially among the young generation, take such astrological advice seriously. But Chinese people in China have experienced three difficult years due to COVID and their governments response to the pandemic. The danger is such negative superstitious information could cause psychological damage and pull people deeper into a pit of despair.

For us Chinese Christians, the good news is that the Gospel truth has set us free from the fear of misfortune. Because of Christs crucifixion and resurrection, our sins are forgiven, and we now have the Christian freedom from the bondage of sin and from cultural superstitions. The plans God has for us are plans to prosper us and not to harm us (Jer. 29:11). Just like Christ has made all food clean, he has also given us the ultimate blessing of salvation that overcomes bad omens.

So, at the start of this Year of the Rabbit, let us share the real good news:

Go ahead, enjoy eating rabbitor beef steak, or healthy Chinese vegetables of your choice. Gladly and boldly ignore the superstitious warnings of zodiac misfortunes. And give thanks to Jesus, the source of true heavenly blessings.

[ This article is also available in  and . ]
In an international scene full of competing value systems and brute power politics, Americans tend to approach the conduct of foreign relations in one of three ways.

The firstand by far the most commonis to be passive unless it intimately affects day-to-day life. The second clause of Reinhold Niebuhrs Serenity Prayer works as the credo of many Americans: God, give us courage to change what must be altered, serenity to accept what cannot be helped, and insight to know the one from the other. Trade relations between the United States and China or US proposals for Middle East peace are things most Americans cannot help.

But two other approaches have their followings. For realists, US foreign relations is fraught with centuries of mistakes, either by design or by ignorance. The best the United States can do, whether to protect its own interests or those of the rest of the world, is to remove any sense of transcendent values from foreign policy. In international-relations circles, realists are known for their so-called realistic assessment of the world and the base interests that govern nations.

For idealists, foreign policy is unavoidably bound up with moral questions. They believe the way America conducts itself on the international stage implicates its moral standing, whether as a sign of greatness and exceptionalism (including divine favor) or as an expression of deep-seated injustices at the heart of the American experiment. In international-relations circles, idealists are known for their principled assessment of the United States and its global commitments.

Translating Neibuhrs prayer into foreign-policy categories, we might apply the first clause to idealists (who insist we can change the world for the better), the second clause to most Americans (who find it easier to assume we cant), and the third clause to realists (who claim the mantle of clear-eyed discernment). Though Christians can be found in all three camps, they might be best known as idealists, for either criticizing or justifying American conduct in the world.

Perhaps no foreign-policy issue raises the hackles of idealists and realists like the relationship between the United States and Israel. Designated by many as a special relationship matched only by the relationship between America and Great Britain, the US-Israel bond appears constantly in our headlines. It is debated on college campuses, on cable news, and in op-ed columns. Even minor policy issues, such as changing the location of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, become the subject of presidential campaign promises.

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A lot of people have tried to explain the American fascination with a country more than 6,000 miles away with roughly the size and population of New Jersey. Walter Russell Mead, the well-known columnist and author of such books as God and Gold and Special Providence, has produced a new and clarifying answer in The Arc of a Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Fate of the Jewish People. In the cottage industry of books purporting to explain the special relationship, Meads is a singular achievement. The sweeping history, spanning from the 18th century to the present, could have come only from a first-class writer, storyteller, and generalist like Mead.

Driving forces

Clocking in at more than 580 pages of narrative text, The Arc of a Covenant, by its structure and insistence on taking seriously both national interests and values, offers something of a bridge between realist and idealist explanations of the US-Israel relationship. The book examines the role of religious communities and values in forming foreign policy, touching on vast slices of world history that intersect with this story. There are long passages on 19th-century immigration to the United States, on the decline of European empires before World War I, and on the rise of the Sunbelt in the American South (among other topics). There is essentially a book within a book (over 100 pages) on the presidency of Harry Truman, whose time in office saw the US government grapple with the aftermath of the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel, and the deepening of the Arab-Israeli conflict. If it werent so well written, the book might be criticized as overly long. As it stands, it is an achievement that will be hard to replicate, in either its breadth or its balanced arguments.

The title gives away the books recurring focus on religion and faith. Meads deepest insight is one idealists and realists share: that Zionism of one sort or another has been present since the beginning of American history. Even before the organized Zionist movement led by Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century, interest in Jews and the nation of Israel was pervasive in American political culture. The driving forces behind Americans fascination with Israel, Mead writes, originate outside the American Jewish community and are among the most powerful forces in American life. Those forces include religion, but they are too broad (and diffuse) to narrowly identify with one interest group or worldview.

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Meads telling of this religious storywhich begins in the Reformation and includes themes of prophecy, conversion, humanitarianism, and antisemitismbuilds on earlier studies. Other historians, including Caitlin Carenen, Shalom Goldman, and Samuel Goldman, have excavated parts of this story. And scholars like Yaakov Ariel, Walker Robins, and Melani McAlister have pondered the puzzle of how conservative evangelicals emerged in the second half of the 20th century to become Israels most committed American supporters.

Mead also interacts with a wave of Israel lobby analysis that broke into the open with The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, a 2007 volume written by political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. The book, along with others of its ilk, applies a realist perspective, acknowledging the role of religious values but finding them deeply troubling.

In sorting through this maze of claims and counterclaims, Mead resists any single, simple interpretation of how the US-Israel relationship developed. Instead, he offers multiple explanations, sometimes half a dozen at once.

To take one example, consider the famous Balfour Declaration, issued by the British government in 1917, which supported the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. US responses to this declaration, Mead shows, are incomprehensible without considering multiple factors: division within the American Jewish community over the desirability of a national home outside the United States; anti-immigrant legislation that imposed severe restrictions to Eastern European Jews; the encouragement of national self-determination, by influential figures like Massachusetts senator Henry Cabot Lodge, as a way to expand American commerce and economic activity; wartime passions, led by President Woodrow Wilson, to establish minority rights in once-imperial holdings like Palestine; and a history of American Christian declarations similar to the Balfour Declaration dating back to the Blackstone Memorial in 1891, named after Methodist preacher and businessman William E. Blackstone, an early popularizer of dispensational theology and Christian Zionism.

By holding these strands together, Mead explains a history without simplistic answers. There is no use in isolating one explanation to the exclusion of others. In fact, doing so will distort reality. For some readers this might be discomforting. Yet the loss of concise explanatory power or obvious policy implications is more than worth the gain in capturing the complex range of historical actors, motivations, and forces at work in defining US-Israel relations.

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The truest insights

What, if anything, are Christians today called to do in the foreign-policy world? Mead, a Christian himself, offers no religious instruction as such. But he does offer a framework that clears away simplistic and conspiratorial thinking in favor of the complexity of the past. Mead is especially critical of realist arguments that attribute the US-Israel relationship to the influence of a nefarious set of actors. He is particularly dismissive of Israel lobby theories, which blame Jewish American organizations for exercising an outsized influence on bending US policy in favor of Israeli interest. And he attends to the ways such arguments play on historic tropes of antisemitism.

Mead compares Israel-lobby advocates to the scientists who searched for Planet Vulcan, a celestial body proposed by 19th-century astronomers to account for irregularities in Mercurys orbit. Scientists compiled evidence, even visual proof, of Vulcans existencebut of course the irregularities were due to their own flawed theories. Einsteins theory of relativity explained that the suns gravity warped space-time in the exact ways observed by scientists on Earth. This did away with the supposed irregularities and thus the need for Vulcan. Similarly, Mead does a good job depicting the lobby as a mythical body invented to account for forces better explained through more comprehensive analysis.

Most Christians, when it comes to foreign policy, oscillate between idealism and detachmentbetween yearning to change the world and accepting that, in most cases, we cant. Mead is a rare observer in the Niebuhrian tradition of Christian realism who insists, in keeping with the Serenity Prayers third petition, that we should focus on better understanding where change is possible and where it isnt. As a realist, Mead admittedly prefers a good foreign policy to a Christian foreign policy. As he remarked in a 2018 speech, just because something is made in a church or made with love doesnt mean it is any good.

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But as a Christian, Mead has mined that traditions valuespsychological, theological, social, culturaland is convinced that Christianity offers the truest insights to promote human flourishing, as well as the only real antidote to human fallenness. And he appreciates the extent to which Christians have deeply shaped the institutions, structures, and practices of international relations for centuries. From the emergence of human rights and international law to the origins of many NGOs and global charities, Christians have played an integral role in shaping the current world order.

If Christian wisdom bridges the idealist-realist divide, it should finally push Christians back toward Niebuhrs first petition, which exhorts us to change what must be altered. Certain biblical injunctions come into play: Gods command to grieve for other peoples pain (James 2:1517) and to be peacemakers (Matt. 5:9). How we live these out can vary, but they are not exclusive to a professional diplomatic class.

There are also theological tools that the Christian tradition bestows. In a recent interview, Mead reflected on the importance of a religious faith, connected to one of the great historical traditions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, for becoming an effective observer and actor in international relations. Such a grounding gives you a degree of insight and potential for self-criticism that are absolutely crucial to foreign affairs.

More than any specific policy solution, Mead concludes The Arc of a Covenant by encouraging Americans to better appreciate the connections between how they think and act in the world. In this sense, the US-Israel relationship is no different than any other domain of human existence and far less special than it first appears.

Daniel G. Hummel is a religious historian and the director for university engagement at Upper House, a Christian study center located on the campus of the University of WisconsinMadison. His forthcoming book is The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation.
Nearly 400 Orthodox Christian theologians from 44 countries convened in the largest international conference of its kind in Greece on Thursday (Jan. 12) to discuss Nicaea-sized questions facing the Eastern Orthodox Church amid war and bitter division.

Some of the most contentious issues at the Mega-Conference of the International Orthodox Theological Association, meeting in Volos, have been exposed by Russias invasion of Ukraine in February, which exacerbated a split between a newly independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine in Kyiv and the Russian Orthodox Church based in Moscow.

The conferences keynote speaker, Metropolitan Ambrosios (Zografos) of Korea and Exarch of Japan, a bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, told the assembly Wednesday evening that the various branches of Orthodox Christianity had fomented a heresy by taking sides in the war, calling it an unspeakable travesty that as a result, most Orthodox leaders have failed to condemn this diabolical war unequivocally.

We cannot even say, Well this is a war driven by politicians. Our churches are against it, Ambrosios said, because so few of our church leaders have actually taken a public anti-war stance.

At the root of the Russia-Ukraine split is a theological heresy called ethno-phyletism that conflates church and nation, Ambrosios argued. The practice of applying church governance based on ethnicity, nationality, or culture rather than geography, the metropolitan said, is nothing less than the greatest danger to the Orthodox unity of the church.

The effects of ethno-phyletism often lead to church members excluding Christians who dont match their particular ethnic identity, however subtly, or to elevating nationality over faith.

The debate over the ideology has led to finger-pointing: Critics of the Moscow Patriarchate point out the Russian church has expanded into jurisdictions, such as Africa, where it had no canonical authority. Critics of the Patriarchate of Constantinople point out, on the other hand, that in 1922 the Greek Patriarch established Greek Orthodox Churches in the US, rivaling the Russian churchs presence. Russian-led organization of the Orthodox churches in the US shifted after the Russian Revolution and amid waves of immigrants from Eastern Europe who requested priests from abroad to serve them.

Image: Photo courtesy of IOTA

Some argue completely eliminating ethno-phyletism would mean consolidating the independent Orthodox churches in the US, such as the Greek, Serbian, Antiochian, Russian, and others that currently overlap their jurisdictions, into one Orthodox Church for the region.

Ambrosios diagnosis broadly echoes a contingent of Orthodox scholars and clergy who oppose Russias invasion of Ukraine that includes the events sponsors, the International Orthodox Theological Association (IOTA), the Orthodox Theological Studies Association, and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies. The scholars represent some 28 areas of study, including women in the church, asceticism, science and theology, political theology and more, all under a theme of mission and the Orthodox Church. Members of the Moscow Patriarchate attended, too.

The Mega-Conference  has become a most, if not the most, significant gathering of Orthodox Christian scholars from throughout the world, said Anton Vrame, a member of the IOTA board and a professor of religious education at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. The spirit of the conference is joyous, with a strong sense of unity among the diverse membership.

IOTA held its first conference in Romania in 2019. Fostering collaboration among Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant scholars, the conference aims to help church leaders continue Orthodox traditions in modern contexts, said IOTA President Paul L. Gavrilyuk. He listed religious fundamentalism, climate change, the pandemic, economic uncertainties, and the war in Ukraine as pressures on the church to respond to world affairs, for the sake of serving Christ and the church.

Pantelis Kalaitzidis, director of Volos Academy, told the audience that the mission of the church cannot be only a theoretical or historical concern but must also be a contemporary one, since Gods revelation takes place in history.

Many see the Russian churchs support for the war in Ukraine as an unfortunate outcome of ethno-phyletism, expressed as a Russian World ideology. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of the Moscow Patriarchate have often invoked this ideology, which says that a transnational Russian sphere of influence called Holy Russia has a common political center, spiritual center, language, church, and patriarch that co-labor with the national leader to govern and uphold morality and culture.

But the effects of Orthodox fragmentation can be seen not only in Ukraine but also in every Orthodox jurisdiction, some conference participants say, from Western Europe and the US to Africa and East Asia. On Thursday, Gavrilyuk led a prayer for victims of war in Syria, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia, where fragile peace has recently ended a civil war along ethnic lines with Oriental Orthodox Christians on each side. He said the Orthodox Church must be more than an ethnic club.

Of particular concern to critics of the members is the establishment of Russian churches in regions where other branches of Orthodox Christianity already have a foothold, such as Ambrosios jurisdiction in Korea, where a canonical order states that only one bishop should serve all languages and ethnicities.

The Moscow Patriarchate has also been rapidly expanding across Africa, stepping on the Patriarchate of Alexandria, which, since the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., has operated on a decree of territorial sovereignty over North Africa. The Russian church declared Alexandria to be in schism after its patriarch recognized the independence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in 2019.

The promising revival of Orthodoxy in the 20th century is being endangered by the serious problems that arose after the fall of communist regimes in so-called Orthodox countries which have sought to expand into other ecclesiastical jurisdictions, Ambrosios said in his address.

In 2016, the Council of Crete condemned not just ethnic particularism but also a kind of nationalism that further restricts belonging and mutual acceptance. But such pronouncements have had little effect in the past: The Eastern Orthodox Church condemned ethno-phyletism as heresy at the 1872 Council of Constantinople, but only Greek-speaking church leaders were present, and the move was ignored in practice.

Still, Gavrilyuk is hopeful that the conference can lead to real reforms in the Orthodox Church. With the attendance in Volos of Russian Orthodox members and the sheer size of the meeting, he said, with the characteristic reserve of a churchman, such a hope is not unsubstantiated.

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Biden says country at 'inflection point,' must decide whether to choose 'love over hate'

President Joe Biden said Monday that America faces another "inflection point" in its history, which he believes will determine how the country looks in the future, calling it a "time for choosing."

Biden joined civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network for an annual breakfast in Washington commemorating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. The event also honored former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and "other national leaders who have kept Dr. King's mission alive."

During his speech, the president stated that it was a "time for choosing," and Americans must decide whether to choose "democracy over autocracy," "community over chaos," and "love over hate."

"These are the questions of our time," Biden said. "Dr. King's legacy shows us the way forward. We've got to be prepared."

The president stated that his administration has made "important progress," noting that the U.S. economy was "on its back" two years ago due to COVID-19. He emphasized how the pandemic "disproportionately" impacted African Americans and that his administration acted "decisively" to create a "resilient" economy and ensure minorities are not left behind.

Biden promised to combat housing discrimination, citing concerns about how developments built in predominantly white neighborhoods are valued more than homes built in a predominantly African-American community. He lamented that minorities living in predominantly black neighborhoods also pay for more insurance.

"We are working with leaders to address the negative impacts of redlining," Biden said.

In addition, Biden highlighted how his administration delivered nearly $6 billion in federal funding to historically black colleges and universities. The president promised to keep funding HBCUs and continue investing in "the next generation of black leaders."

The speech included criticism about what Biden referred to as "trickle-down economics," claiming that he has "never liked it."

"I think the economy  the way it should grow in America  is from the bottom up and the middle out. That way, poor folks have a shot, middle-class people do well, and the wealthy still do very well. They still do very well. But they start to pay their fair share," Biden said.

The president said he's "ready to work" with Republicans now that they've taken control of the U.S. House of Representatives while also condemning the party for passing a bill he claims benefits the wealthy.

"Like many Americans, I was disappointed to see the very first bill that House Republicans are  bringing to the floor that would help the wealthy people and big corporations cheat on their taxes," he said, addressing Republicans' vote earlier this month on a bill to rescind funding to the Internal Revenue Service.

Biden also criticized Republicans for passing a House bill barring oil sales from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China and a proposal for a national sales tax. He argued that Republicans want to increase taxes on the middle class and supplant the money lost through taxes to the millionaires and billionaires by imposing a sales tax on everyday items, including clothes, groceries and gasoline.

"That's how they're starting their new term," he said. "If any of these bills happen to reach my desk, I will veto them."

He also claimed that he didn't "want to hear a word from the other side" about his plan to forgive student loan debt, accusing Republicans of accepting pandemic-related relief loans without complaint last year "to the tune of tens of millions of dollars."

"And they're complaining about some kid being able to take away $20,000 of student debt that keeps him and his wife or his husband, her husband, from being able to buy a home or start a business or just get going?" he asked, expressing confidence that his plan would overcome the lawsuits against it.

The speech also included Biden's frequent promises to ban assault weapons, ensure that no one spends time in federal prison for marijuana-related charges and protect abortion access.

The president concluded his speech by highlighting the need to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named after the civil rights leader, to revitalize the 1965 Voting Rights Act and protect minority voter access.

"We have the most vibrant economy in the world right now. We're doing better than any other major nation in the world today," Biden said, encouraging members of the audience to be guided by Dr. King.

"The path is clear to go forward. We need to go together," he said.



As The Christian Post reported, Biden spoke Sunday at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Georgia, where King once served as a pastor. The president praised King as a "non-violent warrior for justice," urging everyone to commit to the civil rights leader's path.
Chris Pratt 'wouldn't change a thing' in speech about God, prayer

Actor Chris Pratt said that he wouldnt change a thing about his 2018 MTV Speech in which he told audiences that God loves them and stressed the importance of prayer.

In a recent Instagram post, the Jurassic Park actor reflected on a speech he gave after accepting the Generation Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. In the speech, he outlined several points of advice for his audience, much of it infused with biblical wisdom.

I was given three minutes to impart wisdom to the next generation, he shared. Given the chance to do it again I wouldnt change a thing. Except maybe I wouldnt try to eat the popcorn backstage, the actor captioned a video of the event.

The advice included: You have a soul, be careful with it. God is real. God loves you. God wants the best for you; believe that, I do. Learn to pray. It's easy, and it is so good for your soul. Grace is a gift. Like the freedom that we enjoy in this country, that grace was paid for with somebody else's blood. Do not forget that. Don't take that for granted.

God bless you, the actor concluded his speech, drawing cheers and applause from the audience.

The 43-year-old actor, who recently welcomed his second child with his second wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, has been open about his Christian beliefs and how they have guided him throughout his life. Pratt and his family attend Zoe Church, pastored by Chad Veach.

Pratt told Esquire magazine in 2014 that he was introduced to religion as a rebellious teenager in Maui, Hawaii, by a complete stranger.

"This guy came by and was like, 'What are you doing tonight?' I was like, 'Oh, I dunno...' So he's like, 'Will you fornicate tonight?' I was like, 'I hope so.' 'And drugs and drinking?' It's like, 'Most likely, yeah. Probably all three of those things. I mean, at least two of them, possibly all three,'" Pratt said.

"He was like, 'I stopped because Jesus told me to stop and talk to you. He said to tell you you're destined for great things.' My friends came out, and I was like, 'Hey, I'm gonna go with this guy.' I gave my soul to Jesus within, like, two days. I was stuffing envelopes for his organization, Jews for Jesus."

He also shared how his faith sustained him when, during his first marriage with Anna Faris, their son, Jack, was born five months premature and with significant health issues.

"We were scared for a long time. We prayed a lot," he told People magazine. "It restored my faith in God, not that it needed to be restored, but it really redefined it."

Pratts boldness hasnt come without a cost. In 2019, actress Ellen Page, who now identifies as Elliot Page, claimed in a tweet that Pratts Church was infamously anti lgbtq.

Pratt later denied the allegation in an Instagram story: It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which hates a certain group of people and is infamously anti LGBTQ. Nothing could be further from the truth.

He also clarified in an interview with Mens Health that while he loves God, he takes issue with the ways people have misused religion for evil purposes.

I think theres a distinction between being religiousadhering to the customs created by man, oftentimes appropriating the awe reserved for who I believe is a very real Godand using it to control people, to take money from people, to abuse children, to steal land, to justify hatred. Whatever it is. The evil thats in the heart of every single man has glommed on to the back of religion and come along for the ride, he said.



In response to the backlash Pratt receives for his faith, Joe Rogan, who has the No. 1 most-listened-to podcast in the United States, commented that people in Hollywood are terrified that if they step outside the lines, they will experience criticism and ostracization from their overwhelmingly liberal and secular colleagues.

Chris Pratt gets in trouble because hes Christian, Rogan remarked, explaining that the adverse treatment Pratt has received is unwarranted. He described the actor as the nicest ... guy Ive ever met in my life. ... He's done nothing. Hes so nice.

Hes kind of outside of the lines in terms of his ideology. Hes a Christian and pretty open about it, he added. Because of that, they attack him. Its something so simple, like, he just believes in Jesus and he  likes to be a good person.
More deaths from faith-healing recorded in Idaho as advocates fight to end practice

Activists in Idaho are continuing their push to repeal or amend laws that protect parents from prosecution when they allow their children to die from preventable illnesses by denying them medical care and relying exclusively on prayer and spiritual healing.

Last Wednesday, a panel discussion organized by The Campaign To Protect Idaho Kids, a nonprofit organization, said more than 200 children in Idaho have died of preventable illnesses and diseases since a 1972 state law began allowing parents with religious objections to medical treatment to have the legal right to let their children die from medically preventable illnesses.

Idaho is one of six states in the U.S. where religious exemptions are allowed for negligent homicide, manslaughter or capital murder. Since 2014, activists against faith healing have lobbied the Idaho Legislature to change the law, but havent gotten much support due to concerns about parental rights and religious and medical freedom, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Activists like retired Idaho Supreme Court justice and former Idaho Attorney General Jim Jones said the exemption needs to be amended or repealed. The Committee to Protect and Preserve the Idaho Constitution, where he serves as a member, is prepared to mount a legal challenge against it to prevent more children from dying.

I have looked at doing the same for the faith healing exemption. We may well do it and take it to court, but it would be so much easier if public policy was directed by the Legislature and they just repealed the exemption, Jones said, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. It has resulted in the deaths of many children.

The Followers of Christ church, an infamous religious group that shuns western medical practices and embraces only healing by the power of prayer, have been accused of allowing children to die from preventable deaths. The causes of death range from food poisoning and diabetes to pneumonia and heart defects.

Linda Martin, a former member of the church, told the Idaho Statesman that she witnessed family members die as a result of the churchs beliefs.

Martin, who is now 68 and lives in Oregon, left the church when she was 16, but still monitors deaths connected to the church.

Coroners reports reviewed by the Idaho Statesman showed eight child deaths, including stillbirths, associated with faith healing since the start of 2020 in Canyon County, where the Followers of Christs largest church group is located, the publication said.

Another report by the publication in February 2020 found 11 faith-healing deaths in the same county during the previous five years.

How many people are willing to sit back and say, This doesnt affect me? Martin told the Statesman. When you see that kids are hurting, how do you step away when you can help?
Church pastor, wife sentenced after using homeless for forced labor, stealing benefits

A California pastor and his wife will serve time behind bars after pleading guilty to forcing homeless people to give up their welfare benefits and panhandle for up to nine hours a day, six days a week, in what federal prosecutors call a church labor trafficking scheme.

Victor Gonzalez, the head pastor of Imperial Valley Ministries, was sentenced to six months in prison and an additional six months in home confinement after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit benefits fraud in a San Diego federal court. His wife, Susan Gonzalez, received a time-served sentence.

The church, headquartered in El Centro, owned and operated group homes for men and women in the El Centro area, Calexico and Chula Vista. According to prosecutors, they recruited from outside El Centro and as far away as Texas.

Prosecutors allege that IVM leaders forced group home program participants to panhandle and held those who joined the program confined in group homes against their will. An indictment alleges that the defendants confiscated identification documents that prevented participants from leaving their homes.

Participants were also forced to adhere to church rules, which included no contact with family members for roughly 30 days from the time they joined, City News Service reports.

The defendants also used and distributed benefits the participants received through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, according to the plea agreement.

Gonzalez's attorney, Robert Rexrode, was quoted by City News Service as saying that IVM's program was like any other "aggressive drug treatment program" where rules are stricter and often prevent participants from contacting others as they remain in confinement.

Rexrode argued that the fundraising IVM participants took part in was not involuntary and that Gonzalez completed the ministry program and wanted participants to follow the same rules he did.

Gonzalez reportedly lived for free in an El Centro home and had access to a weekly salary and "other financial benefits such as occasional $ 1,000' blessings' from IVM," noted City News Service.

According to a statement released in 2019 by the U.S. Attorney's Office based out of the Southern District of California, the Gonzalezes are two of about a dozen defendants indicted in the case.

The allegations are based on the defendant's alleged involvement in recruiting homeless people in San Diego and other cities and forcing them to raise money on behalf of the El Centro-based church.

All the other co-defendants, prosecutors say, pleaded guilty alongside the Gonzalez for their involvement in recruiting homeless people for labor-intensive work and panhandling for church leaders to reap the financial benefits.

The U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed that the church spearheaded roughly 30 affiliate churches in the United States and Mexico. The church's mission statement included the goal of helping "to restore drug addicts and their families."

The Salvation Army issued a case study in 2020 expressing concerns about the ministry's labor tactics as having been "a disturbing case of labor trafficking in which leaders of a church ministry exploited several people under the guise of helping them."

"Often, faith communities can have a powerful and positive impact on people's lives but unfortunately sometimes that power is manipulated and corrupted by individuals who are willing to exploit others for their own benefit. This case is a tragic example of how vulnerabilities are targeted by traffickers and power and control are employed to exploit victims," the Christian charity stated in a report.

The Salvation Army defined labor trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act as "the use of force, fraud, or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, obtain or employ a person for labor or services in involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery."

"We know that at least one of the victims reached out to the police. Law enforcement was key in identifying this trafficking situation and making arrests. There are many details of this case that are still unknown, but it is still important to consider what points of identification were missed," The Salvation Army continued.

"What red flags might community members living and working near the group homes, bus stations, or panhandling sites have noticed? Were there medical providers that had contact with the victims? Could the employees in the benefits office have picked up on anything strange?"
John MacArthur 'recovering well' following procedure after health scare Pastor taking a few weeks off ahead of Shepherds Conference

Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, California, who fell ill about two weeks ago, has been successfully treated for a blockage in his arteries but will take the next few weeks off from preaching, his church said.

After a week of tests, the doctors determined that a procedure was needed to clear some blockage in his arteries, Grace Community Church said in a brief update on MacArthurs health.

The procedure was very successful, and the pastor is recovering at home and is doing well, the church added in a public statement on Friday.

The update said the pastor would not preach for the next few weeks to recover ahead of the Shepherds Conference:

"Our pastor is recovering at home and is doing well. He will take the next few weeks off from preaching to recover and to prepare for Shepherds Conference. God has answered our prayers and we can add to those prayers thanksgiving that his situation was identified and resolved. Our pastor is feeling better and is grateful for the opportunity to rest in the coming weeks.

The 83-year-old pastor fell ill on Jan. 1, which was a Sunday, and couldnt preach in the second service.

We are pleased to report that he is doing well. He saw a doctor on Sunday afternoon, and he is in good health and just needs rest from a busy holiday week, the church stated at the time.

"Just so you know, Pastor John had a bug this week and preached our first hour but asked if he might be able to take a break for the second hour," stated an elder, as quoted by Protestia. "So, Mike Riccardi is going to be answering the call. It's pretty, pretty amazing we have guys with sermons in their Bibles wherever you go, and so Mike's going to be here."

MacArthur became the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in 1969, a few years after graduating from Biola Universitys Talbot Theological Seminary. During that time, MacArthur reportedly preached over 3,000 sermons.

The Grace Community pastor has garnered his share of criticism over the years for his views on women preachers, the Charismatic movement and religious freedom.

In 2020, when California issued strict, ongoing lockdown orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, MacArthur's church complied with the first rounds of lockdowns but eventually began gathering in person, engaging in a lengthy legal battle over the issue in which the state threatened to jail the pastor.

Eventually, California and Los Angeles County agreed to a settlement with Grace Community Church in which government officials paid $800,000 in legal fees to end the litigation.

Last September, MacArthur sent an open letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom denouncing the elected official's use of the Bible to champion abortion.

"You revealed to the entire nation how thoroughly rebellious against God you are when you sponsored billboards across America promoting the slaughter of children, whom He creates in the womb," wrote MacArthur.

"You further compounded the wickedness of that murderous campaign with a reprehensible act of gross blasphemy, quoting the very words of Jesus from Mark 12:31 as if you could somehow twist His meaning and arrogate His name in favor of butchering unborn infants."
No child should be trapped in poverty: Sarah Huckabee Sanders defends school vouchers, CRT ban

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the youngest governor in the country, defended her executive order banning indoctrination and critical race theory from school classrooms and her plans to reform the state's education system through school vouchers.

"No child should ever be trapped in a lifetime of poverty because of their bank account or their ZIP code," Sanders told "Fox News Sunday" host Shannon Bream, declaring that parents know best how their children should be educated and how they "can best be put on a path to success."

The newly elected governor said protecting students is what's most important during her interview with Bream, who questioned Sanders about the "Executive Order to Prohibit Indoctrination and Critical Race Theory in Schools. Sanders, 40, signed the executive order on her first day in office.

Bream noted that Democrat Arkansas state House Minority Leader Tippi McCullough and Axios both claimed that schools in the state are not teaching CRT.

We have to make sure that we are not indoctrinating our kids and that these policies and these ideas never see the light of day, Sanders said, explaining why she believes the executive order was necessary.

Sanders added, We should never teach our kids to hate America or that America is a racist and evil country. Under her executive order, teachers can still teach students about the sins of Americas past, but they cannot instruct students to hate this country.

CRT emerged in academia in the 1970s. According to the book Critical Race Theory, co-author Richard Delgado explains: the movement came about with a "collection of activists and scholars engaged in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power. ... Unlike traditional civil rights discourse, which stresses incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundations of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law."

Sanders raised concerns that the theory presents an overly harsh, inaccurate depiction of the country.

During the interview with Bream, the governor also outlined her plans for an education reform package to improve students literacy and career readiness, stating that she intends for Arkansas to have the largest conservative education reform package in the next legislative session.

Bream highlighted some critics' concerns with Sanders support for school vouchers, which would provide public money for students to attend school outside their ZIP code. The Fox News host also noted that critics are concerned that Sanders wants to roll back the states income tax, as Arkansas teachers salaries are among the lowest in the country.

According to World Population Review, the average salary for teachers in Arkansas is $52,486, compared to Mississippis average of $47,162, which reported the lowest average teacher salary.

In response, Sanders said that the states current budget for education is not producing the results that students and parents deserve, asserting that Arkansas can do better with its money.

I absolutely think that we can, and we should raise teacher pay and put incentives where they need to be, she added. We need to reward our hard-working teachers. Thats part of the education package that were going to roll out here in the next couple of weeks.

But we also have to make sure that those teachers are delivering for our students and that parents are empowered to make the best decisions possible for how and where their kid can be best educated.

Sanders is not the only governor that has expressed support for school vouchers. As The Christian Post has previously reported, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott openly endorsed school choice last May. Abbott said parents should be allowed to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to the school of their choice.

Robert Francis "Beto" ORourke, who ran for governor against Abbott and lost, disagreed, citing fears that school vouchers could cripple traditional public schooling in rural areas.

In July, Arizona adopted one of the country's most expansive school choice laws, ensuring that all K-12 students are eligible for scholarship funds. Families who participate in the program receive $6,500 a year per child for private school, homeschooling, tutoring or micro-schools.
Senior British lawmaker urges CofE to back same-sex marriage at General Synod Calvin Robinson asks if Penny Mordaunt has asked the Catholic Church, Muslim imams to support gay marriage

One of the most powerful voices in the British government is urging the Church of England to change its doctrinal teaching on same-sex marriage.

Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the British House of Commons, tweeted an image of a letter Monday in which she called on her local bishop to back reform and permit parishes and clergy to conduct weddings for same-sex couples or, at a minimum, enable authorized blessings.

I have written to the Bishop of Portsmouth in advance of Februarys General Synod regarding discussions on how the Church will move forward on the issue of same sex relationships. I hope they will back reform. pic.twitter.com/MqGWhgmxjS  Penny Mordaunt (@PennyMordaunt) January 16, 2023

She tweeted: I have written to the Bishop of Portsmouth in advance of Februarys General Synod regarding discussions on how the Church will move forward on the issue of same sex relationships. I hope they will back reform.

In her letter to the Rev. Jonathan Frost, the bishop of Portsmouth, Mordaunt referred to her time as a minister in the British Armed Forces in which she enabled such ceremonies to take place in non-shared churches.

While the issue is expected to be taken up next month at the churchs parliament, known as the General Synod, Mordaunt wrote that she fears if it is not resolved.....the matter will continue to fester and detract from the positive contribution the Church of England makes to our society."

Mordaunt also warned about what she described as pain and trauma experienced by the LGBT community.

It is also important to recognize the pain and trauma this continues to cause many [LGBT] people who are left feeling that they are treated as second class citizens within our society," she wrote.

In response to the letter, Calvin Robinson, a former CoE minister, questioned whether it was appropriate for a political figure to wade into matters of the church.

Robinson tweeted: Has @PennyMordaunt written to the Catholic Church and the Muslim Council, too? Should a cabinet member be politicizing matters of faith?

Mordaunts letter was timed to coincide with a scheduled all-day meeting Tuesday, where bishops are expected to decide on a recommendation to present to the General Synod, according to The Guardian.

Last November, a Church of England bishop released an essay arguing that clergy within the denomination should be allowed to bless same-sex unions.

In the essay titled Together in Love and Faith, Rt. Rev. Steven Croft, the bishop of Oxford, argued that the Church of England should remove its prohibition on blessing same-sex unions, but stopped short of citing church infallibility.

I confirm my affection and respect for those who will want to argue, in good conscience, against change and potential provision for such change. I also make no claim whatsoever to infallibility: I may be wrong, either in the detail or in the overall argument, wrote Croft.

Despite formerly ascribing to a biblical view on the issue, Croft argued that there were fruits and benefits of same-sex partnerships that the Church could benefit from, adding that the current stance of the denomination created hurt and pain for the LGBT community.

Vaughn Roberts, a theologically Evangelical same-sex attracted clergyman who Croft dialogued with in advance of announcing his views, wrote an essay in disagreement with Crofts push for the floundering denomination to support and advocate for same-sex marriage.

One point of content put forth by Roberts was his belief that the bishop had failed to adequately engage with same-sex attracted Christians who had chosen celibacy over homosexual romance.

There is a reference to one meeting with some same-sex attracted Christians, who hold to the traditional teaching of the Church, but there is no evidence of any greater engagement with what is a significant group, wrote Roberts.

The deep pain they feel at being undermined by church leaders who are, in effect, telling them that their efforts to remain godly are unnecessary, needs to be recognized, along with any wider engagement with the experience of LGBTQ+ people in our churches.

Roberts acknowledged that there are examples of long-term same-sex relationships, yet cautioned that this does not mean, however, that the relationships are morally good in every aspect, or that the positive fruit is necessarily a result of them being sexual.

Bishop Steven is certainly right in recognizing the missional challenge caused by these cultural shifts, but there is, of course, nothing new in the Church experiencing such dissonance within and hostility from its surrounding culture, he added.
Church bombing kills at least 17 Christians in DRC; Islamic State affiliate claims responsibility

Police in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo arrested a Kenyan man after at least 17 Christians were killed and dozens injured in a bombing that targeted an Evangelical church in Kasindi town in North Kivu province, an attack claimed by an Islamic State affiliate.

The incident occurred on Sunday during the worship service in the Pentecostal church, and the Allied Democratic Forces, a militant group that pledged its alliance to the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the bombing, AFP reported.

At least 17 people were killed and 39 wounded, BBC relayed, citing officials.

The bombing was "visibly perpetrated" by ADF "against citizens in full worship in the parish of the 8th Community of Pentecostal Churches of Congo," DRC's Communications Ministry said on Twitter.

The ADF is considered one of the most dangerous armed groups in the DRC, responsible for thousands of civilian deaths and bomb attacks. The group is also active in Uganda.

The Congolese army stated that investigations are ongoing, and a Kenyan man has been arrested in connection with the attack, according to the military.

Scott Morgan, a United States-based Africa security analyst, said in a statement to The Christian Post that ADF recently launched an attack in Uganda, resulting in the capture of one of its high-ranking leaders. The language used in their statement claiming the bombing suggests that the ADF may be using Christians in the Eastern DRC as "scapegoats."

"More than 24 hours later, the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has said very little except for that the Army has arrested a Kenyan National in this incident," Morgan wrote in an email. "This is also part of a pattern where the Tshishekedi Government has found it easier to blame outside actors for the problems in the Kivus than admitting that they are turning a blind eye towards some of these atrocities."

"Blaming Rwanda for the actions of M23 did result in a regional visit by Secretary of State Blinken last summer," he added. "It is telling that M23 has been more of a concern to Kinshasa than the actions of the IS branch, which has been declared an [Foreign Terrorist Organization] by Washington."

Morgan said there are "no easy answers" to the question of what DRC government can do to eradicate the threat of ADF.

"[This is] due to the fact it targets Uganda as well and both the Ugandan and Congolese Militaries are working together to end this threat," he wrote.

Eastern DRC has been plagued by armed conflict and violence for decades.

Various militia groups and rebel groups are operating in Eastern DRC. Among the region's major sources of violence and terror are the various ethnic-based militia groups, which have targeted civilians and government forces. These militia groups often fight for control of resources such as gold, tin and tungsten and have been accused of committing human rights abuses, including rape and murder.

The UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC has been deployed in the region since 1999 to protect civilians. However, it has faced challenges in effectively stemming the violence.

The U.S. strategy towards the militias in the Eastern DRC has been "haphazard," Morgan said.

"I am being generous by calling it that," Morgan contends. "The IS threat has garnered an FTO designation but has not been designated as an Entity of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act. This is a quick and easy fix. M23 and CODECO, for their actions, deserve the same status, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo deserves to be placed on the Special Watch List under IRFA."

The DRC government has also launched several military operations against these militia and rebel groups to restore regional security, but the violence continues.

The region also faces a humanitarian crisis, with millions of people displaced and needing assistance. The situation has been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole country and made it harder for organizations to provide assistance.

Last week, The Voice of the Martyrs, which has tracked the persecution of Christians worldwide since 1997, added four more African countries, including DRC, to the list of the world's most dangerous and difficult places to follow Christ in its 2023 prayer guide for churches.

The church in the eastern parts of Congo is "under immense pressure," VOM explained, saying Islamist groups severely persecute Christians there, raiding villages, destroying churches and brutally killing hundreds of believers.

Last October, a group of nongovernmental organizations urged the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to allow Congolese citizens to remain in the United States with a work permit as they face the possibility of severe persecution by Islamic extremist groups in their home country.

The U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern also warned at the time that Christians in the eastern DRC were suffering persecution at the hands of extremist groups like the ADF.

"Though the Congolese government is pushing back against these terrorist groups, insufficient attention is paid to Christian communities, which are targeted for their differing religious beliefs," ICC stated in a report.

"ICC has witnessed the violence in the DRC firsthand, in one instance coming across the still-smoking wreckage of a car attacked by terrorists in June of this year. Just days later, at least 10 Christians were killed when an Islamist extremist group ambushed their three vehicles near the village of Makisabo, Beni. The Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamist extremist group, allegedly blocked the road, shot all the passengers, and set the vehicles on fire."
E-commerce propelled by linguistics

By Zhu Wenqian in Beijing and SHI RUIPENG in Nanning (China Daily) 09:13, January 17, 2023

Nutchaya Seyungkun, a Thai livestreaming anchor, holds a livestreaming session during the fifth China International Import Expo in Shanghai in November. [Photo/China Daily]

Speakers of Southeast Asian languages help drive cross-border biz in Nanning

Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has seen a spark in business thanks to residents who speak languages that, while regionally important, are not spoken widely across the globe, officials said.

The city is incubating its cross-border e-commerce livestreaming business as a result of the talent living there being fluent in what are sometimes called minor languages.

Unlike Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Nanning doesn't possess many advantages in the e-commerce supply chain.

Yet, with a low cost of living and government support for foreign trade with Southeast Asian nations, Nanning has shown an important strength. The city has also benefited from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement that took effect on Jan 1, 2022.

The RCEP agreement covers 15 Asia-Pacific countries, which include 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Over the next 20 years, the pact is expected to reduce up to 90 percent of tariffs on goods traded among its members.

Nanning is located close to Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Many foreigners have gravitated to Nanning, which has provided the city with a diverse language pool.

Nutchaya Seyungkun, a young Thai livestreaming anchor, has continued to live and work in Nanning after her graduation from Guangxi Minzu University in 2020.Besides anchoring e-commerce livestreaming sessions, Seyungkun said she is considering opening a Sino-Thai cultural company to promote exchange between the two countries.

During the fifth China International Import Expo held in Shanghai in November, Seyungkun set up a demonstration livestreaming session representing Guangxi. During the 19th China-ASEAN Expo held in Nanning in September, Seyungkun recommended Thai products at a booth.

Livestreaming has reshaped the e-commerce business in China, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Anchors serve as the core of the livestreaming sector, and providing a competitive salary has been critical for retaining talent.

Anchors who speak minor languages and conduct livestreaming sessions often earn 4,000 yuan ($596) to 5,000 yuan monthly, comparable to the average level of local salaries, based on public recruitment information. In higher-cost cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, the monthly salary of a similar job is often above 10,000 yuan.

One company, Guangxi Tus Innovation Cross-Border E-Commerce Co Ltd, has recruited international students in cooperation with a number of domestic colleges, officials said. They have attracted students from Southeast Asia who are eager to learn about cross-border e-commerce and encouraged them to start their own businesses in China.

The company has also helped overseas returnees and high-level overseas talent engage in cross-border e-commerce entrepreneurship or work in Guangxi.

"The popularity of cross-border e-commerce livestreaming in minor languages in Nanning is expected to rise continuously and drive the accumulation of resources such as talent, materials and more cross-border platforms," said Zhao Hui, head of overseas projects at Guangxi Tus.

A Vietnamese student (left) from Guangxi University of Foreign Languages introduces products in his mother tongue at a livestreaming booth in Nanning in May 2020. [Photo by LIN HAO/CHINA NEWS SERVICE]

Another company, Guangxi G&M Enterprise Management Co Ltd, a cross-border integrated service platform, opened a livestreaming center in Nanning a few months ago. It aims to recruit and train anchors and conduct livestreaming sessions on TikTok. It also plans to organize an anchor contest, officials said.

The salaries of anchors who speak English or minor languages are anticipated to range from 3,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan a month, they said.

In the first quarter of 2023, the center plans to foster 30 retailers on TikTok conducting livestreaming sessions in minor languages. It will provide offline training, and qualified businesses will be supported through subsidies, it said.

The company already operates a Thai livestreaming room, and a couple of Chinese anchors who speak Thai serve as anchors. They hold livestreaming sessions on TikTok and sell products to Southeast Asian countries, with average daily transactions exceeding 1,000 yuan.

The center plans to foster 500 cross-border e-commerce anchors and create a total of 2,000 jobs by 2025. It also plans to provide professional services to more than 1,000 local enterprises in Guangxi.

Meanwhile, the shopping platform Lazada, acquired by Alibaba Group in 2016, has been a primary force in advancing the development of livestreaming sessions locally. While the business is still in the beginning stage, the company jointly trains talent with the local government and colleges.

COVID-19 has accelerated online shopping among residents from Southeast Asian countries. The gross merchandise volume of Southeast Asia's digital economy is expected to have reached $200 billion, according to a recent report jointly released by Google, Temasek Holdings of Singapore and management consultancy Bain &Company of the United States.

E-commerce adoption is high across both urban and suburban consumers in the six countries the report tracked  Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to another survey released in early December by Singaporean consultancy Black Box Research, 35 percent of surveyed respondents in Singapore said they prefer online shopping and deliveries.

In Nanning, more companies involved in cross-border e-commerce businesses are looking to work with local colleges and recruit more talent.

The School of Southeast Asian Language and Culture under the Guangxi University of Foreign Languages has been a major source of training in Asian languages in Guangxi. The school offers undergraduate majors in Vietnamese, Thai, Cambodian, Indonesian, Burmese and Japanese.

"The school has been devoted to teaching practical, interdisciplinary skills, and students should constantly improve their language abilities to be better prepared for future jobs. The school is looking to strengthen cooperative arrangements with more related enterprises," said Wu Guiming, vice-principal of the Guangxi University of Foreign Languages.

Southeast Asian markets are continuing to expand, according to executives at Nanning Lightning Future E-commerce Business Co Ltd, and the demand for related language talent is also growing. The company hopes to work with the university and fill the shortage of those who can speak regional languages, the executives said.

The Guangxi branch of another company, Shenzhen Jiuye Industrial Group, which is involved in cross-border e-commerce business, plans to strengthen cooperation with the university by training recent graduates in minor languages at its e-commerce incubation center in Shenzhen.

During internships, the company offers opportunities for students to learn and practice in a type of apprenticeship, according to Liu Zhiping, general manager of Shenzhen Jiuye. Students will have opportunities to conduct livestreaming sessions on different social media platforms.

"Students will also engage in work such as answering and solving different problems and complaints from customers about the usage of products. We will help students introduce the related resources of trading companies and propose employment solutions based on their needs," Liu said.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
A Torrington man died after crashing into a tree in Litchfield on Monday evening, according to the Connecticut State Police.

Dominique Ehlinger, 24, was traveling east on Reder Road in Litchfield after 8:45 p.m. Monday when his Jeep Liberty crossed the center line, ran off the road and hit a tree, state police said. The Jeep sustained heavy front-end damage and was disabled in the crash.

Ehlinger sustained fatal injuries in the crash, according to state police.

The crash is under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact Troop L at 860-626-7900.
Former CIA agent Mike Baker tells Joe Rogan he wishes he'd raised his kids in the church

In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, former CIA covert operations officer Mike Baker expressed his regret for failing to raise his three sons in the Church and reflected on the benefits religion offers, from instilling a sense of something bigger to self-discipline.

I think one of the things that I've failed on with the kids  and this is going to sound odd  is church, is religion, Baker told Rogan in Wednesday's episode of the podcast (offensive language warning).

I'm not agnostic, I'm not an atheist, by any means, I think theres something higher up there. I don't mean that I've failed to take the kids to a certain organized church every Sunday  but I feel like I may have dropped the ball in giving them a sense of something bigger.

Baker, who has four children  a daughter who is 30, from a previous marriage, and three sons with his second wife, who is Catholic  said that historically, hes been resistant to organized religion because he takes issue with the fact that groups believe they have a lock on the truth.

Thats what's kind of bothered me, he said. But I think because I've always had this thing about ... organized religion, that I may have gone too far the other direction.  I shouldve given them the chance to at least think about it.

Rogan agreed that some of the most disciplined people he knows are religious, adding: I also think there is some sort of a benefit to having structure, and there's a benefit to having purpose. There's a benefit to having rituals and things that everyone does together. There's like a bonding that comes with that, that can't be denied.

Baker, who serves as the CEO of Portman Square Group, a global intelligence firm, said that recently, he and his wife attended a United Methodist Church where the Bible was explained to him in a unique way: The whole point of the Bible is it's ambiguous, its diverse, it's a collection of, of books, essentially, over a long period of time.  and that was the first time I really heard that about the Bible, where its not an instruction manual or how to manual; it's more of a way to pursue, in a sense, what am I looking for? I think the question, 'what am I looking for?'  maybe there's some value there.

Earlier in the nearly three-hour conversation, Baker revealed that during the COVID-19 lockdowns, he and his wife enrolled their sons in a Catholic school. However, when restrictions were lifted, they re-enrolled the boys in an Idaho public school after their middle son locked his knees and passed out during Mass three weeks in a row.

He became known as the Mass fainter, he said with a laugh.

Baker expressed hope that maybe later in life his sons will become interested in religion, be it Presbyterian, the Church of England or another denomination, adding: Never say never.

Rogan, who has the No. 1 most-listened-to podcast in the United States with an average of 11 million listeners an episode, often discusses hot-button issues and pushes against cancel culture, sometimes leading to backlash.

In a recent episode, he criticized Twitter for locking the account of parody site The Babylon Bee, after it awarded trans-identified Biden administration official Rachel Levine, formerly known as Richard, the title of man of the year.

Twitter also enacted a nine-month suspension of The Christian Post's Twitter account in response to a factually correct tweet saying that Levine is a man. Both the Babylon Bee and CP have since been reinstated.

In an October episode with Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, he applauded Matt Walshs recent film What is a Woman? as amazing.

I mean, with wokeness, you can identify as a woman, you get to use the female restroom. Like, OK, but what is it? Whats a woman? You know, can a man get pregnant? Rogan said. OK, well, what is it, can a biological male get pregnant? And then people panic, and they start, The people that identify as a woman are capable of being pregnant, and people that identify as a male are capable of also being pregnant. Like, what are you saying?

You know, youre marching for womens rights. But what does that mean? So, if I decide Im a woman, and I go out, youre marching for me? Im a woman now? You can just say it? We cant have that, that doesnt make sense, Rogan continued. And it doesnt mean you cant have trans people. It doesnt mean that  youre not denying anyones existence either  they exist. However, if you want to be pregnant, you must be a biological female. This is science.
Pastor Mike Glenn announces pending departure from megachurch to focus on church planting

Mike Glenn, the senior pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, a megachurch in Tennessee, has announced he is stepping down from the pulpit to focus on church planting and re-purposing churches in changing communities.

Knowing that this day would come doesnt make it any easier now that it has arrived, Glenn wrote in a letter to the congregation. Today, I want to announce to you that 2023 will be my last year as the senior pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church. Thirty-two years  by any standard  is an amazing run, and Im grateful for every minute. But the time has come for someone else to lead BBC into the future that Im convinced God has for our church.

Glenn became the senior pastor of the Nashville-area church in 1991. Under his leadership, the church has grown to a membership of over 11,000 people, according to the churchs website. Since 2010, the church has grown from two campuses to seven locations throughout Middle Tennessee.

In his letter, Glenn stressed that the decision to step down was his alone and came after months of prayer and a deep love for you. The pastor also said he wants to spend more time working with pastors, church planters and leaders in Middle Tennessee.

I want to work with churches to plant new churches and re-purpose churches in changing communities. The most fun I have right now is working with our campus pastors. I want to do more of this, he said.

In a video statement accompanying his letter, Glenn said in January 2024, he will become the executive director of the Engaged Church Network, which is described as a family of gospel-centered churches, serving together to reach their communities for Jesus Christ.

This is an exciting time for our church. I can see where we're going, I can see what has to happen. I'm just not the guy to get us there. I've been confirmed in this and my prayer time and my conversation with other leaders. You're ready, the future is ready, he said.

Glenn is a well-known figure in the Southern Baptist Convention, the biggest Protestant denomination in the United States. He previously served on the executive board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, the Board of Trustees of Belmont University and the Board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

According to the Brentwood Baptist Trustees, Glenn will continue to offer his wisdom, experience, and vision as the church seeks to fill the soon-to-be vacant position of senior pastor.

We will share updates on the process for a new senior pastor in the coming months, they said. Our church bylaws outline the steps for this process, and ultimately, the church body will decide on the Trustees recommendation.

On Twitter, local pastors reacted to the news of Glenns announcement.

Major news here locally, but also big for the SBC, wrote Jonathan Howe, host of SBC This Week. Mike Glenn announced his pending retirement as pastor of @brentwoodbc llikely toward the end of 2023. Please be in prayer for this great church and for Mike during this time of transition.

Robby Gallaty, pastor of Long Hollow Church in Tennessee, called Glenn the real deal, adding: Hes been a friend and mentor to me over the past year.
Former Russian-linked denomination suggests Ukraine's church crackdowns hamper religious freedom

An Orthodox denomination in Ukraine that holds historic ties to Moscow has questioned the Ukrainian government's recent crackdown efforts targeting dozens of churches formerly affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has long been affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, has been the subject of an investigation by authorities since Russia invaded Ukraine last year.

This is even though the UOC publicly severed its connections to the Moscow Patriarchate in May 2022, and its leadership has denounced the Russian invasion.

UOC Bishop Metropolitan Klyment told CNN in an interview published Sunday that raids by the Ukrainian Security Service have not found anything that proves the church's alleged disloyalty to Ukraine.

"There was no mention in the findings of weapons or saboteurs. What they said they found was printed matter, documents, which are not prohibited under Ukrainian law," said Klyment.

"Members of the Ukrainian Orthodox ... are citizens of Ukraine, and sometimes among the best citizens of Ukraine, proving their patriotism with their own lives," he added, referring to church members who were fighting the Russians.

Since the beginning of the war, hundreds of church buildings have been forcibly converted from UOC to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Orthodox denomination based in Ukraine that was founded to be independent of Moscow.

According to CNN, the Ukrainian government reports that since the invasion began last February, 19 church clergy have been charged and five convicted.

The UOC has been a concern for the Ukrainian government due to their longstanding ties with Russia, since Moscow Patriarch Kirill has been a staunch supporter of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Security Service told CNN in a statement that while it is not illegal to possess Russian propaganda, it is illegal to distribute it.

"If such literature is in the library of the diocese or on the shelves of a church shop, it is obvious that it is intended for mass distribution," the statement contends, adding that the operations against churches are for national security purposes and "not a matter of religion."

A spokesperson for the Russian Orthodox Church told the outlet that the church raids are an "act of intimidation."

Last November, Ukrainian authorities searched the Pochaiv Theological Seminary in Ternopil Oblast and the Ivano-Frankivsk Eparchy of the UOC, claiming to have found pro-Russian propaganda materials that "denies the existence of the Ukrainian people, its language, as well as Ukraine's right to statehood" on the premises.

"The Security Service also found pamphlets and books of xenophobic and hateful content with offensive fictions about other nationalities and religions," stated authorities.

"We emphasize that in its activities the SBU adheres to the principle of impartiality towards the activities of any religious denomination and respects the right of every citizen to freedom of worldview and religion, as defined by the Constitution of Ukraine."

In December, Ukraine's Security Council took possession of the assets of seven Orthodox clergy and banned them from certain economic and legal activities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky justified the actions by arguing that the measures were to prevent the clergy from helping Russian forces.

"We are doing everything to ensure that no strings are available to be pulled by the aggressor state that could make Ukrainian society suffer," stated Zelensky, as quoted by Reuters last month.

In early December, Zelensky called on the Ukraine government to make a law banning any church that might take orders from Moscow. Zelensky claimed Russia was trying to "weaken Ukraine from within."

Some in the United States have expressed concern over the crackdowns on Orthodox churches, seeing them as threats to religious liberty in the Eastern European nation.

"We claim Ukraine's battle against Russia is a fight for democracy, but sending the army into monasteries is not promoting liberty," wrote Hedieh Mirahmadi, a columnist for The Christian Post, in an article published last month.

"This latest move by our ally in Ukraine should be grounds for a loud outcry from Christians, regardless of where we stand on the political spectrum."
UK Christian teacher faces potentially career-ending decision for misgendering trans student

An Evangelical Christian teacher in England could be permanently banned from teaching after he was suspended for referring to a biologically female student as a "girl."

Joshua Sutcliffe was removed in November 2017 from his position as a teacher at the Cherwell School in Oxfordshire after he allegedly discriminated against a student by stating "well done, girls" when addressing the student's small group during class.

Sutcliffe was the focus of a number of allegations by the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) during the groups professional conduct panel last week, according to the London-based Christian Legal Centre (CLC).

The hearing could ultimately result in Sutcliffe no longer being allowed to teach in the U.K.

In addition to the 2017 allegations, the TRA is considering comments made by Sutcliffe on his YouTube channel describing the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a false prophet.

Sutcliffe is also accused by officials at Cherwell of sharing his opposition to same-sex marriage after he was asked by a student about his views. That incident, according to CLC, occurred during a Bible study that was organized by a Christian group at the school.

TRA officials also say Sutcliffe showed videos from conservative advocacy group PragerU titled Make Men Masculine Again, an allegation Sutcliffe denied.

In response to the allegations, Sutcliffe was expected to cite a statement from former Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, who said, Any teacher, if asked direct or invited to share his view by a parent or a student, is perfectly at liberty to say, with equal marriage  as with adultery, divorce or abortion  what their own moral view might be.

According to the Oxford Mail, Sutcliffe had taught at the Cherwell School since 2015. At least six trans-identified students attended the school at the time of the incident.

CLC said Sutcliffe avoided using gender-specific pronouns to accommodate the students needs and his own Bible-based Christian beliefs that humans are born male or female.

The TRA is targeting an exceptional teacher because his Christian beliefs do not fall in line with the prevailing secular orthodoxy which cannot tolerate any dissent, said CLC Chief Executive Andrea Williams. With critical shortages of teachers in the profession, why are the TRA so determined to force a high-performing teacher out for their Christian beliefs? ... True misgendering is accepting trans identities.

A December 2017 investigation alleged Sutcliffe had misgendered the student in violation of the schools equality policy. He denied the allegation and said he did not share [the head teachers] belief in the ideology of transgenderism, and later sued the school for discrimination.

The case was later settled out of court.

Sutcliffe, who also regularly preaches on the street and says he has given out over 2,000 Bibles to members of the public, has said he was unlawfully targeted and punished by the school because he had been vocal about his evangelical Christian beliefs, according to CLC.

In November 2019, he was forced to resign from another teaching position at St. Aloysius in North London for sharing his convictions about Islam on YouTube.

In addition to calling Muhammad a false prophet, Sutcliffe added, the fruit of Islam is not peace, its division.
Theologian advises pastors on how to tackle divisive topics

A theologian and author recently shared several tips for pastors on addressing divisive topics with their congregations.

Andy Naselli, an associate professor of systematic theology and New Testament at Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, warned church leaders in an online discussion posted on Jan. 3 that far too often, pastors fall short of the glory of God based on their moral consciousness  or their awareness of what is right and wrong.

Naselli, a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, Society of Biblical Literature and Institute for Biblical Research, alluded to the idea that pastors tend to fail in their preaching when they shy away from handling current events in the pulpit by using a gentle but truthful approach.

He said that often, pastors would rather avoid specific topics to protect congregants who are sensitive to the truth of the Word of God.

"When you preach, it just takes so much wisdom to know where your audience is at. Even in a small group of people, you can't assume that their consciences are all functioning the same way," said Naselli.

"The safest way to do that is to just herald whatever the text of Scripture says and let Scripture help form those consciences and develop them and fix them and correct them and grow them."

Naselli advised that for a pastor to be considered a "wise preacher," they should be aware of where certain congregation members stand on certain issues before preaching to them.

Pastors should be more careful in how they address sensitive or divisive topics to help those people the issues impact directly as they hear the Gospel truth.

"If you're aware that you have people in your congregation who are watching films with sexually charged nudity  and you're preaching the passage on sexual immorality, and you want to apply it to your [preaching], and you're thinking it would be wise to go there, you'll probably approach that differently, more carefully, but still powerfully, still directly, still faithfully," Naselli said.

"But, you might approach it with more tact and carefulness than you would if you are aware that they already had conviction that watching sexually charged nudity is awful."

According to Naselli, preachers can be "unfaithful to the Lord" when they address a Gospel passage that touches on a glaring issue facing their congregation or their culture but refuses to address the issue directly.

"If we're talking about how the passage is addressing marriage between a man and a woman and the nature of sexuality, and the pastor, just kind of like a jetski, they kind of ski across the surface of the text and doesn't connect it to the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah that we're in and all of the sexual perversions that are influencing us in media and culture  If [they] don't address those kinds of issues head on  [they're] actually not helping people," Naselli warned.

"You're hating them; you're hurting them, you're harming them, you're not protecting them. And it's reinforcing their sense of well-being when they're in a culture that's totally going take on that issue."

Naselli said pastors must remain humble when addressing controversial current issues, adding that just because someone has status in the church doesn't make their theological conscience morally inerrant.

"Consciousness could be wrong.  A person today could think, 'abortion is a civil right, and to deny someone of that right is evil.' Their conscience actually could testify to that, and I'd say that their conscience is functioning in an evil way. They have an evil conscience and an immoral conscience," Naselli said.

"Just because your conscience registers something doesn't mean that's what God wants you to think. But that's how it feels to you. It's your sense of what you believe is right and wrong."

Pastors should not only be humble, but they should be teachable, Naselli noted.

"We should be growing in our ability to teach. Now, how to do that. Some of it is just natural like God has wired people to teach, and you got it, or you don't know how to do that. But everyone, I think, can improve. You can get better at the craft," Naselli said.

"One of the ways I tried to improve in the craft of teaching is to receive feedback from others. Like good feedback, not like the nice old lady who just says: 'that was the best sermon I ever heard.' Get it from people who will tell you the truth.  That's the way to go. Another way to grow in your teaching is to learn from master teachers. I love to listen to excellent teachers and pick things up."
Harvard Med Teaches How To Treat LGBT Infants, Abortions Down 99% In Texas, Nick Vujicic Warns Churches

link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead. 08:13 08:13

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One of the nation's most historically prestigious universities is offering a course that instructs students how to provide healthcare services to "infants" who "identify" as LGBT.



A Pennsylvania school board has implemented a policy requiring teachers to refrain from engaging in political advocacy in the classroom as concerns about the promotion of LGBT ideology and critical race theory in public schools loom large in American politics.



The number of abortions in Texas has flatlined following the United States Supreme Court decision last June to overturn Roe v. Wade.



Nick Vujicic joined Sadie Robertson Huff on her "Whoa That's Good" podcast, where he warned that churches are at risk of dying unless they shift their focus.
Biden touts efforts to protect 'religious freedom,' condemns persecution in annual proclamation

President Joe Biden touted his faith and condemned religious persecution worldwide in declaring Monday Religious Freedom Day, even as critics contend that his administration has demonstrated hostility to religious liberty in the United States.

Biden issued a presidential proclamation Friday designating Jan. 16 Religious Freedom Day. In the message, the president stressed how "faith has sustained me throughout my life," adding, "for me and so many others, it serves as a reminder of both our collective purpose and potential in the world."

The Religious Freedom Day proclamation has been issued annually by presidents dating back to 1993, marking the 1786 passage of the "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom" authored by Thomas Jefferson.

The 80-year-old Catholic lamented that "for far too many people within our borders and beyond, practicing their faith still means facing fear and persecution." He stressed that "religious freedom" is the "freedom to practice religion fully and freely or to practice no religion at all" and "is enshrined in our Constitution."

Biden listed his administration's efforts to advance religious freedom worldwide, including allocating $20 million to "promote religious freedom and protections for members of religious minorities globally" to "ensure that people everywhere can practice their faiths free from fear."

He also listed the establishment of the "Protecting Places of Worship Interagency Policy Committee." The president recalled that the White House hosted its first summit on combating hate-motivated violence in September.

"In December, I established a new interagency group to increase and better coordinate the Federal Government's efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bias and discrimination within the United States," he stated.

"As a founding member of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, we also have coordinated with partners around the world to promote the rights of religious minority groups and combat persecution."

He also highlighted the implementation of "training on religious freedom and its central importance to our work."

Biden's proclamation comes as his administration has faced pushback from religious liberty advocacy groups for policies that critics say force religious adherents in the U.S. to take actions that violate their deeply held beliefs.

The administration implemented a rule barring healthcare providers from refusing to discriminate based on "sexual orientation and gender identity." Opponents warn that it could force religious doctors, hospitals and healthcare providers to perform or cover genital-mutilating surgeries on trans-identified individuals in violation of their religious beliefs about gender and sexuality.

Both the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have found the rule unconstitutional.

In December, Biden signed the so-called Respect for Marriage Act after being passed by the Democrat-controlled Congress with support from a handful of Republicans.

Religious freedom groups expressed concern that the law could trample on conscience protections for religious business owners who object to same-sex marriage. Some business owners believe that providing services celebrating such unions, including wedding cakes, floral arrangements and websites, would violate their convictions that marriage is a union between a man and a woman.

While the president condemned the "intimidation, violence, and unequal protection under the law" faced by religious communities worldwide, pro-life advocates believe that his administration has not done enough to thwart the "intimidation, violence, and unequal protection under the law" that they experience in the U.S.

The conservative advocacy group CatholicVote launched a $1 million ad campaign ahead of last year's midterm elections to highlight what the organization characterized as the "inaction of the Justice Department" in response to the targeting of churches for vandalism.

The ad featured video footage of headlines reporting attacks directed at churches followed by an empty podium to indicate a lack of response from "our second Catholic president."

CatholicVote previously sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice about the attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers amid a rising trend of vandalism and arson following the leaking of the U.S. Supreme Court's June opinion overturning the national right to abortion.

Catholic Vote urged the administration to "commit to vigorous efforts to prevent them, and to investigate and prosecute them; and to proactively engage with the affected faith communities to ensure their concerns and security needs are being met."

"The relative silence from the Administration endangers Americans even more," the letter contended.

Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights echoed similar concerns in a letter to top Republicans on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. He suggested that the Department of Justice was imposing "unequal justice under the law" by raiding a pro-life activist's home with a SWAT team while taking little action to address the violence directed at churches and pro-life pregnancy centers by pro-abortion groups.

Donohue's letter followed the arrest of pro-life activist Mark Houck on charges that he "twice assaulted a man because he was a volunteer reproductive health care clinic escort" in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. A GiveSendGo fundraiser set up to cover Houck's legal expenses asserts that the clinic escort was "harassing" the pro-life activist and his son as they prayed outside a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood clinic and that Houck "pushed him away" as he "continued yelling at Mark's son."

"There seems to be much interest in pursuing alleged wrongdoing by pro-life activists, yet little interest in pursuing alleged wrongdoing by abortion-rights activists," Donohue wrote. "This kind of overreaction to a minor infraction of the law is deeply troubling, and it becomes even more troubling when paired with the underreaction by the Department of Justice when the pro-life side is targeted."
Pro-lifers counter Newsom's pro-abortion advertisements with billboards of their own

A coalition of pro-life advocacy organizations is sponsoring billboards promoting chastity in response to California Gov. Gavin Newsoms advertising effort to promote his state as an abortion sanctuary in states that ban or severely restrict abortion.

In a statement released Wednesday, the Life Legal Defense Foundation announced that the Coalition for an Abortion-Free Future is posting billboards promoting chastity in the exact locations where Newsom's election campaign posted pro-abortion billboards.

Save sex for marriage. Plan your future. Not your abortion, one billboard reads.

The billboard includes a picture of a young woman looking at the results of a pregnancy test as a young man sitting beside her, presumably her boyfriend, puts his fingers over his eyes as an indication of stress due to the positive pregnancy test result.

The billboard also contains statistics suggesting that over 85% of abortions are performed on unmarried women and encourages passersby to learn more at abortionlessfuture.com. Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected in 2020 shows that 86.3% of abortions are performed on unmarried women.

The Coalition for an Abortion-Free Future, which describes itself as a group of national pro-life organizations committed to saving children in the womb and ending abortion, noted that one of the billboards is located in Columbus, Ohio.

If men and women stopped having sex outside of relationships truly committed to protecting the lives of the babies they create, the demand for abortion would largely disappear, the announcement predicted. Pro-life resources could then focus on helping families welcome their unexpected additions.

The coalition's spokesperson Mark Harrington said in a statement that the billboards seek to remind people "of the inconvenient truth that the main driver of abortion is irresponsible sexual activity.

We need to have a conversation in this country  including in the pro-life movement  about the true cause of most abortions, Harrington said.

Newsom, a Democrat, launched the billboard campaign last September to promote California as a destination for women seeking abortions in states that have issued total or near-total bans on abortion following the U.S. Supreme Courts June decision determining that the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.

One billboard in Mississippi sparked outrage for including a Bible verse at the bottom.

The Mississippi billboard quotes Mark 12:31, proclaiming, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these. The larger text above the Scripture passage reads, Need an abortion? California is ready to help. The billboard directs women to abortion.ca.gov, a $1 million state-run website promoting the state as a destination for women unable to obtain abortions in other states.

Unlike the states where Newsoms re-election campaign posted the pro-abortion billboards, specifically Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas, California has codified the right to abortion into state law.

In addition to re-electing Newsom on Nov. 8, California voters approved Proposition 1, which amends the states constitution to guarantee a right to reproductive freedom in the form of abortion and contraception.

A database compiled by the pro-life advocacy organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America reveals that following the Dobbs decision, 13 states have total or near-total bans on abortion in effect, including four of the seven states where Newsom's campaign posted billboards.

Pro-life laws in Indiana and Ohio are currently entangled in legal challenges while the South Carolina Supreme Court permanently struck down the states ban on abortions after six weeks gestation last week.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion advocacy organization that once served as the research arm of Planned Parenthood, California is one of three states with a constitution that explicitly contains a right to abortion. The state is one of 16 that protects the right to abortion in state law.
DOJ appeals $230 million ruling holding gov't liable for Texas church massacre

Less than a year after U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled that the government must pay $230 million to the survivors of the 2017 mass shooting at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, the Department of Justice has filed an appeal, angering some.

"I'm feeling kind of hurt and abandoned and really disrespected," Juan "Gunny" Macias, 58, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who was shot five times during the attack on the church told USA Today in response to the DOJs appeal.

As the small congregation worshiped at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs on Nov. 5, 2017, former U.S. Air Force airman Devin Kelley, 26, began firing his Ruger AR-556 rifle inside the building shortly after the 11 a.m. service began.

Within minutes, 26 people were dead and 22 others, including Macias, were left with serious injuries. At least eight members of one family, including a pregnant mother, were killed. Kelley took his own life after the shooting.

Rodriguez ruled in February 2022, that the Air Force was partially responsible for the shooting because it failed to report to an FBI database that tracks criminal history, that when Kelley was discharged in 2014, he had been convicted of assaulting his wife and stepson.

The conviction, if reported, would have legally barred Kelley from purchasing or possessing a firearm. Kelley went on to purchase firearms from federal dealers over several years and used three of those guns in his attack on the church.

In the U.S. government's appeal filed on Jan. 9 and cited by The New York Times, Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Departments civil division, argued that their failure to report Kelleys conviction should not make them liable for the crimes he committed after he was discharged from the Air Force.

That mistake is not a legally proper basis for imposing liability on the United States, or for finding the Air Force more culpable for the deadly massacre than the shooter himself, Boynton argued.

The U.S. government withdrew from a mediation process with lawyers for the families of the dead church members and survivors late last year and decided to appeal the decision by Rodriguez.

Jamal Alsaffar, a lawyer for the families and survivors, told the New York Times that the decision was a blow to nationwide gun safety efforts and a betrayal by their government.

The families offered to settle this case for less than the judges awards and far less than what the D.O.J. settled for in the Charleston and Parkland mass shootings, but they were rejected, Alsaffar said.

Dena Iverson, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, told the publication that even though the government has filed an appeal it didnt mean they could not negotiate a settlement in the future.

Although the formal mediation has now ended, we remain open to resolving the plaintiffs claims through settlement and will continue our efforts to do so, she said noting that the government will continue our efforts at an out-of-court resolution.
Library allows Pastor Story Hour event after previously canceling event

A Massachusetts library that previously canceled a "Pastor Story Hour" event following complaints from residents changed its mind about allowing a local minister to use its space to read to children.

The Chelmsford Public Library announced the update on its Facebook page, stating that it reinstated the Pastor Story Hour's Friday reservation after receiving advice from legal counsel.

However, the library stated that allowing the event is not a sign of endorsement for it or its sponsors.

Kendall Lankford, the teaching pastor of The Shepherd's Church, reserved a Friday morning time slot at the library to teach children about the Lord. Lankford wanted to host the event in response to several libraries nationwide holding drag queen story hour events, which involve men dressing as women and reading to children.

In a Friday statement to The Christian Post, Lankford claimed the library changed its mind about canceling the event after the pastor obtained legal counsel from the Massachusetts Family Institute.

The pastor and his attorneys submitted a letter to the library on Thursday night.

Lankford said the event was a "huge success," with about 50 people in attendance, including adults and children.

The library told CP in a Friday statement that it has always advocated for free speech and the "principles of respectful and kind treatment of others." The Chelmsford Public Library seeks to serve as a space where its community members feel "valued and welcome."

"We now recognize  that actions taken subsequent to the approval of the reservation, and communications immediately before the event, seemed to violate some details of library policy and directs hate at members of our community played too large a role in our decision, to the detriment of our commitment to everyone's right to free speech," the library wrote.

The library issued an apology, acknowledging that it unintentionally erred in its attempt to honor the principles and rights it supports and that it's "unequivocally committed" to allowing Lankford to host his scheduled event.

"Nothing that has taken place over the past couple of days changes the exceptional work that library staff does every day that demonstrates our values and supports our community," the library continued.

After initially approving the event, the Chelmsford Public Library stated Wednesday on its Facebook page that it only allowed Lankford to use one of its rooms and was not condoning the Pastor Story Hour.

"Use of a library meeting room by a nonprofit does not indicate endorsement by the library," the statement said. "We support your individual choices as to what to attend and do not advertise or promote any non-library meetings on the library calendar."

Some responses to the post accused the library of allowing "hate" and sending a message to vulnerable populations that the library is unsafe. Other comments said that permitting the Pastor Story Hour was an example of "blatant discrimination, homophobia, bigotry, transphobia."

In a now-deleted Facebook post, the Chelmsford Public Library said it canceled Lankford's reservation, claiming that the Pastor Story Hour would contradict the library's policies.

As CP reported, multiple libraries told Christian actor Kirk Cameron last month that he could not host a story hour event to read his faith-based children's book, As You Grow.

One library, the Rochambeau Public Library in Providence, Rhode Island, told the actor's publisher that it would not host Cameron due to concerns about a conflict of values.

"No, we will pass on having you run a program in our space. We are a very queer-friendly library. Our messaging does not align," the Rochambeau Public Library stated.

Last month, Cameron's publisher, Brave Books, claimed that over 2,500 people attended the actor's story hour event at the Indianapolis Public Library, while the latter said the door count was around 750.

The library also denied allegations that it refused the actor permission to rent a space for the event, claiming that it only said it would not officially partner to promote the event.
A man accused of assaulting a Derby police officer before escaping from police custody was re-arrested in Hartford 12 days after his escape, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

On Jan. 5, Felix Rodriguez requested medical care while in police custody on firearms charges and was transported to Griffin Hospital. While receiving medical care, he allegedly assaulted an officer from the Derby Police Department and escaped on foot. Police established a perimeter, but he was not captured, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

On Tuesday, members of the U.S. Marshal Connecticut Violent Fugitive Task Force, Hartford Police Department and Department of Corrections apprehended Rodriguez at a residence on Crown Street in Hartford.

Rodriguez is facing additional charges of escape from custody, assault of a police officer, larceny and a parole violation in addition to previous firearm charges, the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Voters recall school board members who wanted to keep kids' trans identities secret from parents

Residents of a small town in Maine have voted to recall two school board members over their support for a policy that would allow school district employees to keep students' gender confusion and their chosen identities secret from parents.

Voters in the small town of Paris, Maine, part of the Maine School Administrative District 17, voted to recall two school board members who supported a proposed policy that would allow school employees to withhold from parents details about their child's struggles with gender identity.

The town reported on its Facebook page that 333 Paris residents voted to oust school board members Julia Lester and Sarah Otterson on Tuesday, while 243 voted against the recall.

The Lewiston Sun Journal reported that the school board voted to table the proposed policy at a Dec. 5 meeting. It would have required Oxford Hills School District to accept a students assertion of their gender identity when there is a consistent assertion while at school.

In the case of a student who has not yet informed their parent(s)/guardian(s), the administrator shall first discuss parent/guardian involvement with the student to avoid inadvertently putting the student at risk by contacting their parent(s)/guardian(s), the proposed policy stated. The student shall be notified by the administrator prior to contacting their parent(s)/guardian(s).

The tabled policy added:  ... in the event that a student and their parent or legal guardian do not agree with regard to the students gender identity or gender expression, the school shall abide by the wishes of the student with regard to their gender identity and gender expression while at school. In other words, the policy would have required the school district to address trans-identified students by their chosen pronouns and non-legal names even if parents insisted their child be addressed by their legal name and biological sex.

The policy also would have allowed students to enter opposite-sex bathrooms and locker rooms. Thus, male students who self-identified as female would have been allowed to enter girls' restrooms, locker rooms and showers and vice versa.

The Sun Journal reported that nearly 700 voters signed a petition calling for the recall of Lester and Otterson following outrage over the policy, leading the town of Paris to schedule a special election on Jan. 10. Lester resigned before the recall vote and has been replaced. The Paris Board of Selectmen will appoint a replacement for Otterson at a special meeting Tuesday night.

The recall of Lester and Otterson comes as schools across the U.S. face scrutiny and outrage from parents over policies designed to keep their child's chosen gender identities a secret from them while at school and allow students confused about their gender to go by different names and opposite-sex pronouns.

Last year, a judge in Montgomery County, Maryland, dismissed a lawsuit over the school districts policy ordering school officials to address students by their legal birth name when communicating with their parents but using the student's chosen name and gender in the classroom.

Meanwhile, parents in Leon County, Florida, sued the school district for concealing the fact that they were referring to their daughter with they/them pronouns without their consent. Shortly thereafter, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed a measure defending parental rights in education that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law early last year. The law requires schools to keep parents informed about any changes to their childs mental, emotional or physical health, including confusion about their gender.

In Virginia, the Department of Education released a directive last year requiring schools to keep parents informed about all aspects of their childs psychological development, including their gender identity, and required students to submit legal documents before schools can refer to them by their chosen name and gender identity.
A sanctity of human life month like no other

For those of us who have been working for years on the pro-life cause, this is a very special and joyous Sanctity of Human Life Month.

Its the first one since the Supreme Court in June 2022 struck down Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion. Instead of the latest protest against Roes cruelty and unconstitutionality, this month-long observance and the annual March for Life on January 20 will be celebrations.

We still have much to do to protect innocent human life from the abortion industry. The battle is underway state by state and even city by city.

But Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization is a game changer. The highest law of the land as interpreted by the highest court in the land is no longer hostile to the pro-life viewpoint. Its no longer defensible to pretend that a baby in the womb is not human and is therefore disposable. Those who continue to advocate for abortion must make the immoral case that some human lives are not worth protecting. That should be a steep hill to climb in a nation with a Christian heritage.

Like slavery, abortion violates the moral law given us by our Creator. Gods law states that all human life is sacred because we are made in His image. Many of Americas founders, including Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner, predicted that slaverys inherent conflict with God-given liberties would one day end it. It took a terrible civil war, but slavery was finally abolished.

The arguments for abortion are also unsustainable. Thats why the pro-life movement has never given up. Pro-life doctors, nurses and scientists have been reminding everyone that at the moment of conception, a new human life springs into being with his or her unique genetic code.

So what if academia, Hollywood, the media and corporate America use their enormous clout to push the fiction that human life is not in fact human? Proverbs 31:8 admonishes those of us who have voices to speak out for those who cannot speak.

We must tell the truth, promote adoption, provide more help to mothers who keep their babies, and shore up marriage, the surest family structure in which a child can thrive.

We need to make sure that the legal system, as the enforcement arm of the representative democratic republic in which we live, is no longer abused to justify the taking of innocent human life.

This means persuading millions of our fellow Americans that abortion is not the answer to an unwanted pregnancy. It means letting women who have had abortions know that Jesus offers forgiveness, peace, and new life.

I recall vividly the day that my wife, Bonnie, and I saw the film Silent Scream at a theater in Orlando around 1990. This powerful movie depicts a fetus  a tiny human being  desperately trying to avoid the abortionist. Few people can watch it and walk away unaffected.

Our growing faith and clarity about abortion were driving forces in the creation of an investment fund, in 1994, for Bible-believing Christians, Timothy Plan, which pioneered Biblically Responsible Investing.

Other powerful films have also carried the pro-life message. In 2018, Timothy Partners, Timothy Plans advisor, bought out a theater in Orlando to show the movie Gosnell to our local community. Starring Dean Cain, the film exposes the evils committed by Kermit Gosnell. He was a West Philadelphia-based doctor convicted of murdering infants who were born alive and of manslaughter for the death of a woman patient.

In March 2019, our firm bought out seven theaters in Orlando to show the movie Unplanned. Its about the story of former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, who became a pro-life champion. We gifted 500 tickets that were snapped up within 24 hours. At the movies conclusion, we asked the audience to remain for a couple of minutes while we introduced the directors of 11 pro-life, crisis pregnancy centers that we support.

I am sharing this to encourage others to use whatever tools and influence they have to steer us toward a truly pro-life culture in which all lives are deemed sacred.

The end of Roe is a huge victory we should celebrate. It is also a clarion call to speak out for those who cannot speak.
Revelation 6: A shattered universe and a time of unprecedented terror

Recently, there was an article in the New York Post titled: Nostradamus Predictions for 2023: An Antichrist Arrives, World War III and the Monarchy Dies. The author, Reda Wigle, explained that Nostradamus popularity had endured the centuries since he wrote Les Propheties in 1555. The book contains his predictions as far into the future as AD 3797.

Wigle sarcastically notes that no one seems to grip us with grim quite like Nostradamus. His prophecies foretell wars, pestilence, natural disasters, civil unrest, political assassinations, and other sunny stuffs. The seer has been credited with foretelling the Great Fire of London, Hitlers rise to power, the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the COVID-19 pandemic, to name a few. So, people are naturally curious, says Wigle, what fury and hellfire lay in store.

There is, however, one fundamental distinction between the predictions of a clairvoyant like Nostradamus and a genuine prophet of God. The prophet of God always gets it right. His prophecies always come to pass because hes getting his information straight from the Lord. Wigle readily admits Nostradamus predictions, more often than not, muddily miss the mark.

In The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, apologist Josh McDowell says:

Throughout the New Testament, the apostles appealed to two areas of the life of Jesus of Nazareth to establish his Messiahship. One was the resurrection, and the other was the fulfillment of messianic prophecy. The Old Testament, written over a one-thousand-year period, contains nearly three-hundred references to the coming Messiah. All of these were fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The prophets who spoke of the coming Messiah, the worlds Savior, got their information directly from on high. The fact that each of their predictions concerning him was fulfilled establishes their credentials as true prophets of God.

In Revelation chapter 6, the apostle John, another genuine prophet of God, who tells of the Second Coming of the Messiah, predicts the world will be overwhelmed with mass deception, war, hunger, disease, Christian martyrdom, and colossal cataclysmic disturbances before Christ establishes his earthly kingdom. John writes:

I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood. Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind. The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places. Then everyone  the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person  all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?' (Revelation 6:12-17).

This time is one of universal terror. In what has been called The Olivet Discourse, Jesus instructed his disciples regarding this day, saying:

There will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again (Matthew 24:21). Many Bible scholars have called these days The Great Tribulation.

Thomas Ice, who has written extensively on The End Times, provides a good summary of the Bibles teaching on The Tribulation. He writes:

The Tribulation in Bible prophecy is the period of time that begins with the signing of a covenant between Israel and the Antichrist [this is the rider on the white horse] and ends seven years later at the second coming of Jesus Christ. The most extensive biblical comments on the Tribulation are found in the writings of John, specifically in Revelation 6-19. In these chapters, John provides a detailed exposition of the Tribulation days. Daniels 70 weeks, prophesied in Daniel 9:24-27, are the framework within which the Tribulation or the 70th week occurs. The seven-year period of Daniels 70th week provides the time span with which a whole host of descriptives are associated. Some of those descriptive terms include Tribulation, Great Tribulation, Day of the Lord, Day of Wrath, Day of Distress, Day of Trouble, Time of Jacobs trouble, Day of Darkness and Gloom, and the Wrath of the Lamb.

Some Christians maintain these passages are not to be taken literally and only apply to a time shortly after Jesus death and resurrection. More specifically, the sacking of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD.

However, this view seems seriously weakened by Jesus statement, which says the trouble of this period will be unlike any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again (Matthew 24:21).

The fall of Jerusalem was indeed a terrible time. Unquestionably, Jesus words foreshadowed the destruction of that holy city, and figuratively speaking, what happened in some ways matches Jesus prophecy in Matthew 24:1-25. Except, since Jerusalems devastation, much worse things have happened.

The time described appears to be a future stage that is global in impact. John says there will be a tremendous earthquake, a darkening of the sun and moon, the moon turns as red as blood, the stars fall, the heavens roll up like a scroll, and tremendous geological movements and disruptions occur.

Other passages of the Bible corroborate these same predictions. (Amos 8:8; Ezekiel 38:19; Joel 2:10; Haggai 2:6; Amos 8:9; Isaiah 13:10; 50:3; Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:31; Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24; Luke 23:45; Isaiah 13:13; 34:4; Jeremiah 4:24; Nahum 1:5).

These passages describe an impending age of unprecedented trepidation and horror. It is so terrifying; Jesus said peoples hearts would fail them for fear (Luke 21:26).

There are several plausible ways these events might take place. Some biblical writers and teachers reason a full nuclear exchange could create much of whats expressed. The falling of the stars might be a meteor shower.

John Phillips, in Exploring Revelation, correctly contends there is no reason not to take the Revelation record literally. Drastic changes in the heavens could result in earthquakes and drastic changes in the topography of the planet, he says.

Nevertheless, Phillips also insists, It is just as possible that what we have here is symbolic and depicts a total collapse of the establishment. The earthquake suggests that everything stable in society will be shaken. The disasters of the sun, the moon, and the stars suggest the downfall or the plunging into confusion of all governing bodies. The moving of the islands and the mountains indicates tremendous changes in constituted government.

In Lectures on the Revelation, H.A. Ironside says that the stars falling from heaven indicate the downfall and apostasy of great religious leaders, the bright lights in the ecclesiastical heavens.

He says the stars in the first part of Revelation signified the messengers, the pastors of the churches. And,

[s]o it would seem clear that we are to understand the symbol in the same sense here. After the true Church is caught up to meet the Lord in the air [the Rapture], there will be a vast host of unconverted ecclesiastics left behind, says Ironside. Thousands of church dignitaries, Protestant and Romanist, who, though looked upon as guides in things spiritual, shall be manifested as utterly bereft of divine life  professional clergymen, who despite their pretensions and exalted calling, are simply natural men intruding into spiritual things  These are the stars who will be hurled from their places of power and eminence in that awful day of the wrath of the Lamb, and who, apostatizing from the last vestiges of Christianity, will soon become leaders in the worship of Antichrist.

Something of this nature has already happened, and it will happen again but in a more significant way.

Richard Wurmbrand, who for 14 years suffered in a communist prison for his faithful leadership as a pastor in communist Romania, gave a chilling account of what church leaders did when the communists came to power:

The communist convened a congress of all Christian bodies in our parliament. There were 4,000 priests, pastors, and ministers of all denominations. 4,000 priests and pastors chose Joseph Stalin as the honorary president of this congress. At the same time, he was president of the World Movement of the Godless and a mass murderer of Christians. One after another, bishops and pastors arose in our parliament building and declared that communism and Christianity are fundamentally the same and could coexist. One minister after another said words of praise for communism and assured the new government of the loyalty of the Church (From the book, Tortured for Christ by Wurmbrand).

John concludes that, ultimately, no one is exempt from the judgment of the Almighty. It doesnt matter if one is exceedingly rich and powerful or terribly poor and without influence; every life outside of faith in Jesus Christ will be weighed in the balance. All of the unsaved will be found wanting and see Gods face of righteous fury. On that day, no matter where people still living in sin choose to run and hide, they will not escape him.

All these prophecies concerning Christs return will come to pass, and not even one will fail. The Psalmist instructs on how to prepare:

Submit to Gods royal son, or he will become angry, and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities  for his anger flares up in an instant. But what joy for all who take refuge in him! (Psalm 2:12).
London church shooting linked to Colombian cartel

A shooting outside a church in London Saturday, which injured at least six people, including a 7-year-old girl, might have been linked to a Colombian cartel that flooded the U.K. with cocaine, according to officials who said a 22-year-old man has been arrested as a suspect.

A money deliverer in a London-based drugs gang tied to the Colombian Cali cartel, identified as Carlos Arturo Sanchez-Coronado, was a former husband of 50-year-old Fresia Calderon, whose memorial service was targeted by the shooter, The U.K. Times reported, citing officials.

The shooting occurred outside St. Aloysius Roman Catholic church in Phoenix Road during the memorial Saturday afternoon for Calderon and her 20-year-old daughter, Sara Sanchez, who died within days of each other last November.

Sanchez had been battling leukemia and died three weeks after her mother died from a pulmonary embolism on a flight from Colombia to London, according to The Sunday Times.

The gunman opened fire on mourners, leaving a 7-year-old girl fighting for her life and five others wounded. On Sunday, the girl was said to be in a serious but stable condition.

At least four women  aged 21, 41, 48 and 54  and a 12-year-old girl were also injured in the shooting outside Euston railway station.

Police on Sunday arrested a 22-year-old man after a car was stopped in Cricklewood Lane in Barnet, north London, The Guardian reported. The identity of the suspect has not been revealed.

Sanchez-Coronado was jailed in the U.K. in 2009 for five-and-a-half years for helping his drugs gang launder money, said the Times, adding that he had briefly fled Britain, but was later captured by the police and became the first man to be extradited from Colombia to the U.K. He is believed to have died last year.

Officials were quoted as saying that the gangs stranglehold on the countrys drug market was so tight that the price of cocaine surged 50% after its dismantling.

It is suspected that the shooter might have been targeting a particular guest in a revenge plot.

Hundreds of people were attending the memorial service when shots were fired from the vehicle.

"We believe the suspects discharged a shotgun from a moving vehicle, which was a black Toyota C-HR, likely a 2019 model or similar," said Superintendent Jack Rowlands of the Metropolitan Police.

An area resident told The Daily Mail that an emergency services helicopter had made an aborted landing near the railway station before flying off and eventually landing in a nearby school playground.

When the service finished, we were outside to see the flying of doves [released as part of the memorial service]. A black car came and started to shoot bullets. It was chaotic, a witness was quoted as saying.

Another witness said, No one knew if it was a bomb or gunman. We were looking for places to hide. We all just snuggled into corners where we could. We left after about 10 minutes, I did not dare [leave before], according to MyLondon.
Priest burned to death by assailants who set fire to his home Militants were unable to break in 'so they decided to set the house ablaze'

ABUJA, Nigeria  A Roman Catholic priest in northwest Nigeria was burned to death before dawn today when assailants set his parish living quarters ablaze and wounded an assistant priest, sources said.

Police said the assailants tried to enter the home of the Rev. Fr. Isaac Achi, on the premises of the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Kafin-Koro, Paikoro County, Niger state, and set it on fire before fleeing when security forces arrived.

The bandits reportedly attempted to gain entrance into the residence, but it seemed difficult, and they decided to set the house ablaze while the said Rev. Father was burned to death, Niger State Command spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said in a press statement. A police tactical team attached to Kafin-Koro Division were immediately drafted to the area, but unfortunately the bandits had completed their evil acts and escaped before their arrival.

An assistant priest, the Rev. Collins Omeh, was shot in the shoulder during the attack and rushed to a hospital for treatment, Abiodun said.

Area resident David Ndukwe said in a text message to Morning Star News that Achi was dean of the Kafin-Koro Deanery of the Minna Diocese and chairman of the Paikoro County Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

His assistant, the Rev. Fr. Collins Omeh, was shot by the bandits and wounded, while the rectory, the churchs residence, was burned down.

Area resident Israel Bitrus grieved the attack.

Its a black Sunday for the Catholic Diocese of Minna, Bitrus said in a text message to Morning Star News.

Nigeria led the world in Christians killed for their faith in 2021 (Oct. 1, 2020, to Sept. 30, 2021) at 4,650, up from 3,530 the previous year, according to Open Doors 2022 World Watch List report. The number of kidnapped Christians was also highest in Nigeria, at more than 2,500, up from 990 the previous year, according to the WWL report.

Nigeria trailed only China in the number of churches attacked, with 470 cases, according to the report.

In the 2022 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Nigeria jumped to seventh place, its highest ranking ever, from No. 9 the previous year.
A Manchester man with 21 active arrest warrants across two states was arrested alongside another man after allegedly making over $1,700 in fraudulent purchases from Westfarms Mall in West Hartford Saturday, according to West Hartford police.

The West Hartford Police Department was flagged that a vehicle allegedly tied to several crimes throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts was located in the lower level parking lot of Macys at Westfarms on Saturday after 8 p.m.

The alleged driver was also suspected in other criminal activity in West Hartford earlier Saturday, police said.

Police set up surveillance and watched the suspect return to the vehicle after exiting the mall with another man. The second man, identified as 36-year-old Rondell Jackson of Middletown, was arrested at the scene. The suspected driver, identified as 31-year-old Dezmond Bonds of Manchester, was arrested after a brief foot pursuit, police said.

Officers seized over $1,700 worth of merchandise they allege was fraudulently purchased, $1,900 in suspected counterfeit currency and Green Dot cards suspected of being purchased using counterfeit currency, police said.

Bonds was charged with first-degree forgery, conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery, interfering with an officer, fourth-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit fourth-degree larceny.

He was also wanted on 21 other outstanding warrants, including 17 from local police departments in Connecticut including Fairfield, Windsor, Manchester, Torrington, Vernon, Wallingford, Clinton, Bloomfield, Southington, South Windsor, Granby, Willimantic, Berlin, Newington, East Hartford and two from Glastonbury as well as the Connecticut State Police Troop E. The two warrants from Massachusetts are from the Sturbridge Police Department, with extradition authorized, and Southbridge police. He was also wanted by the New Haven Department of Corrections Parole Fugitive Unit on an extraditable warrant.

Jackson was charged with first-degree forgery, conspiracy to commit first-degree forgery, fourth-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit fourth-degree larceny.

The New York Field Office of the Secret Service was notified of the incident due to the involvement of counterfeit currency, police said.
Several students from Sage Park Middle School, as well as of the John Lewis Institute for Social Justice at Central Connecticut State University, were featured speakers at the annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration.

The event, held at Windsors Town Hall and presented by the Archer Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, was subtitled Why They Matter: The Power of Youth and Young Adults in the Fight for Civil Rights and Social Justice.

Patricia Gardner, organizer and emcee of the event, said youth voices are important, because it was when King was young that he learned the lessons he used later on in fighting for social justice. Perhaps, she said, some element of that was when King spent time in Connecticut, when he spent two summers working on tobacco farms in Simsbury.

Dr. King, as we know, spent time here in Connecticut, she said. I really think that started some sparks for him, in terms of looking at the inequities that he experienced. We know that, as a six-year-old, he experienced racism. After being in the south and experiencing segregation, he comes here as a young teen, and experiences something totally different, and then has to go back to that way of life.

Ava Smith, a Sage Park student, spoke about Kings legacy, and how people can keep it alive.

Dr. King dedicated his life to the non-violent struggle for the Civil Rights Movement. He played a major role in ending segregation for African Americans in the United States, by leading a non-violent campaign for racial injustice, Smith said. One thing is we can lead by example. Two is to advocate for voting rights. Three, and most important of all, is to have faith and always dream.

Jhayden-Atier Morrison, a seventh grader, has co-authored two books with his mother. One, titled My Body Belongs To Me, addresses sexual abuse for young kids, and the other is Children Have Rights, Too.

An example of social injustice is when people are treated unfairly, as in the case of when children are being abused and neglected, or also mistreated, Morrison said, adding that he was able to attend and observe at a retreat for child survivors of abuse.

It was there that I first realized that many young children are deprived of the freedom to enjoy their childhood, he said. After many annual visits to these retreats I realized that not only did the justice system fail these youths, but also the lack of the knowledge of their rights as children, as it relates to their bodies.

Sage Park student Samantha McNeil represented her classmates, as the voice of their future. She asked her peers why it was important that they have a voice.

Samantha McNeil said that people her age actually have a lot to say, and should be heard.

One student said, To speak up about how they feel about racism. Another student said, Kids can say powerful things from experiences theyve had, and my personal favorite, a close friend of mine said, Kids are not dumb, they just lack context,' McNeil said. What we do and say now can, and will, affect is in 10, 20, or even 30 years from now.

We are very lucky to go to a school, Sage Park Middle School, which is part of Windsor Public Schools, in a community where we have a voice, said student Madeline Hellman. Sammy, Jaydhen, and I know this, but do other kids know it? We think that many kids in our school dont know it, and maybe they dont know that they can have an impact on our worlds ever-changing issues today. That is why it is important for you [adults] to support us, by telling us we have a voice and that we should advocate for change.

Madeline Hellman said one important thing adults can do is to encourage and empower youths to have their voices heard.

Samantha Curtis, JLI student and a senior at CCSU, said she was inspired by something that took place when she was 15 and a volunteer with Group Work Camp, which helps fix peoples homes. She was working on a home of an elderly woman in New Jersey, and met two young boys in the neighborhood.

One day, I asked them what they wanted to be when they got older. One looked at me and said he wanted to be better than Tom Brady in the NFL. The other said he was going to be the next Michael Jordan, only four times better than him and Lebron James combined, Curtis said, adding that both boys were excellent in their sports, but what was said next was what changed her.

The six-year-old looked at me and said, At the end of the day, that probably wont happen, she said. I asked him why. His heartbreaking, life-changing response was that he would do whatever it takes to make sure his grandma and family were okay, even if that means hell turn to the streets to make money. The idea that these five- and six-year-olds already knew the world had failed them changed my entire outlook on life. That day, I decided my path would take a drastic turn. I have begun putting in the work to open a nonprofit that provides school resources to low-income communities. That way, the whole community can get involved in the kids, I can reach more age groups, and have the time to ensure that no child will feel like that child did that day.
All COVID-19 restrictions outside of hospitals and medical settings have ended. Some hospitals still have restrictions in place. You should check with the hospital or healthcare facility you are going to.

You should continue to self-isolate if you have symptoms of COVID-19. You are advised to wear a face mask on public transport and in healthcare settings.

There is no requirement to show proof of vaccination or recovery to travel to Ireland. You also do not have to complete a Passenger Locator Form.
When Cmora Blakes, an eighth-grader at Waterburys Michael F. Wallace Middle School, started spending hours in her room on math homework, her mother Tyneka Brown didnt know what she was up to.

I kept calling her, Cmora, come do your chores, [and shed say] All right, Mom, Im almost done with my homework. I was thinking, This kid is never doing homework this late. Its 5, 6 oclock in the evening,' Brown said. Next thing you know, 7 oclock crept up, and Im like, What are you doing?  Varsity Tutors. She kept saying it was homework, but it was Varsity Tutors.

Waterbury Public Schools late last year announced its partnership with Varsity Tutors, a personalized online learning service, to provide each of the districts students with free 24/7 live-chat academic support and essay review services. The program is expanding this month, offering high-dosage tutoring via video calls and screen sharing for Waterburys third- and sixth-graders.

Administrators hope the partnership can help solve the crises facing schools post-pandemic: learning loss and the teacher shortage.

I feel more confident, Blakes said, describing how her relationship with math has changed since first logging on to Varsity Tutors. The teachers on there are very nice. They will help you with whatever you need. If you need help, just go use it. Do it and use it.

Brown said that within the last month, shes seen her daughters understanding transform.

She wants to know [more] and shes eager to learn the math concept that theyre offering to her, Brown said. Shes using it very frequently  every chance she gets. Its like once she gets on it, she cant stop.

Brown, who works as an intervention specialist at Crosby High School in Waterbury, said shes been trying to introduce the platform to her ninth-grade students and their families.

She sees students with parents who may be disengaged, or unable to help with homework. As a working mother of seven, Brown acknowledged the difficulties of juggling her childrens studies, and it is equally hard at times for Browns teacher colleagues to provide students with one-on-one attention. But she said Varsity Tutors fills that gap.

A lot of the kids, since the pandemic, [have] suffered a lot. They want that attention so that they can grow to move forward with certain subjects because the teachers dont really have that time to sit and focus on one student at the time because theres just no time, Brown said. This service is there to help with that.

In Waterbury, nearly 80% of the districts more than 18,600 public school students were classified as high needs last year, falling into the category of an English-language learner, a student with a disability, or a student eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Statewide, the percentage of high-needs students is slightly over 51%, according to data from the Connecticut State Department of Education.

Before the pandemic, Waterburys English language arts, math and science performance was on the rise, but, like many districts, shuttered classrooms and virtual instruction forced these gains into decline.

In Connecticut, the target performance index for each subject is 75. But in Waterbury last year, students, on average, scored 51.3 in ELA, 47.1 in science, and 42.3 in math.

The 2021-2022 school year saw Waterburys math performance index fall 13% from 2018-2019 compared to the states 7% decline. The performance indices for ELA and science each dropped by 8%, compared to 5% and 4% at the state level.

Similar issues were seen nationwide. The National Assessment of Educational Progress tested hundreds of thousands of fourth and eighth graders across the country in 2022 and found: Across the country, math scores saw their largest decreases ever, reading scores dropped to 1992 levels and nearly four in 10 eighth graders failed to grasp basic math concepts, the Associated Press reported. Not a single state saw a notable improvement in their average test scores, with some simply treading water at best, AP repoted.

Waterbury Superintendent of Schools Verna Ruffin said that the Varsity Tutors partnership is one of several academic investments made with federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds. She said that the district is keeping a close eye on which initiatives have the largest impact on teaching, learning and student outcomes.

If it is what our students have always needed and [they] are able to provide that on demand, it is something that were expecting to keep for multiple years, Ruffin said.

Ruffin said she is eager to gauge the results of this months second phase of the partnership with in-depth video tutoring for all third- and sixth-graders.

Our data shows us that our third grade and our sixth grade are where we need some of the deep catch-up on the achievement gap right now, Ruffin said. I consider that to be the most intensive kind of tutoring. That is what I consider would close an achievement gap.

She said Varsity Tutors 24/7 access has removed scheduling obstacles that previously prevented busy students from finding help late at night.

Ruffin is hopeful that the essay review service with a 48-hour turnaround will provide students with quicker, more detailed feedback that teachers dont have the resources to provide.

I heard that teachers were excited about the possibility of this being an answer for them, especially as we are experiencing a very large teacher shortage in Waterbury, Ruffin said.

Waterbury is currently reporting 169 staff openings across the district amid a teacher shortage that is pushing more educators to retire early and overburdening the staff that remains with larger class sizes and heavier workloads.

We have many teachers that are teaching extra classes. Where a student may have had an opportunity to meet with them during the day, its very restricted right now.  A lot of the teachers do offer their time after school with students. But then if you have 20 students wanting to say after, its kind of hard, said Vincent Balsamo, the principal of Michael F. Wallace Middle School. [Varsity Tutors] provides much-needed flexibility for students, parents and teachers to help close that gap with learning.

Brian Galvin, the chief academic officer of Varsity Tutors, said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the 15-year-old individual learning platform shifted to address the rapidly emerging need across the nations public schools.

Galvin explained that Varsity Tutors began partnering with school districts to fill academic holes made by the pandemic. Through these partnerships, Varsity Tutors realized that they were not just helping the students, but also their teachers.

There was sort of a revelation in our big evolution [which] was realizing how much wed be able to help support teachers, Galvin said.

[For teachers] just knowing that theyre not the last line of defense when kids need help [and] to know that they have this extra outlet that eases some of the burdens  has been really meaningful, Galvin added.

Galvin said that Varsity Tutors is staffed by tens of thousands of tutors with expertise in hundreds of subjects. He said that the highly vetted experts include current teachers, retirees, grad students and others who all share a passion for the service they provide.

Theres just this kind of education heart here of everyone wanting to be able to give back [and we have] a lot of pride in our ability to partner with underfunded districts and underserved populations and know that were really making a difference, Galvin said. Knowing that its oftentimes folks who wouldnt have been able to afford [tutoring] or seek it out on their own, that that really matters. Thats been a pretty big cultural win for us as weve gotten more and more school partnerships going.

Alison Cross can be reached at across@courant.com.
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Support service workers at London-based charity Hestia are taking further strike action this week over an ongoing pay dispute.

According to workers union Unite, 13 of Hestias around 20 staff based in Hounslow are striking from Monday to Friday this week and will stage a protest outside the charitys head office on Wednesday.

The charity disputed the unions numbers, saying instead that only seven workers went on strike on Monday.

Unite has accused Hestia of refusing to negotiate while the charity has said it recognises a different union, Unison, for collective bargaining rights.

Union: Low pay, lost expenses

Hestias staff previously took part in strike action in December over the pay dispute.

Unite regional officer, Steve ODonnell said: Hestia now faces a series of strikes in Hounslow. The council must be genuinely concerned about the disruption and Hestias refusal to negotiate. The issues wont go away just because bosses ignore them.

Workers continue to face unmanageable caseloads, low pay, lost expenses, increased stress and increased sickness. Hestia have done nothing to address the lack of resources. Hestia management are truly delinquent. Bosses need to step-up and resolve this dispute.

Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham said: Hestias shambolic management are running the service into the ground.

The workers on strike are taking a brave stand against ignorant bosses who refused to listen to wise counsel.

It must be dawning on Hestias management that strike action wont end until negotiations begin and a deal is reached.

Charity: We are trying to reduce staff workloads

Hestia Hounslow LIFE is a referral service which provides adult services in Hounslow.

A Hestia spokesperson said: As a charity, we value our dedicated and passionate staff without whom we would not be able to deliver life-changing services across the capital. We have been working with staff at Hounslow LIFE about changes to their service to reduce their workloads and have had positive feedback from them on the steps we have taken.

A small number of staff at our Hounslow service went out on strike. We are of course doing everything we can to ensure that any disruption for our service users is minimised. We will also continue to work alongside our staff to ensure we are doing everything possible to make this vital service as successful as it can be.

We cannot deliver support to those who need us without our talented and dedicated staff. To strengthen our engagement with employees, we have formally recognised Unison for collective bargaining rights, and we will continue to work with them alongside our existing employee forum to create the best working environment possible for Hestia employees.

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In difficult times, the British public often dig the deepest. We are hugely grateful to the public, whose generosity never seems to waiver, and to our incredible partners, for helping us to raise 50m over the past year. Whilst that number is lower than what Comic Relief has raised in previous years, and many charities are finding it more difficult to fundraise, its still a significant amount that will make a difference to thousands of lives. We have a lot to be thankful for and proud of.

Our Red Nose Day campaign in 2022 saw over 10,000 schools take part, a new partnership with LEGO, the BBC One night of TV was broadcast live from Salford for the first time, and we were able to act fast in response to the war against Ukraine. The Ukraine crisis happened during our Red Nose Day campaign, and were proud that we were able to mobilise quickly and provide 1.5m in emergency funding in March thanks to our long-standing partner Sainsburys, and a further 1m was donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee crisis appeal, which the public backed in the most extraordinary way.

At Comic Relief, we need to keep finding ways to make it easy to give, to raise awareness of where need is greatest, and to tell stories of hopeful solutions that are addressing poverty and injustice. Crises around the world, a volatile economic climate, and the continuing cost of living crisis have taken a toll on our fundraising efforts. For us and for the charity sector, its been a tough year and the challenges will continue.

Charting a path ahead

We must adapt. Because our work in funding community organisations who are on the frontline of tackling poverty is needed as much as ever. Wealth and advances in society are benefitting too few and are not providing a good life for all.

The issues around us may be serious, but when we come together and help each other out, were at our best as a society. We have always believed that being charitable can be easy and even fun. So, alongside our work to raise money and fund real change and impact, weve been hard at work on charting a path ahead.

We have developed a new 2023-27 organisational strategy that reconfirms our commitment to our vision of a just world free from poverty and which reflects the rapid changes in the world today. We have a clear model of where we can make a difference towards the vision, through alleviating povertys consequences, tackling related injustices, and, in a new area for us, addressing the link between climate change and poverty. And well strive to get as many people as possible to see a role for themselves in making change, by engaging through multiple campaigns throughout the year, and meeting people where they are: what interests them, the popular culture they interact with, the formats and channels that they use the most.

Focus on the climate crisis

We have strengthened our focus on daily poverty, and were putting the strategy into action. A great example is our partnership with the Evening Standard and the Independent on a Christmas cost of living appeal which raised the most a campaign has ever raised in a month in the newspapers history. This, plus some wider activity we ran alongside the media appeal, has raised 1.7m for Comic Relief to award emergency grants to help people through the toughest times of their lives. This funding includes support for food and meals to reach vulnerable families, warm clothing and energy top up cards, and mental health support for people across the UK.

Using the power of popular culture to drive change is very much part of Comic Reliefs DNA and something that well look to grow and support in other organisations. We have created our first Power of Pop Fund to harness the creativity and the power of popular culture to inspire social change and racial justice. Working with our progressive partners  OAK Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn, Unbound Philanthropy and Paul Hamlyn Foundation  we are committed to investing in organisations led by, and for, people of colour and look forward to supporting more communities and individuals with lived experience of racial injustice to tell their own stories authentically.

The year ahead will also see Comic Relief make the climate crisis a key focus for our funding work for the first time, thinking specifically about how we can increase participation and engagement of minoritised communities in achieving climate justice.

Red Nose Day 2023

We now look forward to a new chapter for Comic Relief. For 2023, we are aware that donations are hard to come by with so many donors struggling themselves. But we are hopeful, and full of determination. We are Comic Relief, after all, and weve never shied away from thinking big and bold. We have Red Nose Day 2023 just around the corner which will see the launch of a brand-new Red Nose that will be very different to anything anyone has ever seen from us before. Were also reigniting our beloved Sport Relief brand, with some surprises in store for the summer.

Were on a journey, and were at the beginning. We need to keep refreshing what we do, keep listening to and learning from our audiences and stakeholders, and keep collaborating with those we work with to help save and improve more lives in this country and across the world.

Samir Patel is chief executive of Comic Relief



Civil Society Voices is the place for informed opinion, and debate about the big issues affecting charities today. Were always keen to hear from anyone, working or volunteering at a charity, who has something to say. Find out more about contributing and how to get in touch. is the place for informed opinion, and debate about the big issues affecting charities today. Were always keen to hear from anyone, working or volunteering at a charity, who has something to say.
When you hear the word turkey, what comes to mind first: the country or the bird? The fear that it might be the bird is one of a number of reasons why the countrywell, its government anywayhas pushed in recent years for the international community to start referring to Turkey using the Turkish spelling of Turkiye (pronunciation: TUR-kee-yeh), a request made of governments and international institutions and also, explicitly, of the worlds media. On the diplomatic front, the push has had some success. The United Nations officially accepted the Turkiye spelling last summer; earlier this month, the US State Department finally followed suit, promising to use the Turkish spelling in most formal, diplomatic, and bilateral contexts after the United States Board on Geographic Namesa federal body that I, for one, was delighted to learn existsapproved the change. It will get a workout this week: starting today, Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, is visiting the United States with a range of important matters on the table (not least Swedens and Finlands stalled requests to join nato).

On the international media front the Turkiye push has been noticeably less successful, at least when it comes to major English-language outlets; none that I was able to find have taken up the Turkish spelling. I contacted a smattering of major US-based news organizations to find out whether they might adopt it. I didnt get much clarity in response (the American media, regrettably, does not have a shared Board of Geographic Names), but it doesnt look like Turkiye will be in vogue anytime soon. The Associated Presswhose Stylebook, a linguistic bible for many US newsrooms, was, as of last summer, watching to see how much acceptance the Turkish spelling gainedis still considering whether to adopt Turkiye, John Daniszewski, the APs vice president and editor at large for standards, told me. Reuters and BuzzFeed News (where I worked on the copy desk as an intern in 2017) are also reviewing the matter. The Washington Post and CNN were more definitiveboth said that they are sticking with Turkeythough CNN didnt rule out a future change. (The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and NPR didnt get back to me.)

ICYMI: Both-sidesing the climate story

Deciding whether to scrap Turkey for Turkiye may sound pedantic, but it could, at least in theory, be fraught for news organizations. The Turkiye push has been driven by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the increasingly authoritarian (not least toward the media) Turkish president, whoentering a year that will see both a crucial presidential election and the centenary of the founding of the Turkish republicseems to see Turkiye as a symbolic way to project his nationalist politics beyond Turkish borders. Critics see it as a convenient distraction from the struggling Turkish economy. Equally, Erdogan is far from the first Turkish leader to oppose the English Turkey spelling, and there are legitimate reasons for doing so. In an email, Erdag Goknar, an associate professor of Turkish and Middle East Studies at Duke University, described the Turkey spelling as a holdover from an old colonial order; in the nineteenth century, Western cartoons caricatured the late Ottoman Empire as a turkey in a fez. The media needs to consider whether the term Turkey has been used pejoratively in the past and has a denigrating legacy or associations, Goknar said. The historical record shows that it does.

Its not new, of course, for a country to want the world and its media to call it something different. Often, the US press has followed suit. Burma is now commonly referred to as Myanmar even though the name change was highly controversial when the countrys military junta effected it in 1989. (The US State Department still says Burma.) More recently, North Macedonia and Eswatini (or eSwatini, as its sometimes styled) both quickly gained widespread acceptance in US media, though the latter is often still followed by the clause the country formerly known as Swaziland. Nor is it only country names that change. In 2019, the Times switched its spelling of Ukraines capital city from Kiev, a transliteration from Russian, to Kyiv, a transliteration from Ukrainian (though the paper retained the former spelling for the dish Chicken Kiev). Russias invasion last year considerably raised the stakes of the letter swap.

While less geopolitically consequential, the case of Turkiye is perhaps more similar to that of Kyiv than that of another country; Turkey and Turkiye look very similar written down, and the latter spelling is already in use within Turkey itself. In theory, you might think that this would lower the bar for news organizations to make the change to Turkiye. But you might be wrong. Justifying their decision not to adopt the Turkish spelling, a spokesperson for the Post said that Turkiye and Turkey, though in different languages, are synonymous and the Posts style guide dictates the use of countries names in English; a spokesperson for CNN, meanwhile, said that the network strives to weigh requests for name changes with how well the original names are understood by our audience, and that it is comfortable for now that the English spelling best serves our audience. A Reuters spokesperson and Daniszewski, of the AP, both stressed the importance of clarity for their audiences as they weigh any change.

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Clarity and fealty to existing style guides are not the only factors that news outlets told me they consider when mulling changes of this nature; Dru Moorhouse, the copy chief at BuzzFeed News, for instance, said that her desk takes self-identification and the origin of the name (e.g., colonialism) into account. Still, among the US outlets I canvassed, I heard very little back on the specific politics of the Turkiye push. I also checked in last week with CJRs own Mike Laws, who told me that it gets really tricky when copy desks make value judgments based on how much we like the politics of a given regime. He said that he doesnt think switching to Turkiye would be confusing for news consumersI think we need to give readers more credit than that, he saidthough he added that copy editors often like to scout around to see whether a given change has caught on before recommending it themselves. I suggested that this sounded ironic given that the news media is itself a key arbiter of whether a new word or name catches on. Its kind of a chicken-and-egg type situation, he acknowledged.

I figured, in the course of reporting this newsletter, that Id come to a view of my own on whether we should follow the Turkiye push, but if anything, I feel more confused and conflicted now than when I started. Political value judgments are tricky, but language is political, unavoidably so, and I still cant quite shake the sense that acceding to a PR campaign from Erdoganin an election year, no lessrisks playing to the whims of a tyrant who is, among other things, one of the worlds leading jailers of journalists. Still, the question is deeper than Erdoganand, as Goknar told me, keeping the name Turkey wouldnt do much to save liberal democracy in the country either. And all proposed geographic name changes are politically unpalatable to someone. Deciding whether to go along may never be easy, but it strikes me as easier for an entity like the State Departmentwhich deals in the gray zone of diplomatic expediency and political self-interestthan for the press. All this to say: I guess Ill keep writing Turkey for nowat least until Mike Laws tells me otherwise.

Turkish officials will, of course, continue to litigate the case for Turkiye in their overseas dealings; indeed, it wouldnt be surprising to hear Cavusoglu, the foreign minister, do so with the DC press corps this week. At a press conference last summer, a reporter asked Cavusoglu, in English, when Turkey might stop blocking Sweden and Finland from joining nato. You mean Turkiye, right? Cavusoglu replied. Yes, of course, the journalist said.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: Is Twitter dying? And what would that mean for journalism?

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.
Juno Vu has suffered numerous blackouts and a heart attack, but nothing his doctors tried was able to stop his uncontrolled rapid heartbeats.

Vu has ventricular tachycardia, caused by malfunctioning electrical signals in the lower chambers of the heart, which, besides heartbeats of more than 100 a minute, can result in insufficient blood being pumped throughout the body.

Doctors at Hartford HealthCare turned to ablation by radiation, a rare therapy that is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration but was used off label to stabilize Vus heart. Its the first time its been done in Connecticut, they said.

Its not a routine procedure. In fact, Dr. Helaine Bertsch, a radiation oncologist with the Hartford HealthCares Cancer Institute, said it was difficult for her because she is always sure to avoid the heart when using radiation to treat cancer.

Vu, 44, who lives in Middletown and has no family history of heart problems, said he feels better than he has in years.

Ive been having a heart issue for a good 10 to 15 years now, but the last two years, theyve really kicked up a notch, he said. I would just normally pass out out of nowhere. I can just be sitting there eating dinner and my heart would just stop working.

This is despite having quintuple-bypass surgery in 2010 and a defibrillator implanted after a 2018 heart attack. Last year the defibrillator kicked in five times, he said. Before an attack, he would feel dizzy, and then, boom, youre done, he said.

Lets do it!

Vus heart was not serving him well.

Vu is not eligible for a transplant because his hearts pumping ability is not reduced, according to Dr. Aneesh Tolat, the electrophysicist at the health care systems Heart and Vascular Institute who led the team that treated Vu.

He was taking care of me for a good year before he decided to put me into something like this because we tried everything, said Vu, a technician at Stylux, a Southington nail salon. We tried medicine, we tried the ablation and apparently it doesnt work.

When Tolat suggested radiation, Vu had a quick reaction: Lets do it!

Im always willing to try new stuff, Vu said. If this works, and then if this works for future patients, then why not? I mean, I have nothing to lose because Im passing out all the time.

Juno Vu at work at Stylux Beauty Lounge in Southington, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. Vu has severe ventricular tachycardia. Hartford Hospital used a non-FDA-approved radiation treatment to treat him and Vu doing well.

Before the procedure on Dec. 28, Vu would get winded at work or on the treadmill, but no more. He no longer has to take daily naps. It is early, however, to know the full effects, Tolat said.

As of right now, I feel fantastic, Vu said. I can do a lot more, more than what I was able to do a couple of weeks ago. Im not as winded. I can just pretty much live a normal life as of right now.

Tolat, who came to Hartford HealthCare in 2020, reached out to Bertsch before he arrived, saying hed like to work together on the rare therapy. She and Ted Steger, a radiation oncologist in the Cancer Institute, worked together to target and plan the procedure.

I represent cardiology from the Heart and Vascular Institute. Ted and Helaine are in the Cancer Institute, so normally we dont really cross-communicate too much, Tolat said. We dont really cross paths. Weve been interested in this modality for treating patients who have no other options.

That was very hard

Vu was a good candidate because, Tolat said, his ventricular tachycardia was life threatening. He had two ablations, which electrically cauterize the muscles where the electrical signals are located.

It basically heats and destroys the tissue within that area that the catheter is touching, Tolat said. So its like trying to cut off a short circuit.

Juno Vu of Middletown works on client Savannah Dickson, right, at Stylux Beauty Lounge in Southington, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. Vu has severe ventricular tachycardia. Hartford Hospital used a non-FDA-approved radiation treatment to treat him and Vu doing well.

Ablation has a success rate of about 70%, but the scarring from his heart attack, caused by dead heart cells, was too deep and massive. There can be many channels and in Junos case his entire floor of the ventricle was covered with diseased and scar tissue, Tolat said.

Hartford HealthCare is planning a clinical trial on the radiation therapy, but the doctors decided Vu couldnt wait. The procedure, first done at Stanford University in 2014, has been performed on 15 to 20 patients since with dramatic reduction in these arrhythmias, Tolat said.

I told him that we had never done this here at Hartford Hospital, but there was data and we would be in touch with people who have done it to be able to do this safely for him, Bertsch said.

And he was quite excited, she said. He really wanted to do this. You could not have found a more enthusiastic patient.

During the planning session, Dr. Tolat, myself and Ted got together to design the radiation that is targeted to the area of the heart thats causing the abnormal impulses and this is  the difference between doing it for people with cancer and doing it with someone with an invisible electrical problem, Bertsch said.

Its one thing to target a visible tumor, but another to target an amorphous area inside the ventricle. I cant see the area thats causing the abnormality in the heart. Thats invisible to my eye, she said. So thats where Dr. Tolat really came in to help me know where to aim the radiation.

Juno Vu of Middletown works on client Savannah Dickson, left, at Stylux Beauty Lounge in Southington, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023. Vu has severe ventricular tachycardia. Hartford Hospital used a non-FDA-approved radiation treatment to treat him and Vu doing well.

The other challenge is the heart not only has cardiac motion from beating, but also when the patient breathes, the whole heart itself moves, Steger said. So hitting a moving target is something that is challenging. We do have experience with it in the lung, but adding that cardiac motion is an extra challenge.

So they performed a 4D CT scan to determine how to target the radiation, and another CT scan when Vu was ready for the procedure to make sure everything lined up properly.

We successfully delivered the intended dose to the target so that is the success, Bertsch said. So longer term it takes a little while for his new aberrant pathways to go away. That doesnt happen instantaneously.

Bertsch said the procedure was stressful for her.

For me, my biggest worry is again, normally that big circle mass in the heart, in the chest is something I avoid, she said. Every single time I try not to aim any radiation at that. Every time. And now youre asking me to give one high-dose radiation to the thing that Ive avoided my entire life. So that was very fear inducing.  That was very hard.

Its a promising, exciting area that still needs some careful evaluation, Tolat said of using radiation to ablate the heart. Its a treatment that is available for people who have tried all other FDA-approved treatments and continue to have a problem. And its certainly not something that we do for just anyone. And its a very specialized thing, but its innovative and important enough to have  in the state.

A spokesman for Yale New Haven Health said the Yale New Haven Heart and Vascular Center is working on being able to offer radiation treatment soon.

As for Vu, who said he is an optimistic person, its so far so good. Im loving it. Im living life.

Ed Stannard can be reached at estannard@courant.com.
I am that red-faced embarrassed person who has to announce awkwardly that Im in a messy divorce process and no longer consider myself to be part of the couple referred to as having been together for four decades.

I recently received a thank you from Josh Cochran, the curator of American History and Diplomacy at Yale Universitys Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. His thank you letter ended:

Thank you again for your wonderful contributions over the past four decades in preserving the record of the Kent State tragedy at Yale special collections. Please know we are honored to preserve and steward the materials you donated. 

Oops. Maybe Dr. Cochran is new to his job at the rare book library and doesnt know that in the last two years I have publicly announced my desire for a divorce.

Yale refused my request to dissolve the arrangement as co-founder of its Kent State Collection established in 1977, so I requested that if no divorce were possible, at least the university should give me personally a separation by transferring my own files in Yales Kent State Collection to Kent State itself.

Yale refused that too. So I now consider myself kicked out of the Yale house without my own clothes, not divorced, but effectively separated without being officially out of the marriage.

How awkward then to receive a painfully polite thank you from Dr. Cochran for my loyal 44-year marriage (1977- 2021) to Yales Kent State Collection, when I am self exiled from that very collection which I co-founded with Peter Davies, author of The Truth About Kent State: A Challenge to the American Conscience. (1973, Farrar, Straus & Giroux).

I replied to Dr. Cochran on January 10, and tried to explain to him that, like most disintegrating marriages, my disillusionment began decades ago. Here is what I told him:

I became doubtful of Yale s commitment to its Kent State Collection decades ago, after the donation of national guardsmens murder weapons was quietly abandoned, perhaps due to criticism from conservative Yale alumni, which was animated at the time. (NYT May 5, 1985 Yale to add Kent State Weapons to Archives attached ).

As co-creator of the Kent State Collection at Yale Library in 1977 with Davies, I arranged donation of his manuscript and 60 boxes of research for The Truth About Kent State: A Challenge to the American Conscience to go to Yale Library instead of to Kent State Library because at that time Kent State Library was funded by the Ohio Legislature, the same funding source for the rifles that killed four students and wounded nine others in the May 4, 1970 demonstration, by Ohio National Guardsmen. This was a clear conflict of interest.

On May 4, 1970, I was a graduate student at Kent State University and witnessed four students killed and nine other students wounded when Ohio National Guardsmen fired into a crowd of unarmed student demonstrators.

A man reads the Ohio historical marker commemorating the Kent State shootings, Monday, May 4, 2020, in Kent, Ohio. The Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed college students during a war protest at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Four students were killed, and nine others were injured. Not all of those hurt or killed were involved in the demonstration, which opposed the U.S. bombing of neutral Cambodia during the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

As the 50th anniversary of the killings approached on May 4, 2000, all lawsuits had long ago been settled and the state of Ohio (the Kent State Library funding source) no longer had any interest in using Davies research and documents to defend itself in court. The logical time had come to consolidate all Kent State research at Kent State in my opinion.

That commitment waned further after Larry Dowler  who had negotiated donation of Yales Kent State Collection in 1977 as head of Sterlings Manuscripts and Archives Division  departed Yale to become archivist at Harvard, leaving Yales Kent State Collection in effect an orphan in foster-parent hands.

Subsequently the closing of the collection to new donors by Christine Weideman ended public attempts to add the papers of Kent State President Glenn Olds to the collection, unfortunately, perhaps, allowing some of his candid communications with the Nixon White House to forever wash out to sea, never to be found.

An axiom emerges from my attempts to preserve evidence in the Kent State issue through the muscle of academic freedom: Politics prevails over the Academy, despite Henry Steele Commagers 1970 address at Kent State University to the contrary: The Academy and the Community of Learning.

Another axiom emerges from my attempts to preserve evidence in the Kent collection: If Dr. Cochran is going to be an effective curator of American History and Diplomacy as his title at Yale describes him, he needs to know the facts, even if my face has to turn redder.

Paul Keane is a Connecticut native, a Yale divinity School graduate and a retired Vermont teacher.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 16)  A group of young farmers on Tuesday laid out possible solutions that will help the onion industry amid the issues it is facing.

Speaking to CNN Philippines The Source, Elvin Laceda, national president of the Young Farmers Challenge Club of the Philippines Inc. (YFCI), said the Department of Agriculture (DA) should have a market-driven production using data management system.

We need to create a system that will enable us to know what the market needs three to six months ahead of time, he said. We need innovation in creating data management system in Department of Agriculture so that hindi guesswork lang... dapat data driven (so that we don't guesswork, it should be data driven).

YFCI, formed through a competitive financial grant assistance program of the DA, serves as a community platform, policy advocacy center, and knowledge hub to promote the welfare and build the capacity of Filipino young farmers.

Laceda maintained that they are not seeing onion shortage in the country. Its just that supply is in cold storages that are controlled by traders and hoarders.

Aside from this data system, he said the government should ensure existing laws are implemented.

Onion farmers should also be given access to credit with low interest, since this is currently limited to other industries, he added.

Laceda is also pushing for the creation of a law that will give more power to farmers for them to be heard on critical matters being tackled by the government, like importation.

For private individuals, they can also help by purchasing agricultural products on their platform Sa Kahon Marketplace.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 17)  The worsening state of the agriculture sector, with farmers recording massive crop losses, has triggered deep emotional stress among local producers.

At a Senate hearing on Monday, Elvin Laceda, national president of the Young Farmers Challenge Club of the Philippines, said five farmers died by suicide in Bayambang, Pangasinan.

Present during the hearing was the wife of one of the onion farmers, Nanay Merly (not her real name), who regained strength to continue running their family farm after her husband took his own life in 2022.

This, as their farm went bankrupt after harabas or army worms killed their crops.

While they replanted, Nanay Merly shared that they still suffered losses due to storms.

"Milyon-milyon po ang utang nila dahil sa harabas, army worm. Ngayon pa lang sila sana nakabawi pero dahil may importation po, wala pang 100 days, pero kailangan nang i-harvest, 85-90 days," Laceda said.

[Translation: They owe millions because of harabas, army worm. Their recovery should start now, but because there is importation, they have to harvest early, 85-90 days instead of 100 days.]

"Yung storya ni Nanay, sana hindi na maulit sa ibang magsasaka," he added.

[Translation: I hope Nanay's story won't happen again to other farmers.]

Last week, the Department of Agriculture said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the importation of 21,060 metric tons (MT) of onions amid soaring prices in local public markets.

The supply is expected to arrive later this month or the first week of February.

Meanwhile, during the same hearing, municipal agriculturist Romel Calingasan of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro revealed that farmers in the town were forced to sell their onions for 8 to 15 per kilo during the harvest season in 2022 due to a cold storage shortage.

They later found out that traders sold their produce for up to 700 per kilo in Metro Manila markets from September to December, Calingasan said.

Reacting to Laceda's information about the death of some onion farmers, AGAP Party-list Rep. Nicanor Briones said the situation was "alarming."

"Nakakaalarma. Maliwanag na ang magsasaka ay nahihirapan at ang pagkain ay napakamahal," he told CNN Philippines' The Source on Tuesday.

[Translation: It's alarming. It is clear that the farmer is struggling, and food is costly.]

The lawmaker said this was the result of inadequate support from the government for farmers, as well as insufficient efforts to stomp out smuggling.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 17)  Actress-TV host Alex Gonzaga is trending once again, this time for her behavior during her recent birthday party.

In a video clip that spread online on Monday, the 35-year-old Gonzaga blew her birthday candle, then smeared the chocolate icing on the face of the service worker who held the cake. In the video posted and quickly deleted by content creator Dani Barretto, the guests can be heard cheering while the server turned his head.

Gonzaga's name landed on the top trending topics on Twitter on Tuesday, with social media in uproar over her actions.

Online personalities and netizens expressed disappointment over how she treated the male staffer while calling for better treatment of workers in the service industry. Vlogger Janina Vela said there was a clear imbalance of "power dynamics" since the staff wouldn't be able to complain.

"Service workers are our equals. It's their job to serve, but it's our job to give them the respect they deserve," she tweeted.

TikTok content creator Arshie Larga noted that playfully smearing cake icing is a common occurrence during celebrations, but he said that doesn't apply to this situation.

"Ginagawa rin naman natin yan PERO sa mga taong ka-close lang natin. Hindi sa taong gusto lang naman magtrabaho ng maayos," he wrote.

[Translation: We also do that, but only to people we are close to. We don't do that to people who just want to work.]

One netizen lamented, "What irks me about this alex gonzaga fiasco is the power imbalance between her and the server. Being laughed at in front of so many rich ppl must've been hard for him, but alex probably thinks of it as a "joke" lang. tbh [To be honest] this is blatant bullying in plain sight."

Internet personality Oliver of Otakoyakisoba reflected on his past experience in customer service, saying workers shouldn't be humiliated for the sake of content.

"Just because you pay them does not mean you can do anything to them. Even if it was with consent, some will feel the pressure and just go along with it even if they feel uncomfortable... Make sure if you see something wrong, please say something and dont be a bystander and take a video of it for giggles," he wrote on Facebook.

Gonzaga has yet to comment on the issue.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 16)  A local agriculturist from Occidental Mindoro urged the government to establish more storage facilities after farmers in the province were forced to sell their onions for 8 to 15 per kilo during the harvest season in 2022 due to cold storage shortage.

In a Senate hearing on Monday, municipal agriculturist Romel Calingasan of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro said traders were tapped to directly buy onions from farmers, with the price set by the buyers due to the high volume of imported supply and lack of storage area for local produce.

They later found out that traders sold their produce for up to 700 per kilo in Metro Manila markets from September to December, he noted.

"'Yung presyo na pinag-uusapan ngayon na nagra-range sa 600 to 700 sa merkado ay binili lamang sa mga magsasaka ng San Jose, Occidental Mindoro ng 8 to 15 during harvest season sa amin noong buwan ng March to April, 2022," Calingasan said.

[Translation: The prices we are talking of now that range from 600 to 700 in the market were bought from farmers of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro at 8 to 15 during our harvest season in March to April 2022.]

He said local farmers who were categorized as producers have become consumers by that time because they no longer have onions.

Farmers present during the hearing said they did not benefit from the high price of onion, adding they cannot do anything if the traders want a lower price. They also noted that if the traders will not purchase their produce, these will just be wasted.

Calingasan said local producers failed to preserve the onions since storage facilities in the province, and even in Metro Manila, were already "full."

He said the province, especially the town of San Jose, needs more storage facilities as its onion production in 2022 alone reached 3,485 hectares.

The Department of Agriculture said it hopes to build more cold storage facilities this year.

However, farmers said this is now a life-or-death situation after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. approved the importation of more than 21,000 metric tons of onions.

Pinagsamantalahan na patungan ng almost 1,000 percent. Tapos ngayon na mag-aani na po si Juang magsasaka sasabayan niyo ang importasyon, Calingasan said. Papatayin niyo po talaga kami.

[Translation: They took advantage of the situation by marking up by almost 1,000%. Now that Juang magsasaka will harvest, importation was allowed. You are really killing us.]

CNN Philippines correspondent Eimor Santos contributed to this report.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 16)  The Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) would need the help of other law enforcement agencies if it were to investigate the alleged involvement of cartels and hoarders in the surging prices of onions, the agencys new chief said.

One thing that we have to emphasize is that the PCC is just one of the government agencies that should be looking into this, PCC Chairman Mike Aguinaldo told CNN Philippines The Final Word.

According to Aguinaldo, if hoarding is involved, the Agriculture and Trade and Industry departments should be in the picture.

He added that if the inquiry is to determine the persons involved in the hoarding of the commodity, then the National Bureau of Investigation and the national police should be expected to help as well.

These things are definitely not that simple, he said. That would require a certain level of investigation that I'm not sure the PCC is actually equipped to do, but maybe other law enforcement agencies can assist or provide that service.

The Ombudsman earlier said officials from the Department of Agriculture will be investigated regarding the soaring prices of red and white onions in the market.

Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo previously filed House Resolution No. 681, which calls for a legislative investigation into the alleged existence of a cartel, as well as supposed anti-competitive practices in the onion sector.

Quimbo also said she wanted to know if the PCC has done enough to address the onion crisis.

RELATED: EXPLAINER: Why onions in PH are now more expensive than meat
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 16)  Despite having only two senators in the opposition, Senate Minority leader Koko Pimentel on Monday said he believes the whole upper chamber will not let the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) just easily pass and be a law.

We will really scrutinize this and I think although we only have a 2-person minority, I believe that the 22-person majority will also scrutinize this measure, he told CNN Philippines The Source.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he will explain to business leaders who are attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland that his administration aims to establish the Maharlika fund for investments in agriculture, energy, digitalization, and climate change, among others.

The forum is a great venue for a soft launch of the MIF given its prominence and its participants, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Carlos Sorreta earlier said.

However, Pimentel disagrees. The opposition senator earlier said a soft launch of the bill is premature.

He also said this move may only pressure the senators to pass the controversial bill, which was swiftly approved by the House of Representatives.

If the president announces this therefore it is premature and the more dangerous effect is this will be an indirect way of pressuring the Senate to blindly approve this measure which we should not, Pimentel explained.

The senator said that the current version of the bill is not well thought of, it is not well written, and it has internal inconsistencies or contradictions.

One of the issues he raised is on funding.

House Bill 6608 states that the initial capitalization of the fund will be from the Landbank of the Philippines (Landbank) worth 50 billion, and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) worth 25 billion.

It also noted that subsequent annual contributions, specifically in the first and second year of implementation, the Bangko Setral ng Pilipinas (BSP) shall remit 100% of its declared dividends, the bill said. In the succeeding years, the BSP shall remit 50% of its declared dividends to the MIF, and other half to the national government to fund the increase in the capitalization of the BSP.

Pimentel said these funds already have their purpose since these help banks run in prudent manner to maintain the ratios required by the BSP.

If we move this from the balance sheets of DBP and Landbank of the Philippines then they will be, they might be already falling below the ratios or the reserve requirements required by the Bangko Sentral, he pointed out.

Moreover, requiring the BSP to remit dividends will deprive the national government of some cash flow, he said.

What will replace the cash flow from a dividend of a governmental body like the BSP, either higher taxes or more borrowings so balik din po tayo (we just go back), Pimentel said. The Maharlika Corporation actually will be another reason to incur more borrowings.

The House approved the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund on Dec. 15, barely two weeks after it was filed on Nov. 28 by House Speaker Martin Romualdez, presidential son and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, and four other lawmakers.

It was received by the Senate on Dec. 19, but the upper chamber has yet to tackle the proposed measure.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 16)  Progressive groups have condemned the alleged abduction in Cebu City of union organizers Dyan Gumanao and Armand Dayoha, who were reunited with their families on Monday after they were reported missing since Jan. 10.

The staggering experience of Gumanao and Dayoha exposes the barefaced disregard of basic human rights by state forces and their rabid intent to harm and attack unionists, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) said in a statement.

Citing Gumanaos father, womens group Gabriela said the abductors presented themselves as members of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

A video released by human rights group Karapatan and which it credited to a concerned citizen, purportedly showed Gumanao and Dayoha being abducted in broad daylight at the Port of Cebu. The video showed men in plain clothes apparently shoving someone into a car at the port as onlookers shouted and called for help. But the video was shot from afar and the faces of those involved could not be seen.

Gumanao is from ACT while Dayoha works for the Alliance of Health Workers. Both are based in Cebu.

The abduction took place during their return to Cebu on Jan. 10, after a holiday visit in Mindanao, according to Karapatan's regional chapter.

Prior to the incident,the two raised alarm over what they suspect to be surveillance and tailing since 2020.

Although they were reunited with their families on Monday, Gabriela said the abductors should be held accountable for violating human rights. Details of the union organizers' release were not immediately clear.

We are in solidarity with them and their families in their pursuit to hold their perpetrators accountable who are reported to be members of the PNP, Gabriela Secretary-General Clarice Palce said in a statement on Monday.

Dapat nang may mapanagot sa karahasang ginagawa ng mga pulis at militar laban sa mga aktibista. Ilang aktibista na ba ang pinaslang at dinukot nang walang nakakamit na hustisya? Palce added.

[Translation: Someone should be held accountable on these harassments done by police and military officers against activists. How many activists have been killed and abducted without achieving any justice?]

CNN Philippines is seeking comment from the PNP.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 17)  The Philippine government will proceed with the procurement of bivalent vaccines against COVID-19 despite reports linking a specific brand to a type of adult stroke.

Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said such reports should be taken with a grain of salt, adding that even monovalent vaccines come with certain risks but those that ended up with adverse reactions are less than 1% of the total vaccinated population.

"Dito sa study na lumabas, yung totality does not really conclude na kapag ikaw ay binigyan ng bivalent (vaccine), talagang magkakaroon ka ng stroke," explained Vergeire. "Ang sinabi lang the risk would be there and if we go back to previous vaccines, iyong monovalent, marami din naman ganitong reaksyon na naire-report."

[Translation: In the study that came out, it does not really conclude that you will have a stroke if you are given the bivalent. It only says the risk would be there and if we go back to previous vaccines  the monovalent  a lot of these reactions are reported.]

The US CDC is looking into a possible safety concern in which people aged 65 and older were more likely to suffer from an ischemic stroke weeks after receiving Pfizer's updated COVID-19 shot.

But Vergeire said this should not stop the country from getting its hands on vaccines that will increase Filipinos' protection against severe disease.

"Of course, it is considered. We will monitor properly itong mga babakuhanan kung sakaling dumating na itong bivalent sa atin. Pero hindi ito dapat maging balakid para matanggap ng ating mga kababayan ang kinakailangan nilang bakuna para ma-prevent ang severe and critical complications of COVID-19," Vergeire said.

[Translation: Of course, it is considered. We will monitor properly those who will be vaccinated once these bivalent vaccines arrive. But these should not be a hindrance for the public to get the necessary vaccines to prevent the severe and critical complications of COVID-19.]

Meanwhile, the DOH said COVID-19 shots are now available in 3,697 community healthcare centers.

"Noong nag-umpisa tayo mag-ramp up sa booster shots, marami na sa local governments natin ay nag-desisyon na kung saan they integrated their COVID-19 vaccination with their primary care facilities," Vergeire said.

[Translation: When we started to ramp up booster shots, many local government units decided to integrate their COVID-19 vaccination with their primary care facilities.]
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 17)  Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian has expressed optimism that talks between the Philippines and China on joint oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea will resume even after the Supreme Court recently declared a 2005 tripartite maritime seismic undertaking in the area as unconstitutional.

Huang reiterated the commitment made by both Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to discuss joint oil and gas exploration during the state visit of Marcos early this month.

Our top leaders have agreed to resume the discussions and negotiations on the joint oil exploration and we believe that the two countries will engage each other and discuss the details and we hope to make some improvements in the future, he told reporters on the sidelines of the Chinese Embassys New Year clebration on Monday.

The Chinese envoy added that both Manila and Beijing should work together to remove obstacles in areas of cooperation to sustain the momentum of Philippine-China ties.

The diplomat, however, said that appealing the Supreme Court decision on the joint maritime deal in the West Philippine Sea is an internal affair of the Philippine government.

We do believe that it is in the fundamental interest of the Philippines and the Filipino people to develop oil and gas jointly, he said.

RELATED: Roque to SolGen: Appeal SC decision on joint exploration deal

Voting 12-2-1, the Supreme Court en banc ruled last week that the 2005 Joint Maritime Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) between the Philippines, China and Vietnam was unconstitutional because it allowed wholly-owned foreign companies to explore the Philippines natural resources without observing safeguards provided under the Constitution.

Former Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, an international law expert, said the SC decision does not bode well for Philippine-China and Philippine-Vietnam relations.

Under the UNCLOS the area covered by the JMSU is subject to sovereign rights," he said. "In other words, the 60-40 rule by the constitution should not have been applied in an area covered by EEZ."

I am hoping the Office of the Solicitor General will file a comprehensive and a convincing motion for reconsideration for at stake is not only the peaceful resolution of the West Philippine Sea but also the right of the Filipino people to benefit from the natural resources found in Recto Bank, Roque concluded.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 17)  The number of journalists killed around the world spiked by nearly 50% in 2022, marking a dramatic reversal of the positive trend seen in recent years, the United Nations agency UNESCO reported.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay on Monday said 86 journalists and media workers were slain globally last year, or around one case in every four days.

This is up from the average of 58 per year from 2019 to 2021, when the figures had dropped from the 99 deaths in 2018.

These numbers are a reminder of the growing fissures in rule of law systems worldwide, and highlight states failure to fulfill their obligations to protect journalists and prevent and prosecute crimes against them, Azoulay said in a statement.

The agency noted all regions were affected, but the deadliest for journalists was Latin America and the Caribbean, where 44 killings  or over half of the total  were recorded in 2022.

Sixteen killings were registered in Asia and the Pacific, while there were 11 in Eastern Europe.

For individual countries, UNESCO said the top three deadliest were Mexico with 19, Ukraine with 10, and Haiti with 9.

Its data also showed four media killings were recorded in the Philippines last year: Jaynard Angeles, Federico Ding Gempesaw, Renato Blanco, and Percival Percy Lapid Mabasa, whose murder case has been particularly high-profile due to alleged involvement of the countrys suspended prisons chief.

In November 2022, the New York City-based Committee to Protect Journalists released a report stating that the Philippines retained its ranking as the seventh worst country when it comes to prosecuting killers of journalists.

According to UNESCO, around half of the victims across the globe were off duty when they were targeted.

It added that the rate of impunity for journalist killings remains high at 86%, "creating a chilling effect for the work of journalists and risking freedom of expression worldwide."

This proves that combating impunity remains a pressing commitment on which international cooperation must be further mobilized, Azoulay said.

The director-general listed a variety of reasons behind the killings, including reprisals for reporting on organized crime, armed conflict or the rise of extremism, and covering sensitive subjects such as corruption, environmental crimes, abuse of power, and protests.

On top of these, she said media workers continue to be threatened with multiple forms of violence, such as enforced disappearance, kidnapping and arbitrary detention, legal harassment, and digital violence, particularly against women journalists.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 16)  A lawmaker on Tuesday said he believes criminals have conspired with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Bureau of Customs (BoC) that led to the onion crisis that is affecting both farmers and consumers.

Sabi ko nga matitigil lang yan kung yung nagbabantay at binabantayan ay magka-iba, AGAP Party-list Rep. Nicanor Briones told CNN Philippines The Source. Ang nanghuhuli ng smuggling ay taga-Custom at taga-DA, alam naman natin na ang smuggling mangyayari lang naman kung may kasabwat na taga-Custom at taga-DA.

[Translation: I said this will only be stopped if the people being monitored and the people monitoring are different. Those who go after smugglers are from the BoC and DA, we know that smuggling will only happen if there is collusion with those from the BoC and DA.]

While the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act was passed in 2016, the lawmaker pointed out that implementation is not effective since no one has gotten imprisoned so far.

To address this, Briones is pushing for the creation of an anti-agricultural smuggling task force under the Office of the President.

Most of its members should be from sectors affected by the smuggling problem, he said.

This can be funded through the proposed Livestock, Poultry, and Dairy Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, which is like the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund that sources its budget from tariff collected from rice importers.

Ang makukuhang pondo ay 12. 5 billion a year, so kung makapag-set aside tayo kahit 5% or 10% coming from that funds na kinolekta sa tariff, so may pondo rin yung task force hindi bababa 500 (million) to 1 billion a year, Briones noted, adding that this will allow its members to monitor ports for possible entry of smuggled agricultural goods.

[Translation: The fund to be collected is 12.5 billion a year, so if we will be able to set aside even 5% or 10% from those funds collected from tariffs, the task force will have a fund of not less than 500 million to 1 billion a year.]

He also said the task force will be allowed to catch those involved and to conduct an investigation, as well as deputize the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation to go after violators.

CNN Philippines has asked DA and BoC to comment, but they have yet to reply.

Meanwhile, the rising prices of onions pushed the government to approve the importation of over 21,000 metric tons of onions.

However, Bureau of Plant Industry officer-in-charge Gerald Panganiban told a hearing on Monday that less than 5,000 MT are expected to come in since the application to import thus far only covers 25% of the approved allotment.

Briones said prices will surely go down especially now that harvest season for onion is about to peak, possibly reaching 130- 150 a kilo.

The DAs latest price monitoring showed that the average cost of a kilo of onion in Metro Manila markets is between 320 450.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 17)  The Marcos administration projects the countrys 2022 economic growth to exceed the earlier goal of 6.5% to 7.5%, according to Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Diokno made the statement on Monday during a luncheon hosted for the Philippine delegation in Davos, Switzerland coinciding with the World Economic Forum.

Meanwhile, the Philippine economy is forecast to expand by around 6.5% this year amid an expected global slowdown, according to the finance chief.

And thats still one of the highest if not the highest growth projection in the Asia-Pacific Region, he said.

In its statement, the PCO said Diokno cited the Philippines bustling manufacturing sector, record-low unemployment, and stable and resilient banking system as buffers against external headwinds.

He added that the government plans to further stimulate the economy by opening sectors to foreign equity, improving ease of doing business, and strengthening public-private partnership to support the administrations infrastructure program.

During the gathering, Diokno also mentioned that the Marcos administration is pushing for a Philippine sovereign wealth fund, which would be called the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF), to support the governments development plan for 2023 to 2028.

The measure seeking the creation of the MIF swiftly hurdled the House of Representatives last month amid concerns on capital sources and timing. The Senate, on the other hand, has yet to deliberate on the proposal.
Tacloban City (CNN Philippines, January 17)  The province of Northern Samar was placed under a state of calamity after floods and landslides displaced over 230,000 residents and damaged farms and infrastructure, officials said.

Members of the provincial board made the declaration on Monday, Jan. 16, during a session headed by Vice-Governor Clarence Dato.

Governor Edwin Ongchuan earlier requested the board to declare a state of calamity, as recommended by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

The national disaster response agency listed two persons dead in the province as a result of the calamity.

According to the provincial disaster office, 238,322 individuals or 55,789 families were affected in the towns of Catubig, Las Navas, Catarman, Laoang, Mondragon, and Lope de Vega

Damage to infrastructure was estimated at 260 million, based on a report from the provincial engineering office. An additional 160 million worth of damage on nationally-funded infrastructure was reported by the Northern Samar 1st Engineering District.

Agriculture suffered 104.6 million in losses, most of which were devastated newly planted rice fields, according to the Provincial Agriculture Office's report.

The provincial government distributed relief assistance in the form of food packs and distilled water to affected towns. The Department of Social Welfare and Development also provided additional family food packs as requested by local government units.

Following the declaration of a state of calamity, Ongchuan ordered the provincial Trade department to monitor prices of products and establish price control.

Death toll rises

Meanwhile, in its latest report, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said 29 people have died due to the shear line and northeast monsoon. Twelve others were injured, while 4 remain missing.

The report said these weather conditions affected 1,956 barangays in 14 regions.

The NDRRMC said a total of 347,382 families (1,398,103 individuals) were affected.

So far, damage to infrastructure has reached P171.5 million, while damage to agriculture is pegged at over P399 million.

CNN Philippines' Pia Garcia contributed to this story.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 17)  Travelers are not allowed to bring in vegetables to the Philippines without securing appropriate clearance permits from authorities, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) said.

Travelers may not bring in vegetables (regardless of quantity) into the Philippines without the required Plant Quarantine Clearance (for personal use) or Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance (for commercial use) from the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), the BoC said in a social media post on Monday.

According to the BPI, the following require clearance before they are allowed entry to the country:

1. Living plants;

2. Nursery stocks, including vegetative parts thereof used as propagating materials;

3. Seeds and nuts for planting;

4. Fresh fruits, vegetables, and other plant products, which have been declared as prohibited/restricted imports under Special Quarantine Orders by virtue of their being known hosts of certain plant pests, or because they originate from restricted areas;

5. Pure cultures of fungi, bacteria, virus, nematodes and other phytopathogenic materials;

6. Mushroom cultures including spawn;

7. Algae cultures, rhizobial cultures as legume inoculants;

8. Soil and plant materials for isolation of organism;

9. Other plants cultures;

10. Certain species of animals such as insects, birds, monkeys, reptiles capable of causing injury to agricultural crops or are liable to become agricultural crop pests;

11. Biocontrol agents and genetically modified organisms/materials;

The BoC said any person or company intending to bring in plants or plant products from another country should file an application for the necessary permits with the BPIs National Plant Quarantine Services Division prior to importation.

This is to safeguard and prevent the spread of plant pests in the Philippines, the BoC noted.

To apply for a Plant Quarantine Clearance or Sanitary and Phytosanitary Import Clearance, follow this process:

According to Presidential Decree No. 1433 or the Plant Quarantine Decree of 1978, anyone caught bringing in undeclared agricultural goods that may threaten the local industry will face penalties.

"Any person, company or corporation who violates the provisions of this Decree, or forges, counterfeits, alters, defaces and destroys any document issued by virtue of this Decree shall be fined not more than Twenty Thousand Pesos (20,000.00) or by imprisonment from prison correctional to prison mayor, or both, at the discretion of the Court," the decree said.

Earlier, at least 10 flight attendants of Philippine Airlines tried to bring in about 40 kilos of agricultural products, including onions.

While the matter is already being investigated, Senators JV Ejercito, Raffy Tulfo, and Grace Poe condemned the BoCs humiliation of the PAL personnel, while big-time smugglers and cartels supposedly remain untouched.
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(Posted Jan. 17, 2023)

By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor

The percentage of adults in Madison County who have coronary heart disease outpaces the percentage across Ohio and the United States. The same can be said of Madison County adults who have hypertension (high blood pressure), who are obese, and who have been diagnosed with diabetes.

Statistics like these have local health, wellness, and education agencies working together to find ways to promote healthy behaviors to combat chronic disease.

One goal is to improve nutrition. Information from the United States Department of Agriculture reveals that nearly 12 percent of Madison County residents dont have access to enough food or good quality food to meet their basic needs. Income, proximity to food resources, and transportation are contributing factors.

A new Local Food Council is in the early stages of working toward the goal of improved nutrition for Madison County residents. The group held a community meeting in November to gather input to guide their efforts.

We did some brainstorming and analysis and talked about what we thought the important issues are around local food, said Amanda Douridas, Madison County OSU Extension educator for agriculture and natural resources.

We are working on our mission and vision statements, said Elizabeth Devine, director of community health and accreditation for Madison County Public Health.

Generally speaking, the food councils purpose is to increase access to healthy food options, address food insecurity, help people find resources for food, promote economic development to support farmers and other food producers in the county, and provide education about healthy eating habits.

The overall goal is to create healthier outcomes and reduce chronic disease in the county, Devine added.

The food councils next meeting is set for 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Jan. 23 in the Della Selsor Building at the Madison County Fairgrounds, 205 Elm St., London.

The meeting is open to anyone who is interested and passionate about helping with this process and achieving whatever goals we find to be on the table, Douridas said. We welcome anyone who is concerned about local food access and healthy lifestyles within the county, including farmers, local producers, and retailers interested in providing more food access.

The council plans to meet monthly.

For more information, contact: Elizabeth Devine at the health department, (740) 852-3065; Amanda Douridas or Deetra Huntington, SNAP-Ed program assistant, at OSU Extension, (740) 852-0975.
China, Europe cooperation fuels EV market

Xinhua) 09:17, January 17, 2023

People experience a BYD Han electric car during a media preview of the 100th Brussels Motor Show in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 13, 2023. A fleet of luxury electric vehicles (EV) from Chinese manufacturers were showcased for the first time this week at the 100th Brussels Motor Show, which opened its doors to industry professionals and media on Friday. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

China's breakthrough in Europe's EV market has won praise from many and criticism from some, with the latter arguing that it presents a threat to Europe's established automotive giants. However, many exhibitors asked by Xinhua at the Brussels Motor Show disagreed with this assertion.

BRUSSELS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- As the auto industry worldwide transitions towards electromobility and the number of Chinese-made "new energy vehicles" sold globally is on a steady increase, more and more carmakers and dealers across Europe consider the competition from Chinese manufacturers an opportunity rather than a threat.

After a two-year hiatus, the Brussels Motor Show made a spectacular return on Jan. 14. The 100th edition of this prestigious trade event welcomes visitors until Jan. 22. On display are the cutting-edge electric vehicles and e-mobility technologies of the world's major carmakers.

The 55-odd exhibitors include Chinese brands, such as BYD, SERES, BAIC or MG. They display fully electric vehicles as well as hybrid, gasoline and CNG (compressed natural gas) cars.

China's leading electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD brought three models to the show: the ATTO 3, the HAN and the TANG, but the company's representatives told Xinhua that other models are also scheduled to be brought to Europe soon.

BYD is already present in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium, and this year it will also launch in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Since 2015, China's EV products have dominated the global market. In 2022, the Asian country exported almost 680,000 "new energy vehicles," a 120 percent increase year-on-year.

China's breakthrough in Europe's EV market has won praise from many and criticism from some, with the latter arguing that it presents a threat to Europe's established automotive giants.

However, many exhibitors asked by Xinhua at the Brussels Motor Show disagreed with this assertion.

People experience a BYD Tang electric car during a media preview of the 100th Brussels Motor Show in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 13, 2023. A fleet of luxury electric vehicles (EV) from Chinese manufacturers were showcased for the first time this week at the 100th Brussels Motor Show, which opened its doors to industry professionals and media on Friday. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

"We are in favor of a free market, we welcome competition, be it from China or the United States," Jeroen Lissens, head of corporate communications at BMW Group Belux, said. Without competition, the automobile industry would not be as innovative as it is today, he added.

German high-end carmaker BMW displays its lineup of "new energy cars," including the fully-electric iX3 manufactured at the company's plant in Shenyang, northeastern China.

"China is our biggest market. We are the only foreign carmaker in China having a joint venture with a share of 75 percent. We manufacture cars there," Lissens said.

Volkswagen and the brands it owns also display their vision of the future of e-mobility. The German auto giant's show was organized by D'Ieteren, the Brussels-based automobile distribution company.

Jean-Marc Ponteville, D'Ieteren's communications director, told Xinhua that the automobile market in Europe is highly competitive, which clearly benefits customers.

"Competition is good, it moves the market forward," he said. It obliges carmakers to continue to invest in technology and innovation, he said.

"The vehicle industry is by default multinational. Each car is assembled from parts made in different countries, so no car is made in a single country only," Ponteville said.

The world's automotive industry is highly internationalized, whether in Europe, the United States, Japan or China. Chinese carmakers employ foreign designers, engineers and technologies, and their supply chains are also multinational.

SERES, an EV maker based in southwest China's Chongqing, officially launched its three-model SERES 5 e-SUVs (sports utility vehicles) at the Brussels Motor Show. John Zhang, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of SERES Global, said he appreciated the global cooperation during the five years of development and testing of the new SUVs.

People experience a Seres 5 electric car during a media preview of the 100th Brussels Motor Show in Brussels, Belgium, Jan. 13, 2023. A fleet of luxury electric vehicles (EV) from Chinese manufacturers were showcased for the first time this week at the 100th Brussels Motor Show, which opened its doors to industry professionals and media on Friday. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

"It doesn't necessarily mean that there is a conflict when the cars come to Europe. SERES is a Chinese brand, but we use a lot of foreign technologies. Our cars are equipped with Bosch cameras, Bosch chips and Pirelli tires, all of which are European products," Zhang told Xinhua.

"Today, when we released the new cars, we invited business representatives from the supply chain to attend, including Bosch, industrial robot maker FANUC, tire supplier Pirelli, and many others. Our suppliers welcome us very much. So, this is a win-win situation," he said.

"Our secret is the Blade Battery, a fantastic technology," Mike Belinfante, senior public relations at BYD Europe, said. "We offer a platform to other companies in the U.S. or Japan who want to use our technology."

"We all want to cooperate. Those who go it alone are bound to lose out. It's our common interest to share our technologies and our experiences," Belinfante said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
As companies settle into the reality that hybrid and remote work will dominate tech and other 'knowledge worker' industries for the foreseeable future, the next challenge is to create corporate cultures that drive results.

In Q4 2022, 79% of US employees worked in a remote or hybrid environment, according to market data firm Statista. Only 21% were fully onsite, compared with 60% fully onsite in 2019.

Statista

The "Computer & IT" industry was the top career category for fully remote jobs in 2022, with remote listings growing 24% year over year, according to job search site FlexJobs.

Remote work is reshaping industries, allowing for greater employee work-life balance and flexibility while also enabling companies to consider a geographically borderless pool of talent. At the same time, companies are struggling with how to keep employees engaged as a team in a corporate vision and culture.

With the US unemployment rate dropping to 3.5% last month (just 1.8% in the tech sector), organizations are struggling to recruit top talent even as many companies lay off workers hired in haste during the COVID-19 pandemic. So it's also key to ensure that the recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding process for new employees is conducive to long-term retention.

Jessica Kriegel Jessica Kriegel, chief scientist of workplace culture at Culture Partners

Jessica Kriegel, PhD, the chief scientist of workplace culture at business consultancy Culture Partners, spoke with Computerworld about what business leaders need to do to create a workplace culture  even one that's based on a remote or hybrid model  thats not only profitable but engages employees, keeping them productive, creative, and happy.

The following are excerpts from that interview:

What are some best practices organizations can use to ensure they not only find the right talent, but also create the best possible interview and onboarding experience? "I think the most [successful] companies understand this is like dating. People interview with multiple companies, and companies interview multiple candidates. So, both parties need to be excited about it, but many managers come from a place of entitlement or privilege where they believe everyone wants the job and theyve got it to dole out.

"So, first its about changing the mentality of the hiring manager so that they dont think of it as a competition. Its much more of a sales opportunity to recruit someone to your company. You are selling the culture of the organization.

"What you dont want is to fall into the trap of being insincere or inauthentic about your brand or culture, because then what happens... is ultimately the employee learns it's not what they were promised, and they end up leaving shortly after being hired. That attrition can be very disruptive to business practices.

"If we want people to be more innovative, they need to have the belief that leadership encourages risk-taking and embraces failure in an effort to be more innovative."

"The other thing is finding ways to have the interview be much more about understanding [a prospect's] abilities to apply their skills to what the job will entail, rather than just being a personality check. Most interviews are treated like, 'Do I like this person?' Thats dangerous because thats looking for culture fit. And culture fit is extremely dangerous to organizations.

"Most hiring managers think, 'Do I like this person, or would I want to get a beer with them?' In that case, you end up hiring people who look like you... and talk like you. Thats unconscious bias. Youre going to prevent the organization from having diversity of thought and demographics.

"Whats more powerful is purpose fit  understanding what the individuals purpose is, and if they dont know what that is, helping them understand what it is. In other words, what motivates them and what meaning do they want to have in their vocation Then ensure theres alignment with the organizations purposes. Because if there is, that employee is going to work 10 times harder and be 10 times more passionate."

How do you create workplace culture in a time of hybrid and remote work? "Most people think about culture in terms of perks. They think about ping-pong tables and Hawaiian-shirt Fridays, which theoretically are supposed to make people happier. Leaders who are trying to make their employees feel better are failing to leverage culture to drive results, because they dont understand culture. Culture is not about feelings. Culture is about the feelings we share that shape our beliefs. Our beliefs are what drive our actions, and our actions is what gets us results.

"So, to get different results in an organization, you need to ask yourself, 'What actions do we need our employees to take?' Then ask, 'What beliefs would they need to hold?' And then we can be intentional about creating experiences that will lead to those beliefs.

"For example, if we want people to be more innovative, they need to have the belief that leadership encourages risk-taking and embraces failure in an effort to be more innovative. So, the experience leaders need to create for that belief is not chastising and punishing people who fail fast. Recognizing and telling stories about people who were innovative  how they tried, tried, and tried. And how they failed, failed, and failed until they succeeded.

"Really, you should be selling all your office space and donating it to developers to make homes for the homeless or something, and be intentional about getting together every once in a while and not a certain number of days a week."

"A ping-pong table isnt going to make anyone more productive. A Hawaiian shirt day isnt going to make anyone more innovative. And having a happy hour on Thursday isnt going to create organizational collaboration. Thats just going to make people temporarily happy."

What are some tips? When should companies require knowledge workers to be in-office and for what reasons? "I think the office needs to be thought of differently  no longer a space to work but now a space to gather with intentionality. So, going back to the definition of culture, which is experiences shaping beliefs that drive action, which get results. Bringing people together in person is an experience that should be created in order to shape a belief.

"Don't try to get people into the office just to have them there because you think it will magically produce more creativity or productivity. The belief shaped in that experience is that you want to make sure Im sitting at my desk: 'They dont trust Im doing my work. They dont care about my health or happiness,' because all the studies show when we work from home were more productive, happier, and healthier.

"So thats actually going to have the opposite effect on the employees beliefs to get the actions out of them than if you just be intentional about being in the office. That looks like: 'Lets get together once a year in the office or some hotel retreat.'

"Really, you should be selling all your office space and donating it to developers to make homes for the homeless or something, and be intentional about getting together every once in a while and not a certain number of days a week."

A lot of companies are dropping college degree requirements for new hires, even for technology or knowledge worker positions. Instead, theyre hunting for people who have a passion for technology and a willingness to learn. Is that a strategy thats working out? "Removing degree requirements is the best thing thats happened to the workforce in a long time in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Degree requirements are arbitrary. They often seem like a necessary prerequisite for a job, but in reality they have nothing to do with a persons ability to actually do the job. Most jobs in corporate America dont benefit from an employee having a degree.

"So, these organizations that remove degree requirements remove the privilege white people have in the workforce, because the percent of whites who have degrees is higher than the percentage of Blacks and Hispanics who have degrees. So, its creating more opportunity and access for the people who have been disadvantaged in the area of education."
The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in late December 2022 was filled with a host of military-related cybersecurity provisions. One little-noticed provision in the bill called for a study of cybersecurity and national security threats posed by foreign-manufactured cranes at United States ports.

Under this provision, the Maritime Administrator, working with Homeland Security, the Pentagon, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is required to conduct a study to assess whether foreign manufactured cranes at United States ports pose cybersecurity or national security threats. It must be completed by late December 2023 and submitted to the Senate Commerce and Armed Services committees and House Transportation and Armed Services committees.

Crane security study origins unclear

Little information is available on why this study appeared in the NDAA or why a study of port crane security was deemed critical enough to include in the annual must-pass legislation. However, the study could be a concession to Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), who introduced a bill last year, H.R.6487, the Port Crane Security and Inspection Act of 2022, that died in committee.

Gimenez's bill limited the operation at US ports of foreign cranes made by US adversaries. It required CISA to inspect foreign cranes before they are placed into operation for potential security vulnerabilities and assess the threat posed by security vulnerabilities on existing or newly constructed foreign cranes. Gimenez's bill also called for CISA to report to Congress about critical and high-risk security vulnerabilities posed by foreign cranes at US ports. Gimenez's office did not respond to requests for comments on his bill or the NDAA-mandated study.

FBI boarded Chinese ship in a mysterious incident

Concerns about cybersecurity at the nation's increasingly digitized ports have been rising for years. As far back as 2013, a Brookings study concluded that the cybersecurity awareness and culture level in US port facilities was low and that basic cybersecurity hygiene measures were missing in most ports. Of the ports studied by the Brookings researchers, only one had conducted a cybersecurity vulnerability assessment, and none had developed a cyber incident response plan.

In 2015, cybersecurity firm CyberKeel, now owned by Improsec, warned that 37% of maritime companies with Windows web servers weren't adequately installing security patches from Microsoft. Earlier in 2015, US Coast Guard officials reported that interference with GPS signals disrupted operations for seven hours at a significant, unidentified east coast port, affecting four cranes.

In a barely noticed incident on September 15, 2021, FBI counterintelligence agents conducted a search of the Chinese merchant ship Zhen Hua 24 that delivered four "Neo-Panamax" port container cranes to Baltimore harbor. The agents were said by informed sources to have uncovered intelligence-gathering equipment on the ship during the search, but no details are available about what specific equipment they discovered.

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Limited, or ZPMC, manufactured the four cranes. ZPMC is the most prominent crane maker, boasting an 80% global market share. ZPMC's US offices did not answer questions about the NDAA study or the FBI incident. Likewise, the FBI declined CSO's request for an interview regarding the incident.

Cybersecurity concerns center on crane communications

Given the digitized nature of modern cranes, the NDAA study could have its origins in fears that the costly (typically starting at $15 million) and all-important port machines could come equipped with destructive malware or be vulnerable to malicious cyber incidents. But experts say it is more likely that the concern stems from the communications technology that controls the cranes' operations.

"Without the intent of the client or the asset owner, some of these systems could be communicating outbound to possibly even the internet knowingly or unknowingly," Marco Ayala, global director, ICS cybersecurity and sector lead, 1898 & Co., tells CSO. "If there is a possibility of 'E.T. phone home' or some type of beacon or communication link that could give a command, a control capability, to a foreign adversary, whether that is for financial gain or just to create a logistics nightmare," that could create incredible bottlenecks at US ports, potentially causing substantial economic damage.

Cameras on cranes could be surveillance tools

Steve Gyurindak, CTO of network and operational technology at Armis, tells CSO that Chinese cranes, including the ZPMC cranes, might be under scrutiny because they come equipped with Chinese-made cameras that have "basically been branded surveillance tools" by the US government. Gyurindak was referring to a new rule issued in July 2020 by the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council that federal agencies can't "enter into a contract (or extend  a contract) with an entity that uses any equipment, system, or services that uses covered telecommunications equipment or services as a substantial or essential component of any system, or as critical technology as part of any system.

Among the equipment banned under the new rule are video surveillance and telecommunications equipment produced by Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, Dahua Technology Company, or any subsidiary or affiliate of these companies. "I would think if anything on the Chinese ship, the FBI was looking at the cameras," Gyurindak says. "The Chinese have invested a lot of money in using video for intelligence."

Supply chain disruption fears could be the impetus

Patrick Miller, president and CEO of Ampere Industrial Security, thinks it isn't "out of the realm of possibility" that China could be using port cranes for surveillance. They could be "trying to gather as much manifest information on what is coming in and out of America as possible," he tells CSO. "That would fit very well into their standard mode of operations and their motives."

But, "I honestly think one of the bigger drivers behind [port crane cybersecurity fears] is we rely so much on trade through ports, and people in America freak out when there's a supply chain issue," Miller says. "If there were an attack on the ports in any way, shape, or form, that would be yet another reason for a supply chain problem."

Port operational technology should be part of cybersecurity discussions

Cranes are emblematic of the uneasy mix of internet and operational technologies (OT) characteristic of most ports. "For us, all this part of the port infrastructure is something that should be considered when conducting a risk assessment and identifying proper mitigation controls," Athanasios (Thanos) Drougkas, cybersecurity expert at European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), tells CSO. "For us, it's the starting point and where we see cranes in this whole process

Drougkas is encouraged by the NDAA-mandated study. "I'm very happy to see that operational technology is becoming more and more a part of cybersecurity discussions," he says. "We're happy to see that national authorities all over are actually picking up on this."
A herd of seven elephants including a male has been a worry to the local villagers and to the foresters in the last two years. (Representational Image: Twitter)

Vijayawada: To curb the menace of elephants from the wild eating away crops and destroying the properties of villagers, the forest authorities have come up with an action plan. They propose to erect fences and set up barricades around the 300-hectare reserve forest area at a cost of Rs 40 crore in Parvathipuram-Manyam district.

A herd of seven elephants including a male has been a worry to the local villagers and to the foresters in the last two years. They are eating away standing crops like wheat, vegetables, bananas etc, damaging the paddy fields and destroying the personal properties of local villagers.

The problem is recurring every time the herd of elephants starts moving to the fringe villages of the reserve forest area for feed. The forest authorities deal with them carefully by not tranquillizing or trans-locating them as there are two elephant calves aged a year in the herd.

The forest authorities intend to dig a trench measuring three metres in depth and a width of around 300 hectares of reserve forest area to serve as fencing. They also plan to set up poles similar to railway sleepers to serve as an enclosure, so that the elephants will be confined within the enclosure, with no chance for them to stray into the neighbouring villages, where human habitations and crops exist. They also plan to ensure proper food and water are available to the herd in the enclosure.

The authorities have estimated the quantum of compensation for the affected farmers or villagers to the extent of `30 lakh for the last two years.

The Parvathipuram-Manyam district forest officer GAP Prasuna said, We have submitted the proposals to the higher-ups for the fencing and barricading of around 300 hectares area at a cost of Rs 40 crore and also for compensation to the affected farmers and others. Once we get the requisite clearance and sanction of funds, we will start working on these to help avoid this problem on a permanent basis.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being greeted by party leaders as he arrives for the BJP National Executive meeting, at NDMC Convention Centre in New Delhi, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. BJP National President JP Nadda is also seen. (PTI)

NEW DELHI: Emphasising the political importance of the nine state Assembly polls to be held this year in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP president J.P. Nadda on Monday told BJP leaders and cadre to ensure the partys victory in all states.

The two-day-long BJP national executive meeting began in the national capital on Monday. The meeting was also attended by the partys top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The national executive is likely to extend the tenure of Nadda, which is ending on January 20.

The national executive hailed Modi for his efforts in the global branding of India and also for strengthening the cultural and spiritual heritage of the country, citing the Kashi Vishwanath corridor, redevelopment in Kedarnath and Badrinath and the ongoing construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya among others.

The meet also thanked Nadda for his untiring efforts during the recently held Assembly elections.

Modi will be giving the valedictory speech on Tuesday where he is likely to share mantras with the party leaders and cadre for the upcoming electoral battles.

The meeting, through a political resolution, also condemned the Opposition for running the negative campaign over several issues against the government and launching "personal attacks" on Modi, and asserted that Supreme Court verdicts, including Pegasus, Rafale and Central Vista cases, exposed it.

Noting that 2023 is a very crucial year, Nadda asked the party leadership to be ready with full commitment to win all the poll-going states.

That "Garib Kalyan" will be the BJPs main poll plank for the coming electoral battles was evident as Garib Kalyan, Hamara Sankalp banner was donning the main entrance of the venue, which also had cutouts of Rafale, Statue of Unity, Vande Bharat train, Subhash Chandra Boses statue under the canopy at India Gate, were erected at the venue.

"National president exhorted all the national executive members to be ready with full commitment to ensure that BJP wins all the nine Assembly elections scheduled for 2023 as a prelude to 2024 Lok Sabha elections, we have not to lose any state," said senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while quoting Nadda.

To a question whether the first day of the meeting had any discussion on Naddas tenure, the senior BJP leader replied in negative.

The meeting also assessed the partys performance during the recent Assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. While the party hailed the "historic and extraordinary" Gujarat mandate, it agreed to "aage theek karne ki jaroorat hai (needs to be corrected)" its efforts in Himachal Pradesh where the margin between the winning Congress and the BJP was less than one per cent.

Nadda also noted the efforts of the BJP cadre in BRS-ruled Telangana and sounded confident that the party will form government in the state ruled by BRS chief K. Chanrashekhar Rao.

As part of activities to further strengthen the organisation, Nadda informed the gathering that the party has crossed the earlier target to identify and strengthen "kamzor booths" as suggested by the PM. Nadda said the party has reached out at 1.30 lakh booths. The BJP will mark the 200th anniversary of Dayanand Saraswati on February 12 to reach out to "address the concern of last mile marginalised person."

Citing the projects of "cultural pride", like Kashi Vishwanath corridor, redevelopment of Kedarnath and Badrinath and the construction of Ram Mandir, Nadda said under Modis leadership, efforts are on to promote the countrys heritage.

Noting how India surpassed the UK to become the fifth largest economy and how India is the second biggest manufacturer of mobile phones and Made in India efforts undertaken by the Modi government, Nadda also cited how the country saw a member of the tribal community being nominated at the highest constitutional post.

The meeting also saw a political resolution moved by Union minister Kiren Rijiju, which accused the Opposition of running a negative campaign and using abusive language against the government, especially the Prime Minister.

The resolution asserted that Supreme Court verdicts exposed the Oppositions campaign against Modi and the BJP. UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Karnataka minister Govind Karjol seconded the resolution.

Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who briefed the media about the resolution, cited a number of issues over which the Opposition had built a campaign against the government, including Rafale, Pegasus, Central Vista project, demonetisation and EWS quota, and said the Supreme Court verdicts in the governments favour on them exposed it.

"Unfounded allegations were levelled against PM Modi but the crushing legal response exposed the Opposition," she said, citing political resolution.

Sitharaman said PM Modi is seen as "an incorruptible leader who is working for

the countrys interest and whose leadership has found respect globally. Indias

image under his leadership has also been enhanced."

The minister said the PMs assertion that this is not an era of war during his

telephonic talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin echoed in the G20 declaration at Bali and his push for United Nations reform has been recognised.

The political resolution lauded the BJPs historic verdict in the Gujarat assembly

polls and a number of bypolls to assert that it will have an impact on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"The Gujarat mandate will have an impact on coming assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," said Ms Sitharaman while citing data on the BJPs performance.

The meeting also noted the "permanent bridge" that PM Modi has made between him and the common man through his monthly radio show Mann Ki Baat." The resolution also noted the "seva" of the PM towards the Sikh community while citing the dedication of December 26 as Veer Bal Diwas to mark the martyrdom of Sikh guru Gobind Singhs sons.

Around 350 national executive members, including several union ministers and

senior state leaders attended the meeting. Chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, and state unit chiefs among others are attending the meeting.

The BJP leadership was briefed about the organisational activities in poll going states of Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Karnataka by leaders of respective state units.
In Oregons Umpqua National Forest, nearly 60 miles south of Eugene, a mountain has had a controversial name since the 1900s. Swastika Mountain stands at an elevation of 4,180 feet and people have recently pushed to rename it.

Dec. 6, 2022, the Oregon Geographic Names Board voted for an alternative name, Mount Halo, to be submitted to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

Kerry Tymchuk, the OGNB Executive Secretary, said the final vote to submit the new name passed 19 members to three.

The mountains name was brought into question by Joyce McClain, who saw the name while reading about two hikers who got lost near the mountain. McClain went to The Oregon Historical Society and filled out the paperwork to request a name change.

It just flew under the radar, Tymchuk said. Ive lived in Oregon all my life and never knew there was a Swastika Mountain. He said that since the mountain is difficult to get to and is in the middle of a national forest, not many people knew about it because no one could see it.

Tymchuk said the OGNB voting process consists of having a discussion after being presented everything and hearing from the public about the new and old names. During the discussion, the board also heard from David G. Lewis, an assistant professor of Native Studies at Oregon State University.

Lewis is the person who submitted the proposal of the new name of Mount Halo. The name comes from Chief Halito of the Yoncalla Kalapuya Tribe, who lived in the area.

Lewis sent his proposal in July and included a history of Chief Halitos life for context. Chief Halo stayed in his native land all his life, despite attempts to exterminate tribes in the area, the proposal said. He was a prominent figure in the community of Yoncalla until he died in 1894. People estimate he was at least 70 when he died.

We are trying to raise up the original tribes of this land and put some place names back on the land that recalls them, Lewis said.

Swastika Mountain has had its name long before the symbol has been associated with fascism and hate. The name comes from an extinct post office that neighbored the mountain and was founded in 1909, named Swastika.

There has been a belief that there was a cattle farm near the mountain where the farmer branded the cattle with the swastika symbol for religious reasons, since the swastika is used in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. However, according to Lewis, the ranch was around 200 miles away from the mountain.

Currently, the closest town to the mountain is Oakridge, according to Lewis.

This is a citizen process. It is one person who saw this and got the ball rolling, Tymchuk said. He said anyone is able to submit a request on the Oregon Geographic Names website.

Aside from the name Mount Halo, the only other proposed name was Umpqua Mountain. According to Lewis, that name was withdrawn in favor of Mount Halo.

It is a great name and Umpqua is a tribal name, Lewis said. There are a lot of other Umpqua named things in the area.

Lewis said he has also gotten some pushback on the new name from people who are in favor of keeping the name Swastika Mountain. The Swastika has been a part of religions before the Nazis changed the public view on the symbol.

Lewis said he has also gotten some calls from people who dont see anything wrong with the symbol.

Tymchuk said that during the voting process on the new name, they heard from someone representing the Hindu-American association to understand the symbol beyond its negative connotation.

Mat McDermott, the senior director of communications for the Hindu American Foundation, said he doesnt mind the name change, especially since it is a tribute to local natives. But he hopes this can be used to educate people on what the original symbol of the swastika means in religion.

We were never going to object to [Mount Halo] at all, McDermott said. But we wanted to make sure its being changed not out of ignorance about the Hindu/Buddhist use of the swastika being mistaken for the Nazis use.

The swastika symbol is used as a symbol of good luck in religions dating back 7,000 years and even today can be seen in peoples homes on walls or doors as a religious symbol, according to McDermott.

The Hindu American Foundation released a statement about the name change and background about the swastika symbol, with the purpose of bringing knowledge to the original meaning.

McDermott also did not know this mountain existed until it made news and understands why the public is pushing to change it. If you dont know the history of all this, youre naturally going to go Swastika, Nazis, Oh my god, we got to do something, McDermott said.

The new name of Mount Halo will not be officially recognized until the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approves of the change. Google Maps and Google Earth will both still have Swastika Mountain as the location name until then.

The U.S. Board of National Names will likely meet sometime in March to make a final decision on the name change.
Shanghai Composite Index, Chinese Equities, SSEC - Technical Outlook:

Chinese equities have run into stiff resistance.

Chance of a pause/minor retreat in the Shanghai Composite Index.

What are the key levels to watch?

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SHANGHAI COMPOSITE INDEX TECHNICAL OUTLOOK - BULLISH

Chinese equities have run into stiff resistance suggesting that the nascent rally could be about to pause.

The Shanghai Composite Index has hit a converged resistance area: the December high of 3226, around the 200-day moving average and the 89-week moving average. Despite the 13% gains since October, the 14-week Relative Strength Index has failed to rise above 60  a rise above this threshold is often a sign of strong upward momentum. Moreover, the index turned lower in the previous rally in July from near the shorter moving average and similar RSI levels (see Weekly chart).

Shanghai Composite Index Weekly Chart

Chart Created Using TradingView

The index needs to clear both the moving averages decisively for the medium-term downward pressure to fade. The hold above crucial support on the 200-month moving average last year is an encouraging sign for bulls. However, the pause in the slide around a cushion is not enough  the index needs to clear significant barriers on the upside for any rebound to last.

Shanghai Composite Index Monthly Chart

Chart Created Using TradingView

Any break above the 3225-3300 could initially open the way toward the July high of 3425. Any break above 3425 would be a bullish signal, triggering a major double bottom (the April 2022 and the October 2022 lows), pointing to a potential rise toward 4000 in subsequent months. On the downside, the nascent rebound is likely to remain intact while the index holds above immediate support at the December low of 3032. Any break there would confirm that the short-term upward pressure had reversed.

Chinese equities were largely unmoved after data released this morning beat expectations, but economic growth slowed significantly last year amid strict COVID curbs and a slowdown in the property market. Chinas reopening of its borders earlier this month has raised hopes of a revival in the economy this year. However, the abrupt end of its COVID curbs and the potential risk of spikes in infections mean that the growth trajectory could be bumpy.

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--- Written by Manish Jaradi, Strategist for DailyFX.com
Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay addresses the executive meeting in Delhi on Tuesday. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who was praised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the two-day national executive meeting in New Delhi, said that the party would form the next government in Telangana with inspiration drawn from Modi.

In a brief chat with reporters after the meeting, Sanjay said that the Prime Minister took note of the Praja Sangrama Yatra and suggested that other state units of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should look to hold similar programmes. The Prime Minister complimented BJP workers in Telangana, as well as the people, for supporting the Praja Sangrama Yatra. He said the next 400 days are crucial and called on the party to work for BJP's success in the coming elections.

On Monday, Bandi Sanjay was called by Modi to address the executive meeting about his yatra. Even as he started speaking in Hindi, the Prime Minister suggested that he speak in Telugu. He praised Sanjay after his speech and told the meeting that the BJP should live up to the faith people are placing in the party in Telangana.

Later, tweeting about his experience, Sanjay said: truly humbled by warmth and graciousness towards me throughout the meeting.

He said that under J.P. Naddas leadership and Modi and Amit Shahs guidance, a double engine government will form in Telangana.

Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy told reporters after the meeting that while Modi called on party workers to strengthen the party, he also told them to reach out to people and encourage public participation in ensuring rapid progress of the country.

Reddy said the party meeting took several crucial decisions, and also decided that it will head into elections in nine states this year, and the Parliamentary elections next year under J.P. Naddas leadership. The Prime Minister stressed Amrit Kaal, the period left before India turns 100 in 2047, and made it clear that it did not matter who the Prime Minister will be in the years to come, but what matters is everyone joins in the efforts to make India the best country, Kishan Reddy said.

On the emergence of the BRS, Kishan Reddy said everyone in the country has a right to launch a political party, but those who trample on the needs and wishes of the people will be taught a fitting lesson by the people.

The people of Telangana have no faith in the Kalvakuntla family. This is the family that looted the state and now is seeking to do the same across the country, he said.
Fair to say, I think, that Jeremy Clarkson is not everyone's cup of tea.

He's rude, obnoxious and bigoted. He's a dinosaur, a relic. He annoys everyone all of the time, and thoroughly delights in doing so. Or at least he used to.

This week saw a very different Clarkson, cowed and contrite, begging the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for forgiveness in a desperate bid to save his career. And while many will delight in his discomfort, I can't bring myself to join them.

Don't get me wrong: what he wrote about Meghan was completely unacceptable. Saying he was 'dreaming of the day when she [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her', was undoubtedly a bridge too far.

Fair to say, I think, that Jeremy Clarkson is not everyone's cup of tea

This week saw a very different Clarkson, cowed and contrite, begging the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for forgiveness in a desperate bid to save his career

He was right to say sorry, as he did, soon after the article's publication last month, and The Sun was absolutely right to take it down. There's a fine line between strong meat and week-old offal, and that just stank.

But having apologised once, he should have left it at that.

Poll Do YOU think Jeremy Clarkson should be sacked from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Vote here... Yes No Not Sure Do YOU think Jeremy Clarkson should be sacked from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Vote here... Yes 3725 votes

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Instead, he decided to grovel, writing on Instagram on Monday: 'On Christmas morning, I emailed Harry and Meghan in California to apologise to them, too. I said . . . that the language I'd used in my column was disgraceful and that I was profoundly sorry.'

He added: 'I really am sorry. All the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head. This is me putting my hands up. It's a mea culpa with bells on.'

You might have thought that would elicit some sort of sympathetic response from their graciousnesses in Montecito. After all, that is some pretty unequivocal bowing and scraping. But far from it.

Instead, they issued a snooty statement, doubling down on Clarkson and making it clear that sorry is just not good enough.

Having chastised him for mistakenly addressing his apology to 'solely Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex', they went on to add: 'What remains to be addressed is his long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny . . . it's clear this is not an isolated incident shared in haste but rather a series of articles shared in hate.'

Hang on a second. Hasn't Harry himself made mistakes in the past (Nazi uniforms, racist language and so forth)? Surely he of all people should understand that one  if not more  error of judgment does not define a man . . . or a career.

He was right to say sorry, as he did, soon after the article's publication last month, and The Sun was absolutely right to take it down. There's a fine line between strong meat and week-old offal, and that just stank

But then that's not what this is really about, is it? It's not about someone who has made a bad mistake apologising to those offended and everyone moving on in the hope of doing better. It's about cancel culture and a seemingly insatiable need for revenge.

Amazon, which shows the wildly popular Clarkson's Farm and his Grand Tour series is said to be cutting ties with him. ITV has hinted he might be dropped from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Let's face it, Harry and Meghan won't be happy until Clarkson is living in a cardboard box under a bridge, being spat on by passers-by. He could crawl through Montecito on his knees begging for forgiveness and still it wouldn't be enough.

They give the impression that nothing short of his complete defenestration will satisfy their hunger to see him thoroughly humiliated. Which, in the context of the original insult, is somewhat ironic.

They don't want an apology; they want more. Just as the apology demanded by Harry from his family for their treatment of Meghan wouldn't satisfy them.

Harry talks about saving the royals 'from themselves'. But that's nonsense. He is engaged in a much more ambitious endeavour: he wants to burn down the House of Windsor and build it back in his own image.

Likewise the British Press, the only thing that Harry perhaps has it in for more than his own family. Again, he won't be satisfied until the only person allowed to voice an opinion about him or his wife is fawning biographer Omid Scobie.

That's why, as wrong as Clarkson was, as annoying as he is, it would be a disaster if the Sussexes succeed in cancelling him. Because a world in which irreverence towards a group of self-appointed moral arbiters is punished with the modern equivalent of the guillotine is not a world in which most people wish to live.

For most of us, Five Guys is a takeaway. For Carol Vorderman, who's said she has five 'special friends', it's just another month in her busy love life. Good on her. If she can still get all those men pursuing her, why not?

Rishi Sunak showed courage in blocking Scotland's Gender self-ID law, which had the potential to challenge women's rights to single-sex spaces such as changing rooms and loos. Yet the Government plans to ban all forms of conversion therapy, sparking fears it will be illegal to question a person's sexuality or gender identity. This could make it difficult for a parent to question their child's desire to alter gender  a process that can lead to irreversible changes.

I wouldn't want anyone to suffer the pain of being denied their sexuality or identity; but given the numbers of young people who regret transitioning, is this course of action wise?

NO LACE PLEASE, MARGOT

Margot Robbie  one of the most beautiful actresses of her generation  looked stunning in a vintage Versace gown at the Sydney premiere of her new movie, Babylon, on Monday. What I can't understand, though, is why she added that blood-red lace trim to it? The original dress, from SS'95, looked much better without it. Or am I missing some deeply meaningful subliminal message?

Margot Robbie  one of the most beautiful actresses of her generation  looked stunning in a vintage Versace gown at the Sydney premiere of her new movie, Babylon, on Monday

Bottom of the class

I'm sorry, but I think it's disgusting that teachers are going on strike. Clearly they feel no duty towards a generation of children who have already had their chance of a decent education torpedoed by lockdown.

Teaching is meant to be a vocation. No one goes into it to get rich, and teachers already have a generous pension, holidays most can only dream of  and last year got a pay rise of more than five per cent, with the Government committing to raising starting salaries to 30,000 by 2024.

The same, I'm afraid, goes for the university lecturers, who have an even cushier existence, only they get to strike at the expense of students saddling themselves with thousands of pounds of debt for the privilege. Disgraceful.

For Italians, the Gina Lollobrigida (may she rest in peace) vs Sophia Loren thing was a bit like The Beatles vs the Rolling Stones. You were either one or the other. And, as fabulous as La Lollo was, I must confess I've always adored Loren for the simple fact that she once said: 'Everything you see, I owe to spaghetti.' Very definitely a woman after my own heart.

For Italians, the Gina Lollobrigida (may she rest in peace) vs Sophia Loren thing was a bit like The Beatles vs the Rolling Stones. You were either one or the other

It is bad enough that Scott Mills has replaced Steve Wright on Radio 2; now Ken Bruce  the heart and soul of the station  is leaving. He's the latest in a huge roster of stars  from Jane Garvey and Eddie Mair to Andrew Marr and Jenni Murray  to abandon the BBC. What do they all have in common? They're all over 50 and actually know how to do their jobs.

I wonder how Prince Harry feels about the fact that the Iranian regime has used his claim that he killed 25 insurgents in Afghanistan to justify the alleged torture and execution of Alireza Akbari, a UK national. Or is he too busy counting the money from sales of his memoir to care?

You've heard about cultural appropriation; the latest thing, my daughter informs me, is blonde appropriation. This is people who dye their hair blonde. Apparently, it's a micro-aggression. I don't understand anything any more.

Madonna's tacky truth or dare

Madonna has announced a new world tour  her 40th anniversary  by releasing quite the most bizarre video you will ever see.

Featuring a motley selection of musicians and celebrities, including comic Amy Schumer and actor Jack Black, it takes the form of a game of truth or dare, in which Madonna asks each of her guests to perform the kind of pointlessly obscene act that only a 16-year-old boy would dream up. One has to dip his undercarriage in his drink before downing it; another has to simulate oral sex using a bottle. And no, I am not making this up.

Madonna has announced a new world tour  her 40th anniversary  by releasing quite the most bizarre video you will ever see

I'm sure the idea is to give the impression that, even at 64, the Grandmother of Pop is as edgy as she ever was; but I'm afraid it just comes across as . . . well, a bit creepy and embarrassing.

Not to mention rather boring. I think I'll give the tour a miss.
Shabnam Chaudhri had never considered a future with the force until an officer turned up at her retail job after she'd caught another shoplifter.

This policeman had told her that she had what it took to join the Met. From that moment, it was decided for Shabnam - she was going to be a detective.

'I'd always enjoyed the thrill of catching thieves and fraudsters in the act,' Shabnam tells Metro.co.uk.

'Then aged 18, I knew I wanted to make a difference and really help people, so, I decided to pursue a career in the Met.'

Shabnam Chaudhri, from London, had never considered a future with the force until an officer turned up at her retail job after she'd caught another shoplifter

Unfortunately, it wasn't an easy path for the aspiring officer, and she had to jump some hurdles before she finally qualified in 1989, age 25.

'My father disapproved entirely  he wanted me to marry and uphold a respectful reputation. Thankfully, my mother approved.

'But I was also repeatedly told by the Met that I was "too young" or "too skinny". Determined, I applied four times before I became an officer.'

Shabnam immediately began reporting into a station in Bethnal Green.

She became the force's most senior female Muslim detective - something she talks about in BBC1's new series Big Little Crimes

'Pounding the beat back then required wearing a regulation skirt  forbidden by my father. It meant I had to lie to both him and my mum.

'I wore trousers when I left the house and, upon arrival, Id change into the required mid-length black skirt to start my shift. To my relief, the dress code soon changed'.

Despite the setbacks, Shabnam took to the role like a duck to water, rising through the ranks, before becoming the force's most senior female Muslim detective - something she talks about in BBC1's new series Big Little Crimes.

'Over the years, I worked on hundreds of cases and my parents were unaware of the danger I was often in.'

Despite the setbacks, Shabnam took to the role like a duck to water, rising through the ranks (pictured left and right)

Unfortunately, it wasn't an easy path for the aspiring officer, and she had to jump some hurdles before she finally qualified in 1989, age 25

But the case that really stands for Shabnam, is the one where she helped a woman who had been kidnapped, held against her will, and forced into stripping and posing for photographs.

The woman was initially reluctant to share the traumatic incident, but now having worked as an officer for 20 years, Shabnam helped the woman secure justice.

'If I hadnt been equipped with my own experience and able to gain her trust, she may never have revealed the extent of the crimes.

'If not, who knows if the man would have struck again.'

It's work like this that has seen Shabnam receive public recognition, with her winning a leadership award by the British Association for Women in Policing in 2012 for her work tackling hate crimes, forced marriages and for promoting diversity within the Metropolitan Police.

She won a leadership award by the British Association for Women in Policing in 2012 for her work tackling hate crimes, forced marriages and for promoting diversity within the Metropolitan Police

She said her parents never knew the level of danger she was in while working in the police force

'And I received two similar awards in the years that followed', Shabnam adds.

'My mum and dad both sadly died long before I reached my full potential but I know they would be proud of me.

'My mothers pride was clear when she made me parade in my police uniform in front of the Asian women in our next street!

'And my father admitted that I had achieved his dream of being a cop'.

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Sometimes when changing a sentence from one language to another meanings can get lost in translation - as these comical images show.

Travellers from around the world shared the most hilarious signs that have been translated completely wrong and Bored Panda collated them into a funny gallery.

The examples include one hotel fire extinguisher in China which was labelled in English as a 'hand grenade', while another airport in India displayed a sign which warned travellers that 'eating the carpet' was strictly against the rules.

Here FEMAIL takes a look at the worst translated signs from around the world...

Yikes! Travellers from around the world shared the most hilarious signs that have been translated completely wrong and Bored Panda collated them into a funny gallery including one hotel fire extinguisher in China which was labelled in English as a 'hand grenade'

Yummy carpet! While another airport in India displayed a sign which warned travellers that 'eating the carpet' was strictly against the rules

Wrong turn! Another person shared a sign spotted in China which was translated as 'racist park' on a motorway

I'll wait! Another sign in Singapore translated to 'execution in progress' and we can only hope it was a mistranslation

Is that a threat? This sign in Russia was presumably supposed to translate to 'No Exit' however instead it read 'There is no escape'

It's what the app said? This barber tried to translate their sign into English however they 'could not connect to the translator service'

Looks like I'll have the fries! Every item on this menu, in Asia, was translated into 'French Fries' in English

Cute! Apparently this 3D printer is 'afraid of wet' almost like an adorable house cat would be

Honest! This coffee machine has seemingly announced that it is in fact 'a disorder'
They planted flowers outside a healthcare center in the city of LA

Volunteers from the charity teamed up with a mission in Los Angeles

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Archewell Foundation carried out a project

While the royal family in the UK has been left reeling by Prince Harry's explosive claims in his memoir, the Archewell Foundation has been quietly carrying out charity work across the pond.

The charity marked the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr by teaming up with The Mission Continues Los Angeles Service Platoon for a day of service to plant flowers at a healthcare center.

The post on the Archewell website comes after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released a statement rejecting TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson's grovelling apology for a column in The Sun newspaper which was slammed for 'misogyny' and became the most complained about article to the press regulator IPSO in history.

The scathing statement from the couple did not say they accepted Clarkson's apology, rather referred to a 'long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric'.

The Archewell Foundation teamed up with The Mission Continues Los Angeles Service Platoon this weekend to plant flowerbeds at the Watts Healthcare Medical Center in LA

Earlier this month, Prince Harry branded Clarkson's column 'horrific, hurtful and cruel' in an interview with ITV's Tom Bradby to promote his memoir Spare.

In the article, the 62-year-old presenter said he dreamed of the Duchess of Sussex being paraded through British towns and publicly shamed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured in Devember at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala in New York) issued a joint statement yesterday rejecting an apology from Jeremy Clarkson after he wrote a 'misogynistic' column about Meghan

The Sun later apologised and said it regretted the publication of the column which last week surpassed more than 25,000 Ipso complaints.

After Clarkson yesterday confirmed he had emailed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on Christmas Day to apologise personally, a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan claimed the presenter had written 'solely to Harry'.

The statement read: 'While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr. Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories, and misogyny.

'Unless each of his other pieces were also written 'in a hurry', as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate.'

While it is unclear if Harry and Meghan were present at the service day at the medical center, a photo showed a huge number of volunteers camped out under a gazebo on the day.

Many wore covid facemasks and some held a poster with an artwork of the racial justice campaigner's face.

The Archewell Foundation website wrote: 'The group worked to beautify Watts Health Center with new outdoor seating, flowers and landscaping.'

The clinic was founded as a grassroots organisation in 1967 following the Watts Riots two years earlier, and now serves as a fully-functioning healthcare centre.

It is the first post on the Archewell website since January 10, when the charity posted a statement in support of Prince Harry on the day his memoir was released.

The statement read: 'A huge congratulations to Prince Harry on the release of his memoir, Spare.

'As your team, we are proud to stand beside you, and celebrate you as the world finally hears your story in your words. Thank you for your courage, honesty, humor, and light. Youve inspired us all.

'With admiration, Your staff and team at Archewell and The Private Office of The Duke & Duchess of Sussex.'
The couple tied the knot in December after a whirlwind romance

In April 2022, Gemma travelled 3,500 miles to meet Leonel in his Virginia prison

A woman has revealed how she has married a convicted rapist serving a 20 year sentence in a jail 3,500 miles away.

Gemma Vasquez, 31, from Glasgow, was introduced to her partner Leonel through his mother - who is her Spanish teacher.

Despite living thousands of miles apart, Gemma decided to reach out to her future husband, 31, last year.

Leonel, from Washington, was jailed in 2011 but is hoping to be released early in the next four years for good behaviour.

Gemma Vasquez met her husband Leonel through his mother, who is her Spanish teacher. Pictured: the newlywed shows off her engagement ring last year

Gemma said: 'Love can blossom no matter who you are. He just completes me.'

After initially exchanging messages, Gemma flew out to the Virginia prison where Leonel is living in April 2022.

She stayed in the US for over a month and was permitted to see Leonel for just three hours every week.

She explained: 'I still get the butterflies every time he calls or his name pops up on a message. I'm always so super excited.

Gemma and Leonel got engaged just three months after their first meeting. Pictured at their wedding on 29 December in the Virginia prison

Leonel was jailed for 20 years in 2011 but is hoping to be released in the next four years for good behaviour

'We just connected straight away we have the same sense of humour. We both love 90s music, and have the same favourite films.

'It doesn't matter what we talk about. You never expect your life to take a turn like this. I just thought I'd meet a guy here in Scotland.'

Meanwhile, Leonel added: 'I longed for someone to truly love me for who I am. But I thought, "Why would anyone want me?"

'I will never forget the day Gemma messaged me. I had to reread her message about ten times.

Gemma with Leonel's mother, who she has employed as her Spanish teacher since 2020. The mother and daughter-in-law met through Facebook

'It was just so perfect. We had all these things in common - just the vibe and energy behind her words made me feel happy.

'Our first kiss made my heart skip a beat. I knew I had found my future wife.'

Three months after their first meeting, Leonel proposed over the phone in July and had an engagement ring sent to her in the post.

Although the couple had planned to get married in the New Year, Leonel decided to surprise Gemma during her most recent visit last month.

The groom arranged for the couple's ceremony to take place on 29 December 2022 in the prison's visiting room, next to a Christmas tree.

Gemma and Leonel are planning on starting their life in a Spanish-speaking country once he is released

The couple were married by a celebrant and had no witnesses present.

Although two guards oversaw proceedings, Gemma says she was allowed to kiss, hug and hold hands with her new husband.

The bride and groom say both their families support the marriage and the couple are planning on starting a new life in a Spanish-speaking country when Leonel is released.

Gemma added: 'We're looking to the future...I really didn't know how it would work out being so far away and him not free, but we just fell in love.'

Meanwhile, Leonel said: 'Ever since she said 'yes' it has been a fairytale. I am hopelessly devoted to the love of my life and not a day goes by that I don't feel blessed to have her.'
Viewers of Junior Bake Off have been left emotional after the children discussed the things they would prioritise if they were prime minister.

After the young bakers were asked to make a showstopper cake of causes they cared about in episode one of the new series, many viewers were left thinking the children would 'do a better job' in the hotseat than many of our current MPs.

As the junior bakers raised issues such as ending homelessness and acceptance for neurodiversity on the Channel 4 show, viewers praised the children for their humility - and baking skills.

One person wrote on Twitter: 'I'm voting for a few of these kids to be MPs.'

In the first episode of the new series hosted by Harry Hill and judged by Ravneet Gill and Liam Charles, the young bakers put their skills to the test baking cakes.

For the final showstopper challenge, they were asked to create a layered cake representing the policies they would implement if they were leading the country.

Viewers were emotional after one baker, Oliver, presented the judges with his 'Safe Place to Sleep' cake which was a nod to his policy to end homelessness

Oliver (pictured) was praised by the judges for his 'beautiful' cake which was made from almont sponge and raspberry buttercream

The inventive bakers tackled issues including pet ownership and renewable energy in their bakes, leaving viewers in awe at their policies.

One baker, Oliver, created a 'safe place to sleep' cake in a nod to his concern over the homelessness crisis, the base of which was an almond sponge.

The judges were dazzled by the cake, which Ravneet said was 'beautiful'.

She added: 'The sponge is really light, the way you've contrasted it with the sharp raspberry inside... is brilliant.'

Liam, meanwhile, fist-bumped Oliver after tasting his cake. The young baker went on to win the Star Baker accolade.

Viewers also praised Ezekiel's cake celebrating neurodiversity as he called for more acceptance within schools

Viewers of the Channel 4 show praised the children for their bakes, adding they would 'make better prime ministers' than anyone running the country at the moment

Another baker, Ezekiel, presented the judges with a cake that celebrated neurodiversity as he said he wanted schools to be more inclusive of conditions including ADHD.

As viewers marvelled over the cakes, they joked that the children would be better leaders of the country than those in power at the moment.

One person wrote: 'I think every one of the kids on Junior Bake Off would be a better prime minster than anyone in politics right now.'

Another said: 'Snuggled up watching Junior Bake off, the kid's making a bed cake to help end homelessness', adding the heart emoji.

'Junior Bake Off Gives hope,' one person added. 'Kids had to represent their choice law change in cake. Love Zeke's idea for inclusion for neuro-diverse people.'

As the viewers said the children were future leaders in the making, one person joked: 'I wonder who *was* prime minister when this was filmed.'

The joke was an apparent reference to Liz Truss's 44 days in Number 10 before she was succeeded by Rishi Sunak.

Other showstopping cakes included one which represented baker Sofia's policy that children should be able to have any pet they want.

Another represented a need for renewable energy with a solar panel inspired cake.

As the new series returned, viewers hailed the show as even better than the adult version of Bake Off.
Mike Tindall donned his wife Zara's fascinator in a playful moment captured in behind-the-scenes snaps from their Australia trip.

The former rugby union player, who is married to Zara, Princess Anne's daughter, was pictured wearing his partner's light green hat while posing on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

The 43-year-old looked dapper in his fastened grey chequered blazer, lilac-coloured shirt and purple tie.

The picture, which was captioned 'Just for all the fascinator fans out there @magicmillions @magicmillionspolo', has garnered hundreds of comments almost 50,000 likes.

Mike Tindall was pictured on Instagram (above) donning his wife's fascinator after sharing behind-the-scenes snaps from their Australia trip

One commentator wrote: '[I] was waiting for a fascinator picture!!'

A second added: 'You rock! Do a calendar with Zara's hats for charity!' While a third wrote 'Its been too long since we had Tindall in a fascinator!'

And a fourth put: 'Just wanted to let you know that Id be pretty disappointed if this series ever stopped, please keep it going.'

It follows a series of posts Mike uploaded during the late Queen's platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 of him playfully trying on Zara's fascinators.

The picture, which was captioned 'Just for all the fascinator fans out there @magicmillions @magicmillionspolo', has garnered hundreds of comments almost 50,000 likes

The former rugby union player, who is married to Zara, Princess Anne's daughter, was pictured wearing his partner's light green hat while posing on the Gold Coast, Queensland

The 43-year-old posted a number of snaps of his celebrations marking Her Majesty's 70 years on the throne.

He shared a snapshot of his wife alongside her cousin Princess Eugenie on his social media, playfully writing: 'When you combine your favourite Starbursts!! Two world class ladies!! #starburst #platinumjubilee.'

He also posted two similar photos as he posed in his wife's fascinator.

And following Trooping the Colour , Mike shared a photo in Zara's red headpiece which perfectly matched his tie. He wrote: 'Personal fave of mine! I definitely need to wear more hats.'

The former rugby ace shared a number of snaps posing in his wife's fascinator today (left), as well as a snap of the couple posing ahead of the service today (right)

Mike's posts today come after he posed in his wife's red fascinator ahead of Trooping the Colour yesterday (left). He also shared a snap of the couple posing together (right)

Over the weekend, Mike announced that he has filmed a new YouTube series called 'Mike Drop' in collaboration with the Magic Millions horse-racing event in Australia.

As well as interviewing the events' creators Gerry Harvey and Katie Page, the I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here star has included his wife Zara in the series.

Sharing a sneak peek from their interview, which will be released in full next Tuesday, Mike is captured on camera lovingly gazing at his partner before greeting her as 'my love'.

Mike Tindall, 44, has filmed a new YouTube series in collaboration with the Australian racehorsing event Magic Millions. He is seen lovingly calling his wife 'my love'

Shooting Mike a winning smile, Zara then repeats the sweet nickname right back to him.

As well as referring to each other by their initials 'H' and 'M', Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have often been heard calling one another 'my love' in public.

At the beginning of the video, Mike poked fun at the Royal Family's fanfare by including a trumpet herald wearing regal uniform on an Australian beach - just days after Prince Harry filmed a similar skit mocking the royal's pomp and fancy during his appearance on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Zara Tindall, 41, lovingly repeats the nickname right back to him in a clip from their new interview together

Mike poked fun at the Royal Family's fanfare by including a trumpet herald wearing regal uniform on an Australian beach

Before kicking off their chat, Mike then playfully straightens out his interview notes and says: 'Welcome to my world!'

She is an accomplished equestrian and Olympian and despite being a granddaughter of the monarch and cousin of a future king, Zara has kept a relatively low public profile and often spends her weekends at sporting events.

She and Mike have no official duties but are regulars at royal family events, such as church services and important milestones such as the Jubilee.
Two Ukrainian refugees whose plans to start a business were halted by the Russian invasion have finally achieved their dream after fleeing to the UK.

Anna Shturmak, 28, and Nastya Berest, 25, moved to Kyiv last January to open a candle shop - but were forced to leave for their own safety, after war broke out in February.

The pair of best friends made their way to England and moved in with a host family in Didsbury, Manchester, last May, after meeting them through a Facebook group.

Now, they have finally successfully set up VIRA - which creates gorgeous candles shaped by a variety of molds - admitting they initially 'didn't understand or know anything' about how to start and run a company in the UK.

Anna Shturmak (left), 28, and Nastya Berest (right), 25, moved to Kyiv last January to open a candle shop - but were forced to leave for their own safety, after war broke out in February

'And English isn't out first language,' Anna said. 'It was difficult, to be honest, for the first five months.'

But the trials and tribulations didn't stop the duo, who launched their business in November and have had numerous orders since.

'In the beginning we found it so difficult because it's a new country and there's different rules about money,' Anna added.

However, she and Nastya met with an accountant - who is also Ukrainian but had been living in the UK for 20 years - which helped the candlemakers through everything.

Now, they have finally successfully set up VIRA - which creates gorgeous candles shaped by a variety of molds - admitting they initially 'didn't understand or know anything' about how to start and run a company in the UK

The pair of best friends (both pictured) made their way to England and moved in with a host family in Didsbury, Manchester, last May

'She taught us about being self-employed and taught us about taxes,' Anna continued. 'We've also been able to ask our family for help with everything.'

The business partners make all of the candles themselves, from scratch.

They buy the wax from a British supplier and melt it, before it's poured into molds and set into one of their many designs, including a shell, wave and a cube.

Since launching just more than two months ago, Anna has said that the pair have had 'a lot of orders' which has been 'so exciting' for them.

The business partners make all of the candles themselves, from scratch. Pictured: Anna, left, and Nastya, right

However, she and Nastya admit that they want to go back to Ukraine eventually.

'It's so difficult to talk about the future because we want to go back home of course but we decided to settle here for now,' Anna said.

In the meantime, they have plans to expand the business by bringing out two new collections in the upcoming months - including items for Valentine's Day - and would like to venture into making soap too.

Liz Neitherdt, 40, welcomed the business owners into her home that she shares with husband Matt 40, and their three children Grace, ten, Joseph, seven and Patrick, four.

The pair have plans to expand the business by bringing out two new collections in the upcoming months - including items for Valentine's Day

She said that when the women moved over, they had a 'very basic understanding' of English, and couldn't even understand Liz's Scouse accent.

'We also used a translation app quite a lot, and we just lived off that,' the host revealed.

Liz matched with the pair on a Facebook group for people who wanted to give Ukranian refugees a home, and is 'so proud' of their business.

'Their life is already on hold in some ways because they are not at home and they've had to come here, but they aren't letting that in the way,' she continued.

'They are just pushing on with their ambitions and their dreams, as it would be really easy not to in this situation, but they've gone ahead with it anyway.'
After the Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched scathing attacks on the Royal Family in their Netflix documentary series and Harry's memoir Spare, the Palace has refused to respond to any of the couple's claims.

The Royal Family's motto has long been 'never complain, never explain' and, with members of the family resuming their royal engagements, they seem to be following this tradition.

However, there appear to be subtle hints that the royals might be quietly hitting back at the Sussexes following Prince Harry's claims that they did not welcome his wife Meghan into the Firm.

From outfits on public outings to blink-and-you'll-miss-them quips, FEMAIL investigates the signs that the royals might be responding to Harry and Meghan in their own way...

Matching outfits

The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived at Kate's Christmas carol service at Westminster Abbey in matching burgundy outfits following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's second instalment of their Netflix series

On the day the second instalment of Harry and Meghan's Netflix series dropped on the streaming platform, the Royal Family made an appearance at Westminster Abbey for the Princess of Wales's carol service.

Episodes four, five and six of the docuseries saw Harry claim his brother William had 'screamed and shouted' at him during crisis talks at Sandringham before he and Meghan decided to step down as senior royals.

Mike and Zara Tindall (pictured) also wore bright burgundy as they arrived at Westminster Abbey for the carol service

He alleged his father, King Charles and grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth, had been silent while William shouted following Harry's suggestion he and Meghan could be 'half in, half out' of the Royal Family.

All eyes were on the royals during their first public appearance after the Sussexes revealed details from these private conversations.

As they arrived at Westminster Abbey for Kate's carols, the Prince and Princess of Wales stepped out in matching burgundy and black outfits, in what could have been determined as a show of solidarity.

Kate looked elegant in a burgundy coat while William wore a tie in the same shade. And as more royals arrived at the Abbey, Pippa Middleton and Zara Tindall appeared to have received the memo - as they also wore burgundy coats. Ex-rugby ace Mike Tindall wore a tie to match.

Meghan claimed in the Netflix documentary that she wore 'a lot of muted tones' and shied away from wearing bright colours during her time as a serving royal, so the colourful show of solidarity could be a subtle swipe against this statement.

MORE matching outfits in Merseyside

The Prince and Princess of Wales attended the Royal Liverpool University Hospital last week in another set of matching outfits

The Prince and Princess of Wales matched their outfits again as they visited the Royal Liverpool University Hospital in Merseyside.

Arriving at the new hospital last week, they both wore navy blue and dark green colours.

A video of the Prince and Princess meeting an administrator called Nikki showed the couple laughing as she pointed to them and said: 'Matching.'

William said: 'I know' in response, before smiling at Kate.

On arrival, the couple beamed as they waved at royal fans who had gathered to catch a glimpse of the royals, appearing unfazed by Harry's claims.

Kate has 'already moved on'

Sources told the Mirror that the Princess of Wales (pictured in Merseyside) had 'already moved on' from Prince Harry's memoir claims

In Prince Harry's memoir Spare, which was officially released in the UK this week, the Princess of Wales was under attack as he claimed she and Prince William 'stereotyped' Meghan as a 'biracial American actress' when she was first introduced to the family.

The Duke of Sussex also alleged Kate, 41, had sent Meghan, also 41, some curt text messages a few days before Harry and Meghan married in 2018, regarding Princess Charlotte's ill-fitting bridesmaid dress.

Harry said Kate claimed all the bridesmaids dresses needed to be remade just a few days before the wedding day, after Charlotte 'cried' over her frock which was 'too big'.

The Duke also claimed his brother and sister-in-law did not invite him for dinner at their home when they were all living on the Kensington Palace estate.

But despite this, a source this weekend said the Princess of Wales has 'already moved on' from the furore surrounding Harry's book.

Minimising the accusations in the book, an unnamed source close to Kate told The Mirror she had been left 'baffled' by what Harry had written but that she was ultimately unbothered and focusing on her charity work.

The source said she was not taking 'too much notice' of Harry's claims in the book as she prepares to launch a new early years programme focusing on children between the ages of three to five.

Zara and Mike's 'my love' quips

Zara flashed a cheeky smile as she appeared on the Mike Drop podcast and greeted her husband Mike Tindall with 'hello, my love'

While many members of the Royal Family have been the subject of attacks by Prince Harry in Spare and his Netflix documentary, his cousin Zara Tindall, 41, has barely had a mention.

She and her husband, ex-rugby ace Mike Tindall, 44, have been 10,000 miles away in Australia over the last week while the royals in the UK have been in crisis over the memoir's release.

As part of their work with Magic Millions, an equestrian charity, the couple teased a podcast this week hosted by Tindall, called Mike Drop.

Each week, he will interview a guest about horse racing, a passion Mike shares with his wife, with his first guest being his wife Zara.

The trailer for the podcast, which was released last week, teased a cheeky exchange between the couple as Zara sits down to be his first guest.

The couple greet each other saying 'Hello, my love' - a phrase often used by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

As well as referring to each other by their initials 'H' and 'M', Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have often been heard calling one another 'my love' in public and in the documentary.

Of course, the couple may always have greeted each other in this way. But perhaps the cheeky quip was a subtle parody of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Kate and William's Merseyside round-up

As the Prince and Princess of Wales appeared in Merseyside for their first official engagement of 2023, they were inundated by hundreds of fans who queued up to meet them.

Clips from the day showed the royal couple greeting staff at the hospital, which opened in October.

Their appearance at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital on Thursday was their first since the release of Harry's explosive memoir Spare, in which he levelled several accusations at his brother and sister-in-law.

Despite the Duke of Sussex's claims as he told his side of the story, the Prince and Princess of Wales seemed to be as popular as ever as crowds gathered to catch a glimpse of them in Merseyside.

At the end of the visit, they posted a series of photos on their Instagram account from the outing - and the last one could have been considered a dig at Prince Harry.

The final photo showed a crowd of people gathered at the hospital to take photos of the Prince and Princess of Wales, which suggests they were popular guests on the day.

The choice of photo could be construed as a signal to the Sussexes that they are still in demand as royals despite all of the Duke's claims about them and that his accusations have not affected their public image.
First time William has been seen since Harry demanded an apology from Royals

The charity will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next month

Prince William spent the morning at Together as One headquarters in Berkshire

The Prince of Wales has boasted that his wife Kate is a 'very good' cook and he can make a 'mean steak' as he took part in a cooking class for young carers today.

Prince William, 40, whose family rift with Harry and Meghan is wider than ever following his brothers score-settling memoir, spent the morning touring the Together as One headquarters in Slough ahead of its 25th anniversary next month.

The organisation was founded in the late 1990s in response to several incidents of gang violence between young people from Asian backgrounds in the Berkshire town. Originally named Aik Saath, meaning Together As One in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, the charity has evolved to work with all young people, regardless of their faith or background.

The father-of-three appeared in good spirits as he greeted staff and volunteers at the centre before then getting stuck into making some chicken teriyaki and noodles for lunch.

Prince William pictured cooking with young carers at the Together as One centre in Slough today

During the tour of the centre, Prince William learned about how the charity has spearheaded projects with an emphasis on mental health and tackling bullying, knife crime and racism.

He then took part in charity's Global Grub cooking programme, which teaches young carers how to cook nutritious meals amid the cost of living crisis.

As he walked into the kitchen, the Prince exclaimed: 'Oh it smells good in here!'

After being informed by chef Kevin Muhammad that they were prepping a chicken teriyaki dish, the father laughed: 'What time is it? 10, 11 in the morning? It's making my stomach rumble.'

He added: 'I do a bit of cooking, not much though. Catherines very good though.'

Prince William beamed with joy as he served out the chicken teriyaki he had made with young carers who rely on the charity

Prince William pictured serving up some noodles under the guidance of chef Kevin Muhammad at Together as One's kitchen

Prince William happily chatted with Daisha Nagawagi 12, and Inaaya Shahab, 13, during their cooking lesson

The prince told the chef: 'I do a mean steak. My sauces come out quite dry or lumpy - I've got to work on those!'

William took off his jacket and put on an apron to help with the dish the group were making and poured a bowl of pre-cooked noodles into the wok of simmering poultry.

He helped young carers Inaaya Shahab, 13, and Daisha Nakawagi, 12, prepare the noodles before tasting the fruits of their labour.

He said it was amazing, said Daisha, who told him she wanted to be a chef.

The Global Grub programme received 5k grant from the NHS Innovation Fund, which allowed the charity to convert a space in a local shopping centre into a kitchen.

The Prince of Wales shakes hands with Ramae Bogle 13, during his visit to Together as One in Slough today

The Prince of Wales takes part in a cooking lesson with Daisha Nagawagi 12, Inaaya Shahab 13 and and Chef Kevin Muhammad

The Prince of Wales speaks with support worker Faizaan Hamid during his visit to Together as One

Prince William visited the centre ahead of his 25th anniversary next month. The Prince of Wales pictured speaking with staff and volunteers in Slough

Prince William then met a group of young volunteers who have led a broad range of projects in their community, including providing clothes and meals for people experiencing homelessness, campaigning against violence against women and girls, and training their peers in schools to resolve their conflicts without resorting to violence.

William is not thought to have discussed his own family dispute, which this month saw Harry accuse his brother of physically assaulting him in a row over Meghans difficult behaviour. Kensington Palace has retained a dignified silence over the claims.

Among those the Prince met was Faizaan Hamid, 24, a young carer support worker who has recently joined the staff after five years of volunteering with the organisation.

He told William how he was diagnosed as bipolar at the age of 15 and got left behind at school but has found a real purpose working for Together As One.

Prince William pictured greeting staff and volunteers at the Together as One centre in Slough this morning

We try to make your differences not divide you but unite you, he said, adding that the organisation strove to celebrate the different religious and cultural origins of young people in the area. We are trying to get different people to come together.

The Prince had been due to visit the charity in September but the visit had to be postponed because of Queen Elizabeths death.

Today's engagement was the first time William had been seen in public since Prince Harry's latest attack on the Royal Family.

Over the weekend, the Duke of Sussex has further demanded an apology from his family to his wife Meghan, as he told them: 'You know what you did' and urged them to 'come clean'.

In an interview with the Telegraph he said he wanted to help reform the monarchy so that his niece and nephews, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis would not be affected by the concept of the 'spare' in the same way he has been.

Today's engagement is the first time Prince William has been seen in public since Prince Harry demanded the Royal Family apologise to him and Meghan in an interview last week

After expressing concern that one of the Prince and Princess of Wales's children may end up also feeling like the 'spare', he claimed Prince William had 'made it very clear that the children are not [Harry's] responsibility'.

Despite several bombshell claims in his memoir, Harry has also revealed the first draft of the autobiography was twice the length of the final draft, but that he ended up leaving details out for fear that his family would not forgive him.

Talking about his family, he said: 'I wish you'd actually sit down with me, properly, and instead of saying I'm delusional and paranoid, actually sit down and have a proper conversation about this, because what I'd really like is some accountability. And an apology to my wife.

'Because you know what you did, and I now know why you did it. And you've been caught out, so just come clean, and then we could all move on.'

Last week, Prince Harry sent shockwaves through the Royal Family when his memoir Spare hit stores.

In the book, Prince Harry alleged Prince William and Kate Middleton convinced him to wear a controversial Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party.

Elsewhere in the book, Prince Harry claimed his brother physically attacked him in his Nottingham Cottage home after branding Meghan Markle 'rude' and 'difficult'.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. (Twitter)

Abu Dhabi: In an interview with an Arabic news channel, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan "learnt its lessons" from the wars it fought with India. Admitting the difficult financial and security position that Pakistan finds itself in, Mr Sharif said the wars caused "distress, poverty and unemployment" to its population. During the conversation, the Pakistani PM also batted for "honest" talks with India. Later, in an apparent attempt at damage control, Islamabad said that talks with India can take place only after New Delhi reverses the scrapping of Article 370.

The Pakistan Prime Minister was quoted by media reports as telling the Al Arabiya channel, "My message to the Indian leadership and PM (Narendra) Modi is that allow us to sit down at the desk and have critical and honest talks to resolve our burning points like Kashmir. Its as much up to us to stay peacefully and make progress as it is to quarrel with one another and waste time and assets."

But as soon as its Prime Minister stirred the hornets nest, Islamabad appeared to swing into damage-control mode by claiming that Mr Sharif had made it clear that talks with India can take place only after New Delhi reversed the scrapping of Article 370 and that the Kashmir issue should be solved as per the UN resolutions that go back by more than seven decades. There was no immediate official reaction from New Delhi, which is watching closely.

He was further quoted as saying, "We now have (fought) three wars with India and they have solely introduced extra distress, poverty and unemployment to the individuals. We now have learnt our lesson and we wish to stay in peace, but for that, we should be capable of resolving our real issues."

Pointing out that both nations are nuclear powers, he said, "God forbid, if warfare breaks out, who will stay to tell what had happened." He also claimed that human rights violations were taking place in Kashmir.)

Mr Sharif had also recently commented that he feels "embarrassed" since other nations feel that financial aid is what Pakistan will constantly ask for. The statement comes at a time when Pakistan finds itself in a major financial crisis and is depending heavily on China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, apart from global financial institutions like the IMF, to bail it out.

To make matters worse, its relations with the once-friendly ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan have soured considerably leading to border skirmishes. Also, the terror group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistan-based Taliban, has mounted fresh attacks on Pakistani security forces.

Baloch militant groups are also attacking Chinese nationals in Pakistan, which has angered Beijing over Islamabads inability to protect them. Interestingly, till 1964, Pakistan was seen as an economic success and an "Asian tiger," but the 1965 and 1971 wars spelt economic and military doom for it. Islamabad has never been able to fully recover from those two twin blows.

Relations between India and Pakistan had soured over the past few years due to the Pathankot, Uri and Pulwama terror attacks, leading to cross-border surgical ground strikes and later an air strike by India in February 2019.

Later, in August 2019, India scrapped Article 370, which conferred a special status on Jammu and Kashmir and split the Indian state into two Union territories -- J&K and Ladakh. A furious Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with India and snapped trade ties as well. However, matters began looking up due to some back-door diplomacy when the armed forces of both nations decided on a ceasefire in 2021. But hopes of improvement in political ties were dashed when the then Imran Khan-led government in Islamabad took a hard line and refused to improve ties with India till Article 370 was restored.

The Shehbaz Sharif government that took office last year in Pakistan is also publicly sticking to the same stand. It is in this context that Mr Sharifs comments are startling. Mr Sharifs government is under pressure from a resurgent Mr Khan to announce snap polls.
A proposal video has gone viral after a man got down on one knee before the couple did a bungee jump - and pretended to drop the ring 40 metres below them.

Marc Watson, 44, of Burghead, Scotland, chose to propose to the love of his life Gayle Robertson, 36, during a bungee jump at Highland Fling Bungee in Killiecrankie, Scotland.

Aside from the unusual setting, Marc made the occasion memorable for his bride-to-be by pretending to drop the ring into the water 40 metres below.

Fiancee Gayle has now seen the funny side despite the shock, describing the scene as 'typical Marc' and online users have branded Marc as 'Mr Butter Fingers'.

Marc Watson, 44, of Burghead, Scotland, pretended to drop the ring when he proposed to his fiancee, Gayle Robertson, 36, before a bungee jump

He said: 'I got down on one knee and all the emotions instantly came out of Gayle - she was so surprised which quickly turned to shock when I dropped the ring 40 metres below us.

'I was down on one knee pretending to be shocked with her but really I knew it was a fake ring I'd used and this was purely to prank her because she knows I'm a bit cheeky like that.

'However, with the sheer shock of it all, alongside the fact she was petrified of the bungee jump, I think it was all a bit too much for Gayle and I was quickly trying to calm her down.

'This was not how I planned it. I wanted her to be really excited and surprised, not shocked and upset, so I quickly grabbed the real ring from staff to rectify things.

The couple have known each other for almost all their lives and grew up in the same village (pictured together)

'Eventually she calmed down, I did the proposal properly and then we did our bungee jump. On the way back down we already had a date in our minds for the wedding.

'The staff were all in on it as well and once I'd actually proposed properly everyone was cheering - even the staff below who were with the fake ring.

'Neither of us are a big fan of high thrill activities like this but we really wanted to do something like this together so that's why we booked to bungee jump.

'A few months prior to this I made Gayle a scroll for Christmas with predictions for the year on it and one of the things on there was getting engaged during the next year.

Viewers of the viral video of the proposal have dubbed Marc 'Mr Butter Fingers' as he dropped the fake ring

Gayle was visibly shocked when she saw the engagement ring fall into the water 40 metres below them

'At the time I'd proposed we'd only been together just less than a year so I think that also added to the shock factor of it all as well - but it just felt right.

'Me and Gayle have known each other pretty much all our lives, we grew up in the same village and when I returned after 20 years away, we grew so close.

'From there we realised we'd always kind of liked each other so we got together and I can say wholeheartedly that I knew she was for me from the moment I laid eyes on her.'

Once Gayle had got over the shock, she realised quickly that this was typical Marc behaviour because he is clumsy and loves to play pranks.

He added: 'She knows what I'm like and she knows I have a devil inside me but me and Gayle are like best friends so we're always joking around.

After recovering from the shock, Gayle is now able to laugh at the joke saying it was 'typical Marc' (Pictured wearing ring)

The couple already had a date in mind for the wedding on the way down from the jump and are getting married in September this year

'All our friends and family aren't shocked in the slightest as this is what they expect from me. They've all watched the video over and over.

'There could be a surprise up my sleeve for the wedding but I'm keeping my cards close to my chest!'

Gayle said: 'It was definitely some proposal. I was unaware of what was happening and I was looking around up on the platform thinking how I was going to get out of doing the jump.

'I saw one of the staff members pointing a camera at me and thought: "What's he doing?" Then I noticed Marc getting down on one knee, I was shocked, especially that he chose to do it there. He's always very different!

'I saw him drop it and was like "oh no" but he and the staff were still smiling and I was like "What is going on? Is this a joke?"

'I was a bit confused as to what was happening, the music was quite loud and I'm half deaf in one ear so it was difficult to understand what was happening.

'Then he pulled out the proper ring...I should have known what he was up to as he was acting weird on the way down the road - and after all this we jumped!

'Typical Marc but I am really looking forward to getting married later on this year in September!'
She finished off her ensemble with black pointed pumps and a sleek handbag

European monarch, 50, wrapped up warm in camel coat for her engagement

Queen Letizia of Spain looked effortlessly chic as she wrapped up warm in a camel coat in Madrid today.

The European monarch, 50, was pictured arriving for a meeting at the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases in the country's capital city.

The mother-of-two opted for an elegant long-line piece of outerwear, which she wore over a pair of black-and-white checked trousers.

She then paired this with a tan knit, pointed pumps and a sleek black leather handbag.

Queen Letizia was effortlessly elegant in a camel coat, checked trousers, tan knit and pointed pumps for her engagement at the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases in Madrid today

Keeping her makeup natural and radiant, Letizia styled her shoulder-length hair straight for her engagement today.

She then finished off her ensemble with some pretty gold earrings.

The Queen of Spain works closely with the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases - and attended their 25th anniversary celebration last year.

Over the weekend, the Queen of Spain flew to Athens with husband King Felipe to attend King Constantine II of Greece's funeral.

The European royal, 50, completed her outfit with a tan rubbed knit and minimal black accessories

Queen Letizia of Spain cut a cool figure in a camel coat this morning, which she paired with black-and-white checked trousers

King Felipe and Queen Letizia greeted King Constantine II's mourning family before heading inside the church for the funeral yesterday

Queen Letizia and King Felipe of Spain were joined by his parents Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia to pay their respects

Left: Crown Prince Pavlos greeted Queen Letizia of Spain with a kiss on the hand ahead of the funeral. Right: The mourning son also gave the European royal a quick peck on the cheek

The royal couple greeted King Constantine's grieving son Crown Prince Pavlos on the steps of Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral.

For the sombre occasion, Letizia styled her hair in a chic updo and opted for minimal jewellery to offset her tailored black coat dress.

The royal, whose father Jesus Jose Ortiz Alvarez and stepmother Ana Togores are both journalists, met her husband King Felipe when she was asked to interview him in her job as a reporter.

Letizia's media career was a lengthy one and began with a stint at Asturian daily paper, La Nueva Espana.

Next came a role at ABC, a popular national newspaper that enjoys the third largest circulation in Spain, before spells at EFE and Mexican publication Siglo 21, which is based in Guadelajara.

Back in Spain a year later, she worked for the Spanish version of Bloomberg, a news channel and agency specialising in economics, before moving to CNN+.

By the time she met her husband-to-be, Letizia was working for popular TV channel 24 Horas, where she anchored the popular Telediario 2 evening news bulletin.
Facebook users have poked fun at a dad who advised parents to snub viral drinks brand Prime for a B&M-branded alternative.

Prime bottles  fronted by viral social media boxers KSI and Logan Paul  can cost as much as 20 in the UK, with eBay at one point listing one for 50,000.

Demand has shot through the roof in recent weeks, after Aldi announced it would be stocking Prime for 1.99 - before quickly selling out.

The father on social media said people should shun the product for B&M's Paddy the Baddy energy drinks.

A father on social media said people should shun Prime drinks for B&M's Paddy the Baddy (above) energy drinks instead - but fellow parents said he was missing the point, and that it was more about bragging rights than flavour

On a bargain Facebook group he wrote: 'Just been to B&M and they are doing their own version of the Prime drink....basically the same drink in a very similar bottle.

'My daughter just tried the orange one and really liked it. May be helpful to those parents who have been unable to get hold of real Prime.'

Parents quickly ridiculed him, telling him they should be staying away from the drinks.

One person wrote: 'People don't buy Prime because they like it, they buy it because of what it is and who is behind it.

Prime bottles (above)  fronted by viral social media boxers KSI and Logan Paul  can cost as much as 20 in the UK, with eBay at one point listing one for 50,000

A second added: 'Another version won't pacify the kids.' A third wrote: 'It's the bragging rights' that kids want more than the drink.'

A fourth wrote: 'Prime's success is mainly due to how hard it is to find.' While a fifth put: 'Kids brag about owning it, makes other kids want it and because it's designed to be in short supply to create hype it will always be in demand.'

The heavily teased father eventually turned the comments off before adding: 'To all those commenting about why kids want it...I obviously already know this but Paddy's version is almost identical and what's to say this might not help some parents. I was just trying to be helpful.'

The news comes after there was a stampede in Aldi stores across the UK in December as parents were seen fighting with children to buy a 1.99 energy drink made by two YouTube influencers.

The Prime bottles  fronted by viral social media boxers KSI and Logan Paul  can cost as much as 20 online, with eBay at one point listing one for 50,000.

When Aldi announced it would be flogging them for as little as 1.99 it was inevitable demand would go through the roof.

Scenes of pandemonium exploded in some stores today, with children captured on video climbing over the aisles in one shop to try and get them. In some stores the drink sold out within three minutes, according to Prime Tracker UK, who traces supplies.

One mother told MailOnline her son had a bottle stolen out of his hand by an elderly pensioner while another father said: 'People who were in the queue first were pushed and shoved out the way when the doors opened.

Hype: Some youngsters were seen climbing over the aisles as they battled to try and get the viral drink Prime

Thousands of customers were left disappointed after Aldi stores across the country sold out. Pictured: Aldi in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire

'People losing their minds  my kids were pushed by grown adults over a drink.'

Lengthy queues were seen forming from 6am with footage inside the shops showing adults tussling with children to try and get their hands on them.

Commenting on one of the videos, KSI denied they were making too few drinks in order to increase hype.

The viral hydration drink created by two popular YouTube stars, KSI and Logan Paul, was originally on sale at Aldi for 1.99 in the UK - sparking a scramble at the tills

He tweeted: 'Were not even trying to do that. Were making loads of Prime daily, the demand is literally too high man.'

When it was launched the drink was shipped in from the US to be sold.

But now it is also reportedly made with the help of Refresco in the UK, which also produces Old Jamaica and Calypso.

The drink is fronted by the two YouTubers but according to bottles in the UK the company here is actually owned by US firm Congo Brands.

That firm is run by US businessmen Trey Steiger and Max Clemons.
Queen Maxima of the Netherlands looked effortlessly chic in a camel cape coat as she received guests at the Royal Palace.

The Dutch queen, 51, teamed her elegant gold blouse with a stunning diamond bracelet and matching earrings, as she joined her husband King Willem-Alexander at the palace in Amsterdam.

Underneath her coat she donned textured midi skirt in a variety of colourful patterns and brought the whole thing together with suede olive heels.

The mother-of-three kept her blonde tresses loose, in a side parting and tucked behind her ears, and her make up naturally bronzed with a smokey eye and nude lip.

Queen Maxima of The Netherlands joined her husband, King Willem-Alexander at the Royal Palace today

King Willem, 55, wore a single breasted navy suit with a blue and white patterned tie as he joined his wife to welcome several hundred guests from political and public administration and from various sectors of Dutch society on Tuesday.

The Dutch royals welcomed their guests to the Royal Palace for their New Year's Reception. They beamed as they arrived at the palace in Amsterdam ahead of their guests.

This was a quick turn around, as the couple attended the funeral of former King Constantine II of Greece the day before in Athens.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands looked visibly emotional as they arrived at the service arm-in-arm on Monday.

Queen Maxima looked effortlessly chic in a camel cape coat over a matching satin blouse with billowing sleeves

Underneath her coat, Maxima donned textured midi skirt in a variety of colourful patterns and brought the whole thing together with suede olive heels

Maxima dressed head-to-toe in ebony, in a slick belted black coat, sheer tights and knee high heeled boots.

She kept her blonde hair styled in loose waves and pinned delicately under a lace veil, that cascaded down past her shoulders.

The Dutch royals joined European royals - such as Queen Letizia of Spain, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, plus Princess Anne and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence - at the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral for the public service.

King Constantine passed away from a stroke on January 10 in the Greek capital at the age of 82 - more than 50 years after he was exiled in a military coup .

Yesterday's public funeral was followed by a 29km procession to Tatoi Palace, where a separate private ceremony was held, before Constantine will be laid to rest with other members of the Greek royal family.

The mother-of-three kept her blonde tresses loose, in a side parting and tucked behind her ears, and her make up naturally bronzed with a smokey eye and nude lip
A gender fluid artist has revealed how he escaped homelessness by joining a lawless community populated by murderers, criminals and rapists in an eye-opening episode of New Lives in the Wild.

DNA, 49, moved to a community named Slab City in the Sonoran Desert near San Diego, four years ago, after years of living on the street, which is illegal in California and got him in trouble with the law several times.

In Slab City, where his sister Tomara recommended he moved to, he's found a space to call his own where he can relax - but he remains angry at the justice system that cost him 'to lose everything', over 'a few seconds of bad judgment' that got him sent to jail in the 1990s.

Speaking to Ben Fogle in tonight's show, which airs at 9pm, DNA told Ben that he likes to mimic women and to wear dresses and makeup, and feels more respected in the community of outsiders he calls home than in the outside world.

DNA, 49, moved to a community named Slab City in the Sonoran Desert near San Diego, four years ago, after years of living on the street, which is illegal in California and got him in trouble with the law several times

Ben first met DNA while filming a documentary on Slab City that aired in April last year.

He was struck by the artist's unusual lifestyle and his resourcefulness, as well as his way of approaching gender fluidity.

DNA lives in a home made of tents, bags and other items he's collected over the years on the outskirts of Slab City.

Since 1961, Slab City has been renounced by the government of California and has become a refuge for drifters, many struggling with addiction or hiding from the law over various crimes, dubbing itself 'the last free place in America.'

Ben Fogle hears how DNA made a place for himself in the community in spite of the murderers and criminals who also live in the desert

Slab City does not have running water, a rubbish collection plan or a sewer system, and its inhabitants have used abandoned cars and upcycled rubbish to create their camps and the few businesses you can find there.

What is Slab City? Slab City, a former military base turned alternative community in Southern California, has served as a safe space to thousands of transients, squatters, migrants and retirees since the 1940s. Just north of the US-Mexico border in Imperial County, the 640-acre public land attracts anywhere from 100 to more than 4,000 people, depending on the season. The majority of residents, known as snowbirds, only come for the winter months before they head back up north where the weather is cooler the remainder of the year. Slab City is a place on the fringe, both geographically and philosophically. Of the hundred or so permanent residents, most have been forced to live there through poverty and survive on social security. There is no electricity or running water on the land. From the outside, it appears to be nothing more than a rag tag collection of RVs, ramshackle buildings and scruffy tents. But Slab City has developed into a complex community with cafes and restaurants, a nightclub, a library and even a golf course. It takes its name from the giant concrete slabs it is built on that were all that was left of the World War II training camp where a group of servicemen decided to stay put after it was decommissioned at the end of the war. Advertisement

DNA, whose birth name is not revealed on the show, grew up in San Diego, never quite fitting in with the modern world.

He held down several jobs, including window cleaner and construction worker, but he always struggled with authority.

In the 1990s, he was jailed for taking his mother's car without permission, which sent him into a vicious circle of homelessness and lawlessness.

After years of being in and out of jail, losing his home and belongings several times, DNA moved to Slab City after his sister suggested it might be a good place for him, where he could live without having to worry about the police.

While his makeshift home is constantly threatened by sand storms, and even though temperatures can rise up to 50 degrees in the summer, DNA said he loves his lives in the community.

'You just basically find a place you like, ask people around, if nobody cares, you just start cleaning the place around and making it yours,' he told Ben.

'There's nobody telling you no, you're good to go,' he added.

Before moving to the community, DNA would spend his time between the streets and jail.

'My sister found this place for me when I was down in San Diego,' he told Ben.

He claimed he was 'harassed' by the police for being homeless, adding: 'Once you're in the street, it's hard to get up.

'She said it was a place you could go and the government wouldn't harass me here,' he recounted.

At first, DNA didn't want to hear about Slab City, but his sister insisted, and he eventually relented, taking his few belongings with him

'I came with a back pack, a bunch of clothes, a sleeping bag and some sort of mattress and pillows or something. I don't really remember, but it wasn't much,' he said.

'I camped out there one night and then I went "yeah, I could get used to this".

'Cause the people were all nice, they were open, it just worked out, clicked, I got to know people so I told my sister "yeah, I'll stay",' he added.

In spite of the fact the community is populated by criminals and murderers, DNA said he's never feared for himself here.

The presenter said he believes the community is DNA's 'last chance' and has helped him rehabilitate after years spent in and out of jail

'I've never been afraid here. Actually, when I first got here, maybe, a little bit afraid somebody was going to steal my stuff,' he admitted.

'A mindset of a new person coming into town might be "what could potentially be here"?

'Cause they hear all kinds of rumours and some of the are true, very much so,' he added.

'I haven't been really messed up with that much at all, it seems like a lot of people respect me, and I'm very appreciate of that, but I don't know how I got that way,' he said, adding: 'it makes you feel wanted, makes you feel loved.

One aspect of DNA's life in Slab City is his taste for female clothing and makeup.

Before moving to the community, DNA would spend his time between the streets and jail. He's been able to relax within the community

The artist starts his day by doing a full face of makeup and carefully selected the clothes he wants to wear, changing outfits several times a day.

'Nobody ever taught me, I had this one girlfriend that taught me how to do my eyebrows but I don't think I listened to her,' he told Ben while applying foundation.

'People often gift me makeup, nobody taught me wigs either, I like it but, I don't know how to handle it or keep it in good shape,' he said of a blonde wig he put on in front of Ben while filming.

Speaking of the feminine clothes he likes to wear, DNA said: 'I tried it when I was quite young and then I didn't do it for some time and then I came out.

'It was dark in the closet, I couldn't see what I was wearing.

DNA admitted he is still angry at the 'messed up' system that saw him losing everything and ending up on the street

'So I came out of the closet and I was wearing girls' clothes.'

While Ben remarked the phrase 'coming out' made it sound like DNA could be gay, the artist said he wasn't.

'I'm not attracted to men, I like the female, I like them quite much, but I do like to mimic them,' he said.

He added that to him, Slab City is a place where 'you can be anything you want to be.'

Ben said in an aside to the camera that he felt the community was 'the last chance for DNA,' but added 'it's very tenuous, no one owns the land, no taxes are paid, boundaries change. Rules change here if indeed there are rules.

At first, DNA didn't want to hear about Slab City, but his sister insisted, and he eventually relented, taking his few belongings with him

'He has found this amazing opportunity but it seems to be there is still great vulnerability to living here,' the presenter added.

While he is considered a pillar of the Slab City community and is known to help residents around, his life before the community was punctuated by journeys to jail.

He told Ben he's been arrested over 30 times in his life and still resents the system for putting him on the streets.

'How can they judge someone in a courtroom if they don't know you?' he asked Ben.

'They sentence them over time that was just a few seconds of bad judgement or maybe even not bad judgement, maybe just an accusation that attaches itself to you because of your record,' he added.

'When you lose, for a couple of months, when you lose everything like that, you don't have any income.

The artist has been living in the desert for four years, and said he feels accepted by the community

'So you're renting on your house, you're renting your storage unit, your apartment, whatever, you lose all that,' he said.

'And you got to start with the clothes on your back most of the time. Unless you got somebody out there, family, holding on to your stuff for you and paying our bills, you lose it all.

'I've been put to the streets dozens of time, every time I got arrested. I started over every time.

'And they would hold you there just long enough to break you too,' he said.

'And then they let you go. I didn't catch all the charges they gave me, but I'd sit there and have to write it out, and I'd lose everything so I would get penalised anyway,' he told Ben.

'It's a messed up system,' he added.

The artist also revealed how he would feel judged by the wider society for being homeless, even through 'subconscious judgment.'

'Think about how often you've seen a beggar on the streets and thought, "What's that guy crawling out of? Look at him, I see him here every day",' he told Ben.

'I understand both sides of the picture but I've also become aware... I have compassion for that guy now, because I've been there, I haven't fully got out of there in certain ways,' he added.

'I don't want to be on that other side with all the other people going "look at that guy." I would never want to be there again. Because you don't know what that person's been through,' he added, tearing up.

Ben said he felt Slab City had been a space of 'rehabilitation' for DNA, even though the presenter could still see the artist's anger's bulling through the surface.

While the show was filming, DNA went on a visit from his sister Tomara, who suggested to him to move to Slab City four years ago, and whom he hadn't seen in three years.

'He's always been the more emotional, sensitive one,' she told Ben, with DNA admitting: 'People read me wrong a lot of times.'

Tomara told Ben that her brother was 'very, very angry,' when he first came out of jail.

'He had to let it out, I guess I was a safe person to talk to, understandably so, they're not helpful in rehabilitating people,' she said of the authorities.

'In my opinion, I've really changed what I feel about the prison system, I definitely think it needs to be reformed,' she added.

During a conversation Ben and Tomara had without DNA present, she told the presenter she thinks her brother is happy in Slab City.

'It's nice to think about and see him finally happy, and not struggling for daily survival,' she said.

'When he was homeless that was the thing. Every day was about finding food, and you didn't have time, or barely, to look for a job, or anything else besides just survive,' she added.

'And so now he has a set up, a place to sleep every night, he doesn't have to worry about cops.

'I think you can relax and really sleep when you're in your own place,' she added.

She also told Ben that DNA had struggled with his mental health to the point of feeling suicidal in the past.

'For a long while he really was not happy with being alive, really struggled with it,' she said.

'I tried to talk him out of it so many ways or tried to get help for him, I was really worried about him,'

But she told Ben she has realised: 'There is nothing I can do besides showing him that I love him and I do care and other family members, that's what we've been focusing on,' she said.

She added that the family are able to keep in touch with DNA through phone, and that he's able to reach out to all his family when he wants to.

'In a crazy way, I brag abut my crazy brother,' she said, immediately adding: 'I shouldn't have said that, I don't mean it that way.

'He is an interesting person, he is a very smart person and has a lot to give.'

Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.
Think you've sailed away with a bargain deal? Then you might want to check the small print when it comes to cruise vacations, with a wave of extra charges that can quickly add up.

FEMAIL investigated two voyages on offer with two of the world's biggest cruise lines and found that the actual price of the trip is much more than advertised.

Cruise prices in the US never factor in government taxes and port charges, then other things to think about include Wi-Fi access, drinks packages, specialty restaurants away from the buffet stations and onshore excursions.

Sail on down to see how a cheap cruise can quickly become one to sink your vacation balance sheet.

Cruise vacations can come with a wave of extra charges that can quickly add up

Taking you for a ride? How a $978 two-person cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line can end up costing a staggering $4,552

On Norwegian Cruise Line's Breakaway ship, there is a February 2023 trip priced at $489 per person. The seven-day voyage circles from and to New Orleans, Louisiana, with stops at Belize, Honduras and Mexico along the way.

The REAL cost of cruising: Inside hidden fees on a Norwegian Cruise Line trip The basic cost for a seven-day return trip from New Orleans, Louisiana, in February 2023 with stops at Belize, Honduras and Mexico for two people: $978 HIDDEN EXTRAS Government taxes and port charges for two: $376.74

$376.74 Wi-Fi package for two devices: $314.93

$314.93 Basic open bar drinks package for two: $1,831.20

$1,831.20 Two nights dining in a specialty restaurant for two: $400

$400 A spa massage for two: $360

$360 Two onshore excursions per person: $480 BASIC COST: $978 REAL TOTAL: $4,552.50 Advertisement

This price is based on two people sharing a basic inside cabin with no windows.

However, the advertised price does not include government taxes and port charges which come to $188.37.

That means the basic cost of the cruise comes to $1,354.74 for two people once these charges have been applied.

But once you are on the 3,959-passenger ship, the hidden costs quickly add up.

If you want to stay connected while you are away, the Wi-Fi package for two devices costs $44.99 per day. This amounts to $314.93 for the duration of the cruise.

Then, if you plan on drinking alcohol the open bar drinks package is put forward as an option.

The basic package - covering drinks worth up to $15 - comes in at $109 per person per day which totals $1,526 for the whole trip for two people.

A 20 per cent charge gratuity and beverage service charge is then added to all food and beverage packages, bringing the total to $1,831.20.

While the basic cost of the cruise includes all meals in certain areas, if you fancy eating in one of the specialty restaurants expect to be paying at least $100 per head with tip included.

At Norwegian Breakaway's Ocean Blue restaurant, which is described as a 'refined and elegant' eatery, appetizers start from $15 for some crispy shrimp, while the filet mignon is priced at $43 and the lobster comes in at $49.

While over at Le Bistro, which features 'elegant interiors, crisp white linens and attentive servers', the menu suggests kicking off with a glass of Veuve Clicquot Brut which comes in at $29.

Moving to the next courses, the appetizers start from $16 for a serving of escargot, the meat-based mains start from $29 for a Coq Au Vin and the fish dishes start from $39 for a Mediterranean sea bass.

If you fancy a spot of pampering while you're on the high seas, all of the Norwegian Cruise ships feature a 'Mandara Spa'.

The Ocean Blue restaurant on Norwegian Cruise Line's Breakaway ship, where a filet mignon is priced at $43 and the lobster comes in at $49

A shot of the basic cabin configuration on Norwegian Cruise Line's Breakaway ship

Massages start from around $180 for 50-minutes with gratuity included.

On the excursion side of things, the prices range from $29 for a paddleboard rental and top out at $899 to hire a luxury private villa on Norwegian Cruise Line's private island Harvest Cay in Belize.

However, activities average out at around $120 per person with gratuity included and it's recommended that passengers do at least two excursions per cruise.

This means couples should expect to spend at least $480 is they want to enjoy their time once docked.

Once all of these additional costs have been factored into a trip with Norwegian Cruise Line promoted at $978 per couple, the actual amount comes out at something more like $4,552.50 - more than four times the baseline price.

Sea-ing red! Taking a $718 two-person Carnival cruise could land you with a bill of $3,300

The REAL cost of cruising: Inside hidden fees on a Carnival trip The basic cost for a seven-day eastern Caribbean cruise from Miami, Florida, in September 2024 for two people: $718 HIDDEN EXTRAS Government taxes and port charges for two: $305.74

$305.74 Upfront gratuities for two: $203pp

$203pp Basic Wi-Fi package for two devices: $178.50

$178.50 Basic open bar drinks package: $990.37

$990.37 Two nights dining in a specialty restaurant for two: $300

$300 A spa massage for two: $250

$250 Two onshore excursions per person: $400 BASIC COST: $718 REAL TOTAL: $3,345.61 Advertisement

Applying the same methodology to a Carnival cruise, a similar picture emerges when it comes to budgeting.

A seven-day eastern Caribbean cruise from Miami, Florida, in September 2024 is marketed at $359 per person with stops at Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Turks & Caicos. The basic cabin at least features a port hole.

However, once government taxes and port charges have been applied ($152.87 per person) along with an optional $203 in upfront gratuities it comes out at $1,023.74 for two or $511.87 per person.

The Carnival booking site highlights that meals in specialty restaurants onboard Magic are not included, along with alcoholic beverages and the internet.

For those looking to add on a drinks package, Carnival's 'Cheers!' open bar offering costs $59.95 per day, coming out at $839.30 per couple on a week-long voyage.

With the ship's recommended 18 per cent gratuity added on top, this totals $990.37.

On the Wi-Fi front Carnival's basic package, which only supports social media apps, is priced at $12.75 per person per day. For couples on a seven-day trip this comes to an extra $178.50.

For days at sea, Carnival's Magic has a 'Cloud 9 spa' for some rest and rejuvenation. A 50-minute long Swedish massage is priced at around $125 with gratuities included. So for a couple, it's best to budget up to $250 if the sound of a spa day appeals.

A seven-day eastern Caribbean cruise from Miami, Florida, in September 2024 with Carnival is marketed at $359 per person

For cruise-goers who are really looking to push the boat out there's a chef's table experience with Carnival costing up to $99

When it comes to dining, there's a variety of restaurant options included in the basic cruise price but the more appealing spots serving up prime steaks and seafood will cost extra.

At the Steakhouse all of the entrees are priced at $23, with a broiled lobster tail and New York striploin steak among the selection.

For cruise-goers who are really looking to push the boat out there's a chef's table experience costing up to $99, with this comprising a multicourse dinner hosted by the master executive chef, complete with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.

As with all of the cruise companies, onshore excursions are not included with Carnival. On the eastern Caribbean cruise the options range from snorkeling with stingrays to a catamaran sailing trip, with the prices for activities averaging around $100 per person.

For couples wanting to do two excursions over the course of a week, they should put $400 aside.

So what started out as a $718 trip with Carnival for two people, actually comes out at just over $3,300 once all of the additional costs have been factored in. Again, more than four times the original estimate for a sailing vacation.
The Italian actress passed away at the age of 95 yesterday

Gina Lollobrigida's former toyboy husband has promised he will be 'front row' at her funeral - despite their marriage being annulled by the Vatican.

Javier Rigau, from Spain, first become romantically with the late Italian actress - who passed away at the age of 95 yesterday - in 2006.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper ABC, the Catalan businessman claimed Gina asked to see him before her death - despite the fact they were locked in legal battles over the past decade.

He said: 'It's all very sad. Gina had me contacted through her son and last Friday we were able to say goodbye to each properly with her son and grandson.

Gina Lollobrigida and ex-husband Javier Rigau Rifols pictured at the 56th Red Cross Ball in 2006. The couple - who had a 34 year age gap - announced their engagement that year

'From that day I've been staying at a hotel a few feet away from the clinic.

'I'll stay with her son and grandson to organise the funeral where I will be in the front row.'

In 2006, the late Italian actress announced she was engaged to boyfriend Javier Rigau, who was 34 years her junior.

But two months later, the screen icon called off the nuptials. In November 2010, Gina alleged Javier staged a wedding in an attempt to get his hands on her fortune.

Gina and Javier's marriage was annulled by the Vatican in 2019, nine years after the actress claims her ex staged a fake wedding in a bid to steal her fortune

Six years later, she claimed in an Italian fraud and forgery trial that they had never consummated their relationship.

She also claimed he tricked her into signing a power of attorney document following years of dating which Rigau says started when they met at a party in Monte Carlo in 1984 when he was 23 and Lollobrigida was 57.

The actress - who starred alongside the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra in her heyday and was often described as 'the most beautiful woman in the world - said: 'Even when we went travelling we slept in separate rooms and we never had intimate relations.'

In response, Javier shot back that the first thing Gina had taught him to say in Italian was: 'Let's be together. Let's f***.'

He told Spanish website Vanitatis at the time: 'It's caused me great pain seeing Gina saying the things she has against our marriage.

'I've seen a person who doesn't resemble physically or mentally the one I had at my side for years [...]

Gina pictured at the height of her fame in the 1950s. The actress passed away at the age of 95 yesterday

Sophia Loren has paid tribute to her bitter rival, Italian actress and artist Gina Lollobrigida , a siren of the silver screen, who has died at the age of 95 (pictured, Gina Lollobrigida (right) alongside Sophia Loren (left) and Yvonne de Carlo in Germany in 1954)

'If I say how old she was when she went to bed with me, I wouldnt show her in a good light.'

In 2019, the Vatican officially annulled the couple's marriage. However, ABC published documentation last year claiming to show Rigau and Lollobrigida remained legally married.

She launched legal action in Italy against the Spaniard after a court in Barcelona closed its probe into allegations Rigau attempted to swindle his former partner through the proxy marriage at a civil ceremony in the Catalan capital.

He insisted in a February 2013 UK newspaper interview: Gina and I married for love and despite everything I still love her very much.

Speaking after the Vatican annulment of the marriage, Javier said: The Pope has seen fit to make a Solomonic decision. Thus, hearing only one of the parties and in view of her advanced age, he has granted her the waiver to annul the marriage, but recognizing its full validity from the beginning.

He has consistently claimed the actress denied knowledge of their wedding after coming under the influence of manager Andrea Piazzolla who her family has accused of defrauding Gina.

Gina had been hospitalised for some time at the Rome clinic where she died after undergoing an operation in September for a broken femur.

Once known as the Mona Lisa of the 20th century thanks to her beauty, Miss Lollobrigida was a legend of 1950s and 60s cinema, who later moved away from the film world to take up photography and sculpture.

She even made a foray into politics last year, standing in the Italian general election just after her 95th birthday, though she failed to gain election to parliament.

Miss Lollobrigida was one of the leading stars of Italian post-war cinema at the height of her fame in the 1950s and 1960s

This followed her unsuccessful bid to stand in the European Parliament in 1999, representing Romano Prodi's centrist Democratici party.

Known as 'La Lollo', at the height of her fame in the 1950s and 1960s Miss Lollobrigida was an international sex symbol and one of the leading stars of Italian post-war cinema - rivalled only by Sophia Loren, with whom she had an ongoing feud.

Leading the tributes to Gina, according to Variety, Loren said in a statement she 'is deeply shaken and saddened' by the news of Lollobrigida's death.

There was still some apparent ill-feeling as recently as 2017, with Miss Lollobrigida telling an Italian newspaper that she 'was not looking for any rivalry against anyone', while describing herself as the 'number one'.

The pair had reportedly shared a war of words, with Miss Loren, now 88, describing herself as the 'bustier' of the two, and Miss Lollobrigida retorting that her rival could 'play a peasant, but never a lady'.

But Miss Lollobrigida dismissed the feud as a PR invention kept alive for decades by Miss Loren's team.

Paying tribute to Miss Lollobrigida, Italian culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said: 'Farewell to a diva of the silver screen, protagonist of more than half a century of Italian cinema history. Her charm will remain eternal.'
A popular specialty ingredient store has opened up on Sydney's North Shore

Foodies are raving about a new store in Sydney that only sells specialty ingredients which are difficult to find anywhere else.

Gone are the days of checking 10 different supermarkets to find the final ingredient you need for a recipe, the Essential Ingredient stocks a range of had to get premium items.

The products, imported and local, include everything from Tasmanian bush honey to rare Mexican chillies, and a range of 93 herbs and spices.

The brand has delighted locals by returning its flagship store to Crows Nest on Sydney's North Shore; it hasn't been open since 2010.

Foodies are raving about a new Sydney store that only sells specialty ingredients which are difficult to find anywhere else

The products, imported and local, include everything from Tasmanian bush honey to rare Mexican chillies, and a range of 93 herbs and spices

The Essential Ingredient has been sourcing specialty ingredients for Australians since it first opened in 1986, and it now has six popular branches.

Some bestselling products include rose harissa, urfa chilli flakes, dried black limes, squid ink, dried rose petals and black truffle salsa.

The store stocks well-loved local delicacies such as specialty chocolate from Zokoko, Ferguson's lobster infused olive oil and preserved Australian fruits.

It also sells hard to find international products like Italian pasta I Due Pastori, French preserved snails, French Breton biscuits and Thai shrimp paste.

The store stocks well-loved local delicacies and hard to find international products like Italian pasta I Due Pastori, French preserved snails, French Breton biscuits and Thai shrimp paste

Fans of the store praise it for being 'surprisingly cheap', prices range from $3 to $430.

The Essential Ingredient also has a range of gift hampers, cookware, tableware and recipe books on offer, and provide free recipes on their site.

They often host intimate events at the flagship store, including recipe book launches with chefs and cooking demonstrations.

The Essential Ingredient's top 10 best selling specialty items: 1. Urfa chilli flakes 2. Rose harissa 3. Aleppo pepper flakes 4. Dried rose petals 5. Dried barberries 6. Green chilli peppers in vinegar 7. Dark muscovado sugar 8. Snails in brine 9. Squid ink 10. Dried black limes (Source: The Essential Ingredient) Advertisement

'We wanted a special, comfortable, non-intimidating space to inspire,' Peter Walmsley, the company's director, told Broadsheet.

'We hope walking through and speaking with our incredible staff makes you excited about the idea of cooking something you've never cooked before.'

'We're keen for the kitchen to be a hub of activity beyond formal events, whether it's cooking our weekly recipes for our Instagram and email newsletters, or testing out a new product.'

The Essential Ingredient often host intimate events at the flagship store, including recipe book launches with chefs and cooking demonstrations

Fans of the store have been raving about it since the early 2000s when it was first in Crows Nest.

'It has a great variety of specialised kitchen utensils and is surprisingly cheap for a small shop. Got my pasta maker from there!' one man said.

'A very well stocked shop with an amazing selection of products. Friendly, helpful staff,' another wrote.

'Absolutely helpful and knowledgeable! Had a great experience and the staff went above and beyond to help me,' another said.
Shoppers can now buy white strawberries - which are covered in red seeds - from Marks & Spencer.

The fun new berries - a uniquely reversed take on their rosy counterparts - promise to be just as sweet - with 'an aroma of pineapple and notes of vanilla'.

White Pearl Strawberries, a first on the UK high street, were developed in Japan, after seeds from the Asian nation's white berries were crossed with a traditional variant of the fruit.

Social media users met the news with mixed reactions, with some gunning to sample the delicacy, while others branded them 'anaemic'.

Shoppers can from today buy white strawberries - which are covered in red seeds - from Marks & Spencer

'Whatttttttttttt? I must try immediately,' one excited foodie wrote on the retailer's Instagram - where they announced the news - with the post racking almost 13,000 likes in under an hour.

'Omg what the flip these look incredible,' another gushed.

Elsewhere a third berry enthusiast penned: 'I need these.'

But not everyone was a fan, as sceptics branded the fruit 'gross'.

The fun new berries - a uniquely reversed take on their rosy counterparts - promise to be just as sweet - with 'an aroma of pineapple and notes of vanilla'

'The look freaks me out for some reason!!' One user confessed.

Another simply asked: 'What are those!?'

Some commenters also had concerns about the breeding process to create the strawberry, while others had questions about the price.

'At M&S we love to be first to market and introduce products that no one else can, our customers get really excited when we introduce new flavour produce or hybrids,' M&S Strawberry Buyer Tom Pedley said.

'We're known for our Candyfloss Grapes, while the Limelon was all over the news so that's why we had to bring the White Pearl Strawberry to M&S.'

Social media users met the news with mixed reactions, with some gunning to sample the delicacy while others branded them 'anaemic'

He praised not only its 'really unique flavour' but 'incredible' appearance.

'Plus, it's great for kids,' Tom added. 'Who doesn't want to try a reverse strawberry!'

M&S advises that the strawberries are best eaten at room temperature for 'maximum deliciousness', and are understood to go for 3.50 per box.

While there are a few different varieties of the white strawberry, one type - the 'jewel strawberry' from Japan - has been renowned for its luxurious reputation, costing as much as $10 per berry, according to Allrecipes.com.

The outlet says these are sweeter than normal strawberries, and taste similar to candy.

It comes as the supermarket chain has announced plans to open 20 new shops, with five opening in former Debenhams department stores across the UK in a move that will create 3,400 jobs.

Details of the store openings show that five of the group's relocated new full-line outlets will be based in former Debenhams sites as part of its pledge to regenerate vacant store outlets.

But not everyone was a fan, as some sceptics branded the fruit 'gross' in comments on social media

These will be found in Leeds White Rose, Liverpool ONE, Birmingham's Bullring, Lakeside Thurrock and the Trafford Centre.

Eight full-line stores will open in well-known shopping centres, as well as in retail parks and high streets across key cities over the next financial year.

M&S will also open 12 new food halls, including in Stockport, Barnsley and Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

The new openings, planned for 2023-24, will bring investment in new stores to 480million, M&S said.

The new store pipeline for 2023/24 includes eight full-line stores in city locations including a new 97k sq ft store in Leeds White Rose and a 70k sq ft store in Liverpool One, both due to open in Summer 2023.
Some preferred them saying Aldi staff scan groceries too fast

Australian shoppers have complained about yet another 'annoying' feature of self-serve checkouts - this time at the new Aldi registers.

Taking to Reddit, customers have been venting about how loud the self-serve tills are and asking why they don't have a volume control feature.

The grievance was pointed out in a discussion about the newly-installed registers in which an Aldi worker revealed why checkout staff scan patron's groceries so quickly.

Aldi customers have been complaining about how loud the retailer's new self-serve checkouts are and asking why they don't have a volume control feature

'I love self checkouts, but the Aldi ones are LOUD, and I don't need to immediately be told to bag every. f***. item,' one user vented.

'If they don't offer a volume control, I'm going back to real-human checkouts.'

''Please place the item in the bagging area', 'Omg I'm trying!',' another wrote.

'Really? They don't offer volume control? I didn't get to try them because they were already closed,' a third replied.

Another agreed Aldi's registers were very noisy and said they had a gripe with how they detect if shoppers are using their own bags but their feedback wasn't all negative.

'I love self checkouts, but the Aldi ones are LOUD, and I don't need to immediately be told to bag every. f***. item,' one shopper vented

'They have an annoying sequencing difference whereby you have to press the 'I have my own bags' BEFORE you put your bag in the bagging area. If you place them before pressing the button, it gets really offended,' they explained.

'One thing that's nice is when you press 'pay now', you just pay. No information about discounts on the docket, no questions about mode of payment, no invitations to donate to charity. Just press 'pay now' and pay.'

Unconcerned with the self-serve checkouts' volume, other shoppers said they preferred the registers as they like to pack their groceries at their own pace.

Some preferred to scan their groceries at their own pace on the new tills as they say Aldi workers go too quickly - but one former employee had an answer

They said many Aldi workers can groceries at the checkout far too quickly for them to bag their items before the transaction finishes so were thankful for the self-serve aisles.

Poll Where do you prefer to scan and pay for groceries? Self-serve checkouts I don't mind either Staffed registers Where do you prefer to scan and pay for groceries? Self-serve checkouts 197 votes

I don't mind either 198 votes

Staffed registers 596 votes Now share your opinion





'At least now I can pack my groceries without it being thrown at my face! No offense to Aldi staff, but you guys are just too quick!' one customer wrote.

In response, one former worker revealed the computers track how many items they are scanning per minute and gave their advice for getting through the register fuss-free.

'We were measured on items per minute when on registers - which is shown at the end of your shift when closing out your individual till. Promise you, they're not doing it for fun,' they explained.

'Don't pack your bags at the register. Toss it all into the trolley/basket when scanned at take your time at the packing bench just next to the registers. Or buy those bags that hook into the trolley basket so you can kind of pack quickly,' they added.

Aldi employees review and adjust their scan speed based on how quickly or slowly each customer packs their shopping.

If a customer would like a checkout worker to slow down, they are encouraged to request they do so.
Data is based on the genetic analysis of Covid tests submitted across England

UK health authorities predict one of two variants will become the dominant virus

Covid variant Orthrus now accounts for one fifth of Covid cases in England, figures show.

Surveillance data shows how the strain, scientifically called CH.1.1, has snowballed since it was first detected in November.

Health chiefs have warned that it  or another Omicron sub-lineage nicknamed the 'Kraken'  could soon become dominant.

The latter, or XBB1.5, has sparked fears it could trigger a Covid resurgence, putting even more pressure on the NHS at a time when it is being battered by its worst ever winter.

Maps, taken from the Sanger Institute, which tracks Covid variants in England using data from genomic testing, show Omicron spin-off Orthrus has spread up and down the nation as of January 7, the latest available data. It now accounts of 23.3 per cent of all Covid test analysed up from 1 per cent on November 12 when it was first spotted in Blaby in the south west of Leicestershire

How dangerous is XBB.1.5? Is it already the dominant Covid strain? And do the jabs still work? Everything you need to know about 'the Kraken' as new variant starts sweeping the UK A highly contagious Covid strain has emerged and is already behind one in 25 cases in the UK, data suggests Advertisement

Data from the Sanger Institute, one of the UK's largest surveillance sites tasked with analysing strains circulating in the UK, shows Orthrus, nicknamed after a mythical two-headed dog, accounted for 23.3 per cent of all Covid tests analysed in England on January 7, the latest data available.

Fascinating maps show it now accounts for 100 per cent of genomic tests of the virus in some boroughs.

These include Northumberland, Bradford, Wakefield, Blackburn with Darwen, North West Leicestershire, Breckland, Central Bedfordshire, Oxford, Reading, Woking, Enfield, Havering, Sevenoaks, Crawley, and Adur.

It shows how far the new variant has come since when it was first spotted in Blaby in the south west of Leicestershire on November 12.

But the Sanger data is only based on hundreds of samples, meaning it does not reflect the true picture.

The majority of Covid-positive samples are not sequenced by the lab, which was analysing thousands every day during the height of the pandemic.

Kraken, nicknamed after a mythical sea monster, currently accounts for 3.6 per cent of cases in England, according to the same data.

However, it was only spotted in mid-December.

While Orthrus is behind more infections, experts have said Kraken appears to be growing faster and is thought to be more transmissible and immune evasive than other strains in circulation.

UK Health Security Agency data suggested that Kraken has a 39 per cent growth rate advantage over BQ.1, the current dominant variant.

This chart, taken from the Sanger Institute, shows the growth of both Orthrus (salmon colour) and Kraken (purple) since November 12. However, Omicron strain BQ.1 (yellow) is still the dominant variant. Other Covid variants on the chart include other BA.5 sub-lineages (maroon), BA.2 (light blue) and BA.4 (thin orange line)

The latest ONS Covid infection survey shows that 4 per cent of England's population was infected on any given day last week  a drop from 4.5 per cent last week. In Scotland, levels increased by 3 per cent in Scotland to 219,600, meaning one in 25 people (4.1 per cent of the population) were infected in the week to December 31. Around 157,000 people in Wales (one in 18, 5.7 per cent) were thought to be carrying the virus in the seven days to January 3, down 9.4 per cent in a week. In Northern Ireland, 129,100 people were infected (one in 14, 7 per cent)  an increase of 9.3 per cent. However, the ONS said the weekly trend is uncertain

COVID: The number of people infected with Covid taking up hospital beds in England fell 11 per cent from 9,414 in the week to January 4 to 8,404 in the seven days to January 11. NHS data shows the figure peaked at 9,533 on December 29 and has since fallen 19 per cent to 7,743

Is YOUR area a scarlet fever hotspot? Cases of illness caused by Strep A bug soared to highest level since the 1950s last year, data shows - as map reveals worst-hit regions MailOnline analysis today shows the North West was the worst-hit region, recording close to 3,000 cases in December. It was followed by the East Midlands (2,890), South East (2,701) and London (2,405). The North East  the least affected area  recorded 769 over the same period Advertisement

Meanwhile, the advantage rate for Orthrus was 22 per cent.

However, the UKHSA cautioned Kraken's current low prevalence in the UK makes any estimate of its growth 'highly uncertain'.

Neither Covid variant has been escalated to being declared a 'variant of concern' by the UKHSA.

This suggests there are no signs they cause more severe disease than other, similarly mild Omicron strains, nor are sufficiently genetically divergent as to cause Covid vaccines to be less effective.

However, scientists have found both host concerning genetic quirks.

Orthrus has a mutation called P681R  which was also on the Delta variant  and is thought to make it better attack cells and cause more severe illness.

Scientists have also spotted it has R346T, which is thought to help the strain fight-off antibodies that were generated in response to vaccination or previous infection.

And Kraken has one called F486P, which helps it to bypass Covid-fighting antibodies. Another mutation  S486P  is thought to improve its ability to bind to human cells.

Concerns over the two new strains, combined with the unfolding NHS crisis and a 'flu-nami', has triggered calls for the return of pandemic-era restrictions like masks and working-from-home in a bid to ease pressure on the ailing health service.

But the latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) suggests Covid cases have actually fallen in England.

According to the data, 2.2million people, or one in 25 people, were infected with the virus in the week to January 3.

ONS analysts estimated that the total was 11 per cent lower than the week before.

However, as many as one in 14 people were still infected in the worst-affected parts of the UK.

And some have suggested it could be the calm before another wave of infections.

Data for England showed cases fell in all regions apart from the North East, where 4.1 per cent of people were infected  up from 3.8 per cent one week earlier.

Infections were highest in the East Midlands, South West and South East, where 4.5 per cent were thought to be carrying the virus.

Cases were lowest in London and the North West, where 3.5 per cent were infected, according to ONS estimates.

But the ONS, which swabs thousands of people across the UK to estimate how prevalent the virus is, noted that these estimates are based on a lower than usual number of swabs due to the festive period.

Warnings about the new variants also came as the number of people infected with Covid taking up hospital beds in England is falling.

The figure dropped 11 per cent from 9,414 in the week to January 4 to 8,404 in the seven days to January 11.

NHS data shows Covid patients peaked at 9,533 on December 29 and has since fallen 19 per cent to 7,743.

Just one in three so-called Covid patients are primarily admitted to hospital because of the virus. The remaining two-thirds were taken into NHS care for another ailment, such as a broken leg, but happened to test positive.

If the downwards trend continues, it means the wave will have peaked below 10,000, which is well below the figures seen in previous waves.

The number topped 14,000 during summer 2022 and reached 17,000 last winter.
When Ian Graham tripped and fell, hitting his head on the kitchen floor in early 2019, he couldnt have imagined the far-reaching consequences it would have on his health.

The former social services support worker, 65, from Liverpool, was in hospital for three weeks after his accident. But the traumatic brain injury he had suffered also triggered a long-term condition that has had a devastating impact.

Ian, who is married with two grown-up children, had been otherwise healthy until then. Yet following his fall, he struggled to remember words and suffered from fatigue and apathy. He also developed a shuffling gait.

His wife, Anne, 66, says his character changed, too: He had no empathy at all  and he didnt seem to care about me or how I was feeling, she recalls. I must have cried every day for the first year.

It wasnt until Ian saw a hormone specialist in 2021 that the cause became apparent  he had very low levels of growth hormone, vital for many functions in the body including mood, metabolism and bone density.

Ian, who is married with two grown-up children, had been otherwise healthy until then. Yet following his fall, he struggled to remember words and suffered from fatigue and apathy. He also developed a shuffling gait

While some children are born with growth hormone deficiency (GHD), in adults its mainly triggered by a head injury which damages the pituitary gland, a tiny bean-shaped gland behind the nose. It regulates the production of most of the bodys essential hormones, including growth hormone.

The pituitary gland can also be damaged by surgery, a tumour or problems with blood supply to the gland (which can be caused by blood-thinning medication), according to The Pituitary Foundation, a support organisation for patients.

In adults, GHD can lead to a wide range of symptoms including loss of strength and stamina, excessive tiredness, anxiety, depression and reduced bone density.

It can also increase levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, and other harmful blood fats, as well as directly damaging heart muscle and disrupting glucose metabolism (how carbohydrates are turned into energy by the muscle cells), leading to increased fat around the waist.

This link with cardiovascular health was significant for Ian, as at the end of 2021 he developed several pulmonary embolisms  blood clots in his lungs (considered cardiovascular events) that he believes could have been prevented.

I should have been tested for high cholesterol after I was diagnosed with very low growth hormone levels and put on medication, he says. Im now on blood thinners for life.

It can also increase levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol, and other harmful blood fats, as well as directly damaging heart muscle and disrupting glucose metabolism (how carbohydrates are turned into energy by the muscle cells), leading to increased fat around the waist

For years the role of GHD has been overlooked as a significant risk factor for developing heart disease  indeed it was only in July last year that the British Heart Foundation (BHF) recognised GHD as a cause of high cholesterol.

There are officially around 6,000 people with adult-onset GHD in England and Wales, according to the Society for Endocrinology, although campaigners claim the real figure is much higher, but most cases go undiagnosed.

The impact of undiagnosed GHD can be so devastating it can lead to chronic depression and even suicidal thoughts, says Ashley Grossman, a professor of neuroendocrinology at Barts and the London School of Medicine.

Despite its impact, adult-onset GHD wasnt recognised as a serious or clinically relevant condition until 2005, according to the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

As Professor Grossman explains: Until the late 1980s/early 1990s, we used to think about growth hormone as something exclusively related to growth. Endocrinologists have known about GHD and heart disease for years, but cardiologists havent really thought about it until now.

Doctors and campaigners have welcomed the news that GHD has now been acknowledged as a cause of high cholesterol by the British Heart Foundation.

As Professor Grossman explains, this will increase the numbers diagnosed with heart disease caused by GHD.

Antonio Belli, a professor of trauma neurosurgery at Birmingham University and an expert in GHD, concurs: Too many cases of heart disease linked to GHD go undiagnosed. This new recognition from the BHF could certainly improve diagnosis rates.

It will make a huge difference to adults who suspect there is an underlying, unrecognised cause of their cardiovascular disease, adds Joanna Lane.

Two years ago she set up the Christopher Lane Trust charity to raise awareness of hormonal disorders, including GHD, after her son took his life in 2008 at the age of 31 when he became severely depressed about being impotent.

She believes this was linked to damage to his pituitary gland (which also regulates testosterone production) after he suffered a fall, aged seven, that left him in a coma for two weeks.

The BHF move will, she says, mean that people who find theyre deficient in this critical hormone may get treatment that saves them from suicide or premature death from other causes.

Joanna has fought to raise awareness of the harm that can come from pituitary gland damage, and with other campaigners has been lobbying the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for more than a decade to recommend that traumatic brain injury patients are warned that their hormones may be affected.

Finally she has had some success, and from March, new NICE guidance will set out that when discharged from hospital, these patients must be told to see their GP if they have symptoms of hormone deficiency.

This kind of advice might have helped musician John (who wishes to remain anonymous). After suffering a head injury in his 20s, John, now 51, experienced poor mental health, chronic fatigue and inexplicably high cholesterol all his adult life.

I was also often confused and unmotivated, he recalls. I had no muscular strength or sexual function, which was devastating.

I seemed to develop some new symptom every week.

Yet none of the doctors John saw following his head injury ever checked his hormone levels.

When he was 39, he suffered a heart attack and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery. But it was another eight years before he was finally diagnosed and treated for GHD. A test score of below three equals GHD deficiency  Johns was 1.85.

I cried when I got the result, he says. It was an emotional moment because I had felt so bad before the test that I had already decided to take my life if I failed it. Life just wasnt worth living the way I was then.

Symptoms of GHD can be improved by injecting a synthetic form of growth hormone, a treatment thats becoming more widely available on the NHS. This could potentially reduce the number of patients who go on to develop heart disease.

John, whose growth hormone replacement therapy began in November 2020, says that before treatment started, I had to do the washing up in two halves because I was so tired  now I do it all in one go.

My clarity of thought has returned, and I am less anxious and irritable. Im grateful, but GHD has stolen more than two decades of my life that I will never get back. There needs to be better awareness of GHD  particularly its links to heart problems.

Ian, meanwhile, was about to start the hormone treatment when he suffered the pulmonary embolisms at the end of 2021.

But now that hes having the daily injections, his symptoms have improved.

I definitely feel better and my wife and friends say I am very much improved, he says.

I was socially isolated and apathetic, and I stopped doing all the usual things people do  but I am feeling more confident now in what I say, although I still have some fatigue.

His wife, Anne, adds: Since Ian began injecting growth hormone, he is much more like his old self.

I also noticed the other day that he doesnt shuffle any more and his arm swings as he walks, just like it used to. I think the growth hormone replacement therapy has made a big difference.

n christopherlanetrust.org.uk
As months wore on her parents repeatedly asked for blood tests but were told no

A girl was diagnosed with leukaemia after bungling NHS medics wrongly told her parents she was fine.

Ilona Zahorszki begged 10 different medics to test her daughter Theano's blood to rule out anything sinister after she came down with sudden a range of illnesses.

But each time she was told they were unnecessary and her daughter was having a 'perfectly normal' response to a plethora of maladies, ranging from bugs to allergic reactions, constipation, and even arthritis.

Medics finally caved on New Year's Eve, after the 33-year-old threatened to take her daughter overseas for the test.

Three-year-old Theano Zahorszki is now getting the medical care she needs after bungling medics missed multiple chances to diagnose her leukaemia

Her mother Ilona said her previously active daughter experienced a massive personality change over the course of her four month ordeal that left her screaming and crying in pain despite medics insisting there was nothing wrong with her

WHAT IS LEUKAEMIA? Leukaemia is a cancer that starts in blood-forming tissue, usually the bone marrow. It leads to the over-production of abnormal white blood cells, which fight off infections. But a higher number of white blood cells means there is 'less room' for other cells, including red blood cells - which transport oxygen around the body - and platelets - which cause blood to clot when the skin is cut. There are many different types of leukaemia, which are defined according to the immune cells they affect and how the disease progresses. For all types combined, 9,900 people in the UK were diagnosed with leukaemia in 2015, Cancer Research UK statistics reveal. And in the US, around 60,300 people were told they had the disease last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Most cases have no obvious cause, with the cancer not being contagious or inherited. Leukaemia generally becomes more common with age - the exception being acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which peaks in children. Other risk factors include being male, exposed to certain chemicals or radiation, and some bone-marrow disorders. Symptoms are generally vague and get worse over time. These can include: Tiredness

Frequent infections

Sweats

Bruising

Heavy periods, nose bleeds or bleeding gums

Palpitations

Shortness of breath Acute leukaemia - which progresses rapidly and aggressively - is often curable via chemo, radiotherapy or a stem cell transplant. Chronic forms of the disease - which typically progress slowly - tend to incurable, however, these patients can often live with the disease. Source: Leukaemia Care Advertisement

And a day later, on January 1, they are claimed to have diagnosed Theano with leukaemia, a type of blood cancer.

Symptoms if leukaemia can include bone pain, fatigue and frequent infections.

Now Mrs Zahorszki, from North Lanarkshire in Scotland, is urging other parents to follow their instincts and not allow their concerns to be dismissed by medics.

Theano began showing signs of illness in August when she started nursery.

Her parents originally thought she was coming down with the usual range of bugs children get when they start mixing with others their age.

However, the rapid and frequent onset of Theano's illnesses led Hungarian-born Mrs Zahorszki and her husband Antonio, from Greece, to seek medical advice.

Even though she had a new cold every two weeks up to October, GPs assured the couple this was normal for a youngster starting nursery.

But they soon began to suspect something more serious was to blame.

Over the course of the next few months, the couple took their daughter to their GP and A&E seeking help.

But they said that each time their concerns were dismissed as Theano having mild childhood ailments like chest, urinary and ear infections.

The couple said some medics even diagnosed their daughter's illness as being caused by conditions like constipation, an allergic reaction to antibiotics, a leg injury, and even arthritis.

They claimed that each time they saw a medic they asked for blood tests to be done for Theano.

However, they said each time they were told the tests weren't needed and Theano was having a 'perfectly normal' response to her illnesses.

Mrs Zahorszki, who works as a carer, said: 'In November and December I knew Theano wasnt well but no one would listen to me.'

Mrs Zahorszki added that over the course of seeking help, she noticed a distinct change in her previously fit and active daughter.

'Every time I went to see a doctor I asked for bloods to be taken. I knew there was something wrong because her whole personality had changed,' she said.

'She was wanting cuddles all the time and not running any more. Before she was ill she was a very active child. She had a lot of friends. She had also started having tantrums.

'I was asking for her to be sent to a paediatric clinic to check why she was ill all the time.

'But the GP told me she was normal. He said if there was no change he would consider referring her in January.

'Then she started getting new symptoms including a pain in her leg. We were told at the first to hospital it was soft tissue damage and then we were told it was a kind of infant arthritis.

Medics say that Theano now has a good chance of survival now that she has started chemotherapy but her parents are warning others not to allow their instincts to be dismissed by medics. Here Theano is pictured before she became ill alongside her brother Alexander

Funding boost of 2m will give hope to children with cancer by swelling research into experimental treatments 12 paediatric ECMCs across the UK are set to receive a 2.2million funding boost from the charity Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Little Princess Trust Advertisement

'We were sent home with Calpol and Nurofen but they never checked any bloods.'

The family said by mid-November, little Theano could hardly walk and by December, she was too ill to go to nursery.

Mrs Zahorszki added: 'She started getting belly pain. She became constipated and was complaining about the pain. She cried all day and her leg was still hurting.'

That month her parents once again took Theano to University Hospital Wishaw, part of NHS Lanarkshire.

But she said the doctor simply gave her laxatives and sent the family on their way.

Mr Zahorszki, a delivery driver, once again asked for blood tests to be done but was told: 'She doesnt need blood tests, shes just constipated.'

Theano's condition continued to deteriorate until December 31, with the young child continuously screaming and crying in pain.

Taking her to hospital, the family waited five hours to be seen.

It was at this point the couple decided if medics, once again, refused to do blood tests they would take Theano to one of their home countries to have the tests carried out there.

But medics agreed to carry out the blood tests and then told the devastated family their daughter was 'very ill'.

Further analysis of the results revealed Theano had leukaemia, with 81 per cent of the blood cells in her bone marrow affected.

Mrs Zahorszki said medics told her the cancer had probably started back in August.

'The doctor told me her leukaemia had probably started three or four months ago - when all the colds and infections had started,' she said.

'But the last eight weeks she went so downhill and nobody did anything.'

Doctors have said Theano has a 'very good chance' of survival, but Mrs Zahorszki added: 'One doctor told me she would only have had a month or two if I hadnt come in when I did.'

She said she wanted to speak about her experience to warn other parents.

'I just want to say to other mums that when they feel something is wrong they have to keep telling their doctor,' she said.

Dr David Watson, University Hospital Wishaw chief of nursing, said: 'Due to patient confidentiality, we cannot discuss individual cases.

'We regret any instance where someone feels we have failed to provide the highest standard of care.

'We would encourage anyone to contact our patient affairs team if they wish to raise any concerns to allow them to be fully investigated.'

There are multiple types of leukaemia, which have different prognosis, and it is not clear what form of the disease Theano has.

Across all types there are nearly 10,000 cases of leukaemia diagnosed in the UK each year, with almost 5,000 fatalities.

In the US about 60,000 cases of leukaemia are diagnosed per year, with 24,000 fatalities.

Only about 40 per cent of people diagnosed with a type of leukaemia survive 10-years after their diagnosis, but individual survival rates vary by sub-type of cancer.
Pfizer has announced it will offer its full portfolio of 500 drugs on a not-for-profit basis to dozens of low-income countries  but critics labeled the move a 'PR spin' from a company 'obsessed with making obscene profits'.

The pharma giant today announced it would allow access to 500 patented and generic medicines and vaccines to 45 countries, mostly in the Middle East and Africa.

This includes the company's flagship Covid vaccnie, chemotherapies, oral cancer treatments, a range of antibiotics, and any future medicines and shots Pfizer launches.

It comes after Pfizer faced huge public backlash over plans to quadruple the price of its Covid shot this year, despite raking in record profits during the pandemic.

Pfizer's profits have soared over the pandemic thanks to both its Covid vaccine and antiviral drug

Pfizer's 'Accord for a Healthier World' gives access to its medicines and vaccines to 45 lower-income countries around the world

A health worker administers a vaccine to a child at Bundung Maternal and Child Health Hospital in Bundung, Gambia on August 30, 2022. Gambia is one of the 45 lower-income countries which will benefit from expanded access to Pfizer's off-patent medicines and vaccines

Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement today: 'Our hope is to empower country governments and co-create solutions with them and other multi-sector partners to break down many of the system-level barriers to better health.'

But the People's Vaccine, a coalition of over 100 organizations working to 'end vaccine apartheid', questioned the genuineness of the gesture, which comes just weeks after Democrats accused Pfizer of corporate greed for jacking up the price of its Covid shot.

Mohga Kamal-Yanni, policy co-lead for the Peoples Vaccine Alliance, said: 'This is PR spin that pairs a large number of products with little serious commitment. It isnt an act of benevolence.

'Many off-patent medicines are already produced by generic companies in the Global South, which raises the question - is Pfizer targeting generic competition?'

Ms Kamal-Yanni argued the company's secrecy around the true costs of its research, development and production means the non-profit promise 'cannot be verified'.

She added: 'The world should not forget that generic competition drove down the price of HIV medicines, enabling millions to access treatment. But Pfizer's "accord" does not allow generic companies to manufacture patented medicines.'

Since 2000, access to HIV drugs grew dramatically to reach more than five million people in developing countries, thanks to the production of generic versions of widely patented medicines allowing for the drug prices to drop.

The People's Vaccine said that there are still swathes of the world that will not have access, such as Latin America: 'Where a sick person resides should not determine whether they live or die. And the decision of who has access to medicines certainly shouldnt be made by a company obsessed with making obscene profits. Pfizer has no right to play God.'

Pfizer's profits have soared over the pandemic thanks to both its Covid vaccine and antiviral drug Paxlovid, which have enjoyed huge Government contracts.

The New York-based company is estimated to have made $100 billion in revenue last year, up on $81.2 billion in 2021.

Pfizer was making around $40billion per year in revenue before the pandemic, for comparison.

Despite the obscene profits, Pfizer announced plans in October to raise the price of its shot to $130.

The new price will kick in once the government uses up the doses it bought to prepare for the winter and the vaccine goes on the open market in spring.

Lawmakers accused Pfizer of 'unseemly profiteering' and warned it could make the vaccine unaffordable for the uninsured and pushing up premiums for those who are.
'No cash please. Our company is committed to becoming net zero by 2030.'

That was a sign on the counter of a cafe from which I was about to buy a coffee.

But there was no information provided on why card payments were deemed greener than cash. Diners were just simply expected to swallow it.

Cashing out: The push towards card payments accelerated during the pandemic, when we were told contactless was safer and more sanitary - which is complete hokum

The cafe is located inside a leisure centre in Chelmsford, Essex. Incidentally, I'd wanted the change to use the swimming pool lockers which require 1 coins  no card payments accepted.

But cafe staff couldn't help or give me any explanation for their policy other than the words on the sign.

Neither could the catering firm (Churchill, based in Suffolk, which had put the sign out) nor industry experts when we put the fairly simple question to them: Which is greener  card or cash?

Churchill swiftly removed the sign after I got in touch.

I'm fed up with these 'card-only' signs popping up left, right and centre in restaurants and retailers. Choice is paramount; we should be able to pay for items how we like, depending on which method suits us best.

I'm all for innovation, but it shouldn't come at the expense of convenience. For a large chunk of society, cash is still king and firms should respect that.

The push towards card payments accelerated during the pandemic, when we were told contactless was safer and more sanitary  which, by the way, is complete hokum.

And while card payments can keep queues shorter, often the technology fails or the machines can't connect to the network.

Businesses say there are fewer bank branches to deposit money into these days and banks tell us that fewer people are using cash.

But if we accept that narrative, cash will soon disappear. That means more power handed over to big financial firms.

To beat technology meltdowns, I withdraw 100 in cash every payday. When I was a student working as a barman, we used to get paid cash in little brown envelopes after our shift. It was quite a thrill and, if you were sensible, a useful budgeting tool.

The only way to replicate that, I find, is to withdraw a chunk of physical money from a hole in the wall when my salary arrives.

I use it as my float money for pints at the pub, magazines, coffees and other purchases I want to keep tabs on.

Although I also spend on my card, it just feels like numbers on a screen. So you don't feel the impact until you check your bank statements.

Data from Nationwide Building Society shows cash usage was up in 2022 for the first time in 13 years.

Link, which has data for 90 per cent of all cash withdrawals, says 4 billion extra was withdrawn last year compared with 2021  despite the number of ATMs falling by 1,294.

So let's keep up the fight to save cash. Physical money has been a cornerstone of our society for hundreds of years. If it's allowed to go the way of the dodo and dinosaur we will all be poorer for it.

Rory Kinnear stars in the Bank of Dave film which has been released on Netflix this week

Hollywood Dave

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend a private screening at Netflix HQ in London of the film Bank Of Dave, with Burnley businessman Dave Fishwick, who I know well.

It stars Rory Kinnear as Dave and charts his attempts to open a new High Street bank, only to find plenty of barriers in his way.

The film, out now, sees his tale given plenty of Hollywood gloss.

But, fundamentally, as his story did in the first place, it made me wonder why there aren't more local community banks making local lending decisions.

Many of the small building societies that used to do just that disappeared years ago, in most cases swallowed by bigger rivals.

But I'd be interested in saving at a local bank with my cash going directly to help local businesses, even if it meant slightly less interest than I'd get elsewhere.

Hats off to Dave for trying to shake-up the British banking system  not a simple task with huge sums and red tape involved.

Who knows, maybe the film will inspire another Dave to rattle the cages of the banking big boys.

>> As the Bank of Dave film starring Rory Kinnear is released on Netflix, read the best business advice our star columnist has dished out to readers

l.boyce@dailymail.co.uk
Britains dreams of being a global leader in greener energy are rapidly evaporating. Successive Tory governments, in spite of all the rhetorical enthusiasm, have so far failed miserably to embrace technology for a more nuclear future.

And plans to challenge Germany, China and others by building mega factories to produce battery cells for electric cars have been abruptly halted with Blyth-based Britishvolt going into administration.

UK nuclear engineer Newcleo tells the Mail it has decided to give up on government support for its proposed project after endless delays in selecting a suitable site amid the revolving door on Downing Street.

Shortfalls: Britain is in desperate need of new nuclear power plants as the existing ageing fleet comes off line

Instead, chief executive Stefano Buono plans to build the companys prototype nuclear station in France.

There is a friendly attitude towards to nuclear generation in Paris where President Macron has taken Electricite de France (EDF) back into public ownership.

In spite of former prime minister Boris Johnsons enthusiastic public backing for new nuclear, just reiterated in the Commons, very little has happened.

Before leaving office, former Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East was critical of the failure of successive Tory governments to get behind the companys proposals for a fleet of small modular reactors (SMRs), based on proven turbine technology.

Some 200million of support for the research and development phase has been promised but how much funding has been provided is uncertain.

In any case, such a level of support for a potential multi-billion project, with huge export possibilities, is hardly representative of the kind of initiative shown by the UK in the past when it became the first country in the world to pioneer a commercial atomic power station at Calder Hall in Cumbria in 1956.

Newcleo and Rolls-Royce are not the first potential nuclear investors to feel let down by the UK authorities.

Japans Hitachi believed it had the backing for a new build at Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey but abandoned the project in September 2020 when the Government withdrew backing.

The move caused frustration in Tokyo and at Hitachi, which has a record of inward investment in the UK.

There is a possibility that Hitachi, in conjunction with US industrial giant GEC, could launch its own new generation of SMRs beating Rolls-Royce to the post.

At present, the only new nuclear plant being built is the super reactor at Hinkley Point in Somerset by EDF with backing from China.

EDF is also the cornerstone investor and developer at the proposed 20billion Sizewell C plant in Suffolk although a final sign-off by the Government is awaited.

Britain is in desperate need of new nuclear power plants as the existing ageing fleet comes off line.

As the country plots a greener future based on wind, solar and potentially tidal power (still unproven), it needs a reliable base load to keep the lights on when the wind doesnt blow.

The collapse of the Britishvolt project and a nuclear stalemate demonstrates how hard it is going to be to achieve Britains goal of creating a carbon-neutral future.

Leaky roof

Anyone reading the press release of the latest results from Matthew Mouldings online health and beauty pioneer THG might be cajoled into thinking 2022 trading has been an unalloyed success.

It highlights record sales of 2.25billion and suggests that expected earnings are in line with market expectations.

Maybe. But the reality is rather different. The company disclosed that it now projects earnings for the year to be 80million which is way below the 100million to 130million it forecast a few months ago.

If this was in line with market expectations, it is hard to fathom why the companys shares plummeted by 21.4 per cent to 53.84p, one-third of its peak price of 184p over the last 12 months.

How great it would be if THG were to become a Manchester-based Amazon.

A little more credibility in what it has to say might help.

Sweet spot

Johnnie Walker spirits champion Diageo is developing a taste for rum after its success with Captain Morgan.

Instead of looking to the Caribbean, it is going all the way to the Philippines, paying a cool 342million to snap up cane-based luxury brand Don Papa.

From single malts in Texas to gin distillers in California, the world has become newly knighted Ivan Menezes oyster.
The majority of Britishvolt's 300 staff have been made immediately redundant as the troubled electric car battery maker fell into administration today.

The company, which had planned to build Britain's biggest electric car battery plant in Northumberland, had been on the brink for months.

Administrators at EY said Britishvolt collapsed 'due to insufficient equity investment' for both its ongoing research, and the development of its 3.8billion 'gigafactory' in the North East and its scale-up hub in the Midlands.

EY said in a statement it is exploring options for a sale of the business and its assets, and that affected employees were being offered 'appropriate support and advice'.

Collapsed: Britishvolt failed to secure investments needed for its ongoing research and the development of its 'gigafactory' in the North East and its headquarters in the Midlands

Dan Hurd, joint administrator and partner at EY-Parthenon, said: 'Britishvolt provided a significant opportunity to create jobs and employment, as well as support the development of technology and infrastructure needed to help with the UKs energy transition.

'It is disappointing that the Company has been unable to fulfil its ambitions and secure the equity funding needed to continue.

'Our priorities as Joint Administrators are now to protect the interests of the Companys creditors, explore options for a sale of the business and assets, and to support the impacted employees.'

Just a week ago, Britishvolt said it was in talks with a consortium of investors about potentially selling a majority stake.

The sale would have provided Britishvolt with enough funding to survive until it received firm orders from car makers for its batteries, but it failed to materialise.

The company managed to postpone its collapse into administration last year after raising several million pounds in emergency funding from mining giant Glencore, one of its main backers, and temporarily cutting wages for its staff.

Ben Nelmes, chief executive of green motoring consulting New AutoMotive, said Government delays to plans to introduce a zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate were partly to blame.

In April, Minsters said they wanted more than half of all new cars sold in Britain to be fully electric by 2028.

They proposed the imposition of a binding onus on manufacturers to sell an increasing proportion of zero-emission vehicles each year in the run up to the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles at the end of the decade, but details are yet to be published.

Government delays to plans to introduce a zero-emissions vehicle (ZEV) mandate are partly to blame for Britishvolt's collapse, according to experts

Britishvolt's 3.8bn gigafactory was expected to employ up to 3,000 by the time it was fully operational

'The news that Britishvolt is filing for administration is deeply disappointing, and a blow to the UK's transition to cleaner, cheaper transport,' Nelmes said.

'Delays to the government's ZEV mandate have created additional uncertainty around rates of EV uptake and future demand for EV batteries.

'The UK urgently needs a green industrial strategy to prevent the trickle of bad news about the UK car industry turning into a torrent in a few years' time.'

Britishvolt's 3.8billion gigafactory was supposed to employ up to 3,000 by the time it was fully operational.

But the group struggled amid delays and the resignation of its co-founder and then boss Orral Nadjari in August. It was left scrambling for emergency funding to stop itself going bust.

Matters were made even worse after ministers scrapped plans to inject 100million into the company when it discovered the cash would be used to keep it afloat rather than constructing the Blyth factory.

Colin Walker, transport lead at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said the UK risked to be stuck on the starting line unless the Government stepped up its game.

'In its net zero strategy, the Government said it wanted the UKs automotive sector to stay at the cutting edge and capture the jobs of the future,' he said.

'As the world makes the transition to electric vehicles, building a domestic battery manufacturing sector is crucial if this ambition is to be realised.

'If not, the UK will be cease to be a major car manufacturer  business opportunities worth billions will be lost, as will tens of thousands of highly-skilled jobs.

'Experts have been clear that the Government needs to recognise that we are in a global race to build the clean technologies of the future; without action to bolster sectors like electric vehicles, the UK risks being stuck on the starting line.'
The boss of Royal Mail has been blasted by MPs over his running of the crisis-hit company as losses head towards 750million.

In a bruising appearance before the Commons business committee, Simon Thompson was quizzed about strikes as well as his 140,000 bonus and plans to stop delivering letters on a Saturday.

Committee chairman Darren Jones said his answers raised grave concerns over the running of the business.

Grilling: Royal Mail boss Simon Thompson (pictured) was quizzed over strikes as well as his 140,000 bonus and plans to ditch Saturday letter deliveries

Thompson, chief executive of Royal Mail parent International Distributions Services, was even reminded that misleading Parliament would not be appreciated and warned he could be called in again.

The hearing came after a torrid few months for Royal Mail as strikes crippled the company over the crucial Christmas period and a Russian cyber-attack knocked out its overseas delivery operations.

Thompson warned that the companys losses of over 1million per day were unsustainable and Royal Mail faced an urgent situation about its future.

The 1million figure related to losses of 90million in the first quarter.

But analysts now believe losses for the full year to the end of March will hit 745million  equivalent to more than 2million a day.

Meanwhile, Thompson said Royal Mail was looking to create a viable change to its Universal Service Obligation (USO), a legal requirement for the group to deliver letters six days a week and parcels five days a week.

He highlighted an Ofcom user needs review conducted in 2020 that concluded a five-day service would meet the needs of 97 per cent of people.

The push to change to USO forms part of his strategy to overhaul Royal Mail. But the plans have angered the Communication Workers Union (CWU).

Earlier at the committee hearing, CWU general secretary Dave Ward accused Royal Mail of waging war on its workforce.
Diageo has snapped up Filipino rum maker Don Papa in a deal worth up to 388million as its hunt for upmarket brands continues.

The Guinness, Ciroc and Smirnoff drinks maker will pay 230million up front for the super premium brand, with the rest of the price based on its performance.

Don Papa was launched in 2012 by former Remy Cointreau executive Stephen Carroll and is available in 30 countries, including the UK  where a 70cl bottle costs 32.

Drinks deal: Diageo will pay 230m up front for super premium Filipino rum maker Don Papa, with the rest of the 388m price based on its performance

Diageo said upmarket rum is among the fastest-growing areas in the drinks business, with Don Papa outperforming rivals.

Don Papa is the latest business to be snapped up by the drinks giant, which has embarked on a wave of take-overs.

In 2017 it bought actor George Clooneys tequila brand Casamigos in a deal valuing it at up to 820million.

Last year it bought California-based flavoured tequila firm 21 Seeds and Texas craft distiller Balcones.

Boss Ivan Menezes has said Diageo is on the hunt for more takeovers and is focused on top shelf brands.
Britains nuclear power ambitions suffered another setback as a UK company chose France to build its prototype reactor.

Newcleo blamed political upheaval in Westminster for its decision.

The mini-nuclear power station company said it waited in vain for ministers to give the green light over where to site the project  leaving it no option but to take the work over the Channel.

Hopes for the mini-nuclear sector were raised by Boris Johnsons plans for a government-backed body called Great British Nuclear to support the development of new sites.

The move will cost hundreds of potential UK jobs and casts further doubt on the countrys nuclear future.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Newcleo chief executive Stefano Buono told the Mail: Changing government three times has not helped.

We were expecting a decision before, but I understand that when the government changes, its very difficult to take decisions.

Britain is scrambling to replace its fleet of six large nuclear plants, five of which are due for closure by 2028 and one, Sizewell B, in 2035.

Hopes for the mini-nuclear sector were raised by Boris Johnsons plans for a government-backed body called Great British Nuclear (GBN) to support the development of new sites.

Speaking in the Commons yesterday, the former prime minister urged the Government to exploit this countrys technological lead and build a fleet of small modular nuclear reactors as part of our Great British Nuclear programme.

Business Secretary Grant Shapps said GBN would be up and running shortly and said small modular reactors would play an important part in boosting nuclear power supplies.

The Government wants 25 per cent of power to come from nuclear by 2050. Last year it supplied 15.5 per cent.

Privately-owned Newcleo, which is about to launch a 900million funding round, is one of a number of companies planning to build mini-nuclear power stations around the UK.

The plants will be much smaller than traditional nuclear reactors, but the idea is that by being quicker and cheaper to assemble they will provide a significant boost to energy supply as the UK tries to wean itself off fossil fuels.

Ministers have backed the idea, but have been criticised over a lack of clarity needed to enable companies to invest.

Buono said: It has been a setback, a little bit, to our strategy. We wanted to make a prototype in the UK and we have decided to do it in France.

Buonos frustration with the Government follow comments to the Mail from Warren East, the outgoing chief executive of Rolls-Royce, which also has plans for its own chain of mini-nuclear stations. East said the Government needed to get on with it and put in place a funding framework for the industry.

The Italian added: I founded a company in the UK because I felt that the UK was the best country to develop new reactors. We made a bet on the UK and so far I am very happy.'
Microsoft is slashing thousands of jobs in the latest staff cull to hit the tech sector.

The US giant is expected to announce plans to cut around 5 per cent of its global workforce, which would equate to around 11,000 staff, although the final figure could end up being even higher.

It was unclear where exactly Microsoft would wield the axe, with the group employing around 6,000 staff in the UK.

Job cuts: Microsoft plans to cut around 5% of its global workforce, which would equate to around 11,000 staff, although the final figure could end up being even higher

Shares in the firm were up 0.5 per cent on Wall Street after the prospective cuts were reported by Sky News.

Microsoft is the latest tech titan to draw up plans for job losses.

A slew of firms have already announced plans for redundancies as the economy has turned sour.

Earlier this month, Amazon said it would aim to slash 18,000 jobs, equivalent to around 6 per cent of its workforce, while Facebook owner Meta intends to cut around 11,000 roles.

Meanwhile, social media website Twitter has also moved to eliminate thousands of staff following its takeover by Tesla tycoon Elon Musk.

Many of the tech giants hired thousands of people during the pandemic boom, but the recent slowdown has forced many of them to reassess their plans as consumer spending comes under pressure and borrowing costs rise.

Microsoft publishes its second-quarter earnings next week, with some analysts warning it could disappoint investors.

Microsoft warned in October that its cloud computing business was slowing down as many corporate clients re-evaluated their spending plans.
Today Money Mail is sending out an urgent message to readers: do NOT renew your home or car cover unless you have seen your new premium drop in price (lucky you) or increase by less than 10 per cent.

If your renewal price rise is greater than 10 per cent, contact the insurer and demand a discount. Some will offer one, although its pot luck.

If the answer to your challenge is a big fat no, please shop around.

Price hikes: Insurance premium increases are being foisted on tens of thousands of customers in excess of 20% - and in some cases as high as 70%

Invariably  not always  you will find a cheaper deal elsewhere, often without compromising the quality of your cover. Its the way the insurance market works. Loyalty does not pay. Not in the past, not now.

Although new rules from the regulator are designed to protect existing policyholders from insurers intent on pushing up premiums disproportionately, Money Mail does not believe the regulations are effective.

Introduced by the City regulator at the start of last year, they require insurers to charge policyholders the same price as they would offer new customers buying identical cover. But many long-standing policyholders do not have the tools to test whether their premium is fair.

The result is that premium increases are being foisted on tens of thousands of customers in excess of 20 per cent  and in some cases as high as 70 per cent  and many are meekly accepting them. Most are elderly, some vulnerable.

The price hikes are not explained in the renewal notices customers receive, although they could be once new consumer duty rules kick in this summer. Nor are they a result of recent claims.

In some instances, customers who challenge the increase get a discount. Which begs the question: why isnt the discount offered straightaway?

In most cases, policyholders can get cheaper cover by shopping around. In other words, loyalty is still being punished by insurers.

Firms cant prove their prices are fair Some insurers are guilty of such poor record-keeping that they cannot prove they are offering the same prices to existing customers and new ones. Thats the damning conclusion of a report by the City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A year ago, the FCA introduced rules stating that insurers must offer a long-standing policyholder the same price as someone buying identical cover as a new customer. But its research last month, seen by Money Mail, says some firms have not appointed senior enough staff to judge whether their businesses are complying. The FCA told Money Mail it had intervened and secured redress for a number of insurance customers. But it insisted most firms were complying with our pricing rules.

Money Mail has discovered that early last month, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) quietly published a review into how insurers applied its new rules  and whether customers were still being discriminated against on the basis of the number of years they had held their policy. Strangely, the results were not released to the Press  as is usual.

The report pointed to poor record-keeping by insurers, with some companies unable to prove they are not price differentiating between new and renewing customers.

It also said some companies had yet to appoint someone senior enough to judge whether their businesses were complying.

The FCA can hold this person  as well as the insurer  to account if it deems the company guilty of breaking the rules.

Yesterday, the regulator also confirmed to Money Mail that in the past year, a small number of companies had accidentally price discriminated against loyal customers. In all cases, offending insurers had put matters right.

Yet, for all the talk that loyal customers are no longer being disadvantaged (see box), its not what Money Mail is seeing. From where were standing, it is difficult to get our heads around the increases being demanded by some insurers at renewal.

For example, Lynne Poore, an 84 year-old widow from Upminster in Essex, found out earlier this month that the home insurance she has with Liverpool Victoria on her two-bedroom bungalow would be increasing from 259 to 421, a 63 per cent price hike.

For the record, she has made no claims and shes had the cover for many years. When she rang LV to contest the premium, she was told the price was non-negotiable.

I asked them to explain the increase, she says. It offered none.

Thankfully, Lynne, who lost her dear husband Ken in December 2021, was advised by friend Jean to speak to rival Axa.

She did, and it immediately offered her cover at 80 less than she had paid last year. She was delighted. But shes still angry with LV.

If Aviva could offer such a competitive price for comparable cover, she says, why couldnt LV?

Richard Woodward, from Wilnecote in Staffordshire is equally scathing. Richard and his wife Jacqueline had three cars insured under a multi-car policy with Admiral  a runaround Fiat 500, a Peugeot 5008 and his pride of joy, a Jaguar XK.

Last year, the cars were insured at a combined annual cost of 607. This year, Admiral wanted nearly 836, a 38 per cent increase.

Shop around: Policyholders hit with large hikes can usually find cheaper cover elsewhere. In other words, loyalty still does not pay and is still being punished

Richard, who spent his early career as an engine driver in the fire service and is a member of IAM RoadSmart, cant understand the price increase.

Were another year older, another year more experienced, no claims and no convictions, he says, but were being punished.

After ringing Admiral and getting a small discount that reduced his premium to just below 800, Richard decided to shop around.

By insuring the three cars with separate companies, he has cut the combined premium to 643, a 6 per cent increase on last year.

Admiral has lost my business, says Richard. What is the commercial sense of that? Yet its the vulnerable, the elderly, who he feels most for. Many accept the renewal price they are offered and pay up. Unforgivable, he says.

Yesterday, Admiral, ESure and LV were among those at pains to tell Money Mail that they are abiding by the rules. But they refused to reveal the average increase policyholders are paying for 2023.

The FCA said: Most firms are complying with our pricing rules, but we know they still need to make improvements to ensure the market is fair for all. Where we have found evidence of firms treating their customers poorly, we have intervened and secured redress, such as through compensation.

A start. But theres further to go. So shop around.
A inquest heard that Mr Nash should have been seen in person and treated

He was rushed to hospital in Leeds and later died after calling NHS 111 five times

A law student who died from a brain abscess after four remote consultations with doctors and nurses should have had an urgent face-to-face appointment after his final contact, a GP expert has told a coroner.

Musician David Nash, 26, had four phone consultations with a Leeds GP practice over a 19-day period in October and November 2020, an inquest in Wakefield, West Yorkshire heard on Monday.

The court heard that Mr Nash's condition deteriorated dramatically after the final consultation on November 2, and he was taken to hospital by ambulance after a series of NHS 111 calls, but died two days later.

It was later found that he had developed mastoiditis in his ear which caused an abscess on his brain, leading to his death.

David Nash, 26, was rushed to hospital where he died following four remote consultations

A inquest heard that medical professionals should have set up a face-to-face consultation with Mr Nash when they heard about his symptoms, which would likely have brought him to hospital sooner

On Monday, assistant coroner Abigail Combes read a statement from GP expert Alastair Bint, who said a nurse should have organised an urgent in-patient appointment after a phone consultation on November 2 2020.

Dr Bint said he did not criticise the remote nature of Mr Nash's first three consultations on October 14, 23 and 28.

But the expert concluded that Mr Nash's consultation with advanced nurse practitioner Lynne White on November 2 should have been cause for a face-to-face appointment which would likely have led to a hospital admission.

Dr Bint said Mr Nash's presentation of fever, neck stiffness and night-time headaches were 'red flags' and the nurse's diagnosis of a flu-like virus was 'not safe'.

He said: 'This was a patient that needed to be seen in person.'

Dr Bint said it required 'an urgent face-to-face assessment that morning'.

He added: 'This was a patient demonstrating some significant red flags and needed to be seen.

'Had he been seen in-person, it seems likely to me he would've been admitted to hospital.'

In his report, the doctor said he was asked to comment on whether the final outcome would have been different if Mr Nash had been seen face-to-face.

He noted that the patient would have been in hospital 10 hours earlier but it was for a neurosurgical expert to comment on whether the outcome would have been different.

Dr Bint's report stressed that the NHS was dealing with an unprecedented situation at the time, during the Covid pandemic, and that NHS England advice was for GP patients to be seen remotely in most cases.

Mr Nash died on November 4 2020, despite efforts to save him by neurosurgeons at Leeds General Infirmary (pictured)

The inquest heard that Mr Nash's first phone consultation with the Burley Park Medical Practice was on October 14, when he told GP Jenny Carrick he had been troubled by lumps on his neck. Dr Carrick arranged for him to have a blood test booked in for November 2.

WHAT IS MASTOIDITIS? Mastoiditis is a serious bacterial infection that affects the mastoid bone behind the ear. Most people with mastoiditis recover quickly and have no complications as long as the condition is diagnosed and treated quickly. Its symptoms include redness, tenderness and pain behind the ear, swelling behind the ear that causes it to stick out and discharge from the ear. Sufferers may also have a high temperature, a headache and hearing loss. They are advised to see a GP as soon as possible if they have symptoms or an ear infection that does not get better with treatment. Mastoiditis should be diagnosed and treated quickly with antibiotics. Surgery may be required in severe cases to drain the middle ear or remove part of the mastoid bone. If the mastoid bone is severely infected and is not removed, it can cause hearing loss and life-threatening health complications such as a blood clot, meningitis and a brain abscess. Source: NHS Advertisement

His second consultation was with advanced nurse practitioner Amy Linstrum, when he described a painful and hot right ear.

Ms Linstrum prescribed antibiotic ear drops. The third consultation was on October 28, with locum GP Manjoor Shahid.

Mr Nash told the doctor he had blood in his urine and he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.

In her evidence, read to the court, nurse Lynne White said she accepted that when she told Mr Nash on November 2 'you're sounding like you're feeling a bit sorry for yourself, are you feeling a bit rotten', it appeared now as if she was being dismissive.

But she insisted she was simply reflecting that the patient seemed unwell.

Mr Nash's parents, Andrew and Anne Nash, from Nantwich, Cheshire, have campaigned to find out whether the mastoiditis would have been identified and easily treated with antibiotics if their son had undergone a face-to-face examination earlier.

They have described how Mr Nash had five 'shambolic' calls on November 2 with the NHS 111 system before being taken to St James's Hospital in Leeds by ambulance, in a confused state, where he fell when he was left alone, causing an injury to his head.

Mr Nash died on November 4 2020, despite efforts to save him by neurosurgeons at Leeds General Infirmary.

He had just started the second year of a law degree at Leeds University when he died after a number of years as a drummer on Leeds's music scene, touring Europe with his band Weirds and recording an album.

His mother read a pen-portrait of her son to the court on Monday.

She said she was 'eternally grateful for an amazing 26 years of love and hilarity'.

Mrs Nash said: 'Your huge smile, your compassion and your ability to enjoy every moment could never be replicated.'
Australians have been told to brace for wild weather this week as one state swelters through an intense heatwave while another is plagued by heavy rain and floods.

Up to one metre of rain is predicted to fall on Queensland's north and the Whitsundays by midweek as heavy showers and flooding continues.

The Bureau of Meteorology's Dean Narramore warned the wet conditions would escalate this week with flash flooding and road closures in affected areas likely.

Areas like Mackay, Bowen, Ayr, St Lawrence, Porserpine, Airlie Beach are in the firing line of the heavy falls as severe weather warnings are issued.

Cairns could receive up to 80mm on Thursday, Townsville up to 100mm and in Mackay, about 13 hours from Brisbane, up to 200mm could fall on Tuesday alone.

'If you live in these areas, that means rainfall today and tonight and into tomorrow is likely to lead to flash and riverine flooding,' Mr Narramore said.

Parts of central Queensland will be pounded by up to a metre of rain by midweek before the system moves off the coast on Wednesday (pictured, floods in Brisbane last March)

Pictured is a Weatherzone weather map of the expected precipitation this week - as forecasters warn Queenslanders rain this week could cause flash flooding

'It could cause inundations of homes, properties and businesses and lead to multiple road closures.'

Mr Narramore said by Wednesday the system will have moved off the coast, providing residents with some relief from the heavy falls.

However it's a different story for those who reside in the country's south and west, with temperatures in Perth and Adelaide set to skyrocket this week.

Residents are set to swelter under intense temperatures, as Melbourne, currently hosting the Australian Open this week, hits 36C on Tuesday.

However it's a different story for those who reside in the country's south and west, with temperatures in Perth and Adelaide set to skyrocket this week

Residents in Australia's south and west are set swelter under intense temperatures, as Melbourne, currently hosting the Australian Open this week, hit 36C on Tuesday

Adelaide is forecast to top 38C on Tuesday while Sydney is set to record 30C for the first time this summer and almost a year on Wednesday.

'The mercury is likely to reach into the mid-to-high 30s in Adelaide and Melbourne on Tuesday and could also hit the low 30s in Hobart, Canberra and Sydney on Tuesday or Wednesday,' Weatherzone's Ben Domensino said.

'This week could feature Sydney's first day over 30C since February 2021, which would end the city's second longest stretch without a 30C day in records dating back to 1859.'

As temperatures reach boiling point midweek, the mercury will level out in most Australian cities - with the exception of Perth.

Residents on the west coast been told to expect a very dry week, with temperatures topping 29C on Wednesday and up to 38C on the weekend.

Canberra will also record some very warm days, with a storm possible midweek.

Adelaide is forecast to top 38C on Tuesday while Sydney (pictured is Manly Beach in the city's north) is set to record 30C for the first time this summer on Wednesday

In the country's Top End, possible rain and storms have been forecast with up to 25mm set to fall towards the week's end.

Despite flood warnings in the north of Queensland, Brisbane appears to be immune to the downpours and will remain dry all week.

Further south in Melbourne, residents experienced a sweltering start to the week with temperatures due to level out.

Storms have been forecast for the city on Wednesday, which will remain cloudy with temperatures barely topping 23C, with a low of 20C.

Despite flood warnings further north of the Sunshine State, Brisbane appears to be immune to the downpours and will remain dry all week

Canberra and Sydney may also receive the brunt of storms on Wednesday night.

Western Australia and the Northern Territory will also have to batten down under with heavy rain and storms forecast for the next few days.

'Rain and thunderstorms will continue over northern parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia during the first half of this week as a broad low pressure trough lingers over northern Australia,' Mr Domensino said.

'This rain and storm activity will become more widespread over Western Australia in the middle of the week as tropical moisture feeds into a deepening trough near the nation's west coast.'
A senior member of Peter Dutton's Opposition front bench has launched an extraordinary attack on the hugely popular TikTok app and the Labor Government.

Sarah Henderson, the Shadow Minister for Communications, said TikTok is an 'unacceptable risk to Australian children' - which the company denies.

'It is deeply concerning that a social media platform pitched to 13 year old children contains so much inappropriate content,' Ms Henderson said.

'Australian parents have every right to expect that their children will be safe online.

A senior Liberal front bencher has slammed the TikTok (pictured) app and the Labor Government

'So why is the Albanese Government failing to act on the urgent need for tougher online privacy protections for children?'

A spokesperson for TikTok told Daily Mail Australia that 'Keeping the TikTok community safe  especially our younger users  is our number one priority.

'We know there is no finish line when it comes to safety and our global teams work around the clock to prevent, identify and remove content that violates our community guidelines.'

The app, which was developed and is based in China, has come under increasing pressure over some content and how it operates in recent months.

Three weeks ago, the US banned TikTok from federal government devices over growing security concerns.

Opponents of the platform have expressed concern that the Communist Chinese government could access user data stored in the country.

There is also a push to ban TikTok outright in the US, with legislation introduced by senator Marco Rubio in December to 'ban Beijing-controlled TikTok for good'.

In August 2020, then president Donald Trump issued an executive order banning US companies from doing business with TikToks parent company ByteDance.

The concern in America was echoed by Ms Henderson, who said TikTok may appear innocent and fun but it's an online platform which presents unacceptable dangers.

'TikTok's data collection practices are frightening. Every bit of information  from the model of the phone to contact lists and email addresses  can be obtained,' she claimed.

Concerns about TikTok content TikTok has taken the social media world by storm since its global launch in 2017, allowing users to share short bursts of content that range from innocent dance routines to perilous challenges. In December 2022, doctors warned against the latest bogus TikTok health hack that involves taping your mouth shut before bed to lose weight. But Dr Raj Dasgupta, a sleep specialist at the University of Southern California, said mouth taping could lead to obstructed breathing and suffocation. Earlier in 2022 TikTok was criticised for allowing videos promoting the dangerous online craze encouraging users to choke themselves until they reached the point of losing consciousness. In some cases this had led to deaths. The platform also came under fire for exposing teenagers to 'rape culture' and videos on how to hotwire new cars. These all come despite the tech giant having extensive community guidelines spelled out on its website, including rules on dangerous acts and challenges, hateful behavior and against promoting suicide or harm. In August 2022 a TikTok spokesman told DailyMail.com: 'TikTok does not condone this behavior which violates our policies and will be removed if found on our platform.' Advertisement

It is estimated that TikTok has 2.5 million Australian users, with around 30 per cent of them under 15.

Ms Henderson said that 'TikTok has the capacity to track a user's content preferences, shared messages and location.

'Its privacy policy allows keystrokes entered on a device to be captured, meaning any content created can be accessed.'

She added TikTok users are 'highly vulnerable to attack by hackers' as the company collects 'so much personal information'.

A TikTok spokesperson said operating in Australia is 'a privilege' it takes seriously and that it aims to 'exceed the data security standards applied to companies that operate here'.

'In line with standard industry practice, we collect some information if users choose to provide it to help the app function and operate securely, and to improve the user's experience.

'We do not track the precise location of users, nor do we capture keystrokes.

'It is fundamentally untrue to say that TikTok is "highly vulnerable to attack by hackers",' they said.

Sarah Henderson (pictured), the Shadow Minister for Communications, said TikTok is an 'unacceptable risk to Australian children'

Ms Henderson also accused Labor of failing to take action on TikTok.

'So far, we have seen and heard nothing from the Albanese Government on this critical issue,' she said.

'It is time that Communications Minister Michelle Rowland made the online safety of children the highest priority.'

Ms Henderson has invited parents, teachers, children and young adults to tell her about any problems they have had with TikTok by emailing her at senator.henderson@aph.gov.au.

She has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor Government to support the Coalition's Online Privacy Bill.

The bill includes making social media companies consider the best interests of the child when handling the personal information of children, such as obtaining parental consent before apps are downloaded.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Henderson seeking further comment and also contacted Ms Rowland.
The body of a man missing since Hurricane Ian has been found on a sunken sailboat in Fort Myers - three days after a missing woman's remains were also found.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office said Sunday that the remains were identified as James 'Denny' Hurst, 72, who was last known to be aboard the Good Girl as the category 4 storm hit the region in late September leaving at least 145 people dead.

The boat was recovered Friday afternoon in the Matanzas Pass area of Fort Myers Beach, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said.

Hurst had told his family he planned to ride out the storm on the boat, officials said.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office said Sunday that the remains were identified as James 'Denny' Hurst, 72, (pictured) who was last known to be aboard the Good Girl as the category 4 storm hit the region in late September leaving at least 145 people dead

Hurst (pictured in a social media post) had told his family he planned to ride out the storm on the boat, officials said

The Good Girl is seen covered in seaweed after being hauled from below the surface at Fort Myers

The boat was recovered Friday afternoon in the Matanzas Pass area of Fort Myers Beach, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said

Hurst's daughter Shannon Vaughan watched live on a video call on NBC 2 as her father's boat was hauled from the water.

'Is that part of it coming up right there?' She asked during the broadcast.

'Oh Jesus. I can kind of see it. It's just, oh my God. It's just covered in slime and stuff,' she added.

Later Vaughan said: 'It's finally done. You know? It's just finally done. We're glad that you're finally found and you're home. I love you. I miss you. We all do.'

Earlier Friday, the sheriff announced that a crew clearing debris in the mangroves found the remains of 82-year-old Ilonka Knes. She had been reported missing in early October.

Officials identified Knes through dental records, the sheriff said. The body of her husband, 81-year-old Robert Knes, was found shortly after the storm struck.

A team of divers is seen around the wrecked sailboat

Hurst and Knes were the two remaining people who had been reported as missing in Lee County after the hurricane, Marceno said. He added that he hopes their families will now have some closure.

Crew members from Sea Hag Marina in Fort Myers who have been helping with the clean up operation after the hurricane helped to find Hurst, saying the sailboat was noticed in 18ft of water 'with just enough visibility to see a piece of the boat.'

'Our guys were able to assist the dive team in lifting the boat out of the water and onto land,' the marina said on Facebook. 'Had the water not of been clear today, we are not sure how much longer it would have been for the boat to be seen.

Ilonka Knes, 82, lived on Fort Myers with her husband Robert, 81, who was found dead shortly after the storm struck

Her body was found 'deep within the mangroves' by a waste removal company. The photo above shows the continued devastation of Fort Myers since Ian

Ilonka was found 0.1 miles away from where she lived. Her husband was found in the same proximity back in October

'The definition of divine timing is the belief that everything in your life happens at exactly the right moment and we truly believe that today was one of those days for everyone involved.'

Before the discovery, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission on Tuesday reported 145 confirmed deaths in the state from Hurricane Ian. This would add to that total.

There were also five people killed in North Carolina, one in Virginia and three in Cuba, authorities have said.
Twitter employees hoping to sue the firm for firing them without notice have been told they cannot bring a class action.

In a court ruling on Friday, the social media company, which is also facing allegations of sex and disability discrimination, won its bid to force five ex-workers to pursue their claims individually.

US District Judge James Donato cited agreements the employees had signed with the company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, in his reasoning for the judgment.

Twitter owner Elon Musk wins bid to force five ex-employees to pursue their claims individually rather than as class action

Twitter was plunged into hot water in early November after it laid off around 3,700 employees as part of a cost-cutting measure.

Hundreds more subsequently resigned.

In December the firm was also accused by dozens of former employees of several legal violations stemming from Musk's $44 billion takeover of the company.

These included targeting women for layoffs and failing to pay promised severance packages.

Shannon Liss-Riordan, who represents the plaintiffs, said on Monday that she had already filed 300 demands for arbitration on behalf of former Twitter employees.

She added she was likely to file hundreds more.

Musk, 51, purchased Twitter in October 2022 for $44 billion and installed himself as CEO immediately

Twitter is also facing at least three complaints filed with a U.S. labor board claiming workers were fired for criticizing the company, attempting to organize a strike, and other conduct protected by federal labor law.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

Last year, San Francisco judge Donato ruled that Twitter must notify the thousands of workers who were laid off after its acquisition by Musk following a proposed class action accusing the company of failing to give adequate notice before terminating them.

Twitter is headquartered in San Francisco, California

He said that before asking workers to sign severance agreements waiving their ability to sue the company, Twitter must give them 'a succinct and plainly worded notice'.

Last week it was revealed Elon Musk had broken the world record for amassing the largest losses to his personal fortune in history.

The entrepreneur wiped out $165 billion off his wealth between November 2021 and December 2022, according to the Guinness World Records.

The share value in Musk's electric car firm Tesla crashed by around 65 per cent after he bought Twitter last year, a move that spooked investors.
Flights are expected to begin in the coming weeks

Short-haul flights will have tickets as low as $50

Bonza airlines will fly 17 routes, 13 from base on Sunshine Coast

Australia's new low-cost airline has been given the green light to fly to 17 destinations across the country, with tickets set to go on sale within days.

Bonza Airlines received its Air Operator Certificate from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority on Thursday, and will service regional airports across NSW, Queensland and Victoria, including 13 from its base on the Sunshine Coast.

Within Queensland, Bonza passengers will be able to fly from the airline's hub to Cairns, Townsville, the Whitsunday coast, Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Bundaberg and Toowoomba Wellcamp.

Australia's new low-budget airline Bonza (pictured, Boeing 737-8 Bonza aircraft) will be flying to 17 destinations across NSW, Queensland and Victoria

Interstate Bonza travellers can fly from the Sunshine Coast to Albury, Avalon, Coffs Harbour, Melbourne, Mildura, Newcastle, Port Macquarie and Tamworth.

Travellers catching a flight from Melbourne can fly directly to 10 destinations including Mildura, Bundaberg, Sunshine Coast and Port Macquarie.

The carrier plans to sell tickets as low as $50 for hour-long short-haul flights, with longer flights costing customers anywhere between $75 to $100.

Travellers looking to snag a cheap airfare can purchase flights through the Fly Bonza app or a travel agent.

Bonza CEO Tim Jordan said the airline is focused on 'average Australians' such as 'tradies, teachers, kids and carers'.

'The excitement for what we are about to deliver is palpable and the timing couldn't be better,' Mr Jordan said.

'Demand for domestic travel is high and Aussies deserve for travel to be a basic right for many, not a luxury for the few.

The budget airline will fly a total of 17 routes including 13 from its base on the Sunshine Coast (pictured)

Mr Jordan added the approval was 'historic' for the nation's aviation sector as it marked the first new major airline for Australia since the introduction of Tiger Airways in 2007.

Tiger closed down due to the travel bans during the height of the Covid lockdowns.

Bonza's flight network is expected to expand to some 27 routes - domestic, interstate and international - as the carrier's fleet and workforce grows.

Backed by US venture capital firm 777 Partners, 93 per cent of the budget carrier's destinations are not served by any other airline.

Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King said the airline was a 'welcome milestone' for the nation's aviation industry.

Ms King described Bonza's planned routes as 'underserviced' and said the low-cost fares will help with surging demand in flights after the Covid-19 pandemic.

The launch of the low budget airline has been described as a 'welcome milestone' for 'underserviced' routes (pictured, Bonza CEO Tim Jordan with airline staff)

'The entry of a new operator will boost competition in the Australian aviation sector, offering more choice to the travelling public, and putting downward pressure on fares,' Ms King said.

'I commend the staff at CASA and Bonza who have worked hard over many months to progress this certification and to ensure that Bonza meets the high safety standards required of all airlines operating in Australia.'

Bonza's fleet of planes include three Boeing 737 Max-8s, affectionately named Shazza, Bazza and Sheila.

Production of the model was recently halted after hardware and software issues resulted in two crashes and 300 deaths.

However, the aircraft has since been reapproved for flying in 135 countries and is currently being used to fly in and out of Australia by various international airlines.
Queensland plans to make it easier for people to change the sex on their birth certificates.

Currently, if people in the state want to change the gender on their birth certificates, they would have to undergo reassignment surgery.

However, the new plans from the state Labor government, which are expected to pass comfortably, will drop the surgery requirement.

They would also allow new parents to not list any gender on the documents of their newborn baby.

Queensland plans to allow new parents to not have to list any gender on the documents of their newborn baby

Annastacia Palaszczuk's government is the latest Australian state to make gender optional on birth certificates, after Tasmania became the first in 2019.

Queensland's new law means that NSW is the only state still requiring people to undergo reassignment surgery before changing birth certificates.

One of the main motivations for the law change is the cost of reassignment surgery, which is not covered by Medicare and could cost about $80,000.

If the new plans are passed, several other changes will also come into force.

Children older than 16 will soon be able to legally self-identify as a different sex without parental consent, needing just a supporting statement from an adult who has known them for at least a year.

Meanwhile, children aged 12 to 15 will require their parents' permission to change their birth certificate.

However, they can still apply to the courts if their parents do not support them.

Queensland will also not require a medical statement from a doctor or psychologist - something that is needed in Western Australia and is already adopted in South Australia, the ACT and Northern Territory.

Despite being supportive of the plan, the Queensland Law Society has warned the changes to gender could lead to problems in the court.

Law Society president Kara Thompson said: 'We seek further clarification on how verification of identity processes are to be managed in the absence of a sex descriptor appearing on a person's birth certificate, where current procedures refer to 'gender'.

'Without further consideration of the distinction between the two concepts (sex and gender), especially as applied across the current Queensland statute book, there may be unintended consequences that flow from the implementation of the bill in its current form.'

Annastacia Palaszczuk's government is the latest Australian state to make gender optional on birth certificates, after Tasmania became the first in 2019

Sally Goldner, spokeswoman for LGBTIQ lobby group Just Equal, said reforms would reduce invasion of privacy and stress.

'The reform makes life fairer and easier for trans and gender- diverse people and reduces invasion of privacy and stress due not having to constantly 'tell your story' to total strangers,' she told the Australian.

However, critics says self-identification would affect the right to privacy in female-only spaces such as toilets, change rooms and prisons.

The Australian Christian Lobby says the bill is: 'out-of-step with community expectations for parental rights and the safety of women'.

'This situation does not pass the 'pub test' and is viewed by many in the community as controversial and dangerous,' the lobby's Queensland political director, Rob Norman, wrote in a submission.

'Queenslanders have every right to question the granting of access for biological males to female-only spaces. This is neither transphobic nor irrational.'

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman slammed groups who 'will try to cloak their transphobia in the guise of women's safety'.

'I want to be clear: there is no evidence, domestically or internationally, to support these outrageous claims,' she said.

'I note the Australian Psychological Society has warned against casting undue suspicion on an individual's motives for stating a particular sex.'
A local in Alice Springs has penned a heartbreaking letter begging authorities to 'fix all this criminality' as a youth-led crime crisis sees local jails hit breaking point.

In a letter to the outback town's paper, Alex Morelli wrote that he believes the time has come for locals to fight for their safety after crime rates exploded.

'When will someone do something to fix all this criminality?' he pleaded.

'Last night, I called the police, because a woman was screaming, shouting and throwing rocks in the Eastside.

A resident in Australia's most dangerous town, Alice Springs, has penned a heartbreaking letter begging that authorities 'fix all this criminality'

Leader of the Northern Territory opposition, Lia Finocchiaro (pictured) said in a speech last month that Alice Springs businesses are closing with staff to afraid to go to work because of crime in the town

'Tonight, while I was driving along the main road (McDonald Street) a bunch of kids threw rocks at my car.'

He told Daily Mail Australia the intention of people throwing rocks was 'not like fun'.

'The way they do it, it intends to injure someone.'

Mr Morelli said Australians from other cities have no idea how dangerous Alice Springs feels.

'I lived in Brisbane, then on the Sunshine Coast, and then moved to Alice Springs. I always found Australia such a safe country, but here I am not feeling safe at all.

'When I tell people in other parts of Australia what's happening here they don't believe me.'

Youths are seen terrorizing the streets of Alice Springs as locals call for help to tackle the crime wave

As of January 2023 the outback town's only prison is stretched beyond capacity and police are forced to house convicted criminals in police stations.

Alice Springs is the only Australian town in the 20 most crime-affected locations on earth, coming 17th according to surveys collected by Numbeo.

The other towns to make the top 100 were Rockhampton at 36th, Cairns at 69th, Darwin at 79th and Townsville at 96th.

In 2022 government statistics showed Alice Springs has triple the national average for recorded assaults, 2556 per 100,000 people, compared to 790 for the whole of Australia.

Alice Spring's rates of assault represented a 36 per cent jump on the previous year.

According to several different measures Alice Springs has some of the worst crime rates in Australia.

Alice Springs is the only Australian town in the 20 most crime-affected locations on earth, coming 17th according to surveys collected by Numbeo

Domestic violence assaults went up 45 per cent, alcohol-related assaults up 46 per cent, property damage was up 54 per cent, car thefts 37 per cent and house break-ins up 24 per cent.

Leader of the Northern Territory opposition, Lia Finocchiaro said in a speech last month that Alice Springs businesses are closing with staff too afraid to go to work.

'Behind the eye-watering crime statistics are families living in fear and business owners are being pushed to the brink.'

'They are 'at breaking point because the financial, physical and emotional costs are just too much to bear.'

As of January 2023 the outback town's only prison is stretched beyond capacity and police are forced to house convicted criminals in police stations.

The Alice Springs Correctional Centre, which has reached its capacity of 650 inmates, is being expanded to add another 80 beds by the end of 2023.

'It is now evident that with the annual trend, more and more prisoners are being held within the watch house,' the jail's general manager Bill Carroll wrote in an email to staff.

Last month the ABC reported a youth crime crisis was engulfing Alice Springs.

Some of the shocking behaviour included youths driving 'head first' at police patrols in order to coax them into high-speed pursuits, the ABC reported.

Some of the young offenders were treating police interaction as a good social media content by livestreaming pursuits for their social media accounts.

In late 2020, NT Police Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole, compared the cat-and-mouse antics of Alice Spring teens to a the classic violent game Grand Theft Auto.

'Its one-upmanship type behaviour, its very much a dangerous game,' he said.

'It needs to be stopped, and it needs to be stamped out.'

Mr Morelli believes it's time for Alice Springs locals to hit the streets to make a point publicly about the safety issues they face.

'It's time to protest and demonstrate against this current situation!' Mr Morelli said.

'Lots of people are leaving for that reason, and the town is become even more unliveable.'
A Mongols bikie has been convicted of displaying a club tattoo on his forehead despite vehemently arguing that a make-up malfunction was to blame and not him.

Brendan Luke Sacca, 40, was at a bar in Northbridge, Perth, with a fellow club member in May last year when gang crime officers arrested and charged him for displaying the 'Mongols Nation' tattoo located on his forehead.

At his trial in Perth Magistrates Court on Monday, Sacca said he had covered the tattoo with make-up but it must have worn away and he was unaware the bikie gang insignia was visible.

Senior Constable Lorne Buchan from the gang crime squad testified he was called to the venue around 10.40pm and when he arrived the tattoo could be seen 'clearly' on the front of his head.

In body-worn footage played to the court, the officer is seen questioning Sacca as to the Mongols tattoo to which he responds, 'I did have make-up on, it must've come off.'

Mongols bikie Brendan Luke Sacca (pictured) has been convicted of displaying a club tattoo on his forehead during a night out despite vehemently arguing that a makeup malfunction was to blame and not him

In court Sen Cnst Buchan testified he could not see any make-up on Sacca's forehead, reported The West Australian.

Sacca was prosecuted under WA's tough new anti-bikie laws, which came into force in December, 2021 to prevent unlawful consorting between offenders, prohibit display of insignia of identified organisations in public, and gave police powers to disperse gang members who gather together in public places.

Sacca's lawyer Nick Scerri attempted to prove the bikie member was unaware the Mongols ink was visible.

Testifying in court, Sacca stated he was under the impression the insignia laws meant his tattoos 'should be covered to the best of your ability' in public and therefore his partner at the time purchased a foundation for him to use to cover it up.

He said she would help him apply it, until they split. Since then another female friend had helped him apply it.

However, on the night he was escorted from the Perth bar, Sacca stated he applied it himself.

Sacca was at a bar in Northbridge, Perth, with a fellow club member in May last year when gang crime officers arrested and charged him for displaying his 'Mongols Nation' tattoo on his head. In Perth Magistrates court on Monday, he was convicted and fined $500

Sacca's friend, Natalie Gage, testified she often helped him apply his make-up, stating she had done it 'over 10 times' and even went as far as to say she had given him tips and lessons on how to apply it.

She stated he took the process 'seriously' and the reason she didn't help him on the night in question was that she had Mother's Day plans.

Ms Gage also mentioned her friend was known to 'sweat a lot' and therefore the make-up can come off.

Magistrate Richard Huston ultimately agreed with police prosecutors who argued Sacca did not apply any make-up that night.

Sacca was found guilty and was fined $500.
An angry resident has blasted a newly engaged couple for leaving her local beach covered with 'disgraceful' plastic rose petals, sharp stakes and rubbish after a romantic proposal.

The woman took to social media to complain about the amount of rubbish left on the south end of Balmoral Beach in Sydney's affluent Lower North Shore.

She asked members of community page Mosman Living if they had spotted the pair or captured a photo of the special moment on Sunday afternoon.

'Did anyone catch the contact details or take a photo of the engagement that happened on the south end of Balmoral yesterday afternoon?' she wrote.

'They left behind all of their trash, hundreds of plastic rose petals, sharp stakes sticking out of the sand and zip ties everywhere, just metres from our beautiful ocean. What a way to celebrate love hey?'

The woman took to social media to complain about the amount of rubbish left on the south end of Balmoral Beach in Sydney's affluent Lower North Shore over the weekend

The fired-up resident posted several photos of the rubbish used in the proposal, as well as empty bottles and food wrappers other people had left behind.

She posted a video showing how dozens of white plastic rose petals had been left in the sand just metres from the water's edge.

'So someone got proposed too yesterday, at Balmoral Beach,' she wrote.

'And look at the rubbish they left behind, this is absolutely disgraceful.'

The woman finished her rant with an important message for beachgoers.

'Nature is not just your background, it is a living being that needs care. We are LUCKY to experience life in a place that is so beautiful, but it only stays that way if you don't make it worse with your presence,' she wrote.

The woman said residents were lucky to live in a place that is so beautiful but urged people to respect nature and dispose of their rubbish thoughtfully (pictured is Balmoral Beach)

The woman said the newly engaged couple left behind 'hundreds of plastic rose petals' and that there were 'sharp stakes sticking out of the sand and zip ties everywhere'

'If you are going to enjoy it, take some responsibility and don't trash it. It's really not that hard.'

The resident posted photos of the rubbish, as well as several pictures of rubbish from other locations to the Facebook page Mosman Environment Group.

'Feeling very overwhelmed with the amount of trash that's being left behind at Balmoral over the weekend,' she wrote.

'It's really great that we have a team of cleaners who go through and help every morning but there's still so much that's left behind and especially broken glass.'

The woman posted a photo of an empty ice cream contained left behind a bench in Mosman

The woman posted several photos to a local community page alongside a fiery rant directed at people who failed to properly dispose of their rubbish

The woman's concerns were quickly validated by hundreds of other residents who expressed their disgust in the comments.

'So tacky - what a way to begin married life - in a dumpster fire of trash and disrespect. Good luck to them - they're going to need it,' one woman wrote.

'I wonder who they thought was going to clean up after them. Fortunately most people are more responsible and respectful,' another wrote.

'Often when someone complains on this page I find myself rolling my eyes but this... This is disgusting and I hope they receive a fine. Plastic rose petals shouldn't be produced in the first place. What a waste,' a third commented.

The resident posted photos of the engagement rubbish, as well as several pictures of trash from other locations (pictured), to the Facebook page Mosman Environment Group

A man said he had witnessed similar scenes at nearby Middle Head - a lookout spot in Sydney Harbour National Park popular with tourists.

'There was a large group taking wedding photos. They were there a while and were eating McDonald's. When they were done they just got up and left all their half-eaten food and rubbish behind,' he said.

'They threatened violence when I dumped the rubbish at their feet in the car park. I find it astounding that a group of people would seek out a beautiful location for this type of thing but fail to understand the consequences of their actions.'
A 14-year-old Texas girl has been charged with murder after shooting dead an 11-year-old boy with a stray bullet during a fight with another girl.

Cops were called to the Cedar Crest area of Dallas at around 2pm on Sunday to reports of a shooting at Southern Oaks Apartments.

They learnt two girls were fighting in the parking lot and one of them, a 14-year-old, 'retrieved a handgun and fired toward the direction of the female she was fighting,' said Sergeant Warren Mitchell of Dallas Police Department.

She missed, and instead shot D'evan McFall. He was taken to hospital, but died of his injuries.

D'evan McFall, aged 11, was shot and killed by a 14-year-old girl on Sunday at a Dallas housing complex amid an argument between two girls

Dallas police said the incident was 'a beef between two juveniles that led to a deadly outcome'

Sergeant Warren Mitchell of Dallas Police Department (pictured) said it was a 'horrible incident'

The 14-year-old ran away to a neighboring housing complex, but was seen running away and was arrested, ABC News reported, and has been charged.

She is currently being held at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center. Police did not say whether the lived in the housing complex, and where she got the gun.

'This is a horrible incident,' said Mitchell. He said homicide detectives have obtained the murder weapon, and were speaking with witnesses.

He said they did not suspect gang activity, but it was 'a beef between two juveniles that led to a deadly outcome'.

Dallas police are pictured combing the scene of Sunday's shooting

Police in Dallas were called to the apartment complex in the Cedar Crest district, south of downtown, on Sunday afternoon

The death comes a week after a six-year-old boy in Newport News, Virginia took a gun from his home, brought it to school and shot his teacher.

Abigail Zwerner, 25, was shot in the chest by the child. Her injuries were initially described as life-threatening, but she is now in a stable condition.
A former intelligence official who signed onto the infamous letter claiming Hunter Biden's laptop had the markings of Russian disinformation now says a 'significant portion' of the documents found 'had to be real.'

Still, Douglas Wise, a former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, told The Australian he did not regret signing on to the October 2020 letter of 51 former intelligence officials doubting the authenticity of the laptop.

Wise explained: 'All of us figured that a significant portion of that content had to be real to make any Russian disinformation credible.'

He also said he was 'not surprised' when the laptop, which Hunter had left at a Delaware repair shop before the owner turned it over to the FBI and Donald Trump's then-lawyer Rudy Giuliani, was authenticated.

DailyMail.com authenticated the laptop in 2021, mainstream outlets like CBS, the Washington Post and the New York Times followed suit in 2022.

Douglas Wise, a former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, told The Australian he did not regret signing on to the October 2020 letter of 51 former intelligence officials doubting the authenticity of the laptop.

The first son's laptop contained lewd photos documenting his drug-fueled benders, details of his shady international business dealings and emails where Hunter appeared to be selling access to his then-vice president father. Above is Joe Biden, Beau Biden - Hunter's son - and Hunter on July 4, 2022

Wise downplayed the influence of the letter, which the White House at the time touted and used as cover to play up the possibility the laptop could be the work of the Russians.

'The letter said it had the earmarks of Russian deceit and we should consider that as a possibility; it did not say Hunter Biden was a good guy, it didn't say what he did was right and it wasn't exculpatory, it was just a cautionary letter.'

He went on: 'I don't regret signing it because the context is important.'

'Remember Giuliani had just been in Ukraine trying to dig up evidence on the Bidens and he met with a known Russian intelligence official,' he said, apparently referring to pro-Moscow Ukrainian politician Andriy Derkach.

The letter came five days after the New York Post first reported on the laptop's contents, which contained lewd photos documenting Hunter's drug-fueled benders, details of his shady international business dealings and emails where Hunter appeared to be selling access to his then-vice president father.

Wise added that the laptop's 'chain of custody' could have left it open to being compromised.

'Russians or even ill-intended conservative elements could have planted stuff in there,' he said.

The letter, also signed by former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former Director of National intelligence James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan, said there are 'factors that make us suspicious of Russian involvement.'

'The arrival on the US political scene of emails purportedly belonging to Vice President Biden's son Hunter, much of it related to his time serving on the Board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma, has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,' the two-page letter read.

One of the photos found on Hunter Biden's laptop

Images such as above were found on the laptop after Hunter left it at a Delaware computer repair shop

Hunter Biden's search history reveals an obsession with porn including incest fantasies, '18yrs old', 'lonely widow' porn, 'MILF crack cocaine porn', as well as instructions on how to hack a lover's cell phone and repeated google searches of himself

Hunter Biden is photographed with a gun after lying on a gun application about doing drugs

'We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails  are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement,' it continued.

The letter also makes reference to 'our view that the Russians are involved in the Hunter Biden email issue' and concludes, 'it is high 8me that Russia stops interfering in our democracy.'

The laptop bombshell was originally restricted on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Details of their decision to restrict news that could damage Biden just ahead of the election have trickled out through Elon Musk's release of the Twitter Files.

Wise's comments come as House Republicans put the Biden family in their crosshairs. The House Oversight Committee last week launched an investigation into the Biden family's business dealings, and how much Joe was involved in Hunter's work.

Republicans also established the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Federal Government, which is expected to probe reports the FBI slow-walked the investigation into the the revelations of the laptop and pressured Twitter to censor the story.
Anthony Albanese's government is set to welcome 300,000 migrants to Australia this year - raising fears of increased pressure on housing, hospitals and schools.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers admitted the forecast of 235,000 migrants made in October's budget is likely to be dwarfed as high labour shortages entice foreign workers to the country.

The government has also been working to cut down the huge visa backlog - making the country even more appealing to migrants.

It has announced an increase in the number of places available for skilled migrants, the number of places in the Skilled Stream rising from 79,600 to 142,400.

It will prioritise processing for skilled visa applications through 2023 and also introduced post-study work rights and unlimited work hours for international students.

Dr Chalmers said on Monday: 'It is a reasonable assumption the number that's printed in the budget for [2022-23] may be higher than 235,000.

'We've got serious skills shortages and labour shortages in our economy that are acting as a handbrake.'

Angela Knox, Associate Professor of Work and Organisation at Sydney University, told Daily Mail Australia that the influx of migrants could cause serious short term problems.

The government has also been working to cut down the huge visa backlog - making the country even more appealing to migrants

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'In the short term, it would put additional pressure on housing and schools and hospitals, which are already struggling,' she explained.

She also suggested that the total number of migrants could exceed 300,000 - but warned the government would need to be mindful of the local labour market.

'The government are conscious of the tension between the domestic labour market and the introduction of any migrant workers and the consequences that that might have.

'The government is also relatedly very conscious that it is not using temporary migrant workers as a substitute for skill development and training needs in the local labour market.

'So they will monitor what's happening very closely and make adjustments on that basis.'

Dr Knox also warned that the government would need to ensure the current visa backlog is tackled.

'It will be really important to ensure that there are sufficient staff and workflows in place to enable efficient visas, issuing visas. We don't want that backlog to be further exacerbated.

'So there will be a response that's required in order to ensure that is an efficient process.'

However, she also said that increased numbers of migrants could eventually end up tackling the problem.

A total of 365,900 temporary visa holders left the country between 2019 and 2021 after then-prime minister Scott Morrison told them to leave

'Those problems are already occurring, and we need to take action in order to resolve them,' she said.

'And one way in which we can do that in a very immediate sense is by bringing in temporary migrants, so it is a way in which we can address the existing problems that we have.'

Immigration expert and former Immigration Department deputy secretary Abul Rizvi said the 300,000 migrants this financial year would be driven by a spike in visa applications for international students in 2022, and a large excess of visitors .

'The excess of visitor arrivals, minus the number departing, is the biggest difference we've ever had,' Mr Rizvi told the AFR.

A total of 365,900 temporary visa holders left the country between 2019 and 2021 after then-prime minister Scott Morrison told them to leave.

Some 220,000 temporary visa holders have come into the country since the start of 2022 with applications to be processed.

There is a backlog of 872,000 visa applications yet to be approved by the government and another 2.22 million that have been made since June 1.
Donald Trump's posts on his social media network show 'desperation' and indicate he knows he will be charged with mishandling classified information, a former federal prosecutor has claimed.

Glenn Kirschner analyzed Trump's recent Truth Social posts on Sunday, for viewers of his YouTube channel.

In the posts Trump attacked the investigator probing his handling of classified information and calls him a 'Trump hating thug', likens the FBI to the Gestapo and accuses the Justice Department of harassment.

Kirschner, who has 30 years of trial experience and served as an army prosecutor before joining the DC US Attorney's Office, said he was not a psychologist - but was 'pretty good at spotting signs of desperation and consciousness of guilt when I see them'.

Trump's handling of classified information is currently being investigated by special counsel Jack Smith - and Kirschner said he believes Trump expects to face charges.

'He sounds desperate, he sounds scared, he sounds like he knows indictments are coming and there's nothing he can do to stop them,' he said.

Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor in DC and with the U.S. Army, on Sunday analyzed Donald Trump's posts on Truth Social

Kirschner pointed to a post on Truth Social on Saturday, in which Trump wrote: 'How come the Biden 'Prosecutor' is a nice guy, very friendly with Democrats and RINOS alike, close to Christopher Wray, & pretty much liked & known by everybody, while my 'Prosecutor' is a Radical Left Trump HATING Lunatic, whose wife & family get a perfect '10' for spewing Trump HATE, & whose 'friends' are the most evil, angry, & disgusting Marxists & Communists in & around Government?

'They are GRILLING innocent people in Grand Juries for hours, all to 'get Trump.' These are Sick Thugs!'

He added: 'What Biden did was wrong, but he was given a reasonable and stable Special Counsel who is sane, inclined not to make waves, friendly with RINOS, and is not known as a flame-throwing lunatic or a Biden hater.

'What I did was RIGHT, Secured documents in a secured place, lock on the doors, guards and Secret Service all around, security cameras working.

'Mar-a-Lago is essentially an armed fort, and was built that way in the 1920's, with High Walls & structure to serve as the Southern W.H..

'I was President of the U.S. and covered and protected by the Presidential Records Act, which is not criminal and allows and encourages you to talk to the NARA, which we were, very nicely, until the FBI, who it is now learned has been after me for years without pause or question, RAIDED Mar-a-Lago, a stupid and probably Illegal thing to do. As President, I have the right to declassify documents, Biden did not. Special 'Prosecutor' Jack Smith, however, is a Trump Hating political Thug..

'THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON AGAINST ME FOR YEARS. THE FBI & THE DEPARTMENT OF INJUSTICE ARE CROOKED, CORRUPT, & BROKEN (just look at the Lunatic Radical Left Prosecutor they gave me, but not Hopeless Joe, Twitter Files & the RIGGED 2020 Presidential Election, the Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX, & all the rest!). OUR COUNTRY IS IN SERIOUS TROUBLE, NO BORDERS, NO VOTER I.D., NO ENERGY INDEPENDENCE. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS NOT BEEN SMART & TOUGH, BUT MAYBE THEY WILL BE NOW. GOOD LUCK AMERICA!!!'

In another post, he added: 'The Boxes Hoax Case against me should be dropped immediately. I have done nothing wrong!'

Trump, seen at Mar-a-Lago before Christmas, is expecting to be indicted, Kirschner claimed

Jack Smith has been appointed as a special counsel to investigate Trump's handling of classified documents

The rant continued to Monday, with Trump likening the FBI to the Gestapo.

'The FBI (Fake Bureau of Investigation) & the Department of Injustice, together with the Trump Hating Thug, Jack Smith, are interviewing, harassing, and subpoenaing people that work for me relative to the BOXES HOAX, & the 'Peacefully & Patriotically' speech I made at the January 6th protest of the Rigged and Stollen Presidential Election, where so many have been treated horribly and Unconstitutionally. This is a Gestapo type operation! Are they doing this to the Biden people? I don't think so!'

Kirschner said his words showed desperation, noting while he may feel the capital letters make the post 'extra persuasive', it showed fear.

'In fact, it really just signals desperation,' Kirschner said.

Kirschner noted Trump's own social media network, Truth Social, has a far smaller reach than Twitter, which he was banned from after the January 6 riot.

Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has invited Trump back, but the former president insists he is standing by his own home-made alternative, even though his posts are only seen by thousands of followers, rather than hundreds of millions.

'In a very real sense, Donald Trump is both figuratively and literally screaming into the void,' said Kirschner.

'I suggest that what we can glean from these unhinged desperate posts of Donald Trump is that he knows indictments are coming, and he knows he is powerless to stop them.'

Trump's team dismissed Kirschner's analysis. 'Glenn is a notorious trafficker of wild conspiracy theories and dubious legal analysis,' a spokesman told Newsweek.

They added: 'I would expect nothing more from a clout-chasing MSNBC contributor.'
A woman has been hailed a hero for rescuing a floundering Aussie native animal from a backyard swimming pool.

In a video uploaded to TikTok, Shan Croc, 38, is seen scrambling around her pool after spotting an echidna trying to figure out how to escape.

The prickly monotreme somehow managed to navigate the pool fence and fall into the water at Ms Croc's property in Muckadilla, in regional Queensland.

Shan Croc, 38, has been hailed a hero for rescuing a floundering Aussie native animal from a backyard swimming pool with a pool scooper

Ms Croc is then seen rushing to help, picking up a pool net and scooping the Aussie icon out of the pool.

While rescuing the prickly creature Ms Croc is heard reassuring the echidna saying, 'I'm coming to save you' and 'It's okay, it's okay'.

Despite many praising her actions, others thought she was more concerned with the social media content than saving the echidna.

'I'm going to save you! Grabs a phone and does a lap of the pool,' one person commented.

'I'm going to save you, but only once I have grabbed my phone for Tik Tok content,' a second wrote.

The prickly monotreme navigated the pool fence and fell into the water at Shan Croc's property in Muckadilla, in regional Queensland before needing help to be lifted to safety

Ms Croc named the echidna 'Ian' and said, 'I am starting to wonder if I wrecked his New Years resolution'

However, many users thanked her for saving the echidna and also chipped in saying echidnas are such strong swimmers so there was 'no rush'.

Others commented that people in areas where echidnas live should install wildlife ladders as a way for the natives to rescue themselves from pools.

Ms Croc has since filmed the echidna she named 'Ian' again on her property saying, 'he might of been heading back for more laps'.

'I am starting to wonder if I wrecked his New Years resolution,' Ms Croc jovially commented.

Echidnas are known to be strong swimmers, with some scientists believing they are evolved from noted water lovers, platypuses.
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In March 2021, the home she shared with ex-husband was raided

Pictured: Dayna Isaac and her now ex-husband, Mikkel Isaac

A loving mother-of-two had only recently split with her husband, who is behind bars on remand for alleged drug supply, before she was allegedly murdered by her new boyfriend.

Dayna Isaac, 28, was found dead inside her Colless Street unit in Penrith, western Sydney, at about 4.15pm on Monday by her new boyfriend Paul Sultana's mother.

Police had been called to the 28-year-old's home at 2.30pm to a 'disturbance' before finding her car burned out in bushland 13km away, near Castlereagh.

Sultana, 32, was charged with her murder on Tuesday afternoon. He will face Penrith Local Court on Wednesday morning.

Ms Isaac's alleged murder comes less than two years after she separated from her now ex-husband Mikkel Isaac.

The married couple were living in Bathurst, 200km west of Sydney, when they were arrested in March 2021.

He has since vowed to 'look after our girls until we meet again'.

Police had raided their home during a drug bust and slapped both with a string of drug-related charges.

Ms Isaac's charges were eventually downgraded to taking part in supplying a prohibited drug and supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis.

Mikkel Isaac vowed to look after their two daughters following the tragic death of his ex-wife (pictured together)

She was granted bail in Bathurst Local Court however her bail came at a devastating cost to her relationship - with the judge freeing her from jail on the condition she not contact her husband, or the four others who were arrested in the raids.

Less than two years later, Ms Isaac was allegedly murdered by her new boyfriend inside her Penrith apartment.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Ms Isaac's ex-husband was involved in her death.

Her ex-husband was charged with 33 offences following the raid and is still in police custody.

While some of his charges were withdrawn, Mr Isaac remains accused of supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis, supplying a pistol without a dealer, acquiring a prohibited firearm, and driving a vehicle with a suspended license.

He was denied bail on December 9 and will appear in Penrith District Court on February 3.

Ms Isaac's boyfriend, Paul Sultana, 32, (pictured) has been charged with the mother-of-two's murder

Dayna Isaac was walked down the aisle by her dad Garry English (pictured together) on her wedding day in 2017

The former couple got married in 2017 and have two young daughters together, who were not with their mother when she died.

He has since posted an emotional message on Facebook, explaining that the pair had maintained a good relationship.

'Love you forever and always. I promise Ill look after our girls until we meet again my angel,' Mr Isaac wrote.

Mr Isaac, who refurbishes used cars, also has two primary school-aged sons.

On March 8 2021, two days before the Isaacs' home was raided, the couple were jokingly trying to 'sell' each other in local buy and sell groups on Facebook.

In the post, Mr Isaac uploaded a photo of he and his wife and wrote, 'Due to running out of money to build cars have to sell something worth money as I don't want to sell any of my cars so I thought I'll list my wife up'.

'Open to offers of interest price is 50k no lower as she has low k's (kilometres) always up to date with all service does cook clean really well.'

The former couple got married in 2017 and have two young daughters together. Dayna Isaac is pictured on her wedding day

Two days before their home was raided, the couple were jokingly trying to 'sell' each other in local buy and sell groups on Facebook (pictured)

Close friends laughed in the comments, joking his wife was worth significantly more than $50,000.

Ms Isaac wrote the comment, 'I think you need to edit the ad "after seeing this post no longer puts out", before she published her own 'for sale' ad in another local group.

'Husband - free to good home,' she wrote, above a photo of them together.

'Doesn't cook doesn't clean, never changes toilet roll. Steers ok but box is slipping. Honestly doesn't even have to go to a good home, would consider paying you to take him off my hands.

'Only good thing about him is he's a good dad but doesn't come with the kids. Serious offers only.'

Ms Isaac was prohibited from contacting her husband, and their six co-accused, following their arrest in March 2021.

Earlier on Monday afternoon, police had received reports of a disturbance at the home between 2.30pm and 3pm on Monday.

Mikkel Isaac shared a series of photos from their wedding six years ago, including one of him pulling off the bride's garter

Police are seen at the unit block after Ms Isaac's body was found on Monday afternoon

Dayna Isaac (pictured) was hit with drug supply charges almost two years before she tragically died in her unit

A neighbour had phoned police to report a 'disturbance' from Ms Isaac's home but when officers turned up at the unit, nobody answered the door and they left.

Officers found Ms Isaac's car burned out in bushland at 3.45pm, 13km away from her home near Castlereagh, in the city's north-west.

Half-an-hour later, Ms Isaac's body was discovered by Mr Sultana's mother, who had gone to check on her, police say.

She then drove to Penrith Police Station and reported her horror find to officers.

Mr Sultana was arrested at about 3.25am on Tuesday and was charged with her murder.

He will face Penrith Local Court on Wednesday.

NSW Police Acting Superintendent Carlene Mahoney said he and Ms Isaac had been friends for a long time and only started dating in recent months.

Specialist forensic police are examining the home and what remains of the vehicle

Mikkel Isaac (left) paid tribute to his ex-wife Dayna (right) on Tuesday night and shared several photos from their wedding day in 2017

'Police were informed that there was a disturbance at the premises and they did attend and they later identified that the deceased was at the premises,' Superintendent Mahoney said.

A friend of the mother-of-two said she was the 'most beautiful, kind-hearted and selfless' person she had ever met.

'She lit up the room and was the life of the party,' the woman, who requested anonymity, told Daily Mail Australia.

'She was an amazing doting mother to two beautiful girls who absolutely adored her, and I am so so proud to call her not just my friend, but my sister.'

Another friend wrote to Facebook: 'RIP gorgeous girl, I'll miss you'.

Pictured is the apartment block where Ms Isaac was found dead

Those living in the area have been rattled by the news about the death of their neighbour.

One local resident said she saw police cars lined up the street when she arrived home on Monday afternoon.

'I just heard the news, I was shocked,' she said.

'This area is pretty quiet, you don't hear about much happening around here. It tends to be more in Cranebrook.'

Another woman who lives in the same building as Ms Isaac said she woke up this morning to the property taped off and police officers scouring the site.

'It was quite scary, I was at work yesterday and found out over Facebook a woman had died in my street,' she said.

'When I came home late last night there was only one police officer there, but when I came out of the building this morning they were everywhere.'

Police are urging anyone who may have information that could assist detectives to come forward and contact Penrith Police station or Crime Stoppers.
Jeremy Renner's condition is far more severe than had been previously reported following his snowplow accident, friends of the actor say.

Renner was helping a stranded family member whose car broke down close to his mansion near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, when a 14,330-pound snowplow ran over him.

At the time, Renner's representatives said he had suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries and was in a critical but stable condition after surgery.

However, friends now say that Renner's injuries are much worse than feared and that he 'nearly bled out' and 'almost died' while waiting for help to arrive.

Jeremy Renner's condition is 'much worse than anyone knows' after being injured by a snowplow

The Avengers star posted a photo of a snow covered mansion on Monday, writing: 'Missing my happy place...'

'It's much worse than anyone knows. Jeremy is very aware of the fact that he almost died out there,' a source told RadarOnline.

'The right side of Jeremy's chest was crushed, and his upper torso had collapsed. He also had a bad head wound that was bleeding and a leg injury.'

The actor is reportedly aware of the extent of his injuries and has a long road to recovery ahead of him, with friends saying it could take up to two years before he is back in fighting shape.

'Jeremy was in a lot of pain, and was having difficulty breathing,' a source told RadarOnline. 'He knew he was in bad shape and that he might not make it out of this.

The Hurt Locker actor has been hospitalized since New Year's Day when he was airlifted to a medical facility after being 'completely crushed' by the snowplow. He is seen driving a plow in an old video posted on Instagram

Renner was trying to help a family member whose vehicle was trapped in the snow on New Year's Day when he was run over by his snowplow

Renner shared hospital footage of what appeared to be him getting wheeled in for either a CT scan or an MRI on Friday. Captioning the video, Renner wrote: 'I wish you all a very special night'

'Word is the damage to Jeremy's chest was so substantial it had to be reconstructed in surgery,' the source continued.

'So far, he's had two surgeries and he will likely require more in the weeks ahead on his leg. Doctors tend to space out operations to allow time for the body's natural healing process to kick in, and that's the case here.'

Renner's family members have been by his side including his mother Cearley and sister Kym, since the accident. They are helping to keep him entertained while the actor heals.

'Jeremy's doing OK. He's pretty doped up and he's got tubes to help him breathe, but he's a fighter, and he's determined to get through this.'

On Monday Renner shared a photo of snowy setting in Lake Tahoe on social media.

A social media post about season two of Mayor of Kingstown gave friends and fans another opportunity to share their good wishes

The 52-year-old Mayor Of Kingstown actor said he was missing his 'happy place'.

Last week his sister, Kym, told People that he is working hard to restore his health with therapy in a hospital.

'If anyone knows Jeremy, he is a fighter and doesn't mess around,' she said.

'He is crushing all the progress goals. We couldn't feel more positive about the road ahead.'

The second season of the action star's gritty drama, Mayor Of Kingstown, debuted on Paramount+ Sunday night, and a post about in on social media gave his friends and fans an opportunity to send more good wishes his way.

The beloved star underwent two surgeries to place metal pins around his legs, along with chest surgery, after being left in critical condition following the frightening incident

The actor was airlifted to a medical facility after being 'completely crushed' by a seven-ton snow plow at his cabin in Lake Tahoe at around 10am on New Years Day while attempting to tow a vehicle stuck in the snow.

He underwent surgery on January 2 and has remained in the intensive care unit ever since.

The beloved star, who celebrated his 52nd birthday in the ICU on Saturday, underwent two surgeries to place metal pins around his legs, along with chest surgery, after being left in critical condition following the frightening incident.

Since his hospitalization, Renner has continued to share his personal updates to fans and followers on social media, which began with a selfie he had taken while resting in the ICU.

Renner was airlifted to a local hospital near his Lake Tahoe cabin shortly after the accident had occurred

Renner is pictured at his home in 2017. He has told in the past of having to clear away the snow to gain access to the $3.25million property

Notable bruises could be seen on his face, and the actor penned in the caption, 'Thank you all for your kind words. I'm too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all.'

He later shared a clip of himself being pampered by his supportive sister and mother as he received a relaxing scalp massage.

'A 'not no great' ICU Day, turned to amazing spa day with my sis and mama. Thank you soooooo much,' he penned in the caption of a tweet.

On Friday the Marvel star shared hospital footage of what appeared to be him getting wheeled in for either a CT scan or MRI on Friday.

Captioning the video of him getting wheeled toward a large high-tech imaging machine, Renner wrote: 'I wish you all a very special night.'
British Gas has triggered a price war on heat pumps, which are set to replace gas boilers for central heating.

The move, coupled with a raft of government incentives, will bring down the starting cost to 2,999 in England and Wales. Normally, the cost of installing an air source heat pump would be 8,000, depending on the size of the property.

Heat pumps draw warmth from the outside air and run on electricity, an increasing proportion of which comes from green sources such as wind and solar power.

Energy minister Lord Callanan said: With offers like this, alongside government incentives such as slashing VAT on heat pump installation to zero, government and industry can work together in helping more homeowners to see these benefits in 2023 and beyond.

Heat pumps draw warmth from the outside air and run on electricity, an increasing proportion of which comes from green sources such as wind and solar power

The promised price war means the green heat pumps could cost around the same as the installation of a new gas boiler.

The move is expected to speed the introduction of the home heat pumps which are seen as instrumental in cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing reliance on imports of foreign gas.

The Government wants to rapidly increase the number of heat pumps being installed, as part of efforts to replace gas boilers to cut carbon emissions.

The installation price is made possible via the governments Boiler Upgrade Scheme that was launched last year and offers a 5,000 grant towards the cost of installing air source heat pumps via an accredited engineer.

British Gass lowest price offer would apply to the mechanical and electrical installation of an air source heat pump with a maximum capacity of 7 kW working in tandem with a standard water cylinder measured at up to 200ltr.

Research commissioned by the company as part of its British Gas Net Zero Index study published late last year identified the need to encourage heat pump use as a more energy efficient alternative to natural gas boilers.

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Andrew Middleton, managing director of British Gas Net Zero, said that heat pumps were expected to play an essential role to decarbonise the UK housing stock.

Despite this potential, Mr Middleton said that the company recognised the importance of making heat pumps more affordable at a time where households were having to be cautious with spending.

He said: Supporting our customers in lowering their emissions at home is at the forefront of our plans and we need to make sure it is affordable and accessible so that no one is left behind.

We are committed to working with governments, regulators and legislators to ensure we have the right policies and frameworks in place to achieve this.

Our engineers have installed over 8,000 electric car charging points, have installed over 2,300 heat pumps and are improving insulation and providing solar panels around the country each day.
Foreign minister's trip focuses on Middle East peace, growth

By Zhang Yunbi (China Daily) 09:20, January 17, 2023

Foreign Minister Qin Gang (second from left) meets for talks with Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul-Gheit (second from right) in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday. WANG DONGZHEN/XINHUA

Qin urges respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity

China's Middle East policy, the Palestine issue and prospects for China-Arab cooperation were high on the agenda of Foreign Minister Qin Gang's trip to Egypt.

When meeting with reporters, along with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, in Cairo on Sunday, Qin elaborated on China's Middle East policy.

China believes that the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries in the region should be respected, and it encourages dialogue and consultation among them to seek solutions to major issues, he said.

Beijing urges more support for the development of countries in the region and greater unity in the fight against terrorism, he added.

Countries outside the region are urged to avoid intervening in regional countries' domestic affairs, seeking unilateralism or creating divides among cultures, he warned.

Speaking on the Palestine issue, Qin said that the stalled Israel-Palestine peace talks and the failure to achieve a two-state solution are behind the frequent escalation of the situation.

The international community should "increase its sense of urgency and prioritize the Palestine issue on the international agenda" to push for resumption of the peace talks and a fair and lasting solution to the Palestine issue based on the two-state solution, he said.

"Major countries with great influence should shoulder their responsibility for this," he said.

Beijing calls on the parties involved to exercise calm and restraint, and avoid further escalation of tension, and Israel in particular should stop any provocations and any unilateral moves that may worsen the situation, he added.

Wu Bingbing, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at Peking University, said, "There are two basic elements behind China's positions on Middle East. First, is to resolve issues through a peaceful, diplomatic approach and the second is to focus on the role of development in security issues and boost security through growth."

Dong Manyuan, a senior fellow on Middle East studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said China has offered a series of proposals and fresh ideas on issues in the Middle East, and has sent special envoys on mediating missions in the region.

"All these efforts constitute tangible actions responding to the prevailing questions among Arab states about peace," he added.

Egypt was the final destination of Qin's five-stop new year visit to the African continent, which started on Jan 9.

As the capital of an Arab state and an African country, Cairo is also home to the headquarters of the League of Arab States.

Further advancing China-Arab cooperation in various fields was high on the agenda when Qin met on Sunday with Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, secretary-general of the League of Arab States.

The secretary-general expressed appreciation for China's longstanding dedication to international justice and its support for Arab countries' growth and the group's unity.

Over a month ago, China and Arab states held their first leaders' summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where a landmark outline was issued of a comprehensive cooperation plan encompassing 182 cooperative measures in 18 fields such as politics, the economy, trade and investment.

At the summit, President Xi Jinping also proposed eight major joint actions for China-Arab pragmatic cooperation, covering eight areas including development, security, along with 56 detailed cooperative measures.

Speaking to reporters, Qin said China will build effective working mechanisms with the Arab states to implement these cooperative measures.

When talking about the consensus reached between Beijing and Cairo during his visit to Egypt, Qin said the two sides agreed to further their mutual support on issues involving their core interests and major concerns, and expand cultural exchanges.

The two countries will work closer on pushing for the political settlement of regional hot spot issues and jointly promote the common interests of developing countries, he added.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
Labor's attorney-general has been exposed as knowing nothing about his government's flagship Indigenous Voice to Parliament policy after being forced to answer a basic question by reading a colleague's tweet on live television.

Appearing on ABC TV's 7.30 show on Monday night, Mark Dreyfus was asked about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament by chief political correspondent Laura Tingle - and looked down at what must have been his phone 21 times in just one minute as he answered her questions.

What he was doing was reading almost word for word from a series of tweets posted by his colleague, Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney, on Sunday night.

And at no point did Mr Dreyfus indicate that he was reading from notes or credit Ms Burney for the content he was using.

And at no point did Mark Dreyfus indicate that he was reading from notes or credit his colleague Linda Burney (pictured)

'It appears the art of copying has made its way to Canberra,' 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham said in exposing the attorney general on Tuesday morning.

'When he was asked about the lack of detail (about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament), Mark Dreyfus kept looking down at the desk ...

'In the space of 60 seconds, he looked down at his notes 21 times,' Fordham said.

'Mark Dreyfus, the highest law officer in the land, was reading, virtually word for word, from a tweet that was written by someone else.

'He was ripping off someone else's homework.'

Fordham told his listeners that Ms Burney published tweets about the Voice on Sunday night and laid out her thoughts as dot points.

'In one tweet, she had three points. Point 1 - Linda Burney wrote "The Voice will provide independent advice to Parliament and Government."'

Fordham then played a clip of Mr Dreyfus saying the same thing, word for word.

The second dot point from Ms Burney said 'The Voice will be chosen by First Nations people based on the wishes of local communities.'

Mr Dreyfus said the almost identical 'It's going to be chosen by First Nations people based on the wishes of local communities.'

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has been accused of 'plagiarism' for reciting tweets (pictured) by Linda Burney without crediting her work

Poll Do you understand the Indigenous Voice to Parliament? Yes No Do you understand the Indigenous Voice to Parliament? Yes 84 votes

No 1698 votes Now share your opinion





Ms Burney's third dot point said 'The Voice will be representative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.'

Mr Dreyfus said on ABC that 'It's going to be representative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.'

Fordham was not impressed: 'Mark, you're not even trying. It's all copied directly from a social media post from your colleague Linda Burney.

'The Attorney-General can't answer basic questions without the cheat sheet.'

In a second tweet, Ms Burney added another three, numbered dot points.

Mark Dreyfus (pictured) was asked about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and then looked down 21 times in 60 seconds to read from notes

They were: 4) The Voice will be empowering, community-led, inclusive, respectful, culturally informed and gender balanced. It will also include youth.

5) The Voice will be accountable and transparent. 6) The Voice will work alongside existing organisations and traditional structures.

On 7.30, Mr Dreyfus again recited those lines almost word for word and made the points in the exact same order, and also did so with words from a third tweet sent by Ms Burney.

Linda Burney's tweets (pictured) about the Voice on Sunday night were used by her colleague Mark Dreyfus on Monday night

'If this was a university assignment he'd be accused of plagiarism and given an F,' said Fordham.

'Mark Dreyfus, you have been busted for blatant copying.'

Fordham added that 7.30 host Laura Tingle should have called Mr Dreyfus out on the copying.

Mr Dreyfus's office told Daily Mail Australia the information he used on 7.30 had been made public four months ago.

A statement issued by the Referendum Working Group on September 9 said 'it is best practice to listen to First Nations people on matters that affect their lives, and the importance of continuing to work with First Nations peoples, as well as the broader community, in the lead up to referendum'.
A passenger waiting for a helicopter sightseeing ride was hit and gashed by a 2ft safety sign sent flying by its rotors.

As the aircraft landed, its downblast dislodged the sign from a post near a waiting group of four at West Usk lighthouse in Newport, South Wales.

The unnamed passenger was taken to hospital with a cut leg needing stitches after the incident last September.

Air accident investigators said the pre-flight safety briefing sign was not properly secured and was a hazard itself.

A passenger waiting for a helicopter sightseeing ride was hit and gashed by a 2ft safety sign sent flying by its rotors near a waiting group of four at West Usk lighthouse in Newport

It was used for safety briefings before passengers were escorted to board the helicopter.

The large sign warned people to beware of the rotors and always to keep their safety belt fastened as part of the safety briefing before the jaunt.

But it was 'unsecure' as the ground crew were in a hurry after cows had escaped from a neighbouring field onto the landing site and had to be removed.

The health and safety warning had been left set up overnight with windy conditions at the coastal site roped off for four passengers on the six-mile sightseeing trip with the 27-year-old pilot.

The report by the Air Accident Investigation Branch said: 'The following day, the pilot carried out eight uneventful flights but wind speeds were increasing.

'The sign was only secured by two cable ties when four were needed in each corner

'As the pilot landed for the ninth flight of the day, the cable ties broke and the sign flew away, hitting the passenger.'

The sightseeing trip was advertised as being safe for passengers aged 6 to 99 to enjoy the 'soaring views of the Welsh countryside.'

It boasted that it included 'safety briefings and public liability insurance.'
Doctors have condemned Keir Starmers ill thought-out and incredibly unsafe plans for the NHS in an open letter.

Two frontline representative groups yesterday expressed serious concerns about patient safety and care under a Labour government.

Doctors Association UK (Dauk) and GP Survival wrote to the Labour leader after he outlined health reforms, including that patients would refer themselves to a specialist without seeing a GP.

This led to warnings that waiting lists will rocket and patients bleed to death while working out which tests they need. The proposal follows a suggestion by Wes Streeting, Labours health spokesman, that the NHS could take over GP surgeries and employ family doctors directly.

Doctors have condemned Keir Starmers ill thought-out and incredibly unsafe plans for the NHS in an open letter

Doctors Association UK (Dauk) and GP Survival wrote to the Labour leader after he outlined health reforms, including that patients would refer themselves to a specialist without seeing a GP

Dr Lizzie Toberty, of Dauk, warned: It was unbelievable that Keir Starmer floated ideas which could be unsafe such as self-referral for testing for internal bleeding.

It appears the NHS will be no better off under them than the current Government.

Sir Keir claimed that self-referrals would cut down on bureaucratic nonsense.

Dr Ellen Welch, also of Dauk, said: If youve got internal bleeding, you dont guess which tests you need or which specialists you should self-refer to  you may bleed to death while deciding.

Sir Keir yesterday said he had wanted to say patients could self-refer for tests if they had blood in their poo, rather than internal bleeding, but was trying to be a little bit delicate with his language on TV.
Jim Molan appeared upbeat and chatty in an interview just three weeks before he died from prostate cancer, with doctors warning Australians to be on the lookout for symptoms including changes to your urination.

The retired major general and Liberal Senator had been speaking about Australia and Chinese diplomacy during an interview with Sky News in December.

Molan seemed animated as he spoke coherently and lucidly from his home while conversing in a video call with host James Morrow.

Less than one month later, he died at the age of 72 on Monday with his family revealing his health had rapidly declined following Christmas celebrations.

Jim Molan appeared the picture of health during a live TV interview three weeks before he died after a two-year battle with prostate cancer

Dr Dundee said current treatment like chemotherapy and testosterone suppression helped keep symptoms at bay but came with their own side effects

Dr Philip Dundee explained to Daily Mail Australia that treatment for prostate cancer treatment is so advanced that it was common for people to appear like they were still living a normal life.

'In men who have prostate cancer because it wasn't picked up early enough, or when they're in the advanced stages of disease, there is an effective treatment, but it can't be cured,' he said.

Molan was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in 2021.

Dr Dundee said most patients died when their prostate cancer had metastasised and spread to other parts of the body, indicating the depth of Molan's struggle.

'It can spread around the body to the lymph node system, bones and organs,' he said.

'It can be painful. If the disease spreads to the bones, it can cause fractures. Even the presence of the disease in the bones can be painful.

'It can involve the spine and move to the spinal cord.'

Dr Dundee explained current treatments like chemotherapy and testosterone suppression helped keep symptoms at bay but came with their own side effects.

'This can include loss of muscle strength and bulk, a tendency to put on weight, energy levels deteriorating or suffering from hot flashes,' he said.

Prostate cancer is often hard to diagnose, with early stages of the disease unlikely to cause symptoms.

'Advanced prostate cancer symptoms can include: frequent urination, pain while urinating, blood in the urine or semen, a weak stream, pain in the back or pelvis and weak legs or feet,' he explained.

Less than one month after the interview, Mr Molan died at the age of 72 on Monday with his family revealing his health had rapidly declined following Christmas celebrations

WHAT IS PROSTATE CANCER? Prostate cancer develops when abnormal cells in the prostate gland grow in an uncontrolled way, forming a malignant tumour. It is estimated that more than 24,200 males in Australia were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022. The average age at diagnosis is 69 years old. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia, and it is estimated that one in six males will be diagnosed by the time they are 85. Prostate cancer symptoms Early prostate cancer usually does not cause symptoms. Advanced prostate cancer symptoms can include: frequent urination, pain while urinating, blood in the urine or semen, a weak stream, pain in the back or pelvis and weak legs or feet. More widespread disease often spreads to the bones and causes pain or unexplained weight loss and fatigue. Screening for prostate cancer There are no tests available with sufficient accuracy to screen populations of men for early signs of prostate cancer. However, early detection and treatment can significantly improve prostate cancer survival. The test most commonly used to aid early detection of prostate cancer is the prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test. This is not a diagnostic test as it can only indicate changes in the prostate. If you are concerned about prostate cancer you should talk to your doctor and make an informed choice about whether to have one of the tests designed to find early signs of prostate cancer, in view of the potential risks and benefits. Advertisement

Dr Michael Mosley explained how the prostate was affected by cancerous growth.

'The prostate is a gland, about the size of a walnut, which surrounds the urethra  the tube which you pee through,' he said.

'Unfortunately it grows from our 50s onwards and men often experience symptoms caused by the prostate compressing the urethra, such as waking up frequently during the night and finding it hard to start urinating.'

Some 24,200 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2022 with the average age of diagnosis at 69.

'Although these can also be symptoms of prostate cancer, they are normally the result of an enlarged prostate,'

Men are more likely to develop the cancer in their 50s, though more are being discovered while they're still in their 40s.

'One of the scary things about prostate cancer is there are rarely any symptoms until the tumour has got quite large or has spread,' Dr Mosley said.

'And once that happens, you might experience back pain, problems getting or keeping an erection, blood in the urine or unexplained weight loss.'

Molan remained defiant following his diagnosis and was optimistic about his future battle with the illness.

'I am receiving the best possible care from my clinicians and have the love, support and prayers of my family,' he said.

'I have never been afraid to fight the battles that need fighting, and this is no exception.'

Molan (pictured in 2019 was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in 2021

He took a leave of absence to begin chemotherapy before returning to parliament and becoming re-elected for a six-year term in the 2022 election.

Public updates on his health were pushed to the sidelines before his family broke the news on Tuesday he had lost his battle.

'He was many things - a soldier, a pilot, an author, a volunteer firefighter, and a senator. Most of all, he was an adored husband, father, grandfather, and brother,' his family said in a statement.

'Our loss is immeasurable, but we are comforted in our memories of a full life courageously lived, devoted to family and in service of the country he loved.

'We thank you for your thoughts and prayers, and for respecting our privacy at this difficult time.'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute in an emotional post on Twitter.

'Jim Molan lived his life in service of our country. He was a man of principle and a politician of conviction. My condolences to his loved ones, colleagues and friends,' he wrote.

Dr Philip Dundee told Daily Mail Australia prostate cancer treatment was so advanced it was common for people to appear like they were still living a normal life

Public updates on Molan's health were pushed to the sidelines before his family broke the news on Tuesday he had lost his battle

Former prime minister Scott Morrison said he left 'an amazing legacy'.

'He was a very big man, Jim - big in stature... he had big ideas, he had big passions,' he said.

'Jim's service in Iraq at the senior level... was like few Australian servicemen and women had ever experienced, such was the regard that was held of Jim's military capabilities.'

Another colleague and former minister Keith Pitt said it was a 'great loss' for Senator Molan's family, parliament and Australia.

'A bloke that would always take your call,' Mr Pitt tweeted.

Defence Minister Richard Marles paid tribute to his exemplary military service.

'We're obviously on opposite sides of the fence but we both shared an interest in national security ... he was an honourable and gracious man and having served in the Senate for five years, he's been a fierce advocate for our nation,' he told Nine Radio.

Former RSL president and army veteran James Brown said Senator Molan was a 'great patriot'.

'A deep thinker, an unstoppable force, and a good friend - we will miss him.'

His replacement in the Senate is likely to be held up by the NSW state election in March, as it requires the selection of a nominee by the Liberal party and the endorsement of a joint sitting of the state parliament.
The NYC mayor is yet to allocate blame the president for the spiraling crisis

The remarks were in stark contrast to his 2017 Twitter post: 'We've always welcomed migrants in New York City. Nothing about that is going to change'

His comments come soon after he appealed to the White House for $2B in aid

Adams said the situation on the southern border is a disaster after weekend trip

NYC Mayor Eric Adams branded the border crisis a 'disaster' during his trip to El Paso at the weekend - after saying 40,200 immigrants had arrived in the city since last spring and that a further influx could cost the Big Apple $2billion.

'Why isn't this considered a disaster? This is a crisis,' Adams told The New York Post at the end of his border visit.

'No one is coordinating this national effort,' he said from Texas on Sunday night, before revealing he would travel to Washington DC this week to attend the US Conference of Mayors and devise a 'real strategy' to deal with the problem.

Adams also attacked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to which he had already made a request for $1billion. 'FEMA needs to step up. That's their job,' he said.

His remarks were in stark contrast to the Mayor's previous claim on Twitter that New York City would always welcome migrants.

Eric Adams toured migrant shelters and visited the southern border in El Paso trip before labelling the situation a 'disaster'

Despite expressing frustration, Adams (pictured during his trip to El Paso this weekend) has not directly criticized Joe Biden or addressed New York City's sanctuary city policy

Adams estimated last week that nearly 500 migrants were arriving in the city each day - a rate that could no longer be sustained.

Despite expressing such frustration Adams has not directly criticized Biden and would not said if he will arrange a meeting with the president to get the increased funding he asked for over the line.

On Monday he was blasted for failing to explicitly blame Biden, a fellow Democrat, for the problem.

Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican Representative for parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island attacked him for referring to the crisis merely as a national problem and not naming the president.

'The mayor is right in the sense that he's saying this is a national crisis but he needs to say that is a national crisis created by Joe Biden,' Malliotakis told Fox News.

'Joe Biden put in place the policies via executive order that created this mess. This was not happening under President Trump. It was not happening under President Obama, and it has reached a record high,' she said.

People wait for children returning from school to the Row hotel in Manhattan, which is being used to house migrants

Another issue Adams has not addressed is New York City's sanctuary city policy, part of which involved a lack of cooperation with federal authorities to curtail illegal immigration.

'You saw yesterday how people were saying they want to go to New York City because they hear that New York City is housing the migrants, and theyre providing for their needs,' Malliotakis said.

While giving a speech in Texas Adams suggested the overwhelming intake of migrants into his city was having detrimental affects on its citizens.

'Our cities are being undermined. We don't deserve this. Migrants don't deserve this and the people who live in the cities don't deserve this. There is no more room in New York,' he said.

Nicole Malliotakis (pictured last November), a Republican Representative for parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island, attacked Adams for failing to blame the crisis on Biden

In 2017 Adams tweeted: 'We've always welcomed migrants in New York City. Nothing about that is going to change'

At points he has suggested the city's tight budget means the migrant crisis will force it to slash basic services.

Adams, who officially declared a state of emergency in October over the flood of migrants into the city, has voiced a shifting and inconsistent attitude towards migrants arriving into his city.

In a tweet from 2017, he said: 'We've always welcomed migrants in New York City. Nothing about that is going to change.'

The city has historically provided shelter, food, clothing to migrants and argued in the past they should be allowed to assimilate faster and with greater ease.

But last week the mayor said New York had reached its 'breaking point' as 400 asylum seekers arrive every day.

In addition to requests for federal aid and making appeals to the White House he submitted an emergency mutual aid request to the state and Gov. Kathy Hochul, asking for immediate help to house the incoming migrants.

'We are at our breaking point,' Adams said. 'Based off our projections, we anticipate being unable to continue sheltering arriving asylum seekers on our own.

'Our initial request is for shelter to accommodate 500 asylum seekers, but, as New York City continues to see numbers balloon, this estimate will increase as well.'

The plea came a week after Colorado joined the list of states busing migrants to New York City to alleviate the burden for those near the southern border.
The man shared a bizarre clip of him clashing with police

Her father slammed man claiming to be her boyfriend

Angie Fuller, 30, was last seen running into bush in NT

The father of a woman who disappeared in the outback has slammed a man for sharing videos claiming to be her boyfriend.

Angie Fuller from Alice Springs, was last seen on Tanami Road, 15km west of the Stuart Highway intersection in the Northern Territory on January 9.

NT Police believe the 30-year-old mother-of-two is still alive, and that she was with her boyfriend before she ran into bushland and vanished.

In the days after Ms Fuller's disappearance a video filmed by a man describing himself as a 'sovereign citizen' surfaced showing him in a heated discussion with police.

Angie Fuller (pictured) was with her boyfriend and was last seen running into bushland along Tanami Road, north of Alice Springs, before she disappeared on January 9

'My car was randomly searched without my permission, without me standing there,' the man said in the video.

'The only reason I searched your car is we've got a missing person and you're in the area that we're conducting a search,' the officer responded.

'I'm just trying to figure out why you're here.'

The man replied: 'I have every right to be part of the search. "Why am I here?" You know why I'm here. The missing person is my girlfriend.'

Ms Fuller's father, Tony Fuller, said he was 'sickened' by the videos circulating on social media of his daughter's supposed boyfriend, ABC News reported.

Mr Fuller said he has never met the man and does not believe he is in a relationship with his daughter.

The concerned father said he was 'absolutely devastated' by his daughter's disappearance and worried for her welfare.

'I just want her to come home,' Mr Fuller said.

'But as the days pass and the hours fold, I'm more concerned about if she is out there  that the time frame is closing in on her.'

The boyfriend of missing woman Angie Fuller was seen clashing with police as they searched his car. Ms Fuller's father, Tony Fuller, said he has never met the man and does not believe he is the boyfriend of his missing daughter

Mr Fuller explained his daughter was turning her life around after moving to Alice Springs and started a job at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation service.

He said his daughter was really enjoying her new job and was 'eager and keen' to get back to it.

Mr Fuller said CCTV footage provided by McDonald's was the only evidence his daughter was in Alice Springs after she left Darwin on January 8.

Police believe Ms Fuller is alive despite extensive searches across the desert, including the use of helicopters and drones finding no trace of her.

Police remain hopeful that they will find Ms Fuller alive, despite the search for the mother-of-two entering its second week

Northern Territory Police Acting Superintendent Rob Engels on Sunday told reporters detectives have not lost hope.

'We believe Ms Fuller is alive. There are certainly water sources in the area that she can access,' Mr Rob Engles said.

'Our experts to date tell us it is survivable at this time.'

Ms Fuller's boyfriend is assisting police with inquiries, Superintendent Engels said, confirming he was the last to see her.

'We believe she and her boyfriend had run off into the bush where she was last seen, and we are hoping she has gone to ground in there and is accessing water and giving us an opportunity that we will find her,' he said.

A police search and rescue operation including 20 police officers, helicopters and a drone, resumed on Tuesday as the search for Ms Fuller entered its second week.

Police have so far searched an area stretching 240sqkm. The search resumed on Tuesday with 20 police officers, helicopters and a drone

Police have so far searched an area stretching 240sqkm.

Investigators said they were conducting 'extensive inquiries' to locate Ms Fuller but did not give any details on whether the disappearance will be treated as suspicious.

NT Police described Ms Fuller as being of Asian appearance, around 165cm tall, with long black hair that has purple streaks throughout.

Anyone who was travelling along the Tanami Road, between 10pm on January 9 and 9am the following day are urged to contact police.

Those with information on Ms Fuller's whereabouts are urged to contact police on 131 444 or via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
One was a child with non-life-threatening injuries

Four others have been taken to hospital

A woman has died and four others have been rushed to hospital after a three-car crash in Melbourne.

The three cars collided at the intersection between Queens and Beenak Rd in Seville, in the city's northeast, shortly before 8am on Tuesday morning.

The female driver of one of the cars died at the scene and has not yet been formally identified.

The male driver of another vehicle was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

A woman has died following a three-car collision in Seville, northeast Melbourne (pictured, the aftermath of the crash)

Police are investigating the crash which happened shortly before 8am (pictured, emergency services at the scene)

A man, woman and child were inside the third vehicle, a Toyota Hilux, which was towing an empty horse float.

Both adults were rushed to hospital by road while the child was airlifted. They all suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Victoria Police said the Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives will investigate the circumstances of the crash.

Anyone with relevant information or dashcam footage of the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.

So far this year, 16 lives have been lost on Victorian roads.
Drunk people taken home or to centres instead of jail cells

Victoria is set to decriminalise public drunkenness as part of legal reforms that will replace the criminal justice response with a health-based approach.

Under the changes, which will come into effect from November, intoxicated people will be taken home or to centres aimed to help them sober up instead of police stations.

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said the new approach would expand on a strategy to put a health focus at the centre of police responses.

'We want to invest more, we want to beef (services) up, we want to make sure people are not put in cells to sober up,' she said on Tuesday.

'Being drunk in public will no longer be an offence in its own right. We want people to get a health response when they are drunk in public.'

Victoria's Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said the new approach would expand on a strategy to put a health focus at the centre of police responses

Victoria Police will no longer lock up people for public drunkenness

But Victorian police union secretary Wayne Gatt said the reforms would be 'negligent and reckless' and need replacement powers for authorities.

'What police will have to do, in cases where no offence has been committed, will be to sit back, watch and wait for an offence to be committed,' he said.

'We think that's going to put the community at significant risk.'

Ms Symes said the reforms weren't aimed at negatively affecting police despite confirming a decision not to give police any new powers once the offence is decriminalised in November.

'These laws are about decriminalising public intoxication, they are not about dilating any further police powers, they are not about ensuring being drunk is an excuse or a get out of jail for free card for other offences,' she said.

'Police will still have the options of stepping in when somebody is disturbing the peace, causing a scene or have concerns about violent behaviour or the like. We expect that that would be a continued response.'

Victoria will stop arresting people for being drunk in public, instead taking them home or to centres to sober up

It comes more than five years after Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day died after sustaining a serious head injury in a police cell after being accused of being drunk in public.

Tanya Day was taken off a train and arrested for being drunk in a public place in December 2017.

An inquest into Ms Day's death revealed she was asleep on a V/Line train in regional Victoria before being arrested and taken to the Castlemaine police station.

Ms Day hit her head at least five times inside the cell and died in hospital 17 days later.

Her family said in a statement that the health-focused legal reforms could help save lives.

'Our mother would still be here with us today if Victoria Police had treated her condition seriously and cared for her with a public health response, but they chose to criminalise her at her most vulnerable time,' the Day family said.

'She was left to die alone on the floor of a police cell after the officers responsible for monitoring her failed to adequately care for her as required by the Victoria Police guidelines.'

'Public drunkenness laws are outdated and discriminatory.'
Washington DC's new Korean War memorial is riddled with 1,000 spelling mistakes, has the names of 400 dead left off and includes troops who survived the conflict.

Hal Barker, an expert on the war and founder of the Korean War Project, revealed he found the errors on the $22million monument that was unveiled in July.

The original Korean War memorial, on the National Mall in the capital, was inaugurated in 1995, but the updated one was opened last year with the wall of remembrance.

Barker said he was astonished at the scale of the mistakes. 'It makes my head hurt,' he told The Washington Post.

'The fact is we have a memorial that has a huge number of errors and no way of paying to fix it.'

The Korean War Veterans' memorial in Washington DC was inaugurated in July - yet features hundreds of errors

Ambrosio Guillen, who was killed in battle on July 25, 1953, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Valor - yet his name is misspelt on the monument

Guillen's name was misspelt as 'Guilien', despite him being awarded the Medal of Valor

The Korean War was fought from 1950 to 1953, pitching the United States, South Korea and their allies against North Korea and China, aided by the Soviet Union.

Dwight Angell died aged 24 when his plane was shot down over China, but his name has been omitted from the memorial

It began when North Korea invaded the South, aiming to unify Korea under the communist regime in Pyongyang, and the U.S. came to the aid of Seoul.

The U.S. lost 34,000 service members during the war, and over two million Koreans were killed, civilians and combatants.

The memorial in DC includes, in addition to the American names, 7,100 names of Koreans who were part of the Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army.

Among those omitted from the memorial is Navy Ensign Dwight C. Angell, who was shot down aged 24 on January 18, 1953, off the coast of China.

Megan Marx, the daughter of Angell's first wife Gerry, told the paper she plans to travel from her home in Colorado on Wednesday to mark the 70th anniversary of his death at the memorial - even though his name is not there.

She was also present at the dedication, in July. Marx said her mother, who died in 1999, was haunted by Angell's loss.

'All of this stuff with Dwight was never far from the surface for her,' she said. 'She never stopped looking for him.'

The memorial is situated on the National Mall in Washington DC

Those whose names were misspelt include Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Ambrosio Guillen, 23. He was killed in battle on July 25, 1953.

Guillen, born in Colorado, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for valor, but is spelt as Guilien - despite being a local hero in his Texas hometown of El Paso, with a school and veterans' center named after him.

Another misspelt name is that of Army Pfc. William Red Horn, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

On the memorial, he is named as Horn W Red. He was 18 when he was killed December 9, 1951.

A third misspelt name is that of Navy helicopter pilot Lt. j.g. John Kelvin Koelsch, who was shot down on July 3, 1951, while trying to rescue an injured comrade.

He was captured and died three months later, on October 16.

In 1955, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism; nevertheless, his name is incorrectly spelt as Koelsh.

John Kelvin Koelsch, a helicopter pilot, was born in London to an American banker father. The family returned to the United States and settled in the village of Briarcliff Manor, Westchester County, New York. Koelsch enlisted as an aviation cadet in the United States Navy in September 1942, and died in captivity in 1951. His name is misspelt on the memorial

Koelsch is wrongly inscribed as 'Koelsh' on the memorial

Army Pfc. William Red Horn, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is named as Horn W Red on the memorial

William Red Horn, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, is named as Horn W Red on the memorial

Relatives of those lost during the war are pictured laying flowers in tribute

Other names are on the wall despite them surviving the war.

They include Alfred P. Bradshaw, of the Marines, who died in Missouri in 2012, Barker said.

The Pentagon said it was working to correct the names, and urged those with concerns to get in touch.

Some of the mistakes are due to deaths being classed as part of the Cold War, given the conflicts overlapped.

Army Maj. Charlie Dietz, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said efforts were being made to correct the memorial.

'The errors are a very unfortunate mistake and the [Department of Defense] is working in tandem with the Dept. of Interior to correct those mistakes,' he said.

'We are also aware that some names are on the Wall of Remembrance which were not included on the Department's final list of Korean War casualties.

'The respective Military Departments reviewed every name on the Korean War Casualty List for correctness against available official military records.

'Though not common, the official records themselves may have contained errors.'

Dietz added: 'We encourage all family members or concerned citizens to notify the Department of any names that were omitted, misspelled, or included in error.'
Heartbreaking pictures have emerged of a 16-year-old mom and her six-month-old son who were among six people shot dead at a home in central California in what police described as a 'horrific massacre'.

The infant was found cradled in the arms of his mother, Alissa Parraz, in a ditch outside the home in the early hours of Monday. Both had been shot in the head as Parraz attempted to flee with her infant son.

Authorities are searching for at least two suspects in what appeared to be a gang-related murders, sheriff's officials said.

Deputies responded around 3:30am to reports of multiple shots being fired at the home in Goshen, just east of Visalia, the Tulare County Sheriff's Office said.

'Actually the report was that an active shooter was in the area because of the number of shots that were being fired,' Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters.

The infant was found cradled in the arms of her mother, Alissa Parraz, in a ditch outside the homes

Police say the killings appear to be targeted. The baby and his mother were attempting to flee when they were each shot in the head

Alissa Parraz, who was one of the six found shot dead had posted about her pregnancy online

The baby boy and his 16-year-old mother had both been shot in the head in the brutal killings

Deputies found two victims dead in the street and a third person fatally shot in the doorway of the residence, Boudreaux said.

Three more victims were found inside the home, including a man who was still alive but later died at a hospital, he said.

The sheriff said investigators are searching for at least two suspects but have not yet released the identities of any of the victims, nor have they released a description.

Two people survived by hiding inside a trailer on the property.

'They could see two men sneaking onto the property  but by the time they came on [the video feed], it was too late to do anything,' the Sheriff said.

Tulare County Sheriff's officials say six people including a 16-year-old mother and her 6-month-old baby were killed in a shooting early on Monday at the home in central California

Two people were found dead in the street and one was found in the doorway to the home

They believe there is a gang connection to the killings. The sheriff's office conducted a narcotics-related search warrant at the residence last week, Boudreaux said.

'We also believe this was not a random act of violence. We believe this was a targeted family,' he said.

'Detectives believe there are at least two suspects. It appears this family was targeted and there are gang associations involved, as well as potential drug investigations.

'I think it's specifically connected to the cartel. The level of violence  this was not your run-of-the-mill, low-end gang member,' Boudreaux expained.

'If [they] are specifically shooting everyone in the head, they know what they are doing ... [and] they are comfortable with what they are doing,' the sheriff said.

'I do have more information but I'm not at liberty to discuss at this point,' Boudreaux said. 'We have potential information, which will hopefully lead to potential suspects.'

'A week ago, TCSO Detectives conducted a narcotics search warrant at the victims' home,' a spokesman added.

'I think it's specifically connected to the cartel. The level of violence  this was not your run-of-the-mill, low-end gang member,' Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters

Police continued to process the crime scene throughout the day on Monday

Two of the victims, the young mother and her child, were shot in the head, the sheriff said.

Samuel Pina said Monday that his teenage granddaughter, Alissa Parraz, and her baby, Nycholas Nolan Parraz, were among those killed.

'I can't wrap my head around what kind of monster would do this,' he said.

Pina said Parraz and her baby were living with her father's side of the family in Goshen, and that her dad's uncle, her dad's cousin, and her grandmother and great-grandmother were also killed.

At least one of the the elderly women were murdered in their sleep, according to ABC.

Neighbors called 911 reporting an active shooter because they heard so many shots being fired

DNA testing will be required to identify at least one of the men because of damage done to his face by the gun or guns used, the sheriff said.

He said the family is in shock. 'It comes in big waves,' he added.

Goshen is a semi-rural, mostly Latino community of about 5,000 residents 35 miles southeast of Fresno in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley.

County Supervisor Eddie Valero, who represents the town, called the deaths 'everyone's worst nightmare.'

'These senseless acts of violence, especially with infants, children and young adults, have no place in our communities,' Valero said in a statement.

Tulare County, a small agricultural region with a population of less than half a million, has historically played a significant role in the transnational drug trade, transporting drugs from Mexico to various markets in the United States.

The county, which is bisected by the 99 Freeway and has a limited law enforcement presence, acres of open land, and a highly mobile population of farmworkers, has been a haven for drug traffickers since at least the 1970s.

In recent years, the area has also become known for the production of methamphetamine and the cultivation of both legal and illegal marijuana.

Notable and violent figures of Mexico's drug wars, such as former leader of the Zetas cartel, Jose Maria Guizar Valencia, have connections to Tulare County as he was born there.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Tulare County Sheriff's Office at (559) 733-6218.
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
A television journalist who is also the daughter of a well-known NSW regional city mayor has been charged with 'impersonating' a police officer.

Georgie Dickerson, 25, works as a reporter with Nine News Darwin and is due to appear in a Northern Territory court on Thursday, the NT Independent first reported.

Her father is Matthew Dickerson, the regional mayor of Dubbo, who is also a prominent local businessman in that region.

Nine Darwin reporter Georgie Dickerson is accused of 'personating' a police officer but denies the charge

It is understood she was given a notice to appear in court for 'personating' a police officer - a legal term referring to impersonating - by officers after an incident in Darwin on October 17, 2022.

Court records seen by the newspaper show she is charged with one count of impersonating a police officer without a lawful reason.

The national director of news and current affairs for the Nine Network, Darren Wick, issued a statement saying the network was standing behind Ms Dickerson and she has not been stood down.

'Nine News strongly supports our reporter. She denies any wrongdoing,' Mr Wick said.

Both Ms Dickerson and her father have said they would not comment on the matter while it is before the court.

'I am confident that the correct outcome will be achieved,' Mr Dickerson told NewsLocal.

Ms Dickerson previously worked for Prime 7 Tamworth, recently rebranded to 7 Regional Tamworth, before joining Nine in Darwin where she is a senior reporter.

She was also a board member and president of the Association of Dunmore Lang Students, a residential college at Macquarie University where she gained a Bachelor of Media degree.

The Nine Network has been contacted for comment.
Petronella Wyatts claim that Camilla would have been quite happy not to have married Charles prompts nods of assent from veteran courtiers who remember the late Queens stance during the pre-marriage burnishing of Camillas image by royal spin doctor Mark Bolland.

Marriage wasnt on the agenda as far as HM was concerned, says one. She was having none of it and, conscious that Charles would one day be King and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, wanted him to finish with her.

However, she relented when the campaign to make her acceptable as his wife succeeded. And so the woman who never wanted to be queen will be anointed and crowned in May. Isnt life grand?

Petronella Wyatts claim that Camilla would have been quite happy not to have married Charles prompts nods of assent from veteran courtiers who remember the late Queens stance during the pre-marriage burnishing of Camillas image by royal spin doctor Mark Bolland

Harry's barb-packed memoir claims he complained to the late Queen about Charles not seeing him to discuss his problems. The monarch replied: I have only one thing to say about that your father always does what he wants to do. Might the allegation that his mother thought him selfish prompt Charles to wonder: Do recollections vary?

Collecting his Golden Globe for The Banshees Of Inisherin, Colin Farrell, pictured, gave a shout-out to his co-star Jenny the Donkey.

But no mention of Jennys double Nosey Rosey.

She was a beautiful creature, says donkey handler Rita Moloney.

She was well-socialised, loved people, loved being involved.

A word in your shell like Colin  if you get the Oscar give Nosey Rosey a thank you hee-haw.

Broadcaster Ed Stourton, brutally sacked from BBC Radio 4s Today, says he thinks he could often do better than current presenters Nick Robinson, Justin Webb or Martha Kearney. I know  not just think, but know  that I would have done better, he tells Radio Times. Does his sacking still rankle? Well, as St Augustine says, Feeling resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. But I dont mind admitting that I still miss it. Get over it, Ed!

apropos Ed, while writing his memoir Confession, the staunch Roman Catholic  who was taught by the Benedictine monks at Ampleforth  was contacted by the school and asked to desist from mentioning some of his teachers were child sex abusers. He refused. I told them its clear Im writing about abuse at the time and not anything today. I think it would be dishonest to write about a school that had a very big impact on you and not discuss it.

Two years after his death from Covid, showman Gerry Cottle had a circus send- off at his beloved Wookey Hole at the weekend. His publicist Mark Borkowski recalled their promotional stunt for a Wembley season when Gerry claimed British clowns were no longer funny. He imported an American clown Denise Payne. When she arrived at Heathrow, she was met by a hotchpotch of British clowns brandishing Keep British circus British placards. Madonna was on the same flight, recalled Borkowski. But there was more press to meet Denise.
Nancy and her host came to an impasse over a dog at the home

The guest, Nancy, was kicked out on Christmas morning

An Airbnb guest who complained about getting kicked out of her glamping tent experience in the middle of the night has revealed exactly what sparked their 3am war of words.

Airbnb guest Nancy had hoped to relax in the $149 per night glamping tent in Grose Vale, near the Blue Mountains in Sydney, from December 24 to 26, when she left to celebrate with friends on Christmas Day.

But as she returned to the tent early on Christmas Day, she spotted a large dog blocking the gate that would've let her drive right up to the tent's entrance.

Nancy reached out to the host via Airbnb just before 2am, asking what she could do about the dog.

While the messages between the two were initially amicable, things quickly went south when the host admonished Nancy for messaging her so late.

The messages between the pair were posted to TikTok by Nancy in a series of videos with their furious conversation dividing commenters.

An Airbnb host kicked their guest, Nancy, out at 3am on Christmas morning (pictured) after they were no longer welcome following a complaint in the middle of the night

The first screenshots showed the initial conversation between Nancy and the host kicked off well, with both parties excited to have confirmed the booking.

However, the friendly messages ended when Nancy messaged the host at 1:49am questioning if a German Shephard that was lying in front of her accommodation was a guard dog or friendly.

After failing to get a reply for almost an hour, Nancy messaged again.

'Sorry it's so late... I'm stuck in the car and contemplating pushing the the gate open with the car but worried about the gate being left open,' she wrote.

Nancy was also worried for her partner who was arriving the following day, telling the host her boyfriend was almost killed in a dog attack five years prior and was still traumatised by the event.

The host responded soon after confirming the dog was fine and very friendly'.

'I don't have dangerous animals. Also, I don't appreciate being woken up at 3am with a complaint,' the host wrote.

Nancy was hoping to stay in the $149 per night 'glamping tent' (pictured) in Grose Vale near the Blue Mountains that advertised 'horses to interact with and dogs on the property'

Arriving back to the property just before 2am on Christmas morning, Nancy found a German Shephard blocking a gate (pictured) that was used to get to their accommodation

The conversation between the pair quickly devolved into something less friendly with Nancy blasting the host for her 'shocking' response and claiming she had not been informed of dogs being on the property.

'Arriving back being stared down by what looks like a guard dog is extremely frightening and if your sleep takes precedence over that, then you should really reconsider hosting.'

The Airbnb page includes a photo of a black and white border collie that lives on the property and the accommodation description repeatedly mentions dogs being on the property.

It's unclear if these mentions were added before or after Nancy's review.

After more back and forth messaging between the pair, the host asked Nancy to leave the Airbnb the next morning.

'I would prefer if you leave in the morning you make me extremely uncomfortable and I don't want you here on my property,' she wrote.

Nancy confirmed she would leave, slept in her car that night and left the next morning.

However, more issues were coming.

After communications between Nancy and the host soured, they both involved Airbnb to mediate with compensation, with the homeshare company ruling in the host's favour and sending Nancy a $222.69 bill.

Nancy claims that she was not informed on the possibility of dogs being at the property, however the Airbnb page has pictures of dogs and states there are dogs on property (pictured)

The host requested $154 in compensation for damages to the gate she claimed Nancy pushed open with her car.

That figure then ballooned to $222.69 once the host contacted Airbnb for mediation in the conflict, ruling in the hosts favour.

'Absolutely not. I didn't open the gate with my car. I am most definitely not paying her a cent,' Nancy wrote to the Airbnb resolutions team.

The series of TikToks have been viewed more than a million times and have received more than a thousand comments, with many split on who was in the wrong.

'You did absolutely the right thing. We have two large dogs, I love dogs, but wouldnt enter a property when a dog looks like its guarding at night,' one commenter wrote in support.

After being kicked out of the property, Nancy then received a $222.69 bill from Airbnb for damages to their gate that Nancy claims she did not commit

'I wouldnt love to be woken at 3am either but would it have been so difficult for her to end that message after "make sure you shut all the gates!",' another commenter wrote.

Some users played devil's advocate, with one writing 'there are multiple reviews stating "friendly dogs on property" dating back to January 2021. dont agree with how snappy she was in her reply but still'.

'You need to work on your replies,' another commented on Nancy's handling on the situation.

'It was hardly a guard dog staring you down!' one user joked.
Dayna Isaac, 28 was found dead inside a Colless St unit in Penrith, west Sydney, about 4.15pm on Monday

When police knocked on a mother-of-two's door after neighbours reported hearing a blazing row, they got no answer and heard nothing inside.

But just 90 minutes later, at 4.15pm on Monday, cops were back at the Colless St unit in Penrith, in Sydney's west, where they found the body of Dayna Issac, 28.

Officers were accompanied by her new boyfriend Paul Sultana's mum, who had called them, with her 32-year-old son now in police custody.

The timeline of events has been confirmed by NSW Police to Daily Mail Australia, with police first called to the unit between 2.30pm and 3pm on Monday.

A neighbour had called police to report a 'disturbance' coming from Ms Isaac's home but when officers turned up at the unit, nobody answered the door and they left.

Officers found Ms Isaac's car burned out in bushland at 3.45pm, 13km away from her home near Castlereagh, in the city's north-west.

Half an hour later, Ms Isaac's body was discovered by Mr Sultana's mother, who had gone to check on her.

She then drove to Penrith Police Station and reported her horror find to officers.

Mr Sultana was arrested at about 3.25am on Tuesday, and was charged over her alleged murder about 5pm. He remains in police custody.

'Police were informed that there was a disturbance at the premises and they did attend and they later identified that the deceased was at the premises,' NSW Police Acting Superintendent Carlene Mahoney said on Tuesday.

Investigators have set up crime scenes at the unit block and Mr Sultana's home.

Ms Isaac's boyfriend Paul Sultana (pictured) is in police custody

Ms Isaac's (pictured) friend said she was the 'most beautiful, kind hearted and selfless' person she has ever met

Police are seen at the unit block after Ms Isaac's body was found on Monday afternoon

TIMELINE OF WHEN DAYNA ISAAC'S BODY WAS FOUND Monday 2.30pm - 3pm: Police were called to Dayna Isaac's unit on Colless St in Penrith, in Sydney's west A neighbour had reported hearing a disturbance in her apartment Nobody answered the door when police showed up and the officers left 3.45pm: Officers find Ms Isaac's burnt out car 13km away from her home near Castlereagh 4.15pm: Ms Isaac is found dead inside her unit by her boyfriend Paul Sultana's mother His mother drives to the Penrith police station to raise the alarm Tuesday 3.25am: Mr Sultana is arrested He remains in police custody and is yet to be charged Advertisement

Daily Mail Australia understands Ms Isaac was not fully clothed when she was found.

Superintendent Mahoney said the couple had been friends for a long time but had only been dating for about two months.

Police do not believe a weapon was involved, and say there was no history of domestic violence between Ms Isaac and Mr Sultana.

Ms Isaac's two girls, aged one and three, were not home at the time.

A friend of the mother-of-two said she was the 'most beautiful, kind-hearted and selfless' person she had ever met.

'She lit up the room and was the life of the party,' the woman, who requested anonymity, told Daily Mail Australia.

'She was an amazing doting mother to two beautiful girls who absolutely adored her, and I am so so proud to call her not just my friend, but my sister.'

Police do not believe a weapon was involved, and say there was no history of domestic violence between Ms Isaac and Mr Sultana

Police are seen at the apartment block in Penrith on Tuesday morning

Police and forensic investigators are at the scene

Another friend wrote to Facebook: 'RIP gorgeous girl, I'll miss you'.

'You were such a wonderful person. Every time I saw you. You would always have a smile on your face,' said another friend.

Those living in the area have been rattled by the news about the death of their neighbour.

One local resident said she saw police cars lined up the street when she arrived home on Monday afternoon.

'I just heard the news, I was shocked,' she said.

'This area is pretty quiet, you don't hear about much happening around here. It tends to be more in Cranebrook.'

Pictured is the apartment block where Ms Isaac was found dead

Another woman who lives in the same building as Ms Isaac said she woke up this morning to the property taped off and police officers scouring the site.

'It was quite scary, I was at work yesterday and found out over Facebook a woman had died in my street,' she said.

'When I came home late last night there was only one police officer there, but when I came out of the building this morning they were everywhere.'

Police are urging anyone who may have information that could assist detectives to come forward and contact Penrith Police station or Crime Stoppers.
Seated behind protective glass and guarded by two burly guards, former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn still looks like a man in control of his own destination.

Lynn, 56, fronted a preliminary hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, which at its conclusion next week could see him sent to trial at the Supreme Court of Victoria.

For two days he has listened intently to the evidence being put before the court, taking notes and conversing with his barrister after being hit with folders of new information containing the transcripts of his recorded calls from prison.

Lynn is accused of murdering Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, within rugged bushland at the Wonnangatta Valley in the Victorian Alps in March, 2020.

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn as he appeared in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday

Greg Lynn is seen with his wife Melanie - who is a flight attendant - with the pair meeting through work

Russell Hill (pictured with his missing drone) is believed to have filmed campers in and about the area where he was allegedly murdered

Dressed smartly in a suit and perfectly woven tie, Lynn gazed upon those in the court knowing full well he is being studied by court sketch artists.

Seated directly across from his glass cage, solicitor Chris McLennan gave him a confident wink.

Lynn is being defended in court by Melbourne barrister Dermot Dann, KC, who has represented some of the most high-profile accused persons Melbourne has seen.

His supportive flight attendant wife Melanie Lynn has been noticeably absent from the Melbourne courtroom, instead tuning into a videolink that appears on a television screen that can be seen by Lynn.

Mrs Lynn keeps her camera switched off, leaving Lynn to gaze only upon his wife's name.

He faces life in prison should he be convicted of the alleged murders. But Lynn isn't banking on spending his life behind bars.

On Tuesday, his defence to the crime was finally aired in public - at least part of it.

The court heard Lynn told detectives Mr Hill had come at him while the pilot was armed with a shotgun.

The pair allegedly wrestled for control and the gun went off, hitting Ms Clay in the head, the court heard. It remains unclear how Mr Hill is alleged to have died.

Lynn claims Carol Clay (pictured) was shot dead when her secret lover Russell Hill tried to grab his shotgun

Timeline to tragedy in the case of Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, who were found dead within rugged bushland at the Wonnangatta Valley in the Victorian Alps in March, 2020

'Murdered' campers revealed to be 'childhood sweethearts' Two campers allegedly murdered by Gregory Lynn in a remote national park were 'childhood sweethearts' who had kept their relationship secret for 15 years, a court has been told. In a summary of the case against Lynn provided to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court police said Mr Hill and Miss Clay had rekindled a relationship about 15 years earlier and would go on regular camping trips to 'spend time together'. The pair were childhood sweethearts who had drifted apart and had children with other partners, documents tendered to the court said. Mr Hill had been married to another woman for 51 years at the time of his death, and police facts tendered to the court revealed his wife believed he had gone camping alone. 'Those close to them believe that they kept their relationship a secret to spare Hill's family from distress,' the police statement of facts read. NCA Advertisement

According to a prosecution summary, investigators allege Lynn got into an argument with the campers before killing them both.

'The circumstances of their deaths, and the accused's behaviour afterwards are consistent with the accused having intended to cause death or at least cause each of them really serious injury,' the prosecution summary read.

The badly burnt remains of the elderly couple were found by Victoria Police Missing Persons Squad detectives on November 30, 2021 - just days after Lynn's arrest.

On Monday, weed sprayer Robert Williams told the court he believed he had seen Mr Hill in the wilderness in the days before he was allegedly murdered.

He described Mr Hill as a 'grumpy old bugger' who buzzed him with a drone.

'I was getting droned out,' he told police.

Homicide Squad detectives had made a big issue over the fact Mr Hill had entered the wilderness with a DJI Mavic drone, which he had only just recently purchased.

They had called on the public for help in finding it in the long months the elderly couple had remained missing.

Mr Williams said he saw the drone hovering over other people's campsites, which he believed were being filmed by whoever was in control.

Mr Williams waved as it filmed him and it circled above him several times.

He watched it as it hovered over and around several campsites for 35 or 40 minutes, before he lost sight of it near Wonnangatta Cemetery.

He didn't see who was operating it but thought it was intrusive.

'You're going down there to have a peaceful camp and somebody's flying a drone over top of you,' he told the court on Monday.

Mr Williams believed he had seen Mr Hill drive past him on March 20 - the day detectives believe he took his last breath.

The torched remains of Russell Hill and Carol Clay's campsite in the Victorian Alps

The experienced bushman claimed a man aged in his 70s had driven past him at a blistering pace.

'He drove past quickly without stopping or even waving to me, which I thought was a bit odd,' he told police.

'I thought 'bloody grumpy old bugger' must be on a mission to get somewhere.'

Sydney campers Damir Javor and Goran Miljkovic had seen the couple as they parked their vehicle at a camp site believed to be shared by Lynn.

The pair had been coming into the area for years to get away from the big smoke.

Mr Miljkovic told the court he often heard the night silence pierced by the distinct sound of gun fire.

'You can hear gunshots at night which I assume are poachers trying to kill stags for their antlers,' he told police.

The preliminary hearing continues next week.
A Colorado astrophysicist has claimed her field is steeped in white supremacy and sexism because 'hypermasculine' and 'violent' language is used to describe stars.

Natalie Gosnell, an assistant professor at Colorado College, takes an unconventional approach to physics by comparing stars with humans to turn science into an art.

In an interview with the college newspaper she claimed she has struggled to overcome a division between art and science that is rooted in 'systemic racism.'

Her work aims 'to cross typical disciplinary boundaries to create art-science pieces that re-inscribe outer space as feminist space,' she said on her website.

'Both artists and scientists are just observing things about the world, interpreting those observations, and then sharing their interpretation,' Gosnell told Colorado College News.

'As an astrophysicist, I am a product of institutions steeped in systemic racism and white supremacy,' she said.

Astrophysicist Natalie Gosnell says her field is steeped in sexism and white supremacy because 'hypermasculine' and 'violent' language is used to describe stars

Gosnell takes an unconventional approach to physics by comparing the lifespans of stars with those of humans to turn science into an art

Suggestions that academic fields like science and engineering are male-dominated are common and generally accepted but Gosnell goes further by arguing that the language used to describe scientific phenomena is sexist and racist.

The way in which stars burn through their fuel and die is viewed through a 'hypermasculine' lens and the metaphors used are often 'very violent,' she claimed.

An example she gave was that stars which take mass from other stars are labeled 'bad boys,' though this does not seem to be a widely used scientific term.

She may have been referring to an article written by popular science journalist Nancy Atkinson in 2009, in which Atkinson wrote that 'blue stragglers [which] steal mass from companion stars by crashing into their neighbors' are 'stellar bad-boys.'

Much of Gosnell's research is dedicated to understanding blue straggler binary star systems - which often involve one star burning out and merging with another.

Gosnell, who studies binary star systems using telescopes and imaging, has said she tries to combine art and science because the two fields are more similar than people think.

'I think because science and art were so separate, and that's how it is [] systemic questions within science, the often chosen metaphors [to discuss science] are very violent and hypermasculine,' she said.

'The tenants of white supremacy emerging [in physics] of individualism and exceptionalism and perfectionism it's an either-or thinking and there's no subtlety, there's no gray area. All of this is manifested in the way we think about our research and what counts as good research, what counts as important research,' she said.

Gosnell is an assistant physics professor at Colorado College, where she both conducts research on stars and teaches

Gosnell has published dozens of papers as an astrophysicist in the last decade, including a number looking at blue straggler star systems (the first page of one is pictured)

Gosnell was involved in a creative project, The Gift, which was an experimental piece of theater that anthropomorphized blue straggler star systems

Gosnell has published dozens of papers as an astrophysicist in the last decade and was awarded the Cottrell Scholar Award in 2021 for a combination of her research and approaches to teaching.

She received her masters and PhD in astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was offered a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas at Austin.

Her work on the exclusive and exclusionary world of physics has been published at the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society.

More recently she was involved in a creative project, The Gift, which was an experimental piece of theater that anthropomorphized blue stragglers and made comparisons between the life spans and interactions of stars and humans.

The artwork is experienced in a room and involves sound and video to narrate the death of a star. The installation opened at the New York Public Library on December 6 but will be moved to Colorado College at some point in 2023.
A famous surfing swan is believed to have been mauled to death in a vicious dog attack.

Australian journalist and podcaster Jacqueline Felgate shared a post from a local wildlife rescue volunteer on Tuesday following the attack on East Beach in Port Fairy, Victoria.

'The black swan that surfs the waves at East Beach was viciously attacked this morning by a dog out the front of the surf club,' the post said.

'It swam out into the waves and was dumped, then was lost sight of.

'It had an injured wing and has possibly drowned.'

A wildlife volunteer said the famous Port Fairy surfing black swan (above) was mauled in a vicious day attack on Tuesday

The surfing swan has become a beloved member of the Port Fairy community with many sharing their photos and videos of the bird gliding through the waves.

However, East Beach is an off-leash dog area and is considered the 'safest' spot for pups to have a swim.

Horrified commenters under the post said the beach needs to be made leash-only to prevent future wildlife attacks.

'This is absolutely devastating. I hope the dog owner was told off. Thats awful,' one person wrote.

'Another reason why dogs should be banned from east beach,' another said.

'This is horrible. I hope its okay. We always keep our girl on leash. The beach we frequent has signs everywhere that dogs have to be on leash but so many arent,' a third person wrote.

A fourth said: 'The dog mustve been super aggressive as I saw a swan protecting her baby from a dog and she was fierce. The dog ran off.

'Where was the dogs owner?'
It was discovered at an op shop in Capalaba in Redlands

A carpet python has been found under several handbags

Startled shoppers have discovered a snake slithering amongst handbags at a charity shop.

The carpet python was found by a woman at a thrift shop in Capalaba, a suburb 20km south-east of Brisbane, last week.

Thomas Robinson uploaded the clip to TikTok and revealed he was alerted by the presence of the python after seeing a woman scream and run out of the shop.

'Turns out a cute little carpet python had made its way into the store... most likely inside dropped off goods,' he wrote.

Shoppers got a fright when they found a carpet python hiding in between handbags at an op shop in Capalaba, a suburb 20km south-east of Brisbane

'Appeared to be exceptionally friendly which had me immediately believing this is a pet.'

'Does anybody know of someone who has misplaced their beloved python recently?' the TikTok user asked.

Mr Robinson, who has a wildlife licence and a background in handling snakes, is seen in the footage trying to part the handbags to get to the python.

He uses a handbag strap to pull the python towards him before he grabs it with his hand.

One woman asks if the snake is dangerous but other shoppers reassure her that carpet pythons are not venomous.

Mr Robinson tells the shoppers standing nearby that the snake 'is not going to bite' and is likely a pet.

The python pokes its head at the phone being used to film the encounter and then moves towards the Mr Robinson's head.

Mr Robinson's mother is heard telling the other shoppers that her son is 'the snake man'.

Experienced snake handler Thomas Robinson (pictured) is seen in footage holding the python as staff looked for something to place it in

'He's like the Steve Irwin of Capalaba,' another woman jokes.

A staff member puts a box down as Mr Robinson tries placing the carpet python inside it.

'He's not going to want to go in. I want to keep it,' he says.

'I feel bad for the owner, they're probably just like, 'Where did Fluffy go?'' a woman says.

After refusing to go into the box, the python is placed inside a large plastic bag.

Mr Robinson, who has kept the carpet python at his residence after it was taken to a vet, is currently searching for its owner.

His TikTok video has amassed more than 500,000 views.
Ron DeSantis would defeat Joe Biden if the presidential election was held today, according to a new poll.

The Florida governor is yet to declare his candidacy for the 2024 election, but following a triumphant performance in the midterms, he is widely believed to be preparing for a White House campaign.

In further good news for DeSantis's team, a WPA Intelligence survey showed DeSantis winning the support of 45 percent of likely voters, while Biden won 42.

His fellow Floridian, Donald Trump, has already declared his intention to run again for the presidency.

But a poll last month showed DeSantis, 44, defeating Trump, 76, in a Republican primary.

Ron DeSantis would defeat Joe Biden if the presidential election was held today, according to the poll

Biden handily defeated Trump, however: were the election held today, 49 percent would chose the current president, and only 41 percent his predecessor.

The only point of concern for DeSantis's team is recognition.

While photos of Trump and Biden were correctly identified by almost all respondents, over a third - 36 percent - could not name DeSantis when shown his picture.

Last month's poll, from Suffolk University, saw 56 percent of voters backing DeSantis in a Republican primary, versus 33 percent for Trump.

The pollsters spoke to 1,000 people in December.

If the election were held today, survey respondents said they would vote for Biden over Trump

DeSantis is helped by both his youth and by being a fresh face on the national political scene.

He is widely seen as embodying many of the right wing policies that made Trump so popular, but without the president's erratic and divisive behavior that alienated independent voters, as well as small-c conservatives.

Both Biden and Trump are now being investigated by special counsels for their handling of classified material, and Trump, who had more than 300 documents stashed at Mar-a-Lago and held onto them for months, could face charges.

DeSantis, by contrast, has won praise for his November campaign for re-election as governor, which saw him win over voters even in Democrat strongholds such as Miami.

He is thought likely to announce his candidacy this spring.

Trump, pictured with his wife Melania, announced his plans to run again in 2024 shortly after last November's mid-terms

Biden, meanwhile, is said by aides to be very seriously considering a shot at a second term - despite him being, at 80, the oldest person to ever inhabit the White House. Trump is the second oldest person ever inaugurated as president.

Trump announced his plans to run again in 2024 shortly after last November's mid-terms.

He did so in anticipation of positive results for the MAGA candidates he backed in mid-term races.

But most of them - including Arizona gubernatorial hopeful Kari Lake and US Senate candidates Dr Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker - lost to their Democrat rivals.

That has sparked speculation that Trump may be losing his touch among Republicans.

Still, his continued hold over many other GOP members is seen as the key reason why no-one has dared announce their own campaign for the Republican nomination.

Among those expected to fight for it are DeSantis, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and former Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.
His group was later seen performing the Hitler salute

A child has been photographed attending a neo-Nazi meeting organised by a far-right group in Australia.

European Australia Movement hosted an event at an undisclosed location in Melbourne's western suburbs on December 3.

Photographs have since emerged showing a child standing in front of the masked group and next to a bare-chested man with a Swastika tattoo.

The same child who was pictured in the group photograph was seen in court weeks later supporting European Australia movement founder Thomas Sewell.

Sewell was convicted on Thursday for punching a Channel Nine security guard in the head in March 2021.

He was ordered to 150 hours of community service and has stirred more controversy after his peers were caught performing a Nazi salute at the beach last weekend.

A child has been photographed attending a neo-Nazi meeting organised by a far-right group

Thomas Sewell was ordered to 150 hours of community service but appeared to be up to old habits when he performed a Hitler salute on a beach during the weekend

Some 25 people posed at the Point Ormond lookout in Elwood while a couple held up the flag with the group's symbol emblazoned across it.

The photograph was taken as hateful stickers were stuck to signs in Beaconsfield.

One flyer put a call out for 'white Australians' claiming they were becoming a 'minority'.

'Our mission is simple. The preservation and advancement of white people in Australia,' it read.

'We are building a network of white Australians across every city, suburb and town who are against the systematic replacement and destruction of white Australians.'

Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dr Dvir Abramovich slammed the hateful propaganda.

'The law should never be on the side of neo-Nazis,' he said.

'What was unthinkable five years ago is happening on our doorstep as the descendants of Hitler, unapologetic and emboldened neo-Nazis... are openly giving the Heil Hitler salute in public where kids play.'

On Thursday, Sewell was sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order with 150 hours community service over the attack against the Channel Nine security guard.

The photograph was taken as white supremacist photos were letter dropped and hateful stickers stuck to signs in Beaconsfield

Hate stickers were stuck onto the Beaconsfield sign around the time members of a far right group performed the Hitler salute on the beach at Elwood

A flyer was distributed calling on white Australians to band together in the false threat of becoming a minority

Sewell, who represented himself in court, asserted the incident was not racially motivated, saying he would have acted the same way regardless of the guard's race or culture in circumstances where he believed his colleague was under attack.

Magistrate Stephen Ballek previously found Sewell was 'itching for a fight' when he visited the Nine Network's building in Melbourne with cameraman Jacob Hersant and demanded to speak to someone from A Current Affair.

Sewell claimed a segment on the program showed his group to be terrorists and said he was not contacted for comment.

After staff declined to meet, Mr Hersant began filming Sewell inside the foyer, prompting the security guard to put his hand on the lens and tell the pair to stop filming.

The duo agreed to go outside but the guard followed them when they started filming near the door.

After they moved further away, the guard began making a dance-type motion to the camera, prompting Mr Hersant to taunt him, saying: 'Dance monkey, dance.'

On Thursday, Sewell was sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order with 150 hours community service over the attack against the Channel Nine security guard (pictured, Sewell outside court in December 2022)

The guard touched Mr Hersant's shoulder in an attempt to push him backwards before Sewell leapt in and began attacking him, punching him in the head at least six times.

The guard fell back and hit his head on concrete.

Mr Ballek described the attack as 'brutal in its force, speed and repetition'.

The security guard did not see the punches coming, he said.

'Members of the public who witnessed this ugly event were understandably terrified by what they saw,' Mr Ballek said.

'The offending is sickening to watch on video. It would have been worse to observe live.'
Russia says that the joint declaration of NATO and the EU has changes that will impact its relationship with the bloc.

NATO-EU Approach Could Hinder Peace

The Russian Foreign Ministry last Thursday reacted to the joint statement signed by the bloc and military alliance, which it said is for making US interests dominant instead, according to Republic World.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that despite their OSCE obligations, the military bloc sees opposition to Moscow instead, per Anadolu Agency. Adding the arms sent to Kyiv from the west and other extras is only involving the bloc more and pushing expansion into former Russian territories.

Moscow called the approach taken by the bloc confrontational and policies that are self-centered; that is causing division and separating the world. It will only prevent attempts to settle peacefully and make international security weaker against terrorism.

Russia Calls NATO-EU Joint Declaration a US Stratagem

The moves of Washington are clear, said the foreign ministry; the objective is to involve the European Union in a geopolitical contest. Also, Europe will be a vassal of the US by allowing itself less freedom to do what it wants. Washington wants all allies to be in on the drive against Moscow.

Last January 10, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, signed the deal on the third Joint Declaration on NATO-European Union cooperation.

This agreement would cement the two bodies in more geopolitical and other relevant issues not tacked before.More coop on technologies, space, external interference, and fake news.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Warns EU, US

Stoltenberg stressed the joint partnership underlines a better European defense of security that will be compatible with the military alliance. Moscow's invasion of Kyiv is the focus of efforts.

NATO-EU Joint Declaration Aimed at Moscow, Beijing

Stoltenberg said in a press meeting right after the signing lauded what it means for the bloc and the western military alliance and called it important in the Brussels headquarters, reports ECNS.

European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed what the NATO chief said and further stressed the agreement enhances their cooperation. Von der Leyen said that European security is unstable due to the Ukrainian conflict that rages with the US proxy.

Furthermore, there will be more sanctions on Moscow's ally Belarus and even on such countries backing Moscow. This would be Saudi, India, China, and the AU, which has not accepted sanctions on the Kremlin.

The NATO chief added that the partnership supporting Zelensky would be more in 2023. Sources say that the declaration is not the first about the part the military bloc plays in Euro-Atlantic security. It follows two prior ones that were done in 2016 and 2018. More pressing is the bids of Norway and Sweden to be part of the military bloc that will defend 96% of the bloc's citizens.

Russia calls NATO and the EU to sign a joint declaration as another push on its border, pushing the bloc into the fray.

Related Article: European Union-NATO Sign Collaboration Deal

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The man, Paul Shoro, refused to take off the fluorescent shirt, since stating that he would 'rather go to jail or die' than remove it

A man ordered to remove his 'Jesus Saves' T-shirt or leave a shopping mall has said he would rather 'go to jail or die' than take it off.

During a lengthy and rambling hour long video posted to YouTube on Monday, Paul Shoro, was still wearing the same fluorescent shirt a security guard at the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota told him to either take off or leave the premises.

Shoro, who hails from Ethiopia, defended his actions, explaining his presence in the U.S. as a request from God.

He claimed he was at the mall to hand out gospel tracks - sheets of paper on which portions of scripture are written.

Shoro, who hails from Ethiopia, defended his actions explaining his presence in the U.S. as being a request from God who 'asked him to go to Minnesota'

In the video, a security guard at the nation's largest shopping mall could be heard telling the Shoro: 'If you want to shop here you need to take off that shirt'.

'When I was asked to take it off I said I would rather go to jail or die than take off my shirt,' Shoro stated

Another clip shows the same guard saying: 'Jesus is associated with religion and it is offending people. People have been offended.'

During a YouTube interview since, Shoro said: 'He told me what to do. Go into the street and preach the Gospel. I ordered t-shirts. Everything I have is Jesus, man. Hallelujah!

'The Lord delivered me from the darkness. He anointed me and finally by the time I was in Washington D.C. he said 'Hey son, I need you to go to Minnesota.''

'I started going to Mall of America and met tens of thousands of people but they stopped me preaching the gospel.'

Shoro says he was asked by a security guard to remove his shirt but he refused.

'When I was asked to take it off I said I would rather go to jail or die than take off my shirt,' he stated.

Viral video shows a man wearing a 'Jesus Saves' T-Shirt being ordered to take off the clothing or leave by security guards at Mall of America on Jan 7th

'Some people think we judge them but we don't. We go out to preach and help these people. I was so nice to them. I know my purpose. I didn't go there to fight.'

Shoro said other shoppers were supportive of him, telling the security guard he had freedom of speech and was allowed to wear the shirt under the law.

The video which was recorded on January 7 has prompted outrage online with one group organizing a protest at the Mall where they intend to wear their own 'Jesus Saves' shirts.

A spokesman for Mall of America told DailyMail.com Shoro was ultimately allowed to remain in the mall still wearing his shirt following the incident.

In the original clip, the preacher can be seen in his bright yellow T-shirt branding the religious slogan.

The back of the shirt reads 'Jesus is the only way' while the popular 'coexist' - symbol - which advocates different religions living alongside each other peacefully - is crossed out.

The videos have now been shared across TikTok and Twitter, while one was livestreamed to Facebook on January 7.

One week prior, he had also been issued with a 24-hour trespass for 'soliciting guests'.

During the tense exchange, three security guards surround the man.

In a clip that has gone viral on social media, the man insists he was shopping peacefully in the shirt but officers accused him of 'religious soliciting'

He can be heard saying: 'I didn't say anything though. I didn't speak. I didn't say anything. I just went to Macy's.'

The guard replies: 'Again, I'm giving you a couple options. You can take the shirt off and you can go to Macy's and you can do your shopping.

'Or you can leave the mall, OK? Those are your only options right now,.'

The officer later claimed he was engaging in 'religious soliciting,' which the mall forbids.

Shoro kept insisting throughout the video that he was not attempting to preach but was simply wearing the shirt while shopping.

Mall policies prohibit 'inappropriate attire,' including apparel that 'has obscene language, obscene gestures or racial/religious/ethnic slurs that are likely to create a disturbance.'

The Mall also forbids 'picketing, demonstrating, soliciting, protesting or petitioning.'

Shoro had been asked on a different day to leave the mall because he was preaching. This time, however, he appears to have just walking around the mall.

Social media users have reacted with fury to the video which sees the guard claim 'Jesus is associated with religion and it is offending people'

A guard is heard saying: 'Yes, you're walking wearing that shirt in the form of soliciting and we've had guests come up and say they're offended by your shirt.'

The posts have attracted mass outrage online.

A Twitter user called John Mason captioned the video: 'I automatically assumed this was overseas, but it's right here in America.'

Another user Wyatt Sullivan replied: 'If I ever go to the Mall of America again, I'm wearing the biggest Jesus shirt I can find.'

Meanwhile Pastor Chase Thompson wrote: 'He should sue them into oblivion.

The clip has prompted a protest by a group on Facebook who will wear 'Jesus Saves' T-shirts to the Mall on Saturday Feb 4

The planned protest was shared on a Facebook group belonging to the Bloomington Patriots

'This wouldn't have happened anywhere in the U.S. until very recently, and it certainly wouldn't have happened if he'd had a pride shirt on and even 50 people complained.'

A group called Bloomington Patriots plans to hold a demonstration at the mall on February 4 and is asking attendees to wear 'Jesus shirts.'

A spokesman for the Mall said: 'The guest referenced in the video was approached by Mall of America security on January 7, 2023. One week prior, he was issued a 24-hour trespass for soliciting guests. After a brief interaction, the guest was not required to change his shirt and was allowed to remain at the Mall.'
Victoria Police say allegations an officer sprayed a photojournalist with capsicum spray during an anti-lockdown protest are unfounded.

Luis Ascui, who was photographing the September 2021 protest in Melbourne, identified himself as a media representative before he was sprayed in the face.

Victoria Police confirmed on Tuesday the professional standards command had investigated the allegation against the officer and they were deemed to be unfounded.

Claims an officer sprayed news photographer Luis Ascui (pictured, dressed in white and brown) with capsicum spray at a 2021 anti-lockdown protest have been labeled 'unfounded'

'There will be no further action taken,' a police spokesperson told AAP.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission had oversight of the internal investigations into alleged police misconduct during the 2021 anti-lockdown protests.

A spokesperson told AAP the commission had not formally concluded its findings into those Victoria Police investigations.

Victoria Police last year reached a private settlement with Mr Ascui over the incident, reportedly worth thousands of dollars.

Victoria Police cleared the officer of wrongdoing after investigations into police conduct at the September, 2021 rally where 235 demonstrators were arrested (pictured, an image from the rally on September 18, 2021)

More than 500 people rallied against Victoria's COVID-19 lockdown in the September, 2021 protest.

There were 235 demonstrators arrested in the violent scuffle, including on charges of assault, riotous behaviour and weapons offences.

Ten police were injured and at least three officers were hospitalised.
A couple is fighting to keep a pig they won at a South Florida Fair auction alive after being told the sow would have to be butchered or the $4,700 deal was off the table.

Meg Weinberger said she received the ultimatum from fair organizers Saturday after attending the West Palm Beach fair with her husband Eric and quickly falling in love with the female pig.

An animal lover, Weinberger said she had attended the fair with the hope of bringing back a live pig to live on her and husband's animal sanctuary, free to roam with other critters - ranging from horses to geese.

While noble, the intent of saving the animal's life violates a Florida law that bars the sale of live animals at a 'terminal market' - a phrase that refers to a seller of farm products.

The auction that Weinberger and her husband won fits that criteria, spurring organizers to tell the pair they had to bring the pig - appropriately named Bella B. Swine - back as meat, or not at all.

Scroll down for video:

A couple is fighting to keep a pig they won at a South Florida Fair auction alive, after being told that the sow would have to be butchered or the $4,700 deal was off the table. Pictured is the pig in question, Bella B. Swine, who is set to be slaughtered in the coming weeks

Meg Weinberger said she received the ultimatum from fair organizers Saturday after attending the West Palm Beach fair with her husband Eric and quickly falling in love with the female pig

The disagreement saw the transaction fall apart, and Bella left at a local slaughter house.

Weinberger is now slamming fair organizers for reneging on their deal, and says that there were no signs displayed at the auction nor on a bidding agreement they signed that outlined the market's policy.

She detailed to CBS12 News how the controversy came to be, while lamenting at Bella's seemingly inevitable fate, despite winning a nearly $5,000 bid for what she assumed was the pig alive.

'I told them we wanted to bring her home to our sanctuary,' Weinberger told the outlet Monday. 'They said, 'Absolutely not.'

The disagreement saw the transaction fall apart, and Bella left at a local slaughter house.

Meg said she her husband beat out other buyers after putting up $4,700 for Bella, but was told that bringing the animal back would violate animal enterprise protection laws

Meg said she her husband beat out other buyers after putting up $4,700 for Bella, but was told that bringing the animal back would violate animal enterprise protection laws.

In other words, Bella had to be butchered or the deal was off.

'They wouldn't take our credit card,' a visibly angered Weinberger told the station in a video interview. 'They told us it was a state law that she had to be slaughtered.'

Weinberger said the revelation had dashed her and her husband's hopes of bringing back a live pig to replace one they had just lost.

Weinberger said the revelation had dashed her and her husband's hopes of bringing back a live pig to replace one they had just lost

'We lost a pig Wilbur recently,' the animal rescuer, who houses dozens of animals at her and husband's sprawling West Palm Beach property, explained. 'So I went in and I started bidding. We ended up winning the bid for $4,700.'

However, according to the President and CEO of the fair, no sum would be enough to save Bella, whose fate was apparently sealed when she was put up for sale, due to Florida laws surrounding animal sales.

Speaking to CBS12, Vicki Chouris asserted that despite not disclaiming the law on a bidding form the Weinbergers signed, the rules have been clear from the start.

She explained that the animals being sold at the auction were raised by local kids across 18 counties, who raise the livestock animals as part of a lesson on how to become proper farmers and ranchers

Megan and her husband, however, maintain that since there no signs displayed at the auction that disclaimed the law - and since they have a home ready for Bella at their West palm Beach animal sanctuary (pictured) - the pig's life should not be forfeit

She added that the animals sold off are 'necessary in maintaining the food chain.'

'We are a venue for young people in our community to be able to learn how to become ranchers and farmers.

'The process is they raise the animals for food consumption,' Chouris continued of why the deal fell through. 'That is the reason why.'

She added: 'To change the rules midstream, just because someone wants to take an animal home, is not ethical. These children are being taught how to follow rules.'

When asked if there was a notice that the bid was for a terminal animal when the couple signed an agreement,' Chouris conceded, 'Unfortunately it was not there.'

Despite the Weinbergers' continued efforts, Bella's fate is likely sealed - with Chouris revealing Monday that the pig is already at a local slaughter house, and that 'her meat will be given to a charitable organization' to be decided by the fair

Florida law meaning Bella B. Swine must die: According to Farm Service Agency, states such as Florida require that animals purchased from a terminal market to be slaughtered must be killed by a licensed professional. It is unlawful to have an animal slaughtered anywhere other than in an approved slaughterhouse or by a licensed slaughterer. Florida by far has the strictest penalty for those who violate such laws, with each violation subject to a maximum $10,000 per day civil fine and as well as a criminal misdemeanor. Animals being sold at a terminal market are already predesignated for slaughter. Advertisement

'We've never had that brought to our attention that it wasn't there  and it was not there,' she attempted to explain. 'It will be in the future, obviously. We are all learning from this experience.'

Megan and her husband, however, maintain that since there no signs displayed at the auction that outlined this - and since they have a home ready for Bella at their sanctuary, among horses, dogs, and even donkeys - the pig's life should not be forfeit.

After hours of debate between the parties Saturday, where organizers attempted to charge the Weinbergers anyway, it was decided the couple would not be charged the $4,700, and that the pig has since been sent to local slaughter house.

Despite the Weinbergers' continued efforts, Bella's fate is likely sealed - with Chouris explaining Monday that 'her meat will be given to a charitable organization' to be decided by the fair.

The child who raised Bella from a piglet, meanwhile, will still receive money for her work, the fair said.

According to Farm Service Agency, states such as Florida require that animals purchased from a terminal market to be slaughtered must be killed by a licensed professional.

It is unlawful to have an animal slaughtered anywhere other than in an approved slaughterhouse or by a licensed slaughterer.
A man is still in hospital after police followed a blood trail up a flight of stairs to discover him with serious head injuries.

Just before noon on Wednesday, December 14, police attended a block of units in the Adelaide suburb of South Plympton after receiving reports of blood located in the stairwell of the complex.

Officers followed the blood trail and found a 63-year-old man with a serious head injury.

He was rushed to the Royal Adelaide Hospital in a critical condition.

A 63-year-old man was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital after police found him with 'serious head injuries' last month

Detectives have made inquiries and viewed CCTV footage of the area but are yet to determine the cause of his injuries.

SA Police is appealing to members of the public who might have seen or heard anything suspicious around the area on that Wednesday to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Dayna Isaac, 28 was found dead inside a Colless St unit in Penrith in western Sydney, about 4.15pm on Monday

The mother who found the body of her son's girlfriend in a western Sydney unit has unleashed on a Daily Mail Australia reporter, chasing her down the street while screaming 'f*** off!'.

Paul Sultana, 32, was arrested in dramatic scenes early on Tuesday after his mum Janet Tsiliris discovered his new partner dead and partially unclothed inside her Penrith home.

Heavily armed tactical operators spent more than an hour negotiating with Sultana before taking him into custody in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

He was charged with murdering Dayna Isaac, 28, later that afternoon and refused bail to appear in Penrith Local Court on Wednesday.

It comes as Ms Issac's shattered ex-husband and the father of her children paid an emotional tribute vowing to 'look after our girls.'

Ms Isaac, a mother-of-two, had a long-term friendship with Sultana before their relationship turned romantic late last year.

Investigators will allege Ms Isaac was viciously assaulted and died from head injuries.

Media gathered outside the Cranebrook home on Tuesday where Sultana was taken into custody hours earlier.

By the afternoon, forensic teams, who spent the morning scouring Ms Isaac's apartment, began work on Sultana's nearby home, where he lives with relatives.

Paul Sultana's mum Janet Tsiliris lashed out at reporters outside a Cranebrook home where her son was taken into custody hours earlier

Mikkel Isaac (left) paid tribute to his ex-wife Dayna (right) on Tuesday night and shared several photos from their wedding day in 2017

Shortly after the investigators left, Ms Tsiliris and her father Basil pulled up outside the home in a red car.

But as she was approached by a Daily Mail Australia reporter, Ms Tsiliris charged across the rubbish-covered lawn and started swearing.

'You f***ing vultures!' Ms Tsiliris screamed.

'F*** off! Get the f*** out of here!'

As the reporter turned to walk away, Ms Tsiliris followed her down the street.

She then returned to the house where she could be heard yelling to her father: 'Go chase them dad!'

After Sultana allegedly killed Ms Isaac at her Penrith unit, police allege he dumped her car in bushland in the nearby suburb of Castlereagh.

Officers then tracked Sultana to his Cranebrook home and called for back up before moving in to arrest him.

Police shut down the street when the heavily armed tactical operations unit arrived.

Dayna Isaac was walked down the aisle by her dad Garry English (pictured together) on her wedding day in 2017

Mikkel Isaac shared a series of photos from their wedding six years ago, including one of him pulling off the bride's garter

Specially trained officers negotiated with Sultana for more than an hour before taking him into custody.

Meanwhile, Ms Issac's ex-husband broke his silence on Tuesday night with a heartfelt tribute to the mother of his two daughters.

'Love you forever and always. I promise I'll look after our girls until we meet again my angel,' Mikkel Isaac wrote.

He also posted a series of photos of the pair in happier times, including several of them kissing and dancing on their wedding day in 2017.

Ms Isaac's shattered father Garry English also paid tribute to his 'princess'.

'I'm not in a good place. I'm in complete shock,' he told The Daily Telegraph.

Ms Isaac's best friend has set up an online fundraiser to help support the grieving family, which has already raised $4,000 within hours.

'Our beautiful Dayna was taken way too soon,' she wrote.

'Dayna was a friend to everyone. She leaves behind 2 beautiful children who will miss her dearly. As you can understand this is a difficult time for her friends and family.

'We are asking for donations to help give Dayna the send off she truly deserves and to help her family with the costs of raising her children.'

'You f***ing vultures! 'F*** off! Get the f*** out of here!' 'Janet Tsiliris screamed at reporters

Dayna Isaac's boyfriend Paul Sultana (pictured right) has been charged with murder

Earlier on Tuesday, police revealed officers attended Ms Issac's home on Monday after neighbours reported hearing a blazing row,

When police knocked on a mother-of-two's door they got no answer and heard nothing inside.

But just 90 minutes later, at 4.15pm on Monday, police were back at the Colless St unit in Penrith, in Sydney's west, where they found Ms Isaac's body.

Officers were accompanied by her new boyfriend Paul Sultana's mum, who had called them, with her 32-year-old son now in police custody.

The timeline of events has been confirmed by NSW Police to Daily Mail Australia, with police first called to the unit between 2.30pm and 3pm on Monday.

A neighbour had called police to report a 'disturbance' coming from Ms Isaac's home but when officers turned up at the unit, nobody answered the door and they left.

Paul Sultana's mum Janet Tsiliris (pictured) discovered her son's new partner Dayna Issac, 28, dead and partially unclothed inside her Penrith home on Monday

Officers found Ms Isaac's car burned out in bushland at 3.45pm, 13km away from her home near Castlereagh.

I was out the back and just heard an explosion. We looked across the street and didnt think anything of it,' an unnamed local told Daily Mail Australia.

'Then we saw a white car drive in there later but we didnt realise it was police car.

'That area is called the drop zone. They do military drills and some people ride there motorbikes in there sometimes even though they arent meant to.

'We didnt see smoke or fire or anything about 4.30pm.

Half an hour later, Ms Isaac's body was discovered by Sultana's mother, who had gone to check on her.

She then drove to Penrith Police Station and reported her horror find to officers.

Sultana was arrested at about 3.25am on Tuesday, and was charged over her alleged murder 14 hours later.

Tactical operations officers spent the early hours of Tuesday morning negotiating with Paul Sultana before taking him into custody

Mikkel Isaac vowed to look after their two daughters following the tragic death of his ex-wife

Ms Isaac's (pictured) friend said she was the 'most beautiful, kind hearted and selfless' person she has ever met

TIMELINE OF WHEN DAYNA ISAAC'S BODY WAS FOUND Monday 2.30pm - 3pm: Police were called to Dayna Isaac's unit on Colless St in Penrith, in Sydney's west A neighbour had reported hearing a disturbance in her apartment Nobody answered the door when police showed up and the officers left 3.45pm: Officers find Ms Isaac's burnt out car 13km away from her home near Castlereagh 4.15pm: Ms Isaac is found dead inside her unit by her boyfriend Paul Sultana's mother His mother drives to the Penrith police station to raise the alarm Tuesday 3.25am: Sultana is arrested and is taken into police custody. Tuesday afternoon: Sultana was charged with murder and refused bail to appear in Penrith Local Court on Wednesday Advertisement

'Police were informed that there was a disturbance at the premises and they did attend and they later identified that the deceased was at the premises,' NSW Police Acting Superintendent Carlene Mahoney said on Tuesday.

Investigators have set up crime scenes at the unit block and Sultana's home.

Daily Mail Australia understands Ms Isaac was not fully clothed when she was found.

Superintendent Mahoney said the couple had been friends for a long time but had only been dating for about two months.

Police do not believe a weapon was involved, and say there was no history of domestic violence between Ms Isaac and Sultana.

Ms Isaac's two girls, aged one and three, were not home at the time.

A friend of the mother-of-two said she was the 'most beautiful, kind-hearted and selfless' person she had ever met.

'She lit up the room and was the life of the party,' the woman, who requested anonymity, told Daily Mail Australia.

'She was an amazing doting mother to two beautiful girls who absolutely adored her, and I am so so proud to call her not just my friend, but my sister.'

Police do not believe a weapon was involved, and say there was no history of domestic violence between Ms Isaac and Sultana

Police are seen at the apartment block in Penrith on Tuesday morning

Another friend wrote to Facebook: 'RIP gorgeous girl, I'll miss you'.

'You were such a wonderful person. Every time I saw you. You would always have a smile on your face,' said another friend.

Police urge anyone who may have information to contact Penrith Police or Crime Stoppers.
Police are searching for a young boy aged 12 who has not been seen since he left his home in freezing temperatures last night carrying a torch.

Richard Phorrington was last sighted at his house in Shoreham, West Sussex at 7.30pm on Monday night.

Richard was dressed in a long black jacket with a hood when he disappeared but was not wearing any shoes.

Around 50 members of emergency crew and volunteers, including the coastguard, were seen mounting the search last night.

Richard Phorrington, 12, suddenly vanished from his Shoreham home last night at 7.30pm

Around 50 members of emergency crew and volunteers, including the coastguard joined hunt

Helpers were seen checking the harbour at the seaside town to try and find Richard but without success.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: 'We are concerned for the welfare of missing Richard Phorrington, 12, from Shoreham.

'He was last seen leaving his home address at 7.30pm on Monday but has not been seen since.

Helpers were seen checking the harbour at the seaside town to try and find Richard last night

A spokesman for Sussex Police said the force was concerned about Richard's welfare last night

'Richard is described as being slim, around 53 tall and was wearing a long black jacket with a hood, dark jeans, black socks and wasnt wearing any shoes.

'It is likely Richard is carrying a torch.'

Anyone with information of Richards whereabouts is asked to call 999 quoting serial number 1159 of 16/01.
China's population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, official data shows, as the world's most populous country faces a looming demographic crisis.

The nation of 1.4 billion has seen birth rates plunge to record lows as its workforce ages, in a rapid decline that analysts warn could stymie economic growth and pile pressure on strained public coffers.

The mainland Chinese population stood at around 1,411,750,000 at the end of 2022, Beijing's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported, a decrease of 850,000 from the end of the previous year. The number of births was 9.56 million, the NBS said, while the number of deaths stood at 10.41 million.

The news comes after a UN report predicted last week that India's population is set to overtake China's on April 14 to become the world's biggest, while projections warned that the country could see its population half by 2100.

Pictured: Graphs show China's population forecast. These figures include residents in Hong Kong, Macau and foreign residents, which are not included in the latest report from Beijing 's National Bureau of Statistics. The figures show a population decline of 0.02, while UN projections are marked as dotted lines suggesting the decline will continue into the century

China's population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, official data showed Tuesday, as the world's most populous country faces a looming demographic crisis. Pictured: A UN projections graph showing China's population forecast

A UN report (data on India pictured) predicted last week that India's population is set to overtake China's on April 14 to become the world's biggest

The latest NBS tally includes only the population of mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macao as well as foreign residents.

Men outnumbered women by 722.06 million to 689.69 million, a result of the strict one-child policy that only officially ended in 2016 and a traditional preference for male offspring to carry on the family name.

The current birth rate in China is 1.2, well below the rate to maintain a sustainable population. India has a higher rate and a more youthful population.

As a result, the Chinese population could decline each year by 1.1 percent on average, according to a study by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences updated last year.

China could have only 587 million inhabitants in 2100, less than half of today, according to the most pessimistic projections of that team of demographers.

The last time China's population declined was in the early 1960s, as the country battled the worst famine in its modern history, a result of the disastrous Mao Zedong agricultural policy known as the Great Leap Forward - a disastrous drive for collective farming and industrialization that killed tens of millions of people.

China ended its strict one-child policy - imposed in the 1980s owing to fears of overpopulation - in 2016 and began allowing couples to have three children in 2021.

But that has failed to reverse the demographic decline for a country that has long relied on its vast workforce as a driver of economic growth.

'The population will likely trend down from here in coming years,' Zhiwei Zhang of Pinpoint Asset Management said.

'China cannot rely on the demographic dividend as a structural driver for economic growth,' he added. 'Economic growth will have to depend more on productivity growth, which is driven by government policies.'

The UN report claims it will take approximately 15 years  until 2037  for the world's population to reach nine billion. Half of this next billion is expected to come from just eight countries, with five of them in Africa; the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania

By 2050, India's population will be 300million more than China's, the UN estimates

China's statistics bureau said the working-age population between 16 and 59 years old totalled 875.56 million, accounting for 62.0% of the national population, while those aged 65 and older totalled 209.78 million, accounting for 14.9% of the total.

The statistics also showed increasing urbanization in a country that traditionally had been largely rural.

Over 2022, the permanent urban population increased by 6.46 million to reach 920.71 million, or 65.22%, while the rural population fell by 7.31 million.

It wasn't immediately clear if the population figures have been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan before spreading around the world.

China has been accused by some specialists of under-reporting deaths from the virus by blaming them on underlying conditions, but no estimates of the actual number have been published.

China's population has begun to decline 9-10 years earlier than Chinese officials predicted and the United Nation projected, said Yi Fuxian, a demographer and expert on Chinese population trends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

That means that China's 'real demographic crisis is beyond imagination and that all of China's past economic, social, defense, and foreign policies were based on faulty demographic data,' Yi told The Associated Press.

The nation of 1.4 billion has seen birth rates plunge to record lows as its workforce ages. Pictured: Travellers crowd at the gates and wait for trains at the Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station during the peak travel rush for the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday on January 15

China ended its strict one-child policy - imposed in the 1980s owing to fears of overpopulation - in 2016 and began allowing couples to have three children in 2021. But that has failed to reverse the demographic decline. Pictured: Women wearing face masks walk with their children on a street as they head to the Forbidden City in Beijing, January 17

News of the population decline quickly trended on China's heavily censored internet, with some expressing fears for the country's future.

'Without children, the state and the nation have no future,' one comment on the Twitter-like Weibo service read. 'Having children is also a social responsibility,' another comment from a well-known 'patriotic' influencer read.

But others pointed to the soaring cost of living and the difficulties of raising children in modern China. 'I love my mother, I will not be a mother,' said one.

'No one reflects on why we do not want to have (children) and do not want to get married,' another said.

Many local authorities have already launched measures to encourage couples to have children.

The southern megacity of Shenzhen, for example, now offers a birth bonus and pays allowances until the child is three years old.

A couple who has their first baby automatically receives 3,000 yuan ($444), an amount that rises to 10,000 yuan for their third.

In the country's east, the city of Jinan has since January 1 paid a monthly stipend of 600 yuan for couples that have a second child.

Chinese people are 'getting used to the small family because of the decades-long one-child policy', Xiujian Peng, a researcher at Australia's University of Victoria, said.

'The Chinese government has to find effective policies to encourage birth, otherwise, fertility will slip even lower,' she added.

And analysts argue much more needs to be done.

'A comprehensive policy package that covers childbirth, parenting, and education is needed to reduce the cost of childraising,' researcher Peng told AFP.

'Women's job insecurity after giving birth should be addressed particularly.'

Independent demographer He Yafu also pointed to 'the decline in the number of women of childbearing age, which fell by five million per year between 2016 and 2021' - a consequence of the ageing of the population.

'A declining and ageing population will be a real concern for China,' Peng said. 'It will have a profound impact on China's economy from the present through to 2100.'

A man pulls a child past a Lunar New Year decoration on display at the Qianmen pedestrian shopping street, a popular tourist spot in Beijing, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023

The UN estimated last year that the world's population reached 8 billion on Nov. 15 and that India will replace China as the world's most populous nation in 2023.

India's last census was scheduled for 2022 but was postponed amid the pandemic.

In a report released on World Population Day, the U.N. also said global population growth fell below 1% in 2020 for the first time since 1950.

Also Tuesday, the bureau released data showing China's economic growth fell to its second-lowest level in at least four decades last year under pressure from anti-virus controls and a real estate slump.

The world's No. 2 economy grew by 3% in 2022, less than half of the previous year's 8.1%, the data showed. That was the second-lowest annual rate since at least the 1970s, after the drop to 2.4% in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Activity is slowly reviving after restrictions that kept millions of people at home and sparked protests were lifted.
The case against ex-pilot Gregory Lynn, accused of the murder of missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay in Victoria's high country, has finally been laid out.

Mr Lynn, 56, was arrested in November 2021, more than 20 months after Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73, vanished from their remote campsite in the Wonnangatta Valley.

In a summary of the police case provided to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, police outlined their allegations against the former Jetstar pilot.

Police allege the March 19, 2020 camping trip ended in tragedy, with Ms Clay shot in the head and Mr Hill fatally stabbed, after a fight over a drone.

It's alleged Mr Lynn returned to the area in May and November 2020 where he is accused of trying to 'destroy' the couples' remains by setting them on fire.

Mr Lynn has denied murdering the pair, and lawyer Dermot Dann KC said the allegations against his client are 'heavily in dispute'.

Mr Hill and Ms Clay, childhood sweethearts who had rekindled their relationship 15 years prior, had allegedly travelled to the remote 'Bucks Camp' on March 19, 2020, to spend some quality time together.

The case against ex-pilot Gregory Lynn, accused of the murder of missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay in Victoria's high country, has finally been laid out

When the pair arrived, police believe it is 'likely' they engaged in some way with Mr Lynn, who had allegedly set up camp there the day before.

About 6pm on March 19, Mr Hill made contact via high-frequency radio with an amateur radio group, who reported him sounding 'normal', a police summary of facts reads.

It's alleged in the document that sometime after this conversation a confrontation between Mr Lynn and Mr Hill broke out and they were killed.

In a separate statement provided to the court by forensic expert Mark Gellatly, he claims police informed him they believed Mr Lynn was annoyed by Mr Hill's drone and confronted the pair about it before returning to his campsite.

He said crime scene investigators believe Mr Hill then allegedly grabbed a shotgun from Mr Lynn's vehicle, before a physical fight broke out between the two men and the gun discharged.

It's alleged Ms Clay, who was standing near Mr Hill's car, was fatally struck in the head, with an ensuing fight between the two men, ending when Mr Lynn fatally stabbed Mr Hill.

The burnt remains of the campsite were discovered on March 27 by a camper, just one day after Mr Hill's wife reported him missing.

'We walked up to the site and I could see things didn't look right and decided we should call the police,' camper Colin Boyd said in a statement provided to police.

Police will allege Mr Lynn then returned to the area in May and November 2020 where he is accused of trying to 'destroy' the couples' remains by setting them on fire.

Court Sketch of Gregory Lynn appearing at the Melbourne Magistrates court

Gregory Lynn's car was allegedly resprayed after the deaths

Police will allege Mr Lynn set fire to the couple's camp in an effort to conceal what happened, and had loaded the bodies into his trailer and dumped them in bushland.

'The accused made immediate and overt efforts to contaminate the crime scene and conceal the offences, including destroying evidence and setting fire to the scene,' the police summary tendered to the court reads.

'The accused is also likely to have discarded the drone, car keys for the Landcruiser and Hill and Clay's mobile phones.

'To date, none of these items have been recovered.'

The statement further alleges the circumstances of the couple's deaths and Mr Lynn's behaviour afterwards suggest he 'intended to cause death or at least cause each of them really serious injury'.

According to the summary of facts, Mr Lynn returned home in the afternoon on March 22.

Greg Lynn's employment with Jetstar was terminated after the allegations came to light. Picture: Supplied

Russell Hill and Carol Clay's burnout campsite photographed by a camper near Dry River track at Billabong in the Wonnangatta Valley

Mr Lynn was first interviewed by police in July 2020, after his Nissan Patrol was captured by automatic number plate recognition cameras leaving the area around the time Mr Hill and Ms Clay disappeared.

Missing persons squad Detective Senior Constable Abbey Justin told the court that at that time he was considered a witness.

She quizzed Mr Lynn in the kitchen of his Caroline Springs home about his movements through the park and his vehicle's colour, with the interview secretly recorded.

Police alleged he repainted his vehicle and sold the trailer to 'conceal his involvement'.

Mr Hill and Ms Clay's remains were discovered in November 2021

By December 2020, Mr Lynn was allegedly under surveillance with GPS trackers, listening devices and telephone intercepts.

At various points over the coming months, he allegedly referred to the deaths of Ms Hill and Mr Clay while talking to himself.

He was arrested on November 22, 2021, while camping at a secluded site near Arbuckle - about 20km south of where Mr Hill and Ms Clay were allegedly murdered.

Their remains were allegedly discovered at the base of a fallen tree later the same month.

Crime scene investigators returned to the Wonnangatta campsite in March 2022 where they allegedly located a piece of human skull, linked by DNA to Ms Clay, and a piece of lead near where the couple's tent had been set up.

Forensic testing to determine whether the lead was related to firearms and ammunition seized from Mr Lynn's home is ongoing.

Mr Lynn has faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court this week for a committal hearing in which Magistrate Brett Sonnet will decide if there is sufficient evidence against him to be tried in the Supreme Court.

The former pilot has denied killing Mr Hill and Ms Clay and his response to the charges has never been aired in public.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley today admitted it was 'not defensible' that PC David Carrick remained in work when he was accused of rape - even after a fellow diplomatic protection officer abused and murdered Sarah Everard.

Sir Mark today drew parallels between the cases and said that the inquiry by Dame Elish Angiolini into whether any red flags were missed in Wayne Couzens' policing career should now be expanded to look into Carrick.

Sir Mark's admission came hours before David Carrick, 48, was sacked by the Metropolitan Police at a misconduct hearing held in his absence in west London. The rapist had reportedly earned 60,000 from his taxpayer-funded salary during 15 months in custody.

Carrick, now revealed as one of Britain's worst rapists, abused that elite position to coerce terrified victims in a depraved campaign of sexual abuse, bragging that he was 'untouchable'.

Carrick has now admitted 49 charges against a dozen women, including 24 counts of rape, stretching from 2003 to 2020. On several occasions he waved his warrant card to gain their trust and even used his used his gun and handcuffs in attacks.

Sir Mark said today that it is 'not defensible' that Carrick's record had not been checked in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving cop.

The force is now reviewing around 1,000 members of staff and officers who have previously been accused of domestic abuse or sexual violence. Sir Mark today predicted that mistakes will have been made in those cases and that 'hundreds' of bad apples would be forced to leave the Met.

He also admitted he could not promise that a woman visiting a police station to report a sexual offence would not be met by a police officer whose past behaviour is now under review.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the sustained employment of Pc David Carrick was a "spectacular failure" in his force. He said it is "not defensible" that Carrick's record had not been checked in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, before he became Commissioner.

Dame Cressida Dick refused to resign over the Couzens scandal and vowed to do all she could to protect women and girls from harm. But it has emerged that Carrick was not suspended from work despite being accused of rape

Sarah Everard's murder inspired at least two women to come forward to accuse Carrick of rape

Timeline: How the Couzens and Carrick cases overlap - March 3 2021: Wayne Couzens abducts, rapes and murders Sarah Everard - March 15 2021: Dame Cressida Dick vows to root out bad apples and protect women. She said: 'What happened to Sarah appalls me [and] makes me more determined, not less, to lead my organisation' - July 9 2021: Couzens admits his crimes. Dame Cressida Dick, the Met's chief, said the entire force was 'sickened, angered and devastated' by Couzens' 'truly dreadful crimes'. 'Everyone in policing feels betrayed', she said. - July 2021: The woman reports being raped by Carrick. He is arrested by Hertfordshire Police over the allegation but no further action is taken after she withdraws the complaint. The Met's Directorate of Professional Standards is made aware and Carrick is placed on restricted duties. It is determined he has no case to answer in relation to any misconduct and in September the restriction is lifted, although he never returns to full duties. September 30, 2021: Couzens was sentenced to life imprisonment with a tariff of a whole life order - October 1 2021: A 50-year-old woman reports she was raped by Carrick in September 2020. He is arrested, charged and suspended by the Met. - October 4: Carrick is remanded in custody after appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with rape. - October 2021-October 2022: The publicity prompts another 12 women to come forward and make allegations against Carrick. - December 16 2022: Carrick pleads guilty to 43 offences at the Old Bailey. His pay is stopped by the Met. - January 16 2023: Carrick admits a further six charges at Southwark Crown Court. Advertisement

Sarah was abducted by Couzens on March 3 2021 after he used has warrant card to stop her claiming he was enforcing lockdown laws before driving her to Kent to abuse and strangle her to death.

In the new chilling case that shames the Met, it emerged that Carrick also showed at least two victims his warrant card, telling them on dates: 'I'm a police officer, you're safe with me'.

Carrick was arrested by Hertfordshire Police in July 2021 after a woman reported being raped by him after walking into a police station just 24 hours after Couzens had pleaded guilty.

The Met was made aware of the claim their officer was an abuser - not for the first time - but Carrick was not suspended and placed on restricted duties instead.

Then Commissioner Cressida Dick was at the Old Bailey to meet her family to apologise after Couzens pleaded guilty, declaring: 'All of us in the Met are sickened, angered and devastated by this man's truly dreadful crimes. Everyone in policing feels betrayed'.

Another woman who accused Carrick of rape later told detectives she had seen the details of Sarah Everard in the press and said it was right to report her case knowing Carrick to be a police officer.

In late September 2021, when Couzens was jailed for life with no parole, Dame Cressida said that an additional 650 officers will be placed across the capital in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder to keep women and girls safe.

On October 1, a 50-year-old woman reported she was raped by Carrick in September 2020. He is arrested, charged and suspended by the Met. On October 4: Carrick is remanded in custody after appearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with rape.

Sir Mark Rowley today said the sustained employment of Pc David Carrick was a 'spectacular failure' in his force.

Asked to explain, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'This is about weak decision-making in professional standards, not joining the dots between related incidents, and poor policies, and that all comes together to mean he was a police officer for 20 years and for a large part of this he was a predatory rapist.'

Sir Mark agreed it was a 'spectacular failure' by his force.

He said: 'You can't say anything else - it absolutely is.

'I have been crystal clear from coming into post ... that one of the top planks of my responsibilities is to rebuild our integrity, and part of that is to take on those who corrupt our integrity - people like David Carrick and, frankly, many others.

'We have been too weak on this, systematically, for some time.'

Former victims' commissioner Vera Baird said the case of serial rapist Pc David Carrick 'absolutely takes one's breath away'.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'The Metropolitan Police seem incapable of not employing - and furthermore retaining - some quite evil people.

'He appears to have been reassessed since the murder of Sarah Everard, since the Charing Cross misogyny scandal came out.

'Where exactly is the change in culture that we have all been told would occur after that catastrophic death now a couple of years ago?'

She added that it was not the Met that exposed Carrick but one of the victims who 'had the courage' to go to another police force.

Sir Mark Rowley yesterday issued a grovelling apology on Monday as the true extent of the 48-year-old's horrific crimes became public knowledge for the first time, admitting that the force 'let women and girls down'.

And it was revealed that the force, which missed multiple signs about his true nature for years while he worked as a parliamentary and diplomatic protection officer, is now looking into abuse claims against more than 1,000 members of staff.

Carrick, pictured here in his police uniform, demeaned his victims, telling one woman 'you're my slave'

According to one woman who claims she was in a one-off relationship with the sadistic officer for five years, the rapist had bragged that his position meant he couldn't be prosecuted.

A review into how Wayne Couzens was able to serve in the Met and the red flags missed should now take in David Carrick, Sir Mark Rowley said

Speaking to the Sun the woman, who only gives her first name as Rachel, said Carrick seemed to know about an assault she had reported to the police, suggesting he had used the force's database to look up her personal information.

She added that he had claimed to take items, including jewellery, from the Met's evidence lockers to use them at home.

She told the paper: 'I once asked him if he was not worried about getting caught because of his job. His exact words to me were 'it's because of my job that I'm not worried'.

'He said he was so far at the top that he was untouchable.'

The woman said that while she was not assaulted by Carrick when she was with him, he treated her in a degrading and demeaning way.

She said he told her to 'behave like a prostitute' and had asked her to pretend to be asleep in the bedroom.

She added that he had used police-issue handcuffs on her and brought what looked to be a real gun home with him, along with his police baton.

Rachel said his behaviour was controlling, saying: 'Knowing now what he has done and how he treated all of those women, how on earth was he allowed to be a police officer?'

It was revealed on Monday that Carrick abused his elite position to to coerce terrified victims in a depraved campaign of sexual abuse. Carrick has admitted charges against a dozen women, including dozens of counts of rape, stretching from 2003 to 2020.

The Met said it was now reviewing 1,633 cases involving 1,071 of its officers and staff who have faced complaints of domestic abuse or sexual offending over the past decade.

It comes as one female former chief constable warned that vetting in the police is 'non-existent'.

Sue Fish, the former head of Nottinghamshire Police, said the system is 'utterly unfit for purpose' and that it 'fails to recognise predatory men within policing ranks or aspiring to-be members of the police service'.

She told the Telegraph: 'I am rarely speechless, but this is worse than horrific. I think the scary question is: how many others are there?'

She added that the disciplinary process within forces sees things 'in isolation' and does not see patterns of behaviour that could raise red flags.

When Carrick was first arrested for rape in July 2021, he was placed on restricted duties rather than being suspended. And bosses failed to carry out basic checks into his background that would have revealed a pattern of abusive behaviour.

Carrick was vetted just twice during his two decades in the force, in 2001 and 2017, despite rules stating officers in his position should be reviewed every ten years.

He was known among colleagues as 'Bastard Dave' and had a reputation for being 'mean and cruel'. But over two decades, no colleagues expressed concerns.

Carrick, pictured here at the beach, abused and tortured women at his Hertfordshire home

Carrrick, pictured here in an artists impression in court, boasted to women that he was a police officer

His mother Jean last night said a serious complaint was first made about her son when he was just a teenager.

Carrick yesterday entered guilty pleas to six counts of rape and sexual assault against one woman, having admitted 43 offences against 11 women at the Old Bailey last month. Some of the pleas cover multiple offences, meaning he has confessed to more than 80 serious sex crimes.

The cases relating to other Met officers that are being reviewed include those that resulted in no action or no criminal allegations. Sir Mark, who replaced Dame Cressida Dick in September following her resignation amid a string of scandals, said he would write to Home Secretary Suella Braverman and London Mayor Sadiq Khan in March with the review's findings.

The force has been rocked by the murder of Sarah Everard, by a damning report revealing a toxic culture at Charing Cross police station and by a pair of officers who photographed the bodies of two murdered sisters.

The Met will check potentially dangerous officers against police and national intelligence databases, Sir Mark said. He added in a statement: 'This man abused women in the most disgusting manner. It is sickening.

'We've let women and girls down and indeed we've let Londoners down. The women who suffered and survived this violence have been unimaginably brave.

'And I do understand also that this will lead to some women across London questioning whether they can trust the Met to keep them safe. We have failed. And I'm sorry. He should not have been a police officer.'

Women's groups last night said the Met was 'an institution in crisis'.

Andrea Simon, of the End Violence Against Women coalition, said: 'It is abundantly clear that an officer whose behaviour gave him the nickname 'Dave the Bastard' among colleagues should not have been in the force in the first place.'

Sir Mark has repeatedly said it is 'crazy' that he is unable to sack officers when they break the law.

Carrick was first charged with raping a 50-year-old woman in October 2021. This charge was later dropped, but its coverage in the media gave 12 other women the courage to report abuse at his hands.

The officer's abhorrent crimes included rape, dragging his victims into the shower by their hair before sexually assaulting them, keeping them locked in a small cupboard and carrying out sickening sexual acts against their will. An ex-girlfriend said Carrick would handcuff her wrist to her ankle with his police-issue cuffs, then claim he had left the key at the station in London.

Carrick, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, joined the Met in August 2001, having served for two years in the Army.

The previous year, he was accused of burglary and malicious communications involving an ex-girlfriend but he was not arrested. He passed vetting checks the following year and began working as a response officer in Merton, south-west London.

While still on probation in 2002, Carrick was accused of harassment and assault of a former partner. Again, he was not arrested, and the matter was never referred to the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards.

Carrick was involved in domestic incidents in 2004, 2009 and 2019, a harassment allegation in 2014, and an altercation at a nightclub in 2017 but no further action was taken. Then, in July 2021, Carrick was arrested over a rape complaint. He was not suspended, however, and the victim dropped the complaint. When Carrick was later charged over a separate woman, the first victim was recontacted and Carrick admitted raping her and carrying out a sickening sexual act.

He will be sentenced early next month and faces a long prison sentence.

Speaking today Sir Mark said the force had let 'women and girls down', admitting his officers had 'failed' to investigate allegations made against Carrick as they should have.

In a statement he said: 'This man abused women in the most disgusting manner. It is sickening. We've let women and girls down and indeed we've let Londoners down.

'The women who suffered and survived this violence have been unimaginably brave and courageous in coming forward.

'And I do understand also that this will lead to some women across London questioning whether they can trust the Met to keep them safe.

'We have failed. And I'm sorry. He should not have been a police officer.'

The Met commissioner, who started in the role several months ago, added: 'We haven't applied the same sense of ruthlessness to guarding our own integrity that we routinely apply to confronting criminals.

'We failed in two respects.

'We failed as investigators where we should have been more intrusive and joined the dots on this repeated misogyny over a couple of decades.

'And as leaders, our mindset should have been more determined to root out such a misogynist.

'These failures are horrific examples of the systemic failures that concern me and were highlighted by Baroness Casey in her recent review. I do know an apology doesn't go far enough, but I do think it's important to acknowledge our failings and for me to say I'm sorry.

'I apologise to all of David Carrick's victims. And I also want to say sorry to all of the women across London who feel we've let them down.

'I have promised action. From my first day four months ago, I said that the Met will become ruthless at rooting out those who corrupt our integrity. That's because our integrity is our foundation.

'We haven't guarded this as ferociously as we must and we will do. In the four months to date, we've launched a new anti-corruption and abuse command, putting 30 per cent more officers into fighting corruption. And we've done public appeals.

'We've raised 250 fresh lines of inquiry, and we're doing more proactive work against problematic officers than ever before. I've also brought in new leadership to lead this work, to reform our integrity.

'At the end of March, I plan to write to the Home Secretary and the Mayor in an open public letter. And by then, we will also have finished reviewing all of our people, having checked their details against all the police, national intelligence data in the police national database.

'We'll have begun a full review of our national vetting process, we'll have completed Operation Onyx, which is our review of the officers and staff whom we have concerning domestic or sexual incident reports against.

'And we'll also have tested new legal routes to dismiss those who fail vetting.

'We will reform at speed. I promise that to Londoners.'

David Carrick, pictured here in his police uniform, pleaded guilty today to 71 sex attacks on 12 women over the course of nearly 20 years

Carrick, pictured, admitted to 48 counts of rape when he appeared at court on Monday, January 16

At court earlier today it was revealed Carrick, whose nickname on the force was 'Ba***ard Dave', abused and tortured 12 victims, boasting to them 'I'm a police officer, you can trust me'.

He locked women in a cupboard under the stairs of his Hertfordshire home for hours on end, controlled what they ate and isolated them from their families.

The vile police officer allegedly whipped his victims with belts, dragged them by their hair and demeaned them by saying 'you're my slave, you're my whore'.

The rapist had joined the force in 2001 despite allegations of malicious communications and burglary against an ex-partner just a year before.

While on his probationary period he was accused of assault and harassment against a former partner, but this was not passed onto the Directorate of Professional Standards.

Following this he used his position as a police officer to abuse women, finding some of his victims on dating websites and meeting them in bars where he would gain their trust.

He would appear to be a 'fun-loving, charming and charismatic' man, prosecutors said, but this was hiding a dark secret.

In reality, he was 'very manipulative' and 'self-confident almost to the point of being cocky'.

When he was arrested at his Stevenage home in October 2021 accused of raping a woman he met on Tinder, he said: 'Not again.'

When she arrived at a nearby pub on September 4, 2020, Carrick had ordered a bottle of wine and the woman said she felt 'pressured' to drink as he had paid for it.

He told her he was a Met Police firearms officer nicknamed 'Ba***ard Dave', showed her his warrant card and boasted of meeting famous people, including Mr Johnson, in the course of his work.

She told police that Carrick called her 'disgusting' and referred to himself as a 'dominant bastard' while raping her the following morning after she woke up naked in the bath with sick in her hair.

While looking into the allegations against him, investigators found a pattern of behaviour where Carrick abused his position as a police officer.

Carrick, who had a pet snake, exerted control by paying for dinner and drinks, so women would feel indebted to him before isolating them from their friends and family members.

He would tell some of his victims they were not allowed to eat, calling them 'fat and lazy', while others were ordered to stay in bed all day so they could have sex all night.

Women were locked in an understairs cupboard in Carrick's home, said by police to be smaller than a dog crate, for hours without food, or made to clean the house naked.

Carrick urinated over some of his victims and made derogatory comments towards the women, referring to them as his 'slave' or a 'whore'.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Shilpa Shah told a media briefing: 'The patterns of behaviour that were similar would be things such as the derogatory comments, calling them things like his slave, and making rude remarks all the time.

'This was also on the phone evidence  he would message them calling them horrid names, saying things such as you're my slave, you're a whore. In the actual offending behaviour there were striking similarities

'For example, that he would urinate in their mouth. That is something that you wouldn't make up. He would also force them to give him oral sex to the point that they would be gagging.

'For a couple of the victims he would say they weren't allowed to eat today, saying you could eat this much of an apple today. He would call them fat and lazy, and say that's why you're not allowed to eat.'

Explaining how Carrick allegedly financially abused his victims, Ms Shah said he would make them feeling indebted to him.

She said: 'He would be the one to pay for them and would not allow them pay. It would be something along the lines of, you're not using your own money, you use my money, so they would feel indebted to him.'
A drunk easyJet passenger who grabbed an air hostess by the throat after she told him off for clambering over two people on a flight to Malta for his 50th birthday has been jailed for six months.

Colin Smith, 51, downed three-quarters of a bottle of duty-free whisky before the flight from Manchester on March 28 last year.

A court heard the crane operator then drunkenly attacked flight attendant Carley Griffith after she told him to sit down again as he tried to use the toilet while the seatbelt signs were on.

Miss Griffith broke free of his grip and pushed him back, causing the sunseeker to fall over. After being restrained, Smith was led off the aircraft by police with his mortified long-term partner Hayley Whitehand telling staff: 'I told him he shouldn't drink whisky.'

Colin Smith downed three quarters of a bottle of whisky to help with his 'fear of flying' - before then attacking an easyJet stewardess. He is pictured outside Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester

Smith, pictured with his partner Hayley Whitehand, had been travelling to Malta to mark his 50th birthday. He has now been jailed for six months

He was later arrested a week later in the UK, admitting that he had strangled the stewardess and telling police that he was 'nine out of 10' drunk after drinking most of a bottle of Famous Grouse whisky.

Smith has now been jailed for six months after admitting being drunk on an aircraft and assault by beating.

Judge Tina Landale told Smith: 'This incident happened on board a flight full of holidaymakers, which only adds to the severity of your actions.

'Your drunkenness was extreme, you were intoxicated to such an extent that you were described as being in a trance-like state. Passengers thought you had a medical condition.

'This attack occurred at the stage that causes the most danger for staff and passengers alike. This is an extremely serious case, the scene must have caused tremendous fear for all those passengers and staff members in the vicinity.

'Your actions were persistent and sustained and entirely unacceptable behaviour to take against someone that is just trying to carry out their duty.

'The extraordinary facts of your offence mean that a deterrent sentence is required. There is a special duty for all of those who travel on an aircraft to act carefully and safely.'

EasyJet flight attendant Carley Griffith had warned Smith to sit down before she was assaulted by him 'without warning' (stock image)

In police interview, Smith admitted he was about a 'nine-out-of-10' on the scale of drunkenness. He is pictured smoking outside Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester

In a statement Miss Griffiths said: 'I was upset and anxious after what happened on the flight and initially I was not wanting to return to work as I was scared of further assaults in the future.'

In mitigation, defence counsel Collette Renton said her client had a fear of flying which contributed to his heavy drinking and his memory and recollection of the incident was 'fragmented'.

'The defendant is in an exceptional circumstance as he has three caring responsibilities,' she added.

'He cares for his stepmother, who is 73 years old and has later-stage Alzheimer's needs and who recently lost her husband. The defendant must also care for his partner, Ms Whitehead, who experiences mental health issues.

'On top of this, he also cares for his step-daughter, who has a range of complex care needs.

'This incident took place en route to one of the couple's very few respite trips and one of the first that they were due to have since the Covid pandemic. The holiday was a long pre-arranged break in caring responsibilities for one week to celebrate the defendant's 50th birthday.

'It is perhaps fortunate this incident occurred towards the end of the flight when he could be removed from the aircraft soon afterwards. But he does apologise for the impact he has caused.'
To travel back into the past and reverse time is possible in a spinning universe, but all that needs to be done is to make the cosmos spin to do just that.

Is a Spinning Universe Capable of Time Travel?

One notion that the famous mathematician Kurt Godel, a friend and neighbor of Albert Einstein at Princeton, was when he got engaged with Einstein's Theory of general relativity, which describes the concept of gravitational force in reality, states Science Alert.

Time is one of the implications of this theory as it relates to the concept of space-time in universal fabric. Such a concept links the existence of matter and energy that will be altered due to the bending and warp of the space-time continuum; it will then do the same to matter and energy as universal constants.

Godel looked into how relativity can permit a way to reverse time and go back into the past at any point. The theory of Einstein is the ultimate explanation for the uncanny behavior of space-time and all its quirks, according to Universe Today. This explanation provides that traveling back into the past is taboo. Because of it then, relativity immediately stops any assumption.

Travel to the Past Possible

Einstein's contemporary discovery that general relativity can allow traveling back in the past. All that is needed is to rotate the cosmos to do just that.

Godel devised a very simple model, an artificial model universe, to show how it can be done. To make everything spin will need one thing. This secret element is a negative cosmological constant that can stop the centrifugal force of the universal spin from making the cosmos stop at a standstill.

Read Also: Emmanuel Macron Facts

It was discovered that following a specific direction in a rotating cosmos could lead to one's past as a result. But the distance is incredibly unfathomable due to traveling uncountable lightyears to do just that, but it might be done.

Traveling at immense distances and speeds can finally be at pace with how the universe is spinning. What is happening is not a universal spin but space and time catching up with each other, per IOP Science.

At some point, the time loop will return to when everything started. This point is a jump-off for classical time travel too.

It works by setting off at the point of the beginning of the journey, which does not allow anyone or anything to breach the universal limit of light speed. Next, when everything stops spinning where the loop ends in the past. Returning to the past can create more than a one-time paradox that can violate what happens due to messing with the past, changing the future.

If the cosmos does not spin, it limits the dangers of turning the clock back. Godel only suggested a rotating universe to show relativity is missing something. It still needs to be solved why General Relativity can handle reverse time travel, which is impossible.

A spinning universe could allow time travel into the past, but there's more to suggest this idea that has yet to be proven.

Related Article: Is Time Travel Possible Via a Black Hole?

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
This is the moment an angry beanie hat-wearing reveller is knocked out after being smacked across the face with a pool cue.

Footage shows the man lunging across the table and wildly swinging at people before a punter turns his cue into a weapon and delivers a brutal full-force blow to his face.

He crashes to the ground motionless as a group of revellers then piles in with cues and glasses. It is unclear what triggered the chaos. Police have said no arrests have been made yet.

One reveller told MailOnline: 'It was threatening to kick off all night. There was a load of them by the pool table. Then a big row broke out and the lad with the hat was going at them all

Smash: The moment the man is smacked with a pool cue in the face that causes him to collapse to the floor, unconscious

'He grabbed a ball from the table and threw it at one of the group sitting down at the table then went for another lad across the table.

'I don't think he saw someone standing next to him because he was caught completely off guard. This lad just took a swipe at his head and knocked him clean out.

'Then it just kept going off. There were a few digs thrown and I think he copped another blow to the head as he was on the floor. People were walking out fearing they'd get hit. Then the lads just legged it. But it's all on CCTV.'

One male in the black coat (top right) is pictured arguing with another man in the white at the pool table

Footage captured on CCTV at the pub shows the beanie-hat wearing punter throwing a pool ball before lunging at another man and trying to punch him

The man in the black t-shirt is then seen swinging a pool cue at the male in the hat, hitting him the face and knocking him out

The chaos continues and men are seen bundling in, with one appearing to hurl a drink at the male in the beanie hat as he is sprawled on the floor by the bar

A spokesperson for Northumrbia Police said: 'On the evening of December 30 2022, we were alerted to an altercation taking place within a pub on Prince Edward Road, South Shields.

'Officer attended the premises but those involved had already left and no reports outlining any injuries were made to police. CCTV of the incident is being reviewed by officers and enquiries are ongoing.'

It is not the first time that CCTV at the South Shields pub has captured brutal gang violence.

Kicks and punches continue to fly among the men in the Derby pub, in South Shields

Another man is pictured collapsed on the floor after the fight, with those involved fleeing the boozer moments later before police arrived

In May 2016, in what was then called the Prince pub, Ronnie Howard was murdered in a savage attack.

The 31-year-old father of two died of a bleed to the brain after being punched twice in the head. Michael Wilson was convicted of his murder and jailed for life after a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.

After the case, Mr Howard's family said in statement: 'Ronnie was a much-loved personality, fun loving, gentle, kind hearted and generally the life and soul, much loved son, brother, cousin, uncle and his greatest achievement - father.'
He sparked eruptions of laughter as he read out story, which features cartoons

Jimmy Kimmel mercilessly mocked Prince Harry and his revelation that he rubbed his mother's favorite Elizabeth Arden lip cream on his frostbitten penis

Jimmy Kimmel last night mercilessly mocked Prince Harry's revelation that he rubbed his mother's favorite Elizabeth Arden lip cream on his penis to cure frostbite in his tell-all memoir that has sent shockwaves through the Royal family.

In a scathing rendition the talk show host ridiculed Harry by producing a book titled 'The Prince and the Penis' in which the Duke of Sussex calls out for the late Princess Diana to help with his frostbitten penis.

Kimmel sparked eruptions of laughter as he read out the story, which features cartoon drawings of Harry and his frostbitten penis, where the late Princess Diana produced Elizabeth lip cream for Harry to put on his frostbitten penis.

In the book, Harry's character, questioning whether it was acceptable to put his mother's lip cream on his penis, said: 'But mummy have you heard about Sir Sigmund Freud?'

Prince Harrys book is so popular, they made a version for kids! #ThePrinceAndThePenis pic.twitter.com/mV0Sfy4REL  Jimmy Kimmel Live (@JimmyKimmelLive) January 17, 2023

In a scathing rendition, the talk show host ridiculed Harry by producing a book titled 'The Prince and the Penis' in which the Duke of Sussex calls out for the late Princess Diana to help with his frostbitten penis

Jimmy Kimmel mercilessly mocked Prince Harry's revelation that he rubbed his mother's favorite Elizabeth Arden lip cream on his penis to cure frostbite in his tell-all memoir that has sent ripples through the Royal family

Kimmel sparked eruptions of laughter as he read out the story, which features cartoon drawings of Harry and his frostbitten penis, where the late Princess Diana produced Elizabeth lip cream for Harry to put on his frostbitten penis

Full quotes from Jimmy Kimmel's 'The Prince and Penis' book 'At the chilly north pole, a silly young codger took a walk in the snow, and froze his wee todger. The skin was discolored, all purple and white. When Harry peered down, 'twas a terrible fright. 'Oh mummy, oh mummy! He cried with a scream, and from then on up high, she appeared with some cream. 'My poor little prince, put this cream on your willy. It will lessen the ache and make it less chilly.' 'But mummy, did you not put this on your lips?' 'Oh yes, my dear boy, and also my nips, but do not delay or your k*** be destroyed.' 'But mummy have you heard about Sir Sigmund Freud?' 'Mummy knelt down and gave him a squirt, into the trousers, where his Winkle still hurt. 'And lo and behold, like the calm from a storm, his frozen cold snotskick was suddenly warm. 'He laughed and he smiled, and he said to his mummy, you rescued the snake that lives under my tummy! 'Then he tucked it back in and back to her cloud. His mother went soaring - and said this aloud: Should ever you have icy chills on your hard-on, just give it a rub with Elizabeth Arden!' Advertisement

The audience burst into raucous laughter at the scathing line as the talk show host continued to ridicule the Prince in a two-minute monologue.

Prince Harry wrote in his tell-all memoir Spare that he applied Elizabeth Arden cream used by his late mother to his frostbitten penis in 2011 after returning from a trip to the North Pole.

In the passage, Harry recalls that Princess Diana used to apply the cream to her lips, and wrote that the smell of the product made him feel like his mother 'was right there in the room' before he applied the cream to his penis - as horrified readers called it a 'Freudian nightmare'.

Since the publication of his book, Harry has appeared on a series of talk shows, including Stephen Colbert's The Late Show in the US.

He was slammed for making the royal family a laughing stock - and he was mocked himself for detailing private conversations in his book.

During the interviews, Harry has shared intimate details of his life, including losing his virginity, his use of drugs and killing 25 Taliban fighters, as well as private conversations with his family and the deepening rift over Megxit.

Even the usually supportive liberal US media is tiring of Prince Harry's complaints. The Left-wing, anti-British New York Times, called his remarks 'repetitive and tiresome' and suggested the 'tide seems to be turning' in US attitudes towards the Sussexes.

And Harry was ridiculed again by Kimmel last night, with the talk show host producing a 'children's book' called 'The Prince and the penis'.

'The story of Prince Harold and his frozen yoghurt slinger is so popular they are now releasing a version for kids,' Kimmel said, as he held up the book, which features a cartoon drawing of Harry and his penis, which is wearing a hat and scarf, in the North Pole.

'Not sure if you know about this but it's a twist on the Princess and the Pea. It's called the Prince and the Penis,' Kimmel continued. 'If the kids are still up, this would be a good time to gather them round the TV because I have the honor of sharing a first read of the new book.'

Kimmel then began reading the book, saying: 'At the chilly north pole, a silly young codger took a walk in the snow, and froze his wee todger. The skin was discolored, all purple and white. When Harry peered down, 'twas a terrible fright.

'Oh mummy, oh mummy! He cried with a scream, and from then on up high, she appeared with some cream.'

Kimmel, raising the book so the audience could see, showed a cartoon drawing of Princess Diana appearing from clouds above Harry and his penis.

In the book, Diana says: 'My poor little prince, put this cream on your willy. It will lessen the ache and make it less chilly.'

In the book, Harry's character, questioning whether it was acceptable to put his mother's lip cream on his penis, said: 'But mummy have you heard about Sir Sigmund Freud?'

In the book, Harry's character, questioning whether it was acceptable to put his mother's lip cream on his penis, said: 'But mummy have you heard about Sir Sigmund Freud?

Harry's character responds: 'But mummy, did you not put this on your lips?'

In the book, his late mother told him: 'Oh yes, my dear boy, and also my nips, but do not delay or your knob be destroyed.'

Kimmel, reading out Harry's line, said: 'But mummy have you heard about Sir Sigmund Freud?'

Kimmel continued with the book, reading out loud: 'Mummy knelt down and gave him a squirt, into the trousers, where his Winkle still hurt.

'And lo and behold, like the calm from a storm, his frozen cold snotskick was suddenly warm.

'He laughed and he smiled, and he said to his mummy, you rescued the snake that lives under my tummy!

'Then he tucked it back in and back to her cloud. His mother went soaring - and said this aloud: Should ever you have icy chills on your hard-on, just give it a rub with Elizabeth Arden!'

Kimmel, closing the book, said: 'And everyone lived happily ever after' as the audience cheered and erupted into a chorus of laughter.

Harry has been ridiculed during his transatlantic PR blitz to promote his book Spare.

The Prince appeared on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show last week (pictured) where the talk show host made jokes about Harry and William's sibling rivalry, and compared his life to that of Harry Potter's

Prince Harry wrote in his tell-all memoir Spare that he applied Elizabeth Arden cream used by his late mother to his frostbitten penis in 2011 after returning from a trip to the North Pole

The Prince appeared on Stephen Colbert's The Late Show last week where the talk show host made jokes about Harry and William's sibling rivalry, and compared his life to that of Harry Potter's.

Colbert, who rarely holds back when it comes mocking those in his crosshairs, has form when it comes to laying into Britain's Royal Family. In one segment, he branded them a 'group of inbred, gin-soaked jumped-up medieval gangsters'.

Fans of the Royals questioned why Harry chose anti-Royalist Colbert for a sit down chat, when the Prince has insisted he sees value in the institution and wishes to hold on to his title.

But from the beginning of the show, which aired on 11 January, it was clear that the interview would 'spare' nobody in the monarchy, with the opening seconds of the showing featuring a mocking skit that ridiculed royal tradition.

The show opened with a clip showing Colbert standing alongside two trumpeters wearing replicas of the uniforms traditionally worn by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry. As Harry strolled down a red carpet they began their fanfare, with the duke putting on a mock display of humility and telling the TV host such pomp 'wasn't necessary'.

Then Harry leaned on Colbert's Hollywood pulling power, with actor Tom Hanks joining the prince as the host proclaimed that the trumpets had in fact been intended not for the duke, but for the 66-year-old star all along.

Prince Harry kicked off the latest in a long line of TV interviews by ridiculing royal tradition and mocking the monarchy - with the help of Hollywood A-lister Tom Hanks

The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex poked fun at royal pomp and circumstance during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night

The Prince's interview with Colbert started with a skit featuring Harry and Hanks, 66, being greeted by royal fanfare as they entered the CBS studios

Colbert then performed his traditional opening monologue ahead of his lengthy chat with Harry began, but not before the host poured each of them a glass of tequila.

Harry's book also contains anecdotes that also appear to poke fun at his own family including hanging a trinket likeness of the Queen on a Christmas tree.

Spare reveals that Meghan gave Harry an ornament of the Queen that she had bought from a local store in California.

Harry writes in his book that it was 'Granny's face to a T' and hung it straight on the large Christmas tree in their California home.

Toddler Archie was running around and knocked the tree's stand, which caused the ornament to fall off and smash into pieces.

Harry admitted he sought help from a medium who said she could prove she was talking to his late mother from beyond the grave because Diana was 'giggling' at Archie breaking the ornament.

And in the couple's Netflix documentary, released last month, a giggling Meghan appeared to mock her own efforts at following royal protocol as she recounted the 'surreal' moment she first met the Queen - performing a deeply exaggerated curtsey in front of awkward-looking husband, Prince Harry.

In it, the Duchess of Sussex compared the first encounter with Her Majesty to a lowbrow themed dinner at America's 'Medieval Times'. Her husband, who served in the Army with the Queen being his commander in chief, looked uncomfortable throughout.
A Japanese death-row killer has choked to death on prison food, just four days after she was hospitalised for exactly the same reason.

Miyuki Ueta, who was convicted for double murder and robbery over the deaths of two men in 2009, lost consciousness at the Hiroshima Detention Centre on Saturday evening.

The 49-year-old started choking at around 4.20pm and staff desperately tried to remove the food from her throat before she was rushed to hospital.

Japanese prisoners tend to eat healthy dishes consisting of whole grain barley mixed with rice, low-fat vegetable dishes, miso soup and grilled fish.

Miyuki Ueta (pictured) has died after choking on her prison meal while on death row for the murder of two men

The convict, who was on medication, was confirmed dead at 6.55pm.

Four days earlier, the former bar worker was also taken to hospital after choking on her food, The Japan Times reported.

In 2009, Ueta drugged truck driver Kazumi Yabe, 47, in the sea and then killed Hideki Maruyama, 57, six months later by drugging him with sleeping pills and drowning him in a river.

The killer maintained her innocence throughout despite owing money to both victims.

The verdicts were mainly based on circumstantial evidence, that Ueta was the last person to see both men before their disappearances, and the fact she had bought sleeping pills just before their sudden deaths.

The convicted killer lost consciousness at the Hiroshima Detention Centre (pictured) on Saturday evening

She was sentenced to death in 2012, and an appeal was overruled by the Supreme Court in 2017.

Judges said the defendant carried out 'cruel crimes based on firm intentions to kill'.

The son of murder victim Hideki Maruyama said he was 'surprised' by her sudden death.

He told NHK: 'It's been 14 years since my father died, and I'm surprised that a death row inmate died in this way. Since then, I think it's been taking too long without being executed.

'Every day I put my hands on my father at the Buddhist altar in my house, and tonight I'd like to put my hands together and report today.'

There are currently 105 inmates on death row in Japan.
Ana Walshe, the Massachusetts real estate manager and mom-of-three who disappeared on New Year's Day, had finalized the sale of her apartment in Revere, MA, only days before going missing, friends have said.

Ms Walshe's Revere friends and tenants, Mike and Mandi Silva, told Fox News Digital the decision to sell her apartment where they lived was sprung on them and that Ms Walshe became uncharacteristically 'pushy' towards them over time.

The couple, who had rented from the Walshes for four years, said Ms Walshe kept promising 'a big surprise' in the new year and had sought to sell her apartment and a car for cash at the end of December 2022, before her disappearance.

Their claim follows the arrest of Ana's husband Brian Walshe, 47, who was charged with misleading a police investigation and Googled 'How to dispose of a 115lb woman's body' before his wife' vanished.

Mom-of-three Ana Walshe disappeared on New Year's Day and was reported missing on 4 Jan

Walshe was arrested and taken into custody on 8 January on charges of misleading authorities

TIMELINE OF ANA WALSHE'S DISAPPEARANCE November, 2016: Brian Walshe is arrested in connection with an $80,000 art fraud of Andy Warhol paintings. He is ordered by a court to remain under house arrest until sentencing. Walshe has yet to be sentenced for the fraud. January 1, 2023: Ana Walshe is last seen by family friend Gem Mutlu around 1:30am after a New Year's party at the MA house. Ana reportedly books a rideshare car to take her to Logan International Airport at 4am, but it is unclear if she ever gets into a vehicle or takes a flight. Ana was scheduled to fly to Washington D.C. on 3 January but allegedly said she needed to fly sooner due to an emergency. Her husband claims he went to Whole Foods and CVS on New Year's Day, but there is no surveillance or receipts to prove he went. January 2: Walshe tells authorities that he only left the family home in Cohasset to take his son for ice cream. He is caught on surveillance footage buying $450 worth of cleaning supplies in Home Depot. Ana's phone pings in the area of the house on 1 and 2 January. January 4: Ana's employer reports her missing. Police initially deem the disappearance is not suspicious, with no evidence of foul play. January 5: Police say Walshe is cooperating with the investigation into his missing wife. Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley acknowledges they have 'more questions than answers' at this stage. January 8: Walshe is seen leaving the property on Sunday in a red Volkswagen. His three children are taken away in a separate vehicle. Officers execute a search warrant at their home and found blood in the basement, along with a broken knife. The officers load a Volvo SUV onto the back of a truck while others search the grounds of their home. Police arrest Walshe on suspicion of misleading an investigation but do not charge him with anything else. January 9: Investigators find trash bags with blood, a hatchet and a hacksaw at the Peabody trash transfer station on the other side of Boston. It is revealed during the investigation that Walshe had Googled 'how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body'. Brian Walshe is transported to his arraignment at Quincy District Court. He is held on $500,000 cash bail. Walshe pleads not guilty to misleading the investigation but has yet to be charged with anything else in connection to his wifes disappearance. January 11: In a Daily Mail exclusive, Ana Walshe's mother says she 'can't believe' her son-in-law could be responsible for the disappearance of her daughter after he saved her life in 2021. January 12: Police reveal Ana Walshe called the cops on her husband in 2014 saying 'he's going to kill me'. The case was closed as Ana refused to cooperate with police. January 16: Fox News reports Ms Walshe was making plans to sell her property assets and reinvest elsewhere just before her disappearance as her behavior became more erratic towards friends. Sources say this was to buy another property. Friends previously claimed Ms Walshe looked to sell her apartment and a car for cash in December. Advertisement

A source told Fox News Digital: 'Proceeds from the sale of the Revere condo were going directly into the purchase of another investment property, and not to Ana herself.'

Ana Walshe was last seen by family friend, Gem Mutlu, on New Year's Eve at a party at their Cohasset home.

Friends said there was 'no indication of anything' suspicious in the hours before she vanished.

Mutlu said: 'There was a lot of looking forward to the New Year. There was no indication of anything other than celebrating the New Year, problems on hold.'

Ms Walshe's mysterious disappearance was subsequently treated as unsuspicious by police, without evidence of foul play.

But revelations over the last week have drawn international attention to the story.

Hours before her disappearance, Ana Walshe is understood to have written an 'eerie note' on a champagne box, wishing her husband 'courage, love and perseverance' in the new year.

The scrawled note read: 'Wow! 2022What a year! And yet, we are still here and together!

'Let's make 2023 the best one yet! We are the authors of our lives courage, love, perseverance, compassion, and joy. Love, Ana.'

The other side of the champagne box read: 'Gem Ana Brian 2023!', referring to Gem Mutlu who was in the Walshe's home on New Year's Eve.

Brian Walshe first reported that his wife had taken an Uber or Lyft taxi journey to the airport to fly to Washington DC on 1 January for work.

Ms Walshe reportedly planned to travel on 3 January, but said she needed to fly earlier due to an emergency.

The police investigation was unable to confirm that Ms Walshe had ever taken a taxi to the airport.

Her husband also told investigating authorities he had been shopping for his mother on New Year's Day, but CVS surveillance was unable to support the alibi.

Mr Walshe did not tell police he had spent about $450 in cash buying gloves, tape and cleaning supplies from a Home Depot in MA, either.

Mr Walshe was spotted in the store wearing a black surgical mask and blue surgical gloves.

The trip was reportedly made during the time he was supposed to pick up his children from school, although the school was not open on 2 January.

Ana Walshe was only reported missing - by her employer - on 4 January.

Police then found a hacksaw, hatchets, parts of a rug, used cleaning supplies and bloody trash bags in dumpsters at the Peabody transfer station on the other side of Boston.

Officials later announced that they had discovered blood in the basement of the Walshe family home in Cohasset, along with a damaged and bloody knife.

Brian Walshe was arrested on charges of misleading an investigation.

The affidavit stated that 'the intentional, willful and direct responses to questions about his whereabouts on the days of Sunday 1 January, 2023, and Monday 2 January, 2023, were a clear attempt to mislead and delay investigators.

'The fact that he was asked a specific question, and he gave an untruthful answer that led investigators out of the area caused a clear delay in the search for the missing person, Ana Walshe.'

The judge set bail at $500,000 cash and the next hearing scheduled for 9 February 2023.

Mr Walshe pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday 9 January.

Ana Walshe's mother then said she 'can't believe' her son-in-law could be responsible for her daughter's disappearance.

She said Ana, 39, visited her in Belgrade in November and December last year and she never said a bad word about her husband.

Missing mother-of-three Ana Walshe, 39, is pictured with her husband Brian Walshe, 47

The pool behind house. Ana Walshe promised a 'big surprise' in New Year and 'sold off assets' including a car and apartment in days before she vanished

Brian Walshe's 'response to friends' - a prepared statement addressing his missing wife's disappearance and thanking loved ones for their concern is seen folded on his dining table

Police reportedly searched the dumpster near Mr Walsh's mother's home after seeing Brian Walshe dispose of items there. Walshe has been arrested for misleading authorities

The selling of owned assets to buy others, reported by Ms Walshe's tenants, is not suspicious in and of itself.

DailyMail.com revealed that Ms Walshe, a real estate executive for Tishman Speyer, was also the manager of a luxury Washington DC building where two fake Homeland Security agents lived.

While the tenants said Ana had become uncharacteristically 'pushy' as she tried to sell her Revere, MA, condo, others said that Ana had not shown significant behavioral changes in the lead up to her disappearance.

The note that Ana Walshe wrote to her husband on a champagne box, hours before vanishing

Police have asked the public to send any information or tips to tips@cohassetpolice.com.
An attorney for Blair's family said they will conduct their own investigation

The death of an Orange County deputy public defender at a Mexican beach resort last weekend was an 'unfortunate accident,' authorities in Baja California said on Monday.

Elliot Blair, 33, from Orange, was discovered early Saturday below a third-floor balcony at Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Rosarito Beach.

Blair and his wife, Kimberly Williams, who is also a deputy public defender, were at the resort for their one-year wedding anniversary.

After the autopsy, officials at Baja California's Attorney General's Office said Blair's death appeared to be the 'result of an unfortunate accident from a fall by the now deceased from a third-story floor'.

Elliot Blair (pictured), 33, from Orange, was discovered early Saturday below a third-floor balcony at Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Rosarito Beach

Blair and his wife, Kimberly Williams, who is also a deputy public defender, were at the resort for their one-year wedding anniversary

Pictured: Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Rosarito Beach

David Scarsone, an attorney for Blair's family, said they continue to have doubts that he just fell off the balcony and will conduct their own investigation.

'There are many unanswered questions,' Scarsone said. '[The family] is pushing back on that conclusion [by Mexican authorities].'

Family and colleagues said on a GoFundMe page for Blair that he was 'tragically killed' and died due to a 'brutal crime'.

In a brief statement, Mexican authorities said they are investigating his death and are in contact with American authorities through the US Justice Department and the FBI, which in turn is informing Blair's family.

Orange County Public Defender Martin Schwarz told The O.C. Register: 'We have been in communication with the family and are doing what we can to support them in this difficult time, including working with local and federal officials to help provide them with answers.'

Pictured: Elliot Blair and his wife, Kimberly Williams. Family and colleagues said on a GoFundMe page that Blair was 'tragically killed' and died due to a 'brutal crime'

Pictured: Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Rosarito Beach. After an autopsy, officials at Baja California's Attorney General's Office said Blair's death appeared to be the 'result of an unfortunate accident from a fall by the now deceased from a third-story floor'

Pictured: Blair's wedding. In a brief statement, Mexican authorities said they are investigating his death and are in contact with American authorities through the US Justice Department and the FBI, which in turn is informing Blair's family

At around 1.15am on January 14 authorities were notified that Blair fell from the balcony of Hotel Las Rocas in the town of Rosarito, just south of Tijuana and off the Tijuana-Ensenada highway.

Local news site Patrulla 646 Codigo Rojo reported that hotel staff notified authorities of the accident. After police arrived, paramedics showed up and declared him dead, it said.

The preliminary report indicates that Blair showed signs of having been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the fall, the news site added. Staff from the state attorney general's office dealt with the removal of the body and were conducting an investigation.

A Facebook page dedicated to sharing news from the Rosarito area, Rosarito en la Noticia, shared an account of what happened and noted that information was being withheld by local authorities and cited reporting in The O.C. Register.

At around 1.15am on January 14 authorities were notified that Blair fell from the balcony of Hotel Las Rocas (pictured) in the town of Rosarito, just south of Tijuana and off the Tijuana-Ensenada highway

'Elliot was known for a smile on his face and a clever mind. There are not enough words to express the level of love he had for Kim. Kim was his life,' said the GoFundMe page set up in Blair's memory

The GoFundMe page said of Blair and his wife: 'They just started building a life together in their first year of marriage. Elliot was killed on their one-year wedding anniversary. Kim's heart is shattered'

The GoFundMe page that was set up in Blair's memory has generated more than $101,000 in donations.

Funds raised will go towards helping Williams transport Blair's body from Mexico to the USA and deal with all the red tape, the organizer said.

Blair was 'a compassionate lawyer who dedicated his life to serving indigent clients,' a post on the GofundMe page said.

'Elliot was known as a patient and caring advocate. He was the best of us and was loved by countless members of our office and the Orange County legal community. We are heartbroken.'

The post said that Blair would now be with his father, Tom, who died two years ago.

'Elliot and Tom were thick as thieves,' it said. 'They spent countless hours together in the garage working on cars, dirt bikes, and dune buggies.'

The post added: 'Elliot was known for a smile on his face and a clever mind. There are not enough words to express the level of love he had for Kim. Kim was his life.

'They just started building a life together in their first year of marriage. Elliot was killed on their one-year wedding anniversary. Kim's heart is shattered.'
Towns and cities in England and Wales are more ethnically diverse and less segregated than ever before, according to a study published today.

Researchers analysing census ethnicity data over the last 20 years found more small local areas are home to a large number of ethnic groups living side by side.

London had the most 'rainbow' neighbourhoods - meaning a diverse area - followed by Birmingham, Leicester, Slough, Watford, Luton and Manchester.

Meanwhile, the number of areas with 'very high levels of diversity' rose from 342 (1 per cent) in 2001 to 2,201 in 2021 (6 per cent).

This was partly down to the white British population falling by 1.1million over the last 20 years compared to an increase of 8.7million in other ethnicities.

 Slide me  One data point used by researchers was the Reciprocal Diversity Index (RDI), which looks at how diverse an area is on a scale from zero to 100. This compares the diversity of neighbourhoods in England and Wales in 2001 and 2021

Nigel Farage was among those to use the recently published 2021 census to claim London, Birmingham and Manchester are now 'minority white cities'.

Look at the 2021 census data for your local area HERE Advertisement

According to this new research, he was wrong about London as a whole, but correct for Birmingham, where 48.6 per cent of residents said they were white.

However, the study authors said the 'majority-minority' argument is 'too blunt' since non-white people are not one group but come from different ethnic backgrounds, and that such areas should be known as 'ethnically diverse'.

Study author Dr Gemma Catney, from Queen's University Belfast, told MailOnline: 'The problem with the Farage majority-minority claim is it homogenises multiple groups into one in a way that doesn't have meaning for anybody.

'During Covid, for example, the Government recommended we stop using the term Bame because it lumps people from lots of different ethnicities together.

'When it comes to the census, comparing the number of white people to all other minority groups would suggest segregation when we're actually looking at diversity, with more people than ever living next to someone from a different ethnicity.

'The census doesn't have attitudinal data from there. But rather than division and difference this suggests increased mixing, decreased segregation. This has happened at a relatively slow and steady pace for most neighbourhoods.'

This graph shows the most diverse areas at the top left - led by Newham in London

This table breaks down each area by the different ethnic groups that live there

Luton, Birmingham and Leicester were also high on the list of England and Wales' most diverse areas

Dr Catney suggested people were gradually becoming more tolerant of each other.

The study, published in the Royal Geographical Society's Geographical Journal, broke down the census data into 36,000 areas of around 1,600 people before looking at how many different ethnicities were represented there.

It found local diversity more than doubled between 2001 and 2021, with dramatic increases in some places. There was a ninefold increase in diversity in Barking and Dagenham and a near tenfold increase in Boston, Lincolnshire - albeit from a low base.

In Newham, 6 per cent of the population is of Bangladeshi heritage, followed by white British (15 per cent), other white (15 per cent), black African (12 per cent) and Indian (11 per cent). People from other ethnic groups made up the remaining third of Newhams population.

In Slough (the sixth most diverse district), the top four ethnic groups were white British (24 per cent), Pakistani (22 per cent), Indian (19 per cent) and other white (11 per cent).

And in Manchester the largest ethnic groups were white British (49 per cent), Pakistani (12 per cent), black African (9 per cent) and other white (6 per cent).

The last census was carried out on March 21, 2021 and filled out by more than 24million households across England and Wales.

The London Borough of Newham was named as the most diverse neighbourhood in England and Wales
Downing Street today slapped down a Cabinet minister for suggesting 16-year-olds are old enough to change genders.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan strayed off message during a round of interviews by backing reducing the age limit from 18.

That is one of the moves in legislation passed by Holyrood - which is being blocked by Westminster because it would clash with existing UK laws.

After pointing out that she personally had been working and paying tax at 16, Ms Keegan then frantically tried to quell the row in an appearance later by saying she did not have a 'strong opinion'.

And No10 made clear there is no change to the government's position. 'We consulted on this issue and went with 18 as the right age  she made clear herself that she was speaking about her own personal standpoint,' the PM's spokesman said.

Nicola Sturgeon has complained of a 'full-frontal attack' by Westminster after ministers stepped in to stop the law passed by Holyrood causing chaos.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack will make a statement to MPs later explaining the unprecedented use of Section 35 powers - with experts saying the Scottish administration overstepped the mark.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan risked a clash with Rishi Sunak by suggesting during a round of interviews that she backed reducing the age limit from 18

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack and Rishi Sunak near Inverness last week

Sturgeon threatens challenge over block on Scottish gender rules Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of 'political posturing' as she threatens legal action over the government blocking looser gender rules in Scotland. The SNP leader complained about a 'full-frontal attack' by Westminster after ministers stepped in to stop the law passed by Holyrood causing chaos across the UK. Scottish Secretary Alister Jack will make a statement to MPs later explaining the unprecedented intervention - with experts saying the Scottish administration overstepped the mark. Ms Sturgeon tweeted last night vowing to 'defend the legislation & stand up for Scotland's Parliament', suggesting she will apply for a judicial review. 'If this Westminster veto succeeds, it will be first of many,' she said. However, critics swiped that she was seeking a 'constitutional fight' to gain political ground. In a round of interviews this morning, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan insisted it was not possible to have 'competing' legislation on gender and equality. Advertisement

Appearing on Sky News, Ms Keegan was asked if she would be content for children in schools at 16 to say whether they want to change their gender.

She said: 'We have to be very sensitive to children. We are actually going to publish some guidance and consult because it is a very tricky area to get right.

'It has to be age-appropriate, but children have to be supported as well.'

Pressed on her personal view, the minister was asked if 16 was too young.

'No I don't actually. I was working at 16, I was paying tax at 16, I was making decisions for myself at 16,' she replied.

'But it's not really about what I think, it's how we make sure we get that right balance of supporting children, but also making sure that what they're getting taught in schools is age-appropriate.'

Ms Keegan appeared to row back on the remarks later, denying she is at odds with Mr Sunak over the issue.

'What I said is we will be publishing guidance and having quite a long consultation because it's a very tricky subject and we want to make sure that we support children in the right way at the right time and teach them in an age appropriate way,' she said.

'I said 'Look, you know, at 16, I was working, I was paying tax', but all 16-year-olds are different.

'Obviously, everybody has a different view. It's really, really important that we take into account parents' views, teachers' views, children's views, and other stakeholders' views as well because it is quite tricky.

'But what I said was, you know, for me, myself, I felt able to take decisions for myself at 16. But of course I was I'd grown up quite quickly and I was actually working full-time at 16.

'So, no, I have not got a difference of opinion. Actually, I don't have a strong opinion.

'My strong opinion is that we need to treat this very carefully, very sensitively, supporting children all the way along.'

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had warned the UK Government against blocking the gender identity legislation
Metropolitan Police officers may have blundered over the death of a missing woman who drowned after she drove her car into an icy lake a year after she was allegedly raped by a work colleague, an inquest heard today.

Hannah Warren, 28, freed herself from her Mini Cooper and swam to nearby rocks, but fell back into the freezing water near a Tata Steel site in Port Talbot, the hearing was told.

Her body was found around 330ft from where the Mini convertible hit the lake on February 4, 2016 - a day after she was first reported missing from her home around 200 miles away in Streatham, south-west London.

Ms Warren's family say Scotland Yard should have acted sooner after she was reported as acting 'irrationally.'

A previous hearing was told the family lodged an official complaint with police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), regarding the force's handling of the case.

Hannah Warren, 28, drowned after her car fell into an icy lake in Port Talbot

Her body was found around 330 feet from where the Mini convertible hit the lake on February 4, 2016

At the inquest yesterday, mother Jane Barnes said her daughter died almost a year to the day she was allegedly attacked by a work colleague.

The inquest heard the Metropolitan Police launched an investigation after Ms Warren was reported as missing and her car was later spotted by an automatic number plate recognition camera in south Wales.

Home Office pathologist Dr Ryk James said Ms Warren died as a result of drowning.

Coroner Edward Ramsay said the jury would have to decide whether the Metropolitan Police could have done more to protect her. He said it was 'central to the case' for the jury to consider whether or not more could have been done by the Metropolitan Police service in response to the concerns raised about her welfare.

Ms Warren, who worked at an office refurbishment company, vanished in her car at around 6am on February 3, 2016, and later texted her boss to tell him that she planned to resign from her job.

A Home Office pathologist said he believed that Ms Warren died as a result of drowning

She drove 200 miles to Port Talbot before crashing into the water from a quayside road that had no safety barriers, The Sun reports.

Her face and body were covered in bruises and grazes including on her neck, Dr James said. The expert suggested this may have been caused by the car's seatbelt.

The pathologist also said there were 'low' levels of cocaine and cannabis in her system, while the hearing was told that she was in a 'distorted' state of mind at the time of her death.

Ms Warren's mother said she had been raped by a work colleague in February 2015, almost exactly a year to the day before she died.

She said: 'Hannah was raped by a colleague at work but I didn't know about it until after she had died. She had told her younger brother James and it was James who told me. She had been having counselling but I didn't know until I saw some notes on her iPad which were synced with her mobile phone which talked about the rape. I found one box of anti-depressants dated 2014 and only one tablet had been taken out.

'She never spoke to me about it but in 2015 Hannah's personality did change.

'Every time I would make arrangements to meet her there would always be an excuse. There always seemed to be a reason that we couldn't meet up.'

The Swansea hearing, expected to last 10 days, continues.
This is the moment a prolific 'would-be' burglar was caught on doorbell cameras attempting to break into more than a dozen homes in a one-night spree.

Kennie Owen, 44, targeted at least 15 different homes, trying to walk in through unlocked front doors along the streets of Werrington in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire on July 12.

But he was caught red-handed by the doorbell cameras attached to the homes of his would-be victims.

Yesterday Owen was sentenced at Huntingdon Law Court to three years and two months in prison after admitting to the 15 burglary attempts.

Kennie Owen was caught on camera trying door handles of homes in Werrington, Cambridgeshire

The offender was identified as Owen, who was arrested in Bretton on July 16

Cambridgeshire Police called for more doorbell footage to be brought forward after receiving a handful of identical reports after the spree took place.

Video released by police shows him brazenly walking up to four different front doors and trying the handle in an attempt to break in.

In one video he tries the handle with his jumper to avoid leaving fingerprints.

He was eventually identified and arrested in Bretton, Peterborough, on July 16.

Owen appeared at Huntingdon Law Court yesterday where he was sentenced to three years and two months in prison after previously admitting 15 charges of attempted burglary

Video released by police shows him brazenly walking up to four different front doors and trying the handle in an attempt to break in

Detective Constable Matt Reed, who investigated the crime, said: 'Owen tried his luck that night, hoping to come across a door that was unlocked where he would then carry out a burglary.

'This is a really good example of simple measures that can be put in place to prevent your home from being burgled, but also in helping us catch any offenders.

'Video doorbells can sometimes act as a deterrent, but also clearly capture anyone committing crime, as was the case this night.'
But it passed by a majority of 60, meaning a second reading will take place

Unions criticised the plans, with Labour and opposition MPs trying to block it

MPs voted in favour of the Government's strike bill in the House of Commons

Britain's battered economy lost almost half a million working days to strike action in November - the worst monthly total for more than a decade, official figures revealed today.

As militant unions across a range of industries prepare for massive walkouts in February and beyond, the ONS said industrial action by rail and other workers cost 467,000 working days.

It came as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak accused Labour of helping unions 'grind Britain to a halt' by opposing a new law to limit strike action.

The bill cleared its first legislative hurdle in the Commons last night as MPs voted for the Government's bill to set minimum service levels for frontline workers holding industrial action.

Labour voted against it and Rishi Sunak, in an email to party members late last night, said: 'Union bosses want to grind Britain to a halt. And Labour want to let them.'

As militant unions across a range of industries prepare for massive walkouts in February and beyond, the ONS said industrial action by rail and other workers cost 467,000 working days.

Business Secretary Grant Shapps, pictured here on January 10, introduced a second reading of the bill into the House of Commons tonight

Members of the RMT union were among those protesting against the bill outside Downing Street tonight

Thousands of teachers in England and Wales will go on strike in February and March in row over pay despite warnings vulnerable children will be put at risk Advertisement

Ministers had introduced the bill in the wake of strikes by rail workers, nurses, ambulance staff and civil servants in recent weeks, that has seen the country grind to a halt.

The bill, which had been harshly criticised by unions, gives ministers the power to draw up minimum service laws, that could see workers fired if they refuse to work during a strike.

After a fiery debate in the House of Commons about the proposals, MPs voted to accept the first reading of the bill by a margin of 60, with 309 voting in favour compared to 249 against.

It means the proposals in the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill can move forward to a second reading as part of what is set to be a tricky roadmap into becoming law.

Unions, Labour and other opposition MPs, as well as peers in the House of Lords have all vowed to fight the plans put in place by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Labour has accused the Government of 'threatening nurses with the sack' with their plans, which have been introduced amid a bitter pay dispute between ministers and unions.

Introducing the bill to parliament earlier in the night, Business Secretary Grant Shapps said the public had 'had enough of the constant, most unwelcome, frankly, dangerous disruption to their lives'.

He added there are 'millions of people who rely on essential transport to get to work or to family commitments who every day have the extra stress of worrying about making alternative arrangements, sometimes costly arrangements, because of these forever strikers'.

Mr Shapps went on: 'There comes a time when we can't let this continue and that is why we need minimum safety and service levels - to keep livelihoods and lives safe, and it's frankly irresponsible, even surprising, for the opposition opposite to suggest otherwise.'

He presented the bill for its second reading in front of MPs this evening with a warning that it would be 'irresponsible' for opposition parties to oppose the Government's efforts to 'keep livelihoods and lives safe' during strikes.

The Business Secretary warned that continuing to rely on voluntary arrangements between unions and NHS trusts during strikes by health workers was not sustainable.

'We can't continue to rely on voluntary arrangements to ensure the safety of people we represent,' Mr Shapps told the Commons.

'After all, strokes and heart attacks don't respect the boundaries of, for example, trust borders, and I'm intrigued to know what the members opposite would actually say to their constituents, perhaps to grieving constituents who've lost loved ones because of some sort of postcode lottery.'

Recent strikes by rail workers, nurses and ambulance staff (pictured) sparked the Government to introduce the bill

Angela Raynor, deputy leader of the Labour Party, hit out at the Government's plans and the 'tone' of his remarks

Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner hit out at the 'tone' of Mr Shapps's remarks in the Commons this evening and demanded he 'reflect' on his comments.

Confirming her party would vote against the bill's second reading, she told MPs: 'I cannot recall a measure that is at once so irrational and so insulting.

'Not only is it a vindictive assault on the basic freedoms of British working people, but this legislation is as empty of detail as it is full of holes.

'So, we will oppose the sacking of nurses' bill and not just nurses, but also many of the key workers who we clapped and who kept our services going in the face of the pandemic.

'We will vote against it tonight and the next Labour government will repeal it.'

The Liberal Democrats and SNP are also set to vote against the bill's second reading tonight.

Meanwhile, to coincide with this evening's debate in the Commons, trade union leaders who spearheaded recent strikes staged a demonstration outside Downing Street against the 'hostile' legislation.

Members of the PCS union, which has recently held a Border Force strike, and the RMT union, which has staged regular strikes on the railways for months, both attended the Westminster rally.

The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is part of Mr Sunak's response to the ongoing 'winter of discontent'.

Nurses, ambulance drivers, rail workers, and border officials - as well as many other workers - have all brought widespread disruption to Britain with walkouts in recent months.

Union members gather outside Downing Street tonight to voice their opposition to the Government's bill

The bill seeks to give the Government the power to set minimum service levels for NHS, fire, education, transport, nuclear decommissioning and border security services.

It does not set out what minimum service levels should be, or what they should be based on, but gives ministers the power to impose minimums through secondary legislation.

The PCS union encouraged its members to join tonight's demonstration outside Downing Street with flags, banners and placards.

The union's general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'This bill puts power in the hands of the wrong people.

'It gives all the power to ministers and employers instead of our members who are being denied their democratic right to strike.

'It paves the way for workers who have voted for strike action being sacked if they refuse to turn up for work on a strike day.

'We shall oppose this hostile legislation to protect our members' rights.'

Protesters chanted 'f*** the Tories' and 'the people united will never be divided' and others banged drums as they gathered in Westminster.

Speaking at the protest, Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said she was 'keeping warm' by thinking about how National Education Union (NEU) teachers had earlier voted to strike.

'It's absolutely freezing but you know what's keeping me warm? The NEU just smashed their ballot,' she told the crowd.

'Picket lines, democracy, we are the champions of them and we are not going to accept any extra conditions on our ability to do that.'

Clare Keenan, from the PCS, described the Bill as an 'attack on my human rights and those of my fellow workers'.

She said: 'You can't make people go to work five days a week and having to use food banks and removing their ability to protest.

'It's just a hurdle that they're putting in the way to stop workers from taking industrial action.'

Retired George Hallam, who attended to show solidarity with workers, likened the Bill to anti-strike action taken under Margaret Thatcher's government.

He said: 'I think the Government is chancing its arm because the last time it tried something like this was the 1970s... It's worse than a sin, it's a mistake, because they're likely to get a bloody nose like they did back then.'
The Russian Air Force found a use for its subsonic Su-25s in the offensive of the western front that it was engaged in. Russia has been engaged in an air war with Ukraine and has been getting the upper hand, ending in UAF losses.

Su-25s Mission on the Western Front

The Su-25 Grach ground attack aircraft is old by the Russian aerospace forces and has a strategic use; it will be part of a unit in the Western Military District, reports Bulgarian Military.

Planes assigned to the unit will be mostly these air support planes tasked with backing the assault of Moscow's ground offensive in Ukraine.

On January 13, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation decided to add more firepower to the Western strategic direction. Su-25 close air support will be used to demolish enemy structures in the battle zone, per Military Today. The Russian MoD made it clear that it plays a pivotal role.

Russia Amps Up Offensive

When the war started in Ukraine on February 24, 2022; wherein about 192 units of ground attack units were already included in the Russian Aerospace Forces [VKS].

The VKS has three variants and modifications: the basic, two-seater version UB and the BM, which is a target towing. One of these variants of the Grach also developed for carrier use is the UTG, but it has yet to come to pass as the only Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov is not ready for duty, per Naval News.

No information is available on how many of these carrier-based variants exist.

Read Also: Russia Develops Satellite Destroyers Threatening the ISS

More Widespread Use of the Su-25

The reasons for establishing the strategic attack aviation of the Russian Federation are essential for Moscow.

One comment Russian test pilot Igor Malikov told Russian media that the move is appropriate. It shows the Kremlin supports the ground units engaged in combat. He stated that the planes should be all over, but no new kind of close support aircraft to replace it is not in progress, but it is very useful.

Used to cover infantry in combat and sending it to the west is correct to support infantry maneuvers. The VKS used the ground attack plane in 2022 to support the special operation in Ukraine. But the plane has not gotten a good track record in the Ukrainian conflict; Moscow and Kyiv had lost similar planes on the battlefield.

It flies at lower altitudes for close air support (CAS), but man-portable ground-to-air missiles can shoot it down, the US supplied to Kyiv by the west. Such a vulnerability is a big question mark as to how sound it would be for the RuAF to consider such a move. That can lead to more planes of the type getting knocked out from the sky.

Russian MoD does not reveal how many of them will be used in the Western Military District, cites Global Security. The RuAF used its Su-25s to support the western front, emphasizing close air support of infantry and armor.

Related Article: North Korean Su-25 Attack Jets Seen in Training

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A U-turn last month saw a plea deal thrown out and a murder trial has begun

A British pensioner accused of killing his terminally ill wife has revealed how prison authorities refused him permission to go to church on the anniversary of his wife's death.

David Hunter, 75, has been in jail on remand for more than a year after being arrested and accused of murdering his wife Janice, 74, who was suffering from blood cancer, at their retirement home on the island.

Last month lawyers representing him said they had been led to believe that a plea bargain was agreed and that he would plead guilty to manslaughter on agreed facts paving the way for a possible release on compassionate grounds.

But instead the judge at a district court in Paphos, a holiday resort in western Cyprus popular with Britons, decided to press ahead with his case as a murder trial.

British pensioner David Hunter, 75, has revealed how prison authorities refused him permission to go to church on the anniversary of his wife's death (pictured today)

David Hunter has been in jail on remand for more than a year after being arrested and accused of murdering his wife Janice, 74, who was suffering from blood cancer (pictured today)

The pair from Northumberland retired to Paphos 20 years ago and were married for 46 years

The details of how Mrs Hunter died have not been made public.

Today as he sat in court he revealed how he had asked officials at Nicosia prison if he could attend church last month to commemorate his wife's death on December 18, 2021.

He said: 'I put it all in writing but I never heard back from them, so I didn't get a chance.

'I had really wanted to go and made the request through the proper channels but didn't get a reply. So if I didn't get a reply, it meant they refused me permission.'

Speaking of the stop-start process of the trial he said: 'It's all really stressful, you build yourself up the night before and you get up at 5.30am on the day for a 90-minute drive from the prison to the court and after a few minutes it's adjourned.

'The back and forth just drains you and it leaves you deflated but I will take each day as it comes and I've put my faith in my legal team and my family.'

The pair from Northumberland retired to Paphos 20 years ago and Mrs Hunter had been suffering with blood cancer, a condition her sister had died from.

They were married for 46 years and Janice was on heavy medication for a type of terminal blood cancer when she died.

Last month judges dramatically turned the case to a murder trial - after Hunter was expected to plead guilty to manslaughter

Mr Hunter said he just wished the trial could be over so he could begin to grieve his wife (the couple are pictured on their wedding day)

Last month David's daughter Lesley, who lives in Norwich and is pictured here with her parents, spoke of the frustration at the stop start trial and told MailOnline: 'I'm just shocked and stunned. We are devastated and just don't know how this has happened'

British pensioner David Hunter is escorted into a custody van at Paphos Assize Court in December

Mr Hunter, a former British miner, said in September after a court appearance that Janice had been diagnosed with cancer in 2016 and after watching her sister die of the disease, she 'knew what was coming'.

He said: 'She wasn't just my wife, she was my best friend. It's like a black hole.

'Janice's sister had died from leukemia and she saw what was coming.'

Mr Hunter has told police a pact existed between him and his wife and that after she had died he had tried to take his own life but he had been found after relatives alerted police.

Paramedic Kleovoulos Kleovoulu told the court that when he arrived he noticed packets of tablets in the house and that they had 'all been taken.'

When asked by the prosecutor Andreas Hadjikyrou what David's mental state was he said that it 'wasn't' his job to 'diagnosis someone's psychological condition'.

David added how his spirits had been kept up by a fellow British cellmate, who he identified as a 28 year old from Southampton.

He said: 'I'd rather not say what he is in for but he's kept my spirits up. He helps me and I help him, through laughter really. He's the one who has really kept me going.'

When asked by MailOnline how he had spent Christmas he replied: 'It was just like any other day, so it made no difference to me.'

He added: 'I'm treated fairly and with respect and everyone's been good to me so I can't complain. I just want it to be over so I can get on and grieve, I want to stay in Cyprus. My wife died here and I want to stay here.'

Last month David's daughter Lesley, who lives in Norwich, spoke of the frustration at the stop start trial and told MailOnline: 'I'm just shocked and stunned. We are devastated and just don't know how this has happened.'

The family have set up a funding page to help pay for defence costs and have raised just over 28,000. If found guilty he faces life in prison

Today as he sat in court Mr Hunter revealed how he had asked officials at Nicosia prison (file image) if he could attend church last month to commemorate his wife's death on December 18, 2021

She added: 'Our side has always acted in good faith and we genuinely believed we had reached an understanding, so to have the rug so suddenly pulled seems unnecessarily cruel.

'There is a broken family here so this process needs to be about more than legal point scoring. If they are truly interested in justice, perhaps they would like to take my thoughts and feelings into account.'

After the paramedic finished giving evidence there was tension as he revealed he could not call his next witness, Dr Nectarios Sidiropoulos as he was a busy GP and he was 'unavailable all week' judge Michalis Droussiotis ordered he appear immediately or he would 'issue an arrest warrant'.

He added: 'There are many doctors in Paphos, he comes here now,' before halting the case so he could be contacted.

When the court resumed a few minutes later the prosecutor confirmed Dr Sidiropoulos would be available on Wednesday and the trial was adjourned until then.

Cyprus is an Orthodox Christian country where euthanasia is forbidden although MPs are considering debating a law to allow it in extreme cases.

The family have set up a funding page to help pay for defence costs and have raised just over 28,000. If found guilty he faces life in prison.

Help Bring David Home (crowdjustice.com)
The Miss Universe Organization has denied allegations that the beauty pageant was rigged so that R'Bonney Gabriel of the United States could win the competition, slamming the claims as 'absurd'.

Controversy has surrounded Gabriel's win on Saturday night, with Anne Jakrajutatip, the transgender Thai businesswoman who bought Miss Universe last year, accused of foul play.

But the organizers said the allegations were 'false' and 'absurd', adding that the claims 'distract' from Gabriel becoming the first Filipino American to be crowned as Miss Universe.

And Amy Emmerich, the CEO of Miss Universe, said the results of the competition were handled and verified by a top accounting firm after Gabriel, 28, beat runner up Miss Venezuela, Amanda Dudamel.

The CEO of Miss Universe has denied allegations that the beauty pageant was rigged so that R'Bonney Gabriel of the United States could win the competition. Pictured: Gabriel beams as she is crowned Miss Universe in New Orleans on Saturday night

Controversy has surrounded Gabriel's win on Saturday night, with Anne Jakrajutatip (pictured at the Miss Universe competition on January 14 in Miss Orleans), the transgender Thai businesswoman who bought Miss Universe, accused of foul play

'One of the top four accounting firms in the United States handled the results and verified the process,' Emmerich told TMZ.

Jakrajutatip, the CEO and biggest shareholder of JKN Global Group Pcl (JKN), has been accused of rigging the Miss Universe competition so that Gabriel, who won Miss USA in October, could win.

The billionaire Thai media mogul bought the rights to Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA for $20million last year. The pageant system was previously owned by former US president Donald Trump.

Critics have pointed to how Jakrajutatip's JKN company owns both Miss Universe and Miss USA competitions, and suggested Gabriel, who became the first Filipino American to win Miss Universe, was pre-picked to win Sunday night's competition.

But Emmerich told TMZ: 'The allegations regarding the rigging of Miss Universe are false.

'People saying that it's 'suspect' that JKN Global Group owns both Miss Universe and Miss USA aren't familiar with the history of the organizations.'

Emmerich added that Gabriel, a fashion designer, model and sewing instructor from Texas, was a 'strong and dedicated contestant' who is the 'rightful Miss Universe'.

The Miss Universe Organization also said in a statement: 'The false rigging allegations are absurd and distract from the incredible milestones our organization and the delegates experienced this weekend.'

But Amy Emmerich, the CEO of Miss Universe, said the results of the competition were handled and verified by a top accounting firm after Gabriel, 28, (centre) beat runner up Miss Venezuela, Amanda Dudamel (left)

Amy Emmerich (pictured on January 12 in New Orleans), the CEO of Miss Universe, said the results of the competition were handled and verified by a top accounting firm

The controversy surrounding Gabriel's win at Miss Universe over the weekend comes just months after she became Miss USA on October 3.

Contestants accused 'woke' Miss USA of giving Gabriel preferential treatment and preselecting her to win because she's Filipina - making her the first Filipina American to be crowned at the competition.

Gabriel denied the allegations against her at the time, saying there was 'no unfair advantage' and she 'would never enter any pageant or any competition that I would know I would win.'

Indeed, Emmerich told TMZ yesterday that an independent third-party law firm was hired to look into the allegations that the Miss USA pageant had been rigged in October.

She said the law firm determined the allegations were unfounded.

But fellow American contestants of Miss USA said at the time that Gabriel's win had been the result of 'favoritism.'

The legitimacy of her win was also challenged by fellow contenders who said it was suspect that a beauty treatment company that offers a price to the winner featured Gabriel in an ad less than 24 hours after she won.

Gabriel appeared in an ad for NIZUC spas less than 24 hours after she won the Miss USA pageant, which led other competitors to believe the contest had been rigged from the start.

Miss Montana, Heather Lee O'Keefe claimed the ads proved the winner was chosen unfairly.

'@MissUSA was crowned less than 24 hours ago, yet she already got her sponsored vacation to @NIZUCResort,' she wrote.

The controversy surrounding Gabriel's win at Miss Universe over the weekend comes just months after she became Miss USA on October 3 (pictured)

She added: 'Are you kidding me? I was giving y'all the benefit of the doubt, but this is just embarrassing at this point.'

In her defense, Gabriel claimed that she was a brand ambassador for NIZUC's affiliate company MIA Beaute, which also sponsors the Miss Texas pageant and was opening a new spa at the NIZUC resort in Mexico.

Doubters didn't necessarily buy the excuse, however, noting that the founder of MIA is one of the judges at the Miss USA competition. O'Keefe claimed that Gabriel's ambassadorship was a violation of the handbook and that no contestant should have been allowed to work with Miss USA national sponsors.

Controversy continued to spiral for Gabriel when a picture of Crystle Stewart, one of the Miss USA organizers, doing Gabriel's hair backstage circulated. The picture served as greater fodder for the claim of favoritism.

However, Gabriel said the photo was snapped the day after the crowning just before official Miss USA headshots.

Ms Jakrajutatip bought Miss USA and Miss Universe in the days after the controversy first emerged.

The businesswoman, who has a more than seven million follower count on Instagram, went from working at a gas station to becoming the billionaire owner of a media and content conglomerate.

Her firm partnered with media giants like Walt Disney, CBS, and Sony, and also brought Korean, Chinese, and Indian productions to Thai TV.

She also appeared on the Thai version of Shark Tank and Project Runway.

On Saturday night, Gabriel was crowned as Miss Universe. She was draped in the winner's sash and crowned with a tiara onstage at the 71st Miss Universe Competition, held in New Orleans.

In the Q&A at the last stage of the competition for the three finalists, Gabriel was asked how she would work to demonstrate Miss Universe is 'an empowering and progressive organization' if she were to win.

'I would use it to be a transformational leader,' she responded, citing her work using recycled materials in her fashion design and teaching sewing to survivors of human trafficking and domestic violence.

'It is so important to invest in others, invest in our community and use your unique talent to make a difference,' Gabriel continued. 'We all have something special, and when we plant those seeds to other people in our life, we transform them and we use that as a vehicle for change.'

Miss USA R'Bonney Gabriel became the 9th Miss USA to win the global pageant in its 71-year history on Saturday night

According to Miss Universe, Gabriel is a former high school volleyball player and graduate of the University of North Texas. A short bio posted on the organization's website said she is also CEO of her own sustainable clothing line.

Nearly 90 contestants from around the world took part in the competition, organizers said, involving 'personal statements, in depth interviews and various categories including evening gown & swimwear.'

Saturday night's pageant was held in New Orleans to honor the late Cheslie Kryst, who was crowned Miss USA at the same venue in 2019.

The pageant paid tribute to Kryst, who jumped to her death in New York City last January, just several weeks after appearing as a correspondent for the 70th Miss Universe competition.

Kryst's mother appeared on stage Saturday to announce that the National Alliance on Mental Illness established the Cheslie Kryst Memorial Fund for Mental Health in her honor.

'Cheslie dealt with high-functioning depression,' said her mom, April Simpkins, said on the competition stage. 'The Chelsie you saw didnt always match the way she felt inside. Just because someone tells you theyre fine, doesnt mean they are.'
On at least two occasions on 4 August 2022 her conduct caused fear of violence

Moore, 33, denied stalking involving fear of violence and possession of a knife

An alleged stalker accused of threatening to stab a woman outside BBC broadcasting house will stand trial in June.

Danielle Moore, 33, allegedly brandished a blade and screamed 'I'll f***ing chop you' at the complainant.

Moore denied stalking involving fear of violence and possession of a knife when she appeared at Southwark Crown Court in September last year.

The stalking charge alleges that on at least two occasions, at Portland Place on 4 August 2022, her course of conduct caused the complainant to fear 'that violence would be used against her' in that she 'attended the work place of the victim various times and called the victim on the phone being racially abusive'.

An alleged stalker accused of threatening to stab a woman outside BBC broadcasting house (pictured) will stand trial in June

Judge Christopher Hehir had remanded Moore in custody and originally set her trial for 10 January but it has now been put back to 27 June.

Moore, of Bermondsey, southeast London, denies stalking and possession of a knife in a public place.
Northern Illinois University (NIU) is set to host a number of sessions for faculty and instructors on topics such as decolonizing teaching and learning and understanding and rethinking resistance for equity in the classroom.

The Faculty of Academy of Cultural Competence and Equity (FACCE) will focus on access, equity, and inclusion.

Participants will be able to join either a monthly workshop series during the fall 2022 and spring 2023 semesters or a weeklong summer institute in summer 2023.

NIU faculty experts will speak on how to make classrooms and teaching more inclusive.

The Faculty of Academy of Cultural Competence and Equity at Northern Illinois University (pictured) will focus on access, equity, and inclusion, providing educators with the opportunity to explore topics such as culturally relevant leadership skills and anti-racism

Pictured: Northern Illinois University President Lisa C. Freeman (centre) and colleagues

The first session for the 2023 academic year will be held on January 27 and will explore forms of resistance that can arise in classrooms, such as white guilt, white fragility and white fatigue.

Workshop titles include The Act of Decolonizing: Examining Classroom Spaces and Curricula Through a Lens of Justice, Anti-Racism: Tracing The Roots, Persistence, and Countering of a Racial Hierarchy, and Decolonizing Gender and Sexuality In Our Teaching and Learning Contexts.

Another workshop concentrates on 'Working Through And With Our Implicit Biases'.

The University said in a statement: 'Northern Illinois Universitys Faculty Academy for Cultural Competence and Equity is a natural outgrowth of our commitment to equity and inclusion.

'The academy, which is voluntary, provides interested faculty with the opportunity to develop cultural competencies and hone their teaching practices so that they can connect with students from all backgrounds.

'Doing so improves the learning experience for all NIU students and prepares them to succeed on campus and beyond.'

The NIU webpage for the academy curriculum includes outlined learning objectives.

Those who partake will gain a better understanding of the 'historical and societal context of issues related to social injustice, inequity, and oppression'.

They will also 'undergo critical self-reflection of internalized messaging and biases' and 'apply anti-racism and decolonialization as frameworks for pedagogical practice and curriculum development'.

The first session for the 2023 academic year will be held on January 27 and will explore forms of resistance that can arise in classrooms, such as white guilt, white fragility, and white fatigue

NIU faculty experts will speak on how to make classrooms and teaching more inclusive

The NIU webpage for the academy curriculum includes outlined learning objectives

A Certificate of Completion for the monthly FACCE series is handed out to participants who attend seven of the Fall and Spring semester sessions, or successfully complete the 2023 Summer Academy.

At least 236 colleges or universities have some type of compulsory student training of coursework on ideas related to critical race theory (CRT), according to a database with information from more than 500 institutions.

Among those are 149 institutions that have some form of mandatory staff or faculty training, with 138 mandating school-wide curricular requirements.

In December, the University of Oregon's student government made a proposal that would require anyone getting a bachelor's degree to take a course in Critical Race Theory.

The school, which serves 18,604 undergrads and receives a $912.5billion endowment from the taxpayers, requires courses that teach inequality or global perspectives, but this would be the first requirement directly related to CRT.

Isaiah Boyd, a political science major and the president of the Associated Students of the University of Oregon, laid out the plan at the university board of trustees meeting.

Northern Illinois University has been contacted for comment.
Two campers allegedly murdered by Gregory Lynn in a remote national park were 'childhood sweethearts' who had kept their relationship secret for 15 years, a court has been told.

Carol Clay, 73, and Russell Hill, 74, had travelled to Wonnangatta Valley on March 19, 2020, for a short camping trip in the remote wilderness when they vanished sometime after 6pm the following day.

Police allege Mr Lynn, a former Jetstar pilot, killed the pair following an altercation in the national park and dumped their bodies.

Police allege Gregory Lynn (pictured in court), a former Jetstar pilot, killed the pair following an altercation in the national park and dumped their bodies

The 56-year-old has pleaded not guilty and will contest the charges.

In a summary of the case against Lynn provided to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, police said Mr Hill and Miss Clay had rekindled a relationship about 15 years earlier and would go on regular camping trips to 'spend time together'.

The pair were childhood sweethearts who had drifted apart and had children with other partners, documents tendered to the court said.

Mr Hill had been married to another woman for 51 years at the time of his death, and police facts tendered to the court revealed his wife believed he had gone camping alone.

'Those close to them believe that they kept their relationship a secret to spare Hill's family from distress,' the police statement of facts read.

On Tuesday, the court heard Ms Clay may have been shot in the head as Mr Hill and Mr Lynn fought over a shotgun.

The 56-year-old Caroline Springs man has faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court this week for a committal hearing, where magistrate Brett Sonnet will decide whether there is sufficient evidence for Mr Lynn to stand trial in the Supreme Court.

Police allege Mr Hill and his lover Carol Clay (pictured) had rekindled a relationship about 15 years earlier and would go on regular camping trips to 'spend time together'

Eight witnesses have given evidence before the committal hearing, which has been adjourned until January 23 to hear from three more (pictured, the camping scene)

On Tuesday, forensic expert Mark Gellatly was called to give evidence about the forensic examination of evidence recovered during the investigation.

Under questioning by defence lawyer Dermot Dann KC, he was asked by investigators to consider a 'scenario' in which Ms Clay was accidentally hit when Mr Hill grabbed Mr Lynn's shotgun.

'The two were wrestling over the gun, causing an accidental discharge,' Mr Dann said.

'Ms Clay was shot in the head.'

Mr Gellatly told the court he was asked to investigate this possibility but ultimately said he could not confirm or exclude the scenario based on the limited evidence available.

He told the court that DNA and biological material linked to Ms Clay were found on the canopy of Mr Hill's vehicle.

Russell Hill (pictured) had been married to another woman for 51 years at the time of his death, and police facts tendered to the court revealed Mr Hill's wife believed he had gone camping alone

'It's possible they were connected (to the scenario),' he said.

Crown prosecutor John Dickie complained about the scenario being raised by Mr Dann, saying it 'might not' reflect the case against Mr Lynn.

Mr Dann said it was 'important' to understand the context in which forensic officers ran their investigation.

Earlier, the court was told that Mr Lynn was secretly recorded by police just months after Mr Hill and Ms Clay vanished while camping in the Victorian Alps.

Detectives from the missing persons squad visited the former Jetstar pilot's Caroline Springs home on July 14, 2020 - more than two years before he was charged over the alleged murder.

In the photograph taken by the automatic number plate recognition system, Mr Lynn's vehicle was a dark 'bluish' colour but in the driveway of his home Detective Senior Constable Justin saw it was painted beige (Gregory Lynn's car)

Giving evidence before Mr Lynn's committal hearing on Tuesday, Detective Senior Constable Abbey Justin said his blue Nissan Patrol had been photographed leaving the area a day after the campers were allegedly killed.

The Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard police had tracked the phone movements of the missing pair to an area around Mount Hotham.

Detective Senior Constable Justin said the phone was identified as being in the area of an automatic number plate recognition system camera around 9.45am on March 21, 2020 - the morning after they were allegedly killed.

Twelve cars were recorded by the camera during the time period but only one wasn't allegedly picked up by other cameras entering the Wonnangatta National Park - Mr Lynn's.

Mr Lynn (pictured) has pleaded not guilty to murdering campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay

'The 11 cars were taken out of the equation because they activated cameras one and two,' she said.

'According to the information from Telstra, the deceased's phone was in the area at that time,' she said.

In July, she quizzed Mr Lynn in the kitchen of his home about his movements through the park and the colour of his vehicle.

'At that point he was a witness,' she said.

'We were there to find out the movements of his car and confirm who was driving.'

The court heard Mr Lynn's wife Melanie could be heard working from home in the background of the recording.

In the photograph taken by the automatic number plate recognition system, Mr Lynn's vehicle was a dark 'bluish' colour but in the driveway of his home Detective Senior Constable Justin saw it was painted beige.

Police have yet to reveal why they believe the former Jetstar pilot killed the pair, laying out a circumstantial case against Mr Lynn (pictured, Russell Hill and Carol Clay's burned campsite photographed by a camper near Dry River track at Billabong in the Wonnangatta Valley)

'I was under the belief that it was the same vehicle,' she said, telling the court she snapped a photo of the vehicle when leaving.

The interview was allegedly recorded by a 'micro-recorder' and, under questioning from Mr Dann, she admitted she hadn't 'cautioned' Mr Lynn.

'I would never give a witness a caution,' she said.

Mr Lynn, who has denied killing the pair, could be seen taking notes as he watched crown prosecutor John Dickie call witnesses to give evidence.

Remains, later confirmed to be the missing campers, were found buried in bushland near Dargo about 40km from the original campsite (pictured, Ms Clay)

Police have yet to reveal why they believe the former Jetstar pilot killed the pair, laying out a circumstantial case against Mr Lynn.

Eight witnesses have given evidence before the committal hearing, which has been adjourned until January 23 to hear from three more.

Over the course of Monday's hearing, prosecutors sought to establish a timeline of the disappearance and alleged murder of the two campers.

Witnesses told the court they were seen arriving on the afternoon of March 19 after driving from Melbourne for a camping trip.

Witnesses told the court the couple were seen arriving on the afternoon of March 19 after driving from Melbourne for a camping trip (pictured, Mr Hill)

They had been long-time friends and Mr Hill was known to be a well-prepared and enthusiastic camper, with the last confirmed contact received over high-frequency radio on March 20.

Remains, later confirmed to be the missing campers, were found buried in bushland near Dargo about 40km from the original campsite.

Mr Lynn was charged with two counts of murder in November 2021 and has spent more than a year on remand.

The hearing before magistrate Brett Sonnet continues, but will not hear further evidence until Monday.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych quit on Tuesday after outcry over his suggestion the Russian missile that killed at least 44 people in the city of Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine.

Arestovych announced his resignation on Facebook after publicly apologising and rowing back on his comments in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

The Ukrainian Air Force says the apartment building was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which Kyiv does not have the equipment to shoot down.

'I offer my sincere apologies to the victims and their relatives, the residents of Dnipro and everyone who was deeply hurt by my prematurely erroneous version of the reason for the Russian missile striking a residential building,' Arestovych wrote.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych (left) quit on Tuesday, posting a photo of his resignation letter along with a statement on social media (right). Arestovych rowed back on his comments after he suggested the Russian missile that killed at least 44 people in the city of Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine

'I offer my sincere apologies to the victims and their relatives, the residents of Dnipro and everyone who was deeply hurt by my prematurely erroneous version of the reason for the Russian missile striking a residential building,' Arestovych wrote in this post on Facebook

Meanwhile, the death toll from the missile strike on the building in the east Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 44, Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov said on Tuesday.

'I am here. Already 44 dead,' Filatov wrote on Facebook, making clear he was visiting the scene of Saturday's attack. Regional authorities said earlier on Tuesday that a child's body was among the latest retrieved from the rubble.

Filatov did not say how many people were still unaccounted for. Emergency services said on Tuesday that it chances were 'minimal' that any more people would be found alive in the rubble of the wrecked building.

Rescue workers have cleared about 90% of the rubble during a 63-hour search since Saturday's strike, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region. There are 79 wounded people, he said, with 28 of them hospitalized and 10 in serious condition.

Hours after the missile strike, Arestovych, who appears regularly on YouTube to provide updates on the war, initially said it appeared that the Russian missile had fallen on the building after being shot down by Ukrainian air defences.

'It was shot down, it fell on an entryway. It exploded as it fell,' he said.

The comment, which deviated from the official Ukrainian account, caused widespread anger in Ukraine. It was also noticed by Russian authorities who appeared to allude to him when they blamed Kyiv for the strike.

Mayor Filatov demanded that Ukrainian intelligence responded directly to denounce Arestovych's claim, while Ukrainian parliament deputy Oleksiy Goncharenko presented a collection of signatures demanding his resignation.

Taking to Facebook to announce his resignation and apologise, but also hit out at those he claimed were working to 'spin this topic', Arestovych criticised the 'level of hate' directed towards him after his comments.

The death toll from the missile strike on the building in the east Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 44, Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov said on Tuesday. Pictured: Rescuers work on a residential building destroyed after a missile strike, in Dnipro on January 16, 2023

Emergency crews have cleared about 90% of the rubble during a 63-hour search since Saturday's strike, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region. There are 79 wounded people, he said, with 28 of them hospitalised and 10 serious

Arestovych was an advisory to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky (pictured last week), who has denounced the missile strike as a war crime

'No matter for what reason and how the audience heard it, I will still be strict to the information that I convey,' he wrote of the social media platform.

'I sincerely apologise to the victims and their relatives, the residents of the Dnieper and everyone who was deeply wounded by my premature error version of the reason the Russian missile hit a residential building.

'The level of hate towards me is incomparable with the consequences of an error on the air. This brought neither reputational nor legal consequences for Ukraine.'

He claimed those spinning the topic 'have very specific goals.'

'Moscow expands it to weaken Ukrainian information influence (including Russians),' he wrote. 'Ukrainian opposition attacks power in this way, earning political points during the war, thinking about future elections.

'Working to divide Ukrainians at crucial moments of history is the Kremlin's most successful strategy, which it has successfully used for the last 400 years, or maybe more. The work of our opposition to divide Ukrainians and search for traitors for political dividends is a game that the Kremlin skillfully used and still uses,' he added.

He said Russia was making 'a conscious bet on the hatred of Ukrainians against Ukrainians, a bet on division, on political games in a warring country before months of heaviest fighting is the path to losing the war.'

The latest deadly Russian strike on a civilian target in the almost 11-month war international triggered outrage.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky- who called the strike a 'war crime' - vowed to bring those responsible to justice, saying it's 'a fundamental task' for Ukraine and its Western allies.

'This strike at Dnipro, as well as other similar strikes, falls, in particular, under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court,' he said in a Monday video address.

'And we will use all available opportunities - both national and international - to ensure that all Russian murderers, everyone who gives and executes orders on missile terror against our people, face legal sentences. And to ensure that they serve their punishment,' he said.

Pictured: People watch as rescue workers search through the rubble for survivors of a Russian strike on a high-rise residential building in Dnipro

Flowers are placed at a memorial as emergency workers continue to search the remains of a residential building that was struck by a Russian missile Saturday on January 16, in Dnipro

EU presidency holder Sweden condemned the attack 'in the strongest terms', with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson telling reporters that 'intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes'.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the strike, with his spokesperson calling it 'another example of a suspected violation of the laws of war'.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday that the weekend barrage of long-range missiles, the first of its kind in two weeks, targeted Ukraine's power grid.

But the ministry identified the missile that slammed into the Dnipro apartment building as an anti-ship missile that 'is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas.'

Similar missiles were used in other incidents that caused high civilian casualties, it said, including a strike on a shopping mall in Ukraine's central city of Kremenchuk last June.

Such incidents have helped stiffen international support for Ukraine as it battles to fend off the Kremlin's invasion. The winter has brought a slowdown in fighting, but military analysts say a new push by both sides is likely once the weather improves.

The Kremlin claimed its forces were not responsible and pointed to an unsubstantiated theory circulating on social media that Ukrainian air defence systems had caused the damage.

'The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure. They strike military targets,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russia has repeatedly denied targeting and hitting civilian homes and infrastructure, often blaming Kyiv - despite ever-mounting evidence to suggest otherwise.

To withstand Russian attacks, Ukraine has been pressing Western backers to supply it with advanced tanks, in particular the German-designed Leopard.

Britain this weekend pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, which would make it the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been calling for. Pictured: A challenger 2 Main Battle Tank pictured during a Land Combat demonstration in October 2018 (file photo)

Berlin has been heavily criticised over its stuttering response to the war in Ukraine.

After months of criticism - and a series of gaffes - German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday.

Her resignation comes days before the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which coordinates arms supplies to Kyiv, is due to meet in Germany.

Britain this weekend pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, which would make it the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been calling for.

Putin on Monday slammed Kyiv's 'destructive' policies that 'bet on the intensification of hostilities with the support of Western sponsors who are ramping up the supplies of weapons.' Peskov told reporters that 'these tanks are burning and will burn.'
An Australian who smuggled drugs hidden in his anus into Indonesia has narrowly avoided the death penalty with a judge ruling he was an addict rather than a drug trafficker.

Jeffrey Welton, 52, will now spend eight months in a rehabilitation centre trying to kick his drug habit.

Welton, a surfing and diving instructor from Western Australia, was arrested at Bali's international airport in September 6 after he was found smuggling 8g of heroin and 0.34 grams of methamphetamine on a flight from Vietnam.

Under Indonesia's harsh drug importation laws these small amounts could have landed him in jail for life or facing a firing squad.

Australian Jeff Welton has escaped the death penalty after being caught smuggling drugs into Indonesia

But in the this case the lenient judge on Tuesday ruled he will instead be sent to the Anargya Sober House where he will receive professional help.

At the time of his arrest Welton's lawyer said he had been addicted to heroin for 15 years.

Welton's family had hired former police officer John McLeod, who specialises in helping Australians in criminal trouble overseas.

He expressed joy and relief at the outcome.

'He was facing the death penalty,' Mr McLeod told the Sydney Morning Herald.

'He's feeling relieved. He understands that he's got a long way to go in his rehab and he'll always be an addict.

A court has ruled that Welton, 52, is an addict, which means he will be rehabilitated rather than punished

'The rehab we've sought for him has been extremely successful. He's been tested regularly and he's clear of [illegal] substances for the first time in 15 years.'

In September Denpasar head prosecutor Rudy Hartono said hat the quantity of heroin smuggled by Welton indicated 'it was more than just for personal use'.

However, Mr McLeod said the defence had been able to convince the prosecution Welton, who holds both Australian and British passports, was an addict.

Welton has been living in Bali for about a decade but had travelled regularly to Vietnam.

While in Australia he lives in Perth.

Welton, who holds both Australian and British passports, will spend eight months in Bali's Anargya Sober House to undergo rehabilitation

In 2015 Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in Indonesia as the convicted ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine drug smugglers.

The nine Australians were arrested trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin to Australia on a flight out of Bali's airport in 2005.

Of the remaining seven only one, Renae Lawrence, has been released from jail while another Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died in prison of cancer.
The Iranian regime has used Prince Harry's confession that he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan to take aim at Britain amid the escalating row over the execution of Alireza Akbari.

In a string of tweets criticising Britain's outrage over the killing of the British-Iranian dual national who was accused of spying, Iran claimed the country was 'in no position to preach'.

The official Twitter account of the Iran Foreign Ministry accused the Duke of Sussex of showing no remorse over the killings of 'innocent' lives and accused Britain of allowing this 'war crime'.

It said: 'The British regime, whose royal family member, sees the killing of 25 innocent people as removal of chess pieces and has no regrets over the issue, and those who turn a blind eye to this war crime, are in no position to preach others on human rights.'

The post was referring to a controversial passage about the death count from Harry's new memoir Spare which is already the subject of a mounting backlash.

Prince Harry used Spare to confess that he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan. The Duke is pictured on patrol during his deployment in 2012 (above)

The official Twitter account (pictured) of the Iran Foreign Ministry accused the Duke of Sussex of showing no remorse over the killings of 'innocent' lives and accused Britain of allowing this 'war crime'. 'The British regime, whose royal family member, sees the killing of 25 innocent people as removal of chess pieces and has no regrets over the issue, and those who turn a blind eye to this war crime, are in no position to preach others on human rights,' it said

His comments, which have also sparked security fears, have already provided the Taliban and extremist Anjem Choudary with ammunition to spout propaganda against British troops.

The former soldier used his book to detail how he had gunned down 25 militants, feeling neither satisfaction nor shame about his actions while serving in Afghanistan some 10 years ago.

He added that to in order deal with the incidents he dehumanised his victims by seeing them as 'chess pieces' and not people.

The passage was seized on by the Iranian regime as tensions between Tehran and London escalate in the wake of Akbari's execution.

Akbari, 61, had moved to the UK with an investment visa and had become a naturalised citizen here but was lured back to Iran by the security services three years ago.

But the ex-deputy Iranian defence minister was arrested in 2019 and convicted of spying for the UK  a charge which he denied.

His death last week has caused outrage in Britain with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling it a 'callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime'.

Ministers have imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on the Iranian prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri.

The Iranian regime has used Prince Harry's confession that he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan to take aim at Britain amid the escalating row over the execution of Alireza Akbari (above)

Harry's comments, which have also sparked security fears, have already provided the Taliban and extremist Anjem Choudary with ammunition to spout propaganda against British troops

Nine men are publicly flogged up to 39 times each by the Taliban in front of a packed football stadium Advertisement

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has also temporarily withdrawn Britain's ambassador to Iran, Simon Shercliff.

The UK is now considering designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful wing of its military, as a terrorist organisation in a sign of its hardening stance towards the Islamic republic.

In the string of Tweets, the Iran Foreign Ministry branded Britain's 'uproar and the support of some European self-proclaimed defenders of human rights' as a 'sign of their evasion and violation of law'.

It added: 'Britain's encroachment on the national security of the Islamic republic of Iran has been met with a decisive response from the Iranian intelligence &Judiciary.'

Tensions between the West and Iran are already running high over Tehran's crackdown on nationwide protests for women's right - as well as its support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine with drones.

Iran has arrested at least 14,000 people in the wave of protests sparked by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested for allegedly breaching the strict dress code for women.

Journalists, filmmakers, lawyers and activists have been arrested, and several executions have been reported as well as the deaths of hundreds of protesters in the clashes between Iran's security forces.

Meanwhile, the regime has been arming Russia with Iranian-made suicide drones which have been causing havoc in Ukraine. Moscow has used them against civilian infrastructure, such as power stations, and on civilian buildings.

Tensions between the West and Iran are already running high over Tehran's crackdown on nationwide protests for women's right. Pictured: Protesters are seen in Tehran in September

The Iranian regime has been arming Russia with Iranian-made suicide drones (pictured) which have been causing havoc in Ukraine. Moscow has used them against civilian infrastructure, such as power stations, and on civilian buildings

Harry spent a decade in the British Army before taking up full-time royal duties in 2015. During that time, he did two tours of Afghanistan.

The prince was first deployed to Helmand province as a forward air controller in 2007, but his first tour of duty was cut short.

He returned in 2012, by which time he was responsible for firing a 45million Apache helicopter's 30mm cannon and Hellfire missiles.

Spare is the first time he has specified the number of insurgents he personally killed during his time in Afghanistan. The Prince said that he flew on six missions that resulted in the 'taking of human lives' in his autobiography.

Harry, who was known as 'Captain Wales' in the military, wrote that he did not think of those killed 'as people' but instead 'chess pieces' he had taken off the board.

'You can't kill people if you see them as people', he wrote. Instead, he said he saw them as 'chess pieces removed from the board'... as 'bad guys eliminated'.

Tehran is not the only brutal regime in the Middle East to have criticised Harry for his confession, after the Taliban themselves slammed the Prince earlier this month.

Speaking to MailOnline, the militants branded him a 'big mouth loser' after his revelation, and stressed that while their fighters were the ultimate victors of the conflict in Afghanistan, Harry had 'fled to his grandmother's palace' and is now struggling to maintain a place in the Royal Family.

Taliban spokesman Abul Qahar Balkhi, pictured, said Harry's comments are 'a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans'

Taliban commander Molavi Agha Gol, 32, said that he thought Harry was attention seeking with his book and boasted that the 'chess pieces' had taken over the board following the 2021 withdrawal of international troops.

Speaking from a checkpoint outside the town of Islam Qala on the border with Iran, he said: 'I do not even believe what he said about the Mujahidin. He is a loser and scared to go to a combat zone. We made history by kicking him and his army out of our homeland and he should be very angry about that.'

He added: 'Do not believe whatever losers tell you. I see news about him a lot on my Facebook feed and really think he's gone mad and needs a doctor immediately.

'Even if he believes [that he killed 25 Taliban], our martyred Mujahidin are in heaven but his invading friends are burning in Hell and I really hope I was in Helmand when he was there, to make him understand what real chess pieces are.

'If he's a real man and not a f***ing loser, come to Afghanistan again.'

An official in the Taliban's ministry for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice, said in a statement: 'Pieces of chess are now in power and he's struggling to maintain his place within his own family.'

Abul Qahar Balkhi, spokesman for the Taliban ministry of foreign affairs, said Prince Harry's comments were 'a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans at the hands of occupation forces'.

Molavi Keramudin, a Taliban commander in the central city of Ghor, called for an investigation into the prince, saying: 'It's him claiming that he martyred the Taliban, but it may be civilians too. If England has a system and regulations, they should investigate and see whom he killed.

In the summer of 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with a lighting offensive that swept across the country in a matter of weeks

'He is a so-called prince and should not freely walk after killing civilians. It is not acceptable. He has problems and is just climbing over whatever he can to stop himself and his country falling into sh*t.'

Molavi Nabi Jan, a Taliban official in the western Afghan city of Herat, said: 'He's a dirty idiot and a drunk jackal. He has destroyed all bridges behind him and is now just trying to avoid drowning in history.

'Using the Taliban and his family is his last tool to make people talk about him. I know him very well. God left him on his own to give him a very big punishment at the end.'

An official in the southern Helmand province told MailOnline: 'He's evil. He's made lots of Afghan women widows and lots of children orphans and he's proud of that.'

Another Taliban official, Anas Haqqani, tweeted: 'Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans. They had families who were waiting for their return. Among the killers of Afghans, not many have your decency to reveal their conscience and confess to their war crimes.

'The truth is what you've said. Our innocent people were chess pieces to your soldiers, military and political leaders. Still, you were defeated in that 'game' of white & black 'squares'.

'I don't expect that the ICC [International Criminal Court] will summon you or the human rights activists will condemn you, because they are deaf and blind for you. But hopefully these atrocities will be remembered in the history of humanity.'

In the summer of 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with a lightning offensive that swept across the country in a matter of weeks, overthrowing the Western-backed government that was installed by the US, UK and their allies.

Leaders of the government fled the country as Western coalition forces pulled out, culminating in the collapse of the Afghan military and the Taliban capturing Kabul on August 15, 2021.

Despite promising a more progressive regime than when they were last in power in 2001, the Taliban have eroded the rights of women and minority groups in the country, most recently banning women from attending university - a move that drew fierce condemnation from the international community.
A Michigan mother and her two sons, three and nine, died from hypothermia after sleeping in a Detroit-area park, autopsies have determined.

Mother Monica Cannady, 35, was going through a mental health crisis when she took her children to take refuge and sleep on the ground in an overgrown park near Crystal Lake in Pontiac, MI, Oakland County Sheriff said.

Ms Cannady is survived by her ten-year-old daughter, Lilly, who who woke to find her whole family dead next to her, was recovered by local police after she knocked on neighboring doors early Sunday morning and said her family was dead in a field.

Lilly is currently in a stable condition in hospital with 'hypothermia-type symptoms', authorities say.

Bouchard held a press conference on Monday 16 January to call for more funding for mental health programs in the area.

Michigan mom-of-three Monica Cannady, 35, was described as a 'loving, caring mother'

Three-year-old Malik Milton and nine-year-old Kyle Milton sadly perished in the cold

County Sheriff Bouchard said family members told investigators Ms Cannady had starting acting 'paranoid' in the last three weeks.

Bouchard added that the family tried to get Ms Cannady help after noticing a change in her behavior.

Ms Cannady reportedly refused and fled with the children.

Family members told also authorities that the mother of three had told her children to hide if people approached them.

Sources said that the children's father was murdered two years ago.

Ms Cannady is understood to have sought refuge outside from people she believed were following her, including the police.

Bouchard said the police had received calls about a woman and children who were underdressed in the area, but they had not been able to find them.

Investigators say the family may have been out in the cold for at least three days.

On Saturday, Ms Cannady and the children were reportedly seen knocking on doors, telling people they were hungry.

Daughter Lilly, 10, woke up to find her mother and siblings had died from hypothermia in the night.

Mother Monica sought refuge with her children in a park near Crystal Lake in Pontiac, MI

Sheriff Bouchard this incident is just the latest example of the need for more funding to address mental health. He and city leaders are encouraging community to help individuals suffering from a mental illness.

'We're seeing death everyday as a result of the mental health crisis and it sure would be nice if Washington and Lansing tuned in on that,' Bouchard said.

Grandmother to the children, Theresa Milton, told WXYZ that she did not know Ms Cannady had a history of mental health problems.

She said the children were well looked after.

Monica's family are crowdfunding online to support Lilly, 10, who current remains in hospital

The Cannady Family said in a statement on a GoFundMe page set up to pay for funeral expenses and to help Lilly that mother Monica 'was a loving, caring mother to her children, always a hard worker making sure her children were well taken care of.'

They added that Monica did not have insurance for herself or her children, and that donations to support Lilly would be appreciated.

If you are in need of mental health support in Oakland County, you can contact Common Ground 24/7. The Oakland Community Health Network also provides resources. Contact the Crisis Line at 844-446-4225.

Lifeline offers a national service for those experiencing a mental-health related crisis, or those looking to help a loved one through a crisis, on 988. 988 is confidential, free and available 24/7 for call, text and chat.
A Northumbria Police constable who abandoned his duty to have sex with a member of the public in the back of his van while parked in a supermarket car park has been sacked.

PC Ian Dawson was bored during his shift and contacted a woman asking if she would like to meet up.

When she agreed, he drove to her home, picked her up and then went to the nearby supermarket for sex, dropping her off again afterwards, a misconduct hearing has heard.

The incident happened in September 2020, when Covid guidance was still in place and the Government was still advising the public not to mix unnecessarily with others.

Dawson has now been fired and banned from all police forces for life after bosses heard about his on-duty escapade.

At an accelerated misconduct hearing in Newcastle, Northumbria Police's Chief Constable Winton Keenen heard the officer should have been protecting the public (stock image)

He also admitted having a sexual relationship with a colleague that he failed to declare.

At the hearing in Newcastle, Northumbria Police's Chief Constable Winton Keenen heard the officer should have been protecting the public.

The hearing was told: 'In the course of the officer's shift he agreed to meet a member of the public, Ms A, for sexual purposes. He was on duty in a police uniform, in a marked police van, when he collected Ms A from her house in the police vehicle and drove her to a supermarket car park.

'They arrived in the car park at 00.06 on 8th September 2020. He engaged in sexual activity with Ms A in the back of the police vehicle and then drove her back to her home address.'

In October 2021, Dawson also lied to his bosses about a sexual relationship with a member of police staff, Ms B. When asked about the relationship by supervising officers, he twice denied being involved with her when he knew it to be a lie.

In sacking Dawson, Chief Constable Keenen acknowledged the sexual behaviour of police officers is under scrutiny.

He said: 'There is an understandable expectation of the public that police officers will act at all times in ways that do not discredit the public service to which they dedicate their working lives.

'With that comes the expectation that they will not engage in sexual activity whilst on duty.

'This has always been the case but now, perhaps more than ever, there is a recognisable increase in the expectations of the public regarding the behaviours of police officers, and particularly so regarding behaviours involving sexual activity.'

The officer said he had been suffering from poor mental health at the time but provided no medical evidence to back up his claim.

Dawson was sacked without notice for gross misconduct and placed on the Royal College of Policing's barred list.
Matteo Messina Denaro, the most wanted Italian mafia leader, was apprehended by military police on Monday while being treated for cancer. The fugitive had been on the loose since 1993.

Messina Denaro, known by the monikers "Diabolik" and "'U Siccu" (The Skinny One), had been handed a life sentence in absentia for his part in the murders of anti-mafia prosecutors Paolo Borsellino and Giovanni Falcone in 1992, crimes that shook the country and triggered a clampdown on the Cosa Nostra.

Two carabinieri police officers in uniform took Matteo Messina Denaro, 60, out of Palermo's "La Maddalena" hospital and brought into a waiting black minivan. He was sporting a brown wool hat, spectacles, and a fur-lined jacket, as reported by AP News.

Locals applauded and shook hands with balaclava-clad cops as the minivan left the hospital in the suburban area.

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He was also found guilty of the abduction, torture, and murder of the 11-year-old son of a mafioso, who later testified as a state witness, as well as the fatal bombings that occurred in Milan, Florence, and Rome in 1993.

Messina Denaro reportedly bragged that his victims could "fill a cemetery," per the BBC.

A Great Victory for Italy

The formidable Cosa Nostra organized crime syndicate's mafia leader also handled racketeering, illicit garbage disposal, money laundering, and drug trafficking.

According to rumors, he was Tot Riina's protege. Tot Riina was the boss of the Italian mafia Corleone family and was apprehended in 1993 after 23 years at large.

Matteo Messina Denaro underwent a cancer procedure last year and a string of appointments behind a fictitious identity, according to judicial authorities.

The arrest was lauded by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as "a great victory" for the nation, according to Reuters.

Related Article: Iran: Dual Citizen Sentenced To Death

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A banker nicknamed Christine Lagarde by male colleagues has lost a 4.6million discrimination claim - with a tribunal saying her treatment was just part of 'the irritation of office life'.

Elisabeth Maugars, who earned a 295,000 salary as a managing director at Deutsche Bank, claimed she was made redundant because of a culture of sexism and ageism at her bank.

She said the decision to let her go was perverse, irrational and heinous and there was a boys club at work that discriminated against her as an older woman who refused to dye her hair, an employment tribunal heard.

Ms Maugars, 59, told how colleagues called her Christine Lagarde - who is the President of the European Central Bank - because both women are French and have grey hair.

Ms Maugars told how co-workers called her Christine Lagarde (pictured) because both women have grey hair

After her dismissal, she tried to sue the bank for 4.6million in damages.

But her claims of unfair dismissal, age discrimination and sex discrimination all failed after a panel ruled she was treated fairly.

Being called Christine Lagarde was part of the irritation of day to day office life which occasionally occurs, the judge said.

The East London tribunal heard that Ms Maugars had worked in banking for 35 years and was very successful.

In 2015, at the age of 52, she joined Deutsche Bank as managing director of non-recourse lending, based in London.

Elisabeth Maugars, had been a managing director at Deutsche Bank on a 295,000 salary

Five years later she was genuinely shocked when - during the pandemic - she was placed at risk of redundancy and dismissed in October 2020.

In laying out the reasoning for her selection for redundancy, the bank pointed out that her US counterpart brought in 29million in business in the previous year while she brought in 6million.

The tribunal heard that in a tactless move the bank asked her to give up a months salary to help with the banks cost-cutting, just a few weeks before telling her she may lose her job.

Ms Maugars argued to the tribunal there must be something more to her redundancy as it was so perverse and irrational, even heinous.

She said there was a clique of men younger than her at the bank and claimed that the use of the word guys as the opening greeting in emails was proof she was being excluded.

As part of the culture of discrimination against older women she pointed to her nickname of Christine Lagarde, which the employment tribunal described as rather silly and probably annoying.

Ms Maugars also accused the member of staff who made decisions on her redundancy as having limited interaction with her compared to with male colleagues.

She said he discussed her performance and business behind her back and he was more comfortable with the guys, the tribunal heard.

However, the tribunal pointed out she loved the business and there was no indication that the allegations of discrimination had damaged her extremely positive attitude towards her work previously.

When looking into redeployment opportunities for her at the companys US branch, bosses said: 'We need to recruit bankers with existing books who can start moving clients over right away.

'So its hard to take one of those precious spots for someone who isnt currently a banker who is also moving from London. She has very good skills but I just dont think we can get this done.'

Dismissing Ms Maugers claims against Deutsche Bank entity DB Group Services (UK) Limited, employment judge Bernice Elgot said: 'None of those involved with her redundancy, for example, called her by the nickname Christine Lagarde.

'[This] is a rather silly and probably annoying comparison with the current President of the European Central Bank based solely, it would seem, on the fact that both [Ms Maugars] and Madame Lagarde are women, are French and have grey hair.

'We make no finding that this comparison was offensive or indicates a "culture" of discrimination against older women. It is part of the irritation of day to day office life which occasionally occurs.

'[Ms Maugars] pursued no formal complaint or grievance about it.

'In summary, the reason why [Ms Maugars] was placed at risk and, following consultation and then a comprehensive search to re-deploy her, was ultimately dismissed was because she was redundant.

'The bank had need of less employees to do the work, however important, complex and demanding and no matter how integral to its GL business, which she did and she was fairly and reasonably selected for redundancy.

'This has been a crushing blow for her but it was not sex or age discrimination.'
BBC Radio 2 yet to announce the host and details of the new mid-morning show

Broadcaster, 71, will present a show from 10am to 1pm on the Bauer radio station

Mr Bruce told millions of listeners news this morning and urged them to follow

He will start his new job at Greatest Hits Radio in April after 45 years at the BBC

Ken Bruce is the latest veteran to leave the BBC - jumping ship after 45 years for commercial rival Greatest Hits Radio, declaring: 'I've done everything it is possible to do at Radio 2'.

The Scottish broadcaster, 71, said 'the time is right' for him to move on from the weekday mid-morning show he's presented since 1986 - with just a two year gap between 1990 and 1992 - having first walked into the corporation in 1977.

He informed his 9million listeners this morning that he would quit in March - but he is not retiring, heading into commercial radio and taking his much-loved PopMaster quiz with him.

And in an advert for his new mid-morning show, he urged people to follow him as fans vowed to never listen to Radio 2 again when he leaves complaining that older presenters are being swapped for younger, less talented broadcasters, like Scott Mills.

Ken said: 'Nothing stays the same forever. I've done everything it is possible to do at Radio 2. I've always felt I've got something more to prove. I hope that when people hear the news they will say: 'Sorry to hear you're going Ken, but maybe I'll follow you to wherever it is you're going'.'

Mr Bruce is the latest veteran to leave the station, but he insists it is his decision. Last summer Paul O'Grady exited Radio 2 after Steve Wright, 68, Graham Norton, 59, and Simon Mayo, 64, all left and were replaced with a younger line up. Vanessa Feltz, 60, and Craig Charles, 58, have also moved on.

Experts say Greatest Hits Radio boss Ben Cooper, who joined Bauer last year from the BBC where he ran Radio 1, is adding Mr Bruce to his roster of Simon Mayo and Jackie Brambles as they try to steal listeners from the increasingly younger-focused BBC Radio 2.

Ken Bruce said he has done all he could at the BBCV and wants a fresh challenge for the end of his career

Listeners have vowed never to return to Radio 2 when Ken is gone

Radio 2 fans have accused the BBC of ageism as a string of older DJs step back, including Pauk O'Grady, Steve Wright, Graham Norton and Simon Mayo, replaced by ex-Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, RuPaul's Michelle Visage, Waterloo Road's Angela Griffin, and DJ Spoony

Ken's listeners have claimed they could hear he was 'less enthusiastic about playing some of those newer records' that his bosses insisted on as they try to bring in younger listeners.

Members of the Ken Bruce Preservation Society of superfans on Facebook are also suggesting that he's been unhappy with the Radio2 playlist for some time.

One upset listener declared that the news was so shocking that 'there should be one week of national mourning', adding of the BBC: 'Ken Bruce not doing PopMaster is like the ravens leaving the Tower'.

Another said it was a further sign of the 'mass exodus' at the BBC, calling the Glaswegian: 'A truly great broadcaster who made it sound so easy & utterly effortless. Second only to Wogan'. One critic said: 'With Ken Bruce leaving and Steve Wright gone they might as well shut Radio 2 down'

The 71-year-old, who is leaving in March, joined the corporation in 1977 as a BBC Radio Scotland presenter and his first regular slot on Radio 2 was the Saturday Late Show in 1984. The following year he fronted the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, taking over from Sir Terry Wogan.

Radio 2 will announce the host and details of the new mid-morning show at a later date.

The broadcaster, 71, will present a show from 10am to 1pm on the Bauer radio station, alongside presenters including Simon Mayo at Drivetime and Jackie Brambles in the early evening.

Ken said: 'Nothing stays the same forever and I have decided the time is right for me to move on from Radio 2 when I reach the end of my current contract in March. It's been a tremendously happy time for me: I've made many friends and worked with many wonderful colleagues. However I feel that after 45 years of full-time broadcasting on BBC Radio it's time for a change.

'I would stress that this is entirely my decision but some new opportunities have come up and I would like to continue my career in a slightly different way in the next few years, the details of which will be revealed shortly.

'I will always be very proud of my association with the BBC and Radio 2 in particular and I'd like to thank everyone who has helped to make the mid-morning show a success'.

This move follows a number of high-profile departures and reshuffling at BBC Radio of recent, including Scott Mills leaving BBC Radio 1 after 24 years at the network to join Radio 2 for a new weekday show.

The radio DJ took over the 2-4pm slot from presenter Steve Wright, who stepped down from his afternoon show at the end of September after 23 years.

Wright continues to present his Radio 2 Sunday Love Songs programme as well as specials on the station.

Paul O'Grady also quit his Radio 2 Sunday afternoon show, which he presented for around 14 years, because he was not happy with a schedule shake-up which saw him share the slot with comic Rob Beckett.

Shortly after the Radio 2 confirmed his exit - Bauer Media said Ken was off to Greatest Hits Radio, where other hosts include 'The Professor of Pop' Paul Gambaccini, who has been so critical of the BBC.

Ken Bruce said 'What better way to celebrate my forty-five years in radio than with a new adventure and a brand-new show on Greatest Hits Radio.

'I say brand-new but there will still be PopMaster, me and my musings and all the great records you know and love from the 70s, 80s and 90s. I'm looking forward to getting started and to you joining me for my very first show. See you in April'

Bruce has also presented Radio 2's coverage of Eurovision since 1988, and has been a regular presenter of Sunday Night is Music Night.

Ken in the studio in 1984. He joined the BBC in 1977

Ken Bruce (pictured with his good friend Rod Stewart) is leaving the BBC after 45 years, quitting Radio 2 for Greatest Hits Radio

Ken with stars Sir Cliff Richard and Beyonce

Ken Bruce has insisted: 'I would stress that this is entirely my decision but some new opportunities have come up and I would like to continue my career in a slightly different way'

His Radio 2 show is famous for a number of segments including PopMaster, a quiz to test music knowledge which has run for 25 years, Tracks of My Years, where a famous person chooses their favourite records and more recently, The Piano Room, featuring live music from a range of great artists.

Lorna Clarke, director of BBC Music, added: 'Ken is an extraordinary broadcaster with an exceptional career over many decades.

'He has been part of every significant occasion marked by BBC Radio 2 and we, his faithful audience and the Radio 2 all-star line-up, will miss his warm humour and wit. Congratulations on a brilliant career.'
Australia is beefing up its military assistance to Ukraine by sending crack troops to train raw recruits being thrown into the fight against Russian invaders.

The major contingent of 70 Australian Defence Force personnel will leave Darwin on Wednesday and travel to the UK where they will be part of a multi-nation training program.

The Albanese government says it will outline more detail about the mission in the coming days.

But it is understood the bulk of those taking part in Operation Kudu are from the 5 RAR 1st Brigade, which is a motorised infantry formation.

Battalion Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Chris Gilmore Australians would aim to get about 20,000 Ukrainians as 'combat ready' as possible as rumours swirl in intelligence circles that Vladimir Putin is planning a major offensive after winter.

Australia is beefing up its military assistance to Ukraine by sending crack troops to train raw recruits being thrown into the fight against Russian invaders (Australian army stock image)

'They're  training the recruits in infantry tactics in an urban, wooded and basic infantry tactics to best prepare them for potential future conflict,' he told the ABC .

The Australians will be farewelled at a ceremony in Darwin on Wednesday, which will be attended by Minister for Defence Personnel Matt Keogh.

Mr Keogh stressed that the Australian troops will play no direct part in the conflict but will 'support the brave people of Ukraine and their armed forces'.

The training program also involves personnel from the UK as well as contributions from New Zealand, Canada, Sweden and Finland.

On Monday the British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace thanked Australia for participating in the mission while addressing the UK parliament.

The training contingent builds on the $655m in support already offered to Ukraine, of which $475m is military assistance to help the beleaguered nation fend off Russia's bloody invasion.

Rescuers are seen at an apartment building in Dnipro, Ukraine, on January 14, 2023, after it was hit with a Russian missile

Medics of Ukrainian Army evacuate a wounded soldier on a road not far of Soledar, Donetsk region on January 14, 2023

Perhaps the most visible part of that assistance has been the provision of 90 light armoured Bushmaster personnel carriers.

Australia has also sent other heavily armoured vehicles, anti-armour weapons, mine clearing equipment and drones to the Ukraine.

It comes as speculation grows that Russia is planning a major offensive when the European snow starts to melt.

Russia is already embarking on a major conscription drive and analysts believe President Putin will attempt to bludgeon his way further into Ukraine by sheer force of numbers in spring.

The invading force intensified its missile bombardment of Ukraine's cities in recent days as fierce fighting continues around the salt mining town of Soledar.

A nine-storey apartment block in the central Ukrainian city Dnipro was turned into a mountain of brick and mortar by Russian missile strikes.

Australian soldiers conduct mission training before heading to the UK to help train Ukrainian soldiers

Australian PM Anthony Albanese (left) has already provided $655m to Ukraine to help fight off Vladimir Putin's (right) forces

A captured and burnt out Bushmaster was put on display in Moscow during August with Australia sending 90 of the armoured vehicles to help Ukrainian forces

Rescuers desperately combed the rubble for survivors with at least 44 people confirmed dead so far.

Regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said seven children were among the casualties.

The death toll is likely to rise even furthere as there are dozens of people still feared trapped under the debris.

'They (Russians) are just inhuman. At least one stairwell is gone. Under the rubble there are people who were at home for the holiday,' Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president's office, said.

Over the weekend Moscow also launched a fresh wave of missile attacks on Kyiv as a series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital for the first time since New Year's Day.
Putin was last seen in person on Friday 13 when he attended a funeral in Ufa

Speculation that Vladimir Putin, 70, is suffering from cancer and other ailments

Russian president Vladimir Putin has become 'withdrawn, silent and deeply preoccupied' as he undergoes new medical treatment, it was claimed today.

The claims were made by Putin-watching channel Telegram channel General SVR, which alleges inside knowledge from his circle and links to his bodyguards.

There has been speculation in Russia that 70-year-old Putin is suffering from cancer, early stage Parkinson's disease and other ailments including a schizoaffective disorder.

'Putin is undergoing a course of treatment with drugs which, in addition to their therapeutic effect, cause weakness, dizziness, [and] lack of appetite, which does not affect his psycho-emotional state in the best way,' reported General SVR.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has become 'withdrawn, silent and deeply preoccupied' as he undergoes new medical treatment, it was claimed today. Pictured meeting Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov on January 13, 2023

Putin was last seen in person - rather than on video conference - at a funeral in Ufa on Friday

It added he has become 'silent' and 'receives almost no-one' in person while appearing 'deeply preoccupied in recent days'.

'He is about to gamble, if not by going for broke, then by raising the stakes to a critical level,' stated the channel which has repeatedly claimed Putin suffers from multiple medical conditions and is terminally ill.

Putin was last seen in person - rather than on video conference - at a funeral in Ufa on Friday.

The presenter continued his analysis of the Russian president's health: 'In the event of the failure of the forthcoming Russian offensive on the front and the loss of control over even a part of the previously occupied territories, it will be impossible to convince the elites of the possibility of a 'victorious' exit from the military adventure.

'In that case there will be no more victorious offensives by Russian troops. There would be a guaranteed defeat, with all the consequences for Putin personally.

'The use of nuclear weapons on the territory of Ukraine, in such a case, is possible.'

Yet this would result in 'a general catastrophe for Putin and for all the elites without exception', nullifying his regime and making the chances of him holding onto power 'simply ghostly'.

The channel warned the 'general mobilisation and martial law' are both plans 'that, if implemented, will undoubtedly result in hundreds of thousands of new victims and a disaster not only for Russia, but for the entire world'.

'The war exists in the mind of one terminally ill person with a disturbed psyche, who is trying to take as many people as possible with him to the mythical 'paradise'.

'This is worth understanding for all those who take part or are about to take part in hostilities on the side of Putin's regime and follow the order to use nuclear weapons.'

Meanwhile, Putin-watcher Valery Solovey said the appointment of Valery Gerasimov as overall commander of the war was a last-ditch bid by the president to 'turn the tide'.

Frequently his video-conferences are suspected to be prerecorded, allowing him absences, such as with Novosibirsk regional governor Andrey Travnikov on January 16

Putin-watcher Valery Solovey said the appointment of Valery Gerasimov as overall commander of the war was a last-ditch bid by the president to 'turn the tide' (pictured on December 21 in Moscow)

Rescue team work among the rubble of a damaged residential building hit by shelling in Dnipro, southeastern Ukraine, 14 January 2023

The appointment comes amid Putin's deteriorating health.

'[Putin] is afraid of any infection, even one that is easily treated,' he said.

'He has a very weakened immune system. He is weakened by the aggressive [cancer] treatment, the drugs that he is forced to take.

'The dynamics are negative, and his entourage knows this. This is no longer particularly hidden.'

Solovey is a former professor at Moscow's prestigious Institute of International Relations [MGIMO], a training school for spies and diplomats, who has long claimed inside knowledge about Putin's health.

Putin was last seen in person on Friday, at a funeral in Ufa.

Frequently his video-conferences are suspected to be prerecorded, allowing him absences, such as with Novosibirsk regional governor Andrey Travnikov.

Today the dictator appeared with leading government financial specialists, boasting that some defence plants are working nonstop due to the war.

General SVR claimed that the Ufa trip on Friday involved a 'body double' and not the real Putin.

Yet the channel was alone in claiming this was a specially trained lookalike.

'Soon, the understudy will appear more and more often as president,' said the channel. 'The President's health tends to worsen.'

In Ufa, the 'president' was seen paying his respects at the open coffin of iron-fisted Murtaza Rakhimov, ex-leader of oil-rich Russian republic Bashkortostan, who died aged 88.

He also met the region's current head, Radiy Habirov.
A woman who was awarded 19,000 by an employment tribunal after her sexist boss branded her a 'fatty' and a 'prostitute' may never receive a penny after his firm was put into liquidation and he 'returned to his native Pakistan'.

Aishah Zaman, 35, was handed the five-figure payout in October after she was barraged with derogatory comments and sexual advances from boss Shahzad Younas, 45, at textiles firm Knightsbridge Furnishing in East Kilbride, Scotland.

Younas, who is married, called the Glasgow woman 'motee' - Punjabi for 'fatty' - and said he wanted 'slim smart girls' in his office. He also told Aishah to stop DJ'ing at night as it was the 'work of prostitutes' and offered to buy her a Mercedes-Benz car, telling her: 'I fancy you.'

An employment judge ruled in October that Younas and his firm were jointly responsible for the sexual harassment and the 18,984 pay-out. But Knightsbridge was liquidated at the start of January and Younas is believed to be living in his native Pakistan leaving sheriff officers with limited power to enforce a payout.

Aishah Zaman, 35, took Shahzad Younas, 45, to a tribunal after almost two years of derogatory comments and sexual advances at textiles firm Knightsbridge Furnishing Ltd in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire

Mr Younas (left), seen with former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan (right)  also told Ms Zaman she should stop DJing at night as it was the 'work of prostitutes'

The tribunal heard Mr Younas sent messages to Ms Zaman that read: 'Don't break my heart' and: 'I fancy you', offering to buy her a Mercedes

Teacher with Pakistani ethnicity who sued school over claims bosses failed to stop pupils racially abusing her by using term 'wagwan' and putting on exaggerated Indian accents loses race discrimination tribunal Rizwana Mallet-Ali tried to sue her former school, Bertha Park High School in Perth, Scotland, over claims she was racially abused by pupils Advertisement

The disgraced businessman, who also lists himself as the boss of Knightsbridge Furnishing in Hungary and Juglo in Poland on his LinkedIn, is understood not to have responded to legal enquiries made on Aishah's behalf.

Aishah's legal battle has cost her over 10,000 and she doesn't expect to see a penny of the compensation she is owed.

She told the Record: 'It feels like a game he's playing, just dragging it out. I feel like I've been played.

'I'm working day and night and throwing everything I earn at this. I want to see it through but I can't afford it.

'He's running his businesses from Pakistan and Budapest. He can run that from anywhere.

'But I know he's sitting back laughing at me. Basically, I've lost and he's won.'

The Record revealed last year how Younas sent Aishah a series of sexist texts, including one bearing a sexually explicit image of female genitalia and telling her 'don't break my heart'.

On a trip to the UK to visit his company, he even suggested that she clean his flat and unpack his suitcase, including his underwear, as that was 'woman's work'.

Aishah left in April 2020 after Younas called her an 'idiot' and a 'pain in the a***' during an argument at South Lanarkshire premises.

He grabbed her by the arm with both hands and yelled: 'I am going to f*** you' - which she took to mean he was threatening to ruin her life. He told her to leave and not return and he later sold the firm.

Employment judge Russell Bradley said of the businessman's behaviour: 'Messages suggesting the desire for a relationship relate to her sex, were unwanted and were humiliating.'

Younas, who shares pics of himself alongside ex-Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on social media, later alleged Aishah had embezzled 17,718 from the company, offering to withdraw the claim if she dropped the case.

Mr Bradley labelled it 'false' with 'no factual basis', adding: 'In our view the clear inference is that the false allegations were made because of the protected act [reporting sexist behaviour].'

Aishah added: 'People just have this mentality that I must have done something wrong for him to act the way he did but the judgement was clear.

Aishah Zaman, 35, who was branded a 'fatty' and a 'prostitute' by her sexist ex-boss who said he wanted 'slim, smart girls' in his office has been awarded 19,000 in damages

Ms Zaman, from Glasgow, said Mr Younas was a 'bully' and 'saw his employees as slaves'

Mr Younas later alleged that Ms Zaman had embezzled 17,718 from the company, offering to withdraw the claim if she dropped the case

'The system doesn't feel strong enough for this. The tribunal can issue a judgement but they can't enforce it.

'He can sit in any other country and run his companies and he'll carry on the way he is.'

Sameer Khan, the last director of Knightsbridge Furnishing, told the Record in October that the company had ceased trading in May 2022.

He added: 'We are sorry as we are out of business so we are not able to pay any claims.'

Younas, who previously denied being aware of the legal proceedings despite filing papers contesting Aishah's case, did not respond to a request for comment. Liquidators for Knightsbridge Furnishing declined to comment, citing the early stages of the administration process.
A shopkeeper who stole more than 6,000 of savings from an elderly customer with Alzheimer's by taking 'terrible advantage' of her during the pandemic has been jailed.

Ponnampalam Jeyapalan was supposed to be helping the isolated victim, who is in her 90s, but instead obtained her bank details and made a number of cash withdrawals for himself.

Durham Crown Court heard that the offending carried on for around ten months during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic when the elderly victim was 'isolated' and 'suffering from real issues with her memory'.

Jeyapalan was eventually caught in April 2021 and checks revealed he had taken a total of 6,513 while running the Woodham Village Store in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

Ponnampalam Jeyapalan, who ran a local corner shop, stole more than 6,000 from an elderly woman

Jeyapalan ran the Woodham Village Store in Newton Aycliffe, Country Durham where the elderly victim went up to three times a day

He initially gave the explanation that the complainant had permitted him to use her bank account.

He denied a charge of fraud at his first crown court appearance, in early November, when a trial was fixed to take place this week.

But the 48 year-old defendant, of Geneva Drive, Darlington, changed his plea to guilty at a hearing in early December.

Prosecutor, Martin Towers, said the victim was not said to be a wealthy woman and the amount taken represented a proportion of her savings.

He told the court: 'There was an abuse of trust in this case that took place for most of a year.

'It would seem there must have been an inference he deliberately targeted her due to her obvious vulnerability.'

The victim's niece told the court through an impact statement that her aunt was 'absolutely horrified' when she was informed of the fraud.

The niece described it as 'a gross betrayal of trust' and said her elderly relative no longer felt safe in the community.

Since the crime was uncovered, she said her aunt has had a subsequent further decline with the effects of Alzheimer's taking hold.

Judge Jo Kidd said the victim of this fraud had lived an independent life, was careful with her money, and as a result of her hard work, had savings.

The judge told Jeyapalan, who has no previous convictions: 'You took advantage of her vulnerability at a period of time in her life between August 2020 and April 2021.

'That coincided with the pandemic. It's difficult to imagine how hard that was for her, being isolated during that period.

'It will have, no doubt, resulted in her having less contact with friends and family.

'She was obviously suffering from real issues with her memory. That will have been obvious to you. She visited your store up to three times a day.

'You took terrible advantage of her vulnerabilities over a significant period of time.

'Shops of your sort are at the heart of the community, a lifeline for people like her, particularly at a time like the pandemic.

'You were able to put yourself out there as a respectable business person.

'You stole her financial information in order to use her bank account to pay your debts.

'You were able to do that due to her ill health, and, despite the obvious and continuing deterioration in her condition, you continued to steal from her.'

Brian Russell, mitigating, said that although 6,000-plus was taken, his client did not completely clear out her savings.

Mr Russell said: 'The reason for the offending, which I don't suggest is any form of excuse, is because this man came to this country attempting to earn an honest living, by working hard, setting up a business.

'But that had not worked, as he found himself under the burden of snowballing debt, and that's the reason he made the very foolish decision to defraud this lady.'

He added: 'It's not an attempt to try to buy his freedom, but I'm clearly instructed that the money to compensate the victim is available.

'I appreciate there may be some scepticism about that, but despite his debt, he's managed to set this money aside, available to be paid within the next 28 days.'

However, Judge Kidd described that as a 'cynical offer', and that she couldn't understand why he only offered the refund on the day of sentencing.

Imposing a sentence of one year and eight months, the judge said: 'You were at the heart of the community in the provision of services and you persistently preyed on the most vulnerable member of that community.'

She also ordered that the full 6,513 should be repaid within the next 28 days.
A woman has gone on trial accused of conspiring to murder her ex-husband after she allegedly gave three men information of his whereabouts before he was 'tortured to death' in his own home.

Coleen Campbell, 38, denies plotting the killing of her former spouse Thomas Campbell, who was found dead at a property on Riverside in Mossley, Greater Manchester, on July 3 last year.

Bolton Crown Court heard Mr Campbell, 38, died after suffering 'terrible pain' during a two-hour ordeal.

Three men lay in wait at Mr Campbell's home and tortured him, inflicting fatal injuries, a jury heard. Stephen Cleworth, 38, and Reece Steven, 29, also deny murder.

While prosecutors do not allege Ms Campbell was present at the scene of the killing, she is accused of providing the alleged murderers with information about her ex-husband's whereabouts.

Coleen Campbell denies conspiring to murder her former spouse Thomas Campbell

It was previously reported that Mr Campbell led a jetset lifestyle with 100,000 dirty cash from a cocaine racket.

Prosecutors said that the Campbells had been together for eight years but divorced in 2019, and Mr Campbell was in a new relationship with a former girlfriend of the attack's alleged 'mastermind', John Belfield.

The jury heard that three men, alleged to be Mr Belfield, Mr Steven and a third unknown man, 'pounced on' Mr Campbell when he arrived home at about 11pm on July 2 last year.

Nicholas de la Pour KC, prosecuting, said: 'Three men bundled him into his house. He was then subjected to two hours of torture.'

Prosecutors allege Mr Belfield, Ms Campbell and two other men were part of a plot to rob Mr Campbell at his home.

Mr Belfield, 28, who is not before the court and is believed to have fled the UK, had read a Manchester Evening News article about Mr Campbell and his ex-wife's 'wealthy lifestyle'.

The jury heard that Mr Belfield and others allegedly carried out 'hostile reconnaissance' and visited Mr Campbell's home three times before his death.

There was also an alleged 'aborted' attack on June 30, after Mr Campbell had returned and left to walk his dog rather than entering his house.

Campbell is on trial after her ex-husband was 'tortured to death' at his home

The alleged plot was a week in the making, prosecutors claimed, after Mr Belfield had contacted Ms Campbell on Instagram. The pair had previously been 'apparent strangers', the court heard.

During the 'brutal' attack Mr Campbell suffered 61 injuries, including multiple cuts to his face, the court heard. He had also been strangled 'at least once'.

Mr de la Pour said: 'He had been scalded by a very hot liquid. The liquid had been poured on his leg and inner thigh area. His scrotum may have been scalded. His buttocks were also scalded.'

Mr Campbell was restrained using duct tape during the ordeal, the jury heard.

Mr de la Pour added: 'The three men were well prepared, having brought with them the means to restrain and the means to inflict terrible pain.

'Many injuries and indignities were inflicted upon Thomas Campbell during this time.'

While prosecutors do not allege Ms Campbell was present at the scene of the killing, she is accused of providing the alleged murderers with information about her ex-husband's whereabouts

His house was 'ransacked' while the torture continued, jurors heard. Mr Campbell was left naked in his hallway as the attackers fled.

Mr de la Pour said: 'He was, to all intents and purposes, tortured to death..'

Mr Campbell was discovered by neighbours the following morning.

A tracker was allegedly placed on Mr Campbell's car by Mr Cleworth days before his death, when he had driven to his daughter's school to pick her up.

Mr de la Pour said: 'The prosecution's case is that Coleen Campbell gave information about her ex-husband to John Belfield, knowing and intending that the information would be used to help in the attack on Mr Campbell..'

Prosecutors allege Mr Belfield's motivation for the attack was to rob 'items of value', which Mr Belfield believed Mr Campbell had in his home.

Mr de la Pour added: 'Exactly what John Belfield and his team were hoping to find and whether he found it is not known.'

Prosecutors allege that Mr Belfield was also motivated by 'hostility' to Mr Campbell because he was in a relationship with his ex-girlfriend.

They claim Mr Belfield regarded the woman 'as his property', and in one 'ominous' message he told her: 'You will never have a boyfriend, you will have to move country, give it a week and you will see why and happens when you take the p***.'

A fourth man in the dock is Karl Murphy, 50, who is accused of driving the alleged murderers to the scene. Prosecutors do not claim that Ms Campbell or Mr Cleworth were at the scene of the attack.

Mr Cleworth was said to have been the planned driver before Mr Murphy was brought in at the 'last minute' because Mr Cleworth was allegedly on a 'bender' at a swingers' club and was uncontactable.

They claim that both were involved in assisting or encouraging the alleged plot to cause 'really serious bodily harm or death to Thomas Campbell'.

When she was arrested, Ms Campbell said she had 'no reason' to want her ex-husband dead.

Ms Campbell, of Clayton, east Manchester; Mr Cleworth, of Heywood; and Mr Steven, of Middleton, have pleaded not guilty to murder and conspiracy to rob.

Mr Murphy, of Denton, denies participating in the activities of an organised crime group.
A Green MSP has claimed Scotland 'should be exploring' opportunities for children as young as eight to decide whether to legally change their gender.

Maggie Chapman, who represents North East Scotland in the Scottish Parliament, staunchly defended controversial gender identity reforms passed by Holyrood.

This seeks to lower the minimum age that Scots can legally change their gender from 18 to 16.

Ms Chapman said a Holyrood committee had heard from 'a wide range' of people who 'knew well before they were 16 that they were trans'.

And she suggested the Scottish Parliament could go further by considering 'options' for people of a younger age to make a legal change.

The Zimbabwe-born politician also claimed it was a 'gross over-simplification' for school textbooks to 'talk about sex being binary'.

She suggested people do not know what biological sex they are without having their 'chromosomal make-up' tested.

Maggie Chapman, who represents North East Scotland in the Scottish Parliament, staunchly defended controversial gender identity reforms passed by Holyrood

During an interview on LBC Radio, the Green MSP was asked whether she would support an eight-year-old being able to legally change their gender

Ms Chapman voted in favour of the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill and also sat on a committee that considered the legislation before it was passed by MSPs last year.

The fate of the legislation is now unclear, with Rishi Sunak moving to block the bill becoming law amid concerns of UK-wide legislative chaos.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, whose SNP have a power-sharing deal with the Greens at Holyrood, has condemned the Prime Minister for a 'full-frontal attack' on the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking before the PM's dramatic action, Ms Chapman defended Holyrood's gender identity reforms during an interview on LBC Radio.

Asked about her past comments on the minimum legal age for changing gender, the Green MSP was asked whether she would support an eight-year-old being able to make a legal change.

'In the committee that scrutinised this legislation, we heard from a wide range of trans people who knew well before they were 16 that they were trans and I think we should be looking at processes where they can be recognised,' she replied.

'That does not mean to say Im saying we set an age at which its fine. I think there will need to be much wider discussions around protection.'

Pressed on her view as to whether an eight-year-old should have the opportunituy to change their gender, Ms Chapman added: 'I think in principle we should be exploring that. Let us remember that, in Scotland, the age of legal capacity is currently 16.

'At 16 people can vote in Scottish Parliament and local elections, people can get married - those are big decisions too. I think 16 is absolutely where we should be at the moment.'

But she also added: 'I think when we're talking about gender recognition reform, it was very, very clear if you go back and read the transcripts from trans people themselves they knew below the age of 16 that they were trans.

'And I think we should explore options - that doesn't mean to say it's a blanket opportunity - we should explore options for that.'

Ms Chapman was also quizzed about her past claim that 'sex is not binary and immutable'.

'I think it's very, very clear when we talk about sex being binary in GCSE or O-level biology textbooks, that is a gross over-simplification of what is going on,' she said.

Asked for an example of a human being having changed their biological sex, Ms Chapman added: 'When we look at how our bodies express hormonal relationships differently, hormonal levels differently, that binary definition we are told is right is far, far, far too simplistic.

'Very few of us know what our chromosomal make-up is.'

Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the Prime Minister for a 'full-frontal attack' on the Scottish Parliament after Rishi Sunak vowed to block the gender identity legislation

Pressed on whether there were no examples of human beings having changed their biological sex, the Green MSP continued: 'I'm not actually sure we can say that because we don't have the chromosomal make-up of every single human being.

'We don't know that. Do you know what your chromosomes are? I've never had mine tested, I don't know what mine are.

'I think only when they are displayed in different ways can we actually make those kinds of judgements.'

In response to Ms Chapman's comments, Conservative MP Paul Bristow hit out at the Scottish Parliament's gender identity legislation that has sparked a constitutional dispute with Westminster.

'The bill would allow anyone over 16 simply to assert their gender and require everyone else to recognise it,' he posted on Twitter.

'Clearly this is ridiculous. But those pushing this dont want to stop there.

'If we dont resist this very damaging orthodoxy now, future generations will look back and think we had lost our minds.'
A failed Republican candidate for New Mexico's state legislature was arrested for allegedly hiring four men to carry out shootings against Democrat officials.

Solomon Pena, 39, who ran for a state House seat last November and claimed the elections were 'rigged', was arrested on Monday after a standoff with a SWAT team in Albuquerque.

He was accused of hiring four gunmen to open fire at the homes of Adriann Barboa and Debbie O'Malley, two Bernalillo County commissioners, and State Sen. Linda Lopez and state Rep. Javier Martinez.

The shootings occurred between December 4, 2022, and January 3, 2023, officials said.

Martinez, the Speaker of the New Mexico House, said he was relieved that a suspect had been arrested in connection with the series of shootings.

'I am grateful a suspect is in custody and I trust our justice system will hold them accountable,' he said.

Solomon Pena, who ran for a New Mexico House seat last November, was arrested on Monday after a standoff with a SWAT team in Albuquerque. He is accused of orchestrating shootings against four Democratic officials in the state

The shootings targeted State Sen. Linda Lopez (left) and State Rep. Javier Martinez (right), the Speaker of the New Mexico House

Also targeted in the shootings were Bernalillo County Commissioners Adriann Barboa (left) and Debbie O'Malley (right)

Lopez is pictured standing by the bullet holes left in her garage door following the shooting on January 3, where three bullets also passed by her 10-year-old daughter's room

The shootings began December 4, when eight rounds were fired at the home of Barboa. Days later, Martinez's home was targeted.

On December 11 shooting, more than a dozen rounds were fired at O'Malley's house, police said.

The final related shooting, targeting Lopez's home, unfolded in the midnight hour of January 3. Police said more than a dozen shots were fired and Lopez said three of the bullets passed through her 10-year-old daughter's bedroom.

Following Pena's arrest on Monday, Albuquerque Police Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock said at least four men were believed to have taken part in the shootings, with the politician serving as the 'mastermind.'

The police officials noted that investigators believe Pena was the shooter in at least one of the attacks on the Democrat officials.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said the shootings appeared to be a politically motivated conspiracy.

Pena ran unsuccessfully in November against incumbent state Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, the longtime Democrat representing House District 14 in the South Valley. Garcia won by 48 percentage points or roughly 3,600 votes.

After the election, police said, Pena showed up uninvited at the elected officials' homes with what he claimed were documents proving he had won his race. There was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in New Mexico in 2020 or 2022.

The shootings began shortly after those conversations.

'This type of radicalism is a threat to our nation and has made its way to our doorstep right here in Albuquerque, New Mexico,' Mayor Tim Keller said. 'But I know we are going to push back, and we will not allow this to cross the threshold.'

Pena (above) ran for state representative last year, and had lost against incumbent state Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, who won by 48 percent

Pena insisted that his loss in the midterms was 'rigged' as officials alleged it fueled his decision to hire four men against state Democrats

Pictured: Pena's tweet following his defeat, where he says he never conceded his race and was 'researching' his next moves

Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told reporters echoed the mayor's condemnation as he described Pena as 'an election denier.'

Gallegos added that Pena had previously met with three county commissioners and a state senator before the shootings, getting into a heated argument about the election results.

Gallegos did not specify if any of the officials targeted in the shootings were at that meeting.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, Pena's opponent, Garcia, had filed a lawsuit to keep the Republican from running for office due to a burglary conviction that had him serve nearly seven years in prison.

Four men conspired with Pena, who is accused of paying them cash to carry out at least two of the drive-by shootings in stolen vehicles, while Pena 'pulled the trigger' during one of the crimes, Hartsock said.

He noted that an AR handgun believed to be Pena's malfunctioned at the scene of one of the shootings.

Detectives identified Pena as their key suspect using a combination of cellphone and vehicle records, witness interviews, and bullet casings collected at the lawmakers homes, police said.

According to texts Pena allegedly sent the four gunmen, police say he provided them with the addresses he wanted to be attacked. It is still unclear if the four hired men even knew that they were firing at the home of politicians.

A lawyer for Pena who could comment on the allegations wasn't listed Monday night in jail records.

Albuquerque Police Deputy Commander Kyle Hartsock said investigators believed Pena was the gunman in at least one of the shootings

Police are also investigation two shootings near other Democrat's homes that could be related to Pena's case

In Albuquerque, law enforcement has struggled to address back-to-back years of record homicides and persistent gun violence.

Investigators received a break in the case after technology that can detect the sound of gunfire led an officer to Lopez's neighborhood shortly after the shots were fired.

The officer found bullet casings matching a handgun found later that morning in a Nissan Maxima registered to Pena.

Around 1:30am, about an hour after the shooting at Lopez's home, police stopped the Nissan about 4 miles from the lawmaker's neighborhood.

The driver, identified Monday night as Jose Trujillo, was arrested on an outstanding warrant, leading to the discovery of more than 800 fentanyl pills and two firearms in the car, police said.

A criminal complaint outlining the exact charges against the former political candidate was expected to be released in the coming days.

Although he was endorsed by New Mexico's Republican Party, GOP officials have since condemned Pena following his arrest and said if he's found guilty, 'he must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law'

Additional arrests and charges also were expected, but police declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.

Detectives also were investigating two additional shootings they initially believed could be related to the Pena case: one in the vicinity of New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrezs former campaign office and another at state Sen. Antonio Maestas office. Police on Monday said those shootings do not appear to be connected.

The New Mexico Republican Party condemned Pena in a statement Monday night. 'If Pena is found guilty, he must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.'

State House Republican Leader Ryan Lane added in a statement: 'New Mexico House Republicans condemn violence in any form and are grateful no one was injured.

'This is yet another example of a convicted felon unlawfully gaining access to firearms, which they are barred from owning or possessing, and using the weapon in a manner that causes public harm.'

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, also condemned the allegations against Pena.

'I commend the Albuquerque Police Department, State Police, and the District Attorney's Office for a successful partnership to apprehend the suspected perpetrator.' Grisham said.

'There is no place in our society or our democracy for violence against any elected official or their families, and I trust the justice system will hold those responsible for such attacks to full and fair account.'
A group of criminals who made so much money from a 21 million Bitcoin scam they handed out 5,000 gift cards on the street have been jailed.

Stephen William Boys, 59, and Kelly Caton, 45, have been found guilty of fraud, converting and transferring criminal property. Jordan Kane Robinson, 25, and James Austin-Beddoes, 28, were also found guilty.

Preston Crown Court heard how the group worked with ringleader James Parker, who died in 2021 before he could be prosecuted for masterminding the conspiracy.

Parker ran the operation from his home in Blackpool, Lancashire from October 2017 to January 2018, helping the group to make 'more money than they could spend.'

Police recovered 22 million worth of crypto currency along with luxury watches, houses, cars and designer goods

Kelly Caton, of Blackpool, Lancashire was convicted of fraud, converting and acquiring criminal property and jailed for four-and-a-half years

He exploited a loophole to withdraw dishonestly-obtained crypto assets worth around 15 million from his trading account on an Australian-based cryptocurrency exchange.

Caton dishonestly withdrew 2.7 million and Robinson withdrew 1.7 million from their accounts.

The scam made so much money that 5,000 gift cards were handed out to people in the street and cars were bought for people Parker met in the pub, Preston Crown Court heard.

During the trial Boys told the court how he took 1 million cash in a suitcase to buy a villa from Russians he met in the back office of an estate agent and paid 60,000 to pay off corrupt officials so he could carry on laundering money.

During the investigation police recovered 445 Bitcoin, then worth 22 million, along with luxury watches, houses, cars and designer goods, including a 600 wine cooler, plus more than 1 million in bank accounts.

Parker's financial adviser Stephen Boys worked with a UK national who lived in the United Arab Emirates to convert the cryptocurrency into cash.

The money was then laundered through various foreign-based online accounts.

Stephen Boys, of Accrington, Lancashire was found guilty of converting and transferring criminal property and jailed for six years.

Stephen Boys told the court how he took 1 million cash in a suitcase to buy a villa from Russians he met in the back office of an estate agent

Police said the scale of the scam led the group to 'literally having more money than they could spend'

Jordan Robinson, of Fleetwood, Lancashire was found guilty of fraud, converting and acquiring criminal property and was jailed for four-and-a-half years

Kelly Caton, of Blackpool, Lancashire was convicted of fraud, converting and acquiring criminal property and jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Jordan Robinson, of Fleetwood, Lancashire was found guilty of fraud, converting and acquiring criminal property and was also jailed for four-and-a-half years.

James Austin-Beddoes, of St Annes, Lancashire was found guilty of fraud and acquiring criminal property.

He pleaded guilty to converting criminal property and was jailed for 18 months, suspended for a year.

Jonathan Kelleher of the CPS said: 'These offenders used the internet from the comfort of their own homes to obtain tens of millions of pounds worth of Bitcoin which did not belong to them.

'Cyber-enabled crime presents an increasing threat to international economic stability, as well as to honest individual investors in cryptocurrency.

'The CPS advised our police partners throughout this international investigation.

'Painstaking analysis of vast amounts of digital material and collaborative liaison with the Australian and Finnish authorities enabled us to mount a successful prosecution against these criminals.'

DS David Wainwright of Lancashire Police said: 'This was a large and complex case in which these offenders have now been brought to justice.

'I would like to thank everyone who worked as a team, together with our partner agencies, to achieve this successful outcome.'

Det Sgt David Wainwright, of Lancashire Police's Fraud Unit, said: 'The scale of the fraud in this case is absolutely staggering and led to the suspects literally having more money than they could spend.

'I would like to pay tribute to all the agencies who worked closely together to bring these people to justice.'
Italy's most-wanted mafia boss, Matteo Messina Denaro, has been arrested after three decades on the run during an encounter with law enforcement personnel in Sicily.

The notorious mafia leader, who is known to be the head of the Cosa Nostra Mafia, was previously tried and sentenced to life in jail in absentia in 2022 over several murders. During the latest encounter, more than 100 members of the armed forces were involved.

Italy's Most Notorious Mafia Boss

Italian media reported that the mafia leader was taken into custody by police officers shortly before 9:00 a.m. GMT. He was later taken to an undisclosed location by the Carabinieri and was reported to have been visiting the clinic under a fake name for a course of chemotherapy.

In video footage that was shared by Italian media, there seemed to be people standing in the street and applauding the law enforcement personnel as they led Messina Denaro away.

He has been convicted of many crimes, including the 1992 killing of anti-Mafia prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino and the deadly 1993 bomb attacks that targeted Spain, Florence, and Rome, as per BBC.

The mafia leader also once boasted that he was able to "fill a cemetery" with the bodies of his victims. Messina Denaro is also believed to have overseen racketeering, illegal waste dumping, money laundering, and drug trafficking for the powerful Cosa Nostra organized crime syndicate.

He was previously thought of as the protege of Toto Riina, who was the head of the Corleone clan and arrested in 1993 after living for 23 years on the run from law enforcement. Several clans have nicknamed Messina Denaro "Diabolik," which is the name of an uncatchable thief in a comic book series.

The mafia boss is thought to be Cosa Nostra's "secret keeper" as many informers and prosecutors believe that he holds all the information and the names of those who were involved in several of the most high-profile crimes conducted by the mafia.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War Death Toll Update

Who is Matteo Messina Denaro?

The 60-year-old mafia boss is the last of Italy's three long-time fugitive mafia leaders to be arrested. Reports noted that Messina Denaro initially tried to escape law enforcement personnel during their encounter but surrendered without resistance later on after he realized that the facility was completely surrounded, according to Business Insider.

Prosecutors also accused the mafia boss of helping to plan the kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy, identified as Giuseppe Di Matteo, in 1993. They added that the young child was taken captive for two years before he was strangled and dissolved in acid after his father cooperated with the police.

The 60-year-old has also been linked to dozens of other mafia-related murders, becoming a fugitive in 1993 and making Forbes' list as one of the ten most-wanted criminals in the world in 2010.

In a statement, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Messina Denaro's arrest was a "great victory for the state that shows it never gives up in the face of the Mafia." The head of the Carabinieri's special operations squad, Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, said that the mafia boss was arrested at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily's capital, said NBC News.

Related Article: Italy's Most Notorious Mafia Boss: Who Was He?

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Athena Brownfield was allegedly beaten to death on Christmas by one of her caregivers and buried near a home where they used to live, newly-released court documents revealed on Tuesday.

The week-long search for the four-year-old Oklahoma girl became a 'recovery operation' to find her remains after both her caregivers were arrested last week.

Ivon Adams, 36, and his estranged wife Alysia Adams, 31, had been caring for Athena and her sister Adina, 5, for two years at their home at 225 West Nebraska Avenue in Cyril, Oklahoma.

Now, documents have revealed the alleged fate of the little girl.

Alysia, who is related to the girls, reportedly told Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation that on Christmas around midnight, Ivon beat Athena to death at their Cyril home.

Ivon Adams, 36, (left) allegedly beat Athena to death and buried her body, according to his estranged wife Alysia Adams, 31, (right) who told investigators it happened on Christmas

The Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations continues to search for the remains of Athena Brownfield, 4, who was reported missing on January 10, but was allegedly killed on Christmas

She said that Ivon then held the four-year-old up by her arms. The child was not moving and her eyes were barely open, according to the document.

After this, he is said to have laid her on the ground and punched her at least three more times in the chest.

He is then alleged to have driven to Rush Springs at around 1am on December 26, where he buried her body near a fence line on their old property. Her remains have not yet been found.

When Ivon returned home, he allegedly told Alysia that he'd placed a large broken branch over the grave.

Phone records reportedly showed Ivon leaving the home and traveling to Rush Springs around 4.15am.

The alarm was raised on January 10 after a postal carrier found Athena's older sister Adina wandering alone outside near the home in Cyril.

When investigators interviewed Alysia on January 12, she confessed she knew what happened to Athena.

Ivon was arrested on Thursday in Arizona and will be extradited back to Oklahoma where he faces a murder charge. Alysia was arrested the same day and faces two counts of child neglect.

The court documents also revealed that Ivon and Alysia never took the girls to the doctor for checkups and never enroll them in school.

When Athena's sister Adina was interviewed by authorities last week, she told them she had been home by herself and was 'tired of being alone.'

Oklahoma Highway Patrol were seen searching for Athena in a body of water near her home

The child vanished from this house in Cyril, Oklahoma, a small city 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, on January 10

In a statement this week, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said: 'Special Agents... along with our partners at the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP), have been searching areas of Caddo County for the toddler's remains.'

The agency asked the the public not to help in the search, saying that they could end up trespassing or contaminating potential evidence.

The sisters' biological parents - who have not been named - have been interviewed by authorities and are cooperating with the investigation, the OSBI said. Athena's sister has been taken into protective custody.

Volunteers and multiple law enforcement agencies have been involved in the search, which included a helicopter, boats, all-terrain vehicles, a specially trained ground team, and a review of surveillance video from around Cyril.

Athena is shown with her older sister Adina, who was found last Tuesday wandering around outside the home the girls had been living at in Cyril, Oklahoma

While authorities have said Ivon and Alysia are married, the pair appear to have split. They have four biological children of their own

Athena's grandmother Penny Brownfield said the family is trying to remain hopeful

The city of Cyril has also suspended trash service as investigators search for clues.

The bureau said agents were following up on tips coming from Oklahoma and other states.

While authorities have revealed that the pair are married, it appears they have since split, with Alysia seen spending a romantic weekend away with her boyfriend just days after Athena went missing.

The postal worker who found Athena's sister said she checked the home and no one appeared to be there.

Adina is said to have told the worker that she was hungry, and that she couldn't find Athena - who is described as being 'very shy'.

Over the weekend of January 7 and 8, Alysia, who had guardianship of the sisters, was seen enjoying a trip to the movies and a meal over an hour away in Oklahoma City with her new boyfriend, Blayden Davis.

Over the weekend of Jan 7 and 8, Alysia - who had guardianship of the sisters with her estranged husband Ivon - enjoyed a trip to the movies and a meal over an hour away in Oklahoma City with her new boyfriend, Blayden Davis

Alysia calls herself a 'beauty influencer'. She regularly uploads videos to TikTok but the kids are never shown

Alysia regularly shares videos of herself rapping on TikTok, singing along to the N-word and making joke clips about her life as a busy mother.

She has four children of her own who regularly feature on her Instagram account, but Athena and Adina were never shown. It remains unclear how the girls ended up in her care.

The children's paternal grandmother, Penny Brownfield, is in Cyril, and joined the search for her missing grandchild.
A cousin of Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife Coretta Scott King said the late civil rights leader was assassinated by the US government.

During an appearance with Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Monday night - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Seneca Scott presented the claim as he discussed the controversial new monument to MLK that was recently unveiled in Boston.

Scott said: 'I would like to acknowledge it is Martin Luther King Day and nothing should detract from his radical vision, Tucker. And he was assassinated by the US government.'

'He was assassinated right when he was escalating from talking about racial bigotry to class and the war in Vietnam,' he said.

Civil rights leader Andrew Young (L) and others standing on balcony of Lorraine motel pointing in direction of assailant after assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who is lying at their feet

Carlson agreed that MLK had been killed just as his focus had shifted to 'populist economics,' adding that he did not know who killed him, but saying it was 'very obvious' that James Earl Ray did not act alone.

He pondered aloud why there is no significant interest in the facts surrounding King's assassination, which include two foreign passports being in Ray's possession following the killing.

Primarily, Scott had been on the show to discuss the new, controversial bronze statue in Boston called 'The Embrace,' was described by Carlson as 'ugly at best, pornographic as worst.'

Its creation cost a whopping $10.5million, some of which was public funding.

Seneca Scott agreed with Carlson's description, calling the statue a 'monstrosity and insult to the family.'

Tucker Carlson (left) and Seneca Scott (right) discuss the controversial newly unveiled MLK statue that was recently unveiled in Boston (right)

'The Embrace' in Boston. The statue was recently unveiled as a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. and is meant to celebrate an image of MLK and his wife Coretta Scott King

Seneca Scott, a relative of MLK, claimed Monday that the civil rights icon was assassinated by the US government

Carlson had previously claimed that a source told him the CIA had been involved in the killing of President John F. Kennedy

President John F. Kennedy and the first lady smile at the crowds lining their motorcade route in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Minutes later the president was assassinated

Recently, Carlson concluded that the CIA was 'involved' in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Carlson made the claim to his viewers following the release of thousands of previously unseen files related to the JFK assassination, though he noted that thousands are still being withheld.

The popular commentator said he had spoken to 'someone who has access to these still hidden CIA documents,' and had asked that individual 'Did the CIA have a hand in the murder of John F. Kennedy, an American President?'

Carlson said his source responded, 'The answer is yes. I believe they were involved. It's a whole different country from what we thought it was. It's all fake.'

Several weeks ago, the National Archives on Thursday released 13,173 unredacted documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, offering historians and conspiracy hunters a fresh trove of details.

However, hundreds more documents remain under wraps.

'What little information remains redacted in CIA records in the Collection consists of intelligence sources and methods - some from as late as the 1990s, provided initially to give the JFK Review Board overall context on the CIA - the release of which would currently do identifiable harm to intelligence operations,' said a CIA spokesman.
Hundreds of lives were saved at JFK airport, as two planes narrowly avoided colliding with each other on the runway, thanks to a new sophisticated radar system which is only available at a few airports across the country.

The near collision between an American Airlines Boeing 777 and a Delta Boeing 737 came just a week after American's union complained of new pre-flight protocols which had caused delays as pilots sorted through the procedures.

The departing Delta plane came to a safe stop on the John F. Kennedy International Airport runway as the American Airlines jet crossed in front of it at around 8.45pm Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

The collision was avoided thanks to a sophisticated radar system used on the ground - the Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X. The system collects data from censors to warn the tower of potential collisions.

Last week, the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots, raised concerns about new cockpit protocols enforced by the airline without adequate training. These procedures may become part of the FAA and TSA investigation into the incident.

The new checks have been in force since Tuesday, January 11. The procedures deal with cockpit communications during critical events such as low visibility landings, according to the union.

'The operational changes that management is attempting to implement without fulsome training alters how pilots communicate, coordinate, and execute flight safety duties at some of the most high-threat times of flight,' Allied Pilots Association (APA) said in a post last Monday.

The changes were imposed over a bulletin, according to the union. 'This attempt to train by bulletin, while ignoring serious safety concerns and well-established best practices, runs the risk of dramatically eroding margins of safety,' it added.

American said, in an emailed statement to Reuters: 'These changes represent industry best practice and ensure improved crew coordination and consistency across fleet types so that our pilots can easily transition across different aircraft if they choose.

'These updates have been underway since 2021 and have been a coordinated effort with APA's Training Committee,' the airline added, saying that the approach to familiarizing pilots has been approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

The Delta flight was preparing for takeoff when it was forced to slam on the brakes, stopping just 1,000 feet from a possible fatal collision.

An American Airlines plane was seen crossing the path of a Delta flight as it was about to take off. Air traffic control exclaimed 's***!' as they noticed the potential collision

It seems the unnamed American Airlines pilot had crossed into the wrong lane, popping up right in front of the accelerating Delta plane.

But throughout it all, the Delta pilot seemed calm and collected, even telling Air Traffic Control he'd have to return to the gate and 'make some phone calls.'

FTA recordings detail the moments immediately before and after the potential crash.

They begin with the American Airlines pilot saying the flight was ready to taxi onto a runway, to which an air traffic controller says they should take runway 4 left and 'hold short of Kilo.'

The female pilot repeats the message moments before another air traffic controller informs her to proceed down the route and 'cross runway 31 left at Kilo.'

She responds that she is 'crossing 31 left at Kilo' but starts to approach the wrong lane, heading straight rather than turning left.

Just a moment later, air traffic control informs the Delta flight heading to the Dominican Republic that it is 'cleared for takeoff.'

The pilot affirms the message saying: 'Cleared for takeoff, runway 4 left, Delta 1943.'

But as it proceeded down the runway at 115mph, an air traffic controller noticed that the Delta flight was about to T-bone the American Airlines flight.

'S***, ah! F***' a controller could be heard saying.

The Delta flight eventually took off to Santa Domingo Airport in the Dominican Republic the next morning, while the American Airlines flight arrived on time at London Heathrow on Saturday morning (file images)

At that point another air traffic controller comes on the radio urging 'America 106 Heavy, America 106 Heavy, Heavy hold position... American 106 Heavy hold position.'

A third air traffic controller, meanwhile, tells the Delta pilot: 'Delta 1943 cancel takeoff clearance! Delta 1943 cancel takeoff clearance.'

The pilot replies that he is 'rejecting,' as an air traffic controller asks what his intentions are.

'Yeah, we're gonna have to go somewhere, run a couple of checklists and probably make some phone calls for Delta 1943,' the pilot says calmly.

An air traffic controller says the plane can 'taxi right on Bravo and hold short of Hotel Bravo'  which the pilot once again repeats.

But another air traffic controller then asks: 'Delta 1943 did you make the switch?'

'Yes sir, we did,' the pilot responds.

'OK, I'm guessing you're [going to] wanna move, right?'

Last week, the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots, raised concerns about a new cockpit protocols enforced by the airline

'Uh, well, uh we gotta make a couple phone calls here and my guess is that we're gonna go back to a gate,' the pilot says, apparently shrugging off the near crash.

The air traffic controller agrees with his assessment, saying: 'OK I, figured that as well.'

He then turned his attention back to the rogue American Airlines flight, saying there was 'possible pilot deviation' and 'I have a number for you, advise read to copy.'

The female pilot replies that she is ready to copy down the phone number, while an apparent co-pilot asks: 'The last clearance we were given, we were cleared to cross, is that correct?'

The air traffic controller responds: 'I guess we'll listen to the tapes, but you were... uh... supposed to depart 4L. You're currently holding short of runway 31L.'

Brian Healy, a passenger on the Delta flight, said at first he thought the abrupt stop was a mechanical issue.

'There was this abrupt jerk of the plane, and everyone was sort of thrust forward from the waist,' he recalled. 'There was an audible reaction when the brakes happened, like a gasp. And then there was a total silence for a couple of seconds.'

Healy went on to say that the Delta pilot made the right call in not sharing with the passengers exactly what had transpired.

'The pilot made the call to only share information on a need-to-know basis, and that was absolutely the right call, because it wouldve been pandemonium,' he said.

John Cox, a retired pilot and professor of aviation safety at the University of Southern California, said he thought the controller 'made a good call to reject the takeoff.'

He said the rejected takeoff safety maneuver, which is when pilots stop the aircraft and discontinue the takeoff, is one they are 'very, very familiar with.'

'Pilots practice rejected takeoff almost every time they get to the simulator,' he said.

The plane returned to the gate, where the 145 passengers deplaned and were provided overnight accommodation, a Delta spokesperson said. The flight to Santa Domingo Airport in the Dominican Republic took off Saturday morning.

'Delta will work with and assist aviation authorities on a full review of flight 1943 on January 13 regarding a successful aborted takeoff procedure at New York-JFK. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience and delay of their travels,' a Delta spokesperson said in a statement.
A 12-year-old girl was found dead inside her Argentina home after practicing the viral TikTok 'blackout challenge' that was being lived streamed to her school friends.

Milagros Soto was found dead in her bedroom by her father after he arrived from work on Friday, her aunt Laura Luque told TV station TeleNueve.

Luque said her niece received a link to the TikTok dare, which is also known as the 'choking challenge' or 'pass-out challenge,' via a WhatsApp message from one of her classmates at School No. 223 Lieutenant General Pablo Riccieri in Capitan Bermudez, Santa Fe.

Soto had attempted twice to remove a rope from her neck and failed on a third try and later tragically died as her friends watched.

The distraught aunt believes 'someone encouraged' Soto to go through with the sickening challenge and revealed that her niece had been ridiculed by classmates at her school.

Milagros Soto was found dead Friday at her home in Santa Fe, Argentina, after participating in the viral TikTok 'blackout challenge.' The 12-year-old had a rope around her neck and held her breath and failed to remove it on two attempts as the dare was live streamed to her school friends. The tried a third time to remove the rope and failed before dying

An autopsy showed that Milagros Soto's death was caused by 'mechanical asphyxia by hanging' and that 'there are no signs of abuse or third party intervention'

'We have a lot of doubts about everything that happened. She was a very smart girl. She suffered a lot of bullying,' Luque told TV station El Trece.'She told us that nobody liked her at school because they said she looked pretty, because she was blonde and had light blue eyes.'

'She was a happy person. unbelievable. An excellent niece, granddaughter, daughter,' Luque said. 'A very studious girl because we have nothing else to say because everyone here knew her as the girl who smiled with those big eyes.'

A copy of the autopsy obtained by newspaper Clarin indicated that Soto's death was caused by 'mechanical asphyxia by hanging' and that 'there are no signs of abuse or third party intervention.'

In a statement, officials at School No. 223 Lieutenant General Pablo Riccieri remembered Soto as 'a great student, classmate, sweet, good and kind.'

Laura Luque (pictured) said her brother-in-law found his 12-year-old daughter, Milagros Soto, dead inside her bedroom Friday after the had

Milagros Soto (pictured) was reportedly bullied by her classmates, according to her aunt, because of her blonde hair and light blue eyes

12-year-old Milagros Soto died Friday inside her northeastern Argentina home after taking part in the viral TikTok 'blackout challenge' in which a person has to hold their breath until they pass out and then share show they felt when they are conscious

Authorities recovered Soto's cellphone and are investigating if any of the students at the school were involved in the deadly challenge.

'We are in a society where if you don't do this you're not part of the group, if you don't do what we tell you, you're (worthless),' Luque said, as quoted by Clarin. 'This is ongoing, it's being investigated, and I'm not going to stop until I know what happened to Milli. All I know is that she wouldn't have been able to take her own life.'

The viral 'blackout challenge' consists of a person recording themselves holding their breath for an a long as they can before they pass out and then explain what they felt in a separate video.

According to People, the challenge dates back to 2008 and made an appearance again on TikTok in 2021.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has attributed at least 80 deaths to social media users who accept the dare.

Bloomberg Businessweek found in November 2020 that at least 15 children under the age of 12 had died from the challenge over the last 18 months. An additional five deaths were reported for children between the age of 13 and 14 during the same period.
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Hidden in plain site, Ukrainian soldiers lie camouflaged in the snow.

This series of three photographs taken deep in the undergrowth will test your powers of observation, and whether you would be quick enough to see a hidden killer in the winter battlegrounds of Ukraine - before they saw you first.

The puzzles were posted by the National Guard of Ukraine on Tuesday. 'Task for attention. Find the #sniper!' the organisation wrote, challenging its followers to pin-point the well-hidden marksmen.

At least one sniper is hidden amongst the forest shrubbery in each photograph, but there could be more.

Snipers on the battleground use grass, trees and bushes for cover in order to blend in. They are also known for wearing ghillie suits - a type of camouflage clothing that is designed to resemble the background environment, such as foliage, snow or sand. The National Guard offered no clues to help.

In this case, the Ukrainian sharpshooters have used their snowy surroundings to blend it, making them difficult to spot even in these close-up images - and practically impossible to see across long distances.

Can you find the snipers in these three photographs?

The series of three photographs taken deep in the undergrowth will test your powers of observation, and whether you would be quick enough to see a hidden killer in the winter battlegrounds of Ukraine - before they saw you first

The puzzles were posted by National Guard of Ukraine on Tuesday. 'Task for attention. Find the #sniper!' the organisation wrote, challenging its followers to pin-point the well-hidden marksmen

Snipers on the battleground use grass, trees and bushes for cover in order to blend in. They are also known for wearing ghillie suits - a type of camouflage clothing that is designed to resemble the background environment, such as foliage, snow or sand

There have been several reports of Ukrainian snipers carrying out extraordinary feats since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of their country on February 24.

In November, Ukrainian special forces released extraordinary footage that claims to show an elite marksman hitting two Russian troops with just a single shot. Including the astonishing shot from distance, the sniper was able to take out five of Putin's troops within just five minutes, they said at the time.

The shots are thought to have been taken at a distance of nearly 4,000ft - and were reported just days after a another Ukrainian marksman claimed to have executed the second-longest combat kill in history.

The sharpshooter claimed to have hit a target at a distance of 2,710m  around 1.7miles - also in November.

MailOnline found four snipers across the three images. Did you find more? Scroll down for our guesses...

One sniper was found in this photograph, hidden in the foreground lying prone on the woodland floor facing away from the camera. The marksman appears to be wearing a ghillie suit and is partially covered in snow to blend into his surroundings

Another sniper was spotted in this photograph, facing to the left and propped on snow-covered logs on the woodland floor
The toddler only escaped unharmed because bullets were not in the chamber

Neighbors of Indiana dad caught footage on their doorbell cam and called police

Shane Osborne, 45, arrested for child neglect but could face further charges

The father of toddler seen waving a handgun in hall of apartment, pointing at himself and pulling the trigger is charged with felony child neglect - as it's revealed cops asked the kid Where did you put the Pew-Pew?'

Dad Shane Osborne, 45, could face even more charges because he is a felon, officers told the New York Post.

Heart-stopping footage released over the weekend showed the diaper-clad tot wandering around his apartment complex in Indiana carrying the loaded pistol, at one point even turning it onto himself and pulling the trigger.

Fortunately, the child was not injured as the bullets were not chambered to the gun.

Now police have revealed that they had to ask the child 'where you put the Pew-Pew?' as they arrived on the scnee.

The video appeared on On Patrol: Live on Saturday and sparked an investigation by Beech Grove Police - a force located just outside Indianapolis which frequently appears on the show aired by REELZ.

Shane Osborne, 45, has been charged with child neglect but could face further charges, officer said

Neighbors witnessed the boy - who appears to be two or three years old - carrying the gun and shouting 'pow pow pow!' on their doorbell cam.

They called the police, and authorities quickly arrived to search the apartment where he lived with Osborne.

Initially the dad told officers: 'I don't have a gun, I have never bought a gun into this house, if there is it's my cousin's.'

But a 9mm Smith and Wesson pistol was found in the back of a desk drawer.

Osborne told police his cousin was staying with him at the time his little boy was caught on camera with the weapon.

Heart-stopping footage broadcast on Reelz show 'On Patrol: Live' shows the moment a toddler waved around his dad's handgun, at one point turning it on himself

In the clip the tot can be seen pulling the trigger on several occasions but was left unharmed because the bullets were not in the chamber

Neighbors called the police after they spotted the boy carrying the pistol while shouting 'pow, pow, pow'

In the clip, the young boy can be seen wearing a diaper and aimlessly wandering around the stairwell outside his closed apartment door and carrying the loaded pistol.

As he walked about, he could be seen pointing the gun at doors and in the air, and rapidly pulling the trigger as he went.

The footage later shows the father taken from the apartment in handcuffs.

'Its almost incomprehensible what youre watching,' Beech Grove Deputy Police Chief Robert Mercuri said, according to WTHR.

'I saw it the next day and even though I knew the outcome, as Im watching the video, I was still scared.

'You find yourself catching your breath. I dont know how you cant watch that video, parent or non-parent and not be shocked and disturbed.'

The neighbor who called police said the small child 'just kept going pow, pow, pow, pow, according to the local news station.

Nicole Summers said: 'He was standing in the middle of the hallway and he was just kind of holding it behind his back and I thoughtlike thats a real gun. I sell guns for a living, so I know what a gun looks like.'

Two of the neighbors who saw the boy with the handgun in their hallway. They called the police

The woman whose security camera captured the boy with the gun in the building hallway

The child lives full time with his mother and is back with her following the incident. She said it was scary seeing her son with a gun, but insisted Osborne is a good father.

Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley said he appreciated how quickly cops worked to secure the kid and the gun.

He said: 'As with all of you, Im mortified at what took place and Im so thankful that no one was hurt, especially the young child.'
Paperchase is set to call in administrators as the beleaguered high street chain races to find a rescue buyer just months after its latest change of ownership.

Shoppers appeared to unsurprised by the news and asked 'who can afford to shop at Paperchase?', while some questioned how long a paper shop can last in a digital world.

The stationery outfit, which usually relies on festive trading to boost its sales, has joined the growing list of retail casualties following changing consumer habits on the high street and the long-term impact of lockdown measures.

Paperchase has been experiencing losses for several years, which grew from 6.3million to 10million in the year to February 2019, with turnover falling 5 per cent to 125million.

The potential sale of the business comes only four months after the retailer was bought by retail veteran Steve Curtis, who has previously backed Jigsaw and Tie Rack.

Paperchase also previously fell into administration two years ago, with the closure of 37 stores.

Paperchase is set to call in administrators as the beleaguered high street chain races to find a rescue buyer just months after its latest change of ownership

Shoppers online did not appear to be shocked about Paperchase calling administrators

Paperchase, which employs hundreds of people and trades from around 100 locations across the UK, had previously boasted of plans to expand the business.

The firm once employed close to 1,300 people and had more than 125 sites across the country - with concessions at Selfridges, Next and House of Fraser - before slumping into insolvency during the pandemic.

It remains unclear at this time how many shops and jobs could be at risk following their latest administration process.

Despite being auctioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the stationary chain is continuing to seek a solvent rescue deal, with pre-pack administration now appearing to be increasingly likely, sources said.

Begbies Traynor, the professional services firm, has been lined up to handle any potential insolvency, Sky News reports.

A spokesman for Paperchase said: 'We confirm that we have retained BTG and PwC to advise Paperchase on strategic options, including the sale of the business as a going concern to new owners.

'Talks are continuing with a number of interested parties.

'All Paperchase stores and the website will continue to trade as normal during this period.

'We can't comment further on this process until discussions with interested parties have been concluded.'

The stationery outfit, which usually relies on festive trading to boost its sales, has joined the growing list of retail casualties following changing consumer habits on the high street and the long term impact of lockdown measures

Steve Curtis, an experienced retail investor whose past ventures include high street names such as Tie Rack and Jigsaw, took over the embattled chain in August.

Prior to that, it was bought from American bookseller Borders in 2010 in a 20m management buyout backed by private equity firm Primary Capital. It was put on the market in 2015 but failed to receive any suitable offers.

Paperchase's success dates back to 1968 after it was purchased by art students Eddie Pond and Judith Cash - the latter choosing to purchase the store after rising up to manager and stumping up enough cash to convince the prior owners to sell.

Their store continued to go from strength to strength until they decided to sell in the 1980s. Today, Paperchase is an international chain of stores spanning three continents.
Ken Bruce quitting Radio 2 will leave the BBC with a dearth of broadcasters who appeal to all age groups and replacing him with a younger star could alienate licence-fee payers further, experts told MailOnline today.

The corporation has long been accused of sidelining older 'baby-boomer' DJs and pursuing 'Gen Z' and younger listeners with under-50 presenters playing fewer classic hits and more modern pop.

Mr Bruce is the latest veteran to leave the station, but he insists it is his decision. Last summer Paul O'Grady exited Radio 2 after Steve Wright, 68, Graham Norton, 59, and Simon Mayo, 64, all left and were replaced with a younger line up. Vanessa Feltz, 60, and Craig Charles, 58, have also moved on, with Ms Feltz saying her exit was because she was a woman over the age of 60.

They have been replaced with ex-Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, RuPaul's Michelle Visage, Waterloo Road's Angela Griffin, and DJ Spoony as well as Rylan Clark, who is tipped for Ken Bruce's job.

Culture expert Nick Ede told MailOnline: 'It's a shame that the BBC are going for younger presenters on the BBC as people like Ken Bruce have the distinct and unique ability to appeal to listeners of all ages.

Radio 2 fans have accused the BBC of ageism as a string of older DJs step back, including Paul O'Grady, Steve Wright, Ken Bruceand Simon Mayo, replaced by ex-Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, RuPaul's Michelle Visage, Rylan and DJ Spoony

'This was his decision, however, and it's a tricky area as you don't want to alienate your existing listeners but you also want to keep your channel fresh and exciting too.

'The BBC must listen to its users however and with the every changing new roster of presenters its still having to work out who its appealing too and who will fill the massive shoes he will leave behind'.

Brand guru Mark Borkowski said that the BBC has to freshen up its Radio 2 line up for the next generation - but risks upsetting devotees.

He said: 'The BBC have to take the pain to renew and find new blood. Its in danger of being sucked into a niche at a time they have to express values to those who still pay a licence fee. Dont forget Wogan was axed'.

In the past three years, BBC Radio has also lost big-hitters such as Graham Norton, who quit the station just before Christmas in 2020 but whose talk show is broadcast on BBC One, and Simon Mayo.

Radio 2 has been trying to woo younger listeners with fresh talent including ex-Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, RuPaul's Drag Race UK judge Michelle Visage, Waterloo Road actress Angela Griffin, and DJ Spoony, while also reducing the bill it pays some of its big-hitters.

It comes amid a wider 'brain drain' after journalists Dan Walker, Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis and Andrew Marr all ditched the corporation for high-paid jobs at rival broadcasters including LBC and Channel 5, where they are not bound by the BBC's strict impartiality rules.

A BBC spokesperson rubbished the allegations of ageism last year, telling MailOnline: 'Radio 2 remains committed to its multi-generational appeal that serves a 35+ audience, a target which hasn't changed in decades, and we're thrilled over 14.5 million listeners are tuning in each week to our brilliant range of programmes, hosted by some of the UK's best loved presenters.

'As listeners know, we continue to play a wide variety of the best music from the past seven decades, including from the 60s and 70s.'

Paul O'Grady and Steve Wright both quit their Radio 2 shows last year

It comes after Radio 2 fans deplored the BBC's decision to replace popular DJ Steve Wright with Radio 1's Scott Mills as the corporation seeks to 'try something different'.

As he exited Wogan House in July last year, donning a purple shirt, red striped tie and suit jacket, Wright told reporters it was 'nice of you to come over', adding: 'That's the way it goes... You know, sometimes people want you, sometimes they don't.

'Sometimes they want to make changes, give you another offer, and that's okay, I understand that, I really understand that.'

In June 2022, Tony Blackburn attacked the BBC for its 'strange' decision to move his Radio 2 show.

The 79-year-old DJ appeared to blame the decision on ageism, saying in a post on social media 'there's a lot of it about'. Blackburn learned that from mid-July his Golden Hour show would be moved from 7pm on Fridays to the same time on Sunday.

Blackburn criticised the 'wacky' decision on Twitter, and fans of the show flocked to support the former Radio 1 DJ. One commented that the BBC was 'making a lot of mistakes' by changing up the scheduling.

An insider said there were 'a lot of unhappy DJs at the moment as a result'.

At the same time as BBC bosses try to remain popular with younger audiences, the corporation has also been beset by a host of big name departures over the past 18 months.

In an unforeseen exit, veteran broadcaster Andrew Marr last winter revealed that he was leaving the BBC after 21 years, including 16 years fronting his own Sunday morning political programme, to join LBC and Classic FM.

He said he was 'keen to get my own voice back' and would now focus on presenting political and cultural radio shows and writing for newspapers.

Marr was swiftly followed by Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel, who also joined LBC.

The veteran journalists caused disarray at Broadcasting House after deciding to join Leicester Square-based Global, which is also home to Nick Ferrari, Eddie Mair, Shelagh Fogarty and James O'Brien.

Maitlis, who hosted Newsnight and became a household name after her astonishing interview with Prince Andrew about his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has had a series of impartiality complaints against her because of her tweets and on-air comments about the pandemic, the Tory Government and Boris Johnson's former chief aide Dominic Cummings.

And in April 2022, BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker revealed he was leaving his 295,000-a-year role after six years to be lead anchor at Channel 5's revamped news team.
A presidential legacy takes a lifetime to build, yet can be reduced to reputational rubble in the blink of an eye. Almost every American president knows the indelible damage of bombshell scandals as their administration is dragged down by an even larger and more devastating controversy, forever marred in history.

Even if the president wasn't directly involved in the lack of judgement or bad behavior, as President Harry S. Truman famously said, 'The Buck Stops Here.'

Starting with President Joe Biden who is now mired in an embarrassing faux pas, for Democrats and the White House alike, after being forced to admit that even more documents with classified marking were found in his private library and garage at his Wilmington, Delaware home, in addition to the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, DC, where he kept a private office.

It's not Biden's first presidential scandal  he was heavily criticized for the botched 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal that saw 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing at Kabul airport  but it is the first time a special counsel has been appointed to investigate.

Will the classified documents crisis shut the door on Biden's re-election prospects? Rutgers University Presidential historian David Greenberg told DailyMail.com it's 'too early to tell'.

President Joe Biden is currently under fire for the alleged unwitting possession of classified documents from his time in the Obama administration

'It appears that Biden is confident that they were packed up inadvertently and that he has nothing to hide. If that's the case, I imagine he will not see this issue as a liability in 2024 and that he is probably going to run for reelection,' the professor said.

Does a presidential scandal ever go away? We look at examples since the Clinton years to see how things turned out.

Bill Clinton

Whitewater: the Clintons' real estate controversy

The Whitewater scandal stems from a failed real estate venture between the Clintons and associates with whom they formed Whitewater Development Corporation while Bill was an Arkansas state official.

The Clintons came under fire for the handling of documents relating to the case and were accused of pressuring an Arkansas executive into helping fund the new business venture of Jim McDougal, one of their Whitewater associates.

In 1994, Clinton asked his Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint a special counsel to look into whether his Whitewater transactions were lawful. Hillary Clinton was forced to testify about the matter to a grand jury in 1996.

The former First Couple were never charged or implicated in any wrongdoing, but their business partners, Jim McDougal and his wife Susan, were convicted of fraud charges. Clinton pardoned Susan hours before the end of his second term.

Vince Foster's suicide and decades of conspiracy theories

The 1993 suicide of Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster has inspired dozens of conspiracy theories about the Clintons, fueling their critics for decades.

Foster, 48, was found dead in a Virginia park on July 20, 1993, of what an autopsy determined was a gunshot wound.

The first Clinton administration scandal was the controversy around a failed real estate venture known as 'Whitewater'

Within hours of Foster's suicide, chief White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum is known to have removed files from Foster's office  some regarding Whitewater  and they wound up in possession of the Clintons' family attorney.

Five government investigations, including one by House Republicans, concluded he died of suicide. But Clinton critics continued to seize on Foster's untimely death.

Conservative Christian leader Jerry Falwell put money into a controversial film that claimed the Clintons staged Foster's death. Conspiracy theories continue to plague the Clintons' legacy, despite overwhelming evidence debunking them.

Paula Jones and Monica Lewinsky

The most well-known scandals of the Clinton presidency revolve around the former president's alleged sexual exploits.

Paula Jones accused him of sexually harassing her when he was governor of Arkansas. She stands by her claim today, but Clinton denies ever having sexual relations with her.

Though the case failed, it gave way to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which revealed that Clinton had an affair with his young intern.

During the Jones lawsuit Clinton denied having sexual relations with Lewinsky. That resulted in Clinton's impeachment for 'high crimes and misdemeanors' by the House of Representatives. Recent media about the scandal including a series titled Impeachment: American Crime Story are proof of how long-lasting its legacy is.

Among the most famous presidential scandals of all time, then-President Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky (both pictured)

George W Bush

Halliburton's ties to Dick Cheney and controversial government contracts

Energy company Halliburton came under intense scrutiny as business flourished under George W Bush.

Bush's Vice President Dick Cheney had been the firm's CEO before he joined Bush's Republican ticket. He got a severance package worth $36 million.

Halliburton was accused of getting preferential treatment from the Pentagon as it scored lucrative contracts to support the U.S. involvement in the Middle East.

In one instance, uncovered by the BBC in 2008, Halliburton won a $7 billion contract just before the Iraq war  after being the sole bidder.

The Halliburton scandal tarnished Cheney's legacy more than it did that of Bush, who was often portrayed as naive and incompetent compared with the vice president's scheming persona.

Torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay

One of Bush's worst scandals involved the torture of prisoners, specifically at detention facilities Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay on Cuba's coast.

In 2003, President Bush started to come under fire over reports describing rampant violence against and sexual abuse of prisoners by U.S. service members.

This is a file image obtained by The Associated Press which shows an unidentified detainee standing on a box with a bag on his head and wires attached to him in late 2003 at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq. The Bush administration received international criticism for its treatment of prisoners there and on Guantanamo Bay

Harsh methods had been authorized by Bush officials under the sanitized label of 'enhanced interrogation methods.'

It resulted in a global humanitarian outcry as photos emerged of bodies piled up and people being bound and blinded while held in uncomfortable positions. Bush and Cheney were accused of being 'war criminals', a stain that continues to follow them.

The 'Mission Accomplished' speech and the banner that haunted Bush

President Bush's May 2003 speech was meant to signal the end of serious combat operations in Iraq, but it was a devastating miscalculation long before the war was declared over in December 2011.

While it did not result in any law enforcement probes, the photograph of ex-President George W. Bush that appeared to tout 'mission accomplished' in Iraq proved an embarrassing moment for the Republican leader

Contrary to popular belief, Bush never uttered the words 'mission accomplished'  indeed, he went out of his way to remark on the 'difficult work' left in Iraq  but he delivered the remarks while a banner with that very phrase hung over his head.

The photo has inspired derision and internet memes that are still shared today  overshadowing his intended message. Bush admitted in 2009 that having that banner during his speech was a 'mistake.'

The Hurricane Katrina flyover photo

Another self-confessed 'mistake' by Bush was a photograph of the Republican commander-in-chief looking out a plane's window at the horrific damage left by Hurricane Katrina days after it hit New Orleans.

Bush conceded in a 2010 interview with NBC that it made him look 'uncaring'. Though he reasoned that he did not want to disrupt emergency aid with the security required for a presidential visit, the image was widely viewed as illustrative of his administration's poor overall response to the hurricane.

In this handout photo provided by the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush looks out over devastation from Hurricane Katrina as he heads back to Washington D.C. August 31, 2005 aboard Air Force One. Bush was accused of looking distant and uncaring for viewing the destruction from the sky

Bush officials were accused of being unprepared for the storm and being slow to get aid to the predominantly black city after the disaster.

Criticism was heaped on local and state authorities too, but rapper Kanye West summarized the long-lasting cultural impact in 2003 with his accusation: 'George Bush doesn't care about black people.'

Barack Obama

Accusations of security failings in Benghazi attack

The 2012 Benghazi attack spurred several investigations by House Republicans of Barack Obama over accusations that Democratic officials spurned requests for more security at the U.S. diplomatic complex in the Libyan city.

It also followed failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton throughout her political career, resurfacing as a political cudgel during her 2016 race against Donald Trump.

The American ambassador to Syria was killed along with a U.S. foreign services officer and two CIA contractors in a coordinated attack against the country's diplomatic outpost by an Islamic militant group.

Four lower-level State Department employees were accused of denying requests for added security to the compound, but those at the top  Obama, Clinton and Susan Rice  were cleared.

Opinions on whether it still left a lasting stain on their legacies largely fall along partisan lines. The deadly diplomatic crisis was memorialized in the action movie 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.

A photo made available on September 12, 2012, shows an armed man holding his rifle as he stands next to buildings set on fire at the US consulate, in Benghazi, Libya, the day before. Obama officials faced hours of interrogation from Congressional Republicans over the coordinated attack on American diplomatic officials

A US flag is seen amid rubbles at the US consulate, one day after armed men stormed the place

Fast and Furious: a botched attempt to catch cartels

'Fast and Furious' was the codename for an ATF operation that saw 2,000 guns get into the hands of suspected or known criminals, in the hopes that tracking the firearms would help U.S. officials follow the movements of dangerous and powerful Mexican drug cartels.

But the Phoenix-based program, at least publicly, resulted in more grim headlines than busted gangs.

Two guns traced back to the program were found near the scene of the brutal slaying of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 on the Mexico-Arizona border.

An investigation by House and Senate Republicans in 2011 found more than 100 guns from the operation were linked to crime scenes in Mexico.

Obama was accused of lying when he claimed in 2012 that the program began under George W. Bush - it is believed to have started under Obama in October 2009.

He also claimed executive privilege in an attempt to block Congress from accessing records linked to Fast and Furious. That was denied by a federal judge. It resulted in Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, being held in contempt of Congress - though no charges were ultimately filed.

Republican fury over IRS targeting of conservative groups

In 2013, President Obama's IRS was accused of unfairly targeting conservative groups for enhanced auditing, immediately spurring Republican outrage and allegations of political weaponization.

While it was found that left-wing groups were also affected, the Republican-led Congress focused much of its attention on audits that hit organizations related to the Tea Party.

A House Oversight Committee report at the time declared that liberal groups were subjected to audits, though at a far lower rate than their right-wing counterparts.

The Arizona-based ATF gunwalking program known as 'Fast and Furious' resulted in ex-President Obama's attorney general Eric Holder (pictured behind the podium) to be held in contempt of Congress - though charges were never filed

An internal probe by the Treasury Department's Inspector General found that groups with 'progressive' in the name were subject to the same audits.

Obama suffered no personal consequences, but his IRS commissioner was subjected to an impeachment resolution that never went anywhere. The Democratic leader has since been associated with perceived IRS weaponization against right-wing groups.

Edward Snowden and Wikileaks

Obama is still very highly regarded in his party, but elements of the far left continue to criticize his administration's treatment of government whistleblowers.

The Wikileaks scandal and the treatment of former NSA official Edward Snowden have become synonymous with debates over a free press and revelations about the extent of government surveillance.

Snowden leaked highly classified information about the U.S. government's surveillance capabilities, which he defended as being for the public good. He sought refuge in Moscow after being charged with the Espionage Act violations by Obama's Justice Department in 2013, and has remained there since.

Obama's Justice Department has also been criticized for its treatment of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who was charged and convicted under the Espionage Act after giving Wikileaks over a quarter of a million documents that were either classified or at least at a sensitive security level.

Obama commuted Manning's sentence after seven years served, just before he left office in January 2017.

Donald Trump

Robert Mueller's Russia probe

Special Counsel Robert Mueller was tasked by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate whether Donald Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with Russia to beat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The probe found no proof of Trump working with Moscow, but multiple members of his circle were criminally charged. Trump has never been able to shake the perception that he's under Vladimir Putin's thumb.

Raunchier claims made during the course of the Mueller probe  such as those involving Russian prostitutes and urinating on hotel beds  in the end proved not credible, but have also nevertheless stuck around in the cultural zeitgeist.

Asking Zelensky for a 'favor' in Ukraine call

The 2019 phone call between former President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that kicked off Trump's first impeachment undoubtedly left a lasting mark on his legacy.

Trump asked Zelensky for a 'favor' in return for much needed military aid, which until that point had been slow-walked by the administration  to the alarm of national security officials who later spoke out against it.

The ex-president has since continued to defend the exchange as 'perfect.'

And while it too could have potentially faded into the memory of history, the July 2019 call took on dark new significance last year when Russia launched a brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Rape accusation by E Jean Carroll

A decades-old rape accusation by longtime columnist E Jean Carroll resurfaced in June 2019, about halfway through Trump's term.

Carroll released an excerpt of her memoir in New York Magazine in which she claimed Trump sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

Ex-President Donald Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky led to his first impeachment by the Democrat-led House of Representatives

She sued him for defamation after he denied her claims by stating 'she's not my type' and accused her of lying to sell her book. Trump's lawyers sought to shield him using a federal law that protects government employees from defamation suits for statements made in the scope of their duty.

It's too early to say whether the accusation how this will affect Trump's legacy because the court case is ongoing.

Trump asking Georgia's Brad Raffensperger to 'find' votes

Another phone call Trump touted as 'perfect' is under federal investigation.

Weeks after he lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump phoned Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger  the state's highest ranking election official  and asked him to 'find' the exact margin of votes he needed to flip his loss.

Trump narrowly lost the Peach State to Biden after historic Democratic turnout in early voting and widespread rejection from moderate voters.

His efforts to overturn the 2020 election have been subjected to federal and Congressional investigation, and recently became part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe.

The call, which was publicly released to the media by Raffensperger, punctuated the end of a tumultuous four years for Trump, filled with reports of backroom dealings and accusations of mafia-like pressure tactics.
Chicago is once again the most bed bug-infested city in the United States, followed by New York and Philadelphia.

The Windy City has claimed the top spot on Orkin's Top 50 Bed Bug Cities List for the third year in a row.

Los Angeles made a massive leap this year, moving up seven spots into the top five cities with the worst bed big problems. The other city in the top five is Cleveland.

Orkin released the list ahead of 'National Shop for Travel Day' on January 10 as Americans begin to book hotels and plan their vacations for the upcoming year.

The Windy City has claimed the top spot on Orkin's Top 50 Bed Bug Cities List for the third year in a row, followed by New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles which moved up seven spots

A map shows the top 10 cities where bed bug problems are the worse, according to Orkin

The list released by Orkin is based on treatment data from where the most bed bug treatments were performed between December 1, 2021  November 30, 2022.

Both residential and commercial treatments were included in the rankings.

Bed bugs are not known to spread disease, but be an annoyance because their presence may cause itching and loss of sleep, according to the CDC.

Sometimes the itching can lead to excessive scratching that can sometimes increase the chance of a secondary skin infection.

Reactions to a bite can vary by person and can range from an absence of any physical signs of the bite, to a small bite mark, to a serious allergic reaction.

Orkin released the list of cities with the worst pest problem along with information about bed bugs and prevention tips to help travelers know how to identify and thoroughly check for bed bugs at hotel rooms while taking care not to bring the pests into their own homes.

New York City landed on the number two spot on the list, moving up one spot from last year

Bed bugs are not known to spread disease, but be an annoyance because their presence may cause itching and loss of sleep

The top 10 most bed bug-infested US cities 1. Chicago 2. New York 3. Philadelphia 4. Cleveland-Akron, Ohio 5. Los Angeles 6. Detroit 7. Indianapolis 8. Baltimore 9. Washington, D.C. 10. Columbus, Ohio Source: Orkin Advertisement

'Bed bugs are extremely resilient, making them difficult to control.

As people begin to ramp up their travel plans this year, it's important they know how to protect themselves through pest identification and proper control,' Ben Hottel, Orkin entomologist said.

'Contrary to popular belief, bed bugs are visible to the naked eye, but are excellent at hiding. Involving a trained professional at the sight of a bed bug introduction is recommended.'

Bed bugs are 3/16 inch long, red to dark brown in color and are mostly nocturnal insects that come out of hiding to take blood meals from sleeping humans, according to Orkin.

The bugs are hematophagous, meaning blood is their only food source.

However, they can survive for several months while waiting for their next blood meal and emerge when their food source appears.

Experts say the pests can travel from place to place with ease, clinging to items such as luggage, purses and other personal belongings.

Bed bugs are also known for rapid population growth and can produce one to five eggs a day and may lay 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime.

Experts say travelers should be aware of bed bug infestations in hotels, but also of the pests hitchhiking on luggage and on public transportation.

'While it's important to be aware of bed bug infestations within hotels, practicing precautions in other aspects of travel are also important,' Hottel said.

'Taxis, buses and airplanes are also common bed bug hiding places, allowing these pests an opportunity to hitch a ride with unsuspecting travelers.'

Philadelphia rounded out the top three having moved down one spot from last year

When traveling, use the acronym S.L.E.E.P. to inspect for bed bugs Survey the hotel room for signs of an infestation. Be on the lookout for tiny, ink-colored stains on mattress seams, in soft furniture and behind headboards. Lift and look in bed bug hiding spots: the mattress, box spring and other furniture, as well as behind baseboards, pictures and even torn wallpaper. Elevate luggage away from the bed and wall. The safest places are in the bathroom or on counters. Examine your luggage carefully while repacking and once you return home from a trip. Always store luggage away from the bed. Place all dryer-safe clothing from your luggage in the dryer for at least 30-45 minutes at the highest setting after you return home. Source: Orkin Advertisement

He continued: 'Examining clothing and luggage regularly while traveling can help to catch a bed bug infestation in the early stages.'

Orkin released proactive tips recommended for homeowners and travelers to prevent bed bugs, which include inspecting your home for signs of bed bugs regularly, checking the places where bed bugs hide during the day.

This includes mattress tags and seams, and behind baseboards, headboards, electrical outlets and picture frames.

Experts say that decreasing clutter around the home will make it easier to spot bed bugs and that all secondhand furniture should be examined before bringing it inside the home.
Several United States lawmakers quietly attended the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 on Monday to meet with various influential business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

The American officials who took part in the event include Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Chris Coons of Delaware, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. There were also a few members of the House of Representatives who went to the event. Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was among those who attended the meeting.

World Economic Forum

The four aforementioned American lawmakers are among the U.S.-based officials who are set to participate in panel sessions during this year's conference. These types of private events held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum often serve as meet-and-greets between CEOs, billionaires, and government officials.

Particularly, Coons and Manchin separately addressed the audience of corporate leaders at the lunch, one attendee said, who opted to remain anonymous because they were speaking about a private gathering, as per CNBC.

Coons spoke at the event and discussed U.S. aid being supplied to Ukraine following Russia's invasion. Manchin, on the other hand, holding his position as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called for American energy independence amid Russia's monopoly-style control of the global market.

The private lunch was held at the Hotel Schatzalp which is primarily accessible by riding on a funicular, or tram, up the property. A person who attended the event said that it happened at the establishment's Belle Epoque restaurant, where participants were served salmon and a beef dish.

The business leaders who participated in the event came from a wide variety of backgrounds and include Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, and leaders of a variety of non-governmental organizations.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War Death Toll Update

Addressing Global Issues

The forum was first established by Schwab, a German economist, in 1971 and was originally known as the European Management Forum prior to its name change in 1987. The theme for this year's discussions is "Cooperation in a Fragmented World," according to Aljazeera.

Among leaders of the G7 nations, only German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attended the event. A spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday that the leader would not be able to make the event because there was an ongoing energy crisis in the country.

Schwab's objective in founding the World Economic Forum was to create a place for policymakers and top corporate executives to address major global issues and learn best practices for leadership and management.

While delegates attend panels and speeches inside the Congress Center, much of the action happens outside, where bilateral meetings between heads of state and corporate chieftains occur that take up most of their time.

The event was also attended by the presidents of Poland, Spain, South Korea, and the Philippines, who were among the 51 heads of state who came. There were also 56 finance ministers, 19 central bank governors, 35 foreign ministers, and 30 trade ministers who were present at the event, said Rappler.

Related Article: Italy's Most-Wanted Mafi Boss: Who Is Matteo Messina Denaro?

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A string of passengers travelling from Los Angeles to Heathrow were found with around 750lbs of cannabis worth 5.5 million, triggering a criminal investigation.

Nine US nationals have been arrested and charged in the past week after being stopped at the Central London airport in the space of less than seven days.

The National Crime Agency said each suspect was found with between 66lbs and 110lbs (30kg and 50kg) of cannabis in bags that had been checked in.

The first passenger was stopped on Tuesday January 10, then another on Friday 13, two more the following day, four on the Sunday and one on Monday.

A string of passengers travelling from Los Angeles to Heathrow were found with around 750lbs of cannabis worth 5.5 million, triggering a criminal investigation. Above: Some of the seized drugs

They have all been charged with attempting to import class B drugs.

NCA senior investigating officer Darren Barr said: 'We are working to understand how these seizures are connected.

'However, to get this many off the same route in such a short period of time is clearly very unusual.

'Drugs couriers face stiff sentences so I'd urge anyone considering getting involved in such ventures to think very carefully about the consequences.'

Nine US nationals have been arrested and charged in the past week after being stopped at the Central London airport in the space of less than seven days

The first passenger was stopped on Tuesday January 10, then another on Friday 13, two more the following day, four on the Sunday and one on Monday (file photo)

Steve Dann, Border Force Chief Operating Officer, said: 'Drugs fuel violence and chaos on the streets and inflict suffering in communities across the UK.

'Thanks to the work by Border Force, these dangerous drugs were stopped from reaching Britain's streets and causing significant harm to our neighbourhoods.'

It comes after a male sex worker was caught attempting to smuggle 101 packages of cocaine into the UK via Heathrow.

Luan Irving Dos Santos Monteiro, 31, originally from Macapa in Brazil, was detained by Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport on Christmas Eve in 2020.

He claimed he had been working as a drug mule to pay off his debts during the coronavirus pandemic
A middle-class extremist has been jailed for encouraging another man to make a bomb by sharing a video in which he used his Amazon Alexa speaker to read out a recipe for explosives.

Elliot Brown, 25, held views described by a judge as 'utterly vile' when he posted a video to a far-right chat group showing how to make the pyrotechnic explosive thermite.

Naomi Parsons, prosecuting said Brown was 'in his own words, a man from a middle-class background and well educated.'

He had been to a private school in Llanelli, South Wales and won a scholarship to an international school in Norway before studying politics and economics at Bath University.

Middle-class Elliot Brown (pictured), 25, held views described by a judge as 'utterly vile'

Brown was jailed for three years for dissemination of terrorist material today in court

He dropped out of university during the pandemic and was working for a logistics company when he sent the video to a neo-Nazi chat group on Telegram on March 22 2020.

Police raided the home of Dean Morrice in Paulton, near Bristol on August 20 2020 and found enough aluminium powder, iron oxide, and magnesium ribbon in the kitchen to make 680g of thermite.

There was also enough carbon, potassium nitrate and sulphur, to make 1.3kg of gunpowder.

Morrice, who also had two 3-D printers and a digital recipe for making firearms, was later jailed for 18 years, after the court heard the 34-year-old father of four from Poulton, near Bath, was 'clearly leading a double life.'

Brown dropped out of university during the pandemic and was working for a logistics company

Police found vile material in chat room Police discovered that Brown had posted the video into a Telegram chat group called 'Dart Heads' which was said to be obsessed with 'white genocide' and the 14-word neo-Nazi slogan: 'We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.' Brown had shared a copy of the audio book of Hitler's Mein Kampf and posted on June 5 2020, a couple of weeks after the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis: 'It's happening, the race war is here.' A user called Mercian Heart, responded: 'Our desires to go out and confront these servants of the Jews comes from our instinct to preserve our tribe and by extension the society around us. 'Find men in your area, study 4th gen warfare. train, organize, gather supplies, build yourselves. The time for action will be upon us soon enough. Gods be praised!' A 10-second video found on Brown's phone showed him at a barbecue with some music in the back ground saying: 'All I wanted to do is grill, but these Jews they leave me no choice but to kill.' Also on his phone, police found a 30-minute clip of a livestream of a shooting at a synagogue in Halle, Germany on 9 October 2019 made by Stephan Balliet and a 48-second video, which started as a video game, but switched to clips from the livestream shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand by Brenton Tarrant. An image on Brown's phone showed a screenshot labelled: 'Hail the saints! Never forget what they sacrificed for us' with images of Anders Breivik - responsible for the mass murder of children in Norway in 2011, Dylan Roof - who shot black people in a church in the US - and Brenton Tarrant. Advertisement

On one of his mobile phones, police found a 30-second video containing audio instructions on how to make thermite which had been recorded by Brown, at his home, using his Amazon Alexa, and shared on Telegram, three days before Morrice bought the chemicals.

Thermite was described as a mixture which burns at several thousand degrees Celsius to produce molten metal.

Brown was arrested in February 2021 and, in court, admitted to having 'nationalist' political views and to being 'anti-Semitic, racist and a homophobe.'

A former air cadet, he said he was interested in militaria and survivalism and was a fan of Ray Mears and Bear Grylls.

Brown said he had joined the Conservative Party and UKIP before he became 'a bit fed up with politics in the UK.'

The video was made as a 'joke' to impress the 14 others in the group because he had been watching an internet meme in which people asked Alexa to do unusual things, he said.

However, he told Bristol Crown Court he was now 'ashamed, embarrassed and angry with myself' for subscribing to those views and had become a Christian.

Ms Parsons told the jury: 'Why not get Alexa to recite something else funny? The prosecution say that explosives were of interest to Mr Brown, and indeed to the others to whom he shared the video.'

Brown 'intended or, at the very least, was reckless,' that someone in the 'Dart Heads' Telegram group would be encouraged to commit a terrorist act.

'In Mr Brown's case, the proof is in the pudding. It must be an unfortunate coincidence that one of the recipients turned out to be the real deal, who purchased, within three days of the post, all the ingredients for thermite,' Ms Parsons said.

Jailing him for three years and three months, for possession and dissemination of terrorist material, Judge Anthony Leonard KC, told him: 'You were old enough and intelligent enough to know exactly what you were getting involved in.

'You spoke about attacking racial and ethnic minorities and, as a group, you aspired to create a fascist state. The exchanges in which you took part were utterly vile.'

He and his friends on the Darts Head chat group shared a neo-Nazi ideology, seeking to promote hatred and racial supremacy, the judge said.

The effect of posting the video was 'only too apparent' because Morrice 'immediately set about obtaining the igniter and ingredients for thermite,' the judge added.

Detective Superintendent Craig McWhinnie, head of Counter-Terrorism Police South West said: 'Elliot Brown was not just seeking to explore an interest in extremist related materials.

'The video he produced and thought appropriate to share with people harbouring similar abhorrent views will understandably shock people.'
Greatest Hits Radio is becoming the retirement home for BBC legends as Ken Bruce becomes the latest DJ to leave Radio 2.

The Scottish broadcaster, 71, said 'the time is right' for him to move on from the weekday mid-morning show he's presented since 1986.

Mr Bruce is the latest veteran to leave the station - insisting it is his decision - and has urged his fans to follow him to his new home. He will be joining BBC alums Simon Mayo, Jackie Brambles, Mark Goodier and Paul Gambaccini at the station.

Experts say Greatest Hits Radio boss Ben Cooper is adding Mr Bruce to his roster for an estimated 500,000 as they try to steal listeners from the increasingly younger-focused Radio 2.

Greatest Hits Radio is becoming the retirement home for BBC legends as Ken Bruce (pictured) becomes the latest DJ to leave Radio 2

Experts say Greatest Hits Radio bosses added Mr Bruce to the roster of Simon Mayo, 64, (left) and Jackie Brambles, 55, (right) as they try to steal listeners from the increasingly younger-focused Radio 2

The broadcaster, 71, will present a show from 10am to 1pm on the Bauer radio station, alongside presenters including Mr Mayo, 64, at Drivetime and Ms Brambles, 55, in the early evening.

Mr Bruce, informing his 9million listeners this morning that he would be quitting, said: 'Nothing stays the same forever and I have decided the time is right for me to move on from Radio 2 when I reach the end of my current contract in March.

'It's been a tremendously happy time for me: I've made many friends and worked with many wonderful colleagues. However I feel that after 45 years of full-time broadcasting on BBC Radio it's time for a change.

'I would stress that this is entirely my decision but some new opportunities have come up and I would like to continue my career in a slightly different way in the next few years, the details of which will be revealed shortly.

'I will always be very proud of my association with the BBC and Radio 2 in particular and I'd like to thank everyone who has helped to make the mid-morning show a success'.

A radio insider estimates that Bauer Media offered Mr Bruce around 500,000 annually to host the show on Greatest Hits Radio.

Mr Bruce will be joining BBC alums Mark Goodier (left) and Paul Gambaccini (right) at Greatest Hits Radio

A radio insider estimates that Bauer Media offered Mr Bruce around 500,000 annually to host the show on Greatest Hits Radio. Pictured: Ken running through his Radio 2 show with a producer

Mr Bruce will present a show from 10am to 1pm on the Bauer radio station

'Bauer, are trying to build Greatest Hits Radio into much more of a rival to Radio 2,' the insider told MailOnline. 'They will undoubtedly get an excellent return on their investment in Ken through sponsorship of the daily PopMaster competition which advertisers will love to be associated with because of its popularity.

'Radio 2 is definitely pitching itself towards a younger audience now, having just brought in Scott Mills and phasing out classic songs from the sixties and seventies during daytime programming.

'It'll be interesting to see who replaces Ken. My guess is Rylan, who's become a favourite on Saturdays and is has wide appeal thanks to his TV profile.'

Radio 2 is provide more details about the new mid-morning show at a later date.

The insider added: 'It seems the BBC is abandoning older music listeners. Commercial stations like Boom Radio and Serenade Radio are taking care of the tastes of the 50+ audience leaving Radio 2 to appeal to 35 to 50 year olds.

What kind of music does Greatest Hits Radio play?

Greatest Hits Radio plays the biggest songs of the 70s, 80s and 90s in 'celebration of the most iconic music of all time and the good times they represent.'

The station plays the greatest hits from the biggest names of the 'golden era of music' including Blondie, Queen, George Michael, Madonna, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Elton John, Whitney Houston and more.

The station is broadcast on various FM frequencies across the UK, as well as on the Greatest Hit Radio website and its free mobile app.

It also airs on Freeview channel 716 and Sky channel 0151.

Ken Bruce is pictured in the Radio 2 Piano Room last month

Ken Bruce (pictured with his good friend Rod Stewart) is leaving the BBC after 45 years, quitting Radio 2 for Greatest Hits Radio

Ken with stars Sir Cliff Richard (left) and Beyonce (right)

Who are the DJs on Greatest Hits Radio?

Devastated Ken Bruce fans vow to never listen to BBC Radio 2 again: Click here to read more Ken Bruce has insisted: 'I would stress that this is entirely my decision but some new opportunities have come up and I would like to continue my career in a slightly different way' Advertisement

Mr Bruce will be joining the likes of presenters Simon Mayo, Jackie Brambles, Mark Goodier, Jenny Powell, Paul Gambaccini, Pat Sharp, Martin Kemp, Alex Lester, Andy Crane, Des Paul, Rossie, Kate Thornton and Richard Allinson in April.

Radio 2 alum Mr Mayo hosts Drivetime every weekday at 4pm and The Album Show on Sundays from 1pm.

Ms Brambles, also formerly of Radio 2, hosts The Evening Show every Monday to Thursday from 7pm - 10pm.

Similarly, Mr Goodier now hosts the Top 10 at 10, My Greatest Hit and Their Greatest Hit - weekdays 10am-1pm.

And Mr Gambaccini hosts the America's Greatest Hits programme every Saturday between 5pm-7pm during which he plays the Greatest Hits that made it big in the US.

When will Ken Bruce host his first show?

Mr Bruce is leaving Radio 2 in March and is set to begin hosting his new Greatest Hits Radio show on April 3.

He will present a show from 10am to 1pm on the Bauer radio station, alongside former BBC stars Mr Mayo and Ms Brambles.

'What better way to celebrate my forty-five years in radio than with a new adventure and a brand-new show on Greatest Hits Radio,' Mr Bruce said today of his new show.

'I say brand-new but there will still be PopMaster, me and my musings and all the great records you know and love from the 70s, 80s and 90s. I'm looking forward to getting started and to you joining me for my very first show. See you in April.'

His Radio 2 show is famous for a number of segments including his PopMaster quiz to test music knowledge, which has run for 25 years.

It also housed the Tracks of My Years segment, where a famous person chooses their favourite records and more recently, The Piano Room, featuring live music from a range of great artists.

It is unclear if either of those segments will appear in his new show.

Radio 2 fans have accused the BBC of ageism as a string of older DJs step back, including Pauk O'Grady, Steve Wright, Graham Norton and Simon Mayo, replaced by ex-Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, RuPaul's Michelle Visage, Waterloo Road's Angela Griffin, and DJ Spoony

How many veterans have left Radio 2?

Mr Bruce is the latest veteran to leave Radio 2. The move follows a number of high-profile departures and reshuffling at BBC Radio of recent, including Scott Mills leaving BBC Radio 1 after 24 years at the network to join Radio 2 for a new weekday show.

The radio DJ took over the 2-4pm slot from presenter Steve Wright, who stepped down from his afternoon show at the end of September after 23 years.

Mr Wright, 68, continues to present his Radio 2 Sunday Love Songs programme as well as specials on the station.

Mr O'Grady also quit his Radio 2 Sunday afternoon show, which he presented for around 14 years, because he was not happy with a schedule shake-up which saw him share the slot with comic Rob Beckett.

Graham Norton, 59, Mr Wirght and Mr O'Grady, 67, were replaced with a younger line up. Vanessa Feltz, 60, and Craig Charles, 58, have also moved on.

Lorna Clarke, director of BBC Music, said today of Mr Bruc's departure: 'Ken is an extraordinary broadcaster with an exceptional career over many decades.

'He has been part of every significant occasion marked by BBC Radio 2 and we, his faithful audience and the Radio 2 all-star line-up, will miss his warm humour and wit. Congratulations on a brilliant career.'
Miyares said the goal of the consultant was to ensure 'equal outcomes no matter what,' which adversely affected high-achieving Asian American students

In Fairfax, which houses one of the best-scoring high schools in the nation, officials hired an equity consultant at $450,000

So far, three school districts have been caught in the allegations, including Fairfax, Loudon, and Prince William County Public Schools

The AG has opened an investigation into the issue following allegations that Asian American students were targeted to ensure 'equal outcomes'

Virginia AG Jason Miyares says at least 13 high schools failed to let students know they won merit awards, causing them to miss out on scholarships

At least 13 Virginia high schools are under investigation after failing to deliver merit awards prior to college admissions, with the state attorney general alleging that the move specifically targeted Asian American students.

Following the case against 11 Fairfax and Loudoun County high schools, officials from Prince William County Public Schools revealed two of their schools did not tell 16 students they had earned a National Merit award.

Attorney General Jason Miyares condemned the schools' actions as the state launched an investigation over alleged Anti-Asian bigotry.

Miyares told Fox Business on Tuesday that in Fairfax, the district paid an equity consultant $450,000 to ensure 'equal outcomes no matter what, even if it means treating some students purposefully unequally.'

He added: 'You hear the word equity all the time. Equity without excellence is actually emptiness. It doesn't really help the student at all. It actually divides us.'

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares says at least 13 high schools failed to let students know they won merit awards. The AG has opened an investigation into the issue following allegations that Asian American students were targeted to ensure 'equal outcomes'

Among those embroiled in the scandal are superintendents (L-R) Daniel Smith, of Loudon County, Michelle Reid, of Fairfax County, and LaTanya McDade, of Prince William County

Families are furious that they were not informed of their children winning awards, with many protesting the schools' decision to keep it quiet

Which Virginia schools are accused of failing to inform 'commended pupils' of their awards? Fairfax County: 1. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology 2. Westfield High School 3. Langley High School 4. Annandale High school 5. Edison High School 6. Lewis High School 7. West Potomac High School Loudoun County: 8. Freedom High School 9. Loudoun County High School 10. Potomac Falls High School  11. Unnamed High School in Loudoun County Prince William County: 12. Battlefield High School 13. Colgan High School Advertisement

The National Merit awards are only given to 50,000 of 1.5million high schoolers who score well on the PSATS  and can help students compete for scholarships, honors accolades, and college admissions.

The state's investigation is looking into the administration's decisions to withhold the National Merit Scholarship honors from students and if it violates the Virginia Human Rights Act.

Miyares said that one mom in the Fairfax School district lamented that her daughter had done everything right since the first grade to excel academically.

'She studied so hard, and now she's realizing she may not go to the school of her dreams because of who she is, a Korean American,' Miyares said. 'That goes against everything we believe in this country.'

Miyares cited especially troubling figures at Fairfax's Thomas Jefferson High School.

The school is America's best-performing public school  with the district officials insisting their decision to change their admissions standard was part of a new strategy meant to provide 'equal outcomes for every student, without exceptions.'

The Attorney General said that just one year after the change, the high school saw 'close to a 20-point drop in Asian American enrollment.'

Miyares noted that what was happening in Virginia is reflective of the alleged discrimination Asian American applicants were seeing across the country, as the Supreme Court weighs on the future of affirmative action at colleges.

'It seems as though the only state- sanctioned form of bigotry in America is anti-Asian bigotry, and we want to make sure that's not happening in Virginia,' he said.

Prince William County district officials said the Battlefield High School (above) was among the 13 schools in the state that failed to report merit awards

Along with the Charles Colgan High School, about 16 students were affected in the county

Prince William County's Battlefield High School and Colgan High School became the latest schools embroiled in the controversy.

A district spokesperson said in a statement: 'This year, due to an accidental administrative oversight, two out of 13 PWCS high schools made recent notifications to approximately 16 students. 'PWCS believes strongly that all student achievement should be recognized.'

Along with the two new schools, investigators are looking into seven Fairfax schools and four Loudon schools.

Parents of pupils in Fairfax hit out after the revelations, claiming that the students were deliberately left in the dark, so other students 'feelings were not hurt.'

Fairfax County schools involved include Annandale, West Potomac, John R. Lewis, Edison, Thomas Jefferson for Science and Technology, Westfield, and Langley High Schools.

The seven schools account for 25 percent of the high schools in Fairfax County, and Youngkin appeared angered by the school's decision to act in such a manner.

Governor Youngkin criticized the Fairfax County Schools Superintendent for using taxpayer money to hire equity consultants and believes the issue is a systematic problem in the schools.

He said: 'They have a maniacal focus on equal outcomes for all students at all costs. And at the heart of the American dream, is excelling, is advancing, is stretching and recognizing that we have students that have different capabilities.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has expressed his concern about the impact of seven Fairfax County schools decision to withhold national merits from students which often aid scholarships and college admissions

'Some students have the ability to perform at one level, others need more help, and we have to allow students to run as fast as they can to dream the biggest dreams they can possibly dream and then go get them.

'It impacts students' ability to apply to college for scholarships, and in this idea of a golden ticket, as it is called, was withheld from them and it seems to have been withheld from them for the purpose of not wanting to make people feel bad who didn't achieve it.

'And all of a sudden, we see it spreading around to the rest of Fairfax County.'

He blamed Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid for hiring a $450,00 liberal consultant to teach the schools how to have 'equal outcomes for all students.'

She has met with parents at Thomas Jefferson, Westfield, and Langley high school to address their concerns and says she is committed to being transparent with the results of their ongoing review.

During a meeting last week she said: 'In each case, it's my understanding principals sign certificates and pass those to staff who distribute them.'

The impact on students and their families can be significant, as some scholarships and grants can be worth over $90,000.

Last month, parents called for the axing of principal Ann Bonitatibus and Director of Student Services Brandon Kosatka - alleging they are responsible.

Last month, parents called for the axing of principal Ann Bonitatibus (left) alleging they are responsible. Langley High School Principal Kimberly Greer (right) is one of the educators also in charge of faculty embroiled in the scandal

The decision by brass at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax, Virginia, was reportedly part of a new school strategy meant to provide 'equal outcomes for every student, without exceptions'

Over in Loudoun County, Superintendent Daniel Smith said 14 of the high schools promptly notified commended students in the fall, but Freedom, Loudoun County, and Potomac Falls high schools didn't  along with another unidentified faculty.

Smith said: 'It's important to note that there are two types of recognition students receive, Semi-finalist/Finalist and Commended Scholars.

'I can confirm all LCPS National Merit Scholar Semi-finalists were notified, and appropriate procedures were implemented to assist in their scholarship applications this year.'

He added that the county's Office of Student Mental Health will create an operating procedure to inform students of the award.

Principal Michelle Luttrell, who leads Loudoun County High School, is one of the top educators to become involved in the scandal

Smith, who got the job last year and previously worked in Fairfax and Page Counties, said that the process varies 'significantly from school to school'.

A National Merit Scholarship Corporation spokesman said that any students who aren't notified of the recognition by their schools could call the NMSC to check their status.

Loudoun County High School, which is run by Principal Michelle Luttrell, was reportedly never notified by the NMSC of the students who were Commended Scholars.

It is not the first time officials with the Fairfax County Public School network - which encompasses 198 schools and centers - have come under fire for guidance touted as 'progressive'.

In 2021, the school and its board found themselves in federal court after it changed its admission requirements to limit the number of Asian American students enrolled to improve the chance of admission of other students regardless of academic ability.

Once again, billed as a means to boost equity, the guidance immediately sparked controversy for scrapping merit-based admissions - and was subsequently found to be against federal law.

Last February, a federal judge ruled Fairfax County school officials guilty of racial discrimination however, plans to overturn the woke rules have been put on hold thanks to a successful legal challenge by their supporters, with a court set to consider an appeal last this year.
Thousands could receive a new set of cold weather payments after temperatures fell below -9C in some areas of the UK today.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice while the UK Health Security Agency has announced a level three cold alert in response to 'severe winter weather.'

The up to 25 payment has already been triggered in parts of the North West, South West and East Midlands, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed.

Britons can use the DWP's postcode checker to see if weather in their area has made them eligible for the payment. If the system indicates payment is due, householders should ensure they meet the eligibility requirements in order to collect owed funds.

Thousands could receive a new set of cold weather payments after temperatures fell below -9C in some areas of the UK today. Pictured: Snow blankets the village of Hope today near Chester on the England North Wales border

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice while the UK Health Security Agency has announced a level three cold alert in response to 'severe winter weather'. Pictured: Snow on the ground at the Carland Cross A30/A39 junction today in Truro, Cornwall

Why is it so COLD in the UK today?: Click here to read more A large area of precipitation headed over Northern Ireland and the Irish Sea towards North Wales on Monday evening. Showers simultaneously moved across the South West which resulted in the icy conditions appearing overnight Advertisement

The cold weather payment scheme runs until the end of March and is eligible to householders on specific benefits.

The scheme allows Britons to receive an up to 25 payment if the average temperature in their area is recorded as 0C or below over seven consecutive days.

The scheme was launched as an energy costs support amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis that has caused financial hardship for many.

The cost of energy has doubled on average in just a year, even after the energy price cap was frozen at 2,500 a year for a typical household, leaving many worried they will not be able to heat their homes as it gets colder this winter.

What is the cold weather payment?

The cold weather payment is a energy costs support scheme available to those on some benefits or mortgage interests support schemes.

Those who are eligible will get a payment if the average temperature in the local area is recorded as or forecast to be below 0C for a week running.

The payment is worth 25 for each consecutive seven-day period of sub-zero weather between November 1 and March 31.

Cold weather payments are separate to Winter Fuel Payments.

The scheme is not available in Scotland but you might get an annual 50 Winter Heating Payment instead regardless of weather conditions in your area.

How can I check if I'm eligible for winter support?

Cold weather payments are only paid if there are seven days of continuous sub-zero temperatures in your area.

If you enter the first part of your postcode on this government tool, it will say if there have been any qualifying periods of cold temperatures in your area - and therefore could be due a payment.

The government say you may be eligible for cold weather payments (following a spell of cold weather) if you receive one of the following benefits:

Pension Credit

Income Support

Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

Universal Credit Support for Mortgage Interest

Most people on Pension Credit will receive the support.

The cold weather payment is a energy costs support scheme available to those on some benefits or mortgage interests support schemes (file photo)

Yellow warnings have been issued for snow and ice across southern England, Northern Ireland and parts of the northwest and north Wales, The Met Office has also issued an Amber weather warning for snow across northern parts of Scotland, beginning at 3pm

Blizzards spark chaos as roads turn to ice rinks with more than 100 crashes in a matter of hours: Click here to read more A double decker bus has been flipped over onto its side on the A39 in Somerset after reportedly colliding with a motorcycle Advertisement

If you receive Income Support or Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance you will usually get cold weather payments if you have any of the following:

A disability or pensioner premium

A child who is disabled

Child Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element

A child under 5 living with you

If you receive ESA you will will usually get the payments if you are in a work-related activity group or support group.

If you are not in either group, you might also get Cold Weather Payments if you have any of the following:

A severe or enhanced disability premium

A pensioner premium

A child who is disabled

Child Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element

A child under 5 living with you

If you get Universal Credit and are not employed or self-employed you will receive the cold weather payment if one of the following also apply:

You have a health condition or disability and have limited capability for work (with or without work-related activity)

You have a child under 5 living with you

You will also be eligible if you have a disabled child amount in your claim, regardless of whether you are employed or not.

People will usually get cold weather payments if you are also paid Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) and have any of the following:

A severe or enhanced disability premium

A pensioner premium

A child who is disabled

Child Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element

A child under 5 living with you

Britons can use the DWP's postcode checker to see if weather in their area has made them eligible for the payment. Pictured: Snowy scene today at Lower Ninnis St Day, Redruth, Cornwall looking west towards St Aubyn

The up to 25 payment has already been triggered in parts of the North West, South West and East Midlands, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed. Pictured: Snow on the beach at Holywell Bay in Cornwall today

Do I automatically qualify if I'm on universal credit?

If you are on Universal Credit (or any other legacy benefits) you will not need to apply for the cold weather payment and it will be automatically paid if you are eligible.

If you are on get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance you will become eligible if you have had a baby or a child under five-years-old comes to live with you.

You should therefore tell Jobcentre Plus of this change as soon as possible otherwise you will not automatically get cold weather payments as they will be unaware you become eligible.

When would I receive my cold weather payment?

You should get a payment within 14 working days after after each period of very cold weather in your area, the government say.

The money is paid into the same bank or building society account as your benefits payments.

If you do not receive the cold weather payment and think you should have you should tell the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus.

If you are on Universal Credit you should sign in to your account and add a note to your journal.

If you do not have an online account, the DWP say you should instead ring the Universal Credit helpline on: 0800 328 5644.
Her husband Brian has been arrested and charged with misleading an investigation into her disappearance

Walshe disappeared from her Cohasset home on New Year's after being last seen at a party. She was reported missing by her job on January 4

Her job and life in DC became a source of tension between them, which led to a 'very tense Christmas,' according to a friend

Her Instagram was also mainly her life in Washington DC and her children and rarely featured her husband, Brian Walshe

The latest was just two weeks before her disappearance, but it reappeared days later when she wished her two-year-old son a happy birthday

Ana Walshe, 39, appeared several times on her Instagram without her ring, and over the last year, the mom-of-three was seen on her feed three times without it

Ana Walshe's Washington DC job was a point of tension with her husband as the missing Massachusetts mom was seen without her wedding ring weeks before disappearing.

Walshe, 39, who disappeared from her Cohasset home on New Year's, appeared in several of her latest Instagram photos without her wedding ring as it was reported the couple had a 'very tense Christmas.'

Two weeks before her disappearance, the mom-of-three posed with Paul Wharton, a British gin entrepreneur, at his book signing in Washington DC. The two were locked in a tight embrace as they smile at the camera. Her ring reappeared days later when she posted a birthday tribute to her two-year-old on December 17.

She was also seen without her ring in a few posts that were four to seven months before her disappearance. Walshe had visited her mother in Belgrade, Serbia, in November and her mother said she did not mention anything bad toward her husband at the time.

In addition to her ring's disappearance, the couple's living arrangements had led to tensions right before the holidays as the couple had been living apart due to their jobs, a friend told The Boston Globe.

Ana Walshe, 39, (right) appeared several times on her Instagram without her ring. Over the last year, the mom-of-three was seen on her feed three times without it. The most recent time she was pictured without it was two weeks before her January 1 disappearance

She was also seen without her ring four (left) and seven months (right) before disappearing. Walshe had visited her mother in Belgrade, Serbia, in November and her mother said she did not mention anything bad toward her husband at the time

Their relationship became tumultuous from nearly the beginning. Prior to their marriage, Walshe called DC police in August 2014 to report that Brian had threatened 'to kill' her and a friend on a phone call. The case was later dropped when she declined to participate in the investigation.

In the next year, the couple got married and eventually had three sons together and settled in Cohasset. However, as they grew their family, Walshe was growing her career and they ran into legal trouble.

Brian pleaded guilty in 2021 to fraud after selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings for $80,000. Right before he was set to be sentenced, prosecutors accused him of failing to disclose some of Walshe's assets, including a Maserati and some real estate, according to The Boston Globe.

Although Ana Walshe was never charged in the case, her eBay account was used to list the painting and one of the victims accused her of using her position in the hospitality industry as a way to gain the trust of the buyers.

In addition, Walshe's social media page rarely showed photos of her husband, but rather of her children and life in Washington.

'When [we] see Ana, its usually just Ana,' Carrie Westbrook, a longtime friend, told the Boston Globe.

In addition, another friend told The Boston Globe he never suspected any turmoil in the couple's relationship.

The mom-of-three (pictured with her kids) lived was oftentimes in DC due to her career. Walshe was growing her hospitality career in DC, which was reportedly a source of tension between the couple around the holidays

Her husband Brian, 47, (pictured) has been arrested and charged with misleading the investigation into his wife's disappearance. He did not report his wife missing, her job did when she failed to show up at work on January 4

'Up until recently, I never had any doubt that she was completely, completely in love with the man,' her friend Bojan Bacevic, 40, of Belgrade, Serbia, told the outlet. The two had known each other since elementary school and he said he didn't notice much of a change in her in recent months.

'It seemed like she was at a place where she achieved what she wanted family-wise [and] work-wise. And she kind of wanted to live life a little bit more freely.'

Additional friends also said there was 'no indication of anything' suspicious in the hours before Ana vanished, however, some did admit she had tried to sell her apartment and car for cash in December and was looking to sell other assets just before her disappearance.

ANA WALSHE'S DISAPPEARANCE JANUARY 1: Ana is seen leaving a New Year's Eve party at 1.30am She fails to turn up to work in Washington DC, and there is no proof of her making it to the airport for her flight. JANUARY 4: Tishman Speyer's head of security in DC calls police to report her missing. The caller told the operator he'd informed her husband JANUARY 6: Fire reported at the house Ana shared with her husband JANUARY 8: Brian Walshe arrested for misleading investigation JANUARY 9: Police reveal they found blood in the basement of the couple's home JANUARY 10: Police reveal they found trash bags filled with bloody items, a hatchet and a hacksaw in a trash center near the home Advertisement

Walshe's Revere friends and tenants, Mike and Mandi Silva, told Fox News Digital the decision to sell her apartment where they lived was sprung on them and that she became uncharacteristically 'pushy' towards them over time.

However, a source said the 'proceeds from the sale of the Revere condo were going directly into the purchase of another investment property, and not to Ana herself.'

Another friend, Abdulla Almutairi, had texted with Walshe on New Year's Eve around midnight and then did not hear from her for a few days. He said he didn't think anything out of the ordinary until he was informed a missing person's report had been filed.

Brian Walshe was arrested on charges of misleading an investigation.

The affidavit stated that 'the intentional, willful and direct responses to questions about his whereabouts on the days of Sunday, January 1, 2023, and Monday, January 2, 2023, were a clear attempt to mislead and delay investigators.

'The fact that he was asked a specific question, and he gave an untruthful answer that led investigators out of the area caused a clear delay in the search for the missing person, Ana Walshe.'

The judge set bail at $500,000 cash and the next hearing is scheduled for February 9, 2023.

Walshe pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday, January 9.

Walshe's mysterious disappearance was subsequently treated as unsuspicious by police, without evidence of foul play.

But revelations over the last week have drawn international attention to the story.

Hours before her disappearance, Ana Walshe is understood to have written an 'eerie note' on a champagne box, wishing her husband 'courage, love and perseverance' in the new year.

The scrawled note, first transcribed by the New York Post, read: 'Wow! 2022What a year! And yet, we are still here and together!

'Let's make 2023 the best one yet! We are the authors of our livescourage, love, perseverance, compassion, and joy. Love, Ana.'

Brian told investigators he had been shopping for his mother on New Year's Day, but CVS surveillance was unable to support the alibi. Walshe did not tell police he had spent about $450 in cash buying gloves, tape and cleaning supplies from a Home Depot in Massachusetts

The other side of the champagne box read: 'Gem Ana Brian 2023!', referring to family friend Gem Mutlu who was in the Walshe's home on New Year's Eve, hours before the disappearance.

Brian Walshe first reported that his wife had taken an Uber or Lyft taxi journey to the airport to fly to Washington DC on January 1 for work.

Walshe reportedly planned to travel on January 3 but said she needed to fly earlier due to an emergency.

The police investigation was unable to confirm that Walshe had ever taken a taxi to the airport.

Husband Brian Walshe also told investigators he had been shopping for his mother on New Year's Day, but CVS surveillance was unable to support the alibi.

Police reportedly searched the dumpster near Walsh's mother's home after seeing Brian Walshe dispose of items there. Walsh has been arrested for misleading authorities

Walshe did not tell police he had spent about $450 in cash buying gloves, tape and cleaning supplies from a Home Depot in Massachusetts either.

Walshe was sighted wearing a black surgical mask and blue surgical gloves.

The trip was reportedly made during the time he was supposed to pick up his children from school, although the school was not open on January 2.

Ana Walshe was only reported missing - by her employer - on January 4.

Police then found a hacksaw, hatchets, parts of a rug, used cleaning supplies, and bloody trash bags in dumpsters at the Peabody transfer station on the other side of Boston.

Officials later announced that they had discovered blood in the basement of the Walshe family home in Cohasset, along with a damaged and bloody knife.
'They couldn't keep him alive for two weeks, two weeks,' Blodgett said on a recent furlough from jail. 'That was my pride and joy. I'm lost. I'm completely lost'

Blodgett, who was caught with 4,000 fentanyl pills, accuses them of negligence

Blodgett was in jail when child welfare officials told him Jakob was brain dead

An Arizona single father who was jailed on a drug charge has accused the Department of Child Safety of failing to protect his nine-year-old son who died in their care after suffering complications from diabetes.

Richard Blodgett was jailed in December after police discovered 4,000 fentanyl pills in his possession. His son Jakob, who was found by police staying at a nearby motel, was placed in a foster home by child welfare officials.

But just days after Blodgett was taken into custody, he was informed that his son - who requires close blood sugar monitoring for Type 1 diabetes - was brain dead.

'They couldn't keep him alive for two weeks, two weeks,' the father said on a recent furlough from jail. 'That's absolutely insane. That was my pride and joy. I'm lost. I'm completely lost. My family is completely lost.'

Richard Blodgett with his son Jakob. Blodgett was arrested in December, and Jakob was placed in a foster home under the Arizona Department of Child Safety where he developed complications from diabetes and died

This 2022 photo provided by Richard Blodgett shows his son, Jakob. Blodgett said he suspects the Department of Child Safety failed in its duty to protect his son, either by not monitoring his blood sugar levels or not ensuring that Jakob had enough insulin to prevent a serious, life-threatening complication known as ketoacidosis

Blodgett said he suspects the Department of Child Safety failed in its duty to protect his son, either by not monitoring his blood sugar levels or by not ensuring that Jakob had enough insulin to prevent a serious, life-threatening complication known as ketoacidosis.

A medical examiner listed Jakob's death in late December as natural with complications from diabetes, a condition he was diagnosed with as a toddler. Specifically, Type 1 diabetes, which means his body was unable to produce enough insulin to survive.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is investigating Jakob's death. The office declined a request for an interview with Sheriff Paul Penzone, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Department of Child Safety also declined to comment specifically on the case, citing confidentiality laws. But spokesperson Darren DaRonco said, in general, that foster parents are required to receive training from a medical provider before taking in a child with any medical condition.

What is Type 1 diabetes? Type 1 diabetes affects 1.45 million Americans and is potentially life-threatening. For reasons not fully understood, the immune system turns on healthy body tissue, destroying cells in the pancreas gland that produce insulin  the hormone that enables sugar to pass from the blood into the body's cells to be used for energy. Without insulin, sugar builds up in the blood, causing widespread damage to organs. Although most sufferers develop the disease in childhood, it can first appear in adulthood  usually before the age of 30. Patients have to monitor their blood sugar levels and inject themselves with insulin medication every time they eat. Advertisement

DaRonco did not respond to further inquiries, including whether Jakob's insulin pump was removed and if the boy's regular doctor was consulted about his care - questions raised by Richard and his mother, Cheryl Doenges. They said Jakob could not manage the insulin on his own.

In the fiscal year that ended last June, about 26 children died while in the agency's custody, including from overdoses, medical conditions, natural and still undetermined causes. In the previous fiscal year, that number was 14. The figures amount to a fatality rate of about 97 per 100,000 children during that period, the most recent for which data is available.

That rate is higher than overall deaths of children in Arizona. Nationally, about 55 children died per 100,000 children in the general population of all causes in 2020 - similar to Arizona's number.

Karin Kline, director of child welfare initiatives at the Family Involvement Center in Phoenix, said the death of a child is a concern, especially if it happens under the custody of the state.

'Rest assured, somebody is going to look into it if there's an inkling that the death was a result of negligence or abuse,' she said.

Jakob and his father had been living at a motel when Blodgett was arrested in December. Blodgett, who already had a drug case pending and has spent time in prison, said was operating a backhoe much of the day and pulled over at a gas station to take a nap.

The report from the Show Low Police Department corroborated as much, but officers wrote that they suspected Blodgett nodded off as a result of drug use.

This 2022 photo provided by Richard Blodgett shows Blodgett and his son, Jakob

Authorities ultimately found more than 4,000 fentanyl pills in Blodgett's possession, according to the report. Blodgett was booked into jail in Holbrook and charged with one count of drug possession, Navajo County Superior Court documents show.

Blodgett told the AP he had been using fentanyl for pain management after he dropped 300 pounds with weight loss surgery.

'I wasn't getting high. I wasn't abusing them. I was using them to be able to work and provide for my son,' Blodgett said. 'Unfortunately, they are illegal. I can't get around that. But they were stronger than my meds, and they were working.'

Jakob was alone in the motel room when an officer picked him up and alerted the Department of Child Safety, according to the police report. Blodgett said someone at the motel always checked on his son, whom he called as police confronted him.

He told Jakob he got into trouble, and the boy asked if his father was going to be OK, Blodgett said. The two often traveled together in vast expanses of Arizona - taking selfies, stopping at gas stations to get snacks and playing with Nerf guns.

'The last time I got to see my son, he was already dead,' Blodgett said.

Doenges couldn't make the trip to see Jakob at the hospital from Washington state where she lives because of bad weather.

But she asked a friend in Arizona to sit with Jakob, pray with him and play music for him so he wasn't alone - even if he didn't know she was there.

Furloughed from jail, Blodgett arranged for a ride to Phoenix, more than three hours away, to see his son unresponsive in a hospital bed.

Hospital staff had placed a teddy bear next to the boy and a heart-shaped pendant - Blodgett kept one half and the other half will be cremated with Jakob, Doenges said.

Blodgett took pictures, hugged and kissed his son and talked to him.

The hospital had a memorial for Jakob on December 26 - the day some of his organs were harvested and later donated with Blodgett's blessing, along with a moment of silence.

Before the year ended, Blodgett was back in jail.

Doenges said her son will have to find a way to piece his life back together.

'My suggestion to him is to live a really good life in memory of Jakob and do something positive,' she said. 'He probably didn't even hear me, he's so full of grief.'
Here is the terrifying moment a bikini-barista working the drive-thru is nearly abducted by a truck driving tattooed-man armed with zip ties early Monday morning in Washington.

Video surveillance shows the man pulling up to the window in a truck around 5am at the Beankini Espresso Auburn, a drive-thru coffee shop located in a suburb near Seattle.

The suspect is seen grabbing the woman's arm with one hand while holding a looped zip tie device in the other - before he attempts to drag the victim out of the window.

The woman fights back and eventually sets herself free before the man quickly speeds off with some dollar bills falling to the ground.

Police say the man tried to 'abduct a barista during the early morning hours' and is still on the loose.

Beakini Espresso is a business that caters to coffee and espresso lovers

The victim, who asked not to be identified, told DailyMail.com through Facebook that she has worked as a barista at Beankini Espresso for nine years and said that Monday's incident was a 'random act' that had never happened before.

She said the company, which is female-owned, puts employee safety first and the shop is equipped with a silent panic button, metal doors and surveillance cameras.

She described the work atmosphere as nurturing and professional and says her boss is 'like a mother to us all' who 'treats us with the best and upmost respect.'

The employees are also provided with mace and tasers.

'Our owner allows us to shut the window on any customer and handle every situation in the way we feel comfortable. We are allowed to refuse service to anyone for any reason,' she said.

Beankini Espresso located in Auburn, Washington is a female-owned business that serves coffee and espresso through a drive-thru window. Pictured: a former employee of Beankini Espresso, not the victim

An employee poses for the now-deactivated Facebook page for Beankini Espresso

A 'now hiring' listing for Beankini Espresso was listed on their now-deactivated Facebook page

On Monday morning when the incident occurred, she said the man ordered a drink and paid for it before requesting change for a $5 bill. She said when she went back to give him the five one dollar bills, he grabbed her.

She said she, nor her longtime co-workers, had never seen the suspect before.

'I trust the police will find this predator and hopefully won't do it again to any children or young women,' she said. 'He was going to do this to someone it just happened to be me... It could have been so much worse.'

The terrifying moment the attempted abduction is about to take place

The barista is scene handing the suspect cash back before he rips out zip ties and attempts to drag her through the drive-thru window

Moments later that predator drives off after the women fights off her attacker. Police are now looking for the male suspect and asking anyone with information to contact them

The male suspect has a large tattoo on his left forearm that reads: 'Chevrolet.' The suspect remains at large, according to KOMO News .

When DailyMail.com contacted the Auburn Police Department they were unavailable for comment.

Auburn police are now asking the public anyone with information to contact the Auburn PD Tip Line at 253-288-7403.
He said the brutality of the killings indicated experience with violent crime

Former FBI agent Jonathan Gilliam said Kohberger may have killed before

Trial attorney Mercedes Colwin said a Kabar knife sheath at the scene of the brutal murders may have been left intentionally by suspect Bryan Kohberger

The University of Idaho murder suspect may have left a knife sheath at the scene to serve as a 'calling card,' according to experts, who also said the 'brutality' of the crime suggested he may have killed before.

Trial attorney Mercedes Colwin told The Dr. Phil Show that the Kabar knife sheath found at the crime scene may have been intentionally left there by suspect Bryan Kohberger, noting that the practice of leaving a personal mark after a murder was not uncommon with killers.

Colwin, who appeared on the show alongside DailyMail.com senior reporter Caitlyn Becker to break down the case, added it would not be out of character for a killer, 'especially if you think you're smarter than everybody else,' which she said Kohberger does.

Kohberger, 28, was linked to the crime via DNA found on the a knife sheath at the scene

Jonathan Gilliam, a former FBI special agent added that the 'viciousness' of the 'butchering' made him think it was 'most likely' Kohberger had committed violent crimes before the Idaho slayings.

'I think he's killed before most likely,' he said. 'Not four people, but I think he's probably stalked and potentially killed females before.'

Colwin said because the killer was so careful about covering their tracks, it was out of character they would have accidentally left behind the sheath to the murder weapon.

She said that incongruity made her think the sheath was left intentionally.

'He had gloves, at least that's what's presumed, that he had gloves. He tried to cover himself, did something to dispose of the clothing,' she said. 'If he in fact is the killer, then of course, this is something that could have just been a calling card and left it there.'

'We've seen this with other killers, it's their calling card, 'I got this.'

'I don't think this investigation is going to continue, indefinitely. I think Jonathan's right, we're going to presumably find the knife,' she added.

This was the knife sheath left at the crime scene

Trial attorney Mercedes Colwin said the Kabar knife sheath found at the crime scene may have been intentionally left there by the killer

Gilliam said he thought it was likely the knife used to murder Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin will likely be found and could bolster the case against Kohberger.

'I think they'll find that knife. I think the knife could potentially be found, because I think  like the car, and these things,' he said.

'I think these are part of his operational tools. It's no different than a go-bag for me.'

Colwin agreed the knife would eventually be found.

'I don't think this investigation is going to continue, indefinitely. I think Jonathan's right, we're going to presumably find the knife,' she added.

One prominent criminologist has suggested suspected University of Idaho murderer Bryan Kohberger did not leave behind critical evidence at the scene on accident

Kohberger is charged with the murder of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20

This is the Moscow, Idaho home where the four students were found murdered

Forensics specialist Joseph Scott Morgan joined the panel and agreed with Gilliam that the killer may have killed previously.

He said the killer may not have committed mass-murder before, but that single slayings were not improbable.

'If he's the guy, you think this was his first murder?' Dr. Phil asked.

'Murder? Possibly. Bad act? No,' Morgan replied.

Kohberger attended Pleasant Valley Intermediate School in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, where he developed a crush on fellow student Kenely and began pursuing her romantically. They are both pictured in their school yearbook photos

Kim Kenely, 27, contacted FBI agents after learning about former sixth-grade classmate Bryan Kohberger's arrest

FBI agents have interviewed Kohberger's middle school crush in hopes of piecing together the psyche of the man they believe is responsible for the gruesome murders.

Kim Kenely, 27, contacted the bureau shortly after learning her former classmate had been arrested for allegedly knifing the four housemates to death just 15 minutes from where he was studying in November.

The two were sixth-grade students at Pleasant Valley Intermediate School in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, when Kohberger, 28, developed a crush and began romantically pursuing the girl who would go on to be a high school cheerleader.

'She told the FBI whatever she could tell them,' Kenely's mother Sandra confirmed to DailyMail.com.

'It was so long ago. I couldn't imagine what she had to tell the FBI. I guess it was for the character purpose.'

Kohberger seemed to turn his life around in high school where he took up boxing and lost weight

In a yearbook photo, Kohberger's caption said he aspired to be an Army Ranger. Previously overweight and bullied, he lost about 100 pounds and transformed into a 'totally different person'

Kohberger, then a chubby, awkward misfit, would become relentless in his pursuit, repeatedly leaving love letters in her locker and telling her he liked her, according to the mom.

'He would always say, "Oh Kim, I think you're very pretty." Just like weird comments. And she'd say, "Oh my God, leave me alone."

'She did not give him the time of day,' the mom noted. 'When kids are little, they're mean. They don't say, "Oh my god, thank you, but no."

Kenely would eventually tell Kohberger to buzz off, breaking his heart.

At the time she lived in Sciota, in rural eastern Pennsylvania, 90 miles north of Philadelphia and a 30-minute drive from Kohberger's home in Albrightsville.

She has since left the area and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she works as an occupational therapist at an assisted living facility.
Officials have often teased appearances by Putin, only to cancel last minute

He said it would be part of events for anniversary of Leningrad siege breaking

Vladimir Putin is set to make an 'important statement' about his invasion, according to a Moscow-appointed official in a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Administration Council of the Zaporizhzhia region, announced the Russian president would be delivering the speech on Wednesday.

The address will be part of events marking the 80th anniversary of when Russians broke the siege of Leningrad by the forces of Nazi Germany, when Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to the city on 18 January 1943.

As chairman of the We Are Together with Russia, Rogov advocates for the occupied regions of Ukraine to be fully absorbed into the Russian federation.

Vladimir Putin is set to make an 'important statement' about his invasion, according to a Moscow-appointed official in a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine

He made the announcement on his Telegram channel, and it was later reported by Russian media. However, no official statement from the Kremlin has yet been made.

Public appearances by Putin have often been teased by Russian officials, before being cancelled at the last minute. The practice makes Putin's movements difficult to track, and could be a tactic for that exact purpose.

It was claimed today the Russian despot has become 'withdrawn, silent and deeply preoccupied' as he undergoes new medical treatment.

The 80th anniversary celebrated will mark when Soviet forces managed to open a narrow land corridor to Leningrad - now called St. Petersburg - during the Second World War on 18 January 1943.

Nazi forces besieged the city from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944. But it was January 18, 1943 that marked a turning point in the Soviet efforts to break the seige.

It is seen as a key moment in Moscow's victory over the Nazis in eastern Europe in the Second World War. To this day, Russia often shamelessly invokes its battle against the Nazis as a means to justify its war in Ukraine.

Putin and his Kremlin allies have often claimed they are working to 'deniazify' Ukraine, despite its claims of Kyiv being led by a Nazi government being baseless.

The Russian leader had been expected in the north-western city this week, with reports suggesting he was planning to appear at the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad for a flower laying ceremony.

A Ukrainian service member looks out from a BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, on a frontline near the town of Soledar in Donetsk region, January 14, 2023

It was unclear on Tuesday what the topic of Putin's touted speech would be about, but it's announcement comes after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine was entering 'a decisive phase.'

Russia has made small gains in the eastern Donbas region, largely taking control of Soledar - a small salt mining town near the more significant target of Bakhmut.

Kyiv says it is still fighting there: 'Our units are located in Soledar and are constantly hitting the enemy with fire,' Serhiy Cherevaty, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said.

The claimed victory gave Putin a rare win in the war after a string of embarrassing defeats since his forces were pushed back from the Kyiv region in the early months of the war - although Soledar is a far cry from Putin's ultimate goal of full control.

Ukraine came a step closer on Tuesday to winning the fleet of modern battle tanks it hopes could turn the course of the war against Russia, after the West's big holdout Germany said this would be the first item on its new defence minister's agenda.

In an interview with German media on Sunday, Stoltenberg meanwhile said Ukraine can expect more deliveries of heavy weapons from Western countries soon.

'We are in a decisive phase of the war,' Stoltenberg said. 'Therefore, it is important that we provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win.'

Nearly 11 months after Russia invaded, Kyiv says a fleet of Western battle tanks would give its troops the mobile firepower to drive Russian troops out in decisive battles that will be fought into 2023.

German-made Leopard battle tanks, workhorse of armies across Europe, are widely seen as the only plausible option available in sufficient numbers. But they cannot be delivered without authorisation from Berlin, which has so far demurred.

Elsewhere, In the central city of Dnipro, authorities called an end to the search for survivors in the ruins of an apartment building destroyed during Russian missile attacks on Saturday.

Forty-four people were confirmed killed and 20 still unaccounted for in the attack, the deadliest for civilians of a three-month Russian missile bombardment campaign. Seventy-nine people were wounded and 39 rescued from the rubble.

Ukrainian soldiers equip trenches on a field not far from Soledar, January 14, 2023

In an appearance on Tuesday at a meeting with top officials including the finance minister and central bank chief, Putin admitted the Russian economy was likely to have shrunk by 2.5% in 2022, but that it was performing better than most experts had predicted, in part thanks to a strong harvest.

He said Russia now had a better grasp of the economic challenges ahead than when Western sanctions were first stepped up in response to its military campaign.

'The actual dynamics turned out to be better than many expert forecasts,' Putin said in televised remarks. 'Some experts in our country, not to mention foreign ones, predicted a decline [in gross domestic product] of 10% and 15% or even 20%. For the year as a whole, it is expected to fall by 2.5%.'

The conflict in Ukraine and ensuing barrage of Western sanctions have upended some sectors of Russia's economy, cutting its biggest banks off from the SWIFT financial network, curbing its access to technology and restricting its ability to export oil and gas.

While the government and central bank have acknowledged difficulties, Moscow says its economy is resilient and that sanctions have boomeranged against the West by driving up inflation and energy prices.

'Thank God we had good results in agriculture,' he said. 'It's vital to allow this sector to profit.'

Russia posted a record current account surplus last year, the central bank said, as a crash in imports combined with robust earnings on oil and gas imports brought a net $227 billion of cash into the country.

Experts say Russia's economy is not out of the woods yet, with sanctions escalating and restrictions on Western technology exports set to take a long-term toll.
The case of Tyre Nichols, the man who was hospitalized and later died following a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, sparked protests and a probe into the incident.

The family of the victim is demanding police authorities release the official body camera footage and security video of the encounter. Nichols was taken to the hospital in critical condition after Memphis law enforcement personnel stopped him for reckless driving on Jan. 7, 2023, as revealed by a statement from the police department.

Memphis Traffic Stop Death

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump is the one who is representing the family of Nichols and is asking police to release video from the encounter. In a statement, he added that "all of the available information tells us that this was the tragic and preventable death of a young man."

Crump argued that nobody should ever lose their life over a simple traffic stop, adding that the footage is the only way for them to determine the true narrative of why and how the incident played out, as per NBC News.

On Monday, family members of Nichols demonstrated outside of the National Civil Rights Museum alongside protesters. They held up signs that featured photos of the victim and were accompanied by Nichol's stepfather, Rodney Wells, for their demonstrations over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

Police officers said that a "confrontation" between Nichols and law enforcement personnel occurred during the traffic stop. They said that the victim ran away, which prompted officers to make their pursuit.

The police department said that while officers were attempting to take Nichols into custody, another confrontation between the parties occurred. They added that the suspect was ultimately apprehended during the encounter. Authorities said that the suspect then complained of shortness of breath and was the time when an ambulance was called to the scene.

Read Also: Brooklyn Girl Burns to Death on Sister's 1st Birthday

Protests Against Potential Brutality

The Shelby County District Attorney's Office was contacted due to Nichols' conditions and TBI special agents were also requested to conduct a use-of-force investigation. In a statement, the Memphis Police Department said that the officers involved in the encounter would be routinely relieved of duty pending the outcome of the probe, according to ABC News.

The TBI said that three days after Nichols was transferred to the hospital, on Jan. 10, 2023, he succumbed to his injuries. Five days after the Black man's death, the Memphis Police Department announced that it had immediately launched its own administrative investigation of the incident over potential policy violations.

In a statement released on Sunday, Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis said that after reviewing of various information regarding the incident, he has found that it was necessary to take immediate and appropriate action.

The internal investigation of the police department is expected to be completed later this week. In a Sunday statement, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland added that they took departmental violations very seriously.

Wells noted that his stepson died due to a cardiac arrest and kidney failure that he got as a result of getting beaten up by police officers during the encounter. He added that when they got to the hospital, they were left devastated, said CBS News.

Related Article: Indiana University Stabbing Suspect's Potential Motive

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Black attorneys have slammed San Francisco's reparations committee for its proposal to give every longtime black resident a $5million payout in the summer.

Leo Terrell and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder called the proposal 'outrageous, unconstitutional and unlawful' and even racist in an interview on Fox News' Hannity Monday night - and vowed to fight it.

They demanded to know who is going to fund the large payout  estimated to cost the city at least $50billion  noting that California was never a slave state.

But the woke city is already preparing to move forward with the proposal, with the reparations committee saying it will submit the plan to Mayor London Breed, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission in June.

Black attorneys slammed San Francisco's proposal to provide every black resident with $5million as racist in an interview on Hannity Monday night

Under the proposal announced Monday, anyone who has identified as black on public records for at least 10 years and is at least 18 years old qualifies for the $5million payout.

They also must qualify for two of a number of requirements, including having been born in the city or migrated to it between 1940 and 1996 and then lived there for 13 years.

But the $5million payout is just the beginning of the draft's proposals.

It would also involve a lump sum payment to 'compensate the affected population for the decades of harms that they have experienced, and will redress the economic and opportunity losses that Black San Franciscans have endured, collectively, as the result of both intentional decisions and unintended harms perpetuated by City policy.'

The proposal also says qualifying low-income households should have their income supplemented to match the city's median income - $97,000 in 2022 - for the next 250 years.

And black residents who qualify for the program can get their debts forgiven, including their housing and student loans.

A number of other proposals include investment in San Francisco's black community, financial education, legal protections of people's reparations, tax credits, and black-owned banks being brought in to manage people's money.

The proposal says San Francisco must 'issue a formal apology for past harms, and commit to making substantial ongoing, systemic and programmatic investments in Black communities to address historical harms.'

Terrell and Elder, though, say the plan is racist  using taxpayer money to provide black people with funds unavailable to residents of other races.

As Elder described it: 'Reparations is the extraction of money from people who were never slave owners to people who were never slaves.'

Terrell, a Fox News contributor, is vowing to fight against the proposed measure.

'It's not ever going to get implemented,' he told guest host Pete Hegseth. 'I'll be the first lawyer to fight against this.'

He continued: 'This is outrageous. It's unlawful. It's unconstitutional. It's racist. But it's not surprising it came from California on the day of MLK's birthday.

Leo Terrell, a Fox News contributor, vowed to fight the proposal he called 'outrageous, unconstitutional and unlawful'

Both he and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder slammed the proposal as racist, saying Democrats are playing the 'race card'

'We're talking about a racist program to benefit individuals who happen to be black  $5million,' Terrell said, noting, 'California was a free state.

'Who's going to pay for it?' he asked. 'Why should they get $5million? Because of skin color? It's insulting.'

Elder, who ran for governor in 2021, also noted that California was never a slave state and San Francisco was never a slave city.

'Furthermore, slavery was a Democratic institution. Why don't Democrats pay?' he asked, rhetorically. 'Jim Crow was a Democratic institution. Why don't Democrats pay?'

He went on to claim that 'very few Republicans owned slaves,' and asked why Republicans should 'pay a dime.

'The whole thing is absolutely insulting.'

Both attorneys accused the Democrats in charge in the woke city of 'playing the race card,' with Terrell saying: 'They need to keep blacks on the government payroll because, without the black population, there is no Democratic Party.

'They have a race card issue and they're never going to let that card go,' he said.

'This country has no systemic racism,' he claimed. 'That's something in 1955. In 2023, we have no institutional racism.

'But you can't tell that to a Democrat.'

The proposal was compiled by the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee, chaired by Eric McDonnell

A red-line map cited in the proposal. The map was created for banks to rate the safety of loans given to residents of certain areas of the city. The purported riskiest - the red zones - were black neighborhoods

Advocates of the proposal say it is necessary to right the wrongs of previous generations, that are still affecting black communities today.

In a draft report issued last month, the San Francisco Reparations Advisory Committee said the proposal will 'address the public policies explicitly created to subjugate black people in San Francisco by upholding and expanding the intent and legacy of chattel slavery.

'While neither San Francisco nor California adopted the institution of chattel slavery, the tenets of segregation, white supremacy and systemic repression and exclusion of black people were codified through legal and extralegal actions, social codes and judicial enforcement.'

The proposal also cites a number of city initiatives from decades past that studies show were racially motivated and had debilitating effects on the black population.

Some were as simple as early legal restrictions against where black people could live in the city and the kinds of jobs they could hold.

Others were as far-reaching as city-wide zoning measures which left black communities marginalized effectively in ghettos, or else entirely razed to the ground and left vacant for years.

The proposal will be submitted to Mayor London Breed and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission in June

People speak at a reparations task force meeting in San Francisco in April 2022

The proposal will be submitted to San Francisco leadership in June.

'There are so many efforts that result in incredible reports that just end up gathering dust on a shelf,' San Francisco Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin told the SF Chronicle.

'We cannot let this be one of them,' he added.

The proposal was compiled by the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee [AARAC], which was commissioned by the Board of Supervisors. It was first presented to leadership in December.

'Centuries of harm and destruction of black lives, black bodies and black communities should be met with centuries of repair,' AARAC chair Eric McDonnell told the SF Chronicle. 'If you look at San Francisco, it's very much a tale of two cities.'

The city's proposals come in the wake of California's Reparations Task Force boss Kamilah Moore sharing her demands for payback.

She said any black Californians descended from slaves were owed $1million each.

Moore also said any black resident who'd suffered housing discrimination at the hands of California was owed $223,500.

She asserted that redlining - refusing loans such as mortgages to poorer people - had kept many black Californians in poverty between 1933 and 1977.

Despite the huge cost of complying with the proposals, Moore insists they'd actually benefit the Californian economy by stimulating consumer spending.
BBC Radio 2 yet to announce the host and details of the new mid-morning show

Broadcaster, 71, will present a show from 10am to 1pm on the Bauer radio station

Mr Bruce told millions of listeners news this morning and urged them to follow

He will start his new job at Greatest Hits Radio in April after 45 years at the BBC

Rylan Clark has been tipped among the favourites to take over from Ken Bruce after the legendary DJ became the latest older star to leave BBC Radio 2.

Bruce, 71, has jumped ship after 45 years for commercial rival Greatest Hits Radio, where radio insiders predicted he could be on 500,000 a year.

Radio consultant Paul Chantler suggested Radio 2 could look for a younger name to replace him, and named former X Factor star Rylan Clark as a possible candidate.

Clark, 34, praised Bruce in a Twitter post today, writing: 'A beautiful man who's always been so lovely to me at BBC Radio 2.

'Going to be so missed on air, but personally I'll miss having a beer in a foreign country discussing anything and everything whilst at Eurovision. Thanks for always being so lovely.'

Ken Bruce announced today that he was leaving BBC Radio 2. Rylan Clark (right) has been tipped to replace him

Today Clark praised Bruce in a Twitter post today, calling him 'a beautiful man who's always been so lovely to me at BBC Radio 2'

Mr Chantler told MailOnline: 'Bauer, are trying to build Greatest Hits Radio into much more of a rival to Radio 2. They will undoubtedly get an excellent return on their investment in Ken through sponsorship of the daily PopMaster competition which advertisers will love to be associated with because of its popularity.

'Radio 2 is definitely pitching itself towards a younger audience now, having just brought in Scott Mills and phasing out classic songs from the sixties and seventies during daytime programming.

'It'll be interesting to see who replaces Ken. My guess is Rylan, who's become a favourite on Saturdays and is has wide appeal thanks to his TV profile.

'It seems the BBC is abandoning older music listeners. Commercial stations like Boom Radio and Serenade Radio are taking care of the tastes of the 50+ audience leaving Radio 2 to appeal to 35 to 50 year olds.'

Mr Chantler added: 'By the way, I'm surprised the BBC didn't do more to protect the PopMaster competition from being 'stolen' by a commercial rival. PopMaster has a big potential value to Bauer.

'The BBC could have taken steps to prevent that legally even if Ken moved . Look what happened with TV's Top Gear which stayed with the BBC even though Jeremy, Richard and James as presenters moved to Amazon. It appears someone in the BBC has missed a trick here.'

Bruce announced today that 'the time is right' for him to move on from the weekday mid-morning show he's presented since 1986 - with just a two year gap between 1990 and 1992 - having first walked into the corporation in 1977.

He informed his 9million listeners this morning that he would quit in March - but he is not retiring, heading into commercial radio and taking his much-loved PopMaster quiz with him.

And in an advert for his new mid-morning show, he urged people to follow him as fans vowed to never listen to Radio 2 again when he leaves complaining that older presenters are being swapped for younger, less talented broadcasters, like Scott Mills.

Ken said: 'Nothing stays the same forever. I've done everything it is possible to do at Radio 2. I've always felt I've got something more to prove. I hope that when people hear the news they will say: 'Sorry to hear you're going Ken, but maybe I'll follow you to wherever it is you're going'.'

Ken Bruce said he has done all he could at the BBCV and wants a fresh challenge for the end of his career

Listeners have vowed never to return to Radio 2 when Ken is gone

Radio 2 fans have accused the BBC of ageism as a string of older DJs step back, including Pauk O'Grady, Steve Wright, Graham Norton and Simon Mayo, replaced by ex-Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills, RuPaul's Michelle Visage, Waterloo Road's Angela Griffin, and DJ Spoony

Mr Bruce is the latest veteran to leave the station, but he insists it is his decision. Last summer Paul O'Grady exited Radio 2 after Steve Wright, 68, Graham Norton, 59, and Simon Mayo, 64, all left and were replaced with a younger line up. Vanessa Feltz, 60, and Craig Charles, 58, have also moved on.

Experts say Greatest Hits Radio boss Ben Cooper, who joined Bauer last year from the BBC where he ran Radio 1, is adding Mr Bruce to his roster of Simon Mayo and Jackie Brambles as they try to steal listeners from the increasingly younger-focused BBC Radio 2.

Ken's listeners have claimed they could hear he was 'less enthusiastic about playing some of those newer records' that his bosses insisted on as they try to bring in younger listeners.

Members of the Ken Bruce Preservation Society of superfans on Facebook are also suggesting that he's been unhappy with the Radio2 playlist for some time.

One upset listener declared that the news was so shocking that 'there should be one week of national mourning', adding of the BBC: 'Ken Bruce not doing PopMaster is like the ravens leaving the Tower'.

Another said it was a further sign of the 'mass exodus' at the BBC, calling the Glaswegian: 'A truly great broadcaster who made it sound so easy & utterly effortless. Second only to Wogan'. One critic said: 'With Ken Bruce leaving and Steve Wright gone they might as well shut Radio 2 down'

The 71-year-old, who is leaving in March, joined the corporation in 1977 as a BBC Radio Scotland presenter and his first regular slot on Radio 2 was the Saturday Late Show in 1984. The following year he fronted the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, taking over from Sir Terry Wogan.

Radio 2 will announce the host and details of the new mid-morning show at a later date.

The broadcaster, 71, will present a show from 10am to 1pm on the Bauer radio station, alongside presenters including Simon Mayo at Drivetime and Jackie Brambles in the early evening.

Ken said: 'Nothing stays the same forever and I have decided the time is right for me to move on from Radio 2 when I reach the end of my current contract in March. It's been a tremendously happy time for me: I've made many friends and worked with many wonderful colleagues. However I feel that after 45 years of full-time broadcasting on BBC Radio it's time for a change.

'I would stress that this is entirely my decision but some new opportunities have come up and I would like to continue my career in a slightly different way in the next few years, the details of which will be revealed shortly.

'I will always be very proud of my association with the BBC and Radio 2 in particular and I'd like to thank everyone who has helped to make the mid-morning show a success'.

This move follows a number of high-profile departures and reshuffling at BBC Radio of recent, including Scott Mills leaving BBC Radio 1 after 24 years at the network to join Radio 2 for a new weekday show.

The radio DJ took over the 2-4pm slot from presenter Steve Wright, who stepped down from his afternoon show at the end of September after 23 years.

Wright continues to present his Radio 2 Sunday Love Songs programme as well as specials on the station.

Paul O'Grady also quit his Radio 2 Sunday afternoon show, which he presented for around 14 years, because he was not happy with a schedule shake-up which saw him share the slot with comic Rob Beckett.

Shortly after the Radio 2 confirmed his exit - Bauer Media said Ken was off to Greatest Hits Radio, where other hosts include 'The Professor of Pop' Paul Gambaccini, who has been so critical of the BBC.

Ken Bruce said 'What better way to celebrate my forty-five years in radio than with a new adventure and a brand-new show on Greatest Hits Radio.

'I say brand-new but there will still be PopMaster, me and my musings and all the great records you know and love from the 70s, 80s and 90s. I'm looking forward to getting started and to you joining me for my very first show. See you in April'

Bruce has also presented Radio 2's coverage of Eurovision since 1988, and has been a regular presenter of Sunday Night is Music Night.

Ken in the studio in 1984. He joined the BBC in 1977

Ken Bruce (pictured with his good friend Rod Stewart) is leaving the BBC after 45 years, quitting Radio 2 for Greatest Hits Radio

Ken with stars Sir Cliff Richard and Beyonce

His Radio 2 show is famous for a number of segments including PopMaster, a quiz to test music knowledge which has run for 25 years, Tracks of My Years, where a famous person chooses their favourite records and more recently, The Piano Room, featuring live music from a range of great artists.

Lorna Clarke, director of BBC Music, added: 'Ken is an extraordinary broadcaster with an exceptional career over many decades.

'He has been part of every significant occasion marked by BBC Radio 2 and we, his faithful audience and the Radio 2 all-star line-up, will miss his warm humour and wit. Congratulations on a brilliant career.'
Blair had traveled to Mexico with his wife Kimberly Williams to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary

Authorities investigating the death of an American lawyer at a resort in Mexico have learned that a cut on the man's forehead could not have been the result of a fall from his balcony.

Elliot Blair, 33, was found dead on the grounds of the Las Rocas Resort and Spa in Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, during the early hours of Saturday morning.

The Orange County public defender was celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his Kimberly Williams, also a public defender in Orange County, when he fell to his death from the third-floor balcony after the couple had gone out for dinner.

A local law enforcement official told ABC News on Monday that the injury that Blair sustained on his forehand 'would not have been caused by a fall.'

Elliot Blair (right) died early Saturday morning at the Los Rocas Resort and Spa in Playas de Rosarito, Mexico. The 33-year-old California public defender traveled with his wife, Kimberly Williams (left), to celebrate their one-year anniversary. Mexican authorities have said that he fell from his fourth-floor balcony. However, a law enforcement official told ABC News that an injury found on his forehead 'would not have been caused by the fall'

A worker at the Los Rocas Resort and Spa found California public defender Elliot Blair lying on the ground around 1:15 am Saturday

The family told KABC-TV that they have 'reasons to believe, and evidence, that there was possible foul play,' but that they didn't want to intervene with the inquiry.

The Baja California State Attorney General's Office said in a statement Monday that Blair's death was 'an unfortunate accident' which took place just one day before their anniversary.

The prosecutor's office released a second statement indicting his death 'was the result of an unfortunate accident due to the fall of the deceased from a third floor.'

A U.S Department of State spokesperson told the outlet that they were aware of Blair's death, but didn't comment any further as a courtesy to the grieving family.

Blair and his wife both worked as public defenders in Orange County

He and his wife Kim (both pictured) were married in California in January 2022

DailyMail.com reached out to Las Rocas Resort and Spa for comment.

A employee at the hotel came across Blair's body on the ground and alerted police around 1:15am, local news portal Patrulla 646 Codigo Rojo reported.

Cops arrived on the scene and found Blair lying face down and unresponsive. Paramedics arrived thereafter and declared him dead.

The family has been working with U.S. government officials to gather information into his death, according to a GoFundMe account that has been set up to help repatriate Blair's body to California.

'We wish we could provide everyone with more information, but very limited information has been disclosed by authorities in Mexico. He was the victim of a brutal crime,' the crowdfunding account indicated.
Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith has fiercely rebuked Iran as 'maniacal, brutal, violent and dangerous' after the regime used Prince Harry to defend their execution of a British-Iranian dual national.

Former Iranian deputy defence minister Alireza Akbari was accused of spying by Tehran and executed last week despite attempts by the British Foreign Office to free him.

On Saturday morning, Rishi Sunak slammed the execution as a 'callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people'.

In response today, Tehran escalated the row by using Prince Harry's confession that he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan, saying Britain was in 'no position to preach' about human rights.

Fighting back in the war of words, Duncan Smith retorted: 'I think it was a personal mistake for Harry, and I think it should have been expunged from the book for good personal reasons.

'But also as a British citizen himself and as a member of the constitutional family, which is the constitutional head of the UK government, hopefully he will reflect on that and not do something similar again. It's not helpful.'

But he added: 'Iran criticising us on human rights grounds would be a joke if it wasn't for the fact that they are maniacal, brutal, violent and dangerous.'

The Prime Minister's official spokesman also waded in on the row, accusing Iran of a 'barbaric' and illegitimate execution of a joint British national.

They said: 'We will not be drawn into conflating what are two separate issues.

'No one should be in any doubt that the execution of Alireza Akbari was a barbaric and politically motivated act with no legitimacy and comparisons between that and servicemen and women carrying out legitimate actions would be entirely false.'

Prince Harry used Spare to confess that he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan. The Duke is pictured on patrol during his deployment in 2012 (above)

Meanwhile ex-foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind told MailOnline that the comparison was 'absurd'.

'It shows the Iranians realise how badly they have behaved. The attempt to compare it with British troops, at the request of the Afghan government, fighting to protect Afghan democracy, is an absurd comparison by any standards,' he said.

'It's an attempt at cheap propaganda that won't convince even Iranians, never mind people in this country.'

He added on Harry's revelations: 'The best people to comment on what he has said are his military colleagues and they have already expressed views.'

Earlier today, the official Twitter account of the Iran Foreign Ministry accused the Duke of Sussex of showing no remorse over the killings of 'innocent' lives and accused Britain of allowing this 'war crime'.

It said: 'The British regime, whose royal family member sees the killing of 25 innocent people as removal of chess pieces and has no regrets over the issue, and those who turn a blind eye to this war crime, are in no position to preach others on human rights.'

The post was referring to a controversial passage about the death count from Harry's new memoir Spare which is already the subject of a mounting backlash.

Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith has fiercely rebuked Iran as a 'maniacal, brutal, violent and dangerous' regime

The official Twitter account (pictured) of the Iran Foreign Ministry accused the Duke of Sussex of showing no remorse over the killings of 'innocent' lives and accused Britain of allowing this 'war crime'. 'The British regime, whose royal family member, sees the killing of 25 innocent people as removal of chess pieces and has no regrets over the issue, and those who turn a blind eye to this war crime, are in no position to preach others on human rights,' it said

His comments, which have also sparked security fears, have already provided the Taliban and extremist Anjem Choudary with ammunition to spout propaganda against British troops.

The former soldier used his book to detail how he had gunned down 25 militants, feeling neither satisfaction nor shame about his actions while serving in Afghanistan some 10 years ago.

He added that to in order deal with the incidents he dehumanised his victims by seeing them as 'chess pieces' and not people.

The passage was seized on by the Iranian regime as tensions between Tehran and London escalate in the wake of Akbari's execution.

Akbari, 61, had moved to the UK with an investment visa and had become a naturalised citizen here but was lured back to Iran by the security services three years ago.

But the ex-deputy Iranian defence minister was arrested in 2019 and convicted of spying for the UK  a charge which he denied.

His death last week has caused outrage in Britain with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calling it a 'callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime'.

Ministers have imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on the Iranian prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri.

The Iranian regime has used Prince Harry's confession that he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan to take aim at Britain amid the escalating row over the execution of Alireza Akbari (above)

Harry's comments, which have also sparked security fears, have already provided the Taliban and extremist Anjem Choudary with ammunition to spout propaganda against British troops

Nine men are publicly flogged up to 39 times each by the Taliban in front of a packed football stadium Advertisement

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has also temporarily withdrawn Britain's ambassador to Iran, Simon Shercliff.

The UK is now considering designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the most powerful wing of its military, as a terrorist organisation in a sign of its hardening stance towards the Islamic republic.

In the string of Tweets, the Iran Foreign Ministry branded Britain's 'uproar and the support of some European self-proclaimed defenders of human rights' as a 'sign of their evasion and violation of law'.

It added: 'Britain's encroachment on the national security of the Islamic republic of Iran has been met with a decisive response from the Iranian intelligence &Judiciary.'

Tensions between the West and Iran are already running high over Tehran's crackdown on nationwide protests for women's right - as well as its support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine with drones.

Iran has arrested at least 14,000 people in the wave of protests sparked by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested for allegedly breaching the strict dress code for women.

Journalists, filmmakers, lawyers and activists have been arrested, and several executions have been reported as well as the deaths of hundreds of protesters in the clashes between Iran's security forces.

Meanwhile, the regime has been arming Russia with Iranian-made suicide drones which have been causing havoc in Ukraine. Moscow has used them against civilian infrastructure, such as power stations, and on civilian buildings.

Tensions between the West and Iran are already running high over Tehran's crackdown on nationwide protests for women's right. Pictured: Protesters are seen in Tehran in September

The Iranian regime has been arming Russia with Iranian-made suicide drones (pictured) which have been causing havoc in Ukraine. Moscow has used them against civilian infrastructure, such as power stations, and on civilian buildings

Harry spent a decade in the British Army before taking up full-time royal duties in 2015. During that time, he did two tours of Afghanistan.

The prince was first deployed to Helmand province as a forward air controller in 2007, but his first tour of duty was cut short.

He returned in 2012, by which time he was responsible for firing a 45million Apache helicopter's 30mm cannon and Hellfire missiles.

Spare is the first time he has specified the number of insurgents he personally killed during his time in Afghanistan. The Prince said that he flew on six missions that resulted in the 'taking of human lives' in his autobiography.

Harry, who was known as 'Captain Wales' in the military, wrote that he did not think of those killed 'as people' but instead 'chess pieces' he had taken off the board.

'You can't kill people if you see them as people', he wrote. Instead, he said he saw them as 'chess pieces removed from the board'... as 'bad guys eliminated'.

Tehran is not the only brutal regime in the Middle East to have criticised Harry for his confession, after the Taliban themselves slammed the Prince earlier this month.

Speaking to MailOnline, the militants branded him a 'big mouth loser' after his revelation, and stressed that while their fighters were the ultimate victors of the conflict in Afghanistan, Harry had 'fled to his grandmother's palace' and is now struggling to maintain a place in the Royal Family.

Taliban spokesman Abul Qahar Balkhi, pictured, said Harry's comments are 'a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans'

Taliban commander Molavi Agha Gol, 32, said that he thought Harry was attention seeking with his book and boasted that the 'chess pieces' had taken over the board following the 2021 withdrawal of international troops.

Speaking from a checkpoint outside the town of Islam Qala on the border with Iran, he said: 'I do not even believe what he said about the Mujahidin. He is a loser and scared to go to a combat zone. We made history by kicking him and his army out of our homeland and he should be very angry about that.'

He added: 'Do not believe whatever losers tell you. I see news about him a lot on my Facebook feed and really think he's gone mad and needs a doctor immediately.

'Even if he believes [that he killed 25 Taliban], our martyred Mujahidin are in heaven but his invading friends are burning in Hell and I really hope I was in Helmand when he was there, to make him understand what real chess pieces are.

'If he's a real man and not a f***ing loser, come to Afghanistan again.'

An official in the Taliban's ministry for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice, said in a statement: 'Pieces of chess are now in power and he's struggling to maintain his place within his own family.'

Abul Qahar Balkhi, spokesman for the Taliban ministry of foreign affairs, said Prince Harry's comments were 'a microcosm of the trauma experienced by Afghans at the hands of occupation forces'.

Molavi Keramudin, a Taliban commander in the central city of Ghor, called for an investigation into the prince, saying: 'It's him claiming that he martyred the Taliban, but it may be civilians too. If England has a system and regulations, they should investigate and see whom he killed.

In the summer of 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with a lighting offensive that swept across the country in a matter of weeks

'He is a so-called prince and should not freely walk after killing civilians. It is not acceptable. He has problems and is just climbing over whatever he can to stop himself and his country falling into sh*t.'

Molavi Nabi Jan, a Taliban official in the western Afghan city of Herat, said: 'He's a dirty idiot and a drunk jackal. He has destroyed all bridges behind him and is now just trying to avoid drowning in history.

'Using the Taliban and his family is his last tool to make people talk about him. I know him very well. God left him on his own to give him a very big punishment at the end.'

An official in the southern Helmand province told MailOnline: 'He's evil. He's made lots of Afghan women widows and lots of children orphans and he's proud of that.'

Another Taliban official, Anas Haqqani, tweeted: 'Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans. They had families who were waiting for their return. Among the killers of Afghans, not many have your decency to reveal their conscience and confess to their war crimes.

'The truth is what you've said. Our innocent people were chess pieces to your soldiers, military and political leaders. Still, you were defeated in that 'game' of white & black 'squares'.

'I don't expect that the ICC [International Criminal Court] will summon you or the human rights activists will condemn you, because they are deaf and blind for you. But hopefully these atrocities will be remembered in the history of humanity.'

In the summer of 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with a lightning offensive that swept across the country in a matter of weeks, overthrowing the Western-backed government that was installed by the US, UK and their allies.

Leaders of the government fled the country as Western coalition forces pulled out, culminating in the collapse of the Afghan military and the Taliban capturing Kabul on August 15, 2021.

Despite promising a more progressive regime than when they were last in power in 2001, the Taliban have eroded the rights of women and minority groups in the country, most recently banning women from attending university - a move that drew fierce condemnation from the international community.
Vladimir Putin's notorious 'Iron Doll' TV host has claimed train strikes in Britain are putting brothels out of business in a bizarre propaganda rant against the UK.

In her latest outlandish swipe at Britain, Olga Skabeyeva - known for her vitriolic backing of the war in Ukraine - claimed the recent industrial action has deprived prostitutes of clients.

'So every English brothel has already lost between 30,000 and 70,000 since January 3,' she informed Russian viewers in her prime time show.

State controlled TV in Moscow likes nothing better than disparaging stories about Britain.

Pictured: Olga Skabeyeva. 'In Britain, rail strikes have resulted in, among other things, the first time that British prostitutes cannot receive their clients,' Skabeyeva said

'In Britain, rail strikes have resulted in, among other things, the first time that British prostitutes cannot receive their clients,' said propaganda show presenter Skabeyeva, 38.

Skabeyeva said punters are 'simply are unable to get to the ladies of love'.

'Electric trains are not running,' she said.

Sex workers were now 'the poor' as a result of the industrial action, she explained.

Olga Skabeyeva said every English brothel has already lost between 30,000 and 70,000 since January 3

Skabeyeva said punters are 'simply are unable to get to the ladies of love'

Sex workers were now 'the poor' as a result of the industrial action, Skabeyeva explained

Pictured: Ukrainian official Anton Geraschenko

Her report was seized on by Ukrainian official Anton Geraschenko, with a sharp riposte.

'According to Skabeyeva, ordinary customers are now unable to get to the brothels by train because of the railway workers' strike,' he posted.

Putin's 'Iron Doll': How Russia wheels out 'monster' TV host to issue dire WW3 threats Olga Skabeyeva, dubbed Putin's 'Iron Doll', regularly spouts wild pro-Kremlin rants which have only intensified since Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on February 24 Advertisement

'Putin's faithful mouthpiece even calculated the amount of damage for each brothel.'

Even before the war began Putin's 'Iron Doll' Olga Skabeyeva was regularly spouting wild pro-Kremlin rants which have only intensified since Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on February 24 last year.

Along with her husband Yevgeny Popov, she has spread baseless conspiracy theories, overstated Moscow's war successes, parroted Kremlin lies about 'Nazis' in Ukraine, and issued dire warnings of World War Three and threats against the West.

Born in 1984 under the Soviet Union, Skabeyeva went on to study journalism at the Faculty of Journalism at Saint Petersburg State University from which she graduated with honours in 2008.

Her career began at a local newspaper, and she made a name for herself in 2012 and 2013 for her coverage of the Pussy Riot trials, the parallel anti-government rallies and subsequent criminal investigation into Russian opposition supporters.

Skabeyeva's damning reports into the anti-government rallies got her noticed by TV critics, with one describing her as Russian state TV's 'special operation forces'. A blogger known only as 'Interviewer' christened her the 'Iron doll of Putin's TV'.

The blogger described her as having 'metal in her eyes and iron in her voice' and said she 'exposes all the wretchedness of the March against scoundrels and the vile self-interest of its organizers'.

Later, in 2018, Skabeyeva was involved in efforts to discredit the British investigation into the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal by Novichok nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury.

Sergei Skripal was a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies, and it is widely accepted that Russian agents were commanded to assassinate him on British soul.

British authorities identifying two Russian suspects as being behind the poisoning which also resulted in the death of British woman Dawn Sturgess.

Despite this, Skabeyeva's television programme maintained that the case was 'an elaborate British plot to smear Russia'.

In one bizarre and homophobic report about gay marriage in the UK and France, Skabeyeva falsely told viewers that 40 percent of children in the country raised by same-sex parents 'have venereal diseases'.

Her TV show 60 Minutes, which she has hosted with her husband Popov since 2016, has made other similarly outlandish claims.

The programme has alleged that Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 - widely understood to have been shot down by a Buk surface-to-air missile launched from pro-Russian separatist-controlled territory in Ukraine - was actually destroyed by a Ukrainian jet.

It has also claimed that genocide has been carried out in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region against Russian speakers - a lie that the Kremlin has more recently pushed in order to justify Putin's brutal and illegal invasion.

Their 60 Minutes show has also called Ukraine's pro-Western government, which came to power in 2014 after a revolution, as being 'fascist'.

It is unclear when exactly Skabeyeva met and married husband Popov, but they now rank among Russia's richest propagandists with a combined fortune of more than 300 million roubles ($4 million).

Their fortune was unveiled in an investigation carried out the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) - founded by Russian jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

According to Russian investigative outlet The Insider, she is said to earn 12.8 million roubles per year, while Popov earns 12.9 million. Their only reported source of income is from a state-owned Russian media company and its Russia1 subsidiary.

Therefore, their vast wealth is otherwise unexplained. The couple reacted angrily to the report, denying that they were paid as much as was reported.
James Cleverly has told Britain's allies 'this is the time' to bring the Ukraine war to an end as the Foreign Secretary urged other nations to 'intensify' their support for Kyiv.

The Foreign Secretary predicted the supply of battle tanks to Ukraine would be 'decisive' as called on other countries to follow Britain's lead.

At the weekend, it was confirmed the UK would send a squadron of 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine.

This has piled pressure on Berlin to allow the export of German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

Other nations with such tanks in their armoury - such as Poland - are currently unable to send them to Ukraine without Germany's approval.

Speaking in Washington DC today, Mr Cleverly demanded that Western allies 'give the Ukrainians the tools they need to get the job done'.

He noted how Russia was 'on the back foot' following recent military reverses in Ukraine and claimed Vladimir Putin was attempting to 'drag this conflict out'.

James Cleverly predicted the supply of tanks to Ukraine would be 'decisive' as called on other countries to follow Britain's lead

The Foreign Secretary demanded that Western allies 'give the Ukrainians the tools they need to get the job done'

At the weekend, it was confirmed the UK would send Challenger 2 tanks (pictured above) to Ukraine

Appearing at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies thinktank, the Foreign Secretary was asked about the potential for a Russian offensive in Ukraine this spring.

'If you listen to what Putin says... he keeps making reference to Russia's military history, to the poetic narrative of Russia's military past,' he said.

'He talks about the stoicism of the Russians, he talks about their ability to endure privations for longer, they can endure hardship for longer.

'He's clearly making the case that he wants to drag this conflict out, he wants to make it a slow, attritional conflict, he wants to keep feeding young men and women into the meat grinder.

'His lack of respect for human life is shocking. But he's told us that's what he wants to do.

'And, if that's what he wants to do, we should want to do the opposite.'

Mr Cleverly said Mr Putin was currently having to keep up his invasion of Ukraine with a dwindling supply of weaponry.

'Until recently, his attacks on civilian infrastructure have been done with cruise missiles,' he added.

'He's now using ballistic missiles to do the same thing - much, much, much more expensive.

'He's doing it clearly because he's running low on other munitions.

'So this is the time, if we want to bring this to a successful conclusion - and, of course, we should and we do - we should look to bring it to a conclusion quickly.

'The conclusion has to be a Ukrainian victory and that dictates, therefore, that we need to intensify our support at this point in time, while Russia has been on the back foot, to give the Ukrainians the tools they need to get the job done.'

As part of his two-day trip to the US and Canada, Mr Cleverly is due to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken later on Tuesday for talks over what more the UK, America and Canada can do to support Ukraine.

And the Foreign Secretary made clear - following Britain's announcement of the supply of Challenger 2 tanks - that further military hardware would be at the top of his wishlist.

'We believe the provision of NATO-standard main battle tanks will be decisive in this and so we encourage others to do so,' the Foreign Secretary said.
Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is introducing a bill aimed at tackling 'white supremacy' by criminalizing certain forms of hate speech.

The Texas Democrat's Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023 would allow someone who shares white supremacist online to be prosecuted for hate crimes even if they don't act on their threats.

That has triggered an outpouring of anger from conservatives, who accused her of an attack on the First Amendment.

'In case you werent aware of what the Democrats were prioritizing in the 118th Congress, just take a look,' tweeted far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert, linking to an article that claimed it would criminalize criticism of non-white people.

'When they're not bankrupting our country, they're busy making a mockery of the First Amendment.'

Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has triggered controversy with her 'Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023' which extends criminalization of certain forms of hate speech

Jackson Lee introduced her bill last week, at the start of the 118th Congress. With Republicans in control of the House, it has no chance of ever becoming law

Jackson Lee quickly hit back, suggesting that it was time Boebert read some of the bills she tweeted about.

'Or, maybe even hire someone who could help you. This tweet is inflammatory and fact-less and you know it,' she wrote in a thread.

'For starters, it took me about 32 seconds of reading the article you cited to understand that none of you know what you are talking about.

'H.R. 61 simply deals with adding white supremacy to a list of reasons to be convicted of a hate crime.'

Her bill states: 'A person engages in a white supremacy inspired hate crime when white supremacy ideology has motivated the planning, development, preparation, or perpetration of actions that constituted a crime or were undertaken in furtherance of activity that, if effectuated, would have constituted a crime.'

Conservatives including hard-line Republican Lauren Boebert attacked the bill

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said the bill would 'gut the First Amendment'

And a conspiracy exists where a person published material advancing white supremacy and it was 'read, heard, or viewed by a person who engaged in the planning, development, preparation, or perpetration of a white supremacy inspired hate crime.'

Such a move would 'gut the First Amendment, according to George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley

'Even in today's anti-free speech environment i Congress, a recent proposed by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Tx.) is a menacing standout... ' he tweeted.

'The bill is an almost impenetrable word salad of convoluted provisions. However, what is clear (perhaps the only clear thing) is that the "Leading Against White Supremacy Act of 2023" would gut the First Amendment and create effective thought crimes.'

However, with Republicans now in control of the House, her bill has little chance of ever becoming law.
The death of a 79-year-old great-grandmother killed in a house blast triggered by a 'decades-old' faulty copper gas pipe join was accidental, an inquest jury has concluded.

Retired pub landlady Doreen Mace, originally from Erdington, Birmingham, was described by her relatives during the two-day inquest as a 'once-in-a-lifetime soul'.

She died at a house owned by her partner, David Murphy, in Dulwich Road, Kingstanding, Birmingham, on June 26 last year, in a blast that caused what the coroner described as a 'Hollywood film-esque level of destruction'.

At the start of the hearing, the inquest's 11-member jury was shown an image of a 'gas pipe separation under (the) floor of (the) living room', which was at the root of the explosion.

Retired pub landlady Doreen Mace (pictured), originally from Erdington, Birmingham, was described by her relatives during the two-day inquest as a 'once-in-a-lifetime soul'

She died at a house (above) owned by her partner, David Murphy, in Dulwich Road, Kingstanding, Birmingham , on June 26 last year

It also emerged Mr Murphy had rung UK gas distribution network Cadent at 8.22pm that Sunday reporting he could smell 'what he thought was gas', his hob was no longer working and the meter was 'making a noise'.

He was told by a call handler 'not to use any source of ignition and to ventilate the house' and that an engineer would arrive 'within the hour', the coroner said.

Less than 15 minutes after the call ended the house exploded.

Numerous 999 calls were made, the first at 8.38pm, by neighbours who described a 'huge bang' and said 129 Dulwich Road had been 'flattened' and was 'completely missing'.

The blast was so violent that it sent roof tiles through the windows of a leisure centre 114ft (35m) away, and, while initially there was only a small fire, it grew so that searches for Ms Mace had to be called off for safety reasons.

The body of Ms Mace, of Elmwood Road, Erdington, was later recovered under 3ft (1m) of rubble from the lounge at the front of the property.

Her partner, Mr Murphy, though suffering 'relatively significant injuries', survived.

He had earlier been rescued from the rubble of the kitchen, where he had been shielded by a fridge, by members of the public who carried him away using a mattress.

It also emerged Mr Murphy (pictured) had rung UK gas distribution network Cadent at 8.22pm that Sunday reporting he could smell 'what he thought was gas'

Numerous 999 calls were made, the first at 8.38pm, by neighbours who described a 'huge bang' and said 129 Dulwich Road had been 'flattened' and was 'completely missing'

Mr Murphy was not called as a witness to give evidence at the inquest by the coroner who said it was 'not necessary'.

James Bennett, Birmingham and Solihull area coroner, said: 'He indicated to police his recollection was poor, he was seriously injured, I don't think it would be appropriate to put him through the stress of recalling events in public.'

The wreckage of the house and three other neighbouring properties found to be structurally unsound were later demolished.

Opening the hearing, the coroner told the inquest 'many years ago - potentially decades', whoever installed the gas pipe had used a type of fitting which needed 'soldering', but had not done so.

'So, at that joint, it was never soldered or welded and, sadly, we reach a point where natural gas is escaping into the property. It eventually ignites, causing the explosion.

'It appears Doreen, sadly, was in the lounge at the point of the explosion.'

The coroner also heard the floorboards in the bay area of the lounge were 'bowing' because some of the joists were 'rotting'.

However, the jury later heard the boards were not directly above the joint.

Jurors, who delivered their conclusions after deliberating for just under two hours on Tuesday, found Ms Mace's cause of death was from 'consequences of an explosion that caused a house to collapse'.

The blast was so violent that it sent roof tiles through the windows of a leisure centre 114ft (35m) away, and, while initially there was only a small fire, it grew so that searches for Ms Mace had to be called off for safety reasons

The body of Ms Mace, of Elmwood Road, Erdington, was later recovered under 3ft (1m) of rubble from the lounge at the front of the property

Jurors delivered a brief record of what happened and a conclusion of accidental death.

They said the circumstances were as a result of 'a gas explosion at 129 Dulwich Road on June 26 2022, at around 8.38pm, which caused a house to collapse onto the deceased, who was in the lounge area'.

The ex-Birmingham City Council house was nearly 100 years old, with the home, privately owned in 1981, about to be sold.

Police tried to trace a history of gas works at the house but were told 'no one holds records that far back'.

Mr Bennett said the 'best estimate' was that the pipe 'had been there at least 50 years'.

The inquest later heard from Steve Critchlow, specialist Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector, who said the pipework was probably post-Second World War dating to the 1950s or 1960s.

He said the likelihood was the unsoldered joint had been 'leaking small amounts of gas' for many years, but there had been a total failure, for reasons he would only be guessing at, on June 26.

Mrs O'Brien read out a pen portrait of her grandmother calling her 'a caring, energetic and fun-loving lady with such an infectious smile' who was 'devoted to her family'.

'At time of her passing, Nan was 79 years young, still with a determination, vigour for life, on par with a person half her age,' she said.

She added her grandmother had been planning a holiday with her partner and said: 'She was and always will be our matriarch and a once-in-a-lifetime soul we are grateful to have known.'
President Joe Biden smiled and laughed Tuesday as he ignored a barrage of questions about the classified documents scandal that has engulfed his administration while a shocking new report detailed a deal made by the Justice Department to keep the FBI away from the search.

The grinning Biden stayed silent at the end of his meeting with Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte - while the media asked about the sensitive files found at his D.C. think tank and garage at his Wilmington home.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal revealed on Tuesday that the Justice Department considered having FBI agents monitor Biden's personal attorneys as they searched his Wilmington and Rehoboth homes but decided against it, deciding Biden's lawyers were cooperating with them.

Biden's legal team, after the discovery of the first tranche of documents at his D.C. think tank, talked with the DoJ about having FBI agents present while Biden's lawyers conducted the additional searches.

Ultimately the two sides cut a deal where only Biden's attorneys would do the search and immediately report any findings. They did find more documents - in the garage and 'personal library' of the president's Wilmington home.

It's marked contrast to how the Justice Department worked with Donald Trump's legal team. After making repeated requests about classified documents reportedly in the former president's possession, the Justice Department ultimately obtained a federal warrant for FBI agents to raid Trump's Mar-a-Lago home.

Trump and his supporters have roared about the situation, calling it a double standard. Biden's team argues they have been consistently cooperating in their case.

President Biden smiled and laughed as he ignored a barrage of questions from reporters about the classified documents scandal that has engulfed the White House

The grinning Biden stayed silent at the end of his meeting with Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte - while the media asked about the sensitive files found at his D.C. think tank and garage at his Wilmington home

Timeline of Biden document discovery and initial investigation Nov. 2: 10 classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C., by President Joe Biden's lawyers. Nov. 3: The National Archives was notified of the discovery Nov. 4: The National Archives' Office of Inspector General contacted a prosecutor at the Department of Justice and told them that classified material had been discovered at the Penn Biden Center. The documents were secured at an Archives facility Nov. 8: 2022 midterm election Nov. 9: The FBI commenced an assessment to determine whether classified material had been mishandled Nov. 14: Attorney General Merrick Garland assigned the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, John Lausch, to determine if a special counsel was needed Dec. 20: The president's personal attorney informed Lausch that additional documents with classification markings were found in Biden's garage in Wilmington, Delaware. The FBI secured those documents Jan 5: Lausch advised Garland that a special counsel should be appointed Jan. 9: White House publicly announces classified documents from Biden's time as vice president found at the office of his D.C. think tank Jan 12: The president's personal attorney informed Lausch that an additional document was discovered at Biden's Wilmington home Jan. 12: White House publicly announces additional classified documents were found in Biden's Wilmington home Jan. 12: White House counsel Richard Richard Sauber travels to Biden's Wilmington home - finds five more classified documents Jan. 14: White House publicly discloses the documents Sauber found Advertisement

The president, meanwhile, has evaded shouted questions on more than one occasion on the documents debacle since it was first reported last week. He last spoke on matter on Thursday, reading a prepared statement and defended having the classified material in the same garage as his Corvette, noting his classic car was kept locked up.

The White House is also under intense scrutiny for waiting two months to publicly react to the discovery of the first batch of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has also frequently dodged questions during combative and dismissive appearances in the briefing room while claiming Biden takes classified documents 'seriously'.

To try and deflect from the controversy, the White House on Tuesday tried to attack Republicans and asked Kevin McCarthy to reveal all the backroom deals he made to become Speaker.

The GOP has put pressure on Biden and the administration's response to their handling of classified material by promising Congressional investigations and demanding visitor logs from the Wilmington home - which the White House says doesn't exist.

During the meeting with Rutte, the president didn't answer questions from reporters - including one on whether he would speak with special counsel Robert Hur.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur to investigate the matter.

Law enforcement sources told the Journal that FBI agents may not have wanted to be part of the original search so they could ask for a search warrant at a later date if they found something in their investigation that required it.

Hur is expected to begin his job as special counsel by the end of the month as he had to give notice at the private law firm he is working.

The White House, meanwhile, ratcheted up its battle with the GOP, calling on McCarthy to reveal the deals he made to win over hard-line conservatives to become Speaker of the House.

It took McCarthy 15 ballots to gain enough support from his own party to become Speaker. There have been reports on the deals he cut - including a pledge that would allow only one lawmaker to issue a Speaker recall - but has never outlined all the concessions he made.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates slammed the GOP for deals made on abortion and other issues. He led the call in demanding more transparency from the Republicans.

'What other hidden bargains did Speaker McCarthy make behind closed doors with the most extreme, ultra MAGA members of the House Republican conference? The American people have a right to know  now  which is why we are calling on him to make every single one of them public immediately,' he said in a statement.

McCarthy has said he made no formal agreements to win the votes he needed, but conservatives said they were promised certain concessions.

Some Republicans have even said they aren't sure of all that McCarthy promised to the right-wing of the party.

McCarthy is already in battle mode with the White House, demanding cuts to government spending instead of increasing the debt limit - a priority for conservatives.

The White House has expected to wage battle with House Republicans now that they have the majority in that chamber.

The GOP has already vowed to investigate the president, his family and his administration.

They have also vowed to look into the classified documents found at Biden's now-shuttered think tank in Washington DC and his Wilmington home.

Donald Trump and his supporters have roared about a double standard when it comes to the Justice Department's investigation of the documents in his possession versus those in Biden's

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, a Republican of Kentucky, sent a letter to Biden's Chief of Staff Ron Klain on Sunday demanding access to any visitor logs kept for the Delaware home.

'Without a list of individuals who have visited his residence, the American people will never know who had access to these highly sensitive documents,' he wrote.

The White House has said there are no visitor logs as it is a private home.

And, on Tuesday, Sams held a briefing call with reporters to slam Republicans' probes.

'Their outrage is all pure theater,' he said.

He would not commit to the White House cooperating with the GOP requests for documents and other information.

'We're limited in what we can say during an ongoing DOJ inquiry,' he said, referring to the special counsel's inquiry.

'We'll make a determination about our response in due course, but of course, we're gonna call it out when we see rampant hypocrisy, that that shows a total lack of credibility when it comes to these requests,' he noted.

Sams, who will be the point person to answer questions on any Biden scandals, also wouldn't say if Biden would answer questions from Hur.

'We're not going to get ahead of that process with the Special Counsel and speculate on what they may or may not want or ask for,' he said.

The White House is also under intense scrutiny for waiting two months to publicly react to the discovery of the first batch of classified documents at the Penn Biden Center

The White House has demanded Kevin McCarthy reveal the deal he made with hardline conservatives to become Speaker

Timeline of events leading up to Attorney General Merrick Garland appointing Special Counsel Robert Hur to oversee investigation as to the potential mishandling of classified documents

Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware

On Saturday, the White House revealed a fourth tranche of documents were found - again at Biden's Wilmington home.

The White House has faced repeated questions over its lack of transparency about when the documents were discovered. They waited about two months - until well past the November midterm election - to announce documents found at Biden's DC think tank before voters went to the polls.

The counsel's office then made two more announcements - regarding documents found at Biden's garage in his Wilmington home and then a third document found in a room at that house.

On Saturday, the administration announced five more pages containing classified information were found at Biden's Wilmington home.

White House Counsel Richard Sauber said that because he has security clearance, and Biden's personal lawyers don't, he had gone to the president's home to examine other papers there.

Meanwhile, aspecial counsel is already reviewing Trump's possession of highly classified materials at his Mar-a-Lago residence. FBI agents searched the residence this summer under a grand jury subpoena after a months-long process seeking to obtain government material.

The White House has consistently emphasized Biden's attorneys found the documents and promptly turned them over to the National Archives, arguing all proper procedures were followed.

In Trump's case, the Archives realized documents from his administration were missing and requested their return.

Trump eventually gave 15 boxes of materials to the agency, which discovered classified documents among them. When federal investigators suspected the former president was holding onto more documents, they got a judges permission to search Mar-a-Lago.

That raid took place in August and turned up more documents.

For his part, Biden previously said he and his staff would cooperate with the investigation. He expressed surprise to discover he had classified documents dating back to when he served as Barack Obama's vice president.

'People know I take classified documents,' classified materials seriously,' Biden said last week, reading from a prepared statement.

'I'm going to get a chance to speak on this soon, God willing,' he added, as reporters shouted questions. 'We're going to see all this unfold.'
Dominic Raab has dramatically stepped in to block a killer who bludgeoned an innocent doctor to death from being moved from a high security jail to an open prison, MailOnline can reveal.

The Justice Secretary acted to prevent Reginald Wilson, now 58, from being transferred to a lower risk prison despite the Parole Board recommending the move.

Aged 26, Wilson carried out one of the most notorious murders in UK criminal history when he randomly targeted doctor David Birkett at his home in Middlesbrough in 1990.

The esteemed dermatologist was discovered by his teenage daughter suffering from horrific head injuries after Wilson, who had tattoos across his forehead reading 'psychopath' and 'chaos' launched the planned attack.

Reginald Wilson, 58, killed David Birkett in his Linthorpe home, Middlesbrough in 1990. He was sentenced to life in prison after his Durham Crown Court sentencing in 1991

The deranged murderer - who had one aim in life to commit the perfect murder - tricked his way into Dr Birkett's home in Linthorpe by pretending to be a motorcycle courier delivering a package.

The much loved dad-of-three was beaten to the ground by Wilson with a hammer at his six bedroom home, dragged into his study and subjected to a second sadistic attack.

A post mortem showed the 56-year-old consultant had been struck with manic ferocity at least 17 times.

Wilson had a hearing before a three-person panel of the Parole Board on 14th November 2022.

At the hearing, the panel took evidence from Wilson's community-based Probation Officer, the official responsible for supervising his case in prison, and a psychologist employed by the prison service.

Wilson himself also gave evidence to the panel. The panel also read victim impact statements given by Dr Birkett's family.

Wilson was told two weeks later that he had been recommended for a move to an open prison. It was his second parole hearing and he did not ask to be released, though a move to a lower security jail is often a step towards eventual freedom.

The Parole Board said in a summary of the decision that Wilson's behaviour had improved hugely since 1999 and he had taken therapeutic and behaviour offending courses.

It stated at the time: 'The panel was told that Mr Wilson had developed exceptional levels of personal responsibility, life skills, resilience and maturity.

'Mr Wilson himself did not seek release but asked the panel to recommend his transfer to an open prison so he could continue to work with professionals to develop release plans.'

In the written summary it stated that Wilson would be allowed 'periods of temporary release' when in open conditions.

A spokesperson for the Parole Board said at the time: 'We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board refused the release of Reginald Wilson following an oral hearing. The panel has recommended a move to open prison.

Dr David Birkett was beaten to the ground by Wilson with a hammer at his six bedroom home, dragged into his study and subjected to a second sadistic attack. A post mortem showed the 56-year-old consultant had been struck with manic ferocity at least 17 times

'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.'

The Parole Board's recommendation has to go to the Secretary of State for approval and in the case of Wilson, Mr Raab decided that he would not sanction the jail transfer.

Dr Birkett's family have been informed of the decision. The horrific circumstances of the crime and its aftermath were taken into consideration in making the decision.

At the time of the killing, Wilson had fled and detectives believed he planned a killing spree.

After murdering Dr Birkett, Wilson escaped taking a few personal items belonging to the doctor.

Later in the day, an anonymous 999 call was made from a telephone in Union Street in central Middlesbrough.

Wilson's bid for a transfer to an open prison went to the Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab (pictured) for approval but this has now been blocked

Wilson gave Dr Birkett's address but a mix up meant the police did not check it. They only became aware of the killing when the doctor's daughter returned home.

Brazen Wilson then taunted police with a series of sick letters and stated the killing had 'given him a buzz'.

One read: 'He was a skin expert, eh? When I'd finished he didn't have much skin, not on his head anyway. That was a little test I set myself.'

Another contained a verse of poetry taken from the book The Miko by Eric Van Lustbaden.

Detective Sergeant Morton, investigating at the time said: 'He is a psychopath and a dangerous psychopath.'

Police, who eventually caught the killer five months later thanks to a fingerprint left at the murder scene, believed that he planned a series of murders.

Officers later found a cache of arms, including a sawn off shotgun and crossbows, at Wilson's home.

Scientific examination of an apparently blank piece of paper revealed a plan to kill police officers.

Sentenced to life in prison at Durham Crown Court in July 1991 for the murder of Dr Birkett (right), on his way to the cells Wilson (left), now 58, yelled: 'You may contain me but you will never control me'

A notebook was also found, containing a list of police officers and their addresses.

Sentenced to life in prison at Durham Crown Court in July 1991, on his way to the cells Wilson yelled: 'You may contain me but you will never control me.'

The court had heard that fitness fanatic Wilson had an on-going battle with authority and was a loner who fantasised about killing.

Three years later the Home Secretary told him life would mean life and he would never be released from jail, but this was later reduced to a 30-year minimum tariff in 2008.

Wilson's lawyers, in applying to have his whole life tariff overturned, pointed to medical evidence that he was suffering from an 'untreatable psychopathic disorder' at the time of the killing.

At the High Court hearing, the judge said Wilson, had 'preened himself with pleasure' as he gloated about what he had done.

In 1996, he made an escape attempt from Frankland Prison in Durham and then tried to stab a prison officer in 1999.

He was transferred to the prison's close supervision centre unit and held in the exceptional risk unit.

Wilson will be eligible for another parole hearing in 2024.

A Ministry of Justice Spokesperson said: 'Protecting the public is our number one priority which is why the Deputy Prime Minister has blocked Reginald Wilson's move to open conditions.

'We have introduced greater scrutiny of Parole Board recommendations on open prison moves and announced reforms to toughen the parole system further.'
GOP Rep. George Santos of New York, who recently made headlines after confessing that he lied about his biography, is facing new challenges as Republicans are calling on him to resign and Former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger's petition that seeks to get enough support for their agenda.

On top of mounting pressure from his fellow Republicans, it has been revealed that Santos has deeper ties than previously known to a businessman who cultivated close relations with a one-time Trump confidant and is the cousin of a Russian oligarch who has been sanctioned.

George Santos Pressured To Resign

Evidence found in video footage and court documents showed that Andrew Intrater and his wife each gave the maximum of $5,800 to the New York Republican's main campaign committee. They also provided tens of thousands of dollars more since 2020 to committees that were linked to the lawmaker.

Intrater's cousin was found to be Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian billionaire who was sanctioned by the United States government for his involvement in the Russian energy industry controversy. Furthermore, the relationship between Santos and Intrater goes further than just campaign contributions, as per the Washington Post.

Evidence taken from a privately made statement from Santos in 2020 and a court filing in 2021 in a lawsuit brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Harbor City Capital, a Florida-based investment firm that Santos worked for more than a year, suggests that the New York lawmaker may have had a business relationship with Intrater.

The SEC filing also showed that Intrater placed hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Republican's one-time employer, which has been accused of running a Ponzi scheme. Neither Santos nor Intrater has responded to requests for comment regarding the matter and attorneys who represented the former also did not reply.

Santos' election victory helped the Republican Party achieve a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. He also apologized for what he called "resume embellishment" while pushing back against calls for his resignation.

Read Also: Republicans Request Access To Biden's Visitors Log

Adam Kinzinger's Petition

However, Kinzinger, who was a member of the House Select Committee, started a petition to get Santos to resign from his post. He started the online petition on Thursday, which was the same day that Santos appeared on the podcast "War Room: Pandemic" with Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, according to Business Insider.

In the podcast, Santos said that he would resign only if more than 142,000 people, which was the number that he received from votes that elected him during the midterm elections, demanded him to do so.

The petition, which was on Kinzinger's Country First website, said that they were happy to deliver the requests to Santos' office. The former representative also promoted the petition in a Twitter post on Jan. 12, 2023.

On Saturday, a rally was held in front of the office for Congressional District 3 and included some Democrats and some Republicans. The lawmakers were united in their efforts to express their criticism of Santos. In a statement, one protester, Jody Kass, said that they were only focused on removing Santos from his position and making sure that they get a special election, said CBS News.

Related Article: George Santos Forged Resume Investigation

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The London Mayor's office is attempting to have him stripped of his pension

Carrick was sacked from the force after a misconduct hearing this morning

His pay was stopped in December last year after his first guilty pleas in court

The 48-year-old received his salary despite being in custody for more than a year

Met Police officer David Carrick was suspended with pay after being charged

Sex monster police officer David Carrick was paid at least 60,000 by the Metropolitan Police while he was remanded in custody on rape accusations, it has emerged.

The 48-year-old, who has admitted to more than 70 sex attacks on 12 women over the course of nearly 20 years, continued to receive his full salary for more than a year after he was first accused.

The sadistic pervert had been suspended by the force from his role as a parliamentary and diplomatic protection officer, but national policing rules meant he was able to keep claiming his wages.

His pay was finally stopped after he entered his first guilty plea to offences in December, last year, and he has since been sacked from the force with officials beginning the process of trying to strip him of his pension.

David Carrick, pictured here in his police uniform, is reported to have received 60,000 in wages while in custody over rape allegations

Carrick, pictured here in his mugshot, was sacked by the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday morning

LBC reports that he received 60,000 in wages while suspended and MailOnline understands there is no mechanism to force him to repay that money.

Under rules put in place by the Government, police officers who are the subject of misconduct hearings and are suspended, must receive their pay.

The Metropolitan Police declined to comment on the reports.

According to the Met a constable with six years service who progresses through one pay band each year can expect to earn around 50,000 a year.

Carrick had been a PC in the Met for nearly 20 years and had served in the same unit as Wayne Couzens - the police officer who raped and murdered Sarah Everard in March 2021.

He had been given the nickname 'Bastard Dave' by his colleagues, a reference to his brutal and mean nature he displayed while in uniform.

Tonight the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said efforts will be made to strip Carrick of his police pension as his crimes were committed in connection with his job.

However, he said that because of rules surrounding this process, he will still get to keep around 35 per cent of the total.

Home Office guidance states pension forfeiture can only be applied for when an officer has a conviction 'committed in connection with their service as a member of a police force' and the offence has been certified by the Home Secretary as 'liable to lead to a serious loss of confidence in the publics service' or 'gravely injurious to the interests of the state'.

Such applications are usually made after a police officer has committed a crime while on duty.

A spokesman for the Mayor of London said: 'The Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) will pursue pension forfeiture in this case as it is clear that PC Carrick committed offences in connection with his service as a member of a police force.'

Sir Mark Rowley speaks to the press outside New Scotland Yard in September 2017

Carrick, pictured here in his police uniform, worked as a parliamentary and diplomatic protection officer

The Met is expected to submit a report to Mopac setting out Carrick's conviction and service with the force following his sentencing next month before an application is made to Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

However, previous court decisions have determined an officer's pension can only be forfeited by up to 65 per cent - the contributions that have been made by the police force and not their own contributions.

Carrick, who faces years in prison for his vile crimes against women, was officially removed from the force after a police misconduct hearing on Tuesday morning.

At the hearing Hywel Jenkins, counsel for Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, described his crimes as 'heinous, targeted and deliberate', iNews reports.

Confirming the decision to sack him, Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, who chaired the hearing, said his behaviour 'plainly discredits the police service and undermines public confidence in it'.

She added: 'The public of Greater London expect police officers to uphold the law and protect women from violence. PC Carrick did the opposite.'

The hearing was told Carrick was served misconduct papers on December 22, the same day he pleaded guilty to 20 counts of rape and nine counts of sexual assault.

Speaking before the sacking, Met chief Sir Mark Rowley issued a grovelling apology to Carrick's victims.

Sir Mark said it was 'not defensible' that the predator was allowed to remain a police officer when he was accused of rape, even after the murder of Sarah Everard by his colleague Couzens.

Carrick, now revealed as one of Britain's worst rapists, abused his elite position to coerce terrified victims in a depraved campaign of sexual abuse, bragging that he was 'untouchable'.

Carrick, pictured, faces years in prison after admitting to more than 70 sex offences against 12 women

On several occasions he waved his warrant card to gain their trust and even used his used his gun and handcuffs in attacks.

According to one woman who claims she was in a one-off relationship with the sadistic officer for five years, the rapist had bragged that his position meant he couldn't be prosecuted.

Speaking to the Sun the woman, who only gives her first name as Rachel, said Carrick seemed to know about an assault she had reported to the police, suggesting he had used the force's database to look up her personal information.

She added that he had claimed to take items, including jewellery, from the Met's evidence lockers to use them at home.

She told the paper: 'I once asked him if he was not worried about getting caught because of his job. His exact words to me were 'it's because of my job that I'm not worried'.

'He said he was so far at the top that he was untouchable.'

The force is now reviewing around 1,000 members of staff and officers who have previously been accused of domestic abuse or sexual violence.

Sir Mark today predicted that mistakes will have been made in those cases and that 'hundreds' of bad apples would be forced to leave the Met.

He also admitted he could not promise that a woman visiting a police station to report a sexual offence would not be met by a police officer whose past behaviour is now under review.

Sir Mark Rowley today said the sustained employment of PC David Carrick was a 'spectacular failure' in his force.

Carrick, pictured, was in custody for 15 months before he first pleaded guilty in December last year

Asked to explain, he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'This is about weak decision-making in professional standards, not joining the dots between related incidents, and poor policies, and that all comes together to mean he was a police officer for 20 years and for a large part of this he was a predatory rapist.

'I have been crystal clear from coming into post ... that one of the top planks of my responsibilities is to rebuild our integrity, and part of that is to take on those who corrupt our integrity - people like David Carrick and, frankly, many others.

'We have been too weak on this, systematically, for some time.'

Speaking yesterday, one female former chief constable warned that vetting in the police is 'non-existent'.

Sue Fish, the former head of Nottinghamshire Police, said the system is 'utterly unfit for purpose' and that it 'fails to recognise predatory men within policing ranks or aspiring to be members of the police service'.

She told the Telegraph: 'I am rarely speechless, but this is worse than horrific. I think the scary question is: how many others are there?'

She added that the disciplinary process within forces sees things 'in isolation' and does not see patterns of behaviour that could raise red flags.

When Carrick was first arrested for rape in July 2021, he was placed on restricted duties rather than being suspended. And bosses failed to carry out basic checks into his background that would have revealed a pattern of abusive behaviour.

Carrick was vetted just twice during his two decades in the force, in 2001 and 2017, despite rules stating officers in his position should be reviewed every ten years.

Carrick yesterday entered guilty pleas to six counts of rape and sexual assault against one woman, having admitted 43 offences against 11 women at the Old Bailey last month. Some of the pleas cover multiple offences, meaning he has confessed to more than 80 serious sex crimes.

Carrick, pictured here in an artists impression in court, boasted to women that he was a police officer

Carrick was first charged with raping a 50-year-old woman in October 2021. This charge was later dropped, but its coverage in the media gave 12 other women the courage to report abuse at his hands.

The officer's abhorrent crimes included rape, dragging his victims into the shower by their hair before sexually assaulting them, keeping them locked in a small cupboard and carrying out sickening sexual acts against their will.

An ex-girlfriend said Carrick would handcuff her wrist to her ankle with his police-issue cuffs, then claim he had left the key at the station in London.

Carrick, from Stevenage in Hertfordshire, joined the Met in August 2001, having served for two years in the Army.

The previous year, he was accused of burglary and malicious communications involving an ex-girlfriend but he was not arrested.

He passed vetting checks the following year and began working as a response officer in Merton, south-west London.

While still on probation in 2002, Carrick was accused of harassment and assault of a former partner.

Again, he was not arrested, and the matter was never referred to the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards.

Carrick was involved in domestic incidents in 2004, 2009 and 2019, a harassment allegation in 2014, and an altercation at a nightclub in 2017 but no further action was taken.

Then, in July 2021, Carrick was arrested over a rape complaint. He was not suspended, however, and the victim dropped the complaint.

When Carrick was later charged over a separate woman, the first victim was recontacted and Carrick admitted raping her and carrying out a sickening sexual act.

He will be sentenced early next month and faces a long prison sentence.
Prince Harry's explosive memoir has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book since records began in 1998, publishers claim.

The Duke of Sussex's autobiography has sold 750,000 copies across all formats - print, audio and e-book - in the UK since its publication on January 10.

This makes it the biggest selling memoir ever for its first week of publication, according to publishers Transworld, the UK division of Penguin Random House.

Official figures from Nielsen BookData showed the book, which was written by celebrity ghostwriter JR Moehringer, sold 467,183 print copies in its first week alone.

It comes after a fierce publicity drive, in which Harry took part in several TV interviews to plug his book.

Prince Harry's scathing memoir has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book since records began in 1998. Pictured: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and guest Prince Harry

It has sold 750,000 copies across all formats - hardback, audio and e-book - in the UK since its publication on January 10

The memoir includes claims that the Prince of Wales physically attacked him and teased him about his panic attacks, and that the King put his own interests above Harry's and was jealous of the Duchess of Sussex and the Princess of Wales.

The data released by Nielsen shows the book has broken the previous record of 210,506 set by the first Pinch Of Nom cookbook - written by Kay Allinson - in 2019.

Fastest-selling books in the UK since January 1998 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (JK Rowling) - 2.63 million copies sold in first week Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (JK Rowling) - 1.87 million Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (JK Rowling) - 1.68 million Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (JK Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany) - 848,000 The Lost Symbol (Dan Brown) - 551,000 Spare (Prince Harry) - 467,000 Grey (EL James) - 386,000 The Tales of Beedle the Bard (JK Rowling) - 368,000 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (JK Rowling) - 256,000 Inferno (Dan Brown) - 229,000 Source: Nielsen BookData Advertisement

The Nielsen BookData does not include e-books or audiobooks and refers only to the sale of physical copies.

Since records began in January 1998, JK Rowling has dominated the chart with four of her Harry Potter novels sitting at the top, while Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol claims the fifth spot ahead of Spare at number six.

Rowling's Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows sold 2.63million copies in its first week in 2007, making it number one on the chart, which includes the first week of sales only.

Despite the memoir being leaked in Spain ahead of the official publication date, Nielsen's data suggest sales were not negatively affected.

In a US broadcast promoting the work, Harry branded the Duchess of Cornwall the 'villain' and 'dangerous', accusing her of rehabilitating her image at the expense of his.

As the duke continued a run of high-profile promotional interviews, he said he 'would like nothing more' than for his children to have relationships with the Royal Family.

His remarks about his son and daughter came despite the criticism he has levelled at his brother William, father Charles and stepmother Camilla.

He also described his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, as his 'guardian angel' and said she is with him 'all the time'.

It comes as a slim majority of Britons believe Prince Harry has done more damage to the Royal Family than Andrew.

Most Britons think Harry has done more damage to the Royal Family than Harry but their opinions differ dramatically by age - according to a new survey

The survey by Delta Poll found 42 per cent of respondents named the Duke of Sussex compared to 41 per cent for his uncle, the Duke of York.

For over-65s the corresponding figures were 56 per cent to 32 per cent, and 57 per cent to 27 per cent for those aged 55 to 64.

But younger generations took the opposite view, with half of people aged 35 to 54 saying Andrew had caused more damage compared to 35 per cent for Harry. For 18 to 24-year-olds the breakdown was 38 per cent to 22 per cent.

The survey was based on a sample of just over 1,000 UK adults polled between January 12 and 16.

Harry became the first royal to publicly criticise Andrew, 62, labelling the Jeffrey Epstein affair a shameful scandal.

No one in the Firm had spoken about claims the Duke of York twice sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Epstein.

Harry, 38, has dominated the headlines in recent weeks after personally attacking his family in his autobiography, Spare, and a string of promotional interviews

The Duke of York has been accused of sexually assaulting Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Epstein. He has vigorously denied the claims

Andrew settled her lawsuit last year, accepting no liability, and has always denied any wrongdoing. But Harry brings up the affair in his book Spare.

When his wife Meghan asks if the Royal Family might cut their security after they left for America, he says there is no way, considering his uncle still gets protection.

Harry told her there was an obligation and an implicit promise to protect them.

Pushed by Meghan if it would ever be removed, he said: Never. Not in this climate of hate. And not after what happened to my mother.

The Duke of Sussex adds: Also, not in the wake of my Uncle Andrew.

'Despite being embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of sexually assaulting a young girl, no one had even suggested removing his security.

'People have had plenty of reasons to complain about us, sex crimes werent one of them.

Today's poll follows a YouGov survey which found Harry's favourability has dropped to an all-time low, while Princess Anne is now the most popular royal

Prince Andrew has always denied the accusation.

Today's poll follows a YouGov survey which found Harry's favourability has dropped to an all-time low, while Princess Anne is now the most popular royal.

The YouGov survey found almost seven in ten people (68 per cent) held a negative view of the Duke of Sussex, with less than a quarter seeing him in a positive light.

Anne, who has not been embroiled in the furore over Harry's book Spare, was the most popular royal.

Harry recorded his lowest ever favourability rating of -44, down from -38 the previous week, according to the polling organisation.

He and his wife Meghan fared even worse among older Brits, who were more likely to hold a 'very negative' view of the couple than they were of scandal-hit Andrew.
Boone was due to appear in court for a pretrial hearing Tuesday morning, but a judge in Florida rescheduled the hearing for January 30

But her story unraveled when investigators discovered video on her phone showing Torres thrashing around inside the suitcase and pleading to be released

Sarah Boone was arrested in February 2020 after telling police she had zipped Jorge Torres Jr, 42, inside the bag during a game of hide-and-seek

A woman accused of leaving her boyfriend to suffocate in a suitcase and taunting him while he pleaded to be released is set to appear in court charged with second degree murder.

Sarah Boone was arrested in February 2020 after telling police she had passed out after zipping Jorge Torres Jr, 42, inside the bag during a booze-fueled game of hide-and-seek at their home in Winter Park, Florida.

But her story unraveled when investigators discovered video on her phone showing Torres thrashing around inside the suitcase, desperately telling her: 'I can't f***ing breathe'.

Boone, who was 42 at the time of the alleged crime, is now due to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on January 30 after a judge rescheduled the date Tuesday.

Sarah Boone was arrested in February 2020 after telling police she had passed out after zipping Jorge Torres Jr, 42, inside the bag during a game of hide-and-seek at their home in Winter Park, Florida

This screenshot from a cellphone video allegedly recorded by Sarah Boone shows the blue suitcase where Jorge Torres Jr suffocated to death after being zipped up inside

In a two-minute video found on Boone's phone, she is allegedly heard telling Torres with a laugh: 'For everything you've done to me. F*** you. Stupid.'

The boyfriend continues calling out the girlfriend's name, telling her: 'I can't f***ing breathe, seriously.'

Boone replies: 'Yeah, that's what you do when you choke me.'

After listening to Torres' pleas saying he cannot breathe, she says: 'That's on you. Oh, that's what I feel like when you cheat on me. You should probably shut the f*** up.'

In a second video with a duration of 22 seconds, the suitcase is seen in a different position than in the first recording, this time facing upward. Torres calls out Boone's name before she stops recording.

Boone later called 911, telling the operator 'my boyfriend is dead,' according to a recording first obtained by Orlando Sentinel.

She continued: 'My boyfriend and I were playing last night, and I put him in a suitcase and we were playing...like kind of a hide-and-seek kind thing, so...I fell asleep and I woke up and he was dead in the suitcase. I don't know what happened.'

Boone proceeded to tell the dispatcher that Torres had 'blood coming out of his mouth' and speculated that he may have suffered an aneurysm.

She added that her boyfriend had a purple hue when she pulled him out of the suitcase and tried to administer CPR.

'He's stiff and he's purple,' she is heard telling the operator.

Boone is escorted by a police officer following her arrest in February 2020. Police discovered videos on her phone allegedly showing the woman filming Torres pleading to be released from the suitcase

During her initial interview with a detective, Boone said she and Torres were painting pictures, completing a puzzle and drinking Woodbridge Chardonnay when they decided to play hide-and-seek.

Boone said she hid upstairs in the shower, but Torres never went up to look for her.

When she came downstairs, she found Torres in the living room, and together they decided to have her zip up Torres in the blue suitcase, leaving two of his fingers sticking out of the zipper.

Boone claimed she got into bed while Torres was still stuck in the suitcase, thinking he could get himself out

'Sarah and Jorge were both laughing that she zipped him into the suitcase,' the affidavit stated.

At 12.30am, Boone said she decided to go upstairs while Torres was still stuck in the suitcase, thinking that he could get himself out.

Boone got in bed and fell asleep half an hour later. She claimed neither she nor her boyfriend were drunk from the wine.

She told the detective she assumed Torres was going to get out of the bag and join her in bed, the affidavit stated.

Boone woke up the next morning and stayed in a bed for while. She said she assumed Torres was already downstairs 'on the laptop looking for employment.'

She finally went downstairs at around 11am and could not find her boyfriend anywhere.

'Sarah freaked out and remembered the last time she saw Jorge was when she zipped him in the suitcase,' according to the arrest document.

She then unzipped the luggage and found Torres unresponsive inside.

Boone called her ex-husband, who arrived a few minutes later and instructed Boone to call 911.

Deputies who responded to the residence in the 4700 block of Frantz Lane found Torres' lifeless body laying on the floor next to a blue suitcase.

The victim had a cut on his lip, bruising around his eye, forehead and shoulder, and nail scratches on his back and neck, according to the document.

Jorge Torres Jr, 42, a father-of-three, had a history of domestic violence involving Boone. In 2018, he was charged with battery stemming from an alcohol-fueled altercation inside their home

During the investigation, Boone gave verbal and written consent to the detective to search her phone, leading to the discovery of the two videos.

During a follow-up police interview, Boone denied getting into a fight with Torres and intentionally leaving him in the suitcase.

She also said she did not remember recording the videos, which she conceded 'looked 'bad.''

Boone then reportedly contradicted her original statement to the police, blaming what happened on her and Torres' alcohol consumption.

Records indicate that the couple had a history of domestic violence.

In June 2018, Boone was arrested on a charge of battery by strangulation targeting her boyfriend, and Jorge was charged with battery stemming from an alcohol-fueled altercation inside their home.

According to an affidavit, Torres told a deputy Boone wrapped her hands around his neck and attempted to strangle him as he was walking upstairs to get away from her after an argument, prompting him to kick her.

A year later, Torres was arrested twice in a span of two months on charges of battery - dating violence.

His obituary reveals that Torres was a father of three. His girlfriend has a son from a previous marriage.
A farmer whose herd of cattle tragically killed a walker has claimed he had 'no alternative' but to keep them in a field with a footpath running through it.

Michael Holmes, 57, was trampled to death by the cows while his wife Teresa Holmes was left in a wheelchair following the incident on September 29, 2020.

The couple were on a lunchtime walk with their two dogs on leads when they crossed a field at Hollinghurst Farm in Netherton, West Yorkshire, during a Covid-19 lockdown.

They walked up a steep hill along the footpath but were unaware that around 30 cows with calves were at the top of the slope.

An inquest at Wakefield Civil and Family Justice Centre heard that three incidents occurred in the three months prior to Mr Holmes' death, in which walkers with dogs on leads were chased by cattle in the same field, including one that left a man with serious injuries.

The inquest, held at Wakefield Civil and Family Justice Centre, heard the farmer whose herd of cattle killed Michael Holmes claimed he had 'no alternative' but to keep them in a field with a footpath

The father-of-two (pictured) suffered 35 rib fractures and the sac of his heart was lacerated, and the heart itself, was bruised after they were trampled in Netherton, West Yorkshire, in September 2020

Farmer Martin Mitchell, who is facing a prohibition notice from the Health and Safety Executive, said he was 'totally unaware' of his cattle being aggressive towards walkers before the tragic incident.

Dog walker sues farmer for 150,000 after his 'frenzied' cow left her with a broken arm and fractured ribs Lisa Wells, 53, was left with a broken arm and seven fractured ribs after being chased by cows foaming at the mouth in Capel Curig, Snowdonia Advertisement

He said he had been visited by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector after Netherton resident John Burgess suffered four broken ribs when he was knocked to the ground by the cows in June 2020, but was not told exactly what had happened.

'I'd been given information that he had been taken to A&E but I wasn't made aware of the extent of the injuries,' Mr Mitchell said.

He said he did not know about incidents in July and August 2020 which were not reported before Mr Holmes's death.

Mr Mitchell also told the inquest he had not received a letter sent by Wakefield Council in 2017 after a further incident of a walker being chased by cows in the field.

The 69-year-old said after the incident involving Mr Burgess - three months before Mr Holmes's death - he had put signs next to the stiles leading into the field telling walkers to keep their dogs under control.

The inquest heard the signs did not warn that cows with calves were in the field.

Asked whether he had taken any other steps to manage the risk of cattle with calves coming into contact with dog walkers after Mr Burgess was injured, Mr Mitchell said: 'We have no alternatives, basically.

'The cows have to graze in them particular fields.'

Michael Holmes, 57, was pronounced dead at the scene and his widow Teresa (pictured together) was airlifted to hospital after they crossed a field on a public right of way with the two whippets

The inquest heard he could not remove any aggressive cows as he was unable to identify which ones were involved in the incident.

Asked whether he could have moved them into a field without a public footpath, Mr Mitchell said he 'had nowhere else to put them' and needed all 33 acres across three fields to maintain the herd's grazing throughout summer.

Jurors heard the HSE has since served Mr Mitchell a prohibition notice preventing him from grazing cattle in the field where Mr Holmes was killed.

The inquest also heard evidence from Mr Mitchell's son Edward Mitchell, who called 999 after finding Mr and Mrs Holmes on the ground.

He said he rushed to the field from the farmhouse after hearing the cows making a distressed noise, and performed CPR on Mr Holmes, who was not breathing, until an air ambulance arrived.

The inquest continues.
At least three people were injured in a fire and explosion at a Phillips 66 fuel storage facility in northern Texas on Tuesday.

The incident occurred around 10.15am local time at a tank farm on Highway 136 north of Borger in the Texas panhandle, according to officials with Phillips 66 and the Hutchinson County Office of Emergency Management.

Footage shared by local newspaper The Eagle Press showed a huge column of dark black smoke billowing from the site of the explosion.

A correspondent for the outlet reported hearing the sound of two explosions at the tank site from Borger, which is about three miles south of the storage facility.

An image from social media shows a huge column of flames and dark black smoke billowing following an explosion at a fuel storage facility in north Texas

The Hutchinson County Sheriff's Office issued an emergency alert describing the fire as a 'major incident' and shutting down traffic on Highway 136 between Borger and Stinnett.

'The cause of the incident is under investigation,' a spokeswoman for Phillips 66 told DailyMail.com in a statement.

'Emergency personnel along with the Borger Fire Department were immediately notified and are working to control the fire,' the statement added.

'At this time, we can confirm three individuals suffered injuries and are receiving medical attention.'

'The safety of our people, the community, and the environment are of the utmost importance to our company, and these priorities will guide our efforts as we respond to the incident,' the company added.

At least three people were injured in a fire and explosion at a fuel storage facility (seen above in a file photo) in northern Texas on Tuesday

Borger is a city of about 12,500 located roughly 50 miles northeast of Amarillo.

The incident occurred at a storage facility known as the Johnson Tank Farm, which is associated with the nearby Phillips 66 Borger Refinery, a complex that spans 6,000 acres and employs some 920 workers.

The refinery primarily processes medium sour crude oil and natural gas liquids delivered through pipelines from West Texas, the Texas Panhandle and Canada, according to its website.

Its throughput capability is up to 50,000 barrels per day of gasoline production.

Prices for West Texas Intermediate crude were little changed following the incident, rising 0.13 percent at 1pm ET.
Obama-era ethics chief Walter Shaub has torn into President Biden's 'neglect' in bringing home classified files and storing them in his garage at his Wilmington home and in his think tank office in DC.

Shaub said the difference between the classified files found at Biden's residence and the raid on Mar-a-Lago is 'night and day,' though he called the current president's behavior 'appalling.'

'Trump knowingly resisted demands by the National Archives for classified records that he appears to have intentionally retained, and he obstructed the governments efforts to recover them, whereas Biden immediately self-reported and turned the records over to the government at once,' Shaub, who served as the White House ethics chief from 2013 to 2017, told DailyMail.com.

'Thats not to say Bidens retention of classified records was acceptable. The negligence exhibited in the mishandling of records, especially those stored in his garage, is appalling,' he added.

Obama-era Ethics chief Walter Shaub tore into President Biden's 'inexcusable neglect' in bringing home classified files and storing them in his garage in Wilmington and in his think tank office

Shaub also criticized the Biden team for not disclosing that documents had been found at Biden's home at the same time they confirmed documents were found at the Penn Biden Center office

Shaub also criticized the Biden team for not disclosing that documents had been found at Biden's home at the same time they confirmed documents were found at the Penn Biden Center office.

'The White House was not at all forthcoming with the public about their discovery in more than one location,' he said.

'But, when comparing the two cases, theres no getting around the intentionality of Trumps conduct. So far, theres no evidence that Biden intentionally retained records or in any way resisted turning them over to the government.'

Ten documents were originally discovered by Biden's lawyers at the think tank office on November 2 and handed over to the National Archives.

On December 20 the president's personal attorney informed the Justice Department of the additional documents that had been found in the president's garage next to his Corvette. On January 11 an additional document was found in a room adjacent to the garage.

On January 9 the White House confirmed media reports of the think tank office documents and on January 12 it admitted to the documents found in the garage, again only after new media reports.

Also on January 12, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Trump-appointed prosecutor Robert Hur would serve as special counsel to oversee the investigation into the documents.

Over the weekend, Republicans on Capitol Hill demanded to see the visitor logs from Biden's home to know who had come in close proximity to the documents. On Monday the White House Counsel's office said there were no such records to make public.

Classified documents were found in Biden's garage, next to his Corvette

'Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,' the White House Counsel's Office said.

'But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.'

Republicans also questioned whether anyone with 'foreign connections' had access to the documents, likely in reference to the president's son Hunter Biden.

Hunter's foreign business dealings in China and Ukraine have been the subject of scrutiny for years, and he's also under investigation by the US attorney in Delaware for possible financial fraud.
A student who went on a bizarre rampage attacking medical staff and a police officer has walked free from court - after a judge accepted that her drink had been spiked.

Louise McSorley, who is studying quantity surveying at Liverpool John Moores University, punched a female paramedic who tried to help her after she jumped out of a first floor window, a court heard.

After being taken to hospital, the teenager kicked out at female health worker 'like a kangaroo' then picked up a heavy metal drip stand and attacked the terrified woman with it.

Police were called to restrain her, only for Miss McSorley to punch an officer repeatedly in the head.

Louise McSorley, who is studying quantity surveying at Liverpool John Moores University, punched a female paramedic who tried to help her after she jumped out of a first floor window, a court heard

After being taken to hospital, the teenager kicked out at female health worker 'like a kangaroo' then picked up a heavy metal drip stand and attacked the terrified woman with it

She was charged with three counts of assaulting an emergency worker, but on the first day of her trial it emerged that she blamed her behaviour on her drink being spiked.

Now 20, Miss McSorley told police she had little or no recollection of her actions.

The undergraduate, from Belfast, had left a pint of beer unattended at a pub, prosecutor Michael Scholes told Liverpool Crown Court.

'When she returned she had a drink of it and her behaviour became increasingly bizarre,' he said.

Her friends took her back to her flat after she began hallucinating.

Once there, she video-called her mother and said she was going to jump out of the window - following through on her terrifying threat, despite her pleas.

Saying that there was 'significant' evidence pointing to her being a victim of spiking, Mr Scholes offered no evidence.

Judge Anil Murray said he was sorry for those injured but it was clear she had been spiked that night and therefore 'wasn't culpable for her actions'.

It had left her paranoid and convinced someone was going to kill her, he added.

Police were called to restrain her, only for Miss McSorley to punch an officer repeatedly in the head

She was charged with three counts of assaulting an emergency worker, but on the first day of her trial it emerged that she blamed her behaviour on her drink being spiked

Recording not guilty verdicts and discharging Miss McSorley from the dock, the judge advised her: 'You need to take more care in future and not leave your drinks unattended.' Her rampage took place on September 11, 2021, after she went drinking with friends in Liverpool city centre.

Finding her lying on her back outside her flat, paramedic Chelsea El-Hadrami told her she needed to check her spine, an earlier hearing was told - only for Miss McSorley to became aggressive and punch her twice to the jaw.

She was taken to Royal Liverpool Hospital where she lashed out at healthcare assistant Jean Bains 'like a kangaroo' before hitting her on the back and arm with a metal drip stand, causing bruising.

Even when a police officer attempted to restrain the student, she began 'swinging her fists' and punched her twice in the face.

She pleaded not guilty on the grounds of involuntary intoxication.

At this week's hearing, Mr Scholes said there was 'a significant amount of material' confirming she was spiked.

Both her court ordeal and the victims' injuries were ultimately down to the 'utter irresponsibility' of whoever had done it, he added.

Almost 5,000 reports of spiking with a needle or drugs slipped into drinks were made to police last year - but traces of a controlled substance were only found in three per cent of cases.

Miss McSorley is still continuing her degree and 'hopes to put the matter behind her and get on with her life'.
Anthony Scaramucci has launched a scathing attack on disgraced crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried, claiming his 'close friend' hurt him reputationally.

In a candid panel discussion, the financier said the 'ninth circle of hell' is reserved for Bankman-Fried, who is facing eight fraud charges in relation to his business FTX.

Scaramucci - who is most famous for serving as the White House Director of Communications for just 11 days under former president Donald Trump - added that it 'really sucks' to be so badly betrayed.

And he also revealed how he was taken in by Bankman-Fried, 30, who he had believed to be like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Financier Anthony Scaramucci told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he felt betrayed by former friend and disgraced FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried

Scaramucci, 59, told the World Economic Forum in Davos today: 'I had a close relationship with [Bankman-Fried], I considered him a friend.

'I felt close to him, I felt close to his family so I have to tell you that the betrayal and fraudit's bad on a lot of different levels. It certainly hurt me reputationally.'

Bankman-Fried and Scaramucci, who met through a mutual friend, appear together at a crypto conference in the Bahamas

He added: 'If anybody here has read Dante Alighieris Inferno, you know what the ninth circle of Hell is reserved for.

'Its for the betrayal of a friend who lives with the devilthe ninth circle of hell on the frozen lake.

'When you have a friend that betrays you like that it really sucks.'

The pair were first introduced by a mutual friend after Scaramucci became increasingly interested in cryptocurrency following his brief stint in politics.

Their first business dealing was in October 2021 and by September 2022, Bankman-Fried's FTX Ventures had bought a 30 percent stake in Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital, worth around $45 million.

The deal was done just two months before FTX filed for bankruptcy.

At the time Scaramucci called his business partner a 'visionary'.

SBF was seen being escorted out of court in New York by Harkins after being freed on $250million bail lastmonth

But today he told the panel in Davos: 'There was a gentleman walking around - 24, 25 years old, he had a hoodie and a t-shirt on and his name was Mark Zuckerberg.

'People looked at him and said 'what the hell?' and he turned out and he went from zero to a trillion dollars.

'I thought Sam was the Mark Zuckerberg of crypto, I did not think he was the Bernie Madoff of crypto okay and I got it wrong.'

While working with Bankman-Fried, Scaramucci said he also became close to his father, a tenured professor at Stanford Law School.

And the entrepreneur also worked closely with the FTX boss' aunt Linda P Fried, an esteemed epidemiologist and dean at Columbia university.

During the discussion he also told the panel that he now understood that the crypto firm had been a scam.

He said: 'I'm comfortable calling it fraud now and I can explain to you why but I didn't want to call it fraud at that time.'

Scaramucci added that his association with FTX had been 'magnified' due to his high-profile.

Before the collapse of FTX, Bankman-Fried offered bailouts to several crypto firms.

But on November 11, 2022, FTX and several of its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy, days after a bank run on its FTT token.

Bankman-Fried could face life in jail if he is found guilty of all eight fraud charges

The following month, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States.

He is facing eight conspiracy counts including fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and campaign finance violations.

He is accused of defrauding investors and diverting billions of dollars in FTX customer money to his hedge fund which he then used as a piggy bank to fund his lavish lifestyle, personal investments and political donations.

If found guilty of all charges, he may be sentenced to life in jail.

A court sketching shows Bankman-Fried at his bail hearing

Last month he was pictured being escorted out of court in New York after being freed on $250 bail by lawyer Jimmy Harkins, a former private investigator who has worked for Ghislaine Maxwell.

His bail has been called the largest pre-trial amount in US history and 25 times the $10million posted by Bernie Madoff, the late Ponzi schemer,
An 11-year-old boy who was mauled by three pit bulls in his Georgia neighborhood said he was recovering from the attack that left 70 percent of his scalp missing.

Justin Gilstrap, of Appling, has undergone several surgeries after the pack of hounds attacked him while he was biking home on Friday.

In a short clip posted by local WRDW, the injured boy says: 'Hey, everybody. I love y'all. I just want you to know, I'm OK.'

His mother, Ericka Gilstrap, says he is awake and able to talk in small intervals as he recovers from the vicious attack, with the family starting a GoFundMe that has raised more than $220,000 for his medical expenses.

Justin Gilstrap, 11, of Appling, Georgia, has undergone several surgeries after a pack of pit bulls attacked him on Friday

Despite losing 70 percent of his scalp, the boy was filmed telling his supporters: 'I love y'all. I just want you to know, I'm OK'

The three pit bulls who attacked Gilstrap belonged to neighbor Burt Baker III (pictured)

According to officials, Justin was riding his bike outside his house on Friday when his neighbor's three hounds broke free and chased him down.

One of the dogs clamped down on his leg before the others joined in, pulling him off the road and into a nearby ditch.

There, they proceeded to maul him, tearing chunks off his scalp, ears, chest, and legs. The pit bulls savaged Justin to within an inch of his life before running off.

He was found by relatives minutes later lying helpless in the dirt, with Ericka telling the Augusta Chronicle that her mother was the one who witnessed the bloody scene.

'She said there was just blood everywhere,' Ericka said. 'She couldn't tell where she was bleeding from  but apparently he was bleeding from everywhere because there's not an inch of his body that is not covered in a cut or bruise.'

Justin was then rushed to the hospital and placed in a medically induced coma as doctors labored to save his life. He remained in a coma until Sunday morning when Ericka wrote that he had awakened.

The dogs' owner, Burt Baker III, was charged with reckless conduct as he also admitted that his dogs liked to chase bicycles.

Along with the dogs involved in Friday's attack, Baker surrendered four other dogs, pit bull terriers and mixes, to the authorities. Officials said at least two of the dogs were vaccinated for rabies.

Baker had been the subject of several complaints in connection with his pets, and Columbia County officials are facing scrutiny over the handling of the case.

'The sad thing is we have reported these dogs several times before,' Erica wrote on the GoFundMe page. 'Columbia County did nothing! It's sad it took this for them to finally do something,' she declared.

Along with the three dogs police said were involved in Friday's attack (pictured) Baker surrendered four other dogs he owned

Justin's family said he was discovered in pool of his own blood after falling into a ditch

Justin suffered lacerations all over his body, lost 70 percent of his scalp and half his ear

On January 2, 2022, Baker was cited by the county after his dogs attacked a neighbor's Yorkie.

The dogs were then found roaming the neighborhood freely a week later, triggering a final warning from the county.

But in July, Baker had another complaint filed against him about the dogs were spotted roaming outside his home on Langston Drive.

One of the dogs was taken into custody, however, Baker was allowed to pay a fee to get the hound back, as per state code.

Columbia County Manager Scott Johnson defended the county and said they were just following the rules and could not just seize the dogs due to their prior history.

'We're not naive to the fact that there may be vicious dogs out there,' he told WRDW 'They just have to attack somebody before the county can do anything.

'I'm not saying Columbia County always does everything right. But in this instance, we follow the protocol,' he added.

Doctors placed Justin in a medically induced coma as they fought to stop the bleeding. They eventually managed to close his wounds

As her son begins the long path to recover, Ericka created the hashtag #JustinTough to spread awareness about his situation.

She told the Chronicle that along with his medical expenses, her son will need counseling to deal with the trauma of the attack.

'I'm hoping he's not going to have PTSD,' Ericka said. 'They did warn me that he probably will need some therapy, just to get him back to where he was.'

She noted that last week, Justin was suffering from intense pain and needed a morphine drip, and that he once pulled out his feeding tube out of confusion when he woke up one night.
Sadiq Khan was accused kicking out more than 5,000 votes opposing his controversial expansion to Londons Ultra-low emission zone.

The London Mayor approved the scheme in November, despite 59.4 per cent of respondents opposing it.

It has now emerged 5,273 votes from motoring groups - equivalent to one in ten responses - were ignored by officials.

If included, the level of opposition would have risen to 62.4 per cent - nearly two-thirds.

Sadiq Khan was accused kicking out more than 5,000 votes opposing his controversial expansion to Londons Ultra-low emission zone

When the idea was floated in May last year, Mr Khan pledged the Ulez expansion across Greater London would not proceed if there was overwhelming opposition.

The 12.50 per vehicle scheme is costing motorists in the capital an additional 385,000 a day in charges, according to the RAC.

Howard Cox, head of FairfuelUK, told the Daily Telegraph the exclusion of his organisations votes was not only contemptible but also possibly unlawful.

[Khan] must be subject to an immediate independent public enquiry as to his immoral behaviour in the way he has implemented the Ulez expansion, he said.

He deceitfully and consciously excluded 5,000 supporters of FairfuelUK and their legitimate responses to the Ulez consultation because they objected.

Minister for London Paul Scully MP said the situation was very concerning and demanded the London Assembly investigate this further.

When the idea was floated in May last year, Mr Khan pledged the Ulez expansion across Greater London would not proceed if there was overwhelming opposition

Peter Fortune, deputy leader of the Greater London Authority Conservatives, said the revelation revealed Mr Khans contempt for the rules, his failure to follow due process and his disregard for the people.

Nick Rogers, the Conservative assembly member for South West London, has lodged an official complaint with the GLA monitoring office for multiple serious breaches of the code of conduct and the principles of public life.

Last week it emerged Sutton Liberal Democrats, who control the outer London borough, had vowed to block the installation of cameras needed to enforce Ulez.

Four other boroughs said they were considering legal action over the lawfulness of the decision to proceed.

A total of 47,502 responses were declared in the published result of the public consultation - 27,237 against, 18,733 for, and 532 dont knows.

But emails between City Hall officials obtained under Freedom of Information rules showed thousands of votes were excluded on the basis they were copy and paste responses where the same blanket statement is sent to us by email or post.

A spokesman for the Mayor said: The Mayor made the decision after considering Transport for Londons full report on the consultation responses and a number of modifications were made to the scheme, based on feedback received in the consultation.

TfL takes its responsibility to run robust and legally compliant consultations extremely seriously and any suggestion that TfL or the Mayor has sought to influence the results of the Ulez consultation is simply untrue.
China sees growth in valid invention patents in 2022

Xinhua) 09:28, January 17, 2023

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- China has witnessed an increase in both the quantity and quality of valid invention patents in the past year, the country's top intellectual property regulator said on Monday.

In 2022, a total of 798,000 invention patents were authorized. By the end of 2022, the total number of valid invention patents in China had reached 4.21 million, of which 3.28 million were held by inventors from Chinese mainland, said Hu Wenhui, deputy head of the National Intellectual Property Administration, at a press conference.

The official said that China is the first country in the world to hold more than 3 million valid invention patents.

The latest World Intellectual Property Indicators report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization also shows that China ranks top in the world in terms of the number of valid invention patents, Hu added.

According to the official, China saw more enterprises applying for patents over the past year, demonstrating the growing innovative dynamism of Chinese enterprises. By the end of 2022, 355,000 Chinese companies had valid invention patents, an increase of 57,000 over the previous year.

The driving force in the growth of China's valid invention patents lies in various fields of digital technology, such as information technology management and computer technology. In 2022, the number of patents granted for inventions in the core industries of China's digital economy was 325,000, an increase of 17.9 percent year on year.

Hu also said that more and more Chinese micro and small enterprises receive support through intellectual property pledge financing, an activity in which enterprises pledge their intangible assets, including trademarks, patents and copyrights, in order to obtain funds.

In 2022, the value of financing from patent and trademark pledges nationwide exceeded 400 billion yuan (about 59.4 billion U.S. dollars) for the first time, maintaining a growth rate of over 40 percent for three consecutive years.

"The intellectual property pledging helped the micro and small enterprises to cope with the impact of the epidemic and grow smoothly," Hu said.

In addition, China also saw rapid growth in patents and trademarks granted to foreigners in 2022. The number of valid foreign invention patents in China reached 861,000 by the end of 2022, up 4.5 percent from the previous year, while the number of valid trademarks registered by foreign parties in China reached 2.03 million, up 5.9 percent year on year.

"The figure shows that the protection of intellectual property rights has created a good business environment for foreign-invested enterprises in China," said Zhang Zhicheng, a senior official with the administration, at the press conference.

Last year also saw strengthened efforts on intellectual property rights protection. China handled 58,000 administrative adjudication cases of patent infringement disputes in 2022.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
A new meta-study underscores the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic on pregnant women, who researchers have found are seven times more likely to die from the virus.

The study drew data from 12 separate researchers from as many countries, including the United States. When put together, the studies included more than 13,000 pregnant women, roughly 2,000 of whom had a confirmed or probable case of the coronavirus.

The Threat of COVID-19 on Pregnant Women

The health outcomes that the team found for these women and their babies were compared to roughly 11,000 pregnancies where the mother had tested negative for COVID-19 or antibodies to it at the time of their deliveries.

The researchers found that across the studies, roughly 3% of pregnant women who were infected with the coronavirus needed intensive care. They also found that 4% needed any kind of critical care. However, the numbers were significantly higher than the pregnant women who needed similar care outside of a COVID-19 infection, as per CNN.

The pregnant women who were infected with the virus were found to be almost four times more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit compared to individuals who tested negative. The numbers showed that the infected women were 15 times more likely to be ventilated and seven times more likely to die from the virus.

Furthermore, the infected women were found to have higher risks for pre-eclampsia, blood clots, and problems caused by high blood pressure. Also, the study found that babies who were born from mothers who got infected with COVID-19 were at greater risk for preterm birth and low birth weights.

While previous studies suggested that COVID-19 infection could increase the risk of stillbirth, the latest research did not find any correlation. However, the team's findings still paint a clear picture that highlights the risks of pregnancy being amplified by the coronavirus.

Read Also: China's COVID-19 Death Toll Update

Hesitancy Over Getting Vaccinated

George Washington University professor Emily Smith was the head of the latest research that synthesized data from 12 separate studies. One of the limitations of the research was that it did not consider the impacts of the different coronavirus variants on pregnant women, according to The Hill.

The team said that for the majority of the research, most of the infections were the result of one dominant variant across the globe. The researchers said that overall, the study says that a "global effort to improve access to safe preventives and therapeutics is an urgent priority."

The importance of the study comes as despite the growing knowledge of the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, many women who are of childbearing age continue to be unvaccinated. In some instances, many women either hesitate or refuse to be vaccinated or boosted.

Their reasoning is that they generally do not believe that the virus poses any significant threat or are unsure about the safety of the vaccine themselves during their pregnancy. Smith added that some doctors could even hesitate to give the vaccine to pregnant women despite it being recommended. These factors have led to a decreased rate of vaccinations worldwide.

Related Article: Investigating COVID-19 Vaccine and Increased Stroke Risk

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Have your say: do you think an apology is enough?

Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin added: 'What are the processes that are taking place at the White House? Is it a document free-for-all?'

The View co-host Joy Behar prompted a lively discussion when she suggested Biden apologize for the classified documents found at his home and office - and just admit that he 'looked hypocritical.'

The Democrat, 80, who declared she 'loves Joe Biden' on the show on Tuesday, criticized the president for not speaking sooner on the classified documents found at his office at the Penn-Biden Center think tank and his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

'It would have been helpful for Joe Biden when it first came out to say, "We have tape of Joe Biden saying that Trump did something stupid and shouldnt have done it and it was bad,"' she said on the show. 'Well, he should have said, "Look, I know I look hypocritical in that tape, I'm sorry about that, I didn't know about this. And now that I know it, I will do what I can to uncover this."

'He should be speaking to the American people, or else just act like a Republican and say, "It's a witch hunt. And let's fire [US Attorney] Merrick Garland."'

Joy Behar, 80, (pictured on Tuesday) criticized the president for not speaking sooner on the classified documents and suggested he say: 'Look, I know I look hypocritical in that tape, I'm sorry'

In September, Biden, 80, called former President Donald Trump, 76, 'irresponsible' for having hundreds of classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

'How that could possibly happen, how one - anyone - could be that irresponsible?' Biden said in a 60 Minutes interview. 'And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods. By that, I mean, names of people helped or et cetera.'

Since the revelation of more documents being found at Biden's Delaware home, House Republicans have demanded to see visitors' logs to know who could have had access to the classified information. However, the White House claimed there are no logs from the Wilmington estate, as it is the personal property of the president's.

Sunny Hostin, 54, agreed with Behar and said the president should come forward and admit to being careless, and suggested the government 'looks into the processes that are in place' that have allowed both presidents to take home classified documents.

However, Hostin believes Biden's mouth is sewn shut since the Special Counsel has been called by Garland.

In addition, she criticized how the information has been given to the public, saying: 'At first it was 10 documents in one place, and then it were just a few more, and now there are four different occasions documents were found.'

Behar, who has always strongly defended the Democratic Party, huffed back: 'Well how many documents did they find at Mar-a-Lago?'

Republican co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, 33, who used to be Director of Strategic Communications for the Trump Administration, agreed, saying the Democratic leader needs to 'come out and set expectations.'

The former Defense Department employee also said she had 'regular access to classified information' and had to transport documents in a specific way so there wouldn't be any breach to the information.

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

Joe Biden was found with more than a dozen classified documents inside his Wilmington, Delaware, home (pictured) and in his office at the Penn-Biden Center

In September, Biden called former President Donald Trump, 76, 'irresponsible' after he was found with hundreds of classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago mansion. 'How that could possibly happen, how one - anyone - could be that irresponsible?' Biden said in an interview

'If I took something from my office, which was a SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility], it was locked, no cell phones could be in there. I would transport it in a lead bag with a lock on it to go to the Secretary of Defense's Office one floor up, because State secrets are that serious.'

Poll What do you think? Is it enough for Biden to say sorry and move on? Yes No What do you think? Is it enough for Biden to say sorry and move on? Yes 0 votes

No 71 votes Now share your opinion





Hostin, who used to work for the US Attorney's Office, said she had to carry grand jury transcriptions in a similar fashion.

'We would do the same thing. There was a locked bag, you'd take the transcript to your office, you would log it out, and then you would bring it back and logged it back in,' she said.

'What are the processes that are taking place at the White House?' she asked. 'Is it a document free-for-all?'

Griffin double down that she believed it was a staffer issue, as she said on the show last week, that someone should have noticed the 'cover sheet that says Top Secret' when they were packing Biden's boxes to move out of the VP office.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, 33, (right) and Sunny Hostin, 54, (left) both discussed their time at the Department of Defense and the US Attorney's Office, respectively, and the processes implemented to protect confidential information, including locking the documents in a bag. 'What are the processes that are taking place at the White House?' Hostin asked. 'Is it a document free-for-all?'

Whoopi Goldberg, 67, the loudest Democrat on the panel, jumped in to remind the audience that 'we don't know if that didn't happen.'

Sara Haines, 45, added: 'Whether it's intentional or negligence, the risk is the same.'

The conservative went on to say that she doesn't want to know what is inside the documents. She said: 'I don't want them announcing what's in these. The whole point of not taking them out of the office was so we didn't know what was going on in there. It's secret for a reason.'

Democrats have been attempting to downplay the discovery of the documents, oftentimes saying instances between Trump and Biden are very different - something the ladies of The View echoed on Tuesday.

The argument that has been laid out by liberals is that Biden willingly came forward with the documents after finding them in the Penn-Biden Center on November 2, informing the National Archives the day after and the Justice Department the following day.

In comparison, Trump had to be subpoenaed for the documents and his home was raided to retrieve the top-secret information.

A 'small number of documents with classified markings' were found at the Penn Biden Center in November

A total of six classified documents have been found in Biden's Delaware home (pictured)

Liberals have pushed that the president has been more transparent throughout the whole situation compared to Trump - a viewpoint that has not been lost on The View, a largely liberal show.

'The false equality [sic] that's being put out there is that he's done something wrong, but don't we have to know what it is?' Goldberg questioned on Tuesday.

Behar reiterated: 'I want to clear this. I know there's a difference between what he did and what Trump did. And a lot of people don't because of the way its covered.'

Griffin, a conservative, even acknowledged there were differences between the two cases, but said: 'I don't want to downplay it, as it is very serious.'

Despite the nonchalant attitude from The View about the documents continuing to be discovered in Biden's procession, Republicans are not brushing it under the rug.

Even Griffin last week said she believed the discovery was a 'huge win for Trump.'

'Because if you're Merrick Garland, who is already extremely cautious and doesn't want to break the longstanding precedent of not indicting a president, it's very hard to make the case that Donald Trump should be indicted for this,' she said.

'Even though the facts are different, he can argue, "Well, now the vice president also took home classified documents." I think this kills the case.'

Kentucky Representative James Comer, who is now the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said he also wants to see before the end of the month all documents and correspondence related to searches in the president's Wilmington home between the inauguration date of January 20, 2021, right up until January 2023.

In a letter on Sunday to White House chief of staff Ron Klain, Comer criticized the searches by Biden representatives when the Justice Department began investigating and said Biden's 'mishandling of classified materials raises the issue of whether he has jeopardized our national security.'

On CNN's 'State of the Union,' Comer referred to Biden's home as a 'crime scene' but acknowledged that it was not clear if laws had been broken.

'My concern is that the special counsel was called for, but yet hours after that we still had the president's personal attorneys, who have no security clearance, still rummaging around the president's residence, looking for things - I mean that would essentially be a crime scene, so to speak,' Comer said.

Democrats are said to be worried the document scandal will ruin Biden's chances at reelection and morph in the Hillary Clinton email scandal.
Close to 8,400 servicemen and women were fired for refusing to get vaccinated

Lawmakers are exerting pressure on the Department of Defense to provide back pay to the more than 8,000 troops who were fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The department previously signaled that it is currently 'exploring' ways to reinstate compensation and other benefits to the US soldiers who were dismissed from serving because of the mandate.

In December, President Joe Biden signed the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which included a measure that repeals the military's vaccine mandate.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also recently signed a memo that will update records of soldiers who received reprimands for attempting to get themselves exempt from the vaccine mandate but were denied.

Close to 8,400 members of the armed services were dismissed for failing to receive the vax

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is being petitioned to figure out a way to provide back pay to the military men and women who were dismissed for failing to get vaccinated

Though a leaked DoD public affairs guidance document indicated that, while the military ended the vaccine mandate, the Pentagon does not have any plans to reinstate the thousands of service member who were fired.

The document said: 'All Service members and Veterans may apply at any time to the appropriate Discharge Review Board or Board for Correction for Military/Naval Records if they believe that there is an error or injustice in their records.'

It also acknowledged that 'some members of Congress have indicated they will look next year to support ways to reinstate or provide back pay for Service members who were dismissed for refusing to take the vaccine.'

'The Department will provide its views on legislation of this nature at the appropriate time and through the appropriate process,' it continued.

One of said members of Congress is Michael Waltz, a Florida Republican, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee.

He told Fox that if the Pentagon fails to establish some sort of backpay system for the troops who were dismissed as a result of the vaccine mandate, he will add language to the 2024 NDAA that provides it.

'If the Pentagon does not provide backpay and restore full benefits for those who were discharged and request to be reinstated, we in Congress must act by adding language in the next NDAA to do so.

'We have an obligation to these service members,' he said.

Preventative Medicine Services NCOIC Sergeant First Class Demetrius Roberson administers a COVID-19 vaccine to a soldier on September 9, 2021 in Fort Knox, Kentucky

Rep. Michael Waltz, a Florida Republican, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee said there is 'an obligation to these service members' to fight for back pay

Sens. Cruz (left) and Lankford (right) are also pushing the administration and Pentagon to get back pay for the military members dismissed because of the mandate

Senator Marsha Blackburn said Republicans on the Armed Services Committee have put forth legislation that would establish back pay and benefits for the 8,400 fired soldiers

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall argued that back pay should have been included in the 2023 NDAA and said he would continue pushing the Biden administration on the issue.

He said: 'This should have been done on the Senate Floor during the consideration of NDAA, but 54 of my colleagues opposed doing so. I can on DoD, Secretary Austin, and President Biden to move on providing back pay at once.'

Fox reported that an aide said the senator is evaluating ways to respond to the Defense Department dragging its feet on the back pay process.

On the Senate Armed Services Committee, Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn said she and Texas Senator Ted Cruz 'have legislation to ensure our brave men and women that were fired due to Biden's COVID vaccine mandate receive back pay and benefits.'

Senator James Lankford also wrote a letter to Secretary Austin in December demanding that DoD provide back pay for terminated servicemen and women.

'We urge you to establish a quick and thorough process so all members who were discharged because they refused the COVID-19 vaccine can be reinstated with back pay and full benefits. Doing so would provide the clarity and stability American service members and their families deserve,' read Lankford's letter that was also signed by a handful of Republicans.

In late 2022, Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi wrote a letter to the president asking for his position on the mandate (before its repeal) and asking for information about how the Pentagon was approaching the question of reinstating service members who were fired because of their refusal to take the vaccine.

Former VP Pence said it was 'unconscionable that the Biden administration mandated the vaccine on members of the armed forces,' but a mere rollback is not enough

In a recent interview with The Hill, former Vice President Mike Pence, who is widely speculated to be preparing to mount a run for high office in 2024, said he too believes a back pay system, at very least, is what military members dismissed over the vaccine mandate deserve.

'I think it was unconscionable that the Biden administration mandated the vaccine on members of the armed forces of the United States, and I celebrate Congresss recent decision to rescind that mandate, but that doesnt go far enough,' he said.

He continued: 'I think now that Secretary Austin has implemented what Congress passed into law, lifting the vaccine mandate on members of our armed forces, now Im calling on the Biden administration and the Pentagon to reinstate every man and woman that was discharged from our armed forces because they refused to take the vaccine, and give them 100 percent back pay for the time after they were discharged.'

The vast majority of military members did ultimately receive the vaccine, but the roughly 8,400 who were fired for refusing to do so may have lost anywhere between an estimated $10,000-$43,000 in pay since this summer, when the deadline to receive a vaccination passed.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Tuesday that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas 'could' be impeached over the border crisis, as members of his party set about on a course that moderates have sought to pump the breaks on.

Republicans have put their new House majority's sights on the burgeoning migrant crisis, with a border security bill in the works and oversight hearings planned that will likely ensnare Mayorkas and other Biden border officials.

McCarthy signaled to reporters at the Capitol that Mayorkas' political future would hinge on December's official border crossing numbers - which are expected to be grim.

There were at least 250,000 encounters between migrants and border agents last month, according to Fox News.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has thus far resisted pressure from Republicans to step down from his role over the border crisis

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested Tuesday that Republicans could use their new majority in the chamber to impeach DHS chief

If those numbers hold true, it would be the highest single-month total in the history of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) records.

At least 65,000 people eluded border officials, it was reported.

'If those December numbers are even higher and breaking new records, should he stay at this job?' McCarthy said on Tuesday, according to CNN

'We can investigate, and then that investigation could lead to an impeachment inquiry.'

The Republican leader vowed not to 'predetermine' Mayorkas' fate and repeated past assurances that he would not 'use impeachment for political purposes.'

Though he added, 'But if the person is a derelict in their duties, and they - they're harming Americans and Americans are actually dying by the lack of their work, that could rise to that occasion.'

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace seemed to concur, telling CNN that Mayorkas 'has to go.'

Photos of migrants in El Paso show overcrowded shelters and undocumented people sleeping on the streets of the Texas border city

Immigrant families return to Mexico after being expelled from the United States on January 9, 2023 to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

'When you raise your hand and take an oath to protect our countrys border, and you intentionally and willfully neglect to do that job, you should lose it,' Mace said on Tuesday.

McCarthy hadn't ruled out the idea of impeachment Mayorkas in prior comments on the matter, though McCarthy would usually precede such threats with calls for the Cabinet official to resign.

McCarthy said on a later November trip to El Paso, Texas: 'If Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans will investigate every order, every action and every failure, and will determine whether we can begin an impeachment inquiry,

Hearings on the border are being planned in the Oversight, Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees.

During an interview with ABC News' This Week earlier this month, Mayorkas brushed off Republican-led calls for his removal and insisted he would continue executing his role as President Biden's DHS Secretary.

'I've got a lot of work to do. I'm proud to do it, alongside 250,000 incredibly dedicated and talented individuals in the Department of Homeland Security and I'm going to continue to do my work,' Mayorkas said.

Asked point-blank if he'd had any intention of resigning, Mayorkas definitively answered, 'I do not.'

'I've got a lot of work to do, and were going to do it,' he said.

Just last week, House Republican Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas formally filed articles of impeachment against Mayorkas over the growing border crisis.

'Secretary Mayorkas's willful actions have eroded our immigration system, undermined border patrol morale, and jeopardized American national security. He has violated the law and it is time for him to go,' Fallon wrote on Twitter before filing the impeachment articles.

He accused Mayorkas of failing to keep operational control of the border and 'engaged in a pattern of conduct that is incompatible with his duties.'
The stepmother of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer died on Friday at age 81.

Shari Dahmer passed away at the nursing home in Seville, Ohio, where she had been living near the home she shared with her husband and Jeffrey Dahmer's father, Lionel.

She is believed to have died from complications related to a downturn of health she had experienced in recent years, according to the US Sun.

Shari was known for staying with her husband, now 86, even as the horrifying truth of his son's brutally violent cannibalistic crimes came to light.

Shari Dahmer passed away at the nursing home in Seville, Ohio, where she had been living near the home she shared with her husband and Jeffrey Dahmer's father, Lionel

Shari sits alongside Lionel Dahmer during Jeffrey Dahmer's trial

Shari and Lionel married in 1978 after he divorced Jeffrey's mother.

She never had children of her own but said she felt an immediate desire to mother Jeffery when she married Lionel.

Shari said her impression of Jeffery was that he was a 'vulnerable' young man who was 'embarrassed and ashamed' his parents had divorced.

She said he was 'very good at disguising his feelings.'

'She also did try to connect with Jeff as his stepmother,' a source told the Sun.

'She was a good stepmom.'

Lionel and Shari Dahmer stand outside the prison where Jeffrey Dahmer was incarcerated

Lionel an Shari Dahmer speak to each other during Jeffrey Dahmer's trial in 1992

Shari always stood by her husband as his life was turned upside down by the revelations that his son had murdered 17 people, and had even eaten and disemboweled some of his victims.

'Shari was a good woman and Lionel wouldn't be the man he is today without her,' the source said.

'She was there with him through everything that happened with Jeff, she was Lionel's rock through it all.'

The couple appeared together in during a 2004 interview with Larry King on CNN.

Lionel and she both remained close to Jeffrey while he was incarcerated, and even visited him regularly.

The Seville, Ohio, home where Shari lived with her husband Lionel Dahmer

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. The gruesome murders involved rape, necrophilia and cannibalism

The source told the Sun Shari and Lionel hadn't been able to see much of each other in recent months after her health took a downturn.

'Lionel hasn't really been able to go see Shari much in recent times, I believe the last time he saw her was in October,' they said.

'There is not going to be a funeral, per Shari's will she didn't want a service or anything like that.'

'She just wanted to be cremated and left instructions in her will on what she wanted done with the ashes.'

Jeffrey Dahmer sitting in a courtroom in 2991 after his arrest

Shari was portrayed by Molly Ringwald in the 2022 Netflix show about Jeffrey Dahmer's life.

The source Shari was not pleased the show had been made.

'When the series and documentary came out last year, Shari just wished they would leave it the hell alone, but she used stronger language than that.'

Lionel was also not pleased with the documentary, saying he thought the shows sexualized his son instead of focusing on his mental health.
Plans for a bonfire of EU laws are crucial to Britains economic recovery, Rishi Sunak said yesterday.

Tory rebels will join forces with Labour today in an effort to water down legislation that could lead to the deletion of more than 4,000 Brussels regulations this year.

But Downing Street yesterday said the Prime Minister was committed to the Retained EU law Bill, which started life under Boris Johnsons administration.

The PM told the Cabinet that removing EU red tape was already creating economic opportunities in areas like gene-edited crops and financial services.

Plans for a bonfire of EU laws are crucial to Britains economic recovery, Rishi Sunak said yesterday

He said there was further scope for post-Brexit deregulation in areas like the creative, medical and farming sectors.

Developing the best regulatory environment in the UK will be crucial to accelerating our economic recovery and driving growth, innovation, and competitiveness as part of plans to build a better future across the country, he said.

No 10 insisted that none of this work was about watering down standards, such as our strong record on workers rights, maternity rights, or environmental protection.

But environmental campaigners last night warned that the proposals could remove vital protections.

And some Tory MPs are set to back an amendment today which would water down the proposal.

The PM told the Cabinet that removing EU red tape was already creating economic opportunities in areas like gene-edited crops and financial services

Thousands of EU laws were copied and pasted on to the UK statute book in order to save time when Britain left the EU.

Ministers are committed to reviewing all of them by the end of this year and ditching the ones that are no longer needed.

Experts believe more than 4,000 pieces of legislation could be affected.

No 10 yesterday declined to put a total figure on the exercise and could not say how many laws would be axed.

The PMs spokesman said there was an ongoing process to identify relevant legislation.

Labour MP Stella Creasy will lead efforts today to water down the plan by putting Parliament, rather than ministers, in control of the process.

Miss Creasy, chairman of the Labour Movement for Europe, said: Whether you voted leave or remain in 2016, now MPs need to vote to take back control to parliament, rather than surrendering it wholesale to ministers.

The Government need to come clean on exactly which laws this bill covers so that MPs can make up their minds whether it is a good idea to give them wholesale control over these laws.

Her amendment is backed by a number of senior Tories, including former Cabinet ministers David Davis, Caroline Nokes and Sir Robert Buckland.

Wildlife and Countryside Link - a coalition of nature and environmental organisations - yesterday released figures which estimate that dropping or weakening EU laws in just four sectors could cost 82 billion over 30 years.

But Business Secretary Grant Shapps said there was absolutely no truth whatsoever in claims that key employment and environmental protections would be ditched.

Labours shadow business Justin Madders claimed that key measures such as holiday pay and maternity protections could be ditched.

But Mr Shapps responded: Theres absolutely no truth whatsoever with this idea that employer rights or environmental rights or other rights will be scrapped and the sooner they stop peddling this stuff, the better.
An alleged gang of far-Right French nationalists today went on trial for trying to assassinate President Emmanuel Macron.

Details of the terrorist plot were outlined at the Paris Correctional Court on Tuesday, after 13 defendants appeared in the dock.

They included is Jean-Pierre Bouyer, a 66-year-old father of five, who allegedly wanted to help kill Mr Macron as France marked Armistice Day in November 2018.

As France was focused on 100 years since the end of World War I, Bouyer wanted an accomplice to try to talk to the President, and then stab him with a ceramic knife.

According to further prosecution evidence, Bouyer had written on Facebook that Mr Macron was 'a little hysterical dictator,' and he called on fellow conspirators to 'eliminate those who want to harm you.'

An alleged gang of far-Right French nationalists today went on trial for trying to assassinate President Emmanuel Macron

Jean-Pierre Bouyer, a 66-year-old father of five, who allegedly wanted to help kill Mr Macron as France marked Armistice Day in November 2018

Bouyer had written on Facebook that Mr Macron was 'a little hysterical dictator,' and he called on fellow conspirators to 'eliminate those who want to harm you'

Bouyer was part of a gang called the Barjols, which translates as 'The Crazies', which came under surveillance by French security services in 2018.

Their known members - 11 men including Bouyer, and two women  now face a charge of 'terrorist conspiracy'.

All have been described as 'angry paramilitaries' with links to 'far-Right groups' in the eastern Moselle region of France.

Bouyer was arrested with three accomplices on November 6, 2018, when a police spokesman said he was 'armed with knife to assassinate Emmanuel Macron on the occasion of the centenary Armistice'.

A dagger was found in Bouyer's car, alongside a bible, while firearms and ammunition were in his home.

Citing evidence from intercepted phone calls and online, prosecutors said the 13 also planned to kill migrants and attack mosques.

The investigation started in 2018, when France's domestic intelligence service received a tip about the Barjols.

During police questioning, Bouyer admitted he wanted to kill Macron, but said one of his co-accused would be the assassin.

Police later arrested other members of the Barjols, including Denis Collinet (pictured), who is a proponent of the white supremacist 'great replacement' theory

All standing trial have been described as 'angry paramilitaries' with links to 'far-Right groups' in the eastern Moselle region of France

The idea was for the man to approach Macron, as if to chat to him, and then use a ceramic bladed knife to kill him.

Bouyer later withdrew this confession saying it had 'just been talk,' according to the prosecution.

Police later arrested other members of the Barjols, including Denis Collinet, who is a proponent of the white supremacist 'great replacement' theory that falsely claims that France's native white, Catholic population is being replaced by non-white immigrants.

Barjols members also allegedly wanted to kidnap members of parliament and overthrow the government.

Investigating magistrates said in a pre-trial statement that it was 'an established fact' that the group's plans 'were entirely aimed at seriously disrupting the public order by intimidation and terror'.

But defence barrister Lucile Collot said the case against her clients were was based 'on the fiction that a violent act was going to happen.'

Because none of the alleged plots were ever carried out, prosecutors downgraded some of the initial charges over the course of their four-year investigation.

The trial is set to run until February 3.
The husband of missing Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe has been charged with her murder, nearly three weeks after she vanished on New Year's Day.

Brian Walshe is already in custody on charges of misleading police. For weeks, police have been piecing together a case against him that is believed to include evidence such as blood found in the couple's basement, and a bloody hatchet.

Her body has not been found, despite searches of the family home, backyard and other areas of Cohasset, where she lived with her husband and three sons.

Friends say the couple's marriage was strained as a result of Ana's grueling work schedule, which meant they spent much of their time living apart, with Ana in DC and Brian and the boys in Massachusetts.

Ana was also photographed without her wedding ring in some of the final photos taken before she vanished on January 1.

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Brian Walshe is already in custody on charges of misleading police. He is shown on January 9

Ana has been missing since New Year's Day

Walshe will appear in court tomorrow on the fresh murder charge. The evidence used to obtain the murder warrant is likely to be presented then.

ANA WALSHE'S DISAPPEARANCE JANUARY 1: Ana and Brian host a New Year's Eve dinner party. She is last seen at 1.30am. She fails to turn up to work in Washington DC, and there is no proof of her making it to the airport for her flight. JANUARY 4: Tishman Speyer's head of security in DC calls police to report her missing. The caller told the operator he'd informed her husband JANUARY 6: Fire reported at the house Ana shared with her husband JANUARY 8: Brian Walshe arrested for misleading investigation JANUARY 9: Police reveal they found blood in the basement of the couple's home JANUARY 10: Police reveal they found trash bags filled with bloody items, a hatchet and a hacksaw in a trash center near the home JANUARY 17: Brian Walshe is arrested for murder Advertisement

In a statement on Tuesday, Norfolk District Attorney Michael W Morrissey said: 'The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with murder of his wife.

'Mr. Walshe will be transported to the court for the charge of murder.'

Walshe is expected in court tomorrow morning.

So far, he has denied misleading police in his wife's disappearance.

Ana was last seen at 1.30am on the morning of January 1.

She and her husband hosted friends for a New Year's Eve party that their guests say was filled with toasts and fun.

Cem Mutlu, one of the friends who attended the party, said: 'Brian had cooked an elaborate meal for us.

'We hugged and celebrated and toasted and just what you do over New Year's.

'There was a lot of looking forward to the New Year.'

The next day, he says Brian phoned him asking if he'd 'seen Ana' and that she was missing.

She was due to travel to Washington DC on January 1 for work, but failed to show up for her flight or get in her rideshare to the airport.

Ana was reported missing by Tishman Speyer, the real estate company she worked for, on January 4.

A man who identified himself as the firm's head of security in Washington DC called police in Cohasset to request a welfare check for her.

That man told police that he had informed Ana's husband, Brian, that she was missing.

Ana (pictured with Paul Wharton on December 13) had stopped wearing her wedding ring in the weeks before she vanished

The Cohasset home that Ana shared with her husband, Brian, and their three children

Walshe was enjoying her work life in Washington DC and was excited about the year ahead

It contradicted Brian's lawyer's claim in court that he had notified her work that she was missing.

In the weeks before her disappearance, Ana had stopped wearing her wedding ring.

Friends said there was 'tension' in the marriage because of her work schedule.

Her friends are now appealing for care of her children. Walshe is no stranger to legal trouble.

Walshe in his mugshot after being arrested for misleading police

In 2018, he was convicted of fraud for stealing and attempting to sell two fake Andy Warhol paintings that he advertised as being genuine.

Walshe looked up 'how to dispose of a 115-pound womans body' online around the time of his wife's disappearance, according to investigators, and was also caught on surveillance cameras near a trash dumpster next to his mother's house.

The hacksaw and bloodied clothes were found at a trash transfer station.

Police wanted to test a sample of the blood found in the bag to Ana's three sons.

Brian and Ana met in 2008 while she was working at a hotel in the Berkshires. She was the ambitious daughter of Serbian couple who'd come to America in search of a better life.

He was the son of a wealthy family, who he is now estranged from. In court filings, his family accused him of stealing millions from his elderly father after the man suffered a stroke.

Family friends called him a 'sociopath' and said all he ever cared about was his father's money.

The pair married in Serbia in 2015 and later welcomed three sons together.

Ana started working for Tishman Speyer in February last year, accepting a role as the general manager of the company's Washington DC office.

She had previously worked for The Mutlu Group, a real estate company near their home, that is run by the friend who spent New Year's Eve with the couple. Before that, her work experience was in hotels and housekeeping.
Police have demolished makeshift trader stalls in the Cogolese capital Kinshasa ahead of a four-day visit by Pope Francis.

Officer armed with with crowbars and a bulldozer set about clearing the streets near the city centre ahead of the pope's arrival on January 31.

Officials say Kinshasa, a vast impoverished city of 17 million people, is getting a facelift not just to honour the pope but to make its streets and pavements more tidy and orderly even after he's gone home. But evicted small traders protest that their livelihoods are being destroyed in the process.

'The clean-up we are doing just now is not only because the Pope is coming,' George Ya Lala, Kinshasa city coordinator for the campaign said, adding the operation would continue even after the Pope went home.

Congolese officials have begun tearing down makeshift huts along one of Kinshasa's main streets ahead of Pope Francis' four-day visit later this month

Street vendors expressed outrage as their livelihoods were destroyed by officials

Asked for comment on the evictions of traders, the Apostolic Nunciature, Vatican's diplomatic representation in Kinshasa, told Reuters in a text message that it was not aware of the clean-up operations and had no part in them.

It said the Vatican had only requested that preparations for Francis's visit be done 'in the most sober way. We obviously want the reception sites to be able to accommodate the greatest number of faithful in a secure way and for roads to be secure.'

Standing to one side with a swollen face after he fell while scuffling with police in an unsuccessful effort to save his wares, telephone accessories seller David Mbemba, 19, said he had lost around 100,500 Congolese francs ($50) worth of goods.

Other sellers like Jean Mbuyu said they had lost everything because they had no prior warning of the clean-up.

Ya Lala disputed this, saying traders had been warned several times to relocate before the police moved in, leaving a chaotic trail of wreckage as they smashed stall after stall, with crowds of traders, family and friends watching in dismay.

The shacks were located along a route to be used by Pope Francis following his arrival in Congo on January 31

The Lumumba Boulevard in Kinshasa was home to thousands of 'pirate market shops'

The street stalls sold food, clothing, hardware and basic household goods

The livelihoods of many families in Congo depend on the so-called informal sector of the economy - street stalls, kiosks and hawkers selling a cornucopia of items including food and other basic household goods.

'I am a widow. I have to pay my rent, school fees of my children...I will now starve to death,' said Marth Kayunga, a vendor in the informal market on one of the side streets off Lumumba Boulevard targeted by the sanitary police brigade.

'We knew this operation was to clean up Lumumba Boulevard ahead of the Pope's visit that we are all waiting for,' said Jesus, a hardware shop owner who gave only his first name.

'We are surprised the police are coming into the smaller streets because they told us they were just going to remove debris from the main avenue. It's not fair,' he said, adding that his shop was also torn down.

A spokesperson for the police said only that they were working under the directives of Kinshasa's regional governor and city authorities

Gentiny Ngobila Mbaka, the Kinshasa Governor, pictured centre, arrived to see the clear out surrounded by a group of heavily armed bodyguards

A spokesperson for the police said only that they were working under the directives of Kinshasa's regional governor and city authorities such as Ya Lala, who was with the police on the ground directing the operation.

Lumumba Boulevard is the main thoroughfare leading to the airport, where a gala welcome will be staged for Pope Francis. Authorities had warned that development works would be carried out on sites where the Pope will be received.

But Catholic Church priest Father Victor Ntambwe said authorities could have planned better and longer for the occasion.

'Did we have to wait for the Pope's visit to do something like this? I'm not sure that we needed to wait for the Pope's arrival to start clearing the avenues and chase away street sellers,' Ntambwe said.
Some of the most brazen vehicles for smuggling guns on planes last year included jars of peanut butter and even a raw chicken

A record 6,542 weapons were seized by TSA at security checkpoints in 2022

He was transporting across state lines to Nevada for the SHOT show in Las Vegas

The weapon was later revealed to be demilitarized, but only once the owner was tracked down and showed officials the appropriate paperwork

Security agents at a Texas airport were shocked to find an anti-tank rifle in a checked bag on Monday

TSA agents in Texas found an undeclared anti-tank rifle stowed in checked luggage - but the owner has escaped charges after proving he demilitarized the piece.

The 84MM Carl-Gustaf M4 recoilless rifle was deconstructed and packed in its hard-shell case when discovered during the baggage screening process in San Antonio on Monday.

The owner, who has not been publicly identified, was tracked down by airport security, and explained to them that the weapon he was carting across state borders was in fact just an exhibit item for the SHOT show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

He was able to provide company paperwork that showed the rifle was made unusable - or demilitarized - which was later also confirmed by a TSA explosives expert.

The anti-tank rifle was discovered by TSA agents at San Antonio International Airport in Texas

In a tweet posted by the agency's account, an image of the weapon, snug in its packing case, was shared, along with instructions on how to legally travel with firearms

Still, TSA officers decided the potentially deadly weapon would not be allowed on the aircraft. A family member of the unidentified owner came to retrieve the rifle, and he was allowed to rebook his departing flight.

The San Antonio Police Department told Dailymail.com that no charges are pending in the case at this time.

Transportation Security Administration rules for transporting firearms Declare each firearm each time you present it for transport as checked baggage Firearms must be unloaded and locked in a hard-sided container and transported as checked baggage only Replica firearms, including firearm replicas that are toys, may be transported in checked baggage only When traveling, comply with the laws concerning possession of firearms as they vary by local, state and international governments Firearm parts, including magazines, clips, bolts and firing pins, are prohibited in carry-on baggage, but may be transported in checked baggage Advertisement

'We don't see that caliber of weapon very often, thank God,' TSA spokesperson Patricia Mancha told San Antonio TV station KENS 5.

The TSA confiscated more firearms from airport passengers in 2022 than any other year since the agency's inception.

Of these 6,542 weapons discovered at airport security checkpoints, 88 percent were loaded.

Confiscations by the TSA in 2022 show a 10 percent rise from the previous year, when a still shocking 5,972 firearms were seized.

San Antonio International was not one of the 10 airports announced by the TSA to have had the largest number of guns confiscated.

However, three of the ten were located in Texas, including Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport; George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston; and Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Another of the three were Floridian airports.

In response to the rise in attempts to bring undeclared weapons aboard domestic and international flights, the TSA has introduced a range of new penalties.

Passengers caught toting loaded weapons in airports will now face fines starting at $3000, with the maximum civil penalty raised from $13,910 to $14,950 for those with a history of the offence.

TSA is also revoking Precheck eligibility for at least five years for anyone caught with a firearm.

Passengers who wish to avoid these penalties can follow TSA's proper packing guidance for firearms in checked baggage, and are required to declare them to the airline at check-in as well as show a permit.

Some attempts to smuggle undeclared weapons aboard planes reported this year border on the ridiculous.

One Rhode Island man found himself in a sticky situation in late December after TSA agents caught him trying to stash a deconstructed handgun in two full jars of peanut butter.

TSA agents at JFK's Terminal 8 found a loaded handgun stashed in two jars of creamy peanut butter in December

Security agents uncovered the loaded .22 caliber gun after the checked bag it was hidden in triggered an alarm in JFK's Terminal 8.

The offending traveler was tracked down and arrested shortly after.

'The gun parts were artfully concealed in two smooth creamy jars of peanut butter,' said John Essig, TSAs Federal Security Director for JFK Airport, 'but there was certainly nothing smooth about the way the man went about trying to smuggle his gun.'

In another shockingly brazen attempt to bring a weapon aboard a plane, one passenger attempted to stow their handgun inside a raw chicken.

Upon unwrapping the chicken, agents discovered a handgun wrapped in a plastic bag and stuffed inside of it

In a tweet posted about the incident at Fort Lauderdale Airport in Florida, the agency described their officers making the 'raw find' in November.

'There's a personal fowl here,' the tweet read. 'We hate to break it to you but stuffing a firearm in your holiday bird for travel is just a baste of time.'

Pictures showed the gun wrapped up in a plastic bag and shoved inside the chicken before being unwrapped by agents.

According to the TSA website, passengers are permitted to travel with both fresh and cooked meat, which may explain why the passenger chose this method of smuggling.
Biden also declared in a September interview the COVID-19 pandemic is 'over'

Comes after nearly a year without the requirements for domestic flights

Joe Biden's administration is fighting to reinstate a federal mask mandate for air travel  even after the president declared in September that the COVID-19 pandemic is 'over', and it's been nearly a year since domestic airline passengers have been required to mask up on flights.

The Justice Department argued the case before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The legal battle to require face-coverings on flights is not popular among travel industry groups for a myriad of reasons ranging from passengers who refused to mask-up to airlines who don't want any more controversy after a series of issues led to mass delays and cancellations during and following the holiday season.

The Biden administration is fighting in court to reinstate the mask mandate for domestic air travel

Passengers are still welcome, and sometimes even encouraged, to wear masks on flights - a fact that Republican lawmakers were quick to acknowledge.

'If you want to wear a mask on a plane, no one's stopping you,' tweeted Florida Representative Brian Mast on Tuesday. 'But we're not going back to mandates. Period.'

Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennesse posted: 'Joe Biden has said that the pandemic is over. Yet his administration is still arguing in court to reinstate the mask mandate.'

A federal judge in Florida struck down Biden's federal mask mandate on April 18, 2022. The ruling almost immediately led to all major U.S. airlines lifting their mask requirements for domestic flights.

Passengers celebrated when the airline mask mandate was lifted in April 2022 following a ruling by a judge in Florida

But the new court challenge could threaten to undo that nearly six months after Biden declared that the pandemic was over.

'The pandemic is over,' Biden said during a 60 Minutes interview in September. 'We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it.'

While walking through the Detroit Auto Show for his pre-taped CBS interview, Biden said: 'If you notice, no one's wearing a mask, everybody seems to be in pretty good shape.'

Despite this statement and others lauding an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, the president last week quietly extended the national emergency declaration through April.

Biden said in a September interview with 60 Minutes that the COVID-19 pandemic is 'over'

'The Department continues to believe that the order requiring masking in the transportation corridor is a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health,' the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement at the time of the April ruling.

'That is an important authority the Department will continue to work to preserve,' the statement added.

Airlines and the Transportation Department have faced several months of criticism following a major meltdown over the holidays, specifically with Southwest Airlines, where thousands of flights were delayed or canceled over the course of several days.

Shortly after, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had a systems glitch this month, which led to the grounding of all domestic flights nationwide for hours one morning that resulted in several days of chaos.

The FAA has operated without a Senate-confirmed administrator since March 2022.
According to the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, at least six people, including a mother and her 6-month-old infant, were killed in a "early morning massacre" in the California town of Goshen on Monday.

Tulare County officers responded to a complaint of shots fired shortly after 3:30 a.m. local time on Monday, according to a press release from the sheriff's office, which added, "The reporting party believed an active shooter was in the vicinity due to the number of gunfire heard."

Mom, 6-Month-Old Baby Shot in Head

Sheriff Mike Boudreaux informed reporters at the site that responding deputies discovered a total of six casualties, including two on the street and one in the doorway of the residence where the gunshot happened.

The mother, who was 17 years old, and the infant were both shot in the head, he claimed, and at least one male was hospitalized but subsequently pronounced dead, as per CNN.

The incident does not appear to be a random act of violence, but may be connected to gang activities, according to the sheriff's office, which noted that it occurred a week after deputies conducted a drugs search warrant at the residence.

Ashley Schwarm, a spokesman for the Tulare County Sheriff, said on Monday evening that while they cannot prove the gunmen were members of a cartel, the sheriff believes it seems to be a "execution in the cartel style."

Sheriff's office stated previously that detectives are seeking for at least two individuals. Sheriff Mike Boudreaux stated that deputies discovered two fatally wounded victims in the street and a third fatally wounded victim in the front entryway of the apartment. He stated that three further victims were discovered inside the residence, Daily Mail reported.

Investigators are investigating for at least two suspects, according to the sheriff, although neither the victims' identities nor their descriptions have been disclosed. Two individuals survived by sheltering behind a trailer located on the site.

They suspect that the murders are linked to a gang. The young woman and her infant were both shot in the head, according to the sheriff.

Monday, Samuel Pina revealed that his adolescent granddaughter Alissa Parraz and her infant son Nycholas Nolan Parraz were among those dead. Pina stated that Parraz and her child were living with her father's side of the family in Goshen, and that her grandfather, grandmother, and great-grandmother were all slaughtered.

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California Drug-Related Murder Incident

According to ABC, at least one of the elderly women was slain while they slept. The sheriff stated that DNA testing would be necessary to identify at least one of the suspects due to facial injuries caused by the weapon(s) used. Located 35 miles southeast of Fresno in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley, Goshen is a semi-rural, predominantly Latino village of around 5,000 people.

Eddie Valero, who represents the municipality as county supervisor, described the killings as "everyone's greatest fear."

"These senseless acts of violence, particularly against newborns, toddlers, and adolescents, have no place in our community," Valero said in a statement. Tulare County, a small agricultural region with a population of fewer than 500,000, is known for its role in the international drug traffic, delivering drugs from Mexico to various US markets.

Since at least the 1970s, the county, which is bisected by the 99 Freeway and has a little police presence, acres of open terrain, and a highly mobile population of farmworkers, has been a refuge for drug traffickers.

In recent years, the region has also acquired a reputation for the manufacturing of methamphetamine and the growth of both legal and illegal marijuana. Jose Maria Guizar Valencia, the former commander of the Zetas cartel, was born in Tulare County. He is one of the most notorious and ruthless drug war characters in Mexico.

The Tulare County Sheriff's Office requests that anyone with information contact them at (559) 733-6218.

Related Article: Woman Stabs Indiana University Student

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Four people were killed and one injured after a small plane crashed in Lavaca County, Texas, on Tuesday morning amid fog.

State Department of Public Safety officials said the plane hit the ground at around 10:50am, near the intersection of County Road 462 and Farm-to-Market Road 318, just two miles away from the Yoakum Municipal Airport.

Lavaca County is located about 112 miles east of San Antonio.

Only one person was reported injured and taken to a nearby hospital, Crossroads Today reports, as officials work to recover the bodies of the deceased.

The crash comes as two planes averted a near-fatal 115mph crash at New York's John F. Kennedy airport that could've killed 418 people.

Four people died and one was injured after their small plane crashed in Lavaca County, Texas on Tuesday at 10:50am

The crash occurred in foggy weather just two miles away from the Yoakum Municipal Airport

Fatal plane crash near Yoakum in a field off CR 462 Tuesday morning Posted by The Victoria Advocate on Tuesday, January 17, 2023

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are both investigating the Texas crash.

Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon confirmed that there were fatalities as a result of the incident, and said the scene is still under investigation.

The NTSB said that the plane that crashed was a Piper PA-46-350P aircraft, known as a Piper Malibu, a single-engine plane capable of carrying five passengers and a pilot.

'Five occupants were inside the plane,' DPS said in a statement. 'Four died and one is in stable condition being treated at Citizens Medical in Victoria, Texas.'

Local residents told Crossroads that it was still foggy outside when the plane crashed. Officials noted that the road near the crash will remain closed as the investigation continues.

Sgt. Ruben San Miguel, spokesman for Texas DPS, told the Victoria Advocate that authorities are working to remove the bodies of the deceased from the plane.

He added that once the bodies are recovered, they will identified and the next-of-kin will be notified.

The group was riding in a Piper PA-46-350P aircraft, known as a Piper Malibu, which can carry five passengers and a pilot. Pictured: A file photo of a Malibu flying

The crash is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board

It's the second small plane crash in Texas within one week, after DPS reported that two people were injured when their plane crashed in Conroe.

On January 14, at around 2:45 p.m., officials said a Fixed Wing Single-engine plane hit power lines while attempting to land on Longmire Road near League Line.

Officials said the pilot and a male passenger only suffered minor injuries, and no homes were damaged as a result of the crash.
The boss of consumer goods giant Unilever has tried to justify its decision to carry on selling ice creams in Russia by saying that the profits would otherwise be used to fund Vladimir Putin's war.

Alan Jope was responding to questions over why it keeps making money from Magnum and Cornetto products despite a pledge to stop selling all but essential food and hygiene products.

It is an embarrassment for a company which boasts of its ethical credentials and has even been criticised for its 'truly bonkers' woke posturing.

But Jope said of the ice cream sales: 'If we hand those assets over to the Russian state they will be used to support this war.

Unilever's boss Alan Jope pledged to stop selling all but essential products in Putin's Russia. But the company continues to profit from Magnum and Cornetto product sales

'We are minimising that business not maximising that business.'

A host of western firms announced that they were pulling out of Russia amid revulsion at its invasion of Ukraine last February.

But campaigners have criticised a number of companies  Unilever among them  for still doing business there despite expressions of condemnation for the war.

Campaigners have criticised Unilever for still doing business with Russia despite expressions of condemnation for the war

But Jope said of the ice cream sales: 'If we hand those assets over to the Russian state they will be used to support this war'

Unilever has said it has suspended all imports and exports of products into and out of Russia, will stop all media and advertising spend, and will not profit from its presence in the country.

Jope's latest comments drew derision from the Moral Rating Agency, which tracks companies' continued involvement in Russia.

A spokesman said: 'Unilever is moral chameleon.

'It keeps on coming up with different excuses for not leaving Russia.

'Its first excuse was that it was providing "essential food". Now it is saying if it quits Russia the assets will be used by government to support the war.

'The real reason is Unilever cares only about profits and keeping its market share.'

The criticism comes shortly after the company faces brickbats from top investor Terry Smith and others over its claim that Lux soap could 'inspire women to rise above sexism'.
Wearing a blue fleece and navy pants, the 67-year-old was moving freely and appeared to be in good health as he gave DailyMail.com a thumbs up

On Tuesday he finally emerged from his comfy bolt-hole in Kissimmee, Florida to meet and greet expat supporters

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been in self-imposed exile after rioters stormed his nation's Congress to protest his election loss on January 8

Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro was cheered by expat supporters Tuesday as he finally emerged from his comfy Florida bolt-hole a week after his hospitalization for mystery stomach pains.

The so-called Trump of the Tropics has been in self-imposed exile in the Sunshine State as Brazilian authorities probe his alleged links to rioters who stormed his nation's Congress on January 8 to protest his election loss.

He spent the early part of last week at an Orlando-area hospital being treated for an 'intestinal obstruction' but suggested on social media he would soon return to Brazil, where doctors are more familiar with injuries he suffered when he was stabbed on the campaign trail in 2018.

On Tuesday former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro finally emerged from his comfy bolt-hole in Kissimmee, Florida to meet and greet expat supporters

The handful of loyal supporters  'Bolsonaristas  had spent the past week waiting patiently outside a $850,000 property to see with their own eyes that the controversial far right leader was okay

Fans of the president flocked to Bolsonaro with their phones in hand to snap selfies with him

Bolsonaro's whereabouts remained a mystery after that with security guards stationed at his rented vacation home in Kissimmee, a 15-minute drive from Walt Disney World, refusing to say whether he was inside but dismissing any suggestion that his life was in danger as 'fake news'.

The handful of loyal supporters  'Bolsonaristas  who had spent the past week waiting patiently outside the $850,000 property to see with their own eyes that the controversial far right leader was ok, roared their approval as he finally walked outside into the chilly morning air this morning to greet them.

Wearing a blue fleece and navy pants, the 67-year-old Bolsonaro was moving freely and appeared to be in good health as he gave DailyMail.com a thumbs up and posed for our exclusive photographs.

'Thank you, but I don't speak any English,' he said politely, before switching to his native Portuguese to speak to his hardcore fans, who begged him to sign their flags, t-shirts and even sneakers.

Wearing a blue fleece and navy pants, the 67-year-old was moving freely and appeared to be in good health as he smiled and waved at fans

Excited supporters begged him to sign their flags, t-shirts and even sneakers

Bolsonaro's whereabouts had remained a mystery after his hospitalization with security guards stationed at an $850,000 rented vacation home in Kissimmee

Bolsonaro posted an image of himself lying on a hospital bed recovering from treatment in Florida last week

Bolsonaro's HQ for the past month has been a 3,600-square foot vacation rental complete with a pool and hot tub owned by Jose Aldo, a retired Brazilian professional MMA fighter and UFC champion.

His presence there is becoming a headache for US President Joe Biden with mounting calls for him to expel Bolsonaro after the defeated right winger skipped the inauguration of his leftist rival, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and flew to Florida on December 30.

Despite being overseas when his supporters invaded the storied buildings to protest the supposed 'rigged' election, he has been named a 'person of interest' by Brazilian investigators, an accusation Bolsonaro vehemently denies.

This weekend a key Bolsonaro ally, the former security secretary for Brasilia, Anderson Torres, was arrested by federal authorities when he flew back to Brazil from Florida, where he was supposedly on vacation.

Torres was accused of conspiring to allow the attack by 'sabotaging' police efforts to protect Congress, according to The Guardian.

The commander of the capital's military police was also among the 1,400 people taken into custody over the riot which caused millions of dollars of damage.

Bolsonaro's stomach concerns stem from a protester stabbing him in the guts at a rally during his successful 2018 presidential campaign. He lost nearly 40 percent of his blood.

He has undergone at least four surgeries since then and was previously admitted to hospital in Sao Paulo in January 2022 because of a blockage found in his intestines.

According to reports, Bolsonaro was rushed to Advent Health Celebration last Monday although there was never any official confirmation from the hospital, in Celebration, outside Orlando.

Bolsonaro was stabbed in the abdomen during his 2018 presidential campaign. He is pictured here on January 3, 2022, giving the thumbs-up from his hospital bed after being admitted for an abdominal problems, in Sao Paulo, Brazil

He was taken to Advent Health Celebration hospital in Orlando, Florida, on Monday

The 67-year-old was stabbed in the abdomen during his successful 2018 presidential campaign, losing nearly 40 percent of his blood (pictured moments after the attack)

In an Instagram post later that day he wrote: 'I came [to the United States] to stay until the end of the month [January] but I intend to anticipate my return.

'Because in Brazil the doctors already know about my intestinal obstruction problem because of the stab wound. My doctors did not accompany me here.'

Since flying into the US on a Brazilian navy plane, Bolsonaro has been filmed wandering around his neighborhood soaking up the adoration of expat Brazilian supporters.

He was also filmed inside a Publix grocery store and caught on camera eating a KFC meal in a now-viral video.

Some lawmakers have not been sympathetic to Bolsonaro  with Democrats calling for the United States to force him back to his country.

Progressive New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged Biden's government to 'stop granting refuge' to the authoritarian leader.

'Nearly 2 years to the day the US Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote.

Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro told CNN that Bolsonaro 'should be sent back to Brazil' and accused him of emulating Donald Trump's refusal to admit defeat in the Presidential election.

'I stand with the democratically elected leadership in Brazil,' Castro said. 'He basically used the Trump playbook to inspire domestic terrorists to try and take over the government.'

Supporters of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro invade the National Congress in Brasilia on January 8, 2023

Supporters of Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro demonstrate against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as security forces operate, outside Brazil's National Congress in Brasilia, Brazil, January 8, 2023

Castro added that it 'looks a lot like January 6 in the United States.'

'Right now, Bolsonaro is in Florida, he's actually very close to Donald Trump - he should be extradited to Brazil. In fact, it was reported that he was under investigation for corruption and fled Brazil to the United States,' the Democrat went on.

Bolsonaro supporters have been protesting Lula's electoral win since October 30, blocking roads, setting vehicles on fire and gathering outside military buildings, urging the armed forces to intervene.

But in comments made after the riots, Bolsonaro insisted the invasion of government buildings 'crossed the line.'

'Peaceful demonstrations, in the form of the law, are part of democracy. However, depredations and invasions of public buildings as occurred today, as well as those practiced by the left in 2013 and 2017, escape the rule,' he wrote.

'Throughout my mandate, I have always been within the four lines of the Constitution, respecting and defending the laws, democracy, transparency and our sacred freedom.

'In addition, I repudiate the accusations, without evidence, attributed to me by the current head of the executive of Brazil.'
A new three-part Netflix documentary series promises to delve deep into the scandals and murders that have plagued a once-prominent South Carolina legal scion and his family.

The documentary series, entitled Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal, will examine the death of Mallory Beach on board a boat driven by a drunken Paul Murdaugh, as well as his and his mother's subsequent murders.

It will also touch on the mysterious death of the Murdaugh's housekeeper as well as the death of Stephen Smith, who was found dead in the middle of a South Carolina road in 2015.

And it will feature interviews with some of those closest to the multiple Murdaugh cases, some of whom are speaking for the first time.

The show is expected to premiere on February 22, with a trailer for the much-anticipated true crime documentary released Tuesday.

A new documentary series will delve into the scandals and murders plaguing the once popular Murdaugh family, under the head of Alex Murdaugh

It touches on all of the scandals and murders that have plagued the Murdaugh family over the past few years.

'There are facts that don't add up and bodies tied to this family,' one man in the trailer says, before a young man describes how 'the Murdaughs would just make someone disappear.'

The Murdaughs were once a very powerful political family in South Carolina, with one man noting in the trailer: 'For over a century, the Murdaughs were law and order here in the 14th Circuit.'

The disgraced former attorney is facing a total of 98 criminal charges - four related to the double murders and others for a botched suicide for hire plot

But after Mallory Beach, 19, was thrown from a boat driven by her friend, Paul Murdaugh, and killed in 2019, questions started surrounding the political dynasty.

Paul, who was 19 at the time, had been drunk when he was operating the vehicle. His older brother, Buster, was accused of lending Paul his ID in order for him to buy alcohol for the joyride.

Now, Mallory's best friend, Miley Altman, says she and her friends were trying to stop Paul from driving drunk.

'Everyone was like, "Paul don't drive," and Paul would snap back and be like "Well, this is my f****** boat,' Altman says in the trailer, as another friend notes Paul 'was out of his mind drunk.'

They and others in the promo say legal scion Alex Murdaugh, the head of the dynasty, was 'more worried about a cover-up.'

Paul, 22, and Maggie, 52, were murdered over one year later on June 7, 2021, leading to speculation it was related to the fatal boating accident.

But when Alex later claimed he was shot in the head in a drive-by amid financial troubles, authorities turned their attention to him.

He is now facing a total of 98 criminal charges  four accusing him of orchestrating the double homicide of Paul and his wife, Maggie, and others for a botched suicide-for-hire plot.

'This is a fall from dynasty,' one man in the trailer says. 'It was a fall from grace.'

The family's legal troubles began after Mallory Beach, 19, was thrown from a boat being driven by a drunk Paul Murdaugh, then 19, and died

Her friends, Connor Cook and Miley Altman, describe in the Netflix show how Paul was 'out of his mind drunk' when he was navigating the boat

Murdaugh's wife Maggie (right) and his younger son Paul (left) were found shot dead on the family's property in June 2021

Last month, it was revealed that Murdaugh told law enforcement his wife's and son's murders were tied to the 2019 boat crash.

Prosecutors say in a court filing obtained by DailyMail.com that the legal scion tried to throw investigators off the scent by falsely linking the murders with the fatal boat crash for which Paul, drunk at the helm, was facing criminal charges, while his father and older brother Buster were facing a wrongful death lawsuit.

But, according to the state, the murders of Maggie and Paul were not revenge killings.

Instead, they now allege, the 'only person with a true motive to kill his wife and son' was Murdaugh himself.

In the document filed in Colleton County Court prosecutors write that the 'clouds of Murdaugh's past misdeeds' were gathering into 'a perfect storm that was going to expose the real Alex Murdaugh', who is, they say, 'an allegedly crooked lawyer and drug user who borrowed and stole wherever he could to stay afloat and one step ahead of detection.'

They claim that he was facing imminent 'legal, financial and personal ruin.'

That storm, they state, was due to break on June 7, 2021  the very day that they allege Murdaugh gunned down his wife and son in a bid to, 'shift focus' away from himself and 'buy some additional time to try and prevent his financial crimes from being uncovered.'

For the first time in his life, prosecutors contend, Murdaugh was facing 'accountability' and the exposure of years of misdeeds and a mountain of debt running into millions.

They will argue that he killed his own wife and son for no other reason than to create a distraction.

The state alleges that Murdaugh was confronted with an 'immediate certainty of exposure,' on June 7, 2021

Prosecutors say disgraced legal scion Alex Murdaugh (pictured in court in August) tried to throw investigators off by falsely linking the murders of his wife and son with a fatal boat crash for which his son Paul was facing criminal charges

The Murdaughs were once a very prominent legal dynasty in South Carolina

On that day personnel from the family firm of which Murdaugh was once a partner - Peters Murdaugh Parker Elztroth & Detrick (PMPED) now rebranded the Parker Law Group LLP  confronted Murdaugh about financial irregularities, with an ultimatum for answers by the end of the day, answers that Murdaugh knew he could not provide.

Similarly, the walls were closing in on him in the wrongful death lawsuit as he was facing down the reality of having to produce financial documents at a discovery hearing just two days later, on June 9.

Murdaugh knew, prosecutors allege, that producing his financial records for either party would mean exposure and ruin.

Because, unknown to anyone, Murdaugh had been on an 'incessant financial rollercoaster,' for decades.

Things only got worse following the boat crash as suddenly Paul was facing criminal charges, and the family was facing 'significant civil liability.'

His status and reputation in the community only made things worse.

A member of the Murdaugh family had served as solicitor  South Carolina's equivalent of a district attorney  for the 14th judicial circuit for more than 100 years starting with Murdaugh's great grandfather.

But while outwardly Murdaugh gave the 'illusion' of wealth from his successful legal practice, the filing states, 'a series of bad land deals exacerbated by the recession permanently changed his finances.'

Murdaugh was, the State alleges, overwhelmed by debts that required such, 'a velocity of money' just to service them that he turned to crime and fraud, syphoning off $8.7million in client settlements and taking out loans he had neither the intention nor the means of repaying.

The filing states: 'Since people are naturally expected to love their wives and sons instead of brutally gunning them down, why Murdaugh did what he is accused of doing will unquestionably weigh on any rational juror's mind when deciding whether the State has met it burden of proof.'

Prosecutors say Murdaugh was facing financial troubles when he allegedly murdered his wife and son. He has pleaded not guilty

Murdaugh himself put motive 'front and center' the motion claims, 'through his own actions.'

According to the prosecution, 'Within just thirty seconds of beginning to speak to the first officer to arrive at the crime scene on June 7, 2021 [he] suggested to law enforcement that the killer's motive stemmed from the February 2019 boat wreck that resulted in the tragic death of Mallory Beach.

'In fact, Murdaugh expressed certainty and stated that he knew 'that's what it is' to the responding officer.'

In doing so, they claim, he falsely tried to tie the horrific events of that June night to something that had occurred more than two years earlier while he turned himself into an object of sympathy and support rather than scrutiny.

Prosecutors allege he tried to heighten his profile as victim when suspicion began to fall on him by claiming to have been shot in the head in September 4, 2021.

'Only this time the facts came to light a lot quicker,' they point out.

Within days Murdaugh had admitted to staging the incident on Old Salkahatchie Road claiming it was an attempted 'suicide for hire' and that his motive had been to secure his $10million life insurance pay out for older son Buster, 26.

Murdaugh's motive is so vital to their case that the prosecution has asked the court to allow them to introduce evidence of some of the financial crimes of which Murdaugh stands accused even though he has not yet faced trial on those charges.

This evidence should be admitted, the State argues, 'so the jury can assess why a man might murder his wife and son.'

According to the State: 'This case is unique in South Carolina history for many reasons. One of those is that exposing what happened to Maggie and Paul necessarily has its roots in a corruption that began years go and festered until June 7 was the result.'

Murdaugh is currently being held in the Alvin S Glenn Detention Center in Columbia where he is awaiting trial on multiple charges.

His trial for the murders of Maggie and Paul is due to begin in Colleton County Court on January 23, 2023. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Beach was thrown from the boat when it crashed into Archers Creek Bridge, in Beaufort South Carolina. Her body was found five days later

Pictured: Coolers full of beers were seen on the boat. Paul was captured on security cameras inside a Parker's Kitchen convenience store using Buster's ID to purchase alcohol underage. The store was also named in the lawsuit brought by Mallory's family and the survivors

Meanwhile, the family of Mallory Beach have reached a tentative settlement with Alex's only surviving son, Buster, in a $50million lawsuit.

The cost of the settlement has not been made public, but ABC News 4 reported that it had been told it is a 'significant' amount.

Reports say the settlement will mean that Buster and his late mother Maggie Murdaugh - who was accused of knowing her son Paul was drunk when he went out boating that night - are no longer named on the lawsuit.

This would leave just Paul and Buster's father Alex Murdaugh and Parker's Kitchen convenience store, where Paul purchased alcohol underage, as the defendants.

However, the settlement is not yet final. A hearing will be held Thursday by State Judge Daniel Hall in Lexington County.
Microsoft is set to axe thousands of jobs, following in the footsteps of tech giants Amazon and Meta which have also announced huge cutbacks in recent months.

The software giant, founded by billionaire Bill Gates, is reportedly slashing 5 percent of its 220,000-strong international workforce.

That means up to 11,000 employees will lose their jobs - though insiders speculate the actual figure could be even higher.

On Tuesday, Microsoft's shares were trading at $240.16, down over 20 percent from last year.

Big technology companies are being forced to reduce their workforces in response to signs of a global economic slump, after many recruited tens of thousands of additional employees during the pandemic.

Microsoft, headquartered in Washington, is set to axe 11,000 as it becomes latest tech giant to respond to global economic slowdown

Microsoft's share value plummets over the past year as analysts Guggenheim downgrades its stock rating

Earlier this month Amazon revealed it was planning to cut 18,000 jobs - or 6 percent of its workforce - while Facebook-owner Meta laid off approximately 11,000 roles in November.

Meanwhile software provider Salesforce is slashing 8,000 jobs and personal computer manufacturer HP has axed 6,000.

And Twitter owner Elon Musk has come under fire for firing thousands of employees without warning after his $44 billion takeover of the social media giant last year.

Microsoft is now poised to make its own announcement within a matter of days, reports Sky News.

A separate report from Insider said the firm could cut staff recruitment by one-third with many teams initiating a hiring freeze.

The company has a market value of $1.78 trillion and is due to report second-quarter earnings next week.

Of its 221,000 full-time employees, 122,000 are based in the United States as of June 30, according to its filings.

In July last year the company said it was axing a small number of roles but would replenish its headcount again later in the year.

Microsoft chairman and chief executive Satya Nadella is expected to update investors on its financial performance on January 24.

Any workforce cutbacks are expected to be confirmed before then.

Microsoft chairman and chief executive, pictured, is set to update investors on its financial performance on Jan 24 but job losses are expected to be announced before that

One analyst told Sky News it expected the actual number of job losses to be even higher than those predicted.

In October Microsoft warned of a slowdown in its cloud computing business.

Nadella said at the time: 'In a world facing increasing headwinds, digital technology is the ultimate tailwind.

'In this environment, we're focused on helping our customers do more with less while investing in secular growth areas and managing our cost structure in a disciplined way.

It comes as Microsoft is fighting a regulatory battle to secure approval of its potential $68 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard, the marker of cult-video game Call of Duty.

Last month it also acquired a $1.8 billion stake in the owner of the London Stock Exchange as part of a long-term cloud computing partnership.

Microsoft's stock rating was downgraded by analysts at Guggenheim ahead of its earnings next week.

The firm wrote: 'While most investors see Microsoft as a large stable business that can weather any storm, it does have vulnerabilities, some of which could be exacerbated by this macro[economic] slowdown.'

A spokesman for Microsoft told DailyMail.com the firm 'did not comment on rumour'.
The devastated father of a young mother-of-two who was killed inside her apartment has broken his silence after losing his 'princess'.

Dayna Isaac, 28, was found dead in her unit on Colless St in Penrith, in Sydney's west, on Monday afternoon.

Her long-time friend who she'd only recently started dating, Paul Sultana, 32, has been charged with her murder and will face court on Wednesday.

Ms Isaac's father, Garry English, received a knock on the door from police telling him the inconceivable news his daughter had been killed.

'I'm not in a good place. I'm in complete shock,' Mr English told the Daily Telegraph.

Mr English often shared snaps of him and Ms Isaac together to his Facebook account, describing her as his 'princess'.

Garry English is seen with his daughter Dayna Isaac who was allegedly murdered by her boyfriend on Monday

His Facebook cover photo is a picture of the pair smiling while on the way to Ms Isaac's wedding to her ex-husband Mikkel Isaac.

Other images show Mr English cuddling and playing with Ms Isaac's two young daughters.

Her ex-husband shared his heartache on Tuesday night, and posted a moving tribute to the mother of his two daughters.

'Love you forever and always. I promise I'll look after our girls until we meet again my angel,' he wrote.

He also posted a series of photos of the pair in happier times, including several of them kissing and dancing on their wedding day in 2017.

Dayna Isaac, 28, was found dead in her unit on Colless St in Penrith, in Sydney's west, on Monday afternoon

Dayna Isaac's boyfriend Paul Sultana (pictured right) has been charged with murder

Ms Isaac's best friend has since set up an online fundraiser to help support the grieving family.

'Our beautiful Dayna was taken way too soon,' she wrote.

'Dayna was a friend to everyone. She leaves behind two beautiful children who will miss her dearly. As you can understand this is a difficult time for her friends and family.

'We are asking for donations to help give Dayna the send off she truly deserves and to help her family with the costs of raising her children.'

Ms Isaac's (pictured) body was found by her boyfriend's mother inside her apartment on Monday afternoon

Ms Isaac's body was found by Sultana's mother at about 4.15pm on Monday.

Police had been called to the 28-year-old's home at 2.30pm after reports of a 'disturbance', but nobody came to the door.

Detectives found her car burned out in bushland 13km away, near Castlereagh, a short time later.

Ms Isaac's two daughters were not with her at the time she was killed.

Sultana was arrested at about 3.25am on Tuesday and was charged with her murder.

He will face Penrith Local Court on Wednesday.
A 16-year-old was arrested on camera after shooting a New York police officer in the Bronx - as the officer left hospital hours later to a round of applause from his colleagues.

Two teenagers, who haven't been identified, were approached by two officers in an unmarked car on Prospect Avenue and East 183rd Street at around 3am on Tuesday.

The boys instantly ran away from the officers until one of the teenagers turned back and fired six shots - striking officer Paul Lee in the arm, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

Despite being shot, Lee and the other officer, who wasn't injured, ran to chase down the teenagers. He was eventually caught by other officers in the area. The second suspect remains on the loose.

'Let me be clear, we will stop at nothing to ensure that these subjects involved in this shooting and the people who drive violence in this city will be brought to justice,' Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference.

A 16-year-old with an extensive criminal record was detained for shooting a police officer in the arm. His name has not been released

Paul Lee, New York police officer, was shot in the arm by a teenager in the Bronx. Lee was shot at 3am on Tuesday while in an unmarked police car

A video posted online shows the suspect being arrested and placed in a cop car. An officer can be heard in the background saying: 'I want to look at him in the face.'

Police showed a .32 caliber gun that was recovered from the 16-year-old and the bullet holes that went through the unmarked patrol car.

The teenager has an extensive criminal track record and was last arrested in April for possession of a weapon, the New York Post reported.

In May, he 'threatened' to bomb a high school in the Bronx after an altercation with a faculty member.

The suspect has also had run in with his own family with his mom having reported him for stealing her car and property destruction, according to the news outlet.

He also had an active October warrant for sexual abuse.

Police showed a .32 caliber gun that was recovered from the 16-year-old

A shattered windshield show where the bullet flew through the car and hit the officer

Detectives were seen examining cars on the streets that were hit by bullets

Cones were seen scattered around the crime scene on Tuesday

Officer Lee was released from the hospital hours later on Tuesday afternoon.

The NYPD taped him exciting the hospital in a wheelchair and arm sling. Several officers lined up and clapped for him as he made his way to a NYPD van.

Mayor Eric Adams said Lee was proud to do his job and intervene where he was needed.

'I spoke with Officer Lee and his family and hes proud to have done his job on the frontline to deal with the violence that we have witnessed, particularly in the borough of the Bronx,' Adams said.

Adams admitted at the press conference that there are too many guns in the hands of youth and used the shooting to promote gun control.

'Too many young people have too many guns in their hands,' Adams said. 'And out jobs is to create a pathway to stop that and to ensure that we remove these guns from our streets '

Mayor Eric Adams admitted at the press conference that there are too many guns in the hands of youth and used the shooting to promote gun control

NY crime stats show that overall crime is up in the city by 3.42 percent in comparison to the same time last year

So far in 2023, there have about 16 shooting incidents and 17 shooting victims as of January 8, according to NYPD crime statistics.

About 463 felony assaults have also been reported along with 917 grand larceny incidents.

At the start of the year, NYPD released its annual round-up of crime over the past year - and it has revealed that crime is up in virtually every category, despite recent assertions from the city's mayor.

The statistics paint a bleak picture of the city's efforts to address crime that's rocketed since the pandemic.

Adams, who himself is a former NYPD police captain, unveiled his 'Blueprint to End Gun Violence' early last year, along with a 'Subway Safety Plan' - both of which have so far proved largely ineffective, according to the new statistics.

The data shows that rapes, robberies, and assaults are all up from last year, since hitting highs not seen in decades in both 2020 and 2021.
U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told a group of attendees Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that they were part of a 'select group of human beings' brought together by an 'extra-terrestrial' force to save the plan.

The climate czar opened by thanking Brge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum in Geneva for getting him the 'best room I ever had here in 35 years.'

Kerry then launched into a diatribe warning attendees that 'time is running out' to avoid climate change's 'worst consequences.'

'When you stop and think about it, it's pretty extraordinary that we select group of human beings because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives, are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet,' Kerry mused.

'When you stop and think about it, it's pretty extraordinary that we select group of human beings because of whatever touched us at some point in our lives, are able to sit in a room and come together and actually talk about saving the planet,' climate envoy John Kerry said

'It's so... almost extra-terrestrial to think about, "saving the planet." If you say that to most people most people, they think you're just a crazy tree hugging and lefty liberal, you know, do-gooder, whatever.'

Kerry  who delivered the speech during a WEF session titled Philanthropy: A Catalyst for Protecting Our Planet -- decried that 'allegedly wise adult human beings' still ignored the science, mathematics and physics of climate change.

'I'm convinced we will get to a low-carbon, no-carbon economy  we're going to get there because we have to,' he said.

'I am not convinced we're going to get there in time to do what the scientists said, which is avoid the worst consequences of the crisis,' he added.

'And those worst consequences are going to affect millions of people all around the world, [in] Africa and other places. Of the 20 most affected countries in the world from [the] climate crisis, 17 are in Africa.'

Kerry spoke about the goal of keeping climate warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius.

As to how to get there, he said: 'the lesson I've learned in the last years and I learned it as secretary [of State] and I've learned it since, reinforced in spades, is: money, money, money, money, money, money, money. And I'm sorry to say that.'

Kerry said governments would need to ramp up their investments as would philanthropists to keep the cimate from warming 1.5 C

Kerry said governments would need to ramp up their investments as would philanthropists.

Funding in clean energy would need to more than triple its current levels by 2030 to around $4 trillion, according to the International Energy Agency.

The 1.5 degree goal originated in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement that aims to 'limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.'

'You look at what's happening with species, half the species of the planet been already killed,' Kerry added.

Kerry also complained that companies often publicly commit to a path towards zero emissions but don't disclose how they plan to get there.

'Let's face it, [a] whole bunch of companies in the world have chosen to say, 'I'm going to be net zero by 2050',' he said.

'And you and I, we know they don't have a clue how they're going to get there. And most of them are not on track to get there.'

Republicans have mocked Kerry for criss-crossing the globe on emissions-heavy planes while trying to underscore a sense of urgency about the climate.

Over around 15 months, Kerry flew more than 180,000 miles on flights that emitted more than 9.5 million pounds of carbon, roughly 300 times an Americans average annual carbon footprint, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.

Kerry's office now says he flies commercially or on military aircraft after he was pummeled for using his wealthy wife Teresa Heinz Kerry's private jet to accept a climate award in Iceland in 2019.
Prince Harry has been criticised for 'playing into Iran's propaganda machine'

Prince Harry has been called a 'stupid boy' and told to 'take responsibility' after his confession of killing 25 Taliban was used by Iran to defend its hanging of a British-Iranian citizen.

Current and former British military commanders have accused the Duke of Sussex of 'giving ammunition' to Iran's propaganda machine and exploiting his military career for financial gain.

In response to UK criticism of its execution of Alireza Akbari, 61, at the weekend, Tehran said Britain was 'in no position to preach' on human rights after the prince's recent admission about killing Taliban in his memoir Spare.

One commander said Harry had 'rendered himself a tool for the Tehran regime' while a colonel who served in Afghanistan said Harry should take responsibility for allowing Iran to compare its murder of a political opponent with lawful deaths in armed conflict.

Prince Harry has been heavily criticised for confessing to killing 25 members of the Taliban after Iran used him to defend its hanging of a British-Iranian citizen

Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West condemned Iran's actions executing Alireza Akbari but criticised Prince Harry, calling him a 'stupid boy'

Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West told The Sun: 'Harry was a stupid boy saying what he said but there is no equivalence with what Iran is doing.'

Colonel Richard Kemp, a former UK military commander in Afghanistan said: 'Harry should take full responsibility for giving ammunition to the murderous Iranian regime's propaganda machine. While all decent people will reject Iran's lies, many of their supporters will be strengthened by the ayatollahs' exploitation of the duke's ill-judged comments.'

Former Royal Navy commander Rear Admiral Chris Parry agreed, suggesting the prince had effectively rendered himself a tool for the Tehran regime.

He said: 'The Iranians are using him for propaganda purposes. Despite the clumsy words by Prince Harry, it is highly duplicitous to claim equivalence between the lawful killing of combatants in warfare and a show-trial and political murder by a dictatorial regime.'

To the disappointment of many former colleagues and military commanders, the prince chose to reveal his personal tally of enemies accounted for.

He also described dehumanising his opponents on the battlefield, thinking of them as 'chess pieces' who needed removing 'from the board', rather than human beings.

Colonel Richard Kemp (pictured), a former UK military commander in Afghanistan said Harry had played into Tehran's hands

The Iranian regime has used Prince Harry's confession that he killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan to take aim at Britain amid the escalating row over the execution of Alireza Akbari (above)

Iran exploited Harry's remarks after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described Mr Akbari's hanging, after being accused of being an MI6 spy, as a 'callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime'.

Yesterday Iran's Foreign Ministry fired back, tweeting: 'The British regime, whose Royal Family member sees the killing of 25 people innocent people as the removal of chess pieces and has no regrets over the issue, and those who turn a blind eye to a war crime, are in no position to preach to others on human rights.'

Just days before his death Mr Akbari is thought to have been severely beaten in jail before he gave what appeared to be forced confessions.

In an audio message broadcast on the BBC's Persian service he said he was tortured to make him admit to crimes he did not commit.

His Iranian captors described him as 'one of the most important agents of the British intelligence service in Iran'.

Prince Harry spent five months fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2012-13 as a gunner aboard an Apache attack helicopter.

The Army Air Corps AH-64 was equipped with Hellfire missiles and a 30mm cannon capable of eviscerating and persons in its path.

Harry's kills were recorded by a camera fixed to the helicopter's undercarriage. He also described watching the footage to tot up how many dead Taliban he was responsible for.

Former Royal Navy commander Rear Admiral Chris Parry agreed, suggesting the prince had effectively rendered himself a tool for the Tehran regime

Iran's Foreign Ministry said Britain had no right to criticise the country - which is headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (above) - given Harry's revelation in his book that he had killed 25 Taliban fighters

The admission brought widespread condemnation from military figures and fears of retaliation by militant supporters.

Downing Street insisted the execution of Mr Akbari and the prince's remarks about his experiences in Afghanistan were separate issues.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'Nobody should be in any doubt the execution of Alizera Akbari was a barbaric and politically motivated act with no legitimacy.

'Any comparisons between that and servicemen and women carrying out legitimate actions would be entirely false.'

Following Iran's exploitation of the prince's remarks, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan-Smith said he hoped Harry 'would reflect on that and not do something similar again'.

He added: 'Iran criticising us on human rights grounds would be a joke if it wasn't for the fact that they are maniacal, brutal, violent and dangerous.'

In the summer of 2021, the Taliban took control of Afghanistan with a lighting offensive that swept across the country in a matter of weeks

Former Defence Minister Alex Shelbrooke said: 'I think Harry's words were unwise. Everyone is aware of the job military personnel do. They don't then seek to exploit that for their financial gain.'

Tory MP Alicia Kearns, chairwoman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, added: 'We will take no lectures from a terrorist state which weaponises human life, and industrialises hostage taking.

'Its rape and murder of innocent women demanding the end to their subjugation is heinous.'

And former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said the comparison was 'absurd'.

'It shows the Iranians realise how badly they have behaved. The attempt to compare it with British troops, at the request of the Afghan government, fighting to protect Afghan democracy, is an absurd comparison by any standards,' he told the Mail.

'It's an attempt at cheap propaganda that won't convince even Iranians, never mind people in this country.'
Paramount+ has removed Jeremy Renner's bloody wounds from The Mayor of Kingstown poster after the actor got into a gruesome snowplow accident.

Ahead of the second season debuting on Sunday, the show's poster appeared a lot less horrendous as Renner's stern face lost the gory blood on his right temple and the bridge of his nose.

The actor, 52, got into a snowplow incident on January 1, leaving him hospitalized until yesterday. The accident left him 'worse than anyone knows' after he was crushed by a 14,000-pound snowplow that ran over him in Washoe County, Nevada, near Reno.

Renner had stopped to help a stranded family whose car broke down close to his mansion when he was run over, leaving him with blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries. He arrived at the hospital in critical condition, was it was downgraded to stable after surgery.

Paramount+ has removed Jeremy Renner's bloody wounds (pictured) from The Mayor of Kingstown poster after the actor got into a gruesome snowplow accident (pictured: before)

Ahead of the second season debuting on Sunday, the show's poster appeared a lot less horrendous as Renner's stern face lost the gory blood on his right temple and the bridge of his nose (pictured: after)

The star has since watched episode one of the new season since returning home

Now, the show - which the platform deemed the 'most dangerous show on television' - has changed its poster out of respect for Renner.

'Its good of the network,' show co-creator Hugh Dillion told the Hollywood Reporter. 'Everybody is sensitive to Jeremy.'

Despite Renner horrific injuries, which could take years to heal, the show's creators, Dillion and Taylor Sheridan, are already working on season three.

Since leaving the hospital, The Mayor of Kingdom star, who plays Mike McLusky on the show, revealed he has been able to watch episode one of the show with his family.

He wrote on social media: 'Outside my brain fog in recovery, I was very excited to watch episode 201 with my family at home.'

The news comes a day after friends revealed that Renner's injuries are much worse than feared and that he 'nearly bled out' and 'almost died' while waiting for help to arrive.

The Hawkeye star appears to be eager to get back onto the snow at his Lake Tahoe property.

Renner posted two pictures to Instagram on Monday from Nevada - one of snow covered rooftops with a message saying he missed his 'happy place' and another warning people to 'be safe' along with an image of a road covered in deep snow.

Renner suffered blunt chest trauma after being run over by a 14,000 snow plow. He was released from the hospital yesterday

His sister gave him a head massage while he was in the hospital as the star recovered

The actor is reportedly aware of the extent of his injuries and has a long road to recovery ahead of him, with friends saying it could take up to two years before he is back in fighting shape.

'It's much worse than anyone knows. Jeremy is very aware of the fact that he almost died out there,' a source told Radar Online.

'The right side of Jeremy's chest was crushed, and his upper torso had collapsed. He also had a bad head wound that was bleeding and a leg injury.'

'Word is the damage to Jeremy's chest was so substantial it had to be reconstructed in surgery.'

He was injured near his home in Lake Tahoe, Nevada (pictured)

Emergency services had to airlift the television star to the hospital where he later underwent surgery on January 2 to place metal pins around his legs, along with chest surgery.

'So far, he's had two surgeries and he will likely require more in the weeks ahead on his leg. Doctors tend to space out operations to allow time for the body's natural healing process to kick in, and that's the case here,' the source continued.

'Jeremy was in a lot of pain and was having difficulty breathing. He knew he was in bad shape and that he might not make it out of this.'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday condemned the Russian bombardment on a Dnipro apartment complex, calling it a "war crime," and pledged to hold those responsible accountable.

In his evening speech, Zelensky declared that everyone culpable for the "war crime will be identified and brought to justice," per CNN.

There have been at least 40 fatalities and 25 more are still missing after the incident in the 11th month of the Russia Ukraine war.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a "preliminary" inquiry that identified six Russian military personnel as being complicit in the attack. Volodymyr Zelensky remarked that the results of the investigation on Russia war crime will be announced soon, according to The Hill.

Read Also: COVID-19 Increases Risk of Death on Pregnant Women



Earlier on Sunday, Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council Chair Mykola Lukashuk reported that, aside from the casualties, 73 individuals were wounded, 14 of them children, in Russia's Saturday missile attack on the east-central Ukrainian city, as per a previous HNGN report on the Russia Ukraine war.

Zelensky said earlier that rescue efforts would continue in the central Ukrainian city, even though Ukrainian officials have said it's already unlikely to rescue survivors in the wreckage from Saturday's strike in Dnipro, as reported by RTE.

Military Aid Delivery Needs To 'Speed Up'

President Volodymyr Zelensky in his nightly address has remarked that decision-making in delivering weapons to Ukraine needs to "speed up" after the tragic assault on an apartment building in the city of Dnipro.

The Ukrainian head of state said that the attack signifies that Russia "is preparing new attempts to seize the initiative in the war, the fact that the nature of military action at the front requires new decisions on arms supplies." Volodymyr Zelensky added that the situation emphasizes the importance of coordination in "all the efforts of the coalition defending Ukraine and freedom."

Related Article: Nepal Plane Crash Final Moments

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to say whether he would ram an Indigenous Voice to Parliament through parliament even if it failed at the polls.

Sky News host Chris Kenny told Mr Albanese that Australians required more detail on the proposal before they voted in a referendum later this year.

Mr Kenny asked the Prime Minister twice if he would legislate regardless.

Mr Albanese shied away from giving a decisive answer, instead saying he had faith in the public.

'I will follow what Indigenous people said,' Mr Albanese replied.

'This is a process that began in 2012, there was five years of consultation leading up to 2017. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people meeting at Uluru and coming up with the statement that they wanted.'

'Yes, sorry to interrupt, but we understand the process,' Mr Kenny cut in.

'If it failed, would you legislate a Voice anyway?'

'I'm not contemplating failure here. What I'm doing is being as optimistic as the Australian people are themselves,' Mr Albanese replied.

The prime minister said he was confident Australians would throw their support behind the Voice to Parliament in an referendum later this year

'This is an opportunity to unite the nation, Chris. And I want Australians to take up that opportunity. It is a generous, gracious offer for non-Indigenous Australians to join with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.'

The prime minister pointed out the former Liberal government could have legislated a Voice to Parliament 'any time', with Mr Kenny agreeing they had been 'slack'.

He defended the proposal as 'conservative' and said enough detail had been provided to the Australian people ahead of the referendum.

'There is a lot of detail out there,' he said.

'We know what a voice is but we also know what it isn't.'

Mr Albanese said more information would be provided when the legislation is put before Parliament, in order to 'enact' the referendum.

Peter Dutton (left) has renewed calls for the prime minister (right) to provide more detail about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament

'In order to do that, the words and the constitutional changes will be a part of that legislation,' he continued.

'But a part of that debate will be what a Voice looks like. It will be considered as part of that process for all to see.'

A parliamentary debate into the finer details of the proposed Voice to Parliament is expected to kick off in March.

It comes amid amounting criticism over a lack of detail, with Opposition leader Peter Dutton accusing the leader of treating Australian people like 'mugs'.

Last week, Mr Dutton demanded Labor flesh out its plan by answering 15 questions about the make-up of the proposed Voice and its function.

He said his letter was issued on behalf of millions of Aussies 'who just want the detail' and claimed his rival 'making a catastrophic mistake' by not providing 'accessible, clear and complete' information on the proposed Voice.

Anthony Albanese (pictured with Indigenous minister Linda Burney) branded Peter Dutton's demands as a 'cheap culture war stunt'

Indigenous Affairs Minister Linda Burney addressed the perceived lack of detail last week, labelling the Liberals' argument 'rubbish'.

At the recent GQ Man of the Year Awards in Sydney, Mr Albanese delivered a rousing speech, calling for the nation to enact the Voice to Parliament.

'So, in 2023, you're going to get a say. You'll have the same vote that I do. Make sure that it counts,' he addressed the crowd.

'Make sure that you do something that will make you proud and that will make a difference to this country. It's a huge risk and it's a risk that First Nations elders are willing to take, because they're sick of waiting for recognition.

'And a Voice to Parliament is simply that: It's so they're consulted on matters that affect them, but also means that our nation's birth certificate is truly as it should be.'
Authorities in Oklahoma have recovered the body of a child while searching for missing Athena Brownfield in rural Grady County outside of Rush Springs.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said in a news release Tuesday evening that they cannot confirm that the remains are those of Athena, the four-year-old girl who was reported missing a week ago.

Grim overhead photos shared by KOCO showed cops combing an isolated stretch of woodland, close to where the body was found.

The remains will be transported to the Medical Examiner's Office in Oklahoma City for positive identification, authorities said.

Athena was first reported missing on January 10 after a mail carrier found her five-year-old sister wandering alone outside their home on West Nebraska Avenue in Cyril. The postal worker called police, which prompted the search for Athena.

Earlier today, newly-released court documents revealed that her caregiver, Alysia Adams, 31, told investigators that Athena was beaten to death by her estranged husband Ivon Adams, 36, on Christmas, and that he buried her body on property in Rush Springs where they used to live.

Her remains are believed to have been found where Alysia said they'd been buried.

This is where a body believed to be that of Athena Brownfield was found by cops close to Rush Springs in Oklahoma on Tuesday afternoon. She is feared to have been murdered by her caregiver's estranged husband Ivon Adams on Christmas Day

Another overhead shot shows the desolated area where Athena's body was found

Ivon Adams, 36, (left) allegedly beat Athena to death and buried her body, according to his estranged wife Alysia Adams, 31, (right) who told investigators it happened on Christmas

The Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations continues to search for the remains of Athena Brownfield, 4, who was reported missing on January 10, but was allegedly killed on Christmas

Alysia, who is related to the girls, reportedly told OSBI investigators that on Christmas around midnight, allegedly laid the child on the ground and hit her three times. She didn't move after that, according to the documents.

She said that around midnight on Christmas, Ivon beat the little girl to death and held her up by her arms, the court documents revealed, according to KSWO.

The child was not moving and her eyes were barely open, according to the document. He then laid her on the ground and punched her at least three more times in the chest, Alysia reportedly told investigators on January 12.

Ivon then left the house on West Nebraska Avenue with the child's body around 1 a.m. on December 26.

When Ivon returned home, he allegedly told Alysia that he buried Athena near a fence line that was next to their old residence in Rush Springs, Oklahoma, court documents revealed. He added that he placed a large broken branch over the grave.

Phone records reportedly showed Ivon leaving the home and traveling to Rush Springs around 4:15 a.m.

Ivon was arrested on Thursday in Arizona and will be extradited back to Oklahoma where he faces a murder charge. Alysia was arrested the same day and faces two counts of child neglect.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol were seen searching for Athena in a body of water near her home

The child vanished from this house in Cyril, Oklahoma, a small city 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, on January 10

The court documents also revealed that Ivon and Alysia never took the girls to the doctor for checkups and never enroll them in school.

When Athena's sister Adina was interviewed by authorities last week, she had told them she had been home by herself and was 'tired of being alone.'

The sisters' biological parents - who have not been named - have been interviewed by authorities and are cooperating with the investigation, the OSBI said. Athena's sister has been taken into protective custody.

Volunteers and multiple law enforcement agencies have been involved in the search, which included a helicopter, boats, all-terrain vehicles, a specially trained ground team, and a review of surveillance video from around Cyril.
A rapist policeman could keep his entire state-funded pension because he committed his appalling crimes while off duty.

David Carrick has admitted 49 charges against a dozen women, including 24 counts of rape, but is still in line for 22,000 a year in retirement income whenever he is released from prison.

The 48-year-old abused his police powers to target his victims, showing them his warrant card and saying: 'I'm a police officer, you're safe with me.'

Scotland Yard said Home Office rules made it unlikely that he could be stripped of his gold-plated, final-salary pension.

David Carrick has admitted 49 charges against a dozen women, including 24 counts of rape

However London Mayor Sadiq Khan is pursuing a forfeiture action, backed by Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Met chief Mark Rowley is now grappling with the first major scandal of his four-month tenure by launching a review into 800 serving officers who have faced misconduct claims.

He admitted yesterday that he could not guarantee that more sex offenders did not lurk in the ranks. The revelations came as:

Detectives who investigated Carrick said they expected more victims to come forward;

Watchdogs said officers who missed multiple warnings about the firearms officer would escape punishment;

The Home Office announced a shake-up of disciplinary processes that would give forces greater powers to sack unfit and corrupt officers;

A former victims commissioner called for Scotland Yard to compensate each of Carrick's victims;

Dame Elish Angiolini, who is reviewing lessons from Sarah Everard's lockdown murder, will expand her inquiry to cover Carrick.

Home Office guidelines state that 'forfeiture' applications to remove a police pension can be made when an officer has been convicted of a criminal offence committed in connection with their service which leads to a serious loss of confidence in policing.

But a Met spokesman said this was unlikely because Carrick's offending was committed while off duty.

Met chief Mark Rowley is now grappling with the first major scandal of his four-month tenure by launching a review into 800 serving officers who have faced misconduct claims

Detectives who investigated Carrick said they expected more victims to come forward

As an elite parliamentary protection officer with two decades on the force, Carrick is likely to have been paid about 43,000, a police source said.

And the Met's gold-plated scheme means at 60 his pension would be worth 22,000 annually, according to calculations from Ian Cook at wealth management firm Quilter.

This would cost the average private sector worker 730,000 to secure on the open market, said William Burrows of the Retirement Planning Project, a financial advice firm.

Former home secretary Priti Patel said London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Home Secretary Suella Braverman should do everything possible to deny Carrick his entire pension.

'If he left prison with a pension pot of hundreds of thousands, with the majority coming from his employer, that would be ludicrous and unjustifiable,' she said.

Former victims commissioner Dame Vera Baird said: 'There should be some room for sensible discretion here because in instances like this of course it would be appropriate to take a pension pot away from such a serious offender. What does it matter if he was on duty or not? I hope his victims will be compensated without having to go to court.'

Freedom of information data shows that just 42 applications for forfeiture of police pensions were approved in the five years to November 2022.

Former victims commissioner called for Scotland Yard to compensate each of Carrick's victims

Police officers who face losing their pensions after being convicted of serious crimes can go to the High Court to fight their case.

A senior police source said forfeitures happened only in extreme cases such as national security breaches, but Carrick's abuse of his position to facilitate offending meant there could be a strong case to seize his employer contributions.

A spokesman for the Mayor's office for policing and crime in London said it would pursue forfeiture, arguing: 'It is clear that PC Carrick committed offences in connection with his service as a member of a police force.'

The office is expected to discuss the case with the Met, then apply to the Home Secretary for a certificate of forfeiture for the pension to be taken away. Mrs Braverman said she supported the move but, even if the application was successful, Carrick would keep the 35 per cent of the pension pot he contributed himself.

He is understood to have been letting out his home in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, to a family while on remand at more than 1,200 a month.

His 80 offences came between 2003 and 2020 but a six-year gap between 2009 and 2015 has convinced detectives there are more victims. Hertfordshire Constabulary has set up a portal for women to come forward.

Carrick will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court in London on February 6. He is likely to face many years behind bars.
A Texas man who shot and killed 23 people at an El Paso Walmart will not face the federal death penalty, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.

Patrick Crusius, now 24, opened fire at the supermarket in August 2019, having posted a slew of racist material against Mexicans online and claiming his attack was 'a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.'

He will go on trial on 90 hate crime charges in January 2024, but will not be federally executed, after Joe Biden campaigned to end the federal death penalty and the attorney general instigated a moratorium in July 2021.

Merrick Garland, the attorney general, said in a memo that 'serious concerns' have been raised about the use of the death penalty, 'including arbitrariness in its application, disparate impact on people of color, and the troubling number of exonerations in capital and other serious cases.'

In a one-line filing published on Tuesday, federal prosecutors wrote: 'The United States of America hereby notifies the Court and Defendant PATRICK WOOD CRUSIUS that the Government will not seek the death penalty in the instant case.'

Crusius could, however, still be executed by the state of Texas. A date for his state trial has not yet been set.

Patrick Crusius 'has been diagnosed with severe, lifelong neurological and mental disabilities', his attorneys wrote in a court filing. He is pictured in court in October 2019

Crucius will go on trial on federal charges in January next year, and will not face the death penalty. A date has not yet been set for his trial on state charges, which could still see him executed

Jaime, a bank teller who was inside the Walmart at the time of the shooting, was visibly upset when El Paso Matters told her the news.

'I hope he suffers a lot and spends the rest of his life rotting in jail,' she said.

Another family, who lost a loved one in the shooting, told the paper they want him to face the death penalty at state level, even if not at federal.

Chris Antcliff, a former justice with the 8th Court of Appeals, told the paper he was disappointed in the decision.

'This guy killed 23 El Pasoans, and he came into town intentionally just to kill Hispanics,' he said.

'And for our government not to seek the death penalty, when it is available to them, that is a travesty.'

Leo Campos and Maribel Hernandez, married for 16 years, were killed in the August 2019 shooting

Arturo Benavides, 60, (left) and Angelina Englisbee, 86, (right) were also among his victims

Jordan Anchondo, 25, died shielding her two-month-old son from gunfire

Crusius's lawyers argued that their client has diagnosed mental disabilities that should be a 'red flag' for prosecutors.

They said Crusius 'has been diagnosed with severe, lifelong neurological and mental disabilities' and was treated with antipsychotic medication following his arrest moments after the massacre in El Paso.

Jail mental health staff found the then-21-year-old to be in a 'psychotic state.'

Crusius' mental health conditions were revealed in a request by his lawyers for more time to investigate these 'mitigating themes' because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Crusius' mental health conditions, which have not been previously reported, were revealed in a request by his lawyers for more time to investigate

'Counsel must gather all of the information necessary to inform experts who will then be in a position to interview Mr. Crusius at the jail and render opinions regarding his mental status at the time of the shooting,' the motion said, CBS DFW reports.

'As of now, no experts can accomplish these things, as to date, they have either been under stay-at-home orders from the Government or their employers, or they are in a high-risk category for COVID and cannot travel to meet Mr. Crusius.'

The court record also states Crusius was in special education for much of his schooling, but does not elaborate on his mental health. A lawyer for his family, Christopher Ayres, declined to comment.

Crusius was arrested soon after the August 3, 2019 shooting.

Police later said he confessed to driving to border city from his home near Dallas to target Mexicans.

Soon before the attack, he posted a racist screed online that railed against Hispanics coming to the U.S., according to prosecutors.

Crusius pleaded not guilty.

The August 3, 2019 El Paso shooting left dozens wounded and ultimately killed 23 people

About four dozen people were struck by gunfire, and 20 were killed outright during the August 3, 2019 shooting.

Two more victims died of their wounds two days later. Another victim died in late April 2020.

Police said they arrested Crusius near the shooting after he surrendered to officers, telling them he was targeting 'Mexicans.'

They also attributed to him a four-page racist screed that decried a Hispanic 'invasion' of Texas and the U.S., and called for ethnic and racial segregation.

Police said they arrested Crusius near the shooting after he surrendered to officers, telling them he was targeting 'Mexicans.' FBI agents in the aftermath of the shooting on August 3, 2019

The store where the shooting took place reopened in November 2019. Staff and community residents set up a memorial at the store

The shooting was the largest terrorist attack targeting Hispanics in modern history, and spread fear throughout the Latino community.

In the wake of the attack El Paso police said the Walmart had previously hired armed off-duty police officers to guard larger stores, but removed them at some point.

The store where the shooting took place reopened three months later.
The question isn't, 'What's going on with Britney?' The question, I think, is, 'What's going on with us?'

Most of us have seen the video by now, Britney Spears seeming to have a mental health crisis in a restaurant.

Her husband has since denied that Spears was having any kind of meltdown. Spears was lucid enough to spot another diner surreptitiously recording her and hid behind a menu. In fact, a restaurant employee said, 'the disruptor wasn't Britney  it was the diner who taunted her by taking a video without consent.'

So much of Britney's life has centered on the very issue of consent. It was the basis for the #FreeBritney movement, one that grew from grassroots online activism to a New York Times documentary to a deep-dive New Yorker investigation to Spears's own harrowing testimony, in 2021, detailing her life under conservatorship.

That was the beginning of a nuanced and necessary conversation about mental health in America  or so we thought. When Britney Spears was first placed under conservatorship, it did seem necessary: She had clearly been in crisis, shaving her head, attacking a paparazzo's car with an umbrella, and suffering enough that she had been placed on a temporary involuntary psychiatric hold in Los Angeles in 2008.

As Spears testified in 2021, however, she became well enough to release several studio albums, go on world tours, perform on television and complete a massively successful Las Vegas residency., employing thousands of people in the process.

'I don't know why she still has a conservatorship,' one of her psychiatrists told The New Yorker.

The judge didn't either. Everyone, it seemed, was rooting for Britney and her freedom.

Most of us have seen the video by now, Britney Spears seeming to have a mental health crisis in a restaurant. Her husband has since denied that Spears was having any kind of meltdown.

But now that she has it, it seems we're all second-guessing her.

Does this feel fair? Just because Spears was found by a judge to be capable of making her own decisions, that doesn't mean her story ends with a nice little bow. It doesn't mean she might not still be suffering or struggling.

And really, after the trauma of being under such oppressive control for thirteen years  who wouldn't struggle?

Britney Spears was under that involuntary conservatorship for thirteen years. In her testimony before a judge in 2021  testimony she argued should be public record  she talked of not being allowed to make a single decision for herself, whether that was replacing her kitchen cabinets or having her own cell phone or removing her IUD.

'I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,' she told the judge in part. 'I want to be able to get married or have a baby. I was told right now in the conservatorship, I'm not able to get married or have a baby. I have an IUD inside of myself right now, so I don't get pregnant. I wanted to take the IUD out so I could start trying to have another baby. But this so-called team won't let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don't want me to have children  any more children.'

When it comes to women and mental illness, we still have a long way to go. The twentieth century is littered with examples of complicated women who were dismissed as crazy and institutionalized against their will, from Rosemary Kennedy (forcibly lobotomized) to Frances Farmer to Gene Tierney to Marilyn Monroe. The etymology of 'hysterical' is from the Greek 'husterikos'  'of the womb.'

We should know better, but 'crazy' still looks different on women. Women are hysterical. Men are complicated, or have demons, but their individual autonomy is rarely in question.

What happened to Britney Spears was terrifying. Her conservatorship, as The New Yorker's Ronan Farrow and Jia Tolentino reported, took a judge ten minutes to grant. Spears spent the next thirteen years trying to get out of it, and as we learned, conservatorships are notoriously hard to reverse.

Spears said she was forced to perform against her will, once suffering from a 104-degree fever. She said she had been forced to take drugs that turned her into a zombie. She said her father, who had a history of addiction and who she claimed had been abusive, should never have been in charge of her conservatorship. She didn't understand why she was forced to pay a court-appointed attorney over $500,000 a year when her own annual living expenses were less than that, or why her father was able to limit her to a $2,000 per week allowance when she had signed a $15 million deal to be a judge on 'X-Factor.'

So much of Britney's life has centered on the very issue of consent. It was the basis for the #FreeBritney movement

The conundrum remained: How could this woman pull in such money, perform in high-profile jobs, but be wholly unable to care for herself?

Spears also had enough self-awareness to tell the judge that she knew she needed therapy and wanted to continue with it. She said she was confused as to why she couldn't see the friends she made in Alcoholics Anonymous.

'I'm not able to see my friends that live eight minutes away from me, which I find extremely strange,' she testified. ' . . . This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good. I  I deserve to have a life.'

Britney Spears testified, during COVID lockdown, to feeling alone. Who among us didn't feel sympathy?

Even Elizabeth Warren and Matt Goetz united in a bipartisan effort to #FreeBritney. So did many other lawmakers.

'Reproductive coercion is wrong  period,' Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) tweeted at the time. 'Everyone should have the freedom to make choices over their own bodies and reproductive care.'

Ted Cruz agreed, calling the conservatorship 'freaking ridiculous' and something that 'needs to end.'

Now that it's happened, the culture has turned on Britney Spears. Why? Is it her exhibitionism on Instagram? Is it a discomfort with her sexuality? Not for nothing, but this is a woman who was highly sexualized when she was just 16 years old. Do you think today's culture would abide a 16-year-old posing seductively in bed, dressed in a bra and panties and holding a stuffed animal, as a teenage Britney did for Rolling Stone in 1999? Or consider it okay for Diane Sawyer to badger Spears about her virginity and her sex life, as Sawyer did in a televised 2003 interview? Or for Britney to be blamed for her high-profile break-up with Justin Timberlake, castigated as a slut who cheated?

Just because Spears was found by a judge to be capable of making her own decisions, that doesn't mean her story ends with a nice little bow. It doesn't mean she might not still be suffering or struggling.

Britney Spears may never be fully well. A childhood spent in the spotlight, with her parents on her payroll  not to mention a family history of addiction, mental illness, and suicide  all but ensured that.

There may be no more prominent, poignant example of how complicated mental illness is than Britney Spears. Her case is a stark reminder of how far we have to go in understanding its root causes, its multiple manifestations, its misdiagnoses and over- and under-corrections.

Britney may be free, but she still needs us to root for her.
A Scotland Yard officer who oversaw schools has been found dead just as he was due to be charged over a stash of child porn and boys' pants allegedly found hidden in a secret room.

The body of Richard Watkinson was found at his home after he failed to report to a police station last week on the morning he was due to be charged.

It followed an investigation by police watchdogs and the Met that revealed the chief inspector had a secret room in his house, hidden behind a trap door, where he reportedly kept a huge quantity of childrens underwear, sex toys and images of child abuse said to be of the utmost severity.

The Met was facing questions about safeguarding last night because it can now be revealed that the 49-year-old was a prominent officer in its west area basic command unit where he was the schools portfolio lead for neighbourhoods.

The body of Richard Watkinson was found at his home after he failed to report to a police station last week on the morning he was due to be charged. It followed an investigation by police watchdogs and the Met that revealed the chief inspector had a secret room in his house, hidden behind a trap door, where he reportedly kept a huge quantity of childrens underwear, sex toys and images of child abuse said to be of the utmost severity

The Met was facing questions about safeguarding last night because it can now be revealed that the 49-year-old was a prominent officer in its west area basic command unit where he was the schools portfolio lead for neighbourhoods

Although investigators found no evidence that any child had been abused by him, his potential access to schools causes concern.

A joint investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct and the Mets professional standards unit was launched in 2021. It led to a raid on Watkinsons home in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, where the unmarried officer was the director of a residents association.

There, investigators were apparently stunned by the colossal scale of the paraphernalia, childrens underwear and disturbing imagery found on his phone and computers. The material is said to have been Category A and B  the two most serious bands  which feature children being sexually abused.

He was arrested on July 9, 2021, over allegations of misconduct, sending obscene messages, corrupt exercise of police powers and data protection breaches.

Eleven days later he was held on suspicion of offences including conspiracy to distribute indecent images of children, voyeurism and misconduct in public office.

The arrest and suspension of the senior officer, nicknamed Sir Smashy after a Harry Enfield character, sent shockwaves through the force.

He had been regarded as a popular and senior officer selected by the Met to give public statements following high-profile stings and police operations.

A lengthy and complex investigation was carried out into the case by Met specialist crime officers in liaison with officers in Scotland and Lincolnshire.

Last week Watkinson had apparently been due to report to a police station where he was to be charged with seven offences, including making indecent images of children, conspiracy to distribute or show an indecent photograph of a child, misconduct in public offence and voyeurism.

The alarm was raised when he failed to show up.

Yesterday a former colleague said there had been concerns about his access to children and suggested he had taken his own life because of all the pressure he was under.

They said: He was arrested some time ago and when everyone found out it was a huge shock.

Thames Valley Police said his death was unexplained but it was not considered suspicious.
The Federal government is considering letting Australians get a fifth COVID shot in preparation for winter - as case numbers drop in half over the past month.

The Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is set to give their advice on expanding eligibility for another booster shot soon.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler told the ABC's 7.30 program that the Albanese government was eagerly waiting for that advice.

'I've made clear that advice to me from ATAGI, the Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, was that we should expect advice from them very early this year about an additional booster dose,' he said.

The Albanese government is waiting for advice from the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation on a fifth COVID booster (stock image)

'ATAGI and governments are thinking particularly about being prepared for the next winter.'

'We need to think about additional communications campaigns to the community about the need for them to consider very seriously getting those additional boosters, and that work is underway in government right now as well.'

Only adults with a severely compromised immune system can get a fifth vaccine dose currently.

There has been an average of 6500 Covid cases per day recorded in Australia this month.

This is a fall from the 15,000 infections reported in December.

ATAGI initially recommended against getting a fifth COVID-19 vaccine shot last November.

That advice was provided after evidence emerged from Singapore that a fifth shot had a trivial effect on virus transmission in the country.

The evidence also showed that serious illness or death was rare amongst vaccinated people.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler (pictured) says the government is working on 'communications campaigns' that will urge the community to get their boosters

'ATAGI has considered international evidence as well as the local data around vaccination numbers, as well as case numbers in the pandemic and decided not to recommend a fifth dose,' Mr Butler said at the time.

'They noted that severe disease and death during that wave in Singapore was very rare for people who had had at least two doses of vaccine for COVID.'

The health minister urged Australians to get the recommended number of booster shots regardless.
Anthony Albanese has compared the Indigenous Voice to Parliament to the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a combative radio interview.

The prime minister was questioned about the details of the proposed advisory body at least six months ahead of a referendum on its creation.

For 21 minutes he tried explain that the gritty detail of how the Voice would function was yet to be determined, and the referendum would ask a simple question.

Opponents of the Voice fear the referendum could become a 'bait-and-switch' in which the public gives approval only to find out later what that means in practice.

Mr Albanese tried to allay those concerns by using the bridge analogy first made by indigenous leader Noel Pearson about the difference between the vote and subsequent detail-laden legislation.

He said the referendum was like deciding whether or not to build the Sydney Harbour Bridge without getting lost in arguments over how many lanes it would have or what the tolls should be.

Anthony Albanese has compared the Indigenous Voice to Parliament to the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a combative radio interview

Radio 2GB host Ben Fordham insisted Australians were entitled to see details of the planned 'bridge' before they made a decision on whether or not to proceed.

Mr Albanese said a detailed report by Professors Marcia Langton and Tom Calma released in July 2021 put forward potential models for the Indigenous Voice.

The report goes into great detail about how it would work, both at a local and national level, and the PM previously said the Voice would be based on it.

'Go have a look at the report, it is 260 pages long. it goes through [detail about] the national and regional Voice,' he told Fordham.

Fordham said Australians should not be required to read 260-page report of proposals in order to know what they were being asked to vote on.

'You're losing people when you constantly refer to reports... this is a radio show,' he said, demanding to know if Voice members would be elected or appointed.

Mr Albanese said he would answer if he could get a word in between the questions.

'It (the report) envisages two people from each state and territory and a group of people specifically representing remote communities,' he said.

Poll Do you understand the Indigenous Voice to Parliament? Yes No Do you understand the Indigenous Voice to Parliament? Yes 84 votes

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When Mr Fordham interrupted to ask how they would be chosen, Mr Albanese accused him of 'not being interested in the answer'.

Eventually Mr Albanese explained that, in NSW as an example, there was already work being done to establish a local Voice with members elected by indigenous people in that state.

Members of the national Voice would be chosen from those representatives, along with those of other states and territories.

The prime minister did not rule out legislating the Voice into existence even if the referendum failed, as the vote was specifically on whether the body should be enshrined in the constitution, not on whether it exists at all.

'If Australians say no, there will be no constitutional change,' he said

The radio host asked several specific questions, including whether Voice members would be paid and if it would have an office in Canberra.

Mr Albanese insisted 'the question before the Australian people is a really simple one'.

'Our constitution doesn't go to whether there is an office somewhere or not, it doesn't even have the office of prime minister in it,' he said.

'He said all of the 'serious detail' will be included in legislation that would be voted on in the House of Representatives and Senate.

The PM accused Mr Fordham of already knowing this but seeking to mislead listeners.

'You could come up with 50 theoretical questions about a whole range of issues to undermine what is a very simple principle,' he said.

'And the second is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people asked us to have a process, and what they wanted that process to come up with is the Uluru Statement of the Heart in 2017... which is asking for a Voice.'

Radio host Ben Fordham insisted Australians wanted to see details of the planned 'bridge' before they made a decision on whether or not to proceed

Mr Fordham insisted he was posing the questions that many Australians had about the referendum.

'Please don't tell me what I know and don't know... I'm genuinely asking these questions,' he said.

Mr Albanese also refuted claims members of the Voice or others could take the government to court for not acting on its advice, or if they were not consulted on particular legislation.

The PM in November said the referendum would be held in the second half of this year, with analysts tipping October as the most likely month.

That gives the government nine months to make its case and draw up plans for the Voice that voters could use to make their decision.

Mr Albanese said there would be a parliamentary inquiry into what words would be added to the constitution, which voters could make submissions to.

Parliament would then make a final decision through legislation in the lead-up to the referendum being called.

The five questions that MUST be answered before the Voice to Parliament referendum

How would the Voice work?

How it would work is one of the key questions Australians need answered before they can be expected to cast an informed vote.

Planning for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament has been underway since the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017 with experts consulting on a proposed model.

The final report by Professors Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, submitted to the former Morrison Government in July 2021, outlines how it could look.

Two separate but complementary systems would be created: a National Voice, and at least two dozen location and regional Voices.

The latter would be a panel focused on local issues with a varying structure dependent on the specific needs of the area.

The final report by Professors Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, submitted to the former Morrison Government in July 2021, outlines how the Voice could look

Each would provide advice to their respective local and state governments, as well as the federal government where appropriate, on issues concerning local indigenous people.

How each Voice operated and worked with government would be collaboratively agreed to, so as best to address local circumstances.

'Local and regional Voices will work with their communities to decide their aspirations, goals and priorities,' the report stated.

'They will then come together with all levels of government at a 'partnership table' to provide advice, develop plans, and jointly consider how existing and future investment into the region should be used to provide the best outcomes.'

Three models were proposed for 25, 30, or 35 local and regional Voices, weighted towards the states and territories with bigger indigenous populations.

Three models were proposed for 25, 30, or 35 local and regional Voices, weighted towards the states and territories with bigger indigenous populations

The National Voice would consist of 24 members, evenly split between men and women serving for up to two four-year terms, changing every two years.

Two would come from each state and territory plus two from the Torres Strait Islands north of Cape York in Queensland, plus five from remote areas and one Torres Strait Islander living on mainland Australia.

Two co-chairs of different genders, serving for two years each, would oversee the Voice, and be supported by the independent Office of the National Voice.

The Voice would be strictly advisory and not involved in delivering services or other practical applications.

Mr Albanese has indicated this model would form the basis of the Voice's design and be refined as the debate evolved.

However, Aboriginal leader and former Labor Party president Warren Mundine is concerned the National Voice wouldn't be able to speak for indigenous Australians as a whole.

The National Voice would consist of 24 members - two would come from each state and territory plus two from the Torres Strait Islands north of Cape York in Queensland, plus five from remote areas and one Torres Strait Islander living on mainland Australia

He said there were hundreds of tribes and family groups with their own language and culture and didn't all share the same views.

'I'm a Bundjalung, so I can't really speak for the Gadigal, for example,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

This would not be an issue for the local and regional voices, but may causes legitimacy issues for a national body of 24 members.

Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Price also argued the perception that all indigenous Australians support the Voice was wrong.

'There has been a racial stereotype created around how Aboriginal Australians think and act and behave and we don't generalise in that way about white Australians, or Italian-Australians or Asian-Australians,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'So why should we continually have that way of thinking imposed upon us as indigenous Australians? Again it is a racial stereotype and I won't have a bar of it.'

She told said the Voice was being most supported by an 'educated class' of Aboriginal Australians who did not take into account the most marginalised.

'It's those many individuals that do live successful lives that are pushing for this notion of a Voice, disregarding the most marginalised whose first language is not English, who still engage with traditional culture,' she said.

'Half of my family are those people - they have been largely ignored by those of the more educated class of Indigenous heritage who overlook a lot of the reasons why my mob are very much marginalised.'

What can the Voice advise government on?

What is less well defined is what issues the National Voice would be empowered to advise the government on, and how it would be considered.

The only discussion in the report about the scope of the Voice was that the advisory body itself would decide.

'Advice would focus on matters of national significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The National Voice would determine which issues it would provide advice on,' it read.

Mr Albanese has indicated this model would form the basis of the Voice's design and be refined as the debate evolved

Professors Langston and Calma considered recommending restrictions to the Voice's scope but decided against it.

'Restricting the scope of the advice function would diminish the role of the National Voice as a national, broad-based representative body for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and reduce its ability to influence the Australian Parliament and government,' they wrote.

Mr Albanese has moved to shut down speculation that the Voice would push for reparations to Aboriginal people for past wrongs, and that it would amount to a 'third chamber' of parliament.

He clarified the Voice would be 'subservient' to parliament and only empowered to advise and consult, which he called 'just good manners'.

How much will it cost?

How much the Voice would cost must necessarily be included in legislation, as it would need to be allocated funding by various levels of government.

So far the only figure mentioned is $31.8 million set aside in the 2022-23 federal budget to set up the local and regional Voices, with more expected from other levels of government.

Holding a referendum is an expense in itself, but since the last one, to make Australia a republic, was in 1999 there isn't a straightforward number yet.

The same sex marriage plebiscite cost about $160 million in 2019, but that was a voluntary postal vote not an in-person compulsory ballot.

What Anthony Albanese has said about how the Voice would work On why the Voice should be in the constitution: 'The thing that enshrining in the Constitution does, it ensures that the Voice cannot be eliminated or silenced by a change of government or a change of prime minister. 'When it operates, people will wonder why we didn't do it before. I see this similar to the apology for the stolen generations or the 1967 referendum or native title.' On when Australians will know the details: 'We will need a referendum, legislation has to occur for that to advance, there will be a debate in the parliament as well. Inevitably, as part of that debate, there will be discussion about the extensive work of Marcia Langton and Tom Calma, extensive debate, about what a Voice to Parliament might look like in terms of regional structures. 'A particular model [has] been put forward by them that envisages a national model, but also with equal representation of male and female representatives. Particular quarantining of representation to ensure remote communities are represented and a regional structure as well... that will be advanced during the legislative debate. It will determine, when it is clearer, what an appropriate date for a referendum should be.' On how the Voice would relate to parliament: 'It not seeking something that is above parliament. It is something that is subservient to the parliament. 'It will be just an advisory group. The parliament remains sovereign. 'People should be consulted on matters that affect them, that's just good manners.' Advertisement

Will it just be another big bureaucracy?

Proponents of the Voice also need to dispel the perception in some corners that it amounts to another do-nothing expensive bureaucracy slowing down lawmaking.

Senator Price, the only one of the 11 indigenous federal MPs to oppose the Voice, is perhaps the most prominent.

'And my biggest concern with this idea of a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament is it's another bureaucracy,' she said on Q&A days after her first speech.

'It's not something new. It's just enshrining a bureaucracy into the constitution.

'And if there are bureaucracies that have failed and [people] have not been accountable, how are we going to adjust this, which will exist in the constitution and can't be dismantled should it fail?'

Senator Price repeated this concern several times in an interview over the weekend, arguing it was unlikely to help indigenous people in any practical way.

'The Voice to Parliament like this one, it doesn't actually detail how it's supposed to help. It feels like just another bureaucracy. We've had that much bureaucracy over our lives in Australia,' she said.

Proponents of the Voice also need to dispel the perception in some corners that it amounts to another do-nothing expensive bureaucracy slowing down lawmaking

Ms Burney, on the same Q&A program, tried to shoot down this worry and stressed there would be extensive consultation with indigenous people to prevent it.

'And when it comes to another bureaucracy, it is going to be a body that we will consult with - you and everyone else on what it will look like and how it will operate,' she said.

But the Voice will come with an army of staffers, all of whom need to be paid, and will inevitably involve endless meetings, proposals, and reports.

Over time, there are fears it will become bloated and bogged down in process, unable to effectively carry out its mission.

One Nation senator Pauline Hanson, who has taken it upon herself to lead the campaign against the Voice, compared it to the failed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.

'I feel compelled to note that the annual funding of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission in its final years was well north of a billion dollars,' she said in parliament on last Wednesday.

The ATSIC was formed in 1990 by the Hawke Government with a similar mission to the Voice, but also oversaw various programs for indigenous people.

By 2001 it was embattled by historic rape accusations against its chairman and was investigated for corruption and embezzlement.

Two years later, a review found it was not connecting well with indigenous Australians and was not serving them as intended.

Both the Howard Government and the Labor opposition agreed ATSIC had failed and it was dismantled in 2005.

A 14-person National Indigenous Council succeeded as a temporary measure, but was wound up in 2008 without a permanent replacement.

A key difference between the ATSIC and the Voice is that the latter would be a solely advisory body without any responsibility for running programs - and the cash that goes along with that.

Aboriginal leader and former Labor Party president Warren Mundine has many concerns about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament

The requirement for gender balance would also address another major criticism of ATSIC - that it was dominated by men.

Deciding exactly what the Voice looks like in detail would require a thorough reexamination of the ATSIC to see what not to do.

Mr Mundine said he was not convinced any representative model would work, as shown by ATSIC and many other attempts like it.

'We've tried this five or six times (since Whitlam) and it hasn't worked. We can't keep doing the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result,' he said.

'We've got 50 years a policy that shows it doesn't work.'

Will Australians vote for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament? A poll by the Australia Institute in July found not just strong support for the Voice, but for it to be added to the constitution. The poll found 65 per cent would vote yes, up from 58 per cent when the same poll was run in June. Some 14 per cent said they would vote no with the other 21 per cent undecided. Support was highest among Greens voters, but even 58 per cent of those Coalition aligned would vote yes. Some 59 per cent of One Nation voters would cast a yes ballot, despite its leader Pauline Hanson leading the charge against it. This was up from 35 per cent in June. For a referendum to succeed, a majority of the states must also vote yes, but the poll showed that was also easily covered. All of the four biggest states had comfortable majorities with Victoria on 71 per cent, Queensland 66 per cent, WA 63 per cent and NSW 62 per cent. Support was highest at 85 per cent for Australians aged 18-29 but those over 50 were still above 50 per cent yes. Advertisement

The politician turned businessman was also concerned about what would happen if the Voice was enshrined into the constitution and failed.

'What if it doesn't work? We'd be stuck with it,' he said.

'If they're going to try, just do it with legislation now and if it stuffs up, like it has in the past, then we can get rid of it.'

Mr Mundine argued Aboriginal people were already able to advise the government through their MPs and various Aboriginal organisations.

'When I go to Canberra I'm, tripping over more blackfellas talking to politicians than any other group. So what's the difference?' he said.

'We don't have to spend $100 million to do it... Aboriginal people are quite capable of representing themselves.'

Will the Voice actually improve indigenous lives?

Perhaps the greatest unknown is whether the Voice will actually result in substantive improvements to the lives of indigenous Australians.

Critics like Senator Price said a decent chunk of their opposition was that they would rather focus on practical measures and viewed the Voice as largely symbolic.

'We hear the platitudes of motherhood statements from our now prime minister, who suggests without any evidence whatsoever that a Voice to Parliament bestowed upon us through the virtuous act of symbolic gesture by this government is what is going to empower us,' she said in her maiden speech.

'His government has yet to demonstrate how this proposed voice will deliver practical outcomes and unite rather than drive a wedge further between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians.

'No, prime minister, we don't need another handout and no we indigenous Australians have not come to agreement on this statement.'

Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Price argued the perception that all indigenous Australians support the Voice was wrong in her maiden speech to parliament

Closing the gap between indigenous Australians and the rest of the country is an enduring and expensive issue that has proved tough to solve.

About $30.3 billion is spent on indigenous Australians every year, though only $5.6 billion of that is used for programs specifically targeting First Nations people with the rest being part of services all Australians use.

Senator Price frequently cites issues such as domestic violence, child sexual abuse, and alcoholism in Aboriginal communities as the most pressing concerns.

'We need to move away from the racial element and say ''right who's marginalised, why are they marginalised, and let's look at the circumstances and deal with them,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'As opposed to saying "here are blanket measures for people belonging to the indigenous race and that's ever increasing because people can just tick a box nowdays".'

Instead of an Indigenous Voice that she feels is largely symbolic and bureaucratic, she wants government to focus on addressing these problems right now.

She criticised the NT Government for letting bans on alcohol in many Aboriginal communities expire as a colossal error, along with Mr Albanese's move to scrap cashless welfare cards that can't be used to buy alcohol.

Senator Price also argued claims of racism causing the high rate of indigenous people being locked up was a 'false narrative'.

'You hear the activist class talk about the shame of high incarceration rates and they want to provide measures that make it less likely for an Aboriginal person to be locked up,' she said.

'But we've got to remember the number one reason why we're incarcerated at such a high rate is acts of violence.

Closing the gap between indigenous Australians and the rest of the country is an enduring and expensive issue that has proved tough to solve

'Usually that violence is metered out against our own people, to those that we're supposed to love and support and protect.

'So if we actually begin to look at things from a more honest perspective, we might be able to overcome some of these challenges.

'If we stop the violence, we lower rates of incarceration dramatically but no-one wants to look at it from this perspective.

'We look at it through the lens of Aboriginal people being oppressed by white Australia and ''White Australia is the cause of all our problems and therefore responsible for all our problems'' when we need to take that responsibility ourselves to solve all our problems.'

Senator Price also argued soft bails laws were making the problem worse and needed to be overhauled.

'More often than not instead of being remanded, perpetrators are put on bail, and more often than not while on bail they perpetrate more violence,' she said.

'We need change and we need the right legislation to affect it.'

Mr Mundine echoed Senator Price's view that poverty, substance abuse, and violence in Aboriginal communities were bigger priorities.

'Half of Aboriginal people in jail are there for serious, violent crimes,' he said.

'Can't people (in Canberra) see the correlation between that and alcohol and drugs? The number of people who are beaten and raped and sexually abused?'

Senator Price criticised the NT Government for letting bans on alcohol in many Aboriginal communities expire as a colossal error

Perhaps the greatest unknown is whether the Voice will actually result in substantive improvements to the lives of indigenous Australians

He gave the example of Kumanjayi Walker, a 19-year-old Aboriginal boy who was shot dead by a white policeman after stabbing him in the shoulder with scissors in 2019.

Walker was wanted for numerous charges and had a history of violent crime. Zachary Rolfe, the officer who shot him, was acquitted of all charges at trial.

'That kid was was doomed from conception,' Mr Mundine said.

'His mother was an alcoholic who took drugs and he was born with foetal alcohol syndrome - you become violent and he was a threat in that community, and there are hundreds of these people around.'

Mr Mundine said Jenny Macklin, indigenous affairs minister under the Rudd and Gillard governments, handled the issues better than Labor was so far this term.

'She went to Aboriginal communities and listened to people and that's how we got the cashless welfare cards and focusing on violence against women and children,' he said.

'This is why Jacinta Price has offered to take politicians into indigenous communities.

'Scrapping of the card is a dreadful decision. I'll tell you what I told Jenny Macklin all those years ago: Listen to the women.

'You'll find they have opposite views to the Aboriginal leadership based in the cities. After traveling to the bush, Jenny Macklin came back a supporter.'

However, on the other side there are those who believe an Indigenous Voice to Parliament could have addressed these issues before they were made into law.

Kumanjayi Walker (pictured), 19, was shot dead by police in Yuendumu, NT on November 9, 2019

Mr Mundine said Jenny Macklin, indigenous affairs minister under the Rudd and Gillard governments, handled the issues well after visiting Aboriginal communities (pictured)

Former Liberal Party vice president Karina Okotel argued a Voice enshrined in the constitution could have told the NT Government to keep remote communities dry, and and retain the cashless welfare card.

Mr Mundine said the focus should instead be on lifting indigenous communities out of poverty through education and economic opportunity.

'Why are we going to have a bunch of people sitting in Canberra, like we did last time and it failed?' he said.

'I can tell you a lot of different Aboriginal programs that would love to have $100 million to deal with the real day to day issues.'

He praised the success of the Indigenous Procurement Policy where three per cent of government contracts were given to indigenous firms.

Under the scheme, grants to indigenous businesses rose to more than $1 billion between 2015 and 2020.

'It created 3,000 businesses that hire people and it didn't cost a cent because the government was going to award the contracts anyway,' he said.

'They're putting more money into indigenous communities than the government.'

Mr Mundine said improving business opportunities and education kept kids in school and people employed, and reduced crime because they could see a link between staying in school and jobs.
Lynn took notes throughout the preliminary hearing on Tuesday morning

The human remains were allegedly burnt by Lynn after he allegedly killed them

Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, vanished in the Wonnangatta Valley last year

Jetstar pilot Gregory Lynn, 55, has been charged with two counts of murder

Elderly camper Carol Clay was shot through the head and killed when her secret lover Russell Hill attempted to grab a gun away from former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn, a court has head.

Gregory Lynn, 55, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday charged with the murders of Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73.

Forensic expert Mark Gellatly revealed Lynn claims Ms Clay was killed instantly when his shotgun accidentally discharged a round into her head.

Lynn took notes from behind protective glass within the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday

Russell Hill (pictured, right) and Carol Clay (left) are alleged by police to have been murdered during a camping trip in March 2020

Police have been unable to account for the trailer (pictured) being towed in the CCTV footage the night the couple vanished near a remote camping spot

Greg Lynn's Nissan Patrol went from white, to blue to beige over the past seven years before his arrest

It is the first time any details have been revealed of how police allege the murders took place.

The badly burnt remains of the elderly couple were found by Victoria Police Missing Persons Squad detectives on November 30, 2021 - just days after the arrest of Lynn.

It remains unclear how police allege Mr Hill was murdered by Lynn.

Lynn's barrister Dermot Dann, QC put it to Mr Gellatly that Mr Hill had grabbed his client's shotgun.

'The two were wrestling over the gun causing an accidental discharge ... which struck Ms Clay in the head while positioned on the near side of Hill's vehicle,' Mr Dann said.

'Yes,' Mr Gellatly responded. Its a possible explanation at this point.'

The court heard traces of Ms Clay's blood, confirmed via DNA analysis, had been found on Mr Hill's Toyota Landcruiser, however many suspected traces had been destroyed by fire.

On Monday, the court heard the elderly lovers had visited a graveyard in the remote wilderness and buzzed other campers with a drone.

Weed sprayer Robert Williams told the court he believed he had seen Mr Hill in the wilderness in the days before he was allegedly murdered.

He described Mr Hill as a 'grumpy old bugger' who later buzzed him with a drone.

'I was getting droned out,' he later told police.

Mr Williams said he saw the drone hovering over other people's campsites, which he believed were being filmed.

Mr Hill had taken a drone with him on the trip, but it has never been found.

Mr Williams waved as it filmed him and it circled above him several times.

Russell Hill (pictured with his missing drone) is believed to have filmed campers in and about the area where he was allegedly murdered

The drone Mr Hill is believed to have flown over the area he was allegedly killed. It has never been found

Gregory Lynn, 55, (pictured) was charged with the murder of secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73

He watched it as it hovered over and around several campsites for 35 or 40 minutes, before he lost sight of it near Wonnangatta Cemetery.

He didn't see who was operating it, but thought it was intrusive.

'You're going down there to have a peaceful camp and somebody's flying a drone over top of you,' he told the court on Monday.

The following morning he smelled burning plastic in the air.

The campers were allegedly shot by Lynn before their bodies were burnt and dumped in bush graves.

Campers Damir Javor and Goran Miljkovic had seen the couple as they parked their vehicle at a camp site believed to be shared by Lynn.

Mr Miljkovic told the court he had seen the couple as they drove slowly down a forest track within the Wonnangatta Valley in the Victorian Alps.

'They appeared to be a grandma and grandpa out for a drive,' he said through the aid of a Serbian interpreter.

The daughters of slain camper Russell Hill, Colleen and Debbie, eye balled his alleged killer in court on Monday

Greg Lynn's barrister Dermot Dann, QC attends court in Melbourne on Monday. Mr Dann is regarded as one of Australia's top legal minds

For 20 months police have been investigating what happened to the two missing campers

Don't stop me now: Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper leaves the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Monday

The pair had been stuck behind the elderly couple as they drove slowly along the track to their campsite, which already had two vehicles parked there.

One of those cars was a white Landcruiser, the other was described as a blue Nissan Patrol - the same type of vehicle seized by police when they arrested Lynn on November 22 last year.

Mr Miljkovic said he saw the elderly couple park their car up close to the two vehicles already at the site.

He described the move as 'strange' given there was plenty of room for them to park elsewhere.

Mr Miljkovic told the court he saw the elderly couple again the following day as they returned from a graveyard situated in the remote bushland.

The pair had been headed back to their ute, which was parked by the river.

Lynn faces life in prison should he be convicted of the double murder.

Lynn had been arrested at a remote campsite in Arbuckle Junction, 1.5 hours south of Wonnangatta in the states east in 2021.

Mr Hill's white Toyota Landcruiser (pictured) was found with minor fire damage at their burnt campsite near Dry River Creek Track in the valley on March 21, 2020

Keen camper and dad Gregory Lynn, 55, (pictured) claims Ms Clay was killed in a tragic acciden

The pair went missing in the Wonnangatta Valley, more than 200km north east of Melbourne

Police, desperate for knowledge on where the bodies of the campers might have been disposed, grilled Lynn for a whopping four days before finally charging him with their murders.

The burnt out remains of Mr Hill's Toyota Landcruiser was found at their campsite near Dry River Creek Track on March 21 in 2020.

Lynn appeared in court from behind bulletproof glass.

Dressed in a black suit, Lynn took notes throughout the preliminary hearing, which will determine if he is to face a Supreme Court of Victoria jury trial.

Lynn's flight attendant wife and the families of both Mr Hill and Ms Clay watched the hearing via videolink.

The court heard prosecutors were keen to have the contents of Lynn's initial record of interview and his original statement to police suppressed over fears they may be inadmissible when the matter goes to trial.

The court heard his car had been identified by CCTV cameras on the Great Alpine Rd at Mount Hotham.

An IT expert told the court two cameras had identified 12 vehicles of interest through number plate identification technology.

The hearing is expected to run until early next week.

Police put out a public appeal for this 4WD (pictured in a police sketch) with roof racks, side steps, off-road tyres and a bulbar. The box trailer is 'fairly standard' but has been fitted with 'off-road wheels', detectives say

The beige off-roader belonging to Lynn was taken by police at a remote campsite in East Gippsland where heavily armed officers swooped on the suspect, north of Sale

Greg Lynn is seen with his wife Melanie - who is a flight attendant with Jetstar - with the pair meeting through work
Lynn continues to deny murdering the couple while they were camping

Lynn allegedly killed them and their human remains were allegedly bought

Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, vanished in the Wonnangatta Valley last year

Jetstar pilot Gregory Lynn, 55, is charged with two counts of murder

Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn was allegedly caught by listening devices talking to himself about the deaths of elderly campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay - before he was accused of their murders.

In court documents released on Tuesday afternoon, prosecutors revealed that homicide detectives had been investigating Lynn for about a year before finally arresting him in November 2021.

'Investigators identified the accused to have conversations with himself whilst at various locations, at his home address and while camping on his own,' court documents state.

'It is alleged the accused at times referred to the deaths of Hill and Clay.'

Russell Hill (pictured, right) and Carol Clay (left) are alleged by police to have been murdered during a camping trip in March 2020

Lynn took notes from behind protective glass within the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday

Lynn, 56, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday charged with the murders of Mr Hill, 74, and Ms Clay, 73.

Lynn continues to deny murdering the couple while they were camping in the Wonnangatta Valley in March 2020.

According to a prosecution summary, investigators allege Lynn got into an argument with the campers before killing them both.

'The circumstances of their deaths, and the accused's behaviour afterwards are consistent with the accused having intended to cause death or at least cause each of them really serious injury,' the prosecution summary read.

Elderly camper Ms Clay was allegedly shot through the head and killed when her secret lover Mr Hill attempted to grab a gun away from Lynn, the court heard.

It is the first time any details have been revealed of how police allege the murders took place.

The badly burnt remains of the elderly couple were found by Victoria Police Missing Persons Squad detectives on November 30, 2021 - just days after the arrest of Lynn. It remains unclear how police will allege Mr Hill was murdered by Lynn.

Russell Hill (pictured with his missing drone) is believed to have filmed campers in and about the area where he was allegedly murdered

Gregory Lynn, 55, (pictured) was charged with the murder of secret lovers Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73

GREG LYNN'S GUN COLLECTION a) 1x .45 Automatic 'Shooters Arms' model 1911A1 Semi-Automatic Pistol with 10x Magazines b) 1x .45 Long Colt Calibre 'Ruger' Model New Vaquera 6 Shot Revolver S/N 513-33691 c) 1x .45 long Colt Calibre 'Ruger' Model New Vaquera 6 Shot Revolver S/N 513-33920 d) 1x 308 Winchester Calibre 'Oceania Precision' Model SP25-TAC Semi-Automatic Rifle S/N SPT00038 and 1 Magazine e) 1x 12 Gauge 'Barathrum Arms' Model S/P 12 Semi-Automatic Shotgun S/N FXF2839 f) 1x 12 Gauge ER 'Amantino' Model A-680 (Boito) Side by Side Shotgun S/N C873299-18 g) 1x 357 Magnum Calibre 'Chiappa Arms' Lever Action Rifle S/N 16E03954 h) 1x 45 Long Colt Winchester Leaver Action Rifle i) Numerous metal cases containing ammunition of various calibres Advertisement

The court heard Lynn is accused of working to cover up his alleged crimes, placing camping items, including a BBQ gas bottle belonging to the couple inside their tent before setting it alight.

'This is alleged to have been done to conceal his crimes. He packed up his own camp and fled with the bodies of Hill and Clay,' court documents alleged.

Police claim Lynn dumped the couple's bodies in the bush but returned again in May and November 'to implement measures to try to destroy the remains ... including setting fire to the remains of their bodies'.

At the time of his arrest, Lynn was employed as a senior check captain pilot with Jetstar and had been employed in the airline industry for more than 30 years, documents said.

The court heard Lynn had been a gun enthusiast when he ventured into the wilderness in March 2020.

'The accused was a keen amateur sporting shooter and firearm enthusiast, licenced to possess nine different firearms including pistols, longarm centre fire rifles and a shotgun,' a prosecution summary stated.

Police allege Lynn went through the dead campers' wallets, which were partially open and strewn through the foot wells of Mr Hill's vehicle.

'A closer examination noted that credit / debit type cards were missing. It was also confirmed that the mobile phones of Hill and Clay were not within the vehicle,' the court heard.

Police believe Lynn then took Mr Hill's beloved DJI drone and the keys to his Landcruiser before leaving the scene. The drone has never been recovered.

Police allege Lynn repainted his own vehicle beige from blue just two months after the alleged killings.

Months later police released a roadside camera image of a dark blue Nissan Patrol towing a modified trailer in the Wonnangatta Valley on March 20, 2020.

In December that year - seven months after the couple went missing - police obtained warrants to commence covert surveillance of Lynn's vehicle.

Lynn would not be arrested until near on a year later.

The daughters of slain camper Russell Hill, Colleen and Debbie, eye balled his alleged killer in court this week

Greg Lynn's barrister Dermot Dann, QC attends court in Melbourne on Monday. Mr Dann is regarded as one of Australia's top legal minds

Lynn's barrister Dermot Dann, QC put it to forensic officer Mark Gellatly that Mr Hill had grabbed his client's shotgun.

'The two were wrestling over the gun causing an accidental discharge ... which struck Ms Clay in the head while positioned on the near side of Hill's vehicle,' Mr Dann said.

'Yes,' Mr Gellatly responded. 'It's a possible explanation at this point.'

The court heard traces of Ms Clay's blood, confirmed via DNA analysis, had been found on Mr Hill's Toyota Landcruiser, however many suspected traces had been destroyed by fire.

On Monday, the court heard the elderly lovers had visited a graveyard in the remote wilderness and buzzed other campers with a drone.

The court heard Mr Hill had spoken to three hunters at length on March 12 - some eight days before he would die - about his drone.

Documents state Mr Hill discussed his life and family before asking the hunter if he minded him flying his drone.

'Hill told him that he was aware that it is illegal to use drones in a National Park. The hunter told Hill that they had no issue with the drone,' documents state.

'Throughout the day, Hill and the hunters spoke further about the drone, his retirement and work in the area logging as well as about hunting.'

The court heard Mr Hill told the hunters he wasnt a hunter but had a friend that was.

'The hunters stated that Hill spoke of the importance of firearm safety with them. He told them about a tragic accident where a relative was accidently killed when mistaken for a deer,' the court heard.

On March 13, 2020, Mr Hill packed up his camp and headed home to Drouin.

The hunters later describe Mr Hill to police as being an old gentleman and 'polite'.

On Monday, Weed sprayer Robert Williams told the court he saw a drone hovering over other people's campsites, which he believed were being filmed.

He didn't see who was operating it, but thought it was intrusive.

'You're going down there to have a peaceful camp and somebody's flying a drone over top of you,' he told the court on Monday.

The following morning he smelled burning plastic in the air.

The case continues.
Russia has revealed the construction of its first drones with the ability to cause radioactive tsunamis and destroy enemy naval bases.

The first batch of nuclear-armed Poseidon drones has been produced, according to the Russian state news agency TASS on Monday.

Russia Produces Nuclear Warheads For Poseidon Torpedo

These nuclear torpedoes are designed to alter the maritime battlefield by destroying enemy shores with 300-foot tsunamis and attacking naval equipment with a purported "infinite range." TASS proceeded with a scary announcement: "It will shortly be sent to the nuclear-powered submarine Belgorod for specific purposes."

In October, NATO issued a warning that they had lost sight of the Belgorod, a nuclear submarine weighing 30,000 tons, somewhere in the Arctic. It sparked concerns that Putin may employ his prized monster weapon in the Ukraine conflict.

According to Russia, the mega-submarine is capable of carrying eight torpedo drone warheads that might unleash nuclear Armageddon. After a few days, the world's biggest submarine was happily found elsewhere in the Arctic.

Along with its nuclear payload, the so-called "weapon of the apocalypse" is expressly built for clandestine operations, such as sabotage and espionage. Dmitry Kiselyov, an aggressive spokesman for the Russian propaganda machine, recently informed television viewers that these new drones might "submerge Britain in the sea."

Putin formally unveiled the Poseidon project in 2018, although it has been suspected since the Cold War that preparations for this frightening nuclear weapon have been in the works. Putin stated in 2018 that "there is no weapon that can counter them in the world today."

Additional information on the terrifying nuclear weapon has been a closely kept Russian secret. According to reports, a successful field test was conducted in 2021, but Russia plans to complete its doomsday project by 2027.

Russia is closer to achieving this objective due to the astounding growth of drones. The declaration comes after a Putin ally and former army general advocated for the destruction of the United Kingdom for its backing of Ukraine. The announcement on Monday that Poseidon manufacturing has begun is likely aimed to frighten the West as Putin suffers defeats in Ukraine.

Read Also: Peru Protests: AG Launches Probe

Russia-Ukraine War Update

Since a somber New Year's Eve statement characterizing the West as Russia's ultimate enemy in the conflict in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has delivered repeated indications that Russia will not back down. Putin has sent hypersonic missiles to the Atlantic and designated his top general to lead the fight.

US and Russian authorities have described Poseidon as a new type of retaliation weapon capable of causing radioactive ocean surges that leave coastal communities uninhabitable, according to NDTV.

Putin originally disclosed Poseidon in 2018, describing it as an entirely new type of strategic nuclear weapon, and confirmed that it will have its own nuclear power source. Poseidon is essentially a hybrid between a torpedo and a drone that can be fired from a nuclear submarine, albeit there is little known information about it in the public domain.

Christopher Ford, assistant secretary of state for international security and non-proliferation in the United States at the time, said in 2020 that the weapons were planned to "inundate US coastal communities with radioactive tsunamis."

According to the US Naval Institute, a military think tank, the creation of Poseidon flipped conventional wisdom regarding nuclear weapons deployed from submarines on its head.

The weapon is slated to reach service in 2027, although technological challenges have allegedly slowed its development, as per The Telegraph via MSN.

In November of last year, US intelligence sources reported the failure of early sea testing.

The torpedo was scheduled to be tested in the Arctic aboard the Belgorod, the world's biggest submarine at 178 meters in length.

According to accounts, the warship returned to port in Severomorsk, the base of the Russian Northern Fleet, without any evidence that the Poseidon had been tested. Tass claimed that the submarine's crew had finished testing with torpedo types. According to analysts, the Kremlin has a history of overstating the capabilities of newly manufactured weaponry.

The intelligence and geopolitical risk organization Sibylline's Justin Crump stated, "While the Poseidon is a novel type of weapon, it is primarily a deterrent meant to bypass missile defense systems."

Kremlin-sponsored propaganda on the weapon has frequently been exaggerated, especially when targeted toward the United Kingdom. There are very few confirmed public facts about the weapon, other than apparent Russian simulations of it impacting enemy aircraft carriers and coasts.

Last year, a Russian broadcaster aired an animated animation purporting to show how a Poseidon torpedo might "submerge the United Kingdom in the ocean." Dmitry Kiselyov, a prominent Kremlin propagandist, stated on his Sunday evening prime-time show that the weapon might be deployed to convert Britain into a wasteland by flooding it with a 500-meter radioactive saltwater tsunami.

In reaction to Britain's plan to send 14 Challenger II tanks to Ukraine, another Putin loyalist, retired general Andrey Gurulev, stated that the country should be "wiped off the face of the Earth."

Related Article: Death Toll of Dnipro Missile Strike

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Elon Musk's changes to Twitter are even allowing Taliban officials get blue ticks next to their account names, a report reveals.

Two officials and four prominent supporters of Afghanistan's militant political movement have been given the checkmarks, according to the BBC.

Among them is Abdul Haq Hammad, head of the media watchdog at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, who has 170,000 followers.

Meanwhile, among the prominent Taliban supporters given a blue tick is Muhammad Jalal, who declared on Monday that Elon Musk was 'making Twitter great again'.

Hedayatullah Hedayat is head of the Taliban's department for 'access to information'. A screenshot by the BBC shows the blue tick next to his name

Among the prominent Taliban supporters given a blue tick is Muhammad Jalal, who declared on Monday that Elon Musk was 'making Twitter great again'

What does the blue tick mean? On Twitter, the definition of verification and the accompanying blue checkmark is 'changing', Elon Musk's firm says. Until recently, Twitter used the blue tick to indicate active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest that Twitter had independently verified based on certain requirements. Now the blue checkmark indicates an account has an active subscription to Twitter Blue, its subscription service. Twitter explains: 'Accounts that receive the blue checkmark as part of a Twitter Blue subscription will not undergo review to confirm that they meet the active, notable and authentic criteria that was used in the previous process.' Musk's changes are still rolling out, so right now a blue tick can still mean that an account was verified under the previous verification criteria. Twitter users can click on someone's blue tick to learn more. Advertisement

The Taliban ruled three-quarters of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, before being overthrown following the US invasion.

However, Taliban forces recaptured capital city Kabul in August 2021 after nearly 20 years and took back control of the country.

The Taliban government has been strongly criticised for restricting human rights in Afghanistan, including the right of women and girls to work and to have an education, and no countries have extended diplomatic recognition to its new regime.

The BBC report identified two Taliban officials with blue ticks  Hedayatullah Hedayat (@Hedayatullah111), who has 188,000 followers, and Abdul Haq Hammad (@AbdulHaqHammad2), who has 170,000 followers.

Both seem to be involved in media and communications for the Taliban  Hedayat is head of the Taliban's department for 'access to information', while Haq Hammad is head of the media watchdog at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture.

However, it seems that Twitter has reversed the decision to award the ticks as they can no longer be seen on any of the three accounts.

It's possible Twitter staff only became alerted to their Taliban connections by the BBC report and rescinded them.

According to the BBC, Twitter has allowed 'hard-line Islamists' on Twitter for some time, even before Musk took over.

MailOnline has contacted Twitter for comment, although there haven't been any replies from the firm's communications department since Musk laid off its staff last autumn.

Musk  who regularly responds to user questions on the platform  is yet to comment on the matter.

Taliban forces recaptured capital city Kabul in August 2021 after nearly 20 years and took control of the country. Pictured: Taliban fighters are seen on the back of an armoured vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 16, 2021

Since taking over Twitter in October, one of the biggest changes Musk has made has been to the social media platform's verification system

New Twitter feature copies TikTok Elon Musk seems to have taken inspiration from TikTok for his latest revamp of Twitter. Twitter users are now automatically landing on a new tab on the homepage called 'For You'. For You (the same name as a feature on TikTok) shows tweets from accounts users do and don't follow, all out of order and boosted by an algorithm. Twitter users can switch between For You and the alterative tab option, 'Following'. The change was originally introduced to iOS before rolling out to web; Android is yet to get it. Read more Advertisement

The billionaire entrepreneur bought Twitter in October and soon after changed the meaning of the blue tick, which appears on a user's profile next to their account name.

Previously, before Musk took over, the blue tick indicated that an account belonging to someone of public interest  such as a celebrity, politician or journalist  has been verified and is authentic.

The blue tick became a helpful visual indicator to let other users know that an account marked the official home of the user it claimed to represent, and not an imitator.

But, as Twitter's recently modified help page now explains, all this changed following Musk's $44 billion takeover in October.

Now, anybody can get the blue tick next to their name to show that their account is verified as long as they pay at least 8/$8 (not including VAT) for Twitter Blue, a monthly subscription service that gives access to several exclusive features.

As well as a blue tick next to the account name, Twitter Blue also includes custom app icons, the ability to post longer videos, the ability to undo a tweet immediately after posting it, and, for subscribers in certain countries, the ability to edit tweets.

Musk has already run into problems with the revamp of Twitter Blue; shortly after launch users were changing account names and photos to resemble an official account and paying to give it a blue tick to make it look authentic.

Accounts imitated included Nintendo America, Donald Trump, LeBron James, George W Bush and Rudy Giuliani, leading to various rude, offensive or amusing tweets under their name.

MailOnline has contacted Twitter for comment, although there haven't been any replies from the firm's communications department since Musk laid off its staff last autumn

In November, Twitter user @nlntendodoofus was able to change its account name to 'Nintendo of America' and get a blue tick next to it to make it look official - and then posted an offensive image, before being suspended

Musk had to temporarily suspend the relaunch of Twitter Blue in November, 'to make sure that it is rock solid', he said at the time.

Twitter Blue relaunched in December; however, it is still only for web and iOS as the Android version is still yet to launch.

Also recently, some Twitter accounts are having their profile pictures changed from a circle to a square shape with rounded corners.

These are being added to verified business accounts on the platform as another way to differentiate them along with the new system of coloured checkmarks.

Twitter will also be ditching the 280 character limit to allow longer tweets 'soon', the billionaire owner said  potentially up to a whopping 4,000 characters.
Teachers should channel Miss Honey rather than Miss Trunchbull if they want to control a classroom, research suggests.

A study has found strict-sounding teachers are worse at inspiring their pupils compared to their colleagues who use a kinder tone.

Children are less likely to cooperate with or confide in a teacher who speaks harshly or in a controlling manner, researchers say.

And their findings should be used to influence teacher training and elevate the importance of voice in a classroom setting, they argue.

Teachers should channel Miss Honey rather than Miss Trunchbull if they want to control a classroom, research suggests. Pictured: Lashana Lynch as Miss Honey in Matilda the Musical

ALL pupils must study maths to the age of 18, declares Rishi Sunak Pupils will be forced to take some form of maths delivered through new courses or existing qualifications Advertisement

Researchers from the University of Essex and the University of Reading recruited 250 children aged 10 to 16 for their study.

They were played pre-recorded teachers' voices and asked to judge how the tone affected them, by rating factors such as emotion, trust and their intention to cooperate.

Results revealed children reacted much better to supportive voices, while controlling tones made their self-esteem plummet and made them feel as if their teacher was less trustworthy.

The findings, published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology, revealed youngsters faced with a strict teachers were also more likely to rebel but less likely to tell their teacher if they were experiencing problems such as bullying.

This is because the students felt unable to express themselves when confronted with a harsher, more controlling tone, the researchers said.

Meanwhile, a supportive voice inspired a connection to a teacher  increasing a child's intention to cooperate.

Professor Silke Paulmann, head of the department of psychology at Essex, said: 'We often think about what teachers say to their students, but we rarely talk about how they say it.

A study has found strict-sounding teachers are worse at inspiring their pupils compared to their colleagues who use a kinder tone. Pictured: Emma Thompson as Miss Trunchbull

'But the tone of voice teachers use really matters and the way we modulate our voice can have profound effects on listeners.

'We found that when children hear harsh voices, or a controlling voice, they say they have less intention to talk to that teacher  for example if they are being bullied.

'Their wellbeing is also lower, meaning less happiness and more negative feeling than they would experience if they had a teacher using a neutral voice.

'For us, this shows harsh voices really have a negative effect on how children respond to those talking to them.

'They feel frightened and threatened  and that is the one thing that teachers obviously don't want to do.

'Harsh voices tend to signal danger, rather than support.'

Professor Netta Weinstein, from the University of Reading, added: 'Tone of voice is a powerful way to convey teachers' caring, understanding, or openness.

'It's easy to forget when we are stressed or tired, but teachers can provide a positive learning environment when they are thoughtful in how they use their tone of voice.'

The team hope their research could influence teacher training and help boost classroom results.
Since Russia's invasion on Ukraine started almost a year ago, the threat of devastating nuclear war has for many felt closer than ever before.

Now, a study reveals the best way to survive a powerful nuclear explosion if you're inside a concrete building  as long as it hasn't been toppled by the blast.

According to the researchers, the best place to shelter is in the corner of a room, facing the direction of the blast, or to 'duck and cover', potentially behind a chair or table.

However, people should steer clear of windows, corridors and doors as this is where extreme winds travel at the highest speeds, strong enough to lift people into the air and cause serious injury when they hit the ground.

Researchers from the University of Nicosia simulated an atomic bomb explosion from a typical intercontinental ballistic missile. This 3D illustration shows the the simulated air blast and generated blast wave 10 seconds after detonation above a typical metropolitan city; the radius of the shock bubble at ground level is 2.8 miles (4.6 km)

How to survive a nuclear blast - Be inside a concrete building - Position yourself at the corners of the room, facing the blast - Avoid windows, corridors and doors - If there's not enough time, hiding in the corner of a corridor might be safer than being in the middle of the corridor - Immediately take shelter under tables and chairs Researchers note that this advice is applicable if in a nuclear explosion's moderate damage zone (MDZ), or far enough from the source of the blast, which may be down to luck. Advertisement

The new study was conducted by researchers at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus, who used computer modelling to investigate the effects of a nearby nuclear blast for people inside a concrete building.

'Before our study, the danger to people inside a concrete-reinforced building that withstands the blast wave was unclear,' said author Dimitris Drikakis.

'Our study shows that high airspeeds remain a considerable hazard and can still result in severe injuries or even fatalities.'

Although the study didn't mention Russia's war on Ukraine, the researchers highlighted 'increasing geopolitical tensions' and the possibility of a 'catastrophic' nuclear scenario.

A nuclear blast is usually measured by the amount of overpressure (the pressure in excess of the normal atmospheric value) in pounds per square inch (psi), which depends on distance from the nuclear bomb as it detonates.

Anyone in the general vicinity of a nuclear bomb going off would be instantly vaporised, while radiation can also pose a fatal risk.

However, there is another potentially fatal danger  the blast wave generated by the explosion, defined as an area of pressure expanding outward at supersonic speeds.

A blast wave can produce airspeeds strong enough to lift people into the air and cause serious injury or death, even in indoor spaces.

'Primary danger to human survivability in indoor spaces becomes the extreme high-speed winds that enter through the various openings in the building, e.g., window,' the researchers say in their paper, published in Physics of Fluids.

'Supersonic shock waves arising from the blast undergo expansion as they enter a room through an opening leading to channelling effects.'

For the study, the team used advanced computer modeling to simulate a concrete building featuring rooms, windows, doorways and corridors. The blast wave enters through the room's window in the lower right of the image

Inside a building, tight spaces can increase airspeed, and the involvement of the blast wave causes air to reflect off walls and bend around corners. In the worst cases, this can produce a force equivalent to 18 times a human's body weight

How is a nuclear blast measured? A nuclear blast is usually measured by the amount of overpressure (the pressure in excess of the normal atmospheric value) in pounds per square inch (psi). Overpressures at or above 2 psi will easily kill people and partially or entirely demolish concrete buildings. At 10 psi, most people will die and severe damage will occur. At 5 psi, severe injuries and fatalities to humans will be widespread and significant damage to heavy structures will occur. Finally, at longer distances featuring 3 psi, overpressure will result in severe human injuries, and the destruction of smaller built-in structures. Severe injuries can be reduced at distances corresponding to overpressures below 5 psi, particularly for people inside concrete buildings. Advertisement

For the study, the team used computer modelling to simulate a reinforced concrete building featuring rooms, windows, doorways and corridors.

Researchers simulated a 750-kiloton nuclear explosion (with the the explosive power of 750 tons of TNT) from an atomic bomb, a type of nuclear bomb that uses nuclear fission.

Researchers said the explosion would give a blast wave with a radius of about 2.8 miles (4.6 km) at ground level, with a peak overpressure slightly over 7 psi.

Typically, overpressures of 5 psi cause 'moderate' blast damage, defined as the collapse of timber buildings, 'universal' injuries and widespread fatalities.

According to the results, simply being in a sturdy building is not enough to avoid risk of injury or death, so people should choose their positions wisely.

Dangerous indoor locations to avoid are the windows, doors and corridors, although if there's not enough time, hiding in the corner of a corridor might be safer than being in the middle of the corridor.

Ultimately, the best option is to hide in the corner of a room, away from any openings such as a window or door, where air speed is higher.

The authors stress that the time between the explosion and the arrival of the blast wave is only a few seconds, so quickly getting to a safe place is critical.

'If people see the explosion from far away they have to take shelter ASAP,' Drikakis told MailOnline.

Plots show the shock wave following the 750 kT detonation of a nuclear bomb; x and y axes are the ground distance and altitude in units of km; seconds after initial blast from left-to-right and top-to-bottom: 0.6, 2.8, 6.7, 12.0, 14.4, and 21.1

'If they are at the window they should run away from it inside the building and take shelter in a room without openings or in the corners of the rooms/corridors.'

Unfortunately, survivors will have to contend with increased radiation levels, unsafe buildings, damaged power and gas lines, and fires, so they should 'seek immediate emergency assistance' too, according to Drikakis.

While the authors hope that their advice will never need to be followed, they believe the study can help prevent injuries and guide rescue efforts, should a nuclear blast occur.

Nuclear weapons have been deployed twice in war, by the US against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 during World War II.

Although the study didn't mention Russia's war on Ukraine, the researchers highlighted 'increasing geopolitical tensions' and the possibility of a 'catastrophic' nuclear scenario. Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) has made a series of nuclear threats since the start of the war on Ukraine last year

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a series of nuclear threats since the start of the war on Ukraine last year.

Russia's invasion has triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the two Cold War superpowers came closest to intentional nuclear war.

Russia and the US are by far the biggest nuclear powers, together holding around 90 per cent of the world's nuclear warheads  enough to destroy the planet many times over.

In September, Putin warned the West he was not bluffing when he said he'd be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia.

A few days later, he said the US had created a 'precedent' by dropping two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945.
A flat, square block of brownish sandstone with inscriptions made nearly 2,000 years ago is now the world's oldest runestone and maybe the earliest example of writing in Scandinavia.

The artifact was uncovered in a cremation pit filled with burnt bones and charcoal that date between 1 AD and 250.

Measuring 312.2 inches by 12.6 inches, the stone has several inscriptions.

Eight runes on the front could mean 'For Idibera,' who may be the individual laid to rest in the pit.

The rock, dubbed the Svingerud stone, will be exhibited for a month, starting on January 21, at the Museum of Cultural History.

Archaeologists announced Tuesday that a runestone found in Norway is the world's oldest. It was discovered in an ancient cremation pit

The ancient Norwegian rune stone was found during an excavation of a grave field in Hole municipality, near Tyrifjorden (Lake Tyri) west of the capital Oslo.

Kristel Zilmer, a professor at the University of Oslo, of which the museum is part, told The Associated Press: 'This find will give us a lot of knowledge about the use of runes in the early Iron Age.

'This may be one of the first attempts to use runes in Norway and Scandinavia on stone.'

Runes are a set of characters used to write various Germanic languages before the Latin alphabet was adopted. The Scandinavian variants used by the Vikings are known as futhark.

Around 250 rune stones are known from Viking Age Denmark.

Most of the Scandinavian examples are from Sweden, with over 3000 inscriptions.

The main purpose of runes was to mark territory, explain inheritance, boast about constructions, bring glory to dead kinsmen and tell of significant events

The runestone uncovered in Norway was likely used to memorialize the dead, or it could have been by someone practicing runes on a stone, Zilmer told Science Norway.

'We needed time to analyze and date the runestone,' she continued to explain why the finding was first announced on Tuesday.

A famed Viking relic known as the Rok stone was erected in the late 800s near lake Vattern in south-central Sweden and its inscription was deciphered in 2020.

Archaeologists announced in that January that the stone tells of a heartbroken parent's crippling fear that the cold weather that robbed their child of life may return.

The recent analysis of the mysterious runic inscription claims it speaks of an enduring battle against extreme cold weather in the sixth century.

Measuring 312.2 inches by 12.6 inches, the stone has several inscriptions

Eight runes on the front could mean 'For Idibera,' who may be the individual laid to rest in the pit

It is known that, during the sixth and seventh centuries, more than half of all Scandinavians perished as frigid temperatures caused widespread devastation.

Experts had long been stumped by the more than eight-foot-tall stone, with most theories claiming it is a dedication to the legendary Ostrogoth king, Theodore the Great.

More than 700 runes cover its five sides, and its true meaning has eluded experts as chunks of the rock are missing or worn away.

Some think this references Theodoric the Great, a sixth-century ruler of the Ostrogoths in modern-day Italy.

A famed Viking relic known as the Rok stone was erected in the late 800s near lake Vattern in south-central Sweden and its inscription was deciphered in 2020

But this claim has been refuted by some experts, with Professor Holmberg of the University of Gothenburg publishing research in 2016 stating 'the idea that the Rok Runestone mentions the Gothic emperor Theodoric is based on a minor reading error and a major portion of nationalistic wishful thinking.'

As endeavors to decipher the true meaning of the writings continue, a team of experts from three Swedish universities now think it talks of a different topic entirely.

Instead of regaling travelers with stories of a great warrior who managed to rule over much of Europe, it is believed the Rok Stone speaks of a parent's anguish at losing their child during a period now referred to as the 'Late Antique Little Ice Age.'

'The inscription deals with an anxiety triggered by a son's death and the fear of a new climate crisis similar to the catastrophic one after 536 CE,' the authors write in the study published in Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies.
Barcelona are open to selling Raphinha during the January transfer window, but only if the interested party agrees to pay 100million for his services, according to reports.

The 26-year-old joined the Nou Camp from Leeds United over the summer and has made 23 appearances for Barcelona during the 2022-2023 campaign, scoring three goals.

However, the Brazilian international has struggled to cement a place in Xavi's starting XI. Therefore, he is said to be open to a transfer, with the a return to the Premier League touted as his likely destination.

Barcelona are open to selling Brazilian winger Raphinha during the January transfer window

Arsenal are said to be interested in signing Raphinha later this month as Mikel Arteta is looking to add attacking depth to his squad.

Arteta is also interested in Raphinha's services as he missed out on the chance to sign Ukrainian winger Mykhaylo Mudryk.

Mudryk snubbed Arsenal and completed 88million move to Chelsea despite being heavily linked with the Gunners.

The 22-year-old's decision frustrated the Spanish manager - who has been forced to look at alternative options for his Arsenal side.

However, they have said the interested party agrees to pay 100million for his services

But, Barcelona's valuation of Raphinha could be problematic for Mikel Arteta's side

According to Diario Sport, Barcelona president Joan Laporta is willing to 'negotiate a transfer package' for Raphinha.

However, Barcelona have made it clear that Arsenal must meet 100m price tag they attached to the 26-year-old winger.

Barcelona's valuation of Raphinha could be problematic for Arsenal - who are eager to secure a forward before the transfer window closes on January 31.

Nevertheless, Arteta could still move for the 26-year-old as he is eager to reinforce his squad to help the Gunners secure their first Premier League title in 19 years.

Arsenal beat Tottenham 2-0 in Sunday's North London derby to go eight points clear at the top of the league, but face a tough test against Manchester United on Sunday.
As the dark winter nights drag on, there's no better time to start dreaming up your escape to sunnier shores. This year we all want to make our money go further, so you'll be pleased to know that there are plenty of ways to make smart savings on that well-deserved break.

With Jet2holidays, you can book a great-value package that includes return flights, return transfers, 22kg baggage and accommodation. Plus, you can choose the trip length and accommodation type so you have the flexibility to design the right holiday for you.

Whether it's two weeks of beachfront living in Greece or a long weekend reclining by crystalline pools in Gran Canaria, thousands of two to five-star star hotels are on offer.

Sunnier shores: There's no better time to start dreaming up your great escape

Discover the best-value destinations for 2023 from the Jet2holidays experts, complete with seven tips for saving on your holiday so you can get the most out of your trip.

Steve Heapy says take advantage of low deposits

1. Buy now, pay later^

'The best tip I can give anyone is to take advantage of our low 60pp deposit*.

'We offer this to make our holidays affordable for everyone  it's the classic buy now, pay later, which really helps with budgeting.'

Steve Heapy, Jet2holidays CEO

2. Snap up off-peak prices

'One of my top tricks is to travel at the start (or end) of a season, as it's often the best priced. This is actually my favourite time to travel too, because it can also be cheaper in your destination before the tourist prices come into play! Plus, the weather's just right.'

Vicky Stacey, Jet2holidays Travel Advisor

3. Choose budget-friendly destinations

'Meals, drinks, snacks and often activities are all part and parcel when you go all-inclusive, so you won't need much to spend while you're away. But self-catering can be great value too  use the Post Office Travel Money report to discover the destinations where everyday essentials are cheapest.'

Simon Hill, Jet2holidays Senior Product Executive

4. Spread the cost of your holiday

'With our Pay Monthly^ scheme, you can pay a 60pp deposit* to secure your booking, then split the balance into equal, interest-free monthly chunks until your balance due date.

'Well work it all out for you too, so there are no tricky sums!

James Malyon, Jet2holidays Head of Web and ECommerce

5. Upgrade and save

'You can often upgrade to half-board for a steal (we regularly have free upgrade offers available, too) and use that dinner money for lunch. Lunch is cheaper, there are often offers  such as a fixed price three-course menu del dia in Spain  and you don't have to book.'

Zoe Towers, Jet2holidays Head of Product

6. Opt for winter sun

Beach bliss: Gran Canaria enjoys a wonderful climate all year-round

Olivia Matthews recommends off-season travel

'Gran Canaria enjoys sunny, warm weather in every season, so why not head abroad on one of our frequent, year-round holidays and take a long weekend away in sunny Playa del Ingles over the rainy UK?'

Olivia Matthews, Jet2holidays Content Executive

7. Lock in great prices

'We all know prices can be unpredictable, so it really pays to book your holiday early and fix your price, protecting it from cost increases in the future. We won't add any surcharges either.'

Jack Molloy, Jet2holidays Senior Revenue Executive

Looking for some inspiration on where to travel for 2023? The Jet2holidays experts have that tied up, too. Take a look at their destination and hotel recommendations for ideas on your next holiday.

Poolside service in Gran Canaria

Situated close to the sun-soaked Playa del Ingles and with a variety of flexible booking options, Gold by Marina is the perfect choice for year-round sun. Gran Canaria boasts warm temperatures even in winter, so you can enjoy some off-peak sunshine while saving money in the process.

Enjoy Miami chic at the contemporary Gold by Marina. By day, soak up the chilled poolside scene with a glass of cava, and by night, turn up the volume at the rooftop whirlpool.

Gold by Marina in Gran Canaria offers a variety of flexible booking options

The light and airy rooms are available on a self-catering or bed and breakfast basis, with the option of a great-value a la carte menu served from the terrace restaurant. Choose to include a freshly cooked breakfast every morning, served from the Pool Style bar, so you can slide straight into sunbathing on your Balinese bed.

Barefoot beach living in Turkey

Guests can enjoy All Inclusive sundowners at Jiva Beach Resort in Calis, Dalaman

All Inclusive is a brilliant option to go for if you're keeping an eye on your budget, and this friendly hotel on the Turkish coast is a great place to do it.

Fresh, fun, and blissfully relaxing, the Jiva Beach Resort in Calis, Dalaman combines luxurious poolside glamour with barefoot coastal living. Enjoy beachfront views from one of the six bars on site, enjoying the allure of All Inclusive sundowners without breaking the bank.

For families looking to relax, there is the children's pool and slides to keep them entertained each day, or the little ones can make a splash at the children's club while you enjoy a well-deserved steam at the on-site Turkish bath.

For those looking for the ultimate slice of luxury, spend the morning enjoying a decadent patisserie in the Lukka Lounge and the afternoon floating up to your swim-up room.

Coastal comforts in Corfu

Bring your Greek island dreams to life at the Paradise Hotel Apartments in Sidari, Corfu.

All options offer great value for money, giving you the option to eat and relax poolside or to dine out in the delicious Greek tavernas nearby.

Paradise Hotel Apartments in Corfu is set around two lovely pools

With a variety of board bases to suit every budget, you can splash out or make a saving.

Choose a self-catering option, enjoying balcony picnics in the afternoon sun, or select bed and breakfast or half board to enjoy freshly cooked, family recipes served to you by exceptional staff.

Under the Sardinian sun

Bask in Italian sunshine at the Blu Hotel Morisco in Sardinia, lounging by the freshwater pool while enjoying exceptional service.

Set among evergreen mountains but only a stone's throw away from Cannigione, the Blu Hotel Morisco effortlessly strikes a balance between seclusion and exploration, inviting you to discover nearby secret coves and parasol-lined beaches.

Set among evergreen mountains, Blu Hotel Morisco in Sardinia offers an authentic Italian experience

Rebecca Macdonagh says look out for exclusive treats

Choose a half board package, and make the most of a hassle-free holiday, tantalising your tastebuds with the authentic Sardinian dishes served during breakfast and dinner.

And there's another great perk for Jet2holidays guests - money to spend in the hotel so you can treat yourselves!

'During check-in, Jet2holidays customers receive an exclusive credit of 120 euros per room to spend on drinks and snacks during their stay! It's a great extra that means included treats for the whole family.'

Rebecca Macdonagh, Jet2holidays Product Manager.

Find out more and book your holiday at jet2holidays.com

*60 per person deposit is applicable on holidays departing 10 weeks or more from booking date.

^Terms and Conditions apply. Please visit https://www.jet2holidays.com/part-payment for more details.
The Veneto region of Italy has quaint and colourful islands, extraordinary architecture, magnificent displays of art and a deeply rooted history. And with canals and waterways separating these highlights, a cruise is a wonderful way to explore Venice and beyond.

On this trip youll spend seven days getting to know the Venetian Lagoon  and celebrity chef Rick Stein  aboard an elegant river ship, SS La Venezia. Hosting just 126 guests, it promises excellent and attentive service. It was fully transformed in 2020 with opulent furnishings that reflect the classic style of Venice.

Youll have exclusive access to famous locations while theyre closed to the public and the opportunity to see them when theyre free from crowds. Step inside St Marks Basilica after nightfall to witness an atmospheric lighting ceremony, and venture inside the church on Torcello before it opens to the public to appreciate its tranquillity.

Floating city: During The Mail on Sunday's seven-day river cruise, you'll discover Venice's majestic canals and waterways

You will also have VIP access to the Doges Palace during an early morning visit. Theres an impressive choice of other excursions too, all included, whether you want to join walking history tours or bike along the beaches of Chioggia to see the Lusenzo Lagoon.

At the end of days exploring the islands, SS La Venezia warmly welcomes you back, transporting you in style through the Venetian Lagoon. Special guest Rick Stein joins the trip for its final few days, accompanying a tour to the Rialto food market in Venice, as well as hosting a cooking demonstration on SS La Venezia and taking questions from guests.

During the trip, youll have plenty of time to visit all the unmissable sights of Venice and get to know Burano, Mazzorbo, Torcello, Chioggia and Murano, painting a complete picture of life in the Lagoon.

You'll witness a special lighting ceremony at St Marks Basilica (pictured) after dark

OUR SPECIAL GUEST You will be joined by Rick Stein Rick Stein CBE is a chef, restaurateur, television presenter and author of more than 20 books, among them his autobiography. He has made over 30 television programmes, including 12 cookery series, his latest being Secret France. Rick also cooked for the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher and former French President Jacques Chirac. Advertisement

Reasons to book

Sail in style: SS La Venezia is the perfect ship to explore the Venetian Lagoon. It is specifically designed to sail these waters and the interior is a nod to its locale, with Venetian-style decor and Murano glass.

Meet Rick Stein: Celebrity chef Rick Stein joins the cruise for three days. Hell accompany a visit to the Rialto market and host a cooking demonstration on board. Theres also the chance to ask Rick questions after he hosts a talk about his life and work.

Exclusive after-hours access: Explore famous sights when theyre closed to the public, including the chance to witness a special lighting ceremony at St Marks Basilica after dark and venture inside Torcellos church for a moment of quiet appreciation of an 11th Century mosaic.

Plenty of inclusions: Exceptional meals are included while aboard SS La Venezia, with the chefs creating excellent dishes using the freshest ingredients. A choice of tours and excursions is also included, with a variety of selections available on some islands.

Meet the craftspeople: Some excursions give you a chance to meet the local craftspeople. Watch glass-blowers in Murano demonstrating an 800-year-old skill and visit an atelier that creates masks for the Carnival of Venice.

Enjoy Italian food and wine: The dining on board SS La Venezia is created using fine ingredients. Away from the ship, theres the opportunity to join a sommelier on a tour of Dominio di Bagnoli, one of the oldest wine producers in Europe.
If youre stuck for ideas for a truly memorable break, help is at hand.

This is your video guide to five hidden-gem destinations  unsung holiday heroes that usually fly under the radar.

There's the incredible car-free island of Hydra - which lies just 90 minutes by ferry from Athens. There's Formentera, the gorgeous sister island of Ibiza with beaches to rival the Caribbean.

We also turn the spotlight on Marseille, the bad boy of the French Riviera, which Lonely Planet has listed as one of the best cities in Europe to visit in 2023. The guide also recommends diverting from Amsterdam to Utrecht, which is blessed with similarly sleepy canals. We have Hollywood glamour, too. But not the Hollywood you're thinking of... we bid you welcome to Wilmington in North Carolina - known as the Hollywood of the East.
Save space by vacuum-packing your clothes or stuffing them into a travel pillow

Hefty luggage fees are often an unexpected expense when it comes to air travel.

You can be lured by bargain airline tickets, only to fork out a fortune on carry-on bags and checked-in luggage.

Thankfully, there are a few tricks that'll increase how much you can take on a flight without leaving a big dent in your bank balance. Here, flight attendants, frequent flyers and seasoned travellers reveal their top tips

No.1 - Fly with legacy carriers

Rob Burgess, editor of www.headforpoints.com, says that you will enjoy the most generous baggage allowance with legacy airlines

Use legacy airlines such as British Airways and American Airlines, recommends Rob Burgess, editor of frequent flyer website www.headforpoints.com.

He tells MailOnline Travel: If you do need to take a lot of luggage, you will usually find that the legacy airlines are the most generous in terms of your allowance. Unfortunately, there are no search engines that let you say in advance how much luggage you want to take and adjust the pricing accordingly, so it's important to do your homework.

This is especially true on short-haul flights, where a tempting 9.99 fare can often turn out to be more expensive than a ticket on a legacy carrier once checked baggage fees - and sometimes even hand baggage fees - are included.

No.2 - Get airline status

A British Airways elite member can enjoy a bigger baggage allowance across partner airlines such as American Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Cathay Pacific

Having status with an airline can boost your luggage allowance, Rob notes.

He says: If you have status with a particular airline, remember that this will often give you additional luggage across all of the airlines that partner with it - for example, all of the Oneworld alliance members for British Airways status cardholders.

This would give a British Airways elite member a bigger allowance on American Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, and so on.

No.3 - The TikTok travel pillow hack

Ryanair passenger Kristen Black from Atlanta, Georgia, uploaded a video to TikTok in which she rolls a jumper around various other items of clothing to form a makeshift travel pillow. The Atlanta native used the hack to make room in her bag for souvenirs and avoid paying for excess luggage

TikTok user Kristen Black set the social media platform alight when she shared an ingenious hack video that showed her fashioning a DIY neck pillow by rolling a jumper around various other items of clothing and then wrapping it around her neck before a Ryanair flight.

Labelling it 'the perfect packing hack, the Atlanta native told MailOnline Travel that she tried out the trick to make her flight more bearable and to make room in her bag for souvenirs and avoid paying for excess luggage.

To date, the video, titled save space, save money, has racked up nearly one million likes on TikTok. Other influencers have shared videos that show them filling empty pillowcases with their clothing in a similar travel hack.

No.4 - Redistribute the weight

Check-in luggage is always weighed, but it's far less likely that your carry-on luggage will be placed on the scales by airline staff.

Hand luggage is more often simply 'size-checked' in terms of its length and width, Skyscanner notes.

If you're worried your check-in bags might be too heavy, redistribute the weight by putting weightier items such as books, chargers and boots inside your carry-on luggage.

No.5 - Check in online

Check-in online so that your carry-on bags arent weighed at the check-in counter

If you're travelling with slightly overweight hand luggage, Emirates flight attendant Caroline Kneitz recommends checking in online to ensure that your carry-on bags arent weighed at the check-in counter.

She told MailOnline: 'My top tip when it comes to luggage is to always check in online or via an app before heading to the airport. If you go to a counter at the airport it is likely that they will check the size of your hand luggage and weigh it. If you are travelling with hand luggage only, this is particularly annoying as it's likely that it might be a little overweight.

'If you check in before the airport, you can waltz straight through security and to the gate, where it is very unlikely a staff member will weigh the bag. That is unless you're flying with a super-budget airline.'

No.6 - Use a duty-free bag

Miguel Munoz, who has been working as a flight attendant for more than a decade, revealed a nifty hack for sneaking extra hand luggage on to a plane without being charged for having an extra carry-on.

He said the trick is to disguise the surplus bag as a duty-free purchase by concealing it in a shopping bag.

Speaking to the Daily Express, Miguel explained that many passengers are unaware that duty-free bags aren't counted in your carry-on luggage allowance - a fact that travellers can use to their advantage whenever they find themselves with more baggage than they're permitted.

No.7 - Custom under-seat cabin bags

TikTok user Lily Thompstone shared a video of a 9.99 holdall fitting perfectly into the Ryanair baggage sizer - and it went viral

When TikTok user Lily Thompstone posted a video of her 9.99 under-seat holdall fitting perfectly into the Ryanair baggage sizer, the video went viral.

It shows Lilys partner easily slotting the pink under-seat holdall inside the luggage checker ahead of a three-night trip to Prague. I can't believe these bags work, she wrote in the video caption.

The bag is manufactured by the brand Narwey and is advertised as a Ryanair under-seat cabin bag that adheres to the airlines exact dimension ceiling - 40cm (16in) by 20cm (8in) by 25cm (10in).

Ryanair says that all passengers are entitled to bring one small personal bag on board for free, though it must fit under the seat in front of you and mustnt exceed those measurements. Narwey also does an under-seat bag that sticks to easyJet's dimension parameters, which are slightly larger at 45cm (18in) by 36cm (14in) by 20cm (8in).

No.8 - Vacuum pack bags

Vacuum packing your clothes can save on space, a TikTok influencer has revealed (file photo)

A video by blogger 'Jess', who runs a TikTok account called 'sideofsequins', went viral when she shared her trick for fitting more into her carry-on luggage without paying extra.

In the video, which has racked up 99,000 likes to date, the blogger can be seen squeezing nine days' worth of clothes into vacuum pack bags before neatly slotting the compressed bags into her carry-on luggage.

She notes that she packs a small travel steamer to iron out any of the creases in the tightly-packed clothes once she arrives at her destination.

No.9 - Fly business class on short-haul trips

While its not strictly a money-saving tip, Rob Burgess recommends flying business class on a short-haul flight to capitalise on the enhanced luggage allowance.

He says: Occasionally, you may find with short-haul flights on legacy carriers such as British Airways that business-class tickets - which give you two checked bags included - are not much more expensive than an economy ticket plus extra luggage charge, so its always worth checking the premium fare price.

Backing up his point, British Airways flight attendant Taraneh told MailOnline Travel: 'On a business-class ticket each passenger is entitled to two 23kg checked bags. In the interest of spending as little money as possible, might I suggest collecting and using Avios for the business class ticket? For example, you can get a business-class flight from 1 and 31,250 Avios to Europe - such as to Paris and Amsterdam - which would include two 23kg checked bags.'

She continued: 'Alternatively, those whove already booked an economy ticket can upgrade to business class from 7,500 Avios and 31 on a return flight, so theyd add an extra bag that way.'
The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird says that reviving the sitcom would be a 'terrible idea' and is not sure they could get away with some things said today.

The British actor, 38, has only recently told of how he thinks the show 'wasn't an accurate reflection of how teenagers spoke', and has now reinforced that idea.

Speaking to the Radio Times in their latest issue, Simon, who starred as the lead character Will McKenzie on the show which ran from 2008-2010, has reflected on the time spent on the hugely popular E4 programme.

'Terrible idea': The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird says that reviving the sitcom would be a 'terrible idea' and is not sure they could get away with some things said today

On being interested to revive The Inbetweeners now, Simon said: 'My instinct is it would be a terrible idea. What was funny about these characters was the stage of life they were at.

'They could get away with some of the terrible things they said and did because they were still essentially children.

'If they got back together now, Im not sure that would be funny. I think it might just be sort of sad and creepy.'

Speaking to The Telegraph about how times have changed since The Inbetweeners aired, Simon said: 'I honestly think it wouldn't be commissioned today.'

No chance of revival: Simon, who starred as the lead character Will McKenzie on the show which ran from 2008-2010, has reflected on the time spent on the hugely popular E4 show

The actor added that he doesn't think the show has aged well due to the sexism and 'casual homophobia' displayed by the characters.

He said: 'I rationalise it to myself by saying that at the time it was an accurate representation of the way teenagers talk to each other. Is that still the case now? I assume not.'

Simon added: 'Although the programme was set in the 2000s, it was based on a pilot set in 1990, so even in the 2000s it wasn't really an accurate reflection of how teenagers spoke.'

The show was such a success that it spawned two films and was also nominated for Best Situation Comedy at the BAFTAs twice.

Comedy classic: The British actor, 38, has only recently told of how he thinks the show 'wasn't an accurate reflection of how teenagers spoke', and has now reinforced that idea

Along with Simon, it also starred Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison while Emily Atack had a recurring role.

In a recent interview with The Guardian, Simon was asked if he would ever return to his role as the much-loved briefcase w****r.

He replied: 'Its a hard no, Im afraid. It just wouldnt be the show people want or remember. Much better to leave it as a happy memory.

'Cut to us all doing a third film for Netflix next year  Anythings possible. Honestly, you cant trust a single word Ive said in this interview. Its all filler, no killer.'
China's population declined for the first time in 60 years in 2022, which will likely commence a prolonged trend of population decline that will affect its economy eventually.

The population fell by almost 850,000 people to 1.41175 billion in 2022, last year, according to the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the first dip since 1961, the last year of China's Great Famine, according to Reuters.

UN experts predict that the China population drop will be around 109 million by 2050, which is over three times the loss they predicted in their last projection in 2019.

Read Also: NATO Ensures Military Aid For Ukraine

Beijing ended its long-standing "one child" policy in 2015 after recognizing that the constraint had led to a fast aging population and a decreasing workforce that threatened China's economic and social steadiness. However, despite a small increase in 2016, the national birth rate has been declining.

In 2021, policymakers allowed three children and encouraged bigger families with a multi-agency initiative to improve maternity leave, tax deductions, and other benefits to counter China population drop, as reported by CNN.

China Facing a Demographic Crisis

Demographer Fuxian Yi of the University of Wisconsin-Madison estimates that while China population drop started in 2018, the decline was repressed by "faulty" demographic statistics.

Yi said that China is threatened by a "demographic crisis" that surpasses the expectations of Chinese officials and the world community. He predicts that the trend will slow down China's property market, a key development driver, per the Financial Times.

The NBS stated China population reduction should not be a worry since labor supply still surpassed demand and the long-term drop in workers will be compensated by the improvements in the labor and education sectors.

Related Article: China Blasts US, Japan, UK: Here's Why

@ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Molly Meldrum's lewd act at Elton John's farewell concert in Melbourne on Friday was the last straw for his former protege Samuel Johnson, who has vowed to never speak to the TV legend again after his latest attention-seeking display.

The former Countdown presenter, 79, joined his long-time friend Elton on stage for a performance of The B***h Is Back, where he exposed his bare buttocks to the crowd.

He later blamed his behaviour on a faulty belt buckle.

Johnson, while acknowledging his long friendship with Meldrum, said on Tuesday the mooning incident was the last straw after years of holding his tongue, adding that he was 'sick' of the music critic's increasingly erratic behaviour.

Molly Meldrum's (pictured) lewd act at Elton John's farewell concert in Melbourne on Friday was the last straw for his former protege Samuel Johnson, who has vowed to never speak to the TV legend again after his latest attention-seeking display

He told The Morning Show hosts Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur: 'He's helped me out of a legal pickle, I've known him for 20 years. He visited my sister in hospital when she was sick with cancer when she was 11 in the 1980s

'I'm really grateful for everything that Molly's done in our lives.'

But things changed at the Logie Awards in 2017 when Meldrum stole Johnson's spotlight as he was on stage accepting the Gold Logie for his performance in the Channel Seven miniseries Molly, based on Meldrum's life.

Johnson (right), while acknowledging his long friendship with Meldrum, said on The Morning Show on Tuesday the mooning incident was the last straw after years of holding his tongue

'When I won the Gold Logie, I was about to have my million-dollar moment and I told him not to come up on stage. He wasn't nominated, it was my moment,' Johnson said.

He wanted to use the opportunity to promote his charity, Love Your Sister, and to thank his sister Connie, who was battling cancer at the time and would die months later.

Johnson hoped the moment would be similar to Carrie Bickmore's Gold Logie speech two years earlier when she launched her Beanies 4 Brain Cancer charity.

The former Countdown presenter, 79, joined his long-time friend Elton on stage for a performance of The B***h Is Back, where he exposed his bare buttocks to the crowd. He later blamed his behaviour on a faulty belt buckle - an excuse Johnson did not buy

The legendary Australian music critic was watching his old friend Sir Elton in the crowd at AAMI Park for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, before he was brought up on stage

'I wanted to make [my speech] about cancer and he wanted to make it all about the network... It was an absolute catastrophe,' the actor said.

'He warbled in a very drunken fashion for eight whole minutes! Now I've seen him do it again at the Elton John concert.'

Johnson then expressed concern for the music legend.

'Maybe it's time to hang up your hat, mate,' he said. 'I hope he's okay.'

Johnson said he never forgave Meldrum for upstaging him at the 2017 Logie Awards (pictured), where he had hoped to use his time on stage to promote his charity, Love Your Sister. Instead, a rambling and incoherent Meldrum made it all about himself

Johnson went on to say he didn't buy Meldrum's excuse for mooning the crowd at the Elton John concert, noting that if he had had a belt malfunction 'we would have seen his undies, not his bum'.

'For years I haven't said anything, because I don't want to say anything,' he added.

'Who are his minders? Is he okay? He shouldn't be allowed out in the afternoon - he's sozzled by that time.'

Johnson went on to suggest Meldrum has a problem with alcohol, claiming he has 'two shots of vodka in his coffee in the morning'.

Johnson played Meldrum in the Channel Seven miniseries Molly, for which he won the Gold Logie (pictured on the show). Sadly, his victory was undermined when Meldrum barged on stage during his acceptance speech

'If I want to make any sense out of him, I've got to see him for midday. Stop, Molly!' he exclaimed.

Gillies then suggested that perhaps Johnson was in a position to give Meldrum a call and 'have a chat' about his behaviour, but Johnson said he hadn't spoken to him since the Logies debacle six years ago.

'I'll never speak to him again. He cost my charity a million dollars that night,' he said.

The Morning Show host Kylie Gillies suggested that perhaps Johnson was in a position to give Meldrum a call and 'have a chat' about his behaviour, but Johnson said he hadn't spoken to him since the Logies debacle six years ago

'Can someone look after him? Can someone care for him? Can someone? I'm really worried about him. I'm not cross at him. I'm just really worried,' he added.

Johnson first spoke about Meldrum's troubling behaviour during an interview on 4BC's Afternoons with Sofie Formica on Monday.

'He needs to hang up his hat. Now,' he said bluntly.

Samuel started the charity Love Your Sister in 2012 with his late sister Connie (right), who died from breast cancer in 2017

'A few years ago, I won a Gold Logie for playing Molly Meldrum. And we weren't getting along at that point because for six months, he told me who to thank [in my acceptance speech],' Johnson recalled.

'He wasn't even nominated for the Gold Logie and he wanted me to make it all about the network and thank the producers, and I wanted to make it all about cancer. And we disagreed on that.'

Johnson said the pair 'didn't speak to each other the whole night' of the Logies.

'He wasn't even nominated for the Gold Logie and he wanted me to make it all about the network and thank the producers, and I wanted to make it all about cancer. And we disagreed on that,' Johnson told 4BC's Afternoons with Sofie Formica on Monday

Halfway through Johnson's emotional acceptance speech, Meldrum shuffled on stage, took the microphone and began rambling about himself.

'He took away my moment and recently he just took away the moment of Elton John as well. And I'm sick of him doing this. I'm sick of it. Hang up your hat, mate,' Johnson told Formica.

He made similar remarks on WSFM's Jonesy & Amanda on Tuesday morning.

'Can I be honest?' he said while taking a deep breath. 'There's a lot I haven't said, and I'm trying really hard to be diplomatic.'

He made similar remarks on WSFM's Jonesy & Amanda on Tuesday morning, admitting he was 'trying to be diplomatic' about Meldrum even though he was angry

'I've seen the same type of thing happen over and over again, including him - when I told him not to - coming up on stage during my Gold Logie win and ruining my Carrie's Beanie moment where I was going to try to raise a lot of money for cancer research,' he added.

'[He came] up drunk as a skunk and babbling for eight minutes to finish the Logies that night.'

He then asked: 'Whos looking after him? He must not be out in the public during the PM, not with the way he drinks.'
Roxy Jacenko is selling off her Balenciaga clothing, two months after the label was hit with a scandal for using children in a BDSM-inspired campaign.

The Australian PR guru, 43, took to her Instagram account Roxy Jacenko's Wardrobe on Monday to list multiple designer items, including size 36 Balenciaga black shell shorts for $250.

The mother of two is also selling an Alexander Wang black denim skirt for $150.

Roxy Jacenko is selling off her Balenciaga clothing, two months after the label was hit with a scandal for using children in a BDSM-inspired campaign

Alexander Wang has also been plagued by scandal after multiple models came forward to accuse the designer of sexual misconduct in 2020.

Among other items up for grabs from Roxy's wardrobe is a LoveShackFancy dress, Bottega Veneta black cargo pants and an Hermes dress.

Balenciaga faced significant backlash in November when the fashion house released its 2022 holiday ad campaign that featured children posing with its Plush Toy Bag.

The bags looked like teddy bears and were dressed in BDSM gear.

The PR guru, 43, took to her Instagram account Roxy Jacenko's Wardrobe on Monday to list multiple designer items, including size 36 Balenciaga black shell shorts for $250 (left). The mother of two is also selling an Alexander Wang black denim skirt for $150 (right)

Many stars who have previously worked with Balenciaga, including Nicole Kidman, Bella Hadid and Dua Lipa, were criticised for not speaking out against the campaign.

In the shoot, the children also appeared to be surrounded by empty wine and champagne glasses, further contributing to the disturbing setting.

More revelations have also come out about the brand's previous campaigns, with fans discovering the Spring/Summer 2023 campaign featured pages from a U.S. Supreme Court decision on child pornography laws.

Balenciaga, which is popular with A-list celebrities including the likes of Kim Kardashian, deleted two shocking images showing young girls holding a teddy bear in bondage-style gear on the gift shop section of its website

In a lengthy apology, the fashion house took full responsibility for the teddy bear images but insisted it had no involvement in the photo shoot featuring child porn legislation.

The brand's most famous muse, Kim Kardashian, announced she would not be cutting ties with the brand.

The billionaire, who has worked with the brand for several years, said that while she was 'shaken' and 'disgusted' by the images, especially as a 'mother of four', she 'believes Balenciaga understands the seriousness of the issue'.

Balenciaga triggered outrage with its 2022 holiday advertising campaign, which depicted children holding teddy bears that were dressed in bondage attire (pictured)

She added that she was 're-evaluating her relationship' with the brand 'based off its willingness to accept accountability for something that should have never happened to begin with' - but many social media users were angered that she didn't condemn the fashion house further.

Her sister Kylie Jenner, has hit back at TikTok users accusing her of deliberately posting photos of her son to detract from the scandal.

Other Aussie stars, including Pia Whitesell and Ruby Tuesday Matthews have lamented the brand.

Kim Kardashian (pictured), the brand's biggest ambassador, said she is 're-evaluating' her relationship with the fashion house in light of the scandal, but fell short of distancing herself from the brand for good

Bella Hadid in the Balenciaga Spring '23 campaign for its collaboration with Adidas. She is yet to comment on the multiple child imagery scandals engulfing the brand

Balenciaga ignored the scandal around the teddy bear photos at first and seemingly allowed the photographer who was involved, Gabriele Galimberti, to take the heat.

He released a statement saying he had no control over the content of the shoot and eventually, Balenciaga released its own statement agreeing with him and taking responsibility for the campaign.

It has now been pulled from the internet.

After the BDSM bears fiasco, eagle-eyed critics started examining the rest of Balenciaga's campaigns closely. They soon discovered that in the background of an image from the Spring '23 campaign was a printout of a Supreme Court ruling on whether or not internet child porn can be legally considered free speech (pictured)

After the BDSM bears fiasco, eagle-eyed critics started examining the rest of Balenciaga's campaigns closely.

They soon discovered that in the background of an image from the Spring '23 campaign was a printout of a Supreme Court ruling on whether or not internet child porn can be legally considered free speech.

On the back of the bears scandal, many critics said it pointed to a troubling pattern within Balenciaga.

Kim initially issued a statement on her Instagram Stories account on Sunday night

In an additional post, this time to both Twitter and Instagram, Kardashian said she was reconsidering her relationship with the fashion brand

Balenciaga was quick to blame North Six, a production company that helped arrange the shoot, for the inclusion of those documents.

They claimed they entrusted all of the props from the photoshoot to North Six, and that their team was assured everything that was included was fake.

Balenciaga is yet to answer for the inclusion of a book by Michael Borremans in the background of two of the images from the Spring '23 campaign.

Nicole Kidman remained silent on the Balenciaga 's BDSM-inspired child photoshoot scandal and has instead taken to Instagram to support her husband's upcoming tour (pictured at the brand's FW22/23 show)

Borremans is a Belgian painter whose work includes a troubling 2017 series called Fire From The Sun.

It depicts naked toddlers - some of them castrated - playing in a group and at times alone.

Alexander Wang has also been plagued by scandal.

The New York City based designer was accused of being a 'sexual predator' by several anonymous accusers, many of whom claimed Wang had drugged their drinks with MDMA and sexually assaulted them at events in recent years.

Wang released a statement acknowledging the sexual assault allegations against him and promising to 'do better'

Wang, who became known for his star-studded parties following the success of his fashion label launch in 2005, released a statement acknowledging the sexual assault allegations against him and promising to 'do better'.

The fashion designer has maintained that he never touched anyone inappropriately as at least 11 people came forward with allegations against him since late December.

He struck a more apologetic tone in an Instagram post on Monday, where he said he supports the accusers' right to come forward but still refused to admit wrongdoing
Kanye West's new 'wife' Bianca Censori wasn't always the spitting image of her predecessor Kim Kardashian.

The new Mrs West, 27, has undergone quite the makeover since her days as a Melbourne student, according to one of her high school friends, and now looks more like Kim, 42, than her old self.

'Her nose is different, her face is different. Her butt is different,' the friend, whose name is Lucy, told Nova FM's Fitzy & Wippa on Monday.

A friend of Bianca Censori's has revealed how much Kanye West's new wife, 27, has changed since her days as a Melbourne school girl. (Left before her transformation, and right recently)

'The only thing that's not different, I'd say, is her boobs. Her boobs came in early, in about year seven,' added Lucy, who last spoke to Bianca five years ago.

When asked what Bianca was like at school, Lucy only had positive memories of the Yeezy 'architect'.

'She was lovely. She was always, you know, giving everyone the time a day,' she said.

'Her nose is different, her face is different. Her butt is different,' the friend told Fitzy & Wippa on Monday. (Left in her high school photo, and right recently after her transformation)

'She was definitely in the popular group, I would say so she was definitely like the hot one in the year. But in saying that, she wasn't... b****y or anything,' Lucy added.

Elsewhere, Lucy described how Bianca had 'a lot of interest' from the opposite sex growing up, and was previously in a three-year relationship.

As for whether her marriage will stand the test of time, Lucy admitted: 'I don't think it's gonna last with Kanye, no.'

Kim (left) and Bianca (right) could easily be mistaken for sisters

Kim and Bianca, who both boast hourglass frames, full lips and ample busts, could easily be mistaken for sisters,

Like Kim, Bianca is also a fan of figure-hugging outfits and boasts a very similar wardrobe to the TV star.

Back in May, she turned heads as she arrived at the Balenciaga Fashion Show in New York in a skintight unitard and silver-heeled boots.

Rather awkwardly, Kim is a brand ambassador for the fashion house and even hit the runway during the designer's show last October.

Back in May, Bianca (left) turned heads as she arrived for the Balenciaga Fashion Show, for which, rather awkwardly, Kim (right) is a brand ambassador

In echoes to Kim, Bianca has also recently dyed her dark brown locks peroxide blonde.

Kim spent hours dying her naturally dark hair colour last year when she wore Marilyn Monroe's Mr President birthday dress in tribute of the blonde bombshell.

Bianca is 'head of architecture' at Kanye's fashion brand Yeezy, having moved from Melbourne to work in Los Angeles after being headhunted on Instagram by the rapper, 45, himself.

Bianca is 'head of architecture' at Kanye's fashion brand Yeezy, having moved from Melbourne to work in Los Angeles after being headhunted on Instagram by the rapper, 45, (pictured) himself

Bianca grew up at Ivanhoe, a well-heeled Melbourne suburb, and studied for the Victorian Certificate of Education at Kew's prestigious Carey Baptist Grammar School.

She mixed mostly with students from Ivanhoe Grammar School, as well as Kew's Methodist Ladies' College, and the Catholic Genazzano FCJ College and Xavier College.

A high school peer told Daily Mail Australia that Bianca 'always ran in private school circles'.

Bianca grew up at Ivanhoe, a well-heeled Melbourne suburb, and studied for the Victorian Certificate of Education at Kew's prestigious Carey Baptist Grammar School. Bianca is pictured centre as a student at Carey Baptist Grammar School in 2011

'She was friendly with the Xavier and Ivanhoe Grammar boys and hung out with Genazzano and MLC girls,' she said.

'She's super close with her family, who from memory were always considerably private people. So the fact Bianca has married someone so high-profile must have taken them by surprise.'

Another school friend said while Bianca was in the 'popular' group, she 'always had time for people outside her social circle'.

Bianca is pictured right at the Rainbow Serpent music festival in Victoria in 2017

'I would describe Bianca as a social butterfly - the kind of girl who was friends with everyone,' the peer told Daily Mail Australia.

'Like, she was never an intimidating mean girl. I think it would surprise people how smart she is.'

After graduating in 2012 with a VCE that put her near the top of her school, Bianca obtained a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Melbourne in 2017.

School friends are not surprised Bianca has gone on to work for Kanye, but were shocked to learn of her secret 'wedding' to the troubled hip-hop superstar. (She is pictured far right at the Rainbow Serpent music festival)

A childhood friend said Bianca was always going to succeed at whatever she chose to do.

'She was a party girl after high school; she never missed all the big social events like nightclubbing or going to the Spring Racing Carnival,' she said.

'I can't say I'm surprised she's ended up working for Yeezy. She has always been stylish and pushed boundaries in fashion.

A source close to Kim told Page Six the star of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (left) had sensed 'there was a certain frisson' between Kanye and Bianca

'At one point she was running her own jewellery business. I am surprised she's married Kanye, though.'

Another female friend recalled attending the four-day Rainbow Serpent festival with Bianca in Lexton in January 2017.

'Bianca was always a bit of an "It girl",' she said. 'We partied together at Rainbow Serpent back in the day and she was up for a good time.

A female friend recalled attending the four-day Rainbow Serpent festival with Bianca (circled above) in Lexton in January 2017. 'I loved that she so boldly wore nipple pasties!'

After the non-legally binding ceremony made headlines, Kim shared a series of cryptic quotes on Instagram, including one that read: 'I'm really in my quiet girl era, I don't have much to say

'I loved that she so boldly wore nipple pasties!'

Bianca returned to university to complete a Master of Architecture from 2019 to 2020.

A former colleague at a South Yarra furniture store remembered Bianca had always applied herself to work.

Another read, 'Just remember, the black sheep usually turns into a goat. Keep doing you'

Kim filed for divorce last February after nearly seven years of marriage. The former couple share four children, North, nine, Saint, seven, Chicago, four, and Psalm, three (all pictured)

CENSORI OVERLOAD LYRICS: How Kanye paid tribute to his wife with new song Waking up to "I cant do this anymore" text And The Bible said I cant have anymore sex Till marriage no drip till Paris And the meek shall flourish So where is my aris You wouldnt understand How thin this air is Friends just staring And everyones a Karen When they claim they care and Wasnt given a fair hand Getting calls from parents God calls for prayer rants Temptation at a mere glance I forgot what fear is I forgot what fear is I forgot what fear is Other than the fear off almighty yashua Who knew ya Before you knew who you was Wear a Donda tee For you respond to me You know honestly Yall all honor me I know its 'cause the headlines Why she wanna leave You know I follow God So you should follow me I aint never rock with none of yall no way And Im pulling up in that white OJ And the watch filled up with Oshays Thats Jackson 'cause its nasty Tweeted deathcon Now we past three Tweeted deathcon Now we past three Advertisement

'While I haven't been in touch with Bianca for a number of years, I can confirm she was a very hard-working young lady,' she said. 'I was certainly surprised to read she's gotten hitched to Kanye West - good for her.'

Bianca, who has worked for Yeezy since November 2020, 'wed' Kanye two months after his divorce from 42-year-old Kim was finalised in November.

The pair reportedly celebrated their union at a private ceremony and both have been seen wearing wedding rings.

The informal nuptials have apparently not been followed the filing of a marriage certificate.

After the non-legally binding ceremony made headlines, Kim shared a series of cryptic quotes on Instagram, including: 'I'm really in my quiet girl era, I don't have much to say. Just much to do.'

Another read: 'Just remember, the black sheep usually turns into a goat. Keep doing you.'

A source close to Kim told Page Six the star of Keeping Up with the Kardashians had sensed 'there was a certain frisson' between Kanye and Bianca.

'Kim hates her,' the source said. 'She's pretty. And Kim hates pretty girls.'

Last month, Kanye paid tribute to his 'wife' by releasing the track Censori Overload, a play on her last name.

In the lyrics, he revealed he stayed celibate before tying the knot, singing: 'And The Bible said, I can't have any more sex 'til marriage.'

The song appears to reference his split from Kim, opening with the lines, 'Waking up to "I can't do this anymore" text,' before adding: 'I know it's 'cause the headlines / Why she wanna leave?'

In April last year, Bianca gave a lecture to the University of Malta about working with Kanye, telling students: 'At Yeezy we were able to develop a Donda language, an aesthetic with Kanye, which has informed both of our design aesthetics.'

Bianca also showed students several housing projects she was working on at Yeezy, saying: 'I developed a space where you can sit, listen to water trickle, and watch how it comes in and out of your residence.'
Law & Order: SVU stars Ice-T and Christopher Meloni have blasted 'bulls**t' claims they are embroiled in an ugly feud.

Ice-T, 64, took to Twitter on Monday to post an email he had received from The National Enquirer seeking comment on a story alleging they have been 'feuding since' Meloni's 'return to the franchise' in 2021 on the series Law & Order: Organized Crime.

The email stated that 'sources told The ENQUIRER that the former rapper has grown envious of the attention that Mr. Meloni has received since coming back.'

The latest: Law & Order: SVU stars Ice-T and Christopher Meloni have blasted 'bulls**t' claims they are embroiled in an ugly feud

Ice-T denied any problems with Meloni, 61, as he said he had forwarded the email to his longtime colleague on the Dick Wolf franchise - before slamming 'clownass MFs making up drama.'

He said: 'Just sent this email over to my guy @Chris_Meloni,' said Ice-T. 'Clownass MFs trying to make up Drama outta thin air... WOW... MFs are really on that BS.'

Meloni shared an image of the email, writing, 'So [Ice-T] was sent this. He was kind enough to let me know we were feuding.'

Ice-T added to Meloni's comment, 'LOL... Clownass MFs.. Chris is my MF man! F'em They just make BS up. Crazy.'

The veteran actors detailed the series of events on social media with added commentary

Ice-T has played the role of Detective Odafin 'Fin' Tutuola since 2000, spending 11 seasons performing alongside Meloni.

After leaving the franchise after its 12th season in 2010, Meloni reprised the role of Detective Elliot Stabler in 2021 on Law & Order: Organized Crime, which has had crossover storylines with Law & Order: SVU.

Other longtime characters in the principal cast of the NBC series include Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson (1999-2023), Dann Florek as Captain Don Cragen (1999-2021); and Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch (1999-2016).

The stars were snapped with Universal Studio Group Chairman Pearlena Igbokwe at an event in NYC last fall

Ice-T discussed his longtime friendship with Meloni in a 2021 appearance on The View ahead of his return to the franchise.

He noted the stayed in touch with Meloni 'the whole time' he was away from the series 'because were friends in real life.'

He added: 'To have him come back and watch whats gonna happen with him and Mariska, everybodys just waiting for that moment, but its good, hes a friend, I worked with him for 12 years, we became close friends.'
Lori Harvey turned 26 years old on Friday, January 13 - ringing in her birthday with her celebrity friends at Lavo restaurant in West Hollywood.

And Lori shared a number of snaps from her star studded birthday bash - posing up a storm with pals Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Justine Skye and more.

Lori looked incredible in the photobooth snaps, rocking a eye-catching black lace skintight dress.

Iconic: Lori Harvey turned 26 years old on Friday, January 13 - ringing in her birthday with her celebrity friends at Lavo restaurant in West Hollywood. And Lori shared a number of snaps from her star studded birthday bash - posing up a storm with pals Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Justine Skye and more; (from L to R) Lauren Perez, Lori, Justine Skye, Kendall Jenner and Hailey Bieber

Lori looked incredible in a black mini form-fitting dress that featured cut-out detailing and lace accents.

The frock, which highlighted her ample chest and her flat midsection, was paired with pulled back hair and delicate diamond earrings.

She posed for a snap alongside Kendall, 27, who chose a racy dress for the birthday party.

The supermodel flashed her braless cleavage in a one-shoulder black dress; the cover girl's frock was completely see-through.

Wow factor! Lori looked incredible in the photobooth snaps, rocking a eye-catching black lace skintight dress; Lori pictured with Hailey and a pal

Kendall's dress had a red accent along the neckline for a pop of color; she styled it with pulled back hair and pink lips.

Hailey, 26, looked stunning in a black mini dress featuring cut-out elements that had lace underlay.

The gorgeous model styled the skintight number with her brunette hair pulled back with two pieces loose framing her face.

Lovely: Hailey looked stunning in a black mini dress featuring cut-out elements that had lace underlay

Gorgeous: Lori looked incredible in a black mini form-fitting dress that featured cut-out detailing and lace accents

Striking; The frock, which highlighted her ample chest and her flat midsection, was paired with pulled back hair and delicate diamond earrings

Lori was seen arriving at the bash holding hands with her new beau, actor Damson Idris.

She posed with Damson in one photobooth snap, as well as pals Offset and Daniel Kaluuya.

The stunner and the British hunk, 31, recently confirmed their romance on Instagram - six months after she split from Michael B. Jordan.

Good times: She posed with Damson in one photobooth snap, as well as pals Offset and Daniel Kaluuya

Rebel: The frock, which highlighted her ample chest and her flat midsection, was paired with pulled back hair and delicate diamond earrings

Striking: Lori posed with her gorgeous friends at the bash

Another one: The party appeared to be sponsored by Revolve and Patron

Adorable: Lori hugging a pal attending her party

Lori and Michael started dating in November 2020 but called it quick almost two years later in June 2022.

At the time of the breakup, a source told People that 'Michael matured a lot over the course of their relationship and was ready to commit for the long term.'

Adding: 'He let his guard down with her, opening up emotionally in a romantic relationship for the first time.'

Cute: Lori was seen arriving at the bash holding hands with her new beau, actor Damson Idris; seen on Friday arriving to Lavo in West Hollywood

Stunning: Lori's stepdad is Steve Harvey; her mom Marjorie married Steve in 2007; seen with Damson leaving her birthday party on Friday at Lavo in West Hollywood

Racy look: The supermodel flashed her braless cleavage in a one-shoulder black dress; the cover girl's frock was completely see-through; seen arriving to the party

Smoldering: The gorgeous model styled the skintight number with her brunette hair pulled back with two pieces loose framing her face
He is considered to be one of Hollywood's greatest actors.

But Russell Crowe has not been back to the US to make a film since 2019.

The Gladiator star, who currently splits his time between his Nana Glen farm in Australia and his Sydney apartment, explained he's often asked by his American friends why he hasn't returned to the US post-pandemic.

Russell Crowe has revealed he has not been back to the US to make a film since 2019

'My American friends are like ''what's going on?"' he said during an interview on 2Day FMs Hughesy, Ed & Erin breakfast show on Monday.

Between 1992 and 2019, there was never a year when the actor did not make a trip to the US at 'least twice'.

But after his last film in the US, thriller Unhinged, the pandemic hit.

The Oscar winner said his schedule in the past four years has not allowed him time to return to America.

Between 1992 and 2019, there was never a year when the actor did not make a trip to the US at 'least twice'. He is pictured on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010

'I haven't been back since for a press tour,' he explained. 'I've been able to wrangle a way to do most of the press sitting here on the phone on the farm.'

Over the past four years, Crowe has made films in Thailand, Malta, England, Ireland and Australia.

Elsewhere in the interview, the Gladiator star announced he will start filming a new movie Sleeping Dogs in Melbourne in February.

The Oscar winner said his schedule in the past four years has not allowed him time to return to America

The thriller, based on the novel The Book of Mirrors by E.O. Chirovici, will re-unite Crowe with his Gladiator co-star Tommy Flanagan.

The Beautiful Mind star teased another forthcoming project in the chat, but did not reveal details.

'Later in the year I go to Budapest,' he said, explaining that the story of the un-named film 'confirms events right at the end of World War II.'

'It's a great challenge to play the role, it's going to be incredible.'

The New Zealand-born star also talked about his love of performing on stage with his new band The Gentlemans Barber.

'There's nothing like it,' he said, 'it's an adrenaline rush.'

Crowe went onto to reveal his band's forthcoming performances next week in Coffs Harbour will include special guest artists, including a chart-topping female star and an award-winning male artist.
Heidi Klum's stunning daughter Leni Klum posted a pair of gorgeous Instagram images on Monday of her rocking an ad campaign for Dior Beauty.

The 18-year-old model  who recently wowed in an off-the-shoulder black dress for Valentino  treated her 1.7 million followers to a glamorous look.

Donning a silk leopard-print headscarf and sultry red lips, Leni gazed into the camera and oozed Parisian attitude.

Dior diva: Heidi Klum's stunning daughter Leni Klum, 18, posted a pair of gorgeous Instagram images on Monday of her rocking an ad campaign for Dior Beauty

'You can never go wrong with a classic Dior red 999 lipstick,' captioned the up-and-coming beauty. 'Simply iconic. @diorbeauty #DIORMITZAH'

In her second image, Leni posed while applying the iconic shade of crimson to her full lips.

Klum's icy blue eyes gazed into the camera with Cleopatra liner and a touch of blush under her lower lids.

Leni's flawless complexion accentuated her arresting features, while the stunner's leopard-print 'Mitzah' headscarf  named after Christian Dior's muse, Mitzah Bricard  gave her extra edge.

Crimson Klum: Donning a silk leopard-print headscarf and sultry red lips, Leni gazed into the camera and oozed Parisian attitude. 'You can never go wrong with a classic Dior red 999 lipstick,' captioned the up-and-coming beauty. 'Simply iconic'

Comment: One of the first comments under Leni's post was a heart-eyes emoji from her biological father  Italian business magnate Flavio Briatore, 72

One of the first comments under Leni's post was a heart-eyes emoji from her biological father  Italian business magnate and international playboy, Flavio Briatore, 72.

The legendary Briatore has romanced some of the world's most beautiful women, from his former fiance Naomi Campbell, 52, to Leni's mother, Heidi Klum, 49.

Flavio and Heidi enjoyed a short-lived relationship in March 2003, resulting in Heidi announcing her pregnancy nine months later in December.

By the time Leni was born in 2004, Heidi was already in a relationship with Seal, 59, whom she married in 2005.

The German supermodel has emphatically stated over the years that the Kiss from a Rose crooner is Lenni's father and that Briatore has played no parental role in her life.

Flavio allowed Seal to officially adopt Leni in 2009, five years before the rockstar and Klum called it quits.

Lookalikes: Leni and her legendary mother Heidi Klum, 49, steal the spotlight whenever they join forces

Biological dad: One of the first comments under Leni's post was a heart eyes emoji from her biological father  Italian business magnate and international playboy, Flavio Briatore, 72 (pictured with Heidi in 2003)

Adoptive father: By the time Leni was born in 2004, Heidi was already in a relationship with Seal, 59, whom she married in 2005 (and divorced in 2014). Flavio allowed the Kiss from a Rose crooner to officially adopt Leni in 2009

Another comment came from Leni's maternal grandfather, Gunther Klum, 77.

Translated from his original German, Gunther's comment reads: 'She's getting after grandpa!'

Heidi and her father were embroiled in a 'bitter legal clash' in 2021 when Gunther trademarked Leni's name, jeopardizing her burgeoning career as a model.

The battle between father and daughter came after the pair's rumored estrangement in 2019, when they allegedly fell out over Heidi marrying Tokyo Hotel guitarist Tom Kaulitz, 33.

A cosmetics executive himself, Gunther steered the fashion icon's career for decades before their relationship disintegrated.

But this latest comment from Leni's grandfather makes it appear that the painful rift might be fully healed.
Margot Robbie's stylist Kate Young has come under fire again after the star wore a version of a classic Versace number to the Babylon premiere on Monday.

The Oscar-nominated actress, 32, returned to Sydney this week for the Australian premiere of the 1920s-themed Hollywood drama.

Ditching her usual Chanel attire, the former Neighbours star opted an updated dress from Versace's 1995 archive.

Fashion snobs once again found themselves disappointed by Margot Robbie's 'lack of style' on the red carpet at the premiere of her new movie Babylon on Monday

The snug silver-blue number is a modern version of the gown Carla Bruni wore to the Versace spring 1995 couture show. It had featured on the runway the year before.

But Margot's version featured a red lace-trimmed thigh split, which many fans didn't like.

'Nevertheless, she persisted. Her dedication is truly unmatched, because why did you add red lace to this SS95 Versace gown? Like, is she just doing red because she wore a red dress in Babylon? I'd love to know the thought process,' one fan said.

'The red lace ruined the dress. Leave it alone. As the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it,' added another.

Ditching her usual Chanel attire, Margot opted a dress from Versace's 1995 archive. The snug silver-blue number is an updated version of the gown Cala Bruni wore to the Versace spring 1995 couture show (right)

The dress first appeared on the Spring Summer runway of Versace's Haute Couture collection in 1995

'She could have just worn bold red jewellery,' commented one.

Others were confused about the fit of the bodice, with some saying the 'ill-fitting' underwear looked 'lumpy'.

'The fit of the breast cups looks like they stuffed her bra too. I desperately want to see her in the Row or Jill Sander. So we can see her not some terrible outfit,' one critic wrote.

'Its just me or the padding on the chest of that dress looks like she has something growing in her breasts?' commented another.

Margot's modern version featured a red lace-trimmed thigh split, which many fans didn't like

'The fit needed to be better around the bust, no red lace, hair clean back, dark red lip,' commented one.

'My theory is she does it to hide her beauty so she still has interesting opportunities.

'Can you imagine if she choose to play up her beauty and shine? She's made to play Barbie but we know that movie is going to be unhinged, much like Margot's glam squad,' said one.

Meanwhile, many thought the dress Margot wore to the Sydney premiere of Babylon was an improvement on her recent red carpet looks. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, stylist Donny Galella said it was good to see her stepping away from her usual Chanel and opting for a different designer

Carla Bruni is pictured with Arno Klarsfeld at 1995 Versace show, sans red lace

Meanwhile, many thought the dress Margot wore to the Sydney premiere of Babylon was a marked improvement on her recent red carpet looks.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, stylist Donny Galella said it was good to see her stepping away from her usual Chanel and opting for a different designer.

'I love this pastel blue Versace on her, so it's good to see her not wearing Chanel,' he said.

'The gown was inspired by a Versace gown worn in 1995 by model Carla Bruni to the Met Gala. But I wish she did wear an Aussie label to the Australian premiere.

Donny thinks Margot should also be representing her country by slipping into some Aussie couture.

'Imagine if she wore some Aussie Couture brands like JAton, Steven Khalil, Toni Maticevski, Yousef Akbar, Nicky Velani and Pallas Couture. I would love to see her in more jewel tones like blues and greens, more red, more gold and silver,' he said.

Margot split opinion with her dramatic red number for the Babylon premiere in London on Thursday night

Donny is also excited to see her experiment with couture during her upcoming promo tour for Barbie.

'This could be her biggest year in fashion and I just hope she can step away from Chanel and wear other brands like Valentino, Shiaparelli, Gucci, McQueen, Balmain, Zuhair Murad and Armani,' he said.

'That pale pink Chanel dress [from the Golden Globes] was far from her best look; I was expecting so much more. She is insanely talented and a gorgeous girl and I just want to see her in couture that does her justice,'

Many agreed with Donny and loved her Versace number

He said the pink number was 'a bit boring', although it was a subtle nod to the Barbie movie.

'She has a relationship with Chanel, so she was probably paid to wear that gown. Lots of celebrities have contracts with design houses and are then locked into wearing only that brand.

'But she just attended the (London) Babylon premiere in a red Valentino gown.

'I absolutely love that she is wearing Valentino. The back of this gown is sublime. Not a huge fan of the front of the gown. Her hair and makeup, that red lip is flawless. Stunning!'

Last week, the actress opted for a custom Chanel gown to the Golden Globes which was described as 'boring and bland', with keyboard warriors claiming her stylist must 'hate her' due to a string of red carpet flops

Her soft pink crystal-embellished dress featured a ruffled hem, and extra sparkle came in the form of a diamond broach pinned to the bodice

Last week, the actress opted for a custom Chanel gown to the Golden Globes which was described as 'boring and bland', with keyboard warriors claiming her stylist must 'hate her' due to a string of red carpet flops.

Despite topping best-dressed lists, many thought the soft pink crystal-embellished dress featuring a ruffled hem was 'boring and stale'.

Margot's choice of pink appeared to be an homage to her upcoming role as Barbie in the upcoming Greta Gerwig-directed comedy, while the flapper style is likely a nod to her role in Babylon, which is set in the 1920s.

Despite the clear references to her projects, trolls were quick to criticise the look, with one writing: 'Imagine being Margot Robbie's stylist. Managing to make a woman as beautiful as her look bad. Wow. I'm sure it takes a lot of hard work and dedication'.

Margot was named as a brand ambassador for Chanel in 2018, and has almost exclusively worn it on the red carpet since.

In the last five years, critics have heckled her outfits online, with many calling on her stylist Kate Young to 'free her' from the contract.

While no details of a formal contract have ever been made public, some speculated her deal with the brand had come to an end after she wore an emerald green Bottega Veneta dress to the Governors Awards in November, which was described as her 'best look ever'.

Days later, she was papped leaving a New York City hotel in a Proenza Schouler power suit and an oversized Bottega blazer.

She also wore a flowing charcoal Celine dress to the European premiere of Amsterdam in London in September, with fans taking to TikTok at the time to celebrate the 'end of her Chanel era'.

Some speculated Margot's deal with Chanel had come to an end after she wore an emerald green Bottega Veneta dress to the Governors Awards in November, which was described as her ' best look ever '

Margot (pictured) stole the show on at the Governors Awards in LA last month

However, the I, Tonya star returned with a Chanel look at the Golden Globes this week, which disappointed some amateur fashionistas.

'Margot Robbie's stylist knows she would break the internet and everyone would be jealous of her as the most stunning woman in the world, so she lets her wear ugly outfits to protect us,' one fan joked.

In 2020, celebrity stylist Elliot Garnaut named Margot as his 'worst-dressed' Australian star in Hollywood.

The sartorial expert took part in an episode of The Lady Bunch, hosted by Rozalia Russian, where he dramatically asked the former Neighbours star to 'call him'.

'Your stylist is literally f**king torturing you. You look like an old wench!' he said.

In 2020, celebrity stylist Elliot Garnaut named Margot as his 'worst-dressed' Australian star in Hollywood. (She is pictured at the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards)

One fan asked Elliot who he felt was the worst-dressed Australian celebrity. Elliot then said dramatically, 'Margot Robbie. Call me b***h!'

'Somebody at Chanel obviously hates her,' Elliot joked at the time. (Margot is pictured at the Birds of Prey premiere in Mexico City in January 2020)
Rating:

Lets hope all the girls in this winters Love Island have teeny tiny Cinderella tootsies, because if they dont, contestant Haris Namani wont be looking their way.

I wouldnt get with a girl who had over size five feet, said 21-year-old TV salesman Haris when asked for his ideal type.

Shaq Muhammad, 24, a security officer from London, wanted a girl who was hilariously funny with nice eyes, nice lips and a good body, while financial adviser Ron Hall, 25, from Essex  a diamond in the rough  was looking for a wifey for lifey. But before he settled down with said wifey, he wanted to sample all the flavours, whatevers in front of me, in the villa.

Yes, folks, Love Island is back for the first of two series in 2023 and is still as reassuringly shallow as a mouses footbath.

Love Island is back for the first of two series in 2023 and is still as reassuringly shallow as a mouses footbath

For the next six weeks we can expect an endless parade of bikinis, boob jobs, six-packs and more dazzling-white Turkey teeth than you can shake a stick at.

Love it or hate it, theres no denying that the dating show has become something of a cultural phenomenon. The most watched series ever on ITVHub with more than 269 million streams, the format has been sold to 25 territories around the world.

Last nights opener was Love Islands second attempt at a winter series, the first in 2020 falling rather flat, arriving as it did just as the country was gripped by Covid panic.

Love it or hate it, theres no denying that the dating show has become something of a cultural phenomenon

Rumour has it that when plans for a winter show were first mooted, producers toyed with the idea of basing the drama at a luxury chalet in a ski resort.until they realised the freezing temperatures would mean the contestants might occasionally need to wear some clothes. Instead, the action takes place at a villa in South Africa (not that youd know since its pretty much a carbon copy of the summer one in Majorca).

The boys were the first to arrive and none of them giddier and more excited to be there than Will Young, 23, one of a new breed of cool farmers with big social media fanbases (Will already has a million followers on TikTok). He believed he would be a hit with the ladies because farming meant he was strong and masculine but also had a loving, caring, nurturing, wholesome vibe.

Tanya Manhenga, 22, wearing false eyelashes that looked like they weighed more than she did is a biomedical science student from Liverpool

The first five girls to enter included payroll administrator Anna-May Robey, 20, from Swansea, who revealed that she once talked so much on a date that the guy fell asleep at the table. Tanya Manhenga, 22, wearing false eyelashes that looked like they weighed more than she did is a biomedical science student from Liverpool and warned the boys: I literally expect princess treatment, or no treatment at all.

Last night the first five couples were formed, overseen by Maya Jama who takes over as the shows presenter. Strutting into the house in a sprayed-on dress, it was clear that, never mind the contestants, shes definitely the boys type.

Love Islands return certainly made our Blue Monday a little more sky and a lot less navy

After criticism for failing in its duty of care , ITV has made it clear that anyone taking part this year will get more counselling than Prince Harry on a bad day and receive training on everything from inclusive language and microaggressions to financial planning.

Those who need their TV viewing a little grittier were no doubt watching Silent Witness on BBC1. But for those who dont mind a bit of low-brow fluff?

Well, Love Islands return certainly made our Blue Monday a little more sky and a lot less navy.
Celeste Barber dressed to impress as she made a show-stopping appearance at the Babylon premiere in Sydney on Monday.

The comedian, 40, looked glamorous in a bright red velvet dress as she arrived with her husband Api Robin.

The social media star, known around the world for mocking celebrities on Instagram, put on a loved-up display as she gazed sweetly at her man on the red carpet.

Celeste Barber looked glamorous in a velvet dress as she put on a loved-up display with her 'hot husband' Api Robin at the Babylon premiere in Sydney on Monday

Celeste accessorised with a pair of gold stilettos and a matching-coloured bag.

The funnywoman left her brunette locks out and opted for a neutral palette of makeup, consisting of blush and a nude lip.

Meanwhile, Api looked dapper in black pants, a white shirt and white blazer.

The social media star, 40, known around the world for mocking celebrities on Instagram, put on a loved-up display as she gazed sweetly at her husband on the red carpet

He completed his look with black dress shoes as he held his wife's hand.

Celeste has been with Api, whom she affectionately describes as her 'hot husband', for 18 years. They tied the knot nine years ago.

The couple share two sons, and Api has two daughters from a previous relationship.

The funnywoman left her brunette locks out and opted for a neutral palette of makeup, consisting of blush and a nude lip

Celeste previously admitted she married a man who is 'universally hotter' than her.

'It's harder to live with than I originally thought,' she joked on her blog.

'Now, don't get me wrong, I'm no dropped pie, but there isn't a "hot wifey" hashtag hanging around my neck,' she added.
A defeated Republican candidate in New Mexico's largest city was arrested for shooting at Democratic politicians' homes while driving by.

Police said that SWAT teams took 39-year-old Solomon Pena into custody and searched his residence on Monday evening.

The authorities said Pena was bitter about losing and had made unfounded assertions that the US Elections in November had been "rigged" against him, per AP News.

When asked about the gunshots at the homes of two county commissioners and two state lawmakers between early December and early January, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina called Pena the "mastermind" of what looked to be a politically motivated scheme, according to CBS News.

Three bullets hit a state senator's 10-year-old daughter's bedroom, but no one was hurt.

Read Also: Experts Alarmed Over China Population Drop

Investigators identified five participants in the plot and tied the last shooting directly to Pena. He has been accused of a crime based on evidence from multiple witnesses, computer and cell phone data, security cameras, and guns.

The arrest of Pena comes after the arrest of an unnamed man last week who was thought to be involved in at least one of the shootings.

Pena Unleashed Series of Shootings

At least eight shots were fired at the residence of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa in early December, according to authorities. Within days of the initial attack, the house of state representative Javier Martinez was targeted, and a week after that, former Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O'Malley's home was fired at, according to the police.

The Republican shooting case is still being probed by investigators.

The November US elections did not favor Solomon Pena when he challenged Miguel P. Garcia, the veteran Democrat representing House District 14 in the South Valley. Garcia won the polls by 48 percentage points or around 3,600 votes.

The arrest of Solomon Pena takes place only one day before the New Mexico legislature is scheduled to start its session, as per an NPR report.

Related Article: California Murder Latest Update

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Lil Tjay was arrested Monday in New York City when police found a loaded handgun in the vehicle he was in.

The New York City native, 21, and his friends were pulled over during a traffic stop, police told TMZ, and the rapper - who was shot last year in New Jersey - was arrested after a weapon was recovered from the vehicle.

An associate of Lil Tjay was also arrested in the incident, according to the New York Post.

The latest: Lil Tjay, 21, was arrested Monday in New York City when police found a loaded handgun in the vehicle he was in. He was pictured last March in LA

Police told the outlet that charges were pending for Lil Tjay and his associate in connection with the incident.

The arrest was captured in a TikTok clip, in which Lil Tjay was seen handcuffed and being led by NYPD officers. The rapper was clad in a black shirt with a black New York Yankees cap in the clip.

The musical artist, whose real name is Tione Jayden Merritt, had previously taken to social media advertising that he would be in the area to film a music video.

The Columbia Records-signed performer said in an Instagram Stories post, 'Video shooot today lol its litt.'

The rapper was pictured performing at NYC's Citi Field in October of 2021

The musical artist is less than seven months removed from being shot in a June 22, 2022 attempted robbery in Edgewater, New Jersey. Pictured in Houston in August 2021

The musical artist, whose real name is Tione Jayden Merritt, had previously taken to social media advertising that he would be in the area to film a music video

The musical artist is less than seven months removed from being shot in a June 22, 2022 attempted robbery in Edgewater, New Jersey.

He was with friends Antoine Boyd and Jeffrey Valdez at the time of the incident, according to NorthJersey.com, which took place in a shopping center parking lot.

A man named Mohamed Konate (who was also shot in the incident) has been charged with attempted murder, armed robbery and weapons violations in connection with the rapper's shooting.
Love Island returned to screens on Monday evening as a new set of singletons coupled up in South Africa.

During the first episode, ITV viewers were quick to accuse a number of islanders of lying about their real age.

Taking to Twitter, fans demanded the show to 'check birth certificates' as they were left less than convinced that Kai Fagan is 24-years-old.

Shocked: During the first episode of the new series of Love Island on Monday evening, ITV viewers were quick to accuse a number of islanders of lying about their real age

As viewers watched from home, the new cast came under scrutiny with one writing: 'Nahhh Kai is not 24. Check that birth certificate now'.

While another added: 'Kai is 24???? Was he born in a leap year?'

'I cannot believe Kai is 24, he looks at least 30, if not 35,' a third penned.

'Check that birth certificate now': Taking to Twitter, fans demanded the show to 'check birth certificates' as they were left less than convinced that Kai Fagan is 24-years-old

Kai wasn't the only singleton to come under fire as bombshell Tom Clare, 23, was also questioned by fans online.

The boys were left less than impressed at the end of the first episode as the striker for Macclesfield made his debut.

Tom will get to pick any girl of choice in the next episode leaving the boy left single at risk.

'Was he born in a leap year?': As viewers watched from home, the new cast came under scrutiny with one writing: 'Nahhh Kai is not 24. Check that birth certificate now'

Awkward: Kai wasn't the only singleton to come under fire as bombshell Tom Clare, 23, was also questioned by fans online

It comes after Kai was mocked by viewers for using the term 'wifey for lifey' before switching between three single ladies during the first coupling of the series.

The semi-pro rugby player claimed to new host Maya Jama that he has entered the villa on the hunt for the real deal, but fans of the show were quick to call him out for using the 'cringeworthy' slogan.

Taking to Twitter, viewers did not hold back, with one writing: 'Wifey for lifey the way I GAGGED #LoveIsland,' while another admitted: 'Wifey for lifey I just threw up my dinner thanks babe x #LoveIsland.'

'Looking for wifey on Love Island? Stop lyingggggg through your pearly veneers mate,' pleaded someone else, as another person insisted: 'sorry but the lads are soooo dry on love island, a grown man saying wifey for lifey.'

'This wifey 4 lifey thing better not the slogan for this series. I will not tolerate 8 weeks of grown men talking like teenage boys. #LoveIsland,' fumed one viewer.

Someone else tweeted: '"I just wanna try all the flavours and see which one is a wifey for lifey" go home right now #LoveIsland.'
Maternal

Rating: ****

Mastermind

Rating: **

Once, there was no better setting for telly drama than a hospital. Doctors and nurses, romance in A&E, life-and-death decisions... it all adds up to soap's safest bet.

Now, the whole subject is fraught with controversy and politically correct pitfalls. Even the title of Maternal (ITV), about three women going back to the wards after having children, risks enraging the thought police.

'Maternal', as a lecturer pointed out to doctors Helen, Maryam and Catherine (Lisa McGrillis, Parminder Nagra and Lara Pulver), is not a word on the approved list. They'd been on 'parental leave,' he emphasised  not 'maternity'.

Using a pump to express her milk, with as much discretion as she could manage in public, Helen complained that her 'boobs' were sore.

Even the title of Maternal (ITV), about three women going back to the wards after having children, risks enraging the thought police

Excuse me, doctor, but I think you'll find the correct gender- neutral terminology for that part of your anatomy is 'chest'.

Writer Jacqui Honess-Martin takes a boldly feminist tone. It's clear she knows how to fix the NHS: get rid of the men. They're all pompous, condescending, sexist, entitled, lazy, unreliable, randy incompetents. And that's the good ones.

Helen's husband, Guy (Oliver Chris), a doctor on the same wards, accuses her of undermining his authority every time she speaks.

Maryam's husband is outraged that she's gone back to work at all. Catherine's the sensible one  she's a defiantly single mother, coping with life far better than her friends who have succumbed to marriage.

Writer Jacqui Honess-Martin takes a boldly feminist tone. It's clear she knows how to fix the NHS: get rid of the men

Catherine's mother doesn't approve, though. She had to suffer the demands of a husband who thought he was God, and so should her daughter: 'You wanted to be a mother. It demands sacrifice!'

Despite its stridency, Maternal is fast-paced, with plenty of emotional punch and far more watchable than BBC1's self-pity saga, This Is Going To Hurt, last year.

There's real sharpness in the script. When one medic volunteers for extra duty, a consultant drawls: 'My hero! We'll organise a clap.'

Questionmaster Clive Myrie has a tendency to drawl, too, dragging out the word 'Ye-ee-ess', when he could simply clip it short.

That can cheat the players of vital split seconds. Clive, who took over from John Humphrys in 2021, seems increasingly to be turning Mastermind (BBC2) into a game of chance as well as memory.

Of course, the tension of the occasion can fluster anyone. Civil engineer Adeleine couldn't remember the name of composer Scott Joplin, even though, she said, she'd been playing his Maple Leaf Rag on the piano for years.

'That chair makes us all do funny things,' Clive commiserated.

Clive, who took over from John Humphrys in 2021, seems increasingly to be turning Mastermind (BBC2) into a game of chance as well as memory

But the number of questions squeezed into each round has begun to vary markedly. I kept a tally and, by my reckoning, teacher Lesley (who chose the life of Thomas Cromwell as her special subject) had just 29 brainteasers bowled at her. She finished in last place.

Optician Alex had more chances to answer, both in his specialist round (on the films of Wes Anderson) and the general knowledge test. In total, he faced 32 questions, which is ten per cent more.

Both players answered quickly, but some of Alex's questions seemed shorter  such as 'Funf is the German word for what number?' (It's 'five'.)

By contrast, Lesley faced posers like this: 'A decade after they disbanded, which singing duo reunited for a free concert in New York's Central Park in September 1981, said to have been attended by around half a million people?' (That was 'Simon and Garfunkel', which also takes a lot longer to say than 'five'.)

Unsurprisingly, Alex won the contest. It hardly seems fair  and it would never have happened under Magnus Magnusson.
Missy Elliott gifted her assistant with a Range Rover for her birthday and shared the generous surprise on social media.

The 51-year-old rapper posted a photo on her Instagram Stories on Sunday showing a new black Range Rover with a big silver bow on the hood.

Her assistant smiled as she held up the keys to the luxury vehicle and her young son also beamed while standing in front of her.

Birthday present: Missy Elliott gifted her assistant with a Range Rover for her birthday and shared the generous surprise on social media

The deluxe Land Rover branded car has a suggested starting price of $60K and goes upwards of $120K.

Missy penned: 'Happy Born Day to my sister/Friend/Assistant my rider! I wanted to give you this truck last week because I wanted to see ya surprised face lol!,' Missy wrote as a caption for her roughly 5 million followers.

'But you work hard and always there no matter the hour for me so I hope you enjoy,' Missy added.

It was announced earlier this month that Missy, Dr. Dre and Lil Wayne will be honored at the Recording Academy's second annual Black Music Collective event during Grammy Week in February.

The three Grammy winners will receive the Global Impact Award for their personal achievements in the music industry during an event at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on February 2, ahead of the Grammy Awards on February 5.

Social media: The 51-year-old rapper, shown in November 2019 in New York City, posted a photo on her Instagram Stories on Sunday showing a new black Range Rover with a big silver bow on the hood

The Black Music Collective group was created in 2020 by prominent music industry leaders - including honorary chairs John Legend, Jimmy Jam and Quincy Jones - to find ways to drive Black representation and inclusion.

Missy is a four-time Grammy winner who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019. She broke through with her debut album "Supa Dupa Fly" and has collaborated with several top music acts including Aaliyah, Beyonce, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Ciara, Lil Kim, J. Cole, Busta Rhymes and Chris Brown.

She received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in November 2021.

Rap queen: Missy received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in November 2021

Missy first launched her career when she formed the all-female R&B group Fayze in 1991.

She was honored at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2019 with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award.

Missy performed a medley of her greatest hits and her performance included an appearance by dancer Alyson Stoner, 29, who was only nine when she appeared in Missy's 2002 Work It video.
Amanda Holden looked nothing short of incredible on set of a racy new photoshoot on Monday.

The Britain's Got Talent judge and radio host, 51, sizzled as she showed off her age-defying figure in nothing but a bathrobe as she posed up for Sam Faiers' Revive Collagen brand.

Amanda shared a short clip of herself posing on the edge of a bath while on set, saying: 'So good to be back with @revivecollagen.'

'So good to be back': Amanda Holden, 51, sizzled as she showed off her age-defying figure in nothing but a bathrobe during a racy photoshoot in London on Monday

Amanda stunned showing off a golden tan, fresh pedicure and with her blonde locsk out and over her shoulders in tousled curls.

She could be seen putting on a leggy display in the robe and posing seductively while baring one shoulder.

Sam also shared a picture of herself with Amanda on set of the shoot in Notting Hill.

Amanda shared a short clip of herself posing on the edge of a bath while on set, saying: 'So good to be back with @revivecollagen'

On set: Sam also shared a picture of herself with Amanda on set of the shoot in Notting Hill

'Here we go again. Another exciting year with our British Ambassador Amanda,' Sam captioned her post.

Sam looked chic on the day wearing leather-look trousers and a black singlet with a metallic blazer.

Amanda has just returned from a lavish trip to Mauritius, where she stayed in a 1,700 per night beachside resort.

Holiday: Amanda has just returned from a lavish trip to Mauritius, where she stayed in a 1,700 per night beachside resort

The TV personality made sure to document her trip and shared various pictures of herself slipping her figure into tiny bikinis.

She stayed at the luxurious five-star LUX Grand Baie situated on the northern shore of the island.

Designer and former Dragon's Den star Kelly Hoppen helped to design the hotel, with the suites and villas designed to feel like private apartments.
Rumer Willis stepped out to bring her dog to the vet in Los Angeles on Monday.

The 34-year-old daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore bundled up in a bright beanie and a tan fleece overcoat to hide her baby bump for the daytime outing.

Last December, she announced that she is expecting her first child with her boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas with some sweet snaps on Instagram.

Bundled up: Rumer Willis, 34, stepped out to bring her dog to the vet in Los Angeles on Monday

The House Bunny actress - who has not revealed her expectancy date - dressed comfortably for the daytime outing.

The Once Upon A Time in Hollywood alum wore a simple black top and black leggings.

She also modeled a teddy fleece overcoat which concealed her baby bump.

Visiting the vet: The eldest daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore bundled up in a bright beanie and a tan fleece overcoat to hide her baby bump for the daytime outing

For accessories, she donned a lime green and turquoise ombre beanie and styled her hair in pigtail braids.

On her feet, she sported a pair cream Birkenstock sandals and tall white socks that she pulled over her leggings.

Willis and her indie musician boyfriend announced in a joint Instagram post on December 30 that they were expecting their first child together.

Cozy and comfy: On her feet, she sported a pair cream Birkenstock sandals and tall white socks that she pulled over her leggings

The couple only went Instagram official in November of last year but have reportedly been dating for much longer.

Their first child will also be Bruce and Demi's first grandchild.

Bruce and Willis also share daughters Tallulah, 28, and Scout, 31.

Casual yet chic: For accessories, she donned a lime green and turquoise ombre beanie and styled her hair in pigtail braids

Previously, they were married from 1987 to 2000.

Later, Demi was married to Ashton Kutcher from 2005 to 2013.

In 2009, Bruce married Emma Heming, and together they share two daughters - Mabel, 10, and Evelyn, eight.

Baby bump: Willis and Derek Richard Thomas announced in a joint Instagram post on December 30 that they were expecting their first child together
Former Australian politician Julie Bishop beckoned master sleuth Sherlock Holmes to rescue her from the darkness during her latest trip to England.

The 66-year-old went for an early morning jog through the streets of Belgravia, London, on Monday, before dawn had broken.

Julie, who is in Europe to attend the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Switzerland, found herself spooked after deciding to take a shorter route back to her hotel because it was raining.

Former Australian politician Julie Bishop admitted she was 'jumping at shadows' as she went for a run through the dark in London early Monday morning

With sunrise another hour away, Julie found herself 'jumping at shadows' so took out her phone to film a video to reassure herself.

'It's a bit spooky. I'm half expecting Sherlock Holmes to emerge from the shadows,' she said.

Just a few hours later, she was in Davos, Switzerland, for the WHO summit, where she met with the Foreign Minister of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis and author Bill Browder.

In addition to her daily running, Julie maintains a fitness regime which also includes yoga 'a few times a week'.

She made headlines in December when she showed off her yoga skills with a headstand on Cottesloe Beach in the background of a live cross on Studio 10.

More recently, she swatted away critics who accused her of using a filter to blur and soften her features in a video posted to Instagram.

In addition to her daily running, Julie maintains a fitness regime which also includes yoga 'a few times a week'. She also recently swatted away critics who accused her of using a filter to blur and soften her features in a video posted to Instagram

It comes after her eight-year romance with property developer David Panton ended over dinner in Sydney in July.

Just a week earlier, the couple had visited London together and dined with King Charles.

She is now rumoured to be dating fitness enthusiast Luke Hepworth after the pair were spotted arm-in-arm at several red carpet events late last year.
A group of attorneys representing Kanye West are planning to take out large newspaper ads to inform the rapper they are no longer providing him legal services.

Lawyers for the firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP said in docs reviewed by TMZ that West, 45, has shut off the phone number they had to contact him with, leading to 'a breakdown in communication' with the ex-husband of Kim Kardashian.

The attorneys said that their firm has sought to notify West via 'alternative means' of telling West that they were no longer representing him, along with publishing a court order issued by a judge permitting the severance of the professional relationship.

The latest: A group of attorneys representing Kanye West, 45, are planning to take out large newspaper ads to inform the rapper they are no longer providing him legal services. He was pictured in LA in October

The attorneys said that the planned ads are a last-ditch idea, as they have been trying to contact West about the issue, but he has been unresponsive.

The idea behind publishing the statement in a newspaper is that it would 'likely garner significant media attention, resulting in broader publication,' the lawyers said.

The news comes as West has been romantically linked to Bianca Censori, an architectural designer, and the pair 'had some sort of wedding ceremony' recently, the outlet reported, noting that the couple had not appeared to obtain a marriage certificate that would make the marriage legal.

West has been keeping a relatively low profile in the six weeks since a December 1 appearance on Alex Jones' show Infowars in which he lavished praise on Nazis and Adolf Hitler.

The attorneys said that the planned ads are a last-ditch idea, as they have been trying to contact West about the issue, but he has been unresponsive

The idea behind publishing the statement in a newspaper is that it would 'likely garner significant media attention, resulting in broader publication,' the lawyers said. West was pictured in NYC last year

'He didn't kill six million Jews,' West said on the program, in which he appeared alongside white supremacist Nick Fuentes. 'That's just factually incorrect. I'm not trying to be shocking. I like Hitler. The Holocaust is not what happened ... Hitler has a lot of redeeming qualities ... every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, especially Hitler.'

The appearance came prior to West being banned from Twitter later that day for posting a picture of a swastika interlaced with a Star of David

The turbulent day capped off a two-month stretch in which West dominated the headlines after making a series of anti-Semitic remarks, leading to a number of companies to break ties with him.

The race-related controversies kicked off October 3 when he and and conservative commentator Candace Owens donned tops that read White Lives Matter during a Paris Fashion Week showcase for his Yeezy line.

Appearing on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' show last month, West said he saw 'good things' about Adolf Hitler and Nazis

West made offensive remarks on October 8 after he faced restrictions on Instagram

West in October made headlines for a Paris Fashion Week showcase for his Yeezy line that saw him and conservative commentator Candace Owens don tops that read White Lives Matter on the back

West faced restrictions on his social media sites after he tweeted October 8: 'I'm a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I'm going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE ... The funny thing is I actually can't be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also ... you guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.'

The professional fallout to West's repeated statements about anti-Semitism included Adidas cutting their ties with him October 25 over his conduct.

Foot Locker and Gap have pledged to remove Yeezy from its shelves, while fashion mainstays including Vogue magazine and Balenciaga publicly distanced themselves from the rapper/fashion designer.

The talent agency CAA dropped West from its roster, while a documentary about West made by the studio MRC was shelved.
Channel 10 is set launch Taskmaster, a new comedy game show on February 2.

Hosted by funnyman Tom Gleeson, 48, the new series will see a group of five comedians attempt to complete a series of challenges.

The Project's Tom Cashman will co-star alongside Utopia's Luke McGregor and Nina Oyama, children's entertainer Jimmy Rees, and stand-up favourites Julia Morris and Danielle Walker.

Channel 10 is set launch Taskmaster, a new comedy game show on February 2. Pictured: host Tom Gleeson on the red carpet for the AACTA Awards in 2020

An hilarious new trailer reveals that fans can look forward to the contestants applying themselves to completing crazy challenges.

'For those that take joy in seeing comedians humiliating themselves...good news, that's kind of our whole deal,' Gleeson says in the teaser.

Among the highlights featured in the preview are scenes of the cast struggling to sink a bowling ball sitting on a pontoon and floating in a lake - without getting wet.

At one point. McGregor is seen pitching bowling pins to knock the bowling ball into the water.

Pictured: Tom Gleeson and Tom Cashman (seated) and the cast of Taskmaster - Luke McGregor, Danielle Walker, Nina Oyama, Julia Morris and Jimmy Rees (lying down)

Meanwhile, Gleeson serves as the 'taskmaster', awarding points and judging the efforts of the comedians.

Based on a hit U.K. show, Variety Australia reports that the format has been sold to 12 countries including New Zealand, Sweden, and Denmark.

It also has a YouTube channel, an app and a board game.

The new serie will see a group of five comedians attempt to complete a series of hard-to-complete and silly challenges. Pictured: Utopia's Luke McGregor in Taskmaster

A U.S. version, launched in 2018 by the Comedy Channel, failed to take off with viewers and was axed after one season.

It was later re-launched in 2020 on CW, but was pulled from the air after only one episode because of poor ratings.

Meanwhile, the U.K. version, hosted by creator Alex Horne and 'taskmaster' Greg Davies, is a hit with audiences and critics and has enjoyed 15 seasons on air.

Taskmaster will be seen on Channel 10's main channel and 10Play.
Married At First Sight's Jules Robinson has announced that she has signed with a new talent agency and is ready to embark on a new career path.

Robinson and her husband Cameron Merchant had been signed with THE.mgmt since 2019, when they found fame on season six of the Channel Nine dating show.

But now the fashion icon has joined TSA Talent, a firm that works with 'high profile talent' across Australia.

Married At First Sight's Jules Robinson (pictured) has announced that she has signed with a new talent agency and is ready to embark on a new career path

TSA Talent also represent the likes of Studio 10 hosts Tristan Macmanus and Sarah Harris.

Since then, Jules has become an entrepreneur, starting her own shapewear company Figur and becoming a champion for body positivity.

Jules has also teased a number of upcoming projects, including a memoir to be released in mid-2022, and a possible TV gig in the UK.

Robinson and her husband Cameron Merchant signed with THE.mgmt in 2019, when they found fame on season six of the Channel Nine dating show

Back in October Jules said that the UK has really been there 'with open arms for me from day one'.

'I always looked at London as a city of so much opportunity, and I do, to this day, feel that way. I just returned from a work trip [there]' she told Stellar Magazine.

Jules has not discounted a move to England, specifically London, a city she says she loves.

Jules has also teased a number of upcoming projects, including a memoir to be released in mid-2022, and a possible TV gig in the UK

'If the right opportunity arose, my family would definitely move to the UK,' she said, adding that she's already had offers.

'MAFS aired in the UK, where it was extremely popular, and I've already extended work opportunities there' Jules said.

'I've been in talks with some UK TV stations as presenting is something I'd like to explore'.
A scene from the musical "Showman" / Courtesy of National Jeongdong Theater of Korea



By Dong Sun-hwa



Black comedy "Showman" has won the grand prize at this year's Korea Musical Awards, one of the most prestigious theater awards here.



Produced by the National Jeongdong Theater of Korea, "Showman," which premiered in April, received the highest honor after edging out other original productions like "Frida" and "Almond." Its lead actor Yoon Na-moo and writer Han Jung-suk nabbed awards for best actor and best writer, respectively.



Set in New Jersey in 2020, "Showman" is a story of a cynical young woman doing a photo shoot for an eccentric old man named Nebula, who claims to have worked as a stand-in for a dictator in a fictional country named Paradisus. The musical aims to portray an individual rediscovering his own identity after losing it due to social and ideological issues.



"'Showman' is neither glamorous nor incredible," Jung Sung-sook, the CEO of the National Jeongdong Theater of Korea, said during the awards ceremony that took place at the LG Arts Center in Gangseo District, western Seoul, Monday. "But I believe good work can still make people feel that they have been moved by that show when they walk out of the theaters. I think 'Showman' has been recognized as such work. It will hit the stage again in September, so I hope a lot of people will come and watch it."



Yoon, who played Nebula, said, "It feels surreal (to win such an award). 'Showman' has encouraged me to view our world in a positive light and become a good person. I want to share this honor with all our audience members."


Sami Sheen looked relaxed while grabbing lunch with her sister Lola in Malibu on Monday.

The 18-year-old daughter of Charlie Sheen - who posted racy Christmas snaps last month - donned a white T-Shirt with a Budweiser symbol running across the chest.

She added light brown khaki pants to the ensemble, and she walked in well-worn black and white sneakers.

Keeping relaxed: Sami Sheen looked relaxed while grabbing lunch with her sister Lola in Malibu on Monday

She pulled her hair into tight, platinum blonde pigtails that touched the middle of her back.

The Los Angeles native protected her eyes with thick black sunglasses, and she carried a black handbag over her right shoulder.

She carried a large, orange drink from Starbucks with her as she headed into Howdy's, a cafe in Los Angeles.

Sheen gained recognition for the pay site OnlyFans lastyear. She made headlines for posting sexy images alongside her Bond girl mom Denise, who posed for Playboy almost 20 years ago.

T-shirt: The 18-year-old daughter of Charlie Sheen donned a white t-shirt with a Budweiser symbol running across the chest

It was revealed in September that Denise's husband Aaron Phypers helps her shoot her OnlyFans content.

The Wild Things star joined the website in June just days after her daughter Sami signed up for the service.

And Denise has now recruited her partner to help her take the sexiest shots for the adult platform - admitting she values his opinion.

During an appearance on Sirius XM's Jeff Lewis Live, she explained: 'Aaron takes a lot of my content for me. He knows what guys like. I ask him, I show him things, and say, 'What do you think?''

Denise went on to reveal she takes pictures in bikinis and lingerie and isn't afraid to show off her body - insisting pictures of her semi-naked already exist on the internet,

Recognition: Sheen gained recognition for the pay site OnlyFans lastyear. She made headlines for posting sexy images alongside her Bond girl mom Denise, who posed for Playboy almost 20 years ago

Way up north: The star was photographed in a snowy setting while on holiday in Whitefish, Montana

Also on OnlyFans: It was revealed in September that Denise's husband Aaron Phypers helps her shoot her OnlyFans content

She told host Jeff: 'I do bikini, I do lingerie, I do stuff that is sexier 'cause I also think, "Why not?' if I'm able to do stuff outside of some of the more conservative stuff that's on my Instagram. I do show my boobies, my tush."'

'They're already out there if you Google them.'

The actress said she first joined the site to show support for her daughter, but she grew to understand why it feels 'empowering'.

She went on: 'I did it to support my daughter, being a mom who is an actress who has done stuff, and I just thought it was empowering too as a woman  to take control.

Why not indeed: 'I do bikini, I do lingerie, I do stuff that is sexier 'cause I also think, "Why not?' if I'm able to do stuff outside of some of the more conservative stuff that's on my Instagram. I do show my boobies, my tush,"' she explained earlier this year

'You own all of the content and (on) a lot of the other platforms, you don't own the content. So, it's nice to be able to control it.'

Sami previously faced opposition from her actor dad Charlie Sheen, who wasn't happy with her decision to join OnlyFans, and she recently revealed he still hasn't been won over.

The teenager told TMZ: '(My mom) has been incredibly supportive from the jump. I'm grateful to have to her in my corner. But my dad hasn't seen the light yet. '

Sami also has three sisters, Lola, as well as Eloise and 38-year-old half-sister Cassandra Jade Estevez, whose mother is Paula Profit.

She also has 13-year-old half-brothers Max and Bob Sheen whose mother is 45-year-old Brooke Mueller.
Emily Atack's aunt Amy Robbins has spoken of her joy with getting the role of Daisy Midgeley's long lost mother in Coronation Street.

Ahead of her first episode as Christina airing this month, Amy, 51, who has had minor roles in Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Blood Brothers and a starring role in The Royal, has said her family full of showbusiness stars are 'all really pleased' for her.

Her comedian brother, Ted Robbins, 67, has previously starred in the soap playing Brendan Finch alongside Mary Taylor as her love interest back in 2016.

Not long now! Emily Atack's aunt Amy Robbins has spoken of her joy with getting the role of Daisy Midgeley's long lost mother in Coronation Street

Speaking to The Mirror, the auntie of Inbetweeners actress and TV personality Emily, 33, said she burst into tears when she heard she got the role of Christina.

'My family are all really pleased for me. They know how much this Coronation Street role means to me. We are never competitive with each other and we are all very close.

'My dad, Michael, worked in variety all his life and my mum, Elizabeth, sang. Showbusiness is in our DNA, it's a family business that has lasted generations.'

Even Amy's Kate Robbins, 64, has starred in EastEnders, After Life and Spitting Image.

Exciting: Speaking to The Mirror, the auntie of Inbetweeners actress and TV personality Emily, 33, (pictured) said she burst into tears when she heard she got the role of Christina

Amy's character Christina is on her way to cause havoc on the cobbles as she tries to make amends with her estranged daughter Daisy, whom she abandoned years ago.

In the interview, she also touched on how genuinely pleased she is for her niece Emily on her success in the industry.

She added: 'What you see is what you get and she deserves to be the star she is.'

Amy has often shared messages of support on her social media profiles, including when she went shopping and saw her niece printed across the wall of a high-street shop as part of a brand campaign the actress was doing.

New role: Ahead of her first episode as Christina airing this month, Amy, 51, who has had minor roles in Emmerdale, Hollyoaks, Blood Brothers and a starring role in The Royal, has said her family full of showbusiness stars are 'all really pleased' for her

Family ties: In the interview, she also touched on how genuinely pleased she is for her niece Emily on her success in the industry (pictured with Emily's brand campaign in a store)

Amy is best known for her role as Dr. Jill Weatherill in the British television series The Royal.

The new Corrie actress, who grew up in Liverpool, is also a first cousin once removed of Sir Paul McCartney - who is her mother's first cousin.

It comes after Emily's mother Kate landed a role on EastEnders.

The actress joined the BBC soap in August where she played music producer Jen Glover.

Star: Amy is best known for her role as Dr. Jill Weatherill in the British television series The Royal

Kate's character was brought in by her friend Rocky (Brian Conley) in order to mastermind the lacklustre pop career of Whitney Dean (Shona McGarty).

Although she was only be in Albert Square for a short time, an insider said ahead of her debut that her 'no-nonsense' character will make a big impact.

They told The Sun on Sunday: 'Everyone was very excited to get Kate on board for this part, because they felt she was the perfect fit.

'Not only is she a great actress, but she has plenty of experience of the music industry too. And they weren't disappointed  she did a brilliant job.'
Jacqueline Jossa has shared throwback snaps of her holiday to Dubai with Dan Osborne and their family.

The actress, 30, who has daughters Ella, seven, and Mia, four, with the former TOWIE star, took to Instagram on Monday to post the series of images including a relaxed picture of herself and Dan on a sun lounger.

Among the gallery, taken during her early 30th birthday trip in October, were images of Jacqueline's mother Selina enjoying an ice cream with her granddaughter and a photograph of the family having pool time together.

Memories: The actress, 30, took to Instagram on Monday to post the series of images from her trip to Dubai in October including a relaxed picture of herself and Dan on a sun lounger

Family time: Among the gallery was a photograph of the family having pool time together in Dubai on their trip

Throwback: The screen star captioned the post: 'Memories, can't wait for the next adventure' as she reminisced about her holiday

Her series of snaps also showed her cosying up to her daughters and having time with her sister Katrina and her children.

They were also joined by Dan's son Teddy, eight, from a previous relationship and Dan's mother Toni.

Another picture showed a fresh-faced and make-up free Jacqueline in a grey bikini smiling with her mother.

Elsewhere, the family could be seen enjoying the Dubai aquarium and marvelling at an impressive-looking blue tree.

The screen star captioned the post: 'Memories, can't wait for the next adventure' as she reminisced about her holiday.

Fun: Her series of snaps also showed her cosying up to her daughters and having time with her sister Katrina and her children

Mother and daughter: Another picture showed a fresh-faced and make-up free Jacqueline in a grey bikini smiling with her mother

It comes after Jacqueline shut down reports that claimed she is set to comeback to EastEnders full time.

Earlier this month, the actress returned to Albert Square to reprise her role as Lauren Branning for the first time since leaving the soap in 2017.

Penning a lengthy message to social media she made it clear that she is 'not coming back to the square full time' as she thanked fans for their support.

Love: The EastEnders star also shared a snap of Teddy and his father Dan walking together as they explored Dubai

Day out: Elsewhere, the family could be seen enjoying the Dubai aquarium as they took time out to relax together

She explained: 'Just been inundated with people being lovely, but thinking I'm coming back to EastEnders full time.

'I don't know if something has been taken out of an interview or been completely made up but either way I'm just shutting down any rumours or stories.

'I am not on the way back the the square full time, it's not in talks, I 100 have not confirmed a return.

'That's also not me saying I would never go back, when and if the time is right, I would love to.'

Sun-soaked: The actress's family had time on the beach together as they holidayed in Dubai in October

Yummy: Jacqueline's mother Selina prepared to enjoy an ice cream with her granddaughter during their sun-soaked getaway

She continued: 'Hope you're all okay. Like I have said many times and continue to say, Eastenders is the best job ever and was an honour for the 8 years.

'As of right now, I am not going back atm thanks so much for all the excited DM's and phone calls and texts.. sorry lol.'

The actress was believed to be be set for a return to EastEnders after reportedly approaching bosses about a comeback following her feature at Dot Cotton's funeral.

Her seven years in Walford could be extended, sources claimed, after reportedly having a conversation with executive producer Chris Clenshaw.
Millie Mackintosh showed off her incredible figure as she touched down in Dubai with her husband Hugo Taylor on Tuesday.

The Made in Chelsea star, 33, looked sensational in the snakeskin number for her glamorous Instagram update.

The couple, who are parents to Sienna, two, and six-month-old Aurelia, also posed for a quick lift selfie at the airport before they jetted away on their child free trip.

Glowing: Millie Mackintosh, 32, showed off her incredible figure as she touched down in Dubai with her husband Hugo Taylor on Tuesday

Millie teamed her swimwear with an oversized straw hat and matching semi-sheer kaftan.

She opted for a pair of cat-eye sunglasses and some metallic sandals to complete her beachy look.

The TV personality captioned the snap: 'Delighted to be back in Dubai for a very special event this weekend with @hugotaylorlondon'

Off they go: The couple, who are parents to Sienna, two, and six-month-old Aurelia, also posed for a quick lift selfie at the airport before they jetted away on their child free trip

Their holiday comes after Millie cosied up to her husband Hugo on the red carpet at the Babylon premiere on Thursday night.

The couple held hands at the star-studded event held at the BFI Imax at Waterloo in London, with Millie standing out from the crowd in a plunging red blazer and matching trousers.

Millie elevated her height in a pair of gold strappy heels, while accessorising with matching jewellery.

Glamorous: Millie teamed her swimwear with an oversized straw hat and a pair of cat-eye sunglasses

The beauty sported a bronzed makeup palette with a bold red lip, while scraping her auburn tresses back in a bun.

Meanwhile, Hugo cut a dapper figure in a black suit with a crisp white shirt, while accessorising with stylish shades.

Set in 1920s Hollywood, Babylon centres around the rise and fall of several ambitious dreamers - including the characters portrayed by leading stars Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.
Poppy Delevingne looked in good spirits as she enjoyed a stroll with businessman Damian Donoghue in west London on Tuesday.

The model and socialite, 36, looked effortlessly chic in a long camel coat, a white top and light blue denim jeans while stepping out.

It comes after late last year her husband James Cook was spotted on celebrity dating app Raya amid reports that him and Poppy had split.

Out and about: Poppy Delevingne looked in good spirits as she enjoyed a stroll with businessman Damian Donoghue in west London on Tuesday

Poppy completed her look with suede heeled boots to boost her height and accessorised with a Jimmy Choo Madeleine bucket bag which retails at 1,195.

The blonde beauty wore her light tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and opted for a makeup free look to show off her pretty features.

Meanwhile Damian wore a navy jumper and gilet which he teamed with comfortable Nike trainers.

Style: The model and socialite, 36, looked effortlessly chic in a long camel coat, a white top and light blue denim jeans while stepping out

Chic: Poppy completed her look with suede heeled boots to boost her height and accessorised with a Jimmy Choo Madeleine bucket bag which retails at 1,195

Poppy's stroll comes after she and her 40-year-old entrepreneur husband James are rumoured to have split.

They are said to have called time on their relationship at the beginning of last year but neither party has publicly addressed the rumours.

While the pair are said to have remained friends and still mix in the same social circles, it appears James is now moving on romantically.

Alongside a series of brooding snaps on the dating app Raya, James describes himself as a CEO in the business and entrepreneur industry.

Glowing: The blonde beauty wore her light tresses in loose waves over her shoulders and opted for a makeup free look to show off her pretty features

Outfit: Meanwhile Damian wore a navy jumper and gilet which he teamed with comfortable Nike trainers

One black and white image originally featured on his Instagram page with Poppy in the snap, yet he cropped her out for his dating profile.

He had originally shared the picture on his social media in May last year alongside a birthday tribute to his wife.

The image - which is the last photograph of Poppy on his Instagram feed - was captioned: 'Happy happy birthday my love can't wait to celebrate with you when you get home.  @poppydelevingne.'

MailOnline has contacted James and Poppy's representatives for comment.

Over: Poppy's stroll comes after she and her 40-year-old entrepreneur husband James are rumoured to have split

The Mail On Sunday reported last January that the pair had 'consciously uncoupled' after being little more than friends for the best part of a year.

The following month she flashed her ringless hand to photographers at Perfect Magazine's London Fashion Week party at The Standard.

Poppy looked gorgeous on the night in a striking black and white gown, enjoying the celeb-packed bash with friends Georgia May Jagger and Iris Law.

End: The Mail On Sunday reported last January that the pair had 'consciously uncoupled' after being little more than friends for the best part of a year

However, there was no sign of her unique blue diamond engagement and wedding rings or James, whom she married in 2014 at a lavish Knightsbridge church ceremony, with sisters Cara and Chloe Delevingne among her 17 bridesmaids.

The same month, Poppy's husband James was posting from Chamonix, France, enjoying a ski trip with friends.

It's believed that Poppy moved into her own place in West London, with an insider spilling: 'James is refusing to accept things are over.'

Marriage: The following month she flashed her ringless hand to photographers at Perfect Magazine's London Fashion Week party at The Standard

Busy: The same month, Poppy's husband James was posting from Chamonix, France, enjoying a ski trip with friends

Last year, Poppy put on a very cosy display with Caspar von Bismark - whose brother was dating Kate Moss - as they attended the Teen Cancer America Art Auction in West Hollywood.

They were spotted enjoying each other's company in April, as they posed for a snap with his arm wrapped around her.

James, who works for his family's aerospace company, proposed in October 2012 with a bespoke jewellery box by Anya Hindmarch.

It contained an engagement ring alongside pictures of the couple and the words 'will you marry me?' embossed in gold.

End of an era: They are said to have called time on their relationship at the beginning of last year but neither party has publicly addressed the rumours

Animated: The pair looked like they were enjoying each other's company as they walked around

Life: While the pair are said to have remained friends and still mix in the same social circles, it appears James is now moving on romantically

Mature: Despite the reported split, the pair have continued to mix in the same social circles, with the pair attending Glastonbury Festival together

Moving on: It comes after late last year her husband James Cook was spotted on celebrity dating app Raya amid reports that him and Poppy had split

Poppy went on to have three different elaborate hen parties around the globe with her celebrity friends including Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley and Sienna Miller ahead of the lavish London nuptials.

The couple, who were together five years before they wed and do not have children, with Poppy musing back in 2017 about her family plans, saying: 'You know when you have a roast dinner? My favourite bit of a roast dinner is the potatoes and gravy.

'So what I do is I eat around them and save them till last, because that's the best bit. And that's kind of how I feel about having children.'

Despite the reported split, the pair have continued to mix in the same social circles, with the pair attending Glastonbury Festival together alongside pals Sienna Miller, Alexa Chung and Matt Smith in June.
Idris Elba has called for investment to help the world's poor at the opening ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on Monday.

The actor, 50, cut a dapper figure in a unique grey jacket and a white shirt with a black tie.

He was accompanied by his wife Sabrina, 32, who looked the picture of elegance in a grey fitted dress.

Appeal: Idris Elba has called for investment to help the world's poor at the opening ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on Monday

The Elbas were both honoured for their work on environmental conservation, food security and climate change.

Idris appealed to participants at the summit for financial support for people hit by food scarcity and climate change.

He said: 'The poor of this world are not just looking for aid and handouts, theyre looking for investment.

Looking good: The actor, 50, cut a dapper figure in a grey double-breasted jacket and a white shirt with a black tie

'With greater access to finance, markets, resources, technology and knowledge, we can unlock a different future.

'Failure to invest massively will lead to increased hunger and poverty, which in turn could fuel social unrest, conflict and migration.'

He added: 'We understand the power and change that can come from this room ... We can move with agility and speed and your speed is needed now.'

Couple: He was accompanied by his wife Sabrina, 32, who looked the picture of elegance in a a grey fitted dress

Inspiring: The Elbas were both honoured for their work on environmental conservation, food security and climate change

While Sabrina said: 'Rural communities are filled with talented, youthful populations and enormous potential for new and vibrant markets.

'The private sector can play a massive role in supporting and sourcing from small farmers and in ensuring world leaders continue to invest in holistic ways to combat environmental degradation and rising hunger.

The UN Goodwill Ambassadors received the Crystal Award in front of global leaders in government and industry.

Calling for action: Idris appealed to participants at the summit for financial support for people hit by food scarcity and climate change

Powerful: She reportedly said: 'Rural communities are filled with talented, youthful populations and enormous potential for new and vibrant markets'

Message: She added: 'The private sector can play a massive role in supporting and sourcing from small farmers and in ensuring world leaders continue to invest in holistic ways to combat environmental degradation and rising hunger'

Idris' appearance comes after he shared the official release date for his latest film Luther: The Fallen Sun.

The actor, who is set to play the lead role, can be seen appearing from a dark shadow in the first dramatic trailer for the film.

On ominous voice is then heard saying: 'Something's coming. You see me now?'

Deserving: The UN Goodwill Ambassadors received the Crystal Award in front of global leaders in government and industry

It will arrive in select cinemas on 24 February, followed by a Netflix release on 10 March.

The streaming service took to Twitter on Wednesday to confirm that the much-anticipated new picture will be called Luther: The Fallen Sun.

It also revealed that the film, which will follow on from the dramatic 2019 series finale, will be released in March next year.

Netflix also shared brand new images of Idris, back once again as DCI John Luther, who was last seen being sent to prison in the dramatic BBC series finale.

In the new snaps, Idris is seen once again sporting his signature tweed jacket ensemble as he is seen exploring an array of mystery locations.

He cut a suave figure in dark suit trousers, a blue shirt and a red tie, which he styled with his famous longline coat as he once again embodied Luther.

And the Luther movie is set to be as jampacked with dramatic scenes as ever as one photograph shows a concerned Idris holding up his hands in a busy city setting.

Exciting: Idris' appearance comes after he shared the official release date for his latest film Luther: The Fallen Sun

His character Luther is also seen exploring more challenging climes and breaking away from its traditional London setting as he was seen making his way through a snowy, mountainous landscape.

Another shot shows Idris standing on what appeared to be underground train tracks, while a final snap saw him dramatically walking through red lights.

Luther: The Fallen Sun will arrive in select cinemas on 24 February, followed by a Netflix release on 10 March.
Amy Pejkovic turned heads on Tuesday when she showed up to the Australian Open in Melbourne Park wearing a nude, mesh tube top which showcased her figure.

Appearing arm-in-arm with her AFL star boyfriend David Zaharakis, the high jumper, 29, stole the show with her ensemble which also featured a long, flowy white skirt.

Matching her shades, the model accessorised with a pair of nude sandals and a white designer handbag, adding a pop of colour with a red fan.

Amy Pejkovic, 29, (pictured) turned heads on Tuesday when she showed up to the Australian Open in Melbourne Park wearing a nude, mesh tube top which showcased her figure

She added some staple silver pieces which complemented the elegant look before slicking her golden tresses back into a tight up-do.

Pejkovic tied everything together by highlighting her stunning features with a bronzed makeup look, keeping to a nude lip with dark, smoky eyes.

Meanwhile, her hunky partner, 32, kept things simple with a navy polo shirt and white shorts.

Appearing arm-in-arm with her AFL star boyfriend David Zaharakis, 31, the high jumper stole the show with her ensemble which also featured a long, flowy white skirt

Matching her shades, the model accessorised with a pair of nude sandals and a white designer handbag, adding a pop of colour with a red fan

She added some staple silver pieces which complemented the elegant look before slicking her golden tresses back into a tight up-do

The former Essendon player's accessories were bare with just a pair of white sneakers and a designer watch.

Pejkovic and Zaharakis have been dating since September of 2020.

The relationship was initially long distance, as Pejkovic is Sydney-based, while Zaharakis resides in Melbourne.

Pejkovic tied everything together by highlighting her stunning features with a bronzed makeup look, keeping to a nude lip with dark, smoky eyes. Meanwhile, her hunky partner (pictured) kept things simple with a navy polo shirt and white shorts

Like Zaharakis, Pejkovic is also an accomplished athlete, previously competing as a high jumper, triple jumper and runner.

Their relationship was originally kept private, with neither disclosing any details.

However, Pejkovic eventually posted about her man on Instagram on March 8, 2021 as they enjoyed a picnic in the park.
Craig Revel Horwood has said he would 'love' to see Bruno Tonioli on Britain's Got Talent after it was reported he could replace David Walliams as a new judge.

The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 58, shared his excitement at the news that his former co-star could star on the ITV talent show, on Tuesday.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain about the speculation, Craig admitted that whilst he couldn't confirm the reports, he would love to see Bruno's 'energy on the show.'

Support: Craig Revel Horwood, 58, has said he would 'love' to see Bruno Tonioli on Britain's Got Talent after it was reported he could replace David Walliams as a new judge

He explained: 'I would love to say he is, but I believe hes up against Alan Carr as well so I think theyre juggling and theyre going to save it as a surprise, so I in fact dont know.

'And Bruno is very secretive with me, darling, so he will never be honest with me or tell me the truth. So I really dont know.

'But I would love to see Bruno back on our screens and I think its a great position to have so I wish him all the very best if he is in the running for it because I think itd be wonderful to get that energy back on the telly.'

Perfect for the job: Speaking on Good Morning Britain about the speculation, Craig admitted that whilst he couldn't confirm the reports, he would love to see Bruno's 'energy on the show'

Earlier this week, it was reported Bruno had beaten Alan Carr to the judging role.

The former Strictly Come Dancing judge, 67, is reportedly set to begin filming auditions next week alongside his pal Simon Cowell and fellow judges Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon.

The news comes after it was believed that comedian Alan Carr, 46, was set to step into David's shoes and join the panel.

He said: 'I would love to see Bruno back on our screens and I think its a great position to have so I wish him all the very best if he is in the running for it because I think hed be wonderful'

According to The Mirror, both Bruno and Simon are 'thrilled' by the signing, with the Italian choreographer's appointment set to be made official in the coming days.

A source told the publication: 'Bruno has all the right experience and his famous exuberance will go down a treat. He and Simon have long hoped to work together so this has proved the perfect opportunity. Everyones very excited.'

Meanwhile, The Sun reports that Bruno was show boss Simon's preferred choice over Alan, with producers recently happening out an alleged six-figure deal for the star.

New judge? The former Strictly Come Dancing judge, 67, is reportedly set to begin filming auditions next week alongside his pal Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon

A source said: 'For almost two months Alan may have been the favourite to take over from David, but Bruno was always Simons preferred choice.

'Not only does he have years of judging experience under his belt from his time on Strictly he will bring an outrageous brand of comedy that BGT needs on the panel.

'In so many ways this is already the perfect job for Bruno as it sees him return to a glitzy showbusiness favourite that fits in with the rest of his work.'

Replaced: It comes following David's exit amid his vile comments about BGT contestants

The insider went on to add that the sealing of the deal had always been down to whether Bruno found the offer 'enticing enough' to commit to the show.

They added that the following a period of 'intense negotiations', and agreement has been reached that will see Bruno make a comeback to prime time Saturday night TV following his Strictly exit.

MailOnline have contacted representatives of Bruno and Britain's Got Talent for comment.
She already boasts an impressive collection of tattoos around her body.

And Demi Sims proudly showed off her inked skin on Monday as she added another unique design, this time on the back of her arm.

The former TOWIE star, 26, shared a slew of sizzling snaps from behind where the tattoo, which was of a bar tab, was on show.

'New tat day!': Demi Sims proudly showed off her inked skin on Monday as she added another unique design, this time on the back of her arm

Demi also shared a video of herself lying on the bed while waiting for artist Sophie Wilde, who also designed her back tattoos.

The beauty captioned the snap: 'New tat day. You know where too find me...'

It comes after she surprised fans by getting a small love heart inked onto her cheek during a joint session with sister Frankie, 27, who also got one on her lower back.

Looking good: Demi shared a video of herself lying on the bed while waiting for artist Sophie Wilde, who also designed her back tattoos

Ink: The former TOWIE star, 26, shared a slew of sizzling snaps from behind where the tattoo, which was of a bar tab, was on show

Sharing a glimpse into the trip with her 573K Instagram followers, Demi shared a mirror snap before going as she penned: 'Tattoo time'.

She donned a simple black cami top and matching joggers for the trip to see tattoo artist Sophie Wilde - who has provided inks for the star in the past.

And after going under the needle, the beauty posted a short clip to her Instagram Stories to show off her complexion, which now features a dainty black love heart on her right cheek.

Bold move: Demi surprised fans on Friday as she added to her tattoo collection with a daring new face ink

Exciting: Sharing a glimpse into the trip with her 573K Instagram followers, Demi shared a mirror snap before going as she penned: 'Tattoo time'.

Frankie also decided to join in on the fun, but steered clear of any face ink as she lay flat for one on her lower back.

The brunette is yet to disclose what she went for, but Demi was on hand to document the moment as she filmed her sister for social media.

It comes after the youngest Sims sister added another back tattoo in October, going topless as she showed off the huge permanent marking.

With the addition of this, her back is now covered with quotes, two giant tigers and outlines.

Joint: Her sister Frankie also decided to join in on the fun, but steered clear of any face ink as she lay flat for one on her lower back

Filled: It comes after the youngest Sims sister added another back tattoo in October, going topless as she showed off the huge permanent marking

While she also has numerous hand tattoos, including the phrase 'pretty poison' transcribed on her hand.

She is currently in Los Angeles alongside sisters Frankie and Chloe and brother Charlie as they film for their new OnlyFans reality show, House Of Sims.

Last year, eldest Chloe said she and her family are going to 'live out our dream' on their new reality show, with sister Frankie promising it will be as raw as possible'.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Chloe, who recently left TOWIE to appear on the new show said: 'I'm so excited that I took the leap...we're going to get to live our dream out together.'

Inked up: She also has numerous hand tattoos, including the phrase 'pretty poison' transcribed on her hand

While Frankie added that fans will see a different side to the Sims family on the new show where they will be in control of how they are edited.

The family's deal with the OFTV platform is a 'six-figure' sum set to rise to millions with extra add-ons and earnings, MailOnline has been told.

The new show is slated to be broadcast around the start of next year on the free viewing app.
The Last Of Us debuted on HBO on Sunday night - and fans were taken with Nico Parker's compelling performance.

The 18-year-old stole the show in moving scenes with her on-screen father Joel - played by Pedro Pascal - in the post apocalyptic show launch.

Fans took to Twitter after the show lauding her portrayal and to comment on her striking resemblance to her famous mother Thandiwe Newton.

Talented: The Last Of Us debuted on HBO on Sunday night - and fans were seriously impressed with Thandiwe Newton's daughter Nico Parker

Viewers branded the launch 'a masterpiece' as the show based upon the iconic video game rakes in hundreds of reviews from users.

It has already amassed a 99 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes as well as a 9.6 out of 10 rating on IMDB.

We take a look at Nico's role in the TV adaptation of the hit video game and how she has all the signs of hitting Hollywood after landing the role...

The Last Of Us plot

Paranormal: The show is centered around the parasitic Cordyceps fungus - which tends to infect insects - evolving to control the human race

The show is centered around the parasitic Cordyceps fungus - which tends to infect insects - evolving to control the human race.

Based on the video game, it follows the same characters Joel - played by Pedro Pascal - and Ellie - played by Bella Ramsey - as they cross the country after the fungus takes over society.

It comes as no surprise that the show has viewers locked to their screens, as the PlayStation game won numerous awards, including Game of the Year during the 17th Annual Design Innovate Communicate Entertain summit (DICE).

Who is Nico playing?

Role: Nico takes on the role of Sarah Miller, who is Joel's daughter. Sarah is Joel's only connection to life before the pandemic

Nico takes on the role of Sarah Miller, who is Joel's daughter.

Sarah is Joel's only connection to life before the pandemic.

Joel sees a lot of his daughter in Ellie, who has survived being infected by the brain infection and could provide a possible vaccine if she travels to Salt Lake City.

Reception

Race is on: Based on the video game, it follows the same characters Joel and Ellie - played by Bella Ramsey - as they cross the country after the fungus takes over society

The actress was a huge hit with viewers with many saying she stole the show for the series premiere.

Those watching at home were impressed by Nico's compelling performance as Sarah - and couldn't help but pick up on her striking similarity to mum Thandiwe.

One wrote: 'I was wondering who Nico Parker in The Last Of Us looks like and I just found out she's Thandiwe Newtons daughter. What a striking resemblance.'

Another fan added: 'She is amazing and looks very familiar then found out she is the daughter of Thandiwe Newton'.

Where can I watch The Last Of Us?

The Last Of Us airs every night of Sunday at 9pm on HBO.

If you're in the UK you can watch the series on Sky or streaming service Now.

Family life

Family: Nico was joined by her father Ol Parker at the premiere. Of following in her mother's footsteps, Nico said : 'I'm aware of who my parents are'

Nico was joined by her father Ol Parker at the premiere.

Of following in her mother's footsteps and her thoughts on nepotism in Hollywood, Nico told Glamour magazine: 'I'm aware of who my parents are. I'm aware of how their wonderful careers have impacted me, and me being able to have a career, know the right people, and be in contact with the right people.'

Split: Filmmaker Ol tied the knot with Thandiwe in 1998, but separated last year in 2022 after 24 years of marriage. They have three children (pictured in 2016)

She added: 'My mum has a very enviable career for anyone. But I think it's more so that your name isn't for your entire life associated with your parents.

'Even then, it's not something that I dwell on. I'll have my career, I'll do my thing, and they do their thing. My parents are very supportive, though, and they're very helpful.'

Filmmaker Ol tied the knot with Thandiwe in 1998, but separated last year in 2022 after 24 years of marriage. They have three children, Ripley, 22, Nico, and Booker, eight.

On set

Well done: The actress was a huge hit with viewers with many saying she stole the show for the series premiere

When talking about working alongside game creator Neil Druckmann on the show, which was filmed in Calgary, Nico told Inverse during an interview, 'We were all kind of in awe of him because this is his world. This is his brain. This is a combination of all of his ideas in front of us.'

Although she had never played the actual video game herself, Nico explained when she was younger, she had seen others play it.

'I loved the plot. I love the characters. So I would just watch it, regardless of the extreme nightmares that it would give me when I was about eight.'

Past roles

Nico got her big break as Milly Farrier in the Walt Disney Pictures film Dumbo (2019), directed by Tim Burton.

She next starred alongside Naomie Harris and Jude Law in the HBO miniseries The Third Day (2020) and appeared alongside her mother as Zoe in the science fiction film Reminiscence (2021).
Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA) President Seo Yoo-seok speaks during a press conference held at KOFIA's headquarters located on Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of KOFIA



By Anna J. Park



Seo Yoo-seok, who was sworn in as the 6th president of the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA) in late December, vowed to cooperate closely with financial authorities to support necessary market liquidity in times of increased economic uncertainty.



In his new year's message announced during a press conference held at the KOFIA headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday, Seo said the top priority of the association lies in overcoming the market crisis.



"The financial investment industry is faced with a variety of tasks ranging from a reduced private equity fund market, fallen investor trust and stagnated public equity fund, to real estate market's project financing (PF) crisis borne by local brokerage companies. Amid such difficulties, the association will support the stabilization of the country's short-term capital fund market as it closely cooperates with the government and related ministries," Seo said during the press conference.



He added, the requirement of close consultation with every party in the economy, including the parliament, the financial authorities and media, is more significant than ever, stressing that without stability in the market, good policies would be of no avail.



As Seo, former CEO of Mirae Asset Management, is KOFIA's first president with background as a chief in the field of asset management, he also puts emphasis on the need to both advance the public's asset management to a higher level and inject more liquidity into venture capital sectors.



In order to bring the goals to reality, Seo emphasized the introduction of a business development company (BDC) into the country is important, as the BDC helps sharing the fruit of business growth with investors. A BDC is an organization that operates like investment funds that inject money for small- and medium-sized companies to nurture them to grow past the initial stages of their development. The KOFIA chief vows to fully support parliamentary procedures to adopt the system into Korea.



He also stressed the need to revitalize public mutual funds, as the association aims to newly introduce tax benefits for long-term investors. At the same time, he vows to seek further development for local private equity firms by attempting to remove regulations that puts restraints on growth.



He also vowed to fully support the growth of the private pension market, which could complement the public pension system.



"With the recent changes taking place at the public pension system, it is paramount that the private pension market should further be advanced, so that private pensions could protect seniors' income level," the KOFIA head said.



The new KOFIA chief will be leading the investment companies' association until 2025.


Love Island fever kicked in on Monday night as the start of the second-ever winter series got underway.

New host Maya Jama has added to the intrigue ahead of a scorching eight weeks in South Africa, where Islanders are hoping to find love  and boost their Instagram following at the same time.

But away from the grafting, coupling up and fallouts, what is life really like in the villa?

MailOnline asked former contestant Coco Lodge, 28, who starred in the most recent summer series, to reveal some secrets, lifting the lid on the particular scenarios viewers never see.

Love Island fever kicked in on Monday night as the start of the second-ever winter series got underway with Maya Jama as new host

MailOnline asked former contestant Coco Lodge, who starred in the most recent summer series, to reveal some secrets, lifting the lid on the particular scenarios viewers never see

Indeed, one of the major questions posed by fans is when do the Islanders eat? We only ever see them have breakfast, usually a toastie or an iced coffee, but what about lunch and dinner?

Coco explained how it all works, revealing the boys and girls never share the same table.

She said: 'The whole time you're separated, the girls eat on one table and the boys on the other, every lunch and dinner.

'And if you did sit next to a boy during dinner, producers would tell you off.'

Coco revealed that male and female Islanders are forced to eat lunch and dinner separately so that none of the action between couples is missed for the main show

On where food is served, she continued: 'Tables are set up in the villa kitchen and they bring in catering and it's not filmed.

'You still have your microphones on so they can listen and tell you off but you're not allowed to have chats about what's going on in the storyline.

'You have to save the chats for camera. The producers, who stand there like supervisors, come in for lunch and dinner and you're on your separate tables but for breakfast its whatever because it's when you first wake up.

'Producers send you to do tasks during lunch too like your Beach Hut chats and interviews or a talk with the therapist, those sorts of things.'

And what's on the menu? You won't be surprised to know the super healthy Islanders are offered up a great choice of nutritious food.

The influencer told MailOnline that Islanders are asked by suspecting producers whether intimate acts are 'consensual' as they're grilled following the morning after the night before

Coco, who joined the main villa after starting Island life in rival house Casa Amor, said: 'The catering is super healthy.

'They come in and give you a selection of food, there will be pasta, salad, a meat and vegetation option, one night there was pizza, another night kebabs.

'It's very different every single day but the same kind of setup. We had a roast dinner every Sunday as well, so that was nice.

'A lot of us didn't want to eat really heavy. By the time they're serving lunch we had only been up an hour or so, a lot of the time for lunch we would pick at chocolate or cereal. There was a lot of snacking and midnight snacks.'

Boozing certainly isn't something you would associate with Love Island.

Coco explained that while Islanders bring their own clothes into the villa, they are provided with pieces to wear as they enter and while on romantic dates

If the drink flowed like in the dinner parties on rival dating series Married At First Sight UK, bosses would risk all sorts of trouble.

So what exactly are they allowed to consume alcohol-wise?

Coco explained: 'During Casa Amor there's a two drink allowance but the rest of the time you only have one. I remember my flat mate saying to me afterwards that she could tell from watching it that I was drunk on the first night, I really was.

'I hadn't really eaten all day and two glasses of wine went straight to my head. It was the first night so they probably wanted us to loosen up a bit.'

And how and when do the contestants put in their orders?

'When we're getting ready, producers ask for your drink order and they go around, say your name, and ask for your drink order.

Contestants order their drinks via a producer whose voice is projected into the villa, nicknamed by the Islanders of the 2022 series as 'The Voice of God'

'This is a voice that is projected into the villa, we called it 'The Voice of God', they would ask 'what do you want to drink tonight?', you give your order, you go downstairs and all the drinks are there ready.

'It is measured out, it's not the full glass, it is a flute of wine.

'You can only have white, red or rose wine, Prosecco, or cider, those are the only options. You can't have a vodka, lime and soda for example.'

The singletons are always dressed up in glamorous outfits for their dates and evening scenes.

They take in some of their own clothes with them, but producers also have a wardrobe to raid should they want to wear something different.

Coco explained: 'They don't have much say with what you wear while you're in the villa but say for dates they give you a selection of dresses from eBay.

Producers are keen for bombshells to all wear different colours so it looks visually appealing on camera

'But walking in they said to us they wanted everyone in different colours and they wanted us all in bikinis. Visually they want it to look colourful and sexy.'

As the Islanders grow closer, inevitably intimacy becomes a factor.

Bosses are very hot on this and want to know exactly what's gone on, purely so they can monitor Islanders' welfare.

Coco, who had a brief fling with co-star Andrew Le Page during his break from Tasha Ghouri, knows first-hand how much they are across the subject.

She said: 'Producers must have known something had gone on between me and Andrew because we were saying some non-PG things to each other.

'They would have heard on the bed microphone because there's a mic in between you on the bed, a tiny one, they would have picked up on what we were saying.

ITV bosses are aware of intimate moments between the sheets because of small microphones that are carefully placed above the beds

Coco explained that Tasha and Andrew from the summer 2022 series were just one of the couples quizzed by producers after they were 'active' together during their time on the show

'The producer kept telling us we needed to go to sleep because we had been up for hours just doing bits, just literally sucking tits and having a grope.

'The next day they called me in and asked 'was it all consensual?' If they think you have done something, they do ask.

'Andrew said they asked him and Tasha because they were quite active too.'

Given the stars are filmed 24/7, the majority of the show's footage isn't worthy for TV.

But when producers strike gold, they've got to get the right shot, with no obstructions or lighting issues.

So, in order to record the perfect shot, Islanders are sometimes asked to reshoot scenes or cameras will be in place for hook-ups pre-organised by the singletons.

Coco said: 'They would ask us to sit in certain places, which would look better for the cameras.

'There were sun beds in the swimming pool and they would often ask people to go sit on them to make it look gorgeous.

'They listen to everything we're saying. The pool scene with me and Andrew, where we're kissing, I said to Andrew earlier that I wanted to go for a swim with him later that day and then after lunch suddenly there was this giant camera by the pool.'
Jess Wright has candidly discussed her body confidence after welcoming her first child in May last year.

The former TOWIE star, 37, recently enjoyed a luxury getaway in Barbados with husband William Lee-Kemp and their son Presley.

She told New Magazine she 'felt a little bit bigger' on the trip but was happy to spend quality time with her family.

'I felt a bit bigger': Jess Wright has candidly discussed her body confidence after welcoming her first child in May last year

Jess looked sensational as she showed off her slim physique in a stunning green swimsuit on Instagram.

Jess explained: 'I've not felt the most body confident. Your body changes after having a baby and your confidence definitely goes. You're a mum, you care less - you've got more important things to worry about. As much as I felt a little bit bigger in certain outfits, I kind of didn't care and was just grateful to be away.'

The reality star recently bravely shared a series of candid photographs of her ongoing battle with psoriasis, which affects the skin and sometimes the joints.

Family: The former TOWIE star, 37, recently enjoyed a luxury getaway in Barbados with husband William Lee-Kemp and their son Presley

Jess, who recently begged her followers for a 'miracle cure' for the autoimmune condition, said she is determined to 'get to the bottom of it'.

Speaking on her condition, she said: 'I went to see someone just before Christmas and I was put on medication. It really helped.

'I haven't spoken about it on my Instagram because I don't want to ill-advise anyone because everyone's skin is different. But I personally went down that route and it's helped dramatically and that made me feel more confident in Barbados, not having to worry about that.'

WHAT IS PSORIASIS? Psoriasis is an autoimmune condition that affects the skin and sometimes the joints. Around two per cent of people in the US and UK suffer from the condition. Psoriasis occurs when a person's skin replacement process takes place within days rather than the usual 21-to-28 days. The accumulation of skin cells builds up to form raised plaques, which can be flaky, scaly and itchy. Psoriasis arthritis can occur in the joints near affected skin, causing them to become tender, swollen and stiff. Anyone can suffer, but psoriasis is more common in people in their late teens-to-early 30s or those between the ages of 50 and 60. Psoriasis' cause is unclear. Flare-ups can be triggered by stress, skin injury, hormonal changes and certain medications. It is not contagious and there is no cure. Treatment focuses on managing symptoms via topical creams, gels and medication. Source: Psoriasis Association Advertisement

Jess gave birth to Presley on May 17, less than a year after she married Will in Mallorca in September 2021.

She shared the happy news on her social media page with an adorable snap of the newborn, writing: 'We will hold your hand forever 17~05~22.'

Jess told New Magazine: 'Motherhood is extremely full on, but it's amazing and rewarding at the same time. He's such a mummy's boy. I'm worried he's going to be too much of a mummy's boy and it'll be only me who can settle him, so I need to be careful not to pander him too much.'

Jess previously spoke about her struggle with postnatal depression after she welcomed her son Presley with husband William.

Speaking with The Sun, she detailed how she had been finding motherhood so far.

Jess said: 'I had a bit of post natal depression. And the lack of sleep. For me also, I have always had psoriasis but it went when I was pregnant but now it is back with a vengeance.

'It has now gone to the point where it is no return, it is everywhere. I have covered it well tonight. I did not know it would be as bad.'

Jess previously admitted her battle with psoriasis had worsened during the stress of the Covid pandemic and the death of her uncle from coronavirus.

Speaking in 2021, she said: 'My psoriasis has got a lot worse because of the pandemic.

'With my uncle and all the stress of the past year, it's flared up. It's been a really rubbish few months with everything that's gone on.'
Channing Tatum has revealed he is planning to star as Patrick Swayze's character Sam Wheat in a remake of Ghost.

Speaking with Vanity Fair on Tuesday, the actor, 42, confirmed that his production company, Free Association, has the rights to the 1990 classic.

Starring on the cover of the magazine February issue, he explained 'We actually have the rights. Yeah, we have the rights to Ghost!'

Exciting: Channing Tatum has revealed he is planning to star as Patrick Swayze's character Sam Wheat in a remake of Ghost on Tuesday (pictured in June 2022)

'But we're going to do something different. I think it needs to change a little bit,' Channing added before saying he is keen to play Patrick's role.

He went on to explain that the original 'contained some problematic stereotypes' like many other films of its time.

Ghost tells the story of Patrick's character Sam being killed by a thug and his danger leaving his girlfriend Molly, played by Demi Moore, in danger. Sam enlists the help of a psychic, depicted by Whoopi Goldberg, to help warn Molly that she is at risk.

Remake? Speaking with Vanity Fair on Tuesday, the actor confirmed that his production company, Free Association, has the rights to the 1990 classic (Patrick Swayze in Ghost, 1990)

It comes after Whoopi hinted that racism impacted the success of Ghost, after the 1990 movie was deemed the 'blockbuster Hollywood forgot'.

The star, 64, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role, responded to an article published in Forbes Magazine, which looked upon how the roaring hit scooped 'no sequels or spinoffs, nostalgic reissues, ripoffs or copycats'.

As the publication issued comparisons between less successful movies which received more subsequent fanfare, Whoopi mused: 'We were a very mixed cast, and it makes you wonder, you know is that why nobody wanted to celebrate it?'

New project: Starring on the cover of the magazine February issue, he explained 'We actually have the rights. Yeah, we have the rights to Ghost!'

Forbes listed the films with less commercial success that Ghost, including Aladdin, Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Beverly Hills Cop, Twister, Mission: Impossible and Toy Story, and pointed out they have left a larger legacy.

The story read: 'This original, non-franchise, PG-13, female-targeted supernatural romantic thriller was far more successful than the deluge of 1980s and 1990s action movies and fantasy properties that now make up our nostalgic pop culture.'

Speaking to Deadline after the Forbes article was published, Whoopi mused over why the film achieved less success, as she drew race into the argument.

Way back when: Ghost tells the story of Patrick's character Sam being killed by a thug and his danger leaving his girlfriend Molly, played by Demi Moore, in danger. Sam enlists the help of a psychic, depicted by Whoopi Goldberg, to help warn Molly that she is at risk

She said: 'When I was reading it and reading how much money it brought in, and how it had been bigger than all these other movies, I thought, but (Forbes) is doing the same thing other people have done...

'They sort of denigrated the fact that this was a terrific movie, and it was also really funny too, and in part, I did that. And we were a very mixed cast...

'It makes you wonder, you know, 30 years later, was it because we were a mixed cast that nobody wanted to celebrate it, the way that, you know, had it been any other cast that happened to be maybe all white, people might've celebrated it?'
Alessandra Ambrosio put her stunning curves on display once again as the bikini designer showed off one of her new designs.

The Brazilian wonder had on a beige two piece from her brand GAL Floripa as she stood on a rock by a pristine shore with a lone speedboat in the background.

The 41-year-old beauty is best known for her work with lingerie giant Victoria's Secret.

Queen of the bikinis: Alessandra Ambrosio put her curves on display once again as the bikini designer showed off one of her new designs

The Vogue cover girl showed off her natural beauty in natural lighting in a series of sexy snaps.

The supermodel held her arms up on her head as she looked at the camera.

The cover model added in her caption that the swimsuit was for her new collection for 2023.

Last month: She showed off her natural beauty in natural lighting in a series of sexy snaps

Sitting around: She is seen in a hat and sunglasses in this image where she sat on a wicker chair

The doting mom has been sharing pictures from her winter break in the Mexican Caribbean with her children Anja, 14, and Noah, 10, and boyfriend Richard Lee.

The Gal Floripa founder has also posted video with the kids as they enjoyed their vacation in the warm Caribbean water.

The area where Alessandra and her family stayed is famous for its nature preserves which house sea turtles and whale sharks.

No cars are allowed on the island to protect it's delicate beauty.
She has made no secret of her desire to become a mother.

And Gemma Collins has now revealed that she prayed to God to help her get pregnant during her recent trip to Bethlehem.

The former TOWIE star, 41, - who is in a relationship with beau Rami Hawash - has now opened up on The Gemma Collins Podcast about the spiritual Tel Aviv holiday.

Emotional: Gemma Collins has now revealed that she prayed to God to help her get pregnant during her recent trip to Bethlehem

She said: 'I was just so happy on New Year's Day to touch the church where baby Jesus was born.

'I did pray when I was there, I said ''please God, please give me a baby this year'' and you know please God it happens.'

She added that she felt a 'warm embrace from the man himself' after she did her prayer.

Trip: The former TOWIE star, 41, - who is in a relationship with beau Rami Hawash (pictured together) - has now opened up on her podcast about the spiritual Tel Aviv holiday

It comes after late last year Gemma said she's not concerning herself about having a baby anytime soon, as she knowns it will 'come to me at the right time'.

The blonde beauty said she plans to have a child at 50, and copy supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Naomi, 52, stunned fans by announcing the birth of her daughter last May, just weeks after appearing on the New York Fashion Week runway without a visible baby bump.

She later insisted that her daughter was not adopted amid growing speculation regarding their biological parentage.

Spiritual: She said: 'I did pray when I was there, I said ''please God, please give me a baby this year'' and you know please God it happens'

Gemma also said she took inspiration from Jennifer Aniston, saying that she isn't defined by her lack of children.

Speaking to MailOnline, she said: 'My only plan is to have a baby at 50. There is so many options available out there now, that I don't worry about it and I don't stress about it.

'I've lived my life as a free spirit and I've always known what's right for me at the right time.

Connection: She added that she felt a 'warm embrace from the man himself' after she did her prayer (pictured in Bethlehem)

'Obviously I would love to have my own baby, but it's not happening. But I do believe it will come to me at the right time and if it doesn't I'm not going to stress about it, I'm not going to feel any less of a woman.

'Jennifer Aniston did a great quote, "Don't define me because I don't have children", and I just thought go Jennifer!

'So when I see Naomi Campbell rocking out her pram at 50 years old, she's just changed so much for so many women.'
Rylan Clark has been left red-faced after Michael McIntyre exposed his online dating profile Hinge for millions to see.

The TV host, 34, was the featuring celebrity in London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane sat in the Royal Box for Michael to display his private apps, messages and online shopping habits to the audience and those watching at home.

As Michael looked at Rylan's home screen, Rylan shouted: 'I've just seen something I forgot to remove!' before the comedian realises it was Hinge he was talking about.

No way! Rylan Clark has been left red-faced after Michael McIntyre exposed his online dating profile Hinge for millions to see

Rylan looks embarrassed as Michael clicks into the app, showing selfies of the TV host.

On his prompts, Rylan said the way to win him over is to 'Be decent', and listed his job as 'Host at Tv', that he went to Coopers Coborn school and lives in Brentwood, Essex.

He added: 'Do you know when you join these things, because I am a single man now - and I thought, you know, I'll get with the program and do what everyone else does and try this out.

'But it says you have to add a certain amount of photos, I've not updated my photos since I've done that, "Oh that one will do, that one will do!".'

Red faced: The TV host, 34, was the featuring celebrity in London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane sat in the Royal Box for Michael to display his private apps, messages and online shopping habits to the audience and those watching at home

Cheeky! Michael continues to scroll, only to find a cheeky prompt from Rylan to encourage potential matches to give him a like

Michael continues to scroll, only to find a cheeky prompt from Rylan to encourage potential matches to give him a like.

On the 'Unusual skills' box, Rylan said he can 'roll my tongue in three places'. He squealed at the sight of it on the big screen: 'Oh... my goodness!'

Michael soon moved onto the Amazon app to look into what bits and bobs Rylan had been ordering online for himself.

The TV and Radio favourite who separated from Dan Neal in July 2021 after six years of marriage, told his 1.6million Instagram followers a new post didn't reveal a mystery man after fans mistook Rylan's leg for someone else's.

Explainer: On his prompts, Rylan said the way to win him over is to 'Be decent', and listed his job as 'Host at Tv', that he went to Coopers Coborn school and lives in Brentwood, Essex

Single: Rylan explained that as a single man now, he thought he would 'get with the program' and try out the dating apps

Late last month, Rylan 'sadly' denied being in a new relationship after fans mistakenly 'spotted a man' in a social media post of his.

Writing on Instagram Stories, Rylan confirmed 'I'm eating chocolate and it's resting on my leg. It's not a chocolate ice pack. It's not someone else's leg, sadly.'

The post which caused confusion was a picture of Rylan relaxing on the sofa with a bar of Galaxy chocolate resting on his leg.

Spotted: Hilarious: As Michael looked at Rylan's home screen, Rylan shouted: 'I've just seen something I forgot to remove!' before the comedian realises it was Hinge he was talking about

Scroll: Michael soon moved onto the Amazon app to look into what bits and bobs Rylan had been ordering online for himself

He captioned the upload, 'that's me sorted', before fans believed the leg belonged to a new man in his life.

Rylan's loyal following jumped to conclusions after the Radio 2 host shared a selfie of himself ahead of Christmas Day wearing a grey Nike hoodie, giving a thumbs up, but he appeared to be alone in the shot.

In the summer of this year Rylan dated Ex on the Beach star Declan Doyle but their romance was short-lived, with the couple's relationship only lasting a few weeks.

'It's not someone else's leg': It comes after Rylan 'sadly' denied being in a new relationship following his painful split from ex-husband Dan Neal
Paddy McGuinness appeared to be missing his wedding ring as he was spotted out in Cheshire on Tuesday.

The Top Gear star, 49, split from his wife Christine in 2022, but continued to wear his wedding band in the months following their break-up.

And it comes after he recently hit back at rumours of him having cosmetic surgery, sharing a hilarious video to social media to debunk the news.

It's off! Paddy McGuinness appeared to have finally removed his wedding ring as he was spotted running errands on Tuesday following split from wife Christine

Paddy was dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans with a matching zip-up bomber jacket, layered over a plain T-shirt.

While he kept comfortable with a pair of monochrome trainers while running errands.

The presenter battled the cold by keeping both hands in his pockets, but appeared without his wedding band when they were removed.

Low-key: Paddy was dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans with a matching zip-up bomber jacket, layered over a plain T-shirt

Comfort: While he kept comfortable with a pair of monochrome trainers while running errands

Back in October, Paddy was spotted continuing to wear the ring, despite splitting from his wife of 11 years two months prior.

While the duo also revealed at the tail-end of 2022 that they were still living together and hadn't told their children about the split.

Christine and Paddy announced that they had parted ways back in July, but have since revealed that they actually ended their relationship early in the year.

Chilly: The presenter battled the cold by keeping both hands in his pockets, but appeared without his wedding band when they were removed

Over: Back in October, Paddy was spotted continuing to wear the ring, despite splitting from his wife of 11 years two months prior

Despite the break-up, they have remained amicable and are still living in the same Cheshire home and are currently enjoying a festive family holiday with the three children - who have all been diagnosed with autism.

Speaking to OK! Magazine on the split, Christine shared: 'We're amicable. I'm quite happy for him to be there with the children and it's nice for them to see Mummy and Daddy just being alright. We can sit and have a cup of tea together and that's fine.'

But Paddy was forced to fend off new allegations recently after being accused of undergoing cosmetic surgery.

With a hilarious respone to the allegations, he shared a video of himself talking to the camera, but edited it with a filter that changed his appearance.

Keeping it going: Back in October, Paddy was spotted continuing to wear the ring, despite splitting from his wife of 11 years two months prior

He looked strikingly different from his normal look as the filter gave him a luscious brunette quiff and altered his facial features.

The Top Gear host then hit back at rumours that he had cosmetic surgery over Christmas during his weekend away in Turkey, slamming them as 'unfounded'.

He said: 'Hello there, I've come on here today to address the unfounded rumours that I've had a bit of work done over Christmas.

'Yes, I've been to Turkey for a long weekend, but there's absolutely no truth in that I've had a bit of work done. This is just a tan and I've had a couple of cans of that Prime.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is looking forward to the debut of her latest project, You Hurt My Feelings, which is scheduled to premiere Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The 62-year-old actress stars in the comedy as a novelist whose marriage is upended after she hears her husband give his honest reaction to her latest book.

'I believe in small stories about really big things,' she said explaining in an interview with Variety why she chose to star in the independent film directed by Nicole Holofcener, who also helmed the award winning 2013 movie, Enough Said, opposite the late James Gandolfini.

Closer look: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 62, has appeared on the cover of Variety as she talks her comedy You Hurt My Feelings, which will debut Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival

Her film: 'I believe in small stories about really big things,' she said about taking the role in the independent film

Julia, who has won 11 Emmy awards for her acting in Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine and Veep, is fronting the cover of Variety's The Sundance Issue, and talking about her latest work as well as other upcoming projects.

The actress, who got her big break on Saturday Night Live in 1982, has focused mostly on television roles in her early career. She is married to fellow SNL alum Brad Hall, 64, and they share two sons, Charlie, 25, and Henry, 30.

'I started having my kids during Seinfeld, so I really didnt do movies,' she explained.

'I passed on a lot of projects because we were filming 22 episodes a year, youd have these few months off, and I couldnt bear the idea of going back to work. It was not comfortable for me, emotionally. To be a mother of kids who also works outside the home is quite the undertaking.'

Marvel: Julia has joined the Marvel universe as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and lobbied to have her 'kick ass' in the upcoming Thunderbolts, joking that it may earn her some 'respect' from her family

Family life: Julia has been married to fellow Saturday Night Live alum Brad Hall, 64, since 1987. They have two sons, Charlie, 25, and Henry, 30

The environmental activist who is now in remission after undergoing treatment for breast cancer, has joined the Marvel universe as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, appearing in Black Widow and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

The funny lady revealed that when she was first cast in the role, she had to wear a black hooded cloak to the studio so no one would know who she was. Now that she has portrayed the villainous character twice, Julia lobbied to have her 'kick ass' in the upcoming Thunderbolts.

'I told them I really want to fight. I havent seen the script yet  well see if that happens,' as she jokingly addied, 'Ugh. I guess Id better get in shape.'

The versatile star admitted she pursued the role 'to see if I can get some respect from these people in my family.'

Emmy winner: The versatile actress has won 11 Emmy awards, so far, for her acting in Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine and Veep

TV vs Film: Julia's career has been focused mostly on TV roles. 'I started having my kids during Seinfeld, so I really didnt do movies,' she said, explaining that after doing 22 episodes, she couldn't stand the thought of working during hiatus

Veep Fan: The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor prize recipient was delighted to learn that Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, are big fans of Veep. 'She told me they love Veep, and that its more like D.C. than anyone would care to admit'

The Mark Twain Prize for American Humor prize recipient was delighted to learn that Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, are big fans of Veep.

'She told me they love Veep, and that its more like D.C. than anyone would care to admit,' the star shared.

Although the busy actress said she has received pitches about re-booting the comedy, she isn't sure now is the right time, contending the nation would need 'multiple years of normalcy in Washington before we could revisit something.'

Julia, whose character will walk the fine line of political correctness, and stumble as Jonah Hill's mother in the upcoming romantic comedy You People.

The romantic comedy, which debuts on Netflix January 27, focuses on a Jewish man engaged to a Black woman and the culture clash that ensues. Eddie Murphy and Nia Long star as the bride's equally bumbling parents.

When it comes to tackling uncomfortable situations in real life the Screen Actors Guild award winner said she believes in erring on the side of kindness. 'When people complain about being too politically correct, I start to question what their motives are. I believe in irony and satire  there must be a place for it for a culture to survive  but I also believe in being sensitive and kind at the same time.'
Bella Hadid tried on a classic Hollywood movie star look this week.

The younger sister of model Gigi Hadid, 27, wore a fun white blonde wig with flirty little curls all around her face to resemble Some Like It Hot actress Marilyn Monroe, who died in 1962 at age 36.

The 26-year-old Versace favorite - who was last seen as a brunette in a bikini - also left little to the imagination while going bra-free in a sheer white tank top that showed off her chest.

So 1950s: Bella Hadid tried on a classic Hollywood movie star look this week

Similar: The younger sister of model Gigi Hadid wore a fun white blonde wig with flirty little curls all around her face to resemble Some Like It Hot actress Marilyn Monroe

The man behind the marvelous mane was hair stylist Sam McKnight.

Monroe was an actress best known for her movies How To Marry A Millionaire and The Seven Year Itch.

She was famous for playing comedic 'blonde bombshell' characters and became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as well as an emblem of the era's sexual revolution.

Monroe was born Norma Jeane Mortenson in 1926 in Los Angeles and had a difficult childhood which would haunt her for the rest of her life.

A look back: Monroe sings Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend from the 1953 movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Monroe is making headlines again: Ana de Armas wow raves for playing Monroe in the movie Blonde

She was found dead in her Brentwood home on August 4, 1962.

The pinup was also married several times: to Arthur Miller (19561961), to Joe DiMaggio (19541955) and to James Dougherty (19421946).

In November Hadid was named GQ magazine's most stylish person on the planet.

The 26-year-old model - who is the daughter of Yolanda and Mohamed Hadid - has been hailed by the publication as the 'best-dressed person' on Earth.

The magazine explained: 'Menswear. Womenswear. Streetwear. Workwear. Smartwear. Wavywear.

Chesty chick: The Versace favorite also left little to the imagination while going bra-free in a sheer white tank top that showed off her chest

No tummy trouble here: And the looker flashed her very toned and flat belly

The man behind the marvelous mane: Hadid credited hair stylist Sam McKnight

'Few can wear it all (and pull it off). But few are Bella Hadid, the princess that was promised, she of abundant angles, the chosen one who really can wear anything  and our best-dressed person on the planet.

'As soon as the Real Housewives progeny hit supermodel rank, the dam was broken on a flood of fits that stand toe-to-toe  and often above  the stuff she's actually paid to wear.'

GQ was particularly enthusiastic aboutBella's menswear style.

The magazine said: 'Our favourite version, and the one that secured Hadid the top spot: Menswear Bella. Tailoring. Prada loafers. Big denim jackets. LSD fur trappers. There was even a tie at one point. It's wavy, classic, and uncomplicated all at once.

Her mom is blonde: Bella's mother Yolanda Hadid, who used to model too, was blonde; seen as a kid with sister Gigi

Hadid does menswear better than most men  and she can still wear everything and anything else.'

Meanwhile, Bella previously admitted that she hasn't had a stylist for two years.

The brunette beauty - who is the younger sister of model Gigi Hadid - also revealed that she's learned to deal with the scrutiny that comes her way.

She said: 'In the last year, it was really important for me to learn that even if people talk about my style or if they like it or if they don't, it doesn't matter, because it's my style.

'When I leave the house in the morning, what I think about is: Does this make me happy? Do I feel good in this and do I feel comfortable?'
Hugh Bonneville joined co-star Jack Lowden at a preview screening of their upcoming BBC Drama The Gold in at BFI Southbank in London on Tuesday.

The Downton Abbey actor, 59, cut a dapper figure in a brown three-piece suit, which he layered over a crisp white shirt.

The Gold, which also stars Mamma Mia's Dominic Cooper, follows the decades-long chain of events that followed what has been described as 'the crime of the century' and air across six episodes on BBC One and Paramount+ globally.

Smarty pants: Hugh Bonneville, 59 (left) joined co-star Jack Lowden, 32 (right) at a preview screening of their new BBC Drama The Gold in at BFI Southbank in London on Tuesday

Hugh donned a pair of suede sneakers and completed the look with Ukrainian flag cufflinks - showing his support for the war torn country.

Meanwhile Jack looked smart in a beige satin suit which he wore with a white shirt and stripped tie.

The ensemble featured cropped trousers and the actor slipped his feet into a pair of colour co-ordinated loafers.

Dapper: The Downton Abbey actor cut a dapper figure in a brown three-piece suit, which he layered over a crisp white shirt

The story is set in November 1983, when six armed men broke into the Brink's-Mat security depot near London's Heathrow Airport and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth 26 million.

Much of the three tonnes of stolen gold has never been recovered and four of the suspects were not convicted.

The disposal of the bullion was among the largest international money laundering operations of the time and left a string of killings in its wake.

Suppoer: Hugh donned a pair of suede sneakers and completed the look with Ukrainian flag cufflinks - showing his support for the war torn country

Say cheese: Meanwhile Jack (left) looked smart in a beige satin suit which he wore with a white shirt and stripped tie (pictured with co-star Hugh and Charlotte Spencer)

In 1985 Detective Constable Fordham went to Kenneth Noye's mansion to investigate his involvement in the money laundering after the robbery.

After entering the grounds, DC Fordham disturbed Noye's rottweilers which attracted the attention of Noye who stabbed him to death.

The gangster, who passed away earlier this month aged 71, was cleared of murder after a jury accepted his claim that he had acted in self-defence.

Cast: (L to R) Jack Lowden, Aneil Karia, Neil Forsyth, Charlotte Spencer and Hugh Bonneville

Detective: The Gold follows the decades-long chain of events that followed what has been described as 'the crime of the century' and air across six episodes on BBC One and Paramount+ globally.

He was jailed for 14 years in July 1986 for handling stolen gold bullion, and was freed in 1994.

In 1996 - while Noye was out on licence from prison - he stabbed Stephen Cameron, 21, to death on an M25 slip road near Swanley, Kent.

After the attack, Noye fled to Spain where he lived under a false name until his arrest in 1998. When he was convicted of murder in 2000 he was given a life sentence with a minimum of 16 years.

He served nearly 20 years in prison for the murder, which took place in front of Mr Cameron's 17-year-old fiancee Danielle Cable.

Starring role: Jack plays gangster Kenneth Noye in the upcoming drama

Noye was released in 2019 after it was decided he no longer posed a risk. He was last pictured in Kent in 2020.

A younger Noye will be played by Jack Lowden while DC Fordham will be played by Hadley Fraser.

Inspired by research and interviews with some of those involved in the events, show bosses describe The Gold as 'a pulsating dramatisation which takes a journey into a 1980s world awash with cheap money and loosened morals'.

The cast also includes Charlotte Spencer from The Duke, Tom Cullen from Black Mirror, Guilt actor Emun Elliott and Sean Harris from Southcliffe and Mission: Impossible.
Image captured from Hyundai Card CEO Chung Tae-young's Instagram post / Courtesy of Instagram

FSC still examining Apple Pay's compatibility with local privacy law



By Anna J. Park



It seems Apple Pay's long-awaited official launch in Korea is expected to take place as soon as next month. Some people estimate that the launch date will be Feb. 8, and here's why.



Hyundai Card CEO Chung Tae-young posted a photo of eight apples on his Instagram account last Friday, with a caption that reads, "Lovely Apple." Many of Chung's Instagram followers interpreted the photo as a message that Apple Pay will launch in Korea on Feb. 8, saying the photo hints at the official launch date of the payment service. One of the replies to the post reads: "This means Apple Pay will be launched on Feb. 8, thank you!"



In addition, Hyundai Card revised its bylaws on electronic financial transactions recently, to take effect Feb. 20. The most noticeable revision to the bylaw stipulates the card company's duty to secure the safety and credibility of electronic financial transactions. Market watchers believe the addition was made to the firm's bylaws, as Hyundai Card attempts to convince local financial authorities of the stability of its infrastructure for financial transactions.



Regarding such anticipations, Hyundai Card has remained tight-lipped as usual. The company has been maintaining a strategy of silence towards the media since last year.



"As to Apple Pay, there's nothing the company can officially confirm," a company official told The Korea Times on Tuesday.





Apple Pay promotional image / Courtesy of Apple
Olivia Wilde was seen heading to a workout in Los Angeles.

The actress, 38, showcased her toned gams in gray leggings, adding a casual forest green sweater during her Tuesday outing.

The star, who split from Harry Styles, 28, in November, opted to go makeup free with her hair pulled back in a low bun.

Striking: Olivia Wilde was seen heading to a workout in Los Angeles. The actress, 38, showcased her toned gams in gray leggings, adding a casual forest green sweater

The actress showcased her slim frame in silver hued leggings, hitting the pavement in white sneakers.

The mom of two slipped on a green colored sweater with a large beige tote slung on one shoulder.

Olivia rocked vintage inspired sunglasses to finish off her look; she opted to go makeup free.

Olivia beamed at her smart phone as she made her way to her workout.

Movie star looks: The star, who split from Harry Styles, 28, in November, opted to go makeup free with her hair pulled back in a low bun

Gym outing: The actress showcased her slim frame in silver hued leggings, hitting the pavement in white sneakers

Harry and Olivia split in November of last year, after almost two years together, despite sources claiming there is 'no bad blood' between the pair, their relationship was marred by drama.

The pair first crossed paths in September 2020 when Harry was cast as actress Florence's husband and replaced Shia LaBeouf in film Don't Worry Darling.

Shortly after, rumors of a feud between Olivia and co-star Florence Pugh, 27, began circulating.

Two months later, Olivia split from Ted Lasso actor Jason, 47, after nine years which left the actor reportedly 'absolutely heartbroken.'

Former flame: Harry and Olivia split in November of last year, after almost two years together, despite sources claiming there is 'no bad blood' between the pair, their relationship was marred by drama; Harry seen November 1, 2022

The Hollywood actress was then pictured arriving at the former One Direction star's LA home with her luggage in hand in January and the two were seen driving around California together later that same month.

In December 2021 Olivia addressed the 'false narrative' surrounding her relationship with Harry, who she went public with just two months after splitting from Jason.

When Olivia was seen holding hands with her beau Harry, who is a decade younger than her, many people raised an eyebrow at how quickly she moved on.

And while the actress said it was 'tempting' to correct the false narrative she added in her Vogue interview: 'But I think what you realize is that when you're really happy, it doesn't matter what strangers think about you.'

Last month it was reported Florence and Harry shared an offscreen kiss after developing 'instant chemistry' on the set of Don't Worry Darling - weeks before the One Direction star began a relationship with Olivia.

Real life drama: Last month it was reported Florence and Harry shared an offscreen kiss after developing 'instant chemistry' on the set of Don't Worry Darling - weeks before the One Direction star began a relationship with Olivia; from L to R: Gemma Chan, Harry, Sydney Chandler, Olivia, Chris Pine, Florence Pugh and Nick Kroll on September 5
Kyle Sandilands has weighed in on Molly Meldrum's recent erratic behaviour, revealing he had a 'run-in' with the TV legend 15 years ago.

Speaking on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Wednesday, the radio presenter, 51, recounted the time he was 'going to bash' Meldrum, 79, after he flew into a jealous rage over Sandilands getting a judging role on Australian Idol.

Meldrum believed he should have got the job, based on his industry experience and years hosting iconic music show Countdown.

Kyle Sandilands (pictured) has weighed in on Molly Meldrum's recent erratic behaviour, revealing he had a 'run-in' with the TV legend 15 years ago

'Me and Molly had a big run-in, years ago,' Sandilands told his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson.

'He got so jealous that I was the judge on Australian Idol, that he thought he should have been. I went off on him, I was gonna bash him.'

The pair's blow-up happened on air in 2007 when Sandilands was hosting the breakfast show for 2Day FM.

Meldrum was almost incoherent as he rambled for seven minutes about the Idol snub, even describing Sandilands as 'fat' and 'arrogant'.

The pair's blow-up happened on air in 2007. Meldrum (pictured in December 2022) was almost incoherent as he rambled for seven minutes about Sandilands being hired as a judge on Australian Idol instead of him, even describing the radio presenter as 'fat' and 'arrogant'

'At least I'm not a drunk. At least I'm not some drunk tragedy hiding under a hat,' Sandilands snapped at the time.

Meldrum then told Sandilands to 'get off television', adding that his advice on Australian Idol meant 'sweet jack s**t' to the contestants.

Speaking on his KIIS FM show on Wednesday, Sandilands recalled bumping into Meldrum on a flight a year after their on-air clash.

'I walked onto the aeroplane and he's sitting in the chair next to me,' he said. 'I looked at him and he went, "Oh, no," and I went, "Oh, yes, your day has come."'

Meldrum exposed his bare buttocks live on stage at Elton John's farewell concert in Melbourne last Friday, later blaming the incident on a faulty belt buckle

The legendary Australian music critic was watching his old friend Sir Elton in the crowd at AAMI Park for his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, before he was brought up on stage

To Sandilands' surprise, Meldrum apologised for his behaviour.

'He was very genuine about it and he admitted he was jealous. He just couldn't control his jealousy,' he said.

It comes after Meldrum's former protege Samuel Johnson vowed to never speak to the TV legend again after his latest attention-seeking display.

Meldrum had exposed his bare buttocks live on stage at Elton John's farewell concert in Melbourne last Friday, later blaming the incident on a faulty belt buckle.

Meldrum's former protege Samuel Johnson (right) on Tuesday vowed to never speak to the TV legend again after his latest attention-seeking display

Johnson, while acknowledging his long friendship with Meldrum, said on Tuesday the mooning incident was the last straw after years of holding his tongue, adding that he was 'sick' of the music critic's increasingly erratic behaviour.

He told The Morning Show hosts Kylie Gillies and Larry Emdur: 'He's helped me out of a legal pickle, I've known him for 20 years. He visited my sister in hospital when she was sick with cancer when she was 11 in the 1980s

'I'm really grateful for everything that Molly's done in our lives.'

But things changed at the Logie Awards in 2017 when Meldrum stole Johnson's spotlight as he was on stage accepting the Gold Logie for his performance in the Channel Seven miniseries Molly, based on Meldrum's life.

His relationship with Meldrum changed at the Logie Awards in 2017 when the music critic stole Johnson's spotlight as he was on stage accepting the Gold Logie for his performance in the Channel Seven miniseries Molly, based on Meldrum's life

'When I won the Gold Logie, I was about to have my million-dollar moment and I told him not to come up on stage. He wasn't nominated, it was my moment,' Johnson said.

He wanted to use the opportunity to promote his charity, Love Your Sister, and to thank his sister Connie, who was battling cancer at the time and would die months later.

Johnson hoped the moment would be similar to Carrie Bickmore's Gold Logie speech two years earlier when she launched her Beanies 4 Brain Cancer charity.

'I wanted to make [my speech] about cancer and he wanted to make it all about the network... It was an absolute catastrophe,' the actor said.

'He warbled in a very drunken fashion for eight whole minutes! Now I've seen him do it again at the Elton John concert.'

Johnson then expressed concern for the music legend.

'Maybe it's time to hang up your hat, mate,' he said. 'I hope he's okay.'

Johnson said he never forgave Meldrum for upstaging him at the 2017 Logie Awards (pictured), where he had hoped to use his time on stage to promote his charity, Love Your Sister. Instead, a rambling and incoherent Meldrum made it all about himself

Johnson went on to say he didn't buy Meldrum's excuse for mooning the crowd at the Elton John concert, noting that if he had had a belt malfunction 'we would have seen his undies, not his bum'.

'For years I haven't said anything, because I don't want to say anything,' he added.

'Who are his minders? Is he okay? He shouldn't be allowed out in the afternoon - he's sozzled by that time.'

Johnson went on to suggest Meldrum has a problem with alcohol, claiming he has 'two shots of vodka in his coffee in the morning'.

Johnson played Meldrum in the Channel Seven miniseries Molly, for which he won the Gold Logie (pictured on the show). Sadly, his victory was undermined when Meldrum barged on stage during his acceptance speech

'If I want to make any sense out of him, I've got to see him for midday. Stop, Molly!' he exclaimed.

Gillies then suggested that perhaps Johnson was in a position to give Meldrum a call and 'have a chat' about his behaviour, but Johnson said he hadn't spoken to him since the Logies debacle six years ago.

'I'll never speak to him again. He cost my charity a million dollars that night,' he said.

'Can someone look after him? Can someone care for him? Can someone? I'm really worried about him. I'm not cross at him. I'm just really worried,' he added.

Johnson first spoke about Meldrum's troubling behaviour during an interview on 4BC's Afternoons with Sofie Formica on Monday.

'He needs to hang up his hat. Now,' he said bluntly.

He made similar remarks on WSFM's Jonesy & Amanda on Tuesday morning.

He made similar remarks on WSFM's Jonesy & Amanda on Tuesday morning, admitting he was 'trying to be diplomatic' about Meldrum even though he was angry

'Can I be honest?' he said while taking a deep breath. 'There's a lot I haven't said, and I'm trying really hard to be diplomatic.'

'I've seen the same type of thing happen over and over again, including him - when I told him not to - coming up on stage during my Gold Logie win and ruining my Carrie's Beanie moment where I was going to try to raise a lot of money for cancer research,' he added.

'[He came] up drunk as a skunk and babbling for eight minutes to finish the Logies that night.'

He then asked: 'Whos looking after him? He must not be out in the public during the PM, not with the way he drinks.'
Christina Applegate put one troll on blast who claimed she had gotten work done by a 'bad plastic surgeon.'

Applegate, who announced her MS diagnosis in 2021, posted a screenshot of a message she received from a troll insisting her changing appearance was not due to her battle with multiple sclerosis but rather from going under the knife.

But Applegate, 51, wasn't having it - posting the comment on her Twitter account after having a 'laugh' over the matter.

'What is wrong with people': Christina Applegate put one troll on blast who claimed she had gotten work done by a 'bad plastic surgeon'; Applegate pictured earlier this week at the Critics Choice Awards

Applegate revealed she came across the Internet user after making the 'unfortunate decision to look at some comments' on an article about her attending the Critics' Choice Awards with her children.

It appears Applegate personally messaged the troll before they replied with the cruel remark.

'Of course I told her that it wasn't nice. This was her reply. What is wrong with people. By the way, I laughed,' Applegate posted.

The troll replied: 'Ms didn't make you look that way a plastic surgeon did. And you are a scammer and are notChristi a Applegate(sic),' the person posted before adding, 'And a bad plastic surgeon at that.'

'This was her reply': Applegate, who announced her MS diagnosis in 2021, posted a screenshot of a message she received from a troll insisting her changing appearance was not due to her battle with multiple sclerosis but rather from going under the knife

Christina announced her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in August 2021 and has been candid with just how life-changing the disease has been.

In addition to impacting filming her Netflix series Dead To Me, MS led to a 40 pound weight gain and brought on a decline in her mobility.

'This is the first time anyone's going to see me the way I am. I put on 40 pounds; I can't walk without a cane. I want people to know that I am very aware of all of that,' she said in a recent interview with The New York Times.

Health struggles: Christina announced her multiple sclerosis diagnosis in August 2021 and has been candid with just how life-changing the disease has been; pictured 2019

Applegate was diagnosed with MS while in production on the final season of the show, which then took a five month break so that she could begin her treatment.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of nerves, and interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body.

Announcing her diagnosis on Twitter, she wrote: 'It's been a strange journey. But I have been so supported by people that I know who also have this condition. It's been a tough road. But as we all know, the road keeps going. Unless some a****** blocks it.'
Australian Yeezy designer Bianca Censori was thrust into the spotlight last week after marrying Kanye West in a non-legally binding ceremony.

And now, an old friend of the Melbourne-born architect, 27, has revealed intimate details about her high school days.

The friend, named Kate, told Nova FM's Ben, Liam and Belle that Censori was not a fan of Kanye West's music growing up, and was always part of the 'popular group'.

Kanye West's new wife Bianca Censori (pictured) 'wasn't a fan' of the rapper's music growing up and was known for her 'big boobs', a school friend has revealed

'I knew her pretty well. She was definitely in the popular group and she was known for her big boobs. That was kind of her thing,' Kate said.

'She was pretty hot, she was the hot one, friends with all the guys. [But] she was lovely.

'She wasn't one of the b**chy popular high school girls. I've got nothing bad to say about her.'

Kate explained Censori had been studying architecture at the University of Melbourne when Kayne offered her a job.

The friend, named Kate, told Nova FM's Ben, Liam and Belle radio show that Censori was not a fan of Kanye West's music growing up, and was always part of the 'popular group'

'Ye slid into her DMs, found her on Instagram, and said, "Come and work for me," and she dropped out. I'm not actually sure if she's an architect,' she said.

Kate admitted Censori wasn't a huge fan of Kayne's music when he contacted her.

The rapper, 45, is said to have held a private ceremony with the Aussie designer, and the pair have been spotted wearing wedding rings.

A Kim Kardashian lookalike through-and-through, Censori hails from Kew, Victoria where she went to Carey Baptist Grammar School, according to her LinkedIn.

Kate explained Bianca had been studying architecture at the University of Melbourne when Kayne offered her a job

After graduating from high school, she started her own jewellery company Nylons as she completed a Bachelor's degree at the University of Melbourne from 2013-2017.

The business began with her friend Irene when they created chokers and bracelets made from Swarovski crystals for themselves and friends, before they realised the potential to set up a store.

In the last two years of her degree, Censori also worked as a design consultant at Kelektiv, a furniture design company in the city.

The Melbourne-born beauty (left) shares a striking resemblance to Kim Kardashian (right)

She joined the Yeezy team in November 2020 and lists herself as the Head of Architecture for the brand on her Linkedin page

Censori then moved on to DP Toscano Architects in Collingwood where she stayed as she went for her Masters in Architecture.

In November of 2020, she left Australia right after she graduated from university and moved to Los Angeles to work for West as the Head of Architecture at his fashion design company Yeezy.

Not much else is known about Censori, as she deactivated her social media accounts quickly after the news about her secret nuptials with West broke.
Abbie Chatfield has mastered the elusive art of female ejaculation.

The outrageous reality star, 27, made the raunchy confession on her podcast It's A Lot on Wednesday.

'I'm not kidding, I can squirt on demand,' Abbie confessed.

Abbie Chatfield has mastered the elusive art of female ejaculation

Abbie explained to her producers how she was able to achieve the sexual feat, but her technique is too explicit to publish.

She first spoke of her experience ejaculating back in October, after a memorable encounter with a hook-up.

It comes after she revealed on air she had slept with '80 people'.

The reality star, 27, made the raunchy confession on her podcast It's A Lot on Wednesday

She confessed to the milestone during an interview with comedian Christian Hull.

'Somebody asked me the other day how many people I've f**ked and they asked "over a thousand?" and I was like, "I wish!"' she said.

'I think I've f**ked, like, 80 people.'

She first spoke of her experience ejaculating back in October, after a memorable encounter with a hook-up

Christian was surprised by Abbie's admission, which prompted her to explain it was just a 'conservative' estimate.

The Bachelor alum posted a recap of the conversation on Instagram, and many of her followers went wild over her confession.

Abbie recently split from ex-boyfriend Konrad Bien-Stephen after they experimented with an open relationship.
The rumours have now become Instagram official.

Love Island Australia star Amelia Marni debuted her new boyfriend on her main grid on Tuesday, after months of teasing his identity on her Stories.

The 26 year-old influencer introduced her latest beau to 321,000 followers with a cosy snap of the couple.

Love Island Australia star Amelia Marni debuted her new boyfriend on her main grid on Tuesday, after months of teasing his identity on her Stories

Amelia looked sultry in a strappy black swimsuit that drew attention to her eye-popping assets.

Her boyfriend, whose name has not been revealed, kept things casual in a green jersey and black shorts.

'Hi boo, welcome to the feed,' Amelia wrote in the caption.

It comes after Amelia clapped back at a troll in October who said she'd 'moved on quickly' from her ex-boyfriend Josh Moss, whom she had dated for four years

It comes after Amelia clapped back at a troll in October who said she'd 'moved on quickly' from her ex-boyfriend Josh Moss, whom she had dated for four years.

The troll's negative reaction was sparked by an IG Story she uploaded of herself wrapping her legs around her mystery beau at the beach in Jervis Bay.

While the post was flooded with positive comments, one person pointed out how Amelia hadn't wasted any time finding a replacement for her ex.

'And you judged a person you haven't met quickly,' she replied.

The troll's negative reaction was sparked by this IG Story she uploaded of herself wrapping her legs around her mystery beau at the beach in Jervis Bay

The troll said there was 'no hate' and she was 'just making an observation', which prompted Amelia to comment: 'If only she was focusing on her happiness and goals and not judging other people's happiness.'

Amelia first revealed in September she was seeing someone new.

She confirmed her relationship status by posting a cryptic snap on Instagram of herself holding a man's hand after a fan asked her during a Q&A if she was seeing anybody.

While the post was flooded with positive comments, one person pointed out how Amelia hadn't wasted any time finding a replacement for her ex

While she didn't reveal his name or face, the black-and-white photo suggested the pair were dating as both their legs were intertwined.

The picture may have been taken during Amelia's trip to Mykonos, where she shared countless sizzling snaps but didn't reveal a mystery beau.

She appeared to be adjusting well to life after calling it quits with Josh in May 2022.

Amelia first revealed in September she was seeing someone new. She confirmed her relationship status by posting this cryptic snap on Instagram of herself holding a man's hand after a fan asked her during a Q&A if she was seeing anybody

Following their break-up, Amelia announced she would be relocating from Australia to Europe for several months.

She hinted a 'casual move' was on the cards, but returned to Australia in mid-August.

'So, in two weeks, I'm gonna go to Mykonos for, like, 10 days,' she said in June.

Amelia called it quits with Josh Moss (left) in May 2022. They had started dating as contestants on season one of Love Island Australia in 2018

'Who knows, I'm very sporadic, I'm very spontaneous at the moment.'

Amelia and Josh started dating as contestants on season one of Love Island Australia in 2018.

They mutually ended their relationship in May, after it was reported the pair had been 'unhappy' for months.
The party isn't over for Margot Robbie.

A day after attending the Sydney premiere of her new film Babylon, the Hollywood star, 32, joined her old school friends for a drink at a trendy wine bar in Surry Hills.

She was spotted leaving Poly on Commonwealth Street with her pals after spending two hours at the venue.

Margot Robbie has continued celebrating the release of her latest film Babylon by joining her old school mates for a drink at trendy wine bar in Sydney on Tuesday

Margot thanked a man, presumably an employee, who held the door open for the group as they exited the bar.

She looked effortlessly chic in an oversized tan blazer with matching suit trousers, and accessorised with a green handbag.

Her blonde highlighted hair was styled in cascading waves.

The former Neighbours star hugged her friends goodbye before being escorted onto the footpath and stepping into a hire car.

The Australian actress, 32, was seen leaving Poly in Surry Hills with a few of her close pals after spending two hours at the venue

Margot appeared to thank a man, supposedly an employee, who held the door open for the group as they departed the bar

Her blonde highlighted hair was styled in cascading waves

One day prior, Margot attended the Sydney premiere of her latest film Babylon and had a hilarious but wholesome moment with her friends on the red carpet.

A childhood mate of Margot's called out to the actress while she was being interviewed by Justin Hill.

While Margot was chatting to the reporter, one of her pals called out 'hey Maggot' - her embarrassing school nickname - behind her.

She looked effortlessly chic in an oversized tan blazer with matching suit trousers

Margot also made a statement with a green handbag

But the beauty took the dig in good stride, turning to enthusiastically wave at them.

'I saw my school friends. We have been friends since we were four years old,' she told Hill.

Hill later uploaded the clip to TikTok and Margot's fans went wild over how down-to-earth the Neighbours star is.

One day prior, Margot attended the Sydney premiere of her latest film Babylon and had a hilarious but wholesome moment with her friends on the red carpet. A childhood mate of Margot's called out to the actress while she was being interviewed by Justin Hill

While Margot was chatting to the reporter, one of her pals called out 'hey Maggot' - her embarrassing school nickname - behind her

'She looks so comfortable and happy,' one wrote, as Hill responded 'she was beaming the whole time, was lovely to see'.

Later that night, the Wolf of Wall Street star swapped her daring Versace gown she wore on the red carpet for a more relaxed yet elegant number to enjoy an afterparty with her family and closest childhood friends.

Surrounded by a handful of pals, Margot beamed as the group posed at Shell House's exclusive Sky Bar.

The former Neighbours star hugged her friends in an emotional goodbye

The blonde bombshell was glowing in an $890 white Michael Lo Sordo wrap maxi shirt dress with a plunging neckline.

Margot discussed her 'wild ride' filming Babylon during her appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday.

She admitted she was 'scared to mess up' the epic opening party scene which took a huge two weeks to film.

Speaking about the Hollywood drama, Margot explained: 'It was a wild ride. There were amazing set pieces, including a party scene that took two weeks to shoot.
The Project star Carrie Bickmore has shocked Australia with the announcement that she and her longtime partner Chris Walker are separating.

And while the cause of their split remains unknown, Chris' infamous 'nude Skype call' scandal could well have something to do with it.

Carrie, 42, was left red-faced in May last year when Chris was caught with his trousers down on a company Skype call.

The Project star Carrie Bickmore has shocked Australia with the announcement that she and her longtime partner Chris Walker are separating. And while the cause of their split remains unknown, Chris' infamous 'nude Skype call' scandal could well have something to do with it. Pictured: Carrie and Chris in happier times

Chris, the executive producer of comedy show The Weekly, stripped naked in front of shocked ABC staff after he thought he'd left a video conference on May 17.

He wrongly thought he had left the conference when he took off his clothes in front of up to nine people, with the incident lasting between 40 seconds and two minutes.

Chris had dialled in while on sabbatical in the UK with Carrie and their three young children, with the faux pas occurring during a meeting following rehearsals and before the taping of The Weekly with Charlie Pickering.

Chris, the executive producer of comedy show The Weekly, stripped naked in front of shocked ABC staff after he thought he'd left a video conference on May 17

Carrie was likely mortified by the incident, as Chris' gaffe led to an avalanche of embarrassing headlines.

In a statement at the time, ABC said it was 'aware of an unintentional incident'.

'The ABC is in regular communication with the relevant team members and are in the process of developing strategies to ensure an incident of this nature does not occur again,' it said in a statement.

He wrongly thought he had left the conference when he took off his clothes in front of up to nine people, with the incident lasting between 40 seconds and two minutes

Following the incident, a staffer accused senior ABC managers of initially brushing off the gaffe as 'hilarious' and dismissing employees' concerns.

The ABC then reportedly offered counselling to staffers who witnessed the incident.

The staffer also accused the ABC of downplaying the gaffe because Walker's production company Thinkative Television is behind some of the public broadcaster's most popular shows, including The Weekly and Hard Quiz.

Following the incident, a staffer accused senior ABC managers of initially brushing off the gaffe as 'hilarious' and dismissing employees' concerns

'You're not allowed plastic bottles in the building, but the nude guy is on the screen [and] that's hilarious,' they grumbled.

'If it was an ABC person [instead of someone from an external production company] they would never be allowed to set foot in the place again.'

In June, The Australian reported that Chris was 'unlikely to face serious sanctions' for the gaffe.

The ABC has since offered counselling to staffers who witnessed the incident, The Herald Sun reported

The public broadcaster reportedly took the incident 'seriously' but managers say the steps already taken will 'probably' be the end of the matter.

An insider told the newspaper: 'It was a genuine mistake. Obviously, the ABC is taking it seriously if people were traumatised.

'But if serious action was taken against Chris Walker for an accidental flash, there'd also be an outcry.'

It wasn't the first time Chris had accidentally exposed himself during a video call.

In November 2021, Carrie host revealed on her Carrie & Tommy radio show that Walker had strolled naked into the background of a Zoom conference she was doing with other journalists from around the world.

Carrie said she and her partner later laughed about the incident for 45 minutes.

It wasn't the first time Chris had accidentally exposed himself during a video call. In November 2021, Carrie host revealed on her Carrie & Tommy radio show that Walker had strolled naked into the background of a Zoom conference she was doing with other journalists from around the world

On Wednesday, Carrie announced that she and Chris had parted ways.

The TV star made the announcement in an emotional Instagram post, and said the pair are now focusing on co-parenting their three children - Ollie, 15, Evie, seven, and Adelaide, four.

'While this is a tough time, our focus is on parenting, loving and supporting our three children Ollie, Evie and Addie with everything that we've got.

'They are doing great, We won't be making any further comment.'

It comes after Carrie spoke of her private struggles in a touching farewell letter to The Project's hair and makeup team after quitting the Channel 10 show in November.

In a handwritten note to her glam squad, the 42-year-old thanked them for helping her get through some of the most challenging times in her professional life.

The former Project host announced the news in an emotional Instagram post on Wednesday

'To my hair and makeup family. Crap, I am crying already,' the letter began.

'You have held my hand through some of the toughest days in my career. You hear it all, see it all and share it all with me and I can't explain how much I am going to miss you all.

'There is an unspoken bond between us all and please never forget how special you all are.

'I know this is not goodbye, just goodbye for now. Love to you all, Carrie.'

It comes after Carrie spoke of her private struggles in a touching farewell letter to The Project's hair and makeup team after quitting the Channel 10 show in November

Carrie's letter was posted on Instagram by makeup artist Julie Bekiri, who also shared a video of the TV presenter laughing in the styling chair while The Project's glam team worked their magic.

Another picture showed Carrie on set with the hair and makeup staff on her final night on The Project.

'What can I say about you @bickmorecarrie because words cannot describe the last 10 years or so since we first met,' Julie captioned her post.

'I can say is that we have been through so many things together and our chats, laughs and cries in the makeup room have been priceless.

Another picture showed Carrie with the hair and makeup staff on her final night on The Project

'Thank you so much for all your support and friendship and thank you for allowing me to be myself and allow me to express my creativity with you.

'You always kept me on my toes and constantly told me to stop touching your hair even after I perfected it.'

The Project bid farewell to Carrie on November 30, as she stepped down from the Channel 10 panel show after an impressive 13 years.

She thanked her friends, colleagues and viewers at the end of the broadcast.

The Project bid farewell to Carrie on November 30, as she stepped down from the Channel 10 panel show after an impressive 13 years

She also thanked Chris, who was sitting in the audience with their children. 'To Chris [Walker, partner]. Thank you for everything. Your guidance and advice over the years, your amazing production skills...' she added

Carrie and Chris' love story captured the hearts of Australians after they met on the set of The Project in 2012 - where Carrie worked as an anchor, two years after her husband Greg Lange lost his battle with brain cancer.

Despite his terminal condition, they married in 2005 when Carrie was 25 and had a son, Oliver. She said having their son was the greatest thing they ever did together.

Carrie and Chris' love story captured the hearts of Australians after they met on the set of The Project in 2012 - where Carrie worked as an anchor, two years after her husband Greg Lange lost his battle with brain cancer

After Greg died at 35, she continued his legacy by starting her own charity, Carrie's Beanies for Brain Cancer, which she announced during her Gold Logie acceptance speech in 2015.

Carrie and Chris fell in love while working together - he became a stepdad to Oliver, before they had two daughters - Evie in 2015, and Adelaide in 2018.

The presenter previously told TV Week that her partner has also suffered loss in his life.

'He like many people understands loss and suffered his own loss in life and I think he just has a huge amount of compassion and he will always be incredibly supportive of me and for our family,' she said.

To spend more time together as a family, Carrie and Chris took their three kids to the UK for a school term in April.

In a lengthy Instagram post, she explained that they realised they needed to take a break during lockdown in Melbourne last year.

Carrie and Chris fell in love while working together - he became a stepdad to Oliver, before they had two daughters - Evie in 2015, and Adelaide in 2018 (all pictured)

'We feel like this is our last chance to do something like this together before Ollie hits the pointy end of his schooling and no longer wants to hang out with us so  we are heading to the UK for a school term,' she wrote.

Chris previously said he finds himself missing Carrie because of the couple's busy schedule.

'Carrie works so much as well (on The Project). Particularly at the start of the week I find myself missing her and the kids quite a lot.'
The five nominees for this year's prestigious BAFTA EE Rising Star Award were announced during a press conference at The Savoy Hotel in London.

Emma Mackey and Aimee Lou Wood, who play friends Aimee and Maeve in Sex Education, were among the nominees.

Naomi Ackie, who recently took on the iconic role of global superstar Whitney Houston in Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody was also on the nomination list.

The actress, 30, said of her nomination: 'I've followed and been inspired by the EE BAFTA Film Awards for so many years, so to be recognised amongst this incredible group of artists is huge!

BAFTA: The five nominees for this year's prestigious EE Rising Star Award were announced during a press conference at The Savoy Hotel in London (Nominees Naomi Ackie and Emma Mackey pictured)

'This nod from the EE Rising Star jury, and to be recognised for my work in the country that I've grown up in, is also a nod of encouragement, to continue to create stories that speak to people. What a beautiful experience to be a part of.'

Emma Mackey, who is set to feature in Barbie opposite Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was also shortlisted.

Commenting on her nomination, Emma said: 'I am so grateful to BAFTA and EE for including me in this category. Being able to tell stories and make films is already such a blessing. To be nominated alongside these wonderful actors and for us all to be noticed by such a respected and inspiring institution is very humbling indeed.'

Stars: Emma Mackey and Aimee Lou Wood (pictured), who play friends Aimee and Maeve in Sex Education, were among the nominees

Daryl McCormack, who is well known for his lead role in British comedy-drama Good Luck to You, and Sheila Atim, who stars in the recently released historical epic feature film The Woman King, are also in the running for the award.

The award is now in its 18th year and is the only BAFTA voted for by the public.

Voting is now open on the BAFTA website and the winner will be announced on Sunday 19 February at the EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony.

Nominees: Daryl McCormack (right), who is well known for his lead role in British comedy-drama Good Luck to You, and Sheila Atim (left), who stars in the recently released historical epic feature film The Woman King, are also in the running for the award

Event: Edith Bowman, Darryl, Sheila, Naomi and BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip attend the EE BAFTA Rising Star nominee announcement at The Savoy Hotel

The remaining BAFTA nominations will be announced on Thursday at 12pm in a livestream by actors Hayley Atwell ahead of the ceremony.

Jane Millichip, CEO at BAFTA, said: 'Recognising and supporting creative talent is of the upmost importance to us at BAFTA which is why we are delighted to continue our partnership with EE and the EE Rising Star Award.

'This year's five nominees have displayed a breath-taking ability to tell stories and create characters that resonate with their audiences, and it's now up to the British public to decide who will take home the award on 19th February.'

Stunning: Scottish presenter Edith looked incredible in a glamorous black off the shoulder gown

Happy: Nominees Sheila, Naomi and Daryl posed for a snap after the exciting announcement

Gorgeous: Sheila looked the epitome of chic in a black cut-out jumpsuit, a jacket and strappy heels

For the first time, the ceremony will include a live broadcast to reveal the final four category winners after previously being recorded and then broadcast on the same day.

Currently in the running is the Netflix anti-war epic All Quiet On The Western Front, which has been being longlisted in 15 categories.

The film, directed by Edward Berger and based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, features on the lists for best film and director.

Acclaim: Currently in the running is the Netflix anti-war epic All Quiet On The Western Front, which has been being longlisted in 15 categories

Black comedy-drama The Banshees Of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, is close behind with 14 nods.

Quirky science-fiction thriller Everything Everywhere All At Once and Baz Luhrmann's biopic of Elvis are both longlisted in 12 categories.

Top Gun: Maverick appears in eight categories, as do Babylon, Tar and Aftersun.

The Baftas will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on February 19.
US President Joe Biden, seen here at the National Action Network's Annual Martin Luther King Day Breakfast on January 16, 2023 in Washington, DC, will travel Thursday to flood-hit California

US President Joe Biden will travel to flood-hit areas of California on Thursday, the White House said, as the country's most populous state cleans up from a devastating series of storms.

Biden will tour "communities impacted by the devastation from recent storms, survey recovery efforts, and assess what additional federal support is needed," the White House said late Monday in a statement.

California has endured nine successive storms rolling in from the Pacific Ocean in a three-week period. The extreme weather has cost 19 lives.

Biden declared a major disaster in California over the weekend, allowing the federal government to expedite aid, including help with temporary housing and repairs.

Relief workers across much of the state hustled to clear landslides, shovel mud from roads and remove fallen trees.

Some 23,800 homes in California remained without power late Monday, according to poweroutage.us.

Fortunately, the relentless winter storms appeared to abate in California as they moved past the Sierra Nevada mountains into the Rocky Mountain states.

Still, the staggering quantities of rain that have hit northern California left cities there sodden. The report from the National Weather Service (NWS) for the Bay Area said more than 18 inches (45 cm) of rain have fallen on San Francisco since December 26.

"It's the wettest 22-day period since January 14, 1862," the NWS office said in a tweet.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan hold talks at the Qasr Al Watan presidential palace in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Jan. 15. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk Yeol and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan adopted a joint summit statement that included an expression of the UAE's commitment to investing $30 billion in South Korea, the document showed Monday.



The statement, adopted after the two leaders' summit in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, covered 14 points under three headers  strengthening cooperation in key areas, enhancing future-oriented cooperation, and peace and stability.



The 14 points covered conventional energy and clean energy, peaceful nuclear energy, economy and investment, defense and defense technology, and climate change, among other areas.



"As part of the wider Special Strategic Partnership framework, and building on the UAE's confidence in the ROK's economic strength and growth prospects, the UAE announced a commitment by its sovereign wealth funds to invest $30 billion in strategic sectors in the Republic of Korea," the joint statement said. The Republic of Korea is South Korea's official name.






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Fighter jets soar to sky

China Military Online) 09:33, January 17, 2023

A fighter jet attached to an aviation brigade of the air force under the PLA Northern Theater Command takes off from the runway during a combat flight training exercise on January 3, 2023. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Yang Pan)

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan during their visit to Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in Abu Dhabi, Monday (local time). Yonhap



Additional nuclear plants in either UAE or UK possible



By Nam Hyun-woo



ABU DHABI  Korea's campaign to export nuclear reactors and related facilities is gaining fresh momentum on the occasion of President Yoon Suk Yeol's state visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as the two countries agreed to cooperate for additional nuclear projects in either the UAE or third countries, such as the U.K.



Yoon will wrap up his state visit to the UAE on Tuesday afternoon (local time), after fruitful summit diplomacy, including securing the UAE's commitment to invest $30 billion in Korean companies guaranteed through a joint declaration and a total of 48 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) signed between the two countries.



Nuclear energy is one of the areas that is expected to facilitate bilateral cooperation.



While promising an astonishing amount of investment, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said his country decided to do so in recognition of the successful construction and operation of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant, which was built by Korean companies.



During the leaders' visit to the nuclear plant on Monday, Yoon noted, "Now is the time for both Korea and the UAE to join hands to create additional nuclear power partnerships in the UAE and other countries."



This is also mentioned in the joint statement between the two countries announced on late Monday.





Yoon's UAE trip raises hopes for policies related to hydrogen economy First lady meets with Sheikh Mansour of UAE Joint summit statement expresses UAE's commitment to investing $30 bil. in Korea Yoon reveals hopes for another nuclear project with UAE In the statement, the two leaders expressed their determination to "deepen and accelerate collaboration in the nuclear energy sector" by "jointly pursuing additional nuclear projects, whether in the UAE or in third countries."



According to a senior official at Korea's presidential office, the reference to "additional nuclear projects in the UAE" can be interpreted as Korea building more nuclear power plants in the country.



"Nothing has been determined, and the UAE has yet to make an official offer," the official said. "We assume that the UAE has a plan to build additional nuclear plants and considers Korea as a partner, given that it will be ineffective for the country to have one plant designed by Korea and the other built by other countries."



Barakah Nuclear Power Plant / Yonhap

Reportedly, a senior-level official of the Korean presidential office asked a top official of the UAE's Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) about the country's intention to build additional nuclear power plants during the Korea-UAE Business Forum held on Monday, and the ENEC official replied that the company "will consider if the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) makes a fine offer." KEPCO is the main contractor for the Barakah plant.



If pursued, the additional nuclear power projects between Korea and the UAE will likely be for small modular reactors (SMRs), which are regarded as the future generation of nuclear reactors due to their lower initial capital investment, siting flexibility and greater scalability.



Regarding the joint entry into third countries, the presidential official mentioned the U.K. as a possible candidate. "There have been discussions between ENEC CEO Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi and KEPCO CEO Cheong Seung-il last year with a certain goal," it said.



"We believe when Korea's engineering and building capability combines with the UAE's capital, financial and networking capabilities, it will make a very competitive team."



The U.K. is now expanding nuclear energy's share in its energy portfolio to lower its reliance on natural gas and boost its long-term energy independence and security. Last April, the British government announced that it would build up to eight nuclear reactors.



The official also noted Korea's ongoing efforts to win contracts for nuclear power plant projects in the Czech Republic and Poland will be more effective if they are backed by the UAE's funds.




President Yoon Suk Yeol, shakes hands with a South Korean solider as he meets with South Korean troops of the Akh unit in the United Arab Emirates, Jan. 15. Yonhap



The South Korean foreign ministry on Tuesday said President Yoon Suk Yeol's recent remark about Iran during his visit to the United Arab Emirates was "irrelevant" to Seoul's relations with Tehran, in an apparent effort to prevent it from spilling into a diplomatic controversy.



While speaking to South Korean troops in the UAE earlier this week during his state visit there, Yoon compared the UAE-Iran relations to that of South and North Koreas, and said the UAE's "enemy and biggest threat is Iran."



In response, the Iranian foreign ministry said it was "looking into and pursuing the meddling comments" by Yoon, and awaiting an explanation from the Seoul foreign ministry.



In a text message to reporters, the Seoul foreign ministry urged against "unnecessary overinterpretation" of the remark, saying it was made while encouraging South Korean soldiers.



It added the remark was "irrelevant" to South Korea's diplomatic ties with Iran or other countries.



"Since forging diplomatic ties with Iran in 1962, our country has long maintained friendly and cooperative ties with Iran, and our commitment to continue developing the friendly bilateral relations with Iran remains firm," the ministry said. (Yonhap)


Textbooks were given late and there is a lack of teachers in most government schools. (Representative Image)

Hyderabad: Students of Class X are losing out on precious revision time as government schools across the city are yet to complete teaching the Class X syllabus, despite the district education officer having set a December 31, 2022, deadline for the same.

Lack of teachers, insufficient textbooks supply and not dedicating study time at home are major reasons hampering government school students.

S. Sridevi, a government high school teacher, said that most students study only at school as they are expected to take up domestic or agricultural chores to contribute to their households.

I agree that the textbooks were given late and there is a lack of teachers. But the parents are least bothered about their childs education. Their interest and continuity in schools is disappointing, she said.

Teachers also blamed the extended holiday calendar this academic year,. We are rushing with the syllabus in revision time. Last year, there were many holidays due to the rainy season and festivals, said Afreen Fatima, a Class X teacher at a government school.

Another teacher, requesting anonymity, said that most teachers were completing the syllabus at their convenience as due to an insufficient number of teachers, they have to borrow subject-specific teachers from other schools.

Students, meanwhile, are apprehensive about taking the exams, citing the six-paper pattern instead of the earlier pattern. The students are now in a panic as the portion has not been reduced and there are no holidays in between exams. What is the rush to change the paper pattern this year, that too with such short notice? said Manjula R., a government school teacher.

However, the scenario at residential government schools was different. Not only have they finished their syllabus, but have also started with the revision and timely unit tests.

Students are living in hostels 24/7 and are more focused on academics. Second (reason) is having enough teachers who are appointed on a rotation basis for taking classes and revision classes. The third reason is they are having access to all the academic resources on time, Sarveshwar Reddy, additional secretary for residential schools, said.

Reddy said that such important needs are not being met at day schools, which is affecting the overall pass percentage.

Education at stake

> On November 24, 2022, the district education officer of Hyderabad directed government schools to finish the Class X syllabus by the year-end and begin revising the same

> The official directed schools to hold special revision tests from January 1, with a special focus on slow-learners

> Syllabus yet to be completed in most schools due to multiple reasons

> Some teachers said textbooks were not given on time, some blamed a lack of teachers, while most agreed that there were additional closures due to rains

> Students are panicking as the exam pattern changed to six-paper one
Pangolin scales seized by Hanumanthanagar police of Bengaluru.(Photo By Arrangement)

BENGALURU: A travel agent has been arrested by the Hanumanthanagar police in Bengaluru for smuggling 23 kilos of pangolin scales. The scales were seized and search is on to trace three other involved in the case.

Upon receiving a tip-off, the police flung into action and caught the travel agent identified as Kiran Ramnaik, while he was waiting to hand over the pangolin scales near PES College.

The police said that Ramnaik, a resident of Hasiguli village in Siddapura of Uttara Kannada district, was only acting as a courier while the poaching had been done by others at Siddapura.

While the arrested confessed to the police that a kilo of pangolin scale would fetch Rs 1 lakh in the market, the police are yet to ascertain as to where the scales were meant to be transported from Bengaluru. It is suspected that the scales, which are used in making medicines and cosmetics, are smuggled to China or an African country.

The police have booked him under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy. (DC)

Hyderabad: Against the backdrop of the Chief Minister planning to address a public gathering in Khammam on January 18, Congress leader Uttam Kumar Reddy looked to score political points by demanding the BRS chief to tender an unconditional apology to chilli farmers of Khammam.

Reddy said that the farmers were implicated in false cases by the BRS government in April 2017 for seeking remunerative prices.

In a media statement, Reddy said: When some poor ST farmers held a protest in the Khammam Mirchi Yard over not getting remunerative prices, the TRS government got them arrested and implicated them in false cases. Serious charges, including Section 307 (murder attempt), were pressed against 10 farmers. This was done to send a message to all farmers across Telangana that they would be treated in the same way if they oppose KCR govt.

He took aim at the Aam Aadmi Party  with Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann set to attend the BRS meet in Khammam  calling the AAP and the BRS B Teams of the BJP, who are working to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi by weakening the Congress.

Uttam Kumar Reddy also accused the BRS of misusing public funds and official machinery for a party meeting.

Expenditure on the construction of helipads, hiring of additional vehicles, movement and food of security personnel and other officials and other related costs should be borne by the BRS, he said.

Reddy said that the Congress would monitor all expenses and submit a detailed report to the Governor, seeking the recovery of the amount from the BRS. If required, the Congress will also approach the court for recovery of public money, he said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP National President JP Nadda arrives for the second day of BJP's National Executive Meet, at NDMC Convention Centre in New Delhi, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. (PTI)

New Delhi: Reminding the BJP leaders that only 400 days were left for the 2024 electoral battle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday asked the party leaders and the cadre to set a target of reaching out to everyone in every section of society, including the marginalised and minorities, without thinking about electoral gain. He said: "India's best era is coming and we must work very hard to contribute to the country's development."

The PM, sources said, asked the BJP leaders that their efforts to reach out to Muslims, including various sects and churches, should not be guided by the precondition that the party will get votes from them. The PM, sources disclosed, also asked the party leaders of some of the election-bound states that they "should not totally depend on him" for elections but should work in a manner that people approve of the party.

In his valedictory speech at the BJP national executive meeting, which unanimously endorsed the proposal moved by defence minister and former party president Rajnath Singh to extend national president J.P. Nadda's tenure till June 2024, Modi cautioned the party against any sense of "overconfidence".

Union home minister Amit Shah, who officially announced the national executive's endorsement of Nadda's tenure, said the party is confident that under Modi's leadership and Nadda's organisational leadership, the BJP will get a bigger mandate in 2024 than in 2019.

Nadda, during his inaugural address at the meeting on Monday, had set the task for the organisation to win all nine Assembly elections scheduled this year.

A socio-economic resolution passed at the meeting asserted that in the last eight-and-a-half years, the government has made the Indian economy and society more inclusive and self-reliant. It also thanked the PM for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Suggesting that the Modi government is fulfilling people's needs, the resolution underlined that now the country is moving towards politics and governance saturation.

Asserting that the BJP is not a political organisation but a social movement, Modi asked the party workers to dedicate themselves to reaching out to all communities. The PM also asked them that a special effort should be made to reach out to the youths in the 18- to 25-year-old age category, who should also be told about the difference in the style of governance before 2014. The BJP leadership will chart out the "BJP Jodo Abhiyan" as suggested by the PM.

"India's best era is coming and we must work very hard to contribute to the country's development. Amrit Kaal should be transformed into Kartavya Kaal, then only the country can rapidly move towards progress...with dedication reach out to every section of the society...it doesnt matter whether or not they vote(for the BJP)," said senior BJP leader and Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis quoting the PM.

While talking about the youth, the PM, as told by Fadnavis, said the youth has not witnessed the political history of India and is not aware of the corruption and wrongdoings that took place in the previous governments. "So, the youth need to be made aware. They must be told about the good governance of the BJP. The party will do it in the coming days," said Fadnavis.

When asked about the PM's message for the coming elections, Mr Fadnavis said, "It was a speech made by a statesman rather than a politician."

Fadnavis said the PM's address was inspirational as well as a guide to a new path, where he said that "every moment in office your life should be spent in the development story of India. The country can be taken forward only by converting this Amrit Kaal into Kartavya Kaal.

Earlier, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan briefed about the socio-economic resolution, which praised the PM for transforming India from a "Fragile Five" economy into the fifth largest economy in the world.

"The resolution underlined that now the country is moving towards politics and governance of saturation, suggesting that the government's programmes are fulfilling the requirements of the people... In the last eight-and-a-half years, the government has made the Indian economy and society more inclusive and self dependent," the BJP leader said, underscoring that "Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas" is not merely a slogan but the philosophy of his party," Mr Pradhan said.

External affairs minister S. Jaishankar also briefed the gathering on India's G-20 presidency. He asserted that India's image has transformed globally in the last nine years of the Modi government.

India used to depend on other countries during earlier crises but it not only met the challenges of the pandemic on its own but also helped others, Mr Jaishankar said.

Briefing reporters on the statement made by Mr Jaishankar at the meeting, BJP vice president Baijayant Jay Panda, quoting the minister, said the world's view of India has changed in the last nine years. He said when the Covid pandemic broke, there were concerns that India will be one country that may not manage it, but now the G-20 and the world in general are "full of admiration" as India not only dealt with the crisis but also reached out with help to other countries.

A statement on "garib kalyan" (ruling party's welfare policies) at the Centre and in states where it is in power was also made, with BJP Parliamentary Board member Sudha Yadav dismissing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's criticism about concentration of wealth.

She said Rahul Gandhi kept raising the same issue without looking at figures about crores of people benefitting from the government's welfare policies, accusing him of making false claims. The BJP claimed that the attention given to the SC, ST, poor and backwards in the last nine years is unprecedented.
No point is served by denying that todays geopolitical India is an imperial creation. (Representational Image)

Recent events confirm that Indians suffer acutely from what Jawaharlal Nehru saw as the majoritys minority complex. As his biographer put it, Like Sartre, to whom the Jewish question was a Gentile one, to Nehru the Muslim question was a Hindu one. In other ways too, decisions at the highest official level intended to project firmness in fact betray weakness and a sense of insecurity about Indias unity and the loyalty of Indians who dont all sing the same tune.

The communal angle looms largest because it threatens life and stability.

The warning by Mohan Bhagwat, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief, that Hindus are at war in order to protect their religion and culture because Muslims harbour a sense of supremacy is one reminder of the dangers that lie ahead. Another is the Supreme Courts reprimand to the Delhi police for delaying action against the Dharam Sansad on December 19, 2021 when men and women in saffron vowed to transform India into Hindu Rashtra with the pledge: We shall fight; we shall die and, if necessary, we shall kill. The injunction by Pramod Muthalik, national president of Karnatakas Shree Ram Sene, to display and worship swords as a defence against love jihad is a third example. The Sene acquired notoriety some years ago for attacking couples who were celebrating Valentines Day and women who frequented pubs.

Is the timeless Sanatan Dharma so feeble then that it needs the protection of these sword-wielding toughs?

The sense of inferiority isnt always expressed so violently. The decision by the National Council for Indian Systems of Medicine to include astrology in the bachelor of ayurvedic medicine and surgery course does not indicate much faith in genuine ayurveda. As G.L. Krishna, an ayurveda physician and Homi Bhabha fellow at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, pointed out, it is a regressive move as it pushes ayurveda towards faith-based practices, away from evidence-based reasoning.

The refusal of Tamil Nadus governor, R.N. Ravi, to recognise the states official name which, he says, reveals separatist intent, is another sign of weakness. The ancient Tamizhagam  his preference  may have contributed to the spread of Sanatan Dharma to the whole of "Bharat, as Mr Ravi claims, but has no constitutional sanction today. Its another piece of pleasant fiction like Ram Rajya or Ram Setu. Even a skyscraping Ram temple at Ayodhya cannot turn myth into reality.

Tamil Nadu is listed in the First Schedule of the Constitution. It is a hallowed name for many Tamils who associate it with the legendary C.N. Annadurai. Like Poti Sriramulu, the Telugu nationalist who fasted to death in 1952 to demand a separate Andhra Pradesh, a well-known Tamil nationalist, Sankarilinga Nadar, fasted to death in 1956 to change the old Madras to Tamil Nadu.

Given the history of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the party to which the chief minister M.K. Stalin, belongs, eyebrows might have been raised at the time at the choice of a name that stressed the states Tamil identity. But that is no reason for the BJP to reduce a serious constitutional issue to the level of party politics and keep riling the DMK about it. No wonder the governor is suspected of being in cahoots with the state BJP chief, K. Annamalai, a former Indian Police Service officer.

The touchiness isnt new. Even Nehrus Centre wasnt too pleased when the Naga tribes chose Nagaland as the new name for the old Naga Hills district. Given the many years of Naga guerrilla resistance to absorption in India, New Delhi thought that some apolitical equivalent of the lyrical Arunachal Pradesh or Meghalaya would be preferable to a name which included the word land, with its connotations of independence.

There was a flash of hope of a more realistic approach at the third India-Asean business summit in New Delhi in 2004 when Dr Manmohan Singh quoted Sinnappa Arasaratnam, author of Maritime India in the Seventeenth Century, to recall that India profited from the autonomy enjoyed by littoral states with little interference from groups that would not have understood the needs and demands of the predominant activity of commerce. He argued that mutually beneficial business links between Indias coastal states and Southeast Asia would lend meaning to the Look East policy and eventually give shape to the idea of an Asian century.

The suggestion of a break with the rigidity that had 11 years earlier killed an initiative by Keralas industries minister, P.K. Kunhalikutty, was however belied. It neednt have been. Kerala is a state with hoary maritime traditions. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan told an American congressional committee that it supplied teak for King Solomons palace. Legend has it that when Thomas the Apostle landed at the Roman staging post of Muziris in Kerala in AD 52, a Jewish girl played the flute to welcome him. Kochis Jews claim descent from refugees who had fled Nebuchadnezzars sacking of Jerusalem and founded the worlds first independent Jewish state centuries before Israel was a gleam in Chaim Weizmanns eye.

Chinas 14th century admiral, Zheng He, made several voyages to the Malabar coast, leaving behind the giant cantilevered fishing nets that Malayali fishermen call cheena vale.

All that encouraged Mr Kunhalikutty to announce after talks with Singapore officials that Kerala would be the first Indian state to station someone in Singapore to woo investors throughout the Asean region. New Delhi scotched the plan, recalling Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer and feeling that Trivandrum was again getting above itself. Commercial representation abroad could nurture political ambitions!

Yet, international interaction is not always a prerogative of sovereignty. Several Australian and Canadian states pursue their individual commercial stars in foreign capitals. Western Australia has an office in Mumbai. Governor Qin Guangrong of Chinas Yunnan province visited Kolkata in 2008 on a trade and tourism mission but  expectedly  the proposed Kunming-Calcutta link didnt develop.

No point is served by denying that todays geopolitical India is an imperial creation. British rule brought together peoples, kingdoms, regions and tribes with very different pasts. They agreed in 1947, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, to commit their future to a common destiny. Its that future that must be strengthened; demonising or deifying selected people and events through tailored accounts and tame teachers doesnt change the past. It only betrays a weak authoritys lack of confidence. That poses the greatest threat to Indias unity and survival.
The UN Security Council's Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee added Makki Monday to its list of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo. Representational Image/ANI

United Nations: In a major diplomatic victory for India, Abdul Rehman Makki was designated a global terrorist by the UN after China lifted its hold on a joint India-US proposal to blacklist the deputy chief of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, paving the way for the Security Council's Al Qaeda sanctions committee to list him through consensus.

The UN Security Council's 1267 ISIL (Da'esh) and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee added 68-year-old Makki to its list of designated terrorists on Monday, subjecting him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, after years of efforts by India and its allies.

Makki's listing comes seven months after China, a close ally of Pakistan, had put a hold on June 16, 2022 on a joint proposal by India and the US to designate the head of the political affairs wing of JuD/LeT and the brother-in-law of LeT chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

Decisions to list individuals and entities under the 1267 sanctions committee are made through consensus.

Of the 15 Security Council members that make up the Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee, veto-wielding permanent member China was the sole hold-out during the process to list Makki.

Consensus to blacklist Makki under the 1267 Al Qaeda sanctions committee could not be achieved after China placed a hold on the joint proposal by India and US in June last year.

As per the committee's guidelines, a Member may request more time to consider a proposal by placing a hold on the decision. For the duration of the validity of any hold placed on a matter, the decision on that matter will be considered pending.

The Committee Member that has placed the hold is required to provide updates after three months on its progress in resolving the pending matter.

If the hold placed on a proposal is lifted, the UN Secretariat is bound to immediately update the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaeda Sanctions List and inform the Member States concerned about the Committee's decision.

With China finally lifting its hold, Makki was designated through consensus under the 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council.

China has repeatedly placed holds and blocks on bids by India and its allies to list Pakistan-based terrorists.

In May 2019, India had won a huge diplomatic win at the UN when the global body designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, a decade after New Delhi had first approached the world body on the issue. China was the sole hold-out in the 15-nation body on the bid to blacklist Azhar, blocking attempts by placing a technical hold.

In 2009, India first moved a proposal to designate Azhar. This was followed by similar efforts together with the US, the UK and France in 2016 and 2017 but on all occasions, China's holds blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the sanctions committee.

The Sanctions Committee provided a narrative summary of reasons for Makki's listing in which it said Makki and other Lashkar-e-Taiba/Jamaat-Ud-Dawa operatives have been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalising youth to violence and planning attacks in India, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir.

The UN said in a press release Makki is deputy Amir/Chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) a.k.a Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Head of Political Affairs Wing JuD/LeT. He also served as head of LeT's foreign relations department and a member of Shura (governing body). He is the brother-in-law of JuD/LeT Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

Former Indian diplomats hailed Makki's listing as a huge success for the country's diplomacy.

Responding to the development, India's former Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti told PTI that Makki's listing is a huge success for Indian diplomacy.

First terrorist listing proposal by India in the Security Council to be approved and, further, expressly mentioning terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir emanating from Pakistan. India's presence in the Council and as Chair of the Counter-terrorism Committee has considerably enhanced the focus on terrorism, including cross-border terrorism, Tirumurti said.

Notably, the proposal in June 2022 by India to list Makki under the UNSC sanctions committee was made under Tirumurti's tenure as India's Ambassador to the UN.

India was a member of the UN Security Council for the 2021-22 term and Tirumurti was Chair of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee last year before retiring from the Indian foreign service.

India's former Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said in a tweet, 1 more success for @IndianDiplomacy. Abdul Rahman Makki designated by @UN Sanctions CommitteeThe pursuit of the rest continues.

It was under Akbaruddin's leadership at India's Permanent Mission to the UN here that India won a huge diplomatic win in May 2019 when the global body had designated Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.
With just a few weeks left before the grand Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event, Samsung Electronics on Tuesday (January 17) unveiled the new camera sensor for premium smartphones.



The ISOCELL HP2 packs 200MP 0.6-micrometer (m) pixels in a 1/1.3-inch optical format, a sensor size that is widely used in 108MP main cameras we see in the current crop of smartphones.

This means OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) will not have to increase the bump of the camera module on the back of the premium phone and yet be able to deliver high-quality images.

With the new Tetra2pixel advanced pixel-binning technology, the HP2 sensor will be able to simulate different pixel sizes to accommodate varying lighting levels.

"When in low-lit environments, the sensor transforms either into a 1.2m 50MP or 2.4m 12.5MP image sensor by binding four to 16 neighboring pixels. For fuller 8K video, approximately at 33MP, the HP2 switches to 1.2m 50MP mode to minimize cropping and capture more of the scene. Filming 8K at 30 frames-per-second (fps), a wide field of view along with bigger pixel size can produce sharp cinematic videos," says the company.



Samsung's new 200MP camera sensor. Credit: Samsung



With Dual Vertical Transfer Gate (D-VTG) technology, the HP2 sensor will ensure the colour of the subject and the surrounding scene are near-accurate, as seen through eyes, and not come off as washed-out pictures, particularly when they are taken in brightly lit environments.

With Super QPD (Quad Phase Detection) tech, the autofocus of the camera will be faster in low light settings.

Samsung is also introducing the DSG (Digital Still Camera) feature for the first time in 50MP mode which applies two separate conversion values to the analog signal received at the pixel level.

It also comes with Smart-ISO Pro, an HDR solution that merges different levels of ISO readouts from a single exposure, allowing the camera to take 12.5MP images and 4K at 60fps video in HDR.

Samsung's latest 200MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor is expected to come first in the upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is expected to debut on February 1. Also, the new camera sensor will be coming in more premium smartphones launching in 2023.

Get the latest news on new launches, gadget reviews, apps, cybersecurity, and more on personal technology only on DH Tech.
Warning: The story and video might trigger some readers, discretion advised.

In a horrible incident in West Bengaluru, a scooter rider dragged an aged SUV vehicle driver for around 800 meters on Tuesday afternoon in a bid to escape after hitting the SUV near Magadi Toll Gate.

The scooter rider is identified as Sahil, 25, a medical representative, resident of Nayandahalli while the injured SUV driver is identified as Muthanna, 71.

Muthanna is undergoing treatment in a hospital and is out of risk.

A horrible incident reported in #Bengaluru, a scooter rider hit a SUV on Tuesday afternoon, when questioned the scooter rider tried to escape & dragged the SUV driver for almost a km from Magadi Road toll gate to Hosahalli metro station. Police have detained him.@DeccanHerald pic.twitter.com/ekyOZT9wEZ  Chaithanya (@ChaithanyaSwamy) January 17, 2023

Sahil was severely beaten by the agitated public before they handed him over to the Govindarajanagar police. The police are questioning him.

According to preliminary information police said, Sahil was riding on a scooter bearing registration number KA-05-KU-0833 (Suzuki Access). He hit the SUV from behind and tried to escape. The SUV driver cum owner Muthanna caught his scooter's backrest handle to stop the vehicle but Sahil rode the scooter for almost a kilometer.

"I was riding my SUV (Mahindra Bolero). He hit my vehicle from behind around 1 pm near the toll gate on Magadi Road. When I questioned him, he tried to escape without stopping. I decided not to let him escape because of his attitude. So I caught the scooter handle," said Muthanna, who is a resident of Hegganahalli.

"He was trying to increase his speed and tried to hit on my hand a couple of times so that I leave the handle. A few motorists tried to stop him, but he rode for almost a kilometer to Hosahalli metro station," he said.

He also said that the biker stopped after an auto-rickshaw driver intercepted his scooter to stop him.

According to Muthappa, the scooter rider was busy with his phone, instead of looking at the road and riding safely.

"If he had stopped and apologised to me, I would have let him go, but the scooter rider didn't even bother to stop when I was being dragged," Muthanna said.

Muthanna is into printing and publishing books business. He stays along with his son in Hegganahalli.
Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has submitted his resignation after the ruling Communist Party found him responsible for violations and wrongdoing of numerous officials under him, the country's official news agency said on Tuesday.

Phuc, 68, a former prime minister, has held the largely ceremonial position for less than two years. It was not immediately clear who would replace him.

"Fully being aware of his responsibilities before the party and people, he submitted an application to resign from his assigned positions, quit his job and retire," the Vietnam News Agency reported, citing the party's powerful Central Committee.

There was widespread speculation about Phuc's resignation following January's dismissals of two deputy prime ministers, who were working under him when he led the government.

To become effective, Phuc's resignation requires approval from the National Assembly. Reuters on Monday reported the legislature would hold a rare extraordinary meeting this week.

Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by four "pillars": the powerful party's secretary, the president, the prime minister and the chair of the parliament.
In this Nov. 13, 2022 file photo, Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pose for a photo during their summit at a hotel in Phnom Penh. Yonhap



Relations between Korea and Japan have shown a clear trend of improvement recently following a period of "deep ordeal" in the past few years, President Yoon Suk Yeol said in a message Tuesday.



"Relations between Korea and Japan went through the most difficult and deepest ordeal for the past few years, but they are showing a clear trend of improvement recently," Yoon said in the message, read by First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong, at a joint Seoul conference of the two countries' private panels on helping develop bilateral relations.



Yoon stressed Korea and Japan are "the closest and most important neighbors" that need to cooperate in all fields, including security and the economy. The president added the Seoul government will continue to make efforts toward "practical improvements" of the relations.



Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also pledged to work toward improving bilateral ties in his message delivered by Koichi Aiboshi, Japan's ambassador to Korea.



Kishida said he will maintain close communications with Yoon for a prompt resolution for pending issues.



Yoon has repeatedly expressed a commitment to improve the bilateral relationship in a departure from his liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in. The two neighbors have stepped up efforts to improve security cooperation against North Korea's provocations and threats. (Yonhap)


Pakistan has "learnt its lessons" after fighting three wars with India and it now wants to "live in peace", the neighbouring countrys Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told a TV channel. However, his office in Islamabad was quick to dismiss speculations about an offer for talks with New Delhi.

We had three wars with India and it only brought more misery, poverty and unemployment to the people, Sharif told Al Arabiya news channel based in Dubai on Monday. My message to the leadership of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir.

Soon after the Al Arabiya aired his interview, Sharifs comment was interpreted by some as a subtle offer by Islamabad for talks with New Delhi. His office, however, clarified on Tuesday that any negotiation between Pakistan and India would not take place untill Modi government in New Delhi reverses its August 5, 2019 move to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and split the state into two Union Territories. The prime minister consistently maintained that Pakistan and India must resolve their bilateral issues, especially the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir, through dialogue and peaceful means. However, according to the statement issued in Islamabad on Tuesday, the prime minister has repeatedly stated on record that talks can only take place after (the Government of) India has reversed its illegal action of August 5, 2019. Without India's revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible.

Sharat Sabharwal, New Delhis former envoy to Islamabad, however, said that the excitement over the remarks by the Prime Minister of Pakistan was unwarranted. He (Sharif) made peace conditional upon resolution of the Kashmir issue that has defied a solution. Any glimmer of hope in his remarks was nullified by the subsequent clarification issued by his office, Sabharwal told DH.

Also read: UNSC lists Pakistan-based LeT's deputy leader Abdul Rehman Makki as global terrorist

Sharif has been leading the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government since April 2022 after the coalition succeeded in ousting Imran Khan from the office of the prime minister. His government has been under attack from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf led by Khan. The country has also been going through a severe economic crisis aggravated by a devastating flood and the PDM government has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package as well as with Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates for financial assistance.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has also been stepping up terror strikes across the country. The spurt in TTPs terror strikes over the past few months worsened Islamabad relations with the Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan, where the Pakistan Army wanted to get a strategic edge with the help of the Sunni Islamist militia that it had nurtured over the decades and helped wrest power in Kabul in August 2021.

Sharif was on a tour to the United Arab Emirates last week. He had a meeting with the UAEs President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. He told Al Arabiya that he had requested the UAE leadership to mediate between Pakistan and India.

He said that Pakistan and India were neighbours and they would have to live with each other.

The formal dialogue between India and Pakistan remained stalled since January 2013.

We have learnt our lesson and we want to live in peace provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems. We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity, and provide education and health facilities and employment to our people and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, that is the message I want to give to Prime Minister Modi," Sharif told the channel.

An attempt to restart formal bilateral dialogue by Modi and Sharifs brother and then prime minister M Nawaz Sharif failed due to a series of attacks by the terrorists from Pakistan into military facilities in India in 2016, prompting New Delhi to launch a surgical strikes into terror infrastructure in the neighbouring country.
China finally allowed the United Nations Security Council to impose international sanctions on a terrorist leader based in Pakistan after shielding him against a joint move by India and the United States for almost six months.

The Security Council imposed full spectrum UN sanctions  travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo  on the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taibas deputy chief, Abdul Rehman Makki, who was one of the masterminds of the November 26-28, 2008 carnage in Mumbai. The UNSC could act against the LeT leader after the technical hold China had placed in June 2022 on a proposal put forward by India and the US for placing international sanctions on him lapsed recently.

Beijing, which has been drawing flak from New Delhi for shielding terrorists, chose not to renew the technical hold on the proposal to designate Makki, the brother-in-law of the LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, as an individual linked to international terrorist networks and to place him under the UN sanctions.

Also Read | Centre bans two offshoots of LeT, JeM amid terror crackdown

China also placed similar technical hold on the proposals moved by India, along with other members of the Security Council, for imposing UN sanctions on four other terrorists based in Pakistan  Sajid Mir, Shahid Mahmood and Talha Saeed of the LeT and Abdul Rauf Asghar of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

India had put forward proposals for putting curbs on the terrorists based in Pakistan during its tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council from January 2021 to December 2022.

Hours after Makki was placed under the UN sanctions, India stated that it would remain committed to pursuing a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism and would continue to press the international community to take credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorism. Threats from terrorist organisations in the region remain high and listings and sanctions by the UNSC, are an effective tool to curb such threats and dismantle terror infrastructure in the region, Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), stated in New Delhi.

Beijing, however, said that Makki had been convicted and sentenced by Pakistan. Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Government, said that the UN sanctions on Makki was a sign of recognition of Pakistans staunch fight against terrorism. It also needs to be pointed out that the committee has clear guidelines regarding the designation of terrorist organizations and individuals and related procedures. China takes part in the work of the committee in a constructive and responsible manner in strict accordance with these rules and procedures.

Makki is the second Pakistani, whom China, one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, allowed to be designated as a terrorist. The communist country had in May 2019 allowed its technical hold on a proposal to impose UN curbs on JeM founder Masood Azhar to lapse and thus let the Security Council place him under sanctions, albeit after blocking New Delhis bid and shielding the terrorist leader for years.

Also Read | India completes UNSC term with spotlight on terrorism, reforms

Beijing had stopped shielding the JeM leader at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping had been personally leading efforts to mend the bilateral ties, which had hit a new low after the military stand-off in Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan in June-August 2017. The stand-off reached a flashpoint on June 15, 2020, when the soldiers of the two sides had a violent face-off in Galwan Valley. The Indian Army had lost 20 of its soldiers. The Chinese PLA had several months later admitted that four soldiers of the Chinese PLA had also been killed in the clash.

Though protracted negotiations over the past three years led to mutual withdrawal of troops by both sides from some of the face-off points, the stand-off could not be resolved completely.

Chinas decision to stop shielding Makki and allow the UNSC to impose sanctions on the terrorist leader based in Pakistan has come when the communist country has been trying to claim that the disengagement of troops from Patrol Point 15 in September 2022 restored normalcy along the disputed boundary between the two nations.

India, however, has been dismissing Chinas claim, repeatedly underlining that the overall relationship could not be normal as long as peace and tranquillity would not return to the border areas and the Chinese PLA would not stop flouting the bilateral agreements by deploying large numbers of troops along the LAC.

China had earlier blocked Indias moves to get the UN sanctions imposed on the LeT commander Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi and the Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin  both based in Pakistan.
The Union government on Tuesday objected to before the Supreme Court "undesirable" "protests and theatrics" in Delhi led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, when the constitution bench was hearing a matter related to control of services in the national capital.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, referred to the protest held by AAP MLAs against alleged interferences by the lieutenant governors (LG) office in its functioning.

Mehta raised the issue before a five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud hearing vexatious Delhi government and central government row over control of services.

Certain things are happening in the capital, he said, adding these are undesirable.

Mehta submitted before the bench, also comprising M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P S Narasimha that protests and theatrics can never take place when the Constitution bench is hearing the matter.

Mehta said that there is one caveat and he would confine to the legal submissions only.

While I say this, certain events are happening in the national capital while this court is in midst of the matter. Some protests are being held, he said.

Mehta said that events happening in the capital would be noticed everywhere.

I have much more to say than he has," senior advocate AM Singhvi, representing the Delhi government, retorted.

The bench, however, told Singhvi, This is a question on constitutional interpretation. We have made it clear.

On Monday, Chief Minister Kejriwal and his party MLAs marched to the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) office to protest against its alleged interferences in the functioning of the government. They also alleged the LG V K Saxena did not allow its teachers to visit Finland for training.
India Political Highlights: Modi govt not taking decisions so that people like them, but for their benefit, says Shah
The richest one per cent in India now own more than 40 per cent of the country's total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3 per cent of wealth, a new study showed on Monday.

Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting here, rights group Oxfam International said that taxing India's ten-richest at 5 per cent can fetch entire money to bring children back to school.

"A one-off tax on unrealized gains from 20172021 on just one billionaire, Gautam Adani, could have raised Rs 1.79 lakh crore, enough to employ more than five million Indian primary school teachers for a year," it added.

The report titled 'Survival of the Richest' further said that if India's billionaires are taxed once at 2 per cent on their entire wealth, it would support the requirement of Rs 40,423 crore for the nutrition of malnourished in the country for the next three years.

"A one-time tax of 5 per cent on the 10 richest billionaires in the country (Rs 1.37 lakh crore) is more than 1.5 times the funds estimated by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry (Rs 86,200 crore) and the Ministry of Ayush (Rs 3,050 crore) for the year 2022-23," it added.

On gender inequality, the report said that female workers earned only 63 paise for every 1 rupee a male worker earned.

For Scheduled Castes and rural workers, the difference is even starker -- the former earned 55 per cent of what the advantaged social groups earned, and the latter earned only half of the urban earnings between 2018 and 2019.

"Taxing the top 100 Indian billionaires at 2.5 per cent, or taxing the top 10 Indian billionaires at 5 per cent would nearly cover the entire amount required to bring the children back into school," it added.

Oxfam said the report is a mix of qualitative and quantitative information to explore the impact of inequality in India.

Secondary sources like Forbes and Credit Suisse have been used to look at the wealth inequality and billionaire wealth in the country, while government sources like NSS, Union budget documents, parliamentary questions, etc have been used to corroborate arguments made through out the report.

Since the pandemic begun to Nov 2022, billionaires in India have seen their wealth surge by 121 per cent or Rs 3,608 crore per day in real terms, Oxfam said.

On the other hand, approximately 64 per cent of the total Rs 14.83 lakh crore in Goods and Services Tax (GST) came from bottom 50 per cent of the population in 2021-22, with only 3 per cent of GST coming from the top 10 per cent.

Oxfam said the total number of billionaires in India increased from 102 in 2020 to 166 in 2022.

The combined wealth of India's 100 richest has touched USD 660 billion (Rs 54.12 lakh crore) - an amount that could fund the entire Union Budget for more than 18 months, it added.

Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar said, "The country's marginalised  Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims, Women and informal sector workers are continuing to suffer in a system which ensures the survival of the richest.

"The poor are paying disproportionately higher taxes, spending more on essentials items and services when compared to the rich. The time has come to tax the rich and ensure they pay their fair share."

Behar urged the Union finance minister to implement progressive tax measures such as wealth tax and inheritance tax, which he said have been historically proven to be effective in tackling inequality.

Citing a nationwide survey by Fight Inequality Alliance India (FIA India) in 2021, Oxfam said it found that more than 80 per cent of people in India support tax on the rich and corporations who earned record profits during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"More than 90 per cent participants demanded budget measures to combat inequality such as universal social security, right to health and expansion of budget to prevent gender-based violence," it added.

"It's time we demolish the convenient myth that tax cuts for the richest result in their wealth somehow 'trickling down' to everyone else. Taxing the super-rich is the strategic precondition to reducing inequality and resuscitating democracy.

"We need to do this for innovation. For stronger public services and for happier and healthier societies," said Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International.

Oxfam India urged the Union finance minister to introduce one-off solidarity wealth taxes and windfall taxes to end crisis profiteering. It also demanded a permanent increase in taxes on the richest 1 per cent and especially raise taxes on capital gains, which are subject to lower tax rates than other forms of income.

Oxfam also called for inheritance, property, and land taxes, as well as net wealth taxes, while enhancing the budgetary allocation of the health sector to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2025, as envisaged in the National Health Policy. Oxfam said it also wants public health systems to be strengthened and budgetary allocation for education to be enhanced to the global benchmark of 6 per cent of GDP.

"Ensure workers in formal and informal sector are paid basic minimum wages. The minimum wages should be at par with living wages which is essential for living a life with dignity," it added.
The Bharat Rashtra Samitis (BRS) national-level debut public meeting will take place on Wednesday in a corner of Telangana bordering Andhra PradeshKhammamconsidered a weak spot for the party since its inception in 2001.

Party supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has rechristened his Telangana Rashtra Samiti as BRS recently, will address a massive public gathering just outside Khammam town, where he is expected to unveil his vision for the nation, pushing forward the Telangana development model.

The two-time Telangana Chief Minister is also anticipated to launch yet another scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

On Tuesday, the town was decked up in pink, the BRS colour, with huge banners announcing KCR as the role model leader for the country, capable of replicating his welfare-oriented administration including enhanced pensions, free farm power at the national level.

KCRs show of strength rally, for which BRS leaders have targeted a two lakh audience, will be attended by AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI leader D Raja and others.

The Telangana chief minister, who was earlier touring the country meeting leaders like Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee, DMK chief M K Stalin, Shiv Senas Uddhav Thackeray with his non-Congress, non-BJP front idea, hit upon the idea of BRS last year to engage in national politics.

Political observers see Khammam as an interesting choice for the launch rally of a party wanting to make a mark on the national political scene.

When KCR revealed the new name of his party in October, he reportedly planned to hold the inaugural rally in New Delhi in December.

We do not know the exact reason why Khammam was picked, a BRS leader overseeing arrangements at the rally dais on Tuesday told DH.

Khammam region, close to the border with many Andhra-origin settlers as voters, was not very enthusiastic about the idea of separate state during the KCR led political movement for Telangana formation.

Even after the bifurcation in 2014, the Congress, TDP, YSRCP performed better here but many elected legislators later shifted to the ruling TRS.

May be KCR wants to send out a message to the Khammam voters by organising the rally here, the BRS leader says.
The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has seen a slump in milk procurement by nine to 10 lakh litres a day since July 2022. Highly placed sources informed DH that on an average, the dairy cooperative has now been procuring 75.6 lakh litres of milk a day from over 26 lakh milk producers in the state.

In 2021-22, the output of milk was 84.5 lakh litres a day. This is the first time it has declined in at least the last five years.

Lumpy skin disease (LSD), foot & mouth disease (FMD), floods and inferior fodder have resulted in the decline in milk production in Karnataka. Production is expected to drop further during summer, as green fodder turns scarce.

Milk shortage has slightly pushed up prices of milk by-products, especially ghee, butter, paneer and others. For instance, ghee and butter are costlier by Rs 30 to 40 a kilo. Many of the 16 milk unions under KMF have scaled down production of milk powder supplied to government schools under the Ksheera Bhagya scheme.

However, managing directors of at least two unions confirmed to DH that milk powder supply is normal since they have enough stocks till April when schools close.

There is a decrease in production while there is an increase in demand. Small retail outlets have exited the market due to the lack of supply. We are tightening sales based on procurement, said Tumakuru Milk Union managing director Suresh B P. He added that the situation is expected to improve by April. Tumkur Co-op Milk Union has witnessed a fall of nearly 70,000 litres of milk a day, the highest in the state.

Nyamadeva Prabhugouda, a farmer in the Bagalkot district says the delay in providing vaccines against lumpy skin disease (LSD) and foot & mouth disease has left many cattle head dead.

In December 2021, I was supplying approximately 135 litres of milk a day to the union. Now, after the death of four of the seven bovines due to LSD, the yield has reduced to 80 to 100 litres a day, he says.

Officials say KMF used to supply nearly 2,000 tonnes of ghee a month to the Karnataka market in 2021-22. However, due to milk shortage, it has reduced to 1,700 tonnes a month. Similarly, butter production has fallen by 150 tonnes a month. Last year, KMF had a market share of 400 tonnes a month.

Unions in Tumakuru, Kolar, Shivamogga, Ballari and Chikkabalapur districts have seen a huge drop in milk production.

In spite of the slump in milk production, the Hassan Milk Union is all set to export milk and its byproducts to Maldives, West Asia and Singapore. Through KMF, the Hassan union has already dispatched 1.5 lakh litres of tetrapak milk to the Maldives on a trial basis. In another 15-20 days, they are all set to export two lakh litres of milk and 20 tonnes of butter to West Asia.

Delegates from Arab countries visited the Hassan unit last week to check on the quality of the milk being packed here. There are minor issues which have to be resolved. If our first consignment clicks, then we will be able to export at least 50,000 litres of milk a day to those countries, said Gopalaiah, MD of the Hassan union.

The export will ensure steady income to farmers, said Gopalaiah.

Milk exports are expected to fetch an annual revenue of Rs 500 crore to KMF.
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Proposed cuts to the Education Authority (EA) budget in Northern Ireland are unrealistic and cannot be delivered, teaching unions have said.

The Northern Ireland Teachers Council (NITC), an umbrella body for five unions, met on Monday to discuss a response to the budget set by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris in November.

The unions said the education system was already in a state of crisis and they would resist cuts.

Mr Heaton-Harris was forced to set a budget after the collapse of the Stormont institutions when the DUP withdrew support as part of its protest against the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.

After a deadline to restore the executive passed in October, civil servants were left in control of government departments.

In his budget Mr Heaton-Harris increased education spending, but delivered a warning that the current spending trajectory would have to be curtailed.

He said this will affect the block grant of the EA, which is responsible for the day-to-day funding of schools and school services in Northern Ireland.

It has been reported that the EA may need to find about 100 million in savings from its block grant in the current financial year.

An NITC statement said: It is the considered view of the NITC that what is being demanded of EA is both unreasonable and impractical, coming as it does on the back of a decade of inadequate funding for the education sector.

A further 100 million cut to the education budget in the last financial quarter of this year is simply impossible to deliver and indicates that the Secretary of State has no understanding or appreciation of the already sorry state the Northern Ireland education system is in.

Gerry Murphy, NITC chairman, said: The NITC is calling upon the Secretary of State to withdraw this ridiculous budget and come back with a budget that will meet the needs of learners and ensure financial stability going forward.

Anything less will simply result in greater long-term damage to our children and young people and society as a whole.

Justin McCamphill, secretary of the NITC, added: Education is already in a state of crisis after over a decade of real-terms cuts to budgets.

The Education Authority has been placed in an invidious situation in being tasked to make cuts which will harm children and young people.

Cuts of the magnitude demanded by the Secretary of State will inevitably lead to the withdrawal of non-statutory provision but will also lead to the withdrawal of statutory services, many of which our most vulnerable children are reliant upon.

The five trade unions which make up the NITC are determined to resist these cuts and will work with support staff unions to be a collective voice for the sector.

The NITC is an umbrella body comprised of the Irish National Teachers Organisation, NASUWT, Ulster Teachers Union, National Education Union and the National Association of Head Teachers in Northern Ireland.

A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: The Northern Ireland Budget Bill prioritises spending in health and education, with the overarching objective of protecting the most vulnerable during a time of particular economic hardship.

The previous Executive failed to agree a Budget and the Northern Ireland ministers who remained in their posts during the six months from May to October 2022, left Northern Irelands public finances with a black hole of some 660m.

With no Executive in place, the Secretary of State has had no choice but to step in to deliver a budget for Northern Ireland.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said: The department acknowledges the scale of pressures facing the entire education sector and recognises that the budget set by the Secretary of State presents significant challenges.

The funding gap reported by the Education Authority comprises mainly statutory, contractual and committed budgets and includes support for our most vulnerable children and young people.

There are substantial practical difficulties in realising savings in these areas within this financial year and real concerns about the impact they will have on our children and young people.

However, the department is very mindful of its responsibility to stay within allocated resources and, prior to the final budget allocation for 2022-23, had already taken some difficult decisions not to fund a number of programme areas.

Working with the Education Authority and other relevant bodies, the department will continue to seek further opportunities to reduce spend.
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during his visit to the Akh Unit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sunday (local time). Yonhap



Seoul seeks to defuse controversy



By Kang Seung-woo



President Yoon Suk Yeol's description of Iran as the "enemy" of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has provoked protest from Tehran as it calls Yoon's remark undiplomatic and asks for Seoul's explanation.



The government is stepping up to prevent the issue from creating diplomatic problems with Iran.



Yoon made the remarks during his visit to the Akh Unit, which trains the UAE's special operations forces, Sunday (local time), as part of his efforts to encourage its soldiers.



"You are here because the UAE is our brother nation," Yoon told the troops. "And (defending) our brother nation's security is as important as that of South Korea's. The UAE's enemy  the most threatening nation  is Iran and our enemy is North Korea We are in a very similar position to the UAE."



He was on a four-day state visit to the Middle Eastern country when he made the comment.



Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani said the ministry is looking into and following up on the comments of the Korean president on relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the UAE, which are neighboring countries with established diplomatic relations.



The spokesman also said Yoon's remarks show he is totally unaware of the historical and friendly relations between Iran and the Persian Gulf littoral states, including the UAE, as well as positive developments quickly taking place in this regard.






According to a report published in the Business Standard, the Indian Government is believed to be developing an indigenous operating system for mobiles in order to ensure a more secure experience for users. This has been confirmed by a top government official (unnamed). The OS will offer users more choices and is being seen as an entity that can compete with Apple and Google.

India is one of the largest mobile device markets in the globe. Our objective is to create a secure Indian mobile operating system that could also create choices and competition for Androids dominance in the Indian market and a smaller share of iOS, a senior Indian government official said.

What is the current market share of Android and iOS in India?

At this moment, Android has a 97% market share in India, while iOS has a smaller share. It is believed that the Indian OS may be called IndOS. The idea is that the process of side loading of apps needs to be safer, and this is a responsibility that the government wants to take on since Android has denied shouldering the same, and so has most OEMs. Most OEMs state that they are simply manufacturing smartphones and offer some after-sales services and warranties. However, they believed Google should ensure security as the OS is Android.

We offer a phone and after the sale to customers, take care of certain warranties. Google has to figure out with the CCI or the government who will be responsible for the security of the side-loaded apps. Certainly, it is not for us, a device maker said.

IndOS to offer more security

IndOS is basically being created because both, Google and OEMs have denied responsibility. In light of this, the government itself is planning to safeguard the security of its users.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Lenovo has launched the Yoga 9i 13th Gen, a 2-in-1 laptop in India, adding a new offering to its celebrated Yoga series. This laptop runs on the latest 13th-generation Intel Core processor and is also Intel Evo certified. The brand states that this laptop can be used in 4 ways - as a laptop, stand, tent or tablet. It also comes with the Lenovo Precision Pen 2.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 specifications

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 comes with a 13th-generation Intel Core i7-1360P processor. It offers up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB of M.2 SSD and is also equipped with Intel Iris Xe graphics. The laptop has a 2MP infrared/hybrid FHD camera and also has facial recognition technology that lets you unlock the laptop quickly.

The laptop has a 14-inch display with 4K resolution and Vesa Certified DisplayHDR and Dolby Vision. It also has a 90Hz refresh rate. The laptop also has 4 Bowers & Wilkins speakers along with Dolby Atmos support. It also has a 75Wh battery with up to 10 hours of battery life. The laptop comes with a glass touchpad.

The laptop comes with the Lenovo Precision Pen 2 (its a part of the product packaging) in order to enhance the experience of using the touch screen.

Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 price in India

The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 price in India is 1,74,990. It can be purchased via Lenovo exclusive, Croma, Reliance stores, and Amazon from January 29th, 2023.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
A report by J.P Morgan indicated that Apple may end up moving up to 25% of iPhone production to India by 2025. An article posted in the South China Morning Post indicates that this number may increase to 50% by 2027. Apple has reduced the volume of iPhone component orders from Chinese suppliers, and this has had a significant impact on their stock prices as well as their earnings estimates.

What is Indias manufacturing capacity right now?

Currently, India is only responsible for 5% of Apple iPhone production. There has been an increase in the scope of work recently, with Apple stating that it wants India to assemble iPhone 14 models just a short while after China started producing the same. It is believed that Apple may have India and China manufacture the Apple iPhone 15 series at the same time, rather than with a gap.

Apple wants to move to manufacture away from China as much as possible. The company has already increased the volume of MacBooks and AirPods produced in Vietnam, taking the share away from China in the process.

Why is Apple moving away from China?

Chinas recent lockdown concerns have caused significant delays in manufacturing and sales. As a result, weve seen a global shortage of the Apple iPhone 14. Apple probably wants to prevent such issues from cropping up in the future by ensuring it has multiple manufacturing plants across the globe. Additionally, labour in India and Vietnam is believed to be cheaper, thereby increasing the companys profit margins.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
Ahead of the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S23, the company has revealed the new ISOCELL HP2, which is the brands newest 200MP image sensor that comes with 0.6-micrometer pixels in a 1/1.3-inch optical format. This is a sensor size that is typically seen in 108MP primary cameras in smartphones. Just for context, the HP1 has a 1/1.22-inch optical format.

Samsung launches a 200MP sensor

Samsung revealed its new 200MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor. The technology has gone into mass production and we may see it in the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Joon Seo Yim, Executive Vice President of the Sensor Business Team at Samsung Electronics, elaborated on the technology, saying The Samsung ISOCELL HP2 harnesses Samsungs high-resolution image sensor technologies and know-how at the cutting edge for epic details. Our leadership comes from innovative pixel technologies that allow our sensors to go beyond the number and size of pixels. We will continue to open new horizons and solidify our presence in the expanding ultra-high-resolution sensor market.

Samsung 200MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor specifications

The following are some of the features of the new sensor:

The sensor uses the brands advanced pixel-binning technology, which is known as Tetrapixel. When shooting images in low light, this sensor turns into a 1.2m 50MP or 2.4m 12.5MP image sensor.

The HP2 sensor uses its 1.2m 50MP mode in order to shoot 8K video at 33MP.

It also films 8K videos at 30fps.

It is equipped with a new Dual Vertical Transfer Gate (D-VTG) technology that belongs to Samsung and helps prevent washed-out images

The sensor is equipped with Super QPD, which lets it use all 200 million pixels focusing properly in low-lit settings.

It also has a Smart-ISO Pro HDR solution that helps merge ISO readouts and lets the camera take 4k videos at 60fps and 12.5MP images.

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in or head to our Google News page.
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at the Future Vision Forum in Dubai at the city's Museum of the Future, Tuesday. Yonhap



President Yoon Suk Yeol called on the international community to pool their strengths in science and technology to tackle global challenges such as climate change, pandemics and aging societies.



Yoon issued the call during the Future Vision Forum in Dubai on the last day of his four-day state visit to the United Arab Emirates.



"We must now overcome humanity's common crises of climate change, pandemics, aging and low growth through solidarity and cooperation based on science and technology," he said.



"We must together design a future where human dignity is respected as the highest value and realize it through global solidarity," he added.



Yoon called attention to the importance of choosing and controlling technology, saying the right to do so is as important as the right to live.



"In order to correctly use the authority given to us, we must first design the right future that we must head toward, and for that we need design criteria," he said. "The value that we cannot and must not give up under any circumstances is human dignity."



Yoon warned against the risk of relying too heavily on artificial intelligence, saying humans could end up transferring all of their decision power to AI.



"Science and technology must continually evolve through innovation, but fully contribute to realizing the values we strive for," he said. (Yonhap)


Extending free GP care to everyone in Ireland, using a gradual approach based on peoples income, could cost the state between 381 million and 881 million euro by 2026, according to research.

The lower amount is based on a low-pressure scenario while the higher figure is in the event of high demand.

A take-up rate of 70% rather than 85% would reduce projected cost by approximately 18%, while increasing the take-up rate from 85% to 100% would increase projected cost by almost 18%, the research funded by the Department of Health said.

A paper published on Tuesday by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) estimated there would be an extra 2.3 million visits to GPs in 2026 if care was gradually rolled out for free based on age.

This represents a 12% increase on if there were no changes to who gets care for free.

As it stands, children aged five and younger and people aged 70 and over have access to free GP care, while others can get access for free based on their income.

As of 2019, around 56% of the population did not have a medical card or a free GP visit card.

As part of the Slaintecare plan, which has received cross-party support, GP care would be free for the whole population, bringing Ireland in line with public healthcare in other European countries.

The ESRI research estimated the cost by comparing two different rollouts: one based on age and the other based on income.

The analysis also used varying assumptions about population growth and ageing, take-up rates and payments to GPs.

The cost to the state of extending free GP care to everyone in 2026 was estimated at 462 million to 881 million using the age-based approach, and 381 million to 881 million using the income-based approach.

The lower cost for the income-based approach is due to the assumption of lower take-up.

In the age-based approach, it is assumed that free eligibility will be introduced in 2023 for children aged six and seven, in 2024 for people aged 5069, in 2025 for those aged eight to 17, and in 2026 for people aged 1849.

Under the income-based approach, researchers assumed that current income thresholds for a GP visit card would be extended in 2024, 2025 and 2026 so a third of people without free GP care would become eligible each year.

Higher costs are associated with higher take-up rates and payments rates for GPs.

The report concluded that if free GP care was extended to the total population over a relatively short period of time, an age-based approach could be a pragmatic option to ensure high take-up rates.

However, if the extension of eligibility occurred over a longer period of time (eg, over a 10-year period rather than the four-year period considered in this analysis), then extending eligibility via the income approach would seem a more equitable option, the report said.

Lead author of the report, Dr Sheelah Connolly, said: The Slaintecare Report noted the need to move towards a universal healthcare system for Ireland.

Increasing the number of people entitled to free GP care would help achieve this objective.

However, there may not be a sufficient number of GPs available to deliver the additional visits associated with the ageing and growing population, as well as an increase in the number of people eligible for free GP care in the coming years.

If there are not sufficient GPs to meet the additional demand for their services, then, while financial barriers to access may be removed, other barriers including long waits or no availability could hinder access, thereby undermining the universality of the system.

The projected costs include an expectation of projected population growth and ageing, take-up rates, increases in payments to GPs between 2019 and 2022  as detailed in the 2019 agreement between the Department of Health, the HSE and the Irish Medical Organisation  and additional cost growth between now and 2026.


By Ellie Goodwin







The expectations and roles of women have seen a global shift thanks to women's rights, education and birth control. What were once longstanding societal norms are now being challenged and an acceptance for different lifestyles that complement the individual has started to emerge. However, this shift is still in its infancy and not without its judgments, with women who openly reject motherhood inviting the most scrutiny.







"The goalpost expectation still exists for some people: a long-term relationship in your 20s, married by 28, with a house and a child by 30," says Amy Wan, a Chinese citizen currently residing in Daegu.







These expectations, though not as prevalent, are still apparent and impact both men and women alike. However, language like "bachelor" still evokes a slightly more attractive image than "spinster."







"I consciously chose not to be a mother, but people  my family in particular  have always assumed that I resigned myself to this because I'm 33 and single. The truth is, I've always wanted to travel. I've never wanted to be a mom," Wan says, while also admitting to having felt like she had "disappointed her family" by not subscribing to their expectations.







A rejection of motherhood in favor of the hybrid expat-travel lifestyle can lead to unfair judgments about the character of a woman. "I've been told that I'm selfish, that I have a fear of commitment and settling down. I put that down to ignorance and this social default that's been around for so long," says Eleanor Milders, who is currently into her fifth year of traveling and working abroad.







Insidious social systems which preach the narrative that having a family is primary by nature sideline other lifestyles and breed judgment against them. An individual's self-awareness in knowing that motherhood is not compatible with their personality is something that should be commended. Having a child out of obligation or external pressures rather than choice does harm to both parent and child. "I'm pleased that I'm in my 20s at a time when women are in a position to decide against being a mom if they want to. I just hope that other women remember that rather than taking to heart the opinions of others," says a 28-year-old Korean citizen named Eilisha, who has been firmly opposed to the idea of having children since her teenage years, acknowledging that she has no maternal instinct.







Solo travel may sound lonely, but that is far from the reality. Traveling alone is common and done by many, meaning that the opportunities to meet other travelers are often plentiful. "I have friends and family who have no problems when I say that I don't want to be a mom, but as soon as I mention that I want to travel alone, then the judgments and concerns come flooding," says Alina, a Romanian-born aspiring travel blogger.







For years, media representations have negatively impacted the perceptions of women choosing to travel alone. Movie plots show women being kidnapped on their travels while the media document problems of unwanted attention and publish horrifying incidents so frequently that beg for the assumption that these are commonplace occurrences. The reality is that the home country of the individual often poses the same risks.







"Sure, I need to be careful when I'm traveling alone. But I remind my nearest that I have to do the same back home too. Harassment and assault aren't exclusive to the countries I visit  there are cases of this back home too. People forget that for some reason," says Clare, a U.K. citizen who has lived in four different countries and is presently residing in Hong Kong, with plans to spend the next year traveling around South America.







In some cases, South Korea, famed for its low crime rate, is a safer place for female expatriates than their home country.







Katerina, who has traveled solo to 22 countries, spoke to The Korea Times about how welcoming strangers have helped create safe spaces for her while traveling. "It's like there's this unspoken code," she says. "When I've gone to hostels by myself, I always get approached by other women, sometimes traveling in groups and sometimes solo, and they always invite me to join their plans."







A mutual shared experience of vulnerability has given way to a mindful response and inclusivity amongst travelers, challenging the preconception that traveling alone is a lonely and unsafe experience for women.







"I think back and am so happy with the decisions I've made. I feel like I've made homes in so many people scattered all over the world in the beautiful countries I've visited. It's been a decade and I don't plan on stopping any time soon," says Lola, a Peruvian citizen.







While a woman traveling alone is sometimes judged scathingly, at the same time, motherhood is, arguably, romanticized. Realities such as loss of personhood and sleep deprivation are sometimes glossed over. Motherhood is selflessness, a forsaking of one's own needs in favor of your child's.







"I couldn't have done half of the things I wanted to if children were in the frame," says 43-year-old Tiffany, who, like her partner, has expressed a desire to travel rather than raising children. "Some of my friends are moms and my life is as equally fulfilling as theirs, but just in a different way. When I look at them I've never felt like I'm missing out, just like they've never felt like they're missing out when they look at me."







Traveling is a liberating and fulfilling lifestyle, giving way to endless experiences, be it connections with people from different countries, self-discovery or expanding one's outlook. Like any lifestyle, it has its benefits and drawbacks. Its suitability is entirely dependent on the individual and, like a parent- or career-centric life choice, may not be for everyone. Like all lifestyles, it deserves acknowledgement and acceptance, rather than judgment and criticism.







"Solo traveling and living abroad have brought out the best version of myself and motherhood has done the same for my friends. They're different but both equally valid," says Hannah, a Gwangju-based expat.







Ellie Goodwin is a teacher who has taught in schools across China, and is currently teaching in Gwangju. She also writes for

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin waits for the arrival of Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada at the Pentagon in Washington, Jan. 12. AP-Yonhap



South Korea and the United States are in consultations to arrange a visit to Seoul by U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Seoul's defense ministry said Tuesday, as the allies seek to bolster deterrence against growing North Korean military threats.



Austin's visit, if realized, is expected to focus on strengthening America's trilateral security cooperation with its Asian allies, the South and Japan, amid questions here over Tokyo's drive for stronger armament backed by Washington, observers said.



"The issue of Secretary Austin's visit here is a matter that the two countries' defense authorities have been discussing, and we cannot offer any details at this point," the ministry said in a statement.



The exact date of Austin's possible visit to Seoul remains unknown, but speculation has emerged that he could arrive here later this month after the Lunar New Year holiday, which runs from Saturday to next Tuesday.



When in Seoul, Austin is likely to pay a courtesy call on President Yoon Suk Yeol and hold talks with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup.



During the meetings here, Austin could explain the outcome of the White House summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday (Washington time).



At the summit, Biden threw his weight behind Japan's push to beef up its military capabilities under its newly revised key security documents. His backing came as many South Koreans have doubts over the security push by Japan, which they believe has yet to fully atone for its colonial-era wrongdoings.



His agenda could also include the reaffirmation of Washington's security commitment to South Korea as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has hardened his rhetoric against the allies.



During last month's key ruling party gathering, Kim raised the need for an "exponential" increase in his country's nuclear arsenal and named the South an "undoubted" enemy, while unveiling a plan to develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile and launch a military surveillance satellite at the "earliest possible date."



Earlier this month, Seoul's defense ministry briefed Yoon on a plan to hold defense ministerial talks between the allies three times or more this year.



The allies' defense chiefs usually meet at the regional security gathering, called the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore in June, and at their annual Security Consultative Meeting in November. (Yonhap)




A GREEN Party councillor has criticised the Department of Social Protection for failing to recognise Covid-19 as an occupational disease and providing financial security for healthcare workers with long Covid.

Councillor Liam Quaide raised the issue at a full council meeting in the latter months of 2022 and he received a reply at the first full council meeting of the year from the Department of Social Protection.

Covid-19 and long Covid are not considered an occupational disease as they do not satisfy the requirement outlined in the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 Section 87 (2), the department letter said.

The department is aware of the work of the EU Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work (ACSH) regarding the recognition of Covid-19 as an occupational disease as part of the European Unions Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021-2027. The Department is monitoring the European Commissions work on this issue, the letter stated.

Mr Quaide said the response from the department is an absurd suggestion.

It appears that the Department of Social Protection does not believe that healthcare workers were more at risk of Covid infection than the average person in their workplace. This is an absurd suggestion.

"We remember the extended applause for our so-called frontline heroes in Dail Eireann. This gesture rings hollow for many healthcare workers now as they face ongoing physical distress, disability, and financial insecurity, he said.

Mr Quaide, who works as a clinical psychologist in CUH with long Covid patients, said there is a disproportionate number of healthcare workers among people with severe long Covid. They are struggling with a range of symptoms, which include debilitating fatigue, physical pains, respiratory and cognitive issues. While much of the countrys workforce stayed at home during the critical stages of the pandemic, healthcare staff risked everything, and some have paid an enormous price.

An occupational injury scheme for healthcare workers afflicted with long Covid is a need that has been repeatedly identified by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. Such a scheme has been recommended by the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021-2027, Mr Quaide said.

They should be compensated for the pervasive impact of these symptoms on their health, quality-of-life and capacity to work.

"They also should be provided with pay security by the state into the future, he added.

It was agreed that Cork County Council would write back to the Minister for Social Protection Ms Heather Humphreys and ask the Department to revise their position.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Jan. 11. South Korea and the United States are discussing a possible visit to Seoul by Austin this month. AP-Yonhap



Trilateral security cooperation gains traction with signs of Seoul-Tokyo rapprochement



By Jung Min-ho



U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to visit South Korea later this month as the allies seek to bolster deterrence against evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.



Speaking to reporters Tuesday, an official at the Ministry of National Defense said the two countries are in talks to arrange his possible visit to Seoul, but declined to reveal details.



The comment comes after the Hankook Ilbo, the sister paper of The Korea Times, reported that the Pentagon chief will hold a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup in the capital following the Lunar New Year holiday (Jan. 21-24).



His visit, if realized, will likely focus on strengthening U.S.-led security cooperation in the region, along with Japan, in order to counter threats from not just North Korea but also China. At their summit in Washington, Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida reaffirmed their commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and to enhancing trilateral cooperation in working toward that shared goal.



The day before the summit, the South Korean government announced its solution to resolve the wartime forced labor issue that has long held back South Korea-Japan relations from moving forward. The government said it is seeking a compromise in which South Korean companies will donate funds to victims of Japan's colonial rule. South Korea's Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that Japanese companies must compensate the victims of labor exploitation. Tokyo maintains that all compensation matters were settled under a 1965 treaty that normalized relations between South Korea and Japan.



With the major obstacle expected to be cleared, trilateral security cooperation, such as real-time information-sharing about missiles launched from the North, is already gaining traction.





South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister Cho Hyun-dong speaks during a conference about Seoul-Tokyo relations at a hotel in central Seoul, Tuesday. Newsis
A 36-year-old homeless man who is pursuing a career in music said in relation to an allegation he was threatening or abusive in Cork city centre on Sunday: I was singing.

Paul Daly, from Wexford, did not want a solicitor to represent him in Cork District Court and was not inclined to accept Judge Olann Kellehers offer to direct him to the Probation Service for help.

It emerged during a bail application he does not avail of hostel accommodation and has not applied for social welfare. He faces a charge of engaging in threatening or abusive behaviour at St Patrick Street.

Judge Kelleher asked him: Where do you live  in doorways?

Daly nodded: All over the city I am living on the streets  bags and bins, anywhere.

Why dont you get social welfare? asked Judge Kelleher

Daly replied: Its a choice.

Asked if had any health concerns, Daly said he had not but that he was previously an addict. He eventually agreed to have a solicitor represent him at Cork District Court on free legal aid. He told this solicitor, Diarmuid Kelleher, that this addiction had been to everything.

He said he was not addicted anymore. Asked if he was getting help from anyone in getting clear of addiction, he said: Meself.

Faced with a Garda objection to him being granted bail, Daly said he would turn up in court if granted bail and told Judge Kelleher: It is a career in music I am chasing.

Asked what sort of music, Daly replied: From my heart.

Judge Kelleher said: I am going to grant him bail.

Turning to the accused, the judge said, You might not be coping well. Could you be coping better? I am not being smart. I have great sympathy for you.

The 36-year-old said: I appreciate that. Judge Kelleher released Daly on bail to appear on the threatening charge on January 19.

Where do you play, the judge asked the defendant in relation to his busking.

Daly replied: All around the city. I have a guitar. But for the last four months I am just dancing and singing.

Judge Kelleher asked: Irish dancing?

Daly laughed and replied: No. Hip-hop.

Judge Kelleher said: I hope you turn up on Thursday. I dont want you in jail.
The HSEs head of digital transformation has resigned, comparing the job to scaling Mount Everest.

Prof Martin Curley, who has worked for the HSE since 2018, publicly announced his resignation on LinkedIn on Sunday.

The HSE told The Irish Times it had received a resignation letter from Prof Curley and that as it does not discuss employee matters it had nothing further to add.

In his social media post, Prof Curley said he has called off this particular ascent on Everest.

Speaking following his resignation, Prof Curley said the HSE was not fit for purpose, and that there was significant resistance to change.

The level of resistance that I ... have seen is quite extreme. Over the years, many clinical innovators have had a lot of resistance to change, he told RTE Radio 1s Drivetime on Monday.

Asked if the HSE was fit for purpose, he said: To be very honest, no its not. But the problem is bigger than the HSE. There are many amazing people in the HSE, but there are many people, like me, who are deeply frustrated.

There have been a number of high-profile resignations in the HSE in recent months. Anne OConnor, who was chief operations officer, left to join VHI healthcare.

Former chief executive Paul Reid stepped down from his role last year, citing frustrations with feeling constrained in the HSEs ability to deliver change.
Retailers who reassign their software engineers to work on fraud prevention can end up with IT teams that have less time to address other critical security concerns.

Retailers who reassign their software engineers to work on fraud prevention can end up with IT teams that have less time to address other critical security concerns.

Retailers face a challenging environment in 2023 as global economic growth slows and the U.S. remains at risk of recession. At the same time, fraud against retailers continues to rise.

The combination of slow spending growth and increased fraud threats to revenue and customer relationships requires retailers to adjust their fraud prevention strategies. The goal should be to combat fraud  especially friendly fraud and policy abuse  without eroding revenue by turning off good customers who may be shopping less often and spending less per order.

E-commerce retailers, in particular, face a rising trend line of fraud. Juniper Research projects that global e-commerce losses will top $48 billion worldwide by the end of 2023, up from $41 billion in 2022. Juniper also predicts that from 2023 to 2027, global online commerce fraud losses will top $343 billion.

Successfully coping with this onslaught of fraud requires understanding how the current fraud landscape differs from the rise in fraud early in the pandemic. It also requires understanding the tactics organized fraudsters are using now and the best ways to counteract them.

Rapidly Evolving Fraud Landscape

While many types of e-commerce fraud are timeless, like account takeovers and card not present fraud, the way criminals approach these strategies is different now from the start of the pandemic. Then, we saw a wave of consumer account credential phishing driven by Covid-related scams, both email and social media.

Now, we see more brand impersonation tactics, including well-designed emails, social media posts, and websites that often look remarkably like legitimate ones. In addition, the ongoing tide of breached personal information keeps flowing to criminals, making it easy for fraudsters armed with botnets to efficiently test and crack passwords to exploit consumer accounts at scale.

To further complicate matters, businesses are struggling to shoulder the cost and workload of fraud prevention. Some are delaying expansion plans and pulling engineering resources into fraud prevention.

The reallocation of retail IT resources for fraud screening is especially concerning because that leaves IT teams less time to address other security concerns, which can increase the risk of a system intrusion or phishing attack that exposes customer data and leads to more fraud.

Cost of Keeping Customers

At the same time, theres more financial pressure on retailers as consumer spending growth has slowed and consumer expectations for friction-free experiences have increased.

In 2020, according to Salesforce, 80% of consumers said the experience a company provides matters as much as what it sells. In 2022, the percentage increased to 88%. During that same period, the rate of customers who expect companies to anticipate their needs jumped from 56% to 62%.

Those rising consumer expectations track with the results of a 2021 survey of more than 5,000 online shoppers by ClearSale across the U.S., Mexico, Canada, the U.K., and Australia. Most (84%) of those shoppers said they would never shop again on a website where they had a fraud experience, and 40% said they would never shop again on a website that declined their order by mistake.

Retail Fraud Tactics Trending Upward

Retailers who want to avoid losing revenue and having customers defrauded need to understand how fraud is happening now. These are the primary trends affecting retail:

More Account Takeover Fraud

With billions of login credentials available in criminal corners of the internet, and peoples tendency to reuse passwords across websites, a single exposed password can result in multiple account takeover attacks.

Massive Increase in New Account Fraud

Identity fraudsters combine stolen email addresses and other personal data to open merchant and bank accounts that appear to belong to real people. Too often, its only when bills go unpaid, or victims report card fraud that retailers realize the new customer never existed.

Buy Now, Pay Later Fraud

BNPL fraudsters often make purchases with stolen credit card numbers. By the time the victim realizes their card is being used and reports it to the retailer or their bank, the criminal and the stolen merchandise are long gone.

Promotions Abuse Is a Growing Problem

Ordinary customers and criminal gangs alike exploit promotions codes and coupons to get more of an item thats on sale and work around customer limitations.

Promotions abuse is also an in-store problem, with customers who bring in expired coupons and pressure harried cashiers to override the expiration and give them the discount.

Best Fraud Prevention Strategies for Retailers

This list of trending fraud tactics may appear overwhelming, but retailers can improve their fraud prevention with a few best practices.

Avoid Burdening Customers

First, consider the customer experience implications of every part of your fraud control process. Its critical not to place the burden of fraud control on your customers because you risk losing them. For example, in the five-country online shopper survey, 35% of consumers admitted abandoning an online cart because checkout was too much of a hassle or time-consuming.

Financial and Human Resources

Its also wise to strengthen your businesss investment in fraud prevention and overall security. At the very least, try to maintain rather than cut back current investments in those areas.

If you must require your IT department or e-commerce team to handle fraud screening in-house, consider that a stopgap measure as you vet providers who can help you outsource that responsibility so that your employees can focus on their core roles. If those teams are away from their primary duties for too long, you risk other security issues and customer dissatisfaction.

Contextual Review With AI

Implement multiple layers of fraud detection and security for orders because most fraudsters know how to get around at least some fraud prevention tactics. Ideally, your fraud solution will combine AI plus contextual review as needed to prevent fraud and avoid declining good customers by mistake. Feeding contextual review results back into the AI system will make it more precise and effective over time.

If promotion abuse is a big problem, make IP address evaluation part of your fraud prevention process. This regimen can help identify users who create multiple email addresses to get around promotion code limits.

To prevent account takeover fraud, screen all orders, even those from longstanding good customers who are signed into their accounts. AI and contextual review can analyze anomalies, such as new locations, devices, or purchasing patterns that may indicate ATO, without frustrating legitimate customers.

Monitor Data Continually

Finally, benchmark, track, and analyze your order data regularly to track order approval rates, fraud prevented, chargebacks, and false declines. Break down this data by channel and device to see where you need to improve fraud prevention and your customer experience. This practice will help your business identify new fraud trends as the economy changes, so you can continue to adapt your prevention strategies to thwart fraud and protect your relationships with your good customers.




Infrastructure, feeding still biggest hurdles for Gambia's poultry sector

A leading Gambian veterinarian and specialist in poultry diseases has disclosed that basic infrastructure and feeding remain the biggest challenges to poultry farming in the Gambia.

Dr. Jarra Jagne, who currently works at Cornell University in United States, made this observation at the official opening of a three-day training of 25 poultry farmers held at the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) at Abuko on January 9.

According to Dr. Jagne, many Gambians are enthusiastic about starting poultry farming but lack the requisite skills, knowledge and capital to venture into it. She said poultry farmers must possess vast knowledge on nutrition and diseases that affect poultry in order to become successful in poultry farming.

"For me, I just feel bad that a lot of people are just losing their monies just because they don't have the necessary knowledge," she said. "These are the kind of knowledge I am going to impart to the farmers during this training."

She added: "There are lots of people who are interested in poultry with lots of enthusiasm but we (Gambia) still don't have basic infrastructures for good poultry industry; so, a lot of poultry coming into the country are imported from the US and Brazil. We (poultry farmers) are not yet at the point where they can ask government to stop the importation of poultry because the local people are not producing enough."

The veterinarian also observed that quality feed and feed processing plants are also among the challenges poultry farmers go through in the country, stressing that the Gambia needs poultry feed processing plants as a driving force for poultry production in the country.

Dr. Jagne further noted that poultry breeds imported into the Gambia from the US and Europe could better be substituted with breeds that are more adaptable to the Gambia's climate, hinting that such breeds can be source out from other countries such as Egypt, Bangladesh and India.

She acknowledged the challenges confronting local poultry farmers amid the import of frozen chicken into the country that are cheaper in terms of pricing, saying that poultry farmers can diversify their market through production of guinea fowl that has similar taste with chicken and much easier to raise in sub-Saharan Africa.

Remarking on the issue, Dr. Kebba Daffeh, a private consultant partnering with Dr. Jagne, described the three-day capacity building training dubbed "Strengthening the poultry value chain in The Gambia" as very important to the development of the poultry industry in the country.

According to him, the training is part of the MSDG programme under the Diaspora Development Grant (DDG) meant to build the capacity of 25 poultry farmers and also another set of 25 students. The training, he said, is being undertaken to build the capacity of poultry farmers, as the sector remains one of the most important sectors in the country and second only to fisheries, with fish being the most important source of protein for many families in the country.

Dr. Daffeh also observed that the problem with poultry farming in the country is lack of capacity as many Gambians entering the poultry industry lack technical capacity, adding that their capacity building programme is envisaged to help close the capacity gap in the poultry industry in the national quest to propel the industry to another level.

He said the training would accord both students and the poultry farmers a new set of knowledge in many areas such as postmortem and pathology, bio-security (keeping birds safe from diseases), adding that disease prevention is key to poultry farming as proper bio-security measures will ensure birds are free from diseases.

The local consultant for the training noted that participants would be trained on business aspect of poultry and how they can manage and make their businesses profitable.

"A well managed poultry is one of the most lucrative businesses one may venture into," he said. "I think this is one of the most important training that these farmers will receive anywhere in the country."

- The Point




USDA official to serve as keynote speaker for Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit at 2023 IPPE

The annual Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit will once again be held at the 2023 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States.

Sponsored by the US Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY), the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) and the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), the summit will happen on January 24, and is offered free of charge to all registered IPPE attendees.

The United States Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie will be the keynote speaker. He will present on the topic, "Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Grants: Insights into the Benefits the Animal Agriculture Industry Can Realize."

Bonnie will also share specific examples of some of the funded programmes, plans or ideas for accounting and monetising emissions reduction technologies linked to poultry and livestock.

The summit's organisers commented: "As a valued partner of the animal agriculture industry, we applaud USDA's multi-billion dollar investment to support climate-smart commodities that stand to open new markets and extend our efforts to be more sustainable."

Following Bonnie's presentation, representatives of the meat, poultry and egg, and animal feed industries will share updates on industry programmes or tools to advance their aspirations of producing more protein in a sustainable fashion, followed by a Q&A session at the conclusion. The speakers for this portion of the program include those from North American Meat Institute chief strategy officer Eric Mittenthal, Institute for Feed Education & Research executive director Laura Moody and US Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs executive director Ryan Bennett.

The program will include a ceremony announcing the winners of USPOULTRY's Family Farm Environmental Excellence Awards for 2023.

- USPOULTRY




Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam to import Indonesian corn

Arief Prasetyo Adi, head of Indonesia's National Food Agency (Bapanas), said the country will export corn to Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam this year, The Star reported.

Arief said Indonesia will export 200,000 tonnes of corn to South-East Asian markets in the first three months of this year.

She said Bapanas met with representatives from the target importers' pertinent agencies to discuss the export scheme, adding that that there are still a number of obstacls such as the technology needed to transfer corn from one ship to another.

The government set aside IDR 2 trillion (~US$130 million; IDR 1000 = US$0.066) in investment funds to develop this technology, but it hasn't been completed.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo requested an increase in corn productivity by opening new farms and sowing high-quality seeds, according to Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto.

The President's directive, Airlangga said, was based on consideration of the potential of corn plants in the country. Indonesia produced 34.4 million tonnes of corn in 2022.

The Indonesian government also intends to improve the efficiency of corn supply chain operations, including harvest, post-harvest processing, storage, transportation, and distribution.

- The Star




Terengganu, Malaysia, sets apart land for layer poultry production

The state government of Terengganu, Malaysia, has identified 120 hectares of land in the Setiu district to be developed as a hub for layer poultry farming to tackle the state's egg supply shortage and avoid dependence on imported food sources.

State Agriculture, Food Industry, Plantation, Commodity and Rural Development Committee chairman Dr. Azman Ibrahim said discussions had been held with several local investors, adding that each of them had shown interest in the initiative.

"The state government welcomes investors to open layer farms in Setiu to meet the state's ever-increasing needs every year," Dr. Ibrahim said. "So far, we have held discussions with two or three companies, including from Melaka that own broiler farms in Terengganu."

He said the project will start middle of this year based on the same model or mechanism used in other agricultural projects in the state.

He commented that the state government would provide the location and basic amenities as well as other assistance to attract investors, adding that the project would create job opportunities and generate the local community's economy.

"We set a target to have our own source of eggs within one or two years from now," Dr. Ibrahim said. "We have done the same for broiler farms and so far, Terengganu has 138 broiler farms and can meet 65% of the state's needs."

Meanwhile, he noted the state government did not intend to import eggs from other countries, including Thailand, to meet market demand as they are more expensive and are of poor quality.

According to Dr. Ibrahim, starting in the middle of last month, the state Fama managed to bring in more than 340,000 eggs from other states to meet the needs of about three million people.

- Bernama




Australian university research team creates tool to aid beef industry in reducing emissions

A research team led by the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia has developed a tool to help the global beef industry simultaneously reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions while meeting demand for meat.

The team assessed the economic and emissions impacts of different cattle feeds at different locations around the globe to formulate a framework to guide and inform industry sustainability efforts.

Postdoctoral research fellow Adam C. Castonguay from UQ's School of Veterinary Science said the study showed that as much as 85% of emissions could be cut without an overall economic hit to the beef sector.

"This can be achieved by opting for more efficient feeds and locations, and restoring forests in inefficient areas, without increasing global costs of production or reducing demand for beef," Castonguay said. "We have mapped out the most efficient locations around the world to produce beef and the maps change when factors are altered, such as how much society values reducing emissions over reducing production costs.

"This has given us an unprecedented insight into the what, where, and why' of beef production at a global level and decisions about the future of the industry can be informed by inputting trade-offs and opportunities."

The research group said the tool could be used by governments and industry to develop policy and strategy.

"There will be continued global demand for beef and there are a huge number of livelihoods associated with it, so this research aims to find an appropriate balance to maintain the bottom line of the sector," Castonguay said. "Further economic modelling and fine-tuning the data for specific locations would reveal the implications of any changes, including on beef prices for consumers."

Castonguay said the optimisation method developed by the team using mapping technology overcame historic roadblocks to finding an environmental-economic balance.

"There are many innovations in cattle feed to increase productivity or reduce emissions which have not been analysed as a trade-off with other values and goals," he said. "Our results highlight the massive potential for improvements in the way we produce beef, to help us to meet global sustainability goals.

"The extent to which we reduce emissions and production costs depends on our values or preferences as a society."

- The University of Queensland




US beef prices may increase this year due to tighter beef supplies

US ranchers were told by Don Close, American Ag Credit Chief Research and Analytics Officer, that beef prices in the country may increase in 2023 due to tighter beef supplies, The Record-Courier reported.



Close said cattle slaughter in the US is expected to reach 4 million head in 2022, slightly higher than 2011.

At the annual Cattlemen's Update hosted by the University of Nevada, Reno, Close said that there had been a lot of speculation during the second quarter that cow slaughter would drop sharply.

The Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program of the US Department of Agriculture and the Western Center for Risk Management Education are two additional partners in the annual Cattlemen's Update, which is coordinated by the university's College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources and its Extension and Experiment Station units.

Due to rising hay prices, he said, drought had a significant impact on ranchers' decisions to cull their herds throughout the year.

He said that as a result, cattle became lighter and lighter, having nowhere else to go but into feed yards.

Although most ranchers in the Nevada market sell calves, he said that now might be a good time to hold onto those, adding that the market has enough room to keep calves through to 2024,

He said that although spring grazing might be improved as a result of the rainy weather, winter grazing numbers are extremely low.

Close said they don't see the number of winter grazing cattle that usually come in the window of March-May, adding that there has been enough precipitation that spring grazing opportunities may present themselves.

The fed cattle supply is typically at its lowest point in the spring, but prices will be at their highest then.

Close said there was some softening in 2022 after a strong demand for beef in 2021.

Foreign markets, which consume between 12% to 15% of American production, may increase demand. He said that 7075% of exports go to Asia.

He said China is the third biggest importer of beef behind Japan and South Korea, with Mexico tied for second.

Close also said they expect incredibly good beef prices in 2023, as well as better average prices over the next three to maybe four years.

- The Record-Courier




Kenya's financial aid helps push up poultry farming earnings significantly in Bungoma County

A cash injection of Ksh81.9 million (US$660,523) by the Kenyan government through the National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Growth Project (NARIGP) to boost poultry farming in Bungoma County has seen farmers' earnings leap from KSH33 million in 2018 to KSH300 million (US$2.4 million) currently.

The National Agricultural and Rural Inclusive Project (NARIGP) is a Kenyan government and World Bank/ International Development Association (IDA) funded project.

The project covers Bungoma, Embu, Kisii, Homa Bay, Samburu, Kirinyaga, Nyamira, Turkana, Nandi, Makueni, Kwale, Meru, Vihiga, Kitui, Narok, Kiambu, Muranga, Kilifi, Nakuru, Migori and Trans Nzoia counties.

Before the intervention, poultry farmers in Bungoma had little knowledge on proper chicken rearing as a commercial enterprise. Farmers lacked the skills, knowledge and consistency to do the right thing.

As a result, hatching rates remained low and farmers experienced high chick mortality due to high disease incidences as they had limited knowledge on proper feeds leading to low productivity.

NARIGP county coordinator in Bungoma, Rebecca Lusweti, said the entry of the NARIGP project in 2018 changed everything. The project narrowed in on 20 wards in five sub-counties.

Lusweti said NARIGP employed a Participatory Integrated Community Development (PICD) approach which enabled the communities in the five sub counties to align themselves to the chicken value chain.

Barazas were held at the ward levels that brought together poultry farmers and mobilised them into 264 common interest groups [CIG] of 25 members per group with each group developing a proposal along their respective value chain.

Lusweti said farmers were trained on the vaccination cycle, feeding, brooding and improved housing after which the 264 groups submitted their proposals to NARIGP secretariat at the county for funding.

Farmers were trained at each value chain stage (input supply, production and marketing). They were also trained on disease and parasite management, proper housing, feeding, hatching, brooding, marketing and organisational management.

The farmers were then issued with feed formulation equipment and raw materials and taught how to formulate their own feeds.

The input supply value chain stages included chick incubation and feed formulation while production centered on chicken rearing aspects.

Chicken farmers received incubator machines, feed formulation machines, mixers and millers and constructed more than 100 chicken houses.

Through purchase of incubators, the hatching capacity increased to 10,000 chicks per cycle.

Lusweti said that through the project, farmers in the selected wards have increased the average number of live chickens per house hold to an average of 100 birds per farmer from an initial low of 10 birds.

She said farmers now enjoy chicken rearing as they have increased knowledge and have access to fertile eggs, chicken feeds, raw materials for feed formulation, vaccines, drugs and chicken marketing.

The number of birds has increased from 10 per farmer to 100 birds per farmer translating to 660,000 birds in project areas from an initial of 66,000 birds.

Lusweti said farmers are now able to formulate their own feeds reducing cost of production by 30% whereas improved housing and adoption of vaccination has reduced mortality rates by 50%.

The use of incubators has increased hatchability rates, hence increasing the number of chicks per hatch.

Lusweti revealed that the groups after formation were federated into two producer organisations namely Webuye East Poultry Cooperative and Sirisia Cooperative.

The cooperatives signed a contract with SHIFFA Chicks limited who are running Chwele slaughter house in Bungoma County.

According to farmers, feed formulation machinery has lowered the cost of production and increased supply of affordable feeds to the farmers. They have also opened seven feed distribution outlets in the five sub-counties.

She said that the co-financing model where farmers contributed 10% of the proposal budget, and NARIGP contributed the remaining 90% enhanced participation and ownership of the project by farmers.

Farmers' connection with Kenya Agricultural Livestock Research Organization (KALRO), which, through the supply of improved indigenous chicken, has helped increase productivity while market linkages with SHIFFA poultry farm at the Chwele slaughter house has increased sales.

According to Lusweti and several Common interest group (CIG) leaders who spoke to KNA, the CIG approach to chicken production is the solution to commercialisation and profitability.

But she pointed out that inconsistency in supply of electricity lowers hatchability percentage and proposed the use of solar driven hatcheries.

- Kenya News Agency




Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su has been acquitted by the prosecution of corruption charges in connection with his son's family once living in his official residence, judicial officials said Tuesday.







Kim was under investigation on suspicion of violating an anti-corruption law for public officials by allowing his son's family to stay in the chief justice's official residence in central Seoul for free from January 2018 to April 2019.







The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office dropped the case against Kim last month, citing the absence of any Supreme Court regulation restricting the use of the chief justice's official residence by his or her family, the officials said.







The prosecution has also dismissed a separate corruption charge against Kim in connection with his daughter-in-law, an in-house lawyer of Hanjin Group, dining with her company colleagues at the chief justice's official residence in early 2018, when the top court was deliberating on a case involving a Hanjin Group company. (Yonhap)


Papua New Guinea bans chicken imports from Asia and Australia

Papua New Guinea's National Agriculture Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA) has announced a directive to ban imports of fresh, frozen and chilled chicken, as well as chicken products, from Asia and Australia due to a biosecurity risk, Loop reported.

Joel Alu, managing director for NAQIA, said importers are only permitted to import chicken from New Zealand.

Alu said that the Papua New Guinea government has instructed importers and the general public to stop bringing in fresh, frozen, and chilled chicken through Circular Number 01-2023.

He said that the country's Poultry Industry Association had expressed concern to the government via the Minister of Agriculture regarding the biosecurity risk associated with the import of fresh, frozen, and chilled chicken as well as chicken products from Australia and Asia.

Alu said all import permits from all nations other than New Zealand have been terminated as of January 6, 2023.

He said that the ban would be in place indefinitely.

- Loop
Description

Over the last years, the European Investment Bank Group has shown that fighting COVID-19, financing the recovery, and investing in climate action and environmental sustainability are mutually supportive goals. Innovation, development and green finance are the cornerstones of our approach to creating a more sustainable economy. In 2021, the coronavirus pandemic continued to disrupt lives and businesses around the globe. At the same time, it became clear that the climate and environment crises had reached emergency levels. Urgent action is required if we are to meet the Paris Agreements commitments and avoid biodiversity loss. The European investment Bank Group is ready to tackle these challenges, the biggest of our time. This report shows how we delivered a record 94.9 billion in financing in 2021, supporting sustainable and inclusive growth in Europe and beyond.

The Sustainability report should be read in conjunction with its two annexes, the GRI and SASB disclosures, as well as with the Groups 2021 TCFD report.




A Korean woman has been found dead on Mount Annapurna in Nepal, according to a local South Korean community association Monday.







Kim Jae-soon in her 50s was found at 1 p.m. Sunday (local time) by a local guide at a height of 5,200 meters in the Thorong La Pass in the north of the Annapurna Himal in central Nepal, according to Kim Young-in, the Korean chief of Kathmandu for the World Federation of Overseas Korean Traders Association (OKTA).







She was trekking alone and may have died of heart attack caused by altitude sickness, he said citing mountaineering guides.







According to her airline tickets, she arrived in Nepal on Dec. 1 and was scheduled to return to Korea on Jan. 25. (Yonhap)


Apple may unveil new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros tomorrow They could be the first Macs with WiFi 6E.

Apple might not wait long to unveil its first products of 2023. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, 9to5Mac, MacRumors and Front Page Tech (aka Jon Prosser) all claim Apple will have a product announcement tomorrow. While most aren't clear on details, Gurman hints these may be the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro M2 models he discussed last fall.

At the time, Gurman said these systems would share the same design as the M1 variants released in late 2021. They would center around new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips that would feature up to 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores in the Max. There wouldn't be a touchscreen or other major revisions, in other words. You'd mainly buy one to get the best performance possible from a Mac laptop.

The new MacBook Pros are imminent (Apple does have an announcement tomorrow - with press briefings later this week and embargoes lifting next Monday). The new Macs arriving early this year first reported here in October https://t.co/P34OdoMRgZ https://t.co/9JlQ0ueBO1  Mark Gurman (@markgurman) January 16, 2023

However, they might be the first Macs to include WiFi 6E. Twitter user Wade Penner spotted an unreleased MacBook Pro in a Canadian wireless database with support for the newer WiFi standard's 6GHz band. So long as you have a supporting router, you should see higher maximum speeds, lower latency and less congestion on a busy local network. Apple's iPad Pro M2 is already compatible with WiFi 6E.

There haven't been mentions of other products debuting in the same time frame, so you might not want to count on a Mac mini M2 or other revisions. If the rumors are accurate, though, this could be good news for anyone who's been holding off on a MacBook Pro to ensure they get the absolute latest hardware.
Apple will audit its labor practices in the US after union-busting accusations A third-party firm will reportedly carry out the review.

Apple has agreed to review its labor practices in the US after regulators and employees accused the company of union busting. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of its annual shareholders meeting, Apple said it would carry out an assessment of its "efforts to comply with its Human Rights Policy as it relates to workers freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in the United States by the end of calendar year 2023."

The company will bring in a third-party firm to conduct the audit, according to The New York Times. A group of investors, including five New York City public worker pension funds, that controls around $7 billion worth of Apple stock called for the assessment in a September shareholder proposal . New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who started talks with Apple on behalf of the city pension funds, told the Times that Apple agreed to the audit if the investors withdrew the proposal.

Workers organizing at Apple for a collective voice in their workplace have reported strong pushback from the company  that flies in the face of Apples stated human rights commitment to workers freedom of association, Lander said in a statement . Im grateful to Apples board of directors for listening to the concerns of shareholders regarding worker rights and hope the company will heed the findings of the third-party assessment and take concrete steps to adopt a genuine commitment to non-interference that respects the rights of its workers."

In a letter to Apple chairman Arthur Levinson, the investor group urged Apple to hire a firm with expertise in labor (and that has not advised clients on how to prevent workforces from unionizing) to carry out the review. The investors also brought Microsoft's neutral stance on labor organizing to Levinson's attention and urged Apple to include its global supply chain and non-US operations as part of the audit.

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"Apple has made commitments to worker rights globally as well as in its supply chain, and while much of the current organizing activity has occurred in the US, there are Apple worker organizing efforts occurring around the world, including in Australia and the UK ," they wrote. "Addressing these topics at a global level can add credibility to the assessment and address other potential areas of concern proactively and efficiently."

News of the assessment comes amid talks between Apple and unionized workers at a store in Towson, Maryland over their first union contract. Workers in at least a half-dozen stores have accused Apple of violating labor laws, claiming that the company has clamped down on attempts to organize. The Communications Workers of America, which represents a collective of Apple Store workers in Oklahoma City, said in a National Labor Relations Board filing that the company set up an illegal union controlled by management at a store in Columbus, Ohio to thwart support for an independent employee union.

"While a credible, independent assessment by individuals or organizations with the appropriate expertise on workers' freedom of association could uncover important information about Apple's response to worker organizing, including its use of union busting consultants, workers need concrete solutions now. Apple must commit to a true policy of neutrality toward union organizing efforts," the Communications Workers of America told Engadget in a statement. "Apple's workers deserve respect and a voice on the job, not just another self-congratulatory exercise in corporate image management. We support investor advocates efforts to ensure this is a credible audit."

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
Microsoft could announce wide-sweeping layoffs within the next few days. The possibility of the tech giant laying off a significant part of its workforce was first reported by Sky News and later corroborated by Bloomberg. Sky put the number of the cuts at approximately five percent of the companys 220,000-person workforce or about 11,000 employees total. Bloomberg said it couldnt find out the scale of the layoffs but reported they would affect a number of engineering divisions and that theyre set to be significantly larger than other rounds of job cuts undertaken by Microsoft over the last year.

A Microsoft spokesperson told Engadget the company does not comment on rumor and speculation. If the 11,000 figure is accurate, it would equal the 11,000 jobs Meta eliminated last year and fall short of the 18,000 positions Amazon expects to cut once the retailer is done with its far-reaching layoffs. In any case, Microsoft seemingly finds itself on a familiar trajectory. The company saw profits soar during the first two years of the pandemic, and it tried to capitalize on the moment by going on a hiring spree, adding 50,000 employees over that same time frame. But as recently as this past October, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned of imminent belt-tightening due to worsening macroeconomic conditions. We're focused on helping our customers do more with less, while investing in secular growth areas and managing our cost structure in a disciplined way," he told investors and analysts at the time. Hell likely have more to say about Microsoft's current position when the company announces its second-quarter earnings on January 24th.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
DoorDash and Starbucks plan to expand their delivery partnership to all 50 US states by March this year, the companies announced Tuesday . Following a pilot that began last year in Atlanta, Houston and Sacramento (and later expanded to Seattle, Portland and New York City), people in North California, Texas, Georgia and Florida can now turn to DoorDash when they want a Starbucks coffee delivered to them.

According to Starbucks, it will offer 95 percent of the items found on in-store menus through DoorDash. You can also customize your order just like when you order in person. The app allows you to specify whether you want syrup in your drink, your milk preference and your choice of expresso roast. DoorDash also promises prompt delivery of coffee orders but stops short of a specific guarantee. DashPass customers wont need to pay additional delivery fees to get their pumpkin spice latte orders to their door. For everyone else, DoorDashs standard delivery and service fees apply.
Family photos record joyous moments in SW Chinas Chongqing

People's Daily Online) 09:39, January 17, 2023

Dressers were busy putting makeup on several senior couples at an elderly care service center in Nanan district, southwest Chinas Chongqing Municipality, Jan. 10, 2023.

With the Spring Festival approaching, a public welfare organization in Nanan district collaborated with two residential communities to launch an activity in which elderly couples had their wedding anniversary and family photos taken free of charge.

The activity aims to use cameras to capture local residents smiling faces, and see in a happy and meaningful New Year.

A photographer volunteers to capture precious moments for a family in southwest Chinas Chongqing Municipality. (Peoples Daily Online/Chen Qi)

As the older generation lived in a time when photographic equipment was not widely available and smart phones did not exist, many of these couples only had one photo taken for their marriage certificates when they got married. For a long time, they have held the wish of taking beautiful pictures to celebrate their wedding anniversaries.

After residents of two communities were informed about the activity a few days ago, many of them actively signed up, including several couples celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. One of them is 92 years old.

One couple taking part in the activity were 88-year-old Yan Shunzhen and her husband, 92-year-old Li Zhaorong. This year marks their 67th wedding anniversary.

Li Zhaorong takes a photo with his family members in southwest Chinas Chongqing Municipality. (Photo/Li Hui)

When we got married, we didnt have any chance to take wedding photos. Today, our dream has finally come true. Putting these clothes on makes me feel younger, said Yan.

These wedding photos capture the couples sweet memories, and are of special significance for them.

I married my husband 50 years ago, and we celebrate our wedding anniversary this month. Back in the old days, there was only a photo on a piece of paper as the marriage certificate, without fine clothes or red covers. We have been together 50 years now, said a woman surnamed Chen from one of the two residential communities, We want to follow the trend of the times and take our own wedding photos. Im delighted that this new years wish can be fulfilled within the community.

After the activity, the organizer plans to present some of the photos as gifts to the residents. Senior citizens who took part in the activity said the photos were a valuable gift for the upcoming new year and would be cherished forever.

A family poses for photos in southwest Chinas Chongqing Municipality. (Peoples Daily Online/Chen Qi)

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun)




Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Tuesday the government will step up the pace of deregulation after the Lunar New Year holiday, promising practical changes in removing regulations hindering businesses.







"In the new year, the government will focus more on creating practical and specific changes so that the private sector can feel the results of regulatory innovation in earnest," Han told a Cabinet meeting.







Han called for relevant ministries to make utmost efforts to come up with measures to "bring dynamism to the private sector."







Meanwhile, the Cabinet meeting endorsed the nomination of Cho Hong-sik, a Seoul National University law school professor, as climate ambassador.







Cho was nominated last week after President Yoon Suk Yeol sacked Na Kyung-won, former vice chair of the presidential committee on low birthrates and ambassador for climate and environment.







Yoon also named Kim Young-mi, a standing member of the committee, to replace Na as vice chair, but Kim's appointment is not subject to the Cabinet's approval.







The dismissal of Na, a former four-term lawmaker, came after Yoon's office openly voiced displeasure with Na's policy suggestion to tackle Korea's record low birthrate. (Yonhap)


The Morning After: Wyoming wants to phase out new EV sales by 2035 Yes, you read that right.

While other US states (and the rest of the world) inch towards goals of banning gasoline-powered cars, Wyoming is going in the opposite direction. The states legislature is considering a resolution that calls for a phase-out of new electric vehicle sales by 2035. Introduced on Friday, Senate Joint Resolution 4 has support from members of the states House of Representatives and Senate. The resolution says the state would need to build massive amounts of new power generation to sustain the misadventure of electric vehicles. Its goal is to phase out the sales of EVs entirely by 2035. Yes, EVs.

In the proposal, a group of lawmakers led by Senator Jim Anderson says Wyomings proud and valued oil and gas industry has created countless jobs and contributed revenue to the state. They add that a lack of charging infrastructure in Wyoming would make the widespread use of EVs impracticable. The legislation may partially be a political stunt, but Wyoming produced 85.43 million barrels of oil in 2021  its a crucial part of the states economy. But, Wyomings Carbon County also has one of the largest wind farms in the US.

 Mat Smith

The Morning After isnt just a newsletter  its also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

The biggest stories you might have missed

They could be the first Macs with WiFi 6E.

Subscribe to the Engadget Deals Newsletter Great deals on consumer electronics delivered straight to your inbox, curated by Engadgets editorial team. See latest Subscribe Please enter a valid email address Please select a newsletter By subscribing, you are agreeing to Engadget's Terms and Privacy Policy.

Multiple sources suggest Apple is prepping new MacBook Pro models for launch very soon. Bloombergs Mark Gurman teased last fall that these systems would share the same design as the M1 variants released in late 2021. They would center around new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips that would feature up to 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores in the Max. Dont expect a touchscreen or other major revisions. At least, not yet. They might be the first Macs to include WiFi 6E, though.

Continue reading.

Googles game-streaming service shutters tomorrow.

Google has confirmed it will release a tool to enable Bluetooth support on the Stadia controller. You'll have to wait until next week to download it, but this should make the device useful for just about any title with gamepad support. Stadia as we know it is about to end, but Google's Immersive Stream for Games should ensure the cloud functionality lives on for other companies offering game streams. The team behind Stadia has also released a Snake clone, Worm Game, as a final gift to users.

Continue reading.

The technology could protect rocket launchpads and power plants.

University of Geneva

Lightning rods, your time is up. European researchers have successfully tested a system that uses terawatt-level laser pulses to steer lightning toward a 26-foot rod. It's not limited by its height and can cover much wider areas  in this case, 590 feet  while penetrating clouds and fog. The laser ionizes nitrogen and oxygen molecules, releasing electrons and creating a plasma that conducts electricity. As the laser fires at a very quick 1,000 pulses per second, it's more likely to intercept lightning as it forms.

Continue reading.
Weather Alert

...National Weather Service Cold Water Safety Message... ...Please check with state and local authorities regarding guidelines for allowed activities... * Very warm air temperatures today around 80 are expected today. This may cause people to underestimate the dangers of the cold water temperatures which are currently only in the lower 40s across Lake Champlain, and in the upper 30s to lower 40s in the regions' smaller lakes and rivers. * The cold water temperatures can quickly cause hypothermia to anyone immersed in the water. According to the US Coast Guard, when the water temperatures are below 50 degrees, the chance of immediate incapacitation due to cold shock is extremely high. Anyone on small boats, canoes or kayaks should plan accordingly if recreating this weekend and use extreme caution to avoid this threat. Paddle smart from the start and always wear your life jacket!
Italian police arrested Matteo Messina Denaro, the country's most wanted mafia boss who had been on the run for three decades.
During a visit to the Texas border city of El Paso, New York Mayor Eric Adams criticized the federal government's response to the influx of immigrants into U.S. cities. He said Sunday, "We need clear coordination."
Prior to this, Shah was with Dentsu Creative as President  West, leading operations, revenue, people and culture for Dentsu Webchutney, and regional business for rest of Dentsu Creative

Harsh Shah has been appointed as Chief Digital Officer at Wunderman Thompson South Asia effective 17th January 2023.

In his last stint, Shah was with Dentsu Creative as President  West, and led operations, revenue, people and culture for Dentsu Webchutney, and regional business for the rest of Dentsu Creative.

In his new role, he will be responsible for accelerating the digital transformation of the Wunderman Thompson Group, and working with all of its agencies across Creative, Communication, Tech, Health and Commerce to deliver an integrated solution to all clients across the Group.

Commenting on the appointment, Shams Jasani, Chief Executive Officer, Wunderman Thompson South Asia, said, We are delighted to welcome Harsh to the Wunderman Thompson family. He brings in a wealth of experience across Digital, Technology and Commerce. Our work at Wunderman Thompson harnesses the power of creative, technology, and Commerce to drive unprecedented growth for some of the worlds biggest brands. We are glad to have Harsh onboard at a critical juncture when we are keenly looking at offering end-to-end capabilities to our clients at scale.

On his appointment, Shah said, I am deeply excited by the vision drawn up at WT and my specific charter as a key growth partner. I look forward to drive this vision and unlock growth with my highly experienced and talented peers at the agency. In the ever-evolving social and economic fabric of the world, it is essential to look at culture and consumer demand as an important ongoing thread in what we do. Leading Digital at WT makes this journey especially thrilling for me.

Based out of Mumbai, Shah will report directly to Shams Jasani, Chief Executive Officer, Wunderman Thompson South Asia.

Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India)
Tuesday, January 17, 2023

There have been several recent news stories about death doulas and end-of-life issues in the media. Heres a roundup of those stories.

NPR: End-of-life doulas are working to make conversations about death easier

Talking about dying can be uncomfortable, awkward and heartbreaking. But a growing number of people called end-of-life doulas are working to make conversations about the inevitability of death easier for patients and their families. Anyone can call themselves a death doula. No license is required and no accreditation agency oversees them. However, Alvin Harmon, the head of the National End-of-Life Doula Alliance, says the practice has been steadily growing since the pandemic.

Read or listen to the story here.

Albuquerque Journal : One sister died in pain. The other passed away peacefully. A look at the rising use of New Mexicos medical aid-in-dying law.

The states End-of-Life Options Act allows terminally ill adults to seek a doctors help to end their life. More than 130 people took the life-ending medication in 2022, and the pace is picking up as the law becomes more well known. Since it went into effect in June 2021, 170 people altogether have used the law, according to state records.

Its also triggered a court challenge. A local physician and a Christian doctors association filed a federal lawsuit seeking to declare parts of the law unconstitutional. The University of New Mexico Hospital, meanwhile, is establishing a medical aid-in-dying program to help providers and patients navigate the law.

Read the full article.

Washington Post: Dying Can Be a Taboo Topic. Enter the Death Doula

Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. is hosting a series of events called Death Doula Days. Unlike labor doulas, who focus on childbirth, death doulas aim to ease the daunting dying process for people in their final days, offering emotional, physical and spiritual support. Death doulas do not address medical concerns, and they differ from hospice chaplains, as they are not religious professionals. Death doulas help people live out their dying days as they choose  whether thats reflecting on regrets, calling loved ones to say goodbye or simply sitting still.

Read the full article.

Kiplinger.com: Funeral Planning Can Prevent Further Grief

When a loved one dies, the grief experienced by family members may be overwhelming. Even when the deceased was elderly and the death was expected, it can be challenging to move forward with funeral planning and burial preparations. Imagine how much more difficult it can be for a family who loses a loved one unexpectedly.

Despite strong consumer protection laws(opens in new tab) and the licensing of funeral home directors, it is still possible to experience bad service from a funeral home. But with good information and careful planning, family members should have their moment to pay their respects with dignity.

Read the full article.

Older News Stories

TheConversation.com: What is palliative care? How is it different from hospice?

Palliative care and hospice care are two very different things.

Hospice care is a Medicare-covered benefit for people whose doctors believe they are in the last six months of life, and who want to stop treatments targeting their disease  such as chemotherapy for cancer  to focus on comfort. In contrast, palliative care is appropriate for people at any stage of serious illness and is provided alongside treatments aimed at curing disease.

Palliative care specialists like me are experts in treating physical symptoms like pain and nausea. But just as important, we listen to patients stories and find out what is most important to them. We help make difficult treatment decisions and address the sadness and uncertainty that often accompany serious illness. We walk alongside patients and their families at a time that can be frightening and overwhelming, offering comfort, information, guidance and hope.

Read the full article.

Psychology Today: Humor, Serious Illness and End of Life

Washington Post: The stunning rise of cremation reveals Americas changing idea of death

Washington Post: Shes fighting for a right to euthanasia. But she doesnt want to die.

Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death, is a pioneering death educator.

Related
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea floor leader Park Hong-geun speaks at a general meeting of the party's lawmakers at the National Assembly in western Seoul, Jan. 17. Yonhap



The floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) threatened Tuesday to pursue an independent counsel investigation of first lady Kim Keon Hee, accusing the prosecution of conducting a politically motivated probe against party leader Lee Jae-myung.



Rep. Park Hong-geun made the remark a day after Lee was asked to appear for questioning, claiming the prosecution is fabricating charges against Lee while turning a blind eye to allegations of stock price manipulation involving the first lady.



On Monday, prosecutors asked Lee to appear for questioning on Jan. 27 as part of an investigation into corruption allegations involving a high-profile property development project. The summons came less than a week after Lee underwent the first round of questioning in a separate bribery case.



Lee has flatly denied all allegations against him.





Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee signs a guestbook during a visit to the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 16. Yonhap
The Montana Supreme Court issued a split decision Tuesday in part of an ongoing case over how transgender people can amend the sex listing on their birth certificates, leaving all parties in another legal standoff over which rules the state health department can apply when evaluating requests.

In a unanimous ruling written by Chief Justice Mike McGrath on behalf of a five-justice panel, the court said Billings District Court Judge Michael Moses was correct last September in requiring the health department revert to a more lenient 2017 rule in order to abide his preliminary injunction in the case over Senate Bill 280. That Republican-backed bill from the last legislative session required proof of surgery and a court order before an individual can change their listed sex between female or male.

But the court also said that Moses did not have the authority to block a later, more aggressive rule adopted by the health department barring nearly all birth certificate changes to sex. Plaintiff attorneys, which include the ACLU of Montana, had not challenged the departments most recent 2022 rules in court as part of their ongoing lawsuit, the court wrote.

The Preliminary Injunction Order requires DPHHS to maintain the status quo, which reinstates the 2017 Rule for as long as the Preliminary Injunction Order  which DPHHS did not appeal  remains in effect, the Tuesday Supreme Court ruling said. However, DPHHS is entitled to relief insofar as the [September order] purports to enjoin DPHHS from engaging in rulemaking, as Plaintiffs have not properly challenged the 2022 Rule under MAPA and its implementation therefore has not been brought before the District Court.

ACLU of Montana and the state health department issued conflicting statements Tuesday night about where the courts ruling leaves the states current policies for handling changes to birth certificates.

The Supreme Courts order confirms that the preliminary injunction granted by the Yellowstone County District Court on April 21, 2022, which remains in effect, restored the 2017 Rule that was in place prior to the states passage of SB 280, said the ACLU of Montanas statement.

The civil rights group also said that, in accordance with the Supreme Courts interpretation, their attorneys have challenged the departments latest 2022 rule as part of the case pending before Judge Moses. The Billings judge has not yet ruled on that petition, which the state health department argued against.

Department of Public Health and Human Services Director Charlie Brereton said Tuesday evening that the state will apply its rule passed in 2022 in light of the courts ruling.

The department is pleased the Montana Supreme Court reaffirmed the rule of law, and given the courts decision, the department will follow and implement its 2022 rule, Breretons complete statement said.

DPHHS spokesperson Jon Ebelt did not respond to additional calls and requests for comment.

Prior to the courts ruling, the department had spent several months adhering to the rule from 2017, which allowed applicants to fill out a short form and attest to a need to update the sex on their birth certificate without proof of surgery or other medical records. The policy was a rule adopted under the administration of former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.

The Tuesday order, and the likely legal action yet to come in Moses court, is just the latest twist in the back and forth between transgender Montanans and their advocates and the health department that is part of Republican Gov. Greg Gianfortes administration.

In the months following Moses April order enjoining SB 280, the health department did not reimplement the 2017 rule that plaintiffs said constitutes the status quo in the case. Instead, the agency said the 2017 rule had been replaced by SB 280 and, therefore, could not be resurrected. Instead, the department adopted a more restrictive emergency rule in May that prohibited nearly all changes to the sex category on birth certificates, saying the emergency policy was necessary because of the ambiguous and uncertain situation created by Moses ruling. Over the objections of public health advocates and transgender Montanans, the department adopted a permanent version of that rule in September.

The departments actions were the subject of a heated exchange in Judge Moses courtroom late that month.

I said all aspects, Moses said during the September hearing, referring to the injunction of SB 280. And what was undertaken by the department in this particular case, upon whoevers idea it was, simply violates this courts preliminary injunction.

In his written order, Moses called the states justification for passing additional rules in 2022 demonstrably ridiculous and said that the state had unlawfully circumvented the entire purpose of a preliminary injunction and disregarded and disrespected the judicial process with these claims.

The health department stood by its 2022 rule for four days, until Moses written order was published, before saying the state would revert to the 2017 rule. Later that week, state attorneys appealed to the state Supreme Court to take over the case from Moses, writing in court filings that the case cries out for supervisory control.

In the states appeal, attorneys argued the district judge was wrong in ordering the health department to revert to a prior rule after it had adopted a new, contradictory protocol in September. Doing so infringed on the states rulemaking authority, attorneys said.

Judge Moses has not indicated when he intends to provide a response to the most recent petitions over whether the 2022 rules should be amended into the ACLU of Montanas ongoing case.
A Devon landowner who sought to prevent the public from wild camping on his land has won a legal case against Dartmoor National Park.

Alexander Darwall, who owns the 3,500-acre Blanchford estate, brought the case against the Dartmoor, saying that the right to wild camp in the park never existed.

Until now, the national park was the only area in England and Wales where under a local law there had been an assumed right to camp without the landowner's permission.

Sir Julian Flaux, the Chancellor of the High Court, issued his judgment in the case of Darwall vs Dartmoor National Park Authority.

He found that Section 10(1) of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 does not confer on the public any right to pitch tents or otherwise make camp overnight on the Dartmoor Commons.

Sir Julian confirmed that any camping required the consent of the landowner.

Responding, Dr Kevin Bishop, chief executive of Dartmoor National Park, said he was disappointed with the outcome.

"We will now consider our position carefully before deciding on whether to appeal, and on what grounds," he said.

We maintain that wild camping is an important form of open-air recreation and is a way to enjoy the special qualities of the National Park. Done properly, and with respect, it has little impact on the environment.

We are keen to work with landowners and other stakeholders to see how we can sustain opportunities for people to wild camp on Dartmoor.
Former Royal Marines and farming charity RSABI are working together to deliver a new mental health initiative for Scottish agriculture.

The Mental Health First Aid training is aimed at encouraging the industry to talk more freely about mental health, reducing stigma and improving understanding.

The initiative offers the opportunity for participants to gain certification in the SCQF Level 4 Award for First Aid for Mental Health Awareness and/or SCQF Level 5 Award in First Aid for Mental Health.

The training will be aimed at organisations and individuals who work regularly in the front line with farmers or crofters, including those involved in assessments or inspections, consultants and advisers.

The training is being delivered in a new partnership between RSABI, the charity which supports people in Scottish agriculture, and IED Training Solutions Ltd, an award-winning consultancy founded by former Royal Marines.

Both organisations say the aim of it is to provide individuals with the knowledge to recognise a range of mental health conditions and know how to provide support for a person who is suffering.

Participants will be trained to develop the skills to start a conversation and to be able to direct people to appropriate professional help.

Seven training courses have so far been delivered during a pilot phase, including five with assessors and staff from Food Integrity Assurance, who undertake assessments on behalf of both Quality Meat Scotland and Scottish Quality Crops.

Carol McLaren, chief executive of RSABI, said the innovative training could make a significant difference in the Scottish agricultural community.

There are many synergies between the Royal Marines and farming  from working in all weathers and challenging terrain to antisocial hours, time away from family and public scrutiny.

This initiative comes at a time when there are some really encouraging green shoots of change as farmers and others working in agriculture become more open about talking about mental health.

IED Training Solutions was set up in 2015 by former Royal Marine Ian Clark. He sad his team were excited to be working in collaboration with RSABI to deliver the initiative.

We have a great deal of respect and admiration for the work of the farming community to both provide food and look after the land, said Mr Clark.

During recent times some great work has been done in the Royal Marines to encourage a really positive approach to achieving good mental health and we are very much looking forward to sharing that experience with the farming community.

"I think this training, and the cascade effect of the benefit, could be a major step forward for the industry.

Major Hugh Jones, a former Royal Marine with 35 years service, is leading on the delivery of the courses. He said it important for farmers to recognise mental health conditions.

During the training, Major Jones also explains the signs to look out for when visiting farmers or crofters, saying that subtle changes could be an indication something is wrong.

Dont hesitate to ask them how they are. Say if they dont seem themselves and you are worried and above all be kind  you wouldnt believe how much impact that can have.

RSABI provides emotional support, including a free counselling service, as well as practical and financial support.

The free, confidential support service is available 24/7 by calling 0808 1234 555 or using the webchat service on the RSABI website.
Northern Irish farmers are being reminded of the importance of following slurry spreading rules as the closed season for spreading organic manures soon comes to an end.

Farmers in Northern Ireland are being told to act with extra caution as the open slurry period commences on 1 February.

The introduction of the new Nutrients Action Programme (NAP) in 2020 brought with it various changes to spreading.

For the month of February, buffer zones will increase and the maximum amount of slurry that can be applied at any one time is reduced to lower the risk of contamination to waterways.

Buffer zones will increase to 30m from lakes and 15m from any other waterways, but they can be reduced to 5m if low emission slurry spreading equipment (LESSE) is used and certain conditions are met.

The maximum slurry rate is reduced to 30m3 per hectare for each application (2750 gallons/acre).

Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture (DAERA) said farmers should remember their responsibilities to protect water quality when spreading slurry.

"From 1 February it will be possible to spread slurry and manure on land as long as ground conditions allow," it said.

"Avoid spreading slurry if the ground is frozen, water-logged or heavy rain is forecast."

DAERA added: "Farmers should also be aware of the rules for spreading slurry during February when there is an increase in the width of buffer zones required along waterways and a reduction in the maximum application rates allowed.

"Buffer zone and maximum application rate requirements will revert back to the original distances and volumes from 1 March onwards until 1 October.

"The increased buffer zones will then apply again until the 15 October."
A prototype of the KF-21 Boramae flies over Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, Tuesday. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration said the fighter jet surpassed Mach 1 during the flight. Courtesy of DAPA



By Kang Seung-woo



The KF-21 Boramae, the nation's first domestically developed fighter jet, successfully flew at supersonic speeds for the first time, Tuesday, the state arms procurement agency said.



Securing supersonic capability is a major part of the project as it means key functions work smoothly irrespective of flight speeds.



According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the prototype of the 4.5-generation fighter jet surpassed Mach 1 at an altitude of 40,000 feet at 3:15 p.m. after it took off at the third Flying Training Wing of the Republic of Korea Air Force in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province at 2:58 p.m. The warplane landed at 3:54 p.m. after flying over the country's southern waters.







Since its first test flight in July 2022, three prototypes of the aircraft, manufactured by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), have flown over 80 times at speeds of less than Mach 1. KAI produced six prototypes and the third successfully conducted its first flight earlier this month.



DAPA said the supersonic flight has two important implications in terms of the research and development of the aircraft.



"First, the flight confirmed that the KF-21 has structural stability at supersonic speeds," it said.



According to DAPA, when an aircraft exceeds Mach 1, shock waves occur in the plane and the unstable surrounding airflow can have a significant impact on the structural integrity of the jet.



"The KF-21's normal flight that overcame shock waves shows its structural stability can be maintained at supersonic speeds," it added.



The other achievement is that the KF-21 has become the first domestically developed aircraft to reach supersonic speeds.



"In the past, the KAI T-50 Golden Eagle exceeded Mach 1 in 2003, but the supersonic trainer was co-developed with U.S. Lockheed Martin using some of the U.S. firm's technologies, which is different from the KF-21's supersonic flight," it said.



"Korea now has a supersonic aircraft developed with domestic technologies."





This photo shows the prototype of the KF-21 Boramae surpassing Mach 1 during a flight, Tuesday. Courtesy of DAPA
Next Story : Solve Scalp Issues With LOreal Professionnel Scalp Advanced Range

The famous arms from which the bag has swung have changed, but its appeal has remained practically unalteredIs your Instagram flooded with pictures of Dakota Johnson  clad head-to-toe in Gucci  out and about on the streets of Los Angeles with the iconic Gucci Jackie 1961 in tow? Those images are from the Italian houses newest campaign for the iconic bag, and the sepia tone of these images is invoking a certain nostalgia. The Jackie 1961 was first introduced sometime between the 50s and 60s. In the years since, although it underwent many makeovers, the bag has managed to stay not only relevant but also coveted. But what makes the Gucci Jackie 1961 so iconic?Image: GucciWhen it launched, 40 years after Guccio Gucci started the house focussed on selling leather goods, it was called Fifties Constance (or G1244  the jury is still out on that). A slouchy leather hobo, the bag featured a trapezoidal base that was rounded at the edges. It had a short buckled strap that could be held in hand or flung over the shoulder. But the most coveted element was the piston-shaped closure. Former Lady Jackie Kennedy nee Onassis, an early adopter of the bag, is said to have used it to shield herself from the paparazzi. She was photographed with her hobo so often that, in the 70s, Gucci christened it the Jackie 1961.Each of the big names who have been the creative directors of Gucci brought the Jackie 1961 to the forefront with an iteration that was emblematic of the fashion of their era. Both Tom Ford and his successor Frida Gianninni reimagined the bag in 1999 and 2009 with a slightly oblong shape. But it was Alessandro Michele, who became the creative director of Gucci in 2015, who reintroduced the Jackie 1961 and made it what it is today.Micheles version made an appearance on the runway with his Mens Fall 2020 collection. He retained the recognisable trapezoidal shape and introduced the piston in golden on bags that were now available in a bevy of colours including pastels. The top handle, which can still be worn over the shoulder, comes with an additional strap to turn the Jackie 1961 into a chic crossbody. The new Jackie 1961 is a timeless design that is still iconic.Also Read: The Return Of The Fendi Baguette
Kenya is eager to strengthen its manufacturing capacity and create more jobs, according to state department for industrialisation principal secretary Juma Mukhwana, who recently said plans to revive collapsed companies like Ken Knit Raymond and Farmers Choice are under way. He was on a tour of Rivatex East Africa Limited, a textile company in Eldoret town.

Rivatex had previously collapsed and it has undergone a significant makeover. I want to applaud the factorys management for bringing it back to life, it has now created employment to more than 1,000 people. I am confident that the new Rivatex will boost this administrations efforts to create more jobs for the youth in the future, said Mukhwana.

The government has invested up to Ksh 7 billion in the factory over the past five years and has unveiled plans to expand the textile manufacturing industry with the goal of increasing revenue ten times than of the previous year which was Ksh 50 billion, while increasing employment from 50,000 to 500,000 over the next five years, he said.

Kenya is eager to strengthen its manufacturing capacity and create more jobs, according to state department for industrialisation principal secretary Juma Mukhwana, who recently said plans to revive collapsed companies like Ken Knit Raymond and Farmers Choice are under way. He was on a tour of Rivatex East Africa Limited, a textile company in Eldoret town.

Investments in the textile sector are in line with the governments Buy Kenya, Build Kenya agenda, he said.

The country is yet to fully exploit the export benefits offered by the US African Growth Opportunity Act, he was quoted as saying by Kenyan media reports.

The government is encouraging farmers to grow cotton on a large scale as the market is readily available, noted Mukhwana.

When the factories stopped running farmers stop planting, and as a government we have allocated 50 million for cotton purchases, and this year we have set aside 200 million for the same therefore we will have cotton buying centers for farmers to sell because up to 80 per cent of our cotton supply is imported, the official said.

Counties that Rivatex has partnered with include Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot, Baringo and Kitui.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
Turkiyes home textiles exports to the US in the year 2022 are unlikely to surpass the shipment of 2021. As the golden period of home textiles that started during the pandemic globally has ended, the shipment from Turkiye to the US slowed down to reach $961.116 million in the first ten months of in 2022, which was far less than the figure of 2021.

Turkiyes exports of home textiles to the US had recorded a consistent increase till 2021 when it soared to $1,590.728 million from $1,224.894 million in 2020. Industry experts believe that as most of the worlds population was confined to their homes in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, and were forced to work from home, the consumption and purchase of home textiles increased drastically during that period.

Turkiyes exports of home textiles to the US soared to more than double in 2021 compared to the shipment of $725.660 million in 2017. The country had exported home textile products worth $815.040 million in 2018 and $920.750 million in 2019, according to Fibre2Fashions market insight tool TexPro.

Turkiye's home textiles exports to the US in the year 2022 are unlikely to surpass the shipment of 2021. As the golden period of home textiles that started during the pandemic globally has ended, the shipment from Turkiye to the US slowed down to reach $961.116 million in the first ten months of in 2022, which was far less than the figure of 2021.

The outbound shipment stood at $961.116 million in the first ten months of 2022. On a quarterly basis, the exports amounted to $260.682 million in Q3 2022, $313.563 million in Q2 2022 and $295.701 million in Q1 2022, as per TexPro.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)
The UK and Colombia have announced the renewal of their partnership for sustainable growth in a bid to promote low-carbon and nature-positive development and accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The next phase of the partnership will also expand to include new and vital areas of collaboration, including halting biodiversity loss in land and marine ecosystems.

The partnership focuses on halting and reversing deforestation, implementing an ambitious energy transition, and promoting the sustainable use of biodiversity, with a commitment to supporting local communities across Colombia, the UK government said in a press release.

The UK also announced two new innovative projects to empower indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) in Colombia. Working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the UK will accompany IPLCs to enable them to harness the international carbon markets and maximise the opportunities they provide. The UK will also join a project led by GAIA Foundation to support the official recognition of indigenous local governments in the Amazon.

The UK and Colombia have renewed their partnership for sustainable growth to promote low-carbon and nature-positive development and accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The next phase of the partnership will also expand to include new and vital areas of collaboration, including halting biodiversity loss in land and marine ecosystems.

Recognising the need to jointly address the biodiversity and climate crisis, both countries will deepen their bilateral cooperation on climate change and increase efforts to protect and restore nature and biodiversity in land and marine ecosystems.

This will include further work on the illegal wildlife trade, ocean pollution, and forest and marine protection, with gender and social inclusion integrated at all stages, including recognising the central role played by indigenous people and local communities in nature conservation.

The UK and Colombia are working closely together to prevent deforestation, promote a just energy transition and protect Colombias incredible biodiversity. Im delighted to renew the UK-Colombia Partnership for Sustainable Growth today to deepen that co-operation even further, on one of the greatest shared challenges we face, said James Cleverly, the UKs foreign secretary.

The United Kingdom is a strategic ally to focus on the defence of the Amazon and create a new face for this program that seeks to stop deforestation in our country, said Colombian minister Susana Muhamad.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)
Vietnam exported goods valued at $38.8 billion during JanuaryOctober, 2022an increase of 21 per cent year-on-year (YoY)to members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The Southeast Asian nation has witnessed a significant rise in exports to CPTPP members ever since the partnership came into effect three years ago.

From January to October 2022, Vietnam gained a trade surplus of $4.4 billion. In 2021, the country earned $45.7 billion in revenue from exports to CPTPP members, which is a rise of 18 per cent YoY, according to local media reports.

Vietnams garment and textile and leather shoe industries boosted shipments to CPTPP members by 15 per cent when compared to before the agreement. Local firms benefit from the tax preferences put on Vietnamese goods by the CPTPP.

Vietnam exported goods valued at $38.8 billion during JanuaryOctober, 2022an increase of 21 per cent YoYto members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The Southeast Asian nation has witnessed a significant rise in exports to CPTPP members ever since the partnership came into effect three years ago.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (NB)
Born Primitive is determined to improve the lives of veterans.

Virginia Beach, Virginia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - Fitness apparel brand Born Primitive recently donated over $100,000 to veteran-related causes as part of their annual Veterans Day initiative. With its latest initiative, the brand has now donated over $1.4 million to charitable causes since its founding in 2014.





Born Primitive



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9243/150795_b27d602ca4976937_001full.jpg

As Bear Handlon, co-founder and CEO of Born Primitive explains, it is important for his company to do more to honor the veterans who have worked to protect our nation's freedoms. "We experience the freedoms we have today because of those who have gone before us."

"Many veterans and their families need help and support, both during and after their time in the military. There are so many great organizations out there doing great things for veterans, and we are just happy to play a small part in those efforts," Handlon says.

How Born Primitive's Donation Came to Be

Born Primitive's donation was the result of a special Veterans Day weekend promotion. The brand donated 100 percent of profits made from online sales over Veterans Day weekend to three veteran-related charitable organizations. This was the second year in a row that the brand conducted this campaign, following a successful initial effort in 2021. To further encourage customers to participate, the brand also gave out gift vouchers and other rewards from some of its vendor partners with every order placed.

"We were able to get some other patriotic brands in the mix as a way to further incentivize people to come out and support the cause," Handlon says.

"After all, as we're getting closer to the holiday season, a lot of people are going to be doing their Christmas shopping anyway. At the same time, this time of year is also when a lot of us start thinking of ways that we can give back to others. This Veterans Day weekend event was a way to help people do both at the same time, and it was amazing to see such a strong response."

Donations from the 2022 campaign were split between three causes: The Navy SEAL Foundation, which offers a broad range of critical support for active Navy SEALs, veterans and their families; the Best Defense Foundation, which helps retired Special Operators return to civilian life and honors WWII veterans by helping them return to their battlefields; and Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which gives away homes to Gold Star families and families of fallen first responders.

Donations Driven By A Personal Connection

The connection to veteran-related causes is deeply personal to Handlon, who is himself a former Navy lieutenant. "Serving in the military definitely gives you a different perspective," he notes.

"You come to see the great sacrifices that so many men and women make to protect our freedoms. You see the struggles they go through, even as they do so much good on behalf of others. That's why we've always known that we needed to be more than just another company that sells apparel. We had to stand for something and give back - and being able to do things like this has been one of the most rewarding parts of starting this brand."

Handlon is far from the only person on the Born Primitive team with military connections. Nearly half of the salaried employees of Born Primitive are military veterans, military spouses or former first responders. This played a key role in the company making its focus on veterans and first responders a core part of its identity, from its branding and clothing lines to the charitable donations it makes, such as the recent Veterans Day weekend event.

"At the end of the day, all of the credit goes to our customers. They are the ones who are giving us the platform to give back in such a significant way," Handlon says.

An Ongoing Effort

For Handlon, this year's donation is simply a continuation of his brand's core identity, and will continue to be so going forward. To date, Born Primitive has donated over $1.4 million to a variety of charitable causes since its founding in 2014 - and Handlon is optimistic that they will be able to continue to grow their impact in the years to come.

"This is what we knew we were going to be about from the day we started our company back in the garage," he says. "That's not going to change anytime soon. I'm just grateful to our customers who have made it possible for us to have a bit of an impact in supporting these important veterans' causes. When patriots pull together to support our vets, I believe we can become stronger and more united as a nation and have a much bigger impact than we could on our own - so you can be sure we'll keep doing this in the future."

Media Contact:

Name: Born Primitive LLC

Email: contact@bornprimitive.com

City: Virginia Beach, Virginia

Country: USA

Website: www.bornprimitive.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/150795


Proper approaches needed to extract consensus



It is much harder to give people something and take it back  even in part  than not to give it in the first place. That explains why pension reform is so difficult, and all past governments have tried but failed.



President Yoon Suk Yeol has also selected the matter as one of his three key reform targets, along with labor and education.



In conclusion, however, the outlook does not seem very positive.



There is a goal but the reason to pursue it is misguided and how to attain it is nonexistent or uncertain. First, the government's objective is leaning too far to one side  replenishing the pension fund to keep it from drying up as long as possible.



A report by the Korea Economic Research Institute under the Federation of Korean Industries a year ago fanned concerns about the fund's depletion. "If we maintain the current system, people born in 1990 qualified to receive a pension in 2055 will receive nothing," said the five-page news release issued by the think tank of the chaebol lobby group.



According to experts, however, only Korea and four other countries  the U.S., Canada, Sweden, and Japan  give pensions from accumulated funds. Others, including Germany, operate their pension system on an "imposition basis" without funds. Korea's s pension fund exceeded 900 trillion won ($720 billion) in 2021 and will likely surpass 1,000 trillion won this year, nearly 50 percent of the gross domestic product, the top level worldwide.



The reason for the pension system  and why it must be reformed  should be the guarantee of security in old age. Out of concerns about the fund's depletion, Korea slashed payment in 2007 and reduced it gradually each year. If things continue, the number of pensioners will increase, but the pension money will be negligible. Even now, Korea's elderly poverty rate is highest in the OCED. Nothing shows this better than numerous older adults collecting paper boxes and carrying them by handcart  after working throughout their life.



Many Korean media outlets cite the example of France, praising President Emmanuel Macron and his bold pension reform efforts. The French leader is trying to increase the retirement age by two years to 64, and letting people work longer (receiving a pension later). However, without proper vocational training and other career-changing education, the reform will end up as just a far longer and deeper "income crevasse," which is why French labor unions scheduled a national protest rally tomorrow. This is happening where the pension's income substitution rate reaches 70 percent compared to Korea's 30 percent.



One should learn from advanced countries but make a suitable model first.



The problem is how to raise the premium rate. Paying more and receiving more is the best approach, which experts say is possible in Korea, too. Policymakers here could learn from their Japanese counterparts. The neighboring country, which became an aged society far earlier than Korea, reformed its pension system as early as two decades ago.



Japanese leaders took three approaches to do so  changing perceptions among people through national discussions, making decisions transparently and easing uncertainty gradually. "Pension is not a saving but an insurance," a Japanese expert says. "If your premium rate rises, just think you gave more spending money to your grandchildren or great-grandchildren."



Pension reform is a vast and complicated task covering several generations. It's already too late for Korea to delay it any longer. And any reform should begin  and end preferably  in the early years of the new government.



As a candidate, Yoon said he would activate a presidential committee to reform the pension system. After the election, he did not do so but passed the matter to the National Assembly. The president now says Koreans will see the "finished product" by 2027.



Many doubt it. Any half-baked plan, including premium rate hikes, will go nowhere if employers and employees oppose it around the parliamentary elections next April. And Korea will be later than Japan by more than two decades in making this vital reform.




DALLAS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Bridge Market Research has recently published a Report, titled, "Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market" The report offers an extensive analysis of key growth strategies, drivers, opportunities, key segment, Porter's Five Forces analysis, and competitive landscape. Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices report consists of well-defined and well categorized market research data that brings marketplace clearly into the focus. This report also explains market definitions, classifications, applications, and engagements in the Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices industry. This Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices market report gives out such business purposes and endows with the best market research and analysis carried out with the advanced tools and techniques. Businesses can accomplish key statistics on the market status of regional and global manufacturers along with valuable assistance which drives the business towards the growth. Being a quality market report, it comprises of transparent market research studies and estimations that supports business growth.







Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices report helps this market in deciding upon various strategies such as production, marketing, sales or promotion for a particular product in the market or the new product to be launched. The Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices report provides the company profile, product specifications, capacity, production value, and market shares for each company for the forecast period. In addition, the scope of Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices market report can be broadened from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices report is a trustworthy source of market information for the business which assists with the better decision making and outline better business strategies

Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the wearable heart monitoring devices market which is USD 1.88 billion in 2022, is expected to reach USD 4.28 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 10.8% during the forecast period 2023 to 2030. In addition to the insights on market scenarios such as market value, growth rate, segmentation, geographical coverage, and major players, the market reports curated by the Data Bridge Market Research also include depth expert analysis, patient epidemiology, pipeline analysis, pricing analysis, and regulatory framework.

Download Sample Copy of Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-wearable-heart-monitoring-devices-market

Market Overview:

A wearable heart rate monitor is an instance of a personal monitoring device. It allows for real-time heart rate monitoring. Wearable heart rate monitors come in wrist bands and chest straps. These are small and lightweight devices designed to work in harsh environments. Advanced features of heart rate monitors include activity, heart rate variation, breathing rate, and core temperature. The wrist band is a more popular heart rate monitoring device because it is comfortable and simple to use.

The market for wearable heart monitoring devices is expected to grow rapidly over the forecast period. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2.7 million to 6.1 million people in the United States had AFib in 2017. It further revealed that approximately 750,000 people in the country require hospitalization annually due to AFib. Hence, an increase in the frequency of atrial fibrillation and rising geriatric population enhance the demand for wearable heart monitoring devices in the market.

Opportunities for Players:

Growing adoption rate of artificial intelligence and 5G

Furthermore, the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and 5G will provide favourable opportunities for the wearable heart monitoring devices market growth. 5G can use artificial intelligence (AI) to determine a patient's potential diagnosis and treatments. Furthermore, AI can help healthcare systems predict which patients are likely to have postoperative complications, allowing for early intervention. Furthermore, the growing emphasis of manufacturers on the adoption of advanced technologies, as well as the increase in the number of emerging markets, will provide beneficial opportunities for the growth of the wearable heart monitoring devices market during the forecast period.

Recent Developments

In 2021, RhythMedix announced the launch of RhythmStar, a wearable cardiac monitoring device for arrhythmia detection. The new RhythmStar is a discreetly worn device that enables long-term remote monitoring without using a phone or other communication equipment. The technology enables the company's team of certified technicians in the United States to quickly analyse ECGs and diagnose cardiac irregularities, alerting clinicians when a potentially dangerous arrhythmia is detected.

Some of the major players operating in the Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices market are:

Medtronic ( Ireland )

) Johnson & Johnson Private Limited (U.S.)

Zimmer Biomet (U.S.)

3M (U.S.)

(U.S.) Smith+Nephew (U.K.)

Boston Scientific Corporation (U.S.)

Integra LifeSciences (U.S.)

Abbott (U.S.)

(U.S.) Stryker (U.S.)

CONMED Corporation (U.S.)

Koninklijke Philips N.V. ( Netherlands )

) Cardinal Health (U.S.)

NuVasive, Inc. (U.S.)

BIOTRONIK SE & Co KG ( Germany )

) LivaNova PLC (U.K.)

William Demant Holding A/S ( Denmark )

) Nurotron Biotechnology Co. Ltd. ( China )

) Sonova Holding AG ( Switzerland )

) C.R. Bard Inc. (U.S.)

Microport Scientific Corporation ( China )

) Globus Medical, Inc. (U.S.)

MED-EL ( Austria )

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The report provides insights on the following pointers:

Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices market

Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on upcoming technologies, R&D activities, and product launches in the market

Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of the market strategies, and geographic and business segments of the leading players in the market

Market Development: Comprehensive information about emerging markets. This report analyzes the market for various segments across geographies

Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market

Market Dynamics: Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market

Rise in the number of geriatric and obese population

Because life expectancy has increased over time, more people are in their 60s and older. According to the United Nations Database on World Population Ageing 2020, there will be 1.5 billion elderly people worldwide by 2050, up from 727 million in 2020. Elderly people are more likely to sustain fall-related injuries, which can lead to a range of functional restrictions and a dependence on mobility aids. As a result, it is anticipated that the global geriatric population would grow dramatically, driving up the demand for patient handling and mobility equipment. The prevalence of obesity in the population is rising quickly. In 2020, 39 million kids under the age of five will be overweight or obese.

The Primary Objectives of This Global Market Research Report Are as Follows:

To understand this market competition by analysing the top vendors, with their market profile, revenue, profits, import-export details, and market share

To analyse the product type, applications and regional presence of this Industry

To state the pricing structure, import-export details, supply chain analysis, SWOT analysis to facilitate the key decision-making process

To provide the complete structure and fundamental overview of this Industry

To offer insights into vital this market aspect like growth trajectory, CAGR value, market share, and revenue analysis

To evaluate the Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices growth opportunities , threats, market drivers, and risks involved

, threats, market drivers, and risks involved To boost the future growth, investment analysis and upcoming growth opportunities with the analysis of emerging market segments and sub-segments

To present the historic, present, and forecast market analysis with product developments, joint ventures, and strategic alliances

To study the recent developments, emerging sectors, new product launch events, and mergers & acquisitions in this market

To understand the data sources, implied research methodology, and vital conclusions

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Key Industry Segmentation: Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market

By Product

Electric Pulse Bases Product

Optical Technology Based Product

By Device Type

Diagnostic and Monitoring Devices

Therapeutic Devices

By Application

Sports and Fitness

Remote Patient Monitoring

Home Healthcare

By Type

Activity Monitors

Smartwatches

Smart Clothing

Patches

By Distribution Channel

Pharmacies

Online Channels

Hypermarkets

By End Use

Retail Pharmacies

Hospitals

Academic Institutes

Regional Analysis/Insights: Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market

The countries covered in the wearable heart monitoring devices market report are 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 wearable heart monitoring devices market because of the region's well-established healthcare sector and highly developed information technology. Furthermore, the increasing prevalence of AFib diseases will boost the market's growth rate in this region.

Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest growth rate in the forecast period of 2023 to 2030 due to rising incidences of heart diseases and increasing number of population in this region.

Table of Contents:

Introduction Market Segmentation Executive Summary Premium Insights Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market: Regulations Market Overview Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market, By Product Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market, By Device Type Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market, By Application Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market, By Type Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market, By Distribution Channel Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market, By End User Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market, By Region Global Wearable Heart Monitoring Devices Market: Company Landscape SWOT Analyses Company Profile Questionnaires Related Reports

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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/wearable-heart-monitoring-devices-market-is-likely-to-upsurge-usd-4-28-billion-by-2030--size-share-trends-demand-growth-forecast-and-challenges-301722528.html
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - American Aires Inc. (CSE: WIFI) (OTC Pink: AAIRF) (the "Company" or "Aires") announces that, further to its previous press releases of May 9, 2022, June 23, 2022, August 2, 2022, August 26, 2022, September 21, 2022, October 21, 2022, November 3, 2022 and December 6, 2022, the Company filed a revocation application on December 14, 2022 to revoke the failure to file cease trade order ("CTO") issued by the Ontario Securities Commission ("OSC") against the Company dated May 6, 2022. The CTO orders that general trading, whether direct or indirect, of the securities of the Company cease. A copy of the CTO has been posted to the OSC website.

In connection with the Company's revocation application, the Company received a Comment Letter from the OSC on January 10, 2023 and is currently in the process of addressing the OSC's comments and requests. The Company will provide further updates as they become available.

In addition, the Company announces the resignation of Kristoffer P. Guajala as the Chief Operating Officer of the Company effective August 29, 2022. The Company would like to thank Mr. Guajala for his contributions to the Company and wish him well in his future endeavours.

About American Aires Inc.

American Aires Inc. is a Canadian-based nanotechnology company which has developed proprietary silicon-based microprocessors that reduce the harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR). The technology was developed by a team of highly accredited scientists and confirmed by independent third-party validation including peer-reviewed studies and publications in scientific journals. Aires' Lifetune products specifically target EMR emitted by consumer electronic devices such as cellphones, computers, baby monitors, Wi-Fi radiation, including the rapidly expanding next-generation high-speed 5G networks. Aires is listed on the CSE under ticker 'WIFI' and on the OTCQB under the symbol 'AAIRF'. Learn more at www.airestech.com .

On behalf of the board of directors

Company Contact:

Dimitry Serov, CEO

Email: dimitry@airestech.com

Telephone: (905) 482-4667

Website: www.airestech.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking 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 forward-looking statements or information. More particularly and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements and information relating to potential future events involving the Company. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by management of the Company. Although management of 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 since no assurance can be given that they will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about the current expectations and plans of management of the Company relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such statements and information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and no undertaking is given 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 securities laws. The forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151466
CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - China is scheduled to release a batch of data on Tuesday, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are Q4 numbers for GDP and December data for industrial production, retail sales and unemployment. GDP is expected to sink 0.8 percent on quarter and rise .8 percent on year after gaining 3.9 percent both on quarter and on year in the three months prior. Industrial production is tipped to add 0.2 percent on year, slowing from 2.2 percent in November. Retail sales are expected to drop an annual 8.6 percent after falling 5.9 percent in the previous month. The jobless rate is expected to jump to 6.0 percent from 5.7 percent a month earlier. Australia will see January results for the consumer sentiment index from Westpac Bank; in December, the index rose 3.0 percent. Singapore will provide December figures for non-oil domestic exports, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.0 percent on month and a fall of 16,80 percent on year. That follows the 9.20 percent monthly drop and the 14.60 percent yearly decline in November. Japan will release November results for its tertiary industry activity index, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.2 percent - steady from the October reading. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - Equity Metals Corporation (TSXV: EQTY) ("Equity Metals" or "Company") reported today that it has filed a technical Report (the "Report") prepared in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). The Report may be found under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and on Equity's website www.equitymetalscorporation.com.

The Report dated January 16, 2023 and titled "Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate of the Silver Queen Property, Omineca Mining Division, British Columbia" was prepared by P&E Mining Consultants Inc. ("P&E"), Kirkham Geosystems Ltd ("KGL") and Metallurgical Process Consultants Ltd. (MPC).

The updated Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") features lateral and down-dip extensions of the previously modelled No. 3 and NG-3 Veins, originally included in a previous 2019 MRE, and new, previously unmodelled mineralization from the Camp and Sveinson Targets. The current MRE utilizes a Net Smelter Return ("NSR") cut-off at C$100/t with updated metal pricing. The Report supports the disclosure made by the Company in its news release dated December 1, 2022 titled "Equity Metals Announces a Significant Increase to the Mineral Resource Estimate at the Silver Queen Project, BC".

There are no material differences in the Mineral Resources contained in the Report from those disclosed in the December 1, 2022 news release.

Silver Queen Resource Model highlights:

Indicated Mineral Resources of 3.46Mt averaging 189g/t Silver, 2.13g/t Gold, 0.24% Copper, 0.6% Lead and 3.5% Zinc (565g/t AgEq or 6.9g/t AuEq) equating to 62.8 million ounces silver equivalent or 765 thousand ounces of gold equivalent; and

Inferred Mineral Resources of 1.92Mt averaging 167g/t Silver, 0.82g/t Gold, 0.23% Copper, 0.5% Lead and 2.0% Zinc (365g/t AgEq or 4.4g/t AuEq) equating to 22.5 million ounces silver equivalent or 273 thousand ounces of gold equivalent.

The updated MRE incorporates an additional 25,659 metres of drilling in 78 core holes completed in 2020-22 and updated metal recoveries and pricing.

President Joe Kizis comments, "At the time we assumed management of the Company in Q3 of 2019, we felt there were clear opportunities to quickly add significantly to the 2019 MRE at Silver Queen, and we are proud to report our success at a very low cost of $0.15/oz of added AgEq or $11/oz of added AuEq. The MRE remains open for additional delineation west of the Camp Resource and within the Sveinson Resource. In addition, there are several targets that have only been tested by a few drill holes and remain very attractive areas for new discoveries and MRE increase."

Silver Queen Project Highlights

Five separate target areas have been tested in part and thick intervals of high-grade gold, silver and base-metal mineralization have been identified in each of the Camp Vein, the Sveinson Target, No. 3 Vein, and NG-3 Vein systems.





Figure 1: Plan map of targets and deposits on the Silver Queen vein system, BC



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5566/151468_b5c1dabbc4433ada_002full.jpg

The updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate increases the tonnage by approximately 240% with approximately 64% of the Mineral Resources are classified as Indicated on a per tonnage basis and 74% of the total on a AgEq basis reflecting the overall higher average grade (565g/t Ag Eq) of the MRE in the Indicated category .

The Mineral Resource has a strong precious-metal bias with gold and silver accounting for approximately 64% of the total value and features a significant increase in contained silver ounces in both the Indicated (+297%) and Inferred (+117%) categories, which is supported in large part by the addition of strongly silver enriched mineralization from the Camp Veins.

The Company has expended C$6.75 million on exploration of the Silver Queen project since 2019 resulting in a cash-discovery-cost of only C$0.15/oz per AgEq added or C$11/oz AuEq added.

Tabulation of grades and tonnages sensitivities (Table 2) demonstrate an excellent retention of higher-grade mineralization at increasing C$NSR cut-offs with 84% of the Base-case Mineral Resource when expressed on a AgEq basis remaining at a C$200 NSR cut-off.

Recommendations and 2023 Exploration

The Report concludes that the Silver Queen Property hosts significant high-grade mineralization that may potentially be amenable to underground economic extraction and warrants further exploration with a focus on the identification and delineation of the vein system.

The recommended work budgets for up to 5000m of core drilling and includes:

Step-out drilling to the west and down-dip of the Camp Vein Resource;

Further delineation of veins within the Sveinson Resource;

Continued confirmation and delineation of historical veins identified on the Property by previous workers, including the George Lake, George Lake South and the Cole Lake veins where historical drilling has identified significant exploration potential. Surface work may include soil and rock chip sampling to assist in establishing vein orientations to be followed by confirmation drilling;

Metallurgical test work to resolve base metal displacement in the copper and lead concentrates; and

Further test work to optimize gold deportment within the floatation circuit.

The budget for the proposed work program is $1.69M.

Equity Metals is fully financed for the proposed work program and will start exploration activities at Silver Queen during Q2 2023. Exploration will initially test extensions of the Camp and Sveinson Resources as identified in the Report. Further work will concentrate on the confirmation and extension of mineralization on the George Lake, George Lake South Targets and Cole Lake Targets and continued metallurgical test work to resolve metal displacement within the flotation circuit.

Qualified Persons

The independent Qualified Persons ("QP") for the Report are Garth Kirkham, P.Geo., Principal, Kirkham Geosystems Ltd., Eugene Puritch, P. Eng., FEC, CET. William Stone, Ph.D., PGeo, Antoine Yassa, P.Geo., Jarita Bary, P.Geo. and Fred Brown, P.Geo, of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., Arthur Barnes P.Eng., FSAIMM. M.Sc. of Metallurgical Process Consultants Limited and James Hutter, P.Geo., as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who have reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Robert Macdonald, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

Risk Factors

Equity Metals Corporation is aware that this project is subject to the same types of risks that large precious metal projects experience at an early stage of development in British Columbia. The Company has engaged experienced management and specialized consultants to identify, manage and mitigate those risks; however, the types of risks will change as the project evolves and more information becomes available.

Further details regarding the foregoing Mineral Resource Estimate, including the estimation methods and procedures, are detailed in the Report, now filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under the Company's profile and on the Company's website.

Table 1: Base Case Mineral Resource Estimate for the Silver Queen Project Utilizing a C$100/t NSR cut-off value





To view an enhanced version of Table 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5566/151468_b5c1dabbc4433ada_001bfull.jpg

1)The current Mineral Resource Estimate was prepared by Garth Kirkham, P.Geo., of Kirkham Geosystems Ltd and Eugene Puritch, P. Eng., FEC, CET and Fred Brown, P, Geo. of P&E Mining Consultants Inc. ("P&E"), Independent Qualified Persons ("QP"), as defined by National Instrument 43-101. 2)All Mineral Resources have been estimated in accordance with Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") definitions, as required under National Instrument 43-101 ("NI43-101"). 3)Mineral Resources were constrained using continuous mining units demonstrating reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction. 4)Silver and Gold Equivalents were calculated from the interpolated block values using relative process recoveries and prices between the component metals and silver to determine a final AgEq and AuEq values. 5)Silver and Gold Equivalents and NSR$/t values were calculated using average long-term prices of $20/oz silver, $1,700/oz gold, $3.50/lb copper, $0.95/lb lead and $1.45/lb zinc. All metal prices are stated in $USD. The C$100/tonne NSR cut-off grade value for the underground Mineral Resource was derived from mining costs of C$70/t, with process costs of C$20/t and G&A of C$10/t. Process recoveries used were Au 70%, Ag 80%, Cu 80%, Pb 81% and Zn 90%. 6)Grade capping was performed on 1m composites for the No. 3 and NG-3 veins and whole vein composites for the Camp and Sveinson veins. For the No. 3 and NG-3 veins Inverse distance cubed (I/d3) was utilized for grade interpolation for Au and Ag and inverse distance squared (I/d2) was utilized for Cu, Pb and Zn. Inverse distance squared (I/d2) was used for all metals in the Camp and Sveinson veins. 7)A bulk density of 3.56t/m3 was used for all tonnage calculations in the No. 3 and NG-3 veins. A variable density with a 3.15t/m3 average was used for the Camp and Sveinson veins. 8)Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves until they have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral Resource Estimates do not account for a Mineral Resource's mineability, selectivity, mining loss, or dilution. 9)An Inferred Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration. 10) All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy of the estimate and therefore numbers may not appear to add precisely.

Table 2: Resource Model Sensitivities at Various C$NSR/t cut-offs





To view an enhanced version of Table 2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5566/151468_b5c1dabbc4433ada_002bfull.jpg

1)Sensitivities were calculated at progressive C$NSR/t cut-off utilizing the same parameters and metal pricing as the Base Case scenario described in Table 1.

Silver, Gold Equivalencies and C$NSR Calculations

Silver and Gold Equivalents and NSR$/t values were calculated using approximate average long-term prices of $20/oz silver, $1,700/oz gold, $3.50/lb copper, $0.95/lb lead and $1.45/lb zinc. All metal prices are stated in $USD with a conversion to $CAD of 0.77. See below the equivalency and C$NSR calculations:

AgEq = (Ag g/t x 1) + (Au g/t x 81.41) + (Cu% x 116.35) + (Pb% x 28.77) + (Zn% x 44.80)

AuEq = (Ag g/t x 0.012) + (Au g/t x 1) + (Cu% x 1.43) + (Pb% x 0.35) + (Zn% x 0.55)

C$NSR = (Ag g/t x 0.57) + (Au g/t x 46.79) + (Cu% x 66.87) + (Pb% x 16.54) + (Zn% x 25.74)

About Silver Queen Project

The Silver Queen Project is a premier gold-silver property with over 100 years of historical exploration and development and is located adjacent to a power line, roads and nearby rail with significant mining infrastructure that was developed under previous operators Bradina JV (Bralorne Mines) and Houston Metals Corp. (a Hunt Brothers company). The Property contains two historical declines into the No. 3 Vein, camp infrastructure, and a maintained Tailings Facility.

The Silver Queen Property consists of 45 mineral claims, 17 crown grants, and two surface crown grants totalling 18,852ha with no underlying royalties. Mineralization is hosted by a series of epithermal veins distributed over a 6 sq km area. The initial NI43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate was detailed in a News Release issued on July 16th, 2019 and is hosted by the No. 3 Vein, which is traced by drilling for approximately 1.2km and then to the southeast where it transitions into the NG-3 Vein close to the buried Itsit copper-molybdenum porphyry.

More than 20 different veins have been identified on the Property, forming an extensive network of zoned Cretaceous- to Tertiary-age epithermal veins. The Property remains largely under explored.

About Equity Metals Corporation

Equity Metals Corporation is a Manex Resource Group Company. Manex provides exploration, administration, and corporate development services for Equity Metals' two major mineral properties, the Silver Queen Au-Ag-Zn-Cu project, located in central B.C., and the Monument Diamond project, located in Lac De Gras, NWT. The Company also has a 1% royalty (Greenwood Royalty) and a 100% working interest in the La Ronge Silica Project.

The Company owns 100% interest, with no underlying royalty, in the Silver Queen Project, located along the Skeena Arch in the Omineca Mining Division, British Columbia. The Property hosts high-grade, precious- and base-metal veins related to a buried porphyry system, which has been only partially delineated. The Company also has a controlling JV interest in the Monument Diamond project, NWT, strategically located in the Lac De Gras district within 40 km of both the Ekati and Diavik Diamond Mines. The Project owners are Equity Metals Corporation (57.49%), Chris and Jeanne Jennings (22.11%); and Archon Minerals Ltd. (20.4%). Equity Metals is the operator of the Project.

The 100% controlled La Ronge Silica Project is an historical sand quarry located in central Saskatchewan, approximately 60 kilometers south-southeast of La Ronge, Saskatchewan and 210 kilometers west of Flin Flon, Manitoba. Preliminary studies indicate the silica deposit may be developed into a simple and profitable, low-cost mining and washing operation to produce high-purity silica (>98% SiO2), a specialty product for the EV battery industry.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Joseph Anthony Kizis, Jr."

Joseph Anthony Kizis, Jr., P.Geo

President, Director, Equity Metals Corporation

For further information, visit the website at https://www.equitymetalscorporation.com; or contact us at 604.641.2759 or by email at ir@mnxltd.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Equity Metals Corporation does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151468
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - Dynasty Gold Corp. (TSXV: DYG) (FSE: D5G1) (OTC Pink: DGDCF) ("Dynasty" or the "Company"), as a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission, is issuing the following news release to clarify its disclosure and to provide additional information for its press release issued on January 10, 2023 to comply with NI 43-101 guidelines. All information required under s.3.3(2) of NI 43-101 has been added to the reported drill holes, please see Table 2 below, and the Thundercloud resource estimate has been disclosed in accordance with s.3.5 of NI 43-101.

The Company is pleased to release assay results from its Phase 1 2022 maiden drill results at the Thundercloud gold property located 47 kilometres southeast of Dryden, in northwestern Ontario. Four new angled NQ wireline core holes were drilled in the Pelham gold target area, for a total of 987 meters of drilling. The assay results from sampling of these holes are reported in Table 1. The drill collar and hole information are reported in Table 2. These are the best assay results ever reported from Thundercloud, and constitute new discovery of wide zones and high-grade gold-bearing quartz veins requiring further delineation.

Significant Assay Highlights:

DP22-02 intercepted 1.31 g/t Au over 121.5 m from 102 m; Including 15.06 g/t Au over 9 m: Including 43.47 g/t Au over 3 m.





DP22-03 intercepted 7.35 g/t Au over 51 m from 88.5 m; Including 13.01 g/t Au over 28.5 m: Including 25.66 g/t Au over 12.5 m: Including 101 g/t Au over 3 m: Including 246 g/t Au over 1.5 m.





DP22-04 intercepted 0.764 g/t Au over 40.5 meters from 120 m; Including 8.61 g/t Au over 3 m: Including 25.1 g/t Au over 1.5 m.



Table 1. Assay Results:

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) DP22-01 9.0

25.5 25.5

30.0 15.5

4.0 0.104

0.269 DP22-02







Including

Including

Including 0

77.0

83.0

102.0

189.0

189.0

190.5 77.0

83.0

102.5

223.5

214.5

198.0

193.5 Not sampled

6.0

Not sampled

121.0

25.5

9.0

3.0

0.072



1.31

5.37

15.06

43.47 DP22-03



Including

Including

Including

Including



And 0

88.5

111.0

112.5

118.5

118.5

139.5

148.5 88.5

139.5

139.5

125.0

121.5

120.0

148.5

154.5 Not sampled

51.0

28.5

12.5

3.0

1.5

Not sampled

6.0

7.35

13.01

25.66

101.1

246.0



1.90 DP22-04





Including

Including 0

20.58

120.0

144.0

145.5 20.58

120

160.5

147.0

147.0 Not sampled

Negligible values

40.5

3.0

1.5



0.764

8.61

25.1

Table 2. Drill Collar and Hole Information of Current Press News

Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation

(m) Azimuth Dip Depth

(m) DP22-01 534159 5471292 457 20 -46 297 DP22-02 534263 5471425 448 180 -60 300 DP22-03 534264 5471423 448 160 -60 201 DP22-04 534315 5471449 448 192 -67 189













Total Metres NAD83 Zone 15





987.00

The true widths of the drilling intercepts are not known. The percentage of the core recovery, for the drilling intercepts list above is approximately 99 percent.

"We are thrilled with these outstanding results in our first drill program on the property. They are the highest gold grades, the longest and the widest intercepts ever drilled on the property. The data will assist in building a structural model for a NI 43-101 resource update, and future drill target planning for resource expansion," states Ivy Chong, President and CEO.

These 4 near-surface shallow holes were drilled in the southeastern and south-central portions of the known Pelham area. The first hole was drilled on the eastern edge of a magnetic low that may represent a fault boundary, with no significant gold mineralization in it. Holes 2, 3, and 4 were drilled in untested areas of magnetic "highs" identified in the drone magnetic survey conducted in summer 2022. These three holes encountered a new area of locally high-grade gold mineralization in quartz-veined mafic metavolcanics and overlying volcanic flow breccias. Quartz-veined rocks contained up to 246 g/t Au (7.91 ounces per ton) over a 1.5 m core length. The Company will sample the entire hole 3 in the coming months. The focus of the next drill program will be to outline the extent of the higher-grade gold mineralization away from the presently disclosed drillholes.

The host rocks at Thundercloud are metamorphosed mafic volcanic strata of the Wapageisi volcanics and local overlying flow breccias. These strata are of Neoarchean age. They were intruded by two phases of intrusive gabbros, that later were transected by faults. Much of the low-grade gold mineralization found at Thundercloud is associated with a "cloud" of disseminated pyrite. Higher-grade gold mineralization is found locally with quartz veining and local sulfide enrichments. The Company regards this as gold mineralized area to be worthy of further drilling. In addition, the property has several other mostly unexplored areas that show elevated magnetization, and these areas will be explored in the future by the Company.

"Current assay results obtained by Dynasty Gold from the Thundercloud Property are particularly of interest in that the results clearly indicate that the Property has potential for both large-tonnage and high-grade vein deposits. Although only four holes were completed, intercepts such as 121 m of 1.31 g/t Au and 101 g/t over 3 m are selected examples of each type with more present in the data set. Additional work obviously is required to establish economics but the nature of the indicators to date are encouraging," said Roman Shklanka, Director.

The Company thanks its dedicated team, contractors and the First Nations whose efforts have made this drill program a success. It also likes to acknowledge the contribution by the Ontario Junior Exploration Program ("OJEP") to the Company for the $60,000 grant towards furthering exploration on Thundercloud.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

The Company's exploration program was supervised in the field by Richard R. Redfern, M.Sc., CPG. The core samples were personally delivered by the George Downing Estate drillers from the drill rig to Dynasty personnel at the Company's field office in Dinorwic, Ontario, where they were logged geologically and sample intervals selected. The cores were securely transported to Dryden, Ontario and diamond sawed in the presence of the Company's consulting engineer, Dr. Bing Wang, Ph.D. P.Eng. The samples were personally delivered in two batches to the ALS Global Geochemistry Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba by Redfern for holes 1 and 2, and by Bing Wang for holes 3 and 4 for processing.

Dynasty used ALS Global for Au-AA23 gold fire assays and the ME-ICP61 33 multi-elements packages for the minor element analyses. Oreas standards and blanks were inserted into the sample stream to check on the comparative accuracy of the gold assays received. Gold fire assays and 4-acid-dissolution geochem analyses were conducted on the samples at the ALS Global Geochemistry Laboratory in Vancouver, B.C, and all gold values higher than 10 g/t were re-assayed by using Au-GRA21 gravimetric fire assays.

The technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Richard R Redfern, M.Sc., CPG, a director of Dynasty Gold and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

About Dynasty Gold Corp.

Dynasty Gold Corp. is a Canadian exploration company currently focused on gold exploration in North America with projects located in the Manitou-Stormy Lake greenstone belt in Ontario and in the Midas gold camp in Nevada. The Company is currently advancing its Thundercloud gold deposit which contains an inferred resource of 182,000 ounces gold at 1.37 g/t (NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report, Thundercloud Property Northwestern Ontario, September 27th, 2021). The report and the press release with details on the resource can also be found on the Company's website. The 100% owned Golden Repeat gold project in the Midas gold camp in Elko County, Nevada, is surrounded by a number of large-scale operating mines. In addition, Dynasty owns a 70% interest in the Hatu Qi2 gold mine in the Tien Shan Gold belt, Xinjiang, China, with which it is in legal dispute with Xinjiang Non-Ferrous Industrial Metals Group and its subsidiary Western Region Gold Co. Ltd. For more information, please visit the Company's website www.dynastygoldcorp.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DYNASTY GOLD CORP.

"Ivy Chong"

_________________________________

Ivy Chong, President & CEO

For additional information please contact:

Vancouver Office:

Ivy Chong

Phone: 604.633.2100. Email: ichong@dynastygoldcorp.com

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151474
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - MediaValet Inc. (TSX: MVP) (the "Company" or "MediaValet") is pleased to announce that further to its press release dated December 30, 2022, it has now closed the non-brokered private placement to raise $3.0 million for the Company (the "Private Placement"). The Private Placement, which was oversubscribed by $500,000, consisted of 2,692,315 units (the "Units") at a price of $1.30 per Unit, for gross proceeds of $3,500,010.

Each Unit consisted of one common share of the Company (a "Share") and one Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Share at a price of $1.50 for a period of 36 months from the closing of the Private Placement. The Warrants have an acceleration clause that provides that if the closing price of the Shares on the TSX is greater than $2.50 for 20 consecutive trading days, then the Company may, within ten (10) days, accelerate the expiry of the Warrants by issuing a press release announcing that any unexercised Warrants will terminate on the 30th day (including non-trading days) after the date on which such notice was given. The Company will also give written notice to the holders of Warrants not less than thirty (30) days prior to the accelerated expiry date of the Warrants.

The net proceeds received from the Private Placement will be used by the Company for general working capital.

The Private Placement, which was negotiated between the Company and Shen Capital, is being subscribed in part by Insiders of the Company. This will result in total potential dilution to Shareholders from the issuance to Insiders of 4,615,400 Shares (2,307,700 Shares comprised in the Units and 2,307,700 Warrant Shares), representing approximately 11.3% of the currently outstanding Shares (approximately 10.0% of the outstanding Shares after the Offering and exercise of the Warrants). Shen Capital Partners Inc. ("Shen Capital") a long-standing shareholder of the Company, has agreed to subscribe, directly or through an affiliate, for 1,923,077 Units and David Miller, the Chief Financial Officer of the Company, has agreed to subscribe for 384,623 Units. Shen Capital held 7,677,786 Shares prior to the Private Placement, representing approximately 18.83% of the then outstanding Shares on an undiluted basis, and has one representative on the Board of Directors, Mr. Francis Shen. Mr. Shen was appointed pursuant to a Board Rights Agreement entered into between the Company and Shen Capital entered into in August, 2019.

The Company now has 43,478,770 Shares outstanding after closing the Private Placement. With its participation in the Offering, Shen Capital will increase its holdings to 9,600,863 Shares, and will hold Warrants that could increase its holdings (if exercised) to 11,523,940 Shares. Accordingly, on completion of the Offering Shen Capital will hold 22.08% of the outstanding Shares (on an undiluted basis) and 25.38% of the outstanding Shares on a partially diluted basis (assuming Shen Capital exercises all of its Warrants and no other Shares are issued).

The TSX requires, under 604(a)(i) of the TSX Company Manual, that any transaction that will materially affect control of a company on the TSX be approved by the security holders of the company. The TSX considers that the acquisition of greater than 20% of the outstanding Shares by Shen Capital will materially affect control of the Company. In addition, the TSX requires shareholder approval pursuant to 607(g)(ii) of the TSX Company Manual for share issuances over 10% to Insiders. The Company obtained written consent from the disinterested shareholders holding more than 50% of the outstanding voting shares, excluding 7,724,786 shares held by Shen Capital and its affiliate, or by David Miller, in accordance with section 604(d) of the TSX Company Manual.

The private placements with Shen Capital and with David Miller are considered related party transactions under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is relying on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements set out in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) Fair Market Value Not More than 25 Per Cent of Market Capitalization, respectively of MI 61-101.

All securities issued in connection with the Private Placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

About MediaValet Inc.

MediaValet stands at the forefront of the enterprise, cloud-based digital asset management and creative operations industries. Built exclusively on Microsoft Azure and available across 61 Microsoft data center regions, covering 140 countries around the world, MediaValet delivers unparalleled enterprise-class security, reliability, redundancy, compliance, and scalability; while offering the largest global footprint of any DAM solution. In addition to providing enterprise DAM capabilities at a global scale, desktop-to-server-to-cloud support for creative teams, and overall cloud redundancy, security and management for all source, WIP and final assets, MediaValet offers industry-leading integrations into Slack, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office 365, WorkFront, Wrike, Monday.com, Drupal, WordPress and many other best-in-class 3rd party applications.

For further information, please contact:

David MacLaren, CEO | david.maclaren@mediavalet.com | Tel: (604) 688-2321

Babak Pedram, Investor Relations | babak.pedram@mediavalet.com | Tel: (416) 644-5081

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, such as statements concerning anticipated future events, results, circumstances, performance or expectations that are not historical facts. Use of words such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "intends", "likely", or other words of similar effect may indicate a "forward-looking" statement. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's publicly filed documents (available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com). Many of these risks and uncertainties can affect the Company's actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement made by the Company or on its behalf. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. All forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. These statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of the Company, its financial or operating results or its securities. The Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by the Company or on the Company's behalf, except as required by applicable law.



Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151479
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - Li3 Lithium Corp. (TSXV: LILI) ("Li3 Lithium" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed the non-brokered private placement previously announced on January 9, 2023 (the "Private Placement") for aggregate gross proceeds of $200,000. The Private Placement involved the issuance of 2,000,000 units ("Units") at a price of $0.10 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one (1) common share in the capital stock of the Company (a "Common Share") and one half of one (1/2) warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one Common Share for $0.20 at any time within two years after closing.

All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement will be subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation. The net proceeds from the sale of the Units will be used for general working capital purposes and to assist in conducting due diligence of potential business opportunities. The closing of the Private Placement is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory and other approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV").

In addition, the Company would like to correct the press release dated January 9, 2023 relating to the 2,000,000 options granted. The exercise price of the options granted was $0.12 and not $0.10 as stated in the January 9, 2023 press release.

About Li3 Lithium Corp.

Li3 Lithium is focused on acquiring and developing hard rock spodumene lithium assets in Zimbabwe and Argentina, where the founders have significant experience and relationships. As evidenced by recent market growth, hard rock lithium deposits are forecast to continue to dominate the global supply of lithium given the scarcity, complexity and capex-intensive nature of alternative brine sources. At present, spodumene concentrate is at a record high price of US$5,500/tonne and forecast to go higher.

Li3 Lithium has a 50 percent interest in Li3 Resources Inc., a private company with a 50 percent interest in the Mutare Lithium Project, which consists of 1,500 hectares of licenses within the Mutare Greenstone Belt of Zimbabwe.

Contact Information:

Li3 Lithium Corp

Stephen Dunn, Director

Tel: 416-361-2827

Email: info@lithium3.com

www.lithium3.com

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT:

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward- looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151482
TORONTO, ON and NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / January 16, 2023 / Sekur Private Data Ltd. (OTCQX:SWISF)(CSE:SKUR)(FRA:GDT0) ("Sekur" or the "Company"), the leader in Swiss hosted secure communications and secure data management, would like to announce that the Company has amended its stock option issuance announced January 13th 2023. The correct number of issued options is 8,166,272 options, held by management, insiders and consultants of the Company.

The foregoing options are exercisable up to January 13th, 2033, as per schedule and at an exercise price of CA$0.06 the options shall all vest 100% immediately. All options are subject to a 4 month and 1 day hold period.

About Sekur Private Data Ltd.

Sekur Private Data Ltd. is a Cybersecurity and Internet privacy provider of Swiss hosted solutions for secure communications and secure data management. The Company distributes a suite of encrypted e-mails, secure messengers, secure communication tools, and secure cloud-based storage, disaster recovery and document management. Sekur Private Data Ltd. sells its products through its approved wholesalers and distributors, and telecommunications companies worldwide. Sekur Private Data Ltd. serves consumers, businesses and governments worldwide.

On behalf of Management

SEKUR PRIVATE DATA LTD.

Alain Ghiai

President and Chief Executive Officer

+1.416.644.8690

corporate@sekurprivatedata.com

For more information, please contact Sekur Private Data at corporate@sekurprivatedata.com or visit us at https://www.sekurprivatedata.com

For more information on Sekur visit us at: https://www.sekur.com .

Forward Looking Information

This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guaranteeing future performance. Sekur cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Sekur's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to the future of the Company's business; the success of marketing and sales efforts of the Company; the projections prepared in house and projections delivered by channel partners; the Company's ability to complete the necessary software updates; increases in sales as a result of investments software development technology; consumer interest in the Products; future sales plans and strategies; reliance on large channel partners and expectations of renewals to ongoing agreements with these partners; anticipated events and trends; the economy and other future conditions; and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in Sekur's prospectus dated May 8, 2019 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Sekur undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

SOURCE: Sekur Private Data Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735455/Sekur-Private-Data-Ltd-Amendment-to-Issuance-of-Stock-Options
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - Whitehorse Gold Corp. (TSXV: WHG) (OTCQX: WHGDF) ("Whitehorse Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report the closing of the the second tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement, whereby the Company completed the issuance of 4,885,000 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.40 per Unit for gross proceeds of $1,954,000 in the second tranche. The Company issued a total of 12,807,500 Units at a price of $0.40 for gross proceeds of $5,123,000 for the entire private placement that was announced on November 4, 2022.

Whitehorse Gold intends to use the net proceeds of the private placement for working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes.

All securities issued in connection with the private placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four-months and one day. The Company paid aggregate finder's fee of $23,920 to the eligible persons in the second tranche. The private placement remains subject to final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

As insiders of the Company (including Silvercorp) participated in the private placement, any such subscriptions are considered to be related party transactions within the meaning of TSXV Policy 5.9 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions, which incorporates Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company intends to rely on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101 in respect of such insider participation.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any United States state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States, nor will there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Whitehorse Gold

Whitehorse Gold is a mineral exploration and development company focusing on tin projects in Bolivia and a gold project near Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The Company has recently signed agreements to acquire up to a 100% interest in the Porvenir Project and SF Tin Project, which are 70 km southeast of Oruro, Bolivia. The Company's 100% owned Skukum Gold Project is approximately 84 km south of Whitehorse by road. An independent Mineral Resource Estimate update was completed in October 2022. Skukum hosts 418,000 oz AuEq Indicated Mineral Resource and 517,000 oz AuEq Inferred Mineral Resource at respective average grades of 8.2 and 5.3 g/t AuEq. From 1986 to 1988, the project produced approximately 80,000 ounces of gold.

On Behalf of Whitehorse Gold Corp.

signed "Gordon Neal"

Gordon Neal, CEO & Director

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations, Whitehorse Gold Corp.,

Phone: +1 (604)-336-5919

Email: info@whitehorsegold.ca

www.whitehorsegold.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collective, "forward looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding future plans with respect to the Offering and other future plans of Company, and objectives or expectations of the Company are forward-looking statements. Estimates of Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources are also forward-looking information because they incorporate estimates of future developments including future mineral prices, costs and expenses and the amount of minerals that will be encountered if a property is developed. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategies", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "budgets", "schedules", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. The opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to: that market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices; that there are no significant disruptions affecting operations, including labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, security disruptions, damage to or loss of equipment, whether due to flooding, political changes, title issues, intervention by local landowners, environmental concerns, pandemics (including COVID-19) or otherwise; that the Company will be able to obtain and maintain governmental approvals, permits and licenses in connection with its current and planned operations, development and exploration activities, including at the Skukum Gold Project; that the Company will be able to meet its current and future obligations; that the Company will be able to comply with environmental, health and safety laws; and the assumptions underlying Mineral Resource estimates and the realization of such estimates.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others: social and economic impacts of COVID-19; actual exploration results; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; results of future Mineral Resource estimates; future metal prices; availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms; general economic, market or business conditions; uninsured risks; regulatory changes; defects in title; availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis; accidents or equipment breakdowns; delays in receiving government approvals; unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same; and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

Additional information in relation to the Company, including the Company's Annual Information Form, can be obtained under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.whitehorsegold.ca.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151501
MANNHEIM, Germany, WATCHUNG, N.J. and SHANGHAI, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Full-Life Technologies today announced the appointments of Steffen Heeger, MD, PhD, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Fa Liu, PhD as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr. Heeger has held senior oncology clinical development positions at both large and emerging companies for more than 15 years. His work was instrumental to the development of Erbitux, a monoclonal therapeutic antibody targeting EGFR, as well as the successful clinical development of other anti-cancer therapeutic antibodies, including targeted drug conjugates. Dr. Liu is a leading peptide chemist who served as Head of Chemistry at Novo Nordisk, and in 2020, as Co-founder and CEO of Focus-X, a peptide-focused radiopharmaceutical company recently acquired by Full-Life.

"Dr. Heeger brings to Full-Life great breadth of expertise and an outstanding track record in designing and executing clinical strategies for targeted oncology therapeutics, in both early and late-stage development," said Lanny Sun, Full-Life's Co-founder, Chairman and CEO. "He joins Full-Life as we are accelerating plans for our first targeted radiopharmaceuticals to enter clinical trials. Dr. Liu has had a highly successful, 18-year career in therapeutic discovery, including at Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. He led Focus-X to build a promising radiopharmaceutical pipeline within two years of inception. He will further strengthen our discovery capabilities, including our radionuclide-drug conjugate (RDC) platforms and therapeutic programs. We are excited to welcome these senior leaders to our team."

Dr. Heeger began his pharmaceutical career at Merck KGaA where he played a key role over nine years in the development of Erbitux, a monoclonal antibody therapeutic targeting EGFR. Following Merck KGaA, he joined Morphosys and served for five years as Vice President and Head of Clinical Development. During that time, he led the clinical development of multiple therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for cancer against targets including PSMA, CD38 and CD19. The anti-CD19 work led to the approval of Monjuvi (tafasitamab-cxix) for the treatment of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, the first registered drug clinically developed by Morphosys.

After Morphosys, Dr. Heeger served in Chief Medical Officer positions at Selvita, S.A. where he advanced the company's lead anti-cancer compound through IND and its initial clinical trial, and NBE Therapeutics, where he oversaw the IND submission and initial clinical trial for its antibody drug conjugate NBE-002 for the treatment of solid tumors and lymphoma. NBE was subsequently acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim for $1.5 billion. Most recently, he held the CMO position at Pega-One, a clinical stage oncology company that went IPO under the umbrella of Centessa Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Heeger holds MD and Master of Healthcare Management (MSc) degrees from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He trained as a clinical oncologist at the University Hospital Heidelberg, Department of Haematology and Oncology and at German Cancer Research Center.

Dr. Liu, prior to founding Focus-X, served as the Head of Chemistry at Novo Nordisk Research Centers in the US, leading peptide and protein therapeutics discovery. Previously, Dr. Liu was the Head of Chemistry at Calibrium LLC, where he played instrumental roles in building the company's pipeline until its acquisition by Novo Nordisk. Dr. Liu started his industrial career at Eli Lilly, where he led multiple peptide lead optimization efforts and established the well-recognized modern insulin chemistries. Prior to Lilly, Dr. Liu worked at National Cancer Institute focusing on cancer drug discovery. Dr. Liu has discovered five compounds that progressed into human studies, including NNC0480-0389 (Phase II). He also contributed to the discovery of LY3209590 (Phase III) and the FDA approved drug Lyumjev (insulin lispro-aabc). He received his Ph.D. from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

About Full-Life Technologies

Full-Life Technologies Limited ("Full-Life") is a fully integrated global radiopharmaceutical company with operations in China, Europe, and the US. We seek to own the entire value chain for radiopharmaceutical research & development, production & commercialization in order to deliver clinical impact for patients. The company plans to attack core issues affecting radiopharmaceuticals today through innovative research that targets the treatments of tomorrow. We are comprised of a team of fast-moving entrepreneurs and scientists with a demonstrated track record in the life sciences, as well as radioisotope research and clinical development.

Website: www.full-life.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/full-life-technologies-announces-appointment-of-steffen-heeger-md-phd-as-chief-medical-officer-and-fa-liu-phd-as-chief-scientific-officer-301721190.html
By Donald Kirk



WASHINGTON  Watch out for Japan. Also watch out for China. And watch out for nukes. These days, in Northeast Asia, everyone has to watch out for everything with increasing trepidation.



It may seem heartening to Americans that Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has initiated a brand new "strategy" for defense against Japan's enemies, near and far. In Washington, the cognoscenti in the White House, Pentagon and State Department can be happy that Japan at last is committed to picking up its share of the load, planning to increase defense spending from 1 percent to 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product, which topped $5.4 trillion for 2022. In five years, according to plan, Japan's military budget could double its current level of about $47.2 billion for the current fiscal year.



Koreans, among others, may not be so thrilled to see Japan rising again militarily. Memories of Japanese colonial rule over Korea burn deep in the Korean psyche. South Korea may find common cause with Japan against North Korea, but then again, we may be sure many South Koreans will also look with misgivings on an immense Japanese military build-up. Who can trust the Japanese, years from now, while fighting off the North Koreans, to stay away from South Korea? It's easy to imagine a return if not to Japanese rule, at least to an unequal partnership in which the Japanese play a dominant role.



But a resurgence of Japanese militarism is not the only concern. In Seoul, President Yoon Suk Yeol has said it might be a good idea for South Korea to have its own nuclear weapons. At least he's considering the possibility. As long as "they" have them, why not "us"? Looking far ahead, it's not hard to imagine a war in which North and South Korea fire tactical nukes against one another in a battle to the death on both sides.



The Pentagon has promised, repeatedly, to defend the South with its "nuclear umbrella," but who can be sure the Americans will really come to the rescue? And would South Korea want to go on as a military dependency of the United States when it's already a massive arms producer, capable of meeting most of its own military needs?



In the web of alliances and "commitments," one great question is what's China doing or likely to do? China now has so many internal issues and problems, including the spread of COVID-19, that it would be quite surprising if President Xi Jinping were to order an invasion of the off-shore island province of Taiwan as he's been threatening. China, however, has not only a huge army but also an expanding nuclear stockpile. The Chinese are fabricating still more warheads, and China's missiles can deliver nukes to targets anywhere in the region.



In North Korea, Kim Jong-un has also been talking about firing tactical nukes. He can do nothing of the sort, however, without Xi's endorsement. It's hard to believe that Xi would go along with Kim's dream of attacking America's two northeast Asian allies, South Korea and/or Japan, when China does a roaring business with both of them as well as the United States.



Kim knows full well an attack on anyone would be catastrophic, an invitation for the Americans to go to war with the full approval of much of the rest of the world with the notable exception of the North's only friends and allies, China and Russia. As far as the Chinese are concerned, Kim can order missile tests and maybe another nuclear test, but that's about it.



Against this background, if war does not seem imminent, it's at least a danger for which both Japan and South Korea have to be prepared. But could they fight as allies? President Biden seemed delighted with Kishida's new defense strategy when they met last Friday at the White House. In response to intimidation by China and Russia in the form of intrusions into Japan's air defense identification zone and threats from North Korea, the Japanese will be acquiring hundreds of Tomahawk missiles and more warplanes, including drones, from the U.S. to retaliate against their enemies.



All of this puts South Korea in a difficult position. Spurred on by the Americans, the South Korean and Japanese navies have conducted joint exercises, and they're also exchanging intelligence information. As long as Japan refuses concessions on so many other differences springing from the era of Japanese rule over Korea, however, we may be sure Koreans will look with suspicion if not alarm on the prospect of Japan's renaissance as a major military power.





Donald Kirk (kirkdon4343@gmail.com) writes from Seoul as well as Washington.


Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - Beedie Investments Limited ("Beedie") entered into a senior secured loan with VIQ Solutions Inc. (the "Company"), pursuant to which Beedie will make available up to US$15 million to the Company (the "Loan"), pursuant to the terms of a credit agreement by and among the Company and Beedie (the "Credit Agreement"). US$12 million of the Loan has been advanced to the Company as an initial advance (the "Initial Advance"), with an additional US$3 million available to the Company to be drawn in subsequent advances in a minimum of US$1 million tranches (each, a "Subsequent Advance").

In connection with the Initial Advance under the Loan, the Company has issued 7,968,750 common share purchase warrants (each, a "Warrant") to Beedie. Each Warrant is exercisable to purchase one common share of the Company (each, a "Warrant Share") at an exercise price of US$0.256 (Cdn$0.349) per Warrant Share. The Warrants expire on January 16, 2030. In addition, the Company has agreed to issue additional common share purchase warrants (each, a "Subsequent Warrant") in connection with the Subsequent Advances, with such number of Warrants to be equal to 17% of the amount of such Subsequent Advance divided by the exercise price of such Subsequent Warrants. The Subsequent Warrants will have an exercise price equal to the 5-day volume weighted average price of the Company's common shares (the "Common Shares") immediately prior to the earlier of: (i) the announcement of the applicable Subsequent Advance, and (ii) the funding of the applicable Subsequent Advance. The Subsequent Warrants will expire seven years from the date of issuance. Pursuant to the terms of the Credit Agreement, the aggregate number of Warrants issuable cannot exceed 8,589,538 Warrants (the "Warrant Maximum"), unless any securities laws and/or stock exchange policies applicable to the Borrower do not require any shareholder or third party approval (or such approvals have been obtained, provided that the Borrower's decision to seek such approvals shall be in the sole and absolute discretion of the Borrower).

Immediately prior to entering into the Credit Agreement, Beedie did not, directly or indirectly, own or control any securities in the capital of the Company. If the Warrants issued in connection with the Initial Advance were converted in full into Common Shares, Beedie, directly or indirectly, would own or control a total of 7,968,750 Common Shares, representing approximately 18.7% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares immediately after entering into the Credit Agreement on a partially diluted basis.

If the Warrants issued in connection with the Initial Advance, as well as any Subsequent Warrants issued in connection with any Subsequent Advance, were converted in full into Common Shares (assuming that all Subsequent Warrants have an exercise price equal to US$0.256 per Warrant Share and the Warrant Maximum does not apply), Beedie, directly or indirectly, would own or control a total of 9,960,938 Common Shares, representing approximately 22.3% of the currently issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially diluted basis. The actual number of Common Shares issued pursuant to the conversion of any Subsequent Warrants will depend upon 5-day volume weighted average price of the Common Shares applicable at the time of such Subsequent Advance and the application of the Warrant Maximum.

All of the securities held by Beedie in the Company are being held for investment purposes. Beedie may in the future take such actions in respect of its Company securityholdings as it deems appropriate in light of the market circumstances then existing, including the potential purchase of additional shares of the Company through open market purchases or privately negotiated transactions, or the sale of all or a portion of such holdings in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions to one or more purchasers, or Beedie may continue to hold its current positions.

A copy of the early warning report relating to the Warrants will be available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and may also be obtained by contacting Beedie Investments Limited at 604-435-3321. Beedie's head office is located at Suite 1570 - 1111 West Georgia St., Vancouver, BC, V6E 4M3.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151507
(17 January 2023) Statkraft has announced a major deal with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners' (CIP) fund Copenhagen Infrastructure IV K/S (CI IV) as part of its plans to develop up to 2.2 gigawatts of offshore wind in Ireland.

This landmark partnership will see CIP acquire a 50% stake in Statkraft's offshore wind portfolio in Ireland. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The scope of the partnership includes the three phases of the North Irish Sea Array, or NISA, and the Bore Array. The proposed location for NISA is off the coast of counties Dublin, Louth, and Meath, while the site of the Bore Array has been proposed for the Celtic Sea.

Developing and building these projects is expected to require an investment of more than 4 billion by Statkraft and CIP by 2030.

"The need for energy security and decarbonisation has never been as important, or urgent, as it is today. Ireland has a wealth of renewable energy resources right on its doorstep - energy that has largely remained untapped. Statkraft and CIP will now work together to bring that clean, green power to the Irish people," said David Flood, Head of Offshore Wind at Statkraft.

"This deal marks a major development for Statkraft in Ireland as we scale up our offshore wind ambitions across Northern Europe. The country's maritime area makes it ideal for large-scale offshore wind energy production - energy we can deliver in partnership with CIP. The company's track record in offshore wind coupled with our development expertise will enable us to harness the energy of the wind in the Irish Sea to create a green energy system designed for a decarbonised future," he added.

Nischal Agarwal, Partner in CIP, said: "We are very pleased to be entering the Irish offshore market and look forward to developing these exciting projects together with Statkraft. In combining CIP's industrial background and international experience within offshore wind with Statkraft's experience of Irish renewables, the partnership will enable the provision of renewable power to Irish homes and businesses and contribute to reaching the government's ambitious decarbonisation targets."

Within offshore wind, Statkraft is pursuing an industrial role in the North Sea and Ireland. This agreement is an important step in delivering on this ambition. Statkraft intends to play a major role in the development of an offshore wind industry in Norway. The company has ten years of experience from offshore wind in the UK and extensive expertise in developing and operating large renewable projects. Statkraft is taking part in two strong consortia pursuing bids to develop the first Norwegian offshore wind projects.



Gry J. Aamodt, Statkraft's Head of Offshore wind in Norway, said: "The agreement and cooperation with CIP gives us access to expertise and experience from both bottom-fixed and floating offshore wind projects. The projects in Ireland will make us even better positioned for the development of both Srlige Nordsj II, Utsira Nord and future projects in Norway."

Statkraft is Europe's largest generator of renewable energy. The company entered the Irish market in 2018 and since then has almost tripled its workforce and tripled its development portfolio. A leading player in the Irish renewable energy market, it develops, owns, and operates renewable energy projects across the technologies of onshore wind, offshore wind, solar, battery storage and grid services.??



ENDS



For further information, or to request an interview, please contact:



Geir Fuglseth, press contact, Statkraft AS

Tel: +47 913 70 572

E-mail: geir.fuglseth@statkraft.com

Gry Aamodt, Vice President Offshore Wind Nordics, Statkraft AS

Tel: +47 952 89 655

E-mail: gryjohanne.amodt@statkraft.com

Joanne O'Connor, Communications Manager, Statkraft Ireland

Tel: + 353 (87) 1898660

E-mail: joanne.oconnor@statkraft.com



Notes to Editor:



About Statkraft

Statkraft is a leading company in hydropower internationally and Europe's largest generator of renewable energy. The Group produces hydropower, wind power, solar power, gas-fired power and supplies district heating. Statkraft is a global company in energy market operations. Statkraft has 5,000 employees in 20 countries. www.statkraft.com

About NISA

The North Irish Sea Array, also known as NISA, is an offshore wind energy project being proposed for an area off the coast of counties Dublin, Meath, and Louth. NISA was one of seven offshore renewable projects to be issued with a Maritime Area Consent by the Government in December 2022. A planning application for NISA is scheduled to be submitted this year, with commencement of operations anticipated for 2026.

About the Bore Array

The Bore Array is a proposed Phase 2 offshore wind farm in the Celtic Sea.

About Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners

Founded in 2012, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S (CIP) today is the world's largest dedicated fund manager within greenfield renewable energy investments and a global leader in offshore wind. The funds managed by CIP focuses on investments in offshore and onshore wind, solar PV, biomass and energy-from-waste, transmission and distribution, reserve capacity, storage, advanced bioenergy, and Power-to-X.

CIP manages ten funds and has to date raised approximately 19 billion for investments in energy and associated infrastructure from more than 140 international institutional investors. CIP has approximately 400 employees and 11 offices around the world. For more information, visit www.cip.com




PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Danone (DANOY.PK) announced a global action plan to reduce absolute methane emissions from its fresh milk supply chain by 30% by 2030. The company plans to remove 1.2 million tons carbon dioxide equivalent of methane emissions by 2030. Also, the company will report on its methane emissions, as part of extra financial disclosure. In 2023, Danone will launch 4 new initiatives for methane reduction in Africa, Europe and the United States. The company is also launching a partnership with Environmental Defense Fund, a non-profit environmental organization working in nearly 30 countries. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Ammonia producer CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) announced Tuesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding or MOU with JERA Co., Inc., a Japanese energy generator, for the supply of up to 500,000 metric tonnes per year of clean ammonia beginning in 2027. The companies expect to evaluate a range of potential supply options, including an equity investment alongside CF Industries to develop a greenfield clean ammonia facility in Louisiana and a supplementary long-term offtake agreement from CF Industries' Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana. The MOU follows a supplier comparison and evaluation process for the procurement of clean ammonia that JERA initiated in February 2022 for the world's first commercial scale ammonia co-firing operations. The company noted that the clean ammonia will be required to be produced with at least 60% lower carbon emissions than conventionally produced ammonia. It will be co-fired with coal at JERA's Hekinan Thermal Power Station in order to reduce carbon dioxide or CO2 emissions from the facility. Ammonia does not emit CO2 when combusted. CF Industries noted that JERA has successfully concluded an ammonia co-firing pilot test and will begin a demonstration project during its fiscal year 2023 at its Hekinan power plant. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Share Buyback Transaction Details January 9 January 13, 2023

Regulatory News:

MotorK Plc (AMS: MTRK) ("MotorK" or the "Group") announces today that it has purchased the following number of ordinary shares in the Company.

This is part of a repurchase program announced on July 18, 2022. MotorK intends to buy back its own ordinary shares by way of off-market purchases on Euronext Amsterdam and via block trades up to a maximum aggregate value of 3,000,000 (the "Programme"). The authorization will expire following the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2023.

Date Transactions Number of Ordinary

Shares Total Consideration () Average price

( per share) Minimum price

( per share) Maximum price

( per share) 09/01/2023 Purchase 1,600 1,885 1.18 1.18 1.18 10/01/2023 Purchase 3,166 3,765 1.19 1.18 1.20 11/01/2023 Purchase 3,075 3,690 1.20 1.20 1.20 12/01/2023 Purchase 3,182 3,818 1.20 1.20 1.20 13/01/2023 Purchase 3,274 3,863 1.18 1.18 1.18 Total Weekly 14,297 17,021 1.19 1.18 1.20 Cumulated to date 484,014 743,443

Aggregate Information

The Programme is implemented within the limitations of the authority granted by the General Meeting on July 18, 2022. Any shares so repurchased shall be treated as cancelled pursuant to section 706(b) of the Companies Act 2006.

The Group has entered into non-discretionary instructions with Kepler Cheuvreux SA ("Kepler Cheuvreux") to conduct the Programme on its behalf and to make trading decisions under the Programme independently of MotorK.

REGULATED INFORMATION

This press release contains information that qualifies or may qualify as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014/EU)

ABOUT MOTORK PLC

MotorK (AMS: MTRK) is a leading software as a service ("SaaS") provider for the automotive retail industry in the EMEA region, with over 400 employees and eleven offices in eight countries (Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, the UK, Belgium and Israel). MotorK empowers car manufacturers and dealers to improve their customer experience through a broad suite of fully integrated digital products and services. MotorK provides its customers with an innovative combination of digital solutions, SaaS cloud products and the largest R&D department in the automotive digital sales and marketing industry in Europe. MotorK is a company registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 5th Floor One New Change, London, England, EC4M 9AF Company Registration: 9259000. For more information: www.motork.io or www.investors.motork.io.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230116005376/en/

Contacts:

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

MotorK Investor Relations

Etienne Jacquet

etienne.jacquet@motork.io

+33 6 22 18 39 09

MotorK Corporate Communications

press@motork.io
Tremblay-Olson Claims area has returned the highest concentration of metals-in-soil collected to date at the Albert Lake Property.

Highest individual metal-in-soil assays returned up to: 743ppm Ni, 547ppm Cu, 946ppb Pd, 575ppb Pt and 175ppb Au.

Highest individual 3PE soil sample returned 1.21 g/t (Pd+Pt+Au).





Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Fathom Nickel Inc. (CSE:FNI) (FSE: 6Q5), (OTCQB: FNICF) (the "Company" or "Fathom") is pleased to announce soil geochemistry results collected from the Tremblay-Olson Claims area at the Albert Lake Property. The Tremblay-Olson Claims (see Press Release Oct, 31, 2022) refer to an area of strategic importance in which there has been no exploration work performed since 1987 and includes two known mineralized ultramafic occurrences - the "Tremblay-Olson" and the "NIC-5". The Tremblay-Olson Claims area is immediately along trend to the south-southwest of the historic Rottenstone Mine, a past producer of high-grade nickel, copper and platinum group elements.

Soil Geochemistry Highlights:

The Tremblay-Olson Claims area has returned the highest concentration of anomalous nickel, copper, palladium plus platinum in soil samples collected thus far at the Albert Lake Property;

Highest individual metal-in-soil assays returned up to: 743ppm Ni, 547ppm Cu, 946ppb Pd, 575ppb Pt and 175ppb Au;

The 946ppb Pd result, when combined with the Pt and Au result of that sample, yields 1.209 g/t 3PE (Pd+Pt+Au);

37% of soil samples (360 of 977) collected at the Tremblay-Olson Claims area returned anomalous (>90 th percentile, Ni >15.6ppm;) to very anomalous (>97 th percentile, Ni >28.96ppm;) nickel-in-soil assay results;

percentile, Ni >15.6ppm;) to very anomalous (>97 percentile, Ni >28.96ppm;) nickel-in-soil assay results; 48% of all very anomalous Ni-in soil samples collected at the Albert Lake Property are within the Tremblay-Olson Claims area;

Coincident with Ni-in-soil anomalies are chrome (Cr), cobalt (Co) and magnesium (Mg); associated pathfinder elements and a good indicator of nearby ultramafic source(s);

Commenting on the results, Ian Fraser, CEO and VP Exploration stated, "We are very excited with the results from the fall soil geochemistry program at the Tremblay-Olson Claims area. It is indeed rare to get in excess of 1 gram/tonne of platinum and palladium in a soil sample. The elevated nickel-copper in soils, the size and robustness of anomalies now defined, and the high PGE results are very encouraging and a good indicator of ultramafic sources occurring within the Tremblay-Olson Claims area. We continue to integrate these soil results with all historic geophysical and geological data and we very much look forward to drill testing high-priority drill targets within the Tremblay-Olson Claims area in Q1-2023."

The 2022 Fall Soil Geochemistry Program

In October 2022, 977 B-horizon soil samples were collected and analyzed within the Tremblay-Olson Claims area, an area of 315 hectares (~3 km2). Samples were collected at predetermined locations within the historic showing areas (Tremblay-Olson, NIC-5) at 50-meter sample intervals and in the peripheral survey area, at 100-meter sample intervals. The defined, multi-element soil anomalies coincide with geophysical anomalies the Company continues to interpret through inversion processes. Geochemical anomalies in critical pathfinder elements such as chrome and magnesium are good indicators of an ultramafic source. The highly anomalous nickel, copper, platinum and palladium defined by the survey can be suggestive of a mineralized ultramafic source or sources occurring within the Tremblay-Olson Claims area. The Company's new discovery; the ultramafic hosted and well mineralized Bay-Island Trend, coincides with anomalous nickel-in-soils (Figure 1) and multi-element soil anomalies (Cu, Co, Cr and Mg). The Tremblay-Olson Claims soil geochemical anomalies cover a greater area and are far more robust than the geochemical soil anomalies associated with the Bay-Island Trend.

Since 2018 Fathom has collected and assayed 6,179 B-horizon soil samples at Albert Lake. Inclusive of the recent Tremblay-Olson Claims area results, the Company has now defined an anomalous Ni-in-soil trend in excess of five (5) kilometers (Figures 1 & 2). This 5-kilometer trend includes: the historic Rottenstone Mine, the Bay-Island Trend, the mineralized ultramafic Tremblay-Olson and NIC-5 showings, The Island Showing and the Pyroxenite Island occurrence.* Coincident with the Ni-in-soil anomalies are anomalous to very anomalous critical pathfinder elements chrome, magnesium and cobalt values.

*The area immediately around the historic Rottenstone Mine has not been soil sampled. Past production has contaminated the area. However; the historic Rottenstone Mine does fall within the trend discussed and there are significant Ni-Cu, 3PE and critical pathfinder anomalies occurring south and north of the historic Rottenstone Mine.

FIGURE 1 - TREMBLAY-OLSON/NIC-5 Ni-IN-SOIL SAMPLE DETAIL



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7843/151524_34c3d6bc8486fb86_001full.jpg

FIGURE 2 - PROJECT LEVEL Ni-IN-SOIL MAP - ALBERT LAKE PROPERTY





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7843/151524_34c3d6bc8486fb86_002full.jpg

Q1-2023 Exploration Program

The Company continues to plan its upcoming exploration and drill campaigns at both the Gochager Lake Project and at the Albert Lake Project. Based on recent discussions with representatives from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, we expect to receive the Gochager Lake exploration permit on or around January 23, 2023. A detailed update on the Q1 exploration programs will be provided at that time.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

The Company contracted the services of TerraLogic Exploration Inc. ("TerraLogic") to conduct its soil geochemistry program on the Tremblay-Olson Claims area. Soil samples were collected at pre-determined sites utilizing a 100m x 100m sample spacing configuration and a 50m x 50m configuration in certain critical areas. Soils were placed in kraft soil sample bags and all metadata associated with each sample location was recorded. Once sorted and logged, samples were shipped to ALS Canada Ltd. ("ALS") in North Vancouver, British Columbia. At ALS, individual samples were dried and sieved to -180 micron (80 mesh). Both fractions were retained. A 0.5g split of the sieved portion was partially digested (Aqua Regia) and analysis of 51 elements was performed by ultra trace ICP-MS. Low level fire assay provided results for platinum, palladium and gold. ALS is an ISO / IEC 17025 certified laboratory and independent of Fathom. During the soil geochemistry program, TerraLogic crews provided a field duplicate from every 25th sample and these field duplicates were inserted into the sample stream to monitor the quality of analyses for the soil sampling program.

Qualified Person and Data Verification

Ian Fraser, P.Geo., CEO, VP Exploration and a Director of the Company and the "qualified person" as such term is defined by National Instrument 43-101, has verified the data disclosed in this news release, and has otherwise reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release on behalf of the Company.

About Fathom Nickel Inc.

Fathom is an exploration company that is targeting magmatic nickel sulphide discoveries to support the rapidly growing global electric vehicle market.

The Company now has a portfolio of two high-quality exploration projects located in the prolific Trans Hudson Corridor in Saskatchewan: 1) the Albert Lake Project, a 90,000+ hectare project that was host to the historic and past producing Rottenstone deposit (produced high-grade Ni-Cu+PGE, 1965-1969), and 2) the Gochager Lake Project, a 4696-hectare project that is host to a historic (NI43-101 non-compliant) open pitable resource consisting of 4.3M tons at 0.295% Ni and 0.081% Cu. The Company anticipates Winter 2023 exploration programs at both projects.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Ian Fraser P.Geo."

CEO, VP Exploration, Director



For Further Information Please Contact:

Ian Fraser, Chief Executive Officer and Vice-President, Exploration

1-403-650-9760

Email: ifraser@fathomnickel.com

or

Manish Grigo, Director of Corporate Development

+1-416-569-3292

Email: mgrigo @fathomnickel.com

Forward Looking Statements:

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" that are based on expectations, estimates, projections and interpretations as at the date of this news release. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "seek", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur, and include, without limitation, statements regarding payment of terms under the Option Agreement, permitting for the Property, receipt of an exploration permit, timing of the exploration program on the Property and the Company achieving the earn-in thresholds under the Option Agreement. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward- looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAWS

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151524
Additions reflect Wilson Sonsini's focus on the needs of UK and European tech companies

Wilson Sonsini's unique story in London: Building an integrated, US/UK-qualified, transatlantic team experienced in areas that help UK and European tech companies compete and win on the global stage

Since opening in London in 2018, Wilson Sonsini remains driven by UK and European tech companies' demand for Silicon Valley-style business, strategic, and legal advice in their local geography

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati, the premier provider of legal services to technology, life sciences, and growth enterprises worldwide, announced today that Fleur Benns, Sarah Lane, and Martin Luff have joined the firm as partners in the London office. The addition reflects Wilson Sonsini's continued growth in London and that the firm has extended its London-based service offerings to include employee incentives and benefits (Benns), tax (Lane), and employment (Luff).

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005317/en/

Fleur Benns, Partner, Wilson Sonsini (Photo: Business Wire)

The combination of new practice areas and Wilson Sonsini's existing US and UK corporate and regulatory capabilities in London means the firm now has an integrated, US/UK-qualified, transatlantic deal team under one roof and one brand in London, with the core strategic skillsets that UK and European tech companies need to successfully grow their businesses.

Since opening in London in 2018, Wilson Sonsini has expanded by adding talented transatlantic-focused lawyers who apply their international experience to support the growth of UK and European tech companies from launching, scaling, and raising capital to exiting via M&A, IPO, or otherwise with a particular focus on UK and European tech companies exploring US expansion, fundraising and/or exit. The firm has a formidable position in London's tech ecosystem and also other UK and European markets as the go-to firm for technology companies with transatlantic ambitions.

Originally launching its London office with one US partner and a handful of professional staff, Wilson Sonsini now has 38 London-based US, UK and dual US/UK-qualified attorneys including 11 partners and nearly 50 London employees overall.

"Our decision to open in London was driven by market demand for the unique mix of legal and strategic business-related advice that has always been a hallmark of Silicon Valley," said Doug Clark, managing partner at Wilson Sonsini. "Since then, market demand in London is why we've grown, through steady and strategic additions of talented attorneys like Fleur, Sarah, and Martin. This is also why we've added core skillsets, like theirs, that UK and European tech companies want and need to successfully grow their businesses and we have all of that in one office, under Wilson Sonsini's unique brand."

Fleur Benns was previously a legal director within the Share Plans and Incentives team at Pinsent Masons LLP since 2018. She has more than 20 years of experience as a specialist employee incentives and benefits attorney, with particular experience in the technology and life sciences sectors combined with experience supporting US companies on incentive issues arising in respect of both acquisitions and investments into the UK. She has advised on the implementation of equity and share plans and on the operation of existing arrangements for public and private companies, including those with private equity and venture capital investors. Previously, she worked closely with the corporate teams at her firms on investment and M&A transaction support. Prior to joining Pinsent Masons, Benns worked as a legal director within a specialist employee incentives and benefits team at Bird Bird LLP from 2010 to 2018. Before that, she was a senior associate at Baker McKenzie from 2007 to 2009; an associate at Taylor Wessing LLP from 2001 to 2007; and an associate and trainee at Olswang LLP from 1997 to 2001. She received her undergraduate degree from King's College, University of London and her legal qualifications from the College of Law. She is admitted to practise as a Solicitor of England and Wales.

Sarah Lane was previously senior tax counsel in Simpson Thacher's London office. At Simpson, she led tax work on multiple M&A and capital markets transactions. She has worked in both law firms and tax consultancy, including 12 years as a partner in a Big 4 firm dealing with international tax and M&A across a broad range of sectors from tech to capital markets. Her experience includes providing tax advice in the venture capital, M&A, private equity, and fund formation spaces and dealing with major international transactions, as well as advising clients on tax disputes. She particularly enjoys working with early-stage clients to establish their businesses and partnering with them as they grow. Her past experience includes time as an academic at the University of Leeds. She received her M.A. degree from Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford and trained and qualified as a solicitor with Linklaters in London. She is admitted to practise as a Solicitor of England and Wales.

Martin Luff is a US and UK-qualified employment lawyer and supports clients on a broad range of UK, US and international personnel matters. He was previously counsel in the London office of Vinson Elkins for the past seven years. From 2009 to 2015, he was based in the Vinson Elkins Houston office. He has extensive experience dealing with the employment aspects of business transactions. He also counsels clients on day-to-day UK and US human resources and personnel issues, including employment and consultancy agreements, international employee transfers and expatriate arrangements, disciplinary and performance issues, non-competition and non-solicitation covenants, redundancies and group layoffs, senior executive terminations, and employment disputes. Luff joined Vinson Elkins in 2009 from global consulting firm ERM, where he served as in-house legal counsel in Houston and London. He began his career in 2002 as a trainee, then employment associate, at UK firm Travers Smith, where he worked until 2007. He received his LL.M. from the University of Texas School of Law, his LPC in law from Nottingham Law School, and his B.A. with honors from the University of Nottingham. He is admitted to practise as a Solicitor of England and Wales, and in Texas.

Wilson Sonsini's London team has advised numerous iconic, high-growth UK- and European-based tech companies on significant transatlantic financing and exit transactions since opening the office in 2018. A representative list includes Babylon, Beamery, Checkout.com, Current Health, Multiverse, Oxbotica, Peakon, Stability AI, TrueLayer, and WaveOptics. During the same time frame, the firm's London-led US expansion team has counseled over 1,000 UK and other European start-ups on establishing and scaling US operations.

"In tech, the US-UK dynamic is not just the special relationship it's the essential relationship. There are more unicorns in the UK than anywhere else in Europe, and most of those companies have raised capital from US venture and growth capital investors," said Daniel Glazer, managing partner of Wilson Sonsini's London office. "Since launching in London in 2018, we've heard from the market loud and clear that UK and European tech companies want an integrated US-UK service offering, free from friction created by choice of governing law, time zones, and differing market norms and expectations. Our US/UK-qualified London team backed by lawyers across our 14 US offices who have a particular cross-border focus provides the transatlantic support for UK and European tech companies to compete and win in America and globally."

About Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati

For more than 60 years, Wilson Sonsini's services and legal disciplines have focused on serving the principal challenges faced by the management and boards of directors of business enterprises. The firm is nationally recognized as a leading provider to growing and established clients seeking legal counsel to complete sophisticated corporate and technology transactions; manage governance and enterprise-scale matters; assist with intellectual property development, protection, and IP-driven transactions; represent them in contested disputes; and/or advise them on antitrust or other regulatory matters. With deep roots in Silicon Valley, Wilson Sonsini has 19 offices in technology and business hubs worldwide. For more information, please visit www.wsgr.com.

ADDITIONAL FACTS AND INFORMATION

Quotes From New Partners

"Joining Wilson Sonsini gives me a chance to contribute to the firm's legacy of working with iconic technology and life sciences clients," said Fleur Benns, who focuses her practice on employee incentives and benefits. "I look forward to working with the firm's team in London and helping UK and European tech and life sciences clients seeking to compete and win in America and globally."

"Wilson Sonsini has an amazing and special brand that grew out of its long-time practice of representing innovative companies," said Sarah Lane, who focuses her practice on corporate tax matters. "The firm also has a unique position in London in that it's truly focused on technology clients and now has an integrated, dual-qualified, transatlantic deal team."

"I share the collaborative, Silicon Valley-inspired spirit you find in the firm's London office and across the firm," said Martin Luff, who focuses his practice on employment matters. "That type of collaboration and approach is valued by our clients and is what helps make Wilson Sonsini unique. The corporate practice is comprehensive in scope, and I'm excited about being a part of the integrated, dual-qualified, transatlantic team in London that has core strategic skillsets that UK and European entrepreneurs need to grow their companies."

Representative Clients and Matters

Advising Babylon Health on $550 million Series C financing

on $550 million Series C financing Advising Babylon Health on NYSE listing via SPAC

on NYSE listing via SPAC Advising Beamery on $50 million Series D financing

on $50 million Series D financing Advising Checkout.com on $230 million Series A financing

on $230 million Series A financing Advising Checkout.com on $150 million Series B financing

on $150 million Series B financing Advising Checkout.com on $450 million Series C financing

on $450 million Series C financing Advising Checkout.com on $1 billion Series D financing

on $1 billion Series D financing Advising Current Health on $400 million acquisition by Best Buy

on $400 million acquisition by Best Buy Advising Current Health on $43 million Series B financing

on $43 million Series B financing Advising Multiverse on $44 million Series B funding

on $44 million Series B funding Advising Multiverse on $130 million Series C funding

on $130 million Series C funding Advising Multiverse on $220 million Series D funding

on $220 million Series D funding Advising Oxbotica on $47 million Series B funding

on $47 million Series B funding Advising Oxbotica on $140 million Series C funding

on $140 million Series C funding Advising Peakon on $700 million acquisition by Workday

on $700 million acquisition by Workday Advising Stability AI on $101 million funding

on $101 million funding Advising TrueLayer on $130 million financing

on $130 million financing Advising TrueLayer on $70 million Series D financing

on $70 million Series D financing Advising WaveOptics on acquisition by Snap

Other Key Facts

Headcount [Totals below are as of 01/09/2023.]

London Employees: 49

London Attorneys: 38

London Partners: 11 [Includes the new UK partners and Jose Campos (partner-elect)]

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005317/en/

Contacts:

Wayne Kessler

Baretz+Brunelle

732.239.9710 Mobile

wkessler@baretzbrunelle.com
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, India, Shri Eknath Shinde, has lined up 21 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with leading foreign investors and global companies, worth over $17 billion, at the World Economic Forum (WEF). The investments are estimated to create more than 66,500 jobs over the next few years. These investments are aimed at jumpstarting Maharashtra on its ambitious $ 1-trillion economy goal journey.

Of these, the majority are greenfield projects in Data Centres, pharmaceuticals, logistics, chemicals, automobiles, electric vehicles, renewable energy and ESDM, which will foster inclusive growth, job creation and sustainable development. Shri Shinde is on a two-day visit to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde stated: "Maharashtra has been a key driver and contributor to India's economic growth. We are leading the way in delivering ground-breaking investment opportunities and building confidence for the investing community. These MOUs demonstrate the heightened interest in the state and are a testament to Maharashtra's progressive policies and investor-friendly initiatives under our new government. I have presented the progressive policy reforms of my government, making the state a part of the global conversation, to reiterate to political leaders and global investors why Maharashtra is a premier investment destination."

Maharashtra also signed the prestigious three-year Platform Partnership with the WEF, a commercial contract for continuous engagements on subjects of strategic importance to the State. The subjects focus on Shaping the Future of Urban Transformation - smart and connected cities, urban resilience, governance, infrastructure & services and resource management - and New Economies and Societies, focusing on entrepreneurship, education & skills, economic growth and job creation.

During his visit, Shri Shinde also will be presenting Maharashtra's progressive policies and investor-friendly outlook to key political and government representatives from Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, among others.

About Maharashtra:

Maharashtra is one of the most industrialised states in India, contributing 16% to the country's industrial output and 15% to its GDP. The service sector contributes the most to the state's economy, accounting for 62% of its GDP, while the manufacturing sector is the second-largest contributor to the state's economy, accounting for 20% of its GDP. Major industries in Maharashtra include automobiles, engineering, textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, food processing and IT/ITeS.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/chief-minister-of-maharashtra-eknath-shinde-lines-up-mous-in-excess-of-17-billion-with-investors-during-visit-to-the-world-economic-forum-301722857.html
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Standard Lithium Ltd. ("Standard Lithium" or the "Company") (TSXV: SLI) (NYSE American: SLI) (FRA: S5L), a leading near-commercial lithium company, announces that two experienced energy executives, Claudia D'Orazio and Anca Rusu, have joined its Board as independent directors of the Company, effective immediately.



"We are pleased to welcome Claudia and Anca to Standard Lithium's Board of Directors during such an important stage of growth for the Company," said Robert Cross, Chairman of the Board. "Both are accomplished senior executives who bring decades of experience in the energy sector. Claudia's technical and financial acumen and human resources expertise, coupled with Anca's experience in project development and focus on safety and environmental excellence, will be of great value to Standard Lithium as we continue to progress towards commercialization."

Claudia D'Orazio, CPA, is an accomplished senior executive with leadership experience across a range of industries, including oil and gas, energy, mining, public audit, and finance. She is currently the Vice President and Chief Human Resources & Technology Officer of Centerra Gold Inc., a publicly traded Canadian-based gold mining company. Prior to joining Centerra Gold, Ms. D'Orazio held several leadership roles with Pembina Pipeline Corporation from 2006 to 2020, ending as Vice President, Human Resources. She spent the first half of her career in public audit and finance at the Royal Bank of Canada, and KPMG LLP.

Ms. D'Orazio is currently a Board member of the Canadian Mineral Industry Education Foundation. She holds a Chartered Professional Accountant Designation and Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Management Information Systems from McGill University.

Anca Rusu is a strategic leader with over 20 years of experience directing global capital projects within the energy sector. She most recently served as the Special Advisor, Projects and Engineering for Royal Dutch Shell, where she supported the re-positioning of the global Projects organization to align with the company's focus on the energy transition. Ms. Rusu joined Royal Dutch Shell in 2005 and has held a variety of leadership roles there, including Vice President, Safety and Environment Excellence and Vice President, Projects Shell Chemical Appalachia, where she led the construction of Shell's major petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania. She began her career as an engineering, procurement, and construction contractor in her role as a project engineer.

Ms. Rusu currently serves on the National Board of the Project Management Association of Canada and as an Advisory Board member for Moss Lake Partners LP, a US-based midstream logistics start-up. She holds a Professional Engineer Designation in Ontario, Canada, an MBA from York University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Mechanical Engineering from Politechnica University of Bucharest.

Standard Lithium CEO, Robert Mintak stated, "I am very pleased to welcome Anca and Claudia, two exceptional, independent directors to our Board. Both bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise across the energy, resource and finance sectors that will significantly strengthen and complement the current makeup of our Board."

About Standard Lithium Ltd.

Standard Lithium is a leading near-commercial lithium development company with a portfolio of projects in process. The Company's flagship projects, the LANXESS Property Project and the South West Arkansas Project, are located in southern Arkansas near the Louisiana state line. The Company is focused on the evaluation and testing of commercial lithium extraction and purification from brine sourced from approximately 180,000 acres of unitized leases across these two projects. The Company operates a first-of-a-kind industrial-scale Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Demonstration Plant at the LANXESS Property Project. The scalable, environmentally friendly process eliminates the use of evaporation ponds, reduces processing time from months to hours and greatly increases the effective recovery of lithium. A Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) and Front-End Engineering Study (FEED) for Phase 1A of the LANXESS Property Project commenced in September 2022. A Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) of the South West Arkansas Project commenced in May 2022. The Company is also pursuing the resource development of approximately 45,000 acres of mineral leases located in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California.

Standard Lithium is jointly listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and the NYSE American under the trading symbol "SLI"; and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "S5L". Please visit the Company's website at https://www.standardlithium.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to plans at the LANXESS Property Project and the South West Arkansas Project, future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, fluctuations in the market for lithium and its derivatives, changes in exploration costs and government regulation in Canada and the United States, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (TOKYO:5802) (ISIN:JP3407400005) has received its first overseas commercial order for power line communication (PLC)* string* monitoring units from a German photovoltaic (PV) power generation and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) company, bes new Energy GmbH. The products have been installed at an existing solar power plant (in operation for about 12 years with an output of 5 MW) and have been operating since October this year.

In Europe, a great number of PV power plants have been installed over the last two decades. Accordingly, many solar power plants and string monitoring units have been in operation for more than 10 years, and an increasing number of facilities are experiencing operational problems due to breakdowns and deterioration after a long period of operation. For this reason, there is a growing need to replace string monitoring units. Looking at this trend at existing power plants, Sumitomo Electric conducted a project to demonstrate the advantages of its PLC string monitoring units in Germany in cooperation with Fraunhofer-Institut fur Solare Energiesysteme ISE. As a result, the products were highly evaluated for their significant improvement in power generation efficiency, which became a key reason for winning this order.

Amid growing expectations for the further spread and efficient use of renewable energy toward the realization of a decarbonized society, it is believed that the need for replacing string monitoring units at solar power plants will continue to grow. In order to contribute to the improvement of power generation efficiency, Sumitomo Electric will strive to develop more useful PLC string monitoring units and provide better ancillary services, aiming to realize safe and comfortable life on our green planet.

Features of Sumitomo Electric PLC string monitoring units for solar power plants

1. PLC technology used for transmission of string data

Reducing the construction period and costs of solar power plants by eliminating the need for the construction of communication lines

No potential difference in the unit in the event of lightning damage due to the elimination of communication lines, achieving lightning protection characteristics higher than those of the RS-485 communication protocol

Achieving data communication more stable than other communication protocols (RS-485, radio) thanks to Sumitomo Electric's unique noise resistance performance

2. Structure that facilitates retrofitting work (clamping the current sensor)

3. AI-based analysis of the data, which is obtained by the string monitoring unit, on the cloud to send a daily email in the event of a fault and offer a diagnosis service (optional)

4. Track record of shipping more than 10,000 units to solar power plants in Japan

*1 Power line communication: A technology designed to use a power line as a communication channel. Sumitomo Electric products superimpose string current data signals on DC power lines.

*2 String: A minimum configuration unit of series-connected solar panels

Reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tio2BhKEyUk

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221214006088/en/

Contacts:

For media inquiries, please contact:

Reika Nishihira (nishihira-reika@sei.co.jp)

Public Relations Department

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.

TEL: +81-3-6406-2701


By Ahn Ho-young



There are times when a government is expected to make a declaration on the basic orientation of its foreign and security policy. In my mind, we are presently living through one such time. I am glad that the Korean government rose to the occasion and brilliantly met that expectation.



As we look back, 1953, the year when the fighting stopped for the Korean War through a truce agreement, was such a time as well. In the middle of the Cold War, Korea entered into the Mutual Security Treaty with the United States. Through the treaty, Korea declared to the world that Korea's foreign and security policy will be based on a liberal democracy, a market economy, human rights and the rule of law. That declaration laid the foundations for Korea's economic development and political democratization.



Forty years later, the Cold War came to an end. Former communist countries rushed to seek reforms and liberalization. It looked possible to expand the "rule-based international order" to the whole world. This time, Korea declared its "Northern Policy" aimed at normalizing relations with former communist countries. The policy provided an opportunity for Korea to extend its diplomacy to cover the whole world. It also provided an opportunity to accelerate Korea's economic development. The per capita GDP for Korea, which stood at $6,600 in 1990, has risen exponentially to more than $35,000 nowadays. Korea was one of the most impressive beneficiaries of the globalization of international relations and economics in the post-Cold War era.



Unfortunately, that era is coming to an end. The "rule-based international order" is meeting with huge challenges. In February last year, Russia and China promised cooperation "without limits." Soon enough, Russia invaded Ukraine, for the simple reason that Ukraine wishes to join NATO and the EU, bastions of liberal democracy and market economics.



For almost a year now, Russia has relentlessly assaulted the Ukrainian military, civilians and basic infrastructure necessary for life. Russia bombarded even nuclear reactors and often threatens Ukraine with the use of nuclear weapons. There's a fear that such a blatant attack on a peaceful neighbor can be repeated in other parts of the world. It also seriously interferes with the free flow of goods and resources, further undermining economies around the world.



President Biden calls these challenges a fight "between democracy and autocracy." German Chancellor Olaf Scholz calls them "Zeitenwende," meaning an inflection point in history. With whatever name you choose to call them, Korea has to brace itself for fundamental changes in the security and economic environment of the world and the Indo-Pacific. It was against such a backdrop that Korea declared its Indo-Pacific Strategy on Dec. 28, last year.



The declaration deserves much praise. It carries messages right for the time we live in, and right for the gravity of the situation.



The declaration recognizes the gravity of the times at the very beginning: "Recently, there has been a rise in a combination of challenges that threaten a free, peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific. (...) and there is growing concern about democratic backsliding and challenges to universal values such as freedom, the rule of law and human rights."



Given such recognition of the times, the declaration keeps on emphasizing the importance for Korea to work to preserve the "rules-based international order," and concludes with nine core lines of effort that need to be made. The first core line is "Building regional order based on norms and rules"; "In realizing the vision for a free Indo-Pacific, the Republic of Korea is committed to partnering with like-minded countries that share the values of freedom, the rule of law and human rights as well as international norms to contribute to the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region."



The declaration has already met with highly positive responses from the U.S., Canada, other NATO members and Australia, the countries that are committed to defending the "rule-based international order." Each of them welcomed the common orientation expressed through Korea's declaration and looked forward to cooperating closely with Korea in the days to come.



The spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry responded with a neutral comment, "China hopes that Korea works for the development of sound and stable Korea-China relations." With respect to China, the declaration recognizes the country as "a key partner for achieving prosperity and peace in the Indo-Pacific region," and states that Korea "will nurture a sounder and more mature relationship, as we pursue shared interests based on mutual respect and reciprocity, guided by international norms and rules."



Given the geopolitical and geoeconomic reality of Korea, China is "a key partner," and Korea must develop sound and stable relations with China. A point that must be clarified by Korea up front is that these efforts should not interfere with Korea's security alliance with the U.S., a quintessential partner for Korea to maintain international norms and rules. Korea's declaration made the point sufficiently clear.





Ahn Ho-young (hyahn78@mofa.or.kr) is chair professor of North Korean studies, Kyungnam University. He also served as Korean ambassador to the U.S. and vice foreign minister.






BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) announced the completion of the strategic review of its EMEA business. The company will contribute its European major domestic appliance business, and Arcelik will contribute its major domestic appliance, consumer electronics, air conditioning, and small domestic appliance businesses into a newly formed entity of which Whirlpool will own 25% and Arcelik 75%. The new entity is expected to have combined sales of over 6 billion euros. The combined businesses are anticipated to generate cost synergies of over 200 million euros. Post closing, Whirlpool expects full-year cash provided by operations and free cash flow to increase by approximately $100 and $250 million, respectively. Separately, Whirlpool agreed in principle to the sale of Whirlpool's Middle East and Africa business to Arcelik. In connection with the deal, Whirlpool Corp. recorded a non-cash loss on disposal of approximately $1.5 billion in the fourth-quarter of 2022. The transaction is expected to negatively impact full-year 2022 earnings per share by approximately $26.00 to $28.00 on a GAAP basis with no expected material impact on an ongoing basis. Whirlpool also stated that, during the fourth-quarter, its North America region experienced a significant one-off supply chain disruption primarily involving one critical supplier which has since been resolved. This disruption negatively impacted the company's sales, production volumes, and EBIT margins in the fourth-quarter of 2022. Looking forward to 2023, the company expects supply constraints to significantly improve during the first quarter, as they have already begun to ease. Whirlpool announced estimated preliminary 2022 ongoing earnings per share of approximately $19.25, down 28% from prior year. Ongoing EBIT is projected to be approximately $1.335 billion, a decline of 43%. GAAP loss per share is projected to be approximately $27.50. Net sales are estimated to be approximately $19.70 billion, down 10% from last year. Whirlpool expects 2023 operational performance to be similar to 2022. For more earnings news, earnings calendar, and earnings for stocks, visit rttnews.com. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
CEPI to provide up to USD4.3 million (AUD6.4 million) to Vaxxas to advance development of its high-density microarray patch for mRNA vaccines.

Vaxxas' vaccine-delivery platform could improve access to mRNA vaccines by removing the need for frozen storage, enabling easier distribution and offering accurate and safe dosing with minimal waste.

CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Vaxxas, a clinical-stage biotechnology company commercializing a novel vaccination platform, have signed a partnership agreement to advance the development of Vaxxas' needle-free vaccine-patch delivery technology in a project that could end the need for frozen storage of mRNA vaccines. CEPI will provide up to USD4.3 million (AUD6.4 million) for preclinical testing of Vaxxas' platform-a needle- free, high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP) to assess its stability, safety and immunogenicity and to evaluate its potential as a rapid-response technology for heat-stable, dried-formulation mRNA vaccines.

This project is the first to be announced as part of CEPI's January 2022 call for proposals, aimed at improving thermostability of-and thereby improving equitable access to-a variety of new vaccine platforms. This call forms part of CEPI's wider strategic goal of harnessing innovative technologies to improve the speed, scale and access of vaccine development and manufacturing in response to epidemic and pandemic threats.

The potential of needle-free vaccines

HD-MAPs are made up of thousands of microscopic points attached to a small patch. Each of these micro-projections contains a tiny dose of vaccine in a dried formulation. When applied to the skin, the patch delivers vaccine to the abundant immune cells immediately below the skin surface.

HD-MAP vaccine delivery offers many potential advantages over more traditional ways of administering vaccines. For example, the dried form of the vaccine is more stable at higher temperatures than vaccines in liquid formulations. Vaxxas' HD-MAPs have proven safe and tolerable in hundreds of trial participants to date, and have been shown to induce equal or greater immune responses to injected vaccines at lower doses. Compared with needle and syringe systems, they are also much easier to administer and are likely to have greater acceptability.

Ultimately, HD-MAP patches could enable a future in which vaccine patches could be mailed directly to peoples' homes, workplaces and schools, avoiding the delay and inconvenience of traditional needle-and-syringe vaccine scheduling and administration.

Enabling equitable access to vaccines

CEPI and Vaxxas are committed to enabling global equitable access to the vaccines they develop including those incorporating patch technology. Under the terms of the funding agreement, Vaxxas has committed to achieving equitable access to the outputs of this project including prioritization of supply for low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), production of vaccine volumes required to meet public health needs, with affordable pricing, and the potential technology transfer to LMIC manufacturers in line with CEPI's Equitable Access Policy.

Jane Halton, Chair of CEPI, said: "As we have witnessed with COVID-19, equitable access to vaccines must be at the heart of any effective pandemic response. This is a guiding principle for all of CEPI's investments. Combining Vaxxas' vaccine-patch technology with the speed and effectiveness of mRNA vaccines could produce a tool that is not only suited as a rapid-response platform for use against unknown pathogens, but could also serve as an additional means to get life-saving vaccines to the most vulnerable populations around the world."

Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI, said: "The advances in mRNA vaccine technology were critical to the global response to COVID-19. One of the major challenges the world faced in getting these life-saving vaccines to vulnerable populations was the need to store them at very low temperatures. One possible way to improve access to mRNA vaccines in future would be to adapt their formulation so that they could be delivered using microarray patches. This removes the need for frozen storage, allows for easier distribution and safe delivery with accurate dosing. These qualities make this technology particularly promising as a platform for rapid delivery of vaccines in an outbreak situation, particularly in harder to reach regions."

David Hoey, Vaxxas Chief Executive Officer, said: "Earning this significant funding from one of the world leaders in vaccine development is a great honor, and validates the benefits offered by Vaxxas' HD-MAP vaccine platform in the fight against global epidemic and pandemic threats. In addition to providing an opportunity to get life-saving vaccines for infectious diseases that have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable populations around the world, the advanced development of HD-MAP delivery of mRNA vaccines could also prove very beneficial for the development of Vaxxas' internal pipeline across a number of diseases, including Covid-19."

About CEPI

CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organizations, launched in 2017, to develop vaccines against future epidemics. Its mission is to accelerate the development of vaccines and other biologic countermeasures against epidemic and pandemic threats so they can be accessible to all people in need.

Prior to COVID-19, CEPI's work focused on developing vaccines against Ebola virus, Lassa virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus, Nipah virus, Rift Valley Fever virus and Chikungunya virus it has over 20 vaccine candidates against these pathogens in development. CEPI has also invested in new platform technologies for rapid vaccine development against unknown pathogens (Disease X).

CEPI has played a central role in the global response to COVID-19, supporting the development of the world's largest portfolio of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants with a focus on speed, scale and access, as well as co-leading COVAX, the global initiative to deliver fair and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. CEPI is also the world's leading funder of R&D for broadly protective coronavirus vaccines which could protect against future variants of COVID-19 as well as other coronaviruses with epidemic and pandemic potential.

CEPI has embarked upon an ambitious US$3.5bn five-year plan called CEPI 2.0 to dramatically reduce or even eliminate the future risk of pandemics and epidemics. Central to the plan is CEPI's goal supported by the G7 and G20 to compress the time taken to develop safe, effective, globally accessible vaccines against new threats to just 100 days. Achieving this '100 Days Mission' would give the world a fighting chance of containing a future outbreak before it spreads to become a global pandemic. Read the plan at endpandemics.cepi.net/

About Vaxxas

Vaxxas is a privately held biotechnology company focused on enhancing the performance of existing and next-generation vaccines with its proprietary high-density microarray patch (HD-MAP). Vaxxas is targeting initial applications in infectious disease and oncology.

In addition to a Phase I clinical study of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate patch, Vaxxas is performing demonstration work in preparation for clinical evaluation under contract with the United States Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) on pandemic vaccination solutions.

Vaxxas' core technology was initially developed at The University of Queensland (UQ), and the company was established as a start-up in 2011 by UQ's commercialization company UniQuest. The company was founded with the completion of an initial equity financing led by OneVentures Innovation Fund I with co-investors Brandon Capital Partners, Brandon BioCatalyst, and US-based HealthCare Ventures, followed by a further financing led by OneVentures. OneVentures Innovation Fund I and Brandon BioCatalyst are supported by the Australian Government's Innovation Investment Fund (IIF) program. The IIF is an Australian Government venture capital initiative that provides investment capital and managerial expertise through licensed venture capital fund managers to investee companies. Learn more at www.one-ventures.com and www.brandoncapital.vc.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005395/en/

Contacts:

Media

CEPI

E: press@cepi.net

P: +44 7387 055214

Vaxxas

In United States: Kathryn Morris The Yates Network

+1 914 204 6412

kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

In Australia:

Amy Miller

WE Communications

+61 431 072 422

amymi@we-worldwide.com
 Boehringer Ingelheim is one of 15 global Top Employers worldwide

 Outstanding employer benefits with emphasis on wellbeing, attractive work environment, and rewards and recognition

The Top Employers Institute awarded Boehringer Ingelheim for the third year in succession a "Global Top Employer", one of the world's 15 best employers. The certification also highlights the company's commitment to prioritizing mental health for employees.

Boehringer Ingelheim's employer offerings do particularly stand out in the dimensions of wellbeing, work environment, as well as rewards and recognition. The results reflect the company's holistic employee healthcare and wellbeing approach that, beyond its emphasis on mental health, integrates concepts of physical, social and financial health. Through dedicated programs and offers, its employees receive support that is relevant for them and their families. This includes a work environment of physical and emotional security, an inclusive way of working together creating a sense of belonging, mental health awareness initiatives and manager trainings, in-house psychologists and counsellors, focus on work-life-balance, opportunities for volunteering, and competitive pay and benefits.

"People are at the core of everything that our company does. The strong human dimension of our corporate culture implies a commitment to our people as individuals, not just as professionals. The Global Top Employers award acknowledges that," says Dr Sven Sommerlatte, Global Head of Human Resources at Boehringer Ingelheim. "By prioritizing our employees' mental health, we want to ensure that our colleagues feel empowered to ask for help and be able to rely on each other's support when in need."

Mental disorders affect one in eight people worldwide and mental health conditions can substantially impact all areas of life, including relationships with family and friends, the ability to participate in the community or work performance.1 While the need to take good care of physical health is well established, the awareness and means for taking appropriate care of mental health still receives significantly less attention. Boehringer Ingelheim strives to curb the stigma often experienced by people with mental health conditions as an employer and beyond. The research-driven company has a longstanding commitment to mental health research that could offer a more targeted approach to addressing and treating the underlying brain biology, also known as precision psychiatry.

Boehringer Ingelheim has been listed among the top employers in multiple countries and regions for the past nine years. This year, Boehringer Ingelheim will receive the award in 29 countries, as well as additional certifications in Europe, the Asia Pacific, and ranked first the Latin America regions.

Please click on the following link for 'Notes to Editors' and 'References':

https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/about-us/corporate-profile/global-top-employer-2023

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005538/en/

Contacts:

Boehringer Ingelheim

Corporate Affairs

Sarah Soetbeer

55216 Ingelheim/Germany

Phone: 06132 77 183874

Email: press@boehringer-ingelheim.com




Schaan, Liechtenstein, Jan 17, 2023 - (ACN Newswire) - EtherMail, the first Web3 email solution setting the standard for anonymous and encrypted wallet-to-wallet communication, facilitated Web3 voting for Decrypt Studios' inaugural Crypties Awards 2022.Launched by Decrypt Studios, the Web3 production studio, The Crypties are the crypto industry's preeminent annual awards initiative, showcasing the standout achievements of Web3 innovators. A decentralized token-gated voting system for the inaugural awards, held at Art Basel Miami in November 2022, was open to the public with a number of nominees across nine categories such as NFT Project of the Year, DAO of the Year, and more.EtherMail enabled Decrypt Studios to engage members of the community and distribute the Crypties voting NFT to voters, providing a seamless voting mechanism for the community to participate in selecting the winners of the Crypties Awards. Through this integration, Crypties voters will also now be able to receive future updates about the Crypties directly into their EtherMail inbox, driven by token-gated dynamic mailing lists. Thanks to EtherMail, Decrypt Studios received over 64,000 sign-ups with a 40% vote cast rate by airdropping NFTs to their community.To vote for The Crypties, members simply had to create an EtherMail account, after which they received a welcome email inviting them to cast their vote on The Crypties voting platform. The user's voting token was airdropped to the crypto wallet associated with their account, which granted them exclusive access to the voting process. Once the vote was registered, the user's voting token was burned and replaced with an "I Voted" NFT.EtherMail is the only tool in the Web3 space that allows Web3 companies to send rich, relevant content directly to their asset holders based on up-to-the-minute information. By leveraging EtherMail, companies always have an up-to-date registry of their entire set of asset holders, and can create customized email and automated communication streams. Included in EtherMail's future pipeline will be the introduction of its native utility token, $EMT, an ERC-20 token based on the Ethereum network. EMT will be a first-of-its-kind incentivization mechanism designed to reward email users for their time and attention reading unsolicited emails, creating a much-needed framework for email economics.Shant Kevonian, CEO and Founder of EtherMail, said: "Given how often tokens and NFTs are bought and sold across the Web3 ecosystem, it has been impossible for projects to maintain direct contact with current holders of their assets. The key word is 'current'. Keeping pace with the ever-changing pool of holders requires consensual self-updating mailing lists based on real-time, blockchain-synced data. This is precisely what we've developed, a Web3 email solution tailored to the needs of Web3 projects. We're delighted to have worked alongside Decrypt Studios, a true industry heavyweight at the cutting edge of Web3 innovation."Joshua Roth, VP of Development at Decrypt Studios, said: "The EtherMail and Crypties "Get Out the Vote" campaign proved the power of EtherMail as a customer engagement, awareness, and information distribution tool. Not only were we able to reach a wide audience of new users, but the product's flexibility allowed us to define our parameters of voting and provide great ease of use for our voters."Further details on the collaboration can be viewed on the dedicated case study page.Join the official EtherMail Telegram channel here: https://t.me/ethermail_official and follow the latest developments on twitter: https://twitter.com/ethermail_io.For more information on how EtherMail can help your project maintain a direct and secure line of communication with your asset holders, visit: https://ethermail.io/daos.About EtherMailEtherMail is the first Web3 Email Solution setting the standard for anonymous and encrypted wallet-to-wallet communication. With EtherMail, companies can send rich, relevant content directly to their asset holders based on blockchain-synced real time information. EtherMail also allows fully anonymous P2P communication and rewards its users for reading relevant content in their inbox.About Decrypt StudiosDecrypt Studios is a Web3 creative studio providing blockchain solutions for brands, strategic partners, and IRL and metaverse events. Decrypt Studios demystifies digital assets and virtual worlds, providing tools to help stakeholders reach new audiences via Web3 offerings and activations. With our finger on the pulse of the industry via sister organization Decrypt Media, Decrypt Studios cuts through the hype to provide real-world results across the scope of the blockchain ecosystem.Media contact:lorcan@forewordventure.commarketing@ethersuite.ioSource: EtherMailDecrypt StudiosCopyright 2023 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
China Eastern Airlines (China Eastern) has recently seen a sharp increase in its daily passenger count as the number of its flights gradually recovered. On Jan. 12, 2023, the company operated 2,030 flights and handled more than 210,000 passenger trips, which represented a new high in the recent six months.

In mid-January, the number of flights and passenger flow of the airline has continued to rise, while the number of inbound and outbound trips starting to rebound with the resumption of international routes.

According to the international flight schedules recently released by China Eastern, the airline plans to operate 400 international flights on 43 routes between Jan. 8 and 31, with the number of international flights climbing 220 percent year on year.

The company has also resumed flights on international routes between Shanghai and Southeast Asian countries, Australia, and European countries and increased the frequency of flights on these routes.

China Eastern pays close attention to the demand of the international market and relevant conditions in overseas airports, continuously optimizes and adjusts its network of international air routes, makes reasonable flight schedules, and resumes some popular international air routes in an orderly manner.

According to the airline, it has operated three flights a week between Shanghai and Budapest since Jan. 15, and will increase the frequency of flights between Shanghai and Singapore to twice a week starting Jan. 20 and operate three flights a week between Shanghai and Auckland starting Jan. 22.

It will operate three flights a week between Shanghai and Melbourne starting Jan. 23, and increase the frequency of the flights to four times a week starting Feb. 5.

China Eastern is also planning to resume flights on air routes including those between Shanghai and Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, Dubai, Yangon, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and the island of Bali, and between Beijing Daxing International Airport and Hong Kong and Bangkok, and further increase the frequency of flights on other routes.

China Eastern will continue to pay attention to the policies and requirements of various countries, carry out training in various services and practical skills for staff members in advance, expand ground service teams at airports, in a bid to provide better services for inbound and outbound passengers.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005560/en/

Contacts:

Company: China Eastern Airlines

Website: http://www.ceair.com/

Contact: fangying

TEL: 00862122331470

Email: fangying@ceair.com
Turkish module maker Kalyon Solar Technologies said it will use newly secured state funds to expand the capacity of its vertically integrated factory in Izmir by 1 GW.Kalyon Solar Technologies has secured TRY 1.6 billion ($85.1 million) of funding from the Turkish government to increase the capacity of its vertically integrated solar module manufacturing facility in Ankara, Turkey. It has also secured exemptions from customs tax and value-added tax, in addition to other fiscal sweeteners and employees. According to a document in the Turkish official journal, the company has secured a total of ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Well-Regarded Experts in Aircraft Leasing and Technology Supercharge Firm's Innovations and Best Practices to Deliver World-Class Solutions

As the global aviation finance community once again gathers in Dublin, Ireland, for the industry's flagship conferences, LeaseWorks, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions and services, is excited to unveil new appointments to its Advisory Board and a series of enhancements to its market-leading suite of software solutions.

As part of the firm's continuing focus on advancing aircraft lessors' agility and innovation, four well-regarded experts have joined to make industry-leading insights available to the LeaseWorks community. The most recent additions to the Product Advisory Board include:

Andy Mansell, Partner at Split Rock Aviation

Jonathan Lang, Merritt Brook Inc.

Karen Curtis, Karen Curtis, Principal, Sinoia Group LLC

Paul Mason, Principal Advisor, Archway Aviation

"At LeaseWorks, we firmly believe in the power of giving lessors access to the innovations and best practices so they can stay competitive, responsive, and fast-to-market," said Haseem Vazhayil, CEO, LeaseWorks. "Our Product Advisory Board has been a core element of that strategy, and we're pleased to welcome these distinguished advisory board members, whose stellar expertise and insights will help us bring to market simple, ground-breaking solutions, delivering the unmatched value our clients can't find anywhere else when it comes to digital transformation."

Andy Mansell is accomplished chief commercial officer with extensive experience in developing, implementing and executing strategies for aircraft trading and leasing, with a focus on both yield and residual value management. Prior to joining Split Rock and advising lessors, airlines and investors, Andy had thirty years of experience in the aircraft leasing industry, most of which he spent at Aviation Capital Group ("ACG") in senior positions. Andy is well regarded as a strategic thinker and has extensive experience in all facets of the aircraft leasing business, including the development of corporate strategy, origination of transactions and execution, management of OEM and airline relationships, the development and implementation of aircraft pricing, placement, and residual asset value management strategies.

Jonathan Lang is known for developing and executing transformative technology strategies that are key business enablers while maintaining stable core technology operations with robust operating controls and risk management functions. Throughout a career that has spanned firms from large hedge funds with a range of investments to both pre-IPO and publicly listed firms that include Colony Capital, Aircastle Limited and Paloma Partners, he has developed technology and managed teams to help drive business value while maintaining a robust operating platform.

Karen Curtis has served in a variety of entrepreneurial, senior managerial and consulting capacities responsible for defining the vision for Enterprise Architecture (EA) and managing its capabilities at large and mid-sized companies in the aviation finance, publishing and telecommunications sectors. With deep expertise in post-merger integrations, building EA teams from the ground up, and aligning IT and business strategy, her strength lies in enhancing efficiency and productivity through improving existing systems and developing enterprise-wide software solutions. Karen has also founded multiple start-up ventures, including technology consulting and the production, marketing and distribution of Hawaiian coffee.

Paul Mason has served in several senior and executive roles spanning many specialties, from engineering and technical developments, commercial and airline and airport operations to aircraft leasing and financial services. Currently, he serves as Principal Advisor at Archway Aviation, a private equity funded global aircraft lessor, leading initiatives to significantly increase the value of the firm's aviation portfolio. Previously, he was Deputy to the Head of Commercial Worldwide and VP Commercial Operations at Airbus SAS and eventually led Airbus' North American operations. Paul was involved in the evolution of analog to fly-by-wire aircraft developed by Airbus, the digitalization of all-cockpit displays and flight controls, as well as the early development of autopilot enabling aircraft's autonomous operation from ground-to-altitude and altitude-to-ground.

In addition to the new board appointments, LeaseWorks announced the roll-out of a series of enhancements to its product suite, including:

Subsequent Events Projection: Lessors can obtain further insights by projecting subsequent maintenance events up to the end-of-life of the asset.

Lessors can obtain further insights by projecting subsequent maintenance events up to the end-of-life of the asset. Letter of Credit History of Updates: Lessors can track the detailed history of Letter of Credit drawdowns and adjustments, improving the results of their audits.

Lessors can track the detailed history of Letter of Credit drawdowns and adjustments, improving the results of their audits. Forecasting Performance Enhancements: A faster forecast calculation engine enhances lessors' decision-making processes.

A faster forecast calculation engine enhances lessors' decision-making processes. Flexible and Brandable Portal : Lessors can create a self-service experience for airline customers, customizing the portal's interface to be in line with their brand and needs.

: Lessors can create a self-service experience for airline customers, customizing the portal's interface to be in line with their brand and needs. Tableau and Power BI Embedded Dashboards: Lessors now have a one-stop shop for all their data needs, with the ability to dissect data and visualize it with customized dashboards using the Salesforce reports, Microsoft Power BI and Tableau CRM.

Lessors now have a one-stop shop for all their data needs, with the ability to dissect data and visualize it with customized dashboards using the Salesforce reports, Microsoft Power BI and Tableau CRM. Journal Entry Export to ERP with API Functionality : Lessors can integrate the LeaseWorks software with their ERP using API, which eliminates manual upload and reconciliations between separate lessor management and ERP systems, significantly reducing data processing times and eliminating human error.

: Lessors can integrate the LeaseWorks software with their ERP using API, which eliminates manual upload and reconciliations between separate lessor management and ERP systems, significantly reducing data processing times and eliminating human error. Airline Bulk Invoicing: Lessors can filter and fetch rent slips for bulk invoice creation, select invoices for bulk approval, generate PDF documents for the selected invoices, review the generated documents and send the approved invoices to airline customers.

"With the goal of helping lessors to stay ahead of technological and industry disruptions, the LeaseWorks team is continually collaborating with members or our Advisory Board in conjunction with ongoing input from existing and prospective customers to enhance the functionalities and user experience our best-in-breed product provides," added Vazhayil.

Join LeaseWorks for the next edition of Product Release Webcast on February 23, 2023, 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern 16:00 Dublin time, to preview new product developments and module enhancements within our existing product portfolio, including CRM, Technical, Contracts and Finance. Sign up for the webcast by emailing: information@lease-works.com.

About LeaseWorks

LeaseWorks provides cloud-based products and services to the aviation leasing community, with solutions for both lessors and airlines. Aeris MATCH helps lessors more quickly and effectively deploy their aviation assets with airlines around the globe. Aeris ASSET allows both lessors and airlines to manage the intricate details of aviation leases. These are the first two of a suite of products that will constitute a full-life-cycle portal for managing leased aviation assets. www.lease-works.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005282/en/

Contacts:

Nicholas D'Silva

Email: nicholas.dsilva@lease-works.com

Phone: +1-203-663-3999
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / iMetal Resources, Inc. (TSXV:IMR)(OTC PINK:ADTFF)(FRANKFURT:A7V) ("iMetal" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the assay results of the fall 2022 drill campaign at Gowganda West ("GW"). GW is an exploration-stage gold project about 100 km south-southeast of Timmins, Ontario, contiguous to Aris Gold Corp.'s Juby Project in the Shining Tree Camp of the southern part of the Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt; contiguous also with the Knight project that is part of the Strategic Partnership between Orefinders Resources Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited.

A total of seven drill holes were completed for a total meterage of 2611m. All seven holes intersected gold mineralization in multiple intervals. Highlights include:

Hole IMGW-22-01

1.00m at 0.71 grams per tonne gold, ("g/t"), from 397.0 metres

Hole IMGW-22-02

0.80m at 4.6 g/t, from 47.1 metres

Hole IMGW-22-03

6.00m at 0.52 g/t, from 245.5 metres

Hole IMGW-22-05

5.90m at 0.95 g/t, from 161.5 metres

Hole IMGW-22-06

9.00m at 0.75 g/t, from 304.0 metres

Including 0.80m at 4.1 g/t

Hole IMGW-22-07

0.80m at 4.1 g/t, from 106.3 metres

The results strongly suggest all previously encountered gold zones at Gowganda West continue along strike and up dip (towards surface), with gold trends now intersected over a strike of at least 1000m. Equally as important, the gold system continues to grow as a new gold trend to the east was discovered, as part of the multiple parallel gold zones encountered. The system is now open along 500m of width, 1000m of strike and 200m of depth. Mineralization continues to show strong similarities to the nearby Juby Deposits (which has a current resource* containing 0.77 Moz Au Indicated and 1.5 Moz Au Inferred).

"All 2022 drill holes intersected gold mineralization, supporting the Company's belief in Gowganda West's potential to host a major gold system," commented iMetal President & CEO Saf Dhillon. "Our location on the doorstep of the Juby deposit presents an exceptional opportunity to drill near-surface, gold-bearing rocks in the Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt, adjacent to a multi-million-ounce gold deposit."

VP Exploration Scott Zelligan added, "The enhanced geological model resulting from the 2022 program places the Company in an excellent position to target higher grades and the richest portions of the extensive regional gold system. These results bolster the Company's interest in GW and we are planning for additional drilling in 2023. The Company is also preparing work programs for its other Abitibi based projects."

Figure 1 - Plan Map of "Zone 1" Area with 2022 Drilling Locations

QA/QC Protocols

iMetal adheres to a strict QA/QC program for core handling, sampling, sample transportation and analyses. Drill core will be securely transported to the rented core facility in Larder Lake which has gate only access. Samples will be sawn in half, labelled, placed in sealed, securitized bags and shipped directly to ALS Laboratories in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec for analysis. ALS Geochemistry Rouyn-Noranda is a Standards Council of Canada (SCC) accredited facility that conforms with both CAN-P-1579 and CAN-P-4E ISO/IEC 17025.

QA/QC control procedures include the systematic insertion of duplicate, blank and certified reference materials (CRM) at regular intervals into the sampling stream. Geochemistry analyses will consist of gold by fire assay and atomic absorption spectrometry (Au-AA26) with overlimit values subsequently analyzed using the gravimetric finish (Au-GRA22) technique. Where elected select samples may be analyzed for multi-element using a four acid/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ME-MS61) analysis.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Scott Zelligan, P. Geo (Ontario), VP Exploration of iMetal and a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

Drilling Results

Table 1 - Drillhole Locations (UTM NAD83 Zone 17N)

Hole # Easting Northing Azimuth Dip IMGW-22-01 503172 5269508 102 -44 IMGW-22-02 502890 5269924 226 -49 IMGW-22-03 502890 5269924 224 -61 IMGW-22-04 502784 5270030 223 -45 IMGW-22-05 502759 5270074 231 -45 IMGW-22-06 502759 5270074 48 -43 IMGW-22-07 502724 5270118 224 -45

Table 2 - Significant Results

Hole # From To Length Au (g/t) IMGW-22-01 86.00 87.00 1.00 0.40 IMGW-22-01 397.00 398.00 1.00 0.71 IMGW-22-02 47.10 47.90 0.80 4.56 IMGW-22-02 60.40 61.00 0.60 0.57 IMGW-22-02 217.50 220.00 2.50 0.75 including 218.65 219.20 0.55 2.52 IMGW-22-02 268.40 269.50 1.10 1.01 IMGW-22-02 280.70 283.10 2.40 0.36 including 282.60 283.10 0.50 0.83 IMGW-22-03 26.50 29.50 3.00 0.92 including 27.20 28.00 0.80 2.41 IMGW-22-03 44.50 45.00 0.50 0.64 IMGW-22-03 100.00 100.60 0.60 0.45 IMGW-22-03 245.50 251.50 6.00 0.52 including 247.00 248.50 1.50 1.30 IMGW-22-04 44.50 47.50 3.00 0.89 including 46.00 47.50 1.50 1.45 IMGW-22-04 95.80 107.50 11.70 0.26 including 106.00 107.50 1.50 1.00 IMGW-22-04 224.90 226.00 1.10 1.32 IMGW-22-04 271.00 272.50 1.50 0.92 IMGW-22-05 22.00 23.50 1.50 0.45 IMGW-22-05 44.30 44.90 0.60 0.59 IMGW-22-05 49.00 50.50 1.50 0.43 IMGW-22-05 62.10 62.90 0.80 0.67 IMGW-22-05 161.50 167.40 5.90 0.95 IMGW-22-06 205.00 206.50 1.50 0.63 IMGW-22-06 233.50 236.50 3.00 0.51 IMGW-22-06 268.00 269.50 1.50 1.04 IMGW-22-06 304.00 313.00 9.00 0.75 including 310.00 310.80 0.80 4.13 IMGW-22-07 57.40 60.80 3.40 0.50 including 57.90 58.60 0.70 1.10 IMGW-22-07 71.30 72.30 1.00 0.45 IMGW-22-07 105.70 108.10 2.40 1.63 including 106.30 107.10 0.80 4.10 IMGW-22-07 232.00 236.00 4.00 0.69 including 235.00 236.00 1.00 1.24

About iMetal Resources Inc.

iMetal is a Canadian based junior exploration company focused on the exploration and development of its portfolio of resource properties in Ontario and Quebec. One of its Flagship properties Gowganda West, is an exploration-stage gold project that borders the Juby Project and is located within the Shining Tree Camp area in the southern part of the Abitibi Greenstone Gold Belt about 100 km south-southeast of the Timmins Gold Camp. The 665 hectare Kerrs Gold Deposit comprises a series of gold-bearing pyritized quartz vein replacement breccias with a 2011 historic resource, 90 kilometres ENE of Timmins. The 220 hectare Ghost Mountain property, 42 kilometres NE of Kirkland Lake, lies 5 kilometres west of Agnico Eagle's Holt and Holloway Mine Complex.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS,

Saf Dhillon

President & CEO

iMetal Resources Inc.

info@imetalresources.ca

Tel. (604-484-3031)

Suite 550, 800 West Pender Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 2V6.

https://imetalresources.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. 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 forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include results of exploration, variations in results of mineralization, relationships with local communities, market prices, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required under the applicable laws.

SOURCE: iMetal Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735430/iMetal-Resources-Discovers-New-Gold-Trend-as-Part-of-Multiple-Gold-Zones-Intersected-at-Gowganda-West-During-Fall-2022-Drill-Program
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Blackrock Silver Corp. (TSXV: BRC) (the "Company" or "Blackrock") is pleased to announce the results of metallic screen gold determinations on the Silver Cloud project situated 20 kilometres south of the Midas mine and 3 kilometres west of Hollister mine located along the prolific high-grade Northern Nevada Rift, in north-central Nevada.

A metallic-screen gold assay completed on the high-grade intercept (1.5 metres) in SBC22-020 at Northwest Canyon returned 70 g/t gold (calculated), 33% higher than the original assay of 52.62 g/t gold. The +150 fraction returned 60.257ppm Au, while the average of the two -150 fractions returned 71.420ppm Au. The variability of gold in the intercept indicates the gold is not evenly distributed within the vein.

Bonanza grades originally reported from SBC22-020 intersected 52.62 g/t gold (1.53 opt) and 606 g/t silver (17.68 opt) over 1.5 metres, representing a new high-grade vein discovery (See December 7, 2022 news release). The bonanza grades are associated with a banded quartz vein containing black sulphides, and the 606 g/t silver is the highest-grade silver intercept at Silver Cloud to date.

Metallic-screen analysis is used when coarse or nuggety gold is suspected, especially in high-grade gold values such as SBC22-020. A larger 1,000 gram sample is split from the original sample reject material and pulverized to approximately 200 mesh. The pulverization process tends to "flatten" malleable metallic minerals such as gold. The sample is then screen sieved and two fractions are created - a plus 150 mesh (coarse material) and a minus 150 mesh (fine material). Coarse gold will report to the coarse fraction. Each fraction is analyzed by fire assay and a combined weighted averaged determination is calculated for each gold value.

In the case of SBC22-020, most of the gold reported to the fine fraction indicating the gold is not coarse or nuggety. The 33 percent variation between the original assay determination and the metallic-screen analysis indicates the gold is not evenly disseminated and a larger sample may be required for future assays.

Discovery drillhole SBC22-020 targeted the projection of the NNW structure encountered in the Company's 2019 drillhole (SBC19-002: 8.32 g/t gold over 1.52m) and Placer Dome's 2002 drillhole (SCP-15: 5.61 g/t gold over 12.2m) and was drilled to 464 Metres (1523 ft). SBC22-020's collar is a 366 metre step out from SBC19-002 (collar to collar) to the SSE along the interpreted structure. The assay intercepts are separated by 425 metres.

Selected intervals were analyzed for metallic-screen gold in drillholes SBC22-019 and SBC22-021. Table 1 shows the results of all the metallic-screen analysis.

Andrew Pollard, the Company's president and CEO, commented, "These metallic-screen assays confirm our high-grade gold intercept at Northwest Canyon and returned a gold value 33% higher than the original gold assay. We are very excited by this new, multi-ounce discovery, which ties together drill-defined mineralization across 425 metres, supporting the orientation and mineralization of the vein at Northwest Canyon is more like that characterized at the Midas mine than the Hollister mine that is adjacent to our property. In addition, metallic-screen analyses of an interval, drilled near the historic Silver Cloud mercury mine, starting at 391.4 to 391.7 metres in SBC22-021, returned coarse gold, reading 26.27 g/t Au in the +150 fraction, indicating the possibility of another high-grade gold vein."

Pollard continued, "At more than 45 square kilometres, Silver Cloud is an incredibly large, target-rich project that has seen very little drilling despite the fact that it lies along a well known, high-grade gold trend. Home to some of the largest past producing mercury mines in America, with extensive epithermal alteration, Silver Cloud represents one of the largest under-explored volcanic hosted gold and silver epithermal districts in Nevada, and we control all of it."

SBC22-019 and -021 drilled at the historic Silver Cloud mercury mine returned significant thickness of low-grade gold. SBC22-021 retuned 20.6 metres grading 0.458 g/t gold, and a single metallic screen determination returning 26.27 g/t gold in the coarse fraction (+150) of the analysis. SBC22-021 is just north of an area with shallow drilling completed in 1970s for mercury. The presence of mercury and coarse gold could indicate the existence of another high-grade vein south of the Silver Cloud mercury mine.

Table 1: Results of metallic-screen gold assays for SBC22-019, SBC22-020 and SBC22-021

Drillhole ID From

meters To

meters Interval

meters Original Au

ppm +150 Wt

grams +150 Au

ppm -150 Wt

grams Average -150 Au

ppm Calc Au

ppm Variance

percent SBC22-019 260.0 261.5 1.5 0.071 90.00 0.039 769 0.063 0.060 -15.5% SBC22-019 261.5 263.0 1.5 0.197 106.61 0.148 743 0.202 0.195 -1.0% SBC22-019 263.0 264.6 1.5 0.111 87.60 0.089 762 0.118 0.115 3.6% SBC22-019 264.6 265.3 0.8 0.164 69.24 0.154 736 0.168 0.167 1.8% SBC22-019 265.3 266.2 0.9 0.258 60.88 0.176 650 0.277 0.268 3.9% SBC22-019 266.2 267.3 1.1 0.578 73.64 0.487 645 0.633 0.618 6.9% SBC22-019 267.3 267.9 0.6 0.277 20.96 0.126 657 0.294 0.288 4.0% SBC22-019 267.9 268.8 0.9 0.112 48.64 0.061 681 0.127 0.122 8.9% SBC22-019 268.8 270.4 1.5 0.112 56.56 0.065 706 0.115 0.111 -0.9% SBC22-019 270.4 271.9 1.5 0.062 61.40 0.032 770 0.062 0.060 -3.2% SBC22-020 305.1 306.6 1.5 0.037 88.62 0.028 687 0.038 0.037 0.0% SBC22-020 306.6 307.5 0.9 0.056 48.40 0.033 708 0.052 0.051 -8.9% SBC22-020 307.5 309.1 1.5 52.617 77.85 60.257 686 71.434 70.000 33.0% SBC22-020 309.1 309.7 0.6 0.242 55.68 0.106 815 0.244 0.235 -2.9% SBC22-020 309.7 311.2 1.5 0.130 90.24 0.048 743 0.119 0.111 -14.6% SBC22-020 311.2 312.7 1.5 0.082 88.08 0.027 809 0.065 0.061 -25.6% SBC22-021 356.9 357.4 0.5 0.143 60.53 0.172 699 0.145 0.147 2.8% SBC22-021 357.4 358.9 1.5 0.273 59.64 0.179 790 0.308 0.298 9.2% SBC22-021 358.9 359.8 0.9 0.295 74.95 0.182 807 0.294 0.284 -3.7% SBC22-021 359.8 360.6 0.8 0.775 46.71 0.595 728 0.730 0.721 -7.0% SBC22-021 360.6 361.8 1.2 0.591 57.56 0.522 744 0.592 0.586 -0.8% SBC22-021 361.8 363.5 1.7 0.423 63.80 0.426 861 0.453 0.451 6.6% SBC22-021 363.5 365.0 1.5 0.331 81.78 0.215 768 0.402 0.384 16.0% SBC22-021 365.0 366.5 1.5 0.660 72.45 1.215 737 0.685 0.732 10.9% SBC22-021 366.5 369.6 3.0 0.662 83.70 0.804 753 0.691 0.702 6.0% SBC22-021 369.6 372.0 2.4 0.425 66.50 0.211 791 0.359 0.347 -18.4% SBC22-021 372.0 374.3 2.3 0.185 45.00 0.171 83 0.248 0.220 18.9% SBC22-021 374.3 377.3 3.0 0.423 54.44 0.455 826 0.442 0.442 4.5% SBC22-021 377.3 380.4 3.0 0.371 43.23 0.323 787 0.416 0.411 10.8% SBC22-021 380.4 383.4 3.0 0.148 60.53 0.172 838 0.168 0.168 13.5% SBC22-021 391.4 391.7 0.3 1.590 9.73 26.269 462 0.779 1.305 -17.9%

Figure 1: 2022 drillhole location map

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/676/151473_957e05f534911a9d_002full.jpg

Table 2: Original Silver Cloud significant diamond drill hole assays above 0.3 g/t gold

Hole ID Area From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au g/t Ag g/t AgEq g/t SBC22-019 Silver Cloud Mine 218.85 221.90 3.05 0.442 0.385 44.6 SBC22-019 Silver Cloud Mine 224.94 227.99 3.05 0.377 0.360 38.0 SBC22-019 Silver Cloud Mine 266.24 267.31 1.07 0.578 0.49 58.3 SBC22-020 Northwest Canyon 307.54 309.07 1.52 52.617 606.00 5959.3 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 178.61 187.91 9.30 0.397 0.131 39.8 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 197.97 198.73 0.76 0.465 0.03 46.5 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 203.30 204.83 1.52 0.361 0.03 36.1 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 215.49 217.02 1.52 0.486 0.18 48.8 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 256.64 257.86 1.22 0.411 0.93 42.0 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 287.73 290.78 3.05 0.494 0.24 49.6 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 296.88 299.31 2.44 0.389 0.030 39.0 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 359.82 380.39 20.57 0.458 3.491 49.3 SBC22-021 Silver Cloud Mine 391.36 391.67 0.31 1.590 10.43 169.4 AgEq_g/t = Ag_g/t + Au_g/t*100; True thickness unknown; NSV = No significant values

Table 3: Drillhole location information

Hole ID UTMNAD27 E UTMNAD27 N Elevation (m) Total Depth (m) Azimuth Inclination SBC22-019 531554 4544421 1615.1 462.5 273 78 SBC22-020 530149 4544148 1631.0 520.0 272 74 SBC22-021 531648 4544259 1556.3 464.2 268 73

Quality Assurance/ Quality Control

For metallic screen analysis, American Assay Laboratory (AAL) splits a 1000-gram sample from the original coarse reject material for each analysis. The 1000-gram split is pulverized and screened through a 150-mesh sieve. The +150 fraction is weighed and analyzed for gold by fire assay and/or gravimetric finish. The -150 fraction is weighed, and a 30-gram assay split is analyzed for gold using fire assay with an ICP finish. The final reported assay is calculated using a weighted average of the gold from the coarse (+150) fraction and the gold from the fine (-150) fraction.

The original samples were collected under the supervision of the Company's project geologists, and a strict chain of custody from the project to the sample preparation facility was implemented and monitored. The core samples were hauled from the project site to a secure and fenced facility in Battle Mountain, Nevada, where they are loaded on to AAL flat-bed truck and delivered to AAL's facility in Sparks, Nevada. A sample submittal sheet was delivered to AAL personnel who organize and process the sample intervals pursuant to the Company's instructions.

The core and QA/QC samples are crushed and pulverized, then the pulverized material is digested and analyzed for Au using fire assay fusion and an Induced Coupled Plasma (ICP) finish on a 30-gram assay split. Silver is determined using five-acid digestion and ICP analysis. Over limits for gold and silver are determined using a gravimetric finish. Data verification of the assay and analytical results are completed to ensure accurate and verifiable results. Blackrock personnel insert a blind prep blank, lab blank or certified reference material approximately every 15th to 20th sample. In addition, a random selection of pulps are sent to ALS Minerals in Reno, Nevada, for check assays.

Blackrock's exploration activities at the Silver Cloud, Tonopah North and Tonopah West projects are conducted and supervised by Mr. William Howald, Executive Chairman of Blackrock. Mr. William Howald, AIPG Certified Professional Geologist #11041, is a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. He has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

About Blackrock Silver Corp.

Backed by gold and silver ounces in the ground, Blackrock is a junior precious metal-focused exploration company driven to add shareholder value via the drill bit. With 2.97 million tonnes grading 446 g/t silver equivalent1 at its Tonopah West project, and a new bonanza-grade gold discovery at Silver Cloud, the Company has a proven track record of exploration success. In addition to its gold and silver project portfolio, the Company is credited with a lithium discovery, the Tonopah North project, which is under option to a major lithium exploration group. Anchored by a seasoned Board, the Company is focused on its 100% controlled Nevada portfolio of properties consisting of low-sulphidation, epithermal gold and silver mineralization located along the established Northern Nevada Rift in north-central Nevada and the Walker Lane trend in western Nevada.

For further information, please contact:

Andrew Pollard, President & CEO

Blackrock Silver Corp.

Phone: 604 817-6044

Email: andrew@blackrocksilver.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements concern, without limitation, the exercise of the First Option and the Second Option and the transactions contemplated thereby, including the completion of the Initial Earn-In and the Additional Earn-In, the entering into the Joint Venture, the Company's strategic plans, timing and expectations for the Company's exploration and drilling programs, estimates of mineralization from drilling, geological information projected from sampling results and the potential quantities and grades of the target zones. Such forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: conditions in general economic and financial markets; accuracy of assay results; geological interpretations from drilling results, timing and amount of capital expenditures; performance of available laboratory and other related services; future operating costs; and the historical basis for current estimates of potential quantities and grades of target zones. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors, including the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities and development of mineral properties; the interpretation and uncertainties of drilling results and other geological data; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project costs overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; availability of funds; failure to delineate potential quantities and grades of the target zones based on historical data, and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.

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.

_______________________________________

1 Technical information relating to the Tonopah West Project is based on and derived from the NI 43-101 report prepared for Blackrock entitled "Technical Report and Estimate of Mineral Resources for the Tonopah West Silver-Gold Project, Nye and Esmeralda Counties, Nevada, USA" effective April 28, 2022 (the "Technical Report"). The MRE outlines 2.97 million tonnes at a block diluted grade of 208 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag) and 2.5g/t gold (Au) for a total inferred mineral resource of 19,902,000 ounces Ag and 238,000 ounces Au, or 446 g/t silver equivalent (AgEq) for 42.6 million oz AgEq. AgEq equivalent grade is based on silver and gold prices of US$20/ounce and US$1750/ounce, respectively, and recoveries for silver and gold of 87% and 95%, respectively

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151473
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - QC Copper and Gold Inc. (TSXV: QCCU) (OTCQB: QCCUF) ("QC Copper" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the resumption of drilling on the Opemiska Property as a part of its Mineral Resource Estimate ('MRE') update and provide an update on its plans during 2023. This final drill program before the MRE publication will utilize three drill rigs, complete a planned 10,000 metres, and is expected to be completed in February.

"The data from drilling completed between November 2021 and October 2022 has now been incorporated into the geologic model. This updated model was used to target areas for this final leg of the drill program, which is expected to increase the contained metal content in the forthcoming MRE. This program will define additional resources on the Perry Zone, the gold-rich south end of the Springer Zone, and some additional resources in satellite pits in the Eastern Veins," said Charles Beaudry, Director and VP of Exploration for QC Copper & Gold.

The Company reminds investors that the current drill program is part of a broader strategy to bring the Opemiska copper project to a development decision. To recap:

Maiden open pit-constrained MRE released in September 2021 of 82mt at 0.88% Copper Equivalent ('CuEq') Measured and & Indicated and 21mt at 0.73% CuEq Inferred

Aggressive drilling over 2022 focused on resource expansion within the pit.

2022 program has met or exceeded expectations, leading to increased confidence in a significantly expanded resource and better potential mine economics

Final 10,000m underway will be included in the expanded MRE, whose timing is expected around June 2023 as described below in Figure 1

QC Copper is increasingly confident in bulk tonnage, and lower strip mining potential, and will move toward the Preliminary Economic Studies post-finalization of MRE.

Click here for detailed drill results from Opemiska's Nov. 2021 to October 2022

"Our team has taken great care with this updated MRE, believing that the Opemiska can once again be a great copper mine. Copper assets of this scale, grade, and infrastructure in the heart of Quebec are exceedingly rare. These features will become increasingly valuable as the world shifts to green energy production and consumption. Furthermore, we anticipate prime assets in Canada to trade at new premiums as supply chains shut due to geopolitical trends, and the securing of critical metals, like copper, become sovereign priorities," said Stephen Stewart, CEO and Chairman of QC Copper.

Click here for View Video Interview with Charles Beaudry, VP Exploration,

& Stephen Stewart, CEO

Mineral Resource Estimate Update

A Gantt chart in Figure 1 depicts QC Copper's current work plan and associated timeframes. As shown, the updated MRE is targeted for June 2023. While delays are possible, management has implemented tight controls on the process to ensure timelines are respected.

Opemiska's Updated Mineral Resource Estimate Gantt Chart - Figure 1



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9282/151488_d333f1c1d4c01a9b_002full.jpg

For the latest videos from QC Copper & Gold, Ore Group, and all things Mining, subscribe to our YouTube Chanel here.

QP Statement

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Charles Beaudry, P.Geo and geo., Director and Vice President Exploration for QC Copper & Gold, a Qualified Person, as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects." For the exploration undertaken by QC Copper & Gold, all assay batches are accompanied by rigorous Quality Assurance procedures, including the insertion of standards and blanks and verification assays in a secondary laboratory. All the core received from the drill is split in half, bagged and sent to ALS-Global facilities in Quevillon, Quebec for sample preparation and then the pulps are shipped to AlS-Global's Vancouver laboratory or some other location in the world for analysis using ALS-Global's standardized ISO-compliant methods, all of which are listed in the laboratory certificates provided with the assay results. The remaining half core along with the rejects and the pulps returned from the laboratory are securely stored at QC Copper's facilities in Chapais, Quebec. Quality Control results, including the laboratory's control samples, are evaluated immediately on reception of batch results and corrections are implemented immediately if necessary. All drill collars are surveyed and positioned in UTM coordinates. Collars are oriented using a gyroscopic north-finding system and downhole deviations surveys are done with a single-shot gyroscopic instrument at 30 to 50m intervals. For veins oriented approximately east-west and dipping towards the north, and drill holes oriented due south and plunging between 50 and 65 dips, the true width of mineralized intersections are equal or greater than 80% of the quoted core length composite intervals. This observation also holds for veins oriented northwest-southeast and dipping towards the northeast with holes drilled towards the southwest at 225 degrees with dips between 50 and 65 degrees. However, for other drill hole orientations relative to these veins or other less common vein orientations, the true widths of mineralized intersections are less.

For information and updates on QC Copper and Gold, please visit: www.qccopper.com

And please follow us on Twitter @qccoppergold

To speak to the Company directly, please contact:

Stephen Stewart, Chief Executive Officer

Phone: 416.644.1571

Email: sstewart@qccopper.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. 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. QC Copper and Gold Inc. 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 QC Copper and Gold Inc. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings by QC Copper and Gold Inc. with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available under QC Copper and Gold Inc. profile at www.sedar.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151488
A customer looks at a bottle of whisky at the GS25 Hapjeong Premium convenience store in Seoul, on Aug. 25, 2020. Newsis









By Kim Jae-heun







A 35-year-old office worker surnamed Kim recently bought a bottle of whisky to drink at home.







"I started drinking whisky from last year because there are no hangovers after drinking. For office workers like me, who have to wake up early to go to work but want to drink on weekday nights, whisky is the perfect choice," Kim said.







A 28-year-old graduate student surnamed Jung said he got into the world of whisky after trying certain brands at his friend's house party.







"I never thought about drinking whisky before I got the chance to try it with my friends during the pandemic. I realized I can purchase it at a liquor store for one-third of the price that they are sold at in bars."







Young people enjoy whisky at a Maker's Mark promotional event held in Seoul, June 19, 2022. Korea Times file





Right now, there's a whisky craze in Korea.







According to the Korea Customs Service, Korea imported $247.1 million (308.4 billion won) worth of whisky last year, the highest amount since 2008.







The distilled alcoholic beverage previously was often referred to as a "drink for middle-aged men" here and it was unpopular among young customers. For a decade, whisky sales in the domestic market continued to decline. But all of a sudden, whisky sales made a rebound and started to rally sharply from 2021. Now, finding popular brand whiskies like Balvenie and Macallan at liquor stores is like getting blood out of a stone.







"As more people enjoy drinking at home, many consumers started to look for unique and luxurious alcoholic beverages," Myung Wook, a professor in the Barista & Sommelier Department at Sejong Cyber University, said. "This led to the growing popularity of single malt whisky, which has a distinctive taste and aroma."







"Also, people found out that limited edition or luxury whiskies have value just keeping them at home. Thus, many people started to purchase them even if they don't drink at all  leading to short supplies of popular brand whiskies," the professor added.











The lowered entry barrier for whisky is also cited as a cause of the ongoing craze for the distilled alcohol beverage.







Koreans like mixing drinks together such as "somaek," which is portmanteau of soju and beer ("maekju" in Korean). Highball, a mixed drink of whisky and soda, started to become popular among the young generation, so they became familiar with the whisky taste.







"Not only are expensive whiskies selling well, but also comparatively cheaper ones are selling as well. Many young consumers are looking for whiskies in large discount stores to make themselves highballs at home," a local retail firm official said.







The country's largest discount store, Emart, held a whisky sales promotion for two days from Jan. 6 to Jan. 7, offering popular brands such as Balvenie, Macallan, Hibiki and Yamazaki. It only took just 20 minutes from the store's opening for all of the whisky to sell out.







Emart said it held the event as the company recognized the explosive growth in the popularity of whisky. In 2022, its revenue generated by whisky jumped 30 percent year-on-year.







"We prepared 10,000 bottles of popular whiskies to attract customers. As we see whisky sales showing a sharp increase in the total proportion of all hard liquors, we will expand the lineup and hold more promotional events," an Emart official said.







Convenience stores are also considering offering a greater variety of whiskies at their stores. CU, GS25, Emart24 and Seven Eleven have started to add new whisky products to their display stands.







"Before, most of our customers only looked for common brand whiskies like Windsor or Ballantine's. However, they have recently been asking for other brands, especially single malt types. We are gradually increasing the number of whisky types to meet the needs of our customers," a BGF Retail official said.


Global IoT services provider Trackunit has started 2023 with a bang after it closed a deal in early January for Berlin-based ConTech startup Flexcavo.

AALBORG, Denmark, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global IoT services provider Trackunit has this month closed a deal for Germany's Flexcavo enabling the telematics specialist to extend its reach in the contractor market.





The agreement, which closed on January 1, will see Flexcavo continue to build its software solution to contractors and rental clients across Europe. Berlin-based Flexcavo specializes in data-enabled workflow and process management through the construction sector enabling contractors and rental companies to increase their efficiency, lower costs and improve the team's collaboration across construction sites, yards, and headquarters.

"We're delighted to welcome Flexcavo into the Trackunit group and this significantly strengthens our offering to contractors and those with mixed fleets," said Soeren Brogaard, CEO of Trackunit. "We're looking forward to leveraging Flexcavo's expertise and make sure we're serving our customers in the best way possible moving forward.

"Our team has doubled in the last 18 months and with the acquisition of Flexcavo, we're on track to continue growing," said Brogaard. "We're ambitious and this move fits perfectly with our overall strategy."

Trackunit currently has just under 400 employees.

"We are excited and proud to join forces with Trackunit," said Flexcavo Co-Founder Benedict Aicher. "This enables us to double down on our ambition to be the leading partner for every contractor who strives for excellence and wants to make the most of every single job.

"Being part of the Trackunit ecosystem allows for a deeper integration into the contractor value chain and beyond," he said. "I know the Trackunit team shares our commitment to build the most useful industry for the world, and I can't wait to get started."

Fellow Co-Founder Leonhard Fricke additionally highlights the potential for Flexcavo, which employs approximately 30 staff, to make their solutions for customers even better.

"It will boost our developing capabilities significantly so that contractors and rental companies can benefit from even faster feature releases, real-time data across all machinery, and even more automation of processes between site, yard, and headquarters," he said. "Making our offering available in other key markets and supporting customers in their digitization efforts will be our key mission going forward."

Brogaard added that the acquisition should also enable Trackunit to manage the rental/contractor relationship even better in the future.

"It's adding new capabilities and will allow rentals and contractors to smooth out any hiccups relating to machine usage, efficiencies and productivity," he said. "It fits with the industry-wide purpose to eliminate downtime and any move that brings us closer to that goal can only make construction better."

About Trackunit

Trackunit is the leading SaaS-based IoT solution and machine insights provider to the global construction equipment industry. Trackunit collects and analyzes machine data in real-time to deliver actionable, proactive, and predictive information, empowering customers with data-driven foresight.

Trackunit promises to lead the technology engagement to help eliminate downtime. The ambition of this mission is not only to recover from budget and schedule overruns, but also to re-establish the reputation of the industry for innovation and leadership.

From operator safety and machine health to business optimization, Trackunit's industry-leading telematics software, hardware and fleet management services benefit the everyday operations of the customers worldwide. Trackunit services its customers worldwide from its offices in Denmark, Canada, United States, and Singapore, Sweden, Norway, France, Holland, Germany, UK, Australia, and Japan.

Visit Trackunit.com to learn more.

About Flexcavo

Flexcavo was founded in July 2020 by Benedict Aicher and Leonhard Fricke with the goal of accelerating the digitalization of the construction industry. The company's platform helps to streamline construction projects by providing data-driven resource scheduling and telematics enabled workflow automation.

As a pioneer in the digitalization of the construction industry, Flexcavo enables the exchange of machine and logistics data between new and existing IT systems through API interfaces. This creates an orchestrated ecosystem across construction-sites with automated workflows for construction machines, equipment, and material, making the construction process more efficient and effective. With its innovative approach and cutting-edge technology, Flexcavo is revolutionizing the way the construction industry operates.

Visit www.flexcavo.com to learn more.

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Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984203/Flexcavo_Logo.jpg









View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/trackunit-acquires-german-contractor-services-provider-flexcavo-301722682.html
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Faraday Copper Corp. (" Faraday " or the " Company ") (TSX:FDY)(OTCQX:CPPKF) is pleased to announce the results from two drill holes at its Copper Creek Project, located in Arizona, U.S. ("Copper Creek").

Paul Harbidge, President and CEO, commented "I am very excited to see the high-grade massive sulphide intersection from the Copper Prince breccia, which remains open at depth, and outside of the Mineral Resource Estimate. The identification of significant gold assays is also a very encouraging value proposition for the project as the current Mineral Resource does not include gold. This is leading us not only to plan follow-up drilling, but also to assay historical core, which was not previously analysed for gold. Furthermore, the presence of over 400 breccias mapped at surface demonstrates the prospectivity of the Copper Creek district."

Highlights

Intersected 15.01 m at 10.83% copper, 1.65 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold and 55.62 g/t silver , from 234.27 m,at the Copper Prince breccia in drill hole FCD-22-013 (Table 1, Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4).

, from 234.27 m,at the Copper Prince breccia in drill hole FCD-22-013 (Table 1, Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4). The intercept is located approximately 40 m below the pit shell used to constrain the Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") published in July 2022.

used to constrain the Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") published in July 2022. Mineralization remains open at depth and further drilling is planned.

The assay results represent a total of 775.71 m of drilling, including 291.69 m from FCD-22-013 (Phase II drill program) and 484.02 m from FCD-22-001 (Phase I drill program). All intercepts are reported as downhole drill widths.

Drill hole FCD-22-013 was collared at the northwestern margin of the Copper Giant breccia and was drilled to the south. This hole closes a gap in historical drilling and extends drill coverage to the lower projection of the Copper Prince breccia.

Confirms high-grade extension with 15.01 m at 10.83 % copper, 1.65 g/t gold and 55.62 g/t silver, from 234.27 m (Table 1). The mineralization consists of massive chalcopyrite, bornite and pyrite.

from 234.27 m (Table 1). The mineralization consists of massive chalcopyrite, bornite and pyrite. Two additional intercepts are located within a 70-metre-wide kaolinite-sericite alteration halo to the massive sulphide zone: 9.79 m at 0.18% copper, 0.02 g/t gold, and 0.93 g/t silver from 208.47 m and 8.02 m at 0.28% copper, 0.02 g/t gold and 0.73 g/t silver from 264.88 m.

The results from this drill hole have the potential to expand open pit mineral resources.

This drill hole demonstrates that high-grade copper mineralization is present at Copper Creek. Exploration potential is supported by over 400 breccia occurrences mapped at surface, only 14 of which are included in the MRE and 35 have one or more drill holes in them.

This drill hole has yielded some of the highest gold assay values known to date from the project. Other zones with significant gold assays include the Childs-Aldwinkle breccia and the Keel zone. Gold assay data coverage is approximately 12% of the copper coverage for the current drill database. The Company is evaluating the assaying for gold of selected historical core to continue to add value to the project.

Figure 1: Plan View Showing Drill Holes Reported in this News Release

Note: The open pit shell is based on constraints used in the MRE as presented in the report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate Copper Creek Project, Arizona" dated August 18, 2022 (the "Technical Report").

Figure 2: Cross Section Showing Drill Hole FCD-22-013 at Copper Prince

Figure 3: Photographs of the High-Grade Mineralization in Drill Hole FCD-22-013 (234.27 m to 242.78 m) at Copper Creek

Figure 4: Photographs of the High-Grade Mineralization in Drill Hole FCD-22-013 (242.78 m to 249.28 m) at Copper Creek

Drill hole FCD-22-001 was collared east of the Glory Hole breccia and drilled to the southeast targeting Copper Prince and covers an area without historical drilling. No significant mineralized intervals or breccias were intersected; however, isolated samples up to 0.43% copper and 1.56 g/t silver occur within a broad zone of kaolinite-sericite alteration. This is the same alteration halo that was intercepted in drill hole FCD-22-013 surrounding the massive sulphide mineralization, while drill hole FCD-22-001 was drilled to the south of the high-grade zone.

Table 1: Selected Drill Results from Copper Creek

Drill Hole ID From To Length Cu Mo Au Ag (m) (m) (m) (%) (ppm) (g/t) (g/t) FCD-22-013 208.47 218.26 9.79 0.18 74 0.02 0.93 and 234.27 249.28 15.01 10.83 141 1.65 55.62 and 264.88 272.90 8.02 0.28 126 0.02 0.73 FCD-22-001 No significant assay results

Note: All intercepts are reported as downhole drill widths.

Table 2: Collar Locations from the Drill Holes Reported Herein

Drill Hole ID Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Dip Target Depth Depth (m) () () (ft) (m) FCD-22-001 547841 3624744 1236 130 -45 Copper Prince 1,588.0 484.02 FCD-22-013 548065 3624734 1231 180 -45 Copper Prince 957.0 291.69 Total 2,545.0 775.71

Note: Coordinates are given as World Geodetic System 84, Universal Transverse Mercator Zone 12 north (WGS84, UTM12N).

Next Steps

Drilling continues and is focussed on three objectives:

Reconnaissance drilling on new targets;

Expanding the MRE; and

Better delineating high-grade mineralized zones.

Ten drill holes have been complete and assay results for completed holes will be released as they are received, analyzed and confirmed by the Company.

Sampling Methodology, Chain of Custody, Quality Control and Quality Assurance

All sampling was conducted under the supervision of the Company's geologists and the chain of custody from Copper Creek to the independent sample preparation facility, ALS Laboratories in Tucson, AZ, was continuously monitored. The samples were taken as  core, over 2 m core length. Samples were crushed, pulverized and sample pulps were analyzed using industry standard analytical methods including a 4-Acid ICP-MS multielement package and an ICP-AES method for high-grade copper samples. Gold was analyzed on a 30 g aliquot by fire assay with an ICP-AES finish. A certified reference sample was inserted every 20 th sample. Coarse blanks were inserted every 20 th sample. Approximately 5% of the core samples were cut into  core and submitted as field duplicates. On top of internal QA-QC protocol, additional blanks, reference materials and duplicates were inserted by the analytical laboratory according to their procedure. Data verification of the analytical results included a statistical analysis of the standards and blanks that must pass certain parameters for acceptance to ensure accurate and verifiable results.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Faraday's VP Exploration, Dr. Thomas Bissig, P. Geo., who is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

About Faraday Copper

Faraday Copper is a Canadian exploration company focused on advancing its flagship copper project in The United States of America. The Copper Creek project , located in Arizona, is one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in North America with open pit and bulk underground mining potential. The Company is well-funded to deliver on its key milestones and benefits from a management team and board of directors with senior mining company experience and expertise. Faraday trades on the TSX under the symbol "FDY".

For additional information please contact:

Stacey Pavlova, CFA

Vice President, Investor Relations & Communications

Faraday Copper Corp.

E-mail: info@faradaycopper.com

Website: www.faradaycopper.com

To receive news releases by e-mail, please register using the Faraday website at www.faradaycopper.com .

Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking statements" and are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Faraday to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information specifically include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the exploration potential of the Copper Creek property.

Although Faraday believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include without limitation: market prices for metals; the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses; lower than expected grades and quantities of resources; receipt of regulatory approval; receipt of shareholder approval; mining rates and recovery rates; significant capital requirements; price volatility in the spot and forward markets for commodities; fluctuations in rates of exchange; taxation; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which Faraday does or may carry on business; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, competition; loss of key employees; rising costs of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; accidents; labour disputes; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties; unexpected delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of Indigenous peoples and other groups; risks, uncertainties and unanticipated delays associated with obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations and complying with permitting requirements, including those associated with the Copper Creek property; and uncertainties with respect to any future acquisitions by Faraday. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining, including environmental events and hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks as well as "Risk Factors" included in Faraday's disclosure documents filed on and available at www.sedar.com .

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction. This news release is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, a prospectus, an offering memorandum, an advertisement or a public offering of securities in Faraday in Canada, the United States or any other jurisdiction. No securities commission or similar authority in Canada or in the United States has reviewed or in any way passed upon this news release, and any representation to the contrary is an offence.

SOURCE: Faraday Copper Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735468/Faraday-Copper-Reports-15-metres-at-1083-Copper-165-gt-Gold-and-5562-gt-Silver-at-Copper-Creek-in-Arizona


BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The pound advanced against its major counterparts in the European session on Tuesday, as investors cheered U.K. employment data showing a faster than expected wage growth in November.



Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK unemployment rate remained unchanged in three months to November but wage pressures intensified.



The ILO jobless rate held steady at 3.7 percent in three months to November, as expected.



Average earnings including bonuses grew 6.4 percent annually in three months to November, faster than economists' forecast of 6.2 percent.



Earnings excluding bonuses also increased 6.4 percent, the fastest since records began in 2001, excluding the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Economists had forecast an increase of 6.3 percent.



The data supported expectations that the Bank of England will raise its key rate by 50 basis points in February.



The pound appreciated against the yen, hitting a 4-day high of 157.38. The pound is likely to locate resistance around the 161.00 level.



The pound rebounded to 1.1299 against the franc, from a 6-day low of 1.1265 hit at 1:45 am ET. The pound may target resistance around the 1.14 level.



The pound rose to 1.2230 against the greenback, from a 4-day low of 1.2169 it logged at 1:55 am ET. On the upside, 1.24 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.



The pound edged up to 0.8850 against the euro, from a 4-day low of 0.8887 seen at 1:45 am ET. If the pound rallies again, 0.86 is seen as its next resistance level.



Looking ahead, Canada housing starts data for December is set for release at 8:15 am ET.



Canada CPI for December and New York Fed's empire manufacturing survey for January will be released in the New York session.



Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hexaware has been named on the Forbes list of Mexico's Best Employers 2022. This prestigious award is presented by Forbes and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The awards list was announced on October 18th, 2022 and can currently be viewed on the Forbes website.





Forbes and Statista selected Mexico's Best Employers 2022 through an independent survey applied to a vast sample of approximately 10,000 Mexican employees working full or part time. 400 employers were awarded. The evaluation was based on direct and indirect recommendations from employees that were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their own employers to friends and family. Employee evaluations also included other employers in their respective industries that stood out either positively or negatively.

Furthermore, the employees were asked questions about work related topics like working conditions, salary, potential for development, and company image regarding their current employer.

Based on the results of the study, Hexaware is ecstatic to be recognized on the Forbes list of Mexico's Best Employers 2022.

Miguel Herrera, Country Manager & Head of Competencies - Mexico, Hexaware Technologies said, "We are proud to be recognized as one of Mexico's Best Employers. We know that delivering meaningful impact for our customers begins with our people reaching their full potential. That's why we are fully committed to enabling them to thrive professionally and personally. We continuously strive to ensure that our employees feel supported, valued, and engaged, so that we can 'create smiles through great people and great technology,' in Mexico and everywhere else across the world where we do business."

About Hexaware

Hexaware is a global technology and business process services company. Our 30,000 Hexawarians are driven by our purpose; to create smiles through great people and technology. With 54 offices in 19 countries, we empower enterprises to realize digital transformation at scale and speed by partnering with them to build, modernize, run, and optimize their IT landscapes. We put people first in everything we do and seek to improve people's lives by collaborating with our stakeholders to build a better, more sustainable tomorrow.

Learn more about Hexaware at https://www.hexaware.com.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/530945/Hexaware.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hexaware-recognized-on-forbes-mexicos-best-employers-2022-list-301723153.html
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - PreveCeutical Medical Inc. (CSE: PREV) (OTCQB: PRVCF) (FSE: 18H) (the "Company" or "PreveCeutical"), is pleased to announce that PreveCeutical is furthering the progress of its patent family directed to peptide analogues of dynorphin and their use in pain management (International Patent Application No. PCT/AU2021/050707, Peptides and Uses) and is taking the International patent application forward in the US, Europe, Canada and Australia.

The US patent application (USSN 18/003,768) has been filed with amended claims, together with its Australian and Canadian counterparts, and the European application is being filed before the 31-month deadline of 1 February 2023. PreveCeutical is prosecuting the patent applications to maximize the scope of protection available in those countries and to ensure that effective and secure patents are obtained as we continue our clinical process.

PreveCeutical's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Stephen Van Deventer, commented, "We are ensuring that the peptides identified for possible therapies in our research projects, including possible therapies for cancer and non-addictive analgesic for pain management, are well protected. We are continuing to work with government agencies, potential partners, and investors to assist in developing these anticipated therapies."

The Company also announces that Ms. Rajan has resigned, effective January 15, 2023, as the Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Rajan will remain a consultant in assisting the CEO and financial department moving forward. Mr. Stephen Van Deventer has been appointed the interim Chief Financial Officer. The Company has retained the services of Treewalk Consulting Inc. to provide financial reporting and support services.

Mr. Van Deventer further commented, "We thank Ms. Rajan for serving as the Company's CFO for the past six years and are delighted that she will continue assisting the company in a smaller capacity."

Although PreveCeutical believes that any such intentions, plans, estimates, beliefs, and expectations in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such intentions, plans, beliefs, and expectations will prove to be accurate or successful.

About PreveCeutical

PreveCeutical is a health sciences company that develops innovative options for preventive and curative therapies utilizing organic and nature identical products. The Company aims to be a leader in the preventive health sciences sector.

With the completion of three of its research programs, the Company is actively working on the development, clinical trials, and commercialization of its products; and has filed a number of provisional patent applications to protect the intellectual property from its research programs.

For more information about PreveCeutical, please visit our website www.PreveCeutical.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of PreveCeutical

Stephen Van Deventer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Stephen Van Deventer: +1 604 306 9669

Or Investor Relations ir@preveceutical.com

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements in this news release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations and orientations regarding the future, including, without limitation, matters related to the Company's current and planned research and development programs, including the Analgesic Program, the Company's anticipated business plans and its prospect of success in executing its proposed plans. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "will", "plans", "expects", "may", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "proposes" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions regarding the Company, including expected growth, results of operations, including the Company's research and development activities, performance, industry trends, growth opportunities, and that the Company will be able to obtain the financing required to carry out its planned future activities, retain and attract qualified research personnel and obtain and/or maintain the necessary intellectual property rights it needs to carry out its future business activities.

Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors including, risks and uncertainties relating to the Analgesic Program, complexities and delays in connection with research and development activities and the actual results of research and development activities, and the inability of the Company, to, among other things, obtain any required governmental, regulatory or stock exchange approvals, permits, consents or authorizations required, including Canadian Securities Exchange acceptance of any planned future activities, commercialize therapeutic and diagnostic technologies, execute its proposed business plans, pursue business partnerships, complete its research and product development programs as planned, including the Analgesic Program, and obtain the financing required to carry out its planned future activities. Other factors such as general economic, market or business conditions or changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting the healthcare and cannabis industries in Canada may also adversely affect the future results or performance of the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, unless required by applicable law, the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the statements, beliefs, plans, expectations, intentions, and assumptions contained in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that those statements, beliefs, plans, expectations, intentions, or assumptions will prove to be accurate. Readers should consider all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to other periodic reports provided by the Company from time-to-time. These reports and the Company's filings are available at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly, are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151492
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Dr. Garibaldi's 40 years of experience brings industry-leading pharmaceuticals development expertise to the Scientific Board of Advisors.

His appointment demonstrates the company's resolve to leverage its biotechnology platform for enabling drugs development.

Vancouver, British Columbia and Rehovot, Israel--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE: BHSC) ("BioHarvest" or the "company") announces that effective immediately, Dr. George Garibaldi will serve on its Scientific Board of Advisors. Complementing a top-tier group that includes a significant array of expertise, Dr. Garibaldi brings BioHarvest 40 years of experience in drug development and understanding of the pharma industry.

"I am joining the Scientific Board of Advisors of BioHarvest because I believe in the potential of its biotech platform," said Dr. Garibaldi. "The company has proven its ability to industrially produce unique, patentable and consistent compositions of phytochemicals such as polyphenols and cannabinoids. The medical field has consistently highlighted the therapeutic potential of these products. Together with the community of health care providers we will explore opportunities to develop therapies addressing a plethora of health conditions. I look forward to working with the company's management and fellow advisors to realize this potential."

"Dr. Garibaldi's extensive experience in the pharmaceutical industry is a great addition to the Scientific Board of Advisors," said Ilan Sobel, CEO of BioHarvest. "Understanding the entire development cycle of drugs is critical for the company's ability to serve this high priority segment of our business. George's expertise and involvement will play an important role in solidifying our plant-based biotech leadership."





Dr. George Garibaldi, BioHarvest Scientific Board of Advisors

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6168/151519_48bc3eb3449e3af0_001full.jpg

DETAILED BIOGRAPHY

Dr. George Garibaldi is co-founder and President of Research and Development of Noema Pharma AG. He previously held leadership responsibilities in research and development in several major pharmaceutical companies, most recently serving as VP and Global Head of Clinical Neuroscience at F. Hoffmann-La Roche.

Dr. Garibaldi trained in child psychiatry, statistics, and neuropsychopharmacology. During his tenure at Roche, he led the development of multiple therapies including OCREVUS  (ocrelizumab), approved in 2017 for primary progressive and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Prior to Roche, he was Head of Psychiatry and Geriatric Psychiatry at Novartis and the Neuroscience Therapeutic Area Lead at Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Throughout his career, Dr. Garibaldi developed therapies for multiple conditions including Exelon (rivastigmine) in Alzheimer's disease, Fanapt (iloperidone) in schizophrenia, Risperdal Consta (risperidone long-acting injectable) in frequently relapsing patients with bipolar disorders, and Invega (paliperidone) in patients with schizoaffective disorder. He also led the regulatory submission and approval of Risperdal (risperidone) in autism spectrum disorders.

Dr. Garibaldi serves as a peer reviewer for multiple scientific and medical journals and has authored more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He developed, validated and published a number of clinician- and patient-reported clinical outcomes including "The Readiness for Hospital Discharge Questionnaire in Schizophrenia", "The Patient Most Troubling Symptoms Scale in Anxiety and Depression", "The Readiness for Work Questionnaire in Schizophrenia" and "The Clinical Global Impression for Schizoaffective Disorder". Dr. Garibaldi is a board member of several biotech companies, a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), founder and past president of the International Society for Central Nervous System Clinical Trials and Methodology (ISCTM) and former chairman of the International Society for CNS Drug Development (ISCDD). He is the recipient of multiple awards including the ISCDD Award for Innovation. Dr. Garibaldi is widely recognized by his peers as an innovative and collaborative leader guided by his dedication to developing novel therapies for patients.

Dr. Garibaldi earned an M.D. from the faculty of medicine of Cairo University. He completed his residency in Child and General Psychiatry at the Rene Descartes Medical School, his studies in statistics and mathematical modeling at the University of Kremlin-Bicetre, and his studies in Neuropsychopharmacology at the Pitie Salpetriere.

About BioHarvest Sciences Inc.

BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE: BHSC) is a fast-growing Biotech firm listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange. BioHarvest has developed a patented bio-cell growth platform technology capable of growing the active and beneficial ingredients in fruit and plants, at industrial scale, without the need to grow the plant itself. This technology is economical, ensures consistency, and avoids the negative environmental impacts associated with traditional agriculture. BioHarvest is currently focused on nutraceuticals and the medicinal cannabis markets. Visit: www.bioharvest.com.

BioHarvest Sciences Inc.

Ilan Sobel, Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Dave Ryan, VP Investor Relations & Director

Phone: 1 (604) 622-1186

Email: dave@bioharvest.com

Facebook Twitter Linkedin Youtube

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release might include forward-looking statements that are based on management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. There is no assurance that the Company will be successful in expanding its technology to broader medical applications or conduct clinical trials to validate the efficacy of the Company's products for new forms of medical treatments. Clinical trials are subject to risks of significant cost overruns and lengthy delays with no assurance they will confirm desired results. Even where desired results are obtained government approvals for treatments take considerable time and cannot be guaranteed. There is no assurance that the company will develop therapies addressing health conditions which could take considerable time and require resources and clinical trials beyond the capacity of the Company.

All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and actual results may be affected by a number of material factors beyond our control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. BHSC does not intend to update forward-looking statement disclosures other than through our regular management discussion and analysis disclosures.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151519
17 January 2023

TECTONIC GOLD PLC

("Tectonic Gold" or the "Company")

NOTICE OF AGM

Tectonic Gold plc (TDIM: TTAU) announces that the Company's Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2022 and a Notice to convene the Annual General Meeting ("AGM") were sent to shareholders on 12 January 2023. Copies of the Report and Accounts and the Notice of the Annual General Meeting are also available on the Company's website www.tectonicgold.com

The AGM will take place at 9:00 a.m. (local time) on 3 February 2023 at Level 13, 20 Bridge Street, Sydney, 2000, Australia.

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

For further information, please contact:

Tectonic Gold plc

Brett Boynton

Sam Quinn

www.tectonicgold.com

@tectonic_gold +61 2 9241 7665 AQSE Corporate Adviser and Broker

VSA Capital Limited

Andrew Raca - Corporate Finance

Andrew Monk - Corporate Broking

+44 20 3005 5004

Ends
MONTREAL, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bombardier Inc. ("Bombardier" or the "Company") today announced the commencement of a tender offer (the "Tender Offer") to purchase for cash up to $104,000,000 aggregate principal amount (exclusive of accrued and unpaid interest, and as such aggregate principal amount may be increased or decreased by the Company, the "Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount") of its outstanding 7.50% Senior Notes due 2025 (the "Notes"). The Tender Offer is being made in connection with a concurrent offering of notes by the Company (the "New Notes") to be sold in an offering (the "New Offering") exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Tender Offer will be financed by the amounts raised in the New Offering (net of transaction fees and expenses). The Tender Offer is being made pursuant to an Offer to Purchase dated January 17, 2023.



The table below summarizes certain payment terms for the Tender Offer:

Title of Note CUSIP / ISIN

(144A) CUSIP / ISIN

(Reg S) Principal Amount

Outstanding Aggregate

Maximum

Principal

Amount Tender Offer

Consideration

(1)(2) Early

Tender

Payment

(1) Total

Consideration

(1)(2)(3) 7.50% Senior

Notes due 2025 097751BM2 /

US097751BM26 C10602BA4 /

USC10602BA41 $1,139,000,000 $104,000,000 $972.50 $30.00 $1,002.50

(1) Per $1,000 principal amount of Notes accepted for purchase.

(2) Excludes accrued and unpaid interest, which will be paid in addition to the Tender Offer Consideration or the Total Consideration, as applicable.

(3) Includes the applicable Early Tender Payment.



The Tender Offer will expire at 11:59 p.m. New York City time, on February 13, 2023 unless extended or earlier terminated (such date and time, including as extended or earlier terminated, the "Expiration Date"). Registered holders (each, a "Holder" and collectively, the "Holders") of the Notes must validly tender their Notes at or before 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 30, 2023 (such date and time, including as extended or earlier terminated, the "Early Tender Date") in order to be eligible to receive the Early Tender Payment in addition to the Tender Offer Consideration (as defined below).

Tenders of the Notes may be withdrawn at any time at or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 30, 2023, unless extended or earlier terminated (the "Withdrawal Deadline"), and not thereafter, except in certain limited circumstances where withdrawal rights are required by applicable law.

Subject to the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount and the other terms and conditions of the Tender Offer, possible proration of the Notes on the Early Settlement Date (as defined below) or the Final Settlement Date (as defined below) will be determined in accordance with the terms of the Tender Offer.

If the aggregate total purchase price payable for the Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or prior to the Early Tender Date and accepted for purchase by the Company equals or exceeds the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount, then Holders who validly tender their Notes after the Early Tender Date will not have any such Notes accepted for payment (unless the terms of the Tender Offer are amended by the Company in its sole and absolute discretion).

If, on the Early Settlement Date or Final Settlement Date, as applicable, only a portion of the tendered Notes may be accepted for purchase, the aggregate principal amount of Notes accepted for purchase will be prorated based upon the aggregate principal amount of Notes that have been validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) and not yet accepted for purchase in the Tender Offer, such that the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount will not be exceeded.

The Total Consideration includes an early tender payment (the "Early Tender Payment") of $30.00 for each $1,000 principal amount of the Notes, which Early Tender Payment is in addition to the Tender Offer Consideration (as defined below).

Subject to purchase in accordance with the Aggregate Maximum Principal Amount and possible proration, Holders validly tendering Notes (that have not been validly withdrawn) at or prior to the Early Tender Date will be eligible to receive the applicable Total Consideration listed in the table above, which includes the Early Tender Payment, on the "Early Settlement Date", which is expected to be February 1, 2023, but that may change without notice. Holders validly tendering Notes after the Early Tender Date but at or prior to the Expiration Date will only be eligible to receive the applicable "Tender Offer Consideration" listed in the table on the "Final Settlement Date". The Final Settlement Date is expected to be the second business day after the Expiration Date, which means that the Final Settlement Date is expected to be February 15, 2023, but that may change without notice. In addition to the Total Consideration or Tender Offer Consideration, Holders whose Notes are accepted for purchase will also receive accrued and unpaid interest from the last interest payment date to, but not including, the applicable settlement date.

The obligation of the Company to accept for purchase, and to pay for, Notes validly tendered pursuant to the Tender Offer is subject to, and conditioned upon, the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions as set forth in the Offer to Purchase, in the sole and absolute discretion of the Company, including the Company's completion of the New Offering prior to February 1, 2023, on terms satisfactory to the Company, the proceeds of which New Offering (net of transaction fees and expenses) will be used to finance its purchase of Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer. The Company intends to complete the New Offering prior to February 1, 2023. Its obligation to accept for purchase any Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer is expressly conditioned on the completion of the New Offering on terms satisfactory to the Company. For avoidance of doubt, references in the Offer to Purchase to "completion" of the New Offering mean completion of the closing under such New Offering at which closing the Company receives the anticipated proceeds from the New Offering. No assurance can be given that the New Offering will be completed on the terms currently envisioned or at all. If such conditions shall not have been satisfied (or waived by the Company), no payments will be made to tendering Holders on the Early Settlement Date or Final Settlement Date, as applicable. The Tender Offer is not conditioned on any minimum amount of Notes being tendered.

None of Bombardier, the trustees for the Notes, the agents under the respective indentures for the Notes, the dealer managers, the information and tender agent, any of their respective subsidiaries or affiliates or any of its or their respective directors, officers, employees or representatives makes any recommendation to Holders as to whether or not to tender all or any portion of their Notes, and none of the foregoing has authorized any person to make any such recommendation. Holders must decide whether to tender Notes, and if tendering, the amount of Notes to tender.

All of the Notes are held in book-entry form. If you hold Notes through a broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee, you must contact such broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee if you wish to tender Notes pursuant to the Tender Offer. You should check with such broker, dealer, commercial bank, trust company or other nominee to determine whether they will charge you a fee for tendering Notes on your behalf. You should also confirm with the broker, dealer, bank, trust company or other nominee any deadlines by which you must provide your tender instructions, because the relevant deadline set by such nominee may be earlier than the deadlines set forth herein.

Bombardier has retained Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and RBC Capital Markets, LLC to serve as the dealer managers for the Tender Offer. Bombardier has retained Global Bondholder Services Corporation to act as the information and tender agent in respect of the Tender Offer.

For additional information regarding the terms of the Tender Offer, please contact Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC or RBC Capital Markets, LLC at their respective telephone numbers set forth on the back cover page of the Offer to Purchase. Copies of the Offer to Purchase may be obtained at https://www.gbsc-usa.com/bombardier/or by contacting Global Bondholder Services Corporation at (855) 654 2014 or by email at contact@gbsc-usa.com.

This notice does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to purchase or sell, or any solicitation of any offer to sell or purchase, the Notes or any other securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction, and neither this notice nor any part of it, nor the fact of its release, shall form the basis of, or be relied on or in connection with, any contract therefor. The Tender Offer is made only by and pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Offer to Purchase and the information in this notice is qualified by reference to the Offer to Purchase.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell any securities in any jurisdiction or in any circumstances in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. In those jurisdictions where the securities, blue sky or other laws require the Tender Offer to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Tender Offer will be deemed to be made by the dealer managers or one or more registered brokers or dealers licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction.

Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements based on current expectations. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to important known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. For additional information regarding these risks and uncertainties, and the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Offer to Purchase.

For information
MONTREAL, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bombardier Inc. ("Bombardier") today announced that it has launched an offering of US$500 million aggregate principal amount of new Senior Notes due 2029 (the "New Notes").



Bombardier intends to use the proceeds of the offering of the New Notes, together with cash on hand, (i) to fund the redemption (the "2024 Notes Redemption") of all of its outstanding 7.500% Senior Notes due 2024 (the "2024 Notes"), of which there is $396 million aggregate principal amount outstanding on the date hereof, (ii) to finance the offer to purchase (the "2025 Tender Offer") up to $104 million aggregate principal amount of its outstanding 7.50% Senior Notes due 2025 (the "2025 Notes"), of which there is $1,139 million aggregate principal amount outstanding on the date hereof, and (iii) for the payment of related fees and expenses.

Consummation of the offering of the New Notes, the redemption of the 2024 Notes and the 2025 Tender Offer are subject to market and other conditions, and there can be no assurance that Bombardier will be able to successfully complete these transactions on the terms described above, or at all. The redemption of the 2024 Notes and the 2025 Tender Offer are subject to certain conditions, including the completion of the offering of the New Notes prior to February 16, 2023, as it relates to the 2024 Notes Redemption, and prior to February 1, 2023, as it relates to the 2025 Tender Offer.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or buy or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation, sale or purchase of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offering, solicitation, sale or purchase would be unlawful.

The New Notes mentioned herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, any state securities laws or the laws of any other jurisdiction, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. The New Notes mentioned herein may be offered and sold in the United States only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers in accordance with Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act and outside the United States in reliance on Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act. The New Notes mentioned herein have not been and will not be qualified for distribution to the public under applicable Canadian securities laws and, accordingly, any offer and sale of the securities in Canada will be made on a basis which is exempt from the prospectus requirements of such securities laws. The New Notes will be offered and sold in Canada on a private placement basis only to "accredited investors" pursuant to certain prospectus exemptions.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to purchase or the solicitation of an offer to sell the New Notes, the 2024 Notes or the 2025 Notes. This announcement does not constitute a redemption notice in respect of any 2024 Notes or any other notes. Any redemption of the 2024 Notes or any other notes will be made pursuant to a notice of redemption under the indentures governing such notes. Any purchase of the 2025 Notes pursuant to the 2025 Tender Offer will be made pursuant to an offer to purchase.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements based on current expectations. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to important known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause our actual results in future periods to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

For information
Basilios Triantafillos, global director of Deutsche Messe AG, speaks during a press conference at the Plaza Seoul hotel in central Seoul, Tuesday. Korea Times photo by Baek Byung-yeul



By Baek Byung-yeul



The Hannover Messe 2023, an annual manufacturing industry-focused trade fair, will focus on technologies for digitization and sustainability and highlight efforts to tackle climate change and global supply chain disruptions, an official from the German event organizer said Tuesday.



"The Hannover Messe is a worldwide leading fair. Digitization and sustainability are the main drivers and topics of this year's fair," Basilios Triantafillos, global director of Deutsche Messe AG, told reporters during a press conference in Seoul.



This year's event will be held in Hannover from April 17 to 21. The event organizer expects over 100,000 visitors and 4,000 exhibitors will participate in order to explore how to reduce their energy use and achieve digitization to produce products more efficiently.



"Digitization and sustainability are the main drivers for each company," the director said stressing the importance of looking closer at production processes to help companies overcome the challenges they face.



About 70 Korean companies including LS Electric will join the event. The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Korea Association of Machinery Industry (KOAMI) will also support small and medium-sized companies to set up promotional booths at the fair.



The trade fair has been disrupted for the last three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the director added they are very confident that this year's event will be a success.



"The last three years affected us very heavily because the main aspect of our event is bringing people together, and we've had no possibility to do that. This affects, of course, the business that we're doing. Nevertheless, we're very confident. We need to be humble and patient," he said.



The fair has chosen a partner country for each event, shedding light on its industries. For this year's event, Triantafillos said Indonesia will feature as the partner country.



Indonesia President Joko Widodo will also take part in the fair to promote the country's national project named Making Indonesia 4.0, its strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution era.


Significant Programs & Strategic Partnerships: A testament to the high quality of our BC Cu-Au Districts

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Amarc Resources Ltd. ("Amarc" or the "Company") (TSXV:AHR)(OTCQB:AXREF)) is pleased to provide this summary of its major achievements and milestones over the last twelve months, as we look towards another highly active exploration year progressing our JOY, DUKE and IKE Districts. In 2022, we successfully expanded the opportunities for development within our portfolio of copper-gold districts, added further depth and breadth to our exploration and management team and engaged a communication group, enhancing our ability to provide effective and timely information to shareholders and the market.

Advancing our portfolio of porphyry copper-gold districts

Amarc and Freeport-McMoRan Mineral Properties Canada Inc. ("Freeport") made considerable progress at the JOY District ("JOY"), completing a second comprehensive program with a substantial drilling component in 2022. In November, Amarc and Boliden Mineral Canada Ltd. ("Boliden") completed an agreement on the DUKE District ("DUKE"), and initiated drilling at DUKE before year end. Freeport at JOY and Boliden at DUKE can earn up to a 70% interest in the districts by funding CDN$110 million and CDN$90 million of staged earn-in expenditures, respectively. At both JOY and DUKE we are the Operator, which is a positive reflection on our team's operational abilities and high standards across all aspects of exploration and development.

We believe that these strategic earn-in agreements are a testament to the high quality of our project portfolio, located in British Columbia - a premier mining jurisdiction, and its attractiveness to major mining companies. The investments made through these agreements will be important catalysts to the advancement of exploration and development of our projects, while being non-share dilutive, and will further the growth of the Company. In addition, the fully-funded, ongoing exploration activities at the JOY and DUKE Districts will provide a significant flow of results in 2023.

JOY District

Leading into 2022, Amarc revealed expansions of the PINE Deposit laterally and to depth through a comprehensive CDN$5.94 million Freeport-funded program in the JOY Copper-Gold District in 2021. Notably, the three long core holes completed at the PINE Deposit in 2021 intercepted some of the highest grades over the longest intervals encountered to date (March 7, 2022 release). This program also confirmed the potential for additional, large-scale, porphyry copper-gold deposits in the District.

In 2022, we operated a significant exploration program that included core drilling, designed to target additional extensions to the known mineralization at the PINE Deposit and initially test the more advanced deposit-scale copper-gold targets clustered across the JOY District. Geological mapping, geochemical sampling and geophysical ground surveying was also completed to better define existing and also new copper-gold targets within the District in preparation for current and future drilling. As work progressed, the drilling component of the program was significantly expanded with three drill rigs active; all told, some 15,427 m was completed in 37 drill holes. In line with increased activities, the initial exploration budget was also significantly expanded to approximately CDN$14 million. Although we experienced significant processing delays at the laboratory in 2022, assays are now being received and we look forward to releasing assay results over the coming weeks.

DUKE District

In late November, we announced an earn-in agreement with Boliden Mineral Canada Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Boliden Group, for our 100% owned DUKE Copper-Gold District and immediately commenced a drill program focused on delineating the size of the DUKE Deposit, that will continue into this year. The DUKE District's excellent infrastructure enables the Company to drill year-round. In addition to the drilling at DUKE Deposit, ground geophysical and other surveys are planned as part of a comprehensive program to advance both the DUKE Deposit and prioritized porphyry copper deposit targets for drill testing. To the end of 2023, Boliden is to fund CDN$10 million of which CDN$5 million are committed expenditures.

Amarc also continues to focus on plans to advance the IKE District, which includes the higher grade copper-gold Empress Deposit and the IKE Deposit - a porphyry copper-silver-molybdenum discovery, and our other copper-gold porphyry projects in British Columbia.

Building our management team for the long term

Early in 2022, Amarc strengthened our experienced management team with the appointment of Dr. Roy Greig, P.Geo., as the Company's new Vice President, Exploration. The appointment of Dr. Greig enhances Amarc's leadership team for the longer term and reinforces the Company's existing relationship with C.J. Greig & Associates, one of Canada's premier minerals exploration and discovery groups. C.J. Greig & Associates will be assisting with Amarc's initiatives to explore and develop our porphyry copper-gold districts in BC.

Outlook

Copper has typically been recognized as an important economic indicator. This was reflected in its performance in 2022, particularly in the latter half of the year when prices dropped as global economic growth slowed as a result of factors such as "tighter U.S. monetary policy, the energy crisis arising from Russia's war in Ukraine and China's combination of strict Covid-19 lockdowns and a weak property market"; however, the influential Wall Street Bankers Goldman Sachs and Bank of America expect copper prices to recover in 2023 as China opens up and supplies tighteni.

And the outlook for copper is positive over the longer term as the green transition gains momentum. A growing number of countries have set net zero policies with aggressive goals. Canada has acknowledged the key part that copper plays in the generation, transportation and transmission of energy by including copper in its critical minerals strategyii. The United States is making massive public and private investmentsiii in renewable power, EVs, charging stations and other electrification technologies that are heavily reliant on copper, and has announced its intent to work with Canada to secure a reliable supply chain to meet its policy goalsiv. The influence is already being felt: "collated data on demand growth rates from sectors linked to net-zero policies indicated an expansion in copper consumption of 4.5% year-on-year out to 2030in contrast to demand growth [of] 2.1% over the past two decades," noted Bank of America analyst Michael Widmerv.

Expert studies such as The Future of Copper by S&P Global show the world needs to find and develop more deposits of coppervi - and soon. We believe that Amarc is ideally positioned to do so. British Columbia is the heartland of Canada's copper production. With two agreements with major producers, it is clear that our district scale projects are being noticed. The fundamentals of the copper market over the long term are highly positive. The stage is set for an exciting 2023!

A collaborative effort

The planning and successful execution of productive programs is dependent on the ongoing efforts of the members of Amarc's team inclusive of our partners, consultants and contractors and, in particular, on the willingness of Indigenous groups, local governments and stakeholders to work collaboratively with us. We extend our thanks to all of you. We would also like to acknowledge our shareholders for their continued support that contributes to the success of the Company.

About Amarc Resources Ltd.

Amarc is a mineral exploration and development company with an experienced and successful management team focused on developing a new generation of long-life, high-value porphyry Cu-Au mines in BC. By combining high-demand projects with dynamic management, Amarc has created a solid platform to create value from its exploration and development-stage assets.

Amarc is advancing its 100%-owned IKE, DUKE and JOY porphyry CuAu districts located in different prolific porphyry regions of southern, central and northern BC, respectively. Each district represents significant potential for the development of multiple and important-scale, porphyry CuAu deposits. Importantly each of the three districts is located in proximity to industrial infrastructure - including power, highways and rail.

Amarc is associated with HDI, a diversified, global mining company with a 35-year history of porphyry Cu deposit discovery and development success. Previous and current HDI projects include some of BC's and the world's most important porphyry deposits - such as Pebble, Mount Milligan, Southern Star, Kemess South, Kemess North, Gibraltar, Prosperity, Xietongmen, Newtongmen, Florence, Casino, Sisson, Maggie, IKE, PINE and DUKE. From its head office in Vancouver, Canada, HDI applies its unique strengths and capabilities to acquire, develop, operate and monetize mineral projects.

Amarc works closely with local governments, Indigenous groups and stakeholders in order to advance its mineral projects responsibly, and in a manner that contributes to sustainable community and economic development. We pursue early and meaningful engagement to ensure our mineral exploration and development activities are well coordinated and broadly supported, address local priorities and concerns, and optimize opportunities for collaboration. In particular, we seek to establish mutually beneficial partnerships with Indigenous groups within whose traditional territories our projects are located, through the provision of jobs, training programs, contract opportunities, capacity funding agreements and sponsorship of community events. All Amarc work programs are carefully planned to achieve high levels of environmental and social performance.

Qualified Person

Dr. Roy Greig, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has read and approved all technical and scientific information related to the Duke Project contained in this news release. Dr. Greig is Amarc's Vice President, Exploration.

For further details on Amarc Resources Ltd., please visit the Company's website at www.amarcresources.com or contact Dr. Diane Nicolson, President and CEO, at (604) 684-6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114, or Kin Communications, at (604) 684-6730, Email: AHR@kincommunications.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dr. Diane Nicolson

President and CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor any other regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking and other Cautionary Information

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All such statements, other than statements of historical facts that address exploration plans and plans for enhanced relationships 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. Assumptions used by the Company to develop forward-looking statements include the following: Amarc's projects will obtain all required environmental and other permits and all land use and other licenses, studies and exploration of Amarc's projects will continue to be positive, and no geological or technical problems will occur. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, potential environmental issues or liabilities associated with exploration, development and mining activities, exploitation and exploration successes, continuity of mineralization, uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary permits, licenses and tenure and delays due to third party opposition, changes in and the effect of government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, exploration and development of properties located within Aboriginal groups asserted territories may affect or be perceived to affect asserted aboriginal rights and title, which may cause permitting delays or opposition by Aboriginal groups, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, as well as risks relating to the uncertainties with respect to the effects of COVID-19. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Amarc Resources Ltd., investors should review Amarc's annual Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

i https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/13/copper-prices-traditionally-a-barometer-for-the-global-economy-are-expected-to-soar-next-year.html

ii https://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/canadian-critical-minerals-strategy.html

iii https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/02/updated-fact-sheet-bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act/

iv https://www.iea.org/policies/16060-canada-us-joint-action-plan-on-critical-minerals-collaboration

v See endnote 1

vi https://ihsmarkit.com/Info/0722/futureofcopper.html

SOURCE: Amarc Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/734977/Amarc-2022-a-Transformative-Year-and-Corporate-Outlook
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Stillwater Critical Minerals (formerly Group Ten Metals) (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF)(FSE:5D32) (the "Company" or "SWCM") is pleased to announce that it will present at the Emerging Growth Conference on January 25th, 2023, at 9:35am PT | 12:35 ET.

President and CEO Michael Rowley will provide a comprehensive overview and update on the Company and its flagship Stillwater West PGE-Ni-Cu-Co + Au project in Montana, USA, including anticipated Q1 catalysts such as exploration results, carbon dioxide sequestration initiatives and an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate, in addition to technical and corporate objectives for 2023. Participants are invited to submit questions in advance to Questions@EmergingGrowth.com, or ask questions directly during the Q&A session after the presentation.

To register, click here or the on the adjacent logo.

About the Emerging Growth Conference

The Emerging Growth conference is an effective way for public companies to present opportunities and communicate major announcements to the investment community in a time efficient manner.

Conference focus and coverage includes companies in a wide range of growth sectors with strong management teams, focused strategy and execution, and overall potential for long-term growth. The audience includes individual and institutional investors, as well as investment advisors and analysts.

About Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.

Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF) is a mineral exploration company focused on its flagship Stillwater West PGE-Ni-Cu-Co + Au project in the iconic and famously productive Stillwater mining district in Montana, USA. With the recent addition of two renowned Bushveld and Platreef geologists to the team, the Company is well positioned to advance the next phase of large-scale critical mineral supply from this world-class American district, building on current production of platinum group metals, nickel, copper, and other commodities by neighboring Sibanye-Stillwater, and past production of chromium and other metals. The Platreef-style nickel and copper sulphide deposits at Stillwater West contain a compelling suite of critical minerals and are open for expansion along trend and at depth, with an updated NI 43-101 mineral resource update expected early in 2023.

Stillwater Critical Minerals also holds the high-grade Black Lake-Drayton Gold project adjacent to Treasury Metals' development-stage Goliath Gold Complex in northwest Ontario, which is currently under an earn-in agreement with an option to joint venture whereby Heritage Mining may earn up to a 90% interest in the project by completing payments and work on the project. The Company also holds the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co critical minerals project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinum's Wellgreen deposit in Canada's Yukon Territory.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director

Email: info@criticalminerals.com Phone: (604) 357 4790

Web: http://criticalminerals.com TToll Free: (888) 432 0075

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Stillwater Critical Minerals

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735484/Stillwater-Critical-Minerals-to-Present-at-the-Emerging-Growth-Conference-on-January-25th-2023
Resilience CEO joins the Directors of the FBI and Europol to advise government and private sector attendees around how to navigate ransomware in 2023

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Resilience , the next-generation cyber risk solutions company, is proud to announce their invitation to the World Economic Forum's Annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and share how their unique approach and evidence-based experience has helped companies become cyber resilient to ransomware attempts. Vishaal "V8" Hariprasad, Co-Founder/CEO of Resilience and a former Air Force Cyber Operations Officer, will be joined by Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director for Europol, and others, in leading a panel discussion titled "Ransomware: To Pay or Not to Pay" on January 19, 2023.





Ransomware is an epidemic - increasing 82% from 2020 to 2021 - and representative of the surge in cybercrime overall, estimated to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025 according to Crowdstrike and Cybersecurity Ventures - despite the significant investment in cybersecurity that companies continue to make.

The surge in cyber crime requires companies to make a massive shift in how they assess, measure, and manage their cyber risk across the internal silos of finance and security. Resilience has seen that the strongest companies align their technological investments with financial understanding of the most critical risks to their enterprise. This holistic approach of leveraging insurance with technical cybersecurity visibility has proven to help to ensure clients are resilient to extortion attempts.

"The ransomware epidemic has made it clear that continuously improving companies' risk profiles requires connecting their cyber insurance coverage with their cybersecurity plan to reinforce great cyber hygiene," said Hariprasad. "We've seen tremendous success fighting ransomware by connecting insurance to security, helping clients build resiliency to extortion and manage active incidents. What we propose is dynamic: reduce the risk, reduce the risk transfer cost, reduce the severity of a breach, reduce the risk to partners, and improve your business's agility and competitiveness. That's Resilience's mission."

With Resilience's success deploying this novel approach in the US and UK, they look forward to sharing best practices and learnings with the entire World Economic Forum community and helping companies across continents fight crime and build cyber resilience.

Previously in November 2022, Hariprasad led the Forum's educational session in Geneva, Switzerland as part of their Annual Meeting on Cybersecurity (titled "Cybercrime: Staying Ahead of the Curve"), discussing how to stay ahead of bad actors as their tactics grow more technologically advanced, complex, and malicious.

About Resilience

Resilience helps middle-to-large market enterprises connect their cyber insurance coverage with advanced cybersecurity visibility and actionable cyber hygiene. Their recently launched new website (www.cyberresilience.com), and campaign, titled "Rewriting the Rules of Risk"; advocate a unique approach to the integration of technology, economics, and behavior to break down barriers between risk management, information security, and financial leaders.

Resilience is proud to be backed by leading technology investment firms including General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Intact Ventures, Founders Fund, CRV, and Shield Capital. With headquarters in San Francisco, Resilience's team is globally dispersed, with offices in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Toronto, and London. Resilience offers insurance coverage through its licensed and appointed insurance agency and security services through its expert security team.

For more information, visit us at www.cyberresilience.com.

About the Forum

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial, and not tied to any special interests.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1937256/Resilience_Logo.jpg

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/resilience-invited-to-lead-davos-panel-discussion-around-cybersecurity-301721909.html
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global in-vitro toxicology testing market size is projected to reach USD 64.7 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 11.10% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Over the years, acceptance of in-vitro toxicology testing methods by regulatory authorities is increasing at a faster pace & thus validation of these tests methods opposed to conventional testing is even rising.





Key Industry Insights & Findings from the report:

Based on technology, the cell culture segment held the largest revenue share in 2022, owing to the increased demand for accurate & cost-effective analysis. Moreover, the adoption of 3D cell culture is also propelling the growth of this segment.

On basis of application, the system toxicology segment dominated the market for in-vitro toxicology testing in 2022. Generation of toxicology data points such as minimum dose, tolerated dose, risk assessment and many more will contribute to the revenue generation.

The cellular assays segment accounted for the highest revenue share in 2022, owing to the developments in cell-based imaging assays, high throughput screening & label-free detection.

The pharmaceutical industry as an end-user contributed the largest revenue to the market in 2022. The importance of toxicology testing during drug development stages coupled with high number of product pipeline attributes to the revenue generation.

North America accounted for the highest revenue share in 2022 due to prevalence of animal testing bans & supportive government initiatives for toxicology research. In addition, aggregation of players in this regions to provide in-vitro testing product and services will continue the revenue generation during the forecast.

Read 180-page market research report, "In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Technology (Cell Culture, High Throughput), By Method, By Application, By End-user, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 - 2030", published by Grand View Research.

In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market Growth & Trends

Development of technologies to substitute animal use for toxicology tests has fueled the usage of in-vitro models such as in-silico simulation, assays, 3D cell cultures and many more, thereby boosting market growth. Screening of a new drug candidate involves the use of animals for preclinical studies which is very tedious and expensive. However, in recent times, several jurisdictions are promoting ban for animal-based chemical testing. For example, for several years, the EU has been promoting the reduction, replacement, and refinement of animal tests. The Regulation on cosmetic products (1223/2009), REACH (2007/2006), the Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes (2010/63), and Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) (1272/2008) are some examples of EU legislation that are engaged in strongly encouraging the replacement of animal toxicology testing. Furthermore, in June 2018, the Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act was passed in California to ban the selling of animal-tested products after 2020.

Many governments and private organization are taking actions to minimize conventional testing models, providing funds to support & develop in-vitro toxicology assays and form conducive government policies. Thus, increase in government initiatives that are focused on banning animal testing can be attributed to the rise in adoption of in-vitro toxicological models and creates many opportunities within the market. For instance, approximately USD 3.2 million were contributed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and its international associates to promote the development of non-animal test methods.

The advancements in computational and screening methods such as biological, high throughput, and chemical coupled with the vast number of public databases for toxicity analysis has expanded largely. This has allowed researchers to access information for drug discovery studies, toxicology profiling, and drug development programs. For instance, the MetaTox HS project by Agilent Technologies, Inc. brings advanced solutions for toxicity assays & high sensitivity metabolism during drug development procedures.

In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global in-vitro toxicology testing market based on technology, application, method, end-user, and region:

In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market - Technology Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Cell Culture Technology

High Throughput Technology

Molecular Imaging

OMICS Technology

In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market - Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Systemic Toxicology

Dermal Toxicity

Endocrine Disruption

Occular Toxicity

Others

In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market - Method Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Cellular Assay

Live Cells



High Throughput / High Content Screening





Molecular Imaging





Confocal Microscopy







Others





Others



Fixed Cells

Biochemical Assay

In-silico

Ex-vivo

In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market - End-user Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

Pharmaceutical Industry

Cosmetics & Household Products

Academic Institutes & Research Laboratories

Diagnostics

Chemicals Industry

Food Industry

In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market - Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2018 - 2030)

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

Germany



U.K.



France



Italy



Spain



Denmark



Sweden



Norway

Asia Pacific

Japan



China



India



Australia



Thailand



South Korea

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Argentina

Middle East and Africa (MEA)

and (MEA) South Africa



Saudi Arabia



UAE



Kuwait

List of Key Players of In-vitro Toxicology Testing Market

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.

SGS S.A.

Merck KGaA

Eurofins Scientific

Abbott Laboratories

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings

Evotec S.E.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated

Agilent Technolgies, Inc.

Catalent, Inc.

Danaher Corporation

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.

BioIVT

Gentronix

Check out more related studies published by Grand View Research:

Genetic Toxicology Testing Market - The global genetic toxicology testing market size is expected to reach USD 3.57 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 12.7% from 2022 to 2030. The rising usage of personalized medicines, combined with the development of cell and gene therapy across the globe is enhancing the demand for genotoxicity.

The global genetic toxicology testing market size is expected to reach by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 12.7% from 2022 to 2030. The rising usage of personalized medicines, combined with the development of cell and gene therapy across the globe is enhancing the demand for genotoxicity. In Vitro Diagnostics Market - The global in vitro diagnostics market size is expected to reach USD 113.38 billion by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is estimated to register a CAGR of 0.2% over the forecast period driven by the increasing geriatric population, COVID-19 pandemic, and technological advancements in diagnostics that are supporting its adoption.

- The global in vitro diagnostics market size is expected to reach by 2030, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is estimated to register a CAGR of 0.2% over the forecast period driven by the increasing geriatric population, COVID-19 pandemic, and technological advancements in diagnostics that are supporting its adoption. In-Vitro Colorectal Cancer Screening Tests Market - The global market for In-Vitro Colorectal Cancer Screening Tests is expected to reach USD 840.5 million by 2022, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing incidences of colorectal cancer and the development of novel CRC screening tests employing methods of genetic screening are some primary factors expected to drive market growth over the forecast period.

Browse through Grand View Research's Clinical Diagnostics Industry Research Reports.

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research Helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

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Network services over 96,000 addresses and 29,000 customers

Antin Infrastructure Partners ("Antin", Ticker: ANTIN ISIN: FR0014005AL0) announced today that it has completed the acquisitions of Empire Access and North Penn Telephone (together, "Empire"), leading fiber-to-the-premise ("FTTP") broadband providers in New York and Pennsylvania.

With a network of 1,280 fiber route miles servicing over 96,000 addresses and 29,000 customers, Empire is the independent fiber provider of choice in both Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania and plans to continue to expand its high speed fiber broadband footprint across the region. In 2021, Empire was rated as the "Fastest ISP in the U.S." by PC Mag.

The Wagner family, which has controlled Empire since 1946, retained an ownership stake in the company and Brian Wagner will remain on the company's board of directors. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Francisco Abularach, Senior Partner at Antin, commented: "Empire is uniquely positioned to leverage its expansive fiber network to provide broadband services to underserved parts of New York and Pennsylvania. We are thrilled to partner with the Empire management team to support the next chapter of the company's growth.

Jim Baase, CEO at Empire, added: "Empire is one of the preeminent FTTP providers in the regions we serve and the Empire-Antin partnership will enable us to grow more quickly. With still a substantial opportunity ahead, we are excited to partner with Antin to help secure that future growth and provide high speed broadband access to consumers across our footprint

Brian Wagner, member of the Empire board of directors, added: "Empire has been a part of my family since 1946. We couldn't be more proud of the track record of success and customer service that the company has achieved, which is entirely a testament to the tremendous people that work here. We are excited to see what the team can achieve under Antin's ownership."

Citizens, CIT (a division of First Citizens Bank), and Webster Bank acted as lead arrangers on the debt financing, with Citizens also acting as financial advisor to Antin. Weil, Gotshal Manges and Morgan Lewis Bockius acted as legal advisors to Antin. Harter Secrest Emery acted as legal advisors to Empire.

About Empire

Founded in 1896 and based in Prattsburgh, NY, Empire is a regional broadband provider proudly serving large areas of New York and Pennsylvania. Today, the company operates a fiber network of 1,280 route miles servicing over 29,000 customers and 96,000 addresses, of which 95% are served by fiber. Empire offers a wide range of products and services, including high-speed fiber internet, voice and digital TV services. In 2017 and 2018, Empire Access was awarded Best Internet Service Provider in the Southern Tier region of New York. In 2021, Empire was named Fastest Internet Provider in the U.S. by PC Mag.

About Antin Infrastructure Partners

Antin Infrastructure Partners is a leading private equity firm focused on infrastructure. With over 29 billion in assets under management across its Flagship, Mid Cap and NextGen investment strategies, Antin targets investments in the energy and environment, digital, transport and social infrastructure sectors. With offices in Paris, London, New York, Singapore and Luxembourg, Antin employs over 190 professionals dedicated to growing, improving and transforming infrastructure businesses while delivering long-term value to portfolio companies and investors. Majority owned by its partners, Antin is listed on Euronext Paris (Ticker: ANTIN ISIN: FR0014005AL0).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005177/en/

Contacts:

Antin Infrastructure Partners

Nicolle Graugnard, Communication Director

Email: nicolle.graugnard@antin-ip.com
Red Light Holland to export another 3000 Grams (3KG) of Psilocybin Truffles, produced and sold in The Netherlands, into Canada under a fourth Health Canada approved psilocybin import permit to its laboratory partner, CCrest Laboratories Inc., a cGMP pharmaceutical laboratory in Montreal, Canada





CCrest Labs to utilize its newly amended Controlled Drugs & Substances Dealer's License by Health Canada adding 'Assembly and Packaging' to develop Red Light's psilocybe Truffles into homogenized microdosing capsules containing 0.5 mg of psychoactive material (psilocybin + psilocin).

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Red Light Holland Corp. (CSE: TRIP) (FSE: 4YX) (OTCQB: TRUFF) ("Red Light Holland" or the "Company"), an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth and sale of functional mushrooms and mushroom home grow kits in North America and Europe, and a premium brand of psilocybin truffles to the legal, recreational market within the Netherlands, in compliance with all applicable laws is pleased to announce that 3000 grams (3 KG) of the Company's natural psilocybin truffles grown in the Netherlands, have been approved by Health Canada to import to Red Light's partner, cGMP licensed CCrest Laboratories in Montreal, Canada for the purposes of product development of homogenized powder for microdosing capsules. CCrest Laboratories, which holds a Controlled Drugs & Substances Dealer's License, has announced plans to use its newly amended license, recently approved by Health Canada to include assembly and packaging, to develop homogenized microdosing capsules in partnership with Red Light Holland. These capsules will contain 0.5 mg of psychoactive material, a combination of psilocybin and psilocin, and will be packaged in child-proof safety bottles containing 20 capsules. This dosage and packaging were determined based on prior testing, as well as information obtained through the use of Red Light Holland's iMicrodose app and the experience of the company's therapist, Jeff Hamburg.

Upon projected arrival at CCrest Labs in a few weeks, Red Light's psilocybe Truffles will be produced and tested in accordance with quality control requirements that will hopefully allow the products to be accessible in the emerging legal markets across the globe. These measures include dosage testing, certificate of analysis testing, stability testing and child proof safety bottles.

"We are carefully but aggressively seeking to open up our Netherland's grown truffles to new legal markets for natural psilocybin products. In particular, Red Light is specifically focused on product development targeting areas we believe are most likely to succeed. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, as we know there may be many hurdles to get homogenized microdosing capsules to customers in emerging markets, but with our excellent partnership with CCrest Laboratories we see a possible path that is very exciting," said Todd Shapiro, CEO and Director of Red Light Holland. "The knowledge gained, continued R&D and product development we plan on creating here is exciting and Red Light will provide updates when our Netherlands' fresh grown Psilocybe Truffles have landed at CCrest Laboratories, in Montreal, Canada via a Health Canada approved psilocybin import permit, which is projected to arrive within the next few weeks," added Shapiro.

"At CCrest Labs, we are thrilled to leverage the expertise of our esteemed scientists to research and develop a high quality potential dosage of psilocybe truffles in a way that preserves their natural integrity. Our collaboration with Red Light, a pioneering partner in this field, allows us to push the boundaries of discovery and make meaningful progress in the psychedelic sector. We are proud to operate in compliance with Health Canada regulations and maintain the highest standards of quality and safety. Together with Red Light, we are committed to advancing this exciting field with caution and care, and we are grateful for the opportunity to contribute a positive impact through disruptive innovation," said Alex Grenier, CEO of Shaman Pharma and President of CCrest Laboratories.

About Shaman Pharma Corp.

Shaman Pharma is a federally registered Canadian corporation with the mission to power outstanding psychedelic life science innovation. Accelerating time-to-market through its portfolio of assets, Shaman launches and consolidates revenue-driven pharma-biotech life sciences ventures focused on supplying psychedelic drugs & novel active ingredients.

About Red Light Holland

Red Light Holland is an Ontario-based corporation engaged in the production, growth and sale of functional mushrooms and mushroom home grow kits in North America and Europe, and a premium brand of psilocybin truffles to the legal, recreational market within the Netherlands, in compliance with all applicable laws.

For additional information on the Company:

Todd Shapiro

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Tel: 647-643-TRIP (8747)

Email: todd@redlight.co

Website: www.RedLight.co

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of Red Light Holland. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements include, but are not limited to: statements with respect to the Company creating a standardized consistent dose from naturally occurring psychoactive truffles; the Company working with CCrest Laboratories, which holds a Controlled Drugs & Substances Dealer's License to develop homogenized microdosing capsules from naturally occurring psychoactive truffles; statements with respect to Health Canada's Special Access Program, including the Company's expectations to have their 3000kg of psilocybe truffles arrive safely in Canada at CCrest Labs within the next few weeks; the Company's expectations to have their 3000kg psilocybe truffles in Canada at all; the Company' expectations with respect to exceeding any potential regulatory standards set by such program; statements with respect to further evaluation, R&D, product development and testing of the Company's naturally occurring psilocybe truffles by CCrest Laboratories for either recreational or scientific and medical purposes; the potential of the Company's products being used for recreational and/or scientific and medical purposes; the potential of the Company's products being used for Health Canada's Special Access Program; the potential of the Company's products being used for emerging markets; the potential of the Company's products being used for future legal markets as legal markets and regulations are still being written, the potential of the Company's products being used for emerging markets across the globe; the Company's recommeded dosage and packaging - which were determined based on prior testing, as well as information obtained through the use of Red Light Holland's iMicrodose app and the experience of the company's therapist, Jeff Hamburg - may not be the preferred dosage and packaging by regulators and the Company's ability to establish itself as the leader in the recreational psychedelics sector.

Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions made by Red Light Holland, including without limitation: the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the Canadian economy and Red Light Holland's business, and the extent and duration of such impact; no change to laws or regulations that negatively affect Red Light Holland's business; there will be a demand for Red Light Holland's products in the future; no unanticipated expenses or costs arise; the Company will be able to continue to develop products that are allowed to be imported and sold under Health Canada's import permit; and the partnership with Shaman Pharma Corp. will help Red Light Holland to achieve its business goals. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what the Company believes to be reasonable assumptions, it cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such information.

These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the inability of the Company to receive a shipping partner for the psilocybe truffles to Montreal, Canada; the inability for the Company to have the psilocybe truffles to Montrea, Canada within the next few weeks; the inability for the Conpany's psilocbye truffle to ever arrive in Canada or at CCrest Labs in Montreal, Canada; the inability of the Company to continue as a going concern; the inability of the Company to obtain all necessary governmental and/or other regulatory approvals, licenses, and permits necessary to operate and expand the Company's facilities; the effect of regulatory and/or political change and its effect on the legislation and regulations surrounding the psychedelics industry including SAP; negative perception of the medical-use and adult-use psilocybin industry; the inability of CCrest to complete the planned testing of the Company's products; the inability of the Company to create a standardized dose; the inability of the Company and CCrest Labs to create a homogonized microdosing capsule from the Company's Netherlands grown truffles, the potential unviability of psilocybin for recreational, medical and/or scientific purposes; the inability of the Company to partner with any global emerging markets, the inability of the company's information obtained through the use of Red Light Holland's iMicrodose app and the experience of the company's therapist, Jeff Hamburg to be relevant for future regulations or emerging markets; the Company's ability to establish itself as the leader in the recreational psychedelics sector; the inability for the company to use their psilocybin in any potential recreational use of naturally occurring Psilocybin; the inability for the Company to continue product development and research and development including the inability of the Company to continue working with CCrest labs; the inability of the Company to continue its growth; the Company's limited operating history; reliance on management; the Company's requirements for additional financing; and competition for mental health and wellness investments.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151528
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Blackwolf Copper and Gold ("Blackwolf", or the "Company") (TSXV:BWCG)(OTC PINK:BWCGF) is pleased to announce highly encouraging surface sample assay results from its 2022 reconnaissance exploration program at its 100%-owned, Hyder area Properties located northwest of the towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK on the Alaska side of the Golden Triangle. Despite significant exploration activity in Canada, virtually no modern exploration has been performed in the area since the 1930's. Blackwolf's team is exceptionally knowledgeable and experienced with mineral deposits in the Golden Triangle.

High-grade gold-silver mineralization was identified in multiple areas during this initial work program, with three priority areas identified that will be prioritized for drilling and additional surface exploration (Fig. 1). Highlights of the 2022 work include:

Cantoo : individual assays up to 37.6 g/t Au from chip samples of outcropping veins up to 30m wide. A series of these stacked, shallow southwesterly-dipping veins and stockwork zones were identified at Cantoo, spanning over 300 meters of exposed elevation and over 500m along strike. The Company holds an authorized permit for Cantoo, which is a high-priority drill target for the 2023 season.

: individual assays up to from chip samples of outcropping veins up to 30m wide. A series of these stacked, shallow southwesterly-dipping veins and stockwork zones were identified at Cantoo, spanning over 300 meters of exposed elevation and over 500m along strike. The Company holds an authorized permit for Cantoo, which is a high-priority drill target for the 2023 season. Solo : grab samples including: 20.6 g/t Au, 386 g/t Ag and 6.0 g/t Au, 3,836 g/t Ag from a zone of structurally-controlled quartz veining, sulfide mineralization, and alteration over 535 meters of strike length. Blackwolf's sampling results, coupled with the historic discovery of ultra-high-grade veins, are geologically similar to those from the Brucejack deposit.

: grab samples including: from a zone of structurally-controlled quartz veining, sulfide mineralization, and alteration over 535 meters of strike length. Blackwolf's sampling results, coupled with the historic discovery of ultra-high-grade veins, are geologically similar to those from the Brucejack deposit. Doghole: samples up to 16.6 g/t Au and 583 g/t Ag from a series of NE trending quartz-sulfide veins traced over 220 meters along strike. A total of 15 samples were collected along the trend and returned an average of 6.02 g/t Au and 171 g/t Ag.

"The 2022 Program on the Hyder Area Properties was very encouraging; stacked, wide, high-grade veins, located adjacent to one of the most important gold-silver deposits in the Golden Triangle, represent the best drill target that I've seen in the area and we look forward to drilling the initial holes at Cantoo in the spring of 2023," said Rob McLeod, President and CEO of Blackwolf Copper and Gold. "Additionally, the gold and silver-rich veins and alteration zones sampled from the Doghole and Solo Prospects represent excellent, undrilled targets as well."

Exploration during the 2022 field season at the Company's five Hyder area properties included the collection of 330 rock grab and chip samples, geologic mapping, aerial photography, LiDAR surveys, and a high-resolution World-View 3 remote sensing survey. Precipitous areas were sampled by experienced climbing technicians. Due to the steep, challenging climbing conditions at Cantoo, only limited surface sampling was completed on the outcropping veins. Assay results for all samples collected during 2022 on the Hyder Properties ranged from trace to 37.6 g/t Au, trace to 3,836 g/t Ag, trace to 1.47% Cu, trace to 21.3% Zn, and trace to 58.4% Pb. Thirty-four of the samples returned over 1.0 g/t Au.

Figure 1 - Hyder Project Location Map

CANTOO

Located due east of the Premier, Silver Coin and Big Missouri deposits that are currently in development by Ascot Resources and likely part of the same metallogenic system, the Cantoo property hosts a series of shallow, southeast-dipping breccias, stockworks and vein structures up to 30 meters in thickness. Historic literature describes an upper 'gold rich' vein and a lower 'silver rich vein' with a single historic sample from the upper vein collected by USGS government geologists in 1995 assaying 27.7 g/t Au. These veins outcrop on cliff faces that are clearly observable from the air. Historic adits and two, aerial tram line cables dating back to the late 1920's, helped Blackwolf's geologists to locate the veins, and according to Alaskan territorial records, ore was directly recovered and shipped from surface without blasting. Work ceased on ambitious development plans at Cantoo after the stock market crash of 1929. Experienced climbing technicians were able to access the 'upper', 30 meter-wide, gold-rich vein, and a composite chip sample from it returned 37.6 g/t Au. The mineralization was associated with silicification, stockwork quartz veining, and up to 25% disseminated pyrite mineralization. Grab samples from altered zones on the edge of the 30m zone returned 0.74 and 0.38 g/t Au. A series of additional zones of veining and alteration were noted on the cliff below the upper vein but were not sampled for safety reasons. Together, these form a series of stacked zones of veining and alteration over 300 meters in vertical extent. Additional sampling was also conducted from scree slopes and limited outcrop exposure below the cliffs assayed up to 2.66 g/t Au.

The Cantoo property geology is dominated by multiple phases of the regionally prospective Early Jurassic Texas Creek granodioritic intrusive suite with occurrences of the prospective megacrystic 'Premier Porphyry'. This geologic setting, along with shallow vein/breccia orientations and compositional similarities show parallels between the Cantoo veins and Ascot's immediately adjacent Premier, Big Missouri and Silver Coin deposits. Blackwolf plans to target these vein structures with exploration drilling during the spring of 2023.

Figure 2 - Cantoo cliffs outcropping of stacked zones of alteration over ~300m with location of 37.6 g/t Au sample on the gold-rich 'upper' vein.

Figure 3 - 'Upper' gold-rich vein and location of 37.6 g/t Au sample

MINERAL HILL

Samples up to 2.53 g/t Au, 56.5 g/t Ag, 0.25% Cu, 0.34% Pb, and 7.16% Zn from strongly silicified and quartz veined boulders with up to 10% disseminated-vein controlled sulfides. The mineralized boulders are eroding from a newly discovered iron-oxide stained cliff face over a 200 meter-long trend and may represent a southern extension of the Cantoo vein system 2.5 km to the south.

Figure 4 - Cantoo and Mineral Hill properties

SOLO

The Solo prospect is located on the western flank of the Texas Creek property and is dominated by quartz-vein hosted massive galena-pyrite-electrum mineralization in Lower Jurassic Lower Hazelton argillitic sediments. In the 1930's, miners built 1,800 meters of tunnels through an ice sheet chasing source of the electrum, including a glacial transported float that assayed over 20,000 g/t Au. Significant glacial recession has occurred since, however large areas of snowpack did not melt during the summer of 2021 or 2022, including the estimated location of one of these veins in outcrop. Intrusive rocks and very high-grade, late tension veins are similar to those observed at the Premier and Brucejack deposits in the Golden Triangle and suggest potential for a strong mineralizing system. 2021 samples at the Solo prospect returned up to 20.6 g/t Au, 386 g/t Ag, 26.5% Pb and 10.9% Zn in one of these veins. Highlights of the 2022 sampling at Solo include:

C0042635: 20.6 g/t Au, 386 g/t Ag, 1.47% Cu, 26.5% Pb, 10.9% Zn;

20.6 g/t Au, 386 g/t Ag, 1.47% Cu, 26.5% Pb, 10.9% Zn; B0011001 : 7.23 g/t Au, 175 g/t Ag, 0.15% Cu, 13.6% Pb, 8.62% Zn;

: 7.23 g/t Au, 175 g/t Ag, 0.15% Cu, 13.6% Pb, 8.62% Zn; B983870: 8.49 g/t Au, 315 g/t Ag, 0.59% Cu, 18.5% Pb, 0.54% Zn and;

8.49 g/t Au, 315 g/t Ag, 0.59% Cu, 18.5% Pb, 0.54% Zn and; B0010866: 6.04 g/t Au, 3836 g/t Ag, 0.9% Cu, 3.47% Pb, 2.1% Zn.

DOGHOLE

Located on the Texas Creek property, Doghole consists of shear-hosted sulfide mineralization along with proximal intrusion-related semi-massive to massive sulphide mineralization set in sills, ranging from five to twenty meters wide, of the Early Jurassic Texas Creek granodiorite. These sills are cross-cut by late, continuous quartz-sulphide epithermal-style veins. Samples from the 2021 program returned up to 11.3 g/t Au, 530 g/t Ag, 0.44% Cu and 4.63% Zn, and were focused on historic workings on the target. Sampling in 2022 followed on the 2021 program and traced a series of NE trending quartz-sulfide veins over 220m along strike. A total of 15 samples were taken along the trend and returned 0.92 - 16.6 g/t Au, averaging 6.02 g/t Au. Individual highlights of the 2022 sampling at Doghole include:

B0010766: 16.6 g/t Au, 585 g/t Ag, 0.13% Cu, 1.52% Pb, 3.32% Zn;

16.6 g/t Au, 585 g/t Ag, 0.13% Cu, 1.52% Pb, 3.32% Zn; B0010759 : 12 g/t Au, 85.3 g/t Ag, 0.17% Cu, 1.13% Pb, 0.29% Zn;

: 12 g/t Au, 85.3 g/t Ag, 0.17% Cu, 1.13% Pb, 0.29% Zn; B0010762: 7.94 g/t Au, 642 g/t Ag, 0.59% Cu, 11.3% Pb, 6.64% Zn and;

7.94 g/t Au, 642 g/t Ag, 0.59% Cu, 11.3% Pb, 6.64% Zn and; B0010755: 8.17 g/t Au, 292 g/t Ag, 0.55% Cu, 4.82% Pb, 0.17% Zn.

CASEY

Grab samples up to 16.9 g/t Au, 226 g/t Ag, 10.6% Pb, and 0.56% Zn from a series of NE trending quartz-sulfide veins near the historic Engineer Mine. And identification of >1km NW oriented structurally controlled trend of quartz veining, alteration, and sulfide mineralization associated with the historic Casey Sphalerite occurrence. Samples returned strong base metals values up to 2.9% Pb and 13.7% Zn, and may represent the upper portions of a larger, epithermal vein system with similarities to the Premier deposit approximately 10 km to the east.

Figure 5 - Quartz-sulfide veining at Doghole Prospect, Texas Creek Property. Location of sample B0010766: 16.6 g/t Au and 585 g/t Ag

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE

Blackwolf's Hyder Properties are located in the Golden Triangle, a regional-scale mineral belt in Northwest British Columbia and Southeast Alaska. Significant mines and deposits in the area include: Brucejack, Premier, Big Missouri, Scottie Gold, Red Mountain, Galore Creek, KSM, Eskay Creek, Porter and Torbrit, and new discoveries by Goliath Resources and Eskay Mining. The region, centered around the towns of Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska, has world-class metal endowment. Set in the Stikinia Paleozoic-Mesozoic island arc terrane, the stratigraphy of the area is dominated by Triassic to Jurassic rocks of the Stuhini and Hazelton Groups, respectively. Porphyry, VMS, and other intrusion-related deposits in the area are dominantly hosted in the Jurassic Hazelton Group strata associated with coeval intrusions, with commonly overprinting Eocene epithermal-style vein-dominated mineralization.

HYDER PROPERTIES

Acquired through staking in 2021 and 2022, Blackwolf has a 100% interest in its Hyder properties which are comprised of five claim groups (Texas Creek, Cantoo, Mineral Hill, Casey, & Rooster), totaling 3224 hectares. These properties are located between 10 to 20 kilometers northwest of Hyder, immediately south of the past-producing Granduc Copper Mine, 10 kilometers south of the past-producing Scottie Copper Mine and due west of the past-producing Premier Gold Mine, currently in redevelopment by Ascot Resources. The claims are underlain by regionally prospective Lower Hazelton volcanics and coeval Texas Creek polyphase intrusives. Very limited modern exploration has been performed in the area, with virtually none in the last 25 years.

QA/QC AND QUALIFIED PERSON

The analytical work on the Hyder project was performed by MSALABS a certified, analytical services provider, at its laboratory in Langley, British Columbia. All rock samples were prepared using procedure PRP-910 (dry, crush to 70% passing 2mm, riffle split off 250g, pulverize split to better than 85% passing 75 microns) and analyzed by method FAS-111 (30g fire assay with AAS finish) and IMS-130 (0.5g, aqua regia digestion and ICP-AES/MS analysis). Any samples containing >10g/t Au were reanalyzed using method FAS-415 (30g Fire Assay with gravimetric finish). Samples containing >100 ppm Ag and/or >1% Cu, Pb, & Zn are reanalyzed using method ICF-6 (0.2g, 4-acid digest and ore grade ICP-AES analysis). Samples containing >1000 g/t Ag were reanalyzed using method FAS-418 (30g fire assay with AAS finish) and samples containing >20% Pb were reanalyzed using method STI-8Pb (volumetric titration).

The reported work was completed using industry standard procedures, including a quality assurance/quality control ("QA/QC") program consisting of the insertion of certified standard, blanks and duplicates into the sample stream. The Qualified Person has reviewed the data and detected no significant QA/QC issues.

Jodie Gibson, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration for the Company, a Qualified People under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this release.

ABOUT BLACKWOLF COPPER AND GOLD

Blackwolf's founding vision is to be an industry leader in transparency, inclusion and innovation. Guided by our Vision and through collaboration with local and Indigenous communities and stakeholders, Blackwolf builds shareholder value through our technical expertise in mineral exploration, engineering and permitting. The Company holds a 100% interest in the high-grade Niblack copper-gold-zinc-silver VMS project, located adjacent to tidewater in southeast Alaska as well as the Cantoo, Casey, Texas Creek and Mineral Hill gold-silver properties in southeast Alaska and Rooster Property in British Columbia. For more information on Blackwolf, please visit the Company's website at www.blackwolfcopperandgold.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Robert McLeod"

Robert McLeod

President, CEO and Director

For more information, contact:

ROB MCLEOD

604-617-0616 (Mobile)

604-343-2997 (Office)

rm@bwcg.ca

LIAM MORRISON

604-897-9952 (Mobile)

604-343-2997 (Office)

lm@bwcg.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements relating to the Hyder properties and the Company's future objectives and plans.Forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, market volatility; the state of the financial markets for the Company's securities; fluctuations in commodity prices and changes in the Company's business plans. In making the forward looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, including without limitation, that the Company will continue with its stated business objectives and its ability to raise additional capital to proceed. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. The Company seeks safe harbor.

For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company's continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: Blackwolf Copper and Gold Ltd

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735464/Blackwolf-Samples-up-to-376-gt-Gold-from-30-meter-Wide-Vein-at-the-Cantoo-Prospect-and-Identifies-Multiple-High-Grade-Targets-Across-the-Hyder-Properties
Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Meteorite Capital Inc. (TSXV: MTR.P) ("Meteorite" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on the Company's previously announced Qualifying Transaction with Kobo Resources Inc. ("Kobo" and together with the Company, the "Parties"), as such term is defined in Policy 2.4 - Capital Pool Companies (the "Policy") of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV" or the "Exchange") Corporate Finance Manual (the "Transaction"). Further to the binding letter agreement entered into on November 1, 2022 (the "Letter Agreement"), the Parties are presently in advanced negotiations to finalize the definitive agreement (the "Proposed Definitive Agreement"), which will form the basis upon which the Parties will effect the Transaction.

About Kobo

Kobo was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (Quebec) on December 14, 2015 under the name 9333-9141 Quebec Inc. On March 4, 2016, Kobo changed its name to Kobo Resources Inc.. Kobo's head office and registered office are located at 388 Grande-Allee East, Suite 101, Quebec, Quebec, G1R 2J4.

Kobo is a junior Canadian exploration and mining development company focused on acquiring, exploring and developing gold property assets located in West Africa and primarily in Cote d'Ivoire. Kobo, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, KOBO Ressources Cote d'Ivoire S.A., owns two research permits for gold (being the Kossou Permit and the Kotobi Permit) covering 449km2 and has three pending applications covering 1,068km2. As at the date hereof, Kobo's sole material asset is the Kossou Permit, which forms the basis of its Kossou gold project (the "Kossou Gold Project").

About Meteorite

Meteorite exists under the provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act with its registered and head office located at 1 Place Ville Marie, Suite 3900, Montreal, Quebec. It is a capital pool company and intends for the Transaction to constitute its "Qualifying Transaction" as such term is defined in the Policy. Meteorite is a "reporting issuer" within the meaning of the Securities Act of each of the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

The Transaction

Pursuant to the Proposed Definitive Agreement, the Company is expected to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Kobo (the "Kobo Shares") pursuant to a three-cornered amalgamation, whereby 9454-2123 Quebec Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Meteorite formed for such purpose ("Subco") will amalgamate with Kobo (the "Amalgamation") to form a newly amalgamated company ("Amalco") The Amalgamation is expected to result in the issuance, to each shareholder of Kobo (each, a "Kobo Shareholder"), of one (1) Resulting Issuer Share (as defined below) for each one (1) Kobo Share held by such holder immediately prior to the closing of the Transaction (the "Closing"). In all, Meteorite will issue an aggregate of 56,809,749 Resulting Issuer Shares at a deemed price of $0.20 per share in consideration for the acquisition of all outstanding Kobo Shares.

As part of the Amalgamation, all convertible securities of Kobo outstanding immediately prior to the Closing are expected to be replaced with or exchanged for equivalent convertible securities of the Company entitling the holders thereof to acquire Resulting Issuer Shares in lieu of Kobo Shares.

The Amalgamation will result in the reverse takeover of the Company by the Kobo Shareholders and will constitute the Company's Transaction. Following the completion of the Transaction, the Company, as the issuer resulting therefrom (the "Resulting Issuer"), is expected to carry on the current business of Kobo under the name "Kobo Resources Inc." or such other name as may be determined by Kobo and approved by the shareholders of the Company and be acceptable to the applicable regulatory authorities. Post-closing of the Transaction, the Resulting Issuer will carry on the business currently conducted by Kobo. Further, it is proposed that the officers and directors of Kobo will replace the existing officers and directors of Meteorite, with the exception of Charles R. Spector, who will stay on as director of the Company. Biographical information regarding these individuals is provided below under the heading "Proposed Officers and Directors".

The Letter Agreement may be terminated in the event the Proposed Definitive Agreement is not entered into by February 15, 2023.

Upon completion of the Transaction, it is anticipated that the Resulting Issuer will be listed as a Tier 2 Mining Issuer on the TSXV. Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of other conditions, including obtaining all necessary board, shareholder and regulatory approvals, including TSXV approval.

Consolidation and Name Change

As will be further set out in the Proposed Definitive Agreement, the Company is expected to, prior to the Closing, (i) effect a consolidation (the "Consolidation") of its outstanding common shares (the "Common Shares") on the basis of 0.2 post-Consolidation common shares (each, a "Resulting Issuer Share") for every one (1) pre-consolidation Common Share (the "Consolidation Ratio"), and (ii) effect a change of its corporate name to "Kobo Resources Inc." or such other name as determined by Kobo and approved by the shareholders of the Company and is acceptable to the applicable regulatory authorities (the "Name Change").

As of the date hereof, there are 7,065,000 Common Shares issued and outstanding. Upon completion of the Consolidation, an aggregate of 1,413,000 Resulting Issuer Shares are expected to be issued and outstanding. Further, all outstanding incentive stock options of the Company ("Company Options") will automatically adjust in accordance with their terms to give effect to the Consolidation such that, following the Consolidation, the holders thereof will be entitled to acquire Resulting Issuer Shares in lieu of Common Shares (with adjustments to account for the Consolidation Ratio). Thus, the 565,200 Company Options currently outstanding will be exercisable for an aggregate of 113,040 Resulting Issuer Shares.

Concurrent Financing

In connection with the Transaction, Kobo is expected to undertake a brokered private placement (the "Concurrent Financing") of subscription receipts of Kobo (the "Subscription Receipts") at a price of $0.25 per Subscription Receipt led by Leede Jones Gable Inc. (the "Agent"), for minimum aggregate gross proceeds of at least $3,500,000 (the "Minimum Offering") and a maximum of $5,000,000 (the "Maximum Offering"), which proceeds will be held in escrow pending closing of the Transaction.

Each Subscription Receipt will be convertible into one Kobo Share and one-half of one warrant to purchase one Kobo Share ("Kobo Warrant"). Upon satisfaction and/or waiver (where permitted) of certain escrow release conditions, which will include, among others, events in connection with the completion of the Transaction, each Subscription Receipt is expected to be automatically converted, without payment of any additional consideration and without any further action on the part of the holder thereof, for the securities of Kobo underlying the Subscription Receipts (which securities will, upon the Closing, be exchanged for Resulting Issuer Shares and/or replacement convertible securities of the Resulting Issuer, as applicable).

The Agent, along with a syndicate of other selling agents (collectively, the "Agents"), will be compensated as follows: i) a cash commission (the "Agents' Commission") equal to 6% of the gross proceeds (including the Agent's Option) from the Concurrent Financing (the "Gross Proceeds"), other than Gross Proceeds originating from Kobo's President's List of subscribers (the "President's List") subscriptions, on which the Agents' Commission will be 2% of the gross proceeds from the President's List. As additional compensation, Kobo will issue to the Agents transferable broker subscription receipt warrants (the "Agents' Subscription Receipt Warrants", and together with the Agent's Commission, the "Agency Fee") equal to 6% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold pursuant to the Concurrent Financing (including the Agent's option to increase the size of the Concurrent Financing by 15% (the "Agent's Option") but excluding the President's List). Each Agents' Subscription Receipt Warrant will be comprised of one Kobo Share and one half of one Kobo Warrant entitling the holder to purchase, subject to adjustment, one Kobo Share at an exercise price of $0.40 for 24 months after the escrow release date. Each Agents' Subscription Receipt Warrant shall be exercisable to acquire one subscription receipt of the Resulting Issuer ("Resulting Issuer Subscription Receipt") at a price of $0.25 per Resulting Issuer Subscription Receipt for a period of 24 months following the date the escrow release date, and ii) a cash corporate finance fee (the "Cash Corporate Finance Fee") which is equal to 2% of the Gross Proceeds (including the Agent's Option) plus applicable taxes, subject to a minimum Corporate Finance Fee of $75,000, plus applicable taxes, and the Corporation shall issue warrants (the "Corporate Finance Compensation Warrants") equal to 2% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold pursuant to the Concurrent Financing (including the Agent's Option). The Corporate Finance Compensation Warrants shall have the same terms as the Agents' Subscription Receipt Warrants. Other than as set out above, neither Meteorite nor Kobo intends to pay any finder's fees or commissions in connection with the Transaction.

The proceeds of the Concurrent Financing are expected to be used to fund (i) the exploration and other expenses relating to the Kossou Gold Project (as defined below), (ii) the expenses of the Transaction and the Concurrent Financing, and (iii) the working capital requirements of the Resulting Issuer.

Kobo currently has (a) 56,809,749 Kobo Shares, (b) 3,150,000 options, of which 400,000 are conditional, to purchase Kobo Shares ("Kobo Options") and (c) 4,250,034 common share purchase warrants of Kobo ("Kobo Warrants") issued and outstanding.

It is anticipated that, following completion of the Consolidation and assuming the Minimum Offering, an aggregate of approximately 72,222,749 Resulting Issuer Shares will be issued and outstanding, and: (a) former holders of Kobo Shares will hold 56,809,749 Resulting Issuer Shares, representing approximately 78.66% of the outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares; (b) holders of Kobo Subscription Receipts will hold 14,000,000 Resulting Issuer Shares, representing approximately 19.38% of the outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares; and (c) former Meteorite Shareholders will hold 1,413,000 Resulting Issuer Shares, representing approximately 1.96% of the outstanding Resulting Issuer Shares. In addition, it is expected that the Resulting Issuer will also have outstanding approximately 3,263,040 stock options, of which 400,000 are conditional, and 4,250,034 warrants outstanding.

Insiders and Control Persons

No Insider, Promoter or Control Person (as such terms are defined in the policies of the Exchange) of the Company has any interest in Kobo.

To the best knowledge of the directors and senior officers of Kobo, no person beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, or exercises control or direction over, shares carrying more than 10% of the voting rights attached to any class of voting securities of Kobo as at the date hereof except as set out below:

Name of Holder Description of Securities Number of Securities Percentage prior to the Financing Percentage after the Minimum Offering Percentage

after the Maximum Offering Edouard

Gosselin Common Shares 15,500,000(1)

27.28% 21.46% 19.81% Paul Sarjeant Common Shares 8,000,000(2)

14.08% 11.08% 10.23% Jean Cote/Gestion JCJC Inc. Common Shares 6,520,073(3)

11.48% 9.03% 8.34%

Notes:

(1) Total of 16,150,000 securities (including the 650,000 Options), representing 25.15% prior to the Concurrent Financing on a fully-diluted basis.

(2) Total of 8,400,000 securities (including the 400,000 Options), representing 13.08% prior to the Concurrent Financing on a fully-diluted basis.

(3) Total of 6,520,073 securities (including the 200,000 Options), representing 10.47% prior to the Concurrent Financing on a fully-diluted basis. Gestion JCJC Inc. is a corporation controlled by Mr. Jean Cote. Mr. Jean Cote resigned as a director of Kobo as of November 12, 2021.

Sponsorship

The Transaction is subject to the sponsorship requirements of the TSXV, unless a waiver or exemption from this requirement can be obtained in accordance with the policies of the TSXV. The Company intends to apply for a waiver of the sponsorship requirement, however there is no assurance that a waiver from this requirement can or will be obtained.

Trading in Meteorite Shares

Trading of Meteorite's common shares has been halted in compliance with the policies of the TSXV. Trading of Meteorite's shares will remain halted pending the review of the Proposed Transaction by the TSXV and satisfaction of the conditions of the TSXV for resumption of trading. It is likely that trading of Meteorite's shares will not resume prior to the closing of the Transaction.

Conditions Precedent

The completion of the Transaction remains subject to a number of terms and conditions to be set forth in the Proposed Definitive Agreement, including, among other things (i) there being no material adverse change in respect of either of the Parties, (ii) the receipt of all necessary consents, orders and regulatory and shareholder approvals, including the conditional approval of the TSXV, subject only to customary conditions of closing, (iii) the completion of the Consolidation, Name Change, the Concurrent Financing, and (iv) such other customary conditions of closing for a transaction in the nature of the Transaction. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed on the terms proposed and described herein, or at all.

Additional Information

Further updates in respect of the Transaction will be provided in a subsequent press release. Also, additional information concerning the Transaction, the Company, Kobo, and the Resulting Issuer will be provided in the filing statement (the "Filing Statement") to be filed by the Company and Kobo in connection with the Transaction, which will be available in due course under the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Shareholder Meeting

The Transaction is not a Non-Arm's Length Qualifying Transaction (as such term is defined in the Policy) and as such, the Company will not be required to obtain shareholder approval of the Transaction. In addition, the Transaction is not a "related party transaction" as such term is defined by Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions and is not subject to Policy 5.9 of the TSXV. As a result, no meeting of the shareholders of the Company is required pursuant to the Policy or securities law.

However, a special meeting of the Company's shareholders will be held to approve the various corporate matters connected to the Transaction, including the Board Reconstitution (as defined below), the Consolidation, the Name Change, and the approval of the implementation of Kobo's current stock option plan as the stock option plan of the Resulting Issuer (the "Special Meeting"). A management information circular of the Company (the "Circular") will be mailed to shareholders of the Company in connection with the Special Meeting to be held on February 7, 2023 and posted on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

A meeting of the Kobo Shareholders will be held to approve the Transaction and various corporate matters connected thereto.

Proposed Officers and Directors

Currently, Kobo's board and management team is comprised of international business leaders and mining industry professionals with expertise and experience working in Cote d'Ivoire. Several of Kobo's executives/directors have experience in conducting business in Africa. The completion of the Transaction, it is expected that all of the officers and three of the four Meteorite directors will resign and be replaced by nominees of Kobo (the "Board Reconstitution"), such that management of the Resulting Issuer will be comprised of the following individuals, subject to compliance with the requirements of the TSXV and applicable securities and corporate laws.

Charles R. Spector - Director

Charles R. Spector will stay on as a director of the Resulting Issuer. Mr. Spector is a corporate finance, M&A and securities lawyer with over 30 years of experience. Mr. Spector has previously acted as director of a TSX-listed company from 1996 through 2010 and regularly advises public companies on securities, M&A and corporate finance. He is currently a partner in the Montreal office of Dentons Canada LLP. Mr. Spector holds a B.A. degree from McGill University, a law degree (L.L.B.) from Universite de Sherbrooke and a Masters of Law (L.L.M.) from Columbia University in New York. He has been a member in good standing of the Barreau du Quebec since 1986.

Edouard Gosselin - Proposed Director, Chief Executive Officer and Corporate Secretary

Mr. Edouard Gosselin is an attorney, member of the Quebec Bar Association since 1984 and throughout his career exclusively in private practice represented financial institutions, corporations and individuals before the courts mainly in commercial law, banking and bankruptcy, reorganizations and start-ups in tech and industrial sectors. Mr. Gosselin is also President of EG Industrial Solutions Ltd. since August 2011, a Quebec-City based management-consulting and manufacturing company in specific industries. Mr. Gosselin was director of Wanted Technologies Inc. from 1999 to 2004, President of Gotar Technologies from 1999 to 2011 and Vice-President of Sawnode Technologies Ltd from 2011 to 2017 inclusively. Mr. Gosselin earned a Bachelor of Social Sciences, Conc. Political Science from Ottawa University (1980) and a License in Civil Law (L.L.L.) from Ottawa University (1983). Mr. Gosselin is also General Manager of Kobo Ressources C.I. since August 2016.

Paul Sarjeant, P.Geo. - Proposed Director, President and Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Paul Sarjeant is a mining professional having been involved in mining and exploration for over 35 years. He is the President and owner of Doublewood Consulting Inc., a consulting company with a focus on geological and management consulting to the mining industry created in August of 2006. Most recently Mr. Sarjeant acted as Manager, Exploration for Largo Inc. supervising all exploration activities at the companies mine site in Brazil. Prior to that he worked for 15 years with Echo Bay Mines. Mr. Sarjeant serves as a board member to several junior mining companies and is currently President and COO of Kobo. He also serves on the board of directors of Global Energy Metals Inc and Ares Strategic Mining Inc and has held similar positions with a number of companies over the years. He is a member in good standing with the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario. He graduated in 1983 from Queen's University, Kingston Ontario with a BSc, (Honours) in Geological Sciences.

Gilles Couture - CPA, Auditor - Proposed Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Gilles Couture has acted as Kobo's CFO since February 2016. He obtained his Accounting Licence from Laval University in 1974 and is a CA and CPA. During his career, Mr. Couture was Audit Partner for PWC until July 2011 at the Quebec City office, responsible for the mining, life sciences and information technology sectors. He has taught accounting sciences at Laval University for over 10 years as well Universite du Quebec (Rimouski). Throughout his career, Mr. Couture was involved in numerous IPOs and public financings for companies operating in the mining, health sciences, information technology and manufacturing industries on the Canadian and US markets. He is a director and shareholder of two manufacturing companies and a service company.

Frank Ricciuti - Proposed Director, Chairman

Mr. Frank Ricciuti was the President of Efjay Consulting Ltd., an Oakville-based management-consulting company providing a broad range of management and financial services, including organizational structuring, board advisory assignments and corporate finance advice to companies within a broad range of industries. Mr. Ricciuti was a director of Novik Inc. from 2006 to 2014, and of Petrolympic Ltd. from 2008 to 2019. Mr. Frank Ricciuti also acted as Kobo's Vice President, Corporate Development from December 2015 until November 12, 2021. Frank Ricciuti earned a diploma in Engineering Technology from Ryerson University, his Bachelor of Sciences degree (B.Sc.) in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University (1966) and his Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) in 1969 from York University.

Patrick Gagnon - Proposed Director, Independent

Mr. Patrick Gagnon is a retired executive having spent more than 25 years in the financial/brokerage industry. Nonetheless, Mr. Gagnon is an active private investor in technology, resources and consumer products industries. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Commerce from McGill University in 1986 and joined the brokerage industry first as a research assistant, research analyst, trader and institutional sales. From 1995 to 2015 Mr. Gagnon was a partner at GMP Securities Inc. and was Managing Director and Branch Manager, Institutional Sales of the firm's Montreal office. Mr. Gagnon was President of Palos Asset Management in Montreal from December 2016 to November 2017.

Jeff Hussey - Proposed Director, Independent

Mr. Jeff Hussey is a Professional Geologist with 36 years of professional experience in the mineral exploration, development, and mining industry. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Science in Geology in 1985. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Brunswick Exploration Inc. and of Osisko Metals Incorporated ("Osisko"), a Canadian exploration and development company creating value in the base metal space with a particular focus on zinc mineral assets. He has served as President and CEO of Osisko between June 2017 until January 2020, and is President and COO of Osisko since January 2020. Mr. Hussey has worked in both open pit and underground mine operations at various stages of mine life, from start-up to mine closure. He spent 19 years with Noranda/Falconbridge, then as a consultant for 10 years, Jeff Hussey and Associates Inc. helped junior mine development companies, by offering services in exploration, mining and geometallurgy. Customers in Quebec included Champion Iron Mines and Focus Graphite, Puma Exploration in New Brunswick, and Starcore International in Mexico. For Champion Iron Mines he led a team that built a high-quality iron Mineral Resource Inventory of five billion tonnes completing a feasibility study and participating in raising more than $70 million for corporate development. He is also a member of the board of directors of CIM.

Selected Financial Information for Kobo

The following tables summarize selected financial information for the two most recent financial years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. Kobo had no operating revenue in any financial reporting period and did not declare or pay any dividend or distribution in any financial reporting period.

As at and for the

9-month period ended

September 30, 2022

(unaudited) As at and for the

year ended

December 31, 2021

(audited) As at and for the

year ended

December 31, 2020

(audited) Net Loss and

Comprehensive Loss: $869,584 $1,466,582 $990,760 Basic and diluted net loss

per share $0.016 0.030 0.026 Total assets $188,785 721,337 336,449 Total liabilities $923,008 681,171 322,522

As a junior exploration company, Kobo has no expectation of generating operating profits until it develops a commercially viable mineral deposit.

Financial information for Kobo is also available at the corporation's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Meteorite and Kobo will continue to provide further details in respect of the Transaction and financial information regarding Kobo, in due course by way of press release following completion of the Private Placements. Additionally, Meteorite will make available to the TSXV, all financial information as required by the TSXV and will provide, in a press release to be disseminated at a later date, summary financial information derived from such statements.

Upon completion of the Transaction, it is the intention of the parties that the Resulting Issuer will continue to focus on the current business and affairs of Kobo and will be a mining issuer listed on the TSXV.

Further Information

All information contained in this news release with respect to Meteorite and Kobo was supplied by the parties respectively, for inclusion herein, without independent review by the other party, and each party and its directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party.

For further information regarding the Transaction, please contact:

Charles R. Spector, Director, Meteorite Capital Inc.

Telephone: (514) 878-8847

Email: info@Meteoritecapital.com

Edouard Gosselin, Chief Executive Officer and Director, Kobo Resources Inc.

Telephone: 1-418-609-3587

Email: egosselin@kobores.com

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSXV acceptance. Where applicable, the Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

NEITHER THE TSXV NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSXV) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to: the terms and conditions of the proposed Consolidation and Transaction; the terms and conditions of the proposed Offering; use of funds; and the business and operations of the Resulting Issuer after the proposed Transaction. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; and the delay or failure to receive board, shareholder or regulatory approvals. 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 the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, Meteorite and Kobo assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release publication,

distribution or dissemination directly, or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151543
Drill targets are well supported by coincident IP, geochem and geology

Victoria, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - GoldON Resources Ltd. (TSXV: GLD) ("GoldON" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has hired Major Drilling Group International Inc. for its initial drilling program at the 100%-owned McDonough gold property (the "Property") located approximately 15 kilometres north of the town of Red Lake, Ontario. Drilling is scheduled to commence before month end.





Figure 1: Regional geological location of the McDonough gold property within the Red Lake greenstone belt. Source: Harris, J., Sanborn-Barrie, M., Panagapko, D., Skulski, T and Parker, J. (2007). Gold prospectivity maps of the Red Lake greenstone belt: Application of GIS technology. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 43. 865-893.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7436/151415_4f08f5c80487eb73_001full.jpg

The Property lies along the contact and unconformity of the Huston Assemblage conglomerates (2733-2743 million years [(Ma]) and the Slate Bay Assemblage (Confederation) (<2903 Ma) clastic sediments. The same Huston Assemblage conglomerates are in unconformable contact with the Balmer Assemblage mafic and ultra-mafic rocks where the Red Lake Mine Complex (Campbell and Red Lake gold mines) lies in close proximity. Sediment unconformities are also proximal to the Madsen and Starratt-Olsen gold mines southwest of Red Lake (Figure 1).

Mike Kilbourne, P. Geo, an independent qualified person as defined in NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release on behalf of the Company.

About GoldON Resources Ltd.

GoldON is an exploration company focused on discovery-stage properties located in the prolific gold mining belts of northwestern Ontario, Canada. Our current project portfolio includes seven properties in the Red Lake Mining District (McDonough, Springpole East, Red Lake North, Pipestone Bay, Pakwash North, McInnes Lake, and West Madsen) and an eighth property in the Patricia Mining District (Slate Falls).

For additional information, please visit our website at goldonresources.com; you can download our latest investor presentation by clicking here and follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GoldONResources.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "Michael Romanik"

Michael Romanik, President

GoldON Resources Ltd.

Direct line: (204) 724-0613

Email:

info@goldonresources.com

179 - 2945 Jacklin Road, Suite 416

Victoria, BC, V9B 6J9

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release may contain "forward-looking statements" that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or results or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151415
Denver, Colorado--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - CBD of Denver Inc. (OTC Pink: CBDD) formerly a full-line CBD and Hemp oil company and a producer and distributor of Cannabis and CBD products in Switzerland, Europe and the US announces a new approach in 2023.

After an in-depth analysis of the cannabis industry, and the ongoing struggles of industry distributors and producers, CBDD management concludes it's in the best interest of shareholders to move in a different direction. As such, CBDD announces the signing of a letter of intent to acquire innovative health and wellbeing product firm, Libra 9.

The agreement will see CBDD take a controlling interest in the company, which focuses on unique nanotechnology products unlike anything else currently available on the market. Libra 9 is a Berlin, Germany-based business, currently providing revolutionary technology services within health through its proprietary product formulations.

CEO, Paul Gurney commented on the acquisition, "Our company is evolving and this is part of our transition to solidifying our revenue and profit profile. Our team has known the entrepreneur behind Libra 9 for three years. His success in Switzerland with previous products gives us confidence he can continue to generate value with new product launches. In addition, his access to a large retail network in Germany is attractive for our growth plans for 2023."

The due diligence for the acquisition is ongoing with it on track to close by the end of February. In the meantime, the two companies are working in partnership to launch a new product in Europe in the coming weeks.

The company also announced it has terminated the agreement to acquire Mellow.Store, and will not be continuing with any of its previously announced Mellow Enterprise initiatives.

The company will host a Twitter Space with the CEO to discuss the acquisition and other strategic developments on Wednesday, January 18th at 2pm Eastern time.

About

CBD of Denver, Inc. is a roll-up company focused on using equity to acquire profitable assets at attractive valuations to create value for all our shareholders. Our team is focused on sourcing high margin & innovative products that align with our company values and improve consumer health & wellbeing.

Follow CBDD on LinkedIn & Twitter:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/cbd-of-denver/

https://twitter.com/cbdofdenver_

Investor Contact:

Ben Muir

Pivot Relations

ben@pivotrelations.com

www.pivotrelations.com

Paul Gurney

Twitter: @PGurney_

Information contained herein includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future financial performance, involving known and unknown risks and you should not place undue reliance on these statements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events. We assume no obligation publicly about update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151539
Medytox CEO Jung Hyun-ho, right, shakes hands with Dubai Science Park CEO Marwan Abdulaziz Janahi, after signing a memorandum of understanding on building a toxin production plant in Dubai, at the Rixos Marina Hotel in Abu Dhabi, Monday. Courtesy of Medytox



By Kim Jae-heun



Medytox plans to build a botulinum toxin plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), seeking to capitalize on the country's rapidly growing market for cosmetic beauty products.



The Korean biopharmaceutical company said Tuesday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Dubai Science Park, owned by state-run Tecom Group, to construct a toxin production facility. The MOU was signed during the Korea-UAE Business Forum held at the Rixos Marina Hotel in Abu Dhabi, Monday. Medytox CEO Jung Hyun-ho is part of the economic mission of President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit this week to UAE.



At the planned facility, Medytox will be able to produce MT10109L, the world's first and only non-animal liquid toxin drug. The company then plans to market the halal-certified product in Muslim markets around the world as well as Europe.



"Securing a local production plant is essential for a bio company to go global. Our first halal-certified plant in Dubai will serve as a bridgehead for the company to expand in the global market with a toxin product developed with the world's best R&D capability," the Medytox CEO said. "I am also proud to have joined the economic delegation of the president's overseas trip to create an exemplary case of cooperation."



The UAE succeeded in attracting the biopharmaceutical production plant, which was one if its key projects in preparation for the post-oil era, while creating a representative economic cooperation case with Korea.



Medytox has long been reviewing the construction of a production facility abroad in conjunction with various overseas companies to actively and efficiently respond to the expanding global toxin market. The company picked Dubai as an ideal location with the advantage of entering Middle Eastern and European markets and for its business environment that favors foreign companies.


Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Romios Gold Resources Inc. (TSXV: RG) (OTCQB: RMIOF) (FSE: D4R) ("Romios Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report that is has discovered a series of high-grade gold veins assaying from 12.65 g/t Au to 72.6 g/t Au in four of five samples on its North West claim block in the Golden Triangle of NW British Columbia. The veins appear to be controlled by a well-developed set of NW-SE trending faults.

Romios' VP of Exploration, Mr. John Biczok, P. Geo, commented, "Romios' brief 2022 exploration program on the North West claims resulted in not only the highest-grade gold assays ever found on the property but also the identification of a set of probable control structures up to 1 km long that now provide an exciting focus for our future exploration work."

Highlights:

Four high-grade gold veins returned 4 assays between 12.65 and 72.6 g/t Au. A 5th assay of 1.23 g/t Au came from a chip sample <2 m from a historic assay of 16.5 g/t Au and 4 m from the 12.65 g/t Au result, indicating that there may be a nuggety distribution of gold in some veins. The mineralized veins are distributed along a >500 metre long trend on Romios' North West claim block (Map 1). These results are from chip samples across vein widths of 10 to 60 cm within fault zones from 1 m to more than 8 m wide (See Table 1). Anomalous gold levels of 0.14 to 0.45 g/t Au were detected in 5 additional veins as well as a quartz flooded, pyritic patch in the host granodiorite that also assayed 0.57% Cu. The largest and most mineralized veins tend to be aligned in a NW-SE direction, parallel to a nearby prominent series of unexplored lineaments/fault structures up to 1 km long that are visible in recent satellite imagery (see Map 1). The host granitic rocks are part of the Texas Creek plutonic suite, the same series of intrusions associated with multiple past producers and major deposits in the Golden Triangle including Silbak Premier, Scottie Gold, KSM, SNIP, etc.

"The broad extent of the high-grade gold veins discovered this year is very encouraging," stated Romios' CEO and President, Mr. Stephen Burega. "Even though some of these high-grade veins are narrow where exposed, the fact that they are spread out along a >500 m trend that is parallel to some very prominent fault lineaments nearby provides a realistic opportunity to find larger, more extensive veins in those major structures. The discovery on the North West claims is just one of the encouraging set of recent results from Romios' pipeline of grass-roots to advanced projects in this highly endowed portion of the Golden Triangle" he continued.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The area between the exposed mineralized veins is covered with a veneer of glacial till from a rapidly receding glacier. It is currently unknown if the high-grade veins sampled in 2022 are connected along a single structure, however, they are aligned in the same orientation as a prominent set of NW-SE lineaments beginning in the extensive outcrops about 200 m to the southwest (See Map 1). This set of potential controlling structures has not been specifically targeted in past years and now forms a high-priority target for future exploration.

Map 1: North West claims gold showings and lineaments on a Worldview 3 satellite image

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5376/151540_f198fb12544aaaae_002full.jpg

In 2021, Romios discovered three mineralized quartz + pyrite veins assaying 5.28 - 8.9 g/t Au in outcrop and boulders located 1.1 km to the SSW of the high-grade samples reported herein (see Romios news release Oct. 27, 2021) and, in 2010, another Romios crew located more modest mineralization 670 m to the SW in a quartz vein that assayed 1.65 g/t Au plus 19 g/t Ag and 0.19% Cu (Map 1). This crew also located the original high-grade sample (16.5 g/t Au) that was followed up in 2022 and resulted in the high-grade discoveries reported in this news release.

These recent gold discoveries on Romios' North West Claims block are within 4.4 km of the partially cleared road route to Teck and Newmont's enormous Galore Creek Cu-Au-Ag porphyry deposit(s) which is now in the final stages of a pre-feasibility study (See website at www.gcmc.ca). They are also just 4 km east of the Stikine River, which was a major barge route between the seaport of Wrangell, Alaska and the community of Telegraph Creek in the past (see Map 2).

Map 2: Romios' North West claim block and 2022 gold discoveries on a topographic map. All surrounding claims are held by the Galore Creek Mining Corp.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5376/151540_f198fb12544aaaae_003full.jpg

Table 1: Descriptions of the highest-grade auriferous vein samples.

SAMPLE # Easting Northing Description Au g/t B994603 341101 6329604 10 cm chip across narrow part of the main fault-fill

quartz vein in shear zone >8 m wide 72.6 B994606 341102 6329584 50 cm chip of large quartz vein on strike from

B994603. Vein swells to 1 m. 1.23 B994607 341102 6329580 75 cm chip of vein ~5m along strike to SE of B994606. 12.65 B994608 341209 6329477 10 cm chip of a quartz-pyrite vein on small cliff face. 33.1 B994614 341515 6329323 60 cm chip of quartz vein with minor pyrite, chalcopyrite; in a fault zone >2 m wide. 30.7

For more information, please click here for Romios' website.

QA/QC

The samples discussed in this document were grab and chip samples considered representative of the outcrops and mineralization being sampled. They were submitted to the ISO/IEC 17025 accredited ALS Canada Ltd. laboratories in Terrace and Vancouver, BC for gold assay and multi-element analyses. As a matter of procedure, a rigorous quality assurance and quality control program was implemented to ensure reliable assay results by inserting alternating blanks and commercial assay standards at every 10th position in the sample series.

Qualified Person

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Biczok, P. Geo., VP-Exploration for Romios Gold and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. In addition to his extensive experience with several major mining companies exploring for a wide variety of ore deposit types across Canada and India, Mr. Biczok spent 12 years conducting exploration and research at the Musselwhite gold mine in NW Ontario.

About Romios Gold Resources Inc.

Romios Gold Resources Inc. is a progressive Canadian mineral exploration company engaged in precious- and base-metal exploration, focused primarily on gold, copper and silver. It has a 100% interest in the Lundmark-Akow Lake Au-Cu property plus 4 additional claim blocks in northwestern Ontario and extensive claim holdings covering several significant porphyry copper-gold prospects in the "Golden Triangle" of British Columbia. Additional interests include the Kinkaid claims in Nevada covering numerous Au-Ag-Cu workings and two former producers: the Scossa mine property (Nevada) which is a former high-grade gold producer and the La Corne molybdenum mine property (Quebec). The Company retains an ongoing interest in several properties including a 20% carried interest in five of Honey Badger Mining's claim blocks in the Thunder Bay silver district of northwestern Ontario; a 2% NSR on McEwen Mining's Hislop gold property in Ontario; a 2% NSR on Enduro Metals' Newmont Lake Au-Cu-Ag property in BC, and the Company has signed a definitive agreement with Copperhead Resources Inc. ("Copperhead") whereby Copperhead can acquire a 75% ownership interest in Romios' Red Line Property in BC.

For more information, visit www.romios.com

As part of our ongoing effort to keep investors, interested parties and stakeholders updated, we have several communication portals. If you have any questions online (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) please feel free to send direct messages.

To book a one-on-one 30-minute Zoom video call, please click here.

For further information, please contact:

Stephen Burega, President and CEO - 647-515-3734 or sburega@romios.com

John Biczok, P. Geo., VP of Exploration - 613-410-7877 or jbiczok@romios.com

This News Release contains forward-looking statements which are typically preceded by, followed by or include the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "intends", "plans" or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees 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. TSX Venture Exchange or its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151540
SOUTH PASADENA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Whittier Trust Company is excited to announce the promotion of Vice President, Ashley Fontanetta, to the role of Senior Vice President.

As a Senior Vice President, Ashley will provide advisory and administration services to high-net-worth individuals and families. She specializes in philanthropic planning and administration, providing strategic consultation and guidance for clients who have an existing philanthropic entity or are looking to create one.

Ashley brings to this role more than six years of experience at Whittier Trust, as well as a background in both financial services and nonprofit management. Prior to joining Whittier Trust, Ashley worked as a Financial Advisor, responsible for developing wealth management strategies for clients and their families. Before that, she spent several years as a director of a nonprofit organization serving youth with chronic illnesses in Los Angeles and the Bay Area.

"This promotion was just a matter of time. Ashley's passion and knowledge of the philanthropic field are unmatched, and her experience as an advisor truly shines in her work with our clients. She's done great things within this department, and we couldn't be more excited about the ways she'll help us grow in her expanded role." - Pegine Grayson, Senior Vice President, Director of Philanthropic Services

Ashley earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from the University of Southern California, received her Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) designation from The American College and the Certified Trust and Fiduciary Advisor (CTFA) designation from the American Bankers Association. She is an active volunteer in the community, working with organizations that address homelessness, youth mentorship and education.

For more information, contact Brandi J. Fields at BFields@whittiertrust.com, or visit www.whittiertrust.com .

###

Collectively, Whittier Trust Company and The Whittier Trust Company of Nevada, Inc. (referred to herein individually and collectively as "Whittier Trust"), are state-chartered trust companies wholly owned by Whittier Holdings, Inc. ("WHI"), a closely held holding company. Whittier Trust is the oldest and largest private multi-family office headquartered on the West Coast. Whittier Trust works with 545 families and over 40 foundations throughout the US and advises on nearly $18 billion in assets. The firm has helped individuals and families manage, grow and transfer wealth intergenerationally for six generations. The firm has offices in South Pasadena, San Francisco, Menlo Park, Newport Beach, West Los Angeles, Reno, Seattle, and Portland. To learn more, visit http://www.whittiertrust.com .

Contact:

Brandi J. Fields

Whittier Trust

Email: BFields@whittiertrust.com

SOURCE: Whittier Trust

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735253/Whittier-Trust-Promotes-Ashley-Fontanetta-to-Senior-Vice-President
FREDERICTON, NB, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Introhive, the world's leading Customer Intelligence Platform, announced today that Lee Blakemore has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer. Blakemore brings over 30 years of software and sales experience to lead Introhive through its next phase of growth, with a focus on customer growth and product research and development.





Lee has a proven track record of success and deep expertise in scaling software businesses to a global audience. Throughout his career, he has led go-to-market, operations, customer support, and international operations at leading global enterprise software companies. He is a seasoned technology leader who leads business transformations to drive growth.

Blakemore most recently served as President of K-12 Community Engagement at Anthology, where he successfully ran the Blackboard K-12 business leading to the sale of the business to Finalsite, where Blakemore assisted in the successful integration and unification of the company. Before Anthology, Lee held several senior executive roles at Blackboard, including President, Global Markets & Chief Client Officer. Before joining Blackboard in 2015, Lee was SVP of Global Sales & Marketing at Velocity Technology Solutions and held senior roles at IBM, Corio (acquired by IBM), and Scala Business Solutions (acquired by Epicor).

"I am thrilled to join Introhive and lead our talented team. I look forward to unlocking the company's full potential as we leverage our proprietary customer intelligence platform to help businesses realize the full value of their CRM investment and deepen customer relationships," said Blakemore. "Introhive is trusted by hundreds of the world's leading professional services enterprises to improve top-line revenue, reduce operational costs, and improve workforce efficiency. We have an exciting opportunity to continue to grow as we enter the vast number of markets that remain underserved and unaware of the power of Introhive."

In 2021, Introhive secured $100M in its Series C funding round led by PSG , a leading growth equity firm, to further invest in developing Customer Intelligence solutions for the world's leading enterprises.

About Introhive

Introhive is an award-winning software company that helps sales-focused B2B enterprises become more customer intelligent. Introhive's customer intelligence platform captures and delivers trustworthy customer data automatically in CRM to surface relationship insights and actionable intelligence to revenue teams where and when they need it, in order to find, win, and grow customer accounts. Introhive has offices in the US, Canada, UK, and India, supporting hundreds of thousands of users in over 90 countries around the world. Learn more at www.introhive.com .

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CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --The industrial ethernet market is projected to grow from USD 11.0 billion in 2023 to USD 15.8 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 7.5% during the forecast period according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Growing popularity of smart automobiles and rising adoption of 5G are expected to fuel the growth of the industrial ethernet market.





Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=198318524

Browse in-depth TOC on "Industrial Ethernet Market" 149 - Tables

45 - Figures

203 - Pages

Hardware switches is expected to hold the largest market share during the forecast period

Switches are used to establish an industrial network by interconnecting computers. Switches provide high security and durability and are suitable for use in mission-critical environments. They provide a reliable communication network for machine tools and motion control applications in process and discrete industries. Switches are energy-efficient, durable, and robust. The rising demand for networking in various automation applications has created a need for additional features, such as industrial-grade reliability, network redundancy, seamlessly integrated security, and the best price-to-performance ratio. To fulfill these requirements, companies such as Moxa (Taiwan), Siemens (Germany), and Cisco Systems (US) provide different switches with various data transfer speeds.

Water & Wastewater is expected to register a higher CAGR during the forecast period

In water & Wastewater treatment operations, reliable and timely data can make a difference in improving efficiency and reducing costs. Outdated communication architectures are unable to keep up with existing SCADA applications in terms of the bandwidth, security features, scalability, and environmental ruggedness required to connect to remote areas. The increasing efficiency of Water & Wastewater operations is attributed to the deployment of low-cost, low-power sensors, as well as edge computing devices in the operations. These devices help in the timely delivery and management of services.

Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=198318524

China is expected to register the highest CAGR in the Asia Pacific industrial ethernet market during the forecast period

China is one of the largest manufacturing hubs for automobile and electronics devices in the world. In response to the labor cost increasing year-on-year in China, companies are increasingly adopting advanced automation systems to reduce production costs. The high-quality standards have led companies to introduce factory automation, which requires a robust industrial communication network. These factors are collectively expected to boost the growth of the industrial ethernet market in China during the forecast period.

The report profiles key players in the industrial ethernet market and analyzes their market shares. Players profiled in this report are Cisco (US), Siemens (Germany), Rockwell Automation (US), OMRON (Japan), Moxa (Taiwan), Belden( US), Huawei Technologies (China), SICK (Germany), Schneider Electric (France), and ABB (Switzerland), GE Grid Solutions (France), Advantech (Taiwan), HMS Networks (Sweden), IFM Electronics (Germany), Weidmuller (Germany), Patton (US), Beckhoff Automation (Germany), Honeywell (US), AAEON (Taiwan), Turck (Germany), Bosch Rexroth (Germany), Hitachi (Japan), Ericsson (Sweden), Mitsubishi Electric (Japan) and Chaos Prime (US).

Get 10% Free Customization on this Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=198318524

Browse Adjacent Market: Semiconductor and Electronics Market Research Reports &Consulting

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Industrial Communication Market by Offering (Component, Software and Services), Communication Protocol (Fieldbus, Industrial Ethernet and Wireless), Vertical (Automotive, Engineering/Fabrication) and Region - Global Forecast to 2027

Industrial Control & Factory Automation Market by Component, Solution (SCADA, PLC, DCS, MES, Industrial Safety, PAM), Industry (Process Industry and Discrete Industry) and Region (North America, Europe, APAC, RoW) - Global Forecast to 2027

Industrial IoT Market by Device & Technology, Connectivity Type, Software, Vertical (Manufacturing, Energy, Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Retail, Transportation, Metals & Mining, Agriculture), and Geography - 2026

Smart Factory Market by Component (Industrial Sensors, Industrial Robots, Industrial 3D Printers, Machine Vision Systems), Solution (SCADA, MES, Industrial Safety, PAM), Industry (Process Industry, Discrete Industry) and Region - Global Forecast to 2027

Cellular IoT Market by Component (Hardware, Software, and Services), Technology (2G, 3G, 4G, LTE-M, NB-LTE-M, NB-IoT, and 5G), Application, Vertical and Geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America & MEA) - 2027

About MarketsandMarkets

MarketsandMarkets is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. We have the widest lens on emerging technologies, making us proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients.

The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing.

Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem. Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research. The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry.

To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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Devo DeepTrace fundamentally changes the way organizations discover and thwart their adversaries while protecting the business

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 17, 2023, the cloud-native logging and security analytics company, today announced Devo DeepTrace, an autonomous alert investigation and threat hunting solution that uses attack-tracing artificial intelligence (AI) to advance how security teams identify attacks, investigate threats and secure their organizations. DeepTrace augments the work security analysts do by building complete traces of suspicious activity detected across an organization's infrastructure, which alleviates much of their mundane, repetitive tasks.



"Today's SOCs are under strain and SOC analysts in particular are overwhelmed with the ever-increasing volume of alerts and threats," said Rakesh Nair, vice president of engineering at Devo. "Humans can't scale at the same pace of data and threats, so we need to augment analysts and threat hunters with automation technologies and AI. DeepTrace takes an alert and translates it into a full summary of events by asking a series of questions. In return, the analyst can review pre-investigated and fully contextualized attack traces to mitigate them instead of drowning in data and chasing false positives."

DeepTrace helps analysts by performing investigations as they would but at machine speed and scale. Starting with an event or an alert, its AI engine asks potentially hundreds of thousands of questions to autonomously construct traces fully and chronologically detailing an attacker's actions. DeepTrace then overlays its results against the MITRE ATT&CK framework, which provides analysts with advanced context and additional points of reference so they can analyze attacks, identify patterns, and assess existing defenses within the organization.

DeepTrace was designed to meet multiple use cases for today's security teams:

Autonomous investigations : DeepTrace autonomously investigates suspicious events and alerts using attack-tracing AI. It identifies each step in the attack chain, providing a full, evidence-based timeline of the attack. Each trace offers critical information that an analyst needs to nullify the threat.

: DeepTrace autonomously investigates suspicious events and alerts using attack-tracing AI. It identifies each step in the attack chain, providing a full, evidence-based timeline of the attack. Each trace offers critical information that an analyst needs to nullify the threat. Autonomous threat hunting : DeepTrace helps threat hunters quickly construct and configure new hunts that map to MITRE ATT&CK framework tactics and techniques. Once refined and validated with the use of autonomous investigations, these can be converted to new cadence-based threat detections.

: DeepTrace helps threat hunters quickly construct and configure new hunts that map to MITRE ATT&CK framework tactics and techniques. Once refined and validated with the use of autonomous investigations, these can be converted to new cadence-based threat detections. Optimized incident response: DeepTrace harnesses the organization's data to perform retroactive hunts that find attacks and malicious activity. Once an actual attack is identified, DeepTrace produces interactive traces and reports documenting an attacker's footsteps.

DeepTrace ensures that security teams are able to comprehensively investigate threats by rapidly tracing attacks, which fundamentally changes the way organizations discover and thwart their adversaries while protecting the business.

DeepTrace will be generally available in the first quarter of 2023. To learn more, visit https://www.devo.com/applications/deeptrace/ .

About Devo

Devo is the only cloud-native logging and security analytics platform that releases the full potential of your data to empower bold, confident action. With unrivaled scale to collect all of your data without compromise, speed to give you immediate access and answers, and clarity to focus on the signals that matter most, Devo is your ally in protecting your organization today and tomorrow. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, Devo is backed by Insight Partners, Georgian, TCV, General Atlantic, Bessemer Venture Partners, Kibo Ventures and Eurazeo. Learn more at www.devo.com .

Devo Media Contact:

Daysi Robles Lopez

Devo@pancomm.com


DZ Bank AG: Post-Stabilisation Notice

Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.

DZ BANK AG (contact: Ralph Ockert; telephone: +49 69 7447 7051) hereby

gives notice that no stabilisation (within the meaning of Article 3.2 (d) of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU Regulation 596/2014) was undertaken by the Stabilising Managers named below in relation to the offer of the following securities.

The security to be stabilised:



Issuer: European Union

(EU)



Guarantor (if any): none



ISIN: EU000A3K4D09



Aggregate nominal amount: EUR 6.548bn



Description: Fixed rate, due 4th of December 2037





Offer price: 99,795%



Other offer terms: Payment 14 Dec 2022, Listing Luxembourg Stock Exchange

Exchange, denominations:1k x 1k



Maturity 04th of Dec 2037



Stabilisation: DZ BANK AG



Stabilising Manager(s): DZ BANK AG

Barclays

BofA

Deutsche Bank

Societe Generale



Stabilisation period commences 07 th of December 2022



Stabilisation period expected to No later than 30 days after the proposed end on: issue date of the securities

Existence, maximum size and The Stabilising Manager(s) may over-allot conditions of use of over-allotment the securities to the extent permitted in facility. Accordance with applicable law.

This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.

This announcement is not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any other jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.
After upgrading its features, the FullChinese App seeks its use by language educators, Chinese teachers, and heritage speakers.

Boston, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Today, FullChinese App ("FullChinese App" or the "Company"), a Chinese language app that combines all critical learning language features into a one single highly optimized app, declared the app now has an option - for importing Youtube videos with Close Caption inside the app, such that they become engaging study material completely in tune with students' interest.

To reach more students, the company upgraded its features to allow educators, whether Chinese university teachers, high school teachers or tutors, to add their own content. Teachers can import their own text into the app, anything of interest on the internet, such as YouTube videos, or student generated content. This allows students to access content tailored to both their level and interest.





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The new upgraded feature received positive feedback from language educators, as it became possible to retain some students who would have given up otherwise.

By being aware of the challenges faced by Chinese teachers, the Company provides free technical support for their students. Teachers only have to choose which content they wish their student to study, and the company handles every other technical aspect. The FullChinese app is available on iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Emmanuel Roche, founder of the FullChinese App, said, "The FullChinese App is designed to help language educators like governmental committees in charge of higher education, and school districts, Chinese teachers in universities, and all teachers of the Chinese language make their job less tedious and more exciting for both them and their learners."

"We also created a helpful resource center they can freely access, since we are all together in the business of promoting the Chinese language," he continued. Since its founding, the FullChinese App has embraced AI technology to simplify the learning of the Chinese, making it fun to use for both potential investors and their students.

Its use of AI technology has allowed the Company to identify other audiences, except its original audience; students, expanding their audience base. This is just another way FullChinese App is reshaping the language learning industry, especially Chinese.

About FullChinese App

Founded in 2012 by Emmanuel Roche, a researcher in Natural Language Processing and Computational Linguistics, and an entrepreneur who co-founded the main NLP Company of the time (Teragram Corporation), with a lifelong interest in Chinese language and how to learn it efficiently.

The FullChinese App is a comprehensive software solution designed to help students reach full fluency in Chinese. The Company now has a worldwide team of linguists, educators who are native speakers, engineers, including a team in Ukraine, who are counted as colleagues.

Media Contact

Company name: FullChinese App

Contact Person: Emmanuel Roche

Email: roche@gammakite.com

Country: United States

Website: https://www.fullchinese.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151534
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - NetCents Technology Inc. (CSE: NC) (FSE: 26N) (OTCQB: NTTCF) ("NetCents" or the "Company"), a cryptocurrency payments company, announces the closure of its cryptocurrency exchange effective immediately. The closure is designed to streamline its current operations and product offerings to focus on revenue-generating product streams. For the last few years, the Company's primary focus has been the growth of its merchant processing products and services with less reliance on the cryptocurrency exchange.

The cryptocurrency exchange, planned initially as a complementary business segment, has never been a significant percentage of the Company's revenues, accounting for less than one half of one percent (0.5%) of estimated total revenues in fiscal 2022 (unaudited). As the Company merchant processing continued to grow, the cryptocurrency exchange became unnecessary for the overall business strategy. In fiscal 2022, the exchange generated insignificant revenues and was no longer cost effective to maintain. At the same time, the Company recognized and focused on its market share and competitive advantages in merchant processing. Virtually all of the Company's growth and revenue for the last two fiscal years was from its merchant services.

In July 2022, the Company began internal discussions regarding the future of the exchange, and the Board of Directors voted to begin the steps required to cease exchange operations. In September 2022, the Company contacted the regulatory authorities, communicating the Company's intention to cease exchange operations. In November 2022, the Company detailed the procedure to be used to wind down exchange operations to the regulators and at that time, the Company ceased receiving fiat or cryptocurrency deposits to the exchange. This action, however, has not affected users' ability to withdraw their fiat funds or crypto assets from the exchange.

In the near future, all account holders will be contacted via email and, if required, by phone. Account holders will be instructed to access their accounts and withdraw their fiat and crypto assets. At the instruction of the account holders, all fiat funds will be transferred via traditional means, and all crypto assets will be transferred via the associated blockchain. All accounts will have 60 days from the first email to move their fiat funds and their transferable crypto assets off the exchange. The Company has maintained the fiat funds in its bank accounts and crypto assets have been held by an independent third-party wallet as a service provider. All account holders will receive 100% of their respective account holdings, except accounts holding NCCO. Any accounts holding NCCO will be maintained pending final resolution by regulatory authorities.

As a brief business update, the Company's merchant processing business continues to grow, and in 2022, the Company experienced significant growth since 2020 in all key metrics. Since 2020, merchants on the platform have grown by over 250%, with a global footprint of processing merchants in 46 countries. The average transaction value increased from USD $391 in 2020 to USD $4,500 in 2022, and the Company's Instant Settlement processing volume grew 374% in 2022 over 2020 from USD $10.6 million in 2020 to USD $50.6 million in 20221. In 2022, merchant processing revenue increased by 445% over 20201.

As of today, the Company continues to be subject to a cease trade order. The following financial statements are outstanding: interim financial statements (unaudited) for the quarterly periods ending January 31, 2021, April 30, 2021, and July 31, 2021, audited annual financial statements for fiscal year end October 31, 2021, and interim financial statements (unaudited) for the quarterly periods ending January 31, 2022, April 30, 2022, and July 31, 2022. The Company is currently focused on preparing its outstanding financial statements so that it will be in compliance with its regulatory requirements.

About Us

NetCents Technology Inc., the transactional hub for all cryptocurrency payments, equips forward-thinking businesses with the technology to seamlessly integrate cryptocurrency processing into their payment model without taking on the risk or volatility of the crypto market. NetCents is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FINTRAC.



For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.net-cents.com or contact Investor Relations at investor@net-cents.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

NetCents Technology Inc.

"Clayton Moore"

Clayton Moore, CEO, Founder and Director

NetCents Technology Inc.

350 - 375 Water Street

Vancouver, BC, V6B 5C6

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements including without limitation, timing of finalizing and filing of the Company's financial statements, , the expected closure procedure for the exchange, the expected growth and results of operations of the Company. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. 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 may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates, and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, 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.

FOFI Disclosure

This press release contains future-oriented financial information and financial outlook information (collectively, "FOFI") about the Company's future growth and expansion, all of which are subject to the same assumptions, risk factors, limitations and qualifications as set forth in the above paragraphs. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions used in the preparation of such information, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on FOFI. The Company's actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these FOFI, or if any of them do so, what benefits the Company will derive therefrom. FOFI contained in this press release was approved by management as of the date of this press release and was included in order to provide readers with information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future and such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any FOFI contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required pursuant to applicable law. Readers are cautioned that the FOFI contained in this press release should not be used for purposes other than for which it is disclosed herein.

[1] Unaudited financial information

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151470
Global phase III with 605 patients from the US and eight European countries demonstrates therapeutic equivalence and safety between Stelara and DMB-3115

Aims to submit marketing authorization in the first half of 2023 for the US and the EU

Dong-A ST (President and CEO: Min-young Kim) (KRX:170900) announced on January 16th that therapeutic equivalence and safety were established between DMB-3115 and Stelara, the reference drug, in global phase III.

Stelara is a blockbuster drug developed by Janssen Biotech Inc. and indicated for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis; it recorded USD 16.8 billion (IQVIA, MAT Sept 2022) sales worldwide, making it one of the highest grossing biologic medicines.

DMB-3115 global phase III first kicked off in the US back in 2021 and then in eight European countries, including Poland, Estonia, and Latvia, with a total patient number of 605 over 52 weeks. Patients with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis were treated with DMB-3115 or Stelara PFS to compare efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity. The trial was performed as a randomized, double-blinded, multicenter, parallel, and active-control study.

In accordance with the recommendation from the regulatory agencies, primary endpoint time frames were set as Week 8 and Week 12 for the EMA and the FDA, respectively.

DMB-3115 and Stelara demonstrated therapeutic equivalence when looking at percent change from baseline in PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) at Week 8 and Week 12. Similarly, there was no clinically significant difference in safety.

As the results are met for their differing recommendation of EMA and the FDA, the data is expected to be received more positively when submitted for marketing authorization to the respective agencies.

Dong-A Socio Holdings and Meiji Seika Pharma began joint development for DMB-3115 in 2013, and the rights of Dong-A Socio Holdings for R&D and commercialization were transferred to Dong-A ST in July 2020 for efficient project management; since then, Dong-A ST and Meiji Seika Pharma worked together for the development of the drug.

In July 2021, Dong-A ST and Meiji Seika Pharma signed a global license agreement with Intas, a leading multinational pharmaceutical company, and granted the exclusive rights for regulatory approval and commercialization of DMB-3115 in the territories excluding Korea, Japan and some Asian countries. DMB-3115 will be commercialized by Intas through its worldwide affiliates including Accord Biopharma in the US and Accord Healthcare in Europe, the UK and Canada. Dong-A ST and Meiji Seika Pharma are responsible for R&D and supply of the product to Intas and its worldwide affiliates.

Binish Chudgar, Vice-Chairman Managing Director of Intas Pharmaceuticals, said, "This agreement with Dong-A ST and Meiji Seika Pharma emphasizes our commitment to acquiring advanced research to leverage our leadership position internationally. Further supporting our dedication to drive our mission of making world-class drugs more accessible to patients, globally."

Min-young Kim President CEO Dong-A ST, said, "We will leverage the successful global phase III of DMB-3115 and submit the marketing authorization application for the US and the EU in the first half of 2023," and continued, "We are committed to supplying DMB-3115 to the global market at the earliest date possible through close cooperation with Intas Pharmaceuticals."

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005498/en/

Contacts:

Dong-A ST CO., Ltd



Shin-Hee Park

+82-32-610-2481

sh-park@donga.co.kr



Ji-Su Song

+82-920-8866

songjs@donga.co.kr
Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the security, performance, and reliability company helping to build a better Internet, today announced the appointment of Phil Winslow as Vice President of Strategic Finance, Treasury, and Investor Relations. Winslow previously covered Cloudflare as a financial analyst at Credit Suisse, where he was the global head of the software team, and at Wells Fargo.

"Phil has extensive expertise in the software industry, and we have developed a relationship with him prior to this search, as he has covered Cloudflare for years," said Matthew Prince, CEO and co-founder, Cloudflare. "As someone who has been following our growth even before our IPO, welcoming him to Cloudflare is a huge testament to our rapid growth, innovation, and ability to deliver strong execution and profitability at scale."

Winslow will be responsible for ensuring the company's long-term financial strategy is optimized for growth and profitability, managing its capital structure and treasury processes to support strategic goals and operational objectives, and overseeing investor relations. These functions are particularly important as Cloudflare continues to experience rapid growth, scales free cash flow generation, and becomes an increasingly important player in the market for cloud-based Zero Trust, network, and application services, and developer platforms. Reporting to Cloudflare's Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Seifert, Winslow will work closely with the leadership team to develop and implement strategies that support Cloudflare's long-term success.

"Phil has a proven track record and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his role at Cloudflare. As an influential software analyst, he has worked alongside institutional investors to develop investment strategies for software companies, as well as with issuers to execute successful capital markets transactions," said Thomas Seifert, Chief Financial Officer at Cloudflare. "We're thrilled to have Phil on board as we continue towards our goal of $5 billion in annualized revenue in the next five years."

Most recently, Winslow served as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse and was the global head of the software team in the Securities Research department. In this position, he led a team of equity research professionals that spanned the United States and Europe. Leveraging more than two decades of capital markets experience, Phil has an extensive background in financial modeling and data-driven operational analysis, and a deep knowledge of the technology industry.

"Cloudflare is constantly propelling the industry forward, and I'm proud to join this talented team and contribute to the company's continued growth," said Phil Winslow, Vice President of Strategic Finance, Treasury, and Investor Relations at Cloudflare. "I look forward to working with the leadership team and the entire Cloudflare community to drive long-term value for all of our customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders."

About Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc. (www.cloudflare.com @cloudflare) is on a mission to help build a better Internet. Cloudflare's suite of products protect and accelerate any Internet application online without adding hardware, installing software, or changing a line of code. Internet properties powered by Cloudflare have all web traffic routed through its intelligent global network, which gets smarter with every request. As a result, they see significant improvement in performance and a decrease in spam and other attacks. Cloudflare was awarded by Reuters Events for Global Responsible Business in 2020, named to Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2021, and ranked among Newsweek's Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces in 2022.

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, which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "explore," "plan," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of these words, or other similar terms or expressions that concern Cloudflare's expectations, strategy, plans, or intentions. However, not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements expressed or implied in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Cloudflare's future financial and operating performance, Cloudflare's reputation and performance in the market, general market trends, the benefits to customers from using Cloudflare products, the expected functionality and performance of Cloudflare products, Cloudflare's plans and objectives for future operations, growth, initiatives, and strategies, Cloudflare's expectations about senior management transitions, Cloudflare's goal of organically achieving $5 billion in annualized revenue in 5 years, Cloudflare's market opportunity, and comments made by Cloudflare's CEO and others. Cloudflare's actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including but not limited to, risks detailed in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Cloudflare's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on November 3, 2022, as well as other filings that Cloudflare may make from time to time with the SEC.

The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. Cloudflare undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect new information or the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. Cloudflare may not actually achieve the plans, intentions, or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

2023 Cloudflare, Inc. All rights reserved. Cloudflare, the Cloudflare logo, and other Cloudflare marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Cloudflare, Inc. in the U.S. and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005511/en/

Contacts:

Cloudflare, Inc.

Daniella Vallurupalli

Vice President, Head of Global Communications

press@cloudflare.com
A worker fuels vehicle at a hydrogen fueling station at Seoul City Hall's annex building near Seosomun in this October 2022 file photo. Newsis



By Park Jae-hyuk



President Yoon Suk Yeol's latest visit to the UAE has given a certain amount of momentum once again for Korea's transition to a hydrogen economy, dispelling worries that his administration may hit the brakes on the previous government's major energy policy, according to industry officials, Tuesday.



In a joint statement announced on Monday following Yoon's summit with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, both leaders vowed to prioritize strengthening their ties concerning the production and utilization of hydrogen.



"Both leaders concurred on the importance of bilateral cooperation to accelerate and invest in projects of energy security, decarburization and climate action, and to continue developing both the UAE and the Republic of Korea as global leaders in hydrogen ecosystems," the statement reads.



The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport also emphasized that the two countries are strengthening their cooperation in the hydrogen sector, seeking to transition to a hydrogen economy for carbon neutrality.





First lady discusses cultural exchanges with UAE counterpart President Yoon with Dubai ruler Korea's push to export nuclear reactors gains new momentum Land Minister Won Hee-ryong told his UAE counterpart, Falah Al Ahbabi, chairman of Abu Dhabi's department of municipalities and transport, on Monday that the Middle Eastern country needs to give approvals as soon as possible for the project to develop hydrogen fueling station technologies suited for the desert climate.



Securities analysts anticipated that the government's interest in the hydrogen industry will benefit fuel cell producers, which have been underestimated compared to companies engaged in the defense and nuclear energy industries.



"The markets for defense systems and small modular reactors, as well as the hydrogen industry, will likely grow further in the Middle East," Hyundai Motor Securities analyst Kwak Min-jung said.



Since Yoon was elected last March, his government had been expected to adjust the hydrogen economy roadmap announced by his predecessor in 2019.



The expectation was attributed partially to the Ministry of Environment's decision last May to cut the budget for the supply of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to 667.7 billion won ($540 million) from 892.7 billion won. This decision caused concerns at that time that Hyundai Motor Group may face difficulties in selling passenger cars powered by hydrogen, such as the Nexo.



Last August, business tycoons were also absent from the H2 MEET, the world's largest hydrogen exhibition, which the year before had attracted the chairmen of SK, Hyundai Motor and Lotte, as well as the heirs of Hanwha, GS, HD Hyundai and Kolon.



As concerns have grown over the loss of momentum to the nation's transition to a hydrogen economy, the government has continuously denied speculation about the administration's disinterest in the hydrogen industry.



Last November, the fifth meeting of the Hydrogen Economy Commission was held to discuss ways to create large-scale demand for hydrogen in the power generation and transportation industries, establish infrastructure to promote the use of hydrogen and make Korea a hydrogen industry powerhouse.




Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Result of AGM

17 January 2023

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust PLC

(the "Company")



Result of Annual General Meeting

The Board is pleased to announce that at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on Tuesday, 17 January 2023, all resolutions as detailed below were duly passed by shareholders on a poll.

Resolutions Votes

For % Votes Against % Total Votes Cast Votes

Withheld Ordinary Resolutions 1. To receive the Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 September 2022. 86,635,501 99.99 4,625 0.01 86,640,126 22,864 2. To elect Pars Purewal as a Director of the Company. 86,546,703 99.93 59,207 0.07 86,605,910 53,110 3. To re-elect Simon Hayes as a Director of the Company. 85,340,302 98.54 1,265,165 1.46 86,605,467 57,503 4. To re-elect James Aston as a Director of the Company. 85,271,697 98.45 1,339,807 1.55 86,611,504 51,466 5. To re-elect Kate Cornish-Bowden as a Director of the Company. 85,266,765 98.45 1,339,502 1.55 86,606,267 56,703 6. To re-elect Sandra Kelly as a Director of Company. 85,308,552 98.49 1,303,752 1.51 86,612,304 50,666 7. To re-elect Lorna Tilbian as a Director of the Company. 85,303,240 98.50 1,303,027 1.50 86,606,267 56,703 8. To receive and approve the Directors' Remuneration Report for year ended 30 September 2022. 86,451,715 99.84 137,827 0.16 86,589,542 73,428 9. To receive and approve the Directors' Remuneration Policy. 86,434,157 99.83 149,590 0.17 86,583,747 79,223 10. To re-appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as Auditors to the Company, to hold office from the conclusion of this meeting until the conclusion of the next general meeting at which financial statements are laid before the Company. 86,459,240 99.82 151,767 0.18 86,611,007 51,983 11. To authorise the Audit Committee to determine the remuneration of the Auditors of the Company. 86,600,361 99.97 23,646 0.03 86,624,007 38,983 12. To receive and approve the Company's Dividend Policy, as set out in the Annual Report. 86,624,234 99.99 5,238 0.01 86,629,472 33,518 Special Business 13. To allot securities in the Company. (Ordinary Resolution) 86,565,854 99.93 58,964 0.07 86,624,818 38,172 14. To disapply the rights of pre-emption in relation to the allotment of securities. (Special Resolution) 86,482,660 99.84 139,595 0.16 86,622,255 40,735 15. To disapply pre-emption rights on the sale of Treasury Shares and to sell Treasury Shares at a premium to the net asset value per share. (Special Resolution) 86,596,346 99.97 30,312 0.03 86,626,658 36,332 16. To authorise the Company to make market purchases of Ordinary shares in the Company. (Special Resolution) 86,606,488 99.97 23,505 0.03 86,629,993 32,997 17. That the Directors be permitted to call General Meetings (excluding the AGM) on not less than 14 clear days' notice. (Special Resolution) 86,209,333 99.51 420,288 0.49 86,629,621 33,369

A vote Withheld is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculation of the proportion of votes "For" and "Against" a resolution.

Notes:

Any proxy votes which are at the discretion of the Chairman have been included in the "for" total. A vote withheld is not a vote in law and is not counted in the votes for or against a resolution.

As at the date of the Annual General Meeting, the total number of voting rights in the Company was 212,105,211. The Company had 12,886,092 ordinary shares held in Treasury.

The full text of the resolutions can be found in the Notice of Annual General Meeting, which is available for viewing at the National Storage Mechanism and can be located at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism and on the Company's website, www.finsburygt.com

In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.2 and Listing Rule 9.6.3, the full text of the special business resolutions passed has been submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism . The special business resolutions will additionally be filed with Companies House.

Terms not otherwise defined in this announcement have the meaning given to them in the Notice of Meeting.

For further information, please contact:
For Immediate Release

17 January 2023

ROGUE BARON PLC

("Rogue Baron" or "The Company")

Quarterly Trading Statement to December 31

Strong finish to the year

Rogue Baron PLC (AQSE: SHNJ, OTC: SHNJF), a global company in the premium spirits sector, is pleased to announce a trading statement for the quarter ending December 31, 2022.

In the final quarter, the Company sold approximately 930 cases of Shinju globally, which was a 137% increase compared to the same period in 2021 resulting in revenues of approximately USD 120,000. This growth has come despite minimal marketing dollars spent.

The Shinju brand is gaining significant traction in its current markets due to its price positioning, quality, and taste. Repeat purchases from customers and increased orders from distributors are playing a factor in the growth.

The Shinju brand also saw a strong start to sales in the final quarter in the U.K., with the launch of the 8-year-old 'Black Pearl' extension leading the way. The Company projects growth to continue in 2023 as it officially launched the Shinju brand with the second-largest distributor in the U.S. in November. Starting in only one market, the plan is to roll out Shinju across the U.S. in 2023 through the distributor's national footprint. The effect of the new distributor is already evident despite sales initially in only the Maryland / Washington DC market with that particular distributor.

Given the Company's increasing distribution footprint globally, Rogue Baron is looking at various financing options to accelerate sales in its current markets, expand into new markets, and potentially push new products through its existing sales platforms. Numerous options are being perused by the board to take advantage of the opportunities that are continually presented to the Company.

Audit Opinion 2021

The Company has made good progress in conjunction with its auditor to resolve the issues presented in the Company's report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021 and is on track to release its results for the year end for September 30, 2023, in advance of the March 31, 2023 deadline.

Ryan Dolder, CEO of Rogue Baron, commented:

"Despite a challenging year due to shipping and logistics issues that limited our inventory availability, and a complex transition to a larger U.S. distributor, we are excited about the trajectory of not only Shinju, but the Company as a whole. When we set out to launch our first brand, Shinju, we had a very specific strategic plan on how we wanted to do it. We knew it would take time, but we also believed if we stayed committed to the plan it would create the best chance of success for the Brand and the Company long-term. Many of the steps in that plan are now starting to take hold."



The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement

For further information, please contact:

The Company

Ryan Dolder

rdolder@roguebaron.com

AQSE Corporate Adviser:

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Guy Miller +44 (0) 20 7469 0936

AQSE Corporate Broker:

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Lucy Williams +44 (0) 20 7469 0936
WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / R3T Technologies is pleased to announce the acquisition of YING Inc., an advanced group skillsharing platform powered by AI and designed to unlock cultural, community, and financial capital.

Ying, which has been under development for seven years, has now become the right tool at the right time in addressing the "gig economy". Why? US government statistics have confirmed that the "gig economy" or "sharing economy" is exploding, as more people seek direct access to find work, share resources and skills with one another. There are currently around 60 million gig workers, approximately 36% of all US employees. Statista projects that 85.6 million people will be doing freelance work in the US by 2027. According to Thrivemyway.com, by 2023, the size of the gig economy could reach $455.2 billion. ADP Research Institute says that in 6% of US companies gig workers make up as much as 85% of the workforce. At the same time, according to the Pew Institute, a significant number of Americans are seeking ways to feel like they belong and are looking for offerings that provide a sense of community.

YING's focus on building intentional communities and bringing about a sense of "the village" is well-aligned with these both trends, and all research points to significant likelihood of market success. YING, which recently launched a neighborhood activation called VillageYING in Philadelphia and Boulder, Colorado, is dedicated to building intentional communities and empowering people to share their skills and resources with one another directly, without need of an employment agency, temp agency, or any other "middleman", thus bypassing traditional barriers to direct and immediate employment.

"It's clear that in this economy, we will need to leverage technologies to create more effective ways of unlocking the value we have within our own trusted networks to share resources and micro gigs," said Hope Sullivan, a board member of R3T. "We are thrilled to have found such a strong business model in YING, and believe that its combination of fintech and valuing human capital is what differentiates Ying from any business model we've seen like it to date."

Ying is a cutting-edge group skillsharing platform with "intentional technology" to unlock community, financial and social capital. This is possible via the in-app currency, the "Balance Coin" as well as fiat currency, all of which is kept accurate by usage of the block chain for all transactions.

Ying is FREE for users, with Ying taking a small percentage of the agreed upon consideration between the two bilateral parties (a job seeker & employer, for instance). Due to its noted exceptional improvement in intra-company communications, for larger corporations, there is a monthly fee, which is expected to be a significant component of revenue stream.

CEO Karla Ballard was quoted as saying "We've been working hard for quite some time and now believe the marketplace is seeking exactly this type of economic solution in a fintech tool that unlocks opportunities to earn a better living. I am thrilled to be in position for us to bring this to the market under R3T."

The acquisition of YING by R3T represents a major milestone for both companies, and we believe it will create new opportunities for growth and innovation. Management is aware of the current "yield sign" appearing on OTC markets and is working with new firm of CPAs to properly revise the 3rd Quarter report and hope to have it published shortly. By now bringing this technology public, we are confident that we can unlock even more value for our customers and shareholders, and help to build stronger, more resilient communities as we inter-connect, one gig and community at a time.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, the challenges inherent in new industry development initiatives, the effects of competition, our ability to license and protect our intellectual property, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with OTC Markets including, without limitation, our Annual Report recently filed. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or in other public disclosures at any time. Finally, the investing public is reminded that the only announcements or information about R-3 Technologies Inc. which are condoned by the Company must emanate from the Company itself, and bear our name as its Source.

Contact:

Info@R3TGroup.com

877 927-2816

SOURCE: R3T Technologies

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735513/R-3-Technologies-Inc-Acquires-Ying-Inc


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - New York manufacturing activity has seen a significant contraction in the month of January, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Tuesday.



The New York Fed said its general business conditions plunged to a negative 32.9 in January from a negative 11.2 in December, with a negative reading indicating a contraction. Economists had expected the index to climb to a negative 4.5.



'Manufacturing conditions in the U.S. are deteriorating as central banks continue to raise rates and recessionary pressures constrain the sector's advance,' said Gurleen Chadha, U.S. Economist at Oxford Economics.



'This coupled with tighter financial markets and a weaker labor market weigh on regional and national factory activity,' Chadha added. 'The result has been a dwindling pipeline and downbeat sentiment.'



The unexpected slump by the headline index partly reflected significant decreases in new orders and shipments.



The new orders index dove to a negative 31.1 in January from a negative 3.6 in December, while the shipments index dove to a negative 22.4 from a positive 5.3 in the previous month.



The number of employees index also slid to 2.8 in January from 14.0 in December, although a positive reading still indicates modest job growth.



The report also said the prices paid index tumbled to 33.0 in January from 50.5 in December, while the prices received index fell to 18.8 from 25.2.



Looking ahead, the New York Fed said firms expect little improvement in business conditions over the next six months. The index for future business conditions inched up to 8.0 in January from 6.3 in December.



The Philadelphia Federal Reserve is scheduled to release its report on regional manufacturing activity in the month of January on Thursday. The Philly Fed Index is expected to rise to a negative 11.0 in January from a negative 13.8 in December.



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ATLANTA and GLASGOW, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Invisors, a Workday Services Partner, announced today its endorsement from Workday to prime phase 1 Workday deployments in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This expansion recognises Invisors' commitment to helping European companies migrate their HR and financial systems to Workday and provide ongoing support and optimisation once live.





"This is a fantastic recognition from Workday on the team we have built here in less than a year and outlines our commitment to Workday globally," says Matt Lawrence, EMEA Commercial Lead at Invisors. "We are excited to work closely with Workday helping customers here in the United Kingdom and Ireland adopt the best-in-class applications for finance, HR, and more."

Invisors provides initial deployment, optimisation and ongoing support services in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and the United States for Workday's full suite of products, including: Human Capital Management, Financial Management, Adaptive Planning, Prism Analytics and Extend. Its team has successfully completed over 200 Workday client engagements, with recognitions by Fortune's Great Place to Work, Inc. Magazine's Best Workplaces, and Inc. Magazine's 5,000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.

"Growing our partner ecosystem in the UK with Invisors will further enable us to support our current and prospective customers with their teams comprehensively, from conception to solution implementation and optimisation. We are looking forward to building on a successful partnership in North America to deliver additional value to our community in Northern Europe and supporting companies in their transformation to employee-centric organizations," said, Michael Douroux, group vice president, Northern Europe and South Africa, Workday.

Last year Invisors announced its global expansion into Europe. Since then, the Invisors team has been busy establishing an office in Glasgow, Scotland and hiring over 15 local resources across the UK.

About Invisors

As a certified Workday Services partner, Invisors helps customers utilise their organisational data to make better-informed business decisions through the deployment of Workday. We believe the most important measure of our team's success is our client's ability to achieve their big-picture vision. From initial deployments to ongoing projects, we are focused on elevating perspectives + transforming results. Learn more by visiting invisors.com.

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Every day, Spider Lab's demand-side ad fraud countermeasure analyzes over 10 billion IP addresses to identify invalid traffic

TOKYO, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tokyo-based Spider Labs has recently had its IP Blocklist API adopted by Japan's GENIEE DSP in the ongoing effort to combat online ad fraud. Spider Labs' Demand-Side Ad Fraud Countermeasure Analyzes over 10 billion IP addresses every day to identify invalid traffic.

GENIEE DSP will use the IP Blocklist API to filter out General Invalid Traffic (GIVT) and Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT). GIVT includes traffic that can be identified by routine filtering, such as known data center traffic and search engine crawlers, while SIVT includes various types of invalid traffic, including traffic disguised as traffic caused by someone else, including Ad Fraud.

"Ad fraud has become an issue that cannot be ignored in recent years, and we feel that interest in demand-side countermeasures is growing year by year," said Sayaka Kobayashi, COO of the Demand Side Business Division at Geniee, Inc. "We are very pleased to be using the IP Blocklist API as a countermeasure against invalid traffic, and we believe that it will contribute to the improvement of transparency for our clients who use GENIEE DSP in the future. GENIEE DSP will continue to adopt cutting-edge technology that helps our clients increase brand awareness, acquire users, and achieve higher advertising cost-effectiveness."

Kazuhiro Miyamoto, Product Manager at Spider Labs, added, "We are pleased to be working with Geniee, one of the largest DSPs in Japan. The importance of ad verification, including countermeasures against invalid traffic, has increased dramatically over the past few years. We are confident that this collaboration has led to a healthier digital advertising industry. Spider Labs remains committed to building a secure and happy future through technology."

About GENIEE DSP

GENIEE DSP is a platform that allows advertisers to distribute their ads to slots selected in accordance with their needs. Ad spaces are selected based on data such as internet users' past behavioral history, purchase history, and location information, and are allocated to users who are assumed to be promising potential customers for the advertiser. Approximately 5,000 PC and smartphone media participate in the platform, which is capable of purchasing approximately 80 billion Impressions/month.

About Spider Labs, Inc.

Spider Labs, Inc. is the developer and provider of the automated, AI-driven fraud prevention tool, Spider AF, which operates with the mission of "Building a Safer, Happier Future with Automation." Spider Labs' team of data scientists is working to help fight the ever-evolving issue of ad fraud. Founded on the belief that the happiness of each team member must be realized to fully support the company, Spider Labs is committed to creating a "work-life integration" corporate environment that allows people to live their lives in their own way by promoting more flexible work lifestyles.

Contact Information:

Saaya Hashimoto

PR

pr@spider-labs.com



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NORWICH, England, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Homemove , a tech platform connecting sellers, buyers and renters with vetted, trusted and established home moving services, has raised $400,000 in pre-seed funding to aid rapid growth.

Led by Fuel Ventures and supported by Oracle VC and a strong array of angel investors, this round of funding will be used to scale up the business and build upon the inhouse proprietary platform which currently serves home sellers.

With the funds raised, Homemove will be launching a suite of game-changing features, including cutting-edge CRMs, advanced communication tools, and AI-powered valuation tools that will empower their hand-picked partners to achieve even greater success. They will also be used to expand the partnership team to cover more geographic regions and market segments in the UK, and to fuel its rapid expansion.

Industry veteran and Ex Rightmove Commercial Director Jason Busby and seasoned marketplace executive James Moore have backed the founders and joined as NEDs to bring their valuable experience in scaling up multi-billion pound household marketplaces.

Homemove reduces the stress of moving home by streamlining the process and providing a one-stop destination for customers to research, choose and talk to each professional service in the home moving journey online with real-time updates, all for free.

With the successful beta launch of Homemove in June of last year, the team has seen tremendous growth in customers, with hundreds of users flocking to the platform to find the most reliable and trusted home moving services. In a display of momentum, Homemove has already achieved record-breaking user numbers in the first two weeks of 2023 alone, solidifying its position as the destination for anyone in need of home moving services.

In an effort to challenge the so-called 'disruptors', Homemove will be promoting the best local and independent service providers who prioritise their clients' best interests. The platform, which has already onboarded over 500 estate agents throughout the UK and built out strategic partnerships with other home moving services, aims to improve service levels across the industry and reduce the number of transactions that fall through.

According to Legal & General , moving home can be one of the most stressful times in a person's life and, with Homemove, the goal is to augment the home-moving journey through technology and exceptional customer service, reducing transaction times and fall-through rates and ultimately reducing one of life's biggest stressors.

Louis O'Connell-Bristow , Homemove co-founder & CEO, said: "My vision is to significantly improve the home moving process and this funding round is a major step towards achieving that goal. As an ex estate agent, I have witnessed firsthand the issues that can arise in the industry due to poor practices, which can lead to consumers feeling sceptical and negative towards the entire sector.

"At Homemove, we are promoting only the highest rated companies that can benefit from Homemove's trustworthy and impartial reputation, while still maintaining the personal touch that customers want during this significant life event."

James Freestone , Homemove co-founder & COO, said: "At Homemove, we are not just building a brand, we are building a legacy of trust and excellence. We are thrilled to secure funding from institutional investors alongside strong angel investors. Their investment will go towards ensuring that all of our customers have the best home moving experience possible.

"We are always pushing the boundaries to find new ways to reduce costs and stress for all parties involved, in our relentless pursuit of becoming the gold standard in customer service and streamlining transaction times, nothing is off the table."

Mike Stevenson , Fuel Ventures, said: "Homemove stood out to us because of their innovative approach to building and maintaining relationships not just with estate agents and movers, but across the whole home moving value chain. When combined with the robust industry and commercial experience of the founders, alongside ex-Rightmove Commercial Director Jason Bushby and seasoned marketplace exec James Moore joining as NEDs - we at Fuel think team Homemove are well placed to bring this highly fragmented market into the 21st century."

Tom Whitby , Oracle VC General Partner, said: "Oracle VC invests in digital trade enablers that reduce friction across the value chain. Homemove does this for the sale of real property, which remains inefficient and un-digitalised. All the actors in the transaction are aligned by an efficient digital process that should result in a faster, smoother property sale,"

Notes to editors

Louis O'Connell Bristow leads the business and develops the technology platform for Homemove. He has over 11 years of experience in the estate agency industry and in using web tools to support agents. He previously worked as an estate agent at Watsons and ran a previous business before joining forces with James to expand Homemove's vision. He holds a BSc Hons from the University of East Anglia and is a member of the National Association of Estate Agents.





leads the business and develops the technology platform for Homemove. He has over 11 years of experience in the estate agency industry and in using web tools to support agents. He previously worked as an estate agent at Watsons and ran a previous business before joining forces with James to expand Homemove's vision. He holds a BSc Hons from the University of and is a member of the National Association of Estate Agents. James Freestone is responsible for raising the funds and setting strategic direction for Homemove . He has over 10 years of experience in management consulting, corporate finance, strategic execution, and business development. He has a background in working with start-ups and international brands alike, including Jaguar Land Rover and Bidstack PLC . He has a BSc Joint Hons from Aston University and is a qualified accountant.

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NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / PNC Financial Services Group

Register Now!

Join PNC Diversity & Inclusion for a Black History Month event featuring Michele Norris, Founding Director of the Race Card Project, which sparks moving conversations about race and identity. Hear from an award-winning journalist and the first Black female radio host for NPR, as Michele engages in a productive dialogue about race, culture, and the modern Civil Rights movement in America.

Opening Remarks: Michael Bickers Regional President Detroit and Southeast Michigan PNC Bank

Michael G. Bickers is Regional President for PNC Bank in Detroit and Southeast Michigan. Prior to being named to his current role in March 2022, Bickers served as Midwest Territory Manager for PNC's Retail Bank, responsible for leading the branch network and partner teams throughout the region. Bickers, with more than 30 years of financial industry experience, has held several leadership positions since joining PNC in 1990, including key roles in Commercial and Retail Banking. He served as Retail Market Manager for Detroit from 2006 to 2018. Prior to being named Midwest Territory Manager in April 2022, Bickers served as Group Manager, Market Manager and Midwest Territory Executive. Bickers has served on the Business School Advisory Council of Oakland University's Business School in Rochester Hills, Michigan. He also has served on PNC's Corporate Talent and Diversity Council. Bickers earned his bachelor's degree from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and holds an MBA in Business Administration.

Presenter: Michele Norris Award-Winning Journalist Founding Director of "The Race Card Project"

An award-winning journalist and one of the most recognized voices in radio, Michele Norris engages audiences in candid discussion about race, culture and communication in America. From the radio airwaves of NPR and primetime television to leading news publications such as The Washington Post, Norris is one of the most trusted voices in American journalism. On stage, she inspires open and honest dialogue, with memorable stories and fascinating perspectives drawn from her personal journey, investigative research, and interviews with world leaders, Nobel Laureates and influential newsmakers. For a decade, as host of National Public Radio's longest-running program, All Things Considered, she captivated audiences nationwide while earning some of journalism's highest honors. As a Washington Post Opinions Columnist, Norris sparks important dialogue on current events, social issues and the power to make change as she breaks down commonly held beliefs and attitudes on race, diversity and bias. She makes complex and taboo issues remarkably accessible. Her audiences walk away empowered to stimulate discussion around challenging topics within their communities. Throughout Norris' accomplished career, her efforts to promote conversation about race have resulted in her critically acclaimed book, The Grace of Silence: A Memoir. She received accolades for a Peabody Award-winning initiative, "The Race Card Project," which fosters conversation among individuals about their differences. Norris was previously the director of "The Bridge"-the Aspen Institute's program on race, cultural identity and inclusion-which addresses some of America's most complex issues by encouraging people to explore and engage with differing perspectives.

Moderator: Mark Allen Head of Retail Bank Operations PNC Bank

Mark Allen joined PNC in 2018, after a 15-year career at Comcast Cable. His responsibilities include the operational, financial, and strategic performance of the back office for Deposit products within Retail Bank Operations. His 2,500 employee organization includes AML Operations, Production Operations, Business Operations, Business Information Management, and a team of Performance Management Professionals that are leading the organization's end-to-end process mapping, operational analytics, and intelligent automation efforts. Mark is Chairman of PNC's Corporate Diversity Council Leadership Standards Subcommittee and is an Executive Sponsor of PNC's Black Leaders Forum. Mark earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BA in business administration from Morehouse College. Mark is based and resides in Philadelphia.

Closing Remarks: Miranda Creel Treasury Management Commercial Sales Executive PNC Bank

Miranda Creel has 35 years of progressive experience and responsibility in banking with PNC including predecessor National City Bank. She currently holds the position of Executive Vice President of Commercial Sales leading the Treasury Management professionals covering the United States. During her career, Miranda has held leadership positions in Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Human Resources and Treasury Management. In addition, Miranda served as the Local Sponsor, President and founding member of one of PNC's Employee Business Resource Groups. Through this role, Miranda's leadership and extensive sales experience continues to benefit the Treasury Management organization on a broader scale. Miranda graduated from Baldwin Wallace College and earned her Certified Treasury Professional certification. She is a current board member of the Urban League of Greater Cleveland and prior board member of the Business Volunteered Unlimited, YWCA, Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland, and City Year.

Register Now!

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from PNC Financial Services Group on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: PNC Financial Services Group

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/pnc-financial-services-group

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: PNC Financial Services Group

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QUEBEC, QC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / NuRAN Wireless Inc. ("NuRAN" or the "Company") (CSE:NUR)(OTC PINK:NRRWF)(FSE:1RN), a leading supplier of mobile and broadband wireless infrastructure solutions, is pleased to announce the entry into a Network-as-a-Service ("NaaS") agreement with Orange Madagascar for the deployment of up to 500 rural networking telecommunication sites under the NaaS business model in the east coast of Madagascar.

The agreement was signed today at a virtual ceremony with the attendance of Frederic Debord, CEO at Orange Madagascar, Francis Letourneau, CEO at NuRAN Wireless and with the presence of Mr. Tahina Razafindramalo, Minister of Digital Development, Digital Transformation, Posts and Telecommunications of Madagascar.

"We are pleased with the materialization of this partnership which aims to bring mobile telephony services to the Malagasy people who were previously excluded from digital connectivity. Mobile telephony has become an essential need in everyday life and essential for economic and social development because it makes it possible to open up and connect Madagascar to the rest of the world and as importantly have access to financial services through mobile money" stated Frederic Debord, CEO of Orange Madagascar.

"We are extremely pleased to add Madagascar to our growing portfolio of African countries. We are also thankful to Orange for this third contract as we continue to build and grow this strong relationship with them. With the addition of these 500 sites, we have now reached 4,642 sites under contract in less than 2 years from receiving our first NaaS contract. We are approaching 50% of our goal of 10,000 sites under contract within five years. NuRAN is proud to be at the forefront of our mission to bring essential mobile connectivity to those that need it most in a cost effective, profitable and an environmentally friendly manner." stated Francis Letourneau, CEO of NuRAN.

The 10-year agreement with Orange Madagascar is the Company's third contract with Orange with over US$90 million in potential gross revenue at an approximate rate of US$1,500 per site per month with an estimated gross margin of 70%. The estimated gross revenues are subject to among other things, associated project expenses including expenses associated with satellite bandwidth, site lease, network operations center expenses, curative and preventative maintenance fees, project management and monitoring fees, the Company completing all financing necessary for the build out of the sites and insurance and collection of applicable fees from network operators. Fees for the NaaS services provided by NuRAN under the agreement are paid on a revenue sharing basis. The project is expected to support 2G and 3G networks with variety of site categories to cover different population densities and coverage areas. NuRAN expects to retain the ownership of the infrastructure after completion of the contract which increases the overall value of the agreement.

About Orange:

Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications carriers with a turnover of 42 billion in 2019 and 143,000 employees as of 30 September 2020, of which 83,000 are in France. The Group has a total customer base of 257 million customers worldwide on 30 September 2020, including 212 million mobile customers and 21 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 26 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In December 2019, the Group presented its new "Engage 2025" strategic plan, which, guided by social and environmental accountability, aims to reinvent its operator model. While accelerating in growth areas and placing data and AI at the heart of its innovation model, the Group will be an attractive and responsible employer, adapted to emerging professions. Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).

About NuRAN Wireless:

NuRAN Wireless is a leading rural telecommunications company that meets the growing demand for wireless network coverage in remote and rural regions around the globe. With its affordable and innovative scalable solutions of 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies, NuRAN Wireless offers a new possibility for more than one billion people to communicate effectively over long distances efficiently and affordably. "Bridging the Digital Divide, One Connection at a Time."

Additional Information:

For further information about NuRAN Wireless: www.nuranwireless.com.

Francis Letourneau,

Director and CEO

Francis.letourneau@nuranwireless.com

Tel: (418) 264-1337

Frank Candido

Investor relations

Frank.candido@nuranwireless.com

Tel: (514) 969-5530

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as, "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "intends", "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements include those relating to the Orange Madagascar definitive agreement terms and conditions and the proposed sites and revenues from the sites in Madagascar. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results projected, expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, such as the uncertainties regarding include risks such as the uncertainties regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, and measures to prevent its spread, risks relating to NuRAN's business and the economy generally; NuRAN's ability to refinance its long term debt that is currently in default; NuRAN's ability to adequately restructure its operations with respect to its new model of NaaS service contracts; our ability to collect fees from our telecommunication providers and reliance on the network of our telecommunications providers, the capacity of the Company to deliver in a technical capacity and to import inventory to Africa at a reasonable cost; NuRAN's ability to obtain project financing for the proposed site build out under its NaaS agreements with Orange, MTN and other telecommunication providers, the loss of one or more significant suppliers or a reduction in significant volume from such suppliers; NuRAN's ability to meet or exceed customers' demand and expectations; significant current competition and the introduction of new competitors or other disruptive entrants in the Company's industry; effects of the global supply shortage affecting parts needed for NuRAN's sites and site installations; NuRAN's ability to retain key employees and protect its intellectual property; compliance with local laws and regulations and ability to obtain all required permits for our operations, access to the credit and capital markets, changes in applicable telecommunications laws or regulations or changes in license and regulatory fees, downturns in customers' business cycles; and insurance prices and insurance coverage availability, the Company's ability to effectively maintain or update information and technology systems; our ability to implement and maintain measures to protect against cyberattacks and comply with applicable privacy and data security requirements; the Company's ability to successfully implement its business strategies or realize expected cost savings and revenue enhancements; business development activities, including acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses; the Company's expansion into markets outside of Canada and the operational, competitive and regulatory risks facing the Company's non-Canadian based operations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis that is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The estimates included in this news release relating to the calculation of the gross revenue of the agreements with Orange are based on multiplying an average population per site by the expected penetration rate which yields the number of mobile customers. This is then multiplied by the average revenue per customer per month (ARPU) to derive total revenue. Orange's direct costs associated with this revenue are deducted and the resulting amount is shared by both parties. The revenue share only applies to revenue in excess of a guaranteed amount which is the minimum paid to NuRAN. A penetration rate reduction factor has been used to mitigate risk. The base data used to calculate the total potential revenue of this agreement was provided by Orange based on average population, penetration rate and ARPU. Management of the Company believes that the estimates have been prepared on a reasonable basis, reflecting best estimates and judgments, and based on a number of assumptions management believes are reasonable as well as information provided to the Company by Orange. However, because this information is highly subjective and subject to numerous risks, including the risks discussed above, it should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future results. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

SOURCE: NuRAN Wireless Inc.

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NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As per Facts and Factors study, The global chlorinated polyethylene market size was worth around USD 645 million in 2021 and is predicted to grow to around USD 1177.45 million by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 7.83% between 2022 and 2030.





Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Overview

Chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) is created by substituting hydrogen atoms with chlorine atoms in high density polyethylene or HDPE. CPE does not exhibit any taste and is a non-toxic chemical. It is first created in white powder form before being used with other chemicals. CPE produced using low pressure showcases higher temperature thermal resistance as compared to CPE produced using high pressure polyethylene. The most common density range for CPE is between 0.93 to 0.96 gram per centimeter cube. The properties of CPE are highly influenced by the degree and intensity of chlorination.

For instance, it is in plastic form when chlorine content is below 15%, while it acts as a thermoplastic elastomer in case the chlorine content ranges between 165 to 24%. It exhibits the properties of rubber-like elastomer when the content percentage is increased to 25% unto 48% and if the quantity is increased above 73% it turns into a brittle resin. Few advantages offered by chlorinated polyethylene include high resistance to ozone aging, thermal oxygen aging, and resistance to alkali & acid substances. The two main categories of CPE include elastomer-type and resin-type. It can be used as a standalone product or with a mixture of a wide array of chemicals including polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyurethane amongst few others.

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Our Free Sample Report Includes:

2022 Updated Report Introduction, Overview, and In-depth industry analysis

COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak Impact Analysis Included

209+ 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

Facts and Factors methodology

Facts and Factors published the latest report titled "Chlorinated Polyethylene Market Size, Share, Growth Analysis Report By Application (Impact Modifier, Wire & Cable Jacketing, Magnetics, Adhesives, Ignition Resistant Abs, Tubing, and Others), By Type (135A, 135B, and Others), and By Region - Global and Regional Industry Insights, Overview, Comprehensive Analysis, Trends, Statistical Research, Market Intelligence, Historical Data and Forecast 2022 - 2030" into their research database.

Industry Dynamics:

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Growth Drivers

Growing applications in the rubber industry to propel market demand.

The global chlorinated polyethylene market is projected to grow owing to the high applications of chlorinated polyethylene in the rubber industry. CPE when crosslinked with peroxides, a group of compounds showing an R-O-O-R structure, becomes highly valuable for the rubber sector. This is due to the CPE offering various chemical properties that are of importance in the sector.

For instance, it provides higher flexibility, is extremely resistant to chemicals & ignition, it restricts abrasion alongside limiting the impact of weathering conditions. Because of the high tensile strength and filler acceptance offered by CPE, the demand for the compound has grown immensely in the last few years. Using CPE helps to reduce the cost of processes associated with the use of polyethylene (PE) since it is a cheaper substitute for PE. The rubber industry is one of the fastest-growing industries due to the growing product penetration across engineering segments. The compressibility and strength offered by rubber have made them an essential part of segments dealing with products that work around drive couplings, anti-vibration mounts, bearings, adhesives, springs, and others.

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Restraints

Harmful impact above melting temperature to restrict market expansion.

Chlorinated polyethylene does not have toxic compounds and is generally considered safe for use. But some of the known emissions during the combustion of the compound include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen chloride. At temperatures above melting value, polymer fragments of these substances can be released into the environment and the associated fumes are known to be irritating to the skin or other human body organs. When the compound decomposes, it can leave behind chemicals like organic acids, aldehydes, hydrogen chloride, and alcohol that could negatively impact the environment.

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Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Opportunities

Growing automobile industry to provide growth opportunities.

The demand for chlorinated polyethylene may further be propelled by the increasing adoption of the chemical in the automobile industry which is designated to increase at a high CAGR due to factors like a growing number of players, increasing disposable income alongside per capita spending capacity and availability of financial assistance. For instance, the northern and southern states of India are known to have a high number of families owning 2-wheelers. In the Karnataka state of India, around 61.15% of the state population is known to use some form of 2-wheeler for personal use.

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Challenges

Disruptions in the supply chain to act as a major challenge during the forecast period.

The global market players will have to forecast the impact of the growing political tension across the world on business revenue as there may be a large number of cases that could potentially disrupt the smooth supply chain of CPE in the coming years. Asian countries including China currently dominate the production of the compound and the growing tension between the west and east could affect the supply of CPE.

Global Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Segmentation

The global chlorinated polyethylene market is segmented based on application, type, and region.

Based on application, the global market divisions are impact modifier, wire & cable jacketing, magnetics, adhesives, ignition resistance abs, tubing, and others. The global market is anticipated to be dominated by the wire & cable jacketing segment during the forecast years due to growing infrastructural development activities. Since they exhibit excellent thermal properties along with resistance to other chemicals and oils, they are widely used for jacketing wires and cables which acts as a fire retardant. Growing applications in automotive tuning may drive the demand in the tubing segment. The cable industry currently is valued at over USD 91 billion.

Based on type, the global market segments are 135A, 135B, and others. In 2021, the global market was dominated by chlorinated polyethylene 135A which is an elastomer with applications related to rigid polyvinyl chloride (RPV). The segmental growth was driven by the growing demand to manufacture vinyl sidings as well as impact modifiers that are used in microwaves, refrigerators, window profiles, and other consumer goods. CPE135A offers superior ductility making it desirable in electrical conduits using specialty polyvinyl chloride. The growing demand for 135A in the rubber industry could further fuel the demand for CPE.

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List of Key Players in Chlorinated Polyethylene Market:

Weifang Yaxing Chemical Co. Ltd.

Polycast Industries Inc.

Shin-Etsu Chemical Company Ltd.

Wacker Chemie AG

Evonik Industries AG

Key questions answered in this report:

What are the growth rate forecast and market size for Chlorinated Polyethylene Market?

What are the key driving factors propelling the Chlorinated Polyethylene Market forward?

What are the most important companies in the Chlorinated Polyethylene Market Industry?

What segments does the Chlorinated Polyethylene Market cover?

How can I receive a free copy of the Chlorinated Polyethylene Market sample report and company profiles?

Report Scope:

Report Attribute Details Market size value in 2021 USD 645 Million Revenue forecast in 2030 USD 1177.45 Million Growth Rate CAGR of almost 7.83 % 2022-2030 Base Year 2020 Historic Years 2016 - 2021 Forecast Years 2022 - 2030 Segments Covered By Type, By Application, By Payload and By Propulsion System Forecast Units Value (USD Billion), and Volume (Units) Quantitative Units Revenue in USD million/billion and CAGR from 2022 to 2030 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 Weifang Yaxing Chemical Co. Ltd., Polycast Industries Inc., Shin-Etsu Chemical Company Ltd., Wacker Chemie AG, Evonik Industries AG, and others. 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.fnfresearch.com/customization/chlorinated-polyethylene-market

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Recent Developments

In April 2022 , Nokian Tyres announced that the company intends to increase its production capacity in Europe due to disruption in the Russian production line

Nokian Tyres announced that the company intends to increase its production capacity in due to disruption in the Russian production line In November 2022 , the US Department of Agriculture granted USD 35 million to Bridgestone Americas for encouraging the production of natural rubber in the country

Regional Dominance:

Asia-Pacific to dominate with the highest CAGR.

The global chlorinated polyethylene market is anticipated to be dominated by Asia-Pacific in the coming years due to the presence of highly dominated chemical producers in the region, especially in China and India as well as a growing number of end-user verticals. For instance, as per estimates, China's revenue from the synthetic rubber production market may grow by USD 35 billion in 2022. The country has already marked a steady growth in the last 5 years at a yearly average of 2.76%. The demand for rubber in China reached 739 billion yuan in 2017 due to various factors like the growing construction industry, and high demand in the automobile sector. Growth in Europe may be driven by the growing demand for magnetic rubber used during the vehicle production process. The European automotive segment is responsible for more than 13.5 million direct and indirect jobs representing 6.05% of the region's employment rate.

Global Chlorinated Polyethylene Market is segmented as follows:

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: By Application Outlook (2022-2030)

Impact Modifier

Wire & Cable Jacketing

Magnetics, Adhesives

Ignition Resistant Abs

Tubing

Others

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: By Type Outlook (2022-2030)

135A

135B

Others

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: By Region Outlook (2022-2030)

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 Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: https://www.fnfresearch.com/news/global-chlorinated-polyethylene-market

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Japanese PM's G7 tour seeks gang-up, growing int'l presence

Xinhua) 10:01, January 17, 2023

TOKYO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has toured five of the Group of Seven (G7) nations at the beginning of the new year, after controversial moves on security policy triggered concerns among its Asian neighbors in December 2022.

Scholars warned that the Japanese government should change its "subordinative" relationship with the United States and an open diplomacy with Asian neighbors is the foundation of Japan's national security.

During his trip to France, Italy, Britain, Canada and the United States on Jan. 9-15, Kishida signed a reciprocal access defence agreement for closer defense and security ties with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak, and issued a joint statement with U.S. President Joe Biden reiterating the Japan-U.S. alliance in the so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy."

Since Kishida's government updated its security strategy last month in contravention of its exclusively defense-oriented policy, its series of actions have increasingly raised alarms among its Asian neighbors, said local scholars, urging the government to change its relations with the United States from "subordination" to "self-reliance."

FREE RIDER ON U.S. HEGEMONY

Friday's U.S.-Japan summit, the main focus of Kishida's week-long tour, marked his first Washington visit as the Japanese premier, who attached utmost importance to the debut trip and made "full preparations" beforehand.

In December last year, Japan approved three updated documents on its security and defense policies, including the new National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy, and the Defense Buildup Program, vowing to gain "counterstrike capability," or "enemy base strike capabilities."

Japan's annual defense outlays are also set to surge. The government intends to secure about 313 billion U.S. dollars in defense spending for the five years from fiscal 2023.

Analysts pointed out that the United States in recent years has dominated the Australia-India-Japan-U.S. Quadrilateral in the Asia-Pacific region, peddling the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework while forming cliques and divided camps.

Since taking office in October 2021, Kishida's cabinet is so willing to spearhead the expansion of U.S. hegemony in the Asia-Pacific that it courted the United States by arming itself, while relying on the latter for army expansion and war preparation, paving the way for its dream of becoming a military power again.

During the U.S.-Japan meeting, the most severe and complex security environment in the Indo-Pacific region was repeatedly brought up. While Kishida explained to Biden the changes in Japan's security policy, the U.S. president "commended" Japan's defense upgrade and its "historic" defense budget hike.

According to the joint statement issued on Friday, the two sides agreed to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance not only in terms of security but also in economic ties to secure their edge on emerging technologies including semiconductors.

Prior to the meeting, foreign and defense chiefs from the two sides held 2-plus-2 defense talks, or the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee on Wednesday, vowing to address their "greatest strategic challenge."

The ministers agreed to strengthen military ties, deepen cooperation regarding Japan's decision to possess counterattack capabilities, expand joint use of U.S. and Japanese facilities and extend the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty into space.

Atsushi Koketsu, emeritus professor at Yamaguchi University of Japan, said the Japanese government, following the U.S. intention, has turned to a "preemptive attack strategy" by abandoning the "exclusive defense" concept, putting its Asian neighbors on alert.

Kishida's practice of "free riding" on the U.S. hegemony has roused discontent among the Japanese public.

DISTURBING SEEKER OF DEFENSE CO-OP

As the current G7 chair, Japan will host the group's summit in May. Kishida's visit to the five G7 countries is also aimed at garnering support on a host of issues including food security, nuclear disarmament, climate change and Russia-Ukraine conflict before the summit in Hiroshima.

Since last October, four ministers have resigned successively from Kishida's cabinet due to scandals, plunging the government's approval ratings to record lows. Meanwhile, former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga criticized Kishida recently for remaining as the head of a political faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party while leading the country, an additional blow to Kishida.

As multiple crises unfold, Kishida intends to take advantage of Japan's G7 presidency, as well as its election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council and the council's rotating president in January, to engage in vigorous diplomacy and create a sense of presence by forming cliques, in a bid to ensure a successful G7 Hiroshima summit and boost his flagging approval ratings.

During the visit, the Kishida government, abandoner of its exclusively defense-oriented policy and pacifism embodied in the Constitution of Japan, is seeking to strengthen defense and security cooperation with the United States and European countries wherever possible.

In London, for example, Kishida and Sunak signed the Japan-Britain Reciprocal Access Agreement aimed at facilitating bilateral defense and security cooperation, stating simplified procedures for Japan-Britain cooperation in ship berthing and joint exercises in the future, and expecting more active military cooperation between the two countries.

Liu Di, a professor at Japan's Kyorin University, said Japan's economy has been stagnant for the past 30 years and it will inevitably lead to a host of domestic conflicts if the world's third largest economy continues to hike defense spending.

Therefore, Japan may use external forces to strengthen its comprehensive security capabilities, including leveraging other developed countries within the G7 framework, the scholar said.

Ukeru Magosaki, a former Japanese foreign ministry official, told Xinhua that the economic weather in Japan is not optimistic, and most Japanese people do not approve of raising taxes or issuing government bonds to increase defense expenditure.

Koketsu said the urgent task for the Japanese government is to transform its relations with the U.S. from "subordination" to "self-reliance" and carry out an open diplomacy with its Asian neighbors.

This would be the foundation of Japan's guarantee for national security, he noted.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Genesis EVs are parked, featuring stickers promoting Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030, in Davos, Switzerland. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group



By Kim Hyun-bin



Major Korean business conglomerates are gearing up to promote the southern port city of Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030 at the World Economic Forum (WEF) held in Davos, Switzerland.



According to industry officials, Tuesday, the heads of big business groups, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, arrived in Switzerland to attend the WEF, also known as the Davos Forum, after wrapping up their visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of the presidential economic delegation.



While the focus of the UAE trip was to find new growth opportunities, the key task of the business leaders in Davos is to promote Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030.



Under the theme of "Cooperation?in a fragmented?world," the Davos Forum, now in its 53rd year, kicked off Monday and will last through Friday.



Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, and Hanwha Solutions Vice Chairman Kim Dong-kwan will also attend the forum.



"Many conglomerate chiefs will try to promote Busan's World Expo 2030 bid, but as always each year at the Davos Forum, there are major schedule changes at the scene, so it is difficult at this point how the company heads will try to approach and promote the expo," an industry official familiar with the matter said.



In addition, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) is scheduled to host a Korea Night event in Switzerland to help promote the World Expo bid by inviting influential figures from around the world who are attending the Davos Forum.



The SK Group chairman also serves as the co-chairman of the Busan Expo bid committee and plans to embark on an all-out campaign to help the southern port city host the Expo. Other business leaders also plan to mobilize their global connections to emphasize the benefits of Busan hosting the Expo.



"At Davos Forum luncheons and banquets, we will install various LEDs and advertising slogans to promote Busan's bid to host World Expo 2030," a senior KCCI official said. "After Davos, Chairman Chey Tae-won will meet foreign ambassadors in Paris to explain the expo there as well."


Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Altima Resources Ltd. (TSXV: ARH) (FSE: AKC1) (OTC Pink: ARSLF) (the "Company" or the "Altima") announces that the Company has successfully closed on the acquisition and transfer of a key pipeline (the "Pipeline") in the Company's core oil producing area of Red Earth Alberta (the "North Panny Field"). The 9.2 kilometers Pipeline ties the Company's central battery at 3-8-96-5 W5M in the Blue Sky Resources processing facility at 3-11-96-6 W5M.

Altima holds an average Working Interest of 81% in seven (7) wells (the "Wells") in the North Panny Field, three (3) Wells are located in Twp. 95, Rge. 5 W5M, three (3) Wells in Twp.96, Rge. 4W5M and one (1) well is located in Twp. 96, Rge. 5 W5M. These Wells are long life assets with a combined production of approximately 115 bopd. The Company has initiated the process of sequentially placing these Wells back into production, which are connected to the Altima 8-3 central battery and flow through the Pipeline to the 3-11 Blue Sky processing facility and market hub. The new Pipeline will provide the Company sustainable, year-round production capability from the North Panny Field.

Mr. DeVries commented, "We are very encouraged in this first step towards creating multiple long-term, sustainable, economic production."

With the Company greatly reducing its operating costs through the acquisition of the Pipeline, Altima will complete an evaluation for on-stream potential with (5) five additional wells (the "Expansion Wells") also located in North Panny Field to determine the feasibility of working over, tying in and/or the re-completion of the Expansion Wells for additional production. The Expansion Wells are expected to have a combined initial production of approximately 40 bopd. One of the Expansion Wells is slotted as a potential water disposal well to further decrease operation costs.

Bernie Goruk, P.Eng is the Practising Professional Engineer responsible for reviewing and approving the data contained in this press release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

SIGNED: "Joe DeVries"

Joe DeVries, interim CEO and President

Contact: (604) 336-8610

Forward Statements:

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's plans or expectations include risks relating to: availability of capital and financing required to continue the Company's exploration and development plans; general economic, market or business conditions; the actual results of current and planned exploration activities; fluctuating commodity prices; risks associated with property option agreements, leases, joint ventures and the ability to conclude joint venture agreements on favorable terms; possibility of accidents, equipment breakdowns and delays during exploration; exploration cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; regulatory changes and restrictions including in relation to environmental liability; timeliness of government or regulatory approvals and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151451
MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - A high-level U.S. delegation held discussions with top leaders of the Ukrainian Government in Kyiv Monday. The delegation, headed by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, members of the Office of the President, and senior Ukrainian officials 'to reaffirm the United States' strong and steadfast commitment to Ukraine and its defense against Russia's unprovoked aggression,' the State Department said in a statement. The other members of the U.S. squad included Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer and Under Secretary of Defense Dr. Colin H. Kahl. The U.S. team met with Prime Minister Shmyhal to discuss how U.S. and international assistance has helped stabilize Ukraine's economy and how to develop an enduring U.S.-Ukraine trade and investment partnership as Ukraine rebuilds. They also met with Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov to discuss diplomatic efforts and security assistance to strengthen Ukraine's security capabilities. In a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov and Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, they reviewed emergency efforts to repair and sustain Ukraine's energy system in the wake of Russia's brutal attacks on critical infrastructure. Monday, the mayor of Kyiv had warned that the collapse of Ukraine's energy infrastructure is imminent. As part of the trip, the U.S. delegation heard from young Ukrainians who have adapted their businesses and advocacy to support their fellow citizens even as they look ahead to Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction. Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have arrived at Fort Sill in Oklahoma for training on the U.S. Patriot missile system, the US Army base said. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Collaboration used satellite channel and 5G base station emulation platforms to establish a 5G NTN connection with a Qualcomm Technologies 5G mobile test platform

NTN using satellite-to-ground communication brings complete global 5G coverage

Successful NTN connection enables faster development of 3GPP Release 17 compliant designs

SANTA ROSA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Keysight Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:KEYS), a leading technology company that delivers advanced design and validation solutions to help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world, announced it has collaborated with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to establish an end-to-end 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) connection. Based on this successful demonstration of call signaling and data transfer using orbit trajectory emulation, Keysight and Qualcomm Technologies aim to accelerate 5G NTN technology to provide affordable broadband connectivity in remote areas.

NTNs based on 5G satellite-to-ground communication bring secure, reliable, and high bandwidth connectivity to remote areas that do not have terrestrial network coverage. Widespread 5G NTN deployments can provide critical health, safety, and financial benefits to rural populations while improving economic conditions for industrial sectors such as agriculture, energy, health, and transportation.

The end-to-end 5G NTN connection, based on modelling constellations of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, was made in Qualcomm Technologies' San Diego laboratory by combining Keysight's 5G base station and aerospace emulation solutions with a Qualcomm Technologies 5G mobile test platform (MTP). The Qualcomm Technologies MTP is a smartphone reference design that acts as a proven test device for implementing and verifying the most advanced features available from Qualcomm Technologies research labs. The collaboration enables device makers to speed development and verification of 3GPP Release 17 compliant designs.

Keysight's high-performance emulation capabilities make it possible to compensate for high Doppler effect and time delay as satellites move at speeds up to 7,500 kilometers per second and at altitudes as high as 750 kilometers. The aerospace industry uses Keysight's software-centric design and validation solutions to launch thousands of satellites that are used for aeronautical, maritime, and mission-critical communications as well as environmental monitoring.

Keysight integrates 5G network and real-world channel emulation hardware and software to create an end-to-end mixed terrestrial and space lab-based test bed to realistically simulate a wide range of orbit trajectories. The solution uses dynamic multipath propagation to emulate ground-to-satellite, satellite-to-ground, and ground-to-ground satellite links. This provides holistic performance verification of terrestrial and non-terrestrial infrastructure as well as 5G NTN devices.

Tingfang Ji, Vice President of Engineering at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., said: "Our research with Keysight drives many innovations with significant positive impact across a multitude of sectors that rely upon robust wireless connectivity. We are pleased to leverage Keysight's expertise in 5G emulation platforms to help the validation of our research and development for satellite-driven 5G NTN communications."

Cao Peng, Vice President and General Manager for Keysight's Wireless Test Group, said: "Together with Qualcomm Technologies, Keysight is making significant leaps in digitally connecting the world's unconnected areas where deploying terrestrial cellular networks is not a viable option. Keysight is excited to provide industry-first emulation capabilities to Qualcomm Technologies, enabling the world-leading wireless technology innovator to comprehensively address a wide range of complexities that arise as advanced space and terrestrial technologies are combined onto a single modem platform."

About Keysight Technologies

Keysight delivers advanced design and validation solutions that help accelerate innovation to connect and secure the world. Keysight's dedication to speed and precision extends to software-driven insights and analytics that bring tomorrow's technology products to market faster across the development lifecycle, in design simulation, prototype validation, automated software testing, manufacturing analysis, and network performance optimization and visibility in enterprise, service provider and cloud environments. Our customers span the worldwide communications and industrial ecosystems, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy, semiconductor and general electronics markets. Keysight generated revenues of $5.4B in fiscal year 2022. For more information about Keysight Technologies (NYSE: KEYS), visit us at www.keysight.com.

Additional information about Keysight Technologies is available in the newsroom at https://www.keysight.com/go/news and on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Keysight Contact:

Geri Lynne LaCombe, Americas/Europe

+1 303 662-4748

geri_lacombe@keysight.com

Fusako Dohi, Asia

+81 42 660-2162

fusako_dohi@keysight.com

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Keysight Technologies on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Keysight Technologies

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/keysight-technologies

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Keysight Technologies

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735525/Keysight-Qualcomm-Accelerate-5G-Non-Terrestrial-Network-Communication-to-Support-Broadband-in-Remote-Areas
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Rome Resources Ltd. (TSXV: RMR) ("Rome" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Mark Gasson has been appointed to the Company's board of directors.

Mr. Gasson is a geologist with 38 years of experience and has been active in South Africa, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC") since 1986 in exploration for gold and base metals and resource development. Mr. Gasson has served on the boards of and in senior management positions at several mineral exploration and mining companies, and was instrumental in the discovery of the Bisie tin project (250,000 tonnes of contained tin), the Kipoi one million tonne copper project and in the three million ounce Giro gold project, which are all located in the DRC. Mr. Gasson is member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Dr. Georg Schnura, CEO and a director of the Company, states that "Mark Gasson's extensive experience as a geologist, especially in the DRC, will help the Company to oversee and conduct its exploration activities on the two licences that the Company has optioned in eastern DRC."

About Rome Resources

Rome Resources Ltd is a mineral exploration company that has entered into two option agreements to acquire 51% direct and indirect interests in two contiguous properties situated in the Walikale District of the North Kivu Province in eastern DRC, which are referred to collectively as the "Bisie North Tin Project". Rome intends to fund exploration on the project up to the completion of a definitive feasibility study.

For further information, please contact:

Dr. Georg Schnura

President, CEO and Director

Telephone: (604) 687-6140

Email: romeresourcesltd@gmail.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release may include certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Although Rome Resources Ltd believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, Rome Resources Ltd disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151557
EQS-News: Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. / Key word(s): Miscellaneous

Steinhoff International Holdings N.V.: Steinhoff launches Accelerated Placement of ordinary shares in Pepco Group N.V.



17.01.2023 / 17:00 CET/CEST

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, INTO OR IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA OR JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH OFFERS OR SALES WOULD BE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR FORM A PART OF AN OFFER FOR THE SALE OF, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, THE SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN IN ANY JURISDICTION, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA, JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH OFFERS OR SALES WOULD BE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW. PLEASE SEE THE IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. Steinhoff launches Accelerated Placement of ordinary shares in Pepco Group N.V. Steinhoff International Holdings N.V. (the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, "Steinhoff" or the "Steinhoff Group") announces that the Steinhoff Group has decided to launch an accelerated placement of ordinary shares in Pepco Group N.V. ("Pepco Group") which are held through IBEX Retail Investments (Europe) Limited (formerly Pepco Holdco Limited) (the "Seller"), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the Company. The Steinhoff Group intends to sell approximately 34.5 million ordinary shares (the "Placement Shares") in the capital of Pepco Group, through a placement to institutional investors (the "Placement"). The Placement Shares represent up to 6% of Pepco Group's issued share capital, subject to the final terms of the Placement. The Company currently indirectly owns 453,594,616 ordinary shares, representing approximately 78.9% of Pepco Group's issued share capital. If the Placement is fully implemented, the Company's stake in Pepco Group will be reduced to approximately 72.9%. The price per Placement Share will be determined by way of an accelerated bookbuilding process to institutional investors. The bookbuilding period will commence immediately following this announcement and may close at any time on short notice. The results of the Placement, including the number of Placement Shares to be sold and the price per Placement Share, will be announced as soon as practicable after the closing of the bookbuilding process. The Steinhoff Group intends to use the proceeds from the Placement to reduce its outstanding debt. Pepco Group will not receive any proceeds from the Placement. The Placement is separate from the maturity extension transaction announced by the Company on 15 December 2022 which the Company continues to work towards and in respect of which further updates will be announced by the Company in due course. Any of the ordinary shares in Pepco Group indirectly held by the Company which are not sold in the Placement will be subject to a 90-day lock-up period, subject to customary exemptions. Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE ("Goldman Sachs") and J.P. Morgan SE ("JP Morgan") are acting as Joint Global Coordinators in connection with the Placement. Santander Bank Polska S.A. - Santander Biuro Maklerskie ("Santander") and Numis Europe Limited ("Numis") are acting as Joint Bookrunners. Pepco Group is a fast-growing pan-European variety discount retailer and owner of the Pepco and Dealz brands in Europe and Poundland in the United Kingdom. Further information on Pepco Group can be found on the Pepco Group website at https://www.pepcogroup.eu. Further information on the Company can be found on the Company's website at https://www.steinhoffinternational.com. The Company has a primary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE Limited. Stellenbosch, South Africa 17 January 2023 IMPORTANT NOTICE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY ANY OF THESE SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA, JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL. THE SECURITIES MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES ABSENT REGISTRATION OR AN APPLICABLE EXEMPTION FROM UNITED STATES REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS. NO PUBLIC OFFER OF SECURITIES IS TO BE MADE IN THE UNITED STATES AND NEITHER THIS ANNOUNCEMENT NOR ANY COPY OF IT MAY BE TAKEN, TRANSMITTED OR DISTRIBUTED, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES (INCLUDING ITS TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS, ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA), CANADA OR JAPAN. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF UNITED STATES, CANADIAN, SOUTH AFRICAN OR JAPANESE SECURITIES LAWS. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND ANY OFFER OF PLACEMENT SHARES IF MADE SUBSEQUENTLY ARE ONLY ADDRESSED TO AND DIRECTED AT PERSONS (1) IN THE EEA WHO ARE QUALIFIED INVESTORS WITHIN THE MEANING OF REGULATION (EU) 2017/1129 (THE "PROSPECTUS REGULATION") AND (2) IN THE UNITED KINGDOM WHO ARE QUALIFIED INVESTORS WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE PROSPECTUS REGULATION AS IT FORMS PART OF DOMESTIC LAW BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 WHO HAVE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE IN MATTERS RELATING TO INVESTMENTS WHO FALL WITHIN ARTICLE 19(5) OF THE FINANCIAL SERVICES AND MARKETS ACT 2000 (FINANCIAL PROMOTION) ORDER 2005 (AS AMENDED, THE "ORDER") OR ARE HIGH NET WORTH ENTITIES FALLING WITHIN ARTICLE 49(2)(A) TO (D) OF THE ORDER OR ARE PERSONS TO WHOM AN OFFER OF THE PLACEMENT SHARES MAY OTHERWISE BE LAWFULLY COMMUNICATED (ALL SUCH PERSONS BEING REFERRED TO AS "RELEVANT PERSONS"). PERSONS WHO ARE NOT QUALIFIED INVESTORS OR RELEVANT PERSONS SHOULD NOT TAKE ANY ACTION ON THE BASIS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND SHOULD NOT ACT OR RELY ON IT. THE SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN WILL BE OFFERED WITHIN THE UNITED STATES ONLY TO QUALIFIED INSTITUTIONAL BUYERS IN RELIANCE ON RULE 144A UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE "SECURITIES ACT") OR ANOTHER EXEMPTION FROM, OR TRANSACTIONS NOT SUBJECT TO, REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT, AND OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES IN RELIANCE ON REGULATION S UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT. THE SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN HAVE NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES WITHOUT REGISTRATION THEREUNDER OR UNLESS PURSUANT TO AN AVAILABLE EXEMPTION THEREFROM. NEITHER THIS DOCUMENT NOR THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN CONSTITUTES OR FORMS PART OF AN OFFER TO SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. THERE WILL BE NO PUBLIC OFFER OF ANY SECURITIES IN THE UNITED STATES OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT, AND SHALL NOT, IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES CONSTITUTE A PUBLIC OFFERING, NOR AN OFFER TO SELL OR TO SUBSCRIBE, NOR A SOLICITATION TO OFFER TO PURCHASE OR TO SUBSCRIBE SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE OFFERING OR SALE OF THE SECURITIES IN CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS MAY BE RESTRICTED BY LAW. NO ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN BY THE COMPANY, THE SELLER, THE JOINT GLOBAL COORDINATORS, THE JOINT BOOKRUNNERS, OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES THAT WOULD, OR WHICH IS INTENDED TO, PERMIT A PUBLIC OFFER OF THE SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION OR POSSESSION OR DISTRIBUTION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR ANY OTHER OFFERING OR PUBLICITY MATERIAL RELATING TO THE SECURITIES IN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE ACTION FOR THAT PURPOSE IS REQUIRED. PERSONS INTO WHOSE POSSESSION THIS ANNOUNCEMENT COMES ARE REQUIRED BY THE COMPANY, THE SELLER, THE JOINT GLOBAL COORDINATORS AND THE JOINT BOOKRUNNERS TO INFORM THEMSELVES ABOUT AND TO OBSERVE ANY APPLICABLE RESTRICTIONS. NO PROSPECTUS OR OFFERING DOCUMENT HAS BEEN OR WILL BE PREPARED IN CONNECTION WITH THE PLACEMENT. ANY INVESTMENT DECISION IN CONNECTION WITH THE PLACEMENT MUST BE MADE SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF PUBLICLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION RELATING TO THE PEPCO GROUP. SUCH INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN INDEPENDENTLY VERIFIED AND THE COMPANY, THE SELLER, THE JOINT GLOBAL COORDINATORS AND THE JOINT BOOKRUNNERS ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY LIABILITY, FOR SUCH INFORMATION. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR BACKGROUND PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT PURPORT TO BE FULL OR COMPLETE. NO RELIANCE MAY BE PLACED FOR ANY PURPOSE ON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR ON ITS ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A RECOMMENDATION CONCERNING THE PLACEMENT. THE PRICE AND VALUE OF SECURITIES AND ANY INCOME FROM THEM CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT A GUIDE TO FUTURE PERFORMANCE. ACQUIRING PLACEMENT SHARES TO WHICH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT RELATES MAY EXPOSE AN INVESTOR TO A SIGNIFICANT RISK OF LOSING ALL OF THE AMOUNT INVESTED. POTENTIAL INVESTORS SHOULD CONSULT A PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR AS TO THE SUITABILITY OF THE PLACEMENT FOR THE ENTITY OR PERSON CONCERNED. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT REPRESENT THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF A DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT TO PROCEED WITH THE PLACEMENT AND, ACCORDINGLY, THERE CAN BE NO CERTAINTY THAT THE PLACEMENT WILL PROCEED. THE COMPANY AND THE SELLER RESERVE THE RIGHT NOT TO PROCEED WITH THE PLACEMENT OR TO VARY THE TERMS OF THE PLACEMENT IN ANY WAY. CERTAIN FIGURES CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT HAVE BEEN SUBJECT TO ROUNDING ADJUSTMENTS. ACCORDINGLY, IN CERTAIN INSTANCES, THE SUM OR PERCENTAGE CHANGE OF THE NUMBERS CONTAINED IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MAY NOT CONFORM EXACTLY WITH THE TOTAL FIGURE GIVEN. EACH OF GOLDMAN SACHS AND JP MORGAN IS SUPERVISED BY THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK AND THE FEDERAL FINANCIAL SUPERVISORY AUTHORITY (BUNDESANSTALT FUR FINANZDIENSTLEISTUNGSAUFSICHT) IN GERMANY. SANTANDER IS SUBJECT TO THE SUPERVISION OF THE POLISH FINANCIAL SUPERVISION COMMISSION (KOMISJA NADZORU FINANSOWEGO) WITH ITS HEADQUARTERS IN WARSAW, PIEKNA 20, 00-549 WARSAW, POLAND. NUMIS IS REGULATED BY THE CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND IN IRELAND. THE JOINT GLOBAL COORDINATORS AND THE JOINT BOOKRUNNERS ARE ACTING FOR THE SELLER ONLY IN CONNECTION WITH THE PLACEMENT AND NO ONE ELSE, AND WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE TO ANYONE OTHER THAN THE SELLER FOR PROVIDING THE PROTECTIONS OFFERED TO CLIENTS NOR FOR PROVIDING ADVICE IN RELATION TO THE PLACEMENT SHARES OR THE PLACEMENT, THE CONTENTS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR ANY TRANSACTION, ARRANGEMENT OR OTHER MATTER REFERRED TO IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. IN CONNECTION WITH THE PLACEMENT, GOLDMAN SACHS, JP MORGAN, SANTANDER AND NUMIS OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES MAY TAKE UP A PORTION OF THE PLACEMENT SHARES AS A PRINCIPAL POSITION AND IN THAT CAPACITY MAY RETAIN, PURCHASE, SELL, OFFER TO SELL FOR ITS OWN ACCOUNTS SUCH PLACEMENT SHARES AND OTHER SECURITIES OF THE PEPCO GROUP OR RELATED INVESTMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE PLACEMENT OR OTHERWISE. ACCORDINGLY, REFERENCES TO THE PLACEMENT SHARES BEING ISSUED, OFFERED, SUBSCRIBED, ACQUIRED, PLACED OR OTHERWISE DEALT IN SHOULD BE READ AS INCLUDING ANY ISSUE OR OFFER TO, OR SUBSCRIPTION, ACQUISITION, PLACEMENT OR DEALING BY ANY OF THE JOINT GLOBAL COORDINATORS, THE JOINT BOOKRUNNERS AND ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES ACTING AS INVESTORS FOR THEIR OWN ACCOUNTS. THE JOINT GLOBAL COORDINATORS AND THE JOINT BOOKRUNNERS DO NOT INTEND TO DISCLOSE THE EXTENT OF ANY SUCH INVESTMENT OR TRANSACTIONS OTHERWISE THAN IN ACCORDANCE WITH ANY LEGAL OR REGULATORY OBLIGATIONS TO DO SO. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT INCLUDES STATEMENTS THAT ARE, OR MAY BE DEEMED TO BE, FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS MAY BE IDENTIFIED BY THE USE OF FORWARD-LOOKING TERMINOLOGY, INCLUDING THE TERMS "INTENDS", "EXPECTS", "WILL", OR "MAY", OR, IN EACH CASE, THEIR NEGATIVE OR OTHER VARIATIONS OR COMPARABLE TERMINOLOGY, OR BY DISCUSSIONS OF STRATEGY, PLANS, OBJECTIVES, GOALS, FUTURE EVENTS OR INTENTIONS. THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS INCLUDE ALL MATTERS THAT ARE NOT HISTORICAL FACTS AND INCLUDE STATEMENTS REGARDING INTENTIONS, BELIEFS OR CURRENT EXPECTATIONS. NO ASSURANCES CAN BE GIVEN THAT THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS IN THIS ANNOUNCEMENT WILL BE REALISED. AS A RESULT, NO UNDUE RELIANCE SHOULD BE PLACED ON THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS AS A PREDICTION OF ACTUAL EVENTS OR OTHERWISE.

17.01.2023 CET/CEST Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by EQS News - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The EQS Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.eqs-news.com


Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Nextech AR Solutions Corp. (OTCQX: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) (FSE: EP2) today announced that Nextech AR's CEO Evan Gappelberg will be attending the virtual Investor Summit. Nextech AR Solutions is a diversified augmented reality, AI technology company that leverages proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) to create 3D experiences for the metaverse. Its main businesses are creating 3D WebAR photorealistic models for the Prime Ecommerce Marketplace as well as many other online retailers.

Event: Q1 Investor Summit Date: January 26th, 2023 Presentation: January 26th at 12:30 p.m. EST Location: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0JLg-aH8QQuGqwU2B7muMw

The theme is 25 micro-cap companies with a catalyst and/or strong performance in the current market.

1x1s will be available for qualified investors.

The conference is completely complimentary to qualified investors. Please register at Complimentary Investor Registration.

About Nextech AR Solutions Corp.

Nextech AR Solutions (OTCQX: NEXCF) (CSE: NTAR) (FSE: EP2) is a diversified augmented reality, AI technology company that leverages proprietary AI to create 3D experiences for the metaverse. Its main businesses are creating 3D WebAR photorealistic models for the Prime Ecommerce Marketplace as well as many other online retailers. The company develops or acquires what it believes is disruptive technology and once commercialized spins them out as stand alone public companies issuing a stock dividend to shareholders while retaining a significant ownership stake in the public spin-out. On 10/26/2022 the company completed its first spin-out of an augmented reality wayfinding solution company called ARway The company owns 13 million shares in ARway and distributed 4 million shares to Nextech shareholders. On 12/14/2022, the company announced its second spinout of Toggle3D, an AI powered 3D design studio to compete with Adobe. Toggle3D is expected to be public in the first half of 2023.

For further information:

Investor Relations

Lindsay Betts

investor.relations@Nextechar.com

866-ARITIZE (274-8493) Ext 7201

Nextech AR Solutions Corp.

Evan Gappelberg

CEO and Director

866-ARITIZE (274-8493)

About the Investor Summit

The Investor Summit is an exclusive, independent conference dedicated to connecting smallcap and microcap companies with qualified investors. The Q1 Investor Summit will take place virtually, featuring 30 companies and over 120 institutional, family office, and high net worth investors. Sectors Participating: Biotech, Communication Services, Consumer, Energy, Technology, Financial, Healthcare, Industrials, Materials, Real Estate. Contact: emily@investorsummitgroup.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151561
CIRCLEVILLE, OH / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Sofidel, a leading global provider of paper for hygienic and domestic use, awarded Sam Pusateri, senior processing engineer at Sofidel's Circleville, Ohio plant, with an all-inclusive trip to Italy. For its "We, Sofidel" program, Sofidel selects one winner from each country where it operates to fly to Lucca, Italy and explore the beautiful surroundings and meet and engage with international colleagues and Sofidel executives. Pusateri was selected as the U.S. representative.

"Sofidel thrives from the cultural differences our employees bring to our company, which is no surprise given the number of countries our company reaches," said Fabio Vitali, Vice President of Marketing, Sofidel America. "This program was created to foster diversity and ideas that can become a source of inspiration throughout our lives."

Pusateri's passion for music began at a young age. He has been involved with music since he was a child and singing in a band for nearly 10 years. During his visit to Lucca, Pusateri dined with Sofidel executives, went sightseeing and spent quality time with peers and colleagues.

"I love how music allows me to express my artistry with my best friends," said Pusateri. "I'm grateful that my passion for music brought me to the beautiful city of Lucca which is rich in history. I'm proud to work for an employee-centered company that values its employees and is focused on building a culture that encourages them."

To enter the "We, Sofidel" contest, employees can upload a photo or short video that represents their passion and explains how it helps improve their personal and professional lives. A panel of experts selected 13 winners to fly to Lucca, Italy, a city rich in history and monuments, and visit the Sofidel Group's headquarters in Italy just a few miles from the city center, in the village of Porcari.

Pietro Paolini, an up-and-coming Italian photographer, created the 13 winners' portraits. The images will be featured in the new Sofidel calendar.

For more information about the "We, Sofidel" contest, visit here.

About?The?Sofidel?Group????

The?Sofidel?Group, a privately held company owned by the Stefani and?Lazzareschi?families, is a world leader in the manufacture of paper for hygienic and domestic use. Founded in 1966, the Group has?subsidiaries in 12 countries - Italy, Spain, the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Romania, and the USA - with more than 6,400 employees. A member of the UN Global Compact and the international WWF Climate Savers program, the?Sofidel?Group considers sustainability a strategic imperative and is?committed?to promoting sustainable development.? For more information, visit?www.sofidel.com.???????

Media Contact:????

Brianna Fitzpatrick?

Mulberry Marketing Communications?

bfitzpatrick@mulberrymc.com???? ??

-###-

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Sofidel on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Sofidel

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/sofidel

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Sofidel

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735517/Sofidel-Awards-Circleville-Employee-With-Italy-Trip
LONDON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cubico Sustainable Investments (Cubico), one of the world's largest privately-owned renewable energy companies, has acquired Project Sobral, a 1 GW solar PV project under development in Brazil, from ZEG Energias Renovaveis (ZEG).

The transaction comprises a large solar PV complex located in the municipalities of Sobral and Santana do Acarau in the state of Ceara.

Project Sobral, one of the largest solar development projects in the country, is expected to generate more than 2,000 GWh per year, enough energy to power approximately a million Brazilian homes.

Cubico and ZEG will co-develop the project, including the negotiation of supply contracts and offtake agreements with third parties.

Francisco Moya, Country Head of Brazil and Rest of Latam at Cubico, said: "This important acquisition consolidates our presence in Latin America and marks the start of our new renewables platform in Brazil after recent strategic divestments in the country. It's also our first investment in solar assets in Brazil and we will be actively looking to grow the portfolio through the acquisition and development of other PV and onshore wind projects. We also see this as the start of an exciting partnership with ZEG, where we combine Cubico's global in-house development capability, construction and operational experience and proven financing track-record with their expertise on renewable project development and energy commercialisation in the local market."

Javier Areitio, Head of Origination and Development at Cubico, added: "This transaction reflects our focus on accelerated growth and greenfield development, both at the centre of our ambitious new strategy. We look forward to building our global portfolio further as we increase our commitment to driving the energy transition and bringing clean power to people and communities around the world."

Daniel Rossi, CEO of ZEG, said: "Project Sobral will increase our availability of renewable energy to consumers and clients interested in decarbonising their productive process. As part of Grupo Capitale, ZEG has the potential to strategically allocate this energy in the free market, offering good opportunities for companies committed to ESG goals."

Cubico was advised by Machado Meyer (Legal), RINA (Technical) and KPMG (Finance & Model Audit). ZEG was advised by Trench Rossi Watanabe (Legal) and Virtus Capital Partners (Financial)

The conclusion of this transaction remains subject to the fulfilment of the conditions precedent agreed within the scope of the acquisition, which are customary for this type of transaction and include, but are not limited to, approval of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE).

About Cubico

Founded in May 2015, Cubico Sustainable Investments is a major investor in the renewable energy sector. The company is backed by the resources of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Canada's largest single-profession pension plan, and PSP Investments, one of Canada's largest pension investment managers. Cubico's global portfolio in 12 countries has an installed gross capacity of more than 2.7 GW, with 3.5 GW in construction and under development. Cubico is headquartered in London and has offices in Sao Paulo and Fortaleza (Brazil), Athens (Greece), Milan (Italy), Stamford (US), Mexico City (Mexico), Madrid (Spain), Bordeaux (France), Sydney and Melbourne (Australia), Montevideo (Uruguay) and Bogota (Colombia).

www.cubicoinvest.com

About ZEG & Capitale Energia

ZEG ("Zero Emission Generation") is a company focused on reducing the negative impacts of carbon fuels in the energy matrix worldwide, investing in disruptive and innovative technologies. Through its different subsidiaries and invested companies, ZEG provides a broad range of carbon-neutral and energy efficient solutions, going from biomethane production, waste to energy conversion and the renewable energy generation.

Capitale Energia is one of the largest and most active independent commercialization companies in Brazil, with more than 1GWa of energy daily negotiated. Capitale provides innovative and customized solutions for more than 1.500 companies of different sectors in the free energy market in Brazil

ZEG and Capitale Energia are part of Grupo Capitale's energy solutions platform.

www.zeg.com.br

www.capitaleenergia.com.br

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/cubico-sustainable-investments-acquires-1-gw-solar-development-project-in-brazil-from-zeg-301723600.html
Regulatory News:

The CLASQUIN Group (Paris:ALCLA) and the PUECH family group announce the signing of an agreement for the CLASQUIN Group to acquire a controlling interest in the TIMAR Group.

The parties have entered into exclusive negotiations for the CLASQUIN Group to acquire 63.57% of TIMAR SA's share capital and voting rights held by members of the PUECH family group.

This acquisition would then be followed by a mandatory takeover bid on the remaining portion of TIMAR's share capital.

TIMAR is a Moroccan group listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange that operates in Europe, North Africa and West Africa. For almost 40 years, the TIMAR Group has designed innovative solutions in international transport, logistics and goods transit.

Founded in 1980, it generated in 2021 consolidated sales of over MAD 540 million (around 50 million) and net profit Group share of MAD 12.3 million (around 1.12 million). The TIMAR Group comprises 13 subsidiaries in Morocco, France, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Mauritania, Mali, Senegal and Ivory Coast, with 450 employees.

By working together on the France-Morocco route for over 30 years, and particularly since the 2015 takeover of LCI by the CLASQUIN Group, the two groups have significantly accelerated their development and strengthened their business relationships.

The planned transaction would enable the CLASQUIN Group to benefit from:

experienced and committed teams from the TIMAR Group to strengthen CLASQUIN Group Road Brokerage/RORO division*;

the expansion of the service offering across the European/North African markets for the new group's clients;

a strong brand and market positioning in North Africa to boost the group's development strategy in the EuroMed region;

an integrated network of operating subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The aim is to preserve the identity of the TIMAR Group and its subsidiaries, allowing for long-term growth. Olivier Puech would continue to lead TIMAR as CEO, with the management team.

Completion of the transaction is subject to prior approval by the Moroccan authorities (Conseil de la Concurrence -Morocco's Competition Council-). Subject to ongoing negotiations and the satisfaction of conditions precedent, the transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023

*RORO, i.e. roll-on/roll off, refers to heavy goods vehicles or trailers driven on and off specifically designed ships

UPCOMING EVENTS (publication after market closure)

Thursday 23 February 2023: Q4 2022 business report

Wednesday 22 March 2023: 2022 annual results

Wednesday 3 May 2023: Q1 2023 business report

Thursday 27 July 2023: Q2 2023 business report

Wednesday 13 September 2023: H1 2023 results

Thursday 26 October 2023: Q3 2023 business report

ABOUT CLASQUIN:

CLASQUIN is an air and sea freight forwarding and overseas logistics specialist. The Group designs and manages the entire overseas transport and logistics chain, organising and coordinating the flow of client shipments between France and the rest of the world and, more specifically, to and from Asia-Pacific, North America, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.

Its shares are listed on EURONEXT GROWTH, ISIN FR0004152882, Reuters ALCLA.PA, Bloomberg ALCLA FP.

Read more at www.clasquin.com.

CLASQUIN confirms its eligibility for the share savings plan for MSCs (medium-sized companies) in accordance with Article D. 221-113-5 of the French Monetary and Financial Code established by decree number 2014-283 of 4 March 2014 and with Article L. 221-32-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, which set the conditions for eligibility (less than 5,000 employees and annual sales of less than 1,500m or balance sheet total of less than 2,000m).

CLASQUIN is listed on the Enternext PEA-PME 150 index.

LEI: 9695004FF6FA43KC4764

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005862/en/

Contacts:

CLASQUIN CONTACTS

Philippe Lons Deputy Managing Director/Group CFO

Domitille Chatelain Group Head of Communication Marketing



CLASQUIN Group 235 cours Lafayette 69006 Lyon

Tel.: +33 (0)4 72 83 17 00 Fax: +33 (0)4 72 83 17 33
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / The cooking class looks like something you'd see on TV. Ten students at workstations chopping, whisking, sauteing, the sounds and smells of home cooking filling the air.

But if you look closely at the kitchen tools in hand, you'll see some adaptive equipment at work, like safety knives. And soon, more adaptive equipment will arrive-including a peeler that can be operated with just one hand; a slicer safe for someone with visual impairments; and larger utensils that are easy to hold and maneuver for those with coordination issues.

The cooking class is a favorite learning activity offered as part of the curriculum at Opportunity Enterprises (OE), a non-profit operating in three counties in northwest Indiana.

By going through the process of following a recipe and preparing ingredients, OE's clients-individuals with disabilities-develop cooking skills, learn about nutrition, socialize with peers, and take important steps toward self-sufficiency.

Based in the city of Valparaiso, OE delivers programs and support to around 1,000 people with disabilities in the region every year. Each week alone, more than 250 clients attend their in-demand day programs, operated in a classroom-like setting. Clients are enrolled in a range of courses and activities, such as the cooking class, depending on the client's learning stream and goals.

The proof of OE's success is in the proverbial pudding.

"We keep outcomes on the learning goals of all our clients," says Shannon Keaton, OE's curriculum director. "Right now we're showing that approximately 87% of our clients are meeting their individualized learning goals."

Operating since 1967, OE originally focused on supporting adults; in recent years they've expanded youth programming to include school partnerships, an eight-week summer camp for school-aged youth of all abilities, and monthly weekend camps.

As word of their accomplishments spreads, the number of clients increases, and so do programming costs. Government funding covers some support for people with disabilities, but not to the extent of programming and support OE offers.

"OE is not willing to compromise on our mission of enriching the lives of individuals with disabilities," says Alison Martin, OE's development director, noting that OE also relies on donations and grants from the community to fill the gaps in funding.

At Enbridge, we're committed to helping create vibrant and sustainable communities near our operations. Recognizing the immediate need to expand educational programs, we awarded OE a $7,500 Fueling Futures grant to support OE's educational curriculum day programming, including the purchase of adaptive equipment, computer software, art supplies, and tools to help develop fine motor skills.

All of these supplies contribute to the growth and independence of clients, OE's ultimate goal.

"When our clients achieve their learning goals, they're one step closer to self-sufficiency, one step closer to our mission," Martin says.

She adds: "It all contributes to a vibrant community."

Opportunity Enterprises clients at work in the kitchen.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Enbridge on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Enbridge

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/enbridge

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Enbridge

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735531/Cooking-Up-Growth-Opportunities-in-Indiana
A customer on Tuesday reads a notice stating that NC Department Store Yatap branch in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, will close temporarily until its operator verifies the building's safety. Yonhap



By Park Jae-hyuk



E-Land Retail has drawn criticism once again for its safety negligence, after it was revealed that its NC Department Store in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, had stayed open despite cracks in the ceiling.



On Monday afternoon, customers started noticing the cracks in the ceiling on the second floor of the building, which has eight floors aboveground and seven basement levels. The same day, a glass panel for controlling smoke in case of fire also fell from the ceiling on the first floor of the building.



The retailer, however, did not close the department store. Metal poles were placed to support the ceiling.



After some customers uploaded photos of the department store on internet forums, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Won Hee-ryong, who is accompanying President Yoon Suk Yeol on his trip to the UAE and Switzerland, said he asked Seongnam Mayor Shin Sang-jin to take necessary measures.



"The department store's operator had to close down and evacuate customers until it verifies safety," he wrote on Facebook late on Monday. "Its decision to stay open proves that Korean society is still careless about safety."



The minister also mentioned the Sampoong Department Store collapse in 1995, which killed at least 502 people, as the department store's operator had not evacuated its customers despite awareness of cracks in the building.



As criticism intensifies against E-Land Retail, the company belatedly sent a letter to Seongnam's municipal government saying it would shut down the problematic department store. Seongnam also ordered the retailer at 4 a.m. on Tuesday to prevent customers from entering the building until after an emergency safety inspection.



"In accordance with our principle to prioritize the safety of our customers, we decided to close the store until we finish checking the safety of the building," E-Land Retail said.



In 2018, the company was embroiled in a controversy for keeping the same department store open, after a ceiling on the second floor collapsed. The accident came just three days after a similar one occurred at NC Department Store's Suwon branch in Gyeonggi Province.




Davos, Switzerland--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Innovating in the field of socially sustainable investing, ESG DAO, a UK-based organization, has unveiled OpenESG, a revolutionary new scoring system that promises to transform the way Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) scores are determined. OpenESG is the first open, democratic, and credibly neutral ESG Scoring System that aims to restore trust in the ESG movement.

ESG Scoring Infrastructure for People and Planet

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8675/151532_8f8086864469391e_001full.jpg

OpenESG combines multiple datastreams with a diverse and decentralized expert council and data validator networks that are incentivized to measure companies' real world impact and serve the people and the planet. Their innovative approach also democratizes the ESG scoring process by simplifying the methodology and making scores more accessible to a wider range of companies of all sizes.

OpenESG is poised to revolutionize the ESG landscape. The technology is a significant step forward in aligning the interests of businesses with the preferences of most consumers, who prioritize companies that are acting in the world's best interests.

"OpenESG is a game-changer for the ESG industry, providing consumers and investors with the information they need to make informed decisions about the companies they choose to support. This innovative approach to ESG scoring is a significant step forward in creating a more sustainable and responsible global economy," says Tee Ganbold, Co-Founder and Executive Chair of ESG DAO.

Building a better ESG rating system

Unlike traditional ESG scoring systems that only measure a company's risk-mitigation capabilities, OpenESG is designed to provide a comprehensive and transparent assessment of a company's positive and negative impact on the planet.

The system will merge several legacy and novel data streams to provide a more accurate and holistic view of a company's ESG performance. The data is curated by a decentralized Expert Council, comprised of diverse perspectives, to ensure that no special interests can dominate the decision-making process. All Expert Council decisions will be made public, promoting transparency and restoring trust in the system.

OpenESG announced it will source diverse public and non-public data sets to get the most comprehensive landscape of relevant ESG metrics for the largest possible pool of companies, partnering with organizations and ratings agencies to get better, more frequently updated data which will be stored in a distributed knowledge graph database. Companies will be able to get their score for free in the first quarter of 2023. If your company would like an OpenESG Score, please sign-up here.

"A transparent, democratic, and credibly neutral ESG scoring system accessible to consumers, academics, businesses, and builders will become the foundation for the emergence of a new wave of apps capable of nudging customer awareness, engagement, purchasing behavior, and investment decisions towards high scoring companies. This is the basis of a flywheel that privileges good behavior and translates good corporate karma into better outcomes," says David Aikman, Co-Founder and CEO of ESG DAO.

"Our goal is to build a system that is truly global and future compatible, using the same standards as current ESG systems, but compiling data in a more efficient way, and in real time, connecting good companies to good people and incentivizing businesses to act in the planet's best interests."

The OpenESG Expert Council

As a centerpiece of the OpenESG scoring system, ESG DAO is also announcing its Expert Council, comprised of the world's leading ESG experts from different stakeholders of the society and diverse regions of the world, who provide the intellectual and ethical guidance to define and maintain a truly independent set of ESG ratings. Council members are nominated from science, academia, sustainability, finance, technology, industry, and civil society to contribute their knowledge and expertise at the global, regional, local, and industry level.

The Council currently has 10 experts but will quickly grow to over 100 co-opted members and beyond, to ensure diversity and plurality of perspectives.

OpenESG is currently recruiting new leaders for the council. The initial members include names such as Adam Werbach, Global Lead of Sustainable Shopping for Amazon; Alvaro Arregui, Managing Partner at MA2; Asher Jay, CEO and Founder at IncOperate; Lady Marieme Jamme, Founder at Iamthecode; Oliver Niedermaier, Chairman and CEO of TAU Investments, Reem Khouri, Co-founder at Whyise, E. Benjamin Skinner, founder of Transparentem and, Kristin Rechberger, CEO of Dynamic Planet, John Haffner, Deputy Director at Hang Lung Properties and Sony Kapoor, CEO of The Nordic Institute for Finance, Technology and Sustainability. If you would like to nominate an OpenESG Expert Council member you can do so here.

The founders will be in Davos 2023, hosting a panel about the future of ESG on the 17th of January, with key leaders in the industry such as Leslie Maasdorp, VP and CFO at the New Development Bank, Chris Cleverly, President of Tingo Inc, Lei Lei, Head of Growth and Infrastructure, at NEAR Foundation, Amanda Terry, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Metagood, and Benjamin Z. Bronfman Founder of Electric Tree. For those interested in participating, reserve a spot in the panel here.

Users can subscribe to receive early access & updates, and companies can submit an application to get a score for their Brand or Product at openesg.com.

About ESG DAO

ESG DAO is building an open, democratic, and credibly neutral ESG scoring system, OpenESG, that will power a new wave of Web2 and Web3 applications that engage consumers and incentivize companies to create positive environmental and social change in the world.

Learn more about ESG DAO at esgdao.earth or OpenESG at openesg.com.

Follow ESG DAO on Twitter or join their Telegram discussions here.

CEO name: David Aikman

Email: pr@esgdao.earth

Company: ESG DAO

Country/city: Zug, Switzerland

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151532
Strong growth of +60% in international sales

Video interview: Philippe Roussouly, Chairman and CEO of SMAIO, discusses the Company's 2022 achievements and 2023 prospects

Regulatory News:

SMAIO (Software, Machines and Adaptative Implants in Orthopaedics Euronext Growth Paris ISIN: FR0014005I80 Ticker: ALSMA, eligible for PEA-PME equity savings plans), a French player specialized in complex spine surgery with a global offer comprising software, adaptative implants and related services, today published its annual sales for the year to December 31, 2022.

Philippe ROUSSOULY, Chairman and CEO of SMAIO, said: "During our first year of listing, SMAIO continued its commercial development with a strong increase in its international sales. To support and boost this expansion, we have set up international educational programs, the first three of which were successfully held in Sweden, Spain and the United States in the second half of 2022. Our objective is to make SMAIO's technological offer known and available to a maximum of surgeons in countries of strategic interest. Since the IPO, we have also continued our interactions with our partner NuVasive, in order to achieve, in the first half of 2023, a first milestone of 3 million dollars followed by recurring sales by providing imaging analysis services for NuVasive's clients. We look forward to 2023 with confidence and expect even stronger growth with the ramp-up of new countries, with priority given to the United States, the world's largest spine market."

2022 annual sales: strong growth of +60% in international sales

In thousands 2022 2021 Change Sales* 2,442 2,130 +14.7% France 1,101 1,293 -14.9% International 1,341 837 +60.2%

* Unaudited data

Annual sales totaled 2.4 million in 2022, an increase of 14.7% compared with 2021 (2.1 million euros). Sales of implants and rods accounted for almost all of the Company's revenue (94%). The software segment, with the Keops platform, accounted for the balance (6%). This segment will grow in coming halves, notably following the granting of FDA's 510(k) clearance for the Balance Analyzer 3D software and thanks to the partnership and licensing agreement with NuVasive.

International sales jumped 60.7% to 1.3 million euros (55% of total sales). This solid momentum was due to:

the development of activity with historical distributors in Spain and Scandinavia.

- the signing of new distribution agreements in the Baltic States and Greece;

- the first surgeries performed in the United States.

In France, sales declined slightly to approximately 1.1 million euros. Domestic activity should see a return to growth in 2023 thanks to the marketing of the i-Kontrol solution to new medical facilities.

2022 highlights: gradual ramp-up in line with the roadmap

Partnership with NuVasive, a global leader in spine technology innovation

Within the framework of this partnership, NuVasive has committed to invest a total of $10 million (9 million1) in the Company, of which $5 million (~4.5 million) has already been invested at the time of the Company's IPO in early April 2022, the balance consisting of milestone payments to be made when the Company receives FDA 510(k) clearance for two software solutions interfacing with the US group's technological platforms.

Two 510(k) clearances to accelerate development in the United States

In June 2022, SMAIO announced that it had been granted two 510(k) clearances by the FDA for the key components of its i-Kontrol platform: the Balance Analyzer 3D surgical planning software and the custom-made union rod, "K-rod". With these approvals, SMAIO is now able to offer its i-Kontrol solution to North American centers.

Success of the "Sagittal Alignment Academy" educational programs

During the second half of 2022, SMAIO successfully held three "Sagittal Alignment Academy" sessions for spine surgeons in Europe (Copenhagen for Northern Europe and Madrid for Southern Europe, in September) and North American (Dallas, Texas, in November). Bringing together several dozen surgeons, these programs aim to accelerate the diffusion of SMAIO's technology internationally.

Interview with Philippe Roussouly

https://youtu.be/hPZQ8oDWQ_E

Upcoming financial publication

FY 2022 results: April 12, 2023, after market

About SMAIO

A precursor in the use of clinical data and imaging of the spine, SMAIO designs global solutions for spine surgery specialists. The Company has recognized expertise thanks to KEOPS, its Big Data management software that has become a global reference with more than 100,000 patient cases documented.

SMAIO offers spine surgeons a comprehensive platform, I-Kontrol, incorporating planning, implants and related services, enabling them to treat spinal pathologies in a safe, effective and lasting way.

SMAIO is positioned at the forefront of innovation with the ambition of providing surgeons with the first active robotic solution enabling a high level of performance and repeatability to be achieved.

Based in Lyon, France, SMAIO benefits from the skill and expertise of more than 30 highly specialized staff.

For further information, please visit our website: www.smaio.com

Listing market: Euronext Growth Paris

ISIN: FR0014005I80

Mnemonic: ALSMA

Disclaimer

This press release contains non-factual elements, including, but not limited to, certain statements regarding future results and other future events. These statements are based on the current vision and assumptions of the management of the Company. They incorporate known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could result in significant differences in results, profitability and expected events. In addition, SMAIO, its shareholders and its affiliates, directors, officers, counsels and employees have not verified the accuracy of, and make no representations or warranties about, statistical information or forecast information contained within this news release and that originates or is derived from third party sources or industry publications; these statistical data and forecast information are only used in this press release for information purposes. Finally, this press release may be drafted in French and in English. In the event of differences between the two texts, the French version will prevail.

1 Based on an indicative exchange rate of 1 euro for 1.10 dollars

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005898/en/

Contacts:

SMAIO

Philippe Roussouly

Chief Executive Officer

Renaut Fritsch

Chief Financial Officer

investors@smaio.com

NewCap

Dusan Oresansky/Quentin Masse

Investor Relations

smaio@newcap.eu

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 92

NewCap

Arthur Rouille

Media Relations

smaio@newcap.eu

Tel.: +33 (0)1 44 71 94 98
HERSHEY, PA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / The Hershey Company (NYSE:HSY) recently announced its inclusion on the annual ranking of America's Most JUST Companies by JUST Capital and media partner CNBC. The customer stakeholder group ranked Hershey as number one in the Food, Beverage and Tobacco industry, and 2023 marks the company's fourth consecutive year on the list. Each year, JUST Capital ranks the nation's largest corporations on their performance on the issues that matter most to Americans, such as paying a living wage, supporting workforce development and demonstrating leader integrity. Hershey was named number 58 overall of the top 100 companies, moving up 26 spots from 2022.

"Embedded in how we make and sell our beloved brands is a responsibility to operate in a way that makes a positive impact for people, the planet and our communities. To be once again recognized by JUST Capital and the American public as a leader in responsible business among the nation's largest corporations is an honor," said Leigh Horner, Vice President of Global Sustainability and Corporate Communications, The Hershey Company. "We're particularly proud that those who enjoy our products see us as category leaders. This reflects not just our commitments but the actions and meaningful progress we are making on the topics most important to consumers."

Hershey's commitment to responsible and sustainable business continued in 2022 with progress across its ESG (environmental, social and governance) priorities including cocoa and responsible sourcing, its workforce, communities, the environment and youth. Highlights from last year include:

The company's first U.S. bilingual manufacturing facility in Hazleton, Pa . , integrating both Spanish and English-speaking employees under one roof with bilingual resources and leadership. 'Say Hola' underscores Hershey's efforts to create an accessible and equitable employee experience that also impacts the broader community.

, integrating both Spanish and English-speaking employees under one roof with bilingual resources and leadership. 'Say Hola' underscores Hershey's efforts to create an accessible and equitable employee experience that also impacts the broader community. Hershey is also progressing against measurable environmental goals, demonstrated by the launch of a third utility-scale solar project, new energy and water optimization investments and continued efforts to address land use change.

The company leveraged its iconic brands to make a meaningful impact during moments like Women's History Month and Black Music Month.

In 2023, Hershey will continue to advance its social impact. The company will bolster its partnership with non-profit partners to launch the Future CEO initiative - a new program which will partner young women from around the globe with Hershey executive leadership for mentorship and reverse mentorship experiences. This year also marks the five-year anniversary of Hershey's sustainable cocoa strategy, Cocoa For Good.

True to the legacy of its founder Milton Hershey, the company is dedicated to doing what's right for the planet, investing in its workforce, enhancing the livelihood of communities and providing a brighter future for children around the world. Learn more about these commitments and Hershey's ESG progress in its 2021 ESG Report.

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company is headquartered in Hershey, Pennsylvania and is an industry-leading snacks company known for bringing goodness to the world through its iconic brands, remarkable people and enduring commitment to help children succeed. Hershey has approximately 19,000 employees around the world who work every day to deliver delicious, quality products. The company has more than 100 brand names in approximately 80 countries around the world that drive more than $8.9 billion in annual revenues, including such iconic brand names as Hershey's, Reese's, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher and Ice Breakers, and fast-growing salty snacks including SkinnyPop, Pirate's Booty and Dot's Homestyle Pretzels.

For more than 125 years, Hershey has been committed to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably. Hershey founder, Milton Hershey, created Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then the company has focused on helping children succeed.

To learn more visit www.thehersheycompany.com.

Follow:

http://www.twitter.com/hersheycompany

https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-hershey-company?trk=top_nav_home

http://www.facebook.com/hersheycompany

http://www.youtube.com/hersheycompany

http://www.instagram.com/hersheycompany

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from The Hershey Company on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: The Hershey Company

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/hershey-company

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: The Hershey Company

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735544/The-Hershey-Company-Recognized-as-One-of-Americas-Most-JUST-Companies-Number-One-for-Customers-in-Food-Beverage-Category
Fitch Group, a global leader in financial information services with operations in more than 30 countries, has announced the appointment of Bruce Legorburu as General Counsel. Heather Merrigan replaces Mr Legorburu as Chief Compliance Officer for Fitch Ratings.

As General Counsel, Mr Legorburu is responsible for the worldwide oversight of the legal affairs of Fitch Group and its subsidiaries and affiliates. He has been with Fitch since 2013, serving most recently as Chief Compliance Officer for Fitch Ratings since 2019. Mr Legorburu will be a member of the Fitch Group Executive Committee.

Ms Merrigan joined Fitch's Legal team in New York in 2000 having worked for Duff Phelps in Chicago since 1998. Ms Merrigan has served as Head of Compliance for the Americas since 2019.

Charles D. (Charlie) Brown, who has served as Fitch's General Counsel for nearly 25 years, is retiring from the firm. In addition to serving as General Counsel, Mr Brown was Fitch Ratings' Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Credit Officer at various points during his tenure.

Paul Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, Fitch Group said: "I am very pleased that we had two very strong internal candidates in Bruce and Heather to take on these crucial roles within the firm. I'd also like to thank Charlie for the material contribution he has made to the success of Fitch over the years."

About Fitch Group

Fitch Group is a global leader in financial information services with operations in more than 30 countries. Fitch Group is comprised of: Fitch Ratings, a global leader in credit ratings and research, and Fitch Solutions, a leading provider of data, research and analytics. With dual headquarters in London and New York, Fitch Group is owned by Hearst.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117006001/en/

Contacts:

Media Relations: Mark Tierney, London, Tel: +44 20 3530 1697, Email: mark.tierney@thefitchgroup.com
London, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - For the second consecutive year Cannabis Wiki and The Western Fair District have partnered to bring Southwestern Ontario's regulated cannabis industry and community to the Forest City. Organizers are again planning on hundreds of exhibitors and attendees gathering to move the industry and the region's economy forward, while continuing to break the stigma of cannabis.





In Partnership with The Western Fair District, Cannabis Wiki is Thrilled to Bring the Second Annual Cannabis Conference to Southwest Ontario on June 14th & 15th, 2023



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8446/151560_cannabiswiki%20conference%20expo%202023%20social%20post%201250%20850%20px.jpg

"After a higher-than-expected level of success last year we are excited to be back in 2023! From our location partners to our sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and panellists we will once again pack the itinerary with value, diversity and high level business networking. This is an event where the agriculture and cannabis industry connects and deals get made," said Derrick Burney, CEO and founder, Cannabis Wiki.

2022 Conference Highlights

Last year's event featured over 60 expert speakers from Canada and the United States, welcomed dozens of budtenders, retailers, brands, licensed producers and more from Southwestern Ontario, and beyond, and accommodated hundreds of attendees from London and the surrounding area.

Highlights included a fully-attended Women + Cannabis Workshop, a panel on 'Diversity & Inclusion in Cannabis: Removing Barriers' that unabashedly and earnestly explored challenges and solutions, and a networking event hosted by Greenway Greenhouse at the Old Courthouse in downtown London.

What To Expect in 2023

This year's conference will attract a wide range of industry speakers, workshop facilitators, podcasters, journalists, retailers, budtenders, post-secondary cannabis educators, cannabis entrepreneurs, licensed producers, brands, influencers, regulatory leaders and more. Beyond the over-the-top education value from the thematic programming of the conference will be another action-packed exhibitor's hall. Cannabis Wiki & The Western Fair District look to build on last year's success by attracting even more diverse exhibitors representing the local, national and international cannabis industry.

"Without our event partners at Cannabis Wiki, our organization would not have had the same first-year achievement with this new agri-business industry event. We are buoyed by the exhibitor, sponsor, and attendee response thus far for this niche event and are excited about its potential to support and grow this new agri-industry in Canada and beyond," said Reg Ash, CEO, Western Fair Association.

The conference will take place on June 14 and 15, 2023 in London Ontario at the Western Fair District.

Cannabis Wiki is proud to welcome early supporters on board for 2023 including: Count Canna, CannaNavigators, Cannabis Marketspace, Djot, EXKA Inc., Frankie Smoke, Hyde Advisory, Independent Retail Cannabis Collective (IRCC), Merrco, Mientzu, RH Accelerator, Shatterizer, Weedpanion, with many more to come.

For further information about the conference, visit the conference website at www.expo.cannabis.wiki. Sponsorships, exhibitor and speaking opportunities are now available. Contact Cannabis Wiki to confirm your 2023 attendance.

About The CannabisWiki Conference

The second annual CannabisWiki Conference and Expo is hosted by, and presented in partnership with, the Western Fair District, an agricultural society that supports the on-going development of the agricultural industry, and will offer a premier cannabis-related event to Southwestern Ontario, Canada's Eastern Agri-Food hub and innovation centre. The CannabisWiki Conference & Expo is set to forge new relationships and usher in a reinvigorated era for the cannabis & hemp expo space. This is a 19+ event.

About Cannabis Wiki

Cannabis Wiki is the leading media and technology platform purpose-built for the legal cannabis industry in Canada. Driven by an SEO content engine, Cannabis Wiki started in 2018 and is now a leading media and technology provider focused on global cannabis digital marketing and technology with 2M monthly users. Cannabis Wiki was founded and built by a team of passionate cannabis connoisseurs, advocates, technologists and entrepreneurs who recognized the needs of a disconnected new industry, where brands struggle to justify returns on investment, and consumers flounder. Cannabis Wiki is more than just a content production or communications agency, it's a foundation on which they're building the next generation of media and technology tools to support the global cannabis industry in a multi-faceted and targeted manner that hasn't yet been available to the industry. Learn more at www.corporate.cannabis.wiki. Follow cannabis.wiki on Twitter & LinkedIn.

About Western Fair District

The Western Fair Association (WFA) is a multi-faceted, not for profit, Agricultural Society, based in the heart of London, Ontario. It strives to be a leader in the Agricultural industry by supporting the agriculture community with programming and facilities that meet the business needs of the sector. Its latest strategic plan is focused on a re-commitment to agriculture initiatives and includes fostering relationship-building and promotion of local agri-food producers and production.

Media Contact:

Jessica Moran

Chief Business Development Officer, Cannabis Wiki

519-494-5379

jess@cannabis.wiki

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151560
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Pure Energy Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: PE) (OTCQB: PEMIF) ("Pure Energy" or "the Company") will hold its Annual General Meeting in-person in Vancouver, BC, Canada, on January 26, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time at Suite 2110, 650 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4N8.

The Company has mailed voting materials to registered shareholders, and is providing access to the Information Circular and voting documents on the Company's website, www.pureenergyminerals.com. We encourage all shareholders to vote, and to access the materials online well in advance of the 48-hour voting deadline of 10:00 a.m. on January 24, 2023. Please refer to the Information Circular and materials. All voting will be conducted in advance by proxy form, and no voting will occur at the meeting.

A shareholder must obtain a unique Control Number to be able to vote their shares. Non-registered shareholders, who hold shares through a brokerage firm, should contact their brokers. If materials are not received, contact Odyssey Trust Company, Pure Energy's transfer agent, who can be reached during business hours at: Canada: 1 (587) 885-0960, or Toll-Free: 1 (888) 290-1175.

The year 2022 has been marked by substantial progress at the Company's Clayton Valley lithium brine project in central Nevada. With our partner, Schlumberger Technology Corporation ("SLB"), the modified Operating Plan for the on-site pilot plant was approved by the Bureau of Land Management, with concurrent approvals from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, and with additional approvals from various state agencies. Pure Energy received a finite-term water right in late 2018 with sufficient capacity for pilot plant testing. Permitting progress was somewhat slowed by covid restrictions and changes in agency personnel. However, we are pleased with the progress towards the CV pilot plant - it will be the first of its kind in Nevada and likewise the first to implement Direct Lithium Extraction technology ("DLE") there.

The advantages of DLE technology are clear, and well suited to Clayton Valley lithium brines. Of particular importance are its efficiency in recovering lithium from brine in a matter of days vs. more than a year in conventional ponds; significant recovery of precious, clean water resources for reintroduction into the valley's aquifer; plus, a much reduced footprint and environmental impact.

About Pure Energy

Pure Energy Minerals is a lithium resource developer that is driven to become a low-cost supplier for the growing lithium battery industry. Pure Energy has consolidated a pre-eminent land position at its Clayton Valley Project in the Clayton Valley of central Nevada for the exploration and development of lithium resources, comprising 950 claims over 23,360 acres (9,450 hectares), representing the largest mineral land holdings in the valley. Pure Energy's Clayton Valley Project adjoins and surrounds on three sides the Silver Peak lithium brine mine operated by Albemarle Corporation.

Pure Energy's strategic partner, Schlumberger Technologies Corporation ("SLB"), is the operator of the Clayton Valley Project. In May of 2019, Pure Energy and SLB signed an Earn-In agreement over the CV Project which requires significant investment by SLB at the Project, to include the design and construction of a pilot plant capable of processing lithium-bearing brines for high-quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate ("lithium hydroxide" or "LiOHH2O") and/or lithium carbonate products at a specified rate. SLB plans to utilize both in-house and commercially available technology in the design of the CV pilot plant. SLB's costs, technical parameters and ultimate technology are anticipated to differ from the published PEA. For further details regarding SLB's participation, please refer to Pure Energy's Annual General and Special Meeting Management Information Circular dated April 4, 2019, available on SEDAR.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Mary L. Little"

Director, Pure Energy Minerals Ltd.

CONTACT:

Pure Energy Minerals Limited (www.pureenergyminerals.com)

Email: info@pureenergyminerals.com

Telephone - 604 608 6611

Cautionary Statements and Forward-Looking Information

The information in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in our forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause such differences include: changes in world commodity markets, equity markets, costs and supply of materials relevant to the mining industry, change in government and changes to regulations affecting the mining industry. Forward-looking statements in this release may include future exploration and development on the Clayton Valley Project. Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, results may vary, and we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.

The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151587
NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / As the pandemic extended into its second year - with travel requirements shifting frequently depending on destination and other factors - American provided our customers with the resources they needed. We expanded the use of Sherpa, an independent travel resource, to provide updates on international travel requirements due to COVID-19 variants. We also continued to partner with VeriFLY to help customers understand and verify their travel requirements. Its mobile health wallet makes it easy for passengers to upload negative COVID-19 test results, vaccination records and forms they need to get verified status for travel. Our customers can also use the app to get mobile boarding passes and take advantage of dedicated and expedited check-in lanes at several airports.

Customers traveling internationally can now access our Ready to Fly checklist when viewing their eligible reservations on aa.com and the American Airlines mobile app. The checklist outlines everything our customers need, including test and vaccination requirements, along with options to submit digital documentation and contact tracing information.

Ready to Fly also links to the VeriFLY app. Customers can now check-in online at aa.com, through the American Airlines mobile app or at the airport kiosk after receiving their green check mark from VeriFLY and head straight to the gate. These new digital options save customers time at the airport and give them peace of mind that they are ready to fly before arriving at the airport.

American also partnered with trusted COVID-19 testing providers to allow customers to take a test at a clinic, at home before their trip or to order a test kit to pack for their return trip. Among our clinic partners, both GoHealth and CareNow each offer more than 150 locations in the United States. For at-home testing before a trip, customers can order a kit from LetsGetChecked. It offers a 48-hour turnaround time for results. Qured, eMed and Optum all provide packable test kit options for return trips.

Read more

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from American Airlines on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: American Airlines

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/american-airlines

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: American Airlines

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735563/American-Airlines-Is-Providing-Travel-Resources-To-Help-Navigate-the-Persistent-COVID-19-Pandemic
Cranbrook, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - DLP Resources Inc. (TSXV: DLP) (OTCQB: DLPRF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") of up to 3,703,704 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.27 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $1,000,000.

Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Share") and one common share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Warrant Share") for a period of two (2) years from the date of issue at an exercise price of $0.40 per Warrant Share, subject to an acceleration clause in the event the trading price of the Shares equals or exceeds $0.50 for a period of 10 consecutive days.

The Private Placement will be made available to subscribers pursuant to the accredited investor and friends, family and business associate exemptions provided under sections 2.3(1) and 2.5 of National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions.

The Private Placement will also be made available to existing shareholders of the Company who, as of the close of business on January 16, 2023, held Shares (and who continue to hold such Shares as of the closing date), pursuant to the existing shareholder exemption set out in BC Instrument 45-534 Exemption From Prospectus Requirement for Certain Trades to Existing Security Holders (the "Existing Securityholder Exemption"). The Existing Securityholder Exemption limits a shareholder to a maximum investment of CAD$15,000 in a 12-month period unless the shareholder has obtained advice regarding the suitability of the investment and, if the shareholder is resident in a jurisdiction of Canada, that advice has been obtained from a person that is registered as an investment dealer in the jurisdiction. If the Company receives subscriptions from investors relying on the Existing Shareholder Exemption exceeding the maximum amount of the Private Placement, the Company intends to adjust the subscriptions received on a pro-rata basis.

The Company expects to pay finder's fees in connection with the Private Placement to certain eligible finders in the form of: (i) a cash commission of 7.0% of the gross proceeds raised under the Private Placement from investors introduced to the Company by the finder; and (ii) the issuance of such number of non-transferable common share purchase warrants of the Company (the "Finder's Warrants") equal to 7.0% of the Units issued under the Private Placement from investors introduced to the Company by the finder.

The Company intends to use the proceeds from the Private Placement for for funding the Peru projects and general office and administration requirements. There may be circumstances, however, where, for sound business reasons, a reallocation of funds may be necessary.

Re-initiation of drilling at the Aurora copper-molybdenum project is programmed to take place in the next two weeks.

The Private Placement is subject to all necessary regulatory approvals including acceptance from the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Private Placement will be subject to a four-month hold period from the closing date under applicable Canadian securities laws, in addition to such other restrictions as may apply under applicable securities laws of jurisdictions outside Canada.

Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States.

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 and President

Jim Stypula, Executive Chairman

Robin Sudo, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary

Maxwell Reinhart, Investor Relations

Telephone: 250-426-7808

Email: iangendall@dlpresourcesinc.com

Email: jimstypula@dlpresourcesinc.com

Email: robinsudo@dlpresourcesinc.com

Email: maxreinhart@dlpresourcesinc.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary 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 "forward-looking 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: the anticipated proceeds to be raised under the Private Placement; the use of any proceeds raised under the Private Placement; and finder's fees to be paid in connection with the Private Placement.

These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things: delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required regulatory approvals for the Private Placement; market uncertainty; and the inability of the Company to raise the anticipated proceeds under the Private Placement.

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 the required regulatory and TSX Venture Exchange approvals for the Private Placement; the Company will be able to raise the anticipated proceeds under the Private Placement; and the Company will use the proceeds of the Private Placement as currently 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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151598
South Bend, Indiana--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. (OTCQX: STRW) (the "Company") , announced today they will be attending and presenting at the virtual Q1 Investor Summit on January 26th, 2023. During the presentation, the Company's Chief Investment Officer, Jeff Bajtner, will discuss the Company and its vision for 2023. The presentation will be webcast and an archived recording will be made available in the Investor Relations section of the Company's website.

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Jaguar Land Rover Korea CEO Robin Colgan poses next to the Defender 75th Limited Edition at the D Museum in Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover Korea



By Kim Hyun-bin



Jaguar Land Rover Korea held an event to unveil its limited-edition Land Rover Defender for the first time in Korea, marking the 75th anniversary of the model at the D Museum in Seoul, Tuesday.



All-new Defender and classic Defender vehicles, including the Defender 75th Limited Edition, were exhibited.



"The Defender, developed under the motto that 'the road is wherever Land Rover goes,' has been steadily loved by countless customers around the world since its first release in 1948." Jaguar Land Rover Korea CEO Robin Colgan said. "Land Rover's pioneering spirit and heritage are embedded through the 75th-anniversary limited edition of the representative off-roader Defender."



The limited edition is a model that embodies the respect for past Defender series and the values that Land Rover holds dear. The company plans to sell 75 limited edition vehicles in Korea.



The vehicle comes in Grasmere Green, a color reminiscent of the early model that is applied to the exterior, roof, sides and 20-inch alloy wheels. The matrix LED headlamp, a modern reinterpretation of the Defender's iconic headlight shape, provides optimized lighting that reaches farther and wider. On the rear side, a graphic symbolizing the 75th anniversary is embedded.



The Defender received the highest safety rating of five stars in the Euro NCAP test, a new European car safety evaluation agency rating. It also provides an electronic air suspension system, a twin-speed transfer box, and an intelligent all-wheel drive system (iAWD).



The all-new Defender is equipped with a Terrain Response system that can set driving conditions such as Comfort, Eco, Snow, Mud, Sand, Rock and Wading modes.



The limited edition is equipped with a 6-diesel engine and a 48V Mild Hybrid EV (MHEV) technology that is applied to increase efficiency and reduce emissions. The maximum output is 300PS and the vehicle has a maximum torque of 66.3kg.m. It can go from zero to 100km in 7 seconds.


JACKSON, MS / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / In preparation for the growing electric vehicle market, Entergy Mississippi has launched a direct current fast charging station pilot project. It is the first company-owned electric vehicle charging station of its kind in Entergy Corporation's four-state service area.

Located at Renaissance at Colony Park in Ridgeland, the company's $200,000 fast charging station will serve both residents and EV drivers passing through on I-55 and nearby I-20. As EV owners use the charging station, Entergy Mississippi will be able to study the impact of electric vehicles on the power grid. Insights on frequency, time of day and location can help the company prepare for improvements that may be needed as power use from electric vehicle drivers increases.

"The complexities of the power grid require us to plan years ahead of when we'll need infrastructure in place to serve our customers," said Haley Fisackerly, president and CEO, Entergy Mississippi. "By proactively installing this fast charging EV station pilot project, we'll be able to learn in real time the effects electric vehicle use has on our systems and implement technologies to help manage the demands we expect in the future."

The facility is equipped with two direct current fast chargers that provide up to 120 kilowatts of power and are compatible with many different electric vehicle models. Customers using the charging station pay $.30/kWh and, on average, an EV can be fully charged for $20-$30 within 30-45 minutes.

"It's important for the public and private sectors to be studying the utilization of these systems now regarding potential growth of electric vehicles in our state and the infrastructure needed to support their use," said Commissioner Brent Bailey, central district, Mississippi Public Service Commission. "I appreciate the efforts of Entergy Mississippi as we all share the goal to better understand the electric vehicle market, infrastructure needs and consumer habits."

More accessible and affordable than ever, electric vehicle ownership is gaining ground. An estimated 26 million EVs are expected to be on America's roads by 2030.

"Nissan has been a pioneer in electric vehicles, producing the first mass-market EV - the Nissan LEAF," said David Sliger, vice president of manufacturing, Nissan Canton Vehicle Assembly Plant. "As we prepare to transform the Canton plant into a center for EV production with two all-new, all-electric EVs in 2025, Nissan applauds Entergy and its innovative efforts toward an electrified future."

Pilot projects like this one can also help Mississippi towns and cities, as well as the state, understand how they can prepare to meet the demands of EV on their communities.

"Entergy Mississippi's DC fast charging station pilot program will help us ultimately bridge the 'charging gap' on Mississippi roadways in (all areas) rural and urban," said Willie Simmons, Mississippi Department of Transportation, central district commissioner. "Our hope is that one day EV drivers will no longer have to bypass our state because of a lack of charging infrastructure which hurts tourism and economic activity This public and private collaboration investment will yield great returns for the public sector."

Entergy Mississippi has supported other electric vehicle initiatives in addition to the direct current fast charging station pilot project. In 2011, through Entergy's Environmental Initiatives Fund, the company funded electric vehicle charging station installations at universities across its footprint for use by students, faculty and staff, including stations at Jackson State University, University of Mississippi Medical Center and Mississippi State University.

"Now we're expanding beyond our universities, and we're grateful to the City of Ridgeland for granting us the permits to construct this charging station," Fisackerly said. "The lessons we learn through this pilot will help us better advise municipalities and developers throughout our service area as they plan for future electric vehicle charging stations in their area.

In 2021, Entergy became a founding member of the National Electrification Highway Coalition. Partner utilities in the organization are working to address gaps along major transportation corridors in their respective service areas. Coalition members currently consist of more than 60 investor-owned and municipal electric companies and electric cooperatives collectively serving more than 120 million U.S. electric customers across 48 states and the District of Columbia.

About Entergy Mississippi

Entergy Mississippi, LLC provides electricity to approximately 461,000 customers in 45 counties. Entergy Mississippi is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation, an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, Entergy has annual revenues of $10 billion and approximately 12,500 employees.

In preparation for the growing electric vehicle market, Entergy Mississippi has launched a direct current fast charging station pilot project

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Entergy Corporation on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:

Spokesperson: Entergy Corporation

Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/entergy-corporation

Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: Entergy Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735568/Entergy-Mississippi-Opens-Corporations-First-Electric-Vehicle-Fast-Chargers
New features strengthen the app to make it an efficient tool to learn Chinese.

Boston, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - FullChinese App, ("FullChinese" or the "Company"), an efficient tool to learn Chinese, is pleased to announce the release of more features in the FullChinese App Pro version. A move to help students reach complete fluency with its fully integrated learning experience.

Before the addition of these features to the FullChinese Pro version, learning Chinese was an overwhelming grinder where only a few students survive and complete their classes. The FullChinese App combines videos, sounds, personal dictionaries, in-app translations, customizable and curated content into the most comprehensive and advanced learning language app for the Chinese language.

The FullChinese App

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8896/151535_827f84fd548f5b93_001full.jpg

The FullChinese App is a system developed to transform how students learn Chinese. Every text is pre-analyzed with the dictionary meaning of each word given. With the FullChinese App, students have all their learning resources in one place. It also allows students to download external materials to supplement their reading, helping students reach fluency within a short time, including retention of what they have learned well enough to communicate with natives.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw a clampdown on gatherings; educational institutions were not left out. Anticipating the effects of the pandemic on students' return to classes, the Company added another feature for Chinese language teachers and those who offer one-on-one teaching of the Chinese language. This feature allows classes to go on despite the pandemic.

"FullChinese is the most comprehensive and highly optimized learning app that supports both students and teachers in their enjoyable Chinese language journey. We developed the App to serve the needs of students after researching their downward learning pattern in the Chinese language," said Emmanuel Roche, CEO, and founder of the FullChinese App.

"FullChinese App is free for teachers to use and access the class content to support the noble profession. Inserting the FullChinese App in teachers' curriculum makes their job easier and exciting for their students," he continued.

On what makes the app different from other language apps, the CEO said, "FullChinese App doesn't only focus on beginners, it has a much more ambitious goal: helping students move from beginner to advanced level, not without studying (there is no magic involved), but without language study being an overwhelming grinder, then only a few survive."

To learn more about getting started on the FullChinese App, visit www.fullchinese.com

About FullChinese App

FullChinese, a Boston headquartered company, was founded twelve years ago by Emmanuel Roche to help individuals achieve complete fluency in Chinese through an integrated learning experience.

FullChinese is being used by top universities in the United States and serves as an academic learning tool. It centralizes all critical language-learning features (i.e. personal dictionaries, sounds, videos, in-app translation, customizable and curated content) into one highly optimized app.

Media Contact

Company name: FullChinese

Contact person: Emmanuel Roche

Email: roche@gammakite.com

Country: United States

Website: http://www.fullchinese.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151535
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - The Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE" or "the Exchange") today announced market statistics for 2022, which reflect the Exchange's outstanding listings growth and continuing liquidity for issuers and investors.

2022 Operating Statistics

Trading volume of CSE-listed securities totaled 17.3 billion shares;

Trading value of CSE-listed securities was $9.2 billion;

CSE issuers completed 861 financings that raised an aggregate $2.45 billion;

The CSE welcomed listings from 113 new companies, including nine fundamental changes of existing issuers; and

The CSE had 813 listed securities as at December 31, 2022, an increase of 9% compared to 743 as at December 31, 2021.

December 2022 Operating Statistics

Trading volume of CSE-listed securities totaled 1.4 billion shares;

Trading value of CSE-listed securities was $750 million;

CSE issuers completed 119 financings that raised an aggregate $371 million; and

The CSE welcomed listings from three new companies.

"The Canadian Securities Exchange had another highly successful year in 2022, further cementing our position as a leading exchange for securities of entrepreneurial companies," said Richard Carleton, CSE Chief Executive Officer. "Our listings growth remained very strong and included 26 initial public offerings. Our issuers also raised significant capital across a wide variety of industries, with the financing momentum remaining solid throughout the year; In fact, the 119 financings completed in the month of December was the most of any month in 2022. Looking ahead, we have several exciting initiatives planned for 2023, including the anticipated launch of our senior tier, which should bring significant benefits to both issuers and investors."

DealMaker Financing

The Exchange recently participated in an oversubscribed financing round for DealMaker, a rapidly growing provider of capital markets solutions that streamline the capital raising process for both issuers and investors. DealMaker plans to use the funding to fuel product development and R&D. The CSE is pleased to form a deeper partnership with DealMaker and believes that its solutions bring significant value to the capital markets ecosystem, including to its issuers. This latest DealMaker financing round also included an investment from Mawer Investment Management Ltd.

What's On at the CSE

The CSE will be attending the Jamaica Stock Exchange's 17th annual Regional Investments and Capital Markets Conference in Kingston, Jamaica on January 24-26. The event highlights capital market opportunities in Jamaica and across the broader Caribbean region. The CSE has a partnership with the JSE in which the two exchanges co-operate in order to expand opportunities for their respective issuers and investors.

The Exchange is excited to be returning to the annual Vancouver Resource Investment Conference, presented by Cambridge House and taking place on January 29-30 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The event features more than 300 junior mining companies and presentations from many of the industry's thought leaders. Notable speakers at this year's event include the former premiers Christy Clark of British Columbia and Brad Wall of Saskatchewan. Conference participants are encouraged to visit the CSE at booth #822 in the trade show.

The CSE was pleased to be a lead sponsor of the Empire Club of Canada's Annual Investment Outlook 2023 event on January 12. The panelists included Thomas S. Caldwell, who served as CSE Chairman from 2012 to 2020.

The Exchange attended and spoke at the Lift Cannabis Business Conference in Vancouver on January 12. Anna Serin, the CSE's Director of Listings Development for Western Canada/United States and Vancouver Branch Lead, spoke on a panel focused on financing strategies for the industry. This business conference was part of Lift's larger cannabis conference and trade show, which took place from January 12-14.

Richard Carleton joined a panel of experts on January 12 for a special webinar focused on opportunities and challenges in the 2023 cannabis market. Topics discussed included updates on SAFE banking, risks and opportunities with distressed cannabis assets, migration of Canadian cannabis companies to the United States, and new cannabis markets opening up for investment.

New Listings in December 2022

Umdoni Exploration Inc. (UDI)

Vortex Energy Corp. (VRTX)

Cumberland Resources Nickel Corp. (LAND)

About the Canadian Securities Exchange:

The Canadian Securities Exchange is a rapidly growing stock exchange focused on working with entrepreneurs to access the public capital markets in Canada and internationally. The Exchange's efficient operating model, advanced technology and low fee structure help companies of all sizes minimize their cost of capital and maximize access to liquidity.

The CSE offers investors in Canada and abroad access to a multi-sector collection of growth companies through a liquid, reliable and regulated trading platform. The Exchange is dedicated to entrepreneurship and has established itself as a leading hub for discourse in the entrepreneurial community.

STAY CONNECTED WITH THE CSE

=============================

CSE TV on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/csetv

HashtagFinance Podcast: https://blog.thecse.com/cse-podcasts/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canadianexchange/

Linkedin: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/canadian-securities-exchange

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CanadianSecuritiesExchange/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSE_News

Blog: https://blog.thecse.com/

Website: https://thecse.com/

Contact:

Richard Carleton, CEO

416-367-7360

richard.carleton@thecse.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151641
NAPOLEONVILLE, LA / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / (OTC PINK:IFUS) The Company announced today, that a rancher with multiple herds located within a 25 mile radius of Impact Fusion's production facility, has committed to testing our Supreme Gold Plus technology and formulation to his herds of beef cattle in Louisiana.

Impact Fusion has been asked to supervise the controlled feeding of the herds commencing the week of January 23, 2023. The Company's proprietary manufacturing process offers customers the flexibility to custom design their own unique feed. Louisiana ranks in the top 5 of American beef producing states.

The Company will be in charge of mixing our Supreme Gold Plus with the additional ingredients supplied by our customer to create a whole food. In addition, the Company has been asked to oversee and supervise the feeding of the herd in the initial introductory stage to ensure that proper protocols are followed to get the best results.

"The goal of the testing and validation by "hand's on ranchers" will further enable Impact Fusion to design feed suited to experienced ranchers' specifications" stated Marc Walther, CEO

Supreme Gold Plus is currently available in loose format at the request of our current customers. We will soon offer Supreme Gold Plus bags to accommodate both feed lots and ranchers looking for multiple options and convenience in picking up or delivering our products to their locations.

See our videos on our Youtube Channel @Impact Fusion International. Please subscribe to get regular updates.

"I am pleased to report that Supreme Gold Plus continues to earn the reputation within the ranching community that it deserves while at the same time addressing the cattle feed crisis in America caused by climate change." said Marc Walther, CEO.

About Impact Fusion International Inc.

Impact Fusion International, Inc. is in the business of marketing products in the "Health and Wellness" sector of all international markets. It is the company's mission to invent, develop and market these proprietary products worldwide for the health and well-being of humans and animals.

The information contained in this release includes some statement that are not purely historical and that are "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our and their management's expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including our financial condition, results of operations. In addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words "anticipates," "believes," "continue," "could," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "may," "might," "plans," "possible," "potential," "predicts," "projects," "seeks," "should," "would" and similar expressions, or the negatives of such terms, may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are based on current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and the potential effects on the parties and the corporate and administrative transactions. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements and represent our management's beliefs and assumptions only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Updates can be found at the official Impact Fusion Twitter account @impactfusionl

Contact:

Impact Fusion International Inc.

204 Highway 1011

Napoleonville LA 70390

1-800-775-4130

Email: impactfusionintl@gmail.com

https://www.impactfusionbrands.com/brands

https://www.impactfusionint.com

SOURCE: Impact Fusion International Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/735592/Impact-Fusions-Team-Ramps-up-Production-to-Meet-Demand-for-Commercial-Sales-Providing-Custom-Blended-Feed-for-Cattle-Ranchers
Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Beauce Gold Fields (TSXV: BGF) (Champs D'Or en Beauce), ("BGF" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has completed an analysis of drill hole data comparing all historical overburden placer channel drill holes, overlaid with the Company's 2021 diamond drill program. The study revealed that the auriferous saprolite unit of the paleoplacer channel on the Beauce Gold property located in St-Simon les Mine, Quebec, is thicker and broader than previously estimated.

Patrick Levasseur, President and CEO of Beauce Gold Fields, said, "We are excited to have made this new revelation on Canada's oldest pacer gold deposit." Mr. Levasseur further stated, "This could mean the historical gold estimates of the placer channel is underestimated."

The drill holes data for analysis was sourced from the Company's 38-hole 2021 diamond drill (DDH) program that drilled the bedrock below the paleoplacer channel, totaling 4,585 meters (see BGF press release February 7, 2022). Data also included 272 historical overburden drill holes from Beauce Placer Mining Company 1959 churn drill program (Missing Drill Logs Acquired, BGF press release January 21, 2021), churn drilling Coniagas Mines 1985, sonic drilling Geological Survey of Canada (GSC 1985), reverse circulation (RC) drilling Macamic Exploration 1987 and Uragold's 2011 sonic drill program.

The Company cautions investors to note historical drill results, grades and historical gold estimates of the placer channel are conceptual in nature. A qualified person has not completed sufficient work to validate historical data nor to classify mineral resources as defined by National Instrument (NI) 43-101; it is uncertain if future exploration will result in the target being delineated as mineral resources.

Gold in Saprolite

Beneath the Quaternary glacial till layering, the Beauce paleoplacer channel contains two Tertiary auriferous units: a brownish diamictite basal till and an underlying saprolite bedrock or fractured shales. Before ice age glaciations, the region had undergone a long period of tropical, humid conditions, causing deep weathering of bedrock forming saprolite profiles. A transitional zone of fractured and oxidized shale underlies the saprolite unit. Fresh shale is present a few metres below the saprolite and or fractured and oxidized shale.

The weathering of sulphides and substantial erosion of quartz veins and antiform folds of a conceptual bedrock Saddle Reef formation northeast of the paleoplacer channel, would have released gold and material that led to the formation of a thick colluvial mantle over the sides and bottom of the Gilbert river valley. The coarse gold grains and nuggets are both detrital and chemically derived. The former is weathered out of the rock as gold chunks; the latter first requires that the gold goes into solution and is then precipitated as ever-growing nuggets (accretion) in the fractured saprolite and oxidized shale layers.

Vertical Grade Variation

The churn and reverse circulation (RC) drilling results from the 1980s allow the construction of vertical gold concentration profiles, which are shown in Figures (1) and (2). Each represents a combination of all the relevant drill hole results. Bedrock in both graphs is shown as zero elevation. Note the distinction between the plotted variables, the mass of gold per 3 m vertical section, and grade, taken from the available drill log cross-sections. Although not directly comparable, the measures accurately reflect the vertical variation relative to the bedrock surface in the gold content of the basal (aurefous) till and the underlying saprolitic bedrock. It suggests the saprolite bedrock holds some of the highest gold grades on average.





Figure 1: Vertical gold mass profile based on churn drilling results at 3 m vertical intervals. Source: Coniagas Mines Ltd report (GM44862).

Figure 2: Vertical grade profile based on reverse circulation drilling results. Source: Macamic (and Roche) report (GM42988).

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6198/151628_3ed5a15e44722998_001full.jpg

The two graphs, Figures (1) and (2), are comparable only in the gold concentration versus elevation. Nevertheless, part of the differences between the graphs may result from the different performances of the two drilling systems. RC drilling is prone to creating a common effect known as "drag ore" in that they frequently contaminate the bedrock with gold particles derived from gravels at a higher elevation. To a lesser extent, we may see this effect with churn drilling. However, this is somewhat negated by sonic drilling that recuperates complete drill cores of unconsolidated material and hard rock that allows for the extraction of insitu gold grains. In 1985 sonic drilling by the Geological Survey of Canada extracted gold nuggets from 2 feet of saprolite (Hole #20, 27g/m3). In 2011 UBR pulled gold grains from saprolite drill cores G65-SO6.

Historical Paleoplacer Gold Deposit Open At Depth and Laterally

All five historical overburden drill programs from 1959 to 2011 aimed to test the basal auriferous till unit of the paleoplacer channel for its economic potential. A hole was considered completed after a drill run through the basal till layer into approximately 1 meter of saprolite. The Company believes that past operators stopped their drill holes prematurely; consequently, results might have been different had they drilled entirely through the saprolite layer down to solid fresh shale bedrock.

An example of this disparity is Macamic's 1987 RC dill hole G80-2 drilled only 0.6 meters in the fractured shales extracting coarse gold valued at 3.6 g/m3. In the Company's 2021 Diamond Drill hole SM-21-30, the saprolite/fractured rock is at least 1.6 vertical meters thick in this area. According to the Company's 2021 Diamond Drill program, the saprolite and the highly fractured and oxidized shale zones developed, on average, over 8.8 meters of vertical depth in the rock. There are places where these zones are more than 18 meters deep.

The historical overburden drill programs positioned their drill lines perpendicular to the paleoplacer channel for cross-section profiles. On seven drill lines, the borehole at the end of a section was mineralized, and, therefore zone remains open laterally. In other words, the section or "drill line" should have been closed with additional holes to confirm whether the mineralized gold zones continue. Examples of the highest gold grades with open sections:

Hole G49-6 furthest hole to the right = 5.82 g/m3

Hole G38-8 furthest hole to the right = 1.48 g/m3

Hole G53-2 furthest hole to the right = 3.31 g/m3

Hole G59-2 furthest hole to the left = 0.53 g/m3

Hole G64-3 furthest hole to the right = 6.43 g/m3





Figure 3: Drill hole G-49-6 stopped at 1.5 meters in a mineralized (5.82gr/m3) mixture of gravel and fractured shale. Macamic should have sampled the till segment above the mineralization, drill deeper into it and drilled additional holes to the right to close the zone.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6198/151628_3ed5a15e44722998_002full.jpg

Of the Company's 38 DDH 2021 program, 25 holes recuperated a total of 275 meters of drilled core segments of saprolite and oxidized shale layers. The cores will be analyzed for coarse gold content. More sonic drill holes would be needed to test the saprolite units for gold to confirm that the paleoplacer channel is open at depth and laterally.

Sources and references: Sedar- Beauce Gold Fields 43-101 Report - Beauce July 4th 2018, Author B. Violette; VGP Reference (vertical grade profile): Garnett, R.H.T., 2014. "Vertical grade profiles of offshore and coastal placers". Applied Earth Science (Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. B), vol. 123, no. 3, pp. 164-178.; Coniagas Mines Ltd. Report GM42988, Macamic (and Roche) report GM46219

Jean Bernard, B,Sc. Geo., is a qualified person, as defined by NI 43-101, who has reviewed and approved the technical information presented in this release.

About Beauce Gold Fields

Beauce Gold Fields is a gold exploration company focused on placer to hard rock exploration in the Beauce region of Southern Quebec. The Company's objective is the trace old placer gold workings back to a bedrock source to uncover economic lode gold deposits. The Company's flagship property is the St-Simon-les-Mines Gold project site of Canada's first gold rush that pre-dates the Yukon Klondike. The Beauce region hosted some of the largest historical placer gold mines in Eastern North America that were active from 1860s to the 1960s It produced some of the largest gold nuggets in Canadian mining history (50oz to 71oz). (Source Sedar: 43-101 Report - Beauce July 4th 2018, , Author B. Violette)

Beauce Gold Fields website www.beaucegold.com

Disclaimers:

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "in the process" and other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current expectation and assumptions, and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our expectations regarding mineral exploration. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from time-to-time in the Company's on-going filings with the securities regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at www.sedar.com. Actual results, events, and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements either as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

For further information contact

Patrick Levasseur, President and CEO Tel: (514) 262-9239

www.beaucegold.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151628
Patients treated with the investigational combination of trifluridine/tipiracil in combination with bevacizumab in the pivotal Phase 3 SUNLIGHT trial achieved clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival compared to trifluridine/tipiracil alone

Results demonstrate that trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab may be an effective and well-tolerated therapy for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer following disease progression on two prior chemotherapy regimens

Servier and Taiho Oncology, Inc., today announced the release of data from SUNLIGHT, a pivotal Phase 3 global trial evaluating the combination of trifluridine/tipiracil (LONSURF) and bevacizumab in adults with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), demonstrating that the trial met its primary endpoint of overall survival (OS). These data will be shared during an oral presentation (Abstract #392020) on January 21, 2023 at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium (ASCO GI) in San Francisco.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230116005180/en/

The SUNLIGHT trial investigated the efficacy and safety of trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab versus trifluridine/tipiracil alone in patients with refractory mCRC following disease progression or intolerance on two prior chemotherapy regimens. Results from the main analysis demonstrated that the investigational combination provided a statistically significant and a clinically meaningful improvement in OS of 3.3 months compared to trifluridine/tipiracil alone (10.8 months vs. 7.5 months, hazard ratio [HR]: 0.61, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.49-0.77, p<0.001). This improvement in OS represents a 39% reduction in the risk of death in patients with refractory mCRC.

Regarding the key secondary endpoint, there was a statistically significant improvement for the trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab combination versus trifluridine/tipiracil alone in progression-free survival (PFS) (5.6 months vs. 2.4 months, HR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.36-0.54, p<0.001).

"The prognosis for metastatic colorectal cancer patients who do not respond to chemotherapy remains poor, with median survival times typically ranging from 4 to 8 months," said Professor Josep Tabernero, MD, PhD, Head of Medical Oncology, Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain, and Principal Investigator for the SUNLIGHT trial. "Coupled with the fact that cases of colorectal cancer are increasing, there is an urgent need for new treatment options that can extend survival in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer in the later stages of disease. Findings from the SUNLIGHT trial represent an important development, which will be welcomed by the colorectal cancer community."

Side effects were as expected based on the known profile of each treatment and well managed. The percentage of patients who experienced severe adverse events (Grade =3) was similar in the trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab and trifluridine/tipiracil groups: 72.4% versus 69.5%, respectively. The most frequent severe treatment emergent adverse events for trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab and trifluridine/tipiracil groups were neutropenia (43.1% versus 32.1%) and anemia (6.1% versus 11.0%), respectively.

"We are delighted by the findings from SUNLIGHT which demonstrate trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab may be an effective and manageable post-progression therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer," said Nadia Causse-Amellal, MD, Head of Global Development, GI Indications, Oncology and Immuno-Oncology Therapeutic Area, Servier. "In the coming months both Servier and Taiho Oncology plan to submit these data to regulatory authorities with a view to bringing this innovative combination to patients as early as possible."

"Given the typically poor prognosis and limited options for patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, there is a significant need to explore different approaches to treatment that may impact the course of disease for these patients," said Fabio Benedetti, MD, Global Chief Medical Officer for Oncology, Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. "The results of this study potentially further validate the utility of trifluridine/tipiracil in this patient population and demonstrate the potential impact of this combination therapy for the management of advanced disease."

About Colorectal Cancer

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide,1 with nearly 1.4 million people diagnosed with colorectal cancer (CRC) each year,1 equating to 10% of the global cancer cases.1 CRC is the second most common cause of cancer mortality, accounting for 881,000 deaths globally in 2018.2 The worldwide incidence of colorectal cancer is expected to exceed 3 million cases annually by 2040,3 and the number of deaths is predicted to increase by more than 70% to 1.6 million per year.3

About the SUNLIGHT Trial

SUNLIGHT is a multinational, open-label, active-controlled, two-arm Phase 3 trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab versus trifluridine/tipiracil alone, in patients with refractory mCRC following two chemotherapy regimens. A total of 492 patients were randomly allocated (in a 1:1 ratio) to receive trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab or trifluridine/tipiracil monotherapy. The primary objective was to demonstrate the superiority of trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab over trifluridine/tipiracil alone, in terms of OS (primary endpoint). Key secondary objectives were to compare the regimens in terms of progression-free survival (PFS), overall response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR) and quality of life (QoL), as well as the safety and tolerability of trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab in comparison with trifluridine/tipiracil monotherapy.

For more information on SUNLIGHT, please visit: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04737187.

About LONSURF

LONSURF is an oral nucleoside antitumor agent discovered and developed by Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. LONSURF consists of a thymidine-based nucleoside analog, trifluridine, and the thymidine phosphorylase (TP) inhibitor, tipiracil, which increases trifluridine exposure by inhibiting its metabolism by TP. Trifluridine is incorporated into DNA, resulting in DNA dysfunction and inhibition of cell proliferation.

INDICATIONS

EU

Trifluridine and tipiracil, marketed under the brand name LONSURF, is indicated as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with:

Metastatic colorectal cancer who have been previously treated with, or are not considered candidates for, available therapies including fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapies, anti-VEGF agents, and anti-EGFR agents; and

Metastatic gastric cancer including adenocarcinoma of the gastroesophageal junction, who have been previously treated with at least two prior systemic treatment regimens for advanced disease

U.S.

Trifluridine and tipiracil, marketed under the brand name LONSURF, is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with:

Metastatic colorectal cancer previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF biological therapy, and if RAS wild-type, an anti-EGFR therapy; and

Metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma previously treated with at least two prior lines of chemotherapy that included a fluoropyrimidine, a platinum, either a taxane or irinotecan, and if appropriate, HER2/neu-targeted therapy

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Indications and Use

LONSURF is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with:

Metastatic colorectal cancer previously treated with fluoropyrimidine-, oxaliplatin- and irinotecan-based chemotherapy, an anti-VEGF biological therapy, and if RAS wild-type, an anti-EGFR therapy

metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma previously treated with at least two prior lines of chemotherapy that included a fluoropyrimidine, a platinum, either a taxane or irinotecan, and if appropriate, HER2/neu-targeted therapy.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Severe Myelosuppression:

LONSURF caused severe and life-threatening myelosuppression (Grade 3-4) consisting of neutropenia (38%), anemia (18%), thrombocytopenia (5%), and febrile neutropenia (3%). Two patients (0.2%) died due to neutropenic infection. A total of 12% of LONSURF-treated patients received granulocyte-colony stimulating factors. Obtain complete blood counts prior to and on day 15 of each cycle of LONSURF and more frequently as clinically indicated. Withhold LONSURF for febrile neutropenia, absolute neutrophil count less than 500/mm3, or platelets less than 50,000/mm3. Upon recovery, resume LONSURF at a reduced dose as clinically indicated.

Embryo-Fetal Toxicity:

LONSURF can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to the fetus. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment and for at least 6 months after the final dose.

USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS

Lactation: It is not known whether LONSURF or its metabolites are present in human milk. There are no data to assess the effects of LONSURF or its metabolites on the breast-fed infant or the effects on milk production. Because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in breast-fed infants, advise women not to breastfeed during treatment with LONSURF and for 1 day following the final dose.

Male Contraception: Because of the potential for genotoxicity, advise males with female partners of reproductive potential to use condoms during treatment with LONSURF and for at least 3 months after the final dose.

Geriatric Use: Patients 65 years of age or over who received LONSURF had a higher incidence of the following compared to patients younger than 65 years: Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia (46% vs 32%), Grade 3 anemia (22% vs 16%), and Grade 3 or 4 thrombocytopenia (7% vs 4%).

Hepatic Impairment: Do not initiate LONSURF in patients with baseline moderate or severe (total bilirubin greater than 1.5 times ULN and any AST) hepatic impairment. Patients with severe hepatic impairment (total bilirubin greater than 3 times ULN and any AST) were not studied. No adjustment to the starting dose of LONSURF is recommended for patients with mild hepatic impairment.

Renal Impairment: No adjustment to the starting dosage of LONSURF is recommended in patients with mild or moderate renal impairment (CLcr of 30 to 89 mL/min). Reduce the starting dose of LONSURF for patients with severe renal impairment (CLcr of 15 to 29 mL/min) to a recommended dosage of 20 mg/m2

ADVERSE REACTIONS

Most Common Adverse Drug Reactions in Patients Treated With LONSURF (=5%): The most common adverse drug reactions in LONSURF-treated patients vs placebo-treated patients with mCRC, respectively, were asthenia/fatigue (52% vs 35%), nausea (48% vs 24%), decreased appetite (39% vs 29%), diarrhea (32% vs 12%), vomiting (27% vs 16%), infections (27% vs 16%), abdominal pain (21% vs 18%), pyrexia (19% vs 14%), stomatitis (8% vs 6%), dysgeusia (7% vs 2%), and alopecia (7% vs 1%). In metastatic gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ), the most common adverse drug reactions, respectively were, nausea (37% vs 32%), decreased appetite (34% vs 31%), vomiting (25% vs 20%), infections (23% vs 16%) and diarrhea (23% vs 14%).

Pulmonary emboli occurred more frequently in LONSURF-treated patients compared to placebo: in mCRC (2% vs 0%) and in metastatic gastric cancer and GEJ (3% vs 2%).

Interstitial lung disease (0.2%), including fatalities, has been reported in clinical studies and clinical practice settings in Asia.

Laboratory Test Abnormalities in Patients Treated With LONSURF: The most common laboratory test abnormalities in LONSURF-treated patients vs placebo-treated patients with mCRC, respectively, were anemia (77% vs 33%), neutropenia (67% vs 1%), and thrombocytopenia (42% vs 8%). In metastatic gastric cancer or GEJ, the test abnormalities, respectively, were neutropenia (66% vs 4%), anemia (63% vs 38%), and thrombocytopenia (34% vs 9%).

Please see full Prescribing Information for the EU.

https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/documents/product-information/lonsurf-epar-product-information_en.pdf

Please see full Prescribing Information for the U.S.

https://www.taihooncology.com/us/prescribing-information.pdf

About Servier

Founded to serve health, Servier is a global pharmaceutical group governed by a Foundation that aspires to have a meaningful social impact, both for patients and for a sustainable world. With its unique governance model, it can fully serve its vocation with a long-term vision: being committed to therapeutic progress to serve patient needs. The 21,800 employees of the Group are committed to this shared vocation, source of inspiration every day.

As a world leader in cardiology, Servier's ambition is to become a renowned, focused and innovative player in oncology by targeting hard-to-treat cancers. That is why the Group allocates over 50% of its R&D budget to developing targeted and innovative therapies in oncology.

Neuroscience and immuno-inflammatory diseases are the future growth drivers. In these areas, Servier is focused on a limited number of diseases in which accurate patient profiling makes it possible to offer a targeted therapeutic response through precision medicine.

To promote access to quality care for all at a lower cost, the Group also offers a range of quality generic drugs covering most pathologies, relying on strong brands in France, Eastern Europe, Brazil and Nigeria.

In all these areas, the Group includes the patient voice at each stage of the life cycle of a medicine.

Headquartered in France, Servier relies on a strong geographical footprint in over 150 countries and achieved a revenue of 4.7 billion in 2021.

More information on the new Group website: servier.com.

Follow us on social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

About Taiho Oncology, Inc.

The mission of Taiho Oncology, Inc. is to improve the lives of patients with cancer, their families and their caregivers. The company specializes in the development of orally administered anti-cancer agents and markets these medicines for a range of tumor types in the U.S. Taiho Oncology's growing pipeline of antimetabolic and selectively targeted anti-cancer agents is led by a world-class clinical development organization. Taiho Oncology is a subsidiary of Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. which is part of Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd. Taiho Oncology is headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey and oversees its parent company's European and Canadian operations, which are located in Zug, Switzerland and Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

For more information, visit www.taihooncology.com.

LONSURF is a registered trademark of Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. used under license by Taiho Oncology, Inc. and Servier.

Avastin is a registered trademark of Genentech, Inc.

References

1 Digestive Cancers Europe. Prevalence of Colorectal Cancer. Available at: https://digestivecancers.eu/colorectal-cancer/prevalence-of-colorectal-cancer-prevalence/?menu_id=13873. Last accessed: December 2022.

2 Tabernero J., Taieb J., Prager G., et al. Trifluridine/tipiracil plus bevacizumab for third-line management of metastatic colorectal cancer: SUNLIGHT study design. Future Oncol. 2021.17(16): 1977-1985. Available at: https://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/full/10.2217/fon-2020-1238. Last accessed: January 2023.

3 World Health Organization. International Agency for Research on Cancer. Global burden of colorectal cancer in 2020 and 2040: incidence and mortality estimates from GLOBOCAN. Available at: https://www.iarc.who.int/news-events/global-burden-of-colorectal-cancer-in-2020-and-2040-incidence-and-mortality-estimates-from-globocan/#:~:text=The%20authors%20predict%20that%20by,an%20increase%20of%2073%25. Last accessed: December 2022.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230116005180/en/

Contacts:

Servier:

Sonia Marques: presse@servier.com I Tel. +33 (0)1 55 72 40 21

Taiho Oncology:

Judy Kay Moore: jumoore@taihooncology.com Tel. +1 574-526-2369
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - ATEX Resources Inc. (TSXV: ATX) ("ATEX" or "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed the first two diamond drill holes of the Phase III drill campaign on its Valeriano Copper-Gold Project in the Atacama Region, Chile.

Highlights

ATXD-11A intersected chalcopyrite-bearing porphyry units and breccias starting at a depth of 1,092 metres and continuing to the end of the hole at 2,130 metres.

ATXD-11A extended the strike length of the porphyry a further 200 metres to the northeast of historical drillhole VAL-14 (Figure 1) which intersected 1,194 metres grading 0.73% copper equivalent ("CuEq") (0.52% Cu, 0.24 g/t Au and 36 ppm Mo) including 493 metres grading 0.94% CuEq (0.67% Cu, 0.32 g/t Au and 31 ppm Mo), see ATEX release dated January 6, 2022.

ATXD-21 was drilled to a depth of 2,020 metres and had been designed to test the southwest extension of the mineralized corridor 200 metres to the south of hole ATXD-17 which intersected 1,160 metres of 0.78% CuEq (0.53% Cu, 0.28 g/t Au and 70 ppm Mo), see Company release dated 13 June 2022).

ATXD-21 intersected multiple mineralized intervals including a fine-grained porphyry unit between 1,805 and 1,907 metres potentially indicating that the target porphyry trend might be further west and/or north than initially anticipated and was not reached with this hole.

The mineralized corridor remains open to the northeast and southwest.

Assays for drill hole ATXD-11A are expected by the end of January while assays from drill hole ATXD-21 are expected during February.

"We are excited that the initial Phase III drilling has extended the mineralized corridor to over 1 kilometre long to over 800 metres wide with over a kilometre of vertical extent," said Raymond Jannas, President, and CEO of ATEX. "Hole ATXD-11A demonstrated continuity by extending the porphyry mineralization a further 200 metres to the northeast of VAL-14 and well below hole ATXD-19. The intersection of mineralized porphyry in this hole confirms that the porphyry trend remains open along strike to the northeast. Hole ATXD-21 also extended the mineralized corridor to the southwest, intersecting chalcopyrite bearing rock milled breccia, rhyolite, and fine-grained porphyry. These holes confirm that the porphyry trend is oriented northeast- southwest and open along strike."





Figure 1 - Plan view of Valeriano Mineralized Corridor at 2,750 Metres Elevation

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/6303/151670_1fe1e6fee4333ab6_001full.jpg

ATXD-11A Summary

Directional drill hole ATXD-11A (daughter hole) was wedged, in an easterly direction, from historical hole VAL-11 (mother hole) starting at a downhole depth of 855 metres and extending 1,275 metres to a final depth of 2,130 metres. ATXD-11A successfully tested the early porphyry mineralization below hole VAL-11 which intersected 195 metres grading 0.58% CuEq (0.43% Cu, 0.14 g/t Au & 62 ppm Mo) from 972 metres to the end of the hole at 1,167 metres. ATXD-11A also extended the copper mineralization below drill hole ATXD-19 which intersected 647 metres of 0.65% CuEq (0.50% Cu, 0.15 g/t Au & 60 ppm Mo), see Company release dated 13 June, 2022, and was lost due to operational error at a depth of 1,309 metres in chalcopyrite bearing breccias.

ATXD-11A intersected a wide sequence of variably mineralized breccias and porphyry units with potassic alteration and A-veining starting at 1,092 metres downhole. The target porphyry trend was intersected at 1,400 metres, deeper than anticipated, indicating that the mineralized porphyry corridor has a northeast trend. Mineralization continued from 1,092 metres until the hole was terminated at 2,130 metres at the safe operating limit for the rig.

ATXD-21 Summary

Drill hole ATXD-21 was drilled with the objective of extending the mineralized corridor 200 metres southwest of ATXD-17 which intersected 1,160 metres grading 0.78% CuEq (0.53% Cu, 0.28 g/t Au and 70 ppm Mo) including 550 metres of 1.03% CuEq (0.69% Cu, 0.39 g/t Au and 70 ppm Mo).

From surface to approximately 300 metres, the drill hole cut significant grey-banded quartz veinlets (Maricunga-type). A fine-grained porphyry, with covellite replacing pyrite, occurs from approximately 500 to 800 metres with the covellite mineralization continuing in rock milled breccia to 900 metres and, again, from 1,080 to 1,180 metres. Disseminated chalcopyrite mineralization first occurs at around 1,400 metres downhole. A fine-grained chalcopyrite bearing porphyry was intersected between 1,805 and 1,907 metres. The fine-grained porphyry appears to have less visible sulphides and veining compared to the coarser-grained porphyry in the VAL14-ATXD-17 and ATXD-11A trend. It is possible that this porphyry trend is present further to the west and/or north of where ATXD-21 was terminated.

Metallurgical Testing Update

Two composite samples of finely crushed core-sample material from drill hole ATXD-17 were dispatched to AMTEL of London, Ontario for initial metallurgical test work with the aim of estimating copper sulphide liberation and baseline flotation recoveries in addition to characterizing sulphide and host rock mineralogy. Upon initial examination of the samples, it was noted by the lab that the finely crushed sample material had visible oxidization of copper minerals which had the potential to impact recovery results. In addition, an error occurred at a third-party lab resulting in insufficient sample material available to complete the assaying for this program. As a result, a decision was made by the Company to wait until fresh core samples could be collected before continuing metallurgical test work.

About ATEX

ATEX is exploring the Valeriano Copper-Gold Project which is located within the emerging Copper-Gold porphyry mineral belt linking the prolific El Indio High-Sulphidation Belt to the south with the Maricunga Gold Porphyry Belt to the north. This emerging belt, informally referred to as the Link Belt, hosts a number of Copper-Gold porphyry deposits at various stages of development including, Filo del Sol (Filo Mining), Josemaria (Lundin Mining), Los Helados (NGEX Minerals/JX Nippon), La Fortuna (Teck Resources/Newmont) and El Encierro (Antofagasta/Barrick Gold).

Valeriano hosts a large Copper-Gold porphyry deposit overlain by a near surface oxidized epithermal gold deposit. In 2022, ATEX completed the Company's first limited drill test of the Copper-Gold porphyry system that is now being followed up with campaign of directional drilling to extend the high-grade trend, test new targets and expand the mineralized envelope.

Based on an option agreement from August 2019 and amended in January 2020, ATEX can earn a 100% interest in Valeriano by September 1, 2025.

Qualified Person

Mr. Ben Pullinger, P.Geo., registered with the Professional Geoscientists Ontario, is the Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects, for the Valeriano Copper-Gold Porphyry Project. Mr. Pullinger is not considered independent under NI 43-101 as he is Senior Vice President Exploration and Business Development of ATEX. He has reviewed and approved the disclosure of the scientific and technical information contained in this press release.

For further information, please contact:

Raymond Jannas,

President and CEO

Email: rjannas@atexresources.com

Ben Pullinger,

Senior Vice President of Exploration and Business Development

Email: bpullinger@atexresources.com

or visit ATEX's website at www.atexresources.com

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including predictions, projections, and forecasts. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "planning", "expects" or "does not expect", "continues", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "potential", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", or describes a "goal", or variation 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 statements involve known and unknown risks, future events, conditions, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, prediction, projection, forecast, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

Such forward-looking statements include, among others: plans for the evaluation of exploration properties including the Valeriano Copper-Gold Project; the success of evaluation plans; the success of exploration activities; mine development prospects; potential for future metals production; changes in economic parameters and assumptions; all aspects related to the timing and extent of exploration activities including the Phase III drill program contemplated in this press release; timing of receipt of exploration results; the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities and mineralization; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; the results of regulatory and permitting processes; future metals price; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; the results of economic and technical studies; delays in obtaining governmental and local approvals or financing or in the completion of exploration; timing of assay results; as well as those factors disclosed in ATEX's publicly filed documents.

Although ATEX has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as 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 such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider has reviewed or accepts

responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151670
Splitero, a San Diego, CA-based financial technology company that provides homeowners with options to access their home equity, raised $11.7m in Series A funding.

The round was led by Fiat Ventures with participation from Gemini Ventures, Joint Effects, PBJ Capital, Permit Ventures, Dream Ventures, Goodwater Capital, Spark Growth Ventures, and Oyster Fund.

Led by Michael Gifford, Co-Founder and CEO, Splitero provides homeowners a sum of cash in exchange for a share of their homes appreciation. Home Equity Investments (HEIs) allow homeowners to use their home equity to better their lives without income or minimum credit score requirements and no monthly payments.

Homeowners financial needs are constantly evolving, creating a demand for unique and flexible solutions that support them in reaching their goals and achieving financial wellness, said Alex Harris, General Partner of Fiat Ventures. Splitero is solving that problem and serving a critical need in todays housing market, allowing homeowners to leverage the value of their home without selling or moving. We are elated to partner with them to advance their transformative approach to more markets so they can help more homeowners across the U.S.

The company currently operates in California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington, with plans to expand into additional states in 2023. Since launching in August of 2021, the company has secured more than $1 billion in financing to help homeowners access their equity without new debt or monthly payments.
Walker Sands, a Chicago, IL-based marketing agency focused on accelerating the growth of B2B brands, acquired KoMarketing, a Boston, MI-based B2B demand generation firm.

The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

With the acquisition, Walker Sands will strengthen its digital marketing capabilities. Going forward, KoMarketing will be known as KoMarketing, a Walker Sands company. KoMarketing managing partners Derek Edmond and Steven Wells will report to Andrew Cross, president of Walker Sands. Combined, the firm has more than 200 full-time employees across remote locations and five physical offices: Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Atlanta.

Founded in 2004, KoMarketing helps B2B organizations get found online, drive more leads and build brand visibility through strategic search, social media, and content marketing programs tailored to clients specific business challenges. Clients range from Fortune 500 companies to small and medium-sized businesses in a variety of B2B industry sectors.

Led by CEO Mike Santoro, Walker Sands is a full-service B2B marketing agency with core capabilities in public relations, demand generation, branding, creative, marketing strategy and web. Its integrated approach to marketing drives awareness, credibility and conversions for 100+ clients around the world. The agency offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston and Atlanta.

FinSMEs

17/01/2023
Top Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, center, leaves an Italian Carabinieri barrack soon after his arrest at a private clinic in Palermo, Sicily, after 30 years on the run, in this picture taken from a video released by Italian Carabinieri, Jan. 16. AP-Yonhap



Italy's No. 1 fugitive, a Mafia boss convicted of helping to mastermind some of the nation's most heinous slayings, was arrested Monday when he sought treatment at a private clinic in Sicily after three decades on the run.



Matteo Messina Denaro was tried in absentia and convicted of dozens of murders, including helping to mastermind, along with other Cosa Nostra bosses, a pair of 1992 bombings that killed top anti-Mafia prosecutors  and led the Italian state to stiffen its crackdown on the Sicilian crime syndicate. He faces multiple life sentences that he is expected to serve in a maximum security prison and under the particularly restrictive conditions reserved for top organized crime bosses.



He went into hiding a year after those bombings while still a young man  but he was still considered one of Cosa Nostra's top bosses even as a fugitive. Hundreds of police officers were tasked over the years with tracking him, the last of three longtime top-level Mafia bosses who managed to elude capture for decades.



He is now 60, and his health condition helped investigators zero in on him, according to Carabinieri Gen. Pasquale Angelosanto, who heads the police force's special operations squad.



''It all led to today's date (when) he would have come for some tests and treatment'' at the clinic, the Carabinieri general said.



Authorities did not say what he was being treated for, but he was captured at La Maddalena clinic in Palermo, an upscale medical facility with a reputation for treating cancer patients, and Italian media said he was undergoing treatment for a year.



During an evening news conference, authorities said Messina Denaro's treatment could continue at a hospital prison ward.



Investigators said he was unarmed and dressed like a typical patient at the clinic, though wearing a watch worth at least 30,000 euros (about $33,000).



''He didn't resist at all,'' Carabinieri Col. Lucio Arcidiacono told reporters.



A pair of Carabinieri officers, each holding an arm, walked Messina Denaro down the front steps of the clinic to a waiting black van in pouring rain. He was dressed in a brown leather jacket trimmed in shearling, a matching white-and-brown skull cap and his trademark tinted glasses. His face looked wan and he stared straight ahead.



Shortly after his arrest, the sun peeked through, and a rainbow could be seen in the sky over the clinic.



When dozens of police officers, wearing ski masks, converged on the clinic, local residents knew something big was about to happen. When Messina Denaro was brought outside, applause rang out on the sidewalks.



Palermo Chief Prosecutor Maurizio De Lucia told reporters that the fugitive had used the pseudonym Andrea Bonafede and had an Italian identity card in that name. He used the alias  the surname roughly means ''good faith'' in Italian  to book a morning appointment at the clinic.



In addition to convictions for the killings of prosecutors Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, he was also found guilty of killing Falcone's wife and several of their bodyguards as well as the grisly murder of a Mafia turncoat's young son, who was abducted and strangled before his body was dissolved in a vat of acid.





A composite picture showing a computer-generated image released by tihe Italian police, right, and a picture of Mafia top boss Matteo Messina Denaro. Italian police say, Jan. 16, they arrested Italy's No. 1 fugitive, Sicilian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, on the run for 30 years. AP-Yonhap
On the morning of November 10, 2022 local time, Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council, accompanied by High Representative of Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen and Deputy Prime Minister Chea Sophara, visited an exhibition marking the 30 years of China-Cambodia exchanges and cooperation on cultural heritage in Siem Reap, and attended the handover ceremony of the China-assisted Ta Keo Temple restoration project at Angkor.

Li Keqiang first listened to a presentation on the ongoing cooperation between China and Cambodia in the field of cultural heritage, and viewed with great interest exhibition boards displaying cooperation achievements in this field. He also inquired about the techniques and construction materials applied in the restoration of cultural relics, scientific research on cultural relics, the measures adopted for antiquities preservation, and international exchanges and cooperation on cultural heritage, among others.

In his speech at the handover ceremony of the restoration project, Li Keqiang said that this year marks the 30th anniversary of China-Cambodia exchanges and cooperation on cultural heritage. Thanks to the exchanges, mutual learning, and inclusive cooperation among civilizations, the development of humanity has come a long way with fruitful results. China and Cambodia both have a time-honored history and a splendid culture, and mutual learning has contributed significantly to the growth of China-Cambodia relations. The two peoples' understanding and knowledge about each other's country and culture have laid a solid foundation for bilateral friendship. People-to-people interactions not only bring together diverse cultures, but also people's hearts, and all this has a crucial role to play in keeping international industrial and supply chains stable and smooth under the current circumstances.

Premier Li noted that the Angkor antiquities not only epitomize the splendid Khmer civilization, they are also a source of pride of the Cambodian nation. Over the years, many Eastern and Western countries have actively participated in the preservation and restoration of Angkor antiquities. The Ta Keo Temple project that China handed over on Thursday is the second restoration project undertaken by the Chinese government under the International Coordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC-Angkor). This project is good for Cambodia, good for China-Cambodia friendship, and good for inter-civilization exchanges and mutual learning. He expressed the hope that the Angkor antiquities, a treasure of human civilization, will brim with even greater vitality.

Li noted that the preservation and harness of cultural heritage call for exchanges and cooperation, and the development of state-to-state relations and the progress of humanity cannot happen without exchanges and cooperation. China stays committed to the fundamental national policy of opening up, and stands ready to draw strength from all outstanding achievements of human civilizations, carry out practical cooperation with other countries in such areas as economy, society, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and promote mutual understanding and connectivity among the peoples, so as to contribute to safeguarding peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and the world at large.

Chea Sophara said that Cambodia and China are as close as brothers, and have respected and supported each other. The close cooperation between the two sides has boosted the rapid development of Cambodia. Cambodia thanks China for its active assistance in promoting economic and social development and preserving national culture of Cambodia. Cambodia is ready to work with China to carry forward traditional friendship, maintain close cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and promote new progress in Cambodia-China comprehensive cooperative partnership.

Xiao Jie attended the above events.
On November 18, 2022 local time, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and State Councilor Wang Yi met at request with Peruvian Foreign Minister Cesar Landa on the sidelines of the 29th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Bangkok.

Landa hailed the success of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) as with great significance. He said that President Xi Jinping's re-election as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee will lead China to achieve longer-term and more stable development. China is an important cooperative partner of Peru. The traditional friendship between the two countries enjoys strong public support, and pragmatic cooperation has yielded fruitful results. Peru is firmly committed to the one-China policy, and is ready to deepen cooperation with China in various fields and keep enriching the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

Wang Yi briefed Landa on the great achievements and far-reaching significance of the 20th CPC National Congress. He said that with General Secretary Xi Jinping at the helm, the Chinese people will advance the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization on the new journey of building a modern socialist country in all respects. China is ready to work with Peru to continue mutual support on issues involving each other's core interests, seek greater synergy between development strategies, expand pragmatic cooperation, deepen cooperation within the China-CELAC Forum and other mechanisms, promote greater development of China-Peru relations and relations between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, and jointly build a human community with a shared future.
On January 14, 2023, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and President Xi Jinping and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong sent congratulatory letters to each other on the coming Spring Festival, a traditional festival for the Chinese and Vietnamese people.

In his message, Xi Jinping extended his most sincere greetings and blessings for the Spring Festival to Nguyen Phu Trong, the CPV as well as the Vietnamese government and people on behalf of the CPC, the Chinese government and the Chinese people.

Xi Jinping said that the year 2022 is of crucial importance to the respective development of the two parties as well as the two countries, and also a milestone for the China-Vietnam relationship. The CPC held its 20th National Congress successfully, putting forward the Party's missions and tasks in the new era and on the new journey. The Vietnamese people, under the leadership of the CPV Central Committee, have comprehensively acted upon the guiding principles of the 13th National Congress of the CPV. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong paid a visit to China successfully shortly after the conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, and both sides released a joint statement on further strengthening and deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Vietnam. Xi Jinping said that relevant departments and sub-national authorities of the two parties and two countries have been striving to follow through on the broad common understandings reached between the two sides, and he believes that this will consolidate political mutual trust and traditional friendship between the two sides, and earnestly improve the well-being of the people of both countries.

Xi Jinping noted that with the beginning of the new year, everything takes on a new look. Looking ahead to 2023, Xi said he is ready to keep close communication with General Secretary Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong and steer the course for the sustained, sound and steady development of China-Vietnam relations. China and Vietnam are a community with a shared future that bears strategic significance and China regards Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and stands ready to strengthen the alignment of development strategies with Vietnam, deepen practical cooperation in various fields, enhance communication and coordination in international and regional affairs, and make positive contributions to advancing the noble cause of peace and development of mankind.

Nguyen Phu Trong said in his message that over the past year, under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core and under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the CPC successfully held its 20th National Congress, which was an extremely important event in the political life of the Chinese people. Nguyen Phu Trong expressed confidence that under the leadership of the CPC, the brotherly Chinese people will successfully fulfill all the goals and visions set forth at the 20th CPC National Congress, build a modern socialist country in all respects, and march toward the realization of the Second Centenary Goal.

Nguyen Phu Trong said that under the guidance of a series of common understandings reached between General Secretaries of the two parties, Vietnam-China relations have maintained a positive momentum of development and achieved important progress. Nguyen Phu Trong noted that his official visit to China with a high-level delegation of the Vietnamese party and government shortly after the conclusion of the 20th CPC National Congress was a success. Nguyen Phu Trong said he is ready to work with General Secretary Comrade Xi Jinping to guide the departments and sub-national authorities of both sides to implement the agreements and common understandings reached during his visit, carry out strategic communication on theories and practices of both countries' respective socialist development, and chart the course and make strategic plans to ensure that the relations between the two parties and two countries continuously develop and reach new heights. Nguyen Phu Trong wishes the CPC continuous development and growth, the People's Republic of China prosperity and strength, and the brotherly Chinese people a happy and peaceful New Year.
On January 9, 2023, Foreign Minister Qin Gang had a phone call at request with Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Qin Gang said that China and Pakistan enjoy special friendship and high-level mutual trust. The high-level officials of the two countries have maintained close interactions, injecting strong impetus into the development of bilateral relations. The Chinese side is ready to work with the Pakistani side to follow the important common understandings reached by the leaders of the two countries, continuously deepen the traditional friendship between China and Pakistan, and jointly build an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era.

Qin Gang stressed that with the Chinese New Year just days away, the Chinese side is highly concerned about the safety of Chinese citizens in Pakistan and hopes that the Pakistani side will continue to take strong security measures.

Bilawal once again congratulated Qin Gang on his assuming office as China's Foreign Minister, saying that the ironclad brotherhood between China and Pakistan is the "North Star" guiding Pakistan's foreign policy toward China. Bilawal expected to jointly take the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership to a new level. He wished the Chinese people a happy Chinese New Year in the upcoming Year of the Rabbit. The Pakistani side will spare no effort to protect the safety of the Chinese personnel, institutions and projects in Pakistan.
Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc arrives to attend APEC Leader's Dialogue with APEC Business Advisory Council during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Nov. 18, 2022. Reuters-Yonhap



Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has resigned, state media said Tuesday, after days of rumors he was about to be sacked as part of a major anti-corruption drive that has seen several ministers fired.



Phuc has "submitted his resignation from his assigned positions, quit his job, and retired," state news agency VNA said.



Phuc's sudden departure is a highly unusual move in communist Vietnam, where political changes are normally carefully orchestrated, with an emphasis on cautious stability.



State media said the communist party had ruled he was responsible for wrongdoing by senior ministers under him during his 2016-2021 stint as prime minister, before he became president.



Two deputy prime ministers were sacked this month in an anti-corruption purge that has led to the arrest of dozens of officials, with many of the graft allegations relating to deals done as part of Vietnam's COVID pandemic response.



Phuc "took political responsibility as leader when several officials, including two deputy prime ministers and three ministers committed violations and shortcomings, causing very serious consequences", VNA said, quoting the party central committee's official statement.



Earlier this month, the country's rubber stamp National Assembly removed Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam from their positions as deputy prime ministers.



Minh was a minister of foreign affairs while Dam was in charge of the country's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.



At least 100 officials and businesspeople, including Dam's assistant, have been arrested in connection with a scandal involving the distribution of COVID-19 testing kits.



Thirty-seven people  many of them senior diplomats and police  have also been arrested in an investigation over the repatriation of Vietnamese during the pandemic.



Corruption, infighting



After closing its borders to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Vietnam organized nearly 800 charter flights to bring citizens home from 60 countries and territories.



But travelers faced complicated procedures while paying exorbitant airfares and quarantine fees to get back to Vietnam.



Phuc, 68, was elevated to the largely ceremonial role of president in April 2021 after winning plaudits for the country's broadly successful handling of the pandemic.



Authoritarian Vietnam is run by the Communist Party and officially led by the party general secretary, president, and prime minister, with key decisions made by the politburo, which now numbers 16.



Le Hong Hiep, a fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said Phuc's resignation may also be linked to political infighting.



"It's mainly related to corruption investigations but we cannot rule out the possibility that his political rivals also wanted to remove him from his position for political reasons," he told AFP.



Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong, the architect of what is Vietnam's largest-ever anti-corruption drive, is due to step down in 2026.



"Some politicians will try to get the (top) prize and because of the competition from their rivals  in this case Mr Phuc is one of them  they may want to remove him to clear the way for the other candidate to get the top job." (AFP)


Gov. Tina Kotek has announced several appointees to her staff, among them a deputy chief of staff who will oversee agencies, a communications director, and a former state representative who will advise her on natural resources and climate change.

Among the prominent hires to her staff, most of them policy advisers:

 Chris Warner as deputy chief of staff for a newly created Office of Public Administration, which will give him wide latitude to oversee state agencies. Warner comes from the Portland Bureau of Transportation, where he became assistant director in 2016 and its director since June 2019. He had been chief of staff for Portland City Commissioner Steve Novick, who was in office from 2013 to 2017.

Warner has worked in government at all levels. From 2003 to 2010, he was legislative director and a top assistant to Gov. Ted Kulongoski. He helped shepherd passage of the 2009 Jobs and Transportation Act, which at $1 billion was the largest such spending plan until 2017.

He also worked for U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith, and U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio.

He is married to Barbara Smith Warner, herself a former Wyden aide, who was in the District 45 seat in the Oregon House from November 2013 until Jan. 9 of this year. Barbara Smith Warner was House majority leader from July 2019 until January 2022.

 An Do as director of communications and public affairs, starting Jan. 19, which will enable her to speak for the governor. She has spent almost two years as executive director of Planned Parenthood Associates of Oregon, for which she was also its political director. She led the campaign against a 2018 ballot measure that would have barred public funds for abortions, except in specified instances. Oregon has used state money for abortions since a federal restriction took effect in 1976. (Voters rejected Measure 106.)

She also was a social worker in alternative high schools in Portland and Brooklyn, N.Y.

 Karin Power, who just completed three terms as a Democratic state representative from District 41 (Milwaukie), as a natural resources and climate adviser. She had taken leave from her job as interim director of Business for a Better Portland, where she was hired in July. Before she was elected to the Oregon House in 2016, Power was a Milwaukie city councilor and associate general counsel for the Freshwater Trust.

She was appointed to the governing board of Clackamas Community College last fall.

Other appointees

Most of the other appointees have some experience in state government. They are listed below.

 Vince Porter, adviser for economic development and workforce. He had been director of Regence Health Policy Center for eight months, director of government affairs at Cambia Health Solutions since 2017, and a vice president at Strategies 360 from 2016 to 2017. A former vice president for production at Showtime Networks, he also led the Governors Office of Film and Television from 2008 to 2014, and was an economic development adviser to Gov. Kate Brown from 2014 to 2016.

 Kelly Scannell Brooks, transportation and infrastructure adviser. She has been assistant city manager in Milwaukie since 2017, and was an official in the Portland regional office of the Oregon Department of Transportation from 2011 to 2017. She also did separate stints (2003-04, 2007-10) for U.S. Rep. David Wu in Washington, D.C., and in Oregon.

 Geoff Huntington, senior natural resources adviser. Most recently he was Elliott State Forest project manager for the Department of State Lands. The 2022 Legislature kept the south coast forest in public ownership for research purposes, but severed a prior requirement for it to produce income from timber sales for the Common School Fund. He has taught in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University, and was executive director of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and deputy director of the Oregon Department of Water Resources.

 Doug Grafe, wildfire and emergency response adviser. Grafe led state programs created by the 2021 Legislature to lessen the effects of severe wildfires and help communities plan to avert them. Gov. Brown named him to that job after 17 years at the Oregon Department of Forestry, where he was chief of fire protection.

 Rachel Currans-Henry, health and human services adviser. She has worked as strategic initiatives administrator in aging and disability services at the Department of Human Services, and in the COVID-19 response and recovery unit of the Oregon Health Authority. She also held top health positions in Wisconsin, including Medicaid administration.

 Maya Crawford Peacock, executive appointments director. She led the Lawyers Campaign for Justice, a nonprofit that aims to broaden access to legal representation. She also has been a supervising attorney for Legal Aid Services of Oregon and public interest law coordinator at Lewis & Clark College law school.

 Constantin Severe, public safety adviser, the same job he had with Gov. Brown. Severe had been a lawyer with Metropolitan Public Defender in Portland and director of Portlands Independent Police Review.

 Amelia Porterfield, regional solutions director. For the past three years, she has been director of government affairs for The Nature Conservancy. She was a top aide to Kotek when Kotek led House Democrats from mid-2011 until 2013  when the House was tied 30-30 -- and then her first chief of staff (for three years) after Democrats gained a majority and Kotek became House speaker.

Previously announced

She previously announced as her chief of staff Andrea Cooper, who had been deputy chief for the final two years of Gov. Kate Browns tenure.

A second deputy chief of staff for Kotek announced previously is Lindsey OBrien, who will be in charge of public engagement. She had been her communications director (2015-17) and chief of staff (2019-22) while Kotek was speaker of the Oregon House. She stayed for a few months with the current House speaker, Dan Rayfield, until she joined Koteks campaign as a senior adviser. She was chief of staff for the House Majority Office from 2017 to 2019. OBrien also had worked for the 2014 campaign of U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley.

Also announced previously: Melissa Goff as education adviser. She comes from the Oregon School Boards Association, where she was deputy executive director for a few months. She had been schools superintendent for two years in Albany, until the board fired her without explanation in 2021. She also led schools in Philomath, and was an assistant superintendent at Portland Public Schools for a year.
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SPOKANE, Wash., Jan. 16, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avista Corporation (Avista) and NorthWestern Energy (NorthWestern) announce an agreement through which Avista will turn over its interest in the Colstrip coal-fired power plant to NorthWestern on December 31, 2025.



Through the transaction, NorthWestern will assume ownership of the 222 MW generating capacity that is currently owned by Avista, along with its related interest in the plant, plant equipment, rights and obligations.

This transaction is the result of several years of work and discussions among all owners of Colstrip, through which we have looked for commercial solutions that would allow Avista and others to exit Colstrip by the end of 2025, while also meeting the needs of other owners and stakeholders, including NorthWestern and the state of Montana, said Jason Thackston, Avistas Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy & Clean Energy Officer. Avista has been in Montana for decades and will be in Montana long after its exit from Colstrip is completed; thus, it was important to us that any agreement regarding Colstrip address the needs of Montanans in addition to the needs of our customers and the interests of the states we serve. It is indicative of our commitment to Montana that we have previously committed to contribute $3 million for the betterment of the Colstrip communitys future.

Avistas integrated resource plan has indicated that Colstrip will no longer be economic for its customers in Washington and Idaho after 2025. Avistas integrated resource plan sets forth a strategy for serving its customers in Washington and Idaho with reliable and cost-effective resources. In addition, Washingtons Clean Energy Transformation Act precludes Avista from serving Washington customers with generation from Colstrip after 2025. This Agreement furthers our objective of providing reliable, affordable energy to our customers, while also ensuring that we are able to comply with the law, said Thackston.

Under the Agreement, Avista retains its existing remediation obligations and enters into a vote sharing agreement with NorthWestern to retain voting rights in regard to any decision that might be made with respect to remediation activities. In addition, while NorthWestern will have the right to exercise Avistas vote with respect to capital expenditures between now and 2025, the Agreement is structured such that Avistas contribution to those expenditures is limited to its pro rata share between the date of the expenditure and 2025, and to the least-cost alternative available, thereby ensuring that the costs directly benefit Avista customers and dont, in and of themselves, extend the life of the plant.

The Agreement also preserves Avistas rights in the Colstrip transmission system, giving Avista the ability to leverage capacity on that system for future renewables projects in furtherance of its clean energy goals. The ability to utilize the Colstrip transmission system for future renewables projects in Montana will be an important tool as we move towards our clean energy goals, said Thackston. Preserving that capacity was another important objective for us in discussions regarding our exit from Colstrip.

On behalf of Avista, I want to thank NorthWestern, as well as the other owners of Colstrip for their ongoing commitment to work constructively on solutions that address everyones respective needs in Colstrip, said Dennis Vermillion, President and Chief Executive Officer of Avista. This agreement would not have been possible if the owners had been unwilling to engage constructively with one another, and to recognize each others unique needs and interests when it came to Colstrip.

Vermillion added that while this is an important step forward, it is not the end of the process. We remain engaged with the other owners of Colstrip to address several outstanding issues, including potential future emissions reductions at the plant and resolution of pending legal proceedings. I am confident that, through our continued work together, we will continue to find solutions to these complicated and challenging issues, for the benefit of our customers and the region as a whole.

Under the Colstrip Ownership & Operating Agreement, each of the owners will have a 90 day period in which to evaluate the transaction and determine whether to exercise their respective right of first refusal as to a portion of the generation being turned over to NorthWestern.

About Avista Corp.

Avista Corp. is an energy company involved in the production, transmission, and distribution of energy as well as other energy-related businesses. Avista Utilities is the operating division that provides electric service to 403,000 customers and natural gas to 369,000 customers. Its service territory covers 30,000 square miles in eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and parts of southern and eastern Oregon, with a population of 1.6 million. Alaska Energy and Resources Company is an Avista subsidiary that provides retail electric service in the city and borough of Juneau, Alaska, through its subsidiary Alaska Electric Light and Power Company. Avista stock is traded under the ticker symbol "AVA." For more information about Avista, please visit www.avistacorp.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the companys current expectations. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than historical facts. Such statements speak only as of the date of the news release and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the companys control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations. These risks and uncertainties include, in addition to those discussed herein, all of the factors discussed in the companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2021 and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2022.

To unsubscribe from Avistas news release distribution, send a reply message to lena.funston@avistacorp.com.

Contact:

Media: Casey Fielder, (509) 495-4916, casey.fielder@avistacorp.com

Investors: Stacey Wenz, (509) 495-2046, stacey.wenz@avistacorp.com

Avista 24/7 Media Access: (509) 495-4174
English Finnish

ROBIT PLC PRESS RELEASE 17 JANUARY 2023 AT 9.30 A.M.



ROBIT INVOLVED IN SAUDI ARABIA'S NEOM PROJECT



One of the world's largest construction projects has started in Saudi Arabia near the northern end of the Red Sea. Neom is a futuristic city with an area of 26,500 square kilometers.



The Line, a 170 kilometer long building, is part of the Neom project. It will use high-speed trains for transport within the city. The rail system will require the excavation of some 28 kilometres of tunnels. In the summer of 2022, the bidding for jumbo drilling in the tunnel project was won by Jinyang R&S, one of the largest jumbo drill rental companies in Korea.

Rock tools for the tunnel jumbos will be supplied by Robit. Robit does not have a long-term supply contract, but the project is a significant opportunity.

"We have already received the first orders, size category is not yet significant in terms of invoicing. However Robit is in a good position to continue working closely with the customer," says CEO Arto Halonen.

Robit has signed a distribution agreement with the mentioned Korean company Jinyang R&S already in 2017. Drilling equipment has been delivered to numerous construction sites in Korea since then.



ROBIT PLC

Arto Halonen



Further information:

Arto Halonen,

Group CEO

+358 40 028 0717

arto.halonen@robitgroup.com



Distribution:

Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd

Key media

www.robitgroup.com



Robit is the expert focused on high quality drilling consumables for mining and construction markets globally to help you drill Further. Faster. Robit strives to be world number one company in drilling consumables. Through our high and proven quality Top Hammer, Down the Hole and Geotechnical products, and our expert services, we deliver saving in drilling costs to our customers. Robit has its own sales and service points in eight countries and an active distributor network through which it sells to more than 100 countries. Robits manufacturing units are located in Finland, South Korea, Australia and the UK. Robits shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. Further information is available at www.robitgroup.com.
ISTANBUL, Turkey, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boyden, a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 70 offices in over 45 countries, is delighted to announce the arrival of a new leadership team in Turkey, Murat Ergene and Ibrahim Paksoy.



We are delighted to join Boyden, a firm we have known very closely, said Murat Ergene Managing Partner, Country Leader Boyden Turkey. Our local strength, combined with Boydens global synergy and capabilities will provide valuable services to clients in Turkey and worldwide. Our differentiating strength has always been the wide range of business domain expertise of our consultants who held multinational executive management roles at leading companies. We pride ourselves in our agility to meet the changing demands of our customers such as the impact of digital advancements and technology. Our aim is to exceed clients expectations by delivering services at a global level through collaborative efforts with our colleagues worldwide.

Ibrahim Paksoy, Managing Partner, Boyden Turkey, adds, I am delighted to join a global team of leadership consultants, which will strengthen our capabilities in both executive search and leadership consulting services.

Murat Ergene is a well-known executive search and human resources expert, collaborating with C-suite leaders to identify high performers and improve team effectiveness. He identifies senior executives and board members for organisations across a range of sectors, and provides expertise in HR consulting. He is a partner in one of the most comprehensive people analytics technology solutions providers in the market. He is the founder of Ergene Consulting, a market-leading consulting firm and held human resources leadership roles in FMCG, Retail and Finance sectors at industry-leading firms such as Unilever, Carrefour and Garanti Bank BBVA. He started his career in the sales division at Unilever. Murat holds a Bachelors degree in political science and international relations from Bogazici University and a Masters degree in HR Management.

Ibrahim Paksoy leverages more than 25 years experience in executive management, providing executive search services to clients across a range of industries. He is a partner in one of the most comprehensive people analytics technology solutions providers in the market. He was previously partner in Ergene Consulting, and held executive management roles in Real Estate and Banking sectors at industry-leading institutions in Turkey, Germany, Russia, Netherlands, Romania and The United Arab Emirates. He started his career in Audit and Business Advisory division at Arthur Andersen. Ibrahim holds a Masters degree in finance from Koc University, and a Bachelors degree in economics from Marmara University.

About Boyden

Boyden is a premier leadership and talent advisory firm with more than 70 offices in over 45 countries. Our global reach enables us to serve client needs anywhere they conduct business. We connect great companies with great leaders through executive search, interim management and leadership consulting solutions. Boyden is ranked amongst the top companies on Forbes Americas Best Executive Recruiting Firms for 2021. For further information, visit www.boyden.com.

Contacts:

Chris Swee, Boyden New York

Chief Marketing Officer

T: +1 914 747 0172

E: cswee@boyden.com

Infographics accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/66662ba2-3cf4-4954-be6f-e57bd9b776e5

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/879202c3-2535-4b9c-86a2-3b6e8e511387
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Standard Lithium Ltd. (Standard Lithium or the Company) (TSXV: SLI) (NYSE American: SLI) (FRA: S5L), a leading near-commercial lithium company, announces that two experienced energy executives, Claudia D'Orazio and Anca Rusu, have joined its Board as independent directors of the Company, effective immediately.



We are pleased to welcome Claudia and Anca to Standard Lithiums Board of Directors during such an important stage of growth for the Company, said Robert Cross, Chairman of the Board. Both are accomplished senior executives who bring decades of experience in the energy sector. Claudias technical and financial acumen and human resources expertise, coupled with Ancas experience in project development and focus on safety and environmental excellence, will be of great value to Standard Lithium as we continue to progress towards commercialization.

Claudia DOrazio, CPA, is an accomplished senior executive with leadership experience across a range of industries, including oil and gas, energy, mining, public audit, and finance. She is currently the Vice President and Chief Human Resources & Technology Officer of Centerra Gold Inc., a publicly traded Canadian-based gold mining company. Prior to joining Centerra Gold, Ms. DOrazio held several leadership roles with Pembina Pipeline Corporation from 2006 to 2020, ending as Vice President, Human Resources. She spent the first half of her career in public audit and finance at the Royal Bank of Canada, and KPMG LLP.

Ms. DOrazio is currently a Board member of the Canadian Mineral Industry Education Foundation. She holds a Chartered Professional Accountant Designation and Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Management Information Systems from McGill University.

Anca Rusu is a strategic leader with over 20 years of experience directing global capital projects within the energy sector. She most recently served as the Special Advisor, Projects and Engineering for Royal Dutch Shell, where she supported the re-positioning of the global Projects organization to align with the companys focus on the energy transition. Ms. Rusu joined Royal Dutch Shell in 2005 and has held a variety of leadership roles there, including Vice President, Safety and Environment Excellence and Vice President, Projects Shell Chemical Appalachia, where she led the construction of Shells major petrochemical plant in Pennsylvania. She began her career as an engineering, procurement, and construction contractor in her role as a project engineer.

Ms. Rusu currently serves on the National Board of the Project Management Association of Canada and as an Advisory Board member for Moss Lake Partners LP, a US-based midstream logistics start-up. She holds a Professional Engineer Designation in Ontario, Canada, an MBA from York University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemical and Mechanical Engineering from Politechnica University of Bucharest.

Standard Lithium CEO, Robert Mintak stated, I am very pleased to welcome Anca and Claudia, two exceptional, independent directors to our Board. Both bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise across the energy, resource and finance sectors that will significantly strengthen and complement the current makeup of our Board.

About Standard Lithium Ltd.

Standard Lithium is a leading near-commercial lithium development company with a portfolio of projects in process. The Companys flagship projects, the LANXESS Property Project and the South West Arkansas Project, are located in southern Arkansas near the Louisiana state line. The Company is focused on the evaluation and testing of commercial lithium extraction and purification from brine sourced from approximately 180,000 acres of unitized leases across these two projects. The Company operates a first-of-a-kind industrial-scale Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) Demonstration Plant at the LANXESS Property Project. The scalable, environmentally friendly process eliminates the use of evaporation ponds, reduces processing time from months to hours and greatly increases the effective recovery of lithium. A Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) and Front-End Engineering Study (FEED) for Phase 1A of the LANXESS Property Project commenced in September 2022. A Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) of the South West Arkansas Project commenced in May 2022. The Company is also pursuing the resource development of approximately 45,000 acres of mineral leases located in the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California.

Standard Lithium is jointly listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and the NYSE American under the trading symbol SLI; and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol S5L. Please visit the Companys website at https://www.standardlithium.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, target, plan, forecast, may, schedule and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to plans at the LANXESS Property Project and the South West Arkansas Project, future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, fluctuations in the market for lithium and its derivatives, changes in exploration costs and government regulation in Canada and the United States, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Companys current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations.
With industrial militancy growing and spreading across Britain, the Tories and bosses are pushing for further restrictions on workers right to strike. The trade union leaders must organise a militant fightback to smash these laws to pieces.

Earlier this week, after months of rumours and speculation, Tory transport secretary Grant Shapps finally outlined a new bill that would enforce minimum service levels in key industries during strikes.

The draconian bill would essentially remove the right to strike from millions of workers, and blunt the effectiveness of legal strike action.

Despite being drafted to specifically target transport unions, such as the RMT, who have led the way in Britains strike wave, this legislation represents a threat to the entire labour movement.

It is no coincidence that the Tories are proposing this latest bill amidst a resurgence of industrial militancy. With these new laws, this belligerent government is throwing down the gauntlet to the trade unions.

Union leaders must pick it up and respond to this challenge by launching a mass movement  one rivalling the general strike of 1926, the Suffragettes, and Chartism, as Mick Lynch correctly proposed when this plan was first revealed.

Resistance

The TUC has put forward 1 February as a national day of action against this Tory bill, involving events across the country. Paul Nowak, the new TUC general secretary, has also referred to the new legislation as undemocratic, unworkable, and almost certainly illegal.

Trade union leaders must mobilise members en masse to defy these Tory laws / Image: Socialist Appeal

Nowak has committed the TUC to resisting the bill in Parliament and in the courts. But the whole history of the labour movement shows that the legal system is no friend of the working class.

Instead, the trade union leaders must prepare to mobilise members en masse to defy these Tory laws. As Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has previously stated: If [the Tories] force our legitimate activities outside of the law, then dont expect us to play by the rules.

Anti-union laws have shackled the organised working class for years  not because of the strength of the state, but because of the timidity of the union leaders.

The response from the trade unions must therefore be more than a few town hall meetings and court cases. What is needed is a mass mobilisation of the whole labour movement.

Already, the Enough is Enough campaign has responded with a petition titled defend the right to strike, which has almost 160,000 signatures at the time of writing. Another by the TUC has over 100,000. The appetite is there for a serious fightback.

Responding to the Tories latest anti-union announcement, Matt Wrack, general secretary of the firefighters union, correctly called for a mass movement of resistance to this authoritarian attack.

Such resistance must utilise all means at our disposal. Mass rallies, demonstrations, coordinated action, and even a one-day general strike: the labour movement must use any means necessary to defend itself in this class war.

Encouragingly, left-led PCS has pointed the way forward, calling out 100,000 civil servants for the 1 February day of action. Other unions must join this mobilisation. The call must be: all forces to the point of attack!

Safety

The new legislation, dubbed the Minimum Service Levels Bill, targets six sectors in particular: rail, health, education, border security, fire services, and nuclear decommissioning.

The bosses proposals to cut safety-critical jobs are a main driver behind the RMTs dispute / Image: Socialist Appeal

The bill was initially floated by the Tories in their 2019 manifesto, and revived again under the short-lived Truss regime, in response to the ongoing strikes by the RMT.

But the extension of the bill to the wider public sector is clearly a response to the fact that action has spread  and is spreading  to key workers such as nurses, ambulance drivers, immigration officials, teachers, junior doctors, and firefighters.

Cynically, Shapps and co. have even taken to referring to the bill as providing minimum safety levels, implying that strikes are putting the public in danger.

But when ambulance drivers have struck, for example, they have continued to respond to essential emergency cases.

And in fact, as pointed out by many striking workers and union activists, it is low pay and intolerable conditions that are making public services unsafe.

As the RCN has argued, for example, a decade of declining real wages for nurses has led to fewer staff, more vacancies and shortages, more burnout, and greater stresses on remaining health workers.

Similarly, on the railways, the bosses proposals to cut safety-critical jobs are a main driver behind the RMTs dispute.

The suggestion that new repressive laws against the right to strike are needed to keep the public safe is therefore a barefaced lie. It is the Tories and their big business buddies who are the real dangers to public safety. And it is the unions who are fighting for safe, decent, fully-funded services for all.

Opposition

By proposing this bill, the ruling class is also making it clear who they intend to make pay for the crisis of capitalism  the working class.

Even after 12 years of austerity and wage restraints, the Tories are intent on continuing their policy of below-inflation pay rises for public sector workers.

But with Sunak and Hunt looking to implement another 50 billion in cuts, in order to restore a semblance of stability for British capitalism, the worst is yet to come. And anticipating further industrial struggles, the Tories are preparing for a showdown.

This incendiary move has even provoked stern words from His Majestys (sickeningly) Loyal Opposition, with the Labour leaders pledging that they will oppose this bill and would repeal these restrictions on the right to strike if in power.

Similarly, the Scottish National Party has come out against these Tory laws, with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon saying: The way you resolve industrial disputes is by negotiations, not by legislating to take away workers rights.

Splits

Such comments  hypocritically coming from political leaders who have consistently antagonised striking workers  show the thinking of a section of the establishment, who are concerned that the Tories are pouring petrol on the fire with their anti-union proposals.

The ruling class is increasingly split in the face of British capitalisms deepening crisis / Image: Socialist Appeal

The Financial Times, a serious mouthpiece of British capitalism, shares these worries, calling instead for the government to settle disputes and calm the situation through negotiations and compromise. You cant legislate your way into better labour relations, the FT concludes.

But even with a new responsible leadership at the helm, the Tories are not completely under the control of the ruling class. Instead, Rishi Sunak is pandering to his partys rabid backbenchers, to whom he must continue to throw generous portions of red meat  including further attacks on the trade unions.

Above all, what this shows is the dead-end facing the ruling class, which is increasingly split in the face of British capitalisms deepening crisis.

One wing demands reforms, fearing the potentially explosive effects of further anti-union restrictions. The other demands repression, meanwhile, unwilling to make concessions for fear that workers appetite will grow with eating.

Struggle

Whether the bill will actually be implemented remains unclear. Some have suggested that it would be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, or that it could be held up in the House of Lords.

The organised working class should rely on its own strength to smash these Tory laws / Image: Socialist Appeal

Sensible sections of the ruling class  those preferring industrial peace over continual strife  may look to block, or at least blunt, the bill through these bodies, concerned that it could be the spark for a social explosion.

In any case, as emphasised above, the labour movement cannot have any faith in Parliament or the courts.

Instead, the organised working class should rely on its own strength  a strength which it is now rediscovering  and mobilise to smash these Tory laws to pieces through militant, united action.

Only class struggle methods  mass strikes and street protests  can defeat the Tories anti-union attacks and austerity agenda, and overthrow the capitalist system that is at the root of workers problems.
Dublin, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Modular Construction Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global modular construction market size reached US$ 76.1 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 109 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.17% during 2021-2027.



Modular construction refers to the off-site development of prefabricated engineered buildings in controlled industrial conditions. It involves the use of individual modules or sections, such as kitchens, bathroom pods and complete or partial rooms, manufactured in a facility using standard materials and code of construction.

These modules are further assembled at the building site and are reinforced with a self-supporting structure or an independent structural framework for multi-story buildings. In comparison to the traditionally used construction methods, modular construction is faster, cost-effective, sustainable and causes minimal disturbances and waste generation. It can also be conveniently disassembled, refurbished and relocated with low resource requirements.



Modular Construction Market Trends:



Significant growth in the construction industry across the globe is one of the key factors creating a positive outlook for the market. Moreover, the increasing requirement for time and cost-effective construction solutions is providing a thrust to the growth of the market.

With the rising environmental consciousness among the masses, consumers are widely adopting permanent modular constructions (PMC) for developing sustainable commercial, industrial and residential complexes. They are also used for establishing custom-built rehabilitation clinics, emergency rooms, operating rooms, hospital extensions, laboratories, diagnostic centers and other medical facilities.

In line with this, widespread adoption of steel-based frames, wall panels and hot-rolled frameworks is also contributing to the market growth. They offer enhanced structural integrity, design flexibility, security and fire resistance. Additionally, the increasing utilization of lean manufacturing techniques and technologically advanced equipment is also favoring the market growth.

Other factors, including increasing expenditure capacities of the consumers, along with the implementation of favorable government policies promoting infrastructural development, are anticipated to drive the market toward growth.

Competitive Landscape:



The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Algeco, Balfour Beatty plc, Bouygues, Etex Group, Guerdon LLC, KLEUSBERG GmbH & Co KG, Laing O'Rourke, Larsen & Toubro Limited, Lendlease Corporation, Red Sea International, Skanska AB and Taisei Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global modular construction market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global modular construction market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the module type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the material?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end use?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global modular construction market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 145 Forecast Period 2021 - 2027 Estimated Market Value (Billion) in 2021 Billion76.1 Billion Forecasted Market Value (Billion) by 2027 Billion109 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 6.1% Regions Covered Global

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Modular Construction Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Type

6.1 Permanent

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Relocatable

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Module Type

7.1 Four Sided

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Open Sided

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Partially Open Sided

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast

7.4 Mixed Modules and Floor Cassettes

7.4.1 Market Trends

7.4.2 Market Forecast

7.5 Modules Supported by a Primary Structure

7.5.1 Market Trends

7.5.2 Market Forecast

7.6 Others

7.6.1 Market Trends

7.6.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Material

8.1 Steel

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Concrete

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Wood

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Plastic

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Others

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End Use

9.1 Residential

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Commercial

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Education

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Retail

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast

9.5 Hospitality

9.5.1 Market Trends

9.5.2 Market Forecast

9.6 Healthcare

9.6.1 Market Trends

9.6.2 Market Forecast

9.7 Others

9.7.1 Market Trends

9.7.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region

11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis

14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Algeco

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2 Balfour Beatty plc

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2.3 Financials

15.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.3 Bouygues

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4 Etex Group

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5 Guerdon LLC

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6 KLEUSBERG GmbH & Co KG

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7 Laing O'Rourke

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7.3 SWOT Analysis

15.3.8 Larsen & Toubro Limited

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8.3 Financials

15.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.9 Lendlease Corporation

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.10 Red Sea International

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.10.3 Financials

15.3.11 Skanska AB

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11.3 Financials

15.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.12 Taisei Corporation

15.3.12.1 Company Overview

15.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.12.3 Financials

15.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/asic6i

Attachment
Toronto, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diabetes Canada is proud to announce the winners of our End Diabetes Awards research competition . Each of the winning research projects has the potential to unlock new insights and breakthroughs in the field of diabetes management, care, and risk-reduction. These investigator-driven projects span biomedical, clinical, health services and population health researchand all aim to dramatically improve the lives of people living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Canada has a well-earned reputation for innovation in diabetes treatment and care that has dramatically improved the quality of life for people with diabetes, says Laura Syron, President and CEO of Diabetes Canada. Diabetes Canada is excited to invest in these researchers and their teams as they work to advance new discoveries and the next big breakthrough in diabetes care.

From a project that is probing into the systemic health inequities that prevent high-risk communities from accessing life-saving technologies to a study that is exploring the possibility of delaying type 1 diabetes by resetting the immune system, these research projects are uncovering new and pioneering ways to tackle the growing burden of diabetes in Canada.

To end diabetes, we need to harness the transformative and combined power of technological, medical, and scientific research. That is why Diabetes Canada has committed $9 million in funds to the research community, ensuring that each of these 30 promising projects receive a $100,000 grant annually for three years.

The winning projects were rigorously evaluated by scientists with expertise in diabetes research, with input from people with lived experience, as well as our National Research Council.

The diversity and strength of diabetes research in Canada cant be overstated, says Dr. Rob Screaton, Co-Chair of Diabetes Canadas National Research Council. These new awards will energize the dynamic research community and add to the growing excitement about identifying new treatments for people living with diabetes on the immediate horizon.

On behalf of Diabetes Canada and the millions of people in Canada currently living with diabetes, including myself, I would like to recognize the support of our incredible community of donors, without which this research funding would simply not be possible, says Laura Syron.

Diabetes Canada currently supports 55 research projects from 15 research institutions and labs located across the country.

About Diabetes Canada

A world free of the effects of diabetes is our vision. Thats why were working together to improve the quality of life of people living with diabetes. Were sharing knowledge and creating connections for individuals and the health-care professionals who care for them; advocating through public policy; and funding research to improve treatments and find a cure to end diabetes.
Brooklyn, New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a new market research report published by Global Market Estimates, the Global Wind Turbine Bearings Market is expected to grow from USD 6.2 Billion in 2023 to USD 11.5 Billion by 2028 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 13.15% from 2023 to 2028.



The rising support of government policies for wind energy production, the requirement for high-capacity bearings in wind turbines, and the adoption of smart industrial bearings will propel the demand of the wind turbine bearings market.

Browse 153 Market Data Tables and 113 Figures spread through 185 Pages and in-depth TOC on Global Wind Turbine Bearings Market - Forecast to 2028

Key Market Insights

As per the type outlook, the slewing ring bearing segment is expected to be the largest segment in the global wind turbine bearings market from 2023 to 2028

As per the application mode, the cloud on shore is expected to be the largest segment in the global wind turbine bearings market from 2023 to 2028

The Asia Pacific region is analyzed to be the fastest-growing region in the market

North America region will have the largest share in the market during the forecast period of 2023-2028

The paramount competitors covered in the global wind turbine bearings market report include Dalian Metallurgical Bearing Group Co. Ltd., IMO Antriebseinheit GmbH & Co. KG, Liebherr-International AG, NSK Ltd., NTN Bearing Corp., Rollix Defontaine S.A, Rothe Erde India, Schaeffler AG, SKF Group, and Timken Company among others





Request a Sample Copy of the Report @ https://www.globalmarketestimates.com/market-report/wind-turbine-bearings-market-3921

Type Mode Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2023-2028)

Slewing Ring Bearings

Spherical Roller Bearings

Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2023-2028)

On-shore

Off-shore

By Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2023-2028)

North America

The U.S.

Canada

Mexico



Europe

Germany

UK

France

Spain

Italy

Netherlands

Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific

China

India

Japan

South Korea

Thailand

Indonesia

Malaysia

Singapore

Vietnam

Rest of APAC

Central & South America

Brazil

Argentina

Chile

Rest of CSA

Middle East & Africa

Saudi Arabia

UAE

Israel

South Africa

Rest of MEA





Contact: Yash Jain

Director - Global Accounts & Strategic Advisory

Email address: yash.jain@globalmarketestimates.com

Phone Number: +1 6026667238

Website: www.globalmarketestimates.com
ISELIN, N.J., Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Provident Bank, a leading New Jersey-based financial institution is pleased to announce that Scott Hurlbert has joined the bank as Senior Vice President, Digital Channels Director with the Information Technology team. Mr. Hurlbert will be based in the banks Iselin, N.J. administrative headquarters.



In this position, Mr. Hurlbert is responsible for the management of all of the banks digital channels, including ATMs, online and mobile banking, customer contact center, as well as collaborating closely with key internal stakeholders to ensure the bank has a shared and cohesive digital strategy that is integrated and aligned.

I am thrilled to welcome Scott to our team. He is a leader who understands what digitizing a bank involves from providing a best-in-class digital experience for customers and enabling digitization of processes to assist our employees, said Ravi Vakacherla, Executive Vice President, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer. His expertise is a welcome addition, as we look to continue enhancing the digital experience for our customers, added Mr. Vakacherla.





Scott Hurlbert, Senior Vice President, Digital Channels Director

Mr. Hurlbert has more than 20 years experience in banking technology, and digital and mobile delivery channels. Prior to joining Provident, he was Senior Vice President, Digital Banking with Peoples United Bank, where he was instrumental in developing and delivering world class digital experiences to their customers. Mr. Hurlbert holds a Bachelor of Arts from Connecticut College, New London, CT.

About Provident Bank

Provident Bank, a community-oriented financial institution offering Commitment you can count on since 1839, is the wholly owned subsidiary of Provident Financial Services, Inc. (NYSE:PFS), which reported assets of $13.60 billion as of September 30, 2022. With $10.69 billion in deposits, Provident Bank provides a comprehensive suite of financial products and services through its network of branches throughout northern and central New Jersey, as well as Bucks, Lehigh and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania and Nassau and Queens Counties in New York. The Bank also provides fiduciary and wealth management services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Beacon Trust Company and insurance services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Provident Protection Plus, Inc. For more information about Provident Bank, visit www.provident.bank or join the conversations on Facebook (ProvidentBank) and Twitter (@ProvidentBank).

CONTACT:

Keith Buscio

732.590.9407

Keith.buscio@provident.bank

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/66c20ce4-e914-4320-bc73-4016a951004d
New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "4D Bioprinting Market by Type of Technology, Application Area, End-user and Key Geographical Regions : Industry Trends and Global Forecasts, 2023-2035" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06380614/?utm_source=GNW

One such application area is 3D bioprinting that includes the printing of living cells and enables the development of highly complex tissues that mimic the structure and performance ability of desired organ, within the body. Although 3D bioprinting results in the printing of an exact replica of primary human organs, however, the printed 3D objects are inert and static in nature and are unable to change shape when subjected to environmental changes. 4D bioprinting makes this possible; 4D bioprinting refers to the incorporation of a fourth dimension that enables these structures to change their shape with time. The additional element in the bioprinting technology that enables the fourth dimension, includes application of smart materials, which have the tendency to morph in the presence of stimuli (such as, heat, water, light, electricity, magnetic energy, stress, strain, and pressure). In addition to the ability to morph, these 4D printed structures have the ability to self-repair and can adapt to various environmental changes. This technology, though, is currently associated with several challenges; these include printing the existing stimuli-responsive materials and optimizing them with bio-inks. Assembling and folding deformations in 4D printed structures is also quite demanding.



Owing to the ongoing advancements in the 4D biofabrication technology, several players are actively adopting and developing 4D bioprinters and smart biomaterials. It is worth highlighting that 4D bioprinting is garnering a lot of attention from academicians and industry players. In fact, the volume of affiliated scientific literature has increased at a rate of ~130% since last five years, demonstrating the growing popularity of 4D bioprinting. Further, looking at the wide range of applications associated with the 4D bioprinting, such as tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug related applications, a number of start-ups have also emerged in this domain. Given the rising interest of stakeholders towards technological advancements and growing adoption of 4D bioprinting for above mentioned applications, we believe that the overall market for 4D bioprinting is anticipated to witness substantial growth in the coming years.



SCOPE OF THE REPORT

The 4D Bioprinting Market  Distribution by Type of Technology (Extrusion-based Technology, Laser-based Technology, Inkjet-based Technology and Others), Application Area (Biomedical Applications and Others), End-user (Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies, Academic Research and Development and Other End-users) and Key Geographical Regions (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and North Africa): Industry Trends and Global Forecasts, 2023-2035 report features an extensive study of the current market landscape and future potential of the 4D bioprinting market. The study features an in-depth analysis, highlighting the capabilities of 4D bioprinter and smart biomaterial developers. Amongst other elements, the report includes:

An executive summary of the key insights captured during our research. It offers a high-level view on the likely evolution of the 4D bioprinting market in the short to mid-term, and long term.

A general overview of the 4D bioprinting and its working principle, which features details on the different stimuli responsive materials used in 4D bioprinting (including, physical and chemical stimulus). Further, the chapter includes details on the various technologies (such as, stereolithography, selective laser sintering, fused filament modeling, jet 3D printing, direct ink writing and selective laser melting) being used in 4D bioprinting. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the applications, limitations associated and factors which would lead to projected growth in the coming years.

A detailed assessment of the current market landscape of 4D bioprinters, featuring information on the status of development (commercial and under development), type of biomaterial (natural, polymer, synthetic, ceramic and others / undisclosed), type of technology (extrusion-based technology, polymer-based technology, laser-based technology, micro-valve technology, electro-writing, fused filament fabrication, vector technology and others / undisclosed), type of stimulus used (heat, light, moisture and others / undisclosed), product specifications (remote accessibility, and software and service), applications area(s) (tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, wound healing, electronics, drug discovery and development, orthopedics and others) and end-user(s) (academic and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies). In addition to this, the chapter features information on 4D bioprinter developers and a detailed analysis based on several relevant parameters, such as year of establishment, company size (in terms of employee count) and location of headquarters (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World).

A detailed assessment of the current market landscape of smart biomaterials, featuring information on the status of development (commercial and under development), type of biomaterial (polymer, metallic, natural and others / undisclosed), form of biomaterial (sheet, liquid, gel, fibre, versatile and others / undisclosed), type of stimulus used (heat, electric field, magnetic field, moisture, enzymes / chemicals and others / undisclosed) and application area(s) (tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, wound healing, drug-based applications, orthopedics and others). In addition to this, the chapter features information on smart biomaterial developers and a detailed analysis based on several relevant parameters, such as year of establishment, company size (in terms of employee count) and location of headquarters (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World).

A benchmarking analysis of the various players engaged in developing 4D bioprinters and smart biomaterials. It highlights the capabilities of the players in terms of their expertise across the products developed or under development. The analysis allows companies to compare their existing capabilities within and beyond their peer groups and identify opportunities to gain a competitive edge in the industry.

A detailed competitiveness analysis of 4D bioprinters, taking into consideration several relevant parameters, such as product strength (including, commercial status, type of biomaterials, type of technologies used, type of stimulus used and number of specifications) and product diversity (including, application area(s) and end-user(s)).

Tabulated profiles of the key players involved in developing 4D bioprinters and smart biomaterials. Each profile features a brief overview of the company, its financial information (if available), details on its product portfolio, recent developments and an informed future outlook.

An in-depth analysis of various publications for 4D bioprinting, based on several relevant parameters, such as year of publication, type of article, emerging key focus areas, popular publishers (in terms of number of publications), popular journals (in terms of number of number of publications), journal impact factor, popular journals (in terms of journal impact factor) and popular funding bodies (in terms of number of publications). It also highlights the timeline analysis (by article type and journal impact factor), along with the benchmarking of the publications to develop more insightful opinions on the recent trends related to research and development in this area.

A qualitative analysis of the five competitive forces, including threats of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threats of substitute products and rivalry among existing companies under an insightful Porters Five Forces framework.



One of the key objectives of the report was to evaluate the current opportunity and future potential associated with the 4D bioprinting market, over the coming 12 years. We have provided informed estimates of the likely evolution of the market in the short to mid-term, and long term, for the period 2023-2035. Our year-wise projections of the current and future opportunity have further been segmented based on relevant parameters, such as type of technology (extrusion-based technology, laser-based technology, inkjet-based technology and others), application area (biomedical applications and others), end-user (pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic research and development and other end-users), key geographical regions (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and North Africa). To account for future uncertainties in the market and to add robustness to our model, we have provided three forecast scenarios, portraying the conservative, base and optimistic tracks of the markets evolution.



The opinions and insights presented in the report were also influenced by discussions held with senior stakeholders in the industry. The report features detailed transcripts of interviews held with the following individuals:

Suhridh Sundaram (Chief Operating Officer, Avay Biosciences)

Preethem Srinath (Doctoral Candidate, CURAM)

Sam Onukuri (Independent Consultant, the US)



RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The data presented in this report has been gathered via secondary and primary research. For all our projects, we conduct interviews / surveys with experts in this domain (academia, industry, medical practice and other associations) to solicit their opinions on emerging trends in the market. This is primarily useful for us to draw out our own opinion on how the market will evolve across different regions and technology segments. Wherever possible, the available data has been checked for accuracy from multiple sources of information.



The secondary sources of information include:

Annual reports

Investor presentations

SEC filings

Industry databases

News releases from company websites

Government policy documents

Industry analysts views



All actual figures have been sourced and analyzed from publicly available information forums and primary research discussions. Financial figures mentioned in this report are in USD, unless otherwise specified.



KEY QUESTIONS ANSWERED

What is meant by 4D Bioprinting?

How does 4D bioprinting work?

What are the benefits of 4D Bioprinting?

Who are the leading developers of 4D bioprinters and smart biomaterials?

Which is the hub of 4D bioprinter and smart biomaterial developers?

What is the relative competitiveness of different 4D bioprinter and smart biomaterial developers?

What is the relative competitiveness of different 4D bioprinters?

What are the strengths and threats for the developers engaged in the 4D bioprinting industry?

What is the focus of various publications related to 4D bioprinting?

What is the current / future market of 4D bioprinting?



CHAPTER OUTLINES



Chapter 2 is an executive summary of the key insights captured during our research. It offers a high-level view on the likely evolution of the 4D bioprinting market in the short to mid-term, and long term.



Chapter 3 provides a general overview of the 4D bioprinting and its working principle, which features details on the different stimuli responsive materials used in 4D bioprinting (including, physical and chemical stimulus). Further, the chapter includes details on the various technologies (such as, Stereolithography, Selective Laser Sintering, Fused Filament Modeling, Jet 3D Printing, Direct Ink Writing and Selective Laser Melting) used in 4D bioprinting. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the applications, limitations associated and factors which would lead to projected growth in the coming years.



Chapter 4 provides an overview of the current market landscape of 4D bioprinters, featuring information on the status of development (commercial and under development), type of biomaterial (natural, polymer, synthetic, ceramic and others / undisclosed), type of technology (extrusion-based technology, polymer-based technology, laser-based technology, micro-valve technology, electro-writing, fused filament fabrication, vector technology and others / undisclosed), type of stimulus used (heat, light, moisture and others / undisclosed), product specifications (remote accessibility, and software and service), applications area(s) (tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, wound healing, electronics, drug discovery and development, orthopedics and others) and end-user(s) (academic and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies). In addition to this, the chapter features information on 4D bioprinter developers and a detailed analysis based on several relevant parameters, such as year of establishment, company size and location of headquarters.



Chapter 5 provides an overview of the current market landscape of smart biomaterials, featuring information on the status of development (commercial and under development), type of biomaterial (polymer, metallic, natural and others / undisclosed), form of biomaterial (sheet, liquid, gel, fibre, versatile and others / undisclosed), type of stimulus used (heat, electric field, magnetic field, moisture, enzymes / chemicals and others / undisclosed) and applications area(s) (tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, wound healing, drug-based applications, orthopedics and others). In addition to this, the chapter features information on 4D smart biomaterials and a detailed analysis based on several relevant parameters, such as year of establishment, company size and location of headquarters.



Chapter 6 presents an insightful benchmarking analysis of the various players engaged in developing 4D bioprinters and smart biomaterials. It highlights the capabilities of the players (in terms of their expertise across the products developed or under development). The analysis allows companies to compare their existing capabilities within and beyond their peer groups and identify opportunities to gain a competitive edge in the industry.



Chapter 7 provides a detailed competitiveness analysis of 4D bioprinters, taking into consideration several relevant parameters, such as product strength (including, commercial status, type of biomaterials, type of technologies used, type of stimulus used and number of specifications) and product diversity (including, application area(s) and end-user(s)).



Chapter 8 features tabulated profiles of the key players involved in developing 4D bioprinters and smart biomaterials. Each profile features a brief overview of the company, its financial information (if available), details on its product portfolio, recent developments and an informed future outlook.



Chapter 9 consists of an analysis of various publications for 4D bioprinting, based on several relevant parameters, such as year of publication, type of article, emerging key focus areas, popular publishers (in terms of number of publications), popular journals (in terms of number of number of publications), journal impact factor, popular journals (in terms of journal impact factor) and popular funding bodies (in terms of number of publications). It also highlights the timeline analysis (by article type and journal impact factor), along with the benchmarking of the publications to develop more insightful opinions on the recent trends related to research and development in this area.



Chapter 10 presents a qualitative analysis of the five competitive forces, including threats of new entrants, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threats of substitute products and rivalry among existing companies under an insightful Porters Five Forces framework.



Chapter 11 presents an insightful market forecast analysis, highlighting the likely growth of the 4D bioprinting market till the year 2035. In order to provide details on the future opportunity, our projections have been segmented based on type of technology (extrusion-based technology, laser-based technology, inkjet-based technology and others), application area (biomedical applications and others), end-user industry (pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic research and development and other end-users), key geographical regions (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America And Middle East and North Africa).



Chapter 12 summarizes the overall report. In this chapter, we have provided a list of key takeaways from the report and express our independent opinion related to the research and analysis described in the previous chapters.



Chapter 13 provides the transcripts of the interviews conducted with representatives from renowned organizations that are engaged in 4D bioprinting domain. The chapter contains the details of our conversation with Suhridh Sundaram (Chief Operating Officer), Preethem Srinath (Doctoral Candidate) and Sam Onukuri (Independent Consultant).



Chapter 14 is an appendix, that provides tabulated data and numbers for all the figures included in the report.



Chapter 15 is an appendix that provides the list of companies and organizations that have been mentioned in the report.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06380614/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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CINCINNATI, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blue Water Vaccines Inc. (BWV or Blue Water Vaccines or the Company), a biopharmaceutical company developing transformational vaccines to address significant global health challenges, today announced the appointment of Timothy Ramdeen, seasoned public market and private equity investment leader, to its board of directors.



Mr. Ramdeen has nearly a decade of experience in private equity and hedge fund investing, capital markets, and company formation. Since June 2022, Mr. Ramdeen has been founder and managing partner of Dharma Capital Advisors, an investment and advisory firm focused on early-stage private and public companies. From March 2021 to March 2022, Mr. Ramdeen was co-founder, chief investment officer, and portfolio manager at Sixth Borough Capital Management, a multi-stage, event-driven hedge fund focused on both private and public equities.

Since 2022, Mr. Ramdeen has been the co-founder of Amplexd Therapeutics, which is a womens health/biotechnology company focused on providing low-cost, effective, safe and accessible treatments for early cervical and HPV-related cancers worldwide. Mr. Ramdeen also serves as a corporate advisor/board member to multiple early-stage companies and investment funds.

Previously, Mr. Ramdeen was the fifth hire at Altium Capital Management (Altium), a healthcare-focused investment firm, where from July 2019 to March 2021 he served as the sole investment analyst on the private capital markets/special situations desk (privately-negotiated financings, direct investments, event-driven long/short, and private to public investments in micro and small-cap companies). During his tenure at Altium, Mr. Ramdeen was instrumental in co-creating the firms SPAC and reverse merger investment efforts and establishing extensive relationships with sell-side constituents, buy-side counterparts, and hundreds of private and publicly traded companies across biotechnology, therapeutics, healthcare services, medical devices and medtech.

Mr. Ramdeen received his B.S. in Biology from Temple University, where he conducted scientific research across neurology, oncology, and developmental biology. In addition, Mr. Ramdeen earned his MBA in Finance from NYU Stern School of Business.

With his extensive experience in capital advisement and company development, specifically within the life science industry and for publicly traded companies, we are delighted to welcome Mr. Ramdeen to the BWV board of directors, said Joseph Hernandez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BWV. As BWV continues to grow and establish our footprint in the biotechnology landscape, we are confident that Mr. Ramdeen will greatly contribute to that success.

About Blue Water Vaccines

Blue Water Vaccines Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformational vaccines to address significant health challenges globally. Headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, the company holds the rights to proprietary technology developed at the University of Oxford, Cincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical Center, St. Jude Childrens Hospital, and The University of Texas Health San Antonio. The Company is developing a universal flu vaccine that will provide protection from all virulent strains in addition to licensing a novel norovirus (NoV) S&P nanoparticle versatile virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine platform from Cincinnati Childrens to develop vaccines for multiple infectious diseases, including norovirus/rotavirus and malaria, among others. Additionally, Blue Water Vaccines is developing a Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) vaccine candidate, designed to specifically prevent the highly infectious middle ear infections, known as Acute Otitis Media (AOM), in children, and prevention of pneumonia in older people at risk for contracting pneumococcal pneumonia, a significant unmet medical need. The advantage of this technology includes a serotype independent mucosal immunity that prevents colonization in the upper respiratory tract as well as systemic immunity that can confer serotype independent against invasive pneumococcal disease. The Company is also developing a Chlamydia vaccine candidate with UT Health San Antonio to prevent infection and reduce the need for antibiotic treatment associated with contracting Chlamydia disease. For more information, visit www.bluewatervaccines.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as anticipate, believe, forecast, estimate, expect, and intend, among others. These forward-looking statements are based on BWVs current expectations and actual results could differ materially. There are a number of factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks related to the development of BWVs vaccine candidates; the failure to obtain FDA clearances or approvals and noncompliance with FDA regulations; delays and uncertainties caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic; risks related to the timing and progress of clinical development of our product candidates; our need for additional financing; uncertainties of patent protection and litigation; uncertainties of government or third party payor reimbursement; limited research and development efforts and dependence upon third parties; and substantial competition. As with any vaccine under development, there are significant risks in the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of new products. BWV does not undertake an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. Investors should read the risk factors set forth in BWVs Registration Statement on Form S-1, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on August 29, 2022 and periodic reports filed with the SEC on or after the date thereof. All of BWVs forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by all such risk factors and other cautionary statements. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date thereof.

Media Contact Information:

Blue Water Media Relations

Telephone: (646) 942-5591

Email: Nic.Johnson@russopartnersllc.com

Investor Contact Information:

Blue Water Investor Relations

Email: investors@bluewatervaccines.com
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Latin Metals Inc. (Latin Metals or the Company) - (TSXV: LMS) (OTCQB: LMSQF) announces staking of the Mirador Copper project (Mirador or the Property), totaling 99,000 hectares and located within Salta Province, Argentina. The property is prospective for sediment-hosted copper deposits, and initial reconnaissance has identified outcropping mineralization with one sample grading 2.4% copper and 628ppm vanadium.



Keith Henderson, the Companys President & CEO stated, The Mirador property was successfully acquired as part of our ongoing generative studies for sediment-hosted copper in geologically prospective areas. Our initial mapping and sampling has provided proof of concept in the form of high-grade, sediment-hosted copper mineralization in outcrop.

Mr. Henderson added, The style of mineralization that we have discovered is exactly what we were looking for, and the project ticks a lot of boxes for Latin Metals. The project area is large, and the acquisition cost was low. Sediment-hosted copper deposits elsewhere in the world tend to be large and high-grade, so we believe that acquiring prospective belts with the right geology and potential for copper mineralization make attractive projects to farm out to larger mining companies, in line with our business model.

Plate 1: Outcropping, shale-hosted copper oxide mineralization grading 2.4% copper, Mirador project.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/17324436-e0ef-4b7d-bbe8-303e3fdbdb89

Mirador Copper Project

The 99,000-hectare Mirador project was selected for staking based on the compilation of historical data, regional interpretation of geological maps, and recognition of key geological characteristics in common with sediment-hosted copper deposits elsewhere in the world.

The Salta rift and the rocks of the Cretaceous Salta Group have not been a focus for modern exploration and a result, Latin Metals believes that the belt is significantly under-explored. The belt hosts potential source rocks and host rocks as well as structural settings seen in sediment hosted copper deposits globally. Historical records for sediment-hosted copper mineralization have been documented at two levels within the Salta group. The potential host rock sedimentary formations are typically recessive and are covered by vegetation, which goes some way to explain why no other company has identified mineralization in this area.

The Project is located approximately 110 km by road from Salta and is accessible year-round by paved road. During initial reconnaissance, our geologists were able to visit a small portion of the claim block and confirm the existence of sediment-hosted copper mineralization. Sampling from an outcrop (Figure 1, Plate 1) returned a grade of 2.4% copper. The sample is also highly anomalous in vanadium, assaying 628 ppm.

Figure 1: Mirador project location in Argentina together with various current and historical project locations (left), and Mirador project claim block together with regional geology and historical copper occurrences (right)

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5766a457-db69-48e6-af0b-af4b53fbb6cb

Future Work

The Company plans to initiate a regional stream sediment survey covering the entire Mirador project area. This work will allow prioritization of prospective areas for detailed follow-up. We will concurrently visit all documented mineral occurrences in the area to identify all possible stratigraphic levels of mineralization and geometry within the Salta group.

Corporate Update Webinar

On Thursday, February 16, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET, the Company will host a live corporate update and will provide an overview of Latin Metals, its projects in South America and its goals for the coming year.

A live question-and-answer period will follow this for investors, analysts, and media.

Webinar Details

Date: Thursday, February 16, 2023

Time: 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET

Speaker: Keith Henderson, CEO of Latin Metals Inc.

Registration Link: https://meet.zoho.com/W7CE9ctAr2

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

About Latin Metals

Latin Metals is a mineral exploration company acquiring a diversified portfolio of assets in South America. The Company operates with a Prospect Generator model focusing on the acquisition of prospective exploration properties at minimum cost, completing initial evaluation through cost-effective exploration to establish drill targets, and ultimately securing joint venture partners to fund drilling and advanced exploration. Shareholders gain exposure to the upside of a significant discovery without the dilution associated with funding the highest-risk drill-based exploration.

QA/QC

The work program at Mirador was designed and supervised by Eduardo Leon, the Company's Exploration Manager, who is responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project rigorously prepare and track samples which are security sealed and shipped to the ALS laboratory in Mendoza. Samples used for the results described herein are prepared and analyzed by multi-element analysis using an inductively coupled mass spectrometer in compliance with industry standards.

Qualified Person

Keith J. Henderson, P.Geo., is the Company's qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for portions of this news release. He has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Henderson is not independent of the Company, as he is an employee of the Company and holds securities of the Company.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of

LATIN METALS INC.

Keith Henderson

President & CEO

For further details on the Company readers are referred to the Company's web site ( www.latin-metals.com ) and its Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

For further information, please contact:

Keith Henderson

Suite 890

999 West Hastings Street,

Vancouver, BC, V6C 2W2

Phone: 604-638-3456

E-mail: info@latin-metals.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the negotiation of the Option Agreements and exercise of the Option for the Properties, the anticipated content, commencement, timing and cost of exploration programs in respect of the Properties and otherwise, anticipated exploration program results from exploration activities, and the Company's expectation that it will be able to enter into agreements to acquire interests in additional mineral properties, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves on the Properties, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, market fundamentals will result in sustained precious and base metals demand and prices, the receipt of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in connection with the future development of the Companys Argentine projects in a timely manner, the availability of financing on suitable terms for the development, construction and continued operation of the Company projects, and the Companys ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, operating and technical difficulties in connection with mineral exploration and development and mine development activities at the Properties, including the geological mapping, prospecting and sampling programs being proposed for the Properties (the "Programs"), actual results of exploration activities, including the Programs, estimation or realization of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, the costs and timing of the development of new deposits, the availability of a sufficient supply of water and other materials, requirements for additional capital, future prices of precious metals and copper, changes in general economic conditions, changes in the financial markets and in the demand and market price for commodities, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, possible failures of plants, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry, delays or the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required, any current or future property acquisitions, financing or other planned activities, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, hedging practices, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of pending litigation, environmental issues and liabilities, risks related to joint venture operations, and risks related to the integration of acquisitions, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's latest Management Discussion and Analysis and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company's profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Except as otherwise required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking information in this news release or incorporated by reference herein.
New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Middle East and Africa General Aviation Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381542/?utm_source=GNW



Fastest-growing Market by Sub-Aircraft Type - Business Jets : Frequent traveling requirements to attend business and private affairs of HNWIs and their lifestyle is prompting them to acquire more expensive private planes.

Largest Market by Body Type - Large Jet : The consumers preference for large jets across the region is driving the demand. Therefore, manufacturers offer consumers a wide range of products according to their convenience.

Largest Market by Country - Qatar : Procuring large jets by various companies or individuals across various sectors drives the countrys market growth.



Key Market Trends



Business Jets is the largest segment by Sub Aircraft Type.



Middle East & Africa accounted for around 3% of global business jet deliveries in 2021. Turboprop and piston aircraft accounted for 6.3% and 2.3% of global deliveries.

The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted the general aviation sector of the region. The global restrictions on travel and pandemic-induced lockdown affected the demand in the general aviation sector. The deliveries in the overall general aviation aircraft segment declined by 36% in 2020.



The HNWIs and UHNWIs prefer private jets and helicopters for personal or business travel. The rising number of HNWIs in the region is boosting the procurement of aircraft in the general aviation sector. The UHNWI population increased from 2,146 in 2016 to 2,489 in 2021 in Africa and from 4,452 in 2016 to 9,717 in 2021 in the Middle Eastern countries.



Gulfstream was the leading OEM in terms of aircraft deliveries, with around 29 aircraft, followed by Embraer and Bombardier, with 14 and 13 deliveries in the Middle East during 2016-2021. Similarly, in Africa, Bombardier was the prominent player with nine deliveries, followed by Dassault, Gulfstream, and Cessna, with around seven, five, and five deliveries.



The growing demand for business aviation services in oil-rich economies is expected to boost the general aviation sector in the Middle East & Africa. Around 1,160 aircraft comprising business jets, helicopters, turboprops, and piston aircraft are expected to be delivered in the region during the forecast period.



Qatar is the largest segment by Country.



The Middle East & Africa accounted for around 3% of global business jet deliveries in 2021. Similarly, turboprop and piston aircraft accounted for 6.3% and 2.3% of the global deliveries in their category.

In 2021, air charter service providers witnessed high demand in the whole Middle East & African region with the surge in new memberships for business aviation. The HNWIs and UHNWIs prefer private jets and helicopters for personal or business travel. The rise in the number of HNWI individuals in the Middle East & African region has aided in procuring aircraft in the general aviation sector. From 2016 to 2021, the HNWI population in the Middle East region increased from 176,000 in 2016 to 754,000 in 2021, and in the African region, it increased from 45,000 in 2016 to 128,000 in 2021.

After the pandemic, business jet demand in this region surged 113% in 2021, specifically in the large business jet segment. In terms of the current operational fleet, large jets accounted for around 50% of the overall Middle East business jet fleet and 36% in the Africa region of July 2022, as large jets are more prevalent in the Middle East & Africa region. During the pandemic, air charter service providers witnessed high demand in the Middle East & Africa region.

The growth in demand for business aviation services in oil-rich economies is expected to boost the demand for the general aviation sector in the Middle East & African region. Around 1,160 aircraft comprising business jets, helicopters, turboprops, and piston aircraft are expected to be delivered in the Middle East and Africa region during the forecast period.



Competitive Landscape



The Middle East and Africa General Aviation Market is fairly consolidated, with the top five companies occupying 78.70%. The major players in this market are Airbus SE, Bombardier Inc., Dassault Aviation, General Dynamics Corporation and Leonardo S.p.A (sorted alphabetically).



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381542/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
Scottsdale, AZ, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Stephen Bishop, MBA, MS, MLS (ASCP), CPHQ, a healthcare consultant at Accumen Inc., was named Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality by the National Association for Healthcare Quality (NAHQ).

NAHQ provides the industry-standard framework for healthcare quality competencies that reduce variability of healthcare delivery, by offering a common vocabulary and toolset. The framework includes eight domains: quality review and accountability, professional engagement, quality leadership and integration, performance and process improvement, population health and care transitions, health data analytics, patient safety, and regulatory and accreditation. Leveraging the framework enables professionals and organizations to assess, plan, and measure progress on their quality improvement journey. Further, the Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality is the only accredited certification in healthcare quality.

Stephens achievement helps Accumen achieve our goals of providing the best products and services to our clients, said Joe McGann, vice president / general manager of Laboratory Operations at Accumen. He is a highly driven, motivated individual who is continuously delivering value to both Accumen and our clients.

Since joining Accumen in 2018, Bishop has obtained his Master of Science in Organizational Leadership from the University of Redlands. He is also a certified medical laboratory scientist by the American Society for Clinical Pathology and a licensed clinical laboratory scientist by the California Department of Public Health.

Bishop has been with Accumen for four years in the Lab Consulting service line. In his current role, he advises and constructs strategies for executive healthcare leaders on topics like clinical laboratory revenue expansion, strategic space design, regulatory readiness and compliance, operations improvement, and system-wide standardization. By becoming a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality, he will further advance healthcare quality and safety initiatives for his clients by driving sustainability, improvement opportunities, and increasing patient safetythree critical factors impacting hospitals and health systems today.

About Accumen Inc.

Accumen helps hospitals and health systems respond to current challenges and even thrive in todays unpredictable and ever-changing environment. With a focus on lab operations, clinical transformation, and 3D imaging post-processing, Accumen leverages technology-enabled consulting services to solve complex hospital and health system issues. Based in Scottsdale, AZ with offices in Louisville, KY and Blue Bell, PA, Accumen accelerates results for more than 1,000 U.S. hospitals and health systems by providing expert resources, extensive operational and clinical data, as well as analytic technology.

AccumenHelping Healthcare Get Better, Faster.

Attachment
Dublin, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Military Robots and Autonomous Systems - Market and Technology Forecast to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

"Global Military Robots and Autonomous Systems - Market and Technology Forecast to 2030" examines military robot markets geographically, focusing on the top 95% of global markets, in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has once again drawn the attention of military planners towards military robots and autonomous systems. Military robots are autonomous robots or remote-controlled mobile robots created for military functions, from transport to search & rescue and strike mission.

Some of these robotic systems are presently in use, and several such robots are under development. These military robots and autonomous systems just rolling out or already in prototype stage are far more proficient, logical, and autonomous than ones now in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As new add-ons are developed, military robots will be able to take on a wider set of battlefield roles. As of now the United States military remains the largest user of these robots, however countries like China and Russia are investing billions in robotics research and development that will allow them to narrow the gap with the US.



Throughout the report we show how military robots and autonomous systems are used today to add real value. To provide the most thorough and realistic forecast, this report provides a twin-scenario analysis, including "steady state", emergence of new military robot and autonomous system technology.

Scope

Overview: Snapshot of the various military robots and autonomous system tech in the defense market during 2022-2030, including highlights of the demand drivers, trends, and challenges. It also provides a snapshot of the spending with respect to regions as well as segments. It also sheds light on the emergence of new technologies

Market Dynamics: Insights into the technological developments in this market and a detailed analysis of the changing preferences of governments around the world. It also analyzes changing industry structure trends and the challenges faced by the industry participants.

Segment Analysis: Insights into the various Systems market from a segmental perspective and a detailed analysis of factors influencing the market for each segment.

Regional Review: Insights into modernization patterns and budgetary allocation for top countries within a region.

Regional Analysis: Insights into the Systems market from a regional perspective and a detailed analysis of factors influencing the market for each region.

Trend Analysis: Key military robots and autonomous system markets: Analysis of the key markets in each region, providing an analysis of the various Systems segments expected to be in demand in each region.

Key Program Analysis: Details of the top programs in each segment expected to be executed during the forecast period.

Competitive landscape Analysis: Analysis of the competitive landscape of this industry. It provides an overview of key companies, together with insights such as key alliances, strategic initiatives, and a brief financial analysis.

Leading Companies

Airbus

BAE Systems

Boeing

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)

Leonardo

Northrop Grumman Corp.

Raytheon

Safran

Thales

Other Companies of Interest

Apium Swarm Robotics

Axon AI

Bosch Group

Brainalyzed

Continental AG

DoBots

Hydromea S A

Lexalytics

Nvidia

Resson

Sentien Robotics

SpaceX

Segmentation

Region

Americas

Europe

Asia

Middle East

Africa

Technology



Software Technologies

Computer Vision

Natural Language Processing

Edge Computing

Complex Event Process

Transfer Learning AI

Hardware Acceleration for AI

Reinforcement Learning

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)

Mixed Reality

Emotion research - affective computing

Hardware Technologies

Power Source

Actuation

Sensing

Manipulation

Locomotion

Environmental Interaction & Navigation

Human Robot Interaction

Control

Application

Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)

Search and Rescue

Combat

Transportation

Explosive Ordnance Disposal

Mine Clearance

Firefighting

Others

Operation

Fully Autonomous

Semi-Autonomous

Platform

Land Based Platforms

Air Based Platforms

Sea Based Platforms

End User

Army

Air Force

Navy

Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction

1.1 Scope



2 Executive Summary

2.1 Trends and Insights

2.2 Major Findings

2.3 Major Conclusions

2.4 Important Tables and Graphs



3 Market Overview

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Russia - Ukraine conflict of 2022 and the use of military robots and autonomous systems



4 Technologies and Developments

4.1 Technology overview

4.1.1 Autonomy in Aerial Vehicles

4.1.2 Autonomy in Ground Vehicles

4.1.3 Autonomy in Underwater Vehicles

4.1.4 Autonomy in Maritime Surface Vehicles

4.1.5 Unmanned Spacecraft

4.2 Avionics

4.2.1 Flight Controls

4.2.2 Air data computers

4.2.3 Autopilots/flight control computers

4.3 Navigation

4.3.1 Global Positioning Systems (GPS) / Global Navigation Satellite systems (GNSS)

4.3.2 Inertial navigation systems (INS)/inertial measurement units (IMU)

4.3.3 Sense & Avoid

4.4 Sensors

4.4.1 Speed Sensors

4.4.2 Light Sensors

4.4.3 Proximity Sensors

4.4.4 Temperature Sensors

4.4.5 Position Sensors

4.4.6 Communication devices

4.4.7 Proprioceptive Sensors

4.4.8 Exteroceptive Sensors

4.4.9 Acoustic Sensors

4.5 Propulsion

4.5.1 Gas engine

4.5.2 Electric engine

4.5.3 Batteries

4.5.4 Hydrogen Cells

4.6 Payload

4.6.1 Cameras

4.6.2 Radars

4.6.3 Lidars

4.6.4 Gimbals

4.6.5 Datalink

4.6.6 Ground control station

4.6.7 Autonomous Manipulation

4.7 Autonomous Systems: Testing, Validation and Certification



5 Market Analysis and Forecast Factors

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Drivers

5.3 Trends

5.4 Opportunities

5.5 Challenges

5.6 Important events in the market



6 Market Segmentation



7 Region Market Forecast to 2030

7.1 Introduction

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/5pvf54

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 in preparation

Xinhua) 10:32, January 17, 2023

A staff member awaits the participants at the Media Village for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 15, 2023. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 is scheduled to kick off in Davos on Jan. 16. The meeting is themed "Cooperation in a Fragmented World." (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

Staff members have a meeting at the Congress Center for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 15, 2023. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 is scheduled to kick off in Davos on Jan. 16. The meeting is themed "Cooperation in a Fragmented World." (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

People communicate with each other at the Congress Center for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 15, 2023. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 is scheduled to kick off in Davos on Jan. 16. The meeting is themed "Cooperation in a Fragmented World." (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

This photo taken on Jan. 15, 2023 shows the logo of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 is scheduled to kick off in Davos on Jan. 16. The meeting is themed "Cooperation in a Fragmented World." (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

This photo taken on Jan. 15, 2023 shows the logo of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 is scheduled to kick off in Davos on Jan. 16. The meeting is themed "Cooperation in a Fragmented World." (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

This photo taken on Jan. 15, 2023 shows the logo of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 is scheduled to kick off in Davos on Jan. 16. The meeting is themed "Cooperation in a Fragmented World." (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

A participant takes a photo of people visiting the Congress Center for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 15, 2023. The World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2023 is scheduled to kick off in Davos on Jan. 16. The meeting is themed "Cooperation in a Fragmented World." (Xinhua/Lian Yi)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The International Marxist Tendency is proud to present the Winter 2023 edition of the In Defence of Marxism theoretical journal. The feature article in this issue takes on the Spanish Conquest of the Americas, which far from a 'meeting of cultures', was a brutal and bloody affair resulting in the extermination of millions of indigenous peoples. We publish the editorial by editor-in-chief Alan Woods below.

Editorial

The present issue is composed of a number of articles dealing with a very interesting subject: the decline of feudalism and the early phase of capitalist development, which Marx described as the primitive accumulation of capital.

Marx wrote in Capital that If money comes into the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek, then capital comes dripping from head to toe, from every pore, with blood and dirt. Nowhere is this statement more relevant than in the bloody history of the rape of America by a host of European nations, most notably the English in the North and the Spanish in the South.

The conquest of the Americas by Spain is one of the most appalling episodes in the blood-drenched annals of human history. In analysing it, Jorge Martin and Ubaldo Oropeza deal in some depth with another fascinating question: the character of American societies before the Spanish conquest, the reasons behind their collapse and the ensuing conquest as well as the role of the conquest in the development of capitalism.

A second article, which is separate but related, is one I wrote some time ago on the great Spanish writer Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, which describes Spanish society in the same period. Following the same theme, Pascal Cueto writes about the 1780 uprising of Tupac Amaru II against Spanish rule.

Finally, we republish an important but unfinished and little known article by Engels on the decline of feudalism and the rise of the bourgeoisie, which deserves a far wider audience.

The destruction of the Americas

Smoke rises, the mist is spreading.

Weep, my friends and know that by their deeds

We have lost our history.

Lines written by an unknown Aztec poet.

When the Spaniards first came to Mexico, the country was home to a flourishing state with a population of 22 million. 80 years later its culture was destroyed, its economy in ruins and its people enslaved. 90 percent of the population had lost their lives, either massacred by the Spaniards and their allies, or from hunger or diseases that decimated whole communities.

This was genocide on a horrendous scale. The Spaniards rampaged through the country, burning, butchering and enslaving. Carrying the banner of the Christian Cross before them, they systematically slaughtered the men, and branded the women and children on the face and sold them as slaves.

The last Aztec chief, Cuauhtemoc, was tortured with fire to reveal where the gold was, and then hanged when the Spaniards did not find the quantities of gold they had expected. The vast and thriving lake-city of Tenochtitlan was burned, plundered and destroyed.

Spiritual genocide

The destructive activities of the Spaniards reduced a once proud people to an abject condition of servitude and despair. Their physical slavery was accompanied by demoralisation, disease, depression and alcoholism. But the genocide of the native Americans did not stop at physical extermination. It also involved an attempt to destroy their art, religion and culture.

The destructive activities of the Spaniards reduced a once proud people to an abject condition of servitude and despair / Image: Anon

After the conquistadors had enslaved the Aztecs with fire and sword, the hordes of fanatical priests descended upon them like hungry locusts, greedy for captive souls. In order to eradicate all traces of the native culture, they built Christian churches over the remains of their pyramids and cult centres. Priceless works of art were melted down into gold ingots or recast into huge Christian relics of little or no aesthetic value.

A long time ago I visited an old church in Cadiz (I think it was) where a number of Christian relics were on display  large casks and the like  mostly dating to the period of the conquest of the Americas. These items may have served to impress people, if only by the huge quantities of gold and silver employed in their production.

But I must confess that I found these pompous relics of superstition completely tasteless from an artistic point of view and was disgusted at the thought of the many valuable works of art that were destroyed in their making. Even more revolting was the thought of those millions of men, women and children whose lives were sacrificed on the monstrous altar of Capital, disguised in the robes of a Catholic priest.

But the Spaniards did not have a monopoly of violence and cruelty in those dark times. The period of primitive accumulation of capital is full of the most terrible stories of exploitation, vile oppression, slavery and mass murder perpetrated by civilised Europeans of different nations.

From the brutal expropriation of the Scottish and Irish peasantry, to the deliberate killing of Native Americans presented by European settlers with blankets infected with smallpox, to the monstrous slave trade in Africa, which kept the plantations in the Caribbean supplied with cheap labour and the merchants of Liverpool and Bristol in a life of idle luxury. There seems to have been no end to it.

Can history be judged by morality?

Edward Gibbon in his masterpiece, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, wrote that history is indeed, little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind. Gibbon was a wonderful writer, a true man of the Enlightenment. But his interpretation of history is one-sided and profoundly mistaken.

Our postmodernists have none of his virtues and have not advanced a single step beyond his analysis when they allege that there is no such thing as progress, that one society is as good or bad as another and history has no meaning.

Essentially, their reading of history (insofar as it exists at all) is reduced to sentimental moralising. That certainly has no meaning, or at any rate, is unable to tell us anything meaningful about history, which remains for them a book sealed with seven seals.

Reading the blood-soaked annals of this period one is filled with a profound sense of indignation and revulsion, yet morality and feelings of repugnance are of as little value in understanding human history as they would be to a surgeon who strives to save the life of the patient under his scalpel.

The motor forces of history never had even the smallest moral or ethical content. On the contrary, the morality and ethics of every period are ultimately derived from an attempt to justify the existing property relations that are sanctified by its laws.

History cannot be reduced to morality, religion, politics or philosophy. These are more or less distorted reflections in mens minds of real social relations. They merely constitute the illusions of the prevailing epoch. The real conditions of social (and therefore human) development have a material content, not an ideal, still less an ethical one.

Money does not stink

When the Roman emperor Vespasian (who ruled in 6979 CE) was rebuked by his fastidious son Titus for introducing a tax on the collection of urine, he is supposed to have replied pecunia non olet, which means money does not stink. The intention was to show that money is not tainted regardless of its origins.

As Marx says in The German Ideology: the sum of productive forces, capital funds and social forms of interaction, are the conditions of life itself / Image: public domain

This idea is so attractive to the bankers and capitalists that they have elevated it to a principle that has endured for centuries and is still maintained in our own times, when the viciously oppressive and exploitative system of market economics is carefully disguised under a thick coat of moral hypocrisy.

In the final analysis, however, the progress of society can only be measured by the development of the productive forces. That is the real foundation upon which all other elements of what is called civilisation, all intellectual, scientific, philosophical and artistic life can flourish and develop.

As Marx says in The German Ideology: the sum of productive forces, capital funds and social forms of interaction, are the conditions of life itself.

The gold that was extracted from the slaves in the gold mines of what was known as the New World, did not save imperial Spain. It helped destroy it from within its bowels. Spain was displaced by England, the mightiest maritime power, which within the space of a century, enjoyed practically a monopoly of commerce and manufacture.

The wealth created out of the blood, sweat and tears of generations of slaves and workers alike entered as a component part of Capital. This was used to fuel one of the greatest revolutions in human history: the Industrial Revolution. And out of that fiery furnace came the modern proletariat  the class that is destined to expropriate the expropriators.

The material basis of socialism

Lenin pointed out that socialism will be built out of the material that capitalism left us, because we have no other bricks with which to build. Karl Marx explains that socialism presupposes a level of development where capitalism has become the dominant mode of production on a world scale.

We are now living in the epoch of imperialism, where large-scale industry, finance capital, and monopolies have established a dominant role, and the narrowness of the nation state is challenged by the rise of a global economy.

Today we may weep for the fate of the Maya, Aztecs and Incas. Their contribution to the sum total of human culture and civilisation is immortal and, despite the vandalism of the conquistadors, will never be forgotten. But merely to see the past, like Edward Gibbon, as an endless list of crimes and injustice is too one-sided and misses the essential point.

The real meaning of history is precisely that the development of the productive forces, which was achieved by centuries of the most appalling oppression and exploitation of the masses, has created the necessary material conditions for the establishment of a higher form of human society  world socialism.

Humanity cannot live on dreams of a return to a past that is gone forever. In our vocabulary there is no room for the word sentimentality. A man or woman who has become an adult can never return to a lost childhood. In the same way, those who present a vision of past societies in an idealised light may justly be regarded as childish. Those who dream of putting the clock back, of returning to an imaginary past, when all was sweetness and light, can only play a reactionary role.

Not by dreams of returning to a non-existent past, but only by fighting for a new and better future can humanity ever hope to rise to its full stature. It is the historic task of the working class to put an end to all exploitation, oppression and injustice, and strike a blow that will finally bring about the long yearned-for revenge for all the pain, bloodshed and suffering that has been inflicted on humanity for so many centuries.

London, 23 November 2022
PHOENIX, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Schola, the online platform that helps families discover, connect, and enroll in the ideal PK-12 schools for their children, marks a new milestone by closing a $10M Series A round of funding. With triple-digit annual recurring revenue growth, this minority-founded and led organization has already surpassed 100K students searching for the most suitable school in their platform to improve educational outcomes across the United States. The growth investment will power Schola's continued nationwide expansion and standardization of how families and schools connect with one another, creating brighter futures for all.

"We're very excited about the additional resources from this investment that will allow Schola to execute further our vision for families and schools across America. We will continue adding tools to the platform to help students in every state find their perfect school, giving them a better chance to reach their full potential." - Jaime Martinez, Founder and CEO of Schola.

Channel Equity Partners led Series A, followed by significant investors Arizona Venture Development Corp, Revolution's Rise of the Rest (led by Steve Case, of AOL fame), EduLab, Stout Street, and Portfolia. Their support accelerates the addition of more mission-driven professionals to Schola's team and expands the capabilities of its double-sided school choice marketplace, strengthening Schola's commitment to increasing parents' engagement with their children's education. Schola will continue to revolutionize how English and Spanish-speaking families from various backgrounds connect with schools to build strong communities inside and outside the classroom.

"PK-12 student recruitment is yet another market transitioning from offline methods to streamlined, digital channels. The data showed that Schola's school partners receive a potential 15x return on investment from the value of enrollment applications generated by its marketplace. CEP is thrilled to support this amazing team that has developed the most efficient solution for schools and families to succeed." - Jensen Bryant, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Channel Equity Partners.



About Schola: Schola is the leading software company for families and schools to improve PK-12 education outcomes. Schola helps families discover, connect, and enroll in the ideal school setting and helps schools source, enroll, and engage with prospective families. Schola believes that enrolling in the ideal learning environment must be accessible; thus, it is entirely free to parents and students. Learn more by visiting schola.com

Contact Information:

Carlos Melendez

Chief Marketing Officer

carlos@schola.com

5202614903



Related Images











Image 1: Schola Is the Smart Way To Discover Your Ideal Pk-12 School





CEO and Founder Jaime Martinez and Chief Marketing Officer Carlos Melendez showcasing Schola's free and easy to use school matching platform.









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
Dublin, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Germany Construction Equipment Market - Strategic Assessment & Forecast 2022-2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Germany construction equipment market share by units is expected to reach 101,807 units by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 4.02%.



The Germany construction equipment market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.89% during 2022-2028

Rising government investment in public infrastructure projects & 'Green Infrastructure Strategy' is expected to prompt construction equipment sales in Germany during the forecast period (2022-2028).

The country's new government under the 'Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building in 2022 has aimed to expand housing construction. It has planned to build 400,000 apartments every year. Under the Housebuilding subsector, investments grew by 39% in 2021, where the number of new flats and houses coming to the market doubled to more than 300,000 units. Such initiatives by the government give a significant boost to the Germany construction equipment market.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

In Germany construction equipment market, the earthmoving construction equipment segment accounted for the largest market share in 2021. In the Material Handling Segment, forklifts accounted for the largest share in 2021.

Forklifts are compact equipment used for material handling in confined spaces such as small warehouses, & distribution centers. Germany is one of the most attractive logistics markets in the world due to its central location in Europe. It brings over USD 269.51 billion to the country's budget. German developer Goldbeck International is expected to complete the Flow Warehouse in Duisburg-Walsum for Maersk in 2023. The development of warehouses in Germany is expected to drive the demand for forklifts and telehandlers in the Germany construction equipment market.

The project Digital Rail Germany, introduced in January 2020, aims to increase the performance of Germany's Rail Network by as much as 35%. In 2021, the German government announced a USD 324 billion national investment to improve roads, rails, and waterways over the next 10-15 years.

According to the Global FDI Annual Report 2022, in 2021, Germany surpassed the United States in terms of the number of projects (approximately 1,537) receiving Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

Increasing building materials and rising labor costs are some major challenges in the Germany construction equipment market that can adversely affect the demand for construction equipment. Under the Germany Recovery & Resilience Plan, the European Union granted aid of USD 25.54 billion.

MARKET TRENDS AND DRIVERS

Investment in Public Transport: Rails, Roads & Bridges

The Germany Rail (Deutsche Bahn) and the federal government have targeted to spend USD 13.56 billion in 2022, which is a 6.3% increase compared to 2021. This investment by the government majorly focuses on renewing and modernizing Germany's rail infrastructure. The country has planned to mend bridges on much of the country's Autobahn network. A budget of USD 529.17 million has been set by the German Government's Road firm, Autobahn, in 2022.

In addition, the German government allotted USD 372.42 million for road construction projects in 2022 in the Brandenburg region which is approximately USD 5 million higher than in 2021, which will significantly contribute to the Germany construction equipment market growth.

High Demand for Excavators Due to Mining, Construction, and Smart City Projects

Regardless of the Covid-19 impact, investment opportunities in the construction industry have attracted foreign investors who have aided the construction equipment market in 2021. The government's aid in the residential projects, rise in infrastructure construction, increase in FDI and surge in the rental investment of construction equipment is expected to lead the Germany construction equipment market

The growing demand for excavators is attributable to the improvements in the mining and construction sectors and a few government projects like the smart city project. The smart city project is supported by the government's investment of USD 751.42 million. The mining industry consumes a large part of the excavator industry in Germany. Hard coal and lignite make up most of the mineral resources extracted in the country.

Investment in Green Infrastructure Strategy

The country has targeted investing USD 220 billion by 2026 to support the industrial transformation, including climate protection, hydrogen technology, and electric vehicle charging station expansion. The construction machinery and building experienced a 22% increase from the previous year (2020) due to the infrastructure push with highways, dams, and green cities, which require tons of heavy machinery; such activities are contributing to the Germany construction equipment market.

Germany and Indonesia have contracted to work on this Green Infrastructure Project, where approximately USD 2.7 billion worth of loan amount will be made accessible for the infrastructure related to climate and the environment. Some notable projects scheduled under this are Green Infrastructure at Leipzig, MoorFutures in Mecklenburg, and Urban GreenUP.

Adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to Enhance Remote Monitoring & Digitization

The German government has invested more than USD 4.94 million in Building Information Modeling (BIM) for public projects, mandating using digital technology to design and construct all projects. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) will aid medium and small-sized companies in integrating BIM to increase the productivity of construction processes and improve the quality of buildings constructed.

A few companies like Caterpillar, Volvo, and JCB are at the forefront of integrating BIM in the Germany construction equipment market. The investment by the government for the integration of BIM into construction machines is expected to trigger the demand for the BIM-integrated construction equipment industry.

MARKET RESTRAINTS

Russia-Ukraine War Impacting the German Construction Projects Due to the Supply Chain Bottleneck Impacting the Development of Construction Projects

In 2020, Germany imported approximately 66.1% of its natural gas from Russia, highlighting its massive dependency on Russia for fossil fuels. According to the Federal Statistical Office, in March 2022, Germany had reduced the volume of its import of fossil fuel from Russia by 27.8%, leading to inflation which cost fossil fuel imports 131.7% more compared to 2021.

In addition to the surge in energy prices, raw materials and fuel prices also increased. Diesel fuel climbed by 57.5%, steel went up by 74.4 %, and aluminum increased by 37% over 7-8 months after the war hit, causing delivery problems for construction companies. HBD survey pointed out that approximately 40% of the clients put the projects on hold, and 30% of the customers canceled the projects after seeing the delayed deliveries caused by the disruption in the supply chain, directly affecting the Germany construction equipment market.

VENDOR LANDSCAPE

Caterpillar has the strongest share in the German construction equipment market. Caterpillar, Volvo, Komatsu & Liebherr are the market leaders in the German industry, has a strong distribution network & provide a wide variety of products.

Hitachi Construction Machinery & XCMG are emerging strong in the German market. These companies are introducing innovative products to capture the Germany construction equipment market share. For instance, in 2022, XCMG launched a new electric all-terrain crane, excavator, and loader at the Bauma festival in Germany.

Hitachi Construction Machinery launched a wheeled excavator ZX135W-7 in the German construction equipment market, comprising a 360-degree swing radius, 2.2m arm length, and a Stage V-compliant 4-cylinder engine in Germany.

Key Metrics

Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 111 Forecast Period 2021 - 2028 Estimated Market Value in 2021 77,952 Units Forecasted Market Value by 2028 101,807 Units Compound Annual Growth Rate 3.8% Regions Covered Germany

Key Vendors

Caterpillar

Liebherr

Komatsu

Volvo

SANY

Hitachi Construction Machinery

Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co. Ltd. (XCMG)

Hyundai Construction Equipment

JCB

Other Prominent Vendors

Kobelco

CNH Industrial

Manitou

Takeuchi Manufacturing

Liu Gong

Yanmar

Distributors Profiles

Tecklenborg Construction and Industrial Machines

KUHN- BAUMASCHINEN.DE

Schluter Baumaschinen GmbH

SWECON

Thomas Baumaschinen

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/x4cu4d

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Asia-Pacific General Aviation Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381488/?utm_source=GNW



Largest Market by Body Type - Large Jet : The consumers preference for large jets across the region is driving the demand. Therefore, manufacturers offer consumers a wide range of products according to their convenience.

Largest Market by Country - Australia : A large number of helicopters and business jet procurement in the country is anticipated to occupy a major share of the regional general aviation market.



Key Market Trends



Business Jets is the largest segment by Sub Aircraft Type.



Asia-Pacific accounted for around 4% of the global business jet deliveries in 2021. Similarly, turboprop and piston aircraft accounted for 13% and 14% of global deliveries.

The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted the general aviation sector in the Asia-Pacific region. Global restrictions on travel and pandemic-induced lockdown affected the demand in the general aviation sector. The deliveries of business jets declined by 47% in 2020 compared to 2019. Similarly, the deliveries of turboprop aircraft declined by 24%, and the helicopters category witnessed a fall of around 59%. However, with the ease of travel restrictions, there is increasing momentum in the number of people traveling and the adoption of private jets.

The rising number of HNWIs and UHNWIs in the region and their preference for private jets and helicopters for personal or business travel are also helping boost the procurement of private jets in the general aviation sector. For instance, the HNWI population in the region increased from 7.2 million in 2016 to 15.6 million in 2021.

Bombardier was the leading OEM, with 24% of the current operational fleet size, followed by Gulfstream and Textron, with 21.2% and 20.3%, respectively, in the Asia-Pacific business jet fleet as of July 2022. In terms of current operational fleet size in the business jet category, large jets dominated with a fleet size of 565 aircraft, followed by light jets and mid-size jets with 364 and 133 aircraft, respectively.



Australia is the largest segment by Country.



The overall aircraft deliveries in the general aviation sector were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the growth between 2019 and 2021 was -7.8%. The reduced economic activities in Asia-Pacific, along with travel-related restrictions, affected the utilization and procurement of business jets, helicopters, and turboprop aircraft in the region.

The rise of HNWIs and UHNWIs, who prefer private jets and helicopters for personal or business travel in Asia-Pacific, aided in the procurement of aircraft in the general aviation sector. From 2016 to 2021, the HNWI population in the region increased by 117%.

In terms of the current operational fleet, China was the leading country with around 21% of the overall Asia-Pacific business jet fleet, followed by Australia, India, and Japan with around 18%, 13%, and 9% of the deliveries, respectively, as of July 2022. In the helicopter category, Australia was the leading country with around 32% of the overall helicopter fleet, followed by China, Japan, and New Zealand with around 18%, 12%, and 11% of the deliveries, respectively, as of July 2022.

The helicopter category was dominated by single-engine helicopters, which accounted for 70% of the current operational Asia-Pacific helicopter fleet. The large-scale utilization of single-engine helicopters in corporate aviation aided in the procurement of single-engine helicopters.

Approximately 1,600 aircraft are expected to be delivered in China during 2022-2028. The economic recovery in the developing economies in the region, such as China and India, is expected to aid the growth of the general aviation sector in Asia-Pacific during the forecast period.



Competitive Landscape



The Asia-Pacific General Aviation Market is fairly consolidated, with the top five companies occupying 70.23%. The major players in this market are Airbus SE, Bombardier Inc., General Dynamics Corporation, Robinson Helicopter Company Inc. and Textron Inc. (sorted alphabetically).



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381488/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pachama, a technology company with the mission of restoring nature to solve climate change, has been named on Cleantech Groups 2023 Global Cleantech 100. The Global Cleantech 100 is an annual list of the most innovative and promising companies that will take us from commitments to actions in our efforts to reach global net zero emissions.





Pachama earned its place on the annual list for using remote sensing and artificial intelligence to advance a new standard of quality, transparency, and efficiency in the voluntary carbon market. Harnessing remote sensing, satellite data, and machine learning, Pachama provides rigorously evaluated projects in its owned marketplace. In addition, Pachama is working with leading industry players to establish a digital measuring, reporting, and verification (DMRV) platform for the general market. Because there arent enough forest restoration and conservation projects to move at the pace the planet demands to avoid the worst consequences of climate change, Pachama is also now using its technology to originate forest carbon projects. Pachama Originals increases the supply of high-quality carbon credits while positively impacting communities and ecosystems.

"Our team is proud to be recognized for our commitment to driving innovation in the voluntary carbon market for the benefit of our planet," said Diego Saez Gil, Co-Founder, and CEO of Pachama. With more companies making net-zero commitments globally, our advanced AI-based technology will continue to play an increasingly important role as a source of truth that de-risks investments and ensures only credits from the highest quality nature-based projects are available for purchase.

Since 2009, the Global Cleantech 100 Program has recognized innovative companies best positioned to help build a more digitized, de-carbonized, and resource-efficient industrial future. The list recognizes companies delivering sustainable solutions in six sectors: agriculture and food, enabling technologies, energy and power, materials and chemicals, resources and environment, transportation, and logistics.

This years group has been selected from over 15,000 nominees from 93 countries, submitted by the public, Cleantech Groups expert panel, i3 research portal, awards, and Cleantech Group staff. From there, 330 companies were shortlisted and reviewed by Cleantechs 81-member expert panel of leading investors, and corporate and industrial executives active in technology and innovation scouting.

This Global Cleantech 100 edition is remarkable for the number of businesses in it who represent solutions for some of the hardest of decarbonization challenges and those who are working on some of the critical materials issues coming our way, real soon, said Richard Youngman, CEO, Cleantech Group. We salute not only these 100 companies but all the thousands beyond, who are fighting the good fight.

Pachama and the other companies selected will be recognized at the upcoming Cleantech Forum North America on January 23-25 in Palm Springs, CA.

Download the Global Cleantech 100 complimentary report to learn more about how Pachama is helping to drive the sprint to net zero.

###

About Pachama

Pachama is a technology company on a mission to restore nature to solve climate change. Harnessing the latest advancements in satellite imagery, remote sensing and machine learning, Pachama measures the carbon stored in our forests with unprecedented precision and monitors forest growth over time. Through the Pachama platform, responsible companies can confidently invest in high-quality forest conservation projects verified by Pachamas rigorous evaluation process.

About Cleantech Group

Cleantech Group provides research, consulting and events to catalyze opportunities for sustainable growth powered by innovation. At every stage from initial strategy to final deals, we bring corporate change makers, investors, governments and stakeholders from across the ecosystem the access and customized support they need to thrive in a more digitized, de-carbonized and resource-efficient future.
Millbur, New Jersey, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 17, 2023

The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ) and the PSEG Foundation are collaborating once again to send a message on the importance of healthy choices to New Jersey students across the state through the annual Third Grade Healthy Life Healthy Decisions Coloring and Activity Book.

With the support of the PSEG Foundation, 35,000 third grade students will receive the activity book, which educates children about the importance of living a healthy life free of substance use. Teachers and school administrators can sign up to receive the activity book here, with the books to be distributed in early 2023.

Young adults have a hard-enough time navigating through a multitude of social challenges; couple that with the ease of access to substances and you realize just how many compromising and risky situations there are for them, said Maria Spina, PSEG Foundation Program Manager and a PDFNJ Board member. The PSEG Foundation is proud to support the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jerseys Third Grade Healthy Decisions program, which aims to create a learning environment that helps to tackle those challenges  exposing youth to the risks of substance abuse and the alternative life choices that will lead youth to more positive, thriving outcomes.

By distributing activity books through schools, PDFNJ and the PSEG Foundation recognize the key role educators play in engaging New Jerseys youth in activities that teach them about the dangers of substance use and misuse. To highlight their role, the activity book contains a contract encouraging students to commit to living a substance-free life, which their parents and a school representative also sign.

We are grateful to the PSEG Foundation for providing the funding for these activity books that will allow third graders throughout the state to learn valuable prevention messages, said PDFNJs Executive Director Angelo Valente. Educating our youth to prevent the misuse of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs in communities and schools is an ongoing effort, and the earlier we start the better.

Recent studies suggest research-based, age-appropriate prevention materials have had a positive impact as alcohol, tobacco and substance use has decreased among American teenagers in grades 8, 10 and 12.

###

About the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey

Best known for its statewide anti-drug advertising campaign, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey is a private not-for-profit coalition of professionals from the communications, corporate and government communities whose collective mission is to reduce demand for illicit drugs in New Jersey through media communication. To date, more than $200 million in broadcast time and print space has been donated to the Partnerships New Jersey campaign, making it the largest public service advertising campaign in New Jerseys history. Since its inception, the Partnership has garnered 217 advertising and public relations awards from national, regional and statewide media organizations.

About the PSEG Foundation

The PSEG Foundation (501c3) is the philanthropic arm of Public Service Enterprise Group (NYSE: PEG). The Foundation generally supports and invests in programs in three areas: environmental sustainability, equity and economic empowerment and social justice. The Foundation provides grants to organizations in communities served by PSEG and its subsidiaries.

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) (NYSE: PEG) is a predominantly regulated infrastructure company focused on a clean energy future. Guided by its Powering Progress vision, PSEG aims to power a future where people use less energy, and it's cleaner, safer and delivered more reliably than ever. PSEG'scommitment to ESG and sustainability is demonstrated in our net-zero 2030 climate vision and participation in the U.N. Race to Zero, as well as our inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index and the list of America's most JUST Companies. PSEG's businesses include Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G), PSEG Power and PSEG Long Island. (https://corporate.pseg.com).

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English Finnish

Incap Corporation Press release 17 January 2023 6.00 p.m. EET

Incap Corporation: Incap Estonia opened new production machinery at the Kuressaare factory

Incap Estonia upgraded its two current SMT production lines and added a third SMT line to its factory in Kuressaare. The EUR 1.35 million investment increases the factorys overall SMT production capacity by more than 50%.

According to Margus Jakobson, the Interim Managing Director of Incap Estonia, the investment in SMT (surface-mount technology) supports the companys rapid growth and flexibility in customer service. New electronics equipment in the Kuressaare factory was acquired from SMT Renting on a long-term lease agreement.

We decided to upgrade two existing production lines to make the production process faster. The third 30-meter long line will help to increase our SMT production capacity and increase it by more than 50%, Jakobson explained. The new production machinery will contribute significantly to the production of the most important part of electronic devices.

Incap Estonia is part of Incap Corporation, which is an international contract manufacturer. Electronics manufactured by Incap Estonia can be found for example in smart meters, in light electric vehicles on the streets, in smart led lights in different regions in Estonia as well as in the machinery of the worlds most famous maritime company.

Photos of line opening at Incap Estonia: https://photos.app.goo.gl/kH79yY2ToAYWm7xq5

INCAP CORPORATION

For additional information, please contact:

Margus Jakobson, Interim Managing Director of Incap Estonia, tel. +372 5818 8038

Otto Pukk, President and CEO, tel. +372 508 0798

Distribution:

Principal media

www.incapcorp.com

INCAP IN BRIEF

Incap Corporation is a trusted partner and full service provider in Electronics Manufacturing Services. As a global EMS company Incap supports customers ranging from large multinationals and mid-sized companies to small start-ups in their complete manufacturing value chain. Incap offers state-of-the-art technology backed up by an entrepreneurial culture and highly qualified personnel. The company has operations in Finland, Estonia, India, Slovakia, the UK and Hong Kong and employs approximately 2,500 people. Incaps share has been listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd stock exchange since 1997.
OLIVER, British Columbia, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Lunar New Year arrives next week, ushering in the Year of the Rabbit, predicted to be a year of hope, peace and prosperity. To celebrate, the Okanagans acclaimed Phantom Creek Estates is offering a 2023 Lunar New Year gift pack, featuring two of its most sought-after red blends, the 2019 Becker Cuvee and the 2019 Kobau Cuvee, beautifully packaged together with a signature seated tasting experience voucher for two and lucky red envelopes to bring health and prosperity.

The Lunar New Year is a time of hope and anticipation in Chinese culture and for the family of Phantom Creek proprietor Richter Bai. With the rabbit known as the luckiest of the 12 animals in the zodiac, its exciting to share some of that optimism with winery fans. The Year of the Rabbit begins on January 22, with festivities beginning on Lunar New Year Eve, January 21: bright red decorations symbolize wealth and prosperity, families gather for reunion dinners, and children are given red envelopes containing lucky money.

The celebration lasts only until the Lantern Festival on February 5. Similarly, the 2023 Lunar New Year gift pack is only available for a limited time. The red blends within it come from Phantom Creek estate vineyards, which are all located within three of the Okanagans most legendary sites: in the sub-regions of the Black Sage Bench and Golden Mile Bench south of Oliver, and in the dramatic Similkameen Valley. The 2019 Becker Cuvee, a Cabernet Franc-dominant Bordeaux blend, is comprised of fruit from the Becker Vineyard, on the upper terrace of the Black Sage Bench. The 2019 Kobau Cuvee is made with grapes from the Kobau Vineyard on the storied Golden Mile Bench; it offers a perfect expression of the sub-regions famed terroir.

The 2023 Lunar New Year Gift Package

The elegant gift package, valued at $150, is available online until January 29. They include one bottle each of the 2019 Becker Cuvee and the 2019 Kobau Cuvee, a Phantom Creek Estates seated tasting voucher for two people, as well as beautifully designed lucky red envelopes.

2019 Becker Cuvee

55% Cabernet Franc, 28% Merlot, 9% Carmenere, 7% Syrah, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon

It has now been over 25 years since Becker Vineyard was replanted to Cabernet family varieties, proving that late ripening red varieties could thrive in the South Okanagan. First planted in 1977 as part of the pioneering Becker Project, Becker Vineyard produces finessed, elegant wines from the upper terrace of the Black Sage Bench. Nestled against the Okanagan Highland mountains, the Becker vineyard sits on the upper terrace of the Black Sage Bench. At a higher elevation, the vineyard enjoys a gradual growing season and maintains a sense of vibrancy and freshness. The nose of this wine exhibits ripe baked fruit notes of dark cherry and black currant combined with subtle savoury notes of black sage and forest floor. This Cabernet Franc dominant Bordeaux blend has a complex and balanced palate offering layers of ripe red bramble fruit with herbaceous and peppery undertones. The mouthfeel is smooth and supple with fine-grained tannins and a long satisfying finish.

2019 Kobau Cuvee

69% Cabernet Franc, 27% Merlot, 4% Syrah

The 2019 Cuvee from the famed Kobau Vineyard is dominated by Cabernet Franc. On the nose, sweet notes of black plum, espresso, and cocoa are apparent along with a hint of earth and kalamata olive. An intriguing herbal lift, provided by the Cabernet Franc in this blend, creates complexity and refinement. This wine is expressive on the palate, with concentrated ripe black and blue fruit flavours perfectly balanced with dark chocolate and toasty notes. The mouthfeel is rich and smooth, leading to a long finish. Well-structured tannins and fresh acidity, this is a perfect expression of what Cabernet Franc from the Golden Mile Bench can achieve.

Phantom Creeks 2023 Lunar New Year gift pack is available to purchase online at phantomcreekestates.com/collection/bundle. To learn more about the winery and its selection of wines, visit phantomcreekestates.com or follow @phantomcreek.

About Phantom Creek Estates | Phantom Creek Estates is a destination winery located on the famed Black Sage Bench of British Columbias Okanagan Valley, specializing in single-vineyard Bordeaux reds, Alsatian whites, and varieties of Viognier and Syrah from storied vineyard sites. From the start, the winery has been guided by the long-term vision of building one of the leading family-owned wineries in Canada. Cultivated in certified organic vineyards and made by influential international winemaking and winegrower teams  Amy Richards, Mark Beringer, and Olivier Humbrecht MW  Phantom Creek Estates wines celebrate and speak to where they are grown. | phantomcreekestates.com | @phantomcreek





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Photos

For a selection of high-resolution photos, click on the image above or download via Google Drive.

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New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "US Business Jet Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381480/?utm_source=GNW



Fastest-growing Market by Body Type - Light Jet : Regional air travel and the capability to access remote airports/locations are making light jets more attractive to customers, therefore driving their demand in the market.



Key Market Trends



Large Jet is the largest segment by Body Type.



The US business aviation is part of general aviation that contributes around USD 150 billion annually to the US economy. The fleet of the US accounted for 58% of the worlds business aviation, and the country holds around 89% of the private jets in the North American region. In 2021, the number of UHNWI individuals surged to approximately 13% in the country and aided in procuring business jets.

Out of the business jet deliveries delivered over the historical period from 2016 to 2021, light jets constitute around 49%, when compared to mid-size jets and large jets with 29% and 22%, respectively.

During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, the safer way of traveling has become one of the major criteria for high net-worth individuals in the country, which resulted in the increased utilization of private jets. The same trend is expected to continue over the next few years. In terms of deliveries, in 2021, the US accounted for almost 91% of North Americas total business jet deliveries.

In 2021, Textron became the leading player in deliveries with 132 aircraft, while Gulfstream Aerospace was in the second position with 69 deliveries. Cirrus Aircraft, Bombardier, Embraer, Honda Group, and Pilatus Aircraft were the other major players, with 61, 49, 52, 34, and 21 deliveries in the country. Around 3500+ business jets are expected to be delivered in the country during the forecast period.



Competitive Landscape



The US Business Jet Market is fairly consolidated, with the top five companies occupying 92.21%. The major players in this market are Bombardier Inc., Dassault Aviation, Embraer, General Dynamics Corporation and Textron Inc. (sorted alphabetically).



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381480/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
DALY CITY, Calif., Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Safety Training Seminars, an official American Heart Association (AHA) Training Center, announced that it opened a new office in Daly City. Aligning with Safety Training Seminars' other California locations, the Daly City CPR office will offer certification paths in critical lifesaving skills, including CPR, BLS, ACLS, and PALS.

The Daly City training center is located in Serramonte Office Plaza, 333 Gellert Blvd, Suite 215, Daly City, CA 94015. To meet the needs of busy professionals, the new center offers a flexible schedule of daily classes Monday through Sunday. Individuals interested in initial or renewal certifications in CPR, BLS, ACLS, and PALS can choose the courses at the Daly City CPR office relevant to their needs. Programs are a blend of online learning components and on-site skills testing. All programs result in students receiving the official American Heart Association certification card (valid for two years).

BLS CPR Provider Heartcode courses lead to initial or renewal certification in Basic Life Support fundamentals. Upon course completion, attendees will be able to recognize various life-threatening emergencies and properly administer chest compressions, perform ventilation, and use AEDs. This course is also called BLS Provider or BLS Healthcare Provider.

ACLS Heartcode courses teach the necessary skills for competency in Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support. Both initial and renewal certification are available. During this course, attendees learn about the importance of continuous, high-quality CPR. ACLS Heartcode programs are ideal for those responding to cardiopulmonary arrest or other cardiovascular emergencies.

Adult and Pediatric Heartsaver CPR and First-Aid Heartcode courses show attendees how to administer CPR for infants, children, and adults. Attendees receive certification upon completion. Additional lifesaving skills covered in the course include chokesaving, AED use, bleeding treatment, seizures, EpiPen, and more. The skills taught in this course are valuable for a wide range of participants, including teachers, camp counselors, and childcare providers who require EMSA certification.

According to Laura Seidel, owner of Safety Training Seminars, "Our purpose is to increase access to training programs for Californians seeking to learn critical lifesaving skills. Armed with these skills, they can advance in their careers or feel confident to intervene during an emergency. Our Daly City facility advances our mission by providing reasonably priced, flexible training schedules for those in and around Daly City."

Since 1989, Safety Training Seminars has provided crucial courses for certification. The woman-owned company offers certification classes in CPR, First Aid, BLS, ACLS, PALS, NRP, and EMSA Childcare. Safety Training Seminars is dedicated to providing affordable, flexible training with the most up-to-date training equipment. Learn more about Safety Training Seminars and its more than 30 locations across Northern California. Visit www.bayareacpr.org.

Contact Information:

Danielle Bell

Marketing Manager

office@safetytrainingseminars.com

415-437-1600



Related Images











Image 1: Daly City CPR Classes





CPR, BLS, ACLS, & PALS classes in Daly City, CA









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

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New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "North America Controlled Release Fertilizer Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381440/?utm_source=GNW

As nitrogen is the most applied fertilizer, CRF urea can prevent nitrogen mineralization that degrades the soil quality.

Largest Segment by Coating Type - Polymer Coated : These fertilizers effectively supply all the essential primary and secondary nutrients, coupled with micronutrients, reducing the need for multiple fertilizer applications.

Largest Segment by Crop Type - Field Crops : Field crops dominate the North American fertilizers market due to the large cultivation area in the region. Field crops account for more than 95% of the total crop area.

Largest segment by Country - United States : The United States accounts for about 69% of the total agricultural crop area in the region. The country is one of the major producers of fertilizers in North America.



Key Market Trends



Polymer Coated is the largest segment by Coating Type.



The North American controlled-release fertilizer market grew by 70.6% during the study period. Precision farming is widely practiced in North America. An important component of precision farming is the provision of the right dosage of nutrients to crops at the right time. Thus, controlled-release fertilizers serve as important inputs in precision farming.

Field crops occupy 82.4% of the overall market, followed by turfs and ornamentals, which constitute 13.9% of the market share. These types of coated controlled-release fertilizers are commonly used in specialty, high-value crops like cereals, grains, and vegetables, as well as in areas like orchards and nurseries. Although the use of specialty chemicals is limited in row crops, their usage is increasing due to higher grain prices, environmental concerns, and other regulations.

The United States is the largest market for controlled-release fertilizers. It accounted for 81.9% of the market in 2021, registering a growth of 70.43% during the study period.

With the growing technological advancements in the fertilizer industry, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) partnered with various stakeholders, such as The Fertilizer Institute (TFI), the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), to boost awareness about controlled-release fertilizers among farmers. These factors are anticipated to boost the countrys field crop production.



United States is the largest segment by Country.



The United States was the largest market for controlled-release fertilizers, accounting for 81.9% of the market in 2021. The country registered a growth of 70.4% during the study period.

The polymer coating segment was the largest coating type in 2021, accounting for 63.2% of the market. The country is concentrated on field crop cultivation. Thus, the demand for polymer-coated controlled-release fertilizers is high to meet environmental and cost-related concerns.

The increased cultivation of field crops in Canada includes wheat, canola, and maize, and various government initiatives, such as the Farm Credit Canada, offer increased credit availability for farm inputs involving the cost of buying expensive and efficient fertilizers like controlled-release fertilizers. This trend is anticipated to drive the controlled-release fertilizer market in the country during the forecast period.

Similarly, in 2021, the Mexican legislature approved the 2022 Federal Government Budget, allocating roughly USD 2.70 billion to the Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER), wherein 70% was allocated to fertilizer subsidies.

The production of cereals in Costa Rica decreased in 2020 from 2017, with a production of 197,701 metric ton in 2017 to 151,685 ton in 2020. This decrease facilitates the demand for controlled-release fertilizers for enhanced productivity and crop quality.

The need to increase the production of field crops across the region, coupled with the various government initiatives and increasing awareness among the farmers, is anticipated to drive the market during the forecast period.



Competitive Landscape



The North America Controlled Release Fertilizer Market is fragmented, with the top five companies occupying 19.51%. The major players in this market are Compo Expert GMbh, Florikan, ICL Speciality Fertilizers, Nutrien Ltd. and Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (sorted alphabetically).



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381440/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
This is a crucial week for the movement against the coup in Peru. Despite brutal and continued repression, the workers, peasants and students in struggle against illegitimate president Dina Baluarte have continued fighting. The countrys trade union confederation CGTP has called for a national strike on 19 January and columns of protesters are converging on the capital Lima.

Faced with growing anger and opposition, the response of the state and its institutions continues to be one of repression and criminalisation of the movement. This week, 14 social and trade union leaders have been arrested. Amongst them is the General Secretary of the CGTP in the region of San Martin, in the north. The counter-terrorism branch of the Peruvian police also detained the president and seven leaders of the Ayacucho Peoples Defence Front, a mass social organisation leading the movement in this Andean Department.

Police also harassed those attending a gathering of the National Peoples Assembly to coordinate the work towards the 19 January general strike. Police surrounded the building of the Telephone Workers Union in Lima, where the meeting was to be held, and in a provocative way proceeded to demand ID from all those attending.

Criminalisation campaign

Part of the campaign of criminalisation of the movement of workers and peasants is the constant slandering of those participating as terrorists. This was particularly the case with the arrest of the leaders of the Ayacucho Peoples Defence Front, who were accused of being senderistas (members of the Shining Path guerrilla organisation) despite the fact that this has all but disappeared. Never mind the facts, the terrorist nature of those arrested was splashed across all the frontpages of the daily media and broadcast widely on the TV stations.

An even wilder allegation made against the movement was that weapons and ammunition had been smuggled in from Bolivia and that this would explain why so many people (18) had been killed in Juliaca, Puno on 9 January. The facts, however, are stubborn. No actual evidence that the protesters had weapons, even less expanding dumdum bullets has been presented. The official forensic report for those killed is clear: nine of those killed had bullet fragments in their bodies and the others had also been killed by gunshots. All of those could be traced back to police issued AKM assault rifles (in six cases), police pellets and police handguns.

The illegitimate president Boluarte has also declared, again, a state of emergency in several provinces and departments across the country and a curfew in Puno. This means basic democratic constitutional guarantees are suspended. The declaration of the state of emergency last year, ahead of the 15 December general strike, was the prelude to massacres in which the police and the army killed at least 28 unarmed civilians, including 10 in Ayacucho in a single day.

It is the duty of the international labour movement to energetically raise its voice against this brutal repression and to reject the illegitimate coup-president Boluarte.

Marcha de los 4 Suyos

The tactics of the ruling class and the government are not a sign of strength but rather an indication of panic, faced with a growing movement which repression has not been able to stop.

Thousands are converging on the capital to bring down the illegitimate, bloodstained Boluarte regime / Image: Ministerio de Defensa del Peru

Thousands from across the country, not only from the poor Andean regions in the south, but also from the north, are making their way to the capital Lima with one aim: to bring down the hated, bloodstained Dina Boluarte. The movement has become known as the marcha de los 4 Suyos (march from the four corners), after the massive march on Lima in 2000, which finally brought down the dictatorship of Fujimori.

Workers, peasants, students in towns and cities have organised collections of money and food to sustain delegations to the capital. They are coming from the aymara-speaking regions, from the rondas campesinas (peasant patrols) north of Lima, from Ayacucho, from the jungle regions in the east, etc. Police roadblocks are stopping some of the caravans, but the people are finding ways to get through.

The movement has widespread popular support, from which it derives its strength. According to a recent opinion poll by IEP, 60 percent of the population think that the protests are justified (72 percent amongst the youth) and 58 percent think that the police and army committed excesses (70 percent amongst the youth). On the other hand, 71 percent disapprove of Dina Boluartes presidency, with a mere 19 percent in favour. Congress is even more discredited with a record 89 percent against. An overwhelming 69 percent of the population now think there should be a Constituent Assembly, up 22 points since a year ago, an indication of widespread rejection of all existing bourgeois institutions.

The government of Boluarte is against the ropes, with even some institutions coming out openly against her, and several regional governors demanding her resignation, with even some of her own ministers tending their resignation. The march on Lima and the general strike could be the last blow, which forces the ignominious collapse of this illegitimate president.

Never again poor people in a rich country

The mass movement of workers and peasants has grown in strength and acquired a certain degree of national coordination. Its political programme so far is limited to democratic demands: freedom for Castillo, closing down of congress, new elections and a constituent assembly. But what lies behind these demands is a deep seated desire for fundamental change, one which is not limited to just political questions, as important as they are, but which is based on a desire for a general improvement of living standards and a substantial redistribution of wealth.

The ousting of Fujimori in 2000 only led to the coming to power of Alan Garcia, who continued with ultra-liberal capitalist policies / Image: Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador

Castillos election slogan never again poor people in a rich country encapsulates whats behind this mass movement. Peru is indeed a wealthy country, but one where power and resources are in hands of a handful of parasitical economic groups, national and multinational, while the majority of the people live in poverty conditions.

It is significant that the movement is making reference to the march of the 4 Suyos in 2000 and also raising the slogan of todas las sangres (meaning all the different ethnic and national groups which make up the country). The idea is that the workers and peasants of Peru, united as a single fighting unit, converging on the capital, can bring down the government. That is correct.

However, what happened after the overthrow of Fujimori in 2000 was the coming to power of self-styled social democrat Alan Garcia, who then proceeded to continue the ultra-liberal capitalist economic policies of his predecessor. The peoples victory was transformed into disillusionment as the mining multinationals and 17 Peruvian economic conglomerates continued to loot the countrys wealth, bribing presidents and state officials in the process.

This time, the issue must be posed point blank. For there to be real meaningful change, for which nearly 50 have already given their lives in the last 40 days, the masses must brush aside not only the rotten institutions of bourgeois power but also expropriate the capitalist oligarchy and the multinationals, so that the countrys wealth can be democratically planned, under workers control, in the benefit of the majority. That is the only prize worthy of the blood that has been shed in this struggle.

Victory to the Peruvian workers and peasants!

Down with Dina Boluarte! Close down Congress! Kick them all out!

Expropriate the capitalist oligarchy and the mining multinational!

All power to the working people!
Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States

TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PIMCO Canada Corp. (PIMCO Canada) today announced the 2023 January cash distributions for the ETF series (ETF Series) of the PIMCO Canada mutual funds that distribute monthly (Funds). Unitholders of record of the ETF Series, at the close of business on January 24, 2023, will receive per-unit cash distribution payable on or about January 31, 2023.

Details of the per-unit cash distribution amount are as follow:

Fund Name Ticker Cash Distribution per Unit PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada) PMIF $0.04171 PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada) US$ PMIF.U US $0.04364 PIMCO Investment Grade Credit Fund (Canada) IGCF $0.03088 PIMCO Global Short Maturity Fund (Canada) PMNT $0.03353 PIMCO Low Duration Monthly Income Fund (Canada) PLDI $0.05011

The Manager, PIMCO Canada administers and manages the PIMCO Canada ETFs, and retains Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC (PIMCO), to provide sub-advisory services to the Funds.

About PIMCO

PIMCO was founded in 1971 in Newport Beach, California and is one of the worlds premier fixed income investment managers. Today we have offices across the globe and 3,000+ professionals united by a single purpose: creating opportunities for investors in every environment. PIMCO is owned by Allianz S.E., a leading global diversified financial services provider.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions expect, intend, will and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Funds. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the Funds, PIMCO Canadas and/or PIMCOs current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, market factors. Although the Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other factors which affect this information, except as required by law.

No offering is being made by this material. Interested investors should obtain a copy of the prospectus, which is available from your Financial Advisor.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

All investments contain risk and can lose value. For a summary of the risks of an investment in a specific fund, please see the risks of mutual funds section of the prospectus.

Investments made by a Fund and the results achieved by a Fund are not expected to be the same as those made by any other PIMCO-advised Fund, including those with a similar name, investment objective or policies. A new or smaller Funds performance may not represent how the Fund is expected to or may perform in the long-term. New Funds have limited operating histories for investors to evaluate and new and smaller Funds may not attract sufficient assets to achieve investment and trading efficiencies. A Fund may be forced to sell a comparatively large portion of its portfolio to meet significant shareholder redemptions for cash, or hold a comparatively large portion of its portfolio in cash due to significant share purchases for cash, in each case when the Fund otherwise would not seek to do so, which may adversely affect performance.

Funds can offer different series, which are subject to different fees and expenses (which may affect performance), having different minimum investment requirements and are entitled to different services.

The products and services provided by PIMCO Canada may only be available in certain provinces or territories of Canada and only through dealers authorized for that purpose.

PIMCO Canada has retained PIMCO LLC as sub-adviser. PIMCO Canada will remain responsible for any loss that arises out of the failure of its sub-adviser.

PIMCO as a general matter provides services to qualified institutions, financial intermediaries and institutional investors. Individual investors should contact their own financial professional to determine the most appropriate investment options for their financial situation. This material contains the current opinions of the manager and such opinions are subject to change without notice. This material has been distributed for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission. PIMCO is a trademark of Allianz Asset Management of America L.P. in the United States and throughout the world. 2023, PIMCO

PIMCO Canada Corp. 199 Bay Street, Suite 2050, Commerce Court Station, P.O. Box 363, Toronto, ON, M5L 1G2, 416-368-3350

Contact:

Agnes Crane

PIMCO  Media Relations

Phone: +212 597.1054
New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Forage Seed Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381361/?utm_source=GNW



Largest Segment by Country - United States : The United States forage market has increased due to factors such as the increasing livestock population in the country, and high demand from the dairy and meat industry.

Fastest-growing Segment by Crop - Forage Corn : The increasing demand for forage corn is due to the development of dual-purpose varieties, preference for corn silage, and availability of highly nutritious varieties.

Fastest-growing Segment by Country - Italy : Italy is having a high demand for Forage Cropss due to the high demand for better-quality meat, increasing cattle population, and awareness about quality feed among farmers.



Forage Seed Market Trends



Hybrids is the largest segment by Breeding Technology.



The livestock population is increasing across the regions. The increase in livestock population needs an expansion of the area under forages and demands the use of varieties with high yield potential and a high feed value. This is one of the major factors leading to the growth of the hybrid and open-pollinated seed market.

Major companies are investing in making seed quality better due to the rise in demand. For instance, in 2021, DLF Seeds, the worlds leading grass seed breeder, invested USD 4.6 million in new state-of-the-art mixing and distribution facilities. The investment will transform their current production facilities of OPVs and the hybrid seed of forage and bring much-needed additional capacity and efficiency to cope with the future market demands in the amenity, consumer, and environmental stewardship in the forage seed market.



The hybrid seed segment dominates the market due to the increase in adoption because of increasing awareness about its benefits. The hybrid seed market share value is expected to increase by 6% from 2021 to 2022 due to the rise in the seed replacement rate and the availability of improved varieties in the market.

The farmers preference for transgenic varieties is slowly rising in various forage-growing regions due to the increase in crop losses by weeds and diseases. The share value of the transgenic segment increased by 2% in 2021 from the previous year.

The Asia-Pacific forage seed market using OPVs seeds is expected to be the fastest growing, at a CAGR of 4.6%, from 2022 to 2028 because open-pollinated varieties require fewer inputs, such as fertilizer and pesticides, and are less expensive and more affordable for small holding and low-income farmers.



North America is the largest segment by Region.



Globally, the North American region holds a major share, accounting for 38% of the global forage seeds market in terms of value in 2021 due to the increase in the demand for forage as feed, an increase in meat consumption, and weather conditions. In North America, the United States has the largest forage seed market, accounting for 41% of North Americas forage seed market due to the high demand for forage as feed and the increase in the cattle population in the country.

In 2021, Europe was the primary producer of forages. It contributed 33.1% to the global forage seed market. The increase in livestock production and consumption is driving the forage market in the region. Germany is the largest producer of forage corn in Europe, with a market share value of 23% in the global forage corn seed market.

In the Asia-Pacific region, India has the largest forage seed market, and it accounted for 30% of the Asia-Pacific forage seed market in terms of value in 2021. Forage Sorghum is leading in the forage seed segments, accounting for a 9% global market share in 2021.



In 2021, South America had a market share of 9% of the global forage seed market. Alfalfa is the major forage crop grown in South America, which is associated with the availability of GM hybrids that are herbicide-resistant and tolerant to water stress and high lignin content for better digestibility, driving the transgenic alfalfa seed market at a CAGR of 8% in South America.



Therefore, owing to increasing demand due to the increased livestock population and based on the aforementioned factors, the market is anticipated to grow during the forecast period.?



Forage Seed Market Competitive Analysis



The Global Forage Seed Market is fragmented, with the top five companies occupying 35.82%. The major players in this market are Bayer AG, Corteva Agriscience, DLF, Land OLakes, Inc. and Royal Barenbrug Group (sorted alphabetically).



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__________________________
Pittsburgh, PA, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC. (US OTC: FOMC) announces its wholly owned subsidiary SMARTSolution Technologies L.P. (SST) will attend the PETE&C trade show at Kalahari Resort in the Poconos on February 12-15, 2023 (Pennsylvania Education Technology Expo and Conference). PETE&C is a statewide event that provides quality programs focused on technology in the education field. Each year, hundreds of exhibitors showcase their latest technology products and services to a substantial audience of teachers, administrators, technology directors, school board members and more from the state of Pennsylvania and the surrounding region.



At PETE&C, SST will be displaying and holding informal training on educational technology offerings to school districts, both parochial and public. SSTs offerings will include the latest interactive panels, associated interface tools, conferencing cameras, classroom sound reinforcement system, and more. The booth will be hosted by SST salespeople, operations personnel, and upper management. Further information on SSTs newest products, such as Smart Podium and Active Floor, which have applications beyond K12 customers to post-secondary education, enterprise, and other verticals and environments, can be found here:

https://www.smarttech.com/en/business/products/interactive-displays/podium-624-product

https://activefloor.com/en/interactive-learning/

SSTs sister business, CLEANSolution Technologies (CST), will also be represented at PETE&C illustrating the benefits of clean air disinfection including ultraviolet-C (UVC-C) and bipolar ionization, LED retrofit and HVAC management solutions for K12 customers and more. SST and CST will be located at PETE&C in Booth 201. To register for the show or for additional information, please visit: https://www.peteandc.org/.

Separately, on February 13, 2023, FOMO will host an investor dinner at a venue within the PETE&C complex. FOMO management will update attendees on the Companys public company reporting status which is being brought SEC current, financial trajectory, merger and acquisition pipeline, and other developments. The dinner will be attended by management of acquisition targets under purchase contract by FOMO. To RSVP for the dinner, please contact investor relations at IR@fomoworldwide.com.

About FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC.

FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC. is a publicly traded company focused on business incubation and acceleration. The Company invests in and advises emerging companies aligned with a growth mandate. FOMO is developing direct investment and affiliations - majority- and minority-owned as well as in joint venture formats - that afford targets access to the public markets for expansion capital as well as spin-out options to become their own stand-alone public companies.

About SMARTSolution Technologies L.P.

SMARTSolution Technologies L.P. (https://smarterguys.com/), a wholly owned subsidiary of FOMO, is a Pittsburgh, PAbased audiovisual systems integration company that designs and builds presentation, teleconferencing and collaborative systems for businesses, education, and nonprofits including 200 school districts with hundreds of buildings and almost 200,000 students. SST is a leader in interactive display technologies for use in all type of curriculums and has been providing education technology solutions for over 27 years.

About CLEANSolution Technologies

CLEANSolution Technologies (https://www.cleansolutiontech.com/), also doing business as Energy Intelligence Center LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of FOMO, has over 10 years of experience in clean technology and energy efficiency technologies. CST offers clean air disinfection, LED retrofit, and HVAC management technologies and services with a focus on promoting clean air and higher energy efficiency levels in multi-family, commercial, and industrial buildings.

Forward Looking Statements:

Statements in this press release about our future expectations, including without limitation, the likelihood that FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC. will be able to meet minimum sales expectations, be successful and profitable in the market, bring significant value to FOMOs stockholders, and leverage capital markets to execute its growth strategy, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and our actual results could differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this statement or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. FOMOs business strategy described in this press release is subject to innumerable risks, most significantly, whether the Company is successful in securing adequate financing. Additionally, although the Company has announced letters of intent to acquire additional companies, there is absolutely no assurances that any such transactions will result in a completed acquisition. No information in this press release should be construed in any form, shape, or manner as an indication of the Companys future revenues, financial condition, or stock price.

Contact Information:

SMARTSolution Technologies L.P.

John Raymond

President

(412) 390-0803

info@smarterguys.com

FOMO WORLDWIDE, INC.

Vik Grover

CEO

(630) 708-0750

IR@fomoworldwide.com
Wilmington, DE, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) , the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of more than 350 open source projects and initiatives, announced today Apache NuttX 12.0, the latest release of the popular real-time operating system (RTOS) for embedded microcontroller applications. NuttX is used in appliances, wearables, satellites, drones, connectivity, rapid prototyping, industrial IoT, and much more, with support for numerous microcontroller architectures from 8-bit to 64-bit.

NuttX is available on many microcontrollers and the community is engaging and helpful, which makes the RTOS a good choice for education and business, said Alin Jerpelea, Vice President of Apache NuttX.

The first release following its recent graduation to ASF Top-Level Project, Apache NuttX 12.0 adds support for twelve new boards. Among these is the PINE64 PinePhone. PinePhone is the first ever ARM 64 platform for NuttX and a major milestone accomplishment, said TL Lim, founder of PINE64. We are excited to see NuttX as an education tool for learning the internals of smartphones.

The twelve newly supported boards are:

Espressif ESP32-LyraT - an audio and smart speaker application board

Espressif LilyGO T-Beam - a LoRa and GPS application board

Espressif ESP32-C3-DevKit-RUST-1 - a 6DoF IMU, temperature, and humidity sensing board

Espressif ESP32-S2-Kaluga-1 - a board for human-computer interaction prototyping

ESP32-SPARROW-KIT - a customized variant of ESP32-WROVERKIT for university coursework

GigaDevice GD32F450ZK-EVAL board - a connectivity and general purpose I/O (GPIO) board

Nordic nRF5340 Audio Development Kit - a Bluetooth LE audio application board

Flipper Zero - a hardware exploration and development kit

Raspberry Pi Pico W - an IoT platform with single-band 2.4GHz wireless 802.11n

PINE64 PinePhone - an open source smartphone with 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53

TI Tiva EK-TM4C129EXL Crypto Connected LaunchPad - a connectivity and GPIO board

Zhuhai Orbita S698pm Dkit - an aerospace and industrial board with Sparc and SpaceWire

NuttX Overview

Small Footprint. Usable in all but the tightest micro-controller environments, the focus is on tiny-to-small, deeply embedded systems.

Portable and Highly Scalable. Runs on hundreds of 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, and 64-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) and Systems on Chip (SoCs) including ARM, ARM64, AVR, CEVA, HC, MIPS, Misoc, OpenRISC, Renesas, RISC-V, SPARC, x86, x86-64, Xtensa, Z16, and Z80. Supports 266 boards and can be easily ported to new ones.

Standards Adoption. The primary governing standards are POSIX and ANSI standards. Additional standard APIs from Unix and other common RTOSes are adopted for functionality not available under these standards. Thanks to standard OS interfaces, software developed for other operating systems (such as Linux) should port easily to NuttX.

Highly Configurable. Employs the Kconfig system used with prominent projects such as the Linux kernel, Buildroot, Das U-Boot, and BusyBox.

Real-Time. Fully preemptible; fixed priority, round-robin, and sporadic scheduling. Supports zero-latency interrupts on selected architectures.

Multiple Toolchains. Compatible with GCC, Clang, SDCC, ZiLOG ZDS-II (c89), and IAR. Apache NuttX can be developed on Linux, FreeBSD, Windows (MSYS, Cygwin, WSL, or native), macOS, and Solaris.

Totally Open. Non-restrictive Apache license.

Apache NuttX is more than code, its a community, said Nathan Hartman, Project Manager and Committer, Apache NuttX. As an open source and global community-driven effort, we thrive on participation from enthusiastic users, from hobbyists to large corporations worldwide, and we welcome their involvement in the future of NuttX.

Additional Resources





Availability and Oversight

Apache NuttX software is released under the Apache License v2.0 and is overseen by a self-selected team of active contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides the Projects day-to-day operations, including community development and product releases. For downloads, documentation, and ways to become involved with Apache NuttX, visit https://nuttx.apache.org/ .

About The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)

Founded in 1999, the Apache Software Foundation exists to provide software for the public good with support from more than 70 sponsors. ASFs open source software is used ubiquitously around the world with more than 8,400 committers contributing to 320+ active projects, including Apache Superset, Apache Camel, Apache Flink, Apache HTTP Server, Apache Kafka, and Apache Airflow. The Foundations open source projects and community practices are considered industry standards, including the widely adopted Apache License 2.0, the podling incubation process, and a consensus-driven decision model that enables projects to build strong communities and thrive. https://apache.org



ASFs annual ApacheCon event is where open source technologists convene to share best practices and use cases, forge critical relationships, and learn about advancements in their field. https://www.apachecon.com/

The Apache Software Foundation. Apache, NuttX, Apache NuttX, and ApacheCon are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Yesterday, the Ford government announced plans to expand private, for-profit health care in Ontario. The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) is calling the move, entirely out of touch with what Ontarians want and need.



According to polling conducted by Environics Research, nearly eight in ten Ontarians (78%) believe the Ford government should use public money to increase funding to public hospitals and clinics, so they can rebuild capacity, instead of redirecting funding to private, for-profit clinics. Six in ten Ontarians (59%) oppose more involvement by private for-profit health care providers, as a solution to the problems facing health care.

Ontarians can clearly see that the Ford government has created a crisis to pursue their agenda of privatization, said Patty Coates, Ontario Federation of Labour President. Diverting funds from our public health care system to private, for-profit surgical clinics will not solve the staffing crisis and years of underfunding that have fueled the current crisis.

The online poll of 1,000 Ontarians found that a strong majority of people believe that private companies offering health care services will lead to richer people jumping the queue (79%) and that the Ford government is leading Ontario to two-tier health care (61%).

Ontarians understand that the priorities of for-profit providers are simply not the same as publicly delivered health care, added Coates. According to the poll, 81% of Ontarians believe the main objective of private for-profit health care companies is to make more money for their owners and shareholders.

Coates added, The pandemic proved that a profit-driven approach to health care is bad for patients. Long-term care is the most haunting example, where deaths were significantly higher in for-profit homes.

The OFL has pointed to the need for greater public funding into publicly delivered health care, and the repeal of Bill 124 as urgent measures that must be taken to address the health care crisis. Ontarians agree with these demands. Almost eight in ten (78%) support the Ontario government increasing public hospital funding to the Canadian average, even if this adds to the deficit or means higher taxes, and 70% of Ontarians oppose Bill 124.

Enough is enough of Fords scheme to erode public health care for private gain, said Coates. Workers have lost confidence in the Ford government. We are united in the fight to defend public health care.

The OFL will launch a new campaign on January 28 . Included among the five demands of the campaign is a call to keep health care public.

This Environics Research poll was conducted online between November 29 and December 10 with a sample size of 1000. View the Opinion Survey referenced, here .

The Ontario Federation of Labour represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. For information, visit www.OFL.ca and follow @OFLabour on Facebook and Twitter .

For more information, please contact:

Melissa Palermo

Communications Director

Ontario Federation of Labour

mpalermo@ofl.ca | 416-894-3456

gh/COPE343
Gold grade of Indicated and Inferred resources at Fenelon improves by 85% and 84%, respectively



Substantial new resources added at Martiniere

TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (TSX:WM, OTCQX:WLBMF) (Wallbridge or the Company) is pleased to announce an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) for its Fenelon Gold (Fenelon) and Martiniere Gold (Martiniere) projects, located on the Companys Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend land package in Northern Abitibi, Quebec.

Marz Kord, President & CEO of Wallbridge stated:

Building on the success of our 2021 maiden MRE, the subsequent exploration program has delivered an MRE with significantly improved grade and a larger resource. This confirms our belief that a potential underground bulk mining scenario is the most attractive option at Fenelon, as it has the potential to deliver attractive economics with lower capex, a smaller footprint and faster permitting process than a large open pit. We believe a resource of this size, grade and zone thickness could be analogous to some of the large, bulk-mineable deposits that are already being successfully mined in the Abitibi region today. The updated MRE is a significant milestone as Wallbridge prepares to deliver a preliminary economic assessment for Fenelon in Q2 2023.

Attila Pentek, Wallbridges Vice President, Exploration added:

Todays updated mineral resource reflects the Companys focused and effective drilling and sampling program which has essentially replaced over 800,000 lower grade ounces with 1.3 million higher-grade ounces at Fenelon. This translated into significant increases in gold grade at Fenelon, with an 85% increase in the grade of the Indicated resources and an 84% increase in the grade of Inferred resources, compared to the 2021 Fenelon maiden MRE. We also achieved positive results at Martiniere, where we increased the resource ounces substantially, with a 26% increase in the Indicated category and a 146% increase in the Inferred category. We continue to pursue value-generating growth, with both deposits remaining open in multiple directions, and substantial potential for discoveries along our extensive, underexplored land package. We look forward to carrying our positive exploration momentum into 2023.

Highlights

Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend Indicated resources of 3.05 Moz at 3.09 g/t Au (14% increase in ounces and 62% increase in Au grade from 2021). Fenelon : Indicated resources are 2.37 Moz at 3.40 g/t Au (11% increase in ounces and 85% increase in Au grade from 2021). Martiniere : Indicated resources of 0.68 Moz at 2.35 g/t Au (26% increase in ounces and 5% increase in Au grade from 2021).

of 3.05 Moz at 3.09 g/t Au (14% increase in ounces and 62% increase in Au grade from 2021). Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend Inferred resources of 2.35 Moz at 2.96 g/t Au (36% increase in ounces and 76% increase in Au grade from 2021). Fenelon : Inferred resources are 1.72 Moz at 2.89 g/t Au (17% increase in ounces and 84% increase in Au grade from 2021). Martiniere : Inferred resources of 0.63 Moz at 3.17 g/t Au (146% increase in ounces and 11% increase in Au grade from 2021).

of 2.35 Moz at 2.96 g/t Au (36% increase in ounces and 76% increase in Au grade from 2021). 57% of the ounces of the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend MRE are in the Indicated category.

MRE will form the foundation for Wallbridges upcoming preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of Fenelon , which is expected to be completed in Q2 2023.

, which is expected to be completed in Q2 2023. Significant expansion potential exists at Fenelon and Martiniere as both gold deposits are open in multiple directions.



Table 1  Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE compared to the 2021 MRE





Mineral Resource Estimation Methodology

The updated MRE for Fenelon is based on 1,350 recent and historic drill holes totaling approximately 537,000 m, variably spaced from 20 to 200 m on the Gabbro, Tabasco/Cayenne, Area 51 and Ripley/Reaper zones. This includes 917 drill holes totaling approximately 460,000 m drilled by Wallbridge since 2016.

The updated MRE for Martiniere is based on 596 recent and historic drill holes totaling over 169,000 m, variably spaced from 20 to 150 m on the Martiniere North, Martiniere West, Martiniere Central, Bug Lake and Horsefly zones. A total of 54 holes drilled to date by Wallbridge since the acquisition of Balmoral have been incorporated into the Martiniere MRE.

For both deposits, the geological, litho-structural, and 3D modelling of the mineralized zones was prepared in Leapfrog Geo and the MREs were prepared in Leapfrog Edge using a sub-block model of 4m x 4m x 4m parent blocks. Gold grades were calculated using the Inverse Distance squared interpolation method using hard boundaries for both deposits.

The mineral resources are categorized as Indicated and Inferred based on drill spacing, as well as geological and grade continuity. For Fenelon, in the Tabasco/Cayenne Zones, a maximum distance to the closest composite of 35 m for Indicated and 70 m for Inferred while 25 m was used for Indicated and 50 m for Inferred in all other zones. For Martiniere, maximum distance to the closest composite was 35 m for Indicated and 70 m for Inferred.

The reasonable prospect for an eventual economical extraction is met by having used reasonable cut-off grades both for a potential open pit and underground extraction scenarios, a minimum width (2 m), and constraining volumes (Deswik optimized shapes and Whittle optimized pit-shells). The reasonable prospect for an eventual economical extraction will be further evaluated in the upcoming PEA which is expected in Q2 2023.

Table 2  Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE (Economic Parameters)





Table 3  Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE (Results for the Fenelon deposit per zones)





Table 4  Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE (Results for the Martiniere deposit per zones)





Notes:

The independent and qualified persons for the current Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE are Carl Pelletier, P.Geo.,Vincent Nadeau-Benoit, P.Geo., Simon Boudreau, P.Eng. and Marc R, Beauvais, P.Eng., of InnovExplo Inc. The Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE follows 2014 CIM Definition Standards and 2019 CIM MRMR Best Practice Guidelines. The effective date of the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE is January 13, 2023. These mineral resources are not mineral reserves as they do not have demonstrated economic viability. The QPs are not aware of any known environmental, permitting, legal, title-related, taxation, sociopolitical or marketing issues, or any other relevant issue, that could materially affect the potential development of mineral resources other than those discussed in the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE. For Fenelon, 112 high-grade zones and seven (7) low-grade envelopes were modelled in 3D to the true thickness of the mineralization. Supported by measurements, a density value of 2.80 g/cm3 was applied to the blocks inside the high-grade zones, and 2.81 g/cm3 was applied to the blocks inside the low-grade envelopes. High-grade capping was done on raw assay data and established on a per-zone basis and ranges between 25 g/t and 100 g/t Au for the high-grade zones (except for the high-grade zones Chipotle and Cayenne 3 a high-grade capping values of 330 g/t Au was applied) and ranges between 4 g/t and 10 g/t Au for the low-grade envelopes. Composites (1.0 m) were calculated within the zones and envelopes using the grade of the adjacent material when assayed or a value of zero when not assayed. A minimum mining width of 2 metres was used for underground stope optimization. For Martiniere, 75 high-grade zones and nine (9) low-grade envelopes were modelled in 3D to the true thickness of the mineralization. Supported by measurements, a density value of 2.83 g/cm3 was applied to the blocks inside the high-grade zones (except for the high-grade zones associated with massive sulfide intersections where a value of 3.00 g/cm3 was applied), and 2.81 g/cm3 was applied to the blocks inside the low-grade envelopes. High-grade capping was done on raw assay data and established on a per-zone basis and ranges between 25 g/t and 100 g/t Au for the high-grade zones and ranges between 1 g/t and 6 g/t Au for the low-grade envelopes. Composites (1.0 m) were calculated within the zones and envelopes using the grade of the adjacent material when assayed or a value of zero when not assayed. A minimum mining width of 2 metres was used for underground stope optimization. The criterion of reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction has been met by having constraining volumes applied to any blocks (potential surface and underground extraction scenario) using Whittle and DSO and by the application of cut-off grades. The cut-off grade for the Fenelon deposit was calculated using a gold price of US$1,600 per ounce; a CA/US exchange rate of 1.30; a refining cost of $5.00/t; a processing cost of $18.15/t; a mining cost of $5.50/t (bedrock) or $2.15/t (overburden) for the surface portion, a mining cost of $65.00/t for the underground portion and a G&A cost of $9.20/t. Values of metallurgical recovery of 95.0% and royalty of 4.0% were applied during the cut-off grade calculation. The cut-off grade for the Martiniere deposit was calculated using a gold price of US$1,600 per ounce; a CA/US exchange rate of 1.30; a refining cost of $5.00/t; a processing cost of $18.15/t; a mining cost of $4.55/t (bedrock) or $2.15/t (overburden) for the surface portion, a mining cost of $118.80/t for the underground portion using the long-hole mining method (LH), a mining cost of $130.70/t for the underground portion using the cut and fill mining method (C & F), a G&A cost of $9.20/t and a transport to process cost of $6.50/t. Values of metallurgical recovery of 96.0% and royalty of 2.0% were applied during the cut-off grade calculation. The cut-off grades should be re-evaluated in light of future prevailing market conditions (metal prices, exchange rate, mining cost, etc.). Results are presented in-situ. Ounce (troy) = metric tons x grade/31.10348. The number of tonnes and ounces was rounded to the nearest thousand. Any discrepancies in the totals are due to rounding effects; rounding followed the recommendations as per NI 43-101.



Table 5  Gold price sensitivity analysis for the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE (Fenelon Deposit)





Table 6  Gold price sensitivity analysis for the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend 2023 MRE (Martiniere Deposit)







The tables above illustrate the sensitivity of each MRE to different gold prices for a potential open-pit and underground operation scenario with reasonable outlook for economic extraction. The reader is cautioned that the figures provided in these tables should not be interpreted as a statement of mineral resources. Quantities and estimated grades for different cut-off grades are presented for the sole purpose of demonstrating the sensitivity of the resource model to the choice of a specific cut-off grade.





Figure 1. Wallbridges Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend land package





Figure 2. Fenelon Gold, Plan View, 2023 MRE vs. 2021 MRE





Figure 3. Fenelon Gold, Longitudinal Section, 2023 MRE vs. 2021 MRE





Figure 4. Martiniere Gold, Plan View, 2023 MRE vs. 2021 MRE





Figure 5. Martiniere Gold, Longitudinal Section, 2023 MRE vs. 2021 MRE

Qualified Persons

The independent qualified persons responsible for the MREs of the Fenelon and Martiniere projects, as defined in NI 43-101, are Mr. Carl Pelletier, P. Geo., Mr. Vincent Nadeau-Benoit, P. Geo., Mr. Simon Boudreau, P.Eng. and Mr. Marc R. Beauvais, P.Eng. of InnovExplo Inc. Mrs. Pelletier, Nadeau-Benoit, Boudreau and Beauvais have read and approved the scientific and technical information relating to the MREs contained in this press release.

The scientific and technical information of the Company and of the Fenelon and Martiniere projects included in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Francois Chabot, Eng, Technical Studies Manager of Wallbridge and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

NI 43-101 Technical Report

A technical report, which is being prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101), will be available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under the Companys issuer profile within 45 days. The effective date of the current MRE is January 13, 2023.

Webcast

Wallbridge will host a webcast on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, at 10:00 am (Eastern Time). Marz Kord, President and Chief Executive Officer; Attila Pentek, Vice-President Exploration; and other members of the leadership team will provide an in-depth review of the MREs and be available to answer questions. Managements presentation for the webcast will be available on the Companys website at www.wallbridgemining.com.

To participate in the webcast please register at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_n3F2-knpRYaZwJXRpt856g

About Wallbridge Mining

Wallbridge is focused on creating value through the exploration of gold projects along the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend while respecting the environment and communities where it operates.

Wallbridges flagship project, Fenelon Gold (Fenelon), is located on the highly prospective Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend Property (Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend Property) in Quebecs Northern Abitibi region. An updated mineral resource estimate completed in January 2023 yielded significantly improved grades and additional ounces at the 100%-owned Fenelon and Martiniere properties, incorporating a combined 3.05 million ounces of Indicated gold resources and 2.35 million ounces of Inferred gold resources. Fenelon and Martiniere are located within an approximate 830 km2 exploration land package controlled by Wallbridge. The Company believes that these two deposits have good potential for economic development, especially given their proximity to existing hydro-electric power and transportation infrastructure. In addition, Wallbridge believes that the extensive land package is extremely prospective for the discovery of additional gold deposits.

Wallbridge also holds a 19.9% interest in the common shares of Archer Exploration Corp. (Archer). Archer holds a portfolio of nickel assets in Ontario and Quebec.

Wallbridge will continue to focus on its core Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend Property while enabling shareholders to participate in the potential economic upside in Archer.

Wallbridge Mining Company Limited

Marz Kord, P. Eng., M. Sc., MBA

President & CEO

Tel: (705) 6829297 ext. 251

Email: mkord@wallbridgemining.com

Victoria Vargas, B.Sc. (Hon.) Economics, MBA

Capital Markets Advisor

Email: vvargas@wallbridgemining.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements or information (collectively, FLI) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. FLI is based on expectations, estimates, projections, and interpretations as at the date of this press release.

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are FLI that involve various risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties. Generally, FLI can be identified by the use of statements that include words such as seeks, believes, anticipates, plans, continues, budget, scheduled, estimates, expects, forecasts, intends, projects, predicts, proposes, potential, targets and variations of such words and phrases, or by statements that certain actions, events or results may, will, could, would, should or might, be taken, occur or be achieved.

FLI herein includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the potential future performance of Archer common shares, future drill results; the Companys ability to convert inferred resources into measured and indicated resources; environmental matters; stakeholder engagement and relationships; parameters and methods used to estimate the mineral resource estimates (each an MRE) at the Fenelon and Martiniere properties (collectively the Deposits); the prospects, if any, of the Deposits; future drilling at the Deposits; and the significance of historic exploration activities and results..

FLI is designed to help you understand managements current views of its near- and longer-term prospects, and it may not be appropriate for other purposes. FLI by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such FLI. Although the FLI contained in this press release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of securities of the Company that actual results will be consistent with such FLI, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such FLI. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such FLI contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. Unless otherwise noted, this press release has been prepared based on information available as of the date of this press release. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the FLI or information contained herein.

Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in FLI.

Assumptions upon which FLI is based, without limitation, include the results of exploration activities, the Companys financial position and general economic conditions, the ability of exploration activities to accurately predict mineralization; the accuracy of geological modelling; the ability of the Company to complete further exploration activities; the legitimacy of title and property interests in the Deposits; the accuracy of key assumptions, parameters or methods used to estimate the MREs; the ability of the Company to obtain required approvals; the evolution of the global economic climate; metal prices; environmental expectations; community and non-governmental actions; any impacts of COVID-19 on the Deposits; and, the Companys ability to secure required funding. Risks and uncertainties about Wallbridges business are more fully discussed in the disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available at www.sedar.com.

Information Concerning Estimates of Mineral Resources

The disclosure in this press release and referred to herein was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 which differs significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC). The terms measured mineral resource, indicated mineral resource and inferred mineral resource used in this press release are in reference to the mining terms defined in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Standards (the CIM Definition Standards), which definitions have been adopted by NI 43-101. Accordingly, information contained in this press release providing descriptions of our mineral deposits in accordance with NI 43-101 may not be comparable to similar information made public by other U.S. companies subject to the United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral resources will ever be converted into reserves. Pursuant to CIM Definition Standards, inferred mineral resources are that part of a mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Such geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade or quality continuity. An inferred mineral resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an indicated mineral resource and must not be converted to a mineral reserve. However, it is reasonably expected that the majority of inferred mineral resources could be upgraded to indicated mineral resources with continued exploration. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, except in rare cases. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource is economically or legally mineable. Disclosure of contained ounces in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute reserves by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures.

Canadian standards, including the CIM Definition Standards and NI 43-101, differ significantly from standards in the SEC Industry Guide 7. Effective February 25, 2019, the SEC adopted new mining disclosure rules under subpart 1300 of Regulation S-K of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the SEC Modernization Rules), with compliance required for the first fiscal year beginning on or after January 1, 2021. The SEC Modernization Rules replace the historical property disclosure requirements included in SEC Industry Guide 7. As a result of the adoption of the SEC Modernization Rules, the SEC now recognizes estimates of measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources and inferred mineral resources. Information regarding mineral resources contained or referenced in this press release may not be comparable to similar information made public by companies that report according to U.S. standards. While the SEC Modernization Rules are purported to be substantially similar to the CIM Definition Standards, readers are cautioned that there are differences between the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Definitions Standards. Accordingly, there is no assurance any mineral resources that the Company may report as measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources and inferred mineral resources under NI 43-101 would be the same had the Company prepared the resource estimates under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f93799af-e414-4ced-957d-37263c02869d

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/274c697a-04f1-4acc-bb08-1e9ae7919034

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SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- California Water Service Group (Group) (NYSE: CWT) announced the commencement of its 10th annual College Scholarship Program cycle today, reaffirming the utilitys commitment to improving lives in its communities. Students residing in areas served by its California, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Washington subsidiaries are encouraged to apply for a portion of the $80,000 available in awards.



Four $10,000 grand-prize scholarships will be awarded, along with additional scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $5,000. Eligible applicants must plan to enroll in a full-time undergraduate study program at an accredited college, university, or vocational-technical school for the 2023-24 academic year. Scholarships will be awarded based on academic achievement, community service, and financial need.

We are pleased to continue our college scholarship program for its 10th year and so proud of our previous recipients who are already making their mark on the world, said Martin A. Kropelnicki, President and Chief Executive Officer. Going to college can be expensive, so we want to help reduce that barrier for students in the communities we serve. I encourage any students who meet the eligibility criteria to apply.

The annual scholarships are part of Groups stockholder-funded philanthropic giving program and do not affect customers rates. The program is administered by Scholarship America, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. To date, Group has provided $600,000 in scholarships to students through the program.

To learn more about the scholarship program or to apply, students may visit learnmore.scholarsapply.org/calwaterscholarships. The application period will close on Thursday, March 30, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. Winners will be announced in the summer.

About California Water Service Group

California Water Service Group (NYSE: CWT) is the largest regulated water utility in the western United States. It provides high-quality, reliable water and/or wastewater services to more than 2 million people in California, Hawaii, New Mexico, Washington, and Texas through its regulated subsidiaries, California Water Service, Hawaii Water Service, New Mexico Water Service, and Washington Water Service, and its utility holding company, Texas Water Service.

What sets Group apart is its commitment to enhancing the quality of life for its customers, communities, employees, and stockholders. Guided daily by their promise to provide quality, service, and value, Groups 1,100+ employees lead the way in protecting the planet, caring for people, and operating with the utmost integrity. Integral to Groups strategy is investing responsibly in water and wastewater infrastructure, sustainability initiatives, and community well-being. The company has been named one of Americas Most Responsible Companies by Newsweek and a Great Place to Work. More information is available at www.calwatergroup.com.

Media Contact

Yvonne Kingman

ykingman@calwater.com

310-257-1434
As per the Business confidence study conducted nationwide by MSME-focused digital lender Neo-Growth Credit Findings, an overwhelming majority of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India expect their profits to increase in 2023. The Indian MSME sector is a nursery of entrepreneurship driven by individual creativity and innovation.

Prime Minister of India recently launched growth accelerator schemes like Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP), Capacity Building of First-Time Exporters (CBFTE) and new features of the Prime Minister Employment Generating Programme (PMEGP), giving impetus to growth.

Following the adoption of the revised definition of MSMEs based on investments in plant and machinery and equipment and turnover, a whopping 10 million online registrations have been received on the Udyam Registration Portal towards Ease of Doing Business.

Recently concluded India International Trade Fair 22 witnessed the encouraging participation of 73% of women entrepreneurs. An all-inclusive MSME Champions Scheme formulated with categories, namely MSME Sustainable, MSME Competitive, and MSME Innovative, is setting aspirations of Indias Small and Medium Businesses to be on a global roadmap.

Handholding MSME entrepreneurs to leverage their expertise and translate the same to a wider audience empowers the business to leverage their true potential, says Rachana Chowdhary, CEO of MVW-MSME Development Centre, the Editor & Publisher at IndiaTechnologyNews.in, an MSME focused Magazine.

In addition to the traditional financing schemes, an increasing community of family offices is looking to extend their support to MSMEs with promising solutions.

Sunrise sector: Electric Vehicles

As per the Fortune Business Insights Report, the Indian Electric Vehicle industry is estimated to grow to $113.9 billion by 2029. With a substantial shift in focus, India is shaping the next big dream of transforming with EVs.

Sunrise sector: Warehouse Business

CBRE reports for 2022 states over 32-34 million sq. ft of new warehouse spaces are expected to become operational. Investors are increasingly interested in warehousing and logistics, with logistics accounting for 20 per cent of the deal volume. Industrial and warehousing space leasing is spread across eight major tier-I and tier-II cities spanning the booming ecommerce market.

Ravi Nandan Sinha, Director of Development and MSME Business Forum India, said, The increasing contribution of the MSME sector towards creating India as a global business hub is genuinely remarkable. With Industry 4.0 knowledge and technology penetration, more MSME owners are fast-forwarding their digital evolution. With an actively increasing membership base, MSME Business Forum India is enabling its members with opportunities to progress and communicate.

Upcoming Opportunity Conclave 2023 in New Delhi will receive dignitaries from different genres to unleash the potential amongst the MSMEs. Interested Investors can join through the online link here.

Dr Sindhu Bhaskar, Investor & New Age Technology Evangelist, Finance and Technology Expert, US, said,

For MSMEs to achieve high growth, the two most significant interventions required are related to credit assistance and technology upgradation. Banks and financial institutions should be more willing to discern genuine exporters and demand less collateral.

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State Sen. Art Haywood held up a blank check as he referenced the promissory note Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of in his famous I Have a Dream speech.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir, Haywood told the crowd Monday at St. James A.M.E. Zion Church in Allentown, as he read from Kings famous address. This note was a promise that all men  yes, Black men as well as white men  would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Haywood, who represents parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery counties, gave the keynote speech at the Allentown NAACP branchs Martin Luther King Jr. Day event, which was attended by about 100 people, including a smattering of local and state officials. This was the first time the annual holiday event has been celebrated in person since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, Haywood continued, eliciting humming agreement from the crowd, which prompted him to remind everyone he was still only reciting Kings speech, and not yet sharing his own thoughts.

This gave rise to knowing laughter as people in the audience realized Kings 1963 message from the March on Washington still holds true for many communities of color today.

Haywood went on to talk about the violence civil rights activists faced and the reality of segregation in America before highlighting the modern-day challenges Black students face in higher education. (The Allentown NAACP said education will be a main focus for the organization in 2023.)

Haywood said African American college students are trapped in a metaphorical box, closed in by four challenges: consistent peer harassment being protected as free speech, the failure of school administrators to enforce anti-discrimination laws, low academic expectations from teaching staff, and the requirement that they be endlessly resilient despite it all.

The state senator went on to acknowledge other societal challenges Black Americans still face, including police brutality and housing discrimination.

I do have to say there are some differences between 1963 and 2023, he said, segueing into a list of the positive changes hes seen.

Education access and graduation rates for Black students have increased, he said, and poverty has been reduced. Statues of Confederate Civil War soldiers are coming down.

There are also more visible Black leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Austin Davis, who is set to be sworn in as Pennsylvanias first Black lieutenant governor Tuesday.

With all this forward movement, Haywood asked, Is that check ready to be cashed?

Unfortunately, no.

Instead of relying on the bank of justice as King said, Haywood believes Americans may have to pool their funds to make good on whats owed Black people in this country.

It will be modern-day freedom fighters, like those in the local NAACP, who bring the country closer to justice, he said.

Branch Vice President Lisa Conover said the Allentown NAACP has accomplished a lot in the last year, including registering voters, working with Whitehall-Coplay and Parkland school districts to implement diverse programming, and urging the police to get involved when a local Black farmer was facing harassment from a white neighbor.

Conover, who also sits on the Allentown School Board, said the organization continues to protect the firing rights of former Superintendent John Stanford, the districts second Black leader, who left the job in October. Stanford served just under a year of his five-year term, and the school board wont say why.

Conover said the NAACP also continues to support a 30-year audit of the Allentown School District, though the school board hasnt publicly discussed the potential for a forensic audit since early December.

After listening to Haywood speak, Allentown NAACP Secretary Barbara Redmond said she agrees theres still much work left to do when it comes to racial equity.

Our kids cant go to school without someone saying something racist. Our kids cant drive cars without the police stopping them for no reason, Redmond said. A lot of things are still the same.

Mahima Camara, a junior at Allen High School and vice president of its Black Student Union, said she hears students using the N-word daily, and Haywoods comments about verbal harassment felt salient to her.

That really stood out to me, what he said about using the N-word, and students not feeling comfortable because they hear that word just coming out anywhere, she said.

Camara also said Haywoods speech made her reflect on her own education and opportunities because of Kings work.

I think its good that were still celebrating because without him, people of color, such as me, wouldnt be able to go to school and graduate, she said. I wouldnt be able to be in high school with teachers who are the opposite color. I wouldnt be able to have friends who arent the same color as me, and I wouldnt have opportunities, too.

Debora Herring-McAllister, 57, of Allentown came to the MLK Day event because she was off from work and likes to attend church events, she said.

She agrees with Haywood that police brutality and unfairness in education are some of the major challenges Black Americans still face.

When it comes to Kings impact, Herring-McAllister said the reason we remember the civil rights icon annually is simple: He spoke truth, and he tried to help bring people together.

Morning Call reporter Jenny Roberts can be reached at 484-903-1732 and jroberts@mcall.com.
Debt exchange rumour caused cedi depreciation  BoG

Emmanuel Bonney & Yaa Kuffuor Senya Business News Jan - 17 - 2023 , 10:37

The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, has said that the rumour about the domestic debt exchange programme triggered the sharp depreciation of the Ghana cedi against the US dollar last year.

Im sure you recollect that in October, there were rumours about the debt exchange; so this is what triggered a large depreciation of the cedi. Individuals who were holding bond instruments tried to rediscount their instruments. They got the cedis and they immediately invested in holding US dollars.

So that pressure on the market drove the exchange rate to 15/16 (cedis for a dollar), and as soon as there were signals that we were going to conclude on the staff level agreement with the IMF, people started getting out of their dollar holdings, and really thats when the currency also appreciated during that period, he said.

Response

Mr Addison said that in response to a question at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament sitting in Accra yesterday.

This was when the BoG appeared at the PAC for the consideration of the Report of the Auditor General on the Consolidated Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the central bank for the year ended December 31, 2020.

It was also to consider the Report of the Auditor General on the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the BOG for the half year ended June 30, 2020.

Cedis

Mr Addison told the committee, Chaired by the Deputy Minority Leader and Member of Parliament for Ketu North, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, that the cedi was now between 11 and 12 cedis to a dollar.

On why the cedi was depreciating again, he said the market was a flexible one and would reflect movements on a day-to-day basis.

If there is additional demand for cedis, the currency would reflect it. The central bank cannot fix the exchange rate; it depends on what transactions have taken place that week, and maybe there have been payments to contractors, and typically that type of payments can move the exchange rate because some of them immediately convert that into foreign exchange, he said.

He said the exchange rate reflected a lot of day-to-day pressures on the economy.

Mr Addison said the BoG did not have enough foreign exchange reserves, and that currently, there was around 1.5 months of import cover, but the government had announced a debt standstill which meant that the outflows - money that was being used to service foreign debt - would not go out any more.

That, he said, gave the country a lot of room and took pressure off the foreign exchange market.

He expressed the hope that because of the debt standstill, I can say that we should expect the currency to remain relatively stable.

GIFMIS

Earlier, the Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei Asare, asked by the Chairman of the Committee about what the ministry was doing to ensure that all ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) used the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), she said the government was looking at upgrading the system.

That, she said, was to ensure that every expenditure that was made by MDAs or a metropolitan, municipal or district assembly (MMDA) was done on the system.

It hasnt been easy with some MMDAs and MDAs, but it is our quest that very soon almost all the MMDAs and MDAs will use the GIFMIS for all transactions, including internally generated fund transactions, she emphasised.
Domestic Debt Exchange Programme: Banks suffer GH65bn losses

Boahene Asamoah Business News Jan - 17 - 2023 , 13:47

Banks exposure to the ongoing debt restructuring exercise is estimated to be well over GHs 65 billion even though government says it has made available a GH15 billion fund to ensure financial sector stability.

Banks Expected Credit Losses (ECL) on existing bonds and Treasury bills alone will hit GH15 billion on account of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), analysis of the banks books have revealed.

In addition, the total banking losses before tax is also expected to reach GHS14.5billion; liquidity gap, which is the difference between the banks assets as against its liabilities is expected to be in excess of GHS20 billion.

All the 23 banks also face additional capital requirement of about Gh16 billion. Capital requirements are standardised regulations in place for banks and other depository institutions that determine how much liquid capital (that is, easily sold securities) must be held as against a certain level of their assets.

ECLs are an expected present value measure of losses that arise if a borrower defaults on its obligation throughout the life of the loan.

Data available to Graphic Business also indicate that if the current accounting treatment as recommended by the Institute of Chartered Bankers were to apply to the books of banks in the country, 17 Banks will have capital adequacy ratio of less than 10 per cent.

Per Bank of Ghana rule book all banks must have a minimum of 10 per cent adequacy ratio.

Nine other banks will have negative Net Own Funds (NOF). This means the sum of paid-up equity capital, free reserves and securities premium account reduced by accumulated losses and book value of intangible assets will be in the red.

Analysts believe the above factors may impair the financial position of domestic institutions to such a degree that financial stability will be threatened and put pressure on banks to recapitalise.

Following from this, industry experts have revealed that the banks were also pushing back on the DDEP programme.

IMF Bailout under threat

Government is racing against time to conclude a US$3 billion facility that is hoped to stabilise the economy which is currently choked with debts, with total debt currently at GH467 billion as of December 2022.

Analysts have warned that if the deadline for all creditors to sign up the governments DDE programme was not met, it would have dire consequences on the economy. Individual bond holders have rejected governments overtures to be roped onto the DDE programme and have threatened legal action which could put the whole programme into jeopardy.

Already, the currency speculators are beginning to gain a head-start with regard to the countrys cedi. It has shown signs of picking up the pace again with regard to depreciation. At the turn of the year, the cedi was trading at GH7.9 to US$1. However, as of yesterday, it had reached over GH9 to the US$1 tumbling almost 20 per cent since December.

The banking sector is the most dominant investor in Government of Ghana (GoG) debts instruments, a phenomenon induced by both regulatory and market economics.

In 2017, only GH10 billion worth of GoG issued debt securities was held by the banks.

As of 2021, banks held over GH55 billion in GoG debt securities, representing almost 30 per cent of total banking industry assets.

Of this amount, about 80 per cent were in bonds. Data available indicate that interest income largely dominated by interest payment on government securities is the primary source of revenue for banks in the country.

Financial Stability Fund

Following the staff level agreement with the IMF in a record time, the government announced a road map on how it intended to negotiate with its lenders on the need to postpone interest payments on its bonds.

Government recognising the impact of its DEP on the financial sector, then moved to establish a GH15 billion Financial Stability Fund meant to cater for justifiable liquidity needs of banks that might be affected by the programme.

However, the banks, according to sources, are apprehensive about the fund as there was no clarity on the mechanics of the fund. Banks were also not clear about the cost in accessing.

Data available to the Graphic Business indicate that as of September 2022, of the GH160 billion total domestic bond issued by the Government of Ghana, banks were the largest holders with 32 per cent, firms and institutions held 25 per cent, others including retail, 14 per cent, foreign investors-11 per cent, Bank of Ghana-10 per cent, Pensions- 5.6 per cent, Rural Banks- 1.4 per cent and Insurance Companies having 0.9 per cent.

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT)- 0.4 per cent; Treasury Bills-16.4 per cent; medium tenor bonds two-five years-49.5 per cent and long tenor bonds (six years and above represented 34.2 per cent).
Maiden Western oil, gas awards recognises many entities

Moses Dotsey Aklorbotu Business News Jan - 17 - 2023 , 14:22

The Vice-Chancellor of the Takoradi Technical University, Rev. Professor John Frank Eshun, has noted that the oil and gas industry has the capacity to spearhead the nations development.

He said governments should, therefore, continue to invest in ways that would make the industry ensure equitable distribution of wealth.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Victor Bondzie Micah, at the maiden Western Regional Oil and Gas Excellence Awards in Takoradi, the Vice-Chancellor of the TTU said when oil production started about 13 years ago, many Ghanaians were skeptical as to whether the oil found would be a blessing or a curse to the country.

This was because little or no effort was made at ensuring that Ghanaians had the requisite knowledge and skills to contribute to the growth and development of the oil and gas industry and the result has been that most of the related upstream and downstream activities have been left in the hands of expatriates, he said.

Rev. Professor Eshun, therefore, commended the Petroleum Commission, as well as the National Petroleum Authority for taking the necessary steps to train Ghanaian youth to play a pivotal role in the exploration and management of the resource.

Two weeks ago, Ghana Gas reported of how it had been making $3 million savings a month for replacing Chinese workers with Ghanaian experts who had completed their training to assume those roles.

Prof. Eshun urged the government and other key stakeholders to continue to take lessons from best practices of oil producing countries.

The awards, which was on the theme: Ghana: Towards Oil-led Economic Development, was to acknowledge the role of sector players to socio-economic development.

It was organised by Top Brass Ghana under the auspices of the Western Regional Coordinating Council.

Aside from Rev. Prof. Eshun, who chaired the occasion, other dignitaries included the Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, as well as the President of the Gwira Traditional Council and Vice-President of the Western Region House of Chiefs, Awulae Angama Tu-Agyan II.

The Director of Top Brass, Isaac Dakwa, said the Western Regional Oil and Gas Excellence Awards scheme had been instituted with the objective of acknowledging the vital contribution of the oil and gas sector to the economic development of the Western Region and the entire country.

He said the awards was also instituted to honour deserving oil and gas industry players.

Mr Dakwa said the awards would be an annual event scheduled for every December 15, to coincide with the date oil was first discovered at Cape Three Points in the Western Region.

Commendation

The regional minister commended Top Brass Ghana for implementing the Western Regional Oil and Gas Excellence Awards Scheme, which he said, would serve as a platform for creating synergies and encouraging industry players to attain greater heights.

Mr Darko-Mensah bemoaned the situation where local players sought partnership arrangements outside the country and urged them to seek partners internally for mutual benefit and also for the promotion of the growth of the economy.

Awards

Special Gold Awards were conferred on the Ghana National Gas Company (Processing and Sale of Gas); the National Petroleum Authority (Petroleum Downstream Oversight); the Petroleum Commission (Petroleum Upstream Oversight) and the Port of Takoradi (GPHA, Port Operation).

Tullow Ghana Limited (Operator Production) and the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (Overall Petroleum Upstream Exploration and Production Oversight) were the distinguished recipients of the topmost Platinum Award.

Industry leaders who were honoured with the Gold Award were Amaja Oilfield Limited (Marine Construction and Production Services); Bollore Transport and Logistics Company Limited (Logistics/Freight Forwarding); Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (Petroleum Logistics) and the GNPC Foundation (Corporate Social Responsibility).Goil Plc (Oil Marketing); Mac Logistics Limited (Shipping Trucking); Medea Development Limited (Oil and Gas Exploration); Monpe Heavy Haulage Company Limited (Special Transport); OTS Ghana Limited (Lifting Engineering); Star Assurance Company Limited (Insurance Services) and Zeal Environmental Technologies Limited (Environmental Solutions), received silver awards.

Gibson Safety Consult Limited (Quality, Environmental Health and Safety Consultancy); Glico General Insurance Company Limited (Insurance Services); Petrosol Ghana Limited (Oil Marketing); Safety World Engineering Limited (Marine Engineering, Offshore/Onshore) and Sagoe Interventions Limited (Fabrication Engineering) also received silver awards.
Maltese investors to explore business opportunities in Ghana

Elizabeth Nyaadu Adu Business News Jan - 17 - 2023 , 15:58

25 major Maltese companies are expected in Ghana this week to explore business opportunities.

They will dig deep into the incentives and infrastructure available to support their investment.

The delegation will also engage with officials in their respective sectors and get introduced to the potential local partners in the country.

The Chairperson for TradeMalta, Elizabeth Barbaro Sant, who disclosed this in her speech at the 3rd Malta-Ghana Business Forum today (January 17) in Accra said as a nation that is boldly upholding its aspirations of economic development and political stability, Ghana has been central to Maltas roadmap for Africa.

She said it was clear that there were countless opportunities for collaboration and growth between both countries.

With our shared goals and complementary strengths, we are confident that our nations can form a powerful partnership that will drive socio-economic growth for both of us.

Together, we can fuel Ghanas economic transformation and open new doors for Maltese businesses to invest in Ghanas thriving ecosystem, she said.
Minority calls for suspension of debt exchange programme

Justice Agbenorsi Business News Jan - 17 - 2023 , 13:27

The Minority in Parliament has called on the government to suspend the domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP) immediately and embark on a thorough dialogue with stakeholders.

That will enable the state to achieve the best workable measures for a smooth operation of the debt exchange programme, the caucus said.

Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said the debt exchange programme in its current form would create extreme hardships for millions of Ghanaians and financial institutions.

The inclusion of individual bondholders in the DDEP is the biggest transfer of funds from the pockets of Ghanaians to the government and will leave affected persons, mainly the middle-class, impoverished while worsening the plight of the poor, and this must immediately be stopped, the Minority Leaders stated.

Present at the news conference were the ranking Member on Parliaments Finance Committee, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson; the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi; the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu North, James Klutse Avedzi and MP for South Dayi, Rockson-Nelson Etse Kwami Dafeamekpor, among others.

DDEP

The government is seeking $3 billion in financial support from the IMF in a bid to stabilise the economy.

As part of the deal which has come about as a result of unsustainable high debt levels, the government must show how it intends to reduce its debt burden to sustainable levels within three years.

Meanwhile, as a precondition for the IMF management and board to approve the staff-level agreement with the country, the government must secure the approval of its creditors.

As part of that arrangement, the government has proposed that all bondholders will not receive any interest on their bonds for the 2023 financial year.

Since its announcement in December 2022, several experts and bodies have kicked against the Programme.

Financial sector

Touching on the potential impact of the programme on the entire financial and banking sector, Mr Iddrisu said restructuring domestic debts would undermine the health of the banking system, since capital adequacy would become a challenge.

He explained that with over GH60 billion locked up in government bonds, the non-receipt of any interest this year and paltry sums in subsequent years, would prove the undoing of some banks.

Not paying them any interest in 2023 would effectively sound the death knell to these banks with its attendant consequences on depositors and employees who would have to be laid off, Mr Iddrisu added.

Pensions

He said the programme would also affect the value of tier two and tier three pension funds. Pension as pay-outs were likely to drop further from their already low levels.

We are at a loss as to why individual pension contributors have not been offered the same exemptions that tier one and two contributors have been given and this anomaly must immediately be rectified, Mr Iddrisu stated.

On the effects of individual bondholders, the Minority Leader noted that the inclusion of individual bondholders in the Domestic Debt Exchange, contrary to initial assurances from both the President and the minister, would wipe out the countys middle-class and impose harsh suffering on them, their families and dependents.

The government is simply imposing an almost 80 per cent tax in present value terms on the savings of Ghanaians and our bank balances without any consultations with affected individuals, the Minority Leader lamented.

It is obvious that the government is transferring the responsibility to address the debt burden it has created through reckless borrowing and populist fiscal policies to only innocent Ghanaians and the financial sector, the Minority Leaders added.

Difficulties

Mr Iddrisu said the countrys economic difficulties could have been avoided if the government had heeded wise counsel from the opposition and civil society on prudent management of finances and the economy.

We demand further demonstration of responsibility from government through more substantial cuts in non-essential expenditure and a reduction in the humongous size of government, he stated.

He also announced the caucus intention to embark on a nationwide road show to foster deeper understanding of the matter and rally Ghanaians to demand a more favourable resolution of the unprecedented economic crisis the economic management team had plunged the country into.

Deadline extended

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance has extended the deadline for voluntary uptake of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) from yesterday to January 31, this year.

The extension, according to the ministry, was to help deepen stakeholder engagement on the proposed policy.
Sovereign bondholders call for negotiations

Maclean Kwofi & Dickson Worlanyo Dotse Business News Jan - 17 - 2023 , 11:00

Retirees who hold sovereign bonds have called on the government to use the extension period for the domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP) to conduct in-depth negotiations with local bondholders.

At a press conference in Accra yesterday by the group, the Pensioners Bondholders Forum (PBF), the retirees said thorough negotiations would help forge solutions in ways that could insulate investments of individual bondholders, especially pensioners from the proposed DDEP.

We all want the programme to succeed and so we want the government to negotiate with us so that we can find solutions, the Convener of the forum, Dr Adu Anane Antwi, said.

Programme extension

The call came after the Ministry of Finance (MoF) announced through its social media handles that the government had extended the expiration of the domestic debt exchange programme (DDEP) to January 31, 2023.

It said the extension was to help deepen stakeholder engagement on the proposed policy.

Building consensus is key to a successful economic recovery for Ghana. Pending further stakeholder engagement with institutional and individual investors, recently invited to join the debt exchange programme, the government is extending the expiration of the DDE to Jan. 31, 2023, it added.

Approach

Dr Antwi said the government should use the same approach it used to negotiate with foreign creditors for the local bondholders, especially that of retirees.

I have heard that foreign creditors have got a committee that negotiates with the government and so why cant local bondholders have the same.

If you owe someone and cannot pay, why dont you tell them and find a solution together because we all want the programme to succeed, Dr Antwi added.

According to him, the governments initial approach to the programme was flawed because it alienated the most vulnerable bondholders who are pensioners.

The convenor further said that the retirees, numbering about 400, each of whom held government bonds, were united against the inclusion of their investments in the DDEP.

He said capturing their investments in the debt swap programme would have a negative impact on their livelihoods and that of their families.

According to him, they invested with the expectation that the coupons (interest payments) would supplement the pensions they received through the tier-one pension scheme under the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

Petition

Dr Antwi further said that the group intended to picket at the Ministry of Finance on Monday, January 23, 2023, against the inclusion of their investments in the programme.

In line with that, he said, a letter had already been sent to the Ghana Police Service to seek permission to demonstrate outside the premises of the ministry.

Dr Antwi, however, expressed hope that members would engage the sector minister before close of day yesterday, the initial deadline for individual bondholders to assent to the governments invitation to the debt swap.

He said if the government heeded their calls and exempted pensioners from the programme, the demonstration would be called off.

The convenor added that the PBF had also petitioned other stakeholders and institutions such as Parliament, the Council of State, the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the Chief Imam, the Ghana Catholic Bishops' Conference, the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council and the National Peace Council to intervene.
Parliament, countervailing force for effective governance

Daily Graphic Opinion Jan - 17 - 2023 , 14:43

Parliaments have been globally identified as the fulcrum around which functional democracies and effective governance revolve. As the Arm of Government that performs the triangular functions of making laws, overseeing the executive branch, and representing the people, parliaments are designed with the goal of providing the counterbalance needed to offset executive dominance.

Ghanas Parliament was not established to be any different. As the most representative of the three branches of government, and the one closest to the people, many have questioned if it has lived to that expectation.

Under the Fourth Republican dispensation, and cruising on the wings of the countrys most enduring Constitution (1992), eight Parliaments have been assembled since January 1993. Opinion is divided on which of these eight have been the best performing.

The current Eighth Parliament, which is by far the most intriguing of them all, has the two dominant political parties in the country holding equal number of seats in the 275-member Chamber, with the only extra seat held by an independent Member of Parliament (MP) who caucuses with the ruling New Patriotic Partys (NPP) side of the aisle, thereby making it a narrow majority group.

Conversely and in an unprecedented manner, the Speaker of the current Parliament, who is the Head of this co-equal Legislative Arm of Government, is a member of the other dominant political party  the National Democratic Congress (NDC)  that makes up the minority group in the House.

Framers of the 1992 Constitution designed the kind of parliamentary system the country operates, having considered many historical episodes since our post-colonial era. For example, the quest to avoid the reoccurrence of a situation under the 1969 Constitution where the ruling Progress Party (PP) was constrained by the constitutional provision requiring that all ministers be selected from Parliament, resulting in a ministerial team that could not be described as inclusive and had negative political consequences for the PP.

These unintended consequences partly influenced the decision not to have all ministers appointed from Parliament. Also, the difficult relationship between President Hilla Limann and the Parliament of the Third Republic under the 1979 Constitution, which led to a vote to reject President Limanns initial Budget submission, informed the current constitutional arrangement to appoint the majority of ministers from among MPs.

These have produced a uniquely Ghanaian hybrid system of Government, with elements of both presidential and parliamentary systems. Both the President and Parliamentarians are popularly elected to four-year terms of office which run concurrently, with the functions of each branch of government clearly spelt out in the Constitution.

Functions of Parliament

Article 93 of the 1992 Constitution vests the legislative power of Ghana in Parliament, thereby enabling it to participate in the formulation of national policies. It also gave it huge oversight responsibilities, including the power to authorise the spending of government; approve or disapprove public expenditure, grants, loans and the national budget.

Parliament also has the power to authorise the imposition of taxes, in that government is unable to collect any money from the citizenry without parliamentary endorsement. The recent brouhaha around the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) law is a classic example of this function of Parliament.

Additionally, Article 103 provides for the formation of standing committees and other committees which shall, among others, investigate and inquire into the activities and administration of ministries and departments as Parliament may determine; and such investigations and inquiries extend to proposals for legislation. To make these powers and functions meaningful, the committees are given certain procedural powers akin to the High Court.

The Constitution also equips Parliament with political power that it may use to back its oversight responsibilities. These include the power to remove the President or Vice-President from office, and to pass vote of censure on ministers.

Parliamentarians as representatives of the people have various tools at their disposal to bring the concerns of their constituents to the attention of duty-bearers. These include presenting Statements on the floor of Parliament, debating issues of public concern and subjecting Ministers to Parliamentary Questions.

In the face of these huge oversight responsibilities, the Constitution adorned Parliament with lots of power to carry them out. For example, Parliament has the power to determine its own procedure and agenda, subject only to the Constitution. Neither the President nor the Courts may interfere with the internal affairs of Parliament, as the Legislature enjoys a wide scope of immunity, including from court processes in line with freedom of speech and of proceedings.

Challenges and Prospects

The question remains whether Parliament has meaningfully reaffirmed its role as the guardian of the nations democracy and contributed to effective governance. A Colloquium recently organised by the Ghana School of Law Class of 2002 to mark their 20th Anniversary after being called to the Bar, explored the challenges, prospects and recommendations towards getting Parliament to assert itself as a countervailing force for effective governance.

The main speakers at that event were three members of the Class: the Minority Leader in Parliament and MP for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu ; Deputy Attorney-General and Deputy Minister for Justice, Alfred Tuah-Yeboah;and a private legal practitioner,Victoria Barth

The Chairman of the National Media Commission and a member of the Class, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, moderated the Colloquium.

The Colloquiums proceedings largely informed this article. The Majority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, law academics, civil society organisations and governance practitioners also shared their respective views at the Colloquium.

Constitutional limitations

Although the 1992 Constitution provided wide powers to Parliament, it is considered to have also limited the institution in many ways. For instance, whereas legislative power is vested in Parliament, Article 108 imposes some restrictions in the area of tax legislation and laws that have financial implications on the Consolidated Fund.



This article was written by Ghana School of Law Class of 2002
Resolving Ghanas debt timely, orderly

Henry Adjei Boadi Opinion Jan - 17 - 2023 , 12:10

Certainly, a tidy, vigorous and balanced development of Ghanas economy is not only the state and her citizens responsibility. It is undoubtedly of a prime concern for the United Nations and all of its component departments, agencies, programmes and funds. It is often literally said that a debtor eats. However, there cannot be an enjoyment of human rights and a guarantee for fundamental freedoms for any country consistently plagued with debts.

The risk of significant disruption of economic activity and employment, because of inability to service public debt, is obvious. It was on this tangent that as then Chair of the G20, Japan made debt sustainability a priority issue on agenda.

Ghana, unsurprisingly, has applied officially for debt forgiveness. The country graciously received $6 billion debt cancellation in the 2000s. My expectation is that the creditor community will appreciate the seriousness of Ghanas current predicament just as it was recognised by the official benevolent community in: 1987 when the Paris Club decided to apply for the first time more concessional rescheduling on so-called Venice terms. Furthermore, the 1989 generosity of the Toronto terms, granting highly indebted countries 33 per cent debt reduction, cannot be glossed over. The London terms in 1991 granted 50 per cent debt reduction, the Naples terms in 1994 gave 67 per cent debt reduction and recently the Lyons terms in 1998 giving of 80 per cent debt reduction are so fresh in our minds. Concessions of rescheduling terms has been increasing severally. Ghanas request is firmly grounded on several fronts in economic, social, political, legalities, and morality. All, notwithstanding competitiveness, recent scarcity and high cost of global funds.



Debt forgiveness

The last article concluded on the argument of symbiotic contributory failures lenders and borrowers in continuing loaning to (near) defaulting nations, which makes the former complicit in seeking recovery instead of closely scrutinising the possible consequences.

Ghanas external debt has become so engulfing to wane her ability to service same. Its even precarious, looking at the cyclic nature of the debts and therefore nothing short of occasional debt forgiveness, (debt relief, debt alleviation, debt remission, or an outright cancellation of debt is arguably the choicest way).

It is in the best economic interest for the bilateral, multilateral partners and developed world in general for Ghana to be a viable business and economic partner. On the parity of diminishing marginal utility of money, debt forgiveness would have positive re-distributive effect of global resources and do more good to developing nations like Ghana and the global economy than it would to the wealth of the richer nations.

Socially, the poor is constrained of basic conditions of survival, let alone prosperity. Being free from debt will unleash the utmost potential of the teeming human capital towards development course. Enforcement of debt obligations risk the poor to starve, die of preventable diseases, or continue to lack basic education. Contrary, investors and the banks merely experience reduction in profits.



Political, legal urgings

There is an urgent need for world powers to partner Ghana in maintaining political legitimacy. Poverty and deprivation are not just critical sources of tensions and strife, but do greatly undermine stability and order.

Legally, unsustainable debt poses high risk to international prosperity, peace and law, all of which offers great challenge to the world order. General principles of human dignity and self-determination is focal in the instance case.

Conclusion

A caution to borrowers, as it is commonly and arguably appropriated somewhere that the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is a slave of the lender, should be a wakeup call for Ghana to wean herself off the intractable quagmire of debts.
The Mirror's Health , Lifestyle and Fashion

Use moisturisers, drink more water to cope with harmattan  Dr Brifo

Gloria Apprey Lifestyle Jan - 17 - 2023 , 14:12

A resident medical doctor at the Rabito Clinic and Skin Care Hospital in Accra, Dr Kofi Ansah Brifo, has recommended the use of moisturisers, drinking lots of water and use of lip balms as a way of protecting the skin from the harmattan.

He explained that moisturising helps introduce minerals and vitamins to the skin to keep it healthy, help repair itself at a healthy rate, and prevent itchiness.

Dr Brifo was speaking in Accra to The Mirror on how to maintain a healthy skin during the harmattan.

He said a dehydrated or dry skin could cause cracks on the skins surface, making it susceptible to infections since microorganisms could easily enter the skin through the cracks.

 The elasticity and defence mechanisms of the skin also becomes limited. Facially, the dust and dryness can clog pores, the results; acne, black spots and whiteheads due to the production of sebum, he added.

Dr Brifo described the skin as the largest organ of the body that offers three layers (epidermis, demis and subcutaneous) of protection from microbes, harsh environment, U.V radiation and infections, among others.

He said the skin could tell how healthy or ill a person is through changes in colour, texture and outlook.

Dr Brifo explained that it was imperative to give the skin utmost care to prevent harmful factors from affecting our internal organs.

Different skin types, he said, reacted to the harmattan differently.

Dr Kofi Ansah Brifo

 Whereas dry skin becomes drier, and more prone to cracks , oily and combination skin can escape by a slight margin. Harmattan also causes what is called pruritus, thus itching associated with dry skin and cheilitis, thus cracked or chapped lips, he said.

The doctor said the skin glands began to lose its power and fighting ability with age as such, the elderly might suffer during this dry and dusty weather.

He advised that if a child suffered chronic atopic dermatitis or eczema, a skin condition characterised by dry, itchy and sometimes inflamed skin that had no cure, their condition might worsen.

The dust associated with harmattan also exacerbates the conditions of asthmatic patients and persons on certain medications such as acnotac, a medication that causes skin and lips dryness. This season can also be a problem for diabetic patients. Due to the low blood sugar associated with diabetes, a diabetic loses significant sensation on the skin. This means, they may not be able to immediately detect even the minutest of infection or injury when attacked by certain microbes, especially during this season, he said, adding that when not treated or poorly treated, that could develop into a severe case of infection such as cellulitis.

He described cellulitis as a common bacterial skin infection that affected the deepest layer of the skin (subcutaneous) causing redness, swelling, and pain in the infected area of the skin. If untreated, it could spread and cause serious health problems.

Dr Brifo said the use of moisturisers containing at least Sun Block Factor 30 (spf30), a mineral that protects the skin from sun damage were essential during this period.

He recommended local products like authentic shea butter as a very good option saying that a trick to improve moisture was to apply lotions and moisturisers immediately after taking a shower while still wet.
Eight Allentown students were slated to attend Josh Shapiros inauguration as Pennsylvania governor Tuesday in Harrisburg.

Two students were selected each from Allen High School, Dieruff High School, Building 21 and Executive Education Charter School to attend the event at the state Capitol, along with designated school chaperones, according to a news release from city spokesperson Genesis Ortega. They were guests of Mayor Matt Tuerk.

Not only did Governor-elect Shapiro want to make sure Allentown was represented, but he wanted to include those who normally wouldnt have the opportunity to attend an event like a governors inauguration, Tuerk said. Its a historic moment whenever we see a transition of power in government, and I wanted our citys youth to witness and live it.

Councilwomen Cynthia Mota and Natalie Santos as well as Council of Youth Chair Zaleeae Sierra were also slated to attend, according to the release.

Morning Call reporter Molly Bilinski can be reached at mbilinski@mcall.com.
3 Win 2022 Kuenyehia Prize for Contemporary Art

Justice Agbenorsi Jan - 17 - 2023 , 13:49

Three contemporary artistes, including an indigenous self-taught textile artiste, have emerged winners of the 2022 Kuenyehia Prize for Contemporary Art.

Daouda Traore, Odinakachi Okoroafor and Dela Anyah are the winner, first runner-up and second runner-up respectively of the coveted prize set up in 2014.

They were among a pool of 178 artistes across West Africa who submitted their works to a five-person independent jury that analysed the entries based on the trajectory of the artistes work and their artistic statement.

Traore, who was awarded a prize of $5,000 and a plaque, is contemporary artiste from Mali who prides his artworks by giving life to neglected materials such as worn sheets, boxes of preserves, sacks of millet, wire and wool.

His work captures and reflects his daily life experiences, the experience of his society and the world at large, the major challenges facing the world, the multiple crises surrounding immigration and conflicts and the current situation of Malian education.

Okoroafor, on the other hand, is a mixed media artiste from Nigeria whose work is an exploration of detailed and delicate lines, inspired by barcodes and lace patterns.

He uses imagery from his childhood and community and as a point of departure, his paintings examine a Black figure through the lenses of daily life and social and political struggle.

Anyah is a self-taught textile artiste from Ghana who uses the transformation of discarded tyres and tyre tubes to represent classic artworks.

His work focuses on sculpture and installation, drilling, riveting, stitching and repurposing discarded tyres and tyre tubes as an act of sustainability.

Investment

The Founder of Kuenyehia Trust for Contemporary Art, Professor Elikem Nutifafa Kuenyehia, called on the public to invest more in art by purchasing artworks for their homes, offices and gifts for their loved ones.

He said the African art ecosystem had a tremendous potential to bring more value to people who invested in it, hence instead of purchasing clothes and hampers as gifts, the public should rather buy artworks as their value increased with time.

Art is an asset, and we need to invest more in it by buying artworks for our offices, homes and even as gifts for our friends and family instead of clothes, he said.

That, he justified, was the surest way to support artists on the continent whose work received little recognition on the continent despite their infinite potential.

Prof. Kuenyehia said the narrative about artworks on the continent was improving as demand for art globally began to increase; hence, the need for people to invest in the craft of artistes on the continent.

Commendation

The Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia IV, commended the Trust for its efforts in encouraging artistes to put out their best, adding: Africans like you are doing all kinds of things to uplift the continent and make Ghana distinct.

The Head of Office and Representative of UNESCO to Ghana, Abdourahamane Diallo, pledged UNESCOs support to sustain the prize.

About prize

The Kuenyehia Prize for Contemporary Art is the flagship programme of the Kuenyehia Trust for Contemporary Art set up by Professor Kuenyehia in 2014 to, among others, promote and advance contemporary African art.

Inspired by the worlds most famous art prize, UKs Turner Prize, Kuenyehia Prize for Contemporary Art aims to encourage talented West African artistes to pursue their dreams and to support them to build sustainable careers in art.

The Trust provides its artistes with multiple platforms to showcase and promote their work.

These include opportunities to participate in exhibitions, talks and publications.

The prizes previous winners and shortlisted artistes had opportunities to showcase their works at leading art fairs such as FNB Johannesburg Art Fair and at events in the United States (US) and Spain.

The prominence that the Trust gives to artists provides them with an accelerated career boost, direct financial gain and opportunity, both locally and internationally.

The prize has also built collaborations with renowned cultural institutions, including ANO Gallery, British Council Accra, Alliance Francaise and the Dei Centre for Contemporary African Art.
Abandoned project reawarded

Samuel Kyei-Boateng Jan - 17 - 2023 , 14:10

A three-storey office accommodation for staff of the Birim Central Municipal Assembly started by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration over 20 years ago, which has been abandoned by successive governments, has been reactivated and awarded on contract by the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

Through the efforts of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akyem Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, the Common Fund Administration has awarded the project on contract to a Kumasi-based construction firm, Setalexidan Company Limited at a cost of GH4,430,299.65.

The contract, which should be completed in seven months, involves the reconstruction and reroofing of the entire building, tiling and furnishing of the offices.

Ceremony

At a ceremony to hand over the project to the contractor at Oda last Friday, Mr Acquah advised the contractor not only to complete the building on schedule, but should also do quality work for the facility to last long.

He appealed to the contractor to recruit some of the youth in the area to reduce the unemployment problem in the municipality.

He was grateful to the NPP government, in particular, and the Common Fund Administration, in general, for investing heavily to complete the facility that had been neglected for years.

He called for closer cooperation between MPs and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives nationwide to speed up the progress of the country.

The MP urged public servants to bury their political affiliations and contribute their quota towards the national reconstruction programme, spearheaded by the governing NPP government.

He stated that feasibility studies had been completed for the Common Fund Administration to reconstruct the Oda Central Market that was destroyed by a fire disaster last year.

Assurance

Mr Acquah gave an assurance that the Oda town roads, whose rehabilitation had come to a standstill, would soon be repackaged and re-awarded to a new contractor for tarring to bring relief to the residents.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Birim Central, Victoria Adu, commended the MP for lobbying for many development projects to be undertaken in the municipality since he became the legislator for a short period of two years.

She said the completion of the three-storey building would help solve office accommodation facing some of the decentralised departments in the municipality.

The Managing Director of the construction firm, Jackson Agya Manu, gave an assurance that he would complete the facility on schedule and also execute it to the satisfaction of all.

Among the dignitaries at the function, chaired by Nana Akyea Mensah III, a divisional Chief of Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area, was the Oda Congo Chief, Alhaji Sulemana Ademu.
Central Region in retrospect: Year of hope, celebrations, wins and floods

Shirley Asiedu-Addo Jan - 17 - 2023 , 13:36

Of the many things that the year 2022 was to the people of the Central Region, the year brought a renewed energy for the people to push the regions development forward.

This was after the Ghana Living Standards survey of 2016/2017 estimates in 2021 put the Central Region as the fourth richest of the 16 regions.

This was a sharp move for the region from surveys that put the region at the fourth poorest in 2006.

The region, according to the surveys estimates in 2021, is also the most productive region per capita and the third in terms of per capita income levels for people engaged in farming, fishing, fish processing, public work and trading.

Choicest host

The Central Regional capital, Cape Coast, became the seat of almost all national celebrations this year.

Its Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) took almost all the celebrations in the country this year.

On the back of successfully hosting the 2021 Farmers Day, the region had the opportunity to host two major national programmes, the 65th independence anniversary celebrations in March and the National Festival of Arts and Culture (NAFAC) in December to the admiration of all.

Health

In the area of health, the Enterprise Group PLC refurbished the Sangmuah Male Ward and the courtyard of the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital at Ankaful.

The project undertaken at the cost of GHS2,026, 986.00 included the renovation of the four-block facility with five wards, a conference room, a pantry, a dining area, a treatment room, two nurse stations and other ancillary facilities.

The Mankessim murder case

The region had its share of gruesome crimes, distasteful for its residents.

Three persons including the Tufuhen of Ekumfi Akwakrom, Christopher Clark Quansah, Michael Darko, a self-styled pastor and Jonathan Obeng, a mason, were arrested for the roles in the horrifying murder of Georgina Aso Botchwey, a prospective student nurse.

Initial police investigations indicated that Ms Botchwey had come to Cape Coast from Yeji for admission into the Ankaful Nurses Training College but was lured and abducted by Darko who is also a fiance of her sister to Akwakrom near Mankessim.

She was later taken to an uncompleted building belonging to Quansah also known as Nana Clark, killed and buried.

June floods

The region was also one of the hardest hit when the floods came with the rains in June.

The floods claimed the life of a Prison Officer at Ankaful who was swept off by floodwaters while hundreds of people were displaced and properties and infrastructure running into millions of cedis destroyed.

The region in the year under review recorded 1,037 accidents according to the Regional office of the National Road Safety Commission involving 1,628 vehicles.

Politics

In the area of politics, the Progressive Peoples Party held its 10th anniversary in Elmina in October 2022.

The University of Cape Coast also played host to the Women and Youth delegates congress of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) later in the year while both the ruling New Patriotic Party 9NPP) and the NDC held congresses for branch, constituency and regional executives.

Mr Robert Kutin was re-elected Regional Chairman of the NPP while Dr Richard Asiedu was elected chairman of the NDC.

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, inaugurated a 22- kilometre Cape Coast Inner city road project.

The project included the Akotokyir, Kwaprow, Amamoma, Academy area and English Arabia roads.

Others are the PPAG area, Ebubonko-Amissano-Besakrom-Dankwakrom, Eyifua and Kakumdo roads.

President tour

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in September undertook a two-day tour of the Central Region.

In the Awutu-Senya East constituency, President Akufo-Addo inspected the Kasoa Court Complex before proceeding to Awutu-Senya West constituency, where he paid a courtesy call on the Paramount Chief of Awutu in Breku, inspected work on the Kasoa-Bawjiase road and inaugurated the 1D1F Gas Cylinder Factory in Chochoe and a Lubricant Factory in the Gomoa East District at Fetteh.

He also inspected an Agenda 111 Project in Gomoa Afransi in the Gomoa Central Constituency and met with chiefs in Mfantseman.

President Akufo-Addo also called on the chiefs of Komenda and inspected the Komenda Sugar Factory giving the assurance that it would be inaugurated before the end of 2022 but it is yet to be inaugurated.

He also paid a courtesy call on the Chief of Elmina and inspected the construction of the Fishing Harbour, all in the Komenda Edina Eguafo Abirem Constituency.

In Cape Coast, President Akufo-Addo inspected the Infectious Disease Centre at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, inaugurated the office complex of the Central Regional House of Chiefs, and attended the Oguaa Fetu Afahye to climax the tour of the region.

Peace and security

Earlier in April, Prof. Samuel Duncan of the Centre of Awareness (COA) unveiled a campaign as part of a five-year strategic action plan towards global peace which was attended by hundreds of people from across the country at COA's Fourth Public Lecture in

He used the occasion to launch a fund towards funding activities that would engender peace.

Business

In October 2022, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation also commenced the decommissioning of the Saltpond oil field, one of the oldest in the country.

The GNPC said the rationale behind the exercise was on safety grounds coupled with the fact that the oil field had seen a decline in production levels, producing not more than 200 barrels per day compared to its earlier production of 4,800 barrels a day.

Festivals

In 2022, festivals in the region all bounced back hard after being on COVID19 induced break.

The Bakatue of Elmina, Fetu of Cape Coast, Aboakyir of Winneba, the Ahobaakese of Abeadze Dominase, the Okyir of Anomabo and the Odambea of the people of Saltpond were all celebrated in grand style.

Education

The University of Cape Coast maintained its position as the best university in Ghana, first in West Africa and 4th in Africa in the 2023 Times Higher Education annual rankings.

The announcement added more impetus to the universitys 60th-anniversary celebration which was graced by the President.

At the University of Education Winneba, Police used tear gas to disperse demonstrating students over discrepancies in examination results.
Gender Ministry presents electronic devices to welfare officers

Juliet Akyaa Safo & Diana Mensah Jan - 17 - 2023 , 11:25

Some selected district social welfare officers across the country have been presented with Samsung tablets to facilitate their work.

The 61 tablets, which cost about GH175,000, will also enable them to effectively implement the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme aimed at reducing poverty in the country.

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), with support from the World Food Programmes (WFP), made the presentation in Accra.

The Minister of the MoGCSP, Lariba Zuweira Abudu, said the tablets had come in handy since the LEAP programme had undergone some technological reforms.

She said key among the reforms were the digitisation of the reporting systems and decentralisation of the programmes management information systems (MIS) and sub-national implementation structures.

Through the digitisation, the ministry is assured of real-time electronic reporting and feedback on the implementation of field activities of the programme.

The field activities include cash out of grants by beneficiary households and other activities at the community and district levels, the minister added.

Significance

According to Ms Abudu, since the start of the e-reporting system in 2019, the ministry had received reports from some officers that their electronic devices were not in good shape.

As a result, they had to resort to the use of their mobile phones to access the e-reporting applications, thus affecting their output.

The minister said her outfit procured the tablets for distribution to the officers after receiving support from the WFP.

She, therefore, urged the officers to use the devices for its intended purpose to enhance programme delivery.

The minister also expressed appreciation to the WFP for its support, and said the tablets would go a long way to improve the work of staff, while pledging to deepen collaboration with the programme.

The Deputy Director of the LEAP Management Secretariat, Myles Ongoh, said the secretariat was working to improve the livelihood of the vulnerable while ensuring that their workers also had the necessary logistics.

Rationale

The Country Director and Representative of the WFP, Barbara Clemens, said the devices were meant to support the collection of accurate data on the field.

Evidence creation is key for us and these tablets are to support the ministry to make sure that the right persons received the right benefit at the right time, she said.

Ms Clemens said her outfit would continue to liaise with the ministry to identify gaps in the LEAP programme and help fix them.

She commended the ministry for the initiative to support the vulnerable while pledging WFP support for the former to deliver on its mandate.

Appreciation

The social welfare officer for the Krowor Municipal Assembly, Evelyn Nanbigne, on behalf of his colleagues, expressed appreciation for the support.

She said the devices would not only facilitate their work, but would also make them gather accurate data.
Lands Commission to demolish properties on encroached state lands at Amrahia, Mpehuasem, Borteyman...

Daily Graphic Jan - 17 - 2023 , 13:13

The Lands Commission has served notice that starting from today, it will undertake a demolition exercise to reclaim state lands that have been encroached upon.

This is as a result of the urgent need for a more extensive exercise to recover and protect all encroached portions of the state lands, including demolition of unauthorised structures, following a reconnaissance inspection of sites by a joint team of Lands Administrators and police officers.

The affected areas include Borteyman, Amrahia and Mpehuasem.

A statement from the commission, signed by its Executive Secretary, James E. K. Dadson, said under section 236 of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036), it had engaged a private agent with the assistance of the Ghana Police Service to recover and protect such sites.

Affected lands

The commission identified the lands to be reclaimed as approximately 1,381.995 acres at Kweiman-Amrahia, which was a site for Modern Dairy Farm under Instrument, 1970 (E.I.47).

Also, under Instrument 2009 (E. I. 16) an approximate area of 111.25 acres at Accra-Mpehuasem, a site for the Accra Training College as well as the site for Livestock farm located at Nungua, Accra, covering an approximate area of 2,570.05 acres and acquired with Certificate of Title 214/40) through Instrument, 1940.

Persistent encroachment

Mr Dadson said the commission had in recent times received a number of reports of encroachments on state lands within the said areas by unknown armed men.

He indicated that the illegality started during the festive season in December, 2022 and continues to occur.

He stressed that the said parcels under threat were part of government acquisitions with compensations paid and would, therefore, use every legal means to protect them.

Also, the commission reminded the general public that all state-acquired and vested lands in the country were administered by the government through the Lands Commission.

However, government acting on a goodwill, released parts of the acquired lands to the pre-acquisition owners and it was thus worrying that the rest of the state lands were being encroached upon by armed men.

Following a reconnaissance inspection of the affected sites, the joint team of Lands Administrators and Police Officers agreed on the urgency of a more extensive exercise to recover and protect all the encroached portions.

It is against this backdrop that the team, therefore, would be undertaking the demolishing exercise to recover and protect these state encroached lands, the statement emphasised.
Man in court for selling broken tiles as phones

Elizabeth Konadu-Boakye Jan - 17 - 2023 , 10:08

A self-professed phone trader, Mustapha Hamidu, has appeared before an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly selling packed broken tiles as phones.

He has been charged with two counts of attempting to commit crime and defrauding by false pretence.

Hamidu, who is also known as Abulley, appeared before the court presided over by Kwabena Kodua Obiri-Yeboah yesterday (January 16).

His plea was however not taken by the court and is set to reappear on January 18 this year for his plea to be taken.

Facts

The facts of the case as read in court by the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Samuel Ahiabor, were that Abulley who lives at Odorkor, had consistently swindled unsuspecting victims by introducing them to observe original phones he displays for sale.

After agreeing to specific prices through bargains, the defendant ends up changing the actual phones to phone cases packaged with pieces of broken tiles.

The prosecutor said, victims who bought the phones got home and, in their attempt to use the newly acquired phones, came to the realisation that they had been made to exchange their money for decorated phone covers stacked with pieces of broken tiles.

"Police on December 22, 2022, met accused at a place along a section of the Achimota overpass close to the old station with an original Tecno Camon 19 cellular phone in a phone cover, and two similar phone covers all packaged with broken tiles in his usual business, attempting to lure some victims to express interest in his business," he said.

Chief Inspector Ahiabor said by introducing customers to his business, the accused would in the end make them to part with cash ranging from GHc500.00 to GHc1,000.00 in exchange for his packaged broken tiles.

He added that a search on him revealed the fraudulent packages which caused his instant arrest to assist police investigations.

"Accused was therefore arraigned before this Honourable Court while efforts are underway to apprehend his accomplice, currently at large," Chief Inspector Ahiabor said.
New Year School opens today [LIVE VIDEO]

Emelia Ennin Abbey Jan - 17 - 2023 , 10:46

The 2023 Annual New Year School and Conference (ANYSC) begins today at the University of Ghana, Legon.

The Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, will perform the opening ceremony which is on the theme: Positioning the African market for sustainable economic development through African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

This years event, the 74th, is aimed at exploring how to strengthen trade, industry and commerce, leveraging the AfCFTA agreement.

The conference has since its inception in 1948, been the flagship programme of the university and attracts people from all walks of life who deliberate on topical issues of national and international interests.

The conference will also focus on promoting and facilitating the preparedness and consolidation of AfCFTA gains by key stakeholders such as industry, the private sector, academia and the government through the organisation of the first Africa Regional Annual New Year School and Youth Conference.

It will attract participation from some African universities, the private sector and industries from Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, Ethiopia, Egypt and ECOWAS member countries.

Speakers

Aside from the Vice-President, other dignitaries expected to speak at the conference include the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta; the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway; the Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful; the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, and the Chairman of the McDan Group of Companies, Daniel McKorley.

The Secretary-General of AfCFTA, Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, will deliver the keynote address at the conference which will be chaired by the Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Mary Chinery-Hesse, with the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, as the host.

The four-day conference is under the auspices of the School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education of the university, in collaboration with the National AfCFTA Coordination Office.

The others are the Ministries of Finance, Education, Communications and Digitisation, Trade and Industry, and Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

Youth conference

Other activities being organised at the conference is a youth school for students which is scheduled for Thursday, January 19, 2023, at the ISSER conference centre at the university.

It is expected to attract keen participation of youth delegations from various African countries.

The Director of the 74th conference, Dr Simon-Peter Kafui Aheto, expressed the hope that it would help contribute to the continents quest of advancing trade and industry to build a robust African economy that would contribute to the sustainable growth of member countries.

He said the conference also had plans to establish a Digital Village complex on the Legon campus that would serve as a hub of youth training and development in the country and the continent at large.

AfCFTA

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), headquartered in Accra, Ghana, is a flagship programme of the African Union under its Agenda 2063.

It aims at accelerating intra-African trade and also boosting Africas trading position on the global market by strengthening Africas common voice and policy space in global trade negotiations.

One of the special highlights of the conference will include an African continental hybrid trade show and exhibition, with special focus on a youth technology platform.

Each year, the conference releases a communique at the end of the event which helps to shape policies and also provoke further discussions of the themes.
Northern Regional Minister calls for peaceful coexistence

Mohammed Fugu Jan - 17 - 2023 , 13:25

The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Shani Alhassan Shaibu, has called for peaceful coexistence among the people to facilitate the accelerated development of the area.

He, therefore, entreated the people to eschew tendencies that promote ethnic, chieftaincy, religious and political disturbances and rather come together to fight poverty, ignorance and disease which, the minister said, were their common enemies.

According to Alhaji Shaibu, We need each other to prosecute the development agenda of our society and not divisions and conflicts.

The minister made the call at the Silver Jubilee celebration of the 1998-year group of Ghana Senior High School (OGA 98) in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital.

Commendation Alhaji Shaibu commended the staff and management of GHANASCO for producing industrious citizens, including a former President of Ghana, John Mahama.

Ghanasco has written its name in golden letters ofsecondary education in the country by producing some of the finest professionals in every sphere of life, he added.

The minister also lauded the leadership of the group for their organisational prowess that enable them to pull through the event successfully.

He further urged all year groups to close their ranks and work towards the development of their alma mata by giving back to the school that had shaped their lives.

For his part, a former Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, also called on past students to embrace peace and work assiduously to improve upon their livelihood and that of the society.

According to him, politics should be seen as a tool for development and not used to destroy societies, adding Lets see each other as brothers and sisters and work towards the upliftment of each other and our societies.

A former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Dr Ahmed Alhassan Yakubu, also cautioned against the negative use of social media, saying if not checked, it could threaten the security of the country.

The negative use of social media on formal media platforms that is patronised by many people threatens the values that anchor our shared heritage as a people, he said.

Dr Yakubu also recounted his days in Ghanasco and how the experience in the school had helped to shape his life and career and advised colleagues to strengthen the bond and not allow politics to destroy their association.

Support

The President of the group, Mohammed Baba Iddi, stressed the need for members to support the school in the face of inadequate state funding.

The role of alumni in the development of an institution cannot be overemphasised. Nowadays, major developments in schools are anchored by alumni, given the paucity of funding from the government. Ours is no different, he added.

Some deserving members were honoured with citations for their contributions towards the development of the school.

They included the Head of Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, Dr Seidu Alidu Mahama; the Director of Administration (GIFFEC), Alhaji Issahaku Faisal Gbanjili, and the Dean of Allied Health Sciences, UDS, Tamale, Prof. Amadu Nafiu.

Others included the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna,a former Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Yakubu Ahmed Alhassan; Joseph Dindiok Kpemka, and a former Member of Parliament for Damongo, Alhaji Adam Mutawakillu, all alumni of the school.
Okada rider, immigration officer shot at Aflao border

Alberto Mario Noretti Jan - 17 - 2023 , 13:44

An argument between a Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) officer and a motorcycle rider (Okada) at the Aflao Beat 9 Border Post over the nationality of his pillion rider turned nasty and led to the shooting of the rider and another immigration officer.

The rider and immigration officer were both hit in the leg by bullets from the gun of a soldier who turned up at the scene to quell the chaos.

The two injured persons were rushed to the Aflao Municipal Hospital after the incident at about 9am on Sunday (January 15, 2023).

The immigration officer has since been treated and discharged while the rider was transferred to the Ho Teaching Hospital.

Tension

The incident has led to a mounting tension between residents and the security agencies in the border town.

The Ketu South Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Maxwell Lugudor told Graphic Online's Alberto Mario Noretti that an enquiry had begun into the matter.

He did not disclose the names of the immigration officer and the rider off-hand, when he spoke to Graphic Online today.

The MCE, who chairs the Municipal Security Council, said when the immigration officer spotted the motorcycle rider at the border spot that morning, he signaled the rider to stop for the pillion rider to be profiled.

The immigration officer was said to have insisted that the pillion rider was a foreigner and not a Ghanaian.

The rider maintained that he was carrying his brother on the bike and prevented the officer from subjecting him to scrutiny to establish his nationality, Mr Lugudor added.

Exchanges

He said that let to bitter exchanges and physical confrontations between the immigration officer and the rider.

Sensing danger, the officer called the solder to the scene for reinforcement.

Still, the rider would not allow the immigration officer to profile the pillion rider.

The MCE said things then took a turn for the worse with a fierce physical struggle between the rider and the soldier, during which the soldier fired his duty weapon.

In the process, the bullet(s) hit the rider and the immigration officer.

As of Tuesday afternoon, some residents who spoke to Graphic Online identified the okada rider as Kwaku Tengey, 35.
2022 Health Sector in review

Doreen Andoh Health Jan - 17 - 2023 , 12:44

This is the concluding part of the year in retrospect. The first part was published on Monday, January 16, 2023.

In 2022, the health sector saw a number of interventions and initiatives, both from the public and private sector, towards building a healthy population, one of the pillars of sustainable socio-economic development.

On April 27, during the year under review, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) reported that the countrys COVID-19 cases had continued to see a decline, with active cases dropping from 10,906, in December 29, 2021, to 40 as of April 26.

The GHS said the active cases were in four regions, namely, Greater Accra, Ashanti, Upper East and Bono, with majority in the Greater Accra Region.

According to the GHS, the development was an indication that the national response founded on preventive protocols and vaccination was yielding the desired result.

During the year under review, the National COVID-19 Trust Fund, on July 22, revealed that it had, since its inception on March 27, 2020, accrued cash of GH62,329,941.98 as of June that year.

The fund was set up by an Act of Parliament (Act 1013) to help mobilise funds to be used in complementing the governments efforts at addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Record book

Also featuring prominently in July during the year under review was the United States support to the GHS to print 139,000 copies of the countrys current and only Maternal and Child Health Record Book.

It offered support through the Advancing Nutrition Ghana Project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the USA Government's flagship interventions, to help the country in the effort to address malnutrition.

The GHS developed the combined Maternal and Child Health Record Book (MCH RB) with technical and financial support from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to improve maternal health care to abate maternal and neonatal mortality.

Marburg Virus Disease

On July 19, 2022, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared its intention to mobilise more resources for the Marburg Virus Disease response in the country.

That was after the specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health had, through its facility, the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal, confirmed two suspected cases of the Marburg virus disease in the country.

First to be recorded in the country

However, on September 16, 2022, the World Health Organisation, the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service declared the country free of the Marburg Virus Disease after six weeks of recording the first outbreak in the country.

The WHO attributed the success to the rigorous community surveillance mechanisms instituted by the country under the leadership of the Ghana Health Service, as well as intensified public education.

Non-communicable diseases

On September 1, data available to the Ministry of Health indicated that approximately 35 per cent of the adult population of the country were hypertensive, the disease described as a silent killer if not controlled, with many more affected people unaware of their condition or undiagnosed.

Hypertension has been identified as the leading cause of premature preventable deaths locally, among other implications, as uncontrolled and undiagnosed hypertension is driving huge numbers of preventable deaths and disabilities from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) locally and globally.

In an effort to fight NCDs in the country, the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS) on October 5, 2022, secured a 10-million funding to help boost the fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in West Africa.

The project will be executed mainly through high-level applied research.

The funding was awarded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the UK governments major funder of clinical, public health, social care and translational research work in low and middle-income countries.

Mental health

Within the same month of October, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mental Health Authority (MHA), Dr Akwasi Osei, observed that 10 years after the passage of the Mental Health Act 2012, Act 846, mental healthcare delivery in the country was nowhere near satisfactory.

He, however, said the situation was far better than the years preceding the promulgation of the law.

Speaking with the Daily Graphic in Accra, Dr Osei called on the government, which is the major stakeholder, to prioritise mental health.

The interview was informed by the ongoing advocacy for mental health issues in the Global Mental Health Week.

Dr Osei posited that regardless of the socio-economic impact of mental health on the general well-being of the population, it was not receiving the needed priority in terms of financing, infrastructure, human resource and logistics.
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin, the longest-serving chief prosecutor in county history, is ready to call it a career.

Martin, who this month will mark his 25th year in office, said Tuesday that he wont seek reelection in November, wrapping up a tenure marked by some extraordinary benchmarks  a 97.5% success rate in criminal homicide prosecutions  and the rollout of innovative programs in criminal investigation and prevention.

It just seemed like the right time to do it, Martin, 77, said in a phone interview from his Allentown office. People have been asking me if Im going to run for reelection and Ive been putting that off. I think in fairness to people who are interested in running for the position, it was time.

The Lehigh County commissioners appointed Martin in 1998 to succeed Robert Steinberg, who became a Lehigh County judge. Martin, a Republican, was elected to a full term in 1999 and reelected five times, most recently in 2019.

As the countys chief law enforcement officer, he oversees a staff of about 125 people and a budget of more than $13 million.

Martin said he is proud of the offices record under his leadership, especially the homicide prosecutions  289 convictions in 296 cases. He credited the offices many assistant district attorneys and administrative employees for contributing to its success. He singled out Merrily Starkey  his personal secretary of 28 years and head of administrative staff for 15 years  for particular praise.

Being district attorney is a little bit like being a baseball manager, he said. You get a lot of credit and youre not on the field playing the game.

Martin also praised Lehigh Countys police chiefs and officers, and thanked residents for reelecting him so many times.

Above all, he thanked his wife of more than 33 years, Patricia, for her tireless support and love.

Allentown police Chief Charles Roca called Martin a stable force of justice throughout his career.

I want to wish DA Martin the best in his next chapter in life and thank him for his guidance over the years, he said.

In this file photo, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin stands with his wife of more than 33 years, Patricia, and the Rev. Bernard F. OConnor, former president of DeSales University. In announcing his decision not to seek reelection, Martin thanked his wife for her love and support through his long career.

Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hanna  a former Allentown police chief who worked for Martin as a county detective for a time  said he considers the district attorney a mentor as well as a friend.

Myself and Im sure many people in law enforcement have a heavy heart with his decision not to run, he said. The professionalism, the advancements you see in Lehigh County law enforcement today, are in many ways thanks to him. His tenure has been marked with just one advancement after another.

Martins initiatives include the seating of the countys first investigating grand jury in 2001 and the creation of the Homicide Task Force in 2005.

In 2012, he launched the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Center, an information clearinghouse that integrates crime data from all county departments and has expanded to include Northampton County. The center has been instrumental in tracking gang activity and human trafficking.

In 2018, Martin helped establish the Blue Guardian Program, in which people who have been revived from narcotics overdoses through the use of naloxone receive a visit at their home within 72 hours by a police officer and recovery specialist. During the first two years of the program, more than 60 people entered treatment through the program.

The office also runs Team MISA (Mental Illness/Substance Abuse), which helps people struggling with those issues find help and avoid court. The Veterans Mentoring Program, meanwhile, pairs veterans in the community with veterans who are charged with nonviolent crimes.

All of these programs are based on intervention and prevention  strategies intended to keep people from turning to crime in the first place.

We cant really arrest our way out of the opioid problem, for example, Martin said. People benefit from treatment more than incarceration.

Over the years, hes handled memorable cases. He recalled his frustration as he tried to build a case against nurse Charles Cullen, a serial killer who murdered dozens of patients and perhaps many more during a 16-year career  including patients at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest and St. Lukes Hospital in Fountain Hill.

We started investigating and unfortunately we didnt have any autopsies or toxicology results and we couldnt prove anything, he said. It stays with me.

Martin hasnt been immune to criticism or controversy. In 2014, an attorney accused Martin of racial profiling after the arrest of former Allentown police Chief Joel Fitzgeralds son, Christopher Fitzgerald, who was accused of pointing a gun at two county detectives.

Attorney Jack McMahon contended the detectives were tailing Fitzgerald because he is Black, an allegation Martin angrily denounced at a news conference. Fitzgerald was acquitted at trial.

Last year, in the run-up to the May primary, the ACLU and some county officials accused Martin of voter intimidation for having detectives monitor the countys five ballot drop boxes, where voters deposit filled-out mail-in ballots. Martin announced the plan after an investigation in 2021 showed hundreds of people had dropped off multiple ballots, which is illegal except under certain circumstances.

Martin graduated from Allentown Central Catholic High School and received a bachelors degree from Mount St. Marys University in Maryland. He received his law degree from Temple University School of Law.

When he steps down on the first Monday of January next year, he will be just shy of his 26th anniversary in the office  a long tenure in a high-pressure job.

When people say You have a high-stress job, I say its nothing compared to private practice, he said. Ive enjoyed being DA. It was something I knew I liked doing when I was exposed to it the first time as an assistant DA and then first assistant.

Martin will be missed, said Hanna, a 44-year law enforcement veteran who still consults the district attorney for advice now and again.

Hes the quintessential public servant to put in that much time, he said. The public has more than gotten what they paid for in Jim Martin.

Morning Call reporter Daniel Patrick Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6598 or dsheehan@mcall.com.
Chiana SHS girls case: NDC Upper East wing calls for reformation, not punishment

Dickson Worlanyo Dotse Politics Jan - 17 - 2023 , 13:05

Members of the Upper East NDC wing who reside in the Greater Accra Region have called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to put in place measures that would focus on reforming the eight Chiana Senior High School (SHS) girls rather than punishing them.

They stressed that in spite of how condemnable the acts of the girls were, as juveniles, the Constitution required that they be protected.

When it comes to children and juveniles, the emphasis is on reformation rather than punishment.

See the Children's Act, 1998 (Act 560) and Juvenile Justice Act, 2003 (Act 653) that is why the saying goes you don't throw away the baby with the bathwater, a statement signed by the coordinator of the group, George Akaribo, said.

Commendation

The wing, therefore, lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for directing the Ghana Education Service (GES) to consider other punitive measures as opposed to outright dismissal of the eight Chiana SHS girls.

It said even though the act was completely condemnable, outright dismissal was harsh and could have long-lasting psychological effects on them and their parents.

It also said the right to education was a fundamental human right of every citizen which could only be denied or taken away on the grounds of exceptional circumstances which border on crime.

We wish to commend the President of the Republic for exhibiting the highest sense of leadership in the matter of the eight students of the Chiana SHS,the statement said.

Call

It called on the GES to heed to the intervention directives and suggestion of the President to initiate an alternative punishment rather than dismissal.

We want to use this occasion to call on the GES, the child rights international and all other stakeholders within the educational ecosystem to, as a matter of priority, provide free counselling services to these affected students, it added.

Condemning the act

The group condemned the act of the girls saying it was gross misconduct and disrespect on the part of children to insult adults or the elderly in the society which the culture of the country frowned upon.

It is even more grievous and reprehensible to insult the President of Ghana, who is the first gentleman of the land. We are not in any way condoning the conduct or act of the eight students, we condemned it in uncertain terms,

However, the statement noted that the act of the students could be described as a reflection of the broken system in the country.

It said the girls could have easily be mimicking what they saw the elderly do on television during discussions.

Why should politicians sit on national radio and television and insult their political opponents? These kids could have taken mentorship lessons from those politicians who have made it a ritual of insulting their political opponents, it explained.

Background

Last week, the GES dismissed eight second-year students of the Chiana SHS in the Kassena Nankana West District in the Upper East Region for insulting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a video.

The affected students, in a widely circulated video, misconducted themselves and used vulgar and unprintable words which were directed at President Akufo-Addo in November 2022.

Subsequently, the students were identified and suspended and their parents were also invited to assist in investigations to unravel the circumstances surrounding the unfortunate utterances and gestures of the students.
Consider Ghana first when venturing into business in Africa - Akufo-Addo to Emirates

Graphic.com.gh Politics Jan - 17 - 2023 , 20:05

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has urged investors especially those in the United Arab Emirates to make Ghana their first port of call when venturing into Africa for business.

He said Ghana remained the best place to do business in West Africa because since 2017, the government had put instituted measures needed to reduce the cost of doing business, and improve the business environment.

President Akufo-Addo made the call when he addressed the UAE-Ghana Business Forum held on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.

He said these measures made the Ghanaian economy not only one of the most business-friendly economies in Africa, but also one of the fastest growing economies in the world between 2017 and 2020, averaging 7 per cent GDP annual rate of growth, up from the 3.4 per cent rate it inherited in 2016.

He added that government had been working to restore Ghana onto the path of high growth rates experienced prior to the onset of COVID-19 and the Russian/Ukraine war.

President Akufo-Addo noted that Ghanas decision to seek the collaboration of the IMF to repair, in the short run, its public finances and give credibility to its balance of payments, which had taken a severe hit in very recent times as a result of these developments.

Confidence

I am confident that we will emerge from this with a stronger and more resilient economy, and advance towards our goal of reaching a Ghana Beyond Aid.

Not only is Ghana the best place for doing business in West Africa, but she is also the preferred destination for a perfect blend of mineral resource potential, stable regulatory environment, favourable fiscal regime, and socially responsive mining in Africa, he added.

President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that gold remained one of the pillars of the economy and continue to hold its own as both a commodity and a financial asset, was by far, the most commercially exploited mineral in Ghana, accounting for more than 90 per cent of the countrys mineral revenue.

Indeed, in recent times until 2021, Ghana was the largest producer of gold in Africa and was 6th in the world. We are also major producers of bauxite and manganese, and are, indeed, the 3rd largest producer of these two minerals in Africa, he said.

He said more recently, Ghana has been placed globally on the map of some few countries that have made significant discoveries of lithium, just as she has found also graphite and iron ore in significant quantities. Ghana is also working towards the net zero emission target, and collaborating with other relevant stakeholders in employing climate-friendly technologies and practices, to achieve the maximum developmental impact for the country.

He explained that what his government is seeking to do is not just to exploit these minerals in their raw form to enhance our export earnings, but, more importantly, generate value added benefits, along the full value chain of the minerals, and create linkages with other sectors of the economy.

The potentials created offer considerable opportunities for UAE investors, who possess the capacity to generate the value-added benefits, especially through the Governments local value-addition and processing drive, to partner Ghanaian companies in converting their natural comparative advantage into an enhanced, more valuable, sustainable and competitive advantage, President Akufo-Addo added.

Assurance

He assured that the standards for responsible environmental and social stewardship, maintained by Ghanas minerals and mining sector, is comparable to any found in the best of mining jurisdictions, stressing that the Minerals and Mining Act of 2006 (Act 703), supported by the Regulations passed in 2012, along with a few amendments and introductions that have been made, have stood the test of time.

He maintained that despite the present challenges it was an exciting time to be in Ghana and do business in the country.

So, I would urge the private sector in the UAE to take advantage of the business-friendly climate in the country to invest in Ghana. Regardless of where you choose to invest in Ghana, Government has instituted a number of fiscal incentives for the investor, depending on the nature of the activity or the location of the investment, President Akufo-Addo added.

With Ghana considered a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, with a modern democratic system of governance, with an independent Judiciary and a strong attachment to the rule of law the President stated that in the same vein, we are determined to make Ghana an example of rapid economic growth within the context of a well-developed market economy. We welcome greatly your contribution to this endeavour.




Sweden-based international mining and minerals group LKAB has identified significant deposits of rare earth elements in the Kiruna area in the far north of Swedish Lapland (some 200 km north of the Arctic Circle). Following successful exploration, the company is reporting mineral resources of rare earth metals in the Per Geijer deposit exceeding one million tonnes of rare earth oxidesthe largest known deposit of its kind in Europe.

This is good news, not only for LKAB, the region and the Swedish people, but also for Europe and the climate. This is the largest known deposit of rare earth elements in our part of the world, and it could become a significant building block for producing the critical raw materials that are absolutely crucial to enable the green transition. We face a supply problem. Without mines, there can be no electric vehicles. Jan Mostrom, President and Group CEO, LKAB





LKAB already operates the worlds largest underground iron ore mine at Kiruna; since mining operations began there more than 100 years ago, LKAB has produced more than 950 Mt of ore. (LKAB was founded in 1890.)

Results from LKABs ongoing exploration in Kiruna and Gallivare were presented last spring. The deposit Per Geijer is in close proximity to existing operations in Kiruna. More extensive studies show an increase from 400 million tonnes of mineral resources with high iron content to more than 500 million tonnes, and that the Per Geijer deposit contains up to seven times the grade of phosphorus as the orebodies that LKAB mines in Kiruna today. Phosphorus is one of three nutrients in mineral fertilizers necessary for food production and is on the EUs list of critical minerals.

LKAB now reports a Mineral Resource and further extensive studies in Per Geijer of assets amounting to more than one million tonnes of rare earth metals in the form of Rare Earth Oxides, which are used to produce Rare Earth Elements (REE). This would be sufficient to meet a large part of the EUs future demand for manufacturing the permanent magnets that are needed for electric motors in, among other things, electric vehicles and windpower turbines.





The results are presented in accordance with the reporting standard PERC 2021, which is the prevailing international standard for LKAB.

The rare earth elements in Per Geijer occur together with phosphorus in the mineral apatite, in what is mainly an iron ore deposit and which may therefore be produced as by-products. It also creates completely different opportunities for possible competitive mining.

No rare earth elements are currently mined in Europe, at the same time, demand is expected to increase dramatically as a result of electrification, which will lead to a global undersupplythis at a time of increasing geopolitical tensions.

According to the European Commissions assessment, the demand for rare earth elements for electric cars and wind turbines, among others, is expected to increase more than fivefold by 2030. Europe is dependent on imports of these minerals, where China completely dominates the market, a factor which increases the vulnerability of European industry.

Electrification, the EUs self-sufficiency and independence from Russia and China will begin in the mine. We need to strengthen industrial value chains in Europe and create real opportunities for the electrification of our societies. Politics must give the industry the conditions to switch to green and fossil-free production. Here, the Swedish mining industry have a lot to offer. The need for minerals to carry out the transition is great. Swedens Minister for Energy, Business and Industry, Ebba Busch

At the same time, the road to possible mining of the deposit is long, where the first step is an application for an exploitation concession for the Per Geijer deposit in order to be able to investigate it further at depth and investigate the conditions for mining. The plan is to be able to submit an application for an exploitation concession in 2023.

LKAB has already started to prepare a drift, several kilometers long, at a depth of approximately 700 meters in the existing Kiruna mine towards the new deposit in order to be able to investigate it at depth and in detail.

We are already investing heavily to move forward, and we expect that it will take several years to investigate the deposit and the conditions for profitably and sustainably mining it. We are humbled by the challenges surrounding land use and impacts that exist to develop this into a mine and that will need to be analyzed to see how to avoid, minimize and compensate for it. Only then can we proceed with an environmental review application and apply for a permit. If we look at how other permit processes have worked within our industry, it will be at least 10-15 years before we can actually begin mining and deliver raw materials to the market. And then we are talking about Kiruna, where LKAB has been mining ore for more than 130 years. Here, the European Commissions focus on this issue, to secure access to critical materials, and the Critical Raw Materials Act the Commission is now working on, is decisive. We must change the permit processes to ensure increased mining of this type of raw material in Europe. Access is today a crucial risk factor for both the competitiveness of European industry and the climate transition. Jan Mostrom

LKAB is already planning a circular industrial park in Lulea with new technology for the extraction and processing of phosphorus, rare earth elements and fluorine based on todays existing mining production. There, instead of landfilling the material, it can be used to create new, sustainable products. A production start is planned for 2027. Leif Bostrom, Senior Vice President, Business Area Special Products, LKAB

Background. Phosphorus is one of three three essential nutrients added to mineral fertilizers used in agriculture. Approximately half of all world agricultural production is dependent on this. Europe is 90% dependent on imports of phosphorus and Russia has accounted for a significant share of phosphorus production.

Since Russias invasion of Ukraine, the supply and prices of mineral fertilizer have become a major problem, which may result in high food prices globally and food shortages in poor countries. Phosphorus is included on the EUs list of critical raw materials. All of these raw materials are vital for Europes industry and economy, Europe is import-dependent on them and there is a great risk for disruptions in supply related, for example, to geopolitical risk factors.

Rare earth elements are also included on the list of critical raw materials, none of which are mined in Europe. China dominates both mining and processing, while Europe is largely dependent on rare earth elements for manufacturing the permanent magnets which are necessary for electric vehicles and windpower turbines that are essential for the green transition.

The EU is today virtually import-dependent when it comes to permanent magnets with rare earth elements, more than 90% of which are produced in China. As of 2035, sales of gasoline and diesel vehicles will be prohibited. An electric vehicle requires six times more minerals that a conventional automobile. With Per Geijer, LKAB has great potential to contribute to increasing the degree of European Union self-sufficiency and maintaining Europes competitive advantage within the vehicle industry.

The powerful permanent magnets used in electric vehicles contain the rare earth elements neodymium and praseodymium; from 0.5 to a couple of kilos per vehicle, depending on the size of the motor and permanent magnet.

Extraction and processing of phosphorus, rare earth elements and fluorine are part of LKABs ReeMAP project. Here, LKAB is developing technology for extracting phosphorus and rare earth elements as by-products from todays iron ore production and is planning a circular industrial park in Lulea. At this processing stage LKAB plans to produce a concentrate that must subsequently be separated.

To meet the need both for extraction of raw materials and to increase Europes processing capacity LKAB has, as principal owner, recently entered into collaboration with Norwegian REEtec. They have developed an innovative and sustainable technology for separation of rare earth elements that can compete with Chinas dominating production of these materials.





LKAB produces 80% of Europes iron ore and, backed by a strategy for producing sponge iron using hydrogen technology, is advancing the transformation of the iron and steel industry. Since the 1980s LKAB has also been active in the industrial minerals sector via its Special Products division, which produces and processes more than 30 minerals.

Since the 1960s LKAB has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions per tonne finished product by 84% and invests heavily in research and development to further develop sustainable mining from a world-leading position.
A Michigan Tech project to help mines in Michigans Upper Peninsula and Minnesota achieve net-zero emissions while extracting critical minerals from mine tailings has received $2.5 million from the US Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) MINER program. (Earlier post.)

In addition to reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the Michigan Tech project aims to extract energy-relevant metals from silicate minerals for battery manufacturing.

The DOE awarded grants to develop rapid carbon mineralization and critical mineral extraction technology to 16 projects nationwide, totaling $39 million. Michigan Techs project is the only one in the state to receive funding from Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER). The MINER initiative funds technology research that increases mineral yield, while decreasing required energy and subsequent emissions, in order to mine and extract energy-relevant minerals.

Principal project investigator (PI) is Lei Pan, an associate professor in Michigan Techs Department of Chemical Engineering. Chemical engineering professors Tim Eisele and David Shonnard are co-PIs on the three-year project, along with researchers from University of Utah and University of Nevada, Reno.





Current methods used to sequester carbon dioxide through mineralization take several years. The Michigan Tech process will achieve a carbonization reaction in four hours. Mine tailings from mining operations plus carbon dioxide taken from the atmosphere combine in an accelerated carbonation reactor. The resulting carbonated productsminerals Magnesite and Sideritecan be permanently and safely stored in a subaqueous tailing pond. (Kobina Akyea Ofori graphic)

In this project, we target kinetics. Mine tailings contain a substantial amount of carbon-dioxide-reactive minerals such as olivine, which can be used as a carbon sink. Its been done before, but at a much slower pace. Our method greatly accelerates the kinetics of carbon dioxide sequestration to achieve the result on an industrial scale in just four hours, rather than several years. Lei Pan

The Michigan Tech team will work in partnership with Eagle Mine in upper Michigan, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Lundin Mining, and Polymet Mining in Minnesota.
Lt. Gov. Austin Davis was sworn in Tuesday morning, the first Black person elected to the second-highest office in Pennsylvania and whose oath-taking marked the start of a new executive administration in the state.

The ceremonies in the ornate Senate chamber were to be followed at midday in another location by the inauguration of Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro.

Davis, a Democrat, is the son of a McKeesport hairdresser and a bus driver who grew up in the Mon Valley in western Pennsylvania. He later was elected to the state House of Representatives.

The American dream is alive and well in Pennsylvania, Davis told the crowded Senate chamber.

He said his grandparents  who included a steelworker and a railroad foreman who moved to the state from the Jim Crow-era South  would not in their wildest dreams believed their grandson would one day hold the second-highest office in the state.

The oath of office was administered by Allegheny Judge Kim Berkeley Clark, who noted that he was a model for all the little boys and girls in Pennsylvania just like you and urged him to just be humble.

Clark told Davis that everyone present got to where they are with the help of others.

Davis studied political science at the University of Pittsburgh. He got a job in government as senior advisor to the Allegheny County executive, and then in 2018 mounted a successful run for the House from the 35th District.

During his four years in the House, he was vice chair of the House Democratic Policy Committee and served on a number of committees, including Appropriations, Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Transportation.

Morning Call Capitol correspondent Ford Turner can be reached at fturner@mcall.com
The smartphone market shrunk in 2022, which impacted the suppliers of image sensors. Some fared better than others though  Sony was the only supplier to see its revenue grow on a yearly basis.

And it was mostly thanks to Apple upgrading the cameras on the iPhone 14 series. The two Pro models brought new 48MP sensors in the main cameras and larger 12MP sensors in the ultra wide cameras. The selfie cam on all four models was upgraded with autofocus too. Apple exclusively uses Sony sensors, you can see the breakdown by camera type below:.

The Sony sensors inside the last two generations of iPhones (source: Counterpoint BoM analysis service)

Adding it all together, Sony made an extra $6 per unit for a total of around $300 million in the second half of 2022. The end result is that Sony took in 54% of the total revenue for the year, up 5 percentage points compared to 2021.

Samsung LSI did well for itself, even though its revenue share contracted by 1 percentage point to 29%. The company raked in the benefits of high resolution, small pixel size sensors (sub-0.7m pixels).

The affordable 50MP sensors proved quite popular and Samsung shipped an estimated 200 million of them in 2022. These are used in the main cameras of lower end phones and in the selfie cameras of more premium devices. The company still dominates the 100+ megapixel sensor market and shipped an estimated 150 million units since it launched the first one.

Last year the smartphone image sensor market contracted by 6% compared to 2021, but the total revenue remained above $13 billion. Sony and Samsung took in the lions share of that, 83% in total.

Source
Last January Microsoft offered to buy Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal, but that's still facing various issues and it's not finalized. The latest obstacle comes from the EU commissions, which isn't convinced the acquisition will do the market any good.

According to people familiar with the matter, EU's antitrust commission has serious concerns and is readying a statement of objections against the deal. The commission has set April 11 as the final deadline for its final decision on the deal.

Here's what Microsoft had to say about this:

We continue working with the European Commission to address any marketplace concerns. Our goal is to bring more games to more people, and this deal will further that goal.

Rumors suggest that Microsoft and EU's antitrust watchdog are having informal talks about the deal and Microsoft is trying to offer some guarantees in order to speed up the acquisition process, but the EU commission is insisting on sending its so-called charge sheet first.

In addition, the US Federal Trade Commission is going to court to block the deal, UK regulators are voicing their concerns and Sony is also wary of the deal. The Japanese company fears that Call of Duty, among other games, will be made exclusive to Xbox and PlayStation users won't have access to them anymore.

Source
Apple and Samsung launched location tags, and now Google is looking to join their company. According to a Kuba Wojciechowski and Mishaal Rahman's investigation of the developer's console of the Fast Pair feature it now has locator tag as a listed device. The codename of the product is Grogu, Groguaudio or GR10.

Samsung Galaxy SmartTag

The product is developed by the Nest team, but that does not necessarily mean it will be a Nest product. The gadget has an onboard speaker, and comes with support for UWB (ultra-wideband) and Bluetooth Low Energy - technologies used for radio-based communication for short-range usage scenarios.

The Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro both have a UWB module which hasnt been utilized so far. It could be used for turning on and off Nest speakers, but the feature is still in development. Google is also working with chipset manufacturers to enable Fast Pair support for Android products, allowing every manufacturer to develop their own trackers.

An eventual Google Grogu tag could be announced as early as Google I/O, traditionally taking place in May.

Via
Samsung is holding a big launch conference on February 1 where well see the debut of the Galaxy S23 series. The new phones will be joined by an all-new lineup of Galaxy Book laptops (which you can already reserve) and we now have more details on their specs as well as another leaked poster.

Samsung will announce a five-model strong Galaxy Book3 lineup with the Book3, Book3 360, Book3 Pro, Book3 Pro 360 and Book3 Ultra.



Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra design on FCC database

Galaxy Book3 and Book3 360 will be available in 15-inch screen sizes while the Book3 Pro will be available in 14 and 16 variants. The top-end Book3 Pro 360 and Book3 Ultra will be offered exclusively with 16 screens. All of Samsungs new laptops will feature Intels 13th gen processors with the Book3 Pro 360 being offered in Core i5-1340P and Core i7-1360P trims alongside Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB DDR5 RAM and up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD.

Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 will boast a 16 Super AMOLED display of 2880 x 1800px resolution and will also support stylus input via the bundled S-Pen. The laptop wont have a stylus slot for safekeeping though. The battery is expected to come in at 76WHr and youll get a bundled 65W charger. Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 will be just 13mm thick and weigh 1.6kg (3.5lbs).

Source
Last week, Samsung announced it would release software updates that would bring 360 Audio Recording to the Galaxy Buds2 Pro and camera zoom capability to the Galaxy Watch5 and Watch4 series. Well, the rollout has begun as the Galaxy Watch5 in the US has received a new software update with firmware version R900XXU1AWA3 that lets the smartwatch's users control the zoom level of the connected smartphone's camera through the Camera Controller on the wearable.

This can be done with a simple pinch of the watch face or turning the rotating virtual bezel. However, this feature will only work with Galaxy smartphones, so you can't use it if you own a phone from a different brand.

The update for the Galaxy Buds2 Pro has firmware version R510XXU0AWA5, which brings 360 Audio Recording to the TWS earphones. As evident from the name, this feature lets you record 360 audio using the microphone in each earbud. However, it only works with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 and Galaxy Z Flip4.

Via 1, Via 2
Make-A-Wish Guam & CNMI granted 6-year-old Avan Ataligs wish for electronics on Sept. 16, 2022, at McDonalds in Tamuning. The organization has announced the launch of the first annual Bow Ties for Wishes event set for Feb. 16 in honor of the late Dr. Chris Perez. The event will feature live entertainment and a live and silent auction of luxury timepieces from Dr. Perezs collection. To donate money or airline miles to the regional chapter, visit their website at wish.org/guamcnmi.
The commander of military forces in Guam says the Department of Defense is in a good position to deter any aggression from China and other regional threats.

If a China-U.S. conflict erupts over Taiwan, Guam would be a very likely target of Chinese missile strikes, according to a war game report released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies last week.

Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, commander of Joint Region Marianas, provided a written statement when asked for comment about the results, and possible response efforts should war break out.

With regard to our island home in Guam, as the senior military official here, my team and I have worked closely with our elected officials and stakeholders to ensure a deeper understanding of the militarys role in the region in defending the homeland against coercion and aggression, Nicholson stated.

CSISs war game report anticipated Andersen Air Force Base generally being crippled by Chinese missile strikes, should a conflict break out in 2026. National security experts have pointed to conflict over the Taiwan question possibly breaking out within the next decade.

Guam has always been a key strategic location for sustaining and maintaining U.S. power, military deterrence and responding to crises across the Indo-Pacific, Nicholson said. While our current forces are capable of defending Guam against todays threats, it is clear that the regional threat, including from China, continues to rapidly evolve.

He said that the Department of Defense in the region remains well postured to provide the military forces if needed to deter aggression, reassure allies and partners, and to protect the security of our beautiful home in Guam and the region.

Islands within Micronesia were strategically vital to ensuring the U.S. military can continue to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, the admiral said.
Guam Del. James Moylan will serve on the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees military construction, installations and readiness, among other responsibilities.

The House Republican Steering Committee nominated Moylan to serve on the Armed Services Committee, and he was informed early Tuesday Guam time. Moylan arrived on island Sunday and plans to be here for about a week.

Guam currently is in the middle of an $8 billion military buildup, including the construction of a new Marine Corps base, Camp Blaz, in Dededo. The military also plans to spend about $900 million to build a 360-degree missile defense system for the island.

This is important for the island because we have a voice in the committee that affects our island greatly, Moylan said. Especially with the military buildup and making sure this buildup is done properly and the people of Guam are well-protected against the recurring threats that we have.

Moylan, a Republican, said he lobbied for the highly competitive Armed Services seat, including a discussion with committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R- Alaska, to make the case that having Guams delegate on the committee would be good for the nation and the island.

Former Del. Madeleine Bordallo, a Democrat who represented Guam in Congress from 2003 to 2019, served on the Armed Services and Natural Resources committees during her 16 years in office.

Former Del. Mike San Nicolas, a Democrat who did not run for Congress during last years elections, was not on the Armed Services Committee and instead served on the House Financial Services and Natural Resources committees during his four years in office.

The Natural Resources Committee has jurisdiction over the Department of the Interior, which is responsible for federal policy in Guam and the other U.S. territories.

Moylan, who has asked to serve on other committees, including the Natural Resources Committee, said he could learn about other selections later this week.

The more committees were involved with, the better, Moylan said. Im looking forward to working as hard as I can.
An official reprimand over election-related emails will remain on University of Guam professor Ron McNinchs file, and the university will move to update its email policies in response.

UOGs Board of Regents on Tuesday unanimously denied a request from McNinch to have the reprimand, issued by UOG President Thomas Krise, struck from his record.

McNinch late last year sent an email to the media and UOG students stating that whichever gubernatorial team did not participate in the schools Great Debate would lose the election. He also sent an internal email to faculty advising them to stay out of this election.

The professor has denied any violation and called the reprimand a violation of his freedom of speech, and his right to speak to the media under the UOG Faculty Union contract.

Specific violations will be struck from his reprimand letter, but it will be amended to state that it was issued over unrefined and undiplomatic emails and for McNinchs failure to explicitly state that he was not representing the university.

McNinchs original reprimand letter said he:

Misrepresented UOG by sending an unapproved, official press release.

Was rude, insulting and belligerent toward political candidates.

Violated the Mini-Hatch Act, a local law barring government employees from using their positions to influence how people will vote.

Misused his university email.

McNinch was not allowed to speak during the grievance hearing hosted Tuesday.

The Board of Regents was generally in agreement that McNinchs conduct was unprofessional, according to findings read by Regent Pete Diaz.

These emails are not from someone that I would consider a role model, a leader or professional  certainly not representative of an academic who thinks highly of himself or herself or proud of his or her work, Regent Bernadette Valencia said.

McNinch after the hearing said the reprimand and how UOG handles speech issues for faculty are not yet settled for him. He can still appeal the matter to a board of professors within the university.

I think that a university committee of faculty and others should review this. I dont think its healthy for the Board of Regents to be reviewing these kinds of issues because theyre at the top of the organization. And if were going to really have opinions, that matter that has to be developed within the faculty, and administrators and staff, he said.

His tone in the emails could have been interpreted in a number of ways, unlike in regular conversation, McNinch said, adding that UOGs rules and regulations were all over the place.

President Krise told the newspaper he would not comment on the specifics of the decision, as it was UOG policy not to comment on personnel issues. While McNinch had waived all privacy rights, it was still a matter of policy, Krise said.

The university has very strong policies defending academic freedom. And, you know, our university policy manual is very good about that. Our university faculty agreement is also very explicit about that, Krise said.

When asked whether he stood by what he had done, Krise responded Absolutely, yes.
Josh Shapiro assumed the role of Pennsylvania governor Tuesday.

The 49-year-old Democrat from Montgomery County beat Republican challenger Doug Mastriano during the 2022 general election in a race that caught national attention.

It does make me, and all of us in Montgomery County, very, very proud that one of our own is going to serve us so very well, said U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th District.

Where it started

Shapiro spent decades in politics, his road to the governors mansion beginning in Montgomery County.

He grew up in Dresher, where he first met Marcel Groen, longtime chair of the county Democratic Party. Groens daughter Jennifer was friends with Shapiro and his now-wife, Lori, throughout his schooling at the Perelman Jewish Day School and the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy.

Groen characterized Shapiro as a serious, intelligent, well-mannered and respectful child.

Believe it or not, he really hasnt changed, Groen said.

Shapiro went on to the University of Rochester, graduating in 1995. He then headed to the nations capitol to work for congressional members on the Hill. There, he caught the attention of newly elected Rep. Joseph Hoeffel, D-13th Dist. When assembling his staff, Hoeffel directed Frank X. Custer, his communications director at the time, to meet with Shapiro about a legislative director position.

We didnt have a lot in common, but we hit it off immediately, Custer said. It was clear to me from the minute I met him that this was a serious person  and incredibly bright, and I came back, and I told Joe that, and he hired him.

Dean met Shapiro years before she entered the political arena herself when she paid a visit to Hoeffels office to discuss a proposed piece of legislation focusing on bicycle safety.

I just remember a bright, super bright young man that seemed like he was in a place where he ought to be, Dean said.

Shapiro advanced after Custer recommended him for Hoeffels chief of staff. Custer said support for that promotion came from staff working in the Pennsylvania congressmans office. Custer recalled, it was just a recognition by a lot of people in a short period of time that he was special.

Custer said Shapiro was a serious man with gravitas who exuded confidence at that young age while working for Hoeffel.

From staff to officeholder

In 2003, Shapiro decided to head back home to Montgomery County and run for a seat in the Pennsylvania General Assemblys 153rd House District. He won in 2004, going on to make an impression on other local legislators for his nonpartisan approach to politics.

Todd Stephens, a former Republican representative for the 151st Legislative District, got a call from Shapiro the day after he won his seat. He and Shapiro had breakfast soon after. Shapiro gave Stephens some helpful tips and tricks to help him get settled in his role.

He was just very helpful in terms of the practical side of what to expect as a new legislator, Stephens said of his meeting with Shapiro.

They had some overlap in Harrisburg together for about a year. During that time, Republicans held control of the states House of Representatives. Stephens said he spoke with Shapiro early in his political career about criminal justice legislation that he recommended Stephens introduce.

He understood the dynamics of the Legislature at the time, and it wasnt important to him whose name was on the bill, it was important to him to get the bill done, and so if it meant having a Republican on the top of the bill, then so be it. If thats what itll take to get it done, lets do it, Stephens said. I just think that really speaks volumes about the way he works.

Personable from the start

Former Montgomery County District Attorney and county Commissioner Bruce Castor met Shapiro at a government function in Harrisburg. Castor said Shapiro sat down at a table and started speaking with him like we were long-lost friends. They had some common ground, both growing up in Abington.

I was impressed with his energy and his friendliness and that he would obtain a position of importance in the government at such a young age  I liked him right away, Castor said.

Shapiro was an early supporter of Barack Obama, whom he met while campaigning for Obama before the 2008 presidential election. At that time, much of the countys Democratic Party backed Hillary Clinton for the nomination.

Josh was really the only well-known player in my opinion who supported President Obama, and I know they became friends very early on, and he had a really good relationship with him, Groen said.

Back to Montco

After years in Harrisburg, Shapiro contemplated returning to Montgomery County once again, this time to run for a seat on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.

Josh had ambition, was looking ahead and he knew that an important aspect of being an attractive candidate in the future was that he needed executive experience, and you dont get that in a legislative body, Custer said. So when the opportunity came up to run for county commissioner in 2011, he took it.

Shapiro campaigned with running mate Leslie Richards and won.

It was very obvious from early on in the campaign how gifted he was, said Richards, who went on to become secretary of transportation in Gov. Tom Wolfs Cabinet and now heads SEPTA.

The election created a Democratic majority for county government. Castor served as the minority Republican commissioner.

He was very good at solving problems, and we had a lot of problems, so he never ran out of things to do. I was extraordinarily impressed by him as county commissioner, Castor said of Shapiro.

Trust and teamwork

Tackling the countys financial situation created a bond between the three commissioners. Castor recalled watching Shapiros problem-solving in action.

He would identify a problem, or one of us would identify a problem, and he would come up with a way to deal with the problem, think it through, come up with a set of procedures that we would have to do to attack the problem, and defeat it, Castor said. He was a master at that, and I always figured that it had to do with him having been trained in the Legislature and having worked in committees and working across the aisle with groups of people.

Castor and Richards recalled Shapiros governing strategy to assign areas of county government based on each commissioners interest and expertise. Richards had experience working with assets and infrastructure and the planning commission. As a former district attorney, Castor knew his way around public safety and court matters. Shapiro dealt with social services and other government reforms.

I think that was really the recipe for the great relationship that we shared, Richards said, adding that strategy helped to build trust as each listened to the other and gave their recommendations for different subjects.

We challenged each other, but we trusted each other, and I realized now how rare that is when you have three people governing, Richards said.

Among other things, Shapiro sought to revamp operations and financial practices during his time as chair of the board. Custer was the countys communications director at the time.

Hes an incredibly honest person with great character, and as a politician, he marries the ability to seek consensus but then also the courage to make tough decisions, Custer said.

Shapiro also worked to set meeting agendas and ensure his colleagues were on track to accomplish their goals.

Hes a very gifted chairman. Hes a very gifted executive, Richards said. Getting to consensus is not only something hes very gifted at but its very important to him, and so every time we would have a unanimous vote, which was pretty much every vote we took while the three of us governed together, very few exceptions, she continued. We all tried to work toward that, and we knew how important it was to Josh, and we also knew how important it was to Montgomery County.

Fighting for the right things

Working as chair essentially made Shapiro the mayor of a county of 800,000 people, Groen said.

He loved it, and from that moment in, you could see the trajectory, Groen said.

Seeking higher office, Shapiro was elected Pennsylvania attorney general in 2017. There he focused on fighting for the right things, Dean said, taking up a number of initiatives around child abuse and the opioid crisis. Taking the next step forward, he announced his campaign for governor in October 2021.

Dean was with Shapiro at Penn State-Abington the day he kicked off his bus tour.

I thought this is a man you want in public service because of his character, Dean said. He is somebody who is a man of his faith, and deeply rooted in the tenets of his faith that we must do for others. Im a Catholic, hes Jewish, and yet we both share that passion for our faith, for how it informs us, how we treat others, especially those with less than we have. I always admired that.

Stephens agreed.

His character is impeccable. I trust him, he said. I think hes an honest broker, and I think he genuinely wants to work to get things done, to improve the lives of people in Pennsylvania, and is willing to work with anybody who is willing to work with him to that end.

While Shapiro, wife Lori and their four children live in Abington, Dean witnessed what she described as an enthusiasm to get a complete sense of Pennsylvanias 67 counties.

You could see through the campaign that he wanted to know people of every county, to learn from people of every county and of every political persuasion, Dean said.

Shapiro defeated his Republican challenger in November with 56.49% of the vote.

Josh will take actions, Groen said. Josh will do things in the governors office that others have not been willing to tackle, and at the end of the day, you wont always agree with him, but you will realize that you have somebody actually at work in that position, in that office.

Those who know him expect good things to come out of the governors mansion.

Hes very bright, and hes a terrific strategic thinker, and that applies whether youre a state representative, a county commissioner, an attorney general, or a governor. Youve got to have a vision, and youve got to be able to develop the plan, and the strategy to achieve that vision, Stephens said. Josh has been able to do that at each step of the way along his career, and I think it served him well and Im hopeful it will serve the people of Pennsylvania well.

Recalling Shapiro as a congressional aide back in 2003, Custer said, I thought he could be the first Jewish president. I still am in the running for that.
Corrections and clarifications: The United Airlines career fair was held Tuesday is expected to continue through Thursday.

Hundreds of applicants filled the Hyatt Regency Guam on the first of its two-day career fair hosted Tuesday by United Airlines  so many that the airline is planning to extend the fair an extra day, starting at 8 a.m. Thursday to give residents another chance to join their company at the Denver hub.

Fair extended

Were actually going to expand and do a third day until Thursday, just given the overwhelming response for the opportunity, just really thrilled to be here, said Matt Miller, vice president of the United Airlines Denver hub, who's on Guam for the event.

Denver is one of Uniteds seven hubs in the mainland U.S. and home to nearly 9,000 of the airlines employees. United is the largest private employer in Denver and in 2022, it increased the starting wage for ramp agent employees to nearly $20 an hour.

Were specifically looking for ramp service employees, but we do have other job offers and job openings in Denver as well on our technician side, aircraft maintenance or GSE group as well. So weve got plenty of opportunity here," Miller said. "Basically the beginning of what were going to be doing in Denver, which is growing up to 1,800 jobs this year and across all workgroups. So, it is the fastest-growing hub we have in our network, and we look to continue to grow it and build over the coming years.

Denver opportunities

Last week, the airline announced the career fair to fill more than 1,800 jobs in Denver across various departments, including ramp services, aircraft technicians, facilities maintenance technicians and storekeepers.

With proof of residency and the successful completion of the interview and clearance processes, the airline is offering a $25,000 relocation incentive for residents. A one-year commitment is required to be eligible to receive the incentive.

Relocations a complicated process so the incentive is meant to really help with their one-time costs of moving and getting established in the community. Were also going to provide opportunities for apartment finding, transportation, guidance  all the things you would need when moving to a new city, said Miller. So we want to be there to help folks out, ... and, hopefully, people will want to stay in Denver and if not, move around with United to other locations that we serve as well.

Miller said the Denver hub is really proud" of its history with the island. Employees from Guam work across the airlines entire network.

For us, its exciting to bring back some of our Guam residents that work for us in Denver and have them help us recruit the next tranche of United employees who call Guam home, but also call United their family. ... Were just excited to be here to offer these opportunities, said Miller.

Former Mangilao resident Eric Alcantara, now a Denver-stationed trainer for United Airlines, has worked for the airline for over four years and was at the event.

He spoke highly of the program and encourages residents to take advantage of the opportunity.

Changed my life

What can I say? Uniteds changed my life, Alcantara said Tuesday. Ive been able to do things and see things that I can only wish for other people to see in their lifetime, he explained.

He said the opportunity has given him time to travel to places like the United Kingdom and Germany.

Learning a lot about different cultures and different life forms has been such a great blessing for me. And its taught me so much, really about how to network and community with different walks of life. And thats what United has done for me, said Alcantara.
Paul Yin-Lien Chen is director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Guam. This column has been edited for length. Read it in its entirety at guampdn.com.
New Gov. Josh Shapiro was sworn in Tuesday with his wife and children beside him and the green dome of the Capitol above him, and part of his first message to Pennsylvanians was your problems have become my priorities.

The former state House member, Montgomery County commissioner and attorney general became the 48th governor about two hours after his running mate, Austin Davis, was sworn in as the states first Black lieutenant governor.

Shapiro, a Democrat, chose freedom as a main theme as he described his mindset in trying to improve the state.

One definition for real freedom is where everyone gets a shot and no one is left behind, Shapiro said, and he credited the stories of everyday people with giving him tremendous motivation.

Your problems have become my priorities, Shapiro said. Your stories and your courage stay with me.

Lehigh Valley Democrats reacted with enthusiasm.

Shapiros repeated references to inclusivity struck a chord with Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk.

As a majority Latino city, we are looking for leaders who see us, Tuerk said, and he praised Shapiros understanding of urban areas.

Allentown Democratic Rep. Peter Schweyer said Shapiro had a very clear vision of the commonwealth moving forward.

Fellow Democratic Rep. Mike Schlossberg, of South Whitehall Township, said he liked the application of the message of freedom to people seeking the best education possible, to individuals seeking fulfilling jobs, and to businesses seeking opportunities.

Democratic Rep. Josh Siegel of Allentown said the talented new governor could provide a pivot point away from tribal warfare among politicians. Newly elected Sen. Nick Miller of Allentown, another Democrat, said Shapiro showed energy and motivation.

Republican Sen. Jarrett Coleman of Upper Macungie Township, who took office two weeks ago, said the devil is in the details for Shapiro.

I am eager, as are many constituents of my district, to learn if Gov. Shapiro will make good on his campaign promises, Coleman said. I look forward to seeing Gov. Shapiro advance school choice in Pennsylvania, delivering power to parents, and delivering on his promises.

Shapiro was sworn in by state Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Todd under a cloudy sky, with several former governors, two U.S. senators, numerous state lawmakers and special guests in a seating area close to the podium.

Pennsylvanians, he said, want good schools, safe communities, an economy that gives people a chance and uplifts them, and a stance against extremism.

Citing the 150-year journey taken to win the right to vote for women and the many years it took to abolish slavery, Shapiro called the U.S. democracy a constant work in progress. He pointed to William Penns founding of the then-province of Pennsylvania on the concept of religious tolerance, and indicated the same tolerance must be kept at the forefront now.

As a people, we are committed to progress, Shapiro said.

Shapiros first words after he was sworn in included expressions of love for his wife and children. He told his wife, Lori, I love you, baby.

He called his Cabinet  led by Lehigh Valley native Chief of Staff Dana Fritz  the most well-qualified and diverse set of public servants in our history.

Lt. Gov. Davis

Davis is the son of a McKeesport hairdresser and a bus driver who grew up in the Mon Valley in western Pennsylvania and eventually was elected to the state House of Representatives.

After he took the oath as the states first Black lieutenant governor, Davis told the Senate, The American dream is alive and well in Pennsylvania.

He said his grandparents  who included a steelworker and a railroad foreman who moved to the state from the Jim Crow-era South  would not in their wildest dreams have believed their grandson would one day hold the second-highest office in the state.

The oath of office for Davis was administered by Allegheny Judge Kim Berkeley Clark, who noted that he was a model for all the little boys and girls in Pennsylvania just like you and urged him to just be humble.

Clark told Davis that everyone present got to where they are with the help of others.

Davis studied political science at the University of Pittsburgh. He got a job in government as senior adviser to the Allegheny County executive, and then in 2018 mounted a successful run for the House from the 35th District.

During his four years in the House, he was vice chair of the House Democratic Policy Committee and served on a number of committees, including Appropriations, Consumer Affairs, Insurance and Transportation.

The Shapiro-Davis administration takes control of the executive branch of state government as the legislative branch faces an unprecedented challenge.

The state House has been rendered inactive by partisan disagreements since a new speaker, Democratic Rep. Mark Rozzi of Berks County, was sworn in Jan. 3.

The Senate, on the other hand, has held results-producing debate and voting sessions.

Without the House functioning, progress on potential laws of all types is slowed. An illustration of that fact came late Friday, when the Senate canceled sessions during the weeks of Jan. 23 and Jan. 30 in part because the House had not organized itself.

Rozzi has appointed a small bipartisan work group, including Schweyer, to seek agreements between the clashing political parties, which have been unable to agree on rules for conducting business in the chamber. The group met Tuesday for the first time.

Morning Call Capitol correspondent Ford Turner can be reached at fturner@mcall.com.
Following his swearing-in as Pennsylvania governor Tuesday, Josh Shapiro delivered his inaugural address to Pennsylvania. The following is the address as prepared:

I am humbled to stand before you today as Pennsylvanias 48th Governor.

Along the winding road that led to this moment, Ive been grounded in my faith and family.

And so I begin by saying to my high school sweetheart and Pennsylvanias First Lady  I love you, babe.

Lori and I are blessed with four amazing children  Sophia, Jonah, Max and Reuben.

Theyve sacrificed so much so we could serve and I am so grateful to each of them. We will work as hard for your children as we do ours.

I appreciate our history making Chief Justice, Debra Todd, for doing me the honor of administering the oath of office.

May wisdom and the pursuit of justice continue to guide you and your fellow Justices of the Supreme Court, several of whom are with us today.

Im pleased to be joined by the legislative leaders and legislators of both parties  another history maker, President Pro Tem Ward, Speaker Rozzi, Leader Pittman, Leader Costa, Leader McClinton and Leader Cutler  I look forward to making progress together.

And Im pleased to be joined by Acting Attorney General Henry, Treasurer Garrity, and Auditor General DeFoor.

We say a special prayer today for our senior senator for a full and speedy recovery. There is no doubt that youll be stronger than ever and continue to do good for the people of Pennsylvania for many years to come.

To our history making Lieutenant Governor, Austin Davis, and his wife, Blayre, thank you for joining Lori and me on this journey, for your partnership and for your commitment to service.

I am particularly touched that several of our former Governors are with us today.

Its an honor to have Governor Ridge, Governor Schweiker and Governor Corbett here  and Governor Rendell watching from home.

Your presence formally celebrates the peaceful transfer of power. It also reminds us that while I am now entrusted with this awesome responsibility  it is just for a moment in the long history of our Commonwealth.

Ill now do my part to build on your work and to leave this place better off the way that each of you did before me.

And, of course, I want to recognize my dear friends, Governor Tom Wolf and First Lady Frances Wolf.

Lori and I are so grateful for your friendship over nearly two decades and your guidance through this transition.

Governor Wolf has led our Commonwealth and our residents through some of the most challenging times in our history  and he has done so with integrity, acumen, and an unwavering commitment to service.

Governor Wolf expanded health care to nearly 1 million Pennsylvanians, invested record amounts in our public schools, and modernized state government.

Thanks to his leadership we now find ourselves in the strongest financial shape in the history of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, allowing us to make critical investments for tomorrow.

Governor, you have exemplified what I spoke of a moment ago. You inherited the work of those who came before you, you served with honor, and you are leaving us in a better place than when you started. Thank you.

I set out to build a Cabinet and senior team that looks like Pennsylvania, and reflects the people and the communities that I just took an oath to serve and protect.

Led by our Chief of Staff, Dana Fritz, sitting behind me here today, is the most well-qualified and diverse set of public servants in our history.

I look forward to doing this work, with them, for you.

But most of all, I want to thank you, the good people of Pennsylvania.

You inspired me. You taught me important lessons.

You invited me into your homes, your union halls, your places of worship and your community centers.

We walked our main streets together and I listened to you. I heard your stories.

And those stories fuel my drive to serve.

Your struggles give me purpose. Your smiles and your tears have filled my heart.

Your problems have become my priorities. Your causes, my concerns.

And together weve taken on the powerful and empowered the people.

People like Alexis, who was ripped off by a predatory student lender and whose story inspired a fight to take on that powerful entity and bring real relief to thousands of Pennsylvanians.

Like Tim, who did backbreaking work on our roadways for decades, just to have company executives steal his hard-earned benefits but whose courage led to accountability and change.

Like the families Ive met who lost loved ones to the opioid crisis.

Theyve shared their grief with me, but also their resolve to keep up the fight to protect others from the dangers of addiction made worse by corporate greed.

And like the thousands of brave survivors Ive met, who come no matter where I am, and in hushed tones tell me their stories of abuse so that the institutions who cover it up can be held accountable.

Your stories and your courage have stayed with me. And, they will motivate me each and every day as your Governor.

Because ultimately, in a functioning democracy, its your voices that should be heard in the halls of government.

The voices of people like Danielle, who has bravely told us her own story about her decision to have an abortion to save her life and who Im honored to have on this stage with me today.

The voice of the grandma in Lawrence County who I met over 15 months ago in the first week of our campaign. She came up to me, grabbed me by my lapels, pulled me close, and in that stern voice that only comes from a grandma, looked me in the eye and said do not let us go back to what it was like before Roe.

And thanks to so many of you, we wont.

The small business owners like Jarrod Bets who owns a community barber shop in Lancaster and is with us on stage today.

Like so many others, he told me about his dream and built it and now just needs a level playing field to thrive.

I remember the voices of the grieving moms who have lost their children to gun violence.

Your children mattered and so do you. Thank you for being on the stage with me today.

I remember the students, brave enough to speak openly with me about their mental health struggles. Theyre the strong ones and its up to us to help them.

The family farmer looking to leave his land to his daughter, but lacking the capital to make the investments to carry on the family legacy long enough to see her take over.

And the voices of those who put on the uniform at home and abroad to keep us safe and those they leave behind in service to all of us.

We are joined today by Stephanie Mack and Brittany Sisca, the wives of Trooper Martin Mack and Trooper Brandon Sisca, who were killed in the line of duty a few months ago.

Thank you for being with us today. We continue to honor and respect your husbands. May their memories be a blessing.

You, the good people of Pennsylvania, will always be my north star.

Im mindful of the fact that youve shared those stories with me because you believe I can make a difference for you.

And that is humbling  humbling that youve entrusted me with such a great responsibility.

Not just the honor to serve as your Governor, but the responsibility to stand up for whats right, to bring people together and to get things done for you.

That is my covenant with you  the people.

That is our deal.

You spoke up loud and clear and gave me direction with your voice and with your vote  a record number of votes in fact.

People from all different walks of life  from rural, urban and suburban communities united to tell me what you think.

You showed the underlying goodness within our Commonwealth  that you want a society that creates opportunity for all people.

From Gods Country to Gettysburg, I heard you when you said you want good schools for our kids, safe communities, and an economy that gives people a shot and lifts them up.

You also sent a clear message  Democrats, Republicans and Independents  when you came together to resoundingly reject extremism.

Together, hope defeated fear.

Unity triumphed over division.

We proved that we value our freedoms, and were willing to do the hard work necessary to protect our fundamental rights.

And to those who didnt cast their vote for me, I heard you too. And I will do my best every day to be a Governor for all Pennsylvanians.

Now is the time to join together behind the unifying strength of three simple truths that have sustained our nation over the past two-and-a-half centuries  that above all else, beyond any momentary political differences  we value our freedom, we cherish our democracy, and we love this country.

Our democracy is indeed now stronger because that historic coalition came together and fought for it, voted for it. But our democracy is not a given.

As our own Pennsylvania history shows, our democracy is a constant work in progress.

Pennsylvanias first Constitution in 1776 was regarded as the most democratic of its time, but it still took another 150 years for women to gain the right to vote.

Pennsylvania was the first state to pass a law abolishing slavery just four years later in 1780  but it took until 1847 for total abolition.

We worked at it. Together. Because we value our freedom and we, as a people, are committed to progress.

Consider this  our Commonwealth was founded on the promise of religious tolerance.

Pennsylvania, a place where Penn invited all to come and live and worship in peace and security.

And now, in this place of tolerance, I stand before you, a proud American of Jewish faith who just took the oath of office to be the 48th Governor of this great Commonwealth on a bible from the Tree of Life synagogue, the scene just four years ago of the deadliest act of antisemitism in our nations history.

Pennsylvanians can indeed find light in the midst of darkness and drown out the voices of hate and bigotry.

You see, in every chapter of this Pennsylvania story, we got better. We got stronger. We got more tolerant.

Our story is one of progress and prosperity, and today we come together under the banner of this new Administration to write our next chapter with a keen understanding of our history and the voices that will guide our future.

It will require all of us to build on Penns promise.

My own faith teaches me that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it.

In this Capitol and throughout our Commonwealth, we have a unique responsibility to keep doing the hard and necessary work to strengthen the democracy that was born here 246 years ago.

Each of us can make a contribution. And, in many different ways, weve shown that when it is all on the line, Pennsylvanians step up, and do their part.

We rallied. Like Gen-Z who continue to make progress on climate change and gun violence and reproductive rights.

Like the two women in Montgomery County who bravely walked into a county courthouse and asked for a marriage license before it was legal and sparked a movement.

Like those who marched with Dr. King at Girard College during the Civil Rights movement to demand righteous change.

Like the Pennsylvania service member who carried with him one of the other bibles I was sworn in on, when he fought to save the world from fascism and defeat the Nazis in World War II, and earned himself a Purple Heart in the process.

They stepped up. The Pennsylvania way.

We are all stewards of our democracy, and Im mindful that as we celebrate the peaceful transition of power, we are proving once again that our democracy endures and the collective work to strengthen it continues.

This work is more important now than ever, because over the last several years, we have been reminded of the fragility of our democracy. How we have to keep working at it, keep fighting to protect it.

Here in Pennsylvania, we didnt allow the extremists who peddle lies drown out the truth. We showed that our system works and that our elections are free and fair, safe and secure.

We assume this obligation to defend democracy not merely to honor the work of our ancestors but rather to build on a foundation so we can make progress for our children.

Only by setting the table of opportunity and inviting all to sit and partake, can we advance the cause of real freedom.

The kind of real freedom that comes when we devote real resources to that young childs public school to make sure she has a shot.

The kind of real freedom that comes when we invest in public safety to make sure she lives past her 18th birthday.

The kind of real freedom that comes when we create pathways to new opportunities by investing in vo-tech and job training programs like the ones that prepared IATSE members to construct this very stage and trained apprentice cabinet makers from the Carpenters Union to craft this podium I now speak from.

The kind of real freedom that comes when you live in a Commonwealth that respects you for who you are  no matter what you look like, where you come from, who you love or who you pray to.

Real freedom that makes government a productive force for good. That allows us to tackle big challenges again and dream of brighter, more prosperous tomorrows.

Where our air is clean, our water pure and our communities healthier and our economy stronger.

Where poverty doesnt get ignored and prosperity isnt limited to certain zip codes.

Where political differences cause debate, but do not give rise to demagogues.

The real freedom that leaves its citizens with the confidence of knowing that the doors of opportunity will swing open for them if they push through.

Where everyone gets a shot and no one is left behind.

That is real freedom. That is our challenge. That is our calling. And, that is the next chapter in our Pennsylvania story that we start writing today  together.

I honor the work of those who came before me, I affirm my pact with the people to listen and be your voice, and I accept the responsibility youve bestowed upon me to be the next link in the chain of progress  with humility.

And so, with my faith firmly rooted in we the people of Pennsylvania, with my heart open to others and my eyes fixed ahead, I am prepared to do my part to move our Commonwealth forward.

Thank you for this honor. May god bless you and watch over the women and men of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

Thank you.




We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here
The thrice-weekly newspaper reported yesterday that 36 per cent of the survey respondents expressed their support and 42 per cent their opposition to removing obstacles to immigration. A little more than a fifth of respondents were unable or unwilling to comment on the issue.

OVER A THIRD of Finns are of the opinion that the next government should make it easier to immigrate to Finland, finds a survey commissioned by Maaseudun Tulevaisuus.

Men were more likely than women to both support and oppose the idea, with 38 per cent of them supporting and 47 per cent opposing the idea. Over a quarter (27%) of women were unable or unwilling to comment on the issue.

One in two retirement-age respondents said they support making it easier to immigrate to Finland.

The responses varied noticeably also based on place of residence. Respondents in Helsinki voiced their support for increasing immigration at a rate of 53 per cent, whereas the corresponding rate among respondents in other parts of the country was almost 20 percentage points lower.

The idea was supported especially by supporters of the Green League (72%), Swedish Peoples Party (56%), Left Alliance (55%) and Social Democrats (52%). Supporters of the Finns Party and Christian Democrats had the most reservations about it, with 69 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively, viewing that the next government should not ease immigration.

The survey did not specify whether immigration should be thought of as asylum, study or work based, for example. Altogether 1,096 people responded to the survey conducted in mid-December by Kantar TNS Agri.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
Unfortunately, they have yet to do this, the president was quoted saying at a youth rally by state news agency Anadolu.

TURKISH PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday demanded that Finland and Sweden hand over around 130 terrorists in order to gain the support of Turkey for their bids to join Nato, according to media reports in Turkey.

Jussi Halla-aho, the chairperson of the Finnish Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee, on Monday estimated on YLE A-studio that the number is not based on anything concrete.

Its more or less a number that was pulled out of a hat, that was used to raise the stakes in response to the provocation that took place in Sweden, he analysed, referring to a recent incident where protesters hung an effigy of the president from its feet outside the Stockholm City Hall.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has described the incident as an act of sabotage aimed at complicating the countrys path to Nato.

Halla-aho on Monday told the Finnish public broadcasting company that the Swedish policy makers he has talked to since the demand surfaced have no idea who the alleged terrorists are. They couldnt get to 130 with their own calculations, he said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto (Greens) on Monday similarly stated that Turkey has not submitted a new list of people it believes should be extradited.

Speaker of the Parliament Matti Vanhanen (Centre), meanwhile, expressed his puzzlement with the continuous demands of Erdogan, arguing that Turkey is surely aware that the extraditions it is demanding are not possible.

Maybe its that they arent yet ready to make the ratification decision. I dont know the reason for it, said Vanhanen. We meet all the criteria for Nato membership.

Turkey and Hungary are the only Nato members that have yet to ratify the accession protocols of Finland and Sweden. Hungary, though, has indicated that it would give its backing to the defence alliances expansion and ratify the bids in early 2023.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT
TWO brothers have taken over Henley post office.

Sachin, 39, and Vinit Patel, 42, from London, had never visited the town before they began negotiations to buy the business in Reading Road.

The pair have run a post office in Edgware for the past four years and will now run both branches.

Sachin Patel said: When the opportunity came up we talked to the owner and got to know him a bit and he decided to sell.

It all happened very quickly, in about 10 days or so. Id never been to Henley before  we came for the first time to see the post office. Its a peaceful area and people are very softly spoken.

Weve had a nice welcome and hopefully that will continue.

The brothers are planning to keep the retail section of the shop, which sells stationery, cards, confectionery and drinks.

Mr Patel said: We might also do things like flowers for Mothers Day. Its all in our head, so well see how it goes. We might have a bit of a change of layout.

He said he enjoyed working with his brother, adding: Were very close. At the moment he is the head postmaster and I am the sub-postmaster but we might change that to me or someone else. We are not recruiting at the moment, we will have to wait and see.

The brothers, who are both married with one son each, are originally from Gujarat in India. Their late father was a farmer, who died from covid-19.

Mr Patel said that his 13-year-old son Krish was excited to visit Henley but hadnt been able to yet because he was at school.

Hell probably pop in at the weekend, he said. Ill bring my wife, Lopa, and my nephew. Well clear out some things we dont need and put things in the right place.

Mr Patel used to be a barista in London and said: I see there are lots of coffee shops in Henley.

He has already met Lorraine Hillier, who runs Hot Gossip on the opposite side of the street from the post office.

He said: We had a chat and I said to her, I need to try your coffee. She said, Youre welcome any time.

Ms Hillier, who is also a town councillor, said she was pleased the post office had a guaranteed future.

She added: [Mr Patel] was very nice and seemed very able with what he was doing. He said theyre going to make it so much smarter.
Workers in E Chinas Anhui work hard to send fruit cans overseas before Chinese Lunar New Year

People's Daily Online) 14:50, January 17, 2023

On January 11, just 10 days before the Chinese Lunar New Year, workers of Anhui Beibao Foods Co., Ltd. was busy sending out boxes of fruit cans for export to overseas markets.

Workers of Anhui Beibao Foods Co., Ltd. deliver their orders in Huaibei City, east China's Anhui Province, Jan. 11, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Lyu Huanhuan)

Since its establishment in the Xiangshan Economic Development Zone in Huaibei City, east China's Anhui Province in 2016, Beibao has established production fields for asparagus, mushrooms, apricots, strawberries, hawthorns, yellow peaches, pears and apples, and exports most of its products abroad, mainly to Europe and the Americas. Beibao has amassed annual sales exceeding 500 million yuan (about $74.25 million) in 2022. As the only major company in the fruit can production industry of Huaibei City, Anhui Province, Anhui Beibao applied a business model that connected fruit farmers with clients through the company.

Workers of Anhui Beibao Foods Co., Ltd. sort ingredients in Huaibei City, east China's Anhui Province. (People's Daily Online/Lyu Huanhuan)

Currently, we are in a peak period for sales, with orders for fruit cans reaching dozens of tons per day. The production schedule has been arranged until January 17, and our workers are working overtime to send out these products before Chinese Lunar New Year so that they can return home as early as possible to enjoy their New Year holidays, said Xu Chuanxiang, the general manager of Beibao.

Workers of Anhui Beibao Foods Co., Ltd. pack fruit cans in Huaibei City, east China's Anhui Province. (People's Daily Online/Lyu Huanhuan)

Xiangshan Economic Development Zone, where the company is located, has been issuing policies to support over 100 companies in the zone. During the pandemic control phase, as a company that relied on international trade, Beibao encountered many difficulties in delivering its products abroad, but received help from Xiangshan Zone. Our company was greatly supported by local officials in arranging logistics and connecting with customs, and helped us to remove the obstacles, making it easier to deliver our products abroad, said Xu.

(Web editor: Tian Yi, Du Mingming)
One of my dearest online friends, who well call Susan, put up a long post on social media last week. The gist of her diatribe, boiled down to one sentence: My mother-in-law insists on adding bacon to every potentially vegetarian item she makes. Susan and her son are strict vegetarians.

Green beans? With bacon. Mashed potatoes? With bacon. Dinner rolls? With bacon.

For Susan, this was pretty much a declaration of war. After trying to speak to her mother-in-law about it unsuccessfully, Susan turned to her 3,000 followers. I just dont know what to do anymore  what do yall think? Should we start boycotting her dinners?

She filtered her frustrations, writing only friends can see this post, and people I know wont talk to my husbands family. She didnt want to be rude, but she also didnt have an unbiased outlet to make sense of her in-laws actions.

My mother would call this airing out dirty laundry. Today, its both derided and lauded  demystifying family dynamics and revealing perhaps-too-much, all in the name of some big truth.

Of course, theres a long history of people complaining about their families to the general public. All memoirs are pretty much built on this premise, as are most novels  readers love misbehaving families, or at least the misbehaving families of strangers.

Its a little different when the family under scrutiny is your own. Within two hours of hitting post, Susan had taken down her declaration against her bacon-wielding in-law.

Someone referenced [the post] to my husband, who tried to find it, and then got super upset when he realized Id filtered him out too, she wrote to me after I asked what happened.

Susan was able to delete the post and remove evidence that it ever existed. She decided to keep a screenshot in case anyone ever misquoted it, but she doesnt anticipate the situation escalating any further. No one really saw it. Just a handful of people. But that was enough to get me in trouble.

Its hard to keep a secret on the internet, especially one about family. People find it exhilarating when family members turn on each other. Its hard not to imagine someone wanting to discuss the matter with Susans husband.

We seem to never run out of opinions on how other people relate to their closest relatives; millions of words and think pieces have been dedicated to discussing family dynamics  do we learn from other peoples dramas, have we normalized dysfunction, is it all cringe-worthy?  and Im not sure we are all landing on the same page. But perhaps the conversations are helping us anyway.

Consider recent headlines about Prince Harry, the duke of Sussex, or anything related to the Kardashian-West family  are we more empathetic or better people for having discussed their petty squabbles? The answer might be yes, even though over-saturation makes us all weary.

I know more than one person who has evoked the duke of Sussex in discussing their estrangement from their parents. We have a Prince Harry type situation, is shorthand for a whole lot of complex relationship issues.

Its easy to see the schadenfreude and relief inherent to reading about and discussing others dysfunction. Thank goodness thats not my family, seems to be the prevailing sentiment, but is there more to it?

Theres another pleasure to be had in the practice of publicly displaying our relatives soiled clothes  the joy of telling the brutal and unvarnished truth.

Ive often fantasized about standing up during a holiday dinner and telling everyone in my family what I actually think of them, what I know about who they are, how I feel about their cured meats and whatnot, but I also know how difficult, and embarrassing, it would be to sit through someone else doing that.

Still  the truths keep coming. Its titillating when the child of a politician unmasks their parent on TikTok, when a royal son complains, when a woman gets to shame her mother-in-law. The truth is cathartic, but the truth is also hard for those called out.

Freedom of expression is not freedom from consequences. But Im not sure the Susans of the world have to face the consequences alone. Her mother-in-law should be held accountable as well. She could make one dish without bacon, after all.

Perhaps this is the age of airing out dirty laundry. The best defense, though, is to keep your laundry as clean as possible, before it ever makes it outside.

(c)2023 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A car dealer from Mayambara, Seke who defrauded a client US$13 000 on the pretext that he bought a Mercedes Benz truck on his behalf from the United Kingdom has been slapped with a five-year jail term.

Tatenda Magura(30) director of Tatpat Shipping Company, located at Chikwanha Shopping Centre was convicted of fraud by Chitungwiza magistrate Ms Barbra Mateko.

Of the five-year sentence, Ms Mateko suspended one year on condition of good behaviour.

Two years were suspended on condition he pays restitution of US$13 600 by 28 June 2023. He will serve two years effective.

According to the State, sometime between May 10 and September 16, 2022 Tafadzwa Jani approached Magura at Tatpat Shipping Company seeking assistance to import a motor vehicle from the United Kingdom.

Magura agreed to facilitate the importation of a Mercedes Benz Ateggo 1690 flatbed truck worth US$13 365 000 under UK registration number MFZ 6802 for a fee.

They signed an affidavit on May 10 and Jani deposited US$8 000 and finished off balance in installments on July 24.

The court heard on June 2, Magura sent a fake and blurry Whatsapp picture message showing a bill of landing insinuating that the car had been imported and was now on a ship headed for Walvis Bay Namibia under ship name Helois Ray under the NMT Shipping Company.

Magura promised to deliver the vehicle on June 19 and failed to do so.

Then on June 29, after further enquiries from Jani, he sent him a screenshot from MACS Maritime Carrier Shipping Company that their ship Bright Sky had been delayed coming to Namibia.

Jani tracked the ship via the internet until July 23 when it showed that the ship had docked in Walvis Bay.

Jani paid the last deposit of US$1 000 the following day which was meant to cover travelling expenses to and fro Namibia.

Magure promised to deliver the truck after four days and later said that the vehicle had been held up at Namibian Customs and Exercise because it had undeclared spare parts belonging to Magure.

Upon further enquiries with NMT and MACS Maritime Carrier Shipping via email, Jani was told that the truck which had been purportedly for them had never been on the ship as alleged.

The bill of landing sent on Whatsapp was forgery and the ship Helois Ray had docked in Namibia in January 2022 and had never returned since.

Jani then made a police case leading to his arrest. Herald
RIPLE homicide suspect and ex-policeman, Jaison Muvevi, was yesterday afternoon extradited from Mozambique to Zimbabwe after spending Monday night in police holding cells in Manica town in the neighbouring country, following his arrest earlier that day.

Muvevi was arrested across the border in Mozambique, three days after allegedly gunning down three people in Hwedza, Mashonaland East Province, in a bizarre incident which has shocked the whole nation.

Heavily armed police were seen yesterday transferring Muvevi from Mutare Central Police Station to the capital pending his prosecution for the murder of the three people and attempted murder of at least two more.

The murder victims are Crispen Mubvana Kanerusine (62) of Zinzombe Village, Hwedza, Inspector Maxwell Hove (43) of ZRP Hwedza Camp and Munashe Mujanhi (20) of Mujanhi Village, Hwedza.

Detective Constable Tendai Mugova escaped with injuries sustained in the Hwedza shootings while a Mutare man, Raphael Nyahwema (23) narrowly escaped death when Muvevi shot at him and missed his target after a chance encounter at Mutare Boys High School where the fugitive was seeking food and possibly, refuge.

There were initial indications that Muvevi was likely to first appear in a Mozambican court to answer to charges of illegal entry into that country and pointing a firearm at a police officer.

However, the Mozambicans handed Muvevi over to the Zimbabwean authorities after extradition formalities were completed.

He was taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) station in Mutare before being transferred to Harare for further management.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the developments.

He is now in Zimbabwe and also on his way to Harare for further investigations, he said.

Muvevi is expected to appear in court soon facing three murder charges, two attempted murder charges, unlawful possession of firearms and border jumping, among others once investigations have been completed.

Muvevi, a former CID detective who is understood to have been a gold dealer, killed an apostolic church leader, Kanerusine, in cold blood as he was preaching in front of congregants in Hwedza on Friday afternoon.

He went on to fatally shoot the officer-in-charge of Hwedza Police Station, Inspector Hove and a male bartender, Mujanhi, while Constable Mugova was seriously injured in the gun fight with the rogue former cop.

After killing the three in Hwedza, Muvevi escaped resulting in police launching a manhunt for him.

Investigations revealed that Muvevi fled to Rusape and then Mutare where he bought a navy blue worksuit at a shop situated at Wasu Mall before he went to Mutare Boys High School premises.

A team of detectives and other security agents remained on high alert when they received information that Muvevi was still in Mutare and was likely to cross the border into Mozambique.

They then alerted their counterparts across the border and provided them with Muvevis pictures.

His luck ran out on Monday morning after he was identified as he was about to board a commuter omnibus in Manica, Mozambique.

He was then arrested, amid dramatic scenes, by police in the neighbouring country.

A team of Zimbabwean detectives was immediately deployed to Mozambique to carry out the due processes of the law before Muvevi was taken back to the country for prosecution.

Mozambican security details and their Zimbabwean counterparts, whose vehicles were allowed to cross into the eastern neighbouring country, escorted the suspect to Mutare around lunchtime where he was briefly detained before being whisked away under heavy police guard, to Harare. Herald
Tucked away on a hillside along the south coast of Lombok, Indonesia, Somewhere Lombok is an unspoiled retreat conceived, designed, and run by sisters Valia and Claire Gontard. Communal areas open to unparalleled views of Are Guling Bay, a world-renowned surf spot, and 20 standalone villas feature mini plunge pools overlooking the lush greenery of the valley and village below. Everything from the building materials to the decor is regionally sourced and produced, with the Gontard sisters' overarching ethos being that of creating a sustainable and responsible destination for modern travelers.

When sisters Valia and Claire Gontard joined forces in 2014 to rebrand the restaurant affiliated with their father's boutique hotel in Niseko, Japan, they realized a new goal: to create a destination of their own. Flash forward to today and the sisters are opening Somewhere Lombok, a conscious villa-only resort on the titular unspoiled Indonesian island, just a 30-minute flight east of Bali. Drawing on Valia and Claire's combined backgrounds in the hospitality industry and extensive travels, the property is a spirited retreatone that is inspired by and mindful of Indonesia's culture, environment, and local communities.

The sisters grew up in Hong Kong, but they've spent much of their adult lives moving around the world in places ranging from Japan to Canada to the UK. Then, two years ago, Valia, 29, resettled in Lombok, while Claire, 31, moved almost a year ago with her two children and husband.

From the very start, the sisters have led this project on every level, from the business side to the creative elements. Once they secured a 6,300-square-meter plot atop a steep hillside with stunning views of Are Guling Bay and Prabu Village in the valley below, they created what is now a luxe nature hideaway with a restaurant, spa, and 20 independent villas. Here, contemporary living is defined by notions of responsibility, conservation, and sustainability; architecture finds inspiration in the natural surroundings; and guests can unwind and relax but also explore untouched landscapes and surf world-class waves.

Somewhere Lombok's architectural concept was developed by Claire and Valia in collaboration with SWDesign and the Hong Kong-based branding and design studio Eight Partnership. The central communal space features an open-plan indoor area with the reception, restaurant, bar, and lounge, as well as an outdoor lawn and infinity pool overlooking the bay. With sustainability a primary concern, this area and all of the villas are oriented towards the south to maximize natural light. Plus, floor-to-ceiling windows throughout the property offer unparalleled sunrise and sunset views. Other key features, conceived together with the consultancy Eco Mantra, include natural ventilation, high thermal performance building materials, and reflective building finishes. There are also onsite facilities for harvesting rainwater and compositing, and greywater is recycled and reused.

Eight Partnership, Claire, and Valia also oversaw the interior design, with additional guidance from Studio Amal. The result is an elegantly simple and welcoming atmosphere filled with neutral tones and natural materials like wood, concrete, and local stones. Almost all of the furnishings throughout the property were sourced locally through the sisters' own network and in-depth research. Three standouts from regional artisans include intricate handwoven rugs and textiles by Kriyatex, handmade pottery and ceramic vessels by Casakaya, and woven baskets by Mami, whose workshop is less than a 15-minute drive from the property.

In each of the serviced villas are additional locally produced objects, including natural marble trays by Maharani Decoration and linen bed skirts by La Luna Linen. Walls are adorned with prints of Valia's own photographs of Lombok's people, places, and landscapes. Bespoke furniture like poolside tables and umbrellas were also produced by artisans on the island. The villas themselves boast 35 square meters of indoor space alongside 16-square-meter terraces equipped with cushioned seating areas and mini private plunge pools. The 20 standalone buildings are spread across four rows staggered on the hillside, with privacy established via winding pathways and stairs lined with 100% indigenous, non-invasive vegetationover 50% of which was also specifically chosen and planted to prevent land erosion and reduce drainage. The marble bathroom trays hold amenities by Sensatia Botanicals, a popular Indonesian brand known for vegan, reef safe, and environmentally friendly products, and every bathroom has a Toto toilet suite. Guests are also welcomed with homey touches, like a basket filled with fruit, coffee, tea, and cookies, and a rattan beach bag to use during their stays.

In the main building, the in-house restaurant is open all day and serves Indonesian fusion cuisine with a focus on fresh, locally sourced produce. The spa features two massage rooms, which can be connected for couples' treatments, an intimate outdoor plunge pool with a design inspired by rainwater collection tanks, and an outdoor shower. Additional amenities and services include a small boutique stocked with local products and Valia's photography prints, as well as regularly scheduled shuttles to and from the beach. Guests can also request shuttle rides to and from the nearby town of Kuta. Scooters are also available to rent, and if guests are looking for local tips, they can ask the staff, the majority of whom are from Lombok.

Destination

Somewhere Lombok is remotely situated on the south coast of Lombok, an Indonesian island east of Bali and west of Sumbawa known for its white-sand beaches and world-class surfing. Are Guling Bay, a renowned surf spot with 1.5 kilometers of stunning beachfront, is only two minutes away by car and the up-and-coming beach town Kuta is just a 10-minute drive. The island as a whole features unending breathtaking coastlines, lush mountains, and an abundance of preserved traditional Sasak culture. A number of surrounding smaller islands, locally called Gili, are motor-vehicle-free, offering undisturbed treks, pristine beaches, reefs, and even sea turtle hatcheries. Countless on- and off-water activities include surfing, fishing, hiking, rafting, paragliding, kite surfing, and mountain biking. The nearest airport is Lombok International Airport.

Hotel website
BANGKOK, THAILAND - As Thailands tourism industry powers its way into an accelerated period of recovery, with international arrivals pouring in and China poised to create the next big wave, whats the ensuing step for the Kingdom? The world has changed over the last three years so how is Thailand innovating to reshape the sector or is it back to the days of mass tourism?

Thailand Tourism Forum (TTF 2023) returned to Bangkok on Monday 16th January 2023 for its 12th annual edition to debate the issues and inspire future concepts. Running under the theme Innovation in Hospitality, the creative half-day event featured top-level speakers and discussions on key issues set to influence the industry in the months and years to come.

An 800-strong crowd of travel and hospitality professionals took part and heard how Thailands tourism machine needs to reinvent itself and become a pioneering force in branding, design and technology if it is to emerge stronger and more sustainable in the post-pandemic era.

Following an opening address by Bill Barnett, Managing Director of C9 Hotelworks, the events organiser, who explained Why Thailand Must Innovate, the forums keynote speaker took to the stage. Wallapa Traisorat, CEO & President of Asset World Corporation (AWC), Thailands leading hotel owner and developer, tackled the topic of Creating a New Hospitality Landscape with Brands.

Other important issues on the agenda included Disruption and Change in Hotel Technology & Distribution with Liz Perkins, Hiltons Vice President of Revenue Management & Commercial Services for Asia Pacific, Rethinking Thai Design Culture with Ho Ren Yung, Banyan Trees Senior Vice President of Brand & Commercial, and the Challenges of Being a Hotel Owner with Proudputh Liptapanlop, Executive Director of Proud Real Estate. Delegates were provided with an update on Thai hotel transactions and financing by JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group and an analysis of the competitiveness of the Thai hotel industry by STR Global, before Greenview founder Eric Ricaurte revealed his vision for the Hotel of the Future.

The major challenge that demands attention, according to C9s Bill Barnett is people, or the lack of them wanting to return the hospitality industry post Covid when over 1.45 million tourism jobs were lost. Wheres our pipeline of people? This is what will create success for the next generation. Thais no longer want to work in hotels so our mission must be how can we innovate products and bring the best and brightest people back to the industry. We have to pay higher wages. Now is the time for Thailands hotels to change, said Mr Barnett.

The point was reiterated by Proudputh Liptapanlop, Executive Director, Proud Real Estate PLC who said that Covid was a real wake-up call for owners about how to take care of their people.

Ms. Wallapa Traisorat, CEO & President of AWC, argued that product and brand integration was the key innovation for the future. For us it is all about creating happiness, she said. We are all searching for how we can be fulfilled and I believe we need to look into partnerships with brands to create unique projects that are integrated with the destination and bring local communities into the hotel experience. It should be an integrated customer journey.

For Liz Perkins, Vice President of Revenue Management & Commercial Services for Hilton APAC, the most important thing is to create the right balance between technology and people. The key is to successfully merge physical and digital to create seamless travel. During Covid we invested in technology. For example, we introduced digital keys for a fast track check-in. Customers can still go to reception but what we are doing differently is giving customers choice.

For me innovation comes from constraints, added Ho Ren Yung, Senior Vice President  Brand and Commercial, Banyan Tree Group. We created the pool villa concept as we were not on the beach 30 years ago. Now we are introducing a product with no walls or doors to bring nature in.

For more information, please visit www.thailandtourismforum.com.

For more photos TTF 2023, please click.

About C9 Hotelworks

C9 Hotelworks is led by founder and Managing Director Bill Barnett, who brings over 37 years' experience in the Asian hospitality and real estate sectors. Prior to founding C9 in 2003, Bill held senior executive roles in hotel operations, development and asset management. He is considered to be a leading global authority on hotel residences, and has sat at almost every seat around the hospitality and real estate table. Bill promotes industry insight through regular conference presentations at key events and contributes to numerous industry publications. For more information contact www.c9hotelworks.com
Aiming to reach 10 hotels, 2000 rooms, and creating 1,500 jobs by 2025 in Malaysia, Swiss-Belhotel International embarks in a strategic joint venture with Nautical Insight Sdn Bhd.

The hotel, tourism and leisure industry is one of the leading service industries and is a significant source of economic growth in Malaysias economy. Within Malaysia, the hospitality and tourism industry contributes 6% of Malaysias GDP and 23% of national employment (3.5 million jobs) and is the third-largest component of the service industry. Thus, it is a no-brainer for Swiss-Belhotel International to put a flag in one of the upcoming economies in Southeast Asia.

Swiss-Belhotel International is bringing its 35 years of expertise in hospitality to drive its aggressive expansion in the Malaysian market. Established in 1987 with 16 well-positioned brands to serve any hospitality asset, Swiss-Belhotel International currently has a portfolio of 125 hotels, resorts and projects located in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and Tanzania. The Group provides comprehensive and highly professional development and management services in all aspects of hotel, resort and serviced residences.

The Group recently marked its 35th anniversary celebrating the special milestone and its accomplishments. Staying true to its commitment, togetherness lies at the heart of everything the Group does as it continues to grow.

To fuel its robust expansion plans, the Group partners with Malaysian company Nautical Insight Sdn Bhd, the owner of LaCrista Hotel, a 5-star flagship hotel with 225 furnished rooms and focuses on the concept of Muslim travellers friendly accommodation.

We are delighted to partner with Nautical Insight who understands this market well. We see tremendous growth potential for our respective companies in Malaysia and will be aggressively pursuing development opportunities throughout the country. Focused on high-growth markets in South East Asia, our expansion is driven by long-term sustainability while strengthening our diverse portfolio of brands. Mr. Gavin M. Faull, Chairman and President of Swiss-Belhotel International

LaCrista Hotel Melaka adds to the charm of Melakas skyline, with its glass-domed ceilings and Roman pillars. It is a five-minute-drive from the local attractions in this UNESCO World Heritage Town.

LaCrista by Swiss-Belhotel aims to deliver the best personalised service to each and every guest who wish to create memories in its beautiful Colonial-inspired architecture. Embodying its tagline Your Personalised Lifestyle Hotel, the property is perfect for leisure and business travellers.

We are thrilled to partner with Swiss-Belhotel International and look forward to combining the strengths of both our companies. We believe that LaCristas better understanding of local culture and requirements can benefit the partnership in providing exquisite services to the customers. With the local knowledge and extensive networking that Nautical Insight has in Malaysia, we are confident that the partnership will deliver guests the exceptional hospitality with outstanding products perfectly suited for the local market. Dato Rosthman Ibrahim, Managing Director of Nautical Insight

Swiss-Belhotel Internationals expansion in Malaysia forms part of a broader growth strategy in the country, and worldwide. The group is also planning to introduce new properties in the future to other key destinations within Malaysia, including Kuala Lumpur. Swiss-Belhotel International brings global travellers and discerning tourists right in front of Malaysias tourist attractions like beautiful islands, beaches, quaint towns, heritage sites, and adventure spots.

About Swiss-Belhotel International Group

Founded in 1987, Swiss-Belhotel International Group is headquartered in Hong Kong, and offers hotels, resort, serviced residences and property management services in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Thailand. With full-service hotel brand concept, the Group's hotels cater to business & leisure travelers with hotels located in major city centers and resort destinations. The Group currently manages 125 properties in 16 countries under 16 brands.

For further information visit https://www.swiss-belhotel.com.
'Cause We're Living in a Material World

A study by Cloudwards found that, in 2021, a striking 37% of businesses and organizations worldwide underwent a ransomware attack. And, of these, 1/3 paid the ransom. But what are, exactly, ransomware? They are malicious software encrypting the victim's data and making them inaccessible until a ransom (hence the name) is paid. Usually, the perpetrators demand settlement in crypto, allowing them to receive compensation anonymously and avoid detection by law enforcement, with Bitcoin as the currency of preference (up to 98% of ransomware ransoms are paid in BTC). Ransomware attacks can be financially and operationally devastating for businesses because, let's put this straight up, there's no guarantee of getting your data back. Here's why it is generally advised not to pay ransoms, as there are no assurances that the attackers will actually decrypt or fully restore the affected data. Instead, all you're paying for is a vague commitment to unlocking the encrypted files. Moreover, paying victims of ransomware attacks may inadvertently encourage future attacks. Let me explain this: when attackers are successful in collecting ransoms, it kinda "proves" to them that their methods are effective and can be used to fund the development of more sophisticated malware and attack techniques. This reinforces the importance of focusing on prevention and recovery methods to mitigate the impact of ransomware attacks. Pretty cool, eh?

Some History

The most famous ransomware attack has to be 2017's WannaCry: it affected over 230,000 computers in more than 150 countries, causing billions of dollars in damages. The attack primarily concerned organizations that had not installed a Microsoft security update and/or using unsupported versions of Microsoft Windows. However, this is far from being a recent phenomenon. Ransomware have a long history, with one of the earliest recorded instances being the AIDS Trojan horse attack in 1989. This attack involved the distribution of a floppy disk (sic!) containing the ransomware to attendees of an AIDS conference (oh, the humanity...). When activated, it encrypted various files on the targeted hard drive and demanded that victims send $189 to a PO Box in Panama to retrieve their data...

A Scalable Business Model

The proliferation of ransomware attacks in recent years, however, can be primarily attributed to the emergence of what is usually known as Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS). Under this model, a developer creates a strain of ransomware and licenses it to other cybercriminals for their attacks. This model offers two primary benefits for hackers: first, the ransomware developer can earn money by collecting a percentage of each attack's revenue without having to carry out the attacks themselves, and second, attackers without a high level of technical expertise can utilize the "plug-and-play" RaaS model to focus on infecting victims and collecting payments. To use an analogy, it's like Booking.com for hackers. Not really but, hey, you got the picture.

For the Watch!

Ok, you may think this will never affect you. Well, you might want to hold that thought. According to a report from Datto, 85% of Managed Service Providers identified ransomware as the most common malware threat their small and medium business clients face. Moreover, if you believe that behind these attacks are hackers like those you see in 80's techno-thriller movies such as WarGames, the reality is that all it takes to f*ck your business up is falling for a juvenile phishing email. As much as 91% of cyberattacks begin with an email, so you're not only one click away from enlarging your, well, you get it... You're also one click away from destroying your business!

Could you Print my Boarding Pass?

Has a guest ever approached you and requested that you print a boarding pass from a USB stick that they provided? This is something else to be wary of. As a hotel worker, it is essential to be cautious when using USB devices, especially ones given to you by guests. These devices can potentially contain malicious software, which can infect your computer and compromise your network security. USB sticks are insidious because they can execute code, and it is possible to infect a computer simply by inserting them, without running any programs or clicking on any files. It is recommended to exercise caution when using USB devices and consider disabling the USB ports on the hotel computers tout court. Additionally, suppose a guest in your hotel can access the same network as your internal systems. In that case, they could potentially insert a malicious USB stick into their own device and compromise your network's security while having a coffee in room 214. If you are using a legacy PMS, this could potentially be a recipe for disaster. Property Management System is a mission-critical system for any hotel. If it is hacked or compromised, it could seriously disrupt your operations. Therefore, ensuring that the PMS is secure and protected from potential threats is essential. The best way to enhance the security of the PMS is to use a cloud-native system. By externalizing the PMS, the system becomes entirely resilient to attacks on the local network. Therefore, even if the local network is compromised or goes down due to an attack, the PMS can still operate normally because it is hosted on external servers. This ensures that the hotel can continue to operate smoothly, even in the face of a potential security threat.

Give Me Ransom or Give Me Death!

Ransomware may have a significant financial impact on your business, as the ransoms tend to be very high. It is a profitable business model for criminals, with the average ransom payment being around 1/4M$... Most victims of ransomware attacks choose to remain silent about the settlement they had with the hackers, so it's hard to evaluate precisely the amount of money involved in the activity. However, some decide to publicly disclose their ransomware payments, bringing attention to the issue and helping authorities and cybersecurity researchers in their efforts to combat the phenomenon. Over the past few years, several high-profile companies have been targeted with ransom demands. Some examples include Trenitalia, the Italian railway company, which was asked to pay a ransom of $5 million in Bitcoin; Nvidia, which was asked to pay $1 million; Accenture ($50 million); Apple ($50 million), MediaMarkt, ($240 million), and Ace ($50 million). And that's just the ransom! The recovery process after an attack can be way more expensive, with the average cost estimated at $1.85 million. This includes the ransom payment itself and expenses associated with downtime, lost data, and other financial impacts.

How to Protect Your Business

Effective prevention of ransomware attacks requires a combination of robust monitoring applications, frequent file backups, anti-malware software, and user training. While no cyber defenses can eliminate risk, implementing these measures can significantly reduce the chances of a successful attack. The use of cloud-based systems can also enhance resilience and protection against ransomware attacks. In contrast to on-premise systems, which a ransomware attack can completely halt, a cloud-based system can quickly be switched to a backup server in the event of an attack, minimizing downtime and allowing businesses to continue operating. This can be particularly beneficial for hotels, which rely on their PMSs to manage reservations and guest information daily. Even in the event of a longer-term outage, such as a server breakdown or an extended power outage, a cloud-based system can ensure that operations can continue without disruption, resulting in a better experience for guests and reduced financial losses for the hotel. It's worth remembering that, on average, a ransomware attack creates 21 days of downtime. For hotels, the inability to operate without a property management system for three weeks is pure nonsense. Using a legacy system, when it comes to cybersecurity, is like posting a sign that says, "this is the way, come inside!" to hackers. And if you think you're immune, remember what I've said before: you're just one click away...
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'Up and Adams' Wellness Initiative to Begin in February

ADAMS, Mass.  The town's "Up and Adams" wellness initiative, which seeks to improve health and wellness behaviors in the community, is slated to begin early next month.

The initiative will feature several events and activities intended to promote cooperative and sustainable wellness practices. On Wednesday, the Board of Health officially approved a Berkshire Health Alliance mini-grant application for the 12-week program, worth just under $3,500, in addition to funding and donations already obtained from the Barrett Foundation and other sources.

"This is hoping to build in a more sustainable stress reduction, peer connection, and then through all those things, wellness is really born," said program coordinator Erin Lenski, who explained she has reached out to several businesses and some of the largest employers in town to be involved, such as Hoosac Valley Regional School District, Adams Community Bank and Specialty Minerals.

Program events, which Lenski said will be recorded for later viewing, are meant to be cooperative, so people encourage others to get involved. Lenski said feedback from initial outreach on the initiative so far has been favorable, with more planned outreach in the weeks to come.

"They all had some really positive feedback in terms of how this wellness for employees aligns with their greater mission in their business," she said.

Selectman Howard Rosenberg said the initiative should help spread community awareness about wellness. He said this year, being the first year of the initiative, will allow them to learn and improve the program for future years.

"The people who need it the most are the most disenfranchised and the hardest to reach, actually. So our thinking is, given the budget we have, let's pilot something and then ask key questions, like how do we access people who need this but don't participate," he said. "That's a question. At this point, I don't have the answer to it. But we could use this as a way to learn more about it. And then, as this thing goes forward, now we know more about it."

When asked why the program does not have as much of a competitive focus, Lenski said this model pushes people to continue with newly learned wellness practices after the initiative is over.

"We did want it to feel more inclusive and sustainable. And not like a one-off, you win the prize now you're done," she said. "So kind of building in these strategic networks of wellness and well-being with people with whom they have encounters in that business model on a daily basis."

In other business:

The board welcomed Elias Masse, the town's new administrative assistant, who will do the minutes and other administrative duties on behalf of the board. Department of Public Works Administrative Assistant Michelle DeRose had previously done this for the board.

Rhoads thanked DeRose for the time and effort she has given to help the board.

The board briefly discussed its cannabis-related guidance on the town website. Rhoads said several establishments are coming into the town, and he hopes to be involved in public health outreach and any potential community impact fees.

"You have to justify it, you have to track it track it. You have to show that it is directly related to the impact," he said. "Great Barrington has done a great job, because they're putting funds into addition resources and stuff like that."

Rosenberg suggested the board canvas other boards of health for more information on what they do with community impact fees.
Mount Greylock School Committee Hears Budget Requests, Budget Constraints

Updated at 12:20 Tuesday with additional comments from the principal at Williamstown Elementary School

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  On the same night it heard about a challenging budget season ahead, the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee heard requests for as many as eight new full-time positions in the district.

The first order of business on the schedule Thursday was a discussion of fiscal year 2024 funding priorities for Williamstown Elementary School and Mount Greylock Regional School.

Middle-high school Principal Jacob Schutz gave a presentation from Mount Greylock's School Council that identified five priorities for FY24, including the addition of four positions: a Spanish teacher, visual arts teacher, a 504 coordinator and a behaviorist.

The request from the WES School Council, as reported by Principal Cindy Sheehy, was more modest: level staffing from the current school year except for increasing the instrumental music teacher position from half-time to full-time.

But during the public comment portion of the meeting, WES second grade teacher Kathleen Albano asked the School Committee to consider an FY24 budget that includes three new paraprofessional positions in the primary grades and a second technology teacher for the pre-K through 6th grade school.

Last month , the principal at Lanesborough Elementary School gave that school's funding requests, which included an additional 1.5 paraprofessional positions.

After hearing all those asks of the three district schools, the School Committee heard a preliminary budget discussion from the district's business administrator.

Based on projected increases from level-staffing and increased supply costs (disposables and utilities), the district is projecting a 3.4 percent increase in its gross operating and capital budget for FY24.

That is before the district  and municipal entities around the county  learn later this month whether the Berkshire Health Group will be raising premiums in FY24, whether the district will need to pay a higher rate to the Berkshire County Retirement System and the true impact of union negotiations underway for new three-year contracts that begin on July 1.

The board of the retirement system is set to meet on Jan. 25; the Berkshire Health Group board meets on Jan. 30.

As for the Mount Greylock district's labor contracts, Bergeron indicated their impact remains an unknown.

"The $750,000 number that we're currently projecting for staff salary increases, the vast majority of that is within our union contracts," he said. "A lot of that is step and column progression, as well as percentage increases we think are responsible to budget for based on negotiations around the state and negotiations we're having.

"That $750,000 is just a placeholder for me right now. The exact number will be different, but we need something to work with."

The $750,000 number plus the $90,000 projected in increases for supplies like utilities leads to the 3.4 percent gross budget increase.

Some of that could be offset by, for example, increased state aid or utilizing the district's reserve accounts (tuition, School Choice and excess and deficiency). But that $840,000 increase, again, is for level-funded services, not taking into account any of the funding requests from the district's three School Councils.

Bergeron noted that the level of state funding likely is to be unknown later into the budget system than in recent years as a new administration takes over on Beacon Hill for the first time in eight years.

In the spring, the School Committee will need to vote to approve a budget proposed by the administration and send that FY24 spending plan and requested assessments to pay for it to the member towns of Lanesborough and Williamstown. The Finance Committees in each town have the authority to review the budget, and it is town meeting in each town that has the final say on whether to pay the assessment.

The seven members of the School Committee will bring to their own deliberations the appeals from the three School Councils, which are, by law, empowered to advocate for individual buildings in a regional school district.

It also will carry the testimony of a few parents who logged into last week's virtual meeting to argue in favor of one of the funding requests from Mount Greylock, the addition of a middle school visual arts teacher.

Briee Della Rocca was the first person to address the committee during the meeting's public comment section.

"[R]esearch shows students experience greater social and emotional wellbeing when exposed to visual and performing arts, that they advance in their academic achievements and engagement and they gain economic and civil mobility when they have access to arts curriculum," Della Rocca said.

"Those results are even more profound when they have access to the arts in middle school."

She told the committee that arts programs in schools lead to, "fewer disciplinary actions, fewer absences and gains in overall academic engagement and aptitude."

Schutz also lobbied for a new arts teacher, in addition to a few other positions advanced by the School Council and a software upgrade for Mount Greylock's PowerSchool system.

An additional Spanish teacher would help reduce class sizes and add courses that would appeal to a greater number of students, Schutz said. A 504 coordinator would help handle the 100 current 504 plans for students at the middle-high school and the 50 referrals that the school has received this year. And a behaviorist would address higher needs students.

"A behaviorist is someone who has a background in restorative justice, positive behavior intervention, and with dealing with students in crisis," Schutz said. "It's not necessarily to the level of a social worker, but it's someone whose main task and goal would be working with students who have behavior issues."

Pressed by School Committee member Jose Constantine to prioritize the positions in his funding request, Schutz somewhat reluctantly picked one.

"With my perspective, wanting all of them and a couple more, I would say the most bang for our buck and the position that would sort of holistically help the most would be the behaviorist position," Schutz told the committee.

Albano, the second grade teacher at Williamstown Elementary, argued that additional paraprofessional support in the younger grades is a need at the school.

Currently, she said, WES' pre-kindergarten and kindergarten grades have one "para" per classroom, but that number drops to one para for the four first-grade classrooms, one for the three second-grade classrooms and one for the three third-grade classrooms.

"My reasons for suggesting some extra paras and help are mainly student needs," Albano said. "Since the pandemic, we have seen so many more social emotional needs coming out as well as academic need. As a second grade teacher, seeing the different levels as kids come into second grade and their abilities, they really start to vary. Having that extra body in the classroom to support those kids is really important."

WES Principal Sheehy this week said that the School Council had discussed the idea of extra support for the primary grades. However, we are hoping to get additional data that would support the need, Sheehy wrote in response to an email asking for clarification. In light of all the funding requests (School Council-supported and otherwise) and the preliminary numbers for a level funded budget, School Committee member Carrie Greene asked Bergeron, the business administrator, what message supporters of visual arts programming at the middle school should take away from Thursdays meeting.

"I hear those requests," Bergeron said. "I agree with them. ... I think it's really helpful to clearly articulate what you want and why that is a very reasonable want to have. But then that does need to balance into these discussions we're going to have over the next couple of months to try to figure out how we can achieve that, if we can achieve that.

"I loved what was said, and I want it. Now we need to figure out if we need to sacrifice something else, or if we can find other ways to make it happen."

In other business on Thursday, the School Committee voted unanimously to approve the "Secure Gun Storage Resolution ," advanced by the national Be SMART for Kids advocacy group.

The resolution directs the district's superintendent and staff to, "inform parents and guardians of their legal obligations regarding the secure storage of firearms," and work with "local law enforcement agencies, health agencies and non-profit organizations" to advance those education efforts.

Superintendent Jason McCandless told the School Committee that Mount Greylock became the first district in Western Massachusetts to adopt the resolution with the panel's vote on Thursday.
Through economic and political collapse, the fundamental human rights the Sri Lankan government claims to uphold are frequently disrespected or ignored. In achieving legitimate democratic governance in Sri Lanka, the voice of protestors must be heard, writes Gayathri Nawarathne.

Sri Lanka, a country that considers itself to have a democratic socialist government and has promised through a number of local and international laws the implementation of democratic practices through its governance. Its Constitution which is known as the supreme law of the country has emphasized in Article 03: In the Republic of Sri Lanka, sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the franchise.

In the 3rd chapter of the constitution (1978), it is said in

Article 11: No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment

Article 14: (1) Every citizen is entitled to-

(a) the freedom of speech and expression including publication;

(b) the freedom of peaceful assembly;

(c) the freedom of association; 

2022 is a year in which the political and socio-economic context of Sri Lanka has gone through a major upheaval. There has been widespread displeasure with the regime's illegal and corrupt actions, and their peaceful expression started in the first quarter of 2022. There, the public criticized and rejected the positions arbitrarily appointed by the government, and the right of speech and expression of opinion was not directly violated by the government, but the government media outlets published false and hateful statements about the said persons and events.

A veteran and award-winning announcer working for a government-run television service were fired after the network was given a notice by the President's Secretariat because she had recorded a statement criticizing the government through her personal social media account. As well as clearly violating the aforementioned Articles 11 and 14 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, dismissal from an organization as a journalist can be pointed out as an instance where the government acted in violation of her professional rights.

With the rise of people's opposition to the existing regime, the method of suppressing those protests on the part of the government also became severe. There, the government seemed to adopt arbitrary measures to suppress the peaceful protests led by the public.

This was seen on March 31, 2022; when peaceful protestors demonstrated in front of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's residence, police attacked not only the general public but also the journalists who went to report on the incident. Due to the impact, several journalists were injured and taken to hospital and the journalists who went to report the incident were also arrested by the police. It can be pointed out that this is a violation of the journalist's right to report and a serious threat to the freedom of speech and expression. In a situation like this, the police should have acted legally and not taken away the rights of professional journalists.

Assembly and protest, expression of opinion is a constitutional right of the citizen. Therefore, the police, who are bound to act according to the law to protect the fundamental rights of the arrested journalists and other citizens, acted arbitrarily by attacking their responsibilities.

On April 3, 2022, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission informed service providers to block all social media used in the country at the request of the Ministry of Defense, with the aim of preventing public protests against government corruption. Before that, the President declared a state of emergency and tried to stop the public protests by imposing a curfew across the country.

Sri Lanka was going through a very dark period in its history economically and politically, and due to the government's failure to find solutions it used existing laws in an anti-democratic manner to suppress the voices of the people.

Social media has now become an integral part of people's life and has become an essential tool for enjoying the above rights. Recently, it has also been used as a broad platform for professional journalism, and a media community engaged in professional journalism has been formed through Facebook pages and YouTube channels. This arbitrary step of the government is a deliberate disruption of the right of the people to know information and the professional rights of the above media community.

In an atmosphere of crisis, the space for a the free flow of ideas and protest should be expanded, and the imposition of such repressive laws violates the people's democratic rights, including freedom of speech and expression.

The Government and the Sri Lankan Police did not take any action regarding government supporters who, having left a meeting called by the Prime Minister on May 9 at his official residence, failed to prevent the brutal attack on the nearby demonstration and the 'Gothagogama' protest site.

Violent supporters of the government have attacked and injured large numbers of peaceful protesters and caused extensive property damage. It is reported that journalists have been among the injured, and terrorists have targeted and attacked journalists. Clergy and women have been severely attacked.

Police and Special Task Force (STF) officers attacked four Sirasa TV journalists who were engaged in reporting activities near the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. This number rose by two, as police attacked two journalists coming to the aid of their colleagues. In such a crisis, the role of the media is to allow the free flow of information to the people. It is a duty performed in accordance with the fundamental rights mentioned in the Constitution. These journalists suffered an undeniable violation of their fundamental rights.

At the time of the attack, the concerned journalists were legally protected by Articles 14(1)a and 14(1)g of the Constitution and should not be subjected to torture, cruel or inhuman or degrading treatment as mentioned in Article 11 of the Constitution. They were entitled to their basic rights.

Sri Lanka is a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Torture, having ratified it in Act No. 22 of 1994. The police and STF officers who brutally attacked the journalists who were engaged in their reporting have also acted illegally according to that act.

It can be pointed out that the forced entry of two people who introduced themselves as activists during the period of these protests into the Sri Lanka Television Corporation, a state media organization, is damage to the use of free media as well as a loss of the integrity of the peaceful struggle that has taken place in the country so far. The democratic, non-violent, pluralistic and advanced cultural expression reflected by the struggle was widely praised as a precedent for a future Sri Lanka.

After Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the successor President, on July 22, 2022, the security forces launched a brutal and despicable attack on the Galle face struggle grounds. Local, foreign and citizen journalists who reported the incidents were attacked and their equipment was damaged. The journalists have not yet received complete information about the attacks and damages. All the access roads to the Galle face battleground have been blocked and journalists have not had the opportunity to enter there even in the morning.

The attack was carried out despite the fact that the protesters had publicly announced that they would leave the premises of the Presidential Secretariat.

It can be pointed out as a violation of basic rights launched by the Ranil Wickremesinghe government against the arrest of Joseph Stalin, a senior trade union leader and a front-line social activist. Also, several university students who were involved in the struggle have still been arrested by the government under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Finally, in the year 2022, Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic collapse in its history, and for that, the Public believed that the weaknesses in the economic and political management of the rulers who had ruled the country for more than a decade were the cause of this. The struggle started along a path, but the government tried to suppress the peaceful protests of the people by interpreting and implementing the legal provisions in an anti-democratic way. It can be pointed out that during the conflict between the government and the general population, arbitrary actions were taken by both the government side and the protestors' side. For example, the counterattack on Gota Go Gama on May 9, 2022, by the public, the burning of the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's house on July 6, 2022, and the forced entry into the SLRCC. It should also be noted that the peaceful protest was defiled. Building a democratic society cannot be done by the ruler alone and the responsibility towards the general public cannot be underestimated. But we believe that if the people express their opinions in a peaceful manner, it is the responsibility and role of the ruler to listen to those opinions and respond to them in a responsible manner.

Gayathri Nawarathne is the program coordinator for the Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka.
Ukrainian journalists' organisations are sounding the alarm. The new Media Law signed by President Volodymir Zelensky on 29 December threatens media freedom. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) call on the European Commission and the Council of Europe to convince the Ukrainian authorities to review the law, in consultation with journalists' organisations and the media.

The representative trade unions of Ukrainian journalists, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU), as well as the National Association of Media of Ukraine denounce multiple problematic provisions, starting with the political dependence of the state regulator and the widening of the spectrum of extrajudicial sanctions against the media.

On 29 December, president Zelensky signed into law a controversial bill that expands the government's regulatory power over news media. The new law allows the state media regulator, the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council(NTRBC), to regulate print and online media, as well as internet, television, radio and online platforms such as YouTube and social networks. It also provides the state media regulator with the right to fine media outlets, revoke their licenses, and temporarily block certain publications without a court ruling.

The NTRBC is a constitutional body. Half of its members are appointed by the president, and half by the parliament, which is controlled by the pro-presidential majority. The state media regulator obviously falls under the total control of Ukrainian authorities.

We welcome the implementation of the EU Audiovisual Directive, which is included in the new law, said NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko. And we also welcome the modernization of Ukrainian media legislation. But at the same time, the authorities should conduct a broad dialogue with journalists and the real media sector when introducing new rules. In the past, Ukrainian journalists have always been the driving force behind new media laws, as they saw them as a tool to protect freedom of expression and the profession. Currently, we do not see active supporters of the law among journalists. Rather, it is a law that aims to strengthen state regulation of the media.

Ukrainian officials, through the media they control, have launched a campaign to discredit those who constructively criticize certain provisions of the law, instead of working on the laws shortcomings and initiating the necessary dialogue with the professional sector, added IMTUU President Serhiy Shturkhetskyy. This makes us fear what awaits us after the full implementation of the law: government officials will declare those who disagree with their vision to be enemies of the country or foreign agents. This perspective of state and political regulation of the media is in total contradiction with the desire of Ukrainian civil society for European integration.

A state regulator with such sanctioning powers, without even going through a court, cannot be under the full control of the government, said EFJ President Maja Sever. Journalists' unions were not consulted on the latest version of the law. We call on the European Commission and the Council of Europe to convince the Ukrainian authorities to enter into dialogue with journalists' organisations and with media organisations. The duty of solidarity with the Ukrainians, in the face of the Russian aggressor, should not prevent us from criticizing legal provisions which threaten freedom of the press and the right of citizens to access credible, pluralist and independent information.

IFJ President Dominique Pradalie declared: "Media freedom and pluralism are in danger in Ukraine under the new media law, which could create systemic problems for democracy in the country, as it expands the state control over the media. It is very important for Ukrainians, who are suffering from a terrible war, to be able to rely on credible information".

"The IFJ, together with its affiliates, NUJU and IMTUU, has already called on the Ukrainian government to revise the new law. Today, we join the EFJ in asking the European institutions to convince the Ukrainian authorities to reform the legislation and to start a broad inclusive dialogue with journalists' unions and the media sector. We must remember that there can be no democracy without independent journalism and a free press," Pradalie concluded.
This publication is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in the Indian market and includes a gu...
A multifaceted public personality, Biju Patnaik, was an industrialist and freedom fighter was a fearless and courageous pilot who never backed down from any dangerous assignment to fly. A proof of this is the iconic Dakota DC-3 in which the two-time Odisha Chief Minister flew to Delhi former Indonesian Vice President Muhammad Hatta and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir in July 1947 when the Dutch invaded the country.

This 20-metre-long aircraft which at present is kept at Kolkatas Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, will be soon moved to Odishas capital city Bhubaneswar and displayed at Biju Patnaik International Airport.

The dismantling of the craft is being completed though the process which started way back in October 2020 got delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The dismantled Dakota(DC-3) VT-AUI flown by late chief minister of Odisha, Biju Patnaik to rescue Indonesian PM Sutan Sjharir and vice president Mohammad Hatta to begin its journey from Kolkata to Bhubaneswar today. The parts weighing 8 tonnes are being carried in 2 open trucks. pic.twitter.com/d2ExondCtM    (@debabrata2008) January 16, 2023

The aircraft parts which weigh more than eight tonnes will be transported to Bhubaneswar in two open trucks. The Transport and Commerce Department along with the Odisha Police is coordinating with their West Bengal counterparts for the safe passage of the trucks.

In 1945 Indonesia freed itself from Dutch rule with President Sukarno and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir forming an independent Government. The Dutch in 1946 started invading the country and in July 1947 launched a full-fledged attack with their army placing Sjahrir under house arrest in Jakarta.

Jawaharlal Nehru asked Patnaik to fly Sjahrir and the then Vice-President Mohammad Hatta to enable them to reach out to the world. Along with his wife Gyana Devi, Patnaik reached Jakarta on July 21 and brought back the two to India flying via Singapore.

For this brave act in 1950, Patnaik was given an honorary citizenship of Indonesia and awarded the Bhoomi Putra, a recognition rarely granted to a foreigner.

The Kalinga Airlines Patnaik founded had Dakota planes which were used to transport Army jawans when deployed in Kashmir and dropping supplies in north-eastern regions of the country.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday puts Pakistan-based Abdul Rehman Makki on the global terrorist list under its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee.

The blacklisting has taken place despite Chinas attempt last year to block Indias proposal to name the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader a global terrorist. In June 2022, India had exposed Chinas design to back Pakistan on the issue at the UN.

India and the US have already blacklisted Makki as a terrorist under their domestic laws. He has been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalizing youth and planning terror attacks in India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir.

On 16 January 2023, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions concerning ISIL (Daesh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2610 (2021) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, the UN said in a statement.

UNSC ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee list Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist. pic.twitter.com/ttgDAr5iRi  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2023

Makki is the brother-in-law of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. He has occupied various leadership roles within LeT, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). He has also played a role in raising funds for LeT operations.

In 2020, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court convicted Makki on one count of terrorism financing and sentenced him to prison, according to the US State Department.

China has been opposing the listing of known Pakistani terrorists. It had repeatedly blocked proposals to designate Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based and UN-proscribed terrorist entity, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). The rogues gallery that Beijing has protected from blacklisting by the consensus based UNSCs 1267 committee includes Sajid Mir, Talah Saeed, the terror, son of LeT founder Hafez Saeed, and Jaish-e-Mohammed terror leader Mufti Rauf Azhar. Sajid Mir was the main handler of the 26/11 attacks.

Pakistan had declared Mir dead, but had to acknowledge his presence on its soil under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). India also wants the UNSC to ban Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi the operational commander of the 26/11 attacks.

With 26/11 attacks as the focus, Indias intent to launch a counter-narrative international campaign against terror is visible in plain sight. In October, India hosted a major UN Security Councils anti-terrorism meeting. Importantly, the conference was held at Mumbais Taj Mahal hotelthe scene of the carnage in 2008, fuelling fresh outrage against the horrendous crime.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on record saying that New Delhi was in no mood to forget 26/11 and move on. Instead, he stressed that, India cant forget the wounds of the Mumbai attacks. Now, todays India is combating terrorism with a new policy and new ways, he said as tweeted by the external affairs ministry.

In a similar vein, defence minister Rajnath Singh has asserted that, This country has not forgotten the incident of 26/11, nor will it ever forget.

Indias angst is now echoing across the globe. Timed with the anniversary of the 26/11 attacks, unprecedented protests were held outside Pakistani missions in many international metropolitan centres including New York and London.

Also Read: New India turns the heat on Pak-global terror alliance
Who doesn't love a good treasure hunt? From swash-buckling pirate adventures to gritty war dramas, these films are all about the long and risky journeys people take to find riches. If you're in the mood for fun and grandeur, few movies can beat the epic scale and action of a proper treasure hunt movie. Here is a list of the best treasure hunting adventure movies worth watching, perfect for when you're looking for a little cinematic escapism, whether by sea, jungle, or desert!

11. Gold

IMDb

Directed by Stephen Gaghan, Gold follows McConaughey through the jungle on a quest to find, you guessed it, gold. The crime-drama is loosely based on the Bre-X mining scandal in 1993, where the gold samples discovered by Bre-X Minerals Ltd. in Indonesia turned out to be a fraud. When Kenny (McConaughey) loses the family business, he treks out to the Asian jungle in search of a way out.



10. Treasure Island

Google Play

Based on a novel of the same name by R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island is considered one of the most impressive movies about treasure hunt, corruption, greed, action, and adventure. One day, a former-pirate named Captain William Bones, a sickly tempered drunkard comes to the inn. He gives Jim a treasure map after being visited by two fellow pirates, a note marked with black spot. The same night, the Captain is found dead, and an attack takes place at the inn.



9. Armour of God

Netflix

Jackie Chan and Eric Tsang's Armour of God is deemed a cult classic nowadays, featuring some of Chan's early stunts and battle heroics. Chan stars as "Asian Hawk," a former musician-turned-treasure-hunter. The highest-grossing film in Hong Kong at the time, Armour of God tracks Asian Hawk and his buddy Alan (Alan Tam) as they set out to save a kidnapped woman.



8. Romancing The Stone

IMDb

Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) spends her whole life writing whimsical fantasy novels, lost in a world of adventure and romance. Although successful, being an author leaves her pretty lonely, that is, until she's hurled into her own wild exploits. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, Romancing the Stone was followed by an equally successful sequel called The Jewel of the Nile in 1985.



7. The Mummy

CinemaBlend

A three-part franchise that began in 1999, The Mummy features your typical tanned American adventurer riding through the sands in search of treasure. Brendan Fraser stars as said-hero Rick O'Connell, who served as captain in the French Foreign Legion. Set in 1925, Rick guides aspiring Egyptologist Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) and her brother across the Sahara desert to the ancient lost city Hamunaptra. En route, however, the gang accidently sets free the reincarnation of a 3,000-year-old vengeful Egyptian priest.



6. National Treasure

Variety

Jon Turteltaub's two-part Disney adventure is a bit of a guilty pleasure. While the kids will enjoy the action-packed trail of clues and boobytraps, adults can tune into the dry sarcastic humor and, well, Nicolas Cage. Cage stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates: cryptographer, historian, and modern-day treasure hunter. His tech-savvy sidekick Riley (Justin Bartha) helps him to decipher the secret that "lies with Charlotte."



5. The Goonies

IMDb

Mikey (Sean Astin), Chunk (Jeff Cohen), Mouth (Corey Feldman), and Data (Jonathan Ke Quan) have all grown up together, but are forced to say goodbye when their town undergoes foreclosure. The gang decides to spend their last weekend treasure-hunting, following the discovery of a treasure map in Mikey's attic. This fun-but-dangerous mission gets them into a whole bunch of trouble, not just from deadly booby-traps but also the involvement of the Fratelli crime family.

4. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

IMDb

When you see The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, you immediately think of it as a spaghetti Western, which, of course, is true. But it's also a treasure-hunting adventure! The Italian epic was directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood in his prime cowboy days. Blondie (Eastwood) is a mysterious and talented bounty hunter, who teams up with a Mexican outlaw to uncover $20,000 that a soldier buried in the desert. It might not be a pirate's chest of jewels, but it still counts as treasure nonetheless.



3. Pirates Of The Caribbean

Popsugar

We can all agree that Pirates of the Caribbean should stop with the sequels now, which haven't been particularly great since Jack sailed to the edge of the world. But the first three movies (directed by Gore Verbinski) are swash-buckling classics that deserve a place on this list. Johnny Depp stars as the iconic drunken English pirate, Jack Sparrow. He cares about nothing but himself, his treasure, and his rum, which lands Jack in many dodgy situations.



2. Blood Diamond

IMDb

Blood Diamond is a treasure-hunting tale from a different angle, taking place in a war-ravaged Sierra Leone of 1999. The not-so-family-friendly film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Danny Archer, a Rhodesian smuggler and mercenary who sets out to find a rare pink diamond. Directed by Edward Zwick, Blood Diamond is a gritty political thriller that doesn't shy away from the guts and gore of war. Though DiCaprio's South African accent has its holes, his performance is spot on alongside Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly.



1. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

IMDb

The 80s dream team of Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg brought us Raiders of the Lost Ark, where archaeologist Indiana Jones seeks out the Ark of the Covenant to defeat the Nazis in 1936. This film was followed by Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984. The Indiana Jones series is perfect for all audiences: families, nerds, film scholars... anyone with a TV screen and sense of adventure.


K-drama lovers credit Crash Landing On You for their fixation with Korean web series. For most of us, CLOY was probably the first series that started this tryst. Son Ye-jin and Hyun Bins ethereal chemistry made us root for this couple. So much so that fans were over the moon when the duo announced their relationship, followed by their wedding and recently, the birth of their son.



Netflix

Heres another piece of news that is likely to incite mixed emotions for fans.

The hit Korean show Crash Landing On You is all set to get an American remake. However, theres a twist. It is being said that the show will be made into a sci-fi series for the American audience.

The announcement of the remake was made two years back. During a press conference in 2021, hosted by CJ ENM, Kang Chul-ku, the CEO of production company Studio Dragon, had said that the details of the American remake are in the final stages of planning and development.

netflix

The potential concept was revealed by Netflixs global head of television, Bela Bajaria, and the head of drama development, Jinny Howe, during one of the interviews recently.

During the interview, Bajaria was quizzed about the theme of the American remake of CLOY as the original revolves around the North and South Korean conflict.

Jinny said, So, I think were gonna see if maybe we can make that divide a little bit more symbolic. Were looking into sci-fi. Bajaria added, Well, you need a world, right? Because it is the culture clash of two people who dont fit together but were meant for each other.

Netflix

For the unversed, Crash Landing On You was released in 2019.

It revolves around a South Korean heiress Yoon Se-ri who unfortunately crash-lands in North Korea due to a paragliding accident. She was found by North Korean military captain Ri Jeong-hyeok. He takes it upon himself to send her back to her country safely without anyone discovering her identity. During this mission, the two fall in love.

Netflix

It was so loved by the fans that the series went on to become the highest-rated shows for tvN. Years after its release, fans still continue to discuss the show till date. Check it out:

CLOY can be streamed on Netflix.

To read more such stories related to movies and shows released on OTTs, keep reading Indiatimes BINGE)


On June 13, 1997, 59 people were killed when a fire broke out during a screening of JP Dutta's epic war saga Border at the Uphaar Cinema in Green Park, Delhi.

Although the movie had actors portraying war heroes at the Battle of Longewala in 1971, off-screen, Captain Manjinder Singh Bhinder became a real-life hero for many people who were caught in a catastrophic fire.

'Border' featured actors playing the roles of war heroes during the battle. But a real hero died while saving 150 people from the fire.

Times Now

While Netflix's recent series gives us a dark and painful reminder of what conspired on 13th June 1997, Capt. Manjinder Singh Bhinder's story wasn't a part of it.



Netflix/Trial By Fire

Capt. Bhinder emerged as the true hero of the fire at the Uphaar cinema.

Trial By Fire on Netflix is a must watch, Eye-Opening account of the tragedy of Uphaar cinema fire, splendid performances from all the actors



However it leaves out a key element out of story, not sure why?



Capt. Manjinder Singh Bhinder of the 61st Cavalry of the Indian Army... pic.twitter.com/IUmJEK5Jy6  Capt Shashank (@Capt_Cool1) January 14, 2023

Through his bravery and sacrifice, he was able to rescue the lives of people who were trapped inside the burning building.

Twitter

Capt. Bhinder, his son Prabhsimran Singh, then age 4, and his wife, Jyot Saroop Kaur, were also killed in the tragic 1997 fire at the Uphaar cinema.

https://www.ppsona.com/

As the fire spread, Captain Bhinder stayed behind to rescue whomever he could through the safe passage.

A SOLDIER IS NEVER OFF DUTY



On 13th June, 1997 Capt Manjinder Singh Bhinder of 61 CAVALRY with his wife Jyot-Roop and four years old son Ruskin, went to see the film Border in Uphaar Cinema in Green Park area, New Delhi. While the movie was on, the Hall caught fire. pic.twitter.com/tKxk4GTAnx  Guardians_of_the_Nation (@love_for_nation) August 26, 2021

Before he sacrificed his life, the courageous officer saved many people's lives.

Capt Manjinder Singh Bhinder sacrificed his life trying to save 150 people trapped in Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy even after realising that his 4 YO son & wife too were engulfed in the flames and couldnt be saved. An outstanding horseman he captained the NDA and IMA Equestrian+ pic.twitter.com/ntZ4DnApRy  STAVKA (@Maverickmusafir) April 8, 2022

& Polo teams & was only rider to participate in all disciplines (show jumping,eventing & tent-pegging)& won medals in these events. He performed commendably in 4th National Games at Mysore,winning 03 Gold, 01 Silver & 01 Bronze, making him a strong prospect for 1998 Asian Games. pic.twitter.com/gfQ7VsT9MX  STAVKA (@Maverickmusafir) April 8, 2022

Capt.(Retd) Vardeep Singh Bhinder, father of Capt Manjinder Singh Bhinder had to fight Ministry of Defence babus for the pension they were entitled to, who hung on to the technicality that Capt Bhinder had not been fighting enemies. pic.twitter.com/hbyEv0a772  STAVKA (@Maverickmusafir) April 8, 2022

After he died, his mother, Gurnam Kaur, and father, Capt. Vardeep Singh moved back to their home village, Chowk Mehta. In 2020, they passed away. In honor of him, the government at the time built a stadium at Udho Nangal Government School and a gate in his hometown, Mehta Chowk.

Natives, residents, and prominent individuals in the village paid tribute to Capt. Bhinder's selfless act.

TWENTY-THREE yrs ago this gallant #IndianBrave sacrificed his life selflessly saving 150 lives #LestWeForgetIndia gallant #IndianBrave Capt Manjinder Singh Bhinder, 61st Cavalry, and his selfless sacrifice #OnThisDay 13 June in 1997 in the #Uphaar cinema fire in New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/p2JBFDfPTm  LestWeForgetIndia (@LestWeForgetIN) June 13, 2020

His three sisters, Sukhminder Kaur, who works as a district ayurvedic officer in Gurdaspur, Gursinder Kaur, who continues to live in Chandigarh; and Pritpal Kaur, who lives in Muscat.

Because of the recent release of the Netflix web series 'Trial By Fire,' the Uphaar Fire Tragedy has become the nation's talk.

The series took audiences on a hard-hitting yet compelling journey of two parents who fight powerful forces for justice for over two decades.

The limited series showed their never-ending struggles to get justice, as well as the other people whose lives were changed or destroyed by the fire.

Tracing the story of Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, the series portrays the grueling legal battle and the unbelievably trying journey that ensues when two parents lose their children.

Based on the best-selling book, "Trial by Fire: The Tragic Tale of the Uphaar Fire Tragedy," written by Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamoorthy.

The human drama was directed by Prashant Nair and made by Endemol Shine India and House of Talkies. Rajshri Deshpande, Abhay Deol, Rajesh Tailang, Ashish Vidyarthi, Anupam Kher, Ratna Pathak, Shilpa Shukla, and Shardul Bharadwaj are some of the actors who play important roles.

Trial By Fire was released exclusively on Netflix on January 13.

(To get the latest updates from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment)


We spend a significant amount of time in our bathrooms during the colder months, taking long, hot showers. Many of us have gas geysers in our bathrooms. If proper safety precautions are not taken, one might suffer from CO2 poisoning, which can cause symptoms such as dizziness, seizures, unconsciousness, blackouts, coma, and even cardiac arrest.

Twitter

Even worse, you may put yourself at risk of losing your life as a result of the emissions.

Divyanshu Asopa, Founder of 21 Fools, a homegrown brand that handcrafts sustainable stationery products, shared a much-needed cautionary reminder.

A regular day for Divyanshu and his wife, Tripty, became no less than a nightmare.

Instagram

When his wife, who had gone to shower, did not respond after 20 minutes, Divyanshu became concerned. To his horror, he saw his wife lying on the floor, gasping for breath.



He rushed his wife to a nearby hospital, only to discover that it was a case of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Divyanshu Asopa/Instagram

In a series of tweets, Divyanshu shared what he and his wife had to go through for days.

Want to share details about a terrible accident that my wife went through so that anyone who reads this thread can take strong steps to avoid it from happening to them.



On 5th Jan, She went to take a shower and when I checked on her in 20 min.. #GasGeyserSyndrome 1/n  Divyanshu  (@DivyanshuAsopa) January 15, 2023

I found her on floor, blacked out.. & breathing heavily. Losing consciousness with each passing second. Rushed her to @KDAHMumbai where the super efficient Docs identified within 1 min that its a case of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning & put her on Oxygen to flush out CO.



2/n  Divyanshu  (@DivyanshuAsopa) January 15, 2023

Tripty was in critical condition for three days. She fought back and was eventually taken off the ventilator.

She was in critical condition for the next 3 days and I was on the verge of losing her. With constant prayers of every loved one around us & the Trauma Specialist of Kokilaben Hospital, she fought back miraculously and was taken off Ventilator.



The CO poisoning happened coz 3/n  Divyanshu  (@DivyanshuAsopa) January 15, 2023

Coz of Gas Geyser installed inside the bathroom. We took this flat on rent couple of months back & the gas geyser was already there in one of the bathroom. A gas geyser uses oxygen from the atmosphere to burn the LPG gas & it shouldnt be installed in closed space.



4/n  Divyanshu  (@DivyanshuAsopa) January 15, 2023

The gas geyser depletes the oxygen available in the closed space and starts giving out CO which gets inside the body and causes poisoning which can further cause brains damage, cardiac arrest and multiple organ failure. #StopUsingGasGesyer



5/n  Divyanshu  (@DivyanshuAsopa) January 15, 2023

In his concluding thread, Divyanshu urged people to be more cautious while using gas geysers.

Pls Pls Spread the word and ask people to stop using Gas Gesyer and uninstall if they have one. There are lacs of them installed in cities of Maharashtra & Gujarat which has gas pipelines connection available in buildings since decades.



6/n  Divyanshu  (@DivyanshuAsopa) January 15, 2023

Divyanshu's tweets evoked a series of responses from people.

While many were grateful that such a cautionary tale could save many lives, some people shared there are steps required to be followed while using gas geysers.

My daughters classmate had similar accident. Only she was not so lucky, she lost her vision, her memory and at 10 years of age had to relearn everything.  dee sa (@dee_deesa) January 16, 2023

Good to know of the safe recovery of your wife. MGL has guidelines on installation of gas geysers unfortunately not many follow these guidelines especially since when installed by 3rd party or there is paucity of space https://t.co/rCC7178gnL  Vivek (@viveksah) January 16, 2023

Sorry to ask but does your bathroom have openings or ventilation. Our bathroom window beside the geyser is the downward sloping glass which is never fully closed, hence there is always some ventilation going on.. does that make a difference?  Omkar (@omi_2018) January 16, 2023

Wholly empathise with u & m glad ur wife is recovering well.I've a GG installed since 25+ yrs, but outside, in a well ventilated area.They're efficient & work fine.Hence, ur blanket statement abt nt using them is wrong.They're 2b used with precaution,like wth any gadget/appliance  Khushrow Chinoy (@khushrow) January 16, 2023

Gas geysers are good however there are some precautions that should be taken. We have installed the gas geyser in the kitchen and the outlet goes to the bathroom. We ensure the exhaust fan in the kitchen is always on. Frequent checks on the pipes going brittle is a must.  Pramod Farias (@pramodfarias) January 16, 2023





One of the main advantages of gas geysers over electric ones is that they can run off of LPG instead of a power source, which is ideal for large families. A tank sits on top of a gas burner, which warms the water.



Because the gas geyser generates pressure as it becomes hotter, the pressure valve opens to release the tension. Many suggest putting it in the hall outside the bathrooms if you haven't done so before. If this is not an option, ensure the bathroom ventilation fans are on.

Several cases of this kind have been reported throughout the years in various parts of the country. To make sure your home gas geyser is safe for your family, make a note of the following points:

The model of the gas geyser should be checked:

A gas geyser must be made and tested according to all the requirements of valid editions of IS 15558 and BS EN 26 standards. The manufacturer should have a valid BIS license for geysers according to IS 15558 standards.

Buy only authorized gas geysers:

A customer can purchase any BIS-approved gas geyser of any model/brand from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or their authorized distributor. It would be best if you only used authorized commercial gas cylinders.

Double-check the gas geysers water capacity and working pressure. A gas geyser can send out up to 10 liters of water per minute and works best at a pressure of 21 mbar (g).

Minimum safety features of a gas geyser?

A flame-failure device controls gas flow to the main burner and perhaps the ignition pilot if the flame goes out. If the supplied water temperature hits 95 degrees Celsius, the water heater's overheat prevention feature will shut off the gas supply and manually restore it.

With a tap fully open at 21 mbar (g) gas intake pressure, the appliance will operate without soot or flame extinguishing, blowing off, or striking back. It will detect oxygen and CO simultaneously.

What is the safest place to install a gas geyser?

Before installing a gas geyser in a bathroom, there should be plenty of airflow around it.

You can put them in your bedroom or bed-sitting room if the space is at least 20 square meters and meets ventilation regulations. If you install a gas geyser, set the valve up high. Nobody is allowed to put a lid on a gas geyser. When selecting a location, the customer should consider the water pipeline's installation and connection to the geyser.

Ventilation requirements for gas geysers?

It's crucial to put gas geysers in well-ventilated areas. Ventilation areas should account for at least 4% of the room's total floor area. The rooms in a typical single-family home get enough fresh air through the cracks beneath and around the door, windows, and ventilators.

(For the latest trending stories, keep reading Indiatimes)


Cover Image Attribute: The file photo of Abdul Rehman Makki





On January 17, China defended its move to lift a technical hold leading to the designation of Pakistan-based top Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist, saying that listing terrorists is conducive to enhancing international counterterrorism cooperation. China also praised Islamabad for backing counterterrorism efforts.





After China lifted its hold on a joint India-US proposal to blacklist the deputy chief of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, the United Nations designated Makki, 68, the brother-in-law of Jamat-ud Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, as a global terrorist. In addition, Makki was designated a global terrorist by the UN (LeT).





After years of work by India and its allies, the 1267 ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council added Makki to its list of designated terrorists on Monday (January 16). This means that his assets will be frozen, he will be prohibited from travelling, and an arms embargo will be placed on him.





"Terrorism is the common enemy of humanity," Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here when asked about China's decision to lift its objections to India and US move to declare Makki a global terrorist and whether Beijing will also back similar moves against four other Pakistan based terrorists pending with the Committee.





"The 1267 Committee (of the UN Security Council) is an important international counterterrorism mechanism", and listing of terrorists or terror organisations under the aegis of the UN is conducive to enhancing international counterterrorism cooperation in response to terrorist threats, he said.





"The relevant people have been convicted and sentenced by Pakistan. The listing also shows Pakistan's firm combat against terrorism, it is a recognition," he said, without elaborating why China, a close ally of Pakistan, decided to put a technical hurdle in the first place.





According to him, China has always taken an active part in the work of the 1267 Committee in a way that is both responsible and constructive, and the standards and procedures of the Committee have always done this.





China has worked over the years to prevent several terrorists with bases in Pakistan from being designated as global terrorists. Unfortunately, Makki was one of those terrorists.





declared Masood Azhar, the leader of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist organisation, to be a "global terrorist" in May of 2019. This was a significant diplomatic win for India. After China withdrew its objections, the United Nations General AssemblyMasood Azhar, the leader of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist organisation, to be ain May of 2019. This was a significant diplomatic win for India.





As China's new Foreign Minister Qin Gang started his tenure, the country decided to drop its objections to Makki's listing at the United Nations. Qin, who had previously served in the same capacity, took over for Wang Yi as China's Ambassador to the United States.





Over the past several years, China's efforts to put a technical hold on the declaration of Pakistan-based terrorists have become a significant irritant in the already tense relations between Beijing and New Delhi.





In addition, this development comes at a time when India and China attempted to resolve the military standoff in Eastern Ladakh through high-level military and diplomatic dialogue. There have been a total of seventeen negotiations between the two nations to work out the disengagement of troops from several points of contention in eastern Ladakh.




Hong Kong: Leadership seminar held

Around 110 civil servants in the directorate and senior ranks attended the third seminar of the Dialogue with Experts series held by the Civil Service College today.

At the seminar, with "Leadership in New Era - Move with Times with Agility" as its topic, speakers shared their experiences in leading the organisations in public and private sectors to move with the ever-changing environment amid the pandemic. They also exchanged views with participants.

Addressing the seminar, Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung said Hong Kong is at a critical juncture in moving from stability to prosperity and that the public has rising demands and expectations on the civil service.

Dedicated to fulfilling their duties, the civil service should also move with the times to provide new and enhanced services and thoroughly pursue the result-oriented approach to policy implementation suggested by the Chief Executive so as to open a new chapter for Hong Kong and contribute to the development of the country, she added.

Mrs Yeung hoped that the seminar could help enlighten civil servants on how to devise policies and services that can flexibly cater for the needs of society and the public.

This story has been published on: 2023-01-17. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese FM's new year visit bolsters ties between China, developing countries

Xinhua) 13:25, January 17, 2023

NAIROBI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- For a Chinese foreign minister, visiting Africa at the start of a year has always been a tradition over the years.

By carrying forth that tradition, Qin Gang, China's new foreign minister, is now on a trip to five African countries as well as the African Union (AU) Headquarters and the League of Arab States Headquarters upon invitation.

The visit has demonstrated China's sincere, effective and pragmatic cooperation with Africa, as well as its consistent and unselfish friendship with the developing continent, showcasing China's commitment to the broader developing world, including Arab states, on development.

The trip marks the 33rd consecutive year in which Africa has been the destination of Chinese foreign ministers' annual first overseas visits.

During the trip, Qin met and held talks with leaders and his counterparts of the five African nations -- Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin and Egypt -- and other high-level officials, exchanging views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of common interest.

The eight-day visit on Jan. 9-16 coincided with the 10th year of the China-proposed principles of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and of pursuing greater good and shared interests in China's relations with Africa. Over the past decade, China-Africa relations have made historic achievements that have impressed the world, and entered a new era of building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.

During the visit, China put forward four proposals on the development of China-Africa relations, including promoting China-Africa exchanges so as to achieve broader consensus in various fields, deepening the friendly relations between China and the AU, upgrading China-Africa cooperation, and safeguarding solidarity and cooperation among developing countries.

Based on the principle of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, China will also support South Africa in its BRICS presidency and Uganda in hosting a Non-Aligned Movement summit this year. China will continue to support the AU in leading African countries on a development path suited to their national conditions. China has taken the lead in supporting the AU's membership in the Group of 20 (G20).

China also seeks to accelerate the implementation of cooperation initiatives under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), expand trade with Africa, and nurture new drivers of growth in areas such as health, green development, and digital economy.

Furthermore, China vowed to speed up the implementation of the eight major cooperation initiatives proposed at the first China-Arab States Summit, including development support, food security, public health, green innovation, energy security, inter-civilizational dialogue, youth development, and security and stability, calling on the two sides to strengthen the building of mechanisms under the framework of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in order to elevate bilateral cooperation.

China-Africa cooperation, fueled by the two engines of FOCAC and the Belt and Road Initiative, has produced tangible results over the years, showing the effectiveness of China's effort to seek common development with the developing countries. Earlier this month, the China-aided Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters project was completed, becoming another symbol of bilateral friendship. The year 2023 also marks the 60th year of China's medical assistance for Africa. All these, among others, have clearly shown that China has walked the talk.

Meanwhile, Qin's visit boosted solidarity and confidence among nations to build a better world in the face of multiple challenges such as the pandemic and climate change by following the principles of mutual respect, equality and true multilateralism.

While conducting cooperation with Africa and other developing countries, China always respects their will, considers their needs, never seeks political interests and attaches no political strings, insisting that no country or person has the right to force developing countries to pick sides, and believing that the developing world, including Africa and Arab states, should be a stage for international cooperation, not an arena for major-power rivalry.

Qin's visit has once again proved that those intentions to smear China's cooperation with Africa and other developing countries over the years through misinformation and disinformation are futile. It is believed that China-Africa relations and the effort to build a community with a shared future will enjoy a bright future.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Cover Image Attribute: The file photo of Nguyen Xuan Phuc





The Government of Vietnam-owned Vietnam News Agency announced on Tuesday that President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, 68, resigned after the ruling Communist Party blamed him for "violations and wrongdoing" by officials under his control, marking a significant escalation in the country's anti-corruption campaign. He is also removed from Politburo and the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Phuc, 68, a former prime minister (from 2016-2021), has held the largely ceremonial position for less than two years. It was not immediately clear who would replace him.





Earlier this month, two deputy prime ministers, Pham Binh Minh and Vu uc am, also had their memberships at the 13th Central Committee of the CPV removed at an extraordinary meeting of the committee. Shortly thereafter, the highest legislative body approved their dismissal and the appointment of two new leaders.





Last month, the party disciplined Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son over the alleged involvement of several ministry officials and diplomats in the scandal over repatriation flights.





To become effective, Phuc's resignation requires National Assembly approval. Reuters reported Monday that a rare extraordinary legislative meeting would be held this week. Vietnam has no paramount ruler and is officially led by four "pillars": the powerful party's secretary, the president, the prime minister and the chair of the parliament.





According to various political analysts, the hard-line General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, who was given an unprecedented third term at last year's party congress, appears to be consolidating his authority by ousting senior officials who are seen as more pro-Western and pro-business. Officially, this is all happening to fight corruption, a big problem in Vietnam. Still, it indicates a power struggle at the party's top, which permits no challenges to its monopoly on power.









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REPUBLISH: Republish our articles online or in print for free if you follow these guidelines. https://www.indrastra.com/p/republish-us.html
Currently the co-head of client solutions & analytics in Swiss Res asset management unit, Velina also previously served as the head of the companys private equity investment mandate. Prior to joining Swiss Re in 2017, she worked for Bain & Company in the US, Australia, and Switzerland. At Bain & Company, she most recently served as partner and leader for the private equity and institutional investor practices in Zurich.
But on January 06, 2023, the two companies filed a complaint against insurer New York Marine and General Insurance alleging breach of contract. According to the lawsuit they filed, the companies had two policies with New York Marine with a combined liability limit of $11 million. The companies additionally alleged in the suit that instead of helping settle the claim with Razo, New York Marine hired outside counsel to fight the claim for years. As the trial approached, the two companies demanded a settlement, but New York Marine allegedly refused and only made offers that were lower than appropriate.
The number of super-rich in Ireland, with individual wealth over 46.6m, has more than doubled in the past decade according to Oxfam, as they called for new taxes on Irish wealth that could raise more than 8bn each year.

Publishing its annual report on the eve of the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos, Switzerland this week, Oxfam said the number of Irish people with individual wealth of over $50m has increased from 655 in 2012 to 1,435 people last year.

Lone Star founder John Grayken, who took Irish citizenship in 1999, is Ireland's third richest person. File picture: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty

Despite a drop from nine to eight in the number of Irish billionaires following the death last year of Indian-Irish construction magnate Pallonji Mistry, Oxfam said the number of Irish people who earn more than $5m (4.6m) has also doubled in the past ten years.

According to Forbes, which Oxfam uses to track global individual wealth, Limerick brothers John and Patrick Collison top Irelands rich list with individual wealth of $8.1bn (7.5bn) each. Oxfam said their combined wealth of 15bn is more than the 10.3bn in wealth held by the entire bottom 50% of the population.

The Oxfam report said that, globally, the richest 1% have acquired nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of humanity over the past two years.

The fourth person on Ireland's super-rich list is telecoms magnate Denis O'Brien. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

This rising wealth at the top and rising poverty for the rest are two sides of the same coin, proof that our economic system is functioning exactly how the rich and powerful designed it to, Oxfam Irelands CEO, Jim Clarken said.

A wealth tax on elite Irish wealth at graduated rates of 2%, 3% and 5% above a high threshold of 4.7m would raise 8.2bn annually, with the potential to transform Irish public services in health, housing and education while also delivering on our international and climate commitments, he said.

Forbes lists co-founder of Egerton Capital John Armitage as Ireland's fifth richest person. He became an Irish citizen in 1999. File picture: PA

Third on Irelands rich list is US financier John Grayken who founded private equity firm Lone Star Funds and who took Irish citizenship in 1999.

Telecoms magnate Denis OBrien is fourth, followed by British hedge-fund manager John Armitage who took Irish citizenship in 1999. Campbells Soup heir John Dorrance III is sixth followed by financier Dermot Desmond who Forbes says has an individual wealth of 1.9bn. Eugene Murtagh who founded building materials giant Kingspan is eighth on the list.

Campbells Soup heir John Dorrance III is Ireland's sixth wealthiest person according to Forbes' list.

According to Forbes, John Collison aged 32 remains one of the worlds youngest billionaires positioned 13th on the list. His 34-year-old brother Patrick is 20th on the list of youngest billionaires.

Oxfam said money derived from new wealth taxes was urgently needed by ordinary people.

"Entire countries are facing bankruptcy, with the poorest countries now spending four times more repaying debts to rich creditors than on healthcare," Mr Clarken said.

"Three quarters of the worlds governments are planning austerity-driven public sector spending cuts  including on healthcare and education  of $7.8 trillion over the next five years,

They said inequality has led to the World Bank announcing that the world has almost certainly lost its goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.

With an individual wealth of 1.9bn, financier Dermot Desmond is seventh in Forbes' billionaire list. File picture: Healy Racing

The Oxfam report was published as economic leaders meet in Davos. The WEFs annual Global Risks Report showed the threat of recession, the cost-of-living crisis and mounting debt distress will dominate the outlook for the next two years.

The World Bank this week slashed its growth forecasts for most countries and regions, and warned that new adverse occurrences could tip the global economy into a recession.

The CEOs of Moderna and Pfizer will also be speaking at the summit, with one panel devoted to how fast vaccines can be created the next time a pandemic hits.

Kingspan founder Eugene Murtagh is ireland's eighth billionaire. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews

The future of work will also feature. Whether to return to the office, as well as the rise of quiet quitting and the four-day week.
The man found in a house in north Cork on Friday has been identified as a Kerry man who had moved to the property after returning from the UK.

Tim OSullivan was a native of south Kerry and had lived for many years in the UK before moving back to Ireland to live in Mallow. The house on Beecher Street was purchased in 1989.
Ukraines first lady will give a rare international address as the World Economic Forums annual gathering in the Swiss town of Davos gets into full swing.

Her appearance is part of a push by President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government to acquire more foreign weapons to defend against Russias invasion.

Security teams fanned out and snow ploughs cleared streets as Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska and hundreds of government officials, corporate titans, academics and activists from around the world descended on the town billed as Europes highest for the traditional winter gathering.

The Covid-19 pandemic torpedoed the snow-covered event each of the last two years but a springtime version was held eight months ago.

A police officer stands on the roof of a Davos hotel to monitor the area (Markus Schreiber/AP)

Davos attendees are faced with global strife including Russias war in Ukraine, which has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions, and disrupted food and fuel markets worldwide.

Adding to the gloom are an economic slowdown and a warming world, with the week-long event of big ideas and backroom deal-making prioritising such problems but never making clear how much concrete action emerges to help reach the forums stated ambition of improving the state of the world.

In a reminder of the fragility of the planet amid climate change, a giant illuminated wall featuring colourful, AI-conceived art derived from real images of coral reefs was one of the innovations welcoming attendees, showing how technology can immortalise images of natural beauty that might vanish one day.

Dozens of sessions on Tuesday will take up issues as diverse as gender parity, the return of manufacturing, the green transition, efforts to end tuberculosis and the intersection of food, water and energy, which will feature actor Idris Elba. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He are also among the speakers.

Actor Idris Elba was among those speaking at Davos (Markus Schreiber/AP)

The gathering comes just days after a Russian missile hit an apartment building in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, killing at least 40 people in one of the deadliest single attacks in months.

Ukrainians have reacted to such tragedies during nearly a year of war with unbowed defiance, anger and determination to fight back.

Ms Zelenskas speech will come after she told CNN through an interpreter on Sunday that despite Russia missile strikes that have pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure and civilian areas in recent months, we understand that upon carrying on for a year, we are capable of persevering for even longer.

The high-level Ukrainian diplomatic push in Davos in the spotlight of CEOs, global government officials and the media offers a new chance to enlist and ramp up international support that the Ukrainians have been clamouring for  weapons like tanks and anti-rocket defences as well as greater pressure to further isolate and squeeze Russias economy.

France, the UK, the US and other nations are vowing to send increasingly powerful weapons to Ukraine, such as tanks or armoured combat vehicles.

Ms Zelenska asked Congress for more US air defence systems as she visited Washington for a week in July and met US first lady Jill Biden at the White House.

Mr Zelensky, after traveling to Washington himself last month to reinvigorate support for Ukraine in his first known trip abroad since the invasion, will be beamed in by video on Wednesday to complement the in-person delegation of his wife and officials such as Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, who urged company leaders to shun business with Russia.

Stop trade with Russia: Every dollar that you send to Russia is bloody money, he told reporters on Monday.
Burma Bangladesh Police Extorting Rohingya in Camps: HRW

Personnel from Bangladeshs Armed Police Battalion conduct a nighttime raid at a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar in October 2022. / APBn media wing

DHAKA  Bangladeshs Armed Police Battalion, better known as the APBn, is extorting, arbitrarily arresting, and harassing Rohingya refugees who are already facing violence from criminal gangs and armed groups, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

The rights group urged donor governments to press Bangladesh authorities to investigate alleged abuses against Rohingya living in refugee camps in Coxs Bazar, ensure victims have effective remedy, and develop measures to better protect refugees.

In a statement, HRW said it documented over 16 cases of serious abuse by APBn officers after interviewing more than 40 Rohingya refugees in October-November 2022 and reviewing police reports.

These included abuse against 10 refugees who were detained on apparently fabricated charges of trafficking methamphetamine or perpetrating violence, according to HRW.

Abuses by police in the Coxs Bazar camps have left Rohingya refugees suffering at the hands of the very forces who are supposed to protect them, said Shayna Bauchner, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Bangladesh authorities should immediately investigate allegations of widespread extortion and wrongful detention by Armed Police Battalion officers and hold all those responsible to account.

Rights groups including HRW say they have long documented the common practice by Bangladesh security forces of framing suspects with drugs or weapons.

Police generally demanded 10,000-40,000 taka (US$100-400) to avoid arrest, and 50,000-100,000 taka ($500-1,000) for the release of a detained family member. Families often had to sell gold jewelry or borrow money for bribes or legal costs, HRW said.

It added that the APBn had seemingly targeted Rohingya for sharing information about abuses on social media.

Sayed Hossein, 27, a Rohingya citizen journalist and health volunteer with an international organisation, told HRW that about 30 APBn officers raided his house on July 25 last year, handcuffed him, and confiscated his laptop and flash drive.

They took him to a police camp, demanded a bribe, and, when his family could not pay 50,000 taka ($500), they forcibly photographed him with meth tablets and sent him to nearby Ukhiya police station, HRW said.

I asked them not to take any photos since it would impact my job and future, Hossein told HRW. They said that because Im Rohingya, I dont have any future.

APBn posted the photos on their social media accounts and the man spent 41 days in jail on drug trafficking charges before making bail. He said most of his fellow inmates were Rohingya.

APBn officers arrested Soyedul Hoque, 57, in his betel leaf shop on November 2, 2022, and demanded 100,000 takas ($1,000) for his release. Because we have such little income from the shop, we couldnt pay the police anything, his daughter told HRW. He was charged with possession of 2,000 meth tablets and remains in jail.

The APBn crackdown has compounded fear and vulnerability among the one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the majority of whom fled Myanmar military atrocities in late 2017.

The police abuses have escalated amid tightening restrictions on livelihoods, movement, and education in the camps, including harassment at checkpoints and the closing of community schools and markets.

In late October 2022, the APBn initiated Operation Root Out in response to a spike in targeted killings by armed groups. The police have arrested at least 900 Rohingya since mid-2022. But refugees allege that APBn corruption has allowed criminal activity to proliferate, while innocent Rohingya are targeted in police crackdowns.

HRW noted that the 2022 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya humanitarian crisis received less than half of the US$881 million needed for the year. It urged donors including the US, UK, European Union, and Australia to increase funding to meet the protection needs of the Rohingya refugee population while leaning on Bangladesh authorities to end police abuses in the camps.

Bangladesh should do what Myanmar never has  hold those responsible for abuses against Rohingya to account.

When approached, APBn deputy inspector general (operations and intelligence) Mahbub Alam claimed they received hardly any formal complaints against their personnel on the ground and that most were fabricated. He claimed his troops were facing violent organised criminals supported by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and needed to use tough measures.

Bangladesh Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman said he would respond to HRWs report after examining it.

The report also documents the case of a recently transferred APBn official who admitted that a camp leader (majhi) was tortured by security forces under the pretext of interrogation.

Its a very complex situation inside the camps, the official said.

A Rohingya rights campaigner living in a camp told the Irrawaddy there are frequent complaints against law enforcers and security agencies, especially over arbitrary arrests.

Almost every case HRW investigated involved extortion directly by APBn officers or communicated through majhis.
Burma Myanmar Junta Blamed for Deaths of Family of Eight in Sagaing

Caption for Feature- Nyaung Kone village in Kantbalu Township after being torched by regime forces on Saturday. / Kyunhla Activists Group

A family of eight, including three children, who were supporters of Myanmars ousted National League for Democracy (NLD), were found knifed to death at their home in Kantbalu Township, Sagaing Region, on Saturday.

The Ngar Myaung village murders occurred in a village where most residents are the supporters of the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party, according to media reports.

The area has been under the control of junta forces and pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militias, sources said.

Resistance forces and residents blamed junta forces and militia allies for the murders. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Regime forces and militia members attacked the house on Saturday morning, according to the Kyunhla Activists Group that helps displaced people fleeing junta raids.

The victims, who all had their throats cut, were U Kyaw Hlaing, 70, his wife Daw Mya Nyunt, 65, U Tin Myo Win, 45, Daw Hnin Mya Khine, 40, Daw Hnin Mya Hlaing 42, Maung Khant Zayar Myo, six, Ma Thient Shwe Bon San, 12, and Ma Su Myat San,15, the rights group said. U Kyaw Hlaing and Daw Mya Nyunt were found in their kitchen.

Jewellery and money were taken from the house.

Before the 2021 coup, the family opened an NLD office at their house.

On June 13 last year, a couple who supported the NLD had their throats cut by militia members at their nearby petrol shop.

A motorbike, cash, gold earrings, fuel tanks and food were taken, according to the Kyunhla Activists Group.

On Saturday, two male residents were killed and three female detainees escaped with serious injuries during a junta raid on Nyaung Kone village in the township, said the activist group.

Around 100 Battalion 368 troops and militia allies raided the village and burned houses.

U Than Lwin, 55, was tortured and burned alive after being abducted from Paluthar village as a guide along with Nyaung Kone villager U Nwar Tin, 77.

The three women detainees, aged 58, 42 and 25, escaped after being stabbed in the abdomen or throat by regime forces, the activist group said.

A resident told the group that the women fled while troops were preparing to burn them in a house.

Two of the women are in a critical condition after abdomen stabbings.

Faced with near-daily attacks the junta has been burning people alive, killing civilian detainees, using civilians as human shields, looting and burning houses, using artillery and airstrikes against residential areas and committing acts of sexual violence across the country.
Burma Myanmar Military Launches Airstrike After Heavy Losses in Sagaing Battle

A comrade holds a portrait of resistance fighter Yebaw Swan Pyae Maung, aka Harvat, at his funeral.

Junta forces launched airstrikes in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Region after reportedly suffering heavy casualties during a clash with Local Defense Forces (LDFs) on Monday.

The losses occurred when a column of more than 70 junta troops patrolling in Kani Township advanced to Sarhtone village in northern Salingyi on Monday morning. It was then attacked by an alliance of LDFs and incurred heavy losses, with a regime troop captain reportedly among the casualties.

After more than two hours of battle, regime forces deployed an Mi-35 helicopter for airstrikes on positions around the village that lasted for 45 minutes.

One LDF fighter was killed in the airstrikes. He was named as Yebaw Swan Pyae Maung, aka Harvat, 19, from Salingyi Special Task Force (SSTF).

He was hit in the neck by shrapnel from the helicopter strike and died on the spot. His funeral was held today, SSTF spokesman Ko Phoe Zay told The Irrawaddy.

The Anti-Dictatorship Peoples Revolution Army (DPRA), an ally of the SSTF, said the junta troops then retreated to Salingyi Township under air cover provided by the helicopter.

The helicopter flew over the troops as they made their way back to Salingyi, said Ko Phoe Zay.

We heard that barely more than 40 of the 70 soldiers returned to the Salingyi Township base camp, he added.

The Irrawaddy was unable to independently verify his claim.

On Saturday, the DPRA and allied forces attacked the Salingyi police station, where the regime soldiers were stationed, with 60mm heavy weapons.

Thousands of civilians in and around 10 Salingyi villages, including Sarhtone, have been displaced by fighting in recent weeks.

Sagaing is a stronghold of the anti-regime resistance in Myanmar. The junta has launched a massive offensive in the region, including frequent airstrikes. Nearly 1.5 million residents have been forced to flee their homes as a result of the offensive, according to the UN office for humanitarian affairs.
Burma Myanmar Military Manufacturing Weapons With Help From Foreign Companies

Myanmar military troops parade in Naypyitaw on Armed Forces Day in March 2021.

Companies from at least 13 countries in Asia, Europe and North America have helped the Myanmar military manufacture weapons used to commit human rights violations amounting to the most serious crimes under international law, according to the Special Advisory Council-Myanmar (SAC-M), an independent group of former United Nations experts on Myanmar.

SAC-Ms latest report identifies companies domiciled in Austria, France, China, Singapore, India, Israel, Ukraine, Germany, Taiwan, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States (US) as having provided raw materials to the Myanmar military for the production of weapons.

Myanmar has been under military rule since the army seized power in a February 1, 2021 coup. Faced with nationwide opposition, the junta has cracked down brutally on civilian protests and armed resistance to the military regime with weapons manufactured with materials provided by the foreign companies named in the report.

Up to now, the regime has killed over 2,700 people, while raiding and torching villages in the countrys anti-junta strongholds in an effort to terrorize the civilian population.

Myanmars military has invested heavily over many years in building up its capacity to produce small arms, land mines and light weapons.

As of 2022, the militarys Directorate of Defence Industries (DDI) operates 25 arms manufacturing factories commonly known as KaPaSa in nearly a dozen different locations across the country, according to the SAC-M report.

In short, weapons produced by the Myanmar military in-country at its KaPaSa factories have been used in the militarys widespread and systematic attacks against civilian targets, prior to, during and after the 2021 attempted military coup, and continue to be so, stated the SAC-M report.

Since the 2021 coup, the military regime and its arms brokers have been under international sanctions, including from the US Treasury.

In their report SAC-M also identifies companies supplying raw materials, parts and components, end items and high-precision computer numerical control (CNC) machines and associated technology to the DDI for the production of weapons.

Among the companies named, the state-owned Chinese company NORINCO appears to be playing an important role in the DDIs imports of raw materials for KaPaSa production. The raw materials are being exported to Myanmar by sea via Singapore.

Last year, the DDI also purchased fuses for 84mm recoilless rifles through a Myanmar company, Creative Exploration Ltd, from the India-based Sandeep Metalcraft, an official vendor of Indias Ministry of Defence.

Furthermore, the report said, companies legally domiciled in India and Japan exported raw materials, including iron, copper, aluminium, chromium and high-grade steel, to the DDI, while others in Austria, Germany, Taiwan and the US provided CNC machines for milling and grinding.

The SAC-M report also names front companies, including companies based in Myanmar, and middlemen that enable the DDI to purchase products and services by brokering deals or otherwise acting as intermediaries for the DDI.

One such company, the Myanmar-based Mottama Holdings, acts as an intermediary between the DDI and NORINCO in China, and plays a pivotal role in the DDIs purchases of high-precision CNC machines for KaPaSa factories.

Chris Sidoti of SAC-M said that countries must investigate and initiate administrative or legal proceedings against companies enabling the DDI to produce weapons used by the Myanmar military in its indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

Foreign companies that profit from the suffering of the Myanmar people must be held accountable, he added.
Burma Myanmars Civilian Government Calls on Neighbors to Deny Junta Jets Airspace Access

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of Myanmars Air Force on December 15 commissioning airplanes and helicopters, including Russian SU-30 and Chinese FTC-2000 fighter jets into service in Meiktila, Mandalay Region.

Myanmars civilian National Unity Government (NUG) has called on neighboring countries to stop junta warplanes from using their airspace following last weeks air raids along the Indian border.

On January 10 and 11, junta fighter jets attacked Camp Victoria, the headquarters of the Chin National Front (CNF), near the border, killing five Chin fighters, injuring many others and damaging a health clinic and civilian houses.

The NUGs Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Tuesday that CNF and other sources reported seeing the jets entering Indian airspace during the attack amid claims that some bombs landed in Indian territory.

This is not the first time the illegal junta has used the airspace of its neighbors while committing atrocities, with Bangladesh and Thailand earlier examples. Nor is it the first time that junta bombs have struck foreign soil during such air raids, the shadow ministry said.

The NUG calls on Myanmars neighbors, in the interests of regional peace and security and the protection of civilians, to block junta use of their airspace for attacks, it said.

The statement referred to the United Nations Security Councils condemnation of attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in resolution 2669 while demanding an end to violence.

Junta aircraft have also intruded into Thai and Bangladeshi airspace while launching airstrikes on resistance forces in Karen and Rakhine states.

International human rights watchdog Fortify Rights last week called on India to prevent junta jets from accessing its airspace and take measures to protect Chin and Indian civilians along the border.

New Delhi shouldnt tolerate the juntas incursions on its airspace, and Indian authorities should do everything in their power to ensure the security of civilians and border areas, said Matthew Smith of Fortify Rights.

Regime airstrikes last year killed at least 155 civilians and injured 187.
The Australian retail landscape will be significantly challenged in the year ahead. Limited stock, growing volumes of returns and increased customer expectations for online deliveries have substantially impacted local brands  pushing them to innovate, said Manhattan Associates managing director Australia and New Zealand Raghav Sibal. As a result, retailers will find that they quickly need to adopt new systems and approaches to meet consumer demand for a seamless and more personalised shopping experience in 2023.

Key retail technology trends for 2023 to watch include:

Visibility at all times

The importance of visibility will increase and expand to not only include products in motion, but also to product inventory in the store and warehouse. As market volatility continues, shippers will need to have the ability to react to ongoing disruption in near real-time; as knowing exactly where inventory is at any point in time is critical to their success.

Consumers now expect store associates to know stock availability/inventory to be able to serve them effectively. But only 6% of retailers believed that they had an accurate overview of their inventory across their entire network (in-store and online) 100% of the time. It is likely that retailers will work on closing this inventory visibility gap fast in the new year or risk losing customer loyalty and company dollars.

Automation and robotics

As labour continues to be a significant constraint for organisations all over Australia, not least in the context of warehouses, automation and robotics proliferation will continue to accelerate as a result.

While we dont expect robots to replace humans in key supply chain roles, we will see greater progress in man and machine collaboration, as more robots are developed that complement the human workforce by taking over mundane, repetitive tasks.

Automation and robotics have been of great interest among our customers, but many have been held back due to supply chain and resource challenges among those automation/robotic vendors. We see those constraints loosening and the growth of the Robots as a Service model will likely increase in popularity in 2023 as customers catch up with their automation strategies.

The rise of social platforms as marketplaces

A lot of Australian consumers are increasingly interacting with brands and purchasing goods via social media, and using Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook Pay. Companies are fast expanding their reach to younger demographics by exploring social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram as sales channels, in addition to traditional marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay. We should expect the proliferation of different social shopping platforms to accelerate at pace in 2023.

Unified commerce

The traditional store and its role in the retail ecosystem is in for a renaissance in 2023, as they become multi-functional spaces, going beyond display and selling to micro fulfilment, returns and even customer service hubs.

Retailers will need to look at technology and how they use it to connect their customers digital experience to the in-store retail experience seamlessly. Its expected that stores will handle a larger share of online returns as retailers look for cost optimisations across their supply chains. Also, as returns see an overall percentage increase, retailers will start increasing the fees/shipping charge associated with returning items bought online, leading to a rise in customers using physical stores for these returns far more.

We can expect Buy Online Pickup in Store (Bopis) as a fulfilment method to continue to increase as well. With retailers optimising their logistics costs in efforts to maintain margins for online sales, they will find ways to incentivise BOPIS; either by passing on the shipping charge or providing some discounts for BOPIS with the hope that this can reduce their overall shipping costs and increase store footfall at the same time.

An evolving payment landscape

Lastly, we expect the appetite for cashless payment options, e-wallets and crypto to continue to grow in 2023. As it grows it will be critical for companies to adopt and leverage these new technologies into their in-store and online systems if they are to keep pace with increasingly digitally-savvy consumers.

As the cost-of-living crisis really bites over the course of the year, retailers will look to provide their customers with more flexible payment options. As such, we can expect buy now pay later features to continue to increase strongly in 2023.

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About Manhattan Associates

Manhattan Associates is a technology leader in supply chain and omnichannel commerce. We unite information across the enterprise, converging front-end sales with back-end supply chain execution. Our software, platform technology and unmatched experience help drive both top-line growth and bottom-line profitability for our customers. Manhattan Associates designs, builds and delivers leading edge cloud and on-premises solutions so that across the store, through your network or from your fulfilment centre, you are ready to reap the rewards of the omnichannel marketplace.
Red Hat says that iIn his new role, Compagnoni will be responsible for leading the Red Hat business in ANZ, helping to drive the digital transformation success of customers and partners across the region.

Compagnoni has over 25 years of experience in the enterprise IT industry under his belt and has been with Red Hat for more than six years, most recently as senior director for enterprise sales, ANZ. Prior to Red Hat, he has held various leadership roles in technology companies including EMC, PeopleSoft and PTC,notes Red Hat.

Compagnoni spoke to creative agency Archetype and gave his perspective on open source and Red Hat, and how openness and authenticity can make for a stronger team :

How has your journey been so far at Red Hat?

One of the reasons why I joined Red Hat six and a half years ago was the company's openness and transparency, a natural trait for a business built around open source software. I felt as though I could turn up to work and be exactly who I am, which is an important factor for someone who values authenticity.

Perhaps the greatest highlight for me since joining Red Hat has been seeing the people that were in the company when I first joined, along with newer recruits, grow and develop, along with the growing business. Red Hat enables and promotes an open culture where the best ideas always win, no matter where they come from.

What do you most look forward to in your new role?

As we continue to grow as a business, I will work to help bring different parts of the business closer together. It is my goal to create a fully aligned team so that we continue to be crystal clear on Red Hats mission in ANZ of providing industry-leading enterprise open source products and services to our customers. Im also looking forward to engaging with customers from different industries, and of course with our strong ecosystem of partners.

From an internal perspective, I'm here to serve the teams across ANZ, not the other way around. The new role Im stepping into affords me the tools, resources and visibility to become a cheerleader for the local team. As I become more involved in Red Hats broader business across Asia Pacific, Im looking forward to becoming an outspoken advocate of the business and associates in ANZ.

How can Red Hat and open source technology support the digital transformation of companies in Australia and New Zealand?

Open source communities power everything Red Hat does, including the products we create, the culture we embrace, and the solutions we design, for and with our customers. The key thing about open source is that, if you use it, you have access to a literal world of innovation. There are so many open source developer communities around the globe, all of them continually innovating, working on refining the software.

Red Hat draws upon that innovation and makes it ready for the enterprise, imbuing it with the additional safety, security, scale and usability to support open hybrid cloud that is essential for organizations in todays business landscape. This is one reason why were receiving increased interest from cyber security teams and CISOs, as open source softwares historical value proposition around safety and security becomes more important to enterprises.

How would you define leadership, and what kind of a leader would you like to be?

I believe in leading by example, by showing people the way through action. A good leader must also be a good communicator and be able to articulate a high-level vision to help people understand how they, as individuals, fit into an organizations broader goals. I am a big believer in prioritizing good execution focused around the success of our customers above all else.

Im also driven by strong values around transparency and openness, which is what drew me to Red Hat in the first place, and I hope to use this drive to foster trust, communication and collaboration throughout the business as my remit expands.
Today

A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High 78F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 52F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.

Tomorrow

Sunny. High 81F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
The toll from a devastating strike on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro was expected to rise past 40 on Tuesday as rescuers searched the rubble for 25 people still missing after one of Russia's deadliest attacks since its invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the missile strike as a war crime.

"There is no doubt: every person guilty of this war crime will be identified and brought to justice," Zelensky said in his nightly address late Monday.

Kyiv has called for more weapons to defend itself and at the weekend received pledges of British tanks, but Russian President Vladimir Putin warned more armaments would only intensify fighting and the Kremlin vowed to burn the gear.

With tensions high, a top US official, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, on Monday visited Kyiv where she expressed Washington's "steadfast commitment" to Ukraine and discussed ways to bolster the country's security posture with Zelensky.

In Dnipro, residents gathered to get warm drinks and food next to the partially collapsed Soviet-style residential building that was ripped open by the strike on Saturday.

Emergency services gave the new toll specifying that three children were among those dead, with 25 people still unaccounted for. Seventy-seven were wounded in the strike.

"The rescue operation, the demolition of the rubble, will not end until the bodies of all the dead are found. So far, 40 people have died," said deputy head of the presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

The Kremlin claimed its forces were not responsible and pointed to an unsubstantiated theory circulating on social media that Ukrainian air defence systems had caused the damage.

"The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure. They strike military targets," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

EU presidency holder Sweden condemned the attack "in the strongest terms", with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson telling reporters that "intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes".

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the strike, with his spokesperson saying it was "another example of a suspected violation of the laws of war".

- Nuclear watchdog mission -

In a visit to the war-torn country, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was setting up a permanent presence at all five of Ukraine's nuclear facilities, including Chernobyl, which closed after the 1986 disaster.

"So we are now leaving a group of experts who are going to stay here permanently," said Rafael Grossi, adding that agency staff will be "working hand to hand with our Ukrainian hosts, to facilitate some technical support, delivery of equipment, to make sure that all of these facilities... can continue running normally and without any problems."

The decision marks a major expansion of the IAEA's activities in Ukraine. Until now, only the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant, which is near the frontline, had a permanent IAEA presence.

- 'These tanks will burn' -

To withstand Russian attacks, Ukraine has been pressing Western backers to supply it with advanced tanks, in particular the German-designed Leopard.

Berlin has been heavily criticised over its stuttering response to the war in Ukraine.

After months of criticism -- and a series of gaffes -- German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday.

It comes days before the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, which coordinates arms supplies to Kyiv, is due to meet in Germany.

Britain this weekend pledged 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine, which would make it the first Western country to supply the heavy tanks Kyiv has been calling for.

Putin on Monday slammed Kyiv's "destructive" policies that "bet on the intensification of hostilities with the support of Western sponsors who are ramping up the supplies of weapons."

His spokesperson told reporters that "these tanks are burning and will burn."

A large team of Ukrainian ministers and officials headed by First Lady Olena Zelenska meanwhile began a major effort at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to lobby for greater Western aid and weapons deliveries.

"That's why I'm here," Kyiv mayor and former heavyweight champion boxer Vitali Klitschko, told reporters when asked about the need for fresh help.

"That's why it's very important to talk directly... it's very important to have a personal connection."

- 'Prosecute Russian leaders' -

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock meanwhile called for a special tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders, as Moscow faced war crimes accusations over the Dnipro attack.

"We need to voice a clear message to the Russian leadership here and now that a war of aggression will not go unpunished," Baerbock said.

Calls have grown for a way to try to punish Russian leaders for the crime of aggression, as the Hague-based International Criminal Court cannot do so under its rules.

Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in the United States to learn how to use the Patriot system, the Pentagon's most advanced air defence system.

Washington promised Kyiv a Patriot battery in a significant victory for Ukraine.

The Patriot missiles can shoot down cruise missiles, short-range ballistic missiles and aircraft at a height significantly higher than the systems currently in place.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called Monday for a special tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders, as Moscow faced war crimes accusations over a strike in Ukraine's Dnipro.

Baerbock called for a "new format" of court to "bring Russian leaders to justice" for their invasion of Ukraine, possibly using Ukrainian law but based abroad with international judges.

"We need to voice a clear message to the Russian leadership here and now that a war of aggression will not go unpunished," Baerbock said in a speech to the Hague Academy of International Law.

Calls have grown for a way to try to punish Russian leaders for the crime of aggression, as the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) cannot do so under its rules.

Germany's top diplomat said she had discussed with Ukraine and other allies a "special solution" that could "derive its jurisdiction from Ukrainian criminal law."

But she added that it was "important for us to have an international component, for example, a location outside Ukraine, with financial support from partners and with international prosecutors and judges," she added.

"That would be a new format."

The German Foreign Ministry later tweeted that Baerbock wanted to "support Ukraine internationally in setting up a special tribunal for aggression in The Hague."

Baerbock also called for changes to the statute of the Hague-based ICC so it can eventually put the Russian leadership on trial for aggression.

- 'Despicable crimes' -

The ICC is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. But under rules adopted in 2018 it cannot prosecute Russia for the separate crime of aggression, as it is not a member.

The only way to do so at present is through a UN Security Council referral, which Russia as a permanent member would veto.

In November, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen floated the idea of a "specialised court" to put Russian leaders on trial.

During a news conference later, Baerbock and Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra raised the issue of children allegedly abducted from Ukraine and taken to Russia.

"These children were kidnapped," Baerbock said, adding that Germany and the Netherlands had agreed to "consider further EU sanctions" against Russia over the matter.

"These are despicable crimes," Hoekstra added.

The German and Dutch ministers however skirted around the issue of Ukraine's call for its allies to deliver Leopard battle tanks, which Berlin has so far refused to approve.

"Of course we're talking about tanks. We'll continue to see what is possible with our partners," said Hoekstra, whose country sold most of its Leopards a decade ago but now operates a joint battalion with Germany.

Germany's call for a special court came as EU officials said that Russia's weekend strike on a residential block in Dnipro, which killed at least 40 people, constitutes a "war crime".

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose country holds the EU presidency, condemned the "horrific attack".

"Intentional attacks against civilians are war crimes. Those responsible will be held to account", he said, speaking at a joint press conference in Stockholm with European Council President Charles Michel.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, with at least 40 dead, as a possible war crime, his spokesperson said Monday.

"A strike hit a residential building in Dnipro on Saturday evening, in one of the deadliest attacks in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion last February," Stephanie Tremblay told reporters.

"The secretary-general condemned this attack, saying that this was another example of a suspected violation of the laws of war," she added.

The UN coordinator in Ukraine, Denise Brown, "called for an effective investigation of suspected war crimes and appropriate prosecution of suspects," Tremblay said.

The toll from the attack in Dnipro rose to 40 on Monday, as more bodies were pulled from the debris of the partially collapsed Soviet-style apartment building.
"The most advanced case is Fatima," said Deputy Special Prosecutor of the Central African Special Criminal Court (SCC) Alain Ouaby Bekai, a magistrate who plays a key role in relations with Central African authorities during arrests. In recent months, the UN-backed hybrid court, accused of serious delays since its creation in 2015, has arrested four suspects in the case. They are charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes in relation to the May 28, 2014 attack on the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Fatima, in the third district of Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic.

This episode of violence is carved in peoples memories. Elements of the Seleka rebel movement, acting "apparently in retaliation for the killing of three young Muslims" according to a 2017 United Nations "Mapping" report, threw grenades into the church where thousands of people displaced by the armed conflict had taken refuge, killing 14 people. The trial of the defendants in this case (Hadiatou Gary, Abdel Kader Ali, Al Bachir Oumar and Amadou Yalo) could open in the first quarter of 2023.

The SCC has also made several indictments against anti-Balaka militias that took up arms to oust the Seleka in a civil war that caused the death of at least 3,000 civilians between December 2013 and October 2014, according to the same UN report. The two most recent indictments - for crimes against humanity - concern officers serving in the Central African army, as underlined by members of the court, for acts allegedly committed in Bossembele (northwest of Bangui). They are Vianney Semndiro, indicted in September, and Firmin Junior Danboy, indicted in October. Another former anti-Balaka, Eugene Baret Ngaikosset (nicknamed the "Butcher of Paoua), a captain in the presidential guard of former President Francois Bozize, was arrested on September 4, 2021. He was first arrested in May 2014 in Bangui and managed to escape. He is now charged by the SCC with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The second most advanced case to date is that of Ndele (northeast). According to the public prosecutor's office, this case should go to trial in 2023. Initially, the investigation was opened by the ordinary courts in May 2020, following a massacre committed on April 29, 2020. Twenty-eight people including at least 21 civilians were killed, according to the UN mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), in fighting between two rival factions of the Front populaire pour la renaissance de la Centrafrique (FPRC), one of the main armed groups at the time. According to AFP, fighters of the goula and rounga ethnic groups, previously united in the FPRC, carried out the killings in an effort to control mining deposits and road taxation in the territory.

The SCC, which has primacy over the ordinary national courts, quickly requested that the case be dismissed in its favour. The MINUSCA spokesperson told Justice Info at the time that nine people had been arrested in Ndele "at the request of the SCC. Their leader, Azor Kalite, a member of the Goula ethnic group whom Justice Info met in October that year in Camp de Roux prison, is a former member of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) who joined the Seleka before becoming chief of staff of the FPRC. The identities of the eight other men arrested with him are not public. The number of people still charged in this case was not made known to us. Our sources say there are six. This number includes two arrests in May 2022 in Ndele during a MINUSCA-coordinated operation with the FACA that went wrong. The targeted suspect, Adam Moctar, was killed under circumstances described in a communique from the SCC prosecutor's office. The identities of the two others apprehended have not been made public.

Support from the national gendarmerie

It was after this particular incident that a rapprochement took place with the national gendarmerie. I had a meeting with the director general of the gendarmerie, to whom I explained the need for the SCC to be supported in the execution of our mandates," Ouaby Bekai told Justice Info. It worked very well. The general who heads the gendarmerie received me for a meeting. It is the SCC special unit of the judicial police, currently composed of 18 people from the Central African police and gendarmerie, which first investigates and locates the suspects. Then the national gendarmerie provides a team of eight agents "ready to intervene as soon as we locate the person, says Ouaby Bekai.

"We no longer have to wait for MINUSCA and we don't rely solely on it," says an investigating magistrate with relief. And the results seem to be in. Members of the court told us of at least three additional people arrested (names not all made public) in the last half of 2022, in addition to the six actions mentioned above: ex-Seleka Abdel Kader Kalil in October; a former anti-Balaka leader accused of serious violence against Peulh people in the mining village of Gaga (northwest), also in October; and last but not least "General" Idriss Ibrahim Khalil alias "Bin Laden" in July in Bambari (central CAR).

This arrest is highly symbolic for the SCC, since it is the same case as that of "escaped" minister Hassan Bouba, who is still in government. The two men are being prosecuted, among other things, for their alleged role in a massacre that caused the death of 112 people on November 15, 2018, in Alindao, according to the UN, committed by fighters from the rebel movement to which they belonged, the Union for Peace in Central Africa (UPC), along with other anti-Balaka militias.

"Youthful errors on both sides

The fact that no one opposed the arrest of this man that has been described as an "accomplice" of Bouba at the time of the alleged crime, as well as the collaboration in recent months of the gendarmerie and the Central African army, allows the president of the court to believe that there is no political blocking (or no longer). Following this incident, we were received by the head of state," the president of the Court Michel Landry Luanga told Justice Info. [According to] our exchanges, it was an incident deplored by both sides, youthful errors on both sides. Some thought that a member of the government could not be arrested. We explained the texts of the SCC, which are not those of the national law."

A person from outside the court who wishes to remain anonymous describes a "lack of courtesy" on the part of the SCC, which, before detaining a minister, did not inform the head of government, the minister of justice nor the presidency. In any case, Bouba who is a dissident of the UPC, is probably too useful to the army and its Russian allies for informing about movements of Ali Darass's rebel group, because of the links he has retained within the UPC, this source suggests. This would explain the protection he has enjoyed so far.

It is an unfortunate incident," Luanga insists. If he [Bouba] is not in detention, it does not mean that the investigation is not under way. We are serene, we continue to do our work. And the incident even produced some positive effects, according to the Court president. "We had issued warrants, but for a long time nothing moved, he says. After the Bouba incident, we took the opportunity to execute our mandates. We received a firm promise. Instructions were given. That's what led to the latest arrests.

Luanga rejects the idea that both government and MINUSCA are trying to limit the number and level of responsibility of those arrested out of political expediency. "You can't conclude from one incident that the court is weakened and that it can't take on the authorities," he says.

Obo: We had no choice

Collaboration with the ordinary courts has also improved, according to the Court president. "We had problems, a tug-of-war, but today when we ask for a file we get it, he told Justice Info." He points to the case of an attack in 2020 on the town of Obo, in the southeast of the country. Nine individuals were arrested and presented as members of the UPC. At that time, when contacted by Justice Info, the UPC said they were shopkeepers, shepherds, artisans and motorcycle cab drivers. It is now half understood that this was probably the case.

Obo was the choice of the Bangui public prosecutor's office, we had no choice," Luanga continues, before adding that, more generally, the SCC may have received "insufficient files. He says the court has not had any cases dismissed, although there have been provisional releases in cases where the person could not be charged such as in the Obo case.

Distribution of cases between courts

How is the distribution of cases decided between all the courts seized of the gravest crimes in the Central African Republic? "We all go fishing, and there are many fish to catch. If we see a fish that interests us, it is left to us," Luanga answers with a smile. And with the ICC? "We received the new officials," he said shortly after the ICC President visited Bangui at the end of November and shortly before the announcement by Prosecutor Karim Khan that he was closing his investigations in the Central African Republic. "We felt a pragmatism on their part, a willingness to cooperate and to give priority to the SCC in the Central African Republic instead of overburdening the ICC. This is a sign of confidence, it reflects the recognition of the work done, and it can lighten their load."

There is still a lot of progress to be made, says one investigating magistrate, who describes "enormous potential for collaboration with the ICC, but almost nothing in practice. The SCC's investigating offices consult the ICC's online decisions and request documents. Two rogatory letters were sent in October 2021, which were still unanswered in early December 2022. A third, more recent request has been made. Things are changing, however, according to the court president, who said the judges that went to The Hague in early December for meetings on the sidelines of the ICC Assembly of States Parties "came back with the information they wanted.

The fact remains that if the ICC discharges itself from the Central African Republic, there is a real risk of overburdening the SCC. To date, the SCC has only one trial chamber, which at best can only try two cases per year. According to our information, the 20 or so investigators of the judicial police unit are already overloaded with no less than 19 ongoing investigations, three preliminary inquiries (including one concerning the French company Castel, which required numerous hearings), 12 files under analysis and at least 20 direct complaints from victims, which do not go through the public prosecutor. Past years have shown that the SCC cannot make rapid recruitments. Its personnel are recruited through the United Nations system and, in the case of high-level international positions (including magistrates), must be supported (paid for) by the countries of origin of the persons concerned.

"The black spot is resources

The long-standing issue of the Court's management autonomy from its UN partners, who have managed its funds and human resources from the beginning, still needs to be resolved. The key man here is the deputy registrar, who, according to the regulations, "shall be responsible for the management of financial services. This internationally seconded position could not be filled for years. It is now occupied by a German of Cameroonian origin, Ousman Njikam, who arrived in Bangui in September, who has a personality and profile considered reassuring, as he has worked in the registries of several international courts.

We asked him about the autonomy of the Court. "That is always the goal, he says. Is that where we are now? No," he answers. It needs to create a management structure, he says, and "we need to think carefully before we act. In the meantime, he has a number of other priorities, two of which seem more urgent than the others: setting up an internal computer system, which does not yet exist; and equipping the courtroom with sound and cameras in preparation for the trials.

"The black spot is resources," admits Njikam, who has started to approach donors. Out of its 14 million Euro operating budget, the SCC received only half of it in 2022, mainly from MINUSCA and the United States. The European Union, because of the presence of the Russian private security company Wagner in the Central African Republic, had partially frozen its budget support. Financial means are a real problem," Luanga admits. If not for the convincing results, they [the donors] would probably have given up. The big concern now is whether the Court's partners will renew their trust in 2023. But the biggest expenses like building the Court have been made. It shouldn't be that difficult."

Faustin Archange Touadera after his vote on 27 December 2020, at the last presidential elections in the Central African Republic. The president is escorted by his guard, Rwandan peacekeepers and Russian private security guards.  Alexis huguet / AFP

A Rwandan woman moving the goalposts

"They want to get married with the Russians, but they are asking the West to pay for the wedding," says a person close to the Court about the Central African government, who is much less optimistic about the future of its finances. In recent months, the politico-judicial context in the Central African Republic has been marked by a shake-up in the judiciary, with the departure of some 20 of the most senior judges including the president of the Constitutional Court, Danielle Darlan. The opposition accuses the head of state of wanting to change the fundamental law to run for a third term.

Nevertheless, the SCC appears to be serving a useful purpose for President Touadera. He formally gave his political endorsement to the renewal of the court's mandate following a November 21 meeting with Valentine Rugwabiza, a Rwandan diplomat and businesswoman who arrived in Bangui in April 2022 with the dual role of Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and head of MINUSCA. "Many things have changed since the arrival of the representative, the goalposts have moved," said Luanga.

The Rwandans, other major allies of the government, are increasingly extending their influence in the country, and not only in the field of security. Will Rwanda's soft power move the lines, including in the area of justice? It remains that with the renewal of the SCC's mandate, Touadera should at least reaffirm the statements on justice that he has made since the beginning of his first term in 2016.

The SCC is in agreement with the government's discourse on the fight against impunity," said the court president. There was [the peace agreement in] Khartoum [in 2019]. Some time ago, 80% of the country was in the hands of the rebels, uncontrolled. This is no longer the case. Before, it was not possible to arrest people in PK5 [Bangui's third district, with a Muslim majority]. We did it recently. Everything is linked to peace and security. If there is effectiveness [of the SCC], it is when peace has returned. If there are still difficulties, it is because peace is not fully there. If you believe the word of the authorities it is that they are making efforts to bring peace, and that we become a post-conflict jurisdiction."
Park Eun Bin definitely made heads turn with her amazing look at the 2023 Critics Choice Awards Red Carpet.

Following the huge success, the ENA series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" was invited to the annual ceremony after scoring a nod for the category Best Foreign Language Drama along with Lee Min Ho and Youn Yuh Jung's "Pachinko."

Unfortunately, the rom-com series lost to the Apple TV+ along with fellow nominees "1899," "Kleo" "Borgen," "Garcia!," "My Brilliant Friend," "Tehran," and "The Kingdom Exodus."

Despite this, the "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" gained the crowd's attention after stepping on the red carpet looking like a Disney princess.

Park Eun Bin's 2023 Critics Choice Awards Red Carpet Look

At the 28th Critics Choice Awards red carpet, Park Eun Bin gave Queen Elsa of Arendelle a run for its money after stunning the ceremony with a princess-like style ensemble.

The actress' red carpet look was from Jenny Packham featuring a wren crystal embellished cape gown in light blue which totally suits her skin tone.

Joining Park Eun Bin at the annual event is the "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" director Yoo In Sik who looked dapper in a suit and bow tie.

Interestingly, the South Korean star was also included in the 15 best dress stars cited by The Hollywood Reporter.

Hollywood stars who were also named 2023 Critics Choice Awards best dress is Tehran star Niv Sultan in Yves Saint Laurent, Kate Hudson wearing Oscar de la Renta beaded beige dress, Aubrey Plaza in stunning LBD from Louis Vuitton and the gorgeous Kerry Washington in Giorgio Armani Prive

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Park Eun Bin Beats Song Joong Ki After Securing THIS Title

Interestingly, after the annual ceremony, Park Eun Bin took the opportunity to thank viewers and fans who supported her and the K-drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo."

As the actress went on live and read a bunch of messages from fans saying that she looked like Elsa, the South Korean star sang a line from "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"

With this, fans lauded the actress saying that she "never fails to make everyone smile."

Will Park Eun Bin Return in 'Extraordinary Attorney Woo' Season 2?

The hit K-drama "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" follows the story of the 27-year-old Woo Young Woo, played by Park Eun Bin), who is a rookie lawyer and Seoul National University law school graduate with an amazingly creative thought process, and impressive memory.

Despite her autism diagnosis and lack of social skills and emotional intelligence, she was able to wow her colleagues with his incredible skills.

After the series took the world by storm, officials confirmed that "Extraordinary Attorney Woo" will be back with season 2.

However, as for the cast lineup, the CEO of AStory, Lee Sang Baek says the goal is to return in 2024 with the cast and crew remaining the same.

The only thing that they have to consider right now is the difficulty of coordinating the busy schedules of its stars.

Baek was also adamant that the cast and crew would remain the same in the second season; however, the difficulty of coordinating the busy schedules of its stars means that it could take a while before production resumes. It is said

READ MORE: Park Eun Bin Opens Up About What Made her Continue Acting

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Written by Geca Wills
Kim Young Dae and Park Ju Hyun become more open to each other. The King promises to make her the queen, but the female con is still confused about their status as she doesn't want to be his concubine.

'The Forbidden Marriage' Episode 9: Lee Shin Won Goes Missing While Lady Won Decides To Leave the Palace

King Lee Heon misses his best friend, Shin Won (Kim Woo Seok). Minister Sul Rok (Kim Min Sang) informs Se Jang (Lee Hyun Geol) that Lady Won is also leaving. Meanwhile, Ye So Rang (Park Ju Hyun) also shows her concerns to Shin Won about his poisoned arm.

Se Jang confronts Lady Won (Hwang Jung Min) and asks why she's leaving. In response, she hopes to find her lost husband and son- otherwise she'll have regrets. He begs her to stay, but she refuses.

So Rang and Lee Heon bicker as the two can't decide on how they'll put themselves to sleep. Meanwhile, Lady Seo and Minister Jo are in search of Shin Won. They want to convince Lee Heon that they don't need the marriage ban as he needs to get Hyeon Hee appointed as queen.

Lee Heon Assures So Rang To Become His Consort

His men bring up the bride selection at court and the King is worried about So Rang. Minister suggests getting So Rang pregnant is the only way for her to become a queen. He gets shy and feels like everything is moving too fast.

However, the next day, he asks So Rang on a date to an hour market under the pretext that he wants to observe. She teaches him how to earn money. The two set up a stall and Lee Heon is impressed with her tactics. So Rang makes knot ornaments, while the King gets frustrated with the outcome of his work. They spend the day enjoying each other's company.

Back in the palace, So Rang helps Lee Heon take off his royal robe for bed and gets flustered by her closeness. He is about to kiss her, but So Rang stops him and remembers what the Grand Queen Mother told her, that she will never be the queen. However, the King assures her that he will make her queen. But the female con is not satisfied with their conversation.

Lee Shin Won Discovers So Rang's Past

Meanwhile, Painter Jong continues to show his sincerity in pursuing Hae Young by giving her a storybook. He hopes to finally confess to her.

So Rang and Lady Won bid farewell to each other. Se Jang looks at Won sadly from afar while Lee Heon thanks her and wishes her well.

Seon Hyeok and Ji Hwal were able to find Shin Won but told them not to look for him. Jeong opens up about his feelings for Hae Young to Shin Won and asks how he could easily forget the bitterness of love.

Sul Rok helps Lee Heon in preparing a surprise for So Rang. The King was stunned when she ran towards him and kissed him. They spend the night together talking about their memories and ended making out.

Meanwhile, after Shin Won sees his belongings where So Rang's painting was kept he immediately went to Aedaldang and was wistful that So Rang knew who he was but didn't tell him.

He heads in and sees that Gwang Yi is sick. The doctor says he is old and doesn't have much time. Hae Young tells Shin Won that they need to inform So Rang.

So Rang is upset after knowing Gwang Yi's condition. She nurses him and informs Lee Heon that it will take time for her to return to the palace. Shin Won confronts her if she knows that he was supposed to be her husband. While in the middle of the conversation Lee Heon appears and was hurt by what he heard from the two.

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.
This celebrity was in talks to appear in the upcoming series "Bastard," alongside Park Ji Hoon. Unfortunately, she refused to take the offer.

Can you guess who she is?

Roh Yoon Seo Declines Starring in 'Bastard' Alongside Park Ji Hoon

On January 16, people were ecstatic to see the news involving Park Ji Hoon as he is being courted to headline another webtoon-based series "Bastard," following his previous drama, "Weak Hero Class 1."

In addition to the casting news, rising actress Roh Yoon Seo was reported to also participate in the project as his female counterpart.

However, just a few hours on the day the possible casting was announced, Roh Yoon Seo's agency MAA released a statement saying that the "20th Century Girl" star declined to join the main cast.

"Actress Roh Yoon Seo was offered to star in the upcoming webtoon-based drama 'Bastard,' but she decided not to appear."

Though the agency stated that their artist will no longer participate in the project, MAA didn't specify the reason why Roh Yoon Seo refused the casting offer.

She was supposed to star as Yoon Gyeon.

'Bastard' Might Be Park Ji Hoon's First Acting Project This 2023

Campus-thriller series follows the story of Seon Woo Jin, a high school student who lives and spends an unfortunate childhood with his psychopathic father.

One day, when his dad selected the new student at the school as his next murder victim, Woo Jin steps in to protect her from his abusive dad.

It has been said that the series is likely to be released on OTT.

Furthermore, stay tuned to the details about the drama adaptation of "Bastard." Other actors and actresses are not yet revealed to the public.

Roh Yoon Seo Stars in 'Crash Course in Romance'

Meanwhile, Roh Yoon Seo is currently portraying the character of Nam Hee E in the newly debuted rom-com drama "Crash Course in Romance."

For those who are familiar with the rookie star, she previously joined Kim Yoo Jung and Byeon Woo Seok in the famous Korean movie "20th Century Girl."

The 23-year-old female star also appeared in tvN's "Our Blues."

What can you say about the news? Share your thoughts/replies in the comments!

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news, keep your tabs open here at KDramastars.

KDramastars owns this article.

Shai Collins wrote this.
"Sweet Home" actress Lee Si Young is under fire for child abuse allegations and safety ignorance.

What happened? Read on to know the full story.

Lee Si Young Criticized For Safety Ignorance & Alleged Child Abuse

The "Sweet Home" star is under controversy after her hiking milestone post gains attention over child abuse and safety ignorance.

Known for being sporty and adventurous, Lee Si Young would go on a hike for recreational purposes.

On January 2, Lee Si Young shared her hiking milestone on her personal Instagram account. In her post, the actress was captured climbing Mount Halla with her toddler on her back to welcome the new year.

She captioned the post, "I came to Mount Halla with my son! He was so heavy that I thought I was going to die! But this is a meaningful milestone so I'm so happy!"

Mount Halla is the second highest peak in South Korea. Lee Si Young added that her son weighed nearly 20kg, which was too heavy especially on her back.

Because of this, she was subject to criticism over child abuse and insensitivity to safety.

Hiking in the snow is known to be dangerous and Lee Si Young's reckless act of going up and down the mountain with a child weighing 20 kg on her back is dubbed as ignorance, according to the public.

One comment expressed anger, saying, "You're a mother. You should know how dangerous this is, even if you're physically fit. This is an act of child abuse."

Lee Si Young's son was stuck on his mother's back for more than eight hours in the cold. Even more so, the slippery slopes in the mountain could have made the actress stumble and injure both her and her child.

The actress, who has almost 4 million subscribers on Instagram, hasn't addressed the issue up until this writing.

At the moment, the actress is gearing up to return to the small screen with the new season of Netflix drama "Sweet Home."

Lee Si Young Reprises Role in Netflix's 'Sweet Home'

This 2023, Lee Si Young returns with the original cast of "Sweet Home" with a new season!

"Sweet Home" is a thriller series which depicts the residents' psychological warfare and survival in an isolated apartment that houses hideous monsters.

It stars Song Kang, Lee Jin Wook, Go Min Si and Park Gyu Young, and it received critical acclaim during its initial premiere in 2020.

Earlier in 2022, the producers of the series confirmed that the work has been green-lit for a new season and more; "Sweet Home" will consecutively produce Season 2 and Season 3 this year.

In the series, Lee Sin Young plays the role of a former firefighter who is an expert in martial arts. Along with the original cast of the series, Netflix guarantees a much more intense work that will reel in viewers with its cinematography and well-written plot.

"Sweet Home" is currently under its production process, and it's expected to hit the screen in the first quarter of 2023!

Watch the teaser of the drama here, ICYMI:

KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
As some retailers look to tighten return policies, The Bay says it's making it easier for customers to return online purchases. A Hudson's Bay department store in Toronto, Friday, February 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tours the Vital Metals rare earth elements processing plant in Saskatoon during a media event on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the Prime Minister's Office has apologized for leaving him off the invite list. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards
Kennesaw State Field Station is a living laboratory

KENNESAW, Ga. | Jan 17, 2023

Just a few minutes northwest of Kennesaw State University sits a 23-acre plot of land along Hickory Grove Road near Interstate 75 in Kennesaw, Ga.

Eight years ago, the land was a concrete mixing plant owned by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).

The KSU Field Station operates under the auspices of the Office of Research, led by Vice President for Research Phaedra Corso, who admitted being duly impressed with the facility upon first glance.

When I first visited the Field Station, I thought it had so much potential for Kennesaw State, she said. It had the greenhouse, a functional hydroponics lab, and all that land. I just thought it was the perfect place for the Office of Research to turn into a living laboratory.

Michael Blackwell, KSU's Field Station manager, led the efforts to remediate the land, which has allowed KSU to expand its faculty and student research, and provide hands-on, real-world experiences in a unique setting. In addition to giving faculty a chance to engage in interdisciplinary research projects, the Field Station also offers the community multiple activities to learn about sustainability.

The projects happening at the Field Station span multiple colleges, from an ongoing study of European starlings by assistant professor of biology Sarah Guindre-Parker to a small farm with edible vegetables supervised by geography professors Jason Rhodes and Vanessa Slinger-Friedman. Rhodes and Slinger-Friedmans Food Forest hews closely to the original Field Station project  culinary sustainability. It sits on a third of an acre near the entrance to the Field Station and serves as a model for urban cultivation. By growing vegetables, the project seeks to lead the way to a sustainable mode of urban agriculture.

I knew there needed to be a hands-on model for the class, so in 2019, I visited the Field Station and realized it was a perfect spot for the Food Forest, said Rhodes, who teaches a class in sustainable agriculture each spring. The best thing about it is its replicable in any urban setting, and we do invite people from all over the Atlanta metro area to see what were teaching and learning at KSU.

Assistant professor of biology Mario Bretfeld also works with growing food, only in a different way. In one of the clear-glass, Quonset-hut greenhouses, Bretfeld hydroponically grows tomatoes for an ongoing, externally funded project in his PlantEcoPhysiology laboratory. Before Bretfeld arrived at KSU in 2019, his research focused primarily on the interaction between trees and their environments, particularly regarding water uptake. Over time, he realized his research had an application to agriculture and collaborated with associate professor of mechanical engineering Sathish Gurupatham (an expert in thermodynamics) for the hydroponic tomato project.

One of the big reasons why I came to KSU was the Field Station, Bretfeld said. I did most of my research in the Rocky Mountains, and I needed a local research spot. I realized I had access to the hydroponic greenhouse at the Field Station and could lean on the expertise of the Field Station staff; from there, the project just grew and grew.

Guindre-Parker also joined Kennesaw State in 2019. Like Bretfeld, she says the Field Station was a major drawing point. Guindre-Parker studies European starlings and how theyve adapted successfully to different environments. She has around 50 nest boxes at the Field Station, which sits at the intersection of city and country for migratory birds  a valuable spot for research.

The Field Station is an important peri-urban site, granting us access to a unique intermediate between urban and rural spaces where we can work safely in a space dedicated for research, Guindre-Parker said. It is a great place for students new to field work to get the hang of things in a space that is secure and well equipped. It also supports large groups  including field trips for my courses.

Blackwell lists the various projects going on at the farm with a sense of pride, considering it had just one ongoing project when he arrived. The partnership with the Office of Research further solidified the Field Station as an integral part of KSUs sustained R2 status, and Corso said the Field Station perfectly illustrates the Universitys potential for growth.

We have three priorities for the Field Station: research, students, and the community, she said. Our office is dedicated to making the Field Station a hub of not only research but also teaching, and we do host classes there frequently. And for the community, we provide workshops to see what were doing out there. The Field Station is really a jewel for KSU.

Furthering this commitment, the Field Station offers community partners educational programming, activities, and special events related to sustainability. These activities have included a Beginner Beekeeping Workshop, Small Farms Tool demonstration, and the very popular workshop on Growing Culinary Mushrooms at home.

In addition, the facility welcomes volunteers to participate in weekly community service opportunities assisting with field and ground maintenance, planting, harvesting, and helping with seasonal necessities.

For his part, Blackwell said he welcomes inquiries from every corner of the university. He said professors from engineering and architecture have been in contact, though the most interesting collaboration came from the department of dance, where students performed an interpretive piece among the rows of trees.

My answer is always yes, Blackwell said. Lets find a space that works for the project that you want and well make it happen.

 Story by Dave Shelles

Photos by Judith Pishnery, Jason Getz

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A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 43,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The universitys vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 7 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.
Kenosha police arrested a 40-year-old man who hid in the attic of a home in the citys Uptown neighborhood following a vehicle pursuit Monday.

Just after 4:30 p.m., officers conducted a traffic stop of the suspect, who is known to authorities, and was wanted on felony domestic violence charges, according to Sgt. Joseph Nosalik of the Kenosha Police Department.

The man, who is from Kenosha, fled the stop in his vehicle and a pursuit ensued, but was quickly terminated after police learned a child was in the suspects vehicle, according to Nosalik.

Officers who continued the investigation then learned of the suspects likely whereabouts, convening in the 6200 block of 25th Avenue. There, they discovered the man had fled into a home after having handed the child off to a neighbor.

After confirming the child was safe, the departments Special Weapons and Tactics unit and police negotiators arrived at the scene where the man was determined to have hidden in the homes attic underneath insulation.

Two hours later, negotiators were able to successfully arrange his peaceful surrender. The man emerged and was taken into custody without further incident.

He faces multiple felony charges that will be referred to the Kenosha County District Attorneys Office, according to authorities.
PLEASANT PRAIRIE  Family, friends and others who loved Lillian Jilk came together Monday to celebrate her life and her service in the country.

Funeral services for Jilk, 103, of Kenosha, were held Monday at St. Peter Catholic Church. A procession then made its way to the mausoleum at All Saints Cemetery, where a brief ceremony was held.

Jilk passed away on Friday, Jan. 6, at Casa Del Mare.

Jilk, who was born in Gilmanton Township, Minn., began her military service in 1944 by joining the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps.

During the war, Jilk was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital Base in North Chicago, Ill., and then at boot camp in Farragut, Idaho. At the end of her service, she worked at the Naval Hospital in Long Beach, Calif., and helped sailors who returned from the war with treatment of their injuries. She served 27 months in the Nursing Corps and was discharged as a LT (JG) Navy Nurse Corp-WWII, in May of 1946.

The Kenosha Area Vietnam Honor Guard, which provides military honors for service members, took part in Mondays ceremony, playing taps, firing three rifle volleys and paying respects as the American flag that adorned her casket was folded and handed to her family.

To be a nurse during WWII and live to 103 is very rare, said Honor Guard Commander Tim Green. It was a great honor to give her last goodbye.

Mike Hellquist of the American Legion said Jilk was a member of the local American Legion Post 21, and it was an honor to share and participate in her legacy.

I wouldnt miss it for the world, he said.

Lillian was employed with St. Catherines Hospital as a nurse. She was a member St. Peters Catholic Church and the Womens League. She also volunteered at The Shalom Center, Hospice Alliance and was active in the Wisconsin Right to Life.

Lillian is survived by her grandchildren, Peter (Roxanne) Jilk, Sarah (Alex) Rodriguez, Ryan Kahl, Kyle Kahl and Katie Kahl; her great-grandchildren, Joseph Jilk, Noah Jilk and Odin Kahl; her sister, Evelyn (Jerome) Scapanski of Foley, MN and her sister-in-law, Kathy Lewandowski of White Park, Minn.

IN PHOTOS: Holy Rosary Parish celebrates woman's 75 years as church organist COOKIE'S DIAMOND JUBILEE AT HOLY ROSARY COOKIE'S DIAMOND JUBILEE AT HOLY ROSARY COOKIE'S DIAMOND JUBILEE AT HOLY ROSARY COOKIE'S DIAMOND JUBILEE AT HOLY ROSARY COOKIE'S DIAMOND JUBILEE AT HOLY ROSARY COOKIE'S DIAMOND JUBILEE AT HOLY ROSARY COOKIE'S DIAMOND JUBILEE AT HOLY ROSARY
China urges Japan to safely dispose of nuclear-contaminated water

Xinhua) 13:41, January 17, 2023

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- China once again urges Japan to take the reasonable concerns of relevant parties seriously and dispose of its nuclear-contaminated water in a science-based, open, transparent and safe manner, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

Wang made the remarks at a daily news briefing here in response to reports that Japan would pipe nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear power station into the ocean during the spring and summer this year.

Wang said that over the past two years, the international community has strongly questioned and opposed the unilateral and erroneous decision of the Japanese government to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, and expressed grave concerns over the impact such an action would have on the marine environment and public health.

Wang said the majority of the Japanese public is also opposed to this irresponsible approach. When polled, 55 percent of respondents opposed the disposal of contaminated water into the ocean.

"It is regrettable that the concerns of all parties have yet to be given due attention or be addressed by Japan," Wang said, adding that Japan has failed to provide scientific and credible explanations concerning the legitimacy of its plan, the accuracy of data on the nuclear-contaminated water, the effectiveness of the treatment system, and the uncertainties about the environmental impact.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has sent three technical task forces to Japan and so far, there has been no conclusive resolution on Japan's proposal, Wang said, noting that the agency has also issued many requests to Japan, seeking clarifications or making recommendations for improved disposal plans.

"Under such circumstances, it is reckless and irresponsible for Japan to approve the discharge plan and proceed with the relevant construction project," he said.

Wang said that China once again urges Japan to take the reasonable concerns of relevant parties seriously, and dispose of the nuclear-contaminated water in a science-based, open, transparent and safe manner. Japan should subject to the strict monitoring of the IAEA, and protect the marine environment, health rights and interests of all people, he added.

"Without authorization and full consultation with its neighbors, other stakeholders and relevant international institutions, Japan should not begin the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean," Wang said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
It was in 2012 that I started to realize that my wife Jennifers memory lapses were a significant sign to be taken seriously. That insight set us on a four-year journey, during which we engaged four neurologists in our quest for an answer. At last, Dr. Brent Fogel at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA diagnosed Jennifer with adult polyglucosan body disease (APBD), an ultra-rare, neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a deficiency of glycogen branching enzyme, resulting in the accumulation of polyglucosan bodies in muscles, nerves, and various other tissues. The polyglucosan bodies are particularly toxic to neurons, causing progressive central and peripheral nervous system degeneration. This manifests as trouble urinating (neurogenic bladder), stiff and weak legs that impair walking, numbness in the legs, fatigue, and in some cases, cognitive decline.

Hearing this diagnosis felt like a punch in the stomach, especially when Dr. Fogel added, There is no cure. This did not fit with the vision Jennifer and I had for our future years together. We were in the prime of our lives, embracing our careers, raising our children, and living an active lifestyle.

At the moment we received the diagnosis, I went into problem-solving mode. To this day, I still look for solutions and think I can solve the problem. At first, the issues were easily managed, but as time passed, the challenges have become greater. Weve gone from incontinence pads to catheters, walkers to wheelchairs. Each month, new symptoms arise. Now, Jennifers temperature is unstable, as is her gastrointestinal system. I hope I can always help my partner with whatever she needs.

About two years ago, earlier than I expected, I retired from my work as an administrator in higher education so I could be more present with Jennifer and also take care of household needs. I spend my time making adjustments around our home to support my wifes diminishing mobility and cognition, keeping her comfortable, entertained, healthy, and safe, and solving the issues that arise as her symptoms evolve and progress.

My caregiving role has two sides: The What-Can-I-Do, or the thinking part, and the How-Are-We-Feeling, or the emotional part. Both are equally important. When were together, I try not just to do something to get it done, but to be in the moment and aware of where we are and to be mindful, even if it is as simple as just holding Jennifers hand. I meet Jennifer where she is on each day. Our clinicians provided no social service resources, so I find support for both sides of caregiving from the APBD Research Foundations monthly Caregiver and Family Chats, where I connect with other caregivers. There is not a lot of information one can find anywhere else on APBD. Being a part of this Chat program helps me stay mindful and in the moment.

Jennifer and I maintain a strong partnership. I often refer to APBD as our illness, and I refer to my wife as my hero because of her strength through all she has endured and continues to endure. However frustrated she may be, she is very accepting and figures out how to get through it.

When new challenges arise, I meet them with creativity. For example, when our grandson was born in 2021, I helped Jennifer to remember his name by posting pictures of the baby all over the room.

It was only recently, in the last year or so, that I have looked at the long-term, at the trajectory of what APBD is. I am learning that we can only live each day as it comes. I meet Jennifer where she is on each day.

Jennifer and I have enjoyed many years of love and togetherness. I honor our partnership by living in the now and appreciating the little things when I care for my wifes struggles with APBD. I remind Jennifer often, You are as strong as you are today; and today, this is where we are.

Bruce Rosky is a patient advocate.
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No, no, no! Im having a nightmare! She shrieked through the phone. I couldnt bear to hear it as words fell clumsily out of my mouth. Your husband couldnt breathe on his own. We had to put him on a ventilator. Im so sorry.

I was apologizing already. Im sure she knew that it wasnt a good sign when a physician opened with an apology. What does that mean? she stuttered. I could hear in her voice that she didnt want the answer. Your husband has a large blood clot in his lungs. When patients cannot breathe on their own, in this situation, with this virus, it is usually a mortal event. I had five years of experience calling families with horrifying news; why did I feel so awkward? I became frustrated with myself. With each scathing statement, I cringed. I didnt know how to give her the truth without tearing the last shred of hope out of her heartbroken arms. Her painful sobbing ensued. For the first time in my life, I knew what people meant when they said they were numb. My hand held the phone lifelessly but I refused to cry in front of my colleagues, who were frantically rushing me for sign out. But the worst was yet to come. Another sound came shrieking across the line. Three daughters. One my age. They were listening in. I was on speakerphone. I had no idea.

It was Good Friday. They needed their father for the major Catholic holiday that their Sicilian family celebrated in three short days. Easter was a holiday I spent with my Italian family every year in traditional style with flowers, chocolate, and multiple rounds of food. In fact, my birthday intermittently fell on Easter Sunday, so early April was an especially nostalgic time of year for me. For Italians, Easter marks the end of winter, the beginning of Spring. It is the celebration of our Saviors resurrection. This is the time of the year when what was dead comes back to life. But our holiday lost its promise this year. The three, I imagined beautiful, young women waled, sobbed and waled in terror on the other side of the phone. Their 55-year-old, healthy father wouldnt be home for the holiday. In fact, last Easter was their last Easter with him. I understood what the upcoming holiday meant. I understood having an Italian father who was born and raised in Brooklyn because mine was, too. I understood being the daughter of that kind of stubborn, old-school, independent man and I understood needing him in my life, for better or worse, but I couldnt share any of this with them. I need a miracle, I need a miracle, I need a miracle! Colloredos wife recited over and over in desperation. I felt their cutting cries in the makeshift ICU, but it was late in my shift, and there was more bad news to distribute to anxious families across the city.

Time raced on. Please, please let my daughters see their father. Please let me see my husband. Im sorry, its just too dangerous, I regretfully replied. I wanted to break the doors open for them and every family who begged to say goodbye to their loved one. I glanced over and watched the ventilator force air into Colloredos stiff lungs. Once a strong and self-sufficient man, their husband and father was now lifeless, paralyzed. His skin crackled from pneumomediastinum that engulfed the entire left side of his neck and trunk. He was admitted 24 hours earlier. They were just with him, they insisted. How could this be? I didnt have answers. I wondered if I was having a nightmare, too.

***

Dianas mother wanted to FaceTime with her beautiful daughter, a 32-year-old lawyer born and raised in Bay Ridge. A young, accomplished woman who made her way through the outer borough school system and achieved her professional dreams. I identified with her story because it was mine, too. She happened to become the lawyer; I happened to become the doctor who now watched her tumble into respiratory failure as the virus overwhelmed her body.

Youre a nurse, correct? I asked her mother. Yes, I am. Is she OK? I was relieved. She seemed to be keeping it together. She was intubated this afternoon, I regretfully reported. Mrs. Aree knew what this meant. Please, let me see her. She begged. I will FaceTime with you as soon as I can. Abruptly, a blaring alarm intruded our call. Another code blue. I hurriedly hung up. I never did get the chance to call Dianas mother back, but I passed the message to a stronger nurse.

I called six more patients families that evening, all of who had already passed. Men and women died one after the other over the course of that afternoon. Simultaneous codes didnt allow us to resuscitate any of them. Everyone I spoke to received the news that their beloved father, daughter, sister, or mother was gone. They died silently on a ventilator, alone. Furthermore, unable to hold memorial gatherings, families couldnt touch, hold or see their loved ones body again. They were just with them, but now they were gone.

I was off that Easter weekend. I texted my friends who were on duty to see how Diana was doing on Easter morning. Is her kidney functioning improving? Did anyone call over to the main hospital and present her case for ECMO? Leo typed slowly, we didnt get a chance, Marissa. Unfortunately, she died this morning. I read the text and looked away. I sighed, paused, and then I looked her up. I found her LinkedIn and Instagram accounts. She seemed incredible. I dont know who called her mother that Easter morning, but my heart broke for both parties. She was young with no known medical history and was full of promise. We were rooting for her. When she made a full recovery, I wanted to become a friend of hers. But my hope was shattered now, too and all I could remember was failing her mother that night. I didnt realize she had 48 hours left. If youre reading this now, and you are Dinas mother, I want you to know I am so sorry.

The streets of New York City were completely silent. I drove the variable reliable 2002 Toyota Camry my sister graciously lent me to avoid the devastated public transit system. I panicked every day at 6:30 a.m. and every night at 7:30 p.m. I knew that if I were to break down on the way to the hospital, I would be stranded. Emergency services were inundated with emergency calls. If I crashed and sustained any injury, I could very well be left for dead on the Brooklyn- Queens Expressway, a roadway usually so packed with cars it more often resembles a parking lot than a major highway. I was in isolation from friends and family for three weeks at this point. I went on to spend my birthday alone for fear that I may be an asymptomatic carrier. As a physician caring for these patients, I felt like a constant threat to others during a simple trip to the grocery store. No one knew how long the virus lived on surfaces or how it was transmitted yet. But I saw what this virus was capable of, so I obeyed diligent precautions. I never wanted to be the reason why another physician would have to make the calls that I had to make that day.

The firetrucks applauded and celebrated with us at 7 p.m. every night. The city cheered audibly for the heroes, but I wasnt a hero at all. As a cardiologist, I was used to saving lives in an impactful way, but this was a different story entirely. I was no longer doing what I originally dreamed a doctor would do. One day, as the men and women of service cheered, the tears consumed me. I couldnt hide my despair any longer. It was uncontrollable. It took at least an hour to gather myself once I got into the cold car. It was as if every moment of strength I had during these phone calls melted into this unexpected moment of painful, overwhelming emotional expression.

When the sirens rang out, and they cheered, I couldnt bear to think they were cheering for me. Rather, I imagined them celebrating patients lives lost, lives that families could not celebrate or commemorate in a proper fashion. I reasoned that the cheering and applause were a demonstration of support and encouragement for mourning families who desperately needed comfort.

And so today, I thank you, families. Thank you for allowing me to be with your beloved at the end of their incredible lives. You all should hear that their lives touched mine in a way that will remain with me forever.

Marissa Lombardo is a cardiologist.
The prevailing party contract is not the only contract that can protect a doctor in medical malpractice litigation. There is also the doctor-defense counsel contract.

Because of the risk of litigation, doctors often have a contract with a medical malpractice insurance carrier. The carrier offers to cover litigation costs in exchange for premiums, limits on liability, and other terms of coverage. The insurance company is then obligated to appoint and pay for an attorney to defend the doctor.

This contract typically includes a cooperation clause requiring the doctor to work with the insurance carrier and the attorney it appoints in their defense plans. Essentially, there is an unnamed third party to this agreement  the attorney.

When a doctor is served with a complaint, they notify the medical malpractice insurance company. The company then appoints an attorney, who likely already has a contract with the carrier to offer representation to the insurance company for the defense of its clients. The carrier accepts this offer in exchange for a retainer and other compensation, and sets terms for how it expects the lawyer to defend its clients.

The doctor can be defended unconditionally or with a reservation of rights. Most carriers defend with a reservation of rights, which means the carrier can deny the rights of the doctor if the doctors interests do not align with those of the carrier. This contract puts the doctor in a precarious position because the attorney has a conflict of interest  they have two clients: the doctor and the insurance company.

If claimants who sue doctors have contracts with their attorneys, why shouldnt doctors who are being sued have contracts with their attorneys, especially when the doctors attorney is appointed by the insurance carrier?

A lawyer may argue that an oral contract exists with the doctor. This is true, but there is also a written contract between this lawyer and the insurance company. An oral contract is contestable, but a written contract is not.

What if the doctor wants a written contract with the lawyer?

The contract stipulates:

In regards to the medical malpractice case in question, the doctor agrees to fully cooperate with defense counsel by providing a summary of the medical intervention in question that demonstrates the lack of merit in this case. This summary also tests the quality of evidence in this hypothesis with a level of significance of 0.05, corresponding to a 95% chance that this hypothesis is correct. It is expected that this hypothesis will be used to assist in the defense of this case. It is understood that the burden of proof is preponderance of evidence. It is also understood that the quality of evidence, specifically a level of significance of 0.05, as presented in the hypothesis, does not conflict with preponderance of evidence. This same quality of evidence will be reflected in the denials stated in the answer to the complaint and in the certificate of qualified expert (CQE) prepared by the medical expert. In consideration, the defendant doctor has no hesitation to accept representation by this defense counsel and no objection to appropriate compensation. Upon acceptance, defense counsel agrees to transmit this summary to the medical malpractice insurance carrier that appointed defense counsel and to the medical expert selected by defense counsel and approved by the medical malpractice carrier. Assuming all conditions regarding preponderance of evidence and quality of evidence are accurate, counsel will make a sincere effort to base this physicians defense on the aforementioned hypothesis. In these circumstances, the quality of evidence, specifically a level of significance of 0.05, will be reflected in the denials and in the certificate of qualified expert. For this consideration, defense counsel agrees to represent this doctor under the previously agreed upon terms of compensation.

It goes without saying that any malpractice attorney and any medical expert should understand the concept of preponderance of evidence, the meaning of a level of significance of 0.05, and the concept of a type I error. The terms of this contract are entirely reasonable and completely compatible with all other existing contracts between the doctor and the insurance carrier and between the lawyer and the insurance carrier. Additionally, as a written contract, it is compatible with the oral contract that the attorney claims already exists.

If the doctor believes there is a need for a contract, there is a need for a contract. A contract is not a contract until it is accepted. If the attorney rejects these terms, it is because the attorney understands that they have an irreconcilable conflict of interest between the doctor and the insurance company. Under these circumstances, the insurance company is obligated to provide the doctor with another attorney.

To be legal and binding, contracts must be made in good faith and all parties must agree to an offer made by one party and accepted by another party. Something of value must be exchanged for something else of value. In this case, the items of value to be exchanged are: 1) the doctors pledge to fully cooperate and to accept representation by the lawyer without hesitation, even though the lawyer has a contract with the malpractice carrier and is directly paid by it, and 2) the lawyers pledge to be an unquestioned, zealous advocate for the doctor in a malpractice lawsuit. There is no coercion and all parties are competent and have the capacity to accept the terms. If a lawyer does not want a contract, another lawyer can be provided. The doctor-defense counsel contract fulfills the usual terms of contracts.

Howard Smith is an obstetrics-gynecology physician.
Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny-supported companies created 103 jobs in 2022 - up significantly from the 81 that were created by LEO Kilkenny in 2021.

That's according to annual results for LEOs in 2022 announced today by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney. The net jobs created by Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny supported clients in 2022 was 103, which takes into account businesses that amalgamated, ceased trading and those that transferred on to Enterprise Ireland.

The new figures show that the LEO Kilkenny financially supported 182 small businesses in their portfolio across the county and these companies in turn employ 1,077 people.

The total national figures for the Local Enterprise Offices across the country were announced with the LEOs now supporting 37,863 jobs across 7,221 companies. In 2022 there were 7,870 new jobs created by LEO clients companies with a net job creation figure of 3,447. This was up 10% nationally on 2021. From the jobs created, 84% were outside of the Dublin region.

The LEOs also provide substantial funded supports to thousands of other small businesses across the country with programmes such as the Trading Online Voucher, Lean for Micro and Green for Micro along with training and mentoring.

Minister Coveney said: These results show the significant role the Local Enterprise Offices are playing in not only creating new businesses and jobs but also in sustaining them. On the back of some of the most difficult years for small businesses we are still seeing growth across the country. During the pandemic we saw how essential the LEOs were to small businesses and they will be essential as we navigate the ongoing cost of living and energy crises.

With 84% of new jobs being created outside of Dublin it reinforces the Governments strategy to strengthen employment throughout Ireland. As the remit of the Local Enterprise Offices has now broadened to companies up to 50 employees, even more SMEs will be able to avail of their supports, but also their expertise in growing enterprise in towns and villages across the country.

The Local Enterprise Offices were to the fore in supporting small businesses across the country in 2022, helping thousands to pivot online or adapt their products and services through a large suite of supports. The Local Enterprise Offices offering training and mentoring in a range of areas from financial skills and product innovation to starting a business and maximising presence online.

Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny Coun ty Council Pat Fitzpatrick says the results announced today are a testament to Kilkennys small business community.

"When faced with adversity, they have adapted, pivoted, upskilled and did whatever it took to sustain themselves. We are seeing new opportunities for businesses here and as always with tough economic periods we see new ideas and businesses emerge and flourish," he said.

Acting Head of Enterprise at LEO Kilkenny, Aileen McGrath said 2023 will be no different and LEO Kilkenny will continue to work closely with Enterprise Ireland and all partners to ensure small businesses get the best possible supports.

Welcoming the strong employment results, Enterprise Ireland CEO, Leo Clancy said; These are very positive employment results from the Local Enterprise Offices. It demonstrates the close relationship that exists between the LEOs and the companies they support and how they are able to navigate a challenging business environment, such as we witnessed in 2022. Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs are engaged in an exciting work programme to increase alignment between both organisations so that we can better serve businesses at all stages of growth and development and help them to create prosperity and jobs throughout Ireland. I look forward to continuing to work on that agenda in 2023.

The Local Enterprise Offices located in the local authorities and funded through Enterprise Ireland support thousands of small Irish businesses and entrepreneurs nationwide. Since their establishment in 2014 they have been the first stop shop for entrepreneurs and small businesses and providing a range of supports including financial, mentoring, training and sector specific expertise to help guide businesses at any stage of their development.

They also run key initiatives to foster entrepreneurship across the country including Local Enterprise Week, National Womens Enterprise Day, the Student Enterprise Programme and the National Enterprise Awards. For more information on the Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny go to www.LocalEnterprise.ie/ Kilkenny.
Some of Kilkennys best up and coming craft and design businesses will be part of over 100 companies from across Ireland who will get a chance to meet with buyers from all over the world as part of the Local Enterprise Showcase at the 2023 Showcase event in the RDS, running January 22-24.

An initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices, the Local Enterprise Showcase, is a special area at Showcase that houses a range of Irelands newest design talent. Participating for the first time will be Geraldine Walsh, Geraldine Walsh Art displaying her original oil paintings, fine art prints and cards; Anne Healy, Biddys Good Luck Horse Shoes, a business creating good luck gifts for all occasions from genuine horseshoes; and Kristina Belejova, Amalka a linen brand with elegant clothing for everyday wear and for special occasions. Following a successful year, Cait Mackey Maher with her award winning, greeting card business Yellow Deer Designs will be participating for the second year in row.

The Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny has been working with these clients on merchandising for their stands, marketing, and sales techniques to ensure they maximise opportunities at the three-day event.

Showcase is presented on behalf of Design and Crafts Council Ireland, with support from Enterprise Ireland in promoting the trade show internationally through their network of offices overseas, and the Local Enterprise Offices nationwide. Other participants from County Kilkenny at Showcase 2023 will include Nicholas Mosse, Jerpoint Glass Studio, Dominka Stoppa, Kilkenny Silver and DFM Clothing.

Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council, Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick said: Showcase provides small businesses with the opportunity to meet with buyers specific to their market from countries all over the world. He added This event shows the value of partnership with the Local Enterprise Offices, the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland working together to give these wonderfully talented designers and craftspeople the opportunity to bring their products to the world stage.

Aileen McGrath, Acting Head of Local Enterprise believes this is an opportunity for up-and-coming craft and design clients looking to make that break through.

To be exposed to this many high-quality buyers in one place is an incredible opportunity for any business starting out," she said.

The Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny has been working with our clients on merchandising for their stands, marketing, and sales techniques to ensure they maximise opportunities at the three-day event.

Rosemary Steen, CEO of Design and Crafts Council Ireland said: We at Design & Crafts Council Ireland are greatly looking forward to the return of our international trade fair, Showcase 2023. Showcase offers designers and makers the opportunity to not only meet and do business, but also the chance to come together to celebrate the creativity, the impact and the importance of the heritage of the Irish craft and design sector globally.

Local Enterprise Showcase is one of several enterprise initiatives run by the Local Enterprise Offices across the year to foster entrepreneurship and help small businesses to start and grow. For more information on the Local Enterprise Offices and the supports they can provide, please visit localenterprise.ie/kilkenny.
The Dutch Ambassador paid a flying visit to Kilkenny and praised recent developments in the business sector and also spoke of the ongoing local and national challenges with public representatives.

The ambassador, Adriann Palm had a busy schedule during his visit to the Marble City and met with public representatives as well as members of Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce and Kilkenny County Council.

I had productive meetings with Minister Michael Noonan and TDs Kathleen Funchion and John Paul Phelan on both national and local challenges including housing, the cost of living, the environment/sustainability and farming and where we can strengthen Dutch-Irish cooperation.

Those local challenges I subsequently discussed with both the Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce and the Kilkenny County Council. Citizens in both Ireland and the Netherlands are confronted with challenges like housing and climate change, and we should look to see where we can learn from each other. My only regret is that I didnt have more time for this visit and see more of the diversity both the city and the county have to offer. But alas, thats another reason to come back.

Ive seen some great changes since my last visit to Kilkenny pre-Covid, and I hope that at my next visit, the city and county will have it made even more attractive for citizens to use public transport and active travel.

I have also been impressed by the developments in the business sector in County Kilkenny. In Dublin, we often talk about the need or desire to diversify the economic basis. Were already seeing that happen in Kilkenny, with numerous new investments taking place. And part of that is Dutch, like the joint venture between Tirlan and Royal A-ware, the largest dairy investment in Irish history. But its also local entrepreneurs who are creating positive news and putting smiles on peoples faces, like the Dutch master florist Lamber de Bie.

At the Embassy, we not only focus on business and trade, but also on European cooperation. And it was a great pleasure for me to speak at the opening of the Leinster regional meeting of the European Youth Parliament in the Loreto Secondary School in Kilkenny. It was great to see so many young people actively engaged and debate how we can together work on European and national solutions for the problems we as citizens encounter, he added.

One hundred young people from all across Europe, the majority coming from Kilkenny and Leinster attended the event.

On Saturday morning the European Youth Parliament held the opening ceremony for the session. The Lord Mayor of Kilkenny, David Fitzgerald, and the Dutch Ambassador to Ireland attended at the Loreto Secondary School, along with our delegates and officials.

On Sunday, the General Assembly took place, which consists of a Parliamentary Debate which will have young people discussing their resolutions on topical subjects such as unemployment, disability, housing and energy availability.

This is the first Leinster Regional Session outside of Dublin since 2015, and we have officials travelling from Cyprus, Finland, Sweden, Portugal and many other countries. This is EYPs first event in Kilkenny, and the first EYP event of this size to have international delegates.

James Bradshaw from Westcourt in Callan who was recently appointed as Politics & Europe Officer at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ireland was also in attendance the Kilkenny visit.
Overcrowding has spiked again at St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny, with the INMO warning that 36 patients are waiting on a bed there today.

There are 29 on trolleys and seven on a ward elsewhere. It is a rise from yesterday (Monday), when the figure was 32.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein TD for Carlow Kilkenny Kathleen Funchion has called on government to endorse and implement her partys proposals to end the constant crisis in our hospitals.

Deputy Funchion was speaking ahead of Sinn Feins Dail motion on the issue, which will be debated on Wednesday.

This winter must be a watershed moment in ending the constant crises in our hospitals. Overcrowding is inhumane, unsafe, and undignified. We need radical action," she said.

The solutions are no secret and there are no more lessons to be learned. Sinn Fein has a plan to turn it around.

Two decades of negligence have come home to roost. We have fewer acute inpatient beds in hospitals than 25 years ago and need at least 800 more acute and transitional care beds in place before next winter.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reported just five days where there were fewer than 350 patients on trolleys in 2022. They recorded no day with under 300.

Instead of ending the scandal of patients on trolleys, Fine Gael made it worse. The health service is only held together by the goodwill and hard labour of healthcare workers battling crises day in, day out.

Overcrowding was declared a national emergency in 2006 but it has been allowed to become the new normal. But it is not normal, it is a national disgrace.

In the short-term, government must make greater use of all public and private health care infrastructure to alleviate pressure on the public system."
Sinn Fein TD for Carlow-Kilkenny Kathleen Funchion has called on government to implement Sinn Fein proposals to end the constant crisis in hospitals.

Deputy Funchion was speaking ahead of Sinn Feins Dail motion on the issue, which will be debated on Wednesday.

Funchion said that winter must be a watershed moment in ending the constant crises in our hospitals.

"Overcrowding is inhumane, unsafe, and undignified," she said.

"We need radical action. The solutions are no secret and there are no more lessons to be learned. Sinn Fein has a plan to turn it around.

"Two decades of negligence have come home to roost. We have fewer acute inpatient beds in hospitals than 25 years ago and need at least 800 more acute and transitional care beds in place before next winter.

"The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reported just five days where there were fewer than 350 patients on trolleys in 2022. They recorded no day with under 300.

"Overcrowding was declared a 'national emergency' in 2006 but it has been allowed to become the new normal. But it is not normal, it is a national disgrace."

Teachta Funchion stated that in the short-term, government must make greater use of all public and private health care infrastructure to alleviate pressure on the public system.

Sinn Fein has a multi-annual plan to increase the number of public beds, including more acute inpatient and sub-acute hospital beds and community step-down beds to speed up admissions and discharges to meet rising demand and demographic change, and to expedite the development of elective centres."
The richest 1% of Irish people have more than a quarter of the countrys wealth, according to a report from anti-poverty charity Oxfam.

The number of Irish people with individual wealth of more than 46.6 million euro has more than doubled between 2012 and 2022, from 655 to 1,435.

Oxfam said that for every 93.15 euro of wealth created in the last ten years, 31.67 euro has gone to the richest 1% and less than 0.5 euro to the bottom 50%.

According to the charity, this means that the richest 1% have gained 70 times more wealth than the bottom 50% in the last 10 years.

Oxfam Ireland is calling for a tax on Irish wealth at graduated rates of 2%, 3% and 5% above a threshold of 4.7 million euro, which it said would raise billions annually with the potential to transform Irish public services.

The charity said there should be an international approach to taxing the super-rich through permanent wealth taxes and temporary windfall taxes, and that governments should aim to halve the wealth of, and the number of, billionaires.

Chief executive of Oxfam Ireland Jim Clarken said: This rising wealth at the top and rising poverty for the rest are two sides of the same coin, proof that our economic system is functioning exactly how the rich and powerful designed it to.

It was 10 years ago when we first sounded the alarm about extreme inequality at the World Economic Forum and yet since then the worlds billionaires have almost doubled their wealth.

As crisis after crisis hits the poorest people hardest, its time for governments, including Irelands, to tax the rich.

The very existence of billionaires while out-of-control inequality rises, is damning proof of policy failure.

Oxfams Survival of the Richest report is published to coincide with the gathering of world leaders and business elites in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Michael McGrath are among those attending the summit this week.

After Mr McGrath attends a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on Monday, and the Ecofin Council on Tuesday, he will travel to Davos where he will take part in a panel discussion called Jobs Consortium: Towards a New Vision for the Future of Work.

Mr McGrath will also host a dinner with IDA client companies who are deemed to be key investors in Ireland.

Speaking ahead of the trip, Mr McGrath said the World Economic Forum provides a valuable opportunity for Ireland to engage with senior political and business leaders from across the world.

I will devote a lot of my time at the Forum to meeting current and potential job-creators in Ireland, with a view to promoting the expansion of existing investments and the establishment of new ones, he said.
More than 30 people from most of the villages in the shadow of Slievenamon attended a very successful meeting in Kilcash Hall on Thursday evening.

The aim was to look at celebrating the 175th anniversary of the Monster Meeting on Slievenamon in 1848 and the relaunching of The Queen of the Mountain womens race that was last held in the 1973.

Chaired by Michael Kehoe of Kilcash, an excellent presentation on the history of the time in Ireland and the details of the mountain top meeting was made by Robert Duggan.

In it he also outlined the historic significance of the sacred mountain that has featured in all aspects of life since the very first folklore stories began to the more hectic times of rebellion over that last 300 years.

That meeting was attended by a crowd of thousands, who ascended the mountain from all sides and other events on Carraigadoon and Ballingarry at a time when it also marked the 50th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion on nearby Carrigmaclear.

The gathering co-ordinated by The Lingaun Valley Tourism Group working with the Kilcash community and Tipperary County Council was also given additional historic information by Fr Jimmy Browne from Ballyneale and the logistical details by the Lingaun Valley secretary Tony Musiol.

At it were residents from the local villages in alphabetical order that included Ahenny, Ballyneale, Ballypatrick, Ballyboe, Cloneen, Drangan, Kilcash, Kilmacow, Kilsheelan, Skough, Owning, Tullahought, and Windgap, along with representatives from Tipp Co Council, Kilkenny Co Council and an Garda Siochana.

Following a lively discussion it was unanimously agreed to progress with both proposals on July 26.

As a result a number of sub committees were created covering the Ladies Race, Arts, Village festival, Publicity and Promotion and Finance and Fundraising to organise them.

The next meeting takes place in Kilcash Hall on Thursday, January 26 at 7.30pm
Locals opposed to a planned wind farm just a few kilometres outside of Kilkenny City are continuing their campaign to stop the development by EDF Renewables Ireland, which is wholly owned by the French energy giant, EDF Group.

The community was out in force last Thursday evening at a public meeting, organised by the Save Our Hills group, at Johnswell Hall.

Local auctioneer, Michael Boyd, who lives just under one kilometre from a proposed wind turbine, told the meeting that in his opinion if the planned development goes ahead the scale of devaluation of property in the area will be on a scale of between 20% and 100%.

Locals also outlined their concerns including the destruction of the scenic landscape, the social cost to the community with people leaving the area and the persistent noise and nuisance from the turbines.

One of the organisers, Stephen Keogh told the meeting that the proposed development is about money and power for the big data centres in the country.

Mr Keogh also said according the group it is believed that EDF have signed agreements with at least six landowners in the area.

The meeting also heard that there were 600 objections from the locality to the recent County Development Plan regarding the zoning of lands as suitable for wind development.

EDF Renewables Ireland has stated that it intends to submit a planning application and an Environmental Impact Assessment Report in support of the project to the relevant authority in late 2023. Subject to planning permission, the wind farm could be constructed and operational by 2028. The company also said that a Community Benefit Fund commensurate with the size of the final project will be established to provide funding for local community initiatives and activities.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Windy with a mix of clouds and sun. High around 85F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Clear. Windy this evening. Low 57F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, here in Washington, DC, in 2022, issued an order in November 2021 that declared "sq---" derogatory and required the term to be removed from federal usage.
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There were no injuries when this dump truck, carrying a load of limestone, hit an extension ladder along the roadway on Interstate 69 just north of the C.R. 11A exit around 9:30 a.m. Monday. The driver attempted to miss the ladder, causing the load to shift.
New Delhi, January 17: India's fight against the Covid crisis has set a positive global example, said Mark Suzman, CEO of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, adding that it can be a model for others on how it addressed the manufacturing and distribution of vaccines at such a scale.

"We were proud to be able to help work with the Indian government and with partners like the Serum Institute of India, to help manufacture some of the vaccines and to help with some of the primary health care facilities to help with distribution and in some of the states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where we work closely, but it really is a model both because of the direct COVID response, but also because the infrastructure that's been put in place has lots of positive effects by other forms of healthcare," Suzman told ANI in an exclusive interview. Bharat Biotech's COVID-19 Nasal Vaccine Approved By Indian Govt For Use in Adults in Emergency Situations.

According to India's health ministry's latest data, it has administered over 2.2 billion doses. Asked what challenges the foundation faced during and post-Covid, the pandemic has had a devastating impact, and more so the knock-on impact on economic growth on poverty and people's health. Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine Approved in India: Bharat Biotech's Nasal Coronavirus Vaccine Gets DCGI Nod for Emergency Use.

"Yes, well, globally COVID has had a devastating impact. And not just in terms of the direct impact of the disease itself, but the knock-on impact on economic growth on poverty on health. So across large parts, I think around a third of the developing world is likely to be in recession," he said. However, he believes India is in a "bright spot" as the country has accelerated its broader healthcare ecosystem.

"From vaccination campaigns to nutrition campaigns to sanitation campaigns. And so in all of those areas, we're trying to sound the call to action and saying the world really needs to support and engage much more deeply so that we can start to accelerate progress again."

Gates Foundation has been working in India for nearly two decades, and it works across a number of sectors from agriculture to financial services, and health, among others.

Further, on India's G20 Presidency, he said the Indian government has already shown a strong commitment to driving forward in mitigating global health issues, and broader development issues like digital infrastructure, and financial services, which again can be examples of India addressing some of these issues.

"And so I think at the government of India's stated ambition to try and tackle both those things, the issues of pandemic preparedness and global health response so that we can both finish the job on COVID and be ready to address the next pandemic, but also to think about these wider development challenges and using new tools like the digital financial infrastructure that India has developed through UPI, but also some of the new initiatives like the use of environment Digital Health Initiative, which we think again as some very positive models that we'll be able to use in Africa and other parts of the developing world," the CEO said.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it will spend USD 8.3 billion in 2023 in its continued efforts to fight poverty, disease, and inequity. By 2026, it aims to meet its commitment to reach an annual payout of USD 9 billion by 2026.

On the pledge for 2023 and its commitment to fight malaria through equipping partner countries, Suzman said: "Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people every year still and is responsible for many millions of cases. India has made great strides addressing some of the most serious incidents remaining in sort of central and west Africa, but they're also it's in South Asia and Latin America."

He continued there have been a number of steps -- from the provision of new insecticides and mosquito nets and other treatments and tools in malarial areas, which have been very successful.

"There are some new scientific advances using monoclonal antibodies, which is sort of complex and still expensive, but we've seen 80 to 90 per cent success rates in addressing malaria and we think those are going to be the tools that over the next decade or two, the world will actually move from containing and preventing malaria to eventually eradicating it. And that is our innovation," he further said.

The foundation's mission is to see a world where every person should have the chance to lead a healthy and productive life. Finally, asked about is the foundation also working on reverse zoonosis, he said they are talking with the department of biotechnology in India, adding the foundation is aware of those challenges of how animal health is linked to human health.

"We also are global supporters of an initiative called the Coalition for epidemic preparedness initiative (CEPI) which is a major global effort that is trying to develop protective vaccines against other diseases that could become future pandemics. And so, we work on all of those areas, but really in partnership, we don't take the lead on those research. We do it through coalitions with partnerships with governments like India or the United States."

An infection or disease that is transmissible from humans to animals under natural conditions is called reverse zoonosis.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Art exhibition kicks off at Palace Museum in Beijing

Xinhua) 13:52, January 17, 2023

Visitors watch a piece of calligraphy work at the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 16, 2023. A Joint Exhibition on Jinshi Culture and Arts Through the Ages, featuring Chinese ancient imperial scholars, kicked off at the Wumen Exhibition Hall of the Palace Museum. Some 179 selected artworks since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were on display. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Two citizens walk past a poster of the Joint Exhibition on Jinshi Culture and Arts Through the Ages at the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 16, 2023. A Joint Exhibition on Jinshi Culture and Arts Through the Ages, featuring Chinese ancient imperial scholars, kicked off at the Wumen Exhibition Hall of the Palace Museum. Some 179 selected artworks since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were on display. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

A visitor looks at artworks displayed at an exhibition at the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 16, 2023. A Joint Exhibition on Jinshi Culture and Arts Through the Ages, featuring Chinese ancient imperial scholars, kicked off at the Wumen Exhibition Hall of the Palace Museum. Some 179 selected artworks since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were on display. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Visitors watch an exhibition at the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 16, 2023. A Joint Exhibition on Jinshi Culture and Arts Through the Ages, featuring Chinese ancient imperial scholars, kicked off at the Wumen Exhibition Hall of the Palace Museum. Some 179 selected artworks since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were on display. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

A visitor takes photo of a jade carving artwork at the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 16, 2023. A Joint Exhibition on Jinshi Culture and Arts Through the Ages, featuring Chinese ancient imperial scholars, kicked off at the Wumen Exhibition Hall of the Palace Museum. Some 179 selected artworks since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were on display. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Visitors watch the replica of an ancient study at the Palace Museum in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 16, 2023. A Joint Exhibition on Jinshi Culture and Arts Through the Ages, featuring Chinese ancient imperial scholars, kicked off at the Wumen Exhibition Hall of the Palace Museum. Some 179 selected artworks since the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were on display. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) AAP MLAs on Tuesday accused the BJP of conspiring demolition of slums in the city after its defeat in the MCD polls, with Development Minister Gopal Rai asserting in the Assembly that the Kejriwal government stands with the slum dwellers.

Rai said it was a clear view of the AAP government that unless rehabilitation is carried out, no new demolition can take place.

Also Read | Delhi Riots Case 2020: Supreme Court Says Don't Believe in Unnecessarily Keeping People Behind Bars Over Delhi Police's Plea Challenging Bail Granted to Three Students.

Hitting back, Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri charged that the AAP MLAs "lied" in the Assembly without presenting complete picture of the issue. He said there were court orders for removal of slums in Tughlaqabad village and Mehrauli area.

Rai, participating in a debate in the House over a calling attention motion on "demolition notices received by residents of Tughlaqabad village", said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government will take up the issue and it will not hesitate to take to streets to stop demolition of slums if need be.

Also Read | Kanjhawala Hit-and-Drag Case: Delhi Police Slaps Murder Charges Against 6 Accused.

"We will stop it. The government stands with the slum dwellers. It was our view even in 2015 when the AAP formed government in Delhi that there should be no encroachment but no slums should be removed unless people living there are rehabilitated," he told the Assembly.

Initiating discussion on the motion, Tughlaqabad MLA Sahiram demanded registration of FIRs against officers who allowed development of the affected colony in his constituency.

"What were the officers doing when the colony was developing? Around 10,000 houses have been constructed there. There are 20,000 residents having voter ID cards and they have been given 15 days' time to vacate," Sahiram said urging the Speaker and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to take up the issue with the Centre to stop the demolition.

Several other AAP MLAs complained of notices served on residents of slums under their constituencies by different agencies.

Kalkaji MLA Atishi said the notices started being issued a few weeks after the BJP lost the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, for demolition of slums in several parts of the city.

"It is a pre-planned conspiracy of the BJP to clear slums in Delhi. I want to tell the BJP, LG and DDA no matter how many notices they issue, no bulldozers will be allowed by the Kejriwal government and the AAP," she asserted.

She claimed that the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has served eviction notices on residents of even Subhash Camp slum under Bidhuri's constituency Badarpur.

Bidhuri, however, said the Subhash Camp in his constituency was settled on a pond land and it was to be removed in compliance of a Supreme Court order.

Naresh Yadav, AAP MLA from Mehrauli, said people are scared in his constituency because notices issued to them in connection with an archaeological park that is yet to come up.

"The notices should be withdrawn. I appeal to the LG not to work against the people of Delhi," he said, adding that similar notices were issued to people in other constituencies as well.

Ambedkar Nagar MLA Ajay Dutt said the slum in Khanpur ward of his constituency was to be removed for a Metro rail project and it was not clear whether the displaced people will be rehabilitated or not.

Leader of Opposition Bidhuri alleged that the Kejriwal government wanted slums to exist in the city for "political reasons".

"There is a court order regarding Tughlaqbad village. If AAP MLAs are so concerned, they should ask Chief Minister Kejriwal to withdraw an order by his government surrendering the land in question to the Archaeological Survey of India," he said.

There are 50,000 flats lying with the Delhi government and instead of shifting slum dwellers there, the AAP government and party MLAs were indulging in politics over the issue, Bidhuri claimed.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Champhai (Mizoram) [India], January 17 (ANI): Asam Rifles (East) recovered heroin worth Rs 1.3 crore and apprehended two persons in this connection in Mizoram's Champhai village on Tuesday.

As per the official statement, the recoveries were made in the General area of Mualkawi along the Champhai-Zokhawthar Road.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh: Teenager Abducted, Raped When Returning From Birthday Party in Bhopal.

Assam Rifles recovered 98,000 Triprolidine HCL and Pseudoephedrine Tablets worth Rs 9.80 crore in the General Area Thuampui and apprehended two individuals on Sunday.

The Aizawl Battalion of 23 Sector Assam Rifles under the aegis of Inspector General Assam Rifles (East) carried out the operation with CID (SB), Aizawl based on specific information.

Also Read | Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot Appeals PM Narendra Modi To Restore Old Pension Scheme in Country.

According to an official statement, the approximate cost of the recovered 98000 Triprolidine HCL & Pseudoephedrine Tablets is Rs 9,80,00,000.

"The seized consignment and apprehended individuals were handed over to Special Narcotics Police Station CID (Crime), Aizawl on 15 January 2023 for further legal proceedings," the statement said.

"Ongoing smuggling of illegal drugs is a major cause of concern for the state of Mizoram. Assam Rifles, rightly christened as the 'Sentinels of Northeast' have been successful in launching such operations against the smuggling activities in Mizoram," it 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)
Jaipur, Jan 17 (PTI) Bar-clubs in Rajasthan cannot operate beyond midnight, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced on Tuesday.

He also said the Rajasthan cabinet has passed a resolution urging the Centre to make a law in parliament to give social security to the people of country. He said the resolution will be sent to the central government.

Also Read | Madhya Pradesh: Teenager Abducted, Raped When Returning From Birthday Party in Bhopal.

Talking to reporters on the second day of two-day 'Chintan Shivir' of the state government here on Tuesday, Gehlot said the issue of social security should be discussed at the national level.

"The time has come when the right to social security act should be made in parliament. One crore people are getting social security in Rajasthan while this number in Uttar Pradesh, which is more populous than Rajasthan, is only 40-50 lakh," he said.

Also Read | Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot Appeals PM Narendra Modi To Restore Old Pension Scheme in Country.

The cabinet meeting was held on Monday before the two-day chintan shivir began.

The chief minister reviewed the performance of all the departments in the shivir.

Gehlot expressed displeasure with certain officials not cooperating in executing government schemes and programmes and they should be terminated from service.

On bar-clubs remaining open till 34 am, Gehlot said he has directed officials to ensure they close by 12 am.

The CM said that the opposition has no issue to raise in the state.

Referring to National Crime Records Bureau data, Gehlot said the crime rate in Rajasthan has decreased by 5 percent in 2021 compared to 2019.

On the performance of ministers, he said they have confidence and grip on their departments.

(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], January 17 (ANI): Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said that the BJP government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn't believe in mere sloganeering, but in "taking actions and bringing results" with the spirit of 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikaas'.

He said this while speaking to reporters on the second day of the National Executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party here.

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"Our government does not believe in mere sloganeering, but in taking actions and bringing results. We work with passion; collective work for the welfare of all is our goal and underlying philosophy. In the last eight years, under the leadership of PM Modi, work is going on to create an inclusive society," said the minister.

After coming to power in 2014, the Prime Minister had said that he would work with the spirit of 'Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikaas', and it has been proved with the works undertaken by the government.

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Praising Prime Minister Modi for the efficient policies of the government, he said, "Even in the difficult situation of the world, the society is being empowered due to the clarity of thoughts and successful implementation of efficient policies of Modiji."

He said that the Modi Government is very concerned about the development of the farmers and has ensured that they get appropriate prices for their produce.

"The welfare of the farmers has been brought about through various policies and reform measures initiated by the government," he added.

Commenting on the infrastructure development projects undertaken by the BJP government, Pradhan said that projects like Bharat Mala, Sagar Mala, Dedicated Freight Corridor, UDAAN Scheme, Bharat Broadband Network have upped the development and growth in the infrastructure capacities of 21st century India.

"In New India, the one who wears Hawaai Chappal can also sit in the Hawaai Jahaaz," he said.

The development of In-Land Waterways is also being done at a fast pace. "Cruise Tourism in India is not merely in the books anymore! It has now become a sheer reality!," said the Minister.

Eklavya Vidyalayas are running educational courses for tribal children in remote areas. Reservation has also been arranged for economically weaker sections to empower them, he said.

Thanking the PM for the ongoing construction of the grand Ram Temple in Ayodhya, he also discussed the development of Kashi Vishwanath Corridor and the Kedarnath Dham.

While speaking on the job and entrepreneur sector, the minister said, the youth of the country are becoming "job creators from job seekers through the initiative of Startup India."

Praising the development of CoWIN App during covid duration, he said, "With the help of this app, you just receive the jab, and within seconds, you get the digital certificate in your gadget. It is an unprecedented kind of achievement in the digital world".

Notably, an app like CoWIN nowhere existed in the world, he said

"We sent Covid vaccines to foreign nations. In 2014, India's economy was at 10th spot, now it has come to 5th spot. During Covid pandemic we made sure that nobody should remain hungry & distributed grains", the minister said.

Pradhan continued, "Direct Benefit transfers worth Rs 22.6 lakh crores were given to beneficiaries. India has been strengthened & became self-reliant due to our economic policy".

He said that Vocal for Local, One District, One Product have now become the basic principle and policies of the government. (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, January 17: After the successful conclusion of the month-long cultural unity programme, Kashi-Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi during BJP national execNa heritage with each other and the country unites culturally in the one thread of unity. "PM also stressed that there should be an exchange of languages and culture between states," sources said.

According to party sources, other programmes like Mann Ki Baat, wherein PM Modi continuously connects with the public on topics of public concern and motivates them, were also discussed. National Executive Meet: BJP Chiefs of Poll-bound States Present Ground Report.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November last year inaugurated the 30-day long 'Kashi Tamil Sangamam' in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Reflecting the significance of PM Modi's efforts of 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat', the event aimed to celebrate, reaffirm and rediscover the age-old links between Kashi and Tamil Nadu - two of the country's most significant ancient origins for learning.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday also told that the attendees of the BJP executive meeting thanked PM Modi for binding the nation firmly in a thread of unity through cultural heritage and cultural spirit.

During the press briefing, about the first day of the national executive meeting, Union Minister and party leader Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters that the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam, held last year was also discussed.

"Those who visited the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam have also been influenced and the program has also had an impact in Uttar Pradesh," Sitharaman told media persons. 9-point Political Resolution at BJP's' National Executive Meeting Targets Opposition.

"And when the subject of Kashi-Tamil Sangam was discussed, the Prime Minister was congratulated for his cultural spirit to strengthen our heritage, whether it was the Kashi-Tamil Sangam or the fast progress in Ayodhya after the Supreme Court's decision. Be it the progress in Ujjain's Mahakaleshwar temple, the revival of the Buddha Circuit, work going on at Ram Circuit, for all these works, PM Modi was congratulated," Sitharaman said.

She said that PM Modi's non-political programme related to the general public, Mann Ki Baat, where he incorporated the general public with a permanent bridge, a result of which people, across villages and the country, actively participated as a sense of service, whether it is of 'tree plantion', building roads, taking someone to hospitals, innovative photos, all these developments were discussed during the first day of the national executive meeting.

(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], January 17 (ANI): Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Tuesday claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party was resorting to 'theatrics' and protests against the Lieutenant Governor when the question over the control of services in the national capital was pending adjudication before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.

The Solicitor General said that the "Constitutional functionaries are staging protests".

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Mehta highlighted that "Protests and theatrics cannot substitute court proceedings", adding that such protests happening in Delhi are seen by the world and it becomes a matter of embarrassment.

The hearing over who controls services in the national capital -- Delhi government or Centre - is underway before a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by DY Chandrachud.

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The Court had to decide on the legal issue concerning the scope of legislative and executive powers of the Centre and Delhi government over control of services in the national capital.

The case was slated to be heard by a Constitution Bench after a three-judge bench in May last year had decided to send it to a larger bench on a request by the Central government.

On February 14, 2019, a two-judge Bench of the top court delivered a split verdict on the question of powers of the Government of NCT of Delhi (GNCTD) and Union government over services and referred the matter to a three-judge Bench.

Prior to February 2019 judgement, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court had on July 4, 2018, laid down the broad parameters for governance of the national capital.

In the landmark verdict, it had unanimously held that Delhi cannot be accorded the status of a state but clipped the powers of the L-G saying he has no "independent decision-making power" and has to act on the aid and advice of the elected government.

It had restricted the jurisdiction of the L-G to matters pertaining to land, police and public order and on all other matters, it held that the L-G would have to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, Jan 17 (PTI) The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed activist Shoma Sen, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case currently in judicial custody, to approach the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court for bail.

A division bench of Justices A S Gadkari and P D Naik disposed of Sen's plea in the HC seeking bail and directed her to file a bail application in the special court, noting the trial court didn't have a chance to consider the plea post the filing of a chargesheet.

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The bench directed Sen to approach the special court so that the (special) court can consider the supplementary chargesheet.

In the event of the court rejecting her bail plea, then the HC can take benefit of the observations of the lower court on the charge sheet, the bench said.

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The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave held at Shaniwarwada in Pune city on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the city's outskirts. The Pune police had claimed the conclave was backed by Maoists.

The probe in the case, in which more than a dozen activists and academicians have been named as accused, was later transferred to the NIA.

Sen, an English literature professor and Dalit and women's rights activist, was arrested on June 6, 2018. She is currently in judicial custody.

She had applied for bail in the Pune sessions court in December 2018 before the chargesheet was filed. She moved a separate application after the chargesheet was filed.

Both applications were rejected by the sessions court through a common order dated November 2019.

After the investigation into the case was transferred to the NIA and the trial to the special NIA court, Sen approached the HC in 2020 seeking a default bail. Her plea was rejected in 2022 following which she filed a petition in the HC seeking regular bail.

The HC bench on Tuesday noted the special NIA court did not have a chance to consider Sen's application after the chargesheet was filed in the case. In her plea, Sen had claimed she had been implicated in the case.

She further said the letters and communications allegedly containing incriminating material against the accused in the case were neither in her possession, nor addressed to her, or by her. Merely because the name 'Shoma Sen' is mentioned in any of these so-called electronic letters (it) cannot be a reasonable ground to deny bail to the applicant (Sen), her plea stated. The accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case have been charged with waging a war against the nation, being active members of the banned terror outfit CPI (Maoist), criminal conspiracy and indulging in acts with an intent to strike terror in the minds of people using explosive substances.

The NIA in draft charges sought to charge the 15 accused under various provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) A fresh petition was filed before the Supreme Court on Tuesday against the Bihar government's decision to conduct a caste survey in the state, claiming the state's action was violative of the basic structure of the Constitution.

The petition, filed by 'Hindu Sena' President Vishnu Gupta, alleged the notification was "discriminatory and unconstitutional".

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Other similar petitions are likely to come up for hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha on January 20.

The public interest litigation (PIL) filed on Tuesday sought quashing of the notification issued by deputy secretary, government of Bihar, in respect of conducting a caste survey in the state and to restrain the authorities concerned from conducting the exercise.

Also Read | Kanjhawala Hit-and-Drag Case: Delhi Police Slaps Murder Charges Against 6 Accused.

The petition alleged that the notification dated June 6, 2022 violated Article 14 of the Constitution, which provides for equality before law and equal protection of the law, adding the notification was illegal, arbitrary, irrational and unconstitutional.

It said the notification was "illegal" since "the executive decision of Bihar government to issue the notification was without any sanction of authority/statute/ legislation".

The Census Act empowers only the central government to take census and the state government has no authority to undertake it on its own, it said.

"The decision of the State government of Bihar to conduct caste based census has no constitutional/ statutory sanction and is an attempt to strike at the unity and integrity of the country and to create social disharmony among the people on caste lines for petty vote bank politics," it alleged.

Earlier, a PIL was filed in the apex court through advocate Barun Kumar Sinha seeking quashing of the notification and for restraining the authorities concerned from conducting the exercise.

In another petition, a man named Akhilesh Kumar sought quashing of the notification, contending that the subject of the census falls in List 1 of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution and only the Centre has the power to hold the exercise.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kohima, Jan 17 (PTI) Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio Tuesday said that the state government cannot allow any constitutional crisis in the event of civil societies remaining firm on not participating in the coming state assembly election if there is no solution to the Naga issue.

Also Read | Delhi Riots Case 2020: Supreme Court Says Don't Believe in Unnecessarily Keeping People Behind Bars Over Delhi Police's Plea Challenging Bail Granted to Three Students.

Solution to the protracted Naga Political Issue (NPI) depends on the negotiating parties and the legislators and general people can only put pressure for an early outcome, he told media persons at a programme after a programme at Meriema.

Also Read | Kanjhawala Hit-and-Drag Case: Delhi Police Slaps Murder Charges Against 6 Accused.

He welcomed the joint statement of the stakeholders NSCN-IM and Naga National Political Groups declaring "unconditional commitment" to collaborate for the resolution of Naga political issue with the Centre.

Asked about the legislators' stand if the civil societies remain firm on its stand unless there is a solution to the protracted Naga political issue, Rio said "We cannot allow any constitutional crisis and create a law and order problem. Right thinking persons should pursue the issue by the rule."

He has already said on several occasions that if there is no solution to the Naga political issue and the state election ois announced, the present legislators and political parties in the state will contest the poll. The state election is due by March.

Rio said, "Everybody wants a solution. But that will depend on the negotiating parties and not the general public ... The general public can put pressure. The 60 legislators who are acting as facilitators are putting pressure too and are reasoning with everybody. But the outcome will depend on the negotiating parties."

On state government's appeal to Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organisation to reconsider its decision to boycott the state election to press for its 'Frontier Nagaland' state demand, Rio hoped that they would respond in a "positive manner".

The Centre has been holding separate negotiations with NSCN-IM since 1997 and the Working Committee of Naga National Political Group (NNPG), comprising at least seven groups, since 2017.

It inked the Framework Agreement with NSCN-IM in 2015 and Agreed Position with NNPGs in 2017. While NNPGs have agreed to accept a solution and continue negotiating further demands, the final solution is yet to be attained with NSCN-IM remaining adamant on its demand for separate flag and constitution for the Nagas.

On Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's comment that there were some issues to be cleared with regard to the NDPP-BJP seat sharing agreement in Nagaland which could be finalised by BJP central leadership by January 19, Rio asserted that the 40:20 seat sharing formula between the NDPP and BJP for the ensuing state election is firm.

The Nagaland chief minister is likely to leave for Delhi on Wednesday.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) Retired director general of the Border Security Force (BSF) Pankaj Kumar Singh was on Monday appointed as deputy national security adviser.

According to an official order, Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, has been appointed on a re-employment contract for a period of two years.

Also Read | In Karnataka, PM Modi Will Visit the Districts Yadgiri and Kalaburagi to Lay the   Latest Tweet by ANI.

Singh retired as BSF chief on December 31, 2022

Also Read | Delhi Riots Case 2020: Supreme Court Says Don't Believe in Unnecessarily Keeping People Behind Bars Over Delhi Police's Plea Challenging Bail Granted to Three Students.

When Singh took charge of the BSF on August 31, 2021, he had created history of a son and a father holding the top post of a paramilitary force during their services.

His father and retired IPS officer of the 1959-batch, Prakash Singh, had also headed the BSF from June, 1993 to January, 1994.

Prakash Singh is considered an architect of police reforms in the country.

He had petitioned the Supreme Court in 1996 for carrying out reforms in the police establishment following which the government started giving a fixed tenure of two years at least to the chief of the Intelligence Bureau, the CBI, foreign secretary, the RAW chief and the Union home secretary.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hyderabad, January 17: On Wednesday, the body of the last Nizam of Hyderabad will be laid to rest here along with many unanswered questions about his life, inherited riches and his life away from India.

Described by some as the 'story of the decline of the grandest hereditary princedom', the recorded life story of Nawab Mir Barket Ali Khan Walashan Mukarram Jah Bahadur, the titular eighth Nizam of Hyderabad, who passed away in Turkey on Saturday, is sketchy at best.

Mukarram Jah, the Prince was proclaimed as the successor designate in 1954 by his grandfather and the Seventh Nizam of the erstwhile Princely State of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan. Since then he has been identified as the eighth and the last Nizam of Hyderabad.

"For years I had read stories of the eccentric ruler of a Muslim state who counted his diamonds by the Kilogram, his pearls by the acre, and his gold bars by the tonne, yet who was so frugal he would save on laundry bill by bathing in his clothes," wrote John Zubrzycki, the author of The Last Nizam: The Rise and Fall of India's Greatest Princely State, while describing Mukarram Jah.

Mukarram Jah was born in 1933 in France. His mother Princess Durru Shewar was the daughter of the last Sultan of Turkey (Ottoman Empire) Sultan Abdul Mejid II.

Prince Mukarram Jah was officially called the Prince of Hyderabad until 1971 when the titles and privy purses were abolished by the government, says senior journalist and a keen observer of Hyderabad's culture and its heritage, Mir Ayoob Ali Khan.

Khan pointed out that Seventh Nizam made his grandson the successor to the gaddi instead of his first son Prince Azam Jah Bahadur. Therefore, Mukarram Jah succeeded as the eighth Nizam on the passing away of the last former reigning ruler of Hyderabad in 1967. After moving to Australia initially, for a good part of Prince Mukarram's latter half of his life, he had been residing in Turkey. VHP Wants Telangana Govt to Withdraw Official Honours Granted for Mukarram Jah's Funeral.

"I had listened to improbably tales of a Darbar in the desert of Australia where an Indian Prince preferred driving diesel-belching bulldozers than riding in the howdah of an elegantly caparisoned, elephant. And I had heard rumours of a recluse living in Turkey who had arrived carrying two suitcases and a load of shattered dreams," the author John Zubrzycki wrote about the prince about their meeting at the latter's two-bedroom flat in Turkey.

There is paucity of a record of the details of the modern day decline of the riches inherited by the Prince or even his grandfather. But, in his time, Mukarram Jah is never known to have taken kindly to anyone who recorded their lives in an undignified manner.

According to Zubrzycki, when The Times ran a 1000 word obituary portraying the Seventh Nizam as a 'miser' and touched up on certain personal matters of his, "Jah shot back an equally long letter to the Editor. It was unjust to conjure up the image of a shabby man shuffling through his dream world, asserted Jah," writes Zubrzycki .

Journalist Ayoob Ali Khan said people of Hyderabad had expected that Prince Mukarram Jah would do a lot of things, particularly for the poor, because he had inherited immense wealth from his grandfather who was the richest man in the world at one time.

"However, it did not happen," he said. Mukarram Jah first married Princess Esra of Turkey in 1959. In an interview as told to Huma Bilgrami Latif published in Youandi.com, Princess Esra talks about her early married life in Hyderabad and how restoring inherited properties and palaces of family later became her passion.

"I always wanted to do something for the city, but it was a bit difficult when I got married because my husband's grandfather was alive, and my life was very restricted back then. There was a certain way one had to behave, places one could go, and who one could see. After his death, however, we had the possibility to do things our way, but then we had enormous problems: the death duty, the tax was 98 per cent, etc."

"Then our privileges were taken, and the land was taken; it was impossible to keep up one's dreams," Princess Esra is quoted as saying. "Later, I got divorced, and after 20 years, Mukarram Jah asked me to come back and help out in Hyderabad because everything was in a mess and there were big problems. When I came back, the whole place looked as if it was the loot of Delhi by Nader Shah. There was nothing left; everything was taken. It was terribly sad, and I thought to myself that I have to give something of the family back to Hyderabad."

" It was our duty," the Princess is quoted as saying while describing her efforts to renovate and restore the Chowmahalla Palace and Falaknuma Palace.

Decades after this interview was published, today, it is the same Chowmahalla Palace where Mukarram Jah's mortal remains will first be taken to after arriving here in a chartered flight.

Jah's body would be kept at the Khilwat Palace from 8 AM to 1 PM on January 18 to enable people to pay their last respects. The burial would take place at the Asaf Jahi family tombs here, a statement issued by an office of Prince Mukarram Jah had said.

As per his desire of being laid to rest in India, his children are scheduled to travel to Hyderabad with the mortal remains of the late Nizam on January 17, the statement added.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who condoled the death of Prince Mukarram Jah, directed officials to conduct his last rites with the highest State honours in recognition of his social services in the fields of education and medicine for the poor as the successor of the Nizam.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Jammu, Jan 17 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Congress spokesperson Deepika Pushkar Nath on Tuesday resigned from the party, citing its decision to "allow" former minister Lal Singh to join the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra which will enter the Union territory later this week.

Nath said she is leaving the party on ideological grounds as Singh was responsible for sabotaging the 2018 Kathua rape case by "brazenly defending" rapists of an eight-year-old nomadic girl.

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Singh, a two-time MP and three-time MLA, had switched from Congress to BJP in 2014 and was also a minister in the PDP-BJP government which collapsed in June, 2018 after the national party pulled out of the alliance.

Several months before the fall of the government, Singh resigned from BJP and floated Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP) following an uproar over his participation in a rally in support of the Kathua rape accused in January 2018.

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He had defended his participation in the rally stating that he was there to "defuse the situation".

"In view of Ch Lal Singh's proposal of joining @bharatjodo & @INCJammuKashmir allowing the same, I am left with no other option but to resign from @INCIndia(.) Lal Singh was responsible in sabotaging the Kathua rape case in 2018 by brazenly defending rapists.

"Lal Singh divided the entire region of Jammu & Kashmir to protect the rapists and @bharatjodo is ideologically opposite. On ideological grounds, I cannot share the party platform with such a person," Nath wrote on Twitter.

A lawyer by profession, Nath took the parents of the victim to the high court at Jammu for monitoring of the investigation and also guided them to approach the Supreme Court for seeking transfer of the trial to Pathankot (Punjab).

Earlier in the day, AICC in-charge of J&K Rajni Patil told reporters here that any leader who believes in the ideology of Gandhi is welcome to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Responding to a question that Singh's joining the yatra might have a wrong impact, Patil said, "We are only focussed on our leader's march. If he believes that Gandhi is bridging the gap between different religions and castes, he is welcome."

On the hoisting of national flag at Lal Chowk by Gandhi on January 30 when the yatra is scheduled to end, she said "the tricolour always flutters high in our party office there".

"We are not moving with RSS agenda... We will unfurl the tricolour, which Gandhi is carrying from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, at our party office in Lal Chowk (instead of Clock Tower)," she said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kupwara (Jammu and Kashmir) [India] January 17 (ANI): A pregnant woman's life was saved by joint efforts of the Indian army, Indian air force and district administration after she was airlifted from snowbound Kupwara's Dudi Village in Machil sector on Tuesday.

Officials said that at Kupwara Army Helipad, the Army Emergency Medical Response Team took charge, stabilised her vitals and subsequently transported her to District Hospital Kupwara for further medical assistance.

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As per an army press release, the local army unit at Dudi, Macchal Sector received a distress call from the Sarpanch of the Village informing that 35-year-old Zareena Begum, wife of Mohd Rafiq Khan who is four months pregnant, was suffering from excessive bleeding and was in critical medical condition.

"The entire Machil Sector is cut off following last week's snow thus surface transportation for providing specialist medical support was ruled out. Immediate joint planning was carried out by Indian Army, Indian Air Force and District Administration and speedy air evacuation was planned by diverting the IAF aircraft on operational duty in the Kashmir Valley for this urgent humanitarian effort," the statement said.

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While the District administration initiated prompt requisition, keeping the urgent medical need, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) J&K granted immediate verbal clearance for the air evacuation, it said.

The Army personnel at Dudi quickly transported the pregnant lady to Dudi Army Helipad, and the Air Force authorities immediately dispatched a Mi-17 helicopter piloted by Wing Commander N Chaudhary and Squadron Leader A Pandey to the site.

The critically ill pregnant lady was flown to Army Helipad at Kupwara alongwith her husband and two lady relatives.

"At Kupwara Army Helipad the Army Emergency Medical Response Team took charge, stabilised her vitals and transported her to District Hospital Kupwara for further medical attention," it added.

"The timely joint efforts of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and District Administration in carrying out this air evacuation of the critically ill pregnant lady were appreciated by the locals of Machil Sector and Kupwara," the statement said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) A Jawaharlal Nehru University associate professor on Tuesday alleged that he was "attacked" by a gang of six to seven men near RK Puram Marg last week.

Dr Saitya Brata Das of the Centre for English Studies has lodged a complaint at Vasant Kunj police station.

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A senior police officer said, "We have received the complaint and are looking into the matter."

Reacting to the alleged incident, the varsity's teachers' body has demanded the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration extend all support to Das and actively put pressure on Delhi Police to ensure that action against the criminal gang.

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Narrating the incident to PTI, Das said a motorcycle rammed into his car from behind at a traffic signal in RK Puram on the afternoon of Saturday (January 14) and he was immediately surrounded by a group of six to seven men.

"I was coming from DPS RK Puram on Palam Marg and stopped at the red light at Vasant Vihar (under the flyover near Vasant Vihar depot) around 3.20 pm. A motorcycle suddenly banged into my car from behind and I saw a man falling down," he told PTI.

"I was shocked to see a motorcycle bang a car when the car is at a red light. Suddenly, out of nowhere, six more people surrounded my car, asked me to get out of my car and demanded money. I immediately recalled the fake accident incident with my colleague at JNU Sharad Bhaviskar a few months back.

"I did not wait for the green signal and immediately drove fast and entered JNU. I stopped at the main gate to tell the security guards to call the police," he added.

Das was referring to an incident involving JNU Assistant Professor Sharad Baviskar, who was allegedly held hostage for several hours by a group of people and subjected to physical assault, threats and extortion following a traffic altercation last June.

Das went on to allege that the gang followed him to the varsity's North Gate and, in the presence of JNU security, surrounded his car in an attempt to get him to come out.

They kept kicking the car and threatened to burn it, he alleged.

Das said the gang allegedly obtained his phone number from JNU security and harassed him with threats and extortion demands for the rest of the night.

Issuing a statement on Tuesday, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA) said it was utterly dismayed at the state of law and order in Delhi.

"The entire JNU community stands in full solidarity with Dr Saitya Brata Das, who has been subjected to this intensely traumatising experience, and share his anguish and outrage at this vicious and premeditated attack," the teachers' body said.

"The JNUTA demands the university administration at the highest levels extends all support to Dr Saitya Brata Das, and actively puts pressure on Delhi Police to ensure that action is taken against the criminal gang behind this attack," it added.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Joshimath (Uttarakhand), Jan 17 (PTI) Joshimath is a town on the edge. It's the very precipice for thousands of people, despairing as the lives they have always known slip away just as their mountain town sinks a little more each day and cracks on their homes get dangerously wider.

Families are segregated, and pets and cattle remain unattended as people move out to safety. Many small businesses have shut shop or are in the process of doing so. The future looms dark and uncertain with residents saying they are not sure how long it will take for the earth to swallow their hometown.

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This is a disaster in the making. Many of its implications will unfold in the days to come. You will soon see an epidemic of mental issues cropping up in the town, Atul Sati, president of the Joshimath Bachao Sangarsh Samiti and environmental activist, told PTI.

The fear of the unknown tomorrow is constant.

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Two weeks after she woke up to a loud sound, akin to stones crumbling against each other, Nita Devi is still in a daze. The family has been evacuated to safety and she returns each day to see if her home is still intact.

I have just one request from the government - provide us with a house. We just need a roof over our heads, she said, her eyes welling up.

Next to a red cross, a stark contrast to the blue walls of what was once her home, is an orange sticker saying unusable. For the 65-year-old, the vivid colours are cruel irony for the gloom edging her life and that of her town.

Where can we go from here? My son had a furniture business here which is now shut. My grandson used to go to school here, she said, pointing to gaping fissures that were not so long ago hairline cracks on the walls of her home.

My son told me it is dangerous to live in the house as the land around the neighbourhood is sinking."

Nita Devi and her family are not alone.

Joshimath, a town of nearly 23,000 people in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district at a height of over 6,150 feet, is slowly sinking, said experts.

Disaster response teams are on standby and officials ready plans to evacuate 40 per cent of the town if the situation worsens. Sati. however, fears all of Joshimath town might need to be evacuated as every life matters.

Cracks have developed in nearly 850 buildings, including a temple and the Auli Ropeway, and on pavements and streets. An estimated 165 buildings are in danger zone. Some hotels now lean on each other.

Over 600 people from 145 families have so far been shifted from their homes to schools, gurdwaras, hotels and homestays.

A walk through the streets in some places tells the story of the slow devastation that the subsidence has caused.

A team of experts from seven organisations has been constituted to study and give recommendations on the situation in Joshimath.

So what is causing this Himalayan town to subside?

"Joshimath is not suitable for a township", the government appointed Mishra Committee report had warned in 1976 and recommended a ban on heavy construction work in the area.

The warning was not heeded. Over the decades, the place exploded into a busy gateway for thousands of pilgrims and tourists.

Unchecked construction flourished on its fragile slopes, which experts said were formed from the debris of old landslides and are therefore prone to subsidence.

The use of explosives for extensive drilling and digging during the construction of roads, dams and buildings in the area has made the slopes weaker.

One of the primary reasons that man-made landslides happen in the Himalayas is because, while constructing roads, people cut away the toe of slopes. Consequently, the whole bunch of rocks that were being supported by the toe, are now totally destabilized and looking for opportunities to fall off, said Abhijit Mukherjee, professor of geology and geophysics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

I would imagine the mega road constructions going on in the surrounding of Joshimath have certainly developed such ill-supported slopes which are absolutely prone to sliding and sinking, Mukherjee told PTI in an email interview.

In addition to reckless construction, a number of hydroelectric power projects are also being built around the town.

According to a 2010 paper titled Disaster looms large over Joshimath compiled by geologists MPS Bisht and Piyoosh Rautela, a major concern is the Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project. The tunnel, it said, traverses "all through the geologically fragile area below Joshimath.

There have been previous reports that tunnelling related to the Tapovan-Vishnughat project had pierced a large aquifer (underground water storage) in 2009 that led to a discharge of 60-70 million litres of water per day, said Kusala Rajendran, seismologist and professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Imagine the surface effect of such instability. It can lead to readjustments in the subsurface and based on the nature of the rocks, the ground might subside, Rajendran told PTI over the phone.

Activist Sati said there may be many reasons for making the region fragile but the current subsidence in Joshimath is to be blamed on the blasting caused for the 520 MW project developed by the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC).

NTPC has denied the link of the project to Joshimath's subsidence.

The tunnel built by NTPC does not pass under Joshimath town. This tunnel is dug by a tunnel boring machine (TBM) and no blasting is being carried out presently, NTPC said in a statement last week.

Satellite images of Joshimath released by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) show that the Himalayan town sank at a rapid pace of 5.4 cm in just 12 days, triggered by a possible subsidence event on January 2.

The preliminary report by ISRO's National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), which has since been taken off its website, said the land subsidence was slow between April and November 2022, during which Joshimath had sunk by 8.9 cm.

In the past week, hundreds of houses have been marked unsafe for living and many locals said living in shelter homes with big families is not sustainable. Cold weather, with a minimum of minus 3 degrees Celsius on average, has only compounded their woes.

Uttarakhand has a long history of natural disasters. Earthquakes, landslides, cloud bursts, and flash floods have claimed thousands of lives in the past.

Over 1,000 people were killed in such extreme weather events between 2010 and 2020. Many villages in the state have been marked unsafe for living.

Joshimath is a gateway to several Himalayan mountain climbing expeditions, trekking trails, and pilgrim centres like Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, and the Valley of Flowers, a UNESCO world heritage site. The town is also strategically important as it connects with the China border.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Tuesday said the Kashmir problem will not die "unless we talk to our neighbour" and find a real solution to the issue that has been festering for decades.

He also said India will not be able to progress and be strong "unless we are one".

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The 85-year-old politician was speaking during a book release event. The book, "A Life in the Shadows A Memoir", has been written by former RAW chief A S Dulat who retired from service in 2000.

"India is a unique country and it is that because we all think together...we have to return to Gandhi's India...the division has to end if the nation has to progress," Abdullah said.

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"The country will never be strong unless we are one," he said.

The "problem of Kashmir will not die...and I am sorry to say, terrorism will stay unless we talk to our neighbour and find a true solution," Abdullah said without taking the name of Pakistan.

He said he had given the same message of both the countries being "united and of building bridges", when former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had sought his opinion before he travelled to Pakistan in 1999.

The prime minister (Narendra Modi) of today has "said openly that war is not a solution for anything", he said, adding the Russia-Ukraine war was a case in point.

The former CM of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir expressed unhappiness at some of the current developments taking place in the country.

"Look at the institutions, Governors, look at the Lt Governor...how they are playing with the Constitution...I could never think of this," he said.

Dulat, a retired IPS officer of the 1965 batch, reiterated the same feelings during the event as he said that "terrorism (in J&K) will not go away unless we engage with Pakistan."

This (terrorism in J&K) will go on and on and on, the former head of the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, said.

He, however, added that he would "concede" that the level of militancy has come down due to the "muscular policy" adopted by the current dispensation.

But there is a difference, militancy is local while terrorism comes from across the border, Dulat said.

When asked what ails the relation between New Delhi and Kashmir, Dulat said the "disconnect with the people has always been there and there has been a lack of trust".

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kollam (Ker), Jan 17 (PTI) Spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi has initiated a Rs 50 crore project for the welfare of people with disabilities and pregnant women who are malnourished.

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The project would be implemented in underdeveloped districts across India, as well as in other developing nations, Mata Amritanandamayi Math said in a release.

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The Math will work closely with local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) with the purpose of bringing about a tangible change in the lives of its beneficiaries.

The project was announced at the Inaugural Ceremony of India's Civil 20 Working Group (C20) that was held virtually on Monday, it said.

C20's purpose is to bring the concerns of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from around the world to the G20 Summit set to take place in New Delhi this September, the release said.

The Group of 20 (G20) is the premier intergovernmental forum for the world's developed and emerging economies to address financial stability on a global basis.

With India as this year's host country, the G20 theme is 'vasudhaiva ku?a?bakam' -- the whole world is one family.

As India is the host country this year, Amritanandamayi, according to the release, said, "This is an auspicious occasion. We have embarked on a mission to restore the dwindling light of the world. This is a historic year in which India has received the opportunity to assume the presidency of the G20 nations.

"The Indian Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have given us the tremendous responsibility of successfully facilitating the process of Civil Society 20. May we be able to do justice to this endeavour."

Speaking at the virtual inauguration on Monday, Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi is quoted as having said that community participation is essential for the success of any project, and C20 is playing a key role in ensuring society's fundamental needs are expressed to the G20 leaders.

He said that today the world is going through increasingly challenging crises and collective actions are now necessary just to survive.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur, who was also present at the event, expressed hope that the ideas emerging from the C20 working groups will solve the environmental challenges the world is facing today, the release said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Hoshiarpur (Punjab) [India], January 17 (ANI): Lashing out at the "structure of media", Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday claimed that "hatred is being spread in the media", while also alleging that it is playing the role of "distraction instead of a watchdog".

Gandhi called for an "independent media and institutions" citing his party's philosophy, and said that media is a "feedback channel" for the Congress governments.

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"The media is being controlled and pressured. The reporters are not at much fault. You have constraints. You have to do what your owner tells you to do. I understand as you tell me. I'm not criticising you. I'm criticising the structure of media," he said.

"Congress' philosophy is of an independent media and institutions. Even if Congress wants to control media, we do not have the capability of implementing it because our structure is not as centralised as the BJP. We want independent and fair media," Gandhi added.

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Alleging that media is playing the "role of distraction", the Congress leader said that it should rather play the "role of a watchdog".

"Hatred is being spread in the media. The media is playing the role of distraction instead of a watchdog. Your role should be of a watchdog. The small businessmen are being crushed, farmers are being looted, but you distract by doing Hindu-Muslim, Bollywood, sports," he said.

Gandhi said that the media should put pressure on the government.

"If you were given freedom, you would have asked about the data which we have presented here. You should be raising the issues like farmers' issues, and employment issues. We would like the media which puts pressure on the government. You are feedback channels for the Congress governments," he said.

Gandhi, while responding to a question on his 'security lapse' during the Bharat Jodo Yatra today, said that he saw the person who came to hug him.

"I could see a person who came to hug me, I don't know why you are calling it a lapse. There is a lot of enthusiasm in this Yatra and it happens. Security people checked him and he was just excited," he said.

A man who tried to hug Rahul Gandhi during Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hoshiarpur was later pulled away by workers.

The Congress leader also slammed the BJP and RSS alleging that both have "captured all the institutions of India". He said that there is a fight between the institutions which have been "captured" by the BJP and the opposition.

"The BJP and RSS have captured all the institutions of India. This is not the political fight like it used to be earlier. Now there is a fight between the institutions which have been captured and the Opposition. EVM is one of those factors. The attacks on the Oppostion leaders through CBI, ED, and Pegasus. This is not a normal democratic functioning," he said.

"There are attacks on farmers from multiple angles. They are not being given protection. We had given them protection during UPA through loan waivers and MSP," Gandhi added.

Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed at Jhingar Khurd village of Hoshiarpur's Tanda in Punjab on Tuesday. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7 last year, will end in Srinagar on January 30, with Rahul hoisting the tricolour there. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Joshimath (Uttarakhand) [India], January 17 (ANI): The coming four days will be very tough for the residents of Joshimath in Uttarakhand which is already going through land subsidence rendering people homeless.

Adding to the woes of the people, the meteorological department has predicted rain and snowfall in Joshimath, Chamoli and Pithoragarh on January 19, 20, 23 and 24.

Also Read | Rahul Gandhi Security Breach: Man Attempts to Hug Congress Leader During Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hoshiarpur (Watch Video).

According to meteorologists, there is a possibility of change in the weather pattern in the state due to the re-activation of Western Disturbance in these four days.

"There is a possibility of rain on January 19 and 20, while on January 23 and 24, there is a possibility of snowfall along with rain," said Bikram Singh, director of Meteorological Center Dehradun.

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In such a situation, the government, administration and district administration will have to be alert in the disaster-affected area of Joshimath, he added.

Hundreds of residents have been shifted to relief centres in safe places after land subsidence began in Joshimath.

The Uttarakhand government has already announced relief packages worth crores of rupees for the affected families of Joshimath.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the relief package has been released for nearly 3,000 families affected by gradual land subsidence in the Himalayan state.

"For the time being, interim assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh per family is being given. An advance amount of Rs 1 lakh has been given to the affected land owners or families due to landslides in the affected area before the permanent settlement displacement policy is prepared," Dhami told reporters during his visit to Joshimath last week.

The Chief Minister also announced that Rs 50,000 have been given by the state disaster authority to each family as a non-adjustable one-time special grant for the transportation of goods and immediate needs of their buildings. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Tikamgarh (MP), Jan 17 (PTI) A 16-year-old boy on Tuesday allegedly shot dead his mother in Tikamgarh city of Madhya Pradesh as he was apparently angry with her for scolding and beating him on several occasions, a police official said.

The boy, a student of class 11, used his father's licensed rifle to shoot at his 43-year-old mother at their home, killing her on the spot, the official said. His father, who works as a security guard in a bank, was not home at the time.

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After committing the crime, the teenager informed the police and waited for them to arrive at the scene, the official said.

"The boy was unhappy with his mother's attitude towards him as she used to scold him now and then and also beat him badly on several occasions which enraged him a lot, rural police station in-charge Preeti Bhargava said citing the preliminary investigation. A case of murder has been registered and the boy has been detained.

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(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Satna (Madhya Pradesh) [India], January 17 (ANI): The Municipal Council President of Satna district, Sadhna Patel, has thrashed a policeman with slippers when she was stopped from illegal mining in the district, a police official said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred at Pathra village under Chitrakoot police station limits in the district on Monday night. The police have registered a case against eight persons, including Municipal Council President Sadhna Patel in the matter.

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Cumulative Growth for April-November,   Latest Tweet by Prasar Bharati News Services.

A purported video of the incident has also surfaced on social media in which Patel was spotted beating the police personnel.

Chitrakoot Sub Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Ashish Jain said, "Chitrakoot Naib Tehsildar, Sumit Gurjar lodged a complaint at the police station about the illegal mining in Pathra village. Acting on the complaint, the police along with tehsildar rushed to the spot and spotted a few people performing illegal mining."

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"A JCB machine and two tractors were also spotted at the spot where soil was being extracted with the help of a JCB machine. When the police team tried to stop them, they started abusing the police team. After a few minutes, Sadhna Patel arrived there and she also started abusing and she beat up a police personnel with slippers," Jain said.

" Later, the tehsildar submitted a written complaint in connection with the incident. Acting on the complaint, a case was registered under sections 147, 148, 149, 294, 186, 353, 332, 379 and 506 of the IPC against the eight persons, including Sadhna Patel and started investigation into the matter," he added. (ANI)

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Chandigarh (Punjab) [India], January 17 (ANI): Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann issued orders to close the Zira liquor factory on Tuesday.

Mann made the announcement through his official Twitter handle and warned, "Anyone who tries to impair the purity of Punjab's land, air and water for their selfish measures and commercial benefits would not be spared. Be it anyone."

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The order issued by the Chief Minister sought to close down the Marlboro liquor factory in Zira in the Ferozepur district of Punjab with immediate effect.

In his statement, Mann said, "No one will be allowed to spoil the air of Punjab. Therefore, after consulting legal experts, a big decision has been taken in the public interest. I have issued orders to close the Zeera Liquor Factory; in the future, if anyone tries to spoil the environment, they will not be spared."

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Several farmers under the banner of the Sanjha Morcha Zira had been protesting in front of the distillery "Malboros International Private Limited", owned by a Shiromani Akali Dal leader, demanding it is shut down as it was allegedly polluting groundwater in several villages besides causing air pollution.

According to farmers, due to the water emanating from the Liquor factory, the groundwater of around 40 villages was getting polluted. The protesting farmers claimed that children were getting sick and infected with other life-threatening diseases and that the future of about 40 villages would be at stake.

Earlier, on December 23, 2022, the Punjab and Haryana High Court adjourned the hearing and listed the matter for hearing in the last week of January.

The court also directed the soil testing team from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) high committee and the Gadhwasu high committee for animal husbandry to check the health hazards and complete its work in 2 weeks and submit the reports. (ANI)

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Kolkata, Jan 17 (PTI) A purported image of a Bengal school's model question paper, asking students to mark "Azad Kashmir" in a map, has gone viral on social media, with Union minister Subhas Sarkar on Tuesday calling for a state-level inquiry into the matter.

He said that the issue should not be taken lightly by the state government.

Also Read | Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann Orders Closure of Liquor Factory in Ferozepur After Months-Long Protest.

Sarkar, when shown the widely circulated image during a press meet on the Narendra Modi government's 'Pariksha Pe Charcha 2023', told PTI that the Union government will also look into the issue.

In the purported question paper, issued in an exercise book of a Bengali-medium school for students of Class 10, the paper setter has asked them to identify several places on the map  Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (referred to as Azad Kashmir' in Pakistan), the place where Gandhiji had first undertaken the Satyagraha movement, and the Chittagong battle ground.

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The Bankura MP said,"I urge the state education minister to look into the issue. In case it is found to be true, appropriate action should be taken against the publisher and paper setter. The test paper should be immediately withdrawn and the question deleted."

PTI did not independently verify the authenticity of the image.

Sarkar further went on to say that the incident, if true, can be attributed to the "appeasement politics of the TMC-run government which has emboldened some people to insert a question with anti-national overtones in the test paper".

West Bengal Board of Secondary Education President Ramanuj Ganguly said a probe will be conducted into the matter and necessary action will be taken accordingly.

"We don't yet know what prompted the test paper setter to include a question like that. We will find it out and take necessary action," he added.

Efforts to reach out to state education minister Bratya Basu proved futile.

TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh later told PTI his party doesn't support anything that is wrong.

"If someone has set such a question, he has done the wrong thing. We don't support such acts.

"The TMC is a secular party which does not believe in appeasing any particular community. Sarkar has made a baseless comment against our party," Ghosh stated.

Various schools and teachers' association, as well as the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education, issue individual model question papers every year to aid the preparations of board examinees.

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New Delhi [india], January 17 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear on January 23 a plea filed by journalist Rana Ayyub challenging the summons issued to her by the Ghaziabad court in Uttar Pradesh in relation to a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The matter was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud by advocate Vrinda Grover for an early listing.

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Grover said that the Ghaziabad court has issued a summons against Ayyub for January 27 and therefore the matter requires urgent listing.

In October 2022, the ED had filed a complaint against her before the Ghaziabad court over alleged violations in publicly raising funds.

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ED had registered the case on the basis of a complaint registered in September 2021 in Ghaziabad under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology Amendment Act and Black Money Act against Ayyub.

It was alleged in the FIR that she illegally acquired funds from the general public in the name of charity by launching fundraiser campaigns.

Ayyub received foreign contributions without registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), it was alleged. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], January 17 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday said agreed to modify its 2018 guidelines on "living will", an advance medical directive on end-of-life treatment.

A five-judge Constitution bench of Justices KM Joseph, Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and Justice CT Ravikumar observed that the legislature is much more endowed with "skills and sources of knowledge" to enact a relevant law for terminally ill patients choosing to stop treatment.

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The bench said it will limit itself to improving the guidelines it had laid down on "living will".

There can only be a little tweaking of the guidelines or else it will become a review of its own 2018 judgement, it added.

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The top court's order notwithstanding, people wanting to get a "living will" registered have been facing problems due to cumbersome guidelines.

The apex court was informed that the procedure under the Supreme Court guidelines had become unworkable due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders in the process.

The Constitution bench was considering a plea seeking modification of the guidelines for living will/advance medical directive issued by it in 2018.

Senior advocate Arvind Datar told the bench that as per the apex court's directions, a medical board has to first declare that the patient has no scope of recovery or is brain dead.

He added that the procedure then enumerates that the district collector has to constitute an independent medical board to obtain a second opinion, after which the matter is referred to a judicial magistrate, first class.

Datar suggested in a living will, there can be two witnesses and the role of the judicial magistrate can be done away with.

The hearing will resume on Wednesday.

On March 9, 2018, the apex court had in its judgment recognised that a terminally ill patient or a person in a persistent vegetative state may execute an advance medical directive or a "living will" to refuse medical treatment, holding the right to live with dignity also included "smoothening" the process of dying.

The judgement of the apex court had come on a PIL filed by NGO Common Cause seeking recognition of the "living will" made by terminally-ill patients for passive euthanasia.

The top court had laid down principles related to the procedure for execution of advance directives and spelt out guidelines and safeguards to give effect to passive euthanasia in both circumstances where there are advance directives and where there are none.

It had said that directives and guidelines shall remain in force till Parliament brings a legislation in the field. (ANI)

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Aligarh, January 17: Two people suffered injuries during stone pelting, following a scuffle, which broke out between some people over buying meat from a shop in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh, officials said on Monday.

As per police, a brawl happened between some people at a meat shop with the shop owner, near Sarai Sultani Police Chowki, under the Sasni Gate Police Station limits which escalated to stone pelting, leaving two injured. The injured persons were immediately rushed to the hospital.

"Stones were pelted after a scuffle broke out between some people over buying meat from a shop in Aligarh Some people went to a meat shop. An argument happened between the people and the shopkeeper and later stone pelting happened in which two people were injured," Aligarh District Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh told ANI.

Uttar Pradesh: Fight Over Buying Meat Leads To Stone Pelting In Aligarh; Two Injured.

"The matter is being looked into from all angles. The shopkeeper and the customers are from different communities. Names of some people have come to the fore. The situation is under control and the investigation is being done," he added. Security Alert in Ayodhya City After Arrest of 2 Terrorists in Delhi.

Notably, after getting the intimidation, teams from different police stations reached the spot and took the situation under control. Police's investigation into this matter is underway. Further information is awaited.

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New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) The Centre on Tuesday raised in the Supreme Court the protest held by AAP MLAs against alleged interferences by the lieutenant governor's office in the Delhi government's works and termed the demonstration as "undesirable".

The moment a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud assembled to hear the vexatious Centre-Delhi government row over control of services, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the central government, raised the issue of the protest.

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On Monday, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs marched to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) office to protest against its alleged interferences in the elected government's functioning.

"There is one caveat. I would confine myself to the legal submissions only. While I say this, certain events are happening in the national capital while your Lordships are in midst of the matter. Some protests are being held," the law officer said at the outset of the proceedings.

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He termed the protests as "undesirable" and said events in the national capital are capable of being noticed everywhere.

"Protests and theatrics can never take place when the Constitution bench is hearing...Certain things are happening in the capital," Mehta told the bench which also comprised justices M R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha.

Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government, told the bench, "I have much more to say than he has."

On Monday, during a protest by AAP MLAs, Chief Minister Kejriwal had attacked Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, saying the LG should not "behave like a headmaster" checking students' homework.

The AAP has also claimed that the city government's proposal to send school teachers to Finland for training was rejected by Saxena, a charge refuted by the LG's office.

The Delhi assembly session on Monday was adjourned for the entire day as AAP MLAs repeatedly entered the Well of the House, raising slogans against the LG.

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Jamshedpur, Jan 17 (PTI) A tribal organisation Tuesday launched the country-wide 'Marang Buru Bachao Bharat Yatra' (Save Parasnath Hill) to free it from the alleged "clutches" of the Jain community.

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The month-long march by Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan (ASA) seeks to garner support from across the country to "free" Parasnath Hill or 'Marang Buru'.

ASA president Salkhan Murmu said here that its members staged demonstrations in front of 50 tribal-dominated district collectorates in Assam, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand simultaneously to press for its demand.

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The ASA activists waved placards and staged dharnas during the day at Kokrajhar, Chirang and Baksa in Assam, Malda, Purulia and Bankura in West Bengal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Balasore in Odisha, Kishanganj, Katihar and Purnea in Bihar and Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Dumka in Jharkhand, he said.

The tribals consider Parasnath Hill as the holiest 'Jeherthan' (place of worship) by the tribals.

Murmu, a former MP who led the dharna here during the day, said that meetings will be organised in other tribal pockets of the country by ASA to mobilise support for its demand.

The Association will also submit a memorandum to President Droupadi Murmu through district magistrates of all 50 districts in the five states in support of its demand before the Yatra ends in the last week of February.

Murmu had earlier written to the president and appealed to her to restore the sanctity of the Parasnath Hill and hand it over to the tribals.

He accused the Jharkhand government for handing over Marang Buru to the Jain community. "The government has betrayed the adivasi community. Marang Buru is an identity of the tribals who believe that it protects them," Murmu said.

The Jain community is protesting against Jharkhand government's decision to turn the hill, which it considers among its holiest places, into a tourist destination.

The Shri Sammed Shikharji in Parasnath hill in Jharkhand's Giridih district, about 160 km from Ranchi, is among the holiest places of the Jains, including both Digambara and Shwetambar sects. Twenty of the 24 Jain tirthankaras attained 'moksha' (salvation) on these hills.

Murmu said Parasnath Hill to be as significant for the devout tribals as is Ayodhya Ram Mandir for Hindus, Mecca and Medina for Muslims, Vatican city for Christians and the Golden Temple for Sikhs.

ASA, he said, will also raise the issue of inclusion of 'Sarna' religion in the census and its opposition to government's move to include the Kurmi caste in the category of schedule tribes.

ASA will also hold a Marang Buru-Sarna Mahadharna on February 11 and Rashtrya Adivasi Ekta Mahasabha on February 14 in Ranchi.

The Jain community across the country is demanding the scrapping of a 2019 Jharkhand government notification designating Parasnath Hills as a tourist place. It fears that it will otherwise lead to an influx of tourists who may consume non-vegetarian food and liquor at their holy site.

While the Centre stayed the Jharkhand government's move to promote tourism at the Parasnath Hill after protests by Jains, tribals claimed the land and asked for it to be freed. The Santhal tribe has a sizeable population in Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and West Bengal and are nature worshippers. PTI bs

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Aligarh, Jan 17 (PTI) Members of two communities clashed here in Uttar Pradesh following a brawl at a shop selling meat products, said police which deployed a large number of its personnel to bring the situation under control early Tuesday.

The clash was reported around midnight from the Sarai Sultani area, they said.

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Police said two persons entered into an argument at the shop selling cooked chicken and meat products, and a brawl broke out on Monday night.

As the news about the incident at the shop spread, members of two communities confronted each other and it turned violent with people throwing stones at each other, police said.

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They said as soon as information was received, a large deployment of personnel was made in the area, and the situation was brought under control.

Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani, who rushed to the spot along with other top district officials, told reporters early Tuesday that the situation is under control but a strict vigil is being maintained.

He said a report is being filed, and strong action will be taken against the perpetrators. Security arrangements in the area have been tightened, the officer said.

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New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) Diversified conglomerate ITC on Tuesday announced the acquisition of Sproutlife Foods Pvt Ltd (SFPL), which owns Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brand Yoga Bar.

ITC has signed a binding term sheet to acquire 100 per cent shares of SFPL over a period of three to four years, said a statement.

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It will initially acquire a 47.5 per cent stake in SFPL in tranches, by March 31, 2025 and the balance stake will be acquired, basis pre-defined valuation criteria, subject to other conditions agreed to in the binding documents, it added.

An "initial investment of Rs 175 crore will be made through primary subscription and secondary purchases for the acquisition of 39.4 per cent of the paid-up share capital, which is expected to be completed by February 15 2023," said ITC in a regulatory filing.

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Further, a cash infusion of Rs 80 crore will be made through primary subscription, in one or more tranches, by March 31, 2025, it added.

The purchase of the balance 52.5 per cent shares taking the shareholding to 100 per cent would be determined based on pre-agreed valuation criteria and subject to fulfilment of various terms and conditions, it added.

According to ITC, it is "fortifying its presence in the Rs 45,000-crore, fast-growing, nutrition-led healthy foods space" with the proposed strategic investment in SFPL.

In FY22 SFPL, the startup engaged in manufacturing and sale of products catering to health-conscious consumers under the new-age digital-first brand Yoga Bar, had a turnover of Rs 68 crore.

According to ITC, this acquisition is "in line with the strategy to augment the company's future-ready portfolio, the proposed acquisition will strengthen and expand its reach with innovative food products for health-conscious consumers."

The acquisition will enable ITC to augment its future-ready portfolio and enhance market presence in the 'good for you' space which currently includes Aashirvaad Multi-Grain Atta, Aashirvaad Nature's Super Foods, Farmlite range of biscuits, Sunfeast Protein Shake, B Natural Nutrilite ABC Beverage, among others.

"Yoga Bar is expected to be rapidly scaled up, leveraging ITC's enterprise strengths in areas such as sales & distribution, sourcing, product development, and digital," it added.

ITC divisional chief executive, Foods Division, Hemant Malik said: "We look forward to scaling the Yoga Bar brand offering superior and healthy consumer choices. Within a short span of time, Yoga Bar has established itself as a leading brand in the healthy foods space, driven by impactful market positioning and a range of innovative products."

Suhasini Sampath Kumar and Anindita Sampath Kumar, co-founders, said: "We are confident that this partnership will add to Yoga Bar's competitive advantage and take it to the next level from the current annualised run rate of over Rs 100 crore."

The health and wellbeing segment is a fast-evolving category in India and several FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) companies are entering the space.

Last week, FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd announced the completion of the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in Zywie Ventures, a wellness company which owns OZiva brand, for a consideration of Rs 264.28 crore.

Besides, HUL has also announced the acquisition of a 19.8 per cent stake in Nutritionalab Pvt Ltd (Wellbeing Nutrition) for a cash consideration of Rs 70 crore.

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Jaipur, Jan 17 (PTI) Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot will present the state's budget for the financial year 2023-24 on February 8.

The budget session of the state assembly is scheduled to begin on January 23.

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This will be the last full budget of the present Congress-led government in the state.

Gehlot, who also holds the finance portfolio, said that the budget will be focused on youths.

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"The budget will be presented on February 8. Last year, a separate budget for agriculture was presented and this time the budget will be focused on youths and students," Gehlot told reporters here.

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New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) Tata Investment Corporation Ltd on Tuesday reported a 12.55 per cent decline in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 34.74 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022.

The company had posted a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 39.73 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, Tata Investment Corporation Ltd said in a regulatory filing.

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Consolidated total income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 37.69 crore as against Rs 50.97 crore in the year-ago period.

The firm, which is a systemically important non-banking financial company and has no activities other than those of an investment entity, said its total expenses during the third quarter stood at Rs 9.45 crore as compared to Rs 6.01 crore in the same period of the last fiscal.

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Kabul [Afghanistan], January 17 (ANI): Locals in Kabul have expressed their frustration over prolonged power cuts amid the freezing cold, adding to the miseries of people in Afghanistan, TOLOnews reported.

The outages have resulted in leaving people with numerous challenges a result of which they urge the authorities to address the matter. According to the residents, electricity is supplied for four to five hours daily, which is not enough for them.

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"The issue of electricity has reached its peak, especially in the Makrorayan area because we cannot use gas and the heating system is not activated yet," a Kabul resident, Shabana lamented.

People also complained that due to the unavailability of electricity, they fall short of water too. The business community said the power shortage has also affected factories in Kabul's industrial park.

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"There is a water shortage. If we don't have electricity, we don't have water too," said Sherzai, a Kabul local.

Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the nation's power distributor, said that at least 30 per cent of Kabul's electricity comes from domestic sources.

"We don't have electricity even for one hour. We should use thermal power resources until the transmission lines for power supply from Uzbekistan are reconnected," TOLOnews quoted Sakhi Ahmad Payman, first deputy of the Chamber of the Industry and Mine as saying.

As Afghanistan imports, most of its needed power from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Iran, the already existing economic and humanitarian crisis has put regular lives of people in trouble since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan.

Earlier in November, the operations director of DABS told the Taliban-run Bakhtar News Agency that Uzbekistan is one of Afghanistan's main electrical suppliers and that the problem with the blackouts would soon be resolved, Khaama Press reported.

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August of last year, power outages have continued. Periodic power outages caused by terror groups' regular demolition of electricity pylons in the northern provinces of the nation constituted a serious problem for power delivery.

Time and again, the residents of Kabul expressed concerns over the power shortages as they complained of getting only seven to eight hours of electricity every day several times. In November last year, Kabul residents said they are living miserable lives as the authorities in the country do not pay heed to frequent power outages, Khaama Press reported.

Afghanistan imports around 80 per cent of its electricity from neighbouring countries, mainly Central Asian nations. In January 2022, Uzbekistan reduced the import of electricity to Afghanistan, causing a disruption of electricity supply in a number of Afghan provinces. (ANI)

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Canberra [Australia], January 17 (ANI): Australia and Papua New Guinea announced that both governments have finalised a security agreement to deepen defence cooperation between the two countries.

"We reaffirm our commitment to further enhance strategic cooperation between Papua New Guinea and Australia through the development of a Bilateral Security Treaty (BST), pursuant to the 2020 Comprehensive Strategic and Economic Partnership (CSEP)," the joint statement read, as quoted by Australian Prime Minister's Office.

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"As near neighbours, close friends and equal partners, Papua New Guinea's and Australia's defence and security is deeply connected. We share a mutual strategic interest in a safe, stable, peaceful, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. We have a proud history of working together in the interests of the region," the statement added.

It added BST will provide an enabling framework for current and future traditional and non-traditional security cooperation. It would also facilitate the practical broadening and deepening of our security cooperation while sitting above existing arrangements, programs, and activities.

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Experts agree that the security agreement between the two countries will be viewed as a significant development and a countermeasure to China's growing influence in the region.

China signed its own security agreement with Papua New Guinea's neighbouring Solomon Islands, causing Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the US to follow suit.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said their relationship is essential and thier national security is "almost indivisible." "A more secure PNG is a more secure Australia and vice versa. We regard ourselves as family, not just as friends. And families need to always look after each other," he said.

In the joint statement, both sides said BST strengthen their position as vital security partners and assist both countries to protect and enhance our sovereignty and resilience.

The agreement also recognises that because their security interests are intertwined, including by virtue of our geography, decisions taken by one country affect the security of the other. (ANI)

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Davos, Jan 17 (AP) A trial in absentia opened Tuesday for Belarus' top opposition leader, who denounced the proceedings as a farce and urged the West to bolster support for the country's beleaguered opposition.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was the main challenger in the August 2020 presidential election that extended President Alexander Lukashenko's rule and was rejected by the Belarusian opposition and the West as a sham.

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Tsikhanouskaya, who left the ex-Soviet nation shortly after the vote under pressure from authorities, is being tried in absentia along with four other leading opposition figures. She is facing charges of high treason, conspiracy to seize power and undermining national security and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Tsikhanouskaya said that she learned from media reports about the trial, which is being held behind closed doors, adding that she was unable to reach her lawyer appointed by the Belarusian authorities.

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"It looks like farce," Tsikhanouskaya told The Associated Press in an interview in Davos, Switzerland, where she is attending a global economic forum. I will be sentenced to years and years. The judge will give me so many years as he is ordered to do.

In December 2021, Tsikhanouskaya's husband, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison on charges of organising mass unrest and inciting hatred, which he rejected. On Monday, the authorities leveled new accusations against him.

"The lawyer visits him once a week just to check if he's at least alive, because the conditions in prisons are awful," Tsikhanouskaya told the AP. He was put very often in punishment cells and when you are in prison, you do not have rights at all.

Her husband, a popular video blogger and activist, planned to challenge Lukashenko in the August 2020 vote, but was arrested in May 2020, two days after he declared his candidacy. Tsikhanouskaya, a former English teacher, ran in his place.

Tsikhanouskaya and other opposition activists rejected the official results that handed Lukashenko a sixth term in office as fraudulent.

The vote triggered a months-long wave of unprecedented mass protests, the largest of which saw about 200,000 people taking to the streets of the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Lukashenko's government responded with a violent crackdown on demonstrations, arresting more than 35,000 and brutally beating thousands.

The authorities have continued their repression, and 1,438 people in Belarus are currently in prisons on politically motivated charges, according to human rights groups.

Tsikhanouskaya urged the West to come out with a clear strategy on Belarus and boost support for the country's opposition.

She emphasized that backing the opposition is particularly important as Russia used Belarus' territory to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24 and continues to station its troops and weapons on the Belarusian territory. Tsikhanouskaya noted that opposition activists in Belarus help gather information about Russian troops movements in the country, adding that we deliver this information to Ukraine.

I don't want the world to overlook Belarus, to explain once again why Belarus is important, that without a safe, free, democratic Belarus, there will not be stable peace in the region," Tsikhanouskaya said. (AP)

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Beijing [China], January 17 (ANI): Even while being virtually forced to designate Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist, the Chinese Government has tonight placated Pakistan by saying that 'this designation is a recognition of Pakistan's staunch fight against terrorism,' according to a statement released by China's Foreign Ministry site.

Responding to a media query over China's decision to lift the hold on designating Lashkar-e-Taiba deputy chief Abdul Rehman Makki, Beijing's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, "The individual you mentioned has been convicted and sentenced by Pakistan, and this designation is a sign of recognition of Pakistan's staunch fight against terrorism."

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"Terrorism is a common scourge for humanity. As an important international counter-terrorism mechanism, the 1267 Committee of the Security Council is mandated by the UN body's resolution to put terrorists or terrorist organizations on its sanctions list, which is conducive to strengthening international counter-terrorism cooperation and the joint fight against terrorist threats," the statement quoted Wang Wenbin as saying.

Interestingly, China has placed holds to prevent the listing of as many as five Pakistani terrorists including Makki, and now took a complete U-turn.

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Earlier, on Tuesday, China finally lifted its 'technical hold' on the designation of Makki as a global terrorist under the 1267 UN Sanctions Committee after the country was left isolated in the Security Council.

"It also needs to be pointed out that the committee has clear guidelines regarding the designation of terrorist organizations and individuals and related procedures. China takes part in the work of the committee in a constructive and responsible manner in strict accordance with these rules and procedures," he further said.

A total of five names were submitted by India for designation under 1267 in 2022: Abdul Rehman Makki (LeT), Abdul Rauf Asghar (Jaish-e-Mohammed, JeM), Sajid Mir (LeT), Shahid Mahmood (LeT), and Talha Saeed (LeT). And each of these five names was initially placed on technical hold by only one member state while all other 14 members of the Council agreed to their listing.

This listing comes after China last year put a 'technical hold' on India's bid to name the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader a global terrorist. In June 2022, India slammed China after it blocked the proposal to list terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki under the Sanctions Committee, also known as the UNSC 1267 Committee.

"On 16 January 2023, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning ISIL (Da'esh), Al-Qaida, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities approved the addition of the entry specified below to its ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2610 (2021) and adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations," the UN said in a statement.

India and the US have already listed Makki as a terrorist under their domestic laws. He has been involved in raising funds, recruiting and radicalizing youth to violence and planning attacks in India, especially in Jammu and Kashmir.

Makki has performed various leadership roles within the LeT, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), while also playing a role in raising funds for LeT operations, according to sources.

In 2020, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court convicted Makki on one count of terrorism financing and sentenced him to prison, acccording to the US State Department.

China had earlier placed hurdles to the listing of known terrorists, particularly from Pakistan. It had repeatedly blocked proposals to designate Maulana Masood Azhar, chief of the Pakistan-based and UN-proscribed terrorist entity, the JeM. (ANI)

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Davos, Jan 17 (PTI) Swiss President Alain Berset on Tuesday said the number of democracies worldwide has diminished very much and the world is at a tipping point with democratic institutions being weakened.

"In certain places, the rule of law is under threat  even in some democratically constituted states. And the rule of law is also at risk of eroding in the international system," Berset said in a special address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 here.

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He said the post-war order is currently experiencing its greatest crisis and Russia's invasion of Ukraine constitutes a brutal attack on a peaceful country.

"But it is also a brutal attack on international law and multilateralism. The war is causing great suffering. And it is playing a decisive role on the global development of democracy," he said.

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He lauded the solidarity shown by democratic countries with Ukraine and rued that the aggression has come, of all countries, from a member of the UN Security Council, which as per the UN Charter: bears "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security".

Berset said Switzerland will make every effort to again strengthen international law and multilateralism in the UN Security Council.

He also said inequality worldwide has continued to grow and inequality brings with it huge political and social collateral damage.

"What we call populism is essentially a reaction to growing inequality. We all know that: Extreme inequality undermines social cohesion. It creates resentment, causing us to seek scapegoats. And it is politically toxic, eating away at our faith in democracy," he added.

"The number of democracies worldwide has diminished very much. According to Freedom House, around 50 per cent of the world's population lived in democracies ten years ago  Today, that figure is just 20 per cent.

"Business as usual is no longer an option: We must take steps to defend steadfastly the foundations, that are a prerequisite for civilised coexistence," the president said.

"Self-interest and supporting those weaker than ourselves  We have long considered these to be two different things. Now we know: They are one and the same," Berset 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 [India], January 17 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will pay an official visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka this week. He will sign agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation and launch several key India-supported projects in Male, according to the statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs.

According to the statement, Jaishankar will visit to Maldives and Sri Lanka from January 18-20. During his visit to Maldives, Jaishankar would call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and will also hold discussions with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid.

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"EAM's visit will see the signing of agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, ground-breaking/ inauguration/ handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of the Maldives," the statement reads.

Regarding Sri Lanka's tour, the ministry stated that Jaishankar's visit will follow his earlier trips to the bankrupt country in January 2021 and March 2022. Sri Lanka is a close friend and neighbour, and India has stood with the people of Sri Lanka at all times.

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"During the visit, EAM will call on President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and also hold discussions with Minister of Foreign Affairs MUM Ali Sabry on the entire gamut of close India-Sri Lanka partnership and steps to strengthen it in all spheres," the statement stated.

"Both Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy a special place in the Prime Minister's vision of 'SAGAR' (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and 'Neighbourhood First'. EAM's visit is testimony to the importance that India attaches to its close and friendly relations with the Maldives and Sri Lanka," the statement added.

India and Sri Lanka share a good relationship. Under the "Neighbourhood First Policy," India had extended aid worth USD 3.9 billion to help Sri Lanka sustain itself in face of the acute economic and financial crisis and meet its immediate needs such as medicines, cooking gas, oil and food items, Sri Lanka based news publication News 19 reported.

In February 2022, India in order to help Sri Lanka overcome its fuel shortage, signed an agreement for the supply of petroleum products worth USD 500 million from the Indian Oil Company through a credit line.

This was expanded by an additional USD 200 million worth of petroleum products in April 2022.

India's EXIM bank and State bank of India, for the import of essential commodities, extended export credit facilities worth USD 1,500 million to Sri Lanka. India also concluded a USD 400 million agreement with Sri Lanka to help preserve the country's forex reserves. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kyiv, Jan 17 (AP) The final death toll from a weekend Russian missile strike on an apartment building in southeastern Ukraine reached 44, officials said on Tuesday, as the body of another child was pulled from the wreckage.

The strike in the city of Dnipro was the war's deadliest attack since the spring on civilians at one location.

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Those killed in the Saturday afternoon strike included five children, and 79 people were injured, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's office. The final toll included two dozen people initially listed as missing at the multistory building, which housed about 1,700, he said.

Emergency crews cleared some 9 metric tons (9.9 tons) of rubble during a non-stop search and rescue operation, the Dnipro City Council said.

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Some 400 people lost their homes, with 72 apartments completely ruined and another 236 damaged beyond repair, it added.

The latest deadly Russian strike on a civilian target in the almost 11-month war triggered outrage. It also prompted the surprise resignation on Tuesday of a Ukrainian presidential adviser who said the Russian missile exploded and fell after the Ukrainian air defence system shot it down, a version that would take some of the blame off the Kremlin's forces.

Oleksii Arestovich's comments in a Saturday night interview caused an outcry. He said as he quit that his remarks were a fundamental mistake.

Ukraine's air force had stressed that the country's military did not possess a system capable of downing Russia's Kh-22 missiles, which it said was the type that hit the apartment building.

Since the beginning of Russia's military aggression, more than 210 missiles of this type have been launched on the territory of Ukraine. Not one was shot down by means of anti-aircraft defense, the air force said on Saturday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to bring those responsible for the strike to justice, saying it's a fundamental task for Ukraine and its Western allies.

This strike at Dnipro, as well as other similar strikes, falls, in particular, under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, he said in a video address late on Monday.

And we will use all available opportunities  both national and international  to ensure that all Russian murderers, everyone who gives and executes orders on missile terror against our people, face legal sentences. And to ensure that they serve their punishment, he said.

The UK Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that the weekend barrage of long-range missiles, the first of its kind in two weeks, targeted Ukraine's power grid.

The ministry noted that the Kh-22 is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas, suggesting that might have been a factor in the deaths in the Dnipro.

Similar missiles were used in other incidents that caused high civilian casualties, it said, including a strike on a shopping mall in Ukraine's central city of Kremenchuk in June. that officials said killed more than 20 people.

The deadliest attack involving civilians before Saturday was an April 9 strike on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk that left at least 52 people dead, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project.

Such incidents have helped stiffen international support for Ukraine as it battles to fend off the Kremlin's invasion. The winter has brought a slowdown in fighting, but military analysts say a new push by both sides is likely once the weather improves.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the country's military would increase its readiness from the current 1.15 million to 1.5 million in coming years.

As part of the buildup, the military will form an army corps in the northwestern region of Karelia, near Finland, as well as three new motorised infantry and two airborne divisions. The military will also beef up seven existing motorised infantry brigades into divisions.

That announcement came a day after US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and other US officials met in Kyiv with Zelenskyy.

They reiterated Washington's strong and steadfast commitment to Ukraine, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

US Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Monday visited Ukraine troops who are training at a military base in Germany under US commanders.

More than 600 Ukrainian troops began the expanded training programme at the camp the previous day.

This is not a run of the mill rotation, Milley told commanders. This is one of those moments in time where if you want to make a difference, this is it.

Ukraine's first lady was also helping to cement Western support and acquire more foreign weapons, as she was scheduled to give a rare international address at the World Economic Forum's annual gathering in the Swiss town of Davos.

Meanwhile, the head of the UN nuclear agency visited the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant on Monday and announced the organisation's permanent presence there to oversee operations and ensure safety.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, tweeted late Monday that the agency's flag was flying over the power plant.

We are here to stay to help ensure nuclear safety (and) security during ongoing conflict, Grossi said, adding that soon, IAEA will be permanently present at all of Ukraine's nuclear power plants.

Ukraine has a total of four nuclear power plants with 16 reactors. One of them, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, is Europe's largest and was taken over by Russian forces in the first months of the war and remains under their control. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Houston, Jan 17 (PTI) Indian-American Krishna Vavilala has been honoured with the MLK Grande Parade Special Award for the community leader's contributions towards connecting the Indian diaspora with the mainstream America as the US celebrated the legacy of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Vavilala, 86, a longtime Houstonian and the founder and chairman of the Foundation of India Studies (FIS), has in the past led several MLK Grande Parades, dressed as Mahatma Gandhi with the sole purpose of bringing the Indian community closer to the Black community, based on the principles of non-violence, which both Gandhi and MLK Jr. had followed.

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The award -- a trophy and a plaque -- was presented by Charles Stamps, the chairman and CEO of MLK Jr. Parade Foundation, at its glitzier gala night on Sunday amidst thunderous applause.

Charles spoke highly of Vavilala and appreciated his dedication to spreading the message of both Mahatma Gandhi and MLK Jr, who were continents apart, yet shared the same vision and followed the same path.

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Born in 1929 as Michael Luther King Jr. and later known as "Martin", King led a nonviolent movement in the late 1950s and 60s to achieve legal equality for African-Americans in the US.

A strong believer in promoting peace and racial harmony, Vavilala while accepting the award said, Initially when I was called about this award, I thought it was a hoax."

"Having lived in this country for over five decades, I have observed that there is very little social interaction between the Blacks and the Indian communities in our daily lives. So, I wanted to do something about it. I must be one of the very few people in America who has seen Gandhi in person, he said.

The memory of me as a nine-year-old seeing Gandhi during his visit to Rajahmundry, my hometown in 1946, is still stuck in my mind, he narrated. "My grandmother took me and my two sisters on a bullock cart to see Mahatma Gandhi."

My inspiration to participate in the MLK parades came after I got the Gandhi statue installed in Hermann park, in 2003-2004," he said.

We all know, Martin Luther King Jr. had established a historic link between India and America, by adopting Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence in his civil rights movement. It is my belief that the Indian diaspora should participate in the annual MLK parades to help bring about social justice and racial harmony," he added.

Meanwhile, members and supporters of the FIS on Monday morning braved the wintry weather and walked in the 29th Martin Luther King Jr. Grand Parade in midtown, Houston.

FIS's participation in the MLK parades is purely to pay homage to the late civil rights leader who had adopted Gandhi's methods of passive resistance and non-violence in his struggle to achieve equal civil rights for the Black community, thus enabling permanent bondage between people of America and the people of India. This relationship is expected to endure the test of times for many generations to come," Vavilala told PTI.

The 17-year-old organisation has routinely participated in MLK parades for 12 years and also won the parade's Grand Marshall Award in 2015.

Vavilala, a BITS Pilani alumni, is a retired Electrical Engineer, originally from Andhra Pradesh and now a naturalised American citizen settled in Houston.

Over the years, Vavilala has kept Gandhi's vision relevant in Houston and was instrumental in proposing the installation of a life-size Gandhi statue at Herman Park, a constant reminder of peace in a cowboy state of Texas.

Vavilala was instrumental in 2006 in establishing the India studies programme at the University of Houston and responsible for initiating the India Studies programme at Texas Southern University in May 2022.

King is the only non-president to have a national holiday dedicated in his honour and is the only non-president memorialised on the Great Mall in Washington.

(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], January 17 (ANI): A serving officer of the London Metropolitan Police (Met) has admitted to dozens of rape and sexual offences after assaulting 12 women, UK media reported on Monday.

David Carrick, a 48-year-old officer, pleaded guilty on 49 charges, including 24 counts of rape, for crimes committed over an 18-year period, the Sky News broadcaster said.

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Carrick joined the Met in 2001. He initially worked as a response officer in Merton and Barnet. In 2009 he transferred to what is now the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command where he remained until his arrest and suspension in October 2021.

In a statement, London police condemned the appalling criminal actions of a serving officer after he pleaded guilty to multiple rapes and other serious sexual offences.

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David Carrick appeared at Southwark Crown Court on January 16 and entered guilty pleas to false imprisonment, indecent assault and four counts of rape.

At a previous hearing at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, December 13 he pleaded guilty to 43 offences including 20 counts of rape, and further counts of controlling and coercive behaviour and sexual assault.

He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a hearing to take place at Southwark Crown Court beginning on Monday, February 6.

The Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner for Professionalism, Barbara Gray, apologized to Carrick's victims for failing to remove him from the force.

"We should have spotted his pattern of abusive behaviour and because we didn't, we missed opportunities to remove him from the organization," the official was quoted as saying by Sky News.

Downing Street said Carrick's crimes were "appalling" and urged the police to root out criminal officers "to restore the public's trust, which has been shattered," the broadcaster said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kathmandu, Jan 17 (PTI) A nine-member team of experts from France arrived here on Tuesday to help the Nepal government investigate a plane crash in which 71 people lost their lives.

Yeti Airlines' 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft with 72 people on board, including five Indians, crashed minutes before landing on the bank of the Seti River in the resort city of Pokhara on Sunday. A total of 68 passengers and four crew members were on board the aircraft.

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The Nepal government has formed a five-member probe committee to investigate the crash. The probe panel headed by former aviation secretary Nagendra Ghimire has been asked to investigate the accident and submit its report within 45 days.

A senior official at the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, said that the expert team from the company that manufactures the ATR aircraft reached Kathmandu on Tuesday.

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The team has already reached Pokhara," Joint Secretary Lamichhane told PTI.

The French team will assist the probe committee to investigate the matter. The committee has already started its investigation into the incident, he said.

The ATR-72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR, which is a joint venture between French aerospace company Aerospatiale and Italian aviation conglomerate Aeritalia.

The number 72 in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 passengers.

The crashed ATR-72 Nepalese passenger plane was previously used by the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines owned by liquor baron Vijay Mallya, according to Cirium Fleets data.

It was the first instance that such a model met with an accident in Nepal's chequered aviation history.

Currently, only Buddha Air and Yeti Airlines employ ATR-72 aircraft in Nepal.

According to Nepal's civil aviation body, 914 people have died in air crashes in the country since the first disaster was recorded in August 1955.

The Yeti Airlines tragedy in Pokhara on Sunday is the 104th crash in Nepali skies and the third biggest in terms of casualties.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Kathmandu, Jan 17 (PTI) Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" on Tuesday expanded his Cabinet for the first time by inducting 12 ministers and three junior ministers and finalised a power-sharing deal, more than three weeks after assuming charge.

Prachanda, the 68-year-old CPN-Maoist Centre leader was sworn in as the Nepal Prime Minister on December 25 last year, for the third time after he dramatically walked out of the pre-poll alliance led by the Nepali Congress and joined hands with opposition leader K P Sharma Oli.

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Top leaders from the ruling coalition, including the CPN (Maoist Centre), the CPN-UML, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSB) met Prime Minister Prachanda at his residence here on Monday to finalise the power-sharing deal.

Bimala Rai Paudel from the CPM (UML) was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, while Hari Upreti, also from the same party, was elevated as the country's defence minister.

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The newly appointed ministers took the oath of office and secrecy at an official ceremony at Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari's residence here.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Pokhara [Nepal], January 17 (ANI): Nepal's newly elected Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal also the chairman of Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Center is set to expand his cabinet, one month after getting appointed to the post.

On Monday evening, the top leaders of the ruling coalition agreed on ministerial allocations. The meeting of the chiefs of four ruling parties the CPN (Maoist Centre), the CPN-UML, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), and the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) held at the prime minister's residence at Baluwatar on Monday reached the power-sharing deal.

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As per the agreement, the largest party in the coalition, the UML, will get a total of eight ministers along with two ministers of state; the CPN (Maoist Centre), which is leading the government, will get five ministries including the prime minister; and the Rastriya Swatantra Party and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party will get three ministries each along with one deputy prime minister each.

The RSP will lead the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, and will also get one state minister. The party already has its chairman Rabi Lamichhane as deputy prime minister and home minister.

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From the RPP, its chairman Rajendra Lingden will join the government as deputy prime minister and energy, water resources and irrigation minister.

Besides finance, the UML will get foreign, health, defence, agriculture and land management, among other ministries. But, according to a leader who was present at the meeting, there could be last minute changes in ministerial allocations before the swearing-in ceremony, which is scheduled for 1 am Tuesday.

After Monday's meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane said the ruling coalition partners have finalised the ministerial allocations. But he did not disclose which parties got what ministries.

"We will make the names public only after discussing today's decision in our respective parties," Lamichhane told journalists after the meeting at Baluwatar, adding that the President's Office has already been informed about the swearing-in ceremony.

When asked if the Nagarik Unmukti Party and Loktantrik Samajbadi Party would also be joining the government anytime soon, he said, "It is unlikely that they will join immediately, but discussions are ongoing."

According to him, the prime minister has called an all-party meeting for 4 pm Tuesday.

JSP Chairman Upendra Yadav, however, said his party will not join the government now because it is not happy with the ministries offered to the party. "We have expressed our dissatisfaction over the power sharing deal," he said.

Dahal, who was appointed the prime minister on December 25, was administered the oath of office and secrecy on the next day along with three deputy prime ministers and four ministers.

Among three deputy prime ministers, UML's Bishnu Poudel leads the Finance Ministry, Maoist Centre's Narayan Kaji Shrestha leads Physical Infrastructure and Transportation and RSP's Rabi Lamichhane the Home Ministry. However, the four ministers three from the UML including Rajendra Rai, Jwala Kumari Sah and Damodar Bhandari, and Janamat Party's Abdul Khan have not yet been assigned portfolios. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Atlanta, Jan 17 (AP) America has honoured Martin Luther King Jr with a federal holiday for nearly four decades yet still hasn't fully embraced and acted on the lessons from the slain civil rights leader, his youngest daughter said Monday.

The Rev Bernice King, who leads The King Center in Atlanta, said leaders  especially politicians  too often cheapen her father's legacy into a comfortable and convenient King offering easy platitudes.

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We love to quote King in and around the holiday... But then we refuse to live King 365 days of the year, she declared at the commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father once preached.

The service, sponsored by the center and held at Ebenezer annually, headlined observances of the 38th federal King holiday. King, gunned down in Memphis in 1968 as he advocated for better pay and working conditions for the city's sanitation workers, would have celebrated his 94th birthday Sunday.

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Her voice rising and falling in cadences similar to her father's, Bernice King bemoaned institutional and individual racism, economic and health care inequities, police violence, a militarised international order, hardline immigration structures and the climate crisis. She said she's exhausted, exasperated and, frankly, disappointed to hear her father's words about justice quoted so extensively alongside so little progress addressing society's gravest problems.

He was God's prophet sent to this nation and even the world to guide us and forewarn us. ... A prophetic word calls for an inconvenience because it challenges us to change our hearts, our minds and our behaviour, Bernice King said. Dr King, the inconvenient King, puts some demands on us to change our ways.

President Joe Biden was scheduled Monday to address an MLK breakfast hosted in Washington by the Rev Al Sharpton's National Action Network. Sharpton got his start as a civil rights organiser in his teens as youth director of an anti-poverty project of King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

This is a time for choosing, Biden said, repeating themes from a speech he delivered Sunday at Ebenezer at the invitation of Sen Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer who recently won re-election to a full term as Georgia's first Black US senator.

Will we choose democracy over autocracy, or community over chaos? Love over hate? Biden asked Monday. These are the questions of our time that I ran for president to try to help answer. ... Dr King's life and legacy  in my view  shows the way forward.

Other commemorations echoed Bernice King's reminder and Biden's allusions that the Beloved Community  Martin Luther King's descriptor for a world in which all people are free from fear, discrimination, hunger and violence  remains elusive.

In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu talked about a fight for the truth in an era of hyper-partisanship and misinformation.

We're battling not just two sides or left or right and a gradient in between that have to somehow come to compromise, but a growing movement of hate, abuse, extremism and white supremacy fuelled by misinformation, fuelled by conspiracy theories that are taking root at every level, she said.

Wu, the first woman and person of colour elected mayor of Boston, said education restores trust. Quoting King, she called for overcoming the fatigue of despair to enact change. It is sometimes in those moments when we feel most tired, most despairing, that we are just about to break through, Wu told attendees at a memorial breakfast.

Volunteers in Philadelphia held a day of service focused on gun violence prevention. The city has seen a surge in homicides that saw 516 people killed last year and 562 the year before, the highest total in at least six decades.

Some participants in the effort's signature project, led by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, worked to assemble gun safety kits for public distribution. The kits include gun cable locks and additional safety devices for childproofing, according to organisers. They also include information about firearm storage, health and social services information, and coping in the aftermath of gun violence.

Other kits being assembled highlighted Temple University Hospital's Fighting Chance programme and included materials to enable immediate response to victims at the scene of gunfire, organisers said. Recipients are to be trained in the use of the materials, which include tourniquets, gauze, chest seals and other items to treat critical wounds, they said.

In Selma, Alabama, a seminal site in the civil rights movement, residents were commemorating King as they recover from a deadly storm system that moved across the South last week.

King was not present at Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge for the initial march known as Bloody Sunday, when Alabama state troopers attacked and beat marchers in March 1965. But he joined a subsequent procession that successfully crossed the bridge toward the Capitol in Montgomery, punctuating efforts that pushed Congress to pass and President Lyndon Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The Pettus Bridge was unscathed by Thursday's storm.

Maine's first Black House speaker urged residents Monday to honour King's memory by joining in acts of service.

His unshakable faith, powerful nonviolent activism and his vision for peace and justice in our world altered the course of history, Rachel Talbot Ross said in a statement. Talbot Ross is also the daughter of Maine's first black lawmaker, and a former president of the Portland NAACP.

We must follow his example of leading with light and love and recommit ourselves to building a more compassionate, just and equal community, she added. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
United Nations, Jan 17 (PTI) The UN peacekeeping chief on Monday welcomed the deployment of the largest contingent of women peacekeepers from India in Abyei, saying female troops mean efficient operations.

Pleased to see the largest contingent of women peacekeepers from #India arriving in #Abyei where they will be #ServingForPeace with @UNISFA_1. More #WomenInPeacekeeping means more efficient operations and they help better reflect the people we serve, UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said in a tweet.

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The women peacekeepers, the single largest all-women platoon from India in recent years, arrived in Abyei Saturday to begin their deployment with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). Abyei is disputed zone on the border of South Sudan and Sudan, and has been accorded a "special administrative status."

"UNISFA is excited to welcome the deployment of the single largest all-women platoon of peacekeepers in recent years from #India. They join @IndBatt serving in #Abyei @UNISFA_1. The deployment reaffirms #India's continued commitment to implementation UNISFA mandate @UNPeacekeeping," the mission said in a tweet Monday.

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The platoon, comprising two officers and 25 other ranks, is part of an engagement platoon and specialises in community outreach. It will perform extensive security related tasks as well.

The team was inducted to the mission area on January 14 and over the course of one year, the platoon will work along with their counterparts towards the goal of durable peace in Abyei.

"Their presence will be especially welcome in Abyei, where a recent spurt in violence has triggered a spate of challenging humanitarian concerns for women and children in the conflict zone, India's Permanent Mission to the UN had said earlier this month.

The platoon has been deployed in Abyei as part of the Indian Battalion in UNISFA and is India's largest single unit of women Peacekeepers in a UN Mission since it deployed the first-ever all women's contingent in Liberia in 2007.

The team underwent training in all aspects related to its mission as peacekeepers including patrolling, functioning of UN, community engagement, language and was also briefed about the mission mandate. UNISFA said this step would prove to be groundbreaking towards better integration of genders into military peacekeeping.

Deployment of female peacekeepers had a positive impact on peacekeeping environments in the past and has increased the overall peacekeeping performance, it said adding that due to their natural outreach to communities, female peacekeepers add greater diversity and broaden the skillset across activities to ensure success of the peacekeeping mission.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Rome, Jan 17 (AP) Pope Francis on Tuesday sent his condolences to the victims of a bombing on a Pentecostal church in eastern Congo, an attack claimed by Islamic militants two weeks before the pontiff is due to arrive in the country.

Authorities say Sunday's bombing in Kasindi, a town in North Kivu province, killed at least 14 people and injured more than 60. The Islamic State group and its Aamaq news outlet said militants had planted an explosive device inside the church and detonated it while people were praying.

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Francis addressed the telegram of condolence to the Rev. Andre Bokundoa-Bo-Likabe, whom the Vatican identified as the president of the Church of Christ in Congo.

According to the telegram, Francis expressed his compassion and closeness to all the families hard hit by this tragedy and called for peace.

Also Read | UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman Orders Extradition of Arms Dealer Sanjay Bhandari to India.

Francis is due to arrive in the Congolese capital Kinshasa on Jan. 31 for a three-day visit. When it was originally scheduled for July, the trip was supposed to include a stop in Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

The Vatican scrapped that leg of the trip, amid a new wave of attacks in parts of North Kivu. Violence has wracked eastern Congo for decades as more than 120 armed groups and self-defense militias fight for land and power. Nearly 6 million people are internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are facing extreme food insecurity, according to the United Nations.

While he won't be going to Goma, Francis will meet with some residents from the east and victims of the conflict in Kinshasa. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Colombo, Jan 17 (AP) Human rights groups urged Sri Lanka's government to release a prominent student activist who was arrested five months ago during anti-government protests triggered by the country's worst economic crisis and has been held without charges under harsh anti-terrorism laws.

Wasantha Mudalige was brought before a magistrate in Colombo on Tuesday who ordered him to be remanded until Jan. 31.

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Seven human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, said that under the powerful Prevention of Terrorism Act, which has been used since 1979, courts routinely deny bail if it's opposed by the attorney general.

Mudalige is the convenor of the Inter-University Students' Federation and was involved in months of anti-government demonstrations last year. The protesters demanded wide-ranging reforms to resolve the economic crisis that caused severe shortages of essential goods, fuel and medicine after Sri Lanka defaulted on its massive debt.

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The protests culminated in the flight and resignation of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after thousands of people stormed his residence in July.

His successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, initiated talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package that is contingent on reforms and debt restructuring. Wickremesinghe's government also gave sweeping powers to the authorities to crack down on the protests, arresting scores of activists.

Rights groups say the military has sought to curtail protests through intimidation, surveillance and arbitrary arrests since Wickremesinghe took office in July.

Many of those detained have been released on bail, but the rights group say authorities have used extraordinary powers to keep Mudalige in detention despite having produced no evidence of his involvement in terrorism.

The groups said in a statement Monday that for much of the time, Mudalige has been held in solitary confinement and poor conditions, which can violate the prohibition on torture or other ill-treatment under international human rights law.

Mudalige was also arrested and jailed for more than three months in 2021 after protesting for the right to free education.

For months, opposition lawmakers, rights and student activists have been demanding the release of Mudalige and an end to the government crackdown on demonstrations linked to the economic crisis.

Government spokespeople did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Mudalige.

The rights groups also urged the government to repeal the anti-terror law, which allows for up to a year of detention without charge on the orders of the defense minister, a position currently held by Wickremesinghe.

In March, the government introduced some reforms to the anti-terror law. However, opposition and rights groups called them cosmetic and said the law still allows the detention of suspects without warrants and the use of confessions obtained through torture. They say the law, introduced during the country's civil war in 1979, has been widely abused, causing a large number of innocent people to spend years in prison without trial.

Wickremesinghe was elected by Parliament to complete Rajapaksa's term, which ends in 2024. He is unpopular because he is supported by lawmakers who are still backed by the Rajapaksa family, which ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades. Many accuse Wickremesinghe of protecting the Rajapaksas, who are widely blamed for corruption and misrule that led to the crisis.

Sri Lanka is effectively bankrupt and has suspended repayment of nearly USD 7 billion in foreign debt due this year pending the outcome of talks with the IMF. The country's total foreign debt exceeds USD 51 billion, of which USD 28 billion has to be repaid by 2027. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New York [US], January 17 (ANI): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for a probe into the killing of former Afghan parliamentarian Mursal Nabizada, who was shot dead in Kabul on Sunday.

"I can tell you that the Secretary-General is shocked by the killings of Mursal Nabizada, a former member of the Afghan parliament, and a member of her security detail. This happened in Kabul yesterday," UN chief's Associate Spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said during Monday's regular briefing for correspondents in New York.

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Guterres extended his condolences to the victims' families and wishes a speedy recovery to the injured. "The Secretary-General calls for a prompt, thorough, and transparent investigation and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice," Tremblay added.

On Sunday, former Afghan lawmaker Mursal Nabizada and one of her security guards were killed in Kabul, Khaama Press reported. Kabul Security Department Spokesperson Khalid Zadran said that Nabizada, a former representative of Laghman province was killed by unknown gunmen in Kabul's 12th district.

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According to Zadar, unknown gunmen entered Mursal Nabizada's house in the "Ahmadsha Baba Mena" locality in the capital city. The gunmen shot dead two people, Khaama Press reported.

Zadran said that those responsible had not been identified yet and the reason behind the killing remains unclear. During the attack, Nabizada's brother was also wounded. His family is, however, yet to comment on the incident.

The Taliban representative said that further probe is underway into the killing of Nabizada.

Nabizada, 32, was among the few female parliamentarians who stayed in the country after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. After the Taliban took over Afghanistan, it imposed policies severely restricting basic rights--particularly those of women and girls, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

They dismissed all women from leadership posts in the civil service and prohibited girls in most provinces from attending secondary school. The radical Islamic outfit also imposed a ban on women from working in non-government organisations (NGOs).

Several rights groups say Taliban forces have carried out revenge killings and enforced disappearances of former government officials and security force personnel. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
United Nations/Geneva, Jan 17 (PTI) A group of top independent UN human rights experts has expressed alarm at the reported rise in abductions, forced marriages and conversions of underage girls and young women from religious minorities in Pakistan.

The group has called for immediate efforts to curtail such practices and ensure justice for victims.

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We urge the government to take immediate steps to prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts objectively and in line with domestic legislation and international human rights commitments. Perpetrators must be held fully accountable, the experts said.

The experts said on Monday they are deeply troubled to hear that girls as young as 13 years are being kidnapped from their families, trafficked to locations far from their homes, made to marry men sometimes twice their age, and coerced to convert to Islam, all in violation of international human rights law, the experts said in a statement.

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We are very concerned that such marriages and conversions take place under threat of violence to these girls and women or their families, they said.

The experts said it was imperative that all victims, regardless of religious background, are afforded access to justice and equal protection under the law.

Pakistani authorities must adopt and enforce legislation prohibiting forced conversions, forced and child marriages, kidnapping, and trafficking, and abide by their international human rights commitments to combat slavery and human trafficking and uphold the rights of women and children, they said.

While noting Pakistan's previous attempts to pass legislation that will prohibit forced conversions and protect religious minorities, the experts deplored the ongoing lack of access to justice for victims and their families.

The statement said that reports suggest these so-called marriages and conversions take place with the involvement of religious authorities and the complicity of security forces and the justice system.

Reports also indicate that the court system enables these offenses by accepting, without critical examination, fraudulent evidence from perpetrators regarding victims' adulthood, voluntary marriage, and conversion.

Family members say that victims' complaints are rarely taken seriously by the police, either refusing to register these reports or arguing that no crime has been committed by labelling these abductions as love marriages', the experts said.

They noted that abductors force their victims to sign documents that falsely attest to their being of legal age for marriage as well as marrying and converting of free will.

These documents are cited by the police as evidence that no crime has occurred, they said.

The experts are Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences Tomoya Obokata; Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material Mama Fatima Singhateh.

The group also includes Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences Reem Alsalem; Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Nazila Ghanea; Special Rapporteur on minority issues Fernand de Varennes.

Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhan Mullally, Dorothy Estrada-Tanck (Chair), Ivana Radacic (Vice-Chair), Elizabeth Broderick, Meskerem Geset Techane and Melissa Upreti, Working Group on discrimination against women and girls are also part of the group.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
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Davos, Jan 17 (PTI) The World Economic Forum will launch its first thematic centre on healthcare and life sciences in Telangana in collaboration with the state government.

The centre will be an autonomous, non-profit organization, leading on policy and governance for healthcare and life sciences, the Forum announced here during its Annual Meeting 2023.

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"India has a unique opportunity to spearhead healthcare and life sciences in South Asia. C4IR (Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution) Telangana  with the support of the Forum's global network of Fourth Industrial Revolution centres  will be a key player in driving stakeholder engagement, building bridges between the public sector and SMEs and supporting job creation in the healthcare sector," WEF President Borge Brende said.

The collaboration agreement was signed by WEF Managing Director Jeremy Jurgens and Shakthi Nagappan, CEO, Telangana Life Sciences Foundation, Government of Telangana.

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"I am delighted that the WEF has chosen Hyderabad as its India hub for establishing a Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution focused on healthcare and life sciences today.

"I strongly believe the centre is a testament to the strong life sciences prowess of Telangana and is yet another step by the government to elevate the life sciences ecosystem in Telangana and globally," Telangana Minister K T Rama Rao said.

Rao, the Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Industries and Commerce, and Information Technology, Telangana further said "life sciences is one of the priority sectors in Telangana and I firmly believe this partnership can leverage on the current ecosystem to further accelerate value and impact created by Telangana's life sciences sector globally".

World Economic Forum Head of Healthcare Shyam Bishen said "With its strong track record in vaccine and medicines manufacturing and willingness to leverage Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, India is becoming a global powerhouse in healthcare".

C4IR Telangana is the 18th centre to join the World Economic Forum's Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Network, and the second centre in India.

C4IR Telangana plans to facilitate, advance and accelerate the development and adoption of technologies in genomics, personalized medicine and healthcare manufacturing, with a focus on the intersection of life sciences and technology in the region and globally.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chennai, January 17: Tragedy struck a family in Virugambakkam on Pongal as a one-year-old child died after drowning in a bucket of water inside the bathroom on Saturday, January 14. The deceased, identified as A Ilamaran, was playing in the bathroom when the incident happened and his mother was working in the kitchen while the other family members were watching TV.

According to the report published by the Times of India, the incident came to light when the family noticed that the child was missing when it was time to feed him. The family began searching for him everywhere and found him unconscious inside the bucket in the bathroom. the family rushed the one-year-old to the hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Thane Shocker: Six-Month-Old Baby Chokes to Death After He Accidentally Swallows Fish While Playing With It.

As per the reports, Ilamarans mother Devaki is a homemaker, while his father owns a grocery store in the neighbourhood and is a traders association office bearer in Virugambakkam. The police said that they do not suspect any foul play and that the child accidentally fell into the bucket while playing in the bathroom. The Virugambakkam police have registered a case and further investigations are underway. UP Shocker: Infant Dies After Mother Rolls Over Him in Sleep in Amroha, Father Alleges Murder.

In a similar incident, a four-year-old child died after falling into a bucket of boiling water in Bengaluru on December 30. The deceased was identified as Gulnaz. As per the reports, the childs mother took a bucket of hot water for bathing and Gulnaz accidentally slipped in the bucket of hot water. Hearing the daughters screams, her father rushed for help. The family then took her to a private hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2023 03:38 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
Party exceeded Jagat Prakash Nadda's tenure as BJP National President till June 2024, according to the sources. The decision was taken during the BJP National Executive meeting held in Delhi on Tuesday, January 17. "The tenure of JP Nadda as national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been extended till June 2024", said BJP leader and Union minister Amit Shah. BJP National Executive Meet: PM Narendra Modi Asks Party Workers to Organize More Cultural-Unity Programmes Like Kashi-Tamil Sangamam.

Check Tweet:

Tenure of JP Nadda as BJP national president extended till June 2024: Sources pic.twitter.com/XAIh1n3SbB  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2023

Amit Shah Confirmed Extention:

The tenure of JP Nadda as national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been extended till June 2024: BJP leader and Union minister Amit Shah pic.twitter.com/lxS7glDL2K  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2023

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Islamabad, January 17: A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to talk to India on "burning issues", the country's PMO clarified that it will not hold negotiations with its neighbour until it reverses the "August 5, 2019 illegal action" on Kashmir.

On August 5, 2019, the Indian government had abrogated Article 370 of the country's Constitution which granted special status to the Jammu and Kashmir. "Without India's revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible," Dawn News reported quoting the PMO as saying. Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif Seeks 'Sincere' Talks with PM Narendra Modi to Resolve 'Burning' Issues; Says UAE Can Play an Important Role.

In an interview to Al-Arabiya television on Monday, Sharif had offered his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sit together and resolve issues including Kashmir. Pakistan Has Learned Its Lesson: Shehbaz Sharif Offers India To Resolve Burning Issues Through Talks, Has This Message for PM Narendra Modi.

"My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir," he said.

"In Kashmir, flagrant human rights violations are taking place day in and day out," he added. Sharif has asked the UAE to play its role in bringing both India and Pakistan to table talks.

Emphasising the urgent need to find mutual grounds of understanding on the issue of Kashmir, Sharif said: "India had usurped any semblance of autonomy, given to the Kashmiris according to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, as the autonomy was revoked in August 2019."

Shehbaz Sharif said that the not only the world need to realise that India and Pakistan are neighbours, but both the countries need to understand the importance of co-existing peacefully.

"It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other, and waste time and resources," he said. "We have three wars with India and it only brought more misery, poverty and unemployment to the people," he added.

Sharif further said that Pakistan realises the past and has "learned its lesson", which is why it now wants to live in peace and resolve bilateral problems through table talks.

"We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity and provide education and health facilities and employment to our people and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, this is the message I want to give to Prime Minister Modi," he said.

Sharif also highlighted the threats and fears of effects of the "strained ties" between India and Pakistan, stating that both countries are nuclear powers and if the conflict triggers a war, then there will be no one left to live and tell what happened.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2023 06:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
London, January 17: British Home Secretary Suella Braverman has ordered the extradition of Sanjay Bhandari, an accused middleman and consultant in arms deals, to India to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering.

According to Home Office sources, the extradition was ordered last week and Bhandari now has 14 days until the end of this month to appeal against the order in the administrative division of the High Court in London. The 60-year-old faced two extradition requests from the Indian authorities, the first related to money laundering and the second to tax evasion.

The development comes two months after a UK court in November ruled that Bhandari can be extradited to India to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering and paved the way for the British government to order his extradition. District Judge Michael Snow, who heard the case at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London last year, had concluded that there are no bars to him being extradited and decided to send the case to the Indian-origin Home Secretary Braverman. The judge concluded a prima facie case had been established with respect to both extradition requests. Sanjay Bhandari, Fugitive Arms Dealer, To Be Extradited to India, Rules UK Court.

"He failed to declare his overseas income and assets...He benefited from the income and assets that had not been declared. A reasonable jury can properly infer benefit from his undeclared income and purchase of substantial assets overseas, the court said in its ruling.

The Indian government's extradition request for Bhandari had been certified by then UK Home Secretary Priti Patel in June 2020 and he was arrested on an extradition warrant the following month that year. The London-based businessman has been on bail on security provided to the court as he fought extradition on the cases against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED).

According to the court documents, Bhandari is wanted in India for intended prosecution for an offence of money laundering contrary to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002 and for offences of tax evasion contrary to the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Asset), Imposition of Tax Act 2015 and Income Tax Act 1961.

Bhandari, who was resident in India for tax purposes at the time in 2015, is accused of concealing overseas assets, using backdated documents, benefiting from the assets not declared to the Indian tax authorities and then falsely informing the authorities that he did not possess any overseas assets. He, however, denies the allegations.

The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), on behalf of the Indian authorities, argued that Bhandari's conduct amounts to "fraud by false representation" in the British jurisdiction. UK Court Hears Sanjay Bhandari Extradition Case.

Bhandari's defence team had sought to argue against the prima facie case and also on human rights grounds, claiming a "real risk" that he would be subjected to torture by the police and of a breach of his Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) rights because of the conditions in Indian prisons, from non-state agents and from the prison guards.

"Assurances have been given in this case. It is the Government's case that the defendant will be held at ward No. 4 Central Jail No. 3, Tihar Jail Complex in New Delhi, the judgment noted. "India is a friendly country governed by the rule of law. I have not been made aware of any assurance that has not been honoured, it added.
California state officials have issued a warning to SNAP benefits recipients to be wary of CalFresh scams after the frequency of benefits stolen increased by around 4,000% since 2021.

Thousands of Californians have fallen victim to the EBT scam, with their Electronic Benefits Transfer card wiped out of their SNAP benefits.

The California Department of Social Services paid around $92,000 in fraud claims in July 2022, as reported by CBS News.

The agency has cashed out around $3.8 million to victims of CalFresh scams by the same time last year. California has lost around $24 million due to EBT scams in just a 12-month timeframe.

California earlier announced that they intend to pay back all fraud claims. However, if a second claim is submitted within three years, they may not reimburse the lost funds.

READ NEXT: SNAP Benefits 2023: $344.1 Million Approved for January Food Stamp Payments in Texas

CalFresh Scam

Activities related to the CalFresh scam persist in the state.

The San Diego County spokesperson, Michael Workman, noted that the illegal activity is being conducted by a sophisticated crime ring.

Workman added that the criminal activity is most frequent at the start of the month, just after the SNAP benefits are loaded onto the recipients' EBT cards.

CalFresh recipients started alerting caseworkers a day after the funds were electronically deposited into their debit cards.

County workers responded to most theft reports by requesting a client disclosure, which would have the recipient attest that specific charges were not incurred. They would then close out the accounts and issue new cards.

However, the process could take days, and clients often struggle to pay for groceries and other expenses during the times of processing.

The DSS said that it has been working to control the thefts and improve the systems it utilizes in delivering the benefits.

Social Services spokesperson Jason Montiel said in a statement that a Card Verification Value functionality for all EBT cards was recently enabled in the past June.

Montiel added that California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently included $50 million for EBT theft prevention in the new budget.

EBT Scam Across the United States

The U.S. Agriculture Department also received reports of an EBT scam wherein thieves use "card skimming" to steal SNAP benefits.

Card skimming is the practice of fraudsters planting a device on a retailer's card-swiping machine to copy EBT card information. It can occur to anyone that uses a credit, debit, or EBT card.

MLRI attorney Betsy Gwin said that skimming can be seen across the country, but the difference is that EBT users lack federal protections.

Agriculture Department said criminals are posing as SNAP caseworkers to try to get recipients' EBT card information.

To protect your benefits, the U.S. DA advised recipients to keep their PIN secret and avoid sharing it with anyone outside their household.

In addition, EBT recipients should check their EBT accounts regularly for any irregular charges made to their accounts.

If there are any unfamiliar purchases, it is advised to change your PIN immediately.

Checking the card-reading machines can also prevent you from having your benefits stolen from you.

READ MORE: Disaster SNAP Benefits Update: Are You Eligible for New Florida Payments?

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Fraud Alert for families receiving food stamps benefits - from KPRC 2 Click2Houston


On the federal holiday honoring the late renowned civil rights hero, President Joe Biden forgot the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter-in-law when singing "Happy Birthday" to her on Monday.

During his speech at the National Action Network's Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast, 49-year-old Arndrea Waters King was honored with the MLK Visionary Award.

"Martin the third, we celebrate a legacy of your beloved father and mother. They worked for the beloved community. But congratulations today to the honorees, including your wife, who I understand it's her birthday today?" Biden said.

Before singing the birthday song, Joe Biden explained that his wife has a rule in her family that if it is someone's birthday, you should sing "Happy Birthday."

"You ready?" He asked.

Martin Luther King III, age 65, and his wife led the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday" at the party hosted by Al Sharpton's National Action Network. Arndrea's name came out sounding like "Valz-dvit" after what seemed to be a moment of stuttering on Joe Biden's part, according to Yahoo.

Singing Happy Birthday to the wife of MLK III, President Biden forgets Arndreas name. pic.twitter.com/Zj8u73HKAd  The Bias (@thebias_news) January 16, 2023

It is unclear if the president apologized to the woman, but those at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. appeared to laugh and shake their heads in surprise.

Martin Luther King III and Arndrea have been married since 2006, and they have one daughter, Yolanda Renee King.

READ MORE: Joe Biden's Health Condition

New Joe Biden Video Is Just One of His Many Gaffes

To save face, Biden tried to console his middle-aged honoree by saying, "Well, it's hell turning 30. But you have to put up with it."

As the oldest president in history, Biden's mental capacity is often questioned; nevertheless, his supporters insist that the president is simply prone to gaffes and stutter, New York Post noted.

For instance, despite officially mourning Rep. Jackie Walorski's (R-Ind.) death and calling her family to offer his condolences in August, the president surprised viewers the following month by asking, "Where is Jackie?" as he looked for the deceased lawmaker.

On at least six occasions, most recently on January 5, Joe Biden called his vice president, Kamala Harris, "President Harris."

Biden has already announced his candidacy for reelection in 2024. If he finishes his second term in January 2029, he will be 86.

Joe Biden Slams Republicans in His Speech

During his speech on Monday, the president bragged about cutting the federal debt by $1 trillion while attacking Republicans, The Daily Mail reported.

"Hear me, that's a fact," Biden said. "And there's going to be hundreds of billions reduced over the next decade."

After that, he mumbled something about the GOP and started to slur his words: "But so what, these guys - well, they're fiscally demented, I think."

On Sunday, he made history by becoming the first sitting president to preach at the same church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor from 1960 until he died in 1968: Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

READ MORE: Miss Universe 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: President Biden delivers remarks on MLK Day - From ABC News
Tragedy has struck the Central California city of Visalia as a gunman shot and killed six people at a residence in unincorporated Goshen. Six people, including a 17-year-old teen mother and her 6-month-old baby, were killed in the California shooting.

Deputies from the Tulare County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) responded to the shooting at 3:30 a.m. on Monday after multiple shots were reported. According to the Associated Press, two of the victims were found in the street, while a third was found fatally shot in the doorway of the residence.

Sheriff Mike Boudreaux revealed that the other three fatalities were found inside the house, with one of them, a man, still alive when police arrived at the house. He later died at a hospital.

Tulare County Sheriff's Office Looking For 2 California Shooting Suspects

The Tulare County Sheriff's Office believes this was not a random act of violence and that the family the house belongs to was targeted. They also believe the killings were gang-related, as they conducted a narcotics-related search warrant at the residence last week.

Sheriff Boudreaux then told the media at a press conference that they are now looking for two suspects in the fatal California shooting incident, according to PBS News.

"We also believe this was not a random act of violence. We believe this was a targeted family," the sheriff stated during the press conference.

The Sheriff's Office revealed via Facebook that the house was located in the 6800 Block of Harvest Road in Goshen. This is still an active investigation, and the TCSO is now asking anybody with information regarding this case to contact them and share whatever information they have. Whoever does so will remain anonymous.

READ NEXT: Las Vegas Journalist Killed Outside His House

Family of Teen Mother and Baby Killed in California Shooting Is in Shock

Sheriff Mike Boudreaux also told reporters that the young teenage mother and her baby were both shot in the head. This has sent shockwaves not only to Goshen but also to the entire family.

Samuel Pina, the grandfather of the teen mother, identified as Alissa Parraz, stated, "I can't wrap my head around what kind of monster would do this."

Parraz's child was identified as Nycholas Nolan Parraz.

The grandfather stated that Parraz and her baby were living with her father's side of the family in Goshen. He revealed that the California shooting incident also killed the teen mom's uncle, her dad's cousin, and her grandmother. Her great-grandmother was also killed.

He admitted that the family is now in shock and that "It comes in big waves."

Last September, a school shooting happened near Oakland, leaving six people hospitalized. Like this incident, authorities also believed it was gang-related.

Goshen, which is located just 35 miles from Fresno, is a semi-rural community with around 3,000 residents. It is known to be an agricultural area found in the San Joaquin Valley.

READ NEXT: California Cop Kills Married Couple With His Service Gun

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: 6 family members, including baby, shot dead at home in targeted 'massacre': Sheriff - ABC News
Mexico's former security chief, Genaro Garcia Luna, is currently facing a corruption trial after he was accused of taking bribes from Mexican drug cartels.

Garcia Luna's alleged taking of bribes from the Sinaloa Cartel was revealed during the cartel boss El Chapo's trial. One of the members of the Sinaloa Cartel testified that the group had given the ex-security chief "briefcases filled with cash," as reported by The Guardian.

Seth DuCharme, acting U.S. attorney for the eastern district of New York, said that Garcia Luna betrayed "those he was sworn to protect" by accepting bribes from Sinaloa cartel members.

The corruption trial against Mexico's former security chief will have the power to reveal the corrupt practices of Mexican security agencies while highlighting the failures of the U.S.-supported war against drugs.

In exchange for the bribes to Garcia Luna, the cartel was allowed to have "safe passage for its drug shipment" while having sensitive law enforcement information on the cartel and info about rival drug cartels.

Garcia Luna's corruption trial is expected to be a follow-up to El Chapos' trial, which resulted in a conviction in 2019.

READ NEXT: 43 Alleged Mexican Drug Cartel Associates Charged in 'Las Senoritas' Drug Trafficking Case

Mexico's Genaro Garcia Luna

The case against the former security chief could pose further cases on two former top-ranking police officials, who were charged with him but stayed in Mexico. They were Luis Cardenas Palomino and Ramon Pequeno Garcia, according to The New York Times.

Eduardo Guerrero, a Mexico City security analyst, noted that it could have consequences for the opposition in the presidential election in 2024, which could harm the conservative National Action Party that Garcia Luna served.

Guerrero described the case of Garcia Luna as "a trunk filled with secrets" that could be released in public. He added that it seems people will learn a lot of things that the general public had no idea about.

Mexico's Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that it is "very important" that everyone knows what is going on to prevent it from happening again.

Lopez Obrador disbanded the agency Garcia Luna previously held, which is the Federal Police, in 2018 and replaced it with the National Guard.

Lopez Obrador said that he does not want the National Guard to end up like the Federal Police in Mexico.

Mexico's Officials and Mexican Drug Cartels

In December, Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejia Berdeja showed the criminal structure that was employed during Garcia Luna's time as the country's Mexico chief.

Mejia showed the photo of the individuals under the command of Garcia Luna. They called themselves "the seven horsemen of the apocalypse."

Before the said "horsemen," the ex-security chief also oversaw a group called "The 12 Apostles" in 2001.

Mejia noted that the members under Garcia Luna were part of the criminal structure inside the public security, which started in 2001 and lasted until 2018.

The U.S. Department of Justice released more than one million pages of documents, with photos and videos, which showed Garcia Luna's connection to the Sinaloa Cartel.

Mexico's ex-security chief was also accused of being involved in a money-laundering scheme. He allegedly moved $50 million worth of bribes to international havens.

READ MORE: Rafael Caro Quintero's Wife Denies Legal Battle With Guadalajara Cartel Founder

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WATCH: Mexico's former top security chief accused of accepting bribes from cartel - from WFAA


Latina actress Selena Gomez appeared to have gained some weight when she arrived at the Golden Globes. Body shamers quickly pounced and made fun of her weight gain. However, the former Disney star hit back with some body positivity.

According to Page Six, the "Only Murders in the Building" actress could not care less what her body shamers had to say on social media. She admitted that she did gain weight but appeared to not really care that much.

"I'm a little bit big right now because I enjoyed myself during the holidays," she said in a post on social media. She was still wearing her strapless Valentino gown at the Golden Globes and appeared alongside her little sister, Gracie Elliott Teefey, 9. Gracie appeared as her sister's "plus one" during the awards show.

She added, "But we don't care," as she and her sister burst out into laughter. She also said, "B*tch, I am perfect the way I am."

Selena Gomez Had Similar Response After She Was Previously Body-Shamed

Her body shamers did not seem to learn from the last time they tried to body-shame the Latina actress and producer, as they also previously tried making fun of her gaining some weight back in 2022, according to CNN.

After people started commenting on her appearance, she told fans that she did not really care much about her weight "because people b*tch about it anyway."

READ MORE: Selena Gomez Catches COVID-19

She shot back at them by saying, "'You're too small,' 'you're too big,' 'that doesn't fit,' na-na-neh-nehhh... I am perfect the way I am. Moral of the story? Byyye!"

Following this latest round of body-shaming from other people, her fans quickly came to her rescue. On social media, one fan wrote, "She shouldn't have to explain why her body looks how it does." Another also added, "She's perfect and doesn't need to give explanations."

Selena Gomez Talks About Body Positivity

Earlier this year, Selena Gomez was seen in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico enjoying a swim. Paparazzi snapped some swimsuit photos of her, but the public's response was body shaming her again.

One respondent wrote, "OH SHES HUGEE," while another posted a more hurtful comment, saying, "The pop girlie who's aging the worst, I fear [sic]."

The "Wizards of Waverly Place" actress recently spoke with GLAMOUR Magazine about the "relentless scrutiny of her body" during an interview. She admitted that it is hard to feel comfortable when she feels like "everyone is watching, judging, and commenting on the way you look."

She said that she does not care about her weight, and in a TikTok story posted in April of last year, she said that she was trying to stay skinny but had to go to a local fast-food place to eat "four tacos, three egg rolls, onion rings, and a spicy chicken sandwich," shooting back at her body shamers.

Selena Gomez remains body-positive even after thousands of people poked fun at her for gaining some weight. She had also recently talked about her mental health in a new documentary.

READ NEXT: Selena Gomez Net Worth

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Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Selena Gomez Responds to Body-Shaming Comments After Golden Globes | E! News
CIA Director Bill Burns met Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a secret trip last year and warned the president of Ukraine about Russia's plot to assassinate him, which "appeared to surprise" him.

According to Chris Whipple, author of the upcoming book, "The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House," it was in January 2022, ahead of the Russian invasion, when the two officials met, and Zelenskyy had been casting doubt on the U.S. intel at the time, Business Insider reported.

The Ukrainian leader had reportedly been dismissing the idea that there would be an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia. He also suggested that the U.S.' public warnings were creating a "panic."

But weeks before the Russian invasion, Zelenskyy expressed concerns that such warnings would negatively affect the Ukrainian economy. He also emphasized that Kyiv was used to facing threats from Russia.

Whipple wrote that Burns had come to give Zelenskyy "a reality check" as he shared with him that Russia's Special Forces were coming for him. He added that Biden told Burns to "share precise details of the Russian plots."

The book's author noted that Zelenskyy was "taken aback" and "sobered by this news."

The following month, Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. It became the biggest military conflict in Europe since World War II. The book is set to be released on January 17.

READ NEXT: Joe Biden Under Scrutiny as Another Batch of Classified Documents Found at New Location

Russia's Assassination Plot Against Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

A top Ukrainian official said on Wednesday that Volodymyr Zelenskyy had survived more than a dozen assassination plots against him since the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces started.

Presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak told a local news outlet that the country's foreign partners were reporting two or three attempts, but there were more than a dozen of such attempts.

Podolyak noted that the Ukrainian government receives constant operational information regarding Russian agents and sabotage groups trying to enter government property.

The presidential adviser said Ukraine has a "powerful network" of intelligence and counterintelligence. He added that the "risks" to the Ukrainian president's life had not been entirely removed, and no other information could be released to the public for security reasons.

Zelenskyy recently turned down an offer from the U.S. for an evacuation. He noted that he needed ammunition and "not a ride."

Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

On Monday, the German and Dutch foreign ministers condemned the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children by Russians.

The ministers called it a "deliberate policy of cruel and inhumane abductions."

Russia claims that the children do not have parents or guardians to look after them or that they cannot be reached.

However, it was reported that officials had deported Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories without consent, even lying to them that their parents did not want them.

Meanwhile, Ukraine is reportedly preparing for an attack near its border with Belarus.

In Dnipro, the death toll has risen to 40 after a missile strike hit an apartment building, wherein 1,700 people lived in the multi-story building.

Authorities recorded 75 injuries, with 30 more remaining missing. The regional administration said the number of rescued people reached 39.

READ MORE: Classified Documents Found in Joe Biden's Former Office as U.S. Vice President Being Reviewed by DOJ

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Ukraine Hit With New Barrage of Russian Missile Strikes - From CBS Evening News




The process to extradite Ovidio Guzman Lopez, the son of Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, to the United States will reportedly proceed after a Mexican court declared that it lacked legal jurisdiction to hear and resolve this case.

Local media reported that a Mexico City judge denied the definitive suspension in one of the injunction proceedings against Ovidio.

On January 10, the lawyers of El Chapo's son filed a writ of amparo against his deportation, expulsion, or extradition to the U.S., where he will face charges in a Washington D.C. court accusing him of trafficking drugs.

However, the judge junked the appeal, saying Ovidio is at the disposal of the control judge of the Federal Criminal Justice Center inside Altiplano maximum security federal prison at Almoloya de Juarez municipality in the state of Mexico, the Yucatan Times reported.

El Chapo's son is currently being held in the Altiplano prison. He can reportedly challenge the decision before a court, which will decide whether to confirm, modify or revoke the ruling.

On January 6, the Mexico City judge stopped Ovidio's extradition process to the U.S. after granting an amparo that also allowed him to contact his family and lawyers who requested the suspension of the extradition process.

El Chapo's 32-year-old son was arrested by military troops in Culiacan, Sinaloa state, on January 5.

READ NEXT: Jalisco Cartel Boss El Mencho's Brother 'El Tony Montana' Ordered to Stand Trial

Extradition of El Chapo's Son Ovidio Guzman Lopez to U.S. May Take Years

According to Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, there has been a request for the extradition of El Chapo's son by the U.S. since September 2019.

However, he said that Ovidio faces legal proceedings in Mexico, and any extradition to the U.S. could take some time, Vice reported.

Lawyers and former U.S. law enforcement officials involved in extraditions from Mexico told the outlet that the wait could vary from several months to years, or it may never even happen as the process is plagued by corruption and painfully slow, particularly in cases involving narco suspects with helpful information to share with investigators.

Following Ovidio's arrest, Gregorio Salazar Hernandez, control judge of the Federal Criminal Justice Centre in Almoloya de Juarez, said the U.S. government has 60 days to submit the documents needed for Ovidio's extradition.

Hernandez noted that the U.S. should formalize its extradition request before March 5.

El Chapo's Sons: The Los Chapitos

The four sons of El Chapo, known as Los Chapitos, had reportedly assumed leadership roles in the Sinaloa Cartel after their father was arrested and extradited to the U.S.

The Los Chapitos are Ovidio Guzman Lopez, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, and Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar. Under their leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel has continued to be one of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels.

The U.S. State Department has already offered $5 million rewards for any information that could help federal agents arrest El Chapo's four sons.

The State Department said the Los Chapitos are high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel and are each subject to a federal indictment for their involvement in the illegal drug trade.

Their father's former right-hand man, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, was reportedly the Los Chapitos' internal enemy number one.

El Chapo's sons have also been at odds with their uncle, Aureliano "El Guano" Guzman. El Chapo's brother is also a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel.

READ MORE: Rafael Caro Quintero's Wife Denies Legal Battle With Guadalajara Cartel Founder Over Alimony Demand

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Ovidio Guzman, Son of 'El Chapo,' Arrested in Mexican Military Operation - From CBS 8 San Diego




Amid rigging allegations, an official of the Miss Universe Organization said that Miss USA 2022 R'Bonney Gabriel won the beauty pageant's crown fair and square.

Amy Emmerich, CEO of the Miss Universe Organization, told TMZ that an independent party handled the results.

Emmerich noted that "one of the top four accounting firms" in the U.S. handled the results and verified the process.

Gabriel has made history by becoming the first Filipina-American to win the Miss Universe competition on Saturday night.

According to Emmerich, R'bonney was the "rightful Miss Universe" because she was a "strong and dedicated contestant."

The Miss Universe Organization further noted that the baseless rigging allegations were absurd and only distracted the "incredible milestones our organization and the delegates experienced this weekend."

READ NEXT: Miss Universe 2023 to Be Held in El Salvador

Conflict of Interest Caused the Miss Universe 2022 Rigging Allegations

Many fans accused Anne Jakrajutatip, the new owner of Miss Universe, of rigging the beauty pageant for Miss USA R'Bonney Gabriel, who won the Miss Universe 2022 crown over runner-up Miss Venezuela.

According to the fans, there was a conflict of interest since Jakrajutatip, the chief executive of JKN Global Group owns both the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants.

They also believed that Gabriel won the crown because this year's Miss Universe was held in New Orleans, on U.S. soil.

This was not the first time Gabriel's victory was met with rigging allegations. The 28-year-old fashion designer and model became the first Filipina-American to win Miss USA in October 2022 after she first became Miss Texas USA in December 2021.

Many of Gabriel's rivals in Miss USA thought that the competition was rigged to favor her, Business Insider reported.

According to Miss Missouri Mikala McGhee, many contestants felt it was the organization's plan from the beginning for Gabriel to win, regardless of who else was competing.

McGhee and the other contenders left the platform after Gabriel was named Miss USA.

McGhee told Insider that they did it "to send a statement that we all had an idea of what was really going on behind the scenes," adding that they felt "disrespected and paraded around for a show."

Crystle Stewart, president of Miss USA, and her company, Miss Brand Corporation, were suspended by the Miss Universe Organization in late October, pending the outcome of an independent investigation into the rigging allegations, CNN reported.

Many Miss USA contestants cited multiple conflicts of interest between Gabriel and the pageant's national sponsors.

According to reports, two of Miss USA's national sponsors, namely Miss Academy, the pageant school owned by Stewart, and the med spa Mia Beaute, were also state sponsors for Miss Texas USA.

Both companies are based in Houston, Texas, where Gabriel lived before winning the Miss USA title.

Stewart earlier denied any claims that the pageant was rigged and that she was cooperating with the investigation.

R'Bonney Gabriel, the First Filipina-American to Win Miss Universe 2022

R'Bonney Gabriel made history in December 2021 when she won the title of Miss Texas USA, being the first Asian American to do so, PEOPLE reported.

The Houston native spoke with ABC News in October about how she felt a "big responsibility" to positively recognize her multicultural background while representing the state, hoping it could empower others to do the same.

"My dad moved to America from the Philippines on a college scholarship with about $20 in his pocket. He wanted to pave a new life for himself. He met my mom in Texas, who is a country woman from Beaumont. I'm a very proud Filipina Texan," Gabriel told ABC News' local affiliate in Houston.

The model and designer reportedly runs her own fashion company, R'Bonney Nola, which combines sustainable design techniques and a combination of reused and natural textiles for all its clothes.

Gabriel is also a sewing instructor for the Houston-based nonprofit Magpies and Peacocks, which creates sustainable apparel using post-consumer clothing, scrap textiles, and accessories diverted from landfills.

READ MORE: WNBA Star Maya Moore Officially Retires

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Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: R'Bonney Gabriel Talks Historic Win in Miss Universe 2023 - From Good Morning America
Laurel, MS (39440)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 62F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavier rainfall possible..

Tonight

Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 54F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
'Who is LG to stop', Kejriwal on tussle over teachers' training in Finland IANS New Delhi More

'Who is LG to stop', Kejriwal on tussle over teachers' training in Finland While addressing the winter session of Delhi Assembly on Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena over the ongoing tussle between the AAP government and the L-G office over sending government school teachers to Finland for training purposes. While addressing the winter session of Delhi Assembly on Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena over the ongoing tussle between the AAP government and the L-G office over sending government school teachers to Finland for training purposes.



"We have the money of the people of Delhi who pay taxes. It is on taxpayers' money that the elected government of Delhi is sending teachers for training to Finland. Who is L-G to stop them," Kejriwal asked.



"It seems like 'Begani Shaadi Mein Abdullah Deewana' (a person who takes too much interest in the affairs of others). Why is the L-G sitting on our head? The L-G is saying get the training done in the country itself... Why get it done here," the Chief Minister questioned.



Kejriwal added that in a bid to motivate them and increase their efficiency, 30 teachers need to go to Finland for training.



"This has been decided by the elected Chief Minister and the Education Minister. But strangely, all the files have go to the L-G for approval. The L-G has objected twice which reflects his bad intentions.



"Repeated objections mean that the intention is bad and the teachers should not be allowed to go. Many MPs have studied abroad, their children have gone abroad to study. Was any cost-benefit analysis done then," Kejriwal asked, adding that it is a feudalistic mentality that the poor are not allowed to move ahead.



"The L-G does not have the power to do this. The Supreme Court had clearly said in 2018 that the L-G does not have the right to take a decision in any matter other than the police, law and order, and services. I went to meet the L-G two-three days ago and told him the same, to which he said yes, this may be the opinion of the Supreme Court," Kejriwal said.



"After this, I had nothing to say because a person sitting on such a big constitutional post is saying that this is the opinion of the Supreme Court. Every citizen of this country is bound to obey the orders of the Supreme Court," the Chief Minister told the House.



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Laois and Offaly's District Court Judge is concerned about the scale of legal aid costs incurred by the State where cases are adjourned on a number of occasions.

He was commenting when Ozlet Muwaniri (35), Crann Nua, Portarlington, appeared before Tullamore District Court accused of not paying a 69 taxi fare to Taye Owoxeni on December 17 last.

Judge Andrew Cody noted that Ms Muwaniri had also appeared before Portlaoise District Court and the Criminal Courts of Justice.

She's popping up every week or fortnight at this stage, the judge remarked.

Defending solicitor Patrick Martin said Ms Muwaniri had been going to court everywhere and most of the other matters had been dealt with.

Mr Martin said he did not have instructions on the charge involving the taxi fare but there was likely to be a guilty plea and it could be marked as such.

Judge Cody said the matters were taking up a lot of court time and the accused should have been able to instruct Mr Martin as to whether or not she had paid the taxi fare.

When Mr Martin asked that legal aid be granted to Ms Muwaniri the judge questioned if he should keep throwing out legal aid and in this case it would be for a 69 offence.

There has to come a stage where the public are entitled to say enough is enough, remarked Judge Cody. He assigned legal aid and adjourned the matter to March 20 next.

Explainer

If a charge carries a possible prison sentence and you, as the defendant, are not legally represented, District Court judge is required to inform you that you may be entitled to legal aid. If you wish to be legally represented and you claim that you can't afford it, the judge must consider whether you qualify for free legal aid.
The former Director of Nursing at Portlaoise hospital is set to play a 'pivotal role' in her new position at one of Ireland's biggest and most important hospitals.

Tallaght University Hospital has confirmed the appointment of Sandra McCarthy as the Director of Nursing & Integrated Care (interim) following her move from duties leading the nursing team in Portlaoise hospital.

Ms McCarthy joins TUH from Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise where she was the Director of Nursing playing a vital role during the Covid-19 pandemic. She is originally from Nurney, in Co Kildare.

Ms Lucy Nugent, Chief Executive of TUH welcome Ms McCarthy aboard. She highlighted the important role she will play in the west Dublin hospital.

"She joins the organisation in an important year as we mark our 25th anniversary of the Hospital opening, the introduction of the Regional Health Authorities and implementation of the Enhanced Community Care Programme all of which will bring opportunities to our colleagues to collaborate, coordinate and support integrated care delivery to the benefit of our patients and their families.

"Her role is pivotal to the organisation as we develop, not only in the diverse roles across the patient healthcare journey, but also in the ongoing development of our staff and environment, she said.

Ms McCarthy trained in Meath Hospital in Dublin and transferred to Tallaght Hospital when it opened in 1998. She was a member of the senior nursing executive team and senior human resources management team in Tallaght hospital until her move to Portlaoise in 2018 where she stayed up near the the end of 2022.

Ms McCarthy said she was delighted to return to the TUH team at a time of so much change.

"The hospital has always valued nursing at all levels and nurtured nursing leadership from the bedside through to specialist and advanced practice and in nursing management of all grades. With such ambitious plans for both the hospital and healthcare system I am looking forward to working with my nursing colleagues and management in implementing continuous improvement and innovation at all levels, empowering the nursing team to deliver evidence based care and maximise patient outcomes, she said.

Though she has moved on from Portlaoise, Ms McCarty will still be linked to the Laois hospital as Tallaght and Portlaoise are part of the HSE's Dublin Midlands Hospital Group. The group also includes hospitals in Offaly, Kildare and Dublin including St James's.

A Registered General Nurse & Registered Nurse Tutor, Tallaght say she has extensive clinical, educational and managerial experience. She completed her Nurse Training in the Meath Hospital, Dublin and transferred to TUH upon its opening in 1998. During her time in TUH she was a member of the Senior Nursing Executive team and Senior Human Resources Management team as Head of Learning & Development. Her professional portfolio includes an Honours Degree in Nursing from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc in Nursing and a postgraduate qualification in Health Care Education from UCD, Diploma in Leadership from UCD Smurfit Business School and a Diploma in Quality from Royal College of Physicians.

TUH says Ms McCarthy is an experienced health care provider with in-depth knowledge of operations management, administrative management and financial management. She has 28 years experience of effectively delivering in the health arena, including direct and indirect patient care, graduate and postgraduate education.
Over 4 billion is to be invested by Danish companies for a stake in an Irish offshore project which will develop 2.2 gigawats of energy.

The news comes after it was confirmed on Monday that over one third of Irish electricity last year came from renewable wind energy.

Wind energy generation for 2022 was 34%, up 4% from 2021.

Analysis showed that wind energy generation resulted in Irish consumers spending 2 billion less on gas last year.

This included a saving of 340 million to the exchequer, which would have been spent on buying carbon credits for the gas.

On Tuesday, Statkraft announced a major deal with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) fund Copenhagen Infrastructure IV K/S (CI IV) as part of its plans to develop up to 2.2 gigawatts of offshore wind in Ireland.

This landmark partnership will see CIP acquire a 50% stake in Statkrafts offshore wind portfolio in Ireland. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The scope of the partnership includes the three phases of the North Irish Sea Array, or NISA, and the Bore Array. The proposed location for NISA is off the coast of counties Dublin, Louth, and Meath, while the site of the Bore Array has been proposed for the Celtic Sea.

Developing and building these projects is expected to require an investment of more than 4 billion by Statkraft and CIP by 2030.

The need for energy security and decarbonisation has never been as important, or urgent, as it is today. Ireland has a wealth of renewable energy resources right on its doorstep  energy that has largely remained untapped. Statkraft and CIP will now work together to bring that clean, green power to the Irish people, said David Flood, Head of Offshore Wind at Statkraft.

This deal marks a major development for Statkraft in Ireland as we scale up our offshore wind ambitions across Northern Europe. The countrys maritime area makes it ideal for large-scale offshore wind energy production  energy we can deliver in partnership with CIP. The companys track record in offshore wind coupled with our development expertise will enable us to harness the energy of the wind in the Irish Sea to create a green energy system designed for a decarbonised future, he added.

Nischal Agarwal, Partner in CIP, said: We are very pleased to be entering the Irish offshore market and look forward to developing these exciting projects together with Statkraft. In combining CIPs industrial background and international experience within offshore wind with Statkrafts experience of Irish renewables, the partnership will enable the provision of renewable power to Irish homes and businesses and contribute to reaching the governments ambitious decarbonisation targets.

Within offshore wind, Statkraft is pursuing an industrial role in the North Sea and Ireland. This agreement is an important step in delivering on this ambition.

Statkraft intends to play a major role in the development of an offshore wind industry in Norway. The company has ten years of experience from offshore wind in the UK and extensive expertise in developing and operating large renewable projects. Statkraft is taking part in two strong consortia pursuing bids to develop the first Norwegian offshore wind projects.

Statkraft is Europes largest generator of renewable energy. The company entered the Irish market in 2018 and since then has almost tripled its workforce and tripled its development portfolio. A leading player in the Irish renewable energy market, it develops, owns, and operates renewable energy projects across the technologies of onshore wind, offshore wind, solar, battery storage and grid services.
After a whirlwind week at the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, the only team representing Laois are back to the lessons in Mountrath.

Transition Year Students Doireann OConnor and Sarah Phelan were given a proud reception by Mountrath Community School.

The girls who have been friends since primary school and both come from family farms, had exhibited a fascinating study that proved the damage that overfeeding protein to dairy cows can do to the environment.

Among those visiting their stand were the Tanaiste Micheal Martin, Minister Simon Coveney, Minister of State Sean Fleming from Laois (pictured below) and Senator Pippa Hackett.

While it didn't win any overall prizes, they were delighted with the interest, and determined to follow the agri and science path.

"It was an amazing experience to take part in such a prestigious competition. We really enjoyed working on our project for the last number of weeks and getting to learn new skills by reaching out to experts in the agricultural industry. We really enjoyed getting to meet students from all over Ireland," Sarah told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"It was an honour to get the opportunity to represent our school and to get to meet so many influential people. We hope to continue our research and look forward to continuing our STEM journey," Doireann added.

Their Science Teacher Kelly Walsh described how well the students did at the intense four day exhibition.

"The students demonstrated exceptional initiative and successfully presented their project in a compelling and effective manner, impressing the judges and various political figures such as Tanaiste Micheal Martin, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment of Ireland Simon Coveney, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Sean Fleming and Member of the Seanad Eireann Pippa Hackett.

"They should be very proud of their accomplishments. It is a great achievement for the school that out of 550 entries, their project was the only successful entry for a school in County Laois, considering the high level of competition and the standard of projects.

"These girls have a bright future in the field of science, we are certain they will continue to make great strides in their research and make a positive impact in the field," Mountrath CS Science Teacher Ms Walshe said.
It's going to stay 'chilly' says Met Eireann but the forecaster isn't expecting the cold snap to last as long as the frigid weather that hit before Christmas.

An national Status Yellow low temperature/ice warning for Ireland expired at midday on Tuesday, December 17 but it is not going to get warmer than 4c through Tuesday.

A new Status Yellow warning for snow ice for some midlands counties is valid from 5.30pm on Tuesday to 9am Friday.

Met Eireann charts show that temperatures plunged to -7c in Roscommon on Monday night.

The Winter Weather Advisory for Ireland continues to apply through to Friday, January 20. Laois Weather in Durrow captured some of the snow the snap brought to Laois during the spell. MORE BELOW TWEET.

Met Eireann expects the weather to stay cold until later Thursday with an Arctic airflow in across the country, bringing sharp to severe frosts and icy stretches on roads and footpaths. It says some showers of hail, sleet and snow are expected with the potential for freezing fog. Further updates to the advisory and warnings are expected in the coming days. MORE BELOW TWEET.

Very cold overnight Monday, the very cold weather continuing until Thursday 



Photo : Mullingar and Malin Head this morning pic.twitter.com/2xpvwqU7aJ  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) January 17, 2023

The Met Eireann national outlook forecasts the weather to remain "chilly" with occasional wintry showers, although temperatures are expected to increase by the weekend. MORE BELOW TWEET.

Continuing cold for the next few days with wintry showers & severe frosts & ice. 



Turning milder towards the end of the working week as rain from the west will bring milder conditions. https://t.co/9gKN6SVok4 pic.twitter.com/gqbF8sQvPO  Met Eireann (@MetEireann) January 16, 2023

Met Eireann National Forecast issued at 8.53 am on Tuesday, January 17.

Tuesday: Very cold today with a mix of sunny spells and wintry showers, falling as snow in places, especially across the northwest and later today across other areas. Isolated thunderstorms with hail will occur too. Driest and brightest across the south and east. Highest temperatures of just 1 to 4 degrees, in mostly moderate northwest breezes.

Very cold tonight with frost and icy stretches developing in many areas. Scattered sleet and snow showers will continue, most frequent in the north and west. Isolated thunderstorms may occur too with the chance of hail. Lowest temperatures of -3 to +1 degrees in mainly moderate westerly winds, breezier all the while along Atlantic coasts.

Wednesday: Some lying snow in parts early on Wednesday, which will be another cold day with mix of sunny spells and scattered wintry showers, most frequent across the north and northwest. Highest temperatures of 3 to 6 degrees in moderate to fresh northwesterly winds.

Another cold night with scattered wintry showers, mainly affecting Atlantic coastal counties, and becoming persistent in parts of the southwest. Lowest temperatures of -3 to 0 degrees with frost and icy conditions developing. Winds easing light, westerly or variable.

THURSDAY: Largely dry and bright, though there will be some cloud towards the west of the country with outbreaks of rain persisting in Munster. Maximum temperatures of 3 to 7 degrees, highest in the southwest. Winds very light and variable.

Outbreaks of rain will gradually spread eastwards across the country on Thursday night, becoming widespread by morning. Temperatures will once again fall below freezing in Connacht, Ulster and Leinster with lows of -2 to 0 degrees. Milder in Munster with lows of 1 to 4 degrees. Southeasterly winds, remaining light.

FRIDAY: Turning slightly warmer on Friday with generally dull and wet conditions expected. The morning will see widespread outbreaks of rain, clearing eastwards later in the day. Highest temperatures will generally range from 5 to 9 degrees in mainly light southeasterly breezes.

SATURDAY: Remaining dull with occasional outbreaks of showery rain, mainly affecting the western half of the country. Highest temperatures of 8 to 11 degrees in mainly light southerly breezes.

FURTHER OUTLOOK: Considerable uncertainty remains for the further outlook, although our weather is likely to remain unsettled into the beginning of next week.
The next location and hero for RTE show Operation Transformation's Ad Break Challenge has been revealed.

This Wednesday night Portlaoise will feature in the ad breaks, after a huge crowd gathered at the Civic Plaza last Friday night with fitness trainer Karl Henry.

For the following week, the cameras are coming to Kilcavan GAA club near Mountmellick.

The local hero who will join Karl in the fitness exercises, is Niamh McEvoy, who represents Laochra Gael Special Olympics Club in Laois.

It all takes place next Friday, January 20 at 6.45pm in the club grounds.

Kilcavan GAA is urging the community to come out in support of Niamh.

"Operation Transformation is coming to Kilcavan. Our very own Niamh McEvoy is representing her Portlaoise Special Olympics Club and the cameras and crew will be in our grounds this coming Friday 20 January.

"We need a big crowd down at the pitch. It kicks off at 6.45 pm. Tell your friends and grab your relations and lets make it an evening to remember. Well done Niamh," they said.

Mountmellick Community School is also urging support.

"Come out and support Niamh McEvoy next Friday. Niamh is a sister of past student Siobhan and current students Cathal and Aoibhinn," the school said.
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GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM)  On January 20 and 21, a unique conference on corporate governance will take place at the initiative of the Government of Sint Maarten. This two-day conference is organized by NR Governance and VANEPS; the conference venue is Sonesta Maho Beach Hotel.

The conference is intended for everyone on Sint Maarten who holds or aspires a management or supervisory position and aims to further professionalize their knowledge and skills.

Representatives from all sectors are invited: organizations ranging from the (semi-)public sector to financial institutions and organizations in tourism, welfare, and health.

Questions that will be discussed at the conference are, for example: how should you, as a supervisor or supervisory director, properly fulfill your employer's role vis-a-vis the board? What is the best way to navigate when the organization is in dire straits? What skill requirements can you place on directors and supervisory directors and how should you evaluate supervisors and directors effectively? How can we on St. Maarten really take a step forward in governance and supervision in our corporate and semi-public sector? These types of questions will be addressed intensively and interactively (among others in break-out sessions/working groups) in the course of this conference.

Ten eminent speakers have been invited by the Government of Sint Maarten from Sint Maarten, from the Netherlands and from Curacao. In this way, all the wide experience can be pooled and exchanged.

There will be Opening addresses by Prime Minister, Ms. Silveria Jacobs and the Minister of Finance, Mr. Ardwell Irion. Keynote speeches will be given by former Governor drs. Eugene Holiday, by governance expert Miguel Mike Alexander and by Minister of State and former Minister of Justice, Winnie Sorgdrager.

Working group leaders include Frank Kunneman (VAN EPS), Joane Dovale (Primarium), Hugo Reumkens (Van Doorne), Hans Bedet (EvaLite), Aubrich Bakhuis (Themis Institute for Governance & Leadership), Hans van der Molen (Berenschot) and Kamla Besancon (KB-legal).

The investment for this intensive two-day course is $825 per person all-in. All participants will receive a copy of the recently published book Toolkit for supervisory directors Dutch Caribbean.

In case an organization sends more than two persons, the investment is $750 per person. Boards and supervisory directors of small-size (social) foundations with very limited resources are invited to reach out to discuss possibilities for partial sponsorship of the participation fee.

Participants will receive a certificate upon completion.

Registration is available with Stephanie Kits (kits@vaneps.com). More information may be obtained from Frank Kunneman (kunneman@vaneps.com).

Program Good Governance Conference SXM 20 en 21 January 2023.background info.pdf


Naas District Court was told on Thursday, January 12, that a man allegedly threatened to murder a social worker.

The court was told that Mark Doyle, who has an address listed as 32 Barnville Park, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10, County Dublin, but is currently serving a custodial sentence, allegedly committed the offence at 2.25pm on June 17, 2021 in Kildare.

Gardai told Judge Desmond Zaidan that on this date, the 44-year-old allegedly became embroiled in an argument during a phone call with social workers regarding a juvenile relative of his in care.

Speaking to the relative, Mr Doyle allegedly said: "If I know that anyone is hurting you, I will come down and kill everyone I see."

When the relative named one of the social workers, it was claimed that Mr Doyle replied: "That's the first one on my list, I will kill that woman."

Gardai said that this alleged threat put the social worker in fear.

CONTESTED

Defending solicitor Tim Kennelly told the judge that his client denies ever threatening the care staff.

After hearing the allegations, the judge refused jurisdiction over the case, and adjourned the case to January 19, where a book of evidence is due to be served on Mr Doyle.

The defendant also requested Judge Zaidan to revoke his bail, which he agreed to do.
Pressure is mounting on Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe to give a statement in the Dail over his failure to declare expenses for hanging election posters.

Mr Donohoe has indicated he is willing to take part in the Oireachtas process as early as possible.

The statement marks a tumultuous beginning of the Dail term for the Government, after the resignation of a junior minister last week and as the senior Fine Gael minister comes under pressure to explain himself.

Over the weekend it emerged that Mr Donohoe had not declared a payment made by an individual to six people to hang up his election posters ahead of the 2016 general election.

The minister said he had believed the services were voluntary, but has learned in recent weeks that they were paid for, to the value of 917 euros.

Mr Donohoe also admitted to learning in 2017 that a corporate van had been used to hang up posters, worth an estimated 140 euros, which had not been declared as an election expense.

The minister apologised for the error, and said he had made a submission to amend his official expenses declaration.

He has also argued that the expenses are within rules on maximum expenses allowed during a general election campaign.

Ethics watchdog Sipo is reviewing the matter, with Mr Donohoe saying he would consider the consequences after a decision is made.

Mr Donohoe has also recused himself from making decisions on ethics legislation and Sipo, which he is in charge of as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

Government ministers have backed their colleague, arguing that he has explained his actions and that the matter lies with Sipo.

On Monday, opposition party whips wrote a letter to Ceann Comhairle Sean OFearghail asking that Mr Donohoe appear before the Dail at the earliest opportunity to make a statement, and to take questions over his failure to declare poster expenses.

As it stands, the minister is already scheduled to take parliamentary questions at 10.30am on Thursday.

Sinn Feins public expenditure spokesperson Mairead Farrell argued that the donation was not within the maximum limits, and that it should not have been accepted.

The minister must come clean and thoroughly answer all of the outstanding issues, she said.

The three-party coalition Government has stumbled into the new year, after junior enterprise minister Damien English was forced to resign following revelations that he did not declare already owning a property in a planning application to Meath County Council.

Another junior minister for enterprise, Fianna Fail TD Robert Troy, resigned in August after he did not correctly declare properties on the parliamentary register of members interests, nor register a rented property with the Residential Tenancies Board.

Following an underwhelming reshuffle in December, the Government is focusing on responding to the escalating housing crisis, after five consecutive months of record-breaking homeless numbers, rising house prices and unaffordable rents.

Efforts to bolster supply have been squeezed further by a slowdown in commencements and the influx of thousands of Ukrainian nationals and other asylum seekers fleeing to Ireland.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he understands how the housing sector is holding the country back in so many different ways, and pledged that 2023 would be a year of delivery when it comes to housing.

Among the other challenging issues the Government is facing are hospitals buckling under unprecedented demand for emergency care; whether the Government will extend cost-of-living measures beyond February; and a road map on PRSI increases needed over the next 10 years, which is due after the Government committed to keeping the pension age at 66.
Four Catholic churches in the Oughteragh & Lower Drumreilly parish must prepare for big changes this year.

Parishioners of Aughnasheelin, Aughawillan, Ballinamore and Coraleehan were informed last weekend that a series of reviews and meetings will be held to discuss changes going forward.



Curate priest, Fr Johnny Cusack will retire this June following the Diamond Jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. Fr Cusack will be 85 years old this year.

This will leave just Fr Sean Mawn PP in control of four churches.

Fr Mawn informed parishioners last weekend we have become aware of the shortage of priests in our diocese and how this will impact on the availability of pastoral and liturgical services in each parish.

There is no guarantee that another priest will be available to come and minister here, Fr Mawn said it is actually unlikely.

He said, this poses new challenges for myself, Martina our pastoral worker and for all parishioners.

In an effort to keep our churches open into the future with the limited amount of clergy and resources; meetings will be held in each church area to highlight the changes and discuss plans.



Martina Gilmartin, Director of Pastoral Development and Faith Formation for the diocese of Kilmore and Pastoral Worker will attend the meetings.

All parishioners are asked to attend to help formulate how together we can best plan for cater for the spiritual needs of the people in the four church areas.

Parish Meetings:

Aughnasheelin Community Hall on Monday, January 23 at 8pm.

Aughawillan Community Hall on Tuesday, January 24 at 8pm.

Corraleehan Church on Wednesday, January 25 at 8pm.

Ballinamore Island Theatre on Monday, January 30 at 8pm.
Leitrim-based employers such as Cora Systems and VistMed are supporting a joined-up push by regional agencies and employers to attract more career-driven professionals based in Dublin and the East coast to the Northwest.

Mid to senior level workers in Dublin will next month get the chance to learn more about life in the Northwest of Ireland and the array of exciting new opportunities open to them in the region.

Northwest in the City is a collaboration organised by regional stakeholders to promote the Northwest and spotlight the many positive transformational changes made in recent years.

The event, at Dublins Westbury Hotel on February 9th, will deliver a simple message: You can land a global career with a leading company and enjoy the best of local living by moving to the Northwest.

The event will provide an opportunity to meet face to face with the executives leading the Northwests top multinational and indigenous companies. Mid to senior level professionals will learn about the global customer base serviced from the region along with the array of career opportunities available.

Key agencies led by IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Western Development Commission (WDC), under the North West Regional Enterprise Plan, have teamed up with some of the Northwests biggest employers for the event.

Industries represented include Tech, Biopharma, MedTech, Advanced Manufacturing and International Financial Services.

More than 20 global multinationals and leading Irish companies are expected to attend Northwest in the City including Optum; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS); AbbVie, VistaMed, SL Controls; Cora Systems, Overstock, Avenue, FinTrU and many more.

Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim are home to more than 50 multinational companies that have set up in the region and scaled their international operations. The Northwest is also home to indigenous entrepreneurs who have chosen to build and grow their own international companies of scale, including LotusWorks, King & Moffatt, E&I Engineering and Cora Systems.

As well as showcasing senior roles including those in automation, biologics, machine learning and investor services; attendees at Northwest in the City will have the chance to network with senior industry leaders and hear from their peers who have previously relocated to the region.

The regional agencies and local authorities will be on hand to offer more practical advice on connectivity, transport, relocating and educational options. Public sector organisations such as Atlantic Technological University (ATU) will also outline latest research and innovation projects and the current opportunities that exist.

Working patterns have seen seismic changes in recent years, with a career and life in the Northwest proving increasingly attractive for senior professionals.
A woman reads the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 10, 2023. NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP

The office of Brazils prosecutor-general has presented its first charges against some of the thousands of people who authorities say stormed government buildings in an effort to overturn former President Jair Bolsonaro's loss in the October election.

The prosecutors in the recently formed group to combat anti-democratic acts also have requested that the 39 defendants who ransacked Congress be imprisoned as a preventive measure, and that 40 million reais ($7.7 million) of their assets be frozen to help cover damages.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes In Brazil, Lula must overcome challenges in a divided Republic

The defendants have been charged with armed criminal association, violent attempt to subvert the democratic state of law, staging a coup and damage to public property, the prosecutor general's office said in a written statement on Monday, January 16. Their identities have not yet been released.

More than a thousand people were arrested on the day of the January 8 riot, which bore strong similarities to the January 6, 2021, riots at the US Congress by mobs who wanted to overturn former President Donald Trump's loss in November's election.

Rioters who stormed through the Brazilian Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court in the capital, Brasilia, sought to have the armed forces intervene and overturn Mr. Bolsonaro's loss to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Some Bolsonaro supporters point the finger after January 8 riots

The rioters "attempted, with the use of violence and serious threat, to abolish the democratic rule of law, preventing or restricting the exercise of constitutional powers," according to an excerpt of charges included in a statement. "The ultimate objective of the attack ... was the installation of an alternative government regime."

The attackers were not charged with terrorism because under Brazilian law such a charge must involve xenophobia or prejudice based on race, ethnicity or religion.

The prosecutor-generals office sent its charges to the Supreme Court after the Senates president, Rodrigo Pacheco, last week provided a list of people accused of rampaging through Congress. Additional rioters are expected to be charged.

Le Monde with AP
Un conseiller du president ukrainien reconnait une grave erreur et presente sa demission

Oleksiy Arestovych, le conseiller du president ukrainien qui a propose mardi sa demission apres avoir emis lors dun direct sur YouTube lhypothese selon laquelle le missile qui a fait quarante-quatre morts et vingt disparus, samedi a Dnipro, pouvait avoir ete tire par la defense antiaerienne, a fait son mea culpa lundi soir sur la meme plate-forme.

 Jai fait une grave erreur. Cest une faute grave et cest exactement comme ca quil faut la qualifier. En depit de toutes les formules que jai inserees comme tout porte a croire que, il faut verifier et reverifier, et ainsi de suite, aujourdhui [le Kremlin, en particulier Dmitri Peskov, le porte-parole de Vladimir Poutine] cite mes propos et dit que lUkraine elle-meme reconnait que cest un missile de la defense antiaerienne qui sest abattu sur cet immeuble , a-t-il deplore.

 Aujourdhui, je veux presenter mes excuses, tout dabord aux familles de ceux qui ont peri, aux habitants de Dnipro, qui subissent cette tragedie, qui ont entendu une seule explosion et savent donc quil ny a eu quun seul missile et qui ont personnellement ete heurtes par mes propos (). Mais tous ceux [Ukrainiens ou non] qui ont monte toute cette histoire en epingle, qui plus est en collusion avec la Russie, nauront aucune excuse de ma part , a ajoute Oleksiy Arestovych.
LIMERICK senior hurling manager John Kiely says that he is 'very happy' with Cian Lynch's recovery from a leg operation last August.

The procedure kept Lynch out of Patrickswell's entire Limerick SHC campaign. The 2021 Hurler of the Year missed out on Limerick's final victory over Kilkenny due to an ankle issue and then had the leg procedure the following month.

Lynch tore his hamstring in the early stages of Limerick's Munster SHC win over Waterford last April and only returned as a substitute in the All-Ireland semi final.

However, it appears that he is nearing a return according to Kiely. "Cian is doing really well. He has trained right throughout the block that we have done," the Galbally told the Limerick Leader/Limerick Live after their one-point Munster Hurling League defeat to Cork.

"His recovery is pretty much what I would call complete at this stage. He is just like everyone else and getting on with his work. We are very happy with his recovery."

The news is also positive about Mike Casey. The Na Piarsaigh defender was forced off due to injury in their Munster Club SHC semi final with Ballygunner but Kiely added that his recovery is on track.

"Mikey is doing really well. Initially, we were fearful that it might have been a more serious injury but thankfully it wasnt. He had to have a minor procedure and that went really well and his rehab is going very well.

"Thats all on track so we are very happy where thats at. Health wise we are in a good place and long may that last. We had enough of it last year," concluded the Limerick manager.
STUDENTS hoping to head to America for a summer of work and fun have just a few weeks left to register for the J1 programme.

USIT will be holding information events in Limerick this month for students to learn more about what the programme entails.

The first info session will take place at the TUS Moylish Campus from 1pm to 2pm on Thursday, January 19.

University of Limerick will host another on Wednesday, February 1 from 11am to 2pm in the Red Raisin and at 2:30pm in the Charles Parsons Theatre.

Those intending to leave for their summer of a lifetime in May will need to apply for their J1 by January 31 with a February 28 deadline set for those looking to depart in June.

The USIT jobs hub already has over 900 jobs available in US locations; Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, New York, Boston, resorts such as Nantucket, Myrtle Beach, Ocean City, and more.

The US Embassy has appointment dates set for as early as late January enabling students to have their J1 secured earlier than ever before.

Speaking on the matter, a spokesperson from the Department of Foreign Affairs said: "The J1 visa programme is a valuable part of facilitating mutually beneficial and enriching exchanges between the US and Ireland, and we were happy to see participation return in strong numbers last summer.

"Through the J1, thousands of Irish people have had the incredible opportunity to work and travel in the US.

"This programme ensures the continuity of Irelands strong people-to-people relations with the United States, and we look forward to seeing continued high levels of interest for the upcoming J1 season."

For more information and to learn more about J1 options visit www.usit.ie and follow @usittravel on social media.
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PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation & Telecommunication (TEATT), the honourable Arthur Leo Lambriex, says increasing the resilience of the Tourism Industry and repositioning St. Maarten as a competitive tourism destination will be his focus over the next 100-days.

"My goal is to ensure that St. Maarten remains at the centre of the travel industry and rises once more to the top," said Lambriex. On Sunday, January 15, Lambriex issued a press release outlining the blueprint for his first 100 days in office.

He said the only way to protect St. Maarten's economy is to protect the tourism sector, which must be a priority. "That means asking the hard questions about things that are not as they should be"

According to Lambriex, the Ministry of TEATT must have a defensive approach to safeguard the tourism economy. "We cannot continue to attract Mega and even Giga Yachts to the island and squeeze them through the eye of a needle to get to our Marinas in the Simpson Bay lagoon. Already there is a high demand for our island to accommodate these larger-size yachts. Lambriex intends to work closely with SXM Harbour and the Simpson Bay Lagoon Authority SLAC to finalize the project for widening the bridge. He said he recognizes that we may not start the bridge widening project within the first hundred days, "but to achieve our objectives, we must make ambitious efforts."

Widening the Simpson Bay Bridge will attract even larger Yachts to the island, safeguard the Marine sector, and prevent further mishaps. He said, "We have to do more to protect the Marine Sector and Cruise Tourism.

However, Lambriex said the first steps must be to get a "handle" on rebuilding St. Maarten's Airport - Princess Juliana International.

He said, without pointing fingers, we must identify the challenges that have created delays in reconstruction. "It is unclear why the repairs to PJIA have taken longer than the actual construction of the Airport. Delays in rebuilding the Airport damages St. Maarten's ability to attract new investments necessary for increasing economic activity.

"I also recognize the hard work put into finalizing the project to rebuild the Philipsburg Marketplace. Since 2017, vendors have had to endure less-than-ideal conditions to earn a living. Therefore, I will be honoured to take the baton on the final leg to complete this project with the help of Royal Caribbean and Port St. Maarten.

The Minister also intends to solidify all plans for the 2023-24 Tourism Season post haste during his meetings with Major Cruise Lines. Minister Lambriex's first 100 days in office will include formalizing Agricultural and Trade Agreements between St. Maarten, St. Kitts & Nevis and the Dominican Republic. Additional safety measures are also being worked on for the Simpson Bay, Causeway, and Philipsburg areas.

Minister Lambriex said he looks forward to working with the Minister of VROMI (Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure) on a clean up and beautification plan for Philipsburg. "I believe that with collaborations from both Public and Private sector partners, we can polish up what we have and get a better idea of what we are working with and what is needed or not needed," said Lambriex.

He also plans to work with the Department of Civil Aviation, Shipping, and Maritime to expand St. Maarten's registration of aircraft and seagoing vessels, providing increased revenue for St. Maarten.

"The roadmap I have outlined with the help of my team and the support of the United People's Party is realistic and necessary. They will require dedication from everyone in the public and private sector, which should not be difficult to achieve considering we are all facing the challenges of a slowly rebounding economy and would like to see some improvements in that regard," said Lambriex.

Minister Lambriex said he would also seek an audience with the Minister of Justice to find ways in which TEATT can contribute to increasing security in the Philipsburg area, especially during periods when there is increased tourist presence. The traffic congestion and difficulty for tour busses to find adequate parking when returning guests from island tours is also an area of concern. Lambriex will work towards a short-term solution until a permanent solution is established. "If we can identify an area in Philipsburg for tour buses to stop before returning visitors to the cruise ships, we can maximize opportunities for them to patronize the local businesses," said Lambriex. He said, "This should increase passenger flow through our city centre, and businesses will have the opportunity to showcase their product and services."
A LIMERICK hostel that provides emergency accommodation for men experiencing homelessness has had a makeover thanks to a local retailer.

Oaklodge on Clare Street in Limerick city, which is run by Mid-West Simon Community, has undergone a makeover thanks to furniture retailer DFS and designer Tullio Orlandi.

Jackie Bonfield, CEO of Mid-West Simon, said: "Oaklodge is home to 50 men who are experiencing homelessness and improving the communal spaces and environment for them here is life changing for our clients.

"Mid-West Simon relies on the generosity of the public for projects like this and is so appreciative of the support that Tullio, DFS, and the other suppliers have given us, to make this a welcoming space and a real home for the men living here."

She continued: "Unfortunately, we now have record numbers of homeless people in Ireland. The latest count of 11,542 people in emergency accommodation was the highest number ever recorded.

"Last year, we have provided emergency and transitional accommodation to over 750 individual people and permanent accommodation to over 200 people.

"This makeover will make a real difference to men experiencing homelessness in our region and we are so appreciative of Tullio, DFS and all the suppliers who made this happen. We continue to appeal for funds and ask people to continue to support us in whatever way they can. Thanks also to our funders the HSE, Limerick County Council and DSP who help us greatly."

Award winning local designer Tullio Orlandi said: "As a designer I really believe that your space has a strong bearing on how you feel, so this project has been very important to me.

"People experiencing homelessness deserve an opportunity to get back on their feet in a warm, welcoming and relaxing environment.

"Your home environment impacts your physical and mental health and has the ability to boost your mood and how you feel. I hope that the space in Oaklodge will provide just that for some of the most vulnerable people in our society, so I am so proud to have collaborated with some great suppliers here in Limerick.

"Thanks to DFS, Fleetwood paint, Curtains Direct, our volunteer painters from Cook Medical/Northern Trust/Axa Partners, LK Flooring, Trade Electric and all who supported us with this project."
AROUND 2,400 students will be conferred at University of Limerick this week.

The first of the Winter Conferring ceremonies took place this Monday with further ceremonies scheduled to take place between now and Thursday.

The President of UL, Professor Kerstin Mey has hailed the tenacity, focus and strength of character demonstrated by the students who are graduating this week.

The students are graduating from the faculties of Science and Engineering, Kemmy Business School, Education and Health Sciences, and Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in six ceremonies taking place this week.

Among them number are 500 graduates of the Garda College, who have studied for a BA in Applied Policing as part of a collaboration between University of Limerick and An Garda Siochana.

It has been a busy year for UL, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary and has conferred more than 8,000 students in the past 12 months.

In an address this Monday, Professor Mey told the new graduates that their journey through education has been "exciting, challenging and indeed not without a great deal of effort and commitment".

She said: "There is nothing quite like the feeling of success, especially when it comes at the cost of some self- sacrifice. You have earned your right to be here today and you have risen to meet the challenges before you. Taking your seat in the auditorium clearly indicates the tenacity, focus and strength of character you have shown  all of these traits and characters will stay with you and guide you in the next phase of your lives.

Prof Mey added: "Many of you will return to the workplace or begin a new career, some will pursue further study and

others will look to research to add to the wealth and depth of knowledge that higher education offers. No matter what path you have chosen or where your journey takes you next, today is an occasion that brings with it many reasons to celebrate and indeed to look to the future. With your award in hand and the life-long experience that you bring to society, you have a chance to make a difference and you are equipped to do so thanks to the knowledge and experience you

have attained during your time at UL.

Click 'next' for more photos.
MYSTERY surrounds a loud bang that was heard throughout a Limerick suburb on Monday night.

Around 10:30pm, a number of people posted on social media that they had heard a loud noise in the Dooradoyle area.

Residents of Ballyclough and Glencairin and as far as Father Russell Road reported the mystery sound with some people saying they heard one loud bang while others said they heard a number of them.

Anyone else hear a huge #bang in the #Dooradoyle area about 10 mins ago (22:33)? #Limerick  Susan BG (@SbgMrs) January 16, 2023

Councillor Daniel Butler said he had been contacted by numerous people to ask if he knew what the sound was.

Mr Butler told Limerick Live that it sounded like the noise was close by while also being everywhere at the same time.

Limerick Fire Service and An Garda Siochana confirmed that they did not attend any incidents in the area.

Facebook users in various parts of Dooradoyle said they heard the noise while trying to figure out what could have caused it.

Limerick City and County Council have been contacted to see if they can shed some light on the strange occurrence.

Did you hear the bang last night? Let us know via email at news@limerickleader.ie
LIMERICK is to be home to a new private facility designed to slash waiting lists for non-urgent day procedures.

Addressing politicians from across the Mid-West amid the continued overcrowding crisis at University Hospital Limerick, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly outlined the plan, which he said he hoped can be delivered within 18 months.

But local TD Willie ODea and Senator Paul Gavan have expressed doubt on this timeline, with the former Defence Minister saying: What Limerick needs is an elective hub operational later this year.

As it stands, Limerick has not been earmarked for a new elective hospital, with Cork and Galway in line for these. Its led to disquiet among local TDs who have pointed out government forecasts which project Limericks population to grow in the next decade.

While its understood Mr Donnelly has not completely closed the door on the idea of a new private hospital for the city, for the time being, a surgical hub is being planned, with staff able to carry out some procedures.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health confirmed the news, saying: It will have a shorter-term impact on waiting times. This intervention will also support efforts to consider the necessary reforms and enablers needed to separate unscheduled and scheduled care pathways that will be required by the longer-term provision of the elective care programme.

Fianna Fail TD Mr ODea said: I am concerned how long it would take to put this in place in view of the fact it would appear the minister has not yet identified a building. How long will this take? Presumably, it would need planning permission too.

Sinn Feins Mr Gavan added: I've no faith in this government delivering it in any timely fashion. It was mentioned, but there were no details around how government would go about it, how long it would take. We are half way through the lifetime of this government, and now they are only mentioning these things. What we are getting are vague aspirations in response to an emergency situation in Limerick.
LIMERICK woman Maeve McGrath has been appointed the new Director of Programming for the Galway Film Fleadh.

Maeve will be taking over from Will Fitzgerald and will be responsible for curating the festivals annual line-up.

The Glenosheen native is a former Fair City actress, producer and festival programmer that has previously worked as Artistic Director of Kerry International Film Festival, producer at Carlow Arts Festival and joint short film programmer at Dublin International Film Festival.

Maeve is embedded in community arts practice with The GAFF in Limerick where she recently curated a community audio/visual project, Tiny Little Histories and she produced TravFest, a Traveller Wellness Festival as part of Guth na Minceiri.

The actress completed her Masters in Media Studies at Mary Immaculate College in 2015 graduating with her thesis, Irish Short Film: The Road To Oscar which followed the route of Irish short films to the Academy Awards.

"It is an honour to be joining the brilliant team at the Galway Film Fleadh," said Maeve.

"The Fleadh has a very special place on the film festival circuit both nationally and internationally and I am delighted to be part of the team that will programme the 35th edition of the festival."

"On behalf of the Board of Galway Film Fleadh I am delighted to welcome Maeve McGrath as Director of Programming," said Annie Doona, Chair of the Galway Film Fleadh.

"Maeve brings a breadth of experience and creativity to the role and we look forward to working with her as we prepare for an exciting Fleadh 2023."

"I have always loved watching films, since I was a child queueing outside the Royal Cinema in Limerick to see the latest release," said Maeve .

"There is something very comforting in settling into a cinema seat and letting a film take you on a journey. To work in the film festival world is a joy for me and I I look forward to being part of the continued growth of the Galway Film Fleadh and supporting the development of both emerging and established film makers."
THE UNIVERSITY of Limerick (UL) has conferred Irish archivist Dr Anthony Malcomson with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters.

Dr Malcomson received his honorary doctorate this Tuesday in a week that will see a total of 2,400 students being conferred on the UL campus.

Dr Malcomson led a vital effort in recovering and locating archival material across Ireland and Britain as a substitute for what had been lost in 1922 when the records of the Irish state going back to the twelfth century were destroyed as a result of the occupation of the Four Courts by anti-treaty insurgents.

Head of ULs Department of History Dr David Fleming who read the citation for Dr Malcomson during the honorary doctorate ceremony, said: Anthony very quickly established a reputation as one of the best archivists in the country, and he was commissioned by both the National Library of Ireland and the Irish Manuscripts Commission to catalogue and calendar archival collections.

His travels around Ireland rescuing vulnerable collections happened at a time when Irelands underfunded national archival institutions were unable or unwilling to take on the task.

Today, scholars and students of all periods and themes are in his debt for the materials he found and made accessible, Dr Fleming said.

Dr Fleming continued: The University of Limerick has also benefitted from Anthonys knowledge and expertise. One of the first historic manuscript collections acquired by UL were the papers of the Earls of Dunraven of Adare, County Limerick. The papers had been on deposit at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland since the sale of the Manor in the 1980s.

In the late 1990s, Dr Malcomson, then just retired from the Record Office, visited UL and examined the newly instituted Special Collections department of the Library. He advised the Dunraven family that the University was an appropriate place for their papers and recommended that they be transferred from Belfast to Limerick.

Since then, at least three UL PhD theses have drawn almost exclusively from these papers, and the collection has attracted many scholars to the University. Anthony also helped negotiate the transfer of the Knight of Glin papers from private family ownership into the Universitys custodianship, again highlighting how critical such resources are for scholarly endeavour, Dr Fleming added.

UL will surpass 120,000 alumni worldwide as it celebrates the start of 2023 with its Winter Conferring Ceremonies which began on Monday, January 16.
RENOWNED Irish chef Neven Maguire will showcase some of the best local food and drink offerings along the Limerick Greenway this Wednesday, for the latest episode in his new TV series.

At 8.30pm on RTE One, the Cavan native will cycle the 39km Limerick Greenway, from Abbeyfeale to Rathkeale and experience some of the best food on offer, while getting a glimpse into the history of the 19th century railway line, which once operated for over a hundred years.

Starting off the half-hour episode, Neven will start his journey in Abbeyfeale where he visits Nick Cotter at Cotter Organic Lamb, and takes a tour of the 70-acre farm and native woodland.

Then, the foodie will put the pedal to the metal and cycle on to Springfield Castle in Dromcollogher, where he meets the Sykes family who run a venison farm, restaurant, and guest accommodation in the town.

Jonathan Sykes gives Neven a tour of the venison farm, while at The Green Room in the castles restaurant, Jonathans son Dan cooks up a storm and serves Neven a unique dish of venison tacos.

North of Adare, Neven will meet Brian OConnell, CEO of the Attyflin Estate, where around 250,000 apples are picked by hand every year to produce a variety of fruit juices, jams, and chutneys.

At the Dunraven Arms Hotel, Neven meets Head Chef Adrian Neagu who shares his recipe with viewers for Pan-Fried John Dory with Doonbeg Mussels and other delights to conclude the route.

In between the tasty dishes, the chef meets local historian Mary Kury in Barnagh where he learns more about the 19th century feat of engineering that was the Limerick to Tralee railway, which after opening in the 1880s, closed in the 1970s.

Nevens Greenway Food Trails is produced and directed by David Hare of InProductionTV.

The six-part series is sponsored by Bord Bia.
Gaps still remain between London and Brussels over the Northern Ireland Protocol, Downing Street said, as the Foreign Secretary resumes talks with the European Commission vice-president.

James Cleverly will speak to Maros Sefcovic on Monday over a proposal to iron out issues with post-Brexit trade arrangements affecting Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Speculation had mounted in recent days that the two sides could be edging towards a breakthrough on the Northern Ireland Protocol, amid suggestions that cross-Channel relations have improved since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister.

Irish MEP Barry Andrews told Times Radio on Sunday that there was an expectation that a political declaration could emerge out of the Cleverly-Sefcovic talks.

Not an internationally binding agreement, but a political declaration and framework for the way forward, said the Fianna Fail politician.

We had some positive announcements last week and generally I think theres been a build-up of trust between the parties.

Downing Street on Monday appeared to play down hopes of an imminent breakthrough, saying issues remain outstanding in the negotiations.

They will continue to look at any progress thats being made, the Prime Ministers official spokesman said of the meeting.

But as weve said on a number of occasions, there are still gaps in our position that need to be resolved in order to address the full range of problems created by the protocol.

The announcement last week that a deal had been reached on sharing real-time data on goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland was seen as a step towards an overall resolution.

A UK Government source said the negotiations were proving complex and difficult but there was a desire to work together to reach an agreement.

Labour said signs of progress were promising and urged Mr Sunak to ignore the right wing of his party to secure a protocol pact with Brussels.

Talk of pushing through the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, heavily criticised by the EU for the way it would unilaterally override parts of the treaty signed by former prime minister Boris Johnson, has grown quieter in recent months.

There has also been a flurry of activity in Northern Ireland, with Mr Cleverly and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmers Belfast appearances last week adding to speculation that a protocol announcement is moving nearer.

Speaking about Mondays talks, a UK Government source said: Wed all prefer a negotiated solution but significant gaps remain.

It is the conversations with the commission that will either bring that about or not.

Nobody should be under any illusions that this is complex and difficult but the desire to work together on a solution seems to be there. 

Alongside the UK-EU talks, Labour will send a delegation to Derry to meet business leaders and learn about how the protocol has affected Northern Ireland trade.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, shadow Northern Ireland secretary Peter Kyle and shadow Cabinet Office minister Baroness Chapman will visit Foyle Port, a gateway that handles two million tonnes of cargo a year.

Party officials said they were going to see first-hand how red tape from the Conservatives deal and ongoing uncertainty are affecting trade.

The protocol was agreed to in 2019 by Mr Johnson as a way of breaking the Brexit deadlock.

In order to avoid a hard border in Ireland, it moved customs and food safety checks and processes to the Irish Sea, creating economic and administrative barriers on the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The protocol is vehemently opposed by many unionists and the DUP is blocking the functioning of a devolved government in Stormont in protest at the arrangements.

Mr Lammy said: Recent signs of progress on the protocol are promising  Rishi Sunak must press on and stand up to the ERG hardliners before this window of opportunity closes.

With a UK Government showing determination, diplomatic skill and hard work, and flexibility on both sides, the problems with the protocol are resolvable.

If the Government can reach a deal that delivers for our national interest and the people of Northern Ireland, the Labour Party stands ready to do what it takes to get it over the line.
The Minister for Agriculture is calling for proposals for tourism initiatives related to the agri-food sector.

Minister Charlie McConalogue made the call yesterday (Monday January 17) for the 2023 Rural Innovation and Development Fund, which offers a maximum payment of 25,000 to any one agri-food project from total funding worth 300,000.

According to the Department of Agriculture, agri-food tourism includes a wide variety of activities involving the links between agriculture and the food produced at local or regional level.

This may involve staying on a farm, touring food trails, and participation in agricultural endeavours.

Minister McConalogue said, "There are many natural symmetries between tourism and the agri-food sector  they complement each other well. 2022 proved a difficult year for the Agri Food industry. Building a business post-COVID-19 has been challenging.

"We are delighted to be in a position to continue to provide support towards the development of agri-food tourism initiatives which will help rural businesses to develop their products and services, connect with the community and visitors and improve the rural experience."

The minister continued: "One of the key actions in this strategy is to continue to develop linkages between local food and tourism offerings, including support for business development and marketing initiatives to support and promote food and drink visitor attractions including the distillery, brewery and tourism sector.

"Irelands agri-food sector is engrained in the fabric of Irish society and is one of the main drivers of our economy, especially in rural and coastal areas.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 12pm noon on February 23, 2023.

Applications should be made via the Call for Proposals application form available here.
Washington should disclose epidemic info

(China Daily) 13:53, January 17, 2023

People walk on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov 23, 2021. [PhotoXinhua]

The XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron strain of the novel coronavirus has been spreading so quickly in the United States that infections caused by it now account for 43 percent of the fatal infections nationwide.

According to the statistics of the Global Influenza Shared Database (GISAID), a publicly accessible database designed to improve the sharing of influenza data, almost all the variants of the virus have been prevalent in the US. Why is the US so attractive to the virus variants? How could XBB.1.5 spread so quickly? The US needs to share information and data about its epidemic situation timely and transparently with the world.

It takes global efforts to fight the pandemic and every nation is responsible for sharing the information of any new variant they find. According to GISAID, the first reported XBB.1.5 infections can be traced back to New York and Connecticut in October, and now it has spread to at least 74 countries and regions. CNN quoted experts as saying that the variant highly possibly originated in the US.

For three years, there have been countless blames against the US for its lack of transparency, even data fabrication. As early as July 2020, the British Medical Journal published an essay that said the novel coronavirus infections in the US neared 4 million, higher than the 2.67 million in the US government report. In March 2021, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control Tom Friedan said that lack of timely, accurate information is one of the US' biggest failures in coping with the pandemic. In May 2022, the NBC said that the number of COVID-19 infections might have been underestimated in the US.

For three years, the US has always been insincere, irresponsible in publishing its pandemic information. For which, not only has it paid a huge price, but also the rest of the world.

The World Health Organization has confirmed XBB.1.5 as being the most infectious among all Omicron subvariants and has warned about the danger of more people being infected. The US should stop concealing information and make everything transparent. The world has the right to know the truth.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
Page Content

Great Bay, Sint Maarten 





Twenty-four tenants of Buildings C, D, E and F of Low Estate, Belvedere received the keys to their apartments in a Key Giving Ceremony hosted by the Minister VROMI Egbert J Doran and the Sint Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) on January 10, 2023. The keys were the second set handed over, following the finalization of Buildings A & B in October. Some of these units catered to the differently abled residents whose homes were modified to accommodate their accessibility needs. Concerning the handover ceremony, Minister Doran said, 'This is a great feeling to finally have the residents back in their homes. They (residents) were ecstatic as well to be back in their homes.

According to Minister Doran, this is the first time since the initial construction of the buildings in Belvedere that they have received such a major overhaul. I would like to thank all the stakeholders involved, namely the Dutch Trust fund that is managed by the World Bank, the Ministry of VROMI, the NRPB staff, and every single stakeholder. A special mention must be given to the Sint Maarten Housing Development Foundation for the hard work that they put into making this a reality.

The renovation and repairs to sixty-four (64) apartment units in the six residential towers officially began on January 26, 2022. To date, all 64 units have been completely renovated and returned to the residents while some others have received minor repairs and maintenance work. There are greater things to come. I mentioned that 2023 is a year of change and forward movement. That is the intention and the commitment from the Ministry of VROMI, stated Minister Doran.

Based on a budget of almost US $5.5 million, the planned works include structural repairs, roof, and electrical work, and installation of doors, windows, ceiling tiles, and plumbing fixtures.




Thirteen inquests into deaths in Northern Irelands troubled past are set to take place in the next four months.

They will probe some of the most infamous atrocities that took place in the region, including the shooting of five people, including a priest and three teenagers at Springhill in west Belfast in July 1972.

Last year a long-running inquest into the shooting of 10 people in Ballymurphy in 1971 found they were all innocent victims.

It also concluded that the Army was responsible for nine of the 10 deaths, with not enough evidence to determine who fired the shot which killed the tenth victim.

The latest inquests, which include a number of deaths in which the army are believed to have been involved, are progressing while a proposed UK government Bill aims to end legal proceedings concerning Troubles-related conduct.

The inquests are part of a plan to progress more than 50 investigations involving 93 deaths between the 1970s and 2000 that had been mired in the coronial system for years.

Inquests due to start in January include a probe into the killing of three IRA men in Coagh, Co Tyrone in 1991, the shooting of 14-year-old Dessie Healey in west Belfast in 1971, the death of John Moran in the Kellys Bar bombing in 1972 and the killing of John McKearney and his nephew Kevin McKearney and married couple Charlie and Tess Fox in two separate loyalist attacks in Moy, Co Tyrone in 1992.

The first inquest into the death of Fergal McCusker from Maghera, believed to have been killed by the LVF in 1998, is also to open in January.

Two inquests are due to open in February. They will be probes into the killing of Hugh Gerard Coney as he tried to escape the Long Kesh internment camp in 1974, and the Springhill shootings.

An inquest into the killing of Sam Marshall outside Lurgan police station in 1990 is scheduled for March, while five inquests are planned to take place in April.

These include an inquest into the deaths of William Fleming and Danny Doherty who were shot dead in the grounds of the Gransha Hospital in Derry in 1984, and an inquest into the death of Seamus Dillon who was killed outside the Glengannon Hotel in Dungannon, Co Tyrone in 1997.

The other inquests to be heard in April include probes into the deaths of four IRA members killed in Clonoe, Co Tyrone in 1992 and the killing of Francis Bradley in Co Derry in 1986.

Meanwhile, the Lady Chief Justices office said three inquests have concluded with findings awaited in two and the outcome of a legal challenge pending in the other.

Those inquests are into the killing of Francis Rowntree in west Belfast in 1992, the killing of 10 protestant workmen by the Provisional IRA at Kingsmill in Co Armagh in 1976 and the killing of Leo Norney in west Belfast in 1975.

An inquest into the killing of Patrick Crawford in the grounds of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast has commenced and has been adjourned with a new date to be fixed.

Meanwhile, 19 inquests have yet to listed, but preparatory work is ongoing in a number of these cases, the Lady Chief Justices office added.

Work continues amid uncertainty over whether all the inquests will be heard before the governments legacy Bill is brought into law.

The controversial legacy legislation, which has been opposed by victims groups and most political parties, is continuing through Parliament.

The draft Bill would offer immunity from prosecution for people accused of Troubles offences as long as they co-operate with a new truth recovery body, and also halt future civil cases and inquests linked to killings during the conflict.
New Delhi: Havmor Ice Cream, a subsidiary of the South Korean company Lotte Confectionary Ltd., on Tuesday said it is set to invest 450 crore over a five-year period to ramp up capacity in the country.

As part of the investment, Havmor Ice Cream will set up a new manufacturing facility at MIDC Talegaon, Pune. This facility will be the brands first ever Korean technology-based facility in India. The facility that will be fully functional in 2024, will be made on a total area of 60,000 sq m leased from MIDC; it will significantly" ramp up the companys production capacity.

To be sure, in December 2017, Lotte Confectionery acquired Havmor Ice Cream for 1,000 crore. Havmor Ice Cream is present in over 20 states and operates 216 exclusive ice cream parlours in India. Lotte sells the popular Choco Pie apart from other confectionery and chocolate brands.

Lotte sees India as a strategic market and this investment decision demonstrates the confidence that the group has on the growth opportunity India has to offer," said Komal Anand, managing director, Havmor Ice Cream.

The Pune facility will help the company expand its market share in South India as well as expand presence in western parts of the country. The facility will be an addition to Havmor Ice Creams existing manufacturing units in Ahmedabad and Faridabad.

India is an important market for Lotte, said Choi, Chief Globalization Officer, Lotte Confectionery Korea.

We are very excited to announce our first ever ice cream facility built with Korean expertise in manufacturing, supply chain metrics & processing in India. The new plant will be instrumental in strengthening and growing the brands reach in India," he said.

With the new facility, Havmor Ice Cream will generate employment opportunities for 1,000 people from the communities around.

Havmor, sells a range of ice-cream in over 20 states, with a network of over 60,000 dealers and 216 flagship parlors.
Delhi Police is hunting for four terror suspects, besides the two who were arrested last week from the Jahangirpuri area in the national capital, sources said on Tuesday.

The terror suspects received weapons from Pakistan through the drop-dead method and were in contact with their handlers on the other side of the border through a social media application, according to Delhi Police Special Cell sources as quoted by news agency ANI.

This came after two terrorists were arrested from the Jahangirpuri area in Delhi earlier in January who, according to the police, were tasked to carry out the targeted attacks in various states.

Police got information about the involvement of eight persons in the module. Presently, police suspect the possible presence of four suspects in India. The weapons recovered from the terrorists were found at an unknown location in Uttarakhand which is now being verified, sources told ANI.

Meanwhile, the two terror suspects arrested from Delhi's Jahangirpuri on Thursday were assigned to carry out targeted killings of rightwing leaders on January 27 and January 31, sources claimed.

The Delhi Police had earlier said it arrested two 'suspicious' men and recovered two hand grenades from their house in the Bhalswa Dairy area of Jahangirpuri.

The Special cell of the Delhi Police had arrested the two suspects -- identified as Jagjit Singh (29) and Naushad (56). They were produced before the Patiala House Court on Friday and sent to police remand for 14 days, ANI reported.

(More details are awaited)
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for sincere talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on burning points like Kashmir. He made the statement in an interview with Dubai-based AI Arabiya TV on Monday

Pakistan has learned its lesson after three wars with India and now it wants peace with its neighbor. My message to the Indian leadership and PM Modi is that let's sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning points like Kashmir," Sharif said as quoted by news agency ANI.

According to PM Sharif, the three wars between India and Pakistan have only brought misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people. Currently, Pakistan in battling a severe economic crisis, public discontent against the ruling regime due to flour crisis and fuel shortage among others.

"We are neighbors. Let's be very blunt, even if we are not neighbors by choice we are there for ever and it is up to us to live peacefully and progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and resources," he added.

He has also brought up the issue of Kashmir, saying that Pakistan wants peace and what is happening there should be stopped, as per ANI reports.

"Pakistan does not want to waste resources on bombs and ammunition. We are nuclear powers, armed to the teeth, and if God forbids, a war breaks out, who will live to tell what happened?" he said.

In last November, India had lashed out at Pakistan for raking up the issue of Kashmir during a United Nations debate terming it as desperate attempts to peddle falsehoods.

Pratik Mathur, Permanent Mission of India to UN had earlier said, A representative of Pakistan has yet again made unwarranted references to Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir remains an integral and inalienable part of India irrespective of what Pakistan's representative believes."

Pakistan Foreign Affairs Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had spoken about alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. India's response to Pakistan's claims came during a key UN General Assembly meeting on the United Nations Security Council.

(With ANI inputs)
Business leaders and economists gathered here this week for the World Economic Forums annual event say they see the world buffeted by inflation and the high interest rates that central banks have pushed through to combat itand the threat of recession as those rates choke at least some demand. That is leading some of the worlds biggest companies to hold their breathand their spendingahead of an uncertain year.

The question they are raising is whether rising inflation, sparked in part by Russias invasion of Ukraine, has peaked. That could, as some business leaders hope, presage a soft economic landing. Alternatively, another rise in interest rates could lead to a more prolonged downturn.

Many businesses are cutting costsand in some cases jobsto be prudent, several business leaders said. But a number are also holding out hope that they wont need to cut too deeply to take advantage of what some expect could be a rebound this year if major economies skirt a recession.

The mood is somber," said Nick Studer, CEO of the Oliver Wyman Group consultancy, who has attended meetings in Davos for years. At the same time, youve got a lot of people hoping that the U.S. and the U.K. environmentif its recessionaryis either short or shallow."

Whether the U.S. dips into a recession this year remains an open question, many business leaders say. Executives have been preparing for the possibility for months, even as consumer spending has remained fairly strong and the unemployment rate stood at a historically low 3.5% in December.

I havent heard in 30 years being in business of people talking about the recession for so long," said Christophe Beck, chairman and chief executive officer of Ecolab Inc., a provider of services and products used in water treatment, cleaning and infection prevention. We will get ready for it in a way and it might not even happen."

Business leaders also are watching a handful of risks that could reset their calculus. Those include the potential for conflict between China and the U.S. over Taiwan and the possibility of an impasse in the divided U.S. Congress over raising the countrys debt ceilingthreatening a U.S. government default.

Issues that caused headaches for business leaders throughout the pandemic, such as supply-chain snarls or construction delays, arent fully resolved, either, said Stanley Bergman, CEO of dental-products supplier Henry Schein Inc.

Managing through the current economic climate is also complicated by the fact that some in business have little experience operating in periods of rising interest rates.

If you talk to people on Wall Street who are 35 years and younger, they think its the end of the world," Mr. Bergman said. You talk to people 50 and over, weve been through this many times."

Wage inflation is also stabilizing, making it less of an issue than earlier in the pandemic, said Annette Clayton, chief executive of North American operations at Schneider Electric SE, a Europe-headquartered energy-management and automation company. A slowdown in hiring in tech has also made it easier for other companies to woo workers, she added.

Youre competing a lot less with an Amazon factory, Amazon distribution center than you were just a year ago," Ms. Clayton said.

In talking with clients, executives at McKinsey & Co. say they have noticed a shift. Last summer, with high oil prices and inflation rippling through the economy, many business leaders considered whether they should pause some projects and priorities, said Bob Sternfels, the firms global managing partner. The sentiment now is: I have to move," Mr. Sternfels said. Many want to take action to seize on new technology or respond to climate change, he said.

Some see the downturn getting worseparticularly for big tech companies that grew into juggernauts in a free-money era and are now pivoting to austerity and layoffs. Those companies are striking a more subdued tone at Davos this year.

Davos was built on the idea that the world was getting better and more global and more honest and more tolerant and the economy worked better because of that," said Alex Karp, chief executive of Palantir Technologies Inc. Well, it doesnt look like were living there anymore," he said, adding that you see the results of that in firing and restructuring."

Though political tensions remain between Washington and Beijing, some executives say they have underappreciated how Chinas reopening could help their businesses. Those with operations on the ground in China have expressed optimism to peers that results there this year could be better than forecast. There is without doubt a view that China will open up faster than some people anticipated," said Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman at professional-services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, who has had conversations with executives across industries in recent days.

At the same time, many executives realize that war in Ukraine and other geopolitical issues remain out of their control. That gets them down," Mr. Ryan said.

Not all executives hold a dour outlook about the global economy at the annual confab. The economies of India and countries in the Middle East are performing well, and in the U.S., unemployment remains low and many households are still able to book flights and travel, said C.P. Gurnani, chief executive of India-based information-technology company Tech Mahindra Ltd. Mr. Gurnani said he traveled to Europe expecting people to be more downbeat about their economic prospects, but its not that negative."

I think we are talking ourselves into recession," he said. I look at the data, and its not bad."

Bowdeya Tweh and Greg Ip contributed to this article.
DAVOS (SWITZERLAND) : Microsoft Corp. plans to incorporate artificial-intelligence tools like ChatGPT into all of its products and make them available as platforms for other businesses to build on, Chief Executive Satya Nadella said.
In 2023 Israel introduced another upgrade for its Spyder (Surface-to-air PYthon and DERby) mobile air defense system that enables the Derby LR missile to intercept ballistic missiles. Spyder entered service in 2005. Spyder was initially available as a truck mounted version where one or more trucks carried a launcher (with four missiles) and another truck carried the radar and fire control system. In 2016 the Israeli manufacturer of Spyder revealed an even more mobile version that uses tracked vehicles instead of wheeled ones. Each tracked vehicle carries four missiles plus the radar and fire control system.

Spyder launchers can carry either the Python 5 heat seeking missile (3.2 meters/ten feet long, 105 kg/231 pounds, with a range of 15 kilometers) or the Derby radar guided missile (3.6 meter/11.2 feet long, 121.4 kg/267 pounds, with a range of 35 kilometers). The Derby is actually a larger Python, with more fuel and a radar-controlled guidance system. Python has an 11 kg (23 pound) warhead while the one on Derby is 23 kg (51 pound). The Israeli Spyder radar system has a maximum range of 110 kilometers. The missiles can hit targets as high as 16,000 meters (51,000 feet) and as low as 20 meters (63 feet). Spyder can be used with other radar systems as well as a variety of truck models. Only the Derby is capable of intercepting missiles, and then only short-range ones.

Spyder is regularly upgraded as there are improvements in the Derby and Python missiles as well as associated radar and control systems. The new ABM (anti-ballistic missile) upgrade is typical of the numerous improvements introduced since 2005.

So far Spyder has been sold to ten (UAE, Ethiopia, Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, Philippines, India, Vietnam, Georgia, Peru and Singapore) export customers but not the Israeli military. Israel depends on Iron Dome and Davids Sling (an improved Patriot system) as well as the Arrow (for defense against long range ballistic missiles). Spyder is a budget system that can handle most aerial threats that Iron Dome and Davids sling deal with in Israel. Iron Dome has not been exported because it specializes in intercepting unguided rockets fired from Gaza or Lebanon.
Commissioners approved resolutions during last Wednesday's meeting to fund legal fees for the county commission and County Attorney Rheubin Taylor but excluded County Mayor Weston Wamp's office.
The HSE chief executive has said his preference was to encourage health workers to stay in Ireland rather than force them, because that brings its own problems.

High demand for emergency care in Ireland has prompted debate on how to retain staff.

A Canadian health minister is travelling to Irish cities this week as part of a recruitment drive to encourage its citizens to return  and answer questions Irish doctors may have about emigrating.

Fianna Fail TD Cathal Crowe asked whether nurses and doctors should be mandated to stay after graduating from medical or nursing school, adding that he didnt want a stick approach, I want more of a carrot approach.

The HSEs Stephen Mulvany responded: Our preference, like yourself, is to encourage them rather than force them, because that brings its own problems.

We know we are losing too many, were not retaining sufficient numbers, and were trying to work on how do you encourage staff to (stay), including by getting the staffing levels increased and by training more, Stephen Mulvany told TDs and senators.

"We dont always know whos at risk from COVID-19 and other viruses but we do know how to protect them.Stay at home if you are unwell.#StaySafe https://t.co/exwkqHde9E pic.twitter.com/0xlq5YoBkZ  HSE Ireland (@HSELive) January 17, 2023

The interim chief executive of the HSE apologised to people who have been forced to wait on trolleys for hospital care this winter, while emphasising that similar pressures are in other countries due to the flu, RSV and Covid.

Mr Mulvany and other representatives of the HSE appeared before the Oireachtas Health Committee on Tuesday as the demand for emergency care surged to record highs in recent weeks.

As of Tuesday, the INMO said it counted 561 people waiting on trolleys, while the HSE recorded a 26% increase in people waiting to be admitted to emergency departments compared to the same time last year.

Mr Mulvany said that flu trends were giving indications that its peaked, and that it would remain high for a number of other weeks before it starts to come down.

Dr Colm Henry, HSE chief clinical officer, told the committee the flu season this year started earlier, its been climbing for longer, and its peaked higher than any for many years.

Flu seasons can go on not just to February/ March, but sometimes to early April.

So while it seems to have peaked now, and itll take another week before were certain that its peaked, it will take some time before those flu figures fall down, along with Covid-19, to the levels where unscheduled-care pressures that we witnessed the past few weeks wont be nearly as severe.

Mr Mulvany said that while the pressure on GPs is bad every winter, it has been more severe this winter due to RSV and Covid.

When asked whether the HSEs response to the pressures in recent weeks was urgent enough, he said: I wouldnt accept the response was lacklustre.

In fairness, a number of other jurisdictions are experiencing very similar issues. We put in place a winter plan. What we are currently experiencing, as I said, is in excess of the most pessimistic modelling we had in our plan.

Mr Mulvany said he could not give a guarantee that no-one had died as a result of the recent pressures on hospital.

I cant give you a certainty on that because I dont have certainty on that, he said, repeating previous comments on deaths as a result of the hundreds of people waiting daily for hospital admission.

What we have certainly on is that health systems across the world, it can lead to patients suffering avoidable preventable harm, in some cases death. And we also know that delays to admission are associated with excess mortality.

In response to Labour senator Annie Hoeys question on whether a conservative estimate of 50 people a week are dying as a result of admission delays, Mr Mulvany said those figures were based on a large NHS study that indicated for every 82 delays of over five to 12 hours for admission, it was associated with excess death.

What could you say to anyone whose loved ones are caught up in it? What else could you say other than: Its just completely unacceptable? But our words are going to be meaningless to anyone in that situation, in fairness, he added.

Mr Mulvany is in situ until the new CEO of the HSE  Bernard Gloster, former CEO of the child and family agency Tusla, takes up his role in the coming weeks.

Dr Henry had said the HSE had been emphasising advice for people to wear masks, but said that peoples acceptance of that advice has waned as the worst of the pandemic passed over.

But what theyve experienced in the past few weeks shows how important that public health advice is  that prevention is actually much more effective than the treatment of problems once they emerge.

Responding to questions from Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan, Mr Mulvany said that he himself has sat in Temple Street (childrens hospital) myself with young children for far too many hours, so we agree thats not acceptable.
The number of workers enrolled in the Near Zero Energy Building and Retrofit upskilling programmes has jumped from 363 in 2020 to a record 2,034 in 2022.

This has been described as a major advance in creating new green jobs and as an important step towards halving Irelands carbon emissions by 2030.

Near Zero Energy Buildings are so energy efficient that their net energy usage is nearly zero and use renewable sources as their dominant energy source.

The government has set a target to retrofit 500,000 homes by 2030 and 29m was allocated to retrofitting skills training programmes in March 2022 as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Eamon Ryan TD praised the success of the courses: This year the government met our target to retrofit 27,000 homes and next year we will retrofit 37,000 homes. People across the country are seizing this opportunity to make their homes warmer, healthier and cheaper to run. Im delighted to see such a strong uptake of skilled people to meet this demand.

Not only does this save people money and make their homes more comfortable, it also provides thousands of workers with valuable green skills that will provide them with a career for years to come. Green jobs are sustainable jobs for the long-term.

The retrofitting training is provided in a number of further education facilities including Centres of Excellence in Cork, Mayo, Wexford, Offaly and Limerick, with further provision later this year and in 2024. The courses are free with flexible schedules including evening and weekend classes.

Francis Noel Duffy TD, Green Party Spokesperson for Housing, said: Retrofitting is both an important economic activity, and critical in meeting Irelands climate targets. As we move forward with the housing challenge, it is essential that we encourage environmentally responsible and sustainable builds. These schemes will make homes more energy efficient and reduce household bills, benefitting both the environment and people struggling with the rising cost of living. These free, flexible courses allow people to learn new skills quickly and the surge in participants shows how valued the courses are.
Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: January 17 2023

We're honored to host such a distinguished individual as Prof. Mayewski to present such an exceptional educational opportunity, said the Observatory's Director Donna L. McCormick.

Hamptons Observatory (HO) has teamed up with Suffolk County Community College to present a free, virtual lecture by multi-disciplinary scientist, climatologist, polar explorer and Director of the University of Maines Institute for Climate Change, Prof. Paul Andrew Mayewski.

We're honored to host such a distinguished individual as Prof. Mayewski and to collaborate with one of Long Islands prominent academic institutions to present such an exceptional educational opportunity, said Donna L. McCormick, Hamptons Observatory's Executive Director. She went on to say Prof. Mayewski has made highly significant contributions to science that will affect policy and, therefore, our planet for generations to come.

Sean Tvelia, Academic Chair of Physical Sciences at Suffolk County Community College and a founding Board member of Hamptons Observatory, agrees with McCormick: Were honored and deeply grateful to Prof. Mayewski for taking the time to share his personal and professional insights intothese vital concerns.

About the lecture

Journey Into Climate covers over five decades of expeditions filled with adventure, exploration, discovery, and contributions to the understanding of climate change. The story is told through the personal experiences of the internationally-acclaimed glaciologist, climate scientist, and polar explorer, Paul Andrew Mayewski. Prof. Mayewski and his teams have traveled throughout Antarctica, the Himalayas, Greenland, the Andes, and the Southern Ocean in search of answers to how and why climate changes. By living and working in some of earths most remote places, their journey not only documents the role played by past changes but sheds light on the transition from a gradualist to a fast-changing physical and chemical climate system in which human activity goes from having a relatively minor to a remarkably consequential impact. The lessons learned are now clear: we have entered the age of climate decision where our actions will define the course of civilization and the health of our planet.

In this virtual presentation, which will begin at 7:00 PM. on February 2, 2023. Sean Tvelia will introduce Prof. Mayewski.

Admission is free but reservations are required: https://journeyintoclimate.eventbrite.com

More about Prof. Mayewski

Prof. Paul Andrew Mayewski is an internationally-acclaimed glaciologist, climate scientist, polar explorer and Director of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine, where he is also a Distinguished Professor in the Schools of Earth Sciences, Marine Sciences, Policy and International Affairs, as well as in the Business and Law Schools. He has led more than 60 expeditions to the remotest polar and the high elevations of the planet resulting in transformative contributions to climate science. In 2019, he led the placement of the highest automatic weather station on Mt. Everest. Prof. Mayewski has received several prestigious international awards, and has made numerous scientific discoveries. He has made hundreds of media appearances including several on the CBS show, 60 Minutes, and the Emmy Award-Winning documentary series, Years of Living Dangerously. Prof. Mayewski has authored more than 500 scientific articles and has published two popular books: The Ice Chronicles and Journey into Climate.

More about the significance of this event

It is the mission of Hamptons Observatory to bring knowledge-enriching events to our community for the benefit of all, but especially to educate and inspire the youth of this and future generations. Prof. Mayewski is in a unique position to do both. His research is enlightening and has impacted environmental policy around the world. His life is inspirational not only because of his achievements, but also because of the exciting adventures he has hadwhile doing such significant work. As former U.S. President, Barack Obama said We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it. It is our hope that a lecture such as this one will touch all bases:educate, inspire and, by so doing, get something done said Donna L. McCormick, Hamptons Observatory Executive Director. Hamptons Observatory is deeply grateful to Prof. Mayewski and to our co-host, Suffolk County Community College.

About Hamptons Observatory
(Alliance News) - Inchcape PLC on Tuesday announced a joint venture agreement with the Cats Group of Companies in the Philippines, including the acquisition of a controlling stake in Cats.

The London-based automotive distributor said the agreement will expand the company's distribution footprint into the Philippines, building on its "well-established" presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cats is the leading luxury vehicle distributor in the Philippines, according to Inchcape.

The company said the joint venture will strengthen its partnerships with Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Jaguar and Land Rover.

Inchcape will acquire a 60% stake in Cats, with the remainder remaining under the ownership of the founding Ang family and its associates. Felix Ang will represent the family on the Cats board.

The deal, which Inchcape said is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023, could add about GBP120 million of annualised revenue, and improve the UK group's overall operating margin.

Inchcape Apac Chief Executive Officer Ruslan Kinebas said: "The Ang family has built long-standing successful relationships with its OEM brand partners and its customers. We are looking forward to building on their achievements and accelerating the company's digitalisation journey, driving the business to further success.

"This acquisition is a significant milestone for Inchcape in Apac and an excellent example of our 'accelerate' strategy in action; extending our global distribution leadership by expanding our [original equipment manufacturer] brand footprint in markets where vehicle penetration is low but expected to grow quickly."

Inchcape shares were down 0.3% trading at 923.00 pence per share on Tuesday morning in London.

By Harvey Dorset, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers among London Main Market small-caps on Tuesday.

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SMALL-CAP - WINNERS

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National World PLC, up 24% at 22.96 pence, 12-month range 14.90p - 30.80p. Proposes a maiden dividend in conjunction with the release of its full-year results on March 16, thanks to its 2022 performance and a strong outlook. The Leeds-based multi-media company said it expects revenue in 2022 to be no less than GBP84.0 million. In 2021, revenue totalled GBP86.0 million. National World said the revenue performance was underpinned by robust digital revenue growth of 25% against the previous year. Full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is expected at no less than GBP9.4 million, which would be down from GBP10.1 million the year prior.

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Esken Ltd, up 6.0% at 5.51 pence, 12-month range 4.41p - 14.98p. The aviation and energy infrastructure firm announces a multi-year agreement with low-cost airline easyJet to operate from London Southend Airport. It explains the agreement allows easyJet to develop its network and capacity at London Southend Airport, including a newly announced route from London Southend to Amsterdam. This route will operate up to four times a week from May 24. It will be the fourth destination easyJet serves from London Southend. Esken says that easyJet also has announced up to an additional four flights a week to Faro, Portugal.

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SMALL-CAP - LOSERS

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Grand Vision Media Holdings PLC, down 27% at 3.99 pence, 12-month range 0.10p - 8.95p. The Hong Kong-based out-of-home advertising and digital marketing company notes the movement in its share price and confirms it knows of no commercial or operation reason for the change. Adds it continues to navigate through the disruption caused by Covid, which it notes have been more pronounced in China due to the lifting of restrictions. Firm is working towards finalising its full-year results which are due to be released before April 30.

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By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Experian PLC on Tuesday said it delivered a financial third-quarter performance in line with expectations thanks to new products, new business wins and consumer expansion.

The consumer credit checker said organic revenue growth in the three months ended December 31 was 6% from a year prior, and total revenue growth was 7%.

The climbing revenue was due to 16% growth in Latin America and 5% growth in North America. Meanwhile, in UK & Ireland, quarterly organic revenue grew by 6%, while the Europe, Middle East & Africa & Asia Pacific region revenue increased by 1%.

For total revenue at actual exchange rates, Latin America was up 21% and North America was 5% higher, while UK & Ireland revenue was 7% lower, amid a 10% decline in EMEA & Pacific revenue.

Experian said, in Latin America, it benefited from acquisitions in consumer services and new bureaux in Chile and Panama, amid business-to-business revenue growth of 11% in the region.

North America constitutes 68% of the company's revenue, Latin America 14%, UK & Ireland 12% and EMEA & Pacific 6%.

"While pressures in the global economy are likely to continue for some time, we expect to remain resilient, supported by the delivery of our growth strategy and growth in countercyclical revenue streams," it said.

For financial year 2023, ending March 31, Experian left its expectations for revenue unchanged at growth between 8% and 10%.

The company will release its financial year 2023 results on May 17.

Experian shares were 1.0% lower at 2,926.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance news) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Ltd - London-based income fund - Reports a net asset value per share of 93.71 pence each as at December 31, up 0.5% from 93.25 pence each on November 30. "As the company is approximately 100% currency hedged, it does not expect to realise any material FX gains or losses over the life of its investments. However, the company's NAV may include unrealised short-term FX gains or losses, driven by differences in the valuation methodologies of its FX hedges and the underlying investments - such movements will typically reverse over time," it says.

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Revolution Bars Group PLC - Ashton-under-Lyne, England-based bar chain - In the first half of 2022, reports like-for-like sales 9.4% below the same period pre-pandemic. As a result, the board reassess its expectations for financial 2023, which ends in June, assuming that industrial action subsides and energy prices hold at their current levels. It now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the year lower than previously anticipated. Anticipates the figure at the bottom end of market expectations, which it puts between GBP6.7 million to GBP10.5 million. More positively, in the Christmas trading period, sees like-for-like sales rise by double-digits against the previous year thanks to strong corporate party bookings. Like-for-like sales grow by 17% in the five weeks to December 31. The Christmas trading period was hurt by industrial action across the UK, Revolution Bars adds.

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Medica Group PLC - Hastings, England-based company which provides services such as x-ray and MRI scan analysis to hospitals - Says it has had a strong performance for the second half of 2022, driven by UK Elective revenue returning to expected levels due to a "strong recovery in radiologist reporting capacity from September onwards". Overall, group revenue amounts to GBP77.0 million for 2022, in line with market expectations, up 24% year-on-year. Gross margins remain resilient at 48%. Expects underlying operating profit to be in line with market expectations.

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Naked Wines PLC - Norwich-based online wine seller - Expects adjusted earnings before interest and tax for financial 2023 to be in the range of GBP13 million to GBP17 million at the top end of expectations. This is up from previous guidance of GBP9 million to GBP13 million. Reports solid third quarter trading performance with flat reported revenue compared to the prior year.

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National World PLC - Leeds-based multimedia company - Proposes a maiden dividend in conjunction with the release of its full-year results on March 16, thanks to its 2022 performance and a strong outlook. Expects revenue in 2022 to be no less than GBP84.0 million. In 2021, revenue totalled GBP86.0 million. National World says the revenue performance was underpinned by robust digital revenue growth of 25% against the previous year. Full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is expected at no less than GBP9.4 million, which would be down from GBP10.1 million the year prior.

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By Xindi Wei, Alliance News reporter

Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Britain's top diplomat said Tuesday that talks with the EU had made improvements in a row over Northern Ireland that has triggered a political crisis.

Britain on leaving the EU agreed to a protocol that lets Northern Ireland remain in the EU common market  avoiding the reimposition of a hard border in Ireland that could have scuttled the peace that has largely prevailed since the 1998 Good Friday accord.

But disagreements on the implementation over trade prompted pro-UK parties to walk out of the Northern Ireland assembly last year and there has been no breakthrough on restoring a power-sharing government ahead of a Thursday deadline.

On a visit to the US, which champions the Good Friday agreement, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly indicated progress but declined to predict if institutions would be up and running again by the accord's 25th anniversary in April.

"The conversation is happening in good faith, very discreetly and that discretion I think has helped us make real improvements," Cleverly said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"We want to get this result as soon as possible," he said.

Cleverly a day earlier held new virtual talks with the EU on the protocol. A week earlier, the two sides said they had reached an agreement regarding information technology systems.

The Conservative diplomat voiced solidarity for Northern Ireland businesses which say they are having trouble buying from the British mainland.

"This is about making sure that a part of my country is able to be a meaningful part of my country. Northern Ireland is part of the UK," he said.

source: AFP

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - The top UK diplomat warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that Britain will support Ukraine until they win the war, after Moscow was angered by London's decision to send tanks.

"The message we're sending to Putin  and, frankly, anyone else that cares to be watching  is that we made a commitment to support Ukrainians until they are victorious," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on a visit to Washington.

"What Putin should understand is we are going to have the strategic endurance to stick with them until the job is done and the best thing that he can do to preserve the lives of his own troops is to recognize that," he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Cleverly, who will later Tuesday hold talks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, is visiting the US and Canada after Britain became the first country to meet Ukraine's request for Western heavy tanks.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his government would provide 14 Challenger 2 tanks.

European countries have previously supplied Kyiv with modernized versions of Soviet tanks and the US and France have committed to lighter versions, with Washington sending Bradley armored vehicles.

Cleverly said that Britain decided to send tanks to the Ukrainians because "what we recognize they need is the ability to push back hard in the east and the in the south," areas which Russia has tried to seize since its invasion launched nearly 11 months ago.

Cleverly said that Britain was committed to looking at other assistance to Ukraine as its needs evolve.

source: AFP

Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Turkey wants to stuff Mallorca this summer after a massive fall in Russian tourists which has left its hotels almost empty and the Turkish tourist industry has gone in search of new markets. The Turkish government is also helping. As one British travel source said, Turkey has plenty of new hotels and holiday bargains will be on offer. Tourism is vital to the Turkish economy.

Steve Heapy, Chief Executive of British travel giant Jet2, told Bulletin Online that Mallorca should be concerned and he added that this summer, more than ever, price would be key. So far the alarm bells are not ringing in Mallorca with Jet2 announcing a six percent increase in aircraft seats to the Balearics for summer 2023, with 259 weekly departures from 10 UK airports. They will be operating out of 565 hotels and have 276 villas. Mallorca takes the lions share of the Jet2 market with 146 weekly flights during the summer months.

Jet2 is upbeat about the prospects for summer 2023 and they are now the leading tour firm in the Mediterranean. This week they gathered in Madrid to celebreate 20 years in Spain.
Will you still holiday in Mallorca, even if you have to pay an extra 6.20 for a ETIAS visa?

From the end of this year, UK travellers looking to go to certain countries will need to get a ETIAS visa. The changes mean an extra 6.20 will be added to the cost of travel. The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will be a mandatory requirement for many travellers going to Schengen member states. They include countries like Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Italy and more.
Form 5695 is used to apply for tax deduction of certain residential energy credits, there are a couple that are deductible in 2023. The ones that you need to file are generally used in either big or small businesses. However, there are some energy credits that apply for tax deduction and two of them are worth looking at. These two apply for 2023 and will help your tax filing become a little less stressful. Using Form 5695 has become a tradition amongst folks who use renewable energy on their day-to-day whether it's business or at home. Take a look at the two credits that do apply for 2023.

The nonbusiness energy property credit

This one provides a nonrefundable personal tax credit for federal income tax purposes. It applies for making a home energy efficient through the usage of solar panels or other energy-saving components that don't affect the environment as much as other means. A credit that was added to the Internal Revenue Code by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and remained active until 2017. It was also extended in 2018 and 2019 but hasn't been active for the last three years. This credit's limit goes up to $500 and those eligible must have placed their energy-saving component in service before December 31, 2022.

The residential energy efficient property credit

This credit offers the tax payer a credit claim of 30% of qualified expenditures for a system that serves a dwelling unit located anywhere in the United States. It only applies when used inside a residence of any tax payer. If this installation is at a new home, the 'place in service' date is when the home owner first started living at the residence. However, the excess amount could be carried forward to the succeeding taxable year if the federal tax credit exceeds tax liability. Maximum allowable credit, equipment requirements and other details vary by technology.
MBABANE  Civil servants salaries will remain the same even in the next financial year as the salary review timelines have to be shifted.

This comes after Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service, Sipho Tsabedze, in a letter dated January 12, 2023, told the public sector unions (PSUs) secretariat that following the advert that was issued on November 22, 2022, where firms were invited to show interest in conducting the salary review exercise, there were no service providers who showed interest in the tender. Tsabedze said they would re-advertise the tender with the hope that this time around, firms would show interest.

Process

The PS explained that since the tendering process had started afresh, it would not follow the initial timelines but it would be shifted. He said the reason they would not force the consultant to stick to the initial timelines, was because they did not want to rush the exercise as it was bulky. The salary review exercise is bulky, therefore, we will not rush the consultant to finish the exercise, he said. Tsabedze said the consultant that would eventually be engaged would be given enough time to conduct the exercise. He said the exercise was scheduled to take 12 months and that would be the case even with the consultant that would be engaged after the re-advertisement. The PS said for that reason, the findings or recommendations of the exercise were likely not to be implemented in the next financial year as the consultant would be busy with the consultations.

The exercise includes job evaluation, which might result in some vacancies being scrapped, as well as the normal salary review. This means civil servants are likely to reap the fruits of the exercise after the next financial year. The PS explained that the tender would be advertised without any changes because the consensus they got was that firms missed the advert, not that they were unhappy with certain aspects of the tender. The agreement to conduct a salary review exercise was reached last year July during the Joint Negotiation Forum (JNF), which is formed by the Government Negotiating Team (GNT) and the four PSUs made up of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) and the Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP).

The salary review was eventually the first on the JNF agenda after the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commisions (CMAC) intervention. The PSUs leaders wanted the salary review to be first of the JNF agenda while the GNT prioritised cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA). The parties reached a deadlock and ended up at CMAC but were sent back to resolve the matter amicably, which saw the PSUs winning the order of the agenda items. Worth noting, the last salary review was in 2016 and was conducted by LCC Capital Consultant. The team leader was Enziwe Dube. Some of the findings of that review were not implemented and as a result they formed part of this years JNF. These included travelling and housing allowances adjustments.
The Air Force is temporarily moving fighter jets from Germany to Okinawa, Japan, after the Pentagon announced it was pulling older F-15 Eagles from Kadena Air Base in an attempt to bring more modern aircraft to the Pacific.

F-16 Fighting Falcons from the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, arrived at Kadena on Monday, even as the installation continues to slowly return its fleet of F-15C/D fighters to the United States.

The decision to move the fighter jets out of Europe comes as Russia's war in Ukraine continues.

Read Next: Air Force Returns Land Used for Apollo Program to State of Hawaii

David Ochmanek, a senior international and defense researcher at the nonprofit Rand Corp., told Military.com in an interview Tuesday that moving the F-16s out of Germany shouldnt meaningfully diminish the Air Force's presence around Ukraine.

"Although F-16s are going from Europe to Kadena, it doesn't mean there will be less U.S. combat airpower deployed in Europe," Ochmanek said. "The Air Force has been rotationally deploying squadrons to Europe since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and I think that's likely to continue for quite some time."

Last week in a meeting with Japan's ministers for foreign affairs and defense, the Pentagon and State Department announced a renewed alliance with the country; the U.S. and Japanese officials also reiterated their fears about China's military expansion in the Pacific.

Those announcements didnt include a specific change to U.S. forces stationed in Japan, and Mondays announcement from the Air Force described the repositioning as part of the Pentagons broader Asia strategy.

"As the F-16s begin operations, they too will integrate their unique strengths to help Team Kadena deter and, if necessary, prevail over acts of aggression that threaten peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific," the Air Force said Monday in a press release.

There have been notable recent provocations by China. On Dec. 21, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command issued a statement admonishing a Chinese fighter jet's "unsafe maneuver during an intercept" of an Air Force RC-135 Combat Sent aircraft in international airspace.

In August, China launched missile strikes near Taiwan during a military exercise shortly after a visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"The Ministers concurred that China's foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order to its benefit and to employ China's growing political, economic, military, and technological power to that end," the Pentagon said in a statement after last week's meeting. "This behavior is of serious concern to the Alliance and the entire international community, and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond."

Republican lawmakers publicly blasted the Pentagon's decision to replace the permanent F-15 fleets in Japan with rotational aircraft, namely F-16 and F-22 fighters sent for limited duration deployments, arguing it was not a wise move as tensions rise with China.

In November, Republican lawmakers -- led by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida -- asked the Pentagon to provide a briefing "articulating specific steps to replace the deterrent value and combat capability of any assets removed from the Indo-Pacific region, as well as the administration's plan to establish a force posture in the Indo-Pacific that would be resilient to a [Chinese] attack and capable of deterring an invasion of Taiwan."

That same month, F-22 Raptors assigned to the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, were moved to Japan shortly after Kadena announced it was removing its fleet of F-15s, many of which are upward of 30 years old.

"Modernizing our capabilities in the Indo-Pacific theater remains a top priority for the U.S.," the base said in an October press release. "This transition to more capable aircraft at Kadena exemplifies our continued commitment to enhancing our posture and building on the strong foundation of our Alliance with Japan."

Ochmanek told Military.com that the F-16s and F-22s are a "net gain in modernization" for Kadena. But he said arguments over which type of manned aircraft to send to the base ignore some of the larger problems, such as defending installations in Japan from Chinese missile attacks.

"Whether you've got an F-16 or F-15 or F-22 sitting at Kadena, they're all vulnerable to attack by Chinese missiles," Ochmanek said. "Arguments about the details of what manned aircraft are where, to me, are less interesting than how they're going to evolve the overall posture not just to Kadena but in the region."

The 52nd Fighter Wing did not detail how many F-16s were moved from Germany to Japan.

"We are excited to be here supporting our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region," Lt. Col. Shaun Loomis, 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander, said in Monday's press release. "We look forward to training and operating in this uniquely complex and strategically vital region."

-- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly.

Related: GOP Lawmakers Sound Alarm over Pulling F-15s from Japan
MANZINI - The member of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF) who was shot dead at Bulembu Army Base on Sunday morning, was the army base commander.

The deceased is Lance Corporal Zakhele Magwaza and he was reportedly killed on Sunday, at around 9am by three unknown gunmen who invaded Bulembu Army Base, which is under Nsingizini Army Barracks (Camp) in the Hhohho Region. The military man died five years before he reached his retirement age. He joined the army in 1978 and his regiment is Lusikinyane. This is according to the deceaseds elder brother, Sergeant Japhter, who is also a soldier under the Indlezane Regiment of 1977, which is also known as i-2000.

Chest

The elder brother, who was found at the deceaseds home at Luve under Mkhiweni Inkhundla in the Manzini Region, also revealed that the lance corporal was shot several times in the chest. However, he said they did not have the exact number of bullets which were lodged in his chest as they were still waiting for a formal report from the army. Japhter said the army had promised to visit the family today. He said according to their analysis, the brutal killing of their loved one was politically motivated. He said this was because if his killers were his enemies, they would have left a message or had a brief conversation with him before gunning him down. For example, he said they would have reminded him of the incident or day on which they became enemies.

In this case, he said the three unknown gunmen did not say a word. Instead, he said they opened fire at his unsuspecting brother, who was in a relaxed mood at the army base. In fact, these people are not political activists, but are what we refer to as tiphekula tikhuni or emavukelambuso (terrorists), the deceaseds elder brother said. He said this was because the killers had killed a family man for no apparent reason and without thinking about his innocent family, mainly the children, who would suffer after the death of their father. Again, he said as a soldier, he knew their tactic that if their target was a military man, they would attack him when he was relaxing and unsuspecting. He added that, just like they did to his brother, they would shoot him without saying a word that would alert him that he was under attack.

He said as a family, they were still shocked because the deceased was a peoples person, as apart from taking care of his family, he was contributing a lot to the community. Personally, the killers angingcunulile, angishiya nemtfwalo (left me with a huge load) to take care of my family and that of my brother. Lunya lolu (its meanness), he said. On another note, he said the deceased was survived by his wife and nine children, some of whom were still schooling.

Shocked

Mkhiweni Member of Parliament (MP) Michael Masuku said as a community, they were equally shocked when they received the sad news on Sunday afternoon. He said even though he was old, Magwaza was a sociable man. He said when he was at home, he used to spend time with community members at one of the car washes at Luve. He added that if there was a problem at Luve, mainly noise, they would call him to calm and resolve the matter. During the attack, it was reported that there were about two soldiers at the base and after gunning down Magwaza, who tried to run after being shot but fell, the shooters tried to shoot the other soldier, but failed. Thereafter, they fled the scene.

The gunmen were reportedly armed with a rifle and two pistols. There are also claims that they tried to search for the area where the army arsenals are kept within the base, before fleeing.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time an army base is attacked in the Hhohho Region as in December 2022, unknown gunmen opened fire at Zibonele Army Base. The base is situated near Eswatinis boundary with South Africa and it is an area usually used by dagga dealers to smuggle dagga into the neighbouring country. During the attack, several gunshots were fired at the camp, but no one was injured.
More than 300 acres of land on Molokai once used by the federal government to support Apollo space missions have been returned to the state after a years-long decommissioning.

The 363-acre parcel, owned by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and long leased to the U.S. Air Force, is expected to be made available to DHHL beneficiaries, most likely for ranching and possibly farming.

Gov. Josh Green announced the transfer Friday in his office's ceremonial room at the state Capitol following a mele honoring Molokai sung by kumu hula Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu.

Green described the deal as a relatively rare instance of the federal government relinquishing use of state land.

"How long has it been since land was given back? It's not very darn frequent, " he said.

The lease for the parcel in Hoolehua dates back to the 1960s when the Federal Aviation Administration used it for telecommunications facilities supporting the then-new Apollo missions. It later shifted to the Air Force in 1981 for high-frequency radio communications, according to Air Force Col. Michal Holliday, an installation and mission support commander at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Holliday said the Air Force determined in 2017 that it no longer needed the facility, and since then extensive work to remove facilities and clean up the site has been carried out under at least one extension of the lease that expired at the end of 2022.

The Air Force was paying $40,000 a year to use the land, Green said.

U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Mark Hashimoto, mobilization assistant to the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command directing all military operations in the region, said the military completed "an exhaustive and comprehensive cleanup " of the parcel with the approval of the state Department of Health and DHHL.

He also said the Department of Defense is grateful for the use of the parcel.

"Mahalo to the people of Hawaii, and a special mahalo to the people of Molokai, " he said during the announcement event.

Ikaika Anderson, DHHL's recently appointed director under the Green administration, which began in December, said he is thankful to receive the parcel back on behalf of the agency's beneficiaries.

"We are honored to have it back in our inventory again, " he said.

State Sen. Lynn DeCoite, a Molokai resident and farmer, said the parcel is ideal for grazing cattle and can support feedstock even during droughts.

"It provides us with opportunity, " said DeCoite (D, East and Upcountry Maui-Molokai-Lanai ). "It (enables Native Hawaiians ) to meet the vision of Kuhio to rehabilitate our Native Hawaiians."

Prince Jonah Kuhio Ka lanianaole is considered the author of the Hawaiian Homes program, and as Hawaii's then-nonvoting delegate helped Congress enact the program in 1921 to return Hawaiians to their ancestral lands.

In 1959 the state took over the program that affords beneficiaries, who must be at least 50 % Hawaiian, opportunities to receive 99-year land leases for $1 a year. Leases can be residential, agricultural or pastoral.

Beneficiaries pay for their own homes, but it is difficult to obtain land leases. About 28, 700 applicants are on a waitlist for homesteads.

On Molokai, DHHL owns about 26, 000 acres of land. About 19, 000 acres are for agricultural or pastoral use, with only 742 acres for residential homesteads including future development, according to the agency's most recent island plan.

According to DHHL's most recent annual report from 2021, the agency has 837 homestead leases on Molokai, of which 418 are agricultural, 392 are for residences and 27 are pastoral.

From 2005 to 2021, DHHL added only four homestead leases on Molokai, though the agency had a goal to develop and deliver at least 400 residential homesteads on the island by 2025, or an average of 20 lots per year.

The agency, which owns about 203, 000 acres statewide, has been hampered by relatively meager funding from the Legislature and high infrastructure costs to develop its land, which is often outside urban areas.

In 2022 lawmakers appropriated a historic $600 million for DHHL to serve more beneficiaries, largely with expanded homestead development.

The agency's plan to spend the $600 million includes two projects on Molokai20 residential lots and a 16-lot agricultural subdivisionprojected to cost $9.5 million.

Anderson said beneficiaries on Molokai will be consulted before deciding how to make the 363-acre parcel available for their use. A timetable for issuing leases has yet to be determined.

___

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A Navy training plane with two pilots aboard crashed near Foley, Alabama, the sea service confirmed in a statement Tuesday.

Lt. John Lobkowicz, a spokesman for the Navy, told Military.com that the plane -- a T6-B Texan II -- took off from Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida, on Tuesday morning. The two occupants, a Navy instructor pilot and a student aviator, were forced to eject at around 10:50 a.m. local time.

"The aircrew successfully ejected from the aircraft and are in the process of receiving medical attention," Lobkowicz said in an email, adding that "no significant injuries have been reported at this time."

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The T-6B Texan II is a two-seat turboprop used to train Navy and Marine Corps pilots in flight school. The Navy operates almost the entirety of its 245-plane fleet out of Whiting Field and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.

The current version of the aircraft entered service with the Navy in 2010, a relatively recent addition for the military services, which frequently rely on aircraft that are decades old. Textron, the company that makes the plane, announced in the fall of 2022 that it had made 1,000 of the trainers for "13 nations and two North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) flight schools."

The last time this plane model crashed was in 2020 when a T-6B also crashed in the same area of Alabama -- about 45 miles southwest of Whiting Field -- killing both pilots and starting a house fire.

Lobkowicz said the cause of Tuesday's crash is under investigation.

According to the most recently released safety statistics, the Navy suffered 11 "Class A" mishaps involving manned aircraft last year -- the highest total since 2014's 15 mishaps.

The services typically define a Class-A mishap as an incident where someone is killed or the damages exceed $2.5 million.

Tuesday's crash comes one month after a mishap with an F-35B Lightning II at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas. The pilot in that incident, an Air Force major who had been doing performance quality checks on behalf of the Defense Contract Management Agency, had to eject from the craft when a vertical landing attempt went haywire.

That jet had not yet been transferred to the government, according to the Pentagon. Deliveries of new F-35 Lightning II engines, as well as the modern stealth aircraft itself, have been paused as the military investigates what happened at the naval air station.

-- Thomas Novelly contributed to this report.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: F-35 Crashes on Runway in North Texas, Forcing Pilot to Eject
For more than 50 years, Navy pilot Royce Williams couldn't talk about his epic Korean War dogfight with seven Soviet fighter jets. He'd been sworn to secrecy because of Cold War sensitivities, and all mention of the battle was scrubbed from the official records.

Now the 97-year-old Escondido resident is going to receive the Navy Cross, the second-highest award for combat valor. He said Friday afternoon that he's pleased to get the recognition.

"My friends have been trying to get this for me for a long time," he said.

The ceremony is scheduled for Jan. 20 at noon at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park.

"The heroism and valor he demonstrated for 35 harrowing minutes 70 years ago in the skies over the North Pacific and the coast of North Korea saved the lives of his fellow pilots, shipmates, and crew," U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa said in a statement Friday announcing the ceremony. "His story is one for the ages, but is now being fully told."

Issa and the other members of San Diego's congressional delegation have been part of an effort, launched almost a decade ago, to get the Pentagon to acknowledge Williams' exploits and to upgrade his Silver Star to something more appropriate.

Called "Operation Just Reward," the campaign has been aimed at bringing Williams the Medal of Honor, the military's top award. But the Navy Cross is a big step in the right direction, according to Steve Lewandowski, a Navy veteran and former commander of a local American Legion post.

"For the first time, Royce is being officially recognized for that incredible air battle," Lewandowski said. "That makes him happy. And it doesn't preclude him from getting the Medal of Honor later."

The upgrade was approved last month by U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.

"Having reviewed the findings of now numerous investigations related to the case of Capt. Royce Williams, I have determined this case to be special and extraordinary," Del Toro said in a press release dated Dec. 22. "His actions clearly distinguished himself during a high-risk mission and deserve proper recognition."

On Nov. 18, 1952, Williams was in a F9F-5 Panther jet patrolling the Yalu River, which separated North Korean and Soviet territories. The Soviets weren't directly involved in the war, but they had planes in the sky, protecting their airspace.

Williams and three other Americans, also in Panthers, encountered seven hostile Soviet MiG-15s. The other U.S. planes were soon scattered by engine trouble and enemy fire, and Williams found himself in the dogfight alone. He shot down at least four of them before escaping to a U.S. aircraft carrier.

"A lot of it was awareness of where they were and how I had to maneuver to avoid them," he told the Union-Tribune in an interview last year. "They were taking turns. I decided if I concentrated on shooting them down, then I'd become an easy target. So my initial goal was to look for defensive opportunities when they made mistakes."

When he landed, he counted 263 holes in his plane. He was uninjured.

Worried about drawing the Soviets into the Korean War, U.S. military commanders hushed any public mention of the battle. Williams got pats on the back  and shared a cocktail with President-elect Dwight Eisenhower  but was ordered not to tell anyone, not even his wife.

He served another 23 years in the Navy, including 110 flight missions over Vietnam.

In the early 2000s, U.S. records from the Korean War were declassified, and word of the dogfight spread, especially in military aviation circles.

A 2014 book by a Russian military historian mentions the encounter. It said that seven MiGs left a base in Vladivostik that morning, and only one returned. Four were shot down by a single U.S. aircraft, another was shot up and crashed, and the seventh plane was never found.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.

2023 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Tucked inside the recently passed Defense Department budget for 2023 is funding for a new kind of Navy medical ship  one built to operate more like an ambulance than a hospital.

The ship's builders and Navy officials say this reimagined vessel, the Expeditionary Medical Ship, is especially designed for easy movement and rapid response in the shallow littorals and vast expanses of a future operating theater like the Pacific. And the service is working to develop a complement of skilled medical personnel trained and ready to deploy onboard these ships to provide triage care almost anywhere in the world.

To be built by Austal USA, the Expeditionary Medical Ship will be based on the Expeditionary Fast Transport, or EPF, a catamaran used by the Navy for personnel transit within coastal operational theaters such as Central and South America. The first EMS, EPF-17, is supposed to be delivered to the Navy by December 2026, according to budget documents; the service so far has greenlighted funding for three of them.

Ultimately, the Navy wants to have a trio of platforms that work together to provide seamless care anywhere in the world. The service is developing a concept, T-AH(X), to replace its aging hospital ships, and, in the meantime, adding EMS and an even quicker connector platform, the EPF Flight II.

These updates to Navy medicine afloat are all in anticipation of a future, high-stakes conflict against a peer adversary in a place where resources are scarce and rapid response is essential. This future environment will require what the Navy calls "Distributed Maritime Operations," or DMO.

"Combat in a contested maritime environment will generate casualty rates both at sea and ashore much higher than recent experiences and a different mix of casualties. Mass casualties will require large-scale patient movement," a briefing slide provided by the Navy's Bureau of Medicine (BUMED) states. "Longer patient movement timelines will require medical care en route. The medical logistics system will be disrupted. Blood supplies will need to be readily available and rapidly distributable."

Austal previously contracted with the Navy in 2021 for the EPF Flight II, which is expected to deliver the first of at least three hulls, USNS Cody (EPF-14), later this year. While the Flight II will be fast, traveling at up to 33 knots or 37 miles per hour, and capable of receiving and treating patients, with a short flight deck for the MV-22 Osprey and space for more than 100 medical personnel and 18 intensive care unit beds, the EMS will provide even greater and more sustained medical capability, Larry Ryder, vice president of business development at Austal, told Sandboxx News.

In an interview earlier this year, Rear Adm. Darin Via, deputy chief of BUMED, said the service was developing a new expeditionary medical unit, EMU-28, that will deploy on the EPF Flight II and go ashore as needed. This will help facilitate the smaller, faster ship's role as a roll-on, roll-off connector platform that can provide vital medical care while transporting patients to a larger facility, he said.

"We're developing the people, the training, people to deploy on that ship to be able to meet its mission," he said. "With the mission being a surgical and medical capability, but then it also serves as a ship again to get across those long distances."

According to specifics provided by Austal, EMS will be slightly larger than the EPF, about 110 meters to its 103. A slightly redesigned hull will provide additional stability, and a shallow draft of 15 feet, or about 4.5 meters, will allow for "direct access to shallow, austere ports," according to the builder.

"As the Navy continues to move to distributed operations, a smaller, faster, more agile platform like the EMS provides that linkage between the forward operating forces and a rear echelon, a medical facility or potentially another platform with more medical capability," Ryder said. "So we think it's really delivering something that is critical to support the warfighters."

Expeditionary Fast Transport vessels, USNS Spearhead (T-EPF 1), USNS Choctaw County (T-EPF 2) and USNS Fall River (T-EPF 4) at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. (U.S. Navy photo by Brian Suriani)

It's a vastly different capability than exists on the service's two hospital ships, which have deployed around the world for humanitarian missions since their commissioning in 1986. The USNS Mercy and Comfort, which originated as San Clemente-class oil tankers, are designed to maximize capacity and stability. With 1,000 beds apiece, they're the largest ships serving the Navy apart from its nuclear-powered carriers. And they move at average speeds of less than 12 knots, or about 14 miles per hour.

"You can think of the current Comfort and Mercy being the big downtown city hospital. They're extremely capable, but they are relatively slow," Ryder said, adding that the ships' deep 10-meter draft prevents them from entering some ports and that they're getting more expensive to deploy as they age.

The hospital ship USNS Mercy in port in Hawaii. (Courtesy photo via U.S. Navy)

Current factsheets for EMS indicate fully loaded top speeds of more than 18 knots, or about 20 miles per hour. The ship can maintain that speed, according to provided specifications, over more than 5,000 nautical miles, nearly the distance from Beijing to San Francisco.

According to provided specs, EMS will have three operating rooms and 60 medical beds, separated into acute care, acute isolation, ICU, and ICU isolation spaces. Two 11-meter rigid-hulled inflatable boats allow for the transfer of patients from other ships or water rescue; the flight deck has room for a single V-22, or an H-53 or H-60 helicopter. Medical spaces, according to Austal, will be equipped for needs ranging from rapid stabilization of multiple trauma casualties; OB/GYN care; combat search-and-rescue; and blood banking, among other services.

In addition to the humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and non-combatant evacuation missions currently supported by today's hospital ships, EMS will be able to support special operations and at-sea personnel recovery from damaged warships.

Members of the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) 7-meter rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) crew lift a simulated casualty onto the boat during a rescue drill. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Veronica Mammina)

At-sea personnel recovery represents "a critical capability for potential engagements at sea under the DMO concept," Austal states.

Ryder emphasized that EMS would function as a key element of future medical operations at sea.

"The EMS, consider it trauma care on wheels, for running around the city," he said. "It's high speed, it's got a lot of the capabilities that are on the hospital ships, but it's not designed to handle large volumes of patients for an extended period of time. It provides a link and a continuum of care, but it puts a high degree of medical capability forward to where it can do the most good, saving lives for our operating forces."

Read the original article on Sandboxx.
Gary Anderson is a retired Marine Corps colonel who served as a civilian adviser In Iraq and Afghanistan.

The opinions expressed in this op-ed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Military.com. If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration.

Russia's most recent debacle, the latest in a long string caused by tactical incompetence in the Ukraine, highlights the lack of leadership, training and combat discipline that plagues the Russian army from top down.

Soldiers were apparently housed by the hundreds in a building where ammunition was also stored. Whether through a lack of proper command discipline or simple inattention to security, many were making cell phone calls home. That made it fairly simple for Ukrainian electronic warfare personnel to triangulate an ideal target for an M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, rocket attack that resulted in anywhere from 60 to 400 Russian deaths, depending on whose counting one trusts.

The number of casualties suffered by Russian troops since last February, when the invasion began, has exceeded by multiples those suffered in two decades by American forces in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials gleefully point out the superiority of the discipline, training and weaponry of U.S. forces. All that is true, but it is also irrelevant.

Our exit from Afghanistan was as humiliating as that of the Russians from Ukraine will likely be. Great tactics cannot make up for bad strategy and flawed operational art. In this, both Russian and American political-military leadership has shown amazing incompetence.

At the strategic level, the Russians miscalculated Ukrainian national will. At first, they tried to execute shock and awe by decapitating the Kyiv government. After failing, they have tried terror bombing and the destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure to compel a loss of will; that has not worked either. Instead of dividing Ukraine, they brought it together in ways that political action never could.

In Afghanistan, the American strategy was nation-building. We wanted to turn a country with an 80% illiteracy rate that excluded women from any public role into a western-style liberal inclusive democracy. The majority of Afghan men might have accepted our money, but few accepted our vision as something to die for. The concept was flawed from the start. The idea of negotiating for a one nation-two systems agreement with the Taliban might have worked, or at least bought time for our allies, but was never seriously considered. By 2021, it was too late to seek alternatives.

At the operational level of war, the critical vulnerability of both nations was logistics. In the case of the Russians, it was the fact that, since World War II, they have never developed an army capable of operating much more than 70 miles from its railheads. That, combined with systemic corruption in the defense logistics community, ensured that Russian troops would not be properly supported. Ammunition, fuel, food and even medical care remains in critically short supply. It adds to a justifiable sense among rank-and-file soldiers that they are led by incompetents.

To fix this, the Russian leadership would need to do two things that it currently cannot do. The first would be to totally reform the logistics system, an incredibly difficult undertaking in the midst of a war.

The second problem makes the first impossible. The very people who run the corrupt defense industrial complex are also the elites that Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to retain power. They would resist reform to the point of throwing Putin to the wolves and even actively working against him if a serious reform movement were ever undertaken.

America's operational art problem was never fully recognized at the highest levels of command. Or if it was, it was papered over. By 2012, it should have become obvious to anyone looking closely that the Obama administration's efforts to "Afghanize" the war were only an attempt to create a decent interval between our withdrawal and ultimate failure.

In the remote district where I was a civilian interagency team leader, this reality was particularly stark. Our only resupply in winter was by helicopter or airdrop because roads were nonexistent. However, we were on a strict timeline to turn over operations to the Afghans by September of that year. It was obvious to us that the Afghan battalion supported by a U.S. Marine Special Operations Team and their Italian partners would not be resupplied by the Afghan air force once we had departed. Our coalition military commanders and I sent reports to higher headquarters that were universally met by the explanation that "orders are orders."

Within weeks of our leaving, the local Afghan military had cut deals with the Taliban to live and let live, and the district reverted to effective Taliban control. This situation would be played out on a grand scale in the summer of 2021 when the Biden administration finally gave up the ghost.

The original sin of the whole Afghan debacle was a bipartisan effort when the decision was made to implement the nation-building strategy by creating a military in our image. That was initially a Republican project. If any of our generals saw the fallacy of that, they lacked the moral courage to question it. To some extent, it worked in Iraq, which had the road and administrative infrastructure to implement it. A reasonably mechanized and motorized army could be resupplied using those networks. Trying to implement a similar approach in the 15th-century environment of Afghanistan was a fool's errand.

The proper operational approach would have been to build a national army on a decentralized, regional basis. Troops should have been recruited and based locally, where they could fall back on tribal support when needed. Supplies, with the exception of ammunition, could have been procured locally as well. Such a system would have helped local economies and increased support for the government. As it was, only the Taliban were buying locally. This would have cut out the need for resupply over roads that did not exist or by an air force that would never have been up to the task. Instead of pay going through layers of national and regional army headquarters, where each level took its cut before some or any reached the troops in the field, there could have been two or three levels within which accountability against graft could have been monitored more closely.

Unfortunately, a decentralized system would have diminished the power of national politicians. Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his successors resisted this, and few senior American military leaders had the moral courage to wage the political battles that reform would have entailed. To his credit, U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus made an effort with the creation of the Afghan Local Police, but it soon became obvious that the Afghan national kleptocracy was only going to wait him out. The concept never got the support it deserved. At the end, soldiers from Kabul were defending Herat and troops from Herat were in Kandahar, often unable to send home what little money that trickled down to them. With the exception of Petraeus, most of the revolving door of generals who commanded in Afghanistan chose to go along to get along.

The strategic failure in Afghanistan was truly a bipartisan civilian and joint military venture. We lost Afghanistan, and the Russians will very likely lose in their attempt to dominate Ukraine. The Russians will probably try to pin the blame for poor performance entirely on their troops.

American civilian and military leaders -- former and present -- do not have that luxury. They need only look in the mirror.
Green and sustainable debt issuance has been growing rapidly in the Middle East, despite the comparative lack of regulation of green financial instruments, according to Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

During the 2016-2020 period, the green bonds in the region grew by 38%, and in 2020 alone, Middle Eastern governments drove 97% of green bonds compared to a mere 13% four years prior, stated BCG in its latest sustainability report titled 'Financing a Net-Zero Middle East'.

In 2021, the total issuance of green and sustainability-linked debt in the region increased more than four times compared to the previous year.

In these early stages of the climate transition, there is a critical need for patient, high-risk capital for investments in sectors whose paths to decarbonisation are dependent on technologies that are still in the early stages of development, such as iron and steel, heavy road transport, and shipping, it stated.

The BCG report shows how regulatory pressure in most Middle East countries is not yet strong enough to compel banks to take immediate action on climate issues, even though climate change poses an array of risks to their portfolio.

Larger banks in fossil fuel-exporting countries typically have high exposures to the oil and gas industry and other high-emitting sectors of the economy such as transportation, construction and infrastructure, and shipping, it added.

Shelly Trench, the Managing Director and Partner at BCG and co-author of the report, said the Middle East banking sector has an opportunity to benefit significantly from financing the transition of the oil and gas industry and other strategically important sectors to cleaner, more sustainable technologies.

"Regulators and policymakers could address this challenge by establishing carbon prices that adequately represent the cost of greenhouse gases and are aligned with international carbon price levels. In addition, they could create financial and other incentives to support decarbonization and develop environmental and industrial policies that align with climate objectives," noted Trench.

Considering development banks and funds have a critical role to play in supporting green investments, BCGs report offers three core recommendations to meet the above mandate. These are:

*Providing financing for non-bankable green projects with lower risk-adjusted returns or higher investment risks, such as supporting research and development of innovative technologies such as renewable power and CCUS.

*Mobilizing private capital investments in green projects by improving their risk-adjusted returns with various risk mitigation instruments.

*Using their expertise to provide support and advice to policymakers and regulators on the reforms needed to scale up climate finance.

Regional bank alliances prove key to this end, such as the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and the science-based targets initiative (SBTi), as well as joining working groups such as the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials, to influence the global standard-setters.

The report further draws on the need for key regulatory interventions to drive climate action through climate reporting and disclosure to then create taxonomies of sustainable activities.

The Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), an association of central banks and supervisors, is a key forum for coordinating these efforts and exchanging best practices among regulators.

Currently, several of the Middle East regions financial services regulators have already joined NGFS, including the Abu Dhabi Financial Services Regulatory Authority, the Dubai Financial Services Authority, the Financial Regulatory Authority of Egypt, and the central banks of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia.

The report highlights another potential intervention such as the creation of carbon pricing structures that could stimulate demand for investments in renewables and low-carbon technologies while reducing subsidies for high-carbon projects, leveling the playing field and making cleaner projects more economically attractive.

For instance, Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), one of the UAEs international financial centers, is working on a regulatory framework for the first-ever regulated voluntary carbon market and supporting the UAEs transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.

The Financial Services Regulatory Authority at ADGM is facilitating, through a proposed comprehensive sustainable finance regulatory framework, the ability to establish the worlds first regulated voluntary carbon exchange and clearing house, where carbon offsets, while traded and settled as spot commodities, are treated as regulated financial instruments," remarked its CEO Emmanuel Givanakis.

"ADGM and the Authority are dedicated to fostering a sustainable finance ecosystem. We are strongly positioned to host financial products and services that will make a positive impact on the UAEs and global efforts to achieve net zero," he added.

Aytech Pseunokov, Project Leader at BCG, said in the initial stage, the roles of regulators and development finance will be key, with the former developing the policies and regulations needed to stimulate demand for climate finance in the region, while development finance institutions can help attract private sector investment by de-risking investment in climate projects via blended finance solutions.

With time, as climate finance regulation is rolled out and green projects become more bankable, banks and financial institutions will become the key source of funding for the climate transition," noted Pseunokov.

"Until then, Middle Eastern banks would benefit from reviewing the impact of transition risk on their portfolios and preparing themselves for the future by declaring portfolio emissions reduction targets and joining global alliances to exchange best practices. Doing nothing means maintaining their portfolios ever-increasing exposure to the impacts of climate changea far riskier option, he added.

-TradeArabia News Service
The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has threatened to picket at the Ministry of Finance on January 23, 2023, if government fails to exempt them from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

The Forum said it had written to the District Commander of the Ghana Police Service at the Ministries in Accra to notify the police of their intended action.

Dr Adu A. Antwi, the Convener, Pensioner Bondholders Forum, speaking at a press briefing in Accra, said the Forum had petitioned the government to exempt its members from the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

Dr Antwi said the Forum on January 13, 2023, presented a petition to Mr Ken Ofori Atta, the Finance Minister, for the exclusion of pensioners and requested a meeting with him, but had not gotten any response.

We have also petitioned key stakeholders in the country, including the Speaker of Parliament, the Council of State, the National House of Chiefs , the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the Chief Imam, the National Peace Council, and the Catholic Bishops Conference, about our displeasure on the issue, he said.

Dr Antwi said the executive of the Forum had requested to meet Mr Ofori-Atta for discussion before the deadline of the Debt Exchange Programme.

He assured the pensioners that the Forum would engage with the government to address the issue, stressing, We are not tendering in our bonds.

The Convener said if the Government failed to exempt pensioners bonds, it would have serious consequences on (Pensioners) their lives.

Government last year announced Ghana's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme to invite holders of bonds to voluntarily exchange approximately GH137 billion domestic notes and bonds of the Republic, including ESLA and Daakye for a package of new bonds.

As a result, existing domestic bonds were to be exchanged as of December 1, 2022, for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032, and 2037.

The annual coupon on all these new bonds will be set at zero per cent in 2023, five per cent in 2024 and 10 per cent from 2025 until maturity.

Coupon payments will be semi-annual.

Meanwhile, a statement on the Ministry of Finance website Monday said the deadline for the Domestic Debt Exchange had been extended to January 31, 2023 from January 16, 2023.

It said,  Building consensus is key to a successful economic recovery of Ghana. Pending further stakeholders engagement with institutional and individual investors recently invited to join the debt exchange programme, government is extending the expiration of the programme to January 31, 2023.

GNA
Government Communications Team Member, Eric Okyei Baffour has warned party faithfuls about the candidate they support ahead of the partys flagbearership contest.

As they are ready to compete in the flagbearership race ahead of the general elections in 2024, many party members have been supporting contenders like Alan Kyerematen, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Kennedy Agyapong.

Eric Okyei Baffour says though any party member has the right to support his or her preferred candidate, all should be extra careful about who to follow because in Ghanaian politics, the person you support determines your future.

He emphasized that in order to secure victory for their candidates, NPP members should refrain from verbal abuse.

Support your candidate without any insults, but remember we all cannot support one candidate, what you will say today will be used against you tomorrow, "Eric Okyei Baffour exclusively told Kwaku Owusu Adjei (Patoo) on Adwenekasa on Accra-based Original FM 91.9.

Watch Full Video Here:


16.01.2023 LISTEN

I would like to draw the attention of the good people of Ghana to a shady contract orchestrated and executed by the immediate past Minister of Trade and Industry, the Akufo Addo led NPP Government and the Board of Directors of the Komenda Sugar Development Company Limited (KSDCL).

The government, through the Board of Directors of the Komenda Sugar Development Company Limited (KSDCL) has entered into a ten (10) year management contract agreement with West Africa Agro-Tech Company Ghana Limited (WAATCO), a foreign company based in Ghana.

In the intercepted contract documents, one would wonder why a company should be paid huge sums of money with no work done.

The West Africa Agro-Tech Company Ghana Limited (WAATCO) has already been paid about Gh30 million to carry out paintings and sandblasting at the sugar factory. WAATCO brought in some Indian expatriates who were also paid huge sums of dollars without any work done, but have been repatriated to India. Their managerial staff are still around doing nothing, but receiving salaries and allowances aside the US$50,000 being paid every month as management service fee.

The Komenda Sugar Factory is not in operation despite the countless promises and timelines given by Mr. Alan Kyerematen and President Akufo Addo. Meanwhile, their collaborators (WAATCO) are comfortably taking their remuneration. But they have failed to pay the Ghanaian labourers at the factory as well as some of the sugarcane farmers whose canes were bought for the test run in July, 2022.

Excerpts of the contract documents are provided below;

5. REMUNERATION TO WAATCO

As remuneration for the services to be provided, the Company agrees to pay WAATCO the following Management Fees:

5.1 Professional Fees

5.1.1 Management Services Fee: WAATCO shall be paid a monthly professional Management Service Fee of US$50,000 for the management and coordination of all the technical and administrative functions of the Company.

5.1.2 Performance-based Profit Sharing Incentive: As an incentive to optimise the profitability of the Company, WAATCO shall be paid a performance-based profit sharing incentive, equivalent to 20% of the net profits of the Company per annum.

5.2 The payments above do not include the payments made to the expatriate Hiring Consultant for expatriates monthly charges, hiring fee and other amenities provided to the expatriates based on their contract with the expatriates Hiring Consultant. For the purpose of clarification, the respective monthly charges for the expatriates are indicated in Schedule E (Factory Admin and Administrative expenses.)

5.3 The charges mentioned in the expenses are indicative and may be subject to variation to be consensually reached by the parties where the circumstances so demand.

5.4 All payments to suppliers, contractors or service providers will be done as per their respective contracts.

5.5 All payments shall be subject to annual management and financial audits by the external auditors appointed by the Board.

6. OBLIGATIONS OF THE COMPANY

6.1 General Obligations

(a) The Company shall hand over the Factory to WAATCO on the effective date.

(b) An initial technical audit and assessment of the Factory shall be conducted jointly by representatives of the Company and WAATCO in respect of the state of the Factory before the effective date.

(c) The Company shall not grant any rights or interests to any third party that may interfere with the exclusivity of this Agreement and the performance of WAATCOs obligations under it.

(d) The Company shall not take any actions or decisions to impede WAATCO in the performance of its obligations under this Agreement.

(e) Upon the signing of this Agreement, the Company shall not have right to dispose of, either by way of sale, mortgage, loan or otherwise, any part of the Plant and Equipment without the written consent of WAATCO.

6.2 Permits

(a) The Company shall assist WAATCO to obtain the necessary permits and licenses that may be required to be obtained by WAATCO for the performance of its obligations under this Agreement. This obligation includes issuing letters of recommendations for obtaining any immigration clearances and work permits for any foreign personnel engaged or employed by WAATCO in connection with the Project.

(b) The Company shall ensure that approvals and consents sought by WAATCO for the execution of this Project are promptly granted to WAATCO.

The facts provided above would inform the well-meaning Ghanaians to ask Mr. Alan Kyerematen why he failed to operationalise the factory after uninterrupted six (6) years of administration.

The only achievements of Mr. Alan Kyerematen at the Komenda Sugar Factory were to sell sugarcanes on the 125 acre nursery farm to akpeteshie distillers in 2018 and turn around to develop only 3 acre sugarcane nursery which has not seen the light of day. And also to sign a management contract with WAATCO to draw monies from the idling company.

The NPP Government has proven to be insensitive to the plight of the people of Ghana.

I shall return with the other parts of the management contract agreement.

_Signed_

Ransford Chatman Vanni-Amoah

(Former Member/ Secretary  Komenda Sugar Project Management Board)
A prominent dissident in Equatorial Guinea has died in prison after being taken from South Sudan in a suspected kidnapping and handed a 60-year jail sentence, his opposition group said Monday.

Julio Obama Mefuman, 51, who also had Spanish nationality, "died in Oveng Azem prison" in the eastern city of Mongomo, the MLGE3R movement said late Sunday.

It gave no date for Obama Mefuman's death but accused the country's hardline regime, without elaborating, of "torture."

The MLGE3R group's name stands for the Movement for the Liberation of the Third Equatorial Guinea and is based in Spain, the central African state's former colony.

Equatorial Guinea Foreign Minister Simeon Oyono Esono Angue confirmed in a tweet Monday that Obama Mefuman "died in a Mongomo hospital following illness," but refuted any accusation of torture.

A spokesman for the Spanish foreign ministry on Monday confirmed the death, but declined to give details.

Andres Esono Ondo, head of Equatorial Guinea's only authorised opposition party, the Convergence for Social Democracy, published a tweet in which he condemned "Julio Obama's death in prison."

He called for an international inquiry "to clarify what happened and ensure that all prisoners have the right to family visits."

Ondo took part in presidential elections last November in which 80-year-old President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo was credited with 94.9 percent of the vote.

Obiang came to power in a coup in 1979, ruling since then with what rights campaigners say is one of the most hardline regimes in Africa.

Amnesty International urged Obiang to "ensure an independent and urgent investigation" is opened into Obama Mefuman's death.

The organisation also said Malabo must "ensure prisoners are treated with dignity, have access to legal assistance and are free from torture and other ill-treatment."

Obama Mefuman's death came less than two weeks after Spain's High Court announced an investigation into his suspected kidnapping and torture and that of a second dissident, Feliciano Efa Mangue, who also has Spanish nationality.

Equatorial Guinea. By (AFP)

A judicial source said that those two, along with two Equatorial Guinea nationals who reside in Spain, were seized in South Sudan in late 2019 and flown to Equatorial Guinea.

Three individuals are being targeted in the Spanish probe, according to the source.

They are one of Obiang's sons, Carmelo Ovono Obiang, his security director Isaac Nguema Endo and Security Minister Nicolas Obama Nchama.

El Pais newspaper said the dissidents were flown to Equatorial Guinea aboard a "presidential plane" and were repeatedly tortured to extract confessions.

In March 2020, Mangue was handed a 90-year term and Obama Mefuman 60 years for allegedly having taken part in an attempted coup against Obiang in 2017.

On January 4, another of President Obiang's sons, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, accused Spain of seeking to "humiliate, interfere with and disrespect our sovereignty."

"These terrorists were detained by Sudanese authorities and extradited to Equatorial Guinea" under an "international arrest warrant," he wrote.
Hon. Alhaji Baba Lamin Abu Sadat has kick started his campaign for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2024 general election.

The steward after his defeat at the just ended NDC delegates Congress has branded his Nissan pickup vehicle with the pictures of former President John Dramani Mahama and his 2020 running mate Madam Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang to drum home his readiness to campaign for John Mahama and the party victory come 2024.

The NDC branded Nissan Pickup vehicle was spotted around Kosoa, Nyanyano, Bodwase and its environ.

The team was cheered on by drivers, passengers, passers-by as well as vendors who were shouting the NDC slogan 'Edey bee keke'.

In an interview, with some of the passers-by and vendors along the shoulders of the road, they stated that anytime Alhaji Baba Lamin passes by with the branded NDC vehicle, the traders heave a sigh of relief and hope that very soon the current state of the country will change for the better.

According to them, the NDC has remained the only source of hope for Ghanaians and called on the leadership of the party to be more vigilant in the upcoming Presidential and Parliamentary Elections to prevent the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) from rigging the election.

They added that the enthusiasm and energy with which the NPP leaders are shouting " break the eight " despite the unprecedented economic hardship and poor performance should tell one how prepared they are desperate for power.

The traders expressed the hope that John Mahama being tried and tested will use his experience to turn the misfortune of the country around.
Frank Annoh-Dompreh, Member of Parliament for Nsawam-Adoagyiri has urged all financial institutions and individuals to come together to restore the ailing economy.

In a tweet on Monday, January 16, the legislator called on Bank of Ghana (BoG), to also play its part in the government's plan to relieve Ghanaians of the economic hardship.

"Let's prove our prowess when it comes to economic management. Yes,we can. BOG. Play your role effectively.

"Let's do it now!" his tweet read.

His comment follows the Domestic Debt Exchange Program which has been keenly resisted by many bondholders on grounds that it will plunge individual bondholders into extreme poverty.
Frenchman Jonathan Geffroy is accused of terrorist offences in Syria, as are his wife and mother. Geoffroy has provided valuable information for French anti-terrorism investigators.

Geffroy, 40, sits alone in the prisoner's box at the Paris Special Criminal Court.

His two co-accused - his wife, Latifa Chadli, and his mother - are under judicial control and are free to sit in the open court, on the seats just outside the glass-walled high security box.

The couple's now eight-year-old child is a civil plaintiff in the case, and is represented by a victims' support organisation.

Geffroy and Chadli, who arrived in the Syrian war zone in early 2015 with their then 2-month-old child, were arrested by members of the anti-Assad Free Syrian Army in 2017, and subsequently handed over to the French authorities.

Links to Bataclan killers

Originally from Toulouse, Geoffroy converted to Islam in 2007, and met and married Chaddi in Morocco.

On their arrival in Syria in February 2015, Geffroy was assigned to the fighting brigade known as Anwar al-Awlaki.

Members were predominantly French-speaking, and the group was dominated by the brothers Jean-Michel and Fabien Clain, also from Toulouse, who worked as propagandists for the Islamic State armed group and were both sentenced to life in prison for their part in planning and promoting the November 2015 Paris attacks.

Geoffroy fought in the city of Ramadi under another French leader, Abdelilah Himich, who helped plan the Bataclan attack, where 90 people were killed.

Child soldiers

In November 2016, Geffroy contacted French anti-terrorist police, saying he wanted to escape with his family from Syria.

He has since been described as a precious source of information for French investigators.

He revealed Islamic State plans to use child soldiers, the so-called "Caliphate cubs", to undertake suicide terrorist missions in Europe.

He also detailed plans for an attack targeting a French nuclear reactor and provided the police with the names of dozens of French nationals who had joined the ranks of Islamic State.

The trial got underway on Monday and will wrap up on 23 January.

Geffroy and Chadli face thirty years in jail if found guilty of associating with terrorists.

Geoffroy's 59-year-old mother could go to prison for ten years for allegedly sending her son thousands of euros while he was fighting in Syria.
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has said it has sufficient quantity of gold reserves to sustain the gold for oil policy.

The government took delivery of the first consignment of the gold for oil deal on Monday as part of efforts to reduce fuel prices and reserve the countrys forex.

Many have however raised concerns about the governments ability to sustain the policy.

Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee, the Director of Financial Market at the Bank of Ghana, Stephen Opata says the Central Bank is well positioned to meet the demand of 160,000 ounces of gold per month under the transaction.

As for the quantities, based on the production numbers we saw last year, gold has picked up. We believe that, we can buy enough gold to sustain the program. I must say that the numbers we are currently looking at is about 160,000 ounces per month and that will represent about 50 to 60 percent of the consumption of the country. According to what PMMC indicates, I think we have volumes to support the program.

40,000 metric tons of oil from the United Arab Emirates arrived at the Tema port on Sunday, January 15, 2023, according to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources.

The Energy Ministry, the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation and Oil Marketing Companies are to formulate plans for its distribution and sale.

This according to the Lands Ministry will help reduce fuel prices in the country.

The Vice President, last year announced plans by government to purchase oil from the UEA with gold to keep the country's forex.

Though many have kicked against the move and questioned its sustainability, the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry says measures have been put in place to sustain it.

By Citi Newsroom
The Minority in Parliament is predicting the collapse of some five commercial banks if government goes ahead with its controversial Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.

It says a chunk of the liquidity of these banks is locked up in government bonds.

The banks will collapse. In fact, I project a minimum of five banks collapsing if this [debt exchange] goes ahead. Not only that, a number of banks will have to lay off staff and close some of their branches, says Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson.

He adds more people will be impoverished if the programme is carried out.

The monies that banks have invested is not their money. It is depositors' money, so there will be liquidity issues. When you go to the banks and ask for your money, there is a possibility that, you won't get your money.

The caucus has already called on the government to immediately suspend the Debt Exchange Programme and engage various stakeholders in the exercise.

This comes after the government announced plans to extend the deadline for bondholders to sign onto the Domestic Debt Exchange Program to January 31, 2023, as part of efforts to address the countrys economic challenges.

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu said the Akufo-Addo governments reckless borrowing contributed to the seeming failure of the debt exchange programme.

How did we get to this pit? Simple. Reckless borrowing! Sadly, the NPP Government led by Nana Akufo-Addo-Bawumia has not learned any lesson. The NPP was not only reckless in borrowing, but it has been reckless in announcing and implementing the Debt Exchange Programme. It is clear that the NPP Government did not properly think through this whole idea of a debt exchange programme. This has led to manifest confusion in the implementation of the ongoing debt exchange programme.

The Minority group called on government to immediately suspend the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme and engage in more comprehensive consultation on the matter with all stakeholders and the Ghanaian people.

It is called on all stakeholders for a national dialogue on the state of the economy and debt exchange programme with the view to achieving the most workable and least punitive steps that protect Ghanaians and households from the disastrous effects of the Domestic Exchange Program as currently received.

By Citi Newsroom
Achieving win-win, multi-win results through mutually beneficial cooperation

13:54, January 17, 2023 By Qu Song ( People's Daily

Technicians work at an innovation center of Cytiva. (Photo provided by Cytiva)

"We have tangibly felt the constant optimization of China's business environment in the recent years," said Edward Zhou, president of Cytiva China, a subsidiary of the global life sciences leader, recalling how the company settled in Lingang new area of the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ).

According to him, Cytiva China received its business license in just three days after applying for it and finished all registration work in two months.

"After we started official operation, the streamlined international settlement services and preferential policies of talent attraction provided by Lingang new area have significantly improved our operational efficiency and lowered operational cost. They contributed a lot to our rapid development achieved in such a short period of time," Zhou noted.

Cytiva is part of the Danaher Corporation Life Sciences platform. It has about 10,000 employees in some 40 countries and regions around the world and focuses on the research of a series of innovative technologies such as biomedicine, and cell and gene therapies.

In 2021, the company established its first R&D Center of Excellence in Asia in Shanghai, which aims to remove the barriers between technologies and their commercialization and align global technologies with local demands.

Last year, it built a new production line of bioprocess disposables with its Chinese partners, which serves the Chinese and Asia-Pacific markets. The production line is able to lift production capacity about three times.

Zhou called the Chinese market a huge magnetic field that attracts global innovative enterprises and partners. He believes that the Chinese biomedicine industry had witnessed drastic changes in the past 10 years and still enjoys infinite possibilities.

According to a report recently issued by the company, the Chinese biomedicine sector is performing well in terms of production vitality and supply chain resilience. The report also indicated the high enthusiasm of Chinese enterprises for innovative technologies and highly-qualified talents, which lay the foundation for the market's long-term growth.

"As China further expands opening up, the cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises will become closer," Zhou pointed out, adding that as the second largest economy in the world, China plays a crucial role in the world economy.

China's continuous opening up will effectively promote international sci-tech exchanges and the global flow of talents and capital in the biotech and biomedicine industry, he said.

A development plan for the biological economy during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period issued by China in 2022 proposed to accelerate the development of biological technologies and the biological industry, which indicates that the biological economy has become a strong force driving the country's high-quality development.

Last November, Cytiva announced to invest 60 million yuan ($8.92 million) more in building an innovation center in China, which raised the total investment to 100 million yuan.

The company hopes to provide products, technologies, services and innovative solutions for the entire biological industry in bioprocessing and clinical production, incubation of new therapies, talent training, smart manufacturing and compliance validation. The innovation center is currently under construction and will be put into use this year.

Zhou is quite optimistic about the future development of his company.

"On one hand, Chinese enterprises will enhance their capability in overseas operation, which helps realize cross-border development of more innovative medicines, accelerates the return on innovation investment and benefits more patients. On the other hand, foreign enterprises, by further advancing their investment and cooperation in China, will better share the results of China's economic development and achieve win-win and even multi-win results," Zhou said.

He told People's Daily that Cytiva will step up its efforts to advance localization, and work with more Chinese partners to push for intelligent, standardized and massive development of China's biomedicine industry, so as to benefit more patients around the world with Chinese innovative medicines.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will spend $8.3 billion this year, a 15% increase over the 2022 forecast payout, to continue its work fighting poverty, disease and inequity.

In his annual letter, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman also shared examples of how the foundation uses its resources, voice, and convening power to call attention to and help find solutions for problems that otherwise might be neglected.

The budgetthe largest in the foundations historyis a response to multiple crises that threaten to stall or reverse global progress on the Sustainable Development Goals since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. These include war, economic turmoil, climate-related disasters, and large decreases in vaccinations for preventable infectious diseases, all of which have taken a significant toll on the worlds poorest people.

On track

The board of trustees approval of the budget puts the foundation on track to meet its commitment to reach an annual payout of $9 billion by 2026.

This is the toughest period for global health and development in recent memory, but in some ways, it's also the reason we exist, Suzman said. To help meet the great needs ahead, we are doubling down on our commitment to our core mission: ensuring everyone can live a healthy and productive life.

People in low- and middle-income countries, particularly women and girls, are facing the severe consequences of intersecting global crises, yet the world has so far failed to step up with the necessary political will and resources to respond.

Catalyses and advocates

Suzman addressed questions about the scale of the foundations influence and its access to global leaders. Using examples from the foundations work on climate adaptation, malaria, and US education, he detailed how the foundation catalyses and advocates for solutions, brings diverse voices to decision-making tables, and fills market gaps.

He also discussed the role the foundation plays in setting global health and development priorities. The foundation doesnt set the worlds agendawe respond to it, Suzman said, referencing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Highlighting areas where the foundation makes big bets, Suzman reflected on the unique role of philanthropic capital, particularly in times of crisis. From improving vaccination rates to advancing womens economic power, the foundation uses its funds, expertise, relationships, and voice where it can make the biggest impact measured in lives saved and opportunities created for all to reach their full potential. It does so by funding innovations that may not be financially attractive or feasible for the private sector or governments, stepping in where markets fail, and investing in R&D that would otherwise never leave the lab.

Our role is to ensure that decision-makersbe they school board members or cassava growers or health ministershave the best possible options to choose from and the best possible data to inform their decisions, Suzman said. And where theres a solution that can improve livelihoods and save lives, well advocate persistently for it.-- TradeArabia News Service
North Tongu Member of Parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said the statement which was issued by the National Cathedral Secretariat responding to his revelation on an alleged illegal payments totaling GHC 2.6m to a company called JNS actually confirms his revelation that Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng is indeed Kwabena Adu Gyamfi despite the different dates of birth, multiple TINs and addresses.

Mr Ablakwa tweeted that The Cathedral Sect. by this statement confirms that Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng is indeed Kwabena Adu Gyamfi despite the different dates of birth, multiple TINs & addresses. Too many juvenile lies! Why claim the Board is focused when the respected Bishop Dag Heward-Mills has left?

On Monday January 16, the National Cathedral Secretariat said in a statement that following the January 7 memo that it issued to refute a 'false' claim made against the National Cathedral, its attention has been drawn to yet another false accusation.

This time, and using information from the same documentation submitted by the Secretariat to Parliament on December 15, 2022, the Secretariat noted, the National Cathedral is said to have made illegal payments totaling GHC 2.6m to a company called JNS.

This accusation was made by Mr Ablakwa after he presented what he describes as unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence against the Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Reverend Victor Kusi Boateng.

According to him, Rev Kusi Boateng is the third mystery director of JNS Talent Cantre Limited, a firm he had earlier accused of receiving GH2.6 million illegal cash transfer from the Secretariat.

Unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence confirms that Mr. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is the famous Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng who still serves on the National Cathedral Board as an Executive Council Member/Director, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP disclosed.

For the avoidance of doubt, there is no distinct Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is a criminal creation of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng. The two are therefore one and the same.

Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi thought he had outwitted every Ghanaian, particularly our authorities whom he dribbled for many years; but the day of reckoning is finally here.

But responding to him in a statement, the Secretariat said As a normal verification  expected of a Member of Parliament  would have revealed, this was not an illegal payment but rather a refund of a short-term interest free loan made by JNS to top up the payments to the contractors of the National Cathedral.

This support was sought from a National Cathedral Trustee Member, Rev Kusi Boateng, in a letter dated August 26, 2021 due to a delay in the receipt of funds to pay the Contractors on time. The GHC 2.6m was paid from the JNS account to the National Cathedral account on August 27, 2021, following a request from Rev Kusi Boateng to his bankers, ADB.

The GHC 2.6m was refunded to Rev Kusi Boateng, and JNS, by the National Cathedral on September 8, 2021.

It added So, this is not an illegal payment! As we have stressed, consistently, a project of this nature that significantly raises the issues of faith and national development will always have its discontents, malcontents, as well as those who would use lies, and reckless populist statements to give the impression of wanting accountability. In our vibrant democracy, this is to be expected.

However, we do expect that the basic values of verification, particularly by Members of Parliament, would be followed. The Board and Management of the National Cathedral Project remains focused and committed to the completion of the National Cathedral, and would continue to do so with diligence, integrity, excellence, and accountability.

3news.com
A group of people with links to a French far-right group go on trial Tuesday accused of planning a series of violent acts, including the planned assassination of President Emmanuel Macron.

The 13 defendants  11 men and two women, aged 26 to 66 years old  allegedly planned to attack Macron during the 2018 WWI armistice commemoration ceremony. They have been charged conspiring to commit a terrorist act.

Citing evidence collected online from monitored phone calls and meetings, prosecutors say the 13 also planned to kill migrants and attack mosques.

They have been presented as members of the Barjols (Crazies), an extreme-right nationalist and anti-immigration group formed on Facebook in 2017 that held secret meetings.

A defence lawyer, Lucile Collot, said the prosecution's case was based "on the fiction that a violent act was going to happen", calling the accusation of a planned terrorist act "misplaced".

Because none of the alleged plots were ever carried out, prosecutors downgraded some of the initial charges over the course of their four-year investigation.

Four-year investigation

The investigation started in 2018, when France's domestic intelligence services received a tip about a far-right militant based in the French Alps.

Jean-Pierre Bouyer was allegedly planning to attack Macron during the armistice commemoration ceremony in November of that year.

Bouyer was arrested on 6 November along with three others suspected of far-right links in the eastern French Moselle region.

A search of Bouyer's car revealed a commando-style knife and a military vest. They discovered firearms and ammunition in his home.

In posts on Facebook, Bouyer had called on his followers to "eliminate those who want to harm you" and called Macron "a little hysterical dictator".

During his detention, Bouyer told police that he had wanted to kill Macron, and hinted that one of his co-accused had hoped to approach the president during a meet-and-greet and stab him with a ceramic-bladed knife  though later he said the remarks had just been talk.

Police later arrested other members of the Barjols including its presumed leader, Denis Collinet, who is a proponent of the white supremacist "great replacement" theory that falsely claims that France's native white, Catholic population is being replaced by non-white immigrants.

Plans to disrupt France

During their meetings, Barjols members allegedly planned to blow up mosques and kill Macron, as well as kidnap members of parliament and overthrow the government.

During some meetings group members conducted target practice and trained in first aid techniques.

Investigating magistrates filing their findings to the court said that it was "an established fact" that the group's plans "were entirely aimed at seriously disrupting the public order by intimidation and terror".

Defence lawyers have argued that someone who holds dissenting views of the government  even extreme ones  will actually go through with any attack or assassination.

The trial is set to run through 3 February.

(with AFP)
The online French-language film festival, My French Film Festival, is back from 13 January to 13 February. Fans of French and francophone cinema can enjoy 29 features and short films on 70 partner platforms, including some that are unreleased in many countries. All films will be subtitled in 12 languages.

For a month, internet users will have access to 29 films and will be able to choose between comedies, romances, dramas, documentaries, animation, heritage films.

All films will be subtitled in 12 languages, and for the first time, they will also be subtitled in Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and Ukrainian.

My French Film Festival will be entirely free in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, South Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.

My French Film Festival was the first fully online festival to appear in France.

Since 2019, the festival has exceeded ten million film views every year. In 2021, it reached 13 million, with the Covid epidemic driving people to the platforms.

"French films are very present on platforms. Last October we published a study showing that French cinema is the leading European film industry available on platforms.

It is also the leading non-English-speaking film industry", Leo Tisseau of Unifrance, the organisation in charge of promoting French cinema throughout the world, told RFI.

The festival is also a competition. The Grand Prize of the Jury and the International Press Awards will be revealed on 10 February 2023.

The Audience Awards will be announced at the end of the festival.
Nana Agradaa

17.01.2023 LISTEN

Founder and leader of Heaven Way Champion International Ministry, Patricia Asieduaa Koranteng, aka Nana Agradaa, has landed herself in fresh trouble as she has once again been arrested by the police.

The embattled former fetish priestess was rearrested yesterday at the forecourt of the Accra Circuit Court by officers of the Ghana Police Service when she appeared for one of her cases.

Although it was not clear why she was arrested, information available indicate that the arrest related to a case she has with a pastor by name Appiah Biblical.

Agradaa is currently before two different Circuit Courts facing charges of charlatanic advertisement and defrauding by false pretences.

It was one of the cases that she had appeared for when she was arrested after the court proceedings.

The accused, who according to sources initially resisted arrest, was captured on video saying, I am going with them (the police) so when you go, tell them that the case with Appiah which is in court was called today, it was adjourned but they are arresting me again because of the case with

Appiah, as she was escorted into a police vehicle.

The police at the time of writing this story did not provide any official information regarding the arrest.

Agradaa escaped arrest last week after an Accra Circuit Court turned down a request by the prosecution to issue a bench warrant for her arrest, after she failed to show up for one of her trials.

The accused person has refused to meet all the bail conditions. She has not been reporting to the police as she has been directed. The only way to get her to comply is to issue a bench warrant for her arrest, DSP Sylvester Asare had told the court.

The court rejected the request but urged counsel for Agradaa to advise her.

Agradaa is before the court on charges of defrauding by false pretences and charlatanic advertisements.

The accused, according to court documents, defrauded her victims by promising to double any amount they gave her.

Nana Agradaa, according to court documents, through an advertisement on her Today TV and other social media platforms urged her victims to give out any amount of money, which she will in return double for them.

The documents said the six complainants in the instant case as well as over one thousand other persons, came from far and near and attended the all-night service and gave out various sums of money as requested by Nana Agradaa for doubling. She failed to deliver on her promise, the documents allege.

She has pleaded not guilty to the seven charges levelled against her by the police and was remanded on two separate occasions. She was later granted a bail of GH50,000 and GH100,000 respectively.

-DGN online
Al-Shabaab launched a deadly attack on a Somali military base on Tuesday, just a day after the government claimed a "historic victory" over the jihadists with the capture of a strategic coastal town.

There were conflicting reports about the death toll after the Islamist fighters stormed the camp in the town of Hawadley north of the capital Mogadishu.

Army chief Odowaa Yusuf Rage said on national radio that five soldiers including a senior officer had died in the attack claimed by the Al-Qaeda-allied militant group.

A clan militia commander near Hawadley, which lies in the central Hirshabelle state, said 11 soldiers had died.

The Islamists detonated a car packed with explosives outside the camp 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Mogadishu before gunmen stormed the compound, witnesses and security officials said.

Al-Shabaab, which controls swathes of countryside in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack via its communication channels.

In recent months, the army and local clan militias have retaken chunks of territory from the militants in Galmudug and Hirshabelle states in an operation backed by US air strikes and an African Union force.

But despite the gains, Al-Shabaab has demonstrated the ability to strike back with lethal force against civilian and military targets.

Map of Somalia locating the capital, Mogadishu, and Hawadley.. By (AFP)

The Hawadley base had only been recaptured from Al-Shabaab in October last year by the Somali National Army (SNA) and allied militias.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre on Monday proclaimed a "historic victory" over Al-Shabaab after the army took control of the strategic city of Haradhere in central Galmudug state without a fight.

"The brave members of the national armed forces... have destroyed the enemy of the nation and liberated the strategic port town of Haradhere," he said in a statement.

Haradhere had been a key supply route for Al-Shabaab for both people and goods after it seized the port in 2010, dislodging local militias and pirates.

'Attempt to distract'

Tuesday's attack "demonstrates Al-Shabaab's continued ability to produce explosive devices and deploy them within Hirshabelle state, where the offensive originally began", said International Crisis Group's senior analyst for eastern Africa, Omar Mahmood.

"The group has mounted a number of similar assaults recently, likely an attempt to distract the government by attacking multiple locations," he told AFP in a message.

On Saturday, eight people were killed in a roadside bombing claimed by Al-Shabaab in central Somalia, police said. Earlier this month, 19 people were killed in twin car bombings in Mahas, a town in Hiran district in Hirshabelle.

Rage said the army had repelled the assault in Hawadley and was pursuing the militants who got away.

"Five members of the army were martyred, including a senior military officer," he said, adding that the army had killed 21 Al-Shabaab fighters.

Ahmed Mohamud, an SNA military commander in the nearby town of Balcad, said more than 10 people had died, but added that it was not clear how many were soldiers and that the toll was provisional.

He said the army was "in full control" of the area.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had declared "all-out war" on the jihadists after taking office in May last year.

Last week, he called on ordinary Somalis to help flush out members of the jihadist group he described as "bedbugs".

Although forced out of Mogadishu and other main urban centres more than a decade ago, Al-Shabaab remains entrenched in parts of rural central and southern Somalia.
Former President, John Agyekum Kufuor is looking forward to seeing the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) holding onto power beyond 2024.

According to him, he is confident the NPP remains a better option for Ghana as far as governance is concerned.

He has called on the party to work hard to ensure it wins the 2024 general elections.

Im confident that the NPP is a better option when it comes to governance of this country. I hope the NPP will work hard to win the next election, John Agyekum Kufuor said.

The ex-President often called the gentle giant shared these thoughts during an engagement with Mr. Joe Ghartey at his residence.

Mr. Ghartey, former Attorney General and Minister for Justice in the then Kufuor Administration has this month declared his intentions to contest the flagbearership race of the NPP.

He is focused on winning the presidential primaries of the NPP to lead the party into the 2024 general elections in his bid to become President of Ghana.

He faces a tough contest from former Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen and ex-Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Akoto Afriyie.

Meanwhile, it is understood that Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will also be contesting the NPP flagbearership race.
The reasons why the founder and leader of the Lighthouse Chapel International, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills resigned from the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral project have finally come to light.

The renowned man of God resigned in August 2022 over his opposition to some fundamental issues in relation to the project.

Among the issues, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills in a letter of resignation expressed concern over how the price of the construction of the project had ballooned from $100 million to over $400 million on his blindside although he was a Trustee.

In 2021 this same project was estimated to cost $200 million, another board member told the media that the estimated cost of the construction was $200 million in 2021. Then in June this year (2022), it was said on GTV that the estimated cost was $350 million.

"Im unaware and not involved in how the price of the project moved from an initial cost of $100 million to eventually become $400 million, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills said in a letter read on Citi News on Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

In the said letter, the Founder of Lighthouse Chapel International also noted that he has never been involved in a conversation about a foreign loan to finance the National Cathedral Project.

During his time as a Member of the Board of Trustees, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills reportedly made it clear that he is fundamentally opposed to such a move.

Some other reasons that forced Bishop Dag Heward-Mills to resign from the board of trustees were the fact that he felt sidelined when concerns raised were not addressed by the board.

He pointed out that there was a need to look at fundraising especially when the approach used in the past had not yielded results.

In his letters to the board, he pointed out that the board is spending more than it is earning from fundraisers which were not the best economically at a time when the country is faced with hardships.

Despite the many concerns, the man of God stressed in his resignation letter that he is open to helping in the National Cathedral Project if called upon.

According to him, he is not against the project.

I would like to state clearly that if in the future, there is more clarity to my role and function in the building of the Cathedral, I remain open, available, and willing to serve at the pleasure of the President and the nation. Regardless of your response to my resignation and inputs, I remain a supporter of the National Cathedral project and will endeavour to be present to rejoice with the nation when this project is completed, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills said in his letter.
Two non-profit-making organisations, G2 Foundation and Sankofa International have jointly held a get-together programme for several widows, orphans, physically-challenged persons and the aged at Aburaso in Kumasi to put some smiles on their faces.

As part of the event, there was a free health screening with medication for blood pressure, hepatitis B, malaria and breast cancer, among others.

Their body mass index, eye problems, and other ailments of beneficiaries were given free medication.

Ms Gifty Nyarko, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of G2 Foundation advised families to demonstrate love and support to widows and orphans and avoid leaving them to their fate.

"Widowhood is part of stages in life, not a curse, therefore don't neglect them", she said, adding that "most widows are amongst the most vulnerable in society".

Ms Nyarko was speaking over the weekend at a durbar organized by the G2 foundation for widows, orphans, persons with disabilities, the aged and fatherless at Aburaso in Kumasi.

She emphasized that widowhood is a natural phenomenon that a married couple would surely encounter at a point in time since it is not likely both partners would die at the same time.

Ms Nyarko encouraged them not to give up, saying "though the distraction and traumatic experience is very serious, God himself is the defender of the widow".

Ms Nyarko later presented bags of rice, sugar, assorted drinks, cooking oil, clothes, hampers and other package items for more than 300 people including fatherless pupils who also received books, boxes of pens, pencils, school bags and scholarships for deserving ones.

The beneficiaries thanked the foundation for the kind gesture.
The founder of the Ghana Union Movement (GUM), Rev. Christian Kwabena Andrews, also known as Osofo Kyiri Abosom is against former Trade and Industry Minister Alan Kyerematen's presidential ambition.

According to the GUM leader, someone who failed to manage the Komenda Sugar factory placed under his supervision as Trade Minister will never be able to manage the entire country.

The 2020 presidential candidate claimed that the former minister accomplished nothing but failure in all of his dealings.

The priest cum politician also hinted that if he had any ideas for reforming the country, Alan Kyerematen could have shared them with President Akufo-Addo to restore the ailing economy.

Theres no hope in Alan Kyerematen for Ghana. Because I, Osofo Kyiri Abosom, my hope is to see a better Ghana someday, so, I have established one, two, or three things to help Ghanaians.

Since he (Alan Kyerematen) entered politics in Ghana, he should show us how many factories or jobs he has opened, he stated.

He continued, The sole factory that was supposed to supply us with sugar and save us the enormous sum of money we spent on sugar imports was the Komenda Sugar factory. When he joined the government, he oversaw its operations as a Trade and Industry Minister, but he couldnt manage the factory and collapsed it.

Osofo Kyiri Abosom argued that If he (Alan Kyerematen) is having any idea, then he should have been able to manage the factory as a minister, but he was unable to do so and rather suggested to Akuffo-Addo that the factory be sold to foreigners.

The GUM leader stressed, So, it means that he has no ideas, hes just following the ideas of others because if he had any idea, he could have used it to help Akufo Addos administration.
Sammy Gyamfi, the National Communications Director of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has slammed the Akufo-Addo-led NPP government over the domestic debt exchange program.

He stated that negative impact the debt-swapping policy will have on bondholders will be no different from what the gold investment firm Menzgold did to its customers.

Contributing to the matter on Accra-based Metro TVs "Good Morning Ghana" show, Sammy Gyamfi asserted that the same reason the government embarked on the financial sector clean-up, including NAM 1s defunct Menzgold, is what is currently looming.

He claimed that the Finance Ministry headed by Ken Ofori-Atta was not able to pay its creditors, hence their move to force Ghanaians to carry the cross of overborrowing and high spending.

"...Menzgold is better than this government. The financial companies that you shut down, what was the reason? You shut them down because they were unable to pay their depositors. Today, you can't pay your creditors, are you better them," he stated.

His statement comes amid countless protests from Ghanaians, both at home and abroad, over the debt restructuring program.
Kuwait-based aircraft lessor Alafco has signed a framework agreement with Macquarie AirFinance under which an order for 20 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets would be transferred to the latter, potentially paving the way for a $2.2 billion acquisition by the Australian aircraft leasing firm.

Macquarie AirFinance is a leading provider of aircraft leasing and financing solutions, with a portfolio comprised of 189 aircraft leased to 77 airlines across 47 countries and an existing orderbook of 59 Airbus A320neo and A220-300 aircraft.

As per the deal, the Macquarie AirFinance shareholders will collectively contribute up to $600 million of new equity to the business to facilitate its purchase of 53 current and next-generation commercial passenger aircraft as well as an order for 20 Boeing 737 Max aircraft from the Kuwaiti government-backed Alafco.

This transaction will enable the business to further expand and diversify its fleet of aircraft while improving the emissions profile, scale, average age, remaining lease term, and orderbook size of Macquarie AirFinance as the recovery of the aviation sector gains pace.

In a separate statement, Macquarie Asset Management, PGGM Infrastructure Fund and Australian Retirement Trust (ART) who together own Macquarie AirFinance, said they would support the $2.2 billion acquisition of Alafco's aircraft portfolio.

The transaction will be supported with a $1.65 billion acquisition facility, underwritten by BNP Paribas, Citibank, MUFG Bank, and Natixis, it added.

Jonathan Watkinson-Hall, Head of Asset Finance at Macquarie Asset Management, said: "This strategic acquisition will enable Macquarie AirFinance to grow its network of customers globally while increasing its exposure to more efficient aircraft."

"As passengers return to the skies and investor appetite for transportation assets strengthens, we are excited to support Macquarie AirFinance as it acquires this attractive portfolio and positions for future growth," he noted.

Dennis van Alphen, Head of Infrastructure Investments at PGGM, said: "With this investment, PGGM Infrastructure Fund follows through on its commitment made at the time of becoming a shareholder in Macquarie AirFinance in 2019  to finance the acquisition of young aircraft and to provide an attractive risk-return to our clients."

Alphen pointed out that in the next few decades, the global aviation industry will demand aircraft with an increasingly lower carbon footprint as the industry works towards its 2050 net zero target, as formulated by IATA member airlines in 2021.

"In that context, PGGM Infrastructure Fund will expect all of its investee companies to develop a credible long-term CO2 reduction strategy before 2030 to align themselves with the Paris Climate Agreement, so they meet our client PFZWs climate ambition," he added.

Michael Weaver, the Head of Global Real Assets at ART, said: "The diversification of Macquarie AirFinances fleet into more efficient and lower emissions aircraft is consistent with our broader strategies to lower net emissions across our portfolio, while never compromising on our members best financial interests."

"Our partnership with Macquarie and PGGM in Macquarie AirFinance continues to provide ARTs members an attractive investment into a unique asset with diversification benefits across our portfolio," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The resignation of the founder and presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Group of Churches, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills from the board of Trustees of the National Cathedral has been confirmed.

This is contained in a resignation letter tendered by the renowned man of God in August 2022.

Among many other reasons that forced his decision to resign, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills explains how he was sidelined.

According to him, discussions about the National Cathedral were taken outside of Trustees meeting.

He explains that if they were taken by Trustees at their meetings, then he was never invited to such meetings.

I have been a reachable and available trustee and attended every single meeting of trustees since the pandemic began, in person and by zoom, and the records will show that. If I say that I, as a trustee, do not know many of the financial and technical issues concerning the Cathedral, it means the discussions about the National Cathedral were held by some people outside the trustees meeting or perhaps in a forum that I was not present or invited to, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills said in letters sent to the board last year.

He further explains, On the one hand, the National Cathedral is said to be a Government of Ghana project, with the government taking financial decisions. Yet, on another hand, at meetings, it is implied that the trustees have taken or participated in taking some decisions.

If I say that I, as a trustee, do not know many of the financial and technical issues concerning the Cathedral, it means the discussions about the National Cathedral were held by some people outside the trustees meeting or perhaps in a forum that I was not present or invited to.

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills also shared that the lack of clarity on the project and how much it will cost is not helpful.

He noted that the change in the price of the National Cathedral Project from $100 million to over $400 million was shocking.

In a number of concerns raised, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills made it clear that spending more on fundraisers that raked in less money did not make financial sense, and the approach to solicit funds should be looked at and changed.

Despite raising these concerns in letters to the board, they were not addressed.

This left him with no choice but to resign as a member of the board of Trustees.

Regardless, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills says he will be open to helping in the National Cathedral Project in any capacity in future if there is more clarity on the issues.
A former Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC), Alex Mould and Gavivina Tamakloe may be forced to execute a bail bond of GH5 million they stood as surety for former MASLOC boss Madam Sedinam Tamakloe who has absented herself from trial since October 2021.

The former MASLOc boss who is standing trial with Daniel Axim former operations manager of MASLOC for 78 counts of willfully causing financial loss to the state and stealing among others has not made herself available for trial since she was granted bail to seek medical attention outside the country.

Efforts to get her to attend trial have failed as Alex mould and the other surety have not been able to provide her in court as mandated by the bail bond.

The state prosecutors have thus filed for forfeiture of recognizance which when agreed upon by the court will make the sureties liable for executing the bail bond.

However, lawyers of Alex Mould and the other surety in court today presented a medical document for the accused. But the trial judge who doubted the legitimacy of the document adjourned the hearing for a week to allow the lawyers to prove its authenticity.

Justice Afia Serwaa Asare Botwe indicated that she will deliver her ruling on the forfeiture of recognizance application after considering the document.

The case has been adjourned to January 24.
Six years after President Akufo-Addo cut sod for the construction of the National Cathedral, all that has been done is the excavation of a huge pit at the centre of the city using $30 million of public funds, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills has observed in his resignation letter as a trustee of the Board of the National Cathedral Secretariat.

I am a firm believer in the presidents vision. I believe that the public can see and is questioning the fact that we have spent almost six years since the sod-cutting of this project as well as over $30m (thirty million dollars) of public funds, to excavate a massive pit in the centre of the city, he noted.

I do believe that many of the questions that are being asked and hurled at the National Cathedral Project are reasonable and legitimate questions by objective citizens who just want answers to their questions, the founder of Lighthouse Chapel International, said.

His resignation, which has been copiously quoted by Accra-based Citi FM, also questioned the fund-raising techniques being used by the Secretariat as non-effective yet expensive.

I do believe that the fund-raising methods we have attempted have not yielded much. Indeed, some of the programmes we have held have cost more than the monies we have raised from them. I suggest another form of fund-raising where we would be guaranteed more donations from denominations, churches, individuals, businessmen and corporate bodies. I would be happy to discuss these if the committee is interested in that, portions of the letter read.

He suggested there be an adjustment in strategy so that we can achieve our goal of building a National Cathedral even in these difficult times.

In his view, continuing to pay contractors $40,000 (forty thousand dollars) a month, as we wait to procure a huge loan in this hostile atmosphere sounds dicey to me. I do believe that almost six years down the line, we need to look at a different approach to achieve our goal of building Gods house in Ghana.

Bishop Heward-Mills, who resigned in August 2022, said in his letter that he felt certain concerns and opinions he had expressed about the project were trivialised and set aside.

I feel that the treatment of the issues I have raised in my several letters has been unfortunate, he said in his resignation letter, explaining: My letters have been ignored in the past, not attended to for years, and, at best, addressed flippantly.

You may recall I have spoken passionately and written extensively about the costs, the design, the location, the fundraising, the mobilisation of the churches, and the role of the trustees. These, if heeded, would have made our project more achievable. Generally speaking, my inputs, my opinions, and my letters have been trivialised and set aside.

Bishop Heward-Mills also complained that despite his appointment by President Nana Akufo-Addo as a trustee, he was never registered as a Director of the Company of the National Cathedral of Ghana, a company limited by guarantee.

I do not believe this is an oversight but a deliberate exclusion from the Board, he noted, pointing out: Six years is a long time to correct this failure to register me if it was indeed an administrative lapse.

l have, therefore, accepted for some time now that I am not a trustee of the National Cathedral, but I have still sought to help with the Cathedral because I believe in the Presidents vision and I do not have to be a legally registered trustee to do so. I refer to myself in this letter as a trustee because even though l am not privy to most of the weighty decisions of the Board I am referred to as such.

This lack of clarity is robbing our vision of the validity it needs. Over and over, I have asked that we address this appropriately and urgently because there are many dire implications to the trustees and the individuals involved in this project.

I have been a reachable and available trustee and attended every single meeting of trustees since the pandemic began, in person and by zoom, and the records will show that. If I say that I, as a trustee, do not know many of the financial and technical issues concerning the Cathedral, it means the discussions about the National Cathedral were held by some people outside the trustees meeting or perhaps in a forum that I was not present or invited to.

On the one hand, the National Cathedral is said to be a government of Ghana project, with the government taking financial decisions. Yet, on another hand, at meetings, it is implied that the trustees have taken or participated in taking some decisions.

I would like to state clearly that if in the future, there is more clarity to my role and function in the building of the Cathedral, I remain open, available and willing to serve at the pleasure of the President and the nation. Regardless of your response to my resignation and inputs, I remain a supporter of the National Cathedral project and will endeavour to be present to rejoice with the nation when this project is completed.

Bishop Heward-Mills said he did not wish the media or general public to construe my withdrawal as a sign of a lack of support or belief in the building of the National Cathedral.

The National Cathedral project has been the subject of one controversy after another.

Just recently, the secretariat jumped to the defence of one of its board members, Rev Victor Kusi Boateng, who, according to opposition lawmaker Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, had the board pay some GH2.6 million paid to a company he owns  JNS Talent Centre Ltd, which allegedly runs a creche in Dawhenya.

In his expose, Mr Ablakwa said the company is owned by one Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, who, according to him  per documents available to him  is the same person as Rev r Kusi-Boateng, who serves on the board of the National Cathedral as executive council member/director.

The secretariat explained in its statement: As a normal verification  expected of a Member of Parliament  would have revealed, this was not an illegal payment but rather a refund of a short-term interest-free loan made by JNS to top up the payments to the contractors of the National Cathedral.

This support was sought from a National Cathedral Trustee Member, Rev Kusi Boateng, in a letter dated August 26, 2021, due to a delay in the receipt of funds to pay the Contractors on time, the statement said.

In his expose, Mr Ablakwa claimed that not only does Rev Kusi Boateng have a double identity, but also holds multiple passports with different dates of birth.

Mr Ablakwa, in an earlier expose, had said the National Cathedral Secretariat had transferred a cash sum of GHS2.6 million to a company called JNS Talent Centre Limited for no work done.

The directors of the company, he said, were Johannes Eshun, Sheila Eshun and Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

In his latest expose posted on Facebook on Monday, 16 January 2023, the North Tongu legislator disclosed that there is no distinct Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is a criminal creation of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng. The two are, therefore, one and the same.

Rev. Kwabena Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi sat on the Cathedral board and literally paid his own company a staggering GHS2.6million for no work done, he said.

Mr Ablakwa is wondering why the Founder of Power Chapel Worldwide keeps two personalities  one as Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng and the other as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

Two personalities with different dates of birth; different passports; different TINs; different professions (Business Man and Prophet) and different addresses. What is he running from? Who is he hiding from? Does he suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder? he quizzed.

The legislator, among other demands, wants Rev. Victor Adu Gyamfi AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi to be subjected to thorough credible investigations and prosecution for his many other offences which have now come to light.

He further said he intends to petition the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) at 1 pm today, Monday, 16 January 2023, invoking its mandate under Article 218 of the 1992 Constitution to investigate the odious conflict of interest.

Find details of Mr Ablakwas statement below:

Painstaking and diligent parliamentary oversight with the gracious guidance of the omniscient and omnipotent has led to what can only be akin to Tsar Bomba findings.

Blatant corruption, conflict of interest, self-dealing and grand fraud have never been this majestic.

It couldnt have ever occurred to us that the conduct of an exalted man of God during the sacred construction of the Lords temple would leave an entire nation utterly dumbfounded.

You will recall that in my earlier expose of the scandalous GHS2.6million cash transfer from the National Cathedral Secretariat to JNS Talent Centre Limited, I pointed out that incorporation documents reveal that the three directors of JNS Talent Centre Limited are Johannes Eshun, Sheila Eshun and Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

I also later revealed that Rev. Johannes Eshun is a branch pastor of National Cathedral Executive Council Member/Director, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boatengs Power Chapel Worldwide.

Hitherto, the third director Mr Kwabena Adu Gyamfi has remained a mysterious figure.

I am now able to reveal the true identity of this mystery director of JNS, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.

Definitely, the code has finally been cracked and it shocks to the marrow!

Unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence confirms that Mr Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is the famous Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng who still serves on the National Cathedral Board as an Executive Council Member/Director.

For the avoidance of doubt, there is no distinct Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is a criminal creation of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng. The two are therefore one and the same.

Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi thought he had outwitted every Ghanaian, particularly our authorities whom he dribbled for many years; but the day of reckoning is finally here.

From unassailable and irreproachable documents in my possession, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi uses multiple passports and multiple identification cards with different names and different dates of birth as his special modus operandi.

When JNS Talent Centre Limited was being incorporated, he submitted a passport with the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. The passports number is G0886001. At the time, he claimed his date of birth was 30th December 1969.

Instructively, the passport bears his unmistakable picture. (See passport in issue attached).

Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng has used other Kwabena Adu Gyamfi passports. Their passport numbers are G1262918; G0390695 and G3415693. (All duly attached).

Curiously, on 25th November 2021, the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration granted Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng a diplomatic passport. The diplomatic passport which expires on 24th November 2026 rather carries the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi and not Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng. Theres no indication its for the use of a reverend minister. Its diplomatic passport number is DX006845. (Accordingly attached).

The story gets even more fascinating. When the National Cathedral of Ghana was being incorporated on the 19th of July, 2019; Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng used his driving license for the registration. For his driving license, he uses the name Boateng Victor Kusi. In a more bizarre twist, he uses a different date of birth which is captured as 07/09/1971. This date of birth makes him about two years younger than whats contained in his numerous Kwabena Adu Gyamfi passports. (Driving License is duly attached).

Its been very puzzling to further discover that the acclaimed man of God and confidant of President Akufo-Addo illegally has two Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs)P0002502682 and P000627241X. The Ghana Revenue Authority has made clear that each Ghanaian can only have one unique TIN and proceeds to prohibit individuals from having multiple TINs.

Deeper investigations expose a host of companies which Rev. Kusi-Boateng operates as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi on the blind side of many. These businesses are Y-CV Construction Ltd.; Qharis Consortium Ltd.; Kharis Football Academy FC Ltd.; El Dunamis Media Limited; Onpoint 1 Laundry Ltd.; Vibrant Generation Chapel Worldwide LBG; Dunamis Chapel Worldwide LBG; El-Dunamis Enterprise and Duna Media Foundation.

Some of these entities are registered to engage in small-scale mining.

My latest tracking of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfis travels reveals that he used his diplomatic Kwabena Adu Gyamfi passport on the 12th of January, 2023 aboard flight KP021 from Accra to Lome. He used the same diplomatic passport to Dubai on December 9, 2022, aboard flight EK787. Earlier on 20th November 2022 he used his ordinary passport on a similar Dubai trip. This shows that he is still actively using the two identities.

It remains exceedingly baffling why he keeps two personalities one as Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng and the other as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi. Two personalities with different dates of birth; different passports; different TINs; different professions (Business Man and Prophet) and different addresses. What is he running from? Who is he hiding from? Does he suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder or Multiple Personality Disorder?

Having established beyond any scintilla of doubt that Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng is Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia/Ofori-Atta government and the Executive Council Members of the National Cathedral of Ghana owe the Ghanaian people some serious explanations. It would be extremely surprising if they claim they didnt know this dark side of Kusi Boateng AKA Adu Gyamfi.

These explosive findings make the conflict of interest charge in the GHS2.6 million scandalous payment by the National Cathedral of Ghana to the shady JNS Talent Centre Limited even more blatant, direct, offensive and absolutely embarrassing.

Clearly, Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi sat on the Cathedral board and literally paid his own company a staggering GHS2.6 million for no work done.

When the siphoning was completed, they captured the same as Contractors Mobilization and presented it to Parliament hoping that they would legitimize the dubious transaction and therefore get away with murder.

It has also emerged from a JNS Bank Statement put out by puerile NPP propagandists that Rev. Kusi-Boateng Adu Gyamfis JNS Talent Centre Limited received a whopping GHS3.5million from the government through payment by Controller with swift code CODGGHAC on 23rd August 2021. Many are asking what Kusi-Boateng Adu Gyamfis JNS which operated a zero account for many months (since February 26, 2021, when the account was opened) before the sudden government transfer did for government to warrant that huge payment?

This appears to confirm justifiable criticisms that the cathedral project has blasphemously become an avenue for money laundering.

Having stripped Kusi-Boateng naked, the earlier ridiculous concoction that JNS is a benevolent lending institution collapses. JNS must therefore refund our GHS3.5 million and our GHS2.6 million without further delay.

DEMANDS

1. The immediate resignation of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi from the Board of the National Cathedral of Ghana;

2. Rev. Victor Adu Gyamfi AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi must be compelled to refund all taxpayer funds diverted into his company, JNS;

3. Rev. Victor Adu Gyamfi AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi must be subjected to thorough credible investigations and prosecution for his many other offences which have now come to light;

4. President Akufo-Addo must outrightly dissolve the Board of the National Cathedral of Ghana;

5. A special forensic audit must be expeditiously commissioned into the National Cathedral project.

FURTHER ACTIONS

1. I shall be petitioning CHRAJ at 1 pm today invoking its mandate under Article 218 of the 1992 Constitution to investigate the odious conflict of interest;

2. I intend to file an urgent question when Parliament resumes for the Honourable Minister for Foreign Affairs to inform Ghanaians why Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng qualified for a diplomatic passport and the nature of due diligence, if any her ministry may have carried out;

3. I also intend to file an urgent question for the Finance Minister on exactly what work JNS did to warrant a colossal transfer of GHS3.5million from our taxes and why that transaction did not find expression in his GHS339million unconstitutional cathedral withdrawals as presented to the Vote of Censure Committee.

God save our Republic.

Ghana first.

Source: ClassFMonline.com
Dr Beatrice Wiafe-Addai, the Chief Executive Officer of Breast Care International, has underscored the need for health authorities to constantly take screening of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) to the communities.

She said that was the way to go to curb the rising morbidities of NCDs, which were needlessly killing many people.

Speaking at an end-of-year review meeting on NCDs, organised by the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate in Kumasi, Dr Wiafe-Addai said because NCDs did not usually start as acute cases, nothing compelled people to seek medical help until the situation was dire.

That was why it was important for health authorities to take proactive steps to screen people at the community level to ensure early detection and treatment, she said.

A lot of women are dying from cancers and other NCDs because they report late to health facilities when very little could be done to save them, she noted.

Dr Wiafe-Addai said fighting NCDs required Public Private Partnership (PPP) approach to reach many Ghanaians suffering from diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, cancers, and mental health.

Fortunately, there was a lot of collaboration between the private sector and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in 2022 and we need to sustain it to be able to tackle NCDs effectively, Dr Wiafe-Addae maintained.

She said the private sector in collaboration with the GHS undertook a lot of research into NCDs last year and reiterated the need to take it a step further to improve the health of the people.

She praised the Regional Health Directorate for recognising efforts of the private sector in the implementation of health programmes and interventions across the region.

Dr Emmanuel Tinkorang, Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, said NCDs were lifestyle diseases, and urged the public to adopt healthy lifestyles, especially what they consumed.

He said the Directorate would step up public education and screening on NCDs this year as part of strategies to bring down the rising cases of NCDs in the region.

He acknowledged the critical role of the media in propagating the activities of the GHS and called for their continued support in educating the public on NCDs.

Madam Lydia Owusu Ansah, the Regional NCD Coordinator, said the mortality rate of NCDs in the region in the last 10 years was frightening and urged stakeholders to join the fight against those diseases.

She reiterated plans to embark on massive public screening this year to collectively reduce the mortality rate of NCDs and called for public cooperation.

GNA
Lands Commission is set to embark on a demolition exercise to reclaim encroached government lands in parts of the capital, Accra.

This comes after the Commission received a number of reports with great contestation, of encroachments on state lands within Amrahia, Mpehuasem and Nungua (Borteyman) by unknown armed men.

The illegality started during the festive season in December 2022 and continues to occur.

The Commission with the assistance of the Ghana Police Service will officially start the exercise today, Tuesday, January 17, 2023, to recover and protect the sites and other state-acquired areas in accordance with section 236 of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036).

The parcels under threat are parts of Government acquisitions with compensations paid and include:

1. State Lands (Kweiman-Amrahia  Site for Modern Diary Farm) Instrument, 1970 (E.I.47) with an approximate area of 1,381.995 acres.

2. State Lands  (Accra-Mpehuasem  Site for Accra Training College) Instrument, 2009 (E. I. 16) with an approximate area of 111.25 acres.

3. State Lands  (Accra-Nungua  Site for Livestock Farm) Instrument, 1940 (Certificate of Title 214/40) with an approximate area of 2,570.05 acres.

In all the acquisitions above, on the goodwill of Government, some portions of the sites have been released to the pre-acquisition owners.

Following a reconnaissance inspection of sites in Borteyman, Amahria and Mphehuasem, the joint team of Lands Administrators and Police Officers agreed on the urgency of a more extensive exercise to recover and protect all the encroached portions including demolishing of unauthorized structures, the Lands Commission said in a statement issued and signed by its Executive Secretary, James E. K. Dadson.

According to the Commission, it expects the public to offer maximum support as it undertakes this mandate.

The Government of Ghana, through the Lands Commission, administers all stateacquired and vested lands in the country.

By Citi Newsroom
Cocoa farmers at Ohiampeanika in the Amenfi West District of the Western Region have denied using child labour on their farms.

They have, therefore, threatened to sue Al Jazeera, an international media organization that published a television story to the effect that cocoa farmers in the area engage children to work on their farms.

The TV report by the Qatar-based media organization which went viral indicated, among others, that a visit to the farming community revealed children working on cocoa farms.

The farmers, who are infuriated by the video circulating, have described the news item as stage-managed.

The Al Jazeera video circulating is false. They visited us and told us they were from Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) and that they were to listen to our problems to help solve them not knowing they had ulterior motives , they lamented.

The visibly angry farmers asserted that what the international media organization did has dented the countrys cocoa sector in the eyes of the international community, adding: We will go all out to sue them.

A former Assembly member for the area, Samuel Ofori Asare, who featured in the Al Jazeera video, said the media house never told them they were going to do a news story.

We were here one Sunday when they came and said they were from COCOBOD and that they want to meet the farmers to know their challenges and the kind of support they (the visitors) could offer.

After listening to the farmers, the Al Jazeera pressman indicated that they wanted some of the farmers whose farms were nearby to go with them to demonstrate how the cocoa is planted and harvested, he noted.

He said one of the farmers called Owusu Gyan alias Daffa, whose farm was nearby, opted to go with them.

As they were going, the pressmen from Al Jazeera asked if they could get some children to go with them so they can carry the baskets into which the cocoa pods would be harvested, he added.

He said Daffas brothers three children who are all in school and had closed from church on that Sunday were asked to change quickly and went to the farm with them.

He continued: So in the farm, the Al Jazeera journalists who spoke through a Ghanaian interpreter, would tell the farmers what to do as they were filming.

So they will tell a farmer to use the cutlass to harvest the pods from the tree and give it to the children to open them and the journalists were filming.

So as for us, we are here waiting for the support they promised only to hear that there had been an Al Jazeera TV report indicating that farmers in this community use child labour on their farms.

In fact, we were surprised and we want the whole world to know that cocoa farmers here do not engage children to work on their farms and so all should disregard that report. Ghanaian cocoa farmers dont use child labour on their farms, he stressed.

The Director of Special Services at COCOBOD, Charles Amenyaglo said what transpired was criminal and that a report had subsequently been lodged with the police.

He appealed to all those who played a part in the story to cooperate with the police particularly when they are called to give their statements.

-3news.com
A Senegalese soldier was killed and four were wounded during an operation against separatist rebels in the southern region of Casamance, the latest clash in the decades-long conflict, an army official said Tuesday.

The soldier died Monday when the army moved against an attempt by the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) to install a new base near the border with The Gambia, and also destroy hemp fields, according to press reports.

Casamance, Senegal's southernmost region, is almost separated from the rest of the country by the tiny state of The Gambia, with a distinct culture and language stemming from its past as a Portuguese colony.

The MFDC has waged its campaign to break away since 1982 but signed a peace deal with the government last August, hailed as a first step toward a permanent end one of Africa's oldest active rebellions.

Senegal's President Macky Sall has said that ending the rebellion is a priority, and in recent years the government has begun returning Casamance residents displaced by the conflict.

Officials also accuse the rebels of illicit trafficking of cannabis and wood, and of seeking refuge in The Gambia or in Guinea-Bissau to the south.
The President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is using his time in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to woo investors.

On Monday, January 16, the President led Ghana's delegation to the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in the United Arab Emirates.

During an address, to the UAE-Ghana Business Forum on Tuesday, January 17, President Akufo-Addo maintained that, in spite of Ghanas present challenges, it is an exciting time to be in the country and do business.

The President also urged the private sector in the UAE to take advantage of the business-friendly climate in the country to invest in Ghana.

Ghana is, rightly, considered a beacon of democracy and stability in Africa, with a modern democratic system of governance, with an independent Judiciary and a strong attachment to the rule of law. In the same vein, we are determined to make Ghana an example of rapid economic growth within the context of a well-developed market economy, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said.

President Akufo-Addo is out of the country to attend the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW).

The Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week is a global initiative championed by the UAE and its clean energy powerhouse Masdar to accelerate sustainable development and advance economic, social, and environmental progress.
The Upper East NDC wing in the Greater Accra region has praised President Akufo-Addo following his intervention in the dismissed students of Chiana SHS.

The students were dismissed by the Ghana Education Service for allegedly insulting the President in a video that went viral in 2022.

However, after several pleas for the President to pardon the students and get them back to class, the Ministry of Education, in a statement released on Friday, January 13, said the President intervened as soon as he was informed about the GES decision.

He directed GES to reverse the dismissal and instead give them an alternative punishment.

On that score, the Upper East NDC wing, which before the Presidents intervention petitioned him to intervene, said in a release, "We wish to commend and thank H.E. excellency the president of the republic for exhibiting the highest sense of leadership in the matter of the eight (8) students of the Chiana SHS in the Upper East Region."

The release added, "in as much as we commend the President for the fatherly intervention, we want to condemn the actions of the said SHS girls.

The group call on educational bodies to organise free counselling sections for students in various educational institutions to conscientise them about similar behaviours.

Read full statement below:

PRESS RELEASE

UPPER EAST NDC WING IN GREATER ACCRA REGION COMMEND PRESIDENT AKUFO -ADDO ON HIS INTERVENTION ON THE MATTER OF THE EIGHT (8) STUDENTS OF THE CHIANA SHS OF THE UPPER EAST REGION OF GHANA

12th January,2023.

Accra-Ghana

We the members of the Upper East NDC wing in Greater Accra have observed with outer shocked and dismay recent video making rounds on social media about eight (8) of the Chiana SHS in the Upper East Region.

We must admit that we were shocked and dumbfounded to have hear the unsavory and unprintable words used against the president by these girls to the extent that we wondered if our fine societal morals have suddenly vanished. We wish to vehemently condemned the act and conduct of the students in no uncertain terms.

In fact, just as we were about to issue a statement to plead for clemency on the harsh decision of the Ghana Education Service (GES), H.E Excellency the president has directed that the GES should consider an alternative punishment rather dismissal. We wish to commend and thank H.E excellency the president of the republic for exhibiting the highest sense of leadership in the matter of the eight (8) students of the Chiana SHS in the Upper East Region.

In as much as we commend the president for the fatherly intervention, we want to condemn the act of the said SHS girls. As we know, in our Ghanaian culture, it's an act of gross misconduct and disrespect on the part of children to insult adults or elderly in our society. It's even more grievous and reprehensible to insult the President of Ghana, who is the first gentleman of the land.

We are not in any way condoning the conduct or act of the eight (8) students, we condemned it in all uncertainty terms, we are of the firm believe and conviction that such action should not be tolerated and we welcome any punishment that is punitive enough to serve as deterrent to others, but we consider the outright dismissal as harsh and concrete which could have a long psychological effect on them and their parents.

It is against this background that we commend the president for the timely intervention.

The president is a lawyer and a celebrated human right activist so he is familiar that the right to education is a fundamental human right of every Ghanaian whose rights can only be denied or taken away on the grounds of exceptional circumstances which borders on crimes. when it comes children and juveniles, the emphasis is on reformation rather than punishment. See the Children's Act, 1998 (Act 560) and Juvenile Justice Act, 2003 (Act 653). As the saying goes you don't throw away the baby with the bathwater.

While we are by this press statement calling on the Ghana Education Service(GES) to heed to the intervention directivesand suggestion of the president to initiate an alternative punishment rather than dismissal, we want to use this occasion to call on the GES,the child rights international and all other stakeholders within the educational ecosystem to as a matter of priority provide free counselling services to these affected student.

It is important to note that the act of the students is a reflection of the broken system we have. How will politicians sit on national radio and TV and insult their political opponent, these kids could have taken mentorship lessons from those politicians who have made it a ritual of insulting political opponent. This goes to confirm the saying that if the chief of the town comes home with a weird haircut, what do you expect his subjects to do.

END

George Akaribo

Coordinator,

Upper East NDC Wing in Accra

0244388097
17.01.2023 LISTEN

The Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has expressed optimism about the success of the Gold-for-Oil initiative.

Following the arrival of the first supply of oil in the country, the Vice President says it is clear the framework will work to address the stress on the countrys demand for forex exchange.

With this idea, we said, let us do something that the textbooks dont teach you, let us do something that is out of the box and this is why we said gold-for-oil. We quickly looked at this and we negotiated with the suppliers of oil who were very excited and happy to receive gold in payment. Thankfully, yesterday, Monday, Ghana took its first delivery of oil under the gold-for-oil programme.

This is the cargo to test the framework to see if everything that has been put in place will work and by the grace of God, it is clear that the framework will work and if that should happen we are going to save a lot of foreign exchange and reduce the pressure on our currency, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia said.

The Vice President shared this while delivering a speech at the 74th annual New Year school of the University of Ghana on Tuesday, January 17.

To explain how government came up with the Gold-for-Oil initiative, Dr. Bawumia noted, Take the case of gold in Ghana, we have mined gold for over 200 years, and when I looked at the data I realized that our total reserves of gold in Ghana was just 8.7 tonnes at the end of 2021.

One of the largest gold mining countries, we are in the top 10 in the world but we have not accumulated gold to build our reserves.

The Vice President added, We looked at the other side of the balance sheet, we export gold and we import oil. The cost of oil import is about 3 billion dollars a year. So we ask the simple question, why dont we, since we have always got pressure in finding US Dollars to buy oil, rather reach an agreement to change our gold for oil and then, sell the oil in Cedis and then, use the Cedis to buy more gold, use that gold to pay for oil, sell the oil in Cedis and then you dont need to look for the scarce foreign exchange to buy oil, which always leads to depreciation on the currency.

While there are concerns from the Minority on the benefits of the gold-for-oil initiative, government is confident that it is on the right path to address the challenges of the local currency.
Srinagar, Jan 17 (UNI) Two suspected militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed in a brief shooting in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district on Tuesday morning.

Police said the duo had escaped from an encounter site at Rudbugh Budgam on Sunday.

The brief firing took place this morning when a suspected vehicle was asked to stop in Budgam town by a joint team of police and Army.

"On specific input, the joint area domination party of Army & Police tried to stop one suspected vehicle, terrorists fired upon and in retaliation two terrorists were killed," a police statement said. It added that arms and ammunition was recovered from the area.

Additional Director General of Police, Kashmir Vijay Kumar identified the two as Arbaaz Mir and Shahid Sheikh of Pulwama.

" They were linked with the proscribed terror outfit LeT. Both the terrorists earlier escaped from recent encounter," ADGP Kumar said

UNI MJR GNK
Co-Founder and Associate Overseer of the Crystal Grace Chapel International, Prophetess Mrs Lina Biney has disclosed the best way Christians can overcome their challenges.

The woman of God noted that no anointed Christian will ever go through a life of struggles.

In a sermon titled "Anointing," delivered on Sunday, January 15, at the churchs auditorium at Sarpeiman, near Amasaman, Accra, Mrs. Biney explained that anointing has the power of defeating every evil spirit.

Explaining the act of anointing, the prophetess contended that "the anointing is a symbol for the spirit of God that is poured on those who seek the glory of God."

When the anointing is housed in an individual, the revered prophetess disclosed that evil spirits and bad luck will be banished from such a person, urging Christians to make it a must to receive the anointing.

According to her, even when the problem comes, it shall never succeed in ruining the life of the person due to his anointing.

Throwing more light on the benefits of anointing and why it is crucial for everyone (a Christian) who seeks success to look for it, prophetess Biney asserted that without it, a persons daily struggles will be in vain.

"The anointing is very critical in everyones life because it brings fruit and prosperity to your hard work, but without it, all of it will be vanity because it is God who blesses the fruit of one's labour," she said.

"You can work all night and all day, but it takes the anointing to give you what you desire; without it, you can't succeed because the anointing is a burden remover," Prophetess Lina Biney added.

The skills, knowledge, and looks of an individual will be all worthless, according to the prophetess, if the anointing has not taken centre stage in the persons life.

She buttressed her claim by citing Acts 10:38, which reads: "And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."

By the reference, she inferred that even Jesus Christ, who was said to be 100 percent man and a spirit, could not work without the anointing.

The sermon was also founded on Luke 4:18 and Psalm 23;5 which says, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

The church is currently in a seven-day extensive fasting and prayer programme, themed, 7 days of power.
I think we can all agree that being a President is not an easy job.

Being a President means often having:

 Working days of 10-12 hours

 Working weeks of 6-7 days

 Short and often interrupted holidays

 All kinds of social events to attend on your formal off days

 Always being prepared to be contacted and interrupted from the day in office until the day you leave.

There are additional responsibilities especially in Africa where being a President also gives you other duties like attending funerals and church / mosque visits.

To me this sounds like a job for the fittest only who are prepared for 4-8 or 5-10 years to put their family aside to give their abilities to the job.

I have worked long days, weeks months and years but being on standby 24/7 for 365 days a year sounds to me like a nightmare. At my height of business performance at an age between 30 and 45, my normal working weeks were mostly between 10-15 hours daily, but I have never been able to function 100% without uninterrupted sleep of at least 7 hours a night and periods of rest and relaxation every few months.

I cant imagine how a 60-70 or 70-80 year-old person, even if he/she is in general very fit can function well in a very demanding job like being a President.

Looking at the current problems with forgotten state documents by two old Presidents, it also exposes that elderly people forget and dont remember what they are doing.

One could say knowledge of an older president can be compensated by strength of the people around him.

I remember an old President, Ronald Reagans mental state declined so much that his not democratically elected nor appointed wife was actually advising state affairs.

Looking at Ghana, we have a history of young, elderly and older presidents.

In our 1992 Constitution, we also have a minimum age to become a president. And although we have maximum age (retirement age) for public servants and judges, we lack a maximum age for Members of Parliament, ministers and the president.

At this moment, we have presidential candidates on both sides of the political arena aged between 65 and 73 years of age. But our elections are still 2 years ahead of us.

I am 65 years-old, still business wise and politically interested and involved, I follow the local and international news and consider myself quit well informed. I retired at the age of 60 from the European Business Organisation and at the age of 61 from my part-time job as a director on the board of the Ghana State Enterprises Commission. Currently, I am also a part-time active as Honorary Consul for 2 days a week.

But I wonder, will I still be interested to work after the next 2 years? Will I be able to work in the next 2 years ? Will I still be enough computer and social media literate after the next 2 years ?

I have 2 children age 26 and 28, they are telling me Papa you are getting too old, you are using only 10% of the capacity of your computer, mobile phone, smart TV, vehicle intelligence etc. So I conclude, I have a certain disconnect with younger people.

I am sure most people of my age are the same way disconnected from younger people.

So my question is, why do people my age group and older still have the ambition to run for president of a country where the majority of our population is under 25?

Can a president in his 70s connect with our youthful Ghanaian population?

I also wonder, what motivates our youth to vote for all these old people?

I conclude with blaming our constitution and the way elections of a flagbearer within parties is internally handled.

Both are not only blocking Ghana from having younger presidential candidates but also blocking a president that represents and understands the majority of the Ghanaian population: THE YOUTH !

Author, Nicolaas C.M. van Staalduinen, is a Dutch-Ghanaian businessman
Tracy Stanton, a black American Poet and Community leader expressed her thoughts about leadership in a poem. A line of her piece that I found profound, true and communicating my feelings is the one quoted in the above topic.

I am saddened by the state of affairs in Ghana and I cannot agree more with the statement that indeed "those who give directive are missing direction".

An Anas investigation revealed that some Judges took goats and other form of bribes to give orders that implicate the innocent and or free the guilty. Unbelievable that "My Lords" can turn out to be missing direction in the clear directives they give.

Again, the Security services who are mandated to protect citizens have been used to assassinate citizens in broad day light. I tell my eyes not to cry when I remember the assassination of Kaaka and the shooting to death of protestors at Ejura who were only calling on justice to be served. It is clear that those who give directive are clearly missing direction. Those officers are usually promoted. Reminds me of the Caleb Kudah episode.

The President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo gave several directives in his quest to become President. Amongst those directives were a Ghana Beyond Aid and Stop Galamsey. I have not only been shocked by the excessive borrowing by our President, but I have been more shocked by the care less attitude of the President with regards to the stifling effects of the borrowing on Ghanaians.

Also, the President of Ghana who put his Presidency on the line in the fight against Galamsey has recently told Ghanaians that Akonta Mining, a mining company that regulatory bodies indicated were mining illegally (Galamsey) in some forests was declared legal by the President. It is important to note that subsequent investigations had not even been concluded.

Just in is an explosive shocking revelation by the North Tongu legislature, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa that even men in Cassock are missing direction in the directives they give.

Reverend Kusi Boateng, the secretary to the board of Trustees of the National Cathedral and founder of Power Chapel Worldwide operated with the Pseudonym, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, a director of JNS Talent Centre and paid 2.6 million from the secretariat to his company for no work done. If representatives of God can engage in this corruption and thievery then truly those who give directive are missing direction.

Cry, my beloved country, things fall apart, the centre cannot hold.

Abraham Lartey

Concerned Citizen.
Nuhu Sulley, a 33-year-old scrap dealer who allegedly stole American rapper Meek Mills' iPhone 14 Pro Max during a programme at the Independence Square a couple of weeks ago, has been granted bail by an Accra Circuit Court.

Appearing before an Accra Circuit Court, Sulley was granted bail in the sum of GHS50,000 with two sureties.

Sulley who is being held on a charge of stealing has pleaded not guilty.

He is expected to reappear on February 6, 2023.

The prosecution led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Maxwell Oppong earlier on narrated that the complainant Akwasi Agyeman, the Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Tourism Authority, resides at Abelemkpe, Accra.

The prosecution said on December 29, 2022, the complainant organised a musical show at the independence Square which hosted Meek Mills.

It said at about 8:20 pm, on the same day, while Mills was making his way through the heavy crowd on to the stage, the accused person who was among the crowd, allegedly stole the iPhone 14 Pro Max phone valued GHS22,000 from Mills pocket.

The prosecution said the accused persons after stealing the phone left the scene.

It said the complainant reported the matter to the Police and through intelligence, the phone was tracked and traced to the residence of the accused persons at Madina in Accra.

The prosecution further told the court that Sulley was arrested on December 30, 2022.

During investigations, the accused admitted the offence, the prosecution said.

GNA
The body of a 20-year-old man, who was reported missing on January 7 from his home at Zanlerigu in the Nabdam District of the Upper East Region, was at the weekend found at the Bolgatanga Hospital Mortuary.

Bugbil Roger Adaboo Toure, a native of the Zanlerigu Community in Nabdam, got missing on January 2, 2023, when he left home for his daily Ndomie business at the Zanlerigu market.

An announcement was made on social media on January 7, but nothing was heard about him.

According to a family source, a friend who went to the morgue to retrieve his father's body for burial alerted the family about a body having a semblance with their son's.

A visit by family members to the morgue confirmed the body was really that of their son.

A Mortuary attendant told the family that it was brought in by police officers from the Nangodi Police Command.

He said the police indicated they were called by residents of Kong Na-Boug, a suburb of Kongo, about the lifeless body in their community about 0800 hours on January 3.

A police source said the body was found with the face bruised and covered with clotted blood and found wearing a female dress, a brassiere and black underwear.

Eyewitnesses told the Ghana News Agency that they believed he was stoned to death as stones were seen scattered around the body.

Mr Mark Toure, a relative of the deceased, said he last saw Roger on January 2 at about 1600 hours when he (Toure) had returned from Accra.

The family said they were saddened by the turn of events and demanded justice for their son.

At the time of filing the report, the family was planning to meet the police for briefing and further investigations for the body to be released for burial.

GNA
17.01.2023 LISTEN

The Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral, Rev Kusi Boateng has threatened to defend himself over supposed investigations that will be conducted by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) into the allegation made against him by the Member of Parliament for Noth Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

According to him, he is fully prepared to make his case when he appears before the Commission.

I wish to assure the public that the statements made by Mr Ablakwa are a twisted narration of events to pursue a malicious political agenda.

There has never been any criminal intent nor any crime committed in my dealings with the government of Ghana or National Cathedral, Rev Kusi Boateng said when responding to Mr. Ablakwa in a statement.

Rev Kusi Boateng rejected the allegations and said he looks forward to CHRAJ's probe.

This follows allegations by Ablakwa in what he described as unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence against Rev. Kusi Boateng.

The North Tongu lawmaker alleged that, Rev Kusi Boateng is the third mystery director of JNS Talent Cantre Limited, a firm he had earlier accused of receiving GH2.6 million illegal cash transfer from the Secretariat.

Unimpeachable and incontrovertible evidence confirms that Mr. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is the famous Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng who still serves on the National Cathedral Board as an Executive Council Member/Director, he said.

He strongly alleged there is no distinct Kwabena Adu Gyamfi and Rev. Kusi Boateng saying that Kwabena Adu Gyamfi is a criminal creation of Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng because the two are therefore one and the same, he said.

Rev. Victor Kusi-Boateng AKA Kwabena Adu Gyamfi thought he had outwitted every Ghanaian, particularly our authorities whom he dribbled for many years; but the day of reckoning is finally here.

Mr Ablakwa has further petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice ( CHRAJ) to look into the matter.

-DGN online
Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Zambia and Benin-Nigeria want to replace Guinea as hosts of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, CAF president Patrice Motsepe confirmed on Saturday.

Guinea, chosen in 2014 to stage the premier African national team tournament, withdrew last year after little progress had been made in preparing for the biennial event.

CAF officials will do inspection tours of all the candidates this month with the winners to be announced on February 10.

South African billionaire businessman Motsepe said the successful country or countries would offer the best "transport, logistics, hotels and beautiful stadiums".

"Each region will have a chance to organise a CAN (Cup of Nations). We cannot assign the organisation of the CAN successively to the same region."

Benin and Nigeria are in west Africa, as are the Ivory Coast, who will host the 2023 Cup of Nations.
Dhaka, Jan 17 (UNI) In a tragic accident, an ambulance with six people aboard crashed into a truck in Shariatpur district, some 101 km south of Bangladesh's capital Dhaka, early on Tuesday.

The collision was so massive that all six people including the driver died on the spot.

Rescuers say they had to carry out the rescue work for hours to rescue the bodies from the mangled ambulance.

Md Selim Miah, deputy director of the district's Fire Service and Civil Defence, told journalists that the Dhaka-bound ambulance rammed into the compressed natural gas truck at around 4:20 a.m. local time due to poor visibility caused by dense fog.

The patient and ambulance driver and a helper were among the deceased, he said, adding that their identities could not be known immediately.

The ambulance was taking the patient to a hospital in Dhaka and crashed into the truck coming from the opposite direction.

Bangladesh has a higher fatality rate for road accidents in the world due to shoddy highways, poorly maintained vehicles, violation of traffic rules by inept drivers and lack of monitoring by the traffic department.

A total of 10,858 people were killed, and 12,875 others injured in 7,617 road, railway and waterway accidents across the country in 2022, according to a report of Bangladesh Passengers' Welfare Association, a local organization.

UNI/XINHUA GNK
New Delhi, Jan 17 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the concluding session of the BJP National Executive meeting on Tuesday.

The two-day National Executive meeting began at NDMC Convention Centre in New Delhi yesterday, to deliberate upon future course of action on the upcoming assembly elections in 9 states.

BJP President J. P. Nadda inaugurated the meeting.

In his inaugural address on the first day of the meeting, Mr. Nadda called upon the Party leaders and workers to leave no stone unturned to ensure BJP's victory in the upcoming assembly elections in nine States this year.

The Party President noted that the ongoing year is very important in the prelude to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

He also asked them to learn from Prime Minister Narendra Modi the way he worked in the recently held Gujarat Assembly polls.

Briefing the media about the first day of the meeting, senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad quoted Mr. Nadda said that the BJP's victory in the Gujarat Assembly elections is historic and extraordinary.



"72 thousand booths were marked in 100 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country where BJP was weak, but the party had reached 1 lakh 30 thousand booths and spread the policies of the party" said Prasad.

During the meeting Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju also proposed a nine-point political resolution on the first day of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive meeting.

In the resolution, Rijiju highlighted several instances accusing the opposition parties of running a negative campaign against the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Late evening addressing a press conference at NDMC Convention Centre here, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that various topics were discussed during the meeting today which included the discussion on the Opposition's derogatory remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, G20, and Assembly elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Ministers including Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States and other senior party leaders a participated at the key meeting.

BJP conducted the first national executive meeting after the recent assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

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Walr Hires Lamia Lee for AsiaPac Expansion

UK-based 'data creation' platform Walr has expanded in the Asia Pacific region with the appointment of Lamia Lee as General Manager, tasked with heading up its operations in the region. She is based in Sydney, Australia.



Walr opened at the end of 2020 and the following September acquired research software business QuenchTec. The company offers the research industry data creation solutions, drawing on an audience of millions, combined with data visualisation; and a platform featuring a survey builder, a panel manager, analysis and reporting. As well as its headquarters in the UK, the firm has a presence in the USA, Norway, India, Canada, North Macedonia, and now Australia.



Lee (pictured) joins with fifteen years of MR industry experience, most recently from sample management platform Lucid (acquired by Cint in 2021), where she latterly served as VP of Measurement, APAC Region. Earlier she held senior roles at TEG Insights, Lightspeed GMI, Dynata, Verve and Pureprofile.



Commenting on the news, CCO Ben Walton said: 'Kickstarting the year by expanding into the APAC region has been an outstanding achievement. Lamia's deep understanding and practical experience have already been incredibly valuable to the company's worldwide growth, and I am confident that she will continue to make a significant impact'.



Web site: www.walr.com .




A method that dramatically speeds up carbon dioxide sequestration and also aids in the extraction of critical minerals from mine tailings will make its way from a Michigan Technological University lab to regional mines.

The project, to help mines in Michigans Upper Peninsula and Minnesota achieve net-zero emissions while extracting critical minerals from mine tailings, has received $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The DOE awarded grants to develop rapid carbon mineralization and critical mineral extraction technology to 16 projects nationwide, totaling $39 million. Michigan Techs project is the only one in the state to receive funding from Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resource Recovery (MINER), a new initiative through the DOEs Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The MINER initiative funds technology research that increases mineral yield, while decreasing required energy and subsequent emissions, in order to mine and extract energy-relevant minerals.

Michigan Techs project is titled Energy Reduction and Improved Critical Mineral Recovery from Low-Grade Disseminated Sulfide Deposits and Mine Tailings. It seeks to permanently and cleanly mineralize and store carbon dioxide, potentially enabling the mining industry in Michigans Upper Peninsula and Minnesota to achieve net carbon zero while extracting critical minerals from low-grade ores, said principal project investigator (PI) Lei Pan, an associate professor in Michigan Techs Department of Chemical Engineering. Chemical engineering professors Tim Eisele and David Shonnard are co-PIs on the three-year project, along with researchers from University of Utah and University of Nevada, Reno.

Kobina Ofori, a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering, serves as student investigator. Chemical engineering undergraduate student Katie Liberman is also assisting in the work, which takes place in Pans Lab for Separation Technologies (LAST) at Michigan Tech.

Mine tailings from mining operations plus carbon dioxide taken from the atmosphere combine in an accelerated carbonation reactor. The resulting carbonated productsminerals Magnesite and Sideritecan be permanently and safely stored in a subaqueous tailing pond. (Kobina Akyea Ofori graphic)

MINER research targets potential carbon-dioxide-reactive ores to unlock net-zero or net-negative emission technologies, Pan explained. We will take carbon dioxide from the mining operation and store it safely and permanently in minerals. With our technology, we estimate 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide per year can be sequestered in mine tailings.

In this project, we target kinetics, Pan said. Mine tailings contain a substantial amount of carbon-dioxide-reactive minerals such as olivine, which can be used as a carbon sink. Its been done before, but at a much slower pace. Our method greatly accelerates the kinetics of carbon dioxide sequestration to achieve the result on an industrial scale in just four hours, rather than several years.

The Michigan Tech team will work in partnership with Eagle Mine in upper Michigan, a subsidiary of Toronto-based Lundin Mining, and Polymet Mining in Minnesota.

ARPA-E is looking for disruptive and scalable technologies, and then deploying them at an industrial site, Pan said. This is why two major mining companies, both with nickel mining operations, have agreed to join us in this effort. Were glad to have both of them as supporters of this project.

Carbon sinks can absorb and store more carbon dioxide than they release, keeping what is the most prevalent greenhouse gas emitted by human activity from entering the atmosphere with the goal to reduce global climate change.

In addition to reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, MINER initiatives like the Michigan Tech project aim for a second goal that solves another important world challenge: extracting energy-relevant metals from silicate minerals for battery manufacturing.

Eventually, our new methods could be put into practice in all types of mining if the ore mineralogy is favorable for carbon mineralization, Pan said. The outcome will not only be useful in the U.S. but in mining operations globally.

ARPA-E seeks to develop market-ready technologies that will increase domestic supplies of critical elements required for the clean energy transition. Selected projects, led by universities, national laboratories and the private sector, aim to develop commercially scalable technologies that will enable greater domestic supplies of copper, nickel, lithium, cobalt, rare earth elements and other critical elements.

The project aligns with the state of Michigans plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Minnesotas Climate Action Framework calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% between 2005-2050.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigans flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
He who is different from me does not impoverish me  he enriches me. Our unity is constituted in something higher than ourselves  in Man For no man seeks to hear his own echo, or to find his reflection in the glass.  Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The child stared at the man who looked so different than he did. Mommy, whats wrong with him? he asked.

The mans skin was discolored, not completely brown or white. The child looked frightened of the difference in him. How many times had people stared at him and children pointed at him?

If youve ever felt that you (or your child) were different, you need to hear de Saint-Exuperys words. If youve ever been bothered by people who dont look like you or walk like you or dress like you, you need to hear de Saint-Exuperys words. People who are different than we are do not impoverish us, but instead enrich us.

Standing at the service window, I was very aware of how different I sounded and possibly looked. Why are you entering the country? the woman asked me. With the long line of people behind me, I felt hurried to respond and simply said, Just to enjoy your country.

I wish I had had de Saint-Exuperys quote in hand, and I could have said that I wanted to be enriched as I sought something other than my own reflection. Ireland was, indeed, a place to be enriched, and in her borders, I found something higher than myself. I knew I was different and being different doesnt mean being wrong.

If you say the sky is blue, half of Facebook will argue that it is not. Its a common statement from my family because whatever I share on social media seems to draw such a mixture of responses. That makes me happy most of the time because I dont want to hear just my voice. I want to hear from people and know people who think differently than I do because I believe I can learn from them. It is uncomfortable at times because, after all, who wants to think that their way of thinking might be wrong? But being different doesnt mean being wrong.

Wrong is a word too easily used when people dont think or behave as we do. I could tell you that in Ireland they drive on the wrong side of the road, but that wouldnt be a fair statement. People in Ireland drive on the other side of the road and from the other side of the car, and that is simply different from what we do in the United States.

I loved being in a place where things are different (and was thankful we had someone else doing the driving). Being different doesnt mean being wrong.

It took me a lot of years to be brave enough to obtain a passport and a couple more years to agree to leave the country all because I was afraid of what I didnt know, of how different things would be, but then I remembered what matters so much to me  that being different doesnt mean being wrong. Finally, I knew I must travel because:

 I was tired of being surrounded by people just like me (Americanized)

 I wanted to be exposed to a culture that was different than mine (Democrat and Republican)

 I wanted to see and hear the richer history we dont have yet in the United States (though we have much, I know)

 I wanted to walk on land settled several thousand years ago

 I wanted to challenge myself not to be afraid of being different

Im so glad we went, so thankful I could move beyond my fears to allow myself the opportunity to experience so much that enriched me, that took me out of the echo chamber and away from my reflection. Oddly enough, you and I can do much of that right here where we are. We can let go of fears of people and cultures who are different within our own communities and within our own country and know that people can be different without being wrong.

You and I are not experiencing fears that are new to people. Antoine de Saint-Exupery lived in France in the early 1900s and penned his words at a time much different than we live in today, yet he knew even then that we are not impoverished by those who are different but are enriched, and that is why we cannot give in to the mindset that our way of anything is the only right way.

If leaving the country isnt an option, open a history book, watch a documentary, try foods of another culture, find ways to know people who are different from you instead of feeling threatened by them, and discover the unity that is constituted in something larger than yourself.

Note: After an unusual couple of weeks, I decided to share this piece with you I wrote several years ago. For this week, it seemed perfect. Its a little shorter (youre welcome), and as Im developing my plan to approach what commonality looks like, this piece seems perfect to share to help remind us of the things we often see as differences that we often discover unite us. And, as I sometimes laugh at myself about, I really loved being in Ireland!

Ill have a fresh piece for you next week as we dive into commonality in the perfect place  birth, the beginning of all of our lives.

Susan Black Steen is a writer and photographer, a native Tennessean and a graduate of Austin Peay State University. With a firm belief that words matter, she writes and speaks to bring joy, comfort and understanding into each life. Always, she writes from her heart in hopes of speaking to the hearts of others. She can be reached at stories@susanbsteen.com.
Jerusalem, Jan 17 (UNI) Thousands of students held protests across Israel against the government's newly proposed judicial reform, Israeli media reported.

The protests were held on Monday at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa and dozens of other educational institutions. At the same time, some students held alternative actions in support of the government's plans, the Times of Israel newspaper said.

"We students are unwilling to stay silent in light of the dangerous liquidation of the justice system. This is a fight for our future against a government that in the name of the tyranny of the majority is threatening to trample democracy and later, without restraint, to harm equality and the liberties of many groups in Israels population. We are determined to stop this madness, and this is just the beginning," the Student Protest, a newly set-up organization which has initiated several protests, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Four students at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem were arrested after blocking a road and refusing to comply with police instructions, the Haaretz newspaper said, citing authorities.

On January 4, Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin rolled out a legal reform package that would limit the authority of the High Court of Justice and give the cabinet control over the selection of new judges. The planned overhaul sparked public criticism and prompted a wave of protests.

On Saturday, around 80,000 Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest the contested judicial reform plan. A similar rally last week was attended by over 10,000 people.

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UP govt inks MoUs of Rs 7K cr in Kolkata ahead of GIS

Lucknow, Jan 17 (UNI) In yet another successful roadshow held in West Bengals capital Kolkata on Tuesday in run up to the Global Investors Summit to be held next month, the Uttar Pradesh Government headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) worth around Rs 7,000 crore in projects belonging to different sectors, which are projected to provide employment opportunities for 14,000 youths of the state.

The agreements were signed in the presence of UP's Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta 'Nandi', Labor and Employment Minister Anil Rajbhar, Transport Minister Daya Shankar Singh and Minister of State for IT Ajit Pal Singh among others.

The Government signed MoUs with Greentech Environment Private Limited and Captain Steel worth Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,650 crore respectively. An agreement worth Rs 630 crore was also signed with Shyam Metallics, Rs 500 crore each with Haldiram Bhujiawala and Balaji Wafers and Rs 250 crore each with Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited and SRMB.

Besides, MoUs worth Rs 50 crore, Rs 200 crore, Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 crore were signed with Anmol Feeds for Fish Farming, Allenberry (Medical Gas), Eastern Equipment ENT and Lux Industry Limited 50 crores in textile respectively. The government also signed MoUs worth Rs 400 crore, Rs 200 crore and Rs 150 crore with Infinity Infotech Park, Char Nauk Hospital (SKM Group) and Meghdootam Travels signed respectively.

Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited has agreed to provide employment opportunities to 300 people, Haldiram Bhujiawala to 1500 youths, Anmol Feeds to 200, Greentech Environment Private Limited to 5,000, Allenberry (Medical Gas) to 200, Shyam Metalics to 720, Eastern Equipment ENT to 50 and Lux Industries Limited to 500. Captain Steel will provide 1,800, Char Nauk Hospital (SKM Group) 1,700 jobs, SRMB 750 jobs in steel manufacturing, Infinity Infotech Park 500, Balaji Wafers 1,500 for food processing and Meghdootam Travels 5,000 jobs.

In a video message to the investors on the occasion, CM Yogi invited the investor to the Global Investors Summit to be held in Lucknow in February this year as well as to invest in the state and be part of the speed of Indias growth engine.

The CM said that even during the Covid pandemic the state attracted investment of Rs 4 lakh crore which reflected the trust that the state has been able to build among investors in recent times with better law and order and infrastructure in the state.

He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has emerged as a favourite investment destination for investors abroad and by following the PMs mantra of 'Reform, Perform and Transform' UP has emerged as the new growth engine of the country.

He said, "UP boasts of good governance, sound law and order, ease of doing business in which the state is number two in the country, robust infrastructure and largest consumer market and is on its way to becoming the second largest economy in the country."

Yogi said, "Six expressways have been completed while seven are under construction in the state. Nine airports, including three international, are operational while construction of 10 others, including two international ones, is underway. The national waterway between Haldia and Varanasi has been opened. The government has launched a single window portal Nivesh Mitra to facilitate setting up of units and provide online incentive management for investors."

The CM said the GSDP of the UP is estimated at 21 lakh crore in the 2022-23 financial year, which is 65 percent higher than the figure in 2016-17. He said that UP was contributing 8 per cent to the GDP while the average annual growth rate of its economy is 11 percent.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Industrial Development Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi said that the UP government has provided incentives of Rs 1,800 crore to he investors since 2018.

Chairman of CII, West Bengal Prashant Sharma said that the target of 1 trillion dollar economy set by the Yogi government was a lofty one, but achievable because of the states robust infrastructure, multi-industrial base, agricultural growth, skilled development programme for workers and remunerative employment opportunities and above all the industry-friendly policies.

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Women beekeepers astonished by global response to world record attempt ABC Australia

Scientists Gave Penguins a Mirror, And We Have Lots of Questions Science Alert

The Who-Ate-Whom of Terms in Biology: Virovory Small Things Considered. Fascinating. Keep reading

Why Was King Tut Buried with a Trumpet? The Honest Broker

MLK

A Collection of Rare Color Photographs Depicts MLK Leading the Chicago Freedom Movement Smithsonian

Davos

Belarus opposition leader warns of massive disobedience if Lukashenko mobilises for Ukraine war FT. A-a-a-a-a-n-d the deck: Dictator is more vulnerable than he looks, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya tells FT in Davos. The subtext here is not hard to read.

Climate

Water

#COVID19

SARS-CoV-2 Reinfection is Preceded by Unique Biomarkers and Related to Initial Infection Timing and Severity: an N3C RECOVER EHR-Based Cohort Study (preprint) medRxiv. From the Discussion: However, it is notable that in Figure 1, initial infection during Delta appeared to be more protective against reinfection during Omicron than initial infection during WT COVID or Alpha, Beta, Gamma. This difference disappeared during Omicron BA. And: This study contributes novel findings of the relationship of reinfection with Long COVID diagnosis. The largest proportion of Long COVID diagnoses occur among individuals with a first reinfection in the Omicron BA epoch. Long COVID diagnoses also occurred much closer to the index date following both initial or first reinfection in the Omicron BA epoch as compared to earlier Delta and Omicron epochs. The rate of Long COVID diagnoses has been increasing for reinfections in more recent variants.

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Data Snapshot: Are we overcounting Covid-19 deaths? No. Inside Medicine

Chinas COVID Death Data Underestimates Actual Toll; Might be Just the Tip of the Iceberg: Report Bloomberg

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Airplane lavatories deliver new hope for the CDCs variant hunt Politico. Im imagining the next William Gibson trilogy, where one of the protagonists is paid to travel the world er, gaming wastewater detection systems with engineered viral loads.

Several celebrities test positive for COVID after Golden Globes ABC. They just cant quit the superspreading.
The timing is convenient coming just as Mastercard is piloting a biometric-authenticated payments system in the UK, which will require digital, not physical, wallets.

In the almost total absence of public debate  and in many cases, even public awareness  about the roll out of biometrically enabled digital identity and payment systems, what little debate that does occur is largely informed by surveys and opinion polls commissioned by the very firms that stand to benefit most from the roll out of the new systems.

A case in point: Mastercard, the worlds second largest payment processing company, recently announced the findings of a survey it had commissioned into payment trends in the UK, one of Europes most cashless economies. Unsurprisingly, those findings point to a yet further decrease in cash usage in the UK, which aligns perfectly with Mastercards broader goals, exemplified by its current slogan: World Beyond Cash.

Around 60% of payments in the UK were made using cash a decade ago. By 2021, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, that figure had slumped to 15% and could fall as low as 6% by 2031, according to estimates from banking lobby group UK Finance.* The Mastercard survey highlights a corresponding increase in the adoption of digital payment methods globally, with 93% of survey respondents saying they will consider using alternative means of payment such as contactless, QR code, biometrics, and cryptocurrency transactions in the next year.

Shrinking Wallets

Apparently one of the main findings of the survey is that 51% of consumers believe that physical wallets  those leathery or faux leathery things we keep our cash and cards in  will lose relevance in the coming years as digital payment alternatives gain further traction. Twenty-one percent said they dont expect to carry a wallet or purse within the next five years. This increased to 38% among Millennial respondents.

For the moment, generational trends are not on cashs side. A third (31%) of the 18-24 year-old respondents said that the digital wallet on their phone is their preferred way to pay, compared to just 5% of those aged 55+, more than half (55%) of 18-34 year olds would rather just carry their phone in place of a wallet or purse, and 41% of Gen Z say they dont expect to ever buy a physical wallet or purse again.

In contrast to a decade ago, many who still carry wallets are now seeing them more as a site of personal archive rather than a vessel for physical cash and cards, said Kelly Devine, president of UK and Ireland at Mastercard. As technology continues to evolve, wallets shrink, and people increasingly embrace digital methods of payment, our focus remains on delivering choice, convenience, and speed for people around the country.

Given Mastercards main line of business since its founding in 1966 has been credit and debit cards, which are invariably stored in non-digital wallets, one might assume that this would be bad news for the company. But apparently not, for Mastercard is in the process of reinventing itself, and indeed has been for years. As part of that process, it is piloting a biometric-authenticated payments system in the UK, albeit after first testing the system in Brazil, the Middle East and Asia.

As I reported in Mastercard Pushes Biometrics Even Harder on Consumers in Increasingly Cashless UK, the company ultimately wants to roll the program out worldwide to small and large retailers.

Card payment giant Mastercard appears to be determined to wean consumers off not only cash, its eternal rival, but also credit and debit cards, its main line of business until now. To that end, it is about to launch a pilot biometric checkout program in the UK. The so-called Smile to Pay system will allow shoppers to purchase goods and services in store by smiling into a camera or waving their hand over a reader and is optional for the moment. The UK is already the fourth most cashless economy in Europe, according to research by personal finance website money.co.uk. In 2017, debit card payments overtook cash for the first time.

Mastercard is also staking a claim to a wider role in the emerging biometrics payments ecosystem. Ajay Bhalla, Mastercards president of cyber and intelligence, told the FT that Mastercard could act as the enabler of the ecosystem, setting unified privacy and security standards for a technology that has raised concerns among privacy activists and data protection campaigners.

Biometric Payments Ecosystems in Africa

Mastercard already has extensive experience of developing biometric payments ecosystems in other parts of the globe  most notably Africa. In December, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) pledged $50 million to support financial institutions and service providers that work with Mastercards Community Pass network, which is already up and running in remote areas of Mauritania, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.

At the same time, the company has been helping to fund the activities of the Better Than Cash Alliance, a UN-hosted partnership of governments (all of them in the so-called Global South), companies and international organizations. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Citi, the Ford Foundation, Omidyar Network, the U.S. Agency for International Development and Visa Inc., its mission, in its own words, is to accelerate the transition from cash to digital payments globally.

Mastercard has also played a key role in developing the Nigerian governments all-encompassing digital ID system. The so-called National Identification Number (NIN) is ostensibly intended to enable easier access to public and private services as well as tackle the insurgency in the north east of the country. Much of the funding for the program, initiated in 2014, came from the World Banks Identity for Development (ID4D) program, founded with seed money from the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (again!), the French, British and Norweigan governments and the Omidyar Network (again!).

As of March 31, 2022, some 73 million adults did not have a national identity number, with many citing privacy concerns. A month later, the government barred all 73 million of them from being able to make outgoing calls or send outgoing texts from their mobile phones, until they got with the program.

Yet citizens concerns are more than warranted. As the NYU School of Laws Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) warned in a report last year titled, Paving the Digital Road to Hell: A Primer on the Role of the World Bank and Global Networks in Promoting Digital ID, digital ID systems can lead to a wide range of urgent human rights issues. They include, but are not limited to, the violation of the right to nationality; limiting access to health care, food, and social security; a multitude of concerns about privacy and data protection, surveillance, and cybersecurity; and fundamental changes to models of democracy, participation, and citizen-state relationship.

Nigerias government is yet to enact a data protection law, despite having had access to and control over the biometric data of tens of millions of Nigerian citizens for the past eight years. So too, for that matter, has Mastercard. In September last year, the World Bank finally made the enactment of a data protection law a prerequisite for release of further funds for the program  a mere eight years too late.

Backlash Begins in UK?

The roll out of biometric-authenticated payments is just the latest example of the accelerating encroachment of biometrics into everyday life. Most national passports these days include biometric identifiers. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions  perhaps even billions  of people have volunteered their digital fingerprints or face scans to log into their smartphones and other digital devices.

In other words, people are already offering up their most private data to communicate, work, cross borders, or board planes. Governments across the Global North, from the EU to the UK, to the US, Canada and Russia, are now scrambling to roll out biometric-enabled digital identity programs. But are consumers in the UK (and elsewhere) ready to ditch cash and the contactless cards to which they have grown so accustomed, not to mention the wallets they use to store them in, and begin transacting with parts of their body instead?

Mastercard would certainly like to think so, arguing that the gains in time and convenience will be well worth the sacrifice:

No more fumbling for your phone or hunting for your wallet when you have your hands full  the next generation of in-person payments will only need a quick smile or wave of your hand. The trusted technology that uses your face or fingerprint to unlock your phone can now be used to help consumers speed through the checkout. With Mastercards new Biometric Checkout Programme, all you will need is yourself.

But the minor gains in convenience and time may be losing their allure while the negative effects of replacing humans with (imperfect) technology grow ever larger. Payments using gestures have struggled to gain widespread traction among consumers in the UK, the Financial Times reported in 2021. Last year, even Amazon paused its roll out of self-service stores in the UK due to lagging sales. Many of the Fresh stores already in existence had been under-performing, and the costs of building new ones ended up being too much, Business Insider reported in August.

A backlash has also begun against the proliferation of self-checkout tills in other supermarkets. In September last year big-4 grocer Tesco came under fire after announcing plans to ditch the majority of its manned checkouts from many of its larger stores. An online petition with nearly a quarter of a million signatures demanded that the company stop replacing people with machines. According to the Guardian, a similar backlash has been sweeping the US (would be great if US-based readers could share their experiences).

Public frustration is seemingly on the rise with technologies that are being used to turn customers into unpaid employees, with little in the way of actual benefit to themselves. Then there are the myriad unintended consequences, such as inaccessibility issues for disabled customers and a sharp increase in shoplifting and fraud. This, in turn, has prompted desperate measures from retailers. In December, the supermarket chain Sainsburys sparked outrage among customers after installing barriers and receipt scanners that required customers to show proof of purchase to leave the store.

As one customer seethed, Essentially they are holding [people] hostage against their will as they refuse to let people leave without scanning a receipt that not everyone chooses to get in the first place. What will they do? Hold someone hostage and rifle through bags before releasing you?

The ultimate irony is that self-checkout was meant to make the shopping experience quicker and easier as well as make shoplifting more difficult. It is also supposed to be more hygienic, yet a recent study by the UK-based Infection Innovation Consortium found that self-checkout samples had one of the highest bacterial loads.

* Worth noting that the UK Finance data does not reflect a slight resurgence in the use of cash in 2022. New data published today (Jan 17) by LINK, the UKs cash access and ATM network, reveals that cash withdrawals from ATMs in 2022 increased by 4bn to 83bn. But they are still sharply down on the 115bn withdrawn in 2019.
The level of creative story-telling about Russias progress in the Ukraine War has reached the point where the scenario below is not entirely impossible. Sadly yours truly lacks the literary skills to execute a Philip K. Dick rendering of this sketch:

A man in his late 30s, in mud-spattered combat gear at the outskirts of a Mitteleuropaish city, watches as six helicopters roar overhead. He stumbles after them and then steadies his gait. Eventually he runs into a county road and is able to determine which direction is not the way he came. He keeps walking. Eventually, he flags down a truck. He succeeds in explaining in broken Polish that hes an American and asks if they can they drop him off closer to a military base or the US embassy. In a bed in a VA hospital back home, Eric speaks to a visitor, his sister Sarah: Cousin Harry has agreed to let me live with him for a few months while I look for work. But you have contacts in publishing. I have a story that needs to be told, even if theres no money in it. The last American in Ukraine. The lowly soldier there during the dying days of the government in Kiev, who saw some of the final actions, including watching the official helicopters fly away to safety. Do you think you can make some introductions? Do you know any magazine editors? Sarah apparently had a word with the doctors. A series of men in white coats come to speak to Eric about what he thought he saw when he fancied he was in Lviv and hiked into Poland. Its not too long before he is committed. In a testament to modern medicine, it takes only a year to free Eric of his delusions and return him to society.

As Lambert, a battle-scarred veteran of the War in Iraq information wars has repeatedly volunteered, the propaganda shrouding the Ukraine conflict is far more intense and truth-disengaged than anything has encountered. I agree. And as readers and colleagues have attested, its also turned plenty of formerly-thinking people into narrative wind-up dolls.

A big reason for the orgy of hype has been that, as Alexander Vershinin pointed out in a recent article in Russia Matters, it is essential for Ukraine to maintain the appearance of success to keep aid flowing:

Ukraines second constraint is the coalition nature of its warfare. Since running out of its own stocks, Ukraine is increasingly reliant on Western weaponry. Maintaining the Western coalition is crucial to the Ukrainian war effort. Without a constant string of victories, domestic economic concern may cause coalition members to defect. If Western support dries up due to depletion of stock or of political will, Ukraines war effort collapses for lack of supplies. In some ways, Ukraine has no choice but to launch attacks no matter the human and material cost.

Mind you, the level of outside backing is greater than Vershinin suggests. The US and its allies are funding Ukraines budget deficit. The West has also been providing more manpower support. Ursula von der Leyen had to try to walk back an end-of-November scripted remark that Russia had killed 100,000 Ukraine soldiers. More recently, Douglas Macgregor put the deaths in Ukraine forces at 150,000 and casualties at 450,000.1 Remember at the start of the war, Ukraines total forces, including reservists, were roughly 600,000. So reports from Russian forces even as of a couple of months ago, based on radio chatter, that estimated some opposing units were as much as 70% foreign based on chatter in Polish, Romanian, and English seems entirely possible.

Remember also that at the beginning, most Western military experts expected Russia to quickly dispatch Ukraine and were surprised to work out that Russia had not only gone in with comparatively light forces but didnt have large reserved ready to go. Even so, independent experts often observe that Russia did dispatch most of Ukraines initial equipment and much of its manpower.

Even so, the West, having spent decades fighting wars against insurgents, wasnt prepared for the burn rate of this conflict. So it has been imperative to keep thumping that Russia is being beaten to keep the money flowing long enough to make that a realityas if the Wests defense misspending could be solved by throwing more money at the problem.

Ukraines Mighty Wurlitzer has been dutifully amplified by the Western media: the ghost of Kiev, Snake Island, the insinuations that Russia bombed itself at both the Zaporzhizhia nuclear plant and the Nord Stream pipelines and specific claims that Russia engaging in human wave tactics to horrific losses. We also see hoary old fables like Russia having primitive everything  equipment, technology, training, leadership  predisposing broad swathes of the public to accept derivative spin like the neverending, nevertrue claims that Russia was running out of artillery and missiles.

And weve seen an unrelenting deluge of Big Lies, like Putins incredible roster of heath problems, his supposed weak hold on power and resulting paranoia, that feeds another oft-told tale, that Putins ouster is just in sight by implication would lead to him being replaced by someone more tractable. And as a corollary Russia is generally bad at everything comes the claims that Russias conscript army is suffering from terrible morale and desertions because they are losing so many men compared to the highly motivated, well-trained and equipped, and more blonde Ukrainians.

Russia has made errors, like initially conceptualizing the Special Military Operation as a way to bring Ukraine to the negotiating table, and not anticipating the ferocity of Collective West opposition, or optimistically assuming contract soldiers whose terms of duty ended in August would re-up for the good of Mother Russia. The latter miscalculation thinned out manning across a very long line of contact, setting up the strategically not very consequential but still very bad looking Kharkiv retreat. But theyve typically recognized problems and made efforts to correct them.

Nevertheless, Soledar has fallen and the loss of Bakhmut looks baked in, absent horrific Russian errors. The so-called Zelensky line is breaking even before Russia has put its recently-mobilized forces to work in a serious way. Regular commentators are waiting for the Russian hammer to fall, although Russia may simply grind more forcefully by pressing harder at more points along the very long line of contact. Remember one concern on the Russian side is avoiding winning in a way that leads to NATO panic and desperate actionnot that the Collective Wests fragile emotional state can be readily managed.

With that context, youd expect some members of the press to have worked out that things are not going very well for Ukraine and the classic cowboy movie rescue of the calvary riding over the hill (here in the form of tanks and artillery) will be too little, too late.

Instead, the media seems to be trying to integrate snippets of facts on the ground with the heroic tale of inevitable Ukraine victory. Well stick to headlines since they have an impact regardless of whether the rest of the story gets read. Lambert and others flagged the Financial Times story below as an extreme form of flipping facts:

So instead of the common spin, that Soledar and Bakhumt are not consequential (despite Zelensky demonstrating the reverse by carting a flag from Bakhmut to present to Pelosi), the pink paper is doing that one better by depicting Ukraine as cleverly out attritting Russia.

Confirming what we are seeing in the English language media:

Erich Vad, ex-brigadier General of Germanys army: To a large extent, we are witnessing a media conformity that I have never seen before in the Federal Republic of Germany. This is pure opinion mongering.#Germany #ukraine #ukrainerussiawar https://t.co/tADgQ0TPIp  Dimitri Lascaris (@dimitrilascaris) January 14, 2023

Despite this being a holiday weekend, and hence international news often filling in for the domestic slow-down, my impression is that the Anglo press is averting its eyes from Ukraine. For instance, yesterday morning, there was not a single Ukraine story on Bloombergs landing page. Ditto today. The only headline at the Journal is below the fold:

And the only story on the landing page of the BBC:

At the same time, we also see charges that Ukraine is plotting yet more stunts, like its Kerch Bridge attack, or its scary-seeming but ultimately ineffective drone attacks on Engels Air base, where Russia stations its nuclear bombers. Recall wed predicted more terrorist attempts as Ukraine battlefield success looked more remote. From the Ministry of Defenses Telegram channel Monday morning:2

Finally, what is particularly disturbing is Ukraine nationals and their allies trying to silence opponents of Banderitism in the US, specifically Scott Ritter:

Youll note that Ritter had agreed to talk only about his experience as an weapons inspector and keep well away from current events. Yet Ukrainian loyalists vowed to put the restaurant out of business if the owner didnt cancel Ritters appearance. (which I assume means somehow physically destroy it or threaten patrons).

This development followed hard on the heels of this presentation. Ive sometimes watched Ritter talk to peaceniks and other local groups. They usually skew geriatric and follow instructions, as in ask questions in the Q&A (although there is often a garrulous exception who manages to wrap his query in an over-long anecdote.

In this talk, the first speaker, Dan Kovalik, had been to Donbass and showed photos of daily life, memorials to dead children, shelling damage, reconstruction, and victims of Ukraine torture, including one whod had all his teeth broken off at the gum line to inflict maximum pain.

Ritter was second and used himself as a case example of how First Amendment rights were being restricted to stifle debate about the Ukraine conflict. He focuses on how his name was on the Ukraine hit list. Ritter was particularly upset that US tax dollars appear to be funding it:

The Q&A section was a radical departure from the norm for these events. See in particular the woman who starts speaking at 1:06, charges Kovalik with offering propaganda, and loudly insists that Russian war crimes in Bucha and Kherson were investigated and confirmed by UN inspectors. Ritter didnt have the opportunity to say hed called for that from the outset, in writing, and no such thing happened. She also tried to hijack the Q&A at several later points.

Another questioner at 1:16 presented himself as of Russian descent3 and proceeded to argue for facts that are false, like saying Russia blocked the implementation of the Minsk accord.4 He tried to talk over the moderator when the moderator corrected some of the ethnic Russians information.

Even though their actions may not have been coordinated, both these speakers hogged air time and stridently maintained they had facts that conclusively disproved what the speakers had said.even though those facts were falsehoods.

The start of in-person intimidation of anti-Ukraine war voices is a troubling development. This is harder to follow than big media stories but bears watching.

_____

1 Macgregor seems to be applying the classic rule of thumb in modern wars of 3 casualties for every death. But other reports about Ukraine suggest its ratio of dead to injured is way way high due to not having enough field hospitals close to the front so as to be able to treat the wounded in the crucial first hour. So I would assume that Macgregors estimate of total Ukraine dead, at 150,000, is pretty good, but the casualties are much lower, at say 150,000. To put it another way, Ukraines high level of deaths is due in part to not being prepared to accept the level of casualties it is suffering,

2 Douglas Macgregor dismissed the idea that Ukraine would become the ground for an insurgent war. He explained why the terrain and population distribution worked strongly against that.

3 Entirely possible. For instance, Victoria Nulands paternal grandfather was a Russian Jew.

.4 To add: the Maidan coup was not in conformity with constitutional processes, for instance, there were too few votes in the legislature for the legal ouster of Yanukovich; the early 1930s Soviet famine did not target Ukraine even though Ukraine did suffer the most.
The evolution of my position with the Post dates to 2000, when I began work with The City Paper. In 2008, SouthComm Inc. bought the Post and TCP, with the latter ceasing operations in 2013. In 2018, FW Publishing acquired the Post, for which I have served as managing editor since 2011.

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(Natural News) A recent article published in Nature Geoscience revealed that Spanish emergency management officers knew about the magma accumulation underneath the La Palma volcano three and a half months before the eruption, but did not warn people about it.

The question now is whether the United States Geological Survey and similar offices around the globe are doing the same thing by hiding critical information and showing only what they wanted the people to see.

Officials were lucky in the case of La Palma since the eruption took place in a remote area and claimed only one life  that of a 72-year-old man who died after inhaling toxic gases from the volcano. The man was found in November 2021 in the municipality of El Paso in an exclusion zone, a region that was off-limits to the public without expressed permission because of the eruption.

Initial reports said the man possibly climbed on the roof of his home to clear volcanic ash when the roof collapsed, but officials said the cause of death could only be determined when autopsy results are released.

A Canary Islands court said the autopsy confirmed the man died after inhaling toxic gases.

More than three months before the eruption, scientists highlighted a shallow magma accumulation that started in a crustal volume characterized by low density and fractured rocks at a depth of about 2.5 kilometers (1.55 miles) from the surface.

Two months before the eruption, vertical fracturing sources started to appear at a depth of about three kilometers (1.86 miles), indicating a brittle crustal response because of a stronger magma ascent.

The appearance of these sources of fracturing and tension increases along with seismic activity prior to the eruption.

More than 7,000 people evacuated during La Palma volcanic eruption

The La Palma volcanic eruption started on September 19, 2021, on the western slope of Cumbre Vieja.

It was active for 85 days and caused the evacuation of more than 7,000 people, many of whom lost their homes and livelihoods. It also destroyed roads and basic infrastructure. (Related: Thousands of La Palma residents forced to evacuate after volcanic eruption.)

The volcano ejected ash and rivers of lava that swallowed over a thousand homes in La Palma, part of the Canary Islands located outside western Africa. Aside from destroying schools, churches and highways, it smothered the abundant banana plantations that drive the islands economy.

The volcano did not have a name before the eruption, but it was popularly called Cumbre Vieja after the name of the surrounding national park. Citizens of the island voted to call it Tajogaite last year, which was the name of the region in the ancient Guanche language.

Other long-lasting impacts of the eruption are continuous gas emissions leading to respiratory problems, skin pathologies and mental and anxiety problems among people.

The new technique presented in the study can aid in the detection of possible volcanic eruptions. But the most important thing is to spread the information gathered through studies. In the La Palma case, it appears that critical information was hidden from the public.

Follow Disaster.news for more news about volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters.

Watch the video below showing the lava from the volcanic eruption in La Palma.

This video is from the The Prisoner channel on Brighteon.com.

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At least 700 tremors recorded off La Palma, Spain: New magma may be rising, warn experts.

Volcanic eption triggered worst mass extinction in Earths history  study.

A single volcanic eruption caused one of the planets most devastating mass extinctions, scientists discover.

Underwater volcano eruption caused global dimming that deprived crops of sunlight; more famine and starvation to come.

Larger than first believed: Massive tsunami nearly destroys Pacific island nation of Tonga following volcanic eruption equal to 10 megatons of TNT.

Sources include:

StrangeSounds.org

Phys.org
(Natural News) Ukraines minister of defense claimed in a recent interview that his country is a de facto member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

In an interview with the BBC, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine has become an unofficial member of the organization because of the massive arms shipments it has received from NATO members. (Related: Playing with FIRE: US to send Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine.)

Ukraine as a country, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, became [a] member of NATO. De facto, not de jure [by law]. Because we have weaponry, and the understanding of how to use it.

Reznikov added that he is certain his country will receive the additional weapons it has been lobbying NATO for months to provide, including tanks and fighter jets, as both Ukraine and Russia are gearing up for new offensives this coming spring as part of a new phase in this protracted conflict.

This concern about the next level of escalation, for me, is some kind of protocol, he said.

Reznikovs admission essentially confirmed Russian President Vladimir Putins claims right before the beginning of his countrys special military operation that he was trying to prevent NATO from expanding further east.

Other Russian figures have been arguing since the beginning of the conflict that the countrys fight is not just with Ukraine but with NATO, as it views the Wests provision of military aid to Ukraine as an act of aggression that will threaten the strength and continued existence of Russia.

When asked if he feels concerned about claiming that Ukraine is a de facto member of NATO, Reznikov pushed back by saying neither Russia nor NATO should view his comments as anything out of the ordinary.

Why [would it be] controversial? Its true. Its a fact, said Reznikov. Im sure that in the near future, well become a member of NATO, de jure.

Official NATO membership unlikely unless Ukraine agrees to peace with Russia

Ukraine formally applied for NATO membership in September last year and was immediately recognized by the military alliance as an aspiring member. Formal membership would require the entire military bloc to come to Ukraines aid in defense of its territorial integrity.

But it could take years for Ukraine to become an official member, regardless of how many billions of dollars worth of NATO weapons flood into the country.

Furthermore, NATO is unlikely to accept Ukraine while it continues to refuse to settle ethnic disputes or external territorial disputes, including irredentist claims through peaceful means, according to the blocs 1995 Enlargement Study, which laid out a set of measures that aspiring members must abide by.

This directive is a precautionary measure to prevent newly-inducted NATO members from dragging the entire organization into ongoing conflicts.

This means that NATO membership remains unlikely for Ukraine unless it agrees to come to the negotiating table with Russia.

Read more stories about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine at WWIII.news.

Watch this BBC clip featuring Reznikovs admission that Ukraine is a de facto member of NATO.

This video is from the PureTrauma357 channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Autonomous KILLER ROBOTS to dominate battlefield soon as war in Ukraine leads to significant advances in drone technology.

Zelensky pressed Biden, Congress for more offensive weapons to provoke Russia into war with NATO.

Ukrainian drone strikes deep within Russia could spark a bigger war involving the US.

US arms sales to Europe have SKYROCKETED since Ukraine invasion.

Russian defense minister warns situation in Ukraine trending towards uncontrolled escalation.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

BBC.com

BusinessInsider.com

NATO.int

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MarshallCenter.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) How do you trust a government that continuously sidesteps the Constitution and undermines our rights? You cant.

(Article by John and Nisha Whitehead republished from Rutherford.org)

When you consider all the ways we the people are being bullied, beaten, bamboozled, targeted, tracked, repressed, robbed, impoverished, imprisoned and killed by the government, one can only conclude that you shouldnt trust the government with your privacy, your property, your life, or your freedoms.

Consider for yourself.

Dont trust the government with your privacy, digital or otherwise. In the two decades since 9/11, the military-security industrial complex has operated under a permanent state of emergency that, in turn, has given rise to a digital prison that grows more confining and inescapable by the day. Wall-to wall surveillance, monitored by AI software and fed to a growing network of fusion centers, render the twin concepts of privacy and anonymity almost void. By conspiring with corporations, the Department of Homeland Security fueled a massive influx of money into surveillance and policing in our cities, under a banner of emergency response and counterterrorism. For instance, all across the country, police are installing Flock Safety license plate readers as part of a public-private partnership program between police and the surveillance industry. These cameras, which upload data in real time to fusion crime centers, signal a turning point in the transition from a police state to a police-driven surveillance state.

Dont trust the government with your property. In yet another effort to legitimize warrantless searches, police are employing hit-and-hold tactics in which police enter a home, carry out an initial sweep of the property, handcuff the occupants, then wait for official search warrants to be secured and applied retroactively. In the meantime, police have managed to bypass the Fourth Amendment. The rationale, to prevent possible destruction of evidence, is the same one used to deadly effect with no-knock raids. If government agents can invade your home, break down your doors, kill your dog, damage your furnishings and terrorize your family, your property is no longer private and secureit belongs to the government. Hard-working Americans are having their bank accounts, homes, cars electronics and cash seized by police under the assumption that they have allegedly been associated with some criminal scheme.

Dont trust the government with your finances. The U.S. governmentand that includes the current administrationis spending money it doesnt have on programs it cant afford, and we the taxpayers are being forced to foot the bill for the governments fiscal insanity. The national debt is $31.3 trillion and growing, and were paying more than $300 billion in interest every year on that public debt, yet there seems to be no end in sight when it comes to the governments fiscal insanity. According to Forbes, Congress has raised, extended or revised the definition of the debt limit 78 times since 1960 in order to allow the government to essentially fund its existence with a credit card.

Dont trust the government with your health. For all intents and purposes, we the people have become lab rats in the governments secret experiments, which include MKULTRA and the U.S. militarys secret race-based testing of mustard gas on more than 60,000 enlisted men. Indeed, you dont have to dig very deep or go very back in the nations history to uncover numerous cases in which the government deliberately conducted secret experiments on an unsuspecting populacecitizens and noncitizens alikemaking healthy people sick by spraying them with chemicals, injecting them with infectious diseases and exposing them to airborne toxins. Unfortunately, the public has become so easily distracted by the political spectacle out of Washington, DC, that they are altogether oblivious to the grisly experiments, barbaric behavior and inhumane conditions that have become synonymous with the U.S. government, which has meted out untold horrors against humans and animals alike.

Dont trust the government with your life: At a time when growing numbers of unarmed people have been shot and killed for just standing a certain way, or moving a certain way, or holding somethinganythingthat police could misinterpret to be a gun, or igniting some trigger-centric fear in a police officers mind that has nothing to do with an actual threat to their safety, even the most benign encounters with police can have fatal consequences. The number of Americans killed by police continues to grow, with the majority of those killed as a result of police encounters having been suspected of a non-violent offense or no crime at all, or during a traffic violation. According a report by Mapping Police Violence, police killed more people in 2022 than any other year within the past decade. In 98% of those killings, police were not charged with a crime.

Dont trust the government with your freedoms. For years now, the government has been playing a cat-and-mouse game with the American people, letting us enjoy just enough freedom to think we are free but not enough to actually allow us to live as a free people. Freedom no longer means what it once did. This holds true whether youre talking about the right to criticize the government in word or deed, the right to be free from government surveillance, the right to not have your person or your property subjected to warrantless searches by government agents, the right to due process, the right to be safe from militarized police invading your home, the right to be innocent until proven guilty and every other right that once reinforced the founders belief that this would be a government of the people, by the people and for the people. On paper, we may be technically free, but in reality, we are only as free as a government official may allow.

Whatever else it may bea danger, a menace, a threatthe U.S. government is certainly not looking out for our best interests, nor is it in any way a friend to freedom.

Remember the purpose of a good government is to protect the lives and liberties of its people.

Unfortunately, what we have been saddled with is, in almost every regard, the exact opposite of an institution dedicated to protecting the lives and liberties of its people.

Read more at: Rutherford.org
(Natural News) A nonprofit organization headed by an FBI analyst-turned-Democrat operative & vociferous Russiagater, Daniel Jones, has funded both Fusion GPS  the firm that laundered Hillary Clintons funding of the infamous Steele Dossier  and a study which found an increase in climate change misinformation on Twitter since Elon Musk bought the company.

(Article by Tyler Durden republished from ZeroHedge.com)

Jones, a former staffer for Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein (of Chinese spy driver fame), founded Advanced Democracy, through which he shared a study with USA Today which claims that instances of climate fraud, climate hoax, and climate scam jumped over 300% in 2022.

As the Daily Caller notes, however, Advance Democracy has also funded groups pushing now-debunked claims involving the 2016 US election, as well as a group which pushed a disinformation campaign in the 2017 Alabama special Senate election.

The non-profit in 2020 paid $140,000 to Bean LLC, the parent company of Fusion GPS, for research consulting services. Fusion GPS was hired by Perkins Coie, a Democrat-linked law firm retained by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, to conduct opposition research on the Trump campaign between April 2016 and October 2016; Fusion GPS commissioned Christopher Steele to produce a now-discredited opposition research report on the Trump campaign, according to public tax filings. Many of the Steele dossiers allegations have been subsequently debunked and proven false. Advance Democracy has previously funded Fusions parent company to the tune of $6,051,251 as of 2020, according to the Washington Examiners review of earlier tax filings. Additionally, Advance Democracy paid $540,000 to the research firm Yonder, according to public tax filings; Yonder was previously known as New Knowledge, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported. New Knowledge CEO Jonathon Morgan reportedly participated in a disinformation operation during the 2017 Alabama special Senate election between Doug Jones and Roy Moore, ostensibly to study how Russian disinformation campaigns during the 2016 election operated, according to The New York Times. -Daily Caller

We orchestrated an elaborate false flag operation that planted the idea that the Moore campaign was amplified on social media by a Russian botnet, read an internal report, according to the NY Times.

Jones group has also provided reports on online misinformation and disinformation to sites such as Politico and The Washington Post to push narratives involving election misinformation and threats to democracy.

Read more at: ZeroHedge.com
(Natural News) Author Richard Proctor told Doug Hagmann that the international banking establishment is controlling the lives of people through money. He made this assertion during the Jan. 11 episode of The Hagmann Report.

Proctor, also the founder and CEO the Provis Institute of Political Economics, explained that banks make a profit every time a person takes out a loan or signs a credit card. He elaborated: Every dime you do on a credit card, the bank keeps as profit. Every dime you sent when you pay for a car or a home or anything, the bank keeps the credit all as profit. They keep it all.

These banks also send the extra money to the Federal Reserve, which then remits the amount to the globalist owners such as George Soros, Bill Gates and the Rothschild and Rockefeller families. They then use the money remitted by the Fed to do what they want. In the U.S., this money is spent to buy American politicians both at the state and federal levels. (Related: Paul McGuire: Marxist and communist revolutionaries are bankrolled by international banking families.)

According to Proctor, everything is controlled by the banking establishment behind the scenes  including the politicians. Thus, he remarked that Americans are not really represented by its government since the people they elected to serve as their voice are being paid by the system.

Banks make a profit when Washington borrows from the Fed

Proctor told Hagmann that every time the federal government in Washington, D.C. borrows money from the Fed, the banks make a profit as the amount is put through the banking system. The government is also able to give this money to Americans by means of checks issued by the same banks.

When a person takes out a loan for any amount, the banks pay with a check they have in their capital investment program. The banks capitalize all the payments made every month to obtain capital gains, Proctor added.

Its all profit. Its all money they can do with what they want and thats banking today, right now.

He added that public citizens banks controlled by the Federal Reserve via the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are not really public citizens banks. According to Proctor, the FDIC is not insurance but a risk since the Federal Reserve needs to use its money. Thus, Americans must not think their money is protected because it is not really protected.

Proctor also talked about the concept of the bank owning itself with Hagmann. He said investors who provided the capital have shares and ownership in the bank aside from receiving the dividends and profits. The caveat in all the shares that were bought, however, is that the bank can and will buy them back whenever they want.

According to Proctor, every corporation can buy all of its stock back and be completely owned by itself.

Proctor said a bank can do it because there is enough money to do it and the profit goes to the state that authorized the bank. He added the state has an auditor who makes sure the bank is following proper banking rules. The state does not own the bank since it is not state-chartered, but the bank is state-authorized, he explained.

Follow MoneySupply.News for more news about international banks.

Watch the full segment of The Hagmann Report with Richard Proctor below.

This video is from the Hagmann Report channel on Brighteon.com.

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Gregory Mannarino: Central banks are about to issue even more debt to make society more dependent on them.

Bank failures coming: Raft of federally insured banks compromised by unwise over-investment in failing cryptocurrencies and exchanges.

The next Great Depression begins: Bank run in China being ignored by Western media could be precursor to massive economic collapse.

Central banks continue adding gold to their net holdings as fears rise of a global collapse.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

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(Natural News) A Member of Parliament (MP) in the U.K. was suspended and put under investigation for merely posting an article about the dangers of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines, which was backed by actual data.

North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen of the Conservative Party, also known as the Tory Party, was punished with a suspension from sitting in the House of Commons as a member. Under the suspension, Bridgen will serve without a party affiliation  essentially rendering him independent  until a formal investigation is completed.

The Tory MPs suspension stemmed from his Jan. 11 tweet, which included a Jan. 9 article from ZeroHedge. The piece, written by professor Joshua Guetzkow of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, detailed how COVID-19 vaccines are far more dangerous than previously reported, based on more than 700 safety signals. Guetzkow also added statistics from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System operated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to back up his claims.

A safety signal does not necessarily mean there is a problem, or that the vaccine caused the adverse event, he explained in the article. But it is supposed to set off alarm bells to prompt closer inspection.

How can the CDC say that these safety signals are meaningless if almost none of them have been studied any further? And yet we are assured that these vaccines have undergone the most intensive safety monitoring effort in history? Its complete and utter hogwash.

Bridgen then tweeted the article on Jan. 11 with this caption: As one consultant cardiologist said to me, this is the biggest crime against humanity since the Holocaust. (Related: MP Christopher Chope urges British government to support individuals suffering from COVID vaccine injuries.)

The Jan. 11 tweet that caused his suspension came amid the MPs earlier tweets that exposed the dangers of COVID-19 vaccines.

Fellow Tories denounce Bridgen, others defend him

Former British Health Secretary Matt Hancock blasted Bridgens deeply offensive tweet. Incidentally, the MP for West Suffolk had also been slapped with the same sanction as Bridgen in November 2022, being prohibited from sitting in the House of Commons as a Tory.

The disgusting and dangerous, antisemitic, [anti-vaccine and] anti-scientific conspiracy theories spouted by a sitting MP  are unacceptable and have absolutely no place in our society, Hancock wrote.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, also a Tory, agreed with the former health secretary. Sunak condemned Bridgens unacceptable language and pledged to eradicate the scourge of antisemitism.

But several conservative figures took to Twitter to side with Bridgen.

Avi Yemini of Rebel News issued a challenge to both Sunak and Hancock to point out what exactly is antisemitic about [Bridgens] statement. He continued: Stop pretending to care about [the] Jewish community in your cheap political point-scoring. Andrew Bridgen is right.

Meanwhile, cardiologist Dr. Assem Malhotra replied to Hancock in a tweet: With the greatest respect, Matt, theres no conspiracy theory here. Its the product of a system failure of which we are all victims  the corporate capture of public health.

Conservative commentator Dominique Samuels also sided with Brigden in two tweets.

Bridgen has had the whip removed over telling the truth about the COVID-19 vaccine. His statements are backed up by the opinions of eminent scientists, she wrote. Samuels also pointed out that the British government, which doesnt give a damn, is on the side of Big Pharma and the globalist World Economic Forum.

As usual, the mob [is] deciding to focus on one specific tweet because they cant get him on the facts.

Watch Andrew Bridgen criticize the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in the House of Commons below.

This video is from the Perfect Society channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

British MP: Scale of COVID vaccine damage a NIGHTMARE.

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British government faces police investigation over covid vaccine safety violations.

Former Australian MP warns 75% of COVID-19 vaccinated women are experiencing miscarriages.

MEDICAL TYRANNY: Police question Australian doctor who wrote MP letters about COVID-19 vaccine concerns.

Sources include:

NewsWars.com

ZeroHedge.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Pfizer targeted Nigerias federal attorney general (AG) in 2009, pressuring him to cease legal action and drop any complaints in relation to the companys disastrous trials of its meningitis drug Trovan.

Back in 1996, amid an outbreak of meningitis in the northern Nigerian state of Kano, Pfizer conducted an unauthorized trial of Trovan involving 200 children. Eleven children died, while many more suffered serious injuries. It was later discovered that the trial was done without the consent of the childrens parents.

The Nigerian federal government then filed a criminal and civil lawsuit against Pfizer, demanding $7 billion in damages. Separately, the state government of Kano filed a $2 billion lawsuit. Both lawsuits were dropped and eventually settled out of court, with the state government of Kano agreeing to a $75 million settlement with the drug manufacturer. (Related: NEVER FORGET: Pfizer sued for $7B over illegal drug trials on kids.)

But an April 2009 cable published by WikiLeaks revealed that Enrico Liggeri, Pfizers country manager for Nigeria, admitted that the company did not want to pay to settle the two lawsuits filed by Abuja. For the Kano lawsuits, however, the company came to the conclusion that the $75 million figure was reasonable because the suits had been ongoing for many years [and had been] costing Pfizer more than $15 million a year in legal and investigative fees.

The same cable stated that according to Liggeri, Pfizer had hired investigators to uncover corruption links to then-Federal AG Michael Aondoakaa to expose him and put pressure on him to drop the federal cases. The top Pfizer official continued that investigators hired by the company were passing this information to local media.

A series of damaging articles detailing Aondokaas alleged corruption ties were published in February and March, the WikiLeaks cable indicated. Liggeri contended that Pfizer had much more damaging information on Aondoakaa and that [the federal AGs] cronies were pressuring him to drop the suit for fear of further negative articles.

Aondoakaa accused of dropping federal lawsuits against Pfizer

The two lawsuits being dropped raised suspicions in the West African nation, given that Aondoakaa served as the legal counsel for the federal government. In November 2010, Nigerian newspaper Next ran a story about the federal AGs supposed secret deal with Pfizer.

The piece stated that the terms of the agreement that caused Abuja to drop its two lawsuits remain unknown because of the nature of [the] deal brokered by Aondoakaa. It continued: The withdrawal of the case, as well as the terms of settlement, is a highly guarded secret by the parties involved in the negotiation.

Meanwhile, the WikiLeaks cable referenced an April 2 meeting between Leggeri, Pfizer lawyers Joe Petrosinelli and Atiba Adams and officials at the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria. During the meeting, the two attorneys mentioned the role of Gen. Yakubu Gowon  the former Nigerian head of state from 1966 to 1975  in interceding on Pfizers behalf.

Petroselli noted that Pfizer has worked closely with Gowon, and that he has played a positive mediation role with Kano state and the federal government. Gowon spoke with Kano Gov. Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, who directed the Kano AG to reduce the settlement demand from $150 million to $75 million. Adams reported that Gowon met with President [Umaru Musa] YarAdua and convinced him to drop the two federal high court cases against Pfizer, the WikiLeaks cable stated.

Aondoakaa, formerly the countrys justice minister from 2007 until 2010, expressed astonishment at the WikiLeaks cable claims. Im very surprised to see I became a subject, which is very shocking to me, he told the Guardian. I was not aware of Pfizer looking into my past. For them to have done that is a very serious thing.

Pfizer denied the accusations in a statement, claiming that any notion that the company hired investigators in connection to the former AG is simply preposterous. It added that it negotiated the settlement with the federal government of Nigeria in good faith, and its conduct in reaching that agreement was proper.

Visit BigPharmaNews.com for more about Pfizers corruption.

Watch this video that explains how Pfizer targeted former Nigerian Federal AG Michael Aondoakaa.

This video is from the SILVIEW.media channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Pfizer to Pay Tens of Millions for Deaths of Nigerian Children in Drug Trial Experiment.

Pfizer has a shockingly long history of engaging in illegal activities and human experimentation.

THREAD #PfizerFiles  the true history of Pfizers repeated criminal behavior and destruction of human lives.

NEVER FORGET: In 1994, Pfizer paid $20 million after LYING about defective heart valve that killed hundreds.

Pfizer, which ran vaccine experiments on Nigerian children, gets fast track approval for its coronavirus vaccines by the FDA.

Sources include:

Reuters.com

TheGuardian.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) New research published in the peer-reviewed journal Circulation shows that adolescents and young adults who get vaccinated for covid suffer a massive spike protein invasion that often leads to a heart attack.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School looked at a cohort of children who were hospitalized at either Massachusetts General Hospital or Boston Childrens Hospital between January 2021 and February 2022 due to their having developed post-injection myocarditis. The research team found that the subjects had markedly elevated levels of full-length spike protein in their blood that was unbounded by antibodies.

A publication of the American Heart Association (AHA), Circulation published this damning research on January 4 of this year, adding to a growing body of evidence linking covid injections to heart destruction.

The control group in the study, which was described as healthy, asymptomatic, age-matched vaccinated control subjects  meaning vaccinated with other vaccines but not covid vaccines  showed no signs of free-floating spike antigens, despite essentially indistinguishable antibody profiling and T-cell responses between the two groups.

In other words, covid injections are uniquely damaging to the heart, triggering an inflammatory response so severe that associated spike proteins outsmart the antibodies and flood the bloodstream. (Related: Remember when the AMA tried to blame cannabis legalization for the massive increase in heart disease?)

Immunoprofiling of vaccinated adolescents and young adults revealed that the mRNA vaccineinduced immune responses did not differ between individuals who developed myocarditis and individuals who did not, the researchers explained.

However, free spike antigen was detected in the blood of adolescents and young adults who developed post-mRNA vaccine myocarditis, advancing insight into its potential underlying cause.

Simply put, covid injections destroy the human heart and cardiovascular system

The findings corroborate the decision made by Florida State Health Officer and Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, back in the fall to recommend that healthy adults not take any mRNA (messenger RNA) injections.

Ladapo and his team informed the public that, following an analysis involving a self-controlled case series, described as a technique originally developed to evaluate vaccine safety, it was determined that covid shots are unsafe for the heart.

This analysis found that there is an 84% increase in the relative incidence of cardiac-related death among males 18-39 years old within 28 days following mRNA vaccination, the announcement from Ladapo explains.

With a high level of global immunity to COVID-19, the benefit of vaccination is likely outweighed by this abnormally high risk of cardiac-related death among men in this age group. Non-mRNA vaccines were not found to have these increased risks.

Those with preexisting heart issues such as myocarditis and pericarditis are especially advised to forego the injection(s)  unless, of course, they want to risk sudden death.

So far, there have been at least 270 professional athletes who have suffered heart-related issues after getting vaccinated for the Fauci Flu. This was confirmed in a peer-reviewed letter authored by structural biologist Panagis Polykretis and cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough, and published in the Scandinavian Journal of Immunology.

Im surprised that this cabal organization is telling the truth, wrote a commenter about the AHAs involvement in publishing such a study, which completely destroys the safe and effective narrative surrounding covid injections.

There are tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of individuals who have helped spin the health narrative, the shot, and they will never, ever, undo their lies, only perpetuate more lies! wrote another about the many other organizations that are still aggressively promoting these death jabs.

They cant undo this without themselves becoming hunted criminals.

To learn more about why you and your family should avoid getting vaccinated, visit Vaccines.news.

Sources for this article include:

AHAJournals.org

Newspunch.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Just days after Tesla announced significant price cuts on its electric vehicles, the company announced a big investment in its Gigafactory in Austin, Texas. The automaker has unveiled a $775.7 million plan that will see four new buildings being constructed at the site, where it currently produces electric vehicles and their batteries. The new facilities will include one for cathode and drive unit manufacturing, a die shop, and battery cell testing and manufacturing.

According to filings made by the company with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the construction will amount to 1.4 million square feet overall. The biggest building will be a 693,000-square-foot facility known as Cell 1, which is being built at an expected cost of $368 million. Construction is set to get underway next week and should be finished by the end of next year. The facility for drive units will measure 423,000 square feet, while the cathode manufacturing facility will be 321,000 square feet and the cell testing lab will be 2560 square feet.

The Gigafactory was opened last April in Austin and is currently responsible for producing the companys Model Y electric vehicle. Tesla has also announced that it will start making Model 3 vehicles as well as its Cybertruck at the facility. In the future, they will also reportedly build their humanoid robot, the Tesla Bot, at the site.

The news comes not long after it was reported that the company had promoted its China production chief, Tom Zhu, to be in charge of their American assembly plants. In addition to the Texas plant, Tesla also has manufacturing facilities in California, Germany, China and Nevada and is reportedly planning to open up a new factory in Mexico.

Investment comes after price cuts that angered some customers

The news of this huge investment comes at a time when Tesla has cut its prices by up to 20 percent throughout the U.S. and Europe in hopes of boosting demand for electric vehicles as the company deals with an economic slowdown as well as strong competition from more established competitors.

These cuts have brought prices to their lowest level in two years. The company says that dropping supply chain costs and reduced costs arising from shifting components closer to their factories are behind the move. Just a few days ago, the brand implemented price reductions in China, prompting complaints from customers who had already pre-ordered their cars at higher prices or saw their vehicles lose a considerable amount of value essentially overnight. Some angry customers even protested the price cuts outside of Chinese showrooms.

Tesla appears to have learned from the reaction in China, as the company has said that it will pass the price cuts along to customers in Europe who have already placed orders for vehicles.

The price savings for American customers amount to as much as $13,000 across their model range.

Meanwhile, shares of Tesla have dropped more than two thirds in the last year in response to concerns over slowing demand at a time when rivals such as Hyundai and Volkswagen have been enjoying impressive jumps in electric vehicle sales.

Wedbush Analyst Dan Ives said the cuts were the right medicine at the right time.

He added: Its no secret that demand for Tesla is starting to see some cracks in this global slowdown for 2023.

He believes the cuts are an offensive move on Teslas part that could ultimately lead to greater demand.

Sources for this article include:

FreightWaves.com

FT.com
(Natural News) A new installment of the Twitter Files series indicates that even as Democrats were claiming in public that pushback against the Russiagate probe was coming out of Russia, Twitter was telling them something different.

(Article by Jack Davis republished from WesternJournal.com)

Allegations that the 2016 campaign of former President Donald Trump was in some form colluding with Russia have long been discredited. However, from 2017 through the spring of 2019, when the Mueller Report pulverized the claims, these allegations were a long-running subplot in American politics that at times overshadowed the Trump administration.

Called The Russiagate Lies this installment goes into exhaustive detail about Twitters effort to find a Russia connection to support Democratic claims that anything not condemning Trump was being put forward by Russian interests.

The Russian bot claim was always a lie. Twitter knew it. Democrat politicians knew it. But they pushed it anyways. Enemies of the people. All of them.https://t.co/sXn9KJXS9a  Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 12, 2023

If you give a mouse a cookie  @ElonMusk @Twitter files highlight ever-increasing and dishonest Democratic demands to suppress questions about their abuse of Trump. #RussiaGate https://t.co/MFVdPjR8Kr  Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) January 12, 2023

Journalist Matt Taibbi summed up the issue by writing, at a crucial moment in a years-long furor, Democrats denounced a report about flaws in the Trump-Russia investigation, saying it was boosted by Russian bots and trolls.

Twitter officials were aghast, finding no evidence of Russian influence, he wrote, adding that Twitter warned politicians and media [they] not only lacked evidence but had evidence the accounts werent Russian  and were roundly ignored.

https://t.co/0PUOm212iv a crucial moment in a years-long furor, Democrats denounced a report about flaws in the Trump-Russia investigation, saying it was boosted by Russian bots and trolls.  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023

4.Twitter warned politicians and media the not only lacked evidence, but had evidence the accounts werent Russian  and were roundly ignored.  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023

The files show Twitter tried to warn Democrats including Rep. Adam Schiff of California and Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

But Schiff and Feinstein instead went public with the specter of Russian influence operations.

Blumenthal wrote, We find it reprehensible that Russian agents have so eagerly manipulated innocent Americans, Taibbi wrote.

In the meantime, and long before the American public was certain whom to believe, Twitter drilled down to find that a common source was linked to many claims, and there was not a lot of detail about where its information came from, to the extent that a Twitter executive calls the rush to judgment a comms play.

14.I encourage you to be skeptical of Hamilton 68s take on this, which as far as I can tell is the only source for these stories, said Global Policy Communications Chief (and future WH and NSC spokesperson) Emily Horne. She added: Its a comms play for ASD. pic.twitter.com/PZRZC51K7f  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023

The files make it clear that Twitter did try to tell Democrats including Blumenthal that they were wrong.

However, rather than go public that the claims being cited were wrong, Twitter kept silent.

https://t.co/eOqNK7yE15 the story, if you give a mouse a cookie, hell want a glass of milk, which will lead to a wave of other exhausting requests, at the end of which hell want a glass of milk. And one more cookie. pic.twitter.com/ySlFfzGt1y  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023

21.Added another: It might be worth nudging Blumenthals staffer that it could be in his boss best interest not to go out there because it could come back to make him look silly. pic.twitter.com/tP6VZF0PPC  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023

30.Despite universal internal conviction that there were no Russians in the story, Twitter went on to follow a slavish pattern of not challenging Russia claims on the record.  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023

https://t.co/OlWGsft3ut a result, reporters from the AP to Politico to NBC to Rolling Stone continued to hammer the Russian bots theme, despite a total lack of evidence. pic.twitter.com/4oPFHjJ4Rh  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 12, 2023

Despite universal internal conviction that there were no Russians in the story, Twitter went on to follow a slavish pattern of not challenging Russia claims on the record, Taibbi wrote, later adding, As a result, reporters from the AP to Politico to NBC to Rolling Stone continued to hammer the Russian bots theme, despite a total lack of evidence.

At the end of the tangled tale, Taibii summed up his opinion of the scandal that was hollow from the start.

The Russiagate scandal was built on the craven dishonesty of politicians and reporters, who for years ignored the absence of data to fictional scare headlines, he wrote.

Read more at: WesternJournal.com
(Natural News) Joe Bidens administration is continuing its war on the Second Amendment and lawful gun owners even as members of his party continue to adopt soft-on-crime policies that have turned large sections of major cities into shooting galleries, putting decent people more at risk.

Most recently, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives implemented a new rule banning so-called pistol stabilizing devices which they claim transform short-barreled semi-automatic pistols into rifles without changing anything else about the gun itself (like rate of fire, for instance).

The new rule (ATF final rule 2021R-08F) was published on the ATFs website today and is set to be posted on the Federal Register on Monday, one day before the industrys largest trade show, SHOT Show, Ammoland reported late last week. The regulation will affect millions of Americans that currently own pistol stabilizing devices. What has been considered pistols for years will now be regarded as short barreled rifles (SBR) and be subjected to the National Firearms Act.

The proposed rule used a form known as Worksheet 4999 to determine if a firearm equipped with a pistol brace would be considered an SBR by using a point system. The ATF ditched the form in favor of a widespread declaration that almost every pistol equipped with a brace of any kind would be considered an SBR, the outlet continued.

The final rule says:

Worksheet 4999 was intended to ensure uniform consideration and application of the statutory definition of those terms. Based on the comments received, the Department agrees that the proposed Worksheet 4999 and point system did not achieve these intended purposes.

Under the rule, any gun that is designed or redesigned, made or remade, and is intended to be fired from the shoulder will be considered an SBR. The designation now includes any device including the stabilizing braces which the agency has to assume was installed by the owner to shoulder-fire the weapon. In addition, if a firearm simply has the surface area that may allow it to be fired from the shoulder, the ATF could consider it an SBR if it has a length or a weight that is consistent among rifles.

Whether the surface area that allows the weapon to be fired from the shoulder is created by a buffer tube, receiver extension, or any other accessory, component, or other rearward attachment that is necessary for the cycle of operations, says the rule.

Meanwhile, a rule put into place by the Trump administration has just been soundly rejected by a federal appeals court, and not by a little but by a lot.

During the previous administration and after a madman used rifles equipped with bump stocks to massacre nearly 60 people attending an outdoor concert in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017, then-President Donald Trump, responding to a tidal wave of public pressure, acquiesced to the gun control left and ordered his Justice Department to pronounce the stocks verboten. Suddenly, millions of Americans who owned the pieces of equipment, which are used to create the appearance and function of a fully automatic weapon, were in violation of the law.

But as is most often the case, one of those owners who did nothing wrong on Oct. 1, 2017, filed a lawsuit alleging that the previous administration mischaracterized the bump stock and thus, under the guise of current federal law, had no authority to issue the ban.

And now, a federal appeals court has agreed  overwhelmingly.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down a 13-3 decision Friday striking down the regulatory gun control that banned bump stocks under former President Donald Trump, reported Breitbart News last week.

In its ruling, the court intimated that actions on guns should be taken by Congress rather than the executive branch, the outlet added.

With all the problems our country has under the current regime, why is it so focused on attacking a fundamental constitutional guarantee?

Sources include:

Ammoland.com

Breitbart.com
(Natural News) A two-year-old girl who was injected with both the vaccines for influenza and the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) died the following day.

According to the Gateway Pundit (GP), the child from New Hampshire was injected with the two shots on Dec. 15, 2022. She received one dose of Modernas mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and another dose of the Flulaval quadrivalent vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline.

The girl died the following day, Dec. 16, 2022, without being hospitalized. Her death was reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) on Dec. 19, 2022  three days after her passing.

An online obituary published by Brookside Chapel & Funeral Home in Plaistow, New Hampshire matches the details posted on the VAERS website. This was later taken down.

GP reached out to the girls parents earlier in January via their Facebook accounts, but received no response. As of writing, the accounts of both are no longer searchable.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), giving the flu vaccine alongside another vaccine  called co-administration  is a common clinical practice. It stated that both vaccines for the flu and COVID-19 can be given at the same visit if one is due for them.

Studies conducted throughout the COVID-19 pandemic indicate that it is safe to get both a flu vaccine and a COVID-19 vaccine at the same visit, the public health agency argued. The CDC cited a study showing that people who get the flu shot and a COVID-19 booster in one go are eight to 11 percent more likely to experience immediate reactions such as fatigue, headache and muscle pain than those who got a COVID-19 booster alone.

USSA News remarked about the childs untimely death due to the vaccines.

This incident raises serious concerns about the safety of vaccinating such young children and the potential risks associated with administering multiple vaccines at ones, it said. The outlet also pointed out that the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration have yet to release a statement on the matter, and it is unclear if any further investigation into the childs death will be conducted. (Related: COVID vaccines killing more children than the virus, but the government does not care.)

Died suddenly: Other kids also passed away after getting COVID shots

The two-year-old girl from New Hampshire is not the only one who has fallen victim to the COVID-19 vaccine ever since it was authorized for children and teenagers.

Back in June 2021, 13-year-old Jacob Clynick of Michigan died in his sleep three days after being injected with the second dose of Pfizers COVID-19 vaccine. He was vaccinated on June 13, 2021 and experienced a stomachache two days later. Clynick slept that night, but did not wake up the following morning.

He passed away in the middle of the night at home, said Tammy Burages, Clynicks aunt. She added that her nephew was very healthy and had no known underlying medical conditions.

Later, 18-year-old Kayla Rose Lumpkins of Texas received her COVID-19 booster dose on Sept. 8, 2022. She had previously received two standard doses, and got a third one for good measure. Kayla Rose went to bed happy on that day, but did not wake up the morning after.

I found her dead in her bed the next morning, her mother Renee said. According to Renee, her child was physically healthy until she received her booster shot.

Head over to VaccineDeaths.com for more stories about children dying due to vaccines.

Watch this video of a mother, whose daughter died five hours after getting vaccinated, warning against the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

This video is from the Watchmen Incorporated channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

More children die from the COVID shot than from COVID.

Teen girl dies hours after receiving second Pfizer COVID vaccine.

Healthy teen dies in her sleep after getting COVID-19 booster shot.

COVID-19 vaccines linked to sudden deaths, warns Dr. Peter McCullough.

13-year-old dies in his sleep three days after receiving second dose of Pfizer vaccine.

Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

CDC.gov

USSANews.com

DailyMail.co.uk

NewsPunch.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) In the truly free society that our founding fathers envisioned, the central government was relatively weak in terms of day-to-day governance, responsible for macro things like national defense, border security, delivering the mail, and ensuring that the countrys institutions were protected.

But fast-forward a couple of hundred years, and todays federal government has become every bit the tyrannical leviathan that our founders feared, thanks in large part to a combination of voter apathy and self-appropriation of power.

How else, then, could government engage in what amounts to daily psychological warfare against the American people and get away with it, were it not for alliances with certain corporate and government entities?

Thanks to billionaire Elon Musk, we now know just how pervasive the governments efforts were to merge with big tech companies in order to a) push misinformation under the guise of combatting misinformation; b) have counternarratives (a.k.a. the truth) suppressed; and c) have pesky spreaders of counternarratives (a.k.a. real journalists) banned from platforms, thereby denying them their voice. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were especially involved, as was the CIA.

Now, however, we learn that the effort to continue subverting the American people is ongoing  and widening, as WorldNetDaily reports:

Joe Bidens director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, has confirmed the White House has worked hard to debunk what it believes to be disinformation and false narratives.

And the recommendation to her from a leading British intelligence officer is that to do more, the government, and tech companies, should pre-bunk that disinformation so that people come to believe that government-backed narratives can be trusted.

A report at Warroom.org explained it was a stunning admission that came during a conversation involving Jeremy Fleming, chief of the Government Communications Headquarters in the United Kingdom, and Haines on BBC Radio 4.

Fleming recommended that intelligence agencies ought to be in the business of preemptively destroying certain narratives  which is literally no different than what those same agencies do in other countries in attempts to undermine and topple their governments.

Haines discussed how the White House has been influencing the information landscape about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war under the pretense of minimizing the spread of disinformation.'

She explained, about the Russian agenda, We saw that they were looking to create a pretext for the invasion and we wanted to sort of debunk that and help people understand that this was a false narrative. We were able to have an impact in a sense on the conversation about this.

Continuing, she elaborated, So we recognize that we were able to have impact in countering disinformation but that there were limits on what we were able to do and that we needed to understand that in order to really understand how we can counter this moving forward.

The report went on to say that Fleming insisted bluntly that intelligence agencies should deploy information in a manner to pre-bunk other information governments do not want their people to see or accept.

Youve put a lot of effort into getting secret intelligence, but I always think its no point collecting it unless you use it. The sea change weve seen during this conflict of getting the intelligence out there and using it to pre bunk,' Fleming explained, while encouraging collusion between government agencies and private big tech companies in order to shape narratives (i.e. create lies and false narratives).

It cant just be government and intelligence voices out there. There have got to be other voices. One of the critical things from this conflict has been the way the private sector has played a part.

Big Tech, he said, must be part of the equation.

Our democratic governments and institutions now lie to us just like the tyrannical governments we are told to hate.

Sources include:

WND.com

Propaganda.news
(Natural News) The same guy behind the infamous Steel Dossier that was released during Hillary Clintons second failed attempt at capturing the White House is also behind a new study claiming that climate change misinformation has ramped up on Twitter ever since billionaire electric vehicle (EV) guru Elon Musk took over the company.

Daniel Jones, a former FBI analyst who became a Democrat operative and Russiagate promoter, is the founder of an organization called Advance Democracy that recently published a study via USA Today claiming that the rate of climate fraud, climate hoax, and climate scam content jumped 300 percent on Twitter in 2022 as a result of Musks takeover.

A former staffer for Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein of China spy driver fame, Jones and his Advance Democracy group paid $140,000 in 2020 to Bean LLC, the parent company of Fusion GPS, for research consulting services. You may recall that Fusion GPS used that money to conduct opposition research on the Trump campaign between April 2016 and October 2016.

Public tax filings show that after being hired by Perkins Coie, a Democrat-linked law firm retained by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Fusion GPS produced the now-discredited Steele Dossier, which the Clinton campaign had hoped would derail the Trump campaign and help her win  it, of course, did not.

Previously, Advance Democracy had given Bean LLC more than $6 million to conduct other hits. The Jones-led group also spent $540,000 at a research firm called Yonder to spread disinformation during the 2017 Alabama special Senate election between Doug Jones and Roy Moore.

We orchestrated an elaborate false flag operation that planted the idea that the Moore campaign was amplified on social media by a Russian botnet, an internal report from Advance Democracy reads, according to The New York Times.

(Related: Check out this complete timeline of deep state collusion and treason against Trump.)

Democrats dont want you talking about election fraud or their climate hoax

It turns out that a driving force behind the Russia, Russia, Russia! talk that was blared at us throughout 2016 and 2017 stemmed from Jones and his work. And now the guy is spearheading a crusade against climate misinformation on social media  because apparently this is also part of the same leftist agenda.

Already, Jones and his group have published several reports about online misinformation and disinformation that have been published by the likes of Politico and The Washington Post to push the narrative that even just talking about election fraud and the various holes in climate mythology somehow constitutes threats to democracy  even though the United States is a constitutional republic, just to clarify.

It is safe to say that anything this little clown says is a lie, and anything his scam factory is involved in is a fraud, wrote a commenter about Jones and his work.

What a lot of the climate change folks dont seem to understand is that the biggest influencer of our climate is the sun itself, suggested another. Its absolutely of no use to try to stop it.

Others joked that the same Democrats who are whining about free speech on Twitter today were the same ones telling Republicans to leave Twitter and start their own social media network back in 2021 pre-Musk if they did not like the direction the platform was taking then. To illustrate this point, one of them wrote about the hypocrisy:

2021: Its a private tech company and they can publish or censor as they see fit. If you dont like it, go get your own social media site.

2023: How dare you!

More stories like this one concerning the social media wars can be found at Censorship.news.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) For a limited time, junk food connoisseurs can purchase all-female M&Ms in three colors: green and brown, which represent lesbians and LGBT, and purple, which represents obesity.

Todays women apparently come in just two flavors, according to Mars, Inc.: gay and fat. The purple M&Ms in the new female-only candy bags come in a larger size to represent body positivity, while the green and brown ones are meant to depict a same-sex female couple.

Straight, thin women are not represented in the new all-female M&Ms candy bags because these kinds of women are not considered to be a cultural success.

The three-colored female M&Ms do, however, come with a flipped upside-down logo to represent how todays women are flipping how they define success, according to a press release. (Related: Remember in 2006 when a Chicago-based M&Ms candy factory had to be shut down due to an infestation of mice and cockroaches?)

Mars makes M&Ms mascots fatter and uglier to embrace a more modern take on how people look these days

The new M&Ms come as promised amid a woke transformation at Mars, which is pushing the limits on how inclusive it can be. Earlier in 2022, the company also announced alterations to its mascots to reflect the more dynamic, progressive world that we live in.

The refreshed M&Ms brand, as the company called it, will include a more modern take on the looks of our beloved characters to make them fatter, uglier, and less pleasing to the eyes.

In 2017, the year Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, Mars also announced a billion-dollar spending initiative to reduce the companys carbon footprint.

Women all over the world are flipping how they define success and happiness while challenging the status quo, so were thrilled to be able to recognize and celebrate them, announced Mars Wrigley North American chief marketing officer Gabrielle Wesley about the new obese lesbian M&Ms branding.

And who better to help us on that mission than our own powerhouse spokescandies Green, Brown and Purple?

For every package of obese lesbian M&Ms that are purchased in the North American market, Mars will reportedly donate $1, up to $500,000, to two nonprofit organizations that support women in the music industry: She Is the Music and We Are Moving the Needle.'

Mars also plans to donate another $300,000 to other female-only nonprofits that are flipping the status quo.

Jane Hwang, global vice president at Mars Wrigley, added in her own statement that these new spokescandy M&Ms have so much about them that people can relate to and appreciate. One thing Hwang pointed out as an example is the fat lesbian M&Ms willingness to embrace her true self.

Our new character reminds us to celebrate what makes us unique, Hwang added.

In the comments, someone wrote that none of this is dynamic or progressive as Mars claims, but rather it is more woke and misled.

Glad this story was shared, this person added. Now I know what not to buy!

Another wrote that when even candy goes woke, it is a sign of just how bad things have become.

It reminds me to be exclusive, this person added. I am excluding M&Ms from my grocery list.

It turns out that M&Ms are among the least-healthy candies on the American market, emphasized another. Between the petroleum-based food colorings to the preservatives to the genetically modified (GMO) oils and beet sugar, M&Ms are not worth your time.

Though more expensive, these smaller brands (Ghirardelli and your local chocolatiers, as well as practically all European brands) have a much better taste and texture, this individual further wrote.

More stories like this one can be found at Wokies.news.

Sources for this article include:

FoxNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) For the past six years, BioNTech, with the help of Bayer, has been working on novel, first-in-class messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines and other therapeutics for animals. And according to Dr. Robert Malone, they are just about ready for public release.

More than four years prior to the appearance of covid, these two drug companies had begun developing mRNA therapeutics for livestock and even companion animals  though there is no publicly available clinical trial data for these new drugs.

For whatever reason, the only available information includes press releases, conference notes, grant and contract notifications from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the occasional peer-reviewed paper, as Dr. Malone writes, and other tidbits. (Related: An Australian study already found that mRNA injections are deadly to livestock, having caused 18 percent of them to die immediately in tests.)

None of this, he says, is adequate, nor is it transparent. By law, Big Pharma has an obligation to release clinical trial data, especially when American tax dollars are used to fund the research behind them.

Malone was able to piece together the information that is available to present a clearer outline of what is really going on at the current time. In essence, everyone who consumes commercially produced meat could soon be exposed to mRNA poisons on their dinner plate.

Bayers mRNA manufacturing facilities were also used to manufacture covid vaccines

There are three mRNA therapy platforms that BioNTech-Bayer has been working on for animals: infectious disease vaccines, cancer immunotherapies, and protein replacement.

We also know that while this research has been taking place for the past six-plus years, Bayer lent out its mRNA vaccine manufacturing facilities for use in the production covid vaccines for humans.

Since the globalists view the general public as human cattle, it is only fitting that mRNA technologies designed for animals were also developed for the human herd under Operation Warp Speed.

Merck & Co., which played a minimal role in the covid scamdemic, has been quietly manufacturing and selling mRNA vaccines for swine, Malone also found.

For whatever reason, they are selling these products as customized prescription vaccines against strains of influenza A virus in swine, porcine circovirus (PCV), rotavirus and beyond,' he writes. This is an interesting market segment.

Mercks reason to limit the production of mRNA vaccines in the customized prescription market is unclear. Production facility size and scaleability [sic] of the RNA product could be factors.

Around 2014 or 2015, the USDA issued a conditional license to Merck Animal Health to start using these mRNA injections in pigs. That conditional license is similar to the Emergency Use Authorization (EUC) status the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued to covid vaccines for humans at the height of the plandemic.

Just like with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, full licensure was not granted but the conditional license remains in place, Malone writes. Is this a strategy to circumvent the USDA vaccine licensing and/or authorization process?

Then we have Pfizer, the animal health division of which is known as Zoetis. Zoetis keeps its animal vaccine development activities close to the chest, so very little is known about what this company has been up to lately.

There are also wildlife mRNA jabs currently in the works. It would seem as though the plan is to inject everything that lives with mRNA, which we know alters the natural genetic code.

Apparently they havent killed or injured enough of humanity, one commenter wrote about all these drug abominations that are being unleashed. Now they are taking aim at animals.

More related news coverage can be found at Vaccines.news.

Sources for this article include:

RWMaloneMD.substack.com

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) (The Center Square)  Congress recent $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill increased the budget for medical research funding at the National Institutes of Health to nearly $50 billion in 2023 alone. A closer look at the agency reveals that NIH is increasingly spending its time, and funds, on equity and LGBT issues as well as systemic racism and inequities.

(Article by Casey Harper republished from TheCenterSquare.com)

The National Institutes of Health has devoted millions of taxpayer dollars toward these kinds of issues for their research, taxpayer money that did not go to the federal health agencys primary research goal of finding cures and medical treatments.

The fact that NIH is doing this is very worrisome, said Mike Gonzalez, an expert on racial issues at the Heritage Foundation. This is actually a danger now, the fact that it is entering medicine because these are life and death issues, and if we are going to be making these decisions based on these hocus pocus ideas of [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] in order to satisfy some virtue signaling that our government seems to be at this point completely suffused with, we are going to start putting peoples lives in danger.

The latest omnibus increased NIHs 2023 budget by about $2.5 billion, or 5.6%, totaling $47.5 billion. NIHs budget 10 years ago was less than $30 billion.

This kind of focus comes in part because the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities was upgraded from a center to an institute during the Obama administration. Racial disparities do exist in certain health conditions, but the research grants awarded by NIH go beyond those standard health conditions.

In 2020, the agency created a new category for research alongside its list of illnesses called social determinants of health, one of several funding vehicles for these kinds of grants.

For example, NIH funded a $1.2 million grant to find evidence that racism is to blame for poor sleep in minority communities. The studies are based on the hypothesis that the disparity in sleep health in the Black community is thought to be explained partially by experiences of interpersonal racial discrimination.

The central hypothesis is that police use of deadly force on unarmed black Americans leads to unhealthy sleep among other black Americans in the general U.S. population, the grant summary in the NIH database reads.

The NIH is the nations self-proclaimed medical research agency, making important discoveries that improve health and save lives.

This idea that the way to deal with the disparities that we have is not by addressing root causes but by addressing outcomes is bizarre, Gonazalez said. Equity has become the functional opposite of equality. It just means that we are going to treat people differently according to their race in order to affect outcomes.

NIH also awarded $232,500 in 2015 and $193,750 in 2016 to the University of California, San Diego to develop an interactive and tailored text-messages system to encourage Latino men to exercise.

Mexican American (MA) men report particularly low rates of physical activity (PA) and are disproportionately burdened by conditions related to sedentary lifestyle (e.g., diabetes, obesity), the grant description in the NIH database reads. Due to cultural, SES, educational, and language differences, MA men may have limited access to public health interventions promoting PA.

For NIH, any kind of disparity could end up justifying more tax dollars in racially-tailored research. The same goes for LGBT issues.

NIH spent $432,000 on a study of Grindr, an app for gay men to find romantic and sexual encounters in 2012 and 2013.

The study pledged to investigate the process by which MSM use smartphone applications to find sexual partners (i.e., who they look for, how they present themselves, how they communicate, extent of safer sex negotiation, and disclosure) as well as investigate the sexual and emotional states (e.g., more/less urgency, arousal, impulsivity) the men experience when using the apps to see how if affects sexually risky behavior.

That kind of research has continued, including a 2023 grant awarding $614,775 to study an HIV prevention intervention into a widely-used geosocial app for Chinese [men who have sex with men]. The funds would be used to prevent the spread of HIV in China via outreach through a romantic hookup app to help individuals understand when they should be using certain prevention services, and to make accessing services less burdensome.

These are just a few of many more examples.

We all have a responsibility to correct systemic racism and inequities, NIH says on its website.

The researchers tout the public health benefits of their research. Dr. Alexander Tsai, an associate professor at Harvard University, is conducting the aforementioned sleep research through Massachusetts General Hospital, where he works as a psychiatrist.

Tsai has touted the program to The Center Square, saying the study seems neither unsubstantiated nor grounded in racial ideology.

And, given the public health significance, it falls well within the purview of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, so neither would it be a poor use of taxpayer dollars, he added.

Read more at: TheCenterSquare.com
(Natural News) Cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough accused Pfizer and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of colluding to censor concerns regarding the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.

The Texas physicians allegation stemmed from a revelation by former New York Times (NYT) reporter Alex Berenson as part of the Twitter Files made public by Twitter CEO Elon Musk. It outlined how Pfizer director and former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb tipped the Big Tech firm to suppress a tweet casting doubt on the Pfizer mRNA vaccines effectiveness.

Gottlieb emailed Twitter executive Todd OBoyle to complain about a tweet by Adm. Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary of health in the Trump administration. Aside from questioning the Pfizer vaccine, Giroirs post endorsed the superiority of natural immunity over the injections. But according to the Pfizer board member, the former assistant secretary was corrosive and could end up going viral and driving news coverage negatively.

Gottlieb defrauded America for the profits of Pfizer, McCullough told Clayton Morris of Redacted News. Being a former FDA commissioner now is used as a false title. Its used as a pretext that he would carry honesty and integrity from a government position into a paid board member position.

Aside from Gottlieb, the well-known cardiologist also cited other former government officials who later joined entities with vested interests in COVID-19 pandemic revenues. Among those he cited include former FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn and Rick Bright, former director of the Department of Health and Human Services Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).

Hahn later joined Flagship Pioneering  the venture capital firm behind vaccine maker Moderna  as its chief medical officer. Meanwhile, Bright joined the Rockefeller Foundation to serve as its senior vice president of pandemic prevention and response.

Berenson: Gottlieb financially motivated to censor Giroirs tweet

In a piece published on his Substack, Berenson argued that the Pfizer board member was financially motivated to have Giroirs tweet suppressed. The tweet from the U.S. Public Health Service admiral that emphasized the superiority of natural immunity was putting the New York-based drug manufacturers profits in jeopardy, he continued.

Moreover, the former NYT science reporter said Gottlieb later complained about a tweet from lockdown and vaccine skeptic Justin Hart. Gottlieb targeted Berenson himself as the Pfizer director reported the journalists article tackling the failure of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

Berenson reminded his readers how Pfizer has a long history of violating drug industry laws and ethics rules. In 2009, it agreed to pay $2.3 billion to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products  such as the painkiller Bextra, the antipsychotic drug Geodon, the anti-epileptic drug Lyrica and the antibiotic Zyvox.

In 1996, it conducted a clinical trial of an antibiotic in Nigeria in which 11 children died and many others were left with serious injuries. The parents of four Nigerian children who died in the drug trial were the first awardees of a $175,000 compensation in 2009 after more than a decade legal battle against the drug company. The payout was issued after the parents submitted DNA samples to prove that the four casualties were indeed their children. (Related: NEVER FORGET: Pfizer drug trial that killed 11 Nigerian children exposed Big Pharmas MURDEROUS experiments.)

There is a very deep, corrupt collusion and conflict of interest between industry and our public health agencies. And the mechanism is basically these interrelationships that occur when people are in office to get their next job after they leave office, McCullough emphasized.

Watch the entire segment of Dr. Peter McCulloughs interview with Clayton Morris below.

This video is from the GalacticStorm channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Medical board moves to revoke certification of Dr. Peter McCullough who dared question COVID vaccine narratives.

DHS engaged in treasonous collusion with Twitter and Facebook to censor Americans, bombshell report reveals.

Elon Musk fires former FBI counsel James Baker for blocking release of Twitter Files.

Latest Twitter Files drop proves Twitter has SECRET BLACKLISTS of prominent conservatives.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

DailyMail.co.uk

AlexBerenson.Substack.com

TheGuardian.com
COVID-related deaths still counted in a scientific way

13:55, January 17, 2023 By Wang Xiaoyu ( China Daily

Mainland recorded a toll of 59,938 at hospitals between Dec 8 and Jan 12

China will continue to strengthen treatment of severe cases and count fatalities in a scientific and fact-based manner, as the Chinese mainland recorded about 60,000 COVID-related deaths at hospitals since the optimization of its virus control strategy on Dec 8, a senior health official said on Saturday.

Jiao Yahui, head of the National Health Commission's medical administration bureau, said that 59,938 deaths associated with COVID-19 were reported at hospitals across the mainland between Dec 8 and Thursday.

Of these deaths, 5,503 were caused by respiratory failure due to COVID-19, and the remainder resulted from a combination of the infection and preexisting illnesses, she said at a news briefing on Saturday.

Jiao added that the average age of patients who died was 80.3 years, and over 90 percent of them had underlying conditions such as cardiovascular or metabolic diseases, late-stage tumors or kidney failure.

"Winter is also the peak season of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases among the elderly. With the spread of COVID-19, the number of elderly deaths is relatively high, and we are attaching greater significance to protecting elderly patients and saving their lives," she said.

On Dec 7, China announced that it was upgrading its coronavirus control measures by allowing asymptomatic patients and those with mild infections to quarantine at home and was scrapping mass nucleic acid testing.

On Jan 8, the management of the disease was downgraded to Class B from Class A, and the quarantine and testing requirements for inbound travelers were lifted.

For scientific and fact-based death counts, Jiao said that a national platform aimed at collecting and analyzing deaths linked to COVID-19 was established. Starting on Dec 31, medical institutions across the country were required to report related deaths for the previous day to the platform. In addition, they were asked to gather and submit information on COVID-related deaths from Dec 8 to 29.

"As the amount of data and information was massive and we were striving to count the number of deaths in a scientific, objective and responsible manner, it took us a relatively long period of time to consult experts and analyze the causes behind the deaths," the senior health official said.

Since the initial phase of the epidemic, China has been counting the deaths of patients whose nucleic acid test results were positive as COVID-19 related deaths, Jiao said. The criterion, she said, is basically in line with standards adopted by the World Health Organization and major countries.

According to data released during the news briefing, the numbers of patients visiting fever clinics, needing emergency care and being hospitalized had reached their peaks and were now declining.

While the number of severe COVID-19 cases at hospitals has been slowly declining since Jan 5, the figure is still on the higher side at around 105,000 as of Thursday, Jiao said.

The occupancy rate of critical-care beds was 75.3 percent on Thursday, lower than the alarming threshold of 80 percent. "The country's capacity of critical-care beds can meet demands," she said.

As trips made by migrant workers during the Spring Festival holiday have triggered concerns over the medical capacity in rural areas, Jiao said the country is beefing up its stock of drugs, oxygen cylinders, pulse oximeters and other medical equipment at grassroots health clinics.

"County-level authorities are required to set up a task force dedicated to transferring severe cases to higher-level hospitals, and each township-level health clinic must have an ambulance," she said.

Jiao added that progress is being made in building inventories of antiviral pills and strengthening treatment capabilities at grassroots health clinics.

On Saturday, Health Minister Ma Xiaowei spoke by telephone with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during which they exchanged views on the current virus control work, according to a statement released by the National Health Commission.

China has engaged in multiple technical briefings with the WHO since adjustments were made to its virus control policy and will continue to unite with the international community to fight the disease, Ma said.

He added that China has been sharing information with the WHO and other countries since the early phase of the epidemic, and was the first to identify the pathogen causing the disease and share its genome sequence with the world.

Tedros said he highly appreciated the Chinese government's efforts in handling the epidemic, and thanked the country for conducting long-term exchanges and sharing epidemic information with the WHO.

They agreed to strengthen their technical communication and join efforts to safeguard global health.

(Web editor: Cai Hairuo, Liang Jun)
(Natural News) Pfizer, a major manufacturer of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, paid $2.3 billion back in 2009 to settle a healthcare fraud case involving illegal promotion of some of its drugs.

Back in September 2009, Pfizer and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. Inc. agreed to a $2.3 billion penalty to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of its drugs for off-label purposes. Some of the drugs involved were the painkiller Bextra, the anti-psychotic drug Geodon, the antibiotic Zyvox and the anti-epileptic drug Lyrica. (Related: Pfizer pleads guilty to felony crime in fraudulent marketing of Bextra, pays billions in fines.)

Federal officials touted the settlement as a model for tough and effective enforcement  with Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Criminal Investigative Division at the time, saying it sends a clear message to the pharmaceutical industry.

But an investigation by CNNs special investigations unit showed that one of the agencys officials downplayed the story of Big Pharmas influence and power  even in cases where it breaks the laws intended to protect patients.

Any company convicted of a major health care fraud is automatically excluded from Medicare and Medicaid, the mainstream media outlet said. Convicting Pfizer on Bextra would prevent the company from billing federal health programs for any of its products. It would be a corporate death sentence.

CNN added that Pfizers conviction would disrupt the flow of Pfizer products to Medicare and Medicaid recipients. It would also negatively affect Pfizer employees, including those uninvolved in the case, and company shareholders.

The New York-based company then exploited a loophole.

Pfizer and the federal government cut a deal. Instead of charging Pfizer itself, Pharmacia & Upjohn  the subsidiary it acquired in 2003  would take the blame. This essentially rendered the subsidiary, which was itself a product of a 1995 merger, as a shell company whose only function is to plead guilty.

As a result, the subsidiary was excluded from Medicare without ever having sold so much as a single pill. [Meanwhile], Pfizer was free to sell its products to federally-funded health programs.

Only GlaxoSmithKlines 2012 settlement of $3 billion over hiding the risks of its diabetes drug Avandia dwarfed Pfizers penalty. Nevertheless, Pfizer denied wrongdoing on all the allegations and still maintains its ability to do business with the federal government until this very day.

Doctors pitched in for Bextra despite cardiovascular risks

Bextra was among a family of painkillers known as COX-2 inhibitors that were supposed to be safer than generic drugs. However, it was priced 20 times higher than ibuprofen, which was a perfect opportunity for Pfizer to make money. Thus, it planned to sell Bextra as a treatment for acute pain  with marketing managers and sales managers from Pfizer targeting anesthesiologists and surgeons.

A manager in Florida emailed his sales [representatives] a scripted sales pitch that falsely claimed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given Bextra a clean bill of health all the way up to a 40mg dose, which is twice what the FDA actually said was safe, CNNs investigation team claimed.

The team also unearthed internal documents showing how Pfizer and its subsidiary used a medical education budget amounting to millions of dollars to pay hundreds of doctors. The medical professionals were reportedly paid to tout Bextra.

The FDA deemed Bextra unsafe for patients at high risks of heart attacks and strokes in 2001. However, it allowed the use of Bextra to treat arthritis and menstrual cramps. Promoting drugs for off-label uses puts patients at risk  and what Pfizer did with Bextra is tantamount to breaking the law.

Lewis Morris, chief counsel at the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, remarked that Pfizer pushed the envelope so far past any reasonable interpretation of the law that its simply outrageous.

BigPharmaNews.com has more stories about Pfizer and other drug companies.

Watch this video that discusses Pfizers fraud, negligence and criminal acts.

This video is from the Wake Up to Reality channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

BUSTED: Top medical fraud and illegal health care schemes of 2022.

NEVER FORGET: Pfizer manipulated studies to convince doctors to prescribe seizure drug Neurontin for off-label use.

Look whos talking: Skeptics of COVID-19 vaccine safety branded criminals by nefarious Pfizer CEO.

NEVER FORGET: Pfizer drug trial that killed 11 Nigerian children exposed Big Pharmas MURDEROUS experiments.

Sources include:

Edition.CNN.com

Justice.gov

DrugWatch.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol warned that his country will acquire tactical nuclear weapons if tension with North Korea escalates. Yoon issued the warning in response to an earlier statement by North Koreas supreme leader Kim Jong-un that his country will develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile due to the collaboration of Washington and Seoul to isolate and stifle Pyongyang.

If the [North Korean nuclear] problem becomes more serious, the Republic of Korea may deploy tactical nuclear weapons or come to possess its own nuclear weapons, Yoon said during a government meeting on Jan. 11.

Yoon noted that it wont take long, and with our science and technology, we could have [nuclear weapons] sooner as time passes. America withdrew all of its nuclear weapons from South Korea in 1991 as part of its global nuclear arms reduction efforts.

North Korea reportedly launched missile tests last year, enshrining the right to use nuclear weapons into national law in September. The escalation apparently rattled Seoul, which is now seeking to strengthen its military alliance with the U.S. and deepen cooperation with Japan.

According to Yoon, the allies were discussing holding new joint military drills, including tabletop and computer simulations, as well as exercises involving the delivery means for nuclear weapons. However, the White House repudiated that it was considering joint nuclear drills with South Korea.

Nevertheless, Kims administration insisted that the multiple ballistic missiles that they launched back in November are a response to U.S.-South Korean exercises. (Related: North Koreas launch of multiple ballistic missiles threatens South Korea.)

Meanwhile, White Houses national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. received information that North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a significant number of artillery shells for its conflict in Ukraine. He also noted that North Korea was trying to hide the shipments by passing them through nations in the Middle East and North Africa.

Majority of South Koreans in favor of having nuclear weapons

Policymakers in Seoul rejected the option? to build nuclear weaponry for decades. But things are different now.

President Yoons comment could turn out to be a watershed moment in the history of South Koreas national security, said Cheon Seong-whun, a former head of the Korea Institute for National Unification, a government-funded research think tank in Seoul.? ?It could shift its paradigm in how to deal with the North Korean nuclear threat.

A recent study also found that most South Koreans are actually in favor of going nuclear. A February 2022 study by the Carnegie Endowment for Regional Peace showed that 71 percent of the South Korean public favors having their own nuclear weapons, with 56 percent supporting the U.S. deploying nuclear weapons in their territory.

Additionally, the poll found that 67 percent preferred South Korea to have its own independent nuclear arsenal, with only nine percent supporting the deployment of U.S. nukes. In terms of opposing nuclear weapons, the study revealed that 40 percent oppose U.S. nuclear weapons deployment, while only 26 percent oppose having an independent nuclear arsenal.

Furthermore, the study showed that North Korea remains the primary driver for pro-nuclear South Korean sentiment, with 82 percent believing Pyongyang wont give up its nuclear weapons.

Visit NuclearWar.news for more stories related to impending nuclear wars worldwide.

Watch the video below that talks about Kim wanting to develop new intercontinental ballistic missiles.

This video is from the Puretrauma357 channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

South Korea ready to parry North Koreas military threat with $2.6B Iron Dome defense system.

South Korea unveils new ballistic missile that can penetrate North Korean underground military facilities.

South Korea requests Interpol red notice in search for disgraced crypto developer Do Kwon.

PrepWithMike: Surviving radioactive exposure following a nuclear explosion is NOT impossible.

Sources include:

RT.com

JapanTimes.co.jp

AsiaTimes.com

GlobalAffairs.org

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Special Forces operators at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, N.C. were stunned in recent weeks after Army Criminal Investigative Unit personnel and FBI agents launched a probe into alleged drug and human smuggling by members of the 3rd Special Forces Group and Delta Force, the latter one of the U.S. militarys most elite groups.

According to Audacity, more than a dozen current and former military members told the outlet that a number of arrests have already been made, and culminated with a 100% recall and accountability formation for 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group.

Continuing, the site explained:

It is unknown when the investigation into drug and human trafficking in the Fort Bragg area began, but it is known that the FBI became involved in investigating the deaths of Timothy Dumas and Delta Force operator Billy Lavigne in 2020 when both were found shot to death at a training site on Bragg.

Last weeks arrests began with investigators receiving more evidence after an undercover law enforcement officer posing as an underage girl helped arrest a member of 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group back in December. That individual was known to moonlight as a bouncer at a bar in Southern Pines frequented by the Special Forces community, a military source close to the situation explained to Connecting Vets. The Green Beret is alleged to have been pimping underaged girls to the Special Forces community at drug-fueled parties in Southern Pines.

This is what happens when there is no war, no direction, and an 18-month red cycle with no mission, a Special Forces soldier told the site. So dudes are f**king around with young kids and the craziest drugs. All these lives ruined because people are just bored.

In an alert regarding the shooting deaths, the FBI noted: Dumas, Sr., 44, and Lavigne, 37, were found dead on Fort Bragg near Manchester Road in Cumberland County, North Carolina, on December 2, 2020. Investigators are seeking to create a timeline of their location and activities on December 1 and 2, 2020. A gray 2016 Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck belonging to Lavigne was found at the crime scene near Manchester Road. A dark-colored 2015 Dodge Ram pickup truck belonging to Dumas, Sr., was found abandoned at another location.

It does not appear as though the FBI or the Army CID have any suspects, or if they do, they arent saying.

To that point, Audacity noted that its also not clear if an individual contacted authorities and spilled the beans on his accomplices or if the agencies managed to intercept electronic communications. But whatever the source, another Green Beret allegedly involved in drug trafficking who belongs to the 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, was recently arrested as well.

With the information, the CID and FBI set up a checkpoint at one of the main thoroughfares into Fort Bragg, which is the Longstreet gate between Southern Pines and the base.

It was a trail of tears and douche bag cars, a Special Forces member who witnessed the scene late last week told the outlet as each soldier who had been stopped for questioning by agents was told to park their vehicles along the street.

One of those stopped at the gate was a member of the Armys elite counter-terrorism unit called Delta Force who had recently been picked up by the unit after serving in 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group. A Physicians Assistant assigned to the unit was also questioned, according to the source, Audacity reported, adding that, in all, some 15 members across various special ops commands on the post were questioned.

The U.S. Army Special Operations Command is aware of the allegations of drug involvement from Soldiers assigned to USASOC units on Fort Bragg, USASOC Public Affairs Officer Lt. Col. Mike Burns noted in a statement to Connecting Vets.

We take all allegations seriously and are fully cooperating with the Criminal Investigation Division. CIDs investigation is ongoing, and it would be inappropriate to discuss the status of their investigation, the statement said. All Soldiers have the right to due process, including the presumption of innocence under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

What in the world is happening to our military under Biden and his woke commanders?

Sources include:

Audacity.com

FBI.gov
(Natural News) There can be no doubt at this point that the various social media giants are not really free speech platforms or even private companies but front organizations for the deep state to control narratives and spread propaganda and disinformation.

So its no wonder that the professional political class and the elite media hate billionaire Elon Musk and are trying to destroy his reputation and his companies: Hes been releasing one file after another through investigative journalists exposing the corrupt interaction between Twitter and various mysterious federal agencies.

According to The Epoch Times this week, Mysterious government agencies were involved in censoring content along with Twitter Inc. on the social media platform, journalist Matt Taibbi said in newly-released Twitter Files.

The outlet added: The fileswhich mostly were internal communications among Twitter executives and employeesshow that unspecified agencies worked with Twitter before Elon Musk bought the company.

The report stated that the internal communications noted that platform officials would refer to them as Other Government Agencies, or OGA, within the platform itself.

In an email dated June 29, 2020, FBI San Francisco Field Office official Elvis Chan asked Twitter executives if it was okay to ask an OGA to attend an event that was planned.

I wanted to follow up to see if I could forward this invitation to an OGA? he queried.

8.On June 29th, 2020, San Francisco FBI agent Elvis Chan wrote to pair of Twitter execs asking if he could invite an OGA to an upcoming conference: pic.twitter.com/hj5xZiXvg2  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

In addition, according to the latest files dump, OGA Briefing is frequently seen mentioned in meetings between the platforms officials and the Foreign Influence Task Force, or TITF. In one meeting, that reference was made under the Russia Status agenda.

19.The FITF meeting agendas virtually always included, at or near the beginning, an OGA briefing, usually about foreign matters (hold that thought). pic.twitter.com/Yx0721VyXI  Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) December 24, 2022

Its not clear which agency or agencies fell under OGA, but  unsurprisingly  journalist Matt Taibbi, who posted the latest file dump, said sources told him the CIA was certainly one of them.

That said, Taibbi shared tweets with messages indicating that the FBI and CIA often joined in meetings with Twitter officials, most of the time to get content censored.

Email after email came from the San Francisco office heading into the election, often adorned with an Excel attachment, he wrote. There were so many government requests, Twitter employees had to improvise a system for prioritizing/triaging them.

An earlier massive drop of internal Twitter communications revealed evidence that under old management, the platform was a tool of the far-left authoritarian deep state weaponized against right-thinking conservative points of view.

The drop was revealed by another investigative journalist, Bari Weiss after receiving the information from platform boss Musk.

Twitter is working on a software update that will show your true account status, so you know clearly if youve been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal, Musk tweeted ahead of the data dump.

He also said Twitter will start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts in the near future, noting further: These are obvious account deletions with no tweets & no log in for years.

These are obvious account deletions with no tweets & no log in for years  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2022

Twitter once had a mission to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. Along the way, barriers nevertheless were erected, Weiss wrote. She pointed to Stanford Universitys Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a longstanding opponent of COVID groupthink during the pandemic, expressing opposition to lockdowns.

Twitter secretly placed him on a Trends Blacklist, which prevented his tweets from trending, Weiss continued, going on to report that Fox News host Dan Bongino was placed on a Search Blacklist and had Turning Point USAs Charlie Kirk on Do Not Amplify.

Sources include:

ConservativeBrief.com

TheEpochTimes.com

Revolver.news
(Natural News) In the very near future, according to Chinese researchers, advancements in quantum computing could lead to a Quantum Apocalypse that breaks everything from online banking to secure government platforms filled with state secrets.

An academic paper on the subject warns that the current encryption keeping all of our data safe will quickly become vulnerable, and possibly collapse entirely, as a result of quantum computing becoming too smart for the current iteration of the internet.

Researchers from The University of Chicago say they are working on an un-hackable quantum internet for the future  a Web 3.0, as many are calling it  but will it work?

Computers today use a system called public key encryption to protect information. Text messages, for instance, are transferred on phones containing two keys: one that is public, and the other that is private.

The device making contact uses a public key to encrypt the message, while the recipients private key opens it up. This ensures that nobody else outside the two devices can intercept and unencrypt the message.

According to Tim Callan, a chief experience officer at the cybersecurity company Sectigo, quantum computers currently in development could one day make the encryption we use today no longer fit for purpose.

(Related: Remember when loony leftists slammed the Nature journal for publishing a study about the supremacy of quantum computing, arguing that the word supremacy conjures up racist imagery?)

Will all secrets eventually be unencrypted and made accessible to everyone through quantum computing?

With todays computers, this is not an issue. It would take about 300 trillion years to crack the key codes aforementioned. But with quantum computer soon making its debut, existing encryption technologies could soon become obsolete.

Perhaps you are familiar with the current binary of zeros and ones that make up electronic and optical pulses. This is how data is created, saved, and transferred on existing computers. Quantum computing, on the other hand, uses photons, or light particles, which can be set to zero, one, or both one and zero.

This added flexibility of including both a zero and a one in the same photon could allow quantum computers to rapidly code and crack all possible solutions to an encryption, eliminating computer and online security as we have long known it.

The evolution of quantum computers creates a significant threat to data security, Callan warns. Their immense processing power is capable of breaking encryption at great speed, leaving important data vulnerable, everything from bank account details to medical records to state secrets.

This scenario is so alarming that specialists refer to it as the Quantum Apocalypse.'

Callan would go on in a statement to explain that quantum computing will also be millions of times faster than classical computers thanks to the use of ones, zeros, or both ones and zeros at the same time  a technology known as qubits.

Once this happens, it will be Q-Day  a wordplay on D-Day  allowing all of the worlds secrets to become vulnerable. This is especially concerning to governments, which are hiding all sorts of things that they do not want the general public to know.

The Biden regime is one such government that is concerned about quantum computing, having been hacked last year with a quantum attack. Corporations like IBM and Google are working feverishly to release more advanced quantum computers, though their widespread release is still a few years off  perhaps 8-20 years from now, according to Chinese experts.

The recent claim that researchers have broken encryption invites us to wonder if the quantum apocalypse is already here, Callan says. However, at present this breakthrough remains theoretical.

More stories like this one can be found at Collapse.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com
As water temperatures rise in northern and central California, bottlenose dolphins migrate to the Bay Area, as confirmed by scientists for the first time.

After spending their entire lives in Southern California and Baja, Mexico, bottlenose dolphins have made the Bay Area their permanent home.

At all different times of the year, they have explored the boundaries of San Francisco Bay, joined surfers in catching waves at Ocean Beach, and been spotted by hikers with their gray-mottled backs at Stinson and Montara Beach.

Adapting to Water Temperature Rise

The animals' intelligence may be assisting them in modifying their behavior to climate change. They are a part of a population known as California coastal bottlenose dolphins. A new study has for the first time documented their decades-long migration north, which started when water temperatures in Central and Northern California increased. They might end up being a success story in the midst of global warming due to their capacity for adaptation and the discovery of new habitats.

David Weller, the director of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center marine mammal and turtle division, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that Bottlenose dolphins are a prime illustration of a few species that are likely to be more successful than other species when it comes to adaptation and the capacity to endure in the changing environment.

He explains that if sea ice disappears, for example, polar bears and walruses are in serious trouble. In contrast, bottlenose dolphins can successfully adapt to, invade, and use habitats that they have not previously had.

Weller is a co-author of the study published recently in the Aquatic Mammals Journal.

Weller adds that although there are some fossil records of bottlenose dolphins in San Francisco Bay, they have probably been absent from the area for hundreds of years.

Also Read: Noise Pollution From Shipping Makes Dolphins Whistle Louder But Less Effectively, Research Reveals

Ernestina the Bottlenose Dolphin

Similar to how whales can be located by distinctive markings on their tails, dolphins can be recognized in photographs by distinctive patterns of notches seen on their dorsal fins.

The majority of the dolphins in the study are still roving, regularly moving between the Bay Area, San Diego, Monterey Bay, and Ensenada in the hunt for food. Based on photographic evidence, some dolphins appear to be Bay Area regulars.

In 2017, a pair that had also been spotted in San Diego broke the world distance record held by a bottlenose shark that had circled Italy by swimming more than 1,500 miles to Puget Sound.

Bill Keener, the lead author of the study, said that the time it takes them to swim from Montara Beach, where he was using binoculars to try and spot dolphins in the surf in November, to Half Moon Bay, is only a couple of hours. Two days prior, a group that included Ernestina the dolphin had been spotted there. The dolphins are constantly traveling up and down the coast.

Keener, a Marine Mammal Center cetacean field researcher in Sausalito, later learned that a few weeks later, the distinctive notch pattern on Ernestina, a female dolphin sighted in the Bay Area for 15 years, allowed for her identification. Ernestina had most likely spent time on the Mendocino Coast.

Dolphin Notches

As opposed to a distinct offshore dolphin population of the same species, coastal bottlenose dolphins have a limited habitat range of about 500 to 1,000 yards from the shore, according to Keener.

Over time, they develop their notches as a result of aggressive play and sex with one another which causes tears in the delicate skin on their dorsal fins.

According to Sonar, North of Santa Barbara had not previously been reported as a range of coastal bottlenose dolphins. During the 1983 El Nio, which brought warm water to Monterey Bay and a group of daring dolphins along with it. In the Bay Area, sightings were few until around 2006. During this time, a group of dolphins was flagged up swimming past San Francisco's Ocean Beach, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. At the same time, one was spotted for the first time on the San Mateo coast.

Related Article: Dolphins Recognize Their Friends By Drinking Each Other's Pee
This week's latest weather forecast in the United Kingdom showed that residents and motorists could expect frigid conditions, as snow and ice warnings are present across the country.

Meanwhile, a report said that Europe could experience a warm January.

The beginning of this week in the United Kingdom resulted in more heavy rain and flooding concerns.

Unfortunately, as many residents looked forward to Monday, rain and snow continued to unfold in the country.

Heavy snow and freezing conditions

The wintry weather conditions become problematic for many motorists and commuters in the United Kingdom.

According to the The Guardian's recent weather report this January 17, significant travel delays occurred in portions of Southern England due to rail disruptions.

Furthermore, the report also added that freezing weather conditions unleashed in the country, and yellow warnings were declared to alert residents for possible ice and snow.

The forecast explained that Central Scotland could experience temperature drops and colder temperatures.

Portions of Scotland are under yellow warnings until Wednesday. Meanwhile, northern Island, north Wales and north-west England could expect the yellow warnings until Tuesday.

Met's UK Weather Forecast

On the other hand, the Met Office added that flood warnings are present in portions of England and Wales.

Residents in the affected areas should check for small flooding.

The weather forecast could expect rain and snow in parts of the north and west.

On Monday, the weather in the United Kingdom could expect wintry showers on the northern and northwestern coasts.

Residents should monitor for possible widespread frosts and rounds of rain.

On Tuesday, the weather conditions could expand to western Scotland, Wales, Western England and Northern Ireland.

The forecast said snow and frost could unload in portions of North Eastern Scotland from Wednesday to Friday.

On Friday, Northern Ireland could expect milder weather conditions.

The colder weather and freezing conditions could lead to health risks to vulnerable people, including adults and babies.

However, according to the BBC report, the report explained that pets and vulnerable individuals should remain warm during frigid conditions.

Also Read: Weather Updates: Temperatures Drop To Unleash At Night; Met Office Issues Snow and Ice Warnings

Hypothermia and frostbites are common during a cold snap, which could result in a life-threatening situation.

Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that the cold weather alert could result in health concerns for people with pre-existing conditions.

In addition, homeowners should also look for frozen pipes during freezing conditions to avoid the expensive cost of repairs.

Keeping the heating system on would be helpful to cope with colder temperatures, especially at night.

Warmer January in Europe

Meanwhile, a different report from the The Guardian revealed that Europe could experience a warmer climate this month.

The warm weather in Europe has been challenging for many ski resorts that decided to shut down due to a lack of snow.

The rise of global heating contributed to warm weather in portions of Europe, although it is currently winter.

However, experts noted that the warm weather and increasing global temperatures had been concerning.

The hot weather could intensify as the La Nina is expected to end this year.

Related Article: Weather Updates: Temperatures Drop To Unleash At Night; Met Office Issues Snow and Ice Warnings

For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature News.
The global bird flu outbreak as seen over the past two years has become the world's deadliest flu outbreak in history, as well as the largest one, according to reports.

As it reaches unprecedented global reach, the spreading pathogen shows no sign of slowing down, which has killed millions of birds worldwide, including in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Latest Global Bird Flu Outbreak

Record-breaking death toll of birds infected with the flu has been reported in different parts of the world, including in Japan where officials planned to cull over 10 million chickens at risk of exposure to the deadly virus.

In the US, more states have reported cases of bird flu with almost 58 million poultry infected as of January 2023, according to a report by France 24 news.

Majority of infected birds are killed since they can also pose a threat to the larger society, through their meat and eggs, which can be sold and consumed by consumers in the market.

With this, scientists, wildlife advocates, and legislators are planning to create new solutions to address the global pandemic affecting birds.

Also Read: 38 Premises in the UK Face a 'Phenomenal Level' of Bird Flu

What is Bird Flu?

The avian influenza, also called bird flu, pertains to the disease caused by the infection of avian (bird) influenza (flu) Type A viruses amongst different bird species.

These viruses, in particular, naturally spread to wild aquatic birds worldwide, infecting domestic poultry, as well as other bird and animal species, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In the past, there have been cases of zoonotic transmissions or human to animal transmission of the disease, even if bird flue viruses do not normally infect us, the CDC said.

In the 21st century, related outbreaks have been reported from 2003 to 2005 in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

Other cases were also seen from 2014 to 2015.

Avian Influenza Virus

The World Health Organization (WHO) also confirms humans can be infected with diseases from different pathogens like avian, swine (pig), and other zoonotic influenza viruses.

For bird flu, the avian influenza virus has the following subtypes: A(H5N1), A(H7N9), and A(H9N2).

Meanwhile, the swine influenza virus subtypes: A(H5N1), A(H1N2), and A(H3N2).

The different virus variation types is a result of mutations and zoonosis transmission or animal to animal transmission.

In the ones mentioned above, said pathogen can be found not only in birds but also in pigs, especially those animals in the poultry sector.

In the case of Homo sapiens, the WHO said human infections are mainly acquired through direct physical contact with infected animals or contaminated environments.

However, the viruses are not able to sustain transmission among humans.

Bird Flu Symptoms

According to the WHO, the following symptoms may occur in humans during avian, swine, and other zoonotic influenza virus infections:

Fever

Cough

Pneumonia

Sepsis

Acute respiratory distress syndrome

Conjunctivitis

Gastrointestinal symptoms

Encephalitis

Encephalopathy

If left untreated, the infection can result in health complications, disability, or even death among humans.

The WHO isdued its Avian Influenza Weekly Update Number 877 report on January 6, stating that from January 2003 to 25 November 2022, there have been 868 cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) virus recorded from 21 countries.

Out of these cases, 457 people died.

Related Article: 37,000 Birds on Chicken Farm Slaughtered in Peru to Control Bird Flu Disease Outbreak
Magma hotspots can create volcanic islands like Hawaii, Iceland, and other island countries that we know of today. However, knowledge on the exact geological mechanism on how it works remain limited, even to scientists. Now, a new study by researchers from Yale University suggests they have a new theory to explain the geochemical journey of the magma plumes.

Magma Hotspots New Theory

The Yale researchers published their study in the journal PNAS, where they answer questions about the origins and nature of magma hotspots, suggesting natural processes led to measurable geochemical signals or clues from deep beneath the Earth's metallic core.

The study's lead author, Amy Ferrick, said the questions about where hotspots come from and what makes them unique is not fully understood, but the clues reside on studying their geochemistry, as cited by Phys.org.

One of these clues reportedly involves isotopes of tungsten and helium found inside crystallized magmas at these magma plumes. Isotopes are known as two or more types of an atom with the same atomic number but with different numbers of neutrons.

Also Read: New Volcanic Island Consumes Nearby Island off Japan Coast [VIDEO]

What is a Hotspot Volcano?

In the field of geology, a hot spot is located in an area of the Earth's mantle where magma plumes or hot plumes rise upward, leading to the formation of volcanoes on the overlying crust, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In addition to Iceland and Hawaii, the country Samoa has a chain of volcanic islands above the Pacific tectonic plate.

Plumes of mantle magma or molten rock have long been theorized to rise buoyantly from a never-before-seen source deep inside our planet's mantle. When the plume rises into the shallow mantle, it partially melts and can rise to the surface where it can erupt as a hotspot volcano, the NOAA explains. In relation to the new study, the Yale researchers theorize its geochemical journey from the center of the Earth.

Over time, this geologic processes generate lines of islands, atolls, and seamounts, also called as hotspot tracks or chains. The youngest and most active volcanoes are situated in a region of the tectonic plate that overlies the mantle plume. For instance, the Hawaiian Islands and the chain of seamounts which spans into the northwest Pacific Ocean are an example of a hotspot track, the US agency adds.

Hotspots in Earth

Most scientists believe that 40 to 50 hotspots exist on Earth, although this number varies significantly because of differing definitions of "what a hot spot is," according to the National Geographic Society. Major magma plumes around the world include the following:

Iceland hot spot, located under the island of Iceland in the North Atlantic Ocean

The Reunion hot spot, located under the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean

The Afar hot spot, located under northeast Ethiopia

Although not every hot spot can create volcanoes, there are instances where they can create submarine mountains or seamounts, as mentioned earlier. Some scientists estimate that seamounts make up 28.8 million square kilometers of Earth's surface, an area larger than any known habitat, as cited by Nat Geo.

Related Article: New Volcanic Island Rising Out of Pacific Could Cause Tsunami
Covid Was a Tipping Point for Telehealth. If Some Have Their Way, Virtual Visits Are Here to Stay
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Norman Davis is the supervisor for Champaign Township, which covers the area outside the Champaign city limits bounded by Cardinal Road on the north, Old Church Road on the south, First Street on the east and Barker Road on the west.
Negative emotions, anxiety and depression are thought to promote the onset of neurodegenerative diseases and dementia. But what is their impact on the brain and can their deleterious effects be limited? Neuroscientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) observed the activation of the brains of young and older adults when confronted with the psychological suffering of others. The neuronal connections of the older adults show significant emotional inertia: negative emotions modify them excessively and over a long period of time, particularly in the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala, two brain regions strongly involved in the management of emotions and autobiographical memory. These results, to be published in Nature Aging, indicate that a better management of these emotions - through meditation for example - could help limit neurodegeneration.

For the past 20 years, neuroscientists have been looking at how the brain reacts to emotions. ''We are beginning to understand what happens at the moment of perception of an emotional stimulus,'' explains Dr Olga Klimecki, a researcher at the UNIGE's Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences and at the Deutsches Zentrum fur Neurodegenerative Erkrankungen, who is last author of this study carried out as part of a European research project co-directed by the UNIGE. ''However, what happens afterwards remains a mystery. How does the brain switch from one emotion to another? How does it return to its initial state? Does emotional variability change with age? What are the consequences for the brain of mismanagement of emotions?''

Previous studies in psychology have shown that an ability to change emotions quickly is beneficial for mental health. Conversely, people who are unable to regulate their emotions and remain in the same emotional state for a long time are at higher risks of depression. ''Our aim was to determine what cerebral trace remains after the viewing of emotional scenes, in order to evaluate the brain's reaction, and, above all, its recovery mechanisms. We focused on the older adults, in order to identify possible differences between normal and pathological ageing,'' says Patrik Vuilleumier, professor in the Department of Basic Neurosciences at the Faculty of Medicine and at the Swiss Centre for Affective Sciences at the UNIGE, who co-directed this work.

Not all brains are created equal

The scientists showed volunteers short television clips showing people in a state of emotional suffering - during a natural disaster or distress situation for example - as well as videos with neutral emotional content, in order to observe their brain activity using functional MRI. First, the team compared a group of 27 people over 65 years of age with a group of 29 people aged around 25 years. The same experiment was then repeated with 127 older adults.

'Older people generally show a different pattern of brain activity and connectivity from younger people. This is particularly noticeable in the level of activation of the default mode network, a brain network that is highly activated in resting state. Its activity is frequently disrupted by depression or anxiety, suggesting that it is involved in the regulation of emotions. In the older adults, part of this network, the posterior cingulate cortex, which processes autobiographical memory, shows an increase in its connections with the amygdala, which processes important emotional stimuli. These connections are stronger in subjects with high anxiety scores, with rumination, or with negative thoughts.'' Sebastian Baez Lugo, researcher in Patrik Vuilleumier's laboratory and first author

Empathy and aging

However, older people tend to regulate their emotions better than younger people, and focus more easily on positive details, even during a negative event. But changes in connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the amygdala could indicate a deviation from the normal aging phenomenon, accentuated in people who show more anxiety, rumination and negative emotions. The posterior cingulate cortex is one of the regions most affected by dementia, suggesting that the presence of these symptoms could increase the risk of neurodegenerative disease.

''Is it poor emotional regulation and anxiety that increases the risk of dementia or the other way around? We still don't know,'' says Sebastian Baez Lugo. ''Our hypothesis is that more anxious people would have no or less capacity for emotional distancing. The mechanism of emotional inertia in the context of ageing would then be explained by the fact that the brain of these people remains 'frozen' in a negative state by relating the suffering of others to their own emotional memories."

Could meditation be a solution?

Could it be possible to prevent dementia by acting on the mechanism of emotional inertia? The research team is currently conducting an 18-month interventional study to evaluate the effects of foreign language learning on the one hand, and meditation practice on the other. ''In order to further refine our results, we will also compare the effects of two types of meditation: mindfulness, which consists of anchoring oneself in the present in order to concentrate on one's own feelings, and what is known as 'compassionate' meditation, which aims to actively increase positive emotions towards others,'' the authors add.

This research is part of a large European study, MEDIT-AGEING, which aims to evaluate the impact of non-pharmacological interventions for better ageing.
Childhood asthma is a condition that may be affected by different types of factors. These include the state of the infant's gut microbiome, environmental factors, and genetic factors. A recent study attempted to shed more light on how asthma risk is linked to a combination of these factors, some of which are modifiable.

Study: Environmental and genetic associations with aberrant early-life gut microbial maturation in childhood asthma. Image Credit: Troyan / Shutterstock

Introduction

The gut microbiome is now known to mediate or contribute to a significant proportion of cases of atopy. This includes the composition and maturation of the microbiome at birth and during infancy. The risk of atopy has also been linked to the 7q12-21 gene locus, associated with factors that drive the gut microbiome composition, such as growing up on a farm or having older siblings.

It is necessary to identify the factors that determine how the gut microbiome matures in infancy to potentially prevent the future development of atopy.

In the current study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the scientists examined samples of the gut microbiome from >460 infants aged 3-6 months and one year of age. These were the children of parents who had participated in the Vitamin D Antenatal Reduction Trial (VDAART). They looked for potential links between the gut microbiome and genetic factors in these infants and the risk of asthma at the age of three years.

The researchers used longitudinal fecal 16s rRNA (ribosomal ribonucleic acid) samples from these children, taken at 3-6 months, one year, or both. They also examined the presence of wildtype or mutational 17q12-21 genotypes in association with asthma risk and microbial maturation in the above cohort and the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Childhood Asthma 2010 (COPSAC). These cohorts differ in that the biological mother in the former cohort had atopy or asthma.

The child had to be diagnosed with asthma or recurrent wheezing by this time point by a physician to be eligible for this study. The study also explored contributions by the differences in the genera Bifidobacterium and Bacteroides, which have been reported to be linked with the mode of delivery and breastfeeding.

What does the study show?

Children more likely to have asthma were less likely to be from the San Diego arm of the study, to have pet dogs, or to be breastfed, and more likely to be Black and to have been given antibiotics around the time of childbirth compared to those without asthma (53% vs. 39%, respectively).

The findings of this study show that children at a higher risk of childhood asthma at three years were more likely to show rapid maturation of the fecal microbiome at 3-6 months or a lag in the maturation of this microbiome at one year.

Increased and decreased Bifidobacterium abundance at 3-6 months was linked to breastfeeding and higher microbial maturity. This supports the observation of this study that breastfed infants show delayed microbial maturation at this time point.

Similarly, Bacteroides abundance at 3-6 months was associated with breastfeeding and lower abundance with Cesarean section at both time points. Bacteroides abundance was thus linked to faster maturation of the gut microbiome at one year of age.

Children with asthma at three years were 70% less likely to have had Bacteroides in their fecal samples at 3-6 months and >30% less likely at one year. They were also more likely to have low Bacteroides abundance at 3-6 months than those without asthma.

Slow maturation at 3- 6 months was more likely among breastfed infants. Over 60% of the association of asthma risk with breastfeeding was found to be due to the association of the latter with better microbial maturation at 3-6 months.

Babies born by Cesarean section rather than vaginally were more likely to show delayed maturation of the microbiome at one year, though not at the earlier time point. These results seem to buttress the favorable role of breastfeeding and vaginal delivery in reducing the risk of asthma.

Antibiotic exposure and having owned pets were not significantly linked to microbial maturation. Environmental effects mediated by the maturation of the fecal microbiome were found to act independently of but in addition to genetic factors.

The 17q12-21 risk alleles rs12936231 and rs8076131 carried a 30% and 25% increased risk of asthma when adjusted for race and ethnicity.

When both alleles were present with increasing microbial maturation at 3-6 months, the risk of childhood asthma was increased by over threefold. At this age, half the subjects with at least one risk allele at rs12936231 and accelerated maturation developed asthma, but only 6% with neither of these factors, showed an increase in risk by almost 20 times. The risk was increased by 6.5-fold if an rs8076131 risk allele was present along with aberrant maturation vs. no risk factors.

If only microbiome or genetic factors were present, the risk was six-fold and 3.5-fold, respectively, compared to no risk factor. These patterns were repeated for one year. The order of increase in risk goes from no genetic or microbiome risk<genotype risk<microbiome risk<both factors (double risk).

What are the implications?

This study's findings show that aberrant gut microbiome maturation in infants is responsible for the known association of asthma with environmental factors like breastfeeding. In addition, the VDAAR cohort included mothers with atopy or asthma, which causes the fetal immune system to be imprinted without actual genetic alteration.

"Infants who develop asthma are more likely to deviate from normal microbiome development over the first year of life, and these differences in microbial maturation may be affected by modifiable exposures such as breastfeeding."

Environmental exposures seem to affect the maturation of the infant microbiome, modulating asthma risk. Factors affecting microbial maturation included breastfeeding and mode of delivery, and the maturation itself was indicated by differential abundances of two key species, Bacteroides and Bifidobacteria.

However, genetic factors, especially the nature of the genes at the 17q12-21 locus, show an additive effect that acts independently of the environmental factors. This contradicts some earlier studies, underlining the complex interrelationships of these risk factors. More extensive studies with more extended and more frequent examinations of the microbiome will help explain these relationships better.
Thousands of patients in Stockton-on-Tees are set to benefit from quicker access to tests, checks and scans - with a new community diagnostic center set to open later this year.

The one-stop-shop will be in the heart of the community inside Castlegate shopping center and will be up and running by winter 2023, with hundreds of patients a day set to receive quicker access to treatment and lifesaving diagnostic tests.

The new center will deliver up to 104,000 potentially lifesaving checks, scans and tests a year when fully operational. The site will provide a number of diagnostic functions including:

MRI scans;

CT scans;

Ultrasound scans;

Cardiology;

X-rays;

Blood tests and;

Respiratory checks

Diagnostic services, including cancer screening, were impacted by the pandemic. CDCs are helping to get the NHS back on track, ensuring patients get the diagnosis and treatment they need as quickly as possible. In the North East and Yorkshire, 14 CDCs are currently up and running and have delivered more than 257,000 tests, checks and scans. This includes MRI and CT scans, blood tests, and checks for a range of conditions such as cancer, heart and lung disease.

The total number of approved CDCs stands at 134, with 89 operational, of which 14 are based in the North East and Yorkshire. This is over 80% of the government's commitment to open up to 160 CDCs to perform up to 9 million additional tests a year by 2025.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said:

This new Community Diagnostic Centre will deliver up to 104,000 tests, checks and scans a year from January 2024 at the Castlegate shopping centre in Stockton-on-Tees. It will help thousands of local people get access to life-saving tests conveniently and have the treatment they need as easily as possible. CDCs are part of our plan to bust the Covid backlog and reduce waiting times, with over 2.7 million checks delivered through these new one-stop shops since July 2021. We're on track to open up to 160 CDCs across the country by 2025 to perform up to nine million additional tests a year."

Easier and quicker access to testing for diseases such as cancer can lead to earlier diagnosis and faster treatment, improving outcomes for patients. New data shows the one-stop shops, backed by 2.3 billion in government funding, have delivered over 2.7 million tests, checks and scans since July 2021, helping to bust the Covid backlogs, speeding up access to services for patients and reducing waiting times. In October CDCs delivered 116% of all diagnostic activity a significant step in achieving the ambition for 40% of diagnoses to take place in CDCs by 2025.

Minister for Health Will Quince said:

We are relentlessly focussed on tackling waiting lists and busting the Covid backlogs; Stockton's new community diagnostic centre will help patients benefit from quicker access to treatment and lifesaving diagnostic tests closer to home. These new facilities, boasting MRI, CT and X-ray machines will see patients across Teesside receive up to 104,000 potentially lifesaving checks, scans and tests a year at the heart of the community."

The NHS has made progress in tackling the Covid backlogs, virtually eliminating waits of over two years for treatment - the first target in the Elective Recovery Plan - and reducing the number of people waiting 18 months for treatment by more than a half in a year.

The highest recorded number of patients at over 264,000 have had their first consultation appointment following an urgent cancer referral from their GP in November 2022. An increase of around 25,000 from October 2022. Following a decision to treat, over 29,000 patients received their first treatment for cancer in November 2022, the highest on record.

Phil Woolfall, clinical director for radiology at North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, said:

This is fantastic news for our population across the Tees Valley - this diagnostic centre will help make healthcare readily available for all. Having access to services including MRI scans and CT scans means patients can receive faster health checks outside of the hospital setting and closer to their homes. Diagnostic centres have already proven their effectiveness across the country - it's something we and our partners believe is the right one for our population."

David Reaich, deputy chief medical officer at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:

This new centre will build on the access to diagnostic scans which is already in place for patients at sites across Teesside."

David Gallagher, executive director of place delivery (Tees Valley and Central) for the North East and North Cumbria ICB said:

Earlier diagnoses for patients through easier, faster and more convenient access to testing we know can significantly improve a patients long-term health. Having a health hub in the heart of Stockton town centre will help up catch cancers and other health issues as quickly as possible, helping us save more lives."

Cancer diagnosis will also be sped up for tens of thousands of women after the government pledged an additional 10 million to provide 29 new NHS breast cancer screening units and nearly 70 life-saving upgrades to services in areas where they are most needed.

The life-saving investment includes 16 new mobile breast screening units, 13 additional static units, 58 live remote access upgrades for existing units and 10 software upgrades to carry out ultrasounds and X-rays.

These new units and service upgrades will allow more women to be screened earlier improving outcomes for patients. Screening will be focused at sites where it is most needed, tackling health disparities and improving diagnosis rates in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.

This investment will also help deliver a more accessible NHS where patients receive care close to home.

This comes as the government has made up to 250 million available to expand emergency departments and discharge thousands of medically fit patients from hospitals into community care settings to free up hospital beds and reduce pressure on the NHS. This is on top of 500 million already announced to speed up hospital discharge, and delivering the equivalent of 7,000 more beds using a mix of hospital and virtual wards.

On top of this, the government is making up to 14.1 billion of funding available for health and social care over the next two years to improve urgent and emergency care and tackle the backlogs - the highest spend on health and social care in any government's history.
Pregnant women who are infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 face a 7 times increased risk of dying and a significantly elevated risk of being admitted to an intensive care unit or suffering from pneumonia, according to research published today in BMJ Global Health. The study also suggests that COVID-19 during pregnancy also increases the risk that the baby will need to be admitted to intensive care.

This study provides the most comprehensive evidence to date suggesting that COVID-19 is a threat during pregnancy. Our findings underscore the importance of COVID-19 vaccination for all women of childbearing age." Emily R. Smith, assistant professor of global health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health and lead author of the study

Despite growing knowledge about the risks of COVID-19 during pregnancy, many women of childbearing age in the United States and other countries remain unvaccinated. In some cases, women hesitate or refuse to get the vaccine or booster shot because they don't think COVID-19 poses risks to young women or they feel unsure about the safety of the vaccine during pregnancy. Even some doctors may hesitate to give the vaccine to a pregnant woman, Smith says, even though it is recommended.

Smith and her colleagues pooled individual patient data from 12 studies conducted in 12 countries, including the United States, involving more than 13,000 pregnant women.

The researchers found that compared to uninfected pregnant women, pregnant women with COVID-19 infection were at:

Seven times higher risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth;.

More than three times greater risk of being admitted to the intensive care unit. People with COVID-19 who need ICU care are also more likely to die.

About 15 times higher risk of needing ventilator treatment. COVID-19 can affect the ability to breathe and in severe cases patients need mechanical ventilation in order to survive.

About 23 times higher risk of developing pneumonia, a potentially life threatening complication of COVID-19.

More than 5 times higher risk of thromboembolic disease, or blood clots, that can cause pain, swelling, or other life-threatening complications.

Neonates born to women who were infected with COVID-19 were almost twice as likely to be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit after birth. They were also at higher risk of being born prematurely. Preterm babies are at high risk of having lifelong health problems including delays in early childhood cognitive development, Smith said.

Despite the very serious health risks, more than 80 countries still do not recommend that all pregnant and lactating women get the COVID vaccine, Smith points out. While it was hard to put together the evidence in the past, this meta analysis provides public health officials and the public with clear, consistent and compelling findings, she adds.

"This study shows the risk of getting COVID-19 for both mother and baby," Smith said. "All countries, including the United States, should make access to COVID vaccines an urgent priority in order to save lives and prevent health problems.".
A new study conducted at the University of Turku, Finland, examined the association between the residential green environment and the individual oligosaccharide profile in the mother's breastmilk. Oligosaccharides are sugar molecules that are the most common component in breastmilk after lactose and fat. So far, approximately 200 oligosaccharides have been discovered and they form a very versatile group of different kinds of complex structures.

The oligosaccharides in breastmilk can protect the infant from harmful microbes and reduce the risk of developing allergies and diseases. The oligosaccharides are also closely connected to the immune system and gut microbiota which also have an impact the infant's health.

Earlier studies have shown that genetic and biological factors, such as mother's obesity, can change the oligosaccharide composition in breastmilk. Our aim was to study how green living environments affect the composition of oligosaccharides in breastmilk, as greener environments have been found to have a beneficial impact on immunity and reduce the risk of disease in children." Mirkka Lahdenpera, Adjunct Professor, Department of Biology, University of Turku

Closer connection to nature may affect child's health via breastmilk

Approximately 800 mothers participated in the longitudinal follow-up study, the STEPS Study, that started at the University of Turku in 2007. The breastmilk samples were collected when the infants were three months old, after which the oligosaccharide composition was analyzed at the Bode Lab at the University of California San Diego.

The residential green environments were measured at the time the child was born around the homes of the families with measures of greenness, diversity of vegetation, and naturalness index, i.e. how much human impact and intervention there has been in the residential area. The results were independent of the education level, occupation, marital status and health of the children's parents as well as the socio-economic disadvantage in the residential area.

The study showed that the diversity of oligosaccharides increases and the composition of several individual oligosaccharides changes when the mother's residential area includes more green environments.

"This could indicate that increased everyday contacts with nature could be beneficial for breastfeeding mothers and their children as the oligosaccharide composition of breastmilk would become more diverse. The results imply that breastfeeding could have a mediating role between residential green environments and health in infancy," says Lahdenpera and continues: "The results highlight the importance of understanding the biological pathways that can impact health and lead to the development of different diseases starting from infancy."
The Heart Foundation is calling for a range of much-needed regulatory actions to better protect Australians from the harmful effects of e-cigarettes.

The Heart Foundation this week made a submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administrations (TGA) regulatory review of e-cigarettes. Recommendations include:

The introduction of controls on the importation of all e-cigarette products (both nicotine and non-nicotine products) including declaring such products as prohibited imports.

That the TGA establish a regulated source of e-cigarettes that have been successfully evaluated for quality, safety and efficacy (for prescribed smoking cessation).

That a range of actions are taken to reduce the appeal of e-cigarette products, including prohibiting all flavours (except tobacco), reducing the maximum nicotine concentration, and modifying labelling and packaging requirements.

The Heart Foundation has long been a major advocate of controls on tobacco smoking given the unequivocally dangerous link between smoking and cardiovascular disease.

The organisation is particularly concerned that e-cigarettes are serving as a gateway for users to take up tobacco smoking. Research shows that use of e-cigarettes can cause people who have never smoked to take up tobacco cigarettes, and reformed smokers to relapse.

The Heart Foundation is also concerned that people who use e-cigarettes face a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease during their lifetime, as nicotine use can lead to increased risk of high blood pressure, increased heart rate and arterial stiffness.

Furthermore, inhaling these products is simply not safe. They have been found to contain hundreds of chemicals and can cause accidental and intentional poisonings (including deaths), seizures, burns and injuries. Further research to understand the longer-term health impacts of e-cigarette use is required, warranting a precautionary approach in the meantime.

E-cigarettes are simply not safe to use and have been shown to cause non-smokers to take up tobacco smoking  a dangerous double-whammy on a persons heart health. Despite being illegal unless prescribed, e-cigarettes containing nicotine have somehow increasingly found their way into the hands of Australian children, young people and reformed smokers. As a nation, we are now at a sliding doors moment where we risk allowing the health mistakes from tobacco cigarettes more than 60 years ago to be repeated for an entirely new generation. The Heart Foundation thanks the TGA for this review and asks that it consider our recommendations in the interest of protecting the health of future generations of Australians. David Lloyd, CEO, Heart Foundation.
Aging involves a balance between oxidants and antioxidants, low-grade inflammation and a protein response that occurs at the cellular level, which is responsible for many health disorders.

Exercise has been shown to regulate the inflammatory response, balance oxidants such as free radicals that build up in the cells and damage DNA; and ameliorate the process by which cells protect themselves against these stressors. Furthermore, resistance training in older adults is recommended to help maintain muscle, flexibility and balance.

Aging and related diseases are associated with alterations in oxidative status and low-grade inflammation, as well as a decreased endoplasmic reticulum (ER) unfolded protein response (UPR). UPR is a functional mechanism by which cells attempt to protect themselves against ER stress, resulting from the accumulation of the unfolded/misfolded proteins.

One group of proteins associated with the aging process is the mitochondrial heat shock protein 60 (HSP60), which has been demonstrated to play a protective role in the ability for cells to remain active and healthy. Currently, there is limited research investigating the effects of resistance training in older adults on the expression of HSP60 and Klotho, a gene involved in the aging process in mammals.

A new study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University, in collaboration with the University of Leon in Spain, examined whether an eight-week resistance training program would modulate the oxidative status, the UPR activation and key inflammatory pathways as well as their relationships with HSP60 and Klotho proteins.

For the study, researchers analyzed these proteins in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of elderly subjects. In addition, they utilized computer simulation to predict the key proteins associated with these biomolecules underlying physiological adaptations to exercise. They collected blood samples approximately five to six days before and after the training period and just before training intervention in young subjects who were included for basal assessments. Researchers also analyzed various oxidative stress biomarkers in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

Results of the study, published in the journal Antioxidants, demonstrated that the levels of the inflammatory proteins (pIRAK1, TLR4, and TRAF6), as well as different markers of the redox balance (catalase, GSH, LP, NRF2, PC, ROS, SOD1, and SOD2) remained unchanged with training. Importantly, untrained elderly subjects showed a significant reduction in pIRE1/IRE1 ratio when compared to trained elderly subjects. Such a finding was further confirmed by a gene ontology analysis, showing that endoplasmic reticulum stress is a key mechanism modulated by IRE1. Additionally, analysis did not show the training effect on the expression of HSP60 and Klotho or their relationships with other outcome variables. Although elderly male and female subjects were included in the training program, researchers did not find any sex effects in the study. These findings might partially support the modulatory effect of resistance training on the endoplasmic reticulum in the elderly.

Regular physical activity is suggested to be an effective intervention in improving age-related diseases such as osteoporosis, sarcopenia or muscle loss and dynapenia or loss of muscle strength, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes. Although the beneficial effects of regular physical exercise to alleviate inflammation and oxidative stress are well-established, the processes of these physiological adaptations with regard to protein folding or UPR remains to be explored. That is why we used a systems biology approach for our study." Chun-Jung "Phil" Huang, Ph.D., co-author and professor in the Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion within FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science

The resistance training protocol for the study consisted of 16 sessions over eight weeks (two sessions per week), with a minimum of 48 hours between sessions. The participants started with a 10-minute warm-up on a cycle ergometer. Subsequently, eight different resistance exercises (leg press, ankle extension, bench press, leg extension, bicep curl, pec deck, high pulley traction, and dumbbell lateral lift) were performed using the exercise device. For each exercise, participants performed three sets of 12-8-12 repetitions. There was a two-to-three-minute rest between each repetition and a three-minute rest between each exercise.

"We know how very important physical activity is for older adults and our study takes research one step further in helping to elucidate the benefits of exercise in this population," said Huang.

Study co-authors are senior author Brisamar Estebanez, Ph.D.; Marta Rivera-Viloria; and Jose A. de Paz, M.D., all with the University of Leon; Jose E. Vargas, Ph.D., Universidad Federal do Parana, Curtiba; and Nishant P. Visavadiay, Ph.D.; and Andy V. Kahmoui, Ph.D., both with FAU's Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion.
insights from industry Svea Cheeseman Director of Product Management for Cell and Gene Therapy Refeyn

In this interview, we speak to Svea Cheeseman at Refeyn about their SamuxMP products used for the analysis of adeno-associated viruses (AAV) capsids as well as the role automation will play in accelerating new research.

Please can you introduce yourself and tell us about your role at Refeyn?

I am a scientist by training and hold a PhD in single-molecule biophysics. Throughout my education and professional life, I have been working with analytics for biomolecules and process analytical technologies (PAT) for biopharmaceutical applications.

When I learned about Refeyn and the potential of their technology, mass photometry, to provide useful and unique bioanalytics solutions, I knew I wanted to work here. I am currently the Director of Product Management for Cell and Gene Therapy at Refeyn.

In this role, I am responsible for all current and future products for use in the development and manufacturing of such therapies. This includes our SamuxMP product range, which is optimized for adeno-associated viruses (AAVs), and our second-generation mass photometer, the TwoMP, which can be used to analyze RNA and DNA payloads.

Towards the end of 2023, we intend to bring a novel mass photometer to the market that measures larger viruses and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs).

Refeyn was spun out of Oxford University in 2018, founded on the belief that 'broadening the availability of mass photometry would accelerate science.' As a European life sciences company headquartered in a scientific hotspot, what role do you believe Europe plays in research?

The life sciences research community is incredibly networked, both in academia and industry. This network covers Europe and elsewhere. One example from Refeyn that illustrates this is that we showcased our technology first at the annual meeting of the Biophysical Society in San Francisco but then shipped our first instrument to Germany. Within the first 12 months, we had instruments in the US, Canada, and Europe, plus also in China and Australia.

Europe is home to many of our customers. It has played and will continue to play a central role in the research activities in our target markets  but always in collaboration with other regions and with a lot of mobility of researchers across regions.

Our industrial customers place our instruments in facilities on different continents to ensure consistency in their processes. Today, research is international  and we set up Refeyn accordingly, aiming to support those interested in our technology regardless of location.

How does Mass Photometry work? [with subtitles] Play

Refeyn is focused on mass photometry, a new revolutionary method that analyzes molecules. Can you tell us more about how mass photometry works and its potential in bioanalytics?

Mass photometry builds on the principles of two optical techniques: interference reflection microscopy and interferometric scattering microscopy. It combines carefully developed strategies in illumination, spatial filtering, and image analysis to detect the tiny amount of light scattered by single molecules. This scattering scales linearly with a molecule's volume and refractive index, which makes it possible for mass photometry to weigh single molecules with light. For proteins, for example, their optical properties and density vary by just a few percent, so their scattering signal is directly proportional to sequence mass which means that mass photometry can measure the mass of single proteins with high accuracy and over a broad mass range. The correlation of the scattering signal with mass holds true for a variety of biomolecules (including glycoproteins, nucleic acids, and lipids), making mass photometry a universal analysis tool for biomolecules in solution.

Each mass photometry measurement takes just a few minutes to produce the mass distribution and relative concentration of all the species in a sample - accelerating a variety of experimental workflows, including analyses of sample purity and homogeneity (which can be useful during expression and purification), protein oligomerization, biomolecular interactions (including the quantification of high-affinity interactions), and the assembly dynamics of macromolecular complexes.

Mass photometry is an ideal addition to existing technologies because it can do all this, and the results are quantitative and easy to interpret  so it can readily provide unique insights or orthogonal confirmation where needed.

What are some of the benefits of using mass photometry compared to other analytical methods available?

There are quite a few different benefits. First of all, mass photometry measurements are done in solution, in a wide variety of buffers, which means they provide information about the sample in its native state. In addition, mass photometry does not require any labels, so that you can analyze the unperturbed function of the target molecule. The fact that you don't need to label reduces sample prep time. And mass photometry is a very quick technique, taking just minutes for one measurement.

But probably the most significant benefit of mass photometry is that it analyses samples molecule by molecule, giving unique information that is only accessible on the single-molecule level. Let's take protein-protein interactions as an example  suppose you want to analyze the binding of protein A to protein B. But if protein A exists in an equilibrium of monomers and dimers, mass photometry can distinguish if the monomer of A binds to protein B, the dimer binds, or both. Ensemble techniques, on the other hand, only report the average binding over monomers and dimers  which can be extremely misleading if, for example, only the dimer shows high-affinity binding but is the less abundant species in those measurement conditions.

Mass photometry generally measures a very generic property of the sample  the relative abundance and mass of each species in the sample. From that read-out, you can build a variety of assays  from simple sample quality control (assessing purity and homogeneity) to complex and quantitative interaction studies. But all these assays will still share the hallmarks of mass photometry  quick results with minimal sample consumption.

One of your products, the SamuxMP, is an essential analytical tool for the analysis of adeno-associated viruses (AAV) capsids. How does the SamuxMP characterize AAV?

The analytical method used in the SamuxMP product line is mass photometry, which basically weighs AAV particles with light. I explained above how, in a nutshell, mass photometry determines the mass of single molecules by measuring the light they scatter. The same principle applies to AAV: the amount of light scattered by an AAV capsid scales with its mass. Hence, the output of the SamuxMP is a mass histogram of the AAVs in the sample. The mass of AAV capsids depends on the amount of DNA they are carrying. Empty AAVs typically have a mass of around 3.7 MDa; loaded AAVs are typically 1.3 MDa heavier, depending on the amount of DNA loaded. Mass photometry can easily distinguish these two populations, even though the AAVs are identical in size. Since mass photometry has single-particle resolution and the SamuxMP is optimized for the mass range of AAVs (3-6MDa), one can also resolve partially filled and overfilled AAVs. We are currently looking into quantifying aggregates too. One last feature worth mentioning is that the system is not selective for AAVs; hence it can also detect contaminants that might remain after purification.

Related Stories Refeyn launches TwoMP Auto for automated protein characterisation at single-molecule level in solution

Image Credit: Jake Pixo/Shutterstock.com

You are participating in a live webinar titled 'Demonstrating Analytical Comparability in Analytical Development' on the 14th of February. Please can you give an overview of what will be discussed in this webinar and the importance of providing these resources to customers?

This webinar will be given together with Santoshkumar Khatwani, Director of Analytical Development at Sangamo Therapeutics, focusing on challenges in analytical comparability for gene therapy products. Santosh will present his work on establishing an analytical workflow for gene therapy products, including their experience with mass photometry, and I will explain how the technology works and why it is so well suited to AAV analysis.

While mass photometry is an extremely powerful tool for characterizing AAVs with rapid uptake by major AAV researchers and manufacturers, it is still a new technology to the market. I will present data from the SamuxMP that provides clear evidence to address the most common questions we are asked, so I will cover sample requirements, benchmarking results, resolution for partially filled AAVs, and serotype agnosticity.

I will also give an overview of new products in the SamuxMP product line that will be available this year: The SamuxMP Auto, which is an automated mass photometer, as well as GMP-compliant software for using the SamuxMP and SamuxMP Auto in production and QC environments.

Can you tell us more about the SamuxMP Auto and why automating your technology will help to accelerate research?

The SamuxMP Auto can autonomously measure up to 24 samples from a 96-well plate. This automation frees up operator time and reduces the impact of manual handling and different operators, leading to higher data reproducibility.

We anticipate that this product will be especially useful for process development applications, where screening often results in many samples that require analysis. It will also facilitate the QC requirement that every sample be measured in triplicate. We believe that when this technology is adopted for applications beyond lab research, it will add a lot of value.

How does the SamuxMP compare to the SamuxMP Auto?

Both instruments are based on the manual SamuxMP system. In the SamuxMP Auto, the SamuxMP is permanently integrated inside a laser-safe box with a liquid-handling robot that pipets the samples for measurement. The analysis software also has additional capabilities to handle many measurements simultaneously.

Because the design is modular, existing customers of the SamuxMP can retrofit their system for automation. Also, the GMP-compliant software available in H2/2023 will be retrofittable for all SamuxMP and SamuxMP Auto customers.

Image Credit: Refeyn

With new exciting technologies such as mass photometry allowing scientists to answer their research questions quickly, scientists can focus more on innovation. What benefits does this have for scientific research, and are you hopeful that we will see more discoveries being made due to the availability of new products, such as the SamuxMP product line?

Mass photometry offers a new assay format that provides unique single-molecule information. This meets a growing appreciation that biomolecular interactions are much more complex than suggested by previous assays that were mainly aimed at proving one-to-one interaction models. To elucidate the activity of oligomeric proteins, protein complexes, or protein-DNA/protein-RNA assemblies, technologies showing the activity of individual species and the influence of individual building blocks on such activity are crucial.

We have already seen some exciting contributions from mass photometry to the understanding of complex interactions in recent years  and there will be much more to come.

Similarly, mass photometry offers particular advantages for the analysis of AAVs because it can assess loading rate and purity with very little sample in less than five minutes. This enables the monitoring and optimization of AAV processes very early in the value chain when traditional methods are not applicable.

We believe that mass photometry can therefore contribute to better and safer AAV products, as well as shorter development timelines. Indeed, many customers are positively surprised when they see their samples on the SamuxMP for the first time  when, for example, it shows a large, partially filled AAV population in a product that showed high immunogenicity in animal studies.

As well as continuing to push the boundaries of single-particle analysis, you always aim to meet the needs of scientists and inspire new ideas. How do you do this, and why is it important for technology to evolve as science does?

Scientific progress has always been a synergy between scientific discovery posing new questions and new technologies providing new answers. We believe that mass photometry has a huge potential to enable and accelerate biomolecular research  we are currently scratching the surface of what will be possible with this technology going forward. The unique capability of fast and easy mass analysis at the single-molecule level lends itself to many applications, including interaction studies, purity assessment, and degradation studies.

At the same time, mass photometry is not limited to proteins (or AAVs). Nucleic acids, polymers, and macromolecules can be measured as well. We will continue to push the capabilities of the technology to ensure that we can provide more comprehensive answers to the beautiful complexity of biomolecular activity and function.

What is next for Refeyn? Are you involved in any exciting upcoming projects?

There will be many exciting new products and features in 2023! For my area of expertise, the cell and gene therapy sector, we will have the automation of mass photometry for AAVs with the SamuxMP Auto and instruments supporting GMP-compliant environments.

Also on the horizon, we plan to introduce a new instrument for the analysis of bigger viruses and lipid nanoparticles towards the end of the year.

Where can readers find more information?

The upcoming webinar mentioned above: https://biopharmawebinars.com/webinars/demonstrating-analytical-comparability-in-analytical-development/

Refeyn's brochure on AAV analytics with mass photometry: https://www.refeyn.com/_files/ugd/8a9b7f_369e41654e4c4c778a772fa17657d46e.pdf

SamuxMP product website: https://www.refeyn.com/samuxmp-mass-photometer

About Svea Cheeseman

Svea Cheeseman is the Director of Product Management for Cell and Gene Therapy at Refeyn, responsible for all current and future products targeted for the Biopharma industry.

She holds a PhD in single-molecule biophysics and has more than five years of experience in the Biopharma industry. She has a keen interest in pushing the boundaries of biomolecular analysis to eventually enable the real-time release of biomolecular drugs.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan (first left) meets Thai Minister of Finance Arkhom Termpittayapaisith (first right) during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan described the latest state of Hong Kongs return to normalcy and development opportunities while meeting a number of political and business leaders as the World Economic Forum (WEF) opened yesterday at Davos in Switzerland.

Using the annual meeting to his advantage, Mr Chan met Thai Minister of Finance Arkhom Termpittayapaisith. Apart from exchanging views on the current international economic and financial situation, they discussed further strengthening financial co-operation.

Mr Chan pointed out that Hong Kongs financial markets are deepening and broadening with the continuous expansion and development of the mutual market access schemes with the Mainland, thus better converging international and Mainland capital.

As such, he welcomed enterprises in Thailand to actively use Hong Kongs efficient fundraising platforms to finance large-scale infrastructure and other projects.

The Financial Secretary also met Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan. While outlining Hong Kongs latest directions and prospects of development, Mr Chan indicated that the city, in its position as an international financial centre, could help countries in the Middle East region to diversify their investments and manage risks. He added that there is ample room for mutual co-operation on various aspects.

Moreover, Mr Chan met the senior management of a number of international private equity firms and multinational companies, such as Managing Partner of EQT AB Marcus Brennecke and Founder & Chairman of Vista Equity Partners Robert Smith, to exchange views on capital market development, talent training and development opportunities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Mr Chan also attended the welcoming reception by the WEF in the evening.
Ana Belen Montes, the most effective and damaging Cuban spy known to have penetrated U.S. intelligence, was a major warrior in the long nasty war between the United States and its communist neighbor. On Jan. 6, after serving just over 21 years of a 25 year sentence for espionage, she was released from a maximum security prison, perhaps drawing the curtain on the deadly clandestine conflict involving efforts by Cuban exiles and their U.S. allies to reverse the revolution led by Fidel Castro.

By the time of her arrest in 2001, Montes had been a mole inside the Defense Intelligence Agency for 17 years, feeding U.S. secrets to Cuba during the civil wars in Central America, where Cuba and the U.S. military backed opposite sides in conflicts in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Even as the Cold War ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its lifeline of economic and military support for Castros regime, Montes rose in rank and importance in the DIA. She became the agencys chief analyst in charge of processing U.S. intelligence about the island, earning the sobriquet, Queen of Cuba, both for her unrivaled expertise and her imperious manner.

There have been worse breaches of U.S. national security, notably Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen, whose spying for the Soviets inside the CIA and FBI led to the deaths and imprisonment of a good number of the CIAs Russian sources. But Montes spying unquestionably dealt devastating blows to U.S. human intelligence and surveillance operations inside Cuba, especially during the 1990s, when Cuban exiles based in Miami were launching what may have been their last concerted effort to overthrow Castro. Information provided by Montes blew the cover of at least four U.S. agents operating inside Cuba, according to damage assessments conducted after her arrest.

Jim Popkin, an investigative journalist and former senior producer for NBC News, tells the story of Ana Montes and the counterintelligence agents at the National Security Agency, DIA and FBI who finally caught her in his engaging and solidly reported book, Code Name Blue Wren, released only a few days before Montes was freed this month. Spy cases are notoriously difficult to write about, especially those involving the spies working for U.S. adversaries. The existence of a mole inside a major intelligence agency is by definition an egregious failure, and such institutions rarely are eager to share the details of a debacle on the scale of Montess penetration of the DIA.

As a lead Cuba analyst in her everyday work at the agency, Montes drafted reports arguing for a softer U.S. policy toward the regime. Popkin, citing his sources, calls her recommendations disinformation, butperhaps ironicallyher analysis of Cubas deteriorated military capability and conclusion that Cuba no longer posed a significant threat to U.S. national security in the 1990s put her in respectable company. Similar conclusions would become mainstream in policy circles and lead to the eventual rapprochement with Cuba and resumption of diplomatic relations by the Obama administration in 2015.

Popkin seems to have interviewed all the major actors involved in the multiyear counterintelligence operation that finallyled to her arrest in the days following the 9/11 terrorist attack. (The decision to move against her was accelerated when FBI investigators learned Montes had been promoted and given a major role in the DIA team planning and selecting targets for the U.S. war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.)

Montes was a true believer, to borrow the term used by one of the counterintelligence agents who caught herwhich differentiates her from better known U.S.moles who turned coat mostly for money. Her parents were from modest families in Puerto Rico, and Ana began the process of radicalization in 1977 during a trip to Spain where her boyfriend was a young leftist who had experienced the worst years of the dirty war in Argentina, Popkin writes.

A gifted academic studying at the prestigious School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University School in Washington, she opposed the Reagan administrations sponsorship of the Contra fighters seeking to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. A Puerto Rican classmatewho also happened to be a Cuban agentencouraged her outrage on Nicaragua and took her to meet a friend in Cubas U.N. mission in New York. There her recruitment to work with the regimes intelligence service was formalized, originally with the sole idea of supporting the Nicaraguan cause. Soon Montes arranged a trip to Cuba for training in her new craft. Popkin mentions that, according to evidence gathered after her arrest, Cuba helped Montes pay off student loans and buy a laptop, but otherwise did not pay her to spy.

FILE - A classic American convertible car passes beside the United States embassy as Cuban flags fly at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune, a massive stage on the Malecon seaside promenade in Havana, Cuba, July 26, 2015. The United States Embassy in Cuba is opening visa and consular services on Wednesday, Jan 4, 2023. It was the first time since a spate of unexplained health incidents among diplomatic staff in 2017 slashed American presence in Havana(AP Photo/Desmond Boylan, File)

One of the most fascinating stories in the book is that of a Cuban-American woman at the secretive National Security Agency who gathered details about the unidentified mole (who turned out to be Montes) by decrypting Cuban radio messages. For example, the messages revealed that the suspected spy had visited the U.S. Guantanamo military base at a certain date, had bought a Toshiba laptop computer, and that Cuba had paid off the agents college loan.

The NSA official, given the pseudonym Elena Valdez, doggedly pursued the spy chase for three years, leading to the identification of the DIA as the penetrated agency and the arrest of Montes on Sept. 21, 2001. She first briefed the FBI, which is the primary U.S. agency in charge of counterintelligence. After two years, convinced the FBI was getting nowhere, Elena stepped outside established procedure and, in essence, went behind the FBIs back. She wrangled an invitation to visit DIA headquarters, and there presented her packet of decrypted messages to a secure meeting with DIA counterintelligence official Chris Simmons, who showed the kind of investigative enthusiasm she felt was missing at the FBI.

Simmons quickly spotted a clue that would upend the investigation. One of the messages said the unidentified spy had access to something called safe as part of his or her work in the unidentified U.S. agency. Holy shit, Simmons said. SAFE was the acronym for the DIAs classified database of analyst reports and other investigative materials shared with the CIA and other agencies. The clue meant the spy had to be working at the DIA itself.

Youve been looking in the wrong place, he exclaimed. That person has got to be in this building.

The breakthrough reinvigorated the official FBI investigation. The search now narrowed to the DIA staff, Ana Montes was identified from the other clues, put under surveillance, and taken into custody.

Inexplicably, Popkin omits a key player in this spy vs spy drama. While Montes was spying inside the DIA for Cuba, the CIA also had a mole inside Cubas own intelligence apparatus. Rolando Sarraff Trujillo was a cryptology specialist in Cubas DGI, the intelligence directorate, and he knew the codes Cuba used to communicate with its spies in the United States. He had been recruited to work for the CIA sometime in the 1990s and remained in place, providing the encryption information that allowed the CIA and NSA to crack the code on intercepted shortwave messages. It was his codes that allowed Elena at NSA to read Ana Montes communications with her Cuban handlers. Sarraff was caught by Cubas DGI counterspies and imprisoned in 1995.

The omission in Popkins book is curious, because it points to the larger context of how the decades of hostility between Cuba and the United States gave way finally in 2014 to what amounted to a ceasefire. The Obama administration negotiated a renewal of diplomatic relations, allowed Cuban exiles to send money to relatives on the island and relaxed travel restrictions. The truce after a half century of hostility left in place the economic embargo, but introduced an interlude (albeit brief) of almost friendly relations, during which hundreds of thousands of American academics and curious tourists flocked to Cuba, before Donald Trump canceled the detente.

The Federal Correctional Institution is shown early Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 in Safford, Arizona. Fernando Gonzalez, 50, known to U.S. authorities as "Ruben Campa," a member of the "Cuban Five" spy ring, was released from the facility early Thursday where he completed his sentence. (AP Photo/Matt York)

As part of the warming of relations, President Obama negotiated a spy swap. A U.S. government contractor, Alan Gross, who had been arrested in Cuba in 2009 for smuggling military-grade communications equipment into the country, was languishing in prison in poor health. Washington had always denied Cubas charges that Gross was a spy, but saw an opening to spring Sarraff. The United States was holding three men who had been arrested in 1998 as part of the so-called Wasp network, a group of Cubans spying on militant anti-Castro groups in Florida.

To break the impasse, Cuba agreed to release Gross on humanitarian grounds and to exchange Sarraff for the three Wasp spies held by the United States. In announcing the swap, President Obama, referring obliquely to Sarraff, said the unnamed spy was one of the most important intelligence agents that the United States has ever had in Cuba. More relevant to the odd lapse in Popkins story, U.S. intelligence officials issued a statement saying the exchanged spys information had led to the detection and conviction of Cuban spies working in the United States, not just the members of the Wasp network but also Ana Montes. Spytalk editor Jeff Stein, writing for Newsweek at the time, was one of several reporters to confirm Sarraffs identity and the link between his cryptography work for the CIA and Ana Montes arrest.

Other than that, Popkin has produced a fine piece of reporting and writing on an intricate, and largely overlooked, spy-vs-spy case. My only other quibble is that he gives barely a nod to the sordid history of the conflict between the United States and Cuba, marked by the U.S. sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961, the Soviet Unions secret deployment of nuclear missiles in 1962, which brought the world to the brink of war, and dozens of U.S. plots to assassinate Castro in the 1960s. Perhaps reflecting the attitudes of his hardline sources, Popkin expresses disgust not only for Montess betrayal of her country but also for her leftist friends, notably a prominent SAIS professor whom he ungraciously dismisses as an apologist for Cuba.

Neglecting that history, he is unable to do justice to the remarkable evolution of U.S. relations with Cuba, during and after the time Ana Montes was active, culminating in Obamas peacemaking with the post-Fidel Castro regime. (He turned over power to his brother Raul in 2006.) Popkins portrayal remains stuck in the anticommunist tropes of many decades ago, when Cuba and its Soviet ally did indeed present a clear and present danger, certainly from the point of view of the United States. I admit: Mine is perhaps the complaint of a Latin Americanist, grasping for the wider framework of the spy story, rather than the book Popkin actually wrote.

That said, Popkins Code Name Blue Wren is unquestionably the most complete telling of this fascinating spy saga and the story of a occasionally brilliant and always morally complicated woman who decided to spy against her country. Montes has said her spying activities were morally wrong but that she obeyed [her] conscience rather than the law.

After her release, Montes returned to Puerto Rico where she said she intended to live a quiet life and try to earn a living again. Saying she would make no further public statements, she aimed an unrepentant final shot at U.S. Cuba policy, asking Who in the past 60 years has ever asked the Cuban people if they wanted the United States to impose a suffocating embargo to make them suffer?
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Its all systems go for the immediate implementation of the priorities, policies and initiatives outlined in the 2023- 2026 Government Program.

The initiative, titled From Economic Recovery to Sustainable Growth, is in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

During its weekly meeting, chaired yesterday by the Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa at Gudaibiya Palace, the Cabinet discussed the steps to immediately start implementing the Government Program.

This will be carried out through the development of government projects and services provided to citizens, ongoing tracking of related work plans, and submission of periodic progress reports to the Cabinet.

The Cabinet commended the Council of Representatives unanimous approval of the 2023-2026 Government Program, affirming that close cooperation with the Council of Representatives contributed to achieving consensus.

It noted the commitment of t h e parliamentary committee in charge of studying the Government Program, in cooperation with the Government Committee, and supporting ongoing coordination between the Executive and Legislative Authorities, for the benefit of the country and its citizens.

The Cabinet extended its gratitude to the Government Committee for their participation in the meetings, and for their efforts in this regard.

NAO Report

The Cabinet directed the concerned government agencies to follow up on the observations and recommendations included in the 2021-2022 National Audit Office (NAO) Report, and to take the necessary measures to rectify them.

It extended its gratitude to all the ministries and government agencies that took the initiative to rectify the observations in the previous report, and noted the role played by the NAO in strengthening governance to incorporate effective practices.

The Cabinet highlighted Bahrain International Airports success in attaining the 5-star Regional Airport Rating certification for outstanding airport services and facilities by Skytrax, for the second year in a row. The Cabinet stressed the importance of continuing to develop airport services and sustain national achievements and developments.

Improving government performance and efficiency

The Cabinet yesterday approved a memorandum by the Civil Service Bureau regarding the restructuring of a number of ministries and government agencies to improve performance and efficiency.

The Cabinet reviewed a memorandum submitted by the Ministerial Committee for Legal and Legislative Affairs regarding the regulatory framework for the inter-registration of financial products among the regulators of financial markets in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

It also reviewed a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning regarding developments in the Ministrys housing priorities and developing partnerships with the private sector in housing projects and programmes, as well as adopting numerous initiatives to facilitate and diversify housing services provided to citizens.

In addition, the Cabinet reviewed a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Tourism regarding the Kingdoms tourism indicators for the period between December 2022 to January 2023, during which many events took place across commercial complexes and hotels.

The Cabinet then took note of the ministerial reports regarding the visit of the Minister of Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs to the United Arab Emirates, and the participation of the Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments in the Conference and Exhibition for Hajj and Umrah Services (Hajj Expo 2023).
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain and Turkey discussed ways to develop artistic cooperation as part of their deep-rooted bilateral relations. This came as the National Council for Arts Chairman, Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, received yesterday the Turkish Ambassador to Bahrain, Esen Cakil.

Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa affirmed the depth of the two countries solid ties, stressing the importance of developing artistic cooperation. They reviewed bilateral relations, and ways to consolidate mechanisms of joint cooperation to serve the common interests of the two friendly countries.

They also stressed the importance of holding joint artistic exhibitions and organising exchanged artistic visits. Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa said that the artistic fields enjoy the great support of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and the constant interest of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

He emphasised that they contribute to enriching Bahrains artistic movement locally and abroad by providing all means of developing the capabilities of artists, and enabling them to actively participate in various local, Arab and international art forums.

Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa pointed out that the National Council for Arts embodies a guiding system for the arts sector, as it presents ideas and launches initiatives aimed at improving the reality of art, and contributing to overcoming the obstacles facing its path, noting that art represents a common language among peoples, creating bridges for communication among cultures, which strengthened their rapprochement.

He added that art carries a noble message that promotes the values of love, tolerance and peace. Ambassador Cakil lauded the distinguished level of the depth of the long-standing relations between the two countries and their friendly peoples, highlighting the importance of communication and exchanging expertise and experiences in the artistic fields.

She asserted that the progress currently witnessed by the artistic movement in the kingdom reflects the richness of Bahraini art.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain and the US are committed to strengthening bilateral relations and developing ways to achieve security and stability in the region.

A meeting was held yesterday to review ways to enhance cooperation between the Council of Representatives, Shura Council, and the US Congress.

Council of Representatives Speaker Ahmed bin Salman Al Musallam met with a US Senators delegation headed by Congress members Jackie Rosson and James Lankford, in the presence of Shura Chairman Ali bin Saleh Al Saleh.

The meeting also discussed issues of common interest, and ways to support cooperation in the economic and trade field. Al Musallam affirmed the keenness of the Kingdom, under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to strengthen bilateral relations and ensure international peace and security.

He praised the depth of historical relations between the two countries. The Speaker stressed the support of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to strengthen cooperation in all fields and the continuous efforts to develop Free Trade Agreement and the inauguration of the United States Trade Zone (USTZ) in Bahrain which supports economic growth and meets Bahrains Economic Vision 2023.

Al Musallam praised the Kingdoms democratic progress during the 2022 national elections that achieved a high tournout and the continuous efforts to advance human rights and national decision-making. Al Saleh affirmed Bahrains coexistence values, led by His Majesty the King, and highlighted the Bahrain-US relations and ways to achieve regional security and stability.
Agencies | Abu Dhabi

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain and the UAE have stressed the importance of exchanging information and strengthening bilateral cooperation in labour fields, as well as developing and qualifying human resources for the benefit of citizens in the two countries.

This came as Labour Minister Jameel bin Mohammed Ali Humaidan led a delegation to the UAE, comprising Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) CEO Noof Abdulrahman Jamsheer, and a number of Labour Ministrys official.

Humaidan, who is also Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) Board of Directors Chairman, highlighted the initiatives implemented by the Kingdom to accelerate the pace of employment and rehabilitation of citizens and their integration into the private sector through incentives.

It has made Bahrainis the priority in employment, he noted. The Minister spoke about the mechanisms for implementing unemployment insurance, calling for more cooperation and coordination of stances between the two brotherly countries at various regional, Arab and international events and conferences.

The visit aims to activate the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two brotherly countries in the field of manpower and human resources. Humaidan held a meeting with the UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Abdulrahman bin Abdul Mannan Al Awar, in the presence of senior Emirati officials. During the meeting, the two countries policies to develop the labour market and human resources were highlighted.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Citi Bahrain has celebrated the first anniversary of its Global Technology Hub, which is on track to employ 1000 Bahraini coders over ten years.

Currently, the hub comprises of 110 Bahraini employees, out of which 91 Bahrainis have started at the Citi Seef premise, with 19 additional hires set to join soon. Female participants at the Hub make up 22% of the total Bahrainis, outperforming the average of females in other Citi tech hubs around the world.

When selecting a country for its Global Technology Hub, Citi conducted a rigorous technical coding test and interview process, with Bahraini talent showing the highest pass rate when compared to other regions.

Even more encouraging was the level of female talent in Bahrains candidate pool, as Bahrain ranks first globally in multiple subindices according to Metas Inclusive Internet Index (2022), including female digital skills training and STEM education, open data policies, and privacy regulations.

HH Shaikha Hessa bint Khalifa Al-Khalifa, Member of the Supreme Council for Women and Chairwoman of the Bahrain Women in Fintech Committee, said: It makes us proud to see Bahraini women directly contributing to the operations and growth of Citis Global Tech Hub.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, Rasheed Mohammed Al Maraj, said: The Financial services sector has progressed over the last decade, and we expect more changes in the coming years as the pace of digitisation increases.

We are proud to see Bahraini talents and competencies benefiting and contributing in developing global centres affiliated with reputable financial institutions in order to promote digital solutions in the financial sector.

According to Citi Bahrains CEO, Michel Sawaya, Citi has witnessed great results since the launch. The coders had a big impact on developing our digital platforms, such as Citi Velocity and CitiFX Pulse.

Their positive contribution helped implement important features, and subsequently take part of bigger projects that have helped us serve Citi clients globally. Citi launched its Global Tech Hub last year as part of a strategic partnership between Tamkeen, Bahrains labour fund, and the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), the Kingdoms investment promotion agency.

A first in the region, the Hub aims to develop and improve digital solutions for Citis regional and global clients while creating 1000 tech jobs for Bahrainis over ten years.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

The grand inauguration of the 300th global showroom of Malabar Gold & Diamonds, the 6th largest jewellery retailer globally with a strong retail network of 300 showrooms across 10 countries, was held in Dallas, USA.

Susan Fletcher, Collin County Commissioner and Jeff Cheney, Mayor of Frisco, Texas, jointly inaugurated the showroom in the presence of Shamlal Ahamed, Managing Director  International Operations.

The event was virtually attended by M P Ahammed, Chairman, Malabar Group; KP Abdul Salam, Vice-Chairman, Malabar Group; O Asher, Managing Director  India Operations, other team members, well-wishers and dignitaries.

It is a moment of great pride for us as we touch the 300th mark with this new showroom in Dallas, USA.

We started off with a small showroom in Calicut, Kerala, India and today, in less than 30 years, we have a strong retail presence of 300 showrooms across 10 countries; all thanks to our customers, shareholders, employees and other stakeholders, said MP Ahammed, Chairman, Malabar Group.

Malabar Gold & Diamonds currently operates in 10 countries and has immediate expansion plans into the UK, Bangladesh, Australia, Egypt, Canada, Turkey, South Africa.

The future expansions are expected to create approximately 6,000 job opportunities in the retail, manufacturing, technical and management areas related to jewellery trade.

As the design discovery and initial decision-making of most customers are happening online these days, we are focusing greatly on strengthening our omnichannel retail strategy, for which we are making use of the services of global technology giants like Microsoft, IBM, Accenture, E&Y, Deloitte etc.., said Abdul Salam KP, Vice Chairman, Malabar Group.

We are very excited about our future growth plan and will immediately be expanding into new markets, including the UK, Bangladesh, Australia and Canada, followed by Egypt, Turkey & South Africa.

Apart from this, we will further strengthen our retail footprint within the existing markets as well,said Shamlal Ahamed, Managing Director  International Operations, Malabar Gold & Diamonds.

The new showroom in Dallas has a display of more than 30,000 jewellery designs from 20 countries across gold, diamonds, precious gems and platinum, catering to the design preferences of those residing in and around Dallas.

We have an ambitious retail expansion plan in India as well, especially in the North and Central Indian states and are gearing up in a big way to enter new territories as well by setting higher standards in the jewellery trade, said O Asher, Managing Director  India Operations, Malabar Gold & Diamonds.

We will further strengthen our manufacturing capabilities to support our retail expansion drive globally.

We will also be hiring skilled artisans and related staff as part of this process.

This will also further bolster our mission, Make in India, Market to the World, said Nishad AK, Group Executive Director, Manufacturing & B2B, Malabar Group.

Malabar Group said it believes that the most successful companies are those which integrate responsibility and sustainability into their core business and commit 5% of their profit to support socially responsible purposes both in India and abroad, since its inception in 1993.

Hunger, Health, Education, Women Empowerment, Housing and Environment are the key focus areas for the Group
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrains dreams of defending their title in the 25th Arab Gulf Cup ended in heartbreak last night following a 0-1 semi-final loss to Oman at Al Minaa Olympic Stadium in Basra, Iraq.

It took a wonder goal by Jameel Al Yahmadi seven minutes from the end of regular time to separate the two sides.

The Omanis are now through to the final, where they will face hosts Iraq on Thursday night for the crown.

The Iraqis booked their place with a 2-1 victory over Qatar in yesterdays other final four contest.

Ibrahim Bayesh and Aymen Hussein were both on target for Iraq on either side of an Amro Surag goal for Qatar, all in the first half.

Bahrain depart from Basra disappointed after what started off as a promising campaign.

They won their first two preliminary round contests against the UAE and the Qataris before drawing with Kuwait to book their place in the last four.
Agencies | Samut Songkhram

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Eight workers were missing and houses damaged after an empty oil tanker caught fire and exploded at a dockyard on the Mae Klong river in Muang district on Tuesday morning.

The explosion aboard the tanker Smooth Sea 22 was reported to police about 9:17 a.m. localtime, according to Bangkok post.

The tanker, which has a capacity of 6,500 deadweight tonnes, was undergoing regular maintenance at Ruammitr Dockyard in tambon Laem Yai. Its tanks were empty.

The explosion was heard and felt over a radius of several kilometres. Glass window panes in houses were shattered.

The Marine Department said about an hour later that the fire on the vessel had been brought under control. Eight dockyard workers were missing.

The department was investigating the cause of the fire.
Agencies | Mecca

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Saudi Arabia, during the recently concluded Haj Expo 2023, announced the reduction of comprehensive insurance for Umrah performers from outside the Kingdom. The Ministry of Haj and Umrah reduced the insurance cost from SR235 (BD23.58) to SR87 (BD8.73), a drop of 63 per cent, starting from January 10, 2023.

The Ministry tweeted that Haj pilgrims' insurance premium has also been decreased by 73 per cent - from 109 Riyals (BD10.94) to 29 Riyals (BD2.91).

The Ministry has implemented a unified and comprehensive health insurance program for pilgrims from outside the Kingdom.

The insurance coverage period is for 90 days, starting from the day of entering Saudi Arabia and provides scope only within the country, reports Saudi Gazette.

The program covers emergencies such as personal accidents resulting in death or permanent total disability, traffic accident injuries, hospitalisation for various ailments, and childbirth. It also includes transporting the bodies of a deceased to their countries if the relatives want.

All local insurance companies in the country provide the program under the direction of the Tawuniya Insurance Company.

According to SPA, the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Hissein Brahim Taha, extended his thanks and gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its leadership, and people for their generosity in reducing the insurance of pilgrims by 73 per cent, to facilitate and reduce the costs of Haj for the pilgrims.

Earlier, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah had announced that those who obtained tourist and commercial visas would now be allowed to perform the Umrah pilgrimage during their stay in Saudi Arabia.

The system allows people to obtain a tourist visa, valid for 12 months, upon arrival at one of the Saudi airports without the need for a prior application. The visa holders will be allowed to visit the cities and regions all over the Kingdom. The visa applicants shall be from those countries that are included among the countries eligible for obtaining the electronic visa. Regarding those who are holders of American, UK and Schengen visas, their visas shall be valid and bear an entry stamp from the issuing country.

Family visit visa holders from different nationalities can also perform Umrah by booking an appointment through the Eatmarna application via their relatives in the Kingdom during their visit to the Kingdom by applying through the National Unified Visa Platform.
A Japanese company has defended its ownership of Van Goghs Sunflowers, obtained at auction in 1987, after the family of its former owner filed a US lawsuit demanding its return.

The artwork  one of five original versions of the famous still life  was purchased by the predecessor of insurance firm Sompo Holdings at Christies in London for $40 million, making it briefly the worlds most expensive painting.

It has been on display in Tokyo at Sompos art museum for 35 years, but recently became the subject of a legal battle centered on a previous sale in Germany prior to World War II.

The family of the paintings former owner, Jewish banker Paul von Mendelsohn-Bartholdy, filed a lawsuit in Illinois last month demanding the return of the artwork and hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.

They say Sompos predecessor, Yasuda Fire & Marine Insurance, acquired the painting in reckless disregard of its provenance, including Mendelssohn-Bartholdys forced sale of the painting in Nazi Germany in 1934. ...continue reading
Most powerful gasoline engine developed by Mazda

RICHMOND HILL, ON, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - On January 31, Mazda Canada Inc. will reveal the first-ever 2024 Mazda CX-90. The CX-90 will be offered with a highly anticipated all-new powerful and responsive 3.3L Inline Six e-Skyactiv Turbo engine.

All-New Inline Six Turbo to be Available in 2024 Mazda CX-90 (CNW Group/Mazda Canada Inc.)

The available 3.3-liter inline six turbo will have the highest horsepower and torque from a mass production gasoline engine developed by Mazda with 340 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque when using the recommended premium fuel. This engine provides CX-90 an engaging driving experience with a rewarding exhaust note, while also featuring a mild-hybrid system for efficiency without compromising on performance.

This inline six turbo is developed specifically for the large platform, Mazda's all-new rear-biased all-wheel drive layout that supports a performance-focused experience. Additionally, Kinematic Posture Control (KPC), first introduced on the MX-5 roadster, is standard on all CX-90 models and will help bring Mazda's signature driving dynamics to the three-row crossover SUV.

Learn more at: https://www.mazda.ca/en/vehicles/cx-90

Mazda Canada Inc. is responsible for the sales and marketing, customer service and parts support of Mazda vehicles in Canada. Headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Mazda Canada has a nationwide network of 163 retail stores. For additional information visit Mazda Canada's media website at www.media.mazda.ca.

Follow Mazda Canada's social media channels through Twitter and Instagram at @MazdaCanada and Facebook at Facebook.com/MazdaCanada.

SOURCE Mazda Canada Inc.

For further information: Chuck Reimer, Mazda Canada Inc., [email protected]; Sandra Lemaitre, Mazda Canada Inc., [email protected]
WINNIPEG, MB, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - Healthier lakes mean economic growth, more recreational opportunities, and a healthy, sustainable ecosystem that protects biodiversity. Canadians understand the value of fresh water and want to be actively engaged to help protect and manage this vital resource.

Today, Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, on behalf of the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, announced $1.59 million to support 25 projects under the Lake Winnipeg Basin Program.

Working with partners and stakeholders, the Lake Winnipeg Basin Program supports science, action, and collaboration to improve water quality and the ecological health of Lake Winnipeg. The program funds projects focused on three priority areas including nutrient reduction, enhancing collaboration between partners and stakeholders throughout the basin, and engaging Indigenous peoples in freshwater stewardship.

Through this program, InnoVantage Inc. will receive $50,000 to evaluate the performance of an innovative phosphorus removal and recovery system for small wastewater systems. The Southern Chiefs' Organization Inc. will receive $50,000 to enhance the capacity of First Nations to monitor and assess water sources, enable the collection and use of Indigenous knowledge, and inform community decision-making to protect fresh water.

Quotes

"Canada is committed to working collaboratively with our partners for the protection and restoration of Lake Winnipeg. Investing in these local projects will help tackle issues that matter to communities in the Lake Winnipeg watershedfrom accessible clean, fresh water, to beaches we can enjoy, to waters in which we can fish and swim."

 Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Quick facts

Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest lake and the eleventh-largest freshwater lake in the world. Its watershed is the second-largest in Canada and includes parts of four provinces and four US states.

sixth-largest lake and the eleventh-largest freshwater lake in the world. Its watershed is the second-largest in and includes parts of four provinces and four US states. The Lake Winnipeg drainage basin is nearly one million square kilometres in size and is home to nearly seven million people.

The Lake Winnipeg Basin Program has invested over $10 million in grants and contribution funding to support partner-driven, nutrient-reducing actions, collaborative efforts, and Indigenous engagement to improve the ecological health of Lake Winnipeg.

Associated links

Environment and Climate Change Canada's Twitter page

Environment and Climate Change Canada's Facebook page

SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

For further information: Kaitlin Power, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 819-230-1557, [email protected]; Media Relations, Environment and Climate Change Canada, 819-938-3338 or 1-844-836-7799 (toll-free), [email protected]
Strategic Renewal with Canada Post Corporation and Purolator Inc. reinforces Cargojet's Leadership Position in the Domestic Air Cargo Market

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - Cargojet Inc. ("Cargojet") (TSX: CJT) is pleased to announce today that it has extended the Master Services Agreement (the "Agreement") with Canada Post Corporation and Purolator Inc., (Canada Post Group of Companies "CPGOC") until September 30, 2029. An additional option to renew to March 31, 2031, continues to remain available.

Cargojet and CPGOC first entered into the Agreement in 2014 for a seven-year term, with CPGOC exercising its first three-year renewal option in 2017 extending the Agreement until March 31, 2025. The newly extended Agreement will also continue to have minimum guaranteed volumes allowing Cargojet to continue to invest in value-added and enhanced services.

"From the very first day of our relationship with CPGOC, we have focused on delivering an unparalleled service, industry leading reliability and on-time performance. The customer centric mindset of our entire team has once again allowed us to renew the trust and confidence of two of Canada's most iconic brands," said Ajay Virmani, President & Chief Executive Officer, Cargojet. "Cargojet's flagship domestic air network is uniquely positioned to serve the needs of all of our strategic customers. By serving over 90% of Canadian population each and every day, we provide a critical backbone for Canada's supply chains", concluded Mr. Virmani.

About Cargojet:

Cargojet is Canada's leading provider of time sensitive premium air cargo services to all major cities across North America and select international destinations, providing dedicated, ACMI, CMI and international charter services and carries over 25,000,000 pounds of cargo weekly. Cargojet owns/operates a fleet of 40 aircraft.

SOURCE Cargojet Inc.

For further information: Please contact: Pauline Dhillon, Chief Corporate Officer, Tel: (905) 501-7373 [email protected]
Laval business receives $600,000 in financial assistance from CED.

LAVAL, QC, Jan. 16, 2023 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED)

Supporting innovation contributes to economic development in Quebec's regions. That is why the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Quebec Lieutenant, today announced, on behalf of the Honourable Pascale StOnge, Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for CED, a repayable contribution of $600,000 for CIRION BioPharma Research Inc. (CIRION). This CED support will enable the business to become more competitive and accelerate its growth.

Launched in 1996 at the Quebec Biotechnology Innovation Centre (QBIC) in the Laval Biopole, CIRION is a contract research business specializing in immunology and molecular biology. It offers cutting-edge expertise to support the development of biologic and biosimilar medications, specifically to determine immunogenicity. Now with its own facilities measuring over 3367 m2 within the Laval Biopole, CIRION also provides the global biopharmaceutical industry, as part of clinical and preclinical studies, global centralized laboratory services including the design of analytical investigation protocols, the management of all analytical facets of a multi-site investigation protocol, required laboratory testing, and full logistics for specimen management.

These services are available internationally through alliances with centralized laboratories that offer comparable services. This project will enable CIRION to both acquire new laboratory instruments to remain at the cutting edge of technology and conduct further marketing in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world, which will translate into the creation of many jobs.

The Government of Canada recognizes and supports innovative businesses and organizations that are a source of pride in their communities. Quebec's economic recovery relies, among other things, on organizations with strong roots in the regional economy. Innovation is a major contributor to growth, as well as a key asset in rebuilding a stronger, more resilient, greener, and more just economy for all.

Quotes

"Innovation is in the DNA of Quebec businesses, and our government continues to be here to support them. This is what we are doing with the investment announced today, which will help CIRION continue to grow and remain competitive. In the pharmaceutical industry, as elsewhere, Quebec businesses are already showing the way. By giving them a boost, we are ensuring they will strengthen their position as leaders, and we are continuing to deliver for Quebecers."

The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Member of Parliament for Honore-Mercier, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Quebec Lieutenant

"By investing in improved equipment and processes at CIRION, our government is following through on its commitments and helping businesses to grow, innovate, and export their products. By creating and maintaining quality jobs, they ensure the Canadian economy will prosper. Congratulations to everyone at CIRION on this promising project in pharmaceutical and biotechnology research!"

The Honourable Pascale StOnge, Member of Parliament for BromeMissisquoi, Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for CED

"CIRION is constantly investing in its staff, infrastructure, instrumentation, and processes to provide the biopharmaceutical industry with cutting-edge research services that go beyond the industry's expectations. The assistance provided under the REGI program enables CIRION to accelerate its international development plan and competitiveness. This program and CED's support since the business was launched have enabled us to increase our technological capabilities in order to meet the industry's ever-growing demand for our expertise and services. In this sense, CED's support has contributed significantly to our business's growth since it was founded."

Dr. Sylvain Desrochers, Cofounder, President and CEO, CIRION BioPharma Research Inc.

Quick facts

The funds have been granted under CED's Regional Economic Growth through Innovation program. This program targets entrepreneurs leveraging innovation to grow their businesses and enhance their competitiveness, as well as regional economic stakeholders helping to create an entrepreneurial environment conducive to innovation and growth for all, across all regions.

In Quebec , SMEs account for 99.7% of the province's businesses and 50% of its GDP.

, SMEs account for 99.7% of the province's businesses and 50% of its GDP. CED is a key federal partner in Quebec's regional economic development. With its 12 regional business offices, CED accompanies businesses, supporting organizations and all regions across Quebec into tomorrow's economy.

Associated links

Stay connected

Follow CED on social media

Consult CED's news

SOURCE Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions

For further information: Media Relations, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, [email protected]; Ariane Joazard-Belizaire, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Sport and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, [email protected]
CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada has taken a comprehensive and prudent approach to managing the virus, with measures and actions informed by available data, operational considerations, scientific evidence, and monitoring of the epidemiological situation and best practices both in Canada and internationally.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, visited the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, which will receive $1.5 million from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to enhance COVID-19 wastewater testing capacity for the Atlantic provinces.

This project supports the National Wastewater Surveillance Program by increasing the reach of monitoring and allows COVID-19 testing to be completed quickly in the region, without the need to ship the samples to Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Wastewater data is an important early warning sign for public health action and decisions for the benefit of communities in Atlantic Canada.

Wastewater monitoring has been essential in COVID-19 monitoring and is one of the key tools guiding the future of public health surveillance. People infected with COVID-19 can shed the virus through their stool, even if they do not have any symptoms. Testing a community's sewage (wastewater) can help determine if COVID-19 is increasing or decreasing in a community and provides information on the variants circulating within a community. People can also use wastewater trend data to make decisions about personal health measures when going out into their community.

PHAC scientists, along with their Canadian academic and provincial/territorial partners, are leading the way on wastewater surveillance based on its growing use during the COVID-19 pandemic. This knowledge, combined with PHAC's work with provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous governments to establish a strong network of wastewater testing sites across Canada, has also helped scientists study the presence of other diseases in wastewater, including antimicrobial resistant organisms, mpox (monkeypox), and poliovirus.

The Government of Canada has committed $28.1 million since May 2020 to establish, expand and enhance the pan-Canadian wastewater surveillance program. It provides an innovative and straightforward approach that enables efficient monitoring of a population (or community) for early detection and trending of pathogen activity.

Quotes

"Wastewater monitoring is the future of public health surveillance for infectious diseases in Canada. It is an innovative tool that currently assists in determining the levels of COVID-19 in communities and provides an early warning to public health authorities of

COVID-19 variants. The funding announced today will increase the range and speed of wastewater testing results for Atlantic Canadians resulting in a rapid and cost-effective approach for early detection of outbreaks and surges."

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos

Minister of Health

"The University of Prince Edward Island is pleased that expertise at the Atlantic Veterinary College's Diagnostic Services department will be harnessed to aid in the monitoring of COVID-19 and other pathogens of public health significance in the Atlantic region. We are grateful for this funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, allowing us to be part of this important pan-Canadian wastewater surveillance network."

Dr. Greg Keefe

President and Vice-Chancellor (Interim)

University of Prince Edward Island

"The health of Atlantic Canadians is always a priority. With the state-of-the-art equipment and expertise at UPEI and AVC, this funding will help PHAC quickly identify and react to current and future abnormalities in the wastewater system. This investment also underscores the value and significance of these great PEI institutions and the depth of talent that distinguishes them."

Sean Casey

Member of Parliament for Charlottetown

Quick Facts

The Public Health Agency of Canada is continuing to collaborate with other federal departments, provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous governments and academia across Canada to compile wastewater data into the COVID-19 wastewater surveillance dashboard. The dashboard will continue to be expanded to provide additional data to people in Canada , including additional cities.

is continuing to collaborate with other federal departments, provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous governments and academia across to compile wastewater data into the COVID-19 wastewater surveillance dashboard. The dashboard will continue to be expanded to provide additional data to people in , including additional cities. Since wastewater testing is different than clinical testing to diagnose active COVID-19 infections, it provides an additional, independent measure of community transmission.

For information about how scientists from Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory are advancing the science of wastewater testing please read: Harnessing the power of wastewater testing to detect COVID-19 outbreaks and Community-led wastewater testing in northern, remote and isolated communities.

SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada

For further information: Guillaume Bertrand, Senior Communications Advisor and Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos Minister of Health, 613-957-0200; Media Relations, Health Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]; Media Relations, Public Health Agency of Canada, 613-957-2983, [email protected]; Rachel Cutcliffe, External Engagement Officer, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, 902-566-6786, [email protected]
New Naturalle paint by PT Mowilex Indonesia features an innovative, bio-based technology that replaces petroleum-based resins with natural plants.

In homes and commercial spaces, Naturalle permanently removes formaldehyde that's emitted by building materials and other sources.

The zero-VOC Naturalle line is available in modern colours with a luxurious, easy-to-clean, and high-performing matte finish.

As the first company in Indonesia to launch a bio-based paint, Mowilex continues to be a leader in environmental sustainability.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Jan. 16, 2023 /CNW/ -- The new Naturalle paint from PT Mowilex Indonesia (Mowilex) features a groundbreaking, bio-based formula that contains 28% renewable raw materials and removes formaldehyde from indoor air. Producing Naturalle with plant elements reduces its overall carbon footprint while creating a durable, high-performing matte paint that is low in odour and free of organic compounds (VOCs).

With its new Naturalle paint, Mowilex becomes the first manufacturer in Indonesia to formulate a sustainable, bio-based paint that replaces petroleum-based resins with natural plants.

Mowilex is the first manufacturer in Indonesia to formulate a sustainable, bio-based paint. The water-based acrylic binder is made of 28% natural ingredients sourced from existing seeds, stalks and grasses. Using plant-based sources eases pollution by reducing the need for petroleum-derived polymers, and that lowers the product's overall carbon footprint.

By trading petroleum resins for plant-based alternatives, Mowilex has created an extra-low odour, low-emission, zero-VOC paint. The innovative, bio-based technology behind Naturalle also actively improves air quality in homes and offices. Building materials, cleaning products, lacquers and other items release formaldehyde, a pollutant that can irritate the eyes and nose, trigger asthma attacks, and increase cancer risk. Naturalle absorbs formaldehyde and turns it into water vapour, permanently eliminating the contaminant from indoor air.

Mowilex is applying to certify Naturalle through the USDA's BioPreferred Program. The voluntary series of independent, third-party program tests confirms that products meet or exceed minimum bio-based content requirements.

"Our Naturalle paint derives a significant portion of its resins from sustainable, plant-based materials. Using these renewable elements, rather than petroleum-sourced raw materials, lowers the product's carbon footprint. This paint also improves indoor air quality by removing formaldehyde from indoor air, offering a sustainable solution to a common challenge," says Novina Tjahjadi, Mowilex Head of Research and Development.

"PRIMAL RN Biobased Acrylic Emulsion and FORMASHIELD Technology from Dow Inc. are incorporated in Mowilex Naturalle paint, offering a sustainable solution and healthier environment to meet asthma and allergy standards," says Yena Margono, Southeast Asia Marketing Manager for Dow Coating Materials. "As one of the world's leading materials science companies, Dow Inc. is passionate about discovering innovative, sustainable solutions through joint efforts with our partners."

"Naturalle is a renewable, high-performing paint with excellent formaldehyde-abatement properties. We are excited to offer Naturalle and further strengthen our position as the environmental and sustainability leader in our market," says Niko Safavi, CEO of PT Mowilex Indonesia.

With the Naturalle launch, Mowilex underscores its commitment to both sustainability and premium product quality. Naturalle paint applies easily, spreads smoothly, and hides small surface imperfections. The luxurious matte finish is easy to clean, and the modern paint colours will not fade over time. The anti-fungal, anti-bacterial formula also contains no lead, mercury or other heavy metals.

Visit Mowilex.com for more product and sustainability information.

About PT Mowilex Indonesia

PT Mowilex Indonesia (Mowilex), a subsidiary of Asia Coatings Enterprises, Pte. Ltd., is a leading producer of premium paints and coatings. Since launching the first Indonesian-made, water-based paints in 1970, the company has expanded its commitment to environmental ethics, equality, community and innovation. PT Mowilex is Indonesia's only certified carbon neutral manufacturer, producing zero and low VOC paints in modern colours, and the company regularly wins awards for its corporate social responsibility and sustainability efforts.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE PT Mowilex Indonesia

For further information: Utami Pratiwi, +62857-1956-4244, [email protected]
Celebrate the beauty of winter in Jonquiere with snow sculptures, surprises, and activities of all kinds from February 2 to 12, 2023

SAGUENAY, QC, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - For the 39th year, Saguenay en Neige brings a full schedule of outdoor activities for the whole family. There will be children's activities, live performances, a snow sculpture exhibition, and more!

Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Quebec Lieutenant, announced $47,500 in funding for the Saguenay en Neige festival, taking place in Jonquiere from February 2 to 12, 2023.

This funding is provided through the Local Festivals component of the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program. It will help the festival offer numerous free outdoor activities for tourists and locals of all ages to enjoy.

Quotes

"Once again this year, Saguenay en Neige will give people in the region the chance to come together and take part in some great family activities! For 39 years, the festival has been an event not to be missed, and we are proud to support it. I hope people of all ages will make the most of this opportunity to come out and warm their hearts. Have a great festival, and keep up the good work, Saguenay en Neige!

The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Quebec Lieutenant

"For Saguenay en Neige, this recognition represents constructive and authentic feedback. Saguenay en Neige is deeply grateful for this support from Canadian Heritage, one of the festival's main partners. Funding helps maintain the popularity of our event, so we can continue the sense of belonging that has been drawing people to the festival for 39 years now. This support allows us to give families 11 days of activities for free, including a visit to a beautiful, open-air art gallery."

Christine Basque, Director, Saguenay en Neige

Quick Facts

The 39th Saguenay en Neige festival features an expanded music program and opening night festivities with a fireworks show and a performance by Rick Hugues.

Kids will love the two weekend shows, including a new one from Fredo, Un elephant dans la piece [An Elephant in the Room]. An array of activities with something for everyone will also be offered.

The Local Festivals component of the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program provides funding to local groups for recurring festivals that present the work of local artists, artisans or heritage performers.

Associated Links

Saguenay en Neige (French only)

Local Festivals  Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

For further information: (media only), please contact: Laura Scaffidi, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canadian Heritage, 819-994-9101, 1-866-569-6155, [email protected]
China will continue to support WHO's role in fighting COVID pandemic: spokesperson

Xinhua) 14:02, January 17, 2023

Photo taken on March 30, 2021 shows an exterior view of the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (Xinhua/Chen Junxia)

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- China will continue to support the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in uniting and rallying the international community to fight the pandemic, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday at a regular press briefing.

On Jan. 14, Ma Xiaowei, head of China's National Health Commission (NHC) spoke to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the phone to exchange views mainly on the COVID-19 situation in China, Wang said.

Tedros spoke highly of the Chinese government's efforts to cope with the COVID-19 epidemic and thanked China for maintaining long-term technical exchanges and sharing epidemiological information and data with WHO, Wang said.

The two sides agreed to continue to strengthen technical exchanges and cooperation on epidemiological response and work together to protect global health security, Wang added.

Noting that China attaches great importance to its cooperation and ties with WHO, Wang said China actively supports the organization's leading coordinating role in the global fight against the pandemic, and maintains close exchange with the WHO Secretariat and Director-General Tedros.

China has been sharing information with WHO and other countries since COVID-19 began and reported the infections to WHO at the earliest opportunity. China is the first country to identify the pathogen and share the genome sequence, and established a technical exchange mechanism with WHO. Over the past month or so alone, the Chinese side has had technical exchanges five times and one phone conversation with WHO, according to Wang.

China's contribution to the global fight against COVID has been recognized by WHO and widely among the members of the international community, the spokesperson said.

Wang said China will continue to support WHO's role in uniting and rallying the international community to fight the pandemic and share information with WHO and the rest of the international community in a timely, open and transparent manner in accordance with the law to jointly tackle the COVID challenge.

"We hope all sides will view these issues with a science-based and objective attitude and respect and support China's COVID response so that we can together make our due contribution to global solidarity against the pandemic," said Wang.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The National Chairman Action Alliance (AA) party, Adekunle Omo-Aje has expressed dismay over the alleged refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission to obey court judgment.





The Action Alliance Chairman threatened to petition foreign embassies and write the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami over the alleged failure of INEC to recognise its candidates for the 2023 general elections despite valid court orders.





Omo-Aje who spoke on the sidelines of a programme to mark his 69th birthday organised by party members on Monday, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to call INEC to order in for the development of democracy in the country.





He assured that if INEC failed to do the needful, members of the party would stage a very massive protest to the National Assembly to ask for the inclusion of the party by INEC.





He explained, Our lawyers are working on letters to all the embassies and organisations that partner with INEC. We will also write the Attorney-General of the Federation first for his intervention.





Omo-Aje lamented the failure of INEC to invite him to the recent meeting it had with political party chairmen but surprisingly, he said that Kenneth Udeze, the sacked AA chairman was invited, describing the development as lawless.
Reno Omokri, a social media influencer has warned Nigerian students against voting for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi whom he described as stingy.

Omokri warned that Nigerian students should expect the mother of all strikes from the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, that would be frustrating if Obi is elected president.

In a series of tweets, Omokri recounted that doctors were on strike for 13 months when Obi was the Governor of Anambra State.

He wrote: Nigerias 26 million registered student voters should note that a stingy man, like Peter Obi, will not pay ASUU well. If he is elected, expect strikes that will frustrate you.

You need a man, like Waziri Atiku Abubakar, who has promised to pay workers a living wage.

Students should note that under Peter Obi Anambras doctors were on strike for 13 months over low pay.

Google it! If the 26 million registered voters who are students vote for Obi, expect the mother of all ASUU strikes. Vote Atiku if you want to graduate in 4 years!




The Speaker of the House of Representatives has called for urgent actions to end attacks on politicians, noting that such attacks pose threats to the forthcoming elections.





Mr Gbajabiamila said this on Tuesday while delivering his New Year Speech at the resumption of plenary after Christmas and New Year holidays.





He noted that there has been an increase in attacks on political actors, raising concerns about the general insecurity across the country.





It would be recalled that in the past year, there have been different attacks on political actors including the recent attack on the Chairman of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Ugo Chinyere in Imo State.





Also, there has been an increase in attacks on facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the southeast and southwest.





As we approach the general elections, there has been a marked increase in incidents of insecurity and vicious attacks on political actors in parts of the country. We must unite to ensure this dangerous trend does not lead to circumstances that threaten the forthcoming elections, he said.





He added that The quality of the political conversations in society, particularly in the lead-up to elections, is a determining factor in the electoral outcomes and the quality of governance that will result therefrom.





Speaking on the debt profile of the federal government, Gbajabiamila urged committees to intensify their oversight of ministries, agencies and parastatals.





It was reported that the lawmakers will embark on another holiday on Thursday to focus on campaigns ahead of the February 25 election.
Kenneth Okonkwo, the campaign spokesperson of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, has taken a swipe at Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In an interview on Channels Television, Okonkwo praised Peter Obi, the LP presidential candidate, who spoke at the Chatham House in the United Kingdom earlier on Monday.

Obi, who delivered a speech and answered questions afterwards, promised to destroy the structure that has kept Nigerians in poverty if elected president.

Meanwhile, on December 5, Tinubu, while at the Chatham House, delegated some questions directed to him to some persons on his team.

Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, and Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, were part of the team members that answered questions on Tinubus behalf.

In a separate development, at an APC presidential rally in Ondo on January 7, Tinubu described Obi as Mr Stingy, and said the LP candidates policy on saving state funds is a recipe for underdevelopment.

Speaking on Obis feature at the Chatham House, Okonkwo, who aimed a dig at Tinubu over the latters decision to delegate questions, expressed satisfaction with the LP candidates outing in the UK.

His appearance today at Chatham House is not just an appearance that will further Labour Party or further his candidacy, but his appearance has projected Nigeria as a pride of the black race, has projected Nigeria for what it is  the giant of Africa, Okonkwo said.

Im so proud of my principal who was so stingy that he went to Chatham House and refused to share questions.

He was answering the questions, in contradiction to the generous APC candidate who went there and shared the questions for other people to answer.




Phrank Shaibu, aide on communications to Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says Bola Tinubu is not the best civilian governor Lagos has had.

In a statement on Sunday, Shaibu said the late Lateef Jakande is the best civilian governor to oversee Lagos.

Tinubu, standard bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has repeatedly boasted that he laid the foundations of modern Lagos in 1999.

Jakande, now late, was governor of Lagos between 1979 and 1983.

The former vice-presidents aide said projects like the Lekki-Epe expressway, government house in Alausa, and the Lagos State University (LASU) are relics of the Jakande era.

Tinubu cannot be the best product from Lagos. That title belongs to the late Lateef Jakande who was a disciple of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, he said.

Jakande built the Lekki-Epe Expressway from scratch, effectively opening up the Lekki Peninsula axis.

He built all the low-cost housing units in Lagos. Some of the housing units include low cost estates at Amuwo-Odofin, Ijaiye, Dolphin, Oke-Afa, Ije, Abesan, Iponri, Ipaja, Abule Nla, Epe, Anikantamo, Surulere, Iba, Ikorodu, Badagry.

Jakande built all the general hospitals in Gbagada and Ikorodu as well as LASUTH. He also built 20 health centres in the state. Jakande also constructed most of the primary and secondary schools in Lagos that still stand today.

Available records stated that Jakande built 11,000 classrooms between March and August 1980 and by 1983, he had built over 22,000 classrooms with 40 pupils per class.

Shaibu also said the claim by Tinubu on internally generated revenue (IGR) and non-availability of ambulances in Lagos have been found to be false.

Tinubu also claims Lagos was a jungle, an uncivilised place when he took over in 1999. This is pure falsehood since Lagos was the headquarters of the stock exchange and the private sector since the 1960s, the aide said.

His claim that the entire state had just one ambulance when he took over in 1999 is also impossible to believe and is specious at best.

Tinubus strategy is based on falsehood. He paints a grim picture of Lagos he inherited, describing the state as a jungle and then exaggerates the little achievements he made in his eight years in office but Nigerians must not be fooled.

If after 23 years, Lagos still does not come up in the top 30 most liveable cities in Africa, there is no guarantee these people will fare better in Aso Rock. Tinubu is not bringing any renewed hope.

He is bringing hopelessness to Nigerians and must be prevented from doing so.




Ondo State Government on Tuesday commented on the growing anxiety about the health of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.





The administration said it was constrained to respond to the concerns and assure people that by the grace of God, there is no cause for alarm.





A statement by Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Richard Olatunde like every other person, Akeredolu had a health challenge but has received treatment and is recuperating speedily.





The spokesperson said is principal is not a superhuman and the immunity his office enjoys does not extend to physical wellness or otherwise.





Olatunde noted that contrary to speculations, the governor though frail, is discharging his official functions and not faced with any life-threatening illness.





The government listed his recent engagements including last weeks Executive Council meeting and Security Council meeting where decisions were taken on the escalated clashes in Ikare-Akoko.





The Governor, who participated in rigorous campaign activities on the 7th of January, couldnt have been bedridden as widely speculated.





Last Friday, Governor Akeredolu still inaugurated a new Refrigerated Van for the use of Meat Dealers in the State. He also received the Melvin Jones Award of the Lions Club International same day.





Appreciating the outpour of prayers even beyond partisan lines, Olatunde urged all persons of goodwill to ignore unfounded insinuations capable of creating any false sense of needless anxiety.





The statement followed the leaked audio where Akeredolus wife alerted that her husband is on a sick bed after eating a concoction allegedly from a female aide, Bunmi Ademosun.





She accused the Special Adviser on Multilateral and Inter-Governmental Affairs of sneaking to give her husband the local herb.





In the audio heard by newsmen the Ondo First Lady strongly warned the SA to stay away from her husband or face her wrath.





What has triggered this very message was her recent meeting to become the deputy governor of the state. Look at you! What have you got upstairs to be the deputy governor of Ondo?





Peradventure, if anything happens to Aketi. Lucky (Aiyedatiwa  incumbent deputy) takes over. Its a constitutional thing but not for you to be scheming.





I warned Aketi from day one that this woman is evil and not good. And its happening. She has nothing good. Im warning her for the very last time to stay away from my husband.





I will deal with you mercilessly. Youll never forget in your life. You are a very terrible human being. Go away and enjoy your loot, Betty stated.
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Leaders of Louisianas commercial fishing industry say legal action may be the last and best tool they have to fight a $2 billion restoration project that will dramatically alter a large section of the coast.

Its going to be litigation, said Mitch Jurisich, an Empire oysterman and chairman of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force. Its the only way to stop this.

The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is the flagship project of an ambitious state-led plan to fight coastal land loss. The diversion would funnel mud-laden Mississippi River water through a section of levee on the west bank of Plaquemines Parish and send it spilling into Barataria Bay, potentially rebuilding 28 square miles of marsh with river sediment.

The project would mimic the natural riverine processes that created south Louisiana in the first place, diverting about 7 million tons of sediment into the Barataria Basin each year.

Louisianas land-loss crisis owes in large part to the levees that keep the Mississippi on its current path and protect the communities surrounding it from flooding. But that protection also means river sediment cant rebuild vast sections of the coast that have been lost to rising seas, subsidence, erosion from oil and gas canals and other factors.

While many state leaders and environmental groups back the project, its clear the diversion will have wide-reaching effects on the Barataria regions fishing communities. According to a recent environmental assessment by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the added sediment and freshwater would likely have major, adverse impacts on the basins oysters and brown shrimp. It would also harm populations of speckled trout and flounder, according to the Corps.
The federal government is establishing an office dedicated to cleaning up abandoned oil and gas sites, a move that Louisiana officials say will likely speed the process of tackling the states growing orphan well problem.

The U.S. Interior Department announced last week that the new Orphan Wells Program Office would ensure the effective, accountable and efficient spending of $4.7 billion the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act aims to pour into the plugging of abandoned wells.

We are making a historic investment to tackle legacy pollution  the largest in American history, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said while announcing the new office.

The rusty remnants of the oil and gas industrys boom years litter the state. The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources has documented about 4,600 orphan wells, but the total number is likely larger and growing by the day as small and mid-sized companies shut down and the industry shifts its focus to cheaper fossil fuel sources outside the state.

Sites are classified as orphaned when wells are no longer used and their operators have gone bankrupt, cant be located, or are unable or unwilling to maintain their sites.

Orphan wells often leak oil into soil and waterways. They also emit methane, a pollutant that harms air quality and contributes to climate change.

Late last year, the Interior Department began working with DNR to plug about 150 wells in five national wildlife refuges in Louisiana.

DNR has also received $25 million to tackle a few hundred wells in the Monroe and Shreveport areas.
TER HEIJDE, The Netherlands  With a surfboard strapped to his feet and the reins of a giant kite in his hands, Daan Vijverberg skimmed over whitecaps on the Netherlands windy south coast. Nearby, other kiteboarders caught gusts strong enough to fling their wetsuited bodies several feet into the air.

Its addictive, Vijverberg said, emerging from the water with a red face and the sniffles. I have to come two, three times a week.

The Dutch government made this stretch of coast a magnet for kiteboarders and other beachgoers a few years ago when it dropped off an immense pile of sand.

About 28 million cubic yards of sand  enough to fill the Mercedes-Benz Superdome six times  was dredged from the seafloor and piped here, forming a lagoon and pushing the beach about a half-mile into the North Sea. During the summer, the hook-shaped peninsula draws thousands of walkers, sunbathers and surfers  both the kite and traditional varieties.

But the goal of this monumental, $55 million sandscaping project was protection, not recreation. Called the Zandmotor (Sand Motor in English), the project is the worlds largest experiment in coastal storm and flood defense at a time when climate change is causing seas to rise and storms to intensify.

I thought this was an accident, Vijverberg said. I thought they were dropping sand off for something else and they never came back. I hope they dont change it.

But change is happening with every wave and puff of wind.

By design and over time, the project relies on natural forces to be the motor that spreads the sand along 13 miles of coast, adding about 3,500 acres of new beach and dunes as it does so. Wind, waves and currents do work that would otherwise require a repeated process of dredging, dumping and spreading with tractors and other heavy machinery along several miles of coastline.
Brusly High School teacher Kimberly Eckert (right) and Janae Montgomery, a paraprofessional, talk about teaching outside of the classroom following Eckerts class called educators rising during a Hawaiian themed school spirit day on Friday, September 23, 2022 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The class is of interest for Montgomery as it helps students who are interested in teaching.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultras 200 MP camera will apparently be capable of producing images that will not fill up the devices storage within a few hundred shots. Considering the least-expensive Galaxy S23 Ultra will obviously have the smallest amount of storage, this will be good news for those who want to take advantage of the premium camera equipment at the lowest cost.

4 Reviews

The leaker Ice universe has offered up an interesting Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra leak in regard to the size of the images that will be produced by the smartphones 200 MP camera. The tipster offered a couple of image file details that were supposedly taken from a Galaxy S23 Ultra and involved snapshots of what he calls a daily scene. One of the screenshots reveals a 37.06 MB file size while the other is a somewhat remarkable 20.98 MB. Both images enjoyed a huge resolution of 12240x16320.

Typical smartphone snapshots taken with a 12 MP camera might take up anywhere between 3 MB and 9 MB of space, so understandably the Galaxy S23 Ultras 200 MP camera requires much more storage space for each image file. However, when compared to something like the Xiaomi 12T Pro, it is clear to see that Samsung has been busy with compressing the S23 Ultras image file sizes so that buyers will get the most out of the storage space. The phone from the Chinese OEM reportedly produced an average image file size of 55 MB with its 200 MP sensor, which is considerably larger than those of the S23 Ultra shared by Ice universe.

While there are some concerns that greater compression might equal loss of details and reduced image quality, the photo file sizes will please those eyeing up the entry-level Galaxy S23 Ultra. It is believed there is a 1 TB variant of the S23 Ultra, but at a rumored price of almost US$1,500, there will be many who would rather spend around US$1,250 for the 256 GB model. This less-expensive Samsung flagship will still have the capability to store thousands of condensed images and allow shutterbugs a chance to get to grips with the much-heralded 200 MP-headed camera system.

Buy the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra on Amazon
The Indiana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Thursday in a case that could determine whether women and girls in the Hoosier State continue to have relatively unimpeded access to abortion.

At issue is whether the near-total abortion ban enacted in August by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb infringes on liberties guaranteed by the Indiana Constitution.

The 60-minute hearing before the five Republican-appointed justices is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Region time. It can be viewed online, either live or later, at the courts.in.gov website.

Following oral arguments, the Supreme Court typically takes at least a few months, and sometimes much longer, to issue a ruling.

Senate Enrolled Act 1, which briefly took effect Sept. 15, prohibits all abortions in Indiana from the moment of conception, except within 10 weeks of fertilization for pregnancies caused by rape or incest, or 20 weeks if necessary to prevent serious physical impairment or the death of a pregnant woman, or because of a lethal fetal anomaly.

The statute also would shut down abortion services at Planned Parenthood clinics by requiring every abortion be completed in a hospital or hospital-owned surgical center and put doctors at risk of losing their medical license if they fail to sufficiently justify the legal basis for an abortion.

Republican Owen County Judge Kelsey Hanlon issued a preliminary injunction Sept. 22 halting enforcement of the near-total abortion ban because she concluded the law likely runs afoul the Indiana Constitution.

Hanlon said the declarations in Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution that all people have a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," and that government exists for the "peace, safety and well-being" of the people, are judicially enforceable rights state courts previously have recognized include the right to bodily autonomy.

The judge said it remains an open question whether a specific right to privacy exists under the Indiana Constitution, along with a corresponding right to abortion access.

But she noted Indiana courts have long recognized that the state Constitution provides greater protection than the U.S. Constitution in some privacy-related circumstances, such as the right to consult counsel prior to consenting to a police search. As a result, she said, the U.S. Supreme Court's June 24 Dobbs decision repealing the right to abortion Roe v. Wade established in 1973 does not limit the enhanced privacy protections guaranteed to Hoosiers.

"Regardless of whether the right is framed as a privacy right, a right to bodily autonomy, a right of self-determination, a bundle of liberty rights, or by some other appellation, there is a reasonable likelihood that decisions about family planning, including decisions about whether to carry a pregnancy to term  are included in Article I, Section 1's protections," Hanlon said.

Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita, through Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher, is expected to argue at the Supreme Court that Hanlon got it wrong.

"In no event does Section 1 protect a right to abortion  a practice prohibited as criminal before, during and after the adoption of Indianas 1816 and 1851 constitutions. The trial courts recognition of a novel abortion right rests on the unprecedented notion that judges can disregard constitutional limits that offend their sensibilities," Rokita said.

Moreover, Rokita warns in his written briefing to the state high court that if notions like "self-determination," "bodily autonomy" or "privacy" can be read into Section 1, then Indiana's laws prohibiting assisted suicide, recreational drug use or driving without a seat belt similarly are at risk of being struck down.

"The only way to prevent Section 1 from becoming a vehicle for amending the Constitution by judicial fiat is to examine text and history to determine whether a given interest is of such a quality that the founding generation would have considered it fundamental or natural," Rokita said.

Hanlon took exception to that claim by the attorney general when she heard oral arguments Sept. 19, observing the founding generation that wrote Indiana's 1851 Constitution not only failed to recognize women's rights but explicitly prohibited Black and mixed-race individuals from remaining in the state and actively encouraged their return to Africa.

In response, Rokita noted in his brief that even after Indiana remedied those legal deficiencies, state lawmakers continued to ban abortion  or restrict it to the maximum extent possible while Roe was in effect  up to the present day.

"The state has a valid and compelling interest in protecting unborn children who are, at the very least, from the moment of conception a living being and potential human life," he said. "Protecting unborn human beings is consistent with traditional views of ordered liberty, which allows restrictions on liberty to prevent harm to others, and the longstanding, majority view of medical ethicists that physicians should not intentionally kill humans."

The statute was challenged by the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of several abortion providers.

ACLU attorneys are expected at oral arguments to urge the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutional right of Hoosiers to make deeply personal decisions relating to control over their bodies and lives, including whether to carry a pregnancy to term.

"Even though the state has an interest in regulating abortion, Senate Enrolled Act 1 goes too far," the ACLU said in its written briefing for the high court.

"(The law) materially burdens the right to terminate a pregnancy by banning abortion in almost all circumstances. Under (the law's) extremely narrow exceptions, only a tiny fraction of Hoosiers can access vital health care and only if they have suffered rape, incest or certain severe medical threats. Even then, myriad logistical hurdles would prevent eligible Hoosiers from obtaining abortions," it said.

The ACLU also won a second injunction barring enforcement of the near-total abortion ban Dec. 2 from an Indianapolis judge who determined that the law runs afoul of the states 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Rokita separately is pursuing appellate review of that ruling.

Records show Indiana was the first state in the country to legislatively impose new abortion restrictions following the Dobbs decision.

Among Northwest Indiana lawmakers, the 62-38 House in favor of the law vote split along party lines, with the Region's Republican representatives all supporting the near-total abortion ban and the Region's Democratic representatives uniformly opposed.

In the Senate, state Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, broke away from many of his fellow Republicans and joined all Region Democrats in voting no. The proposal passed the Senate 28-19, with the support of Northwest Indiana state Sens. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, and Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell.

Holcomb signed the measure into law immediately.

Meet the 2023 Northwest Indiana legislative delegation State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
Jen's Gourmet Cakes is going to bring Chesterton sweet treats, including traditional Filipino cakes.

Jenny G. Yednak will soon open the gourmet multi-ethnic cake bakery at 540 Indian Boundary Road in Chesterton. It also will offer "one-of-a-kind and exceptional" cakes from Japan, Hawaii, France and Italy.

"It's true gourmet offerings," she said. "Baking is a passion I developed, which led to the beginning of my home business. It got busy, and once I booked more and more people we needed to get our kitchen back and start doing business with a commercial retail store."

She learned to bake from her grandmother, who was a baker in the Philippines.

"A lot of the cakes I had didn't match my palate and I got tired of it," she said. "So I started making my grandma's cakes and bringing them to parties and people started enjoying it and actually started ordering from me. I got good at baking and decorating cakes."

Jen's Gourmet Cakes offers 41 different flavors of cake, including Red Velvet, Triple Chocolate, Strawberry-Chantilly, Banana Velvet, Black Forest, Lemon-curd, Mocha-Latte and Vanilla Bean.

"I love everything about baking," she said. "I love the procedure, the flavoring, the decorating, taking the picture, that people think it's pleasant to look at or how good they think it is. There's nothing about baking I don't love."

The bakery also has German Chocolate, Green Matcha, Marble, Pink Champagne, Raspberry-Chantilly, Salted Caramel, Toffee Caramel, Tiramisu and Tropical Coconut-Pandan. It also rotates through seasonal flavors.

"These are my own recipes, like French buttercream with a twist," she said. "It's multi-ethnic where you can explore different flavors from around the world."

Jen's Gourmet Cakes also has Filipino cakes, including ube cakes made with purple sweet yams. Other offerings include wedding cakes, cookies, cupcakes and flan.

"People kept calling me wanting to order cakes," she said. "I realized I could make money with this. My Facebook page grew from a couple of hundred followers to 13,000 followers. I got the realization that I've got to start something."

A Portage resident, Yednak found a site in Chesterton near her home. It's in a strip mall with Edward Jones and State Farm.

"It's close to the expressway. It's a busy place," she said. "The people of Chesterton are nice and friendly and accepted me to the town. Even though I'm Asian I didn't feel different. They treat me the same."

She took over a space previously occupied by a gluten-free bakery, so it didn't require much renovation. She decorated the interior like the Peggy Porschen Bakery in London.

"I liked the pink color and chic tone," she said. "It had a very modern touch to it. It had a feminine feel and my favorite jazz music. It's just a very feminine and floral bakery. I love the feeling and sensation of the bakery. I love the feminine feel as the majority of bakers I know are women. It's very inspirational."

Jen's Gourmet Cakes has a glass case with cakes, slices of cake and other sweets. It also takes custom orders it can turn around in a few hours.

It has a few tables and chairs for customers as they wait for their orders but caters to a carryout business with no dine-in. The bakery also does catering for baptisms, birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers, quinceaneras, office parties, celebrations and holidays.

Yednak hopes to open on Feb. 5 in anticipation of the Valentine's Day rush, but the opening date is not yet set in stone.

"I would tell my fellow Filipinos I am opening the first Filipino bakery in Northwest Indiana," she said. "I am so excited and proud of that fact. It's going to bring Asian flavors and multi-ethnic cakes. It has 41 cake flavors so there's something for everyone."

For more information, visit www.jensgourmetcakes.com or call 219-302-4040.

Open

Luketti brought some sparkle to Munster.

Claudia Darak opened the artisan jewelry store at 921 Ridge Road in Munster, in the same strip mall that's home to Butterfinger's and the U.S. Post Office. It specializes in handcrafted jewelry that incorporates vintage elements. It stocks one-of-a-kind and limited-edition jewelry such as charms, pendants, natural gemstones, freshwater pearls and reclaimed chains.

She's been selling artisan jewelry at farmers markets and craft fairs across Northwest Indiana and greater Chicagoland for 12 years, such as at Fetching Market, the Lubeznnik Art Festival, the Griffith Park Full of Art and the Highland Farmers Market. She built up such a loyal clientele over the years that she wanted to establish a brick-and-mortar shop so she would no longer have to meet with customers in parking lots, at Starbucks or other such places.

"Most of my clients are from the Chicago area so this is the perfect location. I wanted one location people can come to," he said. "I made handmade sterling silver jewelry, jewelry from repurposed materials, necklaces, earrings, rings and so on."

Luketti also will sell the work of other vendors and artists in the area. The store also carries ceramics, purses, leather and other goods.

"I want to carry the work of people I know and sell their stuff," she said. "I want to open it up to other vendors. This will be a story with different artists with different styles and price points."

Darak studied art graphics in college and started making jewelry for herself.

"I love it. You get to express yourself," she said. "I work with mixed metals and pictures. I do colorful unique pieces. Most of my pieces are one-of-a-kind. I make jewelry from scratch or take old jewelry and make it more modern."

Her pieces are unique.

"It's a little bit bohemian and elegant," she said. "I have different collections with different styles."

As soon as the spring, Luketti will host pop-up shops from other vendors and classes, such as on how to make jewelry or perfumes.

"There's nothing like this in Munster," she said.

Luketti will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.

For more information, call 219-237-2075 or find Luketti on Facebook, Instagram or Etsy.

Relocated

Southwest Academy of Kyokushinkai Karate is getting its kicks at a new location in LaPorte.

The dojo moved from the south suburbs to a new location at 507 Lincolnway. It celebrated a grand opening Thursday with the LaPorte Economic Advancement Partnership.

Previously located in Palos Hills, Hickory Hills and Chicago Ridge, the Southwest Academy of Kyokushinkai Karate claims to be the oldest karate school in Chicagoland. It has taught Sosai Mas Oyamas Japanese style for more than 55 years.

Sensei Dennis Morales has more than 16 years of experience with the martial arts, both in training and teaching. He teaches his students karate, fitness, discipline, self-defense and lessons they can apply to daily life.

Current classes serve children aged 6-11, youth aged 12-17 and adults over the age of 18 years old.

Here at the dojo, we train as a family. We work with lifting each other up," he said. "The path we take when we train in martial arts is not an easy one, however, it is a rewarding one. I look forward to helping others grow in their martial arts journey. Osu.

For more information, call 219-262-DOJO or visit www.southwestacademyofkarate.com.
Workers at a Starbucks in Valparaiso filed for a union election that could make the coffee shop on LaPorte Avenue just the second unionized Starbucks in Indiana, saying they have trouble paying their bills at a time when the company is reaping record profits.

Hourly workers at the Starbucks at 2310 LaPorte Ave., near Target at the Valparaiso Marketplace outdoor shopping mall, asked the National Labor Relations Board for union representation. An overwhelming majority of workers at the store signed union authorization cards, according to the Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board of Workers United.

Spokespeople for Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee giant, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

More and more Starbucks cafes have been unionizing across the country, in keeping with a broader trend of more unionization  long common in industrial and government workplaces  in the service sector. More Americans now work in the service sector and more employees of coffee shops, bars, breweries and restaurants have sought union representation in recent years.

The first Starbucks store unionized in December of 2021 in Buffalo, New York. More than 270 Starbucks stores in 37 states have since voted for unionization for more than 7,000 workers across the country. Starbucks Workers United said the company is now being prosecuted for more than 900 violations of federal labor laws nationwide after, for instance, it failed to recognize unions or allegedly failed to bargain in good faith.

Workers at a Clarksville Starbucks in the Louisville metro were the first to vote to unionize in Indiana in July. The Valparaiso cafe is the first in the Hoosier State since then to ask the National Labor Relations Board to unionize.

Our store was the first Starbucks in Valparaiso. It was built in 2001 and has had the same manager for its entire life," the store's organizing committee said in a statement. "Many of our partners have worked here for four years and above. Some have worked here even longer and have become community staples and highlights of customers' morning coffee runs. We love being baristas and we love serving our community, but Starbucks as a company is making it harder and harder for us to do the things we love. Our ability to pay our bills, to keep our health insurance, to earn our sick time is diminishing while Starbucks continues to make more money than ever. We love our jobs. We want to keep them, but we cant afford to work here unless conditions are drastically changed. Corporate does not want these changes. Unionizing is our only option."

Starbucks also has Valparaiso locations at 2160 W. Morthland Drive and 2711 Calumet Ave. in Cumberland Crossing.

In the third quarter, the company generated a record $6.1 billion in revenue, up 15% year-over-year.

Store employees sent a letter to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz asking for better pay and working conditions.

If we want better conditions for ourselves and to provide better service to our customers, we have to be the ones to create those conditions," the letter signed by a majority of store employees said. "Unionization is the only real avenue for change. For challenging the status quo. For holding ourselves accountable."
VALPARAISO  Business professor Dushan Nikolovski created The Big Sell, an entrepreneurial contest that launched successful companies like LoopyCases and Centipede Sawhorse, which makes a heavy-duty but foldable work support system that is sold at Lowe's and Home Depot stores around the country.

The Big Sell long packed the now-bygone Radisson Hotel at Star Plaza in Merrillville with hundreds of audience members who got to vote on which start-ups had the strongest, most compelling pitches.

Purdue University Northwest took over running The Big Sell. Earlier this academic year, Nikolovski moved on from his longtime position as a professor of entrepreneurship at Purdue Northwest's College of Business and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship Success in Hammond to join Valparaiso University.

He's now running Valparaiso University's Innovation Hub and working to establish a new entrepreneurial contest to coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Week in November. He's planning a week's worth of events similar to an entrepreneurial festival in Montreal, in which aspiring entrepreneurs would learn from some of the Region's leading business people, gleaning insight on how to establish and grow their own companies and make their dreams come true. It would culminate with a new pitch contest aimed to launch fledgling firms to the next level, setting them up with seed capital and professional assistance.

"Having it in November gives us time to put everything together. I'm going to spend the next month trying to find sponsors and professional services," Nikolovski said. "Once it gets up and running, I hope to have it in the Harre Union hall at Valparaiso University. We wouldn't be able to have 600 or 700 people like in the Radisson, but there's no venue that big now, and we could have 500 or 600 people."

Nikolovski, who was also named a clinical associate professor of entrepreneurship at Valparaiso University, has spent his first months as director of the Innovation Hub learning about what the business community needs as he looks to forge partnerships, such as with groups like the Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce and local Rotary Club chapters.

"I've been going out into the community in Porter County and Northwest Indiana," he said. "We're definitely interested in partnering with different organizations like SCORE, which provides business mentoring to entrepreneurs."

It's working to offer small businesses and the community free to low-cost classes on a variety of topics.

Founded in 2017, but long operating without a director until Nikolovski was appointed to the role last summer, Valparaiso University's Innovation Hub strives to "foster an innovative and entrepreneurial culture" in Northwest Indiana. Valparaiso-based Task Force Tips owner Stewart McMillan, whose father revolutionized fire hose nozzle designs, donated the building for the Innovation Hub, McMillan Hall.

The Innovation Hub plans to provide business owners with training, workshops, classes and consulting services. It also will prioritize workforce development, such as by promoting pathways to MBAs, certificate programs and lifelong learning.

It also will work toward creating an entrepreneurial contest of the scope The Big Sell used to be before it was scaled down in recent years.

"I'm looking to engage the entrepreneurial community with something big," Nikolovski said. "The Big Sell is still going on at Purdue Northwest, but it's at a different level. It helped many companies launch products and services. LoopyCases for instance now has 66 or 67 employees in Griffith. Centipede Sawhorse came out of our contest, and they're in big-box stores all over the country."

He's looking at an entire week of events leading up to the competition such as lunch-and-learn workshops on how to incorporate businesses, market products and get manufacturing off the ground. Different speakers from the business community would give presentations.

He also envisions an entrepreneur speed-dating-like event in which entrepreneurs would have a few minutes to pick the brains of leading business people such as McMillan.

"Imagine getting two minutes with Scott Albanese or Urschel or BNutty, how valuable that would be," he said. "You could ask questions and get insights from these successful entrepreneurs and learn from them."

The contest would consist of entrepreneurs pitching their best business ideas, making the case for why they would succeed and why they deserve funding. They would be judged by the audience and a panel of experts.

"The audience comes out because they get to vote on the best ideas," he said. "It's good for the entrepreneurs because you've got to be able to sell your products or services to the customers. No matter how much you like the product, it doesn't work if you don't sell it to the public. Webvan was a grocery business during the dot com era that was the first to do the grocery delivery that's successful now. They had a network of warehouses that rivaled Amazon. But they failed because they didn't have customers."

Audience participation also builds buzz and enthusiasm.

"I think The Big Sell was so successful because it was like 'American Idol,' where the audience members could choose the next big winner," he said. "It drew crowds because people had a chance to participate. They could be part of the system and give their input."

Winners of the contest would get cash prizes and professional services donated to them to get their companies off the ground. Nikolovski is now looking for attorneys, accountants, marketing firms, social media marketers and others who could donate time and services to the startups.

He hopes to foster more entrepreneurship in the Region.

"There's a flood of people coming to Dyer, St. John and Northwest Indiana," he said. "If you look at other growing places like Nashville, they have small businesses like barbecue places opening on every corner. We should encourage small businesses like that. We've always engaged big businesses in Northwest Indiana, but it's small businesses that create 70% of the new jobs."

He's also looking to help keep more of the entrepreneurial contest winners in Northwest Indiana. Centipede Sawhorse, for instance, does its manufacturing in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

"We would like the people in different communities to support these startups," he said. "We have to be competitive to keep businesses here. People are running out of Chicago, and I believe Indiana is in a better position to welcome small businesses. We should be very welcoming and have a good business environment to encourage growth."

Whether through the contest or other programming, the Innovation Hub will work to create more opportunities for small businesses in Valparaiso and Northwest Indiana.

"There's a new spirit and new leadership at Valparaiso University," he said. "We want to be collaborative and be part of the community. We want to work with small businesses and create great opportunities."

For more information, including about potential collaborations, email dushan.nikolovski@valpo.edu.
VALPARAISO  For the second time in about a week, a false threat of violence triggered a response from police and disrupted operations at Valparaiso High School, according to officials.

Valparaiso police said they were notified at 11:34 a.m. Tuesday that the threat had been called into the school at 2727 N. Campbell St.

The school was placed in a lockout status while members of the Valparaiso Police Department and Valparaiso Community Schools worked in conjunction to ensure safety and investigate the threat, police said. The investigation determined the threat was not credible and building occupants were not in any danger.

Police say they will continue their investigation and remain in the area for the remainder of the school day. The lockout has been lifted.

All students are proceeding with school inside the building as usual and the perimeter of the building is secured, Valparaiso police said during the lockout. Students are safe and under no immediate threat.

Please refrain from reporting to the high school until the situation is resolved, police had asked.

On Jan. 9, a bomb threat, which proved to be false, led to a lockdown and early release of students at Valparaiso High School.

The threat indicated an explosive device had been placed in a specific location within the school, the department said at the time.

Police said lockdown means all students are kept in classrooms and the perimeter of the school is secured.
EAST CHICAGO  The East Chicago Common Council is overriding a mayoral veto of an ordinance adopted last month that realigns city districts to make the number of residents more equal based on 2020 census results.

Council President Monica Gonzalez, D-1st, said that Mayor Anthony Copeland provided no feedback to the council regarding the reason for the veto and that he had not expressed a desire to have input in the process.

"For us to get that pocket veto back was kind of a slap in the face," Gonzalez said.

The vote was 6-3 to override.

The council has also shot down a request to open a flea market at the site of a former furniture store at 2121 E. Columbus Drive.

It did so by denying a petition for use variance that would have allowed the business to operate there.

The East Chicago Board of Zoning Appeals had previously recommended the petition be denied.

Councilwoman Stacy Winfield, D-4th, said about 15 residents spoke against the use variance at a BZA meeting.

"What we're looking for is a grocery store," Winfield said.

A Fresh County Market grocery store had at one time occupied the space.

City Planner Debbra Gritters said that the BZA voted against the variance because of a lack of parking spaces for the amount of intended retail clientele and that there was also concern about compliance with the fire code because it was not known what kind of products would be sold.

In other business, several people who attended the meeting addressed the council with concerns about violence, homelessness and lack of a shelter in the city for the homeless following the recent shooting death of Kelley Holmes at a gas station in East Chicago.

Councilwoman Debra Bolanos, D-at-large, said she knew the victim.

"This young man was homeless, and unfortunately his life was taken," Bolanos said.

The first regular council meeting of the new year saw Gonzalez reelected as council president for 2023. Last year was her first as council president.

"I'd just like to thank my colleagues for having the confidence in me for a second term," Gonzalez said.

Councilman Robert Garcia, D-5th, was elected to serve as vice president.

Gallery: The Times Photos of the Week Chesterton swimming Perkins Good Earth Farm Perkins Good Earth Farm Lake County coroner's office welcomes furry new deputy Lake County coroner's office welcomes furry new deputy Mt. Carmel vs. Crown Point dual wrestling meet Mt. Carmel vs. Crown Point dual wrestling meet Mt. Carmel vs. Crown Point dual wrestling meet Mt. Carmel vs. Crown Point dual wrestling meet Mt. Carmel vs. Crown Point dual wrestling meet 011423-spt-bbk-por-lc_8 011423-spt-bbk-por-lc_2 011423-spt-bbk-por-lc_7 011423-spt-bbk-por-lc_3 011423-spt-bbk-por-lc_4 011423-spt-bbk-por-lc_9 Treasure hunter Treasure hunter Mayor Jerome Prince speaks at Gary Chamber of Commerce lunch Mayor Jerome Prince speaks at Gary Chamber of Commerce lunch Mayor Jerome Prince speaks at Gary Chamber of Commerce lunch Valparaiso High School lockdown Annual Christmas tree bonfire held at fairgrounds Annual Christmas tree bonfire held at fairgrounds Annual Christmas tree bonfire held at fairgrounds Gallery HTML code
HAMMOND  On the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the federal holiday for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., its time to reignite the village values that King endorsed, the Rev. Regan Robinson said.

Borrowing from the song Nobodys Supposed to Be Here, he asked, What caused village values to be extinguished?

The pastor at St. John Baptist Church in Gary, Robinson keynoted the annual King march and celebration Monday at the Hammond Civic Center.

Why, in 2023, Robinson questioned, is this country still dealing with such issues as voting rights, fair wages, equal pay for equal work, gun control and access to health care and education?

Village values, the celebration theme, Robinson said, were extinguished by elements of racism, classism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia.

People have lost their focus, the pastor charged. Quoting from the prophet Micah, Robinson said people must do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.

He continued, We must start doing what God has held us to do. Weve forgotten what it means to be humble.

Robinson encouraged his audience to do justice with mercy on your mind. Hammond and Northwest Indiana must hasten to understand, we are all important. In the spirit of Martin Luther King, continue to fight on, anyway.

You have a role to play if were going to reignite village values, he went on. If we begin in our house, our block, our community, well see soon ... that we can bring about a new world.

The program began with a candlelight vigil from Freedom Plaza in Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park. Dedicated in 2020, the park near City Hall features Freedom Plaza, with images from and information about Kings life.

Participants then marched to the Hammond Civic Center for the community commemoration. The Ministerial Alliance of Hammond & Vicinity and the citys Department of Planning and Development sponsored the morning program.

The Rev. Orville Sanders, president of the clergy group, said Kings message of nonviolence is as important today as it was in his lifetime. We still have a significant racial divide in this country. Indeed, theres still much work to be done.

Mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr. told the crowd that included youth that Kings accomplishments came as a young man. He called King one of the greatest Americans of all time.

Young people carrying signs led the march to the Civic Center. Nevaeh Lamar, 11, a fifth-grader at Irving Elementary, was holding a photo of the civil rights leader. King, she said, made sure a lot of people came together.

Jayda Lamar, her twin sister, added, We respect King because he was Black and he changed the laws.

Siblings Elijah, 10, and Endia Chapman, 11, students at Jefferson Elementary, also carried signs. Endia said she learned about King at school and from her mother.

King, the girl learned, equalized the rights for Black people. He earned the Nobel Peace Prize and he had an I Have A Dream speech.

The King holiday is traditionally observed on the third Monday in January as a time to reflect on Kings life and the work that remains to be done for racial equality.

In the civil rights movement, King, who was assassinated in 1968, was seen as a chief spokesman for nonviolent activism and for protesting racial discrimination at federal and state levels.

President Ronald Reagans administration had originally opposed the MLK holiday, citing cost concerns. But on Nov. 2, 1983, Reagan signed a bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Katie Hall, D-Gary, to create a federal holiday honoring King. The bill had passed the Senate by a 78-22 vote and the House by 338-90.

The holiday was first observed Jan. 20, 1986. Some states initially resisted MLK Day or combined it with other holidays. The holiday was officially observed in all 50 states in 2000.

Current Rep. Frank J. Mrvan, D-Highland, encouraged people to put aside their differences. Diversity is our strength, but our power is unity, the congressman said.

Hammond Central High School sophomore Jennifer Tamayo, 15, who led the Hammond Central Color Guard, noted, I like how the community comes together and walks and stands with each other.

Haley Jones, 13, an eighth-grader at Eggers Middle School, added, Its important to do the march because King helped African Americans get their rights.

Jones sign had this MLK quote: I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

That message means a lot, Jones said. People have to get the right things done.

Jones is a member of E-Girls, a leadership program for female students at Eggers. Linda Watson, a seventh-grade math teacher at Eggers, said it was important for children to participate in the MLK service because of what Dr. King did for civil rights and that his legacy is not lost with the younger generation.

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MICHIGAN CITY  An incarcerated man was found dead after a fire broke out in the Indiana State Prison on Saturday morning, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.

The fire occurred in A cell house just before 11 a.m. Saturday, an IDOC spokesperson wrote in an email to The Times. Michael W. Smith, 48, died and two other individuals were treated at nearby hospitals, the IDOC spokesperson said. Both individuals have been released from the hospital.

The incident is currently under investigation. According to the IDOC, Indiana State Police, the state fire marshal and the Michigan City Fire Department are all assisting with the investigation.

This is not the first fire that has occurred at the Indiana State Prison, which is located in Michigan City.

In April 2017, 30-year-old Joshua Devine was burned to death while incarcerated. According to previous Times' reports, Indiana State Prison Superintendent Ron Neal said Devine's death was ruled an accident.

Neal said reports from both the Indiana State Fire Marshal's office and LaPorte County coroner's office stated, "the decedent may have been altering electrical equipment in his cell."

Devine's family members have filed a federal lawsuit against the IDOC. The lawsuit alleges state prison staff ignored Devine and other incarcerated individuals' cries for help, not opening Devine's cell door until it was too late.

A trial is scheduled for July.

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VALPARAISO  When state Sen. Eddie Melton was a young boy, he rode with his mother to Valparaiso University, where she was employed. Melton wondered what that large building, the Chapel of the Resurrection, was. On Monday, he was the keynote speaker for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration.

Melton was presented the first MLK Community Drum Major Instinct Award in recognition of his lifelong commitment to giving voice to the voiceless, President Jose Padilla said.

Melton said that as he looked at Valps mission statements, the word purpose stood out.

I encourage you to live your life in purpose and to live your lives on purpose, Melton told the large crowd.

King pursued his God-given purpose and never lived long enough to see it to fruition, Melton reminded the audience. King was assassinated April 4, 1968. Sunday would have been his birthday.

Like the prophet Moses, Melton said, King led his people to the promised land but couldnt enter it.

Kings famous I've Been to the Mountaintop speech was his last, delivered less than 24 hours before he died.

Melton quoted from Kings speech: Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live  a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

He was granted a vision of America, a dream, if you will, of how America could be, Melton said. He encouraged everyone to make that dream a reality.

Melton also acknowledged the sacrifices made by Kings wife, Coretta Scott King, as her husband worked and ultimately died for the causes he believed in. Melton serves on a board with the Kings daughter, Bernice King, and has seen how that pivotal moment in civil rights history, her fathers 1968 death, affected her.

It will compound the tragedy if the lessons he did articulate are now ignored, Melton said.

Melton, a Gary native running for mayor, gave credit to former U.S. Rep. Katie Hall, D-Gary, for making Kings birthday a national holiday in 1984.

Dr. King was a radical revolutionary, Melton said, who spoke of the effects of spending more on military defense than social justice.

King said in 1967, The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and racism. The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of social and economic power."

All leaders must ask ourselves if we are truly doing the right thing every day, Melton said. Remember, a leader is merely a servant who has the humility to serve others.

Our character is influenced by our core values, Melton said. He enumerated his own as faith, family, knowledge and community.

The theme of Mondays convocation was "Celebrating the Value of Humanity," Melton noted. Thats honoring Kings vision.

You are the light of the world, Melton said, offering a verse from Matthew 5 in the Bible. That light that lives inside of each of us is not to be stifled. It is to be shared with the rest of the world, Melton said. We must continue to encourage one another to see ourselves as God sees us.

Within our own minds and thoughts, thats where our fight is, Melton said.

So seldom do we see people in their true humanness, Angela Vidal-Rodriguez, assistant vice president for diversity, equality and inclusion, said. We fail to see them as fellow human beings made up of the same basic stuff we are, molded by the same divine image.

When we dehumanize the others, we dehumanize ourselves, she said.

Karen Allen, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions, called King a warrior of peace and probably one of the most prominent icons for social justice that ever lived.

Padilla presented the Faculty and Staff MLK Award to Michael Chikeleze, who serves as the first Richard C. and Francelia A. Gozon University Chair in Values-Based Leadership, Communication and Visual Arts.

PHOTOS: Hammond hosts annual MLK Day commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration Hammond's annual Martin Luther King commemoration
VALPARAISO  The Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with VNA Hospice NWI, is hosting its first nonprofit volunteer fair.

Many local nonprofit organizations, including VNA Hospice NWI, are always looking for volunteers; meanwhile, many service-oriented citizens are looking for volunteer opportunities but dont know where to start.

The fair can be the place to make those connections.

The Resolve to Get Involved Volunteer Fair is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 26. at the Valparaiso Boys & Girls Club, 708 Evans Ave.

We are very excited to help connect the organizations that do so much for our community with citizens that are looking for volunteer opportunities, said Kurt Gillins, vice president of programs and communications for the Valpo Chamber.

We dont have an event like this in our area, so this will be beneficial for everyone in our community. The Chamber is proud to help support our local nonprofits.

The pandemic changed how VNA Hospice connected with and recruited potential volunteers, said Erica Kerkes, VNA Hospice NWI volunteer coordinator.

"Our goal for this event is to bring like-minded organizations and volunteers together so that we can all work together to better our community.

At this newly established event, more than 15 nonprofits from in and around Valparaiso will be on hand to tell potential volunteers about their missions and how to get involved. The event is free to attend and open to the public. No registration is required, and attendees are encouraged to bring a friend.

The idea for this event came from Valpo Chambers Leadership Academy, where participants are encouraged to get involved and volunteer in the community.

The Valpo Chamber will be providing two $100 gift certificates for door prizes. All attendees are eligible to win.

The chamber said VNA Hospice NWI, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater NWI, Porter County Expo and Two Men and a Truck helped make the event possible.

For additional information, contact Kurt Gillins at 219- 462-1105 or kurt@valpochamber.org, or Erica Kerkes at 219- 462-5195 or volunteerinfo@vnanwi.org.

PHOTOS: Skaters hit rink at Central Park Plaza in Valparaiso Staffing shortage thaws ice at Deep River Waterpark rink Skating at the Central Park Plaza Ice Rink Skating at the Central Park Plaza Ice Rink Staffing shortage thaws ice at Deep River Waterpark rink Skating at the Central Park Plaza Ice Rink Staffing shortage thaws ice at Deep River Waterpark rink Skating at the Central Park Plaza Ice Rink Staffing shortage thaws ice at Deep River Waterpark rink Skating at the Central Park Plaza Ice Rink Staffing shortage thaws ice at Deep River Waterpark rink
Hoosiers who wonder how their state tax dollars are being spent soon may get access to a personalized report showing exactly where the money went.

The Senate Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy began evaluating legislation Tuesday directing the Indiana Department of Revenue to prepare and distribute a one-page annual spending report to every Hoosier who pays income tax to the state.

State Sen. Spencer Deery, R-West Lafayette, likened the report mandated by his Senate Bill 243 to the receipt a shopper would get after making a purchase at a retailer.

He said, for example, since about 50% of the state's General Fund budget goes toward kindergarten through 12th-grade education, the "receipt" would show a person who paid $1,000 in state income tax that $500 went toward education, along with a similar breakdown of other major state spending categories.

That spending and revenue information, along with a host of other data about state contracts, employees and assets, already is available on Indiana's Transparency Portal website: in.gov/itp.

But Deery believes directly providing the information to taxpayers will improve Hoosiers' awareness of state government, as well as their financial literacy.

"It's a simple idea, but I think the principles are sound," Deery said.

The committee chairman, state Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, said he's interested in the plan. Though he may want to include sales and other taxes paid by Hoosiers, and find a way to only post each taxpayer receipt online to save millions of dollars on postage.

Holdman also was concerned that no one showed up to the committee hearing to either support or oppose Deery's legislation.

"You either have a great idea or a terrible idea because no one is signed up to speak on your bill today, senator," Holdman quipped.

The committee must act on the proposal by Feb. 23 or else it likely will not become law this year.

Meet the 2023 Northwest Indiana legislative delegation State Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond State Rep. Earl Harris Jr., D-East Chicago State Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso State Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage State Rep. Mike Aylesworth, R-Hebron State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville State Rep. Kendell Culp, R-Rensselaer State Rep. Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point State Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie State Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary State Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton State Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso State Sen. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell State Sen. Mike Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores
Over the last four decades, China emerged as an economic powerhouse and the worlds factory floor. The countrys evolution from widespread poverty to the worlds second-largest economy led to an increase in life expectancy that contributed to the current population decline  more people were living longer while fewer babies were being born.

That trend has hastened another worrying event: the day when China will not have enough people of working age to fuel its growth.

In the long run, we are going to see a China the world has never seen, said Wang Feng, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Irvine who specializes in Chinas demographics. It will no longer be the young, vibrant, growing population. We will start to appreciate China, in terms of its population, as an old and shrinking population.

Government handouts like cash for babies and tax cuts, have failed to change the underlying fact that many young Chinese people simply do not want children.

I cant bear the responsibility for giving birth to a life, said Luna Zhu, 28, who lives in Beijing with her husband. Both their parents would be willing to take care of grandchildren, and she works for a state-owned enterprise that offers a good maternity leave package. Still, Ms. Zhu is not interested in motherhood.
The Chinese economy had one of its worst performances in decades last year as growth was dragged down by numerous Covid lockdowns followed by a deadly outbreak in December that swept across the country with remarkable speed.

China grew 3 percent for the year, numbers released Tuesday show, much less than in 2021 and short of Beijings target of 5.5 percent. Other than 2020, it was the most disappointing showing since 1976, the year Mao Zedong died, when the economy declined 1.6 percent.

The governments strict zero Covid restrictions cast a pall over 2022, strangling the economy with frequent quarantines, regional lockdowns and massive spending to pay for widespread testing. Then on Dec. 7, China lifted the policy without warning after nearly three years. Within weeks, the virus had infected hundreds of millions of people, killed many older residents and left factories, offices and restaurants bereft of workers and customers.

The policy reversal by Xi Jinping, Chinas top leader, has sparked hope that the economy will regain its footing this spring. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, a senior government official, Liu He, predicted that the Chinese economy will make a significant turnaround in 2023.
It is fair to say the world knows a great deal more about the Duke of Sussex penis than it did a month ago, not to mention novel uses for Elizabeth Arden cream.

Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III in September, the Firm  as the British royal family is unofficially known  hasnt just been grappling with a major management reshuffle. In a Netflix series and his splashy new memoir, Prince Harry has been lobbing a near constant stream of bombshell revelations into the public domain, airing intimate personal details as well as allegations of treachery and familial betrayal afoot behind palace doors in the House of Windsor.

But Britain doesnt have a monopoly on royal dirty laundry. Behold, four other messy monarchies that have also been engaged lately with dysfunction, disorder and high drama of their own.
Two gunmen invaded a home in Tulare County in Central California early Monday, where they killed six people, including a 16-year-old mother and her 10-month-old baby, in what the authorities said was presumed to be a gang-related attack.

Officers arrived at the home in Goshen about 4 a.m. local time, after someone called the police about a large number of gunshots, Sheriff Mike Boudreaux of Tulare County said at a news conference on Monday.

Details about the crime were sketchy, but in a later interview Sheriff Boudreaux told The Los Angeles Times that a deputy responding to the call found the infant cradled in the arms of her 16-year-old mother in a ditch outside the home. Both had been shot in the head.

Another victim was in the doorway, and three more were inside, including an older woman, the sheriff said. All were dead at the scene except for a man who died after being taken to a hospital. Two women survived the attack by hiding in a nearby trailer, the sheriff said. The authorities did not release the names of the victims.
When Lord Elgin, a British aristocrat, sailed home from Greece in the early 1800s, he also shipped to England some of the greatest treasures of antiquity: a collection that included statues of Greek gods and carved frieze panels depicting battling centaurs that once decorated the Parthenon in Athens.

Torn in some cases from the temple walls, ostensibly with the permission of the Ottomans who then ruled Greece, the so-called Elgin Marbles were later sold to the British government and became some of the most storied artifacts in the collection of the British Museum.

But they also became, almost from the very day they were removed, the subject of perhaps the worlds most notorious cultural dispute.

Since the days of Lord Byron, the romantic poet who was an early critic of their removal, the fate of the marbles has been bitterly contested. The British say the marbles were legally acquired and are best shown alongside other artifacts in a universal museum, while the Greeks view them as looted treasures that are a foundation of their national heritage.
AMERICAN INHERITANCE: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795, by Edward J. Larson

It was as bold an assertion as it was wrong. Last September, speaking in support of his states Stop Woke legislation, the Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, gave a brief lecture on liberty and slavery. The American Revolution, he said, was what had caused people to question slavery.  No one had questioned it before we decided as Americans that we are endowed by our creator with inalienable rights and that we are all created equal. Then that birthed abolition movements.

Facts, as John Adams once remarked, are stubborn things, and the fact of the matter is that the evils of slavery were being questioned long before 1776. Antislavery sentiment and arguments in the Atlantic world are nearly coeval with the rise of race-based slavery itself. African slavery existed in Spanish holdings in the New World as early as 1502; it had come to English North America by 1619. By 1652, leaders in Rhode Island (temporarily) abolished human enslavement, and Pennsylvania Quakers called for an end to slavery in 1688. The Massachusetts jurist Samuel Sewall published an antislavery tract, The Selling of Joseph, in 1700.

As early as 1680, a contemporary noted, the two words, Negro and Slave, had by Custom grown Homogenous and Convertible in the New World. On a visit to British North America around 1730, the cleric and philosopher George Berkeley reported finding an irrational contempt of the blacks, as creatures of another species. Note his terminology: Irrationality was a cardinal sin in a supposed Age of Reason.

Our own age has been hard on both reason and history. Too often the past has been deployed to fight the ideological wars of the moment, a tendency that reduces history to ammunition. And so Edward J. Larsons American Inheritance is a welcome addition to a public conversation, in the wake of The New York Timess 1619 Project, that has largely produced more heat than light.
Chinas twin crises

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, China sought to reassure the world that its economy was back on track. A delegation told world leaders that business could return to normal now that the country has relaxed its zero Covid policy.

But Chinas projected resilience does not align with two major revelations about its long-term health and stability.

Yesterday, China revealed that its economy had just had one of its worst performances since 1976, the year Mao Zedong died. Its economy grew by just 3 percent, far short of its 5.5 percent target.

Perhaps more consequential, China also revealed that its population had shrunk last year for the first time since the Great Leap Forward, Maos failed economic experiment.

In the population data, experts see major implications for China, its economy and the world. Births in China have fallen for years, and officials have fought to reverse the trend. They have loosened the one-child policy and offered incentives to encourage families to have children. Those policies did not work. Now, some experts think the decline may be irreversible.

A shrinking Chinese population means that the country will face labor shortages in the absence of enough people of working age to fuel its growth. By 2035, 400 million people in China are expected to be over 60, nearly a third of its population. That will have major implications for the global economy; the country has been the engine of world growth for decades.

Context: The problem is not limited to China. Many developed countries are aging, and toward the middle of this century, deaths will start to exceed births worldwide. The shift is already starting to transform societies. In East Asia, people are working well into their 70s, and in France, an effort to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is expected to expose older workers to hiring discrimination.
Apple will conduct an assessment of its U.S. labor practices under an agreement with a coalition of investors that includes five New York City pension funds.

The assessment will focus on whether Apple is complying with its official human rights policy as it relates to workers freedom of association and collective bargaining rights in the United States, the company said in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The audit comes amid complaints by federal regulators and employees that the company has repeatedly violated workers labor rights as they have sought to unionize over the past year. Apple has denied the accusations.

Theres a big apparent gap between Apples stated human rights policies regarding worker organizing, and its practices, said Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, who helped initiate the discussion with Apple on behalf of the citys public worker pension funds.
With days to go before the United States bumps up against a technical limit on how much debt it can issue, Wall Street analysts and political prognosticators are warning that a perennial source of partisan brinkmanship could finally tip into outright catastrophe in 2023.

Big investors and bank economists are using financial models to predict when the United States, which borrows money to pay its existing bills, will run out of cash. They are assessing what it could mean if the government is unable to pay some of its bondholders and the country defaults on its debt. And they are gaming out how to both minimize risks and make the most of any opportunities to profit that might be hiding in the chaos.

The need to start planning for a potential debt limit breach became more urgent last week, when Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen told Congress that the United States would hit its borrowing cap on Thursday. At that point, Treasury will begin using extraordinary measures to try to stay under the cap for as long as possible  but those options could be exhausted as soon as June.

Congress places a limit on the amount of debt the country can issue, with a simple majority in the House and Senate required to lift it. That cap, currently $31.4 trillion, needs to be adjusted to allow the United States to borrow to pay for obligations it has already committed to, such as funding for social safety net programs, interest on the national debt and salaries for troops.
Still, Judge Chen did not side with the investors on other parts of their case  and that could give Mr. Musk a path to victory. The plaintiffs have to show that the money they lost on Tesla stock was tied to a statement by Mr. Musk that the court finds to be false, such as the claim that he had the funding, legal experts said.

Mr. Musk could prevail if the jury finds that other statements he made were true and that those statements could have caused movements in Teslas stock.

In court documents, his lawyers have pointed to statements that they believe fit that description. For example, Alex Spiro, one of Mr. Musks lawyers, contended that the movements in Teslas stock could have been caused by his indisputably true pronouncement that he was considering taking Tesla private.

Any normal defendant would settle this case, but he does have something that is worth trying, Mr. Pritchard said.

Tesla, Mr. Musk and Mr. Spiro did not respond to requests for comment.

While Mr. Musk has always struggled to show that he had the funding to take Tesla private, he may seek to introduce new evidence and testimony in court that backs him up. He has maintained that Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund agreed to provide the financing.
During her 38-year career as a sales and marketing manager, Christine Jagueneau rarely thought about retirement. But when her job at a French industrial company was eliminated just before her 59th birthday last February, the idea of tapping her pension took on unexpected urgency.

Despite nearly a dozen job interviews, she said, employers have suggested that shes too old to be hired. She has just enough savings to coast to Frances current retirement age of 62. But a government plan unveiled last week that would make the French work longer, to age 64, risks undermining her financial security, along with that of millions of older job seekers who have been effectively shut out of Frances labor market.

Were being told to work more, said Ms. Jagueneau, who is eager to work and feels dismayed to be collecting unemployment for the first time in her life. But its almost impossible for older people to get jobs, because companies in France wont hire them.

As President Emmanuel Macron embarks on an overhaul of Frances expensive and generous pension system in order to preserve its finances, the notion of forcing people to delay their retirement has incited outrage. Polls show that four out of five people oppose raising that threshold, and the country is bracing for raucous nationwide strikes starting this week, as labor unions and workers of all stripes protest efforts to change a cherished totem that has long been viewed as a political third rail by the French.
The authorities claim that Mr. Bankman-Fried siphoned billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX and used the money to make political contributions, finance trading at Alameda and buy luxury real estate in the Bahamas, where FTX was based. Mr. Bankman-Fried was arrested by the Bahamian police on Dec. 12 and later extradited to the United States.

The government documents obtained by The Times show how the U.S. authorities described the case to the Bahamians as they pushed for Mr. Bankman-Frieds arrest. And the documents offer a detailed account of the discussions among FTX and Alameda executives about the exchanges use of customer funds. While some details of those conversations have appeared in public charging documents, others have not been previously disclosed.

Except for Mr. Bankman-Fried, none of the executives are named in the documents. But two of them, including the one who met with Mr. Bankman-Fried to discuss the customer funds, are described as high-level software developers who worked on FTXs code.

What to Know About the Collapse of FTX Card 1 of 5 What is FTX? The now bankrupt company was one of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchanges. It enabled customers to trade digital currencies for other digital currencies or traditional money; it also had a native cryptocurrency known as FTT. The company, based in the Bahamas, built its business on risky trading options that are not legal in the United States. Who is Sam Bankman-Fried? He is the 30-year-old founder of FTX and the former chief executive of FTX. Once a golden boy of the crypto industry, he was a major donor to the Democratic Party and known for his commitment to effective altruism, a charitable movement that urges adherents to give away their wealth in efficient and logical ways. How did FTXs troubles begin? Last year, Changpeng Zhao, the chief executive of Binance, the worlds largest crypto exchange, sold the stake he held in FTX back to Bankman-Fried, receiving a number of FTT tokens in exchange. In November, Zhao said he would sell the tokens and expressed concerns about FTXs financial stability. What led to FTX's collapse? Zhaos announcement drove down the price of FTT and spooked investors. Traders rushed to withdraw from FTX, causing the company to have a $8 billion shortfall. Binance offered a loan to save the company but later pulled out, forcing FTX to file for bankruptcy on Nov. 11. Why was Bankman-Fried arrested? FTXs collapse kicked off investigations by the Justice Department and the S.E.C. focused on whether FTX improperly used customer funds to prop up Alameda Research, a crypto trading platform that Bankman-Fried had helped start. On Dec. 12, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas for lying to investors and committing fraud.









In public charging documents, the authorities have identified two FTX executives who worked on the exchanges code: Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, who both helped found FTX with Mr. Bankman-Fried. The other unnamed person mentioned in the communications is described as a high-level Alameda official, an apparent reference to Caroline Ellison, who was Alamedas chief executive.

Both Ms. Ellison and Mr. Wang have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Mr. Singh has not been charged.
YARENTARO, Ecuador  Imagine your first contact with Western culture was with an oil company.

Ive been trying to picture it since I visited Yarentaro, a Waorani Indigenous village in the Ecuadorean Amazon that happens to be near some lucrative oil reserves.

The Waorani were seminomadic hunters when missionaries and oil companies arrived seeking souls and riches in the 1950s and 1960s. Their world changed quickly in the following decades, as oil companies occupied huge swaths of their territory to drill. And yet, they are still waiting for full access to much of whats good about Western society, like modern medicine and education.

Today, I want to tell you about Yarentaro because the people there have to live with the consequences of our societys failure to recognize the environmental services that the rainforest there, and other places like it, have long performed for free.

Im talking about the rain clouds that form above the trees here and help to nourish crops across the continent, the planet-warming carbon that trees and other plants store as they grow, and the forests cooling effect on our planet. (Its very likely that forests and their inhabitants do a lot more for us that science hasnt figured out yet. Keep in mind, there are thousands of tree species that are still unknown to scientists.)
In the summer, Le Dives seating tends to pour out into the carless streets, evoking a dream of New York City dining: to feel as if the boundary between inside and outside barely exists. But in these winter months, consider meeting up with a group of friends for the family-style prix-fixe menu, at $60 per person. Nothing brings people together quite like a rich brandade and some steak frites to share.

Speaking of steak frites, Hells Kitchen is now home to a bistro named, what else, Steak Frites Bistro (not related to the longtime restaurant with a similar name near Union Square). Its blessedly close to the Times building and could become my favorite spot for a post-work drink and whatever the French word is for nosh. The restaurant shines in all the places it needs to. The fries are crisp, the mussels stunningly tender and plump, and the namesake steak frites passed my ultimate test: The meat was perfectly salted. If you like your steak dressed, order a boat of au poivre or Bearnaise sauce on the side. All the better to dip the bottomless baguettes in.

As an added bonus, the wine list was put together by Alexis Percival, the sommelier and wine consultant behind Ruffian Wine Bar. The selection is natural-leaning but still decidedly French, with offerings from the Loire Valley, the Rhone and Languedoc. Great news for the wine lovers of western Manhattan.
Headliner

LAntica Pizzeria da Michele

Growing up in Naples, Italy, Francesco Zimone often had pizza with his father at LAntica Pizzeria da Michele, founded in 1870. Four years ago, following a career in finance and residential renovation, he obtained the rights to open a branch in Hollywood, Calif., and another in Santa Barbara. Now, hes opening one in New York. With a big, glassed-in open kitchen in a spacious rear dining room, the place is more restaurant than pizzeria. A pizzeria doesnt have to be a joint, Mr. Zimone said. His is clearly not. It has a barroom in front, with a separate counter for salumi and cheeses, and a brick-walled main dining room beyond. Tables are roomy to accommodate the 16-inch Neapolitan-style pies with their typically flavorful thin crusts and puffy, char-tattooed edge. Here, theyre also made with imported Italian ingredients like flour, San Marzano tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. (Mr. Zimones partner and head pizzaolo, Michele Rubini, is a fifth-generation member of the original pizzeria family.) In addition to pizza, there are antipasti, including gnocco fritto and montanarine made with fried pizza dough; salads; sandwiches (with a burger to come); a few pastas; and main courses. He said everything is made in house. In a few weeks, he plans to open a more-intimate Taverna downstairs for dining and private parties. After looking at many possible locations, he selected this one in the West Village, even though it required extensive renovation. The streets reminded me of parts of Napoli and Trastevere, he said. It felt like home.

2 Bank Street (Greenwich Avenue), 929-524-6682, damicheleusa.com.

Opening

Tortazo - Times Square

This is the second edition of the marquee chef and cookbook author Rick Baylesss casual Mexican spot. Tortas, including an eggplant milanesa, are a specialty, along with antojitos like smoked salmon ceviche, quesadillas and tacos. Agave spirits are poured. The dining area, framed with vibrant murals and furnished with a communal table and woven banquettes, seats 60. Takeout and delivery are available. A window open to the street offers freshly fried churros and hot chocolate. (Opens Thursday)

1441 Broadway (41st Street), tortazo.com.

Avocaderia

This casual avocado-centric spot, which made its debut in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, in 2017 and added branches in Chelsea and Midtown East, is now opening its flagship in NoMad. Owned by Alessandro Biggi and Francesco Brachetti, its on two floors with takeout and dine-in options for bowls, sandwiches and salads.

245 Fifth Avenue (28th Street), 929-447-5488, avocaderia.com.

Tangram

This mega-development in Flushing, Queens, combining retail, residential, office and hotel spaces, has added a 24,000-square-foot food hall to its collection of dining venues, which include Xian Famous Foods, Xiao Long Kan Hot Pot and Ju Qi. Now in the food hall, there are Joju, CrunCheese, Qing Shu and Soft Swerve, with more, including Zaab Zaab and Cafe Maiko, coming soon.

133-33 39th Avenue (College Point Boulevard), Flushing, Queens, tangramnyc.com.
Beginning in the 1980s, Dr. Baulieu received hate mail, some of it antisemitic. A poster in Canada featured Dr. Baulieus photo and the words Wanted for Genocide. One in San Francisco equated him with the Nazi death camp doctor Josef Mengele, calling them blood brothers. In New Orleans, a small bomb exploded at a conference at the time Dr. Baulieu would have been speaking if not for travel delays, he said.

He also received grateful letters from America and pleas for the pill to be available there. Some at Roussel-Uclaf felt he hadnt shared enough credit for RU-486. Not long after Dr. Baulieu won the Lasker Award, Dr. Teutsch, the chemist, was quoted as saying, Etienne Baulieu is the father of the pill, but he is not the father of the compound.

For years, afraid that opposition in America would lead to boycotts of its other products, the company declined to seek approval of RU-486. In 1993, an abortion rights organization started a clandestine lab to make the pill in a suburban New York warehouse. In 1994, with the Clinton administration championing the pill, Roussel-Uclaf donated American rights to the Population Council, a nonprofit organization.

The Food and Drug Administration gave RU-486 conditional approval in 1996, but large pharmaceutical companies wouldnt manufacturer it, and full approval didnt occur until 2000, after a small company, Danco Laboratories, agreed to make it.

Today, as some states ban nearly all abortions and propose actions to target medication abortion, other states and the Biden administration have taken steps to expand access to abortion pills. Patients can have consultations with abortion providers via telemedicine and receive the prescribed pills by mail. A new F.D.A. rule will allow retail pharmacies like CVS to fill prescriptions for the pills. And in states with abortion bans, many patients order pills from an overseas telemedicine abortion organization.
Nancy Adhiambo, a mother of five, learned she had H.I.V. during her third pregnancy. She started treatment but struggled to stay on the drugs as she moved around while leaving a chaotic relationship, and she couldnt obtain medication consistently for her baby.

That little girl, who is now 8, wasnt tested for H.I.V. for years, even though she was often sick with pneumonia as a toddler. It wasnt until last year, when Ms. Adhiambo found herself living down the street from a clinic in Migori town and joined a tightknit mothers group that she had all her children tested and learned that her third child was infected. So was her last-born, a 1-year-old. (Her two oldest and her fourth child were negative.)

These days, the older daughters H.I.V. is well controlled, and so is Ms. Adhiambos. Her face folded into a pleased half-smile when the clinic director congratulated her on the girls low viral count.

But when Ms. Adhiambo stopped by the pharmacy for the childrens drugs, she heard the same answer she had been given for weeks: The free pills were out of stock. She couldnt afford the ones that were for sale in town, given that she earns at most a thousand shillings, about 10 U.S. dollars, each month as a hairdresser, she said, so she would divide her remaining tablets among the children.

Poverty complicates things, she said bluntly. We can only hope for the best.

Audio produced by Parin Behrooz .
That, patients and advocates said, does not begin to capture what sickle cell really costs. Ashley Valentine, co-founder of the national advocacy group Sick Cells, said she had to take three months off from work in 2016 to help her brother, Marqus, who had sickle cell. When he had a hip replacement in 2018, her father missed so much work to help care for Marqus that he accepted a layoff from his job. It affected her mothers job, too.

And thats just us, she said.

Marqus died in 2020, at age 36, from a stroke caused by sickle cell.

While costs like the ones Ms. Valentine described are spread out over a lifetime, gene therapy must be paid for all at once. Concerns about the high price of the treatment worry many people with sickle cell and their families.

The modified virus that delivers gene therapy is expected to cost at least $1 million, based on what other gene therapy vectors cost. But that is only part of the price.

Treatment starts with intense chemotherapy in a hospital to wipe the bone marrow clean, leaving space for genetically modified red blood cells that result from the treatment. Patients then spend about a month in the hospital waiting for the modified cells to grow. After they are discharged, the patients are immunocompromised for about six months while their immune systems recover.

Insurers are likely to pay for the part of the treatment that involves using a disabled virus to deliver the therapy. But whether they will pay for most of the chemo, hospitalization and other costs is uncertain. Patients worry about bills from hospitals and doctors. Even if it is mostly covered, co-payments can be an issue.
China's hematopoietic stem cell donations hit record high in 2022

Xinhua) 14:04, January 17, 2023

BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- China recorded 1,968 hematopoietic stem cell donations in 2022, a yearly record high for the country, according to a meeting of the Red Cross Society of China's council on Monday.

The donations, including five for foreign patients, were registered at the China Marrow Donor Program, which also recorded the information of over 150,000 new volunteers for hematopoietic stem cell donation last year.

More than 3.18 million volunteers have had their information registered at the program over the 21 years since the program was launched, with over 14,000 donations made, according to the meeting.

The China Marrow Donor Program will continue to strengthen the construction of voluntary service teams and will enhance the integration of provincial-level voluntary service groups for hematopoietic stem cell donation and voluntary blood donation, said an official with the program.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Lesson Overview

Featured Article: Animals Are Running Out of Places to Live by Catrin Einhorn and Lauren Leather

Wildlife is disappearing around the world as habitat loss increases. Many animal species have lost over 60 percent of their natural environment since 2001.

In this lesson, you will meet some of the animals most affected by habitat loss and explore the many factors causing it. In Going Further activities, we invite you to learn more about these affected animals and what can be done to stop the loss of their homes.

Warm-Up

Scroll through the opening visual section of the article that illustrates the vertebrates that have lost the most habitat in the past 20 years. (This section goes from the words, At least 33 percent habitat loss to At least 60 percent habitat loss.)

What do you notice about the animals that have lost significant portions of their habitats? Which animals or statistics stand out to you and why?

What do you wonder? What questions do you have about the animals featured here or about habitat loss in general?

Afterward, with a partner, brainstorm a list of reasons for habitat loss across the globe. What role do you think humans play in this decline? You will later compare your lists to what you learn in the article.

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. Where do most of the mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles featured in the opening section live? What makes these animals particularly susceptible to habitat loss?
My boyfriend is planning to propose to me on a trip in three weeks. Is it right for me to become engaged while my brothers marriage is crumbling? Is it selfish to start a never-ending string of questions about marriage that commandeers family dinners and the like over the next few months? Or should I ask my boyfriend to postpone for half a year, when the divorce isnt so fresh? Name Withheld

Isnt your boyfriends letting you know that hes planning to propose tantamount to proposing? And isnt your not signaling that youll reject him tantamount to accepting? You two are already planning to marry. And youre already keeping that fact from your family. One might think the issue isnt whether you should go through with an engagement ceremony on your vacation; its when you should tell your family that you will be marrying.

Youre evidently thinking that once youve actually had a ritual of engagement, presumably complete with a ring, you would be keeping from your family something that they will feel they should have known. Airy intention will have been given a concrete shape. In that case, you could fairly decide to delay the announcement if you think it would be better for your family  and if your boyfriend has no objections. (You say nothing about his views on the matter.) But I have a question for you: Why are you so sure that your family would rather be brooding over your brothers divorce than celebrating your decision to get married?

Over the past year or so my husband and I noticed that our dear friend and neighbor, a woman in her early 60s, has developed a cough. She is a nonsmoker and is otherwise the picture of health. When I gently asked her about it, she said she had done a search on the internet and that it was acid reflux.

Weeks went by, then months, and she was still coughing  and it began to sound worse. While shopping, I suggested that she might want to see a clinician about it. A week later she informed me that she had seen a nurse practitioner and that a CT scan had been ordered. When I later asked her how the scan had gone, she said that she had canceled the appointment because it was too expensive and her health insurance did not cover it in full. My friend has money; I suspected that she had canceled the appointment out of fear.
Late in the film, Back to the Wharf, Li Tang (Zhang Yu), a corrupt real estate developer, scoffs after his friend, Song Hao, rejects a bag filled with dirty money. Times have changed, he says behind his new-money shades. Get off your moral high ground.

Following in line with the sixth generation of Chinese cinema, during which Chinese auteurs have reckoned with the implications of the countrys head-spinning modernization, this film from Li Xiaofeng turns a crime soap opera into an allegory about the moral costs of rapacious expansion  to middling effect.
The Syracuse police were searching on Tuesday for the assailant in a drive-by shooting that killed an 11-year-old girl who lived nearby as she was apparently walking home after buying milk.

The shooting on Monday night occurred at an intersection in the citys Southside neighborhood just opposite an elementary school named for Martin Luther King Jr., on a holiday named for the slain civil rights leader.

The police said the assailant shot the girl, hitting her in the midsection, and also an unidentified 19-year-old man, who was hit in the leg. He survived.

The girl, identified by the authorities as Brexialee Torres-Ortiz, was transported to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead, the police said. Photographs on local media showed a gallon of milk, spilled on its side, at the location of the murder.
Diversity training has been around for decades, long before the countrys latest round of racial reckoning. But after George Floyds murder  as companies faced pressure to demonstrate a commitment to racial justice  interest in the diversity, equity and inclusion (D.E.I.) industry exploded. The American market reached an estimated $3.4 billion in 2020.

D.E.I. training is designed to help organizations become more welcoming to members of traditionally marginalized groups. Advocates make bold promises: Diversity workshops can foster better intergroup relations, improve the retention of minority employees, close recruitment gaps and so on. The only problem? Theres little evidence that many of these initiatives work. And the specific type of diversity training that is currently in vogue  mandatory training that blames dominant groups for D.E.I. problems  may well have a net negative effect on the outcomes managers claim to care about.

Over the years, social scientists who have conducted careful reviews of the evidence base for diversity training have frequently come to discouraging conclusions. Though diversity training workshops have been around in one form or another since at least the 1960s, few of them are ever subjected to rigorous evaluation, and those that are mostly appear to have little or no positive long-term effects. The lack of evidence is disappointing, wrote Elizabeth Levy Paluck of Princeton and her co-authors in a 2021 Annual Review of Psychology article, considering the frequency with which calls for diversity training emerge in the wake of widely publicized instances of discriminatory conduct.

Dr. Palucks team found just two large experimental studies in the previous decade that attempted to evaluate the effects of diversity training and met basic quality benchmarks. Other researchers have been similarly unimpressed. We have been speaking to employers about this research for more than a decade, wrote the sociologists Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev in 2018, with the message that diversity training is likely the most expensive, and least effective, diversity program around. (To be fair, not all of these critiques apply as sharply to voluntary diversity training.)
The Democrats wont control any committees, but Mr. Jeffries will have big decisions to make on which Democrats sit where. He will have to weigh how he can best placate the various factions of the Democratic conference. Chairmanships are not at stake, but the process will determine who Mr. Jeffries decides to embolden.

The Squad and their allies loom. In a recent Instagram stream, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said she was taking stock of the tactics employed by the hard right. Im not gonna lie, some of the points that are made  I mean a lot of them are bad, most of them are bad  but some of them, there is actually some common ground on, she said. Like for example, democratizing the rules of the House and kind of breaking up that concentration of power that is so focused in a handful of leaders in both parties.

Mr. Jeffriess long-running hostility to the partys left flank may soon be thrown into much sharper relief. Nancy Pelosi evolved from a die-hard liberal who once backed single-payer health care into a more calculating, center-left party leader. Mr. Jeffries will probably need to migrate left if he hopes to successfully manage a caucus that is bound to grow more restive.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley and Jamaal Bowman never came close to seriously imperiling Ms. Pelosis speakership. Theres no doubt that the right-wing Republicans under Mr. McCarthy will enjoy comparatively more clout, gaining the ability to force snap votes on Mr. McCarthys future and infiltrating the powerful Rules Committee. Disobedience was worthwhile: The new speaker will be the weakest in modern times.

Mr. Jeffries, though, may not always enjoy Pelosi-style deference from the rank-and-file, including the hard left. Ms. Pelosi was the first female speaker of the House, a seminal political figure with an enormous fund-raising operation, the very personification of coastal liberalism. She frustrated the left, but also opposed the Iraq War, killed George W. Bushs plan to privatize Social Security and was a critical force in shepherding the Affordable Care Act into law. She was adept, first and foremost, at uniting various factions of the Democratic Party and quelling dissent.
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ezra klein

Im Ezra Klein. This is The Ezra Klein Show. There is this paradox in how we treat Martin Luther King Jr. Almost everyone in America reveres him, left and right. There are holidays named after him. There are statues of him, streets named after him. And almost no one really reads him. The man wrote many books, wrote many essays. Most of them are forgotten. Few of them are taught. And maybe thats not strange at all. Maybe its not an accident at all. King is so convenient as a myth, as a uniting figure. And he is so challenging, even today, as a philosopher. But that is one of the things he was. He was a philosopher. In recent years, theres been a counter narrative about King, trying to push back on this. And it admits part of what we leave out. It emphasizes the positions he held that are still very far from the American mainstream, his critique of American militarism, his advocacy of a universal basic income. This argument, it wants to enlist King  and I think its mostly correct in this  as a man of the left. But Kings thought is challenging if youre on the left too. Hes focused in ways very few are today, and in ways many are very uncomfortable with today, on how political action changes the person taking the action. He is not all about systemic solution. He is also about individual change. He is focused on questions of virtue. Hes relentless in interrogating what actually counts as victory when we engage in political action with and against each other. And he believes that when we are engaging in political action within against each other, we should be trying to find victory, at least victory as he defines it. Brandon Terry is a professor at Harvard University. And hes a Co-Editor of, To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther King Jr. I loved this book. One of Terrys projects is to force a confrontation with what King actually said and believed, rather than what hes come to represent. And that confrontation, it is so worth having. He is so challenging and worth reading and worth struggling with today. What he writes is so relevant today. This is one of those podcasts Im going to be thinking about for a very, very long time to come. As always, my email, ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. Brandon Terry, welcome to the show.

brandon terry

Thank you so much, Ezra. Its an honor to be here.

ezra klein

You have this lovely line at the beginning of the book, where you say that we treat Martin Luther King Jr. with this, quote, dual phenomena of ritual celebration and intellectual marginalization. What do you mean by that?

brandon terry

Well, theres this puzzle when we think about somebody like Martin Luther King Jr. And its that on the one hand, we have a national holiday devoted to him, an imposing monument on the hallowed space of the National Mall; hes invoked in all manner of political speeches from across the political spectrum, probably the most famous African American of the 20th century. But at the same time, if you ask even really well-educated people, they often dont know that hed written five major books, that hes a systematic theologian with sustained interest in political philosophy whos written lots and lots of things, incisive things, on some of the most pressing political and ethical matters. And the question is, how can those two things stand in connection? And what it occurred to me is that its partly related to how we tell the story of the civil rights movement and particularly, how we tell Kings role in the civil rights movement. So Ive described it as a romantic narrative, one thats about unities in the process of becoming, a calling together of Americans to transcend racial division and come together in a unifying way, a more perfect union, as a transcendence of essential American goodness over transitory American evils. And when we tell the story that way, unfortunately, not only is it mythic, but it trains us to treat King as the kind of person whos not doing any original political thinking. What hes doing is calling us to be true to who we always already were. And when you treat him like that, the thing that becomes most interesting about him is not his thought. Its not the way he challenged us to think about violence. Its not the way he challenges us to think about segregation, both de facto and de jure. Its not how he challenges us to think about economic justice. The thing thats interesting about him starts to be his rhetoric or his tactics, the way in which he pushes people or frames arguments to call us to be true to who we always already were. Thats a real problem because it evades the most incisive, challenging and generative contributions that his public philosophy makes for our era.

ezra klein

So we take King and the civil rights movement as a validation of America, not as a critique or even a conversation about it.

brandon terry

I think thats right  that it gets conscripted into a story thats ultimately affirming about the adequacy of our constitutional order, the trajectory of our institutions, the essential goodness of our national character. You often hear politicians use this rhetoric of, this is not who we are. And King wants to say something different, I think. He wants to say that we are both of these things. We are a society with what he called the congenital deformity of racism  that its shot through many of our deepest institutions and structural arrangements, and because it has not been redressed on the scale that it would have to be to achieve true justice, it festers. Its a rot. Its a challenge that every generation is called on to pick up and try to do better than their forebears.

ezra klein

Do you think the legacy or the popular understanding of nonviolence is actually part of this problem? And by that, I mean that the way I was taught about it, the way I think its taught, nonviolence becomes not so much a philosophy but a kind of almost inhuman forbearance and discipline that, to the extent you think about it, it is, in terms of what people like King and many others, of course, were able to endure. And it almost becomes a physical feat as opposed to a philosophical one.

brandon terry

I think thats right. Theres a way in which the philosophy of nonviolence gets painted, even in Kings time, as a kind of extreme, purist pacifism. And part of that is the connection with Gandhi, although I think its a radical misunderstanding of Gandhi, as well. But its a way of imagining the commitment to nonviolence as related to passivity, as related to the performance of suffering for pity. These are things that King never endures. For him, the idea of passive resistance was a misnomer. He helped coin the phrase direct action  he and other members of the civil-rights generation  that nonviolence is aggressive. Its an aggressive attack on injustice, an aggressive form of noncooperation with domination. Its about trying to wedge yourself into the machinery of domination, to prevent its adequate functioning, to try to force or coerce your fellow citizens to stop and take stock of what kind of injustices are being unfurled in their name. And it does so on the presumption that politics involves coercion, especially for King, who had a pretty tragic sense of human nature, that politics is going to involve confrontation with great evil, that its not a Pollyannaish view about what were all capable of if we just turn our eye toward God in the right way. Were owe it to them to live with evil. And we always are going to be called to confront it. We just need to do it in ways that wont unleash a further chain of social evil and bitterness and revenge and retaliation. And King thought nonviolence was the only weapon that could cut and heal at the same time.

ezra klein

I think one way to split apart these views of nonviolence, or something that helped me do it when I spent a while studying it, a few years back  and I really recommend spending some time in nonviolent philosophy because I dont think theres almost anything Ive ever read that is as challenging to the way I think about the world. But Gandhi has this line where he says, if you cant practice nonviolence, it quote, retaliation or resistance unto death is the second best, though a long way off from the first. Cowardice is impotence, worse than violence. So this idea that if you cant be nonviolent, its better to be violent than to be a coward, doing nothing  I think gets at something important. Can you help unpack that?

brandon terry

Sure. One way to bring it back to King is that early in his career, he was engaged in a debate with a man named Robert Williams, who wrote a book that was very popular amongst the Black Power generation, called Negroes with Guns. And he gets the title  the title is a slight adjustment of a slur that was said to him, when he showed up at a public pool with a group of armed Black men as support for integrationist demonstration. And anyway, King is involved in this debate with Robert Williams, in part about the legitimacy of self-defense. And King, in his response, expresses confusion, because he says, look, in your home, in your private personhood, self-defense is perfectly justified. No one disagrees with that. He thinks it doesnt even really need an elaborate moral justification. Its something thats basically assumed in all of the major moral philosophies that hes aware of. He says that the really interesting question, however, is how to organize a sustained, successful challenge to structural injustice. And for King, that requires something that blends militant resistance and a higher-order ethical practice that can point the way toward peaceful reconciliation over the long term. So when you hear King talk about love, when you hear King talk about nonviolence, these things actually require not just an enormous discipline around the acceptance of suffering, as if its some kind of passive practice, but they require really creative, dedicated thinking around how exactly to push and prod your neighbors into addressing the forms of injustice that structure the polity and how to do it in a way that doesnt leave a perpetual midnight of bitterness when the conflict is done.

ezra klein

I want to pull apart two things in that answer that sometimes get put together, which is the idea of strategic nonviolence and the idea of principled nonviolence. Can you talk about them?

brandon terry

Sure. So partly as a response to their discomfort with Christian theology, their enthusiasm for anticolonial revolution and a broader skepticism about the influence of some pacifist elements within the civil rights movement, I think there were many in the student sit-in movement, in the student nonviolent movement, that tried to introduce this distinction between philosophical and strategic nonviolence. And so for someone like Stokely Carmichael, he would often say that he supported nonviolence only insofar as it works. And on that model, you have a posited goal. And then theres just a question, which is interpretive, empirical, about whether nonviolent practice or violent practice is going to get you to that end. And you take whatever means are necessary to get to that end. They try to introduce that distinction as opposed to nonviolence as what they would say is a way of life. But King, I think, really importantly, challenges the legitimacy of that distinction because theres a way in which the strategy question is already shot through with ethical reflection, with philosophical commitments. And so to raise the question of strategy, as if we can evaluate means without some kind of ethical reflection or without some kind of underlying ethical commitments, for King, is already a confusion. He thinks that the ends are prefigured in any means. Gandhi, in Hind Swaraj, has this great passage where he talks about how could come to acquire a piece of property. You could buy it. You could steal it. You could kill somebody in pursuit of it. You could ask for it as a gift. At the end of the day, you still have the same property. But the thing, itself, has changed. In one scenario, its a piece of stolen property. Its a theft. In another, its a gift, which is different than something youve purchased. So in the course of acquiring the thing, even though the thing is the same, the means have transformed it in a really, really important way. And King wants to say something similar  that in all political practice, the ends are prefigured in the means. And nonviolence has to be  if its going to be true nonviolence for King  informed by a philosophy of love that really wants and desires and wills goodwill for the enemy at present and is committed, at the fundamental level, to going on together in peace, going on together, sharing the polity in perpetuity.

ezra klein

So this is a tricky thought to get into a question. But let me try because its something my producer Emefa and I have been talking about a lot, preparing for this episode. When you think about somebodys political philosophy or their theory of political action, you can maybe think of there being a couple agents theyre thinking about. So theres the person or group youre in conversation or conflict with. Im a liberal, and Im arguing with a conservative. And I think thats the most common target to think about: How do I beat or convince this person or group on the other side? Then theres the broader community polity  the voters, of the country, people who are bystanders, maybe interested, maybe not, but a broader community that is in some way watching or can be brought in to watch. And then theres you, the person taking the action, and how it affects you and your group to take a particular action. And something that seems present in Kings thought is much, much, much, much more concern and focus than I think most political thinkers have today on how political action affects you, the person taking it, and affects the broader community that might be watching it. Does that, first, track as right to you? And if so, can you talk a bit about that?

brandon terry

That does track. And I think for King, imperative to nonviolent resistance turns, in large part, on the question of your own dignity and self-respect. So it is a justice question. Hes concerned with structural justice as a matter of the kinds of arrangements that prevail in the larger American society. Thats obviously true. But hes also concerned with how you relate to your own sense of equality, equal standing, worth, as he would say, somebodiness, we might say dignity  he also says that a lot  and that for King, to acquiesce in the face of oppression and domination, without protest, is to abdicate your own self-respect and dignity. When he gives the speech at the Montgomery bus boycotts first open meeting, hes scrambling to try to put it together. And the task he sets himself is  he says right up front  I need to say something that will cause people to see that their dignity is at stake in what we do next and which will commit us to nonviolence. Because for him, dignity also required a certain kind of excellence of character, a certain kind of comportment and practice toward others. So it is about trying to defend your dignity, defend yourself respect against insult and humiliation, oppression. But its also about doing so in a way that doesnt degrade your character in the long term, that doesnt cause you to end up being turned away from the good, which, again, for him, is going to be a religiously-inflected category  but I think there are secular renderings of it  that ends up with you being turned away from the good and toward things like hatred, resentment, violence, which he thinks, ultimately, will corrode your soul and take you further away from flourishing.

ezra klein

Something in that feels very present to me in a lot of the debates weve had in the last couple of years around civility politics, around virtue signaling. And it seems to me that theres some important distinction between the idea that you dont want to be taken away from the good, yourself, and you are frightened or worried or focused on how others will perceive you as acting. Sometimes this gets called respectability politics. So that is a broader term. But theres something there, where I think it has fallen out of favor. It gets called tone policing, sometimes. It has fallen out of favor to say that there are certain ways of acting, politically, that are better and worse, from a virtue perspective, because it often is seen not as really a question of you and your relationship to some baseline or ideal but is some kind of concession youre making to people who dont deserve the concession.

brandon terry

Well, to answer that, I think we have to go back to where the term, politics respectability comes from. I just think its very useful to help people understand what might otherwise seem like an idiosyncratic response. So my colleague, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, wrote a phenomenal book, many years ago, called Righteous Discontent. And thats what introduces the phrase, the politics of respectability. Its a study of turn of the century Black Baptist women and their organizing efforts through the church. And she meant the term to capture two things. One is the thing thats been picked up and is now called respectability politics. And folks like Ta-Nehisi Coates have been extremely critical of it. Its this idea that, in confronting a system of social stigma, the response that you need to have to it is to try to adjust your behavior, comportment, your self fashioning, in line with the dominant norms so that you can, over time, undermine the stigma and become a full participant in society. And there are all sorts of questions, legitimate questions, that are raised against that. Are we losing something valuable about alternative forms of life, about alternative cultural practices, when we take the existing, dominant norms as unassailable or something to aspire to? Are we losing something in our self-respect and dignity when we dont protest that imposition as unjust and, instead, just acquiesce or accommodate ourselves to it? Are we harming people in our communities that, for valuable reasons, cant adjust themselves  or important reasons, cant adjust themselves to those norms? I think all of those are legitimate questions. And if you read Kings, Trumpet of Conscience, his Canadian Broadcast lectures from the last year of his life, whats really fascinating is that he talks a lot about how he sympathizes with all those criticisms. He agrees with them. He supports the counterculture movement in lots of ways. He celebrates the Black radical students who have cast of the kinds of clothing that their forebears once wore, as a sign of respectability, in favor of jeans and overalls. But  and heres the other part of Evelyn Higginbothams formulation  theres a deeper question, one with thousands of years of moral reflection built up into it, which is about virtue ethics  that there are some things that people are appealing to you about that arent about their effect in the polity that arent about trying to manipulate white, racial attitudes. Theyre about your own flourishing and character. Theyre deep questions about how to live a good life, how to achieve excellence and the crafting of your soul. I am a person who believes those questions are still legitimate, that they cant all be reduced to strategy or will to power or psychic drives. I think that theres something like an ethical life that requires us to argue about it and requires us to think really hard about how we discipline ourselves to achieve it. And for King, many of the appeals he made in that vocabulary are really about that. Theyre really about virtue. Theyre really about what hatred does to your life, what anger does to your life, what violence does to your life. And one way we can know this is when we look at sermons like, His Shattered Dreams because Kings not naive. He doesnt think theyre going to win in his lifetime. His final speech, the Mountaintop speech, he doesnt think hes going to get to the promised land. So there is a question for him, at the core of his life, which is, what makes this worth doing? Thats a virtue question. Its not just a strategic or tactical one, in the narrow sense.

ezra klein

The other dimension of that, though, that I think makes it sometimes hard to follow King on this, is that he can seem unreachable or inhuman or like a saint. He talks a lot about refusing to hate people who are trying to kill you, who are trying to oppress you, who have maybe killed somebody or hurt somebody or beat somebody you love. I mean, it sounds nice, right? I dont want to hate anybody either. But I have trouble not having pretty strongly-negative reactions to people who send me a crappy email. And so what is the applied dimension of his philosophy, here? Rather than saying that it is a violence that is done to you, when somebody is able to lure you into hating them because hatred is something that is corrosive to your soul, how do you understand King as actually having achieved or attempted to practice that lack of hate?

brandon terry

So let me say two things here. One, which bridges the last two questions, is that he describes nonviolence, I think really importantly, as also being about a nonviolence of spirit. And the example that he often gives is about humiliation  that theres a way in which the desire to humiliate others, to diminish their status in front of other people for your own pleasure, the desire to subject them to standards of evaluation that they probably themselves dont hold or dont understand, in order to enable mockery. Theres a way in which, if were reflexive about where that desire comes from, we will find that it comes from a place thats irrational, indefensible and, likely, cruel, and that if we were to imagine a way of life built around those feelings, those desires, those practices, it would be one that would make it really hard for us to have healthy social ties, stable institutions, flourishing social relationships. So part of what hes up to is asking us, at all times, to be self-reflexive about the desires and needs and fantasies that drive us in politics. And part of what nonviolence is asking us to do is, do these things in a spirit of humility because as King would say, our reason sometimes can become subordinate to our passions. It can just be a legitimizing power or rationalizing power to the point where we lose track of what we really want to achieve, the kind of character we really want to have. So what nonviolence does is, it builds in a check on those kinds of rationalizations, those kinds of emotional drives, by teaching us to avoid forms of humiliation and forms of physical violence that make it hard to come back from. So thats the first point. The second point  and it goes more to your sense of revenge and retaliation  is again, forcing us to acknowledge the legitimacy of anger. I dont think Kings against the idea. He uses the phrase, legitimate anger in the late 60s  but to be reflective about it and understand that, even in a case where someone kills a loved one of yours, revenge, violence, retaliation, that doesnt bring back the loved one that youve lost. It doesnt rebuild a world where people wont lose loved ones for horrible reasons. The only thing that can do that is a kind of forward-looking, constructive practice of politics and social ethics. And so what hes trying to do is raise the question of, can we channel our legitimate rage, our legitimate anger, into a practice that allows us to maintain our self respect? Because thats one of the things were worried about, is that people have done this thing to us because they dont respect us. So can we somehow regain our self-respect, our sense of somebodiness, and move forward a practice of constructive politics that helps shape a world where these evils are less frequent and less likely to happen?

ezra klein

But I want to ask you there about King, the man, because this is a place where, as a person, why I read more Buddhist meditation manuals than I read actual philosophy, because I agree with all of this. I can see it. I can tell myself it. And then my own ego sloshes over the sides of my cup. My mental monologue is an endless recitation of arguments that havent yet happened, that Im defending myself against, and slights from five years ago that I feel bad about. And heres this man who is both making this public argument and trying to get people to follow him in it and put themselves at risk over it, and is also living it himself, and talks about this unbelievably difficult thing, which is not feel righteous anger, but to not feel hatred, to internally reflect the world you want externally. And Im curious how he practices to that, what you know from him about how he lives a day so that he doesnt feel what I think most of us would understand not only to be natural feelings here, but inevitable, irresistible reactions to the way society and individuals here are treating us.

brandon terry

So let me say three things. One is a shortcoming of Kings, in retrospect, which is that he does falter. He does fail. And I think when we read biographies of King, when you read the last parts of David Garrows biography, when you read Cornel Wests essay, from To Shape a New World, which talks a lot about the despair at the end of Kings life, if you watch HBOS great documentary, King in the Wilderness, you see a person faltering and failing under the pressure. Hes not able, for example, to bring himself to a kind of reconciliation with Malcolm X. Theres too much hurt, there, of the things that Malcolm has said about him. Hes frustrated with how his allies abandoned him when he came out against the Vietnam War. By the end of his life, hes drinking a lot more. And hes erupting sometimes in forms of disappointment, at the people around him. And there is a question about what would our relationship to Kings memory be like if we knew more of that at the time and if he hadnt had to project, at times, a superhuman ethos, whether that was going to be permissible for him or what it would have been like for him to try to open that faltering self up more for reflection, we dont know. But that is an important question. The other two pieces, though, I think are more in line with what youre asking for. So one is that, I think King, himself, thinks that the practice of nonviolent politics does the kind of work that youre describing. And I think he would be worried about the fact that, in our time, so much of these questions about the management of emotion, the building of character, has become a privatized practice. He thinks that we learn a lot about how to love other people by confronting them in public, by forcing ourselves into uncomfortable situations where we have to endure the look of the other, back and forth, where we train ourselves to extend these interactions of contentious politics until they can alter or change the people that weve put our bodies in close contact with on the field of politics. So I think he does think that thats one way that this really does happen. And we have lots of evidence from the Civil Rights Movement, personal testimony, and personal reflection, where this seems to be the case. And the last thing Ill say is that in order to do that work, in order to do some of the work youre describing, he also is building an alternative community. So one way that I read that famous final speech, Ive seen the promised land  theres obviously a prophetic reading of it, but theres also one where hes describing the prefiguration of the promised land in the kind of politics and social life hes participated in over his career, that the promised land is seen in the union politics in Memphis, its seen in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, gathering to do Mississippi Freedom Summer. Its seen in the people walking for 350-plus days in Montgomery, Alabama, and banding together to help each other out, that is the promised land. And when you are in a community thats constantly talking with each other and lifting each other up and engaging in practices like song, prayer, other communal rituals, to try to affirm this alternative set of ethical and political commitments against the whole rest of the culture, thats the only way it can be done, is that you have to have an alternative form of social life that can sustain you in that work. The private practice isnt going to do it.

ezra klein

This may seem weird, but I want to thank you for the first point there. And its something true about the book you coedited too. I find it very comforting and very helpful to hear about the places where King falls short. The saintliness of him sometimes puts both his practice and his thinking out of reach in a way that I dont think is useful. When you look at the principles of nonviolence on Stanfords King Institute, I think a bunch of them would be familiar to people. You can resist evil without resorting to violence. You seek to win the friendship and understanding of the opponent, not to humiliate. But the last one says that the nonviolent resistor must have, quote, a deep faith in the future, that they should have a conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. How imaginable is Kings philosophy, is this practice, without his deep Christianity, without a belief in redemption, in salvation, in the possibility of a next life?

brandon terry

Well, again, I go back to the sermon he gave  and its collected in Strength to Love, and its called shattered dreams  where he confronts a problem that is all over the Black tradition, which is that the struggle were engaged in has gone on, in some form or another, for hundreds of years. At the moments of its greatest promise, you can look over the course of history and see, just years later, we find ourselves in situations that are unimaginably awful. And King is not naive. Hes a student of history. Hes somebody who asks himself hard questions like this. And he gives two different kinds of answers. And one is the answer that youve mentioned here, which is a theological answer. Its conventional theodicy story, that look, at the end of the day, God is at work in the world. And God is on the side of justice. And we may not know exactly how the arc of the moral universe is going to bend. And we wont be there when it reaches justice, perhaps. But that is a thing we can have faith in. That cosmic story is going to play out the way we want. Theres another way that he goes at it, however. And for me, I read it as rooted in a different kind of project, one that combines what used to be called philosophical anthropology, which is just a way of saying philosophical reflections on what kind of beings we are. Its rooted in that, and its rooted in politics. And I think those things can find lots of overlapping consensus from people outside of the Christian tradition. What you have to be committed to, in the last instance, is that evil is not the totality of who we are as persons, that people have the capacity, emotionally and rationally, to reflect on their life plans, their practices, their commitments, and change them, maybe not all of them, maybe not all at once, but that those things can be changed, and that politics is really a field where contingency is the key word, that although there are structural constraints and everything cant be done at every moment, that the unprecedented, the new, the unexpected, happens in this realm. And the only way that we can confirm that nothing new will happen, that oppression will last forever, that the future bears no hope, is if we dont act. Thats the only way we can confirm that its true for all time, is by failing to act in pursuit of justice. And thats Kings view, I think. And to me, thats the persuasive one, that in our action, we might be able to see some measure of justice from a complicated, complex swirl of contingencies, and to move the ball forward  we will inevitably fail  but to look back on that failure with maturity and try to do better the next time. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein

You mentioned Ta-Nehisi Coates a couple of minutes ago. And I think, sometimes, when I think about nonviolence, about something he said to me in a conversation we did during the George Floyd protests, where he said, quote, the people who are called on to be nonviolent are the people with the ability to do the least amount of damage, whereas we dont call upon those who have the most power and actually can do the most damage. And there is this way in which King and nonviolence gets weaponized, by the powerful, against the powerless. You need to be nonviolent. But nonviolence has no relationship to me. Its not something we ask of states. Its not something that the million  not literally million  but the many members of Congress who wield King on the floor ever think about how to apply to the laws coming out of their chamber. How do you think about that? How do you think about the question of the weaponization of nonviolence and then the applicability of its principles to the powerful and to what they might, we might, the state might learn from it.

brandon terry

I take my inspiration on this question from Kings agonizing over what he should say about the Vietnam War, and just a heart-wrenching decision because on the one hand, you have, in Lyndon Johnson, the president who has done the most to advance the cause of civil rights, whos speaking forthrightly about the problem of racial inequality in a way thats essentially unprecedented for the American presidency. And at the same time, hes prosecuting a horrifically-unjust war. And there were many people  Harold Cruse famously wrote this, but others even closer to King  who said, youre not the leader of Vietnam. Youre the leader of the African American civil rights movement. You should not speak out on this war because youll lose your relationship with Johnson. And King says that the people who are advising him in this way, they just dont know him, his commitment or his calling. They dont understand that if hes going to raise his voice against violence in Watts or Detroit, that hes got to raise it against what he called, the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, his own government. And I think that fits with a broader understanding of this political philosophy, which is about a kind of intensive critique of the ways in which we resort to violence as a ready-at-hand answer to all manner of social problems. So for him, the question was really one about militarism and the way that gets imagined as this hardheaded, realistic, hyper-rational response to international disputes and social problems abroad, when in actuality, if we take stock of what he called the casualties of war, the spiritual ones and the material ones, we would realize that most of the violence we engage in at the foreign-policy level is counterproductive. Its created more problems and more harms than it ever has seemed to solve. This is one of the powerful interventions that you see in Lionel McPhersons essay, in To Shape a New World. Its just this idea that this is about hardheaded realism is mythic. King says its about an immature image that we are nurturing for ourselves, that were trying to shore up this idea of ourselves as some kind of crusading hero or all-powerful world power, while not taking stock of all of the things about our freedoms, about our way of life, about our connectedness as a society, about our social divisions, that war has exacerbated, not to mention the violence thats prosecuted abroad. And he says similar things about domestic policy, the ways in which our politics toward poor families, single-parent households, is punitive for reasons that arent justified, that our response to what he calls the derivative crimes of the ghetto are wildly out of proportion and unjust compared to how we treat the systematic crimes of exploitation, segregation, disenfranchisement, that structure much of ghetto life. So Im in total agreement with Coates on that question. I just think that part of why that phenomenon that hes describing is allowed to stand is because people still, to this day, do not know Kings commitment or his calling. They dont read the work.

ezra klein

So Ive spent most of my adult life covering policy and policymaking and the ends of policymaking and the means of policymaking and what people are trying to achieve. And it often strikes me that one of the challenges from nonviolence is about this question of what youre attempting to do, both to yourself, which is something, I think, the government never thinks about  what does the application of a policy mean for what kind of government or what kind of state it becomes, what does it mean for the people, do to the people, who carry it out  and then what are you actually trying to achieve, more broadly, in the community. And on the first level, it just seems  I dont want to call it axiomatic, but a repeated d that the more willing you become to use violence as a state, the more it corrupts you, and the more violent you become as a state, and to some degree, the more violent the people you are policing, the people you are occupying, become. And Im not a pacifist. I dont believe you can fully eradicate violence. But we dont weigh how violent we make others, in our actions, very well, and then how violent we become in response, how much we enter into that escalatory dynamic. But then the other thing is this question of this broader community, of changing hearts, of changing minds, of acting upon people, not through punishment, but through our belief that they can alter. And Id be curious to hear you reflect on that question of community a little bit, because I think one of the central debates of our time is whos actually in the community. And a lot of policy is actually about writing people outside of the community. A lot of our political fights about who should be let into the conversation. What would it mean to have a bit more of Kings view, of trying to create community at the center of what the state is attempting to do, as it fashions and helps govern the country?

brandon terry

So one underappreciated feature from Kings famous Riverside Church speech against Vietnam, is he goes on this whole riff about America lacking maturity. And its a weird thing to have in a foreign-policy speech. Youre used to  youre a policy person. You dont usually hear the word maturity bandied about in these kinds of debates. But what hes getting at is that something really tightly linked to violence, that violence always exceeds the original justification you have for it. Its not precise. Its not able to be easily targeted, as we think. It spirals out. It produces retaliation. And then we retaliate again. And all the while, its expanding its justifications to the point of absurdity. And King describes that as adding cynicism to the process of death. And he says that maturity is one of the only ways out here, that the maturity to be able to stand up and say, we were wrong, we want to make amends, we want to repair evils committed in our name, those are questions that are essentially nonstarters in American politics right now, certainly about foreign policy, but even in some places in domestic policy. Youre starting to get some of this and the attempted wind down of mass incarceration. But this isnt something that you would hear, for example, in welfare-reform debates or something like that. King, calling us to maturity, and that being really crucial to the politics of nonviolence, again, being about self-reflective activity and about trying to take ownership of the things that youve done wrong, that the goal to do no harm has been  is something that weve fallen short of, that feature of Kings thinking is something that I always want to draw attention to because I think its something we ignore. So thats the first point I want to make. The second thing  and this is also really deeply-seeded in that Vietnam speech  one of the reasons that people hated it so much  he was attacked in The New York Times, basically every editorial page in the country  one of the reasons people hated that speech so much is that he spent so much time expressing solidarity and sympathy with Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese forces. Were engaged in war with these people. How could you express sympathy or some kind of solidarity with the enemy? And its very instructive, how King went about it. He wasnt one of these people  youve seen these images of people waving the North Vietnamese flag at counterculture protests. It wasnt like that. It was him really spending a lot of time meditating on the reasons why we had ended up in this conflict, narrating the whole history of our failure to support Ho Chi Minh and the struggle against French colonialism, against Chinese colonialism, and how that had led to the situation we were in by 1967. King is narrating this history. Hes also trying to get people to think about what it must feel like to be on the ground in Vietnam and witness these bombings, witnessed this imposition of terror. And hes doing that because at bottom, hes inspired by a vision really rooted in a parable the Good Samaritan, from the Bible, that everyone is our neighbor, that there are no sectional loyalties that should eviscerate our moral obligations to others, our obligation to show them respect, to go on in community with them, and that most of what goes on in foreign policy and particularly war making, is a bad-faith evasion of the fact that were all interconnected. And King didnt even have the luxury of speaking about climate change the way we do, the ways in which the Covid pandemic has exposed some of the deep ways were connected. But he understood that theres a fundamental interconnectedness amongst humanity at the ethical level and at the material, structural level, and that war making is an evasion of that fact. Were going to have to live together. So the chief question that should organize it is, how can we do so in peace?

ezra klein

Weve been talking about Kings nonviolence. I want to talk about his economic thought. But I want to do it from this perspective of his continued attention to what different politics and practices and policies and conditions do to peoples souls. He has a line where he says, quote, the dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life are in his own hands, when he has the assurance that his income is stable and certain and when he knows that he has a means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts between husband, wife and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth, on a scale of dollars, is eliminated. Tell me a bit about the spiritual and psychological dimensions of Kings economic philosophy and organizing.

brandon terry

Well, for King, the question of poverty and the question of economic inequality are both questions of dignity and democracy, and the questions of dignity because when you live without the adequate means to really enjoy the fair value of your basic rights, when you live in a society  and this is a really important point for King  when you live in a society of profound affluence, like the United States, and you live in severe poverty, it expresses a kind of contempt from your fellow citizens about your standing as an equal member of the polity. So separate from the plain, material fact of hunger or health care, theres this additional spiritual concern with the way in which living with nothing, living on a lonely island amidst an ocean of prosperity, as he would put it, diminishes your dignity. It makes it hard for you to remain tethered to the fact that you are somebody, that you matter in the world, that your rights are inviolable, that you have the same kind of equal worth as other people. So thats that piece of it. And then another piece  this is bridging of the dignity and democracy question  is that when people dont have a say in the core, vital interest of their life, when they have no decision-making power over the processes which determine how their life is going to go, that too is a diminishment of their dignity. And King, who was operating in a long tradition of social democracy, wants to expand democratic practices to the broader economic realm. So he has this really curious passage. But I think it fits with his political philosophy. In Where Do We Go From Here, he talks about how tenants unions and welfare-rights unions are these extraordinary inventions in the history of democracy. Why democracy? Well, because theyre making something like the administration of government benefits, the housing market and fair housing opportunities, subject to the deliberative input and democratic contestation of the people who enjoy them, the people who are subject to them. Without expanding democracy into that economic realm, for King, were both making a mockery of democracy and were diminishing the dignity of citizens who live in search of a real standing as free and equal.

ezra klein

This seems like a very lost way of thinking to me. And I dont want to say nobody today is doing it. That would be wrong. But as somebody who spends a lot of my time in debates about economic policy, I think it is fair to say that the ends of economics are taken as the economy, typically. People hopefully shouldnt starve. But a lot of debates about what we should do, even for the poor, become these recursive, well, how can they better participate in the economy and how are they going to be able to invest in themselves and how theyll be economic opportunity for their children. And the idea that the economy is subservient to the community, that the point of the economy is the community, that it should be measured our policy should be measured by what they do for democratic participation, for the dignity of individuals, is pretty lost. If anything, I see it more now, on the post-liberal right, as people call it, than I even do among mainline Democrats. And it just seems to me to be a very important and correct part of Kings thought, that is  I think if you asked people about it, they would say they believe it. But it has fallen out of favor as a way to frame and think about these conversations.

brandon terry

Yeah, I think its rooted in some really complicated things. I think theres a kind of liberal anxiety about speaking forthrightly about the fact that living in areas of severe, concentrated disadvantage and racial segregation that we call ghettos, diminishes the dignity of the people who live there. That feels uncomfortable for people to say forthrightly, in the way that King would. And so we try to get around it by speaking about opportunity and the wealth gap and unemployment statistics. But really what people are feeling is an existential assault on dignity. I think we also  and my colleague, Elizabeth Hinton, a dear friend, in her first book, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime, one way to read that book is to say that shes telling a tragic story about the loss of a particular ideal that guided great society politics. And thats the principle of maximum feasible participation. That was an idea. That was a really social-democratic idea, this idea that, well, we need to empower all sorts of people to participate in policy making and democratic deliberation, and that part of where people will find self-respect and dignity is through engagement in politics and their community, and all the way up, and that even bureaucracies should not be impervious to democratic deliberation and democratic decision making, for very complicated reasons, partly about the turn to a punitive impulse and social policy, fear of Black radicalism, the urban rebellions, the economic crises of the late 1960s and early 1970s. For those reasons, that ideal was defeated in that moment. But weve lost something really profound in our mockery of it and our easy dismissal of it. And I think, again, returning to Kings work, where its so front and center, allows us to enrich this conversation. And Ill just say one last thing here. One way you might think about it is that, when Bernie Sanders came out, we got to hear the words democratic socialism over and over again. But there was a lot more interest in what makes it socialist and what makes it democratic. And for me, King is really interesting because if hes in that tradition, the thing hes most exciting and innovative about is actually the democratic part. And thats the part where even the people who operate under that label have fallen short.

ezra klein

I think its a really, really sharp point. And I think it gets to something that is very present, towards the end of Kings life, which is his sense that there is something important for the civil rights movement in the labor movement. And unions, on some level, they are mechanisms of democracy. One of the most important functions they have is workplace democracy. Can you talk a bit about both the bridges he was building but also the connections that he was drawing?

brandon terry

Well, sure. King is, in this tradition, in many ways inspired by a mentor of his. And one of the most important figures in American history but one of the most severely neglected was A. Philip Randolph, the great labor leader, former organizer of the Pullman Porters, the architect of both the March on Washington that gets canceled, which was going to target the Roosevelt administration during World War II, and the 1963 famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Hes following Randolph, in lots of ways, because theyve got a certain set of commitments. So one is the idea that because most African Americans are working class or poor, anything that advances the interests of working-class people and their ability to exercise democratic control over the economy is going to advance the interests of African Americans. Now in our moment, thats become more complicated as the class stratification of African Americans has intensified. But in the 1960s, you could see why King and Randolph were so adamant  and Bayard Rustin were so adamant about this point. They also, though, were extremely critical of the labor movement for its history of racial discrimination. If you study the history of labor unions in the 20th century, late 19th century, youll see that its just utterly shot through with exclusions based on race, complicated-institutionally racist practices about seniority that really disadvantaged Black people. And the constant prodding and poking of the labor movement, by Randolph, by King, by Rustin, by Ella Baker, by folks like that, really enacted, over time, an important set of changes in the labor movement. Ive written a little bit about this, in an essay in New Labor Forum, with my friend and labor organizer, Jason Lee. But the last thing Ill say  and I think its probably the most interesting thing  is that for King labor unions are also, as you described, important laboratories of democracy. So theyre one of the few places where people from all walks of life can get together, deliberate about strategy, deliberate about social ends, social goods, put money behind things that they value, that arent only their own material interest. They also allow for forms of nonviolent contestation. So the strike, the sit-down strike, where the sit ins take their inspiration from, the boycott  unions, in a lot of ways, are one of the original laboratories for the ideas that come to be associated with the civil rights movement. King knows this, acknowledges this, and thinks a lot about how we can sustain union participation in an era, his era, where the threat of automation was looming so largely on the horizon. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein

One of the just extraordinary tragedies of Kings death is that hes only 39. Im 38. Im coming into 39 fast.

brandon terry

I just turned 39 two weeks ago.

ezra klein

Congratulations. And Im still learning a lot. Im still changing a lot. And theres such an unfinishedness to him and his work that I think also reverberates in how he gets used today. So today, of course, theres this ongoing  always is this ongoing argument  of should you have race-based politics or is that unusable, doesnt work, creates too much backlash? Or you should have class-based politics that are looking for commonalities, and because youve had so much economic disadvantage for Black Americans, thatll work through the mechanism of class just fine. And theres this looking at what King is doing at the end of his life with the Poor Peoples Campaign and deeper focus on economic justice and often the shared plight of poor white and poor Black Americans, and that kind of view that I think you sometimes hear, a drawing of a line forward. If he had been around, he would have come down on  particularly if youre somebody who believes we should have a class-based politics  he would have come down on my side of the debate. Thats where he was going. How do you understand his thinking about those two approaches? And how do you understand where he was going?

brandon terry

So King often invokes the philosopher Hegel, because hes constantly describing his mode of thinking as a dialectical one, where hes trying to reconcile seeming opposites and produce a new synthesis, which helps you transcend certain intractable problems. Now as a reading of Hegel, that has much to be desired. But as a description of Martin Luther Kings thought, I think thats always a good way to understand what hes up to. And so I think what hes always trying to do is transcend that opposition. And theres a way to transcend it that I want to resist, and I think its really important to resist. So I think theres a way in which we sometimes will say class-based politics works to lift African Americans because theyre disproportionately poor. And whats tricky about that is that it doesnt really theorize what to do about the African American middle class and the African American elite. So a thing that King was thinking a lot about when he wrote Stride Toward Freedom and the Montgomery bus boycott, is there are areas where racial solidarity is going to be really effective and probably indispensable. So where questions of anti-Black racism emerge, where questions of racial humiliation, stigma that really affects the larger group, things that all Black people feel vulnerable to, those are going to be areas  like the segregation laws on the buses  those are going to be areas where you actually can generate a lot of racial solidarity and do a lot of important work with it, especially as a defensive posture. When you start to get into questions of political economy, however, you have to be careful because the appeal of racial solidarity can actually obscure the fact that Black people dont all share the same material interest in lots of ways. Im from Maryland originally. I think this is a great laboratory to study this kind of thing. When Ben Jealous ran for governor, in Maryland, he was destroyed in part by being painted as a socialist. And the Black middle class, located in the D.C. suburbs, did not rally to his support because their material interests were not aligned with a radical redistribution of wealth in the same way. This is a feature of American politics that has changed dramatically from Kings era. And any of our race or class-based politics discussions have to confront that head on. So what I think Kings primary principle always is, is that hes dedicated to the group that William Julius Wilson called the truly disadvantaged, the least of these, that at the end of the day, hes going to give everything to the people who are in the most desperate situation, the poor. And thats going to guide his politics. So where that is enabled by a race-based solidarity, so in questions of policing, perhaps, or questions of social stigma and media discourse, thats where hell turn. But in other cases, I think hed really be trying to experiment with a form of politics that empowers the poor to take leadership on their own, to take a part in political action and policy making, and that really puts, as its first principle, the amelioration and elimination of poverty.

ezra klein

I always want to avoid asking anyone to channel a deceased thinker. I dont think its a fair question. But we have this period weve been in, where there are these huge fights over what got called wokeness and then I think antiracism or, in a different version, critical race theory. And there are better and worse-faith versions of those discussions. But one of the better faith ones, I think, which gets to something you were just talking about, is whether theres a tendency for these conversations to get captured away from a focus on material outcomes, particularly for the least well off, and pushed towards representation, particularly in elite spaces, symbolic politics that sometimes gets called virtue signaling, social-media activism. And Im curious, somebody who has been deeply marinated in Kings thought, not what you think he would have made of it, but what he has helped you make of it. How does being more aware of the distinctions he drew and the decisions he made help you look at some of the paths we should be walking down today and are not, in these conversations, or are walking down and shouldnt be?

brandon terry

So I do want to be clear, and maybe in a way that wasnt exactly precise in my last answer, that the critique of racism does have important work to do in the pursuit of economic justice. So in order for us to understand why so many African Americans are located in the realm of the most disadvantaged, in the strata of the most disadvantaged, you have to understand the history of racial domination in this country. You have to understand the persistence of racial discrimination, especially in labor markets. And you have to understand the ways that racial ideology allows us to obscure the nature of our economy. So the most classic example is that structural unemployment gets reframed, in part by racism, as questions of laziness or pathology or criminality instead of as a feature of the economy as such. So King always talks about the critique of racism as part of the diagnosis of the disease in order to cure it. So even in the privileging the least well off and being concerned with poor people of all races, he wants to say that the critique of racism helps us see through the kinds of blindnesses that obscure the nature of our economy and the commonalities across race and the things that we need to address the questions of economic justice precisely. So thats the first thing. The second thing is that, in his critique of Black power, one of the things he says is that he worries that Black power gives priority to the question of race in a way that confuses our analysis of social reality. So what does he mean by that? Well, if you think that all Black disadvantage is primarily about anti-Black racism, you can start to miss the fact that there are broader economic dislocations that need to be addressed, that there are structural features of the American constitutional order, the ways in which municipal boundaries are structured, ways that funding decisions are made, that arent primarily driven by racial animus, that need to be addressed. You can lose sight of those things and start to think that the real battle is in something like a totality of anti-Black racial ideology that can be battled in Hollywood movies and comic books and school curricula and legislation and political rhetoric. So its not to say that those things dont exist. Its just to say that theres a confusion about whats going to make the biggest impact in improving the life circumstances of the least well off. And I think King really calls us to constantly be very precise about what the causal mechanisms are for Black disadvantage and to not be confused by the fact that theres discrimination and injustice and cruelty in these other realms but which might not have as much causal impact as some of these other things. The last thing Ill say, which I want to end on because I dont want to sound like Im just totally disparaging this critique of representation, these things, King was very adamant that Black pride, that a concern with representation, that thinking in expansive ways about how do you affirm the somebodiness of Black youth, that those things are really, really important and that theyre not to be dismissed. So it is a question of justice if people in Hollywood just constantly demean or diminish the talent of nonwhite actors. That is a question of justice. Its just that we have to be honest about what the import of those struggles will be for the broader group. And the only way we can do that is by being attentive to the class differences within the group.

ezra klein

I want to ask a version of the question from the other side now, which is  I heard you say something that I found interesting, which is that studying Black nationalism and the civil rights era had given you a lot of insight into whats going on on the right today. Tell me a bit about what you mean by that.

brandon terry

I think there are lots of ways you could take it. But Ill focus on one thing that Ive been thinking quite a lot about. And it goes back to part of our earlier conversation on the problem of hope, futurity, the problem of humiliation. And theres a way in which  and King diagnoses this very incisively  theres a way in which some genres of Black nationalism are so pessimistic about the possibility for multiracial democracy in the United States, for any kind of Black flourishing in the United States that they essentially foreclose real interest in political organizing and social movements. But the energy they still managed to generate  the outrage, the sentiment, the sociality  they find their outlet, instead, in a practice of humiliation, counter humiliation. So that there may not be hope that we can actually change the country, but at the very least, we can enjoy a feeling of retaliation, a kind of self-respecting sense of resistance, by engaging in a practice of trying to humiliate our opponents in the public sphere, to mock them, to make bombastic claims about the conspiratorial things that theyre up to. And theres a titillation to that. Theres a catharsis in watching someone  at that point, it would have been called stick it to whitey. Now it would be stick it to the libs or own the libs. So for me, I see those similar political emotions at work in a group of people who, I think, dont have really much hope that Donald Trump is going to change America or that the movement theyre a part of is going to fundamentally change the structure of the world so that it could bring back places that have been destroyed by globalization and offshoring and predatory capital. They dont really think that any of that is going to change. But theyre finding an outlet for their feelings of resentment and retaliation in this performance of counter-humiliation. Now the danger is that, unlike the Black nationalist movement  and I want to make clear, I dont mean all of the Black nationalist movement. There are many currents that have nothing to do with the kind of thing Im describing. But unlike that movement, which is always going to be small and easily repressed, this is a significant amount of people that could cause real damage in the places where they dont face many countervailing forms of power. And they can exercise a much more toxic impact on the broader state of American politics in a time where the media environment is way more fragmented, when, as youve written about quite powerfully, the country is much more polarized and the polarization is, in part, geographically sorted. So I see those elements. And I think that we need more people operating, in the kind of mode that King did, in his critique of Black power, to try to turn people away from their understandable feelings of hostility and resentment, toward more productive forms of political engagement.

ezra klein

I think something I want to draw to that, in this conversation, is actually the word, emotion, which is a neglected part of politics, maybe of Kings thought in particular is that he understood  I think he understood part of the goal of politics and political action as creating a particular structure of political emotion. And so Im curious, as we end here, how you would just distill that down, and then what you would say, when you look at what we have today, the left and the right today, our politics today, what structure of emotion, of political emotion, were actually living in.

brandon terry

My mentor and friend, Karuna Mantena, at Columbia, political theorist, a brilliant political theorist working on a book on Gandhi  I learned this from her, thinking a lot about how nonviolence is a kind of realism, in part because it doesnt engage in of fiction that politics is operating on, in the model of rational discussion. It takes very, very, very seriously the problem of emotion. And for King, thinking about the history of racial oppression in America, theyre key emotions that you have to think about. One of the most important ones is fear, that you can go back to Thomas Jefferson, Alexis de Tocqueville, F. Scott Fitzgeralds The Great Gatsby, you constantly are getting expressions of a fear of Black retaliation and revenge  that the moment Black people take power, the moment Black people get a foot off their necks, theyre going to do to us what weve done to them. If that fear is a longstanding, deeply-structuring feature of American culture and political life, if its something that animates our comedy movies, our stand-up routines, our political discourse, you cant operate as if its not there. You have to do things that will somehow disarm, disrupt, dispel those fears, in order to make progress on the political questions you want to pursue. That was one of Kings deepest, deepest commitments. Hes thinking a lot about anger, which weve talked at great length about. And one of the disappointments Ive had with radical politics in the present, as sympathetic as I am to most of the aims, is that I just dont think the emotion question has been adequately considered, that people often defend their politics as like, King was unpopular. And the things were saying are unpopular. So were operating in that tradition. Well, its not enough to just say, Ive started a conversation, Ive provoked something toxic in the culture. Hes not trying to do that, necessarily. Hes trying to elicit reactions that bring forward certain emotions but not let those emotions unravel the society itself. Hes trying to channel them into other forms of political affect that are much more congenial to reconciliation and justice. So in formal politics, in mainstream Democratic politics, mainstream Republican politics, what weve unfortunately ended up with is that the sophistication of mobilization strategists, the depth of the polarization, has made anger the principal affect of American politics at this moment. And so much of what, I think, a King-inspired political philosophy, both at the state level and the activist level, has to do, is think about how do we transform the recalcitrant nature of todays political anger and channel it into forms of constructive politics that might point toward a more just future and that might dissolve the forms of anger that are illegitimate and ill founded, in part, by doing the kind of work sometimes described as a moral jujitsu, turning those affects against themselves, in part, to try to transform them into something different.

ezra klein

Im so glad I asked that question to get that answer. And I want to say two things about it, which is one, that I think its easy to say thats wise. But what it is, I think, more, is challenging. And maybe itll be easier to use myself as an example, here. When I started out in blogging and political writing and journalism, particularly blogging, I think I thought a lot about politics in terms of winning and losing, and in my corner of it, winning and losing intellectually, that I was involved in political arguments, and arguments could be won or lost in front of some kind of audience. And two things have begun to corrode, for me, that sense. One is having been in a lot of arguments. And I think Im a reasonably good arguer. And so Ive done, by my own likes, well, and then noticed it didnt have it all the effect I wanted it to have, which is, if anything, it usually  if you really beat somebody in an argument and they feel humiliated, they go further into views they already held. They dont come to you. If you really make them feel bad, then they go to the people who will still make them feel good. And so you lose by winning. And then the second is, particularly in the Trump era, the sense that if you met something awful with an equal and opposite energetic force, that in some weird way, you just added energy to what was now an awful system and conversation. And not to say you shouldnt add some energy to it, but it often  it seemed, to me, to sidestep this question of how do you leach energy out of it. What do you do to not create a sense that this is a right conversation to be having? And I dont the answers to it. And Im not saying like Ive ascended to some higher plane and dont argue or any of that. I have all the same intuitions and senses Ive always had. But thats why I find King so interesting and challenging in this way, because its just really, really, really different to ask the question, how do I reshape the emotional politics and the emotional structure of myself, of the people Im in conflict with and then of the people who are bystanders or watchers of that conflict, for the better? Its just a really different goal to be targeting, and just unimaginably harder than, can I come up with an argument that I think is a winning argument.

brandon terry

And I think you see it  when hes assassinated, the leading figures of the Black-Power generation, theyre heartbroken. They mourn his loss. They grieve for him, in part because  and you can read any of these memoirs, particularly Stokely Carmichaels  they felt like he never  that even when he disagreed with them, he loved them, and not just because they were friendly, but because he loved in the sense that he always invoked, of agape love, that he wanted goodwill for them, and that his arguments werent from a place of trying to humiliate them or embarrass them or expose them as ridiculous. He wanted to affirm their right to make the arguments they were making, to affirm their intelligence and judgment and to enter into their mind, to try to reconstruct a position with sympathy, but then show why it falls short for the sake of goals that he was forthright about, about justice, about reconciliation, about love. Those essays, where hes criticizing Black Power, to me, theyre like  I wish my students could spend all their time with those essays, and think about how to persuade, how to argue. Now I will say, we are in a moment of extraordinary cynicism. And cynicism can take advantage of your intellectual honesty, your practice of agape love. But I think thats in the short term. In my better moments, Im of the view that the only way to start to turn the tide against the cynicism that has so corroded and corrupted our political culture is to try to have these demonstrations of humility and authenticity that cause us to put ourselves at some risk, the way that King did. Its not clear to me how else you get out of a death spiral of mutually-reinforcing cynicism.

ezra klein

I think thats a lovely place to end. So always our final question: What are three books you would recommend to the audience? And if I can put one spin on that, you mentioned the many books King wrote. If people want to start with one thing he actually wrote to read, one book, which one should they start with?

brandon terry

Oh, thats a hard one. I would probably say, I think you get the best sense of his mature thought from his 1967 book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, which is still our question. So I would definitely recommend that. I also really love A Trumpet of Conscience, his Canadian Broadcasting Corporation lectures that were published posthumously. And then three books  and Ill keep it on a King theme for the holiday  I really strongly recommend Peniel Josephs, The Sword and the Shield. Its a dual biography of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. I reviewed it for The New York Review of Books and think really highly of it. Its a great meditation on the ways they influenced each other. And it gives you a good sense of the broader intellectual milieu of the period. I also really like Jeanne Theohariss A More Beautiful and Terrible History. I think for people coming to the study of the civil rights movement for the first time are kind of curious about why some of the things that Ive said dont sound familiar to them. She writes, in a really accessible and intelligent way, about some of the myths, that structure, how that history is taught and popularly conveyed. We have a lot of agreements there. And then a where do we go from here question, I want to recommend my colleague, Tommie Shelbys book, Dark Ghettos, which is a King-inspired philosophical reflection on the deep structure of ghetto poverty and what it requires of us, as a society, to do to redress it. Its a book thats very demanding on how far weve fallen short and questions of justice that pertain to the kind of neighborhoods that we grew up in and around. And that also raises really important questions about how to understand the forms of dissent that emerge out of the ghetto and that may not always appear to be decent at first glance. And its a very charitable and thoughtful and sympathetic reading, again, inspired by Kings political philosophy.

ezra klein

Brandon Terry, thank you so much.

brandon terry
It was hard to know how to respond. Were we meant to delight in the Stroopwafel and then lament the spoils of empire and the ravages of war? And did putting three days between the national costume show on Wednesday and the main event on Saturday succeed in helping us overlook all the unease that had been stirred up? (Neither Miss Ukraine nor Miss Russia made the finals.)

In fact, the discordant nature of Miss Universe 2023 was just a heightened version of the tension that routinely pervades any beauty pageant. Such competitions strive for gravitas, interviewing women about world peace or domestic policies. But its hard to turn a pageant into a seminar on global politics. And its also hard to turn women into abstract symbols of nationhood.

All beauty pageants turn women into places to some extent. Those sashes they wear announce the names of regions or cities, never their names. But in the case of Miss Universe, each woman becomes an entire country  a tricky task. Its true of course that nations have long been called she and imagined themselves as feminine figures: France uses Marianne to symbolize its lofty republican ideals. The United States has Lady Liberty.

But beauty pageants complicate the woman-as-country motif. Contestants, however accomplished or philanthropic they may be, are not there to represent noble virtues, remind us of suffering or incarnate a nations character. Theyre there to be sexy eye candy, to create watchable programming that sells products (mineral water, skin care and upcoming Roku series were among the commodities hawked onstage during the pageant).

And despite the insistence on internationalism, this pageant, like all pageants, is really a festival of uniformity. Virtually every participant is a tall, slim, young woman with long legs, long hair, long (false) eyelashes, perfect(ed) white teeth and precision-sculpted features  all poured into skintight, extremely revealing sequined dresses, atop vertiginous stilettos. The effect is more Rockettes than United Nations.
I dont know whether it was because my parents were just generally open-minded, or because they had a specific, kindly yet mortifying agenda, but one of the first Broadway plays they took me to, in June of 1977, was way too gay for comfort. It was about the closeted son of a Philadelphia family who returns from his fancy New England college to spend the summer at home  which is exactly what I was at that moment.

At least the play  Gemini, by Albert Innaurato  was a comedy, full of hilarious distractions from its overriding and (for me) cringy subject: the struggle of the college student, Francis, to accept his sexual orientation so that his kin might do so as well.

Guess what? He succeeds! As, a few years later, did I.

Indeed, so many of us did in the ensuing years that you will barely find agonized Francises, at least not privileged white ones, onstage anymore. The first phases of the gay play, crucial in their moment, which broadly speaking encompassed the second half of the 20th century, are over. The spotlight has passed from that narrow band of the L.G.B.T.Q. rainbow, and the specific drama of coming out, to a much wider and wilder journey into the heart of queerness and beyond.
Media organizations have aggressively followed the investigation, fueling interest with a steady drip of developments  from a search of a local trash transfer station for evidence to reports about Mr. Walshes internet search history.

The heavy news coverage has revived criticism of the disproportionate attention journalists give to sensational cases involving victims who are white women. The PBS anchor Gwen Ifill, who broke barriers as a Black woman in the Washington press corps, coined the term missing white woman syndrome, to describe the phenomenon nearly two decades ago.

Some drew comparisons to the case of Gabrielle Petito, who disappeared on a cross-country van trip in late 2021. Her body was eventually found in a national park in Wyoming, and the chief suspect, Brian Laundrie, her fiance, took his own life while he was a fugitive in Florida.

In The Boston Globe, which has covered the Walshe case extensively, the columnist Joan Vennochi wrote that it illustrates yet again  if you are young, white, and pretty, and live in a place where horrific crime is not supposed to take place, you are very newsworthy.

Yet would we be just as fascinated if this couple were Black and lived in Roxbury? Ms. Vennochi added, referring to a Boston neighborhood with a large Black population.

She noted that Cohasset is a town of about 8,400 people that is 94 percent white, with median home values and household income in the six figures, with a low crime rate and no murders in the last decade.

In his newsletter, Oliver Darcy, a CNN reporter who covers the news media, also explored the connection between race and the attention to this case. He quoted Martin G. Reynolds, co-executive director of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, which promotes diversity and antiracism in the news media. Journalists are making value judgments and articulating through coverage who is important and whose life has value, Mr. Reynolds said. That is very powerful.
An Indiana man was arrested after his 4-year-old son was seen playing with a gun in doorbell camera footage that was broadcast on live television on Saturday as part of a program that follows police departments.

The footage showed a child clad only in a diaper waving a gun in an apartment hallway. The child appeared to pull the guns trigger several times, though the gun did not discharge, and pointed it at several doors inside the apartment complex in Beech Grove, Ind., a suburb of Indianapolis.

The distressing scene was broadcast just weeks after a first-grade student in Virginia shot a teacher with a 9-millimeter handgun.

In footage from the television show On Patrol: Live, a neighbor who had called 911 tells officers from the Beech Grove Police Department that her son had opened the door and seen the boy with a handgun, then closed the door and told his family about the child. The mother tells the police that she saw the boy through the peephole and knew he was holding a real gun, because she sells firearms.
The instinct to rebuild in the same place should be questioned, not just in Montecito but in all of Californias vulnerable areas, said Tom Corringham, a research economist with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego who has studied the costs of natural disasters. The 2018 mudslide led to more than $420 million in insurance claims. At what point do you stop fighting against Mother Nature and start moving people to safer areas? he asked.

There are few things stronger, though, than the draw of home.

Carie Baker-Corey, 54, grew up in Montecito and said she enjoyed an idyllic childhood, an experience she wants to pass down for generations.

She had been a wardrobe stylist, but retired after the 2018 mudflow, when she lost her house and suffered a punctured lung, shattered bones and a brain injury. Two of her three daughters died in the mudslide.

Her surviving daughter, Summer, was 12 at the time, and remained in a coma for weeks. When she awoke, she learned that the body of her twin had been found a mile from the house.

Living in an adjacent community since then, Ms. Baker-Corey recently purchased a house back in Montecito, but in a different neighborhood than before. It is, she said, the one place where her grief is understood.

On each anniversary of the disaster, she said, her phone lights up with dozens of calls, texts and emails from those who would never forget such a date: Are you OK? What can I do? We love you.

I dont know any other place that would be this compassionate.

Jackie Sedley contributed reporting from Montecito.
Representative Jim Banks, a staunch conservative with the backing of a deep-pocketed political action committee, opened his bid for an Indiana Senate seat on Tuesday with an ad highlighting his deployment to Afghanistan and issuing a broadside against radical socialist Democrats.

Mike Braun, who currently holds the seat and is one of the states two Republican senators, will run for governor next year, creating an opening that could lead to a crowded primary fight in the reliably Republican state. Mr. Banks, who recently led the Houses Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus that is broader and less confrontational than the Houses Freedom Caucus, turned to the Senate after he lost his bid to be whip, the No. 3 Republican position in the G.O.P.s new House majority.

He enters the contest with the backing of the Club for Growth, a moneyed conservative political action committee that spent millions of dollars to get its preferred House and Senate candidates across the line in the November midterms. The group and its super PAC are prepared to spend whatever it takes to help Banks secure the nomination and victory, its president, David McIntosh, said Tuesday.

The Club for Growth is already spending money against another possible candidate, the former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, whom it considers too conciliatory. Mr. Banks signaled that he too would focus on Mr. Daniels, who was also president of Purdue University and a White House budget director under President George W. Bush.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court considered on Tuesday whether the federal government may prosecute a state-owned bank in Turkey on charges that it had helped Iran evade sanctions imposed by the United States. In the process, the justices debated a much larger question: whether criminal prosecutions of foreign nations or the entities they control are ever permissible under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.

The case involved what a 2019 indictment called a multiyear scheme by the bank, known as Halkbank, to launder billions of dollars of Iranian oil and natural gas proceeds. It has strained relations between the United States and Turkey, and it prompted top Justice Department officials in the Trump administration to try to disrupt the prosecution.

Lisa S. Blatt, a lawyer for the bank, said that it was one thing to allow civil suits seeking money from companies owned by foreign governments, which she said was permissible under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 in some circumstances.

But criminal charges, she said, were another matter entirely. There just never has been a criminal prosecution of a sovereign or its instrumentality anywhere, she said, adding, The world has been around for, like, 7,000 years, and no country has ever tried another country.
Highways blocked with giant boulders and broken glass. Entire cities shuttered by mass protests. Fifty families mourning their dead. Calls for a new president, a new constitution, a new governing system altogether. Pledges to take the fight to Lima, the capital. Local officials warning that the country is headed toward anarchy.

A protest anthem shouted in the streets: This democracy is no longer a democracy.

Rather than fade, protests in rural Peru that began more than a month ago over the ouster of the former president have only grown in size and in the scope of demonstrators demands, paralyzing entire sections of the country and threatening efforts by the new president, Dina Boluarte, to gain control.

The unrest is now far broader than anger over who is running the country. Instead, it represents a profound frustration with Perus young democracy, which protesters say has failed to address a yawning gap between the rich and the poor and between Lima and the countrys rural areas.

Democracy, they say, has largely helped a small elite  the political class, the rich and corporate executives  accumulate power and wealth, while providing few benefits to many other Peruvians.
DAVOS, Switzerland  China ventured back on to the global stage Tuesday, sending a delegation to the World Economic Forum to assure foreign investors that after three years in which the pandemic cut off their country from the world, life was back to normal.

But the Chinese faced a wary audience at the annual event, attesting to both the dramatically changed geopolitical landscape after Russias war on Ukraine, as well as two data points that highlighted a worrisome shift in Chinas own fortunes.

Hours before a senior Chinese official, Liu He, spoke to this elite economic gathering in an Alpine ski resort, the government announced that Chinas population shrank in 2022 for the first time in 61 years. A short time earlier, it confirmed that economic growth had slowed to 3 percent, well below the trend of the past decade.

Against that backdrop, Mr. Liu sought to reassure his audience that China was still a good place to do business. If we work hard enough, we are confident that growth will most likely return to its normal trend, and the Chinese economy will make a significant improvement in 2023, he said.
In late 2020, when President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia brokered the end of a war in the Caucasus between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and placed 2,000 Russian peacekeeping troops between the two sides, it looked like a strategic masterstroke.

The deal gave Russia a military presence in one post-Soviet country, Azerbaijan, while deepening the reliance of another, Armenia, on Russia as a guarantor of its security. It positioned Mr. Putin as a peacemaker and seemed to affirm his claim to Russias rightful influence, as the only power capable of keeping stability throughout the former Soviet sphere.

Barely two years later, the conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan is heating up again, and Russia, distracted and weakened by the war in Ukraine, has not stepped in. Defying the Russian presence, Azerbaijanis are testing whether Moscow is still able and determined to impose its will on other, smaller neighbors amid its struggles in Ukraine.

Since Dec. 12, the mountain road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia has been blocked amid protests by Azerbaijani activists claiming to be opposing illegal mining operations in the area. Azerbaijans government has endorsed the protests; Armenians say Azerbaijan engineered them and criticize Russian peacekeepers for not keeping the road open.
Belarus on Tuesday put the countrys main exiled opposition leader on trial in absentia for treason, in the latest crackdown on dissent against the countrys autocratic ruler.

The opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who is based in Lithuania and works to coordinate opponents of Belaruss government from abroad, described the trial as a farce. She said her government-appointed defense lawyer had not responded to her efforts to get in touch.

Belarusian state media said on Tuesday that Ms. Tikhanovskaya and four other exiled opposition figures were accused of plotting an unconstitutional seizure of state power, inciting social hatred, and other crimes.

President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, a dictator who has ruled Belarus since 1994, forced Ms. Tikhanovskaya into exile in 2020 after she ran for president. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest after Mr. Lukashenko declared himself the winner of the ballot, which was widely denounced as fraudulent. The government put down the monthslong uprising with extraordinary force, with the backing of neighboring Russia, Belaruss main ally.
BERLIN  Chancellor Olaf Scholz has tapped Boris Pistorius, the interior minister of one of Germanys largest states, to become the countrys next defense minister, a day after the previous minister resigned from the post amid heavy criticism, including over the war in Ukraine.

The Defense Ministry is one of the most critical roles in the German cabinet, given that it is where the most important changes are required in Mr. Scholzs plan for a Zeitenwende, or turning point. Under that initiative, Germany is aiming to revitalize and bolster its military preparedness in an era of increased instability in Europe because of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

The incoming minister will be put to the test immediately, as he will have to navigate mounting public pressure for Germany to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, even though that decision lies with the chancellor. Mr. Scholz has repeatedly resisted succumbing to such pressure and says that he would make such a move only in coordination with Germanys main allies. He is thought to be waiting on the United States in particular, according to politicians focusing on defense issues, and Washington has also not made any move on sending battle tanks.

The departing defense minister, Christine Lambrecht, a former justice minister, had faced months of criticism over her handling of the Ukraine crisis and the efforts to bolster Germanys armed forces.
KYIV, Ukraine  When the blare of the siren rang out over the loud speaker, the students in a school in central Kyiv quickly rose from their desks, packed their things and filed calmly down the stairs behind their teachers. But this wasnt a drill.

Amid the darkness, huddled in the narrow hallway of their basement shelter, students chatted among themselves. Some used the lights on their smartphones to continue working on classroom assignments.

They would remain in the shelter for nearly two hours until the threat of a potential airstrike passed. It is the new reality for the 430 schoolchildren, ages 6 to 18, who still attend classes in person at this large public elementary and high school in Ukraines capital. Although classes resumed in September, a relentless barrage of Russian strikes targeting the city since October has crippled the countrys power grid, caused rolling blackouts in Kyiv and offered the latest challenge to education during wartime.

We hope this will not last for a long time, said Olena Romanova, 50, who has been the principal of the school for the last decade. We also have a generator, but since the school is large, it cannot meet the needs of the entire institution.
Image The singer Natalia Valevska performing at Ohmatdyt Hospital in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Tuesday. Credit... Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times

Image Greeting the performers. Credit... Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times Image Playing amid confetti. Credit... Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times

KYIV, Ukraine  Draped in the bold blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag, Natalia Valevska sang patriotic songs and rallied the crowd of young children gathered in the auditorium of a hospital in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

Children were invited to the front of the room to join the singer, one of several acts aiming to bring a smile to their faces.

For the children, thanks to the performances, for a few hours the war seemed far away.

The Ohmatdyt Hospital, the countrys leading pediatric hospital, holds concerts each week for patients, their parents and staff members. Some youngsters in the audience on this particular day were being treated for injuries received during the war. But the vast majority were children suffering from different diseases or being treated for other ailments.

Despite the war, the staff at the hospital is dedicated to providing the children with the best care possible. Equally important, many of the staff here say, is ensuring that the children are given space to just be kids.

We organize the concerts so that these children can have a normal childhood, said Anastasia Magerramova, a communications officer for the hospital. Since last March 8, days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the hospital has been holding the concerts.

A young girl in the audience, Kateryna Iorhu, 13, smiled as she listened to the performance and chatted with the girl next to her. She used a wheelchair, her left leg elevated after a recent surgery.

She and her sister were outside a train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in April with their mother and aunt, waiting to be evacuated from the city, when a missile tore into the crowd.

Her mother was killed. And in the months since, she has been in and out of Ohmatdyt Hospital for follow-up surgeries and rehabilitation.

But at these concerts, she can leave the horrors of the war behind for a few minutes, and she said she misses the performances when she is not in the hospital.

It is just one of the hospitals initiatives to lift childrens spirits. It brings in volunteer clowns to entertain the children, provides art therapy, and has an on-site school for those in long-term care.

Colorful scenes of castles floating on cotton-candy-pink clouds are spread across the walls. On one floor, a mountain waterfall flows behind the reception desk. In the bone marrow transplant unit, a mural of a whale swimming through rainbow-colored seas extends across the end of one hallway.

We want to create a beautiful world for our children, Ms. Magerramova added.

They are the creations of Angela Dmitrenko, an artist who had been painting scenes at the hospital since before the war. But now, she said, her work has taken on new meaning.

We want to create a space not to just allow children to heal physically but to also heal mentally, Ms. Dmitrenko, 38, said.
A former member of a notorious Russian paramilitary force has surrendered to Norwegian authorities, a rare defection that his lawyer and Russian human rights activists say could aid international investigations into Moscows atrocities in Ukraine.

Andrei Medvedev, who says he commanded about 15 fighters in the Wagner mercenary group in Ukraine, has applied for asylum in Norway after being detained by local security forces for illegally crossing the nations border with Russia in the early hours of Friday, his lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, said.

Norwegian immigration authorities confirmed that a man matching Mr. Medvedevs description was detained and had requested asylum, but declined to comment further, citing security and privacy concerns.

Image An undated photo provided by Andrei Medvedev of himself with his Wagner dog tag.

In a video published on Monday, Mr. Medvedev told a Russian human rights activist, Vladimir Osechkin, that he had crossed into Norway on foot and requested asylum after surrendering to the police. He said he was willing to collaborate with international investigators into potential war crimes committed by Wagner, a major paramilitary force at the center of the Kremlins war efforts in Ukraine.
An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Tuesday that he would resign after an uproar over remarks that the adviser made in the wake of a Russian missile strike that left at least 45 people dead in the city of Dnipro.

Ukrainian lawmakers had called for the dismissal of the adviser, Oleksii Arestovych, after he suggested, in a televised interview shortly after the attack in Dnipro on Saturday, that the Russian missile had been struck by Ukraines air defense system and then crashed into a nine-story apartment building.

Ukrainian officials said that the missile that struck the building was a Kh-22, a long-range Russian anti-ship missile, that had not been intercepted, and that the evidence from the scene pointed to a direct strike on the building.

The death toll in the Dnipro attack had risen to 44 by Tuesday afternoon, according to Ukraines State Emergency Service, adding that search and rescue efforts had been called off. The strike was one of the deadliest single incidents for civilians since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February.
President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the British announcement of a new military aid package and urged other allies to move faster to match that support as Ukraine warns that Russia could be preparing a renewed push to capture more territory.

Mr. Zelensky, in his nightly address on Monday, urged allies to speed up decision-making and said that Britains new aid, including Challenger 2 tanks and a package of other sophisticated military equipment, was exactly what we need. He cited the attack on civilians in an apartment building on Saturday in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, which killed at least 44 people, as a sign that Russia is seeking to change the direction of the war.

The fact that Russia is preparing a new attempt to seize the initiative in the war, the fact that the nature of hostilities at the front requires new decisions in the defense supply  all this only emphasizes how important it is to coordinate our efforts, Mr. Zelensky said.

Ukraine and its allies are growing more worried that there is a short window to prepare for a possible Russian offensive in the spring. Russia has suffered a series of losses since September, when Ukraine recaptured significant parts of its territory in the north and east. Russia responded by targeting civilians and infrastructure as fighting on the eastern front ground to a stalemate.
The longest-held American prisoner in Iran began what he said would be a weeklong hunger strike on Monday to demand his immediate release, appealing directly to President Biden to negotiate freedom for him and other prisoners with dual citizenship.

Siamak Namazi, an Iranian-American businessman, made his appeal in a letter written from Irans notorious Evin Prison in the capital, Tehran, where he has been held for more than seven years.

Day after day I ignore the intense pain that I always carry with me and do my best to fight this grave injustice, Mr. Namazi wrote in the letter, which was shared by his lawyer, Jared Genser. All I want, sir, is one minute of your days time for the next seven days devoted to thinking about the tribulations of the U.S. hostages in Iran.

The Biden administration has emphasized that bringing home Americans unjustly held abroad is a top priority that it considers every day.
This year is shaping up to be the messiest fight in at least a decade. Republicans now control the House and they have adopted new rules governing legislation that make it more difficult to raise the debt limit and strengthen Republicans ability to demand that any increase be accompanied by spending cuts. Senate Republicans have also insisted that increases to the debt limit should be tied to structural spending reform.

Mr. Biden has said he will oppose any attempt to tie spending cuts to raising the debt ceiling, raising the likelihood of a protracted standoff.

All of this drama raises the question of what the debt limit really is, how it got here and why the United States does not do away with debt limit entirely and spare the nation from its periodic face-off with an economic time bomb.

President Biden proposed a $6.8 trillion budget that sought to increase spending on the military and social programs while also reducing future budget deficits. Recapturing a Centrist Identity: Biden has made curbing the budget gap one of his centerpiece promises. The move is part of a wider shift that sees the president Biden has made curbing the budget gap one of his centerpiece promises. The move is part of a wider shift that sees the president speaking more to the concerns of the political middle

Reducing Deficit: Instead of talking about hard choices and freezing spending, the president has pledged to defend popular federal programs and rely on taxing corporations and high earners. Instead of talking about hard choices and freezing spending, the president has pledged to defend popular federal programs and rely on taxing corporations and high earners. That represents a break with the past

A Missing Plan for Social Security: Like the presidents previous budgets, Like the presidents previous budgets, his new proposal makes no mention of the program , which he promised to shore up during his 2020 campaign.

What is the debt limit?

The debt limit is a cap on the total amount of money that the federal government is authorized to borrow to fulfill its financial obligations. Because the United States runs budget deficits  meaning it spends more than it brings in through taxes and other revenue  it must borrow huge sums of money to pay its bills. That includes funding for social safety net programs, interest on the national debt and salaries for troops. The debt ceiling debate often elicits calls by lawmakers to cut back on government spending, but lifting the debt limit does not authorize any new spending and in fact simply allows the United States to finance existing obligations.

When was the debt limit reached?

The United States hit its technical debt limit on Jan. 19, prompting the Treasury Department to begin using extraordinary measures to continue paying the governments obligations. Those are essentially fiscal accounting tools that curb certain government investments so that the bills continue to be paid.
Tullamore Dew is currently engaged in the process of buying a big parcel of land from Offaly County Council adjacent to its factory in Clonminch Tullamore.

On Monday afternoon, during their monthly meeting, the councillors agreed to the sale of the land.

In Item Three on the agenda, the Director of Services Tom Shanahan told the meeting that under Section 183 of the Local Government Act 2001 the Council was proposing to sell two separate plots in Clonminch to William Grant and Sons (Irish Manufacturing Ltd), the owners of Tullamore Dew.

The first plot was 9,097 acres and was worth 454,850. The second was 10.41 acres and was worth 416,400. The councillors unanimously agreed to the sale.

Cllr Neil Feighery pointed out that this was excellent, very positive news for Tullamore and the wider Offaly region.

Cllr Sean O'Brien also warmly welcomed the news. He said it was Tullamore Dew who approached the Council and asked to buy the land.

Tullamore Dew has been such a success story since they arrived here in 2014, he commented, and we are delighted to see they are planning to expand again, and expand significantly. It will probably mean the creation of more jobs, which is always a good thing.

The councillor added that Tullamore Dew has also bought another parcel of land from another landowner adjacent to their factory.

Cllr Declan Harvey said he was delighted to hear the news and he hoped it would lead to more job creation.

The councillors said they are strongly committed to attracting more companies into the area, with the aim of bringing about more employment.

Back in September 2018 it was announced that William Grant & Sons had invested a further 25 million Euros in the Tullamore Dew site bringing its total investment in the distillery to about 60 million Euros. About 80 people are employed in the facility. In October 2017 the new grain distillery and bottling plant were officially opened making it one of the world's few grain to glass whiskey operations.

Giles Wilson, CEO of William Grant & Sons, said the company is an independent, family-owned business and really cares about the legacy it's creating. He said that when the company sees potential it makes a big effort, focussing on investing and building. The company can see that potential in Tullamore. Tullamore Dew is the second largest Irish whiskey globally (after Jameson), selling 1.5 million cases annually.

Whiskey production returned to Tullamore for the first time in sixty years in 2014 when William Grant opened the distillery in Clonminch.




It's the quiet time of the greyhound year however there were still a few interesting stakes this week starting off around the tracks, including some top class unraced competitions where future champions were on debut. Some decent Offaly winners also in the mix.



Early Week Racing



Nothing out of the ordinary and no Faithful County winners in the early part of the week.

Friday Racing



First Offaly winner of the week was in Galway as Geashill trainer Margaret Bolton made the trip with Ocean Blake with the travel paying off as she won an S9 350 sprint in 19.68 (.05 slow) by one length at 2/1. Newbridge hosted the first round of the Eamonn Wheatley Memorial A4 stake, six heats, all closely contested. Fastest of the six was Black Emperor in 28.99 by five lengths at 5/2 for local trainer Eric Thorpe.



Shelbourne staged the first round of the 2023 A2 Dublin Cup, again six heats with Highview Stage going fastest and making it three wins from three starts in 28.51 by nine lengths at 3/1 for Man O War owners in north County Dublin Anthony Rooney and Owen Sweeney.



In Cork, in the semi-finals of the Curraheen Park ON2 unraced stake, Whominowdoll won the first in 29.09 (10 slow) by three lengths at 4/6 fav for Thomas ODonovan. The second went to Jacktavern Magic for local Cork trainer Denis Fitzgerald in 29.12 (10 slow) by two lengths at 5/4 joint fav. Only half a length between these two winners going into Fridays final.



In Tralee the highlights of a decent card were the quarterfinals of the Eric Browne Memorial AAO Kingdom Derby. Fastest of the four was streams Of Sydney for Austin Whelan in 28.35 by three lengths at 6/4. Other three winners were Ballymac Finn in 28.40, Ballymac Bronze in 28.51, both for Liam Dowling and Disco Pants for Michael Daly in 28.37.

Clonmel held one of its annual early stakes with the first round of the Rural Kennels Open unraced stakes. Seven heats with some classically bred pups making their debuts. This stake was won last year by the great Swords Rex who went on to win the Con and Annie Kirby Memorial in Limerick. Graham Holland had a treble in the stake with the fastest run being done by Droopys Racer for Michael Corr in a super 28.49 (10 slow) by four lengths. Another to impress was Ballybrazil Lima for Adam Dunford in 28.76 (10 slow) by three lengths.

Saturday Racing

First Offaly winner on Saturday was in Dundalk, in an S2 400 yard sprint, Velocity Drive won in 21.38 by four lengths for Edenderry owner Thomas Glynn with David Murray training.

Another three Offaly winners in Mullingar. In an S5 400, Murray was again the trainer as Laughil Rambo won, this time for Kilcormac owners Mary and Paul Jennings in 22.20 (20 slow) by one length at 4/5 fav.

In an A3 contest, Optic Xplosive was first home for Edenderry owner/ trainer David Hanlon in 29.85 (60 slow) by three lengths at 5/4 fav.

In the best race on the card an AO 525, Horseleap Nelly had her fourteenth career win for Sean McGuinness and has now amassed over 4.5k in winning prize money when winning in 29.14 (60 slow) by four lengths at 5/4 fav.

Some decent start of year action in Shelbourne Park, in the final of the RCETS Dual Distance A1 550/575 stake, Churchtown Syd (Droopys Sydney -Skywalker Pearl) was first across the line for Cork trainer Denis Fitzgerald in 31.57 by one length at 5/2.

In the semi-finals of The Upcoming Events AO stake, Toolmaker Wilde won the first for Rathangan trainer Robert Gleeson in a super 29.67 by six lengths at 3/1. The second semi went to Lujanco for Murt Leahy in a slower 30.14 by one length at 4/1.

In the semi-finals of the Talking Dogs A1 525, Droopys Battery was first back in Kennels in the first for Northern Ireland trainer Michael Corr in 29.22 by a neck at 4/1. The remaining semi went to Stefans Sicks for Shea Campbell in 28.85 by three lengths at even money fav.

In Kilcohan Park in Waterford, in the final of the Whitewood Kennels ON2 unraced stake, Takinitallin (Droopys Sydney - Ballymac Belle) showed why he was the 2/5 favourite when winning by two lengths in a fine 28.89 (10 slow) with the 1k first prize also going to Gleeson.

Sunday Racing

Just the one Offaly winner at the matinee meeting in Mullingar, in the first race on the card, Lingrawn Mona won an A7 525 in 29.93 (50 slow) by four lengths at 5/2 for Moneygall owner Liam Jones.

Upcoming Events

Friday, second round of the Rural Kennels unraced in Clonmel, final of the Curraheen Park unraced in Cork, quarterfinals of the Dublin Cup in Shelbourne and semifinals of the Kingdom Derby in Tralee. Saturday, Shelbourne, finals of the AO 550 and the A1 525.

Tribune Offaly dog of the week

Horseleap Nelly gets the nod this week, winning an AO race in Mullingar on Saturday in easily the fastest time of the night in 29.14 (60 slow) by four lengths for Sean McGuinness.

Offaly Winners

Six Offaly winners this week, congrats to all involved in any way.
A frantic pet owner is looking for help in locating her missing African Serval Cat in Offaly.

Sam Norris is eager to let people know that her pet cat Phoebe, who was last seen near the Business Park on the Ballycumber Road in Ferbane, Co Offaly poses no threat to livestock or people.

Phoebe, who weighs around seven kilos, was last seen in a shed opposite the Business Park in Ferbane on Monday, January 16.

I cant emphasise enough that she is no danger to livestock or people. She is very shy and now running scared. I have sheep and she is terrified of them, Sam explained.

I walk her. She is my baby. I was walking her on Friday afternoon and we last saw her at the old railway bridge(in Ferbane), she remarked.

Since then, Sam has been contacted with footage of the cat in a shed across the road from the business park in Ferbane.

She said the cat is only eight months old and would be shy of people. Its completely harmless and is barely knee high, Sam said.

Sam bought the cat from an Irish breeder in Roscommon. It was bottle reared and eats dead mice and chicks. The cat is neutered and microchipped.

She is 100 percent not going to attack anyone. She is going to run away, Sam explained.

They bond very much with one or two people and those two people are me and my daughter, said Sam.

She praised Ferbane Gun Club who have been helping look for the cat. However, Sam said the last thing I need is someone going out checking with dogs as the cat would only run and hide.

Anyone who spots the cat is asked to contact Sam or Maddy immediately. Sam said the cat could be lured to a location with raw chicken if the opportunity arises but she said it will run away if approached.

Sam said there is a slim chance the cat might have gone towards the Grand Canal heading to Belmont as she is walked along that route on occasion.

Sam is asking people living locally to please check their sheds and outbuildings. Any sightings please call 087 2660533/085 2079874 immediately.

I am frantic and heartbroken to get her home, she is my baby, she is as harmless as a scared housecat despite her unusual appearance, Sam said.
Madonna is celebrating four decades of her greatest hits with a global tour.

The 64-year-old will kick off Madonna: The Celebration Tour in Vancouver on July 15, making her way across North America before performing in Europe.

Announcing the news on Instagram, Madonna posted: Come join the party! #madonnacelebrationtour.

Venues will include Londons O2 and the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam.

We can expect hits including Like A Virgin and Vogue performed onstage, along with an eclectic wardrobe.

Madonna has been a fashion chameleon throughout her career, and these are just some of her most memorable style moments

The Material Girl dress

In the 1984 video for Material Girl, Madonna paid homage to another famous blonde, Marilyn Monroe, mimicking the movie stars performance of Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend in a hot pink strapless dress with a huge bow at the back, matching opera gloves and, of course, plenty of sparkling jewellery.

The cone bra

Arguably the pop queens most iconic outfit of all time, the waist-cinching corset with conical bra cups was debuted during her Blond Ambition tour in 1990. Worn over pinstripe trousers, the pale pink underwear-as-outwear piece was created by French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier, whom Madonna had personally requested design costumes for the tour.

The cowgirl outfit

For her eighth studio album Music, released in 2000, Madonna went all in on Americana, sporting a variety of cowgirl-inspired ensembles in music videos, onstage and on the red carpet. Of course, these werent your average jeans and denim shirt combos  Madges came with masses of sparkling embellishment, sequinned stetsons and lots of bling.

The aerobics-inspired look

Madonnas 2005 album Confessions On A Dance Floor was heavily influenced by 1970s disco, and she had the aesthetic to match: plenty of brightly coloured leotards, leg warmers and fishnet tights  as seen at the 2005 MTV Music Awards.

Channelling bullfighters

Madonnas fashion goes through clear-cut phases: she tends to pick a theme and stick to it for the duration of that album. When she released Rebel Heart in 2015 her red carpet and performance outfits were heavily inspired by Spanish bullfighters.

For the 2015 Grammy Awards, she wore an embellished Givenchy bodysuit which seemed to be inspired by matador style.
A PROSECUTION involving an alleged 20,000 worth of cocaine is in danger of collapsing because of a delay in analysing suspected drug samples.

Jodie/Jody Canavan (25), Brosna View, Kilbeggan, is accused of having cocaine for supply at Tesco car park, Cloncollig, Tullamore on March 23 last year.

Mr Canavan is also being prosecuted by Garda Adrian Hughes for not displaying tax on a vehicle at the same location on the same date.

Requesting an adjournment at Tullamore District Court, Sergeant James O'Sullivan said the gardai had been in contact with Forensic Science Ireland three times in relation to analysis of a sample which had been sent but there was still a delay with the laboratory.

Defending solicitor Ashling Maloney said she had no difficulty with an adjournment.

Judge Cody granted an adjournment to March 1 next but said he would consider striking out the prosecution on that date if instructions were not forthcoming from the DPP because a year will have passed since the date of the alleged offence.
There were queues at Post Offices this week as people cashed in their single one-off energy payments.

This week people started queuing at Post Offices to cash in their 600 energy vouchers after they started arriving in the mail on Saturday. Many of the vouchers started arriving in Northern Ireland this week with about 500,000 people eligible for the voucher there.

The vouchers can be redeemed for cash at most Post Office branches or can be deposited directly into your bank account.

Massive difference

One man waiting at a Post Office for his money commented, as per the BBC:

Itll make a massive difference. Food, gas and electric - that's what I'll be spending mine on.

Those eligible for the voucher include people who pay quarterly for their energy or use prepayment meters. Any eligible households who pay for their energy by direct debit will have the money transferred directly to their account.

Nathan Mullet - Unsplash

The financial boost is a combination of a 400 energy support payment and then an additional 200 for homes in Northern Ireland using heating oil.

The rollout is expected to be staggered over the next four weeks with head of payments for the Post Office, Andrew Goddard, commenting:

This is a major logistical exercise and we are working very hard to distribute the vouchers as quickly as possible.

What do I need to redeem the voucher?

To redeem the voucher at a Post Office, you will need to bring, as per Belfast Live:

the voucher letter

proof of address

a bank card , if you are requesting payment into an account

, if you are requesting payment into an account a photographic ID , if you are redeeming the voucher for cash

, if you are redeeming the voucher for cash your top-up card or keypad app, if you are a keypad customer.

The letter includes details of what forms of photographic ID and proof of address are acceptable and names on each form of ID must match.

If you bank with Monzo, Nationwide or a Credit Union, you will not be able to transfer the voucher into your account as these are not covered by the voucher scheme.

If you are physically unable to go to the Post Office it is possible for somebody else to do it for you with further details provided in the letter.

Sources used:

- BBC '600 energy voucher: People redeeming first vouchers at post offices'

- Belfast Live 'Northern Ireland 600 energy payment scheme - all you need to know as voucher roll-out begins'
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DAVOS, Switzerland (AP)  Ukraines first lady will give a rare international address as the World Economic Forums annual gathering in the snowy Swiss town of Davos gets into full swing on Tuesday, part of a push by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government to acquire more foreign weapons to defend against Russias invasion.



Security teams fanned out and snowplows cleared streets as Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska and hundreds of government officials, corporate titans, academics and activists from around the world descended on the town billed as Europes highest for the traditional winter gathering in Davos. The COVID-19 pandemic torpedoed the snow-covered event each of the last two years, but a springtime iteration was held eight months ago.



Davos attendees are faced with global strife including Russias war in Ukraine, which has killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions, and jolted food and fuel markets worldwide, epitomizing a feeling of frustration about how conflict and bloodshed are still befuddling modern society.



Adding to the gloom are an economic slowdown and a warming world, with the weeklong talkfest of big ideas and backroom deal-making prioritizing such problems but never making clear how much concrete action emerges to help reach the forums stated ambition of improving the state of the world.



In a reminder of the fragility of the planet amid climate change, a giant illuminated wall featuring colorful, AI-conceived art derived from real images of coral reefs was one of the whiz-bang innovations welcoming attendees, showing how technology can immortalize images of natural beauty that might vanish one day.



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The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed a 'Net Zero Industry Act' to boost clean tech. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, she also vowed to support Ukraine "as long as it takes."
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Germany Structures its Regulation Model for 2023 With Proactive GGL Enforcement

Published January 17, 2023 by Lee R

Germany is focusing enforcement efforts on illegal gambling sites in 2023.

The Germany jurisdiction is undergoing a second stage of expansion with the intention announced to approve close to 50 new gambling licences.

New Licences

Germanys new gaming authority Gemeinsamen Glucksspielbehorde der Lander (GGL) has conditionally approved the licenses for online slot games and poker.

At this point, 25 licencees have been added, with the others pending completion of payment after security deposits were committed.

GGLs New Challenges

The GGL took over the young German market after 18 months of preparation. The new regulation was centralised when the authority was launched on 1 January 2023 and took control of gambling governance from the individual federal German states.

Incoming Strategy

The GGL will perform regulatory tasks which include issuing new licences and investigating and combating illegal cases of gambling in the country.

Application Status

At this juncture, GGL has approved some 600 of the total of 3,500 individual game permit applications submitted for online slot games and poker.

Compliance Issues

GGL CEO Ronald Benter spoke on the challenges of achieving compliance for licensing in the new system, pointing out simple requirement failures such as providing instructions only in English:

In Germany, we expect better coordination between the providers and studios.

Permit Revocation on the Table

Benter also made it clear that GGR was preparing to be diligent about enforcement, and would not hesitate to revoke permits.

Priorities

Benter lists the preventative priority for 2023 as illegal gambling as the key issue that GGR would be combating:

Our goal is a level playing field for all providers. We want to ensure that the business model of offering illegal or non-compliant gambling on the internet is not worthwhile in the long term.

Co-ordinating with Law Enforcement

GGL Board Member Benjamin Schwanke revealed the further intention to work with enforcement departments as an added dimension of regulation and compliance enforcement:

We will also proceed consistently when it comes to enforcement. Every provider who is not on the whitelist will be picked up, no matter how big it is.

New Office

The GGL will establish a new special public prosecutors office in Halle specialising in enforcement against illegal operators reaching out to German players via unlicensed gambling sites.

The Illegal Site Issue

GGL has their hands full: among an estimated 1150 illegal gambling websites detected so far, almost 150 cases of illegal gambling and nearly 150 cases of illegal gambling advertising are already on file with GGL.

Outlook

With further operational priorities for the GGL in 2023 including increased transparency for players on player protection measures and addiction prevention, the regulation model is rapidly maturing.
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Photo: (Photo : MARK RALSTON / Getty Images)

A police officer died attempting to save her 6-year-old daughter from their burning house in Hazlet.

The Montanaro family of four was awakened at midnight on Saturday morning by the sound of fire alarms and smoke.

William Montanaro was the first person to notice that the fire was already spreading throughout the house.

He frantically raced to find his wife, Jacqueline, their two kids, Elena, 8, and Madelyn, 6, as well as their dog, to assist in bringing them outdoors to a place of safety.

Madelyn remained inside the house as he, Jacqueline, and Elena battled their way out. The smoke completely covered the home in a matter of seconds. It was completely obscured from view.

Saving her 8-year-old daughter

Madelyn's parents dashed back inside as quickly as possible to get her. Unfortunately, the police officer and their youngest child sustained severe injuries from the burning house.

William Montanaro issued a statement through his brother, Domenico Montanaro, a reporter for NPR.

According to New Jersey Local News, William Montanaro was engulfed in tremendous black smoke when he raced back into the home for Madelyn.

However, his wife persistently plunged into the fire, attempting to save their daughter with the love of a mother and the bravery of a police officer fueling her desire to do so.

William forced his way back outdoors despite the thick cloud of smoke that surrounded them, but Jacqueline and Madelyn were hurt.

Both victims initially made it through the fire alive. They were sent to the hospital for treatment, where they remained in serious condition until they both passed away due to their injuries.

Jacqueline Montanaro, the couple's wife, is employed by United States Customs and Border Protection at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Read Also: Jared Dicus Finally Admits To Authorities For Violently Killing Wife Anggy Diaz

The cause of fire

William Montanaro and Elena survived. According to Fox News, it is unknown what caused the fire, and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office has stated that the event is being investigated.

In his statement, William explained that his priority is ensuring that his surviving daughter has the love and assistance she will require for them to reconstruct their lives again.

In addition to that, he mentioned that the family's dog had not been found. Mr. Montanaro said that an organization named Hound Hunters was helping him look for their Goldendoodle.

According to the App, Customs United Service Alliance and NTEU 161 set up a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help the bereaved loved ones of Jacqueline Montanaro, and it has so far raised more than $200,000.

In addition, William is collecting contributions for the Alumni Disaster Fund of the Monmouth County Council of the Boy Scouts, which will help the family meet their needs.

Since the fire broke out at the family's house on Brookside Avenue, there has been an outpouring of sympathy and support for William Montanaro and the couple's surviving daughter, Elena.

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Photo: (Photo : Getty Images/Michael Loccisano)

The British actor set the bar high for fellow dads out there as he built a Target play store for his two-year-old daughter.

Rupert Grint guested on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last Monday, where he shared his daughter Wednesday's latest "obsession."

When asked by host Jimmy Fallon what his toddler is into lately, everyone's favorite Wesley answered that Wednesday is into so many things. She is "princess-crazy" like other kids. She loves Philly, hoagies, and water ice, but the little girl is "obsessed with Target."

"She'd choose that over going to the park, or zoo. But she loves going to different Targets and seeing how the layout is kind of slightly different. Sometimes she doesn't buy anything, she just wants to kind of browse. The toy aisle is definitely a draw, but she's more into lip balm, to be fair," Grunt shared enthusiastically.

Because the U.K. has no Target

Wednesday has grown up in America, staying in the country for most of her life as her father has been filming the show "Servant" in Philadelphia. Now that they are back in the U.K., the little girl has been slightly struggling with the transition, Motherly reported.

The actor stated that she had been accustomed to all things American, specifically the Target store. Thus, to help with his daughter's transition to "Target-less U.K." and boost her obsession, the father built her her own mini-Target play store, which he is proud of for capturing its "essence."

It was funny how Grint shared that one of the most difficult conversations he ever had was to explain to Wednesday that she lives in a country with no Target stores. He said he tried to show her an equivalent store in the U.K., but unfortunately, they do not "hold up" for his daughter.

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Why Wednesday?

Fallon also commented that he loves that the name of Grint's daughter is Wednesday, saying that it is a very popular name these days and he was "ahead of the curve."

The host then asked why he and his long-time partner Georgia Groome named their daughter Wednesday. And surprisingly, it was inspired by The Addams Family long before the Wednesday series hit Netflix and became iconic.

According to Tyla, the actor said that he has always loved the name and that it is memorable.

Their toddler's full name is Wednesday G. Grint. The actor explained it was inspired by Samuel L. Jackson, as they love the idea of having a middle initial and "speaking the initials."

The 34-year-old Harry Potter star and Groome welcomed their first child Wednesday in 2020 and maintained a lot of privacy regarding their daughter and family.

Related Article: Harry Potter's Rupert Grint Welcomes Daughter with Georgia Groome
Photo: (Photo : Pexel/Ksenia Chernaya)

Child care providers in California are paid less than their costs and value.

California's reimbursements to child care providers are based on what families can pay. Thus, child care providers must serve the state's neediest children with low pay instead of receiving the costs to provide care.

As Yes Magazine puts it, child care is not only undervalued in America but also invaluable. Thus, it is difficult for parents to find good, long-lasting child care services.

Child care providers are never paid enough, not through private tuition fees paid by parents or the government's public subsidies. Instead, they are paid through a melange of public programs and at rates based on years-old prices that economists describe as a "failed market."

Underpaid because underfunded

While outturns of this underfunding fall onto those families with working parents and young ones, who need to budget 13 percent of their income on child care or an average of $19,500 annually in California, a heavier burden goes to the child care workers.

In California, there are almost 138,000 teachers, daycare center directors, and small-business owners who are strained by California's shortage of funds for the child care industry. Most of them are women, specifically women of color and immigrants.

According to 2020 data by the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, small family child care providers' income in California is as low as $16,200 to $30,000 annually. Teachers and center directors earn more at a median pay of $39,500 and $54,100, respectively. However, 66 percent of these teachers, half of the center directors, and a third of family child care providers are stressed due to insufficient income to pay their bills and other expenses.

Moreover, 33 percent of family child care providers and teachers need public assistance, while 66 percent are experiencing food insecurity. These individuals also lack employment benefits.

Read Also: Child Care Sector Crisis Could Get Worse With Over Millions of Dollar of Delayed Payments

National crisis

The child care industry's under-compensation status is not just a problem in California but is already a national issue, significantly limiting the supply of child care, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.

"Because we have such low wages in the field, people are not flocking to it to fill the spots that we have. We just do not have enough child care in this country for the number of children that are in need. That all has to do with the payment of the actual workers. If we paid them decently, then they'd be there," emphasized Elizabeth Pufall Jones from the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.

This is so true that California is now left with fewer than half of child care spaces available for the kids who need them.

According to the California Resource and Referral Network and census estimates, in 2021, there were only 560,100 spaces in child care centers and less than 267,900 spaces in family child care homes for around 1.7 million kids under six years old in California who have working parents.

Unfortunately, this shortage prevents the state from serving more children in subsidized child care. Thus, families who cannot afford the care are having it worse.

Keisha Nzewi, director of public policy for the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, a nonprofit institution representing child care referral agencies all over the state, proclaimed her disappointment that there have never been enough subsidized or non-subsidized child care spaces ever. And she hints that this is because it is an industry that is "extremely low-paid," with owners and employees having no healthcare, retirement, or even time for a vacation.

Related Article: New Jersey to Boost Child Care Costs With Subsidies and $1,000 Bonus for Workers
Photo: (Photo : Getty Images/ ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP)

Parents in Kentucky are seriously concerned that a student teen who was reported to have compiled a kill list is allowed to return to school.

Last week, the Boone County Board of Education allowed the 14-year-old student to return to school after being expelled for showing the school admin his "kill list" that included classmates, despite being charged with second-degree terroristic threats.

According to Fox19, parents only knew about the student's return after the re-enrollment process had been completed and the teenager was already in the classroom with their children in Conner High School.

They are now sending a clear message to the school administrators - they do not want their children to be in the same room with someone who is alleged to have created a "kill list," which may include their kids.

Deanne Corbin, one of the worried parents, expressed at a school board meeting that even if the school is saying that the student has already gotten help, it does not change the fact that "he is still a threat."

Not the right decision, parents said

Rob Bidleman, whose child is said to be on the teen's "active kill list," expressed how emotionally devastated he was when he found out from the Conner High School principal, Andy Wyckoff, through a phone call. He said he could not think of anything else but that his child would be in danger every day when he is at school. His kid does not deserve that, nor does any of the kids in school, because they did nothing wrong.

Other parents empathized with Wyckoff as it was also reported that his son was on the list. Though he insisted that he would not move his son, some parents believe he is going through a tough situation, NBC News reported.

"I don't think it's the right decision for the administration. I think it puts an unnecessary burden on Mr. Wyckoff with his own son on that list. He has to be impartial every day yet give this kid what he needs. Obviously, this kid needs a community to get behind him to help him, because one day he's going to be in our society," parent Karen Wells declared.

Boone County School District Superintendent Matthew Turner released a statement Friday stating that "his hands are tied," urging parents to discuss the concern with their local state legislator instead.

He wrote that they are obliged to follow the state's law, and Kentucky's constitution provides the right to public education to every kid without prejudice.

He concluded his letter by assuring parents that the kids in school will be safe as appropriate safety measures are in place and that Conner High School is and will remain "a safe school."

Read Also: East Chicago Parents, Students Demand Solution and Safety Plan After Teacher Accused of Having 'Kill List'

Internet people are also against it

People are also making noise on the internet regarding the issue, and they are angry noises, Meaw News shared.

One Reddit user proclaimed that America has actually "given up" and is "pretending" that they are here to protect the children. The commenter further said that the country would not protect kids from violence, fund their education, or create a society, a world for these young people to live in.

Another commenter suggested that the teen should instead be homeschooled or get an education in an institution. The student should be put in a safe place where everyone, including him, will be safe.

Allegations about the teen surfaced in 2021 while he was enrolled at Conner High School. The school resource officer (SRO) was reportedly informed that the student owns a notebook containing a list of the people, including classmates, he wants to kill. It was said to include very specific acts of violence as the student wrote down the hows and even the wheres.

Detective Anthony Theetge said that the boy admitted that he was the one who wrote down all the details but had no plan to do what was written. He was "merely writing the thoughts down that were in his head," Theetge stated.

The student is also accused of making social media threats. The Boone County authorities took him into custody after two threats were reported.

Related Article: Parents to Be Held Accountable for School Threats Made by Their Kids
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A Major report this morning focuses on how Apple tied its fortunes to China. The company spent two decades and billions of dollars building a supply chain of unprecedented sophistication. Now, a reckoning may be on the way.

This morning, the Financial Times has published a major report on Apple's rise to fame using China as a manufacturing base for their iPhone. It begins by noting that back in 2007, Nokia had 900mn users. Its market dominance seemed so great that Forbes ran a cover story on the company asking Can anyone catch the cell phone king? The same year, Apple launched the iPhone.

Sixteen years and 1.2bn users later, the story of how the Finnish handset maker got blindsided by the iPhone is well known. Nokia, the story goes, didnt have enough software savvy to keep up with visionary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and design whizz Jony Ive.

But the cellphones multitouch, full-screen features were not Apples only advantages. The company was also outmanoeuvring Nokia on hardware and production before the iPhone even went on sale. And it did so by making a substantial bet on China and its manufacturing sector.

Supply chain researcher Kevin OMarah vividly remembers his confusion when, in mid-2007, Apple vaulted from out of nowhere into the No. 2 spot of the Supply Chain Top 25, an annual ranking of the worlds best-run corporate supply chains.

Everyone was shocked, he says. It was like, What? This doesnt make sense. They have a terrible reputation.

The supply chain ranking turned out to be an early indication of a profound shift in operations at Apple, which held the No.1 spot for the next seven years. In that time it became the worlds most valuable company, while placing itself at the centre of geopolitical tensions.

OMarah began to learn that Apple was not really outsourcing production to China, as commonly understood. Instead, he realised that Apple was starting to build up a supply and manufacturing operation of such complexity, depth and cost that the companys fortunes have become tied to China in a way that cannot easily be unwound.

Over the past decade and a half, Apple has been sending its top product designers and manufacturing design engineers to China, embedding them into suppliers facilities for months at a time.

These Apple employees have played integral roles co-designing new production processes, overseeing the minutiae of manufacturing until things were up and running, and keeping close tabs on suppliers to ensure compliance.

Apple has also spent billions of dollars on custom machinery to build its devices, developing niche expertise that its rivals did not even know about, let alone compete with.

It has transformed the company and the country. All the tech competence China has now is not the product of Chinese tech leadership drawing in Apple, OMarah says. Its the product of Apple going in there and building the tech competence.

These operations played such a salient role that the unassuming character behind them, chief operating officer Tim Cook, would succeed Steve Jobs as CEO in 2011. It was Cook who shifted Apples production from the US to China, where he established unparalleled efficiencies that underpinned Apples ascent.

But this extraordinary success story has also created Apples biggest vulnerability: its dependence on a single country, China, which under President Xi Jinping has grown increasingly authoritarian and estranged from the west.

The manufacturing concentration is glaring for a risk-averse company widely lauded for leading the world in supply chain brilliance. More than 95 per cent of iPhones, AirPods, Macs and iPads are made in China, where Apple also earns about a fifth of its revenue  $74bn last year. That contrasts sharply with rivals such as Samsung, which have sharply cut back manufacturing in China.

Even in recent years, as competition between Washington and Beijing has escalated sharply, Apple has continued to invest in China and further cement its connections with the country.

The result is intense political scrutiny of Apple and its relationship with China, the country most in Washington consider to be Americas principal rival. Cook and his company are now under intense pressure from investors and US politicians to decouple from China and accelerate a diversification strategy that already has some products assembled in Vietnam and India.

For much more on this in-depth and enlightening story, read the Financial Times report by Patrick McGee.
When I was a youngun  long, long ago, in a galaxy far away  there was a rather powerful weekly magazine called Newsweek. Apparently it still exists even now, at least online. And, just today, this wonderful article went up: Black Mormon Told They Cant Marry White Members Because Seed is Cursed'

Virtually all of the responses, thus far, have been negative toward the Church. And quite understandably so. I replied in the comments section  I know, I know: its the very definition of an exercise in futility  as follows:

I would . . . like to know the name of the leader mentioned in this story, and I would like to hear whether he (or she) agrees with Ms. Achenbachs account of what he (or she) allegedly said. In the event that Ms. Achenbachs account is accurate, I very much doubt that it was one of the general officers of the Church because its flatly false doctrine. If a local leader said it, he or she should be reported to higher Church authority and corrected (or released from office). During my tenure as a bishop in the Church, I happily sent at least two mixed race couples to the temple for marriage.

Last night, I began a slow-motion reading of Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (New York: HarperCollins, 2009), written by Stephen C. Meyer. Ive had it for years and have long intended to read it, but I had always been put off by its sheer size. I thought that I would eventually get to it, but just not yet. Now, though, Im beginning to work my way through it, and I must say that, thus far, Im really enjoying it and am positively impressed. Dr. Meyer provides a wonderfully lucid and readable account, for instance, of the scientific history leading up to the pivotal discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA by Francis Crick and James Watson at Cambridge Universitys famed Cavendish Laboratory. And Im pleased by his calm, reasonable tone.

I also like his brief treatment of the origin, character, and development of the intelligent design movement. He was, in fact, present at the creation. It was a presentation by the three scientists named just below that led him to give up his career as a geologist and go off to England, to the University of Cambridge, for a doctorate in the history and philosophy of science. Here are three passages that I marked in my first few minutes of reading Signature in the Cell:

[T]he modern theory of intelligent design was not [contrary to some allegations] developed as a legal strategy, still less as one to abet creationism. Instead, it was first considered in the late 1970s and early 1980s by a group of scientists  Charles Thaxton, Walter Bradley, and Roger Olsen  as a possible explanation for an enduring mystery of modern biology: the origin of the digital information encoded along the spine of the DNA molecule. As I explained repeatedly to reporters and cable-new hosts, the theory of intelligent design is not based on a religious text or document, even if it does have implications that support theistic belief (a point to which I will return in Chapter 20). Instead, intelligent design is an evidence-based scientific theory about lifes origins that challenges strictly materialistic views of evolution. Indeed, the theory of intelligent design challenges a specific tenet of contemporary evolutionary theory. According to modern neo-Darwinists such as Oxfords Richard Dawkins, living systems give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose. But, to Dawkins and other contemporary Darwinists, that appearance of design is entirely illusory, because wholly undirected processes such as natural selection and random mutations can produce the intricate design-like structures in living systems. In their view, natural selection can mimic the powers of a designing intelligence without being guided or directed in any way. In contrast, the theory of intelligent design holds that there are tell-tale features of living systems and the universe that are best explained by an intelligent cause  that is, by the conscious choice of a rational agent  rather than by an undirected process. Either life arose as the result of purely undirected processes, or a guiding intelligence played a role. Advocates of intelligent design argue for the latter option based on evidence from the natural world. The theory does not challenge the idea of evolution defined as change over time or even common ancestry, but it does dispute the Darwinian idea that the cause of all biological change is wholly blind and undirected. Even so, the theory is not based on biblical doctrine. Intelligent design is an inference from scientific evidence, nor a deduction from religious authority. (4)

This book makes a case for that same idea [i.e., for intelligent design based upon various examples of nanotechnology in the cell . . . [and] the problem that complex systems systems have posed for neo-Darwinism] . . . on the basis of a different class of evidence [than that adduced by Michael Behe in another book]: the information  the digital code  stored in DNA and the other large biological molecules. The case I make for intelligent design is less well-known than Professor Behes and, therefore, to many completely new. Even so, it is not based upon a new discovery. It is, instead, based upon one of the most famous breakthroughs of modern biology: the discovery in 1953 of the information-bearing capacities of the DNA molecule, what I call the signature in the cell. (7-8)
Charles Gore was born on the 22nd of January, 1853, in London, to an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family. His great-grandfather was an earl, his grandfather a general. Following the path of privilege he was educated at Harrow and then Oxford, taking a first class in Classics in 1875.

In the same year Gore was elected a fellow at Trinity College in Oxford and the next year ordained a deacon in the Church of England. In 1878 he was ordained priest. Two years later Gore became Vice-Principal of Cuddesdon Theological College about five miles from Oxford. In 1884 he became Principle at Pusey House in Oxford.

In 1902 Charles Gore was consecrated as Bishop of Worcester. Three years later as the diocese divided he became the first bishop of Birmingham. In 1911 he translated as Bishop of Oxford.

In 1919 he retired. And Bishop Gore died on the 17th of January, 1932, in London.

Bishop Gore is of interest to me, and of importance to me, for three reasons. In no particular order, each of these are important. He was a modernist in that he believed the spiritual life must reconcile with the natural world as unveiled within scientific investigation. He was a Christian Socialist, a fervent advocate for social justice. And he was a fervent liturgist, seeing the ancient rites of the Anglican church as a central part of his religious life.

It all came together in his person as a fascinating figure, and an exemplar of an emerging liberal Catholicism. Something I see as continuing to seek its shape.

Rummaging around the interwebs I found a fascinating article. In part it notes (slightly edited for clarity):

In 1892 Gore founded the Community of the Resurrection, a religious community of men with a stong Christian social commitment. Some of its priests, like Fr. Paul Bull, played a major role in the Church Socialist League in the early 1900s and in support of the Independent Labour Party then forming in the north of England. The Communitys influence continues. As Alin Wilkinson points out in The Christian Socialist Magazine, In 1939 Trevor Huddleston went to join [the Community of the Resurrection], inspired by Gore and its Christian Socialist foundation. It was Gore who in 1900 urged the Community of the Resurrection to work in South Africa and from then until 1977 the Community trained most of its black Anglican priests including Desmond Tutu. So there is a direct line running from Gore to Tutu through Huddleston his mentor.'

An amazing figure.

The Church of England remembers him on the 17th of January, while the Episcopal church celebrates his life on the 14th of January.
China, Albania sign visa-free travel agreement

Xinhua) 14:10, January 17, 2023

TIRANA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of the governments of China and Albania signed here on Monday an agreement on mutual visa exemption for officials and citizens alike.

The agreement was signed by Chinese Ambassador to Albania Zhou Ding and Albania's Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Megi Fino.

It means that no matter what kind of passport they hold, citizens of both China and Albania can enter each other's country without a visa.

In 2018 and 2019, Albania implemented a visa-free policy for Chinese citizens who arrived in the country for short visits during the busy tourist seasons. The following year, Albania allowed short-term visit for Chinese citizens without a visa.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
THE FIRST consignment of governments Oil For Gold deal arrived yesterday at the Tema Port from Dubai,Daily Guide has learnt.



The Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) Company is the lead broker of the project, supported by GOIL and other oil marketing companies.



The preliminary consignment, which consists of 40,000 metric tons of oil, is expected to be increased subsequently.



Ghana currently has a monthly oil consumption requirement of 180,000 metric tons of oil.



Government recently announced its plans to buy oil products with gold rather than the United States dollar reserves.



In November, last year, it would be recalled Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said that the move was meant to tackle the dwindling foreign currency reserves coupled with the demand for dollars by oil importers, which was weakening the local cedi and increasing living costs.



The decision, billed to begin this first quarter of 2023, he said will fundamentally change our balance of payments and significantly reduce the persistent depreciation of our currency.



He added that using gold would prevent the exchange rate from directly impacting fuel or utility prices as domestic sellers would no longer need foreign exchange to import oil products.



Ghanas Gross International Reserves stood at around US$6.6 billion at the end of September 2022, equating to less than three months of imports cover.



The figure was down from around $9.7 billion at the end of last year, according to the government.



The barter of gold for oil represents a major structural change, Dr. Bawumia emphasised.



Like Nigeria, Ghana produces crude oil but it has relied on imports for refined oil products since its only refinery shut down after an explosion in 2017.



Although countries sometimes trade oil for other goods or commodities, barter deals of such nature often involve an oil-producing nation receiving non-oil goods.



The new move comes amid plans by government to contain the economic challenges being faced by the country.



Earlier last year, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta announced measures to cut spending and boost revenues in a bid to tackle a spiraling debt crisis.



So, this has come in handy as the cedi, in October last year, became the worst performing currency in the world after it lost 45.1 per cent of its value to the United States dollar.









Source: Daily Guide









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The Chief Executive Officer of the Intercity State Transport Corporation, Nana Akomea has appealed to the Pensioner Bondholders Forum to reconsider their position on government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.



The Pensioner Bondholders Forum has threatened to picket at the Ministry of Finance on Monday, January 23, 2023 if government fails to exempt them from its Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.



Speaking at a press briefing in Accra, Dr Adu A. Antwi, the Convener of Pensioner Bondholders Forum, disclosed that the Forum has written to the District Commander of the Ghana Police Service at the Ministries in Accra to notify the Police of their impending action if the government fails to heed their request.



We have also petitioned key stakeholders in the country, including the Speaker of Parliament, the Council of State, the National House of Chiefs , the Christian Council of Ghana, the Office of the Chief Imam, the National Peace Council, and the Catholic Bishops Conference, about our displeasure on the issue, he added.



The government in December last year announced an amendment to the initial Domestic Debt Exchange programme (DDEP), under which individual bondholders are asked to submit to a voluntary exchange of their domestic bonds for new bonds and as a result, existing domestic bonds were to be exchanged as of December 1, 2022 for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032, and 2037.



The pensioners have opposed the government's intention to touch their pensions but speaking on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Nana Akomea asked them to reason with the government as it has become crucial for cooperation from all citizens to help government restore the economy.



According to him, there should be a concensus between the government and pensioners to exempt some members but not all of them.



He cited that the arrangement should be that only members in their old ages (50 years and above) are exempted from the programme but with those below 50 years, the forum should support the government to deduct small sums of money from them in the interest of the economy.



"I think it's late now for the pensioners because the government has already exempted them but if it's not yet late, the government should renegotiate with them to come up with some measures that they pay some little bits to support the government," he explained.



He also appealed to all Ghanaians to lend their support to the government, expounding that the government should open up the programme to capture not just boldholders and pensioners but other individual investments.



He believed this will help alleviate the burden on government in implementing the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Having toured the 504, one and two-bedroom housing unit being developed for the Police Service, The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, responsible for Lands and Forestry Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio announced that a New Edifice for the Police Service will be ready in the second week of February 2023.



The Deputy Minister made this declaration when he embarked on a working visit to inspect the ongoing housing project for Personnel of the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Meteorological Service, Civil Aviation and the DVLA located at Kwabenya( Atomic) on Thursday, 12th January 2023.



Addressing the media, Hon. Benito Owusu-Bio disclosed that the project which is being developed by Unique Development Company is a land swap agreement between the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry, Lands Commission, Ministry of Interior, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and the private developer.



He said this agreement was reached when the government realised that the Police Service was in urgent need of accommodation which also fell in line with the government's plan to build Morden Barracks for the security services, as their numbers kept increasing by the day.



He indicated that the construction begun in 2020 but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the progress was interrupted and almost halted with 92% completion currently, they are hopeful to see the complete work by February 2023.



The Deputy Minister explained that the project also includes a 10 Unit, 2-bedroom accommodation for the engineering and mechanic department of the Service with offices, canteens, and a police post to ensure their safety.



Hon. Benito told the media that the police station within the new community will not only serve the Police Service and their families but also serve those in the neighbouring areas as well.



The Deputy Minister further clarified that the project has also relocated the residents of the Ghana Airport Company and the Meteorological Service at Jubilee enclave to pave way for the construction of the Jubliee City Project.



The Deputy Minister responsible for Lands as part of his working visit also took the media on a tour of the old Police Service accommodation facilities at the Airport, 37 DVLA enclave to give them an appreciation of the difference in outlook and the better facilities government is offering the Police Service.



He expressed his joy at the progress of work done so far saying "work is far advanced and we are hopeful that the contractors will meet the deadline".



The first phase of the project which includes 312 housing units, also has a fully furnished clinic, school block for JHS and Primary, police mobile maintenance unit, police station, fuel depot and a garage. The Second phase will see the construction of 192 housing units, taking the total number to 504 housing units.



Also with the Deputy Minister on this working visit was the Advisor to the Minister on Mines, the Technical Director for Lands at the Ministry, Mr Maxwell Adu-Nsarfoa and other officials from the Ministry and the Lands Commission.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh is calling for the development of Africas green manufacturing capabilities which in his view is one of the key strategies to fostering growth, producing decent employment opportunities, and creating sustainable wealth which will ensuring that Africa is not left behind in the global green economic development.



Dr. Prempeh made these assertions when he addressed the Launch of the Africa Renewable Energy Manufacturing Opportunity and Advancement on the margins of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability week as keynote speaker on Tuesday, 17th Januaryat the Abu Dhabi Exhibition Centre



Dubbed Green Manufacturing in Africa through South-South Cooperation it was an event organized by Sustainable Energy For All to discuss the levers that would enable Green and Renewable Energy Technologies manufacturing in Africa and strategic partnerships to accelerate our efforts for south-south cooperation.



According to Dr. Prempeh historically the manufacturing sector has helped drive rapid economic growth and change globally, however, Sub Saharan Africa is yet to realize the transformative impacts of industrialization.

The contribution of manufacturing to the Continents GDP he said, has not seen significant nor steady growth over the last four decades



The overreliance on raw material exports and imported consumer goods underpin the economic models employed by the Continent which has been the major setback for her sustainable development he said



The Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South said the global energy transition agenda must offer Africa the opportunity to take concrete and decisive actions to redefine our economic model.

This model should be driven by value-addition and export-led growth strategy, through green manufacturing which will create the much-needed jobs, infrastructure development, increase export revenues and prosperity, he added



He continued the African Continent is endowed with rich critical metals such as Lithium, Cobalt, Tantalite which are essential for the manufacturing of clean energy technologies such as Lithium-ion batteries for both the power and e-mobility sectors.



Dr. Prempeh saidAs Africa take steps to change the economic fundamentals of the Continent, it must not be oblivious to the challenges and bottlenecks of limited technological capacity, inadequate human capital, high inputs costs, high energy deficit, low productivity and weak capital market.

The attraction of green industries into Africa in his viewwould enable the leapfrogging of the Continent in the energy transition agenda.



The Minister said Ghana has just launched its US$562.00 billion energy transition framework at the just ended COP 27 in Egypt to provide the optimal and sustainable pathway for fuel supply security, diversified energy mix and cost-efficient electricity generation with an estimated medium to long term average electricity generation tariff of US$4.5cents/kwh to accelerate the socio-economic development of Ghana and therefore remains committed in this direction.



There are better conditions on the Continent, including political stability, market and geographical advantage. I therefore urge you my fellow Ministers and stakeholders here gathered to come up with bold and implementable economic models and solutions that will enable the realization of Africas green manufacturing aspirations.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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George Mireku Duker, the Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources says the government is determined to build a mining sector which is resilient and fortified enough to withstand the next global crisis.



Delivering the keynote address at the opening day of the West African Institute of Mining Metallurgy and Petroleum (WAIMM) Annual Industry Conference on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, Hon Mireku Duker lamented that the mining industry was not spared from the dire impact of the twin crisis of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war.



He disclosed that the industry was badly hit but the government as part of its economic reform is introducing new policies that lead to the creation of an economy that will be able to repel the shocks of the next global crisis.



According to the Deputy Minister, the mining industry has taken the lead in the reformation drive by promoting responsible and sustainable mining practices.



Hon. Mireku Duker said the theme for the two-day conference which is Building A Resilient and Sustainable Natural Resources Industry Beyond Global Pandemic ties in perfectly with the new direction being pursued by the government in the extractive sector.



He advanced that the conference provides a platform for the exchange of ideas on addressing the problems that hit the sector due to the crises.



The conference also seeks to provide the platform for discussing appropriate and innovative ways of addressing global and national challenges confronting national development through mining, he said.



Im also glad to learn that event is dedicated to not only knowledge sharing and the dissemination of innovations but also to develop existing business interest in the country and promoting new opportunities in the value chain of the oil and gas and mining sectors, he added.



Hon. Mireku Duker said that the mining sector has for centuries served as the bedrock for Ghanas socio-economic development and that every policy initiative rolled out is geared towards the purgation of the industry to enhance revenue generation capacity.



He noted for example that in 2021, gold contributed about 16.48% of government revenue and 35.6% in total merchandize exports. He added that the country generated export revenue of $ 5.083 billion from the exportation of 2.820million ounces of gold.



Hon. Mireku Duker explained that the government is pursuing a drive to diversify the mining sector by creating a refinery hub for bauxite and iron in the country.



The 5th annual WAIMM Industry Conference WAIC2022 seeks to provide an excellent opportunity for networking, high-end industry solutions, latest development in industry practices and operations, technological and technical recommendations to solve industry challenges and knowledge sharing with experts and both local and international consultants.





The conference features industry leaders and experts in a packed program of key note presentations and panels discussing policies, operations, investment strategies, diversity & inclusion, global exploration and commodity trends and industry sustainability.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/ghana









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Rev. Victor Kusi Boateng, Secretary of the National Cathedral Board of Trustees, has responded to allegations levelled against him by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.



According to the founder of Power Chapel Worldwide, statements made by Mr. Ablakwa are twisted narration of events to pursue a "malicious political agenda".



"There has never been any criminal intent nor any crime committed in my dealings with the Government of Ghana or the National Cathedral," he said in a statement.



"I look forward to the CHRAJ enquiry during which I will present my side of the matter to the Commission. I will subsequently also address the matters fully in public without first seeking to prejudice the public mind as he has done.



"When all is done, I will seek redress against Mr. Ablakwa for his deliberate defamatory statements against me," he added.



CHRAJ Petitioned



The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the Secretary of the National Cathedral Board of Trustees, Reverend Victor Kusi-Boateng, over conflict of interest, including possession of multiple identities and other alleged criminal dealings.



The petition, which was received by the two Deputy Commissioners of CHRAJ yesterday, also alleged that there was a transfer of GH2.6million cash from the National Cathedral Secretariat to JNS Talent Centre Limited owned by Rev. Kusi-Boateng under his secondary identity, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi.



The petition sought to invoke the mandate of CHRAJ under Article 218 of the 1992 Constitution to investigate the odious conflict of interest in regard to Rev. Victor Kusi-Boatengs position on the national cathedral board as he literally paid his own company a staggering GH2.6million for no work done.



Rev. Kusi-Boateng, who is also the founder of Power Chapel Worldwide, according to Mr Ablakwa, was the same person as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, who received the GH2.6 million from the national cathedral board.



National Cathedral responds



Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the National Cathedral, Dr Paul Opoku Mensah, has in a statement refuted allegations of corruption and conflict of interest against the Secretary to the Board by the North Tongu MP.



Dr Opoku Mensah explained that the said amount which was paid on September 8, 2021, was a loan from a board member whose name he fell short of mentioning.



So, this is not an illegal payment, Dr Opoku Mensah stated.



This is a documented trail that you can always ask for verification. If the MP does not understand an issue in the accounting, because in accounting somebody with an audited account cannot explain everything so they call you to clarify, it said.



Dr Opoku Mensahs statement added that I really understand the political mistrust in our system, but nonetheless, particularly when it comes from Parliament, you expect a certain due process and when you are suspicious, you ask for verification and clarification.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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2020 presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has come under intense backlash over his recent comment on one of governments flagship programme, Agenda 111.



In a post sighted by GhanaWeb on micro-blogging platform, Twitter, Mahama mentioned that although the Agenda 111 programme is in its fourth year, the Akufo-Addo-led administration has nothing to show for it.



The Agenda 111 hospitals promise is in its 4th year, yet not a single hospital has been completed to support quality health care delivery. This is contrary to the lofty promise made in 2020. The NPP must learn to take Ghanaians seriously. Enough of the slogans,  John Dramani Mahama wrote on his Twitter page.



Reacting to this, some netizens have described Mahama's comment on the Agenda 111 project as false.



According to the users of the bird app, the former presidents statement that Agenda 111 is in its fourth year is inaccurate because the initiative was announced in April 2020 during President Akufo-Addo's 8th COVID address to the nation.



They subsequently noted that the sod-cutting ceremony for the programme was held in August 2021.



Others, on the other hand, accused Mr Mahama of lacking new messages for Ghanaians.



Here are some messages from John Dramani Mahamas critics





There he goes again engaging in propaganda sophistry. How did the 'Agenda 111' hospitals promise get to its 4th year? Prez Akufo-Addo first announced it in May 2020 during his 8th COVID address to the nation. Sod-cutting was done in August 2021. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/dfvfffdezR  -  (@dtadomako) January 14, 2023







President Akufo-Addo first announcement on the  Agenda 111 Hospital  was in May 2020 during his 8th COVID address to the nation and the sod-cutting was done in August 2021.

John Dramani Mahama ankasa no, w Maths problem fri titi. https://t.co/jyDGi54qbh pic.twitter.com/7CklY0FqgK  Charles N.T. Tagoe (@royaltcafe2012) January 14, 2023







Dear JM



This is one of the agenda 111 hospital constructiona ongoing at the Eastern Regional Hospital in Koforidua.

Phase1 of this new hospital project involves the construction of a two hundred and eighty-five (285) bed facility, out of the total capacity of 600 beds. pic.twitter.com/O7Ue4CuAgq  Volta Youth (@YouthAllianceM2) January 15, 2023







The Agenda 111 hospitals promise is in its 4th year, yet not a single hospital has been completed to support quality health care delivery. This is contrary to the lofty promise made in 2020. The NPP must learn to take Ghanaians serious. Enough of the slogans!  John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) January 14, 2023







The Agenda 111 hospitals promise is in its 4th year, yet not a single hospital has been completed to support quality health care delivery. This is contrary to the lofty promise made in 2020. The NPP must learn to take Ghanaians serious. Enough of the slogans!  John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) January 14, 2023







The Agenda 111 hospitals promise is in its 4th year, yet not a single hospital has been completed to support quality health care delivery. This is contrary to the lofty promise made in 2020. The NPP must learn to take Ghanaians serious. Enough of the slogans!  John Dramani Mahama (@JDMahama) January 14, 2023









































Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Elder Peter A. Gyamfi, Eastern Regional Chairman of the Conference of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), says government has released monies to Senior High Schools under its perishables and recurrent expenditure for the 2023 academic year.



According to him, the funds were divided into three lodgements: perishables for current forms two and three students and recurrent expenditure for form three students who recently graduated from high school.



Elder Gyamfi said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the preparedness of the 90 senior high schools in the Eastern Region following the commencement of the 2022/2023 academic year early this week.



The perishable is GH1.50p per student per day and the recurrent expenditure is used for maintenance and the general running of the school, he said.



However, he stated that only 15 schools out of the 90 SHSs had received the three "itemised food items" to begin the new academic year, which was not encouraging.



As we speak Bufferstock has given contracts to suppliers to supply us with food items. 10 school received only beans, three school received beans and maize and two schools received beans and gari out of 18 itemized food items, he said.



The 18 itemized food items are beans, gari, rice, millet, maize, soya beans, tom brown, sugar, sardines, mackerels, milk, peanuts, flour, margarine, vegetable cooking oil, hot chocolate and tin tomatoes.



He said that schools were still waiting for the supply of the 18 itemized food items to be able to feed the students.



Elder Gyamfi, who is also the Headmaster of Pentecost SHS in Koforidua, added that about 650 students had reported to school as at the close of Tuesday, and expressed the hope the number would increase in the coming days.



You will be marveled at how students are excited to report back to school. About 650 students out of a population of 1,300 boarding students had reported,  he said.



He expressed gratitude to the Church of Pentecost for supporting the school with some food items as authorities wait for supplies from the bufferstock company. Koforidua Senior High Technical School (Koforidua SecTech) and Adonteng Senior High School told the GNA that students were reporting for the 2023 academic year.



Mr Samuel Batarema, Koforidua SecTech's Assistant Headmaster in charge of Administration, indicated that all students were expected to return to school by Thursday to partake in a resumption examination.



He explained that the purpose of the exam was to urge all students to arrive on time so that school activities could begin as soon as practicable.



Mr Peter Danquah Kpakpo-Atsem, Secretary of the Eastern Regional Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), urged teachers to observe the teachers' code of conduct.



The new academic year for both Junior High Schools (JHS) and Senior High Schools (SHS) began on January 10, 2023, with many students, particularly SHS pupils, eager to return to school.

















Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The founder and leader of Heaven Way Champion Ministries, Evangelist Patricia Oduro Koranteng alias Nana Agradaa has been rearrested by the police.



According to a report by Oman Channel, Agradaa who is facing multiple criminal charges in various courts was rearrested on Monday, January 16, 2023, after making an appearance before the Accra Circuit Court 4.



The court on Monday adjourned her case to Friday, January 20, 2023, but before Agradaa could leave the court premises, she was picked up by the police in relation to another case.



The cause of her arrest is not clear yet, however a video shared by Oman Channel shows Agradaa venting out her frustration as she was being whisked away.



I am going with them (the police) so when you go, tell them that the case with Appiah which is in court was called today, it was adjourned but they are arresting me again because of the case with Appiah, she is heard issuing parting orders to her family and sympathisers before the police team led her away.



Last week, the police prayed an Accra Circuit Court to issue a bench warrant for the arrest of Nana Agradaa for failing to appear in court.



At an Accra Circuit Court on Wednesday, January 10, 2023, Superintendent of Police, Sylvester Asare, informed the Court that since Nana Agradaa was granted bail with conditions set out by the Court, she has defied the courts order and that efforts to make her comply by the courts order had been difficult.



According to the prosecution, Nana Agradaa aka Evangelist Mama Pat, was not cooperating with the Police. The prosecution submitted that the only way to compel the accused person to appear in court was for the Court to issue a bench warrant.



The court refused the police request but admonished the lawyer for Nana Agradaa to advise their client.



Nana Agradaa has three different cases before three Circuit Courts in Accra on various counts of defrauding by false pretences and charlatanic advertisement in the media.



She is also facing trial for her alleged role in the assault of one Prophet Akwasi Appiah, alias Appiah Biblical in 2020.











Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The government of Cote d'Ivoire, through its National Boundary Commission, has joined forces with Ghana's Boundary Commission to combat illegal mining activities popularly known as galamsey in the nation.



Speaking in a Joy News report, the National Coordinator of the Ghana Boundary Commission, Major General Emmanuel Kotia, disclosed that authorities in Ghana and Cote dIvoire have raised concerns about the heavy pollution of the river Tano which serves as a boundary between the two countries hence the call for the collaboration to fight galamsey.



What the National Boundary Commission of Cote dIvoire has offered us, is that they are ready to give us the intelligence to assist in the illegal mining effort along the Tano because it is also affecting them.



There is a need for collaboration between the two of us because these river bodies serve as boundaries between the two countries, he said.



On the other hand, the National Boundary Commission of Cote dIvoire has said that they are prepared to share intelligence with Ghana to help devise strategies to fight mining activities along the river Tano.







Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Lands Commissions has served notice to the public that it will from January 17th, 2023 begin a process to recover encroached state lands at Amrahia, Mpehuasem and Nungua (Borteyman) in the Greater Accra Region.



In a statement signed by its executive secretary and issued on Monday, January 16, 2023, the Lands Commission disclosed that it will embark on a demolition exercise in those areas with the aim of recovering all state lands which have been acquired illegally by persons or groups in the aforementioned areas.



According to the statement, the demolition exercise which will be done in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service is in line with section 236 of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036),



The commission announced that it is taking this step following reports of contestation encroachments on state lands within Amrahia, Mpehuasem and Nungua."



Read the full statement below



PRESS RELEASE



16TH JANUARY,2023



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



ALL MEDIA HOUSES



DEMOLITION EXERCISE AT AMRAHIA, MPEHUASEM AND NUNGUA (BORTEYMAN), STATE ENCROACHED LANDS.



The Government of Ghana, through the Lands Commission administers all state acquired and vested lands in the country.



The Lands Commission has received a number of reports with great contestation, of encroachments on state lands within Amrahia, Mpehuasem and Nungua (Borteyman) in Accra by unknown armed men. The illegality started during the festive season in December,2022 and continues to occur. These parcels under threat are parts of Government acquisitions with compensations paid;



1. State Lands (Kweiman-Amrahia  Site for Modern Diary Farm) Instrument, 1970 (E.I.47) with approximate area of 1,381.995 acres.



2. State Lands  (Accra-Mpehuasem  Site for Accra Training College) Instrument, 2009 (E. I. 16) with approximate area of 111.25 acres.



3. State Lands  (Accra-Nungua  Site for Site for Livestock Farm) Instrument, 1940 (Certificate of Title 214/40) with approximate area of 2,570.05 acres. In all the acquisitions above, on the goodwill of Government, some portions of the sites have been released to the pre-acquisition owners.



Following a reconnaissance inspection of sites in Borteyman, Amanhria and Mphehuasem, the joint team of Lands Administrators and Police Officers agreed on the urgency of a more extensive exercise to recover and protect all the encroached portions including demolishing of unauthorised structures.



The Commission with the assistance of the Ghana Police Service officially starts the exercise on 17th January, 2023 to recover and protect such sites and other state-acquired areas; per section 236 of the Land Act, 2020 (Act 1036),



It is expected the public would offer maximum support to the Commisssion as it undertakes this mandate.



Thank you.



SIGNED



JAMES E. K. DADSON



EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, LANDS COMMISSION.









Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Majority caucus in Parliament anger has been heightened following oversight responsibility given to the embattled Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta as caretaker Minister of the Ministry of Trade and Industry by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo



The caucus would be holding a crunch meeting when parliament returns from recess to determine their next line of actions on their demand for the removal of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta says Majority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.



According to him, the caucus would also engage the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, after the meeting to know his stand for their next set of action.



The decision for Ofori-Attas removal was a caucus decision As a leader, I will be talking to the MPs on an individual basis, and we will put together their reservations.



We still must have a caucus meeting (upon return) after which we will meet the president. And I believe that the right thing will be done, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said while speaking in an interview with Oyerepa TV.



This comes after leadership of the NPP had an agreement with the Members of Parliament of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), somewhere in November 2022 to make themselves available for the reading of the 2023 budget by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta.



The agreement reached indicated that Ken Ofori-Atta, will be supported in presenting the budget, the passing of its appropriation, and to lead government in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).



The meeting was after the NPP MPs, threatened to boycott the budget presentation if Ofori-Atta presented it.



Interestingly, in asmuch as the Majority want Ofori-Atta out, the President has given him additional responsibility as a caretaker minister for the Ministry of Trade and Industry after Alan Kyerematens resigned.











Source: Vincent Kubi/Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Greater Accra Regional Executive Committee of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has petitioned the partys Functional Executive Committee (FEC) over what it describes as the misconduct of the Greater Accra Regional General Secretary, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie and his deputy Patricia Addy.



In a petition sighted by Citi News, it stated that the regional secretary and his deputy have refused to work together with other executives in the day-to-day running of the party at the regional level.



Below are the details of the petition



GREATER ACCRA REGIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE



NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS

SOUTH LA ESTATE  ACCRA

12TH JANUARY, 2023

THE FUCTIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS

HEADQUARTERS  ADABRAKA

THRO: THE GENERAL SECRETARY

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS

HEADQUARTERS-ACCRA

Dear Sir,



COMPLAINT AGAINST THE CONDUCT OF REGIONAL SECRETARY, THEOPHILUS TETTEH CHAIE AND DEPUTY, PATRICIA ADDY



The undersigned are all Executives of the Regional Executive Committee of our great Party in Greater Accra, and write to officially complain about the unruly conduct of the Regional Secretary, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, and his deputy, Patricia Addy, for remedial actions to be taken before the inevitable happens.



The Regional Secretary and his deputy have installed themselves as demigods and repository of all knowledge who, everybody must bow to and worship at their feet. In the absence of this divisive conduct, then they would not cooperate with any Executive of the Region, thereby holding the entire Regional Executive Committee to ransom.



Prior to the National Congress, at a meeting to consider names to be co-opted onto the Regional Executive Committee, the Regional Secretary did not cooperate with other Executives because his preferred choice did not prevail.



In instances where his views did not prevail at meetings, he failed to discharge his administrative duties to implement decisions of the Regional Executive Committee. He would then call Constituency Executives and incite them against the Regional Executive Committee, a practice he has perfected.



The Regional Secretary and his deputy have become a law onto themselves such that they take decisions and engage in acts in the name of the Regional Party without recourse to the Regional Executive Committee. A classical case in point was how the Regional Secretary, without the knowledge of the Regional Executive Committee, used the official letterhead of the Region to write for the issuance of visa to an individual and presented same as though it was the decision of the Regional Executive Committee to engage in visa racketeering.



This dubious act has brought the name of the Party into disrepute at the embassy.



There are also uninvestigated claims of the Regional Secretary and his deputy using the name of the Party to solicit funds, either in cash or kind, for their personal use, and using the Partys Regional letterhead to write appreciation letters to donors.



An act that has caused the Regional Chairman to instruct all Regional Executives to direct financiers who approach them for donations to the Regional Executive Committee. Sensing that his source of raising funds would probably be blocked, the Regional Secretary angrily kicked against this directive and in a reaction, nearly poked the Regional Chairmans eye with his hand at a meeting on Tuesday, January 10, 2023.



A day to the National Congress, the Regional Secretary and his deputy disregarded other Executives including the Regional Chairman, by refusing to answer countless phone calls to attend a meeting at the Stadium to discuss distribution of accreditation cards to delegates. Though he was present at the Stadium, he shrugged off calls on him to attend the meeting. An incident that forced the Regional Chairman himself to go for the accreditations for distribution.



The Deputy Regional Secretary, who at the time was heavily drunk, engaged in a brawl with the Regional Chairmans driver in a bid to take custody of the accreditations. When she was unsuccessful, she verbally assaulted the Regional Chairman in the full glare of Executives from other Regions.



As if that was not enough, she sent an audio recording to a WhatsApp platform of Constituency Secretaries to denigrate the Regional Chairman. A committee has been constituted by the Regional Executive Committee to investigate her.



What broke the camels back was the Regional Secretarys usual egoistic behaviour at our regional meeting of Tuesday, January 10, 2023, where the Regional Chairman suggested that, the Regional Administrator should be allowed into our meetings to take minutes for final proofreading by the Regional Secretary before it would be tabled for discussion.



The Regional Chairmans suggestion was against the backdrop of the fact that, both the Regional Secretary and his deputy have in almost all cases struggled to make minutes available for our meetings. This practice was common in the past administration where meetings were held without minutes of previous meetings.



The Regional Secretary kicked against this suggestion on account that the Regional Chairman was seeking to take his job away from him, and in an unconscionable manner, shouted at the Regional Chairman and other Regional Executives who disagreed with him.



The Regional Secretary and his deputy walked out of a regional meeting of Tuesday, January 10, 2023 after he kicked against discussion of half year program for the various wings, i.e the Womens Wing, Youth Wing and Zongo Caucus. His contention was that it was not the duty of the Regional Organizer to instruct the wings to submit their programs for discussion; rather, the programs should have been submitted to him for perusal before he would submit it for discussion at our meeting.



When the Regional Chairman insisted that we should go ahead with the discussion, he and his deputy angrily stormed out of the meeting.



In the process, he refused to sign two letters the Regional Executive Committee had agreed last year to be written to the Parliamentary Caucus and members of a committee constituted to investigate the unruly behavior of the deputy Regional Secretary.



In the face of the refusal, the Regional Chairman asked him to make two copies of the regional letterhead available for signatory to the two letters he had failed to sign to be changed. He refused and sat in his car in an attempt to drive out. Crestfallen by the Regional Secretary and his deputys disregard for other Executives, Hon Nii Laryea asked the security not to open the gate for him until he made the letterheads available since the letterhead was not his heirloom. He got out of his car in a fit of rage to forcefully push Hon Nii Laryea and in the ensuing melee, he fell.



These and many other conducts of the Regional Secretary and his deputy which they have carried from the previous administration to this new administration, is impeding progress of the Party in the Region and we believe if immediate steps are not taken to bring them to book, they will cause us irreparable damage going into 2024.



It cannot be the case that the Regional Secretary and his deputy were the only pious executives in the previous administration and all others were wrong, and in this new administration too, they are again Mr. and Mrs. Right and other Executives are wrong.

Yours Sincerely,



all signed electronically



Nii Ashie Moore  Chairman

William Vinyo-Vice Chairman

Anthony Nukpenu- Organizer

Gambo Abdullai Zam-Atu  Deputy Organizer

Felicia Mekpoi Bortey  Women Organizer

Jessica Braimah  Deputy Women Organizer

Evelyn Dodzi Dzeketey- Deputy Women Organizer

Amos Blessing Amorse  Youth Organizer

Gideon Hammond  deputy Youth Organizer

Mohammed Juda  deputy Youth Organizer

Jerry Johnson  Communication Officer

Simon Kweku Tettey  Deputy Communication Officer

Sumaila Horoya Ali  Zongo Caucus Coordinator

Mohammed Norgah  Treasurer

Kennedy Hedoe  deputy Treasurer

Nii Okai Laryea  Co-opted Member

Delphina Jones (Mrs) Co-opted Member





Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Martin Kpebu, a private legal practitioner and fierce critic of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has disclosed that he voted for the president in 2016 and does not regret his decision.



Known for his unrestrained and harsh criticism of the President, Martin Kpebu said he voted for then-candidate Akufo Addo in 2016 because he did not want then-President John Dramani Mahama to have a second term in office.



Though he continues to pass a bad verdict on the leadership style of president Nana Akufo-Addo, he believes voting for him to be president has exposed his bad qualities as a leader.



Speaking on TV3s Key Points monitored by MyNewsGh.com, he said Im somebody that voted for Nana. I was in favor of Nana coming in 2016 because I didnt want JM to get a second term. On hindsight, I dont regret it because what we need to do in this country is that every eight years we have to change until we get an honest leader. We need to keep changing them.



He noted that political leadership in Ghana has over the years been inundated with dishonest leaders which makes it essential for the citizens to vote out leaders who show such tendencies.





Source: ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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President Nana Akufo-Addo has sacked another Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority.



Mr Stephen Yir-engu Engmen was given his marching orders in a letter dated 21 December 2022.



A letter signed by the Chief of Staff, Ms Frema Osei-Opare, said Mr Yir-engu Engmen is expected to comprehensively hand over his duties and any official property to the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority before his departure.



We wish to inform you that, H. E. the President has decided to terminate your appointment as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority with effect from 21st March 2023.



Mr Yir-Eru Engmen has been in office since 2018.



He was sacked along with his fellow Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Northern Development Authority, Mr Patrick Seidu, effective Tuesday, March 21, 2023.



A letter from the Chief of Staff, Ms Frema Osei-Opare has asked Mr Seidu to comprehensively hand over your duties and any official property in your custody to the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Development Authority before your departure.



Ms Osei-Opare also noted: We thank you for your services and we wish you the best in your future endeavours.









Source: class fm









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Seasoned Journalist, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has shared dissenting views on the government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme which is thought to be a way to resolving Ghana's economic crises.



Government last year announced Ghanas Domestic Debt Exchange Programme to invite holders of bonds to voluntarily exchange approximately GH137 billion domestic notes and bonds including ESLA and Daakye for a package of new bonds.



In view of this, existing domestic bonds were to be exchanged as of December 1, 2022, for a set of four new bonds maturing in 2027, 2029, 2032, and 2037.



There's arisen a strong opposition against this programme as the Individual Bondholders Forum (IBF), a voluntary group of individual bondholders, have kicked against it and Pensioner Bondholders Forum has also petitioned government to exempt all pensioners holding sovereign bonds from the programme.



Many Ghanaians have expressed their resentment against this programme.



As critics raise objections, the Legal Practitioner and the Founder of Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has jumped to the defence of the government.



According to him, the Debt Exchange Programme is a "very necessary evil for our economy".



"I'm sorry but we have to face the hard/painful truths. We a'int sitting pretty. Our focus must be on how the burden to individual bondholders may be possibly eased; but not to take the hardline position of simply saying no to participation. It will come back to hit us harder!"



"Its success is critical to restoring macroeconomic stability, securing an IMF programme. It hits those of us holding bonds very hard. A straight no to it is no solution", he said in a series of tweets.



But to Kwesi Pratt, this programme is not the solution to the problems Ghana is facing.



"What we are doing, is it the solution to the problem? It is not the solution to the problem. It may alleviate the burden on government but the country will incur the debt again. It is not the solution at all", he exclaimed during Peace FM's morning show "Kokrokoo".



He noted that Mr. Gabby Otchere-Darko's tweets give credence to his position that the programme won't resolve the crises, saying he (Gabby) "admits this is not right".



He raised issues to do with Ghana importing tomato paste from Germany and having only 2 percent value from the extraction of her gold as some of the critical matters that need to be resolved in order to restore the economy.



"When you look at tomato paste produced in Germany, Ghana is the 3rd largest importer of tomato paste from Germany. How can we explain that? Who can explain that? 3rd largest importer of tomato paste from Germany, who can explain that? What does this mean? You will definitely run into debts if that is the situation!", he stated.



He added; "The mining companies who extract our gold and return just 2 percent to the Ghana economy, what are we telling them? Compare that to bondholders' money. As we speak now, Ghana is the 6th largest producer of gold in the world but when we export the gold, only 2 percent comes back to Ghanaian economy. What are we doing about that?...Ninety-eight (98) percent of the value of gold extracted from this country doesn't stay in the Ghanaian economy."



To him, the Debt Exchange Programme will do the country no good if these issues among others are addressed.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Ghanas broadcasting giant, Happy 98.9 FM in partnership with top-of-the-mind recreational park in Ghana, Lakeside Marina Park, has launched the 13th edition of the Family Fun Run and Walk.



The event which took place at the Silver Star Towers on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, was graced by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Media Alliance (GMA), Ernest Boateng, Salah Kalmoni, Managing Director of Lakeside Estates, Marketing Manager of Lakeside Estates, Isaac Ntiamoah, Programmes Manager of Happy 98.9 FM, Elwoode Mantey, among other notable personalities.



The annual Happy FM Lakeside Marina Park Family Fun Run and Walk is geared at celebrating families, health and fun, and celebrating Ghanas Independence Day as well as one of Ghanas Founding members and the countrys first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.



The 6 KM and 10 KM walk respectively is held on March 6, the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day, every year. This years event will take place on mapped out routes at the Lakeside Marina Park.



Speaking at the launch, Programmes Manager of Happy98.9 FM, Elwoode Mantey, disclosed that as part of the companys CSR contribution to society and development of students, GHC5,000 worth of airtime would be allocated to the winning school at this years competition. He added that internship opportunities for participating students would also be made available by the sponsors.



As much as we would want to have fun and fulfill our three pillar objectives, we would also give the winning schools of the run GHC5,000 worth of airtime to help them promote their activities. That isnt just all as the two corporate groups that is the Kalmoni Group and GMA will also grant internship opportunities for students to develop their corporate capacities in their respective fields, he added.



On his part, Salah Kalmoni, Managing Director of Lakeside Estates, reiterated the significance of the initiative which has been running for over a decade.



The Family Fun Run is about encouraging the well-being of every Ghanaian through physical and social activities. It is geared to also reignite the family bonds, create a social time for relaxation and fun. Most importantly, the initiative also serves as a charity run since 10 cedis of each registration fee will be donated to the Mercy Social Center like we do each year for the past 13 years.



He further called on the other corporate bodies in the country to extend their sponsorship to the socio-development initiative.



The walk is expected to be held across four regions in Ghana simultaneously: The Greater Accra Region, the Ashanti Region, the Northern and the Western Region.



Interested participants can pick up registration forms at the premises of Happy FM at Asylum Down, the Lakeside Marina Park, Silver Star Towers and Global Media Alliance (GMA) in Dzorwulu.



The registration fee for the run is Ghc60 for an individual, Ghc180 for a family of three, and Ghc300 for a school team of five.



This years Family Fun Run is sponsored by Happy 98.9 FM, the Lakeside Marina Park, YFM, the Silver Star Towers, Perception Management International, e.tv Ghana, Oman Fofor, Holland Insurance, Global Media Alliance (GMA), Lakeside Estate Ltd., Deng Limited, Silver Star Auto Ltd., Koflex Fitness, the Total House Clinic and Silverbird Cinemas.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Mike Postle Slow-Rolled at Beau Rivage Final Table: "That's for All the Cheating You've Done"

January 16, 2023 Jon Sofen Senior Editor U.S.

Accused poker cheater Mike Postle had a memorable exit from the Beau Rivage Million Dollar Heater Main Event Monday when his opponent  Brock Gary  went into the tank with top set facing an all-in wager.

Following the slow-roll, Postle, who had just busted in seventh place for $32,703 in the $1,200 buy-in event, was needled by someone apparently off-camera.

"That's for all the cheating that you do," the off-camera individual said in the video posted by the Gulf Coast Poker.NET Facebook page.

Postle, who was accused by Veronica Brill in 2019 of cheating during Stones Live streams, reached the final table of 10 with a middling stack. With $208,400 to the winner, he was in line to earn his biggest score ever, which just so happens to be about the amount he was alleged to have won on Stones Live using what some refer to as "God mode."

Top Stories of 2020: Mike Postle Saga Winds Down

Postle Eliminated in 7th Place

Entering play at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, his first tournament in over three years, Postle had racked up $570,000 in lifetime live tournament cashes, according to Hendon Mob.

The video shown on the GulfCoastPoker.NET Facebook page was picked up on a flop of and Postle had moved all in. Gary, holding a larger stack, went into the tank for about 30 second before sigh-calling with for top set, a clear slow-roll. His opponent flipped over for an over pair.

The on the turn and were of no help to the Northern California poker pro who has kept a low-profile since the scandal came out three years ago. He was sent home in seventh place and now has just over $600,000 in lifetime live tournament cashes.

Gary's slow-roll wasn't acceptable to some, but not because he attempted it. As Terrence Chan commented on Twitter, "that slowroll was like 5 minutes too short."

Brill also wasn't too enthusiastic in how Gary handled himself despite the slow-roll.

@williestark1 Why would I buy him a beer when he was shaking his hand and laughing with him?  Veronica Brill  (@Angry_Polak)

Although Postle won a significant amount of money, his haters can take solace in the fact that he didn't win the six-figure first-place prize. Max Young, who took the photo of Postle that had surfaced on social media, wrote on Twitter that Gary also told Postle on the way out, "thats for the poker community you scum.

Gary ended up part of a three-way chop in which he, Kooroush Gahedi, and Jeremy Eyer, the three top stacks to start the day, each received $144,380. Gahedi was considered the official winner, however.

Top 5 Poker Cheating Scandals in History

*Image from GulfCoastPoker.NET Facebook stream.

Sharelines Find out how Mike Postle busted from the Beau Rivage Main Event final table.
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A Proud Boy got stabbed in the nose in a prison fight that broke out while inmates were watching Tucker Carlson.

Ryan J. Reilly tweeted:

Incident took place at Northern Neck Regional a few months back, per Barry Ramey, a Proud Boy accused of pepper spraying cops. Audio: https://t.co/2drOB0DGfY pic.twitter.com/IBynA1Eu3u  Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 16, 2023

The fact that Tucker Carlson has a big prison audience would explain his high ratings. Then again, the ratings might not include literally captive audiences.

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It is not surprising that Carlson would be at the center of violence. He does have a track record with his rhetoric before and after the 1/6 attack. It would be a good idea for the prison system at all levels to refrain from allowing inmates to watch inflammatory and divisive programming like Fox News.

Tucker Carlsons name keeps popping up in all areas related to the 1/6 attack. What is unknown is what the prison fight was about. Were they discussing the fashion choice of any male over the age of 11 wearing a bow tie? Did Carlson inspire some deep philosophical conversation that spilled into violence, or did somebody in the TV room want to watch something different than the whiny TV dinner guy?

Fox News apparently has a large audience in the prison system, and they are willing to fight to defend Tucker Carlson.
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House Republicans want the visitor logs for President Bidens private home, but the Secret Service doesnt keep such records.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) demanded the visitor logs for Bidens private Delaware home.

There is just one small problem.

The Secret Service doesnt keep types of records for any president.

The White House responded to Comers request in a statement, Consistent with past precedent of every President across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal. But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.

A private residence is not government property, so the federal government does not keep visitor logs. This is not the first time that the issue of private property visitor logs has arisen.

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Trump backed off his push to have his private Florida club declared the winter White House after he found out that doing so would mean that visitor logs would have to be kept and potentially made public.

The House Republican plan appears to be to ask President Biden for things that dont exist to make him look guilty.

It is a silly strategy cooked up by amateurs who have never been in charge of high-profile congressional committees.

House Republicans arent looking for truth. They are trying to drum up a scandal that can be used against Biden in 2024.

What is troubling is that so many mainstream organizations ran with Comers request without doing the most basic research, which is why corporate media laziness threatens the nations democracy.
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Conservative evangelicals exposed their values fraud when they supported Trump, and now the ex-president is paying them back with attacks.

Trump complains about evangelicals not supporting him enough:

President @realDonaldTrump calls out the disloyalty of evangelical leaders that havent yet given their support for his 2024 presidential campaign. Watch LIVE https://t.co/tfCJIexq6t Watch @DBrodyReports full interview with President Trump here: https://t.co/7z1h6U53D0 pic.twitter.com/asZQgl7QLH  Real America's Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) January 16, 2023

Trump said about evangelicals who have not supported him yet, Well, I dont care. Thats a sign of disloyalty. There is great disloyalty in politics, and thats a sign of disloyalty, because nobody as you know, and you would know better than anybody because you do such a great job. Nobody has ever done more for right to life than Donald Trump. I put three Supreme Court justices on and they all voted and they got something theyve been fighting for for 64 years. You know, they won. They won Roe. Wade. I was a little disappointed because I thought they could have fought much harder during the 22 election because they won.

To sum up, Trump thinks evangelicals are disloyal because they havent lined up to support him for 2024. Trump clearly thinks evangelicals owe him for the overturn of Roe, but they are also to blame for the historic Republican failure in the 2o33 midterm election.

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Trump is really upset because the money isnt coming into his presidential campaign. Now that he is a declared 2024 candidate, he cant use super PAC money to pay for his rallies, and each rally costs roughly $500,000, so Trump is lashing out at the people who have been the backbone of his support.

Evangelicals made put politics over their beliefs when they supported Trump, and now Trump has turned on them for not giving him their lifetime support.


Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun this morning followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers this afternoon. High 76F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 61F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Just over a year ago, a North Augusta Public Safety officer was wounded in a late afternoon shootout on Georgia Avenue.

Two of the officers involved have now been recognized with two rare and highly distinguished honors: the city's Purple Heart and, for the first time in more than 40 years, the its Medal of Valor.

North Augusta Public Safety Lt. Aaron Fittery was shot in the leg on Dec. 9, 2021. Fittery and other officers were involved in a 1.6-mile chase of burglary suspect Thomas Michael Airington that began near the bowling alley and ended in a shootout on Georgia Avenue.

Multiple charges against Airington have been filed in the incident. Airington remains at Aiken County Detention Center. The case is yet to be adjudicated.

The incident also led to recognition for Fittery and another responding officer, Cpl. Christopher Emeneker.

The department conferred upon Fittery its Purple Heart, only the third time it has been awarded. Emeneker was given its Medal of Valor, an honor not seen in North Augusta Public Safety for more than 40 years.

The amount of restraint and bravery and the resilience of those officers that day is remarkable, said Chief John Thomas. The amount of gunfire, the amount of safety issues, the crossfire we were engaged in that particular day ... it looked like a scene out of a Hollywood movie  like, its not real but it was real that particular day.

North Augusta Public Safety Awards, 2020-2022 In conjunction with the state Police Chiefs Association, North Augusta Public Safety honored 15 members of the department for actions that took place between September 2020 and September 2022. Find full briefs for each by flipping through the online gallery. Purple Heart Lt. Aaron Fittery Medal of Valor Cpl. Christopher Emeneker Life Saving Award PSO Andi Hogg PSO Dillon Givens Cpl. Tyrone Tripp Officer of the Year PSO Mitch McBride Employee of the Year Meredith Herrera Firefighter of the Year Brandon Dandy Top Shooter Cpl. William Mays Police Shield Lt. Kevin Hayes Inv. Jason Fox Cpl. Tyrone Tripp Capt. Charles Williams General Commendation PSO Adam Bone Lt. Junior Johnson Cpl. William Mays Cpl. Cody Rauton

The Purple Heart is given only to those wounded in the line of duty to recognize an officers bravery going into a dicey situation. Most officers who are wounded in the force dont make it, Thomas said. They either succumb to the injury or leave policing.

Fittery said hed rather not have been hit and it felt a bid odd to get an award for it. But being recognized by the department hes served for almost 20 years feels good. Plus, having the decoration makes for a cool story when folks come to the house, he said with a wry smile.

During that Dec. 9, 2021 incident on Georgia Avenue, the suspect, Airington, had gotten out of his vehicle and started shooting at officers with a handgun and an AR-15, firing more than 50 rounds in 2.5 minutes. In addition to hitting Fittery, the barrage pinned down North Augustas Detective Travis Smith and Officer John Rutland.

We were all very lucky that day, Emeneker said.

Emeneker had been across town before he and the other officers converged on Georgia Avenue.

During the shooting, Emeneker was able to move behind Garys, making for a tactical advantage that Chief Thomas said was instrumental in pinning Airington to prevent collateral damage.

When he pinned that guy down, he kept not only more officers from being shot but Im talking about the citizenry that was around them, said Thomas. And the busy time of day? How? By Gods will, nobody else got hit. Four, 4:30 in the afternoon; traffic going in and out, going toward Augusta, coming back from Augusta  it was pandemonium.

Thomas commended Smith and Rutland, too, for their restraint in the shootout. It takes a special person to do what they did, he said.

Emeneker agreed. Our rounds have to be accounted for and they could have gone anywhere, he said. Video footage of the incident shows cars passing by while the shootout was happening.

Emeneker said he was shocked to learn he received the Medal of Valor for, what he said, was just doing his job.

Thats what were supposed to do  when things happen, youre supposed to react that way, he said. Thats why we do training, thats why we do the things we do is so that we will react tactically and keeping everybodys safety in mind  not just his [Fitterys] and mine but everybodys around, too.

Recognition, challenges within the force

Lt. Fittery said hed rather he hadnt gotten shot. Cpl. Emeneker said he was just doing his job. Chief Thomas said he hoped never to be handing out another Purple Heart.

But for this department of 70 sworn officers  a size, these three agreed, that promotes a strong brotherhood throughout the department  recognition feels good when the work done, year after year, can build up in the psyche.

You can find yourself in very dark places in your mind in this job, especially after youve done it for a while, said Fittery. It can be a gloomy job if you let it, which is why I think we cut up with each other so much, to try to keep smiling.

You have to turn on the seriousness, and when the seriousness is able to be turned off, just turn it off and enjoy everything else, Emeneker said. In this profession, you deal most of the time with the worst part of society in your town  for the most part, people that are doing criminal acts [] We have a few positive things, but you deal with negative stuff most of the time, so you gotta put all that to the side once its over with.

Fittery and Emeneker have been with North Augusta Public Safety since the early 2000s. They also both previously served as volunteer firefighters for Graniteville-Vaucluse-Warrenville.

The work is rewarding at times, frustrating at times, Fittery said. But when you look at the totality of everything, just having the Thank Yous here and there or just knowing that you probably made a difference in that persons life, thats enough to kind of keep going.

Fittery said hes blessed to work in a place where police are still looked at positively.

The Georgia Avenue incident that Fittery, Emeneker, Rutland and Smith were involved in was one in a string of difficult events the department faced last year.

Officer Dustin Beasley died from COVID-19 in August 2021. Officer Andy Cook made a surprise full recovery from cancer. And then Fittery got hit during an incident that involved a suspect whom Thomas said he believed had the intent to kill an officer: "thats what he had his mind set on.

Those are the roller coasters that they ride, Thomas said.

Beasley, who was inducted last July into the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers Hall of Fame, had served with Fittery on the same shift.

You kind of sit back and wonder how these things unfold, Thomas said.

The fact that we lost Dustin Beasley, the fact that we almost lost Andy Cook, the fact that Aaron was shot  those are pretty major things that we went through in a years period that define a department, he said. But The brotherhood is as strong as its ever been. I couldnt be more proud of what theyve done and how they represent North Augusta.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will give way to showers and a possible thunderstorm this afternoon. High 73F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low 64F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
NORTH CHARLESTON  A large mixed-use commercial development is in the works where construction on a new I-26 interchange is slated to begin later this year.

Weber USA Corp. is proposing 580,100 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 850 apartment units, 390 hotel rooms and a 45,000-square-foot parking deck on part of a large tract between Interstate 26 and Norfolk Southern Railroad in the Ingleside tract, according to plans presented to the Army Corps of Engineers.

The development site encompasses parts of Bluehouse Road and Ingleside and Weber boulevards at the future Palmetto Commerce Interchange and the extension of Weber Boulevard at I-26.

Charleston County, which is overseeing the new $54.5 million interchange project, anticipates construction to begin by this summer, with final completion in three years, according to spokeswoman Kelsey Barlow.

The developer is proposing to build the town center-type development on about 184 acres of the 352-acre tract. Nearly half of the parcel  168 acres  is made up of wetlands.

Weber USA is seeking to fill or excavate about 19 acres of wetlands near McChune Branch, which flows toward Goose Creek Reservoir and eventually the Cooper River, and offset the loss by buying credits from a Berkeley County mitigation bank.

Site plans show three hotels, three apartment developments and nearly two dozen retail buildings, including two large structures near I-26.

Ten years ago, outdoor retailer Bass Pro Shops announced plans to open a 130,000- to 150,000-square-foot store in Ingleside where the new interchange has long been on the drawing boards.

A Bass Pro Shops representative did not immediately respond for comment Jan. 17 on its current plans, but the property owner said the company is no longer part of the development.

"We do not have a contract with them," said Eric Meyer, president of Weber USA Corp., which owns much of the sprawling Ingleside tract at U.S. Highway 78 and I-26.

Meyer also said site plans are preliminary for what Weber wants to build on the site, and the company has not signed contracts with any future tenants.

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"We are continuing to search for prospective users," he said. "We would really like to have a supermarket out there."

The closest grocery store to the property is a Piggly Wiggly on U.S. Highway 78 near College Park Road.

Weber doesn't have a planned time frame for when it wants to start construction on the town center, according to Meyer.

He also noted the county has started condemnation proceedings against the land Weber and an affiliate own to build the interchange. He declined to say why condemnation was initiated and referred questions to Weber's attorney, Rick Bybee. Bybee did not immediately respond for comment Tuesday.

North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, a longtime supporter of the new interchange to spur development and create an alternate traffic artery for motorists using Highway 78 and Ashley Phosphate Road, said condemnation proceedings usually follow disagreements over the price.

Last summer, the county went to court to acquire three properties totaling about 15 acres that Weber USA and an affiliated company own at the proposed interchange site. The buyout offer is for $234,630, according to the condemnation documents. Weber has requested a jury trial.

In 2008, a 20-year plan, pegged at the time at $750 million to develop the Ingleside tract, was unveiled. Since then, a mix of apartments, hotels and offices have been constructed close to Highway 78 while heavier industrial users line Palmetto Commerce Parkway. The road system, too, has been expanded throughout the tract.

Summey called the interchange "the final connector we need to handle traffic created from the development of Ingleside."

The interchange design does not extend Weber Boulevard into the residential neighborhoods on the eastern side of I-26. On- and off-ramps from the westbound lane will direct traffic to and from the Ingleside development via Weber Boulevard. Summey said a pond will be created on the western side of I-26 to ease flooding problems in the residential areas.
COLUMBIA  The speeches at the Statehouse on Jan. 16 for King Day at the Dome spanned a wide range of topics, from Confederate monuments to school choice, but one theme rang throughout: People need to fight to keep history from repeating itself.

"We find ourselves here today fighting for the right to vote, for the right to have a good public education," said Madie Robinson, a member of the NAACP national board of directors. "If it happened once, it can happen again."

Behind speakers for the first in-person rally since 2020 sat a South Carolina NAACP banner bearing the same phrase, the slogan for the 23rd annual gathering: "If it happened before, it can happen again."

The rally, which is a magnet on election years for presidential candidates hoping to win over early-voting South Carolina's large population of Black voters, started in 2000 as a protest against the Confederate battle flag flying on the Statehouse dome.

Although the General Assembly voted to relocate the flag to the grounds later that year and remove it completely in 2015, the rallies have continued with a further-reaching agenda.

This year, keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, who chaired Congress' committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, called for health care for all and accountability in checking politicians' backgrounds.

While chairing the committee, he saw "the awesome power of what people are all about in this country," Thompson said.

"But I also saw how bad people in good places can do wrong."

Other speakers called attention to the difference between Monday's rally and the insurrection that took place roughly two years earlier.

"We are a crowd gathered on the Capitol steps today not to cause harm, but to instill hope," said the Rev. Stephen Robinson of Columbia's Unitarian Universalist Congregation. "Not to incite a riot of fear and heat but to inspire a wave of peace and love. Not to insurrect and overturn but to connect and transform."
Long strings of dried red chile peppers hang from the rafters at Rancho Lewis, framing the hostess stand just inside the front door. Theyre notSave and close just there as decor. Hatch chiles trucked in from New Mexico and sun dried or roasted figure into just about everything on the menu.

They form the base of the enchilada sauces, flavor the porks braising liquid and get stuffed with asadero cheese to make chile rellenos. They hang out at the bar, where for two extra bucks you can add spicy green chile to your frozen margarita. They even pop up on the dessert menu, where a dollop of candied red chile finishes each golden orb of fried ice cream ($11).

Corn  specifically, corn in the form of tortillas  is the restaurants other foundational ingredient. While filling small stoneware bowls at the complementary salsa bar, you can peer through glass windows into the in-house tortilleria, where the Rancho team nixtamalizes corn with lime before cooking, drying and grinding it into masa. Its not artisanal, exactly  the tortillas are rolled, cut and griddled in one continuous process on the belts of a stainless steel machine  but it certainly is hardcore.

Rancho Lewis CUISINE: West Texan REPRESENTATIVE DISH: Lloyd Lewis combo ADDRESS: 1503 King St., downtown Charleston PHONE: 843-996-4500 BAR: Full bar WEB: rancholewischs.com DINING ROOM HOURS: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday PRICE: $$$ COSTS: $10-$48.95 PARKING: Pacific Box & Crate development parking lot

Those house-roasted chiles and house-made tortillas reflect the same intense focus and attention to detail that made Rancho Lewiss owner, John Lewis, a nationally-acclaimed barbecue pitmaster, first at La Barbecue in Austin and then, after he moved east to Charleston, at Lewis Barbecue on Nassau Street.

Now hes turned that focus to tortillas, and the results are impressive. Theyre made with locally-raised heirloom corn, a blend of Trucker Yellow and Jimmy Red. The latter imparts a unique purplish-brown hue to the tortillas, which turn an even darker shade when quartered and deep fried. Those firm, crunchy chips have surfaces speckled with tiny air bubbles, and theyre excellent just by themselves or when dipped in any of the three brightly flavored salsas.

They make a fine foundation for Nachos Especiales ($10), too. Billed as individually prepared, these are not the usual scattered and smothered mound of chips but a more tostada-style preparation  two crisp-fried tortillas layered with beans, cheese and pickled jalapenos. (You can add chunks of grilled chicken, beef or shrimp for $4, $5 and $6, respectively.) Theyre cut into quarters and arrayed around scoops of guacamole, tomato and sour cream. Against the crisp chip base, those thick, gooey toppings are rich and very satisfying.

The same tortillas roll up nicely as enchiladas, whether enclosing mildly-spiced beef picadillo and blanketed in red chile sauce ($18) or filled with chicken tinga ($16) beneath chile verde sauce. I think I actually prefer the even simpler versions, filled only with cheese and onion, that come on the Lloyd Lewis combo ($28.95). The rich corn flavor shines right through the spice of the red chile sauce, and the crunch of lettuce and thin-sliced white onions offers a pleasing contrast against the mild softness of the cheese-filled cylinders.

The Lloyd Lewis ups the ante with a slab of grilled skirt steak, whose first bite delivers an impressive punch of smoky char. The beef is very tender  or perhaps we should say very tenderized, for the sharp tang of marinade becomes more pronounced with each successive bite, finishing on a question mark instead of an exclamation point.

That combo platter is named for John Lewiss grandfather, and its just one example of the very personal nature of Rancho Lewiss theme and cuisine. The restaurant is Lewiss homage to the food he grew up eating in his hometown of El Paso  where West Texas, Chihuahua Mexico and New Mexico meet, as the menu puts its. The fare is not Tex-Mex, exactly, but border food meets cowboy cooking.

Hatch chiles arent the only prominent ingredient that hails from that border region. The pinto beans are from Morrow Farms on the high desert plains above the Northern Rio Grande. Another import can be spied even before you walk through the front doors, for split mesquite logs are stacked long and low beneath the colorful murals outside. That mesquite fuels the kitchens wood-fired grill and imparts a smoky bite not just to the steak but to almost all the meats and seafood.

If youre dining with a carnivorous crowd, I would endorse going in on a rack of beef ribs ($48.95), which the menu describes hyperbolically as Half the Cow! and quite accurately as the best in town. Its a full seven-bone rack, smoked overnight on a vertical mesquite-fired pit down at Lewis Barbecue and trucked over the Rancho Lewis, where theyre finished on the wood-fired grill at serving time.

The result is beef that pulls from the bones into long strands, wonderfully tender from the long, slow heat and tinged deep garnet by the pits mesquite smoke. With a crusty outside sear and a thick, sweet and somewhat astringent glaze, those hefty slabs make a convincing case that old-school back ribs  once a staple of Texas barbecue before being eclipsed by prime brisket and oversized plate ribs  deserve a lot more attention.

Similarly bold flavors can be found on the sizzling cast-iron skillets of Rancho Fajitas ($18 to $34) and the Jay J. Armes Mixed Grill ($44), an uncommon trio of steak, shrimp and quail named for the larger-than-life private detective from El Paso who  well, Im not even going to try to tell that story. (You can look it up yourself.)

There is plenty of salty, spicy char on the platter that bears Armess name  perhaps too much. The heavy black crust works just fine on the wide, juicy strips of red pepper and onions, and the steak and quails thick breast meat can stand up to it, too. The heavy crust of salt and blackened spice, though, overwhelms the rich, subtle meat of birds thinner legs and stomps on the shrimps fresh flavor, too.

Curiously, the side dishes that accompany these bold platters are quite subtle in flavor. Cowboys must like their coleslaw simple, for the cowboy slaw seems little more than shredded green cabbage dressed with a little vinegar. A workaday baked potato is topped with sour cream and a flurry of scallions, though it does get a bump from a scoop of diced green chiles.

Then theres the rice and beans. Upon first bite, one of my dining companions declared the Spanish rice to be amazing. I needed a few more bites for it to grow on me  it seemed rather plain at first  but grow on me it did, for each of the tender, tomato-tinged grains stand out distinctly and without a trace of dryness.

The cowboy beans are deceptively simple, too. The pintos do have a nice bite  not too firm, not too mushy  and their broth is rich but only mildly spiced. With a tongue still sparking from the smoky punch of the steak and beef ribs, I didnt take much notice of those beans at first. But I kept on eating them  and took the leftovers home and reheated them the next day and kept on eating them, too.

When Rancho Lewis opened last April in the Pacific Box & Crate development, it was a homecoming of sorts. The restaurant got its start there in 2017 as Juan Lewis, a stall in the Workshop food hall, where Lewis piloted his border cuisine concept before moving it into a small adobe-themed trailer in the Lewis Barbecue lot.

Workshop shuttered in 2021, and Lewis decided to move back in  this time taking over the entire 10,000-square-foot space. A thorough make-over has transformed the formerly spartan food hall into something much more high concept and artfully staged.

In decor, Rancho Lewis seems almost a throwback to the heavily-themed restaurants of the mid-20th century, which aimed to sweep diners away to a different place and time. Wooden wagon wheels are embedded in the low adobe-esque dividing walls in the dining room. Cow skulls, striped blankets and an array of wide-brimmed cowboy hats adorn the wall. Tables are arrayed beneath the long planks of pergolas, and short round logs project from high on the walls, invoking the vigas of adobe buildings and creating that old dining-outdoors-while-indoors effect.

The border theme carries all the way through to the bars tequila-centric cocktails. There are margaritas, of course, and those who prefer theirs sweet and fruity may find Rancho Lewis house version ($10) a tad stiff. I do like the tequila-forward bite, though, and its even more pronounced in the Rancho Rita ($14), made with Corralejo Reposado and Cointreau. Rum mingles with tequila and citrus in the tasty Rattlesnake Milk ($13), whose cap of egg white foam has two dots of reddish-brown bitters at one edge, suggestive of fang marks. Sotol, a grassy spirit from Chihuahua thats akin to mescal but made from a desert shrub, is stirred into an intriguing old fashioned dubbed El Viejo ($14).

That word intriguing keeps cropping up as I look back over my meals at Rancho Lewis. Its a unique restaurant that manages to feel reassuringly familiar and appealingly exotic at the same time. You can finish your meal, for instance, not with an ordinary coffee but with a warm cafe de ola ($5) infused with orange and cinnamon. Fried ice cream is an almost cliched Tex-Mex staple, but here the frozen orb inside the crisp cornflake shell is not vanilla but firm, dark double chocolate. Theres a hint of chili heat to the streaks of chocolate sauce that decorate the plate.

More than anything, the bold flavors of the border  hatch chiles, beef back ribs, mesquite smoke  are fresh and compelling, especially when mingled with local shrimp, Manchester Farms quail and heirloom corn from Edistos Marsh Hen Mills. It may be 1,700 miles from El Paso to Charleston, but those far-off flavors seem perfectly suited for their new Lowcountry home.
Mount Pleasant, SC (29464)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning. Thunderstorms likely during the afternoon. High 73F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Low 64F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
WALTERBORO  A grand jury on July 14 indicted disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh on charges of killing his wife and son in a 2021 double homicide that has drawn international attention and renewed scrutiny of a prominent family whose name has been synonymous with wealth and power in this rural corner of South Carolina for more than a century.

The 54-year-old scion of an influential family of South Carolina lawyers now faces two counts of murder and two counts of possessing a weapon during the commission of a violent crime. The Colleton County grand jury accused Murdaugh of fatally shooting his wife, Maggie, with a rifle and his son Paul with a shotgun. The indictment documents detail no evidence, motive or other suspects.

The charges carry 30 years to life in prison. State prosecutors could also seek the death penalty, though they have given no clues as to whether they intend to do so.

The allegations arise from the State Law Enforcement Divisions 13-month investigation into the June 7, 2021, killings near a kennel outside the familys 1,772-acre hunting estate on Moselle Road in Islandton. They add to an already thick stack of indictments alleging the once-respected trial lawyer and volunteer prosecutor secretly stole some $8.5 million from legal clients, law partners and others who trusted him.

In a written statement, Alex Murdaugh's defense attorneys, Dick Harpootlian and Jim Griffin, denied the latest charges, criticized the investigation that produced them and vowed to fight back. They accused authorities of prematurely concluding that Murdaugh was responsible for killing his wife and son. They maintained that he lacked "any motive whatsoever to murder them" and pledged to seek a speedy trial to clear his name in connection with the slayings.

"Alex wants his family, friends and everyone to know that he did not have anything to do with the murders of Maggie and Paul," the Columbia lawyers wrote. "He loved them more than anything in the world."

Speculation had been building for months that authorities planned to charge Alex Murdaugh with the killings. But as the anniversary of the double homicide came and went last month without indictments, some began to wonder if the case would ever be solved.

SLED Chief Mark Keel and S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson, whose office guided the probe, praised investigators for working diligently amid all the conjecture to gather the evidence needed to secure the indictments.

All the efforts of our office and the law enforcement agencies involved in this investigation have been focused on seeking justice for the victims families," Wilson, a Lexington Republican, said in a written statement announcing the charges.

Keel said his agents worked "day in and day out to build a case against the person responsible for the murders of Maggie and Paul and to exclude those who were not."

"At no point did agents lose focus on this investigation," Keel said. "From the beginning I have been clear, the priority was to ensure justice was served. Today is one more step in a long process for justice for Maggie and Paul."

The slayings drew eyes from across the globe to the often-overlooked southern tip of the Palmetto State. They also brought unwanted scrutiny to the legal dynasty the Murdaughs built there.

Murdaughs personal unraveling after the killings stoked the firestorm of suspicion and media attention, fueling a drama that played out in headlines, podcast recordings and true-crime documentaries over the past year. He disclosed a two-decade opioid addiction, tried and failed to stage his own murder and was forced to resign from the high-powered law firm his great-grandfather founded in 1910.

A state grand jury and cascade of civil lawsuits then laid bare a decades worth of schemes in which Murdaugh leveraged his powerful name and profession to secretly steal millions of dollars from legal settlements and fees.

But through it all, the slayings of Murdaughs wife and son loomed large.

Murdaugh had been SLEDs only known person of interest since he reported finding the bodies shortly after 10 p.m. June 7, 2021. He told a 911 operator in a hysterical voice that his wife and youngest son had been shot badly and werent breathing.

Soon after the shootings, SLED insisted there was no further threat to the public, fueling speculation that Murdaugh himself was the gunman.

Still, Murdaughs defense attorneys insisted he had a strong alibi  visiting his elderly mother at the estimated time of the shootings  and did not kill Maggie, 52, and Paul, 22.

SLED largely kept a tight lid on its investigation until agents met with Murdaughs family and Maggies relatives July 12 to reveal that they planned to implicate Alex Murdaugh in the killings.

John Marvin Murdaugh, Alex's younger brother, said his and Maggie's family had no further comment on the July 14 indictments. "We just need the truth," he said.

Eric Bland, one of the attorneys suing Murdaugh for stealing from legal settlements, said convictions for killing his wife and son would cement Murdaugh as one of the worst criminals in South Carolina history.

It takes everything Alex did, which was wholly despicable, to really an unbelievable level," Bland said.

State Rep. Justin Bamberg, another lawyer representing several of Murdaugh's alleged financial victims, said the July 14 indictments are evidence that even the state's most wealthy and influential can't escape justice forever.

People are cheering for accountability and the concept that justice in this state can apply to anybody, even if your name is Alex Murdaugh," the Bamberg Democrat said.

Murdaugh, a generous political booster whose donations tended to favor Democrats, has been detained in a Richland County jail since October, unable to afford his $7 million bond. He faced decades in prison even before the new charges.

His fall has blackened the eyes of South Carolinas legal and banking professions and tarnished the family name.

Murdaughs father, grandfather and great-grandfather served one after another for 86 years as the elected top prosecutor for a five-county region in South Carolinas southern corner. Meanwhile, the family simultaneously ran a high-powered civil law firm that built a national reputation for delivering multimillion-dollar verdicts against major corporations.

Alex Murdaugh went into the family business. He served as a volunteer prosecutor for the 14th Circuit Solicitors Office and worked as a trial attorney at the Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth, Detrick law firm.

He formally lost his law license this week. The state Supreme Court suspended Murdaugh in September amid allegations he had stolen untold sums from the PMPED firm. It then disbarred him July 12.

"We take this step today based on our ability to conclude from the public record that (Murdaugh's) untruthfulness and misconduct resulted in significant harm to clients and demands his removal from the practice of law," the high court's five justices wrote.

The saga has left Murdaugh with few defenders.

The Parker Law Group, a new Hampton-based firm created by former partners of PMPED, expressed no sympathy for Murdaugh in a statement describing news of the charges as sad and upsetting.

Our thoughts turn to Maggie and to Paul whom we loved and who we miss, the statement went on. Everyday we grieve for them. Justice must be served. If the charges reported today are true and just, we ask for our judicial system to act swiftly and to bring a conclusion to this heinous situation.

The June 2021 slayings came as the Murdaugh family faced a separate crisis.

A wrongful death lawsuit blaming Paul Murdaugh and his family for the February 2019 boat crash that killed 19-year-old Mallory Beach was heading toward a trial and carried the potential of a substantial financial judgment.

The suit accuses a then-underage Paul Murdaugh of drunkenly driving a boat into a Beaufort County bridge piling, ejecting its passengers and killing Beach. It also alleges Murdaugh's family knew about and enabled Paul Murdaugh's alleged drinking and reckless behavior.

An attorney for the Beach family was seeking access to Alex Murdaugh's financial records, disclosures that could have revealed his hefty debts and drawn attention to his money-shifting practices. A state judge was set to hear arguments on that request in mid-June 2021. That hearing was canceled after the June 7 killings.

Murdaugh's bond hearing on the new charges has been set for 10 a.m. July 20 at the Colleton County Courthouse.

Clifton Newman, the state judge who first denied Murdaugh bond and kept him detained last fall, will handle the hearing.
Martin Perlmutter, the longtime director of the College of Charlestons Jewish Studies Program whose contributions helped transform the school from a small, provincial college into a nationally recognized institution, died early Jan. 16. He was 79.

The cause of death was cancer, according to his family.

Perlmutter, a philosophy professor, and wife Jeri, a public school teacher, came to the Charleston area in 1979. He joined a small philosophy department, became chairman in 1983, and quickly bolstered its offerings. In 1991 he was asked to retake the reins of Jewish Studies, a fledgling program that got its start thanks to efforts by, and funding from, Henry and Silvia Yaschik, Norman and Gerry Sue Arnold, Sam Shapiro and Jerry and Anita Zucker.

Henry would say, You should run this program, Perlmutter recalled recently. Its not my field, hed answer. But Yaschik pestered him about it until Perlmutter relented, adding new responsibilities to his job without compensation. He continued to teach philosophy courses.

Over the years, his philosophy workload diminished as his attention to Jewish Studies increased. He felt guilty about drawing his wages from the philosophy department budget line when he was contributing so little. He soon made the switch, becoming full-time director of Jewish Studies.

In the early 1990s, he launched the African American-Jewish Connection, an initiative created to teach young people about historic ties between the two groups, and to foster an appreciation for civil rights. It morphed into Operation Understanding, which persisted for a few years before cost burdens became untenable.

In 1994, he helped start the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina. The following year, he started the Three Rabbi Panel series and the Sunday Morning Brunch series, opening Jewish Studies to the wider community. Over time, he hosted many guest speakers and fostered conversations about religion, politics, tradition, Zionism, Jewish identity and more.

He was astute at remaining essentially neutral, preferring to encourage productive dialogue over contentious argument.

In the 1980s, the College of Charleston had about 5,000 students. Perhaps a couple dozen were Jewish. Today it has more than 10,000 students and hundreds of them are Jewish. Some enrolled specifically because of the vibrant Jewish offerings on campus.

Those offerings always have been designed to appeal not only to Jews but to anyone seeking to gain a better understanding of history, World War II and the Holocaust, religious traditions and cultural influences, Perlmutter has said repeatedly.

Jewish should resonate, Perlmutter once told The Post and Courier. There should be things that are Jewish that are attractive to a wider audience. If you serve bagels, all the better.

Anita Zucker, a passionate supporter of Jewish Studies, said her friend was the key to everything that happened. He was the common denominator, the central figure who brought everyone together.

He knew how to get things done, she said.

In large measure, this was because of the trust he engendered, Zucker said. Normally, as the philanthropist holding the purse strings, it is Zucker who helps determine an agenda. That wasnt the case with Perlmutter.

Shed say, Tell me what you want me to do, then simply follow his lead.

I didnt have to be the one figuring out the next step, she said. Marty had very high expectations, so I had to live up to those. ... Together, we made a lot happen.

When it came time to expand Jewish Studies and secure a new building to house the program, Perlmutter formed a nonprofit corporation and set about raising the money. The Sylvia Vlosky Yaschik Jewish Studies Center opened at Wentworth and Glebe streets in 2002. Before long, the college purchased the building, but guaranteed its perpetual use as a center for Jewish life and learning.

In 2016, the building received an addition that included Martys Place, a kosher vegan cafeteria funded by Zucker. Its kitchen is named for her late husband.

Perlmutter joked recently about how others in academia get a chair named for them. Im a vegan restaurant, he said.

In fact, he was a unique presence at the school, well known to many, accommodating, always ready to help  even those not connected to Jewish Studies. He retired in 2019.

College of Charleston President Andrew Hsu called Perlmutter an iconic figure, and a gifted teacher, scholar and leader.

He did a remarkable job connecting the Jewish community to our campus, and we are proud that the Colleges kosher/vegetarian/vegan dining facility bears his name," Hsu said. "He will be sorely missed, but his legacy lives on.

Perlmutters parents fled Berlin in 1938. He grew up in New York City, where he attended Yeshiva University High School and City College. A good student, he enrolled at the University of Illinois as a philosophy major. He got his first job teaching philosophy in 1971 at the University of Texas in Austin, then spent a year at the former University of Tennessee in Nashville before landing in Charleston some 44 years ago.

He always preferred the classroom to the quietude of scholarly research, and he thrived as an administrator in charge of a significant program with an outsized reach.

But thats not what impressed his good friend and colleague David Cohen most. Cohen, a former dean of the College of Charleston who helped get Jewish Studies off the ground, said he was amazed by Perlmutters unusually humane approach to relationships.

Perlmutter was on the ethics committee at the Medical University dealing with issues of life and death. In that capacity he forged relationships with people who were terminally ill.

It wasn't 'support' exactly, he wasnt there to hold their hand or something, Cohen said. He managed to become part of the persons life at a time when most people would shy away from that, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to do.

He had a selfless way of enmeshing himself in the lives of others, Cohen said.

On campus, Perlmutter relied on Cohen, bouncing ideas off his friend and gaining a better understanding of how he might navigate difficult challenges.

Weve got to have students! he told Cohen early on.

Youre not going to get Jewish students to come to the College of Charleston, a less optimistic Cohen replied.

Ive got a printout here, Perlmutter would retort. It shows how many students identify as Jewish.

Maybe it was 20 or so. But that soon changed.

Later, another meeting:

I have to have a building!

Theres no space, came the pragmatic reply from Cohen.

But that didnt stop Perlmutter.

He built a much stronger college, Cohen said. The quality and quantity of students increased, adding to the overall campus experience.

Today, more than half of the students taking Jewish Studies courses are not Jewish, Cohen said.

In recent years, even as he underwent treatment for his cancer, Perlmutter worked with Rabbi Yossi Refson on an ambitious effort to create a Jewish retirement facility. He continued to make his mark until the very end.

Perlmutter is survived by his sister Ruth Warren, wife Jeri, and four children: Jake, a public school administrator; Aaron, a clinical trial manager; Daniel, a financial planner; and Estee, a nurse practitioner.

The funeral is set for 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at Beth Elohim Cemetery on Huguenin Avenue in Charleston. It is open to the public.
MONCKS CORNER  For nearly two years, Ramona Holmes and her four children slept at the Ladson Rest Area on Interstate 26, the five of them packed into a Toyota Sequoia she borrowed from a friend.

At the time, Holmes had recently returned from serving a two-year prison sentence at Goodman and Leath Correctional Facility in Greenwood.

She had been fired after her job supervisor found out she was an ex-offender, consequently losing her one-bedroom apartment.

"Those were the days that made me want to go back into criminal behavior," Holmes said, recalling how hard it was to stay afloat after returning to society.

Instead, she remained steadfast.

She held tight to the words of the gospel hymn, "Order My Steps," a song she sang every day while incarcerated and remembered the look on her kids' faces as they watched officers recite her rights, place the tight chrome handcuffs around her wrists and push her into the back of the patrol car.

"Lead me, guide me, every day," Holmes said, reciting the hymn fervently from memory as strongly as she can recite her inmate number. "Send your anointing Father I pray, order my steps in your word."

She was booked on her 22nd birthday. "I'd finally hit rock bottom, and there was nowhere else to go," she told The Post and Courier.

Holmes served her sentence from 2005 to 2007, only allowing her aunt and older sister to visit her in prison. She leaned on letters written from her kids to brighten her day and make her laugh.

More than a number

Finding reliable work and housing is difficult for many returning citizens in South Carolina like Holmes. Often women walk out with the clothes they came in with and a few outfits gifted to them from the correctional facility, along with undergarments and vital documents like birth certificates and IDs.

It's the reason Holmes founded Unchained Reentry in 2018. The focus of the nonprofit is to help recently released women succeed as returning citizens, providing clothing for interviews, leads for jobs, personal hygiene items, help with medical bills and trauma counseling.

Her goal is to provide a personal shopping experience, putting her own custom made clothing tags on all of the donated pieces, many of which include the brands of Michael Kors, Banana Republic and NY & Company.

She also carries with her a basket of luxury perfumes and scents that women can choose from, picking out clothing for them based on their age and style preferences.

Since starting her organization in 2018 in North Charleston, she's helped over 80 women and has done most of the work on her own and with the help of her children.

Holmes spoke proudly about helping put two of her children through college. Her son, Dymitri, is currently majoring in Information Technology at Trident Technical College, and her oldest daughter, Nasha, now works as a social worker in Texas helping kids who were in similar situations as her and her siblings growing up.

Hundreds of women are released from the S.C. Department of Corrections every year, including more than 500 who were released in fiscal 2022, according to state prison data.

Part of Unchained Reentry's mission is to ensure returnees are not subject to some of the same hardships as Holmes upon their release. It's also to ensure that these women don't become repeat offenders.

Holmes hosts reentry classes at women's correctional facilities in the state. Normally reentry programs are utilized by women set to be released in the next 30 days; Holmes is able to work with women up to two years before they are released.

Classes help prepare women for the hurdles coupled by returning to society.

Brittany Wise, who was released in early September, attended many of these classes.

"After meeting with Ramona, it left me with a new feeling of hope that life after prison can be rewarding," Wise said. "We are more than the number we are given."

Holmes helped Wise find transitional housing as a way to avoid going back to her old neighborhood.

Holmes said a lot of women feel a major culture shift when they are released. They've been gone for years, leading a life where meals, showers, outside time and communication with the outside world is scheduled by prison wardens.

"When you walk in those doors, they own you," Holmes said.

While organizing her storage room boutique in Moncks Corner, she recalled helping a 55-year-old woman, Donna Kuter. Kuter was convicted of murder at age 17 and served 37 years in prison.

By the time she was released, all of her family members had passed away and the world she was entering was a much scarier place than she had grown accustomed to for decades.

Cars passing, large groups of people and people dressed in different clothing frightened her.

"For 37 years she wore the same thing as everyone around her," Holmes said.

Kutter fell ill two years after being released from prison, eventually being placed on life support due to complications with her health.

Holmes was her next of kin.

Holmes pays for burial policies for all of the women in her organization who are released and have no living relatives.

"I didn't want her to just be thrown in the dirt somewhere," Holmes said.

No turning back

South Carolina has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the nation, at 21.2 percent for inmates released between July 1, 2015, to June 30, 2016, according to information state prison officials released in 2021.

"It's even lower now," said Chrysti Shain, communications director for the DOC.

The current recidivism rate for women in state prisons is also low, at 10.2 percent, while nearly 20 percent of men in state prisons return.

Shain said the state corrections agency has different methods and programs to try to help offenders stay out of prison for good.

"You can't stop somebody from committing a crime, but you can help them understand the root causes that led them there," she said.

Shain also said many of the crimes women in state prisons are convicted of fall under two categories: violence or drugs.

Angela Morris is the program director at Magdalene House, a six-bed residential reentry facility in Summerville for women with substance abuse and addiction who are returning citizens.

Morris said for ladies that stay at The Magdalene House longer than 90 days, over 90 percent graduate from their clinical treatments and therapeutic programs.

The organization is currently raising funds for a social enterprise program for its residents.

The women create and sell jewelry and other products around the community.

"It helps the ladies build skills to be industrious, Morris said. Sometimes they have to become their own boss in order to succeed in life. "It helps (for) them to see how that whole process works."

According to a recent article from the Prison Policy Initiative, formerly incarcerated people face alarming rates of joblessness and often find jobs that lack security and upward mobility.

Many of them turn to entrepreneurship, engaging in programs like Inmates to Entrepreneurs, a nationwide nonprofit offering free entrepreneurship classes to former inmates.

The best of both worlds

After a glowing recommendation letter from her probation officer, Holmes landed temporary work as part of the labor crew on a construction site in 2014.

She quickly rose to the ranks, being promoted to foreman in 2015 and to the construction manager, a six-figure salaried position, in 2017.

"In order for me to win, I had to see myself as being a winner and no longer be defeated," Holmes said. "I started focusing on being victorious over all the things that I fell victim to."

Currently Holmes is gearing up to deliver over 30 care packages to returning citizens across the state this month.

And she does it mostly by herself.

Im going to be busting my butt to get all of these things ready because its pretty much all over South Carolina and Ill be making multiple trips, Holmes said.

For more information on Unchained Reentry and how to donate, go to unchainedreentry.com or call 843-312-3661.
South Carolina has some outstanding public schools  along with far too many astoundingly bad public schools. Unfortunately, our Legislature has never taken seriously its obligation to fix those bad schools  or to figure out how to replicate the fabulous ones.

What legislators have taken increasingly seriously is the siren song of private schools, whose lobbyists and supporters insist that theyre inherently superior to public schools and that they are, indeed, the answer to our education woes.

If only that were true.

Of course its not: Some private schools are truly outstanding. Some look outstanding because they refuse to admit kids who arent smart enough or who dont study enough or whose parents arent involved in their education. Some private schools are just plain awful. And most, well, we dont know about most of them, because private schools dont have to show us any sort of test scores, the way public schools appropriately must.

And beyond the fact that they steal money and legislative attention away from our public schools, thats the problem with most proposals to throw our tax dollars at private schools: These proposals dont require private schools that receive tax money to show the public whether they're doing a decent job of educating kids. Indeed, the opposition to the most minimal of accountability requirements is so strong that last year voucher backers allowed a bill that was one vote away from becoming law to die rather than agreeing to have students who receive vouchers take the same standardized tests that public school students take.

The bad news is that S.C. Senate leaders are determined to begin this session by passing a voucher bill, potentially as soon as this week.

The good news is that the Senate Education Committee agreed Thursday to start the debate with the plan the Senate passed last year rather than the compromise version adopted by a House-Senate conference committee.

The reason that's good is that the Senate version would require voucher recipients to take the states accountability tests, whereas the compromise version included the House's pick-your-own test language.

Of course, its not a done deal. The voucher lobby opposes it. And even though the Senate signed off on that provision last year  and even though voucher backer and Senate Republican Leader Shane Massey managed to run out the clock on the compromise bill last year after the conference committee chose the Houses approach instead  some senators will try again to sell the voucher lobbyists' preferred approach to the full Senate.

Even if the testing plan survives that challenge, it's far from perfect: Our accountability tests were designed to judge how good a job schools are doing, not how good a job individual students are doing. So we ought to require private schools that accept vouchers to administer the state-mandated tests to all their students, just like we do with pre-K programs that accept public funding. Indeed, that's the change the full Senate should make when it starts debating S.39 on Tuesday.

Another change the Senate should make is to ensure that the bill is limited to the poor kids who lawmakers have been telling us for decades they want to help with vouchers. The bill opens vouchers to both Medicaid-eligible students and students with individual education plans. Theres some overlap, but about 100,000 of South Carolinas 790,000 public school students have IEPs; they include not only those with developmental or intellectual disabilities but also those with attention deficit disorder and other specific learning disabilities.

Since the legislation wisely limits the number of students who can receive vouchers  5,000 the first year, rising to 15,000 by the third year  every well-off student who gets a voucher means one more poor kid doesn't. It would be better to retain the income requirement for all recipients.

Senators also should remove the invitation to abuse in their bill: a provision that allows voucher funds to be spent on tutors, computers and a long list of other expenses culminating in any other educational expense approved by the state Education Department. That not only requires state officials to get involved in individual decisions but also opens the door to misuse; and some of the safeguards that the expansive definition requires render parts of the program unworkable. This is one of the few cases where the Senate would be better off adopting the language in last years House bill, which said vouchers could be spent only on tuition, fees, textbooks, and fees for transportation.

Those changes still won't make S.39 a good idea. But they would limit the potential for abuse and make it more likely to help the students lawmakers say they want to help. And the changes also would help ensure that those of us paying for the vouchers  taxpayers  know what we're getting for our money.
Gov. Henry McMaster has pushed legislators to close the revolving door  a term politicians and law enforcement have been using to refer to those charged with crimes while out on bond who are released again  from his inaugural address at the outset of the session. Read moreMcMaster presses for bond reform after Isle of Palms shooting, Senate cuts into House bill
GAFFNEY  A plant that manufactures roller bearings in Gaffney for more than half a century is closing at the end of 2023.

The Timken Co. has operated the factory at 100 Timken Road since 1971. The pending closure was announced Jan. 16.

It was one of the first major industries outside of textiles that opened in Cherokee County more than 50 years ago.

"They helped diversity the economy and had an impact on many lives in Cherokee County," Jim Cook, Cherokee County Development Board executive director, told The Post and Courier. "At one time they had over 1,000 employees not that long ago, and over the past five years they got down to 225 employees. It's not a total surprise, but it is sad news to hear."

Cook said he is hopeful once Timken closes the plant it will find another use by another company.

Timken's other operations in the area include bearing manufacturing plants in Union County and Rutherfordton, N.C. The company specializes in friction management, power transmissions and engineered bearings.

"Yesterday, we notified associates at our bearings facility in Gaffney that we will be closing the site and gradually winding down operations by the end of the year," Timken spokesman Scott Schroeder said. "While difficult, we're making this change to streamline our operations and restructure our manufacturing footprint to better compete in the global market."

Schroeder said employees at the Gaffney plant will have an opportunity to apply for open positions at other Timken locations. The company plans to provide the 225 employees at the Gaffney plant with at least 60 days' notice prior to their last day.

"We wanted to be transparent and provide as much time as possible to associates so they can plan for their future," Schroeder said.

While the pending closure of the plant is a loss for Cherokee County, Cook said economic development interest remains strong. In 2022, more than $600 million was pledged in capital investment by companies in the county.

"We just had the best capital investment year in 15 years," Cook said. "It was up from previous years. We have got other projects we are working on and will have some announcements soon."
SPARTANBURG  Author Marjorie Boafo Appiah uses her characters to educate her readers on tough and sometimes uncomfortable topics.

Boafo Appiah, whose pen name is Marjy Marj, has a long career helping small to midsize businesses with strategic planning and project management. But it wasnt until recent years that Boafo Appiah began using her voice as an author to shed light on some of lifes difficult conversations.

In the late '90s, Boafo Appiah came to the U.S. from Ghana for grad school and now lives in Spartanburg. She pulls inspiration from her experience as an immigrant and from those around her when addressing topics about religion, immigration, race, bullying and servitude in her adult and childrens books.

She went to boarding school during middle school and high school and wrote plays for her classmates. Boafo Appiah said shes always had a love for writing and acting but never thought of being an author until she took creative writing courses at Duke University.

My inspiration comes from the things that go on around us every day, Boafo Appiah said. I will do my research, but I also want familiarity because I don't want to get it wrong.

In 2019, she released her first book. The Shimmigrant is about a 12-year-old Ghanaian girl named Sashas journey from a West African village to the United States.

Sasha is in servitude in Ghana and relocates to America as a non-documented immigrant.

Boafo Appiahs first childrens books come from her Young Shimmigrant Series that was released last year. The books in the series include Sasha Goes to America, Sasha Perseveres in America and Sasha Dreams Big. In the books, Sasha navigates bullying, finding friends and her experiences while working in a different country.

Theres always diversity in there because I believe that is a representation of the world, she said. You have people from different cultures, backgrounds and races all represented in the books."

Though she draws on her immigration experience, Boafo Appiah said her journey coming to the U.S. was different than Sasha's. She came to the U.S. for school and intended to go back to Ghana after getting her degree.

For her second adult book, she used characters that have similar cultural and religious backgrounds as the friends she met in grad school. Same Elephants came out in 2020 and is about a friend group of four friends with different beliefs  Jewish, Muslim, Christian and atheist. In the book, Sasha meets a group of people at a political event, and the four girls become friends and create ways to educate their community on the dangers of stereotyping.

Because of the pandemic, Boafo Appiah wasnt able to have a book tour after releasing her second book. In place of the book tour, she launched a podcast called "Humanity Chats." The podcast is meant to encourage an open dialogue about everyday issues. She speaks with experts about various topics including mental health, pediatric care, finances and environmental issues.

In the fall of 2022, Boafo Appiah released a childrens book called The Spelling King, about a boy who won a class spelling competition and was named the spelling king by his teacher. The book is based on a true story about her son who won his first spelling bee in second grade. Years later, he went to represent his state in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

I believe that kids have to see themselves doing great things, and 'The Spelling King' is for every kid regardless of race, color, race or religion, she said.

Boafo Appiahs new book, Conversations About Race will be released in January 2023. The book consists of 19 summarized, raced-related conversations from guests whove been on the "Humanity Chats" podcast.

Its not meant to make people perfect, she said. Its meant to be a conversation starter where we find ways to look at each other through a different set of eyes.
Ladipo Adamolekun, a professor of Public Administration, former lead public sector management specialist at the World Bank and author of book on Nigerian and African politics, spoke with PREMIUM TIMES in his country

home in Iju, Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State. In this interview conducted in December, he outlined some constitutional and other problems and proffered solutions for the Nigerian Constitution.

Excerpts:

PT: What would you say is hindering development in Nigeria?

Adamolekun: I would say that as Nigeria is currently structured, having good governance is not only a challenge, I can say it is doubtful that we can have good governance to maintain this same structure. When people ask me what I think of the forthcoming 2023 elections, I say that whoever wins, if what we maintain is the current structure; in order words, the basic law of 1999, it will be very difficult to achieve good governance.

That is what informed one of my recommendations in my *Nigeria and I, which is that a devolved federation is a necessity, not a choice. That will be my short answer to your question, which is looking at Nigeria as it is

now and how to make it function properly for Nigerians to enjoy good governance. When there is good governance the people rejoice, and you know and I know that people are not rejoicing in Nigeria today.

I am saying that for anyone who wins the 2023 election, the presidential election if what we still have is the basic law in Nigeria today and all of the contradictions and inconsistencies in it, it will be difficult to achieve good governance. That was why I called for a devolved federal system. Although some say we should stick with the 36 states, I think we should deal with the geopolitical zones.

After that, we should have revenue reallocation. There is so much money at the centre that the federal government begins to dabble in secondary school commission and even in primary schools. Right now, all the zones are clamouring for development commissions and the money is expected to come from the federal government.

PT: But the candidates of the three leading political parties, that is the APC, PDP and LP, in their manifestoes are promising to turn the nation around once they are elected into office.

Adamolekun: The elected persons cannot act against the basic law. The manifesto of APC in 2015 talked about true federation, repeated in 2019 manifesto. And then there was the El-Rufai Committee that came up with

sensible recommendations on how to change things to have good governance. Has anything happened?

So, regarding your attachment to manifestoes, I dont share because we have a very good example in the APC manifesto of 2015, and 2019 and the record of APC governance. In other words, there is a disconnect between what is in the manifesto and what actually happened. I am saying that, if we really want to change things in this country so we can have good governance, the basic law, including some of the things that flow from it, like revenue allocation, must change.

My view (on the revenue sharing formula from the Federation Account) is 40 per cent federal, and 60 per cent for the sub-national governments. Universal primary education was only possible in Western Nigeria because of the

nature of the revenue allocation at the time. I say that confidently because I have looked at it carefully. To get our education right in this country, you cannot do everything from Abuja. It is not possible.

PT: How do we remove the obstacles to the actualisation of the structure that you advocate? Remember that a compromise was reached in the 2014 political conference, but nothing has happened towards that.

Adamolekun: Two of our major problems, poverty and insecurity, affect all the states of the federation. In the South-west, to tackle insecurity, they created Amotekun. Why, because despite the almost national agreement on the need to have state police, that has not happened because the President is a centralist, and that is his military culture. When the President said states cannot pay for police, those close to him did not tell him they cant pay for the police if your revenue allocation remains the way it is. So the South-west decided that to protect life and property in their zone, they created Amotekun. If you ask me, that is one of the achievements of the South-west governors in the last five years. That is something for which the relevant armoury they require is denied them because everything again has to come from Abuja.

For me, the question you are raising, the realities will be on the ground and we will have no alternative. Maybe we are not yet there to accept some of these changes we are talking about. Other states have tried something,

the South-east tried Ebubuagu, although not with a similar result to that of Amotekun. Some northern states have vigilante groups.

PT: Every time the issue of restructuring or true federalism is raised, there is a conception, especially in the north, that it is an attempt to break up or weaken the country. How do we correct that misconception?*

Adamolekun: I will quote a former northern Nigerian politician to answer your question  Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. And he said, the federal system, under the present conditions, is the only basis on which Nigeria can remain united. That was in 1957. What he said then remains correct today. What we have today is not a federal system. The federal system of 1957 that Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a northerner (I dont do my analysis on the north, south basis, but on ideas and this was Tafawa Balewas condition for national unity in Nigeria) spoke of is a devolved federal system.

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That is not a southerner. I am not quoting Awolowo or Azikiwe for you, I am quoting Tafawa Balewa. The federal system Tafawa Balewa was referring to in 1957 was a devolved federal system that took into account the ethnic,

religious and linguistic diversities that resulted in allocating resources to those different regions at the time. Didnt the regions move at their different paces? Then the military intervened.

I am not a defender of military rule, but I understand their centralism. Because that is what the culture of their system tells them. It is like somebody telling me I am too academic. Of course, I am an academic. In fact, you are praising me. All these centralised activities of Obasanjo and Buhari, by May next year it will be 16 years since 1999 when we had a civilian rule, that Nigeria has been under natural centralists.

Of course, no military-cultured person is contesting now, that is a step in the right direction. But they have other liabilities and distractions, which I call the inconsistencies in the basic law. The current basic law cannot ensure good governance in Nigeria. There are significant areas that need to be changed.

The call to amend the Nigerian Constitution the way the Americans do theirs is not possible here because the 1999 Constitution was not put in place through the same process the Americans had their own constitution. If the people participate in putting together a constitution, they will bring in their own realities. It was the reality of the military that underpins the 1999 Constitution.

PT: When you talk about amending the constitution, the National Assembly is already doing some amendments. What are you suggesting on how to make these changes?

Adamolekun: I am very clear in my head that between 1999 and as we speak today, the ideas out there are adequate on which to base the review of the Constitution. Whoever wins will meet a brick wall and agree that there is a need to review that thing to give Nigerians good governance. Within six months it can be done. In order words, when you put together representative groups and change the things that need to be changed. That

is, remove the over-centralisation.

PT: Despite the burden that we have with the constitution, how would you access the current electoral process?

Adamolekun: I would say that after the 2015 election cycle when there was a peaceful change or transition of power, one thought that we were in the process of passing the electoral legitimacy dimension of democratic

practice. That was an achievement and it deserves to be acknowledged. Another achievement that deserves to be acknowledged is that since 1999, notwithstanding what occurred in 2007, the most rigged election ever, according to the persons who won. The Uwais Commission that was set up and the sensible recommendations of that commission are still locked up.

The ideas are there. For instance, to improve our electoral process, Uwais Commission recommendations should be implemented. One provision that concerns me is the recognition of independent candidates. Not that I will

be a candidate, but I can be politically independent. But right now, what we have are very weak political parties. Nigerias political party system is very weak and part of the weakness of the political party system is

traceable to the Constitution.

The Constitution says any party that wants to compete for power, even in the local government, must be a political party that is organised nationwide. That is madness. But that was the military mentality. You remember

Babangidas a little to the left, a little to the right. There were only two parties and he built offices for them all over the country.

As of today, we do not have parties that mobilise citizens and that citizens are attached to. I can still show my membership card for Action Group. Because there was something to hold. How many people that you know

have membership cards? Of course, you know that I dont belong to any political party, I am independent and yet I am not even recognised.

The idea of independence does not exist in our party system, so there is a tyranny of partisanship. The two major parties are APC and PDP, can you tell me what their principles are? Do they differ? If they differ, would Atiku have been APC, ACN and now PDP? Those are some of the reasons I said I dont see this as going to take us to a promised land or good governance.

PT: Are you also faulting the laws regulating the party system?

Adamolekun: When you look at the Constitution, you will see there the constitution talking about their finances and party accountability, which are not enforceable. And then this is a very sad one: our justice system is too involved in our political process, with results that political leaders are now being pronounced by the court and not by peoples votes. We cannot have that and say you have a good apprenticeship in democratic governance. To get a candidate, to validate a candidate, everything goes to the courts. And there was a time when some of those things didnt reach the Supreme Court, but then it was changed. Everything now can reach the Supreme Court.

That kind of thing should not happen. That is a decision that any enlightened government interested in good governance should be able to remove. I dont know why our judges are interested in focusing on politics

rather than helping to resolve issues between citizens. That is why we talk about corruption in the judiciary.

PT: What is responsible for the electorate not being able to take decisions that could bring about the desired change and get politicians to change their behaviours?

Adamolekun: We cannot blame the citizens. First, I have said the parties are not citizen mobilisers. It is true that an enlightened citizenry will make better choices. If we are talking about education decline, we can see some linkage there. But I think that we would need political parties that carry citizens along and citizens are active. I

dont know how we will make that happen. That used to be the case, but we lost that because of, I guess, 30 years of military interregnum and when parties emerged, they became coalitions for winning power and sharing spoils of office. We dont have parties that mobilise citizens. And citizens cannot on their own get things right.

PT: Do you think INEC can deliver credible 2023 general elections?

Adamolekun: I already made reference to 2015, the fact that reasonably, by the judgement of all observers, the process was fair and credible. I think that the strengthening of INEC has been helpful and the introduction of ICT to ensure that results from polling units are sent directly. If you remember, it was late Olusegun Agagus election here that was not announced in Akure but announced in Abuja. That kind of thing, for instance, is no longer possible under the current changes that have taken place. There are some improvements in the process, but as we say in computer language, garbage in, garbage out. If the parties are what they are, as I have described it, the outcome is not likely to ensure good governance, even if INEC performs at its best. I am saying that there has

been progressive improvement in the performance of INEC. In 2011, I was involved in the electoral process at some stage, and I think that from where I sit, without going into the details of it, I think that the INEC

has been reasonably empowered and equipped.

PT: In your writings, you talked about the political development-oriented leader. Looking at the front-line candidates for the coming election, do you see any of them being development-oriented that can produce the kind of results that you proposed?

Adamolekun: I strongly believe that to salvage the country, meet citizens expectations and deliver good governance, the leader should be development-oriented, by which I mean promoting economic growth, reducing

poverty and ensuring security and generally moving towards prosperity for all its citizens. Actually, we have had some semblance of this in the past. Action Group manifesto had these words: Life More Abundant for All. That is the prosperity for all that I am talking about. So, it has happened in this country before. MKO talked about making poverty history.

What do we have now? By the mid-1960s, the poverty level in Nigeria was 25 per cent and you know what it

is today, 63 per cent. 133 million Nigerians living below the poverty line. So, the point I am trying to make is that we have had ideas about what a development-oriented leader should look like. I didnt mention one person,

I mentioned Abiolas relation to poverty and AGs life more abundant for all. All of the things I mentioned there are possible.

But where we are today we have to leave it to citizens, and part of the purpose of ideas is to leave it out that any leader you vote for should be development-oriented. One that would be committed to economic growth, and ensuring security  you cannot ensure security in Nigeria today without state police, I can say

that.

How many of them have said, state police is a must? You have to be for something. Abiola was so clear about it, make poverty history. In my town here when I came from the World Bank, I heard people saying igba

Abiola lanreti (we are waiting for Abiolas rule). I was amazed. What he said resonated with this rural level where you are.

It is not impossible. Life more abundant for all. Free education, free health care, roads, that is not theory, it was what happened here. We had Universal Primary Education (UPE), we are the first set of free primary education in 1955, which was my last year in primary school.

These are possible, but I cannot say xyz embodies them. Because anybody who is talking security and is not

saying state police, that person is not credible. You cannot ensure security in this country without state police. Amotekun is a good demonstration. How can you tell us you are doing community policing from Abuja? Can you do community policing without speaking the language of the community? No.

Check your politicians who are saying I am going to ensure security nationwide, and then such person is not adding that there shall be state police in all the federation and resources will be allocated such that state police can be financed, then such is not credible.

When we talk about 133 million Nigerians in poverty, this is not what Lai Mohammed can go on state television to say who is saying so, this is a rigorous thing. That finding is even worse than what the World Bank estimated (you remember I worked with the World Bank before and we credit ourselves with rigorous stuff). The World Bank estimated 92 million, this report says it is 133 million. Who among them has been able to address the issues of growing the economy, reducing poverty and ensuring security? And you cannot do any of those things with all the resources in Abuja, with your police in Abuja. No.

PT: The South-west governors have taken far-reaching steps towards the implementation of state police in the region as recommended in 2014 political conference report. What other things do you think they can do to further push the region towards development?

Adamolekun: I am aware of the constraints and that is why I commend them for the relative success of Amotekun. But if you take infrastructure, Tinubu when he was governor, tried the IPP (the independent power project) but the federal government stopped him. If Tinubu had succeeded then, it would have cascaded down through the South-west.

I am disappointed that the good example of Lagos State in taking care of its universities that it created,

saying there is no strike, that didnt cascade down through the South West. But that should actually be the case throughout the federation. But because we are talking about the South West, I think that on the infrastructure end, there are some limitations. The constraints are incredible. But there is nothing wrong with trying to do something about it.

Between the former Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, and Akeredolu, they wanted to do something about the Akure-Ado-Ekiti road, what happened? The Federal Government did not allow them. Those are the things that need to change.

They can do something about the universities. Finally, since Universal Primary Education started in the South West, I am very disappointed that we cannot say that the situation of primary education in the South West is better than elsewhere. Because they are the inheritors of good practice. They have dropped the ball. At least to a large extent.

In my home community here when I did a study in 2015, 50 per cent of people going to primary school are in private schools. Meaning that primary school enrolment in Ondo State is largely due to efforts by private schools. Myself and I think also the governor, went to free primary school. That is retrogression.

I dont know the situation in other states, I can only talk about Ondo State where I did an on-the-ground study and the information I used was provided by SUBEB and the Ministry of Education. As I said, there is nothing special about my community, it is the same across the state.

So, I think South-west states and their leaders ought to be able to continue to be champions of free universal primary education which started in this zone, of course including Edo at the time and even Delta in 1955 and was successfully implemented at least one decade, if not longer.

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The year 2022 was quite a busy one for Nigerias health sector, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, the outbreak of Lassa fever, and the re-emergence of Mpox.

From grappling with the countrys already overstretched health system to losing large numbers of health personnel to developed countries, 2022 will remain an unforgettable year for the sector.

In this report, PREMIUM TIMES analyses some major landmarks that shaped the health sector in 2022.

COVID-19 pandemic

Two years after Nigeria reported its COVID-19 index case in an Italian traveller, the country seems to have gotten a hang of the pandemic which had earlier crippled the health system.

Routine immunisation, maternal and reproductive health, and child and adolescent health are among the health services disrupted as a result of the pandemic which claimed over 600 million lives globally.

Nigeria has so far tested over 5.7 million COVID-19 samples, with 266,450 returning positive. Over 3,000 persons have also died from COVID-19-related complications in the country.

The number of cases reported weekly has reduced drastically as compared to the early days of the pandemic.

At the onset of the pandemic, new cases reported across the country ranged between 100 and 200 daily. However, less than 50 weekly cases have been reported in the past few weeks.

This downward trend may not be unrelated to increased COVID-19 vaccination rates across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Nigeria commenced COVID-19 vaccination in March 2021 and has so far fully vaccinated over 63 million eligible persons targeted for vaccination. Another 12 million eligible persons have also received one dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

Although the country failed to meet its ambitious goal of vaccinating 40 per cent of the population by the end of 2021, and 70 per cent by the end of 2022, efforts are ongoing to ensure more persons take the vaccines.

Relaxation of COVID-19 travel protocols

In response to the significant reduction in COVID-19 infections, the Nigerian government ordered the relaxation of COVID-19 safety measures and travel advisory, including the suspension of all pre-departure, pre-boarding and post-arrival PCR test requirements.

Announced by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 (PSC) on 12 December 2022, the relaxed protocols including the compulsory use of face masks in public spaces and restrictions on mass gatherings are now optional.

Before the relaxation, a COVID-19 PCR test was required within 48 hours of departure for all travellers. There was also a mandatory Day-2 Post-arrival PCR test for travellers arriving in the country. Partially vaccinated travellers and unvaccinated ones were also expected to self-isolate for seven days and a Day-7 post-arrival negative COVID-19 PCR test was required for exit from isolation.

Various controversies had trailed Nigerias COVID-19 protocol for international travellers. Many complained about the high cost of a PCR test even as other countries were already stepping down on the protocols.

Brain Drain

The continued emigration of medical doctors, nurses and other health professionals to developed countries is one of the major sad developments in the sector in 2022.

Various statistics indicated that a large number of Nigerian doctors emigrated to seek greener pastures in developed countries.

A 2022 UK immigration report showed that 13,609 Nigerian healthcare workers (including doctors) were granted working visas in the past year, making the country second only to the 42,966 from India. The President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Uche Rowland, at a symposium on brain drain in the health sector, said over 5,000 doctors migrated to the United Kingdom (UK) in the last eight years.

This has created a huge gap in Nigerias health system, with only 24,000 doctors left to cater to the over 200 million population. This is also in stark contrast to the about 360,000 doctors needed to meet the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation.

Nurses and medical consultants are also leaving. Between 2019 and mid-2022, at least 4,460 nurses migrated from Nigeria to the United Kingdom (UK), according to data from the development Research and Project Centre (dRPC).

About 500 medical and dental consultants also left the county between 2020 and 2022

When health experts gathered in Abuja towards the end of the year to discuss ways to halt the brain drain, they suggested improvement in the working conditions of doctors and other health personnel as a panacea.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Nigerias Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, agreed that the working conditions of doctors need to be improved, and said the government was already working towards it. He also said the government was working toward engaging experienced Nigerian doctors living abroad so they could offer healthcare services to Nigerians virtually.

Surge in Lassa fever deaths, infections

In 2022, Nigeria experienced a significant surge in Lassa Fever infections across the 36 States and the FCT.

The latest epidemiological report published by NCDC for week 50 of 2022, spanning 12 to 18 December, shows that the number of confirmed cases and deaths increased compared to that reported for the same period in 2021.

The report revealed that from week 1 to week 50, 2022, 183 deaths were reported with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 17.6 per cent, which is lower than the CFR for the same period in 2021 of 20.3 per cent.

It also added that a total of 1,038 confirmed and 7,981 suspected infections were recorded between January to 18 December across 111 LGAs in 27 states.

Of all confirmed cases, 71 per cent were from Ondo, Edo and Bauchi. While Ondo State in the South-west topped the infection list with 33 per cent, Edo and Bauchi states accounted for 25 and 13 per cent respectively.

Re-emergence of Mpox

The world was gripped by the fresh outbreak of Mpox in 2022 from the United Kingdom linking its first confirmed infection to Nigeria. In May, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced in a statement that an unidentified individual who travelled from Nigeria to England tested positive for Mpox.

Months later, the WHO declared Mpox a global health emergency of international concern due to its continuous spread across the world, and also approved the change of name from Monkeypox to Mpox.

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While data from WHO and CDC confirmed gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men make up the majority of cases in the current Mpox outbreak, Nigeria has also consistently reported infections.

As of 21 December, data from African CDC shows that since the beginning of 2022, the continent has reported 1,176 confirmed cases and 219 deaths from eight endemic Africa Union (AU) member states. Nigeria topped with 704 infections, followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Ghana with 257 and 107 cases respectively.

According to data, DRC recorded the highest deaths of 198, while Nigeria and Ghana reported only seven and four deaths respectively.

From NHIS TO NHIA; Mandatory health insurance

As part of efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Bill 2022.

The NHIA, which repeals the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Act that has been in existence since 2004, makes health insurance mandatory for all Nigerians.

Mr Buhari said the NHIA will collaborate with state government health insurance schemes to accredit primary and secondary healthcare facilities and ensure the enrollment of Nigerians.

The law also included the Vulnerable Group Fund (VGF), to ensure coverage for 83 million Nigerians who cannot afford to pay premiums as recommended by the Lancet Nigeria Commission.

He said the vulnerable group fund will be financed through the basic health care provision fund, health insurance levy, special intervention fund, as well as any investment proceeds, donations and gifts to the authority.

Health gets highest budgetary allocation

For the first time in the history of health funding in Nigeria, over a trillion naira was allocated to the sector in the proposed 2023 budget. An analysis of the proposed budget presented by President Muhammadu Buhari in October shows that N1.17 trillion (5.75 per cent) was allocated to the health sector out of the total N20.5 trillion budget for the 2023 fiscal year.

Although it fails to meet a 2001 commitment to allocate at least 15 per cent of the total budget to the health sector, it is the highest ever allocated to the sector.

African heads of state and governments under the African Union (AU) in April 2001 made the commitment to dedicate at least 15 per cent of their annual budgets to the health sector in what is now known as the Abuja Declaration.

While countries like Rwanda and South Africa have met the commitment, Nigeria has not found a way to do so. A review of the budgetary allocation to the health sector in the last 21 years revealed that Nigeria has never met the 15 per cent target. Although the 5.75 per cent allocated to health in the 2023 budget is an increase from the 4.7 per cent allocated in 2022, health experts say more advocacy is needed to ensure the government meets the commitment made in the Abuja Declaration.

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Claim: Using the name of Ibrahim Babangida, Nigerias former military leader, a Twitter user  in a series of viral tweets  showed support for former president Olusegun Obasanjos public endorsement of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party.

Verdict: The alleged tweet showing support for Peter Obi in the name of Ibrahim Babangida is a parody account. The tweet and contents are not from the former head of state. This claim is false.

Full Text

On January 1, former president Olusegun Obasanjo wrote another long epistle as he would usually do on public matters. Many Nigerians wondered what the man of many letters had to say this time.

Mr Obasanjo addressed the electorate, especially the youth in a new year letter ahead of the forthcoming general election; he also endorsed Peter Obi of the Labour Party saying, Obi is the most appropriate presidential candidate to succeed the incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari.

None of the contestants is a saint, but when one compares their character, antecedent, understanding, knowledge, discipline, and vitality that they can bring to bear and the great efforts required to stay focused on the job, particularly looking at where the country is today and with the experience on the job that I personally had, Peter Obi as a mentee has an edge, Mr Obasanjo wrote in his open letter to young Nigerians.

But Mr Obasanjo received knocks from opposition parties following his public endorsement of Mr Obi. Supporters of Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), and Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) accused Mr Obasanjo of planning to achieve his third term ambition by endorsing Mr Obi. They said the former presidents endorsement of any candidate is worthless.

However, on January 2, 2023, following the controversy that trailed Mr Obasanjos endorsement, a Twitter account purported to be that of a former military president, Ibrahim Babangida, was used to release several tweets showing solidarity with Mr Obasanjo over his endorsement of the LP presidential candidate. The tweets would soon go viral on social media, with unscrupulous persons engaging the claims massively.

I am not against any political party or any political candidate; however, if the reason you want to attain the role of leadership is because you think its your turn; or it should remain in a certain geo-political zone. You dont have my support. I am who I am, the Twitter user claimed Mr Babangida said.

In another instance, the Twitter thread also reads: Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo will forever be a true elder statesman and a boss in the military. No serving General in the Nigerian Army today joined the military earlier than 1982. By then, Obasanjo had already finished his military career. I respect him a lot, with his endorsement.

A few days after, over 20,000 Twitter users liked the tweets, and over 5,000 retweeted, while more than 800,000 accounts generally viewed the posts. DUBAWA observed that hundreds of Twitter users, primarily supporters of Mr Obis presidential ambition, embraced the tweets from the cloned account, praising the two former military heads for endorsing their candidate while sharing their comments on the tweets attributed to Mr Babangida.

A general is always a general. Thats the standard, said Salim Ado Abdullahi (@salim_ado), a Twitter user. Our elder statesman has spoken, Garkuwa Umar (@garkuwa_umar), another supporter of Mr Obi, wrote, corroborating. Many comments under the tweets came similarly.

Verification

Interestingly, cross-checking the authenticity of the viral tweets is not far-fetched. The ghost author of the purported tweets states categorically on the bio page that the Twitter account is a parody.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines parody as a literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work is closely imitated for comic effect or ridicule.

A further check on the account in question  @General_Ibbro  showed it is not short of a satirical personification of the former military president. The trajectory of the tweets on the account revealed that the author is a critic of the current administration, hiding under Mr Babangidas name to express his opinions on public issues.

For example, on November 12, 2022, the same parody Twitter operator claimed Mr Babangida said: All the current Presidential Aspirants and candidates have my blessings. I am not supporting anyone, but I will obidently wish all of them the very best in the forthcoming elections.

But a psycho-linguistic analysis of the said tweet by this researcher  based on the semantic analysis of the choice of wording and contextual tracking of the phrases and sentences  revealed that the author was indirectly selling Mr Obi to the audience without necessarily mentioning his name. The use of obidiently, (please note the spelling of the word as it is different from obediently, an English lexicon) a cognomen emanating from obidient, a derivative noun referring to Mr Obis political movement, suggests where the interest of the author belongs.

However, on January 7, the media office of Mr Babangida urged Nigerians to disregard any social media account opened in his name. An aide to the former military officer, Salman Yusuf, said in Minna, Niger State, that his principal does not comment on national issues on social media.

We wish to state that IBB has never owned nor operated any social media account, and he does not intend to operate any now or in the near future, a statement by Mr Yusuf reads, urging social media users to ignore warped imaginations and antics of cyber criminals who do not mean well for the country.

Conclusion

Nowhere in the media did Mr Babangida make the statements attributed to him via the parody Twitter account. The claim is, therefore, false and misleading.

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Extant copyright laws in Nigeria prohibit the conversion of books to readable formats for visually impaired persons. This has resulted in limited access to books for people who are visually impaired and who live with print disabilities, resulting in a situation tagged Book Famine

Kassim Lawal is visually impaired. Against all odds, he bagged his law degree from the University of Lagos, Akoka in 2016. Afterwards, he enrolled and waded through the exerting waters of the Nigerian Law School, graduating in an enviable robe.

The journey for the 38-year-old lawyer, as expected, was herculean. The voluminous law books, the case notes and several large-volume materials whose reading came at a price for even sighted colleagues were all studied by him.

I had to record all my textbooks with the assistance of my classmates, he said. It didnt matter the volume of the books; I got them captured on tape recorders and cassettes to listen to them later on, he told this reporter.

He noted that he couldnt use braille because the materials were very bulky. He recalled soliciting the help of his sighted colleagues to use the library and submit assignments.

Now a solicitor at Yusuf O. Alli Chambers, Abuja, Mr Lawal acknowledged that visually impaired undergraduate students of Nigerian tertiary institutions go through extremely tough times studying, as compared to pupils at the basic and secondary school levels such as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) School for the Blind.

Mr Lawal, who is the Chairman of the Abuja chapter of Lawyers with Disabilities, explained that universities in Nigeria are neither inclusive nor specialised.

Provisions are usually made for primary and secondary school pupils in terms of adapting books unlike those at the tertiary level of education, he said.

For Mr Lawal and numerous visually impaired students and professionals in Nigeria, the silver lining in the dark cloud would be Nigerias ratification, implementation and enforcement of Marrakesh Treaty- an international agreement that seeks to help end the global scarcity of books.

Braille expensive, time-consuming

Grace Atewe is a current law student at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, who, like Mr Lawal, holds so much optimism about the prospects of the Marrakesh Treaty coming fully into effect.

She shared her experiences navigating through university education with this reporter.

Difficulty in accessing books for study is one of the main issues facing people with visual impairment in universities in Nigeria, she said.

Miss Atewe, who is 27 years old, explained that a good number of law books and materials are available but only for sighted people.

Getting access to those books and materials as a visually impaired or partially sighted person is a major hurdle. Most of the time, these books are not put into electronic formats that blind people can access.

Like many of my other colleagues, we are at the mercy of our sighted friends and mates, she said.

Miss Atewe, now in her final year in the university, suggested that when the Marrakesh Treaty comes fully into use, law reports and other materials can be made in formats that can talk or be read in braille. She said this would significantly ease their struggle.

She added: We are the ones who do all the conversion of books ourselves. We have to get these books, then go through the rigorous process of converting them into readable formats and it takes a lot of time and money and as struggling students, we can hardly afford these.

Getting those books in braille is extremely expensive, so all these hurdles should be looked into, so that when we want to get access to these materials, we can easily get them on the internet.

Grim statistics

Checks by this reporter revealed that small-volume braille printers cost between $1,800 and $5,000 while large-volume ones may cost between $10,000 and $80,000.

According to an international development organisation, Sightsavers, there are estimated 24 million people with vision loss, with about 1.3 million becoming blind in the year 2020.

The Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairments also reports that the North Eastern part of the country has the highest prevalence of blindness with about 6.1 per cent while the South West Zone of the country has the lowest prevalence with about 2.8 per cent prevalence.

Blindness and lack of accessible book formats may be a factor why many visually impaired people in Nigeria do not go to school or drop out of school.

In Jigawa State, North-west Nigeria, 66 pupils formally registered at the Jigawa State School for the Blind but only 10 showed up for school, this is according to a report by PREMIUM TIMES.

In its World Disability Report published in 2011, the World Health Organisation identified inappropriate teaching materials and methods of assessment as one of the barriers to education for children with disabilities.

Studies have also revealed that braille is the most preferred source of information for persons with visual impairments with about 58.3 per cent level of interest, followed by talking books (audiobooks) with about 38.2 per cent while only 3.4 per cent source their information from large print.

About Marrakesh Treaty

The treaty was adopted in 2013 and signed in Marrakesh, Uganda, to facilitate access for people with print disabilities by removing barriers in national copyright laws that hinder the reproduction, distribution and sharing of books in accessible formats for use by people with print disabilities.

The treaty has been ratified by 23 African countries and Nigeria is a signatory to it.

Administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, it advocates the creation of accessible formats which start after the source publication is released in the market, and once all the legal requirements are met to transform the source publication into an accessible publication, an alternative format of a book in braille or large print is often made available much later than the release of the print book.

A direct response to the call of the (Sustainable Development Goals) of leaving no one behind, Marrakesh Treaty seeks to reach those furthest behind first as it acknowledges that one of the factors that consistently recur when talking about quality education for people with disabilities, particularly those with visual impairment, is the availability of educational materials in formats they can use.

However, It is important to note that some alternate formats mentioned above may be suitable or easy to use for a particular disability only. For example, a person with Dyslexia may not prefer a book in Braille, and persons with low vision may not use an audiobook as it omits all pictures and text.

What Marakesh Treaty domestication could mean to Nigerias blind community

John Assein, the Director General of the Nigerian Copyrights Commission, said the process of ratifying the Marrakesh Treaty in Nigeria has now passed the concurrence stage and that it has reached the Presidential Assent stage which is the final stage before it finally becomes law and binding.

Speaking to the reporter in his office, Mr Assign said he has been having a series of meetings with the leadership of the National Association of the Blind and other requisite organisations to ensure they are carried along.

He said the domestication of the treaty would mean more books in accessible formats, and that the needs of persons with visual impairments would be addressed, helping to significantly increase the literacy level of blind persons.

People with visual impairment can also walk into any of the authorised entities instead of waiting for years to have some of these books in accessible formats. So it would seem like a sighted person walking into a regular bookshop, he said.

He added that the provisions of the treaty have been incorporated into the revised Copyrights Amendment Bill which has been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and awaiting presidential assent.

We are hopeful that before the year runs out or before the end of this current administration, it comes into effect, Mr Assien said.

According to the Marrakesh Treaty Advocacy Course, the right to literacy is a fundamental human right for all persons and it should include reading books for education and leisure.

But Mr Lawal, who is also the Secretary General of the Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities, Abuja chapter, said the current situation does not encourage visually impaired persons in Nigeria to read for leisure.

He said: The domestication would mean that I can go to get literature books by Soyinka or Achebe. It would mean I dont have to get the books first, go to Lagos to get it braille. There would be a level playing for visual impairments. For a person with disabilities to be able to access books the same way sighted people would be able to access it.

Findings revealed that the bill provides for authorised entities which can either be government-owned or private establishments will be licenced to produce these books in accessible formats.

Doubting Thomas?

Meanwhile, Martin Kieti, who works at the Inclusion Resources for Africa in Kenya, noted that the ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty and its implementation in national law does not necessarily guarantee the enjoyment of the right to read by people with print disabilities.

He said: It is a well-known fact that, in many African countries, international treaties have been ratified and national laws have been enacted or revised and policies have been developed but their implementation has always not been fully realised.

The poor implementation of such treaties, laws and policies has been attributed to, among other reasons, lack of resources, political goodwill and legal remedies and mechanisms to enforce the provisions of such treaties, laws and policies.

He said for people with print disabilities to enjoy their right-to-read and to access information through increased availability of accessible books, it is essential that the Marrakesh Treaty is realised not only on paper but also in practice.

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NIGERIAS 2023 ELECTIONS:

PREPARATIONS AND PRIORITIES FOR ELECTORAL INTEGRITY AND INCLUSION

Professor Mahmood Yakubu

Chairman

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

Lecture presented at The Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), London, on Tuesday 17th January 2023

Introduction

I am highly honoured to lead this discussion today and to share this illustrious platform which has over the years welcomed exceptional intellectuals, celebrated public servants and renowned statesmen. Today is exactly thirty-nine days to the next general election in Nigeria, which I have both the privilege and challenge of leading its proper delivery. Elections in Nigeria have become events that attract extensive international attention and concern, not only because of the sheer size of the deployment, which usually draws extensively on both national and international resources, but also because of the importance of Nigeria in Africa and particularly the West African sub-region.

Although it is true that elections should normally be routine, programmed events, each election in Nigeria invariably presents its own unique context and therefore distinct challenges and prospects. Overall, therefore, there are enormous expectations, both within Nigeria and internationally, about the conduct and management of elections in the country. The 2023 general election is no exception. These expectations place a great responsibility on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), a responsibility that we do not take lightly. We appreciate that there are challenges and concerns. But we also realise that there is enormous goodwill and support, both in Nigeria and beyond. Consequently, we believe that by forthrightly sharing our experiences and discussing the challenges openly, we can surmount them and ensure that each succeeding election in Nigeria shows marked improvement over the preceding ones. This is what I hope that the exchanges we are going to have here today would achieve.

The general election will start on Saturday 25th February 2023 with the national elections, i.e. the Presidential election and elections for the two Houses of the National Assembly  the Senate and House of Representatives. On that day, legislators for 109 Senatorial Districts and 360 House of Representatives constituencies will be elected. The State elections, i.e. election of Governors, as well as 993 members of the State Houses of Assembly, will hold two weeks later, on Saturday 11th March 2023. Only 28 out of 36 Governors will be elected on that day. The other eight do not fall due because of past electoral litigations that misaligned the tenures of the affected Governors.

Given the geographical expanse of the country, the number of registered voters, electoral constituencies and polling units, conducting a general election in Nigeria is a huge undertaking. The delimitation details are staggering: 93,469,008 registered voters expected to elect their representatives for 1,491 constituencies in 176,846 polling units. Based on the figures we compiled from the websites of various Electoral Commissions and Interior Ministries in West Africa, Nigerias current voter population is 16,742,916 higher than the 76,726,092 registered voters in the other 14 countries put together. This means that a general election in Nigeria is like conducting elections in the whole of West Africa and beyond.

Since 1999, Nigeria has been conducting regular general elections following the restoration of civilian-democratic rule governance after many years of military rule. The 2023 general election will be the seventh consecutive general election in Nigeria. This fact makes this the longest period of electoral democracy in the countrys history. Previous periods of electoral democracy were relatively short, repeatedly truncated by military interventions. However, the quantity of elections is one thing, but their quality is another. As Zavadskaya and Garnett aptly note, the question of integrity of elections is relevant for all elections, whether in new democracies or jurisdictions that have held election for decades, because they are all vulnerable to malpractice. However, good elections are not only about curbing malpractices, but also about ensuring inclusivity. Inclusive elections constitute an essential part of democracy. This is the reason why in our Commission we regularly speak of our commitment to free, fair, credible, transparent, verifiable and inclusive elections. To be sure, credible and inclusive elections in the final analysis depend on adequate preparations and my main preoccupation today is to share with you how we are preparing for a general election of high integrity and inclusiveness in Nigeria in 2023.

Lessons from the 2019 General Election

Preparations for the 2023 general election are largely being concluded and preliminary deployments are already underway. Indeed, our preparations began quite early, learning from some of our experiences in 2019, particularly the sore experience of having to postpone that election a few hours before it commenced. One important lesson from 2019 is that great planning and preparations are important, but unfortunately these are often at the risk of what Pippa Norris calls simple human errors, technical malfunctions and logistical failures. However, early preparations provide opportunities for adequate planning, resourcing, and testing of systems that will reduce these risks to a minimum.

A second lesson from 2019 is that early choice of election management tools, especially the main election technology. Their proper pilot-testing and deployment are exceedingly important for a successful election. For election technology, early decision is central to maintaining its integrity, popularising it among voters and addressing any challenges that could arise. We know that political actors often try to undermine the process by attacking the technology, casting doubts on its suitability, bypassing its use or indeed seeking to undermine its security. This informed the early choice of a new voter accreditation technology using an electronic device we call the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS). We have tested it in several bye-elections and off-cycle Governorship elections. In addition, the decision to make polling unit election results available for public viewing, which has always been a major demand by citizens and election observers, falls into this early choice of election technology. The INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal is a dedicated web portal for the public to view polling unit results as soon as they are finalised on election day. This has been employed in several elections conducted by the Commission in the past few years. In particular, the uploading of Polling Unit results on the IReV portal has been deployed 105 constituencies where the Commission conducted off-season elections since August 2020. The result can still be viewed on the portal, making the IReV an invaluable repository of elections results in Nigeria.

A further lesson from the 2019 general election, which is helping us immensely in our preparations for the 2023 general election, is that an early finalisation of changes to the Electoral Act, the principal legal basis for elections, is critical to proper organisation of elections. In the build-up to the 2019 general election, there was an unending back and forth between the Executive and Legislative arms of government on the Electoral Act, and in the end the amendment of the Act was stalled. One consequence of this was that INEC could not conclude work on the Regulations and Guidelines for the election, which are meant to derive from, and be consistent with, the Electoral Act as early as we intended. Since the Commission has no say as such in the passing of the Act, it had to wait for a final document to emerge from the process, which ultimately did not materialise. The several recommendations that the Commission made to the National Assembly to include in the amended Act to improve the quality of elections, such as the strengthening of the use of technology, early conclusion of candidates nominations, as well as timely funding of elections, never became law. It is noteworthy that this time around, the Electoral Act 2022 was passed in good time, and it has addressed some of these issues.

The last noteworthy lesson from the 2019 general election is that adequate funding and early release of funds to the Commission is also very important to well-organised elections. Partly because of delays in finalising the electoral legal framework for the 2019 general election, finalising the budget for the election and arranging a good schedule of fund releases to the Commission was rather tardy and challenging. To add to the pressure on the Commission, there were over 14 million more voters to cater for in 2019 compared to 2015. It required painstaking and prolonged engagements between the Commission and both the Executive and Legislative arms of government. Given that practically all the activities for the elections depended on funds, from printing of ballot papers and results sheets to hiring of election staff and transport providers, the Commission could not meet many of its targets in preparing for the 2019 general election.

Preparation for the 2023 General Election

Election Planning

Learning from all these, the Commission has worked with all concerned government agencies and stakeholders to ensure that the challenges of preparing for the 2019 general election are minimised this time around. A great deal of forward planning and engagements has been done, and many aspects of our preparations attest to that. First, we concluded a new four-year Strategic Plan and Strategic Programme of Action (SP & SPA), as well as the 2023 Election Project Plan (EPP), over 18 months prior to the date set for the election. The 2023 EPP identifies all the specific activities to be implemented for the general election. Each of these activities has a specific timeline based on which it is implemented and tracked. Among other things, the Plan reflects the new technological innovations that will be used in 2023, the increase in the number of voters from 84,004,084 to 93, 469,008 as well as increase in Polling Units from 119,974 to 176,846, following the Commissions expansion of voter access to Polling Units in 2021.

Electoral Legal Framework

Elections are essentially anchored in law. Unlike the case with the 2019 general election, new Electoral Act was signed into law on Friday 25th February 2022 exactly one year ahead of the general election, giving time for both the Commission and all stakeholders to fully acquaint themselves with any changes in their responsibilities and functions. As an affirmation of our readiness for the general election, the Commission released the Timetable and Schedule of Activities the following day, Saturday 26th February 2022. The new law contains some very important changes that hold potentials for improving the quality of Nigerias elections. Perhaps the ten most important provisions in the new law are:

1. Early appropriation and release of funds. INEC to get its funds at least one year to the general election.

2. Early release of notice of election. INEC is now required to issue the Notice of Polls 360 days to the general election. This also entails an early release of the Timetable and Schedule of Activities for general elections by the Commission. When these are added to the fixed dates for general elections established by INEC, which is the 3rd Saturday in the month of February of the election year for the national election and State elections coming two weeks later, stakeholders now have ample time for forward planning, which will greatly benefit the quality of general elections in Nigeria.

3. Use of electronic device for accreditation of voters. The debates over the legality or otherwise of the Smart Card Readers now appears to be settled by Section 47 of the Act which empowers INEC to use the Smart Card Reader or any other device for accreditation.

4. Early primaries by political parties. They must now complete their primaries and submit the names of candidates 180 days to the general election. This gives the Commission enough planning time to produce the materials for the elections, particularly the sensitive materials.

5. Type of Primaries. There are now three types of primaries in the law namely, Direct, Indirect and Consensus, giving political parties a wider range of options for selecting their candidates.

6. Electronic transmission of results. The Act now empowers INEC to determine the form of transmission or transfer of election results.

7. Ensuring inclusive elections. INEC is now mandated to ensure that persons with disabilities and other vulnerabilities are properly assisted to participate in the process.

8. Election finance. Various new limits have been set for amounts of money that political parties and candidates can spend in elections, as well as the amounts that can be donated to them.

9. Redefinition of overvoting. Unlike the 2010 Electoral Act which defined overvoting in terms of registered voters, the new Act defines it in terms of accredited voters. This will greatly reduce the challenge encountered by the Commission whereby elections are easily declared inconclusive because they were tied to the number of registered voters, even where turnout is low.

10. Power of the Commission to review results. The law now empowers the Commission to review the result of elections to ensure that declarations are made voluntarily and that results emerge in accordance with the law, regulations, guidelines and manuals for elections.

Related to the Electoral Act are the Regulations and Guidelines which derive from them. These Regulations and Guidelines, together with the Electoral Act and Constitution, constitute the core of the electoral legal framework. The early passage of the Electoral Act enabled the Commission to finalise the Regulations and Guidelines for the election. The review of the Regulations and Guidelines brought them in line with the Electoral Act. The Regulations and Guidelines will subsequently form the basis for the actual operational deployment for the general election, training of electoral staff and managing the entire election.

Voter Registration and Permanent Voters Cards (PVC)

The has been a major component of our preparations for the 2023 general election. The law in Nigeria requires the Commission to conduct voter registration on a continuous basis. However, the law also provides dates for suspension of the process to prepare for general elections. Consequently, the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), as we call it, recommenced on 21st June 2021, following its suspension for the 2019 general election. The CVR continued until 31st July 2022 when we again suspended it for the 2023 general election. In the one-year period of the CVR, 12,298,944 new voters were registered out of which 9,518,188 were validated after a thorough clean-up of the data. We believe that the enthusiasm, especially among young people, was partly driven by the innovation of online pre-registration introduced by the Commission. This enabled intending registrants to commence the process online from a dedicated portal, book an appointment on the same portal and finally appear in person at an INEC office to have their biometrics taken.

The clean-up of the register was painstakingly conducted by the Commission because the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) that we used to check the data, detected many multiple registrants. It seemed that many voters, probably out of ignorance, re-registered when they were already in the register from previous CVR. For two weeks from 12  25 November 2022, the Commission displayed the entire register online and physically in the 8,809 Wards and 774 Local Government Areas for claims and objections as provided by law. This included identifying persons who should not be in the register and making requests for various corrections. It was the first time the Commission would be displaying the register online for this purpose and it yielded fruits. Many claims and objections were made by citizens, which the Commission addressed, such as cases where many alien and unusual names were identified in a Local Government Area of the country. Expectedly, several other claims could not be backed by evidence for verification, as provided by law, thereby making it difficult for the Commission to take any further action. However, the Commission believes that it has a solid register for the election, which remains that largest database of Nigerians in existence. In any case, in every jurisdiction, improvement of the voter roll is a continuous process, and ours is no exception. Once the backbone is already there, as it is at present, future claims and objections will continue to perfect the register.

Nigerian electoral law provides that voters require voters cards (Permanent Voters Cards  PVCs) to be able to vote. Following the clean-up of the register, the cards of new voters and old voters who transferred their voting locations or made corrections to their personal details such as names, dates of birth, addresses etc. have been reprinted and made available for collection. The collection of PVCs commenced on 12th December 2022 and is scheduled to terminate on 22nd January 2023. It commenced at the 774 Local Government Areas of the country between 12th December 2022 and 5th January 2023. Thereafter, we devolved it to the 8,809 Wards across the country to run until 15th January 2023. Then from 16th January, we returned to the Local Government Areas, and this will last until 22nd January, when collection will be suspended for the election. However, given the enthusiasm of registered voters to collect their PVCs and the concerns expressed about the procedure and duration of the exercise, the Commission announced an extension of the collection at Ward level to end on 22nd January 2023 and subsequently revert to the Local Government level until 29th January 2023. State offices of the Commission have also been directed to review the procedure and remove any bottlenecks and deal with sundry allegations of extortion by staff, inducement of officials by registered voters seeking to collect their cards and discriminatory issuance of PVCs.

Election Technology

In other to avoid the usual challenges with the application of new election technologies, the Commission introduced and tested our innovations for the election early enough. There are three critical components namely, the INEC Voter Enrollment Device (IVED) for improved registration of voters, the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for both voter accreditation and e-transmission of results for collation and the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal to offer the public access to view Polling Unit results. The IVED has been deployed for recent registration of voters, which saw the inclusion of 9,518,188 new voters in the register of voters after a thorough clean-up, thereby bringing the total number of registered voters for the 2023 general election to 93,469,008 of which 37,060,399 (39.65%) are youth between the ages of 18 and 34, closely followed by 33,413,591 (35.75%) middle aged voters between 35 and 49. Together, they account for 70,473,990 (75.39%) of the total number of voters. Already their PVCs, which every voter requires for identification on election day, have been printed and are being collected nationwide. The collection of PVCs will end on 29th January 2023.

For the BVAS and IReV, we initially deployed it on pilot basis in several bye-elections and off-cycle governorship elections. The IReV was used in the governorship elections in Edo State (September 2020) and Ondo State (October 2020). A combination of both BVAS and IReV was used in Anambra State (November 2021), Ekiti State (June 2022) and Osun State (July 2022). The BVAS was also used in the Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in February 2022. Deploying this technology in these major elections afforded the Nigerian public and the Commission opportunities to get acquainted with the device and to review its performance with a view to enhancing it towards the general election. For the Commission, several lessons have been learnt from these deployments and we believe that we are ready to deploy these technologies for the general election.

Expansion of Voter Access to Polling Units

Election is about actualising the fundamental democratic right to vote. However, if one has the right to vote but has nowhere to vote, then that right is only nominal. This was the principle that made the Commission to work with a broad range of stakeholders to expand voter access to Polling Units in 2021. At the end of the exercise, the first in 25 years since 1996, Nigeria now has 176,846 Polling Units as against 119,974 previously. However, recent governorship and FCT elections indicate that voters did not take advantage of the establishment of these new Polling Units. There are still many crowded and sparsely populated Polling Units, sometimes in close vicinity of each other. The Commission has worked out modalities for addressing this problem.

When the Commission embarked on the programme of expanding voter access to Polling Units, one of the objectives was the relocation of the Polling Units to better facilities, where necessary and available. Prior to this exercise, some Polling Units were in forests, shrines, dilapidated buildings and the homes of big men. This oftentimes curtailed access for certain politically-targeted voters. Many of the locations were also unsuitable for people with disability. I am glad that most of these problematic Polling Units have been relocated and voters will have a much better voting experience in 2023 than before.

Inclusive Election

Our Commission remains fully committed to making Nigerian elections inclusive. Over the years, we have worked with various stakeholders to increase the participation of young people and women. The work that the Not too Young to Run movement did in reducing the age requirement for contesting in some electoral positions has been underscored by the Commissions youth policy. In addition, the Commission produced a Gender Policy to serve in 2012 as a guide to a fairer working environment for women in the Commission and to increase the role of women in the electoral process. We remain committed to these policies.

Apart from young persons and women, the Commission continues to work with the community of persons with disability to ensure that they are fully part of the electoral process. For instance, over the last two electoral cycles, the Commission has been working with partners such as Inclusive Friends Association (IFA) and The Albino Foundation (TAP) to provide braille ballot guides for visually impaired voters and magnifying classes for albino voters. Just last week, the Commission met with the community of persons with disability. We are working together for the launch of a data dashboard that captures all registered voters with disability in all Polling Units nationwide, disaggregated by type of disability. This will further ensure that we are able to better serve this community of voters.

Election Staff Recruitment and Training

This is essential to the success of any election. For the 2023 general election, the Commission requires at least 707,384 Presiding and Assistant Presiding Officers, about 17,685 Supervisory Presiding Officers, 9,620 Collation/Returning officers, as well as 530,538 Polling Unit security officials, making a total of 1,265,227. These are not staff of the Commission and must be painstakingly recruited and trained to ensure that they are both fit-for-purpose and non-partisan. However, the greatest number of election officials in Nigeria are these temporary or ad hoc staff recruited principally from the among young Nigerian University and Polytechnic graduates enrolled in the mandatory one-year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), students of tertiary institutions, staff of federal agencies and university lecturers. Preparing them adequately for their roles as polling officials, supervisors and result managers is central to a successful election. This has become even more critical given the growing deployment of technology in our elections. It has consistently been observed in previous elections that some ad hoc staff were unable to use devices for accreditation and result management. As a Commission, we continue to explore more effective and efficient ways of training this very diverse group within the usually short period of time available. Therefore, we have the Electoral Institute of the Commission, which is dedicated to election staff training. They have already finalised the training methodologies and manuals for the election to ensure that training commences early.

Inter-agency Collaboration and Support

What other agencies do in support of the Commission is very important to the quality of elections. In its work, the Commission depends a lot on especially the judiciary, security agencies and media organisations. Inter-agency collaboration and support are therefore key in the conduct of the 2023 general election. To this end, INEC has established a long-standing collaboration with key agencies. We interfaced with different levels of the judiciary in the run up to the 2019 general election, and that engagement was very fruitful. For the last three electoral cycles, the Inter-agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES) has been in existence and has supported the Commission. A lot of progress has been made in recent times through ICCES, especially regarding the production of a common code of conduct for security officials during elections, establishment of common situation rooms, expanding the Committee to include other agencies, the most recent being the involvement of agencies working on financial crimes. In addition, the Commission holds regular interactions with political parties, civil society organisations, the media, security agencies and development partners. Such engagements, collaborations and partnerships are critical to the success of the general election.

The most recent inter-agency stakeholder initiative of the Commission relates to the problem of vote selling and vote buying at polling units on election day. The Commission, in conjunction with security agencies, anti-corruption agencies, media regulatory agencies, political parties and the civil society organisations launched this major initiative in December 2022. The aim is to ensure a more robust monitoring and reporting of the illegal business of vote buying and to strengthen control and enforcement.

Electoral Operations, Procurement and Logistics

This is proceeding satisfactorily. On 4th January 2023, we received the final batch of the BVAS to be used for the election. That puts us on course to perform functional and integrity tests on every BVAS to be deployed for the election, which has been concluded in many States nationwide. In addition, we plan to conduct a series of mock trials of the BVAS with actual voters in real-time in parts of the country to further ascertain their functioning in actual election situations. Other sensitive materials, such as the ballots and result forms, are being printed. The Commission is progressively taking delivery of them and deploying them to locations across the country.

Logistics has often been a major Achilles heel of elections in Nigeria. We are determined to solve the challenge. We have established a Logistics Management System, which uses an Android application and web dashboard to track election materials from procurement through storage to delivery. For the first time, we have a comprehensive Election Logistics Framework (ELF) to guide logistics for the general elections from planning, through deployment to retrieval. This is the first deployment of an end-to-end logistics framework for elections.

On election day transportation, the Commission recently signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the umbrella bodies of road transport and marine unions. We are presently working with the unions to deal with all the noticed bottlenecks to ensure a more efficient and timely delivery of materials to Polling Units.

The Commission is happy with the extent of preparations for the 2023 general election. This is borne out by the timelines in our election timetable of which 11 of 14 activities have been accomplished. However, despite our extensive preparations, there are still some outstanding issues and challenges of concern, some of which are beyond the remit of the Commission, to which I will now turn.

Insecurity and its Impact on the Election

The perennial insecurity in many African countries remains a source of concern to election managers. Recently, heads of Electoral Commissions from nine countries in West and Central Africa, including Nigeria, met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (7  9 December 2022), to discuss the impact of insecurity on elections and measures to mitigate the risk to election personnel, stakeholders, materials and processes.

For many years, Nigeria has been grappling with its own insecurity. In the North-East, the long-standing Boko Haram insurgency has continued, albeit with attacks now more intermittent than regular. In the North-West and the North-Central, banditry, terrorism and the herder-farmer conflicts remain major challenges. In the South-South, the threat of renewed insurgency by groups demanding more share of petroleum revenue to the Niger Delta continues to simmer. In the South-West, although an earlier surge by a group demanding independence for the region has considerably dissipated, recent violent attacks on places of worship, rise in the activities of violent cults and kidnapping groups, as well as a history of violence involving groups seeking to control markets and motor parks remain strong. In the South-East, the lingering agitation for separatism championed by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) pose a major security threat. Not only have violent attacks by a number of armed groups increased, the long-standing weekly lockdown of the five States in that geo-political zone, continue to disrupt social and economic activities.

There is no doubt that violence and threat of violence are major challenges to credible election in 2023. Violence makes deployment for elections difficult, particularly where some of the attacks are targeted at the electoral process and participants. However, the Commission has been working with security agencies and other stakeholders to establish mechanisms to understand, track and mitigate security challenges. We are working collaboratively in the context of ICCES, and we also have the Election Violence Mitigation and Advocacy Tool (EVMAT), which is a research and diagnostic tool for predicting and mitigating election violence prior to elections. In addition, there is the Election Risk Management Tool (ERM), which tracks and reports general risks to elections. In all, we feel assured by the actions we have taken and our collaboration with the security agencies. The 2023 general election will proceed as planned. There is no plan to postpone the election. A more pertinent issue for the Commissio9n is the fate of displaced voters.

In 2015, an estimated 2 million voters were displaced by conflict in the North-East and North-Central part of the country. In response, the Commission worked with the National Assembly to amend the Electoral Act to support voting by Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). This entailed making additional provisions for enumeration of IDP voters and for voting in their camps. In response to the IDP problem, the Commission recently revised its Policy on IDP Voting, which it has been using since 2015, to cater for new realities of displaced populations. Unfortunately, in some States it is difficult to identify the IDPs because they are not in camps but rather settled among extended family members, relations and good Samaritans within safer communities where they are not registered voters. As a result, it is very difficult for the Commission to provide necessary electoral services to such IDPs. However, those in camps within Nigeria will be catered for in line with the Commissions policy.

Attacks on INEC Facilities

Related to the problem of insecurity is the rising attacks on INEC facilities, materials and staff. In four years (2019  2022), the Commission experienced fifty attacks on its facilities, mostly in the form of arson and vandalisation. In these attacks, buildings, election materials and vehicles were destroyed. Sometimes, these attacks have even targeted staff. For instance, during the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR), some staff of the Commission in Imo State were attacked, resulting in injuries and death.

However, the 2022 attacks constitute the deepest concerns for the Commission. This is so not only because they are increasingly happening closer to the general election, but also because some of them seem to be coordinated. Detailed account of these attacks has been published on the Commissions website. The implication of the attacks is that facilities must be rebuilt and several election materials must be replaced. Further, the Commission and security agencies must have to increase the number of their personnel to these facilities. Nevertheless, the Commission is determined to continue its preparations for the general election despite these attacks. So far, all the destroyed facilities will be rebuilt, or alternatives found, and the materials lost are being replaced. However, the Commission has repeatedly called for more concerted efforts to control the attacks. In December 2022, the National Assembly (House of Representatives) held a public hearing on these attacks, and we hope that authorities now have them under control since they appear to have abated.

Campaign Violence

One important provision of the new Electoral Act is the extension of campaign period from 60 to 180 days before the date of election. Campaign periods have traditionally seen increases in violent actions by political actors. These range from verbal attacks, hate speech, destruction of campaign materials by opponents such as billboards, to overt violence, sometimes leading to fatalities. We have seen some of these during the ongoing campaigns. Although the situation appears to be under control, yet the concerns still exist as we come closer to election day. The Commission believes that a peaceful electioneering campaign heralds a peaceful election. That is why we continue to engage with political actors and the security agencies to ensure that violence on the campaign trail does not snowball into major violence on election day or afterwards. Partly in consequence, the Commission issued specific guidelines on the Conduct of Political Rallies, Processions and Campaigns in November 2022. We are also closely monitoring and tracking compliance as we come closer to election day.

A major contributory factor to violent campaigns is also a high degree of disinformation, misinformation and fake news. During the recent Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections held in June and July 2022 respectively, many observers noted the rise in fake news and disinformation. This has also been noticeable in the general election campaigns. Deeply worried about this, the Commission has been engaging with civil society organisations, media executives, oversight bodies, law enforcement agencies and owners of social media platforms to track and curtail the spread of fake news.

Campaign Finance and Vote Buying

This is one important undermining factor of our elections to which the Commission is increasingly turning its attention. The Nigerian Constitution gives the Commission enormous responsibilities to oversight campaign fundraising and expenses of both candidates and political parties. The Electoral Act, in turn, specifies various limits to campaign spending and also empowers the Commission to set other limits. Experience however shows that political parties and candidates often observe these limits in the breach. Consequently, INEC is working on strengthening enforcement of these limits, including the use of a web-based application and dashboard for political parties to submit their expenditure for verification. Working with one of our development partners, we have developed the Political Parties Financial Reporting and Auditing System (PFRAS) for this purpose. We shall be deploying it soon and will train both our staff and political parties on its use. In the past, the reporting system had been tardy and unorganised, making it difficult to effectively oversight campaign finances.

Vote buying or voter bribery by political parties and candidates provide a different, but related, set of challenges. It is not only illegal within the electoral legal framework, but also affects election administration. In the past, vote buying has been linked to disruption of elections at the polling units and even violent conduct. The practice takes several forms, one of which is the so-called mark and show technique in which a voter marks his/her ballot paper and shows it to the party agents present and later goes to an agreed location to collect the payment. In response to this, the Commission reorganised the Polling Units to ensure that the voting cubicle and ballot box are placed away from the party polling agents such that they are unable to see the marked ballots. In reaction, the vote buyers modified their approach to mark, snap and show. This time around, a voter takes his/her cellphone to the voting cubicle, marks the ballot, snaps it with the camera of the phone for presentation later for payment. Again, the Commission responded by banning the use of cellphones at the voting cubicles. However, voters are allowed to take their cellphones to the Polling Units, but they are not allowed to take them to the voting cubicles while marking their ballots.

Electoral Litigation and Adjudication

While the Commission has the core responsibility to conduct free, fair and credible elections based on the law, the Judiciary is responsible for the interpretation of the law and adjudication of electoral disputes. In the discharge our responsibilities, few public institutions in Nigeria are subjected to more litigations than INEC. In the 2019 general election, the Commission was involved in 1,689 cases, made up of 852 pre-election, 807 post-election and 30 electoral offences cases. The Commission is committed to the rule of law without which democracy cannot thrive.

Towards the 2023 general election, the Commission has been joined in 791 Court cases as at Friday 6th January 2023 involving intra-party elections and nomination of candidates by political parties. These are not cases involving elections conducted by the Commission or litigations initiated by it, but purely intra-party matters involving candidates and their political parties mainly due to the absence of internal democracy within parties. In fact, the Commission is only a nominal party in these cases but nevertheless has to be represented by lawyers in all court proceedings. The Commission will continue to obey clear orders of Courts because of the plethora of conflicting judgements from Courts of coordinate jurisdiction on the same subject matter, particularly those involving the leadership of political parties or the nomination of candidates for elections.

Prosecution of Electoral Offences

Although the Commission is empowered by the Electoral Act to prosecute electoral offences, it lacks the power and resources to make arrests and thoroughly investigate electoral offences. While we will continue to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies for the arrest, investigation and prosecution of electoral offenders, most of those that are arrested, tried and convicted so far are the foot soldiers rather than the sponsors of electoral violence and other violations. Efforts at mitigating electoral malfeasance can only become effective with the arrest, prosecution and sanctioning the mother spiders to end their reign of impunity. It is for this reason that INEC supports the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal imbued with the responsibility of prosecuting electoral offences as recommended in the reports of various committees set up the Federal Government, notably the Uwais Committee (2009), the Lemu Committee (2011) and the Nnamani Committee (2017). This will enable the Commission to focus on its core mandate of organising, supervising and conducting elections and electoral activities. While appreciating the considerable work already done, the Commission once again appeals to the National Assembly to expedite action on the conclusion of the legislative work on the Bill. It will be another enduring legacy of the 9th Assembly that will strengthen Nigerias democracy just like the passage of the Electoral Act 2022.

Diaspora Voting

Voting by millions of Nigerians living outside the country remains a recurrent issue for the Commission. Nigeria is said to have one of the largest diaspora communities in the world. Our quest for a fully inclusive electoral process in Nigeria will not be complete as long as these Nigerians are unable to vote. However, the Commission only acts in accordance with the electoral legal framework, which remains the main reason why we cannot implement diaspora voting for now. Both the 1999 Constitution and the 2022 Electoral Act provide that voters can only be registered and vote within the country. For instance, Section 77(2) of the Constitution provides that every citizen of Nigeria, who has attained the age of eighteen years residing in Nigeria at the time of the registration of voters for purposes of election to a legislative house, shall be entitled to be registered as a voter for that election.

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Sections 132(5) and 178(5) tie the eligibility to register and vote in executive elections (Presidential and Governorship) to the requirement of residency as in the case of legislative houses. The Commission hopes that these legal obstacles will be cleared at some point to enable Nigerians in the diaspora to vote in elections.

Conclusion

We have promised Nigerians and friends of Nigeria that the 2023 general election will be free, fair, credible and inclusive and we have left no stone unturned in preparing for it, despite several challenges. But all elections, especially those involving the type of extensive national deployment like we do in Nigeria, will naturally come with challenges. We have worked closely with stakeholders and development partners to confront these challenges and we are satisfied with our preparations so far. Our Commission does not take the pledge that we have repeatedly made to Nigerians lightly. We are leaving no stone unturned in our preparations. Our commitment remains only to Nigerians and not to any political party or candidate. That is what the law requires of us. We cherish the institutional independence and integrity of the Commission. With the enthusiasm of Nigerians, the goodwill of stakeholders and partners, and the commitment of the Commission, we believe that the 2023 general election will be among the best conducted in Nigeria.

I thank you very much for the kind invitation and audience.

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Nigerias electoral commission, INEC, has said it will be deploying several technological tools to predict and mitigate election violence, verify political party spending and monitor electoral materials from procurement through storage to delivery.

INEC Chairperson, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this while speaking at the Chatham House, London, on Tuesday. He spoke on the commissions preparation towards Nigerias general election coming up in less than 40 days.

The presidential and the National Assembly elections will hold on 25 February while the governorship and State Assembly elections come up on 11 March.

The commission has repeatedly said it is prepared to hold the elections and does not foresee any change in the scheduled timeline of activities.

Apart from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal to be used in voter accreditation and result viewing during the election, Mr Yakubu listed other technologies to be deployed by the commission to ensure a credible and transparent elections.

Electoral Operations, Procurement and Logistics

INEC has developed an android and web-based Logistics Management System to monitor the movement of election materials from procurement through storage to delivery, Mr Yakubu said.

He said the commission, for the first time, has a comprehensive Election Logistics Framework (ELF) to guide logistics for the general elections from planning, through deployment to retrieval. This is the first deployment of an end-to-end logistics framework for elections.

He added that the commission has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the umbrella bodies of road transport and marine unions to ensure the smooth and safe delivery of materials before, during and after the elections.

This, he said, was to deal with all the noticed bottlenecks to ensure more efficient and timely delivery of materials to polling units.

Violence Mitigation and Risk Management tools

With increased attacks on the commissions facilities and insecurity across regions in the country, Mr Yakubu said the commission and partners have developed the Election Violence Mitigation and Advocacy Tool (EVMAT) and the Election Risk Management Tool (ERM).

While EMVAT is a research and diagnostic tool for predicting and mitigating election violence before elections, he said the ERM tracks and reports general risks to elections.

There is no doubt that violence and threat of violence are major challenges to credible election in 2023, he said. In all, we feel assured by the actions we have taken and our collaboration with the security agencies. The 2023 general election will proceed as planned. There is no plan to postpone the election.

Campaign Finance and Vote Buying

Political parties have in the past exploited INECs tardy and unorganised frameworks of vetting campaign finances, to breach campaign funding and spending limits provided by the law, he said.

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To strengthen the mechanism, Mr Yakubu said INEC has developed a web-based application, the Political Parties Financial Reporting and Auditing System (PFRAS), for political parties to submit their expenditure for verification.

We shall be deploying it soon and will train both our staff and political parties on its use, he said.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe

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The House of Representatives may on Thursday adjourn plenary till March to allow members to focus on campaigns ahead of the general elections.

Uzoma Abonta (PDP, Abia) announced this on Tuesday during the debate on a bill.

He stated that the lawmakers will adjourn the House on Thursday and will not resume until March after the governorship election. However, he did not mention the specific date the lawmakers will resume.

The presidential and National Assembly elections are billed for 25 February, while the governorship and Houses of Assembly are scheduled for 11 March.

The House resumed plenary on Tuesday after 20 days of holidays for Christmas and New Year celebrations.

We must act on the bills, other legislative functions  Gbajabiamila

Speaking earlier at the commencement of plenary, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, who did not mention the issue of adjournment, acknowledged that there are several important bills before the House that need attention.

He reiterated that the House will deal with the bills and other business of the House.

It is imperative that we focus our efforts on completing the tasks we have already initiated and closing out the assignments on which our legacy in this 9th House will be assessed.

Several bills still in the legislative process need to be actioned as a matter of urgency, as these bills propose significant improvements across different sectors of our national life. Some of these bills are still in committee, while others are awaiting concurrence in the Senate. We will see to it that we conclude work on these bills so that they can be presented to Mr president during the life of this administration, he said.

Mr Gbajabiamila also disclosed that the House will adopt the practice of handover notes at the level of committees. He stated that to ensure continuity, all committees must prepare handover notes to incoming committees.

In the executive arm of government, it is established practice to prepare handover notes. I wish today to propose to the House that we adopt this practice at the Committee level, he said.

We must deal with threats against election

Speaking on the 2023 election and insecurity, Mr Gbajabiamila warned against discourse that will heat the polity. He warned that insecurity could threaten the conduct of the general election.

He also raised alarm on attacks against political actors in the country, adding that politicians must unite to end insecurity.

As we approach the general elections, there has been a marked increase in incidents of insecurity and vicious attacks on political actors in parts of the country. We must unite to ensure this dangerous trend does not lead to circumstances that threaten the forthcoming elections, he said.

He added that The quality of the political conversations in society, particularly in the lead-up to elections, is a determining factor in the electoral outcomes and the quality of governance that will result therefrom.

Attacks on politicians

In the past year, attacks on politicians have been on the increase.

Last week, gunmen attacked the home of Ugochinyere Imo, the spokesperson of the Coalition of United Peoples Party (CUPP) in Imo State.

The assailants reportedly killed four persons and destroyed properties.

In November last year, Gab Onuzulike, a former commissioner in Enugu State, was shot dead alongside his brother while they were returning from a burial ceremony in Nkpokolo-River, a community in Oji River Local Government Area of the state.

READ ALSO: Move to exempt NASS staff from contributory pension scheme suffers setback in House of Reps

Also, in September last year, gunmen attacked the convoy of Ifeanyi Ubah, the Anambra South senator.

The senators convoy was attacked in Enugwu-Ukwu, a community in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigerias South-east. The attack led to the death of several aides of the senator.

In addition, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies have also witnessed attacks on their facilities and staff, particularly in the Southeast.

The Commission has so far recorded 50 attacks on its facilities across 15 states in the last four years.

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The spokesperson of Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has confirmed speculations over the state of health of the governor.

In a statement on Tuesday, the spokesperson, Richard Olatunde, confirmed that Mr Akeredolu has some health challenge.

He, however, said the challenge is not life-threatening. He said though the governor is physically frail, he was still carrying out his official duties.

The severity of the situation came to light on Monday when an audio recording in which Mr Akeredolus wife, Betty, was captured attacking an aide of the governor, became public.

Mrs Akeredolu accused Olubunmi Ademosu, the special adviser on public and intergovernmental relations to the governor, of sneaking concoctions to him for his treatment.

Mrs Akeredolu had accused the woman of getting the unorthodox medicine from fake pastors, a move she described as evil.

She warned Mrs Ademosu to leave her husband alone, just as she accused her of scheming to be deputy governor should anything happen to her husband.

Although there were earlier denials that the governor was sick, Mr Olatunde on Tuesday finally admitted that he has a health challenge.

But he said the ailment had been treated and the governor was recovering.

We have observed the growing anxiety about the State of Health of the Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON, the statement read.

The good people of the State and, by extension, other friends and well-wishers continued to express concern over the wellness of the Governor, especially since yesterday.

We are constrained to respond to these concerns and assure our people that by the grace of God, there is no cause for alarm on the Governors state of health.

Governor Akeredolu, just like every other mere mortal has had some health challenge for which he has since received treatment and recuperating speedily.

Since the Governor is not a superhuman and the immunity his office enjoys does not extend to physical wellness or otherwise, the health issue is therefore not an unusual one.

However, contrary to speculations and insinuations making the round, the Governor though frail, is discharging his official functions.

Mr Governor is not faced with any life-threatening illness that would have encouraged any alleged conspiracy in his administration.

 He, in fact, held Executive Council meeting with the Exco members till 4pm on Wednesday, 11th January, 2023 after the Security Council meeting where far-reaching decisions were taken on the escalated clashes in Ikare-Akoko.

On January 7, 2023 Governor Akeredolu led his brother Governors in the Southwest and other party bigwigs to receive the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akure for the State Presidential Campaign Rally. On January 8, 2023, he was at The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Jesus House Cathedral, Region 22 Headquarters, Oke-Ijebu, Akure for the Holy Service commemorating the 2023 Armed Forces Remembrance Day Celebration.

For emphasis, the Governor, who participated in rigorous campaign activities on the 7th of January, couldnt have been bedridden as widely speculated. Moreso, last Friday, Governor Akeredolu still inaugurated a new Refrigerated Van for the use of Meat Dealers in the State. He also received the Melvin Jones Award of the Lions Club International on the same day.

While we appreciate the growing concerns about his well-being and indeed, appreciate the outpour of prayers even beyond partisan lines, we urge all persons of goodwill to ignore unfounded insinuations capable of creating any false sense of needless anxiety.

The Governor will continue to discharge his official duties to the good people of Ondo State in line with the REDEEMED Agenda of his administration while he finds quality time to rest for renewed vigour and strength just like any man in his situation.

Meanwhile, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the state has explored the opportunity to attack the governor on the statement made by his wife against his special adviser.

Mrs Akeredolu had allegedly asked Mrs Ademosu to leave her husband alone and go with her loot.

The PDP said her statement confirmed that the Akeredolu administration was looting the treasury of the state.

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Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of Nigerias Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), on Tuesday, explained why Nigerians in the diaspora cannot vote in the upcoming February 2023 elections.

Responding to a question about diaspora voting at a speaking appearance at Chatham House, London, United Kingdom, he said although the electoral body subscribes to it, the Nigerian law makes it impossible for such category of citizens to vote in the nations elections.

PREMIUM TIMES had earlier published Mr Yakubus full speech which he delivered during his session at the Chatham House.

The position of law remains; unless you are resident in Nigeria, you cannot register and you cannot vote, he said.

However, I am absolutely convinced that it is only a matter of time when this will be achieved, Mr Yakubu added.

He narrated that the commission maintains an open-door policy and has collaborated with different diaspora groups to the point when the proposition for diaspora voting was sent to the National Assembly for deliberation where it was defeated.

Efforts at getting legal framework

The issue of diaspora voting has been an ongoing conversation and was among the issues thrown up for deliberation at the constitution review hearings last year.

In March 2022, the National Assembly struck out the proposal for diaspora voting even when INEC said it was ready.

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) in September of the same year said it would continue to canvas it.

Diaspora voting allows non-resident Nigerians to vote and choose who leads the West African country.

Voting by those in the diaspora should be a settled issue and if you ask me, I will say you are preaching to the converted but the commission does not have the power to make it happen. The enabling law will have to be provided for it to happen, Mr Yakubu noted.

Not just because of the remittances as people would argue, but because they are citizens and citizens must enjoy rights, he added.

Nigeria has about 15 to 17 million of its citizens in the diaspora who, according to data from the World Bank and Budget Office of the Federation, remitted $60.22 billion in the last three years to boost economic activities and the nations external reserves.

Although not all of them have attained the voting age of 18 in Nigeria, the number constitutes 16 to 18 per cent of the total 93 million voters registered by INEC to vote in this election cycle.

Mr Yakubu joins the list of persons directly connected to the upcoming elections to speak at Chatham House, a London-based think tank.

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Others who had had speaking sessions there are the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu and his Labour Party counterpart, Peter Obi.

Two other candidates, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) are also expected to speak there.

The Nigerian presidential election will be held on 25 February and a total of 18 candidates are scheduled to take part in next months election but only four of them are believed to have a chance of victory. The four are Messrs Obi, Tinubu, Kwakwanso and Abubakar.

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The new Acting Director, Defence Information, Tukur Gusau, a brigadier general, on Tuesday took over the Directorate of Defence Information from the erstwhile director, Jimmy Akpor.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Akpor, a major general, was moved to Army Headquarters as Director Personnel Services.

Mr Gusau commended his predecessor for forging a better relationship with the media which helped to positively project the operations of the armed forces.

He also appreciated the media for the continuous support of the armed forces and called for a stronger relationship between the military and the media on matters of national security.

I urge you to provide the enabling environment for members of the armed forces of Nigeria to perform their constitutional roles without distractions.

As the nation gradually approaches the coming general elections starting from next month, I urge you to avoid reports capable of affecting the morale of our gallant troops and the credibility of our armed forces, he said.

Mr Gusau assured that the armed forces would assist media practitioners to discharge their duties where necessary.

He added that the military would also support other government agencies to achieve peaceful and credible elections across the country.

The director described the military and the media as partners in progress, saying the two should strive to promote the interest of the country at all times.

I urge you to offer me the same support, cooperation and understanding which you have rendered to Major General Akpor as Director of Defence Information, he said.

In his remarks, Mr Akpor said the media and the military now have a deep understanding of their responsibilities.

He said the Chief of Defence Staff had done so much in forging an enduring relationship with the media.

Mr Akpor said this was necessary because the media, like the military, has a crucial role to play in creating a peaceful and orderly environment for all citizens.

He commended the CDS for holding two media parleys with editors and media chief executives where fruitful discussions led to a better understanding of the responsibilities of each profession in furtherance of national security.

Mr Akpor, who tagged his speech the Truth About the Armed Forces of Nigeria, said the Nigerian military has a rich history of great exploits.

He cited the North-east where life has been returning to normal due to the efforts of the military after over a decade of insurgency.

According to him, there was a bumper agricultural harvest in 2022, and for the first time in 13 years, the Independence day parade was held in Maiduguri on 1 October.

Irrespective of the security challenges confronting the nation and the way they mutate, the armed forces will continue to build requisite capabilities through the support of the Federal Government.

Whilst there were 48 piracy/armed robbery related incidents in Nigerias territorial waters in 2018, 35 in 2019, 35 in 2020 and six in 2021, there was none in 2022.

This was not due to wishful thinking, but due to dogged efforts of the Armed Forces of Nigeria and the availability of the critical assets provided.

The truth about the armed forces is therefore a professional one rooted in its desire to meet its constitutional imperatives, he said.

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Mr Akpor, therefore, urged the media to extend the same support given him to his successor, for him to discharge his responsibilities effectively.

NAN reports that the new spokesperson, Mr Gusau, is a thoroughbred public relations professional who has served in different units, formations and military operations both at home and abroad.

(NAN)

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Lawmakers of the National Assembly are expected to resume legislative activities today after a three-week break to observe the Christmas and New Year holidays. It would be the final months of the ninth assembly which will end in June.

As they prepare to embark on the last lap of their tenure, priorities and expectations are high. For lawmakers who are seeking re-election, the focus would be on carrying out legislative duties that will further sell their ambitions and secure their seats, while lawmakers who will not return will probably want to wrap up their legislative agenda for the tenure.

In the previous year, the lawmakers passed key legislations like the Electoral Bill and the Petroleum Industry Bill  which have all been signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari. The lawmakers also passed the 2023 budget in December despite observing problems in the proposed budget.

However, as they resume legislative activities for the new year, and wind down activities for the session, here are a few things to expect:

Constitution Amendment

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives began amendments to the 1999 Constitution. It would be the fifth alteration to the laws. First, they approved a report that proposed 68 amendments to the Constitution and then voted on them electronically.

Some of the proposed amendments voted upon include abrogating state and local governments joint accounts, financial autonomy for state assemblies and judiciary, legislative summons, life pension for the presiding officers of the National Assembly, virtual court proceedings, Diaspora voting and extra seats for women in the parliament.

Others are independent candidacy, mayor for Abuja, power of the parliament to summon the president and governor, immunity for the presiding officers of the legislature, timeframe for appointing ministers and commissioners, expanding the scope of citizenship by registration, separating the office of the attorney general from the Minister of Justice and moving VAT to exclusive legislative list.

The exercise has, however, suffered a setback because 25 states have refused to consider and vote on the amendments. The states threatened to take no action on the bills unless four more constitutional amendment bills are considered and passed by the National Assembly.

The bills are  to establish state police, establish states judicial council, streamline the procedure for removing presiding officers of state houses of assembly and to institutionalise legislative bureaucracy in the Constitution.

Although lawmakers had called on civic groups, the media and other interested parties to appeal to the states to vote on the amendments, many hope that an update will be given before the end of the ninth assembly. Or better still, progress will be made in the process.

Buharis N23.7 trillion expenditure

There is a pending request from the president for the National Assembly to approve N23.7 trillion already spent by the federal government. The president said the money was borrowed from the Central Bank of Nigeria over a period of 10 years and asked that the lawmakers approve a repayment plan.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how senators disagreed during the consideration of the presidents request last Wednesday. The chamber was thrown into a rowdy session when some lawmakers kicked against the request described as unconstitutional.

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While some lawmakers demanded details of the expenditure, others wondered why the amount was taken without the notice and approval of the National Assembly. The disagreement forced the lawmakers to suspend consideration of the presidents request till 17 January to allow for proper scrutiny.

During the 2023 budget signing two weeks ago, Mr Buhari asked the lawmakers to reconsider their decision and that failure to approve the amount could cost the government over N1 trillion. And on the same day, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, said the National Assembly is considering the presidents request.

Consideration and possible approval of this request are predicted to be the top priority when the lawmakers resume. Many believe it would be the only major legislative action they would take before they embark on another break to participate in the general election.

Crucial bills, motions, reports

In the coming months, lawmakers are expected to sponsor and debate a number of bills. They are also expected to expedite action and pass pending bills. While the National Assembly has considered and passed some crucial bills  with some of them signed into law  there are other important and somewhat controversial bills that are pending at different stages in both chambers.

Some of these legislations are:

** The Electoral Offences bill: It seeks to investigate and prosecute cases of electoral violence and establish penalties for people found guilty of electoral fences like vote buying and violence, among others. The prescribed penalties range from payment of fines to years of imprisonment.

The bill is currently awaiting the third and final reading at both chambers.

** Anti Sexual Harassment bill, with 25 clauses, seeks to promote and protect ethical standards in tertiary institutions.

It also seeks to protect students against sexual harassment as well as prevent sexual harassment of students by educators in tertiary institutions.

The legislation proposes up to 14 years jail term for offenders.

** House report on the investigation into looted funds.

After the House set up an ad hoc committee in 2021 to investigate the status of recovered loot, public hearings were held, several exposes were made and some MDAs were indicted by the committee.

However, over a year later, the committee, headed by Adejoro Adeogun (APC, Ondo) is yet to submit a report to the House. It is unclear if the committee will submit its report to allow the House to take action.

** Boko Haram Rehabilitation Bill, sponsored by Yobe senator Ibrahim Gaidam, which seeks to establish an agency that would see to the rehabilitation, deradicalisation and integration of repentant insurgents in the country and make them useful to the society.

The bill is also aimed at providing an open door and encouragement for other members of the group who are still engaged in the insurgency to abandon the group, especially in the face of military pressure.

It has been condemned and rejected by critics, groups and his fellow senators and northern counterparts and many feared that releasing the repentant Boko Haram militants could be counterproductive because hardened fighters would return to the terror group to commit more atrocities.

The bill is still in the early stage at the Senate.

** Bill to regulate the payment of house rent which is sponsored by Kogi senator, Smart Adeyemi, and seeks to prevent landlords from demanding payment of advance rent from tenants.

It also seeks to reduce advance payment of rent from one or two years by tenants to three months and subsequent monthly payments. The bill was only read for the first time in the Senate.

Other major legislations that are currently pending at the Senate include the Social Media bill, the Hate Speech bill, the bill to regulate the slaughter of donkeys in Nigeria, and the bill to ban the importation of generator sets, among others.

In the same vein, lawmakers of both chambers are expected to deliberate upon key motions like insecurity in the country, the February election and the controversial cash withdrawal policy by the apex bank.

One other high expectation in the coming months is the termination of the ninth assembly and the inauguration of the tenth. Although this is billed to take place after the National Assembly elections in February, it is one activity that the lawmakers and Nigerians are looking forward to.

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An audio recording has gone viral in which the wife of Ondo State Governor, Betty Akeredolu, accused a female aide, Bunmi Ademosu, of interfering in the management of the governors health.

Ms Ademosu is the Special Adviser on Public and Inter-Governmental Relations to Governor Rotimi Akeredolu.

Mrs Akeredolus outburst in the recording indicated that the governor is suffering from an undisclosed ailment.

In the audio message she was said to have shared on a Whatsapp platform for officials of the governor, Mrs Akeredolu accused Ms Ademosu of sneaking in concotions for the treatment of her husbands ailment.

She said she had earlier warned the aide against such practices as she only believes in orthodox medication.

I have a message for Ademosu. I dont have her number, and I dont think she is worthy of me having her number, she said.

I want this woman to stay away from my husband. Stop sneaking in concotion . According to her, they are from her pastors, her fake pastors, to give my husband to drink. We rely on medical care, we rely on western style of medical care and Aketi will get well.

She further accused Ms Ademosu of an ambition to become deputy governor, should the governor become incapable of completing his tenure.

What has triggered this very message is her recent meetings to become the Deputy Governor of Ondo State, she said.

Look at you, what have you got upstairs to be the Deputy Governor of Ondo State? Yeah, peradventure anything happens to Aketi, Lucky takes over, it is a constitutional thing. But for you to be scheming, is evil.

I told Aketi from the onset that this woman is evil, this woman is no good and it is happening. She has nothing good for you. I warned you. This woman is bloody evil. But I am warning her for the very last time to stay away from my husband.

And look, youre dealing with an Igbo woman. In this kind of situation, I will deal with you mercilessly. You will never forget in your life.

For the very last time Ademosu or whatever you call yourself, stay away from Aketi. Stay away from sneaking in those concotions. Stay away this woman. You wont find it funny with me oh. You are a very terrible human being. Go away.

A rumour had been circulating of the governors ill-health but his aides had denied it.

An aide of the governor, Richard Olatunde, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday that Mr Akeredolu was performing his duties, saying, he is not sick.

We were out together on a function yesterday and today and there is nothing that suggest that he is sick, he added.

Mr Olatunde, however, noted that for someone above 60 years of age, it is not unusual for him to fall sick, but added, he certainly does not have any life threatening problem.

On the viral audio recording, Mr Olatunde said his office was yet to reach her to ascertain the authenticity of it.

She has just arrived from Lagos and we will get to her and ascertain whether the audio is authentic or not, he said.

Besides being the Special Adviser to the governor on Intergovernmental Affairs, Ms Ademosu also doubles as the head of the states Liaison Office in Abuja.

She is an influential member of the state cabinet, leveraging on her closeness to the governor.

Mrs Ademosu could, however, not be reached on phone as of the time of filing the report.

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BELLINZONA, Switzerland  During the fourth day of interrogation of the plaintiffs in Alieu Kosiahs appeal of his 2021 conviction for war crimes, the former Ulimo commander lashed out at the Swiss state that arrested him in 2014 and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

After several days of testimony by plaintiffs that alleged he was responsible for crimes of rape, murder, cannibalism, torture and forced labour in Foya, Lofa County, Liberia in 1993, Kosiah apparently could not contain his frustration.

The problem is not me, its the Swiss authorities, Kosiah said under questioning from the Swiss appeal judges today. Here in this audience, I only see white men, none of you knows Africa or knows what happens. You never went to Liberia to do any research.

In earlier testimony, a plaintiff detailed a massacre in 1993 known as Black Monday in Foya where dozens of civilians were killed. There was blood everywhere, it was like a horror movie. People were butchered like chickens, the plaintiff said. As I was coming closer, I recognized my cousin lying on the ground, full of blood. I stepped closer and saw that his heart was missing.

The plaintiff told the court the motivation for this massacre and the murder of his cousin was simple. Alieu Kosiah told the fighter Mami Wata that his brother had been killed in Zorzor. He was so furious that he and Ugly Boy started killing everyone around them. Ugly Boy was a Ulimo commander whose role in Lofa atrocities has been detailed in this trial and that of his Ulimo ally Kunti Kamara, in France. Present on the scene and a hierarchic superior, Kosiah did nothing to prevent the massacre according to the plaintiff.

When challenged about the veracity of his claims about Black Monday by Kosiahs defence lawyer Dimitri Gianoli, the plaintiff couldnt hold his emotion:

If you are from Foya, you will never forget about this day, he told the court. People were killed like chicken or cows. I dont want to go into too much detail or I will start crying.

The plaintiff, a former Ulimo soldier, went on about the training that Alieu Kosiah had received. A mention that Alieu Kosiah disputed even though his witness, a former child soldier, had stated the same. He only met me in 1993, and my training was supposed to have happened in 1991, so how would he know? Kosiah questioned.

A new witness claimed that since three witnesses came to Switzerland on behalf of Alieu Kosiahs request their identities and participation in the trial were publicly revealed. (The court has ruled that plaintiffs and witnesses identities be withheld for their security.) Those individuals were brought in the first trial to prove that some of the victims named by the plaintiff were still alive even though homonyms are frequent in Liberia. In the judgment, the three magistrates were very critical of their testimonies, finding them not credible.

READ ALSO: Plaintiff Alleges Attacks and Intimidation in Retaliation for Testimony in Kosiah Trial

They didnt come this time but Alieu Kosiah talked at length about the incoherence between the names of the victims and the three witnesses he brought. The plaintiff said he knew them because they were from the same village, but that their names were different. When asked if he was afraid he replied: Kosiah has spent 8 years in jail, do you think his family is happy about the trial ?

He then went on to speak about the forced labour that the civilians were victims of in the town of Pasolaoun. The soldiers used to tell us: If you dont walk fast enough or you say that youre tired, the flies will carry the message to your parents. That would mean that you were dead.

The forty-year-old man seemed to be looking in disbelief towards Alieu Kosiahs defence. Then, defending himself, Alieu Kosiah couldnt help but boast about his career. Sky face Kabbah had a great career. But I managed to go further than him. Interested, the president asked him to go further: So you did a great career inside of the Ulimo ?. No, I meant my career in the police. As the hearing was dragging on, the judge invited Alieu Kosiah to give his notes to the court in order to save time. His lawyer then intervened. I suggest to my client to speak without his notes as they are very hard to read from. Following his intervention, the judges sent everyone home at 8 oclock after more than 10 hours of hearings.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.

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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Zamfara State on Monday kicked off its governorship campaign in Kaura Namoda Local Government Area, considered to be a key battleground area, with a promise to improve security, increase investment in education and eradicate poverty.

The choice to launch its governorship campaign in Kaura Namoda might have been informed by the absence of any major power broker in the state from the local government.

While the incumbent governor, Bello Matawalle, is from Maradun Local Government in the Western Zone of the state, the PDP candidate, Dauda Lawal, is from Gusau in the Central Zone. The APC deputy governor is from the Central Zone and the running mate to the PDP candidate is from Bukkuyum in the Western Zone.

Party promises to rescue Zamfara

During the rally, the PDP governorship candidate, Dauda Lawal, accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of failing to fulfil its campaign promises.

Mr Lawal, a banker, pledged to tackle insecurity.

Zamfara is one of the most insecure states in the country. Gangs of terrorists also called bandits have sacked communities, abducting residents, and travellers for ransom. Thousands of people have either been displaced or killed by terrorists.

He assured the crowd that if elected governor, security would be his priority. He said he would secure lives and properties across the state.

Declaring the APC-led administration a failure, the PDP candidate said his administration would tackle poverty and hunger by creating solid foundations for Zamfaras economic growth.

We are alarmed that the security of lives and property of the people of Zamfara is no longer guaranteed under the present APC government as a result of leadership incompetence and mismanagement of the states affairs.

READ ALSO:

I have good plans for the people of Zamfara State, and that is the reason why I want to use this opportunity to unveil my manifesto that has six smart agendas: agenda on education, security, food security, agriculture, economy, healthcare, and empowerment.

The manifesto has provided information on how my administration would bring sustainable policies that will make everyone in Zamfara the right to an improved standard of living, adequate life for the health and well-being of everyone, including the elimination of hunger and poverty, he said.

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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has warned that Nigeria will fail completely if the leaders do not accept and implement an ethical revolution.

Mr Osinbajo gave the warning on Tuesday in a lecture titled: Values: the difference between success and failure which he delivered at the 100th anniversary of the Old Boys Association of Baptist Boys High School, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

While imploring Nigerians to change their perception of their country as corrupt, he said no modern society is free of corruption.

He called on the government at all levels to lead the ethical revolution by rewarding good ethical behaviours and ensuring speedy punishment for misconduct.

Mr Osinbajo listed Obafemi Awolowo, Moshood Abiola, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Bola Ajibola, who were all old students of the school, as exceptional Nigerians who recorded great achievements in public service as a result of the training and values they got from the school.

There is a need for a national consensus or at least an elite consensus. The political elites, the religious elites and the business elites must agree that our country will fail completely if we do not accept and implement an ethical revolution.

One where we establish a national work ethic of honesty, of hard work. It is what is taught and learned that shapes the character of individuals and nations. But it is not just teachings, the government must also lead this ethical revolution by rewarding ethical behaviours and ensuring speedy punishment for misconduct, the vice president said.

Every modern society has had to deal with corruption. Corruption is not a Nigerian thing, sometimes we deceive ourselves. It is Nigerian, no, many countries, in fact, most countries of the world have been more corrupt than us, but their elites sat down and decided they have to deal with it because if they do not deal with it, it will deal with them.

There is no modern society today that has not had to deal with corruption and they deal with it by their elites sitting down and saying we have to agree this is the way forward, we cannot continue to repeat the same thing, we must enthrone minimum ethical standards to succeed, he stressed.

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A former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has explained why political campaign promises are hard to fulfil in Nigeria.

He attributed the challenges of unmet political promises to unnecessary bureaucracy.

Mr Fayemi spoke on Tuesday at the NPO Reports one-day dialogue on campaign promises in Abuja.

There are times that a candidate genuinely wants to fulfil a promise but for the exigencies of office, he explained.

Citing an instance of a deplorable federal government road he had promised to repair in Ekiti State when he was in office, Mr Fayemi said the central governments insistence to rehabilitate its roads by itself prevented him from fulfilling the pledge he made to fix the road after he had secured a loan from the African Development Bank (ADB).

He disagreed with speakers at the event who said elective officeholders do not track campaign promises.

Tracking campaign promises should happen at the level of government and the citizens, the ex-governor suggested.

Calling for synergy and partnership between civil society organisations and the public, Mr Fayemi urged the electorate to track the manifestoes of political parties to ensure they are fulfilled.

Speaking in a similar vein, former Kwara State governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, advised Nigerians to scrutinise campaign promises being made by office seekers in the forthcoming elections.

Mr Ahmed asked the electorate to examine candidates for office to know if they possess the capability to deliver on their pledges.

In a welcome address, Semiu Okanlawon, convener of the dialogue and publisher of NPO Reports, an online publication, founded in 2010, said journalists must investigate happenings in society.

The electorate must take note of promises made by political office seekers, and hold them to account, Mr Okanlawon, a former assistant editor (politics) of Punch newspapers, advised.

Panellist advocates legal liability for unmet political promises

A panellist at the dialogue, Angela Agoawike, said it was high time politicians were held legally accountable for their campaign promises.

In Nigeria and across the globe, political campaign promises are not justiceable.

Ms Agoawike, founder of Omalicha FM  a radio station in Owerri, Imo State, said her stance was informed by the many unfulfilled promises made by political office seekers to Nigerians.

Other panellists  Azubuike Ishiekwene, Waziri Adio and Hamza Lawal, feasted on a presentation by the events guest speaker, Lai Olurode.

Mr Olurode, a professor of sociology and former INEC national commissioner, spoke on the theme: 2023 & Beyond: Tracking Campaign Promises for Good Governance.

Mr Adio, former executive secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), noted that a collaboration between the media, CSOs and citizens can compel political office seekers to deliver on their campaign promises.

Mr Ishiekwene, editor-in-chief of the Leadership Newspapers, who chaired the panel session, said journalists have a role to play in the actualisation of campaign promises by holding politicians accountable.

Mr Lawal, chief executive officer, Connected Development, called for accountability journalism at subnational levels to address issues of unmet campaign pledges.

The event was attended by the Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and some heads of security agencies.

The publisher of PREMIUM TIMES, Dapo Olorunyomi, was represented at the occasion by Bisi Abidoye, an assistant managing editor of the paper.

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Nigerias former President, Olusegun Obasanjo; Obi of Onitsha, Alfred Achebe; a retired justice and mother of the new vice-chancellor, Titi Mabogunje, and wife of former vice-chancellor of the university, Christie Ade-Ajayi, were among many dignitaries who graced the investiture of the first female Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Folasade Ogunsola, on Tuesday.

The Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Chris Maiyaki, represented President Muhammadu Buhari as the universitys Visitor, and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu. He also presented a speech on behalf of the Executive Secretary of NUC, Abubakar Rasheed.

The event, which coincided with the universitys 60th anniversary, was also part of the activities marking the universitys 53rd convocation ceremonies.

The new Vice-Chancellor, a professor of Medical Microbiology, is the first woman to occupy the position, having served as the first female provost of the universitys college of medicine, and the pioneer female acting vice-chancellor.

Investiture

As is customary in the university system in the country, the first convocation ceremonies witnessed by a new vice-chancellor usually serve as an occasion to formally welcome them into office.

Conducting the investiture on Tuesday was the Chairman of the institutions Governing Council, Lanre Tejuoso, an alumnus of the universitys medical college, who took credit for organising a seamless selection process.

Mr Tejuoso, who presented the staff of office to the vice-chancellor, commended her for her commitment to the peace and tranquillity on the campus and thanked everyone who contributed to the process in one way or the other.

NUC hails Ogunsola

The National Universities Commission (NUC), in a speech delivered by Mr Maiyaki, noted that history is being made in the university with the investiture of its first female to occupy this exalted office after over 60 years of its establishment.

The new helmswoman was urged to establish sustainable partnerships with government agencies, industry, and society in her operations as the vice chancellor, adding that the university must focus on how students can learn and acquire relevant skills that will enable them to succeed in todays highly dynamic and competitive world.

The NUC boss further pointed out that the new vice chancellor must ensure the reward system of the university is based on credibility.

He said: There are many other important issues that you must also address if you are to succeed and create a pathway for sustainable growth. The process of performance evaluation has increasingly left much to be desired in our universities.

There is a gradual erosion of order in assessments and promotions at all levels. The intellectual space has shrunken to the extent that there is a subversion of the age-long and most cherished tradition and prestige of academia. It is no longer news that some professors have questionable credentials.

You must out of necessity, ensure that the reward system is based on hard work and academic credibility and influence. and not solely on belongingness to trite formations designed to gain prebendal footholds.

My covenant with UNILAG  Ogunsola

After receiving the instrument of the office, Mrs Ogunsola spoke on her plans and vision for the university.

She said: In the last 60 years, the university has distinguished itself by the excellent calibre of its students, alumni and staff and its impact on national development. In those 60 years, the university successfully nurtured over 200,000 graduates who have made indelible impacts across all spheres of life, locally and globally.

However, significant as these impacts are, technological innovations are challenging universities to achieve more in a few years what it took them in the past decades to achieve. As the world moves rapidly into the fourth industrial revolution, there has been a mass acceleration in the rate at which knowledge is generated and rendered obsolete. There has also been an upsurge in disruptive technologies, with the convergence of the physical, biological, and digital worlds.

Navigating this space requires adaptation and reorientation of our thinking to create a future-ready workforce that is intellectually nimble, creative, problem-solving, and collaborative with local and global impact. Achieving all these requires innovative and visionary leadership, which is why I am committed to inspiring and preparing staff and students for this rapidly unfolding future.

Challenges

Speaking further, Mrs Ogunsola highlighted some of the weaknesses and threats to the university, which include inadequate funding, ageing infrastructure, inadequate ICT infrastructure, high cost of public utilities especially electricity and the constant disruptions to the academic calendar.

I have therefore committed myself to work with the Governing Council, the staff, the students, alumni, and all friends of our university, not only to overcome the present challenges but to create the university that can prepare us for the rapidly changing future and also the manpower to shape that future. I will at this point like to share with you a definition of the university that I find so inspiring, she said.

She also highlighted 10 goals that are captured in four pillars. She said: We will grow our reputation by focusing on teaching, research and discoveries. We will grow our finances by developing multiple streams of income. We will grow our infrastructure to create an enabling environment. We will grow our people by building character and upskilling staff knowledge and competencies.

Deploying NUCs CCMAS

She also admitted that her tenure as the vice Chancellor is coming at a time when Nigerian universities are being given the freedom by the NCC to develop courses with their distinct flavour through the recently released Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), which will replace the very restrictive Basic Minimum Academic Standards.

We through our Senate intend to use this to achieve the goal of developing Work Ready Future-Facing and Entrepreneurial students, she said.

NUC said by the CCMAS, each university is expected to provide 30 per cent of the contents of the curriculum of each of the academic programmes being administered.

While ensuring that all your academic programmes are consistent with the 70 per cent contents specified in the CCMAS, you are hereby challenged to creatively provide the 30 per cent contents in ways that will ensure that each programme has significant social impact and relevance within the context of the prevailing local, national, and global realities, said Mr Maiyaki.

Other dignitaries

Other dignitaries at the event included Mrs Ogunsolas predecessors in office, especially both the 11th and 12th vice-chancellors of the university, Ramon Bello and Oluwatoyin Ogundipe respectively.

Also in attendance at the ceremony were representatives of the Oba of Lagos, Riliwanu Akiolu, members of the universitys governing council, management members, staff and students of the institution.

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what is shocking now is how our politicians have turned an opportunity to speak at Chatham House into a badge of honour. One state governor had to make so much noise about making a speech at Chatham House, you would think he had been knighted at the time by the Queen! When a sitting government gets wind of information that an opposition member is about to speak at Chatham, it is standard practice to send our own people there to state our own side of the story.

There seems to be a scramble, a rush, by Nigerian politicians and political candidates, for appearance at or association with Chatham House in London, the policy think tank established by the British Institute of International Affairs, which for more than a century has served as a forum for the exchange of ideas and open expression, research and knowledge. Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute for International Affairs, has hosted a broad spectrum of speakers and world leaders, from different continents of the world. As far back as April 1931, Mahatma Ghandi, the Indian nationalist, was at Chatham House, which by the way is also famous for the Chatham House Rule, established in the English vocabulary as a principle of non-attribution in reporting a particular proceeding or engagement. Many Nigerians have, of course, appeared at Chatham House, but it is noteworthy that when Nigerian politicians do so, there is forever a tinge of self-advertisement and narcissism in their presentations, and this being the case, their opponents are quick to turn such forum into an occasion for combat and pugilism.

We have seen this at play over the years but what is shocking now is how our politicians have turned an opportunity to speak at Chatham House into a badge of honour. One state governor had to make so much noise about making a speech at Chatham House, you would think he had been knighted at the time by the Queen! When a sitting government gets wind of information that an opposition member is about to speak at Chatham, it is standard practice to send our own people there to state our own side of the story. This time around, as Nigeria begins the countdown to the 2023 elections, Chatham House has become part of the general conversation. On 5 December, 2022, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was at Chatham House; an outing that was attended by rather exciting drama as a result of his resort to what he called team-ship in responding to questions and comments raised by his audience. The drama overshadowed the subject of his presentation: Nigerias 2023 Elections: Security, Economic and Foreign Policy Imperatives. He was heavily criticised by commentators at home and abroad. Yesterday, it was the turn of Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, who addressed the subject: Nigerias 2023 Election: A Vision for Policy Change and Institutional Reforms.

Today, 17 January, Chatham House will host the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who will be focusing on Preparations, Challenges, and Priorities for Ensuring Electoral Integrity and Inclusivity. Tomorrow, January 18, it would be the turn of Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, who will speak with a particular focus on his policy ideas for Nigeria. The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar has not yet shown up at Chatham House this time, although he had been there before on two different occasions  2007 and 2018. Alex Vines, director of the Africa Programme at the Institute, has however confirmed that Atiku has been invited but he is yet to respond to the invitation. He probably would do so before the elections too, so he and his aides are not left out of the Chatham House jamboree. When Waziri Atiku Abubakar went to the UK recently, however, it was gleefully reported that he met with some UK officials. No one should be surprised if some other key players in the 2023 electoral process also find their ways to Chatham House, or ask to be invited if only to fulfil the ritual of shaking the hands of one English member of Parliament and to parade this as an achievement! Indeed, I wouldnt be surprised one of these days, with the way things are going, if a Nigerian politician shows up at Chatham House with his entourage all garbed up in the kind of party attire that Nigerians call aso ebi!

Chatham House. Chatham House. And so what? We have a similar body here in Nigeria; the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), which is Nigerias top think tank on public affairs, established in 1961, and since then has proven to be a major centre for research and analysis. Were the NIIA to invite Nigerian politicians to come and speak on their platform, they are not likely to show up. They would give excuses. And that is why no major politician has gone there to engage the Nigerian intelligentsia.

As an Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House can easily justify its current focus on political developments in Nigeria: Africas most populous country, going through another election season that would involve a transition from one administration to the other, with implications for peace, stability and economic growth. As the Institute puts it: Nigeria stands at a critical juncture, having suffered from two recessions in the past six years, unprecedented levels of physical and food insecurity, persistent fuel scarcity, and high levels of crude oil theft. Civic fatigue also remains an important challenge and Buharis three main policy pillars of security, economy and corruption continue to be defining issues for citizens. But Chatham Houses interest in our affairs is not entirely altruistic; it is a listening post for the British establishment, and as a body that depends on donations as a major source of funding, its managers are fully aware of how vain and generous Nigerian politicians could possibly be at a time like this. This is one area in which the Chatham House Rule would definitely apply in the circumstance, so there may be no point inquiring into how much Nigerian politicians pay when they are granted the podium at 10 Jamess Square. Perhaps pay is not the right word, so please scratch that, and substitute donate.

Chatham House. Chatham House. And so what? We have a similar body here in Nigeria; the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), which is Nigerias top think tank on public affairs, established in 1961, and since then has proven to be a major centre for research and analysis. Were the NIIA to invite Nigerian politicians to come and speak on their platform, they are not likely to show up. They would give excuses. And that is why no major politician has gone there to engage the Nigerian intelligentsia. They would rather go to London. This says something about our relationship with the West. The average Nigerian suffers from a terrible colonial mentality. Even for elections that will be decided by the Nigerian electorate, there is so much concentration on London. Our leaders go to London for medical treatment. They go to Dubai for tourism. And they dont go alone. Every trip is an opportunity for over-excited aides to pose for photographs, sometimes with wives and girlfriends and their children. Nigerian leaders have a strong appetite for everything foreign. That is how they killed Nigerias education sector. That is how they killed the health sector. Now, they want to kill our politics! In the absence of diaspora voting, all the showmanship by Nigerians at Chatham House amounts to nothing. The delivery of 1,000 speeches at Chatham House cannot influence the Nigerian electorate in any way. Has anyone paused to ask why British politicians do not come to Nigeria to sell their campaign plans? And why other politicians around the world do not turn London into a major campaign centre?

It is possible to argue that many Nigerians live in the UK, and they could influence their kith and kin back home, even if they themselves may not have PVCs. But such Nigerians are not likely to be found at Chatham House. Any Nigerian politician seeking the peoples votes through such strategy is better off holding town Hall meetings in parts of the UK and Ireland where there is a large concentration of Nigerians, especially those neighbourhoods where if you stay by the window and shout Good Morning in Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa, you are likely to hear many voices greeting you back loud and clear in the same language, especially in South London: Elephant and Castle, Camberwell, Peckham, Croydon, Lewisham There are also many Nigerians in Dublin. Since diaspora remittances mean a lot to Nigerians back home, it may be good sense to carry Nigerians in diaspora along, but certainly not inside Chatham House. But we may ask, by way of further interrogation: Does a speech at Chatham House give a Nigerian politician global recognition and acceptability? Or is it meant to show that the particular candidate has a programme that the international community can buy into? Does the platform confer legitimacy of any sort? It beggars the question whether that is what the Nigerian electorate needs.

The main challenge is here at home, not on the streets of London. And to all the political gladiators: there is urgent need to focus more on issues, rather than engaging in mud-slinging, polluting and fouling the environment. The ongoing politics of hate would make healing and reconciliation difficult when the election is won and lost. Nigeria cannot afford that.

There is one more point: the idea of Chatham House as a tourist centre by our political leaders and their aides is most unfortunate. For more than 100 years, it has been seen as a centre for rigorous thinking, and yet Nigerian leaders go there to say mundane things and their aides make a song and dance out of that. Let us stop disgracing ourselves and keep our mundane chatter among ourselves. Nobody gets a certificate or extra votes for going to Chatham House. It is ironic that the same politicians that do not want to attend debates at home are ever ready to be seen in foreign capitals. They can only have that global recognition that they seek when after winning the election, they then put up such performance that would recommend them for global acclaim.

In the weeks leading to the 2023 elections, Nigerians deserve to see their presidential candidates engage each other in debates. Some of the candidates have opted for stage-managed town hall meetings of their own, where they and their aides set all the questions and provide the answers that they consider most convenient. It is true that presidential debates are not a constitutional requirement but they have evolved over time as a means of assessing the candidates level of preparedness, capacity in comparison with other candidates, and the creation of a level playing field for the electorate to make an informed choice. The kind of charade that is going on in the name of rallies and self-promoting town hall meetings is akin to a situation where a job seeker insists on setting the criteria by himself, for himself and on his own terms. In a country of over 200 million people, this amounts to an act of contempt and disrespect. We must begin to modify the campaign system. Rallies are at best carnivals, the risks involved are too high. Years back, a wise politician told me that based on his experience, he had deduced that six months to a presidential election in Nigeria, it was always possible to predict the outcome. This time around, all the wise men are uncertain about the future, which makes this 2023 election one of the strangest that has been held in this country since the return to democracy in 1999.

What is certain is the resilience of the same centrifugal forces that have held the country down. Those who want to behead existing gods and hegemonies of Nigerian politics may well discover that the elections may be determined in a familiar fashion: Yoruba people will vote for a Yoruba candidate; Fulanis will vote for a Fulani; Muslims will vote for Muslims; Christians will support their fellow Christians; and most ironically, women, who constitute a dominant percentage (about 47.5%) of the voting population, will vote for men. The swing factor may well be the youths of Nigeria, who represent 39.65% of voters between the ages of 18 and 34, out of a total of 93.4 million registered voters. But will the youths of Nigeria get their voters cards despite the extension of the collection of PVCs by one week till 29 January? Would the youths of Nigeria be able to vote in parts of the country where violence is so rife that even the security agencies appear helpless? INEC continues to affirm that the elections will be held without hitches, come rain, come shine. What is the basis of that optimism, even as INEC offices remain under assault, the most recent being the attack on INECs Area Office in Enugu South Local Government Area? It would be a great shame indeed and most disappointing if the agents of retrogression are allowed to hijack the 2023 elections.

The main challenge is here at home, not on the streets of London. And to all the political gladiators: there is urgent need to focus more on issues, rather than engaging in mud-slinging, polluting and fouling the environment. The ongoing politics of hate would make healing and reconciliation difficult when the election is won and lost. Nigeria cannot afford that.

Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.

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Premium Times publisher, Dapo Olorunyomi described The Letterman, a book about the epistolary writing of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, by Musikilu Mojeed, the editor-in-chief of PT, as a fine blend of history, journalism, and storytelling. History professor at Texas University, Austin, Toyin Falola, described the book as an archive with imperishable quality. No one, of course, will expect less from a highly decorated reporter like Mojeed.

While sharing his experience of how he collected materials for The Letterman, Mojeed admitted to committing a crime many passionate journalists always commit.

He stole Obasanjos letters.

If a tabloid newspaper would report Mojeeds confession at the book launch held in Abuja last month, the headline would read How Premium Times Editor looted Obasanjos Library. I am surprised there is no such headline in circulation yet, at least, as at the last time I Googled it.

This reality has left me wondering: Is tabloid journalism dying in Nigeria? The type of journalism propagated and celebrated by Michael Awoyinfa, Dimgba Igwe, and the rest.

It seems the culture of breezy prose and dramatic headline casts is disappearing fast from the pages of Nigerian newspapers.

And now that I raise this question, my answer is beginning to crystallise.

We are in the age of fast circulation of misinformation, disinformation and mal-information, a phenomenon that scholars like Claire Wardle, the founder of First Draft, have described as Information Disorder. With the aid of social media, fake news, to use a popular lingo, has caused damage to good journalism, and perhaps much more to tabloid journalism. And this may be the reason why Mojeeds confession at the book launch did not generate dramatic headlines in the media the next day. I had argued somewhere else that tabloid journalism is essentially not the same as crass sensational journalism or yellow journalism that described the practice of American Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst between the 19th and the 20th century.

Obasanjos letter writing did not start with former President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari as many believe. Or with his acerbic exchange with Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. The old soldier has been writing since he was a young military officer. He wrote several personal letters while in office as head of state and outside the office. And some of his recipients include General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.), Chief Obafemi Awolowo, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.)

But I digress.

This article is not about fake news and tabloid journalism. It is rather about how a smart reporter uses the skills of journalism to recover history and tells the story of a legendary character in a way more fascinating than a history book. Through The Letterman, Mojeed shared a part of Nigerian history and the role played by one of the rounded characters in the story.

Obasanjos letter writing did not start with former President Goodluck Jonathan and President Muhammadu Buhari as many believe. Or with his acerbic exchange with Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. The old soldier has been writing since he was a young military officer. He wrote several personal letters while in office as head of state and outside the office. And some of his recipients include General Yakubu Gowon (rtd.), Chief Obafemi Awolowo, General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.), late General Sanni Abacha, late President Jerry Rawling of Ghana, Margaret Thatcher, late General Adeyinka Adebayo, late Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, late President Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, and many others.

In fact, people like the late General James Oluleye, former Federal Commissioner for Establishment and Service Matters during the Murtala regime, and Chief Audu Ogbeh, former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, may never forget the abrasive words in the missives received from OBJ. While he described Oluleye as awkward, Ogbeh was characterised as a man of warped perception. As observed in The Letterman, Obasanjo does not suffer a fool gladly.

Notwithstanding, Mojeed confirmed that one message that stands out in OBJs letter is PATRIOTISM. In his letter to the late Senator Ibrahim Mantu and Ogbeh, Obasanjo unequivocally stated his commitment to the Enterprise Nigeria and its people.

No doubt, Obasanjo is a man well-respected within Nigeria and outside the country. But like a prophet, he is not well-loved at home. In Southwest Nigeria, where he comes from, OBJ is not Awo or MKO. And he may never attain that status until years later, maybe after his transition to immortality. But if many people from that part of Nigeria read Muskilu Mojeeds book, The Letterman, OBJ indeed may assume the legendary status higher than that of Awo and MKO combined. And that is not because Mojeed sets out to beatify Ebora Owu. The Letterman only revealed the quality of statesmanship that characterises Obasanjo in truth and in deed.

Ajibola Amzat is the Africa Editor, Centre for Collaborative Investigative Reporting (CCIJ). He writes from Abuja.

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Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, on Monday, confirmed that the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, Uche Ikonne, is ill.

Mr Ikpeazu made the confirmation in a local radio programme, monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia.

The governor, however, said that Mr Ikonne was recovering gradually and progressively.

According to him, Mr Ikonne attended some rallies organised by the PDP in Abia, including the 24 November 2022 launch of the partys state-wide campaign at the Umuahia Township Stadium.

He said Mr Ikonne left the stadium for a gala night, organised in honour of the G-5 governors in his (Ikpeazu) Umuobiakwa country home in Obingwa, where he managed to give a speech and then he took ill.

It is unfortunate that he is lately indisposed, but I want to report some progress and the progress is that Ikonne is recovering gradually and progressively.

He has left the hospital and is going through convalescence.

I am sure that he will be strong enough in the future to join, the governor said.

Governor Ikpeazu urged residents of the state to keep hope alive, assuring them that Mr Ikonne would soon bounce back.

He said his absence from the political space this time will not define the progress of the campaigns or agenda of PDP in the state.

It might be the wish of detractors that Ikonnes absence will linger, he said.

READ ALSO:

He recalled that when he was ill himself, permutations changed and people were allocating positions to themselves.

Im sure they even appropriated my wife to themselves, the governor said.

NAN reports that speculations about Ikonnes health challenge became rife, following his sudden withdrawal from public functions after the stadium event.

Meanwhile, Mr Ikpeazu has said that no other party had the capacity to displace PDP in the state.

He said the PDP is very very powerful in Abia and that no other party compared with it in terms of strength.

He said, Some of them may have supporters in one or two local governments but they cannot put 100 people each across Abia.

He also spoke about some of the achievements of his administration.

Mr Ikpeazu, who is the senatorial candidate for Abia South, promised to perform well in the Senate if given the mandate.

He is up in the race against the incumbent, Enyinnaya Abaribe, who is seeking to return to the Senate for a fifth term.

(NAN)

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The Oluwo of Iwo land, Abdulrosheed Akanbi, says corruption would be reduced to a minimum level in Nigeria when traditional rulers join in scrutinising the activities of politicians.

Mr Akanbi, who lamented the high rate of corruption in government, blamed it on politicians and called on traditional rulers across the country to check the activities of politicians to achieve good governance.

The Osun State first-class traditional ruler made the call on Monday at the launch of his book, titled Code of Kings, released to mark his seventh year on the throne.

Politicians need somebody to always check and balance. And the only people that can do it are we, the royal fathers, he said.

We can see so much corruption in the land. So where are we heading with this kind of democracy if there is nobody to check politicians on corruption and bad governance? We want to prepare kings for this role, he added.

The monarch also complained that traditional rulers across the country are not recognised or assigned roles by the constitution.

I can see that dream that we are going to be constitutionally recognised. Whether they like it or not, politicians cannot do it alone and we as kings, especially me as a paramount ruler, are being relegated, and everything falls on us, he added.

Our town and cities, every problem falls on the kings, including security issues. Government cannot handle the security, infrastructural growth, and development. Everything falls on the king.

The monarch said his book was written to challenge traditional rulers on how to prepare for the next generation.

I have seen this and we are working on it. And that is why the Code of Kings is to tell kings how we should behave and do things for ourselves. How we should prepare for the next generation of our newly found democracy which has to include kings. It must, he said.

Code of Kings are the guidelines on how to prepare; because what we are saying now is that kings are relegated and we want respect for our monarchy and we want them to represent culture and traditions and not the home-made religion of some people. Kings are representative of God on earth. Kings should not bow to any other thing than their Creator that owns them. Traditions and culture is how we greet, wear our clothes; its not about religion. So I am a custodian of religion and culture; religion starts from the palace. There is a lot in the Code of Kings, he added.

Today we see many kings go to churches and mosques where prayers are being made. But where are prayers being answered? Thats what we have to answer. The only place where prayers are being answered is the authority house, and thats the palace, he stressed.

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The Kings palace is where prayers are being answered. What we are finding at worship places are answers. So the person who has the palace is now going to the place of worship. Its like an ocean trying to fetch from the well.

Mr Akanbi, however, stressed that he is ready to accept criticism of his book.

When you challenge the status quo or you come to the fore, people have to criticise. We are the first ones to be attacked. So I am prepared for it. I dont have to be worried. I am prepared for criticism as a reformer.

Review

At the launch, the book was reviewed by Adeola Faleye, a senior lecturer at the Department of Linguistics and African Languages at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

The book has 359 pages and 20 chapters. According to the reviewer, the book explained, clarified and also justified the need for a review of the cultural values in the Yoruba kingship status. All the emphases are claimed for a better outlook of the nation.

It also tells the history and development of Iwo land and highlights the stand and faith of the Oluwo on the Yoruba tradition especially the cultures that deal with kingship.

In each chapter, the author addresses different issues starting with the history of Iwo kingdom, Mr Faleye said.

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BENGALURU, India, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Groundwater levels are in a critical state globally. India is the largest user of groundwater in the world  accounting for over 25% of global extraction, with 256 Districts across India having critical/ over-exploited groundwater levels. On the other hand, heavy rainfalls have decimated the quality of soil and hence the quality of the crops grown by the farmers. Period 2017-21 saw an increase in spoilage of crops like sugarcane and rice in the areas surrounding Maharashtra. Taking into consideration the plight of farmers due to the overflowing of rain water caused by deforestation, government decided to compensate the farmers most affected by the floods.

PROJECT JALTARA

JalTara is the vision of Sri Sri Ravishankar, the founder of Art of Living, to rejuvenate India from its current water problems. The project aims at bringing about a positive change in the fate of farmers and villagers to terminate the issues of over flooding and drought in rural areas. The bold prospect aims at recharge of over 30 trillion litres of groundwater every year across India.

JalTara Project is a mindful initiative to solve India's water scarcity problem. The focus is to train farmers and villagers, the most important stakeholders for this project, to enable them to conserve monsoon water every year and store them in underground aquifers an integrated team of experienced geologists, watershed & project management experts for the purpose deployed.

THE APPREHENSIVE APPROACH BEHIND JALTARA

The JalTara methodology is quite impactful, and the problem lies in the adequate disposal of rainwater and efficient groundwater management. Groundwater is the backbone of the agriculture of India. It is a source of meeting over 80% of India's water and agricultural requirements, but in the past few years, the groundwater level has been descending quickly. Due to deforestation and a disrupted hydrological cycle in recent years, the availability has been hampered. It has led to multi-dimensional water stress situations in most of the villages and farms of India.

The approach of JalTara targets this problem statement effectively. People must rely on more than just groundwater to satisfy their hydrological needs, and rainwater needs to be managed efficiently. The concept of recharge pits is initiated to increase India's groundwater storage by trillions per year and diminish the water crisis. The exemplary and relentless efforts of the sevaks at Art of Living have helped achieve a few litres, and there is more on the path to come.

EMINENCE OF THE PROJECT

JalTara aimed to expand its base to districts around the Maharashtrian vicinity in 2022. It has achieved the planned targets so far under the guidance of the Art of Living foundation. An increase in the water table or 12-14 feet has been observed with an impact of 6.06 lakh litres per pit & 30.3 Crore litre water per village. This enabled farmers' ability to water more frequently & reduce the impact of waterlogged fields, resulting in increased crop yield by 42% and increased farmer's income by 120%, even though not a single reported case of spoiled crops due to waterlogging was reported. The focus has been to educate the villagers about the long-term value of water rejuvenation through tree plantation, validating the 'recharge pit in every arable plot' methodology, and demonstrating the projected benefits. Simple, standard pits are massively scalable - digging 4.5 pits per hour.

About VVKI-Art of Living

The Art of Living is solving India's water crisis, and the impeccable success of the project has recharged 30 million litres per year across India, erasing the water crisis for aeons to come.

For more updates:

Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/artofliving_sp/

Tweet us at: https://twitter.com/artofliving_sp

Please message us at: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/artofliving-sp

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1979631/AOLSP_logo_Logo.jpg

SOURCE VVKI-Art of Living
Philippines wishes to boost ties with China in new year

Xinhua) 14:14, January 17, 2023

MANILA, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Monday expressed his wish that his country and China will strengthen ties in the new year.

"Allow me to extend my warmest greetings as we welcome the Chinese New Year," Marcos said in a video message during a celebration held by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year to be celebrated this weekend.

This occasion provides an opportunity to look into the cultural and historical richness and strengthen the ties that bind the peoples of both countries, Marcos added.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte said the upcoming Rabbit Year "marks a fresh start and rejuvenation" for the peoples of the two countries.

With Marcos' substantive state visit to China early this month, the vice president said she looks forward to closer bilateral ties between the Philippines and China "based on mutual trust and mutual respect."

Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian stressed the need to "gear up the important consensus" forged during Marcos' Beijing visit "to new heights."

"Deepening friendly cooperation is what our peoples long for," Huang said, adding that both sides shall further promote the people-to-people exchanges.

"We are neighbors that can not be moved away. Therefore, we have every reason to share a peaceful neighborhood and no reason to attrit each other," Huang added.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
WINNIPEG, MB, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - 24-7 Intouch, a global leader in contact center and technology solutions, announced today it is changing its corporate name to IntouchCX to better align with its accelerated growth, new solution offerings, and positioning as a market innovator.

The Company has also unveiled a new brand that reflects the company's roots and equity while encompassing its new ambitions with a more modern and human-centric appeal.

"We recognized there was a huge opportunity for us to rebrand ourselves to further showcase our commitment to innovating in an industry that really needs it," said Greg Fettes, Founder and CEO of IntouchCX. "Being an innovation-led company has always been part of our foundation and culture, and it's important to us because it demonstrates that we bring more to the table than operational excellence. It is not easy to differentiate yourself in this industry, and innovation is a way we have always set ourselves apart to deliver value that nobody else is able to deliver."

IntouchCX's bold new identity and positioning is anchored in its strategic pillars of having unparalleled understanding of their client partners ecosystems, commitment to building trusted, long-standing relationships centered on exceptional performance, innovation, and developing knowledgeable and empowered people.

"Our transformed brand evokes what our strategy and North Star are," said Wilma Chan, EVP of Marketing at IntouchCX. "As we look to the future, our brand amplifies our position as a thought leader, by anticipating future customer experience needs in new ways and developing unique solutions that truly deliver."

The Company continues to invest in global scale, employee engagement, and leadership with a differentiated approach that balances performance, people and technologies. IntouchCX creates elevated customer and employee journeys through cognitive research and experience design, and has successfully launched new solutions this year including well-being led Trust and Safety solutions, Mosaic Languages, and IntouchCX Disrupt - a bespoke customer experience solution designed specifically for hyper-growth companies.

IntouchCX currently operates globally in a work from anywhere model. The Company's new branding is being rolled out across all its physical campuses in the United States, Canada, Guatemala, Colombia, Jamaica, Honduras, Greece, India, and the Philippines, including a newly launched website (intouchcx.com), and updated social media presence.

About IntouchCX

IntouchCX is a global leader in customer experience management, digital engagement, and technology solutions. We immerse ourselves in your world with curiosity, creativity, and innovation to deliver exceptional results. For over 20 years, we have scaled with soul to become a disruptive industry leader by building trusted long-term relationships with our brand partners and empowering our people to drive positive change. To learn more about us, visit intouchcx.com

SOURCE 24-7 Intouch
Dried cannabis flower heads, as a retail product, could soon give way to this technology

STILLWATER, Minn., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Background: The global demand for the extracts from herbal cannabis is enormous and will grow dramatically once it becomes legalized in all of North America which is very likely. To get the benefits of this drug, the user must ingest it into their blood stream. By far the most popular methods for ingesting the drugs are by extracting the cannabinoids et. al. using heat then inhaling the vapors. These methods require raw cannabis as a retail product and extraction by the customer using a heating process. As such there is an entire set of supply chains built around delivering dried herbal cannabis (a.k.a. flower heads) to the customer base. This age-old process is vulnerable to technological change.

Vapor Cartridge Technology Thermal Distillation Coating

Vapor Cartridge Technology LLC, based in Stillwater Minnesota, has invented, and patented a groundbreaking set of technologies that portends the power to truly change the entire recreational and medical cannabis industry. Vapor Cartridge Technology LLC has invented and patented an FDA approvable environmentally friendly cost-effective process, for extracting the essential oils/resins from botanical plants (e.g., cannabis) and an FDA approvable device for delivering a pure and exact dose of the extracts from the oils/resins as a consistently reliable precise inhalable vapor . With FDA approval comes the enormous benefit of being able to distribute products through the extensive supply chains for recreation adult beverages (i.e. liquor stores) and for prescription drugs (i.e. pharmacies).

It promises to be, far and away, the most cost-efficient manner to deliver cannabinoid vapors as measured by $/mg/ml of cannabinoids in the bloodstream. It promises to be the only technology that can provide the dose control, formulation control and purity assurance of inhaled botanical vapors required of an FDA approved drug and, it's worth repeating, therefore allow the products to be distributed through liquor stores and pharmacies! It is easy to see how his technology will result in a paradigm shift in the entire cannabis industry.

"Once commercialized The Vapor Cartridge Technology will quickly become the overwhelming preference of both retail recreational adult users and medical patients" according to a spokesperson for the company.

The patent portfolio covering these seminal technologies is thorough, broad, and extensive (nine patents so far). Most notably, early in 2020 the company invented another groundbreaking technology that was designed to significantly lower, already low, manufacturing costs. Vapor Cartridge Technology LLC filed a PCT application for the invention with the European Patent Office on July 9, 2020. Then the company followed up with patent applications in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. NOTE: Vapor Cartridge Technology LLC was recently granted (Nov 15, 2022) a U.S. Patent (DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM WITH STACKABLE SUBSTRATES U.S. 11,497,249)! The applications in Canada and Mexico are pending. The company or companies (one recreational, one medical) that have exclusive rights to this industry changing patent portfolio will have a legal monopoly to utilize it to provide patent protected products in their served markets.

Vapor Cartridge Technology LLC is currently seeking licensing opportunities for this patent portfolio and have launched data rich website (https://vaporcartridgetechnology.com) towards this objective. This compelling website contains a detailed explanation of the science behind the technology, a competitive analysis, the benefits of the technology, the patent portfolio, potential licensees, and a way to contact the company.

Media Contact:

Tim McCullough

651.491.2115

[email protected]

SOURCE Vapor Cartridge Technology LLC
POZNAN, Poland, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Zabka Group is joining Microsoft at NRF 2023: Retail's Big Show, the world's largest convention and expo for retail companies, in New York City. Zabka Nano, an autonomous store concept that has been developed under the umbrella of Zabka Future for over a year and a half, will be featured at the Microsoft Booth (#4503). The NRF conference is held in New York from January 15 to 17, 2023.

Zabka at Retail's Big Show in New York

NRF: Retail's Big Show is one of the industry's most important events. The sessions, with the participation of speakers and supplemented by the expo, provide a platform for the exchange of information and experiences related to the latest trends affecting the development of the global retail industry. This year, the event will feature over 175 sessions, 350+ speakers, and more than 800 exhibitors.

"Participation in this prestigious event is not only an opportunity for us to establish new partnerships but also an opportunity to present Zabka as one of the world's most innovative companies in the retail industry. Warsaw, thanks to our concept, has become the world capital of autonomous stores, so I am glad that we have the opportunity to present this project to a global audience. We want to show you how our new technologies, created in cooperation with our partners, make life easier and free up our customers' time," said Tomasz Blicharski, EVP, Managing Director of Zabka Future.

The autonomous Zabka Nano store showcase presented during the NRF conference is available for registered attendees to tour from January 15 to 17. The Zabka Nano is a globally unique project that combines a physical and digital store. The innovative concept, allowing for quick shopping without checkout clerks, queues, and cash, is precisely adapted to the nature of the location and the profile of customers. Stores operate in several formats, such as standalone container vending machines, traditional brick-and-mortar outlets, or store-in-the-store. Each uses technology developed in close cooperation with American technology company AiFi and leverages Microsoft Azure. The first Zabka Nano store was established in June 2021 in Poznan. Currently, the Zabka Group manages the largest chain of autonomous stores in Europe with more than 50 outlets.

"We're thrilled to be working with Microsoft and Zabka Group at the world's largest retail event. Having surpassed more than 50 AiFi-powered Zabka stores recently, the demand for autonomous checkout in convenience stores is quickly rising, and we're proud to have proven our ability to deploy autonomous stores at record speed in partnership with Zabka," said Steve Carlin, CEO of AiFi.

Representatives of the Zabka Group discussed the digital transformation that has been going within the chain since 2016, also during the substantive part of the event. On January 15, Tomasz Blicharski talked about the concept of Zabka Nano during the NRF BIG Ideas session "Resilient retail. Achieve more with Microsoft Cloud for Retail." The session was led by Shelley Bransten, Global Corporate Vice President, Retail & Consumer Goods Industries at Microsoft.

"Digital technology that enables experiences like autonomous stores is what will make the difference between retailers that thrive and those that get left behind," said Shelley Bransten, Global Corporate Vice President, Retail & Consumer Goods Industries, Microsoft. "In collaboration with Microsoft partner AiFi, we're pleased to bring the Zabka Nano store checkout-free solution to life at NRF 2023 and to show the global retail industry what's possible for autonomous stores through Zabka's successful deployment."

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984018/Zabka_Group_Retail_Show.jpg

SOURCE Zabka Group
Commercial Cleaning Leader Ranked #36 Overall

POMPANO BEACH, Fla., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Anago Cleaning Systems kicks off 2023 placing #36 in Entrepreneur's 44th annual Franchise 500 list, the world's first, best, and most comprehensive franchise ranking. The annual Entrepreneur Franchise 500 is a highly sought-after honor in the franchise industry. This is the publication's most prestigious ranking, recognizing the top 500 franchises that continue to evolve and maintain relevance with the latest trends while reporting the greatest growth. Anago Cleaning Systems  backed by decades of brand power and reputational integrity  ranks year over year as it continues to demonstrate financial strength and stability for potential franchisees.

"Anago Cleaning Systems is once again proud to be recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine for the quality and continued franchise growth of our innovative franchise model," said Adam Povlitz, CEO & President of Anago Cleaning Systems. "The commercial cleaning industry, and Anago specifically, continues to be called upon as a frontline operational necessity while establishing new benchmarks and processes for our franchisees and customers across the U.S. and Canada. "Anago Cleaning Systems is a pioneer of the master franchise system, which allows successful professionals to operate their own exclusive regional franchises while allowing small businesses to invest in their success," said Povlitz. "Both levels simply focus on running their business while we provide marketing technologies, sales support, and critical tools to grow. As an industry, we expect to see continued growth and expansion in 2023 and beyond."

"Anago Cleaning Systems is once again proud to be recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine for the quality and continued franchise growth of our innovative franchise model," said Adam Povlitz, CEO & President of Anago Cleaning Systems. "The commercial cleaning industry, and Anago specifically, continues to be called upon as a frontline operational necessity while establishing new benchmarks and processes for our franchisees and customers across the U.S. and Canada. We're proud that our brand and franchise system continues to be a focal point for community entrepreneurs to proudly engage with local businesses and keep them operationally clean and disinfected."

Anago Cleaning Systems relies on the brand's core values to navigate the changing landscape and apply strategies to foster continued growth while implementing new and innovative technologies at every opportunity. Because of this strong business ethic, Anago is consistently recognized within Entrepreneur's suite of ranking systems, earning top positions throughout the past several years and in all the magazine's main ranking systems. These include Fastest Growing Franchise, Top-Ranked Franchises under $50K, Top Home-Based Franchise, and Top Global Franchise. Anago Cleaning Systems' continued inclusion within these rankings demonstrates the brand's rising popularity with both franchisees and clients.

"Anago Cleaning Systems is a pioneer of the master franchise system, which allows successful professionals to operate their own exclusive regional franchises while allowing small businesses to invest in their success," said Povlitz. "Both levels simply focus on running their business while we provide marketing technologies, sales support, and critical tools to grow. As an industry, we expect to see continued growth and expansion in 2023 and beyond."

In Entrepreneur's continuing effort to best understand and evaluate the ever-changing franchise marketplace, the company's 44-year-old ranking formula continues to evolve as well. The editorial team researches and assesses several factors that go into the evaluation including costs and fees, size and growth, support, brand strength, and financial strength and stability. Each franchise is given a cumulative score based on an analysis of more than 150 data points, and the 500 franchises with the highest cumulative scores become the Franchise 500 in ranking order.

Over its 44 years in existence, the Franchise 500 has become both a dominant competitive measure for franchisors and a primary research tool for potential franchisees. Anago Cleaning System's position on the ranking is a testament to its strength as a franchise opportunity.

"The past year underscores the extraordinary opportunities that the franchise industry presents for entrepreneurs of all levels," says Entrepreneur editor-in-chief Jason Feifer. "The companies named to our 44th annual Franchise 500 list represent some of the most innovative, creative, and trusted brands across many industries and highlight what it takes to build the kind of momentum that drives long-lasting success."

To view Anago Cleaning Systems in the full ranking, visit www.entrepreneur.com/franchise500. Results can also be seen in the January/February 2023 issue of Entrepreneur, available on newsstands January 17th.

About Anago Cleaning Systems

Anago Cleaning Systems is an international commercial cleaning franchise brand. Utilizing the Master Franchise System, Anago supports over 45 Master Franchisees and over 1,700 Unit Franchisees. Founded in 1989, Anago has set the worldwide standard in business support and structure for local and regional companies to provide unparalleled cleaning services to businesses of all kinds. Anago was ranked #36 overall by Entrepreneur magazine in its latest Franchise 500 ranking. For further information, visit AnagoMasters.com.

Press Contact: Perry Athanason/TopFireMedia/[email protected]/917-319-2126

SOURCE Anago Cleaning Systems
FELTON, Calif., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global animal health market size is projected to reach USD 92.8 billion by the year 2030, advancing at a steady CAGR of 10.0% during the forecast period. The market growth is expected to be aided primarily by the rising incidences of zoonotic diseases that occur due to contact with animals, along with the growing involvement of technology in the development of products and services.

Key Industry Insights & Findings from the report:

The rising significance of nutritious animal-sourced food across the globe, coupled with government initiatives to improve the health and performance of production animals, are significant drivers of the animal health market.

In terms of product, the others segment, which includes veterinary telehealth and software, as well as livestock monitoring solutions, is expected to advance at the highest CAGR of 16.1% during the projection period, aided by the increased investments in R&D to launch advanced products and services.

With regards to type, the production animal segment is expected to maintain its dominance during the assessment period, as government plans of achieving complete food security have propelled food production on a large scale and enhanced livestock rearing.

The point-of-care/in-house testing end-use segment in the animal health market is projected to showcase strong growth in the coming years, owing to the increasing awareness among animal owners regarding preventative health. For instance, ELISA is a notable PoC test that is used for the diagnosis of heartworm.

The animal health market in North America has been a significant contributor to global revenue, on account of the significant measures undertaken by animal welfare organizations in the region to improve and enhance overall animal health. Additionally, technological progress by companies as well as the rising number of pet owners in the region further help expand the industry.

has been a significant contributor to global revenue, on account of the significant measures undertaken by animal welfare organizations in the region to improve and enhance overall animal health. Additionally, technological progress by companies as well as the rising number of pet owners in the region further help expand the industry. The market is highly consolidated, and the advent of the coronavirus pandemic did not have a severe impact in this area, in spite of supply chain issues. On the contrary, companies have been consistently improving their positioning through strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, and product launches. For instance, in August 2021 , Kindred Biosciences was acquired by Elanco, which aided in strengthening the latter's innovation, portfolio, and productivity (IPP) strategy.

Read 200 page full market research report for more Insights, "Animal Health Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Animal Type, By End Use, By Product, By Distribution Channel, By Region And Segment Forecasts From 2022 To 2030", published by Million Insights.

Animal Health Market Growth & Trends

Companies have been compelled to increase the production levels of pharmaceutical drugs in order to address the increasing disease prevalence in production as well as companion animals, while there have also been constant initiatives and measures on part of governments to offer support to the industry through the formulation of programs.

There has been a growing urgency to undertake livestock adoption on a large scale, in order to expand the global food supply. As per the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the global population is set to increase to 9.7 billion by 2050, and as of now, close to 800 million people remain undernourished. An increase in the production of animal-based food items can be achieved by ensuring proper animal performance and yield, which will ultimately increase the affordability of these products in the market.

When it comes to companion animals, the adoption of pets such as cats and dogs has witnessed a healthy increase globally, especially during the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to SPCA, Los Angeles, the adoption rate of pets doubled in June 2020, reaching 10-13 per day. As pet care involves the timely administration of vaccines along with other products and services, the market for animal health has grown substantially in the past couple of years.

The companies involved in the animal health industry undertake conventional strategies such as mergers, acquisitions, expansions, and collaborative research, in order to generate revenue and achieve growth. The COVID-19 pandemic did not have much of an impact on these companies despite supply chain concerns, with IDEXX reporting a 12% increase in its year-on-year revenue, enabled by developments in its Companion Animal Group diagnostics department. Such developments are expected to grow stronger in the coming years, with the competition among major names expected to stiffen as a result of growth strategies.

Animal Health Market Segmentation

Million Insights has segmented the global animal health market on the basis of animal type, product, distribution channel, end use, and region:

Animal Health Market - Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

Production Animal

Poultry



Swine



Cattle



Sheep & Goats



Fish

Companion Animal

Dogs



Cats



Horses



Others

Animal Health Market - Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

Vaccines

Live Attenuated Vaccines



DNA Vaccines



Recombinant Vaccines



Inactivated Vaccines



Others

Pharmaceuticals

Parasiticides



Anti-infectives



Anti-inflammatory



Analgesics



Others

Medicinal Feed Additives

Diagnostics

Instruments



Consumables

Equipment & Disposables

Critical Care Consumables



Anesthesia Equipment



Fluid Management Equipment



Temperature Management Equipment



Rescue & Resuscitation Equipment



Research Equipment



Patient Monitoring Equipment

Others

Veterinary Telehealth



Veterinary Software



Livestock Monitoring

Animal Health Market - Distribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

E-commerce

Retail

Veterinary Hospitals & Clinics

Animal Health Market - End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

Point-of-care Testing/In-house Testing

Reference Laboratories

Veterinary Hospitals & Clinics

Others

Animal Health Market - Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2017 - 2030)

North America

U.S.



Canada

Europe

U.K.



Germany



France



Italy



Russia



Spain



Netherlands



Switzerland



Sweden



Ireland



Poland

Asia Pacific

Japan



China



India



Indonesia



Thailand



Australia



South Korea



Philippines



Malaysia



Singapore

Latin America

Brazil



Mexico



Argentina

Middle East & Africa

& South Africa



Saudi Arabia



Turkey



Iran



United Arab Emirates



Israel

List of Key Players in the Animal Health Market

Merck Animal Health

Ceva Sante Animale

Vetoquinol S.A.

Zoetis

Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH

IDEXX

Elanco

Heska Corporation

Virbac

B.Braun Vet Care

Covetrus

DRE Veterinary

Televet

Mars Inc.

Phibro Animal Health Corporation

Dechra Pharmaceuticals PLC

Bimeda, Inc.

Midmark Corporation

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

IDVet

Read the Latest Press Releases by Million Insights:

Dark Fiber Network Market - The global dark fiber network market size was valued at USD 5.29 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD 13.45 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 11.9% from 2022 to 2030. Dark fiber network technology is being progressively visualized as a resourceful solution for organizations that emphasize network management capabilities and improved communication.

- The global dark fiber network market size was valued at in 2021 and is expected to reach by 2030, registering a CAGR of 11.9% from 2022 to 2030. Dark fiber network technology is being progressively visualized as a resourceful solution for organizations that emphasize network management capabilities and improved communication. Pet Wearable Market - The global pet wearable market size is projected to reach USD 6.88 billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 14.3% during the forecast period. The growing awareness of pet well-being is a leading factor for the market to inflate. North America alone contributes 30% of the global revenue market share. The market growth is also well observed in economies like Asia Pacific , Latin America , the Middle East , and Africa .

- The global pet wearable market size is projected to reach by 2030 with a CAGR of 14.3% during the forecast period. The growing awareness of pet well-being is a leading factor for the market to inflate. alone contributes 30% of the global revenue market share. The market growth is also well observed in economies like , , the , and . eClinical Solutions Market - The global eClinical solutions market was valued at USD 7.2 billion in 2021 and is likely to value at USD 21.8 billion by 2030, advancing at a CAGR of 13.6% from 2022 to 2030. The high prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, along with the discovery of new infections now and then has supplemented the need for robust R&D in the pharma and biopharma industry.

- The global eClinical solutions market was valued at in 2021 and is likely to value at by 2030, advancing at a CAGR of 13.6% from 2022 to 2030. The high prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes, along with the discovery of new infections now and then has supplemented the need for robust R&D in the pharma and biopharma industry. Industrial Hemp Market - The global industrial hemp market was valued at USD 4.13 billion in the year 2021 and is expected to value at USD 16.75 billion by 2030, projecting a CAGR of 16.8% from 2022 to 2030. The market is driven by the surging use of industrial hemp in various industries such as personal care items, food and beverages, pharmaceutical, and animal care solutions. Growing awareness among people regarding the high nutritional value of hemp such as its strong protein and fatty acid profile will drive its use.

- The global industrial hemp market was valued at in the year 2021 and is expected to value at by 2030, projecting a CAGR of 16.8% from 2022 to 2030. The market is driven by the surging use of industrial hemp in various industries such as personal care items, food and beverages, pharmaceutical, and animal care solutions. Growing awareness among people regarding the high nutritional value of hemp such as its strong protein and fatty acid profile will drive its use. Non-Destructive Testing Market - The global non-destructive testing market was valued at USD 17.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to USD 34.1 billion by 2030, advancing at a CAGR of 7.7% during the forecasted timeframe. Non-destructive testing finds key usage in several industries such as aerospace and oil and gas. With the surging automation in industrial manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, there has been a considerable hike in the demand for flaw detection related to porosity, cracks, and production disorders.

- The global non-destructive testing market was valued at in 2021 and is expected to grow to by 2030, advancing at a CAGR of 7.7% during the forecasted timeframe. Non-destructive testing finds key usage in several industries such as aerospace and oil and gas. With the surging automation in industrial manufacturing and infrastructure sectors, there has been a considerable hike in the demand for flaw detection related to porosity, cracks, and production disorders. Explore more Market Research Reports by Million Insights, for industry specific reports that provide real-time market trends and forecasts, by condensing the integral elements from our industry reports into bite-sized paragraphs, charts, and tables.

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Million Insights, is a market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. We have a comprehensive marketplace, that will enable you to compare data points, before you make a purchase. Enabling informed buying, is our motto and we strive hard to ensure that our clients get to browse through multiple samples, prior to an investment. Service flexibility & the fastest response time are two pillars, on which our business model is founded. Our market research report store includes in-depth reports, from across various industry verticals, such as healthcare, technology, chemicals, food & beverages, consumer goods, material science & automotive.

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Research Support Specialist, USA

Million Insights

Phone: 1-408-610-2300

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SOURCE Million Insights
CHICAGO and NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BDT & MSD Partners LLC today announced the completion of the business combination of BDT & Company Holdings, L.P. and MSD Partners, L.P. The firm and its registered broker-dealer will operate as BDT & MSD Partners.

BDT & MSD Partners is a merchant bank with an advisory and investment platform built to serve the distinct needs of business owners and strategic, long-term investors. The firm is distinguished by its decades of experience advising at the intersection of founders, families, and businesses, as well as by its differentiated capital base and culture of aligned investing.

Its offerings include:

Trusted Advice and Capital : The firm offers strategic advisory services and long-term capital through its affiliated funds to help clients sustain and grow their businesses, manage their legacies, and create social impact.

: The firm offers strategic advisory services and long-term capital through its affiliated funds to help clients sustain and grow their businesses, manage their legacies, and create social impact. Differentiated Investment Platform : Through its registered investment advisors, BDT Capital Partners and MSD Partners, the firm seeks to provide high-quality investment strategies in four core areas  Private Capital to family- and founder-led businesses, Credit, Real Estate, and Growth Equity  with the goal of delivering attractive, long-term, risk-adjusted capital appreciation.

: Through its registered investment advisors, BDT Capital Partners and MSD Partners, the firm seeks to provide high-quality investment strategies in four core areas  Private Capital to family- and founder-led businesses, Credit, Real Estate, and Growth Equity  with the goal of delivering attractive, long-term, risk-adjusted capital appreciation. Unparalleled Global Network : The firm brings together its world-class network of business-owning clients and investors to enable them to benefit from the wisdom and experience of other exceptional leaders.

As previously announced, the firm is led by Byron Trott and Gregg Lemkau as Co-Chief Executive Officers of BDT & MSD Partners. Dan Jester and San Orr serve as Presidents. Brendan Rogers serves as Chief Operating Officer. Trott also serves as Chairman of the firm. Michael Dell serves as Chairman of the firm's Advisory Board. BDT & MSD Partners is co-headquartered in Chicago and New York City, with offices also located in Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, San Francisco, London, and Frankfurt.

About BDT & MSD Partners

BDT & MSD Partners is a merchant bank with an advisory and investment platform built to serve the distinct needs of business owners and strategic, long-term investors. The firm is distinguished by its decades of experience advising at the intersection of founders, families, and businesses, as well as by its differentiated capital base and culture of aligned investing. Since 2010, the firm's affiliated funds have deployed more than $50 billion across their investment strategies.

BDT & MSD Partners was established in 2023 through the combination of BDT & Company, the merchant bank to the closely held, founded in 2009 by Byron Trott, and MSD Partners, a premier investment firm that since 2009 has invested on behalf of Dell Technologies Founder Michael Dell and his family, and other like-minded investors. For more information, visit www.bdtmsd.com.

Media Contacts

Sara Evans / Matthew Glasser

T: (312) 529-6548 / (312) 385-2883

E: [email protected]

SOURCE BDT & MSD Partners
ST. LOUIS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Three Hilgers Graben attorneys have been honored with inclusion in the "Best Lawyers in America" publication for 2023.

The honorees are:

Jon Hyland , for his work in Intellectual Property Litigation. Jon is a Partner in the firm's Dallas office.

, for his work in Intellectual Property Litigation. Jon is a Partner in the firm's office. Jonathan Musch in the practice areas of Advertising Law, Intellectual Property Litigation, Patent Litigation, and Trademark Law. Jonathan is a Partner in the firm's St. Louis office.

in the practice areas of Advertising Law, Intellectual Property Litigation, Patent Litigation, and Trademark Law. Jonathan is a Partner in the firm's office. Michael Burns , for the representation of clients in Commercial Litigation matters. Mike is a Senior Associate in the firm's Washington D. C. office and is featured in the Best Lawyers "Ones to Watch" list.

"We often discuss the top-level legal talent we have at Hilgers Graben," said firm founder Heather Hilgers. "These honors further demonstrate the strength of our team. Jon, Jonathan, and Mike are among the best at what they do, and our clients benefit from their commitment and legal excellence every day."

Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on a sophisticated peer review survey process, designed to capture the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographic region and legal practice area.

Hilgers Graben PLLC is an elite nationwide litigation firm specializing in complex commercial and intellectual property litigation, discovery counsel services, and trademark services. The firm leverages low-cost locations and innovation to provide top-notch legal services while significantly driving down costs for its clients. It has been named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies in America four times. The firm was named a "Best Law Firm" for 2022 and 2023 by U.S. News and World Report and Best Lawyers in America. Hilgers Graben has offices in Lincoln and Omaha, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Miami and West Palm Beach, St. Louis, San Diego, Seattle and Washington D.C.

Media Contact:

Mark Annick

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Hilgers Graben PLLC
SinglePoint Subsidiary, BPA Solutions, Assured by Additional Opportunities for Clean Air Funding

Funding available through FEMA

Up to $1 Million available per qualified location

CHARLESTON, S.C., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SinglePoint, Inc. subsidiary, BPA Solutions, recognizes the substantial market opportunity for states to continue funding and prioritizing clean indoor air as the Biden administration extends the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency due to omicron sub-variants. The Emergency Declaration extension will enable state governments to access remaining emergency funds to prevent transmission of COVID-19 and other infectious particles by upgrading HVAC systems, deploying air purification units, and making health-focused investments in infrastructure overall.

The extension of the emergency declaration allows for the following:

States to reapply for canceled emergency funding; And,

An additional 120 days to apply for FEMA assistance for up to $1M per qualified location;

Ryan Cowell, CEO of BPA Solutions, commented, "With another extension, the federal government has made clear that support for covid mitigation strategies will continue to be at the forefront. While more must be accomplished to limit the coronavirus's spread, federal support has substantially improved indoor air quality (IAQ) in all aspects. Air quality is and will be a major industry as schools, offices, and individuals work to mitigate airborne pathogens, pollutants, allergies, and more that will ultimately improve our collective individual health. With continued financial assistance from government agencies like FEMA, BPA Solutions can be a community partner in offering services and products to produce cleaner air. We are working with schools throughout the U.S. and can work with these schools to navigate the process. Any interested parties should reach out to us at 843.936.6649."

On January 11th, the Biden Administration announced that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency would be extended until April in response to infections from a highly transmissible omicron subvariant. This follows a health trend in the U.S., as the emergency declaration has been extended every 90 days since January 2020. The continuance of the public health emergency provides financial resources to invest in indoor air quality (IAQ) by supporting facility repairs and improvements to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems in buildings across the United States. With this action, the Federal government has ensured that clean air-focused services and solutions will continue to aid Americans on a significant scale. Homeowners, businesses, and schools will have generous financial incentives to pursue efficient structural improvements to their properties and municipalities, which can produce cleaner air and safer indoor spaces. BPA Solutions is encouraged by the Administration's decision as this funding extension will result in more awareness and proactive efforts by landlords and school administrators to develop healthier environments for many Americans.

IAQ-centered funding, which results as part of the extension of the public health emergency, underlines the work of BPA Solutions. The Company is working to be recognized as a de facto source of solutions for healthier buildings and cleaner indoor air in the United States. BPA Solutions offers consultations and products that provide consumers with the resources to build safer, less polluted public and private spaces. The financial support reinforced by the emergency declaration aligns with the Company's goals. BPA Solutions is ready to meet consumer demand catalyzed by these health-conscious policies. Encouraged by the actions of the Biden Administration, BPA Solutions is currently identifying additional opportunities to solve the challenges of providing purified indoor air in houses, schools, offices, and buildings.

About BPA Solutions

At BPA Solutions, we believe in providing schools and other governmental agencies with products designed to create healthier, safer public gathering places. As we grow, we remain constantly committed to finding new ways we can provide quality resources to communities and the places they gather. To learn more, visit www.bpasolutions.com .

About SinglePoint Inc. (OTCQB:SING)

SinglePoint is a sustainable lifestyle Company focused on the solar energy and storage and indoor air purification markets. The Company plans to build the largest renewable energy solutions network and modernize the traditional solar energy and energy storage business model. SinglePoint continues to execute its acquisition strategy by exploring future growth opportunities in indoor air purification and ventilation, electric vehicle charging, solar as a subscription service, and additional energy efficiencies and appliances that enhance sustainability and healthier life. For more information, visit the Company's websites: www.singlepoint.com , www.bostonsolar.us , and www.boxpureair.com .

Contact Information

[email protected]

843.936.6649

www.solutionsbpa.com

SOURCE SinglePoint Inc.
Major west coast expansion bolsters Breakthru's footprint

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Breakthru Beverage Group today announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire California-based Wine Warehouse, further expanding the company's footprint to the largest U.S. beverage alcohol market. Once the deal is completed, which is expected this spring, Wine Warehouse will join the Breakthru Beverage family and begin to integrate many of the company's resources and capabilities to enhance service to partners and grow the California market.

"We intend to make significant investments and be a competitive force in the market," said Tom Bene, Breakthru Beverage Group President and CEO. "Breakthru has built a consistent and scalable business that makes us a very attractive partner to both suppliers and customers nationwide. We will bring a consumer-led approach as we unite the expertise of the California team with the culture, scale and capabilities that Breakthru can provide to grow the business."

Wine Warehouse is a multi-generational, family-owned and -operated, wholesale distributor of fine wine, beer and spirits for California. The company was established in 1973 by passionate wine collectors Bob and Jim Myerson and successfully expanded to be the third largest wholesaler in California, and a top ten wholesaler in the country. The move is Breakthru's third acquisition in the last year following Major Brands in Missouri and J.J. Taylor in Minnesota.

"The dynamics of the industry are changing and the momentum we have makes this an ideal time to begin the next chapter with Breakthru. We know they will invest in growing the business, bring innovations to the market and use their strong relationships and expertise to distinguish us among both the suppliers and customers we serve," said James P. Myerson, Wine Warehouse Chairman & Chief Executive Officer.

Bene added, "We are committed to maintaining the existing strong leadership team in California and have the utmost confidence that they will continue to deliver as a strong marketplace option on behalf of our supplier and customer partners."

Breakthru will use its expertise and financial strength to make investments that expand and improve the Wine Warehouse customer and consumer-focused strategies. Wine Warehouse has a premium wine, spirits, beer and non-alcoholic beverage portfolio that aligns well with Breakthru's national supplier partners and has upside growth potential across the market and all channels. The transaction is expected to close this spring and is subject to usual and customary closing conditions.

About Breakthru Beverage Group

Breakthru Beverage Group is one of the leading alcohol wholesalers in the United States and the largest broker in Canada representing a full total beverage alcohol portfolio of spirits, wine and beer. Breakthru is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and supports a wide range of notable organizations as well as local charitable initiatives across its North American footprint. Across all markets, Breakthru aligns a nimble and insightful approach to sales, marketing and operations. Family ownership is active in the business and committed to being stewards of heritage and champions of innovation. For more information, visit www.BreakthruBev.com.

About Wine Warehouse

Wine Warehouse was founded in 1973 and is a multi-generational, family-owned and -operated, wholesale distributor of fine wine, beer and spirits for California. When the company began it represented nearly half of all wineries in Napa and was the first statewide distributor. Through acquisition, the company expanded to craft beer and artisanal spirits and today boasts an exceptional portfolio in one of the most sophisticated and demanding markets in the country.

SOURCE Breakthru Beverage Group
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, India, Shri Eknath Shinde, has lined up 21 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with leading foreign investors and global companies, worth over $17 billion, at the World Economic Forum (WEF). The investments are estimated to create more than 66,500 jobs over the next few years. These investments are aimed at jumpstarting Maharashtra on its ambitious $ 1-trillion economy goal journey.

Of these, the majority are greenfield projects in Data Centres, pharmaceuticals, logistics, chemicals, automobiles, electric vehicles, renewable energy and ESDM, which will foster inclusive growth, job creation and sustainable development. Shri Shinde is on a two-day visit to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde stated: "Maharashtra has been a key driver and contributor to India's economic growth. We are leading the way in delivering ground-breaking investment opportunities and building confidence for the investing community. These MOUs demonstrate the heightened interest in the state and are a testament to Maharashtra's progressive policies and investor-friendly initiatives under our new government. I have presented the progressive policy reforms of my government, making the state a part of the global conversation, to reiterate to political leaders and global investors why Maharashtra is a premier investment destination."

Maharashtra also signed the prestigious three-year Platform Partnership with the WEF, a commercial contract for continuous engagements on subjects of strategic importance to the State. The subjects focus on Shaping the Future of Urban Transformation - smart and connected cities, urban resilience, governance, infrastructure & services and resource management  and New Economies and Societies, focusing on entrepreneurship, education & skills, economic growth and job creation.

During his visit, Shri Shinde also will be presenting Maharashtra's progressive policies and investor-friendly outlook to key political and government representatives from Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, among others.

About Maharashtra:

Maharashtra is one of the most industrialised states in India, contributing 16% to the country's industrial output and 15% to its GDP. The service sector contributes the most to the state's economy, accounting for 62% of its GDP, while the manufacturing sector is the second-largest contributor to the state's economy, accounting for 20% of its GDP. Major industries in Maharashtra include automobiles, engineering, textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, food processing and IT/ITeS.

SOURCE The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC)
Offers a Cloud-Based Option That is Reliable, Scalable and Secure

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Configit today announced that Configit Ace, the market's leading Configuration Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform, is now available as a cloud service. The vendor agnostic cloud-based Configuration Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform is designed to integrate with any IT system. Configit Ace Cloud enables an end-to-end, enterprise-wide configuration process for complex products, systems and services supporting design, development, manufacturing, sales and support.

With Configit Ace, manufacturers and service providers can regain control with a scalable, reliable enterprise-grade platform that can provide a single source of truth on product configuration information.

The cloud-based CLM service offers the same functionality and capabilities as Configit Ace on-premises installations, providing customers with a choice of on-premises or cloud-based deployment of their CLM solution.

Manufacturing and Engineering systems like Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) are quickly moving to the cloud as manufacturers see the benefits of reduced IT hardware, resource, maintenance and time investment. Cloud solutions provide world-class security and immediate access for new users regardless of location and the ability to scale capacity and performance when needed.

Configit Ace Cloud is a deployment option for customers who need to manage highly complex products and systems. Hosted on Microsoft Azure, Configit Ace Cloud leverages the reliability, scalability and security that Azure provides, including business continuity and disaster recovery. Additional benefits of the offering include:

Interoperability: Any system anywhere can be integrated with the solution via a rich set of web-based APIs, giving users immediate access no matter their location. This enables a single source of truth on product configuration information to be established for multiple, critical manufacturing systems like PLM, CAD, MES, ERP, CRM and CPQ.

Assured compliance: Configit Ace Cloud is certified according to ISO 27001 ("ISMS") and ISO 27017 ("Cloud") including market conforming Security Operation Center (SOC) and authentication procedures.

Nonstop support: CLM solutions based on Configit Ace Cloud are hosted by Configit with 24/7/365 preemptive monitoring and support with global availability via 26 Azure regions.

Henrik Reif Andersen, CSO and co-founder, Configit, said: "As customization, security and cost savings become increasingly important, manufacturers need configuration solutions that are both powerful and capable of handling complexity. Providers of highly complex products and services can now use Configit Ace Cloud's capabilities to establish a reliable and scalable CLM solution with world-class security and availability, while meeting compliance and regulatory requirements without the need for up-front IT investment."

About Configit

Configit is the global leader in Configuration Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions and a supplier of business-critical software for the configuration of complex products. All Configit products are based on the patented Virtual Tabulation (VT) technology, which has redefined product configuration by offering greater speed and better handling of complexity. Virtual Tabulation enables Configit to deliver powerful, easy-to-use configuration solutions to market-leading global enterprises. Website: https://configit.com/

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1824364/Configit_Logo_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Configit
DALLAS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Law Offices of Brad Jackson in Dallas is being recognized for the firm's role in a wrongful death trial that produced the "Most Impressive Plaintiffs Verdict of 2022" against one of the country's largest telecommunications companies.

The $7.3 billion verdict handed down last July by a jury in Dallas County Court at Law No. 5 is the largest jury award in the U.S. during the past year, leading the Courtroom View Network's compilation of its top trials in 2022.

Firm founder Brad Jackson represented the family of Betty Thomas along with lawyers from Dallas' Mullen & Mullen in the lawsuit against Charter Communications. Chris Hamilton and Ray Khirallah of Dallas-based Hamilton Wingo lead the trial team in the multi-week trial.

Jurors in Dallas County Court at Law No. 5 awarded Mr. Jackson's clients $7.3 billion in damages after finding Charter 90 percent liable for the death of Ms. Thomas, 83, who was killed in 2019 by one of the company's repair technicians who stole her credit cards before going on a spending spree. The technician, Roy Holden, pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison in April 2021.

Evidence in the trial showed that Charter officials failed to conduct a proper background check, which would have revealed a series of troubling actions by Mr. Holden at prior jobs. The company also ignored Mr. Holden's multiple pleas to supervisors about his worsening financial problems and personal issues.

Prior to awarding the multibillion-dollar punitive damages award, the jury was presented with evidence that Charter attempted to use forged documents to prevent the case from being tried in public.

Based in Dallas, The Law Offices of Brad Jackson provides decades of experience representing clients in Texas and across the nation. Brad Jackson is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. The firm handles many types of business disputes, as well as cases involving serious personal injury and wrongful death. To learn more, visit http://www.bradjackson.com.

For more information, contact Bruce Vincent at 214-763-6226 or [email protected].

SOURCE Law Offices of Brad Jackson
Fair State Brewing Cooperative Launches Center for CannaBeverage Production, Co-Packing and Distribution

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fair State Brewing Cooperative launched Minnesota's first cannabis fulfillment and co-packing house and distribution center exclusively for hemp-derived beverages. Named after Fair State's cannabis beverage line, Chill State Collective offers co-packing, storing, distribution and endorsement to assist other top-tier cannabeverage brands in Minnesota.

While Fair State Brewing Cooperative is Minnesota's first and largest beer cooperative, launching Chill State Collective involves creating a new model for cannabeverage distribution in the state. Cannabeverage distribution involves different vendors, stores, licenses and rules than beer distribution. In addition to Chill State's own hemp-derived THC beverage, six quality beverage brands signed onto the cooperative partnership with Chill State Collective, including Happi, Plift, Bent Paddle, FIND WUNDER, Offfield and Cann. The like-minded partners are all committed to the philosophy and goal of making Minnesota's emerging cannabis market a success.

"We are bringing experienced operators and strategic thinkers together in a new beverage segment, which is really unique," said Chill State Collective Principal and Program Director Rob Shellman. "We have the best of the best and are dedicated to running this business in a mission-driven and responsible way for Minnesota. We're aiming to encourage safe cannabis discovery through exceptional quality."

Chill State Collective's launch comes only six months after Minnesota's legalization of THC edibles and infused beverage purchases in July 2022. Since then, many craft breweries and brands have launched cannabis beverages. Cannabeverages are currently available for purchase at various stores, bars and restaurants to anyone 21 and older throughout the state.

Along with the launch of the cannabis beverage distribution center, Chill State is launching its second cannabis beverage: Pineapple Express. The original Chill State beverage includes King Louis and Grapefruit Kush terpene flavors. Chill State's cannabis beverages are recognizable for highlighting flavors from terpenes, which are hyper-potent plant-derived aroma compounds. Both beverages are light and refreshing with zero calories, added sugar, or artificial sweeteners.

About Fair State Brewing Cooperative:

Fair State Brewing Cooperative is Minnesota's first co-op brewery and the nation's first unionized microbrewery and third co-op brewery. Founded in 2014, Fair State's brewing team focuses on traditional lager beer, hoppy beer, and sour beer. With over 2,000 members, Fair State intends to provide a method for consumers to be more involved in operations and to learn more about the brewing process. Learn more or join the cooperative at fairstate.coop.

About Chill State Collective:

Chill State Collective is the premiere cannabis beverage distributorship in Minnesota. Launched by Fair State Brewing Cooperative in 2022, Chill State offers co-manufacturing, warehousing, sales, distribution, events, and education. Working to strengthen the cannabeverage industry and break stigmas, Chill State collaborates with top-tier, quality brands from around the country that are like-minded and share the goal of cultivating Minnesota's emerging cannabis market. To learn more, visit drinkchillstate.com.

Media Contact:

Carol Schuler

Schuler Publicity

612.281.7030

[email protected]

SOURCE Fair State Brewing Cooperative
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a Department of Justice press release , a federal court in Massachusetts authorized the service of a John Doe summons against Circle, a crypto-finance company, targeting taxpayers who have transacted using virtual currency. This development is another victory for the IRS in their effort to ensure those using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are properly reporting their transactions for tax purposes.

What is it about cryptocurrency that's so likely to get me either audited or criminally investigated?

If you have been paid in cryptocurrency, sold or exchanged cryptocurrency or used virtual currency to pay for goods or services, but have not reported such transactions for tax purposes, you should consult an experienced cryptocurrency tax attorney to better understand your reporting obligations and to identify any potential exposures that should be addressed. As long as you are willing to knock on the government's door before they knock on yours, you should be able to avoid criminal tax prosecution and an audit, eggshell audit, reverse egg shell audit or criminal tax investigation.

John Doe summons have also previously been issued against SFOX,, Coinbase & Kraken for identical purposes.

Note: As long as a taxpayer that has willfully committed tax crimes (potentially including non-reporting of taxable cryptocurrency transactions) coupled with affirmative evasion of U.S. income tax on domestic or offshore income) self-reports the tax fraud (including a pattern of non-filed returns) through a domestic or offshore voluntary disclosure before the IRS has started an audit or criminal tax investigation / prosecution, the taxpayer can ordinarily be successfully brought back into tax compliance and receive a nearly guaranteed pass on criminal tax prosecution and simultaneously often receive a break on the civil penalties that would otherwise apply.

It is imperative that you hire an experienced and reputable criminal tax defense attorney to take you through the voluntary disclosure process. Only an Attorney has the Attorney Client Privilege and Work Product Privileges that will prevent the very professional that you hire from being potentially being forced to become a witness against you, especially where they prepared the returns that need to be amended, in a subsequent criminal tax audit, investigation or prosecution.

Moreover, only an Attorney can enter you into a voluntary disclosure without engaging in the unauthorized practice of law (a crime in itself). Only an Attorney trained in Criminal Tax Defense fully understands the risks and rewards involved in voluntary disclosures and how to protect you if you do not qualify for a voluntary disclosure.

As uniquely qualified and extensively experienced Criminal Tax Defense Tax Attorneys, Kovel CPAs and EAs, our firm provides a one stop shop to efficiently achieve the optimal and predictable results that simultaneously protect your liberty and your net worth. See our Testimonials to see what our clients have to say about us!

IRS Will Receive Names of Taxpayers Who Transact in Cryptocurrency

To better understand the significance of this news, it is important to understand what a John Doe summons is. Generally, prosecutors ask for evidence to be turned over when they can articulate, with specificity, the target of the request and what documents or other evidence is required. When a specific individual cannot be named because the prosecutors do not know the identity of a particular individual, a John Doe summons can be requested. In such situations, the John Doe summons describes a type of person or a type of activity that could be criminal in nature and requires an individual or company to turn over documents that could lead to the identification of such person. Because the IRS does not have clear insight into who is conducting transactions with cryptocurrency, they rely on John Doe summons to obtain such identities and other information that can be used in a criminal prosecution.

In IRS Notice 2014-21 , the Service took the position that virtual currency is not currency, but property. Thus, tax rules pertaining to the purchase, sale, and exchange of property apply to transactions involving virtual currency. The challenge in enforcing such rules is the lack of information. Many owners of virtual currency transact through digital wallets, which are maintained by the taxpayer directly or by a digital currency exchange, like Coinbase. To determine whether taxpayers have engaged in transactions that arise in a taxable event, the IRS has urged courts to allow for access to the records of companies working in the virtual currency space, like Coinbase and Circle.

Seeking Help from a Cryptocurrency Tax Attorney

The ruling that this article is focused on demands information from Circle Internet Financial, Inc. for its customers who have conducted at least $20,000 worth of transactions using cryptocurrency for tax years 2016 through 2020. This demand, now approved by a federal court, could require Circle to provide potentially incriminating information and identities to the IRS and Department of Justice. Such evidence could subsequently be used in a criminal prosecution against taxpayers who have engaged in cryptocurrency transactions and failed to report such transaction(s) as a part of their tax return.

If you have dealt in cryptocurrency in the past and have failed to consider the implication of such transactions as a part of your annual tax compliance, there is a potential civil and criminal tax exposure looming. Working with an experienced cryptocurrency tax attorney , you can identify your specific points of exposure and develop a plan to come into compliance. As the IRS continues to move to identify those transacting with cryptocurrency, the ability to get right with the government will become more and more restricted. Contact an experienced tax attorney today to ensure that you are not negatively impacted by this or another John Doe summons.

We Are Here for You

Regardless of your business or estate needs, the professionals at the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing are here for you. We are open for business and our team will help ensure that your business is too. Contact the Law Offices of David W. Klasing today to discuss your business with one of our professionals.

In addition to our main office in Irvine , the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing has unstaffed (conference room only) satellite offices in Los Angeles , San Bernardino , Santa Barbara , Panorama City , Oxnard , San Diego , Bakersfield , San Jose , San Francisco , Oakland , Carlsbad and Sacramento . During the COVID-19 pandemic, our staff are working from home, but have full virtual meeting capability.

Our office technology allows clients to meet virtually via GoToMeeting . With end-to-end encryption, strong passwords, and top-rated reliability, no one is messing with your meeting. To schedule a reduced rate initial consultation via GoToMeeting follow this link . Call our office and request a GoToMeeting if you are an existing client.

Questions and Answers About Cryptocurrency Taxation

Here is a link to our YouTube channel: click here.

Public Contact: Dave Klasing Esq. M.S.-Tax CPA, [email protected]

SOURCE Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, PC
Share Your Favorite USANA Productsand Earn

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- USANA Health Sciences, Inc., a global leader in nutrition, recently launched its Affiliate Programa new and exciting way to share USANA products and earn. This unique opportunity appeals to an even broader range of USANA customers and entrepreneurs.

To learn more about the USANA lifestyle and products, visit USANA.com.

"Creating this new Affiliate program allows USANA to diversify the people who share our products and ultimately reach more customers," said Kevin Guest, USANA CEO and chairman of the board. "As a company we are always finding ways to grow, adapt to evolving customer expectations, and drive change in the best possible waysand our Affiliate experience should do just that."

USANA's Affiliate opportunity is currently available in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Affiliates earn 15%20% commissions on sales when they share USANA products through their personal links. By sharing the USANA brand and its unique benefits, Affiliates enjoy a compensation plan catered to their unique style. Sharingand earninghas never been simpler.

"The Affiliate Program is an incredible opportunity for USANA to appeal to an entire market we've never tapped into before," said Jeannie Price, executive vice president of sales for the Americas, Europe & ANZ. "We're giving our customers the chance to earn while sharing the USANA products they love. How easy is that? This program has been a work in progress for quite some time, and I am so excited to get it started."

About USANA

USANA (NYSE: USNA) prides itself on providing consumers the highest quality nutritional products in the world. From its award-winning supplements to its innovative Celavive skincare and Active Nutrition lines, USANA has proven for over 30 years why it's a company you can trust. How about giving us a try? Shop at USANA.com or learn more at whatsupUSANA.com.

Media Contact: Amy Haran

Executive Vice President of Communications

(801) 954-7641

media(at)usana.com

SOURCE USANA
BOISE, Idaho, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hundreds of students from across Idaho are making the trek to Boise next week to express their enthusiasm for learning  and to share why they love going to school every day  at a rally at the Idaho Capitol that will celebrate the state's K12 school choice options.

The event will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, from 11:15 AM to 12:15 PM at the Front Steps of the Idaho Capitol (700 West Jefferson Street in Boise). More than 300 participants are expected to attend.

Hosted by National School Choice Week in collaboration with individual schools and sponsored by the Idaho Coalition of Charter School Families, the event will include student, parent, and teacher speakers, as well as musical and artistic performances from students attending public charter and private schools. The celebration is open to the press and the public.

Organizers hope that as a result of the event, additional parents from across the Gem State will discover and explore the education options available for their children.

"School choice is making a positive difference for families across Idaho, providing parents with new opportunities to find schools and learning environments that best meet their children's needs, talents, interests, and challenges," said Andrew Campanella, President of National School Choice Week. "We are thrilled to partner with a variety of different types of schools across the state to present this celebratory event and to inspire even more families with information about the education options available for their children."

The Jan. 24 event is timed to coincide with National School Choice Week (NSCW), which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states to raise equal and positive awareness of the traditional public, public charter, public magnet, private, online, and home education options available for families.

In addition to this event, 186 public and private schools in Idaho will host independent events and activities during NSCW. These schools enroll an estimated 57,865 students across all grade levels.

For more information, visit schoolchoiceweek.com .

National School Choice Week (NSCW) informs, inspires, and empowers parents to discover the K-12 education options available for their children, including traditional public, public charter, public magnet, online, private, and home schooling. Every January, tens of thousands of schools, organizations, and individuals plan unique events and activities to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options in their communities. The Week is a project of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical National School Choice Awareness Foundation.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
DUBLIN, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Biobanking Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global biobanking market size reached US$ 53.3 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 77.6 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 6.46% during 2021-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Biobanking refers to the process of analyzing and storing information of human biospecimens, which are collected from healthy volunteers or people with a particular condition. This information is used in research and academic studies to improve the understanding of health and different diseases.

Presently, modern biobanks have large-scale analysis of specific disease biomarkers, which include biological or digital material with well-annotated clinical and biological data. They provide a basis for improving personalized medical approaches wherein effective biomarker identification is crucial for disease diagnosis and prognosis.



Biobanking nowadays is gaining widespread adoption in collecting high-quality and well-annotated human biospecimens, understanding the pathogenic mechanisms, and identifying therapeutic targets of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Apart from this, due to the increasing prevalence of new infectious and chronic diseases, there is a rise in the demand for biobanking to develop diagnostics that can accurately and quickly identify pathogens.

This can also be accredited to the growing aging population, in confluence with the escalating demand for regenerative medicine and personalized treatment across the globe.

Moreover, developments in genomics, metagenomics, proteomics, disease biology, bioenergy, environmental remediation, and allied fields are contributing to the market growth. Besides this, health agencies of numerous countries are investing in virtual biobank network models that offer a faster and sustainable solution. These network models offer electronic databases that help investigators to locate biospecimens and data mining from multiple biobanks.

Furthermore, leading market players are offering a diverse portfolio of biobanking products and services that enable sharing of insights and critical information to advancing science. These innovations are projected to strengthen the growth of the market in the coming years.

Competitive Landscape:



The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Brooks Automation Inc., Bay Biosciences LLC, Boca Biolistics, Ctibiotech, Cureline Inc., Firalis, Greiner Bio-One International GmbH, Hamilton Company, Merck KGaA, ProteoGenex Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and VWR Corporation (Avantor Inc.).



Key Questions Answered in This Report

What was the size of the global biobanking market in 2021? What is the expected growth rate of the global biobanking market during 2022-2027? What are the key factors driving the global biobanking market? What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global biobanking market? What is the breakup of the global biobanking market based on the specimen type? What is the breakup of the global biobanking market based on the biobank type? What is the breakup of the global biobanking market based on the application? What is the breakup of the global biobanking market based on the end user? What are the key regions in the global biobanking market? Who are the key players/companies in the global biobanking market?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Biobanking Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Specimen Type

6.1 Blood Products

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Solid Tissue

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Cell Lines

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Nucleic Acid

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Others

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Biobank Type

7.1 Population-based Biobanks

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Disease-oriented Biobanks

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Therapeutics

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Research

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by End User

9.1 Academic Institutions

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Pharma and Biotech Companies

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region



11 SWOT Analysis



12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Brooks Automation Inc.

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.1.3 Financials

15.3.2 Bay Biosciences LLC

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3 Boca Biolistics

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4 Ctibiotech

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.5 Cureline Inc.

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6 Firalis

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7 Greiner Bio-One International GmbH

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.8 Hamilton Company

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9 Merck KGaA

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9.3 Financials

15.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.10 ProteoGenex Inc.

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11.3 Financials

15.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.12 VWR Corporation (Avantor Inc.)

15.3.12.1 Company Overview

15.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/adds9x

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Independent Survey Shows Franchise Owners Are Highly Satisfied with JPAR - Real Estate's Performance

FRISCO, Texas, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- JPAR  Real Estate was recently named a Top Franchise for 2023 by Franchise Business Review. This is the 18th annual ranking of the 200 best franchise opportunities as rated by franchise business owners. The annual Franchisee Satisfaction Awards is North America's only program honoring franchise brands for excellence in achieving franchisee satisfaction.

"Our model empowers our brokers and sales professionals," said Laura O'Connor, President and COO, JPAR Franchising. Tweet this JPAR - Real Estate Named a 2023 Top Franchise by Franchise Business Review

"We are honored to receive this recognition as it continues to demonstrate that JPAR is delivering on our commitment to being a one-stop, final destination brokerage where top producers can network and support each other in achieving their growth goals," said Laura O'Connor, President and COO, JPAR Franchising. "Our model empowers our brokers and sales professionals with a flat-fee, capped rate that puts more money in their pockets while providing a culture of empowerment through best-in-class training and technology."

JPAR  Real Estate franchisees were surveyed on 33 benchmark questions about their experience and satisfaction regarding critical areas of their franchise systems, including training & support, operations, franchisor/franchisee relations, and financial opportunity. JPAR  Real Estate survey data showed the following:

JPAR  Real Estate is a top recession-proof franchise;

a top franchise for its culture, profitability, and innovation;

87% of franchisees agree senior management encourages a strong team culture and cares about their success;

96% of franchisees enjoy operating their business and being part of the organization;

100% of franchisees are likely to recommend JPAR to others.

"Franchisee satisfaction levels hit an all-time high last year despite the pandemic, and we are pleased to report that our 2023 research shows satisfaction has remained sky high," said Michelle Rowan, president & COO of Franchise Business Review. "As an independent research firm, Franchise Business Review is committed to helping prospective franchisees get an objective view of the best franchise opportunities."

Visit FranchiseBusinessReview.com to see the full description of the 2023 Top Franchises .

"We never stop innovating," said Chastity Davenport, Senior Vice President, JPAR Franchising. "Our +JPAR model is the ideal solution for existing broker/owners seeking a low-cost way to access a full stack of technology, marketing and support while maintaining their own local branding."

About JPAR  Real Estate: JPAR - Real Estate is a full-service real estate brand and franchise platform offering a highly competitive transaction fee-based model and agent-centric culture. The JPAR platform provides agents seven (7) days-per-week support, a comprehensive tech stack, marketing, lead generation, training and mentoring. JPAR affiliated owners benefit from compliance review, 1-on-1 consulting, recruiting support and a peer network of influential industry leaders. The company boasts more than 3,800 agents operating in 72 offices across 26 states and closes more than $8B annually in sales volume.

About Franchise Business Review: https://franchisebusinessreview.com/

Media Contacts:

Matt Gentile

412.477.3349

[email protected]

Ali Forman, B2B Marketing Director

603.319.4818

[email protected]

SOURCE JPAR Real Estate
Integrated analytics and automation solution for self-scaling, self-healing, self-optimizing networks

LONDON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- KX, maker of kdb+, the world's fastest time series database and real-time analytics engine, and EnterpriseWeb, a pioneer in telecom virtualization and automation, have partnered to deliver network observability and automation solutions for performance-critical systems.

Bringing together highly complementary technologies, KX and EnterpriseWeb offer an incredibly flexible and powerful closed-loop control mechanism that can be deployed on any system or distributed network. KX brings market-leading data services and real-time analytics capabilities, built around its kdb+ time series database, for pattern recognition and the detection of anomalies. These feed EnterpriseWeb's intelligent orchestration platform for intent-based network and service management which interprets the events, translates policies, and takes actions to maintain a declared state for a self-scaling, self-healing, self-optimizing network. Together, KX and EnterpriseWeb provide an integrated solution for 'zero-touch' network and service management at scale.

The two companies first teamed up as part of an all-star team on a 5G edge network automation test-bed hosted by Intel Network Builders (INB), along with Red Hat, Keysight, Fortinet and Tech Mahindra. One of the distinguishing features of the award-winning testbed is the enhanced Self-Organizing Network (SON)  formed by the integration of KX and EnterpriseWeb  to optimize the processing of secure packets, while significantly reducing energy consumption.

To date, SON implementations are generally vendor-centric, narrow in scope, batch processed, and expensive to deploy and maintain. In contrast, the two partners were able to rapidly deploy as an open, extensible, near-real-time SON that's flexibly configurable for a wide variety of use cases.

The testbed simulates both a large spike in network traffic and a DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, KX monitors streaming data to issue alerts where threshold levels are breached. Signals are then sent back to EnterpriseWeb's intelligent orchestrator, which automatically adjusts the configuration of the service elements as well as the underlying infrastructure to accommodate the additional traffic and respond to the threat. This ensures Quality of Service for customers and maintains network health.

Results so far have been extremely promising including x10 more traffic throughput (10Gbps vs 1Gbps), whilst being x9.5 more energy efficient (113 kW/h vs 1069 kW/h) in the initial use-cases, with unrivalled potential to further build out analytics on the mobile edge and core.

James Corcoran, Chief Growth Officer, KX: "We talk about KX as being an engine for time series and real-time analytics, powered by kdb+. As the results of the testbed project demonstrate, being the analytics engine in EnterpriseWeb's intelligent orchestration platform can yield significant benefits. Working alongside an all-star team of partners, we've shown that using time series-based technology like KX can dramatically improve response times and increase network efficiency. We're excited to see how our partnership with EnterpriseWeb can be applied to other use cases where the real-time monitoring and management of distributed networks, and low latency response and remediation is a critical requirement."

Dave Duggal, founder and CEO of EnterpriseWeb: "The joint KX and EnterpriseWeb solution enables and accelerates the Telecom transformation journey to Digital Service Providers. Taking network services to the edge for low-latency customer use-cases requires extreme automation and efficiency so the explosion of new sites can be supported operationally. To streamline deployments, Telcos will benefit from a common technology platform that can be flexibly configured for different industries, customers and use-cases so they can avoid being mired down in custom development projects. KX and EnterpriseWeb present a lightweight, low-latency, high-performance solution for an edge-optimized Telco Cloud platform."

About KX

KX is the creator of kdb+, independently benchmarked as the world's fastest time series database and real-time analytics engine. Built for the most demanding data environments, KX technology is trusted by the world's leading companies for their mission-critical data applications. Our industry-leading software processes and analyzes time series and relational data at unmatched speed and scale, enabling richer actionable insights to drive decisions. We empower developers and data engineers to build high-performance data-driven applications and turbo-charge their favorite analytics tools in the cloud, on-premise, or at the edge.

Part of FD Technologies plc, KX operates from more than 15 offices across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. For more information visit www.kx.com or contact: [email protected]

About EnterpriseWeb

EnterpriseWeb offers the first industrial-grade no-code platform for software engineers. It enables rapid modelling of event-driven, end-to-end, dataflow processes that dynamically connect across business silos, cloud hosts and eco-system partners for highly-automated & agile operations. The no-code platform eliminates tedious development, integration and configuration tasks to accelerate service delivery and automate lifecycle management. EnterpriseWeb abstracts distributed systems complexity so developers can focus on the business. The company is a pioneer in Telecom virtualization and automation. It ran the first ETSI NFV Proof-of-Concept, "CloudNFV", which demonstrated the convergence of IT and networking. The company has partnered with Intel, Red Hat and Tech Mahindra to deliver transformative networking solutions.

For more information www.enterpriseweb.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1866445/KX_Logo.jpg

SOURCE KX
The offering helps solve one of the most complex financial transactions for businesses.

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lower today debuts a new Mortgage as a Service (MaaS) platform that easily allows consumer brands to offer mortgage products to their customers. After piloting the service, Opendoor , a leading e-commerce platform for residential real estate transactions, moved their mortgage fulfillment to Lower exclusively.

Launching an in-house mortgage lending operation has historically been a complex undertaking for many businesses. Through the MaaS platform, Lower provides a solution for consumer finance, banking and real-estate brands to offer a digital-first home financing experience quickly and easily, with white-label options available. It can be embedded into the partner's customer journey through API and no-code solutions.

"This is a big step for brands that have captive audiences but not the means or experience to offer such products." Tweet this

Lower's unique blend of human expertise and technology has been a winning formula for the team, underscored by Opendoor's early adoption of the service.

To lead the new platform, the company has named Chelsea Wagner SVP of Partnerships. "Nearly every proptech and fintech company we talk to has some version of home lending on their roadmap. It's a natural value add, but until now there wasn't a solution. Our infrastructure and expertise make us uniquely positioned to accelerate a new mortgage offering," said Wagner. "We believe the demand will be high for this product as a new, easily implemented product offering for companies."

As a part of the founding team, Wagner built and managed the company's direct-to-consumer channel from the ground up. She now transitions to her new role to underscore Lower's commitment to the MaaS channel and bring her strategy and lending expertise to every step of the relationship. "Chelsea has been an integral member of Lower since day one. It was a natural fit to promote someone so passionate about the customer experience and committed to helping our partners develop their business strategy in the home lending space," said co-founder and CEO Dan Snyder.

About the new platform, Snyder continued, "We've taken our years of mortgage experience and processes, and allowed any business to offer mortgage to its customers. This is a big step for brands that have captive audiences but not the means or experience to offer such products. It allows companies like Opendoor to stay focused on what they do best, while adding a new product that lives up to their brand promise and expand their reach."

The MaaS offering immediately allows companies to offer their consumers home financing options, while expanding their lending footprint to more than 93 percent of the U.S. population. Customers will have access to Lower's full suite of products tailoring loan options to their specific needs.

Companies interested in exploring a MaaS partnership can find out more here .

About Lower

Lower's multi-channel fintech platform helps consumers build wealth through homeownership, no matter where they are in their life's journey. The company's products for mortgage, banking, insurance, and real estate provide customers with an intuitive ecosystem to simplify their homeownership goals, whether it's their first home or their last. Lower is a national and local best place to work, and the naming rights partner of Lower.com Field, home of the Columbus Crew.

SOURCE Lower
Agreements cover onshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, and integrated offshore wind and green hydrogen projects

Agreements follow signing of implementation agreements with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy to develop a renewable energy program with a total capacity of 10 GW

Projects support Azerbaijan's goal of meeting 30 percent of domestic power needs from renewable energy sources by 2030

ABU DHABI, UAE, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Masdar, one of the world's leading clean energy companies, has signed joint development agreements with the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), for onshore wind and solar projects, and integrated offshore wind and green hydrogen projects, with a total combined capacity of 4 gigawatts (GW).

Masdar Partners with Azerbaijans SOCAR to Develop Renewable Energy Projects with 4 GW Capacity

The agreements were signed by Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, and Rovshan Najaf, President of SOCAR, on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the global platform for accelerating sustainable development hosted by Masdar. HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and Chairman of Masdar, and HE Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy for Azerbaijan, witnessed the signing.

HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and Chairman of Masdar, said, "These agreements will serve to strengthen the already powerful relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and are a testament to our shared commitment to diversifying our energy mix and developing low- and zero-carbon solutions. As global leaders gather here in the UAE for Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, we are demonstrating the power of partnership and cooperation in advancing the inclusive energy transition and I look forward to seeing more announcements being made at ADSW. "

Mohammed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, said, "Masdar sees Azerbaijan as a key strategic partner, one we are proud to support in its clean energy journey. This signing marks a milestone on the development and delivery of a significant collaboration that will advance Azerbaijan's renewable energy goals and support its ongoing sustainable economic development."

In June last year, Masdar signed implementation agreements with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy to develop a renewable energy program on a bilateral basis, with a total capacity of 10 GW across multiple technologies, one of the largest such signings in Azerbaijan's history. The joint development agreements set out the collaboration and partnership principles between the parties for the development of the first phase of the program, with a total capacity of 4 GW.

SOCAR is an integrated national oil and gas company supporting the energy security of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is pursuing a national target of producing 30 percent of its domestic power needs from renewable energy sources by 2030, as the Central Asian nation looks to diversify its economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Masdar is also developing the 230-megawatt Garadagh Solar PV Plant in Azerbaijan. The plant will help to generate half a billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to meet the needs of more than 110,000 homes and will reduce emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes a year, while also creating valuable jobs.

Masdar recently announced a new shareholding structure and additional focus on green hydrogen, making it one of the largest clean energy companies of its kind. With a goal of achieving 100 GW renewable energy capacity and green hydrogen production of 1 million tonnes per annum annually by 2030, the new Masdar is a clean energy powerhouse that will spearhead the UAE's Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative and drive the global energy transition.

About Masdar

Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) is the UAE's clean energy champion and one of the largest companies of its kind in the world, advancing the development and deployment of renewable energy and green hydrogen technologies to address global sustainability challenges. Established in 2006, Masdar is today active in over 40 countries, helping them to achieve their clean energy objectives and advance sustainable development. Masdar is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), and under this ownership the company is targeting a renewable energy portfolio capacity of at least 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and an annual green hydrogen production capacity of up to 1 million tonnes by the same year.

For more information please visit: http://www.masdar.ae and connect: facebook.com/masdar.ae and twitter.com/masdar

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984898/Masdar_Partners_SOCAR.jpg

SOURCE Masdar
Climate Future: Averting and Adapting to Climate Change, by MIT Sloan economist Robert S. Pindyck explains what we know and don't know about climate change, and what we can do to prepare for a possible climate catastrophe.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A new book by an economist at MIT Sloan School of Management argues that despite efforts to reduce emissions worldwide, severe climate change is likely inevitable in the not-too-distant future and we must invest now in strategies and technologies to help us adapt to rising temperatures and sea levels.

In Climate Future: Averting and Adapting to Climate Change, Robert Pindyck argues that despite our best efforts, theres a strong likelihood global mean temperature over the next 50 years will increase 3 degrees Celsius or more due to the rapid growth of emissions from China, India, and other developing countries. Credit: Courtesy of MIT Sloan School of Management

"Given the economic and political realities, it's simply not realistic to expect emission reductions alone will avert global warming," says author Robert S. Pindyck , the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Professor of Economics and Finance. He says federal, state, and local governments need to invest in adaptations to counter current and future fallout from climate change.

Exactly how much will temperatures and sea levels rise, and how will this impact our economic and social welfare? Pindyck says it's impossible to know. "The extent of climate change and its impact on the economy and society are much more uncertain than most people think," he writes.

In , Pindyck argues that despite our best efforts, there's "a strong likelihood" global mean temperature over the next 50 years will increase 3 degrees Celsius or more due to the rapid growth of emissions from China, India, and other developing countries.

These increased emissions, Pindyck notes, have "completely swamped" the relatively small emission reductions achieved in the U.S. and Europe. Even if worldwide emissions went to zero today, atmospheric CO2 concentrations would remain above 400 ppm for decades to come because of the two-decade or more lag between an increase in atmospheric CO2 and the related effect on temperature.

This means that in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we need to develop new hybrid crops, adopt policies to discourage building in flood-prone or wildfire-prone areas, build seawalls and dikesamong other approachesto counter the effects of rising sea levels, extended drought, and more intense and frequent storms.

Throughout history, migrating populations have successfully adapted to changing conditions through human innovation. The Netherlands' earliest dikes, for example, were built more than 800 years ago. Pindyck, who has studied the economic and policy implications of global catastrophic events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, says we need to work now to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Among his recommendations:

Stop government insurance programs that subsidize the construction of homes and businesses in flood-prone and wildfire-prone areas

Change building codes to reduce vulnerability to flooding

Build more levees and seawalls, which already protect around 15 percent of the U.S. coastline from erosion, rising sea levels, and the effects of hurricanes

Pursue solar geoengineering, which aims to reflect solar energy back into space to cool the planet

Protect and enhance natural barriers to flooding such as coastal wetlands, dunes, coral reefs, and maritime vegetation

Develop new heat- and drought-resistant crops

Plant more trees and continue to pursue carbon sequestration technologies

Pursue nuclear energy as well as renewables

Pindyck argues that while the U.S. and Europe may meet CO2 emission targets, China, India, Indonesia, and Russia most likely will not, and may not even set targets. "Even the most optimistic projections of CO2 emission reductions imply a substantial buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere, and as a result a gradual increase in temperatures worldwide," he says.

"Maybe the impact of higher temperatures and rising sea levels on GDP and other measures of human welfare over the coming decades will be small," he writes. "Or maybe we'll be very unlucky, and the impact will be extreme." We simply cannot know, he says, because while predictive models convey an aura of scientific legitimacy and precision, climate systems are inherently complex and beyond our current ability to predict with a high level of accuracy, he says.

This level of uncertainty can make public policy decision-making confounding. Because today's climate policy decisions have both short-term costs and long-term economic implications, it would be wrong to take a "wait-and-see" approach. Pindyck, whose research spans microeconomics and industrial organization, natural resource, and commodity markets, considers it "irresponsible to make believe" that relying on GHG emission reductions alone will avert a climate catastrophe.

Media Contact:

Casey Bayer

Director of Media Relations

MIT Sloan School of Management

[email protected]

914.584.9095

SOURCE MIT Sloan School of Management
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Technavio, the global mixed reality in education sector market size is estimated to grow by USD 250,820.83 thousand from 2022 to 2027. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 72.49% during the forecast period. Moreover, the growth momentum will accelerate. North America will account for 34% of the growth of the global market during the forecast period.

For more insights on market size, request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Mixed Reality in Education Sector Market 2023-2027

Global mixed reality in education sector market - Five forces

The global mixed reality in education sector market is fragmented, and the five forces analysis covers 

Bargaining power of buyers

The threat of new entrants

Threat of rivalry

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of substitutes

For interpretation of Porter's five forces model  buy the report!

Global mixed reality in education sector market  Customer landscape

The report includes the market's adoption lifecycle, from the innovator's stage to the laggard's stage. It focuses on adoption rates in different regions based on penetration. Furthermore, the report also includes key purchase criteria and drivers of price sensitivity to help companies evaluate and develop their growth strategies.

Global mixed reality in education sector market - Segmentation assessment

Segment overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on product (hardware and software) and end-user (higher education and K-12).

The hardware segment will grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. The hardware includes head mounted displays (HMDs) that are equipped with sensors, motion-tracking devices, and haptic devices. It also includes all-in-one computer systems that can be used to create MR images and videos. MR enables 3D visual representations. Moreover, many vendors are providing affordable HMDs. These factors will drive the growth of this segment during the forecast period.

Geography overview

Based on geography, the global mixed reality in education sector market is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global mixed reality in education sector market.

North America is estimated to account for 34% of the growth of the global market during the forecast period. The region is an early adopter of modern technologies. Teachers and students in North America are more receptive to modern technologies when compared with other regions and are highly tech-savvy. These factors will drive the growth of the regional market during the forecast period.

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Global mixed reality in education sector market  Market dynamics

Key factor driving market growth

The increase in the number of MR classrooms is driving the growth of the market.

is driving the growth of the market. Many vendors are focusing on MR laboratories in the market. For instance, zSpace provides on-site MRI labs to many elementary schools.

MR classrooms are student-centered and are increasingly being used in the medical education system.

Thus, the increasing number of MR classrooms will fuel the global MR industry in the education sector during the forecast period.

Leading trends influencing the market

The increase in the number of technology partnerships is a key trend in the market.

is a key trend in the market. Many vendors have formed strategic partnerships to provide educational institutions with affordable and easy-to-use MR hardware and software solutions. For instance, Pearson is working with Microsoft to explore interoperability and the power of mixed reality in education.

In addition, many colleges and schools are participating in programs designed to improve the use of MR in education. For example, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock is a part of Pearson's mixed reality pilot project to use MR imaging to address challenges in nursing education.

in Lubbock is a part of Pearson's mixed reality pilot project to use MR imaging to address challenges in nursing education. These factors will support the market's growth during the forecast period.

Major challenges hindering market growth

An increase in the number of substitutes is challenging the mixed reality in education sector market growth.

is challenging the mixed reality in education sector market growth. Technologies such as AR and VR are gaining popularity in the education sector and are.

They are replacing MR technology and becoming mainstream worldwide.

Currently, mobile VR technology is the most accessible technology in terms of price and installation. However, the experience is limited, as the level of student interaction is low and completed with fewer statements.

These factors will hinder the growth of the segment during the forecast period.

Drivers, trends, and challenges have an impact on market dynamics, which can impact businesses. Find some insights from a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this mixed reality in education sector market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the mixed reality in education sector market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the mixed reality in education sector market and its contribution to the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the mixed reality in education sector market across North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , APAC, , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of mixed reality in education sector market vendors

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The drone technology market size in the education sector is expected to increase by USD 499.16 million from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 17.53%. This report extensively covers segmentation by application (security surveillance and learning), end-user (higher education sector and K-12 sector), and geography (North America, APAC, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

The artificial intelligence market size in the education sector in the US is expected to increase by USD 374.3 million from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 48.15%. This report extensively covers segmentation by end-user (higher education and K-12) and education model (learner model, pedagogical model, and domain model).

Mixed Reality in Education Sector Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 159 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 72.49% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 250,820.83 thousand Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 60.28 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 34% Key countries US, Canada, China, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading vendors, market positioning of vendors, competitive strategies, and industry risks Key companies profiled Acer Inc., Alchemy Immersive Ltd., Alphabet Inc., Avantis Systems Ltd., Eon Reality Inc., fotonVR, GIGXR Inc., HTC Corp., Lenovo Group Ltd., Magic Leap Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp., Nearpod Inc., Osterhout Design Group, RedboxVR Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sony Group Corp., Unimersiv, Veative Labs, VictoryXR Inc., Virtalis Holdings Ltd., and zSpace Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, 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. 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.

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Table of contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Product



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global mixed reality in education sector market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global mixed reality in education sector market 2017 - 2021 ($ thousand)

4.2 Product Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Product Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ thousand)

4.3 End-user Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  End-user Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ thousand)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ thousand)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ thousand)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Product

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Product - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Product

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Product



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Product

6.3 Hardware - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Hardware - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Hardware - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Hardware - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Hardware - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Software - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Software - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Software - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Software - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Software - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Market opportunity by Product

Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by Product ($ thousand)

7 Market Segmentation by End-user

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 43: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 44: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 45: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 46: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

7.3 Higher education - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 47: Chart on Higher education - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Higher education - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 49: Chart on Higher education - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Higher education - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 K -12 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

-12 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 51: Chart on K-12 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on K-12 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 53: Chart on K-12 - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on K-12 - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 55: Market opportunity by End-user ($ thousand)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 56: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 57: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 59: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 61: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 62: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 63: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 64: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 65: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 66: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 67: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 68: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 69: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 70: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 71: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 72: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 73: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 74: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 75: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 76: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 79: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 81: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 82: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 83: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 84: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 85: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 87: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 89: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 90: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)



Exhibit 91: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 92: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 95: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ thousand)

Exhibit 99: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 101: Market opportunity by geography ($ thousand)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 102: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 103: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 104: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 105: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 106: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 107: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Alchemy Immersive Ltd.

Exhibit 108: Alchemy Immersive Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 109: Alchemy Immersive Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 110: Alchemy Immersive Ltd. - Key offerings

12.4 Alphabet Inc.

Exhibit 111: Alphabet Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 112: Alphabet Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 113: Alphabet Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 114: Alphabet Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 115: Alphabet Inc. - Segment focus

12.5 Avantis Systems Ltd.

Exhibit 116: Avantis Systems Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 117: Avantis Systems Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Avantis Systems Ltd. - Key offerings

12.6 Eon Reality Inc.

Exhibit 119: Eon Reality Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 120: Eon Reality Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 121: Eon Reality Inc. - Key offerings

12.7 fotonVR

Exhibit 122: fotonVR - Overview



Exhibit 123: fotonVR - Product / Service



Exhibit 124: fotonVR - Key offerings

12.8 GIGXR Inc.

Exhibit 125: GIGXR Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 126: GIGXR Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 127: GIGXR Inc. - Key offerings

12.9 HTC Corp.

Exhibit 128: HTC Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 129: HTC Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 130: HTC Corp. - Key offerings

12.10 Lenovo Group Ltd.

Exhibit 131: Lenovo Group Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 132: Lenovo Group Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 133: Lenovo Group Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 134: Lenovo Group Ltd. - Segment focus

12.11 Magic Leap Inc.

Exhibit 135: Magic Leap Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 136: Magic Leap Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 137: Magic Leap Inc. - Key offerings

12.12 Meta Platforms Inc.

Exhibit 138: Meta Platforms Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 139: Meta Platforms Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 140: Meta Platforms Inc. - Key news



Exhibit 141: Meta Platforms Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 142: Meta Platforms Inc. - Segment focus

12.13 Microsoft Corp.

Exhibit 143: Microsoft Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 144: Microsoft Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 145: Microsoft Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 146: Microsoft Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 147: Microsoft Corp. - Segment focus

12.14 Osterhout Design Group

Exhibit 148: Osterhout Design Group - Overview



Exhibit 149: Osterhout Design Group - Product / Service



Exhibit 150: Osterhout Design Group - Key offerings

12.15 Sony Group Corp.

Exhibit 151: Sony Group Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 152: Sony Group Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 153: Sony Group Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 154: Sony Group Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 155: Sony Group Corp. - Segment focus

12.16 Virtalis Holdings Ltd.

Exhibit 156: Virtalis Holdings Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 157: Virtalis Holdings Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 158: Virtalis Holdings Ltd. - Key offerings

12.17 zSpace Inc.

Exhibit 159: zSpace Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 160: zSpace Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 161: zSpace Inc. - Key offerings

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 162: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 163: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 164: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 165: Research methodology



Exhibit 166: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 167: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 168: 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

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UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mutare, Inc., a leading innovator of enterprise solutions for Voice Threat Defense, is pleased to announce a formalized partnership with Telnyx, a global connectivity platform that provides carrier-grade communications services. Through this partnership Telnyx customers will be able to improve the security of their voice channel by removing unwanted voice traffic, including robocalls, spam calls, spam storms, spoof calls, vishing attacks and social engineering calls.

Voice Security is an escalating threat vector, as cybercriminals have increasingly targeted under-protected business communication networks. Three of the top industry metrics expose the need for business leaders and enterprise security executives to protect vital voice communication networks:

550% YoY growth of Vishing Attacks (2021-2022)

Monthly Robocalls have reached 4.7 Billion, a 2.8% MoM upward trend.

Unwanted Call Traffic (all industries) has reached 9.82%; Education (15.29%), Legal (13.90%) and Technology (12.99%) experience the highest volumes of nefarious and nuisance voice traffic.

"Telnyx is excited to partner with Mutare to provide our customers with a solution that reduces cybersecurity risk associated with unwanted calls," says Eric Bernhold, Head of Global Partnerships at Telnyx. "As an internationally licensed telco carrier, Telnyx powers secure, high-quality voice communications, and the Mutare Voice Traffic Filter, will add a new realm of protection for our clients."

Mutare has seen strong demand for the sophisticated, groundbreaking voice traffic filtering technology as successful voice-based cyberattacks are now routinely reported in the media. Many of the victimized companies represent high profile brands. The industry-leading Mutare Voice Traffic Filter solution is based on an innovative architecture which protects organizations at the network edge. The solution boasts five distinct filtering layers, built on a combination of best-in-class dynamic databases, organization-specific rules, pattern recognition, machine learning and proprietary AI technology, form a virtual firewall of protection for every endpoint in the organization. The tool includes a STIR/SHAKEN filter, proprietary dynamic database filter, threat radar and voice CAPTCHA verification. It also allows users to create customized rules to leverage their own blocklists and sets of call handling and filtering actions for inbound and outbound calls. In addition, Mutare's user-friendly dashboard displays a customized view, including one-click access to most-used services, allowing users to check messages, manage notifications and configure settings for voice message management.

"The Mutare / Telnyx partnership leads the way towards improved voice security for Telnyx customers, and exemplifies Telnyx's commitment to providing secure communications," says Aaron Klein, Carrier Account Director at Mutare.

Telnyx Customers can get more information: https://www.mutare.com/telnyx-secure-communications-partnership/

About Mutare

For three decades, Mutare has been empowering organizations to re-imagine a better way to connect. Today, through our transformative voice security, digital voice and text messaging solutions, we make communications with colleagues, customers and prospects simple, secure and effective. And that means more time and less stress for your employees, a more positive experience for your customers, and improved bottom line results for your organization. Our forward-looking leadership team is made up of dedicated, focused and experienced people who care about transforming business communications and improving the lives of others. Ultimately, we are dedicated to make a difference for all our stakeholders  team members, customers, partners and communities. We are changemakers who are committed to becoming the recognized leader in voice threat defense for the enterprise.

About Telnyx

Telnyx is a global connectivity platform that provides carrier-grade communications services on a private, cloud-agnostic IP-network. Telnyx offers voice, messaging, numbering, fax, wireless, video and security solutions through RESTful APIs and its award-winning Mission Control Portal, making it easy to migrate and maintain your communications. As an internationally licensed carrier, Telnyx powers secure, high-fidelity connectivity while democratizing worldwide access to real-time communications over the internet.

MEDIA CONTACT  MUTARE, INC.

Chuck French

Chief Growth Officer

847.496.9006

[email protected]

www.mutare.com

SOURCE Mutare, Inc.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Formulated Materials, known as a leading manufacturer of gypsum cements, sound attenuating mats and innovative waterproofing solutions for the North American market has announced its new gypsum before drywall solution to benefit the multifamily construction market. Gypsum before drywall allows general contractors to re-sequence their projects to pick up 10 to 14 days of time savings and thousands of dollars in savings on an average sized project.

Montage of Gypsum Before Drywall application perfected by Formulated Materials. Formulated Materials FR25 application over Treadstone Elite in a Multi-Family housing structure near Dallas, Tx.

"At Formulated Materials, we have always believed that we should challenge conventional thinking when it favors improvement in process or product," said Ryan Brausa, Director of Marketing for Compellier, the parent company of Formulated Materials. "Gypsum before drywall is a perfect example of this mindset. A pairing of two products to save time, money and improve building safety is a perfect example of this."

Treadstone Elite when paired with Treadstone FR25 and FR30 offers a virtually incompressible substrate that is durable enough to stand up to the rigors of construction including the delivery and placement of thousands of pounds of drywall. This impressive strength allows multi-family construction projects to be sequenced allowing for measurable savings in time and money to the General Contractors. Placing the Treadstone Elite and FR25 prior to the drywall allows the water to dissipate faster without any risk of mold on the paper face of the drywall. Without walls in place, crews can pour the gypsum cement faster with better leveling which benefits other trades like drywall and flooring. Furthermore, elimination of many of the prep steps ensures that jobs run quicker and more efficient than the previous method of installation.

About Formulated Materials

Formulated Materials is widely recognized as a leading manufacturer of gypsum cements, sound attenuating mats and innovative waterproofing solutions for the North American market. The company's product brands, including Treadstone which encompasses FR 30 and Elite are considered by many to be the most popular and most trusted by industry professionals. Formulated Materials continually raises the standards for the multi-family construction industry through its commitment to innovation, performance, and exceptional customer service.

Formulated Material's Web site offers comprehensive resources including product and warranty information, installation specifications and technical support. For more information on the company's broad family of systems that make buildings safe from fire, quieter, more waterproof, and free from failures and litigation that plagues the multifamily construction industry, please call (844) 405-3676 or visit www.formulatedmaterials.com.

For more information contact:

Ryan Brausa

(844) 405-3676

[email protected]

SOURCE Formulated Materials
BEIJING, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (the "Company" or "New Oriental") (NYSE: EDU/ 9901.SEHK), a provider of private educational services in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the second fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2022, which is the second quarter of New Oriental's fiscal year 2023.

Financial Highlights for the Second Fiscal Quarter Ended November 30, 2022

Total net revenues decreased by 3.1% year-over-year to US$638.2 million for the second fiscal quarter of 2023.

for the second fiscal quarter of 2023. Operating loss was US$2.5 million , compared to the loss of US$768.1 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

, compared to the loss of in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Net income attributable to New Oriental was US$0.7 million , compared to the loss of US$936.5 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Key Financial Results

(in thousands US$, except per ADS(1) data) 2Q FY2023 2Q FY2022 (5) % of change Net revenues 638,214 658,321 -3.1 % Operating loss (2,488) (768,103) -99.7 % Non-GAAP operating income/ (loss) (2)(3) 16,303 (737,058) 102.2 % Net income/ (loss) attributable to New Oriental 732 (936,510) 100.1 % Non-GAAP net income/ (loss) attributable to New Oriental (2)(3) 17,750 (901,625) 102.0 % Net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental - basic 0.00 (5.52) 100.1 % Net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

diluted 0.00 (5.52) 100.0 % Non-GAAP net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New

Oriental - basic (2)(3)(4) 0.11 (5.31) 102.0 % Non-GAAP net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New

Oriental - diluted (2)(3)(4) 0.10 (5.31) 101.8 %







(in thousands US$, except per ADS(1) data) 1H FY2023 1H FY2022 % of change Net revenues 1,383,036 1,967,132 -29.7 % Operating income/ (loss) 75,501 (735,670) 110.3 % Non-GAAP operating income/ (loss) (2)(3) 113,347 (661,448) 117.1 % Net income/ (loss) attributable to New Oriental 66,734 (875,980) 107.6 % Non-GAAP net income/ (loss) attributable to New Oriental (2)(3) 101,456 (790,396) 112.8 % Net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental - basic 0.39 (5.17) 107.6 % Net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

diluted 0.38 (5.17) 107.4 % Non-GAAP net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New

Oriental - basic (2)(3)(4) 0.60 (4.66) 112.8 % Non-GAAP net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

diluted (2)(3)(4) 0.58 (4.66) 112.5 %









(1) Each ADS represents ten common shares. The Hong Kong-listed shares are fully fungible with the ADSs listed on NYSE. The weighted average number of ADS and earnings per ADS have been retrospectively adjusted to reflect the ADS ratio change from one ADS representing one common share to one ADS representing ten common shares, which became effective on April 8, 2022. (2) GAAP represents Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States of America. (3) New Oriental provides net income/ (loss) attributable to New Oriental, operating income/ (loss) and net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental on a non-GAAP basis that excludes share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of investments to provide supplemental information regarding its operating performance. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the section captioned "About Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and the tables captioned "Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Measures to the Most Comparable GAAP Measures" set forth at the end of this release. (4) The Non-GAAP net income/ (loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental is computed using Non-GAAP net income/ (loss) attributable to New Oriental and the same number of shares and ADSs used in GAAP basic and diluted EPS calculation. (5) The key financial results for the second fiscal quarter of 2022 have not been previously released.



Operating Highlights for the Second Fiscal Quarter Ended November 30, 2022

The total number of schools and learning centers was 708 as of November 30, 2022 , an increase of 2 compared to 706 as of August 31, 2022 and a decrease of 585 compared to 1,293 as of November 30, 2021 , respectively. The total number of schools was 95 as of November 30, 2022 .

Michael Yu, New Oriental's Executive Chairman, commented, "It is encouraging to see a continuously strong momentum of our overall business in the second fiscal quarter of this year, which marks a fresh start after downsizing throughout the last fiscal year. Our remaining key businesses started to show a steady trend of recovery after several years of pandemic disruption. In this fiscal quarter, our overseas test preparation and overseas study consulting businesses increased by approximately 17% and 14% year over year, respectively. Simultaneously, our educational new business initiatives sustained a strong growth and generated meaningful profit in this fiscal quarter. The non-academic tutoring business was rolled out in over 60 cities, with 477,000 enrollments in this fiscal quarter, while the intelligent learning system and devices were adopted in around 60 cities, with 108,000 active paid users in this fiscal quarter. With these solid financial results and positive customer feedback, we are increasingly confident in the promising prospects of our new businesses, as well as our ability to capture emerging opportunities in these rapidly-growing markets."

Chenggang Zhou, New Oriental's Chief Executive Officer, added, "By the end of this fiscal quarter, the total number of schools and learning centers remained at 708. We focus more strategically on business opportunities in the major markets of higher-tier cities, and proactively leverage our existing infrastructure and education resources for both the remaining key businesses and new educational initiatives across cities. The continued investment in maintaining our online-merge-offline teaching system provides flexibility and high teaching quality to our customers amid the pandemic. Koolearn.com has made significant progress in its private label products and livestreaming e-commerce business, and have achieved breakthroughs in our business operations and financial performance. While DONG FANG ZHEN XUAN() has become a well-known platform for promoting healthy, top-quality and cost-effective products to the public, it continues to expand its product selection and SKUs through proactive cooperation with third parties, coupled with increase in our DONG FANG ZHEN XUAN private label products. By focusing on improving product capabilities and developing diverse cultural content, DONG FANG ZHEN XUAN has yielded millions of revenues and a loyal customer base in the first half of this fiscal year."

Stephen Zhihui Yang, New Oriental's Executive President and Chief Financial Officer, commented, "Despite the fact that the second quarter is traditionally the slowest quarter of the year, we still managed to generate non-GAAP operating profit of US$16.3 million for the quarter. We recorded a positive operating cash flow of US$173.7 million and by the end of this fiscal quarter, our cash and cash equivalents, term deposits and short-term investments totaled approximately US$4.2 billion. We will continue to ramp up our effort in all aspects to accelerate our recovery and pursue profitable growth. We are confident in delivering more value to our customers, society and shareholders in the long term."

Share Repurchase

On July 26, 2022, the Company's board of directors authorized a share repurchase program, under which the Company may repurchase up to US$400 million of the Company's ADSs or common shares during the period from July 28, 2022 through May 31, 2023. As of January 16, 2023, the Company repurchased an aggregate of approximately 3.1 million ADSs for approximately US$79.0 million from the open market under the share repurchase program.

Financial Results for the Second Fiscal Quarter Ended November 30, 2022

Net Revenues

For the second fiscal quarter of 2023, New Oriental reported net revenues of US$638.2 million, representing a 3.1% decrease year over year. The decline was mainly due to the cessation of K-9 academic after-school tutoring services in complying with the government policies in China.

Operating Costs and Expenses

Operating costs and expenses for the quarter were US$640.7 million, representing a 55.1% decrease year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating costs and expenses for the quarter, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$621.9 million, representing a 55.4% decrease year-over-year. The decrease was primarily due to the reduction of facilities and number of staff as a result of the downsizing in fiscal year 2022.

Cost of revenues decreased by 31.6% year-over-year to US$336.2 million .

decreased by 31.6% year-over-year to . Selling and marketing expenses decreased by 15.0% year-over-year to US$95.5 million .

decreased by 15.0% year-over-year to . General and administrative expenses for the quarter decreased by 74.6% year-over-year to US$209.0 million . Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses, which exclude share-based compensation expenses, were US$190.9 million , representing a 75.7% decrease year-over-year.

Total share-based compensation expenses, which were allocated to related operating costs and expenses, decreased by 39.5% to US$18.8 million in the second fiscal quarter of 2023.

Operating Income / Loss and Operating Margin

Operating loss was US$2.5 million, compared to the loss of US$768.1 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP income from operations for the quarter was US$16.3 million, compared to the loss of US$737.1 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating margin for the quarter was negative 0.4%, compared to negative 116.7% in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, for the quarter was 2.6%, compared to negative 112.0% in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net Income and Net Income per ADS

Net income attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was US$0.7 million, compared to the loss of US$936.5 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Basic and diluted net income per ADS attributable to New Oriental were US$0.00 and US$0.00, respectively.

Non-GAAP Net Income and Non-GAAP Net Income per ADS

Non-GAAP net income attributable to New Oriental for the quarter was US$17.8 million, compared to the loss of US$901.6 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS attributable to New Oriental were US$0.11 and US$0.10, respectively.

Cash Flow

Net cash flow generated from operation for the second fiscal quarter of 2023 was approximately US$173.7 million and capital expenditures for the quarter were US$11.4 million.

Balance Sheet

As of November 30, 2022, New Oriental had cash and cash equivalents of US$1,029.9 million. In addition, the Company had US$1,033.2 million in term deposits and US$2,145.7 million in short-term investments.

New Oriental's deferred revenue balance, which is cash collected from registered students for courses and recognized proportionally as revenue as the instructions are delivered, at the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 was US$1,139.1 million, an increase of 6.9% as compared to US$1,065.8 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal year 2022.

Financial Results for the Six Months Ended November 30, 2022

For the first six months of fiscal year 2023, New Oriental reported net revenues of US$1,383.0 million, representing a 29.7% decrease year-over-year.

Operating income was US$75.5 million, compared to a loss of US$735.7 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating income for the first six months of fiscal year 2023 was US$113.3 million, compared to a loss of US$661.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Operating margin for the first six months of fiscal year 2023 was 5.5%, compared to negative 37.4% for the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP operating margin, which excludes share-based compensation expenses for the first six months of fiscal year 2023, was 8.2%, compared to negative 33.6% for the same period of the prior fiscal year.

Net income attributable to New Oriental for the first six months of fiscal year 2023 was US$66.7 million, compared to a loss of US$876.0 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Basic and diluted net income per ADS attributable to New Oriental for the first six months of fiscal year 2023 amounted to US$0.39 and US$0.38, respectively.

Non-GAAP net income attributable to New Oriental for the first six months of fiscal year 2023 was US$101.5 million, compared to a loss of US$790.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net income per ADS attributable to New Oriental for the first six months of fiscal year 2023 amounted to US$0.60 and US$0.58, respectively.

Koolearn's Financial Highlights for the Six Months Ended November 30, 2022

New Oriental's subsidiary, Koolearn Technology Holdings Limited ("Koolearn"), a leading online extracurricular education service provider and a well known private label products and livestreaming e-commerce platform in China listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, announced its financial results under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") for the first six months of fiscal year 2023. Koolearn's financial information in this section is presented in accordance with IFRS.

For the first six months ended November 30, 2022, Koolearn recorded revenues of RMB 2,080.1 million (US$293.5 million), a 590.2% increase from revenues from continuing operations of RMB301.4 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year, and recorded a net profit of RMB585.3 million (US$82.6 million), a 638.5% increase from net loss from continuing operations of RMB108.7 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year. Koolearn's gross profit was RMB982.5 million (US$138.6 million) and gross profit margin was 47.2% for the six months ended November 30, 2022.

The translations of RMB amounts into U.S. dollars in this section are presented solely for the convenience of the readers. The conversion of RMB into U.S. dollars is based on the exchange rate set forth in the H.10 statistical release of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System as of November 30, 2022, which was RMB7.0879 to US$1.00. The percentages stated in this section are calculated based on the RMB amounts.

Koolearn's Proposed Change of Company Name

On January 5, 2023, Koolearn proposed a change of company name from "Koolearn Technology Holding Limited" ("") to "East Buy Holding Limited" (") as part of reassessment by Koolearn's board of directors to fully encompass the direction of Koolearn's current business and future outlook.

Outlook for the Third Quarter of the Fiscal Year 2023

New Oriental expects total net revenues in the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023 (December 1, 2022 to February 28, 2023) to be in the range of US$702.8 million to US$719.8 million, representing year-over-year increase in the range of 14% to 17%.

The projected increase of revenue in our functional currency Renminbi is expected to be in the range of 24% to 27% for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023.

This forecast reflects New Oriental's current and preliminary view, which is subject to change.

Conference Call Information

New Oriental's management will host an earnings conference call at 8 AM on January 17, 2023, U.S. Eastern Time (9 PM on January 17, 2023, Beijing/Hong Kong Time).

Please register in advance of the conference, using the link provided below. Upon registering, you will be provided with participant dial-in numbers, and unique personal PIN.

Conference call registration link: https://register.vevent.com/register/BI7e732066495e450bb411f6b75a1cac60. It will automatically direct you to the registration page of "New Oriental FY 2023 Q2 Earnings Conference Call" where you may fill in your details for RSVP.

In the 10 minutes prior to the call start time, you may use the conference access information (including dial in number(s) and personal PIN) provided in the confirmation email received at the point of registering.

Joining the conference call via a live webcast:

Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available at http://investor.neworiental.org.

Listening to the conference call replay:

A replay of the conference call may be accessed via the webcast on-demand by registering at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/ht5qqwzg first. The replay will be available until January 17, 2024.

About New Oriental

New Oriental is a provider of private educational services in China offering a wide range of educational programs, services and products to a varied student population throughout China. New Oriental's program, service and product offerings mainly consist of educational services and test preparation courses, online education and other services, overseas study consulting services, and educational materials and distribution. New Oriental is listed on NYSE (NYSE: EDU) and SEHK (9901.SEHK), respectively. New Oriental's ADSs, each of which represents ten common shares. The Hong Kong-listed shares are fully fungible with the ADSs listed on NYSE.

For more information about New Oriental, please visit http://www.neworiental.org/english/.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the outlook for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023, quotations from management in this announcement, as well as New Oriental's strategic and operational plans, contain forward-looking statements. New Oriental may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about New Oriental's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: our ability to attract students without a significant increase in course fees; our ability to continue to hire, train and retain qualified teachers; our ability to maintain and enhance our "New Oriental" brand; our ability to effectively and efficiently manage the expansion of our school network and successfully execute our growth strategy; the outcome of ongoing, or any future, litigation or arbitration, including those relating to copyright and other intellectual property rights; competition in the private education sector in China; changes in our revenues and certain cost or expense items as a percentage of our revenues; the expected growth of the Chinese private education market; Chinese governmental policies relating to private educational services and providers of such services; health epidemics and other outbreaks in China; and general economic conditions in China. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in our annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New Oriental does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and New Oriental undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement New Oriental's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with GAAP, New Oriental uses the following measures defined as non-GAAP financial measures by the SEC: net income/ (loss) excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain/ (loss) from fair value change of investments, operating income/ (loss) excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating cost and expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, general and administrative expenses excluding share-based compensation expenses, operating margin excluding share-based compensation expenses, and basic and diluted net income/ (loss) per ADS and per share excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain / (loss) from fair value change of investments. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the tables captioned "Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures" set forth at the end of this release.

New Oriental believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information regarding its performance and liquidity by excluding share-based compensation expenses and gain/ (loss) from fair value change of investments that may not be indicative of its operating performance from a cash perspective. New Oriental believes that both management and investors benefit from referring to these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing its performance and when planning and forecasting future periods. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management's internal comparisons to New Oriental's historical performance and liquidity. New Oriental believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors in allowing for greater transparency with respect to supplemental information used by management in its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP measures is that they exclude share-based compensation charge and gain / (loss) from fair value change of investments that has been and will continue to be for the foreseeable future a significant recurring expense in our business. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The accompanying tables have more details on the reconciliations between GAAP financial measures that are most directly comparable to non-GAAP financial measures.

Contacts

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Ms. Rita Fong Ms. Sisi Zhao

FTI Consulting New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc.

Tel: +852 3768 4548 Tel: +86-10-6260-5568

Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In thousands)

As of November 30

As of May 31 2022

2022 (Unaudited)

(Audited)

USD

USD ASSETS:





Current assets:





Cash and cash equivalents 1,029,865

1,148,637 Restricted cash, current 67,183

- Term deposits 1,033,173

1,140,066 Short-term investments 2,145,655

1,902,254 Accounts receivable, net 27,837

16,430 Inventory, net 74,612

27,925 Prepaid expenses and other current assets, net 228,591

215,402 Amounts due from related parties, current 10,480

23,245 Total current assets 4,617,396

4,473,959







Restricted cash, non-current 25,776

45,890 Property and equipment, net 345,832

402,690 Land use rights, net 3,373

3,627 Amounts due from related parties, non-current 1,704

3,365 Long-term deposits 26,040

33,409 Intangible assets, net 28,962

2,800 Goodwill, net 105,783

70,803 Long-term investments, net 399,149

437,919 Deferred tax assets, non-current, net 51,323

20,038 Right-of-use assets 413,755

531,102 Other non-current assets 4,460

9,064 Total assets 6,023,553

6,034,666







LIABILITIES AND EQUITY





Current liabilities:





Accounts payable 81,529

22,289 Accrued expenses and other current liabilities 435,523

510,264 Income taxes payable 119,484

75,650 Amounts due to related parties 214

226 Deferred revenue 1,139,080

933,062 Operating lease liability,current 147,190

168,623 Total current liabilities 1,923,020

1,710,114







Deferred tax liabilities, non-current 17,608

19,240 Unsecured senior notes 15,103

65,394 Operating lease liabilities, non-current 324,736

446,394 Total long-term liabilities 357,447

531,028







Total liabilities 2,280,467

2,241,142







Equity





New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. shareholders' equity 3,607,181

3,705,506 Non-controlling interests 135,905

88,018 Total equity 3,743,086

3,793,524







Total liabilities and equity 6,023,553

6,034,666

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)







For the Three Months Ended November 30

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD Net revenues 638,214

658,321







Operating cost and expenses (note 1)





Cost of revenues 336,196

491,676 Selling and marketing 95,525

112,378 General and administrative 208,981

822,370 Total operating cost and expenses 640,702

1,426,424 Operating loss (2,488)

(768,103) Gain/(loss) from fair value change of investments 271

(5,746) Other income/(loss), net 26,320

(46,283) Provision for income taxes (3,942)

(94,852) Loss from equity method investments (3,575)

(35,618) Net income/(loss) 16,586

(950,602)







Add: Net (gain)/loss attributable to non-controlling interests (15,854)

14,092 Net income/(loss) attributable to New Oriental Education &

Technology Group Inc.'s shareholders 732

(936,510)















Net income/(loss) per share attributable to New Oriental-

Basic (note 2) 0.00

(0.55)







Net income/(loss) per share attributable to New Oriental-

Diluted (note 2) 0.00

(0.55)







Net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental-Basic

(note 2) 0.00

(5.52)







Net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental-

Diluted (note 2) 0.00

(5.52)

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. RECONCILIATIONS OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO THE MOST COMPARABLE GAAP MEASURES (In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)





For the Three Months Ended November 30

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD







General and administrative expenses 208,981

822,370 Less: Share-based compensation expenses in

general and administrative expenses 18,114

36,340 Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses 190,867

786,030







Total operating cost and expenses 640,702

1,426,424 Less: Share-based compensation expenses 18,791

31,045 Non-GAAP operating cost and expenses 621,911

1,395,379







Operating loss (2,488)

(768,103) Add: Share-based compensation expenses 18,791

31,045 Non-GAAP operating income/(loss) 16,303

(737,058)







Operating margin -0.4 %

-116.7 % Non-GAAP operating margin 2.6 %

-112.0 %







Net income/(loss) attributable to New Oriental 732

(936,510) Add: Share-based compensation expenses 17,289

29,139 Less: Gain/(loss) from fair value change of

investments 271

(5,746) Non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to New

Oriental 17,750

(901,625)







Net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New

Oriental- Basic (note 2) 0.00

(5.52) Net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New

Oriental- Diluted (note 2) 0.00

(5.52)







Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to

New Oriental - Basic (note 2) 0.11

(5.31) Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to

New Oriental - Diluted (note 2) 0.10

(5.31)







Weighted average shares used in calculating basic

net income/(loss) per ADS (note 2) 1,689,218,254

1,696,966,183 Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted

net income/(loss) per ADS (note 2) 1,689,994,459

1,696,966,183







Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per share - basic 0.01

(0.53) Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per share - diluted 0.01

(0.53)

Notes:







Note 1: Share-based compensation expenses (in thousands) are included in the operating cost and expenses as

follows:









For the Three Months Ended November 30

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD Cost of revenues 116

(1,379) Selling and marketing 561

(3,916) General and administrative 18,114

36,340 Total 18,791

31,045











NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In thousands)









For the Three Months Ended November 30



2022

2021



(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)



USD

USD











Net cash provided by/ (used in) operating activities 173,670

(628,322)

Net cash (used in )/ provided by investing activities (54,203)

474,055

Net cash used in financing activities (97,758)

(112,178)

Effect of exchange rate changes (35,997)

(32,765)











Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (14,288)

(299,210)











Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of

period 1,137,112

1,349,340











Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period 1,122,824

1,050,130



NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)







For the Six Months Ended November 30

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD Net revenues 1,383,036

1,967,132







Operating costs and expenses (note 1):





Cost of revenues 648,263

1,133,717 Selling and marketing 194,269

277,403 General and administrative 465,003

1,291,682 Total operating costs and expenses 1,307,535

2,702,802 Operating income/(loss) 75,501

(735,670) Loss from fair value change of investments (47)

(14,323) Other income/(loss), net 58,218

(2,358) Provision for income taxes (27,285)

(113,831) Loss from equity method investments (5,220)

(41,778) Net income/(loss) 101,167

(907,960)







Add: Net (gain)/loss attributable to non-controlling interests (34,433)

31,980 Net income/(loss) attributable to New Oriental Education

& Technology Group Inc. 66,734

(875,980)















Net income/(loss) per share attributable to New Oriental-

Basic (note 2) 0.04

(0.52)







Net income/(loss) per share attributable to New Oriental-

Diluted (note 2) 0.04

(0.52)







Net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental-

Basic (note 2) 0.39

(5.17)







Net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental-

Diluted (note 2) 0.38

(5.17)

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. RECONCILIATION OF NON-GAAP MEASURES TO THE MOST COMPARABLE GAAP MEASURES (In thousands except for per share and per ADS amounts)





For the Six Months Ended November 30

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD







General and administrative expenses 465,003

1,291,682 Less: Share-based compensation expenses in general

and administrative expenses 36,699

77,476 Non-GAAP general and administrative expenses 428,304

1,214,206







Total operating costs and expenses 1,307,535

2,702,802 Less: Share-based compensation expenses 37,846

74,222 Non-GAAP operating costs and expenses 1,269,689

2,628,580







Operating income/(loss) 75,501

(735,670) Add: Share-based compensation expenses 37,846

74,222 Non-GAAP operating income/(loss) 113,347

(661,448)







Operating margin 5.5 %

-37.4 % Non-GAAP operating margin 8.2 %

-33.6 %







Net income/(loss) attributable to New Oriental 66,734

(875,980) Add: Share-based compensation expenses 34,675

71,261 Less: Loss from fair value change of investments (47)

(14,323) Non-GAAP net income/(loss) attributable to New Oriental 101,456

(790,396)







Net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental- Basic (note 2) 0.39

(5.17) Net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental- Diluted (note 2) 0.38

(5.17)







Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

Basic (note 2) 0.60

(4.66) Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per ADS attributable to New Oriental -

Diluted (note 2) 0.58

(4.66)







Weighted average shares used in calculating basic net

income/(loss) per ADS (note 2) 1,695,055,767

1,695,875,271 Weighted average shares used in calculating diluted net

income/(loss) per ADS (note 2) 1,696,196,397

1,695,875,271







Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per share - basic 0.06

(0.47) Non-GAAP net income/(loss) per share - diluted 0.06

(0.47)

Notes:













Note 1: Share-based compensation expenses (in thousands) are included in the operating costs and expenses as

follows:









For the Six Months Ended November 30

2022

2021

(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)

USD

USD Cost of revenues 6

(205) Selling and marketing 1,141

(3,049) General and administrative 36,699

77,476 Total 37,846

74,222







Note 2: Each ADS represents ten common shares. For the three and six months ended November 30, 2021, the

weighted average number of ADS and earnings per ADS have been retrospectively adjusted to reflect the ADS ratio

change from one ADS representing one common share to one ADS representing ten common shares, which became

effective on April 8, 2022.

NEW ORIENTAL EDUCATION & TECHNOLOGY GROUP INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (In thousands)









For the Six Months Ended November 30



2022

2021



(Unaudited)

(Unaudited)



USD

USD











Net cash provided by/ (used in) operating activities 358,917

(1,074,835)

Net cash (used in )/ provided by investing activities (249,499)

653,374

Net cash used in financing activities (117,751)

(113,259)

Effect of exchange rate changes (63,370)

(47,277)











Net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash (71,703)

(581,997)











Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of

period 1,194,527

1,632,127











Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period 1,122,824

1,050,130



SOURCE New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc.
LONDON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fineqia International Inc.'s (the "Company" or "Fineqia") (CSE: FNQ) (OTC: FNQQF) (Frankfurt: FNQA) analysis of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) worldwide that have cryptocurrencies as underlying assets, indicated that the number of ETPs increased 50% to 162 from 109 in 2022, even as their Assets Under Management (AUMs) decreased 66%, mirroring the 64% fall in cryptocurrency market values during the same period.

Fineqia research revealed that the number of ETPs increased by 53 to 162 in Dec. from 109 in Jan. Conversely, their total AUM declined to a third of their value to $20 billion from $58.5 billion in 2022. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) dropped by 65%, while Ethereum (ETH) decreased by 68% during Jan-Dec. 2022 period.

For the month of Dec., the AUM of ETPs decreased by 5%, while the value of the cryptocurrency market dropped 8% to about $800 million. That implied a total decline of 64% in 2022 from $2.2 trillion last January.

"The fact that an average of one new ETP was issued each week, despite the bear market in 2022, can be seen as an indication of continued investor appetite for this asset class," said Fineqia's CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar. "Specific events, such as the bankruptcy of FTX, contributed to a fall in crypto prices and resultant AUMs."

ETPs started during bear markets experienced significant growth in subsequent bull markets. Grayscale's Litecoin Trust (LTCN) launched in 2018, for example, grew more than 220x from an initial AUM of approx. $472k to about $104 million. Similarly, the AUM of two 21 Shares ETPs increased about 120x from the time of their launch in 2019. The 21Shares Ethereum ETP (AETH) grew from about $1.3 million to $155 million and that of the 21Shares Bitcoin ETP (ABTC) increased from $1.2 million to nearly $145 million.

By contrast, ETPs launch around the time of BTC's all-time high of more than $65,000 in Nov. 2021, such as the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, launched on Oct. 18, 2021, dropped 54% to about $549 million from $1.2 billion. Similarly, the Invesco Physical Bitcoin ETN started on Nov. 22, 2021, fell 70% to about $52 million from an initial $171 million.

In the month of Dec., the AUM ETPs holding BTC dropped by 3% to $13.5 billion from $14 billion. The AUM of ETH-denominated ETPs decreased by 7.5% to $5 billion from $5.3 billion. ETPs representing alternative coins decreased by 18% and those with a basket of cryptocurrencies dropped by 8%.

One ETP that had the FTX token (FTT) as its underlying asset was removed from trading, decreasing the total number of ETPs by one to 162, from the 163 previously listed.

All references are in US dollars and all cryptocurrency prices are sourced from CoinMarketCap.

All ETFs and ETPs AUM were compiled from publicly available sources, such as 21Shares AG, Grayscale Investment LLC, VanEck Associates Corp., MorningStars, Inc., and TrackInSight SAS by Fineqia's in-house research department.

About Fineqia International Inc.

Fineqia (www.fineqia.com) is a listed entity in Canada (CSE: FNQ), US (OTC: FNQQF) and Europe (Frankfurt: FNQA). Fineqia's strategic focus has been to provide a platform and associated services to support securities issuances and manage the administration of debt securities. Fineqia is building out its alternative finance business and holds a growing portfolio of blockchain, fintech and cryptocurrency technology companies worldwide.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Some statements in this release may contain forward-looking information (as defined under applicable Canadian securities laws) ("forward-looking statements"). All statements, other than of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that Fineqia (the "Company") believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding potential acquisitions and financings) are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of the words "may", "will", "should", "continue", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "believe", "intend", "plan" or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict, that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, without limitation, the failure to obtain sufficient financing, and other risks disclosed in the Company's public disclosure record on file with the relevant securities regulatory authorities. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made except as may be required by applicable securities laws. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.

For further information: Katarina Kupcikova, Analyst, E. [email protected], T. +44 7806 730 769; Bundeep Singh Rangar, CEO, E. [email protected], T. +1 778 654 2324

SOURCE Fineqia International Inc.
New hires sets the tone for an explosive year of continued success.

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Finopotamus, the only online publication providing in-depth technology coverage exclusively to credit unions, today announced the newest addition to its expanding team: Director of Growth Strategies Tom Panos. The publication also recently welcomed Social Media Manager Kelsie Pappenhausen who has expertly fostered the company's brand on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Together, the new hires will build on the successful momentum created since the publication was launched in July 2020.

Tom Panos

"Tom is a powerhouse of energy and has countless, forward-leaning business strategies," said John San Filippo, who co-founded Finopotamus with credit union industry veterans W.B. King and Roy Urrico. "He will play an instrumental role as we continue to redefine the face of credit union technology and the important and positive impact it has on the member experience."

In this newly created role, Panos will be responsible for fostering strong relationships within the financial technology community, exploring ways that Finopotamus can help companies execute on their unique marketing initiatives, and growing advertising revenue for the publication.

Panos has more than a decade of experience in revenue growth, business development and marketing for tech companies of all sizes, from startups to Fortune 1000 companies. Finopotamus intends to leverage that experience to its maximum potential.

"I've built my career by aligning with companies that fill a clear and unique market void," said Panos. "That's absolutely the case with Finopotamus. I embrace the 'people helping people' credit union philosophy and look forward to working with credit union and fintech executives to further this important movement, while building upon the revered Finopotamus brand." Panos can be reached at [email protected].

About Finopotamus

Finopotamus is an online publication created by industry veterans W.B. King, John San Filippo, and Roy Urrico to bring credit unions technology news and original content not found elsewhere. The publication looks at technology best practices across multiple industries to bring credit unions the broadest range of relevant information. The publication's tagline is Fintech News for Hungry CUs. Visit Finopotamus at www.finopotamus.com.

Contact: John San Filippo, (619) 467-0431, [email protected]

SOURCE Finopotamus LLC
The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice Responds to Dafny et al's Article in Health Affairs Magazine, September 2022.

WEST CHESTER, Pa, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice, the leader in syndicated market research on the relationships between patient advocacy and the healthcare industry, recently responded to a publication in Health Affairs Magazine that it deemed "dangerous." Though a direct response was not accepted by Health Affairs, The Advocate's Editor-in-Chief, Matt Toresco, released his article on The Advocate's website for broad distribution and to "shine a light" on the lobbying efforts at play "using patients as pawns."

The Advocate, working together with patient advocacy, professional associations/societies and pharmaceutical companies, hand-in-hand. (PRNewsfoto/The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice)

In September 2022, the article in question was published in Health Affairs Magazine by Dafny et al, claiming that pharmaceutical company donations to charity were tantamount to inducement. The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice, an organization dedicated to amplifying the patient voice and promoting patient-centered healthcare, finds this claim to be deeply troubling and misleading.

In response, The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice has developed a counter article that provides a comprehensive and evidence-based critique of Dafny et al's claims. The article, which was not selected for publication in Health Affairs Magazine, can be found on The Advocate's website at https://theadvocatepatientvoice.com/blog.

The Advocate's response highlights the important role that pharmaceutical companies play in funding charitable efforts for under and uninsured patients, as well as the many benefits that these donations provide to patients and the broader healthcare community. The response also addresses the rigorous ethical guidelines and oversight that govern these donations to ensure that they do not compromise patient care or medical research.

"Dafny et al's article is a disservice to the patients and healthcare professionals who rely on pharmaceutical companies for vital medical research, treatments, and support," said Matt Toresco, Editor-in-Chief, of The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice. "Our counter article sets the record straight and provides a more accurate and nuanced picture of the role of pharmaceutical company donations in healthcare, while shining a light on the data set used by the authors that points to influence by the insurance industry. If the authors intended to do the bidding of the health insurers to maximize the out of pocket expense of patients, that is simply unethical and uses the patient as a pawn in the fight between payers & pharmaceutical companies."

The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice encourages all stakeholders in the healthcare community  especially patients - to read their response and engage in an informed, evidence-based dialogue about the role of pharmaceutical company donations in healthcare.

For more information, visit https://theadvocatepatientvoice.com or reach out to Matt Toresco directly at [email protected].

SOURCE The Advocate: Supporting the Patient Voice
COLUMBIA, Mo., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GME Supply ("GME") is pleased to announce its acquisition of Farwest Line Specialties LLC ("Farwest"). Based in Atascadero, CA, Farwest has spent decades helping utility line workers and infrastructure professionals be safe and productive on the job. This acquisition supports GME's strategy to expand throughout North America while serving contractors across infrastructure-related industries including telecommunications, utilities, renewable energy, and commercial construction.

"Farwest is a great fit to join our team," said Caleb Messer, President and CEO of GME. "There is immediate crossover between our existing customers, and the partnership will expand our capabilities and GME's ability to provide unmatched customer service and expertise. Beyond expanding the product offering available to Farwest customers, the acquisition also provides additional locations, opportunities for stocking product, and technology features like GME PRO and Gearcor to make it easier and faster for customers to get the gear they need."

"We at Farwest Line Specialties strive to offer great customer service, product availability and product knowledge. We also value customer relationships," said Matt Clemens, COO of Farwest. "Our values align with those of GME, and we look forward to teaming up as we seek to improve the customer experience with greater accessibility to products, advances in technology and a larger team."

"Platte River Equity welcomes the Farwest team members to the GME organization. The acquisition expands GME's supplier relationships and presence in the utility market, mirroring how prior acquisitions have enhanced GME's presence in other infrastructure-related industries," said Mike Reilly, Vice President of Platte River Equity.

About GME Supply

GME is one of North America's premier outfitters of fall protection, safety equipment, and gear for at-height workers, infrastructure, and construction. GME is headquartered in Columbia, MO, with seven facilities across North America. In 2019, the company was an honoree of INC Magazine's Best Workplace Award, and is a repeat winner of Best Workplace (2019 and 2022), Member of the Year (2018) and Safety Supplier/Conversion of the Year (2016 and 2021) honors in the prestigious Affiliated Distributors collective. For more information, please visit www.gmesupply.com.

About Farwest

Founded in 1993 and based in Atascadero, CA, Farwest is a distributor of safety equipment and tools for professional line workers and utility employees. The business has grown from a regional supplier to a national distributor of specialty tools and equipment needed to enter and work in the utility industry, from small municipalities to major city utilities. For more information, please visit www.fwlsp.com.

About Platte River Equity

Founded in 2006 and based in Denver, CO, Platte River Equity is a private equity firm focused on investments in established lower middle market operating companies within targeted industrial sectors where it has substantial operating and investing experience. Platte River utilizes conservative capital structures in order to invest in future growth opportunities and withstand changing economic environments. The firm also provides significant ongoing support to its portfolio companies through dedicated resources across functional areas. For more information, please visit www.platteriverequity.com.

The firm has raised funds with committed capital in excess of $1.3 billion and is currently investing out of its $625 million fourth fund. The Platte River team is the largest collective investor across its funds, deeply aligning the firm with its investors and portfolio company management teams.

Contact

Brian P. Klaban

Director of Business Development & Debt Capital Markets

Phone #: +1 303 292 7317

Email: [email protected]

Lauren A. Metz

Vice President of Business Development

Phone #: +1 303 292 7321

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Platte River Equity
TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SANTE Realty Investments proudly announces the addition of Noah Stern to its Advisory Board called the Founders' Circle. Mr. Stern is the Founder and Senior Advisor as well as a major shareholder in, and previously served as Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Product Officer of, Moose Knuckles Canada (a Montreal-based global leader of luxury outerwear, sportswear, and accessories).

In 2019, Mr. Stern was awarded Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2019 for Quebec, Canada for his relentless commitment to product design and technical expertise that launched Moose Knuckles Canada to unprecedented growth through the years.

Mr. Stern is also a member of the External Board of Directors of Baboon to the Moon, an adventure brand with the highest-grade materials and most aesthetically pleasing bags. He is also the Owner and President of FDJ French Dressing Inc., a denim and apparel company for women of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Prior to founding Moose Knuckles Canada, Mr. Stern practiced as an M&A Attorney at the New-York based Skadden, Arps and was the Owner and President of Levy Canada Fashion Company.

Mr. Stern said, "I'm thrilled to join SANTE Realty Investment's Advisory Board and continue my passion of helping to scale businesses with a focus on sustainability and overall success."

Jim Small, CEO of SANTE Realty Investments said, "Mr. Stern greatly contributes to the broad set of expertise, skills, and perspective of our Advisory Board with his proven authentic leadership and valuable experience in manufacturing and retail operations."

ABOUT SANTE REALTY INVESTMENTS

SANTE Realty Investments is a purpose driven organization delivering private equity in the real estate sector where the firm has high conviction of being able to deliver superior returns to its institutional investors. The firm was founded in 2009 and has grown to be an industry leader in commercial real estate both in the US and Europe by leveraging its proprietary methodology including the SANTE Acquisition Advantage, SANTE Due Diligence Discovery, SANTE Asset Management Method, & SANTE Investor Cash Flow Maximizer programs.

Further information please contact Elinore Malagar at SANTE Realty Investments at +1 (480) 398-4954 or via email at [email protected]. Additional background information is available at www.SANTErealty.com.

SOURCE SANTE Realty Investments
NEW YORK and CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rockwood Capital ("Rockwood") and Doyenne Healthcare Capital ("DHC"), a women and minority owned real estate investment firm, have formed a joint venture to invest up to $100 million of equity in seniors housing communities across the country. Financial terms of the venture were not disclosed.

With almost 50 years of combined experience in seniors housing and healthcare real estate investing, DHC founders, Manisha Bathija and Kristen Ahrens share a common goal of providing aging Americans with safe, supportive, and life-enhancing housing solutions. Their focus is on investing in healthcare real estate and seniors housing communities throughout the United States.

David Becker, Co-Managing Partner of Rockwood, said, "We view seniors housing as a complementary strategy for our existing 'live-space' investment program. We believe that significant demographic tailwinds continue to support the sector. We also believe that the operational disruption caused by the pandemic coupled with the current capital markets dislocation creates a favorable investment environment for seniors housing. Manisha and Kristen are accomplished industry professionals with extensive experience acquiring, financing, and asset managing seniors housing communities and share our commitment to responsible investing."

Manisha Bathija, DHC Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer ("CIO") said, "We are excited to launch our first strategic partnership with Rockwood, an established real estate investor with a long history of responsible investing and a unique culture of collaboration. Our mutual belief in the growth potential of healthcare and seniors housing real estate will help deliver attractive returns to investors."

As CIO, Manisha Bathija, leads the company's acquisition and disposition efforts. Prior to founding DHC, she served as Senior Investment Officer for Ventas, Inc., where she was responsible for originating, negotiating and executing acquisitions and development opportunities for the company's seniors housing portfolio. Earlier, she served in a variety of roles in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. She holds an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and a B.S. in Accounting and a B.A. in Chemistry from Virginia Tech.

Kristen Ahrens, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at DHC, leads the company's portfolio and asset management activities. She was previously a Principal at Capitol Seniors Housing, a Washington, D.C.-based senior housing private equity firm, where she focused on expanding capital, lending and operating relationships. Earlier, she was a Managing Director at CapitalOne Healthcare Finance. She holds an MBA and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Florida.

About Doyenne Healthcare Capital

Doyenne Healthcare Real Estate is a women and minority owned real estate investment firm whose mission is to meet the needs of aging Americans in environments that enrich their lives by focusing on investments in seniors housing and healthcare real estate throughout the United States. Co-founded by senior housing and healthcare real estate veterans Kristen Ahrens and Manisha Bathija, DHC offers a comprehensive suite of services including acquisitions, underwriting, asset management, dispositions, and fund reporting. The company forms strategic partnerships with institutional capital partners while also investing its own capital in each transaction. DHC was established in August 2022 and is headquartered in Chicago. For more information, visit doyennehc.com .

About Rockwood Capital

Rockwood Capital is a real estate investment management firm founded in 1995 that provides debt and equity capital combined with real estate operating expertise for the repositioning, development, redevelopment and recapitalization of residential, office, retail and hotel space in key markets throughout the United States. Rockwood is a more than 85-person organization with offices in New York, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Los Angeles, CA. Since inception, Rockwood and its principals have invested in approximately $38.6 billion of real estate and real estate-related assets (gross asset value). As of Q3 2022, Rockwood manages a portfolio of approximately $13.2 billion (gross asset value). Rockwood's international investor base includes sovereign wealth funds, public and private pension funds, endowments, foundations, insurance companies, funds of funds, high net worth individuals and family offices. For more information, visit www.rockwoodcap.com .

Contact:

Lambert

Caroline Luz

203-570-6462

[email protected]

or

Lisa Baker

603-868-1967

[email protected]

SOURCE Rockwood Capital
NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of Yuga securities, which were sold as various non-fungible tokens (or "NFTs") and the native token ApeCoin (APE) between April 23, 2021 and December 8, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"), of the important February 7, 2023 lead plaintiff deadline.

The case is against Yuga Labs, Inc., Wylie Aronow, Greg Solano, Kerem Atalay, Zeshan Ali, Nicole Muniz, Jasmin Shoemaker, Patrick Ehrlund, Christopher Lyons, Alexis Ohanian, Amy Wu, Maaria Bajwa, Dean Steinbeck, Guy Oseary, Mike Winkelmann, Madonna Louise Ciccone, Paris Hilton, James Fallon, Electric Hot Dog, Inc., Universal Television, LLC, Justin Bieber, Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Thomas Pentz, Austin Richard Post, Calvin Broadus Jr., Kevin Hart, Alexander Pall, Andrew Taggart, Wardell Stephen Curry II, Nayvadius Wilburn Cash, Abel Tesfaye, Khaled Mohammed Khaled, Adidas America Inc., Adidas Venture B.V., Ivan Soto-Wright, and Moonpay USA LLC (together, "Defendants").

SO WHAT: If you purchased Yuga securities, which were sold as a suite of digital assets (including the flagship NFT collection referred to as the Bored Ape Yacht Club ("BAYC") and the native token ApeCoin (APE) on various cryptocurrency exchanges), during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Yuga class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=10344 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than February 7, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Many of these firms do not actually handle securities class actions, but are merely middlemen that refer clients or partner with law firms that actually litigate the cases. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants violated provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by making false and misleading statements concerning Yuga's growth prospects, financial ownership, and financial benefits for Yuga securities investors, as well as using celebrity promoters to lure in unsuspecting investors so that Yuga insiders could sell the unregistered Yuga securities in violation of the Securities Act of 1933.

To join the Yuga class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=10344 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

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[email protected]

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www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
Say 'I love you' with individually wrapped heart-shaped bites and a Limited Edition 3-Bar Pack

BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chocolove, the Boulder, Colo.-based leader in chocolate quality, sustainability and flavor innovation for more than 27 years, is making Valentine's Day sweeter with special heart-shaped bites that are individually wrapped in resealable pouches in Very Cherry and Salted Caramel flavors. A Limited Edition Valentine's Day Collection 3-Bar Pack, complete with three large bars in Cherry Cordial, Raspberry Rose and Cinnamon Ganache flavors packaged in a beautiful, themed tray, also is available and perfect for gifting.

chocolove vday

Here are the details on Chocolove's Valentine's Day chocolate:

Individually Wrapped Bites in Pouches:

Salted Caramel Hearts: Heart-shaped chocolate bites with cinnamon salted caramel filling in 55% Belgian dark chocolate

Very Cherry Hearts: Heart-shaped chocolate bites with cherry puree filling in 55% Belgian dark chocolate

3-Bar Pack:

Cherry Cordial : 55% Belgian dark chocolate with cherry filling

: 55% Belgian dark chocolate with cherry filling Raspberry Rose: Raspberry and a hint of real rose enveloped in 34% ruby chocolate

Cinnamon Ganache: 33% Belgian milk chocolate with cinnamon ganache filling

"Your loved one will be sure to say, 'I love Chocolove' this holiday," said Timothy Moley, Chocolove's CEO and founder.

The Valentine's Day Collection bars can be purchased individually or as a 3-bar pack. These bars and the heart-shaped bites in pouches are available now at a variety of retailers nationwide including Albertsons/Safeway, Whole Foods Market, HyVee, Natural Grocers, Brookshire's Food & Pharmacy, Lunds & Byerlys, Roth's Fresh Markets, Market of Choice, New Seasons and NCG & INFRA Co-ops.

Available year-round, Chocolove's large bars in Raspberries in Dark Chocolate, Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate, Passion Fruit in Ruby Chocolate and Strawberry in Dark Chocolate are especially popular around Valentine's Day.

Plus, all large bars offer romantic flair with a love poem inside the wrapper.

The year-round large bars are available at major retailers and Chocolove.com now.

About Chocolove

Chocolove's Valentine's Day bites and bars are made with traceable cocoa beans; Rainforest Alliance Certified, meaning the chocolate is sourced using methods that support social, economic and environmental sustainability; and Non GMO Project Verified.

Chocolove was founded in 1995 in Boulder, Colorado, by Timothy Moley with the goal of creating the freshest, best-tasting, European-style premium chocolate that was priced right and ethically sourced. Today, Chocolove crafts each product with care and offers large bars, mini bars, cups, bites, boxes, specialty holiday chocolates, and small-batch handmade truffles in more than 60 artfully balanced, lusciously smooth, and full-bodied flavors that can be enjoyed every day. For more information, visit Chocolove.com.

CONTACT:

Libby Pinkerton, Linhart PR

[email protected] / 918-527-3221

SOURCE Chocolove
FRANKFORT, Ky., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Students, parents, educators, and school choice supporters from across Kentucky come together for a press conference in Frankfort at the State Capitol to highlight the resilient desire for school choice in the Bluegrass State.

The event will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, from 10:00 to 11:00 AM at the Back Steps of the Kentucky Capitol (700 Capital Avenue in Frankfort). In the wake of the Kentucky Supreme Court's ruling on the state's Educational Opportunity Accounts, supporters of K-12 education options are determined to raise awareness about how the state could benefit from greater educational opportunity.

Hosted by EdChoice KY, the event will include student, parent, and teacher speakers. The event is open to the press and the public.

"Despite the setbacks that Kentucky families experienced with regard to the Commonwealth's new school choice program, students still need as many options as possible," said Andrew Vandiver, president of EdChoice KY. "This event will educate the public about the importance of ensuring that all Kentucky children have access to educational experiences that meet their distinct needs."

EdChoice Kentucky is a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on informing the Commonwealth about educational choice programs.

The Jan. 24 event is timed to coincide with National School Choice Week (NSCW), which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states to raise equal and positive awareness of the traditional public, public charter, public magnet, private, online, and home education options available for families.

In addition to this event, 242 public and private schools in Kentucky registered with National School Choice Week to host independent events and activities this January. The education options across the state that are celebrating the Week enroll an estimated 77,787 students across all grade levels and include traditional public schools, public magnet schools, private schools, and homeschooling families.

For more information, visit edchoiceky.com or schoolchoiceweek.com .

National School Choice Week (NSCW) informs, inspires, and empowers parents to discover the K-12 education options available for their children, including traditional public, public charter, public magnet, online, private, and home schooling. Every January, tens of thousands of schools, organizations, and individuals plan unique events and activities to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options in their communities. The Week is a project of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical National School Choice Awareness Foundation.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
WELLESLEY, Mass., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sun Life U.S. and DentaQuest, which is part of Sun Life U.S., have donated $100,000 to Embrace Boston, a fund established in 2017 to create a memorial tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King.

"We are pleased to contribute to this important project in Boston memorializing Dr. and Mrs. King, particularly in partnership with our newly acquired business, DentaQuest," said Dan Fishbein, M.D., president of Sun Life U.S. "As a graduate of Boston University, where Dr. and Mrs. King met, I am personally excited to see this memorial unveiled in order to commemorate the incredible contributions that the Kings have made to our country."

Originally established to create the memorial to Dr. and Mrs. King in the city where they spent their formative years, Embrace Boston has recently expanded in scope to include an annual Ideas Festival and the development of a permanent center in Roxbury for racial and social justice.

"As an organization committed to social impact, we are proud to support the Embrace memorial and the ideals it represents," said Diontha Fancher, Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Sun Life U.S. "It is critical we remember that an equitable future requires active focus and leadership to break down barriers. I look forward to seeing the memorial on the Boston Common and listening to the conversations it sparks, thanks to the intentional work of Embrace Boston."

Achieving health equity is a core part of the mission of Sun Life and DentaQuest, manifested through efforts to expand access to care and benefits for underserved populations.

Sun Life works closely with the Boston Celtics and YMCA of Greater Boston, as well as many local organizations throughout the U.S., to support health and diabetes programs in communities that need it most. As part of its charitable giving, Sun Life added support in 2022 for specialized outreach programs with the National Alliance on Mental Health and Black Mental Health Alliance.

Supporting a diverse dental care workforce and equity in dental academic opportunity, DentaQuest has funded research to uncover barriers to dental academic education programs, and provides application support, through the Society of American Indian Dentists, for Native students to enter dental professions..DentaQuest also offers financial aid at seven dental schools for students completing unpaid externships in diverse community clinics. In 2022 DentaQuest supported more than 100 organizations nationwide focused on racial justice, equity and education, including the Commonwealth Race & Equity Fund.

About Sun Life

Sun Life is a leading international financial services organization providing asset management, wealth, insurance and health solutions to individual and institutional Clients. Sun Life has operations in a number of markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of September 30, 2022, Sun Life had total assets under management of C$1.27 trillion. For more information, please visit www.sunlife.com .

Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the ticker symbol SLF.

Sun Life U.S. is one of the largest providers of employee and government benefits, helping more than 50 million Americans access the healthcare and coverage they need. Through employers, industry partners and government programs, Sun Life offers a portfolio of benefits and services, including dental, vision, disability, absence management, life, supplemental health, medical stop-loss insurance, and healthcare navigation. Sun Life U.S. and affiliated companies in asset management employ approximately 8,000 people in the U.S. Group insurance policies are issued by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Wellesley Hills, Mass.), except in New York, where policies are issued by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, Mich.). For more information visit our website and newsroom.

About DentaQuest

DentaQuest, part of Sun Life U.S., is a purpose-driven health care company dedicated to improving the oral health of all. We do this through Preventistry  our inclusive approach to quality care and expanded access built on trusted partnerships between patients, providers and payors. As one of the nation's largest and most experienced Medicaid dental benefits administrators, we manage dental and vision benefits for more than 33 million Americans through a nationwide network of providers in all 50 states. Our outcomes-based, cost-effective dental solutions are designed for Medicaid and CHIP, Medicare Advantage, small and large businesses, and individuals. At the same time, we are expanding our footprint of more than 70 oral health centers in six states to deliver direct patient care in rural and underserved populations. Learn more at www.DentaQuest.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Media contacts:

Devon Fernald

Sun Life U.S.

781-800-3609

[email protected]

Farrah Phillipo

DentaQuest

781-654-6764

[email protected]

Connect with Sun Life U.S.

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.



SOURCE Sun Life U.S.
DUBLIN, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Taxi Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global taxi market size reached US$ 209.3 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 284.84 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a growth rate (CAGR) of 5.27% during 2021-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.

A taxi offers point-to-point and door-to-door services and allows passengers the convenience to book, modify, pre-book, or cancel reservations using a mobile-based applications. Apart from this, taxis are gaining immense popularity across urban settings as they are economical, affordable, easy, and a comfortable mode of transportation.



Taxi Market Trends:



Increasing demand for online taxi booking channels across the globe is creating a positive outlook for the market. In line with this, the rising penetration of the Internet and smartphones, along with the availability of tracking features, pre-estimated ride fare, driver contact, and vehicle details on the app, is propelling the market growth.

Additionally, the growing demand for ride-sharing services due to the increasing traffic-related problems, fuel costs, and reduced parking spaces is favoring the market growth.

Apart from this, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) with apps to connect the demand for taxis and time slots preferred by customers and efficiently coordinate and manage transportation systems is providing an impetus to the market growth. Additionally, the introduction of eco-friendly electric taxi services to curb pollution and greenhouse gases (GHG) is acting as another growth-inducing factor.

Furthermore, key players are focusing on providing various offers and discounts, such as monthly passes on shared rides, to reduce the expenses of daily commutes, which is positively influencing the market growth. Other factors, including the increasing working-class population, rising expenditure capacities of consumers, and growing trend of road trips among the younger demographics, are supporting the market growth.



Key Market Segmentation:



The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global taxi market report, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. Our report has categorized the market based on booking type, service type and vehicle type.



Breakup by Booking Type:

Online Booking

Offline Booking

Breakup by Service Type:

Ride Hailing

Ride Sharing

Breakup by Vehicle Type:

Cars

Motorcycle

Others

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape:



The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Bolt Technologies OU, Curb Mobility LLC, Dubai Taxi Corporation, Flywheel, Free Now, Gojek Tech, Lyft Inc., Nihon Kotsu Co. Ltd. and Uber Technologies Inc.



Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction



5 Global Taxi Market



6 Market Breakup by Booking Type



7 Market Breakup by Service Type



8 Market Breakup by Vehicle Type



9 Market Breakup by Region



10 SWOT Analysis



11 Value Chain Analysis



12 Porters Five Forces Analysis



13 Price Analysis



14 Competitive Landscape



Companies Mentioned

ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd

Bolt Technologies OU

Curb Mobility LLC

Dubai Taxi Corporation

Flywheel

Free Now

Gojek Tech

Lyft Inc.

Nihon Kotsu Co. Ltd.

Uber Technologies Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/6swd5i

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Research and Markets
Mr. Turner brings to Fun Wine three decades of experience in all three tiers of the industry

MIAMI, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Fun Wine Company, Inc., maker of Premium Wine Cocktails sold around the world, announced today that Tim Turner has joined the company as Chief US Sales Officer, responsible for all distribution, marketing and sales in the United States. Mr. Turner will report directly to Founder & CEO Joe Peleg.

As Senior Category Manager for Beer, Wine & Spirits at Walgreens from 2010-2019, Mr. Turner developed Walgreen's alcohol business from its startup phase to a billion-dollar annual business. He comes to Fun Wine with 30+ years' experience working with major companies in all three tiers of the US alcohol industry  Deutsch Family Wines, Johnson Brothers, E. & J. Gallo Winery, The Gambrinus Company, Constellation Wines, and most recently FitVine Wine, a 'better-for-you' wine company. For nearly 3 years prior to its sale to O'Neill Vintners & Distillers in November 2022, Mr. Turner guided FitVine's successful expansion of the 'better-for-you' brand in the US, Canada, Central and Latin America.

Founder & CEO Joe Peleg said, "We are very happy that Tim decided to join Fun Wine. He is exactly the person we were looking for to lead the next phase of the company's growth in the US and we welcome him to the team with open arms. Our products live in a special category of 'affordable luxury' that we believe consumers will appreciate, particularly in tough economic times as today." After years of product formulation, brand image development, market research and testing that verified consumer adoption, with nearly $10 million generated from the sale of 461,000 physical cases in the US and overseas, Fun Wine is well positioned for the next phase of expansion in the US. The company will soon be launching a marketing campaign, including on its new Fun Wine Metaverse Center, to build demand with Chief Culture Officer, Christina Aguilera, a leading international artist.

Mr. Turner commented, "I studied the company and its products and strategy thoroughly before agreeing to join the team. I was truly awed by the accomplishments of Fun Wine's management in the last two years in preparation for its anticipated 'better-for-you' product launches in the US and overseas. The company is a prolific innovator, being the first in the wine industry to use monk fruit juice as a zero calorie, zero carb flavor enhancer and sweetener that appeals to health-conscious consumers with only 59 calories in a 5 oz. pour, developing the first 330 mL aluminum wine bottle in the industry, and launching the world's first coffee flavored wines. They also developed a complete and compelling product lineup of flavored, sparkling wine cocktails, artistic bottles and packaging, including a pipeline of new products. Also noteworthy is that in the past two years they built a reliable, sustainable and scalable source of supply with the largest winemaker in Europe, and a comprehensive national distribution network led by the 2nd largest US distributor, Republic National Distributing Company. Wine cocktails are the fastest growing segment in the wine business, and I believe that Fun Wine is well positioned to be the emerging category leader. I am excited to get started."

About FUN WINE

Led by Founder & CEO Joe Peleg, Fun Wine is recognized as one of the most innovative companies in the alcohol industry. The company's mission is to foster socially responsible drinking with flavorful and refreshing, all-natural, low alcohol, low calorie wine cocktails that appeal to health-conscious consumers.

The company aligns its products with Art, Fashion and Music, creating eye-catching, artistic bottles designed by a renowned artist and working with international artists, was first to use monk fruit in wine, was first to develop a 330 mL aluminum bottle for the wine industry, was first to develop coffee wine cocktails - Espresso Cabernet and Cappuccino Chardonnay, and will soon to be first to launch a metaverse platform for its consumers, distributors and retailers.

Fun Wine checks all the boxes . With 5.5% ABV and as first user of monk fruit juice as a flavor enhancer and sweetener in wine, Fun Wine reduces an all-natural, 5 oz. glass of wine to only 59 calories, less than half of most wines. Fun Wine is low in carbs, gluten free, and comes in eye-catching, recyclable 750 mL glass and 330 mL aluminum bottles produced in a vegan certified plant by the largest winemaker in Europe. Fun Wine products consistently experience higher velocity rates than long-established products and are sold at a competitive price of less than $8 for a 750 mL bottle and $3.50 for a 330 mL aluminum bottle. Under current economic conditions, consumers should find Fun Wine even more attractive. Customers include the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, Stew Leonard's, Walmart, Kroger, Target, Ralph's, Harris Teeter, H-E-B, Wegmans, Total Wine, Whole Foods, Rite Aid, King Kullen, Kinney Drugs, Tops, Sav-A-Lot, Shoprite, Circle K, 7-Eleven, and many more.

OUR FLAVORS

FUN WINE comes in six sparkling flavors, all of which come in 330 mL aluminum bottles and 750 mL glass bottles. The Hard Bubbly Collection has 4 flavors and the Cafe Graffiti Collection has 2 flavors.

THE HARD BUBBLY COLLECTION



Strawberry Rose Moscato



Peach Passion Moscato



Coconut Pineapple Chardonnay



Sangria

THE CAFE GRAFFITI COLLECTION



Cappuccino Chardonnay



Cabernet Espresso

PRODUCT POSITIONING

FUN WINE is positioned as -



A drink with many wonderful flavors



A casual, friendly cocktail for everyday consumption



A friendly tasting alternative to wine and beer



A low alcohol, starter beverage



A great drink for events, parties, get togethers



Not for wine snobs!

FUN WINE BENEFITS

The benefits of FUN WINE include -



Lower alcohol  5.5% ABV, less than half of traditional wine



Lower calories a 5 oz. pour is only 59 calories



Attractive packaging designed by renowned Artist Miguel Paredes



Portable, lightweight, tamper-proof, quick chilling, recyclable



Affordable pricing



Innovative product pipeline - 1.5-liter MAGNUM and FUN WINE ZERO



Available at major national and regional chains, pharmacies, liquor and c-stores



Currently growing in Asia and Latin America

OUR CONSUMERS

FUN WINE targets -



Women, Millennials and Gen Z



Occasional and casual drinkers



Consumers who prefer lower alcohol



Consumers seeking alternatives to traditional wine and beer

Click here to watch our video.

FUN WINE and FUN are registered US trademarks of FUN WINE (USA) LLC.

www.funwine.com @Funwineofficial

For further information contact:

Joseph Bernstein

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman

[email protected]

+1.917.365.3651

SOURCE THE FUN WINE COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Environmental and land use law firm The Sohagi Law Group announced that Managing Partner Margaret Sohagi and Partner Nicole Hoeksma Gordon have once again been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2023 Southern California Super Lawyers list as "Top Rated Environmental Attorneys."

Gordon, a recipient of this recognition since 2021, advises public agencies on complex environmental and land use matters at the administrative, trial, and appellate level. She focuses her practice on complex issues and projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the federal and California Endangered Species Act (ESA), and Planning and Zoning Laws.

Gordon, a former Chair of the Executive Committee of the Environmental Law Section of the California Lawyers Association and current Co-Chair of the annual CLE CEQA Conference, is at the forefront of the environmental law issues with which public agencies must grapple. An experienced litigator, Gordon is also a frequent lecturer on environmental matters at various public and private workshops, including courses and conferences sponsored by UCLA, Continuing Legal Education (CLE), the Association of Environmental Professionals (AEP), and the American Planning Association (APA).

Sohagi, a recipient of this recognition since 2005, has practiced for the last 30 years focusing on assisting cities, counties, and other public agencies navigate the legal complexities of land use, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), climate change and housing. . Sohagi provides constructive, practical legal advice, working directly with lead agency counsel, staff, appointed elected officials. When necessary, she zealously defends lead agencies' land use approvals and environmental determinations in judicial proceedings, and frequently heads mediation teams in settlement discussions.

As CEQA instructor for California's Continuing Judicial Studies Program, both Gordon and Sohagi have the unique opportunity to instruct Superior Court judges, appellate justices and court attorneys. Their land use and environmental law expertise, and ability to keep public agencies informed about the latest legal developments and trends, is also demonstrated through frequent planning and legal conference presentations, extensive UCLA and USC teaching experience, and publications such as the Solano Press book Exactions and Impact Fees in California. Sohagi's prior career as a city planner gives her invaluable insight into the intricacies of complex project development and review.

About The Sohagi Law Group

The Sohagi Law Group handles complex transactional and litigation matters for public agencies, including cities, counties, townships, state agencies, special districts, commissions and authorities. Its attorneys draw upon their extensive expertise in all areas of environmental and land use law to advise clients navigate existing laws and regulations and keep them up to date on emerging environmental issues such as climate change and greenhouse gas regulation.

SOURCE The Sohagi Law Group
NANJING, China, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Look at the ingenious Yun Brocade, the magnificent colored porcelain, the vivid sugar paintings Those ancient handicraft skills remain glorious over the great land of China after being passed down for thousands of years. On January 17, Modern Express, a well-known Chinese media, released a video. As the Spring Festival drew near, a few young people from Nanjing, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan decided to set out together, to look for "Kung Fu Panda" hidden in the streets.

To Keep the Traditional Craftsmanship Alive, Cross-Strait Youth Look for Kungfu Panda

Who can say traditional Brocade can't be fashionable? Zheng Yuqi, a young man from Nanjing, found an adorable Yun Brocade panda in Nanjing Yun Brocade Institute, "I can't believe it was knitted. The skill is literally amazing." Yang Jianshun, a municipal inheritor of Yun Brocade from Nanjing Yun Brocade Institute, said, "The Yun Brocade has brilliant colors, exquisite materials, complex process and fine producing skills. It is regarded as one of the representatives of luxury products coming from China."

In a street of Hong Kong, Hui Yen Nam pushed open the gate of Yuet Tung China Works to find Tso Ip Ching Kiu Ruby, the founder of Hong Kong Glaze by Kamex. With its perfect fusion of Chinese technique and Western style, Hong Kong Guangcai amazes the world. Painting a panda on porcelain made Hui feel the glamour of "Weaving Gold Colored Porcelain."

Using a spoon as a pen, liquid sugar as ink, Lee Chi Shing, a young man from Macao, was learning to produce sugar painting from Ma Jiao at her studio, who is the inheritor of Ma's sugar painting technique. Combining the sugar painting techniques with freehand brushwork, Ma completed a "kungfu panda" with smart lines and sweet aroma at one go.

Flip, fold, shape... Wang Pinyu, a young man from Taiwan, was learning paper sculpture seriously under Hung Hsinfu's guidance. Hung is a paper sculpture artist from Taiwan. With their joint efforts, a plain sheet of paper was turned into a cuddly paper panda through magical craftsmanship. Wang exclaimed, "It seems easy until you try it. Such techniques are admirable. "

By looking for "Kungfu Panda", cross-Strait youth actually saught how to carry forward traditional skills. Behind the different handicraft skills of Yun Brocade, Guangcai, sugar painting and paper carving is the common pursuit and inheritance of beauty among the Chinese people.

Cross-Strait youth voiced their shared resolution and aspiration, "It's our duty to keep the traditional craftsmanship alive."

SOURCE Modern Express
Top Gum's proprietary and unique delivery system delivers high-dosage ingredients in a sugar-free, organic gummy.

Tel Aviv, Israel, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative thought leaders TopGum Industries Ltd. debuts their latest offering of sugar-free, organic gummies to the nutritional health supplement category. The curated collection of five gummies includes gummies that deliver a range of ingredients such as the B-vitamin Biotin, Vitamin D, and a delicious antioxidant balanced berry blend. TopGum's new line also includes flavor-challenging ingredients like Zinc and Ashwagandha, making them more palatable for everyone to enjoy.

Top Gum Evolves the Gummy Category with Sugar-Free, Organic Innovation (PRNewsfoto/TopGum Industries, Ltd)

According to Top Gum's VP of R&D and Open Innovation, Amit Hyzkihu, precision is the key to the new delivery system that makes sugar-free claims and organic certification possible. "Ticking the boxes that customers expect like sugar-free, and organic and keeping the flavor palatable is highly complex," says Hyzkihu. "Developing the delivery system requires a highly intricate process of sourcing the right materials, handling the active ingredients with care, and knowing how they will react to the gummy process are especially important, as well."

TopGum developed the innovation that made the sugar-free delivery system possible without using sugar, sweeteners of any kind, or sugar alcohols, instead relying on the natural sweetness of the ingredient in the matrix of the gummies to provide a delicious taste experience.

The new line of gummies is a clear demonstration of TopGum's agility in gummy supplements, having just announced this summer their designation of the company as a USDA-certified organic manufacturer. The highly sought-after certification calls attention to TopGum's adherence to the strict standards of the National Organic Program for producing and bottling organic products.

"Our organic-certified gummies are the next evolution in high-end supplementation," explains Amichai Bar Nir, CEO of Top Gum. "Although they contain no additional sweeteners, they still deliver the same sensory enjoyment of a traditional sugar-sweetened gummy, but without the sugar. "We want our customers to be able to look forward to taking their supplements. Pills and capsules are not as much fun as enjoying a gummy that's both delicious and good for you."

The new line joins TopGum's impressive catalogue of nutraceutical-enriched gummies that are marketed as private-label supplements. TopGum also offers custom formulations to supplement brands looking to formulate and offer gummies with their own ingredients. Using TopGum's service, brands can take advantage of the growing gummy market faster than if they had to develop the technology on their own.

The gummy delivery system has been capturing the nutraceutical market, having growth markers that show the gummy is fast becoming America's favorite way to take their vitamins. TopGum began its journey in Gummiceuticals in 2017, well ahead of the gummy boom that took America by storm in the last two years. Their early start is another reason Hyzkihu believes they are ahead of what other companies can offer.

"The launch of this line is only the beginning," Hyzkihu says with a smile. "High dosages, exotic botanicals, if you can dream it, we can deliver it in a delicious gummy."

About TopGum, Ltd.

TopGum was founded in 2004, by Hai Hayon and Dov Lusternik. In 2019, TopGum launched its functional gummy supplements portfolio following years of intensive R&D and sizeable investment in a state-of-the-art GMP- and UL-qualified facility. In just a few years TopGum has positioned itself as a leader in the Israeli functional gummies market. TopGum complies with the strictest standards of safety and quality. All products are nut-free, lactose-free, gluten-free, and kosher- and halal-certified.

For more information, contact:

Company contact:

TopGum Industries, Ltd.

Menahem Alexander Marketing Director

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.topgummiceuticals.com

Press Contact:

NutriPR

Liat Simha

Tel: +972-9-9742893

E-mail: [email protected]

Twitter: @NutriPR_

Web: www.nutripr.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1983888/Top_Gum.jpg

SOURCE TopGum Industries, Ltd
Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh Spearheads Rare New Spirit Designation

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, after an assiduous eight-year effort, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (TTB), has officially recognized Bolivian Singani as a unique type of Brandy and a distinctive product of Bolivia. Since 2014, award-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh - a lover of Singani since his first introductory sip in 2007 - has spearheaded a campaign for TTB recognition of the South American country's beautifully aromatic national spirit as a unique and proprietary product of Bolivia. In concert with the Bolivian government, who joined the initiative as a petition co-sponsor in 2018, he is beyond ecstatic to celebrate this milestone today at long last.

The U.S. Government (TTB) has officially recognized "Singani" as a specific type of brandy that is a distinctive product of Bolivia after an eight-year campaign by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh to share the beloved spirit with the world. Singani 63 founder Steven Soderbergh rejoices as the U.S. Government officially recognizes "Singani" as a specific type of Brandy and a distinct product of Bolivia after an arduous eight-year campaign.

A grape distillate in the general class of Brandy, Singani will now be its own subcategory, distinct from other types of Brandies. "In 2014, when I sat across the table from 17 people representing four different agencies (Treasury, ATF, TTB, FDA), I felt like an ant at the bottom of the Matterhorn," recalls Soderbergh. "The good news, however, is that each agency in the end acted to fulfill their mandate of informing the public about what they're drinking when they drink Singani. This recognition is certainly a high point in the long history of Bolivia's unique spirit."

This historic decision has economic and cultural ramifications for both the U.S and Bolivia. In exchange for U.S. recognition of Singani as a distinctive product of Bolivia, Bolivia will become the 44th country to legally recognize Bourbon Whiskey and Tennessee Whiskey as distinctive products of the United States, encouraging international trade and offering a potential economic boost to these American-made products.

Though Soderbergh began his venture with a simple personal desire to stock his own bar, when

he learned that Singani had seldom been out of landlocked Bolivia, he resolved to use his platform to share the spirit with the wider world. In partnership with the nearly century-old Casa Real (Bolivia's leading Singani producer), he developed Singani 63, the international expression of their Casa Real Black Label, which is now available across the U.S., as well as the U.K.

Casa Real CEO Luis Pablo Granier explains, "Our family has been producing Singani for nearly 100 years and it has been an absolute joy to see our product on bar shelves across the U.S. over the last nine years for the first time in our history. To now have our life's work recognized on a global stage and recognized by the U.S. Government is a moment my great-grandfather couldn't and wouldn't have dreamed of."

Singani's 500-year history follows the journey of a single grape variety, the Muscat of Alexandria, carried by Spanish missionaries from Egypt to Spain and then on to the Bolivian Andes where it is grown at high altitude. By Bolivian legal decree, Singani's "Domain of Origin" limits growth and distillation of the spirit to minimum altitudes of 5,250 feet, and to specific regions of the country. These conditions create the bold, aromatic quality that helped the TTB establish that Singani is indeed unique among spirits in the Brandy category.

For Bolivian-Americans, this is a moment that not only honors their heritage in the fabric of American culture, but also raises Singani's profile (and that of Bolivia) on the global stage. In order to respect the origins of Singani and its people, Soderbergh and his team worked with diplomatic representatives of both nations, fueled by their belief in the cultural and financial importance of the project. But in order for the campaign to really succeed, they also needed the support of the more than 300,000 Bolivians living in the U.S. leading Singani 63 to secure 13,000 signatures through the brand's "Recognize Singani" petition later submitted to the TTB. In August 2021, the U.S. government posted a proposed ruling, and today, this proposed ruling has at last been finalized.

Singani 63, now officially a distinct product of Bolivia, is available in select retail stores, bars and restaurants across the U.S., as well as for delivery nationwide via BuySingani63.com.

Media Contact: Lanny Grossman, [email protected], 646.833.8106

SOURCE Singani 63
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Technavio, the global warehousing and distribution logistics market size is estimated to grow by USD 72.96 billion from 2023 to 2027. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period. However, the growth momentum will progress. APAC held the largest share of the global market in 2022, and the market in the region is estimated to witness an incremental growth of 49%. For more Insights on market size Request a sample report

Global warehousing and distribution logistics market - Five Forces

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The global cloud data warehouse market is fragmented, and the five forces analysis covers

Bargaining power of buyers

The threat of new entrants

Threat of rivalry

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of substitutes

Interpretation of porter's five models helps to strategize the business, for entire details  buy the report!

Global warehousing and distribution logistics market  Customer landscape

The report includes the market's adoption lifecycle, from the innovator's stage to the laggard's stage. It focuses on adoption rates in different regions based on penetration. Furthermore, the report also includes key purchase criteria and drivers of price sensitivity to help companies evaluate and develop their growth strategies.

Global warehousing and distribution logistics market - Segmentation assessment

Segment overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on the business segment (warehousing, distribution logistics, and value-added services), and end-user (healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace, telecommunication, and others).

The market share growth by the warehousing segment will be significant during the forecast period. For the majority of business types that deal in tangible goods, warehousing is a crucial link in the supply chain. It may be a consumer business holding a product before it is eventually sold to a retail customer, or it may be a B2B company holding a product before it is ultimately sold to a business customer. Service providers are focusing on capacity planning, receiving incoming shipments, tracking inventory better, developing new methods of storing goods, and managing the market environment by rearranging the current inventory. The growing involvement of warehousing with e-commerce is also pushing the growth of the market. Hence, the innovation and new initiatives being taken along with e-commerce coming into existence are the factors that are expected to drive the segment growth during the forecast period.

Geography overview

By geography, the global warehousing and distribution logistics market is segmented into APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global warehousing and distribution logistics market.

APAC is estimated to contribute 49% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. The growing regional e-commerce industry will increase the demand for multi-story warehouses. This is because e-commerce generally requires warehousing facilities such as distribution centers near cities to facilitate faster delivery. This will boost the regional market growth during the forecast period.

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Global warehousing and distribution logistics market  Market dynamics

Key factor driving market growth

The flourishing e-commerce industry is notably driving the market growth.

The most important factors boosting the growth of the warehousing and distribution logistics market are the increase in demand for warehousing and distribution logistics in e-commerce, increased demand for cold storage, and the emergence of last-mile deliveries along with the automation of logistics.

Additionally, the global market is expected to grow as freight forwarding services become more common in some developing countries. These factors will drive the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Leading trends influencing the market

Service providers utilizing IT potentials is an emerging trend in the market.

The introduction of effective information technology has been an important trend in the warehouse and distribution logistics system. The industry was encouraged by the continuous decrease in technology prices and the increasing concentration of IT potential among transport and logistics stakeholders.

Companies have increased the use of IT to provide customers and businesses with real-time technology that updates the status of the warehouse and distribution logistics operations of the system.

Therefore, trends in IT adoption can propel the focused market to positive growth during the forecast period.

Major challenges hindering the market growth

Redundant procedures and cost-saving are major challenges impeding the market.

A product is handled more than once owing to the nature of the storage process by the warehouse workers. Having warehouse workers pass the same ticket through multiple hands is a significantly wasteful process.

Although sometimes necessary, such unnecessary procedures take time and increase labor costs.

Transportation costs make up a significant portion of all logistics costs. Rising fuel prices, which account for most of the increase in transportation costs, are a major concern for logistics companies around the world.

In connection with the increase in the price of fuel, customers practically ask for an additional surcharge, which also affects turnover and profit when fuel prices fall. These factors will hinder the market growth during the forecast period.

Driver, Trend, and Challenges are the factor of market dynamics that state about consequences & sustainability of the businesses, find some insights from a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this warehousing and distribution logistics market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the warehousing and distribution logistics market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the warehousing and distribution logistics market size and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the warehousing and distribution logistics market industry across APAC, North America , Europe , South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of warehousing and distribution logistics market vendors

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Related Reports:

The chemical logistics market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3.65% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by US D 53.66 billion. The growth of the chemical industry is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as the high cost of operations and capit al-intensive business may impede the market growth. .

is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3.65% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by US al-intensive business may impede the market growth. . The pharmaceutical warehousing market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.9% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 15,751.86 million . The rise in demand for outsourcing pharmaceutical warehousing services is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as the lack of efficient logistics support in emerging economies may impede the market growth.

Warehousing And Distribution Logistics Market Scope

Report Coverage Details Page number 162 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.2% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 72.96 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 5.8 Regional analysis APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 49% Key countries US, China, India, Japan, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Agility Public Warehousing Co. K.S.C.P, Americold Realty Operating Partnership LP, CEVA Logistics AG, CWT Pte. Ltd., DB Schenker, Deutsche Post AG, Expeditors International of Washington Inc., GEODIS SA, Kerry Logistics Network Ltd., Kuehne Nagel Management AG, NFI Industries, Nippon Express Holdings Inc., Penske Truck Leasing Co. LP, Ryder System Inc, Singapore Post Ltd., Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Berhad, WHA Corp. PCL, XPO Logistics Inc., YCH Group, and Gemadept Corp. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of contents:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Business Segment



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global warehousing and distribution logistics market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global warehousing and distribution logistics market 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.2 Business segment Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Business segment Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.3 End-user Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  End-user Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ billion)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Business Segment

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Market Segmentation by Business Segment - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Market Segmentation by Business Segment - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Market Segmentation by Business Segment

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Market Segmentation by Business Segment



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Market Segmentation by Business Segment

6.3 Warehousing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Warehousing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Warehousing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Warehousing - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Warehousing - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Distribution logistics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Distribution logistics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Distribution logistics - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Distribution logistics - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Distribution logistics - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Value added services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Value added services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Value added services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Value added services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Value added services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by Market Segmentation by Business Segment

Exhibit 46: Market opportunity by Market Segmentation by Business Segment ($ billion)

7 Market Segmentation by End-user

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 47: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 49: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

7.3 Healthcare - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 51: Chart on Healthcare - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Healthcare - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 53: Chart on Healthcare - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Healthcare - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Manufacturing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Manufacturing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Manufacturing - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Manufacturing - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Manufacturing - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Aerospace - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 59: Chart on Aerospace - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Aerospace - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 61: Chart on Aerospace - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Aerospace - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 63: Chart on Telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Telecommunication - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 65: Chart on Telecommunication - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on Telecommunication - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.7 Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 67: Chart on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 68: Data Table on Others - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 69: Chart on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 70: Data Table on Others - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.8 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 71: Market opportunity by End-user ($ billion)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 72: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 73: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 74: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 75: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 76: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 77: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 78: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 79: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 80: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 81: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 83: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 85: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 87: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 89: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 91: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 95: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 97: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 98: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)



Exhibit 99: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 100: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 103: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 105: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 107: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 108: Data Table on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 109: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 110: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 111: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 112: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 113: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 114: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ billion)

Exhibit 115: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 116: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 117: Market opportunity by geography ($ billion)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 118: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 119: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 120: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 121: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 122: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 123: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Agility Public Warehousing Co. K.S.C.P

Exhibit 124: Agility Public Warehousing Co. K.S.C.P - Overview



Exhibit 125: Agility Public Warehousing Co. K.S.C.P - Business segments



Exhibit 126: Agility Public Warehousing Co. K.S.C.P - Key news



Exhibit 127: Agility Public Warehousing Co. K.S.C.P - Key offerings



Exhibit 128: Agility Public Warehousing Co. K.S.C.P - Segment focus

12.4 CEVA Logistics AG

Exhibit 129: CEVA Logistics AG - Overview



Exhibit 130: CEVA Logistics AG - Business segments



Exhibit 131: CEVA Logistics AG - Key news



Exhibit 132: CEVA Logistics AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 133: CEVA Logistics AG - Segment focus

12.5 CWT Pte. Ltd.

Exhibit 134: CWT Pte. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 135: CWT Pte. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 136: CWT Pte. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.6 DB Schenker

Exhibit 137: DB Schenker - Overview



Exhibit 138: DB Schenker - Business segments



Exhibit 139: DB Schenker - Key offerings



Exhibit 140: DB Schenker - Segment focus

12.7 Deutsche Post AG

Exhibit 141: Deutsche Post AG - Overview



Exhibit 142: Deutsche Post AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 143: Deutsche Post AG - Key news



Exhibit 144: Deutsche Post AG - Key offerings

12.8 Gemadept Corp.

Exhibit 145: Gemadept Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 146: Gemadept Corp. - Product / Service



Exhibit 147: Gemadept Corp. - Key offerings

12.9 GEODIS SA

Exhibit 148: GEODIS SA - Overview



Exhibit 149: GEODIS SA - Product / Service



Exhibit 150: GEODIS SA - Key offerings

12.10 Kerry Logistics Network Ltd.

Exhibit 151: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 152: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 153: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 154: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 155: Kerry Logistics Network Ltd. - Segment focus

12.11 Kuehne Nagel Management AG

Exhibit 156: Kuehne Nagel Management AG - Overview



Exhibit 157: Kuehne Nagel Management AG - Business segments



Exhibit 158: Kuehne Nagel Management AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 159: Kuehne Nagel Management AG - Segment focus

12.12 NFI Industries

Exhibit 160: NFI Industries - Overview



Exhibit 161: NFI Industries - Product / Service



Exhibit 162: NFI Industries - Key offerings

12.13 Penske Truck Leasing Co. LP

Exhibit 163: Penske Truck Leasing Co. LP - Overview



Exhibit 164: Penske Truck Leasing Co. LP - Product / Service



Exhibit 165: Penske Truck Leasing Co. LP - Key offerings

12.14 Singapore Post Ltd.

Exhibit 166: Singapore Post Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 167: Singapore Post Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 168: Singapore Post Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 169: Singapore Post Ltd. - Segment focus

12.15 Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Berhad

Exhibit 170: Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Berhad - Overview



Exhibit 171: Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Berhad - Product / Service



Exhibit 172: Tiong Nam Logistics Holdings Berhad - Key offerings

12.16 WHA Corp. PCL

Exhibit 173: WHA Corp. PCL - Overview



Exhibit 174: WHA Corp. PCL - Product / Service



Exhibit 175: WHA Corp. PCL - Key offerings

12.17 YCH Group

Exhibit 176: YCH Group - Overview



Exhibit 177: YCH Group - Product / Service



Exhibit 178: YCH Group - Key offerings

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 179: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 180: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 181: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 182: Research methodology



Exhibit 183: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 184: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 185: List of abbreviations

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SOURCE Technavio
The Speaker Bureau is available on www.wcfaglobal.com and gathers some of the top communications specialists and business leaders worldwide

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WCFA Speaker Bureau is the newest global platform gathering influential PR business leaders, launched by the World Communications Forum Association (WCFA) in Davos. The platform intends to create unique collaborations and makes the process easier. It presents expert speakers who can bring impact to any live, hybrid and virtual event on a broad range of topics. The Speaker Bureau is available on www.wcfaglobal.com. All members of WCFA can join the platform for free.

WCFA Global Speaker Bureau - Join Now

"WCFA marks a new milestone in its development with the launch of the Speaker Bureau. The excellent response we have received in short time indicates the need for professional guidance and support in organizing events that matter. It is a fantastic opportunity to attract more diverse talent in the industry, make them more visible and inspire others. At the same time, event organisers will have the perfect tool to engage their guests.", said Maxim Behar, President of the World Communications Forum Association.

This important initiative will also support the creation of a more exceptional and reliable partnerships so that audiences can benefit from a range of perspectives that come from industry thought leaders.

The WCFA Speaker Bureau has already gathered some of the most wanted keynote speakers in the industry from Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Ghana, Hungary, Iran, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam. The speakers directory includes Amanda Coleman, Founder and Managing Director of Amanda Coleman Communications; Danijel Koletic, CEO at Apriori World; Dorcas Aba Annan, Managing Director & Global Chief Operating Officer at Abjel Communications; Edgar Amirkhanyan, Head of Public Relations and Marketing department at Eurasia International University and Public Radio of Armenia; Gregory Galant, Co-founder and CEO of Muck Rack; Hesham Mesbah, Associate Professor at the Communication Department at Rollins College; Mai Anh Le, Regional Country Manager at Global PR Hub; Mina Nazari, PR and communication expert at Tabriz Power Distribution Company; Natan Edelsburg, Chief Partnerships Officer, Muck Rack; Pelin Kocaalp, General Manager at Hill+Knowlton Istanbul; Sherine Zaklama, CEO and Managing Director at RADA Public Relations; Tatevik Simonyan, Co-founder and Director Communications & International Relations at SPRING PR; Zsofia Lakatos, CEO of Emerald PR.

Representing some of the most influential PR leaders worldwide, the World Communications Forum Association welcomes professionals to join the platform and showcase their expertise and speak for a wider audience.

All industry experts, speakers and event organizers can contact WCFA Head Office for further inquiries at [email protected]

About Speaker Bureau:

The World Communications Forum Association represents some of the most influential business leaders and PR experts across all sectors and all continents. The WCFA Speaker Bureau connects you with global key opinion leaders who deliver a powerful message and will inspire, engage, and create a lasting impact on your audience.

About World Communications Forum Association:

The World Communications Forum was founded in 2010 in Davos, Switzerland, where the Association was registered in 2014. The WCFA is a n organization committed to active global discussions and exchanges focused on the development of communications expertise of its members and be an active voice in its key role in business, society, and politics. Every year the forum gathers prominent representatives of the communication and public relations sector from around the world, who, through dialogue and discussion, exchange experiences and ideas to shape the art of global communications. In 2021, the WCFA organized its 'Global Communications Summit' on Zoom, bringing together more than 450 top communications experts globally.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984962/WCFA_Speaker_Bureau.jpg

SOURCE World Communications Forum Association
Westport Big & Tall announced today that it is launching a $1,000.00 educational scholarship supporting young men who are considered big or tall and are proud of their size, despite the potential difficulties that arise from embracing body diversity.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Westport Big & Tall announced today that it is launching a $1,000.00 educational scholarship supporting young men who are considered big or tall and are proud of their size, despite the potential difficulties that arise from embracing body diversity.

Though men are currently underrepresented in the body positivity movement, they do represent a significant percentage of those who are suffering with issues related to body dissatisfaction, body esteem and even body dysmorphia, a mental health disorder. Social and media pressure can be particularly challenging for young men, and those considered "big" or "tall" are often the targets of misunderstanding and/or bullying related to their size. Therefore, it is important to include them in the conversation as the language surrounding body image evolves.

Westport Big & Tall owners, Bob Beausoleil and Tom Altieri, are passionate about serving big and tall men, and their goal is for this scholarship to help support the next generation of big and tall leaders by easing the financial burden of education. Mr. Beausoleil says, "We know it can be tough for students who are considered 'big' or 'tall' in a 'normal'-sized world. It's our hope that, through this scholarship, students will be encouraged to embrace who they are and celebrate their differences."

High school seniors and undergraduate male students are eligible to apply if they wear clothing sizes that are considered "big" or "tall" (6 feet 2 inches or taller and/or size 44 waist or bigger).

To be considered, students must complete a 400-600 word essay describing a time in which being big and/or tall led to a funny situation.

The deadline to apply is March 15, 2023. Winners will be announced on April 15, 2023.

Students can apply online at https://www.westportbigandtall.com/pages/scholarship

Westport Big and Tall is utilizing bold.org, an organization on a mission to fight student debt. The average student today will graduate with more than $30,000 in debt and is far less likely to start small businesses, seek the highest impact careers, buy homes, or start families. In a world where stereotypes, misunderstanding and social stigmas run rampant, this scholarship will help ease the burden of education debt for a student who perhaps already faces social challenges related to body image due to his big or tall body frame.

Supporting the future of big and tall young men is part of a continuing dedication by Westport Big & Tall to provide premium clothing for all big and tall men since their founding in 1989. Their catalog offers a diverse range of big and tall menswear and accessories, including sport shirts, dress pants, jeans, suits, and shoes. They carry a variety of designer brands such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Bahama, and Callaway plus several private label collections including Westport Black, Westport Lifestyle, and Westport Sport. They also carry exclusive big and tall styles from Peter Millar, Cutter & Buck, Robert Graham, Under Armour and more.

About Westport Big & Tall

When Westport Big & Tall started in 1989, we set out to find the finest clothing makers for the big or tall man. We began with our original store in Westport, Connecticut and soon expanded to Charlotte, North Carolina. Westport now reaches customers in cities around the US with our national catalog mailings and WestportBigandTall.com.

Press Contact: Bob Beausoleil, 877-937-8767, http://www.westportbigandtall.com

SOURCE Westport Big & Tall
BENTON HARBOR, Mich., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR), committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home, will release its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results and presentation materials at 4:05 p.m. ET on Monday, January 30, 2023. Whirlpool Corporation will then hold a conference call to discuss its performance with the investment community at 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.

To participate in the conference call, dial 1 (888) 440-4038 and Conference ID 2610251. International participants should dial 1 (646) 960-0861 and Conference ID 2610251. Participants should dial in at least 10 minutes prior to the call, as they may experience longer than usual wait times.

The conference call will be webcast live on the Company's website at www.whirlpoolcorp.com and may be accessed by clicking on the "Investors" tab located at the top of the page. To listen to the live webcast, participants should visit the site at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to download any required streaming media software. Key financial statistics, the earnings presentation, and an archived recording of the conference call will be available on the Company's website for at least 30 days.

About Whirlpool Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is committed to being the best global kitchen and laundry company, in constant pursuit of improving life at home. In an increasingly digital world, the company is driving purposeful innovation to meet the evolving needs of consumers through its iconic brand portfolio, including Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, JennAir, Indesit and Yummly. In 2021, the company reported approximately $22 billion in annual sales, 69,000 employees and 54 manufacturing and technology research centers. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com.

Website Disclosure

We routinely post important information for investors on our website, WhirlpoolCorp.com, in the "Investors" section. We also intend to update the Hot Topics Q&A portion of this webpage as a means of disclosing material, non-public information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Accordingly, investors should monitor the Investors section of our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, presentations and webcasts. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our webpage is not incorporated by reference into, and is not a part of, this document.

SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation
HONG KONG, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Agilis RoboticsTM (Agilis), a leading developer of flexible robotic instruments that support endoscopic surgery through natural orifices of the body (e.g. along the gastrointestinal tract and in the bladder), has recently completed the second round of live animal testing using its proprietary robot. Dr. Jason Y.K. Chan, the co-founder of Agilis RoboticsTM , conducted the test with the firm's second-generation device on a live pig specimen and successfully removed artificial tumors using the en-bloc resection of bladder tumor (ERBT) technique. The test results met expectations, demonstrating promising results for the accuracy, safety, and efficacy of the firm's medical robotic system.

Drawing on the advice of surgeons in earlier experiments, the research team has made several technical improvements to the original system that increased the efficiency of the surgery.

The 2nd generation prototype system has been optimized for more streamlined surgical control

The Agilis RoboticsTM system is a surgical robotic solution designed for endoscopic surgery. The system features a set of flexible surgical robotic instruments, a positioning cart and a surgeon's control chair. The flexible robotic instruments, with a diameter of less than 2.8 mm, can grip and cut away tumor tissue to remove it in its entirety.

The second-generation prototype system used in this test includes several improvements over the original system. With a smaller footprint, the updated positioning cart is 50% smaller, making it highly compact and easily positioned in the operating room.

Second, the newly developed endoscope holder offers the surgeon great flexibility for positioning the endoscope and robotic instruments. During operation, the surgeon can move the endoscope with ease using just one hand in thanks to the holder's sensor. The holder includes an automatic locking mechanism that prevents the unit from moving around freely, streamlining the surgeon's work and improving the procedure's safety.

The surgical tools have also been improved in this prototype iteration, allowing the surgeon to visualize the surgical field beyond the instruments more clearly and increase its load capacity to meet more demanding requirements. The electrosurgical knife instrument was also improved to enable bipolar diathermy, which substantially enhances tissue cutting effectiveness in bladder tumor resection. The most notable improvements are made to the controls and mechanical transmission in terms of precision and reduced control latency. This gives the surgeon a more intuitive and responsive control experience compared with manual operation. In addition to the controls, the team has also made substantial improvements to the system's ergonomic design and training simulator.

Next, the company will test the system in animals for upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). This will be a major milestone for the company, demonstrating their potential within the sizeable market for GI diseases.

Agilis RoboticsTM invited prominent gastroenterology and hepatology specialist Dr. Peter Chan Chun Wing to evaluate the system before its entry into the digestive tract market. Dr. Chan has almost 20 years of medical specialty practice, focusing on endoscopy and GI surgery. Dr. Chan is listed as a colonoscopy provider to the Colorectal Cancer Screening Programme of the Hong Kong Department of Health, offering pre-screening advice and colonoscopies for eligible individuals.

As the first internal medicine physician to use the system, Dr. Chan not only carried out ev-vivo tissue resection tests but also offered guidance on the system's potential for the GI market. He foresees the system's accessibility in general endoscopy clinics and centers, which is crucial to making the system widely adopted throughout healthcare institutions.

Agilis RoboticsTM is challenging convention with its unmatched intuitiveness as minimally invasive endoscopic procedures are rapidly evolving

A large number of new minimally invasive endoscopic techniques, including EMR (endoscopic mucosal resection) and ESD, have emerged to combat the increased detection of submucosal tumors, early cancers, and precancerous lesions in the digestive tract, which is a positive outcome due to rise in health awareness among the general population. By eliminating external incisions and promoting quick recovery, the practical use of these techniques has improved patient outcomes and decreased discomfort.

Endoscopic minimally-invasive interventional techniques have evolved quickly in recent years and are becoming more important in the treatment of digestive disorders.

Interventional procedures are more popular with patients as they are less invasive and require a shorter hospital stay. By enabling complete excision of diseased tissue while maintaining the normal function of the digestive tract, the approach can reduce the risk of post-operative complications such as infection associated with surgical operations (e.g., major surgery such as open-heart and open-abdomen).

Patients who received endoscopic surgery recover quickly and stay in the hospital for a much shorter timeusually 2 to 3 days or lessbefore being discharged. The cost of treatment is only 1/3 to 1/2 of a general surgery. Industry insiders have said that although general surgery costs between 20,000 and 40,000 yuan, endoscopic minimally-invasive procedures can be managed for as little as 20,000 yuan.

In contrast to previous prototype tests, the company invited laypeople with no medical professionals to observe. They briefly used a virtual training simulator and then carried out tissue dissection in an ex-vivo tissue model.

Participants commented, "The Agilis surgical robot is remarkable, even for an unskilled learner, as it can already remove artificial tumors from ex-vivo tissue after around 20 minutes of training with the simulator." The visitors claimed that the technology is simple to use and requires little training. Doctors skilled in endoscopic procedures must be able to pick up the skills quickly. They also expressed optimism about the device's commercialization potential.

The Agilis system also aims to support training using artificial intelligence (AI). Empirical endoscopic imaging is used in the AI system for deep learning to enhance the operator's surgical training. The learning curve for performing en-bloc tumor resection should be greatly reduced, as compared to manual ESD operations which are only performed by surgeons with extensive experience.

A US$100 million firm focused on creating robotic equipment for endoscopic surgery

Surgical robots in laparoscopy, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, vascular intervention, and other specialties are now popular topics in China. Businesses, however, need to think about how to break through the bottleneck of technological innovation in light of the highly competitive market.

Several challenges have been identified in the course of developing robots for endoscopic surgery. For example, general endoscope working channels (2.83.7mm in diameter), require considerable flexibility to adapt to the changing shape as the endoscope travels through the narrow passageways within human body, resulting in high demands for the size and ergonomic design of the overall system.

Agilis RoboticsTM is the first company to develop such a robotic system to overcome these challenges. The company has created a surgical robotic device that can seamlessly integrate with existing surgical procedures, notably for the GI and urological systems, to boost surgical efficiency and reduce the learning curve for endoscopic surgery. The firm's robotic instruments are totally flexible and has achieved a range of technological achievements.

As a kind of natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), endoscopic surgery is distinct from laparoscopy and requires a notably different set of technological skills. Major global players such as Johnson & Johnson, Intuitive Surgical, and Medtronic have developed their own surgical robotic systems, however none are working with the approach of utilizing conventional endoscopes and their working channels. Presently, R&D for NOTES is focused on the bronchial sector in China, none of which has received approval for use in the country as well.

According to the US-based business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the global NOTES robot market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 88.2% from 2016 to 2026, maintaining significant growth, and is on track to reach 12.53 billion yuan by 2026 from 457 million yuan in 2020.

There is still room for growth in the market for endoscopic surgery robots for the urology and digestive systems. As the first Chinese business to build an endoscopic surgery robot, Agilis RoboticsTM has a head start on the competition in the market with a product that is already taking shape and has plans for pre-clinical testing.

The second-generation prototype used has optimized the structure and integration of the firm's flexible robot instruments in many ways. "Our next step is to improve the robotics control and console's design and control features in a move to further improve surgical accuracy and efficiency," Agilis RoboticsTM revealed. The company is planning for next iteration prototype testing, and expects to complete the first human trial in the coming two years.

In June 2022, Agilis RoboticsTM closed its Series A fundraising. Joe Hui, co-founder and CFO, said that the advanced prototype will be delivered to The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital in the second quarter of this year for additional testing. The company will also wrap up its NMPA testing in the third quarter of 2023 and then start a PRE-B round of funding with a minimum investment of US$10 million. The COVID-19 outbreak last year prevented investors from visiting to Hong Kong for test and experience the system in Series A roadshows. Now, in an effort to entice investors, the company has established a special Series A+ of US$5 million.

SOURCE Agilis Robotics Limited
Most powerful gasoline engine developed by Mazda

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On January 31, Mazda North American Operations will reveal the first-ever 2024 Mazda CX-90. The CX-90 will be offered with a highly anticipated all-new powerful and responsive 3.3L Inline Six e-Skyactiv Turbo engine.

2024 Mazda CX-90

The available 3.3-liter inline six turbo will have the highest horsepower and torque from a mass production gasoline engine developed by Mazda with 340 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque when using the recommended premium fuel. This engine provides CX-90 an engaging driving experience with a rewarding exhaust note, while also featuring a mild-hybrid system for efficiency without compromising on performance.

This inline six turbo is developed specifically for the large platform, Mazda's all-new rear-biased all-wheel drive layout that supports a performance-focused experience. Additionally, Kinematic Posture Control (KPC), first introduced on the MX-5 Miata, is standard on all CX-90 models and will help maintain Mazda's signature driving dynamics to the three-row crossover SUV.

Learn more at: https://www.MazdaUSA.com/vehicles/future/CX-90

Mazda North American Operations is headquartered in Irvine, California, and oversees the sales, marketing, parts and customer service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States, Canada and Mexico through approximately 780 dealers. Operations in Canada are managed by Mazda Canada Inc. in Richmond Hill, Ontario, and operations in Mexico are managed by Mazda Motor de Mexico in Mexico City. For more information on Mazda vehicles, including photography and B-roll, please visit the online Mazda media center at News.MazdaUSA.com.

Follow MNAO's social media channels through Twitter and Instagram at @MazdaUSA and Facebook at Facebook.com/MazdaUSA.

SOURCE Mazda North American Operations
Will Serve All Customers and Service Areas

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Approved Energy, a leading provider of energy products and services headquartered in New York City, has been granted a license by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to serve all classes of electric customers across the State. This new market entry represents the most recent step in Approved Energy's plan for strategic growth and market expansion. The Company currently supplies power, natural gas and related services to thousands of customers across New York and New Jersey.

Operating one of the most fully-developed retail energy markets in the country, Pennsylvania enables residential, commercial and industrial customers to shop for energy products that meet their budget, risk tolerance, planning and sustainability goals. Pennsylvania is a member of the regional transmission organization ("grid") known as PJM, and hosts seven different Local Distribution Companies. Approved Energy will launch its services in each LDC in a rolling effort over the coming months.

Approved Energy will provide Pennsylvania customers with energy-purchasing plans to meet a variety of objectives. From monthly pricing based on wholesale market Index, to long-term Fixed hedges, and blended hybrid contracts, customers will have the tools to meet their financial and risk-management goals. Approved also offers a full suite of renewable energy products to complement Green and ESG strategies.

"Approved Energy is executing an expansion plan that maximizes the deep experience of our leadership team, best-in class technology, and a drive to lead the industry in service and innovation," said Niraj Parikh, Chief Operating Officer at Approved Energy. "Extending our service to Pennsylvania energy customers is the latest evolution in the long history of the Approved brand".

Approved Energy is a division of Approved Companies, the leading provider of energy products and services in the NYC metro area for over 90 years. With a product suite offering natural gas, electricity, fuel oil, mechanical services and renewable solutions to thousands of customers, Approved is committed to a plan of growth, innovation and diversification of its energy services to all customer classes.

SOURCE Approved Energy
Built In recognizes data analytics leader as one of the top workplaces in Boston and Chicago

BOSTON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arcadia (arcadia.io), the leading data analytics platform for healthcare, announced today that it has earned inclusion in Built In's 100 Best Places to Work in 2023.

The emphasis on culture, diversity, and inclusiveness at Arcadia contributed to its overall rankings of No. 39 in Boston and No. 56 in Chicago. Arcadia also received recognition in the category of Best Midsize Companies to Work for; No. 19 in Boston and No. 27 in Chicago.

The industry-leading perks and benefits Arcadia provides to employees include unlimited vacation, generous parental leave, flexible work schedules, and numerous health insurance and wellness contributions. Arcadia invests in people on several levels; the company provides benefits that first allow employees to feel safe and secure as they take care of their families (e.g., short and long-term disability, generous paid time off, flexible work schedules, and numerous health insurance and wellness contributions) and then layered on top are benefits that allow employees to thrive professionally (e.g., paid industry certifications, professional training at all levels, commitment to volunteering and philanthropy, etc.).

"We're honored to once again be included among the distinguished companies in Built In's 100 Best Places to Work," said Michael Meucci, CEO, Arcadia. "Our team members are highly diverse. We don't just accept difference  we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community."

Most recently, Arcadia was included in the annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation's fastest growing private companies. The ranking reflects revenue growth of 99% over three years (2018 to 2021) and marks the company's 7th appearance on the annual list.

Last year, Arcadia was included in the Boston Business Journal's exclusive list of 2022 Fast 50 honorees, representing the 50 fastest growing private companies in Massachusetts based on overall revenue growth.

Recognized as Best in KLAS in Value-Based Care Managed Services for four years in a row, Arcadia helps providers and health plans accelerate positive outcomes by reducing medical expenses, improving risk adjustment accuracy and the quality of care provided.

To learn more about career opportunities at Arcadia, click here.

About Arcadia

Arcadia is dedicated to happier, healthier days for all. We transform data into powerful insights that deliver results. Through our partnerships with the nation's leading health systems, payers, and life science companies, we are growing a community of innovation to improve care, maximize value, and confront emerging challenges. For more information, visit arcadia.io.

About Built In's Best Places To Work

Built In's esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fifth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Startup Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 100 Best Large Places to Work and Editor's Choice: 100 Best Hybrid Places to Work. The program recognizes employers  remote, hybrid and in-office  with the best total rewards packages across the U.S. and in the following tech hubs: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC.

Media Contact:

Marcia Rhodes

Amendola Communications for Arcadia

[email protected]

SOURCE Arcadia
ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. today announced the acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based First Ireland Risk Management Limited ("First Ireland"). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1982, First Ireland is a retail insurance broker offering a variety of commercial and personal insurance products as well as life and pension solutions to clients throughout Ireland. Tony Gill, Linda Gallagher and their team will remain in Dublin under the direction of Ronan Foley, head of Gallagher's insurance brokerage operations in Ireland.

"First Ireland has built a strong reputation for client excellence over 40 years, and their market expertise will further enhance our capabilities in Ireland," said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO. "We are delighted to welcome Tony, Linda and their colleagues to Gallagher and look forward to working with them to further expand their client base and service offerings."

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Gallagher provides these services in approximately 130 countries around the world through its owned operations and a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Investors: Ray Iardella Media: Paul Day VP - Investor Relations Communications Manager 630-285-3661/ [email protected] 630-285-5946/ [email protected]

SOURCE Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.


The Dubai opening follows the California-based artisan coffee leader's growth in China

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Peet's Coffee , the company that started the craft coffee revolution in the U.S., today announced the opening of the first Peet's location in the Middle East, with a flagship coffeebar in Dubai, UAE, in partnership with Americana Restaurants. The new coffeebar is officially now open and is located on Fashion Avenue at The Dubai Mall, one of the UAE's premier shopping destinations for locals and visitors and the most visited mall in the world.



Peet's Coffee announced today a new coffeebar opening in Dubai, UAE. Tweet this Peets Coffee expands to the Middle East. The Dubai coffeebar is the first for Peets and Americana Restaurants, who entered an exclusive master franchise agreement in 2022.

This market debut is a collaboration between Peet's Coffee and Americana Restaurants, the leading food and beverage platform and one of the largest multi-brand restaurant operators in the Middle East & North Africa ("MENA") region. The companies inked an exclusive master franchise agreement in 2022.

"The international coffee market is strong and growing as a new generation of coffee drinkers demands superior beans, technique and ingredients," said Eric Lauterbach, president of Peet's Coffee. "This trusted, strategic partnership with Americana will bring better coffee to the fast-growing GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region."

"We are delighted to launch Peet's in the GCC where the love of coffee is shared by millions of consumers," Amarpal Sandhu, CEO of Americana Restaurants. "Peet's devotion to the art and science of brewing the most flavorful cup of coffee is exceptional, and we are excited to expand the brand to new GCC markets this year."

From its birthplace in California, Peet's revolutionized the U.S. coffee industry, pioneering the specialty coffee movement in 1966. Since then, Peet's has become known for its bold rich flavor and commitment to quality. Peet's chooses the highest quality beans from around the world; then it expertly roasts them in California to exacting standards. All Peet's coffee is verified as 100 percent responsibly sourced, per Enveritas standards. In 2017, Peet's expanded to China and now operates more than 370 coffeebars across the U.S. and China.

Since its founding, Peet's has put coffee and coffee lovers first. Features of the Dubai coffeebar include:

A Discovery Bar that invites patrons to take a personalized coffee journey through custom cups, tasting flights, and full sensory, experiential courses led by Peet's roasters and baristas.





An eclectic regional dessert menu including a delectable Tiramisu served with Peet's Baridi Blend Cold Brew, luscious Saffron and Pistachio Milk Cakes, and freshly baked pastries.

About Peet's Coffee:

Peet's Coffee, part of JDE Peet's (JDEP.AS) the world's largest pure play coffee and tea company by revenue, is a U.S. specialty coffee company founded in 1966 in Berkeley, California, by Alfred Peet. Peet pioneered the craft coffee movement in the U.S and his legacy lives on today in every cup whether ordered online, selected at a grocery store, or served in any one of more than 370 Peet's Coffee locations in the U.S. and China. Peet's Coffee is verified as 100 percent responsibly sourced, per Enveritas standards.

About Americana Restaurants

A master franchisee known for opening and scaling iconic global brands such as KFC, Pizza Hut, Hardee's, Krispy Kreme, Baskin Robbins, Wimpy and TGI Friday's, Americana Restaurants is the region's leading restaurant platform with a diverse network of quick and full-service restaurants across MENA and Kazakhstan.

Images available here

SOURCE Peet's Coffee Inc.
HANGZHOU and SHAOXING, China, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ascletis Pharma Inc. (HKEX: 1672, "Ascletis") today announces that its wholly owned subsidiary Ascletis Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. has entered into a supply agreement of ritonavir tablets with Hainan Simcere Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Limited (HKEX: 2096, "Simcere").

Ritonavir tablet is a pharmacokinetic booster of multiple oral antiviral protease inhibitors. Ascletis currently owns the only authorized ritonavir oral tablet in China, which has passed bioequivalence study.

About Ascletis

Ascletis is an innovative R&D driven biotech listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (1672.HK), covering the entire value chain from discovery and development to manufacturing and commercialization. Led by a management team with deep expertise and a proven track record, Ascletis focuses on three therapeutic areas with unmet medical needs from a global perspective: viral diseases, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and oncology. Through excellent execution, Ascletis rapidly advances its drug pipeline with an aim of leading in global competition. To date, Ascletis has three marketed products, i.e. ritonavir tablets, GANOVO and ASCLEVIR, and 22 drug candidates in its R&D pipeline. The most advanced drug candidates include ASC22 (CHB functional cure), ASC10 and ASC11(oral small molecules for COVID-19 treatment), ASC40 (recurrent glioblastoma), ASC42 (PBC, primary biliary cholangitis), and ASC40 (acne).

For more information, please visit www.ascletis.com.

SOURCE Ascletis Pharma Inc.
Conversational intelligence company receives funding following a year of 100% growth in customers and ARR

INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Authenticx , the new standard in healthcare for listening to customer voices at scale, today announced $20M in Series B funding led by Blue Heron Capital with participation from Beringea, Indiana Next Level Fund/50 South Capital Advisors, High Alpha, Mutual Capital Partners, Signal Peak Ventures, Allos Ventures, Elevate Ventures and M25.

The investment comes after a significant year of growth for Authenticx, which saw a 2.5x increase in ARR in 2022 and 64 new employees since July 2021, many of whom joined product innovation and sales departments. Additionally, Authenticx's customer base doubled over the last year, with its client portfolio now including five of the top 10 leading global pharmaceutical companies .

"By listening at scale, business leaders can feel confident that the strategies they implement in their organization are backed by data generated from the authentic words of their customers," said Amy Brown , CEO of Authenticx. "Whether identifying areas of frustration for customers or listening for good news, conversational data can be used to revolutionize the patient experience and remind the workforce of their noble purpose. With this funding, we'll be able to continue driving innovation in conversational intelligence and machine learning to streamline the patient journey and help staff do their best work."

Unsolicited customer feedback is a valuable resource for healthcare and life science organizations. After analyzing 100 million conversations with healthcare customers for its 2022 Customer Voices in Healthcare report , Authenticx identified multiple disruptive themes in contact centers, including failure to provide anticipated information via callbacks, callers becoming stuck between two or more healthcare entities, and conflicting information offered by different sources. Access to these comprehensive insights from actual customer conversations enables decision-makers to develop effective strategies for addressing customer frustrations.

Authenticx plans to use this capital infusion to further increase customer-centricity in healthcare by:

Innovating in machine learning and product engineering

Fueling sales and marketing efforts

Continuing to expand the business

"As healthcare organizations focus on building customer-centric solutions, they need a way to understand the truth of what customers truly want," said Tom Benedetti, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Blue Heron Capital. "We're excited to partner with Authenticx and their strategic vision as they continue to align business decisions with patient experience."

As part of the investment, Blue Heron Capital Operating Advisor, Scott Sanner, will join the Authenticx Board of Directors. Mr. Sanner is the former CEO of Citra Health Solutions and brings nearly 30 years of relevant industry experience having previously held leadership positions at McKesson and Change Healthcare.

Innovative features of the robust Authenticx platform include the Eddy Effect Dashboard and the quality management solution , which improve customer experience by identifying obstacles hindering the customer journey, providing teams with insights to tell data-backed stories, pinpointing areas of improvement and opportunity, reducing agent onboarding time, increasing efficiency and delivering a better CX.

"The infusion of capital gives us the opportunity to continue our growth in becoming the go-to solution for healthcare organizations relying on contact centers," said Brown.

For more information on how Authenticx helps healthcare organizations improve the customer journey, please visit Authenticx.com .

About Authenticx

Authenticx is the new standard for humanizing conversational intelligence in healthcare by analyzing millions of customer interactions (like voice, chat, or emails) to surface immersive and intelligent insights at scale. Authenticx was founded to aggregate, analyze and activate customer interaction data to surface transformational opportunities in healthcare. Using existing data that's likely being stored and ignored in your organization, Authenticx reveals hidden barriers, motivators, and strategies so healthcare organizations can make confident, data-backed decisions.

Media Contact:

BLASTmedia on behalf of Authenticx

Gracie Noel

[email protected]

317.806.1900 ext. 179

SOURCE Authenticx
STAMFORD, Conn., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Avesi Partners ("Avesi") announced that it has made a growth investment in Muir Wood, LLC ("Muir Wood" or the "Company"), a premier provider of integrated, adolescent-focused behavioral health services. Partnering alongside founder and CEO Scott Sowle, COO Bryan Bowen, and the rest of the Muir Wood management team, Avesi's investment will help the Company execute on its mission of leading the national effort to treat and reduce mental health disorders among adolescents.

Headquartered in Petaluma, CA, Muir Wood provides comprehensive therapy services to adolescents between 12-17 years old who are experiencing mental health and/or substance use disorders. Muir Wood's gender-specific and trauma-informed programming is delivered by its experienced team of therapists, psychiatrists, and nurses at the Company's beautiful campuses in Northern California. Further, as an in-network provider with some of the nation's leading health plans, Muir Wood provides the highest quality of evidence-based care to adolescents and their families in an accessible manner.

"When I set out to start Muir Wood a decade ago, my chief aspiration was to develop a program dedicated to serving adolescents with best-in-class care, quality, and facilities. Working with adolescents who suffer from behavioral health disorders has been my life's work, and it has been the ultimate privilege to build Muir Wood alongside incredible colleagues and clinicians," said Scott Sowle, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Muir Wood. "As we look to the next chapter of Muir Wood's growth, Avesi's commitment to our mission and principled approach to maintaining superior levels of care to our clients and their families made this partnership an easy decision for us."

"We are seeing the prevalence of mental health and substance use disorders continue to rise in the adolescent population across the U.S., and the supply of high-quality services has been unable to keep pace. With Avesi's support and experience in helping to scale behavioral health platforms, we are eager to grow into new geographies and add new service lines in order to provide care that addresses the growing needs of our nation's teens and their families," added Bryan Bowen, Chief Operating Officer of Muir Wood.

"We feel fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with Scott, Bryan, and the team at Muir Wood. We have been actively searching for an opportunity to support an exceptional team in the adolescent mental health space  a segment with an acute shortage of quality care options. We were immediately drawn to Muir Wood's mission-driven approach and unwavering dedication to prioritizing the best interests of its clients," said Chris Laitala, Managing Partner of Avesi. "In addition to its impressive management team, Muir Wood's superior, outcomes-driven service quality, as well as its in-network relationships with commercial payors, made it the ideal platform with which to partner."

"In spending time learning about the business, we have been extremely impressed with the caliber of Muir Wood's people, facilities, and top-notch programming," added Peter Erickson, Partner at Avesi. "We look forward to providing strategic and financial support as the Company works towards achieving its long-term vision of becoming a national provider of behavioral health services for adolescents and young adults."

About Muir Wood

Muir Wood is a premier provider of adolescent-focused, short-term residential behavioral health services. The Company offers gender-specific, trauma-informed therapy services to adolescents between 12-17 years old experiencing mental health and/or substance use disorders. Accredited by The Joint Commission, in-network with leading insurance networks, and employing some of the nation's most skilled caregivers, Muir Wood is making effective integrated care accessible. Additional information is available at muirwoodteen.com.

About Avesi Partners

Avesi Partners is a leading private equity investment firm with $880 million of equity capital under management. Based in Stamford, CT with an office in Richmond, VA, Avesi focuses on partnering with lower-middle market, privately-held, and family-owned businesses in key sectors of the economy, including healthcare, business services, insurance, and technology. Avesi seeks to provide the expertise and resources to empower businesses to attain their full vision in a time and capital efficient manner. Avesi collaborates with families, founders, and executives in an effort to accelerate growth and expansion, while positioning businesses to achieve long-term success and enduring value. Additional information is available at avesipartners.com.

This press release ("Press Release") is being published for informational purposes only regarding Avesi Partners, LLC ("Avesi"). One should not assume an investment in the described company was or will be profitable. All opinions, estimates and forecasts of future performance are based on information as of the date of this Press Release and are subject to change. Certain information contained in this Press Release constitutes "forward-looking statements," which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "target," "project," "estimate," "intend," "continue" or "believe," or the negatives thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events or results may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. Avesi has not vetted the company's website and Avesi's provision of the company's website link should not be considered an endorsement of the information presented there.

SOURCE Avesi Partners
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

Class Period: November 22, 2021 to November 29, 2022

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: March 6, 2023

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in AVYA:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/avaya-holdings-lawsuit-submission-form?id=35649&from=4

Avaya Holdings Corp. NEWS - AVYA NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Avaya Holdings Corp. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Company's internal control over financial reporting was deficient in several areas; (ii) as a result of these deficiencies, the Company had failed to design and maintain effective controls over its whistleblower policies and its ethics and compliance program; (iii) the Company's deteriorating financial condition was likely to raise substantial doubt as to its ability to continue as a going concern; and (iv) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Avaya you have until March 6, 2023 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Avaya securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the AVYA lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/avaya-holdings-lawsuit-submission-form?id=35649&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Technavio, the global banking as a service market size is estimated to grow by USD 21,806.94 million from 2022 to 2027. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 14.62% during the forecast period. North America held the largest share of the global market in 2022, and the market in the region is estimated to witness an incremental growth of 38%. For more Insights on market size, Request a sample report

Banking as a service market - Five Forces

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Banking as a Service Market 2023-2027

The global cloud data warehouse market is fragmented, and the five forces analysis covers

Bargaining Power of Buyers

The threat of New Entrants

Threat of Rivalry

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Threat of Substitutes

Interpretation of porter's five models helps to strategize the business, for entire details  buy the report!

Banking as a service market  Customer Landscape

The report includes the market's adoption lifecycle, from the innovator's stage to the laggard's stage. It focuses on adoption rates in different regions based on penetration. Furthermore, the report also includes key purchase criteria and drivers of price sensitivity to help companies evaluate and develop their growth strategies.

Banking as a service market - Segmentation Assessment

Segment Overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on end-user (banks, NBFC, and government), component (platform and services), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

The market share growth by the banks segment will be significant during the forecast period. The segment is driven by the increasing adoption of advanced financial technologies by banks. In addition, benefits offered by bank-as-a-service solutions such as cost savings, technology integration, increased customer insights, and enhanced collaboration among others are contributing to the growth of the segment.

Geography Overview

By geography, the global banking as a service market is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global banking as a service market.

North America is estimated to contribute 38% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. Major BFSI firms in the region such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase Co., and Bank of America Corporation, are investing in technology by offering new apps and interfaces to provide better service to their customers. The region is also witnessing a significant increase in the number of fintech startups. These factors are driving the growth of the banking as a service market in North America .

Download a Sample Report

Banking as a service market  Market Dynamics

Key factor driving market growth

The market is driven by the increasing adoption by end-users.

Banking as a service solutions offer numerous benefits to end-users.

They provide convenience, speed, and a wide range of payment options for customers.

The use of banking as a service solutions is increasing significantly in NBFCs as these solutions allow non-banks to offer core banking services.

Many such wide benefits of incorporation of banking as a service are driving the growth of the market in focus.

Leading trends influencing the market

Growing partnerships, collaborations, and agreements is a key trend in the market.

The market is witnessing an increase in the number of partnerships, collaborations, and agreements among vendors.

For instance, in February 2020 , Bankable announced a strategic collaboration with Visa in the US. With this collaboration, Bankable aims to provide Visa US clients, including corporate and financial institutions, access to its real-time and modular banking solutions, enabling them to deploy digital banking and faster payment services.

, Bankable announced a strategic collaboration with Visa in the US. With this collaboration, Bankable aims to provide Visa US clients, including corporate and financial institutions, access to its real-time and modular banking solutions, enabling them to deploy digital banking and faster payment services. Similarly, in November 2021 , Unit, the New York -based banking as a service, partnered with Currencycloud to offer their customers an easy, seamless way to fulfill both domestic and international banking needs.

, Unit, the -based banking as a service, partnered with Currencycloud to offer their customers an easy, seamless way to fulfill both domestic and international banking needs. This trend among vendors is expected to drive the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Major challenges hindering the market growth

Implementation and data security issues are key challenges hindering the growth of the market.

Several fintech companies that are new to banking are typically unaware of the variety of products available in the market.

There are also legal and security concerns that act as barriers to the implementation of banking as a service.

As players in the market handle critical user information, they are always concerned about their data being misused.

Hence, many organizations are skeptical about the deployment of banking as a service for their operations, which is reducing the growth potential in the market.

Driver, Trend & Challenges are the factors of market dynamics that state about consequences & sustainability of the businesses, find some insights from a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this banking as a service market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the banking as a service market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the size of the banking as a service market size and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the banking as a service market industry across North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , APAC, , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of banking as a service market vendors

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The banking as a service market in Latin America is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 20.2% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 4,309.74 million . The increasing adoption of BaaS solutions by end-users is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as implementation and data security challenges may impede the market growth.

is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 20.2% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by . The increasing adoption of BaaS solutions by end-users is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as implementation and data security challenges may impede the market growth. The home equity lending market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 3.81% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 35,535.04 million . The massive increase in home prices is notably driving the market growth, although factors such as the fear of losing property may impede the market growth.

Banking As A Service Market Scope

Report Coverage Details Page number 146 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 14.62% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 21806.94 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 13.72 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 38% Key countries US, Canada, China, France, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled 11:FS, Alkami Technology Inc., Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Block Inc., Bnkbl Ltd., ClearBank Ltd., CREALOGIX AG, Currency Cloud Group Ltd., Finastra, Fiserv Inc., Green Dot Corp., MatchMove Pay Pte Ltd., Movencorp Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc., Q2 Holdings Inc., Societe Generale SA, Solarisbank AG, StoneCastle Digital Solutions LLC, Temenos Headquarters SA, and Urban FT Group Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, 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. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of contents:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by End-user



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Component



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global banking as a service market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global banking as a service market 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.2 End user Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  End user Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.3 Component Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Component Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by End-user

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by End-user

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by End-user



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by End-user

6.3 Banks - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Banks - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Banks - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Banks - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Banks - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 NBFC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on NBFC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on NBFC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 40: Chart on NBFC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on NBFC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Government - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Government - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Government - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Government - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Government - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Market opportunity by End-user

Exhibit 46: Market opportunity by End-user ($ million)

7 Market Segmentation by Component

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 47: Chart on Component - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 48: Data Table on Component - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Component

Exhibit 49: Chart on Comparison by Component



Exhibit 50: Data Table on Comparison by Component

7.3 Platform - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 51: Chart on Platform - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Platform - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 53: Chart on Platform - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Platform - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Market opportunity by Component

Exhibit 59: Market opportunity by Component ($ million)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 60: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 61: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 63: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 65: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 66: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 67: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 68: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 69: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 70: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 72: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 73: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 74: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 75: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 76: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 77: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 78: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 80: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 81: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 85: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 86: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)



Exhibit 87: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 88: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 89: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 90: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 91: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 92: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 95: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 99: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 102: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million)

Exhibit 103: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 104: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 105: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 106: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 107: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 108: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 109: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 110: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 111: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 11:FS

Exhibit 112: 11:FS - Overview



Exhibit 113: 11:FS - Product / Service



Exhibit 114: 11:FS - Key offerings

12.4 Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA

Exhibit 115: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA - Overview



Exhibit 116: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA - Business segments



Exhibit 117: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 118: Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA - Segment focus

12.5 Block Inc.

Exhibit 119: Block Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 120: Block Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 121: Block Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 122: Block Inc. - Segment focus

12.6 Bnkbl Ltd.

Exhibit 123: Bnkbl Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 124: Bnkbl Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 125: Bnkbl Ltd. - Key offerings

12.7 ClearBank Ltd.

Exhibit 126: ClearBank Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 127: ClearBank Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 128: ClearBank Ltd. - Key offerings

12.8 Currency Cloud Group Ltd.

Exhibit 129: Currency Cloud Group Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 130: Currency Cloud Group Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 131: Currency Cloud Group Ltd. - Key offerings

12.9 Finastra

Exhibit 132: Finastra - Overview



Exhibit 133: Finastra - Product / Service



Exhibit 134: Finastra - Key offerings

12.10 Green Dot Corp.

Exhibit 135: Green Dot Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 136: Green Dot Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 137: Green Dot Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 138: Green Dot Corp. - Segment focus

12.11 MatchMove Pay Pte Ltd.

Exhibit 139: MatchMove Pay Pte Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 140: MatchMove Pay Pte Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 141: MatchMove Pay Pte Ltd. - Key offerings

12.12 Movencorp Inc.

Exhibit 142: Movencorp Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 143: Movencorp Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 144: Movencorp Inc. - Key offerings

12.13 PayPal Holdings Inc.

Exhibit 145: PayPal Holdings Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 146: PayPal Holdings Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 147: PayPal Holdings Inc. - Key offerings

12.14 Societe Generale SA

Exhibit 148: Societe Generale SA - Overview



Exhibit 149: Societe Generale SA - Business segments



Exhibit 150: Societe Generale SA - Key offerings



Exhibit 151: Societe Generale SA - Segment focus

12.15 Solarisbank AG

Exhibit 152: Solarisbank AG - Overview



Exhibit 153: Solarisbank AG - Product / Service



Exhibit 154: Solarisbank AG - Key offerings

12.16 StoneCastle Digital Solutions LLC

Exhibit 155: StoneCastle Digital Solutions LLC - Overview



Exhibit 156: StoneCastle Digital Solutions LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 157: StoneCastle Digital Solutions LLC - Key offerings

12.17 Urban FT Group Inc.

Exhibit 158: Urban FT Group Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 159: Urban FT Group Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 160: Urban FT Group Inc. - Key offerings

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 161: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 162: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 163: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 164: Research methodology



Exhibit 165: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 166: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 167: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Telescope Partners champions investment in industry-leading QR code customer engagement platform to accelerate growth and business adoption

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Beaconstac , the leading QR code customer engagement platform, today announced $25 million in Series A funding led by Telescope Partners , with participation from existing investor, Accel . The funding underscores the strong market demand from businesses for Beaconstac's SaaS platform resulting in profitable revenue growth of 200% over the course of 2022.

Over the past 12 months, Beaconstac has helped businesses of all sizes create and track 1.8 million QR codes that were scanned over 150 million times by consumers. These numbers will continue to accelerate as the number of unique US smartphone users scanning a QR code is poised to reach 99.5 million by 2025.

This new funding will enable Beaconstac to further develop its market-leading platform, build a world class team, and ultimately enable new and existing customers to adopt QR codes as a means to create personal connections with a wide audience at scale, and bridge physical world customer experiences to digital.

"In a world where touchpoints between brand and consumer have grown exponentially, there is a pressing need for frictionless technology that meets consumers on and offline and QR codes are rising to the challenge," said Sharat Potharaju , CEO of Beaconstac. "This funding validates our leadership position in the market and gives us the resources to build additional products on our platform as well as continue helping businesses embrace QR codes for customer engagement."

Today, Beaconstac is trusted by large enterprises such as, Revlon, Nestle, FedEx, and Marriott, and is the leading QR code platform on G2 reaching 20,000 customers in September 2022.

"It's clear QR codes are becoming an integral part of how businesses communicate with their customers," said Mickey Arabelovic, Founder at Telescope Partners. "The flexibility and insights Beaconstac delivers for businesses sets it apart from competitors. We believe the company has the vision and ability to become the largest player in the market."

"While Beaconstac's revenue growth has been impressive, what makes them unique in my mind is how rapidly they've been able to scale to the mid-market and enterprise segments with a product-led growth model," said Shekhar Kirani, Partner at Accel.

Beaconstac currently employs 75 employees across offices in New York and Bangalore, India with plans to increase its workforce by roughly 200% in 2023. For more information about Beaconstac, its QR code customer engagement platform and job opportunities, visit beaconstac.com .

About Beaconstac

Beaconstac's vision is to enable digital connections with every physical object and place on the planet. Our platform makes physical products and places talk directly to consumers through digital content and actions by leveraging smartphone technologies like QR codes.

Over 25,000 businesses and brands in 100+ countries use our Phygital Customer Engagement platform to build direct relationships, grow lifetime revenue, and acquire first-party data in industries ranging from consumer goods, hospitality, retail, and real estate, reaching over 5 million monthly active users.

Contact

BLASTmedia for Beaconstac

Erin McCreadie

[email protected]

317.806.1900

SOURCE Beaconstac
As SEVP, Head of Commercial Banking, Mr. Brown will oversee all aspects of Berkshire's commercial banking operations. He will report directly to CEO Nitin Mhatre and replace George Bacigalupo. Mr. Bacigalupo transitioned to the position of Director - Commercial/Enterprise Sales Management effective January 1, 2023 through December 2023 at which time he will retire from his position at the Company and the Bank.

As EVP, Chief Credit Officer, Mr. Jurgeleit will oversee all aspects of the company's credit underwriting, policy, and approval processes. He will report directly to SEVP, Chief Risk Officer, Greg Lindenmuth and replace recently retired Chief Credit Officer Georgia Melas.

CEO Mhatre added, "In addition to welcoming Mr. Brown and Mr. Jurgeleit to their respective roles, I want to thank George and Georgia for their years of dedicated service to Berkshire, our customers and communities."

"I'm excited to join the Berkshire organization and work alongside every employee in every location across the footprint to support the growth and success of our clients, employees, shareholders, and communities," stated Mr. Brown. "The Company has a best-in-class commercial banking franchise and a strong team which I look forward to working together with, to take Berkshire to even greater heights," added Brown.

EVP Jurgeleit stated, "I'm proud to step into this leadership role at an organization with more than a 176-year history of helping its customers and communities through all economic environments. Berkshire has a strong credit risk management practice with many experienced team members and a supportive culture. I look forward to continuing to find ways to support the credit needs of our borrowers and communities while maintaining disciplined credit decisioning."

About James "Jim" Brown

Mr. Brown is a high-performing commercial and private banking executive who brings over 30 years of experience to Berkshire. He spent more than 20 years at Boston Private Bank & Trust Company in multiple senior executive roles including Co-President, EVP, Head of Commercial Banking and Credit Administration, and Chief Lending Officer. During his time at Boston Private the Company grew from $500 million in assets to over $10 billion. Mr. Brown remained at the Bank through its acquisition by Silicon Valley Bank as Head of Specialty Commercial within the Private Bank until late 2021. He holds a masters from Boston College and a bachelors from Nichols College. Mr. Brown resides in Sudbury, Massachusetts with his family and serves on the board of trustees at Nichols College.

About Philip Jurgeleit

Mr. Jurgeleit brings more than 30 years of credit and commercial banking expertise to Berkshire, most recently serving as SVP and Senior Director of Credit Risk at Santander Bank where he was responsible for all aspects of credit risk management including credit approval, asset quality, underwriting guidelines, and credit policies for the Middle Market, Mid-Corporate, Asset Based Lending, and Healthcare/Not-for-Profit business units. Prior to serving in that capacity, Mr. Jurgeleit held senior leadership roles at Citizens Bank, Webster Bank and Bank of America. He holds an MBA from the University of Massachusetts and a bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College. Mr. Jurgeleit resides in Barrington, Rhode Island and serves on the board of The Business Development Company of Rhode Island in Providence, Rhode Island.

ABOUT BERKSHIRE HILLS BANCORP

Headquartered in Boston, Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE:BHLB) is the parent of Berkshire Bank. Founded in 1846, the Bank's vision is to be a high-performing leading socially responsible community bank. It empowers the financial potential of its stakeholders by making banking available where, when, and how it's needed through an uncompromising focus on exceptional customer service, digital banking, and positive community impact. Providing a wide range of financial solutions through its consumer banking, commercial banking and wealth management divisions, the Bank has approximately $11.3 billion in assets and a community-based footprint of 100 financial centers in Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Named one of America's Most Trusted Companies 2022 by Newsweek, Berkshire is also listed in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index and a Best Place to Work for LGBTQ+ Equality. To learn more, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Investor Relations Contacts

Kevin Conn, SVP, Investor Relations & Corporate Development

Email: [email protected]

Tel: (617) 641-9206

David Gonci, Capital Markets Director

Email: [email protected]

Tel: (413) 281-1973

Media Contact:

Gary Levante, SVP, Corporate Responsibility & Communications

Email: [email protected]

Tel: (413) 447-1737

SOURCE Berkshire Hills Bancorp, Inc.
SAN MARCOS, Texas, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- (Berry Aviation, Inc.) Berry Aviation, Inc. has been awarded a contract to provide Airborne Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (A-ISR) in support of Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC) air-to-ground integration training. Berry Aviation's specially modified Cessna 206 will provide turnkey services that includes the platform, combat-experienced aircrew, and a remote portable Ground Control Station (GCS). The A-ISR system will be utilized to support realistic, scenario-based training for Special Operations teams to achieve critical skill proficiencies prior to worldwide deployments. "The aircraft is mod-payload compliant, and purpose built to serve both as a crewed platform as well as a surrogate UAS that operates within the National Airspace confines," said Stan Green, MARSOC combat veteran and Director of Special Operations Support for Berry Aviation.

Berry Aviation's C-206 ISR/SIGINT platform is ideal for use with SOF and convention teams that utilize local ranges for air-to-ground integration work, perimeter security and intelligence gathering training.

The new contract award is the first for Berry Aviation's ISR division, which operates from San Marcos, Texas. Berry Aviation is proud to serve the needs of MARSOC and other component commands of USSOCOM. "Berry Aviation has successfully leveraged a specialized and global air mobility operation and added ISR training and support to their offering. They have an impeccable reputation for safety and mission results for their customers. Their combat-experienced operators and cadre are the best of breed and will be a value add for MARSOC and others in need of ISR services," said Gary Ambrose, Managing Director at Acorn Growth Companies.

Berry Aviation is also fielding a King Air 350 ISR aircraft specially modified with proprietary sensor integrations to include enhanced full-motion video and signals intelligence capabilities, which will be ready for contract opportunities in the Fall of 2023. For information regarding the Cessna 206 and King Air 350 ISR platforms, please contact Berry Aviation.

Berry Aviation, Inc., a member of Acorn Growth Companies, is headquartered in San Marcos, TX. With nearly 40 years of experience in the aviation industry, Berry Aviation operates a broad portfolio of specialized aviation solutions that includes Government Services, On-Demand Cargo, Unmanned Aerial Systems, ISR, and Passenger Operations, Part 135 Aerial Delivery, Part 135 Fixed Wing Night Vision Flight, and Part 135 Air Ambulance, MEDEVAC and CASEVAC. The company is a certified as an FAA and EASA Part 145 Repair Station and is medically accredited by NAAMTA and CAMTS.

Acorn Growth Companies (AGC) is a middle market private equity firm focused exclusively on Aerospace, Defense, Space, and Intelligence. Acorn invests solely in operating companies that strive to enhance global mobility and protect national interests. Acorn has a formidable reputation in the industry and is recognized for its deep understanding of the Aerospace, Defense, Space, and Intelligence markets, with proprietary access to the best companies within these sectors. With operational expertise and its ability to lead and manage investments through variable economic and industry cycles, Acorn works in tandem with management to build its portfolio companies into significant market leaders. More information can be found at AcornGrowthCompanies.com.

SOURCE Berry Aviation, Inc.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BNI (Business Network International), the world's leading business referral organization, celebrated their 38th anniversary on January 8, 2023. For 38 years, BNI has been helping Members create a better future for themselves and their communities and has provided a proven system to help its Members grow their businesses even through some difficult economic times.

In 2022, BNI generated over $20.38 billion USD in closed business for its Members globally and celebrated over 10,000 net new Members, resulting in the organization's 38th year of continuous growth. As a word-of-mouth referral marketing organization, this incredible recorded revenue was made possible by over 13.3 million referrals passed across the BNI community in 2022  another annual record for the organization.

When the first BNI Chapter meeting was held at a small coffee shop in Arcadia, California in 1985, Founder & Chief Visionary Officer, Dr. Ivan Misner could not have anticipated what it would soon become, although he did believe it would be something special. By the end of the first year, 20 BNI Chapters were spread across southern California. Today, 38 years later, BNI is now approaching the 11,000 Chapter mark worldwide and nearing the 300,000 Member milestone globally.

"BNI Members are the best economic stimulus there is. The valuable referrals they generate for one another will continue generating more opportunities for months and years to come," says Graham Weihmiller, BNI's Chairman & CEO. "Congratulations to BNI Members worldwide on the significant business generation done over the past year  great work!"

"I am humbled by what BNI has become" Dr. Ivan Misner says, "Its impact on the world of business and on individual lives continues to spread. I feel so proud of how the Givers Gain philosophy has expanded around the world and I can never get enough of hearing about people's experiences in the organization."

This information is based on historical BNI Member self-reported data as of January 5, 2023 and represents collective results from BNI Members worldwide over the last 12 months.

About BNI

BNI (Business Network International) is the world's largest and most successful business networking organization. Today, BNI has over 297,000 Member-businesses participating in over 10,900 BNI Chapters that meet in-person, online, or in a hybrid format each week in 76+ countries around the globe. Since 1985, BNI has created over $141,000,000,000 USD in revenue for BNI Members via over 139 million valuable new client referrals. To learn more about BNI and how you can visit a chapter, go to www.bni.com. BNI's philosophy is centered on Givers Gain and BNI's motto is Changing the Way the World Does Business. To connect with the support team, please reach out to (800)-825-8286 or [email protected].

This information is based on historical BNI Member self-reported data and represents collective results from BNI Members worldwide from 1985 to January 5, 2023.

SOURCE BNI
Persistent Systems networking devices to be sold with robots intended for defense, public safety applications

Spot quadruped robot equipped with the Persistent Systems MPU5 is well suited to keep responding teams out of harm's way during a wide range of potentially hazardous environments and situations

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Persistent Systems, LLC ("Persistent"), a leader in mobile ad hoc networking (MANET) technology, announced today that mobile robotics company Boston Dynamics has joined Persistent's Wave Relay Ecosystem.

The Ecosystem is an industry alliance of unmanned system and sensor producers all using the Wave Relay MANET as their preferred network for command-and-control and communications. As part of its agreement with Boston Dynamics, Persistent will supply the MANET devices used on robots sold to defense, public safety, law enforcement and U.S. federal government customers.

"We are excited to have Boston Dynamics join our Ecosystem," said Jeremy Hickman, Director of Business Development for Persistent Systems. "We believe that our MANET technology will provide their robots with a high-performance solution that is robust, reliable and scalableand also enables interoperability with third-party unmanned and sensor platforms."

Boston Dynamics officials noted that they see the new Ecosystem agreement with Persistent Systems as a way of better positioning the company's robotic quadruped Spot for industries requiring dedicated, secure communications networks in remote environments.

"We see Spot, operating on a Persistent Systems MANET, being used in many different applications, including subterranean or confined space exploration, unexploded ordnance inspection, suspicious package investigation, hazardous gas detection, search and rescue, and structural inspection," said Kimberly Chamblin, Director of Partnerships, Public Sector, at Boston Dynamics.

In addition to MANET hardware being physically integrated with Boston Dynamics robots, robotic command-and-control software will be loaded onto Persistent Systems devices so that users can control them via the Persistent Systems Remote Display and Controller (RDC).

"So, not only will you be able to stream sensor data collected by Spot, but you will also be able to control its movement with the RDC," Hickman said. "This configuration both empowers the users and reduces the need for each unmanned system to have its own unique controller."

For more information about Persistent's MANET solutions, visit our website: http://www.persistentsystems.com.

About Persistent Systems, LLC

Headquartered in New York City since 2007, Persistent Systems, LLC is a global communications technology company that develops and manufactures a patented and secure Mobile Ad hoc Networking (MANET) system: Wave Relay. Wave Relay transmits and receives data, video, voice and other applications under the most difficult conditions. Their suite of products is utilized in Commercial, Military, Government, Industrial, Agriculture, Robotics, and Unmanned Systems markets. Please visit http://www.persistentsystems.com to learn more. Follow Persistent Systems on Twitter to get updates on the latest developments @pswaverelay.

SOURCE Persistent Systems, LLC
BOSTON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Boston While Black today welcomed Boston-based advertising agency Arnold Worldwide and the Havas Boston Village, which includes Havas Health & You and Havas Media, as corporate partners. This partnership will provide Boston While Black (BWB) memberships to the group's Black employees, connecting them to an expansive network of Black professionals. The collaboration also supports Boston While Black through marketing services and resources to help advance their ongoing efforts in the Greater Boston community.

"We are excited to welcome Arnold Worldwide and the Havas Boston Village to our community. Together we will take significant strides towards fulfilling the Boston While Black mission of shaping a city where Black people want to live and work," said Sheena Collier, Founder and CEO of Boston While Black. Collier added, "Partnering with a company who specializes in storytelling is important to us as we work together to rewrite the narrative in Boston."

"We are thrilled to partner with Boston While Black as we continue to deepen our culture of inclusion and belonging. This partnership is about providing our Black employees with support, resources, and a strong sense of community that must exist both inside and outside of our walls," said George Sargent, CEO of Arnold. "We have a responsibility to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging for our people, and we're committed to supporting organizations like Boston While Black that exist to help us do just that."

As part of the partnership, all Black employees of the Havas Boston Village will have access to Boston While Black's portfolio of resources that includes networking opportunities, social events, wellness initiatives, professional workshops, and more. They will also get early access for tickets to BWB's 2nd Annual How to Boston While Black Summit , taking place April 13 - 24, 2023.

"We are excited to invest in this partnership and are inspired by the work Sheena and her team are doing to support Black professionals in our community both personally and professionally," said Sargent.

The Havas Boston Village is committed to supporting Boston While Black in helping Black individuals engage and connect in Greater Boston and find their tribe. This partnership aligns with Havas' ongoing Commit to Change pledge . Boston While Black will be instrumental in building a more diverse, inclusive, and just Havas to provide a meaningful experience for all.

About Arnold:

Arnold is an independent-minded integrated advertising agency that makes it Safe to be Brave. We transform brands into household names and grow businesses by delivering breakthrough, culturally connected work. Arnold is headquartered in Boston and is part of the Havas Group. Learn more on arn.com , or follow us on LinkedIn , Twitter , and Instagram .

For more information about Arnold Worldwide, visit www.arn.com .

About Havas Health & You:

Havas Health & You unites Havas Life, Health4Brands (H4B), Lynx, Red Havas and Havas Health Plus, all wholly owned health and wellness communications networks, with the consumer health businesses and practices of Havas Creative Group. The network's approach is centered around Human Purpose and has the talent, tenacity, and technology that health companies, brands and people need to thrive in today's world.

For more information, go to www.HavasHealthandYou.com .

About Havas Media:

Havas Media Group (HMG) is the media experience agency. HMG delivers this brand promise through the Mx System, where meaningful media helps build more meaningful brands. HMG is part of the Havas Group, owned by Vivendi, one of the world's largest integrated content, media, and communications groups. HMG also consists of two global media networks: Havas Media and Arena Media. The media experience agencies are home to specialists across 150 countries worldwide, with 68 Villages. Clients include Unilever, Sanofi, JDE, Hyundai Kia, Puma, TripAdvisor, Michelin, Telefonica, Swarovski, Reckitt Benckiser, among many others.

For more information, visit the website or follow Havas Media Group on Twitter @HavasMedia, LinkedIn @Havas Media Group, Facebook @HavasMediaGroup or Instagram @havas.

About Boston While Black

Boston While Black is the first membership network for Boston-based Black professionals, entrepreneurs, and students who are seeking connection and community. Through programs, events, and a digital community, they connect members who are active in their local neighborhoods, working at the most innovative companies, building the businesses of the future, attending the area's universities, and shaping the culture of the region. Boston While Black is creating a city where Black people want to live and work because they have the spaces, tools, and relationships to find their tribe, grow their network, navigate the city, and have fun.

The Boston While Black community is powered by the experiences of its creator, Sheena Collier, who moved here fifteen years ago to attend Harvard and had her own challenges navigating Boston, particularly as a Black woman.

Learn more at www.bostonwhileblack.com.

SOURCE Arnold Worldwide
ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eugenia Mahaffey had moved away from Laramie, Wyoming to Wichita, Kansas. She wasn't particularly interested in returning for her 20-year high school reunion, but her parents convinced her to.

"So I came to the 20th reunion and they always have a mixer the first night, where you kind of get to know each other again," she said. "And, I walked in and the tallest man in the room was my [future] husband and I just, 'Wow.' You know, 'There he is. He's pretty cute.' So anyway, we hit it off and before I knew it, he had me in a moving truck moving back to Wyoming."

Eugenia was a dental auxiliary and she quickly went to work in a new dental practice in Laramie and lived with Michael, a Vietnam veteran and postal carrier. The couple had been together for 38 years when Eugenia started having trouble with all sorts of things, from her memory to speaking to being able to tell whether she was standing or sitting.

It took her doctor a long time to find the problem, but he kept pushing and doing more tests until, one day, he sat her down.

"He says, 'Everything is just fine and dandy, except you have a brain tumor.' I said, 'No, I do not.'"

A small tumor was sitting on her pituitary gland, probably since birth, and it had been slowly growing larger. It was rapidly developed a cyst. The pressure from the tumor and cyst had thrown her pituitary gland off balance and affected the rest of her body and mind. A radiation oncology team told her that she would need six weeks of radiation, because surgeons couldn't cut too close to the pituitary gland.

A patient advocate let her know that, because of her husband's service, she would be eligible to stay at the Rocky Mountain Regional Fisher House.

Mike served in an artillery battery in the Mekong River Delta in southern Vietnam where he was tasked as the unit mailman, good preparation for his over 30 years as a postman.

Eugenia thought she remembered seeing the Fisher House. She was thinking of an old brick building that might've dated to the 19th century. When she mentioned that, her patient advocate just laughed and said, "I think you will find this might be just a little different than what you're thinking."

A staff member, Wanda, gave them a tour of the Fisher House.

"She just nonchalantly takes us over to the kitchen, and I'm like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe that. It is just amazing. So I can't say good enough, enough, good stuff about it. And the Fishers, I mean, how wonderful that they are able to do wonderful work that benefits future generations, that benefits the patient, the spouse, the children, the grandchildren. It's just something that keeps on giving."

"Everybody is very friendly and caring and they to do whatever they can do to help you out no matter what kind of situation you're in," she said.

Eugenia made a lot of friends while she was at the house, including other families that were there to fight cancer. Celia, from Nebraska, was supporting a husband fighting cancer, and the two women would talk for hours.

"Her husband was pretty ill and didn't come down to the kitchen very often," Eugenia said, "but she and I were down there flapping our mouths and we, we did solve a lot of problems of the world."

Between her new friends at the Fisher House and her husband, Eugenia had a full support group as she went through radiation. In February 2021, Eugenia's surgeon gave her the good news: The tumor and the cyst had shrunk significantly. She'll likely not need any further treatment.

"We both feel blessed to have the Fisher House just two-and-a-half hours from our home," the couple said. "What a lovely warm welcoming facility. We were made to feel at home the moment we walked in the door. It's clean, warm and has friendly staff and caring fellow residents. You just can't beat it."

Fisher House Foundation is best known for its network of 94 comfort homes where military and veteran families can stay at no cost while a loved one is receiving treatment. These homes are located at major military and VA medical centers nationwide, and in Europe, close to the medical center or hospital they serve. Fisher Houses have up to 21 suites, with private bedrooms and baths. Families share a common kitchen, laundry facilities, a warm dining room and an inviting living room. Fisher House Foundation ensures that there is never a lodging fee. Since inception, the program has saved military and veteran families an estimated $547 million in out-of-pocket costs for lodging and transportation.

Fisher House Foundation also operates the Hero Miles Program, using donated frequent flyer miles to bring family members to the bedside of injured service members as well as the Hotels for Heroes program using donated hotel points to allow family members to stay at hotels near medical centers without charge. The Foundation also manages an awards program recognizing programs that support military and veteran communities and scholarship funds for military children, spouses, and children of fallen and disabled veterans.

For more information about Fisher House Foundation, please go to www.fisherhouse.org.

SOURCE Fisher House Foundation
ROANOKE, Va., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Accounting and Advisory firm Brown Edwards is pleased to announce Jacob Favaro, CPA, CFP will be joining the firm as a partner based in our Richmond, Virginia office on February 1, 2023. Prior to joining Brown Edwards, Jacob was a partner at Keiter and brings with him more than 20 years of tax and accounting experience assisting individuals and businesses in the RVA region with tax planning, consulting and compliance.

Jacob Favaro, Partner

"We are very excited to have Jacob join our team as a tax partner. His industry knowledge, expertise, and quality of service exemplify what we at Brown Edwards aim to provide to our clients. We are eager to continue the growth of our service base in Richmond with his contributions," states CEO, Jason Hartman.

Jacob graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelors degree in accounting and a Masters of Taxation. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Certified Financial Planners Board. Jacob's specialty areas include consulting, compliance and tax research for S-Corporations, partnerships, multi-state corporations, and their owners. He routinely advises clients in a variety of industries including manufacturing, construction, craft beverage, professional services, leasing, and technology.

Jacob is a former President of the Rotary Club of South Richmond and remains active in the club today. During his tenure as president, Jacob led the club in raising over $175,000 to support charities within the local community.

"I am thrilled to be joining the Brown Edwards team, and a part of the growing Richmond office. Brown Edwards will open new doors for me and provide the opportunity to collaborate with clients and staff across the Commonwealth. I am looking forward to bringing my expertise and strong client service to Brown Edwards."

David Reardon, Brown Edwards Area Coordinator asserts "We are very pleased to welcome a fellow Richmond-native to the Brown Edwards partnership. Jacob's career has been focused in the RVA Region and his expertise and depth will make a great addition to our local team in support of our ongoing commitment to our clients here and throughout the Brown Edwards network."

Brown Edwards is a full-service regional accounting firm with offices in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee, and is included in Inside Public Accounting's list as one of the top 100 firms in the United States, an Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Company, and a Top 50 Construction Accounting Firm as compiled by Construction Executive magazine. Brown Edwards is proud to support a wide-range of industries throughout the Mid-Atlantic, including automobile dealerships, construction, credit unions, education, employee benefits, energy, financial institutions, healthcare, manufacturing and distribution, state and local government, real estate, and not-for-profit organizations. For more information, visit www.BEcpas.com.

SOURCE Brown, Edwards & Company
Surge in demand for capacitor banks, for power factor correction, from the industrial sector drives the growth of the global capacitor bank market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Capacitor Bank Market by Voltage (Low [<10 Kv], Medium [10 Kv - 69 Kv], And High [>69Kv]), Type (Externally Fused, Internally Fused, And Fuseless), Installation (Pole Mounted, Open Air Substation, Metal Enclosed Substation, and Other), Connection Type (Star Connection and Delta Connection), Application (Power Factor Correction, Industrial, Harmonic Filter, And Others), And Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2022-2031" According to the report, the global capacitor bank industry generated $3.9 billion in 2021, and is estimated to reach $6.0 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 4.3% from 2022 to 2031. The report offers a detailed analysis of changing market trends, top segments, key investment pockets, value chains, regional landscapes, and competitive scenarios.

Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities-

Surge in demand for capacitor banks, for power factor correction, from the industrial sector drives the growth of the global capacitor bank market. On the other hand, volatile prices of raw materials impede the growth to some extent. However, rise in investment by the major key players is expected to create lucrative opportunities in the industry.

Download Report Sample: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/32268

Covid-19 scenario-

Volatility in prices of raw materials such as aluminum, copper, titanium, and other materials lowered the market demand, thus impacting the growth of the capacitor bank industry negatively.

However, rise in organic growth strategies by the major key players has helped the market recover post-pandemic.

The internally fused segment to rule the roost-

By type, the internally fused segment held the major share in 2021, garnering around half of the global capacitor bank market revenue. The same segment would also showcase the fastest CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. Various advantages associated with the use of internally fused capacitor banks, including easy to install and easy maintenance, are heightening the demand for internally fused capacitor banks, thus driving the segment growth.

Purchase Inquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/32268

The pole mounted segment to maintain its dominance during the forecast period-

By installation, the pole mounted segment contributed to the highest share in 2021, accounting for around two-fifths of the global capacitor bank market revenue. The same segment would also showcase the fastest CAGR of 4.6% throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to the fact that pole mounted capacitor banks offer voltage management and power factor correction for medium-voltage industrial and utility overhead electrical systems.

The delta segment to dominate by 2031-

By connection type, the delta segment accounted for nearly two-thirds of the global capacitor bank market share in 2021, and is expected to rule the roost by 2031. The same segment would also display the fastest CAGR of 3.7% throughout the forecast period. This is due to the fact that the capacitor bank in a delta connection can be used for high voltage.

Buy This Report (324 Pages PDF with Insights, Charts, Tables, and Figures) @ https://bit.ly/3QKAo9a

Asia-Pacific garnered the major share in 2021-

By region, Asia-Pacific garnered the highest share in 2021, holding nearly one-third of the global capacitor bank market revenue in 2021, and is projected to retain its dominance by 2031. The same region would also portray the fastest CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period. Rapid surge in population and rise in the economy of Asia-Pacific have propelled the market growth.

Leading Market Players-

ABB Ltd.

Enerlux Power s.r.l.

Eaton

Hitachi Ltd. (Hitachi)

Circutor

Siemens

Comar Condensatori S.p.A

Vishay Intertechnology, Inc.

EPCOS

Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba)

The report analyzes these key players in the global capacitor bank 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, developments, and product portfolios of every market player.

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SHANGHAI, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Carota, a global provider of Over-The-Air (OTA) upgrade solutions for the Internet of Things, was invited by TUV Rheinland to a ceremony where it received the IEC 60335 Annex U certificate of conformity.

In the photograph, Mr. Jacky Zhang (left), the Chief Technology Officer of Carota, is seen receiving the certificate from Mr. Yonggang Li (right), the General Manager of Shanghai Electronic and Electrical Product Services of TUV Rheinland Greater China Region.

The IEC 60335 Annex U certificate of conformity addresses the growing use of software in modern household appliances, as well as the increasing number of internet-connected devices. With the increasing use of programmable electronic circuits in consumer electronics and software playing a crucial role in many household appliances, the certification ensures that these appliances remain safe for consumers to use throughout their lifespan, particularly when connected to public networks via IoT devices.

The IEC 60335-1:2020 safety regulations, released in September 2020, introduced new requirements in Annex U to prevent unauthorized access and ensure the security of remote communication through public networks. This is a requirement for companies exporting household appliances to Europe. TUV Rheinland offers customized testing and evaluation plans for various products, such as floor-cleaning robots, grass-cutting robots, smart air conditioners, and smart washing machines, to assist companies in meeting the design requirements of Annex U. This helps companies during their product research and development process by providing matching hardware and software solutions that comply with Annex U requirements, reducing certification time and costs, while ensuring product safety and user experience are not compromised. This helps to promote the sustainable growth of the IoT smart ecology.

Carota passes the TUV test standards, living up to its reputation

TUV Rheinland, a leading certification organization in the industry, sets strict standards to guide the development of the industry and help companies with their digital transformation. Carota, with its technical expertise and technological strength, has earned the IEC 60335 Annex U certificate of conformity. The process includes designing an OTA upgrade plan, setting up a test environment, testing IoT platforms, testing IoT devices, maintaining a record of vulnerabilities, and providing a final project summary. Throughout the entire project, the company tracks vulnerabilities and manages the project. The outcome is a report that concludes the evaluation plan. By successfully passing TUV test standards (13 items) and earning this distinction, Carota has upheld its reputation.

Win-Win cooperation

During the award ceremony, Mr. Li Yonggang, thanked the Carota team and praised their OTA upgrade security solution. He expressed his eagerness for future collaboration between the two parties and working together to develop the IoT industry ecosystem and a smart interconnected world with Carota.

In the interconnected world, Carota is committed to providing customer-focused services and fulfilling its mission. By collaborating strategically with TUV Rheinland, the company aims to set the new norm in the IoT ecosystem, drive innovative ideas for interconnected things and move towards a brighter future.

About Carota

Carota is a global one-stop OTA (Over-The-Air) upgrade and remote diagnostic full solution provider including OTA operation subscription, remote diagnosis, OTA testing products and services, as well as video telematics.

Carota commitment is to provide safe, stable, reliable and scalable OTA upgrade and fleet management solutions to OEMs, fleet owners and IoT smart device manufacturers.

Carota is a significant player in the China market, with over 320 million smart devices installed and upgraded. The company serves customers in more than 20 countries and areas, including Greater China, the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea, India, and the Southeast Asia region.

SOURCE CAROTA
MALDEN, Mass., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cataldo Education Center, a division of Cataldo Ambulance Service, welcomed the inaugural class of students into their new Paramedic Training Program today. "After two years in the making, we are proud to be an OEMS accredited training institute at the paramedic level and offer training programs to any EMS professional looking to advance their career," says Dr. Scott Lancaster, PhD, MHA, NRP, Director of Education at Cataldo.

ACCREDITED TRAINING INSTITUTE AT THE PARAMEDIC LEVEL

Over the last several years, there has been a dramatic decline in the number of certified professionals providing emergency medical services to local communities. "We are committed to solving the EMS staffing shortage. One of the ways we can accomplish this is to inspire and grow the next generation of EMS professionals through our Cataldo Education Center," says Dennis Cataldo, President and CEO of Cataldo Ambulance Service. The Cataldo Education Center now offers training programs for every step along an EMS career path including Wheelchair Car Drivers, First Responders, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), Paramedics, and Community Paramedics.

"We are also committed to investing in our current team members", adds Dennis Cataldo. "This is why we partnered with Metro Credit Union to develop a specialized loan program which provides Cataldo team members the ability to attend these training programs at no cost to them." Cataldo will make all payments on the special loans as long as the team member remains a full-time employee in good standing. Partial loans are also available for part-time employees.

"Building our rigorous Paramedic Program was a two-year process. It was designed by a dedicated group of industry leaders led by Dennis Russel, M.Ed., NRP, in partnership with Endicott College and will prepare students with the skills necessary to be competent and skilled paramedics in the field," says Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer at Cataldo. Turner adds "It has been an honor to partner with these talented individuals and to see all of our efforts realized today."

The 14-month program features cognitive, psychomotor, and affective learning techniques which integrate instruction, practical skill sessions, simulation, clinical practice, and a field internship," notes Matthew Williams, Paramedic Program Director at Cataldo. Program participants will attend lectures and clinical rotations at area hospitals as well as have home study assignments. The next Paramedic Program cohort will begin this May at the Cataldo Education Center located at 190 Madison Street in Malden. Applications and additional information about this program can be found at cataldoambulance.com/paramedicprogram.

Since 1977 Cataldo Ambulance Service continues to distinguish itself as a leader in EMS, providing routine and emergency medical transportation services, offering clinical education, and introducing the first mobile integrated health service line in Massachusetts. As the needs of the community and patients change, Cataldo continues to develop innovative programs designed to ensure the highest level of care is available throughout its service areas. Cataldo is a key partner with the state in providing COVID testing and vaccination resources.

SOURCE Cataldo Ambulance Service
ALBANY, N.Y., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Every child deserves the opportunity to learn, thrive, succeed, and be happy. And every parent in New York should have the freedom to choose the type of education that works best for their individual kids. Families of schoolchildren across the state are preparing to spread those messages next week in Albany at an awareness-raising celebration of school choice at the New York State Capitol.

The event will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, from 11:00 AM to 2:15 PM at the New York State Capitol (State Street and Washington Avenue in Albany). Families will meet at the Million Dollar Staircase at 1:45 PM  2:15 PM to rally in celebration of school choice. More than 50 participants are expected to attend.

Hosted by Children's Scholarship Fund, New York Charter Schools Association, Families for NYC, and the Empire Center for Public Policy, the event will bring parents representing traditional public, public charter, and private schools from across the state to meet with their representatives and other statewide elected officials and share their stories of exercising school choice on behalf of their children. The celebration is open to the press and the public.

"All children in New York deserve a quality, effective education, regardless of how much money their parents earn or where they live," said Darla Romfo, President and CEO of Children's Scholarship Fund. "At this rally, we will celebrate how school choice can reduce inequality in education, and provide families with hope for an even brighter future for their children."

"School choice allows families to make the best decisions possible based on their children's unique circumstances. As educators and parents, our highest priority is always to ensure the well-being of our children. The ability to select a school education that provides the most appropriate academic, social, and emotional supports is paramount to that effort and should not be considered a luxury," said Yomika S. Bennett, executive director of the New York Charter Schools Association. "Parents' voices must be respected and we stand in solidarity with our partners to protect families' rights not only during School Choice Week but every day as families make one of the most important decisions that will shape their children's future."

Children's Scholarship Fund is a 501c3 nonprofit organization focused on expanding educational opportunity by providing scholarships to families in need so children can attend the K-8 schools that are the best fit, regardless of their ability to pay or where they live.

The New York Charter Schools Association is a nonprofit organization that serves as a unified voice for the over 350 public charter schools serving approximately 160,000 students, representing their interests at the state and local levels.

Families for NYC is a news, resource, and opinion platform dedicated to helping New York City-based families fight for a safer and better city.

The Empire Center for Public Policy is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank with a mission of making New York a better place to live and work by promoting public policy reforms grounded in free-market principles, personal responsibility, and the ideals of effective and accountable government.

The Jan. 24 event is timed to coincide with National School Choice Week (NSCW), which will feature more than 26,000 school choice events across all 50 states to raise equal and positive awareness of the traditional public, public charter, public magnet, private, online, and home education options available for families.

In addition to this event, 1,197 public and private schools in New York will host independent events and activities during NSCW. These schools enroll an estimated 459,359 students across all grade levels.

For more information, visit scholarshipfund.org or schoolchoiceweek.com .

National School Choice Week (NSCW) informs, inspires, and empowers parents to discover the K-12 education options available for their children, including traditional public, public charter, public magnet, online, private, and home schooling. Every January, tens of thousands of schools, organizations, and individuals plan unique events and activities to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options in their communities. The Week is a project of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical National School Choice Awareness Foundation.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
Timeline is Now Offering the First Line of Skincare Products Powered by Mitopure, a Highly Pure Form of Urolithin A That Supports Cellular Renewal From the Inside Out

LAUSANNE, Switzerland and SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fast-growing Swiss cellular health brand Timeline announces the launch of a new range of skincare products: Timeline Skin Health. Timeline has been at the forefront of longevity research for the past 15 years, developing patented ingredient Mitopure  a highly pure form of the powerful, naturally occurring anti-aging compound Urolithin A. Following the successful introduction of its food and supplement products, which offer clinically validated benefits for cellular energy, muscle strength, and endurance, the company is now expanding the benefits of Mitopure to the largest organ in the body: the skin.

Timeline Skin Health is the First and Only Line of Skincare Products Powered by Mitopure

Timeline Skin Health is the first and only line of facial skincare products powered by Mitopure, which is clinically proven to energize cells from within for healthy, youthful-looking skin. When applied topically, Mitopure delivers the following science-backed skin health benefits:

Energy: Supports the skin's natural energy supply for more youthful-looking skin

Youthfulness: Starts to visibly reduce wrinkle depth and volume after only 2 weeks

Resilience: Helps the skin resist biological and environmental aging by supporting the process of collagen assembly and protecting against photoaging

Gentle Power: Kind to the skin while supporting an optimal environment for skin-cell health

"Timeline has always been on the cutting-edge of health advances with performance-driven products that improve well-being at the cellular level," said Timeline CEO and Co-Founder Chris Rinsch, PhD. "We've now conducted three clinical studies with topically-applied Mitopure and shown its ability to enhance both cellular health and skin's youthful appearance. This breakthrough is the basis of Timeline Skin Health."

The Timeline Skin Health range includes:

The Day Cream ( $250 per 50mL) : Boosts skin hydration and leaves the skin's appearance revitalized, rejuvenated and resilient. Clinically proven to significantly reduce the appearance of wrinkle depth after 2 weeks of use. Overall skin quality, texture, and radiance are visibly improved. Leaves the skin soft with a silky feeling.

: Boosts skin hydration and leaves the skin's appearance revitalized, rejuvenated and resilient. Clinically proven to significantly reduce the appearance of wrinkle depth after 2 weeks of use. Overall skin quality, texture, and radiance are visibly improved. Leaves the skin soft with a silky feeling. The Night Cream ( $250 per 50mL) : Helps skin regenerate overnight to wake up re-energized with a more youthful appearance. Clinically proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Intensely hydrating, leaving the skin barrier feeling strengthened and more resilient. Skin texture and grain feel smoother and more even. Melts onto the skin and leaves it soft with a velvety, silky feeling.

: Helps skin regenerate overnight to wake up re-energized with a more youthful appearance. Clinically proven to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Intensely hydrating, leaving the skin barrier feeling strengthened and more resilient. Skin texture and grain feel smoother and more even. Melts onto the skin and leaves it soft with a velvety, silky feeling. The Serum ( $280 per 30mL): Provides a deep instant tightening and lifting feeling for a visibly firmer complexion. Clinically proven to reduce wrinkles and significantly hydrate the skin. Skin looks more radiant, brighter, and glowing with health. Highly concentrated lightweight formulation absorbs fast, leaving the skin soft with a velvety, silky feeling.

All Timeline Skin Health products have been third-party tested for their clean formulations and are dermatologist approved. Timeline Skin Health's packaging is also made of recyclable materials with a refillable system for the Day Cream and Night Cream products.

Timeline Skin Health is available now at timelinenutrition.com.

About Timeline

Timeline is a cellular health brand developed by the life sciences company, Amazentis. The company was founded on the belief that uncompromising research can unlock a new class of health backed by cutting-edge science. As scientists, the team knows that physical decline from aging can't be stopped. However, through its groundbreaking research, Timeline is committed to developing products designed to help reduce the impact of time on health, from nutrition to skin and beyond.

About Mitopure

Mitopure is a highly pure form of Urolithin A, a post-biotic that is produced by gut bacteria after eating certain foods, such as pomegranates, though only 30% of people in the world get enough of this specialized nutrient from food alone. When ingested, Mitopure has been shown to improve mitochondrial function by stimulating mitophagy, a process by which aging and damaged mitochondria are cleared from the cell, making way for healthy mitochondria to grow. Mitopure has been favorably reviewed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and deemed safe following a GRAS (generally recognized as safe) filing. Amazentis has previously published its research on Mitopure Urolithin A in top peer-reviewed scientific journals such as Nature Medicine (doi:10.1038/nm.4132) and Nature Metabolism (doi: 10.1038/s42255-019-0073-4).

Contact:

Gail Harmon

Head of Skincare North America

[email protected]

SOURCE Timeline
BOZEMAN, Mont., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Charlie Health, the largest provider of virtual Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP) for young people and families in crisis, announces its expansion into Florida. The company's industry-leading mental health services arrive at an urgent time for the state. Currently, 1 in 6 adolescents in the state experience a mental health disorder each year, and more than half of Florida adolescents with depression are unable to receive care due to financial and regional barriers ( NAMI Florida .)

"Over 6 million people in Florida live in communities that have a shortage of mental health professionals, demonstrating that it's more important than ever to find a viable solution to a limited system," shares Carter Barnhart, CEO and Co-Founder of Charlie Health ( Mental Health America ). "Florida currently ranks 49th in the country for access to mental healthcare. We're going to change that. Our virtual IOP effectively eliminates long-standing barriers to care, providing young people and families in the state with evidence-based, life-saving treatment they can access from home."

"As a lifelong Floridian, I know personally that the youth mental health crisis is only worsening in our state," says Allison Walsh JD, VP of Clinical Outreach at Charlie Health. "It's imperative that we take action to heal the root causes and provide support for the teens, young adults, and families who are struggling the most. Our young people are the future of our state, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they have access to the high-quality mental healthcare they need to thrive."

Charlie Health's latest expansion follows the company's recent release of a study on the efficacy of virtual IOP, published in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania. Based on data collected over the course of nine months from 495 adolescent clients, researchers found a 71% decrease in suicidal ideation, a 60% decrease in depressive symptoms, and a 58% decrease in self-harm upon discharge from Charlie Health's program.

To learn more, visit www.charliehealth.com .

About Charlie Health

Charlie Health , founded in 2020, is the largest virtual-first mental health clinic for teens and young adults who need more than weekly mental health support. Charlie Health provides young people (12-28) struggling with serious mental health disorders with personalized Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP) consisting of supported groups, individual therapy, and family therapy. By offering individualized and evidence-based mental health support, Charlie Health ensures that sustainable healing is available to all.

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SOURCE Charlie Health
Clear Channel Airports, the nation's leading airport media provider, designed this advertising space as an integration to the $2.7 billion terminal's stunning renovation. The approximately one million square foot terminal provides attractive advertising, sponsorship, brand partnerships and experiential opportunities for brands and businesses looking to reach millions of flyers throughout the greater metropolitan region. This latest transformation at EWR is just one program that coincides with CCA's 12-year deal with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to modernize its coveted airports including John F. Kennedy International (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), and New York Stewart International (SWF) Airports. The partnership, announced in October 2020, is the largest airport advertising and sponsorship in the U.S.

"We are excited for passengers to finally be part of this highly anticipated advertising journey while traveling through the new Terminal A at Newark airport," said Morten Gotterup, president, Clear Channel Airports. "Our partnership with PANYNJ has allowed us to create an environment that revolutionizes the airport experience for travelers from all around the world. Our media network brings to life the transformation we have envisioned with our partners over the last two years, and as a result, we created a unique, immersive and opulent program that will engage and inspire millions of people passing through the new magnificent terminal."

CCA's new digital media program showcases over 70 high-impact and innovative displays throughout the 33-gate terminal, including an iconic 24-foot seamless digital "umbrella"  a suspended, first-of-its-kind airport advertising screen hanging above the terminal's largest concourse where not only do you view the massive installation head-on in both directions, but the advertising is also viewable above you as you walk under it. Additionally, a network of 54 ultra-high-definition LCD screens, two unique 42-foot curved LED soffits and 16 dynamic digital columns light up Terminal A's new ultramodern interior, creating an impactful, audience-oriented advertising experience. CCA revealed that a 75-foot external head-on digital welcome display attached to the new consolidated car rental facility (CONRAC) is also in the works.

"As a company proudly headquartered in Newark, NJ, we are really excited to be part of the launch of the new Terminal A at Newark Airport, said Tom McKenna, SVP, Marketing & Media Ops, Audible. "Our work with Clear Channel Airports and the PANYNJ showcases Audible's audiobook, podcast and originals content on unique digital screens, elevator wraps, and large format displays. As millions of passengers travel this season, we're excited for Audible to ignite their imaginations along the way."

Terminal A is the largest design-build project in New Jersey's history and is expected to generate more than $4.6 billion of regional economic activity. The airport transformation has also focused efforts on securing sub-contracts to minority and women-owned business enterprises, which as of June 2022, totaled more than $686 million and $213 million for 92 sub-contracts to New Jersey firms. It is estimated that EWR Terminal A will efficiently handle 13.6 million passengers each year.

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About Clear Channel Airports

Dedicated to airport advertising for close to 45 years, Clear Channel Airports is the leading airport advertising, sponsorship specialist and innovator in the U.S. Clear Channel Airports (CCA), the Americas-based airports business of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO), is one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies and operates more than 260 airport media programs across the globe and has a presence in 28 of the top 50 U.S. markets with major airports. More information can be found on Clear Channel Airports and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas by visiting www.clearchannelairports.com and www.clearchanneloutdoor.com

Follow & Like: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Read our award-winning blog: http://blog.clearchanneloutdoor.com/

SOURCE Clear Channel Outdoor
BURR RIDGE, Ill., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SkinCure Oncology, the world leader in providing a comprehensive model for the delivery of Image-Guided Superficial Radiation Therapy (Image-Guided SRT), the most advanced non-surgical technology for the treatment of common skin cancers, today announced the availability of the technology in Massachusetts. That state's first installation is at Commonwealth Dermatology in Worcester, where the announcement was made today.

Image-Guided SRT is the only treatment for nonmelanoma skin cancer (basal and squamous cell carcinomas) that uses ultrasound imaging to help clinicians direct low-level X-ray energy to targeted areas of the skin, killing cancer cells. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Oncology and Therapy showed that Image-Guided SRT produces a 99.3 percent cure rate, making it just as effective as traditional surgical treatment of skin cancer.

Sabrina Waqar, D.O., founder of Commonwealth Dermatology, noted, "Nonmelanoma skin cancer is all too common in Massachusetts, affecting some 65,000 individuals annually. Sun exposure is the primary cause and year-round sun effects are cumulative over one's lifetime, so those who spend a lot of time outdoors plus seniors, those with light skin, users of tanning beds and people with family histories of skin cancer are especially susceptible. We'll continue to offer Mohs surgery, but now we are providing patients a non-surgical option, with no bleeding, pain, surgical scarring or need for reconstructive surgery. Image-Guided SRT is the new standard of care and we are proud to be the first in Massachusetts to offer it."

Joining Dr. Waqar at the announcement was Worcester District 2 City Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson, who said, "I'm thrilled to see Commonwealth Dermatology offer Image-Guided Superficial Radiation Therapy by SkinCure Oncology here in the heart of the Commonwealth. We are on the front lines of so many healthcare advancements here in Worcester, and I'm so proud that Commonwealth Dermatology will be the first location in the State to offer this life-saving treatment."

"We are delighted to partner with Commonwealth Dermatology to offer a highly effective, non-surgical treatment option for their patients," said Kerwin Brandt, Chief Executive Officer of SkinCure Oncology, the company which brought the technology to the state. "Patients everywhere should have the option of curing their nonmelanoma skin cancer without surgery."

About SkinCure Oncology

SkinCure Oncology is the world leader in providing a comprehensive model for the delivery of Image-Guided Superficial Radiotherapy (Image-Guided SRT), the most advanced non-surgical technology for the treatment of common skin cancers. The company partners with quality-focused dermatologists and Mohs surgeons to bring cancer center-level radiation therapy treatment to physician offices. To date, SkinCure Oncology is working with some 260 dermatology practices across the country, and nearly 50,000 patients have been treated with Image-Guided SRT over the last five years. Learn more about the company at skincureoncology.com, and visit gentlecure.com for helpful consumer and patient information.

Media Contact:

Bill Sklar

Russell Public Communications

520-979-9400

[email protected]

SOURCE SkinCure Oncology
Former Checkpoint CRO/CCO to Drive Global Growth and Tech Development for ID Verification Leader

TEL AVIV, Israel, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- AU10TIX , the global technology leader in identity verification and identity management automation, today announced the appointment of Dan Yerushalmi as its new CEO. Yerushalmi's record with global technology enterprises and experience in the security, e-banking and telecommunications industries underlines AU10TIX's intention to help customers counter increasingly sophisticated fraudsters and comply with regulatory changes. He is replacing former CEO Carey O'Connor.

Dan Yerushalmi, CEO, AU10TIX

Yerushalmi joins AU10TIX from cybersecurity company Checkpoint Software Technologies, where he served as Chief Client and Revenue Officer. Yerushalmi previously headed the technological division of Leumi Bank as a Group CTO, where he served on the bank's management team. Prior to that, he was President and Business Manager of EMEA for Amdocs. In 2016, Yerushalmi was named one the 100 most influential CIOs in the world by CIO Magazine.

AU10TIX, chaired by Ron Atzmon, is the long-standing industry leader in automated identity verification and management solutions for the digitally dependent global enterprises of today.

The company began in the 1990s, championing innovations in passenger screening technology for airports and border control all over the world. It was then early to identify the global shift to online and mobile services, drawing its technology superiority from the same security-critical standards it grew on. AU10TIX today offers a full-service identity verification and management automation portfolio, enhanced by forensic-level fraud and risk detection. The company is also celebrating the third year of the operational deployment of the market's first organized crime attack monitor. AU10TIX powers a list of global household names such as Google, PayPal, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Payoneer, Uber and Santander.

Dan Yerushalmi, CEO: "In a world where 'automation' is actually enhanced by human 'experts' most of the time, AU10TIX stands out with its level of full-process automation and the richness of its fraud and risk output detection. This wins AU10TIX new clients, creates compelling ROI, and is greatly appreciated by regulators. Being a global player with clients on five continents brings massive opportunity for continued growth and inspires me to take AU10TIX to the next level."

Ron Atzmon, Chairman: "Dan brings a significant boost to AU10TIX. His experience and extensive knowledge in strategy, operations and sales make him the right person for the company as we expand activity and increase personnel globally. The AU10TIX team and I would like to thank Carey for her contribution to the company and wish her best of luck in her future endeavors."

About AU10TIX

AU10TIX, a global identity intelligence leader headquartered in Israel, is on a mission to obliterate fraud and further a more secure and inclusive world. The company provides critical, modular solutions to verify and link physical and digital identities so businesses and their customers can confidently connect. Over the past decade, AU10TIX has become the preferred partner of major global brands for customer onboarding and customer verification automation  and continues to work on the edge of what's next for identity's role in society. AU10TIX's proprietary technology provides results in less than 8 seconds, enabling businesses to onboard customers faster while preventing fraud, meeting compliance mandates and, importantly, promoting trust and safety. AU10TIX is a subsidiary of ICTS International N.V. (OTCQB: ICTSF ). For more information, visit AU10TIX.com .

Media Contact

Mark Prindle

Fusion Public Relations

[email protected]

SOURCE AU10TIX LIMITED
DALLAS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DartPoints , the colocation, cloud, infrastructure, and security solutions provider for mid-size markets, announces the latest offering in its line of cloud solutions: bare metal servers. DartPoints' new bare metal package offers dedicated servers that allow tenants to take full control of their IT infrastructure, achieving cloud-like agility with highly secure physical equipment. The service is aimed at organizations looking for particularly high levels of security, performance, and customization.

"We're very excited to offer the type of business value that bare metal can bring to our clients," says Brad Alexander, DartPoints' Chief Technology Officer. "We strive to solve whatever challenges may exist at the edge, and we see a need for certain workloads to gain the heightened application speed and control that single tenancy servers can offer. When workloads or applications require extreme security, lightning-fast performance, and predictable overhead, bare metal servers are your best option."

DartPoints' entry into the bare metal market represents a response to a rise in demand for data center services at the edge with a fully personalized environment. Constant data growth and the rise of hyperconverged technology has some experts predicting that bare metal's popularity will grow by over 20% in the next year, and more than 125% by 2027.

Bare metal users can build, test, deploy, and maintain their own workloads all on a unified platform. Where fine-tuning aspects like compute or storage configurations in response to organizational demands can be troublesome without a dedicated compute environment, a bare metal setup offers full control, greater processing power, and maximized performance. Bare metal is ideal for various use cases, including high computing power workloads, big data analytics, and hosting applications with constant rendering requirements.

Due to the servers' single tenancy and physical isolation, overall security is drastically simplified. This makes bare metal attractive for those with especially stringent policy or compliance mandates, such as financial, legal, or government organizations.

Financial considerations are another major reason that bare metal makes sense for some users. "With our bare metal services, clients can rent server capacity in an ongoing operating expense (OpEx) pricing model," explains Alexander. "Instead of dealing with heavy capital expenditures, you can gain all the performance and control you need with a steady, predictable overhead to boot."

About DartPoints

DartPoints delivers worry-free colocation, cloud, infrastructure, and security solutions to enterprises, carriers, and cloud and content providers. Our data centers provide airtight physical security and redundancy, and our extensive cloud solutions allow our clients to address technology gaps with a scalable OpEx model. Because we believe everyone should have equal access to life-changing connectivity, DartPoints brings cutting-edge technologies and infrastructure to mid-size markets, helping to bridge the digital divide. Visit us online at www.dartpoints.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter .

For media inquiries, please contact:

Jaymie Scotto & Associates (JSA)

+1 866.695.3629 ext. 19

[email protected]

SOURCE DartPoints
The veteran of luxury fashion and beauty brands joins executive team as Senior Vice President

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Douglas Elliman Realty, one of the largest independent residential real estate brokerages in the United States, announced today that Lisa Seligman has joined Douglas Elliman as Senior Vice President of Human Resources. As a member of its corporate executive team, Seligman will lead the company's efforts in talent recruitment and development, performance management, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

With nearly 25 years of human resources experience at leading fashion and beauty brands, including Chanel, Shiseido Cosmetics America, Tiffany & Co and L'Occitane En Provence, Seligman served most recently as Global Vice President of Human Resources at Arcade Beauty, the global leader in sampling innovation, retail solutions and digital brand activations.

"Our strength as a company is a measure of our commitment to people and their professional growth," said Scott Durkin, Chief Executive Officer of Douglas Elliman Realty. "In that regard, bringing in a leader of Lisa's caliber represents a major investment in our long-term strength. We are confident she will help Douglas Elliman to remain a vital brand for many years to come."

"Douglas Elliman is one of those rare organizations that best honors its legacy and longevity by staying focused on the future," said Seligman. "I am honored and humbled to join this venerable institution, and I look forward to helping ensure its continued growth and success."

Seligman will be joining Douglas Elliman's corporate executive team and will be based out of the firm's flagship office in Manhattan at 575 Madison Avenue.

About Douglas Elliman Inc.

Douglas Elliman Inc. (NYSE: DOUG, "Douglas Elliman") owns Douglas Elliman Realty, LLC, which is one of the largest residential brokerage companies in the United States with operations in New York, Florida, California, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. In addition, Douglas Elliman sources, uses and invests in early-stage, disruptive property technology ("PropTech") solutions and companies and provides other real estate services, including development marketing, property management and settlement and escrow services in select markets. Additional information concerning Douglas Elliman Realty is available on its website, www.elliman.com .

Investors and others should note that we may post information about Douglas Elliman Inc. on our website at investors.elliman.com or, if applicable, on our accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube or other social media platforms. It is possible that the postings or releases could include information deemed to be material information. Therefore, we encourage investors, the media and others interested in Douglas Elliman to review the information we post on our website at investors.elliman.com and on our social media accounts.

SOURCE Douglas Elliman Realty
University's program is built on national guideline standards for cybersecurity skills and training developed by CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Career training to prepare individuals for high-demand jobs as cybersecurity support technicians is underway at Drexel University through a registered apprenticeship program approved by the Pennsylvania Apprenticeship and Training Council (PATC).

Drexel's cybersecurity career training is linked to CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech, a national initiative to create employment opportunities in the technology workforce for people from a diversity of backgrounds, while simultaneously helping employers fill current and long-term tech staffing needs.

"The rise of nontraditional earn-and-learn apprenticeships such as cybersecurity creates access and opportunity for all, no matter where one may be on their academic and career continuum," said Kena Sears-Brown, director of Continuing Professional Education & Workforce Initiatives at Drexel's Goodwin College of Professional Studies.

Cybersecurity support technicians play an essential role in safeguarding all aspects of their employers' information technology (IT) systems.

"These frontline cyber professionals maintain and secure networks, apps and websites, defending against phishing and other threats to keep everyone and everything working securely," said Amy Kardel, senior vice president, workforce relations, CompTIA. "This experience is great preparation for more advanced roles in cybersecurity."

Drexel's apprenticeship program comes at a time when demand is soaring for cybersecurity workers. U.S. employers listed nearly 770,000 job postings for cybersecurity job roles and skills during the 12-month period ending in September 2022, according to data from CyberSeek, the cybersecurity workforce analytics platform. That total included more than 13,000 openings in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and nearly 25,000 across Pennsylvania.

Training for cybersecurity support technicians delivered by Drexel follows National Guideline Standards for the job role developed by CompTIA and approved by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL). Apprentices receive on-the-job experience and classroom instruction in the foundations of technology, including how to detect cyber threats and implement changes to protect an organization.

The USDOL selected the American Institutes for Research (AIR), 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, and CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce, to serve as a national Industry Intermediary for expansion of apprenticeships in tech occupations. The registration and development of Drexel Universities Cybersecurity Support Technician program is supported by the Apprenticeship and Training Office within the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

About Drexel University

Drexel is a comprehensive global R1-level research university with a unique model of experiential learning that combines academic rigor with one of the nation's premier cooperative education programs. The University fulfills its founder's mission of preparing each new generation of students for productive professional and civic lives while also focusing the University's collective expertise on solving society's greatest problems. Goodwin College of Professional Studies is the home of lifelong learning for adult learners who want to finish their degree or make a career pivot into a new industry. The Skills Hub, the College's lifelong learning community, serves adult learners who have diverse career and academic journeys, preparing them to start, pivot or advance in their careers though earning industry certifications, completing workforce bootcamp programs and registered apprenticeships. For more information about Drexel's Cybersecurity Support Technician registered apprenticeship, please contact [email protected]

About CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech

CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech is a national initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) to increase the number of skilled technology workers and expand tech career opportunities for diverse populations, including women, individuals with disabilities and people of color. https://www.comptia.org/content/lp/apprenticeships-for-tech.

Media Contact

Steven Ostrowski

CompTIA

[email protected]

630-678-8468

SOURCE CompTIA Apprenticeships for Tech
NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global e-bike drive unit market size is estimated to increase by USD 7.00 billion from 2021 to 2026. The market's growth momentum will decelerate at a CAGR of 13.01%.

Discover some insights on market size before buying the full report - Request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global E-bike Drive Unit Market 2022-2026

Global E-bike drive unit market  Vendor Analysis

Vendor Offerings -

Panasonic Corp.: The company offers e-bike drive unit product brands such as GX Ultimate motor unit, GX Power Plus motor unit, and GX Power motor unit.

The company offers e-bike drive unit product brands such as GX Ultimate motor unit, GX Power Plus motor unit, and GX Power motor unit. Polini Motori Spa: The company offers e-bike drive unit product brands such as Polini E-P3+ and E-P3+ MX.

The company offers e-bike drive unit product brands such as Polini E-P3+ and E-P3+ MX. Robert Bosch GmbH: The company manufactures e-bike drive unit products such as motors, batteries, and displays.

The company manufactures e-bike drive unit products such as motors, batteries, and displays. SHIMANO INC.: The company offers e-bike drive unit product brands such as SHIMANO STEPS E6100 and SHIMANO STEPS E5000.

The company offers e-bike drive unit product brands such as SHIMANO STEPS E6100 and SHIMANO STEPS E5000. For Details on the vendor and its offerings  Buy the report!

Vendor Landscape - The global e-bike drive unit market is fragmented, with the presence of several global as well as regional vendors. A few prominent vendors that offer e-bike drive units in the market are Ananda Drive Techniques Shanghai Co. Ltd., Bafang Electric Suzhou Co. Ltd., Brose Antriebstechnik GmbH und Co. KG, Continental AG, Dapu, FAZUA GmbH, Intra Drive Ltd., Kervelo SAS, MAHLE GmbH, Nidec Corp., Panasonic Corp., Polini Motori Spa, Pon Holdings BV, Robert Bosch GmbH, SHIMANO INC., SPORTTECH Handels GmbH, Suzhou Wanjia Electric Co. Ltd., TQ Systems GmbH, TTIUM MOTOR Inc., and Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. and others.

In this market, the global vendors have already established a strong foothold in the market with an extensive range of flagship technologies. To remain competitive in the market in terms of brand, quality, and reliability, global vendors are focusing more on innovation and technological advancements. Global vendors are strengthening their customer base by enhancing their product offerings and expanding their geographic reach.

Global E-bike drive unit market - Customer Landscape

To help companies evaluate and develop growth strategies, the report outlines 

Key purchase criteria

Adoption rates

Adoption lifecycle

Drivers of price sensitivity

Global E-bike drive unit market - Segmentation Assessment

Segment Overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on type (Hub motor and Mid-drive motor).

The hub motor segment will grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. Hub motors can either be placed on the front wheel or the rear wheel of the e-bike. Front hub motors provide additional power directly to the front wheel, while rear hub motors give extra torque to the rear wheel. In addition, there are several all-wheel drive (AWD) e-bikes that feature a hub motor on both wheels. These factors of hub motor will drive the e-bike drive unit market growth during the forecast period.

Geography Overview

By geography, the global e-bike drive unit market is segmented into APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global e-bike drive unit market.

APAC will account for 65% of the market's growth during the forecast period. The countries with tremendous potential for e-bikes in APAC include China , Japan , and Vietnam . These three countries account for the highest sales of e-bikes in APAC and are major contributors to the e-bike drive unit market in the region. Most e-bikes in APAC are fitted with hub motors due to their lower price and simplicity in design. In addition, e-bikes with hub motors are considered more efficient for commuting purposes, for which they are widely used in the region.

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Global E-bike drive unit market  Market Dynamics

Leading Drivers - The increasing popularity of mid-drive motors is one of the key drivers fueling the e-bike drive unit market growth. Mid-drive motors are an ideal option for climbing steep hills as they allow the rider to power the rear wheel using the same chain and gear sets as the pedals. This implies that a lower gear can be selected for climbing steep hills or accelerating from a stop with a high level of torque. Moreover, replacing e-bike tires fitted with a mid-drive motor is much easier than changing tires equipped with a hub motor. This, in turn, will drive the e-bike drive unit market growth during the forecast period.

Key Trends - Connected e-bike - establishing novel business models such as bike-sharing is one of the key e-bike drive unit market trends contributing to the market growth. In Europe, the bike-sharing business model has the caliber to move e-bikes from personal ownership to a fleet management structure and ultimately toward huge fleets of e-bikes left on the streets without any need for docking stations. A connected e-bike can enhance the bike-sharing business model and evolve it to make it an integral part of urban mobility. Once a bike is connected to a service network, it can be tracked, booked, and paid for via a smartphone application. Such convenient factors will propel the e-bike drive unit market growth during the forecast period.

Major challenges - The high cost of e-bike drive unit units is one of the challenges limiting the e-bike drive unit market growth. The type of motor used in e-bikes affects the price of the e-bike. One of the most efficient motors that can be used in e-bikes is the geared multi-speed motor with a lightweight battery pack. The additional expenses include charging and battery replacement costs. Such associated costs will hinder the e-bike drive unit market growth during the forecast period.

Drivers, trends, and challenges have an impact on market dynamics, which can impact businesses. Find more insights in a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this E-bike drive unit market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the E-bike drive unit market between 2022 and 2026

Precise estimation of the size of the E-bike drive unit market size and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the E-bike drive unit market industry across APAC, Europe , North America , Middle East and Africa , and South America

, , and , and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of E-bike drive unit market vendors

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The motorcycle transmission control unit market size is expected to increase by USD 207.13 million from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 28.29%. This report extensively covers segmentation by application (single-clutch transmission and dual-clutch transmission) and geography (Europe, North America, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America).

E-bike Drive Unit Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 142 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Decelerate at a CAGR of 13.01% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 7.00 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 12.57 Regional analysis APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and South America Performing market contribution APAC at 65% Key countries US, China, Japan, Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Ananda Drive Techniques Shanghai Co. Ltd., Bafang Electric Suzhou Co. Ltd., Brose Antriebstechnik GmbH und Co. KG, Continental AG, Dapu, FAZUA GmbH, Intra Drive Ltd., Kervelo SAS, MAHLE GmbH, Nidec Corp., Panasonic Corp., Polini Motori Spa, Pon Holdings BV, Robert Bosch GmbH, SHIMANO INC., SPORTTECH Handels GmbH, Suzhou Wanjia Electric Co. Ltd., TQ Systems GmbH, TTIUM MOTOR Inc., and Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, Market condition analysis for forecast period Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table of contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by 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 Hub motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on Hub motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on Hub motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on Hub motor - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Hub motor - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 Mid-drive motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on Mid-drive motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Mid-drive motor - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on Mid-drive motor - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Mid-drive motor - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 37: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 38: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 40: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 42: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.7 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 58: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 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 (%)

7.10 Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 70: Chart on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 71: Data Table on Japan - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 72: Chart on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 73: Data Table on Japan - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 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 (%)

7.12 The Netherlands - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 78: Chart on The Netherlands - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 79: Data Table on The Netherlands - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 80: Chart on The Netherlands - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 81: Data Table on The Netherlands - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Belgium - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 82: Chart on Belgium - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 83: Data Table on Belgium - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 84: Chart on Belgium - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 85: Data Table on Belgium - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.14 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 Brose Antriebstechnik GmbH und Co. KG

Exhibit 93: Brose Antriebstechnik GmbH und Co. KG - Overview



Exhibit 94: Brose Antriebstechnik GmbH und Co. KG - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: Brose Antriebstechnik GmbH und Co. KG - Key offerings

10.4 Continental AG

Exhibit 96: Continental AG - Overview



Exhibit 97: Continental AG - Business segments



Exhibit 98: Continental AG - Key news



Exhibit 99: Continental AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 100: Continental AG - Segment focus

10.5 Dapu

Exhibit 101: Dapu - Overview



Exhibit 102: Dapu - Product / Service



Exhibit 103: Dapu - Key offerings

10.6 Nidec Corp.

Exhibit 104: Nidec Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 105: Nidec Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 106: Nidec Corp. - Key news



Exhibit 107: Nidec Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 108: Nidec Corp. - Segment focus

10.7 Panasonic Corp.

Exhibit 109: Panasonic Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 110: Panasonic Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 111: Panasonic Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 112: Panasonic Corp. - Segment focus

10.8 Polini Motori Spa

Exhibit 113: Polini Motori Spa - Overview



Exhibit 114: Polini Motori Spa - Product / Service



Exhibit 115: Polini Motori Spa - Key offerings

10.9 Pon Holdings BV

Exhibit 116: Pon Holdings BV - Overview



Exhibit 117: Pon Holdings BV - Product / Service



Exhibit 118: Pon Holdings BV - Key offerings

10.10 Robert Bosch GmbH

Exhibit 119: Robert Bosch GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 120: Robert Bosch GmbH - Business segments



Exhibit 121: Robert Bosch GmbH - Key news



Exhibit 122: Robert Bosch GmbH - Key offerings



Exhibit 123: Robert Bosch GmbH - Segment focus

10.11 SHIMANO INC.

Exhibit 124: SHIMANO INC. - Overview



Exhibit 125: SHIMANO INC. - Business segments



Exhibit 126: SHIMANO INC. - Key offerings



Exhibit 127: SHIMANO INC. - Segment focus

10.12 Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 128: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 129: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 130: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Key news



Exhibit 131: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 132: Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. - Segment focus

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 133: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 134: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 135: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 136: Research methodology



Exhibit 137: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 138: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 139: 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 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

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Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
BOGOTA, Colombia, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecopetrol S.A. ("Ecopetrol"), announced today that it has commenced a tender offer for cash (the "Offer") to purchase up to U.S.$1,000,000,000 in aggregate principal amount (the "Maximum Tender Amount") of its outstanding 5.875% Senior Notes due 2023 (CUSIP: 279158 AC3 / ISIN: US279158AC30 (the "Notes").The Offer is being made pursuant to Ecopetrol's Offer to Purchase, dated January 17, 2023 (the "Offer to Purchase"), which sets forth a comprehensive description of the terms of the Offer. The Offer will expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on February 13, 2023, unless extended or terminated earlier (the "Expiration Date"). Holders who validly tender and do not validly withdraw Notes on or prior to 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on January 30, 2023 (as the same may be extended, the "Early Tender Date"), that are accepted for purchase by Ecopetrol will receive the Total Consideration (as defined below), which includes the "Early Tender Premium" indicated in the table below, with respect to Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) and accepted for purchase subject to the Maximum Tender Amount. Notes validly tendered in the Offer may not be withdrawn after 5:00 p.m., New York City Time, on January 30, 2023 (unless extended by "Withdrawal Date"), except as may be required by applicable law.

Holders who validly tender (and do not validly withdraw) Notes after the Early Tender Date but prior to the Expiration Date, which Notes are accepted for purchase will receive the Tender Consideration (as defined below), subject to the Maximum Tender Amount. In addition to the Total Consideration or Tender Consideration (as applicable) for the Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase, Holders will also receive accrued and unpaid interest from, and including, the last interest payment date up to, but excluding, the applicable Settlement Date, which will be paid in cash on the applicable Settlement Date.

Tendered Notes may be subject to proration if the aggregate purchase price of Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn in the Offer exceeds the Maximum Tender Amount, subject to disclosure and other requirements under applicable law. All Notes tendered at or prior to the Early Tender Date will have priority over Notes tendered after the Early Tender Date.

The following table sets forth certain terms of the Offer:

Title of Notes

CUSIP / ISIN Nos.

Aggregate

Principal Amount

Outstanding

Maximum

Tender Amount

Reference

Security

Bloomberg

Reference

Page

Fixed Spread

(basis points)(1)(2)

Early

Tender

Premium(3) 5.875%

Senior Notes

due 2023

CUSIP: 279158 AC3 ISIN: US279158AC30

U.S.$1,800,000,000

U.S.$1,000,000,000

UST 0.125% due September 15, 2023

FIT3

+45

U.S.$30.00

(1) Consideration in the form of cash per U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes that are validly tendered, will be calculated in accordance with the formula set forth in Annex 1 to the Offer to Purchase, based on the fixed spread specified in the table above (the "Fixed Spread") for the Notes, plus the yield (the "Reference Yield") based on the bid-side price of the U.S. Treasury reference security specified in the table above (the "Reference Security") as quoted on the Bloomberg reference page specified in the table above (the "Reference Page") as of 11:00 a.m. (New York City time) on January 30, 2023, unless extended by the Company in its sole discretion (such date and time, as the same may be extended with respect thereto, the "Price Determination Date").

(2) The Fixed Spread is inclusive of the Early Tender Premium.

(3) The Early Tender Premium will be payable to Holders who validly tender Notes on or prior to the Early Tender Date.

"Total Consideration" means for each U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered and accepted by Ecopetrol, a cash payment to be determined in the manner described in the Offer to Purchase by reference to the Fixed Spread plus the Reference Yield of the Reference Security as quoted on the Reference Page at the Price Determination Date. The Total Consideration includes the Early Tender Premium for Notes tendered on or prior to the Early Tender Date, subject to the Maximum Tender Amount. The "Tender Consideration" means, for each U.S.$1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered and accepted by the Ecopetrol, the Total Consideration minus the Early Tender Premium. The applicable Consideration will be payable in U.S. dollars.

Ecopetrol reserves the right, but is not obligated, to increase the Maximum Tender Amount in its sole and absolute discretion without extending the Early Tender Date or Withdrawal Date or otherwise reinstating withdrawal or revocation rights, except as required by applicable law.

For the Notes validly tendered on or prior to the Early Tender Date (and not subsequently validly withdrawn) and accepted by Ecopetrol for purchase pursuant to the Offer, subject to the Maximum Tender Amount and proration, Ecopetrol will have the option for settlement to occur promptly after the Early Tender Date (the "Early Settlement Date"). If, at its option, there is an Early Settlement Date, the Company expects the Early Settlement Date to be on January 31, 2023, which is the first Business Day following the Early Tender Date, unless the Early Tender Date is extended by the Company in its sole discretion. If no Early Settlement Date occurs, then settlement for all Notes that are validly tendered at any time prior to the Expiration Date and that are accepted for purchase will be made on the Final Settlement Date (as defined below).

For the Notes validly tendered after the Early Tender Date and on or prior to the Expiration Date, and accepted by the Company for purchase pursuant to the Offer, subject to the Maximum Tender Amount and proration, settlement will occur promptly after the Expiration Date (the "Final Settlement Date" and, together with the Early Settlement Date, the "Settlement Date"). The Company expects the Final Settlement Date to be on February 15, 2023, which is the second Business Day following the Expiration Date, unless the Expiration Date is extended by the Company in its sole discretion.

The Company expressly reserves the absolute right, in its sole discretion, from time to time to purchase any Notes that remain outstanding after the Expiration Date through open-market or privately negotiated transactions, one or more additional tender or exchange offers or otherwise, on terms and at prices that may or may not be equal to the consideration offered in the Offer, or to exercise any of its rights, including redemption rights, under the Indenture governing the Notes.

Ecopetrol reserves the absolute right to amend or terminate the Offer in its sole discretion, subject to disclosure and other requirements as required by applicable law. In the event of termination of the Offer, Notes tendered and not accepted for purchase pursuant to the Offer will be promptly returned to the tendering holders. The complete terms and conditions of the Offer are described in the Offer to Purchase, a copy of which may be obtained from Global Bondholder Services Corporation, the tender agent and information agent (the "Tender and Information Agent") for the Offer, at https://gbsc-usa.com/ecopetrol/ or by telephone at +1 855-654-2014 (Toll-Free) or +1 212-430 3774 (Banks and Brokers).

Ecopetrol has engaged Citigroup Global Markets Group Inc. to act as the dealer manager (the "Dealer Manager") in connection with the Offer. Questions regarding the terms of the Offer may be directed to the Dealer Manager at +1 800-558-3745 (Toll-Free) or +1 212-723-6106 (Collect)

About Ecopetrol

Ecopetrol is a mixed economy company organized under the laws of the Republic of Colombia. Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia and one of the most relevant integrated energy companies in Latin America, with a presence primarily in Colombia and activities in the U.S. (U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Permian Basin), Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Chile and Bolivia. In Colombia, Ecopetrol is responsible for more than 60% of the hydrocarbon production, transportation, logistics, and hydrocarbon refining systems, and hold a leading position in the petrochemicals and gas distribution segment. Through its subsidiary, Interconexion Electrica S.A. E.S.P., Ecopetrol has a strong position in the electric power transmission business, toll roads and telecommunications sectors throughout Latin America. The Republic of Colombia currently owns 88.49% of Ecopetrol's voting capital stock.

No Recommendation

None of Ecopetrol, the Dealer Manager, the Tender and Information Agent or the trustee for the Notes, or any of their respective affiliates, is making any recommendation as to whether holders should or should not tender any Notes in response to the Offer or expressing any opinion as to whether the terms of the Offer are fair to any holder. Holders must make their own decision as to whether to tender any of their Notes and, if so, the purchase price of Notes to tender. Please refer to the Offer to Purchase for a description of the offer terms, conditions, disclaimers and other information applicable to the Offer.

Disclaimer and Other Important Notices

This press release and the Offer to Purchase do not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell Notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation would be unlawful. In those jurisdictions where the securities, blue sky or other laws require the Offer to be made by a licensed broker or dealer, the Offer shall be deemed to be made on behalf of us by the Dealer Manager or one or more registered brokers or dealers licensed under the laws of such jurisdiction. If materials relating to the Offer come into a holder's possession, the holder is required by Ecopetrol to inform itself of and to observe all of these restrictions.

The Offer to Purchase has not been filed with or reviewed by the SEC, any state securities commission or any other regulatory authority, nor has any such commission or authority passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the Offer to Purchase or any of the accompanying ancillary documents delivered herewith. Any representation to the contrary is unlawful and may be a criminal offense.

The Offer to Purchase will not be authorized by the Colombian Superintendency of Finance (Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia or the "SFC" by its acronym in Spanish) and will not be registered under the Colombian National Registry of Securities and Issuers (Registro Nacional de Valores y Emisores) or the Colombian Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Valores de Colombia or the "BVC" by its acronym in Spanish), and, accordingly, the Offer to Purchase may not constitute an offer to persons in Colombia except in circumstances which do not result in a public offering under Colombian law and must be carried out in compliance with Part 4 of Decree 2555 of 2010.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including those related to the Offer. Forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future, and, accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Ecopetrol is not under any obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update forward- looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Investor Relations

Carolina Tovar Aragon

Investor Relations Officer

Carrera 13 No. 36-24, Bogota, Colombia

Telephone (571) 234-5190

e-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A.
NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global electric vehicle (EV) charging station market size is estimated to increase by USD 15.81 billion from 2021 to 2026. The market's growth momentum will progress at a CAGR of 20.65% during the forecast period - Request a sample report

Global electric vehicle (EV) charging station market  Vendor analysis

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station Market

Vendor offerings -

ABB Ltd. - The company offers EV charging solutions, including compact and high-quality AC wallboxes and reliable DC fast charging stations with robust connectivity.

The company offers EV charging solutions, including compact and high-quality AC wallboxes and reliable DC fast charging stations with robust connectivity. ChargePoint Inc. - The company offers electric vehicle charging stations that are designed using cutting-edge hardware technology to be safe and reliable while offering drivers a user-friendly, premium charging experience.

The company offers electric vehicle charging stations that are designed using cutting-edge hardware technology to be safe and reliable while offering drivers a user-friendly, premium charging experience. EV Safe Charge Inc. - The company offers EV charging solutions for a wide range of commercial property needs, including fleet operations, offices, retail, hospitality, multi-unit residential, and industrial.

The company offers EV charging solutions for a wide range of commercial property needs, including fleet operations, offices, retail, hospitality, multi-unit residential, and industrial. Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc. - The company offers electric vehicle charging stations such as Evr-Green Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charging Station.

The company offers electric vehicle charging stations such as Evr-Green Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charging Station. For details on vendors and their offerings  Buy the report!

Vendor landscape 

The global electric vehicle (EV) charging station market is fragmented, with the presence of several global as well as regional vendors. A few prominent vendors that offer the electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the market are ABB Ltd., Alfen NV, Allego BV, Besen International Group Co. Ltd., Blink Charging Co., ChargePoint Inc., Delta Electronics Inc., ENGIE EPS SA, Enphase Energy Inc., EV Safe Charge Inc., Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc., Liikennevirta Oy Ltd., LS Power Development LLC, Schneider Electric SE, SemaConnect Inc., Shell plc, Siemens AG, Tesla Inc., Volkswagen AG, and Webasto SE and others.

The market has category-focused, industry-focused, and diversified vendors. It is expected to grow at a significant rate during the forecast period owing to a rise in the adoption of electric vehicles. High product differentiation, collaborative product development between buyers and vendors, and moderate capital investments have increased the entry of new players in the global EV charging station market. In addition, the increasing adoption of electric vehicles is expected to attract well-established EV charging stations to enter the market, which will intensify the competition further.

Global electric vehicle (EV) charging station market - Customer landscape

To help companies evaluate and develop growth strategies, the report outlines 

Key purchase criteria

Adoption rates

Adoption lifecycle

Drivers of price sensitivity

Global electric vehicle (EV) charging station market - Segmentation assessment

Segment overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on type (AC and DC).

The AC segment will grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to factors such as the advantages of AC charging stations, including low set-up, installation, and maintenance costs. Moreover, AC charging stations require less infrastructure. The demand for PHEVs in emerging markets will also drive the growth of the segment.

Geography overview

Based on geography, the global electric vehicle (EV) charging station market is segmented into APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East and Africa. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global electric vehicle (EV) charging station market.

APAC will account for 63% of the market's growth during the forecast period. China is a key country for the electric vehicle (EV) charging stations market in the region. Moreover, market growth in this region will be faster than the growth of the market in other regions. The growth of the market in APAC is attributed to factors such as high sales of BEVs and PHEVs in countries such as China , Singapore , Japan , and South Korea .

Download a sample report

Global electric vehicle (EV) charging station market  Market dynamics

Leading drivers - The increasing number of M&A and strategic partnerships is driving the growth of the market. For instance, in October 2019, ABB acquired a majority stake in Shanghai Chargedot New Energy Technology Co. Ltd. (Chargedot). In October 2019, ChargePoint entered into an agreement with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). Such factors will fuel the market growth during the forecast period.

Key trends  The increasing number of launches in the field of EV charging solutions is a key trend in the market. Many prominent vendors have showcased or launched advanced EV chargers in the last few years. For instance, in March 2022, EVI Technologies announced the launch of its mobile application that helps locate nearby EV charging stations. Similarly, in December 2020, Extreme Vehicle Battery Technologies Corp. announced the launch of the IONiX Pro Smart Station, an EV charging solution. Thus, the increasing number of EV charging solution launches will support the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Major challenges - The lack of standardization in EV charging infrastructure is challenging the growth of the market. The absence of universal standards for EV chargers leads to a lack of uniformity in EV charging infrastructure. For instance, Japan has the CHAdeMO standard for EV charging, while CCS is the standard in European countries, the US, and South Korea. Thus, the presence of different standards for EV charging infrastructure may hinder the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Drivers, trends, and challenges have an impact on market dynamics, which can impact businesses. Find more insights in a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this electric vehicle (EV) charging station market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the electric vehicle (EV) charging station market between 2022 and 2026

Precise estimation of the size of the electric vehicle (EV) charging station market and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the electric vehicle (EV) charging station market across APAC, Europe , North America , South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of electric vehicle (EV) charging station market vendors

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Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 137 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 20.65% Market growth 2022-2026 USD 15.81 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2021-2022 (%) 20.45 Regional analysis APAC, Europe, North America, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution APAC at 63% Key countries US, China, Germany, UK, France, US, China, Germany, UK, and France Competitive landscape Leading vendors, market positioning of vendors, competitive strategies, and industry risks Key companies profiled ABB Ltd., Alfen NV, Allego BV, Besen International Group Co. Ltd., Blink Charging Co., ChargePoint Inc., Delta Electronics Inc., ENGIE EPS SA, Enphase Energy Inc., EV Safe Charge Inc., Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc., Liikennevirta Oy Ltd., LS Power Development LLC, Schneider Electric SE, SemaConnect Inc., Shell plc, Siemens AG, Tesla Inc., Volkswagen AG, and Webasto SE Market dynamics Parent market analysis, market growth inducers and obstacles, fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, 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. 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.

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Table of contents

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Market overview

Exhibit 01: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Overview



Exhibit 02: Executive Summary  Data Table on Market Overview



Exhibit 03: Executive Summary  Chart on Global Market Characteristics



Exhibit 04: Executive Summary  Chart on Market by Geography



Exhibit 05: Executive Summary  Chart on Market Segmentation by Type



Exhibit 06: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 09: Parent market



Exhibit 10: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 11: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 12: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2021

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021-2026

Exhibit 13: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 14: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 15: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 16: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

4 Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 17: Five forces analysis - Comparison 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 AC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 28: Chart on AC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 29: Data Table on AC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 30: Chart on AC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on AC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.4 DC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 32: Chart on DC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 33: Data Table on DC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 34: Chart on DC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on DC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

5.5 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 36: Market opportunity by Type ($ million)

6 Customer Landscape

6.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 37: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 38: Chart on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Market share by geography 2021-2026 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 40: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Geographic comparison

7.3 APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 42: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 44: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 46: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 47: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 48: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 49: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.5 North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 50: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 51: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 52: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 53: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 54: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 55: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 56: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 57: 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 58: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 59: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

and - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 60: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 61: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.8 China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 62: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 63: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 64: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 65: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.9 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 (%)

7.10 UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 70: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 71: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 72: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 73: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.11 France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 Exhibit 74: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 75: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

- Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)

Exhibit 76: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

Exhibit 77: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.12 US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

Exhibit 78: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 79: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million)



Exhibit 80: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)



Exhibit 81: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

7.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 82: Market opportunity by geography ($ million)

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.2 Market challenges

8.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 83: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2021 and 2026

8.4 Market trends

9 Vendor Landscape

9.1 Overview

9.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 84: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

9.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 85: Overview on factors of disruption

9.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 86: Impact of key risks on business

10 Vendor Analysis

10.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 87: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 88: Matrix on vendor position and classification

10.3 ABB Ltd.

Exhibit 89: ABB Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 90: ABB Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 91: ABB Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 92: ABB Ltd. - Segment focus

10.4 ChargePoint Inc.

Exhibit 93: ChargePoint Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 94: ChargePoint Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 95: ChargePoint Inc. - Key offerings

10.5 ENGIE EPS SA

Exhibit 96: ENGIE EPS SA - Overview

- Overview

Exhibit 97: ENGIE EPS SA - Product / Service

- Product / Service

Exhibit 98: ENGIE EPS SA - Key offerings

10.6 EV Safe Charge Inc.

Exhibit 99: EV Safe Charge Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 100: EV Safe Charge Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 101: EV Safe Charge Inc. - Key offerings

10.7 Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc.

Exhibit 102: Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 103: Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 104: Leviton Manufacturing Co. Inc. - Key offerings

10.8 LS Power Development LLC

Exhibit 105: LS Power Development LLC - Overview



Exhibit 106: LS Power Development LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 107: LS Power Development LLC - Key offerings

10.9 Schneider Electric SE

Exhibit 108: Schneider Electric SE - Overview



Exhibit 109: Schneider Electric SE - Business segments



Exhibit 110: Schneider Electric SE - Key news



Exhibit 111: Schneider Electric SE - Key offerings



Exhibit 112: Schneider Electric SE - Segment focus

10.10 Siemens AG

Exhibit 113: Siemens AG - Overview



Exhibit 114: Siemens AG - Business segments



Exhibit 115: Siemens AG - Key news



Exhibit 116: Siemens AG - Key offerings



Exhibit 117: Siemens AG - Segment focus

10.11 Tesla Inc.

Exhibit 118: Tesla Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 119: Tesla Inc. - Business segments



Exhibit 120: Tesla Inc. - Key offerings



Exhibit 121: Tesla Inc. - Segment focus

10.12 Webasto SE

Exhibit 122: Webasto SE - Overview



Exhibit 123: Webasto SE - Product / Service



Exhibit 124: Webasto SE - Key offerings

11 Appendix

11.1 Scope of the report

11.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 125: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 126: Exclusions checklist

11.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 127: Currency conversion rates for US$

11.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 128: Research methodology



Exhibit 129: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 130: Information sources

11.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 131: 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.

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Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of their 40th anniversary, award-winning skincare brand, OLEHENRIKSEN, expands upon their Scandinavian heritage with the announcement of Anine Bing, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of her eponymous label, as their first Global Scandi Brand Advisor. The introduction of this strategic partnership will bring forward the richness of Scandinavian culture inclusive of the multitude of benefits associated with Scandinavian lifestyle, wellness and skincare, and place Scandinavian values, such as hygge, back on the map.

(L to R) Ole Henriksen and Anine Bing. Photographer credit: Jojo Korsh

At its core, Scandinavia represents a larger-than-life culture that's built on the small things, such as the Danish-born practice of hygge, defined as the feeling of coziness and contentment evoked by simple efforts. With countries within the region touting some of the happiest populations in the world, since its inception, OLEHENRIKSEN has been infusing Scandinavian and hygge philosophies into their output. Whether it be the locally sourced ingredients that power the brand's skincare products, or treasuring the moments taken to apply them, OLEHENRIKSEN is categorically championing this diverse and traditional culture with Scandinavian skin wellness at the forefront.

Danish-born brand founder Ole Henriksen's personal experience with cystic acne encouraged him to create a wellness-focused skincare line inspired by his Scandi roots. Infused with powerful acid blends and plant-powered ingredients sourced from Scandinavia, such as Nordic Birch Sap, Snow Lotus and Alpine Willowherb Extracts, each joy-inducing ingredient and product makes every application an occasion to embrace.

Detailing the importance of leveraging the brand's storied history, OLEHENRIKSEN's VP of Global Marketing, Rachel Berg, shares, "We are a Scandinavian born brand, and as we enter our 40th year, we're going back to our roots anchored in Scandinavian skin wellness, understanding this overarching ethos sets us apart from the rest. By signing on Anine Bing as our Global Scandi Brand Advisor and partnering with other Scandi influencers on a global scale it will help amplify diverse elements of the culture and our Scandinavian-inspired skin wellness approach in a fresh, modern way."

Widely recognized for her effortlessly cool wardrobe essentials, Bing has been recognized as an authority in Scandinavian style since her namesake brand's inception in 2012. Inspired by Scandinavian simplicity and American energy, Bing has built a global fashion house focused on everyday wardrobe styles and investment pieces for modern women seeking a timeless yet rebellious approach to style. Setting her sights on skin as the brand's first Global Scandi Brand Advisor, in this new role, she will be lending her expertise across Scandi-forward skincare and lifestyle practices to the OLEHENRIKSEN brand.

"I've been a longtime fan of OLEHENRIKSEN's skin care, so when the brand approached me for this partnership, I was immediately interested," says Anine Bing. "Our shared passion for Scandinavian culture creates such a unique synergy and I'm really looking forward to bringing to life the many exciting concepts we have in the works."

Bing's role with the brand will be an expansive one, ranging from creating social media content to cross-branded collaborations. Throughout the partnership, Bing will be spearheading a 6-part mini-series, providing an inside look into the best of Scandinavian skin and wellness with Bing's secrets to attaining her effortless style, morning wellness tips, and of course, her favorite OLEHENRIKSEN products. With sights set on illuminating Scandinavian culture, this exclusive content will effectively harmonize skincare and general wellness practices, underscoring OLEHENRIKSEN as a lifestyle brand that transcends skincare.

"There are few people I've met that are as strong and elegant as Anine. I've admired her impactful, eclectic and classic designs for years, and couldn't be happier to have her join the OLEHENRIKSEN team as our first ever 'Global Scandi Brand Advisor," states OLEHENRIKSEN brand founder, Ole Henriksen. "Not only can we relate on the many elements that make Scandinavian culture so rich, from hygge philosophies to leading a simple life that's full of joy and positive affirmation, we have many things to come that infuse this palpable energy into the brand. Anine has brought a new and fresh meaning of Scandi-cool both globally and within America, all while staying true to her Danish roots. Her leadership and expertise within the space, paired with her perspective on Scandi lifestyle, wellness, skincare and style, make her the perfect partner for OLEHENRIKSEN."

OLEHENRIKSEN has tapped key Scandinavian creators, including Linda Hallberg, Ceval, Nnenna Echem and more to create a robust content series that highlights the Scandi lifestyle. Introducing fresh and modern faces directly from the region, the roll out of this content will immerse people into the richness of the culture through elevated storytelling.

With content rolling out as early as January 2023, keep an eye out on the brand's social channels, including OLEHENRIKSEN's Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and expect to fall in love with the rich Scandinavian heritage that ties these forward-thinking partnerships together.

ABOUT ANINE BING

ANINE BING is a Los Angeles based fashion brand founded by Anine Bing, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, and Nicolai Bing, Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Inspired by Scandinavian simplicity and American energy, ANINE BING has built a global fashion house focused on everyday wardrobe essentials and investment pieces for modern women seeking a timeless yet rebellious approach to style. Powered by a highly engaged social-media following and a modern approach to immediate fulfillment of merchandise, the brand has become a multimillion-dollar business, and growing, since its launch in 2012.

ABOUT OLEHENRIKSEN

OLEHENRIKSEN Skincare was born out of a young man's perseverance to heal his own skin. His story starts in a small Danish town, where at the age of 18, Ole was plagued with cystic acne, forcing his normally bright personality to turn inwards. Finally, after a serendipitous meeting with a renowned holistic skincare healer, he was inspired to embrace the transformative power of skincare. As the acne faded away, Ole's bright and glowing personality returned. Transforming lives through skin wellness has become Ole's life's work, and it was this commitment to transformative skincare that led him to become the world's first celebrity facialist. The "Ole Glow '' became so coveted, that, in 1983, he decided to bottle his expertly crafted formulas and launch his namesake brand, OLEHENRIKSEN Skincare.

Today, the mission continues. OLEHENRIKSEN believes in a proven skincare philosophy - exfoliation combined with replenishment for glowing skin. We believe in the skin-renewing power of acids - vitamin-C and AHAs are our mainstays. We believe in the Scandinavian principles of wellness. We believe in skincare that's a joy to usebecause a happy face is a beautiful face

We are OLEHENRIKSEN skincare. Clinical Scandinavian skincare. Joy and results in every bottle since 1983. OLEHENRIKSEN is CLEAN at SEPHORA, cruelty-free, paraben-free, and phthalate-free for bright skin with a clean conscience.

OLEHENRIKSEN was acquired in 2011 by KENDO Brands, a beauty brand incubator owned by Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's leading luxury products group. For further information, please visit www.olehenriksen.com.

#OLEGLOW

ABOUT KENDO

Based in San Francisco, CA, KENDO creates or acquires beauty brands and focuses on developing them into global powerhouses. The portfolio consists of OLEHENRIKSEN, KVD Beauty, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, Fenty Skin by Rihanna, Fenty Fragrance by Rihanna, and Lip Lab. The name KENDO is a play on the phrase "can do." What characterizes KENDO is its dedication to product quality, innovation and authentic storytelling. Brands within the KENDO portfolio are distributed in 35 countries worldwide.

SOURCE OLEHENRIKSEN
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In celebration of their 40th anniversary, award-winning skincare brand, OLEHENRIKSEN, expands upon their Scandinavian heritage with the announcement of Anine Bing, Founder & Chief Creative Officer of her eponymous label, as their first Global Scandi Brand Advisor. The introduction of this strategic partnership will bring forward the richness of Scandinavian culture inclusive of the multitude of benefits associated with Scandinavian lifestyle, wellness and skincare, and place Scandinavian values, such as hygge, back on the map.

(L to R) Ole Henriksen and Anine Bing. Photographer credit: Jojo Korsh

At its core, Scandinavia represents a larger-than-life culture that's built on the small things, such as the Danish-born practice of hygge, defined as the feeling of coziness and contentment evoked by simple efforts. With countries within the region touting some of the happiest populations in the world, since its inception, OLEHENRIKSEN has been infusing Scandinavian and hygge philosophies into their output. Whether it be the locally sourced ingredients that power the brand's skincare products, or treasuring the moments taken to apply them, OLEHENRIKSEN is categorically championing this diverse and traditional culture with Scandinavian skin wellness at the forefront.

Danish-born brand founder Ole Henriksen's personal experience with cystic acne encouraged him to create a wellness-focused skincare line inspired by his Scandi roots. Infused with powerful acid blends and plant-powered ingredients sourced from Scandinavia, such as Nordic Birch Sap, Snow Lotus and Alpine Willowherb Extracts, each joy-inducing ingredient and product makes every application an occasion to embrace.

Detailing the importance of leveraging the brand's storied history, OLEHENRIKSEN's VP of Global Marketing, Rachel Berg, shares, "We are a Scandinavian born brand, and as we enter our 40th year, we're going back to our roots anchored in Scandinavian skin wellness, understanding this overarching ethos sets us apart from the rest. By signing on Anine Bing as our Global Scandi Brand Advisor and partnering with other Scandi influencers on a global scale it will help amplify diverse elements of the culture and our Scandinavian-inspired skin wellness approach in a fresh, modern way."

Widely recognized for her effortlessly cool wardrobe essentials, Bing has been recognized as an authority in Scandinavian style since her namesake brand's inception in 2012. Inspired by Scandinavian simplicity and American energy, Bing has built a global fashion house focused on everyday wardrobe styles and investment pieces for modern women seeking a timeless yet rebellious approach to style. Setting her sights on skin as the brand's first Global Scandi Brand Advisor, in this new role, she will be lending her expertise across Scandi-forward skincare and lifestyle practices to the OLEHENRIKSEN brand.

"I've been a longtime fan of OLEHENRIKSEN's skin care, so when the brand approached me for this partnership, I was immediately interested," says Anine Bing. "Our shared passion for Scandinavian culture creates such a unique synergy and I'm really looking forward to bringing to life the many exciting concepts we have in the works."

Bing's role with the brand will be an expansive one, ranging from creating social media content to cross-branded collaborations. Throughout the partnership, Bing will be spearheading a 6-part mini-series, providing an inside look into the best of Scandinavian skin and wellness with Bing's secrets to attaining her effortless style, morning wellness tips, and of course, her favorite OLEHENRIKSEN products. With sights set on illuminating Scandinavian culture, this exclusive content will effectively harmonize skincare and general wellness practices, underscoring OLEHENRIKSEN as a lifestyle brand that transcends skincare.

"There are few people I've met that are as strong and elegant as Anine. I've admired her impactful, eclectic and classic designs for years, and couldn't be happier to have her join the OLEHENRIKSEN team as our first ever 'Global Scandi Brand Advisor," states OLEHENRIKSEN brand founder, Ole Henriksen. "Not only can we relate on the many elements that make Scandinavian culture so rich, from hygge philosophies to leading a simple life that's full of joy and positive affirmation, we have many things to come that infuse this palpable energy into the brand. Anine has brought a new and fresh meaning of Scandi-cool both globally and within America, all while staying true to her Danish roots. Her leadership and expertise within the space, paired with her perspective on Scandi lifestyle, wellness, skincare and style, make her the perfect partner for OLEHENRIKSEN."

OLEHENRIKSEN has tapped key Scandinavian creators, including Linda Hallberg, Ceval, Nnenna Echem and more to create a robust content series that highlights the Scandi lifestyle. Introducing fresh and modern faces directly from the region, the roll out of this content will immerse people into the richness of the culture through elevated storytelling.

With content rolling out as early as January 2023, keep an eye out on the brand's social channels, including OLEHENRIKSEN's Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, and expect to fall in love with the rich Scandinavian heritage that ties these forward-thinking partnerships together.

ABOUT ANINE BING

ANINE BING is a Los Angeles based fashion brand founded by Anine Bing, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, and Nicolai Bing, Founder and Chief Executive Officer. Inspired by Scandinavian simplicity and American energy, ANINE BING has built a global fashion house focused on everyday wardrobe essentials and investment pieces for modern women seeking a timeless yet rebellious approach to style. Powered by a highly engaged social-media following and a modern approach to immediate fulfillment of merchandise, the brand has become a multimillion-dollar business, and growing, since its launch in 2012.

ABOUT OLEHENRIKSEN

OLEHENRIKSEN Skincare was born out of a young man's perseverance to heal his own skin. His story starts in a small Danish town, where at the age of 18, Ole was plagued with cystic acne, forcing his normally bright personality to turn inwards. Finally, after a serendipitous meeting with a renowned holistic skincare healer, he was inspired to embrace the transformative power of skincare. As the acne faded away, Ole's bright and glowing personality returned. Transforming lives through skin wellness has become Ole's life's work, and it was this commitment to transformative skincare that led him to become the world's first celebrity facialist. The "Ole Glow '' became so coveted, that, in 1983, he decided to bottle his expertly crafted formulas and launch his namesake brand, OLEHENRIKSEN Skincare.

Today, the mission continues. OLEHENRIKSEN believes in a proven skincare philosophy - exfoliation combined with replenishment for glowing skin. We believe in the skin-renewing power of acids - vitamin-C and AHAs are our mainstays. We believe in the Scandinavian principles of wellness. We believe in skincare that's a joy to usebecause a happy face is a beautiful face

We are OLEHENRIKSEN skincare. Clinical Scandinavian skincare. Joy and results in every bottle since 1983. OLEHENRIKSEN is CLEAN at SEPHORA, cruelty-free, paraben-free, and phthalate-free for bright skin with a clean conscience.

OLEHENRIKSEN was acquired in 2011 by KENDO Brands, a beauty brand incubator owned by Paris-based LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world's leading luxury products group. For further information, please visit www.olehenriksen.com.

#OLEGLOW

ABOUT KENDO

Based in San Francisco, CA, KENDO creates or acquires beauty brands and focuses on developing them into global powerhouses. The portfolio consists of OLEHENRIKSEN, KVD Beauty, Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, Fenty Skin by Rihanna, Fenty Fragrance by Rihanna, and Lip Lab. The name KENDO is a play on the phrase "can do." What characterizes KENDO is its dedication to product quality, innovation and authentic storytelling. Brands within the KENDO portfolio are distributed in 35 countries worldwide.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1983346/Ole_Henriksen_Anine_Bing.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1816450/OLEHENRIKSEN_Logo.jpg

SOURCE OLEHENRIKSEN
ZUG, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Essence Investment AG ("Essence" or the "Company"), a leading Swiss holding supporting the growth of the European cannabis industry, today announced the acquisition on 30 December 2022 of a 100% stake in AMP Alternative Medical Products GmbH ("AMP"), a German-licensed importer and distributor of EU-GMP medical cannabis products.

In addition to valuing AMP's intrinsic investment potential, Essence anticipates that its Swiss-based portfolio companies, Marry Jane AG, and Swiss Extract AG, will benefit from AMP's distribution capacity in Germany's large and growing medical cannabis market.

Henricus J. Stander III, a Member of the Board of Directors of Essence, commented, "AMP's people are first-rate and have built trusted, strong relationships with key German distributors and pharmacies, as well as leading suppliers of medical cannabis from Canada, Netherlands and Denmark. The Swiss-grown product of Marry Jane and Swiss Extract represents the highest quality and will strengthen AMP's competitiveness, bringing greater choice to German patients."

Dr. Stefan Feuerstein, Managing Director of AMP, observed, "The indoor cultivation and manufacturing facilities Essence has financed in Switzerland are quality benchmarks for Europe. Marry Jane and Swiss Extract will provide superior medicine at a consistency and scale that is difficult to match." He added, "With Essence as our shareholder and partner in our expanding portfolio of offerings, we can source more efficiently at a greater scale and better serve German patients, bringing them fresh products featuring a range of rich terpene and cannabis profiles."

About Essence Investment AG

Essence Investment AG is a Swiss holding dedicated to providing the highest-quality cannabis products to European patients and consumers. Its principal Swiss assets are: Marry Jane AG, Breitenbach  the largest indoor producer of premium CBD flowers in Europe (circa 15 tonnes in 2022); and Swiss Extract AG  a greenhouse cultivator and BioSuisse-certified producer of premium cannabis extracts for its own brand and white-label supplier to a number of European CBD companies.

About AMP Alternative Medical Products GmbH

AMP Alternative Medical Products GmbH is licensed to import European Union  Good Manufacturing Practice (EU-GMP) medical cannabis and sell to pharmaceutical distributors or pharmacists directly, the only point-of-sale for medical cannabis to German patients.

Importing high-quality medical cannabis from the Netherlands, Canada and Denmark, AMP at present is supplying roughly 150 pharmacies throughout the country, including Germany`s leading cannabis-dispensing pharmacies.

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. 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. 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.

SOURCE Essence Investment AG
Partnership Provides Long Term Financing to Ohio to Improve the Outcomes of Ohioans by Focusing on Health Disparities and Equity.

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ETHOS ASSET MANAGEMENT INC USA, announced a new long-term financing partnership with The Ohio Health Information Partnership, a non-profit operating the statewide health information exchange, CliniSync. CliniSync electronically connects 156 hospitals, 13 health plans and thousands of providers, ensuring they have access to the information needed to improve care coordination for patients across Ohio. Ethos has committed to providing significant capital infusion that will continue for several years.

CliniSync is one of the most successful HIEs in the nation

Carlos Santos, CEO of Ethos Asset Management Inc, stated,

"We are delighted to be able to support CliniSync and their Stakeholders across Ohio through our Philanthropic Financing Facility (PFF). We recognize the importance of the innovative health data and health information infrastructure that CliniSync has put in place in Ohio. We whole-heartedly support CliniSync's vision to meet patient and population health needs by enhancing the ability for Ohio's healthcare providers, community-based organizations, and other stakeholders to access important health information technology. Our decision to invest in this inspirational organization was made easy by the impressive CEO, Dan Paoletti, whose vision, passion and commitment to Ohioans was exceptional."

Dan Paoletti, Chief Executive Officer, The Ohio Health Information Partnership, stated,

"CliniSync and our Stakeholders are committed to addressing health disparities and equity for all Ohioans by overcoming barriers and roadblocks preventing better outcomes. Recognizing that 75% of health outcomes are affected by social determinants of health, enabling coordination, and facilitating information flow are critical steps. The partnership with Ethos creates a significant opportunity to make real change through an aligned approach advancing critical technology infrastructures and managing social drivers of health."

About Ethos Asset Management Inc:

Ethos Asset Management (Ethos) is an independent, US-based company with global reach in resource mobilization and project financing.

For more information, please visit https://www.ethosasset.com

About The Ohio Health Information Partnership:

CliniSync is one of the most successful HIEs in the nation. Improving healthcare coordination is at the core of everything, ensuring the people organizing, managing, or delivering healthcare have access to a comprehensive picture of a patient's health information, they can make better informed, data-driven decisions that can make healthcare more equitable for all people.

For more information, please visit https://clinisync.org/

Contacts:

Dan Paoletti, Chief Executive Officer, The Ohio Health Information Partnership:

Email [email protected]

Ethos USA:

Ethos Asset Management INC: Press

Office [email protected]com

+18585354814

SOURCE Ethos Asset Management Inc
Purchase will Accelerate Adoption of Sustainable Aviation in Mexico

ARLINGTON, Wa., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eviation Aircraft , a manufacturer of all-electric aircraft, today announced that Aerus, an emerging regional airline in Mexico, has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for 30 commuter Alice aircraft. Aerus intends to utilize Alice for middle-mile travel across regions including Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Veracruz, providing historically underserved communities in northern areas of the country with access to carbon-free, cost-effective and convenient air travel.

Eviation Announces Order From Aerus For 30 Alice All-Electric Commuter Aircraft

The nine-seater Alice is the world's first flight-tested all-electric commuter aircraft. Built from a clean-sheet design, the Alice produces no emissions and costs significantly less to operate per flight hour compared to light jets or high-end turboprops. It is powered by two magni650 electric propulsion units developed by magniX, the global industry leader in flight-proven electric propulsion systems.

Aerus is a new market entrant committed to sustainable and carbon-free technology. Launching commercial operations in 2023, Aerus will utilize Monterrey Airport (MTY) as its regional hub, offering an expanded flight schedule and covering routes that no other airlines currently operate. By introducing electric aircraft into its fleet, Aerus aims to reduce its carbon emissions by 50% by 2033.

"Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden visited Mexico, where he and his counterpart, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, highlighted the economic opportunities created by the clean energy transition. The introduction of the Alice is certainly one of those opportunities," said Eddie Jaisaree, Vice President, Commercial Sales at Eviation. "The aircraft offers a more enjoyable flight experience, lower operating costs, and meets the demand for zero-carbon technology that we are seeing from governments, regulators and the public. We are very pleased to receive this order from Aerus."

"As we enter into service, our objective is to create new opportunities for regional travel in Mexico that are environmentally and economically sustainable," said Javier Herrera Garcia, CEO of Aerus. "Working with Eviation to bring a zero-emissions fleet to our region will transform the way we experience air travel and connect communities like never before."

"Just as Uber disrupted the taxi market, Alice promises to usher in 'UberAir' through the introduction of low-cost, point-to-point air travel," said Gregory Davis, President and CEO at Eviation. "Our aircraft is an ideal fit for Aerus as a large number of flights in northern Mexico are already less than 250 miles. We are always pleased to receive the endorsement of forward-thinking airlines that are keen to address the climate challenge and be part of the future of aviation."

About Eviation Aircraft

Based in Washington State, Eviation Aircraft Inc. develops and manufactures electric aircraft to delight operators and passengers with green, cost efficient and convenient regional transportation. Its electric propulsion units, high-energy-density batteries, mission-driven energy management, and innovative airframe are designed from the ground up for electric flight. Please visit us at www.eviation.com .

About Aerus

Based in Monterrey City, Aerus is a Mexican regional airline preparing to start operations in the first quarter of 2023. Its initial focus is on domestic routes in the north of the country where it hopes to support the tourist industry and contribute to economic development. Aerus aims to offer passengers the highest standards of safety and quality, the most convenient flight schedules and a warm and personalized service. The airline has assembled a management team with extensive airline experience and a particular vocation for customer service. By 2030, Aerus plans to cover the whole of Mexico with regional domestic flights and to offer a variety of international routes. For more information, please visit www.flyaerus.com .

SOURCE Eviation
Refreshed website and product design reinforce industry commitment to providing prescriptive insights and actionable contract intelligence

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Evisort , the no-code contract intelligence platform loved by legal, procurement, finance and sales operation teams worldwide, today debuts a new brand identity as it reimagines the future of connected data and contract intelligence powered by AI. Evisort is aligning its message to reinforce the company's commitment to creating cutting-edge AI solutions and delivering excellent customer experience.

The brand announcement ushers in a new era for Evisort. On Dec. 18, 2022, the company announced the industry's first generative AI for contract drafting and negotiation, building on top of Evisort's existing AI capabilities. The innovation from Evisort AI Labs delivers transparent, explainable contract recommendations that drive decision-making and contract execution. Large language models allow Evisort's AI to draft, redline and negotiate contracts automatically. This new capability saves time by suggesting edits in line with a company's preferred language and lets lawyers focus on more strategic tasks.

Contract negotiation is just the beginning of Evisort's generative AI plans. Evisort continues to extend platform capabilities and invest in the customer experience to further the company's mission of helping the business world make and keep its promises.

"Companies require more from AI. Evisort's new brand strategy is focused on reimagining contract intelligence and legal technology that connects contract data," said Michaela Dempsey, Evisort chief marketing officer. "In partnership with our customers, we are going above and beyond to build something special in the enterprise software space, a product whose users are passionate about how it makes their lives better."

As generative AI products hit the market, what sets Evisort's technology apart from other offerings is that its capabilities are uniquely tailored to a company's existing and preferred contract language. Evisort AI Labs has trained and fine-tuned models that can negotiate and redline contracts on behalf of legal professionals. Simply by providing guidance on the preferred position for a clause, Evisort AI Lab's generative AI engine can automatically generate redlines for a user to easily review and approve. This groundbreaking innovation can save significant time in document review and back-and-forth negotiations with a third party.

"Evisort's technology adds a personal touch to AI, augmenting performance and empowering customers to unlock the full potential of their data," said Dempsey.

In 2022, Evisort created the industry's first smart OCR AI with multi-language capabilities and expanded its clause library to help customers accelerate end-to-end contracting. Evisort also became the first AI-native CLM company to be certified for both ISO 27001 for information security and ISO 27701 for privacy.

About Evisort

Evisort offers the next generation of AI-powered contract intelligence. Evisort's AI platform for contract lifecycle management and analysis connects contract data, unlocks productivity, and delivers digital workflows that create great experiences across the enterprise. Powered by proprietary AI trained on 11M+ contracts and 1B+ data points, Evisort is the first AI-native CLM company to achieve ISO 27001 and 27701 certifications in addition to SOC 2 Type 2 certification. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company supports legal, finance, sales, procurement and IT organizations around the globe. For more information, visit www.evisort.com or connect with us on LinkedIn or Twitter .

Media Contact

Nikita Robinson

BLASTmedia for Evisort

[email protected]

317-806-1900 ext. 174

SOURCE Evisort
SHANGHAI, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- OBiO Technology (Shanghai) Corp., Ltd. ('OBiO', 688238.SH), a gene and cell therapy-focused contract research organization (CRO) and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), recently announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted its GMP plasmid DNA drug master file (DMF), DMF Number 037766. The DMF acceptance enables a direct reference for investigational new drug (IND) filing for lentiviral vectors, autologous cell therapy, allogeneic cell therapy and stem cell therapy products, and helps shorten the communication, review and evaluation time to accelerate the filing of related products.

DMF is a submission to the FDA by the holder that contains confidential information about the facilities, processes or articles used in the manufacturing, handling, packaging and storage. DMF policy facilitates an optimized solution for pharmaceutical companies, drug manufacturers and regulatory agencies. Drug manufacturers are permitted to submit the DMF information to the FDA without having to disclose the technical secrets. In addition, drug developers could be authorized to reference all or part of the content of a DMF in support of its IND application, thus saving time and communication costs for the application filing process.

In 2022, OBiO successfully supported its clients to obtain 12 IND clearances, including 3 FDA IND approvals, and 13 IND filing acceptances in total. With years of successful IND-supporting experience in China and the United States for various gene and cell therapy products, OBiO leverages valuable know-how in IND-enabling chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) services to offer its clients a faster and more reliable access to manufacturing and regulatory filing, thereby advancing gene therapy, cell therapy and oncolytic virotherapy products from bench to clinic and bringing benefit to more patient populations.

"The acceptance of DMF filing for our GMP plasmid relies on the experienced technical team and established quality system of OBiO, and it will further enable us to provide clients with holistic CDMO solutions from DNA to IND," said Dr. Qingrui You, Vice General Manager of OBiO. "OBiO has been supporting its clients in IND applications for the adeno-associated virus, CAR-T therapy, stem cells, and oncolytic virus with high quality, all-inclusive CMC services from bank construction to GMP production. We are filing DMFs with the FDA for other products, and will continue to invest in a pipeline of innovations from manufacturing technology to process development and quality control."

In 2020, OBiO has built the OBiO Intelli-M site, a 77,000 m2 GMP production base with global service capability in the Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, which will be put into trial operation in Q1 of 2023. In this zone, OBiO will empower the development of global gene and cell therapy through the construction of a world-class facility of 15 vector production lines covering capacities from 50 to 2,000L, 11 cell therapy production lines, and 3 cell therapy production lines for pathogen carriers.

About OBiO Technology

OBiO Technology (Shanghai) Corp., Ltd. (OBiO, 688238.SH) is a gene and cell therapy-focused CRO and CDMO founded in 2013. In China for global customers, we offer holistic research, development, and manufacturing solutions for vectorology studies, functional genomics, process and analytical development, IND-enabling CMC, clinical and commercial manufacturing. With "enable gene therapy for better lives" as our mission, we are committed to providing high-quality service to global customers, advancing your product from bench to clinic, and bringing benefit to populations around the world. For more information about OBiO Technology, visit www.obio-tech.com.

SOURCE OBiO Technology (Shanghai) Corp., Ltd.
Opening in 2023, Four Seasons hotel in Rabat, Morocco will be set within a 19th-century palace overlooking the Atlantic Ocean

TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading luxury hospitality company Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Atlantic Coast Hospitality, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based real estate development firm Q Holding, announce plans for the upcoming Four Seasons Hotel Rabat at Kasr Al Bahr, anticipated to open in 2023.

Four Seasons and Atlantic Coast Hospitality Announce Plans for Luxury Hotel in Moroccos Capital City.

Kasr Al Bahr, meaning "castle of the sea," was built as a sprawling royal summer palace in the 19th century, later becoming a military hospital prior to closing in 1999. Following extensive renovations of the five-hectare (12-acre) cliffside retreat, Four Seasons Hotel Rabat at Kasr Al Bahr will usher in a new era for the historic property with 204 luxuriously appointed rooms and suites overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

"As Four Seasons continues to grow its presence in Morocco, we are proud to build upon the success of our existing properties in Marrakech and Casablanca while introducing a complementary experience, this time in the nation's capital city," says Bart Carnahan, President, Global Business Development and Portfolio Management, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. "We are honoured that our partners at Atlantic Coast Hospitality have chosen Four Seasons as the stewards of Kasr Al Bahr, and we look forward to introducing guests to this dynamic destination through a new luxury hospitality experience marked by our renowned personalized service and quality excellence."

Rabat, Morocco's capital city, is located on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and effortlessly blends the treasures of its past with dynamic offerings for the modern luxury traveller. The city holds a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation and is often known for its historic landmarks reflecting its past French and longstanding Islamic influences such as the Hassan Tower and the Kasbah of the Oudayas. Visitors will also enjoy the city's coastal setting with beautiful beaches, bustling music festivals, and more than 202 hectares (500 acres) of green space comprised of tranquil parks.

"As we transform Kasr Al Bahr for the future, we are proud to showcase Rabat's history and culture while creating a world-class hospitality experience for all who visit," says Malik Awan, Director, Q Holding. "Four Seasons is the ideal partner for this important project, and together we are dedicated to honouring this exceptional property while offering guests the service and experiences they have grown to expect from this legendary brand."

Four Seasons Hotel Rabat at Kasr Al Bahr will feature seven restaurants and lounges; a spa with well-appointed treatment rooms and an indoor pool; several outdoor resort-style pools; as well as expansive conference and event space. The Hotel's thoughtful restoration has been led by Moroccan-based architect Karim Chakor of META Atelier d'Architecture, while Roger Nazarian and Associates have been selected to lead the property's interior design, landscaping and more.

The Hotel will be led by Gregory Viaud as General Manager. With more than 19 years of experience across a broad collection of Four Seasons properties globally, Gregory will manage the Hotel's pre-opening operations, the second in his career following his assignment at Four Seasons Hotel Philadelphia at Comcast Center. Most recently, Gregory was the Resort Manager at Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort. Gregory and his team in Rabat have already begun preparing to welcome guests with the genuine heart and passion for excellence for which Four Seasons is renowned worldwide.

Four Seasons Hotel Rabat at Kasr Al Bahr will join Four Seasons growing collection of properties in Morocco, including Four Seasons Resort Marrakech, Four Seasons Hotel Casablanca and Four Seasons Private Residences Marrakech at M Avenue. With easy access to key international and regional hubs, the Hotel will be a 20-minute drive from RabatSale Airport and 90 minutes from Casablanca's Mohammed V International Airport. Visitors can also utilize Morocco's high-speed train network for seamless journeys from Rabat to the key commerce hubs of Casablanca (45 minutes) and the white beaches of Tangier (1 hour 45 minutes).

For additional images please click here.

About Q Holding

Established in Abu Dhabi, UAE in 2005, Q Holding, a subsidiary of IHC, is a private stock company listed on ADX's second market since 2017 and one of the UAE's leading investment companies that has garnered an excellent regional and global presence. Initially focused on real estate development, project management, and asset management with an ambitious strategy built on innovation for sustainable growth, the Group and its subsidiaries stand today as a key driver of Abu Dhabi's economy; a position that opened the door for a competitive regional and global position.

About Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts opened its first hotel in 1961, and since that time has been dedicated to perfecting the travel experience through continual innovation and the highest standards of hospitality. Currently operating 126 hotels and resorts, and 53 residential properties in major city centres and resort destinations in 47 countries, and with more than 50 projects under planning or development, Four Seasons consistently ranks among the world's best hotels and most prestigious brands in reader polls, traveller reviews and industry awards. For more information and reservations, visit fourseasons.com. For the latest news, visit press.fourseasons.com and follow @FourSeasonsPR on Twitter.

About Four Seasons Historic Hotels

The Four Seasons collection of unique and architecturally important heritage hotels includes buildings whose origins range from the fourteenth to the early twentieth centuries:

Upcoming historical restorations include the third Four Seasons experience in Colombia with Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences Cartagena, the conversion of the famed Hotel Formentor in Mallorca, Spain, and the extensive renovation and restoration of Hotel Danieli, Venezia, A Four Seasons Hotel.

Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Franco-Nevada Corporation ("Franco-Nevada" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that its Board of Directors has raised its quarterly dividend and declared a quarterly dividend of US$0.34 per share payable on March 30, 2023 to shareholders of record on March 16, 2023 (the "Record Date"). The increased dividend will be effective for the full 2023 fiscal year. This is a 6.25% increase from the previous US$0.32 per share quarterly dividend and marks the 16th consecutive annual increase for Franco-Nevada shareholders. Canadian investors in Franco-Nevada's IPO in December 2007 are now receiving an effective 12.2% yield on their cost base. The dividend has been declared in U.S. dollars and the Canadian dollar equivalent will be determined based on the daily average rate posted by the Bank of Canada on the Record Date. Under Canadian tax legislation, Canadian resident individuals who receive "eligible dividends" are entitled to an enhanced gross-up and dividend tax credit on such dividends.

Update on Dividend Reinvestment Plan

The Company has a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (the "DRIP") which allows shareholders of Franco-Nevada to reinvest dividends to purchase additional common shares at the Average Market Price, as defined in the DRIP, subject to a discount from the Average Market Price in the case of treasury acquisitions. Pursuant to the terms of the DRIP, the Company has changed the discount applicable to the Average Market Price from 3% to 1%, effective from the dividend payable on March 30, 2023. The Company may, from time to time, in its discretion, further change or eliminate the discount applicable to treasury acquisitions or direct that such common shares be purchased in market acquisitions at the prevailing market price, any of which would be publicly announced. Participation in the DRIP is optional. The DRIP and enrollment forms are available on the Company's website at www.franco-nevada.com. Canadian and U.S. registered shareholders may also enroll in the DRIP online through the plan agent's self-service web portal at www.investorcentre.com/franco-nevada. Canadian and U.S. beneficial shareholders should contact their financial intermediary to arrange enrollment. Non-Canadian and non-U.S. shareholders may potentially participate in the DRIP, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions. Non-Canadian and non-U.S. shareholders should contact the Company to determine whether they satisfy the necessary conditions to participate in the DRIP.

This press release is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer for securities. A registration statement relating to the DRIP has been filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and may be obtained under the Company's profile on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's website at www.sec.gov.

Details for Upcoming Release of 2022 Results

2022 Results Release: March 15th after market close



Conference Call and Webcast: March 16th 10:00 am ET



Conference Call URL (This allows conference call participants to enter their name and phone number. The system will then call the participant and place them instantly into the call, fully registered): https://app.webinar.net/zOeKNMBLXGb Dialin Numbers: TollFree: 18883900546

International: 4167648688



Webcast: www.franconevada.com



Replay (available until March 23rd): TollFree: 18883900541

International: 4167648677

Pass code: 932372 #

SOURCE Franco-Nevada Corporation
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, L.C. announced that attorney Steven Bloom has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2023 Southern California Super Lawyers lists as a "Top Rated Real Estate Attorney." Attorneys selected as Super Lawyers are among the top five percent of Southern California's licensed attorneys.

"It's an honor to have Steve represent our firm with this industry recognition," says Managing Shareholder Hemal Master. "It speaks to his commitment to our clients, our firm and the broader legal profession."

Bloom's practice emphasizes real property and commercial financings, debt restructurings and risk management. Bloom's transactional matters include real property and other asset sales, documenting business arrangements, and loan documentation for banks and other providers of financial services.

Bloom has lectured throughout California on the subjects above for, among other organizations, the California Bankers Association, Western Independent Bankers and RMA. He is a member of the Legal Affairs Committee of the California Bar Association and past chair of the Financial Institutions Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of California. Bloom has been selected as a Southern California Super Lawyer on multiple occasions, including in 2016.

Aside from his law practice, Bloom is a Board member (and past chair) of CASA of Los Angeles, which supports the work of trained community volunteers who advocate for abused and neglected children under the jurisdiction of the dependency courts of Los Angeles County.

Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.

Frandzel is a recognized leader offering legal counsel and litigation services to financial institutions and businesses. For over three decades we've been providing clients with time-tested results and business insights to help them succeed. We are known for our highly responsive service, lasting client relationships and solutions that work.

SOURCE Frandzel Robins Bloom & Csato, L.C.
~The 14th edition of the Sustainability 4.0 Awards will be held on November 10, 2023

~The last date to nominate companies that have successfully managed to integrate sustainability into their business is March 31, 2023 ~

MUMBAI, India, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 2016, Frost & Sullivan and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) have been recognizing enterprises and emerging innovators that have been leading the change in sustainability. The duo now launches the 14th edition of the 'Sustainability 4.0 Awards', which is scheduled to be held on November 10, 2023. Nominations are now open, and the companies interested in participating in the awards assessment process can submit their details on or before March 31st, 2023.

14th Edition of Frost & Sullivan's Sustainability 4.0 Awards

Sustainability 4.0 Awards aim to acknowledge the top-performing companies that have augmented their focus on excellent sustainability strategies and extended efforts toward building a holistic business, society, and environment. It emphasizes the four pillars of sustainability: purpose, partnership, planet, and people.

TERI & Frost & Sullivan share the common vision and goal of recognizing companies that adopt and implement the best Sustainability practices and identifying the efforts of front runners through a healthy benchmarking process.

To participate in the 14th edition of, interested companies can download the application form here: https://frost.ly/7zb

Rahul Sharma, VP & Global Head, Manufacturing & Process Consulting Practice, Frost & Sullivan, said, "In today's ever-evolving world, implementing sustainable business strategies is not just an option, but a necessity for business continuum and long-term value. At the COP27 in 2022, India released the long-term low carbon emission development strategy' (LT-LEDS) outlining actions that will be taken toward low carbon development. Keeping in line with the same, for the 14th edition of the Sustainability 4.0 Awards, Frost & Sullivan and TERI intend to expand the scale of the sustainability journey in India while creating business value. The awards program is designed to recognize and celebrate the businesses that are leading the way to a sustainable future."

Dr. Vibha Dhawan, Director General of TERI, said, "Sustainability is the single most important factor in managing productivity and profits in the years ahead. The Sustainability 4.0 Awards capture the journey of corporates towards sustainability and enable recognition of the first movers. Weat TERI and Frost & Sullivanlook forward to having you with us on this momentous journey and invite you to join this recognition programme focusing on green, clean, and profitable business."

The awards program has three levels of recognition 'Believers,' 'Challengers,' and 'Leaders'with respective, predefined qualifying scores. The top two highest-scoring companies (overall) will be recognized with the 'Sustainable Manufacturer of the Year' and 'Sustainable Business of the Year' awards. The 'Jury Special Mention Award' will be conferred for a program/initiative that has resulted in environmental protection, social well-being, and/or economic prosperity within an organization's operations and the community. Introduced this year, the 'Consistency Leaders Awards' will be conferred to those companies that have continuously applied Sustainability Excellence Initiatives.

Each year, companies are also evaluated on the Renewable Energy (RE) Consumption Index developed by TERI, which aims to recognize the transition to RE by the industry while aligning with India's commitments under the Paris Agreement.

The assessment framework for 'Sustainability 4.0 Awards' has four significant parameters (Purpose, Planet, People, and Partnership) and 13 sub-parameters. The evaluation framework is regularly updated, considering global sustainability frameworks, future sustainability challenges, and reporting requirements. Each participant is evaluated and benchmarked against peers and competitors by a team of experts from Frost & Sullivan and TERI. The application for these awards is open to companies across Manufacturing, Logistics, Hotels, IT & ITES, KPO, BPO, Banking, Financial Services & Insurance, Construction, Telecommunications, and Healthcare sectors in India.

To know more about the awards and the methodology, please visit https://www.frost.com/events/sustainability-awards/.

For any queries or clarification, please write to Apoorv Anand at [email protected] with your full name, company name, title, telephone number, and company e-mail address.

To schedule an interaction with our spokespersons, please write to Aishwarya Nair at [email protected].

About Frost & Sullivan

For over six decades, Frost & Sullivan has helped build sustainable growth strategies for Fortune 1000 companies, governments, and investors. We apply actionable insights to navigate economic changes, identify disruptive technologies, and formulate new business models to create a stream of innovative growth opportunities that drive future success.

About TERI

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), based in India, is an independent, multi-dimensional research organization with capabilities in policy research, technology development and implementation. An innovator and agent of change in the energy, environment, climate change, and sustainability space, TERI has pioneered conversations and action in these areas for nearly five decades. Headquartered in New Delhi, it has centres in six Indian cities and is supported by a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, sociologists, economists, engineers, administrative professionals, and state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Media Contacts: -

For Frost & Sullivan:

Aishwarya Nair, South Asia Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Nimisha Iyer, Director  Marketing Communications, MEASA

[email protected]

Twitter: @Frost_Sullivan & @FrostSullivanIN (Event Hashtag: #Sustainability40Awards2022)

LinkedIn: (17) Frost & Sullivan India: My Company | LinkedIn

For TERI:

P Anima  [email protected]

Sumit Bansal  [email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984791/Sustainability__Awards.jpg

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan
Magnesium and L-Theanine Star in the New Kiwi Melon Flavored Shot

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Minneapolis-based functional beverage company and the nation's top producer of immune-boosting probiotic juice shots, So Good So You , has launched its newest shot, CALM, exclusively and immediately available at Target. Meant to promote a sense of serenity at the top of the year, as consumers remain focused on holistic health and strengthening the mind-body connection, So Good So You crafted CALM with soothing ingredients such as magnesium. L-Theanine, an organic amino acid extract from green tea, and vitamin B6. This comforting shot aims to bring you back to calm at any time of the day.

So Good So You CALM Shot. Photo Courtesy: So Good So You Rita Katona, Co-Founder and Executive Chair, So Good So You

"So Good So You was started because we believe that there's many different ways to feel (so) good, and health isn't just physical." said Rita Katona, So Good So You co-founder and executive chair. "The world is becoming more aware of the importance of mental health as a critical piece of one's well being. We created Calm with Magnesium, L-theanine, and Vitamin B6 as a way to remind you to make time for those feel-good moments that relax and calm your body and mind"

Meant to be taken daily to support a healthy immune and digestive system, So Good So You's CALM shot can be taken when you need some extra help winding down, in the evening after a stressful workday, early morning to get your day off to a zen start or when you just want to bring the spa to your home. As always, the Kiwi Melon juice shot is organic, cold-pressed, non-GMO, crafted with no preservatives and features 1 Billion CFUs of probiotics. All real ingredients, deliciously blended to make this daily habit one that's enjoyable.

So Good So You has seen a skyrocketing 165% growth year over year, reaching over 12,000 stores today with single and multi-packs available for purchase. The company is the functional juice shot leader in the produce section with its good-for-you and delicious juice shots for customers looking for convenient, targeted and immunity-boosting healthy solutions. Shop Calm now exclusively at Target alongside bestsellers Immunity Ginger, Detox Pineapple Orange, Energy Mango Spinach, Beauty, Happy, and more.

Link to Download Hi-Res Images : https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yzd9tchb1xfohjur1x7zd/h?dl=0&rlkey=p15lpw8i0d448rwbwt2hwgeh9

About So Good So You

So Good So You is the number one premium brand in the emerging functional shot category, and is ranked in the top 20 percent of the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies. The brand uses only certified organic and non-GMO-verified ingredients in its cold-pressed functional beverages, made at its renewable energy-powered production facility in Minneapolis. The woman-owned, WBENC-certified company was founded on the core concept that the products it creates and the materials it buys and uses are a direct connection to a larger community and purpose: So Good So You is a community of passionate humans driven to make a difference, and it believes collectively, we all can make a positive impact on the body and planet. So Good So You shots are available in 50 states, at more than 12,000 stores, including Target, Publix, Sprouts, Albertsons, Whole Foods, Kroger and Safeway stores, and many others.

SOURCE So Good So You
ONE Brands Launches New Line of Caffeinated Protein Bars

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ONE Brands, one of the fastest-growing protein bar companies in the U.S., is launching its newest line of protein bars, ONE Coffee Shop. Balanced caffeinated products are increasing in popularity with consumers searching for energizing and filling snacks that provide a boost of energy without the crash.

The delicious, caffeinated bars have the same amount of caffeine as a serving of espresso and are perfect for a morning or mid-afternoon pick-me-up.

ONE Coffee Shop bars are packed with 65mg of caffeine, 20 grams of protein, and 1 gram of sugar in each indulgent flavor: Vanilla Latte and Caramel Macchiato. The combination of caffeine, protein, and 1g of sugar is great for a burst of energy. The delicious, caffeinated bars have the same amount of caffeine as a serving of espresso and are perfect for a morning or mid-afternoon pick-me-up.

"This new line of protein bars is made with our energy seeking coffee lovers top of mind," said Eric Clawson, ONE Brands General Manager. "Our innovative creative team took the two most popular coffee flavors, vanilla and caramel, to produce brand-new coffee masterpieces."

ONE Coffee Shop bars are available at select retailers nationwide, including Amazon, Circle K, 7-Eleven, Vitamin Shoppe and GNC. ONE Coffee Shop bars will be sold individually, in 4ct boxes, and in 12-count trays. For more information on ONE Brands, please visit www.one1brands.com.

About ONE Brands:

ONE Brands knows that protein bars don't have to taste like chalk, and we're proving that great taste and good health are not mutually exclusive by delivering anytime, anywhere protein bars in decadent, totally indulgent flavors. Each ONE Brand protein bar is packed with up to 20 grams of protein, and each ONE CRUNCH bar provides 12 grams of proteinall while containing 1 gram of sugar. ONE Brands is committed to offering exceptional taste, superior texture and functionalityand no compromisesthrough in-house research and recipe development. ONE Brand protein bars are perfect for breakfast, lunch, on-the-go snacking, post-workout recovery or "just because." The roster of over 20 powerfully delicious ONE Brand protein bar flavors is available at Amazon, Vitamin Shoppe, and gyms across the country, as well as Walmart, Target, and other top regional grocers. Congratulations, You've Found the ONE.

Media Contact:

Jodie Fredericks | Konnect Agency

[email protected]

213-933-2325

SOURCE ONE Brands
DUBLIN, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Augmented Analytics Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global augmented analytics market size reached US$ 8.27 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 32.64 Billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 25.71% during 2021-2027.

Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use industries. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Augmented analytics refers to the integration of enabling technologies, such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), to assist with data preparation and insight generation and explanation. It helps understand the way people explore and analyze data in analytics and business intelligence (BI) platforms.

It also supports expert and citizen data scientists by automating different aspects of data science, ML, and AI model development, management, and deployment. Nowadays, business users and executives are relying on augmented analytics to obtain value from their datasets quickly without the requirement of deep technical skills or expertise in working with the data.



Due to the global expansion of businesses, organizations are focusing on adopting advanced technologies to digitally transform their processes. As this leads to the generation of modern data, which is complex and difficult to understand and interpret, there is a rise in the demand for augmented analytics to easily find relevant data and quickly uncover insights. Moreover, marketing and communications agencies are using the analytics to explore the effectiveness of ad campaigns and discover variables hidden in the data.

Additionally, travel and hospitality organizations rely on augmented analytics for finding the optimal, personalized offers to upsell or cross-sell customers. This, in confluence with growth in the hospitality sector driven by the efforts undertaken by governments of numerous countries to promote travel and tourism in their countries, is contributing to the growth of the market.

Besides this, augmented analytics is gaining traction in areas like patient care, training, operations, and drug research of the healthcare industry. Furthermore, the increasing focus on enhancing staff coordination for improving patient care quality is anticipated to drive the market.

Competitive Landscape:



The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Domo Inc., International Business Machines Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, QlikTech International AB, Salesforce Inc., SAP SE, Sisense Inc., ThoughtSpot Inc., TIBCO Software Inc. and Yellowfin International Pty Ltd (Idera Inc.).



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global augmented analytics market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global augmented analytics market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the component?

What is the breakup of the market based on the deployment mode?

What is the breakup of the market based on the organization size?

What is the breakup of the market based on the industry vertical?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global augmented analytics market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Augmented Analytics Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Component

6.1 Software

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Services

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Deployment Mode

7.1 On-premises

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Cloud-based

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Organization Size

8.1 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Large Enterprises

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Industry Vertical

9.1 BFSI

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Retail

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Healthcare and Life Sciences

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Telecom and IT

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast

9.5 Manufacturing

9.5.1 Market Trends

9.5.2 Market Forecast

9.6 Government

9.6.1 Market Trends

9.6.2 Market Forecast

9.7 Transportation and Logistics

9.7.1 Market Trends

9.7.2 Market Forecast

9.8 Others

9.8.1 Market Trends

9.8.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by Region

11 SWOT Analysis

12 Value Chain Analysis



13 Porters Five Forces Analysis



14 Price Analysis



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Structure

15.2 Key Players

15.3 Profiles of Key Players

15.3.1 Domo Inc.

15.3.1.1 Company Overview

15.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.1.3 Financials

15.3.2 International Business Machines Corporation

15.3.2.1 Company Overview

15.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.2.3 Financials

15.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.3 Microsoft Corporation

15.3.3.1 Company Overview

15.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.3.3 Financials

15.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.4 Oracle Corporation

15.3.4.1 Company Overview

15.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.4.3 Financials

15.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.5 QlikTech International AB

15.3.5.1 Company Overview

15.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6 Salesforce Inc.

15.3.6.1 Company Overview

15.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.6.3 Financials

15.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.7 SAP SE

15.3.7.1 Company Overview

15.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.7.3 Financials

15.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

15.3.8 Sisense Inc.

15.3.8.1 Company Overview

15.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.9 ThoughtSpot Inc.

15.3.9.1 Company Overview

15.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.10 TIBCO Software Inc.

15.3.10.1 Company Overview

15.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

15.3.11 Yellowfin International Pty Ltd (Idera Inc.)

15.3.11.1 Company Overview

15.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1dhw78

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, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Server Operating System Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Deployment (On-premise and Cloud), By Virtualization (Virtual Machine and Physical), By Type (Windows, Linux, Unix), By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Server Operating System Market size is expected to reach $29.4 billion by 2028, rising at a market growth of 8.8% CAGR during the forecast period.

Market Growth Factors

The Increasing Spending and Usage for Data Centers



Data center resources from cloud providers are used when hosting an application in the cloud. However, present-day data centers are quite different from those a few years ago. Infrastructures have shifted to virtual networks that enable applications and workloads across pools of physical infrastructure and into a multi-cloud environment from conventional on-premise physical servers. In addition, the server operating system offers numerous features for the data center, like implanting securities, keeping track of multiple users, and various other administrative processes.



Hybrid Cloud Environment's Adoption Is Increasing



Cloud-based solutions are now being widely adapted, creating a rising need for computing. Big data technology and the advent of Internet of Things (IoT) are the major driving factors for this requirement. There is also a rise in the number of users for cloud-native servers and an increase in spending for cloud services implementation. Companies also have a unique reason for trusting cloud technology support in providing excellent flexibility, improved customer assistance, and time.



Market Restraining Factors

High Deployment Cost and Server Downtimes



It is known as downtime or an outage when a server stops working or is inaccessible for some reason. The loss due to the downtime to a company or an individual can drastically hamper their reputation. Server downtime can be due to physical causes, especially those connected to the internet, as it comprises a complex combination of electrical power network cabling and hardware components. Any complication in any of the physical aspects of the hosting infrastructure can cause significant downtime.



Type Outlook



Based on the Type, the Server Operating System Market is segmented into Windows, Linux, Unix and Others. The windows segment acquired the highest revenue share in the server operating system market in 2021. It is because windows are the most recognized operating system used by businesses. It supports various features within a single platform, including smooth administration of server core, enhanced security, automated client connectivity, and numerous other features that help developers efficiently operate and manage servers.



Virtualization Outlook



On the basis of virtualization, the Server Operating System market is divided into Virtual Machine and Physical. The physical server segment recorded a remarkable revenue share in the server operating system market in 2021.

Because the physical server provides preferable performance, the flexibility to modify software and hardware architecture, and high levels of enhanced security, a physical server is a computer utilized to run server software.



Deployment Outlook



By deployment, the Server operating system market is classified into On-premise and Cloud. The On-premise segment garnered the highest revenue share in the Server Operating system market in 2021.

Because of the increasing demand for SMEs, the on-premise is expected to grow in the upcoming years. On-premise deployment is increasing due to its feature to provide its users with complete access to apps, data, and infrastructure while significantly decreasing operational costs and increasing security on the other hand.



Regional Outlook



Region-wise, the Server operating system market is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The North America region acquired the largest revenue share in the server operating system market in 2021.

Because of the increasing demand for server operating systems and the rise in internet applications, with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, the server operating system can be used to administer many applications like server and storage management. Market is also being propelled by the increasing adoption for cloud computing in various organizations.

Key Market Players

List of Companies Profiled in the Report:

Apple, Inc.

Dell Technologies, Inc.

Microsoft Corporation

Cisco Systems, Inc.

IBM Corporation

Oracle Corporation

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)

NEC Corporation

Unisys Corporation

Canonical Group Limited

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Market Scope & Methodology



Chapter 2. Market Overview

Chapter 3. Competition Analysis - Global



Chapter 4. Global Server Operating System Market by Deployment



Chapter 5. Global Server Operating System Market by Virtualization



Chapter 6. Global Server Operating System Market by Type



Chapter 7. Global Server Operating System Market by Region



Chapter 8. Company Profiles

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/5rqejs

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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
Goettl Expands Footprint Across Southwest with Planned Growth for 2023

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Goettl Air Conditioning & Plumbing ("Goettl"), a leading provider of residential HVAC and plumbing services across the Southwest, announces today that is has acquired Nevada Heating, Cooling, Plumbing, Fireplace Inc. in Reno, Nevada as part of its ongoing acquisitional growth strategy.

In addition to its latest acquisition, Goettl announces year-over-year growth of over 30 percent and plans for continued expansion throughout the Southwest in 2023. The company's strategic plans include entering three to four new markets with 10 or more acquisitions and job growth in each market. Goettl also adds a new fireplace service to its existing line of heating, plumbing and cooling services with its latest acquisition of Nevada Heating, Cooling, Plumbing, Fireplace Inc.

Goettl continues growth trend and announces acquisition of Nevada Heating with plans for additional expansion in 2023. Tweet this

Nevada Heating has been a family owned and operated business serving the Reno Sparks area since 1973 and became known locally as the "Do It Right Guys." The company's facility includes a 7,000 square foot shop, 4,000 square foot fireplace and stove showroom, along with 4,500 square feet of office, training and conference area.

"We are excited to welcome Nevada Heating to the Goettl family as we expand our presence in our home state and throughout the southwestern U.S.," says Ken Goodrich, CEO, Goettl. "The Robnett family has built a tremendous business with the same principles we stand for at Goettl and that reflects our motto, 'We do things the right way, not the easy way.' We look forward to increasing our presence in the Reno area with an established, trusted partner."

This acquisition is the latest in a series of partnerships made by Goettl with HVAC and plumbing companies to expand its reach and bring its services to new markets. In 2022, Goettl extended its footprint to Texas and California and continues to look at additional markets for expansion with industry leading HVAC and plumbing companies.

"This is the perfect next chapter for us at Nevada Heating  starting from a garage-based business founded by my father and nearly 50 years of growth in northern Nevada to joining an established network of HVAC and plumbing companies under the Goettl umbrella," says Eric Robnett, owner, Nevada Heating, Cooling, Plumbing, Fireplace Inc. "By joining Goettl, we are becoming part of a growing organization that is delivering an elevated experience for customers and providing additional opportunities for our team members."

Companies interested in a partnership with Goettl may contact Rohin Lal at [email protected] or Angela Miller at [email protected].

About Goettl Air Conditioning & Plumbing

Goettl Air Conditioning & Plumbing is a leading provider of residential HVAC and plumbing services in the Southwest. The company currently serves customers in Arizona, California, Nevada and Texas with over 1,000 team members and is expanding rapidly though acquisitional growth. Goettl was founded in 1939 by Gust and Adam Goettl on a legacy of quality and reliability and has established a reputation as a pioneer within the HVAC and plumbing industry with a motto of "We do things the right way, not the easy way". Today, Goettl is led by CEO, Ken Goodrich, and is a portfolio company of the Cortec Group. For more information, visit www.Goettl.com.

Contact: Aimee Miller

Aimee Miller Marketing & Communications

303.549.9034

[email protected]

SOURCE Goettl
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Gaotu Techedu Inc. F/K/A Gsx Techedu Inc. (NYSE: GOTU) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

This lawsuit is on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired publicly traded Gaotu American depository shares between March 5, 2021 and July 23, 2021, inclusive.

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: February 28, 2023

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in GOTU:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/gaotu-class-action-submission-form?id=35648&from=4

Gaotu Techedu Inc. F/K/A Gsx Techedu Inc. NEWS - GOTU NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Gaotu Techedu Inc. F/K/A Gsx Techedu Inc. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) China was barring tutoring for profit in core school subjects, and this policy change would restrict foreign investment in a sector that had become essential to success in Chinese school exams; and (2) the impact such regulations would have on Gaotu's operations and profitability and the value of Company securities.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Gaotu you have until February 28, 2023 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Gaotu securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the GOTU lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/gaotu-class-action-submission-form?id=35648&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
HOUSTON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Group 1 Automotive , Inc . (NYSE: GPI) ("Group 1" or the "Company"), an international Fortune 300 automotive retailer with 204 dealerships located in the U.S. and U.K., announced today the appointments of Gillian Hobson as Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary and Kimberly Barta as Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.

Hobson joins Group 1 from Vinson & Elkins in Houston where she has served as a member of the firm's management committee and as Group 1's primary relationship attorney. During her 22-year tenure, she was part of the mergers and acquisition/capital markets practice group and represented public and private companies in corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising transactions, securities law and corporate governance matters. Hobson received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center.

Hobson succeeds Darryl M. Burman, who is retiring as Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Group 1. Since 2006, Burman has been responsible for all domestic and international legal matters at Group 1, following a distinguished 23-year corporate and securities legal career in Houston.

As the first Chief Marketing Officer at Group 1, Barta is responsible for leading the strategy, development, and execution of Group 1's marketing, communications, and advertising initiatives. She will play a vital role in developing customer research, leveraging big data and creating relevant marketing messaging. She will also lead Group 1's efforts in increasing awareness and adoption of AcceleRide, Group 1's customer experience platform. Prior to joining Group 1, Barta served in marketing leadership roles for brands including Nike's innovation lab, SOREL, and Dr. Martens, where she helped transform the customer experience, increase brand trust, preference and advocacy.

"We are privileged to welcome these two accomplished executives to the Group 1 leadership team. Gillian and Kimberly are proven professionals who bring skill sets to Group 1 that will help drive our strategic growth and customer-centric initiatives," said Daryl Kenningham, Group 1's President and CEO. "We'd also like to thank Darryl Burman for his 16 years of service to the company. Darryl was instrumental in supporting much of Group 1's expansion during that time and we wish him the best in his retirement."

ABOUT GROUP 1 AUTOMOTIVE, INC.

Group 1 owns and operates 204 automotive dealerships, 275 franchises, and 46 collision centers in the United States and the United Kingdom that offer 35 brands of automobiles. Through its dealerships and omni-channel platform, the Company sells new and used cars and light trucks; arranges related vehicle financing; sells service and insurance contracts; provides automotive maintenance and repair services; and sells vehicle parts.

Group 1 discloses additional information about the Company, its business, and its results of operations at www.group1corp.com , www.group1auto.com , www.group1collision.com , www.acceleride.com , www.facebook.com/group1auto , and www.twitter.com/group1auto .

Investor contacts:

Jason Babbitt

Vice President, Treasurer

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

[email protected]

Media contacts:

Pete DeLongchamps

Senior Vice President, Manufacturer Relations, Financial Services and Public Affairs

Group 1 Automotive, Inc.

[email protected]

or

Clint Woods

Pierpont Communications, Inc.

713-627-2223

[email protected]

SOURCE Group 1 Automotive, Inc.
Early Childhood Education Franchise Opens in Alexandria, Brings Well-Rounded Program to the Community

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Celebree School, a leader in early childhood education that provides infant and toddler care, preschool, before and aftercare, and summer camp programs, will open its newest school at 2450 Mill Road in Alexandria this winter. Located in the Carlyle Crossing development, the new school will provide a customized program that addresses the physical, social, emotional, and academic needs of children while adhering to Virginia's early education standards.

Enrollment is now open, and community members are encouraged to visit Celebree School for tours, visits, and more information.

The new school is owned and operated by local husband-wife entrepreneurs Mohammad Ali and Ayesha Abdul. Mohammad grew up in Northern Virginia and established a career as a public accountant. Just after his 30th birthday and learning he'd be expecting his first child, he knew it was time to pursue a new career path that provided meaning and fulfillment in his life. That's when he found Celebree School. Mohammad will be actively involved in all operations of the school and while his wife, Ayesha, will continue her career as a primary care physician with the Virginia Hospital Center in Alexandria, she will be very involved behind the scenes helping with the school as well.

"I was searching for a meaningful business opportunity where I could make a difference in people's lives and in our community," said Ali. "Celebree School quickly stood out as a leader in early childhood education  something that is extremely important to us, especially as we are welcoming our son into the world this year. Being able to bring my child to school every day and watch him grow up through Celebree as we run the business first-hand, makes this opportunity extra special. We look forward to becoming a reliable, consistent, trusted member of the community  making an impact both inside and outside of the classroom."

School Director Jana Behm brings nearly three decades worth of early childhood education experience to Celebree School of Alexandria. She began her journey in 1994 as a pre-K teacher and has served in several supervisory and director roles. As a member of the National Association for Education of Young Children (NAEYC) who regularly participates in training to further her own education and research-based practices, she is committed to providing the very best foundation for lifelong learning.

Celebree School lives by its promise to Grow People Big and Small, and was founded on the belief that success in early childhood development is equal parts curriculum and a connection that extends beyond the classroom to address the needs of the whole child and the whole family. Each Celebree School is a village made up of parents, children, and educators while providing curriculum-based care that prepares your child for kindergarten and beyond.

With a 25-plus-year history of providing superior early childhood education, Celebree School delivers a stable, secure learning environment that helps children develop a lifelong love of learning. Programs are available for children six weeks to 12 years old with unique curriculums designed to develop positive social skills and values while allowing children to learn about their world through age-appropriate play, projects, and activities. Care is available full time and parents are allowed to drop in and visit at any time.

"We're honored to continue to help brilliant entrepreneurs like the Mohammad actualize his business goals and join our Celebree School family," said Richard Huffman, Founder and CEO of Celebree School. "As we continue to expand our brand's footprint through franchising, it's more important than ever that we partner with local community leaders who have a passion for early childhood education. The opening of this school brings me immense pride and joy. I know Mohammad and Ayesha are the perfect fit to help drive our mission forward."

The local Celebree team has already been hard at work engraining themselves in the community, hosting a December coat drive benefiting the Alexandria Community Shelter, breakfasts for residents at Carlyle Crossing and neighboring apartment complexes, and more. The team is also gearing up for its Scholastic Book Fair taking place at the school on February 16 from 6:30 p.m.  8:30 p.m., free and open to the public.

Celebree School of Alexandria will be open Monday  Friday 6:30 a.m.  6:30 p.m. For more information on Celebree School in Alexandria, and its upcoming grand opening event, please visit the local website, Facebook, Instagram, or call (703) 349-3998.

About Celebree School

Founded in 1994, Celebree School is a leader in early childhood education that provides infant and toddler care, preschool, before and aftercare, and summer camp programs. With a mission to Grow People Big and Small, Celebree School believes success in early childhood development is equal parts curriculum and connection. Each school employs a customized program that addresses the physical, social, emotional, and academic needs of children and follows applicable state guidelines. In 2019, Celebree School launched its franchise offering. Learn more about how we grow confident children who are prepared for school and life at Celebree.com. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Kelly McNamara, Fishman Public Relations, [email protected]

SOURCE Celebree School
Landmark supply collaboration on climate protection

Shell to replace approximately 200,000 tonnes of fossil feedstocks with renewable feedstocks for cleaning ingredients used in Henkel's largest laundry brands in North America . A third-party certified mass balance approach will be used.

ROCKY HILL, Conn., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Henkel and Shell Chemical LP have agreed to a five-year collaboration to replace up to 200,000 tonnes of fossil feedstocks used in the manufacture of surfactants with feedstocks that are based on renewable raw materials. The renewable-based surfactants will be used in Henkel's laundry product brands, including many varieties of Persil, Purex and all brands. Surfactants are an ingredient in cleaning products that help lather and lift dirt.

Henkel and Shell Chemical LP agree to a five-year collaboration to replace up to 200,000 tonnes of fossil feedstocks used in the manufacture of surfactants with feedstocks that are based on renewable raw materials.

"This landmark cooperation significantly advances Henkel's share of renewable-based ingredients in leading consumer brands in North America," said Ulrike Sapiro, Chief Sustainability Officer at Henkel. "This is an important, concrete step toward realizing our vision of a regenerative planet through a climate-friendly business model. Working together with partners like Shell will help get us there faster."

Shell estimates that replacing up to 200,000 tonnes of fossil feedstocks with renewable feedstocks has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 120,000 tonnes of CO 2 e over the length of the five-year agreement.

Starting in 2023, up to 200,000 tonnes of renewable feedstocks will be used by Shell during a combined manufacturing process (along with fossil feedstocks) to produce surfactants. Using the mass balance approach, an independent accounting process is applied enabling Shell to attribute the total tonnes of renewable feedstocks used in the process solely to Henkel. This mass balance process and attribution will be verified by an independent, third-party certification organization such as (but not limited to) ISCC, REDcert and SCS global services.

"A mass balance approach is an important step to support the growth of more sustainable raw materials being used in the supply chain and support a reduction in the overall mix of fossil-based ingredients," said Jillaine Dellis, Vice President, Sustainability & Industry Relations, Henkel Consumer Brands, North America. "We are delighted to enhance the sustainability of our top-selling consumer brands in North America through this transition to renewable-based ingredients while offering the same outstanding cleaning performance and fabric care our consumers have come to expect from Henkel."

Robin Mooldijk, Executive Vice President, Shell Chemicals and Products said, "This agreement represents Shell's first-of-its-kind commercial scale deal for renewable-based chemicals anywhere in the world. I'm pleased to be working with Henkel and helping it take important steps towards achieving its sustainability goals."

The surfactants will be produced at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Norco and Shell Geismar Chemicals facility in Louisiana. Shell will use independently certified sustainable feedstocks.

Mooldijk added, "Our collaboration with Henkel is a fantastic example of the opportunity for future growth. We are investing in our chemicals facilities, including on the U.S. Gulf Coast, to scale up Shell's sustainable chemicals capabilities and deliver the integrated and sustainable offers our customers increasingly want."

About Henkel in North America

Henkel's portfolio of well-known brands in North America includes Schwarzkopf hair care, Dial soaps, Persil, Purex, and all laundry detergents, Snuggle fabric softeners as well as Loctite, Technomelt and Bonderite adhesives. With sales close to 6 billion US dollars (5 billion euros) in 2021, North America accounts for 25 percent of the company's global sales. Henkel employs over 8,000 people across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit www.henkel-northamerica.com, and on Twitter @Henkel_NA.

About Henkel

With its brands, innovations and technologies, Henkel holds leading market positions worldwide in the industrial and consumer businesses. The business unit Adhesive Technologies is the global leader in the market of adhesives, sealants and functional coatings. With Consumer Brands, the company holds leading positions especially in hair care and laundry & home care in many markets and categories around the world. The company's three strongest brands are Loctite, Persil and Schwarzkopf. In fiscal 2021, Henkel reported sales of more than 20 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of around 2.7 billion euros. Henkel's preferred shares are listed in the German stock index DAX. Sustainability has a long tradition at Henkel, and the company has a clear sustainability strategy with concrete targets. Henkel was founded in 1876 and today employs a diverse team of more than 50,000 people worldwide  united by a strong corporate culture, shared values and a common purpose: "Pioneers at heart for the good of generations." More information at www.henkel.com

About Shell Chemicals

Shell's global chemicals business supplies customers with a range of base, intermediate and performance chemicals used to make products that people use every day. These finished products contribute to society's ability to live, work, care and respond to climate change. As global demand for chemicals increases, we plan to grow our business, by understanding and providing for our customers' needs. Our business is versatile and resilient. We have strong market positions, integrated world-scale assets, leading technologies and a commitment to a sustainable future. References to the expressions "Shell", "Shell's chemicals business" or "Shell's chemical plants" refer to multiple companies that are part of the Shell Group that are engaged in chemical or related businesses. For more information, please visit www.shell.com/chemicals.

Photo material is available at www.henkel-northamerica.com/press

Henkel Contact:

Jennifer Schiavone

+1 475 299-9192

[email protected]

Shell Contact:

Contact: Curtis Smith

Phone: +1 907-242-5227

SOURCE Henkel
Hong Kong: Sun Dong meets tech minister

Secretary for Innovation, Technology & Industry Prof Sun Dong today met Vice Minister of Science & Technology Prof Zhang Guangjun in Beijing and visited two centres at Zhongguancun.

Prof Sun briefed Prof Zhang on key elements in the Hong Kong Innovation & Technology (I&T) Development Blueprint.

They discussed the expedition of the signing of the Arrangement between the Mainland & Hong Kong on Expediting the Development of Hong Kong into an International Innovation & Technology Centre.

Other discussion topics involved the reorganisation of State Key Laboratories in Hong Kong and arrangements for the establishment of a dedicated task force on the development of Hong Kong as an international I&T centre.

They also explored ways to further promote the city's integration into national I&T development as well as more facilitation measures to promote the convenient cross-boundary flow of innovation elements.

Prof Sun also had separate meetings with China Association for Science & Technology (CAST) officials Shu Wei and Luo Hui.

Mr Shu is Deputy Secretary of the CAST leading Party members group as well as Secretariat Standing Vice-Chairman & Executive Secretary, while Ms Luo is a member of the CAST leading Party members group as well as Hong Kong, Macao & Taiwan Exchange Office Director.

Prof Sun expressed his hope to work with CAST to continue and deepen the co-operation between the Mainland and Hong Kong in academic exchanges, popular science, nurturing talent and youth education.

Both sides discussed supporting the participation of Hong Kong talent in nationwide academic associations as well as promoting the participation of Hong Kong higher education institutions and scientific research organisations in youth exchange activities organised by CAST.

In the afternoon, Prof Sun visited the Zhongguancun Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Youth Innovation Center where he received a briefing on its work and achievements on providing support to Beijing and Hong Kong enterprises on technology collaboration and innovation development.

He also inspected four Mainland enterprises specialising in autonomous driving, cloud services, smart command and dispatch, and medical devices.

Prof Sun then went to the Zhongguancun Exhibition Center and called on Party Secretary of Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission and Zhongguancun Science Park Administrative Commission Zhang Jihong.

He also met Deputy Director General of the Hong Kong & Macao Affairs Office of the Peoples Government of Beijing Municipality Li Hui.

The technology chief stated that the Beijing Municipal Science & Technology Commission has always given staunch support to the promotion of I&T exchanges and co-operation between Beijing and Hong Kong.

Zhongguancun, being home to many renowned higher education institutions and research centres, is a leading hub in promoting the countrys technology development, he added.

Prof Sun said he hoped Beijing and Hong Kong would continue to deepen their co-operation in technology development in the future and strive together for the advancement of the countrys scientific research.

This story has been published on: 2023-01-17. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese market enjoys advantages in its size, vitality for innovation

14:37, January 17, 2023 By Yang Xun ( People's Daily

Photo shows glass products developed by Schott displayed at the third China International Import Expo. (Photo provided by Schott.)

The year 2022 was the International Year of Glass, and Albert Chen, managing director of Schott in China, one of the leading specialty glass companies in the world from Germany, shared with People's Daily a story about glass.

Over the past 30 years, the German manufacturer has always been committed to improving its manufacturing and processing technologies of ultra-thin glass. However, it lacked an opportunity to massively launch its products in the market, till it learned from negotiations with its Chinese partners that many Chinese tech firms were seeking solutions for producing curved screens.

"The success of our technologies and products came from not only the demand of Chinese tech firms for new technologies but also the strong industrial chain of the Chinese electronics industry and its vital consumption market," Chen said.

He noted that the potential of the Chinese market is obvious to all, and expanding investment in China is an important strategy adopted by many multinational companies, including Schott.

Schott started its business in China in 2002. So far, its total sales volume in the country has hit 2.55 billion yuan ($377 million).

Chen told People's Daily that Schott has enjoyed prosperous development in China over the past two decades, and with the general expectation of the Chinese economy picking up in 2023, it is believed that the investment environment for foreign companies in the country will keep being optimized.

Over the recent years, Schott has continuously expanded its investment in China, introducing high-end production lines and establishing an Asia-Pacific R&D center.

Many new outcomes were delivered in China by the German manufacturer, including mobile phone screens made of curved ultra-thin glass, a transistor outline header for 5G fronthaul, and an encapsulation design for the light engines of augmented reality glasses.

Besides, the company has also inked agreements about optical communication with Chinese corporations at the China International Import Expo for three consecutive years, contributing its part to the development of the Chinese 5G market.

"China is Schott's fastest-growing consumption market. The Chinese market enjoys advantages in its size and also in its vitality for innovation," Chen said.

In 2021, Schott set up an Asia-Pacific R&D center in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu province, to offer frontier technical support for its ultra-thin glass, 5G communication, virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as energy storage businesses.

So far, the company has invested 20 million yuan in the construction of an application center in China. It plans to invest 8 million to 10 million yuan each year to promote the development of the center.

"We'll keep contributing to the innovation and R&D of Chinese brands, to make full use of our technical advantages and benefit the country through close cooperation on the application of technologies," Chen noted.

According to him, China has always been the fastest-growing market of Schott in the past five years. He told People's Daily that China's business environment is conducive to the development of innovative enterprises. The Chinese government has constantly widened access for foreign capital, handed down the power to approve administrative items, and streamlined administrative approvals, which relieves the burden of enterprises and creates a market featuring efficiency, equity, convenience, and freedom for foreign enterprises.

"As a high-tech firm, Schott has benefited from the reduced enterprise income tax rate of 15 percent and the policy on granting additional tax deductions for R&D costs. It is also facilitated by the streamlined customs procedures and optimized customs approvals," Chen told People's Daily.

China is the world's second largest economy, largest trading country in goods, and the top destination of foreign investment. Its economic development draws global attention.

Chen said that as China takes solid steps towards high-quality economic development, foreign enterprises still enjoy huge development potential in the country.

"China, as a source of stable growth for global economy, will make more contributions to building an open world economy and a better future for mankind in the post-pandemic era," Chen said.

(Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming)
ISELIN, N.J., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hexaware has been named on the Forbes list of Mexico's Best Employers 2022. This prestigious award is presented by Forbes and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider. The awards list was announced on October 18th, 2022 and can currently be viewed on the Forbes website.

Hexaware Logo

Forbes and Statista selected Mexico's Best Employers 2022 through an independent survey applied to a vast sample of approximately 10,000 Mexican employees working full or part time. 400 employers were awarded. The evaluation was based on direct and indirect recommendations from employees that were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their own employers to friends and family. Employee evaluations also included other employers in their respective industries that stood out either positively or negatively.

Furthermore, the employees were asked questions about work related topics like working conditions, salary, potential for development, and company image regarding their current employer.

Based on the results of the study, Hexaware is ecstatic to be recognized on the Forbes list of Mexico's Best Employers 2022.

Miguel Herrera, Country Manager & Head of Competencies  Mexico, Hexaware Technologies said, "We are proud to be recognized as one of Mexico's Best Employers. We know that delivering meaningful impact for our customers begins with our people reaching their full potential. That's why we are fully committed to enabling them to thrive professionally and personally. We continuously strive to ensure that our employees feel supported, valued, and engaged, so that we can 'create smiles through great people and great technology,' in Mexico and everywhere else across the world where we do business."

About Hexaware

Hexaware is a global technology and business process services company. Our 30,000 Hexawarians are driven by our purpose; to create smiles through great people and technology. With 54 offices in 19 countries, we empower enterprises to realize digital transformation at scale and speed by partnering with them to build, modernize, run, and optimize their IT landscapes. We put people first in everything we do and seek to improve people's lives by collaborating with our stakeholders to build a better, more sustainable tomorrow.

Learn more about Hexaware at https://www.hexaware.com.

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/530945/Hexaware.jpg

SOURCE Hexaware Technologies Ltd
HANGZHOU, China, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hoymiles, a leading smart energy provider and microinverter manufacturer, has released new microinverters that are expected to lower the upfront cost for customers while not compromising the overall performance. The new HMS-C series of microinverters are available in Europe, North America and Oceania, and the HMS-D series of microinverters are available in Latin America and Asia Pacific.

These microinverters are the cost-effective versions added to Hoymiles classic HMS series. The C and D series all come with 1600 VA, 1800 VA and 2000 VA output power options and can be used with mainstream high-powered PV modules.

HMS-1600C/D-4T: Used with 320 to 540 W+ PV modules

HMS-1800C/D-4T: Used with 360 to 600 W+ PV modules

HMS-2000C/D-4T: Used with 400 to 670 W+ PV modules

They have four input channels, meaning that one microinverter can be connected with four solar panels at once - which is why we call it a 4-in-1. Therefore, for the same capacity demand, users can just have one microinverter instead of four regular ones. The CEC peak efficiency is up to 96.7%, which represents the leading level in the industry and promises greater solar yield, lower per-watt costs and shorter payback period. The excellent 99.8% MPPT efficiency means that the microinverter can almost perfectly track the maximum power point of the modules, therefore delivering the best solar harvest for users.

With the IP67 enclosure rating, Hoymiles microinverters can still perform regularly even after a short immersion in water. This guarantees the safety and longevity of the microinverters.

What makes the new C and D series different from the previous HMS series is that they have two MPPTs rather than four, meaning that two panels share one MPPT. This twist offers a great balance between efficient performance and affordability. Both series feature Sub-1G wireless connectivity which enables greater reliability and communication over longer distances when paired with Hoymiles' data transfer units (DTU).

As with other Hoymiles microinverters, both newly released series are connected to Hoymiles' smart monitoring platform, S-Miles Cloud, so that users can access visual data on the system's energy production and usage, as well as receive proactive alerts if the installation needs attention, and track how the system is performing overall.

Though high-powered microinverters are more popular among business owners, they are also a good choice for homeowners. This is due to the fact that the high power rating can futureproof the home property in case the energy demand grows as time goes by.

"We are constantly thinking about delivering the best energy solution to our clients with lower costs. This is also how we strive to make open energy for all. By optimizing product design and making innovations, we want more users to access clean solar energy at affordable prices," said Steven Zhang, Senior Product Engineer of Hoymiles.

About Hoymiles

please visit: https://www.hoymiles.com/

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1983812/HMS_CandD_Microinverter.jpg

SOURCE Hoymiles Power Electronic Inc
Adani Enterprises is the first in Asia and among the first in the world to adopt hydrogen fuel cell operated trucks for mining

and among the first in the world to adopt hydrogen fuel cell operated trucks for mining First truck plans to be deployed in 2023 in India

This announcement endorses Gautam Adani's vision of potentially catalysing a hydrogen economy where India has a head start

AHMEDABAD, India, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), part of the diversified Adani portfolio of companies, today signed an agreement to launch a pilot project to develop a hydrogen fuel cell electric truck (FCET) for mining logistics and transportation with Ashok Leyland, India, and Ballard Power, Canada.

This collaboration marks Asia's first planned hydrogen powered mining truck. The demonstration project will be led by AEL, a company focused on both mining operations and developing green hydrogen projects for sourcing, transporting, and building out hydrogen refueling infrastructure. Ballard, an industry leading PEM fuel cell engine manufacturer, will supply the FCmoveTM fuel cell engine for the hydrogen truck and Ashok Leyland, one of the largest manufacturers of buses in the world, will provide the vehicle platform and technical support. The FCET is scheduled to be launched in India in 2023.

The Adani Group previously announced it plans to invest more than USD 50 billion over the next ten years in green hydrogen and associated ecosystems corresponding to a capacity of up to 3 million tons of green hydrogen annually.

Vinay Prakash, Director, Adani Enterprises Limited and CEO, Adani Natural Resources said, "This pioneering and ambitious green hydrogen project holds a strong promise for India's future energy self-reliance and is consistent with the vision of Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, of accelerating the use of hydrogen-powered fuel cell technology in the commercial transport system. This experience of handling hydrogen as a fuel for commercial fleet not only prepones the advent of hydrogen technology for the mining and logistics sector in the country but will also enable other businesses to opt for long-term sustainable solutions transitioning fleets in ports, airports and in their industrial operations."

The hydrogen powered mining truck will weigh 55 tons, have three hydrogen tanks, a 200-km working range, and powered by Ballard's 120 kW PEM fuel cell technology.

"After signing an MoU with the Adani Group last year, we are eager to move our partnership forward and welcome the chance to cooperate with cutting-edge businesses like Adani," said Randy MacEwen, CEO, Ballard Power Systems. "Our technology offers a strong value proposition for their heavy-duty mining truck with our zero emission engines providing long range, rapid refueling and heavy payload capabilities."

"Ashok Leyland is excited to collaborate with Adani and Ballard to bring out fuel cell commercial vehicles in the mining and logistics sectors in India," said Dr. N. Saravanan, CTO, Ashok Leyland. "With our track record of developing unique and new products, Ballard's technological expertise in fuel cells, and Adani's unwavering dedication to hydrogen, there is a significant opportunity for India to decarbonize both goods and passenger transportation."

About Adani Enterprises Ltd

Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) is the flagship company of Adani Group, one of India's largest business organisations. Over the years, Adani Enterprises has focused on building emerging infrastructure businesses, contributing to nation-building and divesting them into separate listed entities. Having successfully built unicorns like Adani Ports & SEZ, Adani Transmission, Adani Power, Adani Green Energy, Adani Total Gas and Adani Wilmar, the company has contributed significantly to make the country self-reliant with our portfolio of robust businesses. This has also led to robust returns to our shareholders at a CAGR of 38% over 25+ years.

The next generation of its strategic business investments are centered around green hydrogen ecosystem, airport management, roads, data center and primary industry like copper and petrochem all of which have significant scope for value unlocking.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1716106/Adani_Group_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Adani Group
DULLES, Va., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SOFIE Biosciences (SOFIE), an established US manufacturer and developer of radiopharmaceuticals, will be supporting, through companion diagnostic [68Ga]FAPI-46 PET, Yantai LNC Biotechnology's recently FDA accepted clinical study.

On Jan 6th, 2023 Yantai LNC Biotechnology received FDA clearance to proceed with a Phase 1 clinical study of 177Lu-LNC1004 injection, targeting fibroblast activation protein (FAP). The study accepted as part of the FDA IND review is a Phase I, open label study of the safety and dosimetry of a 4-dose regimen of escalating doses of 177Lu-LNC1004 injection in adult patients with advanced FAP-positive solid tumors. As the companion diagnostic agent of 177Lu-LNC1004 Injection, [68Ga]FAPI-46 PET will be used to screen subjects and assess therapeutic effect. Yantai obtained access to [68Ga]FAPI-46 through a letter of cross reference to SOFIE Biosciences' IND along with corresponding precursor and reference standard for use.

Prof. Xiaoyuan (Shawn) Chen, co-founder of Yantai LNC Biotechnology and editor-in-chief of the journal Theranostics, stated, "we appreciate the opportunity to work closely with SOFIE in pushing the long-acting FAPI formula 177Lu-LNC1004 forward. Applying Evans blue derivatives to modify pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics is a platform technology Yantai LNC Biotechnology has successfully implemented to multiple radioligands such as FAP inhibitors."

Sherly Mosessian, Ph.D., SOFIE's Chief Scientific Officer, added, "as license holders of FAPI family of compounds for diagnostic and companion diagnostic use, we are excited to support this very promising study by having [68Ga]FAPI-46 serve as a companion diagnostic tool for patient selection and treatment monitoring with 177Lu-LNC1004. This highlights the power of theranostics in utilizing the same target, FAP, for imaging and treatment interventions."

The study is expected to enroll up to 24 subjects in advanced solid tumors that show high level of FAP expression detected by [68Ga]FAPI-46 and will establish the recommended expansion phase dose with 177Lu-LNC1004. Site feasibility and selection is complete and the study is expected to launch in Singapore Q2 2023.

About Yantai LNC Biotechnology

Yantai LNC Biotechnology Singapore Pte. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Yantai Dongcheng Pharmaceutical Group. As the unique innovative nuclear medicine development platform in Dongcheng Group, Yantai LNC Biotech is committed to radionuclide diagnosis and therapy innovation. For more information, contact [email protected].

About 177Lu-LNC1004

177Lu-LNC1004 is a fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) modified with Evans blue (EB) and a metal chelator (DOTA), radiolabeled with beta-emitting radionuclide lutetium Lu-177. As a first-in-class drug the FAP-targeting probe will be used to treat adult patients with advanced FAP-positive solid tumors.

About FAPI

Fibroblast Activation Protein (FAP) is highly expressed in cancer associated fibroblasts (CAF) across several tumor entities. Developed by the team at the Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD), quinoline-based PET tracers that act as FAP inhibitors (FAPI) have shown encouraging results in pre-clinical and clinical studies. SOFIE has licensed the rights for diagnostic and companion diagnostic use of FAPI family of compounds from Heidelberg University. [68Ga]FAPI-46 is the lead gallium-68 and [18F]FAPI-74 is the lead fluorine-18 radiolabeled PET tracer of FAPI family of compounds. They have demonstrated favorable dosimetry, avidity, safety and biodistribution profile amenable for detection of FAP-expressing cells in patients with various cancers. Both products have active INDs for Phase 2 studies in cancers of the digestive system.

About SOFIE

SOFIE's vision is to improve patient outcomes by developing and delivering molecular diagnostics and therapeutics (theranostics). With its robust radiopharmaceutical production and distribution network, mature contract manufacturing services, and now, high value theranostic intellectual property, SOFIE is poised to deliver on the promise of radiopharmaceuticals. For more information, contact [email protected].

SOURCE SOFIE
Research from India's Tata Memorial Centre suggests that free radicals (ROS) generated upon mixing two nutraceuticalsresveratrol and coppercan help ameliorate various diseases by inactivating cell-free chromatin particles

MUMBAI, India, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Chromatin comprises a complex mixture of DNA and proteins and forms the structural basis of chromosomes in the cellular nuclei. When cells die, they release cell-free chromatin particles or "cfChPs" into the circulatory system. Emerging evidence indicates that cfChPs exert toxic effects by damaging the DNA of healthy cells and activating pro-inflammatory processes. Researchers from the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), India, have recently demonstrated therapeutic benefits of a pro-oxidant mixture of resveratrol and copper, R-Cu, in patients undergoing chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer. Combining R with Cu (R-Cu) leads to the generation of free oxygen radicals which can inactivate the offending cfChPs.

A pro-oxidant combination of resveratrol and copper reduces chemotherapy-related non-haematological toxicities in advanced gastric cancer

Professor Indraneel Mittra, Dr. Ernest Borges Chair in Translational Research and Professor Emeritus, Department of Surgical Oncology at TMC/ACTREC, tells us how his team "launched a single-arm phase II clinical trial to study the effect of R-Cu in reducing the toxic side effects of chemotherapy by cfChP inactivation in patients with advanced gastric cancer undergoing docetaxel-based multi-agent chemotherapy, and used a grading system for the assessment of unwanted physiological effects."

The results were promisingalthough R-Cu did not reduce haematological toxicities, it markedly reduced the incidence of non-haematological toxicities comprising hand-foot syndrome, diarrhoea, and vomiting. Moreover, R-Cu reduced docetaxel exposure compared to the control arm without affecting efficacy in terms of overall survival.

This study was supported by Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, through its grant CTCTMC to Tata Memorial Centre, awarded to Prof. Mittra.

Prior to this, two studies from Prof. Mittra's group used mouse models to demonstrate the benefits of R-Cu administration in prevention of ageing and sepsis. The first of these indicated that the cfChPs that are released from the billions of cells that die in the body every day and damage healthy cells is the underlying cause of ageing, and prolonged oral administration of R-Cu leads to the downregulation of multiple biological parameters of ageing including neurodegeneration, which is associated with Alzheimer's disease. The other study showed how cfChPs trigger sepsis after bacterial infection in mice; administering R-Cu prevented this pathological process, including the prevention of fatality.

The research group has also conducted human studies. One of their previous works suggested that cfChPs released from dying cancer cells enter surrounding surviving cancer cells, trigger DNA damage and inflammation, and further contribute to their aggressive behavioureffects that could be mitigated by R-Cu administration. Another study reports reduced grade 3/4 mucositis and reduced levels of inflammatory proteins (or "cytokines") in the serum and saliva of R-Cu-treated patients receiving bone marrow transplants with high-dose melphalana chemotherapeutic used to treat plasma cell cancers.

Dr. Mittra, who is the corresponding author of these articles, concludes, "Our evidence suggests that R-Cu can be a novel, cost-effective, and non-toxic agent which can be used for multiple disease conditions including cancer and metastasis prevention."

Reference

Title of original paper: A pro-oxidant combination of resveratrol and copper reduces chemotherapy-related non-haematological toxicities in advanced gastric cancer: results of a prospective open label phase II single-arm study (RESCU III study)

Journal: Medical Oncology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12032-022-01862-1

Contact:

Prof Indraneel Mittra

+91-9769769720

[email protected]

SOURCE Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer (ACTREC)
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --Infinium Spirits Inc., a global premium spirits company based in San Diego, California; announces the appointment of Jan Tharp as President. Tharp is a highly experienced, inspirational leader in the CPG industry who has led and developed teams for over 20 years, achieving significant business transformation.

Jan Tharp

Tharp most recently served as President and CEO of the 123-year-old, iconic branded seafood company, Bumble Bee Seafoods with over $1.0 billion in global revenues. During her tenure in this role, she led the team through the development of a transformational corporate strategy with a focus on growth and innovation and successfully expanded the presence of its international portfolio of brands. Prior to being named President and CEO, she held the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Jan has an extensive background in relationship management, supply chain and international business, holding several executive leadership positions in the food and beverage sector throughout her career.

Tharp is also a Board member and past co-chair of the Packaging and Processing Women's Leadership Network, and currently sits on the Advisory Committee for Michigan State University's School of Packaging.

"I am thrilled Jan is joining Infinium Spirits as President. She is a strategic, transformational, and a purpose-driven leader. Jan brings invaluable experience scaling and growing businesses, developing successful go-to-market strategies, improving operational efficiencies, and fostering a people-forward and inclusive workplace culture," said Chris Underwood, Chief Executive Officer for Young's Holdings Inc., parent company of Infinium Spirits. "I am excited to welcome Jan as Infinium's next President. I believe her experience, leadership, and enthusiasm are exactly what we need as we drive the company forward."

"I am honored and privileged to lead the incredibly talented Infinium Spirits team as President," said Tharp. "This is an amazing company, with a deep history of quality brands, and I look forward to building on that great foundation."

About Infinium Spirits

Established in 2005 and based out of San Diego, California, Infinium Spirits is a family-owned global premium spirits supplier. Infinium specializes in building a diverse and distinctive portfolio of award-winning spirit brands including Templeton Rye; Skrewball Whiskey; Seagram's Vodka; Corralejo Tequila; Crystal Head Vodka; Zaya Rum; Highway Vodka; Torres Brandy; Tears of Llorona Tequila; Los Arango Tequila; Magdala Orange Liqueur; Rives Gin; Perro San Juan Mezcal and El Gobernador Pisco. For more information, visit www.infiniumspirits.com .

SOURCE Infinium Spirits
Complaint Asserts Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten Unlawfully Retained Control of Private Assets and Orchestrated the Sale to Notorious Money-Launderer Tied to Central Bank Official

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Nina Ansary, an internationally recognized women's rights advocate and award-winning Iranian American author and historian today filed a complaint against the Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten for its illegal expropriation of her equity stake in Parman International B.V. (PIBV)  a Curacao company owned by U.S. investors.

According to the complaint, since seizing control of PIBV's insurance subsidiaries and related businesses in 2018 under the guise of an "emergency restructuring" allegedly necessary to bring the insurance subsidiaries into regulatory compliance, the Central Bank has been engaged in a scheme to systematically loot the assets of the enterprise for the economic and political benefit of its officials, including orchestrating the unnecessary sale at a steep discount of Banco di Caribe to an internationally known money-launderer and crony of the former head of the Central Bank. Now, buoyed by its success, the Central Bank has put plans in place to seize 160 acres of prime real estate in Sint Maarten held by PIBV, even after numerous public attestations by Central Bank officials to the restored fiscal health of the enterprise.

"Long after determining that there is no longer any fiscal 'emergency' or danger of insolvency, the Central Bank of Curacao continues to loot the assets of American investors. It's abundantly clear that this ongoing seizure is not about the health of the enterprise or accountability to policyholders, but only about greed and opportunism by officials at the Central Bank," said Dennis Hranitzky of Quinn Emanuel, Urquhart and Sullivan, an attorney for Dr. Ansary.

Mr. Hranitzky continued, "The thuggish behavior by officials of the Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten toward Dr. Ansary, an internationally known author and women's rights activist, goes far beyond the theft of her personal investments and includes an audacious campaign of legal and personal intimidation that extends to targeting even her primary residence for seizure. While such behavior is unsurprising given Curacao's reputation as an infamous haven for money-laundering and criminal activity, it is in clear violation of existing treaties between the United States and the Netherlands as well as Dr. Ansary's human rights."

The U.S. State Department categorizes Curacao as a country/jurisdiction of Primary Concern with respect to money-laundering and financial crimes.

SOURCE Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
FREDERICTON, NB, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Introhive, the world's leading Customer Intelligence Platform, announced today that Lee Blakemore has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer. Blakemore brings over 30 years of software and sales experience to lead Introhive through its next phase of growth, with a focus on customer growth and product research and development.

Lee Blakemore, new CEO of Introhive.

Lee has a proven track record of success and deep expertise in scaling software businesses to a global audience. Throughout his career, he has led go-to-market, operations, customer support, and international operations at leading global enterprise software companies. He is a seasoned technology leader who leads business transformations to drive growth.

Blakemore most recently served as President of K-12 Community Engagement at Anthology, where he successfully ran the Blackboard K-12 business leading to the sale of the business to Finalsite, where Blakemore assisted in the successful integration and unification of the company. Before Anthology, Lee held several senior executive roles at Blackboard, including President, Global Markets & Chief Client Officer. Before joining Blackboard in 2015, Lee was SVP of Global Sales & Marketing at Velocity Technology Solutions and held senior roles at IBM, Corio (acquired by IBM), and Scala Business Solutions (acquired by Epicor).

"I am thrilled to join Introhive and lead our talented team. I look forward to unlocking the company's full potential as we leverage our proprietary customer intelligence platform to help businesses realize the full value of their CRM investment and deepen customer relationships," said Blakemore. "Introhive is trusted by hundreds of the world's leading professional services enterprises to improve top-line revenue, reduce operational costs, and improve workforce efficiency. We have an exciting opportunity to continue to grow as we enter the vast number of markets that remain underserved and unaware of the power of Introhive."

In 2021, Introhive secured $100M in its Series C funding round led by PSG , a leading growth equity firm, to further invest in developing Customer Intelligence solutions for the world's leading enterprises.

About Introhive

Introhive is an award-winning software company that helps sales-focused B2B enterprises become more customer intelligent. Introhive's customer intelligence platform captures and delivers trustworthy customer data automatically in CRM to surface relationship insights and actionable intelligence to revenue teams where and when they need it, in order to find, win, and grow customer accounts. Introhive has offices in the US, Canada, UK, and India, supporting hundreds of thousands of users in over 90 countries around the world. Learn more at www.introhive.com .

SOURCE Introhive
Flagship building of NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences named with $5M gift

BRONXVILLE, N.Y., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Iona University hosted a dedication ceremony for the Kelly Center for Health Sciences on January 12, 2023, recognizing benefactors Alfred F. Kelly Jr. '80, '81MBA, '19H, chairman and chief executive officer of Visa, and Peggy Kelly '81, '84MBA, who generously gifted $5 million to name the building.

Located on Iona's new campus in Bronxville, N.Y., the Kelly Center for Health Sciences will serve as the flagship building of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences.

Iona University hosted a dedication ceremony for the Kelly Center for Health Sciences on January 12, 2023. Tweet this Iona Universitys Kelly Center for Health Sciences is now open in Bronxville, N.Y. It is the flagship building of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences.

"It is a great honor to be opening the Kelly Center for Health Sciences, as we believe the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences will become a top destination for all those who feel called to serve others through these important fields of study," said Al Kelly. "This is a proud moment for our family and a historic milestone for our alma mater."

"The legacy of the Kelly Center for Health Sciences will be built through the many thousands of Iona students who go on to save and improve lives for generations to come," said Peggy Kelly. "Al and I are humbled by this gorgeous new facility, and we look forward to all that is still to come."

During the dedication ceremony, Iona University President Seamus Carey, Ph.D., said the opening of the Kelly Center for Health Sciences marked the beginning of a new era for Iona. Classes begin on Iona's new campus in Bronxville for the first time this week.

"At a time when many private institutions of higher education are challenged to stay open, Iona made the move to purchase a new campus to accommodate growth," said Carey. "This building and this campus are wellsprings of hope, not only for the students who will study here, but for the people and communities they will serve. The students who pass through this school and this building will make their mark on the world by providing health care with compassion. They will be distinctive not only for what they know, but for their generosity of spirit that is endemic in the Iona culture."

The Kelly Center for Health Sciences spans three floors and is nearly 32,000 square feet. With a design philosophy focused on holistic wellness, the building is bright, eco-friendly and infused with natural elements. Cutting-edge, collaborative spaces, meanwhile, promote interdisciplinary learning.

Building Highlights Include:

Six classroom/seminar rooms and a collaborative area

Five simulation rooms with connected control rooms

Four laboratory rooms, including a physical assessments lab, bedside skills lab, flex occupational therapy lab and adult occupational therapy lab

Two group therapy rooms

Two patient examination rooms

Interprofessional Education (IPE) collaboration space

Two student lounges with seating, an 85-inch television display, kitchen and vending area

Two debrief rooms

Two administrative offices

The Kelly Center for Health Sciences completely transformed what was formerly the library of the Concordia College campus, which Iona acquired in May 2021. Renovations began April 2022.

By retaining the existing structure of the 50-year-old building, as well as the interior floors, stairs and elevator, Iona and the project team not only minimized the time and cost of the project, but also the environmental impact. The building will also reduce fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions by utilizing new heat-pump technology for heating and cooling. Other eco-friendly improvements include dimmable LED lighting as well as new double-pane windows, updated air systems and more.

Iona worked with industry leaders on the design and execution of the project, including SLAM, the architecture firm; Consigli, the construction company; and JLL, a real estate services and project management firm.

Established in July 2021 and supported by a $20 million gift, the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences offers a new vision for collaborative education, modern workforce development and community care. NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently ranked one of the nation's top hospitals and is also a leader in medical education in collaboration with two renowned medical schools: Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"We are pleased to celebrate the dedication of the Kelly Center for Health Sciences, and we are grateful to Al and Peggy Kelly for their generosity and support," said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, NewYork-Presbyterian President and CEO. "Today is a momentous occasion, and it is just the start. We look forward to the continued development of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences and educating the next generation of health care professionals."

Approximately 150 people attended the dedication ceremony, including Bronxville Mayor Mary Marvin and the Board of Trustees; New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson; Deputy Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins; New York State Assemblymember Amy Paulin; New York State Senator Shelley Mayer; and former United States House of Representatives Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, among others.

In a special video message recorded for the dedication ceremony, His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, congratulated President Carey and offered thanks to Al and Peggy Kelly. One attribute he has noticed about Iona students, he said, is their commitment and drive to serving others. Iona's growth in the health sciences is therefore in full alignment, he added.

"This project is the perfect culmination of the advocacy work that Al and Peggy have made it their personal mission to fulfill  Catholic education and health care," said Cardinal Dolan. "The Kelly Center for Health Sciences will not only impact the lives of those who learn within it, but also the many thousands of lives that are going to benefit from the education that Iona students will receive."

ABOUT IONA

Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of over 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science, and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona's LaPenta School of Business is accredited by AACSB International, a prestigious recognition awarded to just five percent of business schools worldwide. The Princeton Review recognized Iona's on-campus MBA program as a "Best Business School for 2022." Iona University also recently launched a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona University and NewYork-Presbyterian announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, to be principally located on the University's new campus in Bronxville, N.Y. Supported by a $20 million gift from NewYork-Presbyterian, the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences offers a new vision for collaborative health care education, modern workforce development, and community care. On July 1, 2022, Iona officially changed its status from College to University, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.

SOURCE Iona University
Accelerating the digital transformation of intellectual property (IP) across Japan through IPwe's advanced technology

TOKYO and NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IPwe Inc., a global innovation leader in AI and blockchain-based IP analytics software and services, announced today the opening of its new office in Tokyo. IPwe's expansion will support Japan's overwhelming and widespread adoption of IP digital transformation, or IP Dx, and the country's goal to become a fully integrated, "ultra-smart society."1

IPwe has spent almost 15 years developing and perfecting its flagship AI and blockchain-based Smart Intangible Asset Management (SIAM) solution. Japanese innovation leaders have already recognized SIAM as a comprehensive SaaS solution for Japanese companies to value, manage, and transact their significant IP assets, even though it has yet to be formally launched. SIAM further leverages dynamic NFTs, IPwe Digital Assets, to securely capture, develop, and manage each IP asset's lifecycle data, including valuation and transaction history, to ensure accurate and transparent tracking of assets and enable IP Dx worldwide.

IPwe Inc. announced today the opening of its new office in Tokyo. Tweet this

In June 2021, significant revisions were made to Japan's Corporate Governance Code, emphasizing the importance of transparency and accountability in the management of IP. The revisions mandate that publicly traded companies disclose strategies for managing and utilizing IP and intangible assets and implement governance structures to ensure appropriate evaluation by investors and financial institutions. IPwe's solutions offer Japanese innovators a way to easily comply with Japan's Corporate Governance Code with an efficient, transparent, and effective mechanism to manage and utilize their IP assets.

"Japanese companies have consistently been at the forefront of innovation, ranking 13th on the Global Innovation Index 20222. It only makes sense for IPwe to establish a physical presence in Tokyo to support this innovation," said Leann Pinto, President of IPwe. "At a time when Japanese companies are facing challenges to understand and demonstrate compliance with the Corporate Governance Code, IPwe is formally launching its flagship IP valuation, management, and transaction solution, SIAM. We have already received a great response to our solutions in Japan and are excited to announce definitive partnerships with some of Japan's most important innovators in the coming weeks."

"Unlike other IP management systems, SIAM uniquely enables Japanese businesses to efficiently utilize their IP and expand their technological capabilities globally through SIAM," said Satoshi Watanabe, Managing Director of Japan. "IPwe looks forward to fostering the IP Dx in Japan."

Trademarks

IPwe, Smart Intangible Asset Management, and IPwe Digital Assets are trademarks of IPwe.

1 https://www.japan.go.jp/technology/innovation/index.html

2 https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_2000_2022/jp.pdf

Contact: Mia Mixan, [email protected]

SOURCE IPwe, Inc.
BEIJING, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- JA Solar entered into a partnership with AMEA Power, one of the largest developers in the UAE, and will join hands with a consortium consisting of China Energy Engineering Group, China Energy International Group, and Zhejiang Thermal Power Construction to provide an integrated solution for the gigawatt-scale wind & photovoltaics (PV) energy projects AMEA is embarking on. Among them, the Kom Ombo Abydos project in Egypt, with a capacity of 560MW, will be the largest single PV project in the country upon completion. JA Solar will supply all DeepBlue 3.0 Pro high-efficiency modules for the project. Construction of the project commenced in early January 2023 and is expected to be completed within 19 months.

The Kom Ombo Abydos PV project in Egypt is developed, owned, and operated by AMEA Power and financed by International Finance Corporation (IFC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO). Upon completion, the project will provide clean electricity to nearly one million Egyptian residents.

The DeepBlue 3.0 Pro module selected for the project using JA Solar's proprietary Gapless Flexible Interconnection (GFI) technology. With a module conversion efficiency of 21.7%, integrating advantages of higher conversion efficiency, excellent power generation capacity, and high reliability, DeepBlue 3.0 Pro perfectly balances quality, efficiency, and cost, offering customers the optimal levelized cost of energy (LCOE) and ensuring constant high power output over the life cycle of the PV plant.

Currently, traditional fossil energy still dominates Egypt's energy system, accounting for up to 90% of the total. Following the global trend towards carbon neutrality, Egypt has in recent years actively promoted the development and application of renewable energy and set the goal of increasing the electricity supply from renewable energy to 42% by 2035. In November 2022, Egypt hosted the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As a manufacturer in the renewable energy industry, JA Solar participated actively in the conference and related activities, and continuously practice the sustainable development model of "Green to Green, Green to Grow, and Green to Great".

Yang Aiqing, Member of the Board and Rotating President of JA Solar, commented, it is an honor for JA Solar to participate in the construction of the Kom Ombo Abydos project to make PV energy affordable and accessible local residents. Africa has low access to electricity, but is rich in sunlight and is uniquely positioned to develop solar energy. For more people to have access to efficient and reliable green electricity, JA Solar has been actively promoting the development of the African PV market. Since its establishment, JA Solar has set the corporate mission of " Develop solar power to benefit the entire human race". It has committed and will continuously try to promote the development of PV technology and the application of PV around the world.

SOURCE JA Solar Technology Co., Ltd.
The team started its research by isolating and propagating cells from the intestinal tumors of mice. Upon transplanting into the spleens of mice the ability of these cells to migrate, or metastasize, into the livers was observed. It was seen that 2 weeks after the procedure 30% of the transplanted cells did not migrate into the liver at all. However, genetic profiling of the migratory and nonmigratory cells revealed that both types had, in fact, all cancer mutations from the original tumor intact. The loss of metastatic potential in some cells was hence not attributed to the loss of cancer mutations.

All types of propagated cells were then grown on gel-based matrices (which mimic the internal tissue milieu). However, the nonmetastatic cells displayed reduced growth and survival rates. Thus, it was probable that these unfavorable cancer cells were on track for elimination due to negative selection. To subsequently check for tumor-inducing properties, all cell types were implanted into healthy mice. Indeed, nonmetastatic cells did not generate tumors either.

Now, the researchers have discovered previously that nonmetastatic cells often migrate along with metastatic ones. However, when the cells were transplanted together the nonmetastatic cells only partially migrated. To understand the probable cause of their reduction in metastasis, genetic sequencing was conducted which revealed that the genetic profiles of metastatic versus nonmetastatic cells were considerably different. In fact, nonmetastatic cells displayed the most pronounced reductions in genes which exhibit features of stem cells (which can grow indefinitely).

Finally, the pattern of metastasis of all cell types was assessed after the cells were propagated over multiple rounds. While the nonmetastatic cells retained a complete loss of metastasis down the line, some of the metastatic cells also eventually developed a reduction in this ability, coupled with the inhibition of stem celllike genes.

This study establishes that certain cancer cells lose their migratory properties and are, thus, eliminated in order for tumor tissues to grow. The research team also reported an inhibition of stem cellrelated genes as a probable cause. "The mechanism underlying the loss of metastatic ability will be important for future development of therapeutic strategies against metastasis," suggest the researchers. These cells could be the key for keeping the spread of cancers in check.

Related figure

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/figure-1-left.png

Figure 1. Left. Imaging shows the difference in rates of metastasis (red coloration) of intestinal tumor cells observed in the livers of mice amongst the metastatic and nonmetastatic subtypes (ref. Morita et al, Cancer Sci, 2022, doi: 10.1111/cas.15079).

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/figure-1-right.png

Figure 1 Right. Reduced proliferation observed in the nonmetastatic cells (SC4 and SC6) versus the metastatic cells when grown on matrices (ref. Morita et al, Cancer Sci, 2022, doi: 10.1111/cas.15079).

Background

Positive and negative selection: Positive selection, as first theorized by Darwin, is the evolutionary principle that genes or traits which are favorable will be retained and become more common in a population over time. These are typically traits that support a cell or organism's survival and reproduction. On the other hand, negative selection denotes the theory that traits which are detrimental to survival (such as disease-causing genes) will be eliminated over time.

In the context of cancer biology, positive selection encompasses the promotion of traits such as infinite growth and evading the immune system which allow cancer cells to spread uncontrollably. Till date, research has shown primarily how cancer cells evolve by positive selection. In this study the researchers show that negative selection also plays a role in cancer biology by eradicating cells that stop exhibiting tumorigenic characteristics.

Reference

Atsuya Morita, Mizuho Nakayama, Dong Wang, Kazuhiro Murakami, Masanobu Oshima. Frequent loss of metastatic ability in subclones of Apc, Kras, Tgfbr2 and Trp53 mutant intestinal tumor organoids. Cancer Science, 2022.

DOI: 10.1111/cas.15709

https://doi.org/10.1111/cas.15709

About Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

https://nanolsi.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/en/

Nano Life Science Institute (NanoLSI), Kanazawa University is a research center established in 2017 as part of the World Premier International Research Center Initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The objective of this initiative is to form world-tier research centers. NanoLSI combines the foremost knowledge of bio-scanning probe microscopy to establish 'nano-endoscopic techniques' to directly image, analyze, and manipulate biomolecules for insights into mechanisms governing life phenomena such as diseases.

Contact

Hiroe Yoneda

Vice Director of Public Affairs

WPI Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI)

Kanazawa University

Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +81 (76) 234-4550

About Kanazawa University

http://www.kanazawa-u.ac.jp/e/

As the leading comprehensive university on the Sea of Japan coast, Kanazawa University has contributed greatly to higher education and academic research in Japan since it was founded in 1949. The University has three colleges and 17 schools offering courses in subjects that include medicine, computer engineering, and humanities.

The University is located on the coast of the Sea of Japan in Kanazawa  a city rich in history and culture. The city of Kanazawa has a highly respected intellectual profile since the time of the fiefdom (1598-1867). Kanazawa University is divided into two main campuses: Kakuma and Takaramachi for its approximately 10,200 students including 600 from overseas.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984522/Kanazawa_University.jpg

SOURCE Kanazawa University
RaaS solution to mitigate labor challenges, increase warehouse efficiency, and optimize e-commerce scalability

HAMBURG, Germany, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lambert Vet Supply, leading distributor of veterinary supplies in the US, has expanded its long-standing, trusted partnership with Korber by signing an agreement to deploy 24 autonomous mobile robots by Locus Robotics throughout its newly partnered warehouse network in Dothan, AL at Jeffers Pet Supply. The software-driven robotics solution seamlessly integrates with Lambert's existing K.Motion Warehouse Management System (WMS) to drive both efficiency and workplace improvements.

Lambert Vet Supply has expanded its long-standing partnership with Korber

"We are experiencing record growth in both our consumer and professional pet-care e-commerce segments while navigating unprecedented and unpredictable labor challenges," said Tammy Schmidt, VP/COO, Lambert Veterinary Supply. "Being able to seamlessly integrate and ramp up and down, the Robots as a Service provides us with the needed flexibility and scalability to meet our growing e-commerce customer demand while maintaining a smaller dependable team of warehouse associates and reducing onboarding of new warehouse associates to minutes from weeks."

The Korber led Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) allows for high scalability to keep capacities available and adapts quickly to peak periods. Moreover, the solution has empowered Lambert to account not only for improvements in efficiency and productivity but workplace improvements for employee health and safety. That includes minimal training for warehouse associates, ease of use through intuitive user interfaces, and a significant reduction of walking distance by approximately 50%. Thereby, Korber's solution contributes to a safer and more ergonomic environment for all warehouse associates by minimizing exhaustion, stress, and the risk of injury-prone activities such as loading and pushing carts.

"Being a long-standing Korber partner and understanding our capability in delivering complete end-to-end software, robotics, and operational solutions, Lambert looked to us when it was time to take the next step in their warehouse digitization journey," said John Santagate, Vice President of Robotics Software, Korber Business Area Supply Chain. "The subscription-based model is ideal for Lambert as it provides a fast, cost-effective, flexible, and scalable robotic solution that will drive operational efficiency  next to making great strides to take account of their associates' health, safety and wellbeing."

About Lambert Vet Supply

Lambert Vet Supply (LVS) was established in 1994 with a twofold mission: first to provide pet owners with quality pet supplies, pet medications and veterinary supplies at competitive prices; Second, to provide the best customer care in the industry starting with friendly, experienced sales people committed to making LVS your lifetime source for the pet advice and products for the health and wellbeing of your pet. Our reputation as the professional's authority in the pet care business has been earned by providing quality discount pet supplies, pet vaccines, kennel supplies, and other pet related accessories. Our service is focused on your total satisfaction.

About Jeffers Pet Supply

Jeffers is one of the largest privately owned animal health supply companies in America, operating through www.jeffers.com and the Jeffers catalog. Founded in 1975, Jeffers is located in Dothan, Alabama, and specialized in pet, livestock, & equine supplies through a comprehensive catalogue of over 25,000 products.

About the Korber Business Area Supply Chain

Supply chains are growing more complex by the day. Korber uniquely provides a broad range of proven, end-to-end supply chain solutions fitting any business size, strategy or appetite for growth. Our customers conquer the complexity of the supply chain thanks to our portfolio that includes software, automation, mail and parcel solutions, voice solutions, robotics, and materials handling  plus the expertise to tie it all together. Korber helps to manage the supply chain as a competitive advantage. Conquer supply chain complexity  with Korber. The Business Area Supply Chain is part of the global technology group Korber. Find out more on www.koerber-supplychain.com

Contact:



Mary-Jane Wurker





Corporate Communications Manager





Korber Business Area Supply Chain





[email protected]





T +49 6032 348-2921

SOURCE Korber Supply Chain
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leeds Equity Partners, LLC ("Leeds Equity" or the "Firm"), the New York-based private equity firm that investsexclusively within the Knowledge Industries, announced today the promotions of Kevin Malone and David Neverson to Managing Director. The Firm also announced the appointment of Annie Shick as Chief Financial Officer.

"Our Firm's culture is built on the mutual commitment of our people to the Firm, and the Firm to our people. We have an investment team with significant tenure  many of us have worked together at Leeds Equity for multiple decades  and the promotions of David and Kevin to Managing Director reflect the important contributions they have made to the success of the Firm over this period of time," said Jacques Galante, Partner of Leeds Equity. "They have both demonstrated strong investment judgement and expertise through their work across the Knowledge Industries and the ability to build strong partnerships with the management teams of our partner companies to help drive superior outcomes for our investors."

Kevin Malone joined the Firm in 2010. Prior to joining Leeds Equity, Malone worked at Harris Williams & Co. Malone graduated from the Olin Business School at Washington University with a B.S. in Business Administration.

David Neverson joined Leeds Equity in 2011. Prior to Leeds Equity, Neverson worked at ICV Partners and Lehman Brothers. Neverson graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College with a B.A. in Business Administration and earned an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Scott VanHoy, Partner of Leeds Equity, added, "Since joining our Firm over a decade ago, Kevin and David have contributed significantly to the development of our team and Firm culture, while helping deliver great investment outcomes. We look forward to their continued growth and success."

As part of the Firm's continued growth and expansion of its leadership team, Annie Shick was appointed as its Chief Financial Officer earlier in 2022. Shick has an extensive background in accounting, financial reporting, treasury, performance analysis, and compliance in support of private equity funds. Prior to joining Leeds Equity, Shick was the CFO for Z Capital Group and spent over six years at Riverstone Holdings LLC. She previously served in numerous investment accounting roles at JP Morgan, General Motors Asset Management, and LS Power Equity Advisors / Edge Principal Advisors. Earlier in her career, she was a Senior Associate in the Asset Management Practice at KPMG LLP in New York. Shick earned a B.S. in Accountancy from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan and an M.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. She is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Illinois.

Jeffrey Leeds, President of Leeds Equity added, "In addition to her technical expertise, Annie brings to the Firm great leadership skills and an appreciation of the values that drive Leeds Equity. We are delighted to welcome her to the Firm."

About Leeds Equity Partners

Leeds Equity is a New York-based private equity firm dedicated exclusively to partnering with management teams in the education, training, and information services industries (the "Knowledge Industries"). The firm was founded in 1993 and currently manages over $4 billion of capital across a broad spectrum of companies within the Knowledge Industries. Leeds Equity seeks to leverage its sector-focused expertise and market insights to create long-term value for its partner companies and investors.

For additional information on Leeds Equity Partners, see http://www.leedsequity.com/.

For More Information:

Jeffrey Leeds

Tel. 212-835-2000

Fax: 212-835-2020

www.leedsequity.com

SOURCE Leeds Equity Partners, LLC
SHANGHAI, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Shanghai LePure Biotech Co., Ltd. ("LePure") announced the completion of its Series C financing from a consortium of world-renowned investors co-led by Novo Holdings, General Atlantic and Goldman Sachs Asset Management, with participation from existing investors including Highlight Capital, Bayland Capital, HM Capital. LePure plans on using this funding to accelerate product innovation, promote overseas expansion, and enhance the Company's competitiveness in global industrial chain.

LePure is a leading bioprocessing platform in China, offering full-fledged product solutions that enable the manufacturing of macromolecular drugs. With significant progress made in basic materials R&D, product development and manufacturing capacity expansion, LePure is well positioned to capture industry growth opportunities on the back of therapeutic innovation. LePure recently completed its acquisition of QuaCell Biotechnology, a cell culture media company, broadening product suite to bioprocessing consumables, bioreactors, filtration and purification solutions, as well as cell culture media offerings.

Frank Wang, co-founder and CEO of LePure Biotech, said, "Biopharmaceutical upstream processing consumables play an important role in biological drugs R&D and production. Since its establishment, LePure Biotech has remained committed to building innovation capabilities by improving drug development efficiency, ensuring stable and secure pilot phase production and supporting the commercial launches of new drug products. We are excited to collaborate with global investors like Novo Holdings, General Atlantic and Goldman Sachs Asset Management. With the start of this new chapter, LePure will continue to focus on technological innovation and enhancing our global competitiveness to best serve our customers."

Dr. Amit Kakar, Senior Partner and Head of Novo Holdings Asia commented: "LePure Biotech is an emerging star in the global bioprocessing space. Novo Holdings is excited to become LePure Biotech's partner as the Company continues to gain strong momentum and profound recognition in the industry. This investment is deeply rooted within our deep expertise in the life science industry globally, and we look forward to working with LePure Biotech to play an integral role in the global pharmaceutical supply chain by offering high quality solutions and become one of the most trusted bioprocessing companies in China and globally."

Lefei Sun, Managing Director and Head of Healthcare for China at General Atlantic, said, "Single-use bioprocessing consumables and equipment have significant market prospects in China. Since its establishment in 2011, LePure has not only enjoyed a first-mover advantage, but has also created formidable technical barriers for its competitors. The LePure team has a deep understanding of the global biopharmaceutical industry value chain, is positioned to quickly respond to market demands and shows strong expansion potential in international markets."

Kevin Xu, a Managing Director leading healthcare and life science investments in Greater China at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said, "Single-use bioprocessing has become widely adopted by biopharma companies globally given its operating efficiencies and rising demand for flexible manufacturing. We look forward to leveraging our global platform and capabilities to support LePure's expansion."

SOURCE LePure Biotech
CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Liquid Mercury, a leading trading technology provider, announced today they have onboarded LaunchPub as the first client for their new Liquid Mercury Plus trading technology and custody solution. This will provide LaunchPub's exclusive community members with access to professional trading tools for digital assets and cryptocurrencies.

Liquid Mercury Plus will offer the LaunchPub community the best-in-class access to OTC liquidity, which has typically been reserved for institutional traders, combined with a world-class custodial solution from Gemini. LaunchPub provides their exclusive community with incredible access to "closed-door" information, special perks, invites to in-person events, investments, and opportunities. The new end-to-end integrated solution from Liquid Mercury allows LaunchPub to quickly deliver professional cryptocurrency trading tools and value-added services to their expansive audience.

"Liquid Mercury and LaunchPub's teams have deep experience within traditional capital markets, which made it an easy decision to work together and provide institutional access to the crypto market for both individuals and institutions," said Tony Saliba, CEO of Liquid Mercury. "This partnership will supply LaunchPub's community with access to a whole new asset class, with the trading capabilities that they demand."

Liquid Mercury Plus is providing Liquid Mercury's institutional-grade trading technology, network of top-tier OTC liquidity providers, and expertise in crypto and capital markets workflow automation, while Gemini is providing its leading crypto-native custodian and settlement capabilities, client onboarding infrastructure, and fiat on and off ramps.

"The need for more advanced products and solutions to help the growing customer base enter this emerging market is imperative," said Morgan Busby, CEO of Financial Media Corp, a digital marketing, and publishing firm. "Our members will be thrilled to now be able to trade bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, other stablecoins, and a large number of altcoins with support to fund accounts using multiple fiat currencies all on a single platform."

About Liquid Mercury

Liquid Mercury powers professional crypto trading. Liquid Mercury is the #1 choice for sophisticated buy-side and institutional sell-side legacy trading professionals moving into crypto. Institutional grade infrastructure, access to deep liquidity, and best-in-class trading tools and workflow automation; Liquid Mercury was built by professionals for professionals.

For more information about Liquid Mercury, visit: https://liquidmercury.com/.

About launchpub.io:

LaunchPub is an exclusive community of 1,000 Entrepreneurs, Investors & Future-Minded Optimists, led by Financial Media Corp's founder Morgan Busby, who's businesses have collectively engaged over 5 million financial enthusiasts over the past few years. LaunchPub is building a suite of Web 3 offerings including the trading technology partnership with Liquid Mercury, private investing communities and a gaming studio with a planned launch date in Q3 of 2023.

For more information, visit https://launchpub.io/.

Contact

Stephen Francy

212-805-3017

[email protected]

SOURCE Liquid Mercury
LuSeed Vascular announces appointment of industry executive Robert A. Stern as Vice Chairman

PETACH-TIKVAH, Israel, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LuSeed Vascular, the developer of an innovative solution for the treatment of brain aneurysms, has announced that Robert Stern, an experienced medical device executive and investor, has been nominated as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Stern currently serves as an advisor to several medical device companies and has been a board member of multiple neurovascular-focused companies, including Flexible Stenting Solutions, Reverse Medical, and Neuravi - all of which have been sold to strategic investors.

Robert Stern

Mr. Stern is currently the vice chairman of MIVI Neurosciences, an Eden Prairie, Minnesota company, and serves in various philanthropic boards.

Mr. Nitzan Hirsh and Mr. Amir Arthur, co-founders of LuSeed Vascular, say that "We are honored and thrilled to have Robert Stern as part of our Board as we are moving ahead towards strategic steps. We are confident that Mr. Stern's extensive background in the world of medical entrepreneurship and M&A, and especially in the intervascular field, will be an asset in leading the company to its business and clinical goals, providing a life-saving solution for the treatment of cerebral aneurysm, and improving the patients' rehabilitation process."

Mr. Robert Stern says: "I am proud to join LuSeed Vascular's Board and take part in its journey in developing the first intrasaccular flow diverter that can treat sidewall as well as bifurcating aneurysms, while also being potentially suitable for ruptured and non-ruptured cases. I believe that as a team, we have a unique opportunity to provide a superior solution for the treatment of brain aneurysms, one that can be beneficial to the patients as well as to all the stakeholders."

The device developed by LuSeed is a revolutionary implant that is suitable for the vast majority of aneurysms. This implant is simple and easy to use, as the interventionalist can access the aneurysm from different angles without compromising device stability, making it highly suitable for sidewall and eccentric cases. LuSeed's device is the first if its category that does not have a marker which protrudes into the parent artery, drastically reducing the potential need for long term dual antiplatelet. The Luseed device has a specifically high mesh density which is intended to promote a safe an efficient occlusion of ruptured cases.

LuSeed Vascular was co-founded in 2018 by Nitzan Hirsh and Amir Arthur, experienced entrepreneurs in the medical device field, funded Sanara Ventures, private investors as well as a grants from the Israel Innovation Authority.

The market for interventional treatment of cerebral aneurysms is characterized by rapid global growth and is expected to grow from a volume of $1.6 billion in 2022 to $3.15 billion in 2027.

The company headquarters and R&D are located in Israel.

For further information, please visit: www.luseed-vascular.com

Media inquiries: Gil Kraiem, Pitch Media, [email protected], +972-505-703090

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984795/Robert_Stern.jpg

SOURCE LuSeed Vascular
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

Class Period: June 13, 2020 to December 31, 2022

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: March 13, 2023

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in LUV:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/southwest-airlines-class-action-submission-form?id=35651&from=4

Southwest Airlines Co. NEWS - LUV NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Southwest Airlines Co. made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Southwest continuously downplayed or ignored the serious issues with the technology it used to schedule flights and crews and how the Company stood to be affected worse than other airlines in the event of inclement weather; and (2) the Company did not discuss how its unique point-to point service and aggressive flight schedule could leave it prone in the event of inclement weather; and (3) as a result, defendants' statements about Southwest's business, operations, and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Southwest you have until March 13, 2023 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Southwest securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the LUV lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/southwest-airlines-class-action-submission-form?id=35651&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Madison Street Capital, an international investment banking firm, served as exclusive advisor to Dowco Group of Companies on its sale to DeSimone Consulting Engineering D.P.C., a leading full-service global engineering firm in New York City that works with architects, owners, and developers, and performs structural analysis and design for all types of buildings at all project phases. Charles Botchway, CEO of Madison Street Capital, announced that Jay Rodgers, Senior Managing Director led the Madison Street Capital team. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Madison Street Capital advises Dowco Group of Companies on its sale to DeSimone Consulting Engineers

Dowco Group of Companies is a global leader in specialized preconstruction modeling, detailing, building information modeling (BIM) and virtual design and construction (VDC) services. Dowco specializes in providing integrated Steel, Mass Timber and Rebar Detailing on major projects located throughout North America.

"DeSimone Consulting Engineering D.P.C.'s business aligns nicely with Dowco Group of Companies' growth strategy," said Dowco Group of Companies President & CEO, Ewen Dobbie. "As long-time advocates for engineers and detailers working collaboratively in a connected digital construction environment, we applaud DeSimone for its commitment to reducing project risk, rework, and producing better project outcomes for its clients," Dobbie added.

Jay Rodgers, Senior Managing Director of Madison Street Capital, who led the engagement, commented: "It's been a pleasure working with Ewen over the last decade. This was the 4th successful transaction Madison Street Capital has supported Ewen Dobbie  a serial entrepreneur and Business Strategist  in completing. I'm sure it won't be the last."

About Madison Street Capital

Madison Street Capital is an international investment banking firm committed to integrity, excellence, leadership and service in delivering corporate financial advisory services, merger and acquisition expertise, financial opinions, and valuation services to publicly and privately held businesses. These services position our clients to succeed in the global marketplace. In undertaking each new project, the client's goals and objectives become ours, ranging from financial advisory and successful capital raises to M&A transactions to transfers of ownership. Madison Street Capital views emerging markets as the core component driving the global growth of our clients and will continue to focus significant assets on these markets. Our firm has earned the trust of clients around the world through our unwavering dedication to the highest levels of professional standards. For additional information, please visit www.madisonstreetcapial.com

About DeSimone Consulting Engineering D.P.C

DeSimone Consulting Engineering provides leading structural engineering, facade consulting, and forensic, and construction consulting services for all types of buildings. Founded in New York City in 1969, DeSimone is known for providing each client with personal, dedicated, and inspiring engineering solutions. Technology, communication, and responsiveness are key strengths that differentiate DeSimone from its competition and facilitate the firm's commitment to exceptional service and engender the creation of a better-built environment. With offices in U.S. Canada, South America, Asia, U.K. and the Middle East, DeSimone has designed over 10,000 projects in 55 countries.

About Dowco Group of Companies

Since Dowco Group's 1970 founding, the British Columbia-based firm has become a global leader in specialized preconstruction modeling, detailing, building information modeling (BIM) and virtual design and construction (VDC) services. Dowco specializes in providing integrated Steel, Mass Timber and Rebar Detailing on major projects located throughout North America.

For Media Inquiries

Lacy Jansson, Head of PR: [email protected]

For Investment Banking Inquiries

Kevin Owen, Director of Deal Origination (312) 529-7050

[email protected]

SOURCE Madison Street Capital
American Consumers Can Now Purchase Top Clinically Proven Ivy Leaf Remedy for Soothing Cough and Congestion for the First Time in the United States

MIAMI, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Megalabs USA, a subsidiary of Megalabs a multinational which manufactures, markets and distributes pharmaceutical products and nutritional supplements throughout the Americas, has today announced it has brought Prospan, the global leader selling natural ivy leaf cough remedy to the United States. Through Megalabs' exclusive, long-standing partnership with Prospan manufacturer Engelhard, the globally popular herbal cough remedy will be available mid-year 2023 at major American retail outlets in Puerto Rico, including CVS and Walgreens as well as online via Amazon and other ecomm marketplaces.

Formulated by Engelhard, the global leader in natural cough syrups, Prospan has been available around the world for over 70 years. Prospan contains an exclusive extract from the leaves of English Hedera helix, commonly known as the ivy leaf. The proprietary extract used in Prospan, known as EA575, is carefully made using a patented extraction process and backed by rigorous clinical trials involving over 65,000 patients. Its non-drowsy, sugar-free herbal formulation work to relieve four different pathways for cough and cold, and has been shown to provide reduction in cough, chest congestion, inflammation and opening of airways in numerous clinical trials and studies on adults and children. Family-owned for two generations, Engelhard has recently celebrated 150 years as the first pioneering company to harness the effective potential of ivy leaf for cough, colds and congestion.

"We've long seen the value and benefits of Prospan through our twenty-year relationship with Engelhard in Latin America," said Megalabs USA CEO Fabian Rivero. "Expanding Prospan to the United States will provide its evidence-backed, herbal relief to American consumers, and supports our mission to help improve people's lives throughout the world."

"Prospan has been the cough remedy millions of people around the world have relied on for more than seven decades," said Oliver Engelhard, CEO of Engelhard. "Its expansion to the U.S. consumers through our relationship with Megalabs USA is a proud milestone for our company and the people we serve."

Megalabs, Inc. is a multi-billion-dollar company and one of the top pharmaceutical companies in Latin America. The company has a powerful, successful history in developing and launching brands across the globe and partnering with effective over-the-counter (OTC) medicine and nutraceutical manufacturers. Its American-based, OTC division Megalabs USA has over thirty-thousand points of sale in the country including all major retail outlets and online stores serving millions of consumers.

About Megalabs USA

Megalabs USA is a subsidiary of Megalabs, an international pharmaceutical company that manufactures, markets and distributes pharmaceutical products and nutritional supplements throughout the Americas, including the United States and Canada. It distributes over-the-counter products formulated with plant extracts known for their medicinal attributes, combining them with nutraceuticals, vitamins, and minerals to produce highly effective products for various wellness categories. Our mission is to develop and market effective over-the-counter medicines and nutraceuticals, preferably of natural origin, that improve the health and quality of our customers' lives. Company products are readily available in all markets in the Americas through subsidiaries and distributors that are highly committed to our brands, and active in multiple retail channels, including drug, food, mass, and e-commerce. Our vision has led us to build a successful multinational company with leading quality and effective products in the essential categories of over-the-counter medicines and nutraceuticals. And we have achieved this while complying with the exacting standards and procedures required for drug manufacturing to ensure the efficacy and safety of our products. Megalabs USA develops and provides effective, over-the-counter products and supplements that use natural ingredients to improve people's health and quality of life.

SOURCE Megalabs
Images Taken During Zero-G Flight Are a Step Towards X-ray Diagnoses in Space

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Diagnostic Ultra-portable X-ray for Space (DUXS) program achieved liftoff late last year by successfully obtaining medical diagnostic radiographic images in zero-gravity (Zero-G) conditions  including a re-creation of one of the first X-ray images ever taken by Nobel Prize winner Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen. The purpose of this study was to prove successful X-ray imaging is possible in a zero-gravity environment and show that existing equipment is capable of producing diagnostic images in both zero-gravity and Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

MinXray and DUXS Program Take First-Ever Diagnostic Radiographs in Zero-Gravity Tweet this MinXray in Action - Sheyna Gifford (l) and Mike Cairnie (r) at Zero-G. Photo Credit: Steve Boxall/Zero Gravity

The DUXS program is a partnership between industry and academia aiming to improve medical diagnostic capabilities in the final frontier and beyond. True weightlessness, which was required for this study, was accomplished by reserving space in a multi-parabolic flight provided by Zero Gravity Corporation (Zero-G) in G-FORCE ONE, a specially modified Boeing 727. During the flight, highly trained pilots perform a series of parabolas, between 24,000 and 32,000 feet which provides 20 to 30 seconds of Zero-G per parabola.

This flight's imaging team consisted of four members. Sheyna Gifford, MD, MPH, MBA, MS focuses her research on preventative medicine, rehabilitation and parastronautics. David Lerner, MD is a researcher from the University of Washington specializing in radiology, as well as remote and aerospace medicine. These two researchers partnered with MinXray Inc., a leading global supplier of portable, compact digital imaging equipment. Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Jeanne Walter, supplied MinXray's Impact Battery-Powered Portable Digital Radiography System, and Director of Global Sales, Mike Cairnie, took the images during the Zero-G flight. These images included a radiographic image of Dr. Gifford's hand, which mirrored the first X-ray ever taken of Rontgen's wife's hand back in 1895 and provided the first conclusive evidence that medical-quality diagnostic X-rays can be quickly and simply obtained in microgravity.

Successful acquisition of radiographic images mid-flight helped identify the complexities that exist when imaging in Zero-G conditions and potential solutions for those problems. Establishing the single inertial frame between all components and participants, which is required for the system to capture quality diagnostic images, was a variable examined by the team during the pre-flight preparation. Several methods of stabilizing the X-ray generator, patient and digital detector together were developed and even modified during the actual flight as the testing progressed.

A line pair phantom was used to establish image quality compared to images acquired in normal earth gravity. Additional images of a patient's hand, elbow, knee and thorax were acquired. The equipment functioned perfectly in the zero-gravity environment with diagnostic quality radiographs acquired comparable to those obtained in normal earth gravity.

Bringing this technology to space has several benefits. X-ray imaging provides additional diagnostic capabilities apart from ultrasound, which is currently used on NASA flights. Successful acquisition of diagnostic radiographic images is possible with minimal training required for the operator. Image acquisition is quick, and images, if required, are easily transmitted for diagnosis. Rapid diagnosis of numerous medical conditions and acute trauma such as fractures, dislocations, respiratory issues or obstructions is now achievable in a Zero-G or LEO environment.

The usefulness of X-ray capabilities in space can be calculated by referencing an IMM Medical Conditions list compiled by NASA. The list cites 100 medical conditions, 47 of which have occurred during a flight and 53 considered possible, and 54 imageable diagnoses. Ultrasound or X-ray alone can diagnose 46 of the 54. However, when both medical imaging modalities are available, 53 of the 54 imageable conditions can be diagnosed. In addition, an X-ray system can be easily integrated into existing diagnostic technology with X-ray and ultrasound images able to be acquired onto the same laptop. An X-ray can also be used for non-destructive testing to possibly assist in maintaining the health of the vehicle, station or other equipment on board without the need for dismantling.

X-ray technology has not yet been utilized for space travel because historically, X-ray equipment has been too large and cumbersome to be considered. However, the MinXray Impact Wireless system used on the Zero-G flight defies these limitations, consisting of MinXray's TR90BH battery powered portable X-ray generator, wireless CsI digital detector and system laptop with the MinXView imaging software package. The Impact system weighs only 31 lbs., is compact, extremely user friendly, produces high quality radiographic images, can integrate with existing diagnostic setups and features off-the-shelf availability with no installation required.

"Technologically, we're already there with the Impact system. This flight was a test to prove image quality and determine the best deployment strategy in microgravity," says Cairnie. "The ultimate goal is for anyone to be able to use this technology in microgravity safely, easily and effectively."

This flight is part of MinXray's ongoing efforts to make diagnostic imaging accessible to everyone regardless of environmental conditions or location. Cairnie has taken this mission around the world, bringing MinXray imaging systems to countries with limited access to medical resources. He has traveled to numerous countries including Nigeria, Uganda, Mongolia and Nepal to screen for tuberculosis in communities highly impacted by the disease. Recently, Cairnie brought X-ray technology to record heights with a mission to the base camp at Mount Everest, making important diagnostic information available, even at extreme elevations.

For more information about MinXray, visit www.minxray.com. To learn more about Zero-G and the Zero-G Experience, visit www.gozerog.com.

Editor Note: Accompanying image attached with caption: MinXray in Action - Sheyna Gifford (l) and Mike Cairnie (r) at Zero-G.

Photo credit: Steve Boxall/Zero Gravity

About MinXray:

Since 1967, MinXray, Inc. has been the leader in portable diagnostic X-ray imaging. The devices, available as complete portable systems, can be used in multiple applications where it is more efficient to bring the X-ray unit to the patient instead of the patient to the X-ray unit. MinXray products are used in a variety of medical, veterinary, and military applications. MinXray's powerful, high frequency, lightweight portable units continue to be the "gold standard" for digital radiographic imaging.

About Zero-G and the Zero-G Experience:

The Zero-G Experience is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to experience true weightlessness. It's not a simulationit's real life, minus gravity. The Zero-G Experience uses its specially modified Boeing 727 that flies in parabolic arcs to create a weightless environment. Zero-G is the world's only FAA-certified provider of weightless flights, held to the same Part 121 safety standards as passenger airlines.

For more information, contact:

Susan Wirth Jeanne Walter Account Supervisor  Public Relations Vice President, Marketing and Sales LePoidevin Marketing MinXray Inc. 262-754-9550 847-564-0323 [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE MinXray Inc.
FAIRMONT, W.Va., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mon Power and Potomac Edison, subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), have signed an agreement with the town of Harpers Ferry to advance the future of clean energy. The town has committed to a subscription equal to 100% of its streetlight and town hall energy usage in support of the companies' generation of solar power.

Potomac Edison Logo (PRNewsfoto/FirstEnergy Corp.)

Harpers Ferry's commitment brings Mon Power and Potomac Edison closer to beginning construction on five proposed solar facilities. The companies received conditional approval from the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) for the projects, which will together total 50 megawatts of renewable solar generation across the five solar sites, to help make West Virginia more attractive for business development. One megawatt of solar energy powers a national average of 173 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

"Support of this solar initiative is good governance, and municipal, county and state government entities should lead by example," said Harpers Ferry Mayor Gregory Vaughn. "We must look beyond the present and how we have always functioned to strategically think and plan for how we meet, manage and fulfill future energy requirements. Harpers Ferry's decision to support the solar initiative was unanimous, receiving my overwhelming support as well as that from all members of the Town Council."

Mon Power and Potomac Edison will seek final approval of the project from the PSC once they have subscription commitments from other municipalities, residential, commercial and industrial customers that achieve a combined total of at least 85 percent of the energy produced by the facilities. In addition to the commitment from Harpers Ferry, hundreds of residential customers across West Virginia have signed up to participate in the solar program.

"We believe the commitment from Harpers Ferry and residential customers shows growing interest in the development of renewable energy in West Virginia," said Jim Myers, president of FirstEnergy's West Virginia Operations. "We look forward to working with more customers who have interest in supporting the clean energy transition through solar power."

The companies' solar program supports a 2020 bill passed by the West Virginia Legislature that authorizes electric utilities to own and operate up to 200 megawatts of solar renewable generation facilities to help meet the state's electricity needs. The addition of new renewable generation also encourages economic development in West Virginia, as a growing number of companies require that a portion of the electricity they purchase be generated by renewable sources.

Mon Power will build, own and operate the five solar facilities, which are located on property owned by Mon Power or its affiliates. The locations include:

A 26-acre reclaimed ash disposal site in Berkeley County

A 51-acre site adjacent to a Mon Power substation in Hancock County

A 27-acre retired ash disposal site in Marion County

A 95-acre site in Monongalia County adjacent to Fort Martin Power Station

adjacent to Fort Martin Power Station A 44-acre reclaimed strip mine property in Tucker County

When fully operational, the five projects planned by Mon Power and Potomac Edison are expected to create approximately 87,000 SRECs per year. SRECs are certificates that represent the environmental attributes of solar power and certify solar energy was generated on the purchasers' behalf. For every megawatt hour of solar renewable electricity generated, one SREC is produced.

Participation in the solar program is first come, first served. The overall subscription cost is 4 cents per kilowatt hour in addition to normal rates, and customers can choose from a variety of SREC subscription levels and term lengths. Residential customers can support the program by purchasing a SREC over time at monthly levels of 50 kilowatt hours ($2 per month), 100 kilowatt hours ($4 per month), 200 kilowatt hours ($8 per month) or more. Commercial and industrial customers will be able to choose a subscription level that reflects a percentage of their monthly energy consumption through special contracts with their utility.

Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers who make a commitment for SRECs now are not expected to begin incurring charges until early 2025.

To subscribe or find out more about the solar program, Mon Power and Potomac Edison customers in West Virginia can submit their information at firstenergycorp.com/WVSolar or by calling 1-800-505-7283.

Mon Power serves about 395,000 customers in 34 West Virginia counties. Follow Mon Power at mon-power.com, on Twitter @MonPowerWV, and on Facebook at facebook.com/MonPowerWV.

Potomac Edison serves about 275,000 customers in seven counties in Maryland and 151,000 customers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Follow Potomac Edison at potomacedison.com, on Twitter @PotomacEdison, and on Facebook at facebook.com/PotomacEdison.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at firstenergycorp.com and on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
One-of-a-kind offering provides unique insights into some of the largest and most opaque funds so all stakeholders can better understand their performance and potential risks.

SUMMIT, N.J., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Markov Processes International, Inc. ("MPI"), a leading independent FinTech provider of software and services for analyzing investment performance and risk, today launched the MPI Transparency Lab, a hub of free proprietary reports and analytics on pensions and endowments.

For years, MPI has utilized its proprietary technology and public data sources to peek quantitatively behind the curtain of pension and endowment investments, providing information that is often impossible to obtain otherwise.

With the Transparency Lab, all that data and analysis is contained in one place and publicly available, allowing investors, alumni, beneficiaries, regulators, researchers, journalists, and other stakeholders to garner unique insight into some of the largest and most opaque investors. With the MPI Transparency Lab, users can view analytics and download "MPI-360" reports that help them uncover trends in asset allocation and exposures, explain drivers of both recent and historical results, obtain estimates of risks, drawdowns and efficiency, perform historical stress-tests, and evaluate various hypothetical scenarios.

MPI uses its proprietary Dynamic Style Analysis (DSA) and public annual returns to reverse-engineer asset exposure dynamics of large investor portfolios. When pensions and endowments report only annual performance figures, a decade's worth of performance is represented by only 10 data points. Traditional static and rolling-window methods of regression analysis struggle to find credible insights from such infrequent data. MPI's DSA, however, is uniquely adapted to work with such limited data.

"We follow in the footsteps of Prof. William Sharpe  a Nobel laureate and an inventor of returns-based style analysis (RBSA)," said Michael Markov, MPI's co-founder and CEO. "Sharpe introduced RBSA with the goal of bringing transparency to traditional long-only funds. Over the years, our research team expanded its use to hedge funds, private equity funds, and now to large and opaque investment pools. The larger these funds get, the more they may not only be affected by markets, but also exert an influence on markets, both public and private. It's fair to wonder what exactly is inside these tax-sheltered or tax-advantaged investing machines."

College endowments are notoriously opaque, providing so little information that their once-a-fiscal-year reports have become a regular autumn spectacle. Seldom do these reports contain much real information about how endowments achieve results, how they decide which risks to take, or how outsiders can independently verify their results.

Likewise, it is getting more difficult for stakeholders to obtain relevant risk exposure details on many U.S. pension funds which have been plagued by chronic underfunding and decreased disclosure. Even when this information is available, peer-to-peer comparisons are almost impossible because every institution is unique in how it defines asset classes and categories of alternative investments. The MPI approach standardizes allocation types across investors, providing a common denominator for comparison.

In addition, while MPI provides data on many preselected pensions and endowments, for the first time, it will offer proprietary research on additional funds by request.

"The world's largest and most important investments should not remain shrouded in mystery," Mr. Markov said. "We hope that providing unique data derived from public disclosures will facilitate a dialogue with institutions leading to more disclosures and eventually more transparency."

For additional information on MPI's proprietary data, visit the Transparency Lab. For further information, contact MPI at +1 (908) 608-1558 or [email protected].

About MPI

Markov Processes International Inc. (MPI) is a leading provider of solutions for investment research, analysis and reporting to the global wealth and investment management industry. MPI works with more than 200 client organizations, including pensions and endowments, sovereign wealth funds, global wealth management firms, institutional consultants, regulators, investment advisors and asset managers. Rooted in the principles of transparency, objectivity, and efficiency, MPI takes an innovative approach to problem solving in the areas of fund analysis, risk management, asset allocation, and reporting to ensure that its clients have the tools to succeed in ever-more-crowded markets. Follow us on Twitter @MarkovMPI and connect with us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE Markov Processes International, Inc.
SIBIU, Romania, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the successful release of Inspire Art last August and over a million NFTs aggregated, MultiversX is launching xSpotlight, an evolution of the platform, coming with new features that further expand the exploration of Web3 culture, focused on high-quality projects and hyper-engaged communities.

Image via MultiversX

Starting today, xSpotlight will feature enhanced aggregation and curation of Web3 projects, an improved explore section and deeper ecosystem partner integrations. Submissions are now open to all creators and founders that want to be featured on the xSpotlight website and in future editorial projects the platform is developing.

xSpotlight, a ground-up rebuild of Inspire Art announced last November at X Day Paris, is now introduced, bringing significant improvements, ranging from the Explorer section and creator side to many other functionalities. xSpotlight doesn't operate as a marketplace, but as a platform exhibiting all of the best NFT projects and collections in the MultiversX ecosystem and highlighting the most interesting ones to the community.

The new UI and an UX will help take xSpotlight, the front page of the MultiversX NFT ecosystem, to the next level.

The company is also introducing the Lighthouse Series, an editorial effort aimed at helping the community navigate the exhaustive space within the industry and emerge stronger on the other side.

With today's launch, MultiversX is reaffirming its tireless commitment to its amazing community of Web3 founders, creators, and supporters.

About MultiversX

MultiversX is a highly scalable, secure and decentralized blockchain network created to enable radically new applications, for users, businesses, society, and the new metaverse frontier.

Media Contact:

Stefan Szakal, Head of Core Applications

[email protected]

Distributed by STORM Partners. Contact Adrian Bono for interviews, and quotes - [email protected], +34 (0)608 861 127 or telegram @STORMPartners

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1985157/MultiversX.jpg

SOURCE MultiversX
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- According to Technavio, the mutual funds market size is estimated to grow by USD 71.62 trillion from 2022 to 2027. The market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 9.76% during the forecast period. Moreover, the growth momentum will accelerate.

For more insights on market size, request a sample report

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Mutual Funds Market 2023-2027

Global mutual funds market - Five forces

The global mutual funds market is fragmented, and the five forces analysis covers

Bargaining Power of Buyers

The threat of New Entrants

Threat of Rivalry

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Threat of Substitutes

Interpretation of porter's five models helps to strategize the business, for entire details  buy the report!

Global mutual funds market  Customer Landscape

The report includes the market's adoption lifecycle, from the innovator's stage to the laggard's stage. It focuses on adoption rates in different regions based on penetration. Furthermore, the report also includes key purchase criteria and drivers of price sensitivity to help companies evaluate and develop their growth strategies.

Global mutual funds market - Segmentation Assessment

Segment overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on type (stock funds, bond funds, money market funds, and hybrid funds), and distribution channel (advice channel, retirement plan channel, institutional channel, direct channel, and supermarket channel).

Segment Description

The stock funds segment will grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. These funds are significantly less volatile than mid-cap and small-cap funds and are capable of offering prospective respectable returns. Stock funds are excellent choices for capital growth investments since they can generate wealth over the long term. They are a good option for investors who seek exposure to the stock market and long-term investments. Thus, the growing demand for stock funds will drive the global mutual funds market during the forecast period.

Geography Overview

By geography, the global mutual funds market is segmented into North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global mutual funds market.

North America is estimated to account for 52% of the growth of the global market during the forecast period. This rise is attributed to continuous trading activities in the region and the large presence of the equity market in the US. Tax efficiency, transparency, and the ability to gain access to a centralized stock exchange platform make it a lucrative security option for investors. As most investors on the stock exchange are cost sensitive, they look for low-cost brokerage options. All such factors are expected to drive regional mutual funds market growth during the forecast period.

Download a Sample Report

Global mutual funds market  Market dynamics

Key factor driving market growth

The market liquidity is notably driving the market growth. Liquidity can be defined as the ease with which an asset can be bought or sold quickly and efficiently in the market without significantly affecting its price.

Liquidity can be defined as the ease with which an asset can be bought or sold quickly and efficiently in the market without significantly affecting its price. Mutual funds are one of the easy-to-implement financial markets. This is due to the composition of investment funds and the volume of business.

In general, mutual funds are invested in the market of small, medium, and large companies, where large companies have the most liquidity.

The liquidity of mutual funds has several advantages, such as easy switching from one fund to another and flexibility during market volatility. Therefore, high liquidity is expected to drive the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Leading trends influencing the market

The growth of mutual fund assets in developing nations is an emerging trend in the market.

One of the major reasons behind the increase in the asset size of the mutual fund (MF) sector is due to the robust performance of the equity markets and net inflows to equity schemes in developing nations.

Individual investors' assets held by mutual funds increased in value in 2022 as compared to 2021. Similarly, the worth of the institutional asset also increased in 2022 as compared to 2021.

Thus, the potential opportunity will drive the growth of the mutual market during the forecast period.

Major challenges hindering market growth

Transaction risks are major challenges impeding market growth. Transaction risks arise when a company makes financial transactions or holds accounts in a currency other than its own currency.

Transaction risks arise when a company makes financial transactions or holds accounts in a currency other than its own currency. The risk is that the exchange rate will change before the transaction is completed. The duration between transaction and settlement is essentially a source of transaction risks.

Such transaction risks may hinder the growth of the market during the forecast period.

Drivers, Trends and challenges have an impact on market dynamics, which can impact businesses. Find more insights in a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this mutual funds market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the mutual funds market between 2023 and 2027

Precise estimation of the mutual funds market size and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the mutual funds industry across North America , Europe , APAC, South America , and Middle East and Africa

, , APAC, , and and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of mutual funds market vendors

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Related Reports:

The Canada asset management market is estimated to decline at a CAGR of 14.57% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 20,974.2 million. This report extensively covers market segmentation by class type (equity, fixed income, alternative investment, hybrid, and cash management), component (solution and service), and sourcing (pension funds and insurance companies, individual investors, corporate investors, and other sources).

The global crowdfunding market is estimated to decline at a CAGR of 15.86% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 264.09 billion. This report extensively covers market segmentation by deployment (cloud and on-premise), type (P2P lending, equity investment, hybrid, reward, and others), and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, South America, and the Middle East and Africa).

Mutual Funds Market Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 156 Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 9.76% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 71.62 trillion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 8.24 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 52% Key countries US, China, Australia, Germany, and France Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Aditya Birla Management Corp. Pvt. Ltd., Amundi Austria GmbH, Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd., BlackRock Inc., BNY Mellon Securities Corp., Canara Robeco Asset Management Co., DSP Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd., Edelweiss Asset Management Ltd., FMR LLC, Franklin Templeton, HDFC Ltd., ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. Ltd., IDFC Mutual Fund, JPMorgan Chase and Co., State Street Global Advisors, The Capital Group Companies Inc., The Charles Schwab Corp., The Vanguard Group Inc., Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd., and PIMCO Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, 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. 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 for Technavio's consumer discretionary 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 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 07: Executive Summary  Chart on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 08: Executive Summary  Data Table on Incremental Growth



Exhibit 09: Executive Summary  Chart on Vendor Market Positioning

2 Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 10: Parent market



Exhibit 11: Market Characteristics

3 Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 12: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 13: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2022

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2022-2027

Exhibit 14: Chart on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 15: Data Table on Global - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 16: Chart on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 17: Data Table on Global Market: Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

4 Historic Market Size

4.1 Global mutual funds market 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size  Data Table on Global mutual funds market 2017 - 2021 ($ trillion)

4.2 Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size  Type Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ trillion)

4.3 Distribution Channel Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size  Distribution Channel Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ trillion)

4.4 Geography Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 21: Historic Market Size  Geography Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ trillion)

4.5 Country Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021

Exhibit 22: Historic Market Size  Country Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ trillion)

5 Five Forces Analysis

5.1 Five forces summary

Exhibit 23: Five forces analysis - Comparison between 2022 and 2027

5.2 Bargaining power of buyers

Exhibit 24: Chart on Bargaining power of buyers  Impact of key factors 2022 and 2027

5.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

Exhibit 25: Bargaining power of suppliers  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.4 Threat of new entrants

Exhibit 26: Threat of new entrants  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.5 Threat of substitutes

Exhibit 27: Threat of substitutes  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.6 Threat of rivalry

Exhibit 28: Threat of rivalry  Impact of key factors in 2022 and 2027

5.7 Market condition

Exhibit 29: Chart on Market condition - Five forces 2022 and 2027

6 Market Segmentation by Type

6.1 Market segments

Exhibit 30: Chart on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 31: Data Table on Type - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

6.2 Comparison by Type

Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by Type



Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by Type

6.3 Stock funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 34: Chart on Stock funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 35: Data Table on Stock funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 36: Chart on Stock funds - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 37: Data Table on Stock funds - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.4 Bond funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 38: Chart on Bond funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 39: Data Table on Bond funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 40: Chart on Bond funds - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 41: Data Table on Bond funds - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.5 Money market funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 42: Chart on Money market funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 43: Data Table on Money market funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 44: Chart on Money market funds - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 45: Data Table on Money market funds - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.6 Hybrid funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 46: Chart on Hybrid funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 47: Data Table on Hybrid funds - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 48: Chart on Hybrid funds - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 49: Data Table on Hybrid funds - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

6.7 Market opportunity by Type

Exhibit 50: Market opportunity by Type ($ trillion)

7 Market Segmentation by Distribution Channel

7.1 Market segments

Exhibit 51: Chart on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 52: Data Table on Distribution Channel - Market share 2022-2027 (%)

7.2 Comparison by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 53: Chart on Comparison by Distribution Channel



Exhibit 54: Data Table on Comparison by Distribution Channel

7.3 Advice channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 55: Chart on Advice channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 56: Data Table on Advice channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 57: Chart on Advice channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 58: Data Table on Advice channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.4 Retirement plan channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 59: Chart on Retirement plan channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 60: Data Table on Retirement plan channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 61: Chart on Retirement plan channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 62: Data Table on Retirement plan channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.5 Institutional channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 63: Chart on Institutional channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 64: Data Table on Institutional channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 65: Chart on Institutional channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 66: Data Table on Institutional channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.6 Direct channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 67: Chart on Direct channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 68: Data Table on Direct channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 69: Chart on Direct channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 70: Data Table on Direct channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.7 Supermarket channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 71: Chart on Supermarket channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 72: Data Table on Supermarket channel - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 73: Chart on Supermarket channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 74: Data Table on Supermarket channel - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

7.8 Market opportunity by Distribution Channel

Exhibit 75: Market opportunity by Distribution Channel ($ trillion)

8 Customer Landscape

8.1 Customer landscape overview

Exhibit 76: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria

9 Geographic Landscape

9.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 77: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 78: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%)

9.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 79: Chart on Geographic comparison



Exhibit 80: Data Table on Geographic comparison

9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 81: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 82: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 83: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 84: Data Table on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.4 Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 85: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 86: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 87: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 88: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 89: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 90: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 91: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 92: Data Table on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 94: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 95: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 96: Data Table on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.7 Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 98: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 99: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 100: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

Exhibit 101: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 102: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)



Exhibit 103: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)



Exhibit 104: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 105: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 106: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 107: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 108: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 109: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 110: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 111: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 112: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.11 France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 113: Chart on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 114: Data Table on France - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 115: Chart on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 116: Data Table on France - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.12 Australia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 117: Chart on Australia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 118: Data Table on Australia - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

- Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ trillion)

Exhibit 119: Chart on Australia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

- Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

Exhibit 120: Data Table on Australia - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%)

9.13 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 121: Market opportunity by geography ($ trillion)

10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

10.1 Market drivers

10.2 Market challenges

10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges

Exhibit 122: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027

10.4 Market trends

11 Vendor Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 123: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation

11.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 124: Overview on factors of disruption

11.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 125: Impact of key risks on business

12 Vendor Analysis

12.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 126: Vendors covered

12.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 127: Matrix on vendor position and classification

12.3 Aditya Birla Management Corp. Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 128: Aditya Birla Management Corp. Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 129: Aditya Birla Management Corp. Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 130: Aditya Birla Management Corp. Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.4 Amundi Austria GmbH

Exhibit 131: Amundi Austria GmbH - Overview



Exhibit 132: Amundi Austria GmbH - Product / Service



Exhibit 133: Amundi Austria GmbH - Key offerings

12.5 Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Exhibit 134: Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 135: Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 136: Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.6 Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 137: Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 138: Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd. - Product / Service



Exhibit 139: Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings

12.7 BlackRock Inc.

Exhibit 140: BlackRock Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 141: BlackRock Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 142: BlackRock Inc. - Key offerings

12.8 BNY Mellon Securities Corp.

Exhibit 143: BNY Mellon Securities Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 144: BNY Mellon Securities Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 145: BNY Mellon Securities Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 146: BNY Mellon Securities Corp. - Segment focus

12.9 Canara Robeco Asset Management Co.

Exhibit 147: Canara Robeco Asset Management Co. - Overview



Exhibit 148: Canara Robeco Asset Management Co. - Product / Service



Exhibit 149: Canara Robeco Asset Management Co. - Key offerings

12.10 DSP Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd.

Exhibit 150: DSP Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. - Overview



Exhibit 151: DSP Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. - Business segments



Exhibit 152: DSP Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. - Key offerings



Exhibit 153: DSP Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. - Segment focus

12.11 FMR LLC

Exhibit 154: FMR LLC - Overview



Exhibit 155: FMR LLC - Product / Service



Exhibit 156: FMR LLC - Key offerings

12.12 JPMorgan Chase and Co.

Exhibit 157: JPMorgan Chase and Co. - Overview



Exhibit 158: JPMorgan Chase and Co. - Business segments



Exhibit 159: JPMorgan Chase and Co. - Key offerings



Exhibit 160: JPMorgan Chase and Co. - Segment focus

12.13 PIMCO

Exhibit 161: PIMCO - Overview



Exhibit 162: PIMCO - Product / Service



Exhibit 163: PIMCO - Key offerings

12.14 State Street Global Advisors

Exhibit 164: State Street Global Advisors - Overview



Exhibit 165: State Street Global Advisors - Business segments



Exhibit 166: State Street Global Advisors - Key offerings



Exhibit 167: State Street Global Advisors - Segment focus

12.15 The Capital Group Companies Inc.

Exhibit 168: The Capital Group Companies Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 169: The Capital Group Companies Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 170: The Capital Group Companies Inc. - Key offerings

12.16 The Charles Schwab Corp.

Exhibit 171: The Charles Schwab Corp. - Overview



Exhibit 172: The Charles Schwab Corp. - Business segments



Exhibit 173: The Charles Schwab Corp. - Key offerings



Exhibit 174: The Charles Schwab Corp. - Segment focus

12.17 The Vanguard Group Inc.

Exhibit 175: The Vanguard Group Inc. - Overview



Exhibit 176: The Vanguard Group Inc. - Product / Service



Exhibit 177: The Vanguard Group Inc. - Key offerings

13 Appendix

13.1 Scope of the report

13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist

Exhibit 178: Inclusions checklist



Exhibit 179: Exclusions checklist

13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 180: Currency conversion rates for US$

13.4 Research methodology

Exhibit 181: Research methodology



Exhibit 182: Validation techniques employed for market sizing



Exhibit 183: Information sources

13.5 List of abbreviations

Exhibit 184: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Infiniti Research, Inc.
NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global natural fragrance market size is estimated to increase by USD 1.59 billion from 2021 to 2026. However, the market's growth momentum will decelerate at a CAGR of 8.59% during the forecast period - Request a sample report

Global natural fragrance market  Vendor analysis

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Natural Fragrance Market

Vendor offerings -

Bell Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - The company offers natural fragrances such as ActivNaturals, and MicroCreation among others.

The company offers natural fragrances such as ActivNaturals, and MicroCreation among others. Carrubba Inc. - The company offers natural fragrance with no synthetic chemicals, more mass appeal and greater flexibility.

The company offers natural fragrance with no synthetic chemicals, more mass appeal and greater flexibility. Firmenich SA - The company offers natural fragrances for air care, home care, personal care, industries and institution.

The company offers natural fragrances for air care, home care, personal care, industries and institution. Givaudan SA - The company offers natural fragrances for fine fragrances, active beauty, and other consumer products.

The company offers natural fragrances for fine fragrances, active beauty, and other consumer products. For details on vendors and their offerings  Buy the report!

Vendor landscape 

The global natural fragrance market is fragmented, with the presence of leading global, regional, and local or domestic players. A few prominent vendors that offer natural fragrance in the market are Bell Flavors and Fragrances Inc., Carrubba Inc., Firmenich SA, Givaudan SA, International Flavors and Fragrances Inc., Malee Natural Science Ltd., Robertet SA, Sensient Technologies Corp., Symrise AG, and Takasago International Corp. and others.

The global natural fragrance market is at its growing stage. This statistical study of the natural fragrance market encompasses successful business strategies deployed by the key vendors. The natural fragrance market is fragmented and the vendors are deploying growth strategies such as price and quality to compete in the market.

Global natural fragrance market - Customer landscape

To help companies evaluate and develop growth strategies, the report outlines 

Key purchase criteria

Adoption rates

Adoption lifecycle

Drivers of price sensitivity

Global natural fragrance market - Segmentation assessment

Segment overview

Technavio has segmented the market based on application (household care, personal care and cosmetics, and fine fragrances)

The household care segment will grow at a significant rate during the forecast period. Household care products include room fresheners, detergents, fabric softeners, room sprays, and scented candles. Vendors operating in the market are introducing new products with natural fragrances. Thus, the increasing demand for natural scents among consumers is driving the use of natural fragrances in household care products.

Geography overview

By geography, the global natural fragrance market is segmented into Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and MEA. The report provides actionable insights and estimates the contribution of all regions to the growth of the global natural fragrance market.

Europe will account for 32% of the market's growth during the forecast period. Consumers are increasingly demanding personal care products, such as perfumes, colognes, and soaps, which contain natural fragrances. Consumers are becoming aware of the health complications of using products containing synthetic fragrances and are focusing on reducing their use of such products. This will increase the demand for products containing natural fragrances and support the growth of the natural fragrance market in Europe during the forecast period.

Download a sample report

Global natural fragrance market  Market dynamics

Leading drivers - The launch of new products containing natural products is one of the key drivers supporting the natural fragrance market growth. The harmful effects of synthetic fragrances on the skin and overall human health are increasing the demand for natural fragrances in fine fragrance products among consumers. A majority of the ingredients used in synthetic fragrances are derived from petroleum products. The ingredients include benzene derivatives, aldehydes, toluene, and other known chemicals that are linked to cancer, congenital disabilities, central nervous system disorders, and allergic reactions in human beings. Thus, health issues caused by products in synthetic fragrances can support the growth of the global natural fragrance market during the forecast period.

Key trends - Increasing online sales of products containing natural fragrances is another factor supporting the natural fragrance market growth. With the help of online retail stores, vendors can offer natural fragrances and attract the internet-savvy customer segment. Online platforms help them avoid huge investment costs in physical stores. The benefits offered by online stores may encourage more vendors to offer their products through online channels during the forecast period. Thus, the growing emphasis on the online retailing of products containing natural fragrances may increase sales through online channels and influence the global natural fragrance market during the forecast period.

Major challenges - The increasing restrictions regarding the use of products containing fragrances are hindering the natural fragrance market growth. The number of people suffering from fragrance allergies is increasing, and various offices and other public places have banned the use of products containing fragrances. For instance, Lake Washington Christian Church (LWCC), US, discourages people visiting the church from using perfume/cologne, aftershave, scented lotion, and body powder inside the building as a first step toward achieving a fragrance-free environment. Thus, restrictions on the use of products containing fragrances (including natural fragrances) in public places and campaigns against the use of fragrances use can hamper the growth of the natural fragrance market in focus during the forecast period.

Drivers, trends, and challenges have an impact on market dynamics, which can impact businesses. Find more insights in a sample report!

What are the key data covered in this natural fragrance market report?

CAGR of the market during the forecast period

Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the natural fragrance market between 2021 and 2025

Precise estimation of the size of the natural fragrance market size and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market

Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

Growth of the natural fragrance market industry across Europe , North America , APAC, South America , and MEA

, , APAC, , and MEA A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about vendors

Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of natural fragrance market vendors

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Related Reports:

The fragrance ingredients market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.8% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 3,839.31 million. This report extensively covers market segmentation by application (personal care, fabric care, hair care, and others), type (essential oils and aroma chemicals), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa).

The home fragrances market share is expected to increase by USD 2.22 billion from 2020 to 2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 4.88%. Furthermore, this report extensively covers home fragrances market segmentation by distribution channel (offline and online) and geography (Europe, North America, APAC, MEA, and South America).

Natural Fragrance Market Scope

Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Decelerate at a CAGR of 8.59% Market growth 2021-2025 USD 1.59 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 9.72 Regional analysis Europe, North America, APAC, South America, and MEA Performing market contribution Europe at 32% Key countries US, UK, France, Germany, and China Competitive landscape Leading Vendors, Market Positioning of Vendors, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Bell Flavors and Fragrances Inc., Carrubba Inc., Firmenich SA, Givaudan SA, International Flavors and Fragrances Inc., Malee Natural Science Ltd., Robertet SA, Sensient Technologies Corp., Symrise AG, and Takasago International Corp. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, 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. 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 for Technavio's consumer discretionary market reports

Table of Contents:

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Landscape

2.1 Market ecosystem

Exhibit 01: Parent market

2.2: Market Characteristics

Exhibit 02: Market Characteristics

2.2 Value chain analysis

Exhibit 03: Value Chain Analysis: Apparel, accessories and luxury goods

2.2.1 Inputs

2.2.2 Inbound logistics

2.2.3 Operations

2.2.4 Outbound logistics

2.2.5 Marketing and sales

2.2.6 Service

2.2.7 Support activities

2.2.8 Innovation

3. Market Sizing

3.1 Market definition

Exhibit 04: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

3.2 Market segment analysis

Exhibit 05: Market segments

3.3 Market size 2020

3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025

Exhibit 06: Global - Market size and forecast 2020 - 2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 07: Global market: Year-over-year growth 2020 - 2025 (%)

4. Five Forces Analysis

4.1 Five Forces Summary

Exhibit 08: Five forces analysis 2020 & 2025

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 2020

5 Market Segmentation by Application

5.1 Market segments

The segments covered in this chapter are:

Household care

Personal care and cosmetics

Fine fragrances

Exhibit 15: Application - Market share 2020-2025 (%)

5.2 Comparison by Application

Exhibit 16: Comparison by Application

5.3 Household care - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 17: Household care - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 18: Household care - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

5.4 Personal care and cosmetics - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 19: Personal care and cosmetics - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 20: Personal care and cosmetics - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

5.5 Fine fragrances - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 21: Fine fragrances - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 22: Fine fragrances - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

5.6 Market opportunity by Application

Exhibit 23: Market opportunity by Application

6 Customer landscape

Exhibit 24: Customer landscape

7 Geographic Landscape

7.1 Geographic segmentation

Exhibit 25: Market share by geography 2020-2025 (%)

7.2 Geographic comparison

Exhibit 26: Geographic comparison

7.3 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 27: Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 28: Europe - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.4 North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 29: North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 30: North America - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 31: APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 32: APAC - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.6 South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 33: South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 34: South America - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.7 MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Exhibit 35: MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million)

Exhibit 36: MEA - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

7.8 Key leading countries

Exhibit 37: Key leading countries

7.9 Market opportunity by geography

Exhibit 38: Market opportunity by geography

8 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

8.1 Market drivers

8.1.1 Launch of new products containing natural fragrance

8.1.2 Increasing demand for natural fragrance in fine fragrances

8.1.3 Health issues caused by synthetic fragrances

8.2 Market challenges

8.2.1 Increasing restrictions regarding the use of products containing fragrance

8.2.2 Presence of counterfeit ingredients

8.2.3 Stringent regulations

Exhibit 39: Impact of drivers and challenges

8.3 Market trends

8.3.1 Increasing online sales of products containing natural fragrance

8.3.2 Clean labeling

8.3.3 Increasing consumer awareness about the harmful effects of synthetic chemicals

9. Vendor Landscape

10.1 Competitive scenario

10.2 Vendor landscape

Exhibit 40: Vendor Landscape

10.3 Landscape disruption

Exhibit 41: Landscape disruption

10.4 Industry risks

Exhibit 42: Industry risks

11. Vendor Analysis

11.1 Vendors covered

Exhibit 43: Vendors covered

10.2 Market positioning of vendors

Exhibit 44: Market positioning of vendors

10.3 Bell Flavors and Fragrances Inc.

Exhibit 45: Bell Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - Overview

Exhibit 46: Bell Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - Product and service

Exhibit 47: Bell Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - Key offerings

10.4 Carrubba Inc.

Exhibit 48: Carrubba Inc. - Overview

Exhibit 49: Carrubba Inc. - Product and service

Exhibit 50: Carrubba Inc. - Key offerings

10.5 Firmenich SA

Exhibit 51: Firmenich SA - Overview

Exhibit 52: Firmenich SA - Product and service

Exhibit 53: Firmenich SA - Key offerings

10.6 Givaudan SA

Exhibit 54: Givaudan SA - Overview

Exhibit 55: Givaudan SA - Business segments

Exhibit 56: Givaudan SA  Key news

Exhibit 57: Givaudan SA - Key offerings

Exhibit 58: Givaudan SA - Segment focus

10.7 International Flavors and Fragrances Inc.

Exhibit 59: International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - Overview

Exhibit 60: International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - Business segments

Exhibit 61: International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - Key news

Exhibit 62: International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - Key offerings

Exhibit 63: International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. - Segment focus

10.8 Malee Natural Science Ltd.

Exhibit 64: Malee Natural Science Ltd. - Overview

Exhibit 65: Malee Natural Science Ltd. - Product and service

Exhibit 66: Malee Natural Science Ltd. - Key offerings

10.9 Robertet SA

Exhibit 67: Robertet SA - Overview

Exhibit 68: Robertet SA - Business segments

Exhibit 69: Robertet SA - Key offerings

Exhibit 70: Robertet SA - Segment focus

10.10 Sensient Technologies Corp.

Exhibit 71: Sensient Technologies Corp. - Overview

Exhibit 72: Sensient Technologies Corp. - Business segments

Exhibit 73: Sensient Technologies Corp. - Key offerings

Exhibit 74: Sensient Technologies Corp. - Segment focus

10.11 Symrise AG

Exhibit 75: Symrise AG - Overview

Exhibit 76: Symrise AG - Business segments

Exhibit 77: Symrise AG - Key offerings

Exhibit 78: Symrise AG - Segment focus

10.12 Takasago International Corp.

Exhibit 79: Takasago International Corp. - Overview

Exhibit 80: Takasago International Corp. - Business segments

Exhibit 81: Takasago International Corp. - Key offerings

Exhibit 82: Takasago International Corp. - Segment focus

12. Appendix

12.1 Scope of the report

12.1.1 Market Definition

12.1.2 Objectives

12.1.3 Notes and caveats

12.2 Currency conversion rates for US$

Exhibit 82: ?Currency conversion rates for US$?

12.3 Research Methodology

Exhibit 83: Research Methodology

Exhibit 84: Validation techniques employed for market sizing?

Exhibit 85: Information sources

12.4 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 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: +44 203 893 320

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
Black, Hispanic, and young millennial parents are leading a post-COVID realignment of K12 education

MIAMI, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- America's K12 education system is experiencing a once-in-a-generation realignment that is powered by increased demand for school choice among Black, Hispanic, and young millennial parents, according to survey results released today by the nonprofit National School Choice Awareness Foundation (NSCAF).

According to the survey, 53.7 percent of parents considered new schools for their children over the past year, or are currently considering making a change. Black parents (64.5 percent), Hispanic parents (64.6 percent), and parents aged 18-29 (63.3 percent) were most likely to consider new schools for their children.

Parents who explored new education options were primarily motivated by a desire to find a better educational fit for their child and not out of widespread dissatisfaction with their children's schools, the survey indicated. In fact, 67.9 percent of all parents expressed satisfaction with their children's schools.

Post-COVID, however, parents are increasingly worried about their children's academic progress, and 86.1 percent of parents said they were at least slightly concerned about their children's learning. More than one third of parents (37.9 percent) said they accessed in-person or online tutoring for their children last year, as well.

Parent demand for school choice options is unlikely to decline in the coming years. Nearly two thirds of parents surveyed (64.7 percent) said they wish they had more information about the schooling options available for their childrenwith demand for information strongest among Black (71.2 percent), Hispanic (75.7 percent) and young millennial parents.

"Every child deserves a quality, effective education, and school choice empowers parents to find learning environments where their daughters and sons are most likely to succeed," said Shelby Doyle, NSCAF's vice president of public awareness. "As we prepare to celebrate National School Choice Week with tens of thousands of awareness-raising events across the country, it is essential to remember for families, school choice is not about policy or politics. It is about making intensely personal decisions about what works best for their individual children."

To learn more about school choice, or to access comprehensive and unbiased information designed to help parents navigate the K12 school choice options available for their children, visit schoolchoiceweek.com.

For more information on NSCAF's parent survey program, or to download the survey's findings, toplines, or cross-tabs, click here.

National School Choice Week (NSCW) informs, inspires, and empowers parents to discover the K-12 education options available for their children. The Week is a charitable program of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical National School Choice Awareness Foundation (NSCAF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. NSCAF's mission is to raise broad and equal parent awareness of K12 education options, including traditional public, public charter, public magnet, private, online, and home education.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
ROUND ROCK, Texas, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --

News summary

New and next-generation Dell PowerEdge servers

Dell PowerEdge server portfolio expansion offers more performance, including up to 2.9x greater AI inferencing

Dell Smart Flow design and Dell Power Manager software advancements deliver greater energy efficiency

design and Dell Power Manager software advancements deliver greater energy efficiency Dell Secured Component Verification helps secure the supply chain with cryptographic verification

Dell APEX portfolio to offer a modern compute as-a-Service experience, helping companies improve IT operations while making the most of their resources

Full story

Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) expands the industry's top selling server portfolio1, with an additional 13 next-generation Dell PowerEdge servers, designed to accelerate performance and reliability for powerful computing across core data centers, large-scale public clouds and edge locations.

Next-generation rack, tower and multi-node PowerEdge servers, with 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, include Dell software and engineering advancements, such as a new Smart Flow design, to improve energy and cost efficiency. Expanded Dell APEX capabilities will help organizations take an as-a-Service approach, allowing for more effective IT operations that make the most of compute resources while minimizing risk.

"Customers come to Dell for easily managed yet sophisticated and efficient servers with advanced capabilities to power their business-critical workloads," said Jeff Boudreau, president and general manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies. "Our next-generation Dell PowerEdge servers offer unmatched innovation that raises the bar in power efficiency, performance and reliability while simplifying how customers can implement a Zero Trust approach for greater security throughout their IT environments."

New Dell PowerEdge servers are designed to meet the needs of a range of demanding workloads from artificial intelligence and analytics to large-scale databases. The expanded portfolio announced in November 2022, including the PowerEdge XE family of servers with NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs and the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software suite for a full stack, production AI platform builds on advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

New servers for cloud service providers

The introduction of Dell PowerEdge HS5610 and HS5620 servers delivers optimized solutions tailored for cloud service providers managing large-scale, multi-vendor data centers. Available in both 1U and 2U form factors, these new, two-socket servers include cold aisle serviceable configurations and are available with Dell Open Server Manager, an OpenBMC based systems management solution to simplify multi-vendor fleet management.

Greater performance and simpler management

Next-generation PowerEdge servers provide improved performance, including the Dell PowerEdge R760, which delivers up to 2.9x greater AI inferencing on 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors with Intel Deep Learning Boost and Intel Advanced Matrix Extensions.2 The PowerEdge R760 also offers up to a 20% increase in VDI users3 and over 50% more SAP Sales & Distribution users on one server, compared to the previous generation.4 PowerEdge systems may be ordered with NVIDIA Bluefield-2 data processing units to provide additional offload, acceleration and workload isolation capabilities ideal for power efficiency for private, hybrid and multicloud deployments.

Enhancements to Dell monitoring software and new services make server management even easier:

Dell CloudIQ  Dell software combines proactive monitoring, machine learning and predictive analytics while offering a comprehensive view of servers wherever they reside. Updates include advancements to server performance forecasting, select maintenance operations and new virtualization and visualization features.

Dell software combines proactive monitoring, machine learning and predictive analytics while offering a comprehensive view of servers wherever they reside. Updates include advancements to server performance forecasting, select maintenance operations and new virtualization and visualization features. Dell ProDeploy services  The Dell ProDeploy Factory Configuration service delivers PowerEdge servers ready to install and preconfigured with the customer's preferred operating system, hypervisor software and settings for RAID, BIOS and iDRAC. The Dell ProDeploy Rack Integration service delivers and installs production-ready racked and networked PowerEdge servers, ideal for companies expanding their data center environments or undergoing an IT modernization.

The service delivers PowerEdge servers ready to install and preconfigured with the customer's preferred operating system, hypervisor software and settings for RAID, BIOS and iDRAC. The service delivers and installs production-ready racked and networked PowerEdge servers, ideal for companies expanding their data center environments or undergoing an IT modernization. Dell iDRAC9  As customers seek increased server automation and intelligence, Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) makes Dell systems easier to deploy and diagnose, equipped with updated features such as Certificate Expiry Notice, Telemetry for Dell Consoles and GPU monitoring.

"With improvements in genomic sequencing technology and new methods in the lab driving data growth, data flows will continue to expand in the future. To ensure our continued innovation, we need to process data quickly and efficiently," said Dr. Pete Clapham, Informatics Support Group leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute. "Dell PowerEdge servers are well-designed, have built-in security, and deliver the performance that allows us to accelerate scientific discovery and bring innovation to the world faster."

Designed for sustainability

Dell PowerEdge servers are designed with sustainability in mind, offering customers a 3x performance improvement, compared to 14th Generation PowerEdge servers with Intel Xeon Scalable processors launched in 2017, resulting in less floor space required and more powerful and efficient technology across all next-generation systems.5 Key highlights include:

Dell Smart Flow design  A new feature within the Dell Smart Cooling suite increases airflow and reduces fan power by up to 52% compared to previous generation servers. 6 The Smart Flow design supports greater server performance with less power required to cool systems for more efficient data centers.

A new feature within the suite increases airflow and reduces fan power by up to 52% compared to previous generation servers. The Smart Flow design supports greater server performance with less power required to cool systems for more efficient data centers. Dell OpenManage Enterprise Power Manager 3.0 software  Customers can better manage efficiency and cooling goals, monitor carbon emissions and set power caps up to 82% faster to limit overall energy usage. With the enhanced sustainability target tool, customers can determine overall server use, virtual machine and facility energy consumption, leak detection for liquid cooling systems, and more.

Customers can better manage efficiency and cooling goals, monitor carbon emissions and set power caps up to 82% faster to limit overall energy usage. With the enhanced sustainability target tool, customers can determine overall server use, virtual machine and facility energy consumption, leak detection for liquid cooling systems, and more. Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)  Four next-generation Dell PowerEdge servers will be available with the EPEAT silver designation, and 46 systems will be designated EPEAT bronze. The EPEAT ecolabel is a leading global designation, covering products and services from the technology sector that demonstrate a responsible purchasing decision.

"Today's modern data center requires continuous performance improvements for complex workloads such as AI, ML and VDI," said Kuba Stolarski, research vice president, IDC Enterprise Infrastructure Practice. "As data center operators endeavor to keep up with the demand from these resource hungry workloads, they must also prioritize environmental and security goals. With its new Smart Flow design, coupled with enhancements to its power and cooling management tools, Dell offers organizations significant improvements in efficient server operation alongside the raw performance gains in its newest generation of servers."

Reliability and security at the core

Next-generation PowerEdge servers help accelerate Zero Trust adoption within organizations' IT environments. The devices constantly verify access, assuming every user and device is a potential threat. At the hardware level, silicon-based hardware root of trust, with elements including the Dell Secured Component Verification (SCV), helps verify supply chain security from design to delivery. Additionally, multifactor authentication and integrated iDRAC verifies users before granting access.

A secure supply chain also enables customers to advance their Zero Trust approach. Dell SCV offers cryptographic verification of components, which extends supply chain security to the customer's site.

Delivering a scalable, modern compute experience

Customers looking for OpEx flexibility can consume PowerEdge servers as a subscription through Dell APEX today. Using advanced data collection and processor-based measurement by the hour, customers can take a flexible approach to avoid the costs associated with over-provisioning their compute needs.

Later this year, Dell Technologies will expand its Dell APEX portfolio to offer bare metal compute services on-premises, at the edge, or in colocation facilities. Services will be available through a predictable, monthly subscription and easily configured through the APEX Console, enabling customers to meet their workload and IT operational needs with scalable and secure compute resources.

"4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors have the most built-in accelerators of any CPU on the market to help maximize performance efficiency for real world applications, especially those powered by AI," said Lisa Spelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Intel Xeon Products. "With the latest generation of Dell PowerEdge servers, Intel and Dell continue our strong collaboration in delivering innovations that create real business value, while incorporating leading scalability and security that customers require."

Availability

Dell PowerEdge R760 is available globally in February 2023 .

. Dell PowerEdge HS5620, HS5610 are available globally in April 2023 .

. Additional next-generation Dell PowerEdge servers will be global availability throughout the first half of 2023.

ProDeploy Factory Configuration is globally available today, and ProDeploy Rack Integration is available today in the US.

Dell APEX compute services are planned for the second half of 2023.

Additional resources

About Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) helps organizations and individuals build their digital future and transform how they work, live and play. The company provides customers with the industry's broadest and most innovative technology and services portfolio for the data era.

Copyright  2022 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies and Dell are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Intel, the Intel logo, and other Intel marks are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.

1 Based on the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker for Q3 2022, released December 6, 2022.

2 Testing commissioned by Dell in December of 2022 and performed by Scalers AI, which delivers greater AI inferencing for object detection using INT8 on 4th Gen Intel Xeon. PowerEdge R760 includes a fourth-generation Xeon SP CPU with updated Deep Learning Boost instructions. Actual results will vary.

3 Based on internal Dell testing where the R760 with (2) Intel Xeon Gold 6454S Processors hosted 220VDI sessions compared to an R750 with (2) Intel Xeon Gold 6348 Processors that was able to host 183VDI sessions.

4 Based on test results approved by SAP under certification number: 2023005 where the R760 with (2) Intel Xeon Platinum 8480 Processors with a total of 112 cores, 224 threads and 2,048 GB DRAM hosted 72,250 SD users using SUSE SLES15 compared to published results for the R750 with (2) Intel Xeon Platinum 8380 Processors with a total of 80 cores, 160 threads and 1,024GB DRAM which demonstrated support for up to 48,000 SD Users using RedHat RHEL8.2 under certification number 2021026 . SAP Standard Application Benchmarks

5 Based Dell SPEC.org benchmark published results on R760 with (2) Intel Xeon 8480+ Processors as compared to a R740 with (2) Intel Xeon 8180 Processors Published results as of Jan 2023 https://www.spec.org/cpu2017/results/

6 Based on internal Dell testing conducted in the Thermal & Efficiency lab evaluating power draw and airflow of PowerEdge R760 Smart Flow chassis configuration vs PowerEdge R760 standard chassis configuration on Nov 2022

SOURCE Dell Technologies
CryptoChart Lite Medical Image Sharing System Provides Secure Medical Imaging and Digital Records Transfer via Secure QR Code or Web Access Code

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Novarad announced today its release of CryptoChart Lite, a web-based version of the healthcare company's CryptoChart medical image and report sharing system, to developing countries at no cost.

CryptoChart Lite Workflow

CryptoChart Lite provides a simple, user-friendly, and secure solution to sharing patient images and reports without CDs, passwords, or portals. Users simply drag and drop medical images onto the secure web client, and receive a shareable secure QR code or web access code. Patients and providers can access digital records anywhere, anytime from a computer or mobile device using the code. CryptoChart Lite allows individual healthcare providers and medical facilities worldwide to share medical images with patients and higher care facilities for free, using mobile-friendly technology available worldwide. The new version is also available for free to hospitals, imaging centers, and clinics in the U.S. and Canada, although the full version is more conducive to streamlined workflows.

"With CryptoChart Lite, a provider serving patients at a rural clinic in Africa can upload patient details and share it securely with a hospital or doctor in the U.K. to provide a consultation or second opinion," said Dave GrandPre, Sr. Director of Product, Novarad.

Using CryptoChart, patients and providers can receive images and medical reports from any DICOM modality or PACS. Once received, files are encrypted and sent to the CryptoChart cloud system. Users receive a hyper-secure optical code or web access code which provides access to the digital images and reports. There is no software download required to use CryptoChart, and no training required to begin use. The secure system exceeds HIPPA requirements in the U.S. for digital records. Patient records are stored for 30 days when using the free version of CryptoChart Lite.

"We are proud to offer CryptoChart Lite as a free service for healthcare professionals treating underserved populations worldwide," said Dr. Gibby, Founder and CEO, Novarad.

To access the free version of CryptoChart Lite, global healthcare providers and hospitals can visit:

https://cryptolite.novarad.net/.

About Novard

For more than 25 years, Novarad has delivered industry-leading and innovative imaging technologies for healthcare providers and their patients. Visit Novarad at www.novarad.net for more information.

SOURCE Novarad Corporation
Creates one of the largest public affairs firms in the region

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, two of the most heralded public affairs and communications firms based in Northern New England are joining forces to offer unparalleled services and quality for their clients. Novus Public Affairs is proud to announce its merger with Hynes Communications, the nation's premier agency focused on digital media and online communications strategy. This merger strengthens Novus' advocacy, public relations, and communications capabilities, and allows the company to offer a range of additional services to its diverse and growing client base.

"With this merger, Novus Public Affairs is even better positioned to help our clients bridge the gap between business and advocacy," Patrick Hynes stated. "Together our team will offer solutions and strategies to overcome the challenges in our current legislative and regulatory landscape."

With decades of excellence behind it, Novus Public Affairs has delivered results for businesses and institutions competing in the public arena since its founding in 1996. From Fortune 100 companies, independent businesses, trade associations, and not-for-profits, Novus has been the go-to firm helping organizations navigate their most important initiatives, all backed by a proven team. Hynes Communications, spearheaded by digital communications innovator Patrick Hynes, has pioneered the art of online communications in the growing digital arena since its inception in 2006. In the ensuing years, Hynes has developed and led successful online communications programs for leading Washington, DC-based trade associations and lobbying firms at the national and state level.

"I'm very excited by the cutting-edge services this new team brings to the table in 2023. Hynes' expertise enhances our existing public relations, advocacy, and coalition-building capabilities and adds new services to our portfolio such as social media management, digital design and advertising, and writing and content creation," said Novus Founder Paul Young.

The merged company will operate under the Novus Public Affairs brand and Patrick Hynes will serve as company President. Paul Young will continue in his role as CEO. The merger of the two companies creates one of the largest public affairs firms in the region with a New England-wide and national reach, offering a broad range of capabilities to meet the varying demands of its clients.

For more information, and to contact Novus Public Affairs and learn more about the Novus team, please click here: https://novuspublicaffairs.com

For more information contact

Patrick Hynes

202-321-5310

[email protected]

SOURCE Hynes Communications
Highly sought-after Michael Jordan trading card features uncommon jersey patch and difficult-to-find perfect autograph

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the world's most sought-after Michael Jordan trading cards is on the auction block at PWCC Marketplace  and potential buyers already have the card above the half-million-dollar mark with multiple days left to go in bidding.

The card in question is the uncommonly-seen and unquestionably unique 1997 Upper Deck Michael Jordan Game Jersey Patch Autograph card  of which there are just 23 copies in the world.

This 1997 Upper Deck Michael Jordan Game Jersey Patch Autograph trading card is up for auction at PWCC Marketplace through Jan. 19, 2023.

The card sits at $552,000 in bidding, including Buyer's Premium, as of press time. The auction closes to new bidders at 7 p.m. PT on Jan. 19.

View the auction: https://www.pwccmarketplace.com/premier-auction/7184

The card is autographed by Jordan and constructed with a patch of a game-worn jersey  but it's a jersey from his 1992 All-Star Game appearance.

No Bulls jersey. No rookie designation. Why is this particular card so sought after among collectors?

"This issue was the very first time you could pull an autographed Michael Jordan card with a game-used patch out of a trading card pack," said Jesse Craig, Vice President of Sales at PWCC Marketplace. "Only 23 of these were released so it was basically impossible to open a pack and find one. But collectors knew they existed and that gap between supply and demand means this is a grail-level card."

Is this truly the most sought-after Jordan trading card? Past buyers have given the card plenty of evidence to at least make the claim. Of the top five all-time sales for Jordan trading cards, four spots are occupied by sales of copies of this trading card. The card has twice seen sales north of $2 million according to public sales records. Those are the only two Jordan sales to ever crest the $2 million mark.

The copy on the auction block at PWCC is graded to a Near Mint 8 by third-party grading company Beckett. Of particular note is that the blue ink autograph received a perfect 10 grade  an extremely difficult designation to achieve as the surface design of the card is very unique and resulted in many less-than-perfect signings.

"You see very few perfect 10 grades for the autographs on these cards," Craig said. "The surface here is tough to sign on and you typically see some issues with the pen striking the card. That's not the case with this example."

For more information, visit: https://www.pwccmarketplace.com/premier-auction/7184

SOURCE PWCC Marketplace
HOUSTON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ontellus, a records retrieval and claims intelligence company, announced the appointment of Shareen Minor as Chief Revenue Officer. In this role, Ms. Minor is responsible for overseeing all revenue-generating processes, including client relationships, sales and marketing teams, and ensuring all of her departments work cohesively to execute the company strategy. Ms. Minor will also have accountability for building strategic partnerships and identifying new growth opportunities as Ontellus seeks to continue its rapid pace of growth. She will report directly to the CEO, Vince Cole.

Ontellus, a records retrieval and claims intelligence company, announced the appointment of Shareen Minor as Chief Revenue Officer.

"Shareen has an impressive track record and growth-oriented mindset that we believe will help elevate our performance and strengthen our brand in the marketplace, and ultimately drive results," said Mr. Cole, CEO, Ontellus.

Ms. Minor brings more than two decades of experience in the insurance industry, most recently serving as Chief Commercial Officer at a national professional services company where she oversaw the firm's U.S. commercial strategy. Her leadership experience also includes executive positions with Engle Martin & Associates, NatGen Premier and Fireman's Fund.

"Ontellus seeks to evolve the records and data management industry so that insights can be accessed anywhere in an efficient and secure way, eliminating pain points that still exist in an increasingly digital world," said Ms. Minor. "I am eager to join a team who values versatility, innovation and dependability as much as I do, and look forward to accelerating Ontellus' dedication to customer success and growth."

Ontellus is backed by Aquiline Capital Partners ("Aquiline"), a private investment firm based in New York and London with $9.2 billion in assets under management that invests in businesses globally across financial services and technology, and The Capstreet Group ("Capstreet"), a Houston-based lower middle market private equity firm.

About Ontellus

Ontellus empowers insurance carriers, self-insured corporations and law firms to reduce costs, make informed decisions and accelerate claims resolution. As a privately held data retrieval and claims intelligence provider, Ontellus leverages decades of experience and cutting-edge technology to deliver impactful products and client-centric services. For more information, visit www.ontellus.com.

About Aquiline Capital Partners

Aquiline Capital Partners, founded in 2005, is a private investment firm based in New York and London that invests across financial services and technology. The firm has $9.2 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2022. For more information about Aquiline, its investment professionals, and its portfolio companies, please visit www.aquiline.com.

About The Capstreet Group

Founded in 1990, Capstreet invests in lower middle market software, tech-enabled services, and industrial business services companies. With over 45 platform investments and over 200 add-on acquisitions since inception, Capstreet's investment strategy is focused on utilizing its Capvalue Framework to help accelerate growth and profitability, and help create long term sustainable businesses. The majority of Capstreet's investments have been with founder- or entrepreneur-owned businesses. For more information, visit the Capstreet website, www.capstreet.com.

Media Contacts:

Ontellus

Contact: Shareen Minor

713.324.4006

Prosek Partners for Ontellus

Contact: Tate Mikkelsen

646.818.9267

SOURCE Ontellus
Oracle Positioned as a Leader Based on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Oracle has been named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Financial Planning Software for Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM). The Magic Quadrant, which evaluated 14 companies, recognized Oracle as a Leader for its "Ability to Execute" and "Completeness of Vision." A complimentary copy of the report is available here.

Gartner defines Financial Planning Software as "the key tool that enables organizations to manage their enterprise-wide financial planning, forecasting, and budgeting processes. Financial Planning Software allows finance organizations to plan and analyze business financial strategy for the organization across all three financial statements (profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flows). It supports modeling, collaboration, analytics, and performance-reporting capabilities, all of which enhance a user's ability to effectively manage financial performance."

According to the report, "Leaders are in the strongest position to influence the market's growth, direction and provide mature offerings that meet market demand. Leaders demonstrate a market-defining vision of how financial planning software can help CFOs achieve their business objectives of maximizing organizational profitability, resource allocation and value creation while enabling workflow efficiencies and predictive capabilities within their FP&A operations. Leaders have the ability to execute their vision and clearly identify how innovative technologies can be applied throughout the solutions within their application, including big data integrations or AI/ML functionality. Leaders have demonstrated business results in the form of new customer acquisition and existing customer retention, and they excel in their combination of product features, market responsiveness, customer experience and innovation."

"To successfully plan and make data-driven decisions in a volatile business environment, organizations need fast and accurate insights, which requires connecting data across every area of the business," said Hari Sankar, group vice president, Product Management at Oracle. "We feel that the recognition from Gartner is a testament to the success that our customers have achieved in automating analysis and connected planning across their organizations to be ready for what's next."

Part of Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Oracle Cloud EPM offers a comprehensive set of enterprise performance management capabilities to align financial and operational planning, close the books faster, and manage enterprise master data.

Over 11,000 organizations turn to Oracle Cloud ERP and Oracle Cloud HCM applications to run their businesses. Oracle Cloud ERP offers a comprehensive set of enterprise finance and operations capabilities, including financials, accounting hub, procurement, project management, enterprise performance management, risk management, subscription management, and supply chain management & manufacturing.

Oracle has garnered consistent industry recognition for its finance applications. Oracle was recently named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises and the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud ERP for Service-Centric Enterprises. Additionally, Oracle was named a Customers' Choice in the 2021 Gartner Peer Insights'Voice of the Customer': Cloud Financial Planning and Analysis Solutions.

To learn more about Oracle Cloud EPM, visit oracle.com/epm

Gartner Disclaimer

Gartner, Gartner Peer Insights 'Voice of the Customer': Cloud Financial Planning and Analysis Solutions, 11 March 2021, Peer Contributors

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, MAGIC QUADRANT and PEER INSIGHTS are registered trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual end users based on their own experiences with the vendors listed on the platform, should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Oracle

Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle (NYSE: ORCL), please visit us at www.oracle.com.

Trademarks

Oracle, Java, and MySQL are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation.

SOURCE Oracle
SHANGHAI, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Organon China is proud to have been named the "2023 Top Employers in China" and honored to receive "Best Workplaces in Greater China 2022" certificate, in recognizing its vision-driven company culture, diversity and inclusion, strong employer brand, attractive work environment and company's long-term commitment in ESG. The company stands out as one of the few companies in the market to win two major certifications on its first anniversary as a standalone company.

As a newly established healthcare company, Organon always commits to bring and practice the core values of BE REAL, OWN IT, BRING YOUR FIRE, RISE TOGETHER, KEEP MOVING and WE ALL BELONG, aims to adapt a comprehensive people strategy to build an inclusive and caring organization to attract and retain talents.

Zafer Unluer, Senior Vice President of Organon and Market Lead of Organon China said, "After our recent spun off, in such a short amount of time being rewarded both with Top Employers China and Best Workplaces in Greater China, demonstrates our commitment in building a culture evolving around our people. As a new company with a strong legacy of products, we have built an inclusive culture and welcoming diverse opinions from different backgrounds of founders. In Organon, we believe bringing the fire of our founders into work is a recipe for success. In order to achieve our mission of creating a healthier every day for every woman & their loved ones in China, we need to operate from a mindset of possibilities. And there is no single market better than China that is a better fit to showcase the talents of our employees while delivering our mission. Those awards will help us in retaining & attracting the best talents in Chinese market into our company."

Lia Zuo, Head of Human Resources, Organon China said, "Our people is the key force in our long-term development and success in China. At Organon, every employee works as a founder. We rise together, and the company supports talents to unleash their potential by creating a positive and healthy workplace. We support them to discover, to learn, to achieve and succeed, and keep moving for making a better and healthier every day for every woman and their family around the world."

Striving to Build a Founder Culture to Attract and Retain Talents

The Top Employers Institute program certifies organizations based on the participation and results of their HR Best Practices Survey. The survey covers six HR domains consisting of 20 topics including People Strategy, Work Environment, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Wellbeing and more.

The institute is deeply impressed by Organon's founder culture that encourage entrepreneurship to achieve both operational excellence and business growth. For example, the company collects innovative ideas submitted by employees every quarter and launches a special program. By the end of 2022, the company has collected a total of 112 employees' innovative ideas, and 11 ideas of them have been adopted and put into real-life practice, which not only encourages creativity, but also helps improve operation efficiency.

In terms of knowledge and skill, Organon China launches its people strategy with three pillars on "cross-functional knowledge and expertise, learning ability to actively respond to changes, and agility in the VUCA era". For example, the company launched "Galaxy Academy" a signature training platform in China for new managers and high-potential talents by providing diversified training programs, encouraging employees to lead the change, enabling the sustainable development of the organization and contributing to company's goal and strategy.

Creating An "Ideal Workplace" for Employees with Diversity and Inclusion

Organon believes that an "ideal workplace" not only consists of open, fluid and collaborative space where new ideas flourish, but also a workplace with people who team up and ready to make her health different and grow together in achieving shared mission.

The company supports employees by providing competitive compensation and benefits, customized learning resources, tailored-made career development pathway as well as diverse, friendly and balanced working environment.

For example, every China employee is entitled to have "Focus Day"(every Friday) for working remotely. On the International Women's Day, Organon was also designating the date as a day to recognize the growing health disparities women face, providing paid time off for all employees to attend to their own health needs and make a commitment to the health of the women in their lives or reflecting on how to make a change. Moreover, Organon China also took a series of actions to support its employees during COVID pandemic in terms of food and health supplies, physical and mental health support as well as remote work assistance.

Top Employers Institute CEO David Plink says: "Exceptional times bring out the best in people and organizations. And we have witnessed this in our Top Employers Certification Program this year: exceptional performance from the certified Top Employers 2023. These employers have always shown that they care for the development and well-being of their people. By doing so, they collectively enrich the world of work."

Relying on its efforts, Organon has also been awarded the "Best Workplaces in Greater China 2022" titled by the global workplace culture authority Great Place To Work. This specific certification is evaluated by international expert panels of Great Place To Work, who are responsible for comprehensively investigating and evaluating the employees' feedback on their employers and working departments from the dimensions of "respect, love, trust, pride and fairness".

About Organon

Organon is a global healthcare company formed to focus on improving the health of women throughout their lives. Organon has a portfolio of more than 60 medicines and products across a range of therapeutic areas. Led by the women's health portfolio coupled with an expanding biosimilars business and stable franchise of established medicines, Organon's products produce strong cash flows that will support investments in innovation and future growth opportunities in women's health. In addition, Organon is pursuing opportunities to collaborate with biopharmaceutical innovators looking to commercialize their products by leveraging its scale and presence in fast growing international markets.

Organon has a global footprint with significant scale and geographic reach, world-class commercial capabilities, and approximately 10,000 employees with headquarters located in Jersey City, New Jersey.

For more information, visit http://www.organon.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Instagram.

SOURCE Organon(Shanghai)Pharmaceutical Technology Co.,Ltd.
ENOLA, Pa., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PAM Health has announced plans to build a new 42-bed inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Wesley Chapel, Fla. Wesley Chapel is located north of Tampa, which is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.

PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Wesley Chapel will offer inpatient and outpatient care and feature a team of medical experts focused on a common goal of increasing patient strength and endurance and improving quality of life for patients who have experienced stroke, brain injury, neurological disease and deficits, amputations, pulmonary disease, orthopedic conditions, spinal cord injury, and medically complex conditions.

Construction on the 60,000-square-foot, two-story hospital will begin in early 2023. The hospital will begin serving patients in early 2024.

PAM Health currently operates PAM Health Specialty Hospital of Sarasota and PAM Health Specialty Hospital of Jacksonville, both long-term acute care hospitals serving critically ill patients with complex medical conditions. In addition, PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Tavares will open in January, and PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Jupiter will open this spring.

"We continue to expand our services throughout Florida as we identify the need for the type of high-quality, patient-focused care that PAM Health is known for," said Anthony Misitano, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of PAM Health. "The Tampa area is a vibrant, growing area. We look forward to offering a new level of rehabilitation care to patients in the greater Tampa region with our goal always being to help them achieve optimal outcomes."

Once complete, PAM Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Wesley Chapel will employ approximately 120 people.

PAM HEALTH (PAM) based in Enola, Pennsylvania, provides specialty healthcare services through more than 70 long-term acute care hospitals and physical medicine and rehabilitation hospitals, as well as wound clinics and outpatient physical therapy locations, in 17 states. PAM Health is committed to providing high-quality patient care and outstanding customer service, coupled with the loyalty and dedication of highly trained staff, to be the most trusted and impactful source for healthcare services in every community it serves. Its mission is to serve people by providing compassionate, expert care, and to support recovery through education and research.

Learn more at PAMHealth.com.

SOURCE PAM Health
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The patient monitoring devices market size reached USD 47 Billion in 2021 and is expected to register a CAGR of 7.8% during the forecast period, according to latest analysis by Emergen Research. A major factor driving market's revenue growth is the rising adoption of wearable and remote patient monitoring devices. Wearable technology aids in the identification of many chronic diseases by merging clinical symptoms with vital indications. As a result, the use of wearable technologies to combat COVID-19 has increased significantly.

One of the main factors driving revenue growth is significant developments in biomedical devices and the replacement of traditional methods owing to the development of effective health monitoring facilities. The demand for patient monitoring technology is expected to rise as the prevalence of chronic illnesses including diabetes, stroke, and renal disease grows. Additionally, a rise in the number of patients afflicted by various lifestyle diseases like atherosclerosis and cancer increases the market revenue growth.

Request Free Sample Copy (To Understand the Complete Structure of this Report [Summary + TOC]) @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-sample/1535

Drivers:

The market revenue growth is being driven by the rise in chronic disease rates, cutting-edge technology, and the demand for mobile and portable solutions designed to reduce out-of-pocket costs. The market will grow during the forecast period as a result of significant market players including GE Healthcare, Masimo Corporation, Edward Lifesciences among others investing in research and development for more sophisticated patient monitoring device facilities. Moreover, one of the major drivers of revenue growth is the rising prevalence of acute and chronic respiratory disorders. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, sinusitis may have resulted in up to 73 million days of limited activity in 2021, totaling more than 2.4 billion. The rise in demand for sinus dilatation devices is owing to the rising prevalence of respiratory illnesses among the worldwide people. The increase in chronic diseases like diabetes, stroke, and kidney disease is driving the demand for patient monitoring equipment. For instance, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 422 million diabetics globally. The industry is growing as a result of an increasing need for monitoring tools that record, transmit, analyze, and display a range of biometric data, including blood pressure, temperature, and blood oxygen saturation level.

Restraints:

A significant factor restraining market revenue growth is system failure risk. The adoption rate of patient monitoring devices is significantly reduced when their systems fail. The expensive cost of technology and resistance from healthcare sector specialists to the use of patient monitoring devices, however, are expected to restrain market expansion.

Growth Projections:

The patient monitoring devices market is expected to register a CAGR of 7.8% over the forecast period and revenue is projected to increase from USD 47.00 Billion in 2021 to USD 92.40 Billion in 2030. is expected to support revenue growth of the market. The major factors for market expansion are the incidence of chronic diseases, favorable reimbursement circumstances, and rising awareness of patient monitoring devices.

Emergen Research is Offering Limited Time Discount (Grab a Copy at Discounted Price Now) @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-discount/1535

Current Trends and Innovations:

The market's expansion is driven by an array of initiatives such as product launches and market expansion. For example, to increase access to Statis Monitor, a linked care bedside multi-parameter monitoring system, the Indian division of Medtronic collaborated with Stasis Health in September 2021. Given the increasing research and development efforts by global market players to produce cutting-edge patient monitoring devices, the market revenue is expected to grow. Additionally, market would expand owing to the presence of significant global market players investing in patient monitoring devices to address the growth in diabetes all over the world. For instance, according to the German Diabetes Center (DDZ), over the next 20 years, the percentage of people with diabetes in Germany will more than double, to at least 7.2% of the country's population.

Strategic Initiatives:

Major companies included in the market report are Intersect Smiths Medical Bosch GmbH; Biotronik; Intel Corporation; Welch Allyn; Health anywhere Inc.; Koninklijke Philips N.V.; GE Healthcare; Medtronic; Masimo Corporation; Smiths Medical.

On December 30, 2022 , In October 2021 , the Real-Time Health Monitoring System (RTHMS) was released, which was developed by Honeywell. It combines hardware and data analytics software to enhance real-time and remote patient monitoring as well as digitize and automate time-consuming and crucial activities for medical staff.

Browse Full Report Description + Research Methodology + Table of Content + [email protected] https://www.emergenresearch.com/industry-report/patient-monitoring-devices-market

Scope of Research

Report Details Outcome Market size in 2021 USD 47 Billion CAGR (20222030) 7.8 % Revenue forecast to 2030 USD 92.40 Billion Base year for estimation 2021 Historical data 20192020 Forecast period 20222030 Quantitative units Revenue in USD Billion and CAGR in % from 2022 to 2030 Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape,

growth factors, and trends Segments covered Product, end-use, and region Regional scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and

Middle East & Africa Country scope U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain,

Benelux, Rest of Europe, China, India, Japan, South Korea,

Rest of APAC, Brazil, Rest of LATAM, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E.,

South Africa, Turkey, and Rest of MEA Key companies profiled Intersect Smiths Medical Bosch GmbH, Biotronik, Intel

Corporation, Welch Allyn, Health anywhere Inc., Koninklijke

Philips N.V., GE Healthcare, Medtronic plc, MASIMO

CORPORATION, and Smiths Medical Customization scope 10 hours of free customization and expert consultation

Custom Requirements can be requested for this Report [Customization Available] @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-for-customization/1535

Emergen Research has segmented patient monitoring devices market on the basis of product, end-use, and region:

Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

Blood Glucose Monitoring Systems



Cardiac Monitoring Devices



Respiratory Monitoring Devices



Others

End-use Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

Hospitals



Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs)



Others

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion; 2019-2030)

North America

a. U.S.

b. Canada

c. Mexico

a. U.S. b. c.

Europe

a. Germany

b. France

c. U.K.

d. Italy

e. Spain

f. Benelux

g. Rest of Europe

a. b. c. U.K. d. e. f. Benelux g. Rest of

Asia Pacific

a. China

b. India

c. Japan

d. South Korea

e. Rest of APAC

a. b. c. d. e. Rest of APAC

Latin America

a. Brazil

b. Rest of LATAM

a. b. Rest of LATAM

Middle East & Africa

a. Saudi Arabia

b. UAE

c. South Africa

d. Turkey

e. Rest of MEA

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Growth & innovations in the medical devices, massive pool of chronic disease incidences, surge in geriatric population, growth of the medical tourism sector, and increase in the number of hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and emergency care centers drive the growth of the global patient temperature management market.

PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Patient Temperature Management Market by Product (Patient Warming Systems, Patient Cooling Systems, Accessories), by Application (Infants and Pediatric, Intensive Care, Operations, Others), by Distribution (Operating Room, Neonatal Intensive Care unit, Emergency Room, Intensive care units, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031". According to the report, the global patient temperature management industry generated $2.9 billion in 2021, and is anticipated to generate $6.0 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 7.7% from 2022 to 2031.

Download Free Sample Report: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/13037

Prime determinants of growth

Growth & innovations in the medical devices, massive pool of chronic disease incidences, surge in geriatric population, growth of the medical tourism sector in developed and developing countries, growing awareness about healthcare, rising healthcare expenditure, and increase in the number of hospitals, ambulatory care centers, and emergency care centers drive the growth of the global patient temperature management market. However, the unfavorable regulatory scenarios of the products used for testing restrict the market growth. Moreover, increase in promotional activities by manufacturers and growth in awareness of respiratory testing kits devices among the general population present new opportunities in the coming years.

Covid-19 Scenario

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the global patient temperature management market, owing to severe disruptions in various medical device industries during the lockdown.

Furthermore, the market players experienced constrained supply or curtailed customer demand due to customer loss of private health insurance coverage for the products, which in turn, adversely impacted the business, results of operations and overall financial performance of the companies.

The patient warming systems segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on product, the patient warming systems segment held the highest market share in 2021, accounting for more than half of the global patient temperature management market, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 8.0% from 2022 to 2031, owing to increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases like cardiovascular diseases, increase in the adoption of patient temperature management devices for controlling thermoregulation and availability of patient temperature management in the market by various key players.

Purchase Inquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/13037

The operations segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period

Based on applications, the operations segment held the highest market share in 2021, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global patient temperature management market, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 8.2% from 2022 to 2031. This is attributed to increase in the adoption of patient temperature management devices for surgical procedures of various diseases and increase in technological advancements. In addition, growth in prevalence of chronic diseases mng the population & surge in cardiac surgeries are td t rl th grwth f th mrkt.

The operating room segment to maintain its lead position during the forecast period

Based on distribution channel, the operating room segment accounted for the largest share in 2021, contributing to around two-fifths of the global patient temperature management market, and is projected to maintain its lead position during the forecast period. This segment is expected to portray the largest CAGR of 8.4% from 2022 to 2031, as hospitals and diagnostic centers are the oldest and most conventional medium for using patient temperature management devices to manage the temperature of patients in acute critical care or surgical care.

North America to maintain its dominance by 2031

Based on region, North America held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2021, accounting for nearly half of the global patient temperature management market, and is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period. This is due to high prevalence rate of neurological and cardiac diseases, increase in the number market players and surge in the awareness about temperature management devices in the region. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 9.6% from 2022 to 2031. The market growth in this region is attributed to the presence of medical device companies in the region as well as growth in the purchasing power of consumers in the populated countries, such as China and India.

Leading Market Players: -

Stryker Corporation

ASAHI KASEI CORP

Becton

Dickinson and Company

Medtronic plc

ICU Medical Inc.

Inspiration Healthcare Group plc

3M Company

Company The Surgical Company,

Atom Medical Corporation,

Geratherm Medical AG

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Programs can help alleviate growing balances for customers having financial difficulty

WILLIAMSPORT, Md., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Residential customers of Potomac Edison, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), who are having difficulty making ends meet are encouraged to contact their utility now to enroll in payment plans or to receive referrals for bill assistance programs.

"Many of our customers continue to face financial challenges due to ongoing economic uncertainty," said Linda Moss, president of Maryland Operations for FirstEnergy. "With winter in full swing, I encourage customers who have fallen behind on their bills to contact us as soon as possible so that a member of our team can review their options with them."

Programs customers may be eligible to participate in include:

The Electric Universal Service Program (EUSP): Eligible customers can receive financial assistance to help pay their electric bill and may also receive arrearage forgiveness. To apply, visit mydhrbenefits.dhr.state.md.us or call the Maryland Department of Human Services at 800-332-6347.

Eligible customers can receive financial assistance to help pay their electric bill and may also receive arrearage forgiveness. To apply, visit or call the Maryland Department of Human Services at 800-332-6347. The Utility Service Protection Program (USPP): This program protects families with incomes less than 175% of federal poverty guidelines from utility shut-offs during the heating season. To apply, visit mydhrbenefits.dhr.state.md.us or call the Maryland Department of Human Services at 800-332-6347.

This program protects families with incomes less than 175% of federal poverty guidelines from utility shut-offs during the heating season. To apply, visit or call the Maryland Department of Human Services at 800-332-6347. The Maryland Energy Assistance Program (MEAP): This program provides assistance with home heating bills. Customers must live at the address served and earn less than 175% of federal poverty guidelines. To apply, visit mydhrbenefits.dhr.state.md.us or call the Maryland Department of Human Services at 800-332-6347.

This program provides assistance with home heating bills. Customers must live at the address served and earn less than 175% of federal poverty guidelines. To apply, visit or call the Maryland Department of Human Services at 800-332-6347. 2-1-1 Helpline: This nationwide resource and information helpline identifies locally available programs that may assist customers with utility bills or other needs. For more information dial 2-1-1, text your ZIP code to 898211 or visit the 2-1-1 website.

For a complete list of assistance programs for which customers may be eligible, including installment payment plans and budget billing, please visit www.firstenergycorp.com/billassist or call customer service at 800-686-0011.

Potomac Edison serves about 275,000 customers in all or parts of Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Howard, Montgomery, and Washington counties and 151,000 customers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Follow Potomac Edison at www.potomacedison.com, on Twitter @PotomacEdison, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PotomacEdison.

FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com . Follow FirstEnergy on Twitter: @FirstEnergyCorp.

SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PRIDE Centric Resources (PRIDE), a Colorado-based buying cooperative for the Foodservice Equipment and Supplies (FE&S) industry announces the addition of six new dealerships to its network, as of January 2023. This addition supplements six other dealers that joined the 33-year old PRIDE Centric Resources buying group in 2022. The group of approximately 100 dealerships covers the United States from Maine to southern California, Alaska to southern Florida.

"We are excited to welcome these well-established dealers to the PRIDE Centric Resources buying group," said PRIDE Centric Resources CEO Karin Sugarman. "All of these dealers come with decades of experience in the industry. We are pleased that they chose to come to PRIDE."

The new dealerships include:



CARE Sales & Service Camdenton, MO



Don's Supply, Inc. Little Rock, AR



Northshore Wholesale Marketplace Peabody, MA



Norvell Fixture & Equipment Co. Augusta, GA



SFS Equipment, Inc. Arden Hills, MN and Superior, WI



Tableware International Design & Supply Chula Vista, CA



Eric Skogrand, PRIDE's Director of Business Development noted, "Dealers have options when it comes to the buying group they choose to be part of in this industry. It is encouraging to see more dealers, like these, choose PRIDE as their buying group, especially dealers with such long histories, like these six."

Many FE&S dealerships belong to a buying group to leverage the buying power and discounts they receive equipment manufacturers and suppliers, but it is often more than just that. PRIDE also offers robust marketing and training support, as well as industry insight dealerships wouldn't otherwise get by being solo. PRIDE dealership inclusion is also an advantage to the dealer as the organization is a cooperative, and the dealers who become members have an ownership stake in the organization.

"PRIDE [Centric Resources] is a different kind of buying group," said Cathy Ellickson, Vice President of Dealer Services, "With dealer-owners, the whole focus of the organization is on dealership success, not the growth of the buying group. Dealers like these choose to come to PRIDE for many reasons."

PRIDE Centric Resources will continue to look at additional dealership applications in 2023, based on the guidelines outlined by its Board of Directors.

About PRIDE Centric Resources:

PRIDE Centric Resources is based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and is a dealer-owned cooperative, founded in 1989.

PRIDE dealers are industry experts with a passion for providing foodservice equipment and smallwares solutions and product knowledge. Our manufacturers share that same passion, offering our group the widest range of products in the industry.

PRIDE is proud to be a 100% dealer-owned organization comprised of approximately 100 food service equipment and supplies businesses nationwide. Each dealer has an equal ownership voice, and we are managed by a Board of elected PRIDE dealers. Our leadership team offers superior insight to our dealers with over 75+ years of industry experience. https://pridecentricresources.com/about-us/

CARE Sales & Service

CARE Sales & Service, a BBB-accredited company and a member of the NFIB and Missouri Restaurant Association, is located in Keystone Industrial Park on Old South Highway 5, Camdenton, MO. They've been offering exceptional commercial and restaurant equipment sales and services since 1978. Under the ownership of David and Linda Boeckman, they currently employ 15 team members.

Phone: (573) 346-2912

Website Caresands.com

Don's Supply, Inc.

Don's Supply has been family owned and operated for over 50 years. They make buying new restaurant equipment and supplies easy by offering the best deals available in Arkansas. Their services include curbside pickup, delivery, in-store pickup, in-store shopping and same day delivery along with fast and easy equipment financing.

Phone: (501) 568-1872

Website: donssupply.com

Northshore Wholesale Marketplace

For over 25 years, Northshore Wholesale Marketplace has been serving the Greater Boston area premium, quality restaurant equipment and commercial foodservice supplies. With their years of professional expertise and straightforward financing options, they make designing dream kitchens an easy reality.

Phone: (978) 536-2600

Website: nswmarketplace.com

Norvell Fixture & Equipment Co.

Norvell Fixture & Equipment is a food service and restaurant equipment provider based in Augusta, GA. They have a passion for food service. For over 74 years, their goal is to provide all the options and information needed to make an informed purchase - they don't sell the customer supplies and equipment they don't need. They attribute their longevity to their commitment to the on-going training efforts of their employees and look forward to taking advantage of all training opportunities available from PRIDE.

Phone: (706) 855-7267

Website: Norvellfixture.com

SFS Equipment, Inc.

SFS Equipment is Minnesota and Wisconsin's Premier Commercial Equipment Dealer. With locations in Superior, WI and St. Paul MN, they cover a large portion of WI, MN, IA, ND, SD, and MI. They buy and sell new and reconditioned Commercial Kitchen Equipment. If they do not stock something you are looking for, they can order it for you. Most days they can offer same day delivery on in stock items. SFS Equipment will coordinate a time that works best for you. They unpack, assemble (most items), load in our trailers, and deliver inside to desired location.

Phone: Arden Hills, MN: 612-619-7601, Superior, WI: (218) 340-0747

Website: sfsequipment.com

Tableware International Design & Supply

Tableware International Design & Supply is a one-stop source for food service equipment and supplies to the commercial foodservice industry. Located in Chula Vista, CA, their clients include restaurants, hotels, clubs, casinos, cruise ships, institutions and anywhere food is served away from home. An industry leader since 1986, they pride themselves on long-term relationships with both their customers and suppliers, providing exceptional customer service.

Phone: (619) 336-0660

Website: tifoodservice.com

Photos available upon request.

SOURCE PRIDE Centric Resources
Nationally recognized executive known for creating strong cultures and building successful companies will succeed Founder and previous CEO Ellen Stang, MD who transitions to a new strategic advisory role and will serve as Executive Chairwoman of the Board.

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ProgenyHealth, LLC, a leading, tech-enabled women's healthcare company dedicated to Maternity and NICU Care Management, has announced the hiring of Susan Torroella as the company's new Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Torroella was chosen for the role by Dr. Ellen Stang, who founded the company and has served as CEO since its creation in 2003, and members of Progeny's Board of Managers. Dr. Stang will now serve as Executive Chairwoman in a strategic advisory role, as well as focusing her time on building a new ProgenyHealth Foundation.

Ellen Stang, MD Founder and Executive Chairwoman (L) & Susan Torroella, MBA, CEO (R).jpg

Ms. Torroella, who most recently served as President and CEO of ArmadaHealth, is known as an exceptionally strong leader with global experience across the healthcare spectrum. She is widely recognized for her leadership, operational scalability, and strong product marketing background.

As a dynamic, results-driven healthcare executive, Ms. Torroella has led strategic organizations beyond ArmadaHealth, including FrontierMEDEX (acquired by United Healthcare Global), Wellness Corporate Solutions (acquired by LabCorp) and Columbia MedCom Group. With prior C-Suite level experience as a CEO, COO and President, she is well-positioned to drive further success for ProgenyHealth. Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards including being recognized as a "Best Boss" from Fortune Small Business magazine and being named a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

"I began my career working on maternal and infant programs in the international public sector. To come full circle and now lead ProgenyHealth, a leading national tech-enabled women's healthcare company in Maternity and NICU Care Management, is thrilling. Over my career, I have focused largely on helping companies operationalize and ladder up to their next level of growth," said Torroella. "With the value and impact ProgenyHealth is delivering, the company is on the cusp of a new phase of exponential growth. I look forward to furthering the mission that Dr. Stang first envisioned over two decades ago."

Ms. Torroella joins ProgenyHealth as Dr. Stang seeks to begin the next phase of her career, which will include focusing on the development of a new non-profit foundation for ProgenyHealth. This opportunity has been a goal of Dr. Stang's for many years as she seeks to further support the unmet needs of women, infants and their families across our country.

"From ProgenyHealth's earliest moments, I sought to create a company that would make healthcare less fragmented, more equitable, and one which would approach healthcare much more holistically," said Dr. Stang. "It has been an absolute honor to serve as the Founder and CEO of ProgenyHealth over the last 20 years. I have been privileged to work with our exceptional internal teams at Progeny, as well as our many dedicated clients and their leadership teams, to advance maternal and infant health outcomes throughout the United States. I am thrilled to have Susan now leading our team and look forward to supporting her as she guides ProgenyHealth through its next chapter of growth and impact."

Arneek Multani, ProgenyHealth Board Member and Managing Partner of Sunstone Partners, stated, "I want to acknowledge Dr. Ellen Stang for her remarkable vision and success since founding ProgenyHealth and thank her for paving the way for Susan Torroella to now take the company to its next stage of growth. Susan's significant experience scaling companies and building teams speaks for itself and we are so excited to have someone as talented as Susan joining the ProgenyHealth team. We look forward to supporting her success as she leads ProgenyHealth into 2023 and beyond."

About ProgenyHealth

ProgenyHealth is a leading national, tech-enabled women's healthcare company dedicated to Maternity and NICU Care Management. We serve women, infants and families through the milestones of maternal care  from conception and pregnancy to postpartum and parenting, with special expertise in managing premature and complex births and resulting NICU admissions. Our industry-leading intelligent platform, Baby Trax, integrates utilization management and case management, while driving payment validation & assurance activities based on clinical data. With nearly 20 years of experience, our board-certified physicians, nurses, social workers and others collaborate with providers to improve health outcomes, enhance the member and provider experience, and reduce costs for all payer groups including commercial health plans, Medicaid payers and large employers.

For more information, visit www.progenyhealth.com

About Sunstone Partners

Sunstone Partners is a growth-oriented private equity firm that makes majority and minority investments in technology-enabled services and software businesses. Founded in 2015, the firm has over $1.7 billion committed to its three funds. Sunstone Partners has been recognized on Inc. Magazine's "Founder-Friendly Investors" list in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

For more information, visit http://www.sunstonepartners.com/

Media Contact:

Linda Smith

VP, Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

Mobile: 609.206.1552

SOURCE ProgenyHealth
Company sees 98% customer retention rate, leadership and advisory team expansion, and continued growth in EMEA markets.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Quantum Metric , the Continuous Product Design platform for customer-driven digital experiences, celebrates benchmark growth in 2022. With continued expansion across key regions including the U.S. and UK, and the greater EMEA region, the company grew its customer base by 41%, while maintaining a 98% customer retention rate for six out of the last eight quarters.

"Our success over the past year has proven our business is about much more than a technology solution; it's partnering with organizations to transform their culture," said Mario Ciabarra, CEO of Quantum Metric. "The investments we've made empower brands to embody a customer-driven mindset and have allowed us to build lasting relationships with organizations across industries and around the world. I am in awe of the teams at Quantum Metric, our partners, and most importantly, our customers, who are working together to build a customer-driven future."

In support of its continued expansion, David Friend has been appointed the company's Chief Financial Officer. Previously, David served as Quantum Metric's Vice President of Finance for two years and brings two decades of enterprise software experience. Prior to Quantum Metric, David was CFO at Cloudistics, which he led from pre-revenue through its acquisition by Fungible. Before Cloudistics, David was an investor at Bain Capital for almost a decade.

In addition, Quantum Metric has welcomed three new members to its advisory boards; Joe Megibow, CEO of wine-discovery platform, Bright Cellars and former CEO of Purple; Praveen Sharma, Senior Vice President of Product at Capital One and former leader for digital products at Walmart and United Airlines; and Pieter van Groos, formerly a key business leader with ExxonMobil, General Electric, among other various CEO positions both in industry and banking, a leader for a number of technology ventures, and a previous consultant with McKinsey & Company. All three will provide counsel on product development, continued expansion of customer markets and help to guide the next generation of growth at Quantum Metric.

With $200M in funding from its Series B, Quantum Metric has expanded its product offerings to meet increasing industry demand. Quantum Metric now captures experiences from ~40% of the world's internet users and provides insights from over 4B total user sessions each month. The customer makeup today includes 20% of the Fortune 500, including global brands in retail, travel, financial services, and telecommunications. For more information about Quantum Metric, visit quantummetric.com.

About Quantum Metric

As the pioneer in Continuous Product Design, Quantum Metric helps organizations put customers at the heart of everything they do. The Quantum Metric platform empowers a customer-centric culture, using quantified empathy to align business and technical teams to effectively prioritize customers' needs based on business impact. Today, Quantum Metric captures insights from 40 percent of the world's internet users, supporting nationally recognized brands in ecommerce and retail, travel, financial services and telecommunications.

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SOURCE Quantum Metric
Once its first generation metropolitan product suite is complete in mid-2023, Qunnect's first-in-class solutions will fully support real-world scalability, designed to be operational at room temperature - rather than fragile, climate-controlled laboratory settings - and uniquely deployable in crowded, urban environments, unphased by challenging city conditions, like the densely-packed municipal infrastructure that makes up New York's five borough system.

"This is our second stop on the path to something very scalable," mentions Dr. Mehdi Namazi, Qunnect's CSO. "We are connecting our testbed to NYU with the goal of showcasing protocols and technologies that will eventually be used by a wide cross-section of customers and partners within the Manhattan borough and across New York City. This is a first critical step towards Qunnect providing 'entanglement as a service'-- quantum protocols that will allow our customers to have access to verified, fully secure entangled particles between their internal nodes with the option to freely expand their entanglement nodes with other partners in the city. And in the coming months, we'll be pleased to provide data insights from this milestone, specifically tied to polarization stabilization."

In collaboration with CQIP, Qunnect and SandboxAQ will develop a Quantum Information Science (QIS) curriculum and dedicated lab, built to utilize the GothamQ testbed and designed with a mission to spark a leading quantum workforce in New York City.

"When you see a technology that is maturing this fast from fundamental physics, building industry-academic partnerships are a key in training a skilled quantum workforce," notes Javad Shabani, NYU Arts & Science physicist and CQIP Director. "The center is partnered with Qunnect to help take this technology to the next level and ensure its long-term success in New York City. We are building a creative collaboration whereby the educational and research environment can be used to develop a better understanding of quantum communication networks. Through this joint initiative, CQIP has a strong quantum materials program that will be employed to study the key industry needs to push the boundaries of quantum communication components."

NYU has had one of the fastest growing research portfolios among US universities over the past decade. With over $1B invested into research annually, in areas ranging from artificial intelligence to strategies to reduce inequality, quantum technologies have emerged as a priority area for research and education.

About Qunnect

Qunnect innovates and commercializes the core technologies needed for scalable quantum-safe communication. In 2021, the company commercialized the world's first quantum memory. The memory serves as the cornerstone to Qunnect's Quantum Repeater product suite, an integrated solution for long distance distribution of entanglement across existing telecommunications infrastructure. The company is headquartered in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. Qunnect recently announced its Series A financing in a round led by Airbus Ventures and is grateful for research support from the US Department of Energy, the US Air Force and the National Science Foundation.

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Qunnect
Ram 1500 lineup earns the award for the fifth consecutive year

Car and Driver evaluates each contender versus its peers using a 100-point scale, basing each score on intended purpose, value and vehicle operation

Ram Truck offers a full lineup focused on meeting the demands of truck buyers and delivering benchmark-quality vehicles

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Car and Driver has named the 2023 Ram 1500 to its 10Best vehicle list for 2023. This marks the fifth consecutive year the Ram 1500 has earned this prestigious award. Previous winners were invited to defend their crown and the 2023 Ram 1500 Limited and Ram 1500 TRX were submitted for evaluation. The award applies to the entire Ram 1500 lineup.

Ram 1500 Named to Car and Drivers 10Best Vehicles for Fifth Consecutive Year

Car and Driver evaluates each contender versus its peers using a 100-point scale. To make the list, each vehicle must deliver on its intended purpose better than its competition, offer great value and be entertaining to drive. Any truck, SUV or van with a base price higher than $110,000 was excluded from consideration, based on the editors' belief that a high price should guarantee excellence.

"For everyone looking for a full-size pickup, which is a lot of Americans, the Ram 1500 meets all your needs and exceeds expectations. Its coil-spring rear suspension provides luxury-SUV-like ride quality, making the bouncy competition feel like farm trucks," said Joey Capparella, senior editor, Car and Driver. "The Ram's interior is its most impressive and delightful attribute featuring carefully selected materials, including leather, metal trim, open-pore wood and the kind of attention to detail we'd expect from a luxury sedan"

This is the fifth year in a row Ram 1500  the most awarded light-duty truck in America  has been named to Car and Driver's 10Best.

For the fifth consecutive time, Car and Driver combined 10Best Cars and 10Best Trucks and SUVs into a single list  10Best for 2023, which appears in the magazine's February/March issue.

Car and Driver's 10Best winners represent the smartest, most entertaining vehicles customers can buy today. They are picked after an exhaustive evaluation of this year's new or significantly refreshed models, as well as last year's defending 10Best honorees. For two weeks, Car and Driver editors drove, measured, tested and scrutinized more than 55 cars, trucks, SUVs and vans.

To earn a 10Best win, a vehicle must prove itself against contenders as diverse as the automotive industry. Car and Driver's criteria remain the same: every winner must deliver exceptional driving engagement, offer indisputable value and/or practicality and fulfill its mission better than any of its competition.

Ram Truck Brand

In 2009, the Ram Truck brand launched as a stand-alone division, focused on meeting the demands of truck buyers and delivering benchmark-quality vehicles. With a full lineup of trucks, the Ram 1500, 2500/3500 Heavy Duty, 3500/4500/5500 Chassis Cab and ProMaster, the Ram brand builds trucks that get the hard work done and families where they need to go.

Ram continues to outperform the competition and sets the benchmarks for:

1,075 lb.-ft. of torque with Cummins Turbo Diesel

Towing capacity of 37,090 lbs. with Ram 3500

Segment first 1,000 lb.-ft of torque with Cummins Turbo Diesel

Payload of 7,680 lbs. with Ram 3500

Most luxurious: Ram Limited with real wood, real leather and 12-inch Uconnect touchscreen

Best ride and handling with exclusive link coil rear and auto-level air suspensions

Most interior space with Ram Mega Cab

The most cargo space available in any traditional full size cargo van

Most capable full-size off-road pickup  Ram Power Wagon

Ram 1500 TRX is the quickest, fastest and most powerful mass-produced pickup truck in the world

Most awarded light-duty truck in America

Highest owner loyalty of any half-ton pickup

The latest J.D. Power APEAL study, which rates the emotional bond between customers and their vehicles, named the 2022 Ram 1500 as the best vehicle in the large light-duty pickup category. This marks the third straight year Ram 1500 has received top honors.

The Ram 1500 lineup includes the Know & Go mobile app featuring an immersive experience for customers who want to learn more about their vehicles.

Ram is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

Follow Ram and company news and video on:

Company blog: http://blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Media website: http://media.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Ram Truck brand: www.ramtrucks.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/RamTrucks

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ramtrucks

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RamTrucks and @StellantisNA

YouTube: www.youtube.com/RamTrucks, https://www.youtube.com/StellantisNA

SOURCE Stellantis
LONDON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ReadyWise, the leading manufacturer of Emergency Food Supplies in the United States and the United Kingdom, ReadyWise UK is now helping the Kiev Kids Association to give back to the children in Ukraine affected by the horrible war. The Russian war against Ukraine has driven many people, especially the elderly and mothers with children, into deep poverty and struggle to access food. You can directly donate emergency food supplies to the children of Ukraine by purchasing a food bucket at www.readywise.co.uk and checkout with the code KIEVKIDS. The Kiev Kids Association supports the Ukrainian people in places close to the front with the most necessary resources: food, medicine, and clothing.

ReadyWise Announces Support for kids in Ukraine with Food Donations (PRNewsfoto/ReadyWise UK) Sunshine Logo (PRNewsfoto/ReadyWise UK)

"ReadyWise UK is making it easy to directly support those affected by the war in ways that matter," says the Director of Europe at ReadyWise, Kim Berknov. "Together, we can make the world better for those suffering now by donating shelf-stable food."

Get a 5% discount when you purchase a single bucket for donation and a 10% discount when you buy two or more buckets. Purchase a bucket or more from the website, and ReadyWise will ship your donation directly to Kiev Kids Association. It can be hard to imagine living without the basics of food and water in today's world, but kids in Ukraine are experiencing this every day. The lack of electricity and heat makes the situation even more difficult.

Repeated air raids make it necessary to also supply the air raid shelters with food and water. ReadyWise is the perfect solution because their meals only need water to reconstitute, and refrigeration is not necessary, making them fully disaster-proof. The buckets range from 60 to 120 in serving sizes, so even a single bucket purchase makes a huge difference in an emergency. ReadyWise buckets are an essential survival kit that is long-lasting and durable, with up to 25-year shelf life.

Take advantage of this opportunity to give back and prepare yourself and your family for what's to come in 2023. In 2022 we saw some of the worst disturbances, including devastating fires, storms, flash flooding, droughts, and severe winter weather. ReadyWise's goal is to prepare millions of households with this convenient food solution.

To learn more about the Kiev Kids Association, go to https://www.kievkids.ch/sunshine. To learn more about ReadyWise UK, visit https://readywise.co.uk/.

About ReadyWise: ReadyWise, headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, is a leader in Emergency Food Supplies. ReadyWise helps their customers prepare with their manufactured freeze-dried and dehydrated meals with up to 25-year shelf life. To learn more about the entire range of ReadyWise products, visit www.ReadyWise.Co.Uk or www.ReadyWise.Com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984786/RReadyWise_Donations.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984787/ReadyWise_Logo.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984788/Sunshine_Logo.jpg

SOURCE ReadyWise UK
Resilience CEO joins the Directors of the FBI and Europol to advise government and private sector attendees around how to navigate ransomware in 2023

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Resilience , the next-generation cyber risk solutions company, is proud to announce their invitation to the World Economic Forum's Annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and share how their unique approach and evidence-based experience has helped companies become cyber resilient to ransomware attempts. Vishaal "V8" Hariprasad, Co-Founder/CEO of Resilience and a former Air Force Cyber Operations Officer, will be joined by Christopher Wray, Director of the FBI, Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director for Europol, and others, in leading a panel discussion titled "Ransomware: To Pay or Not to Pay" on January 19, 2023.

Ransomware is an epidemic - increasing 82% from 2020 to 2021 - and representative of the surge in cybercrime overall, estimated to reach $10.5 trillion by 2025 according to Crowdstrike and Cybersecurity Ventures - despite the significant investment in cybersecurity that companies continue to make.

The surge in cyber crime requires companies to shift in how they assess, measure, and manage their cyber risk. Tweet this

The surge in cyber crime requires companies to make a massive shift in how they assess, measure, and manage their cyber risk across the internal silos of finance and security. Resilience has seen that the strongest companies align their technological investments with financial understanding of the most critical risks to their enterprise. This holistic approach of leveraging insurance with technical cybersecurity visibility has proven to help to ensure clients are resilient to extortion attempts.

"The ransomware epidemic has made it clear that continuously improving companies' risk profiles requires connecting their cyber insurance coverage with their cybersecurity plan to reinforce great cyber hygiene," said Hariprasad. "We've seen tremendous success fighting ransomware by connecting insurance to security, helping clients build resiliency to extortion and manage active incidents. What we propose is dynamic: reduce the risk, reduce the risk transfer cost, reduce the severity of a breach, reduce the risk to partners, and improve your business's agility and competitiveness. That's Resilience's mission."

With Resilience's success deploying this novel approach in the US and UK, they look forward to sharing best practices and learnings with the entire World Economic Forum community and helping companies across continents fight crime and build cyber resilience.

Previously in November 2022, Hariprasad led the Forum's educational session in Geneva, Switzerland as part of their Annual Meeting on Cybersecurity (titled "Cybercrime: Staying Ahead of the Curve"), discussing how to stay ahead of bad actors as their tactics grow more technologically advanced, complex, and malicious.

About Resilience

Resilience helps middle-to-large market enterprises connect their cyber insurance coverage with advanced cybersecurity visibility and actionable cyber hygiene. Their recently launched new website (www.cyberresilience.com), and campaign, titled "Rewriting the Rules of Risk"; advocate a unique approach to the integration of technology, economics, and behavior to break down barriers between risk management, information security, and financial leaders.

Resilience is proud to be backed by leading technology investment firms including General Catalyst, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Intact Ventures, Founders Fund, CRV, and Shield Capital. With headquarters in San Francisco, Resilience's team is globally dispersed, with offices in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Toronto, and London. Resilience offers insurance coverage through its licensed and appointed insurance agency and security services through its expert security team.

For more information, visit us at www.cyberresilience.com.

About the Forum

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages the foremost political, business, cultural, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. It was established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is independent, impartial, and not tied to any special interests.

SOURCE Resilience
'Mission Critical Relocation' 'reinvigorating' to law firm's office experience

DALLAS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Godwin Bowman PC, one of Texas' most honored and respected commercial litigation firms, has moved to downtown Dallas' Ross Tower.

"This firm is focused on Mission Critical Litigation, delivering clients the results they need when facing the most significant challenges," says Chairman and CEO Donald E. Godwin. "So, I regard this move as a 'Mission Critical Relocation.' We are responding to how the city has grown and we are updating, modernizing and enhancing the experience for our clients and for the excellent lawyers who practice law at this firm."

From its previous headquarters at Renaissance Tower, Mr. Godwin and the firm engineered the landmark lead trial representation of Halliburton in all of its civil litigation and governmental investigations stemming from the 2010 BP Macondo oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.

The firm's $22 million win for client Maya Walnut LLC in a commercial lease fraud dispute was recognized among the Top 20 Texas jury verdicts in 2021. The firm also recently earned a decisive defense win in a long-running non-competition dispute with a $40 million exposure for its client, a windows manufacturing entrepreneur.

This work has consistently earned the firm and its attorneys professional honors including Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation, Lawdragon 500, Best Law Firms, Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, Dallas 500, and Best Lawyers in Dallas.

"After 20 years at the same place, it's time to write a new chapter in our new offices," explains Mr. Godwin. "We looked for something that would reinvigorate the entire office experience. The updates to Ross Tower created undeniable appeal."

Ross Tower provides accessible parking, conference centers, on-site concierge, restaurant options, fitness center accessibility, and an adjacent hotel.

About Godwin Bowman PC

For more than five decades, the Texas commercial litigation lawyers at Godwin Bowman PC have provided experienced and effective representation to clients. The firm represents Fortune 500 companies in some of the nation's most public, high-stakes trials, as well as individuals facing a wide range of litigation, including complex divorces. Ultimately, the firm's goal is to help clients achieve a successful result. To learn more about the firm's award-winning business litigation lawyers, visit godwinbowman.com.

Media Contact:

Rhonda Reddick

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Godwin Bowman PC
PLYMOUTH, Wis., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sargento Foods is pleased to announce the promotions of four deserving individuals: Ebru Basaran-Shul, Executive Vice President of Compliance; Erin Price, President of the CPD Division; Chris McCarthy, President of Food Service and Ingredients; and Jeremy Schellin, Vice President of Strategic Planning.



"I would like to congratulate the outstanding employees and members of the Sargento Family who have received promotions," said Louie Gentine, CEO of Sargento. "The level of excellence and pride you take in your work is what makes Sargento the most innovative and best-loved real food company."

Jeremy Schellin  Vice President, Strategic Planning Erin Price  President, CPD Division Chris McCarthy  President, Food Service and Ingredients Ebru Basaran-Shull  Executive Vice President, Compliance

Ebru Basaran-Shull  Executive Vice President, Compliance

Ebru Basaran-Shull has taken on the role of Executive Vice President, Compliance. She leads the newly formed Compliance Department at Sargento, directly reporting to the CEO. In this role, Ebru is responsible for developing, implementing, and managing compliance strategies, initiatives, controls, and processes by providing expertise and leadership in collaboration with other functions across the organization. She also oversees Foods Safety and Quality and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Ebru joined the Sargento Family in 2012 and most recently served as Deputy General Counsel and Vice President, Compliance. She has had an outsized impact and has helped to build the compliance, regulatory affairs, and internal audit functions at Sargento from the ground up. Her vast knowledge and understanding of compliance and regulatory matters will ensure that legal and corporate standards are upheld at Sargento.

Erin Price  President, CPD Division

Erin Price has been appointed President of the CPD Division. Her responsibilities include leading the CPD Division, the CPD Leadership team, and developing the CPD strategic and annual plan. Her experience and history of success will lead this division to its next generation of growth.

Since joining the Sargento Family as a Marketing Manager in 2007, Erin has held several leadership roles including Director, Marketing, Director, Integrated Marketing, Vice President, Strategic Planning, and most recently, President, Food Service and Ingredients. Her accomplishments include leading several successful core and new product initiatives, establishing a roadmap for the digital and social marketing efforts at Sargento, leading the strategic planning process, and working with the Food Service and Ingredients Leadership team to evolve the business model and deliver record-breaking results.

Chris McCarthy  President, Food Service and Ingredients

Chris McCarthy has taken on a new role as President, Food Service and Ingredients. Since joining the company as a Director of Marketing in 2013, Chris has held various leadership positions including Director, Integrated Marketing, Vice President, Strategic Planning, and most recently, Vice President, Pricing and Demand Planning.

During his time at Sargento, Chris has been a key contributor to several of the historical core and new product growth initiatives. He also led the strategic planning process during one of most volatile times in the company's history, taking on critical leadership roles for COVID planning, corporate social responsibility strategy, price commodity management (P/CM), and price net of commodities (PNOC) optimizations.

Jeremy Schellin  Vice President, Strategic Planning

Jeremy Schellin has assumed the position of Vice President, Strategic Planning. In his new role, he will focus his efforts on the long-term growth of the business while leading strategic planning initiatives.

Jeremy first joined the Sargento Family in 2017 and during the past five years, has gained invaluable experience through several new product and core marketing rotations. Notably, his teams managed the launch of Balanced Breaks Cheese & Crackers, one of the most successful product launches in Sargento history. Jeremy has made tremendous contributions that have grown the snack portfolio, ultimately helping to position Sargento in the top one percent of snack brands found in grocery stores nationwide.

About Sargento Foods Inc.

With over 2,300 employees and net sales of $1.5 billion, Sargento Foods is a family-owned company that has been a leader in cheese for more than 65 years. Founded in 1953 in Plymouth, Wisconsin, Sargento is proud to be the company that successfully introduced America to pre-packaged sliced and shredded natural cheeses and cheese blends. Today, Sargento Foods is still based in Wisconsin, where they make and market amazing, high-quality shredded, sliced and snack natural cheese products, as well as ingredients. Company leadership lives to serve local communities and employees, whom they refer to as the Sargento Family. www.sargento.com

SOURCE Sargento Foods
CANTON, Mass., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- School of Rock , the leader in performance-based music education, ended 2022 with 27 franchise agreements awarded, three new brand partnerships and multiple industry accolades.

"Last year, we established partnerships exemplifying our dedication and passion for providing students with superior music education and unmatched performance opportunities," said Rob Price, CEO of School of Rock. "As we grow and reach more milestones, we are proud to continue being a part of a community driven by purpose and positive change."

School of Rock 2022 highlights include:

Growth:

Awarded 27 franchise agreements for a total of 324 open and operational schools across 15 markets, with new flagship schools in Mexico , Ireland and Portugal ;

, and ; Expanded presence internationally in Latin America ;

; Increased total active enrollment from 22,000 students in 2016 to nearly 60,000 students today;

Launched virtual music education platform, School of Rock Online ;

Awards:

Partnerships:

School of Rock provides students of all ages an exciting and engaging music education experience, which includes bass lessons , guitar lessons , singing lessons , drum lessons , and piano lessons . Drawing from all styles of rock and roll, School of Rock students learn theory and techniques via songs from legendary artists such as Aretha Franklin, Lenny Kravitz, and Led Zeppelin. Thanks to the school's performance-based approach, students around the world have gained superior musical proficiency, with some moving on to record deals and larger platforms such as American Idol, The Voice and Broadway.

For more information on School of Rock, please visit www.SchoolofRock.com.

About School of Rock

School of Rock helps aspiring musicians master skills, unleash creativity, and develop tools they need to thrive in life. Founded as a single school in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1998, School of Rock has become a rapidly growing international franchise with over 500 schools open and in development across 15 global markets. Since 2009, School of Rock has grown its student count from 4,000 to nearly 60,000. School of Rock offers a wide variety of music lessons , including guitar lessons , singing lessons and piano lessons . The company also sells musical instruments and music gear through its GearSelect program. School of Rock is proud to support Music Will (formerly Little Kids Rock), the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM), and the Society for the Prevention of Teen Suicide (SPTS). School of Rock was awarded US Patent 10,891,872 in 2021 for its innovative music education method. School of Rock also has garnered the following industry awards: 2022 and 2021 Global Franchise's Awards Best Children's Service and Education Franchise; 2023 Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500 Top Children's Music Enrichment Brand; 2021 Franchise Innovation Award for Most Innovative Use of Customer-Facing Digital Tools; Franchise Business Review's 2023 Top 200 Franchises and Culture 200 list; 2020 Entrepreneur Magazine's Top 200 Franchise and the #1 Child Enrichment Franchise; and 2018 Forbes # 2 Best Franchise Medium-Level Investment Award and the #1 Music Franchise in America.

Follow School of Rock on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SchoolofRockUSA and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SchoolofRockUSA .

For more information on School of Rock visit www.SchoolofRock.com or call 866-695-5515. To learn more about School of Rock franchise opportunities head to http://franchising.schoolofrock.com/

SOURCE School of Rock
VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Scottie Resources Corp. ("Scottie" or the "Company") (TSXV: SCOT) (OTCQB: SCTSF) (FSE: SR8) is pleased to announce the appointment of Ellie Owens to the Company's board of directors, effective January 16, 2023.

With ten years of technical and corporate experience, Ms. Owens has held roles at Golder Associates, Diavik Diamond Mine, Agnico Eagle's Meadowbank Mine, Atomic Energy of Canada and at Groia & Co (securities litigation). Ms. Owens holds a J.D. and M.Sc. (Geology) from Western University and a B.Sc. (Geology) from the University of Waterloo. She currently is a member of the Board of Directors of the PDAC as well as on the PDAC Planning Committee.

Brad Rourke, President and CEO of Scottie stated, "We are excited to welcome Ellie to Scottie's board of directors. Ellie's experience in the junior mining industry, coupled with her legal and geological background, makes her a welcome addition to the Company and will strengthen the skillset of Scottie's board."

Scottie also announces that it has granted 4,850,000 options to acquire common shares to certain directors, officers, and consultants of the Company. The options are exercisable at a price of $0.27 per share and are valid for a period of five years.

ABOUT SCOTTIE RESOURCES CORP.

Scottie owns a 100% interest in the Scottie Gold Mine Property which includes the Blueberry Zone and the high-grade, past-producing Scottie Gold Mine. Scottie also owns 100% interest in the Georgia Project which contains the high-grade past-producing Georgia River Mine, as well as the Cambria Project properties and the Sulu property. Altogether Scottie Resources holds more than 59,000 hectares of mineral claims in the Stewart Mining Camp in the Golden Triangle.

The Company's focus is on expanding the known mineralization around the past-producing mines while advancing near mine high-grade gold targets, with the purpose of delivering a potential resource. The Company's focus is on expanding the known mineralization around the past-producing mine while advancing near mine high-grade gold targets, with the purpose of delivering a potential resource.

All of the Company's properties are located in the area known as the Golden Triangle of British Columbia which is among the world's most prolific mineralized districts.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release may contain forwardlooking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forwardlooking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forwardlooking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date such statements were made. The Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forwardlooking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Scottie Resources Corp.
MELBOURNE, Austalia, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SEA Electric has made the next step in its journey to electrify the world's commercial vehicle fleet, by signing a significant Memorandum of Understanding with MEVCO, a leading systems integrator focused exclusively on electric light commercial vehicles within the mining industry.

The partnership will see specialist all-electric Hilux and Landcruiser models made available for the mining industry, with MEVCO making a commitment to order 8,500 units over the next five years.

SEA Electric Partners with MEVCO to Electrify 8,500 Hilux and Landcruiser Models for Mining Industry

The deal has a total value of close to AU$1 billion.

At the time of the launch, over half of the 2023 allocation of the Australian-developed battery-electric vehicles have been pre-sold, with demonstration models available in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

At the heart of the arrangement is SEA Electric's proprietary SEA-Drive power-system, which provides leading all-electric range, driving performance, and environmental credentials, with zero local emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, or nitrous oxide.

Thanks to its mediumvoltage architecture and electronic thermal management, SEA Electric's solution is light, costeffective, and efficient, with the system tested in the field across eight countries with over 2.5 million kilometres of real-world use registered to date.

Available in various mining-specific designs for 4x4 and 4x2 configurations, the vehicles can be specified with two SEA-Drive options, namely an 88kWh battery which provides 380km of range, or a 60kWh battery delivering up to 260km of use.

Fast DC to DC charging is available for the system, which provides up to 80 per cent battery power in less than one hour, with a five-year factory warranty on the batteries supplied.

For users, the switch to EV provides a comfortable work environment, with health and safety considerations including no noise, fumes, heat, or vibrations.

MEVCO is a portfolio company of RCF Jolimont  the innovation fund of Resource Capital Funds, one of the largest private equity managers in the world focused on mining.

"This is a pivotal partnership for the mining industry," said Matt Cahir, MEVCO CEO.

"It enables the world's leading EV technology for heavy and light commercial trucks to be commercialized on a scale that makes sense for the bespoke needs of the mining sector.

"SEA Electric's unique architecture is perfectly suited for the task, with the system's high-torque characteristics ideally fit for purpose."

For SEA Electric, the announcement is the logical next step in the company's expansion in the commercial vehicle space, opening up possibilities for the technology on a global scale for a wide variety of applications.

"Across all industries, companies now understand they have a role to play in ensuring they are a part of the solution to the environmental problems we face," said Tony Fairweather, SEA Electric Founder & CEO.

"With the SEA-Drive power-system, we have developed technology that is perfectly adaptable to a wide range of commercial vehicle tasks that have typically been the domain of diesel-powered engines.

"Through MEVCO, the mining industry will now be able to access cutting-edge technology, which delivers top performance and total cost of ownership prospects, all with sustainability at the forefront.

"This deal is a significant step forward in Australia and shows just what is possible when it comes to electrifying the world's fleets."

For further details on MEVCO, visit www.mevco.com, with information on SEA Electric, visit www.sea-electric.com/en_au.

For technical option specs of the Hilux variant, please see: https://www.mevco.com/_files/ugd/a48edd_f04ab24aa91546679bcf70320d8bbcb2.pdf

About SEA Electric

SEA Electric is an Australian company with a global reach specializing in the assembly and 100% electrification of commercial vehicles worldwide. Dealing directly with vehicle users and working alongside automotive OEM's, SEA Electric supplies and licences patented technology.

SEA Electric was founded in 2012. After four years of product development and testing, SEA Electric launched its commercial operations in early 2017, triggered by the reduction in battery kWh pricing, allowing for commercial feasibility in offering electric drivetrains to the global market.

About MEVCO

MEVCO is a systems integrator specialising in Battery Electric Light Commercial Vehicles and all associated infrastructure. Their end-to-end service reduces the risk and accelerates the transition to electric mining fleets.

SOURCE SEA Electric
NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Klein Law Firm announces that a class action complaint has been filed on behalf of shareholders of Silvergate Capital Corporation (NYSE: SI) alleging that the Company violated federal securities laws.

Class Period: November 9, 2021 to January 5, 2023

Lead Plaintiff Deadline: February 6, 2023

No obligation or cost to you.

Learn more about your recoverable losses in SI:

https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/silvergate-capital-corporation-loss-submission-form?id=35640&from=4

Silvergate Capital Corporation NEWS - SI NEWS

CLASS ACTION CASE DETAILS: The filed complaint alleges that Silvergate Capital Corporation made materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) the Company's platform lacked sufficient controls and procedures to detect instances of money laundering; (2) Silvergate's customers had engaged in money laundering in amounts exceeding $425 million; (3) as a result of the foregoing, the Company was reasonably likely to receive regulatory scrutiny and face damages, including penalties and reputational harm; and (4) as a result of the foregoing, defendant's positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AS A SHAREHOLDER: If you have suffered a loss in Silvergate you have until February 6, 2023 to petition the court for lead plaintiff status. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

NO COST TO YOU: If you purchased Silvergate securities during the relevant period, you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out-of-pocket fees.

HOW TO PROTECT YOUR FINANCIAL INTERESTS: For additional information about the SI lawsuit, please contact J. Klein, Esq. by telephone at 212-616-4899 or click this link: https://www.kleinstocklaw.com/pslra-1/silvergate-capital-corporation-loss-submission-form?id=35640&from=4.

ABOUT KLEIN LAW FIRM

J. Klein, Esq. represents investors and participates in securities litigations involving financial fraud throughout the nation. The Klein Law Firm is a boutique litigation firm with experience in a wide range of areas including securities law, corporate finance and commercial litigation. Since 2011, our experienced attorneys have achieved superior results for our clients with a personalized focus. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

CONTACT:

J. Klein, Esq.

535 Fifth Avenue

4th Floor

New York City, NY 10017

[email protected]

Telephone: (212) 616-4899

www.kleinstocklaw.com

SOURCE The Klein Law Firm
SUMMIT, N.J., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Simplicity Group ("Simplicity") today announced the acquisition of Jurs Montgomery Brokerage, LLC (Jurs Montgomery). Led by Justin Jurs and Chris Ronshagen, Jurs Montgomery is a brokerage general agency that provides access to annuity, long-term care, life, and disability income products to independent producers, along with a high-touch support network. With offices in New York and Massachusetts, Jurs Montgomery is the 49th company to join Simplicity.

"Justin and Chris have built Jurs Montgomery into a great business with exceptional service and we are thrilled to welcome them to the team," said Bruce Donaldson, President and CEO of Simplicity. "Justin and Chris are two of the industry's bright, young leaders and their business perfectly aligns with Simplicity's brand values and approach: to deliver valuable consumer-oriented products and services that are based on a comprehensive financial plan."

"Partnering with Simplicity was an obvious move for us. Capitalizing on Simplicity's integrated platform and back-office support will allow us to focus on helping our growing network of independent advisors," said Justin Jurs.

"We have had the pleasure of spending time with the broad Simplicity group of partners and are thrilled to be part of such an impressive group and know that our agents will immediately benefit from the extensive marketing resources now available to them," said Chris Ronshagen.

About Jurs Montgomery Brokerage

Jurs Montgomery Brokerage is a brokerage general agency dedicated to providing producers with extensive resources and complete back-office support, along with high-touch service. In this way, the Company allows its producers to focus their attention on further growing their businesses. For more information, please visit https://jursmontgomery.com/

About Simplicity Group

Simplicity Group is one of the nation's largest and fastest-growing financial product distribution companies, which has had 49 distribution businesses join its partnership (including Jurs Montgomery). Each of Simplicity's operating businesses is directed by its local management team and benefits from access to Simplicity's group resources. Through partnership with top distribution organizations and technology companies, Simplicity seeks to provide compelling business solutions that will attract the industry's best leadership, talent, advisors, agents, and future partners.

Simplicity supports independent financial advisors and agents across the country with investment, annuity, and life insurance solutions with a focus on client education, consumer value and partnership. For more information, please visit: www.simplicitygroup.com and follow the Company on LinkedIn .

MEDIA CONTACTS

Denielle Webb Alex Timeus Simplicity Group Simplicity Group P: 347-204-7181 / E: [email protected] P: 201-987-7176 / E: [email protected]

SOURCE Simplicity Group
GLO30's proven subscription-based business model attracts multi-unit franchisees looking to move into a new, rapidly expanding category

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GLO30, the subscription-based skincare studio founded by doctors, has announced plans to grow to 1,000 locations over the next 10 years via the company's new franchise offering. With three corporate-owned locations in the D.C. Metro area and two more set to open in Reston, VA and the Amazon Headquarters in Arlington, VA later this year, GLO30 is a proven business model rooted in a streamlined menu of skin treatments from facials to fillers within its monthly membership offering.

"For the past decade, we've seen a growing demand from both consumers and investors to bring our highly-coveted skincare studios to markets across the country," said GLO30 founder, Dr. Arleen Lamba. "Franchising gives us the opportunity to accelerate our national growth by partnering with owners who share our passion for the concept and are looking to move into the rapidly expanding new category we created."

Skincare studio has announced plans to grow to 1,000 locations over the next 10 years via new franchise offering. Tweet this

GLO30 has defined a new category in the service-based skincare space, bridging the gap between day spas and more invasive medical clinics or med spas. The membership-based facial studio is an affordable, accessible and approachable middle ground that provides routine, customized, non-invasive skin care treatments  every 30 days. GLO30's signature facials provide monthly maintenance with more advanced offerings to deliver specific results including the signature NanoGLO, MicroInfusion Facial, Neuromodulators and Laser Facials.

The company has partnered with franchise development firm Fransmart, the global leaders in growing emerging concepts into successful national and international franchise brands, to launch a robust sales and marketing strategy to fuel GLO30's national expansion.

"GLO30's low start-up costs and incredible returns are some of the strongest unit-economics I've seen in any industry," said franchise industry veteran and Fransmart CEO, Dan Rowe. "The company's recurring monthly membership revenue, unique treatment offering, tech-enabled customer experience and proven business model make it an incredible investment for franchise owners."

The ideal GLO30 franchisee has prior franchise experience and a passion for bringing multiple studio locations to their local market. Franchisees benefit from GLO30's proprietary front and back-end technology, which streamlines everything from onboarding, training, sales and the customer interface. Other franchise advantages include the ability to generate high revenue with limited square footage, low built out costs and minimal equipment, multi-revenue streams including retail and product offerings, highly-engaged monthly members, expert training and ongoing operational support from GLO30 founders. Interested franchisees may submit inquiries and applications online at www.fransmart.com/GLO30.

About GLO30

Founded in 2012 by Dr. Arleen Lamba, GLO30 is a membership-based skincare company focused on providing personalized routine treatments, medical-grade products and high-tech, high-touch guidance  every 30 days. GLO30 has defined a new category in the skincare services space, bridging the gap between luxurious day spas and more invasive medical clinics and med spas. The service-based skincare franchise is an affordable, accessible and approachable middle ground that delivers customized care in an hour or less  every 30 days. Trained specialists and propriety technology consistently deliver treatments tailored to the unique skin needs and goals of every member. GLO30 currently operates three corporate locations, with two more set to open in Reston, VA and the Amazon Headquarters in Arlington, VA in 2023. For more information, visit www.GLO30.com.

About Fransmart:

Fransmart is the global leader in franchise development, selling more than 5,000 franchises worldwide and turning emerging restaurant concepts into national and global brands for more than 20 years. Franchise industry veteran and Fransmart CEO Dan Rowe has identified and grown emerging concepts into national and international franchise brands. Among Fransmart's most successful restaurant brands are Five Guys Burgers & Fries, QDOBA Mexican Grill and The Halal Guys. In addition to GLO30, Fransmart is also supporting the rapid growth of other non-food concepts like PayMore, the nation's fastest-growing electronics resale brand. For more information, visit www.fransmart.com.

Media Contact:

Shannon Keller

Fransmart for GLO30

[email protected]

310-210-1866 mobile

SOURCE GLO30
BOSTON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Data Bridge Market Research has recently published a Report, titled, "Spinal Devices and Biologics Market" The report offers an extensive analysis of key growth strategies, drivers, opportunities, key segment, Porter's Five Forces analysis, and competitive landscape. To thrive in this rapidly transforming marketplace, today's businesses call for innovative and superlative solutions. Businesses can accomplish an unmatched insights and expertise of the best market opportunities into their relevant markets with the help of Spinal Devices and Biologics market research report. This market report gives clear idea about the market potential for each geographical region based on the growth rate, macroeconomic parameters, consumer buying patterns, possible future trends, and market demand and supply scenarios. The reliable Spinal Devices and Biologics report covers market analysis, market definition, market segmentation, key developments in the market, key players or competitor analysis and detailed research methodology.

Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the spinal devices and biologics market which is USD 8478.94 million in 2022, is expected to reach USD 29773.40 million by 2030, at a CAGR of 17.00% during the forecast period 2023 to 2030. In addition to the insights on market scenarios such as market value, growth rate, segmentation, geographical coverage, and major players, the market reports curated by the Data Bridge Market Research also include depth expert analysis, patient epidemiology, pipeline analysis, pricing analysis, and regulatory framework.

Download Sample Copy of Spinal Devices and Biologics Market @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/request-a-sample/?dbmr=global-spinal-devices-and-biologics-market

Market Overview:

Biological substances actively alter the environment and cause changes to occur as a result of biological processes. The use of bone replacement materials, and growing awareness of the ageing population, bio pharmacy is becoming an increasingly important component for spinal fusion because of its potential impact. Spinal implants are commonly used in spinal surgery to treat complications such as deformities, disc degeneration, and fractures. In contrast to inactive metals, which do not alter cell function or stimulate cell growth, they actively promote bone formation and spinal fusion.

The increased use of spinal devices and biologics by surgeons has increased the demand for products that use this technology. As the population ages, so does the prevalence of degenerative devices and age-related spinal deformities, and so does the demand for spinal devices. Vertebrate materials are suitable for bone fusion surgery, spinal cord injury, and degenerative disc disease. The spine treatment market was 75% traditional metal rods and plates and 25% biological products ten years ago.

Opportunities for Players:

Rise in the elderly population and associated comorbidities

The growing elderly population and associated comorbidities are primarily driving market growth opportunities. The ageing population's obesity, combined with an increase in the number of spine deformities, is expected to fuel the growth of the spinal devices and biologics industry. All of these conditions tend to use minimally invasive surgeries, which will help the market grow.

Some of the major players operating in the Spinal Devices and Biologics market are:

Exactech, Inc., (U.S.)

Zimmer Biomet (U.S.)

Medtronic ( Ireland )

) Globus Medical (U.S.)

Integra LifeSciences (U.S.)

NuVasive, Inc., (U.S.)

Stryker (U.S.)

Orthofix US LLC (U.S.)

Wright Medical Group N.V. (U.S.)

Smith+Nephew (U.K.)

ZAVATION (U.S.)

Recent Developments

In 2021, Spine Wave announced the launch of the Ticell 3D advanced surface technology and the stronghold 3D Titanium Interbody Device. This latest innovation will aid the company's growth by complementing its innovative products.

of the Ticell 3D advanced surface technology and the stronghold 3D Titanium Interbody Device. This latest innovation will aid the company's growth by complementing its innovative products. In 2021, Osseus Fusion Systems announced the release of the Aries-TC. It is a transforaminal curved interbody fusion device printed in 3D. This new device can help skeletally strong patients who have a degenerative device.

Get Full PDF Research Report to Understand More @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-spinal-devices-and-biologics-market

The report provides insights on the following pointers:

Market Penetration: Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the Spinal Devices and Biologics market

Product Development/Innovation: Detailed insights on upcoming technologies, R&D activities, and product launches in the market

Competitive Assessment: In-depth assessment of the market strategies, and geographic and business segments of the leading players in the market

Market Development: Comprehensive information about emerging markets. This report analyzes the market for various segments across geographies

Market Diversification: Exhaustive information about new products, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the Spinal Devices and Biologics Market

Market Dynamics: Spinal Devices and Biologics Market

Increasing demand for a number of spinal surgeries

The rise in spinal diseases has resulted in an increase in spinal surgeries, which has increased the demand for spinal devices. The most common reason for spinal surgeries is to treat degenerative disc disease and birth deformities. In the forecast period, the growing number of minimally invasive surgeries will drive the growth of the spinal devices and biologics market.

Launch of new products for increasing adoption of spinal devices

Several technological advancements in the spinal devices industry aided in the discovery of several orthopaedic implants that will better treat patients with spinal diseases. The primary manufacturers in this sector are focusing on minimally invasive solutions and customised implants, which will boost market growth even further. Furthermore, strategic collaborations among several manufacturers resulted in the discovery of novel technologies and solutions for spinal surgeries.

Consider Data Bridge Market Research for this Report which would Help Impact Your Revenues Positively

This study offers the latest product news, trends, and updates from the industry's leading players who have leveraged their market position.

It also offers strategic plans and standards to arrive at informed business decisions adopted by the main players, thereby advocating your go to market strategies.

In addition, it offers insights into the dynamics of customer behaviour that can help the organization better curate market strategies

Usage of exclusive tailor-made tools along with primary research, secondary research and our in-house data model helps us in extracting the exact market numbers

Mapping the customer in 3P grid comprising of Purpose, Planning and Positioning, thereby delivering a solution by keeping the prospecting client at the sweet spot

The market research report includes all of the market's valuable elements, such as sales growth, product pricing & analysis, growth opportunities, and recommendations for addressing market challenges

The report covers all the primary mergers & acquisitions, alliances, and collaborations that have generated additional opportunities for market players or in some cases, challenges

To Gain More Insights about this Research, Visit @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/reports/global-spinal-devices-and-biologics-market

Key Industry Segmentation: Spinal Devices and Biologics Market

By Type

Fusion Devices

Cervical

Thoracolumbar

Interbody

Biologics

Non-fusion devices

Vertebral compression fracture devices

Artificial discs

Dynamic stabilization devices

By Disease Indication

Degenerative Disc Disease

Complex Deformity

Traumas and Fractures

By End User

Hospitals and Ambulatory Surgery Centers

Specialty Clinics

Regional Analysis/Insights: Spinal Devices and Biologics Market

The countries covered in the spinal devices and biologics market report are 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 spinal devices and biologics market as a result of the rise in spinal illness patients. New product releases, strategic alliances, expanded biologics research, and the rising incidence of spinal disorders are further major drivers of the market for spinal devices and biologics' dominance.

Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest growth rate in the forecast period of 2023 to 2030 because to rising health care expenses, a big patient population, rising income levels, and increased government support for and knowledge of these technologies.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Market Segmentation

Executive Summary

Premium Insights

Global Spinal Devices and Biologics Market : Regulations

: Regulations Market Overview

Global Spinal Devices and Biologics Market, By Type

Global Spinal Devices and Biologics Market, By Disease Indication

Global Spinal Devices and Biologics Market, By Disease Indication

Global Spinal Devices and Biologics Market, By End User

Global Spinal Devices and Biologics Market, By Region

Global Spinal Devices and Biologics Market: Company Landscape

SWOT Analyses

Company Profile

Questionnaires

Related Reports

To Check the Complete Table of contents, click here @ https://www.databridgemarketresearch.com/toc/?dbmr=global-spinal-devices-and-biologics-market

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Event to feature school choirs, band, drumlines, and traditional cultural dance performances

MILWAUKEE, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A student-led showcase in Milwaukee next week will draw attention to K-12 options across the state and how the right school fit allows students to develop their passions and thrive.

The free community event will take place 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24 at Discovery World. The celebration will feature student performances from Shoreland Lutheran High School, St. Anthony's Milwaukee, Eastbrook Academy, Trinity Lutheran Freistadt, Dance Academy of Mexico, and Ballet Folklorico Xanharati.

More than 300 students, families, educators, and community members will attend the event, celebrating Wisconsin youth and the diversity of schools in Wisconsin. While enjoying a spread of fruits and veggies, dips, and Wisconsin cheese, attendees will cheer performances and get to know neighboring schools.

This event is planned to coincide with the celebration of National School Choice Week (Jan. 22-28, 2023), which will feature tens of thousands of school choice celebrations across all 50 states.

"We are thrilled to be able to celebrate with our choice schools, families, and students. This is a celebration of all the hardwork and dedication of over 370 schools and 52,000 students statewide," said Nicholas Kelly, president of School Choice Wisconsin. "We work tirelessly to empower parents with the ability to choose the best educational options for their children. We believe no one knows better than a parent what is best for their child. We look forward to another great event on January 24. We also are looking forward to opening up more opportunities in the future for more families."

This event is planned by School Choice Wisconsin, a non-profit that works to empower parents by developing, supporting and promoting the ideas and policies that create vibrant, quality options in K-12 education in Wisconsin.

Discovery World is located at 500 N. Harbor Dr.

National School Choice Week (NSCW) informs, inspires, and empowers parents to discover the K-12 education options available for their children, including traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home schooling. Every January, tens of thousands of schools, organizations, and individuals plan unique events and activities to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options in their communities. The Week is a project of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical National School Choice Awareness Foundation.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
Elementary students to perform Hawaiian chant at 'Imiloa Astronomy Center

HILO, Hawaii, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- How did ancient Hawaiians navigate the night sky? Several dozen elementary students from St. Joseph School will discover the answer when they field trip to 'Imiloa Astronomy Center on Tuesday, Jan. 24 to celebrate School Choice Week.

The 9:30 a.m.-noon outing aims to engage students in Hawaii's deep history of exploration and draw attention to the school's cultural studies program. Students will greet the staff at the astronomy center with a special Hawaiian chant. Written by the principal of St. Joseph School, the chant is one of many ways that students participate in the rich traditions of their home.

The field trip is planned to coincide with the celebration of National School Choice Week (Jan. 22-28, 2023), which will feature tens of thousands of school choice celebrations across all 50 states. In addition to the field trip, St. Joseph School will celebrate school choice with an open house for prospective families on the following weekend.

"'A'ole pau ka 'ike i ka halau hookahi,' or 'Not all knowledge is acquired at one place,'" quoted Maile Kipapa, principal at St. Joseph School. "The students of St. Joseph School will be taking a field trip to Imiloa Astronomy Center to explore the role our island plays in the discipline of astronomy. Our students are constantly learning and to limit their learning to a classroom defies logic."

"As a school of choice, we encourage our students to be hungry," said Kipapa. "Not a physical hunger, rather an intellectual hunger for wisdom and knowledge from all available resources on and off campus to provide a practical, real-life learning environment, ranging from a broad expanse of traditional and non-traditional learning. And as such, our students deepen their sense of identity to place and gain a sense of belonging and appreciation for their home that, in essence, is a classroom. By integrating a robust multifaceted palette of learning and methodologies, our students are given the opportunity to make more informed future decisions on their educational paths."

St. Joseph School serves students in grades pre-K through 12 in Hilo and seeks to build lives of service in the spirit of the Hawaiian tradition of Aloha.

'Imiloa Astronomy Center is located at 600 Imiloa Place.

National School Choice Week (NSCW) informs, inspires, and empowers parents to discover the K-12 education options available for their children, including traditional public, charter, magnet, online, private, and home schooling. Every January, tens of thousands of schools, organizations, and individuals plan unique events and activities to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options in their communities. The Week is a project of the nonpartisan, nonpolitical National School Choice Awareness Foundation.

SOURCE National School Choice Week
HONG KONG, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global FinTech SUNRATE announces the successful integration of Mastercard Cross-Border Services into its intelligent global payment and treasury management platform, boosting SUNRATE's global cross-border payment capabilities for its customers. The integration of Mastercard Cross-Border Services is the latest expansion of the continuing global partnership between the two companies. SUNRATE secured the Mastercard principal membership in 2020 which allowed the company direct access to Mastercard's leading global payments network and resources.

Through a single, secure point of access, Mastercard Cross-Border Services allows businesses to send and receive money securely and with certainty. This means that SUNRATE customers are able to send money to five designated countries in Asia, including Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and China.

"We have a vision for SUNRATE to be the go-to B2B payment and treasury management platform, especially for emerging markets. As such, the flexibility brought about by Mastercard Cross-Border Services, such as the capability to make cross-border payments to the most popular and emerging markets worldwide is something that our customers are very excited about. Our collaboration with Mastercard will allow our customers to focus on what is more important in their scaling journey, such as localisation efforts and potentially establishing new revenue streams for their businesses," said Qincheng Wang, Head of Product, SUNRATE.

Helena Chen, Managing Director, Hong Kong and Macau, Mastercard, said, "Mastercard is pleased to further its collaboration with SUNRATE via its Cross Border Services solution, enriching SUNRATE's remittance service in a faster, safer, more transparent and cost-effective way. Mastercard Cross Border Services reaches over 100 markets and 90 percent of the world's population and this partnership will continue to expand in hopes of enhancing the cross-border service for businesses."

About SUNRATE

SUNRATE is the intelligent global payment and treasury management platform for businesses worldwide. Since its inception in 2016, we are recognised as a leading solutions provider and have enabled companies in 130+ companies with our cutting-edge proprietary platform, extensive global network, and robust APIs to scale both local and global growth.

With its global headquarters in Singapore and offices in China, Indonesia, Japan and UK, SUNRATE partners with the top global financial institutions, such as Citibank, Standard Chartered, Barclays and is the principal member of both Mastercard and Visa. We are licensed and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK, the Bank Indonesia, the Hong Kong Customs as a Money Service Operator, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Major Payment Institution.

For media and partnership enquiries, please contact:

Darren Thang

Head of Marketing

E-mail: [email protected]

Coco He

General Manager

E-mail: [email protected]

For legal information of Mastercard's Cross-Border Services, please refer to: https://b2b.mastercard.com/cross-border-services/legal/

SOURCE Sunrate
KILLEEN, Texas, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- High school seniors in Texas headed to a university or college in Texas for the 2023-2024 school year can apply for a $1,500 academic scholarship from The Carlson Law Firm.

This marks the firm's third year offering scholarships to deserving seniors in Texas.

Application submissions opened Jan. 17 and will run through April 14 until 5 p.m. Students can submit their applications on The Carlson Law Firm's website at carlsonattorneys.com/scholarship.

"One of the reasons we've continued to do these scholarships is because we want people, especially young people, to feel good about the work they've done to help others," Managing Partner Craig Carlson said. "Our team really enjoys learning about the positive impact these teens have had on their communities, and we always want them to know that we're rooting for them to succeed no matter where their journey takes them."

Last year's winners, Daylen Sauls, from Waco, went to Tarleton State, and Cole Ralston, from Holland, went to Texas State Technical College.

This year, the firm is encouraging seniors to use their creativity when submitting their applications. Seniors will have the option to choose one of three prompts. Students can choose to answer the prompt by either submitting a 2-3 minute video or writing a 300-500 word essay.

Further eligibility requirements include the following:





Must be a high school senior for the 2022-2023 school year

Enrolled in a Texas school

school Must be headed to a Texas university, college or trade school for the 2023-2024 school year

university, college or trade school for the 2023-2024 school year The application must be submitted online through the scholarship form at carlsonattorneys.com/scholarship

Submit proof of enrollment

Submit an unofficial transcript

Prompts can be viewed on The Carlson Law Firm's website: carlsonattorneys.com/scholarship.

About The Carlson Law Firm

The Carlson Law Firm is a national injury law firm with 16 locations in Texas. In addition to receiving some of the top verdicts and settlements in the nation, our legal team is endlessly dedicated to helping anyone in need. One of the best ways to serve our clients is through service to uplift everyone in our community.

Media Contact:

Kazia Conway

[email protected]

SOURCE The Carlson Law Firm
The 500 largest family businesses generate US$8 .02t and employ 24.5m people across 47 jurisdictions

Nearly half of the companies featured are located in Europe

More needs to be done to close the gender gap with women holding only 23% of board seats

LONDON, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The 500 largest family businesses in the world are vital to the health of and are growing faster than the global economy. Collectively, they generate US$8.02t in revenues and employ 24.5m people worldwide across 47 jurisdictions, high enough to be the third largest national economy by revenue, behind only the US and China. These and other findings were published today in the 2023 EY and University of St.Gallen Family Business Index, which is a ranking of the 500 largest family businesses in the world by revenue, and issued every two years.

Longevity and stability continue to be a staple among the companies listed on the 2023 index, as more than three-quarters (76%) have been around for more than 50 years, and nearly one-third (31%) are more than a century old. This is further reinforced by their board structures, with almost one-quarter of all board seats (23%) being held by family members and nearly half (45%) having family members as CEOs.

While most companies in the index are based in Europe (46%), the US is the leading individual jurisdiction (24%). Overall, exactly half of all the businesses in the index are located in Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA), with the Americas home to 34% and Asia-Pacific housing 16% of companies in the index. The contribution of Asia-Pacific has been consistently increasing ever since the first edition of the index in 2015, from 12% to 16% this year. Meanwhile, regarding industry sectors, consumer-based family enterprises lead the index (37%) thanks to their dominant share in the Americas. Companies in Advanced Manufacturing and Mobility follow (29%) as this sector is in the lead in EMEIA and Asia-Pacific.

Even though successful family enterprises are recognized for being agile, innovative and purposeful, there is still a ways to go with gender parity. Globally, around 6% have a female CEO, and women hold only 23% of all board seats. North America and Europe stand out on the index with female CEOs but still only around 7%. When it comes to the distribution of board seats among family members, Europe leads the way with women occupying 25% of family-held board seats, considerably above the global average of 20%.

Helena Robertsson, EY Global Family Enterprise Leader, says:

"Family-owned enterprises continue to show an impressive ability to adapt quickly and I applaud them for their continuous transformation and innovation. As we anticipate a potential slowdown in global economic growth for the year ahead, the long-term perspective of these companies and the desire to further a legacy will be critical drivers for maintaining resiliency and ensuring a strong succession plan is in place. I especially look forward to seeing how the next generation will further focus on investing in technology and diversifying the face of boards while maintaining significant contributions to the global economy."

Thomas Zellweger, Professor from the Center for Family Business at the University of St.Gallen, says:

"The overall composition Index is stable, with only 7% new entrants this year, proving the resilience of family firms. The growing prominence of Asia-Pacific companies is also striking and a sign of the economic power these family-owned enterprises wield in the region. It will be interesting to observe how these long established firms continue to adapt and prosper in light of social, environmental, economic and technological change. The role of the next generation in tackling these challenges will be absolutely critical."

Notes to editors

About EY

EY exists to build a better working world, helping to create long-term value for clients, people and society and build trust in the capital markets.

Enabled by data and technology, diverse EY teams in over 150 countries provide trust through assurance and help clients grow, transform and operate.

Working across assurance, consulting, law, strategy, tax and transactions, EY teams ask better questions to find new answers for the complex issues facing our world today.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via ey.com/privacy. EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global EY organization that also does not provide any services to clients.

About EY Family Enterprise

As trusted advisors to ambitious business-owning families, including more than 92% of the world's top 500 family enterprises, EY teams have the experience and know-how to help the entire family enterprise  families, their family business and their family office  pursue growth opportunities while preserving values and building the family legacy. Drawing from more than 100 years of experience supporting the world's most entrepreneurial families, EY Family Enterprise professionals are experienced in pinpointing and helping to optimize the drivers that impact family businesses' growth and longevity, preserve wealth and culture, and solidify multigenerational legacies. Visit ey.com/familyenterprise.

About EY Private

As Advisors to the ambitious, EY Private professionals possess the experience and passion to support private businesses and their owners in unlocking the full potential of their ambitions. EY Private teams offer distinct insights born from the long EY history of working with business owners and entrepreneurs. These teams support the full spectrum of private enterprises including private capital managers and investors and the portfolio businesses they fund, business owners, family businesses, family offices and entrepreneurs. Visit ey.com/private.

Lauren Mosery

EY Global Media Relations

+1 732 977 2063

[email protected]

SOURCE EY
DUBLIN, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Radiation Oncology Market Size, Share & Industry Trends Analysis Report By Application, By Type (External Beam Radiation Therapy and Internal Beam Radiation Therapy), By Regional Outlook and Forecast, 2022 - 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Radiation Oncology Market size is expected to reach $12.8 billion by 2028, rising at a market growth of 8.5% CAGR during the forecast period.



A multidisciplinary approach to treating cancer must include the medical specialty of radiation oncology (radiotherapy/radiotherapy). It makes use of high-energy x-rays (photons), which are typically delivered by a linear accelerator. These non-invasive, painless therapeutic x-rays are used to treat a variety of malignancies.

A multidisciplinary team composed of radiation oncologists, nurses, radiation therapists, and medical physicists will discuss radiation therapy as a treatment option, assess users, plan and deliver users' treatments, and assist users with any side effects experienced.



The linear accelerator is housed within a cancer center. Radiation therapy, often known as radiation, has acquired recognition as a highly effective cancer treatment option for reducing cancer-related morbidity and mortality. The desire for technologically advanced treatment options is growing, which is driving the market for radiation oncology.



Accurate tumor localization during oncology has been made possible by the introduction of cutting-edge technology. The effectiveness of radiation oncology has increased due to the use of diagnostic imaging. Treatment approaches include stereotactic radiosurgery, volumetric-modulated arc therapy, 3D high-dose-rate brachytherapy, and 3D conformal radiation have all grown in popularity.



Additionally, the planning of diagnosis, staging, and oncology is becoming more and more dependent on enhanced imaging modalities. Tumor targeting developments in radiation oncology have paved the way for individualized care due to the field's continual breakthroughs. The market for radiation oncology is anticipated to be driven by technical developments that increase the efficacy and safety of treatments.



4D radiation, which combines 4D imaging with radiotherapy, enables accurate tumor size, shape, area, and volume measurements as well as real-time tumor tracking. With this combination, medical professionals can still administer a conformal dose while compensating for organ, tumor, or patient movement.



COVID-19 Impact Analysis



On the market for radiation oncology, a detrimental effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is anticipated. Lockdowns were implemented to stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading. Several hospitals have undergone COVID-19 center conversions. As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2019, the healthcare sector has been severely damaged, even though many studies focus on preventing and treating COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on these factors on several levels, including the decrease in the number of cancer patients seen at cancer centers, the implementation of additional safety measures, the availability of health care staff and training, the influence on patient behavior, and changes to clinical practice.



Market Growth Factors

Radiotherapy Education Program



The advantages of radiation treatments have motivated numerous activities, including conferences and symposia, in recent years. At such gatherings, a bigger emphasis is placed on raising awareness of the advantages and therapeutic benefits that radiation provides for a variety of cancers. For instance, Portugal will host the 6th Cancer World Congress in September 2022. The sixth Cancer World Congress will focus on "Personalized Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy" in 2022.



Expanding Public-Private Funding For Cancer Research



The second-leading cause of death, cancer, is responsible for a significant fraction of all fatalities. Wealthy countries have a substantially higher cancer rate than developing ones. It is anticipated that recognized risk factors will be increasingly prominent in these developing nations due to population growth, aging, and an increase in known risk factors. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in men only in industrialized countries, while breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in developing countries.



Market Restraining Factors

Lack Of Qualified Radiologists And Oncologists



To improve the precision and focus of the equipment and techniques used in radiotherapy, there are ongoing technological developments. However, as a clinical modality, radiation, high standards can only be attained and upheld by full-time professionals. Thus, it is anticipated that a lack of technical know-how and a paucity of skilled workers is expected to hinder the introduction of modern radiation. Due to a lack of qualified and trained people, many cancer patients are denied access to effective and cutting-edge radiotherapy techniques.

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Market Scope & Methodology



Chapter 2. Market Overview

2.1 Introduction

2.1.1 Overview

2.1.1.1 Market composition & scenarios

2.2 Key Factors Impacting the Market

2.2.1 Market Drivers

2.2.2 Market Restraints



Chapter 3. Competition Analysis - Global

3.1 Cardinal Matrix

3.2 Recent Industry Wide Strategic Developments

3.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements

3.2.2 Product Launches and Product Expansions

3.2.3 Acquisition and Mergers

3.3 Top Winning Strategies

3.3.1 Key Leading Strategies: Percentage Distribution (2018-2022)

3.3.2 Key Strategic Move: (Product Launches and Product Expansions : 2020, Nov - 2022, May) Leading Players



Chapter 4. Global Radiation Oncology Market by Application

4.1 Global Breast Cancer Market by Region

4.2 Global Gynecological Cancer Market by Region

4.3 Global Colorectal Cancer Market by Region

4.4 Global Lung Cancer Market by Region

4.5 Global Prostate Cancer Market by Region

4.6 Global Head & Neck Cancer Market by Region

4.7 Global Gynecological Cancer Market by Region

4.8 Global Other Application Market by Region



Chapter 5. Global Radiation Oncology Market by Type

5.1 Global External Beam Radiation Therapy Market by Region

5.2 Global Internal Beam Radiation Therapy Market by Region



Chapter 6. Global Radiation Oncology Market by Region



Chapter 7. Company Profiles

7.1 Becton, Dickinson and Company

7.1.1 Company Overview

7.1.2 Financial Analysis

7.1.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

7.1.4 Research & Development Expense

7.1.5 SWOT Analysis

7.2 Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (Siemens Healthineers)

7.2.1 Company Overview

7.2.2 Financial Analysis

7.2.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

7.2.4 Research & Development Expense

7.2.5 Recent strategies and developments:

7.2.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:

7.2.5.2 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

7.3 Ion Beam Applications SA

7.3.1 Company Overview

7.3.2 Financial Analysis

7.3.3 Segmental Analysis

7.3.4 Research & Development Expenses

7.3.5 Recent strategies and developments:

7.3.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:

7.3.5.2 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

7.4 Elekta AB

7.4.1 Company Overview

7.4.2 Financial Analysis

7.4.3 Regional Analysis

7.4.4 Research & Development Expense

7.4.5 Recent strategies and developments:

7.4.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:

7.4.5.2 Acquisition and Mergers:

7.5 Accuray Incorporated

7.5.1 Company Overview

7.5.2 Financial Analysis

7.5.3 Regional Analysis

7.5.4 Research & Development Expenses

7.5.5 Recent strategies and developments:

7.5.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:

7.5.5.2 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

7.6 Nordion Inc. (Sotera Health LLC)

7.6.1 Company Overview

7.6.2 Financial Analysis

7.6.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

7.7 Isoray Inc.

7.7.1 Company Overview

7.7.2 Financial Analysis

7.8 Mevion Medical Systems, Inc.

7.8.1 Company Overview

7.9 Provision Healthcare

7.9.1 Company Overview

7.10. Panacea Medical Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

7.10.1 Company Overview

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/38ey13

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
DUBLIN, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Wall Covering Market By Product Type, By Printing type, By Application, By End User: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global wall coverings market size was valued at $152,035.1 million in 2021 and is projected to reach $239,732.8 million by 2031, registering a CAGR of 4.7% from 2022 to 2031.



Wall covering is a material that is used to decorate the interior & exterior walls of residential and commercial buildings. It protects and prevents the wall surface from moisture and stains. Furthermore, it enhances the appearance and adds beauty to the walls of the buildings. Some of the most popular materials include wallpaper, tiles, & wall panels, and depending on the characteristics of each of them, one or more layers must be applied, changing the final appearance accordingly.



The expansion of the construction sector due to an increase in new construction and refurbishment of existing structures is driving the wall covering market growth. The need for stylish home interior & exterior walls is fueling the market growth. Moreover, the advancement in technology such as digital printing and 3D printing technology is creating a growth opportunity for companies to manufacture wall covering products.



Moreover, renovation and reconstruction of existing homes and commercial properties are expected to drive wall covering market growth. For instance, in the year 2020, the European Commission announced the "Renovation Wave" initiative for public and private buildings. The plan states that the additional investment needed to reach EU 2030 energy and climate targets is around $385 billion annually, with approximately $295 billion for residential and $90 billion for public buildings.

Hence, such factors drive the wall coverings market growth. Moreover, key players in the market are launching new wall covering products to sustain demand growth. For instance, in May 2022, Asian Paints Ltd. launched INK handcrafted wall coverings, a new collection of wall coverings for interior and exterior walls. Hence, such factors provide lucrative growth opportunities in the wall covering market.



The market is segmented on the basis of product, application, printing type, end user, and region. On the basis of product, the market is divided into wallpaper, wall-panel, and tiles. By application, the market is divided into new construction and renovation. On the basis of printing type, the market is divided into digital and traditional. By end user, the market is divided into residential and non-residential. Region-wise, the market analysis is conducted across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.



Key Benefits

This report provides a quantitative analysis of the market segments, current trends, estimations, and dynamics of the wall covering market analysis from 2021 to 2031 to identify the prevailing wall covering market opportunities.

The market research is offered along with information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities.

Porter's five forces analysis highlights the potency of buyers and suppliers to enable stakeholders make profit-oriented business decisions and strengthen their supplier-buyer network.

In-depth analysis of the wall covering market segmentation assists to determine the prevailing market opportunities.

Major countries in each region are mapped according to their revenue contribution to the global market.

Market player positioning facilitates benchmarking and provides a clear understanding of the present position of the market players.

The report includes the analysis of the regional as well as global wall covering market trends, key players, market segments, application areas, and market growth strategies.

Key Topics Covered:



CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION



CHAPTER 2: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2.1.Key findings of the study

2.2.CXO Perspective



CHAPTER 3: MARKET OVERVIEW

3.1.Market definition and scope

3.2.Key findings

3.2.1.Top investment pockets

3.3.Porter's five forces analysis

3.4.Top player positioning

3.5.Market dynamics

3.5.1.Drivers

3.5.2.Restraints

3.5.3.Opportunities

3.6.COVID-19 Impact Analysis on the market



CHAPTER 4: WALL COVERING MARKET, BY PRODUCT TYPE

4.1 Overview

4.1.1 Market size and forecast

4.2 Wallpaper

4.2.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

4.2.2 Market size and forecast, by region

4.2.3 Market analysis by country

4.3 Wal panel

4.3.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

4.3.2 Market size and forecast, by region

4.3.3 Market analysis by country

4.4 Tile

4.4.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

4.4.2 Market size and forecast, by region

4.4.3 Market analysis by country

4.4.4 Tile Wall Covering Market by Material type

4.4.4.1 Ceramic Market size and forecast, by region

4.4.4.2 Vinyl Market size and forecast, by region

4.4.4.3 Porcelain Market size and forecast, by region

4.4.4.4 Others Market size and forecast, by region



CHAPTER 5: WALL COVERING MARKET, BY PRINTING TYPE

5.1 Overview

5.1.1 Market size and forecast

5.2 Digital

5.2.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

5.2.2 Market size and forecast, by region

5.2.3 Market analysis by country

5.3 Traditional

5.3.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

5.3.2 Market size and forecast, by region

5.3.3 Market analysis by country



CHAPTER 6: WALL COVERING MARKET, BY APPLICATION

6.1 Overview

6.1.1 Market size and forecast

6.2 New Construction

6.2.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

6.2.2 Market size and forecast, by region

6.2.3 Market analysis by country

6.3 Renovation

6.3.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

6.3.2 Market size and forecast, by region

6.3.3 Market analysis by country



CHAPTER 7: WALL COVERING MARKET, BY END USER

7.1 Overview

7.1.1 Market size and forecast

7.2 Residential

7.2.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

7.2.2 Market size and forecast, by region

7.2.3 Market analysis by country

7.3 Non-residential

7.3.1 Key market trends, growth factors and opportunities

7.3.2 Market size and forecast, by region

7.3.3 Market analysis by country



CHAPTER 8: WALL COVERING MARKET, BY REGION



CHAPTER 9: COMPANY LANDSCAPE

9.1. Introduction

9.2. Top winning strategies

9.3. Product Mapping of Top 10 Player

9.4. Competitive Dashboard

9.5. Competitive Heatmap

9.6. Key developments



CHAPTER 10: COMPANY PROFILES

10.1 A.S. Creation Tapeten AG

10.1.1 Company overview

10.1.2 Company snapshot

10.1.3 Operating business segments

10.1.4 Product portfolio

10.1.5 Business performance

10.1.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.2 Ahlstrom Munksjo

10.2.1 Company overview

10.2.2 Company snapshot

10.2.3 Operating business segments

10.2.4 Product portfolio

10.2.5 Business performance

10.2.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.3 Architonic

10.3.1 Company overview

10.3.2 Company snapshot

10.3.3 Operating business segments

10.3.4 Product portfolio

10.3.5 Business performance

10.3.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.4 Asian Paints Ltd.

10.4.1 Company overview

10.4.2 Company snapshot

10.4.3 Operating business segments

10.4.4 Product portfolio

10.4.5 Business performance

10.4.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.5 Brewster

10.5.1 Company overview

10.5.2 Company snapshot

10.5.3 Operating business segments

10.5.4 Product portfolio

10.5.5 Business performance

10.5.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.6 Daltile

10.6.1 Company overview

10.6.2 Company snapshot

10.6.3 Operating business segments

10.6.4 Product portfolio

10.6.5 Business performance

10.6.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.7 F. Schumacher & Co.

10.7.1 Company overview

10.7.2 Company snapshot

10.7.3 Operating business segments

10.7.4 Product portfolio

10.7.5 Business performance

10.7.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.8 Grandeco

10.8.1 Company overview

10.8.2 Company snapshot

10.8.3 Operating business segments

10.8.4 Product portfolio

10.8.5 Business performance

10.8.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.9 J. Josephson Inc.

10.9.1 Company overview

10.9.2 Company snapshot

10.9.3 Operating business segments

10.9.4 Product portfolio

10.9.5 Business performance

10.9.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.10 Maya Romanoff Corporation

10.10.1 Company overview

10.10.2 Company snapshot

10.10.3 Operating business segments

10.10.4 Product portfolio

10.10.5 Business performance

10.10.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.11 Nippon Paint Holdings Co. Ltd

10.11.1 Company overview

10.11.2 Company snapshot

10.11.3 Operating business segments

10.11.4 Product portfolio

10.11.5 Business performance

10.11.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.12 Onmi W.C. Inc.

10.12.1 Company overview

10.12.2 Company snapshot

10.12.3 Operating business segments

10.12.4 Product portfolio

10.12.5 Business performance

10.12.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.13 Osborne & Little

10.13.1 Company overview

10.13.2 Company snapshot

10.13.3 Operating business segments

10.13.4 Product portfolio

10.13.5 Business performance

10.13.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.14 Saint Gobain

10.14.1 Company overview

10.14.2 Company snapshot

10.14.3 Operating business segments

10.14.4 Product portfolio

10.14.5 Business performance

10.14.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.15 Sanderson Design Group

10.15.1 Company overview

10.15.2 Company snapshot

10.15.3 Operating business segments

10.15.4 Product portfolio

10.15.5 Business performance

10.15.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.16 Waldan Paper Services, LLC

10.16.1 Company overview

10.16.2 Company snapshot

10.16.3 Operating business segments

10.16.4 Product portfolio

10.16.5 Business performance

10.16.6 Key strategic moves and developments

10.17 York WallCoverings

10.17.1 Company overview

10.17.2 Company snapshot

10.17.3 Operating business segments

10.17.4 Product portfolio

10.17.5 Business performance

10.17.6 Key strategic moves and developments

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/dn9g1j

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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SOURCE Research and Markets
GOLDEN, Colo., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Theralink Technologies (OTC: THER) ("Theralink" or the "Company"), a precision oncology company with a novel quantitative protein and phosphoprotein-based assay for breast cancer, today announced its support of George Mason University's involvement in the White House Cancer Moonshot Initiative.

Mick Ruxin, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Theralink said, "We are extremely excited to learn that the Reverse Phase Protein Assay (RPPA) technology will play a role in the Cancer Moonshot Initiative." Previously, Theralink acquired an exclusive commercial license for the RPPA technology through an agreement with George Mason University. He further explained, "Theralink is looking forward to supporting George Mason University and their Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine in whatever way we can with this very important cancer care initiative."

Recently, George Mason University announced that Mason scientists would play a role in the White House Cancer Moonshot Initiative, and their work could help in the mission to reduce cancer rates. The U.S. government is partnering with researchers to reduce cancer deaths by bringing together a large community of patients, advocates, researchers, and clinicians.

Researchers from Mason's Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM) within George Mason University's College of Science are working on a molecular profiling technology that would better identify the most effective drugs in the fight against specific cancers.

"I think it's very realistic to reduce cancer death rates in half in 25 years," said Emanuel "Chip" Petricoin, a University Professor and the co-founder and co-director of CAPMM. Petricoin is also the Chair of Theralink's Scientific Advisory Board--where the mission is to bring this novel, highly sensitive, molecular profiling technology to cancer patients across the U.S. and to assist treating oncologists with therapy selection based upon each individual patient's biology.

Drs. Ruxin and Petricoin are bringing together key stakeholders in the fight against cancer. They are encouraging a collaboration to tackle this devastating disease with a goal to lower morbidity and mortality rates for all cancer patients. "We are working together to bring the research efforts at George Mason University with the commercial efforts at Theralink Technologies to help improve care for diverse cancers for all patients and their families and friends," Dr. Ruxin said.

About Theralink Technologies, Inc.

Theralink Technologies is a proteomics-based, precision medicine company with a CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited laboratory located in Golden, Colorado. Through its unique and patented phosphoprotein and protein biomarker platform and LDTs, Theralink's technology targets multiple areas of oncology and drug development. In addition to the Company's first assay for advanced breast cancer, Theralink is actively working on a second assay that is planned to be pan-tumor for solid tumors across multiple tumor types such as ovarian, endometrial, pancreatic, liver, head and neck, colorectal, lung, prostate, among others. Theralink provides precision oncology data through its powerful Theralink Reverse Phase Protein Array assays to assist the biopharmaceutical industry and clinical oncologists in identifying likely responders and non-responders to both FDA-approved and investigational drug treatments. Theralink intends to help improve cancer outcomes for patients, help reveal therapeutic options for oncologists, and support biopharmaceutical drug development by using a beyond-genomics approach to molecular profiling that directly measures drug target levels and activity. For more information, please visit www.theralink.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation, anything relating or referring to future financial results, patient enrollment and plans for future business development activities, and are thus prospective. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties some of which cannot be predicted or quantified based on current expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties set forth from time to time in reports filed by Theralink Technologies with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the financial condition of our business and although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Consequently, future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements contained herein. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly release statements made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

SOURCE Theralink Technologies
Company highlights new partnerships and expanded staffing services entering 2023

CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TimeDoc Health, a best-in-class solution provider for virtual care management, chronic condition management and remote patient monitoring, has capped a year of steady growth and adoption through key healthcare partnerships. The company, which raised a $48.5M Series B round in March 2022, is now serving more than 100,000 patients through its SaaS and hybrid services model.

"Last year was a breakout year for us, in terms of customer acquisition, but more importantly due to the widespread realization that virtual care is the path forward for healthcare organizations building more accessible delivery systems for patients," said TimeDoc Health Chief Executive Officer Will Boeglin. "We have learned from new and existing clients that chronic care management and remote patient monitoring are optimized with a team-based, tech-enabled approach. Next year, we plan to expand our platform's capabilities to ensure clinical teams are working with the most substantive patient data to inform decision-making."

Existing partnerships, like Transitions Care and Southwest Community Health Center, have been pivotal to the company's strategy to reach more patients in rural and suburban populations, where access to care can be limited. A recent partnership with Rainelle Medical Center across sites in West Virginia was born of necessity, with the organization needing a tool to monitor at-risk patients and allocate resources to symptomatic patients who struggle with transportation as a barrier to care.

"We partnered with TimeDoc Health as a way to immediately increase connectivity with those furthest away from our physical locations," said Sabrina Ford, director of nursing at Rainelle. "The most important thing for us is delivering timely, effective care and our system is empowered by technology and specialized staffing that optimizes our operation even when the circumstances are unpredictable."

This year, the company eyes continued expansion with FQHCs, community health centers, and medical practices targeting a wide range of providers who struggle with digital chronic conditions management, patient engagement, and staffing shortages. The latter threatens to derail the healthcare industry in the coming years, if not addressed properly. A 2021 report from Mercer, a global investment research firm, forecasts a shortage of more than 3 million "lower-wage" workers in the next four years, limiting the ability to deliver quality at-home care.

More oversight from government agencies, like the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), also looms in the years ahead, potentially incentivizing providers to adopt new hybrid care models to enhance safety and access in underserved communities. It presents an opportunity for TimeDoc Health to continue its growth trajectory and appeal to a broad range of stakeholders in the industry.

"Every day we're encouraged by the data that flows through our platform," said TimeDoc Health Vice President of Care Management Sarah Cameron, LCSW. "Whether it's a decrease in emergency department utilization for a provider or a safe reduction in a patient's blood pressure enabled by remote patient monitoring, we are getting closer to creating the national healthcare system that we all deserve. This year will get us another step closer."

About TimeDoc Health

TimeDoc Health, based in Chicago, Illinois, is a leader in virtual care management for healthcare organizations. The company enables providers to deliver truly continuous, comprehensive care by helping them establish care management programs for patients with chronic health conditions. The solution combines a care management SaaS platform with care coordination services for chronic care management, remote patient monitoring, and behavioral health integration. For more information, visit www.timedochealth.com.

Contact:

James Coates

Senior Vice President, Marketing

[email protected]

TimeDoc Health

SOURCE TimeDoc Health
Global IoT services provider Trackunit has started 2023 with a bang after it closed a deal in early January for Berlin-based ConTech startup Flexcavo.

AALBORG, Denmark, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global IoT services provider Trackunit has this month closed a deal for Germany's Flexcavo enabling the telematics specialist to extend its reach in the contractor market.

Soeren Brogaard, CEO, Trackunit (PRNewsfoto/Trackunit) Flexcavo Logo (PRNewsfoto/Flexcavo)

The agreement, which closed on January 1, will see Flexcavo continue to build its software solution to contractors and rental clients across Europe. Berlin-based Flexcavo specializes in data-enabled workflow and process management through the construction sector enabling contractors and rental companies to increase their efficiency, lower costs and improve the team's collaboration across construction sites, yards, and headquarters.

"We're delighted to welcome Flexcavo into the Trackunit group and this significantly strengthens our offering to contractors and those with mixed fleets," said Soeren Brogaard, CEO of Trackunit. "We're looking forward to leveraging Flexcavo's expertise and make sure we're serving our customers in the best way possible moving forward.

"Our team has doubled in the last 18 months and with the acquisition of Flexcavo, we're on track to continue growing," said Brogaard. "We're ambitious and this move fits perfectly with our overall strategy."

Trackunit currently has just under 400 employees.

"We are excited and proud to join forces with Trackunit," said Flexcavo Co-Founder Benedict Aicher. "This enables us to double down on our ambition to be the leading partner for every contractor who strives for excellence and wants to make the most of every single job.

"Being part of the Trackunit ecosystem allows for a deeper integration into the contractor value chain and beyond," he said. "I know the Trackunit team shares our commitment to build the most useful industry for the world, and I can't wait to get started."

Fellow Co-Founder Leonhard Fricke additionally highlights the potential for Flexcavo, which employs approximately 30 staff, to make their solutions for customers even better.

"It will boost our developing capabilities significantly so that contractors and rental companies can benefit from even faster feature releases, real-time data across all machinery, and even more automation of processes between site, yard, and headquarters," he said. "Making our offering available in other key markets and supporting customers in their digitization efforts will be our key mission going forward."

Brogaard added that the acquisition should also enable Trackunit to manage the rental/contractor relationship even better in the future.

"It's adding new capabilities and will allow rentals and contractors to smooth out any hiccups relating to machine usage, efficiencies and productivity," he said. "It fits with the industry-wide purpose to eliminate downtime and any move that brings us closer to that goal can only make construction better."

About Trackunit

Trackunit is the leading SaaS-based IoT solution and machine insights provider to the global construction equipment industry. Trackunit collects and analyzes machine data in real-time to deliver actionable, proactive, and predictive information, empowering customers with data-driven foresight.

Trackunit promises to lead the technology engagement to help eliminate downtime. The ambition of this mission is not only to recover from budget and schedule overruns, but also to re-establish the reputation of the industry for innovation and leadership.

From operator safety and machine health to business optimization, Trackunit's industry-leading telematics software, hardware and fleet management services benefit the everyday operations of the customers worldwide. Trackunit services its customers worldwide from its offices in Denmark, Canada, United States, and Singapore, Sweden, Norway, France, Holland, Germany, UK, Australia, and Japan.

Visit Trackunit.com to learn more.

About Flexcavo

Flexcavo was founded in July 2020 by Benedict Aicher and Leonhard Fricke with the goal of accelerating the digitalization of the construction industry. The company's platform helps to streamline construction projects by providing data-driven resource scheduling and telematics enabled workflow automation.

As a pioneer in the digitalization of the construction industry, Flexcavo enables the exchange of machine and logistics data between new and existing IT systems through API interfaces. This creates an orchestrated ecosystem across construction-sites with automated workflows for construction machines, equipment, and material, making the construction process more efficient and effective. With its innovative approach and cutting-edge technology, Flexcavo is revolutionizing the way the construction industry operates.

Visit www.flexcavo.com to learn more.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984196/Soeren_Brogaard.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984198/Trackunit_Logo.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984203/Flexcavo_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Trackunit
City Serves as Incubator for New "Main Street Before Wall Street" Local Marketing Platform That Bolsters Local Businesses

BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With an aim toward sparking a Main Street renaissance after years of decline, local technology innovator Nigh Technologies today announces the launch of a pilot of Nigh, a local marketing platform in Boulder. Nigh is a revolutionary way of finally aligning the promise of technology with the true needs and desires of local businesses. Where traditional technology platforms ensure that companies with deep marketing budgets reach relevant audiences, Nigh focuses exclusively on strengthening local communities  starting with Boulder  and rejects the advertising and high-fee models, which have enriched tech companies and investors at the expense of local businesses and communities.

"We are on a mission to rescue Main Street from the pressures that continue to sap its strength," said Nigh co-founder, serial entrepreneur, and former Accenture executive Josh Ritzer. "Nigh is poised to revolutionize the way local businesses and their communities connect, engage, and unite."

Nigh is a new way to experience and support local. Nigh represents an entirely new technology category dedicated to local, one that combines dynamic geolocation technology with short promotional "drop" videos from local businesses to help them get more customers soon.

Nigh has been operating in stealth mode in Boulder since mid-2022, inviting businesses to offer drops as the Nigh team continues to build and improve the technology. Along the way, dozens of Boulder businesses have attracted thousands of customers to their locations using Nigh.

"I love what Nigh is doing to support and drive business to local," said Dana Faulk Query, with Big Red F Restaurant Group, "We have welcomed many new guests thanks to Nigh 'drops' at our restaurants in Boulder. I am excited to see their vision come to life in Boulder and beyond."

Nigh anticipates launching in other locations in Colorado later in the year as the Boulder pilot gains momentum and the technology grows increasingly robust.

"I grew up in a small town in Minnesota and witnessed firsthand the dramatic unraveling of Main Street," Ritzer said. "With a sense of urgency and intense compassion for community, we begin the revitalization of small local businesses here in Boulder. The time is Nigh for meaningful change."

SOURCE Nigh
North San Diego County District hospital and Medline to partner on supply chain optimization

NORTHFIELD, Ill., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Medline today announced it has entered a multi-year prime vendor partnership, valued at $30M, with Tri-City Medical Center, serving San Diego County's coastal communities of Carlsbad, Oceanside and Vista. After partnering with a different distributor for over 15 years, Tri-City will now collaborate with Medline to provide distribution, consultative services and solutions for supply chain optimization. As the system's primary supplier, Medline will exclusively provide an extensive portfolio of essential medical supplies and solutions to Tri-City Medical Center's 386-bed full-service acute care hospital.

Tri-City to collaborate with Medline to provide distribution, consultative services and solutions for supply chain optimization.

"Medline has aligned well with our needs and facilitated a smooth and successful transition, already implementing impactful solutions and showing a cohesive partnership," said Tom Moore, director of supply chain management for Tri-City Medical Center. "Medline also has expansive clinical programs that align with and will benefit Tri-City as we look to optimize our offerings in those areas further."

As a part of the agreement, Medline will embed full-time, on-site staff to manage the hospital's medical supply inventory and operate as an extension of the Tri-City Medical Center team. These dedicated resources will work directly with clinical and operations teams and Medline's Temecula, California, distribution center to optimize Tri-City's inventory operations, enabling clinicians and staff to focus more time on providing the highest quality of care. Tri-City will also have the ability to easily monitor key metrics such as item utilization, contract compliance, price accuracy and spending by product categories through advanced analytics platforms from Medline.

"This partnership is unique because we will be integrating members of our organization on-site within Tri-City Medical Center and collaborating on a larger scale," said Rob Zabel, division sales director for Medline. "We look forward to strengthening our partnership together by implementing impactful, cost-efficient supply chain and clinical improvements."

Tri-City has also partnered with Medline to leverage its Home Health Solutions, Urological Solutions for CAUTI prevention and ReNewal medical device reprocessing program.

Learn how Medline tailors solutions across the entire continuum of care as a manufacturer and distributor by visiting www.medline.com/supply-chain.

About Medline

Medline is a healthcare company; a manufacturer, distributor, and solutions provider focused on improving the overall operating performance of healthcare. Partnering with healthcare systems and facilities across the continuum of care, Medline provides the clinical and supply chain resources required for long-term financial viability in delivering high-quality care. With the scale of one of the country's largest companies and the agility of a family-led business, Medline is able to invest in its customers for the future and rapidly respond to a dynamically changing market with customized solutions. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., Medline has 34,000+ employees worldwide and does business in more than 125 countries and territories. Learn more about Medline at www.medline.com.

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SOURCE Medline
SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA) has been awarded two grants totaling $140,000 from The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts and VIA Art Fund | Wagner Foundation. The Museum was awarded a Spring 2022 Grant from the Warhol Foundation to support the exhibition Haimaz, Heimr, Hjem, Heem, Ham, Home, opening in March of 2023. As a VIA Art Fund | Wagner Foundation Incubator grantee, UMOCA will receive support to further its commitment to its community through fostering experimental practices and advancing critical discourse in contemporary art on a national level.

"The generous support of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the VIA Art Fund and Wagner Foundation will enable UMOCA to strengthen its commitment to engaging with and growing the arts ecosystem in Utah through programming, advocacy, and collaboration with local and national artists and the diverse communities in our state," said UMOCA's Executive Director, Laura Allred Hurtado.

"Artist-centered organizations are tasked with finding new, forward-thinking ways to present artists' perspectives to regional, national and international audiences," states Joel Wachs, President, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. "The Foundation's support for these organizations helps to open pathways for artists to make meaningful contributions to conversations about the pressing issues of our time."

Brooke Davis Anderson, Executive Director of VIA Art Fund stated: "For 4 years VIA Art Fund has partnered with Wagner Foundation to maximize opportunities for small art organizations around the nation. We work together to provide the armature  through general operating support  so that these vital cultural sites can engage deeply with their communities, think collaboratively with artists, and develop creative solutions to their most front-of-mind challenges and opportunities."

Charlotte Wagner, Wagner Foundation Founder & President commented: "We are now 4 years into a 5-year commitment [with the VIA Art Fund]. Together, we continue to expand our geographic reach and provide funding into the arts ecosystem across the county. All 5 new cohort members are deeply engaged in their local community and strive to elevate the arts to bring people together. Their work spans across social and artistic discourse to alternative arts spaces but what they all have in common is a genuine community-centered approach."

SOURCE Utah Museum of Contemporary Art
$32 million expansion project doubles size of facility and features more classroom and training spaces, cabin and door trainers and a state-of-the-art aquatic center to practice safe evacuation of the plane in unlikely water landings

New facility reflects United's continued investments in infrastructure, technology and tools to support growth  airline on track to hire 15,000 people in 2023, including 4,000 flight attendants

According to a new study, United's IAH hub and spending by foreign visitors to Houston on United and Star Alliance member flights support an estimated $5.3 billion per year in gross domestic product in Texas and in 2022 United's direct employment in Houston contributed $1.2 billion to economic activity

HOUSTON, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- United today opened in Houston its largest Inflight Training Center, a 56,000 sq. ft. facility that includes new classrooms, additional cabin and door trainers and a state-of-the-art aquatic center that features a 125,000-gallon pool and mock fuselage to practice the safe evacuation of the plane in the unlikely event of a water landing. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner joined United CEO Scott Kirby at a ceremonial ribbon cutting event in Houston to officially open the new training center.

The $32 million expansion project more than doubles the available training space and supports the airline's plan to hire and train a total of 15,000 people in 2023, including 4,000 flight attendants.

United plans to train more than 600 flight attendants per month at the newly expanded Houston facility and the expansion project is another example of United's focus on long-term investments in infrastructure, tools and technology to support its United Next growth plan as well as the airline's continued commitment to Houston.

"The best flight attendants in the industry deserve the best, most modern training facility in the country," said United CEO Scott Kirby. "This expansion project is yet another example of an investment we made during the depths of the pandemic that will support our employees, further improve our ability to deliver great service and set United up for success in 2023 and beyond."

New United flight attendants will go through a six-week and a half training course at the Houston facility and then return every 18 months to stay current on their qualifications. The campus includes inflight service training spaces with mock seats, a 400+-seat auditorium and a public address room where trainees can practice their onboard announcements. The centerpiece of the building is a new Aquatic Center that includes a 125,000-gallon pool to practicing the safe evacuation of the plane in the unlikely event of a water landing.

As part of the construction of the facility, and in support of Mayor Turner's climate action plan to build local storm-resilient infrastructure, United included an underground prefabricated storm detention vault that can hold more than 268,000 gallons of water and store stormwater runoff in large underground pipes or vaults.

"United continues to be a great partner and business leader in the city of Houston, connecting Houstonians to the world and investing in vital infrastructure projects that help enhance the travel experience for millions of travelers," said Mayor Turner. "I congratulate United on opening its global Inflight Training Center, a testament to the region's workforce and pro-business environment."

Commitment to Houston

United has operated for more than 70 years from its hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH).and is one of the largest employers with over 11,000 local employees and plans to hire 1,800 more in 2023. The airline maintains a corporate office presence downtown and is the leading carrier at George Bush Intercontinental/Houston Airport (IAH), with about 400 flights per day and more direct flights to Latin America and the Caribbean than any other airline.

According to a new study by Compass Lexecon, United's IAH hub and spending by foreign visitors to Houston on United and Star Alliance member flights support an estimated $5.3 billion per year in gross domestic product in Texas and in 2022 United's direct employment in Houston contributed $1.2 billion to economic activity. The study also showed that United's Houston hub indirectly supported an additional 56,000 local jobs through airport and supply chain activity.

The airline's ongoing investments and commitments to its Houston operation contribute to the positive, ripple-effect on the broader, local economy:

As part of the City of Houston's $1.3 billion Terminal Redevelopment Program (ITRP), United redesigned ticketing counters as well as new pre-check and CLEAR lanes, and state of the art TSA security checkpoint, which has become a model for the continued technological enhancements in the travel journey.

Terminal Redevelopment Program (ITRP), United redesigned ticketing counters as well as new pre-check and CLEAR lanes, and state of the art TSA security checkpoint, which has become a model for the continued technological enhancements in the travel journey. United's new Baggage Handling System services Terminals C and E and features state-of-the-art technology, including seven baggage carousels with corresponding high-tech displays, a complete replacement of the old outbound baggage system with a four-loop sorting system, as well as a new Baggage Control Center to monitor and manage the entire baggage handling operation.

The airline's Early Baggage System (EBS) facility is under construction, is expected to go online late this year and will be the first of its kind in North America  it temporarily stores bags that arrive early in a separate location until their specific departure. This new facility will allow United the flexibility to use all available gates and enable future growth at the airport .

 it temporarily stores bags that arrive early in a separate location until their specific departure. This new facility will allow United the flexibility to use all available gates and enable future growth at the airport United recently launched Calibrate, a 36-month apprenticeship program to grow and diversify the airline's pipeline of aircraft technicians and chose Houston for its first cohort. Through Calibrate, United plans to train 1,000 new aircraft technicians by 2026  with a goal of at least half being women or people of color.

for its first cohort. Through Calibrate, United plans to train 1,000 new aircraft technicians by 2026  with a goal of at least half being women or people of color. United gave $590,000 in cash and in-kind contributions to Houston -area non-profits last year, including a longstanding relationship with the Houston Food Bank where employees volunteer to sort, box/bag food, and stack products for distribution.

in cash and in-kind contributions to -area non-profits last year, including a longstanding relationship with the Houston Food Bank where employees volunteer to sort, box/bag food, and stack products for distribution. United's collaboration with the Houston Independent School District is a cornerstone to United's commitment to inspire a new generation of diverse aviation leaders. Fifty Sterling High School students currently enrolled in the school's aviation program are partnered with Houston -based United employees who provided support and guidance as they look to pursue a career in the aviation industry, including pilots and aircraft mechanics.

About United

United's shared purpose is "Connecting People. Uniting the World." From our U.S. hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York/Newark, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., United operates the most comprehensive global route network among North American carriers. United is bringing back our customers' favorite destinations and adding new ones on its way to becoming the world's best airline. For more about how to join the United team, please visit www.united.com/careers and more information about the company is at www.united.com. United Airlines Holdings, Inc., the parent company of United Airlines, Inc., is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol "UAL".

SOURCE United Airlines
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ClearCryptos, the mission-driven company charting a path to crypto optimization, and US Federal Contractor Registration (USFCR), the worldwide leader in assisting companies to efficiently and successfully conduct business with the U.S. government, are excited to announce a partnership that will allow federal government contractors to leverage the distinct and unique technological capabilities of the blockchain.

This groundbreaking partnership spearheads the introduction of blockchain technology to all USFCR's current and future clients. Facilitating the ability via the blockchain to ensure every contract is effectively implemented and executed, while also tracking and documenting every dollar involved.

"We see this as the future of government contracting, so we are acting now, thinking forward for our clients, positioning them for ultimate success," said Eric Knellinger, President of US Federal Contractor Registration.

Under the agreement, ClearCryptos becomes USFCR's sole blockchain provider, developing a cheaper and faster way to facilitate contractor payouts. The partnership will provide USFCR's clients the ability to develop smart contracts built on ClearCryptos' blockchain technology, preparing them for next gen contracting that incorporates treasury-backed digital currency compensation.

"We are looking forward to building our relationship with USFCR to provide ease of use, security and improving several fundamental friction points in the current processes," said Larry Lundy, CSO of ClearCryptos.

In 2021, the federal government paid out an estimated $575 billion to federal contractors, including a record number of small businesses  many of them USFCR clients.

Knellinger continued, "Government contracting is often a slow, opaque process lacking in transparency and accountability. Today's announcement, powered by ClearCryptos' cutting-edge platform, paves the way for the future of government contracting."

ClearCryptos will continue to roll out additional partnerships with companies and communities that share the same valuesintegrity, trust, resilienceand seek to safeguard, improve, and expand the cryptocurrency space.

Benefits for ClearCryptos Users and Holders

Despite market conditions, enterprise solutions will promote growth and sustainability. $CCX is the membership token purchased by these customers to participate in the blockchain solution. This attracts enterprise holders in addition to retail holders. USFCR has represented over 300,000 customers and each of them is a potential enterprise customer and holder of $CCX.

Laying the groundwork for a new integration of Web 2.0 projects into Web 3.0. $CCX while creating the foundation for large scale Web 2.0 companies to integrate into cryptocurrency , while also solving existing issues in the financial sector. USFCR is a well-respected company that will bring confidence to other enterprise solutions to come forward and want to be a part of the ClearCryptos family.

, while also solving existing issues in the financial sector. USFCR is a well-respected company that will bring confidence to other enterprise solutions to come forward and want to be a part of the ClearCryptos family. Enterprise solutions and retail products that promote sustainability and growth regardless of market circumstances. This is because with every sale a portion of the sale will go toward buying $CCX to introduce the customer to cryptocurrency and establish their membership within the ClearCryptos ecosystem. Overall, this type of partnership will bring in holders annually and as USFCR grows as a company ClearCryptos will grow with them.

Eyes on the Future

With this partnership, ClearCryptos is working to integrate hundreds of thousands of small, medium, and large-scaled businesses into cryptocurrency, helping people further understand and grow the importance of cryptocurrency for normal everyday business. This partnership will be a way to significantly reduce payout times for businesses in the future without the friction and limitations of current financial systems. This blockchain technology, with active contract tracking, the government will be able to hit their small business set aside thresholds, benefiting both the government and small businesses.

Cryptocurrency Opens Doors for Smaller- to Medium-sized US Federal Contractors

The U.S. federal government awarded contracts valued at $575 billion in 2019, up from about $545 billion in 2018. Of the contracts awarded in 2018, the U.S. Small Business Administration estimates that 25.05% (or an estimated $120.89 billion) went to small businesses.

ClearCryptos is hoping to transition a majority of those contracts to cryptocurrency through their platform, reducing the time it takes for contractors to be paid by over 95% for their government contracts.

This is an exciting evolutionary step for cryptocurrency in general with crypto projects starting to integrate with contract-based Web 3.0 companies. We look forward to ClearCryptos serving as a major catalyst to the US economy and streamlining, protecting crypto and fiat money transactions.

USFCR Background

USFCR (US Federal Contractor Registration) is the world's largest and most trusted full-service government contracting solution provider. With over 14 years of experience in the federal marketplace USFCR has completed over 200,000 compliant SAM (System for Award Management) registrations for businesses and nonprofits. In addition to managing SAM registrations, USFCR offers a proprietary platform, the Advanced Procurement Portal, and turn-key total solutions such as contract consulting and contract lifecycle management to take federal contractors from registration to award and beyond.

ClearCryptos Background

ClearCryptos (CCX), a company based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, first protocol is a decentralized exchange (DEX) with an aggregated solution that will search for the best pathway for the user to swap cryptocurrencies giving the user the best rates possible, while also showing the user alternate options.

ClearCryptos trading and analytics is based on our powerful SiriusIQ DNA platform, which is designed for secure, reliable, and scalable workflow, AI, analytics, and data automation operations.

SOURCE ClearCryptos
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vehicle Service Group (VSG), part of Dover (NYSE: DOV) and one of the world's leading automotive equipment companies, announced the launch of the AllOnWall Series, a new wheel aligner concept under the Rotary and Ravaglioli brands in the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region.

As part of its AllOnWall Series, VSG has launched two new wheel aligners, the ROT3D2.0WALL by Rotary and the RAV3D2.0WALL by Ravaglioli.

"The ROT3D2.0WALL and RAV3D2.0WALL wheel aligners reflect a style revolution for VSG, meeting both the functional requirements of the market and the styling tastes of end users," said Massimo Mambrilla, VSG Electronic Competence Center Director. "VSG is also the first in the market to place wheel alignment operations in the palm of a hand by using mobile tablets."

Instead of a cabinet design, the aligner is on a panel, on which everything necessary for wheel alignment operations can be placed. This solution offers freedom and flexibility of movement without having to burden the workshop with bulky objects such as a data transfer tower or a PC.

The wall-mounted console lines are modern, sophisticated and highly practical, with styling details that include rubber matted 3D measuring head housing and a backlit logo with warm white LED bar.

All alignment activities are controlled via a multi-touch 10" tablet, which can be easily carried around the work bay and placed locally at the lift during adjustment using built-in magnets. When operations are completed, it can be stored and recharged directly on the panel.

The aligner boasts VSG well-tested measuring head technology with HD cameras and Real 3D target that is fully wireless with Bluetooth transmission. The 3D measuring heads instantly read all vehicle angles with maximum precision, considerably reducing operation time.

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 three additional production units in Ferrara, Rolo (Reggio Emilia) and Turin, and three subsidiaries in France, Germany and the UK. Additional information is available at 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 8 major vehicle lifting, wheel service and collision repair brands: Rotary, Ravaglioli, Space, Chief, Forward, Direct-Lift, Revolution 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 over $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
New Brand Identity Connotes How Verinext is the Source of Technology Truth to Solve for Everything that Comes Next

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Verinext, the company that delivers transformative business technology for everything that comes next, was unveiled today as the new brand identity for Anexinet + Veristor. The rebrand is a result of the merger of Anexinet Corporation and Veristor Systems, Inc. in February 2022. The new Verinext brand captures the essence of truth, passion and innovation, guiding digital transformations that prepare customers for what's next.

"Since merging the people and capabilities of Anexinet and Veristor, we have been overwhelmed by the incremental value of our synergies," said Brian Glahn, CEO of Verinext. "Together we have become a powerhouse technology innovator and solution provider with the unique ability to deliver end-to-end solutions with a personal, customer-centric touch. We're excited about our new brand and how it positions us for the next stage in our growth."

Anexinet Corporation and Veristor Systems, Inc. announced their merger in February 2022, a move which doubled the companies' geographic reach, customer base and solution delivery teams. Now operating as Verinext, the unified company offers expertise across the complete technology landscape and delivers the superior technical experience customers need to make informed decisions in today's complex digital world.

The Verinext brand uses the "veri" prefix, which is the Latin root for truth, a core value of the combined Verinext company. It also leverages the Anexinet-inspired "next" to support the message that Verinext is the source of technology truth to solve for everything that comes next.

Verinext integrates four leading technology solution innovators, Anexinet and Veristor as well as Light Networks and SereneIT, which were acquired by Anexinet prior to merging with Veristor. Together, the company offers a comprehensive suite of intelligent, full-stack engagement strategies and solutions with modern, secure infrastructure products and services. Verinext activates the innovation that businesses need to make their next move with confidence.

The Verinext brand is officially launched today. For more information visit www.verinext.com.

About Verinext

Verinext delivers transformative business technology, so customers are ready for everything that comes next. From intelligently automating time-consuming tasks and protecting data assets to securing infrastructure and improving customer experiences, Verinext activates the innovation that makes technology truly work so businesses can make their next move with confidence. Verinext is the new name for the combination of Anexinet, Veristor, Light Networks and SereneIT. With five offices across the south and northeast, Verinext is backed by Mill Point Capital LLC. Learn more at verinext.com.

SOURCE Verinext
MILWAUKEE, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Verlo Mattress, America's fastest-growing direct-to-consumer mattress company, is proud to announce that it has awarded two new franchise territories to Gary and Michelle Johnson, of Kansas City.

The first location will be a Verlo Mattress Factory with a retail store, which will open later in 2023, and the second location will open in 2024.

The new Kansas City stores mean that local residents will soon be able to get the great night's sleep they deserve on a locally made Verlo Mattress.

"I'm proud and excited to be a part of the Verlo Mattress family," said Gary Johnson, who will operate the stores with his wife, Michelle. "Verlo Mattress represents the highest quality of mattresses, and I am happy to provide my community with the great night's sleep they've been looking for."

Verlo Mattress is unique in that it offers sleep technology and a variety of sleep products designed for the individual customer. The Kansas City stores will offer the same high-quality hand-made custom mattresses, pillows, adjustable bases and other sleep technology products that have made Verlo Mattress famous.

The mattresses are made in the local community, and customers can see their mattress being built.

Michelle Johnson, who believes deeply in "shopping local," said that philosophy makes Verlo Mattress a natural addition to the Kansas City community.

"We're confident that Kansas City is going to love the Verlo Mattress experience," Michelle Johnson said. "Kansas City loves to take care of its own and shop locally. Providing our community with the ability to see first-hand how their mattress is being made on-site will go a long way."

Michelle and Gary Johnson are both highly active in Kansas City, supporting organizations such as The United Way, Habitat for Humanity and Harvesters, a local food bank.

"Everybody deserves a great night's sleep, and a Verlo Mattress will provide the restful slumber that makes for a happy and healthy lifestyle. Verlo Mattresses are designed for the great night's sleep you've been waiting for," said Michelle Johnson.

Verlo Mattress's President Dirk Stallmann said he is excited to have the Johnson's join the Verlo Mattress family of franchisees.

"These new Kansas City franchises are an example of the growing popularity of Verlo Mattress across the country," Stallmann said. "These new franchises will be successful not only because of the high quality of Verlo mattresses, but because of the leadership of Michelle and Gary Johnson."

Gary Johnson, a U.S. military veteran, said Verlo Mattress will be an attractive addition to the Kansas City area.

"I can't recommend Verlo Mattress enough," he said. "It's rewarding to know you're helping your local community get the great night's sleep they deserve. We know the Verlo Mattress team has spent years finding the right materials and developing great customer service  including the unique Lifetime Comfort Guarantee  and their commitment to quality products, the sales process and customer service will make Verlo Mattress a great addition to our Kansas City community."

Bobby Cleveland, Director of Franchise Development for Verlo Mattress, said he is pleased to have a military veteran awarded the franchises.

"We are excited to have another veteran franchisee representing the Verlo Mattress brand in their local market," Cleveland said. "I can't think of anyone better suited to bring a better night's sleep to their community."

Contact: Ira Klusendorf

Verlo Mattress Director of Marketing

[email protected]/414-585-8913

SOURCE Verlo Mattress
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vial , a tech-enabled CRO providing next-generation clinical trial management services, announced the addition of Stewart J. Tepper, MD, FAHS, as a new CNS scientific advisor to their Neurology CRO .

"We are delighted to welcome Dr. Tepper to our CNS SAB. We are grateful for his scientific contributions as we continue to expand our Neurology CRO," said Simon Burns, CEO and Co-Founder of Vial.

Vial promises to deliver faster, more efficient trials for biotech sponsors at up to 50% less cost. The Vial Neurology CRO distinguishes itself by leveraging digital technology, such as its Vial Technology Platform, combining eSource , EDC , and ePRO into one connected system to streamline site processes. These best-in-class CRO services will accelerate the development of new therapies and devices for neurology sponsors and patients.

"I am very interested in advancing the quality of clinical trials through optimal and creative structural and process improvements involving sponsors, clinical research organizations, patients, and investigator sites," said Dr. Tepper.

Dr. Tepper is a board-certified expert in headache medicine, a professor of neurology, and a practicing neurologist at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH. He received his medical training at Cornell University Medical College and completed his residency in neurology at Harvard. Dr. Tepper has contributed to over 460 peer-reviewed publications, co-authored eight books, and led numerous neurology clinical trials. His recent research focuses on novel headache therapies, both pharmaceutical and device based. Dr. Tepper serves on the executive board of directors of the American Headache Society and the board of directors of the American Migraine Foundation.

To learn more about Vial, visit our website .

See the full release here .

About Vial: Vial is a tech-enabled, next-generation CRO that promises faster and higher-quality execution of trials. The Vial Contract Research Organization (CRO) delivers on the promise of more efficient trials through its innovative technology platform that powers trials end-to-end from site startup to database lock. The key to Vial's tech-enabled platform is Vial's modern, intuitive Electronic Source and powerful tooling for CRAs that enables considerable efficiencies. Vial operates across multiple therapeutic areas ( Dermatology CRO , Ophthalmology CRO , Oncology CRO , Gastroenterology CRO , Neurology CRO , and Cardiology CRO ). Vial is a San Francisco, California-based company with over 125 employees.

SOURCE Vial
Adjunctive Use of WATS3D Improves Diagnostic Yield of IM and Dysplasia Missed by Random Forceps Biopsy

SUFFERN, N.Y., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CDx Diagnostics, Inc., developer of the WATS3D AI Platform for the detection and surveillance of Barrett's esophagus (BE) and dysplasia, announced the publication of a new study, Utility of WATS-3D as an Adjunct to Forceps Biopsies in Surveillance of Barrett's Patients Post Endoscopic Eradication Therapy, in the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) journal iGIE by authors F. Scott Corbett MD, FASGE, Robert D. Odze MD, and Matthew J. McKinley MD. The efficacy of WATS3D has been demonstrated in numerous studies for both the screening and surveillance of BE and dysplasia, both long and short segment. This new study highlights the utility of WATS3D, - concluding that it increases the diagnostic yield of Intestinal Metaplasia (IM) and dysplasia in BE patients after ablation or endoscopic eradication therapy when used as an adjunct to forceps biopsy (FB) sampling. The WATS3D adjunctive yield for detection of residual/recurrent IM or dysplasia was 52.5% and 91.5%, respectively.

The WATS3D AI Platform collects a wide area, disaggregated tissue specimen of the entire thickness of the epithelium being tested. This unique tissue specimen is then subjected to specialized, 3-dimensional AI-powered analysis to identify any abnormal cells for presentation to an expert GI pathologist.

Adjunctive Use of WATS3D Improves Diagnostic Yield of IM and Dysplasia Missed by Random Forceps Biopsy. Tweet this

"After undergoing ablation, the lining of the esophagus is revitalized. Even the slightest signs of residual or recurrent IM and dysplasia can be difficult to detect with the naked eye, and standard protocols used for obtaining tissue only sample a small fraction of the mucosa. WATS3D provides physicians with the ability to detect even the most elusive metaplasia in the tubular esophagus, "said lead author F. Scott Corbett, MD, FASGE, of Florida Digestive Health Specialists. "The study shows that the WATS3D AI platform picks up IM and dysplasia even when no endoscopic evidence of Barrett's remains after ablation therapy - offering clinicians an additional advantage in post-ablation to help ensure that all potentially precancerous tissue has been fully eradicated, improving the standard of post-ablation surveillance and ultimately patient care."

In the study, data were examined from 2 large registries of community practices that prospectively evaluated BE surveillance using both standard FB sampling combined with WATS-3D. Comprising the study cohort were 1114 consecutive BE patients (mean age, 68.9; men 68.1%, women 31.9%) who had EET. The adjunctive (and absolute) increased yield of WATS-3D for detection of IM and dysplasia was evaluated according to the extent of endoscopic residual BE.

The highest adjunctive yield for detection of IM (260%) occurred in patients without any gross endoscopic evidence of residual or recurrent BE. The absolute yield for IM and dysplasia detection was 16% and 4.4%, respectively, and dysplasia detection was significantly greater in patients with visible BE compared with those with no endoscopic evidence of residual BE. Of 29 patients with high-grade dysplasia or esophageal adenocarcinoma detected by WATS-3D, FB sampling missed 11, including 7 where FB sampling did not detect any IM.

"With this study, WATS3D closes the loop in the Barrett's care continuum  providing evidence for physicians that WATS3D is a single AI-powered platform that can be added for the reliable detection of Barrett's and dysplasia during endoscopy screening, surveillance, and post-ablation therapy," said William Huffnagle, CEO of CDx Diagnostics. "This powerful technology provides clinicians with the advantage they've been looking for to identify and combat esophageal precancer as we move closer to our ultimate goal of true cancer prevention."

About CDx Diagnostics

CDx Diagnostics' mission of Empowering Physicians with Innovative Technology to Prevent Esophageal Cancer, One Patient at a Time is accomplished through a proprietary diagnostic platform. This combination of technology synthesizes computer imaging, artificial intelligence, molecular biology and three-dimensional cytopathology to detect precancerous changes earlier and more reliably than prior methods. CDx tests require only a few minutes of practice time, are highly cost effective, widely reimbursed, and address a recognized critical gap in the current diagnostic standard of care. Routine clinical use of CDx testing has detected thousands of cancers and precancerous conditions that otherwise would have been missed in time for effective treatment. CDx Diagnostics is a Galen Partners portfolio company. To learn more, visit www.cdxdiagnostics.com.

Media contact:

Logan Garrett

423-519-9979

[email protected]

SOURCE CDx Diagnostics
Xanadu and Rolls-Royce will work together to accelerate research in aerospace by co-developing new features in PennyLane

TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Xanadu, the world leader in photonic quantum computing, and Rolls-Royce are co-developing new quantum algorithm tooling for PennyLane, Xanadu's open-source quantum computing software widely used for quantum machine learning, chemistry, and optimization.

Xanadu and Rolls-Royce are committed to advancing the field of quantum computing, studying its potential to solve complex problems and building tools with lasting business impact. The first project will develop quantum software functionality tailored for Quantum Singular Value Transformation, or QSVT, in PennyLane to help Rolls-Royce accelerate its research into quantum algorithms for aerospace applications. QSVT is a modern paradigm for quantum algorithms that enables innovative methods for employing quantum computers to explore a variety of problems of interest.

Rolls-Royce, a leader in aerospace and defence, is actively involved in long-term quantum computing research aimed at developing robust algorithms and applications that are ready for the fault-tolerant quantum computers expected over the next decade. Quantum computing is a potentially disruptive technology for the aerospace industry with a wide range of applications from materials chemistry to product design using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Rolls-Royce is committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and has recently successfully tested a hydrogen powered gas turbine in collaboration with EasyJet. Quantum computers, which aim to drastically out-perform classical ones, are expected to play a key role in meeting aerospace's climate goals.

"We are proud to partner with Rolls-Royce on this project," said Dr. Juan Miguel Arrazola, Head of Algorithms at Xanadu. "Rolls-Royce is a world-class engineering company with deep expertise in complex simulations; their support will be invaluable in guiding our design and implementation for PennyLane, which we hope will help accelerate research into improving quantum algorithms."

"We are excited to be working with Xanadu on our quantum computing journey," said Dr. Leigh Lapworth, Rolls-Royce Fellow and Quantum Computing Lead. "They have demonstrated rapid advancements in scaling up photonic quantum computers and have built an impressive software library in PennyLane. The focus on QSVT is a natural fit for us as it extends our research beyond CFD and I look forward to running our first case on a Xanadu computer."

About Xanadu

Xanadu is a Canadian quantum computing company with the mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere. Founded in 2016, Xanadu has become one of the world's leading quantum hardware and software companies. The company also leads the development of PennyLane, an open-source software library for quantum computing and application development. Visit www.xanadu.ai or follow us on Twitter @XanaduAI .

About PennyLane

PennyLane is an open-source software framework for quantum machine learning, quantum chemistry, and quantum computing with the ability to run on all hardware. To find out more, visit the PennyLane website ( www.pennylane.ai ), or check out the PennyLane demos: a gallery of hands-on quantum computing content ( https://pennylane.ai/qml/demonstrations.html ).

About Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce pioneers the power that matters to connect, power, and protect society. We have pledged to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in our operations by 2030 (excluding product testing) and joined the UN Race to Zero campaign in 2020, affirming our ambition to play a fundamental role in enabling the sectors in which we operate to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces and navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers. Annual underlying revenue was 10.95 billion in 2021, underlying operating profit was 414m and we invested 1.18 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 28 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research. Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a publicly traded company (LSE: RR., ADR: RYCEY, LEI: 213800EC7997ZBLZJH69).

SOURCE Xanadu
The Partnership Will Create a New, Standalone College of Medicine in New Orleans, Training the Health Care Professionals of Tomorrow

NEW ORLEANS, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Xavier University of Louisiana (Xavier) and Ochsner Health (Ochsner) today announced an agreement to establish a joint College of Medicine. The two institutions will create a strong physician pipeline that addresses longstanding inequities within the nation's health care system and builds the health care workforce of the future. By anchoring their partnership with a College of Medicine, Xavier and Ochsner affirm their legacy of advancing health care excellence and education for the next generation, bringing new opportunities to marginalized populations in Louisiana and the United States.

Xavier University of Louisiana and Ochsner Health are partnering to create an HBCU College of Medicine

To launch the College of Medicine, Ochsner and Xavier will form a nonprofit corporation, create a new curriculum and use facilities, personnel, and administrative processes of both institutions. The new College of Medicine will be governed by a board of directors nominated by Ochsner and Xavier, with each institution appointing an equal number of directors.

This initiative builds on a long-standing partnership between Ochsner and Xavier that dates to the early 1980s, when Ochsner and Xavier's College of Pharmacy came together to offer more clinical training sites for pharmacy students. Xavier's College of Pharmacy is the oldest in Louisiana and has for years been among the top in the nation in producing African American graduates with Doctor of Pharmacy degrees.

"Our work with Ochsner and other partners who hold close to their hearts a vision of healing a broken world is a testament to Xavier's mission to promote a more just and humane society," said Dr. Reynold Verret, President of Xavier University of Louisiana. "Xavier was bestowed that mission by our founders St. Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament almost a century ago. Our dedication to preparing more Black health care professionals in our fight against health inequity is our answer to the call of our nation's critical need and makes their legacy proud."

XULA and Ochsner: A Legacy of Collaboration

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the world and disproportionately affected people of color, highlighting health disparities faced by historically marginalized communities. Ochsner Health and Xavier again forged partnerships to improve health equity through new graduate programs in health sciences and the establishment of the Ochsner Health and Xavier University Institute for Health Equity and Research (OXIHER). A few years before, Xavier and Ochsner also worked to improve diversity within the health sciences through a memorandum of understanding to establish a new Physician Assistant (PA) Program. In May 2022, Ochsner and Xavier celebrated the first graduating class of 37 students in the full-time graduate PA Program, which leads to a master's degree in health sciences and trains the next generation of providers to make a meaningful impact on health care.

"Ochsner has a long and rich history of excellence in medical education, and we are honored to continue our work with Xavier to improve the health of our state and region," said Pete November, CEO of Ochsner Health. "The Xavier medical students will get outstanding clinical training in our integrated health care system, and this significant expansion of our partnership with Xavier demonstrates our commitment to training the next generation of health care providers to solve the critical shortage of physicians in the United States and meet the needs of the diverse communities we serve."

In 2022, Xavier became an integral advisory board partner for Healthy State by 2030, an ambitious plan to lift Louisiana off the bottom of national health rankings. Collectively, partners across multiple sectors and industries from across the state are committed to comprehensive public health initiatives, education, and outreach.

"Investing in education, training and workforce development is critical to building a healthier state and stronger communities. Our partnership with Xavier furthers our Healthy State mission of enhancing diversity among health care providers, which has been linked to better care for diverse communities of our region and throughout the nation," said Dr. Leonardo Seoane, MD, FACP, Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer for Ochsner Health. "We must work together to solve the challenges faced in our health care workforce and ensure communities across the country have access to the highest quality of care."

Closing the National and Local Workforce Gap

For decades, Xavier University of Louisiana has produced more African American students and students of color who achieve medical degrees and doctorates in the health sciences than any other higher education institution in the nation. Ochsner, the largest academic health care system in Louisiana, has a long history of training medical students, residents, and fellows. Ochsner is invested in excellent health care, workforce development and education of communities throughout the Gulf South. The institutions are uniquely positioned to co-lead efforts in closing the health care workforce gap.

"With their historic agreement to establish a College of Medicine at one of the nation's top HBCUs, Xavier and Ochsner have heeded the call to shape the health of the state, the country, and the world for generations to come," said Dr. Anne McCall, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of Xavier University of Louisiana.

Research shows an urgent need for an HBCU College of Medicine now, as demand for doctors is expected to grow. Louisiana is projected to rank third nationally for a shortage of physicians by 2030, according to a Human Resources for Health analysis. Representation of African Americans within medicine lags, as they comprise 5% of the nation's physicians -- although Black and African American populations account for 13% of U.S. residents. A new College of Medicine with Xavier, a high-ranking HBCU, and Ochsner, a high-performing academic health system with experience in training medical students, will result in representation among medical practitioners with excellent health care training, which is critical to bettering health outcomes by increasing quality of care, access, and patient trust in their health care providers.

To learn more, please visit www.xula.edu and www.ochsner.org.

SOURCE Ochsner Health System
DUBLIN, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "XTX [Invades] Markets" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

At age 43, Alexander Gerko the founder of upstart proprietary trading juggernaut, XTX Markets Limited (XTX) is a modern capital markets phenomenon...

As the author will demonstrate in this case study, Gerko is not a phenomenon simply because his quantitative methods appear to provide a generalizable and transferable trading edge. They do. He's not a phenomenon because his technical infrastructure allows him to scale trading strategies - simultaneously and reliably in multiple asset classes and in multiple regions. It does.

He's not a phenomenon simply because his organizational structure - based on a relatively small, cohesive, and efficient team delivers unprecedented "operational alpha." Check. Moreover, he's not a phenomenon because he's established expansive connections with exchanges and other liquidity venues as well as extensive bilateral partnerships with client counterparties. Been there, done that. And, he's especially not a phenomenon because he's taken a consistently vocal public stand on matters of market structure and common practice. He certainly has.

No, Alex Gerko is a phenomenon because he has been the visionary force behind all of these highlights during a period of hyper-competition among proprietary electronic liquidity providers (ELPs); a period when new entrants - much less new entrants who capture significant market share from proprietary and traditional incumbents alike - have become increasingly rare.

Perhaps as fascinating as the feat itself is the openness - and frankly, nonchalance - with which he and his team are telling - and showing - us the pillars of how they do what they do. From 2018:

"Our cross-asset approach to quantitative research means that our core model is transferable across markets and instruments. It means we can be both nimble and confident that we can provide quality liquidity to the market [while quoting] two-way prices at very narrow bid/offer spreads. This is a result of our unique model, risk management and deep understanding of market structure combined with our solid relationships with venues and clients."

Translation: XTX is constantly solving their own version of a Sudoku puzzle. It leverages the fact that markets - and market actors - are interconnected in predictable ways and then employs advanced methods of machine learning and pattern recognition on the data exhaust from that interconnectedness to make those predictions.

Now, lest we be accused of lathering too much praise on one individual, Gerko certainly had help from the early phases of the XTX journey. Among them was one guy who made a critical difference.

However, before we get to all that, let's start off properly with a bit of backstory about how - and why - we arrived here: Earlier in 2022, the publisher was on its way to developing Part II of its case study series "The Proprietary Traders" which, after focusing on a global roster and select rankings for proprietary trading firms (or "prop firms") in Part I, was set to focus largely on revenue estimation for many of those leading prop firms. That research is still ongoing. Yet, when we arrived at XTX our incremental findings were so fascinating that we felt that it was important and timely to dig deeper into this specific story. Here's why:

The author is firmly on the record about how the technology-enabled capital markets ecosystem is fiercely - perhaps, prohibitively - competitive. Given our foundational focus on the secretive world of proprietary trading firms -and their hyperactive trading strategies - our research library is full of examples of how trading in predominantly listed markets is dominated by a few large, seemingly unbeatable, multi-strategy and multi-regional players. In other words, what we call the "structural alpha zone" of the capital markets ecosystem has become increasingly concentrated.

Another way to think of this dynamic is that the barriers to entry - to become a successful market maker in US equities from scratch, for instance - are extremely high; higher than they've ever been. The investment in intellectual property, technical infrastructure, and human capital necessary to be successful in this space keeps increasing. Intangible factors - timing, serendipity, and culture - play a role, too.

In turn, there have been very few new players entering - and successfully scaling - hyperactive trading strategies (an array that includes market making). XTX is an exception to all that. We have never witnessed a trading firm scale as quickly, in so many places, and achieve so much success in the modern technology-enabled market era...

Furthermore, looking at XTX's genesis and foundation in the context of the broader proprietary trading community yields considerable insight. Generally, beginning way back in the 1980's, there were waves of prop firms being born. These waves typically occurred in response to technical innovations, new securities products, and market structure evolution. They also tended to stick to a product, asset class or region for years...

As the report will demonstrate, XTX has broken that mold where - in its first few years as an independent company - it achieved a leadership position in more than one product or asset class, and in more than one region. As a reminder for some of the competition XTX has been up against, Exhibit 1, next page, presents a ranking of leading proprietary trading firms - including US and European trading affiliates - by founding year. Here, XTX's founding in 2015 makes it the youngest of the leading proprietary trading firms in the world.

DATA SAMPLE

The Storyboard and select findings contained in this case study represent an interpretation of a total of at least 200 documents, filings and reports representing 25 affiliated entities of the "XTX group of companies" (hereinafter known as XTX or XTX Group), including - most notably - XTX Markets Limited (London) and XTX Markets, LLC (New York), among others.

The supporting data sample for this report is comprised specifically of the following:

7 annual full account reports disclosing financial and operational data for the years ending December 31, 2015 thru December 31, 2021 filed by XTX Markets Limited ( London ) with the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, Companies House;

thru filed by XTX Markets Limited ( ) with the registrar of companies, Companies House; 1 annual full account report disclosing financial and operational data for the year ending December 31, 2021 filed by for XTX Markets Trading Limited ( London ) for fiscal year ending December 2021 with the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, Companies House;

filed by for XTX Markets Trading Limited ( ) for fiscal year ending with the registrar of companies, Companies House; 11 quarterly 13F holdings reports (including 13F-HR/A amendment reports, wherever applicable) for the nearly 3-year time range beginning December 31, 2019 (or, Q4 2019) and ending June 30 , 20202 (or, Q2 2022) filed by XTX Topco, Ltd wherein XTX Markets, LLC ( New York ) is listed as an "other included manager" as of Q1 2021 and XTX Markets, LLC as the filing manager prior to Q1 2021;

(or, Q4 2019) and ending , 20202 (or, Q2 2022) filed by XTX Topco, Ltd wherein XTX Markets, LLC ( ) is listed as an "other included manager" as of Q1 2021 and XTX Markets, LLC as the filing manager prior to Q1 2021; 3 4 annual FOCUS reports (on Forms X-17A-5 and X-17A-5/A, wherever applicable) for the years ending December 31, 2018 thru December 31, 2021 filed by XTX Markets, LLC with the SEC, FINRA and SIPC;

thru filed by XTX Markets, LLC with the SEC, FINRA and SIPC; 1 annual FOCUS report (on Forms X-17A-5 and X-17A-5/A, wherever applicable) for December 31, 2021 filed by XTX Execution Services, LLC ( New York ) with the SEC, FINRA and SIPC;

filed by XTX Execution Services, LLC ( ) with the SEC, FINRA and SIPC; 18 monthly execution quality reports (on Form 605) beginning March 2021 and ending August 2022 filed by XTX Execution Services, LLC with FINRA;

and ending filed by XTX Execution Services, LLC with FINRA; 1 corporate compliance and financial profile for XTX Markets Pte. Ltd. ( Singapore ) covering financial highlights for the 3 years ending December 31, 2019 , December 31, 2020 , and December 31, 2021 filed with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) of Singapore ;

) covering financial highlights for the 3 years ending , , and filed with Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) of ; 3 annual reports for XTX Markets SAS ( Paris ) covering 3 years ending December 31, 2019 , December 31, 2020 , and December 31, 2021 filed with Institut National de la Propriete Industrielle (INPI);

) covering 3 years ending , , and filed with Institut National de la Propriete Industrielle (INPI); 52 corporate documents related to XTX Markets LLP ( Mumbai ) for the period beginning August 24, 2019 and ending October 4, 2021 originally filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI);

) for the period beginning and ending originally filed with Securities and Exchange Board of (SEBI); 139 corporate documents related to XTX Securities Private Limited ( Mumbai ) for the period beginning May 30, 2019 and ending November 10, 2021 originally filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI);

) for the period beginning and ending originally filed with Securities and Exchange Board of (SEBI); 3 annual full account reports disclosing financial and operational data for the years ending December 31, 2018 thru December 31, 2020 filed by XTX Investments Limited (Cayman) with the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, Companies House;

thru filed by XTX Investments Limited (Cayman) with the registrar of companies, Companies House; 3 annual full account reports disclosing financial and operational data for the years ending December 31, 2018 thru December 31, 2020 filed by XTX Investments UK Limited ( London ) with the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, Companies House;

thru filed by XTX Investments UK Limited ( ) with the registrar of companies, Companies House; 2 annual full account reports disclosing financial and operational data for the years ending December 31, 2020 thru December 31, 2021 filed by XTX Markets Technologies Limited ( London ) with the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, Companies House;

thru filed by XTX Markets Technologies Limited ( ) with the registrar of companies, Companies House; 7 annual full account reports disclosing financial and operational data for the years ending December 31, 2015 thru December 31, 2021 filed by XTX Research LLP ( London ) with the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, Companies House;

thru filed by XTX Research LLP ( ) with the registrar of companies, Companies House; 4 annual full account reports disclosing financial and operational data for the years ending December 31, 2017 thru December 31, 2020 filed by XTX Holdings Limited (Cayman, formerly Malta ) with the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, Companies House;

thru filed by XTX Holdings Limited (Cayman, formerly ) with the registrar of companies, Companies House; 1 annual full account report disclosing financial and operational data for the year ending December 31, 2021 filed by XTX Holdings (UK) Limited ( London ) with the United Kingdom's registrar of companies, Companies House;

filed by XTX Holdings (UK) Limited ( ) with the registrar of companies, Companies House; Any other peripheral data or content referenced in this report that was available from open and public sources or searchable on the surface internet;

Competitive and other contextual modeling, exhibits, case studies, Feed posts and/or any other pre- existing content from the publisher's research library.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/e6b672[invades]?w=12[invades]?w=12

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

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SOURCE Research and Markets
Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA) signs Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Japanese company JERA Co. Inc. to decarbonize coalfired powerplant and develop blue ammonia production in the US Gulf.

OSLO, Norway, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yara Clean Ammonia has been successfully nominated as a potential supplier in JERA's tender to supply up to 500 kilotons (kt) of clean ammonia to the Hekinan Thermal Power Plant Unit 4. This is JERA's first commercial scale co-firing project.

"I'm very pleased that Yara and JERA are signing a MOU for the joint project development, sales, and purchase of clean ammonia. Yara has the capacity to produce and ship clean ammonia all over the world and we are a reliable, safe, and long-term supplier. We are highly committed to this partnership and look forward to joining forces with JERA to drive the transformation to a net-zero world," says CEO of Yara International, Mr. Svein Tore Holsether.

The two companies also plan to collaborate on blue ammonia production in the US Gulf and to produce more than 1 million metric tons per annum (mtpa).

"I'm happy to see that we've developed a close relationship with JERA since our first MOU in May 2021. Our collaboration has developed deeply, and I am proud that Yara Clean Ammonia has been selected as the reliable supplier to JERA's first world scale co-firing project in Hekinan, Japan. Both companies are committed to scaling up clean energy sources and we are looking forward to partner with JERA in developing blue ammonia production in the US Gulf," says President of Yara Clean Ammonia, Mr. Magnus Krogh Ankarstrand.

In the MOU, Yara Clean Ammonia and JERA have agreed to jointly study the viability to collaborate in the following areas:

The sales and purchase of clean ammonia for the 20% co-firing operations at Hekinan Thermal Power Plant Unit 4, which is targeted to commence in 2027. The required volume is expected to be up to 500,000 mtpa.

The joint development of a 1 million plus mtpa blue ammonia project which YCA is considering developing in the US Gulf Coast.

"We are pleased to work together with Yara on this significant journey towards decarbonizing the industry, and I am confident that Yara will take an important role in establishing a new clean fuel ammonia value chain which JERA seeks, through its experience in the operation throughout the ammonia supply chain from the production to transportation and storage in the existing market. JERA will continue its own efforts as well as to take hands with our partners in pursuit of our endeavour to realize and accelerate not only the decarbonization of the Japanese energy industry but also to solve the energy-related issues that the world is facing," says Corporate Vice President in JERA, Mr. Yukio Kani.

About Yara Clean Ammonia

Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Yara Clean Ammonia is uniquely positioned to enable the hydrogen economy in a market expected to grow substantially over the next decades. We aim at significantly strengthening our leading global position as the world's largest ammonia distributor, unlocking the green and blue value chains, and driving the development of clean ammonia globally.

Building on Yara's leading experience within global ammonia production, logistics and trade, Yara Clean Ammonia works towards capturing growth opportunities in low-emission fuel for shipping and power, carbon-free food pro-duction and ammonia for industrial applications.

Yara Clean Ammonia operates the largest global ammonia network with 12 ships and has access to 18 ammonia terminals and multiple ammonia production and consumption sites across the world, through Yara. Revenues and EBITDA for the last 12 months were USD 4,111 million and USD 198 million respectively as per Q3 2022. Yara Clean Ammonia is headquartered in Oslo, Norway

For more details: www.yaracleanammonia.com

About JERA

Established in 2015, JERA is an equal joint venture of two major Japanese electric power companies, TEPCO Fuel & Power Incorporated and Chubu Electric Power Company and produces about 30% of all electricity in Japan. JERA is an energy company with global reach that has strength in the entire energy supply chain, from participation in LNG upstream projects and fuel procurement, through fuel transportation to power generation. JERA, which stands for Japan's Energy for a New Era, will take on the challenge of achieving net zero CO2 emissions from its domestic and overseas businesses by 2050 and is supporting an energy transition in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

For more details: https://www.jera.co.jp/english/

Media contacts:

Hilde Steinfeld

Communications Director, Yara Clean Ammonia

Mobile: +47 99 35 30 30

E-mail: [email protected]

Yu Komatsu

Director for Asia, Yara Clean Ammonia

Office phone: +65 6309 5639

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Yara International
Revolutionary concept of lighting system and display opens up new possibilities in vehicle design

WIESELBURG, Austria, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, ZKW and LG Electronics Vehicle Component Solutions jointly presented their innovations for the mobility of the future. As a highlight, the new Superintegrator concept was presented for the first time  an intelligent system of LED light and display that creates a completely new vehicle front. Among other things, the concept developed in Wieselburg makes it possible to let the front shine in any design or display messages with the help of software. ZKW also presented other innovative headlight systems, such as the new crystal light for the BMW i7, which was developed in cooperation with Swarovski. "CES is very important for us, because we want to grow further together with LG in the NAFTA region," says Dr. Wilhelm Steger, CEO of the ZKW Group.

Several high-end technologies fused in the Superintegrator

The name Superintegrator is derived from the combination of different technologies. The light guide technology, for example, which implements the daytime running light, position light and direction indicator, comes from LG. The complete lighting technology, including the communication display, was developed by ZKW. The futuristic design of the Superintegrator was created by LG Electronics Design Department. The system makes it possible, for example, for the vehicle to greet its driver on the display ("Hello Mr. Berger") when the driver approaches the vehicle. But the display can also show the battery level and status messages for electric vehicles. In the case of cabs, the system could greet the passenger by name and light carpet to find the ordered vehicle. Thanks to software control, part of the display can also be used for customizable daytime running lights, allowing passengers to travel with their own light appearance. "For vehicles now on the market, the enhanced staging of the center area of the front is particularly interesting," explains Dr. Steger.

Illuminate, communicate, project

In the future, the concept will be used for extended light staging, but also for communication with other road users. This is particularly interesting for automated vehicles. With additional sensors, the functions of the superintegrator could be further expanded. For example, it could tell other road users that the vehicle is currently in automated mode or communicate messages such as "I saw you" to ensure safety. "With the integrated display, the Superintegrator fills the gap of the lack of communication between autonomous vehicles and other road users," says Dr. Steger.

Unique crystal headlight

ZKW's booth also featured the exclusive crystal light of the new all-electric BMW i7. Developed in cooperation with Swarovski and the Bavarian automaker, the unique lighting system supports the daytime running and turn signal lights. In doing so, it creates a vibrant, sparkling glow that impresses with "welcome and goodbye" lighting effects. The premium crystal light was developed at the headquarters of the lighting systems specialist in Wieselburg, while it is manufactured at the Krusovce site in Slovakia, with the crystals coming from Austria.

Click to download images of the technology.

About ZKW

The ZKW Group is the specialist for innovative premium lighting systems and electronics. As a system supplier, ZKW is a global partner to the automotive industry. The group develops and produces products based on our motto of "Bright Minds, Bright Lights," combining bright minds with modern production technologies to produce complex premium lighting and electronic modules for international automotive manufacturers.

Our top products include powerful and cost-efficient complete LED systems. The ZKW Group has a total of twelve locations worldwide, with intelligently networked development and production. In 2022, the Group employed around 9,500 workers and generated total revenues of 1.36 billion euros.

In accordance with the corporate vision "Ground-breaking premium lighting and electronic systems from ZKW for all mobility concepts of the global automotive industry", the company's primary goal is to produce top-quality high-tech products and to promote the development of innovative holistic lighting systems.

With our discoveries and inventions, the ZKW corporate group makes vehicles more desirable, more unique, safer, and more energy efficient.

Our 360 degree product portfolio includes headlamps and fog lamps, rear lamps, flashers, interior and license plate lamps as well as electronic modules. Major automotive manufacturers trust their brands to innovative products from ZKW. We are proud of our customers like BMW (BMW, Rolls Royce), DAIMLER (MERCEDES-BENZ Cars and Trucks), FORD (Lincoln, Ford), GEELY (Volvo, Polestar, Lynk & Co, Geely), GENERAL MOTORS (Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac), Hyundai/Kia, JLR (Jaguar, Land Rover), Stellantis (Opel, Citroen), RENAULT/NISSAN (Infiniti, Alpine), VGTT (Volvo Trucks, MACK) and VW (Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Skoda, Seat/Cupra, VW, VW Commercial Vehicles, MAN, Scania).

With intelligent lighting systems and innovative styling, ZKW is shaping the look and character of vehicles worldwide.

Contact

ZKW Group GmbH

Sandra Simeonidis-Huber

Group Communication and Marketing

Rottenhauser Strasse 8

3250 Wieselburg

T +43 7416 505 2051

[email protected]

SOURCE ZKW Group
Australia's Sydney Opera House to light up in red for Chinese Lunar New Year

Xinhua) 14:46, January 17, 2023

SYDNEY, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The sails of Australia's iconic Sydney Opera House will be lit up in red on Jan. 23 to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year and welcome the Year of the Rabbit.

Dominic Perrottet, premier of the state of New South Wales (NSW) said on Monday the Chinese Lunar New Year is widely celebrated in the state's diverse communities. The lighting of the Opera House could be a symbol of good fortune, prosperity and happiness for everyone in the new year.

"While Lunar New Year is significant to many across the state, it also represents much of what we all stand and hope for in a new year, especially new beginnings," said Perrottet.

"To everyone celebrating the Lunar New Year, I wish you all prosperity, good health and fortune for the year ahead."

The Chinese Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is the most important holiday for Chinese people around the world and it falls on Jan. 22 this year, which marks the Year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese zodiac.

During the celebration period, some of Sydney's other popular attractions and main streets will see rabbit-shaped artworks that were designed by local illustrators.

A traditional dragon boat racing will also be held at Sydney's picturesque Darling Harbour over the weekend from Jan. 28.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
Ghazipur : , Jan 17 (IANS) One member each from the families of the four Ghazipur youths killed in Sunday's plane crash in Nepal's Pokhara, have left for Kathmandu by road along with a village head and two local government officials to receive bodies.

The bodies will reach Kathmandu from Pokhara on Tuesday, after which the process of ascertaining their identities will begin.

In case physical identification is not possible, DNA sampling will be done and matched with family members.

After the bodies are identified, they will be sent to India by road and are expected to reach on Wednesday or Thursday.

Meanwhile, shops in Alavalpur Chatti remained closed to mourn the demise of local youths.

Local residents and some politicians carried out a procession seeking the administration's help in bringing back the bodies from Nepal and extending financial and other necessary assistance to their families.

They ended their protest after officials assured them about the necessary arrangements to bring the bodies back.

Ghazipur District Magistrate Aryaka Akhauri said, "We are in regular contact with the families of plane crash victims -- Sonu Jaiswal, Anil Rajbhar, Vishal Sharma and Abhishek Kushwaha. Sonu's father Rajendra Jaiswal, Anil's father Ramdashrath Rajbhar, Vishal's brother Vishwajit and Abhishek's brother Abhinesh have been sent to Kathmandu by road. Head of Chak Jainab village Vijay Jaiswal, a nayab tehsildar and a revenue inspector have also been sent with them." The official further said, "They will reach Kathmandu on Tuesday. First, they will physically identify the bodies. If that is not possible, the DNA samples of the mortal remains and the relatives reaching there would be matched. Thereafter bodies would be handed over to respective family members." Divisional commissioner Kaushal Raj Sharma said that ambulances to bring the mortal remains from the Nepal border to the houses of the victims would be arranged by the state government.

"As per communication with officials of the ministry of external affairs, the bodies recovered from the plane crash site are in Pokhara. They were likely to be sent to Kathmandu for formalities, including post-mortem, by Tuesday morning," he added.

Varanasi Zone ADG Ram Kumar said that as per information, the search operation could not continue in the night and the bodies were still in Pokhara till Monday evening.

District magistrate Ghazipur said that a report on the condition of the families had been prepared to ensure financial assistance to them from the Chief Minister Discretionary Fund and Parivarik Labh Yojana.

The four youths were going to Pokhara from Kathmandu after offering prayer at Pashupatinath temple on Sunday in Nepal's ill-fated Yeti Airline flight.
Yangon, Jan 17 : Myanmar had vaccinated more than 37.67 million people for Covid-19 as of Saturday, the ministry of health's latest data showed.

The figures comprised over 30.86 million people aged 18 and above and more than 6.8 million people aged under 18 years old, the ministry was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

The health ministry confirmed three new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 633,753 on Monday.

Myanmar recorded a total of 19,490 deaths from Covid-19 and 614,221 recoveries as of Monday, according to the ministry.

The Southeast Asian country detected its first Covid-19 cases in March 2020.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Los Angeles, Jan 17 : Six people were killed in a shooting in central California in the US, local media reported.

Two of the victims of the shooting in Goshen, Tulare County, are a 17-year-old mother and a six-month-old baby, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a central California-based KFSN-TV's report.

The Tulare County Sheriff's Office said in a release posted on its Facebook page that deputies were called to a home in the 6800 Block of Harvest Road in Goshen just after 3:30 a.m. Monday local time for multiple shots heard.

The Sheriff's Office did not give details in the release. The agency only said that it is investigating the shooting and will update the shooting after they receive more information.

The KFSN-TV report said that deputies immediately noticed two victims dead in the street and then a third in the doorway of the home after they arrived at the spot.

Deputies found six victims in total. Five of them were declared dead at the scene. Another died at the hospital, according to the report.

Authorities believe there are at least two suspects at this time. They do not believe this was a random act and that there is a gang connection, the report added.
Minsk, Jan 17 : Belarus and Russia have launched a joint tactical air force exercise that will last until February 1, the Belarusian Defence Ministry has said.

The main goal of the exercise is to "increase operational compatibility" during joint combat training missions, Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement by the ministry.

The participants will practice aerial reconnaissance, joint patrolling along the state borders, air support for ground troops, tactical airborne landings, delivery of goods and evacuation of the wounded.

The ministry added that all airfields and training grounds of Belarus' Air Force and Air Defense Force are involved in the drill.
Kiev, Jan 17 : Ukraine is set to receive 3 billion euros (about $3.25 billion) from the European Union (EU) this week as a part of fresh financial aid, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.

Shmyhal wrote on Telegram that Ukraine and the EU signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the macro-financial program for Kiev worth 18 billion euros (about $19.5 billion), Xinhua news agency reported.

The funds will help Ukraine to maintain macroeconomic stability and cover all critical expenses this year amid the ongoing war with Russia, Shmyhal said.

In 2022, Ukraine received $32.1 billion in international aid, with $8 billion of the funds coming from the EU, according to the country's central bank.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Ranchi, Jan 17 : There are 'schools' in Rajmahal and Tinpahar towns of Jharkhand's Sahibganj district that train children to steal mobile phones.

The children trained here are sent to big cities and metros. And then, gang leaders assign them areas and monitor their work.

Ranchi police recently apprehended four minor members of a gang of mobile phone thieves. The police also recovered 43 stolen mobile phones from their possession.

A 17-year-old member of the gang told the police that he was caught for stealing mobile in 2020 as well, and was then kept in a juvenile home in Bihar's Buxar district for four months.

Another member of the gang, who was only 11 years old, revealed that he too was involved in a mobile theft case in the past and was kept in a juvenile home for 11 days in Bihar's Bhagalpur.

For crimes such as theft, children are kept in juvenile homes for a short period. The police also do not inquire much about them. Even, minors are not tortured or harassed during their term.

The apprehended members of the gang told the police that they are given a target of stealing 8 to 10 mobiles every day. The remuneration they get for every mobile theft is fixed.

Depending on the brand and cost of the mobile phone, they get Rs 1000 to Rs 2000 per handset.

The older members in the gang stand around the children. Immediately after stealing mobile phones, these children hand it over to the older members. When a large number of stolen mobiles are collected, the gang leader takes them to Sahibganj.

The children involved in mobile thievery do the work with the consent of their parents. Most of the children come from families with poor financial condition. They are mostly from Tinpahar, Taljhari and Maharajpur of Sahibganj district (Jharkhand) and Baranpur, Hirapur, Asansol of West Bengal's Bardhaman district.

The apprehended children told the police that they got training in stealing mobiles at Tinpahar and Rajmahal. Their boss Suraj, Chandan and others taught them the methods to steal mobile phones. After training, they were brought to Ranchi.

Vegetable and daily markets, according to them, are the best places to steal mobiles as it is easy for them to disappear from there after completing the task.

According to a senior police officer, stolen mobiles are transported to Bangladesh and Nepal. In one year, more than 30 minor members of such gangs were apprehended in Ranchi alone.
Lucknow, Jan 17 : The higher education department will soon include road safety in the college curriculum, and chapters related to it will also be included at the secondary and primary level or in the book of moral education.

All departments related to education will make joint efforts to create awareness about road safety to save precious lives.

UP higher education minister Yogendra Upadhyay said that the topic of road safety should also be included in the Run for G20 programme to be organised on January 21.

"Essay competitions on road safety should be organised in all schools and colleges together on the same day and an oath for road safety should be administered in the assembly held in the schools/colleges," the minister said.

He said that efforts will be more effective if these programmes are organised simultaneously in all institutes.

Upadhyay said in a statement that road safety is a sensitive subject in the present context. It is time to spread awareness among the masses.

The state government is organising Road Safety Month from January 5 to February 4, he said.

"To avoid loss of life and property in road accidents, it is necessary for citizens to follow traffic rules, and it is the responsibility of the education department to develop traffic sense among the students," he said.

UP technical education minister Ashish Patel said that to make the campaign more effective, students of technical colleges will be given traffic related work as projects.

In this, students will suggest ways to streamline the busiest traffic intersections of their city. He said that hoardings/posters related to road safety awareness should also be put up in all educational institutions.

UP minister of state for secondary education (independent charge) Gulab Devi said that the department of secondary education will also ensure participation in making the road safety campaign a success.
Lucknow, Jan 17 : A man with 23 criminal cases lodged against him at Lucknow and Lakhimpur Kheri has been re-arrested within a span of few months.

According to them, Vipin a.k.a Vivek Maurya, 25, from Lakhimpur Kheri, is accused of intoxicating and robbing people of their valuables.

He has escaped from police custody multiple times.

On being asked why he repeatedly escaped from police custody, Vipin reportedly told the police that he wanted to teach his wife a lesson since she lived with another man in Bihar.

Vipin, on November 11 last year, dodged police's custody while being taken to a court. He was arrested again on December 17, but managed to flee the very next day.

"The man fled to Uttarakhand, Delhi and Haryana to run away as soon as he got the slightest hint of police presence," said Aparna Rajat Kaushik, Lucknow DCP (Central).
Ayodhya : , Jan 17 (IANS) Security has been beefed up in Ayodhya a day after two terrorists were arrested in Delhi.

The police said that the two were tasked to carry out targeted attacks on the right-wing Hindu leaders.

Circle Officer (CO), Ayodhya, Shailendra Gautam, said an alert has been issued and checking of all vehicles is being done.

"Strict surveillance and checking of vehicles is being done. Police are checking vehicles at the entrance of Ayodhya Dham. People coming to Ayodhya are given entry only after checking of their IDs. Intensive checking is being carried out in mutts, temples of Ayodhya and Ram Janmabhoomi Marg," he said.

Acharya Satyendra Das Maharaj, chief priest of Ram Janmabhoomi temple, said the terrorists would be eliminated if they were conspiring any attack on the Ram temple.

"Lord Hanuman is sitting here like a king who protects the world. Our security is tight. There was an attack in 2005 on Ram Janmabhoomi in which five terrorists were killed. Later, an RDX filled cooker bomb was found at Hanuman Garhi which was deactivated. Terrorists, who are conspiring to attack the Ram temple, will be killed," he added.

It may be recalled that on January 15, Delhi Police arrested two terrorists, Jagjit Singh and Naushad Ali, tasked to carry out targeted attacks on right wing Hindu leaders.
Mathura : , Jan 17 (IANS) As protests against the proposed development of Bankey Bihari temple corridor in Mathura intensifies, the local residents and shopkeepers have now sent letters written in blood to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The protesters stated that the proposed development is uncalled for and it would rob them of ancestral homes and affect their livelihoods.

Besides, the area's heritage value will be ruined by the construction.

Over 300 shops and houses are to be demolished for the proposed corridor.

Bankey Bihari market association president Amit Gautam said on Tuesday, "In protest against the proposed development of the corridor, over 300 shops operating in the vicinity around the temple were closed on Monday.

"We have written letters, using our blood as ink, to the Prime Minister and chief minister demanding not to allow the destruction of the area in the name of the flawed plan of development." He said that the protests will intensify if the government does not withdraw the plan.

For the proposed corridor an eight-member committee had completed a survey earlier this month on the orders of the Allahabad high court.
Bengaluru, Jan 17 : Ruling BJP in Karnataka is all set to take out a 'Rath Yatra' in the state after the budget session ahead of Assembly elections.

The Rath Yatra would be taken out from four directions in the state to reach out to the people.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has stated on Monday late night that the details regarding the same are yet to be finalised. CM Bommai is taking part in the two-day National Executive Committee meeting.

He also stated that many political decisions were being taken in the meeting. The information right from the booth level to the party organisation had been given.

The high command is likely to take a call regarding B.Y. Vijayendra, son of party veteran B.S. Yediyurappa. The party had snubbed him during the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Hubballi to inaugurate the National Youth Festival.

BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal from Vijayapura has attacked the ruling BJP government in Karnataka over providing reservation to Panchamasali sub sect under OBC quota. He had attacked CM Bommai and cabinet ministers also. The religious seer had warned that if BJP expels MLA Yatnal, the Panchamasali community will stand with him.

Chief Minister Bommai is in a fix over the matter. He maintained that the matter had been brought to the notice of the high command and a decision would be taken in this regard after the national executive.

The saffron party is seriously putting all efforts to come back to power in the state on Hindutva agenda and in the name of PM Modi.
Nottinghamshire, Jan 17 : Nottingham Forest have completed the signing of midfielder Danilo from Palmeiras. The 21-year-old Brazilian signs a six-and-a-half-year contract with Forest.

Danilo becomes the club's second signing of the January transfer window, after the arrival of compatriot Gustavo Scarpa, who also came from Palmeiras, states premierleague.com.

"I'm really happy to be fulfilling my dream of playing in the Premier League and playing for Nottingham Forest," Danilo told the club's official website.

"I learnt a bit about the history of the club and saw they had won two European Cups. I spoke to Gustavo Scarpa as well, and he told me that Nottingham is a great city and Forest have a quality squad with really good staff." Forest sporting director Filippo Giraldi added: "He is a fantastic talent that will be a great asset for the present and the future of Nottingham Forest." Danilo came through Palmeiras's academy and made 141 appearances in total for the club, scoring 12 goals.

If Forest submit the required completed documents by midday Friday, he could make his debut on Saturday when they travel to AFC Bournemouth.
President Yoon Suk Yeol (C) speaks as he meets with South Korean troops of the Akh unit in the United Arab Emirates on Jan. 15, 2023.(Yonhap/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

President Yoon Suk Yeol (C) speaks as he meets with South Korean troops of the Akh unit in the United Arab Emirates on Jan. 15, 2023.(Yonhap/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Seoul, Jan 17 : The South Korean foreign ministry on Tuesday said President Yoon Suk Yeol's recent remark about Iran during his visit to the United Arab Emirates was "irrelevant" to Seoul's relations with Tehran, in an apparent effort to prevent it from spilling into a diplomatic controversy.

While speaking to South Korean troops in the UAE earlier this week during his state visit there, Yoon compared the UAE-Iran relations to that of South and North Koreas, and said the UAE's "enemy and biggest threat is Iran." In response, the Iranian foreign ministry said it was "looking into and pursuing the meddling comments" by Yoon, and awaiting an explanation from the Seoul foreign ministry, Yonhap News Agency reported.

In a text message to reporters, the Seoul foreign ministry urged against "unnecessary overinterpretation" of the remark, saying it was made while encouraging South Korean soldiers.

It added the remark was "irrelevant" to South Korea's diplomatic ties with Iran or other countries.

"Since forging diplomatic ties with Iran in 1962, our country has long maintained friendly and cooperative ties with Iran, and our commitment to continue developing the friendly bilateral relations with Iran remains firm," the ministry said.
Kochi, Jan 17 : The Registrar General of the Kerala High Court has informed the High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) that there is presently no proposal to shift the court from its current premises in the heart of Kochi city to Kalamassery, located 12 kms away.

There were media speculations that the high court might be moved out from its present location.

In his letter to the KHCAA President, Registrar General P. Krishna Kumar said that Chief Justice S. Manikumar has directed him to confirm that there is no proposal to shift to Kalamassery.

Rather, the High Court has only requested the state government to allot additional land to it for further development.

While the letter of the Registrar makes it clear that there is no proposal to shift the High Court in its entirety to Kalamassery, it is indicated that the High Court is considering its options for expansion and development.

The present complex was inaugurated in 2006 and the present location has problems of flooding during the monsoon.
Davos/Mumbai, Jan 17 : Getting into the business mode in Davos, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his team inked MoUs worth around Rs 45,900 crore for various projects with a potential to create around 10,000 direct jobs, an official from the delegation said here on Tuesday.

Industry Minister Uday Samant, who is part of the CM entourage, said that on the first day on Monday (January 16), the state government has signed the agreements with several major global conglomerates and investors.

Present at the ceremonies were top officials like Harshdeep Kamble, Vipin Sharma. T. Krishna, Shreya Eren, Ashish Nawade and others.

The investments include Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Orenda India (Rs 16,000 cr), ICP Investments/Indus Capitals (Rs 16,000 cr), Greenko Energy Projects Pvt. Ltd. of Telangana (Rs 12,000 cr), Nipro Pharma Packaging India Pvt. Ltd. of Pune (Rs 1,650 cr) and Rukhi Agro Foods of Thane (Rs 250 cr).

The Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut said that if all these investments are indeed coming then that is good for the state.

"However, let's wait till the investments actually come and jobs are really created before we can comment," said a skeptical Raut, who had yesterday urged Shinde to visit Gujarat and get back projects of Maharashtra which had shifted there in 2022.

Setting the state on an ambitious journey of a USD One Trillion economy, Shinde is all set to sign a total of 21 MoUs worth Rs 1.40 lakh-crore, intended to create over 66,500 jobs in the next five years.

Besides the agreements signed on Monday, more MoUs are scheduled with major global conglomerates and investors in greenfield projects like data centres, pharmaceuticals, logistics, chemicals, automobiles, electric vehicles, renewable energy and ESDM during Shinde's ongoing visit to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

He showcased the progressive policy reforms of the government, making the state a part of the global conversation, to reiterate to political leaders and global investors why Maharashtra is a premier investment destination.

Maharashtra has signed the prestigious three-year Platform Partnership with the WEF, a commercial contract for continuous engagements on subjects of strategic importance to the state.

The subjects focus on Shaping the Future of Urban Transformation - smart and connected cities, urban resilience, governance, infrastructure & services and resource management, and New Economies and Societies, focusing on entrepreneurship, education & skills, economic growth and job creation, said Shinde.

In the next couple of days, Shinde will present Maharashtra's progressive policies and investor-friendly outlook to key political and government representatives from Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, among others.

Among the most industrialised states in India, Maharashtra contributes 15 percent to the national GDP and 16 percent of the country's industrial output.

The services sector accounts for much of the state economy, upto 62 per cent of the state GDP, followed by the manufacturing sector which contributes 20 per cent through major industries including automobiles, engineering, textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, food processing and IT/ITeS.
Bhagalpur, Jan 17 : Local wildlife conservationist Arvind Mishra saw a Greater Adjutant Stork for the first time during his visit to the wetlands of Kadwa Diyara in Bhagalpur district of Bihar in October 2006. That was the beginning of his long-term association with the migratory bird.

"Till then, I had only seen its smaller species, the Lesser Adjutant," Mishra, who has since turned into a conservationist of the Greater Adjutant, told 101Reporters.

Around 100 of them could be seen across four to five districts of Bihar until 2007. Their main breeding spot was Kadwa Diyara, located 250 km from State capital Patna. "But just as in other Asian countries, their numbers started to dwindle, which set alarm bells ringing for us," noted Mishra, also the state coordinator of the Indian Bird Conservation Network.

He launched conservation efforts through his Mandar Nature Club, but ensuring community participation was key to his success. That was quite a challenging aspect as the bird, commonly known as garuda in the region, was not popular among the people.

The bird's above-five-foot frame, its grunt, balding looks, the enormous amounts of poop it generated, and the damage it caused to the crops worked against it. Moreover, it was an easy target for hunters due to its big size.

But Mishra and the team were determined to make people understand that the garuda is an endangered species. It is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species and is also listed under Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. At present, the bird is found only in Cambodia, Assam and Bhagalpur.

With consistent efforts, the number of Greater Adjutants in Bihar has increased to nearly 700 in 2019 from just 75-80 in 2006, according to Mishra. The latest numbers will be known in February 2023.

Apart from Kadwa Diyara panchayat, Ashram Tola, Kasimpur, Lakhminiya, Bagri Tola and Pratapnagar in neighbouring Khairpur panchayat have a sizeable population of garudas. Its smaller species are found in other areas.

Awareness drives change Initially, Mandar Nature Club worked with people in various panchayats to create awareness about the bird. "I set up chaupals to connect villagers with the issue. We felicitated people who joined the conservation activities. 'Garuda Saviours' and 'Garuda Guardians' were designated through such efforts, which later made the village synonymous with the bird's conservation," Mishra said.

Gyan Chandra Gyani, an environmentalist in Bhagalpur district, told 101Reporters that the environment and availability of food and water made Kadwa Diyara an ideal home for garudas. "We are seeing a constant increase in their numbers, thanks to the villagers who not only serve them but also protect them from hunters, electric wires and other threats." Kadwa Diyara native and veterinarian Nagina Rai attested to the villagers' zeal for conservation. "Until two years ago, deaths of garudas after coming into contact with high voltage cables were common. However, public protests forced authorities to adopt underground cables." She credits the contribution of Dipak Kumar Singh, the then-Principal Secretary of the Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Department, who worked very hard to make this happen.

In 2018, when a four-lane road construction began, the villagers opposed cutting down banyan trees, a favourite nesting spot of garudas. The course of the road was changed to protect the trees.

Rai informed 101Reporters that villagers also protect burflower trees, another popular nesting place of garudas. "Most of the people here are farmers. Though they collect wood from their 'bageechas' for personal use, they cut the trees down only under compelling circumstances because they want to ensure that garudas do not face an issue in building their nests." What is more, the villagers these days do not hesitate to give first aid to the birds in distress as they have received training in this regard.

Dr Rajiv Kumar, a resident doctor associated with Mandar Nature Club, told 101Reporters that poachers used to target the migratory birds that occupy the wetlands from October to February. Several nomadic tribes have the habit of consuming garuda eggs, too. So the villagers came together and restricted their entry into the village and informed the administration if they spotted any suspicious individuals or groups in their area.

A new identity The Greater Adjutant has transformed Kadwa Diyara in many ways. "People initially complained that the large bird dirtied the area with its droppings and damaged their crops. Hence, they destroyed garuda nests by cutting down trees. Later, they learnt that garudas could protect their crops from rats. They also noticed that incidents of snakebites have come down, as garudas eat snakes, all of which gave the bird a new identity," Dr Kumar said.

Shyamsundar gave a glimpse into how the village flourished after it became associated with the bird.

"Garuda has made us famous. Tourists now flock here. Around 25 new shops have come up. A shopkeeper can earn approximately Rs 5,000 per month from October to February. This gives us an extra income other than what we gain from agriculture. Today, garuda is a symbol of our village's development," he said.

Sunita (32) added that schoolchildren, people from other villages, and even a few foreigners, environmental officials and scientists come to see the village every year. Satyam Kumar (24) informed that two residents of Kadwa Diyara were feted at the Bhagalpur Bird Festival last year for their garuda conservation effort.

Reiterating the benefits, local politician Prashant Kumar Kanhaiya (28) said, "Everyone from all walks of life has contributed to making Kadwa Diyara panchayat a garuda haven. If the government showed some will by supporting those who are treating the birds for free or publicising the conservation efforts beyond the district and the state, things could get even better." Bhagalpur Divisional Forest Officer Bharat Chintapalli told 101Reporters that the conservation efforts have earned Kadwa Diyara the tag of 'other effective area-based conservation measures' (OECM), which classifies areas known to promote biodiversity.

"The OECM tag helps improve bird conservation efforts in a particular area. We are continuously working to develop garuda nesting spots in areas adjacent to Kadwa Diyara," Chintapalli added.

(This article was originally published by 101Reporters, under the series The Promise of Commons where we explore how judicious management of shared public resources can help the ecosystem as well as the communities inhabiting it.)
Jammu, Jan 17 : Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday asked its employees to attend January 26 function and beating retreat ceremony' as a part of their official duty.

An official statement said here, "The main function of the Republic Day, 2023 is being held at Maulana Azad Stadium here where the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha will preside over the function and take the salute.

"All the officers/officials of the Government and Public Sector Undertakings, stationed at Jammu are called upon to attend the function as a part of their official duty.

"All Heads of Departments and Chief Executives of Public Sector Undertakings have been asked to ensure their own participation and also of the employees subordinate to them in the function".

Another official statement said, "Beating Retreat Ceremony of the Republic Day Celebrations" is being held on January 29 at 04:30 p.m. at Maulana Azad Stadium, Jammu.

"All the officers/officials of the Government Departments stationed at Jammu are directed to attend the Beating Retreat Ceremony.

"It is also impressed upon all the Heads of the Departments and Chief Executives of the Public Sector Undertakings to ensure their own participation and also of the employees subordinate to them in the function."
Bengaluru, Jan 17 : The family of late RTI activist Murthy. R, who was hacked to death recently in Bengaluru, has held the Karnataka police department responsible for his murder.

Meanwhile, the RTI Activists' Forum has warned that they would stage a protest condemning the attacks on RTI activists in the state.

Murthy, a resident of Kuruballidoddi village, near Kanakapura town, located close to Bengaluru, was found bludgeoned to death in the last week of December. Murthy collected details of the civil works carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the village and filed a complaint with authorities. The authorities have visited the village to probe his allegations.

The police had arrested three persons in connection with the murder of Murthy. Shantamma, Murthy's mother alleged that even as the police were informed about her son being threatened for exposing corruption at panchayat level, no action was taken.

She maintained that her son was given life threats and police failure to provide security for her son resulted in his murder.

Shantamma has alleged that the police are not taking up the probe transparently. The name of the influential leader behind the murder has been dropped. The government should take up the investigation in this matter and give justice to the deceased son.

V. Hanumantarayappa, the President of the RTI activists Forum urged that all accused in connection with the murder of Murthy should be arrested and one of his family members should be given a post.

The forum is organising a protest at the Freedom Park in Bengaluru in February condemning the attacks on RTI activists in the state, he said.
Lucknow, Jan 17 : The Uttar Pradesh government will launch the family ID portal next month where families can register as a unit for a joint identification number that will help them avail benefits of various government schemes.

The planning department has signed up with an organisation to lead the project with it, which will also help the department identify frauds in schemes like pension, ration distribution, etc., which will be linked with the ID.

Currently, the ration card details are being used to generate a provisional ID which is being used in the social welfare department to seed with data of pensioners.

The next high priority scheme where seeding will take place is the Kanya Sumangala Yojana.

Principal secretary, planning, Alok Kumar said that considerable work at the backend has taken place to enable the launch of the portal.

Apart from various departmental teams, we are also getting technical support from Samagra Transforming Governance, which is a mission driven governance consulting firm based out of Delhi," he said.

The official said, "The plan is to link more than 50 schemes of the Centre and state with the family ID so that the benefit of these can be given transparently to the actual beneficiaries and weed out fake beneficiaries." Utkarsh Vijay, the vice president of the firm, said that seeding of the Family ID is currently taking place using ration card data and this is being shared with various departments.

"The ration card issued to citizens is being used to create provisional IDs till the launch of the portal. These IDs are being sent to departments where they will link it with the beneficiaries. Currently, it is taking place for the pension scheme and will soon start with the Kanya Sumangala Scheme," he said.

He added that once the portal is ready, families will be able to register on it, especially if they do not have a ration card. The family will be issued a family ID and they will also be able to check family mapping and include members, like young children who are not registered in the ration card.

Another concept that the government is working on is the 'family passbook', a phone app through which a family would be able to see what they have received from the government at regular intervals through government schemes, etc.

They will also be able to see what benefits they are eligible for, so that they can register for the scheme. The app will also inform them if there are any services any member of the family is due to avail, like vaccination.

"This is a concept for the future and will probably be brought in once all services are seeded with the family ID," he said.
Chennai, Jan 17 : After a bull tamer and a spectator were killed in two different Jallikattu events in Madurai and Tiruchy districts of Tamil Nadu, the authorities are taking strict measures to prevent any fatalities in the future.

Over 9,650 bulls and 5,399 tamers have registered online for the various Jallikattu events to be held in Madurai, Trichy districts of Tamil Nadu as part of the Pongal festivities.

Madurai district collector Aneesh Shekhar told mediapersons that the district administration was taking extra measures to prevent any untoward incidents and for the safe conduct of Jallikattu.

A bull tamer, Aravind Raj (26) died during the Jallikattu event at Palamedu in Madurai district on Monday. He had already tamed eight bulls and was a front runner for winning the competition when he was attacked by a bull that became fatal.

A spectator, Aravind (28) was gored to death in Tiruchi district during a Jallikattu event. In view of such gory incidents, the Tamil Nadu government has asked the district administrations to change the display area from the play area.

The Avaniyapuram Jallikattu, which is the first major bull-taming event of the Pongal season, was held on January 15, 2023. This had the presence of Advanced Trauma Life Care Support Ambulance which helped prevent fatalities. Two critically injured people were given treatment in this ambulance and they survived. The Tamil Nadu government is planning to have such ambulances during the Jallikattu festival across the state.

Jallikattu or bull taming is one of the most popular spots in Tamil Nadu and is considered a manly event. Several people are grievously injured and some die during the festival.

Across Tamil Nadu, Jallikattu competitions are held in which several hundreds of bulls and tamers participate. The first prize winner is generally given either a car or two-wheelers, gold coins, and other valuable gifts. The best bulls are also given prizes.

It may be noted that the Supreme Court of India banned the Jallikattu festival on May 7, 2014, on the grounds of credulity to animals.

However, after widespread protests which were led by students and youths, in January 2017, the Tamil Nadu state passed a bill to amend the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act 2017 and the bull-taming sport continued to be conducted in the state.
Islamabad, Jan 17 : Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has sent out a fresh offer to India to resolve all longstanding bilateral issues, which have led to disputes and conflicts between the two nations through sincere and forward looking negotiations.

In an interview to Al-Arabiya television, Sharif offered his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sit together and resolve issues including Kashmir.

"My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir," he said.

"In Kashmir, flagrant human rights violations are taking place day in and day out," he added.

Sharif has asked the UAE to play its role in bringing both India and Pakistan to table talks.

Emphasising the urgent need to find mutual grounds of understanding on the issue of Kashmir, Sharif said: "India had usurped any semblance of autonomy, given to the Kashmiris according to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, as the autonomy was revoked in August 2019." Shehbaz Sharif said that the not only the world need to realise that India and Pakistan are neighbours, but both the countries need to understand the importance of co-existing peacefully.

"It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other, and waste time and resources," he said.

"We have three wars with India and it only brought more misery, poverty and unemployment to the people," he added.

Sharif further said that Pakistan realises the past and has "learned its lesson", which is why it now wants to live in peace and resolve bilateral problems through table talks.

"We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity and provide education and health facilities and employment to our people and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, this is the message I want to give to Prime Minister Modi," he said.

Sharif also highlighted the threats and fears of effects of the "strained ties" between India and Pakistan, stating that both countries are nuclear powers and if the conflict triggers a war, then there will be no one left to live and tell what happened.

Sharif has asked the UAE to play a similar role like it acted in connecting both India and Pakistan in the past to re-enforce the Simla agreement and brought both sides to mutually agree for a ceasefire at the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary (WB).

The UAE played vital role in arranging important high-level meetings between Pakistan's and India's top military leadership and played important role in bringing both parties to agree for the ceasefire.
Mumbai, Jan 17 : Model and actor Umar Sharif plays a pivotal role in 'Kuttey'. The actor spoke about his role and shared his working experience with the co-actors.

He said: "I play the character of Javed Mufti who is the local gun maker. He has 2 elder brothers and their kattas are caught in the crossfire, due to which they are nabbed by the police, but in order to escape captivity, they give away the plan of robbing an ATM cash van of Rs 4 crore as a barter for their release." His big break came in the form of 'Ye Hai India Meri Jaan' with veteran director Saeed Mirza in 2013. In 2014, Umar signed his first feature film, 'Khamoshiyaan'. From then on, his journey continued with doing shows like 'Pyar ka Dard', 'Ishq Kills' and episodic programmes like 'Savdhaan India' and 'Gumrah'.

He continued his association with theatre. Umar bagged his first web series 'Avrodh', and then went onto doing series like 'Kaafir' with Dia Mirza and 'Scam 1992'.

While talking about working with actors like Tabu and Dia, he shared: "These are phenomenal actors, who make a scene and the entire process of acting so seamless and easy. I learnt so much from them. It was like reading a book on acting. I have been blessed with projects that have had some great performers." The actor will be next seen in 'Ranneti' on Voot, and 'The Kerala Story'.
Belagavi : Jan 17 (IANS) The Karnataka State Board of Wakf has locked the Fathima Masjid which came up illegally in a residential area of Sarathinagar locality in Belagavi district of the state.

Taking no chances, the police department increased the security cover surrounding the building on Tuesday.

A platoon of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) has also been deputed in front of the controversial building. BJP leaders and Hindu activists have objected to the conversion of the residential house into a mosque in the area.

The BJP and Hindu activists alleged that a residence has been turned into a masjid and is being handed over to the Wakf Board.

The activists had held a meeting with local residents in this regard and started a movement to vacate the masjid from the locality under the leadership of former BJP MLA Sanjay Patil.

Patil had demanded that the district authorities and the corporation vacate the mosque.

As per the locals, the authorities have turned a blind eye to the development. Even as they are aware of the illegalities, they have been pressured by the Congress MLA of Belagavi Rural constituency Lakshmi Hebbalkar in this regard.

They maintained that though complaints have been raised for over one year, no action is taken. Sri Ram Sena had given one week's deadline to vacate the mosque.

Locals explain that the original owner had gifted the property to Moulana Abdul Kalam Educational and Charitable Society. Later, it was converted into a mosque.

The corporation has issued a notice in this regard regarding building license violation and carrying out religious activities in the property meant for residence. The Muslim leaders maintained that it was a property of the Wakf board.

Rudresh Ghali, the Commissioner of Belagavi Corporation, had issued a notice to the Wakf Board in this regard. Satish Jarkiholi, KPCC Working President, commented that as elections are nearing these things will come up.

"We have seen how things turned hostile in Mangaluru, Udupi and Karwar. They will do it here and other places as well. But, it won't help them," he stated in a veiled attack ob the BJP.

Churches and mosques have been in the country for thousands of years. Creating controversy now is not necessary. If the court order was given it was a different issue, it is wrong on part of BJP leaders to demand vacating of mosques. However, they will continue it till the elections are over," Satish Jarkiholi stated.

Hindu organisations have decided to continue their agitation to get the Fathima mosque vacated completely. The issue is likely to create a law and order situation in the city.
Ranchi, Jan 17 : The body of a student was found hanging in the hostel of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ranchi on Tuesday.

It is being suspected that the deceased was murdered as his hands were tied at the back with a rope.

The deceased has been identified as Shivam Pandey, a resident of Varanasi.

Pandey's room is on the fifth floor of the hostel, located in Nagdi police station area of the city.

On receiving information of the incident, the police reached the spot and recovered the body, which has been sent to RIMS for post-mortem.

The police have refrained from commenting anything on the matter and have informed his family members.

Investigation will be done on aspects of both suicide and murder. No suicide note has been found as of yet.

The students living in neighbouring rooms are being questioned and their mobile phones and notebooks are being checked.

The forensic team has been called.

As per police, the correct information will be available only after the post-mortem report.
Lucknow, Jan 17 : Uttar Pradesh Congress media convenor Lalan Kumar has been booked on the charges of posting a fake video on social media.

BJP leader Shailendra Kumar Sharma lodged a complaint against Lalan Kumar for posting a "doctored" video of BJP national president J.P. Nadda with "highly objectionable" remarks in the voiceover, on Twitter.

Hazratganj SHO Akhilesh Mishra on Tuesday said that based on the complaint made by Sharma, an FIR under the IT Act was lodged against the named accused and a probe is underway.

"We have roped in the cyber cell for a detailed investigation," he said.
New Delhi, Jan 17: Russia will soon start delivering Sukhoi-35 fighter jets and defence systems to Iran, a top Iranian politician has confirmed to the local media in Tehran.

Shahriar Heidari, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission (NSFPC), believes that the first delivery could happen as soon as March, at the beginning of the Iranian new year.

"We have placed orders from Russia for defence systems, missiles, as well as fighters and helicopters, and most of these weapons will enter the country soon. For example, the Sukhoi 35 fighter will arrive in Iran early next year," Heidari told Iran's leading Tasnim News Agency.

It is expected that the combat aircraft will be based at the Tactical Air Base (TAB) 8 of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) in Isfahan, a city in central Iran.

Russia's former envoy to Tehran Levan Dzhagaryan, who is now the country's ambassador to Sri Lanka, said in 2020 that Moscow is ready to supply Tehran with its state-of-the-art S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.

The Western media has been anticipating over the last few months, especially after the collapse of the Su-35's orders by Egypt, that Iran could soon receive as many as 24 Su-35 fighter jets from Moscow.

In September, Iranian Air Force chief Brigadier General Hamid Vahedi first hinted at the purchase of Russian fourth-generation fighter, saying that it remains on top of the air force's agenda.

It was followed by the UK and the US implementing new sanctions on Iranian individuals and businesses responsible for supplying Russia with kamikaze drones, which they believed are being used by Moscow to bombard Ukraine.

The West alleged that Iran, which has one of the largest and most diverse drone and missile arsenals in the Middle East, continues to increase the sophistication, range, and accuracy of its weapons systems.

"It also has a long-standing track record of proliferating drones, missiles, and missile technology, including to non-state actors. The missiles and drones are under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps," the UK government said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the US further designated seven individuals in leadership positions with Qods Aviation Industries (QAI), an Iranian defence manufacturer responsible for the design and production of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), and of Iran's Aerospace Industries Organisation (AIO), the main entity responsible for overseeing Iran's ballistic missile programmes.

"The action follows our designations in September and November of individuals and entities involved in the production and transfer of Iranian Shahed - and Mohajer - series UAVs, which Moscow continues to use in its brutal attacks against Ukraine, including its critical infrastructure," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

However, Tehran has maintained that it has no control over how or where the drones are being used and it cannot be accused of supporting the war in Ukraine just because Russia is using Iranian drone technology.

"The use of Iranian weapons by Russia has nothing to do with Iran because Iran has only been the seller of that weapon to this country, and now this country wants to use these drones anywhere, it is up to that country itself," said Heidari during his interview with the Tasnim News Agency.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Gurugram, Jan 17 : The Gurugram police have arrested two managers, seven customers and 18 women for allegedly operating a sex racket from two spa centres in Gurugram, the police said on Tuesday.

The arrested have been booked under different sections of the Immoral Trafficking Act and an FIR has been registered against them at the Sector 29 police station.

According to the police, they acted following a tip off about prostitution carried out at the Spa centres in Mega City Mall located on Mehrauli-Gurugram Road.

DCP (east), constituted a special team on the matter which raided the spots and nabbed Mabinoor Islam, the manager of Alcor Spa, one customer and three women from here.

Similarly, the police have also arrested Zabur Islam the manager of Evanthe Spa, and 15 women including 3 from Thailand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar and West Bengal involved in prostitution.

In the preliminary inquiry, it was revealed that the spa centres' owners Ramesh Kumar and Umesh Arora used to run a prostitution racket from the spa. In place of this, the managers of both spas used to charge Rs 2,000 per customer.

All the accused will be produced in the local court for further investigations.

"Further investigation in the matter is underway we are collecting more information about the involvement of any other person," said Subhash Boken, spokesperson of Gurugram police.
Melbourne, Jan 17 : A second Hindu temple has been vandalised in Australia with anti-India graffiti, leaving the community in a state of shock, a media report said on Tuesday.

The vandalism of the historic Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple in Carrum Downs, Victoria, comes just days after the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Mill Park was vandalised by anti-India supporters, The Australia Today reported.

"I urge (Victoria) Premier Dan Andrews and Victoria Police to take strict action against these goons who are trying to scare the Victorian Hindu community," Usha Senthilnathan, a devotee, told The Australia Today.

Senthilnathan, along with other devotees, noticed the anti-Indian graffiti saying, 'Target Modi', on Monday when they came to calebrate Pongal festival at the temple.

"I can't tell you how upset I am for witnessing a second Hindu Temple vandalised for Khalistan propaganda," Hindu Council of Australia's Victoria chapter President Makrand Bhagwat told The Australia Today.

On January 12, the walls of BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir were defaced with anti-India graffiti, saying 'Hindustan Murdabad', and also marked with praises of Indian terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale -- a supporter of the creation of Khalistan for Sikhs -- as a 'martyr'.

Victoria Police confirmed to The Australia Today that an investigation into the vandalism of the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir incident is ongoing.
San Francisco, Jan 17 : Cruiser bikes giant Harley-Davidson is transitioning to become an all-electric brand in a process that will take decades, says its CEO Jochen Zeitz.

"At some point in time, Harley Davidson will be all-electric.

"But that's a long-term transition that needs to happen. It's not something you do overnight," Zeitz was quoted as saying.

According to Zeitz, electrification is the next logical step in the evolution of the brand that was founded 120 years ago, reports Dezeen.

"If you look at the past 120 years, the company has always evolved, never stood still. Now, like the founders did at the time by trying to reinvent or invent something unique, that's obviously something that we as a company brand need to do as well," he said.

"What we're doing is celebrating our past but also evolving the brand at the same time. It's a natural evolution that needed to happen," he added.

Even though Harley-Davidson has begun producing electric motorcycles, Zeitz does not believe the company will abandon petrol in the near future, the report mentioned.

The company launched its first electric motorcycle in 2018, named LiveWire.

Moreover, Harley-Davidson unveiled its first-ever electric bicycle inspired by the brand's very first motorcycle from 1903 in 2020.

The new business called 'Serial 1 Cycle Company' started as a project within the motorcycle manufacturer's product development centre.
Chennai: Revolutionary socialist leader Che Guevara's daughter Aleida Guevara arrives at the airport in Chennai on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. (Photo: Parthi Bhan/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Chennai: Revolutionary socialist leader Che Guevara's daughter Aleida Guevara arrives at the airport in Chennai on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. (Photo: Parthi Bhan/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Chennai, Jan 17 : The CPI-M's Tamil Nadu unit extended a warm welcome to Aleida 'Che' Guvera, daughter of the iconic communist revolutionary at the Chennai airport on Tuesday.

Aleida is on a two-day visit to Tamil Nadu and had arrived in Chennai from Thiruvananthapuram where she attended several public programmes including the national conference of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA).

The daughter of the Cuban revolutionary was accorded a warm welcome at the Chennai airport by the CPI-M Tamil Nadu state Secretary, G. Balakrishnan and senior leader, G. Ramakrishnan.

She will be attending a party programme on Tuesday and a public programme on Wednesday. The public programme will be attended by DMK Deputy Secretary and MP, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and VCK founder leader and MP Thol Thirumavalavan.

Aleida's daughter Estefania Guevera is also accompanying her.
Mumbai, Jan 17 : Actor, producer and director Akashdeep Sabir, who is known for 'Shehzada', '3 Monkeys' and 'Crack', among others, is currently seen in the web series 'Main Monica', which has been written by Ranjeet Chitrakaar, Amber Wasi and Paromita Ganguly. He said that the series is different from the current lot of shows.

Talking about the differential factor of 'Main Monica', he said: "Firstly it's different from the clutter. Secondly, the director has kept a real and simple approach. The believable characters and situations add to the thriller space. It's very easy to go over the top with such plots but they have kept it simple and that's very effective." In the series, he plays the role of the producer who gets funding from the underworld and political parties for his ambitious film for which he has signed Monica as the lead.

He said: "The circumstances make him believe that she was murdered and he blames the man who plays Monica in his film for it. We shot extensively and had fun during the shoot. And when I see the response now, it's superb. I am getting a very positive response." "I did not need any prep for the role as I am a producer and director in reality also. But yes we had a few interactions with the director in regard to the way he wanted me to play the part. The pitch, the style, etc and we cracked it in a couple of sessions," added Akashdeep, who will be soon seen in Anil Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur's 'Night Manager' and the Vicky Kaushal-starrer 'Sam Bahadur'.

Sharing his experience of shooting, he recalled how the security had stopped the lead from coming on the sets thinking she was there to see the shoot.

He said: "We were shooting the last scene where we are on stage to announce the film knowing fully well that Monica is dead, and she walks in. The media took over. During one take we all had a hearty laugh as Monica didn't make her entry at the time she had to. We cut the shot only to realise that the security stopped her thinking someone wants to see the shooting and said, await shot chalu hai', not knowing she was the heroine."
Hong Kong, Jan 17 : China's population has declined for the first time since 1961 as the national birth rate fell to a record low of 6.77 births for every 1,000 people last year, media reports said on Tuesday.

With China's population decline, India is projected to overtake China as the world's most populous country this year, according to the United Nations.

The South China Morning Post reported that the national birth rate for 2022 fell to a record low in China.

Deaths outnumbered births in China as its overall population plummeted by 850,000 people - to 1.4118 billion in 2022, down from 1.4126 billion a year earlier, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The national death rate was 7.37 per thousand last year, putting the national growth rate at negative 0.6 per thousand people in the country currently going through a Covid crisis that killed nearly 60,000 people in about a month's time.

"China's population declined the first time since 1961. The population will likely trend down from here in the coming years. This is very important, with implications for potential growth and domestic demand," Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, was quoted as saying.

The report said that the population growth had been slowing since 2016.

In 2021, China eased birth restrictions to allow couples to have three children, entitling them to childcare and other benefits. Shenzhen is among the latest cities to incentivise childbirth via cash handouts.

The UN also expects China's population to drop to 1.313 billion by 2050 and fall below 800 million by 2100.

However, as the number of new births fall, China's ageing crisis is deepening.

The country had 280.04 million people aged over 60 at the end of 2022, up from 267.36 million people or 18.9 per cent of the population at the end of 2021.

China's working-age population -- those between 16 and 59 years old -- stood at 875.56 million at the end of 2022, representing 62 per cent of the population, down from 62.5 per cent a year earlier.

Without proper change, the ageing population will have a long-term effect on economic growth, said the report.
Patna, Jan 17 : Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras took a jibe at the grand alliance government in Bihar, claiming that "three of its wickets had fallen in three months", because the Mahagathbandhan's swearing-in ceremony did not take place in the "Shubh Muhrat" (auspicious time).

Interacting with media in his home constituency, Hajipur, he said: "Kartikeya Master, who was facing the criminal charges of kidnapping, took the oath in Nitish Kumar Cabinet and became the Law Minister. After three days, he resigned from the post." Paras said that Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh released a controversial statement, of his department infested with thieves and him feeling like the "choron ka sardar" (head of thieves), before resigning.

"Now Education Minister Chandra Shekhar Yadav, a professor, gave a controversial statement on Ram Charit Manas and claimed that the religious book of Hindus spread hatred in the society. I don't think he is an educated person and if he is, I doubt that he has read Ram Charit Manas properly." Apart from the NDA, the leaders of alliance partner JD-U have been demanding action against Yadav, of the RJD.

According to sources, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wants Yadav to resign.

Paras claimed: "The way the Mahagathbandhan government is working in Bihar, I don't think it will go a long way. There is a big gap in the alliance partners." He alleged that Nitish Kumar aimed to become the Prime Minister and hence, had left the NDA to join the RJD.

"Now, what would (Deputy Chief Minister) Tejashwi (Yadav) do when he has to pick between Rahul Gandhi and Nitish Kumar," Paras asked.
Mumbai, Jan 17 : In a jolt for the Congress, a party leader in Maharashtra on Tuesday claimed that there is "anarchy" in the state unit for which state President Nana Patole is responsible, and has sought his removal.

The demand has been in a letter penned to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge by former legislator from Nagpur Dr Ashishrao R. Deshmukh - the son of Congress strongman, former state party chief minister Ranjeet Deshmukh.

Without mincing words, Deshmukh has blamed Patole for all the ills plaguing the party after he took over as the state chief in February 2021, and claimed that it has gone into "anarchy".

"The recent rebellion by Dr Satyajit Tambe (in Nashik) has brought disgrace to the Congress. During Patole's tenure, the party has been facing constant upheavals. Vidarbha (from where Patole also hails) was once known as the stronghold of the Congress, but it has slipped out of the hands," he alleged.

Citing other lapses, Deshmukh said that belying Patole claims of making Congress No. 1 in the state when he was made party chief, the party has slid to the No 4 position, and now with Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena (BSS), it will be pushed down to No 5.

He recalled the examples of how Dr. Ravindra Bhoyar was the Congress candidate for the 2021 MLC polls from Nagpur, but after dramatic political developments, at the last minute, the party supported independent Mangesh Deshmukh, due to which the Bharatiya Janata Party's Chandrashekhar Bawankule won overwhelmingly.

Similarly, in June 2022 MLC polls, official Congress candidate Chandrakant Handore was defeated while another party leader Bhai Jagtap bagged more votes and won.

Another instance was the floor test of the newly-appointed government of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in July 2022, when the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi unity's was of importance.

Deshmukh said that instead, during the confidence vote, 10 Congress MLAs remained absent which greatly improved the government's majority.

Patole had promised to investigate all these cases and submit a report to the party high command, but till date no action has been taken nor anybody held responsible though many people continued to do anti-party work even when they were in the party, he said in the letter to Kharge.

On the upcoming MLC's polls on January 30, Dr. Deshmukh warned that its outcome could have a bearing on the election of the Chairman of the Legislative Council.

He rued that in the erstwhile bastion of Maharashtra, today, there are many leaders but no dedicated workers left, the Congress is struggling for survival, its ideology is not respected by the leaders, and the party is viewed as one without a competent state leadership.

This is the reason why people from the Congress are moving out to other parties like Shiv Sena-UBT, Nationalist Congress Party or Bharatiya Janata Party, there are no anew faces' in Congress, rampant factionalism and the party is left without a backbone, he alleged.
Islamabad, Jan 17 : A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to talk to India on "burning issues", the country's PMO clarified that it will not hold negotiations with its neighbour until it reverses the "August 5, 2019 illegal action" on Kashmir.

On August 5, 2019, the Indian government had abrogated Article 370 of the country's Constitution which granted special status to the Jammu and Kashmir.

"Without India's revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible," Dawn News reported quoting the PMO as saying.

In an interview to Al-Arabiya television on Monday, Sharif had offered his Indian counterpart Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sit together and resolve issues including Kashmir.

"My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir," he said.

"In Kashmir, flagrant human rights violations are taking place day in and day out," he added.

Sharif has asked the UAE to play its role in bringing both India and Pakistan to table talks.

Emphasising the urgent need to find mutual grounds of understanding on the issue of Kashmir, Sharif said: "India had usurped any semblance of autonomy, given to the Kashmiris according to Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, as the autonomy was revoked in August 2019." Shehbaz Sharif said that the not only the world need to realise that India and Pakistan are neighbours, but both the countries need to understand the importance of co-existing peacefully.

"It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other, and waste time and resources," he said.

"We have three wars with India and it only brought more misery, poverty and unemployment to the people," he added.

Sharif further said that Pakistan realises the past and has "learned its lesson", which is why it now wants to live in peace and resolve bilateral problems through table talks.

"We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity and provide education and health facilities and employment to our people and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, this is the message I want to give to Prime Minister Modi," he said.

Sharif also highlighted the threats and fears of effects of the "strained ties" between India and Pakistan, stating that both countries are nuclear powers and if the conflict triggers a war, then there will be no one left to live and tell what happened.
Islamabad, Jan 17 : Pakistan has been made to realise its consistent failure in ensuring religious security to minorities with the United Nations (UN) calling for immediately curbing coerced religious conversions, child marriages, kidnapping of teenage girls and their forced conversions and marriage to men twice their age.

In an appeal to Pakistan, the UN has urged the authorities to "stop the alleged abuse and kidnapping of teenagers, who are trafficked far from their homes and made to marry men sometimes twice their age".

Rights experts, while reporting to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), presented many reports, giving clear indications of outright involvement of religious authorities and the complicity of security forces and the justice system, in cases of kidnapping, forced conversions and child marriages.

Despite the fact that Pakistan has made efforts to pass legislations prohibiting such illegal practices, rights experts have called on the Pakistan government to take tangible and on ground steps to curb the consistently increasing injustice to minorities.

"We urge the government to take immediate steps to prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts objectively and in line with domestic legislations and international human rights commitments. The perpetrators must be held fully accountable," the experts said.

"Pakistan's courts have enabled the perpetrators by accepting fraudulent evidence from them, regarding the age of the victims and their willingness to marry and convert to Islam," a group of independent experts and special rapporteurs of the UN emphasised, putting significant focus on upholding the rights of women and children.

Criticising the justice system being manipulatively flawed in such matters, the rights experts said that the Pakistani courts have also "misused interpretations of religious laws to justify victims remaining with their abusers".

"The police had also failed the victims' families by refusing to register abductions, or dismissing them as love marriages," they maintained.

"We are very concerned that marriages and conversions have taken place under the threat of violence to these girls, women or their families. The abductors force their victims to sign documents, which falsely attest to their being of legal age for marriage as well as marrying and converting of free will. These documents are cited by the police as evidence that no crime has occurred," the rights experts said.

They added that it is important and pivotal that all victims, regardless of religious background, are afforded access to justice and equal protection under the law.

The experts emphasised on the need for Pakistani authorities to adopt and enforce legislations prohibiting forced conversions, forced and child marriages, kidnapping, and trafficking, calling for compliance by the country's commitments to international human rights to combat slavery and human trafficking and to uphold the rights of women and children.
Colombo, Jan 17 : Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe informed the Parliament on Tuesday that much awaited debt re-structuring talks with India and China have been successful.

"I can tell this assembly that the talks are successful," he said as the Indian Ocean island nation is awaiting the International Monetary Fund bailout to relieve worst ever economic crisis the country is going through.

"Very soon we will have an answer," he said.

Wickremesinghe's announcement came as a delegation from the Communist Party of China is on a visit to Sri Lanka while India's External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar is to make a visit on Thursday.

Meanwhile, international media on Monday reported that India formally notified that it would support Sri Lanka's debt restructuring plan, clearing a major hurdle for the bankrupt nation to unlock a $2.9 billion bailout from the IMF.

State Minister for Finance Shehan Semasinghe has stated that "Sri Lanka is confident of reaching IMF board approval in the first quarter of 2023".

As the country is going through the worst-ever economic crisis since its independence, Sri Lanka awaits a conditional IMF bailout extended for four years. To obtain this financial facility, Sri Lanka has to restructure its debts with bilateral creditors including the major creditors China, India and Japan.
Chennai, Jan 17 : The proposed Expected Credit Loss (ECL) provisioning could release provisioning for some large banks while some small private and regional banks may have to accelerate provision buffers and even replenish capital levels faster than planned, said Emkay Global Financial Services in a report.

Similarly in a report on the subject, Morgan Stanley said: "Indian banks have significantly improved their provisioning coverage as well as capital ratios. Moreover, RBI (Reserve Bank of India) will allow banks sufficient time for implementation as well as intending to phase out the capital impact over five years." "Overall, we believe the potential impact on banks will be manageable based on our current asset quality expectations, unlike significant implications 3-4 years back. Large private banks are much better placed given significant higher floating/contingency provisions, we believe," it added.

The RBI as announced earlier in its Monetary Policy Committee's meeting has come out with a discussion paper on ECL for the banks.

As per this, banks shall classify financial assets (funded/non-funded credit plus investments) in three stages, recognising ECL on each reporting date, Emkay Global said.

For Stage 1 assets, the provision shall be made based on 12-month ECL, while in case of Stage 2 and Stage 3 assets, provision would be made based on lifetime ECL.

In terms of income recognition, interest income for assets in Stage 3 shall be recognised only on receipt basis on net carrying value of assets, while in case of Stage 1 and Stage 2 assets, interest income can be on accrual basis on gross carrying value.

The RBI has stipulated that an asset in Stage 3 shall not directly be brought to Stage 1 even after the irregularities are rectified, and that banks shall keep a Stage 3 asset in Stage 2 for a minimum of six months after all the irregularities are rectified. However, if a non-performing asset (NPA) account has been fully repaid, it can be brought to standard asset status.

According to Emkay Global, to contain the initial impact of ECL, the RBI has proposed a transitional adjustment arrangement to avoid capital shocks.

Thus, the difference between ECL provisions and current incurred loss-based provisions, net of taxes, would be allowed to be added back to the common equity tier 1 (CET 1) capital. However, the benefit shall be phased over a maximum of five years or less, on a straight-line basis.

According to Emkay Global, with the Covid shock is largely behind and with banks sitting on healthy provision buffers it is an opportune time to introduce ECL norms for banks and strengthen their provision buffers, before the next asset-quality shock.

Though the RBI has not implemented full IFRS for banks, given the regular shocks and lack of preparation (mainly by public sector banks), it has been migrating banks towards IFRS in a phased manner, Emkay Global said.
Surat, Jan 17 : A police constable, along with his accomplice, has been booked on charges of extortion and cheating, soures said here on Tuesday.

In his complaint with the Mahidharpura police station, one Manhar Patel has alleged that Chawk bazar police station constable Kamlesh Lathia and his accomplice Bipin Tejani have extorted Rs 8 lakh from his brother Dharmesh Patel and his friends Nilesh Navadia and Vishal Bhadani.

A police complaint was filed against Dharmesh in October 2022 regarding an alleged fraud, following which the two friends had gone underground, fearing arrest. As per the complainant, he approached Bipin Tejani for help.

Tejani and police constable Lathia, promised to get the FIR against complainant Manhar Patel's brother and his friends scrapped.

As the complainant did not trust Tejani, he did not strike deal with him, but he continued to pressure Manhar and took Rs 8 lakh from October 2022 till January 16, 2023.

Neither the complaint was withdrawn nor did Tejani and Lathia returned the money. So he lodged a complaint against the two.
Guwahati, Jan 17 : Assam Police seized a huge cache of contraband in the state's Karimganj district on Tuesday morning, officials said.

A senior police officer said that a total of 7.6 lakh Yaba tablets were seized from a vehicle that was coming from Mizoram. The police have arrested one person on suspicion of drug peddling.

The police claimed that the seized drugs have a market value around Rs 50 crore.

Superintendent of Police, Padmanabha Baruah, said that at a police checkpoint adjacent to Karimganj town, police officials noticed an unusual movement of a vehicle this morning.

"The driver offered a bribe of 20 lakh when the police officials stopped the vehicle and attempted to check it," the police officer said.

The driver was arrested on the spot. Upon searching, police found several packets of Yaba tablets.

The arrested person has been identified as Habiuz Zaman. He is a resident of Karimganj district.

"A special team of police officials rushed to the spot after the incident. This is one of the largest seizures of Yaba tablets in Assam to date at over 7.6 lakh," Baruah told IANS.
Mumbai, Jan 17 : The Centre on Tuesday re-affirmed the after-effects of different Covid-19 vaccines, but refuted a report based on RTI plea pertaining to the potential ramifications of these jabs as "ill-informed" and providing "erroneous" information.

The report, carried by IANS on Monday, referred to the RTI reply sent to Pune businessman Prafful Sarda from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).

An official statement on Tuesday said: "As is the case with all other vaccines, those who get vaccinated with different Covid-19 vaccines may experience mild symptoms like injection site tenderness, pain, headache, fatigue, myalgia, malaise, pyrexia, chills, arthralgia etc. Rarely, few individuals may experience severe adverse events depending upon certain pre-disposing conditions." The Centre pointed out that as per the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare's policy of proactive disclosure aligned with global scientific evidence in public domain, "ICMR provided responses to questions" related to advantages and disadvantages of Covid-19 vaccines.

It added that the ICMR response (to Sarda) simply provided links of reputed website of the Ministry, the World Health Organisation, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), where detailed information on various Covid-19 vaccines is available.

Welcoming the government's stance, Sarda said that he had sent the RTI query to the Union Health Ministry, which, in turn, passed it to various departments like ICMR-CDSCO, etc for their responses.

"To my queries on the after-effects of all these jabs, the concerned PIOs - ICMR'S PIO Dr. Leyanna Susan George and CDSCO's PIO Sushanta Sarkar - have officially provided the information of all these vaccines comprising their FAQs," he pointed out.

Sarda said that the government has also not denied the after-effects of all the Indian vaccines, as mentioned very clearly through the FAQs it provided, which is "laudable and in public interest".

The government added that global research studies show that Covid-19 vaccines helped reduce severity of disease by preventing hospitalisation and deaths due to the disease, "and benefits of the vaccines overwhelmingly outweigh any adverse effects".

Plus, India's National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has periodically reviewed the benefits and side-effects of Covid-19 vaccines used in India and has endorsed the above findings.

The IANS report on the vaccines' side-effects published on Monday, struck a chord among all people who have been jabbed and evoked massive responses from different quarters, including on social media.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at q.najmi@ians.in)
Chandigarh, Jan 17 : The Punjab government has constituted an 11-member committee to prepare the new agricultural policy by March 31, state Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said on Tuesday.

He said the government has been making efforts to improve the welfare of the farmers and the state's agricultural system.

Dhaliwal said the first government-farmer meeting would be held on February 12 with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as chief guest. He said over 2,500 progressive farmers would participate in the meeting to discuss issues relating to the agricultural policy.

The minister said the government has been drafting the policy keeping in mind the natural resources like groundwater, soil health, and geographical conditions. He said in order to improve the economic condition of farmers, special attention will be given to the valuation of agricultural produce, export, and agricultural diversification.

The new agricultural policy will also include a proposal to adopt basmati as a substitute for parmal paddy and promote basmati exports.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday adjourned the bail pleas of jailed Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain and his co-accused Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain challenging a special court's order denying them bail in the money laundering case.

The court directed Satyendar Jain's counsel to submit written submissions by January 18, the next date of hearing.

All three were denied bail on November 17, 2022.

Appearing for the minister, senior advocate N. Hariharan read relevant portions of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) case's charge sheet to the court.

Referring to a chart showing shareholding pattern, he argued that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has to show that one-third of the company share holdings have to be associated to Jain.

About the disproportionate assets (DA) related offence, he stated that it is a period-related.

At this, the bench remarked: "You say that you were not the director then." In response, Hariharan said that the period during which Jain was the director hasn't been considered. "During the cheque period I had no shareholdings, the shares were transferred to my wife," he argued.

Moving further, referring to the details of directors of the company downloaded from the Ministry's website, Hariharan told the court that the balance sheets were not signed by Jain. "Post 2013, I (Satyendar Jain) have not signed a single deed," he said.

Furthermore, he argued on proceeds of crime as defined under S.2(1)(u) of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Reading the findings of the ED, where they state that the assets of the company are same at the end of the cheque period, he argued that this is 'Notional' and that 'No Notional Attribution' cannot be made in a PMLA.

Moreover, he argued that there is no laundering in this case. "A shareholder can have nothing to do with the company and it cannot be attributed to Satyendar Jain," he said.

"The money the ED is talking about came to the company, it cannot be attributed as 'Proceeds of Crime'," he argued.

The HC, on December 1, had sought the response of the ED on Jain's bail plea in the case. Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma had directed the ED to file its response within two weeks.

On December 12, 2022, the HC issued notice to the ED on bail pleas filed by Jain's co-accused Ankush Jain and Vaibhav Jain.

The ED filed a charge sheet before a court against Jain and others in connection with the case on July 27. It was alleged that Jain, while holding the office as a Minister in the Delhi government, during the period from February 14, 2015 to May 31, 2017, had acquired assets that were disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Jain was placed under arrest on May 30, by the central agency under Section 19 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.

The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of the FIR registered by the CBI in 2017 under Sections 13(2) read with 13(1)(e) of the PC Act, 1988 against the Minister, his wife Poonam Jain, Ajit Prasad Jain, Sunil Kumar Jain, Vaibhav Jain, and Ankush Jain.

A charge sheet was filed by the CBI on December 3, 2018, against Jain, his wife1, and other accused.

Earlier, the ED had provisionally attached immovable properties worth Rs 4.81 crore belonging to companies beneficially owned and controlled by Jain on March 31, 2022.
New Delhi, Jan 17: As the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently in the Indian Ocean, begins Indo-French naval exercise Varuna, speculation is rife that a formal contract for decking the naval version of Rafale fighter jets on the INS Vikrant, India's brand new carrier could soon be on the cards.

Welcoming on board officers from the Indian Navy's guided missile stealth frigate INS Teg on Monday, the French Carrier Strike Group signalled a major development in the offing for the strengthening of the Franco-Indian strategic partnership.

"Happy to sea you INS Teg. Beginning of our cooperation with Indian Navy. INS Teg is conducting operational drills with the French CSG in the Indian Ocean. Something BIG is coming between our two navies!" tweeted the official handle of French CSG.

Emmanuel Lenain, the Ambassador of France to India, also advised to "stay tuned for more!" as both navies kicked off the bilateral exercise on the Western seaboard on Monday.

Paris has time and again reaffirmed its engagement in the Indo-Pacific and India's centrality in the French strategy for the region.

As reported by IndiaNarrative.com earlier, France is offering Dassault Aviation's Rafale maritime fighter for carrier operations on India's first indigenously designed and built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.

Last November, French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu boarded the largest ship ever built in the maritime history of India to highlight the central role of naval cooperation between the two countries.

"France and India are united in their desire to defend their maritime sovereignty and guarantee freedom of movement at sea in the Indo-Pacific zone," said the French Defence Minister.

While 2022 saw an acceleration of the French and Indian armed forces' endeavours towards greater interoperability through joint air, navy, and army exercises, such as IMEX 22 (March), Varuna (March-April), and Garuda (October-November), 2023 has started with the conduct of the 21st edition of Varuna bilateral naval exercise.

The five-day high tempo-naval operations at sea till January 20 will witness the participation of indigenous guided missile stealth destroyer INS Chennai, guided missile frigate INS Teg, maritime patrol aircraft P-8I and Dornier, integral helicopters and MiG29K fighter aircraft.

The French Navy is represented by the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle, frigates FS Forbin and Provence, support vessel FS Marne and maritime patrol aircraft Atlantique.

According to the Indian Navy, the exercise will witness advanced air defence drills, tactical manoeuvres, surface firings, underway replenishment and other maritime operations.

"Units of both navies will endeavour to hone their war-fighting skills in maritime theatre, enhance their inter-operability to undertake multi-discipline operations in the maritime domain and demonstrate their ability as an integrated force to promote peace, security and stability in the region," it said in a statement.

The exercise, it added, not only provides an opportunity to learn from each other's best practices but also facilitates operational-level interaction between the two navies to foster mutual cooperation for good order at sea, underscoring the shared commitment of both nations to security, safety and freedom of the global maritime commons.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that it does not believe in unnecessarily keeping people behind the bars while hearing the Delhi Police's petitions challenging bail granted to three student activists in a case of 2020 Delhi riots, which left 53 dead and over 700 injured.

Advocate Rajat Nair, representing the police, requested the bench headed by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul to schedule the hearing on petitions after two weeks since Solicitor General Tushar Mehta is arguing in a separate matter before a constitution bench. Nair emphasized that they have a case against the bail granted by the high court.

The bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Oka and J.B. Pardiwala, orally observed that spending hours on bail petitions hearing in the case was a waste of time of the Delhi High Court.

During the hearing, the bench orally remarked that it does not believe in unnecessarily putting people behind bars and bail matters should not go on and on and should not be dealt with in this manner. The bench observed that in bail matters, the hearing gets prolonged the moment one goes into the merits of the case.

The top court was hearing the Delhi Police petitions against the high court's June 15, 2021 judgments granting bail to activists Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, and Asif Iqbal Tanha in a larger conspiracy in Delhi riots case.

A counsel, representing one of the accused, submitted that the police had argued on the merits before the high court. Nair contested it saying that the police only answered the high court question - whether the act committed by the accused is an act of terror or not.

Justice Kaul orally observed: "You have spent hours in bail matters. It is a complete waste of time for the high court. You want a full trial in bail matters?" The top court scheduled the matter for further hearing on January 31. It had, in July 2021, pointed out its reluctance to consider cancellation of bail granted to the three activists, who were booked under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The top court had said that bail petitions were being argued at length debating the provisions of the anti-terror law. It had made it clear that the high court judgments shall not be treated as a precedent and may not be relied upon by any of the parties in any of the proceedings.
Amaravati, Jan 17 : Tollywood actor-comedian and Andhra Pradesh government's advisor, Ali has said on Tuesday that if Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy orders, he will contest the election against actor and Jana Sena Party leader Pawan Kalyan.

Ali told reporters in Tirupati that if the Chief Minister wants, he would contest against Pawan Kalyan on YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) ticket in the next year's elections.

"Pawan Kalyan is a good friend of mine but cinema and politics are two different fields," said Ali, who is an advisor to the state government for electronic media.

The actor-comedian said he was ready to contest against Pawan Kalyan from any Assembly constituency.

He exuded confidence that YSRCP will retain power in 2024 by winning all 175 Assembly seats.

Ali had joined the YSRCP in 2019 before the elections. The actor, who hails from Rajahmundry, had stated that he was ready to contest from Rajahmundry or Vijayawada. He, however, was not named as party candidate from any constituency.

Before joining the YSRCP, Ali had also met Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President and then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Pawan Kalyan. He had stated that none of the two leaders assured him that they would stand behind him and since Jagan Mohan Reddy gave him the assurance, he joined the YSRCP.

Ali was reportedly sulking after he was denied a ticket by the YSRCP. He was expecting a Rajya Sabha seat or an equally good post in the government with a cabinet rank.

There were speculations that, upset over being ignored by the ruling party, he was planning to join Jana Sena.

However, Jagan Mohan Reddy pacified him by appointing him as advisor to the government in October last year.
Kolkata, Jan 17 : Wading into the Supreme Court Collegium debate, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday termed the Union government's approach in the matter as "interference in judiciary".

Incidentally, her comments coincide with the timing on the hearing of two petitions at the Calcutta High Court over the twin incidents of the recent ruckus in front of the court of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha by a section of the lawyers close to Trinamool Congress and recovery of slanderous posters from in front of the residence of Justice Mantha.

"The Union government is trying to interfere in the judiciary by trying to push its representative in the Supreme Court collegium. The court is as sacred as a temple or church. Any interference in the judiciary will ultimately impact the democratic structure of the country. We want total independence of the judiciary," Banerjee told media persons before leaving for Meghalaya to attend a rally there.

She also alleged that the system followed by the Union government in giving clearance to appointment of judges is arbitrary. "The name of the judge gets cleared in a month for appointment in a month if the Union government feels that the judge concerned is soft towards it. However, in the case of others the clearance process is delayed by three months," she claimed.

The Chief Minister also said that it seemed that the Union government had some plans regarding the Supreme Court collegium. However, she refused to answer any question on Tuesday regarding the recent fiasco over Justice Mantha's court.

However, a state BJP spokesman rubbished the Chief Minister's claims and said that the latter was unnecessarily trying to politicise the issue. "The judiciary in the country is totally independent. But it is the Chief Minister and her party who are trying to influence and intimidate the judiciary. Slanderous postering are done in front of Justice Mantha's residence. Nothing of this sort has been witnessed anywhere in India. Trinamool Congress leaders are attacking the judiciary every day. The Chief minister is now saying such things as she wants to influence the Calcutta High Court- monitored Central Bureau of Investigation probes on different issues of corruption," the spokesman said.
Kathmandu, Jan 17: Three Pakistani nationals have been arrested by Nepal Police in Kathmandu on the charge of kidnapping and holding their compatriot hostage for ransom after luring him with a promise of a lucrative job in Canada, local police authorities said.

The arrested Pakistani nationals have been identified as Mohamad Rashid, 30, Mohamad Asif, 35, and Mohamad Fida Hussain, 35, according to the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office under the Nepal Police.

Police investigation has revealed that the three Pakistani nationals invited their fellow countryman Mohamad Sami Khan to Kathmandu giving a false hope that the visa process to Canada would be much easier from Nepal than from Pakistan.

Accordingly, Khan came to Nepal on a tourist visa on January 7. Then, the Pakistanis took him to a hotel in Thamel, downtown Kathmandu. The very next day, on January 8, they took him to Budhanilkantha area, held him hostage at a rented house and demanded a ransom of 2.6 million Nepali rupees.

The kidnappers asked the victim to telephone his brother in Pakistan so that they can get the money immediately.

After receiving the ransom amount, the kidnapper left Sami Khan halfway at Sinamangal area in Kathmandu and ran away.

Acting on a complaint filed by the victim at Tourist Police in Kathmandu, a joint team of police from the District Police Range, Kathmandu and Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, launched a massive search operation across the Nepali capital.

Three days after the kidnapping, local police authorities nabbed all the Pakistani nationals from Budhanilkantha area.

Krishna Prasad Koirala, a spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office, said that the Pakistanis have been charged for abduction under the Criminal Code Act (2017) of Nepal.

"They will be sent to jail once our investigation is over," Koirala told India Narrative.

This is not the first time that Pakistani nationals are found to have been involved in criminal activities in Nepal. Mostly, they are arrested for being involved in fake Indian currency notes in Nepal.

(Santosh Ghimire is India Narrative's Nepal correspondent based in Kathmandu) (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Davos, Jan 17 : The World Economic Forum, supported by more than 45 partners, on Tuesday launched the Giving to Amplify Earth Action (GAEA), a global initiative to fund and grow new and existing public, private and philanthropic partnerships (PPPPs) to help unlock the $3 trillion of financing needed each year to reach net zero, reverse nature loss, and restore biodiversity by 2050.

With the energy and cost of living crises, the ambition of steering the planet towards a 1.5-degree Celsius warming pathway hangs in the balance.

The recent agreement at the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP15) in Montreal to conserve 30 per cent of all earth and sea looks bold but fragile in the face of a rising biodiversity crisis. Current funding is slow and inadequate, and a new approach is needed to get capital flowing.

Philanthropic giving can address this, with unique qualities not found in other financing: it is nimble, more tolerant of risks and is driven by values and long-term outcomes rather than quarterly returns.

"We are at a tipping point in our efforts to put the planet back on track to meet our climate ambitions. To reach the speed and scale required to heal the earth's systems, we need to unlock not only private capital and government funds, but also the philanthropy sector as a truly catalytic force to achieve the necessary acceleration," WEF Founder and Executive Chairman, Klaus Schwab said.

GAEA's growing body of philanthropic partners includes: Active Philanthropy, the African Climate Foundation, Andre Hoffmann Family Office, the Arab Foundations Forum, Bezos Earth Fund, BMW Foundation, Children's Investment Fund Foundation, the Clean Air Fund, Climate Leadership Initiative, ClimateWorks Foundation, Eleven Eleven Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Growald Climate Fund, IKEA Foundation, Laudes Foundation, Noa's Ark Foundation, Open Society Foundations, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Pearl Initiative, Philanthropy Asia Alliance (by Temasek Trust), Philea, The Rockefeller Foundation, Trottier Family Foundation, United Nations Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, WINGS, and Workday Foundation.

Individuals, academic institutions, companies and public sector organisations supporting the initiative include: Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Capital for Climate, Carbon Direct, Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, and Centre for Strategic Philanthropy at the University of Cambridge.

Philanthropic financing for climate mitigation has risen in recent years, but still represents less than two per cent of total philanthropic giving, estimated at $810 billion in 2021.

Greater philanthropic funding for climate and nature will support, not detract from, existing social priorities. As recently noted by Rajiv Shah, President, The Rockefeller Foundation: "Climate change poses a singular threat to humanityawe must directly confront climate change, even as we redouble efforts in our traditional program areas: health, power, food, and equity." Over the next 12 months, supported by McKinsey Sustainability as a knowledge partner, GAEA will work with founding members to build momentum.

GAEA will build on existing examples of success. For example, the Clean Cooling Collaborative, founded with the help of an initial $10 million of philanthropic funding in 2016, has mobilised more than $600 million in public and private finance to improve equitable access to low-carbon cooling and support 4.2 gigatons of avoided CO2 emissions by 2050.

Similarly, the government of the Seychelles has leveraged philanthropic funding, public loan guarantees and private investment to raise $15 million through a blue bond and convert $22 million of government debt into conservation funding to protect 13 marine areas, covering an area larger than Germany.

Wendy Abrams, Chief Executive Officer, Eleven Eleven Foundation, said: "We need more companies, family offices, individuals and the new generation of philanthropists to get involved in the climate and nature conversation. If we do not solve this together, there will be nothing to pass on to the next generation. GAEA can be a good platform to get all the right stakeholders and amplify action at scale."
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Delhi Police on Tuesday added charges under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the FIR registered in connection with the death of Anjali, the 20-year-old woman who met a painful end after being dragged by a car for about 12 km on the outskirts of Delhi in the early hours on January 1.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Outer, Harendra K. Singh said that as per evidence, physical, oral and forensic, Section 302 has been invoked in the present case.

Initially, the FIR was registered under Sections 304-A (causing death by negligence) and 279 (rash driving) of the IPC. Later, following protest by the victim's family members, the police had added IPC's Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) at Sultanpuri police station.

Police also added Section 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code to the FIR.

Police had arrested all the seven accused -- Ashutosh, Ankush Khanna, Deepak Khanna, Amit Khanna, Krishan, Mitthun, and Manoj Mittal.

Ashutosh and Ankush are accused of tampering with the evidence in the case, said a senior police official.

As per sources, Ashutosh, the car owner and Amit's brother, Ankush Khanna had talks with the five accused and as Amit did not have driving licence, Deepak was told to tell police that he was in the driving seat at the time of incident.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed its discontent over six state governments and Union Territories (UTs), including Jammu and Kashmir, for not submitting their response to the central government on the issue of identification of minorities at the state or district level.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul asked the Centre why UTs administered by it have not yet given their comments to it on the issue of identification of minorities.

The bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Oka and J.B. Pardiwala said: "We fail to appreciate why these states should not respond." Attorney General R. Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, cited the recent status report filed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs saying that 24 states and six UTs have so far furnished their comments on the issue.

The bench said it is giving last opportunity to the Centre to obtain their responses failing which it will presume that they have nothing to say.

The status report, filed in the top court, said comments from Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep, Rajasthan, and Telangana are still awaited.

Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who is one of the petitioners in the case, said it is an important matter.

Citing no response from states and UTs, the bench told the AG that "We will presume that they do not want to give responses." The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on March 21.

During the hearing, a counsel, citing the status report, submitted that most of the states have agreed that the state should be the unit, not the Centre for identification of minorities.

Of the 24 states and Union territories (UTs) which gave their opinions to the Centre, Delhi openly backed granting minority status to Hindus in any form at the state or UT level. "The Central government may declare the 'migrated minority status to the followers of Hinduism who are the religious minority in their origin state (i.e. Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh etc) and residing in Delhi after migration from their home state," said Delhi. Uttar Pradesh said that it will have no objection to any decision taken by the Central government in the matter.

Goa did not take any stand in the matter and Maharashtra felt in the interest of uniformity, the Centre can notify the minority communities. Haryana said the power to notify any community as a minority community is with the Centre. Madhya Pradesh gave approval for continuation of the present system for identification of minorities.

Gujarat said it is "comfortable with the present procedure of identifying minority communities". Himachal Pradesh said although the Constitution does not define a minority or provide details relating to the geographical and numerical specification of the concept, it is felt that the constitutional scheme envisages this to be determined at national level.

West Bengal, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and Uttarakhand favoured identification of a "minority community" at the state level but didn't name any particular faith or group.
Surat, Jan 17 : Surat police have arrested a man and his two sons for attempting murder due to a personal rivalry - they tried to hack the victim's hands with a sword. All three will be produced before the court today, said Salabatpura Police station officer.

Bunty Patel in his complaint with the Salabatpura police station has alleged that Kanji Gilatar, his two sons Rohit and Rahul and others attacked his brother-in law's brother Roni with sword and other sharp weapons on Sunday night.

Complainant has stated that they hit the victim with a sword on his head and on both wrists. They attempted to kill and chop off his both hands. In serious condition, the victim was rushed to a government hospital where he is being treated.

Investigation Officer B. R. Rabari has arrested Kanji Gilatar and his sons for attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt with sharp weapon, criminal intimidation. All three will be produced before the court today.

According to police sources, the victim's brother Anil alias Annu and Kanji Gilatar family have some old rivalry. Anil is said to be in bootlegging business and Gilatar has a criminal history. The quarrel is suspected to be related to bootlegging business.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Seasoned Delhi player Nitesh Rana grabbed a stunner of a catch on Tuesday to dismiss Mumbai batter Prasad Pawar in their Elite Group B Ranji Trophy match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here.

Rana, who turned Entrepreneur recently with the launch of his gym 'NevRst', made a strong comeback to the Delhi team, with a stunning catch that helped the hosts dismiss Mumbai for 293 in their first innings in the four-day encounter.

Winning the toss Delhi elected to bowl at the Arun Jaitley Stadium against a strong Mumbai team. The Delhi bowlers exploited the conditions well and had Mumbai on the backfoot right from the start.

The highlight of the day came in the 36th over when Rana took a sharp catch to dismiss Prasad Pawar, who was looking steady on 25.

Rana, fielding in the first slip, dived to his left to take a superb catch to dismiss the batsman off Pranshu Vijayran.

The Delhi team overall played well with Vijayran taking 4-66 in 20 overs to wrap up Mumbai's innings at 293 at the end of the day's play. Sarfaraz Khan steered Mumbai to a respectable total with a brilliant 125 (155b, 16x4, 4x6). Prithvi Shaw, who scored a triple hundred in the previous match against Assam, contributed 40 runs to the score.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the legislature should enact a law for terminally ill patients who decide to stop medical treatment.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph agreed to modify its 2018 guidelines on "living will", an advance medical directive on end of life treatment. The bench, also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C. T. Ravikumar, said only guidelines can be tweaked otherwise it will become a review of its 2018 judgment.

"We are only here to consider improving the guidelines. We should realise the limitations of the court also," it said.

The top court further added that the legislature has more skills and sources of knowledge and the court is not an expert in medicine, therefore it has to be careful.

It was considering a plea seeking modification of the guidelines for living will/advance medical directive issued by it in 2018.

The bench said the advance directive can be applied only in some cases, where terminally ill patients are not in a position to say that the treatment must stop.

Senior advocate Arvind P. Datar, representing The Indian Society for Critical Care, contended that due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders, the procedure under the apex court guidelines has become unworkable.

Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj submitted that few meetings were held with AIIMS representatives and other stakeholders and a chart of necessary safeguards has been prepared. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing NGO Common Cause, submitted that everybody has an indefeasible right to refuse treatment.

The top court was informed that first a medical board would have to declare that the patient has no scope of recovery, then the District Collector would have to set up an independent medical board to obtain a second opinion, and after this, the matter would be referred to a judicial magistrate.

Datar argued that the role of the judicial magistrate can be kept out and recommended that in a living will, there can be two witnesses as he emphasised that the execution of the living will is very cumbersome. The hearing in the matter will continue on Wednesday.

In 2018, a top court judgment had recognised that a person in a persistent vegetative state may execute an advance medical directive or a "living will" to refuse medical treatment.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Nearly a year after a tower collapsed in the Chintels Paradiso residential apartment complex in Gurugram that claimed two lives, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday lodged a fresh FIR in connection with the case.

Two women were killed when the floor of a sixth-floor apartment of Tower D at Chintels Paradiso in Sector 109 came down on February 10 last year, triggering the collapse of roofs and floors directly under it, till the first floor. Luckily, the flats between the sixth and first floor were vacant, otherwise there could have been more casualties.

The CBI filed the fresh FIR against the MD of Chintel Group after the Haryana government directed the agency to look into the matter.

Initially, a case was lodged under Sections 304A and 34 of the Indian Penal Code at the Bajghera police station. Now, the central probe agency has added Sections 304 (II), 338, 427, 465, 468, 471, and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 10 and 12 of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act in the matter.

Rajesh Bhardwaj, a resident of Chintels Paradiso, had first lodged a complaint with the local police in connection with the ceiling ceiling collapse. Rajesh's wife Ekta Bhardwaj (31) got trapped under the debris and later succumbed to her injuries.

Rajesh had alleged that the incident happened due to the substandard construction work carried out by the MD of Chintel Group, Ashok Saloman, and the contractor.
Srinagar, Jan 17 : A pregnant woman in a critical condition was airlifted from snowbound Dudi village from Machhal Sector in north Kashmir's Kupwara district by timely joint efforts of the Army, Air Force and District Administration, Army said on Tuesday.

Army said on Tuesday that the local army unit at Dudi in Macchal Sector received a distress call from the Sarpanch of Dudi village informing that 35-year-old Zareena Begum, four months pregnant, was in critical medical condition.

The Army said that the entire Macchal sector is presently cut off due to excessive snowfall from January 7 to January 14 thus surface transportation for providing specialist medical support was ruled out.

"Immediate joint planning was carried out by Indian Army, Indian Air Force and District Administration and speedy air evacuation was planned by diverting the IAF aircraft on operational duty in the Kashmir Valley for this urgent humanitarian effort," army said.

"While the district administration initiated prompt requisition, keeping the urgent medical need, AOC J&K granted immediate clearance for the air evacuation. The Army personnel at Dudi quickly transported the pregnant lady to Dudi Army Helipad and the Air Force authorities immediately dispatched Mi-17 helicopter piloted by Wing Commander N. Chaudhary and Squadron Leader A. Pandey to the site," Army said.

"Thereafter, the critically ill pregnant lady was flown to Army helipad at Kupwara along with her husband and two female relatives. At Kupwara Army helipad the Army Emergency Medical Response Team took charge, stabilised her vitals and subsequently transported her to District Hospital Kupwara for further medical attention."
Meerut : , Jan 17 (IANS) Three youths have been detained after two student groups clashed and opened fire in a Meerut college.

The incident took place two days after a former college student was assaulted, allegedly by a current student leader of the institution.

No one suffered injuries in the firing incident but panic gripped the area.

Circle Officer, Civil Lines, Arvind Chaurasia, said: "We have detained three youths, and a search is on to nab others involved in the firing. Two outsiders were cornered by college students and were being thrashed. We took the outsiders into our custody." According to reports, two days ago, former Meerut College student Pushpender Singh was allegedly beaten by a current student leader, Vijit Talyan, in Begum Bagh locality.

The clash was in retaliation to the incident.

Pushpender Singh has been admitted to a hospital with injuries.

The CO said: "A student, Priyanshu Singh, who was part of Talyan's group was targeted during the attack but he had locked himself in a room. Preliminary investigation revealed that it is a fight between two student groups." The police have filed an FIR against unnamed accused for rioting and using firearms as the identification process is on.

Police are yet to reveal the identity of the three detained youths.

Meanwhile, Talyan claimed that 5 rounds were fired when a group of 10-15 outsiders attacked the college students.
Toronto, Jan 17 : The wife of a 51-year-old Sikh man, who was shot dead when intruders broke into his Mill Woods house in Canada on New Year, has said that she needs swift justice for her husband.

Barinder Singh, who hails from Punjab and had moved to Edmonton in 2019 along with family, was asleep when intruders broke into his house at Mill Woods Road and started firing, the Global News reported.

Police responded to a disturbance around 2.45 a.m., and arrived at the complex in the Pollard Meadows neighbourhood to find an injured 51-year-old man lying in a pool of blood.

"It's all like a nightmare for us," a shattered Jasjeet Kaur, wife of Singh, told Global News.

Singh was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The autopsy revealed that he died from gunshot wounds and the medical examiner said that the manner of death was a homicide.

"We need justice. I just want to know who did this. I need to know. Whya Why my family was the target? And it was not just him -- it was the whole family," Jasjeet Kaur told the Canadian news channel. "I want the culprits. I want to know the reason why it happened." A GoFundMe page set up for Singh described him as an "honest, family man who worked hard to provide for his family".

"(He was) a devoted son, a good brother and a caring father -- he kept us going through good times and tough times. Through his work, he supported my grandparents in Punjab, while providing for us in Delhi, India," the page quoted his two daughters as saying.

Police said it is still working to establish a motive for this violent crime. So far, the homicide unit has found a burnt-out white Dodge Ram truck in the nearby Laurel neighbourhood, which they think is connected to the crime.

They are looking for home security and dashcam footage in the area where the burned-out truck was located.
Patna, Jan 17 : Amid the 'Ram Charit Manas' row, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said that he has asked Education Minister Chandra Shekhar Yadav to avoid commenting on religion, while stressing that his government respects every religion of the country.

"We have to respect every one and not to interfere in any religion. They are independent to follow the religions they are in. I have asked the Education Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister has made it clear now," he said.

"Creating differences is the worst thing in society. We have to avoid it," he added.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said that the BJP is setting agenda on the 'Ram Charit Manas' controversy.

"BJP is setting an agenda on the basis of it but they would not get anything. Everyone knew how the BJP spread rumours on this issue. The country's biggest holy book is our Constitution and it is right that our Constitution educates us about respecting every religion," he said.

Tejashwi Yadav, however, did not say directly speak taking action against Chandra Shekhar Yadav who had said that three books - 'Ram Charit Manas', 'Manu Smriti', and "Bunch of Thoughts" - spread hatred in the society.
Kolkata, Jan 17 : The chapter of regular tiff between the Governor's House and the state secretariat in West Bengal, which was rampant during the tenure of the previous constitutional head of the state and the current Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar, seems to be over now.

After a meeting between the new Governor C.V. Ananda Bose and the vice chancellors of all the state universities on Tuesday, which was also attended by the state Education Minister Bratya Basu, the common message that came from both the Governor's House and the state secretariat is that both sides will now work together for the development of the education sector.

After the meeting, the Governor told mediapersons, "We all discussed issues in an extremely positive and encouraging ambience. The spirit of the discussion was how to open new avenues of education for the next generation, so that they can carry forward the rich academic heritage of the state. Education is the most powerful medium for changing the society. There will be a new Bengal which will lead the country and the world, spirited by what Rabindranath Tagore had said -- 'where the mind is without fear and the head is held high'." Basu, on his part, repeatedly addressed the Governor as "Chancellor", dropping a hint that the state government might re-amend the previous bill amended during Dhankhar's regime, making the Chief Minister the Chancellor of all state universities by replacing the Governor.

However, when asked by the mediapersons, Basu did not give a direct reply on this count.

"Tuesday's meeting was with the Chancellor, and not the Governor. As regards to the bill, that matter will be discussed in the Assembly," Basu said.

He also said that the days of confrontation (with the Governor) are over now.

"I profusely thank the Chancellor for giving us a patient hearing. The steam of the past completely evaporated today. We had an excellent meeting followed by an excellent lunch. It was decided that the Governor's House, state education department and the vice chancellors will work in a coordinated manner for the development of the state's education sector," the minister said.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : With discussion on the flagship theme of "Financing Cities of Tomorrow- Inclusive, Resilient and Sustainable", amongst others, the first G20 Infrastructure Working Group meeting under India's G-20 Presidency concluded on Tuesday.

Officials said that the meeting included discussions on various facets of making cities economic centres of growth, financing urban infrastructure, building future-ready urban infrastructure, the role of cities in meeting sustainability targets, directing fiscal investments for unlocking private financing for energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable infrastructure and mitigating social imbalances.

The meeting also discussed other important themes, such as exploring ways to collate the data on infrastructure spending and make the data useful for the private sector.

The meeting was attended 64 delegates from by 18 member countries, 8 guest countries and 8 international organisations. The G20 IWG discussed the 2023 Infrastructure Agenda under the Indian G20 Presidency.

On the side-lines, the Pune meeting was also complemented by a High-Level Workshop on "Financing of Cities of Tomorrow" wherein over 15 international experts discussed the issues related to financing of the cities.

The workshop discussed how the cities of tomorrow must tie together their key administrative functions - their planning, funding, and financing - to increase private sector participation.

Divided into three inter-related sessions, the workshop focused on the infrastructure, and related technical and managerial capacity needed to build the Cities of Tomorrow. It also discussed how cities and higher governments could prepare themselves to increase private financing for Cities of Tomorrow, said officials.

During the IWG meeting, the delegates also had the opportunity to experience the rich cuisine, history, and culture of Pune. Overall, the delegates not only had productive meetings but also enjoyed the cultural experiences that Pune had to offer.

The second meeting of the Infrastructure Working Group is scheduled to be held in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on March 28 and 29.
Chennai, Jan 17 : The Tamil Nadu Forest Department team, which is tracking wild tusker, nicknamed 'Karuppan', found involved in human-elephant conflict and massive crop destruction at Rangasamy Kovil and Joraikadu areas of Erode district, spotted the animal along with nine other wild elephants in Tuesday.

Farmers of Talavadi area where the elephant had done extensive damage to the crop have charged that Karuppan had killed people but the Forest Department is yet to confirm this.

The Forest Department personnel are tracking the movement of the elephant and is waiting for an opportunity to fire a tranquiliser dart at him.

Around 120 forest personnel drawn from various areas, along with three Kumki elephants Kapil Dev, Muthu, and Kaleem, are in pursuit of the elephant under 'Operation Black'.

The elephant was sedated twice on January 14 but when the Kumki elephants and earth movers were approached to capture it, it regained consciousness and escaped deep into the forest. As firing a third dart on the same day could have negative health effects on the elephant, the Forest Department dropped the plan and resumed the search for the elephant from Monday onwards.

Drones are also deployed in deep forest areas to locate the elephant and this hot pursuit has now led the forest team to the elephant.

Conservator of Forests and STR Director K. Rajkumar told IANS that it was not safe to continue with the mission while it was with the herd and hence, they were waiting for it to move away.

The farmers and local people had formed a committee and charged that Karuppan had killed people and extensively damaged crops. Talavadi Farmers Association President S. Kannaiyan told IANS that the elephant should be captured at the earliest.

"It's a dangerous elephant and had killed people. We know that the Forest Department is trying to capture it, but the process has to be speeded up." The forest officials said that they are waiting for the elephant to come out of the herd and foray into farmlands where he will be fired at and captured.

The STR officials are planning to dart the elephant with a tranquiliser and then capture it with the help of Kumki elephants and then fix a radio collar on the tusker and relocate it into deep forest. The radio collar will help trace its movements.
Jaipur, Jan 17 : Sonu (21), who was married at the age of four, became free from the curse of child marriage after a court Jodhpur district annulled her wedding which took place 17 years back.

Sonu had pleaded for annulment of her marriage after being encouraged by Saarthi Trust's managing trustee and rehabilitation psychologist Kriti Bharti. Accordingly, judge Pukhraj Gehlot sent out a strong message to the society by annulling Sonu's child marriage.

The daughter of a daily wage labourer at Pithawas village in Jodhpur district, Sonu was married about 17 years ago to a youth from Luni tehsil under community pressure.

Sonu suffered the agony of child marriage for about 17 years. The somehow she got the information about a campaign against child marriage. After being encouraged by Bharti, Sonu filed a case for annulment of her marriage in the family court. Her family members and even Bharti had to face many threats due to this.

After the jurisdiction of the court was expanded, the case was transferred to the ADJ (additional charge family court) in Bilara.

At the court, Bharti advocated the cause for annulling Sonu's marriage, after submitting all age related proofs and other documents.

Judge Pukhraj Gehlot then gave a historic decision to annul Sonu's marriage. This was the first child marriage that was annulled in the Bilara court.

"Now I will shape my future. With the help of Bharti didi, I will now study and realise my future dreams," Sonu said.

Efforts are being made for better rehabilitation of Sonu, said Bharti.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday queried the Centre, if the transfer and posting of bureaucrats is under the control of the Centre, would this arrangement not dilute the functional control of a democratically-elected Delhi government.

The bench also told Centre that its argument that Union Territories (UTs) cannot have Public Service Commissions (PSCs) is very dangerous.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, how can the Delhi government can say that a particular bureaucrat is not fit for the job. Mehta said they can send a letter to the Lt Governor and it will be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), and "it is never refused".

At this, Chief Justice Chandrachud said: "That is a matter of accommodation and practice." The bench - also comprising Justices M.R Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha - said that an officer cannot be removed unless there is a green signal from the MHA. Chief Justice Chandrachud queried Mehta, "will not that dilute the function control?.....question is about posting".

The top court is hearing a case between the Delhi government and Centre in connection with the administrative control over transfers and postings of civil servants.

During the hearing, the top court also queried that if Jammu and Kashmir has a PSC, why can't Delhi? The bench told Mehta that his argument that UTs cannot have a PSC is very dangerous.

The top court noted that Parliament has powers to make laws for any part of India and even if the matter is in the State List, Parliament can exercise power in that area. "So even, if it is matter in the State List, Parliament can still exercise power on that area for a UT, which is not even on the State List... there can't be PSC for UT, can be a very dangerous argument, you (Mehta) are ceding ground," the CJI said.

Mehta said the Delhi government has control over the clutch and brakes and only make of tyres is done by LG,and if still they cannot drive, then there is some issue with their driving ability. The bench emphasised that the most important is where to post an officer - whether as Secretary of Finance, Education, Environment etc.

It added, "suppose if they (Delhi government) find someone not functioning effectively in that particular role... but they cannot switch officers...".

The top court will continue to hear the matter on Wednesday.

Earlier, the Delhi government had argued that if the Centre controls the bureaucrats' postings and transfer, then it would amount to the babus working for Delhi government but their master being someone else. The Delhi government said this arrangement would create an insubordinate bureaucracy making governance impossible.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : On the concluding day of the two-day national executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged the party workers and leaders to strengthen the BJP by reaching out to people and holding gatherings in every district.

With as many as nine states going to the polls this year, the Prime Minister gave valuable tips to the representatives of those states who were present at the national executive meeting.

Addressing a press conference, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, said, "The Prime Minister called upon the party workers to bring the marginalised and backward sections of the society into the mainstream." While delivering his speech, the Prime Minister said that India's best time is approaching and the BJP workers should work hard to make the most of it, Fadnavis said.

Saying that there are only 400 days left for the general elections in 2024, the Prime Minister asked the party workers to tell people the difference between good governance and bad governance, to make the youth of the country aware, among others, Fadnavis informed.

The Prime Minister said that people should know how the BJP government ended the malpractices and corruption that were common during the tenures of previous governments.

The Prime Minister also said that he never considers the opposition as weak, but everyone should play their part.

Modi said that the BJP has now transformed into a social movement, and not just a political movement, as he asked the party leaders across the country to strengthen the BJP by reaching out to the people.

The Prime Minister also urged all BJP fronts to increase their activities in the border villages.
Chennai, Jan 17 : The BJP's Tamil Nadu unit is in a crisis with several old warhorses in the party up in arms against state President K. Annamalai, while the Brahmin lobby, which has been extending its support to the party, is unhappy at his actions including his arrogant behaviour towards party cadres and even senior leaders.

While Annamalai has gained support from the masses due to his several high-profile programmes, there is all round dissatisfaction against the functioning style of the former IPS officer who had quit his police job and jumped into the state BJP.

Sources in the BJP told IANS that Annamalai and former state president and Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, L. Murugan don't see eye to eye. Murugan is a seasoned politician and has reached the BJP higher echelons through his work from the ABVP days.

Murugan, as state President of the BJP, had given the party a semblance of respect by taking out the 'Vel Murugan' programmes across the state is not happy with the functioning style of Annamalai. While Annamalai is enjoying the support and blessings of the BJP's General Secretary, Organisation, B.L. Santhosh, the senior leaders of the party in the state are not throwing their weight behind him.

His move for a Tamil Dravidian model for the BJP state unit was not accepted well by the upper castes who have been the traditional support base for the saffron party.

Talking to IANS, a senior state BJP leader, who did not want to be named, said: "The BJP cannot shy of its roots and if the party is converted into a Dravidian model, it means that we are drifting away from the core ideology and this cannot be accepted." He also said that Annamalai was very arrogant and was behaving with even senior leaders who had built the party from scratch in an arrogant manner. This has also not gone down well with many party leaders.

Another major factor is the RSS which is the support base for the BJP in any state as the ideological powerhouse of the party. In Tamil Nadu, a major number of RSS Karyakartas or office bearers are from the Brahmin community and the move to totally antagonise the Brahmins has not gone down well with the RSS also.

The recent outbursts of actor-turned-politician Gayatri Raghuram, who was a state office bearer of the party, against Annamalai have not also gone down well with the senior leaders. She had alleged that women are not safe in Tamil Nadu BJP under Annamalai.

The exit of Tiruchi Suriya, son of the powerful DMK leader and Member of Parliament, Tiruchi Siva, from the BJP is not also accepted by the party's senior leaders. Tiruchi Suriya was brought to the BJP by Annamalai but after a series of issues, he quit the party.

The senior leaders are of the belief that the exit of Tiruchi Suriya and Gayathri Raghuram from the BJP has dealt a major blow to the party among the public.

With the AIADMK fractured after the expulsion of O. Panneerselvam and other senior leaders, the BJP had a golden opportunity to occupy the main opposition space.

However, a senior BJP leader told IANS that "the BJP has lost the opportunity to be the main opposition as the party in itself is divided in the state. This was a golden opportunity for the BJP to enter into the mainstream of Tamil Nadu politics but seems to have squandered the chance."
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday adjourned, to January 30, the hearing of JNU student Sharjeel Imam's two different pleas seeking regular bail and interim bail in connection with a 2020 riots case involving allegations of sedition.

A division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh was dealing with a petition seeking interim bail in a case where he was charged under Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

Counsel for Imam said that he has been granted bail in another case where sedition charges were present.

However, the court said that as the pleas are based on same FIR, they will have to hear them together as same issues cannot be agitated more than once.

The bench said: "Two of your appeals (against denial of regular bail and interim bail by trial court) are pending for the same FIR. We will hear them together; you can't agitate same issue more than once. It can't be heard like this." Imam's counsel informed the court that his regular bail plea is scheduled for hearing in April and he has sought interim bail until the Suprene Court decides the constitutional validity of offence of sedition.

The court observed that the apex court has not ordered the release of all those charged with sedition. Morever, Imam, in this case has been been charged with not just sedition but more offences, it noted.

"The end result of both (pleas) is the same. You can't have it both ways. We have two bail applications before us today. We can't hear you today and then later. We will hear you together. Nowhere has Supreme Court said that you have to be enlarged on bail," the court said.

Imam's counsel also made a point that his client's plea regarding the framing of charges in the matter is also pending.

The court listed the matter for hearing on January 30 instead of April.
Chennai, Jan 17 : BJP MP from Bengaluru South and national president of the party's Yuva Morcha, Tejasvi Surya, has come under the lens after IndiGo released a statement on Tuesday, claiming that a passenger had opened the emergency exit of its Chennai-Tiruchirapalli flight on December 10, 2022.

While the airline didn't name the passenger, it said the incident occurred on IndiGo flight ATR 72-600, which was scheduled to depart from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli at 10.05 a.m. but was delayed by two hours due to the act.

However, a passenger who was on the same flight has claimed that it was Tejasvi Surya who had opened the emergency exit, stating that the BJP MP was seated near the emergency exit and after the cabin crew explained the emergency rules, he pulled it open.

This led to deplaning of all the passengers, and after two hours of waiting, the flight took off.

The passenger said that the chief of BJP's Tamil Nadu unit, K. Annamalai, was also on the flight along with Surya.

He said that Surya later travelled on the same flight, but he was removed from the seat near the emergency exit.

B.T. Arasukumar, a former BJP leader and currently the spokesman of the DMK, who was also on the same flight, told IANS that he had seen both Surya and Annamalai on the flight, but did not know if the MP had opened the emergency exit.

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has commenced an inquiry into the matter. However, when contacted by IANS, the DGCA official declined to comment on the matter.

When contacted, Surya's office informed IANS that a statement will be released soon in this regard.
Kolkata, Jan 17 : A fresh political controversy has erupted over the recently-released compilation of test papers for secondary examination released by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Examination (WBBSE) having a question on 'Azad Kashmir'.

WBBSE releases the test paper compilation every year, which contains Class 10 final test examination (pre-board) questions of some leading schools. The compilation acts as a suggestion for the candidates appearing for the Class 10 board exams.

However, page 132 of this year's test paper, which was released recently, carries a question paper of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamandir, Malda, has a question that asks the students to point out 'Azad Kashmir' on the map.

Referring to the question, BJP MP and Union Minister of State for Education, Subhash Sarkar, said that it is unfortunate that the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) has been identified as 'Azad Kashmir'.

"The state Education Minister must give his clarification in the matter. The state government should find out the brain behind this. If the publisher is responsible, action should be taken against him. This is the result of the appeasement policy of the Trinamool Congress government," Sarkar said.

Another BJP MP and the party's national vice-president, Dilip Ghosh, tweeted, "Check the Marked Section of History Question Paper on page 132 in Madhyamik Test Paper 2023. Students have been asked to identify the part of Pakistan occupied Kashmir as Azad Kashmir." Although neither state Education Minister Bratya Basu, nor any leader of the Trinamool Congress, has commented on the matter yet, the headmaster of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Vidyamandir, Swami Tapaharananda, claimed that there was no negative intention behind the question.

"There are similar references in history and previously too there were similar questions in many test papers and questions. Just one aspect of history has been mentioned in the question paper," he said.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : A Delhi court has granted anticipatory bail to a man accused of raping a woman and forcing her to undergo two abortions after her claims were disproved in court.

The woman had alleged thar she was raped twice and her foetus was aborted twice by the accused after the ring ceremony.

Counsel for accused Mangesh Kumar, Sanjiv Malik told the court that the woma was hiding her first marriage, whose divorce case was pending in Saket court.

He argued that his client had got married with the womam and that was not a ring ceremony.

"She didn't disclose about her first marriage and pedency of her divorce proceedings. In January 2021, she even celebrated her birthday at Kumar's house. She has not mentioned any specific details regarding the place where her forced abortion was got done. She also dishonestly and fraudulently concealed information about the IVF treatment. She, along with Kumar, went for IVF treatment, since they wanted a child. It shows that they were married. If the accused and the complainant did not intend to live like a couple, why the complainant would go with the accused for IVF Center?" he asked.

The court noted that woman was hiding the treatment at IVF centre and on documents, she was mentioned as wife of Kumar. It also held that the contention of the woman's counsel that after her first abortion, she was fraudulently taken to the IVF centre on the false pretext of treatment, was not believable. There were also two dates of her ring ceremony which was not possible.

"The complainant also failed to tell the name of the clinic or hospital where her two abortion were done. Also why there would be two engagement ceremonies," the court noted whole granting bail.

On June 6, 2020, Mangesh Kumar, who works in a government hospital, met the woman through a matrimonial website, and told her that his wife died in 2018.

The woman, in her statement, had said that she had refused to marry Kumar as her divorce case was pending and she had two kids from her earlier marriage.

"But Kumar kept on insisting. Once he took me to Vasant Vihar at the house of his younger sister. I told his family that my divorce case was pending. At this his sister told me that she was an SI in Delhi Police and nothing will happen. In August 2020, my family met Kumar's family and his sister asked us to perform ring ceremony on which I agreed. In January 2021, the accused took me to his sister's house and offered me juice laced with sedative. I fell unconscious and when I regained conscious and Kumar sexually assaulted me," the woman had alleged.

The woman had also alleged that she got pregnant and her pregnancy was aborted by the accused. On her complaint, a case of rape was lodged against Mangesh Kumar at the Chankyapuri Police station.

(Atul Krishan can be approached at atul.k@ians.in)
New Delhi, Jan 17 : India's Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday invited all stakeholders to look at his country as a land of opportunities and take advantage of these by partnering with it, adding that this endeavour would lead towards making India and world a healthier place.

"We are working towards augmenting health infrastructure and have initiated multiple schemes to strengthen health systems and improve health service delivery with focus on quality, accessibility and affordability of healthcare services," he said while participating in Health & Healthcare Community Dinner organised by World Economic Forum (WEF) at its meet in Switzerland's Davos.

He reiterated the vision of India of according the topmost priority to healthcare as seva (service).

"Be it launch of the world's biggest government funded health assurance scheme, PM Jan Aarogya Yojana covering approximately 500 million people or establishment of 150,000 Health & Wellness Centres, we have put the vision of 'Antyodaya', that is, 'Rise of the last person' into action in healthcare and a key facet of ensuring Universal Health Coverage," he added.

Lauding India contribution in pharmaceutical sector, the Health Minister said: "India has highest number of USFDA manufacturing plants outside US, besides being a world leader in generic medicines. It has emerged as a hub for R&D activities and is one of the leading destinations for high-end diagnostic services. To create an enabling framework for providing health services to world at large, the government is institutionalising medical tourism through a soon to be launched Heal in India initiative." Mandaviya is attending multiple sessions in the ongoing World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos. In the series of such sessions, he also participated in the bilateral meeting with German Federal Health Minister, Karl Wilhelm Lauterbach where he lauded the co-operation shown by the German counterparts and was hopeful of continuing and strengthening this co-operation in future as well.
Hyderabad, Jan 17 : The stage is set for Bharat Rashtra Samithi's inaugural public meeting at Telangana's Khammam on Wednesday.

The BRS is confident that the public meeting is going to create a history in Indian politics.

The party believes that its slogan of "Ab ki baar kisaan sarkar" will shift India's political paradigm. The BRS inaugural meeting is going to create a history in Indian politics as an emerging alternative political force in India, the party said.

The transformation of the TRS to the BRS is drawing huge attention and response from all corners of the country, as an alternative political force under the leadership of its supremo and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the party said in a statement.

Leaders from various political parties belonging to different states will be attending the public meeting at Khammam, which is expected to be attended by over 5 lakh people.

Chief Ministers Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Bhagwant Singh Maan (Punjab), Samajwadi Party President and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Communist Party of India Secretary D. Raja and other leaders will address the public meeting.

The BRS claimed that CM KCR is getting support from political parties, intellectuals and other communities from all corners of the country. His leadership which made Telangana a role model to the country in all sectors, also became a role model for alternative politics of the country for the future, it said.

The BRS was formally launched last month by Chandrasekhar Rao with the slogan of "Ab ki baar kisan sarkar".

KCR, who has already promised that if voted to power at the Centre, the BRS would supply free electricity to farmers across the country, is expected to promise more measures at the Khammam meeting to woo the farming community.

The BRS was formally launched by KCR last month to expand beyond Telangana. The party announced its entry into Andhra Pradesh on January 2 with former minister Ravela Kishore Babu, former IAS officer Thota Chandrasekhar and former IRS officer Chintala Partha Sarathi joining the party. KCR appointed Chandrasekhar as the BRS state President for Andhra Pradesh.
Ranchi, Jan 17 : Prashant Bose aka Kishan Da, the once dreaded Maoist commander, is now spending his time at the Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi reading Bhagavad Gita.

Bose, who carried a reward of Rs 1 crore on his head, was arrested by the police along with his wife Sheela Marandi from near a toll plaza in Jharkhand in November 2021.

Jail sources said that he got an English version of Bhagavad Gita issued in his name twice in the last three months. Suffering from various age-related ailments -- he is believed to be above 80 now -- Bose cannot not even walk on his own. His wife Sheela is also lodged in the same jail, whom he meets once a week.

Bose, wanted in several criminal cases, was said to be among the top rung leaders in the hierarchy of the rebel outfit, who used to head the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) before it merged with the CPI-ML (People's War) to form the CPI (Maoist) in 2004.

As per police sources, he was the commander of Maoist activities in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

A native of West Bengal, Bose was arrested in 1974 but was released in 1978. Since then, he was absconding until his arrest in 2021.

After his arrest, Bose had confessed that he was involved in the Bara massacre of 1992, when the Maoist Communist Centre of India, now the CPI (Maoist), killed 40 Bhumihars at Bara village in Bihar's Gaya district.

He was also reportedly involved in the Jheeram Ghati carnage of 2013, when Maoist insurgents had attacked a convoy of Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, leaving 27 dead, including former state minister Mahendra Karma, Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, and senior party leader Vidya Charan Shukla, who died in the hospital later.

His wife Sheela is one of the two women to ever make it to the central committee of the CPI (Maoist), its highest decision-making body.
Ghaziabad, Jan 17 : A Mercedes car caught fire on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway in Ghaziabad on Tuesday, but there were no injuries as its occupants safely exited the vehicle after smoke started coming out of the engine, police said.

The incident took place near the Lalkuan area here as the car was coming from Delhi.

On seeing the smoke, the alert driver stopped the car and asked everyone to get out of the vehicle. Minutes later, flames erupted from the engine. The Fire Service was informed and a team reached the spot and doused the blaze in around half an hour. The car's engine was badly damaged in the blaze.

Seeing the burning car, a crowd gathered at the spot and some even started to take videos.

Ghaziabad's Chief Fire Officer Rahul Pal said that the fire service reached the spot at right time and managed to contain and douse the blaze, and there were no casualties. After the fire was extinguished, a crane was called to shift the car to the roadside so that traffic movement was not affected.

A short-circuit is believed to be the reason, but the fire in such a reputed, luxury car has raised several questions.
Davos/Mumbai, Jan 17 : Conducting brisk business at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his team inked MoUs worth around Rs 88,500 crore for various projects with a potential to create over 56,000 jobs, officials said on Tuesday.

Industry Minister Uday Samant, who is part of the CM's entourage, said that in the first two days, the state government has signed agreements with several major global conglomerates and investors.

Present at the ceremonies were top officials like Harshdeep Kamble, Vipin Sharma, T. Krishna, Shreya Eren, Ashish Nawade and others.

The prospective investors include USA's New Era Cleantech Solution's Rs 20,000 crore coal gasification project (15,000 jobs) and Israel's Rajuri Steels and Alloys subsidiary's Rs 600 crore steel plant (1,000 jobs), both in Chandrapur.

MoUs were also signed with two UK companies -- Varad Ferro Alloys will set up a Rs 1,520 crore steel project in Gadchiroli (2,000 jobs) and Rcube/Ark Data's investment for a Rs 12,000 crore plant in Pune (1,200 jobs) -- besides Portugal's Elite Plast AutoSystems proposing to start a Rs 400 crore plastic automotive project in Pune (2,000 jobs).

Another big one will be GoGoRo Engineering and Badway Engineering's Rs 20,000 crore investment projects with employment potential of 30,000 across the state.

Others include Mahindra Electric Vehicle Automobile Ltd's investment of Rs 10,000 crore in Pune (3,000 jobs), Japan's Nippon Telegraph & Telephones's Rs 20,414 crore across the state (1,525 jobs).

These were preceded by proposals from Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Orenda India (Rs 16,000 crore), ICP Investments/Indus Capitals (Rs 16,000 crore), Greenko Energy Projects Pvt Ltd of Telangana (Rs 12,000 crore), Nipro Pharma Packaging India Pvt Ltd of Pune (Rs 1,650 crore) and Rukhi Agro Foods of Thane (Rs 250 crore).

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut said that if all these investments are indeed coming, it will be good for the state.

"However, let's wait till the investments actually come and jobs are really created before we comment," said a skeptical Raut, who had on Monday urged Shinde to visit Gujarat and get back projects of Maharashtra which had shifted there in 2022.

The MoUs pertain to greenfield projects like data centres, pharmaceuticals, logistics, chemicals, automobiles, electric vehicles, renewable energy and ESDM.

Among the most industrialised states in India, Maharashtra contributes 15 per cent to the national GDP and 16 per cent of the country's industrial output.

The services sector accounts for much of the state's economy, up to 62 per cent of the state GDP, followed by the manufacturing sector which contributes 20 per cent through major industries including automobiles, engineering, textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, food processing and IT/ITeS.
Kohima, Jan 17 : Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Tuesday said that his government would not allow any constitutional crisis caused due to the civil society being adamant on not participating in the forthcoming Assembly election in the event that the Naga political issue remained unresolved.

The solution to the much expected Naga political issue depends on the negotiating parties and the legislators and common people can only put pressure for an early solution, Rio, who is also the top leader of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) told the media on the side line of a programme.

The Chief Minister, who is likely to leave for New Delhi on Wednesday, welcomed the joint statement of the NSCN-IM and Naga National Political Groups (NNPG) declaring "unconditional commitment" to collaborate for the resolution of Naga political issues with the Central government.

"Everyone wants a solution to the Naga issue. The solution depends on the negotiating parties and not the common people ... People can put pressure. All the 60 members of the Assembly are acting as facilitators and continuing their pressure too," Rio said.

Besides the Naga political issue, the influential Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation (ENPO) remained firm to boycott the elections if their demand for a separate state -- of 'Frontier Nagaland' -- was not met before polls.

Despite the Nagaland government's repeated appeal, the powerful Naga group remained firm to boycott the Assembly elections.

Claiming that the six districts -- Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire, Longleng, Noklak and Shamator -- have been neglected for years, the ENPO has been demanding a separate state since 2010.

On the state government's appeal to ENPO to reconsider its decision to boycott the state election to press for its separate state demand, Rio hoped that they would respond in a "positive manner".

The Centre has been holding separate negotiations with dominant Naga outfit NSCN-IM since 1997 and the NNPG, comprising at least seven groups, since 2017. A Framework Agreement was signed with NSCN-IM in 2015 and Agreed Position with NNPGs in 2017. The stalemate continued as the NSCN-IM remained firm on its demand for a separate flag and constitution for the Nagas.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday conducted searches in an ongoing investigation of a case against then Principal Chief Operation Manager, East Coast Railway, Bhubaneswar, Prmod Kumar Jaina for possession of alleged disproportionate assets, and seized a rich haul.

A senior CBI official said that cash amounting to Rs 1.57 crore, postal saving (Bank FDs) of Rs 3.33 crore, bank balance of Rs 1.51 crore, mutual fund deposits of Rs 47.75 lakh, gold bars, gold biscuits, coins & gold jewellery of 17 kg (worth Rs. 9.5 crore) and documents related to immovable properties were found from the bank locker and premises of accused and others including family members and relatives.A The CBI had registered a case against Jaina, a retired Indian Railway Traffic official of 1989 batch, on January 3 on the allegations of possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs 1.92 crore during the period 2005 to 2020 in his name and his family members.

Searches were conducted at various places including Bhubaneswar, Jagatsinghpur (both in Odisha) and Kolkata. During searches, three keys of lockers in the name of the wife of the accused and other five keys of lockers whose names of owners were not readily available were found.

Therefore, after strenuous efforts, the name of the owners of the lockers as well as the locker numbers and bank branches were found out.

The seven lockers have been operated till now and the remaining locker is being operated.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday modified its December 2019 order and allowed an increase in air traffic in Agra city.

Counsel, representing the Airports Authority of India (AAI), submitted before a bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul that the court had allowed it to build an additional terminal and funds have been sanctioned for the project.

Citing an inflow of tourists from all over the world to visit Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and others monuments, counsel contended that increasing the air traffic at the airport is the "need of the hour".

Advocate A.D.N. Rao, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, said the AAI's application is for modification of the earlier order of the apex court.

After hearing arguments, the top court noted that the required study has been conducted and also concurrence of the Centre as well as the state has been obtained. It emphasised that permissions, which include environmental clearance, are required to be obtained as it modified its earlier order.

The top court had allowed the AAI to construct an additional terminal at the existing airport in Agra but added a rider that the authority and the Central government would not grant any permission to increase the traffic at the Agra air field until further orders.

In December 2019, Centre's counsel had informed the apex court that the government would conduct a study to examine the number of tourists who utilise the airport and their increase over the years.

The apex court has been monitoring efforts to protect the Taj Mahal.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Aviation regulator Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked the airlines to formulate a policy on carrying pets on flights and prominently display it on their websites for better understanding of the passengers.

According to the regulator, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has not yet issued any guidelines with regard to carrying pets in passenger compartments.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US has permitted its airlines to have their own respective policies for carriage of pets in the cabin.

The aviation safety regulators worldwide have not issued any specific policy for carriage of pets inside the cabin and they have allowed their airlines to develop respective procedures for the same, said a senior official.

"Similarly, in exercise of the powers conferred under Rule 24C of Aircraft Rules, 1937, DGCA has permitted the airlines to carry by air to, from and within India, animals, birds, and reptiles in an aircraft subject to the observance of the general conditions as specified in AIC 9 of 1985," the DGCA said.

It is further clarified that within the ambit of the said rules, airlines are permitted to formulate their own procedures for carriage of pets or live animals in the cabin as the final responsibility of safety of flight is with the pilot-in-command of the flight, said the DGCA.

"All airlines are advised to formulate and prominently display on their website the policy on carriage of pets for better understanding of the passengers," the official said.

In a recent instance, an airline did not allow the pet of a family inside a flight in Bengaluru. As per the airline, the commander of the flight was not fully satisfied with the cage and the muzzle of the pet, which is why he could not allow it to be carried in the cabin.

As per the airline, the laid down policy for carriage of pets on domestic flights clearly mentions that pet carriage is subject to the approval of the commander of the flight.
Hyderabad, Jan 17 : YSR Telangana Party chief Y.S. Sharmila on Tuesday launched a scathing attack against Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his BRS, for choosing the much-neglected Khammam district for the party's national-level meeting.

In a letter to KCR, as the Chief Minister is popularly called, she listed out what she called his false promises, lies and other failures affecting the united Khammam district.

Sharmila said that KCR did not have any moral ground to choose the district as the venue.

"It is very clear that, having failed Khammam on every front in last nine years, KCR suddenly woke up to project yet another dishonest impression that he cares for and respects the district. But the people of Telangana are very well aware of this perpetual peddling of lies by him. He has to ask himself if he has the moral right to sound his BRS war cry from a district that bore the brunt of his stepmotherly attention," she said.

Sharmila stated that Khammam was famed for its political and cultural consciousness and this was the reason why erstwhile TRS received a royal drubbing in the previous elections there.

"It is your utter disregard that pushed Khammam into more despair and regression. The result - incomplete irrigation projects, apathy towards spiritual and religious abodes, and uncanny recklessness in dealing with floods, the list is long enough to kill the potential of the united district," she added.

She presented a list of 10 prominent instances of KCR's failures towards the district. "On behalf of the people of Khammam, we, the YSR Telangana Party demand that you address these concerns before you begin your march towards the meeting," she demanded.

She wanted to know why KCR didn't wage a prolonged war against the merger of seven mandals with Andhra Pradesh. "Why doesn't your government take up seriously the issue of the five villages near Bhadrachalam that are desperate to get merged back into Telangana for administrative convenience," she asked.

The YSRTP leader sought to know why even after seven years and lots of announcements and hype, the Sitarama Project not yet completed.

"Way back in April 2016, KCR announced that Bhadrachalam temple would be developed with Rs 100 crores. Seven years and why is the sacred abode neglected," she asked.

"Why were there no repairs to sluices and why was there such a terrible and inhuman apathy towards flood relief and compensation, last year that saw deadly floods wreak havoc in the district?" She also asked about Rs 1,000 crore promised for Bhadrachalam protection.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the Centre and the city government's response in six weeks on a plea challenging Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) act of allegedly making use of public money for Ganesh Chaturthi festival promotion by violating laws and also seeking de-recognition of the party.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other ministers should be removed from their positions due to their "deliberate breach" of the Constitution and the Representation of People Act, according to advocate-petitioner Manohar Lal Sharma.

In the argument, it was claimed that the city government organised a Ganesh Chaturthi event on September 10, 2021, which was aired on TV channels, and that the state is prohibited from promoting religious celebrations under the Supreme Court's enunciation of the Constitution.

It stated that because India is a secular nation, no government can be seen engaging in religious activities while using public's money.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said: "The September 20, 2021 order of this court reveals that the respondents counsel were granted time to file replies. Respondents no. 1 and 2 (Centre and city government) have not filed their replies. They are granted six weeks time to do the needful." However, the Election Commission has filed its counter-affidavit according to the HC's September 20, 2021, order.

Earlier, representing the city government, lawyer Rahul Mehra had said that it was a "totally motivated and mischievous" petition filed in a form of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that needs to be dismissed with heavy costs.

The Chief Minister requested the media to cover the celebration for individuals who could participate in it from their homes since the city government had forbidden the setting up of pandals to minimise congestion during the Covid-19 outbreak, Mehra had stated.

According to the petition, Sections 408 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code are invoked by using public money for promotion or funding of religious work or trusts by the state.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Indian Army will soon be equipped with AK-203 assault rifles to be manufactured in India using the latest technology.

India will produce six lakh AK 203 assault rifles with the help of Russia over the next 10 years. After being stuck for many years due to several issues, the production of AK-203 assault rifle has started in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.

Being light in nature, the AK 203 assault rifles are equipped with state-of-the-art technology that makes it excellent in all-weather conditions. The assault rifle can fire 700 rounds in a minute. According to experts, the range of this rifle is from 500 to 800 metres.

Its one magazine has the capacity of 30 rounds. The weight of the AK 203 assault rifle is 3.8 kg and the length is 705 mm (stock folded).

After the commencement of production, 5,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles will be supplied to the Army by March. Under the second installment, 70,000 AK 203 rifles will be given to the Army in the next 32 months.

Under this scheme, 100 per cent indigenous version of AK 203 assault rifle is to be produced in India under the Indo-Russian Rifles Private Limited in Amethi. There is also a plan to increase the production and facilities in the future.
Washington, Jan 17 : US lawmakers along bi-partisan lines had a ritzy luncheon meeting with some 50 of the top CEOs of global companies at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in private at Davos in Switzerland.

Democrats Joe Manchin, Chris Coons and Krysten Sinema, Independent and Republican Brian Kemp, Georgia governor, were among those at the luncheon. Dozens of top businessmen met with the Democrats from West Virginia, Delaware, Arizona and Republican from Georgia.

Media reports streaming in here from Davos said that Coons, Manchin, Sinema and Kemp are among the US-based officials scheduled to participate in panel sessions at this year's conference. These private events on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum often serve as meet-and-greets between CEOs, billionaires and government officials.

Coons and Manchin each separately addressed the gathering of corporate leaders at the lunch, said an attendee, who declined to be identified speaking about a private gathering, reports said.

Coons's discussions focused on U.S. aid being given to Ukraine following Russia's invasion while Manchin, who is the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, called for American energy independence. Congress passed $40 billion in additional aid for Ukraine last year.

The private lunch was held at the Hotel Schatzalp, which is primarily accessible by riding a funicular, or tram, up the property, those with knowledge of the gathering said. A participant said the gathering took place at the hotel's Belle Epoque restaurant, with salmon and a beef dish served to the participants, reports said.

The business leaders came from a wide variety of backgrounds, including the CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Antonio Neri, Klaus Schwab, the executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, and the heads of a variety of non-governmental organisations, among others, one of the participants said.

Coons told CNBC on the sidelines that members of the congressional delegation were heading to the lunch "with about 50 CEOs". He didn't say which executives were scheduled to attend. A Hewlett Packard Enterprise representative confirmed Neri's attendance.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday said a child adopted by a government servant's widow after his death would not be entitled for family pension.

A bench of Justices K.M. Joseph and B.V. Nagarathna noted that a child is born to the deceased government servant after his death has to be contrasted with a case where a child is adopted by the widow of a government servant after his death.

"The former category of heirs are covered under the definition of family since such a child would be a posthumous child of the deceased government servant. The entitlement of such a posthumous child is wholly distinct from a child being adopted subsequent to the demise of the government servant by the surviving spouse," the bench said in its judgment.

The bench upheld the Bombay High Court order passed in November 2015, which held that under the Rule 54 (14) (b) of the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 (CCS (Pension) Rules), the adopted child would not be entitled for the family pension.

The top court said: "It is necessary that the scope of the benefit of family pension be restricted only to sons or daughters legally adopted by the government servant, during his/her lifetime. The definition of 'family' is narrowly worded under the CCS (Pension) Rules, in the specific context of the entitlement to 'family pension' and in relation to the government servant." It added, "therefore, the word 'adoption' in Rule 54(14)(b)(ii) of the CCS (Pension) Rules, in the context of grant of family pension, must be restricted to an adoption made by a government servant during his/her lifetime and must not be extended to a case of adoption made by a surviving spouse of the government servant after his/her death".

The top court said that the deceased government servant would have had no relationship with the adopted child which would have been adopted subsequent to his demise, as opposed to a posthumous child.

The top court dismissed the appeal filed by adopted son Shriram Shridhar Chimurka.

Chimurkar was serving as a superintendent in the National Sample Survey Organisation at Nagpur. He retired on attaining superannuation in 1993. As he died issueless in 1994, his wife adopted the appellant in April 1996.

The adopted son claimed a family pension payable to the family of the deceased government employee, from the Centre, which was rejected by the government.
Hyderabad, Jan 17 : Police in Hyderabad on Tuesday booked Bhagirath, son of Telangana BJP President Bandi Sanjay Kumar, for assaulting his classmate at Mahindra University.

A case was registered at Dundigal Police Station under Cyberabad Police Commissionerate on a complaint by the university authorities.

This development came hours after a video of Bhagirath assaulting a student went viral on social media. The incident reportedly took place a few days ago.

The BJP leader's son, who is pursuing a management course, was angry with Sriram for allegedly getting close to a sister of his friend.

In the video, Bhagirath can be heard hurling abuses at the victim and then assaulting him.

Leaders and supporters of Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) widely shared the video and trained guns on the BJP leader.

The victim also released a video admitting that he troubled a girl which angered Bhagirath and the latter thrashed him. Sriram said he no longer has any problem with Bhagirath and termed the video of the assault as useless.

Sriram did not file a complaint with the police but the university lodged a complaint based on which a case was registered.
New Delhi, Jan 17 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the second and final day of the the party's National Executive meeting on Tuesday, made several important points to BJP leaders to strengthen the party in view of the Lok Sabha elections next year, sources said.

According to the source, PM Modi emphasised on meeting people of all religions and asked party leaders to go to universities, churches, etc to meet and interact with people. He asked then to meet Pasmanda, Bohra, professional, and educated Muslims without expecting votes in return.

"He said meet these people but keep this in mind that they will not vote but still go and meet everyone," a source added.

PM Modi also instructed leaders to refrain from unsolicited remarks against any community, the source said.

The two-day BJP National Executive Meeting ended with the PM's address. Three resolutions - a political resolution, a social and economic resolution, and a foreign policy resolution, focusing on G20 summit - were also passed.
Melbourne, Jan 18 : As Australia gear up for a Test tour of India in February-March, on the back of their minds is the upcoming Ashes Series against archrivals England. Former pace legend Glenn McGrath has warned Australia that Ben Stokes' England will be 'tough to beat at home this summer.

Australia have won two of the last three Ashes series; thumping England 4-0 at home in 2017 and 2021 and drawing 2-2 in England in-between those two emphatic victories.

But having done superbly in Test matches recently, England will attempt to win back the Ashes when Australia visit these shores for a five-match Test series in June and July.

Under Stokes and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum, England have secured impressive victories over New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and India, winning nine of their last 10 Test matches, prompting McGrath to claim that they will present a threat to Australia in the Ashes.

"You've got to give it to the English," McGrath, who took 563 wickets in 124 Test matches, told talkSPORT.

"The way they're going about it is absolutely fantastic. Positive, aggressive, backing yourself. I think of that team in 2005 that beat my Australia team for the first time in a long time.

"That group was playing with a lot of confidence and they had the same group of guys together. Michael Vaughan was doing a great job as a leader so maybe there's something similar happening with Ben Stokes' England.

"They've got a team full of confidence so they're going to be tough to beat." for the next edition.
United Nations, Jan 18 : Only 16 per cent of public education funding goes to the poorest 20 per cent of learners, while 28 per cent goes to the richest 20 per cent, the UNICEF said in a report, highlighting global educational inequality.

Children from the poorest households benefit the least from national public education funding, UNICEF added in the report titled "Transforming Education with Equitable Financing," published on Tuesday which looks at government spending from pre-primary through tertiary education in 102 countries.

"We are failing children. Too many education systems around the world are investing the least in those children who need it the most," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

The gap is most pronounced among low-income countries, as children from the wealthiest households benefit from more than six times the amount of public education funding compared to the poorest learners, UNICEF said.

In middle-income countries like Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal, the richest learners receive around four times more public education spending than the poorest, Xinhua news agency reported.

In high-income countries, the richest usually benefit from 1.1 to 1.6 times as much public education spending as the poorest, with countries like France and Uruguay at the higher end of the gap.

UNICEF called for equitable financing to combat "learning poverty". The report found that just a one percentage point increase in the allocation of public education resources to the poorest quintile of learners could potentially lift 35 million primary school-aged children out of learning poverty.

"Investing in the education of the poorest children is the most cost-effective way to ensure the future for children, communities and countries. True progress can only come when we invest in every child, everywhere," said Russell.

The report also found that children living in poverty are less likely to attend school, drop out sooner, and are less represented in higher education, which receives much higher public education spending per capita.

"Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, education systems across the world were largely failing children, with hundreds of millions of students attending school but not grasping basic reading and mathematics skills," it said, citing recent estimates that two-thirds of all 10-year-olds worldwide cannot read or understand a simple story.
United Nations, Jan 18 : UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi is visiting India later this month to meet officials and scientists, according to his Spokesperson Paulina Kubiak.

During his visit starting around January 29, he will also address the Indian Council of World Affairs and visit a water conservation project, Kubiak said on Tuesday.

Korosi has a special interest in development, a key element of his agenda as Head of the General Assembly, and particularly in the water conservation element of it.

Before his election as UN General Assembly President, he was the Environmental Sustainability Director in the Hungarian President's Office and the President's point person at the High-Level Panel on Water co-convened by the UN Secretary-General and the President of the World Bank Group in 2016.

Among the topics expected to figure in Korosi's talks in India are the country's presidency of the G20 group of major industrialised and emerging economies and Security Council reform, a priority for India.

Laying out his priorities for the rest of the Assembly session on Tuesday, he promised to "spare no efforts to facilitate" efforts for reform.

He referred to the failure of the Security Council to act on the Russian invasion of Ukraine to underline the urgency for reform and said, "Let the disappointing lessons we have learned inspire the negotiations on Security Council reform, with the goal of creating a better functioning Council." In December 2022, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with Korosi in New York and discussed India's G20 presidency and the reform of multilateral institutions.

Korosi, who has been meeting scientists, has emphasised the importance of science in guiding policy and used a vivid phrase, "from microscopes to microphones" to illustrate the need for scientific input before debating.

UN General Assembly Presidents have made it a tradition to visit India for discussions with leaders and top diplomats and the seven predecessors of Korosi -- Abdulla Shahid, Volkan Bozkir, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, Miroslav Lajcak, Peter Thomson, Mogens Lykketoft -- have all made the trip.

From India, Korosi will go to China where he is to meet officials and visit the International Research Centre of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals that supports the UN efforts for reaching development targets, Kubiak said.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Ankara, Jan 18 : Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has said that Iran is "very pleased" with the first direct talks between Turkey and Syria since the outbreak of the Syria civil war in 2011.

"We are very pleased by the fact that relations between Damascus and Ankara are undergoing a change ... We think any positive development between Ankara and Damascus will benefit the region and our countries," Amir-Abdollahian added on Tuesday at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in the capital Ankara.

Iran will "do its best to achieve this goal as soon as possible," the Iranian Foreign Minister noted.

Meanwhile, Cavusoglu said the issue of Syria has been discussed extensively with Amir-Abdollahian, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We strongly support Syria's border, territorial integrity and political unity ... An engagement with the (Syrian) government has started for permanent stability," he added.

Amir-Abdollahian was also received by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday.
Ramallah, Jan 18 : A Palestinian official has said that Israeli measures restrict the Palestinian government activities in the West Bank, mainly in Area C which is under Israeli security control.

Majdi Al-Salleh, the Palestinian Minister of Local Affairs, told reporters on Tuesday in the West Bank city of Ramallah that the Israeli authorities carry out daily measures in the area, mainly demolishing homes, confiscating land, and destroying infrastructure.

"The Palestinian government is determined to support and strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinian population in Area C, which represents 60 per cent of the West Bank," he said.

The Palestinian government provides the residents of Area C with all the necessary infrastructure by building roads and connecting electricity and water networks, Al-Salleh added.

"There is a need for the European Union, its member states, and the World Bank to play their role in those areas targeted by the Israeli authorities and implement projects related to the water, electricity, health, and education sectors," the Minister said.

On January 6, the Israeli government approved a series of punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority for its approach to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, including the deduction of $39.6 million from Palestinian tax dues, Xinhua news agency reported.

Palestinian officials have warned of the Israeli escalation of killing Palestinians, mainly after the formation of the new Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which is the most right-wing one in Israel's history.

On Tuesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Hamdi Abu Daiya, 40, was killed by Israeli soldiers in the town of Halhul, north of the southern West Bank city of Hebron.

Local sources and eyewitnesses said Israeli soldiers opened fire at Abu Daiya, a member of the Palestinian security forces, adding the Israeli soldiers prevented ambulances from reaching him.

Israeli media outlets reported that a Palestinian opened fire at a military force near Halhul without causing any injuries, before the force returned fire and killed the Palestinian.

Nearly 15 Palestinians have been killed and dozens injured by Israeli soldiers since January 1, as the tension between Israelis and Palestinians has been flaring, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
By making this service available to our customers, BBB National Programs is exhibiting its leadership and value as it helps create a more trustworthy, fair and efficient marketplace. - Richy Glassberg, SafeGuard Privacy co-founder and CEO.

SafeGuard Privacy today announced a unique and valuable extension to their privacy compliance-based certification program for companies. SafeGuard Privacy has partnered with BBB National Programs to provide an accountability assessment to companies who achieve CPRA certification through SafeGuard Privacys platform to verify their self-certified compliance with key laws and best practices.

SafeGuard Privacy is a SaaS-based compliance platform that leading publishers, agencies, brands, data providers, and tech platforms use to assess, audit, and comply with global privacy laws. BBB National Programs is an independent, non-profit organization that has been trusted for more than 20 years to ensure businesses are meeting their privacy obligations under domestic and international privacy regulations.

As the partnership commences, companies who have leveraged SafeGuard Privacys platform to conduct California's Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) self-certification and seek to demonstrate their compliance with the state law will have the opportunity to get their privacy practices verified by BBB National Programs based on a voluntary audit process following the self-certification. Once compliance is confirmed, companies will receive a verification seal from BBB National Programs that they can display on their websites and materials.

Leveraging BBB National Programs, companies relying on SafeGuard Privacys CPRA self-assessment platform, built to serve the needs of the largest and most complex organizations in the world, can demonstrate that they meet the highest standard of rigor, said Richy Glassberg, SafeGuard Privacy co-founder and CEO. By making this service available to our customers, BBB National Programs is exhibiting its leadership and value as it helps create a more trustworthy, fair and efficient marketplace.

SafeGuard Privacy worked hard to launch this partnership with BBB National Programs to help companies manage key laws taking effect in 2023 and begin to prepare them for the continuous compliance demonstrations they will need as laws and compliance requirements continue to proliferate.

In the U.S., while all compliance is key, demand for CPRA support is particularly strong right now because of the current level of risk and enforcement activity.

Earlier this year, Sephora was subject to a $1M+ USD fine for violating key privacy laws. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement related to the beauty brand's alleged violations of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Under the terms of the settlement, Sephora was fined $1.2 million for data privacy violations. Sephora was one of 100+ companies that the AGs office indicates it has under review.

Businesses that collect personal information understand the critical need to comply with privacy and data protection laws, said Dona Fraser, Senior Vice President, Privacy Initiatives, BBB National Programs. But from small startups to global enterprises, some businesses choose to do more, and we are excited to support SafeGuard Privacys CPRA self-certified companies with this added layer of accountability for their privacy practices to help them demonstrate their embrace of privacy best practices and dedication to compliance with privacy laws.

If you are interested in learning more about this new initiative, please contact hello@safeguardprivacy.com.

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About SafeGuard Privacy

Founded in 2018 by technology and privacy experts, SafeGuard Privacy offers the first platform for comprehensive privacy compliance management and collaboration. A key feature of the platform is its comprehensive and independent assessments that evaluate a companys privacy programs and guides them on their path to compliance. Its workflow management and governance tools, including policy wizards, training, secure document storage, real-time reporting, and true auditing features empower businesses with everything they need to mitigate risk and demonstrate compliance -- all while saving time and money. In addition, The Vendor Compliance Hub solves the industry RFI process, making it easy for vendors to demonstrate privacy compliance to their partners and mitigate third-party liability. For more information, visit http://www.safeguardprivacy.com.
Freediver discovers the incredible experience of apnea diving in Honduras, guided by Roatan Freediving School and Training Center.

As home to the largest coral reef in the Americas, Honduras invites travelers to explore an underwater wonderland of abundant marine life, with its squadrons of eagle rays, schools of brightly colored fish, and vibrant coral reefs accessible for year-round visibility. The vibrant Mesoamerican Barrier Reef hugs The Bay Islands just off the mainland with 700 miles of colorful corals and more than 500 species of fish. From the deep reef crevices of Roatan and the massive whale sharks of Utila  to Guanajas wreck dives and the unspoiled paradise of Cayos Cochinos, travelers can diver deeper into Hondurass natural beauty with these top diving and snorkeling experiences:

SCUBA DIVING & SNORKELING

The Bay Islands are famous amongst scuba divers and snorkelers of all skill levels thanks to the spectacular reef and its close proximity to shore. The three famous dive spots in the Bay Islands  Utila, Roatan and Guanaja archipelagos  invite intrepid divers to discover underwater worlds, swim with whale sharks and explore hard and soft coral reefs. Enjoy a close encounter with coral formations or deep-dive 2,000 feet to site bluntnose shark. Many lodges and resorts like Infinity Bay and Anthonys Key have on-site dive shops, and plenty of independent businesses such as Roatan Divers and Clearwater Adventures dotting the islands offer guided snorkel tours by boat and self-guided explorations from shore. Splash Inn Dive Resort presents a full list of the 40 most popular Roatan dive sites, complete with dive site information, photos, and location details.

Marys Place in Roatan, one of the most popular dive sites in all of Honduras, is famous for its 100-foot volcanic canyon which gives way to an abundance of marine life, black coral trees, and giant sea fans. Southwest of Roatan and a haven for hardcore divers, Utila is known as one of the safest and least expensive places in the world to get PADI diving licenses of all levels. The island boasts more than 80 dive sites, including the sea mound of Black Hills. Utila is one of the only places on the planet where whale sharks are seen year-round, although they are most commonly seen in spring and early fall. The artificial wreck of the Jado Trader, a 260-foot freighter sunk in 1987, is Guanajas signature wreck dive.

The pristine Caribbean waters of Cayos Cochinos, an area comprised of two small islands and more than a dozen coral cays, are filled with banded butterfly fish, queen conch, sea cucumbers, and more. Recognized as a marine protected area, Cayos Grande, the largest of the volcanic islands, is the only island where tourists are allowed to snorkel. Open Water Diver Certified visitors can sign up for coral reef cleaning and transplanting, a conservation initiative led by Cayos Cochinos Foundation where volunteers partake in two 40-50 minute dives a day to clean and measure coral being grown and monitor the site where healthy coral has been transplanted.

FREEDIVING

For travelers searching to discover new limits, freediving can be a relaxing yet exhilarating way to explore the steep slopes of The Bay Islands. Unlike scuba diving and snorkeling, freediving is done without the help of breathing apparatus  with divers holding their breath as they descend to depths of 30-feet or more. Its a meditative adventure that offers a more intimate interaction with ocean life. With calm currents and deep abyss that lies just beyond the reef wall makes Honduras ideal for freediving. Home to the annual Caribbean Cup Freediving Competition, Roatan has established itself as a worldwide destination for the sport. Roatan Freediving School & Training Center offers beginner to instructor level courses. The one-day introductory course includes one open water session and is aimed to help students develop the basic skills, knowledge, and safety procedures. Freedive Utila, the first freediving school in Central America and the Caribbean, offers instruction for all levels of experience, with beginner courses taking place over two and a half days  enabling safe dives as deep as 20 meters.

SEMI-SUBMARINE

For travelers of all ages interested in exploring the natural wonder of the Mesoamerican Reef without getting wet, Hyde Tours Roatan offers an incredible semi-submarine glass bottom boat excursion. Kids and adults venture six feet underwater in a glass bottom boat to discover vibrant corals and sea creatures that complete the colorful seascape during the 45-minute excursion along the reef. The tour departs from the island of Roatans West Bay Beach, an underwater haven where coral reef is close enough to swim to from shore, offering excellent snorkeling and shore diving straight from the beach.

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About Honduras

Located in the heart of Central America, Honduras is a destination rich in biodiversity as home to a diverse array of ecosystems including dense rainforests, towering cloud forests, rushing rivers, and the largest coral reef in the Americas. This landscape provides the setting for boundless outdoor and adventure activities including whitewater rafting, waterfall repelling, birdwatching, SCUBA diving, snorkeling and more. Honduras was an important center of the ancient Mayan world, and archaeologists and history buffs are drawn to the Copan Ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage site located near the countrys western border with Guatemala.

Four major airports serve Honduras in San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Roatan, and the capital city of Tegucigalpa, where the new and modern Palmerola International Airport, located in the city of Comayagua, recently debuted in 2021. Direct air service from the United States is available on major carriers from New York City, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Atlanta, and Dallas.

Media Contact:

Jennifer Jackson

PTG Consulting

jjackson@ptgconsulting.com

Tel: +1 904 535 7167
Daniel Parry is a longstanding and well-respected leader in the finance industry and were proud to welcome him to our advisory board, said Daniel Boller, CEO of Leasly. He brings a proven track record of building analytic platforms to profitably manage credit risk in high growth companies."

Leasly, Inc. (https://leasly.com), a leading fintech company providing lending, technology and insurance solutions for the automotive industry, today announced that Daniel Parry, a 25-year finance industry veteran and co-founder and CEO of TruDecision, Inc. (https://trudecision.com), has joined its advisory board.

Leasly is a turnkey new and used vehicle leasing solution for dealerships, lenders and their customers which streamlines and simplifies the front- and back-end vehicle leasing process. Leaslys fully automated platform puts significant revenue potential in the dealerships hands by empowering dealers to lease vehicles in seconds, while providing a convenient and easy-to-use leasing process for consumers.

Daniel Parry is a longstanding and well-respected leader in the finance industry and were proud to welcome him to our advisory board, said Daniel Boller, CEO of Leasly. He brings a proven track record of building analytic platforms to profitably manage credit risk in high growth companies, which is widely recognized in the capital markets. Im confident Daniels insights will help us grow the Leasly brand and expand our footprint. Our goal is to put our platform in the hands of more consumers who want a simple and convenient way to lease a car, and more dealers who want a streamlined workflow and a powerful revenue opportunity. Im pleased Daniel has joined our board and I look forward to his contributions, our collaboration and future growth.

Daniel Parrys finance industry career spans more than twenty years, beginning in 1998 at AmeriCredit Corp., where he advanced through the ranks to serve as the companys Senior Vice President of Credit Risk Management, overseeing all aspects of modeling and forecasting for a $16 billion portfolio.

In 2006, Mr. Parry co-founded Exeter Finance Corp, a national automobile finance company, where he served as EVP and Chief Credit Officer until 2014. In 2014, he co-founded Praxis Finance, an auto loan portfolio acquisition company. In 2015, he co-founded Integrated Fintech LLC, a company specializing in credit modeling, analytics and consulting for auto lenders across the U.S. and Canada. In 2017, he took part in a capital raise to form TruDecision, which acquired Integrated Fintech. TruDecision provides sophisticated credit risk solutions to consumer lenders in the United States and Canada.

Prior to AmeriCredit, Mr. Parry was an adjunct faculty member in business at LeTourneau University, as well as a research associate for the Provost of the University of Texas at Dallas. He holds a B.S. in Business and an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Dallas, where he was also a doctoral student in Management Science.

Daniel Boller, and the rest of the leadership team at Leasly, are top caliber innovators who understand the unique needs of dealers and consumers. They also understand the importance of employing cutting edge risk tools to ensure a top performing portfolio, said Parry. I am honored that they reached out to me, and I look forward to helping the company build an outstanding organization.

About Leasly, Inc.

Leasly, launched in 2022, brings decades of experience in auto lending offering automotive dealerships and lenders a range of technologies and services to help grow their business, increase profitability, and provide their customers with a frictionless auto leasing experience. The company launched its national expansion late last year, with plans to roll out to 20 U.S. markets in 2023.
Exigent AI, the AI Tools Company This program will give us the opportunity to collaborate with industry-leading AI experts, which will help us continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with artificial intelligence" said Dave Shapiro, Cofounder and Head of Artificial Intelligence at Exigent AI.

Exigent AI is excited to announce that it has been selected to join NVIDIA Inception, the worlds leading AI and data science startup program. NVIDIA Inception provides support to pioneering startups that leverage AI to transform different industries, and Exigent AI is thrilled to be a part of this program.

Exigent AI was founded on the premise that Generative AI can be a force for expanding human potential through enhanced thinking, problem-solving, communications, and creativity. Through its proprietary AI tooling platform, Nova Engine, Exigent AI develops and refines domain-specific generative AI tools which will usher in new paradigms in human-machine interaction.

We are honored to be accepted into the NVIDIA Inception program, said Dave Shapiro, Cofounder and Head of Artificial Intelligence at Exigent AI. This program will give us the opportunity to collaborate with industry-leading experts and other AI-driven organizations, which will help us continue to push the boundaries of what is possible with artificial intelligence.

As a member of NVIDIA Inception, Exigent AI will have access to NVIDIA AI experts, cutting-edge technical resources, and access to NVIDIA's mentor and investor network. This will enable Exigent AI to advance its mission of being a leading provider of innovative domain-specific AI tools.
Former Mayor of Philadelphia Michael Nutter said, I could not be more honored or excited to join the Outward Bound USA Board. I wish that every person in America could have some type of Outward Bound experience. Outward Bound changes lives and helps people achieve their true potential.

Outward Bound USA proudly announced today, the appointment of Michael Nutter, former Mayor of Philadelphia and founding member of the Philadelphia Outward Bound School, to the Outward Bound USA Board of Directors.

Outward Bound USA is honored to welcome Mayor Michael Nutter to its national Board of Directors, starting January 2023. Mayor Nutter served as the 98th Mayor of Philadelphia from 2008-2016, after nearly 15 years in the Philadelphia City Council. He holds three honorary doctorates in public service from Drexel University, Saint Joseph's University, and American University. Mayor Nutter maintains active involvement in critical areas of education, media, public policy, political campaigns, the corporate community, and academic institutions across the country, including his service on President Obama's My Brother's Keeper Advisory Council and his recent appointment as Chair of the U.S. Treasury Department's inaugural Formal Advisory Committee on Racial Equity.

Mayor Nutters history with Outward Bound began on a pulling boat sailing expedition on the Chesapeake Bay in 1992, followed by participation on the first Urban Expedition course in Philadelphia in 2000. In an interview with Outward Bound alumni, Mayor Nutter remarked, Outward Bound helped to propel me; to give me the confidence to take that first step and to become the Mayor of Philadelphia. He later shared, I could not be more honored or excited to join the Outward Bound USA Board. I wish that every person in America could have some type of Outward Bound experience. Outward Bound changes lives and helps people achieve their true potential.

Together with Nancy Goldenberg and Tim Greenwood, Mayor Nutter is a founding member of the Philadelphia Outward Bound School. In 1992, they envisioned a city-based Outward Bound School dedicated to inspiring Philadelphias young people with self-confidence and leadership skills. Today, the Philadelphia Outward Bound School is one of ten regional Schools chartered by Outward Bound USA and serves thousands of Philadelphia youth each year.

Outward Bound USA is honored by the dedication of national leaders like Michael Nutter who model the tenets of Outward Bound, to serve, to strive and not to yield. As we seek to further our mission to change lives through challenge and discovery, I look forward to working together with Michael and the OBUSA Board to expand our reach and to inspire more young people to seek bolder and brighter futures, said Ginger Naylor, CEO of Outward Bound USA.

Mayor Nutter steps into this national board position as Outward Bound USA concludes its 60th year as a pioneering leader in outdoor experiential education in the U.S., serving over 1 million students in its history. Today, the outdoor education leader has programs in over 50 locations spanning awe-inspiring city, state, and national parks, public lands, and wilderness settings across the country. Tens of thousands of students participate in Outward Bound courses each year. They offer both single and multi-day experiences ranging from 4-day to 80-day wilderness expeditions and gap year programs from sailing the Maine Coast to backpacking in the Colorado Rockies and whitewater rafting in the Northwest. Regional Outward Bound Schools serve thousands of those students right in their own backyards. Through partnerships with schools, youth-serving organizations, and other local groups, Outward Bound Schools also offer programs in city and state parks and action learning courses at base camp locations.

Outward Bound USA implements and upholds high program standards and guidelines to achieve consistency, quality, and integrity. These practices enable them to provide industry-leading safety and risk management, outcomes-based research and program innovation, and brand and marketing communications strategy and support. Through national fundraising, partner relationships, financial stewardship, and management, Outward Bound USA embodies its mission to change lives through challenge and discovery and its vision for a more resilient and compassionate world.

Outward Bounds work inspires young people and students of all ages to believe in themselves, discovering there are no limits to what they can accomplish for themselves, their communities, and the world.

In 2021, Outward Bound:



Served over 23,000 students across the U.S.

Ran 1,000+ courses (from 1-day programming to semester-long courses)

Partnered with over 400 local schools and community-based organizations

Maintained industry leadership in safety and risk management

Outward Bound USA is excited to have Mayor Nutter step into this leadership position, to advance their mission and support Outward Bound Schools and thousands of their students across the U.S.

To support our work, please consider partnering with Outward Bound USA or a donation to our annual fund.

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Outward Bound USA is the nonprofit leader in outdoor education programs that allows young people to explore their personal potential, since 1962. From expeditions in some of the most remote locations in the U.S. to programs in local schools and neighborhoods, young people nationwide are cultivating a passion for learning, and discovering greater success in school, work, and life. More information is available at http://www.outwardbound.org.
Vortex MSP, a leading provider of Microsoft IT strategy, products and services based in Washington, DC, announces the launch of the companys newly refined brand, website, services and forthcoming educational tools created to fulfill the evolving demand for collaborative IT services in the Washington, DC market.

Refined to articulate Vortexs unique approach to providing clients with exemplary Microsoft IT customer service within an agile environment, the new Vortex brand focuses on Customer Service Agility, acting as the nucleus from which all Microsoft IT strategy, services and products revolve.

Coupled with the companys legacy mission to set a new standard in customer service for the IT service industry by providing an exceptional client experience, the newly refined brand position further differentiates how Vortex helps clients convert complex technology challenges into synchronized business solutions via confidence, energy and true compassion for the people they serve.

David Siegal, Vortex Co-Founder and President states, Forged with the strong company culture weve created where employees are valued, recognized and rewarded for their efforts and achievements, our newly refined assets further emulate how Vortex approaches all client engagements.

Designed to provide clients and prospects with an optimized online experience, the companys new website provides visitors with new Microsoft strategy, product and services information organized in an easy to use structure to maximize engagement.

As Washington, DCs first and only Microsoft-focused MSP, the website provides a wide depth and breadth of information about the companys Microsoft expertise, experience and services ranging from Office 365, to SharePoint, Teams, Dynamics and beyond. Supported by deep bench expertise across all products and services, Vortex Strategic IT Architechs provide hands-on training to help clients leverage and maximize their IT infrastructure investments.

Complimented with an extensive array of IT security services including EMS, ATP, cybersecurity and Vortex Vault, the companys proprietary data back-up and disaster recovery solution, the refined website provides clients and prospects with everything they need to explore, learn and initiate action.

Forthcoming in Q1, Vortex will also be launching a new Educational Content program comprised of blogs, articles, webinars and videos produced to help IT professionals improve their overall acumen across a variety of valuable technology related topics.

For additional information, visit the Vortex MSP website at http://www.vortexmsp.com.

ABOUT VORTEX

Vortex is an agile Strategic IT Firm that provides collaborative Microsoft IT strategy, services and products to help clients convert complex technology challenges into synchronized business solutions at the speed of thought.

As esteemed Microsoft savants, Vortex IT Architechs orchestrate nimble, hands-on roles from cutting-edge strategy to flawless execution, to educate staff, solve problems and maximize client technology investments.

Provided within an aura of cool, calm intelligence, Vortex is radically elevating how IT organizations listen, learn and leverage urgent client problems into instantaneous Microsoft technology solutions. Vortex provides responsive Microsoft IT strategy, services, products and support, onsite or remote, to mid-market companies worldwide from its headquarters in Washington, DC.

To learn more about what makes Vortex unique and why clients want to work alongside us, visit the http://www.vortexmsp.com/about section of our website.

MEDIA INQUIRIES

For additional information, please contact David Siegal at 202.602.6662, mailto:info@vortexmsp.com [info@vortexmsp.com __title__ null] or http://www.vortexmsp.com.
"We recognize the dependencies created by the existing legacy overhead architecture and have an acute need to develop alternative and redundant techniques for geolocation. POINTER plays an important role in filling that largely unmet need for position, navigation and timing benefiting many sectors

Balboa Geolocation, Inc. (Balboa Geo) is pleased to announce the formation of its Strategic Advisory Council (SAC) to provide high level advice and guidance for the commercial launch of its first-in-class geolocation technology, known as POINTER.

The SAC is composed of senior leadership from the defense and private sectors. It reflects the broad application of POINTER technology and numerous use cases across multiple segments of the market - Public Safety, Defense. Industrial and Commercial. In particular, Industrial and Commercial opportunities include: Construction; Energy; Transportation; Autonomy / Robotics; Maritime; Mining; Supply Chain and Logistics; IoT, among others. Admiral Patrick Walsh, PhD (Ret) will Chair the SAC and is joined by Ed Dolanski and Jim Bethmann as additional founding SAC members.

Admiral Patrick Walsh, PhD (Ret) is a highly experienced military leader and business executive in aerospace and defense, cybersecurity and higher education. As a United States Navy four-star admiral, he served as Vice Chief of Naval Operations, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and Commander of the U.S. 5th Fleet. Admiral Walsh, a Naval Aviator commanded multiple Strike Groups and flew 77 combat missions while deployed aboard various aircraft carriers. Walsh was selected and became a member of the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, Blue Angels. During his Naval career he was appointed a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He also chaired the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law at the U.S. Naval Academy and served as the Chief of Naval Personnel and reported to the Joint Staff. Concurrently, Walsh served as Director, Navy Quadrennial Defense and Director, Navy Programing Division. Admiral Walsh is the recipient of numerous awards and decorations by the U.S. Navy.

Since retiring from the Navy, Admiral Walsh served as an executive in aerospace and defense, cybersecurity and higher education including serving as Vice President, Boeing Global Services managing a $1.3B portfolio with full P&L responsibility, Senior Fellow - John G. Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs, Southern Methodist University, Senior Advisor to Oliver Wyman, a management consulting firm and business unit of Marsh McLennan and co-founder of the First Watch Group, a strategic advisory and consulting firm. Admiral Walsh also serves as President of Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep.

Admiral Walsh obtained a BS from U.S. Naval Academy, MA from Chairman University, and MA and PhD (distinction) from Tufts University.

"POINTER offers the potential life-saving advantage to the warfighter, first responder, or commercial user to track individuals or high-value assets in GPS-denied or degraded environments, stated Admiral Walsh. POINTER leverages Magneto-Electro-Quasi-Static (M/EQS) technology to operate in a Non-Line-of-Sight environment, without the associated challenges of drift or multi-path signal bounce. POINTER will save lives, time, and money. We recognize the dependencies created by the existing legacy overhead architecture and have an acute need to develop alternative and redundant techniques for geolocation. POINTER plays an important role in filling that largely unmet need for position, navigation and timing benefiting many sectors, Admiral Walsh further noted.

Ed Dolanski is a highly experienced Fortune 50 business executive with 30+ years of experience leading organizations through performance turnarounds and into sustained transformational growth. His experience includes full P&L responsibility of businesses ranging in size from $300M to $10B annual revenue within the Aerospace / Defense, Industrial Manufacturing, Supply Chain / Logistics / Distribution Services and Retail Industries.

Ed is co-founder of the First Watch Group, a strategic advisory and consulting firm. He founded North Star Advisors LLC, an advisory, M&A and investment firm. Dolanski had significant senior management responsibilities at Boeing including President of Boeing Services, a $10B operating division of Boeing, President and CEO of Aviall, a $4.4B subsidiary of Boeing. Additionally, Dolanski served as Vice President of Mission Support and Cyber Engagement at Raytheon. Previously he held management positions at MagneTek and Walmart in supply chain management and logistics.

Ed currently serves as Chairman of MD Helicopters, board member at VSE Corporation, Chairman of Filtari, a social media filter start-up, board member of Catalyze Dallas and board advisor to Texas Blockchain Council.

Ed obtained a BA from John Brown University and attended the Executive MBA program at Vanderbilt University.

Jim Bethmann is a highly experienced technology executive, consultant and executive search / human resources professional. Jim is currently the Managing Partner, Technology at Caldwell, an international executive search firm. He spent 10 years leading a $300M technology company operations on 3 continents and his formative years as an active duty and reserve naval officer.

He is an industry specialist in the broader technology verticals of software, services, hardware and systems, telecom services and networks, to include SaaS, PaaS, CCaaS, UCaaS as well as managed IT services, cyber security, outsourcing & broader cloud services. He also serves the spectrum of the defense industry vertical with experience in the 3-letter agencies, DOD, Civilian agencies and Healthcare IT.

Jim currently leads the Technology Practice at Caldwell and focuses on all leadership consulting services for Board and C-suite engagements in the above noted industry segments as well as the CIO, CISO, CDO, and CTO functions globally. He has placed over 100 Presidents & CEOs in the past 20+ years and consulted with over 400 clients. Previously, he held leadership consulting roles at Heidrick & Struggles, Highland Partners, Korn/Ferry and Russell Reynolds. Bethmann has significant experience as a corporate and nonprofit board member. He serves as an advisor to the leadership team at Skyminyr, a human capital AI start-up, and is a Trustee of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Jim obtained his BS from the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a Lieutenant Commander in Surface Warfare Operations.

We are honored to have such a distinguished and experienced group of leaders and senior executives comprise our SAC, stated Joseph A. Boystak, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Balboa Geo. The deep domain knowledge, expertise, senior management experience and global connectivity of the SAC is extraordinary and will provide Balboa Geo with unique insights and advantages as we go-to-market with our technology, Boystak further noted. The SAC will help guide the commercial launch of POINTER in the second half of 2023 as well as our technology roadmap for future innovation and applications of this disruptive technology. The SAC compliments our Voice of the Customer Advisory Board (VCAB) and our Scientific and Technology Advisory Board (STAB), Boystak also noted.

ABOUT Balboa Geolocation

Balboa Geolocation (Balboa Geo) is an industrial technology company focused on solutions for the global geolocation market in GPS-denied or degraded environments. POINTER consists of easily deployed hardware (including, Transmitter, Receiver, and Base Station - laptop or tablet) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) serving Public Safety, Defense, Industrial and Commercial sectors. POINTER can be deployed on a fixed or mobile basis. POINTER is not dependent on fixed infrastructure, such as satellites and cell towers to enable its position, navigation, timing, and orientation data. POINTER leverages patented Magneto-Electro-Quasi-Static (M/EQS) technology. It can provide highly accurate (within centimeters), 3-D (xyz axis), real-time data for indoor, underground, underwater, and metallic environments where most other position, navigation, and timing techniques fail. POINTER can be easily integrated with other geospatial technologies for comprehensive and redundant solutions in all environments. The geospatial data derived from POINTER is interoperable. The real-time data is displayed on Balboa Geos proprietary visualization software or may be ingested by other third-party software platforms providing a comprehensive view of the target environments. POINTER is designed to save lives, track high value assets, improve workflows and productivity, enable post-event analytics for training and education, and provide support for litigation and forensic analysis. POINTER was developed by Caltech / NASAs Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) and exclusively licensed by Balboa Geo for all fields of use on a global scale. POINTER is expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2023.

Contact

Please visit our website at:

https://balboageolocation.com

For further information please contact us at:

info@balboageolocation.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/balboa-geolocation-inc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Balboageo
Strangers in the Avalon Dunes "Strangers in the Avalon Dunes is clever, well-paced, and delightfully twisty. An engrossing mystery populated with intriguing and fascinating charactersyou won't want to miss this one!"Lisa Regan, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling crime fiction author

Plexus Publishing, Inc., the independent publisher of the New York Times bestseller Boardwalk Empire, announced the publication of Jane Kellys latest mystery, Strangers in the Avalon Dunes.

After the turbulence of her last adventure, Meg Daniels swears she never wants to help someone find a lost loved one ever again. She settles into a lazy routine in an upscale home in the high dunes of Avalon, New Jersey, housesitting for a friend of her fiance, Andy Beck, for several months.

However, Meg finds she can't outrun her reputation. When a young woman asks Meg to find her long-lost grandfather, Ken Patterson, Meg just can't say no. In 1977, Ken, a wealthy attorney, decided he was born too soon. He missed the British Invasion, the Summer of Love, and Woodstock. He may have missed the Sixties, but he wasn't going to miss the Seventies. So, he simply disappeared, leaving behind his wife and daughter. After more than 40 years have gone by, can Meg actually find him? Ken's daughter has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia and wants to reunite with the father she hasn't seen in four decades, so time is of the essence.

Meg soon becomes convinced she's investigating a murder. Had Ken really executed a carefully planned escape from the life he no longer wanted? Meg is not so sure. His abandoned wife claims she has never given up on him, but Meg concludes that not everyoneincluding his wifewas sad to see him go.

As Meg begins to make some progress on the case, it becomes obvious that someone really doesn't want Meg nosing around. Is it the killer or simply a man who doesn't want to be found?
Faster throughput, increased automation and more efficient use of energy and space are some of the factors that are influencing conveyor system designs in 2023

Material handling needs are changing as manufacturers and distributors look for ways to keep up with the growth of e-commerce and reduce their environmental impact, according to Ultimation Industries. Faster throughput, increased automation and more efficient use of energy and space are some of the factors that are influencing conveyor system designs in 2023.

Ultimation is the leading direct-to-consumer conveyor manufacturer, specializing in solving productivity challenges with fast-to-deploy solutions for the automotive, food processing, vertical farming, heavy equipment, warehousing, fulfillment and delivery sectors.

Over the past year, weve seen an increase in requests from manufacturers for flexible material handling solutions that allow them to scale quickly and reduce energy consumptionwithout requiring major capital expenditures, said Kali Cresent, general manager for Ultimation. We expect those trends to continueand even accelerateinto 2023 and beyond.

Cresent pointed to five growing trends in the conveyor industry:

1. Moving more with less energy. Increasingly, companies are looking for every opportunity to reduce their energy consumption. An unexpected place to find savings is in material handling systems. Conveyors equipped with motorized driven roller (MDR) systems are an energy-efficient alternative to legacy systems. MDRs operate with 24-volt DC power and only use electricity when they are actively moving cargo. Cresent says a typical 5-foot Chain Driven Live Roller (CDLR) conveyor system using approximately 0.75kWh of energy for operation could save up to 81% in energy usage by replacing it with a same-size MDR system. MDRs are also quiet and can handle a multitude of products such as packages, tote bins, pallets, tires, cartons and more.

2. Building up. Companies that need to scale up fast dont have time to wait for building expansions or the acquisition of additional square footage. Better utilization of vertical space in a warehouse or manufacturing facility through lifters and overhead conveyor systems is an affordable, effective solution that can be deployed relatively quickly. Lifters can help manufacturers and distributors move totes, cartons and pallets from one level to another with carriers designed to handle multiple load weights and sizes. In vertical farming applications, overhead style material handling systems can help with all-important space optimization.

3. Squeezing it in. Seasonal volume increases, unexpected spikes in demand and even sustained high order levels put pressure on manufacturers and distributors to get more mileage out of their existing floor space. For temporary or seasonal situations, flexible and expandable conveyors are an inexpensive investment that can be set up quickly during high volume months. Flexible conveyors can quickly form lines or curves to get materials where they need to be, and easily stored away when theyre not needed. A more permanent option is the addition of fixed, curved conveyors to an existing material handling system. Curves can be used in ascending or descending applications to help minimize the footprint within a multi-tier warehouse.

4. Addressing the need for speed. Higher throughput requirements are driving many manufacturers to explore conveyor options that reach faster speeds without compromising product or people safety. Some industries are taking a page from the airlines playbook by incorporating Interroll Portec systems that move more than 4 billion pieces of luggage annually. The speed and durability of Portec systems make them ideal for demanding material handling environments, such as distribution centers, parcel handling operations, food/wine/beverage facilities and vertical farms.

5. Automating processes. The shortage of workers, coupled with the growing adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies, means many manufacturers and distributors are turning to automated systems and robotics to meet productivity requirements. Material handling operations are no exception. Systems that integrate with radio frequency identification (RFID) and other technologies provide greater efficiency and improve accuracy. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) or warehouse robots are a good option for manufacturers and distributors of all sizes who need to transfer loads within their facilities quickly and without reconfiguring production lines or factory footprints. They can be deployed wherever and whenever needed, interfacing with existing conveyor systems and providing flexibility as volumes change.

For more information about Ultimation Industries, visit https://www.ultimationinc.com.

About Ultimation

Ultimation Industries, LLC is the leading direct-to-consumer conveyor manufacturer serving the automotive, food processing, vertical farming, heavy equipment, warehousing, fulfillment and delivery industries. The company offers a line of proprietary automation systems and is also the largest integrator of Jervis Webb Conveyor Systems. Ultimations e-commerce channel sells Ultimation, Interroll, Itoh Denki, Jervis Webb, and a wide range of other conveyor equipment. Ultimation was recognized in 2020 and 2022 as one of Inc. 5000s fastest growing private companies in America. Ultimation was also named a 2022 Michigan 50 Companies to Watch by Michigan Celebrates Small Business. Visit https://www.ultimationinc.com/ for the latest product information and news about Ultimation.
accsense In todays threat landscape, Cloud Identity Access Management systems are a single point of failure and highly vulnerable to security breaches, human error and insider threats, - Muli Motola, accSenSes co-founder and CEO.

accSenSe, the first and only enterprise ready business continuity platform for Okta, today announced that it has raised $5 million in seed funding. Joule Ventures, a US-based partner-only seed fund led the round, which included participation from Gefen Capital, Fusion, and independent investors. accSenSe will use the funding to expand to other IAM vendors and to accelerate new market expansion and hiring.

Recent high-profile data breaches, human error and insider threats plaguing Okta and other end user authentication solutions has shined a spotlight on the gap in IAM that exists between disaster recovery and business continuity. accSenSe, founded in 2020 by Dell EMC veterans, closes this gap by helping organizations maintain secure access to critical SaaS applications following any cyberattack or misconfiguration.

In todays threat landscape, Cloud Identity Access Management systems are highly vulnerable to security breaches, human error and insider threats, said Muli Motola, accSenSes co-founder and CEO. It is our mission to ensure that every IAM solution has optimal accessibility, maximum uptime and next-level operational efficiency. Thanks to our investors, we can accelerate our journey to ensure organizations have the secure access to critical SaaS applications they need for access and business continuity.

The Need for IAM Resilience

According to The Identity Defined Security Alliance (IDSA), a new study Reveals 84% of Organizations Experienced an Identity-Related Breach in the Last Year. Yet, most Identity Access Management systems dont provide out-of-the-box backup and disaster recovery features or options. The accSenSe platform is designed to make systems secure and resilient, with features such as:



One-click FULL tenant recovery

Fail-over access to a secondary tenant

Identify and investigate changes between different PiTs (Points in Time)

Low RTO and RPO ~10 mins

Infinite retention

The accSenSe Platform provides an air-gapped, reliable architecture. This enables organizations to protect their data assets and ensure business continuity, even in the face of sophisticated attacks.

accSenSes business continuity solution for Okta is changing how organizations think about disaster planning and recovery, said Brian Rosenzweig, co-founder and partner at Joule Ventures. With technology built to harden systems, mitigate downtime, and reduce costs, were extremely bullish on accSenSes potential to break into the mainstream cybersecurity market and become an essential solution for organizations of all sizes.

Earlier this year, accSenSe was recognized as a Gartner Cool Vendor in Identity-First Security.

For more information on accSenSe, visit accsense.io and follow them on social media.

About accSenSe Hailing out of Tel Aviv, Israel, the team at accSenSe, former EMC veterans have been exposed to the most challenging IT and security ecosystems in the world. Our mission is to protect and recover critical IAM systems with our state-of-the-art continuous access and business continuity platform. We provide Okta customers with both workforce and customer IAM needs with a single platform for continuous protection and real-time access management. The accSenSe platform is designed to make your IAM system resilient, with features such as one-click recovery, constant verification of backed-up data, periodic testing for keeping the backup up-to-date and the ability to identify changes between different PiTs (Points in Time).

About Joule Ventures

Joule Ventures is a U.S.-based partner-only seed fund providing best-in-class structural and commercialization support to Israels most compelling enterprise-focused entrepreneurs. Our dedication to founders is evident in the efficiency of our operations, the value we deliver starting well before the investment, and our commitment to day one relationship building between key stakeholders. In an increasingly transactional market, we remain a steadfast people-first, principles-driven investor.Via our presence in Tel Aviv, New York, and Atlanta we bring to bear a vast network of corporate and financial decision-makers willing to partner with dynamic products and platforms aimed at digitizing legacy industries, securing ever-expanding networks and devices, and providing decision-makers with better operational intelligence.
As the heavy rainfall in parts of California continues to create dangerous and deadly conditions, global non-profit Relief Responders is working to get their crews on the ground to start helping survivors. Tens of thousands of people are still under evacuation orders across the state, and the destructive storms are now blamed for killing at least 17 people in recent weeks.

The people of California need help, not just in the short-term, but for years to come, said Executive Director Prudence McMichael. At Relief Responders we promote long-term community resilience, health, and well-being for disaster survivors across the country and around the world.

Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia but working both domestically and internationally, the nonprofit recently launched a gofundme campaign to support its Hurricane Project, which provides financial assistance for those impacted by severe storms. Right now, their goal is to raise $20,000, some of which will also go toward providing water, clothing, and other supplies to victims of the California storms.

In addition to the Hurricane Project, Relief Responders also works with survivors of other types of disasters, including earthquakes, wildfires, landslides, and hydrological emergencies.

Prudence McMichael and Carson Stevens are available for remote or in-person interviews to talk about the Relief Responders mission, their planned effort in California, and other projects happening around the world.

For media inquiries, contact Prudence McMichael at 678.940.5975, or pr@reliefresponders.org. Visit reliefresponders.org for more information and click here to donate.
ICON Consultants, L.P., a Houston-based, woman-owned (WBENC Certified) staff augmentation and managed direct sourcing firm founded in 1998, is pleased to announce their CEO Pamela O'Rourke was chosen as one of the 25 Most Influential Women of the Mid-Market and a Top WBE CEO for 2022.

Launched in 2014 as part of their commitment to promoting gender equality in the Mid-Market, CEO Connect's Most Influential Women of the Mid-Market recognizes the women who are influencing change, innovation, and standards for excellence within mid-market companies (with revenue between $100 million and $3 billion). Honorees are evaluated by annual revenue, number of employees, first impression on social media, and community involvement.

As one of the top Mid-Market CEOs, Mrs. O'Rourke has demonstrated true leadership not only in her role as a CEO but also by thinking beyond the corporate walls to help improve lives and make changes in the human capital industry.

Women's Enterprise USA is proud to name its Top Women's Business Enterprise CEOs of 2022 - a group of visionary women business leaders who demonstrate the best and brightest of women-owned business enterprises. Mrs. O'Rourke is honored to be recognized along with her peers as one of WBE's Top CEOs.

To determine the Top CEOs, WE USA reached out to the regional partner organizations of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council and business leaders throughout the country to identify women business owners who have achieved measurable success, advanced innovation in their industries, improved their communities and contributed substantial time and effort to helping other WBEs.

Entrepreneur Pamela O'Rourke has grown ICON Consultants from a one-woman staffing company to an award-winning, multi-million-dollar business with more than 6,000 consultants across the United States and Canada. Since day one, Pamela has strived to build a business that provides ideal candidates to businesses and top-tier professional opportunities for all.

As a dynamic entrepreneur and leader, Pamela has won numerous awards, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the University of Houston Distinguished Alumni Award, Houston Business Journal's Diversity in Business Award, 2021 Outstanding Supplier Diversity Award, Most Admired CEO Honoree Award and WBEA's Advocate of the Year Award in 2021. Most recently, she was recognized by Women Presidents Organization as one of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned /Led Companies and as one of Houston's 50 Most Influential Women by Houston Woman Magazine. In addition, ICON has been ranked as the largest woman-owned business in Houston for three consecutive years (Houston Business Journal, 2016-2018) and ranked #3 in 2022.

O'Rourke has made a lasting impression in the human capital solutions industry and in the City of Houston. As a proud University of Houston alumna, she stays very involved with the university by serving on the board of the Bauer College of Business and the University of Houston Board of Visitors and attending and sponsoring countless sporting events. As a successful entrepreneur, she believes that her education was the foundation for her success which is why she has supported local students by funding scholarships, hosting campus education events, and providing internship opportunities at ICON.

About ICON Consultants

ICON Consultants, L.P. is a Houston-based, woman-owned (WBENC Certified) staff augmentation and direct sourcing firm founded in 1998 by Pamela O'Rourke, providing recruitment and payroll solutions for over twenty-four years with over 6,000 contractors on staff in the U.S. and Canada. To learn more, go to ICONconsultants.com.

About CEO Connection

CEO Connection is the only membership organization in the world reserved exclusively for CEOs of Mid-Market companies with between $100 million and $3 billion in revenue. Designed to provide you with customized and personalized access to people, information, resources, and opportunities that will enhance your career, save you time, and make you money, CEOC connects you with the people you should meet, the resources you need, and solutions to the unique challenges you face! With more than 17,000 mid-market CEOs in our community, CEOC functions as a proactive peer network where connections are made for you. For more information, visit http://www.ceoconnection.com.

About WE USA Women's Enterprise

Women's Enterprise magazine (WE USA) is the nation's foremost quarterly print and digital publication supporting Women's Business Enterprises (WBEs) and supply chain inclusion. In 1992 founder and CEO Don McKneely founded WE USA after recognizing the need for a news source to champion WBEs and the corporations who support them. Since its inception, WE USA has received numerous awards for its work in WBE supplier diversity development. These include recognition from the U.S. Department of Commerce Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). For more information, http://www.weusa.biz.
"Zipments continues to obsess over our customer's needs, and invent solutions on their behalf so they can focus on what they need to do - import and export products across the border."

Zipments.io, the Canadian-based Customstech startup, hasn't raised any funds - instead deciding to focus on growing its revenue & profitability with happy customers.

Having wrapped up calendar 2022 with its best revenue month ever in December, Zipments.io expects to continue to grow again in 2023.

Some highlights from calendar 2022:



Onboarded a Fortune 50 Transportation Company to Zipments.io

Onboarded over 200 carriers in Q4

Over 20,000 shipments were requested on the Zipments.io platform

A record number of PARS an PAPS Labels were ordered & shipped

Over 300 transportation companies updated their profiles on the Zipments carrier database

Zipments.io's Online Customs Invoice Platform continued to improve with new functionality

Zipments continues to add new services & products to make crossing the border invisible for carriers, importers/exporters and customs brokers.

"Zipments continues to obsess over our customer's needs, and invent solutions on their behalf so they can focus on what they need to do - import and export products across the border," said Elvis Cavalic, Product Manager at Zipments.

Elvis continued "Our technology roadmap is full of solutions that will make crossing the border into the USA or Canada as simple as delivering a domestic shipment."

About Zipments.io:

Zipments.io is the first multi-sided platform focused on the USA/Canadian/Mexico border that makes crossing the border invisible for carriers, importers/exporters, and customs brokers.

The time-saving features of Zipments.io include:
Project Haystack (http://www.project-haystack.org), a 501(c) non-profit organization focused on developing common standards to streamline the interchange and interoperability of data among IoT devices, smart equipment and systems, has announced the dates and venue for its Haystack Connect 2023 Conference.

Haystack Connect 2023 will take place June 5-7, 2023, at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Nashville Downtown in Nashville, Tennessee. This new-build hotel, which opened in late 2022, is the largest Embassy Suites in the United States. With an unparalleled location in the center of Nashville, the 30-story hotel extends high into Nashvilles skyline, offering breathtaking views from all angles and is within steps of the citys top attractions.

Haystack Connect provides a unique, open-forum for professionals involved in automation, control and the Internet of Things to learn and share the latest technologies and techniques for connecting systems and utilizing device data in applications including intelligent buildings, energy management, remote monitoring, and other IoT devices and applications.

Attendees include the community of Project Haystack supporters encompassing engineers, developers and other professionals from leading technology suppliers, system integrators and service firms who come together to further advance the state-of-the-art of managing, presenting and analyzing the vast amounts of data generated by todays IoT devices, smart equipment and systems.

The two-and-a-half-day long conference includes keynote presentations, a vendor exhibition hall, and a packed schedule of technical sessions covering data acquisition, communications, protocol translation, data visualization, analytics, data semantics, modeling and securityall critical technologies essential to using operational data to drive improved performance. This years event is the seventh Haystack Connect conference and the first in-person conference since 2019. More information about Haystack Connect is available at http://www.haystackconnect.org.

About Project Haystack

Since its formation in 2011, the Project Haystack Organization has grown tremendously providing the industry with an open-source, collaborative environment where people and companies work together to address the challenge of utilizing semantic modeling to streamline the interchange of device data among software applications.

The devices that make up the Internet of Thingsautomation systems, metering systems, sensors and smart devicesproduce tremendous amounts of data. This data is very hard to organize and use across different applications because it is stored in many different formats, has inconsistent naming conventions, and very limited data descriptors. In essence, data lacks information to describe its meaning. Without meaning, a time-consuming manual effort is required before value can be derived from the data.

To address this challenge, the Project Haystack community has defined an easy-to-use methodology to describe the meaning of data using a simple, extensible data-tagging approach and standard models for common equipment systems. The community-developed materials include detailed documentation describing the data modeling techniques, significant libraries of equipment models, and software reference implementations allowing software applications to easily consume smart device data that is marked-up with Haystack Tags. These data descriptors allow software applications to automatically consume, interpret, analyze and present data from IoT devices, smart equipment and systems.

Project Haystack is a member-driven organization. More information about the Project Haystack Organization, including a list of its members, is available at https://marketing.project-haystack.org.

Contact:

Marc Petock

Executive Secretary

Project Haystack Organization

Telephone: 816-347-3500

Email: marc.petock@lynxspring.com
ADvance - [18F]PI-2620 Phase 3 histopathology study We are proud to announce the start of this Phase 3 study, which marks another milestone on our vision to reduce the burden of disease by improving early diagnosis and characterization of chronic and life-threatening diseases.

Life Molecular Imaging (LMI) announces today that the first patient has been imaged with [18F]PI-2620 in the ADvance Phase 3 clinical study. This study is an open-label, multi-center, non-randomized pivotal Phase 3 study to assess the efficacy and safety of PET imaging with [18F]PI-2620 for detection of tau deposition in subjects with Alzheimers disease (AD) during lifetime when compared to histopathology obtained after death and completion of brain autopsy.

The ADvance study will be performed exclusively in the US and will enroll approximately 200 end-of-life subjects. The primary objective is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the visual assessment of [18F]PI-2620 PET imaging compared to postmortem histopathological verification of tau neurofibrillary pathology associated with AD as the standard of truth.

[18F]PI-2620 is a potentially best-in-class tau PET tracer with high binding affinity and selectivity for aggregated tau. Tau aggregates are an important indicator of neuronal death and correlate strongly with cognitive decline in AD. Accurate detection of aggregated tau may therefore contribute to improved diagnosis and advanced monitoring of cognitive performance in patients with dementia.

A validated tau PET tracer will lead to an improved understanding of the pathophysiology of tauopathies and may aid in establishing an earlier and more accurate clinical diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, said Dr. Ludger Dinkelborg, CEO of Life Molecular Imaging. We are proud to announce the start of this Phase 3 study, which marks another milestone on our vision to reduce the burden of disease by improving early diagnosis and characterization of chronic and life-threatening diseases. This unique tau imaging biomarker is an important addition to Neuraceq, our approved and globally available beta-amyloid targeting product, thereby complementing our neurodegeneration portfolio.

Dr. Andrew Stephens, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer at Life Molecular Imaging added: We are highly encouraged by the clinical data obtained to date with our tau PET tracer [18F]PI-2620. We are very much looking forward to continuing the development of [18F]PI-2620 as the potentially best-in-class tau PET tracer in patients with AD by starting this Phase 3 study.

The availability of a reliable and validated diagnostic agent to visualize disease development in patients with AD is critical for the successful development of novel therapies targeting amyloid and tau deposition. [18F]PI-2620 has the potential to become a diagnostic agent that can identify tau in AD and other tauopathies at an early stage and will help to advance the understanding of the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases.

Further details of the ADvance Phase 3 study design are available on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05641688).

About [18F]PI-2620

[18F]PI-2620 was discovered and developed as part of a research collaboration between AC Immune and LMI. LMI has the exclusive, worldwide license for research, development and commercialization of tau PET tracers generated within the discovery program. It has demonstrated robust brain uptake and fast wash-out in non-target regions, a broad imaging window between 30 and 90 minutes post-injection for AD, and excellent reproducibility between test and retest scans. The absence of significant off-target binding enables [18F]PI-2620 to detect and quantify early tau deposition in the brain.

[18F]PI-2620 is currently under investigation in several clinical studies as a targeted radiopharmaceutical for the detection of tau deposits in the human brain. [18F]PI-2620 also shows promise for non-AD tauopathies like progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS).

About Neuraceq (florbetaben 18F)

Indication

Neuraceq is a radioactive diagnostic agent indicated for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging of the brain to estimate beta amyloid neuritic plaque density in adult patients with cognitive impairment who are being evaluated for Alzheimers disease (AD) and other causes of cognitive decline.

A negative Neuraceq scan indicates sparse to no amyloid neuritic plaques and is inconsistent with a neuropathological diagnosis of AD at the time of image acquisition; a negative scan result reduces the likelihood that a patients cognitive impairment is due to AD. A positive Neuraceq scan indicates moderate to frequent amyloid neuritic plaques; neuropathological examination has shown this amount of amyloid neuritic plaque is present in patients with AD but may also be present in patients with other types of neurologic conditions as well as older people with normal cognition. Neuraceq is an adjunct to other diagnostic evaluations.

Limitations of Use

A positive Neuraceq scan does not establish the diagnosis of AD or any other cognitive disorder.

Safety and effectiveness of Neuraceq have not been established for (i) predicting development of dementia or other neurologic conditions and (ii) monitoring responses to therapies.

Important Safety Information

Risk for Image Interpretation and Other Errors

Neuraceq can be used to estimate the density of beta-amyloid neuritic plaque deposition in the brain. Neuraceq is an adjunct to other diagnostic evaluations. Neuraceq images should be interpreted independent of a patients clinical information. Physicians should receive training prior to interpretation of Neuraceq images. Following training, image reading errors (especially false positives) may still occur. Additional interpretation errors may occur due to, but not limited to, motion artifacts or extensive brain atrophy.

Radiation Risk

Administration of Neuraceq, like other radiopharmaceuticals, contributes to a patients overall long-term cumulative radiation exposure. Long-term cumulative radiation exposure is associated with an increased risk of cancer. It is important to ensure safe handling to protect patients and health care workers from unintentional radiation exposure.

Most Common Adverse Reactions

In clinical trials, the most frequently observed adverse drug reactions in 872 subjects with 1090 Neuraceq administrations were injection/application site erythema (1.7%), injection site irritation (1.1%), and injection site pain (3.4%).

For full prescribing information visit https://neuraceq.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PRESCRIBING-INFORMATION.pdf

About Life Molecular Imaging (LMI)

Life Molecular Imaging (LMI, formerly Piramal Imaging) was formed in 2012 with the acquisition of the molecular imaging research and development portfolio of Bayer Pharma AG. It is now part of the Alliance Medical Group (a member of the Life Healthcare Group) offering an integrated business including research and development laboratories, a network of cyclotrons, radiopharmacies and imaging facilities. By developing novel PET tracers for molecular imaging, LMI is focusing on a key field of modern medicine. The organization strives to be a leader in the Molecular Imaging field by developing innovative products that improve early detection and characterization of chronic and life-threatening diseases, leading to better therapeutic outcomes and improved quality of life. Please visit https://life-mi.com.

About Life Healthcare Group

Life Healthcare is a global people-centered, diversified healthcare organization listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Life Healthcare has over 38 years experience in the South African private healthcare sector, and currently operates 66 healthcare facilities in southern Africa. Services include acute hospital care, acute physical rehabilitation, acute mental healthcare, renal dialysis, and wellness, occupational health, primary health and emergency medical services. The Group owns Alliance Medical Group, the leading independent provider of medical imaging services (MRI, CT and PET scans) within Europe, operating internationally across 10 countries. Life Molecular Imaging, a division of Alliance is an integrated pharmaceutical business that includes research and development laboratories, access to a network of cyclotrons and radio-pharmacies and imaging facilities, with Life Radiopharma being Alliances distributor of radiopharmaceuticals to diagnose many types of diseases. Visit https://www.lifehealthcare.co.za/

For media inquiries

Contact:

Andre Mueller, Clinical & Preclinical R&D, Life Molecular Imaging, ADvance@life-mi.com
Flotsam & Jetsam: And Other Beach Treasures Being beach lovers and water enthusiasts, the authors hope that Flotsam & Jetsam: and Other Beach Treasures encourages everyone to appreciate and value the ocean and the treasures it holds.

Ocean lovers will have an enjoyable reading time with the release of Flotsam & Jetsam: and Other Beach Treasures by authors Dean E. Nichols and Annette P. Zack. Being beach lovers and water enthusiasts themselves, the authors hope that this book will encourage young readers to appreciate and value the ocean and the treasures it holds.

The place where the ocean meets the land has always been a magical place for kids and adults alike. Its a place where lots of living things exist and thrive. Its also a place where things wash up on shore from faraway places. Treasures from far and near that attract the interest of kids the world over and all one needs to do is look for them. Thats what this book is all about.

Kids searching the shoreline for shells, crabs, small fish, jellyfish, net floats, Indian artifacts and a host of other critters and treasures, including a lot of trash jettisoned off large and small vessels alike. Hopefully, this book will excite young children about the prospects and the fun of searching the shore for treasures and help them understand the importance of keeping the oceans and shores clear of trash.

This book is available online and can be purchased at online bookstores: http://www.writersrepublic.com, http://www.amazon.com and http://www.barnesandnoble.com.

About the Authors

Dean E. Nichols enjoyed visiting and living on the water almost all his life. He currently resides on an Island in the San Juan archipelago in Washington State. His family took numerous boating vacations when he was growing up and he bought his first boat (16 feet with a 25hp engine) when he was 16 years old. He has owned power boats, sailboats and has skippered a 28-foot sailboat from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska. In addition, he has sailed the British Virgin Islands and has taken numerous boat trips in the San Juan Islands and the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. He and his family have always searched the shores on those trips, dug clams, gathered mussels and tried to find historical spots that they had read about in books. Beach-combing never ceases to capture his interest and spark his imagination.

Annette P. Zack grew up in the Pacific Northwest. As a child, she spent many days at the beach with her parents and four siblings. Playing in the surf, picking oysters and digging for clams were their main activities. As an adult, along with her husband and two daughters, they took many trips to the Oregon Coast. They would visit the Marine Museum and search the beach for treasures. They also spent a lot of time along the Canadian Coast hiking, camping and building sandcastles. Flying kites and walks on the beach were great adventures. Now, her grandchildren are developing a love for the beach and its many fascinating aspects. She has been an artist for over 30 years and paint in both watercolors and oils.

Flotsam & Jetsam: and Other Beach Treasures by Dean E. Nichols and Annette P. Zack

Paperback: 9798885363938; $12.99

Publication Date: Aug 31, 2022; Pages: 30
DRINKS and Recharge at the 2023 DTC Wine Symposium Were excited to unveil the next generation of beverage alcohol ecommerce and regulatory technology at the DTC Wine Symposium.

Online wine technology leader DRINKS joins commerce leader Shopify and wine club and membership platform Recharge as sponsors of the 2023 DTC Wine Symposium. DRINKS and Recharge will share how wine merchants on Shopify leverage their solutions, including real-time compliance and tax solutions and bespoke wine club solutions for wineries. Shopifys continual innovation enables wineries and retailers to make the most of Shopify and its vast ecosystem, including its technology partners like DRINKS and Recharge.

DRINKS recently created a real-time tax and regulatory solution that enables wineries and retailers to scale online sales and create best-in-class customer experiences within a native Shopify checkout experience. Integrated into Shopify checkout, DRINKS allows alcohol merchants to take full advantage of the powerful Shopify ecosystem and use the same regulatory technology trusted by national wineries, Fortune 20 retailers, and ecommerce marketplaces.

Were excited to unveil the next generation of beverage alcohol ecommerce and regulatory technology at the DTC Wine Symposium, said Zac Brandenberg, DRINKS Co-Founder and CEO. Our groundbreaking real-time solution simplifies the complex regulatory landscape for wineries and retailers and allows them to focus on growing their online sales. Our partnerships with Shopify and Recharge add tremendous value to wineries with a safe, streamlined, and scalable solution for DTC sales.

Shopify continues to support beverage alcohol merchants all over the world, from traditional local wineries to some of the largest global portfolios. Our ecosystem of partners offers a real-time omnichannel commerce solution for wineries to meet the evolving complexities of regulatory and tax requirements, said Pete Jones, Head of Wine and Spirits at Shopify. With Shopify, wine merchants can leverage the platform that transacts 10% of ecommerce in the US to reach new audiences, build bespoke brands that resonate with customers via unique offerings, and future-proof their businesses. While macroeconomic conditions are rapidly evolving, forcing every business leader to re-evaluate existing solutions, Shopify and its vast ecosystem of agency and app partners continue to help lift the adult beverage industry to new heights.

Recharge will demonstrate at the show how wineries now have access to modern, personalized wine club management tools that raise cart values and create long-term, direct relationships with customers. The technology enables wineries to replicate the high-quality, personalized experience of tasting rooms online and at scale.

Recharge is focused entirely on merchants. Our robust subscription engine is now available to wineries to grow recurring revenue and create a powerful way to manage and expand customer relationships, said Recharges Lindy Crea, VP of Partnerships. We are thrilled with the opportunity to partner with wineries to make their DTC channels work for them.

Shopify, DRINKS, and Recharge can be found on January 18th and 19th, and will host an invitation-only dinner for wineries to learn from industry experts and network with like-minded professionals on January 18th.

DRINKS is available now on the Shopify App Store for wineries and retailers on Shopify Plus.

About DRINKS

DRINKS powers digital commerce for the $250 billion alcohol market. The company enables alcohol ecommerce for leading retailers, online marketplaces, and wineries, eliminating a century of red tape with simple-to-use enterprise-grade technology. Electriq, DRINKS digital growth marketing agency, extends the companys unparalleled beverage alcohol and ecommerce experience to create best-in-class customer experiences in the wine industry and beyond. The patented DRINKS PAIR platform leverages Artificial Intelligence to better understand the science of selling. DRINKS was named a Top Place to Work by Built In LA for the last five years, one of Americas Best Startup Employers by Forbes for two consecutive years, Most Innovative Retail Model by Modern Retail in 2020, and its Wine Insiders brand was named one of America's Best Value Retailers by Wine Enthusiast in 2021.

About Recharge

Recharge is the leading provider of subscription management software for e-commerce. Since 2014, merchants of all sizes have used Recharges billing and payment management solutions to grow their business by increasing customer lifetime value and reducing customer churn. Today, Recharge powers subscriptions for nearly 20 million subscribers across 15,000 merchants, including fast-growing brands such as Harrys, Oatly, Fiji Water, Billie, and Native. Though based in Santa Monica, CA, the remote-first company is distributed across 10 countries around the world. Recharge is privately funded by Summit Partners, ICONIQ Growth, and Bain Capital Ventures.
PL Bandy, MD, in her latest book titled Rehabit Your Life: A Doctors Notebook on Navigating Health & Well-being (published by Archway Publishing), offers a collection of high-yield, well-researched, and scientifically supported advice designed to help readers to forge a better path towards better health and greater wellbeing.

Written by a physician author/illustrator, Rehabit Your Life combines informative images with easy to read text. At its core are affordable, accessible and achievable steps. It is a tangible action plan rooted in the philosophy that small habits can lead to significant change, when done consistently. All recommendations are founded in hope, kindness, self-love and compassionate care.

Its no secret that our healthcare system is in crisis. So many of us are burdened by preventable chronic conditions, often related to habits and lifestyle choices. Individuals frequently encounter an impersonal and unaffordable health care system with little time or energy to provide actionable advice. In addition, people face barriers, including lack of insurance, lack of access to care, and a social system embedded in systematic racism and inequality, the author states.

Rehabit Your Life provides the action steps necessary to effectively maintain health, prevent disease, manage illness, and promote wellness. Visit https://www.archwaypublishing.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/835941-rehabit-your-life to get a copy.

Rehabit Your Life: A Doctors Notebook on Navigating Health & Well-being

By PL Bandy, MD

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 580 pages | ISBN 9781665729895

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 580 pages | ISBN 9781665729918

E-Book | 580 pages | ISBN 9781665729901

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple iBooks

About the Author

PL Bandy, MD is a board-certified family physician with over 23 years of experience in medical education. Across the span of her career, she has sought to provide individuals with practical tools and proven advice to take charge of their own health. She believes there is a solution to better health for everyone, no matter where they are in their journey toward better living. With a bachelors degree in studio art from Wheaton College, Illinois, and a medical degree from the University of South Carolina, she has combined these two passions to create an accessible approach to change. By sharing the high-yield habits that matter most in health, she hopes to create a better world and more vibrant communities so we can flourish together. One step at a time. Bandy holds a certification in culinary medicine from The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine, reflecting her belief that, food is medicine, and that approach to living is central to optimal health and well-being. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her wife and two cats, loves traveling, cooking, hiking, birding and enjoying everything the Pacific Northeast has to offer.

Simon & Schuster, a company with nearly ninety years of publishing experience, has teamed up with Author Solutions, LLC, the worldwide leader in self-publishing, to create Archway Publishing. With unique resources to support books of all kind, Archway Publishing offers a specialized approach to help every author reach his or her desired audience. For more information, visit archwaypublishing.com or call 844-669-3957.
We are excited to expand our presence into Europe and offer the most comprehensive digital asset data and market intelligence tools to institutions throughout the region

Amberdata, the US-based leader in digital asset data and analytics for institutional customers, announces its expansion into Europe with a new office in London.

Despite tumultuous bear market conditions, Amberdata has just celebrated its best quarter in the company's history, seeing unprecedented growth of more than 100% quarter-over-quarter which included the addition of many new international customers such as Nomura, PrimeBridge, Fyde, and QCP Capital.

Amberdatas continued growth showcases the tremendous ongoing demand from institutional investors to enter the digital asset class armed with Amberdatas extensive on-chain analytics and market data to properly assess risk, identify opportunities, and diversify their portfolios.

The new London office will provide European customers with local sales and support for Amberdata's full suite of products, including comprehensive, granular on-chain, DeFi, spot and derivatives market data, and derived analytics.

"We are excited to expand our presence into Europe and offer the most comprehensive digital asset data and market intelligence tools to institutions throughout the region," said Shawn Douglass, CEO of Amberdata. "The demand for institutional-grade data infrastructure and analytics continues to grow, and we are proud to be able to provide a more direct sales and support pipeline to all our current and future customers based in Europe and worldwide."

Amberdata's expansion into Europe is a testament to the company's commitment to providing the highest quality data and analytics to its customers, no matter where they are on the globe. The company looks forward to serving the growing European market and helping more institutional investors gain a competitive edge in the digital asset class.

About Amberdata

Amberdata is the leading provider of digital asset data. We deliver comprehensive data and insights into blockchain networks, crypto markets, and decentralized finance, empowering financial institutions with data for research, trading, risk, analytics, reporting, and compliance. Amberdata serves as a critical piece of infrastructure for financial institutions entering the asset class and participating in digital asset markets. To learn more, visit Amberdata.io
Clients like Amedisys inspire us to solve long-standing challenges around care transitions and ensuring our technology delivers maximum impact and value." - Annie Erstling, COO, Forcura

Forcura, a healthcare workflow management company, and Amedisys, a leading provider of quality home health, hospice, personal care and high-acuity care, today announced that they have expanded their long-time partnership. As 2023 begins, Amedisys is integrating Forcuras full suite of technology  including artificial intelligence (AI) for referral management and an e-signature tool, among others  into its operations, which will create efficiencies, empower patient care and advance the providers competitive position.

Through their expanded engagement, Amedisys will utilize a variety of new features, such as Forcuras Referral Automation tool to identify and accept new patient referrals at a faster pace. Additionally, the companys e-signature platform, Forcura Circle, allows Amedisys network of physicians to sign and process orders faster, without the hard costs of printing and faxing documentation.

Forcura has long served as a trusted vendor and partner for us, supporting our endeavors and growth as we become increasingly driven to digitize and automate our operations to enhance the patient experience, says Cristi Covington, VP of Business Transformation and Integration. As we enter 2023, now was the perfect time to invest in additional tools and capabilities that will make us more efficient and compelling to referring physicians and patients.

Amedisys first engaged Forcura in 2017 through its workflow management platform, which centralizes and digitizes patient documentation through a cloud-based system. Over the years, the two companies have regularly collaborated with one another to advance capabilities as the post-acute market evolves. Additionally, two Amedisys executives  Cristi Covington and Chris Corsetti, Manager of Strategy & Business Transformation  are serving in the inaugural cohort of Forcuras client advisory board.

Clients like Amedisys inspire us to solve long-standing challenges around care transitions and ensuring our technology delivers maximum impact and value, said Annie Erstling, chief operating officer of Forcura. Collaborating with clients is instrumental to our product development, especially our enhanced Workflow with our proprietary Referral Hub features that we plan to launch later this year. Kicking off 2023 with this great news really sets the momentum for all we plan to deliver.

About Forcura

Forcura, a healthcare workflow management company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, facilitates continuity of care and improves business performance for providers via its HITRUST-certified automated workflow, collaboration and analytics SaaS solutions. The company is deeply committed to empowering better patient care and elevating the role of post-acute in the broader healthcare continuum. The company is a KLAS certified technology vendor, is a certified Great Place to Work employer, and has ranked for the sixth consecutive year on the Inc. 5000. For more information visit forcura.com, call 800-378-0596 or follow Forcura on LinkedIn.

About Amedisys

Amedisys, Inc. is a leading healthcare at home Company delivering personalized home health, hospice, personal care and high-acuity care services. Amedisys is focused on delivering the care that is best for our patients, whether that is home-based personal care; inpatient hospital, palliative, and skilled nursing facility (SNF) care in their homes; recovery and rehabilitation after an operation or injury; care focused on empowering them to manage a chronic disease; or hospice care at the end of life. More than 3,000 hospitals and 90,000 physicians nationwide have chosen Amedisys as a partner in post-acute care. Founded in 1982, headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA with an executive office in Nashville, TN, Amedisys is a publicly held company. With approximately 21,000 employees, in 547 care centers in 37 states, Amedisys is dedicated to delivering the highest quality of care to the doorsteps of more than 445,000 patients in need every year, performing more than 11.5 million visits annually. For more information about the Company, please visit amedisys.com.
Arthur Grant Dignan announces his entry into the publishing scene with the release of Life in Reverse: A Road to Deafiesburg, Deafy Land (published by Archway Publishing).This novella follows a hearing family as they visit the town of Deafiesburg, Deafyland, and gain an unexpected opportunity to learn about a culture thats brand-new to all of them.

Paul and Mary Braden and their three children, Amy, Joe, and Toni, are on their way home from a month-long vacation when they begin driving through Deafyland, a unique state populated almost entirely by deaf people. Ten miles outside the states capital, Deafiesburg, a patrol car pulls the familys van over for speeding. The Bradens are surprised to discover that the officer is deafand this is just the start of their adventures in Deafyland. A traffic accident leaves them stranded in the town for several days, but what they learn while there expands their horizons in ways they could not have imagined.

An excerpt from the book reads:

Deafiesburg, Deafyland, is often overlooked by ordinary citizens because it is a unique state located in a region of the United States of America that is not yet included on the map. However, the state is also unique because it has all the landscapes that people love, such as mountains, open fields, lakes, rivers, and the ocean. When first stepping into the state, every tourist, oblivious to its name and unaware of its differences in language and culture, would say, Wow, what a beautiful state! I wonder if they have a job available for me here.

This novella is based on true and familiar experiences we faced. I think the hearing who are not familiar with the deaf would enjoy reading, and learning many things about the deaf world/culture/language. The deaf readers would enjoy because a majority of them would relate, Dignan says. When asked what he wants readers to take away from the book, he answers, I want the hearing readers to learn and realize that the deaf people are normal people. We can do anything but hear. I would like them to understand us more, and respect us in the same way we respect them. For more details about the book, please visit https://www.archwaypublishing.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/845571-life-in-reverse

Life in Reverse: A Road to Deafiesburg, Deafy Land

By Arthur Grant Dignan

Hardcover | 5.5 x 8.5in | 108 pages | ISBN 9781665735261

Softcover | 5.5 x 8.5in | 108 pages | ISBN 9781665735254

E-Book | 108 pages | ISBN 9781665735278

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Arthur Grant Dignan was born to deaf parents. He spent his childhood in Jacksonville, Florida, where he attended the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. He earned a bachelors degree in sociology from Gallaudet University and masters degrees in social work and deaf education from other institutions and served as an educator or administrator all over the nation in deaf schools and a couple of universities. He and his wife, Joyce, have three children and 12 grandchildren.

Simon & Schuster, a company with nearly ninety years of publishing experience, has teamed up with Author Solutions, LLC, the worldwide leader in self-publishing, to create Archway Publishing. With unique resources to support books of all kind, Archway Publishing offers a specialized approach to help every author reach his or her desired audience. For more information, visit archwaypublishing.com or call 844-669-3957.
Robert Wemheuer, a colonel in the United States Marine Corps who retired after twenty-five years of service, became an environmental remediation project manager for Fluor Daniel and Bechtel Corporations before embarking on thirteen years of work on the Yucca Mountain High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository Program in Nevada, and now lives in Georgetown, Texas, with his wife of fifty-three years, has completed his new book Unlike No Other: A Memoir of the Unlikely Yet Successful Career of a Marine Corps Aviator: the second volume in a compelling military autobiography offering a candid view of military life between 1974 and his retirement from the Corps in 1989.

Richard Rick Phillips, Major General, United States Marine Corps writes, Robert Wemheuer details many important events in his impressive career in a two-book memoir Unlike No Other. His main focus is to honor the unsung heroes with whom he served as well as to call out some not-so-good characters. The Marines, sailors, and civilians who helped him learn and grow from his missteps that helped him develop his leadership skills are his primary emphasis. His description of the career-building steps necessary to move from a simple civilian life to that of a company grade Marine Corps officer and naval aviator are told in a straightforward, unvarnished, and concise manner. He also describes his combat experiences flying the CH-53 helicopter during his three tours of duty in Vietnam, again focusing on the Marines who supported his efforts both in and out of the cockpit.

Robert looks at his career from a very interesting perspective. In our early years, he was one of the youngest superstars in our squadron, and you could always depend on him for anything.

Robert, nicknamed Bull, was in some really hot combat. In just one mission, his Marine H-53 squadron was supporting a large army unit in the Lam Son 719 battle in Laos in which the army lost 106 helicopters. Bull rescued under heavy, heavy fire two legendary Marine squadron mates (Charlie Pitman and Mike Wasco) who had been shot down. You could always depend on Robert, and he had many more hot missions.

Unlike No Other also describes the life of a Marine field grade officer as he ascends to higher ranks and greater responsibilities. It highlights the problems and potential political risks involved in navigating the military and civilian bureaucratic systems.

I had the pleasure of serving alongside Robert Wemheuer over my long career in the Marine Corps. He tells it like it is and always will.

Colonel Wemheuers goal in writing his memoir is to highlight the accomplishments of the Marines, sailors, and civilians who he had the honor to work with during his twenty-five-year career. His hope is that this second book also will give them some of the recognition they deserve for doing an outstanding job day in and day out, generally receiving little or no recognition for their work.

Published by Page Publishing, Robert Wemheuers engrossing book is a must-read for military history buffs as well as anyone interested in an unvarnished portrait of a career in the US Marine Corps.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase Unlike No Other: A Memoir of the Unlikely Yet Successful Career of a Marine Corps Aviator at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing understands that authors should be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.


Mansher Singh MD It is an honor to be recognized for the comprehensive, individualized, and compassionate care we strive to provide our patients with each day.

Facial Plastic Surgery Group of NYC (http://www.facialplasticsurgerygroupnyc.com), located in Manhattan, NY, announced today that its founder and medical director, Dr. Mansher Singh, has been named a Top-Performing Doctor and Second Most Reviewed Plastic Surgeon on RealSelf in 2022. The board certified surgeon noted, It is an honor to be recognized for the comprehensive, individualized, and compassionate care we strive to provide our patients with each day. The double Ivy League trained plastic surgeon specializes in facial plastic surgery, including buccal fat removal, deep plane facelifts, mid-facelifts, and mini facelifts in the Greater Manhattan (NYC, NY) area.

Dr Singh is amazing. I did my facelift at this doctor and the procedure was more than excellent. I healed perfectly. I cannot even see the incisions. His bedside care was excellent. He called to make sure I was ok after the procedure. My face looks natural yet different. You can easily see the youthfulness along with the difficulty of knowing I had something done. I cant stop looking at myself in the mirror. ~ RealSelf

RealSelf.com is a renowned online resource for patients seeking verified information about cosmetic procedures and contacting physicians. People across the country (and world) utilize RealSelf to access unbiased information, patient reviews / before & after images, treatment costs, and authenticated ratings for verified doctors across the country. Millions of Americans depend upon RealSelf to make thoughtful, self-assured decisions regarding medical care.

I had a lower facelift, neck lift and upper blepharoplasty by Dr. Mansher Singh. From the initial consult until now (16 days post op) Dr. Singh demonstrated the highest quality of care, the greatest level of skill and the most kindness and empathy of any healthcare provider I've seen. He truly shows that he cares for his patients. He gives out his cell number, calls and checks on me frequently and encourages me to keep in touch with him as well. I am 50 and had face sagging, jowls I detested and my upper eyelids were very droopy. Dr. Singh transformed my face and I am SOOO happy with the results! I feel as though my result is amazing and that my dream has been fulfilled. Every morning I am reminded of how happy I am because of the amazing difference I now see in the mirror. I look young again and I am beyond please with my results and overwhelmed by your patience and kindness. I could not be more pleased. Thank you, Dr. Singh! You have my highest recommendation for any new patient! ~ RealSelf

The 2022 RealSelf Top-Performing Doctor is known for his cutting-edge and advanced techniques in the facelift plastic surgery field. Dr. Singh of the Facial Plastic Surgery Group of NYC performs a plethora of facial plastic surgery procedures every day at his best in class NYC practice.

About

The Facial Plastic Surgery Group of NYC (Upper East Side, Manhattan, NY) exclusively specializes in the most advanced and modern techniques in facial plastic surgery including deep plane facelifts, mini-facelifts, mid-facelifts, liquid facelifts, eyelid surgery (blepharoplasty), endoscopic brow surgery, neck & chin lifts & liposculpture (liposuction) and facial rejuvenation. The New York based facial plastic surgery practice offers complimentary in-person and virtual consultations - from anywhere in the world.

Dr. Mansher Singh

Facial Plastic Surgery Group of NYC

905 5th Avenue, Floor 1

New York, NY 10021

(646) 233-4175

https://www.facialplasticsurgerygroupnyc.com


Greenberg Traurig, LLP added Christopher Marks to its Boston office as an associate in the firms Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice and Distressed High Yield Bond Workout Group.

Marks focuses his practice on advising secured creditors in complex bankruptcy and restructuring matters. He has experience representing secured creditors in chapter 11 reorganization cases and out-of-court workouts as well as matters involving fraudulent conveyance and breach of guaranty actions.

Marks obtained his J.D. from Boston College Law School and his B.B.A. and B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

About Greenberg Traurigs Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice: Greenberg Traurigs internationally recognized Restructuring & Bankruptcy Practice provides clients with deep insight and knowledge acquired over decades of advisory transaction and litigation experience. The team has a broad and diverse range of experience developing creative and effective solutions to the highly complex issues that arise in connection with in- and out-of-court reorganizations, restructurings, workouts, liquidations, and distressed acquisitions and sales. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the firms vast resources and invaluable business network, the team helps companies navigate challenging times and address the full range of issues that can arise in the course of their own restructurings or dealings with other companies in distress.

About Greenberg Traurigs Distressed High Yield Bond Workout Group: Greenberg Traurigs Distressed High Yield Bond Workout Group consists of more than 25 attorneys across the nation. The dedicated team of attorneys skillfully handles the life cycle of municipal bond investmentsfrom the issuance of new debt to the creative resolution of distressed and defaulted situations. The team collectively has decades of hands-on experience in the industries financed with municipal debt, including project finance, dirt deals, charter schools, private schools, higher education, student housing, hospitals, proton centers, toll roads and bridges, senior living facilities, military housing, prisons, hotel and convention centers, solid waste facilities, and renewable energy. The group takes an interdisciplinary approach to bond workouts, combining the teams considerable experience handling distressed high-yield bond situations including workouts, in- and out-of-court restructurings, receiverships, and bankruptcies with the expertise of more than 2,500 attorneys in 43 locations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The team offers clients access to experienced professionals in virtually all related areas of the law including tax and tax credits, securities law and enforcement, and litigation, as well as sector-specific knowledge.

About Greenberg Traurigs Boston Office: Established in 1999, Greenberg Traurigs Boston office is home to more than 80 attorneys practicing in the areas of bankruptcy and restructuring, corporate, emerging technology, energy, environmental, financial services, gaming, governmental affairs, intellectual property, labor and employment, life sciences and medical technology, litigation, public finance, real estate, and tax. An important contributor to the firm's international platform, the Boston office includes a team of nationally recognized attorneys with both public and private sector experience. The team offers clients the value of decades of helping clients in complex legal matters and hands-on knowledge of the local business community, supported by the firm's vast network of global resources.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2500 attorneys in 43 locations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm reported gross revenue of over $2 Billion for FY 2021 and is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law 100, Am Law Global 100, and NLJ 250. On the debut 2022 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard, it is a Top 15 firm. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 5.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab and the Center for Resource Solutions Green-e Energy program certifies that the firms U.S. offices are 100% powered by renewable energy. The firm is often recognized for its focus on philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Harris Teeter is thrilled to announce a hiring event scheduled for Thursday, January 19. Harris Teeter is ready to hire hundreds of new associates in roles across all departments for full-time, regular employment. Harris Teeter is eager to add qualified associates to its retail operations, which include roles such as produce clerks, bakery clerks, plus hourly and salaried leadership roles. The event will take place from 11 a.m.  7 p.m. at all Harris Teeter locations.

We are excited to hire full-time, permanent associates who are seeking a career with a purpose, said Lauren Furr, Director of Learning and Development & Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We are eager to welcome new associates to the Harris Teeter family who will help us live our purpose to enrich lives: one meal, one family, one associate, and one community at a time.

At Harris Teeters last hiring event, the company made offers to more than 300 candidates.

Harris Teeter offers resources, benefits and training to support and develop associates and make their lives easier including:

Health & Wellness



Medical benefits for full-time associates

Free counseling sessions available 24/7 as well as other mental health resources

Life insurance

Financial



401(k) plans with a company matched contribution

Saving plans and flexible paycheck delivery options

Profit sharing twice a year

Continuing Education Assistance



Partnerships with Queens University and the University of Phoenix to help associates further their educational opportunities

Educational leave of absence for associates who wish to continue employment with Harris Teeter while away at college

Vacation, Personal Hours & Associate Perks



Paid vacation days, paid personal days plus paid days for jury duty and bereavement

Flexible scheduling

Associate-only discounts on select grocery items

If interested in joining the Harris Teeter team, visit any Harris Teeter location on Thursday, Jan. 19 between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. An applicant should go to the Customer Service Desk upon arrival and ask to speak to an interviewer about a position with Harris Teeter. The team will interview every candidate and discuss job opportunities in that location.

The company encourages all interested applicants to explore available jobs at http://www.harristeeter.jobs and apply online. This step is preferred but not mandatory for an interview.

About Harris Teeter

Harris Teeter, with headquarters in Matthews, N.C., is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR). The regional grocery chain employs approximately 35,000 associates and operates stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and the District of Columbia.
New Christians, mature Christians, and those who are questioning what they believe, this Bible study guide was written with you in mind

Author Sherrie Pruitt wants to walk you through Getting to Know Jesus Christ: Getting to Know the Names and Characteristics of Jesus from A-Z ($16.49, paperback, 9781662865466; $6.99, e-book, 9781662865473).

An experienced Bible study leader herself, Pruitt has prepared this study for both group and individual use, encouraging readers to use the daily verses and reflection to think deeply about the character and names of Jesus and how to emulate Him in our daily lives.

New Christians, mature Christians, and those who are questioning what they believe, this Bible study guide was written with you in mind, said Pruitt.

Sherrie Pruitt has served local congregations in a variety of capacities, by leading womens Bible studies and groups, and participated in three mission trips to the Dominican Republic, as well as being part of the LifeSong Church Orlando Leadership Team and its Financial Administrator. Pruitt and her husband, Larry, recently moved from Florida to North Carolina to be closer to family.

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Xulon Press, a division of Salem Media Group, is the worlds largest Christian self-publisher, with more than 15,000 titles published to date. Getting to Know Jesus Christ is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.
North Avenue: a fond remembrance of family, friends, and the great outdoors. North Avenue is the creation of published author Jeannine Guern, an avid historic investigative researcher who writes history in the Black Hills of South Dakota and gives guided tours of Deadwood.

Guern shares, This book is a short summary of the authors life as a child growing up in Connecticut.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Jeannine Guerns new book features delightful artwork crafted by Judith Gosse.

Guern shares a heartfelt celebration of the fond memories and family traditions that will tug at the heartstrings and encourage a sense of connection.

Consumers can purchase North Avenue at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about North Avenue, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Morrison Foerster, a leading global law firm, is pleased to announce the arrival of Sam Riley, who joins as a partner in the Transactions Department, enhancing the firms financial services and FinTech offering in London. Riley brings sophisticated, cross-practice, and multijurisdictional experience across financial services, banking, digital payments, and securities regulation, with a particular focus on digital assets (including stablecoins/crypto), and emerging technology.

Riley has a broad regulatory and transactional practice, built around financial regulation, FinTech, digital innovation, emerging technology in financial services, as well as derivatives. She joins Morrison Foerster from the Bank of England, where she most recently advised Sir Jon Cunliffe in his role as Chair of the Committee for Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and co-chair of CPMI-International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and related international engagement, including at the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and the G20.

Rileys most recent role also involved developing and coordinating international policy and strategy regarding financial market infrastructure (including clearing, settlement, and payments) and policy and regulatory development with respect to innovation in financial services, such as digital assets (including stablecoins and other digital currencies). She was also involved in international work on the G20 cross-border payments roadmap. While at the Bank of England, Riley also worked on the impact of, and response to, the UKs withdrawal from the EU.

Sam will be a terrific asset for our clients across the technology and financial services sectors who are constantly innovating, looking to launch new products, and grappling with the ever-evolving FinTech, cryptocurrency, and digital asset markets and regulatory landscape surrounding those, said Paul Friedman, Morrison Foersters Managing Partner for Europe. The combination of her legal experience with her most recent role at the Bank of England, in which she interacted extensively with senior UK and global policymakers and regulators, will prove invaluable to our clients, in particular on their cross-border matters.

We work with some of worlds largest and most innovative financial technology companies. At the Bank of England, Sam has been right in the middle of the development of the regulatory response to emerging financial technologies. She is uniquely placed to advise our clients and will play an important role within our leading global FinTech offering, said Andrew Boyd, Co-Managing Partner of Morrison Foersters London office.

Rileys arrival also highlights the continued growth of Morrison Foersters London office and expansion of key practices. It closely follows the addition of a four-strong IP team led by partner Steven James in London in December 2022. In March 2022, the firms London office also welcomed Marie-Claire Strawbridge as a partner, expanding its global Competition/Antitrust and UK National Security capabilities. Riley is also the latest addition to the firms global financial services and FinTech capabilities, following the arrival in 2021 of Maria Earley in Washington, D.C., and Jeff Silberman in New York.

I am drawn to Morrison Foersters industry-leading reputation in the technology, FinTech, and financial services sectors which make it a great fit for my experience, as well as its fantastic culture, said Riley. The regulatory landscape affecting the financial services sector writ-large, from cryptocurrency to cross-border payments, and derivatives to digital innovation, is constantly evolving. I look forward to leveraging my public sector and private practice experience to help the firms clients navigate this constantly evolving environment and anticipate challenges as they seek to innovate. I am excited to join the firms dynamic London office and work closely with my new colleagues across multiple transactional and regulatory practices both in London and globally as we continue to amplify the firms offering across financial services and FinTech.

Riley obtained her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Birmingham and LPC from the College of Law. She is admitted to practice in England and Wales. Riley previously practiced at an international law firm, where she spent more than eight years advising a variety of clients on banking, securitization, derivatives, regulatory, and structured finance mandates. She later moved into an in-house role as Assistant General Counsel at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, where she chaired several high-profile industry working groups and developed a number of successful regulatory implementation initiatives, before taking on her senior management and advisory role at the Bank of England. Riley was featured in Global Banking Regulation Reviews 45 under 45 list, celebrating the leading next-generation banking regulation specialists from around the world, in 20202021.

About Morrison Foerster

Morrison Foerster is a leading global law firm that transforms complexity into advantage for its clients. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, banks, consulting and accounting firms, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firms commitment to client service, leadership in market-changing deals and impact litigation, and values-based culture, Morrison Foerster was recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyers 2021 and 2022 A-List. Year after year, the firm receives significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500 across their various guides, including Global, USA, Asia Pacific, Europe, UK, and Latin America. Morrison Foerster most recently earned four practice area rankings and two individual recognitions in the 2023 edition of the Chambers FinTech Guide. Our lawyers passionately care about delivering legal excellence while living our values. Morrison Foerster has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community and society through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education and fostering the wellbeing of children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, enforcing the right to asylum, and safeguarding the environment.
Andrew Joseph Zaragoza Jr. announces his return into the publishing scene with the release of Second Chances in The Fall: An Account of Hope (published by Archway Publishing), a visualization of poetry and shorts that tell the story of a young man finding his path alongside humanity.

In his sophomore collection of prose and poetry, Zaragoza begins to unravel his story further as he recounts his time as an emerging adult into the world of mental health and finding his purpose. After experiencing loss from family members passing, displacement, and experiencing the reformation of his family unit as well as unrequited love, the main character aspires for something greater as he embarks into his own psyche and a relationship to the outer world of Los Angeles.

Readers need a space to feel comfortable when exploring pain, grief, and essentially an experience where hope arrives in the subtlest of places throughout it all, Zaragoza says. He adds, It is different because it was written by me, a Los Angeles based bicultural man of color. I am someone who has had both personal and vocational experiences in a mental health journey. I want to share more on it.

When asked what he wants readers to take away from the book, Zaragoza answers, I want readers to have a sense of hope. Something that returned from all the times of darkness and to carry with them as they return to their lives after reading the book. Given throughout challenges in school, work, relationships, or just trying to make sense of it all, that there is something bigger than us that we should look forward to. For more details about the book, please visit https://www.archwaypublishing.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/825582-second-chances-in-the-fall

Second Chances in The Fall: An Account of Hope

By Andrew Joseph Zaragoza Jr.

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 214 pages | ISBN 9781665726702

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 214 pages | ISBN 9781665726726

E-Book | 214 pages | ISBN 9781665726719

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Andrew Joseph Zaragoza is a fellow Angeleno born in Lakewood, California and graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills. His work can be found via two internationally published collections titled XI: A Collection of Poetry on Being Human and Second Chances in the Fall: An Account of Hope. Notable collaborations include Simon and Schuster's imprint Archway Publishing, Sim's Library of Poetry, Field Trip Health, The Walt Disney Company, and local organizers in the Los Angeles, Orange County, and Long Beach regions

Simon & Schuster, a company with nearly ninety years of publishing experience, has teamed up with Author Solutions, LLC, the worldwide leader in self-publishing, to create Archway Publishing. With unique resources to support books of all kind, Archway Publishing offers a specialized approach to help every author reach his or her desired audience. For more information, visit archwaypublishing.com or call 844-669-3957.
Visit PIs booths at BIOS & Photonics West 2023, starting January 28, 2023 in San Francisco

This year at Photonics West, PI will introduce several new technologies along with the latest state-of-the-art precision motion and automation systems. PI engineers are on-hand to answer questions and propose solutions for precision motion projects in industry, OEM, and research applications.

Magnetic Levitation Technology for Frictionless Precision Guiding in 6 Degrees of Freedom

A new technology demonstrator will be on hand, explaining the advantages of Magnetic Levitation for ultra-high precision nanopositioning and automation applications. Magnetic Levitation allows full control of motion in all 6 degrees of freedom. PIs maglev linear stage provides active guidance in 5 degrees of freedom without any contact or friction.

6-DOF Direct Drive, High-Speed Photonics Alignment Systems

Based on air bearing technology, non-contact direct drive motors, and advanced control algorithms, a new low-profile 6-axis alignment system provides higher flexibility and throughput. Due to the virtually unlimited life of air bearings, this system is predestined for 24/7 alignment automation of photonic components.

High Force UHV-Compatible Nanopositioning Stages Based on V8 PiezoWalk Motor Technology

A new, ultra-high precision nanopositioning stage, based on V8 PiezoWalk motor technology is introduced. One of the advantages of this principle is the extremely high holding force of 110N when powered off, providing extreme in-position stability devoid of jitter.

High-Speed Steering Mirrors for Free Space Optical Communication  Based on Piezo and Voice-Coil Technologies

PI provides high performance laser steering mirror platforms for photonics and free-space optical applications. Both technologies will be demonstrated in laser-fiber coupling and point-to-point beam steering systems. High speed multi-axis tip-tilt mirror systems are also essential in laser processing and image stabilization.

Microscopy Imaging and Bio-Nanotechnology Solution Packages

Long-travel fast-focus nanopositioning stages based on piezo and voice-coil technologies for high resolution microscopy applications are demonstrated, along with new compact OEM control modules. The latest rapid nano-focus stages provide industry-leading resolution, speed, and travel ranges. A line of self-locking, high-stability XY microscope stages, with low profile is also shown.

See Product Demos and Applications of PI Automation and Nanopositioning Products

Read Application Articles in PIs Tech Blog

Working with You

PIs in-house engineered solutions have enabled customers around the world to increase their productivity and technological advantage for 5 decades. With a large basis of proven motion technologies and methodologies, PI is in the position to quickly modify existing designs or provide a fully customized OEM solution to fit the exact requirements of your application, including fast photonics alignment engines, multi-axis automation sub-systems, nanopositioning stages for semiconductor manufacturing, microscope scanning stages, and piezo transducers / sensors.

PI Americas

https://www.pi-usa.us | info@pi-usa.us | (508) 832-3456

Applications Blog | Videos | Twitter | LinkedIn
Embrace Orthodontics in Delmar, NY My number one priority is offering gentle but effective orthodontic solutions. I look forward to serving patients at Embrace Orthodontics and helping them achieve their dream smiles.

Embrace Orthodontics is pleased to announce the opening of its new practice in Delmar, New York. The practice offers a full range of orthodontic treatments for children and adults. Embrace Orthodontics is a state-of-the-art practice that provides the latest orthodontic technology with a compassionate approach to treatment.

In addition to the new practice, Embrace Orthodontics launched a brand new website (https://www.albanycountybraces.com/) for patients and families to learn more about the practice and book appointments for treatment. The new website also provides patients with an online resource for information about orthodontic treatments, including retainers and clear aligners. The practices website features an administrative appointment scheduler, a patient portal, and patient education resources, including how to find out which orthodontic treatment may be right for you.

"Im thrilled to begin providing those in Delmar and the greater Albany area with the highest quality orthodontic care," said Dr. Andrew Palermo. "My number one priority is offering gentle but effective orthodontic solutions. I look forward to serving patients at Embrace Orthodontics and helping them achieve their dream smiles."

Dr. Palermo is a skilled orthodontist that graduated Magna Cum Laude from Union College in Schenectady before completing his DDS at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine. He then went on to the University of Southern Californias Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry to complete his Advanced Orthodontic Certification & M.S. in Craniofacial Biology. Dr. Palermo is an active member of the American Association of Orthodontists and a diplomat for the American Board of Orthodontics. He is passionate about helping patients of all ages achieve their dream smiles.

Dr. Palermo is joined by a dedicated team of orthodontic technicians, as well as a support therapy dog named Joey (Jojo), whose main goal is to make their patients as comfortable as possible throughout their treatment time.

Embrace Orthodontics provides a full range of orthodontic care to patients in Delmar, NY, and the surrounding areas. The practice strives to create a fun and comfortable atmosphere for patients. Orthodontic treatments that are available for patients include:



Damon System Braces: This kind of braces system involves a self-ligating bracket that does not require the elastic ties that most traditional braces do. Damon braces are also reported to move teeth comfortably and efficiently. Patients who have Damon braces will require follow-up appointments every 8-10 weeks. These braces can be worn clear or in an assortment of colors for younger patients

Invisalign and other Clear Aligners: The Invisalign system can straighten teeth with clear, custom-fit aligners instead of metal brackets. Invisalign is worn all day and night except when eating or brushing teeth, and most patients find the aligners to be very comfortable.

About Embrace Orthodontics

Embrace Orthodontics is located at 500 Kenwood Ave, Delmar, NY 12054. To make an appointment, text or call (518) 439-9339 or request an appointment online at https://www.albanycountybraces.com.
Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. is pleased to announce Patrick A. Salvi II has been selected to The Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America for 2023.

Each year, Lawdragon selects their list of 500 Leading Lawyers in America through a meticulous process that includes editorial research by Lawdragon staff, submissions from law firms, and an online nomination form that allows visitors to recommend and comment on their favorite attorneys.

As ever, we are grateful for the bounty of amazing nominations that fueled our journalistic research for this years 500. The group is 41 percent female and 26 percent inclusive. Heres to a great year of lawyering, with inspiring feats of courtroom brilliance, uncommon bravery, and a pursuit of justice for all, Lawdragon wrote in the official 2023 announcement.

Patrick A. Salvi II concentrates his legal practice in cases concerning catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice and wrongful death. 2022 was a big year for Mr. Salvi, who is the managing partner of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchards Chicago office. In June, he took office as the 2022-2023 President of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.

In August, Mr. Salvi took the first case against medical device sterilization plant Sterigenics to trial. Mr. Salvi represented breast cancer survivor Sue Kamuda, who was one of nearly 800 plaintiffs who filed lawsuits against the Willowbrook plant for toxic emissions. During trial, Mr. Salvi argued Sterigenics knew the risks of using ethylene oxide yet continued to utilize excessive and unnecessary amounts of the carcinogen for decades without warning the community. He utilized company emails to show that executives knew since the 1980s that EtO exposure posed health risks to humans but failed to cut back in order to maintain profitability. The jury returned their verdict on Sept. 19 after a five-week trial, awarding $363 million in compensatory and punitive damages. The verdict is the highest jury verdict ever awarded to an individual plaintiff in Illinois history.

For more information, please contact Marcie Mangan at (312) 372-1227 or mmangan@salvilaw.com.
Dr. Sam Hanna has joined Abt Associates as Chief Solutions Officer. Hanna will serve on Abts Executive Leadership Team and will oversee the Research, Digital, Technical Assistance, and Equity teams focusing on delivering high-quality, innovative solutions to our clients most pressing problems.

Hanna is an experienced executive, most recently serving as Senior Advisor at USAID for the U.S. Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) & Global Health Bureau. He advised the agency on its global health strategy and technology efforts across country teams in Africa, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Prior to USAID, he held leadership positions, including Chief Innovation, Strategy and Marketing Officer roles, at consulting firms such as PwC and Deloitte. At PwC, he led the product/solutions incubator, resulting in a pipeline of over $500 million and new revenue of $250 million.

Hanna has been active in academia, launching a masters program in Health Analytics at The George Washington University, where he taught management, leadership, strategy, innovation, and emerging tech, from artificial intelligence to blockchain. He also served as a professor and Associate Dean at American University, where he developed graduate and undergraduate programs centered on healthcare, data science, and workforce skills development.

Sam brings a wealth of knowledge and experience related to technology, health, and innovation, said Abt President and CEO Kathleen Flanagan. Hes an extraordinary addition to our leadership team.

Hanna holds a Ph.D. in Translational Health Science from The George Washington University, an M.B.A. in marketing and entrepreneurship from Babson College, and a B.S. in business administration, with a concentration in accounting and information technology management, from Christian Brothers University. He also holds certificates in Leadership and Management from Harvard University, a certificate in Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare from MIT, and is a Six Sigma Black Belt and Lean Certified.

###

About Abt Associates

Abt Associates is a global consulting and research firm that combines data and bold thinking to improve the quality of people's lives. We partner with clients and communities to advance equity and innovationfrom creating scalable digital solutions and combatting infectious disease, to mitigating climate change and evaluating programs for measurable social impactand more.

http://www.abtassociates.com

Contact: Stan Crock

stan_crock@abtassoc.com

(301) 347-5402
Adam Strachan ''Businesses operating F-gas refrigeration equipment must adapt in response to legislative changes and to do so effectively, they need to stay informed as to whats coming.''

Star Refrigerations Technical Sales Specialist, Adam Strachan, will present a webinar hosted by the Cold Chain Federation on Tuesday 31st January 2023 to discuss the European Commissions draft revision to the F-gas Regulation. The webinar entitled What does the proposed new F-Gas Regulation revision mean for operators of cooling equipment will examine the revised proposals drafted to meet 2050 climate change targets faster and decrease the release of greenhouse gases with high global warming potential into the environment.

Many synthetic fluorinated gases (F-gases), have a global warming impact that can be thousands of times more damaging than CO2 . In the webinar, which runs from 12.30  1.15 PM, Adam will look at how the proposed changes will affect businesses, highlighting possible acceleration of the 79% decrease in F-gas usage that could be brought forward from 2030 to 2024. He will also advise on how the quota management and tax introduced by the new revision will result in a reduction of refrigerant availability over time, while demand is expected to increase, subsequently driving up prices.

At the halfway point of the existing phase-down timeline, the European Commission has proposed a new draft revision to the F-gas Regulation (5th April 2022) to achieve more stringent targets. This includes an acceleration in the current CO2 equivalent reduction targets from 79% to 95% reduction by 2030, with the ultimate aim to cut F-gas quotas by 97.5%, in time for 2050 Net Zero targets. The draft also includes phase down steps beyond 2030 which are reinforced by bans and restrictions on equipment, leak detection schedules, and a stronger plan to trace refrigerants that enter the UK marketplace through customs.

Attendees will also learn about alternative refrigerants, including ammonia and CO2 based technologies, as well as HFOs - the fourth generation of synthetic refrigerant gases.

Adam Strachan, said It is likely that the new measures proposed in the latest draft F-gas regulation revision will come into force next year as international pressure to reduce F-gas emissions mounts. However, continuous calls from the EUs Environmental Committee for an outright ban and an even steeper phase down than the April 2022 proposal, suggest that the latest set of revisions may not be the last.

Businesses operating F-gas refrigeration equipment must adapt in response to legislative changes and to do so effectively, they need to stay informed as to whats coming. I will be examining this in the webinar and answering any questions that arise.

Experts predict that the revised regulations will result in shaving around 0.5 degree Celsius off the global temperature increase, with a 55% reduction of fluorinated gas usage already being achieved as of June 2022.

The webinar, which is organised by the Cold Chain Federation - the trade body representing the UK temperature controlled storage and distribution industry - is set to offer attendees valuable information to address future challenges in light of forthcoming proposals to the new EU F-gas phase down legislation.

Streaming live on Tuesday 31st January between 12.30 and 1.15 PM, the webinar is open to both members and non-members. To attend the free event, register at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6090179941045231704 . Those who register their interest will also receive a copy of the recording for later viewing.

To learn more about The Cold Chain Federation, visit https://www.coldchainfederation.org.uk

To find out more about Star Refrigerations F-gas Regulation-compliant refrigeration systems, go to https://www.star-ref.co.uk
Sunshine Dentistry Were very honored to earn this flattering recognition. It is truly our privilege to treat patients of all ages, and at all stages of life.

Sunshine Dentistry has been named a 2022 Best of Jersey Shore business in the fields of Dentistry, Cosmetic Dentistry, and Pediatric Dentistry. Sunshine Dentistry is an all-age dental practice that provides lifelong care for patients beginning with a childs first dental exam. The practice offers preventative care, restorative care, pediatric care, cosmetic dental treatments, treatment for TMJ disorders, and treatment for sleep disorders including sleep apnea.

"We're very honored to earn this flattering recognition," said Owner Dr. Eric V. Thomas, who launched Sunshine Dentistry in 1996. "It is truly our privilege to treat patients of all ages, and at all stages of life. The science is clear that establishing and maintaining good oral health is vital to good overall health. It is our mission to provide the dental services needed from infancy to ensure our friends and neighbors in Middle Township receive the very best dental care available."

In addition to Dr. Thomas, who earned his Doctorate of Medical Dentistry (DMD) from Tufts University before serving in the United States Army Dental Corp, Dr. Aleesha Kapoor and Dr. Tyler Kane also serve the pediatric, restorative, cosmetic, and general dentistry needs of the Jersey Shore community.

Dr. Aleesha Kapoor, earned her undergraduate degree from Villanova University, before attending Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston. Dr. Kapoor provides dental care for children as well as adults.

Dr. Tyler Kane completed his undergraduate work at Penn State before earning his DMD from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Kane is currently pursuing a Fellowship in the Academy of General Dentistry.

"I am thrilled with the team we have built at Sunshine Dentistry. We all share the same passion for providing premium dental care to our patients. To accomplish this, weve invested heavily into state-of-the-art technology, oral appliances, and continuing education," said Dr. Thomas.

Sunshine Dentistry is a unique family dental practice in that they specialize in the treatment of potentially life-threatening sleep disorders. As a Diplomate of the American Sleep and Breathing Academy and a Member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, Dr. Thomas and his team provide non-surgical and non-pharmacological treatment for sleep-disordered breathing in children and sleep apnea in adults.

Dr. Thomas is well-known for his volunteerism, educational outreach, and significant contributions to the dental profession. He has served as a Volunteer Dentist for the Veterans Smile Day Nation Program, volunteered with the non-profit organization Dentistry From the Heart, and served as a Red Cross Board Member. Additionally, he has donated his time and talents as a Volunteer Dentist in Community Clinics for many years. Dr. Thomas has previously been named a Top Doctor in New Jersey, in the field of Dentistry. He received the Middle Township Volunteer of the Year Award in 2016.

About Sunshine Dentistry

Sunshine Dentistry provides award-winning all-age dental care and treatment for TMJ, sleep apnea, and sleep-disordered breathing. Sunshine Dentistry is located at 209 South Main Street, Cape May Court House, NJ 08210. Sunshine Dentistry sees patients until 7 pm multiple days a week. The practice also accepts CareCredit financing for dental care. To learn more, visit https://www.mysunshinedentistry.com or call 609-465-5415.
This collection speaks about universal truths, but her singular voice stands outwith humor, rage, compassion, bitterness and whimsy. Divided into six sections, Tina Lears poems unpack the complexities of a wealthy youth; they walk the hard road of marriage, motherhood, and caretaking of an elder with dementia; these poems venture into surprising versions of the world as we may not yet know it.

Lears work sends some tenderness to the little girl hiding in plain sight, to the woman sleeping around long after it is not fun anymore, to the mother screaming at her kids, the wife trying to jump out the window of a marriage on fire, and the daughter watching Jeopardy with her ancient, bedridden mother. Her words sting with resonance and pull laughter from the darkness. She has a way of telling the whole truth with a fractal memory.

These poems speak to many of todays women  women caught between teenagers and elders, women caught between fear and ambition, between self-protection and self-actualization. Women who will not give up. Women who gave up long ago. It is just my voice telling my truth, but these truths are universal, and many women, maybe even men, will be able to see themselves reflected, Lear says.

Megan Falley, author of Drive Here and Devastate Me [Write Bloody Publishing, 2018] writes of Lears poetry, Tina writes exceptionally on many topics, but where I find she excels most is in her rendering of the complicated love of families, stating, the apple doesnt fall far from the tree, but it bruises. Imaginative and unflinchingly honest, Lears is a voice you can trust.

When asked what she wants readers to take away from the book, Lear answers, Self-compassion. An understanding that everyone carries unspoken suffering. It makes us do terrible things to one another, and sometimes, healing takes place because the one who need to, admits it. There are ways to approach ourselves and each other with gentleness. Thats important to explore. For more details about the book, please visit https://www.archwaypublishing.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/842329-partial-views

Partial Views: A Collection of Poetry

By Tina Lear

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 86 pages | ISBN 9781665730327

E-Book | 86 pages | ISBN 9781665730341

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Tina Lear has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil. She is the author of four musicals, countless poems, and articles published in Tricycle Magazine. She has taught yoga at Rikers Island, driven cattle in Wyoming, and performed her songs nationwide. This is her first published collection of poems.

Simon & Schuster, a company with nearly ninety years of publishing experience, has teamed up with Author Solutions, LLC, the worldwide leader in self-publishing, to create Archway Publishing. With unique resources to support books of all kind, Archway Publishing offers a specialized approach to help every author reach his or her desired audience. For more information, visit archwaypublishing.com or call 844-669-3957.
The Mini-SCC enables disparate radio systems (i.e., tactical, first responder, cellular) to communicate instantly, regardless of radio type, frequency, or COMSEC.

Trident Systems will exhibit at Winter Germany 2023, from February 6th to February 10th, at various bases in Germany. Trident will feature the Mini-Secure Communications Controller (Mini-SCC) tactical voice bridge. Tactical communications interoperability is still stuck in the last century. Why? Most senior commanders communicate almost exclusively via computers  not tactical radios. They mistakenly believe comms interoperability with tactical partners is a bygone issue. Compounding this problem, there are some less than adequate tactical voice bridges (TVBs) currently fielded. Thus, the program requirement personnel (G8) believe that tactical units have what they require. Frankly, many TVBs arent adequate for todays comms interoperability needs, but they check the box for program requirements established by high level support staffs  not Soldiers in the field. Whereas the Mini-SCC is a tactical voice bridge that bridges multiple systems, can jump or extend networks by leveraging bridged systems, and is incredibly easy to employ. This system should be standard kit for tactical US units  especially those in Army Europe  Africa. Former Commander of US Army Africa, MG and 30-year Veteran, Joseph Harrington.

The Mini-SCC enables disparate radio systems (i.e., tactical, first responder, cellular) to communicate instantly, regardless of radio type, frequency, or COMSEC. It offers multi-channel audio cross-connection, rapid configuration changes, and rugged MIL-STD packaging in a handheld form factor. Ideal for Army, Marines, Special Forces, and Partner Nations, it provides rapid and reliable communication interoperability amongst agencies and partners, which directly contributes to operational and mission success. The Mini-SCC is used extensively by the 8th US Army in Korea, as well as the 75th Ranger Regiment, Special Forces Groups and Security Forces Assistance Brigades.

Trident Systems booth will be a subsection of VEDPs booth.

Winter Germany Schedule:

February 6th: USAG Wiesbaden / Clay Kaserne

February 7th: Ramstein AB

February 8th: Kelley Barracks

February 9th: Patch Barracks

February 10th: USAG Bavaria / Grafenwoehr

About Trident

Trident Systems is a veteran-owned small business that delivers innovative and affordable technology solutions for critical government and commercial needs. Founded in 1985, Trident continues to harness technology and provide leading-edge solutions to every Military Service, the Intelligence Community, and a broad spectrum of government and industry partners. Trident develops products in two primary focus areas: Integrated C4I Systems and Space Electronic Systems. Trident also provides an array of systems engineering and collaboration services including a full range of design / build services for state-of-the-art facilities including supporting of the Integrated Air Defense System in the National Capital Region. Trident has offices in Fairfax, Virginia (HQ) and Concord, New Hampshire. For more information, visit https://www.tridsys.com/.


At Comfort Keepers, we tailor our caregiving approach to the individual client and then execute it. I want to keep that same mindset going into owning TruBlue. Were going to assess the needs of our clients homes, make a plan and then execute it properly, said Vince Maffeo.

TruBlue Total House Care, the national senior-focused handyman and home maintenance franchise, is celebrating the signing of multi-unit franchisee Vince Maffeo, who started his franchising journey almost 15 years ago when he left his sales and marketing career in Florida to help his father run multiple Comfort Keepers franchises in 2008. Maffeo has since expanded with the non-medical home care franchise and now owns 10 Comfort Keepers throughout California. When the Comfort Keepers brand announced a strategic alliance with TruBlue last year, Maffeo knew it was the perfect opportunity to create a one-stop service for his current customers.

I knew it would be more beneficial to own a TruBlue location and more convenient for our clients, said Maffeo. Buying a TruBlue means that my Comfort Keepers locations wont have to refer out the handyman and home services as weve done in the past. Its now a one-stop shop. Comfort Keepers provides care for the individual, and TruBlue provides maintenance to the home.

With last years partnership, Comfort Keepers recognized the TruBlue franchise system as a preferred provider of handyman services and senior home modifications. Now, Maffeo is taking it one step further by investing in a TruBlue location of his own, which he says will allow him to further embrace the senior care market.

Its an important age group to reach because we have so many seniors that are aging, Maffeo said. My average Comfort Keepers client is between the ages of 80 and 83. There are over 10,000 people a day turning 65 in this country. That age group, the baby boomers, arent even our clients yet. If you think we are busy now, just wait until that age group begins to need our services. They will need professionals to provide individualized care and home repairs and care in the future.

TruBlue satisfies this demand as the only franchise system focused on ongoing home maintenance and handyman services for seniors and busy adults. TruBlue Total House Care subscription program provides help around the house, both inside and out. Home maintenance for seniors includes ongoing services such as to-do list chores, handyman repairs and home maintenance. As specialists, TruBlue franchisees are also able to perform Senior Home Safety Assessments and can make those recommended safety modifications if needed.

Im all about executing and being able to understand how to provide the best service, whatever that means for the client, said Maffeo. At Comfort Keepers, we tailor our caregiving approach to the individual client and then execute it. I want to keep that same mindset going into owning TruBlue. Were going to assess the needs of our clients homes, make a plan and then execute it properly.

Maffeo officially signed with TruBlue to open one location in Modesto in 2023. But he doesnt plan on stopping there. He can see the many benefits for aging adults to have access to services that provide an individualized approach to not only their health but their homes as well, and he wants to continue to grow with TruBlue in the future.

Expansion is always the plan, said Maffeo. My main goal is to take advantage of the marketing plan that is tried and true with the brand and apply them successfully to the client base I already have. I want to make a dual marketing approach by applying the TruBlue tactics but adding the twist from my own company.

TruBlue President Sean Fitzgerald says he is thrilled to welcome Maffeo into the TruBlue family, especially following the strategic alliance between TruBlue and Comfort Keepers.

Vince is a prime example of how existing senior care franchise owners can successfully expand their portfolio by investing in TruBlue as an add-on service, said Fitzgerald. We have partnered with companies like Comfort Keepers to further our mission of educating families and seniors on how to age in place successfully, and having someone like Vince take that partnership to the next level by investing in TruBlue is a great testament to the strength of our brand.

For more information about TruBlue Total House Care, visit https://trubluehousecare.com/.

ABOUT TRUBLUE TOTAL HOUSE CARE

TruBlue Total House Care provides a helping hand around the house  inside and out. TruBlues services include to-do list chores, handyman services,, maintenance, yard work, emergency repairs, seasonal work and preventative maintenance, all handled by a personal House Care Manager. TruBlue strives to provide affordable, worry-free living for seniors and hassle-free living for busy adults by providing trustworthy house maintenance services. TruBlue franchise owners are required to complete the Senior Home Safety Certification program through Age Safe America. As specialists, TruBlue franchisees will be able to perform Senior Home Safety Assessments and can make those recommended safety modifications if needed.


We are committed to delivering the most comprehensive multilingual customer experiences, and our acquisition of a key player in the German market enhances our existing capabilities and expands our global footprint,

Unbabel, the AI-powered Language Operations (LangOps) platform that helps businesses deliver multilingual customer experience at scale, today announced its acquisition of EVS Translations, a single-source translation supplier for all language requirements and market leader for premium human translations.

With this acquisition, Unbabel can provide customers with more workflows tailored to individual company requirements, significantly reducing costs and time to translate. The company will also provide specialized content services for additional industries including finance, legal, and automotive.

In addition, EVS Translations will also significantly expand Unbabels offerings at a time of high global demand for translation services by multinational corporations. Notably, in 2021 the global translation industry rose to $56.18 billion USD, experiencing more than $5 billion in growth over the previous two years, with Europe comprising 49% of the industry.

We are committed to delivering the most comprehensive multilingual customer experiences, and our acquisition of a key player in the German market enhances our existing capabilities and expands our global footprint, said Vasco Pedro, Co-founder and CEO of Unbabel. Were proud to bring EVS Translations into the Unbabel family. With this new specialized content translation partner, Unbabel will have more data to train MT engines in new industry sectors and use cases  opening up new opportunities for growth and broadening capabilities for our customers.

Founded in 1991 and with nearly 150 employees across offices in Germany, England, Bulgaria, and USA  nearly half of whom are in-house translators  EVS Translations combines linguistic skill with technology-driven solutions to help clients deliver a diverse range of multilingual content. A recognized industry-leader for highly specialized financial content, the companys services span document translation, legal translation, terminology management, multi-format file processing, media localization, international SEO, and copywriting, machine translation and engine customization, and interpreting.

The exciting partnership with Unbabel elevates EVS Translations to the next level of translation service providers. said Edward Vick, CEO of EVS Translations. Joining Unbabel enables EVS Translations to provide our clients with the best possible mix of cutting-edge tech solutions and the premium quality human translations that EVS is known for within a secure environment. The synergies created between Unbabels AI expertise and EVS Translations' in-house translation model will, undoubtedly, produce a new standard for single-source localization providers.

For more information on Unbabel and its solutions in customer service, marketing, and localization, visit. http://www.unbabel.com.

About Unbabel

Unbabel eliminates language barriers so that businesses can thrive across cultures and geographies. The companys Language Operations platform blends advanced artificial intelligence with humans in the loop, for fast, efficient, high-quality translations that get smarter over time. Unbabel helps enterprises grow into new global markets and builds customer trust by creating more consistent, high-quality multilingual customer experiences across marketing and customer service. Based in San Francisco, CA, Unbabel works with leading brands such as Booking.com, Nestle, Panasonic, Patagonia, and UPS, to communicate effortlessly with customers around the world, no matter what language they speak.

About EVS Translations

EVS Translations is an international translation company for corporate requirements in all business areas and Top 100 language service provider. A global in-house team of expert project managers, translators, proofreaders and translation technology engineers deliver high-quality language solutions for global corporations within a secure, certified and fully scalable network of interconnected offices.
Europe Comics, which offered consumers digital editions of European comics in English in addition to selling rights to publishers, is shutting down its consumer facing activities, the company announced last week. EC will continue to release a few books each month digitally, which will be available through various digital comics retailers, including Amazons Comixology market and Izneo, a European digital comics service.

However, Izneo also announced that it was shutting down its English-language service. Previously purchased comics will still be available, but as of February 1, only the French-language website will be available. Dutch and German storefronts shut down late last year.

Europe Comics launched in 2015 as part of an effort by European comics publishers to gain more attention from the English-language comics-buying audience. Like Izneo, Europe Comics is a joint venture between 13 European comics publishers, coordinated by French publisher Mediatoon. Participating publishers included companies from Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and more.

Over its run, Europe Comics sponsored author tours and convention appearances throughout North America, including such comics creators as Fabien Nury (The Death of Stalin), Jean-Marc Rochette (Snowpiercer), and Zep (Titouf). Overall, Europe Comics efforts greatly expanded U.S. comics readers' knowledge of and access to the Franco-Belgian comics market, which is one of the worlds largest, generating 900 million euros in sales of graphic novels and manga in 2021.

While no reason was given for either the end of Europe Comics or Izneos English-language activities, it was noted that both efforts were led by the late Sophie Castille, international rights director and v-p of licensing at Mediatoon, who passed away unexpectedly last year.

According to Amazon, Europe Comics is releasing six titles this month, but there are no listings beyond that. Cinebook, a U.K.-based publisher that licenses Franco-Belgian material in English, will continue to release books digitally on Izneo, but U.S. titles will no longer be carried on the service.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  The Indiana Green Expo is returning this year with three days of educational opportunities for turf and landscape professionals in addition to a trade show and networking events.

The 2023 Indiana Green Expo will take place Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis. Fourteen educational tracks will be offered with topics including design, invasive species, tree care and more, along with a track in Spanish. Continuing Education Requirements for a variety of certification programs will be available for attendees.

The Indiana Green Expo is the best opportunity of the year for the green industry to gather for education, vendors and networking, said Kyle Daniel, a nursery and landscape outreach specialist. Investing in your employee professional development will greatly increase employee retention, a critical part to the success of companies.

Conference registration and additional details are available online.

The Midwest Regional Turf Foundation (MRTF) and the Indiana Nursery and Landscape Association first joined efforts in 2007 to offer the Indiana Green Expo (IGE). In recent years, the conference has had an average attendance of 1,600 green industry professionals. MRTF supports turf research and education at Purdue University for the advancement of the turfgrass industry. Proceeds from the IGE will be used to improve the green industry through research, educational programming and other supporting functions.

Media Contact: Abby Leeds, mayer36@purdue.edu

Source: Kyle Daniel, daniel38@purdue.edu

Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415;

Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu

Agriculture News Page
Ookla LLC loses court challenge against fine for data storage violations

MOSCOW, January 17 (RAPSI)  A Russian court said on Tuesday it had rejected a complaint filed by Ookla LLC against a 1-million ruble fine for not storing the personal data of Russian users in databases on Russian territory.

The court found that the arguments about the absence of evidence indicating that the company collected personal data in Russia are untenable and cannot serve as a basis for canceling the court decisions that have entered into force, the press release reads.

Last July, a justice of the peace of the Moscow Tagansky district found Ookla LLC guilty of committing an administrative offense, a violation of the federal legislation on personal data and fined the company one million rubles.

Based on the results of an audit conducted by Russias communications watchdog Roskomnadzor, it was established that Ookla LLC collected personal data of Russian citizens failing to ensure that the recording, systematization, accumulation, storage, clarification, and extraction of personal data using databases located on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Earlier, Roskomnadzor has repeatedly reminded that any operator of personal data is obliged to ensure the recording, systematization, accumulation, storage, clarification (update, change), extraction of personal data of citizens of the Russian Federation using databases located on its national territory, since the storage of such personal data on Russias territory provides the necessary level of security.
The British Academy of Film and Television Awards has announced the nominees for the 2023 BAFTA EE Rising Star Award.

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Naomi Ackie ( Whitney Houston : I Wanna Dance with Somebody), Sheila Atim (The Woman King), Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education), Emma Mackey (Sex Education) and Daryl McCormack are nominated for the award this year.

The Rising Star Award honors an emerging actor who has demonstrated exceptional talent and ambition and has begun to capture the imagination of the British public. The award is the only prize at the BAFTA Film Awards voted for by the public.

Previous winners include James McAvoy, Eva Green, Tom Hardy, Kristen Stewart, Tom Holland, Letitia Wright and Lashana Lynch.

"Recognizing and supporting creative talent is of the upmost importance to us at BAFTA, which is why we are delighted to continue our partnership with EE and the EE Rising Star Award," BAFTA CEO Jane Millichip said in a press release. "This year's five nominees have displayed a breathtaking ability to tell stories and create characters that resonate with their audiences, and it's now up to the British public to decide who will take home the award on Feb. 19."

The BAFTA Film Awards will take place Feb. 19 at Royal Festival Hall at Southbank Centre in London.

Richard E. Grant will host the ceremony.
Serene Russell / Instagram

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 01/16/2023



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

bachelorette Serene Russell has shared an update on her wedding planning with fiance Brandon Jones Serene, who accepted a marriage proposal from Brandon on 's eighth season last summer, conducted a recent Q&A with her followers on Instagram Stories and revealed details about her future with Brandon.When asked if the couple has set a wedding date yet, Serene replied, "The only reason we don't have an actual set date right now is just because we don't know exactly where we want to get married and a lot of that stuff is based on season," according to BachelorNation.com.Serene continued, "We don't want to do something seasonal in the wrong season like getting married in the mountains when it's winter.""So we're trying to nail down exactly what kind of wedding we want and where we want it and then we will start talking about dates. We do have a year, though, it will be in 2024!" she concluded.Serene reportedly asked for wedding-venue recommendations and also shared how she and Brandon would like to have three children."Three boys!" Brandon added.Serene and Brandon, who have been living together in San Diego, CA, previously revealed that they'd like to get married in 2024 Back in December, Serene shut down rumors the couple had split when people noticed the former Oklahoma-based teacher wasn't wearing her engagement ring in some of her modeling photos.To put the speculation to rest, Serene posted a mirror selfie with Brandon on her Instagram Stories, proudly showing off her Neil Lane bling on her left ring finger.Along with the photo, Serene wrote, "Y'all when I model, sometimes there's gonna be a shoot without my ring on, especially if it took place before the finale so before I could wear it out."Brandon and Serene shared in November how they were already thinking about wedding plans given their engagement had filmed in Mexico about five months prior."We do have some things in rotation," Brandon said at the time. "For now, we're just enjoying the moment and truly enjoying our engagement."Serene said she and Brandon would be open to tying the knot where they first met."I think we would get married in Paradise if our families were there!" Serene shared late last year."It is such a special place to us and having our families there in the place where we got engaged and thought about getting married would be so special. We are definitely thinking about it!"Brandon previously noted that he and Serene were able to navigate things "well" when they had to hide their relationship from the public while was airing on ABC. He said they always manage to "lift each other up" whenever necessary.On 's finale, Serene told Brandon that they had a life-changing love, something more than she ever could have expected or dreamed about. She said she felt seen and understood more than ever before."I found my best friend, my missing puzzle piece and my soul mate," Serene shared with Brandon on the final day of filming. "I love you so much and I'm never going to take that for granted."In reply, Brandon shared how "The Split" twist made him realize that he never wanted to spend another day of his life without her. Brandon gushed about how he loved her in every sense of the word and she's an "everlasting spark" that hit him so hard."I will love you until the end of time. I will love you until my last breath, and I want to start forever with you," Brandon said. "And that starts with making you my forever."After Brandon got down on one knee and Serene said "yes," host Jesse Palmer joined the pair on the beach and revealed how he'd been ordained and could marry them right on the spot if they wanted to be spontaneous and seal the deal.However, the couple chose not to get married since they both want their loved ones to attend the wedding.Brandon confirmed on the reunion in November that it was love at first sight with Serene and she's the "most perfect" woman for him. And Serene said she was so grateful for Brandon, who yelled, "I love the sh-t out of you!"Prior to meeting on , Brandon finished as the runner-up on Michelle Young 's The Bachelorette season and Serene competed on Clayton Echard 's season of The Bachelor.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
The Preacher alum Dominic Cooper and Downton Abbey actor Hugh Bonneville have signed on for roles in the BBC drama, The Gold.

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The series is based on the true story of a 1980s British heist of tens of millions of dollars in gold bullion.

"What started as 'a typical Old Kent Road armed robbery' according to detectives at the time, became a seminal event in British criminal history, remarkable not only for the scale of the theft -- at the time the biggest in global history -- but for its wider legacy," a synopsis said.

"The disposal of the bullion caused the birth of large-scale international money laundering, provided the dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, united blue and white collar criminals and left controversy and murder in its wake."

The cast will include Jack Lowden, Charlotte Spencer, Tom Cullen, Emun Elliott, Sean Harris, Ellora Torchia and Stefanie Martini.

No premiere date has been announced.
Hawkeye and The Mayor of Kingstown star Jeremy Renner has announced he is out of the hospital, more than two weeks after he was seriously injured in a snowplowing accident.

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"Outside my brain fog in recovery, I was very excited to watch Episode 201 with my family at home," the 52-year-old actor tweeted late Monday night, referring to the first episode of Kingstown Season 2.

The tweet also featured heart and praying hands emojis.

Earlier in the day, he posted a photo of his cabin in a remote area of Nevada, surrounded by snow, with the message, "Missing my happy place."

It is unclear whether this is where he returned when he was discharged from the hospital in Reno, Nev.

He underwent surgery for blunt trauma to the chest and orthopedic injuries earlier this month.

A 14,000-pound snowplow ran over Renner on Jan. 1 while he was helping a motorist free their car after a storm.
Netflix has unveiled its Korean film and TV slate for 2023.

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The streaming service said in a press release Monday that it will release 34 Korean titles this year, including The Glory Part 2.

The Glory is a drama series starring Song Hye-kyo as Moon Dong-eun, an elementary school teacher who seeks revenge on the people who bullied her in high school. The show reached Netflix's Top 10 in the United States following its release in January.

Part 2 will be released in March. Sweet Home and D.P. will also return with new episodes this year.

"The global popularity of K-content has continued apace over 2022, with Netflix bringing a wider variety of stories and genres to fans around the world," Don Kang, Netflix vice president of content (Korea), said. "Over the last year, Korean series and films have regularly featured in our Global Top 10 list in more than 90 countries, and three of Netflix's most-watched shows ever are from Korea.

"This year, we're pushing the envelope even further with the stories we tell and how we tell them. With this lineup of Korean titles, Netflix will continue to be the ultimate destination for compelling, diverse and must-watch Korean storytelling."

Other Korean titles releasing this year include the sci-fi thriller Jung_E, Kill Boksoon, Believer 2, Ballerina, The Match and Unlocked.

Netflix also unveiled 11 new projects: Behind Your Touch (WT), Crash Course in Romance, The Good Bad Mother, King the Land, Destined with You, See You in My 19th Life, Siren: Survive the Island, 19/20 (Nineteen to Twenty), Zombieverse, The Devil's Plan and In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal.
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There is no question that Athens, Georgia is proud of its name. So if we do take the oath in full sincerity, there is no reason why the statue should not have an olive tree planted next to it  fulfilling our duty of beautification.
The Athens-Clarke County Police Department has announced a 1% total crime reduction for 2022, compared to 2021. According to an ACCPD press release on Jan. 13, there were significant reductions in notable crime categories, such as a 32.8% reduction in robbery, a 12.9% reduction in crimes against persons and a 10.5% reduction in residential burglary.
On Jan. 18, Eternal Vigilance Action will host a day of remembrance at the Georgia State Capitol for victims of unsolved homicides in Georgia, in support of the Coleman-Baker Act, named for Rhonda Sue Coleman and Tara Louise Baker, according to a press release. The event will take place at 10:30 a.m. in room 216 at the Georgia State Capitol.
Matthew Tesvich, a senior at the University of Georgia, has always had a passion for baseball. When the career path he expected didnt pan out the way he wanted it to, he took his inspiration from his love for the sport and started OX SOX, an odorless sock business that he hopes will help change peoples lives.
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.
To the editor: As a property manager in Brattleboro, I feel compelled to send this letter to the supporters of banning landlords ability to ha
Note all articles are independently researched and written by myself. However, if you buy via one of the links it may be an affiliate and I may earn a small commission.

Fancy kicking back and taking it easy? Check out my 10 of the best midcentury modern rocking chairs, all perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Or a lazy any day. Its nice to kick back in a big armchair or lounge around on a sofa, but theres something about a rocking chair that pulls you in. That last, almost hypnotic rocking movement is the perfect way to kick back and genuinely waste some time.

The problem is that many just arent that appealing to the eye. But that doesnt;t have to be the case. You can have functionality and a good-looking piece of furniture. But you have to dig around first. Luckily for you, I have done the digging, pulling out a selection of cool rockers across various price points, dependent on your budget.

So have a look, pick your favourite and rock away. You know you want to.

1. Sofia Rocking Chair at Arlo and Jacob

The maker/retailer used to stock another good-looking model. But that has recently been replaced by the Sofia. And I think I like it better.

Yes, you can get a traditional wood finish for the frame, but I really like the colourful finishes available, which take the MCM design to another level.

That frame is solid beech, with a Feather Flex-filled single seat within. If you want one, its currently discounted down to 796.

Find out more at the Arlo and Jacob website

2. 1960s Josef Chierowski-designed 366 rocking chair

This is actually based on an original 1960s design, but one that has been reissued and is now available in the UK.

The 366 first appeared in Poland back in 1962, but this is a modern-era tweak, keeping the classic look of the chair, but adding in some rocking functionality to great effect.

A wooden frame that is available in various shades as well as a choice of nine cloths, with each piece hand-finished by a team of specialists in Poland. Great-looking, but not as cheap as it was. You are looking at 925, although there is 20 per cent off at the retailer right now.

Find out more at the Rose & Grey website

3. Soto rocking chair at Joybird

US midcentury specialist Joybird actually offers four rocking chairs, so Im a little spoilt for choice, really. But the Soto wins the day.

I just like its over-styled look, not least when it comes to those pointed armrests. Fabric or leather options for this one in terms of the seating, with the frame available in walnut, cherry or maple. The first of those definitely being the strongest finish. Prices might vary according to finish, but $1,113 is a guide price.

Find out more at the Joybird website

4. Retrostar 1950s-style Lounge Rocker

The arms have the look of the one above, but the Retrostar Lounge Rocker is very much its own design and appealing because of the price.

Thats because this one is currently marked down from a price already cheaper than most of the competition. So worth a look on that front.

But beyond cost, this is a vintage-style rocker with a midcentury modern look in a huge range of colours, each one handcrafted by Sternzeit Design. A strong wooden frame, some retro shades for the upholstery and a substantial seat too. 403 gets you one.

Find out more at the FY! website

5. John Lewis Hendricks Rocking Chair

Something of a Scandi look from the reliable UK retailer.

No bad thing in my book. A light oak frame with subtle curves sits well with the chunky seating. Dont get hung up on the colour, as there are plenty of colours and weaves to choose from. Although there will be a slight wait to get the one you want. But it should be worth it as this one is guaranteed for 15 years.

649 is the price.

Find out more at the John Lewis website

6. Nebel retro rocking chair at JYSK

You might recall I did a 20 budget midcentury modern designs at JYSK round-up some time back, which was a good indicator of how many decent and affordable retro designs there are at that store. This is about the best buy there right now.

Yes, a retro rocking chair. The Nebel isnt as stylised as some, but it has a smart midcentury modern look that will fit effortlessly into any interior inspired by the 1950s or 1960s.

A curved seat, wooden rockers on metal legs and a price of just 115. Yes, you did read that correctly  its currently half price.

Find out more at the JYSK website

7. Khali Chenille Rocking Chair at Dunelm

Another budget retailer offering a retro piece is Dunelm with the one pictured above.

Its not their only effort either (see further down), but its a good one to start with. Another frame with oh-so-subtle curves, a darker wood than some and contrasting upholstery in a soft chenille. Different shades of upholstery are available too.

At 299, it is worth checking out.

Find out more at the Dunelm website

8. The Penguin 1950s Rocking Chair by Ib Kofod-Larsen

Looking to spend on a design classic? This might be the one for you.

Its pretty much a work of art for your home. The Penguin collection was designed in 1953 by Danish designer Ib Kofod-Larsen and is widely regarded as a midcentury modern masterpiece and an inspiration for so much that followed.

Menu has brought the rocking chair back in various finishes, all almost too good to sit in. But like all these classics, the comfort will be every bit as impressive as the design itself.

At 1,210 it isnt cheap but compares well to some pricer high street offerings.

Find out more at the Made In Design website

9. Iris Sherpa Rocking Chair at Dunelm

Told you they had another  and its a very different design.

The Iris chair goes for the metal frame and sledge rockers, matched up with some soft yet hardwearing sherpa upholstery for something of a Scandinavian look on a budget.

And it is a chair on a budget too, selling for 169.

Find out more at the Dunelm website

10. 1950s Eames RAR plastic rocking chair

There is only one place to end, and thats with Charles and Ray Eames.

Dating back to the 1950s, this is the Eames partnership having fun with plastic and making something astonishingly simple but also incredibly cool to look at.

The RAR base means the comfortable plastic seat offering a rocking motion and of course, having this in your home is something to show off to your design-loving friends.

A fairly basic seat at the end of the day, and thats reflected in the price. For a design classic 527 isnt a fortune. Loads of colours are available too.

Find out more at the Heals website
Sen Sovann hasnt been charged but records show a relationship with an indicted executive in the case.

Before long-tailed macaques are imported into the U.S. for medical research, their owners are required to provide the U.S. authorities with documentation guaranteeing they were bred in captivity and that they are healthy.

UPDATED at 9:30 A.M. ET on 01-18-2023

Another senior official from Cambodias Agriculture Ministry appears to have ties to companies accused of poaching and smuggling endangered monkeys, RFA has found.

Sen Sovann is the secretary of state for the ministry. From December 2016 to July 2018, Sen said he was director general of the Department of Animal Health and Production, which the division within the ministry responsible for issuing health certificates to monkeys before they are exported.

He is also listed in the Cambodian Commerce Ministry as being a shareholder in P and Cei Import Export Co. Ltd., according to records archived in 2019 by Open Corporates, an organization that publicizes corporate data.

P and Cie lists its main business activity as the raising of diverse animals including exotic and other live animals. In a text message exchange with RFA, Sen said the company owned and leased land, and that he had sold his shares in 2016 to a Canadian man named Cald Ip.

But Ip is not listed in the Commerce Ministry records for P and Cie or otherwise. The only other shareholder besides Sen, according to the records, is James Mansang Lau, a businessman who founded Vanny Bio Research, a company that U.S. prosecutors allege is at the heart of the alleged illegal monkey smuggling ring.

In November, Lau was indicted in the U.S. on charges that he, along with five of his employees and two senior Cambodian Agriculture Ministry officials, exported thousands of poached long-tailed macaques into the U.S.

The eight are said to have laundered the animals through Cambodian monkey farms owned by Laus Vanny group of companies to pass them off as captive-bred before exporting them to the U.S. for use in medical research.

The two senior ministry officials are Forestry Administration Director General Keo Omaliss and Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity Director Kry Masphal, who is currently under house arrest in Virginia awaiting a trial slated to begin in late February in Miami.

Allegations denial

All parties have denied the charges and the Cambodian government has vowed to seek justice for its officials.

In the text exchange with RFA, Sen described Ip as just a regular friend. But he said that he did not have any contact information for him as the two were not close, and he declined to say how much Ip paid him for his shares in P and Cie.

Sen initially told RFA that the land housed Vannys Kandal province monkey farm, although he later backtracked. I dont know what it is used for, Sen wrote in a text message.

P and Cies registered address appears to match addresses listed online for the monkey farm, although neither list a road name or house number, as is common in rural areas.

Export process

Before long-tailed macaques are imported into the U.S. for medical research their owners are required to provide the U.S. authorities with two pieces of paper guaranteeing that they were bred in captivity and that they are healthy.

The first piece of paper is a permit issued under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. The permits certify that the macaques to be exported were bred in captivity and are signed by the exporting country's CITES office.

In Cambodia, the office is part of the Forestry Administration, which itself falls under the Agriculture Ministry. Only captive-bred macaques are allowed to be used in medical research in order to protect dwindling wild populations. Captive-bred macaques are also believed to give more accurate results in testing.

The indictment against Lau and his alleged cohort claims that they utilized the services of [the Ministry of Agriculture] and its employees  to secure CITES permits which falsely identified wild-caught macaques as captive bred in [Vanny] facilities.

The second piece of paper required is a health certificate, to guarantee the monkeys are free of diseases. In Cambodia, those health certificates are issued by the Department of Animal Health and Production within the Agriculture Ministry.

An awkward link

Sen insists that his involvement in P and Cie did not overlap with Laus, despite the records showing the two as joint owners.

I had nothing to do with him about his business, while my colleagues did their jobs for health certificates, Sen wrote RFA. Lau could not be reached for comment.

Lisa Jones-Engel, a primatologist who spent 30 years working with research monkeys, including in Cambodia, says Sens involvement in the business, regardless of his relationship with Lau, represented a conflict of interest. A former professor at the University of Washington, Jones-Engel in recent years has begun campaigning against the use of primates in medical experiments and now works as an advisor to animal welfare charity Peta.

These health certificates are so important for public health, you dont screw around with this, Jones-Engel told RFA in an interview. So, when you have a director of the department responsible for generating these certificates, thats the same person who is making any kind of money off the industry. Well, thats awkward.

This report has been updated to correct Sen Sovann's title. He is the secretary of state for the Agriculture Ministry.
Thach Setha [left], vice president of Cambodias opposition Candlelight Party, hugs a boy in front of the Prey Sar main prison outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Nov. 10, 2021.

Cambodian authorities arrested the Vice President of the opposition Candlelight Party Thach Setha on Monday, accusing him of issuing false checks from his bank account.

Thach Setha has denied the allegations. In response, the Candlelight Party issued a statement condemning the arrest and what it called a wave of intimidation and threat against the opposition party's leaders and activists recently by the people who have power."

"Candlelight Party regards Thach Setha's arrest and detention as a politically motivated case as an intimidation to scare Cambodian's spirits not to participate with the opposition party and to provoke chaos ahead of the 2023 general election, the statement said.

The Candlelight Party appeals to the government and the Phnom Penh Municipality Court to release Thach Setha to his freedom immediately without any conditions, it said.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled since 1985, has repeatedly threatened to use the countrys courts to target his political opponents, recently forcing an opposition advisor to relinquish his home after the threat of lawsuits.

A spokesperson for the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which issued the detention order, said that the court received a complaint in 2019 from the Rin Chhay pawn shop alleging that Thach Setha gave five bad checks at the store.

Thach Setha claims that while he did begin filling out five checks, he never dated or signed them. A local lawyer in Cambodia who has represented other opposition members targeted by authorities said that the checks have no legal value since they were never signed.

Son Chhay, another vice president of the Candlelight Party, said that he will reach out to the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party to see if there is a resolution to the political impasse.

But CPP spokesperson Sok Ey San denounced the oppositions response, claiming that the courts actions against the Candlelight Party were not politically motivated.

"The CPP can't negotiate because there is no political tension. The case is at the court's hands, he said. Political parties have no role to try court cases.

Political analyst Em Sovannara told RFA that the courts brought up the case from 2019 to pressure the opposition, adding that the Candlelight Party does not really have any bargaining power with the CPP to demand a release.

Seng Sary, another Cambodian political commentator, said that the CPPs efforts would backfire in the upcoming July 2023 election. "People hate injustice. It [the ruling party] will lose its popularity. In 2023 people can prosecute parties through their votes.

Translated by Samean Yun. Edited by Nawar Nemeh and Malcolm Foster.
Production resumed at a China-owned nickel smelter in Indonesia on Tuesday after a deadly weekend riot highlighted lingering tensions over the presence of Chinese workers in the Southeast Asian country.

Police said the violence erupted on Saturday at the PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) plant in Morowali, Central Sulawesi province, and was fanned by an allegedly false rumor that Chinese employees had attacked their Indonesian counterparts who were protesting over wages and labor safety.

An Indonesian worker and a Chinese worker were killed.

Information from the management shows 2,963 employees returned to work today, including 350 Chinese workers, Central Sulawesi provincial police spokesperson Didik Supranoto told RFA-affiliate BenarNews.

Indonesias manpower ministry said it was sending a team to investigate the violence, during which workers torched part of the plant.

The point of the investigation is to find out what caused the riot and resolve the existing problems so that similar incidents do not happen again, said the head of its provincial office, Arnold Firdaus Bandu.

Officials said 71 people were in police custody and 17 of them were considered suspects in connection with the violence.

Meanwhile, more than 700 police and soldiers have been deployed to maintain security around the plant, and there were no new tensions reported between Chinese and Indonesian workers, police spokesman Didik said.

They are getting along well, he said.

Some Indonesians have expressed concerns about what they see as an influx into the country of workers from China, accusing them of stealing menial jobs from locals.

The government insists that only Chinese nationals with specific skills are allowed to work in Indonesia, especially on Beijing-backed projects.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, there were more than 42,000 Chinese workers in Indonesia in 2022, accounting for about 44 percent of all expatriates in Indonesia.

Didik spoke about events leading up to Saturdays clash.

At a meeting between the workers union and the companys management on Friday, the employees demanded an upgrade to safety procedures, an end to wage cuts, reinstatement of employees whose contracts had ended, and better compensation for the families of two workers who were killed in a factory fire in December, he said.

Several demands were fulfilled, but some need follow-up, especially regarding the termination of employees whose contracts have expired, Didik said.

Local employees went on strike on Saturday and invited their Chinese co-workers to join, Didik said.

In the afternoon, security personnel managed to keep the tension under control. But late at night through Sunday morning, they became anarchic, resulting in fatalities, injuries and damage to company facilities, he said.

Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the national police chief, said a rumor about Chinese workers having beaten up local colleagues was false.

What happened was there was a call to strike  and there were attempts to coerce [other workers to join] and they were rejected, and rumors went viral that there were attacks by foreign workers on local workers, Listyo told reporters.

The National Police, assisted by the TNI [the military], is ready to provide security because this, of course, affects Indonesians who also work there, and this smelters activity certainly has provided added value for the country, he said.

Chinese companies dominate nickel smelting

The ministrys provincial office said PT Gunbuster did not give access to its officials who went there to investigate after a fire killed two Indonesian employees in December.

PT GNI was too strict and uncooperative. If they had been transparent, we could have given the workers understandings, he said.

According to the manpower office, GNI employs 12,247 people, including 1,312 Chinese nationals.

A member of the provincial legislative council, Muharram Nurdin, called for a thorough investigation.

Im asking the police to be neutral in handling the case. There should be no discrimination. If foreign workers violated any law, they must be punished, he said.

Muharram said the company should be penalized if it remained uncooperative.

We all hope that there will be no more unrest between Indonesian employees and foreign ones at PT GNI. And all the problems that exist are resolved properly, he said.

Indonesia imposed a ban on nickel ore shipments in 2020, prompting the European Union to seek a review by the World Trade Organization.

Chinese-linked companies dominate the nickel smelter industry in Indonesia, according to information from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the government policy requiring companies to refine commodities at home to make exports more valuable had attracted Chinese businesses.

After Singapore, China is the second largest foreign investor in Indonesia.

Chinese investments in Indonesia reached U.S. $3.6 billion in the first half of 2022, compared with $1.7 billion in the same period of 2021, according to the Indonesian Ministry of Investment last year.

China is also funding projects in Indonesia as part of Beijings Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) worldwide infrastructure-building program. These include the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project, which is expected to be completed in June 2023.

Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.
The ship has been in and around the Natuna Sea since the end of December.

A Chinese Coast Guard vessel (top) is seen near a ship of the Vietnam Marine Guard in the South China Sea, May 14, 2014.

UPDATED AT 8:00 a.m. ET ON 1-17-2022

Indonesian officials say theyre not worried about the presence of Chinas largest coast guard ship in the Natuna Sea.

Jakarta has sent naval ships and a patrol aircraft to the area to monitor the Chinese vessels movements but the Navys Chief, Adm. Muhammad Ali, said everything is under control.

Vietnamese analysts, however, are concerned the Chinese vessels presence may signal a prolonged stand-off in the newly demarcated maritime boundaries.

Last month, Vietnam and Indonesia concluded talks on the boundaries of their exclusive economic zones (EEZs), which also lie within the imaginary nine-dash line that Beijing uses to demarcate what it calls its historical rights over almost 90% of the South China Sea.

An EEZ gives a state exclusive access to the natural resources in the waters and seabed.

Hanoi and Jakarta have not disclosed details of the agreement and China has not protested officially but Beijings largest coast guard ship has been in the area between Vietnam and Indonesia since Dec. 30.

The CCG 5901, also the worlds largest coast guard vessel, was still in the area on Tuesday, according to ship tracker Marine Traffic.

Past track of Chinas CCG 5901, the worlds largest coast guard vessel, from Dec. 29-Jan. 17, 2022. Credit: MarineTraffic





There are no problems

A spokesperson at the Chinese embassy in Jakarta told BenarNews the Chinese ship was in sea areas that China has jurisdiction in accordance with domestic law and international laws.

A U.N. tribunal in 2016 invalidated the nine-dash line but Beijing has so far rejected the ruling, insisting that China has jurisdiction over all areas within the line.

"It's for the purpose of maritime security and order," the official was quoted as saying.

In response, Adm. Muhammad Ali told RFA-affiliated news service BenarNews Tuesday we have at least three to four warships in Natuna on the ready and one marine patrol aircraft.

Ali added the Indonesian Air Forces drones would also be deployed for joint patrols in the North Natuna Sea.

There are no problems, the Navy Chief reiterated.

Satya Pratama, a senior Indonesian government official and a former captain at Indonesias Maritime Security Agency Bakamla, said the presence of warships in the area is not abnormal.

The Indonesian Navy regularly patrols the area so I dont think the fact that the ships are there alone will escalate the tension, Pratama told RFA.

It happened before. It is just parties sending messages, he said, adding that nobody would want additional tension in the area where the Indonesian government has just passed an oil and gas development plan.

Earlier this month, Indonesias Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Task Force (SKK Migas) approved the plan to develop the Tuna oil and gas field, also known as the Tuna Block, in the North Natuna area.

The Tuna Block lies entirely inside Indonesias EEZ and just 13 kilometers (8 miles) from the border of the Vietnamese EEZ but the area is frequented by Chinese law enforcement and fishing vessels.

Vietnams concerns

Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia have all accused China of disrupting their oil and gas exploration activities with frequent incursions by Chinese coast guard and maritime militia ships, leading to confrontations.

Vietnamese analysts said the deployment of the CCG 5901, dubbed the monster vessel and armed with heavy machine guns, may be Chinas response to the Vietnam-Indonesia maritime limitation agreement.

Le Hong Hiep, Senior Fellow at the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said the Chinese coast guard ships operating area is very close to the supposed boundary between Vietnam and Indonesia, and it is an indication of Chinas protest.

Viet Hoang, another well-known Vietnamese analyst and university lecturer, said he fears this may signal a prolonged stand-off in the area.

China will not let it [the Vietnam-Indonesia agreement] go easily, he said.

In 2021, Chinese survey ships and coast guard vessels loitered uninvited for almost a month in the North Natuna area, where Indonesias oil and gas exploration was underway.

Vanguard Bank is located within Vietnams EEZ. Credit: Google Maps





Van Pham, who runs an independent research project focusing on the South China Sea, points to another area of Vietnams concerns  the Vanguard Bank.

The bank is an entirely submerged feature that hosts three Vietnamese outposts, located within Vietnams EEZ and about 400 kilometers (249 miles) from Indonesias Riau Island, north of the Natuna Sea.

Chinese coast guard ships are known to be present at a very regular frequency around the Vanguard Bank, from where they monitor and from time to time harass Vietnams oil exploration activities nearby, said the chief administrator of the South China Sea Chronicle Initiative.

The Vanguard Bank is a known South China Sea flashpoint between Vietnam and China.

In July 2019, a Chinese Coast Guard contingent accompanied a Chinese survey vessel operating within Vietnams waters around the bank, causing diplomatic outcry and a tense, months-long standoff between the Vietnamese and Chinese coastguards.

Tria Dianti in Jakarta contributed to this report.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.

This story has been updated to include comments from a Chinese embassy spokesperson.
Junta tries Hkalam Samson of the Kachin Baptist Convention on three charges.

Former president of Kachin Baptist Convention, Dr. Hkalam Samson, speaks at a rally against a Chinese gas pipeline, in Myanmar, Jan. 17, 2019.

A prominent Burmese Christian leader who had asked U.S. President Donald Trump to hold the Myanmar military accountable for its human rights violations, is in poor health, suffering from lung problems and high blood pressure while in detention, his wife and other sources said.

Dr. Hkalam Samson, 65, former president of the Kachin Baptist Convention and the first ethnic leader from Myanmar to appeal to Trump in person, is being tried by a secret internal court in Myitkyina Prison, where he is being held.

Authorities have charged him with criminal defamation, incitement and unlawful association with an illegal group, said sources close to the court.

Samson appeared before the prison court on Jan. 11 and 13, they said.

Myanmars military, which seized control of the elected government in a February 2021 coup, routinely uses criminal defamation laws to punish its critics. The military stands accused of wide-ranging violence and atrocities against civilians and ethnic minorities both in recent years and during its 1962-2011 rule over the country.

Samson was arrested at Mandalay International Airport on Dec. 4 on his way to medical treatment in Bangkok, Thailand, because his name was on a no-fly list. He was interrogated overnight at Central Regional Military Command headquarters.

The following day, authorities flew him back to Myitkyina, capital of northern Myanmars Kachin state, where members of the junta arrested him again upon arrival.

An attorney, who did not want to be identified for safety reasons, said the religious leader was arrested outside established legal procedures.

If a person is to be arrested, there must be a warrant issued for him, he told RFA Also, at the time of the arrest, you have to explain the reason for the arrest, [and] the detainee has to be placed in a police station first. After that, he can be transferred to the interrogation center.

But now, the detainees are taken directly to the interrogation centers, and the police must open the case as instructed by the interrogation center, he said. This is not in accordance with legal procedures.

It also means information that surfaces during interrogations cannot be used legally, yet the courts are issuing decisions based on that, the attorney added.

'Strength from God'

Samsons wife, Zhon Nyoir, told RFA that said she is worried about her husband's health because he has not been allowed to see his family since his arrest, and the family is not permitted to send him medicine or food.

But now, he has to face the trial, she said. I can't do anything but pray and take strength from God.

The attorney noted that it is illegal to forbid family members from meeting with detainees indicted under certain laws.

The Burmese Baptist denomination that Samson previously led is headquartered in Myitkyina and has about 400,000 members, most of whom are ethnic Kachin.



A convention official who refused to be named for security reasons told RFA that Samson has always been active in helping those affected by internal armed conflict and performing humanitarian work.

Especially in the case of IDPs, he risked his life and went to the dangerous front-line areas where the fighting was going on, to evacuate [people], he said, referring to internally displaced persons.



More than a month before his arrest, Samson participated in humanitarian work to help injured civilians receive emergency medical treatment after junta soldiers attacked people at an annual concert hosted by the Kachin Independence Organization, an ethnic Kachin political group. The group's armed wing has been actively fighting against junta troops since the coup as well as training anti-regime Peoples Defense Forces.



More than 60 people died during the armed assault, Kachin residents said at the time.

In 2017, Samson visited the White House and thanked Trump for imposing travel bans on senior Myanmar military commanders involved in a violent crackdown on Rohingya Muslims that occurred the same year. He also appealed to Trump to take action against religious persecution in Myanmar and to support the countrys transition to genuine democracy and federalism.

The Northern Regional Military Command, based in Kachin state, later brought a defamation lawsuit against Samson for speaking about Myanmars religious and human rights situation during the meeting with Trump, though the case was later withdrawn.

Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Edited by Malcolm Foster.
The Catholic church was burned down along with most of the houses in the mainly Christian village.

The 129-year-old Assumption Church in Chan Thar village, Ye-U township, Sagaing region that was burned down by junta troops on Jan. 15, 2023.

Junta soldiers and pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia have torched a Sagaing region village for the fourth time, burning down its 129-year-old Catholic church, residents told RFA.

On Saturday, more than 150 troops entered Chan Thar village in Ye-U township, setting up camp in the Assumption Church.

The following day, the soldiers burned down the church and adjacent buildings, home to the churchs priests and nuns, according to local Christians.

The junta has carried out four arson attacks on Chan Thar since last May and fewer than 20 of the villages near-600 houses remain after Sundays attack, according to a local who was helping to clear up debris at the church.

They started to torch the furniture and pillars inside the building first. Only the outside brick structure remains. The roof and bells were destroyed, said the local, who did not wish to be named for safety reasons.

There was a building for the sisters as it was a Christian church. That building was also completely destroyed.

Troops burned down 24 houses in the first raid last May, he said. Another 131 were torched in June and 158 homes were destroyed in December.

Residents told RFA nearly 3,000 people lost their homes in the arson attacks.

One local Christian said the junta should not allow its troops to camp in religious buildings or destroy them.

These are places where religion is supreme. It is only one year before the church turns 130 years old. This should not happen to the buildings of priests and nuns. They should always live in these buildings, the local said.

Residents said a battalion from Sagaing regions Mawlaik township and one from Yangon regions Hmawbi township carried out the latest attack but RFA has not been able to confirm this.

Calls to Sagaing regions junta spokesman and social affairs minister Aye Hlaing went unanswered.

Junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun previously claimed the military does not burn down civilian buildings, blaming anti-junta Peoples Defense Forces.

Myint Htwe, former regional lawmaker for the National League for Democracy, which led the government ousted in the February 2021 coup, told RFA destroying religious buildings is a war crime.

I accept fighting to the death in battle as it is war. We also understand it is the nature of the military to cut off main supply routes. But destroying religious buildings has no place in the civilized and humane armies of various countries around the world, he said.

Last November three locals were killed when troops attacked Khin-U townships Mon Hla village and set fire to the houses. After the attack Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of the Catholic Episcopal Church of Myanmar, told RFA Burmese he was deeply saddened by the raid on his home village.

The junta stepped up its scorched-earth operations in Ye-U township at the start of December, destroying 2,131 houses in 21 villages, according to locals.

Many of the residents of Khin-U township are descendants of Portuguese Christians known as the Bayingyi, who live alongside local Buddhists. Bayingyi have been living there since the beginning of the 17th century.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.
The Ruammitr Dockyard Co. Ltd. shipyard fire was brought under control after nearly six hours.

Thai firefighters spray foam to extinguish the blaze on the Smooth Sea 22 oil tanker at Ruammitr Dockyard Co. Ltd. shipyard on the Mae Klong River in Samut Songkram province, Thailand, Jan. 17, 2023.

Updated at 1:50 p.m. ET on 2023-01-17

A huge explosion aboard an oil tanker killed at least two people including a Burmese national at a Thai shipyard and injured at least 10, while others were reported missing, the provincial governor and Marine Department of Thailand said Tuesday.

A video clip showed a fireball rising from the Smooth Sea 22 at around 9:20 a.m., said officials in Samut Songkram, a coastal province on the Gulf of Thailand southwest of Bangkok.

The ship was carrying more than 30,000 liters of bunker oil commonly used in marine and land-based steam power plants along with 2,500 liters of diesel fuel, said officials who had not yet identified a cause for the blast.

The tanker was docked at the Ruammitr Dockyard Co. Ltd., a shipyard on the Mae Klong River in Laem Yai subdistrict where welders were working on it as part of a maintenance procedure. Officials said the fire was extinguished by 3 p.m.

We found two bodies which are being forensically examined.  We have to determine if they are Thai or of foreign origin, Samut Songkram Gov. Somnuk Phromkeaw told reporters on Tuesday afternoon, adding that those injured were welders who were not among the tankers 17 crew members.

The provincial disaster relief center identified one of those killed as Tui, 36, of Myanmar. The identity of the second victim was not released, but the Marine Department reported that at least 10 were injured.

In a Facebook post, rescue worker Siridech Siricamhom said five people were missing as of 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, Somnuk and Marine Department officials noted that flammable products were stored on the tanker.

But to find the cause, we have to set up an expert committee to investigate the case. The results should be known in 10 days, said Puripat Teerakulpisut, the Marine Departments deputy director-general.

Sorapong Paitoonpong, Marine Department acting chief, ordered the shipyard shut down after the explosion.

Marine scientists urged authorities to contain any oil spill from seeping into nearby mangrove and seashore surroundings, which are home to Brydes whales, mollusks and fishes.

The explosion was the second involving a Smooth Sea Co. Ltd. ship in Thailand in less than a year.

On March 9, 2022, the Smooth Sea 2 carrying 1.8 million liters of gasoline/alcohol car fuel and 1.3 million liters of diesel fuel exploded in Samut Prakan, near Bangkok, killing one and injuring three others.

This report has been updated to include details about victims and comments from officials regarding an investigation into the cause of the explosion.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news service.
The National Assembly may demand the resignations of more senior officials.

The Vietnam Communist Partys anti-corruption drive may claim the jobs of more senior members this week on the back of this months removal of two deputy prime ministers.

The National Assembly will hold a rare extraordinary meeting Wednesday, according to the Reuters news agency.

It cited three anonymous sources familiar with government and parliament affairs, who said the legislature may approve the resignations of more senior officials.

On Dec. 30 RFA reported that the Communist Party had removed Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam from its Central Committee.

Six days later the National Assembly voted to replace them as deputy prime ministers with party members Tran Hong Ha and Tran Luu Quang.

The tenures of Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam were both marred by bribery scandals. Minh oversaw foreign relations during the rescue flights affair, involving payments to repatriate citizens stranded abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dam was deputy prime minister in charge of healthcare when the chief executive officer of healthcare company Viet A admitted bribing officials for contracts to sell substandard COVID test kits to hospitals.

The Viet A scandal also claimed the jobs of Health Minister Nguen Thanh Long, and Hanoi Mayor and former Science and Technology Minister Chu Ngoc Anh, who were arrested on June 7, 2022.

RFA called National Assembly General Secretary Bui Van Cuong to seek comment on the Reuters report but no one answered.

Deputy Secretary General Nguyen Thi Thuy Ngan told RFA she was unaware of any plan to hold a National Assembly meeting Wednesday. When the reporter tried to ask a follow-up question she said she was busy and put down the phone.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn.
Beijing further opens air travel

Xinhua) 15:39, January 17, 2023

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- With the take-off of the CZ309 flight to Hong Kong, the Beijing Daxing International Airport on Tuesday resumed the operation of international passenger flights after China continuously optimized COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control policies.

Among more than 100 passengers onboard the flight, a father returned to Hong Kong for a reunion with his children for the first time in three years. There was also a family of three who said they made travel plans via Hong Kong.

"Finally, I can resume meeting with international business partners," said Sun Han working in the field of international finance, also a passenger on the flight.

As Beijing's newest airport, the Beijing Daxing International Airport became operational on September 25, 2019. From March 14, 2020, the airport's international flights were transferred to the Beijing Capital International Airport until the resumption, which was among Beijing's unified deployment of COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control.

From Tuesday, several airline companies, including China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Capital Airlines, and Himalaya Airlines, resumed passenger flights on international routes via the Daxing airport.

Also on Tuesday, the Daxing airport resumed the international flight transit service and the 144-hour transit visa-free policy in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, effectively promoting tourism and business activities in the city cluster.

Kong Yue, deputy general manager of the Daxing airport, expected the country's civil aviation market to usher in a new season from March with the opening of more and more long-distance international air routes.

The two major airports in Beijing expected the number of incoming and outgoing flights to surge 44 percent during the Spring Festival travel rush compared with the same period a year ago.

China's Spring Festival travel rush kicked off on Jan. 7 this year after the country adjusted its COVID-19 response. Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Jan. 22 this year.

It is estimated that 62,000 flights will arrive at or depart from the Beijing Capital International Airport and the Beijing Daxing International Airport during the 40-day-long travel rush, according to the North China Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

China has eased COVID-related quarantine regulations and lifted restrictions on international flights. The Pudong International Airport on Jan. 8 saw the first international inbound flight after China adjusted the epidemic controls.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun)
The Communist Party Central Committee said he needed to take responsibility for COVID scandals.

Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at a ceremony commemorating the 45th anniversary of Vietnam's accession to the United Nations in Hanoi's international convention center on Oct. 21, 2022. State media reported Tuesday he had resigned as president.

Updated at 9:02 p.m. EST on 2023-01-17

The Communist Party of Vietnam has forced President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to resign to take responsibility for COVID-19 bribery scandals that took place during his term, state media reported Tuesday.

The ouster of Phuc, which had been the subject of widespread rumors on Vietnamese social media, assigned political blame for the major COVID scandals but also reflected a deeper power struggle at the top of the one-party state, analysts said.

The partys Central Committee decided to relieve Phuc, 68, of all duties, including membership of the Politburo and Party Central Committee, and chairmanship of the National Defense and Security Council for the 2021-2026 term, VietNamNews said.

The Central Committee accepted Phuc's resignation on Tuesday, and the departure and his replacement will be confirmed by the National Assembly on Wednesday.

The Central Committee commended Phuc for leading Vietnams efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic in the final years of his 2016-2021 term as prime minister, according to state media.

However, members said he needed to take ultimate responsibility for the number of party officials, including two deputy prime ministers and three ministers, blamed for corruption scandals involving COVID test kits and rescue flight airfares, the reports said.

On Jan. 5, Vietnams National Assembly voted to replace deputy prime ministers Pham Binh Minh and Vu Duc Dam with party officials Tran Hong Ha and Tran Luu Quang.

Minh oversaw foreign relations during the rescue flights affair, when officials took bribes to repatriate citizens stranded abroad during the COVID pandemic.

Dam was deputy prime minister in charge of healthcare when the chief executive officer of healthcare company Viet A admitted bribing officials for contracts to sell substandard COVID test kits to hospitals.

Viet As chief executive officer admitted to bribing officials the equivalent of U.S.$34 million in order to win contracts to sell substandard kits to hospitals at a 45% markup, earning his company U.S.$172 million in profits.

The Viet A scandal also claimed the jobs of Health Minister Nguen Thanh Long, and Hanoi Mayor and former Science and Technology Minister Chu Ngoc Anh, who were arrested on June 7, 2022.

Although the position of president in Vietnam is largely ceremonial, Phuc was seen as a reassuring presence for Vietnamese business and foreign investors, and his ouster reveals cracks at the top of the communist leadership that has prided itself on collective leadership.

Ostensibly Phuc was forced to resign due to high-level government corruption scandals, but this is a high-level power-play, says Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College in Washington.

This is bare knuckled politics, as elites seek to consolidate their wealth and power. The days of collective leadership are gone. This is an era of no holds rent-seeking, power accumulation, and avarice, he wrote in a commentary for RFA.

According to Abuza, the takedown of Phuc, Minh and Dam represents a victory by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong over the partys technocrats and a shift in power to party leaders affiliated with the power Ministry of Public Security.

Among scenarios for replacing Phuc, some analysts say the party could tap Trong, to serve as party boss and state president  a step he took in 2018 after then President Tran Dai Quang died in office.

According to my information, there are three possible candidates to become president. The first is Nguyen Phu Trong who could concurrently hold the posts of state president and general secretary of the party, said Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert and professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra.

The other two candidates are the Minister of National Defense, Phan Van Giang, and the Minister of Public Security, To Lam, he told RFA.

Le Hong Hiep, a Vietnam political observer at Sigapore-based ISEAS  Yusof Ishak Institute, also identified Lam as a possible Phuc successor.

Lam seems to have gained Trongs trust for his loyalty and important role in directing anti-corruption probes. As a second-term Politburo member and head of the powerful Ministry of Public Security, Lam also has a considerable edge over his competitors, Hiep wrote in an essay Tuesday.

With Lam as top cop, Vietnam has widely abused its citizens rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly, movement, and religion, Human Rights Watch said last week in its World Report 2023. Lam also courted controversy over his lifestyle in 2021, after a video of him eating a gold-coated steak at a London restaurant went viral on social media.

This looks like Mr. Trong, his core Leninist supporters and the Ministry of Public Security are taking full control of politics in Vietnam. researcher Bill Hayton from Chatham House, a British think tank, told RFA Vietnamese.

I see this as the Xi-isation of Vietnam. The CPV under Mr. Trong seems to be adopting many of the ideas and tactics of Xi Jinpings Chinese Communist Party. They are closing down the space for different ideas and insisting on monopolizing politics, he said.

If the past is any guide to the future, in Vietnam greater control generally brings greater dissatisfaction, added Hayton.

Updated with background and analysts' comments.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Paul Eckert.
PRISTINA -- Few would argue that Kosovo's public sector, with the largest share of overall employment in the entire Western Balkans at around 30 percent, couldn't do with some trimming.

Instead, though, it's poised for a potential hiring binge, prompted by another crisis in this fractious corner of the region.

Following the mass resignation of thousands of ethnic Serbian police and other officials in November 2022 to protest Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti's latest "reciprocal" measure in a long-running fight for recognition from neighboring Serbia, Kosovo's national police force this month announced a call for applicants from minority communities.

Other institutions, including the judiciary and mayoral offices, could follow suit, although officials acknowledge that red tape, potential disciplinary proceedings, and looming elections all factor into their timelines.

It's the latest twist in a nearly 15-year effort to press Pristina to more fully integrate ethnic Serbs into Kosovo's public sector since the mostly Albanian province declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

And even residents of North Mitrovica, one of the four mostly Serbian municipalities in northern Kosovo where most of the resignations took place, are divided over whether the Serbs who resigned will -- or should -- be allowed back into the system.

Jovan, who along with others interviewed in North Mitrovica did not want to use his full name, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service he thought they shouldn't and suggested the protesters were motivated by "nothing but their own interests."

But, he added, "Whoever returns, it's their business."

Vladan, another North Mitrovica resident, was less forgiving. "Of course not," he said, "because they are secessionist from Kosovo."

A third, Danijela, said that two months into their protest, it's high time for the protesting Serbs to return to the institutions they left. "Because they are already visible, the consequences of the Serbs leaving the institutions are looming," she said. "The most important thing to us is that they should return to the police force and the judiciary...[and] take it easy on everything else."

Minority Gridlock

Serbia, a regional economic powerhouse with 7 million citizens and co-ethnics throughout much of the former Yugoslavia, doesn't recognize the independence of Kosovo and its 2 million or so residents.

Serbia has been an EU candidate state since 2012; Kosovo formally submitted its EU application last month.

Ethnic and national tensions have long complicated EU-mediated efforts to normalize their bilateral relations.

The process has been hindered by Serbian recalcitrance and Belgrade's support for a "parallel system" of political and social benefits for Kosovo's minority Serbs, but also by Pristina's ongoing refusal to codify its 2013 pledge to establish an Association of Serbian Municipalities that can speak on behalf of Serb-majority areas.

The November resignations were a response to growing pressure to enforce a controversial government decision from June to require Kosovar license plates on vehicles whose ethnic Serbian owners have resisted registration as de facto recognition of Kosovar statehood.

Pristina eventually postponed the measure after mediation by EU officials who are trying to help curb theirs and other long-running political and diplomatic feuds in the Balkans.

The international community has repeatedly urged the Serbs who quit in November 2022 to return to their jobs and encouraged Kosovar authorities to facilitate those resumptions.

"Now the question arises as to what the government of Kosovo wants to do and what the Serbs want," Veroljub Petronic of the Human Center Mitrovica NGO said.

Which Minorities Wanted?

Kosovo's police force didn't say how many new officers it planned to hire. But the resignations included some 550 police officers, plus an untold number of judges and judicial staffers, prosecutors, lawmakers, mayors, and local councilors.

Officials said in the weeks after the protest that the police officers who resigned would have to reapply to get their old jobs back. But it's unclear whether they and others will be at a disadvantage versus other candidates if they do apply for police or any other jobs.

Kosovo's police force declined to respond to questions about who was invited to apply or whether any applications had been received and referred RFE/RL's Balkan Service to a public announcement.

The Kosovar government has mostly stressed that its aim is not to "replace Serbs with Albanians."

"We want Serbs to be represented in our multiethnic institutions," government spokesman Perparim Kryeziu said in a written response to RFE/RL's Balkan Service. Kryeziu said Prime Minister Kurti's invitation for police applicants was aimed especially at Serbian applicants who haven't previously worked in the public sector.

The announcement stipulates that it is seeking police applicants under the age of 30.

Serbia's Support

Some of the police officers who spoke to RFE/RL on condition of anonymity acknowledged having "lost the will" to return to their jobs within Kosovo's system but said they would go back to their old jobs if advised to do so by Belgrade.

They generally avoided direct questions on the topic but said the employment contracts with Serbian authorities provided financial security and sufficed for now.

A Serbian government office that steers relations with its former province announced in mid-November 2022 that it had signed employment contracts to ensure ongoing salaries for around 3,500 outgoing police officers, judges, and other public servants from four Kosovar municipalities.

Law And Politics

The magnitude of the blow to Kosovo's judiciary and other institutions from the resignations by Serbian judges and other officials is still unclear.

Kosovo's Judicial Council declined to say whether those resignations have been considered, what the next step might be, or whether those individuals will be allowed to take up their jobs once again.

The council referred RFE/RL's Balkan Service to an interview that Judicial Council Chairman Albert Zogaj gave in early January, saying that the resignations were being carefully considered and disciplinary action was being considered "against those employees who participated in political gatherings, which contravene constitutional, legal, and ethical responsibilities."

Kosovar Serb judges and prosecutors have only been fully integrated into Kosovo's judicial system since 2017, following years of considerable informal control by Serbia in predominantly Serbian areas.

Kosovo's constitution and legislation on judicial ethics bars judges from involvement in political activities. In practice, the politics ban has run into occasional problems, including when the Judicial Council suspended the president of the Mitrovica Basic Court, Ljiljana Stevanovic, for meeting in Belgrade with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

More recently, Stevanovic and several other judges are thought to have participated in gatherings with a Belgrade-backed ethnic Serbian political party, Serbian List.

"Everyone will bear responsibility," Zogaj said, adding that "even in a situation where we approve resignations, some will not be approved because, first of all, disciplinary measures should be imposed."

Kosovo's Prosecutorial Council told RFE/RL's Balkan Service that its decisions regarding prosecutors who joined the mass resignation will follow a detailed analysis. "Without such a decision," it said, "we cannot assess how the situation in this case will unfold."

Ehat Miftaraj, from the Kosovo Law Institute, expresses hope that judges, prosecutors, and support staff would be allowed to reapply for their old jobs. But he also speculates that they might find it more difficult to get selected.

He notes that participation in judicial institutions is among the rights enshrined in the Kosovar Constitution that Serbs should not willingly surrender.

Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani has already announced that elections must be held to replace the mayors who resigned in four mostly Serbian municipalities: North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Leposavic, and Zvecan.

Serbian List quickly announced its intention to boycott the voting.

With contributions from North Mitrovica by Maja Ficovic
The United States has imposed sanctions on more than 100 people and entities in a move aimed at further curbing Russias access to the international financial system through facilitators and their businesses.

The sanctions announced on April 12 by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) are in coordination with Britain, which also announced sanctions on individuals and companies accused of acting as "financial fixers" for Russian billionaires Roman Abramovich and Alisher Usmanov.

Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement the new measures targeted those helping the two prominent businessmen to avoid the full cost of sanctions that have been imposed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while the United States said its new sanctions apply to more than 120 entities and individuals across more than 20 countries, including facilitators of sanctions evasion.

"We are closing the net on the Russian elite and those who try to help them hide their money for war," British Foreign Minister James Cleverly said in a statement. "We will keep cutting them off from assets they thought were successfully hidden."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in his statement that the United States "will continue to take action against Russia and those supporting its war in Ukraine, including further implementing the G7's commitment to impose severe consequences on third country actors who support Russia's war in Ukraine."

OFAC said in a separate statement it imposed sanctions on Russian financial facilitators and sanctions evaders around the world, including in Turkey, Hungary, Uzbekistan, the United Arab Emirates, and China.

The Hungarian individuals designated by the United States are three executives of the Budapest-based International Investment Bank and the bank itself.

The sanctions, which freeze any assets the individuals and entities hold in U.S. and U.K. jurisdictions and bar U.S. and U.K. companies and individuals from any dealings with them, come on top of multiple rounds of sanctions packages introduced since the invasion by the United States and its allies.

Blinken highlighted in his statement that the U.S. sanctions target two Russian entities that the U.S. State Department said have taken part in the "militarization and indoctrination of schoolchildren." The State Department named the two entities as the All Russian Childrens and Youth Military Patriotic Public Movement Youth Army and the State Budgetary Educational Institution of Additional Education of the Republic of Crimea Crimea Patriot Center.

The action also blacklists the Patriot Private Military Company, which the State Department says is associated with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and competes with the Wagner mercenary group, and the China HEAD Aerospace Technology Company, a China-based satellite image reseller that has provided satellite imagery of locations in Ukraine to entities affiliated with Wagner, Blinken said.

OFAC also targeted King-Pai Technology HK, which it said is a China-based supplier for multiple entities in Russia's military-industrial complex.

The U.S. sanctions also target five entities and one individual associated with Rosatom, which Blinken said is in response to Russia's use of energy exports, including in the nuclear sector, "to exert political and economic pressure on its customers globally."

Washington also imposed sanctions on Usmanov's company, USM Holdings, along with entities organized under it, the State Department said. This includes Russian mobile phone operator Megafon; Russia's biggest iron ore producer, Metalloinvest, including its Swiss-based and U.A.E.-based subsidiaries; the operator of the Russia-based Udokan copper project; and Usmanov's Uzbekistan-based cement producer Akhangarancement.

With reporting by Reuters
MINSK -- The trial in absentia of Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya and her four associates has started in Minsk after they challenged the results of a 2020 election they say was rigged to keep authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power.

As the trial began on January 17, the Minsk City Court rejected a request by the lawyers of Tsikhanouskaya and a co-defendant, Paval Latushka, the chairman of the opposition People's Anti-Crisis Leadership group, to drop all charges against them and close the case.

Tsikhanouskaya is accused of high treason, organizing mass disorder, creating an extremist group, inciting hatred, plotting to seize power, and calling for international sanctions against Belarus.

The Crisis In Belarus Read our ongoing coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election, widely seen as fraudulent.

Latushka, and three other defendants -- Maria Maroz, Volha Kavalkova, and Syarhey Dylevski -- are charged with making public calls for sanctions against Belarus, inciting hatred, bribe-taking, and creating an extremist group.

All six are members of an opposition body called the Coordination Council led by Tsikhanouskaya and Latushka.

They all fled Belarus in the wake of a deadly crackdown on mass protests against the official results of the August 2020 presidential poll, which Lukashenka claims he won. The Belarusian opposition and Western governments say the election was rigged and that the real winner was Tsikhanouskaya.

Tsikhanouskaya called the trial a "farce" and "revenge" from Lukashenka, saying she had not been given access to court documents.

"These trials are not trials at all. It's a show. It's farce and it has nothing to do with justice at all," Tsikhanouskaya, who lives in exile in Lithuania, said on January 16.

Latushka called the trial "a circus."

"Let's see how the constitution is being violated in Belarus -- the election was rigged, the power was usurped. The man who usurped the power violates the constitution every day, not to mention the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedural Code, as well as the Administrative Code and the Administrative Procedure Code. These laws do not work anymore. This cannot be called a trial and therefore I do not want to take part in it," Latushka told RFE/RL on January 16.

Thousands were detained in protests against the election results and there have been credible reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees by security forces. Several people have died during the crackdown.

Lukashenka, 68, has leaned heavily on Russian support amid Western sanctions while punishing the opposition and arresting or forcing abroad many of its leaders.

The United States, the European Union, and several other countries have refused to recognize Lukashenka's self-declared victory in the 2020 presidential election.

The U.S. State Department issued a statement on January 17 condemning the trial and the ongoing crackdown on dissent, including the trials of other Belarusian citizens who have criticized Lukashenka and his regime.

"To respond to these human rights abuses, the State Department is announcing action to impose visa restrictions on 25 individuals under Presidential Proclamation 8015 for their involvement in undermining democracy," the statement said, adding that in all, 322 Belarusian officials had been targeted by the measures so far for their roles in the crackdown "since the fraudulent 2020 presidential election."
Hungary is once again threatening to water down the European Union's sanctions regime against Russia by insisting that nine people be removed from a list of restrictive measures imposed on more than 1,300 individuals and 170 entities during several rounds of action in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Budapest once again wants to see the removal from the visa-ban and asset-freeze list of Alisher Usmanov, Pyotr Aven, and Viktor Rashnikov, several diplomatic sources with knowledge of the matter who aren't authorized to speak on the record said on January 17.

Hungary attempted to remove the trio from the sanctions the last time the bloc's restrictive measures were up for removal in September but quickly backtracked after political pressure.

Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, has long been critical of the EU's stance toward Moscow during the conflict, saying the sanctions have hurt the bloc without weakening Russia or helping Ukraine.

The sanctions list must receive unanimous approval to be rolled over as the new renewal deadline approaches on March 15.

Hungary is also looking to remove Usmanov's sister, Gulbahor Ismailova; Aven's business partner, Mikhail Fridman; Belarusian-Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin; his son Nikita Mazepin; and Russian oligarchs Grygory Berezkin and Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor.

The EU's official journal calls Usmanov a "pro-Kremlin oligarch with particularly close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin."

He has been referred to as one of "Putin's favorite oligarchs" and is seen as a fixer for the president's business matters.

The sanctions have already led to the seizure of a $600 million yacht -- the largest in the world -- linked to Usmanov, who has unsuccessfully challenged the measures in the European Court of Justice. Sister Ismailova was also sanctioned after investigations revealed that Usmanov indirectly had transferred his assets to her.

The EU says Aven "is one of approximately 50 wealthy Russian businessmen who regularly meet with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. He does not operate independently of the president's demands."

Rashnikov, meanwhile, was added to the list in March, with Brussels describing him as "a leading Russian oligarch who is owner and chairman of the board of directors of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) company. MMK is one of Russia's largest taxpayers."

Mazepin, who is the owner and CEO of mineral fertilizer company Uralchem, is according to the EU "a member of the closest circle of Vladimir Putin" and "one of the leading businesspersons involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the government of Russia."

His racing-driving son, Nikita, was before being sanctioned by the EU in March a member of the Haas Formula 1 Team and was listed due to his close association with his father.

Kantor, sanctioned in April, heads Acron Group -- one of Russia's largest fertilizer producers. According to Brussels, Kantor has "openly declared his support to and friendship for President Putin on numerous occasions, and enjoys good relations with the Kremlin."

Berezkin was sanctioned at the same time and was referred to in the EU official journal as "a leading Russian businessperson and considered to be the 'henchman' of President Vladimir Putin."
Welcome back to The Farda Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that tracks the key issues in Iran and explains why they matter. To subscribe, click here. www.rferl.org/a/31793259.html



I'm RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here's what I've been following during the past week and what I'm watching for in the days ahead.

The Big Issue

Iran appears to be making headway toward renewing official ties with Saudi Arabia and Persian Gulf states that in some cases have been publicly avoiding Tehran for decades.

The foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia held talks in Beijing on April 6 in a significant step toward restoring diplomatic relations, which were cut in 2016 after protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran following Riyadhs execution of prominent Saudi Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Iran also accepted an invitation from Saudi King Salman for President Ebrahim Raisi to visit Riyadh, while Tehran said it will send a similar invitation to the Saudi king. Meanwhile, a Saudi delegation traveled to Iran on April 9 to discuss the reopening of the embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad. The trip came as Iranian media reported on April 8 that a street sign near the Saudi consulate in Mashhad provocatively named after Sheikh al-Nimr had been quietly removed. An Iranian delegation also arrived in Saudi Arabia on April 12 to pave the way for the reopening of Iranian diplomatic missions there.

Iran is meanwhile taking steps to improve ties with other countries in the region, naming an ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and working to decrease tensions with Egypt and Bahrain.

Why It Matters: Iran and Saudi Arabia appear to be pursuing implementation of last months Chinese-brokered agreement, possibly clearing the way for Tehran to de-escalate tensions with other countries that followed Riyadhs lead on a rupture seven years ago.



What's Next: Tehran and Riyadh could move surprisingly swiftly toward normalization, but its no sure thing. Abdolrasool Divsallar, a visiting professor at the Catholic University of Milan (UCSC), told me that the political environment between the two regional rivals could encourage the start of military and security talks within months.

But Divsallar also warned that opponents at home and abroad could still undermine the agreement. Hard-liners in Iran may act as a spoiler rather than as a supporter of the deal, he said, adding that Israel could do the same.

The regional tensions between Israel and Iran, on one side, andbetween Iran, Saudi [Arabia] and the United States, on the other side, are two dynamics that make this process very fragile, he said.

Divsallar also suggested that any normalization between Iran and countries with less appetite for a quick restoration of ties, for instance Bahrain, could take longer.

They feel more secure under the current status quo rather than immediately normalizing their ties with the Islamic republic and losing their leverage, he said, adding, They may wait to see a major change of policies.

Stories You Might Have Missed

Irans civil aviation sector has for years been under Western sanctions that prevent it from purchasing new aircraft or spare parts for repairs. Now, Russia's oldest airline, Aeroflot, has sent one of its passenger planes to Iran for repairs for the first time ever. Aeroflot reportedly ran into obstacles at home stemming from Western sanctions over Russias ongoing, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The RBK media group cited an Aeroflot representative and sources close to the company on April 11 as saying that an Airbus A330-300 had been sent to Tehran on April 5 to be repaired by specialists from Iran's Mahan Air.

Iranian pensioners staged protests in more than a dozen cities across Iran, demanding higher pensions amid soaring prices. Protests were reported on April 9 in Tehran, Ahvaz, Mashhad, Isfahan, Arak, Qom, Shush, Tabriz, and several other cities where retirees complained of poor living conditions and chanted anti-government slogans. Labor protests in Iran have swelled as the economy deteriorates following years of mismanagement compounded by crippling U.S. sanctions.

What We're Watching

Prominent Iranian female religious scholar Sedigheh Vasmaghi has challenged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the Islamic republics mandatory hijab law.

In a letter published online, Vasmaghi asked about the reasoning behind Irans strict model for womens dress and said the Koran does not specify the need for women to cover their hair in public.

There is no evidence to show that during the time of the Prophet Muhammad women were harassed and punished for not covering their hair or even their bodies, Vasmaghi, who has published several books on Islamic jurisprudence, wrote.

Why It Matters: Vasmaghis letter is significant for its timing -- just days after Khamenei asserted that the removal of the hijab in public was religiously banned. But it is also important because it comes from a religious woman who wears the veil while opposing the mandatory hijab, which is seemingly being defied by a growing number of women.

That's all from me for now. Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have.

Until next time,

Golnaz Esfandiari

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Wednesday.
Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, marking the second anniversary of his incarceration on charges widely believed to be politically motivated, says he remains hopeful the "thieves" trying to steal the country from its citizens will fail and be dislodged from power.

Navalny posted a statement on his social network accounts on January 17, exactly two years after he was arrested on his arrival from Germany where he was treated for poisoning with what European labs concluded was a Novichok-like Soviet-style nerve agent, saying "our poor Motherland needs to be saved."

"She is robbed, wounded, dragged into an aggressive war [against Ukraine], and turned into a prison led by the most dishonest and deceitful villains. Any stance against this gang, even a symbolic one that is possible for me in my current limited situation, is important," Navalny's post said.

"As I said two years ago, and I am saying now -- Russia is my country...I am not going to give them my country and I believe that the murk will disappear... And there are many of us, for sure, much more than the corrupt judges, lying propagandists, and the Kremlin thieves."

Navalny, who suffered a near-fatal poisoning in August 2020 that he blames on Russian security operatives acting at the behest of President Vladimir Putin, was arrested on January 17, 2021, and later handed a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for violating the terms of an earlier parole during his convalescence abroad. The Kremlin has denied any involvement in Navalny's poisoning.

The original conviction is widely regarded as a trumped-up, politically motivated case.

Then in March last year, Navalny was handed a nine-year prison term on charges of contempt and embezzlement through fraud that he and his supporters have repeatedly rejected as politically motivated.

Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation and his network of regional offices have been designated "extremist" organizations and banned after his arrest.

A day before the anniversary, a group of Russian lawyers demanded an end to the "blatant torture" of the Kremlin critic, who is being held in punitive solitary confinement in a prison in Russias Vladimir region.

The appeal, published in the form of a letter on a Telegram channel, joined recent calls by a group of Russian medical professionals for the government to stop bullying Navalny, who is feared to be in a state of worsening health.
A court in Russia's second-largest city, St. Petersburg, has rejected the appeal of noted historian Yury Dmitriyev against a 15-year prison he was handed in a disputed case stemming from pictures of his foster daughter.

The Third Court of Cassations ruled on January 17 that Dmitriyev's conviction was correct and his sentence remains unchanged.

The high-profile case against Dmitriyev dates back to 2016, when the historian, who has spent decades researching extrajudicial executions carried out in Karelia under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, was arrested after investigators found pictures of his foster daughter on his computer.

The authorities said the images were pornographic. Dmitriyev, however, says social workers asked him to take the photos because they said they were concerned about the childs physical development.

He was acquitted in April 2018, but the Karelia Supreme Court upheld an appeal by prosecutors and ordered a new trial. He was rearrested in June 2018 and then charged with a more serious crime of sexual assault against a minor.

In July 2020, Dmitriyev was sentenced to 3 1/2 years on a conviction for violent acts of a sexual nature committed against a person under 14 years of age. He has rejected the case, insisting that he is being targeted because of his research into the crimes of Stalin's regime.

Prosecutors, who had asked for 15 years in prison in the high-profile case, said the original sentence was "too lenient" and appealed it. Dmitriyev's defense team, meanwhile, also appealed the case insisting its client was innocent.

In September 2020, weeks before he was due to be released because of time served, the Supreme Court of Karelia accepted the prosecutors' appeal and added another 9 1/2 years onto Dmitriyev's sentence.

In December last year, a court in Karelia added two more years to Dmitriyev's sentence after finding him guilty of fabricating pornographic materials and illegally possessing a firearm.

Dozens of Russian and international scholars, historians, writers, poets, and others have issued statements in support of the scholar, while the European Union has called for Dmitriyev to be released.

Dmitriyevs research has been viewed with hostility by the government of President Vladimir Putin. Under Putin, Stalin has undergone a gradual rehabilitation, and the Russian government has emphasized his leadership of the Soviet Union while downplaying his crimes against the Soviet citizens.

Under Stalin, millions of people were executed, sent to labor camps, or starved to death in famines caused by forced collectivization. During World War II, entire ethnic groups were deported to remote areas as collective punishment for alleged collaboration with the Nazis.

Dmitriyev is serving his term at a penal colony in Mordovia -- an area historically associated with some of Russias most-brutal prisons, including Soviet-era labor camps for political prisoners.
Current Time correspondent Andriy Kuzakov spent a day with a Ukrainian air reconnaissance unit along the front line between Bakhmut and Soledar, where brutal fighting continues to rage. Ukrainian military officials reported that Russian forces launched more than 70 attacks on January 16 around Bakhmut. Some 15 settlements were shelled, including Soledar, a town that Russian forces have claimed to control.
As Ukrainian forces sustained intensified Russian attacks in the east of the country, the top U.S. and Ukrainian military officers met for the first time at a secret location in southeastern Poland as Kyiv pressed the need for increased supplies of Western arms in its defense against Moscows full-scale invasion.

A U.S. military spokesman said Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, met with General Valeriy Zaluzhniy, Ukraine's military chief, at a base near Poland's border with Ukraine on January 17.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

The Washington Post and other news outlets reported that the U.S. contingent included five other military officers, along with an interpreter and security personnel. Because of safety precautions, news of the gathering was not disclosed until it concluded.

"They both thought it was important," U.S. military spokesman Colonel David Butler said.

"It's important that two very important military officials look at each other in the eye when they talk about very important topics. It makes a difference," he added.

The two have spoken often since Russia's February 24, 2022, invasion, but this was the first face-to-face meeting of the generals.

Zaluzhniy confirmed the meeting, writing on Twitter: "My first personal meeting with #GenMilley, Chairman of @thejointstaff happened in Poland."

He said he "extended my gratitude for the unwavering support & assistance" provided by the United States and other allies. He added that he "outlined the urgent needs" of the Ukrainian military that "will accelerate our victory."

The meeting came as Ukrainian cities and troops faced relentless Russian attacks, mainly in the east of the country, over the past 24 hours and as Western allies prepared to meet in Germany to discuss giving Ukraine offensive armaments such as tanks, a major desire of leaders in Kyiv.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily report on January 17 that Russians launched more than 70 attacks the previous day, shelling 15 settlements near the disputed city of Bakhmut in Donetsk, including the strategic town of Soledar, which has been all but razed to the ground by Russian shelling.

A Russian victory in Soledar would allow Moscow's forces to inch closer to Bakhmut, where pitched battles have been raging for months.

"The enemy does not abandon its intentions to seize the entire Donetsk region. It is conducting offensive actions in the Bakhmut and Avdiyivka directions," the General Staff said, adding that Russian forces also continued to press in the direction of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson.

WATCH: Hundreds came to bid farewell to a popular boxing coach on January 17 in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Korenovskiy was a victim of a January 14 Russian missile strike on a nine-story apartment building that killed at least 40 people.

The latest attacks came after a Russian missile strike on an apartment building that houses around 1,700 people in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro killed at least 45 people.

Ukrainian officials said on January 17 that rescuers had called off the search for victims of the attack, with little or no hope of finding alive any of the 20 people who remain missing.

Russia has denied responsibility for the attack on the massive apartment complex.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his regular video address on January 16 that the attack on Dnipro and Russia's push to gain the upper hand in the east highlighted the need for the West "to speed up decision-making" in supplying weapons.

Kyiv has long been pushing for tanks and armored vehicles that will help it punch holes in Russia's front lines.

Britain confirmed on January 16 that it was going to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks and other military equipment, including hundreds of armored vehicles and advanced air-defense systems.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki ratcheted up pressure on Germany on January 16 to follow suit and provide more weapons to Ukraine, including Leopard 2 battle tanks, but Berlin says those tanks should be supplied only if there is agreement among Kyiv's main allies, particularly the United States.

Poland and Finland have already pledged to send some of their Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Analysts say the Leopard 2 is superior to the tanks Russia has deployed and would give Kyiv a decisive advantage.

The Netherlands will send a Patriot missile-defense system to Ukraine, Dutch news agency ANP reported on January 17. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is currently in Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden, announced a joint U.S.-German initiative to send the defense systems to Ukraine.

Oleskiy Danylov, secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, said on January 16 that Ukraine urgently needs more and better weapons it expects Russia "to attempt to make a so-called final push" that could occur on the invasion's anniversary or in March.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is preparing to visit Berlin on January 19 and then host a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group the following day at the U.S. military base in Ramstein to discuss further support -- including military aid -- for Ukraine with allies.

Zelenskiy said on January 16 that he expects a "key decision on arms supplies from our partners" at the Ramstein meeting.

Meanwhile, Russia's Defense Ministry said in a statement on January 17 that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had visited Russian troops involved in Ukraine. The information could not be independently confirmed.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and The Washington Post
Kyrgyzstans trade turnover with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) countries significantly increased from January through November 2022, according to the National Statistical Committee of Kyrgyzstan. According to the committee, the foreign trade turnover of Kyrgyzstan with the EAEU reached US$4.2 billion in 11 months of 2022, an increase of 36.2% over the same period in 2021. Compounded over the full year, that suggests a total KyrgyzEAEU trade turnover of about US$4.6 billion for the full year.

The Eurasian Economic Union includes Kyrgyzstan as well as Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. During the reported eleven-month Kyrgyzstans imports from the EAEU countries increased by 20.3% compared to 2021, while exports increased by 1.9 times. That was mainly due to the growth in footwear production in Kyrgyzstan which increased by a multiple of 10.8 times over 2021.

The growth in exports was due to the growth in Kyrgyz export supplies of footwear, equipment and mechanical devices, leather goods, clothing, vegetables and fruits. At the same time, the growth of imports is associated with an increase in the receipts of vegetables and fruits, vehicles, and ferrous metals, the Committee said.

Overall, Kyrgyzstans foreign trade amounted to US$10.5 billion in 11 months of 2022, which is an increase of 40.4% over the same period in 2021. The largest share of Kyrgyzstans trade with EAEU member states belonged to Russia (71.8% and Kazakhstan (25.9%).

Kyrgyzstan is the 2023 Chair of the Commonwealth of Independent States and has been actively attracting Russian and Chinese investment by offering tax incentives and long-term residents visas.

Related Reading
Astronomers from the University of California, Santa Cruz and elsewhere have discovered 208 new RR Lyrae variable stars in the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy; the most distant of these stars is 320,000 parsecs, or more than a million light-years, from Earth  almost half the distance to the Andromeda galaxy.

This study is redefining what constitutes the outer limits of our Galaxy, said University of California, Santa Cruzs Professor Raja Guhathakurta and colleagues.

Our Galaxy and Andromeda are both so big, theres hardly any space between the two galaxies.

The stellar halo component of our Galaxy is much bigger than the disk, which is about 100,000 light-years across.

Our Solar System resides in one of the spiral arms of the disk. In the middle of the disk is a central bulge, and surrounding it is the halo, which contains the oldest stars in the Galaxy and extends for hundreds of thousands of light-years in every direction.

The halo is the hardest part to study because the outer limits are so far away.

The stars are very sparse compared to the high stellar densities of the disk and the bulge, but the halo is dominated by dark matter and actually contains most of the mass of the Galaxy.

Previous modeling studies had calculated that the Milky Ways stellar halo should extend out to around 300,000 parsecs, or one million light-years, from the Galactic center.

The 208 RR Lyrae stars detected by the team ranged in distance from about 20,000 to 320,000 parsecs, or 65,000 light-years to 1.05 million light-years.

We were able to use these variable stars as reliable tracers to pin down the distances, said Yuting Feng, a doctoral student at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Our observations confirm the theoretical estimates of the size of the halo, so thats an important result.

For their study, the authors analyzed data from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS), a program using the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT).

The excellent quality of the NGVS data enabled use to obtain the most reliable and precise characterization of RR Lyrae at these distances, Professor Guhathakurta said.

RR Lyrae are old stars with very specific physical properties that cause them to expand and contract in a regularly repeating cycle.

The way their brightness varies looks like an EKG  theyre like the heartbeats of the Galaxy  so the brightness goes up quickly and comes down slowly, and the cycle repeats perfectly with this very characteristic shape.

In addition, if you measure their average brightness, it is the same from star to star. This combination is fantastic for studying the structure of the Galaxy.

The astronomers presented the findings on January 11, 2023 at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS 241) in Seattle, Washington.

_____

Y. Feng et al. 2023. Distant Milky Way Halo RR Lyrae Stars in the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey: Exploring the Outer Edge of our Galaxy. AAS 241, program number: 340.01

M. Talukdar et al. 2023. The Discovery of Milky Way Halo RR Lyrae Stars and Distant Quasars in the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) Deep Fields Database. AAS 241, program number: 303.01
Before humans arrived, giant tortoises occurred on many islands in the western Indian Ocean. In new research, Professor Uwe Fritz from the Senckenberg Natural History Collections and colleagues aimed to decipher their diversity and biogeography. Their results suggest that the ancestor of the extinct Mascarene tortoises spread from Africa in the Eocene to now-sunken islands northeast of Madagascar. From these islands, the Mascarenes were repeatedly colonized. Another out-of-Africa migration produced on Madagascar giant, large, and small tortoise species. Two giant and one large species disappeared 1,000 to 600 years ago, the latter is new to science.

Before human arrival, the ecosystems of the oceanic islands in the western Indian Ocean were dominated by giant tortoises as equivalents of continental megafauna, both in total mass and numbers.

On Madagascar, they shared that role with medium- to large-sized mammals and birds, while giant tortoises were the only large herbivores on Aldabra, the eastern Granitic Seychelles, and the Mascarene islands.

Aldabra, a coralline atoll in the extreme western Seychelles, is the only island with a surviving native giant tortoise population.

To reconstruct the evolution and extinction of these animals, Professor Fritz and co-authors sequenced their DNA extracted from bones and museum specimens originating from Madagascar and neighboring islands.

They found that Madagascar, Aldabra, and the Seychelles were home to three closely related species of giant tortoises, two of which became extinct in the Middle Ages, a few centuries after Madagascar was colonized by humans.

These species are not related to five other species that lived on Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodrigues  the islands east of Madagascar that gained a certain notoriety because of the flightless dodo.

The Madagascar giant tortoises also disappeared after the arrival of the first humans on the islands, but in this case only about 200 years ago.

Our study is part of new research that looks at the historical impact of humans on biodiversity, Professor Fritz said.

We often think that humans only started to wipe out species in recent times.

But in reality, humans exploited local food resources and changed their environment early on.

As a result, many large animal species disappeared all over the world, including most of the giant tortoise species in the western Indian Ocean.

This led to a major disturbance of the natural balance, since on the islands, the giant tortoises, which were originally numerous and weighed up to 200 kg, assumed the role of the mainlands large ungulates.

For example, some tree species on these islands are now threatened with extinction because the giant tortoises have disappeared.

This is due to the fact that the trees seeds could only germinate once their hard shells had been partially digested by the tortoises after having been eaten.

Since the disappearance of the tortoises, saplings have no longer been able to germinate.

This shows that the loss of a species can trigger a fatal domino effect in the ecosystem.

In our work, we often used small pieces of bone that were supposedly worthless for science, said Dr. Christian Kehlmaier, a researcher at the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden.

From one such fragment, we were able to isolate genetic material that provides evidence that another extinct tortoise species existed on Madagascar, named Astrochelys rogerbouri, which reached a carapace length of about half a meter.

Radiocarbon dating of the bone revealed that this species lived on Madagascar as late as the Middle Ages and, like the giant tortoises, must have disappeared after the arrival of humans.

Similar discoveries can certainly be expected in other groups of animals as well.

The findings were published in the journal Science Advances.

_____

Christian Kehlmaier et al. 2023. Ancient DNA elucidates the lost world of western Indian Ocean giant tortoises and reveals a new extinct species from Madagascar. Science Advances 9 (2); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abq2574
Paleontologists have described new specimens of theropods  a dinosaur group that includes both modern birds and their closest non-avian dinosaur relatives  from the Late Cretaceous deposits of the Rio de las Chinas Valley in the Chilean portion of Patagonia.

The end of the Cretaceous period, around 66 million years ago, was marked by rapid biotic turnover attributed to the impact of a large asteroid at Chicxulub, Mexico, and contributions from increased volcanism from the Deccan Traps.

Environmental perturbations from these events led to the extinction of three-quarters of all life on Earth, including the non-avian dinosaurs.

The most detailed records of biodiversity change, extinction mechanisms, and timing come from northern hemisphere localities, primarily in North America and Europe.

Localities in Patagonia, South America, make an ideal candidate for targeted searches for Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossils.

The fauna of Patagonia leading up to the mass extinction was really diverse, said Dr. Sarah Davis, a paleontologist in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

Youve got your large theropod carnivores and smaller carnivores as well as these bird groups coexisting alongside other reptiles and small mammals.

In their study, Dr. Davis and co-authors on Late Cretaceous theropod fossils from Chilean Patagonia.

Non-avian theropod dinosaurs were mostly carnivorous, and include the top predators in the food chain.

The study shows that in prehistoric Patagonia, these predators included dinosaurs from two groups: Megaraptoridae and Unenlagiinae.

Reaching over 7.6 m (25 feet) long, megaraptors were among the larger theropod dinosaurs in South America during the Late Cretaceous epoch.

The unenlagiines  a group with members that ranged from chicken-sized to over 3 m (10 feet) tall  were probably covered with feathers, just like their close relative Velociraptor.

The unenlagiinae fossils described in the study are the southernmost known instance of this dinosaur group.

The bird fossils were also from two groups: Enantiornithes and Ornithurae.

Although now extinct, enantiornithines were the most diverse and abundant birds millions of years ago; they resembled sparrows, but with beaks lined with teeth.

The group Ornithurae includes all modern birds living today; the ornithurines living in ancient Patagonia may have resembled a goose or duck, though the fossils are too fragmentary to tell for sure.

Some researchers have suggested that the southern hemisphere faced less extreme or more gradual climatic changes than the northern hemisphere after the asteroid strike.

This may have made Patagonia, and other places in the southern hemisphere, a refuge for birds and mammals and other life that survived the extinction.

This study can aid in investigating this theory by building up a record of ancient life before and after the extinction event, Dr. Davis said.

A paper describing the findings was published in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences.

_____

Sarah N. Davis et al. 2023. New records of Theropoda from a Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian) locality in the Magallanes-Austral Basin, Patagonia, and insights into end Cretaceous theropod diversity. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 122: 104163; doi: 10.1016/j.jsames.2022.104163
Researchers in Chile's Patagonia region have discovered the southernmost dinosaur fossils outside Antarctica. These fossils include those of the megaraptor, a large carnivorous dinosaur that existed in South America during the Cretaceous period around 70 million years ago. These megaraptors were up to 10 meters in length, as reported in the Journal of South American Earth Sciences.

Marcelo Leppe, the director of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH), stated that they were missing a key piece of information and that they knew that where there were large mammals, there would also be large carnivores, but they had not found any yet according to NY Post.

Fossils from the South

Reuters report that the fossils were found in the far south Rio de las Chinas Valley in the Magallanes Basin between 2016 and 2020, and they also include some unusual remains of unenlagia, velociraptor-like dinosaurs which are thought to have been covered in feathers. The fossils had some characteristics not present in Argentine or Brazilian counterparts, according to University of Chile researcher Jared Amudeo.

Amudeo said that it could be a new species, which is very likely or belong to another family of dinosaurs that are closely related, but he added that more conclusive evidence is needed. The studies also provided more information about the meteorite's impact on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, which may have led to the extinction of dinosaurs around 65 million years ago.

Leppe from INACH highlighted a sudden decrease in temperature over present-day Patagonia and waves of intense cold lasting for several thousand years, in contrast to the extremely warm climate that existed for much of the Cretaceous period. He mentioned that the massive variation they saw, the biological diversity, was also reacting to a powerful environmental catalyst. The planet was already in a predicament before (the Chicxulub), which is seen in the rock formations of the Rio de las Chinas Valley".

ALSO READ: Thescelosaurus Fossil May Present New Evidence How Dinosaur Died When Asteroid Hit the Earth in PBS' NOVA Special

Megaraptor's Walk on Earth

Megaraptor was a large theropod dinosaur that lived around 84 to 65 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. It had a distinguishing feature: a 14-inch (35 centimeters) sickle-like claw on each hand's thumb and smaller claws on the other fingers. When alive, this claw would have been sheathed in a hard, keratinous material similar to our fingernails, making the claw even bigger, longer, and sharper.

The tail of the Megaraptor was probably used for balance and fast turning. The species may have had a relatively enormous brain and large eyes. It was estimated to be around 25-26 feet (7.5-8 meters) long and weigh around 1 tonne (2,200 lb). In the past, it has been classified as a spinosaurid, a carcharodontosaurid, or a coelurosaur.

The most widely accepted classifications are as a basal coelurosaur or a relative of Neovenator, but recent studies have suggested that it may be a tyrannosauroid. However, recent estimates have denied this claim and show the animal's lineage as closer to a basal coelurosaur, following a report from DinoPedia.

RELATED ARTICLE: 33-Foot Dinosaur Bones Unearthed in Argentina Could Be the Biggest Megaraptor Ever Found

Check out more news and information on Paleontology in Science Times.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Italy hosted a press conference to announce the Vietnam-Italy Year 2023 on January 14.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Italy has hosted a press conference to announce the Vietnam-Italy Year 2023 and the celebration plan for the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties (March 23, 1973) and 10 years of the strategic partnership between the two countries (January 2013-2023).

The January 14 press conference saw the attendance of Italian Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Maria Tripodi, President of the City Council of Rome Svetlana Celli, among other Italian officials.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Duong Hai Hung stated that the embassy will coordinate with Italian agencies and localities to organize celebration activities in Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Napoli and other cities throughout 2023.

Such activities are expected to open up cooperation opportunities, deepen the strategic partnership and facilitate collaboration in politics, economy, investment, culture-education, science-technology, tourism, innovation, digital economy, green economy and renewable energy, as well as people-to-people exchange and cooperation between localities, focusing on the economic ties.

For her part, Tripodi affirmed that Italy considers Vietnam an important dialogue side and a partner essential for stability and economic development in Asia-Pacific.

The bilateral relationship has been developing intensively and extensively, as reflected through the regular exchange of delegations at the highest level, with the latest meeting between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh on the sidelines of the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit in Brussels in December 2022, she said.

Regarding the establishment of the strategic partnership a decade ago, the official said it has created a framework for bilateral relations, noting that action plans have helped to boost the bilateral cooperation in economy and other spheres like national defense, justice and environment.

According to Tripodi, the Italian Embassy in Hanoi and Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City will also organize multiple activities this year to celebrate the relations, thus promoting the strategic partnership.

The official said she will visit Vietnam soon to introduce Italy's bid to host World Expo 2030, and called for the Southeast Asian nations support to Italy in the effort.

Trade between Vietnam and Italy hit a record US$6.2 billion in 2022, up 11 percent from the previous year. Vietnam is Italys biggest trade partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Italy is Vietnams fourth largest trade partner in the EU.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam presented more than 300,000 masks to Italy, while Italy donated 2.8 million doses of vaccines to Vietnam.
Doctors said that the first baby girl born at the hospital weighed 3.5kg. Her 30-year-old mother of Gambian nationality was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of labor. She was 39 weeks pregnant and she had already delivered two babies normally. As soon as the patient was received, the crew handled and supported her promptly.

With the situation of the patient in labor, after two hours of performing normal delivery, Major, Dr. Le Viet Anh, Deputy Director of the field hospital decided to ask permission from the medical commander of the mission to have an emergency cesarean section because the mother was in a dangerous situation, thereby she could not be transferred to a large infirmary by air.

In the lack of material conditions, especially the conditions for newborn care, the field hospital staff took each cotton towel and personal blanket for the baby. In a short time, the female soldiers of the field hospital were able to sew three sets of diapers and newborn shirts for the baby.

With a successful emergency of the pregnant women and welcoming the first child member, doctors and nurses of the field hospital received high appreciation from the medical commander of the mission for their accurate diagnosis and surgery decision as well as good care and support for the mother and baby. The commander of the base and the commanders of agencies came to congratulate the pregnant woman and the surgical team of the field hospital expressing their gratitude for the expertise as well as the dedicated care of the medical staff.
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Washington State issued its final administrative policy providing the state's interpretation of the Equal Pay and Opportunities Act, which took effect on Jan. 1. The law provides that employers must disclose in each posting for each job opening the wage scale or salary range and a general description of all benefits and other compensation to be offered.

The guidance takes an expansive view of which employers are covered by the law and requires job postings to contain pay and benefits information beyond what is required by any other state or locality that has enacted pay transparency legislation.

The law applies to all employers "engaging in any business, industry, profession, or activity in Washington" and for any job postings "that recruit Washington based employees." This includes employers that do not have a physical presence in Washington, if they have one or more Washington-based employees or if they engage in business in Washington or recruit for jobs that could be filled by a Washington-based employee, including remote jobs.

This is a broader interpretation of jurisdiction than Colorado or New York City, for example, where employers must have at least one employee physically working from that location before an employer is covered. The law does not apply to jobs to be performed entirely outside Washington or to printed hard-copy postings made and distributed entirely outside Washington. According to the guidance, an employer cannot avoid the duty to comply with Washington's wage and salary disclosure requirements by indicating within a posting that the employer will not accept Washington applicants.

Job Posting Requirements

To qualify as a job posting, an advertisement must list the specific position and qualifications. A social media post that reads "Manufacturing jobs available, apply now online. Weekend shifts required" is not a job posting because it does not include qualifications or reference a specific position for a desired applicant. On the other hand, an electronic reader board outside a business that reads, "Help Wanted- Server. Food Handler's Certification Needed. Offering: $24.00-$26.00 per hour, medical benefits, 70 vacation hours per year, and $500 sign-on bonus" is considered a job posting.

The requirement to provide a "wage scale or salary range" means the employer must provide applicants with its "most reasonable and generally expected range of compensation for the job." A wage scale must not be open-ended, must be determined before the job is posted, with the job posting updated if the scale changes, and, if there is a starting range, both the starting range and general range must be included in the posting.

If a person is offered a position different from the position applied for, the employer may offer a wage specific to the position offered, rather than the position posted, but should provide a copy of a compliant posting for the position offered.

Washington joins Colorado in requiring employers to provide a general description of benefits for the position. This must include health care benefits, retirement benefits, any benefits permitting paid days off, and any other benefits that must be reported for federal tax purposes.

But while Colorado employers may comply by providing a laundry list of benefits without further description, Washington will require more detail:

Retirement Plans: If an employer includes various retirement options as part of the benefits package, the employer should list the retirement options in the job posting, such as 401(k), employer-funded retirement plans, deferred compensation, and other defined-benefit or defined-contribution plans.

Paid Time Off or Vacation: If the employer includes paid time off or paid vacation time as part of the benefits package, the employer should list the number of days or hours the hired applicant would expect to receive, such as 8 hours per month or 12 days per year.

Paid Holidays: The employer should list in the job posting the number of paid holidays the hired applicant would expect to receive, such as 10 paid holidays per year. The employer does not have to identify each paid holiday.

More Generous Paid Sick Leave: If the employer includes a paid sick leave policy that is more generous than that required by Washington State law or any local ordinance that applies to the benefits package, the employer should list the number of hours per month or days per year the hired applicant would expect to receive in the job posting that is greater than Washington State law or any local ordinance, such as 3 hours of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked or 8 hours of paid sick leave per month.

As with wage ranges, the posting should be updated if this benefits information changes after posting.

Per the administrative policy, "other compensation" includes, but is not limited to, bonuses, commissions, profit-sharing, stock options, or other forms of compensation that would be offered to the hired applicant in addition to their established salary range or wage scale. Washington will require employers to provide more information than other jurisdictions do about two types of other compensation: commissions and piece-rate pay.

If a job is compensated by commission rates, the administrative policy states that the employer should include the rate or range of rates that will be offered to the hired applicant. While many companies' commission plans are far more complicated than this, Washington has not provided any additional guidance about what would constitute sufficient detail in those cases.

If a job is compensated by piece-rate, the employer should include the agreed piece rate, e.g., "$0.55-$0.75 per pound of strawberries picked." For other non-base compensation, it appears additional detail is not required.

Although Washington will allow the use of a hyperlink on remote postings to include more detailed descriptions of benefits and other compensation, the posting itself must include a general description of benefits and other compensation.

What are the next steps?

Employers should prepare pay range, compensation, and other benefits information for jobs that can be performed in Washington that they anticipate posting in early 2023, including specifics on commission-based and piece-rate pay, as well as the types of paid time off offered. Employers should add the required information to existing postings or take them down, including any postings made at their direction by a third party.



Jennifer S. Harpole and Lukasz Gilewski are attorneys with Littler in Denver.  2022. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.


Adani Enterprises, the parent firm of the Adani Group, recently made a move that propelled it to a new level. According to the most recent sources, Adani Enterprises has submitted an offer letter to stock markets for a potential follow-on public offer of Rs 20,000 crore (FPO).

With the submission of papers for FPO, Adani Enterprises may be exploring an opportunity of launching the public issue in the last week of this month itself. Before this, the company had also announced a follow-on share sale in November.

The report also adds that in this FPO, Adani Enterprises might also give a discount to retail investors. However, there is also reportedly a chance that the company could also raise money in the FPO by issuing partly paid-up shares.

Since its been just a day since the company reportedly filed its papers for the FPO, more details, in an official capacity are yet to come to light. However, the report goes on to mention that Adani Enterprises has appointed Jefferies, ICICI Securities, SBI Capital, Bank of Baroda Capital, Elara Capital and a few others as main bankers to the issue.

As per many experts, the fundraising move is expected to help the company in cutting debt. Moreover, Adani Groups recent expansion across sectors with the help of buyouts and setting up new plans has been financed via borrowings, as per the ET report. However, it must be noted that the Adani Group is yet to officially release a statement on this development.
According to Nikhil Sikri, the CEO of the company, Zolostays, the largest co-living brand in the country, is working to more than double its portfolio by the end of this year.

The corporate goals to be worthwhile on the firm degree by April 2023. The operational loss for the October-December 21 interval was Rsx5 crore cumulatively, however, the working revenue for the October-December 2022 interval was Rs 10 lakh, Sikri stated. Zolo additionally doubled its income to Rs 58 crores for Q2 of FY23 from Rs 29 crore final yr.

On a quarterly foundation, were recording the development of about 18% when it comes to income. For the subsequent quarter, January by way of March, were projected to develop by 25%, he added. The corporate plans to add about 48,000 beds beneath the co-living vertical and about 60,000 beds beneath Zolo Scholar.

This roughly interprets to about 4,500 beds a month, persistently for the subsequent two years, stated Sikri. In keeping with Sikri, the alteration of present merchandise to swimsuits the altering buyer necessities post-Covid, the launch of the ultra-luxury class, and the inner course of redesign have helped the agency achieve a big quantity of market share. Zolo has raised roughly $90 million and the subsequent spherical of funding will likely be raised this yr to gas its development plans.

Zolostays is backed by Investcorp, Nexus Venture Partners, IDFC Alternatives, Trifecta Capital, and Mirae Asset. Through the pandemic, Zolostays occupancy ranges dropped to around 35% as a result of the Covid outbreak, from an excessive 80% registered between January and July 2020.

Zolostays can also be concentrating on worldwide markets akin to Dubai, Indonesia, and Thailand, with the coed housing phase. The idea of a shared financial system was hit onerous throughout the pandemic however has now witnessed a powerful comeback.
Why entrepreneurs are in active look for delving into the franchise market. There are hope so many reasons. The franchisers are heavily known for owning their brand of products and an existing business model, which it makes easier for entrepreneurs for operating and function as their franchises.

The franchise market is booming from the days it was quite a while now. India has become the hot target for many multinational companies who are looking to foray into the countrys domestic market. Entrepreneurs have utilised this opportunity to raise their profits by taking franchises of companies like McDonalds, KFC, OYO, MakeMyTrip, Patanjali, etc. Take a look at any Indian metro city or venture into any urban locale and you will see the area dotted with various brand outlets, selling everything from food to clothing.

According to Franchise India, experts have witnessed a growth of 30-35 per cent over the last five years in franchising. It is estimated that the global turnover is around RS 938 billion. The franchising sector contributes around 1.8 per cent to the Indian GDP and is predicted to contribute nearly 4 per cent by 2022

Consumer Affordable Market

India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and there is a lot of potential in the franchise business. With an exponentially growing young population, the franchise space in India will continue to witness a rise in the coming years. The expansion and escalation of these franchise businesses will also offer avenues to other people by creating multiple job opportunities across many sectors.

India is the second-most populous country with over 1.3 billion people and is projected to be the worlds most populous country by 2027. The countrys economy is also expected to surpass that of the United States by 2035, making it the worlds largest economy.

The franchise business has been a shining star of Indias economy and it is time for the franchises to explore the opportunities in the smaller cities too and spread their wings. The smaller cities have a lot of potential and there are many people who are looking for good franchises to invest their money. The current state of the franchise business in India is very promising, where the industry is growing at a rapid pace and is expected to reach Rs 7,000 crore by 2025. Franchising contributes to nearly 4 percent of the Indian GDP and employs over 1.5 million people.

Economy Tangent

With such a large population and growing economy, the potential for growth in the franchise business is tremendous. Franchises are already well-established in India, with some of the worlds largest franchisors operating in the country. But there is still room for expansion, as only a small fraction of Indian businesses are franchises. The franchising sector in India is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 30 percent through 2025. This growth will be driven by a number of factors, including an increasing middle class with disposable income, favourable government policies, and rising awareness of franchising as a business model.

With over 10,000 registered franchises and 3,500 active ones, the sector provides ample opportunities for entrepreneurs. The concept of franchising is still new in India and has tremendous potential for growth. Franchising offers several benefits to both investors and entrepreneurs. For investors, it is a relatively low-risk way to enter into a new market. For entrepreneurs, it provides an opportunity to start their own business with the support of an established brand. The Indian government has also been supportive of the franchise industry and has taken several measures to promote its growth. These include setting up a National Franchise Development Centre (NFDC) and launching a Franchise India Brand Show (FIBS). With a strong growth trajectory and supportive policies from the government, the franchise business is poised for further success in India.

Challenges In Way

There are several challenges associated with franchising in India. Firstly, the Indian market is very fragmented, with numerous small businesses competing for customers. This makes it difficult for franchisors to find suitable partners and also limits their ability to expand rapidly. Secondly, the legal framework governing franchising in India is still relatively undeveloped, meaning that there is little protection for either party in case of a dispute. This can make franchising a risky proposition for both franchisors and franchisees. Finally, many Indians are still unfamiliar with the concept of franchising, making it difficult to convince potential partners to sign up for a franchise agreement.

Despite these challenges, the franchise business model remains an attractive option for many companies looking to expand their presence in India. With its large population and growing economy, India offers a huge potential market for franchises. If you are thinking about expanding your business through franchising, it is important to be aware of these challenges and take steps to mitigate them.

Franchising can be a great way for entrepreneurs to get their businesses up and running quickly and with minimal risk. When you franchise, you are essentially buying into an already established brand and business model which can help you to hit the ground running. Overall, franchising can be a great option for entrepreneurs who are looking to start their own businesses with minimal risk and maximum support.
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A man has been charged with murder after a woman he had recently begun dating after a long friendship was found dead in her apartment in Sydneys west on Monday afternoon.

Friends of 28-year-old Dayna Isaac have remembered her as an amazing mother to her two children, as well as being the life of the party and a friend to everyone.

Neighbours called police on Monday after hearing a disturbance in Isaacs apartment on Colless Street, Penrith. But officers who initially attended the scene left after their knocks on the door went unanswered.

Dayna Isaac, 28, has been remembered as an amazing mother and the life of the party.

It wasnt until 4.15pm, about an hour after police first attended, that Isaacs body was found by the mother of her new boyfriend, 32-year-old Paul Sultana.
The family of a Sydney teacher, who was on board a plane that crashed in Nepal, have paid tribute to the 29-year-old, saying he always lived his life to the fullest.

Bronte man Myron Love was on board the Yeti Airlines flight that crashed while descending into Pokhara from Kathmandu on Sunday.

All 68 passengers and four crew members are believed to have died. Two bodies are yet to be recovered.

Providing a statement through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Loves family and the family of his partner Annabelle Bailey thanked those who had passed on their condolences.
Police will increase patrols around Brisbane fast-food restaurants after a spate of southside robberies early this week.

Three young adults, believed to be one man and two women, were armed with a firearm and knives when they robbed a fast-food restaurant at Commercial Drive, Springfield, about 9.30pm on Sunday.

Employees were threatened and cash was stolen, with the trio fleeing in a stolen 2003 white Ford Falcon ute (Queensland registration 120-FG7) north-east along Springfield Parkway.

Police believe the same group robbed another three fast-food businesses  on Granard Road and Short Street in Rocklea, Kessels Road in Salisbury and Beaudesert Road in Algester  between 9.15pm and 9.40pm on Monday.
Spokesperson says China welcomes Blinken's visit

Xinhua) 17:00, January 17, 2023

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to China and is in communication with the U.S. side on specific arrangements for the visit, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Tuesday.

Wang made the remarks at a news briefing in response to reports that Blinken will visit China on Feb. 5 and will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

Wang said China has always viewed and developed its relations with the United States in accordance with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation.

China hopes that the United States will adopt a correct perception about China, stick to dialogue rather than confrontation, and pursue win-win results rather than a zero-sum game, Wang said.

"It is hoped that the United States can work with China to fully deliver on the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state, and bring China-U.S. relations back to the track of sound and steady growth," he said.

(Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Sheng Chuyi)
A requiem mass will be held for the late Cardinal George Pell at St Marys Cathedral on Thursday, February 2 before his body is laid to rest in the cathedral crypt in a private ceremony.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney has announced a Pontifical Requiem Mass will be held at 11am.

Pell died in Rome on January 10 after complications from hip surgery. He was 81.

Pells successor as Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher, will be the principal celebrant. The cardinal will be buried in a private ceremony in the St Marys Cathedral crypt.
Up to 70 Australian soldiers heading to UK to begin training Ukrainian troops

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Pentridge prison is unlocking its gates to the public with the launch of tours around the infamous H or Hell division and former B division.

The confronting experience will retell the stories of inmates including bushranger Ned Kelly, armed robber Mark Chopper Read and Shantaram author Gregory David Roberts. But rather than glorifying them, the tours seek to detail Pentridges brutal history from 1851 to its closure in 1997.

Tour operator Robert Kercher says the prison trips do not shy away from Pentridges brutal past. Credit: Jason South

First-hand accounts from inmates and prison officers will feature in audiovisual tours that are part of the Shayher groups $1 billion redevelopment of the former prison site.

The tours have been created by the National Trust Victoria and Art Processors  the design technology company behind tours at Alcatraz in San Francisco and MONA in Tasmania.
The Victorian attorney-general has confirmed police will not be given supplementary powers after it was revealed the states much-criticised public intoxication laws will be abolished and not replaced with new move-on powers.

The stance is in defiance of the powerful police union, which has been strongly advocating for additional powers to move on drunk people after news of the reforms  which will come into force in November  broke.

Jaclyn Symes told reporters on Tuesday the government will continue to work with police and ambulance staff on the rollout of a health response to public drunkenness laws, but would not introduce new police powers  such as those in NSW  saying it undermines the purpose of decriminalisation.

Therell be no coercive powers to replace the ... arrest powers that will no longer be available for the single offence of being drunk in public, Symes said.
A million-dollar reward is on offer to help solve the murder of a Melbourne grandmother who was found beaten and strangled in her apartment nearly a decade ago.

A neighbour planning to meet 69-year-old Jeanette Moss got worried when she didnt show up for an appointment on January 15, 2014, and used a hidden key to get into her Middle Park apartment.

She discovered the grandmother dead on a bedroom floor, but a coroner found she was killed the day before.

This was a brutal crime involving a vulnerable member of the community, alone in her own home, Homicide Squad detective acting inspector Paul Scarlett said.
A Perth magistrate has given police a spray after two teenage girls accused of aggravated armed robbery were kept in Banksia Hill Detention Centre overnight.

The teens were detained because a responsible person to release them to could not be found when they were arrested on Tuesday, but Magistrate Alana Padmanabham said officers did not make enough effort to contact the Department of Communities to make this happen.

The girls, aged 13 and 14, were charged with aggravated armed robbery after an IGA shop owner was allegedly pepper-sprayed in the face while confronting the accused shoplifters in her store on Monday.

Padmanabham said it was unacceptable that the girls were kept in custody and that the matter needed to be looked into, as she granted them bail with a curfew.
Heavily tattooed ex-bikie Dayne Brajkovich has won his legal battle after being found not guilty of displaying bikie insignia on Tuesday morning.

The former Hells Angel sergeant-at-arms went on trial in the Perth Magistrates Court in December, fighting allegations he wore a bikie-branded T-shirt while walking down an Ascot street in January 2022, and displayed a bikie tattoo at a Belmont shopping centre a few days later.

Displaying outlaw motorcycle gang insignia, including tattoos and clothing, was banned in Western Australia weeks before the alleged offences, with those who flouted the new laws facing a penalty of up to 12 months jail or a $12,000 fine.

During his trial, Brajkovich, 43, took the stand to deny he was the man captured on CCTV walking past Ascot Racecourse on January 21 wearing a Hells Angel T-shirt.
The Albanese government is canvassing community and legal opinion on whether a new judicial watchdog should be able to examine complaints against High Court judges, or be limited to scrutinising judges of other federal courts that sit below it in the hierarchy.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced in September last year that the government supported in-principle the establishment of a federal judicial commission to provide a transparent and independent means to address concerns about the conduct of judges.

A new federal judicial commission could put High Court judges under scrutiny. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Attorney-Generals Department released a discussion paper on Tuesday to guide debate about the model and features of a federal judicial watchdog.

Under the existing regime, federal courts  the High Court, Federal Court, and Federal Circuit and Family Court  are responsible for handling complaints about judges internally, although the head of the court may refer those complaints to another party to investigate.
Bankstown MP Tania Mihailuk will run as a One Nation candidate in the state election just months after sensationally quitting the Labor Party and warning it was not ready to govern.

Mihailuk confirmed on Tuesday evening she would run for an upper house seat in the March poll despite previously calling One Nation NSW leader Mark Latham a buffoon. She accused her former party of being captured by left-wing extremists and property developer mafia.

Tania Mihailuk has announced she will run as a One Nation candidate in the 2023 state election. Credit: AAP

[Labor leader] Chris Minns as premier and a Labor government will see NSW go both woke and broke. I know the true agenda of the people currently sitting on Chris Minns frontbench  they are from the extreme left, she said.

Mihailuk quit the Labor Party in October after she made an extraordinary late-night speech to parliament accusing Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour of being linked to corrupt former minister Eddie Obeid.
Shareholder information First Tin plc

As we enter 2023, I wanted to provide you with a brief update on First Tina?s key achievements during the last quarter of 2022 and update you on our proposed activities for Q1 2023 as we enter what will be a very busy period for the Company.

The final quarter of 2022 saw First Tin diligently developing its assets in Australia and Germany, with all our workstreams progressing as planned.

HIGHLIGHTS OVER THE DECEMBER 2022 QUARTER

In early November, First Tin received an ESG rating from Digbee, a leading independent assessment platform for ESG disclosure in the mining industry. Based on ESG achievements in our first six months of operations since listing on the London Stock Exchange in April 2022, First Tin achieved an overall rating of BB.

Furthermore, in late November, First Tin was awarded a grant of up to A$494,038 by the New South Wales Government in Australia under its Critical Minerals and High-Tech Metals Activation Fund.

In December, the assay results from the first two drillholes targeting the deeper Dreiberg seam at TellerhAuser in Germany were received. Pleasingly, these intercepts confirm previous drilling from the 1970s and increased our confidence in the higher grade mineralisation at depth. This programme will form the basis for additional drilling designed to increase the Indicated Resource base at TellerhAuser and we expect to release two more drill results targeting the Dreiberg seam in Q1 2023.

Q1 2023 is off to a busy start with a range of workstreams ongoing, setting the scene for plenty of newsflow as we complete key DFS activities, particularly at our Taronga site in Australia. We expect this to include drill results from the Taronga project, as well as the publication of a resource estimate for the project. Crush test results are also in the near-term pipeline, together with updates on the solar and water development opportunities at the project. In the next quarter, we believe that we can truly underwrite the value of this exciting asset.

At TellerhAuser, we plan to build upon the results reported in December from our ongoing, fully funded drilling activities. The ultimate aim of this work is to convert as much of the Dreiberg tin mineralisation as possible, from Inferred to Indicated resource status, thus enabling this to be used for economic evaluation under JORC guidelines.

Our macro view of the tin market remains bullish with tin spot prices having risen in recent times to in excess of US$27,000 per MT.A It is clear that the demand for tin will remain strong in the years ahead as the metal continues to be an important component for soldering electronics including semiconductors, solar panels, electronic systems in electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries. These significant drivers, together with a rapid increase in battery production and the rise of big data, are expected to create a material tin deficit from 2025 and we are confident that First Tin remains well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity and become a material tin supplier from its conflict-free and low political risk jurisdictions. .

I would like to thank you, our shareholders, for the ongoing support you have shown First Tin throughout 2022 and to wish you a very Happy New Year. We are excited to continue this journey with you in 2023 as we advance our tin projects to support the global clean energy transition and work to build shareholder value.

VIEW KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE QUARTERA

01 November 2022:A First Tin receives ESG Rating from Digbee

28 November 2022:A Critical metals grant from the NSW Government

22 December 2022:A The assay results at Tellerhauser
Dakhla (Refugee Camps), 17 January 2023 (SPS) - The 16th Congress of the Polisario Front received several letters and recommendations from international political parties and figures, in which they affirmed their support for the right of the Sahrawi people to freedom and self-determination.

In this context, the Congress received letters from Asian parties with which the Polisario Front has historical and deep-rooted relations, such as the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, the Timorese Unity and Progress Party, the Timorese Construction Party, and the Democratic Party of Timor-Leste.

The Congress also received letters from parties from the African continent, including a letter from the head of the Algerian People's Voice Party, a letter from the head of the Mauritanian Nidaa al-Watan party, and another one from the Ghanaian Socialist Party.

From Latin America, the Congress received letters of solidarity from the Revolutionary Party of Panama, the Socialist Party in Uruguay, and the Communist Party in Ecuador.

The Lebanese Dr. Yacoub Al-Asaad also sent a letter of support for the struggle of the Saharawi people, through which he expressed his support for the Sahrawi people, highlighting that the Moroccan occupation regime lives on the algae of colonialism and the villainy of normalization. He also stressed that the legitimate struggle in Western Sahara derives its immunity from the strength and solidity of the Sahrawis who believe in the inevitability of victory.

SPS 110/T
Prosecutors took 14 border police officers and 12 customs officers to hearings, following searches in over 30 locations, five of which were border crossing points, judicial sources told AGERPRES.

Prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), in coordination with judicial authorities from the Republic of Moldova, carried out, on Tuesday, over 30 searches in a corruption case, told Agerpres.

According to a press release of the DNA sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday, after obtaining the legal warrants from the relevant courts, the police conducted 31 searches in the counties of Iasi, Vaslui, Botosani, Galati, Neamt and Bihor, five of which were at border checkpoints and the rest in the respective suspects's homes.

Judicial sources told AGERPRES that the employees of the border points Bors, Stanca-Costesti, Albita, Oancea, Sculeni would be targeted in this case over the bribe-taking suspicions.

"Prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Directorate - Iasi territorial service, in coordination with judicial authorities from the Republic of Moldova, benefiting from the support of Eurojust (European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation), are conducting investigations in a criminal case concerning suspicions regarding the committing of crimes of corruption in connection with the transit of some border points, between July 2021 and September 2022," the DNA press release states.
As many as 62,748 people, including 7,478 Ukrainian nationals, entered Romania on Monday, January 16, informs the General Border Police Inspectorate (IGPF) on Tuesday in a press release sent to AGERPRES.

According to IGPF, at the border points nationwide, approximately 135,600 persons, Romanian and foreign citizens, were checked both on the way in and on the way out of Romania, as well as more than 37,000 means of transport, told Agerpres.

Starting February 10, 2022 (pre-conflict time) 3,333,158 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania nationwide.

The border police detected 39 illegal acts (21 crimes and 18 misdemeanors) in the areas under their jurisdiction - the crossing points and the green border - committed by both Romanian and foreign citizens, levying over RON 8,900 in fines in the process.

The border police also seized goods worth approximately RON 236,800.

The police denied the entry of 29 foreign citizens who did not meet the conditions provided by the law and 10 Romanian citizens were not allowed to leave for various legal reasons.
Romanian Chief of Defense Staff, general Daniel Petrescu, declared on Tuesday on the occasion of the arrival of the AWACS jets at the RoAF 90th Airlift Base in Otopeni, that this represents a significant reinforcement of the allied presence on the eastern flank with "very important additional air capabilities that complement NATO's ground and air capabilities already deployed to Romania."

Since February 2022, AWACS aircraft have been conducting regular patrol missions over Eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea region, Agerpres informs.

"In the coming weeks our main air transport base - the 90th Airlift Base in Otopeni - will host and closely cooperate in conducting reconnaissance and surveillance flights in the Alliance's skies. The joint missions that will be carried out here will also bring added value as concerns the increased cohesion between the Romanian personnel and that of NATO's surveillance fleet, as well as in terms of interoperability," said Daniel Petrescu.

He pointed out that the Romanian Army and the Romanian Air Force are permanently contributing to NATO efforts to maintain regional and global stability.

"We stand together, shoulder to shoulder, with our fellow allies to ensure a robust collective defense, including by securing the safety of the national and allied airspace. In the line of collective defense, the allied defensive structure in the Black Sea region has been strengthened and rebalanced. The collective defense battlegroup stationed at Cincu, the bolstering of the forces and capabilities of the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base mainly, but also in other locations, as well as the augmentation with new allied troops of the Multinational Brigade South-East are concrete examples of the firmness of European and transatlantic relations in Romania," Petrescu also said.

According to the Chief of Defense Staff, the multinational commands headquartered in Romania had a significant contribution to the coordination of allied forces on the eastern flank.

"In this context, the presence of AWACS aircraft in Romania is part of the set of decisions adopted in Madrid. In our country, the AWACS jets will contribute to the complete operational picture, ensuring early warning and strengthening the allied response capacity," said Petrescu.

The Ministry of National Defense announced last week that Airborne Warning and Control System jets of NATO's Airborne Early Warning and Control Force headquartered in Geilenkirchen - Germany would land on January 17 at 90th Airlift Base in Otopeni, as part of a plan to strengthen the defensive posture of the Alliance in the Black Sea region.

"In response to Russia's illegal war in Ukraine, NATO has increased its air presence in eastern Europe with additional fighters, surveillance aircraft, and tankers," the ministry said.

AWACS aircraft will perform in the next period reconnaissance and surveillance flights solely over the territory of NATO countries.
The involvement of experts and partners in the implementation of measures to reduce school dropout rates is a strong point of the Youth Pact, said the president of the National Confederation for Female Entrepreneurship (CONAF) Cristina Chiriac, told Agerpres.

CONAF will organize on January 19 at the 'Mircea Cancicov' Business and Exhibition Center in Bacau, starting at 12:00 hrs, the fourth debate on the Youth Pact national project, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Family, Youth and Equal Opportunities, the Ministry of Labor and Social Solidarity, UNICEF and the World Bank; the project is sponsored by OMV Petrom.

This year's first debate on the Youth Pact project will continue to collect information and identify the causes of school dropout, analyzing also the measures that can reduce the phenomenon.

The agenda of the conference includes the views of the national and local authorities, of UNICEF and the private sector on the phenomenon, channeling the concerns of the Romanian society with the negative effects of school dropout both in the lives of the children targeted by the project, and in society and the economy.

"Paradoxically, both the causes and the effects of school dropout hit the economy and affect the social canvas. At national level, we contemplate the worrying picture of two school generations that will end up without a high school diploma, compromising productivity, future economic growth and the innovative and entrepreneurial ability to raise the country's economic development level. In previous debates we identified a series of dropout enabler factors, but also national projects and programs that can limit the phenomenon. However, we must devise strategies capable to answer the question: what do we do with the hundreds of thousands of children who have left school? It is clear that we must think of an educational system to recover the education lost through abandonment. Vocational education where teachers, mentors and the private environment join forces for the education of young people is one of the solutions that can solve the complicated equation of the effects of school dropout," said Cristina Chiriac.

In her opinion, the dropout phenomenon cannot be considered strictly as a problem of the educational system or as a failure of the family of the child whose education was cut short.

"Reducing school dropout rates is a complex endeavor that requires a multifaceted approach, and this is why it's essential that everyone in the community, from parents and teachers, to business leaders and government officials, commits to making sure that all the students have a chance to succeed in school and in life. The latest proposals to amend the law on pre-university education show the openness of the Education Ministry to implementing the 'Second Chance' programs, both for primary and for secondary and high school education, for people who have exceeded by at least 5 years the standard class attendance age, regardless of the time and the reasons for dropping out," Chiriac explained.

She pointed out that the 'Second Chance' project has been in discussion with the prime minister since November, as a strategic priority for an inclusive educational framework that can be materialized in an implementable program.

"The entire board of the 'Youth Pact' supported at that time the need to give a real chance to those who had to abandon the system. The three events in Iasi, Piatra Neamt and Botosani helped us put together and centralize a part of the needs of children who drop out of school or are at risk of doing so. There are still many steps to be taken and this is precisely why I believe that the involvement of experts and partners in the implementation of measures to reduce school dropout rates is one of the strengths of the Youth Pact," Chiriac concluded.

The National Confederation for Female Entrepreneurship (CONAF) is the strongest confederation in Romania that brings together the interests of entrepreneurs in the European spirit of gender equality and equal opportunities.

CONAF is the largest organization of its kind in Romania, promoting and supporting Romanian entrepreneurship in an unprecedented approach that opens horizons for cooperation both domestically and internationally.

CONAF came into existence as a result of the need to create a modern, sustainable and fair entrepreneurial culture, not only for female entrepreneurship, but for the entire business environment, and serves as an umbrella entity for two federations, ten employers' organizations, 5 associations, 24 branches and over 3,200 companies.
The exhibition "Dacia. Romanity's last frontier" at the National History Museum of Romania (MNIR) will stay open throughout May, told Agerpres.

"We are happy to inform that the exhibition 'Dacia. Romanity's last frontier' is highly appreciated by the public and visited in large numbers, being a real success. Since it opened in late October 2022, the exhibition has been visited by more than 12,000 people. We have therefore decided to extend the visiting time throughout May, to give the opportunity to as many history lovers as possible to see it. Thank you and we are grateful!," MNIR writes in a social media post.

According to MNIR, the exhibition will travel to Rome in June.

The exhibition is based on a concept developed under a project called "Archaeological treasures from Romania. Dacian and Roman roots," developed in 2021 at the prestigious National Museum of Archeology in Madrid.

According to MNIR, it is the largest synthetic exhibition dedicated to the civilisations of the Getae, Dacians and Romans, as well as those of the first migrants in this space mounted over the last 25 years through an effort of 45 museums from Romania and Moldova, a project coordinated by the National History Museum of Romania, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.

Made with the support of the recently established Friends of the Museum of Romanian History Foundation, the exhibition is structured chronologically around six generic themes, with artefacts from the MNIR collection being presented such as the golden helmet of Cotofenesti, the Gaetic treasures of Stancesti, Agighiol, Peretu, the Gaetic princely treasure of Cucuteni-Baiceni, the content of the tomb of a Gaetic chieftain from Popesti, the Dacian silver treasures from Sancraieni, Herastrau, Senereus, Vedea, two unknown treasures from S-W Romania, inscriptions mentioning the Dacian kings of Tiamarkos, Burebista and Decebal, imperial portraits of Trajan, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Traianus Decius, Sarmatian treasures from Buzau and Smardan, treasures from Pietroasele, Apahida and Histria (from the era of migrations).

On display from the collections of the partner museums are treasures dating back to the era of migrations discovered in the tombs of princesses in Cluj-Polus and Turda (from the collection of the National Museum of Transylvania and the Turda History Museum), a cache of weapons and Greek bronze objects from Olanesti, as well as gold artefacts from the tombs of a Sarmatian princess from Mocra, Moldova, from the collection of the National History Museum of Moldova in Chisinau, ceramic pots, weapons, common metal tools and ornaments that illustrate the evolution of the succeeding civilisations north of the Danube between 7th century BC and late 7th century AD.
The Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER) expresses its regret for the death of the actor Teodor Corban and specifies that it is a "heavy and unexpected loss for the theater community".

"Heavy and unexpected loss for the theater community and, above all, for the grieving family and the family on stage, the team of the National Theater of Iasi. Actor Teodor Corban left us this morning," UNITER writes on its Facebook page.

The message mentions that the National Theater Festival organized a special event in 2015 in honor of Teodor Corban, told Agerpres.

"In 2015, the National Theater Festival organized a Teodor Corban event, the gala screening of the movie 'Un etaj mai jos' (One Floor Below), directed by Radu Muntean, in which he played the main role. Thus, we were paying homage to one of the most appreciated actors of theater and cinema of the moment. May God rest his soul in peace!," UNITER says.

The actor Teodor Corban died at the age of 65.
An exhibition called "Dimitrie Cantemir - 350 years since birth" will be opened on Tuesday at the Library of the Romanian Academy, with the event being organized in collaboration with the National Museum of Romanian Literature, told Agerpres.

The vice-president of the Romanian Academy, Razvan Theodorescu, the director of the Museum of Romanian Literature in Bucharest, Ioan Cristescu, as well as Constantin Barbu, member of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters in Paris and coordinator of the "Dimitrie Cantemir" facsimile edition, Cristina Popescu, head of Romfilatelia, and Gabriela Dumitrescu, head of the Rare Book Manuscripts Cabinet, curator of the exhibition will all speak in the opening of the event.

"Dedicated to the great Romanian scholar on his 350th birthday anniversary, the event wants to bring back to the public's attention the winding biographical and political path of Dimitrie Cantemir, but especially his exceptional, encyclopedic works. The exhibition brings together portraits, manuscripts, historical documents from the short period in which Dimitrie Cantemir was the ruler of Moldova, the testimonies of the chroniclers of the time, facsimile editions of the manuscripts located in Russia, as well as important editions published in Romania," the organizers state.

The event opens the tribute year dedicated to Dimitrie Cantemir, a complex personality of Romanian and European culture, who continues to arouse the interest of historians and researchers from various generations.

The exhibition can be visited between January 17 and 27, from Monday to Friday, between 10.00 am and 2.00 pm. Entry is free.
Prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), in coordination with judiciary authorities of the Republic of Moldova are conducting over 30 searches on Tuesday, of which five border crossing points, in a case of corruption, told Agerpres.

According to a DNA release sent to AGERPRES, on Tuesday, after obtaining the legal authorization from the relevant court, searches in 31 locations are being conducted, situated in the counties of Iasi, Vaslui, Botosani, Galati, Neamt and Bihor, of which five border crossing points, the rest representing the residences of some individuals.

Judicial sources told AGERPRES that in this case workers of the Bors, StAnca-Costesti, Albita, Oancea, Sculeni border crossing points are targeted for suspected bribery.

"Prosecutors within the National Anticorruption Directorate - the Iasi Territorial Service, in coordination with judiciary authorities of the Republic of Moldova, benefiting from the support of Eurojust [European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation] are conducting investigations in a criminal case concerning suspicions regarding some corruption crimes in connection with the transit of some border points, committed between July 2021 and September 2022," the press release states.
A"Fake News: Art, Fiction et Mensonge," fake news, arts, fiction and lies exhibition mounted by the French Institute in Romania opens at the ARCUB club in Bucharest this evening in the presence of curator Laurent Bigot, who will give a presentation in French, told Agerpres.

The exhibition is designed and created by the Centre pour l'education aux medias et a l'information (CLEMI), the centre for mass-media and information education operating under the authority of the French Ministry of Education. It will be set up for the first time in Romania at ARCUB, Cafenea Hall, and it stays open throughout January 26, daily, between 12:00hrs and 20:00hrs.

On display will be nine double-sided panels by several artists from various corners of the world.

"Each artist, in his or her own way, talks to us about the role of the media, the Internet, social media, an increasing flow of information and pictures. The guest artists question the omnipresence of the mass-media, which, in fact, have the power to shape up our vision of the world. They challenge us to distance ourselves from this content, which we are fed day in, day out, until oversaturation. The role of arts could also be to accompany us and equip us to look at the world differently; it could protect us from possible slippages."

Laurent Bigot is a journalist and director of the Ecole publique de journalisme de Tours (EPJT). He is a fact-checker with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), based at the Poynter Institute in Florida. Author of a doctoral thesis on fact-checking, he published his first book - "Fact-checking vs Fake News. Verifier pour mieux informer" (Fact-checking vs Fake News. Check for Better Information) in 2019.
The Ministry of Finance (MF) borrowed, on Tuesday, 75 million RON from banks, through an issue of benchmark government bonds, with a residual maturity of 109 months, at an yield rate of 7.67 ppa, according to data published by the National Bank of Romania (BNR).

The nominal value of the issue was 75 million RON, and the banks submitted offers worth 405 million RON, told Agerpres.

The Ministry of Finance (MF) has planned, in January 2023, loans from commercial banks in the amount of 4.7 billion RON, to which the amount of 645 million RON can be added through additional sessions of non-competitive bids related to bond auctions.

The total amount, of 5.345 billion RON, is 315 million RON higher than the one that was scheduled in December, of 5.03 billion RON, and will be used to refinance public debt and finance the state budget deficit.
A first aircraft with the NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) landed on Tuesday at the 90 Air Transport Base in Otopeni, told Agerpres.

The Ministry of National Defence (MApN) announced last week that AWACS aircraft from the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force with its permanent base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, will land, on Tuesday, in the Air Transport Base 90 in Otopeni, in the context of the application of measures to strengthen the defence posture of the Alliance in the Black Sea region.

According to a MApN statement sent to AGERPRES, since February 2022, AWACS aircraft have carried out regular patrols in Eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea region to track Russian planes near NATO borders.

"As a response to Russia's illegal aggression in Ukraine, NATO increased its air presence on the eastern flank of the Alliance with additional fighter planes, surveillance planes and tanker planes," the ministry said.

AWACS aircraft will perform, in the next period, reconnaissance and surveillance flights on the territory of NATO countries.
Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu says that Romania continues to support the "relentless fight" of Belarusians for democracy and freedom and condemns the "show trial" in Belarus against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told Agerpres.

"I strongly condemn the show trial starting today in Belarus against Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and other Belarusian opposition leaders who stand up against the repression of the Minsk regime. Romania continues to stand in solidarity with the people of Belarus and supports their relentless fight for democracy and freedom," Aurescu wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

The trial in absentia against exiled dissident Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya began on Tuesday in Minsk.

Tsikhanouskaya, 40, is charged with ten crimes, including high treason and conspiracy to seize power in an unconstitutional manner.

In an interview with AFP in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday, she called this trial farce and revenge by President Aleksandr Lukashenko.

She said that the Russian-Belarusian military maneuvers are a bluff aimed at diverting the forces of the Ukrainian army from the front line in eastern Ukraine.
The NATO AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) mission in Romania of German servicemen, which will be conducted by brigade general Stefan Neumann, represents an important sign of transatlantic and European solidarity, German Ambassador Peer Gebauer stated in the context in which the North Atlantic Alliance will relocate to Romania three of its AWACS surveillance planes from the German military base in Geilenkirchen, near Aachen, in order to strengthen the Southeastern Flank of the allied territory, told Agerpres.

According to a release of Germany's Embassy to Romania, the first two AWACS aircraft are to arrive on Tuesday at the military base of the "Henri Coanda" Airport in Bucharest.

"The mission will be led by German brigade general Stefan Neumann and will last several weeks. In total, approximately 180 NATO servicemen will be deployed at the Otopeni Air Base within a multinational team," the release mentions.

German Ambassador Peer Gebauer, who will be present at their arrival, stated on this occasion that the NATO mission of German servicemen in Romania represents an important signal of transatlantic and European solidarity.

"I am glad that Germany has an essential contribution to NATO AWACS mission in Romania. German brigade general Stefan Neumann holds the command of this mission and the great German contingent of participating servicemen from several NATO member states proves once again that we are close to our Romanian partners. The brutal aggression war of Russia against Ukraine marks 'a turning point.' And here, in Romania, we feel the effects of this terrible war. With the help of AWACS surveillance planes within NATO, an important contribution is brought to the strengthening of the Southeastern Flank and to the support of NATO's early warning system. It is an important signal of transatlantic and European solidarity," the ambassador stated, as quoted in the release.

In the same context, brigade general Stefan W. Neumann stated that NATO AWACS mission in Romania will bring an important contribution to the reconnaissance and surveillance mission on the Eastern Flank of NATO.

"With the help of Airborne Early Warning and Control System, NATO has at its disposal a strong and flexible air and maritime surveillance capability. Well trained, we will shortly conduct flights from Bucharest for a limited period of time, thus bringing an important contribution to the reconnaissance and surveillance missions on the Eastern Flank of NATO. Within training, I was impressed with the both the professional and flexible support provided by the Romanian Armed Forces. This thing shows how well NATO works," Stefan W. Neumann stated, according to the release.
The Inspector General of the Romanian Police, Benone Marian Matei, met, on Tuesday, with a delegation of the National Police from the Kingdom of Spain, led by Director General Francisco Pardo Piqueras, the discussions aimed, among other things, at intensifying bilateral cooperation in the line of preventing and combating organized crime.

According to a press release from the Romanian General Police Inspectorate (IGPR) sent to AGERPRES, the Spanish delegation was received at the headquarters of the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police, and during the meeting they discussed ways to intensify bilateral cooperation, especially in the line of preventing and combating itinerant crime, economic crime, as well as of organized crime, with special emphasis on combating human trafficking, especially for sexual or labor exploitation, Agerpres informs.

At the same time, the initiative of the National Police of the Kingdom of Spain to run an international awareness and prevention campaign against human trafficking was appreciated.

The IGPR Inspector General thanked the Spanish partners for the very good police collaboration and for the constant support given to the dismantlement of criminal groups and the prosecution of those who commit criminal acts.

The guests also voiced their appreciation for the professionalism of the Romanian police officers who distinguished themselves in the conduct of joint actions and operational support missions that take place annually, on the territory of the Iberian state, starting from 2016, reads the press release.
President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that energy security is a priority of the European Union and that Romania will continue to take the necessary steps to make sure that the country's diversified energy mix and low-cost technologies are reflected in the public's final bills, told Agerpres.

"As well as strengthening the security dimension, the European Union needs solutions to secure competitiveness, a solid industrial base, the green transition and the digital transition. Energy security remains a priority. In 2023, Romania will continue to take the necessary steps to make sure that the diversified energy mix and low-cost technologies are reflected in the final bills of the public," Iohannis told an annual meeting with heads of accredited diplomatic missions in Romania.

He added that there is an increased interest of the Black Sea countries in strengthening connectivity, with beneficial effects both regionally and Europe-wise, an eloquent example being a four-party agreement between Romania, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Hungary signed in Bucharest last month in the presence of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

"The agreement is an important step in completing the project for a submarine cable for the transmission of electricity from renewable sources under the Black Sea. It is also an example of a European project that can contribute to our common resilience," added the president.

Iohannis said that these are priority themes for Romania, along with the highest possible level of investment under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and through the traditional European funds essential for the country's economic growth.

"In 2022 alone, over 11 billion euros entered the Romanian economy through these funds. Our resilience does not only mean security in a broader sense, but also a solid economy, oriented towards the future and capable of overcoming any possible shocks," Iohannis pointed out.
President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday that 2023 will be an important year for the revival of Romania's relationships with traditional friends and partners in South and Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, told Agerpres.

"2023 will mark the promotion of Romania's relationships with Japan to a higher level of a strategic partnership. We will continue to expand our relationships with South Korea, marking the 15th anniversary of a strategic partnership; we will work to strengthen our extended partnership with India, as well as the relationship with Vietnam. After 75 years of uninterrupted relationships with the State of Israel, we will work together to provide even more consistency to our bilateral co-operation of a strategic nature. We intend to intensify the series of high-level contacts with the Arab Gulf States, with Egypt, Jordan and the countries of the Maghreb, as well as with the sub-Saharan African countries, which will lead to a restart of Romania's presence in Africa. It is time to adopt a new approach of this crucial continent for the future of humanity, including under a new Romanian strategy for Africa. At the same time, we want to send a strong signal to our Latin American and Caribbean partners and friends regarding Romania's decision to contribute to deepening political dialogue and bilateral co-operation," Iohannis told an annual meeting with heads of accredited diplomatic missions in Romania.

He added that the international environment is undergoing a deep change, and in 2023 global action becomes even more relevant.

"International co-operation is the best way to manage the challenges of the moment, such as energy, food, economic or climate crises, in the spirit of solidarity and shared responsibility. Isolation cannot be the solution. We need an open and honest dialogue with our partners on other continents, to understand their concerns and to jointly identify courses of action. Global problems are solved through global actions. Equally, we need a consolidation of economic relationships and investment," said Iohannis.
The President of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR), Kelemen Hunor, declared on Tuesday that he does not support the decoupling of Romania from Bulgaria in the process of accession to the Schengen area.

"I don't support decoupling from Bulgaria. You have to keep your friends and you have to go on a path together, unless something very, very extravagant happens. But if we were to try decoupling from Bulgaria now, we would send a bad message. After that no one trusts you anymore. Plus, technically, it's an issue, because you should move the Schengen border to the Danube, which, from a technical point of view, means a delay" , Kelemen Hunor told Prima News.

He added that he hopes that Romania will enter the Schengen area this year, Agerpres informs.

"It's hard to say [if our country enters the Schengen area in 2023], I hope so. But it's hard to give a deadline. If we don't enter in 2023, then we don't have to deal with this subject until 2025 , because the elections are coming and the committee that is leaving will no longer be in charge, the committee that will come after the European Parliament elections will sit somewhere in September - October 2024. Until things settle down to a normal course, the year 2024 will pass. I want I think that if we can't close it under the Swedish presidency, it can be closed under the Spanish presidency. The Austrians also need a little time. They have elections now in January-February in Lower Austria and after that things will settle down a bit politically ", mentioned Kelemen Hunor.
NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance planes will land today at the 90th Otopeni Air Transport Base, according to the Defence Ministry (MApN), told Agerpres.

The aircraft belong to a fleet of 14 NATO surveillance aircraft usually based in Geilenkirchen, Germany and their deployment to Romania takes place "in application of measures to strengthen NATO's defence posture in the Black Sea region."

The NATO AWACS jets will start reconnaissance flights, solely over Alliance territory, in the coming days.

In response to Russia's war in Ukraine, NATO has increased its air presence in eastern Europe with additional fighters, surveillance aircraft, and tankers.

Since February 2022, NATO AWACS have conducted regular patrols over eastern Europe and the Baltic Sea region to track Russian warplanes near NATO borders.
The General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) registered, last year, 12,368 asylum applications, told Agerpres.

The most were submitted by the citizens of Ukraine - 4,398, India - 1,486, Bangladesh - 1,364, Syria - 1,313 and Pakistan - 803, according to an IGI press release sent to AGERPRES on Tuesday.

The centers where the most requests were registered are Timisoara - 6,109, Radauti - 3,700, Bucharest - 1,004 and Maramures - 991.

The asylum application can be submitted by any foreigner, located on the territory of Romania or at a border crossing point. A person is considered an asylum seeker from the moment of the manifestation of will expressed in writing or orally in front of the competent authorities, from which it follows that he requests the protection of the Romanian state.
Investments have become a more important component than consumption in the composition of the state budget and in growing the economy, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said, while showing that, according to indicators, in the third quarter of last year, investments contributed 3.8% to the GDP growth, and consumption 2.5%, told Agerpres.

"Beyond these figures, the situation can be observed by walking around the country and looking at how industrial, commercial or residential constructions have become a very visible field, generating jobs. To these private investments are added those of the government and based on European funds, which constantly bring public infrastructure improvements in almost every field, from highways and railways to hospitals and schools," Nicolae Ciuca wrote, on Tuesday, in a post on his Facebook page.

The head of Executive emphasizes that the time has come for Romania to behave as a country that deserves its place in organizations of states with advanced economies, such as the EU or the OECD.

"Now, investments are becoming the engine of economic growth, and this shows that Romania has become interesting for international investors, who see us as a performing, profitable and stable market. The transition from an economy based on consumption to one based on investments is one of the most important achievements of the government I lead," said Ciuca.
President Klaus Iohannis received on Tuesday at the Cotroceni Palace Georgian ambassador Tamar Beruchashvili, Algerian ambassador Abdelmadjid Naamoune, Cyprus ambassador Mario Savva Kountourides, and Portuguese ambassador Paulo Jorge Sousa da Cunha Alves, on the occasion of the presentation of their letters of credence.

President Iohannis welcomed the diplomats upon taking over their new mandates, wishing them success and assuring them of the support of the Romanian authorities in their activity, the Presidential Administration informs.

At the meeting with the Georgian ambassador, the head of the state evoked the advanced level of the bilateral relationship, as confirmed by the establishment of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and Georgia on the occasion of the Georgian president's visit to Bucharest on October 11, 2022, as well as by the signing in Bucharest, on December 17, 2022, in the presence of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, of the agreement between the governments of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary on the strategic partnership for green energy development and transmission, Agerpres informs.

The Romanian head of state welcomed the joint steps for the operationalization of the Black Sea - Caspian Sea freight trade corridor, a Romanian initiative which has started taking shape in recent years and which acquires new significance in the current regional context. President Klaus Iohannis also voiced appreciation for the Romanian-Georgian cooperation in the development of regional energy, transport or digital interconnection projects.

"During the talks, hope was expressed that the Romanian-Georgian Strategic Partnership will lead to the development and deepening of cooperation between the two countries regarding the Euro-Atlantic and European agenda, with the president of Romania affirming that our country will remain one of the staunchest supporters of Georgia's aspirations for European and Euro-Atlantic integration," the Presidential Administration informs.

At the meeting with the ambassador of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, President Iohannis mentioned the very good diplomatic relations between the two states, as well as the role of Algeria as a traditional partner of Romania on the African continent and in the Arab world. He also expressed the joint interest in deepening bilateral cooperation, mainly in fields such as economy, education, agriculture.

During the discussion with the new Cypriot ambassador, the head of the state expressed interest in expanding the bilateral relationship and commended the dynamic development of trade between Romania and Cyprus, noting at the same time the existing growth potential, which should be further exploited. Also, both sides highlighted the important role played by the Romanian community in Cyprus in the development of relations between the two countries, praising its high degree of integration in the Cypriot society and its positive contribution to the social and economic life of the country. The importance of a close coordination on European and regional files of joint interest, as well as the strengthening of the joint European capacity to adequately respond to the new challenges generated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine were also approached during discussions.

At the meeting with the ambassador of the Portuguese Republic, President Iohannis appreciated the excellent bilateral relations, also reflected in the frequency of the recent high-level contacts.

Also, Klaus Iohannis voiced special appreciation for Portugal's participation with troops in the NATO multinational force stationed in Romania, for the reinforcement of allied defense on the eastern flank; the sides also explored prospects of continuing and deepening collaboration in the military field and in other files of common interest.

The head of the state also hailed the recent visits to Romania of the Portuguese president and prime minister, which demonstrate the mutual interest in ensuring European security, the development of bilateral cooperation and close coordination within the European Union and NATO. The sides exchanged opinions on the security situation, the continuation of support for Ukraine and the refugees from this country, and support for the Republic of Moldova, including in its EU accession process. Digital infrastructure, energy - renewable energy included - the digitization of administration, tourism and student mobility were highlighted as areas of interest for the intensification of bilateral cooperation.
President Klaus Iohannis stated on Tuesday that Romania will further ensure the fulfillment of the commitments in the direction of a strengthened posture on the Eastern Flank of NATO, it will promote the strategic importance of the Black Sea and will continue to endorse the Alliance's open doors policy, mentioning that Romania has already increased this year the Defence budget from 2pct to 2.5pct of the GDP, told Agerpres.

"At NATO level, we will seek to fully implement the decisions of the Summit in Madrid, in parallel with the corresponding preparation of the Summit in Vilnius. We will ensure the fulfillment of our national commitments, in a tight coordination with our allies, in the direction of a strengthened posture on the Eastern Flank. Moreover, we will further promote the strategic importance of the Black Sea and we will continue to support NATO's open doors policy. As I have said, defence starts from home. This is why, Romania increased, as of this year, the budget dedicated to Defence from 2pct to 2.5pct of the Gross Domestic Product," the head of state conveyed at the annual meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions accredited in Romania.

The president mentioned that 2023 will also be an important year for the further development of Romania's Strategic Partnership with the US.

"The developments of 2022 have created an extensive and pragmatic agenda in view of the next round of Strategic Dialogue between Romania and the US, scheduled to take place in Bucharest, this spring," Iohannis added.

The head of state said that in 2023 our country will deepen the bilateral relations with European partners, especially with the strategic ones or with strategic relevance: France, Germany, Spain Italy, the UK, Poland, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Portugal, Belgium, Hungary and the Baltic states.

"Moreover, we will continue to develop the cooperation relations with our strategic partners in the South Caucasus - Georgia and Azerbaijan - and we will act in view of revitalizing the traditional relations with Armenia. The Three Seas Initiative will be at the core of our demarches at European and regional level. This year, we'll host for the second time, on behalf of Romania, the Initiative's Summit. We want to reconfirm the Initiative as a mature political platform, which generates investments and strategic interconnection on the North-South axis and connectivity with the Initiative's partners," Iohannis highlighted.
Cross-border railway traffic between Romania and Ukraine through the Valea Viseului Border Crossing Point was resumed on Tuesday, announced the spokesperson of the Sighetu Marmatiei Territorial Border Inspectorate (ITPF), Iulia Stan.

"Today, at around 12:00, through the Valea Viseului Railway Border Crossing Point, a point located on the border between Romania and Ukraine, the first Ukrainian train entered Romania with a delegation made up of representatives of the Ukrainian authorities. The purpose of this meeting with the authorities Romanians was represented by the reopening of railway traffic between the two countries," said Iulia Stan.

Rail passenger traffic from and to Romania will be operational from January 18, Agerpres informs.

ITPF Sighetu Marmatiei, through the border police officers from the Valea Viseului Border Police Sector, ensures that the border formalities are carried out in accordance with the regulations in force and the agreement with the neighboring state.

Also, railway communication with Ukraine, intended for goods traffic, is carried out through PTF Halmeu in Satu Mare county.

Transport on the two broad gauge railway lines is provided by the state railway company of Ukraine.
The Romanian Academy announces the resumption after a 75-year break of the cycle of public conferences held at the Dalles Foundation, with Academy president Ioan-Aurel Pop delivering the inaugural lecture at an event scheduled for Thursday, from 9:00 a.m., at the Dalles Hall at No. 18 on Bucharest's Nicolae Balcescu Boulevard. The winding history of the Ioan I. Dalles Foundation will be presented, as well as a brief history of the namesake building, the Academy informs in a release.

Built between 1930 - 1932 by the Romanian Academy according to the clauses of Elena Dalles' will, and abusively seized in 1948 by the communist regime, the famous Dalles Hall in Bucharest will host, starting in 2023, a program of conferences and debates put together by the Romanian Academy's Ioan I. Dalles Cultural Foundation. Having the mission to support, promote and develop cultural and educational activities, the foundation also aims to carry out intercultural exchanges for the promotion of the national heritage - literature, art, music, theater, etc. - and for the integration of Romanian cultural and artistic values in the international circuit, as well as the organization of research activities, Agerpres informs.

* * *

In 1918, Elena Dalles, who was left heirless, bequeathed to the Romanian Academy two properties in the center Bucharest, with precise indications regarding the expropriation, as well as her desire for a cultural edifice to be erected on the site and the establishment of a foundation that was to bear the name of her untimely deceased son.

Twelve years later, in 1930, the Romanian Academy organizes an architectural design competition for the seat of the Dalles Foundation; the winner of the contest was architect Horia Teodoru, and the contract for the works was awarded to the company of engineer Emil Prager, that will carry out the project.

The costs in amount of 14 million lei were settled from the Romanian Academy's own funds.

A year later, on May 28, 1932, the cultural center opens in the presence of the members of the Romanian Academy, the Bucharest mayor and other officials. The building consisted of exhibition halls, a conference hall and a concert hall. The Ioan I. Dalles Foundation is inaugurated on the same date, beginning its activity under the leadership of Academician Gheorghe Titeica, general secretary of the Romanian Academy.

The foundation will host exhibitions and concerts of the most renowned artists of the time and big names of Romanian culture will hold conferences and meet the public here.

In 1948 all the properties of the Romanian Academy, the Dalles Hall included, were illegally seized under Decision No. 1486 of the Council of Ministers; the building was put to the use of the Ministry of Arts and Information and then entrusted for administration to the Art Museum of the Romanian People's Republic.

The headquarters of the Dalles Foundation underwent major changes between 1959 and 1961, when the 7-storey Dalles Bloc was erected in front of the original building, incorporating the initial structure. Architect Octav Doicescu preserved the cultural destination of the ground floor and the mezzanine as exhibition spaces.

In 1962, the newly set up People's University of Bucharest takes over the foundation building, carrying out an intense public activity consisting mainly of broad-public art courses. Bucharest's collective memory, however, preserves the name of the Dalles Hall and keeps alive the memory of its cultural destination.

After the fall of the communist regime, the Romanian Academy submitted a notification for the recovery of the hall, by the building's restitution in kind; the Bucharest City Hall initially rejected the request. Only in 2018 does the general mayor of the Capital order the building's restitution, so that the Romanian Academy takes it back as its rightful owner.

The Metropolitan Center for Education and Culture currently operates in the Dalles building, using the concert and performance hall under a lease agreement signed with the Romanian Academy.
The Timisoara European Capital of Culture 2023 program is also promoted in Poland, through the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) Warsaw, which started an online campaign on the Day of National Culture.

"Until the week preceding the inauguration ceremony of the Timisoara 2023 Cultural Program, five video materials produced by the Timisoara Association - European Capital of Culture will be broadcast weekly on the Facebook page of ICR Warsaw. The video materials are subtitled in Polish and English and they contain interviews with the curators of the programs and the participating public, as well as images from some of the events held in the period 2018-2021, grouped as follows: public involvement, music, theater, dance and visual arts. Poles will thus have the opportunity to get to know the Timisoara cultural scene, as well as the values on which the program with which Timisoara won the title in 2016 is built: multiculturalism, confessional pluralism, artistic experiment, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit," transmitted, on Tuesday, the Timisoara 2021 Association.

ICR Warsaw will also promote the story of Timisoara as the European Capital of Culture throughout 2023, in many of the programs held in Poland, Agerpres informs.

In other news, the TM2021 Association announces the opening of the call for volunteers, with whom to write the story of TM2023.

"Depending on what you know and what you like, you can be a volunteer in areas such as organization of conferences, seminars and forums, information campaigns in the community and schools, public relations and communication, production assistance, photo/video, design, logistics team / support for artistic events. Voluntary activities take place in Timisoara, in the center or in the neighborhoods, depending on needs, in other towns in Timis, but also in the online environment," the Timisoara 2021 Association also announces.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch ST. LOUIS  For nearly 43 years, Francine Turner-Minor has distributed medicine to patients at a Baden neighborhood nursing home.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Turner-Minor went on strike from Hillside Manor Healthcare and Rehab Center, where about 130 elderly residents live, according to the latest count in federal data. Workers here say the facility is infested with bed bugs, mice and cockroaches, and they say they've faced union-busting tactics and unequal pay from the facility's owners, New Jersey-based Luxor Healthcare. The concerns have become so dire that city leaders plan to investigate.

"We need the company to feel our pain and our hurt, to recognize our strength," said Turner-Minor, 63, of St. Louis. "This is these residents' homes. We are their family, and our work speaks for itself."

Luxor Healthcare, which owns health care facilities nationwide, denied the union's allegations and said in a statement the workers chose "to abandon the residents we serve by initiating a strike at the Facility." The nursing home remained fully staffed during the strike, which started Monday morning and was expected to continue until Tuesday a morning.

The strike comes amid one going worker shortages in m long-term care, a long-stand ding problem exacerbated by t the COVID-19 pandemic. Jobs p in the field, such as certified L nursing assistants and bedside f technicians, often come with l low-pay on par with hourly rates at fast food restaurants t or gas stations  the average c nursing assistant in the United w States is paid at $15 per hour, according to federal data. The a jobs are also physically and S emotionally demanding.

But when certified nursing H assistant Gabriela Love gets L to work at Hillside Manor, she H puts her coat in a bag to prevent bed bugs from infesting it t and changes clothes before she s goes home.

"There is nothing dignified s about the conditions we work h in or that our residents live in," L Love said at a news conference b organized by the Service Ema ployees International Union, u which represents the workers. H "We stand here today united c with one voice to demand the a respect, protection and pay a that we deserve."

Luxor Healthcare bought c Hillside Manor in fall 2021, a according to federal records. Employee complaints soon s followed after four union leadters and longtime employees were fired, said Lenny Jones, state director for the the union in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas.

The company fired the leaders and other employee union members in an attempt to subdue their organizing activities, according to a complaint pending before the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces labor law.

The complaint also claims the company unlawfully changed employee pay and working agreements. That case also includes complaints about conditions at two other St. Louis facilities owned by Luxor: Beauvais Rehab and Healthcare Center in south St. Louis and Rancho Rehab and Healthcare Center in Florissant. The case is expected to go to trial later this month, Jones said.

The union, which represents about 100 employees, have been negotiating with Luxor Healthcare since March but have yet to come to an agreement. They're seeking union recognition from Luxor Healthcare, pay raises, pest control and basic maintenance at the facility, said union steward Danielle Jackson, who has worked at Hillside Manor as a certified nursing assistant for about a year.

Luxor Healthcare said it supports union members' right to organize but denied "scurrilous allegations" about conditions at the nursing home. Luxor Healthcare management was "disappointed" the union decided to strike "in the middle of negotiations when the parties are still actively bargaining with each other," according to the statement from Luxor management.

"The Facility remains committed to good faith negotiations," the statement said.

St. Louis Aldermanic President Megan Green said a special committee of aldermen will investigate the three facilities in the coming months. The committee will meet weekly through mid-April to hear from workers, families of residents and Luxor Healthcare representatives, Green said. Depending on the findings, the city could take regulatory action, Green said.

"The people who most often get neglected in our society are our kids and our older folks who cannot advocate for themselves," Green said. "And that's why we've got to be here doing that work for them."

Alderwoman Lisa Middlebrook represents Ward 2, where Hillside Manor is located. She said she plans to do whatever she can "to get this problem corrected."

"We stand with you," Middlebrook said.

Kelsey Landis  314-340-8304 @kelseylandis on Twitter klandis@post-dispatch.com
Emerson, the Ferguson-based industrial and software firm, made a hostile $6.9 billion offer for NI Corp. on Tuesday after the automated testing equipment maker rebuffed earlier approaches.

The software firms all-cash bid of $53 per share represents a premium of about 13% to NIs close on Friday. Shares of NI hit a record high of $54.69 in early morning trade on Tuesday, while Emerson fell 5%.

Emerson has been involved in a string of deals over the last few years to pivot itself as a provider of automation products and services and the offer to buy NI is a fresh multi billion-dollar bet in that direction.

Texas-based NI, formerly known as National Instruments, specializes in making automated testing and measurement tools to aid in research and validation of new technologies. It serves semiconductor, transportation, aerospace and defense industries.

The enterprise value of the offer is $7.6 billion. Emerson said the offer was not subject to any financing conditions. The software firm said it was prepared to nominate directors for election to NIs Board.

Citi Research wrote in a note on Sunday NI could be a good strategic fit for Emerson, given it has indicated test and measurement markets as an area of focus.

NI did not respond to a request for comment. Emerson said NI has not engaged meaningfully since its bid of $53 per share was made privately in November.

Emersons first outreach to NI was in May 2022 when it offered $48 per share.

NI had said on Friday it was exploring strategic options after acquisition interest from companies. Reuters reported that one of the interested parties was Emerson.

The acquisition interest from potential suitors forced NI to adopt a so-called poison pill, which Emerson termed as disappointing.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Centerview Partners LLC are serving as financial advisers to Emerson.

Updated at 9:45 a.m.
The Loop Ice Carnival in University City returns Jan. 21 after a two-year hiatus, no matter the weather.

If its sunny and mild, groups will gather to snap selfies with more than 40 ice sculptures lining the sidewalks. If its freezing and overcast, the sculptures will last that much longer.

A lot of people have been missing having this event, says organizer Jessica Bueler, who works for the University City Loop Special Business District. Its really cold outside, theres not a lot to do, people are feeling cabin fever  they want to get out and do something. Instead of just fighting the elements, lets roll with it.

There will also be live ice carving demonstrations, stilt walkers, strolling magicians, ice ballerinas, and 10,000 ice cubes that contain either chocolate coins or dollar coins. Visitors can collect the cubes at neighborhood businesses, then smash the ice to reveal whats inside.

A three-block stretch of Delmar Boulevard between Kingsland and Limit avenues will be closed to traffic from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The street will reopen at night, and visitors can see the ice sculptures, street performers and fire performers until 9 p.m.

The sculptures will be created by Full Spectrum Ice Sculptures, based in central Texas. In the past, the sculptures were made by Ice Visions of Kirkwood, but when the owner couldnt do the job this year, he recommended Full Spectrum. Its owned by Sean Leahy, a former Ice Visions employee and graduate of Webster University.

Generally, the sculptures will reflect the type of business where they are placed  such as a sandwich in front of the Bahn Mi Shop and the Rolling Stones tongue logo in front of Found Vintage. Bueler says that while businesses have come and gone in the Loop during the pandemic, many report that they are back to pre-pandemic levels of operation.

Mohammed Qadadeh opened American Falafel in June 2020 and bought the long-established Meshuggah Cafe across the street in June 2022. Business has been tough but improving, and hes looking forward to his first Loop Ice Carnival as a neighborhood business owner.

Im really super excited about it, he says. It is the premier Loop experience for the folks in St. Louis to come and enjoy. Were just looking forward to people coming down to have fun.

Joe Edwards, who owns several businesses in the Loop, including the Pageant and Blueberry Hill, agreed that business has returned  especially since the return of live music, and especially at Blueberry Hill. Were fully staffed, he says. Its really glorious.

The festival is simply good advertising for the Loop itself. That encourages people to go in and out and in and out of all of those stores, to see what the restaurants are like and decor is like, so they can come back, Edwards says.

Michael Atler, who owns Fitzs Root Beer, says he is thrilled for the return for the carnival and calls it one of the highlights of the year. Like previous years, his parking lot will be ground zero for ice carving demonstrations.

Business isnt quite back to pre-pandemic levels, but its getting there, he says.

Theres a pent-up demand for getting back to normal, Atler says, and the ice carnival is an opportunity to say weve gone through a really tough stretch and were moving on, and lets have fun.

In addition to the sculptures in front of businesses, there will be four larger creations on display, including one depicting rock n roll icon Chuck Berry. There will also be free hot chocolate, face painting and a temporary tattoo scavenger hunt.

What Loop Ice Carnival  When 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Jan. 21  Where Delmar Boulevard in University City  How much Free  More info exploreucity.com
LOUISIANA, Mo.  A Pike County grand jury has indicted a former small-town police chief on a charge of second-degree murder in connection with a deadly overdose at his apartment in October.

William E. Jones, 50, was arrested Friday and is being held in lieu of $1 million cash bail.

Jones was chief of the Louisiana Police Department the night authorities found 24-year-old Gabriel Thone dead on the floor of the master bedroom at Jones home.

Thone was the brother of Jones girlfriend, Alexis Thone. Her other brother overdosed there as well but paramedics revived him with Narcan.

Jones, 50, was initially charged with a variety of felonies  from drug trafficking to stealing from the departments evidence locker  and posted $300,000 cash bail. The city has since fired him as chief, and hes been living in Cole County awaiting trial and monitored by GPS.

The grand jury indictment Friday was kept secret until the court gets confirmation that a warrant was served. Police in Cole County stopped Jones vehicle Friday evening and arrested him on new charges.

The charge of second-degree murder, under Missouri law, is sometimes called felony murder. It means someone committed a felony and another person was killed as a result of that felony. One classic example of that is the getaway driver to a bank heist who is held responsible when a bank robber kills a guard.

The felony murder charge carries a punishment of up to life in prison, with the possibility of parole. The underlying felony that prosecutors allege in Jones case is trafficking fentanyl.

Jones lawyer, Christopher Lozano, said Jones is innocent of the allegation.

Hes only guilty of loving somebody with a drug problem  the girlfriend, Lozano said. Her two brothers were house guests, and its tragic. Thats it.

It all just smells of trying to grandstand, Lozano added.

The girlfriend, Alexis Thone, told investigators she knew her brothers used drugs but she didnt know where they got the drugs; Jones said he had no idea there were illegal drugs being used in the home, court documents said.

The Missouri attorney generals office special prosecutor, appointed to handle the case, could not be reached for comment.

Lozano said he saw the seven-count indictment Tuesday morning. The seven charges include stealing evidence, drug possession and two counts of drug trafficking.

Louisiana, a town of about 3,200 residents, is situated about 90 miles northwest of St. Louis.

Lozano said he expects Jones to make his initial court appearance in Pike County soon, possibly Wednesday. Lozano will be asking the judge to lower Jones $1 million bail.

Lozano said he has seen the felony murder charge used in drug cases before, against a drug dealer who administers or manufacturers the drug in a deadly overdose.

Jones was charged in October initially with drug trafficking, drug possession, tampering with evidence and stealing. Charges alleged that police found methamphetamines, fentanyl, scales and other drug paraphernalia in his apartment after the men overdosed, and that Jones tossed narcotics test kits in a dumpster before deputies arrived.

Prosecutors later added charges of tampering and stealing after police searching Jones kitchen said they found meth inside an evidence bag from the Louisiana Police Department, with a Missouri Highway Patrol seal. The drugs were inside a zebra-print bag with Jones financial documents and other personal papers near the dining table, Pike County sheriffs Deputy Genia Calvin said in court documents.

Jones is accused of taking the meth from the police departments evidence locker. Jones was the only person with access to the locker, Calvin said.

The case had been scheduled for a Jan. 25 preliminary hearing but thats been canceled now that the grand jury was involved.

Alexis Thone faced the same initial crimes as Jones. She is 25 and from OFallon, Missouri.

Police chiefs arrest, talk of mayoral impeachment rock small town of Louisiana, Mo. The police chief in Louisiana, Mo., has been charged with drug trafficking and stealing from an evidence locker. Meanwhile, there's talk of impeaching the mayor. What now for this small, Mississippi River town?
WASHINGTON  The U.S. Supreme Court turned away a Missouri appeal that sought to ensure states can cut taxes even as they receive $195 billion in federal pandemic relief money.

The justices without comment left in place a federal appeals court decision that said Missouri lacked legal standing to press a lawsuit over the requirements imposed under the American Rescue Plan Act.

Missouri is among several Republican-led states that sued after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion measure into law in March 2021. The law includes a provision that says a state cant use the money to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction in the net tax revenue of such state.

Missouri said that provision prohibits only the deliberate use of relief funds to pay for a tax cut. The state argued that the Treasury Departments interpretation of the law would sweep more broadly, blocking any new state tax policy that reduces revenue without some sort of offset.

The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals faulted Missouri for not pointing to any particular state policy that might run afoul of the federal rule. The state was seeking a quintessentially advisory opinion, something federal courts dont issue, Judge Jane Kelly wrote for the panel.

The rejection is a victory for the Biden administration, which is fighting legal battles around the country over the restriction. A different federal appeals court, the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit, said in November the provision is too vague to be enforced.

Missouris lawsuit was one of scores filed by former Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican, against pandemic-related rules and regulations, including more than 40 against local school districts in Missouri for requiring students to wear masks to protect against a deadly respiratory disease. Schmitt now represents Missouri in the U.S. Senate.

The Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
ST. LOUIS  About one in five students in St. Louis Public Schools is homeless, and thousands more live in poverty. The schools provide meals, health care, clothing and in some cases, laundry services.

The Holland Law firm of St. Louis recently donated three sets of new washing machines and dryers to Yeatman-Liddell Middle and Mason and Monroe elementary schools.

We really have a lot of kids who struggle getting to do laundry consistently, said Yeatman Principal Christopher Crumble.

School social workers collect dirty laundry from students and wash and dry their clothes. They use laundry bags and discreet drop-off locations for the students privacy.

Grace Burris, social worker at Yeatman, said she was grateful to help students self-confidence and dignity with the laundry service. Burris also works with students in life skills classes to teach them how to do laundry.

Holland Helping Hands is an all-volunteer group of the law firms staff who perform community service projects.
JEFFERSON CITY  Parental access to school records  and how history and race are taught in Missouri classrooms  will be among the first topics considered by lawmakers this legislative session.

During the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committees first meeting Wednesday afternoon, committee members are expected to hear testimony on a pair of bills dubbed the Parents Bill of Rights.

One of the bills up for debate is sponsored by the panels chairman, Republican Sen. Andrew Koenig of Manchester. Five of the nine committee members have similar bills aimed at codifying curriculum transparency and restricting lessons they deem similar to critical race theory.

Both bills on Wednesdays agenda would establish a statewide transparency portal for all public schools and enshrine rights for parents, like a right to view all of their childs school records. But unlike Koenigs bill, the legislation sponsored by Sen. Ben Brown, R-Washington, does not include potential restrictions on critical race theory.

Efforts to enact similar legislation fell short last year, in part due to dysfunction in the Senate. The focus on parental rights and race education so early in the 2023 session shows the issue remains a high priority for GOP lawmakers who hold super majorities in both legislative chambers.

Theres no question we want history taught, Koenig said in an interview last week. Theres no question slavery happened. Theres no question that obviously people were sinful in the past, and people are sinful today. But the problem is when youre assigning that sin to a specific race today, it is clearly out of line.

Placing restrictions

Browns bill would create the Missouri Education Transparency and Accountability Portal, which it describes as an internet-based tool creating transparency in Missouris public education system and providing citizens access to every school districts curriculum, source materials and professional development materials.

School districts would have to upload their curriculum and the source material associated with it to the portal for public viewing and provide the names of speakers utilized in professional development as well as the cost associated with those third parties.

His bills second section would give parents more access to school material  and the school itself, for one part of his Parents Bill of Rights would let parents visit their children at school during school hours.

If the bill is passed, parents could also object to lessons or teaching materials that they believe are inappropriate for whatever reason.

Browns legislation also could prohibit schools from banning the copying of curricula and educational materials, a potentially problematic policy for schools utilizing copyrighted material.

Koenigs proposed legislation also looks to add a transparency portal and enshrine parent rights, although his Parents Bill of Rights does not call for as widespread parental power as visiting during the school day and pulling their child from any lesson.

The bill targets critical race theory, too, which Koenig said is compatible with the push for transparency.

The people that are concerned about (critical race theory) are concerned about having access to whats being taught. So to me, it was a perfect fit, he said. If you had more transparency, it actually might cause less problems because then parents know for sure what is being taught.

A poll by NPR and Ipsos revealed that 76% of American parents believe that their childrens school does a good job keeping [them] informed about the curriculum, including potentially controversial topics.

The same poll showed that a majority of parents are satisfied by the schools teaching regarding race, slavery and gender and sexuality.

Of Republicans, 26% said the schools teaching of these topics did not align with their values while 11% of Democrats and 17% of independents said the same. But one out of three parents surveyed did not know whether the curriculum conflicted with their values.

Koenigs bill begins with a plan for expanding access to curriculum documents and student achievement data and shifts to a restriction on teaching certain viewpoints.

The bill would bar teachers from expressing opinions contrary to Article I, Section 2 of Missouris Constitution, which states that everyone is entitled to equal rights and opportunity under the law.

His bill gives examples of violating positions, like individuals should be adversely or advantageously treated on the basis of individual race, ethnicity, color or national origin.

His bill also bans mandatory training that includes these topics, but states that voluntary training is permissible.

Republican Sen. Rick Brattin of Harrisonville, vice chair of the education committee, has also introduced legislation targeting critical race theory.

Brattins bill seeks to restrict what it refers to as divisive concepts.

Brattin gives 11 examples of divisive lessons, including promoting any form of race or sex stereotyping, including ascribing character traits, values, moral and ethical codes, privileges, status, or beliefs to a race, sex or an individual because of his or her race or sex.

His bill also seeks to ban teacher training that includes racial stereotyping.

The bill would authorize the attorney general to investigate school districts compliance with the restrictions. If a district is caught in violation, Brattin proposes withholding half of its state aid.

Like other similar bills, it additionally would provide the right for parents to view all curriculum documents.

In schools today

A 2021 Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education survey of over 400 school districts found just one school district that reported it teaches critical race theory and utilizes the 1619 Project, an initiative by The New York Times, which centers African American history and racism in the United States.

Two additional districts said they utilized the 1619 Project.

Koenig said that although critical race theory  a concept many denote as a graduate-level study  is not explicitly in the states public schools, he believes similar concepts are in K-12 classrooms.

Theres no question that CRT-type things are being done, he said.

Critical race theory, according to a Columbia News article, is a study of how racism has affected United States society and law. Many frequently label equity education as critical race theory, although the two have different features.

There has been a lot of blowback, Koenig said, over school districts in his senatorial district teaching what parents believe sounds like critical race theory.

The Rockwood School District covers most of his senatorial district and caught national attention when a group of concerned parents united against the districts lessons on racism.

Community members convened at a parent-led meeting where Koenig and Sen. Cindy OLaughlin, who was recently elected to be Senate majority leader, answered questions from the crowd.

When asked during the meeting to define critical race theory and provide examples, Koenig described an activity he called basically white shaming.

OLaughlin called critical race theory a belief that all whites are inherently racist whether they know it or not.

Koenig told The Independent hes heard from constituents concerned with what their children are receiving in public schools. In particular, he pointed to a matrix of oppression he alleges is being taught in Rockwood schools.

He pointed to a lesson called the matrix of oppression. He had an image of the matrix of oppression that alleged that Rockwood schools were utilizing the diagram, but the Independent could not confirm its validity.

Mary LaPak, chief communications officer for the school district, had not seen the image and said the matrix of oppression is not a board-approved curriculum document.

In 2021, Springfield Public Schools held a diversity training day including the matrix of oppression, and former Attorney General Eric Schmitts office requested all records related to the training. When the records were not sent expeditiously, Schmitt sued the district.

The case remains in litigation. The most recent action on the lawsuit was assistant deputy Attorney General Justin Smiths request to be removed from the case; the attorney generals office does not have other counsel working on the lawsuit.

Koenig worries about the impact something like an oppression matrix would have on families like his. He has five children, two of whom are Black.

It is equally as racist to tell them that they cant be somebody because theyre black as it is racist telling my white kids that theyre oppressing. Its racist both ways, and it has no place in public education, he said.

His bill clarifies that schools may teach the history of slavery.

I have no problem with teaching history the way it was, he said, adding he believes the United States abolishment of slavery makes the country great.

Expanding the curriculumWhile Republicans push for restrictions on history curriculum, a pair of Democratic lawmakers  Sen. Angela Mosley of Florissant and Rep. Marlene Terry of St. Louis  have proposed an expansion.

They hope to include facts about Native American and African American history often left out of Missouri classrooms.

Education Next asked parents what they think about the emphasis their childrens school places on slavery, racism, and other challenges faced by Black people in the United States. Most parents said the school gives the right amount of instruction on the topic.

However, 25% of parents said there is too little emphasis on African Americans struggles, and 11% of parents said there is too much focus.

Half of parents with Black children believe the topic could be expanded in schools, the survey said.

Terry, chair of Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, said her bill is not critical race theory. It is a focus on lesser-known facts of history.

All students need to know the truth, she said. We should not base our history knowledge on a lie. It should just be the truth  no matter if it is good, bad or ugly.

Some of the lessons described in their bills require a level of maturity, such as discussion of genocide and the invention of modern gynecology through experiments on slaves. The bill denotes the lessons should be dispersed among grades 7-12.

Terrys youngest grandson is entering middle school, and she enjoys watching his curiosity lead him to Black history.

A lot of individuals, Terry said, especially some of our young folks now, if they knew their history and what some of their ancestors had to go through to get us where we are now, they would appreciate and treat life a little bit better.

Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on Facebook and Twitter.
ST. LOUIS  Keisha Acres had a message for students returning Tuesday to Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, where her daughter Alexzandria Bell was killed three months ago.

Do it because she cant, Acres said.

Acres joined other parents, alumni and staff to cheer students across a red carpet and through a black-and-yellow balloon arch back to the school near Tower Grove Park.

Acres said she wanted to be there to support Alexzandrias classmates. Shes also raising money for college expenses for the class of 2023.

I still have kids here. All these are my kids, Acres said. My child was a part of their family.

On Oct. 24, a former CVPA student shot and killed Alexzandria, 15, and P.E. teacher Jean Kuczka, 61, and wounded six other students.

Classes have been held online while the school was preparing to reopen. Windows and doors in the school buildings have been fortified, along with other renovations to fix damage from the shooting. Students at Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience, which shares the campus, returned to classes after Thanksgiving.

After the shooting, St. Louis Public Schools leaders discussed their options including moving the schools to a different location. Ultimately it was decided that the grief and healing take place in the same building. Last month, five local artists painted eight colorful murals across lockers in the schools hallways.

On Tuesday, there were armed and unarmed school district security guards on campus along with an increased police presence in the neighborhood.

Inside, there were counselors and service dogs on hand for students and staff. Classes will dismiss two hours early this week to ease the transition. An undetermined number of the schools 380 students chose to continue taking classes virtually, a spokesman for SLPS said.

But the majority of students returned to the magnet school where they can specialize in music, art or dance performance like Alexzandria.

Rae McInerney graduated from the high school when it was in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood, and now serves on the PTA.

Everybody is very unique and allowed to express themselves freely, said McInerney, whose child is a sophomore. Im very excited that theyre going back but its also a little nerve-wracking.

Jay Mitchell, CVPA class of 2010, showed up before dawn Tuesday to welcome students back with cheers and high-fives. He held a poster with Alexzandrias and Kuczkas pictures.

This school has my heart, Mitchell said. We are CVPA strong. Nothing will ever change that.

The past three months have been a bad nightmare, said CVPA Principal Kacy Shahid, also a graduate of the school.

I cant wait to see my students faces, Shahid said. Im looking forward to connections, reconnections ... post-traumatic growth gives hope and optimism.

Photos: Students return in-person at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School
CLAYTON  Manchester officials on Tuesday accused St. Louis Countys top boss of trying to obstruct the citys efforts to annex a portion of unincorporated county, and the county executive said thats exactly what hes trying to do.

Manchester wants to annex an unincorporated area of roughly 6,500 residents, a measure that could go before voters as soon as April. But the proposal needs one last vote from the commission that regulates annexation before it moves forward. Late last week, County Executive Sam Page tried to stop the proposal by recommending two new appointments to replace existing members on the countys Boundary Commission.

Appointments are subject to confirmation by the council, and council members rejected one of the appointments 3-3 and postponed the other at their regular meeting Tuesday night. The move effectively put the appointments on hold because the council could reconsider the failed appointment.

Manchester Mayor Mike Clement urged the council to continue to hold the appointments until the commission finishes considering the annexation, a review that has been ongoing for eight months.

No member of the St. Louis County Boundary Commission, or any board, should be fired for serving independently, thoughtfully and loyally, Clement said. Voters should decide the question of annexation and not Dr. Page.

In July, a spokesman for Page told the Post-Dispatch the county executive has no intention of making changes to the Boundary Commission while this process is under way. But on Tuesday, Doug Moore, a spokesman for Page, called the effort to incorporate thousands of taxpayers a money grab.

It is the county executives job to look out for the best interests of the entire county, Moore said in an email. Dr. Page was pleased to learn that there was another step in the process and stunned that the commission supported a bad proposal. New voices need to be added to the commission to represent the entire county.

Page has opposed the annexation proposal, saying it would create islands of unincorporated areas that would be difficult to police. Page also said it could cost residents more in municipal sales and property taxes.

Clement says those costs would be offset by a property tax rebate and savings in monthly trash pickup fees. He also said municipal government provides more accessibility and responsiveness, including from police.

The commission voted 5-3 on Jan. 3 to approve the proposal, Clement said, with two of the yes votes coming from commissioners appointed by a former county executive. Page sought to replace the two members.

Democratic councilwomen Shalonda Webb, Lisa Clancy and Kelli Dunaway voted to confirm one of Pages appointment, while Democrat Rita Heard Days and Republican councilmen Mark Harder and Dennis Hancock voted no. Republican Councilman Ernie Trakas was absent.

Hancock said the controversy has nothing to do with the people who are being appointed. Its wrong to appoint new commission members in the middle of a complicated review, Hancock said.

They should be allowed to finish what they started, Hancock said.

The St. Louis County Boundary Commission is an independent 11-member panel set up by state statute to review impacts of proposed boundary changes.

The proposed annexation would bring the citys boundary northeast from Carman Road to Barrett Station Road, so that the city would border the cities of Town and Country and Des Peres. It would add roughly 2.3 square miles that includes about 2,860 residences with a population of 6,549, as well as several commercial properties along Manchester Road, John Allen Love Park  a county-owned public park  and two elementary schools in the Parkway School District: Pierremont and Carman Trails.

The county has estimated a roughly $2.8 million revenue loss if the area is annexed. Manchester has estimated about $2.1 million in additional revenues from the annexed area in 2023 and roughly $3.9 million in 2024. But the increase would largely be offset by higher municipal expenses, largely to hire more police and public works employees and buy vehicles.
ST. LOUIS  For nearly 43 years, Francine Turner-Minor has distributed medicine to patients at a Baden neighborhood nursing home.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Turner-Minor went on strike from Hillside Manor Healthcare and Rehab Center, where about 130 elderly residents live, according to the latest count in federal data. Workers here say the facility is infested with bed bugs, mice and cockroaches, and they say theyve faced union-busting tactics and unequal pay from the facilitys owners, New Jersey-based Luxor Healthcare. The concerns have become so dire that city leaders plan to investigate.

We need the company to feel our pain and our hurt, to recognize our strength, said Turner-Minor, 63, of St. Louis. This is these residents homes. We are their family, and our work speaks for itself.

Luxor Healthcare, which owns health care facilities nationwide, denied the unions allegations and said in a statement the workers chose to abandon the residents we serve by initiating a strike at the Facility. The nursing home remained fully staffed during the strike, which started Monday morning and was expected to continue until Tuesday morning.

The strike comes amid ongoing worker shortages in long-term care, a long-standing problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Jobs in the field, such as certified nursing assistants and bedside technicians, often come with low-pay on par with hourly rates at fast food restaurants or gas stations  the average nursing assistant in the United States is paid at $15 per hour, according to federal data. The jobs are also physically and emotionally demanding.

But when certified nursing assistant Gabriela Love gets to work at Hillside Manor, she puts her coat in a bag to prevent bed bugs from infesting it and changes clothes before she goes home.

There is nothing dignified about the conditions we work in or that our residents live in, Love said at a news conference organized by the Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers. We stand here today united with one voice to demand the respect, protection and pay that we deserve.

Luxor Healthcare bought Hillside Manor in fall 2021, according to federal records. Employee complaints soon followed after four union leaders and longtime employees were fired, said Lenny Jones, state director for the the union in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas.

The company fired the leaders and other employee union members in an attempt to subdue their organizing activities, according to a complaint pending before the National Labor Relations Board, the federal agency that enforces labor law. The complaint also claims the company unlawfully changed employee pay and working agreements. That case also includes complaints about conditions at two other St. Louis facilities owned by Luxor: Beauvais Rehab and Healthcare Center in south St. Louis and Rancho Rehab and Healthcare Center in Florissant. The case is expected to go to trial later this month, Jones said.

The union, which represents about 100 employees, have been negotiating with Luxor Healthcare since March but have yet to come to an agreement. Theyre seeking union recognition from Luxor Healthcare, pay raises, pest control and basic maintenance at the facility, said union steward Danielle Jackson, who has worked at Hillside Manor as a certified nursing assistant for about a year.

Luxor Healthcare said it supports union members right to organize but denied scurrilous allegations about conditions at the nursing home. Luxor Healthcare management was disappointed the union decided to strike in the middle of negotiations when the parties are still actively bargaining with each other, according to the statement from Luxor management.

The Facility remains committed to good faith negotiations, the statement said.

St. Louis Aldermanic President Megan Green said a special committee of aldermen will investigate the three facilities in the coming months. The committee will meet weekly through mid-April to hear from workers, families of residents and Luxor Healthcare representatives, Green said. Depending on the findings, the city could take regulatory action, Green said.

The people who most often get neglected in our society are our kids and our older folks who cannot advocate for themselves, Green said. And thats why weve got to be here doing that work for them.

Alderwoman Lisa Middlebrook represents Ward 2, where Hillside Manor is located. She said she plans to do whatever she can to get this problem corrected.

We stand with you, Middlebrook said.
JEFFERSON CITY  After years of Republican resistance, Missouri is set to finally launch a statewide prescription drug monitoring program.

According to a contract inked earlier this month, the state will pay a medical technology company $1.4 million to operate the program, which is designed to curb opioid addiction.

Kentucky-based Bamboo Health, which was already overseeing a county-level program operated by St. Louis County, won the contract, which was put out for bids last year following legislative approval of the plan.

Bamboo Health will seamlessly transition the St. Louis County  system to the Missouri statewide system without the need for a complicated data migration project, Bamboo said in a statement to Gov. Mike Parsons administration.

The program is supposed to curtail so-called doctor-shopping in order to obtain multiple prescriptions for painkillers.

Sen. Holly Rehder, R-Sikeston, championed the measure for a decade in response to her own family members who have struggled with opioid addiction, which continues to plague the state.

The concept, however, was largely blocked by former Sen. Rob Schaaf, a Republican from northwest Missouri who expressed ongoing concerns about patient privacy when companies collect medical information.

When efforts to establish Missouris statewide monitoring program stalled, St. Louis County established one in 2017 that 75 local jurisdictions agreed to participate in, covering 85% of the state.

Health officials said opioid prescriptions decreased dramatically once the county established the monitoring program. In 2016, Missouri averaged 80.4 opioid prescriptions per 100 people; in 2019, it was down to 58.3 prescriptions, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Yet, the overall drug overdose death rate in Missouri has steadily increased since 2016.

The City of St. Louis Medical Examiners office confirmed nearly 900 accidental fatal overdoses over a two-year period between 2020 and 2022.

St. Louis County has recorded about 700 overdose deaths during the same period.

Missouri had an average annual rank of 16th among states from 2010 through 2019, as the country descended into an opioid epidemic, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of CDC data compiled by Kaiser Family Foundation.

Gov. Mike Parson signed the law into effect in June 2021.

Under the plan, pharmacists who dispense controlled substances will be required to enter prescriptions into the database, which would then be made accessible to doctors.

In making its bid offer to the state, Bamboo officials said a similar program in Louisiana has seen a massive increase in usage since the company took over.

In 2019, for example, it recorded 800,000 searches by doctors. In January 2022, that number increased to more than 2.7 million searches.

In Kansas, where the program has operated for about seven years, opioid prescriptions decreased 21% from 2018 to 2022. Rates of prescriptions from multiple doctors decreased by 86% from 10.9 per 100,000 in 2018 to 1.5 per 100,000 in 2022.
JEFFERSON CITY  The final piece of a political game of dominoes fell into place Tuesday with the swearing in of Missouris new treasurer.

In a ceremony before a packed crowd in the Missouri House chambers, Republican Vivek Malek took the oath of office to become the states 48th treasurer, filling a vacancy left by Treasurer Scott Fitzpatricks move to the state auditor post.

Malek, 45, vowed to serve as a fiscal conservative who will protect Missouris investments.

I owe so much to America and Missouri and I want to give back, Malek said.

Malek is a political newcomer picked by Republican Gov. Mike Parson to fill out the final two years of Fitzpatricks term.

He is the first person of color to serve in statewide office. The historic moment was recognized by the attendance of the consul general of Indias Chicago office.

The master of ceremonies, former Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, told the audience that the elevation of Malek is reflective of Missouris growing and thriving Indian community.

The Wildwood attorney is originally from the city of Rohtak, India, and studied at Southeast Missouri State University, where he received a masters degree in business administration. He later served on the SEMO board of governors.

Malek also is an attorney. He launched his career in Missouri in 2006 and opened a law firm specializing in immigration law in 2011.

I stand before you a proud American, a proud Missourian, by choice, he said, recognizing the presence of his wife, Riju, and their three young children, at the event.

Parson praised Malek as a man of faith who will work hard for the people. The governor said he was inundated with messages from people urging him to choose Malek after Fitzpatrick won the November election.

It really is a beautiful American story. Its an example to our children, Parson said.

Malek credited Fitzpatrick with helping him get up to speed on the operations of the office.

Along with managing Missouris $20 billion in annual state revenues, the treasurer directs its banking services, oversees the states $6.5 billion investment portfolio and sits on a number of financially focused state boards and commissions.

He does have the characteristics required to be a good state treasurer. It really is an important job, Fitzpatrick said.

Maleks swearing in marks the fifth open statewide elected seat that Parson has filled with an appointment since he became governor in 2018, also not by election.

I hope Vivek is the final one, Parson said.

Malek plans to run for a full, four-year term in 2024.
ST. LOUIS  On Jan. 16, 1919, the Prohibition amendment was passed, making St. Louis and all cities officially dry despite widespread flouting of the law. The last brave bartenders had shut their taps by 12:01 a.m. Jan. 17, 1920, the official start of constitutional Prohibition. Federal agents drove the streets and couldnt find any lawbreaking.

The Post-Dispatch noted dryly, Prohibition has had an erratic career in St. Louis. So it would remain, sometimes rattled by machine guns, for 13 long years.

History remembers the first day under the 18th Amendment, but Congress had imposed partial prohibition the previous summer. Prohibitionists, or drys, had seized upon saving grain and fuel for World War I, even though the war ended before they got their wish. Lower-alcohol beer (2.75 percent) flowed pending court challenges, but New Years Eve 1919 was more damp than wet  revelers had to bring their own hard stuff from dwindling household stocks.

The federal Volstead Act, the law intended to enforce the 18th Amendment, made it illegal even to carry a pocket flask outside ones own home. On Jan. 19, John Goheen, proprietor of a rooming house on South 10th Street, was caught on the sidewalk hauling two suitcases filled with whiskey bottles.

The case for Prohibition, long sought by well-intended reformers to spare families from drunken fathers, also had more than a tinge of scorn for cities, immigrants and Catholics. In places like St. Louis, that kind of thinking went nowhere.

Prohibition was a bonanza for local gangs like Egans Rats, Hogans and the Cuckoos. Moving up from safecracking and banditry, they littered the streets with each others bodies as they battled to satisfy the public thirst.

Prohibition did reduce cases of cirrhosis, but it also made a lawbreaker of anyone who wanted a bracer. Criminal gangs and ordinary citizens became clandestine brewers and distillers, with wildly varying results and lots of headlines.

On July 22, 1925, St. Louis officers nabbed 179 suspected moonshiners, including Jennie Buttee of 5115 Daggett Avenue. She told officers she hadnt a clue how a vat of 5,000 gallons of mash got into her basement.

Enforcement never stopped the flow. Five years later, agents raided a fashionable home at 3733 Pine Street, a site that produced 250 gallons a day.

Seen from a distance of eight decades, the tale is comical. But most mobsters were bad people, and some of their product was sufficiently awful to kill. Here are some of the more memorable tales from Prohibition St. Louis:

WHEN A TABLECLOTH IS A DRESS

The hot ticket for New Years Eve 1922 was the party at the new Chase Hotel, at Kingshighway and Lindell Boulevard. Management made the ritual warnings about obeying the law, but floor-length tablecloths made it easy to hide refreshments.

At 1:30 a.m., five officers accompanying Gus O. Nations, a dedicated teetotaler and St. Louis chief dry agent, strolled brashly into the hotels Palm Room without removing their hats. Officers checked beneath tables.

A woman screamed, claiming an agent had grabbed her gown instead. Her escort slugged the officer. It was instant pandemonium.

As the force retreated, detective Ed Sullivan accidently fired a shot into the floor, winging three dancers. Henry S. Priest, a former federal judge who attended the party, sued Nations on behalf of one of the wounded. Ten days later, Priest led the Missouri Association Against the Prohibition Amendment with a rally attended by 2,000 people.

Priest battled Prohibition until his death in 1930, three years before repeal.

OUR OF THE BARREL, THROUGH THE HOSE, DOWN THE ALLEY...

In 1910, when Tennessee went dry by state law, the Jack Daniel distillery moved to St. Louis. As national Prohibition took effect, the plant at 3960 Duncan Avenue, near Vandeventer and Forest Park avenues, held nearly 900 barrels of the famous whiskey.

The Volstead Act allowed the sale of intoxicants only as prescription medicine. Federal inspectors guarded the Jack Daniel warehouse, but its inventory was just too tempting.

In August 1923, well-connected crooks methodically siphoned 31,000 gallons through a hose to trucks waiting down the alley. They refilled the barrels with vinegar and water, leaving one untouched  all under the easily distracted eye of chief guard William Kinney, who had family links to the Egans Rats gang.

When a visiting inspector tasted vinegar, the notorious whiskey milking case was born. Two years later, in a federal trial in Indianapolis, 23 men were convicted in the scam, including several prominent St. Louisans.

Among them were former city Circuit Clerk Nat Goldstein and Arnold Hellmich, chief federal revenue agent in St. Louis and the man who had appointed Kinney. For their trip to prison at Leavenworth, Kan., they rented a private railroad car.

More than 4,000 admirers cheered them when the train backed into Union Station for a stop. Tom Foley, a local gambler and milking convict, scanned the crowd and said, We cant be so bad after all.

BOMBS AWAY

Charlie Birger grew up in St. Louis and led a gang in Southern Illinois. Their main rivals were hoods led by the Shelton brothers, country boys named Carl, Earl and Bernie.

Birgers hideout was the Shady Rest, a former tourist stop 10 miles east of Marion, Ill. On Nov. 12, 1926, Birger gangsters shot up the home of a brother of Joe Adams, mayor of West City, Ill., and a Shelton ally. The retaliation was creative.

The Sheltons quickly hired a barnstorming pilot, who took one of their men up in a Curtiss Jenny biplane for a bombing raid over Shady Rest. The bombardier tossed three homemade dynamite bombs, only one of which exploded to no strategic effect. Birger men sprayed the sky with submachine-gun fire, missing the plane.

One month later, Birger assassins cornered Adams. Birger was convicted in the murder and went to the gallows in Benton, Ill., on April 19, 1928. Shortly before his death, he told the Post-Dispatch, Ive shot men in my time, but I never shot one that didnt deserve it.

HAPPY DAYS A-COMING

Two weeks before Election Day in November 1932, Democratic candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke at a rally in the St. Louis Coliseum at Jefferson and Washington avenues, then the citys main auditorium. Sensing victory, more than 12,000 giddy Democrats jammed the arena and an additional 5,000 crowded the sidewalks.

They applauded Roosevelts ponderous 50-minute speech about farm policy and railroad debt, but roared when he called for restoring beer production.

We want beer! rose the chant.

On Nov. 8, four days before the election, President Herbert Hoover spoke at the Coliseum. St. Louis Republicans begged him to say a good word about alcohol, but he declined. Not that it mattered  with the Depression at its depths, Roosevelt won a 42-state landslide.

BEER IS BACK

Beer drinkers got their wish at 12:01 a.m. on April 7, 1933. A decidedly wet Congress had begun the effort to repeal Prohibition, but that would take months. Meanwhile, it finessed the definition of intoxicant to allow beer with 3.2 percent alcohol content.

Festive crowds gathered at the Anheuser-Busch and Falstaff breweries as midnight approached. Come and get it, shouted August A. Gussie Busch as truckloads moved through the crowds for deliveries to the lucky holders of federal permits to sell beer.

One was the Elks Club at 3619 Lindell Boulevard, where Mayor-elect Bernard Dickmann led the first round.

On Dec. 5, 1933, the 21st Amendment for repeal became part of the U.S. Constitution. Missouri legislators would dither a while more before striking the states own ban against the full drink trade.

Not that it mattered. When police arrested a liquor-store owner, city Circuit Attorney Harry Rosecan refused to prosecute, saying, This man has committed no crime.

Photos: Look back at prohibition in St. Louis on the anniversary of its repeal.
CHICAGO  A fire at a central Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic is being investigated as arson, Peoria police said Tuesday, just days after the state enacted sweeping abortion protections.

Officers responded to a report of an unknown person throwing a Molotov cocktail into the Peoria clinic building at about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, police spokesperson Semone Roth said.

Peoria police and fire officials are investigating the blaze, and no suspects have been identified or arrests made, Roth said.

The incident occurred two days after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law reproductive health care legislation to protect out-of-state abortion seekers, adding Illinois to the list of states that have placed legal reinforcements around the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

No patients or staff were inside during the fire, but it caused significant damage to the building, said Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois in a statement.

The clinic is currently closed, and the organization is rescheduling patients who had appointments to other health care centers, and offering transportation assistance to those who need it.

The Peoria Planned Parenthood location offered medication abortion but was not a site for in-clinic procedures, said Welch, who pledged to prosecute the perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law.

The vast majority of our Peoria Health Center patients were coming to us for family planning, STI testing and treatment and other reproductive health care, she said. This act of vandalism will have a devastating impact on the communitys ability to access birth control, cancer screenings and gender-affirming care.

Anti-abortion organization Illinois Right to Life executive director Mary Kate Zander condemned the incident, saying: We would never condone violence against any Planned Parenthood or any other abortion clinic. She added: The primary reason that we stand against abortion is that its an act of violence. So it would be hypocritical of us to not say the same in the case of an act of violence against abortion workers.

Updated at 2:15 p.m.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates  U.S. climate envoy John Kerry backs the United Arab Emirates' decision to appoint the CEO of a state-run oil company to preside over the upcoming U.N. climate negotiations in Dubai, citing his work on renewable energy projects.

In an interview Sunday with The Associated Press, the former U.S. secretary of state acknowledged that the Emirates and other countries relying on fossil fuels to fund their state coffers face finding "some balance" ahead.

However, he dismissed the idea that Sultan al-Jaber's appointment should be automatically disqualified due to him leading the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

Activists, however, equated it to asking "arms dealers to lead peace talks" when authorities announced his nomination Thursday.

"I think that Dr. Sultan al-Jaber is a terrific choice because he is the head of the company. That company knows it needs to transition," Kerry said after attending an energy conference in the Emirati capital. "He knows  and the leadership of the UAE is committed to transitioning."

Abu Dhabi plans to increase its production of crude oil from 4 million barrels a day up to 5 million even while the UAE promises to be carbon neutral by 2050  a target that remains difficult to assess and one that the Emirates still hasn't fully explained how it will reach.

Kerry pointed to a speech al-Jaber gave Saturday in Abu Dhabi, in which he called for the upcoming COP  or Conference of Parties  to move "from goals to getting it done across mitigation, adaptation, finance and loss and damage."

Al-Jaber also warned that the world "must be honest with ourselves about how much progress we have actually achieved, and how much further and faster we truly need to go."

"He made it absolutely clear we're not moving fast enough. We have to reduce emissions. We have to begin to accelerate this transition significantly," Kerry said. "So I have great confidence that the right issues are going to be on the table, that they're going to respond to them and lead countries to recognize their responsibility."

Each year, the country hosting the U.N. negotiations nominates a person to chair the talks. Hosts typically pick a veteran diplomat as the talks can be incredibly difficult to steer between competing nations and their interests. The nominee's position as "COP president" is confirmed by delegates at the start of the talks, usually without objections.

Al-Jaber is a trusted confidant of UAE leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He also led a once-ambitious project to erect a $22 billion "carbon-neutral" city on Abu Dhabi's outskirts  an effort later pared back after the global financial crisis that struck the Emirates hard beginning in 2008.

Today, he also serves as the chairman of Masdar, a clean energy company that grew out of the project.

Skepticism remains among activists over al-Jaber, however. A call by countries, including India and the United States, for a phase down of oil and natural gas never reached a public discussion during COP27 in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in November.

Activists worry that COP being held in a Mideast nation reliant on fossil fuel sales for a second year in a row could see something similar happen in the Emirates.

Asked about that fear, Kerry said: "I don't believe UAE was involved in changing that."

"There's going to be a level of scrutiny  and and I think that's going to be very constructive," the former U.S. senator and 2004 presidential contender said. "It's going to help people, you know, stay on the line here.

"I think this is a time, a new time of accountability," he added.

Still, the Emirates and the U.S. maintain close military relations, regardless of the federation making policy decisions disliked by Washington.

Dubai's Jebel Ali Port is the most-used port of call for the U.S. Navy outside of America. Some 3,500 American troops are deployed in the country, including at Abu Dhabi's Al Dhafra Air Base and a Navy outpost in Fujairah. The UAE has some $29 billion in pending defense sales with the Americans, including purchasing its most-advanced air defense system known by the acronym THAAD.

For Europeans in particular, Russia's war on Ukraine has led to a reckoning on the continent's reliance of Moscow's natural gas to heat their homes in the winter. Though aided by an unusually warm winter, Europeans are trying to source gas elsewhere while also looking for renewables to fill whatever gaps they can.

"No country is advantaged by having a petro-dictator be able to control their future and their prices and their economy with reckless behavior," Kerry said, referring to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

"To the degree there's something that's coming out of it that will change things for the better, that is Europe's deep commitment to big reductions in emissions and to a whole shift in the nature of their energy supply," Kerry said.
ATLANTA  America has honored Martin Luther King Jr. with a federal holiday for nearly four decades yet still hasnt fully embraced and acted on the lessons from the slain civil rights leader, his youngest daughter said Monday.

The Rev. Bernice King, who leads The King Center in Atlanta, said leaders  especially politicians  too often cheapen her fathers legacy into a comfortable and convenient King offering easy platitudes.

We love to quote King in and around the holiday. ... But then we refuse to live King 365 days of the year, she declared at the commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father once preached.

The service, sponsored by the center and held at Ebenezer annually, headlined observances of the 38th federal King holiday. King, gunned down in Memphis in 1968 as he advocated for better pay and working conditions for the citys sanitation workers, would have celebrated his 94th birthday Sunday.

Her voice rising and falling in cadences similar to her father's, Bernice King bemoaned institutional and individual racism, economic and health care inequities, police violence, a militarized international order, hardline immigration structures and the climate crisis. She said shes exhausted, exasperated and, frankly, disappointed to hear her fathers words about justice quoted so extensively alongside so little progress addressing society's gravest problems.

He was Gods prophet sent to this nation and even the world to guide us and forewarn us. ... A prophetic word calls for an inconvenience because it challenges us to change our hearts, our minds and our behavior, Bernice King said. Dr. King, the inconvenient King, put some demands on us to change our ways.

President Joe Biden on Monday addressed an MLK breakfast hosted in Washington by the Rev. Al Sharptons National Action Network. Sharpton got his start as a civil rights organizer in his teens as youth director of an anti-poverty project of Kings Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

This is a time for choosing, Biden said, repeating themes from a speech he delivered Sunday at Ebenezer at the invitation of Sen. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Ebenezer who recently won re-election to a full term as Georgias first Black U.S. senator.

Will we choose democracy over autocracy, or community over chaos? Love over hate? Biden asked Monday. These are the questions of our time that I ran for president to try to help answer. ... Dr. Kings life and legacy  in my view  shows the way forward.

Elsewhere in Washington, Martin Luther King III attended a wreath-laying ceremony at the national memorial to his father. Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman and person of color to hold the office, spoke to volunteers at a day of service project at George Washington University.

Thousands attended a memorial march in San Antonio. In Los Angeles, the Kingdom Day Parade returned after a two-year pandemic break.

Other commemorations echoed Bernice Kings reminder and Biden's allusions that the Beloved Community  Martin Luther King's descriptor for a world in which all people are free from fear, discrimination, hunger and violence  remains elusive.

In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu talked about a fight for the truth in an era of hyper-partisanship and misinformation.

Were battling not just two sides or left or right and a gradient in between that have to somehow come to compromise, but a growing movement of hate, abuse, extremism and white supremacy fueled by misinformation, fueled by conspiracy theories that are taking root at every level, she said.

Wu, the first woman and person of color elected mayor of Boston, said education restores trust. Quoting King, she called for overcoming the fatigue of despair to enact change. It is sometimes in those moments when we feel most tired, most despairing, that we are just about to break through, Wu told attendees at a memorial breakfast.

Volunteers in Philadelphia held a day of service focused on gun violence prevention. The city has seen a surge in homicides that saw 516 people killed last year and 562 the year before, the highest total in at least six decades.

Some participants in the efforts signature project, led by Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, worked to assemble gun safety kits for public distribution. The kits include gun cable locks and additional safety devices for childproofing, according to organizers. They also include information about firearm storage, health and social services information, and coping in the aftermath of gun violence.

Other kits being assembled highlighted Temple University Hospitals Fighting Chance program and included materials to enable immediate response to victims at the scene of gunfire, organizers said. Recipients are to be trained in the use of the materials, which include tourniquets, gauze, chest seals and other items to treat critical wounds, they said.

In Selma, Alabama, a seminal site in the civil rights movement, residents commemorated King as they recover from a deadly storm system that moved across the South last week.
If youve ever had to put a beloved pet to sleep, you know how heartbreaking it can be. Knowing they are getting the peace of a gentle, painless sleep is the last gift we can give them. However, if your pet were to end up in an animal shelter that uses a gas chamber, the ending could be anything but painless.

While most shelters around the country practice humane euthanasia by injection of approved drugs, some, including several here in Missouri, still use the gas chamber, a method The Humane Society of the United States, of which Im the director, and every other major animal welfare group has condemned as a relic of the past. House Bill 755, introduced by St. Charles GOP Rep. Adam Schwadron, would help ensure that no pet spends their final moments in a gas chamber.

Simply put, gas chambers cannot provide a good death for virtually any animal in a shelter setting. Old, young, ill or injured animals may begin experiencing painful effects of the gas before losing consciousness and even healthy adult dogs and cats will suffer stress just by being placed in the dark, unfamiliar environment of a gas chamber. There is no legitimate need for chambers in shelters  they are more expensive than euthanasia drugs, and they put shelter staff at risk of injury and even death (carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and fatal gas).

A kind, compassionate death is the last gift we can give to our pets, and shelter animals deserve no less than the same skill.

Cody Atkinson  Independence
In December 2022 Maxar Technologies, the largest (since 2017) supplier of satellite photos and other imagery to commercial and government customers, went private. Stockholders of Maxar accepted $6.4 billion to become a private company owned by U.S. based private equity fund Advent International. Going private gives Maxar more flexibility in making business decisions and it is no longer dependent on stock markets for additional capital.

The commercial space imagery business is booming because it gets its data from OSINT (open sources) whose costs are spiraling downward as technology advances. Maxar wants to hold onto its dominant and profitable position in the industry. There is growing competition in this business sector. Ten days before Maxar and Advent announced their deal, rival SpaceX (another private company) announced a new subsidiary called Starshield to use enhanced versions of Starlink technology plus larger earth-imaging satellites with sensors to provide whatever sensing capabilities a national security customer wants. This includes photos, real-time video and all manner of data which satellite sensors can collect. Potential users include the NSA, CIA and equivalent agencies of American allies. While Starlink has achieved market dominance in space-based communications for personal and commercial users, that largely consists of high-speed Internet datalinks and inexpensive ground links that can be stationary or moving in a vehicle or ship. Starshield plans to do that same with classified data government agencies collect. Starshield satellites are designed to accept many types of capabilities provided by user-supplied modules, including those loaded with secret government equipment, that are designed to use the Starshield interface. Starshield data and control links use much more robust encryption. Starshield will use larger SpaceX SLVs (satellite launch vehicles) to put new Starshield satellites in orbit.

Starshield is organized to take business away from commercial firms like Blacksky and Maxtar that already have billions of dollars in government contracts to provide persistent imaging, including real-time video, of specific areas on earth. The United States provides these specialized imaging services to Ukraine and that provides far superior satellite data on Russian forces than what the Russians can provide to their own troops.

Starlink has developed a generation 2 (or gen2) of its current Starlink satellite ahead of schedule. Because gen2 is larger and five times heavier than the current satellite, it requires a larger SLV (satellite launch vehicle). That is also being developed and is on schedule, not ahead of schedule.

The gen2 satellites are described as nearly ten times more capable than the gen1 (original) Starlink satellites. Gen2 are designed to work with gen1 satellites and gradually replace them. Gen1 birds are designed to last for about seven years. At that point the satellite gradually loses altitude until it burns up reentering the atmosphere. The true capabilities of gen2 wont be known until some of them are in orbit. Gen1 satellites proved more effective than expected but the list of suggested improvements indicated that a larger gen2 sat would be the way to go. Eventually this will mean fewer Starlink satellites in orbit but there will still be thousands of them.

The main function of Starlink is to provide cheaper, more powerful and globally available access to the Internet or any other communications network that can pay to use the Starlink network, including armed forces and governments which are friendly to Starlink and not considered a threat. The threat nations include China, Russia and several smaller countries like Iran, North Korea and Cuba that are hostile to Internet access they cannot control. China estimates that Starlink is able to increase the speed and throughput of military communications over a hundred times what it is now.

The values of commercial space imagery became obvious to a lot of people because of what happened in Ukraine during 2022. Ukraine, more than Google Earth in 2005, demonstrated the usefulness of commercial satellite photos. Google Earth was made possible by a U.S. government decision to rely more on commercial communications satellites because it was too expensive to put up enough government satellites to deal with the demand during conflicts, especially once UAVs like Predator entered service using high-resolution digital cameras that streamed their video back to the U.S. and later to local American military users.

Commercial communications satellites led the military in terms of technology because they served so many commercial users and did not have to comply with government secrecy regulations. That led to allowing commercial photo satellites and sharing some of the older government tech and giving a lot of business to one of the first commercial satellite firms, DigitalGlobe in the late 1990s. In 2005 Google used DigitalGlobe services to run Google Earth. Other American and European firms followed and in 2017 DigitalGlobe merged with SSL to create Maxar; the largest and best equipped commercial satellite photo provider in the world. Maxar is profitable with sales of nearly two billion dollars a year from clients like Google, news organizations and governments needing a steady and reliable supply of satellite photos covering customer specified areas. Over half that revenue comes from government contracts,

Commercial photo satellite firms continue to have an impact on government users. In 2021 the U.S. NRO (National Reconnaissance Office), which supervises the design, construction and operation of photo and other satellite imagery space satellites needed by the U.S., decided to embrace their commercial competitors. NRO wanted to take advantage of growing competition and technical advances in the commercial imagery satellite industry. This became particularly important since 2017, when the NRO took over the NGAs (National Geospatial Intelligence Agency) job of finding and purchasing commercial satellite imagery that the NRO satellites were unable to obtain because of a shortage of satellites or because some commercial satellites were able to obtain forms of imagery that NRO satellites were not yet capable of. This new commercial satellite imagery procurement program is open to all major operators of commercial satellites who want to supply the Department of Defense with their products on a timely basis.

Until 2017 NRO depended on two of the largest commercial satellite operators for this, but those two firms recently merged to form Maxar, eliminating the competition that kept prices low and quality high. That merger was not a problem, because there were also many new commercial satellite operators eagerly seeking to get a share of the market with new, innovative, and less expensive imagery.

To take advantage of this, the NRO had to go about procurement more effectively in order to get the most for their imagery budget. The new NRO system is largely automated to allow many vendors to list what they can do and at what cost. Commercial imagery providers will provide special services to large customers and the NRO has become one of the largest. The only problem with NRO procurement was that there was a lot of bureaucracy involved that slowed down the process. Military users often found out about new satellite imagery developments from the trade publications and websites that report on new types of imagery or services available. NRO was criticized for delays in obtaining these new capabilities. The NRO has long been criticized for this and chronic failure to get military users what they could obtain as private users and do it in a timely manner.

Government regulations and the NGAs protection of its imagery providing turf require the military to obtain expensive and specialized commercial imagery services via the government agency with the money and authority to procure these new, and often expensive, commercial imagery products, i.e., the NGA. The military wanted this cumbersome and expensive procedure to improve once all imagery purchasing authority was concentrated in the NRO. Changes like the automated selection process should have sped things up but so far, its hard to tell. Once the vendor for a new imagery product the military wants is selected, the bureaucrats still must sign off on purchase orders and ensure prompt delivery to the military users.

What got all these reforms going was the NGA admitting in 2016 something everyone already suspected, that it obtained most of its satellite photos from commercial satellites. This was no secret inside the military. Thats because since the late 1990s, when commercial photo satellites began to show up, military users were quick to buy and use this unclassified data. The commercial photo satellites gradually caught up with their military counterparts in most capabilities.

Military photo satellites first appeared in the 1960s and their images were meant for intelligence agencies, not combat commanders in the field. These military photo satellites were long the leader in the tech that delivered higher resolution photos and other forms of imagery. The military got most of the imagery but more and more went to other government agencies, like the NGA and government departments that supplied unclassified imagery to businesses. There was an unmet demand from commercial firms and military units who could use this imagery if they received it in time. Commercial firms created a demand for unclassified satellite photos and these eventually appeared, but you had to pay for them. The U.S. military then had no cash or authority to buy commercial satellite imagery.

What changed all this was the 2005 appearance of Google Earth. This easy-to-use web-based app revolutionized military intelligence. The military didn't like to admit it at first. Google Earth was putting so much satellite photography at the disposal of so many people, in such an easy-to-use fashion that anyone could take advantage of new opportunities. In addition to the target audience of travelers, one could explore the world from anywhere. This revolutionized operations for the military professionals as well as terrorists, other criminals and academics. Military users quickly appreciated what a splendid new tool they had with freely available unclassified commercial satellite imagery.

To the U.S. Department of Defense, Google Earth's major problem was not it's low cost and ease-of-use, but the way it showcased the shortcomings of the NGA/NRO, which was responsible for taking the satellite photos, spiffing them up as needed, and getting them to the troops. Trouble was, the government stuff still wasn't getting to the troops that needed it, when they needed it. This was made obvious when Google Earth showed up, and demonstrated how you can get satellite images to anyone, when they need them and do it with minimal hassle.

The NRO, NGA and other government agencies liked to keep all their satellite (and aerial) imagery in classified archives, just in case they contained some secrets a potential enemy could use. Google Earth did great damage to this attitude. Changing minds in the military intelligence community isnt easy. Restricted access to satellite photos is an old problem. Since the 1980s, when lots more satellite images became available, often on very short notice, generals, and other officers with access to "satellite imagery" have been complaining about the difficulty they had in getting their hands on this stuff or permission to pass it on to the officers and troops in combat zones who need it most.

Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on photo satellites since the 1960s, and the troops always seem to get leftovers, if anything, and usually too late to be of any use. At the same time the NRO regularly conned Congress out of more money so they could build more satellites, and neat systems that would get the satellite imagery "to the troops." The goods never arrived, or never arrived in time. Generals gave angry testimony before Congress about this non-performance after the 1991 Kuwait War. The satellite people seemed contrite and said they would make it right, if given the money to do it. They got the money and the troops still got nothing.

Then the troops got access to Google Earth in 2005 and saw firsthand what they have been missing. To make matters worse, the software Google Earth used to get the job done was first developed for the NGA. But the way the NGA operated, you had to worry about security considerations and all manner of bureaucratic details before you could deploy a useful tool so they really couldnt use the Google interface on a wide scale. Mention that the troops are fighting a war and the NGA will point out that you still must deal with security and keeping the paperwork straight.

Soon after 2005 the troops were beating NGA over the head with Google Earth and Congress took notice. However, NGA bureaucrats were close at hand and the angry troops were far away. Progress was still slow. But at least the troops had Google Earth. Unfortunately, so did the enemy. Nevertheless, over the next decade the army was able to go directly to commercial satellite photo providers who, every year, were putting up more capable photo satellites. Many of the photos from these new satellites were higher resolution and not available on Google Earth. But the army could afford to buy them, as could other commercial customers and give the troops instant access because all these commercial satellite photos were unclassified.

After a while the NGA stopped pouting and got on board with the use of lots of unclassified satellite photos. This also spurred the NGA to make the high quality (high resolution and with other enhancements) spy satellite photos more easily available to the troops, or at least the army intel and planning specialists who worked out the details of how battles would be fought. This led to other intel agencies making their data (especially from electronic data collection satellites) available quickly, often in real time, to the troops who needed it.

While Google Earth opened the floodgates and gave the troops instant access, what happened first was the availability of high-resolution satellite photos that could be of use to combat troops. This began in the 1960s with the first appearance of the KH (Key Hole) series of photo satellites. The first film camera satellite, KH 1, went up in 1959 but the first successful one was in 1960. Thus, until the 1970s, only film-using satellites supplied coverage of hostile nations. The KH 1 through 9 series satellites sent film back in canisters (for high resolution pictures), to be developed. The Keyhole 9, the first of which went up in 1971, was not only the last of the film satellites but the largest and most capable. Its basic design was used by the subsequent digital camera birds. The KH 9 could cover large areas at high (for the time) resolution of .6 meters (24 inches). This was more than adequate to spot and count tanks, aircraft, and even small warships. The 19th, and last, KH 9 went up in 1984. The KH-9 was a 13-ton satellite with multiple cameras and 4 or 5 reentry vehicles for returning the film for developing and analysis. The KH-9s were nicknamed Big Bird.

The age of film began to fade when the first digital satellite, the KH 11, was launched in 1976. These birds were large, nearly 15 tons, and the digital cameras could obtain better resolution and broadcast the photos back to earth. The resolution was such that objects 70mm (a few inches) in size could be identified from 200 kilometers up. Digital cameras were more flexible than film and eventually surpassed film in all categories. The KH-11 telescopic cameras operated like a high-resolution TV camera. Images were captured continuously and transmitted to earth stations. Computers were used to finish the process and produce photos identical to those taken by a conventional film camera. You could even have motion pictures, as well as indications of heat and the nature of the various items. KH-11 could often tell what kind of metal an object on the ground was made of.

All this did not come cheap. These birds cost over (in current dollars) over $3 billion to build and launch and lasted three or four years, depending on fuel usage. Moreover, you needed two of them up at the same time in order to guarantee coverage and save the birds from having to change orbit too frequently. The most recent KH-11, the 18th, was launched in 2021.

There have been at least four models of the KH-11 since the first of five "Block 1s" was launched in 1976. Since the 1960s over a hundred KH series satellites have been launched. The next generation, the KH-12, was supposed to have been launched in 1987. That was delayed because of problems with the space shuttle after one exploded during launch. A belated KH-11 was launched in October, 1987. The KH-12 was delayed, even though it had several advantages over the KH-11. Along with improvements in ground data processing equipment, the KH-12 could send back data in real time. You could watch events on a large, high-resolution screen as they were happening. This also allowed military headquarters and other users to get their satellite information directly, without going through a CIA or NRO processing center. Data from the more esoteric sensors would still have to be studied by the specialists elsewhere. The KH-12 was expected to make users even more enthusiastic about satellite reconnaissance. It did, in the form of a much-upgraded KH-11 which were called KH-12s but are still officially known as KH-11.

The flood of photographic and electronic data was growing far larger than the force of analysts needed to make something of it. In addition to the KH series birds, there were radar and SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) satellites constantly broadcasting data. Then there are the Defense Support Program satellites, which use heat sensors to locate the hot plumes of missile launches.

There still isn't a real (new design) KH-12, and that's partly because commercial photo satellites have become cheaper and more convenient for military use. Many KH-12 features were simply added to subsequent KH-11 models. This was cheaper than building the new KH-12 design and involved less paperwork. Thus, those in charge of American space operations were asking that less money be spent on developing new satellites and more spent on building up a reserve of GPS and communications satellites that can quickly be launched to replace wartime losses. The Department of Defense has already been buying more commercial satellites, rather than much more expensive, usually late, and sometimes canceled, custom designed military birds. Contributing to this change were bumbling bureaucrats who mismanaged development projects and journalists who headlined the failures.

It has long been suggested that the government just rely on commercial photo satellites for their low resolution (able to detect vehicles and buildings) photo satellite needs. But the military and intelligence agencies often need more photo satellite time than the commercial companies can provide. The government also wants to ensure secrets are kept by having complete control over a pair of commercial grade satellites.

The troops and military planners continue to be enthusiastic users of Google Earth, which annoys the people running the military satellite program. But for many military satellite needs, Google Earth does the job. The two military commercial-grade photo satellites eliminated the potential for information leaks (about what the military is buying images of) and provide much more capacity to do low resolution jobs. Another bonus of Google Earth was the appearance of crowd-sourcing. This is what happens when a large number of people scrutinize open-source satellite photos and find useful military information before the professionals do.

The people who run the military satellite system are increasingly concerned with wartime needs, and that is what brought out the request for spare GPS and communications satellites. These are relatively cheap, compared to the spy satellites, and most needed if a future war spreads to the orbital zone and puts some American birds out of action. There is also growing concern about the debris in orbit and the increasing risk of satellites being damaged, or destroyed, by these small fragments of older satellites and the rockets that put them there.

The smaller, cheaper and lighter, but very capable commercial satellites became the model for a military program to have some ballistic missiles (including those in submarines) equipped with one or more of these smaller satellites for use in wartime when most of the military and commercial satellites have been disabled. This is something the NRO could get behind because they knew that the commercial satellites had taken the lead in satellite design innovation. There were few special military applications left that commercial satellites had not usurped.

In late 2022 Russia declared that commercial space satellite-based services might be considered a legitimate target because Starlink provides Ukrainian forces with superior communications than what Russian troops have, while Maxar commercial photo satellites have documented Russian failures in Ukraine in embarrassing detail. What the Russians dont discuss openly is the fact that Russian EW (Electronic Warfare) equipment and ASAT (anti-satellite) systems have both proved incapable of shutting down Starlink and Maxar electronically (EW) or physically (ASATs). Empty threats is all Russia has left in its efforts to eliminate the threat Starlink and Maxar have been to the Russian military effort in Ukraine.

Until the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian EW capabilities were considered formidable. This was because Russian Cold War EW capabilities were superior to many Western systems and, after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, a smaller Russia continued developing new EW gear. After encountering some of this in Syria and Donbas (Eastern Ukraine) after 2015, it appeared that the post-cold war Russian EW equipment was not as effective as previously suspected. That was because in Syria both Israel and Turkey found the new Russian EW dangerous, but vulnerable to countermeasure. The Ukrainians came to the same conclusion. Ukraine was, even when part of the Soviet Union before 1991, a source of impressive new military tech. That did not change after 1991, when Ukrainian was more successful than Russian in converting technical talents from military to commercial applications.

All this meant that Russian efforts to disrupt communication with and control of Starlink and Maxar satellites, while theoretically possible, did not work for long because the two American firms involved (SpaceX and Maxar) had ample technical resources and capabilities for countering EW attacks.

Physical attacks on satellites turned out to be a more theoretical than practical threat. This was especially the case with Starlink, which used thousands of small satellites to provide its services. Maxar uses hundreds rather than thousands of satellites but is also testing use of smaller satellites and more of them. This is a trend on satellite tech and Starlink was the first such large network to deploy and enter service. Russian and Chinese ASAT tech has not yet caught up.
Negotiations to complete the Mining Company Constituent Documents with Minera Monte Aguila are progressing.

US$2 million Phase 2 Payment to be paid soon.

Process of forming new JV company underway.

Once formed, the JV company will be owned 49% by Orosur and 51% by Minera Monte Aguila.

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / Orosur Mining Inc. ("Orosur" or the "Company") (TSXV:OMI)(AIM:OMI), is pleased to provide an update to progress at the Company's flagship Anz Project ("Project") in Colombia.

The Project is subject to an Exploration Agreement with Venture Option ("Exploration Agreement") with Colombian company Minera Monte Aguila ("MMA"). MMA is itself a joint venture between Newmont Corporation ("Newmont") and Agnico Eagle Mines Limited ("Agnico"), and is the Colombian entity by which these two companies jointly exercise their rights and obligations with respect to the Exploration Agreement over the Project.

Orosur is pleased to announce that the Company and MMA are advancing negotiations of a joint venture agreement (the "Mining Company Constituent Documents") that would govern the development and operations of the Project. The joint venture will operate under a new Colombia legal entity (the "Mining Company") that would hold the Project mining concessions and applications, with MMA as manager. The process to create the Mining Company has now commenced and is expected to take several months to complete. During this process, MMA will be able to continue exploration at the Project, and any expenditures incurred by MMA during this interim period will form part of the Phase 2 qualifying expenditures.

In the meantime, MMA has agreed to pay the US$2 million Phase 2 Payment contemplated by the Exploration Agreement to Orosur, in advance of finalising the Mining Company Constituent Documents. Funds are expected to be received from MMA soon.

After the formation of the Mining Company and entering into the Mining Company Constituent Documents, as per the Phase 2 earn-in provisions, MMA may earn an additional 14% ownership in the Mining Company if it has spent US$20 million in qualifying exploration expenditures on the Project on or prior to the fourth anniversary of the parties entering into the Mining Company Constituent Documents. If the Phase 2 earn-in is completed, MMA would own 65% of the Mining Company and the Company would own the remaining 35%.

Orosur Executive Chairman Louis Castro commented:

"We are pleased that MMA will be advancing to Phase 2 of the Project and that the US$2 million will be paid soon. Both actions support the Company's continued belief in the strength and potential of the Project".

For further information, visit www.orosur.ca , follow on twitter @orosurm or contact:

Orosur Mining Inc.

Louis Castro, Chairman,

Brad George, CEO

[email protected]

Tel: +1 (778) 373-0100

SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP - Nomad & Joint Broker

Jeff Keating / Kasia Brzozowska

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3 470 0470

Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd - Joint Broker



Andy Thacker/James Pope

Tel: +44 (0)20 3657 0050

Flagstaff Communications and Investor Communications

Tim Thompson

Mark Edwards

Fergus Mellon

[email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)207 129 1474

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ('MAR') which has been incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service ('RIS'), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

About Orosur Mining Inc.

Orosur Mining Inc. (TSXV / AIM: OMI) is a minerals explorer and developer focused on identifying and advancing projects in South America. The Company operates in Colombia, Argentina and Brazil and has discontinued operations in Uruguay.

About the Anza Project

Anza is a gold exploration project, comprising three exploration licences, four exploration licence applications, and several small exploitation permits, totalling 207.5km2 in the prolific Mid-Cauca belt of Colombia.

The Anza Project is currently wholly owned by Orosur via its subsidiary, Minera Anza S.A.

The project is located 50km west of Medellin and is easily accessible by all-weather roads and boasts excellent infrastructure including water, power, communications and large exploration camp..

Forward Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this news release constitute "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including but not limited to the "safe harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are based on expectations estimates and projections as of the date of this news release.

Forward-looking statements include, without limitation; the exploration plans in Colombia and the funding from Minera Monte Aguila of those plans; Minera Monte Aguilas continued involvement in the Anza Project; the timing for the formation of a new mining company or mining venture to hold the project; the entering into of the JVA between the Company and MMA; the possibility of further expenditures by MMA during the interim period; the ability for Loryser to implement the Creditors Agreement successfully in Uruguay and other events or conditions that may occur in the future. The Company's continuance as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to obtain adequate financing, to reach profitable levels of operations and to reach a satisfactory implementation of the Creditors Agreement in Uruguay. These material uncertainties may cast significant doubt upon the Company's ability to realize its assets and discharge its liabilities in the normal course of business and accordingly the appropriateness of the use of accounting principles applicable to a going concern. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties including, but not limited, those as described in Section "Risks Factors" of the MDA and the Annual Information Form. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact [email protected] or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Orosur Mining Inc

View source version on accesswire.com:
Bally's Corporation (NYSE: BALY) today announced the appointment of Tracy Harris as an independent member of its Board of Directors. Harris's term is effective upon receipt of regulatory approvals.

As an accomplished financial executive and an expert with more than 20 years of leadership experience, Harris has extensive history helping highly regulated corporations, as well as government and non-profit organizations accelerate growth, enhance profitability, achieve business objectives, and mitigate risk.

Soo Kim, Chairman of the Board of Bally's, said: "On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I am pleased to welcome Tracy Harris to Bally's. We will undoubtedly benefit from her deep finance, operations, and strategy expertise."

Most recently, Tracy was Executive Vice President, CFO, and Treasurer of MIB Group Holdings, LLC., a startup insurance industry technology provider, where she led the financial transformation of the former Medical Information Bureau. Prior to that, she served as CFO for UMUC Ventures, a VC fund established by University of Maryland Global Campus, and before that, as CFO of Bullis School LLC, an independent college preparatory school in Potomac, Maryland. She also served as CFO for The BondFactor Company, a municipal bond insurance company, and for the American Institute of Architects, where she also served as the Vice President of Administration.

Harris has been active on several boards across various industries, including venture capital, private equity, health and wellness, real estate, insurance, financial services, and retail. She currently serves as a Board Member for CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield and publicly traded 1847 Holdings LLC. She also serves as a Trustee, as appointed by the mayor, for the District of Columbia Retirement Board.

Tracy Harris said: "It is an honor to join such an outstanding group of individuals on Bally's Board of Directors. I look forward to bringing my experience and perspective to the Board, and to supporting Bally's as it continues to grow and expand."

Harris received a M.B.A from St. Louis University, a M.P.A from University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. in Marketing from Fontbonne University. She also completed the General Management Program at Harvard Business School.
OLDWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of a+ (Excellent) of Sooner Insurance Company (Sooner) (Colchester, VT). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect Sooners balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, neutral business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management (ERM).

Sooners balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalization at the strongest level, as measured by Bests Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR), generally favorable loss reserve development and low underwriting leverage. Sooners most significant asset is a loan back to its ultimate parent, ConocoPhillips [NYSE: COP]. The loan provides Sooners capital and is considered to have low risk due to the parent/subsidiary affiliation, as well as the parents strong balance sheet and history of positive earnings.

Sooner has a long track record of strong operating performance, driven by solid underwriting profits, with most return metrics outperforming the industry composite. The companys loss experience has been largely favorable for more than a decade due in large part to ConocoPhillipss strong risk management programs. As a core component in ConocoPhillips ERM program, the captive arrangement afforded the corporation flexibility to manage the largest loss efficiently and productively in its history from a claim late in 2021.

The companys business profile assessment reflects its position as the captive insurer for its ultimate parent. Sooners underwriting risks mainly provide property damage and excess liability coverage to ConocoPhillips and its global subsidiaries and joint ventures.

Sooners ERM has a culture of risk awareness and a framework to identify and manage various types of risks continually, including periodic reviews of its potential loss exposures through a specialist within industrial risks, a process AM Best views as very appropriate for the companys risk profile. The ratings also reflect the implicit support of ConocoPhillips and the critical role the captive plays in its ERM program.

AM Best remains the leading rating agency of alternative risk transfer entities, with more than 200 such vehicles rated in the United States and throughout the world. For current Bests Credit Ratings and independent data on the captive and alternative risk transfer insurance market, please visit www.ambest.com/captive.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specializing in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright  2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Kourtnie Beckwith, CPCU, AU, AMIM

Senior Financial Analyst

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5124

[email protected]

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

[email protected]

Dan Teclaw

Director

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5394

[email protected]

Al Slavin

Senior Public Relations Specialist

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5098

[email protected]

Source: AM Best
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Broadmark Realty Capital Inc. (NYSE: BRMK) (Broadmark or the Company), a specialty real estate finance company, announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend of $0.035 per share of common stock for January 2023. The dividend will be payable on February 15, 2023 to stockholders of record as of January 31, 2023.

About Broadmark Realty Capital

Broadmark is a specialty real estate finance company, providing financing solutions generally in the $5 to $75 million range per transaction. The company provides smart, reliable, rapid solutions across the entire debt capital stack, including senior, subordinate, and participation investments with fixed and floating rate structures available. Broadmark invests in a variety of new construction and existing properties across all asset classes throughout the United States, including hotel, industrial, medical, mixed-use, office, retail, self-storage, warehouse, multifamily, senior living, student housing, condos, larger scaled single-family, townhome, and multiplex. It has the competitive advantage of being an internally managed balance sheet lender, and the companys proactive approach delivers dedicated in-house underwriting, asset management, loan servicing, and draw administration.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements made herein are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as may, should, would, plan, intend, anticipate, believe, estimate, predict, potential, seem, seek, continue, future, will, expect, outlook or other similar words, phrases or expressions. These statements are based on the current expectations and are not predictions of actual performance. In addition, actual results are subject to other risks and uncertainties that relate more broadly to the Companys overall business, including those more fully described in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance, and speak only as of the date made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005896/en/

Investor Relations

[email protected]

206-623-7782

Source: Broadmark Realty Capital Inc.
Partnership with Industry Leaders Natura, Golden Triangle Health and Great Earth International Ushers Cookies Into Southeast Asias Dynamic Cannabis Market

BANGKOK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- International cannabis brand Cookies today announced its entrance into Thailands cannabis marketplace with the opening of its first dispensary in the region on Saturday, Jan. 21. Located in the internationally celebrated food, music, art and culture hub of Bangkok, the launch of Cookies Thailand marks a milestone for the brand as it enters its 6th country and becomes the 58th Cookies storefront worldwide.

"The fact that my first time going to Asia is to open up a Cookies store is not something I could have ever imagined and really special," said Berner, Co-Founder and CEO of Cookies. "This store is beautiful and we are grateful for our partners on the ground in Thailand who helped make this possible. Thailand is an incredibly unique place full of incredible culture and opening up a Cookies store with the support of the country of Thailand, I am grateful for. I hope Bangkok is ready for an exclusive menu of fire genetics. I can't wait to open doors on a new continent on Saturday, 1/21/23!"

To honor the Southeast Asian countrys vibrant culture, the 500-square-foot dispensary will boast a beautifully curated atmosphere with Thai-inspired wall paintings featuring a blessing from Thai Buddhist monks. As the first dispensary in Asia with a credit card machine, Cookies iconic cultivars and products will be available for purchase, along with exclusive Cookies SF clothing and accessories, including local reserve merchandise specific to Thailand.

Cookies Thailand evolved organically as my relationship with Berner has for over 20 years, said Josh Schmidt, Vice President of Natura and Co-Founder of California edibles brand Dee Thai. Driven by the right intention, while honoring Thai culture and ethos, Cookies Thailand brings our friendship full circle, bonding my two lovescannabis and Thailand.

To commemorate the grand opening, Cookies will host a ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 11 a.m. with Berner and celebrity guests, followed by a meet-and-greet with Berner. The event will feature photo opportunities with a Cookies-branded Tuk Tuk in front of the store for visitors.

Visitors interested in entering Cookies Thailand must be at least 20 years old with a valid Thai National ID or foreign Passport ready to present and cannot be pregnant in accordance with local laws. To attend the grand opening, please RSVP here.

Cookies Thailand is located at 51 / 2 Soi Ruamrudee, Lumpinee, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330. Learn more at cookies.co.

About Cookies

Cookies, founded in 2010 by Billboard-charting rapper and entrepreneur Berner and Bay Area breeder and cultivator Jai, is the most globally recognized cannabis company in the world. Cookies values the power of the plant and focuses on creating game-changing genetics. The company offers a collection of over 70 proprietary cannabis cultivars and more than 2,000 products. Cookies also actively works to enrich communities disproportionately impacted by the War on Drugs through advocacy and social equity initiatives. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company opened its first retail store in 2018 in Los Angeles, and has since expanded to 58 retail locations in 18 markets across 6 countries. Cookies was named one of Americas Hottest Brands of 2021 by AdAge; the first cannabis brand to ever receive this accolade. To learn more about Cookies, visit cookies.co, and to learn more about Cookies CBD, visit shop.cookies.co

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117006006/en/

Martha N. Marshall

Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency

[email protected]

703-474-1420

Source: Cookies
Launches new independent, publicly traded company focused on returning capital to stockholders through owning financial interests as a non-operator in oil and gas wells drilled by leading U.S. operators

NEW YORK & CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (Jefferies) (NYSE: JEF) and Vitesse Energy, Inc. (Vitesse) (NYSE: VTS) announced today the completion of the distribution (the Distribution) by Jefferies of all the outstanding shares of common stock of Vitesse (Vitesse Common Stock) held by Jefferies. As a result of the Distribution, Vitesse became an independent, publicly traded company. Prior to the Distribution, Vitesse acquired all of the issued and outstanding equity interests of Vitesse Energy, LLC and Vitesse Oil, LLC.

Common shares of Jefferies (Jefferies Common Shares) and Vitesse Common Stock will each begin trading regular way today, January 17, 2023, on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JEF and VTS, respectively.

Rich Handler, CEO of Jefferies, and Brian Friedman, President of Jefferies, remarked: We congratulate Bob Gerrity, Brian Cree and their team for all the smart and hard work they have done to build Vitesse into the solid business it is and to help manage the process of becoming an independent, publicly traded company. As we have noted before, we each look forward to being stockholders of Vitesse and to seeing its success in the coming years.

Bob Gerrity, CEO of Vitesse, stated: We at Vitesse could not be more excited to have gone public. We are extremely grateful to Jefferies for having provided the insight and resources that allowed us to grow from the start-up we were in 2014 to where we are today. And we are especially grateful for their confidence in us as we move into the future as an independent, publicly traded company.

In connection with the Distribution, on January 13, 2023, Jefferies shareholders received one share of Vitesse Common Stock for every 8.49668 Jefferies Common Shares held at the close of business on December 27, 2022. Fractional shares will be aggregated and sold into the public market and the proceeds distributed pro rata to Jefferies shareholders who otherwise would have received such fractional shares. The shares will be credited to street name shareholders through the Depository Trust Corporation. Approximately 26.6 million shares of Vitesse Common Stock were distributed to Jefferies shareholders, which equals approximately 94.37% of the total issued and outstanding shares of Vitesse Common Stock.

About Jefferies

Jefferies is a leading global, full-service investment banking and capital markets firm that provides advisory, sales and trading, research and wealth and asset management services. With more than 40 offices around the world, we offer insights and expertise to investors, companies and governments.

About Vitesse

Vitesse is an independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, development, and production of non-operated oil and natural gas properties in the United States that are generally operated by leading oil companies and are primarily in the Bakken and Three Forks formations in the Williston Basin of North Dakota and Montana. Vitesse also has properties in the Central Rockies, including the Denver-Julesburg Basin and the Powder River Basin. Since Vitesses inception in 2014, Vitesse has built a strong and diversified asset base through a combination of property acquisitions, development activities and the implementation of proprietary platforms and processes utilizing its extensive data resources.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on current views and include statements about the future and statements that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are usually preceded by the words should, expect, intend, may, will, would, or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements relating to the spin-off of Vitesse, such as the anticipated timing and implementation of the distribution of Vitesse Common Stock to Jefferies shareholders. Forward-looking statements represent only our belief regarding future events, many of which by their nature are inherently uncertain. It is possible that the actual results may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results indicated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this press release include, without limitation, risks that either the distribution of proceeds from the sale of fractional shares or regular-way trading in Vitesse Common Stock or Jefferies Common Shares will not proceed as expected. The forward-looking statements in this press release also should be considered in light of the risks and uncertainties described in the reports Jefferies and Vitesse file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) and in the information statement (the Information Statement) containing details regarding the Distribution, Vitesses business and management following the spin-off and other information regarding the spin-off that was made available to Jefferies shareholders prior to the distribution date. You should read and interpret any forward-looking statement together with the reports Jefferies and Vitesse file with the SEC and the Information Statement. Jefferies and Vitesse are providing the information in this press release as of this date and assume no obligations to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230116005574/en/

Jefferies Financial Group Inc.:

Jonathan Freedman (212) 778-8913

[email protected]



Vitesse Energy, Inc.:

Ben Messier (720) 532-8232

[email protected]

Source: Jefferies Financial Group Inc.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Kolibri Global Energy Inc. (the Company or KEI) (TSX: KEI, OTCQX: KGEIF) is pleased to provide an update on the 30-day Initial Production Rate (IP30) of its Glenn 16-3H well in its Tishomingo field in Oklahoma.

Glenn 16-3H Well

The Glenn 16-3H well (100% working interest) has averaged about 990 Barrels of oil equivalent (BOEPD) (805 Barrels of oil per day (BOPD")) for thirty production days while the well has been flowing back the completion stimulation fluid.

Wolf Regener, President and CEO, commented, The IP30 of the Glenn 16-3H well, along with the previous wells from our 2022 drilling program, have all far exceeded our expectations.

We look forward to drilling our next wells later this quarter, as we have signed a drilling rig contract, where the rig is expected to arrive around the beginning of March 2023.

To put this excellent well result in perspective, the forecasted 30-day proved curve case (IP30) utilized by our third-party engineering firm for our December 31, 2021 reserve report was 388 BOEPD (Reserve Report IP30), while the initial 30-day type curve used by the Companys management for wells in the corridor assumes a 472 BOEPD IP30 rate (Management IP30). The Glenn 16-3H wells IP30 is about 2.5 times higher than the Reserve Report IP30, which is similar to the Brock 9-3H wells IP30 which we announced on January 9, 2023.

About Kolibri Global Energy Inc.

Kolibri Global Energy Inc. is a North American energy company focused on finding and exploiting energy projects in oil, gas, and clean and sustainable energy. Through various subsidiaries, the Company owns and operates energy properties in the United States. The Company continues to utilize its technical and operational expertise to identify and acquire additional projects. The Company's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol KEI and on the OTCQX under the stock symbol KGEIF.

Cautionary Statements

In this news release and the Companys other public disclosure: The references to barrels of oil equivalent ("Boes") reflect natural gas, natural gas liquids and oil. Boes may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. A Boe conversion ratio of 6 Mcf:1 Bbl is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. Given that the value ratio based on the current price of crude oil as compared to natural gas is significantly different from the energy equivalency of 6:1, utilizing a conversion on a 6:1 basis may be misleading as an indication of value. Possible reserves are those additional reserves that are less certain to be recovered than probable reserves. There is a 10% probability that the quantities actually recovered will equal or exceed the sum of proved plus probable plus possible reserves. The type curve utilized by the Companys management is the average of the 7 Caney wells that were drilled prior to December 31st, 2021, are located in the Corridor (well names can be found on the Companys Corporate presentation), with lateral lengths normalized to a 4,900 ft lateral length, the other assumptions are the same as in the Companys December 31, 2021 independent reserves evaluation.

Readers should be aware that references to initial production rates and other short-term production rates are preliminary in nature and are not necessarily indicative of long-term performance or of ultimate recovery. Readers are referred to the full description of the results of the Company's December 31, 2021 independent reserves evaluation and other oil and gas information contained in its Form 51-101F1 Statement of Reserves Data and Other Oil and Gas Information for the year ended December 31, 2021, which the Company filed on SEDAR on March 8, 2022.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of United States securities laws (collectively, forward looking information), including statements regarding the timing of and expected results from planned wells development. Forward-looking information is based on plans and estimates of management and interpretations of data by the Company's technical team at the date the data is provided and is subject to several factors and assumptions of management, including that indications of early results are reasonably accurate predictors of the prospectiveness of the shale intervals, that required regulatory approvals will be available when required, that no unforeseen delays, unexpected geological or other effects, including flooding and extended interruptions due to inclement or hazardous weather conditions, equipment failures, permitting delays or labor or contract disputes are encountered, that the necessary labor and equipment will be obtained, that the development plans of the Company and its co-venturers will not change, that the offset operators operations will proceed as expected by management, that the demand for oil and gas will be sustained, that the price of oil will be sustained or increase, that the Company will continue to be able to access sufficient capital through financings, farm-ins or other participation arrangements to maintain its projects, and that global economic conditions will not deteriorate in a manner that has an adverse impact on the Company's business, its ability to advance its business strategy and the industry as a whole. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions on which such forward looking information is based vary or prove to be invalid, including that the Company or its subsidiaries is not able for any reason to obtain and provide the information necessary to secure required approvals or that required regulatory approvals are otherwise not available when required, that unexpected geological results are encountered, that equipment failures, permitting delays, labor or contract disputes or shortages of equipment or labor are encountered, the risks associated with the oil and gas industry (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration and development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety and environmental risks, including flooding and extended interruptions due to inclement or hazardous weather conditions), the risk of commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, that the offset operators operations have unexpected adverse effects on the Companys operations, that completion techniques require further optimization, that production rates do not match the Companys assumptions, that very low or no production rates are achieved, that the price of oil will decline, that the Company is unable to access required capital, that occurrences such as those that are assumed will not occur, do in fact occur, and those conditions that are assumed will continue or improve, do not continue or improve, and the other risks and uncertainties applicable to exploration and development activities and the Company's business as set forth in the Company's management discussion and analysis and its annual information form, both of which are available for viewing under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com, any of which could result in delays, cessation in planned work or loss of one or more concessions and have an adverse effect on the Company and its financial condition. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005505/en/

Wolf E. Regener +1 (805) 484-3613

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.kolibrienergy.com

Source: Kolibri Global Energy Inc.
Share Buyback Transaction Details January 9  January 13, 2023

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

MotorK Plc (AMS: MTRK) (MotorK or the Group") announces today that it has purchased the following number of ordinary shares in the Company.

This is part of a repurchase program announced on July 18, 2022. MotorK intends to buy back its own ordinary shares by way of off-market purchases on Euronext Amsterdam and via block trades up to a maximum aggregate value of 3,000,000 (the Programme). The authorization will expire following the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting of the Company to be held in 2023.

Date Transactions Number of Ordinary

Shares Total Consideration () Average price

( per share) Minimum price

( per share) Maximum price

( per share) 09/01/2023 Purchase 1,600 1,885 1.18 1.18 1.18 10/01/2023 Purchase 3,166 3,765 1.19 1.18 1.20 11/01/2023 Purchase 3,075 3,690 1.20 1.20 1.20 12/01/2023 Purchase 3,182 3,818 1.20 1.20 1.20 13/01/2023 Purchase 3,274 3,863 1.18 1.18 1.18 Total Weekly 14,297 17,021 1.19 1.18 1.20 Cumulated to date 484,014 743,443

Aggregate Information

The Programme is implemented within the limitations of the authority granted by the General Meeting on July 18, 2022. Any shares so repurchased shall be treated as cancelled pursuant to section 706(b) of the Companies Act 2006.

The Group has entered into non-discretionary instructions with Kepler Cheuvreux SA (Kepler Cheuvreux) to conduct the Programme on its behalf and to make trading decisions under the Programme independently of MotorK.

REGULATED INFORMATION

This press release contains information that qualifies or may qualify as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014/EU)

ABOUT MOTORK PLC

MotorK (AMS: MTRK) is a leading software as a service (SaaS) provider for the automotive retail industry in the EMEA region, with over 400 employees and eleven offices in eight countries (Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, the UK, Belgium and Israel). MotorK empowers car manufacturers and dealers to improve their customer experience through a broad suite of fully integrated digital products and services. MotorK provides its customers with an innovative combination of digital solutions, SaaS cloud products and the largest R&D department in the automotive digital sales and marketing industry in Europe. MotorK is a company registered in England and Wales. Registered office: 5th Floor One New Change, London, England, EC4M 9AF - Company Registration: 9259000. For more information: www.motork.io or www.investors.motork.io.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230116005376/en/

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

MotorK Investor Relations

Etienne Jacquet

[email protected]

+33 6 22 18 39 09

MotorK Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Source: MotorK plc
HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Opportune LLP, a leading global business advisory firm with preeminence in energy, is pleased to announce that Denna Arias has joined the firm as Chief Corporate Development Officer. In the firms new role, Mrs. Arias will work with various department heads to help achieve the firms growth objectives.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005838/en/

Denna Arias, Chief Corporate Development Officer (Photo: Business Wire)

We are pleased to have Denna on our team, stated David Baggett, Managing Partner of Opportune. Dennas industry presence and leadership skills will help drive our growth efforts.

Mrs. Arias brings over 25 years of energy industry experience with her to the firm. Before joining Opportune, Mrs. Arias was the Vice President of Corporate Development and Executive Director of Acquisitions & Divestitures at EnergyNet, where she led the companys Business Development teams sales efforts in the Upstream sector and helped cultivate new and existing client relationships. She has also held previous positions in the industry at The Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse, DDD Energy, Inc, and Swift Energy Company.

I was initially drawn to Opportune by their commitment to their clients and how intricately the firm works together across its multiple service lines. Working with a new firm and clients is always exciting, and I believe we have a lot to look forward to in the coming years, commented Mrs. Arias.

In 2022, Mrs. Arias was an honoree for Hart Energys Influential Women in Energy and received the SPE Gulf Coast Exemplary Volunteer Award. In addition, Mrs. Arias holds a BBA in Business Administration, as well as a Petroleum Land Management certification, and FINRA Series 22 and 63 licenses.

Opportune LLP is a leading global business advisory firm focused on adding value to clients across multiple industries with preeminence in energy. Opportunes practice areas include business transformation, complex financial reporting, disputes and litigations, investment banking, outsourcing, process and technology, reserve engineering and geosciences, restructuring, tax, transactional due diligence, and valuation. For more information, please visit our website at www.opportune.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005838/en/

Courtney Baggett

713-490-5050

[email protected]

Source: Opportune LLP
OSAKA, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (TOKYO: 5802) (ISIN:JP3407400005) has received its first overseas commercial order for power line communication (PLC)* string* monitoring units from a German photovoltaic (PV) power generation and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) company, bes new Energy GmbH. The products have been installed at an existing solar power plant (in operation for about 12 years with an output of 5 MW) and have been operating since October this year.

In Europe, a great number of PV power plants have been installed over the last two decades. Accordingly, many solar power plants and string monitoring units have been in operation for more than 10 years, and an increasing number of facilities are experiencing operational problems due to breakdowns and deterioration after a long period of operation. For this reason, there is a growing need to replace string monitoring units. Looking at this trend at existing power plants, Sumitomo Electric conducted a project to demonstrate the advantages of its PLC string monitoring units in Germany in cooperation with Fraunhofer-Institut fur Solare Energiesysteme ISE. As a result, the products were highly evaluated for their significant improvement in power generation efficiency, which became a key reason for winning this order.

Amid growing expectations for the further spread and efficient use of renewable energy toward the realization of a decarbonized society, it is believed that the need for replacing string monitoring units at solar power plants will continue to grow. In order to contribute to the improvement of power generation efficiency, Sumitomo Electric will strive to develop more useful PLC string monitoring units and provide better ancillary services, aiming to realize safe and comfortable life on our green planet.

Features of Sumitomo Electric PLC string monitoring units for solar power plants

1. PLC technology used for transmission of string data

Reducing the construction period and costs of solar power plants by eliminating the need for the construction of communication lines

No potential difference in the unit in the event of lightning damage due to the elimination of communication lines, achieving lightning protection characteristics higher than those of the RS-485 communication protocol

Achieving data communication more stable than other communication protocols (RS-485, radio) thanks to Sumitomo Electrics unique noise resistance performance

2. Structure that facilitates retrofitting work (clamping the current sensor)

3. AI-based analysis of the data, which is obtained by the string monitoring unit, on the cloud to send a daily email in the event of a fault and offer a diagnosis service (optional)

4. Track record of shipping more than 10,000 units to solar power plants in Japan

*1 Power line communication : A technology designed to use a power line as a communication channel. Sumitomo Electric products superimpose string current data signals on DC power lines.

*2 String: A minimum configuration unit of series-connected solar panels

Reference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tio2BhKEyUk

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221214006088/en/

For media inquiries, please contact:

Reika Nishihira ([email protected])

Public Relations Department

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.

TEL: +81-3-6406-2701

Source: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The St. Joe Company (NYSE: JOE) (St. Joe), Florida State University (FSU) and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) celebrated the construction kickoff Tuesday, January 17, 2023 of a health care campus in Panama City Beach that will bring together clinicians, researchers and students to better serve the medical needs of the Florida Panhandle.

The FSU Health-Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Medical Campus will be located on an 87-acre parcel of land just minutes from the Latitude Margaritaville Watersound community, St. Joes 55-plus community that recently sold its 1,000th home.

Todays celebration represents a very important step forward for our community, says Jorge Gonzalez, President and CEO of The St. Joe Company. This medical campus, backed by the expertise of Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare and Florida State University, is a crucial element for supporting the health and well-being of residents and visitors in every stage of life. It also has the potential to create synergistic opportunities between research, education, and clinical delivery, to enhance quality of life throughout the region and beyond.

Development plans include an 80,000-square-foot medical office building scheduled to be complete in 2024. This medical office building is planned to ultimately house TMH Physician Partners - Primary Care, Tallahassee Memorial Urgent Care Center, an ambulatory surgery center, as well as cardiology and orthopedic services.

Plans include a 100-bed hospital with an emergency center and other inpatient services, including surgery, cardiology procedures and imaging, expected to be completed in 2027.

The project will also include opportunities for FSU researchers focused on aging and digital health, as well as residency programs and educational rotations for FSU medical students.

Todays construction kickoff comes at a pivotal time for TMH as we celebrate our 75th anniversary this year, said Mark OBryant, President & CEO of TMH, which serves a 21-county area in North Florida, Georgia and Alabama. We have grown from a small, city-owned hospital into a comprehensive healthcare system. As the population in our region increases, TMH has identified a substantial need to expand healthcare services. Over the past seven and a half decades, weve built a reputation for excellent, compassionate and local care, and we are proud to now offer our services to the Panama City Beach communities.

Over the past several years, Florida State University has been growing its health research portfolio while also pursuing partnerships with major health care systems such as TMH and others. Its also increased opportunities for students through its College of Medicine, opening a physicians assistant training program, and is welcoming the first cohort of its new doctoral program in nursing at the College of Nursing this fall.

FSU has long enjoyed being a part of this community through our Panama City Campus, said FSU President Richard McCullough. Now, were looking forward to expanding our presence and continuing to serve the residents here through this health care initiative. Research universities can play an important role in a vibrant health care delivery system, and FSU looks forward to playing that role right here in Bay County. This area is experiencing an incredible boom in population and the possibilities  and needs  have never been greater. There are tremendous opportunities for collaboration on research, education, and clinical health care across the region  and Im excited that it begins right here with this medical campus.

The university also plans to break ground on the FSU Health Tallahassee Center on the TMH campus later this year with the support of a $125 million appropriation from the Florida Legislature.

Gonzalez, OBryant and McCullough were joined at the groundbreaking by U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, R-FL, and Panama City Beach Mayor Mark Sheldon as well as TMH Vice President and Chief Health Operations Officer Andrew Starr and other local officials from the Bay County area.

The project has generated considerable interest in the Florida Panhandle and throughout the state. Estimates show that Florida will have a shortfall of 4,700 primary care physicians by 2030 and 60,000 nurses by 2035. At the same time, the state is growing. Florida was the fastest growing state last year, with a population growth of 1.9%.

Because we are a nonprofit, community-based healthcare system, we recognize that TMH is a community asset that drives the health of our regions residents, Starr said. As we grow, we remain dedicated to the sacred trust given to us by our patients to care for them when they need it most. This is why we are developing strategic partnerships throughout the region and investing in the most advanced lifesaving technology. We are building the best-in-class healthcare system our region deserves.

Photos from the Construction Celebration may be viewed and downloaded here: https://joe.canto.com/b/J8AI6

Video of the Construction Celebration produced by Florida State University may be viewed here: https://youtu.be/4NFw1Hu-PYU

Important Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 21E of the Exchange Act, including statements regarding St. Joes, THMs and FSUs healthcare campus in Panama City Beach, Florida, including development and timing plans, prospective uses and opportunities and anticipated benefits. These forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by cautionary statements and risk factors set forth in St. Joes filings with the SEC, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and subsequent current report filings as well as the following: (1) the ability of St. Joe, THM and FSU to successfully complete the proposed project on the anticipated timeline, or at all, and (2) the continued interest of prospective tenants or users of the healthcare campus.

About The St. Joe Company

The St. Joe Company is a real estate development, asset management and operating company with real estate assets and operations in Northwest Florida. The Company intends to use existing assets for residential, hospitality and commercial ventures. St. Joe has significant residential and commercial land-use entitlements. The Company actively seeks higher and better uses for its real estate assets through a range of development activities. More information about the Company can be found on its website at www.joe.com. On a regular basis, the Company releases a video showing progress on projects in development or under construction. See https://www.joe.com/video-gallery for more information.

2023 The St Joe Company. St. Joe, JOE, the Taking Flight Design, St. Joe (and Taking Flight Design,)  are registered service marks of The St. Joe Company or its affiliates.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117006156/en/

St. Joe Investor Relations Contact:

Marek Bakun

Chief Financial Officer

1-866-417-7132

[email protected]



St. Joe Media Relations Contact:

David Demarest

Director of PR & Communications

1-850-213-5137

[email protected]



Florida State University Media Relations Contact

Kathleen Haughney

Assistant Director of Research Communications

1-850-644-1489

[email protected]



Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Media Relations Contact

Rebeccah Lutz

Director of Marketing & Communications

1-850-443-6725

[email protected]

Source: The St. Joe Company
Sale provides a long-term solution for water quality issues while keeping rates stable

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Virginia American Water announced today it has signed a comprehensive asset purchase agreement for the drinking water and wastewater assets of the Town of Cape Charles, Virginia for up to a maximum of $15 million, pending appraised values and regulatory approvals. The combined systems serve 2,300 customers.

As part of the acquisition, Virginia American Water has committed to invest more than $10 million in critical system improvements over the next eight years. Improving drinking water quality is prioritized along with other projects to enhance system reliability and security.

We are honored to have been chosen by the Town of Cape Charles to purchase and manage its water and sewer systems. Selling to Virginia American Water will allow the Town to leverage our expertise and decades of water and wastewater experience throughout the state and provide a long-term solution for the towns water challenges, said Barry Suits, president of Virginia American Water. Virginia American Water is committed to making the capital investments needed, while keeping rates stable. This acquisition, once approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission, will allow us to provide the residents and businesses of Cape Charles with safe and reliable water service, as we have done for communities throughout Virginia for 170 years.

There are few things more important in a community than safe and dependable water and sewer service. The town has tried hard over the years to meet these needs but has sometimes struggled and found it hard to keep rates reasonable. So, weve spent over two years in due diligence trying to find the best way forward, and the Town Council has made the decision to entrust these critical functions to Virginia American Water. VAWs track record, expertise, and resources will mean improved water quality, environmentally sound operations, and utility rates less than what the town could offer. Im very excited to begin this new relationship and look forward to the benefits it will bring to Cape Charles, said John Hozey, Cape Charles Town Manager.

Before completing the acquisition, Virginia American Water must obtain approval by the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC). The Town of Cape Charles and Virginia American Water anticipate completing the acquisition in late 2023 following SCC approval.

About Virginia American Water

Virginia American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water services to approximately 350,000 people. For more information, visit www.virginiaamwater.com and follow Virginia American Water on Twitter and Facebook.

About American Water

With a history dating back to 1886, American Water (NYSE: AWK) is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 6,400 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and regulated-like drinking water and wastewater services to more than 14 million people in 24 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to help keep their lives flowing. For more information, visit amwater.com and diversityataw.com. Follow American Water on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005992/en/

Media

Marybeth Leongini

External Affairs Manager

571-344-0998

[email protected]

Source: Virginia American Water
WhiteHawk to acquire Haynesville Shale mineral and royalty assets covering 375,000 gross unit acres

Mineral and royalty assets operated by basins top operators, including Southwestern Energy, Chesapeake Energy, Aethon Energy Management and Comstock Resources

Assets to be acquired include production from over 1,230 horizontal wells, 157 line of site wells and 44 permitted wells all in the core of the Haynesville Shale

Pro Forma for the acquisition, WhiteHawk will own minerals and royalties in the core of the Marcellus Shale and Haynesville Shale across over 850,000 gross unit acres and over 2,300 producing horizontal shale wells

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- WhiteHawk Energy, LLC (WhiteHawk or the Company) announced today a definitive agreement (Haynesville Agreement) to acquire up to $105 million of natural gas mineral and royalty assets primarily located in northwestern Louisiana (Haynesville Royalties). The Haynesville Royalties are focused in the core of the basin, representing some of the highest quality natural gas reserves in the United States. WhiteHawks position will cover 375,000 gross unit acres in the Haynesville Shale. The Haynesville Royalties are being actively developed by best-in-class natural gas operators Southwestern Energy, Chesapeake Energy, Aethon Energy Management and Comstock Resources. Under the Haynesville Agreement, WhiteHawk will acquire up to $105 million of the Haynesville Royalties with an initial effective date of February 1, 2023.

WhiteHawk management expects the Haynesville Royalties to be a strong compliment to the Companys existing high-quality natural gas mineral and royalty assets. During 2022, WhiteHawk acquired natural gas mineral and royalty assets covering 475,000 gross unit acres in the core of the Marcellus Shale focused in Greene and Washington Counties, Pennsylvania. Pro forma for the Haynesville Royalties acquisition, the Company will have interests in over 2,300 producing horizontal wells across the two preeminent natural gas basins in North America, anchored by some of the best natural gas operators in the country with combined market capitalization of approximately $40 billion. The diversified position will benefit from sales points in both the Northeast and Gulf Coast regions.

The acquisition of the Haynesville Royalties is an excellent next step for WhiteHawk, says Daniel C. Herz, Chief Executive Officer of WhiteHawk. With these assets, WhiteHawk is continuing to execute on its business plan of acquiring mineral and royalty interests in the highest quality natural gas basins in North America, anchored by best-in-class operators. Natural gas continues to be a core element of the global economy and is needed to provide clean electricity for vehicle electrification, offer affordable energy for heating homes, and further drive energy security for the United States and our allies.

About WhiteHawk Energy

WhiteHawk Energy, LLC is focused on acquiring mineral and royalty interests in top tier natural gas resource plays, including the Haynesville and Marcellus Shales. The management team at WhiteHawk has successfully grown over $13 billion of minerals, midstream, and exploration and development companies over the last 20 years. Please go to www.whitehawkenergy.com for more information.

Advisors

Shearman & Sterling LLP acted as legal counsel to WhiteHawk and UBS Investment Bank acted as financial advisor.

For more information, please visit the Companys website at www.whitehawkenergy.com, or contact its corporate relations department at [email protected].

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain matters discussed within this press release are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. The Company does not undertake any duty to update any statements contained herein (including any forward-looking statements), except as required by law. This document contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. The Company cautions readers that any forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about future financial and operating results, resource potential, and the Companys plans, objectives, expectations, intentions and other statements that are not historical facts. Risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual results to materially differ from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those associated with general economic and business conditions; changes in government environmental policies and other environmental risks; the availability of drilling equipment and the timing of production; tax consequences of potential balance sheet and other transactions; and global health conditions, including the impact of COVID-19. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update such statements, except as may be required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005887/en/

Corporate Relations

[email protected]

Source: WhiteHawk Energy, LLC
PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE: PAR) today announced that the U.S. Navy has awarded its subsidiary, Rome Research Corporation (RRC), a five-year $21 million contract to provide uninterrupted operations and maintenance (O&M) support at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, Africa, providing over 90% of Department of Defense (DoD) communications for the entire continent of Africa. RRC has supported the Camp Lemonnier facility since 2012.

For more than a decade, Rome Research Corporation has provided superior support to the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Atlantic (NCTAMS LANT) site in Djibouti, Michael Nelson, President of PAR Government, said about its subsidiarys performance. Our employees are very passionate about their roles in supporting DoD facilities. Our focus is on applying technology to continuously improve the operational effectiveness of our Nations warfighters, and we are very excited to continue our partnership with NCTAMS LANT.

At the NCTAMS LANT site, RRC provides operations and management of the Technical Control Facility (TCF) Patch and Test Facility (PTF) 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year long. RRC handles Defense Information System Network functions, inside and outside plant cable maintenance, property management, information assurance, and commercial and DISN telephone services.

During the past 10 years, RRC has proven its ability to provide exceptional support to NCTAMS LANT with a lean staff. RRC has achieved Exceptional Contractor Performance Assessment Ratings from the Government, demonstrating a full understanding of the skills required to accomplish Government requirements.
BRUSSELS - As the auto industry worldwide transitions towards electromobility and the number of Chinese-made "new energy vehicles" sold globally is on a steady increase, more and more carmakers and dealers across Europe consider the competition from Chinese manufacturers an opportunity rather than a threat. After a two-year hiatus, the Brussels Auto Show made a spectacular return on Jan 14. The 100th edition of this prestigious trade event welcomes visitors until Jan 22. On display are the cutting-edge electric vehicles and e-mobility technologies of the world's major carmakers. The 55-odd exhibitors include Chinese brands, such as BYD, SERES, BAIC or MG. They display fully electric vehicles as well as hybrid, gasoline and CNG (compressed natural gas) cars. China's leading electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD brought three models to the show: the ATTO 3, the HAN and the TANG, but the company's representatives told Xinhua that other models are also scheduled to be brought to Europe soon. BYD is already present in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium, and this year it will also launch in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Since 2015, China's EV products have dominated the global market. In 2022, the Asian country exported almost 680,000 "new energy vehicles," a 120 percent increase year-on-year. China's breakthrough in Europe's EV market has won praise from many and criticism from some, with the latter arguing that it presents a threat to Europe's established automotive giants. However, many exhibitors asked by Xinhua at the Brussels Auto Show disagreed with this assertion. "We are in favor of a free market, we welcome competition, be it from China or the United States," Jeroen Lissens, head of corporate communications at BMW Group Belux, said. Without competition, the automobile industry would not be as innovative as it is today, he added. German high-end carmaker BMW displays its lineup of "new energy cars," including the fully-electric iX3 manufactured at the company's plant in Shenyang, northeastern China. "China is our biggest market. We are the only foreign carmaker in China having a joint venture with a share of 75 percent. We manufacture cars there," Lissens said. Volkswagen and the brands it owns also display their vision of the future of e-mobility. The German auto giant's show was organized by D'Ieteren, the Brussels-based automobile distribution company. Jean-Marc Ponteville, D'Ieteren's communications director, told Xinhua that the automobile market in Europe is highly competitive, which clearly benefits customers. "Competition is good, it moves the market forward," he said. It obliges carmakers to continue to invest in technology and innovation, he said. "The vehicle industry is by default multinational. Each car is assembled from parts made in different countries, so no car is made in a single country only," Ponteville said. The world's automotive industry is highly internationalized, whether in Europe, the United States, Japan or China. Chinese carmakers employ foreign designers, engineers and technologies, and their supply chains are also multinational. SERES, an EV maker based in southwest China's Chongqing, officially launched its three-model SERES 5 e-SUVs (sports utility vehicles) at the Brussels Auto Show. John Zhang, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of SERES Global, said he appreciated the global cooperation during the five years of development and testing of the new SUVs. "It doesn't necessarily mean that there is a conflict when the cars come to Europe. SERES is a Chinese brand, but we use a lot of foreign technologies. Our cars are equipped with Bosch cameras, Bosch chips and Pirelli tires, all of which are European products," Zhang told Xinhua. "Today, when we released the new cars, we invited business representatives from the supply chain to attend, including Bosch, industrial robot maker FANUC, tire supplier Pirelli, and many others. Our suppliers welcome us very much. So, this is a win-win situation," he said. "Our secret is the Blade Battery, a fantastic technology," Mike Belinfante, senior public relations at BYD Europe, said. "We offer a platform to other companies in the US or Japan who want to use our technology." "We all want to cooperate. Those who go it alone are bound to lose out. It's our common interest to share our technologies and our experiences," Belinfante said.


PARTS iD, Inc. (NYSE American: ID) (PARTS iD or Company), the owner and operator of, among other verticals, CARiD.com, a leading digital commerce platform for the automotive aftermarket, today announced that its Board of Directors, led by its Finance & Business Development Committee, is evaluating potential strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. As part of the process, the Board is considering a full range of strategic alternatives, which may include financing alternatives, merger, reverse merger, other business combinations, sale of assets, licensing, or other transactions.

PARTS iD has retained Canaccord Genuity as its financial advisor and DLA Piper as its legal counsel to assist in evaluating potential strategic alternatives.

There can be no assurance that the evaluation of strategic alternatives will result in any potential transaction, or any assurance as to its outcome or timing. PARTS iD has not set a timetable for completion of the process and does not intend to disclose developments related to the process unless and until PARTS iD executes a definitive agreement with respect thereto, or the Board otherwise determines that further disclosure is appropriate or required.
Sortis Holdings, Inc. (OTC: SOHI) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ace Group International, along with its management company, Atelier Ace. With the acquisition, Sortis Holdings, Inc. will be ushering in a new chapter for the iconic brand in an era of cultural collaboration, innovation, and conscious growth, for both the company and the Ace Hotel brand at large.

The purchase consideration is comprised of $85 million in an all-cash transaction pursuant to the terms of the purchase agreement. The transaction is expected to close at the end of Q1 2023, subject to customary closing conditions.

From award-winning restaurants to cult coffee to the worlds first sustainable sushi bar and now adding the Ace Group, the Sortis platform is an evolving ecosystem of idiosyncratic brands united in their vision and innovation. Equal parts incubator, operator, and development platform, Sortis helps these brands amplify their unique voices through strategic guidance and value-adding resources, like optimized capital access, real estate growth strategies, co-location opportunities, as well as our in-house digital team for data and analytics, and e-commerce capabilities.

The Sortis platform is rooted in innovation, purpose, and impact, and aims to foster consumer brands that are at the forefront of culture, said Paul Brenneke, Executive Chairman of Sortis. Our acquisition of the storied Ace Hotel brand, long known for embodying and celebrating the unique culture of each of its destinations worldwide provides us with an opportunity to advance this vision by scaling the legacy brand in a thoughtful way.

Sortis Holdings hospitality partner Kelly Sawdon led the acquisition. Prior to joining Sortis in 2021, she was a partner at the Ace Hotel Group and has been a key player in the Ace Hotel brand since shortly after its inception, leading its boundary-breaking creativity and success. With the Sortis teams robust experience in innovative hospitality and intuitive brand development  along with decades of seasoned market acumen  Sortis is uniquely poised to amplify the Ace Hotel brand as a series of spirited cultural hubs that ignite neighborhoods and foster collaboration.

From the very beginning, Ace has had evolution built into its DNA. This acquisition marks an exciting turning point for the brand  tapping some original key players to usher in Aces next chapter of growth, said Kelly Sawdon. Armed with a team that boasts nearly two decades of experience with the brand, Sortis can help evolve Aces position as the hospitality powerhouse it has always been, synonymous with community, creativity and culture.

The acquisition of the Ace Group International includes 12 hotels - 10 Ace Hotel properties in Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Seattle, Kyoto, Sydney, New York and beyond as well as the innovative hospitality brands Sister City and Maison de la Luz. These strategic additions build upon Sortis Holdings existing hospitality portfolio, which includes the Ace Hotel Portland, Woodlark Hotel in Portland, Mayflower Park in Seattle, the ALUM brand, and several hotels under development including Hollywood, Seattle, Nashville and Carpinteria. The combined entity of Ace Group International and Sortis Holdings will have 15 hotels under management and a robust pipeline.

About Sortis Holdings, Inc.:

From award-winning hospitality to cult coffee to the worlds first sustainable sushi bar, Sortis Holdings is an ecosystem of idiosyncratic brands that live at the intersection of radical vision, cultural relevance and expansive potential. Through decades worth of seasoned market acumen, intuitive brand development and creative business strategy, we empower brands to become more of themselves, amplifying unique voices and moving culture forward in the process. www.sortisholdings.com

About Ace Group International:

Founded by three friends in 1999 in Seattle, Ace Hotel redefined the hotel as a community gathering space for locals and visitors alike. Today, Ace finds its home in vibrant cities around the globe  with its newest locations in Toronto, Canada, Kyoto, Japan and Sydney, Australia  celebrating the culture, history, and humans that bring them to life. Everybody is welcome.

Forward-Looking Statements DisclaimerCertain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as believe, may, will, estimate, continue, anticipate, intend, expect, should, would, plan, predict, potential, seem, seek, future, outlook, and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, are forward-looking, including statements: regarding future operations of businesses recently acquired by Sortis Holdings.; potential future acquisitions; attributes of the Sortis Holdings. platform; and growth opportunities. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the inability of the parties to successfully or timely complete proposed or desired transaction; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of proposed transactions; the challenges with managing a diversified business portfolio; and risks associated with the acquired businesses, including changes in customer behavior or government regulation to address COVID-19. If any of these risks materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements.

Sortis Holdings Press Contact:Gateway Group, Inc.Zach Kadletz / Anna Rutter949-574-3860[email protected]

Source: Sortis Holdings, Inc.
Impressive 2022 Revenue Growth, Re-Inventing HVAC with Major Multi-National and Products for Green Hydrogen and PFAS Highlight 2022

ODESSA, FL, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Dais Corporation (OTC: DLYT), is a commercial nanotechnology product solutions business. The companys proven innovative product solutions serve the shifting needs of an estimated $642 billion market driven by climate change and the growing aftereffects of a global pandemic continuing to reorder peoples thinking and buying habits.

BackgroundUsing the features of our nanomaterial platform (Aqualyte) we build a growing list of industry changing sustainable product solutions designed to create wealth for our stakeholders, provide efficient product(s) gifting one-time and on-going financial and environmental benefits to customers all the while simultaneously contributing to re-establishing a balanced ecosystem for future generations by protecting the core elements of life  fresh air, clean water, and the efficient creation and use of energy.

The Dais team believes the proven features and functionality of the Aqualyte nanomaterial platform is disruptive, and a catalyst for game changing product solutions - solutions which gift ongoing and significant financial and environmental savings. We project within a decade, the modest adoption of the planned spectrum of Aqualyte products, Dais will have the ability to remove up to 12% of the worlds excess CO2 (ca. 5 billion metric tons) from the air we breathe as it becomes a multi-national organization with revenues exceeding $1 Billion per year.

As these elements come to fruition Dais will have achieved its mission of re-establishing a balanced ecosystem by protecting the core elements of life  fresh air, clean water, and the efficient creation and use of energy.

Proud:2022 was a year marked by action. Uses of a small growth capital infusion in late 2021 planned and executed, management believes, to create the largest swell of forward, continuous momentum in revenues and the business. It is with this background that we share select highlights of 2022:

In the face of pandemic recovery, unsettling geopolitical events, and the aftereffects of government recession activities we believe the accomplishments below signal a long-term upward change in direction for the company. The highlighted accomplishments:

- Team:

Doubled the size of the Dais team by qualifying and on-boarding talented new team members in Sales/Marketing, Production, Engineering, and corporate. It is our opinion no lasting upswing would be do-able without key new team members.

- Numbers (*):

2022 revenue: $1.54M (estimated) or just over double of 2021

WIP and Backlog going into 2023: ca. $1.9M ($0 in 2021)

Average gross margin improved by nearly 18%

2023 revenue, at this time, is projected to be greater than $7.5M

Substantial increase (200%+) in adding new ConsERV sales channels

In 2022 the company built and shipped more than one hundred ConsERV systems to a variety of marquee clients in N. America

- Strategic:

HVAC

The Dais team, working with a major multi-national corporation, is actively engaged to re-invent the HVAC industry as the marketplace is demanding better financial and environmental performance from the HVAC industry. The company feels the answer to these market demands are bult-into new product solutions using the Aqualyte nanomaterial. Dais is working to move this groundbreaking architecture and price competitive product (integrating ConsERVs award winning ventilation abilities) into the commercial market. The evolving product has fewer parts, no refrigerants, the ability to separately manage the content of air, and brings benefits addressing health, productivity, and safety to the end-user, said Rasool Nasr Isfahani, Ph.D., Vice President of Innovation at Dais. Several of the products components have been built and shipped. The back end of the arrangement has a potential value of approximately $20 million to the company subject to terms and conditions. It is projected by others this Aqualyte based innovative product solution has a potential to result in a 75% reduction in OPEX for HVAC and an associated 50% reduction in CO2 emissions.

Industrial Wastewater Treatment

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals that can be dangerous when found in water. Analysis by the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Services (CRAES) and private companies have shown significant reduction in the levels of two major types of PFAS in water using NanoClear, a product solution from Dais that contains Aqualyte. Corroborative testing in the US is currently in progress and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023. The market for removing PFAS from water is rapidly growing due to increasing regulations and concerns about potential health and environmental impacts. PFAS can be difficult to remove from water because they are highly stable and resistant to degradation. A global study by MarketsandMarkets projects that the revenue potential for cleaning PFAS water will reach $18.3 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 16.2%. Dais is in discussions with targeted entities to potentially enter a business relationship for capturing PFAS materials.

Clean Energy

Aqualyte has a wide range of uses, including renewable energy, energy saving, and energy storage. Integration of these uses maximizes utilization. Projected uses for Aqualyte in renewable energy include green hydrogen production, PEM fuel cells, and ultra-capacitors for energy storage. The company has recently been testing the use of Aqualyte to remove hydrogen from water using renewable energy sources. Green hydrogen, also known as "nature's fuel", is becoming increasingly popular as it is estimated to be 51% less expensive per kg than other forms of hydrogen. The company is currently in discussions with others in the Green Hydrogen industry to create a business relationship to grow together faster.

According to Tim Tangredi, President, and CEO of Dais, We are seeing daily unmistakable signs the market wants not incremental but far better product solutions offering unparalleled financial, and environment returns. This un-met demand coupled with the proven abilities of Aqualyte we believe, are a powerful combination igniting a long period of profitable growth for the company in just the changing HVAC industry worldwide. The beauty of a disruptive technology like Aqualyte is the uses of its features are generally limited by the imagination of the creative minds of many. As a result, we are more clearly seeing other market needs being addressed by the Aqualytes features. Two examples: Green Hydrogen and clean power generation, and wastewater clean-up with challenges such as PFAS contaminated water. This is only the beginning for Aqualyte based innovative product solutions.

As a result, the Dais team expects more momentum as it moves to reinvent key industries on its way to achieve its growth projection of generating $1 Billion in revenues within a decade.

About Dais CorporationDais Corporation (OTC: DLYT) produces the versatile Aqualyte platform of disruptive, field-proven, and industry-recognized nanomaterial. Products using the platform include:

 Aqualyte, the Companys advanced nanomaterial platform having an impressive set of features including the extraordinarily fast and selective transport of water molecules. These features are carefully tailored to offer new or improved solutions in cross-industry markets for air, energy, food preservation, and clean water products.

 NanoClear, a commercialized system treating contaminated industrial wastewater and providing ultra-pure potable water with higher system efficiencies at equal or better capital and operating costs than other technologies.

 ConsERV, a commercially available engineered energy recovery ventilator that uses stale exhaust air to precondition the temperature and moisture content of incoming fresh ventilation air, typically saving energy, reducing CO2 emissions, and allowing for equipment downsizing; and

 PolyCool, a next-generation evaporative cooling technology that is nearing full commercialization where cooling towers and evaporative condensers in HVAC and power generation incorporate Aqualyte to reduce energy consumption and operating costs while preventing the release of dangerous microbes such as Legionella and opening new markets for reduced-maintenance evaporative cooling systems.

These products created by the Platform are focused on profitably securing the future of key resources for life, and economic stability addressing growing, diverse market needs in worldwide markets value nearing $1 trillion. Our products are revolutionary or industry changing.

Each use of the Aqualyte family of nanostructured polymers and engineered processes focuses on minimizing consumption of irreplaceable natural resources, improving the general populations health, and ending the degradation of our environment. To learn more, please visit www.daisanalytic.com.

Safe Harbor StatementThis press release includes statements that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as will, expects, anticipates, future, intends, plans, believes, estimates, or the negative of these words and/or similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Companys beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. For example, statements about future revenues and the Companys ability to fund its operations and contractual obligations are forward looking and subject to risks. Several important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the inability to raise capital to support the Company through its growth stage, the Companys inability to generate projected sales and trade relations between the United States and China. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law.

Note:

* - Statement(s) or numbers or both as part of this document are based on the management team or others associated with the company opinion with events or numbers at this time.

More information:Dais Corporation11552 Prosperous DriveOdessa, Florida 33556 USAPhone: (1) 727 | 375 | 8484[email protected]www.daisanalytic.com

Source: Dais Corporation
ATHENS, Greece, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diana Shipping Inc. (NYSE: DSX), (the Company), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership and bareboat charter-in of dry bulk vessels, today announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has extended the time charter contract with CLdN Cobelfret SA, Luxembourg, for one of its Post-Panamax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Polymnia. The gross charter rate is US$10,000 per day for the first thirty (30) days of the charter period and US$15,000 per day for the balance period of the time charter, in each case minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period until minimum April 1, 2024 up to maximum May 31, 2024. The new charter period commenced on January 14, 2023.

The Polymnia is a 98,704 dwt Post-Panamax dry bulk vessel built in 2012.

The Company also announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo, for one of its Newcastlemax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Los Angeles. The gross charter rate is US$17,700 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period until minimum May 20, 2024 up to maximum August 5, 2024. The charter commenced on January 15, 2023.

The Los Angeles is a 206,104 dwt Newcastlemax dry bulk vessel built in 2012.

The employment extension of Polymnia as well as the employment of Los Angeles are anticipated to generate approximately US$15.02 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charters.

Diana Shipping Inc.s fleet currently consists of 42 dry bulk vessels (4 Newcastlemax, 11 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 6 Kamsarmax, 8 Panamax and 8 Ultramax). The Company also expects to take delivery of 1 Ultramax dry bulk vessel by the end of January of 2023. As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Companys fleet, excluding the 1 Ultramax dry bulk vessel not yet delivered, is approximately 4.9 million dwt with a weighted average age of 10.25 years. A table describing the current Diana Shipping Inc. fleet can be found on the Companys website, www.dianashippinginc.com. Information contained on the Companys website does not constitute a part of this press release.

About the Company

Diana Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership and bareboat charter-in of dry bulk vessels. The Companys vessels are employed primarily on short to medium-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intends, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, Company managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Companys records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies that are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Companys control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Companys view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the severity, magnitude and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, including impacts of the pandemic and of businesses and governments responses to the pandemic on our operations, personnel, and on the demand for seaborne transportation of bulk products; the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Companys operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Companys vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, including risks associated with the continuing conflict between Russia and Ukraine and related sanctions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Corporate Contact: Ioannis Zafirakis Director, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Treasurer and Secretary Telephone: + 30-210-9470-100 Email: [email protected] Website: www.dianashippinginc.com Twitter: @Dianaship Investor and Media Relations: Edward Nebb Comm-Counsellors, LLC Telephone: + 1-203-972-8350 Email: [email protected]

Source: Diana Shipping Inc. c/o Diana Shipping Services S.A.
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Median employment income in Nova Scotia trailed incomes in provinces outside of Atlantic Canada by 11.9 per centor $4,483and, in fact, median incomes in all four Atlantic Provinces were materially lower than elsewhere in the country, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.

The income gap between Nova Scotians and workers outside of Atlantic Canada was significant, and resulted in lower living standards, said Ben Eisen, a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of Comparing Median Employment Income in the Atlantic Region to the Rest of Canada.

The study, which focuses on Atlantic Canada compared to central and western Canada, finds that the average median employment income in Atlantic Canada in 2019 was $32,175 while in central and western Canada the average median employment income was $37,58316.8 per cent higher.

All four Atlantic provinces lagged central and western Canada with respect to median employment income in 2019: the gap was 19.9 per cent for Prince Edward Island (the highest among the four provinces), followed by 14.9 per cent for Newfoundland and Labrador, 11.9 per cent for Nova Scotia, and 10.9 per cent for New Brunswick.

Crucially, the income gap between Nova Scotia and central and western Canada grew by 1.7 percentage points from 2011 to 2019.

Instead of improving, the gap in incomes for workers in Nova Scotia and provinces outside of Atlantic Canada actually got bigger, said Alex Whalen, a senior economist with the Institutes Atlantic Canada Prosperity Initiative.

Policymakers in Nova Scotia and across Atlantic Canada need to understand fully whats causing this income gap, and to seek out policy reforms that will close the gap and make the region more prosperous.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Alex Whalen, Senior EconomistFraser Institute

To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact:Drue MacPherson, Fraser InstituteTel: (604) 688-0221 Ext. 721E-mail: [email protected]

Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter | Become a fan on Facebook

The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org

Source: Fraser Institute
Sydney, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Proactive, provider of real-time news and video interviews on growth companies listed in Australia, has covered the following companies:

Aldoro Resources Ltd (ASX:ARN) is encouraged by initial diamond drilling outcomes at the Narndee Igneous Complex, which is prospective for nickel-copper-platinum group element (PGE) mineralisation, in Western Australia's Murchison Terrane. Click here

West Wits Mining Ltd (ASX:WWI) has returned significant gold intersections in a maiden reverse circulation (RC) drill program at the Mt Cecelia Project in the Paterson Province of Western Australia. Click here

Suvo Strategic Minerals Ltd (ASX:SUV) has wrapped up the purchase of Muchea Silica Sand Project in Western Australia after completion of the tenement purchase of exploration licence application E70/4981. Click here

Oar Resources Ltd has submitted applications for five additional tenements surrounding its three already granted tenements at the Denchi Lithium Project near Wiluna in Western Australias Northern Goldfields. Click here

Triangle Energy (Global) Ltd and partner Talon Energy Ltd (ASX:TPD) welcome the completion of farm-out negotiations and the signing of a binding term sheet with New Zealand Oil & Gas Limited (NZO) which will acquire a 25% interest in Permits L7 and EP 437 in the north Perth Basin of Western Australia. Click here

Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd-led seed financing has helped MoviePass Inc  a technology platform enhancing the exploration of the film and moviegoing experience  to accelerate the beta relaunch of its movie theatre subscription service. Click here

Kin Mining NL (ASX:KIN) is honing in on emerging high-grade gold thanks to reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling along the Cardinia Gold Projects Eastern Corridor in WA. Click here

Latin Resources Ltd (ASX:LRS) has mobilised six diamond drill rigs to the Salinas Lithium Project in Brazil as it readies to drill 65,000 metres in a resource expansion program designed to grow the Colina and Colina West prospects mineral resource estimates. Click here

New Century Resources Ltd (ASX:NCZ) has achieved two major operational milestones at its Century Mine and Karumba Port Facility in Queensland. Click here

Arrow Minerals Ltd (ASX:AMD) is preparing to begin maiden drilling at the Simandou North Iron Project in Guinea after an initial mapping program visually confirmed the locations of significant iron-bearing formations. Click here

SRJ Technologies Group PLC (ASX:SRJ) has made some board changes effective today, with the resignation of Grant Mooney as a non-executive director and the appointment of Roger Smith in the capacity of executive director. Click here

Future Metals NL (ASX:FME, AIM:FME) has struck an exploration joint venture (JV) with fellow ASX-lister Octava Minerals Ltd (ASX:OCT), establishing a partnership that increases FMEs exposure to nickel-copper-platinum group metal (PGM) opportunities in the East Kimberley. Click here

Evion Group NL (ASX:EVG) has completed a scoping study confirming the strong opportunity in Europe to produce material for use in lithium-ion batteries by value-adding graphite concentrate from the Maniry Project in Madagascar. Click here

Noxopharm Ltd (ASX:NOX) has completed a review of safety data from the dose escalation phase of the DARRT-2 trial assessing the effect of Veyonda  in combination with low-dose external beam radiotherapy on metastatic cancers. Click here

Corazon Mining Ltd (ASX:CZN) has unearthed more high-grade lithium during rock chip sampling at its Miriam Nickel Sulphide Project in Western Australia. Click here

Miramar Resources Ltd (ASX:M2R) has identified a number of large rare earth element (REE) targets in magnetic and radiometric surveying over the Dooley Downs Project in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. Click here

Helix Resources Ltd (ASX:HLX) has kicked off a 1,000-metre reverse circulation (RC) program at the Canbelego Copper Project joint venture with Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX:AIS) (Aeris Resources Ltd (ASX:AIS)) in the Cobar Basin of New South Wales. Click here

Latrobe Magnesium Ltd (ASX:LMG) could have a major impact in North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean after upgrading its exclusive distribution agreement with Metal Exchange Corporation (MEC) to sell most of its magnesium into these markets. Click here

Brookside Energy Ltd (ASX:BRK) has started the re-entry of Juanita Well in the expanded Bradbury Area of Interest (AOI) within the Arbuckle UpliftArdmore Basin in Oklahomas world-class Anadarko Basin. Click here

About Proactive

Proactive is a unique tech-enabled platform providing companies globally with a comprehensive investor engagement solution across their business lifecycle.

With six offices on three continents, Proactive works with innovative growth companies quoted on the worlds major stock exchanges, helping executives to engage intelligently with investors.

In 2020, Proactive featured in 809 million search results, our content was viewed over 165 million times and our readers spent over 10 million hours on our websites. Proactive has produced over 300,000 articles and 20,000 executive interviews since it was established in 2006.

For more information on how Proactive can help you make a difference, email us at [email protected].

Source: Proactive
Boston, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Advisors Living, the residential real estate sales platform associated with Boston Realty Advisors, the largest Boston-based independent commercial real estate and consulting firm, has sold out all 49 condominium units at Ebo, a luxury living building named in shorthand for the increasingly popular community of East Boston.

To view the full announcement, including downloadable images, bios, and more, click here.

Key Takeaways:

Residents include young professionals, first-time home buyers, and area renters leaving some of the high-end rental buildings in the area.

Ebo units sold at a price range from the mid-$400,000s to $950,000.

Click image above to view full announcement.

ABOUT CHARTER REAL ESTATE AND DEVELOPMENT LLC

Charter Real Estate and Development LLC is a Boston-based integrated development construction company with a proven track record spanning over 39 years. Charter specializes in multifamily mixed-use residential properties, creating value through ground-up developments and value-add repositioning of Class A and Class B multifamily properties. Project sizes ranging from $1 million to $50 million.

ABOUT ADVISORS LIVING AND BOSTON REALTY ADVISORS

Advisors Living a residential real estate platform associated with Boston Realty Advisors. BRA is a full-service commercial real estate brokerage and consulting firm with an integrated team of highly experienced and entrepreneurial professionals, with capabilities including tenant and landlord representation, investment sales, and property consulting as well as financing activities. Boston Realty Advisors is the largest Boston-based independent commercial real estate and consulting firm. For more information, please go to www.advisorsliving.com and www.bradvisors.com.

Contacts:

Tom Palmer

617.755.7250

[email protected]

Source: Advisors Living

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151577
Coquitlam, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. (TSXV: CCW) (OTCQB: CCWOF) (FSE: 4T9B) (the "Company" or "Canada Silver Cobalt") releases gold assay results from its 60,000-metre 2020-2022 drill program and reviews the Company's gold data from the 2011-2019 surface drill and 2014 channel sample programs at Castle East, as well as the underground drill program at its Castle Mine from 2019.

Frank J. Basa, B.Eng., P.Eng., CEO commented, "Historically, gold has been directly associated with silver in the Cobalt Camp. The gold values in the silver dore bar produced when the historic mines were in production accounted for 3 to 5 percent of the total 1,000 ounces by weight. Using the January 13, 2023, close price of gold and silver, the contained gold value of these bars would be 2-4 times the contained silver value in USD." The intercepts published in this news release support this statement and prove that there is gold mineralization in the Gowganda area. In addition, the Company has not only discovered gold mineralization in the Nipissing Diabase, where most of the silver-cobalt veins occur, but also in the Archean Lithologies above the diabase sill.

Drill and Channel Sample Highlights:

Intercepts from the 2020-2022 drill program include 4.35 g/t Au over 2.34m in hole CS-20-31 from 451.52 to 453.86m, 3.11 g/t Au over 1.00m in hole CS-20-39 from 461.00 to 462.00m, 2.94 g/t Au over 1.00m in hole CS-22-108 from 276.00 to 277.00m, and 2.53 g/t Au over 1.00m in hole CS-22-113 from 138.00 to 139.00m.

Intercepts from the 2011-2019 drill program include up to 15.20 g/t Au over 1.00m in hole CS-19-19 from 298.00 to 299.00m, and 5.52 g/t Au over 0.37m in hole CS-18-16W from 315.97 to 316.34m.

Intercepts from the 2014 channel sampling program (all at surface) include 3.77 g/t Au over 0.59m in sample L42138, 1.16 g/t Au over 0.78m in L42133, and 1.25 g/t Au over 0.81m in L42049.

Intercepts from the 2019 underground drill near the Castle Mine Adit entrance include up to 14.49 g/t Au over 0.90m from 2.40 to 3.30m including 22.70 g/t Au over 0.30m from 3.30-3.60m in hole C-U-19-016, and 10.75 g/t Au over 0.33m from 0.67 to 1.00m in hole C-U-19-005.

In Gowganda, around 95% of the mined silver came from the Nipissing Diabase, due in large part to visual mining methods and finding veins near surface at the edge of the Miller Lake Basin. Shallow Archean-hosted near-surface intercepts such as the 24.95 g/t Au over 0.30m in CS-20-31 from 49.70 to 50.00m and

4710 g/t Ag over 0.53m in CS-22-115 from 64.99 to 65.52m provide evidence of opportunity for the Miller Lake Basin to contain further shallow silver and gold mineralization (see Nov 14, 2022, and Dec 17, 2022, news releases).

These gold intercepts warrant further exploration to understand the extent and connectivity of the mineralization, as well as to fully understand the relationship between the high-grade silver veins (that the Company has already discovered) and the gold mineralization in the surrounding area. Shallow drill holes and outcrop stripping are also warranted given the proximity of gold and silver to surface.

The significance of these intercepts is that Castle East is no longer simply a silver-cobalt type deposit, but it adds a third, very critical element - gold. If something closer to surface is discovered and delineated, it could assist in offsetting the capital cost of infrastructure required to access the existing silver resource. This could positively affect the economics of the deposit if such a relationship can be defined. These intercepts also strengthen the company's Gold & Silver exploration portfolio which has been growing since the acquisition of the Eby-Otto Gold project near Kirkland Lake.

Note: The assay results for Table 1, Table 3, and Table 4 below are core length with no capping applied and show assays with >2.00 g/t gold. The assay results for Table 2 are channel sample length with no capping applied and show assays with >1.00 g/t gold. G/t refers to grams per tonne. Bolded intervals are assay composites.

Table 1: Gold Assay Result Highlights from the 2020-2022 60,000m Surface Drill Program

Sample Type Year Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Drill Hole 2020 CS-20-25 315.00 316.00 1.00 5.00 Drill Hole 2020 CS-20-31 49.70 50.00 0.30 24.95 Drill Hole 2020 CS-20-31 451.52 453.86 2.34 4.35 Drill Hole 2020 CS-20-39 461.00 462.00 1.00 3.11 Drill Hole 2021 CS-21-47 163.00 164.30 1.30 2.36 Drill Hole 2021 CS-21-92 411.95 412.51 0.56 3.11 Drill Hole 2022 CS-22-108 276.00 277.00 1.00 2.94 Drill Hole 2022 CS-22-113 138.00 139.00 1.00 2.53

Table 2: Gold Assay Result Highlights from 2014 Surface Channel Samples

Sample Type Year Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Channel 2014 L42049 0.00 0.83 0.83 1.25 Channel 2014 L42133 0.00 0.78 0.78 1.16 Channel 2014 L42138 0.00 1.27 1.27 3.77





Figure 1: Visible Gold from Hole CS-20-31 which ran 24.95 g/t Gold

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2093/151511_27a55861245818a1_002full.jpg

Table 3: Gold Assay Result Highlights from Castle Mine 2019 Underground Drilling

Sample Type Year Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Drill Hole 2019 C-U-19-005 0.67 1.00 0.33 10.75 Drill Hole 2019 C-U-19-005 1.33 1.66 0.33 2.06 Drill Hole 2019 C-U-19-016 2.40 2.70 0.30 2.67 Drill Hole 2019 C-U-19-016 2.70 3.00 0.30 18.10 Drill Hole 2019 C-U-19-016 3.30 3.60 0.30 22.70 Drill Hole 2019 C-U-19-040 1.30 1.60 0.30 2.07 Drill Hole 2019 C-U-19-041 3.30 3.60 0.30 3.00 Drill Hole 2019 C-U-19-043 1.20 1.50 0.30 3.39

Table 4: Gold Assay Result Highlights from 2011-2019 Surface Drilling

Sample Type Year Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Drill Hole 2018 CS-18-15 109.22 109.96 0.74 3.78 Drill Hole 2018 CS-18-16 274.31 274.44 0.13 6.18 Drill Hole 2018 CS-18-16W 271.88 272.22 0.34 4.65 Drill Hole 2018 CS-18-16W 315.97 316.34 0.37 5.52 Drill Hole 2019 CS-19-19 298.00 299.00 1.00 15.20





Figure 2: Plan View Map of the Assay Locations

To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2093/151511_27a55861245818a1_003full.jpg

QA/QC

For the 2020-222 drill program, the core samples were cut in two with a rock saw. One half was sent to the assay lab and the other half was retained as witness core. Blanks and certified reference material (standards) were inserted into the sampling sequence such that they represent no less than 10% of the total samples. The results of the blanks and standards are within expected values allowing public disclosure of the assays.

Qualified person

The technical information in this news release was approved and prepared under the supervision of Mr. Matthew Halliday, P.Geo., (PGO), President and COO of Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc., a qualified person accordance with National Instrument 43-101.

About Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc.

Canada Silver Cobalt Works Inc. recently discovered a major high-grade silver vein system at Castle East located 1.5 km from its 100%-owned, past-producing Castle Mine near Gowganda in the prolific and world-class silver-cobalt mining district of Northern Ontario. The Company has completed a 60,000m drill program aimed at expanding the size of the deposit with an update to the resource estimate underway.

In May 2020, based on a small initial drill program, the Company published the region's first 43-101 resource estimate that contained a total of 7.56 million ounces of silver in Inferred resources, comprising very high-grade silver (8,582 grams per tonne un-cut or 250.2 oz/ton) in 27,400 tonnes of material from two sections (1A and 1B) of the Castle East Robinson Zone, beginning at a vertical depth of approximately 400 meters. Note that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Please refer to Canada Silver Cobalt Works Press Release May 28, 2020, for the resource estimate. Report reference: Rachidi, M. 2020, NI 43-101 Technical Report Mineral Resource Estimate for Castle East, Robinson Zone, Ontario, Canada, with an effective date of May 28, 2020, and a signature date of July 13, 2020.

The Company also has: (1) 14 battery metals properties in Northern Quebec where it has recently completed a nearly 15,000-metre drill program on the Graal property; and (2) the prospective 1,000-hectare Eby-Otto gold property close to Agnico Eagle's high-grade Macassa Mine near Kirkland Lake, Ontario where it is exploring.

Canada Silver Cobalt's flagship silver-cobalt Castle mine and 78 sq. km Castle Property feature strong exploration upside for silver, cobalt, nickel, gold, and copper. With underground access at the fully owned Castle Mine, an exceptional high-grade silver discovery at Castle East, a pilot plant to produce cobalt-rich gravity concentrates, a processing facility (TTL Laboratories) in the town of Cobalt, and a proprietary hydrometallurgical process known as Re-2Ox (for the creation of technical-grade cobalt sulphate as well as nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) formulations), Canada Silver Cobalt is strategically positioned to become a Canadian leader in the silver-cobalt space. More information at www.canadasilvercobaltworks.com

"Frank J. Basa"

Frank J. Basa, P. Eng.

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, contact:

Frank J. Basa, P.Eng.

Chief Executive Officer

416-625-2342

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

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 news release may contain forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, comments that involve future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Except for statements of historical facts, comments that address resource potential, upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt and security of mineral property titles, availability of funds, and others are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may vary materially from those statements. General business conditions are factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from forward-looking statements. A detailed discussion of the risk factors encountered by Canada Silver Cobalt is available in the Company's Annual Information Form dated July 19, 2021 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020 available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151511
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Graph Blockchain Inc.(CSE: GBLC) (OTC Pink: REGRF) (FSE: RT5A)(the "GBLC" or "Graph Blockchain")is pleased to announce that the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Optimum Coin Analyser, ("Optimum Coin"), has completed development of its trading software.

Optimum Coin is an AI driven analytics tool focused on predicting the price of Bitcoin. Optimum Coin continuously retrieves, observes, and analyses social media data using its AI SaaS coin trading research analytics engine to track influencers, monitor and provide sentiment relevance and predictive analysis while providing technical analysis.

The software was completed in October 2022 and just recently completed back testing. After rigorous back testing which held up under recent Bitcoin volatility with correlations as high as 98%, Graph Blockchain is now ready to move forward with the software.

The software will undergo hypothetical trading for a couple of weeks after which the Company will deploy trading with the software using an initial investment of $100,000.

"The company is thrilled to have completed the development of Optimum Coin's trading software. This has been a long-awaited project of ours and we are excited to be one step closer to launching. We will continue hypothetical trading testing and deploy the software for customers very soon. We believe this software will make an impact in the Bitcoin industry and we look forward to sharing more soon," said Paul Haber, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Company.

About Graph Blockchain

Graph Blockchain provides exposure to various areas of Decentralized Finance (DeFi). Focusing on altcoins through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Babbage Mining Corp., a Proof of Stake ("POS") miner, and Beyond the Moon Inc. an IDO focused company, Graph gives investors exposure to the vast emerging market of cryptocurrencies with the significant technological disruption and potential gains altcoins represent. Through its strategic acquisitions, Graph is assembling a collection of products and technologies that will lead the DeFi market and offer an unprecedented investment for shareholders.

For additional information on Graph Blockchain and other corporate information, please visit the Company website at www.graphblockchain.com.

For further information, please contact:

Paul Haber, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Company

Phone: (416) 318- 6501

Email: [email protected]

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statements.

Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur" or "will be achieved". The forward-looking information and forward- looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the proposed transaction and the business of Optimum Coin Analyser Inc. Forward-looking information in this news release is based on certain assumptions and expected future events. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the potential inability of the Company to continue as a going concern; the potential inability of Optimum Coin Analyser Inc. to continue as a going concern; the risks associated with the blockchain in general. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions, or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated.

Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

###

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151432
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - K2 Gold Corporation (TSXV: KTO) (OTCQB: KTGDF) (FSE: 23K) ("K2" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, in connection with its previously announced private placement financing (the "Offering"), the company is increasing the size of the Offering to 20,000,000 units ("Units") at a price of C$0.15 per Unit (the "Offering Price"), for aggregate gross proceeds of C$3,000,000 (the "Offering").

Each Unit will consist of one common share (a "Share") in the capital of the Company and one-half of one non-transferable common share purchase warrant (each whole common share purchase warrant being a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will be exercisable to acquire one Share at a price of C$0.30 per Share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance.

K2 intends to use the net proceeds raised from the Offering for exploration and advancement work on the company's Si2 Gold project located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA, ongoing permitting at the Mojave project, as well as for general working capital.

The Company may pay finder's fees on a portion of the Offering, subject to compliance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable securities legislation.

The closing of the Offering is subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued pursuant to the Offering will be subject to a four-month hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. There are no material facts or material changes regarding the Company that have not been generally disclosed.

About the Si2 Project

The Si2 Gold Project is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada, approximately 60km northwest of Tonopah, Nevada, and 20km northwest of Allegiant Gold's Eastside deposit (1.4Moz Au, 8.8 Moz Ag). The project is road accessible and consists of 118 BLM lode claims covering 986 Ha, under option from Orogen Royalties Inc. (TSXV: OGN). The claims cover an 8 km2 area of steam heated alunite-kaolinite-buddingtonite alteration within a sequence of felsic to intermediate volcanic rocks with brecciation and strongly anomalous mercury. The alteration is interpreted to represent a high-level setting within a low-sulfidation epithermal gold-silver system. In this type of geologic setting there is typically minimal anomalous gold mineralization at surface, however, gold grades may increase at depth along controlling structures at critical locations in the hydrothermal system (i.e., boiling zones). The Si2 Gold Project was initially identified by the same exploration team that identified AngloGold Ashanti's Silicon project near Beatty, Nevada, and was staked based on its strong geological similarities to Silicon.

Qualified Person ("QP")

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Eric Buitenhuis, M.Sc., P.Geo., K2's QP and Vice President of Exploration.

About K2 Gold

K2 is a proud member of Discovery Group and currently has projects in Southwest USA and the Yukon.

The Wels Project is located in Western Yukon, approximately 40km east of the community of Beaver Creek and 60km south of Newmont Goldcorp's 4Moz Coffee deposit, within the traditional territory of White River First Nation. The land position consists of 350 contiguous Quartz Claims covering 7,200 hectares. Wels is underlain by metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks of the White River Formation that have been intruded by a series of Triassic gabbroic sills and Cretaceous granitic plugs. This package has been cut by a series of WNW trending high-angle structures that host alteration and gold mineralization. Mineralization is noted in all rock types observed on the property to date and is associated with quartz veining, brecciation, and sericite alteration with anomalous As, Sb, and, locally, visible gold. Four discrete mineralized trends are currently known, with only one trend drilled to date, delivering encouraging assay results of 2.37 g/t Au over 28.5m and 10.38 g/t Au over 6.0m. All mineralized trends remain open along strike and approximately 80% of the property is currently unexplored.

The Mojave project is a 5,830-hectare oxide gold project with base metal targets located in California. Multiple previously recognized surface gold targets have been successfully drilled in the past, most notably by Newmont and BHP. Since acquiring the property, K2 has completed geochemical and geophysical surveys, geologic mapping, LiDAR, a WorldView 3 alteration survey, and successfully completed a 17-hole RC drill program focused on the Dragonfly and Newmont Zones. Highlights from K2's drilling program include 6.68 g/t Au over 45.72m from surface at the Dragonfly Zone, and 1.69 g/t Au over 41.15m from 44.20m depth at the Newmont Zone.

K2 is committed to transparency, accountability, environmental stewardship, safety, diversity, inclusion, and community and indigenous engagement.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Anthony Margarit"

President and CEO K2 Gold Corporation.

For further information about K2 Gold Corporation or this news release, please visit our website at k2gold.com or contact our Office in Canada at 778-266-1456 or by email at [email protected].

K2 Gold Corporation is a member of Discovery Group based in Vancouver, Canada. For more information please visit: discoverygroup.ca.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are not historical facts. Forward- looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the exploration program at Si2, Wels, and Mojave, including results of drilling, and future exploration plans at Si2, Wels, and Mojave. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's inability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its planned activities, and the Company's inability to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies. The reader is referred to the Company's public disclosure record which is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Except as required by securities laws and the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including any of the securities in the United States of America. No securities of the Company have been or will, in the foreseeable future, be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 (the "1933 Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for account or benefit of, U.S. Persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration requirements is available.

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

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination inthe United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151530
Fort Lauderdale, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Splash Beverage Group, Inc. (NYSE American: SBEV) ("Splash" or the "Company"), today announced that Robert Nistico, Chairman and CEO, will be attending the virtual Q1 Investor Summit. During the presentation, Robert Nistico will highlight the company's recent advances and sales growth.

Event: Q1 Investor Summit Date: January 26th, 2023 Presentation: January 26th at 2:30 p.m. EST Location: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EwIUaDKySz6n_9PfFQ08sA

The theme is 25 micro-cap companies with a catalyst and/or strong performance in the current market

1x1s will be available for qualified investors

The conference is completely complimentary to qualified investors. Please register at Complimentary Investor Registration

About Splash Beverage

Splash Beverage Group, Inc. engages in the manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and sale of various beverages in the United States. Its products include flavored tequilas under the SALT Naturally Flavored Tequila name; hydration and recovery isotonic sport drink under the TapouT Performance name; wine under the Copa di Vino name; and Pulpoloco Sangria. The company also sells beverages and groceries online through qplash.com. Splash Beverage Group, Inc. is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

For further information:

TraDigital IR

John McNamara

Email: [email protected]

Phone: (917) 658-2602

About the Investor Summit

The Investor Summit is an exclusive, independent conference dedicated to connecting smallcap and microcap companies with qualified investors. The Q1 Investor Summit will take place virtually, featuring 30 companies and over 120 institutional, family office, and high net worth investors. Sectors Participating: Biotech, Communication Services, Consumer, Energy, Technology, Financial, Healthcare, Industrials, Materials, Real Estate. Contact: [email protected]

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151489
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - Whitehorse Gold Corp.(TSXV: WHG) (OTCQX: WHGDF)("Whitehorse Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to report the closing of the the second tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement, whereby the Company completed the issuance of 4,885,000 units (each, a "Unit") at a price of $0.40 per Unit for gross proceeds of $1,954,000 in the second tranche. The Company issued a total of 12,807,500 Units at a price of $0.40 for gross proceeds of $5,123,000 for the entire private placement that was announced on November 4, 2022.

Whitehorse Gold intends to use the net proceeds of the private placement for working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes.

All securities issued in connection with the private placement are subject to a statutory hold period of four-months and one day. The Company paid aggregate finder's fee of $23,920 to the eligible persons in the second tranche. The private placement remains subject to final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

As insiders of the Company (including Silvercorp) participated in the private placement, any such subscriptions are considered to be related party transactions within the meaning of TSXV Policy 5.9 Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions, which incorporates Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company intends to rely on the exemptions from the valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101 in respect of such insider participation.

The securities described herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any United States state securities laws, and accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. persons except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States, nor will there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Whitehorse Gold

Whitehorse Gold is a mineral exploration and development company focusing on tin projects in Bolivia and a gold project near Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The Company has recently signed agreements to acquire up to a 100% interest in the Porvenir Project and SF Tin Project, which are 70 km southeast of Oruro, Bolivia. The Company's 100% owned Skukum Gold Project is approximately 84 km south of Whitehorse by road. An independent Mineral Resource Estimate update was completed in October 2022. Skukum hosts 418,000 oz AuEq Indicated Mineral Resource and 517,000 oz AuEq Inferred Mineral Resource at respective average grades of 8.2 and 5.3 g/t AuEq. From 1986 to 1988, the project produced approximately 80,000 ounces of gold.

On Behalf of Whitehorse Gold Corp.

signed "Gordon Neal"

Gordon Neal, CEO & Director

For further information, please contact:

Investor Relations, Whitehorse Gold Corp.,

Phone: +1 (604)-336-5919

Email: [email protected]

www.whitehorsegold.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collective, "forward looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding future plans with respect to the Offering and other future plans of Company, and objectives or expectations of the Company are forward-looking statements. Estimates of Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources are also forward-looking information because they incorporate estimates of future developments including future mineral prices, costs and expenses and the amount of minerals that will be encountered if a property is developed. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by words or phrases such as "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "believes", "plans", "projects", "estimates", "assumes", "intends", "strategies", "targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "budgets", "schedules", "potential" or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. The opinions, assumptions, factors and estimates which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to: that market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices; that there are no significant disruptions affecting operations, including labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, security disruptions, damage to or loss of equipment, whether due to flooding, political changes, title issues, intervention by local landowners, environmental concerns, pandemics (including COVID-19) or otherwise; that the Company will be able to obtain and maintain governmental approvals, permits and licenses in connection with its current and planned operations, development and exploration activities, including at the Skukum Gold Project; that the Company will be able to meet its current and future obligations; that the Company will be able to comply with environmental, health and safety laws; and the assumptions underlying Mineral Resource estimates and the realization of such estimates.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors include, among others: social and economic impacts of COVID-19; actual exploration results; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; results of future Mineral Resource estimates; future metal prices; availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms; general economic, market or business conditions; uninsured risks; regulatory changes; defects in title; availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis; accidents or equipment breakdowns; delays in receiving government approvals; unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same; and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements in this news release or incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise required by law.

Additional information in relation to the Company, including the Company's Annual Information Form, can be obtained under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.whitehorsegold.ca.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICESOR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151501
Post Presentation With Details on Digital Assets and Other Property of the FTX Debtors

Identified Approximately $5.5 Billion of Liquid Assets to Date, Confirmed Material Shortfalls at Both International and US Exchanges

WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FTX Trading Ltd. and its affiliated debtors (together, the "FTX Debtors") today announced that their top level management and advisors met with the members of and advisors to the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (the "UCC") in their chapter 11 cases this morning as part of their ongoing efforts to share preliminary information obtained since the commencement of the chapter 11 cases on November 11, 2022 (the "Petition Date"), and to provide an update regarding asset recovery efforts to date.

A presentation was used in the meeting with the UCC, which the FTX Debtors will file on the docket in the chapter 11 cases today. The presentation highlights that a total of approximately $5.5 billion of liquid assets have been identified, comprised of $1.7 billion of cash, $3.5 billion of crypto assets and $0.3 billion of securities. The presentation also provides details with respect to the assets and property of the FTX Debtors, including cash, digital assets, investment securities, real estate, investments, businesses and other property. All stakeholders are invited to review the presentation, which the UCC is doing as well.

The FTX Debtors also confirmed that, based on current estimates of the amount of digital assets associated with the FTX.com and FTX US exchanges as of the Petition Date, there is a substantial shortfall of digital assets at both exchanges.

With respect to FTX.com, the FTX Debtors have identified approximately $1.6 billion of digital assets associated with FTX.com as of the Petition Date, $323 million of which was subject to unauthorized third-party transfers post-petition, $426 million of which was transferred to cold storage under the control of The Securities Commission of The Bahamas, $742 million of which is in cold storage under the control of the FTX Debtors, and $121 million of which is pending transfer to cold storage under the control of the FTX Debtors. The assets identified as of the Petition Date are substantially less than the aggregate third-party customer balances suggested by the electronic ledger for FTX.com.

With respect to the FTX US exchange, the FTX Debtors have identified approximately $181 million of digital assets associated with FTX US as of the Petition Date, $90 million of which was subject to unauthorized third-party transfers post-petition, $88 million of which is in cold storage under the control of the FTX Debtors, and $3 million of which is pending transfer to cold storage under the control of the FTX Debtors. The assets identified as of the Petition Date are substantially less than the aggregate third-party customer balances suggested by the electronic ledger for FTX US.

All dollar values noted herein were determined by the FTX Debtors using preliminary pricing information from the FTX order book at the Petition Date. The FTX Debtors continue to attempt to secure assets that may be associated with the exchanges and to trace digital assets back to the exchanges wherever possible.

"We are making important progress in our efforts to maximize recoveries, and it has taken a Herculean investigative effort from our team to uncover this preliminary information," said John J. Ray III, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Restructuring Officer of the FTX Debtors. "We ask our stakeholders to understand that this information is still preliminary and subject to change. We will provide additional information as soon as we are able to do so."

More information, including the presentation shared during this meeting, can be found on the docket of the chapter 11 cases and posted on the quick links section of the FTX Debtors Kroll site at https://cases.ra.kroll.com/FTX/.

All information in the presentation and referenced above is preliminary and subject to material change.

Advisors

The FTX Debtors are represented by Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as legal counsel and are assisted by Alvarez & Marsal North America, LLC as financial advisor, Perella Weinberg Partners LP as investment banker, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP as special counsel and Landis Rath & Cobb LLP as Delaware counsel. The UCC is represented by Paul Hastings LLP as legal counsel, FTI Consulting as financial advisor, Jefferies LLC as investment banker and Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP as Delaware counsel.

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SOURCE FTX
SINGAPORE, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HashKey Capital, a global asset manager specializing in crypto and blockchain, announced today the final closing of its third fund, HashKey FinTech Investment Fund III ("Fund III"), with a total commitment of US$500 million. Fund III, whose general partner is HashKey FinTech Investment (part of HashKey Capital, and together with its affiliates, the "HashKey Group"), received strong support from institutional investors including sovereign wealth funds, corporations, and family offices.

Capital from Fund III will be deployed to advance outstanding crypto and blockchain initiatives globally, focusing on the growing opportunities in emerging markets.

"HashKey Capital has weathered at least three cycles in the industry. These unique experiences and insights will be invaluable to us in navigating through turbulence. We are one of the few crypto investors that have been granted a license for fund management involving digital assets in Hong Kong, with another approval in principle received for fund management in Singapore. The HashKey Group was an early supporter of crypto and blockchain technology, and we are pleased to continue to take on this responsibility, and work with our partners to establish the gold standard for the industry's sustainable growth." said Deng Chao, CEO of HashKey Capital and Head of HashKey Singapore.

"Most people from the industry recognize HashKey Group as a global investment pioneer in blockchain, but few are aware that the HashKey Group was the inspiration behind the name 'Shanghai Upgrade' for Ethereum. As one of the earliest institutional investors in Ethereum and the host of Devcon2, we have maintained since the first day that the power of blockchain and crypto innovation can create a better future. Fund III will follow our time-tested investment principles while also looking for game-changers, which would be those that will propel the industry forward into the next stage." said Dr. Xiao Feng, Chairman of HashKey Group.

Fund III will provide investors with institutional-grade exposure to all facets of blockchain and crypto technologies. This new fund aims to invest primarily in infrastructures, toolings, and applications that have potential for mass adoption.

Since its inception in 2018, HashKey Capital has managed over US$1 billion in client assets with a proven track record of investing across all stages of blockchain and crypto companies. To date, HashKey Capital has invested in many top projects and companies, including Cosmos, Coinlist, Aztec, Blockdaemon, dYdX, imToken, Animoca Brands, Mask Network, FalconX, Polkadot, Moonbeam, Space and Time, and Galxe.

About HashKey CapitalHashKey Capital, the investment arm of the HashKey Group, is a global asset manager investing exclusively in blockchain technology and digital assets, managing over US$1 billion in client assets since its inception. As one of the largest crypto funds based in Asia and known for being Ethereum's earliest corporate investor, our mission is to bridge digital assets to the mainstream and connecting Web2 and Web3. HashKey Capital operates in Hong Kong, Singapore, with significant presence in Japan and the U.S., and has invested in over 500 global projects related to infrastructures, toolings, and applications that have potential for mass adoption.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hashkey-capital-closes-fund-iii-with-us500-million-in-commitments-to-build-web3-301723001.html

SOURCE HashKey Capital
Flagship building of NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences named with $5M gift

BRONXVILLE, N.Y., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Iona University hosted a dedication ceremony for the Kelly Center for Health Sciences on January 12, 2023, recognizing benefactors Alfred F. Kelly Jr. '80, '81MBA, '19H, chairman and chief executive officer of Visa, and Peggy Kelly '81, '84MBA, who generously gifted $5 million to name the building.

Iona University hosted a dedication ceremony for the Kelly Center for Health Sciences on January 12, 2023.

Located on Iona's new campus in Bronxville, N.Y., the Kelly Center for Health Sciences will serve as the flagship building of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences.

"It is a great honor to be opening the Kelly Center for Health Sciences, as we believe the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences will become a top destination for all those who feel called to serve others through these important fields of study," said Al Kelly. "This is a proud moment for our family and a historic milestone for our alma mater."

"The legacy of the Kelly Center for Health Sciences will be built through the many thousands of Iona students who go on to save and improve lives for generations to come," said Peggy Kelly. "Al and I are humbled by this gorgeous new facility, and we look forward to all that is still to come."

During the dedication ceremony, Iona University President Seamus Carey, Ph.D., said the opening of the Kelly Center for Health Sciences marked the beginning of a new era for Iona. Classes begin on Iona's new campus in Bronxville for the first time this week.

"At a time when many private institutions of higher education are challenged to stay open, Iona made the move to purchase a new campus to accommodate growth," said Carey. "This building and this campus are wellsprings of hope, not only for the students who will study here, but for the people and communities they will serve. The students who pass through this school and this building will make their mark on the world by providing health care with compassion. They will be distinctive not only for what they know, but for their generosity of spirit that is endemic in the Iona culture."

The Kelly Center for Health Sciences spans three floors and is nearly 32,000 square feet. With a design philosophy focused on holistic wellness, the building is bright, eco-friendly and infused with natural elements. Cutting-edge, collaborative spaces, meanwhile, promote interdisciplinary learning.

Building Highlights Include:

Six classroom/seminar rooms and a collaborative area

Five simulation rooms with connected control rooms

Four laboratory rooms, including a physical assessments lab, bedside skills lab, flex occupational therapy lab and adult occupational therapy lab

Two group therapy rooms

Two patient examination rooms

Interprofessional Education (IPE) collaboration space

Two student lounges with seating, an 85-inch television display, kitchen and vending area

Two debrief rooms

Two administrative offices

The Kelly Center for Health Sciences completely transformed what was formerly the library of the Concordia College campus, which Iona acquired in May 2021. Renovations began April 2022.

By retaining the existing structure of the 50-year-old building, as well as the interior floors, stairs and elevator, Iona and the project team not only minimized the time and cost of the project, but also the environmental impact. The building will also reduce fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions by utilizing new heat-pump technology for heating and cooling. Other eco-friendly improvements include dimmable LED lighting as well as new double-pane windows, updated air systems and more.

Iona worked with industry leaders on the design and execution of the project, including SLAM, the architecture firm; Consigli, the construction company; and JLL, a real estate services and project management firm.

Established in July 2021 and supported by a $20 million gift, the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences offers a new vision for collaborative education, modern workforce development and community care. NewYork-Presbyterian is consistently ranked one of the nation's top hospitals and is also a leader in medical education in collaboration with two renowned medical schools: Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

"We are pleased to celebrate the dedication of the Kelly Center for Health Sciences, and we are grateful to Al and Peggy Kelly for their generosity and support," said Dr. Steven J. Corwin, NewYork-Presbyterian President and CEO. "Today is a momentous occasion, and it is just the start. We look forward to the continued development of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences and educating the next generation of health care professionals."

Approximately 150 people attended the dedication ceremony, including Bronxville Mayor Mary Marvin and the Board of Trustees; New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson; Deputy Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins; New York State Assemblymember Amy Paulin; New York State Senator Shelley Mayer; and former United States House of Representatives Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, among others.

In a special video message recorded for the dedication ceremony, His Eminence Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, congratulated President Carey and offered thanks to Al and Peggy Kelly. One attribute he has noticed about Iona students, he said, is their commitment and drive to serving others. Iona's growth in the health sciences is therefore in full alignment, he added.

"This project is the perfect culmination of the advocacy work that Al and Peggy have made it their personal mission to fulfill  Catholic education and health care," said Cardinal Dolan. "The Kelly Center for Health Sciences will not only impact the lives of those who learn within it, but also the many thousands of lives that are going to benefit from the education that Iona students will receive."

ABOUT IONA

Founded in 1940, Iona University is a master's-granting private, Catholic, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers. Iona's 45-acre New Rochelle campus and 28-acre Bronxville campus are just 20 miles north of Midtown Manhattan. With a total enrollment of nearly 4,000 students and an alumni base of over 50,000 around the world, Iona is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona is highly accredited, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science, and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees and numerous advanced certificate programs. Iona's LaPenta School of Business is accredited by AACSB International, a prestigious recognition awarded to just five percent of business schools worldwide. The Princeton Review recognized Iona's on-campus MBA program as a "Best Business School for 2022." Iona University also recently launched a fully online MBA program for even greater flexibility. In July 2021, Iona University and NewYork-Presbyterian announced the establishment of the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences, to be principally located on the University's new campus in Bronxville, N.Y. Supported by a $20 million gift from NewYork-Presbyterian, the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences offers a new vision for collaborative health care education, modern workforce development, and community care. On July 1, 2022, Iona officially changed its status from College to University, reflecting the growth of its academic programs and the prestige of an Iona education.

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SOURCE Iona University
A day off from school becomes opportunity for students to give back to their communities.

MIDLAND, Pa., Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PA Cyber students, family members, and staff supported their communities through a united statewide effort today to honor Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. They donated household goods and their time to various organizations, including Binky Patrol, Community Cares, Sweet Cases, Ronald McDonald House, and more.

"Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time to serve our communities and help others," said Laurie Richards, representative of PA Cyber's Greensburg regional office. "He encouraged people to do what is right by helping people. He once said, 'Everybody can be great because anybody can serve.  You only need a heart full of grace.'"

Charitable activities took place at each of the cyber charter school's nine regional offices.

At the Greensburg office, participants made blankets for foster children in collaboration with the local Binky Patrol chapter. Binky Patrol's goal is to remind foster children that someone cares about them.1:00 p.m.3:00 p.m., Towne Square Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601

At the Harrisburg office, students and staff made no-sew blankets for Community Cares, a homeless shelter in Carlisle.12:30 p.m.2:00 p.m., 3721 Tecport Drive, Suite 102, Harrisburg, PA 17111

Families and staff at the Pittsburgh-Warrendale office decorated and filled duffle bags called sweet cases for foster children. Participants filled the sweet cases with blankets, teddy bears, toothpaste, and other personal items. Sweet cases ensure foster children do not have to carry their possessions in a trash bag to a new home.12:30 p.m.2:30 p.m., 200 Pinewood Lane, Suite 100, Warrendale, PA 15086

Participants at the Wilkes-Barre office made scarves for homeless people. Scarves will be donated to a local nonprofit organization at a later date.1:00 p.m.3:00 p.m., 40 East Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701

The Allentown, Erie, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh-South Side offices collected donations of food, clothing, and household items to impact children in need and homeless people.

Families will volunteer at the Altoona Children's Museum alongside State College office staff tomorrow.

"PA Cyber staff and students were excited for the opportunity to give back and make a small difference in the lives of others through our MLK Day of Service project," said Howard Hiester, representative of the Harrisburg office.

About PA Cyber

Serving students in kindergarten through 12th grade, the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School is one of the largest, most experienced, and most successful online public schools in the nation. PA Cyber's online learning environments, personalized instructional methods, and curricula choices connect Pennsylvania students and families with state-certified and highly qualified teachers and rich academic content aligned to state standards. Founded in 2000, PA Cyber is headquartered in Midland (Beaver County) and maintains a network of support offices throughout the state. As a public school, PA Cyber is open for enrollment to any school-age child residing in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and does not charge tuition to students or families.

Media Contact: Jennie Harris[email protected]724-313-5842

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SOURCE The Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School (PA Cyber)
By constructing a fiber path connecting New York University to Qunnect's GothamQ networking testbed at Brooklyn Navy Yard, the team aims to use this new pathway to demonstrate distribution of entanglement to a specific destination.

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Qunnect, an industry leader in quantum-secure networking technology designed for scalable deployment on existing telecom fiber infrastructure, today announced the construction of a new fiber loop that expands its quantum networking testbed, GothamQ, from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Connecting New York University (NYU) to the Navy Yard, Qunnect is poised to unlock quantum internet capabilities for customers in financial services, critical infrastructure, and telecom in the New York metropolitan area.

GothamQ is laying the foundation for the Quantum Internet

"Only several months after our Series A announcement, we are thrilled to be expanding our state-of-the-art testbed in the US, bringing our quantum internet product suite to new and prospective customers as they begin to test our technologies right in the backyard of one of the largest corporate and financial epicenters in the world," explains CEO Dr. Noel Goddard. "Through this partnership with the Center for Quantum Information Physics (CQIP) at New York University Arts & Science (NYU), we are very proud to be collaborating with the university, and integral educational partners like SandboxAQ, to help enrich the understanding of quantum communication networks on our collective mission to stimulate industrial innovation."

Once its first generation metropolitan product suite is complete in mid-2023, Qunnect's first-in-class solutions will fully support real-world scalability, designed to be operational at room temperature - rather than fragile, climate-controlled laboratory settings - and uniquely deployable in crowded, urban environments, unphased by challenging city conditions, like the densely-packed municipal infrastructure that makes up New York's five borough system.

"This is our second stop on the path to something very scalable," mentions Dr. Mehdi Namazi, Qunnect's CSO. "We are connecting our testbed to NYU with the goal of showcasing protocols and technologies that will eventually be used by a wide cross-section of customers and partners within the Manhattan borough and across New York City. This is a first critical step towards Qunnect providing 'entanglement as a service'-- quantum protocols that will allow our customers to have access to verified, fully secure entangled particles between their internal nodes with the option to freely expand their entanglement nodes with other partners in the city. And in the coming months, we'll be pleased to provide data insights from this milestone, specifically tied to polarization stabilization."

In collaboration with CQIP, Qunnect and SandboxAQ will develop a Quantum Information Science (QIS) curriculum and dedicated lab, built to utilize the GothamQ testbed and designed with a mission to spark a leading quantum workforce in New York City.

"When you see a technology that is maturing this fast from fundamental physics, building industry-academic partnerships are a key in training a skilled quantum workforce," notes Javad Shabani, NYU Arts & Science physicist and CQIP Director. "The center is partnered with Qunnect to help take this technology to the next level and ensure its long-term success in New York City. We are building a creative collaboration whereby the educational and research environment can be used to develop a better understanding of quantum communication networks. Through this joint initiative, CQIP has a strong quantum materials program that will be employed to study the key industry needs to push the boundaries of quantum communication components."

NYU has had one of the fastest growing research portfolios among US universities over the past decade. With over $1B invested into research annually, in areas ranging from artificial intelligence to strategies to reduce inequality, quantum technologies have emerged as a priority area for research and education.

About Qunnect

Qunnect innovates and commercializes the core technologies needed for scalable quantum-safe communication. In 2021, the company commercialized the world's first quantum memory. The memory serves as the cornerstone to Qunnect's Quantum Repeater product suite, an integrated solution for long distance distribution of entanglement across existing telecommunications infrastructure. The company is headquartered in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. Qunnect recently announced its Series A financing in a round led by Airbus Ventures and is grateful for research support from the US Department of Energy, the US Air Force and the National Science Foundation.

Contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE Qunnect
Accounting and Finance Professionals Benefit From Modernized, Digital Approach to Revenue Recognition and Audit Firms Can Now Accelerate Test of Details Process

NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Trullion, the leading accounting automation platform, today announced the availability of two new modules, Revenue by Trullion and Audit by Trullion, for early adopter companies and firms. The launch comes atop the rapid adoption of Trullion's lease accounting module, the only AI-powered tool for ASC 842 and IFRS 16 compliance.

Revenue by Trullion provides a new way to accelerate the ASC 606 and IFRS 15 adoption process by synchronizing CRM, billing, and contract data into a single platform for internal and external stakeholders. Powered by AI, the workflow generates ERP entries, Disclosure Reports, and advanced reporting. The module is currently accessible for companies leveraging Salesforce CRM and Netsuite ERP and available in selected verticals, such as software.

Audit by Trullion - now introduces a new workflow to accelerate the test of details, within its broader suite of audit automation solutions currently on the market. Trullion's Test of Details functionality leverages AI, allowing auditors to extract ERP/General Ledger (GL) files and instantly validate against their source data, such as invoices, PDFs, and other client sources.

"The accounting world has incredible opportunities for innovation, and the current trends in AI and automation are making it increasingly accessible in 2023. The 300+ companies and firms who adopted Trullion last year were not just looking for lease accounting - they were looking for an accounting technology partner," said Isaac Heller, CEO of Trullion. "We're excited to get Revenue by Trullion in the hands of our early CFO and controller adopters, and at the same time provide a valuable new test of details workflow for our audit clients."

Revenue by Trullion is available to existing customers and to other companies via Trullion's partner network of over 100 audit & advisory firms. The Audit Test of Details workflow is now available to firms currently leveraging Audit by Trullion.

Trullion, which has a presence in New York and Tel Aviv, is coming off the heels of a big 2022, with rapid customer adoption, a financing round led by Aleph & Third Point, and the expansion of the New York offices. The company currently works with major Big Four and regional accounting firms, and organizations from pre-IPO tech companies to multinational Fortune 500s. Trullion supports U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), with customers across five continents.

About Trullion

Trullion is an AI-powered accounting platform that automates financial workflows for CFOs, accountants, and auditors to increase efficiency, prevent costly oversights, and drive collaboration. Established in 2019, Trullion is headquartered in New York, NY with offices in Tel Aviv and has secured funding from Aleph, Third Point Ventures, Greycroft, and financial executives from SAP, Ernst & Young, AirBnB, and Dropbox. To learn more about Trullion, visit www.trullion.com.

Media Contact: DeeDee Rudenstein, [email protected]

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SOURCE Trullion
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 6-K

Report of Foreign Private Issuer

Pursuant to Rule 13a-16 or 15d-16 of the

Securities Excha nge Act of 1934

For the month of January, 2023

Commission File Number: 1-16269

AMERICA MOVIL, S.A.B. DE C.V.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

America Mobile

(Translation of Registrants name into English)

Lago Zurich 245

Plaza Carso / Edificio Telcel

Colonia Ampliacion Granada

Alcaldia Miguel Hidalgo,

11529, Mexico City, Mexico



(Address of principal executive office)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports

under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F.

Form 20-F ___X___ Form 40-F _______

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is submitting this 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 this Form 6-K in paper as

permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7):

Yes _______ No ___X____



Indicate by check mark whether the registrant by furnishing the information contained in this Form 6-K 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____





Telmex reaches an agreement with its labor union

Mexico City, January 16, 2023. America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. (" AMX ") [BMV: AMX] [NYSE: AMX | AMOV] announces that, after extensive dialogue, its subsidiary Telefonos de Mexico, S.A.B. de C.V. ( Telmex ) and its labor union (Sindicato de Telefonistas de la Republica Mexicana) reached a constructive agreement on retirement conditions (pensions) applicable from January 2023 to Telmexs newly hired personnel.

The new agreement reduces the maximum retirement benefit from 80% to 60% of the employees last salary, as integrated with certain benefits. Employees with 35 years of service and at least 65 years old will have the retirement benefits under the new agreement. Unlike the current agreement, that allows retirement after 35 years of service without an age requirement, the only exception under the new agreement to retire before 65 years old is for employees at least 60 years old and with 37 or more years of service.

Additionally, the new agreement allows Telmexs active and retired employees to convert part of their pension liability into shares representing Telmexs capital stock. This is an optional stock plan. So that employees participating in the stock option plan receive Telmexs shares with equal rights as those of Telmexs current shareholders, Telmex will unify its current series of shares into a single series, exclusively made by ordinary and full voting rights shares. This process requires certain corporate and regulatory prior approvals.

With the new agreement, Telmex will continue its important investment program in infrastructure through which, in recent years, it has achieved substantial penetration in high-capacity fiber, and will continue offering to its clients the best services in the best conditions.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of AMX and its management with respect to its performance, business and future events. We use words such as believe, anticipate, plan, expect, intend, target, estimate, project, predict, forecast, guideline, should and other similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, but they are not the only way we identify such statements. Such statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in this release. AMX is under no obligation and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Date: January 16, 2023
UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):

CLS HOLDINGS USA, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Nevada 000-55546 45-1352286 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.)

1800 S. Industrial Road suite 100 Las Vegas , Nevada 89102 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrants telephone number, including area code: (416) 992-4539

Not Applicable

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)  Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)  Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))  Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None .

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (Section 230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Section 240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. 

Item 7.01 Regulation FD Disclosure.

Attached as Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report is a CLS Holdings USA Inc. Shareholder Announcement (Announcement) providing information to the Shareholders about the Company. The Company has also posted the Announcement in the News & Media Presentations section of its website at www.clsholdingsinc.com. The Company does not intend to file any update to its Announcement and the fact that the Announcement is being furnished should not be deemed an admission as to the materiality of any information contained in the presentation.

As provided in General Instructions B.2 of SEC Form 8-K, such information shall not be deemed filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act), or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section, and it shall not be deemed incorporated by reference in any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or under the Exchange Act, whether made before or after the date hereof, except as expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing to this Current Report on Form 8-K.

Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits

(d) Exhibits

Exhibit No. Description 99.1 CLS Holdings Shareholder Announcement January 2023 104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101)

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.

CLS HOLDINGS USA, INC. Date: January 17, 2023 By: /s/ Andrew Glashow Andrew Glashow Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board
The only U.S. Air Force base in Germany with fighter jets is loaning some of its air combat power to Okinawa, where older aircraft are gradually being phased out and returned to the United States.

A contingent of F-16CM Fighting Falcons and airmen from the 52nd Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem Air Base arrived in Japan on Monday, the Air Force said.

Theyll support operations at Kadena Air Base and the western Pacific region alongside F-22s that arrived earlier from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. About a dozen Raptors have been deployed to Okinawa since Nov. 4.

The Air Force didnt say how many F-16s deployed from Spangdahlem nor how long theyll stay on Okinawa. Within Europe, the service also bases fighter jets in England and Italy.

We are excited to be here supporting our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region, Lt. Col. Shaun Loomis, 480th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander, said in a statement. We look forward to training and operating in this uniquely complex and strategically vital region.

The first group of F-15 Eagles to permanently depart Kadena left in early December, bound for use by the National Guard or storage in the Air Force boneyard.

The Air Force in October announced plans to replace the two units of F-15 Eagles positioned on Okinawa  the 44th and 67th Fighter Squadrons  with rotating units of advanced Raptor stealth fighters for the foreseeable future.

The phaseout of the 48 Eagle fighters based on Okinawa for 43 years is supposed to take place over two years with no gaps in fighter coverage, the Air Force has said.

The move to temporarily relocate fighters from Europe comes amid Russias full-scale war in Ukraine and U.S. moves to reassure allies in Europe. But the Asia-Pacific region also is a hotspot due to elevated tensions between China and Taiwan.

The Spangdahlem F-16s will help Kadena deter and, if necessary, prevail over acts of aggression that threaten peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, the Air Force said.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  U.S. troops drilled for the first time with a new South Korean army brigade created to test new weapons and tactics.

More than 800 soldiers from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division and the South Korean Tiger Demonstration Brigade wrapped up a two-week exercise on Sunday at the Mugeonri Training Field in Paju, roughly 15 miles north of Seoul, according to a news release Tuesday from the Ministry of National Defense.

The Tiger brigade was established in June to test new warfare concepts and equipment, such as unmanned vehicles, military officials told reporters in Seoul last year.

The brigade was equipped with K808 White Tiger infantry fighting vehicles, surveillance drones and the AT-1K Raybolt antitank guided missile, according to the ministrys news release.

The Armys 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., arrived in South Korea in October for a roughly nine-month deployment with 2nd ID. The brigade replaced the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team after the Army opted to use the more mobile Strykers in South Korea, rather than tracked vehicles like the M1A2 Abrams tank.

Photos of the exercise released by the ministry showed the Armys eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles operating in the mountainous terrain.

The Stryker brigade on Jan. 10 conducted its first live-fire exercise in South Korea using mounted, remote-controlled MK-19 grenade launchers and M-2 Browning machine guns.

The joint exercise boosted the combined fighting power of the U.S. and South Korea through the sharing of military techniques, South Korean army Lt. Col. Lee Jae Yong, the training commander, said in the release.

According to the ministry, the exercise enhances the South Korea-U.S. military alliance and shares combat skills among the troops amid threats from North Korea.

North Korea tested its first missile of the year on Jan. 1 after firing around 75 missiles on 36 separate days last year.

In a situation where we are in need of firmer [South Korea]-U.S. joint readiness defense posture due to North Koreas recent consecutive provocations, this exercise has been planned in order to improve capabilities , the National Defense Ministry said.

The exercise was one of many planned by the U.S. and South Korean military this year. The two allied forces may train together in about 20 large-scale drills by June, according to a budget proposal submitted Jan. 11 to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Its right for South Korea and the United States to cooperate because both of us are exposed to the North Korean nuclear threat, Yoon said in a report that day by The Associated Press.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Roughly 100 Ukrainian troops have arrived in the United States to begin training on how to operate and maintain the Patriot missile system to help Ukraine fight off Russian aerial attacks, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the top Pentagon spokesman, said last week that it was decided the Ukrainian troops would train at the Armys Fort Sill in Oklahoma, which is where American service members also train to use the Patriot system.

Those troops have arrived at Fort Sill and have begun their training, Ryder told reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon. That training will last for several months.

Fort Sill is about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City near the town of Lawton. Built in 1869, the base is home to the Armys Air Defense Artillery School and Field Artillery School.

The Pentagon said last month that it was sending one Patriot battery to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks, some of which have targeted civilian infrastructure. Germany also promised to send one of their Patriot systems and recent reports have said the Netherlands might also send one of theirs.

Ryder said 100 troops are needed to operate the missile system, and there are presently no plans to bring a second group of Ukrainian troops to Fort Sill to train on the Patriot system. He said German military officials will be the ones to train the Ukrainians how to use its Patriot battery.

U.S. personnel have already been training Ukrainian troops in Germany to handle other military equipment, and the Pentagon previously promised to create the Security Assistance Group Ukraine in Germany to handle weapons shipments and personnel training for the Ukrainian military. The Pentagon began expanding the training there this week to include Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

Defense Department officials have said the Patriot system will give Ukraine critical long-range capability to defend its airspace. The surface-to-air missile system was added to the U.S. arsenal in the 1980s and is available in several variants. The Patriot is the primary missile system used by the Army, and various versions have been sold to other countries including Germany, Poland and Israel.

The Pentagons announcement Tuesday came on the same day that Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for the first time with his Ukrainian counterpart in southeastern Poland near its border with Ukraine.

Army Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, said the general met with Ukrainian Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi at an undisclosed Polish base, and both felt that it was important to meet face to face.

Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will travel to Germany this week to participate in a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group  a collection of defense officials from about 50 nations that work to assess what Ukraine needs to defend itself from Russian forces.
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa  Two U.S. service members could face charges in recent incidents of alleged drunken driving, one involving injuries, according to Japanese police.

On Thursday, police in Uruma city arrested a sailor assigned to White Beach Naval Facility for allegedly driving in the wrong lane and colliding head-on with another vehicle, a police spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Tuesday.

The sailor, age 20, and two local high school students, both 18, in the other vehicle were treated at local hospitals for minor injuries, the spokesman said. He would not identify the sailor because he was released to receive medical treatment.

A witness phoned police at 10:52 p.m. Thursday to report a white Mitsubishi Mirage driving in the wrong direction on the Kaichu Road bridge between Henza and Okinawa, the spokesman said. He said police arrived six minutes later to find the Mirage and another light automobile wrecked at the scene.

The male Japanese driver suffered a bruised knee; the female passengers back and armpit were bruised, the spokesman said.

He said the sailors blood alcohol content measured 0.09% on a breath test, or three times the 0.03% legal limit in Japan. The sailor was treated at U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa on Camp Foster for unspecified injuries, the spokesman said.

Some government officials in Japan are required to speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.

At 11 p.m. Saturday, police in Ginowan arrested Army Sgt. Antonio Aden, 26, of the 10th Support Group, Torii Station, after he allegedly rear-ended a motorcycle, an Okinawa prefectural police spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone on Tuesday.

The spokesman said Aden struck the motorcycle on a backroad in the Oyama district, where it had stopped for another vehicle. No injuries were reported.

Adens blood-alcohol content measured 0.12%, four times Japans legal limit, the spokesman said. He said Aden initially denied the allegation, saying he drank only two beers.

The soldier was released Monday and his case was forwarded to prosecutors, the spokesman said.

The incident is under investigation, 10th Support Group spokesman Maj. Richard Barker told Stars and Stripes in an email Tuesday.

Aden and the unidentified sailor may be charged under Japans Road Traffic Act; the sailor could face an additional charge of injuring others while driving.
NAPLES, Italy  Military families suffering a miscarriage while stationed at the Navys base in Naples no longer have to endure the loss alone.

A new program aims to fill the information gap when a woman is told a pregnancy isnt viable and to provide any needed emotional support.

Like other military bases and hospitals, Naval Support Activity Naples has long offered bereavement help to families upon the death of a baby or child.

But Emily Mitalas, a visiting nurse with the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, said she is unaware of any similar efforts to help patients who have either experienced a miscarriage or must go through a medical procedure to ensure the mothers safety.

I can be the eyes and ears in the home setting for the doctor, said Mitalas, who can be there during the process and coordinate post-miscarriage care.

Hospital workers may have only a brief interaction with a patient experiencing a miscarriage, which doesnt necessarily require additional appointments, said Lt. Cmdr. Shauna Ralston, division officer and manager of the hospitals OBGYN clinic.

But Mitalas can build relationships with patients who also may be experiencing emotional or mental trauma, Ralston said.

We medically take care of them, but for them to be able to have someone to make that connection.  It's a very good link and bridge for the patients, Ralston said.

As many as half of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, according to the March of Dimes, a nonprofit organization that promotes the health of mothers and babies.

Of women who know they are pregnant, about 10% to 15% experience a miscarriage, most often in the first 12 weeks. About 1% to 5% of pregnancies result in a miscarriage between 13 and 19 weeks, the March of Dimes says.

Most of those women go on to have healthy, successful pregnancies, but some experience repeated miscarriages.

There were 4,030 U.S. service women who experienced an ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage or had an abortion in 2021, according to the Defense Health Agencys June 2022 Medical Surveillance Monthly Report.

Those numbers dont surprise Mitalas, who experienced five miscarriages herself and knows the feelings of isolation and grief families can experience.

Through her nursing job visiting new mothers and other patients near NSA Naples, she learned that those feelings may be intensified by an overseas assignment. Family members and friends who normally would step in with information, advice and support arent available, Mitalas said.

I cant even imagine  how unbelievably hard that must be, she said.

That realization is what spurred Mitalas to start the program.

Women who are told by their doctor their pregnancy isnt viable can be given the option to contact Mitalas.

The support the patients receive is largely up to them. Some may opt for a single phone call, while others may want multiple in-person meetings.

Mitalas also can help families if they are receiving medical care outside of the military system, she said.

Since starting the program last spring, Mitalas has worked with two patients, both of whom miscarried after the first trimester. An outreach effort to educate more medical workers and others about the program should result in more families using the service, Mitalas said.

For Mitalas, the chance to help women and their families is healing.

She said she experienced some of her darkest days during repeated miscarriages. Now she is the mother of an adopted son and two daughters she had naturally.

(I just want them to know) that its going to be OK even though it doesnt feel like its going to be OK, Mitalas said. It does end up being OK no matter the outcome.
Two Navy pilots were treated for possible injuries Tuesday after ejecting from a training aircraft that crashed in southeastern Alabama.

The pilots ejected from a T-6B Texan II, a fixed-wing training aircraft, at about 10:50 a.m. The aircraft was assigned to Training Air Wing 5 at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., and crashed near Barin Naval Outlying Field near the town of Foley, Ala., according to Julie Ziegenhorn, spokeswoman for Whiting Field.

The two locations are about 60 miles apart.

Medical personnel were treating the pilots to assess potential injuries, she said. No other injuries were reported.

The cause of the incident is under investigation, Ziegenhorn said.

NAS Whiting Field has 10 active training fields with three separate and fully operational airfields, according to the base. It provides about 60% of all primary flight training for the Navy and all initial helicopter training for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
A Chinese aircraft carrier held live-fire exercises in the South China Sea on Saturday, two days after a U.S. carrier strike group arrived in the region, according to Chinese and U.S. sources.

The Chinese carrier Shandong conducted target practice, J-15 jet fighter flight operations and damage control exercises, according to a news release Monday from the official China Military Online.

On Thursday, the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group entered the South China Sea for the first time on its 2022-23 deployment and carried out several exercises, including maritime strike training, and anti-submarine and flight operations, according to a U.S. 7th Fleet news release Friday.

There was no immediate indication that the ships were in proximity to each other.

The 7th Fleet routinely deploys warships to the region for training and other operations.

The Shandong, Chinas first domestically built aircraft carrier, was accompanied by a Type 055 stealth guided-missile destroyer and three other guided-missile destroyers, the South China Morning Post reported Monday.

The Nimitz, homeported in Bremerton, Wash., was accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill and guided-missile destroyers USS Decatur, USS Chung Hoon and USS Wayne E. Meyer, 7th Fleet said Friday.

Two Chinese ships reportedly began shadowing the strike group within a day of its arrival, CNN reported on Friday, citing an unnamed defense official.

A spokesperson for 7th Fleet did not respond to calls or emails requesting confirmation of the report and other questions.

The two carriers operations coincided with the conclusion of the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee, or 2+2 meeting, between State Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada.

Blinken said both countries agree that Beijing is the greatest shared strategic challenge they face, according to a White House readout of the meeting. Hayashi echoed Blinken, adding that Chinas challenge is unprecedented.

The Shandong's exercises follow a series of naval drills by China last week, including large-scale combat strike exercises Jan. 9 in the Taiwan Strait. During those exercises, Chinese forces sent 57 aircraft and four ships into the strait toward Taiwan, according to a statement Monday from Taiwans Ministry of National Defense.
WASHINGTON  U.S. armed forces could increase troop safety, improve readiness and save money in the long term by swapping out paper hydraulic filters in military planes and helicopters for metal ones, according to some experts who have studied the equipment.

For decades, military aircraft have used paper hydraulic filters made with glass fiber or cellulose media. The purpose of the filters is to remove contamination particles from hydraulic fluid, which is the life blood of all planes and helicopters that allows pilots to move flight controls such as flaps, elevators and ailerons.

While the Pentagon generally has had no serious issues with the paper legacy filters, some experts say there is a safer and more efficient option  filters with stainless steel media that do a better job of cleaning the vital mechanical fluid.

The metal filters

The robust metal media filters, as theyre called, have been studied for decades and the Army began using them about 15 years ago. So far, data shows they have brought some benefits and improvements compared to the paper filters.

It's incredibly successful, said Matthew Boenker, president of Boenker Aerospace and a principal civilian engineer in the Army who helped persuade the service to begin using them.

Boenker said the Army began to move toward the metal filters after a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crashed in Texas in the late 1990s. Investigators later stressed to the Army and Boeing, the maker of the Chinooks, the importance of hydraulic fluid maintenance and its cleanliness in aircraft systems. About a decade later, the Army began shifting to the metal filters.

Since the switch, the metal filters in Army aircraft have helped to reduce component failures ten-fold, according to Army data. Further, Boenker said there was a dramatic drop in hydraulic pump failures  from almost 300 with the legacy filters to just 25 with the metal ones  during 36,000 flight hours in operation.

Jeffrey Mothersbaugh  an application engineer at the steel-wire manufacturing company Bekaert, which makes the media part of the metal filters  said the newer ones can be qualified for many vehicles, including planes, helicopters, nuclear submarines and ground vehicles.

Mothersbaugh said sometimes dirty paper filters can stay in an aircraft for years before the indicator finally pops up and alerts technicians that they need to be replaced. During that time, he said, contaminants and particulate matter can cycle around and around in the hydraulic system as theyre caught by the paper filter and re-released into the fluid when theyre dislodged by aerodynamic forces. The metal filters hold onto the particles better, Mothersbaugh said.

How clean is clean enough?

While the Army has been using metal filters, the other branches are studying the differences to determine whether they should switch too.

When it comes to cost, the legacy filters are less expensive and typically go for less than $100. The metal varieties cost hundreds of dollars each. That means switching filters could save the military money over time, but the initial cost would be significantly higher with the robust filters.

Is it worth it? Experts in the other services are studying that question.

We are envious of those results [in the Army], said Robert Ware, a structural failure analyst with the Air Force Research Laboratory who has studied the issue. We were a little bit skeptical and wanted to verify some of them independently.

Ware said the Air Force recently conducted a side-by-side comparison of the paper and metal filters at an independent test house in North Carolina. That data, he said, would certainly be part of any discussion about changing filters in the Air Force.

One of the last things you want to do is switch over lock, stock and barrel so quickly that you leave yourself vulnerable to new issues you didnt know about, he added.

One of the big questions with [the hydraulic fluid] is, how clean is clean enough? asked Matthew Bozzuto, a mechanical equipment and subsystems integrity program tech expert at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. Because theres a cost to it. Theres a cost to the filters, theres a cost to qualifying components for aircraft to use them, the testing thats involved.

If the paper filters already clean hydraulic fluid to an acceptable level, is it worth the extra cost to move over to the metal filters?

Cleaner is better, but theres probably a point of diminishing return there somewhere, Bozzuto said.

Some of the longer-term savings will come in maintenance costs, Boenker and Mothersbaugh said. For example, the Army is saving more than $4 million in maintenance costs for every 100 flight hours with the metal filters, they said.

I hope things really get moving

Nearing retirement after almost 40 years as a civilian engineer in the Army, Boenker suggested part of the reason why all the branches havent made the switch to metal filters could be economic. Maintenance in the military involves a lot of money and employs a lot of people, he said, so switching to a more reliable filter might make a large impact in that area. Its an opinion that Ware said is probably true  at least to a small degree.

Some of the depot commodity folks are trying to keep units on the shelf without necessarily going after the cause of why they came to the shelf in the first place, he said. They are rewarded for a certain metric that may not be  whats best for the service, for the operator, for the taxpayer.

I dont think its all just cynicism, Bozzuto added. If the benefits are there, [the metal filters] are going to be used. I think everybody is cautiously optimistic more than they are having their mind already made up.

Another reason why the other branches havent switched might be because some key people in the decision-making process simply are unaware of the data. Making the change to metal filters would involve a lot of people and a lot of departments in the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.

Boenker said the Pentagon should revisit its filtration standard and officially recommend the metal filters in all vehicles where they make the greatest difference. The Pentagons filtration specification, for the most part, is totally obsolete and worthless, he said.

Mothersbaugh said he was hopeful that the Air Forces comparison tests on both filters in North Carolina would make some progress on the issue.

I hope things really get moving because of that, finally, he said.
WASHINGTON  Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has scheduled a trip to the Indo-Pacific region in a move to strengthen relations with key allies in the face of growing influence from regional powers China and North Korea, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagons top spokesman, told reporters that Austin will travel to South Korea and the Philippines in the coming weeks.

Ryder didnt specify the travel dates, but he said the trip is a calculated move to bolster defense partnerships with both countries.

This upcoming trip is a reaffirmation of our deep commitment to working in concert with allies and partners to chart our shared vision to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific, Ryder said.

The Defense Department, White House and other branches of President Joe Bidens administration have underscored the importance of supporting U.S. allies in the region  particularly with China continuing to assert control over parts of the South China Sea and North Korea carrying out missile tests. Additionally, Beijing continues to claim ownership of Taiwan and has sought new relationships in the Indo-Pacific.

For example, China caused some alarm last year when it struck a new security agreement with the Solomon Islands, an island nation that lies not far off the coasts of northeast Australia and Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific.

Austins trip to the Korean Peninsula and the Philippines follows other actions that the U.S. has taken recently to broaden allied support in the Indo-Pacific. Washington and Seoul, for example, are reportedly planning an extended deterrence exercise next month to counter a possible North Korean nuclear attack.

South Korean defense minister Lee Jong-sup told reporters last week the exercises would take place in February  and both countries will conduct more drills in May. Further, Seoul announced Tuesday that American troops have drilled for the first time with a new South Korean army brigade that tests new warfare concepts and equipment, such as unmanned vehicles.

Hundreds of troops from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division drilled with Seouls Tiger Demonstration Brigade and completed their two-week exercise Sunday.

Austin, who welcomed Lee to the Pentagon for bilateral talks in November, previously visited Seoul in March 2021 and the Philippines in July of that year.

Last week, Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed their Japanese counterparts to Washington to announce a deeper partnership thats also intended to bring stability to the Indo-Pacific region. Austin, Blinken, Japanese defense minister Yasukazu Hamada and Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said the purpose of the pact is to counter potential Chinese and North Korean threats.
Saudi Arabia is not known for a space program. Its space agency is barely 4 years old. It has never launched a rocket and claims a single astronaut: Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family who flew on the space shuttle in 1985.

But the kingdom has signed on to NASAs moon program, a quest to explore the lunar surface as well as a massive diplomatic effort led by the United States to create a broad international coalition in space, even with countries with little or no experience outside Earths atmosphere  or, as in the case of Saudi Arabia, countries whose relations with the United States are strained. More than 20 countries have signed on to what NASA calls the Artemis Accords, a legal framework that establishes rules for the peaceful use of space and governs behavior on the surface of the moon.

The accords are perhaps the most ambitious international space policy effort since the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. They would require countries to adhere to a set of rules, such as publicly sharing scientific discoveries and creating safety zones where nations could work undisturbed on the lunar surface.

But the accords are designed to do far more. They are intended to foster an alliance in space that would allow the United States to finally return to the moon and create an enduring presence there  a key step in what some consider to be a space race with China. In conjunction with the State Department, NASA has sought to create a broad coalition under the accords, with traditional allies such as Canada and France, as well as countries seeking to build their space programs, such as the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria and Rwanda.

The reaction from the international community was palpable  the excitement, the hope for the reengagement for the U.S. to again lead, said Mike Gold, a space industry official who was one of the key framers of the accords at NASA. Our partners dont want to work with the Chinese, by and large, but if America fails to lead, theyll have no other choice.

In the past several years, more countries have developed space programs, striking out deeper into the cosmos. Israel and India tried in 2019 to land spacecraft on the moon. Last August, South Korea sent a spacecraft that reached lunar orbit in December. And late last year, ispace, a Japanese company, launched a lunar lander toward the moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

But the country that is of greatest interest  and concern  to the United States is China, which has begun to erode the technological lead that Americans have held for decades. In 2019, China landed a spacecraft on the far side of the moon, a historic first. In 2021, it landed a rover on Mars, becoming the only country besides the United States to successfully deploy a vehicle on the Red Planet. It also has assembled a space station of its own in Earth orbit at a time when the International Space Station is aging, and the relationship between the United States and Russia, the two main partners on the ISS, grew tense as a result of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

If the Cold War space race of the 1960s required a military like effort to muster the resources to beat the Soviet Union to the moon, the race of today is more of a soft-power endeavor designed to gather allies and create rules for the peaceful use of space. (The fact that NASA would partner with Saudi Arabia, which the U.S. government has blamed for the 2018 killing of Washington Post contributing columnist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, is evidence of how expansive Washington wants the coalition to be, NASA officials have said.)

Todays space race is also far more dynamic than the one that took place 50 years ago. Instead of just reaching the moon, the United States and China want to mine it, laying claim to the water that exists in the form of ice and other precious resources, such as metals and even oxygen stored in the lunar regolith.

During the Trump administration, Chinas space ambitions were a rallying cry to galvanize NASA  and Congress  to move with greater urgency. In calling for NASA to significantly accelerate its return to the moon, Vice President Mike Pence said in a 2019 speech that the United States was in a race with China, casting it as a reprise of the space race against the Soviet Union to the moon. He said that Chinas goal was to seize the lunar strategic high ground and become the worlds preeminent spacefaring nation.

After President Donald Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, there was widespread concern in the space community that the new administration would kill the Artemis program. Instead, the Biden White House embraced it, making it the first lunar human exploration campaign to survive successive administrations since the Apollo era.

It has also echoed the Trump administrations hawkish rhetoric about China. Bill Nelson, who was made the NASA administrator by President Biden, has called China a very aggressive competitor and recently issued a warning: Watch the Chinese. NASA is effectively barred from partnering with China in space by a 2011 law that was passed because of fears that it would steal U.S. technology.

In an interview, Pam Melroy, the deputy NASA administrator and a former astronaut, said she was concerned about how China and others might act on the moon, particularly when extracting resources, such as water ice. Does it make me nervous? she said. Yes, especially with China.

That, she said, is one of the reasons why the Artemis Accords are so very important. Just having a partnership so that we are transparent and clear and everybody has an understanding of what we are trying to achieve.

Signatories to the accords agree, for example, to help provide emergency assistance in the case of an injured astronaut. They would also agree to protect historic sites, such as the Apollo 11 landing area. They would also pledge to be transparent about their plans for space and share scientific data.

The accords would allow countries or companies to create safety zones so they could work to extract resources without interference, which will be critical if multiple nations are vying for the same resource in the same place  like at the lunar south pole, where both NASA and China are interested in going.

An international coalition would also help efforts to create rules of the road in the now largely lawless expanse of space, which is becoming increasingly polluted with debris that threatens sensitive satellites and even the ISS. The situation got even worse last year when Russia blew up a dead satellite, scattering hundreds of pieces of debris and forcing NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts to put on their spacesuits and take shelter inside their spacecraft in case the station was struck.

We and the other original signatories of the Artemis Accords came together to think about that next era of space exploration and make sure that it was being implemented in accordance with the fundamental principles of responsible behavior, Melroy said late last year at an event celebrating the accords.

With so many nations agreeing to a set of rules, China and Russia now have a precedent to cope with, and theres pressure to articulate how they are going to implement their international obligations, Gold said.

NASA has grown increasingly frustrated with China launching rockets, only to have their first stages fall uncontrollably back to Earth. That is against the norm  typically rockets fall into the ocean, or return with a soft landing, as SpaceXs Falcon 9 does  and it is potentially threatening to populated areas.

It is critical that all spacefaring nations are responsible and transparent in their space activities and follow established best practices, especially, for the uncontrolled reentry of a large rocket body debris  debris that could very well result in major damage or loss of life, Nelson said in a statement in November.

The accords also offer another potential benefit: To make it more difficult for future presidential administrations to kill the Artemis program, a trend that has plagued NASAs deep space exploration efforts for decades. That was the thought of the architects of the accords, and it proved true after the Biden administration picked up where Trumps left off, keeping the program and continuing to recruit other nations to join. Now more than 20 have signed, including Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Israel and Singapore, creating a broad coalition embraced by Republicans and Democrats.

Sustainability was a key reason that the Artemis Accords are so important, Gold said. If you look at NASAs past efforts, failure at creating a beyond-low-Earth orbit human exploration mission wasnt just an option, it was a certainty. Thats in stark contrast to the International Space Station, which has been the crown jewel of global human spaceflight for decades. There were two reasons for that. First, because it was international, it enjoyed global support and cooperation. Second was bipartisanship within Congress.

If the partnership on the space station shows how collaboration among nations can further exploration and diplomatic ties, it also demonstrates how fragile such partnerships can be. Russia had threatened to pull out of the agreement, though it took no concrete steps to do so and its tough rhetoric was considered bluster by the United States. Still, NASA has been planning on how it would go it alone, looking to the private sector to build commercial stations that would replace the ISS.

Meanwhile, China is building a station of its own and preparing to send humans to the moon as well. Its progress in recent years has made it a true rival to the United States in space, and yet it has not agreed to any of the standards laid out in the accords.

That could lead to an awkward  and tense  scenario if the United States and China find themselves as next-door neighbors at the south pole of the moon. It is already a barren and forbidding location, but could be made more cold by frosty relations.
(Tribune News Service)  For more than 50 years, Navy pilot Royce Williams couldnt talk about his epic Korean War dogfight with seven Soviet fighter jets. Hed been sworn to secrecy because of Cold War sensitivities, and all mention of the battle was scrubbed from the official records.

Now the 97-year-old California resident is going to receive the Navy Cross, the second-highest award for combat valor. He said Friday afternoon that hes pleased to get the recognition.

My friends have been trying to get this for me for a long time, he said.

The ceremony is scheduled for Jan. 20 at noon at the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park.

The heroism and valor he demonstrated for 35 harrowing minutes 70 years ago in the skies over the North Pacific and the coast of North Korea saved the lives of his fellow pilots, shipmates, and crew, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa said in a statement Friday announcing the ceremony. His story is one for the ages, but is now being fully told.

Issa and the other members of San Diegos congressional delegation have been part of an effort, launched almost a decade ago, to get the Pentagon to acknowledge Williams exploits and to upgrade his Silver Star to something more appropriate.

Called Operation Just Reward, the campaign has been aimed at bringing Williams the Medal of Honor, the militarys top award. But the Navy Cross is a big step in the right direction, according to Steve Lewandowski, a Navy veteran and former commander of a local American Legion post.

For the first time, Royce is being officially recognized for that incredible air battle, Lewandowski said. That makes him happy. And it doesnt preclude him from getting the Medal of Honor later.

The upgrade was approved last month by U.S. Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.

Having reviewed the findings of now numerous investigations related to the case of Capt. Royce Williams, I have determined this case to be special and extraordinary, Del Toro said in a press release dated Dec. 22. His actions clearly distinguished himself during a high-risk mission and deserve proper recognition.

On Nov. 18, 1952, Williams was in a F9F-5 Panther jet patrolling the Yalu River, which separated North Korean and Soviet territories. The Soviets werent directly involved in the war, but they had planes in the sky, protecting their airspace.

Williams and three other Americans, also in Panthers, encountered seven hostile Soviet MiG-15s. The other U.S. planes were soon scattered by engine trouble and enemy fire, and Williams found himself in the dogfight alone. He shot down at least four of them before escaping to a U.S. aircraft carrier.

A lot of it was awareness of where they were and how I had to maneuver to avoid them, he told the Union-Tribune in an interview last year. They were taking turns. I decided if I concentrated on shooting them down, then Id become an easy target. So my initial goal was to look for defensive opportunities when they made mistakes.

When he landed, he counted 263 holes in his plane. He was uninjured.

Worried about drawing the Soviets into the Korean War, U.S. military commanders hushed any public mention of the battle. Williams got pats on the back  and shared a cocktail with President-elect Dwight Eisenhower  but was ordered not to tell anyone, not even his wife.

He served another 23 years in the Navy, including 110 flight missions over Vietnam.

In the early 2000s, U.S. records from the Korean War were declassified, and word of the dogfight spread, especially in military aviation circles.

A 2014 book by a Russian military historian mentions the encounter. It said that seven MiGs left a base in Vladivostik that morning, and only one returned. Four were shot down by a single U.S. aircraft, another was shot up and crashed, and the seventh plane was never found.

2023 The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Visit sandiegouniontribune.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(Tribune News Service)  Stephanie Gattas enlisted in the Navy at 18, excited to serve her country.

Eight years later, the young woman returned home to Texas, angry, combative and haunted after enduring sexual harassment and a sexual assault.

The perpetrators were her fellow sailors  some of whom held leadership roles.

Driven by her personal experience, Gattas in 2015 founded The Pink Berets , a nonprofit that helps women service members and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as mental and emotional trauma.

Sexual assault and harassment in the military is a chronic problem that often leads to lasting mental and physical issues for survivors. While the Department of Defense is taking steps to address the issue, support programs like The Pink Berets fill a crucial gap in serving service members and veterans searching for ways to heal.

Most of the women who have sought help from The Pink Berets are survivors of military sexual trauma, which involves any experience of sexual assault or harassment by a service member during their time of military service, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Medical data from the VA indicates the trauma can lead to PTSD, depression and other mood and substance use disorders.

Over 1 million outpatient visits took place at the VA for military sexual trauma related care in 2017, according to data compiled by Protect Our Defenders , a national nonprofit dedicated to reducing rape and sexual assault in the military.

On the outside, the majority of us dont look disabled, said Gattas, who lives in Boerne, near San Antonio. But when you really get to the root of what it is that were suffering from, and you get to the root of our trauma, and you get to the root of these invisible injuries, you really start to uncover exactly how much help is needed.

In 2005, the Defense Department established the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program to promote prevention, encourage increased reporting of sexual assaults and improve response capabilities for victims. Since then, the agency has released an annual report on sexual assault in the Armed Forces.

The latest report described sexual assault and harassment as persistent and corrosive problems across the military, with 8.4% of active duty women and 1.5% of active duty men experiencing an incident of unwanted sexual contact in the year prior to being surveyed. While the department says it has changed the metric used to measure sexual assault, the 2018 rates were 6.2% for women and 0.7% for men.

Rates of sexual harassment, gender discrimination and workplace hostility  behaviors linked to risk of sexual assault  increased for women throughout the active force compared to the 2018 findings.

And while LGBTQ service members represented only 12% of active duty members in 2018, they accounted for 43% of all sexually assaulted service members that year, according to data analyzed by the Rand Corp .

The problem is pervasive in Texas. A 2021 report from the Rand Corp found female soldiers at Army bases in the state face the highest risk of sexual assault and harassment compared to other posts.

The death of Army specialist Vanessa Guillen in 2020 sparked national outrage and increased awareness of the epidemic of sexual assault in the military. Guillens remains were found about 20 miles east of Fort Hood in Texas. Investigators believe she was bludgeoned to death by a fellow soldier.

While the Army initially said there was no evidence Guillen was sexually harassed, a U.S. Army investigation released a year after her death found Guillen did report being sexually harassed twice by a fellow soldier at Fort Hood. Officials failed to report the harassment up the chain of command, according to the report.

Findings in the Defense Departments latest report suggest an overall growth in an unhealthy military climate since fiscal year 2018. But while the government has resources in place for survivors, help remains scarce, Gattas said.

Serving her country

Gattas entered the Navy in 1994, with the intention of serving her country for life. Her first assignment was on the USS Simon Lake, a submarine tender traveling to aid combat ships. Sometimes, the crew would be on the water for more than 90 days.

Sexual harassment on the ship was rampant, Gattas said.

It was often this thing where it was kind of like the rite of passage, and I guess the norm, she said. She asked herself: Am I supposed to adapt and overcome this? Am I supposed to just allow them to speak to me a certain way? To make advances? To follow me? To stalk me?

Gattas said she was constantly in fight mode. She said she reported the harassment to leaders who said they would take care of it, but the environment only became more permissive. It was common for those in leadership to make advances, she said.

She and the other women would have to pass their tormentors in the long hallways connected by vestibule doors. Share meals in the galley. And work beside them.

When the ship docked, Gattas would go out with her friends. One night, after going out to drink, she was assaulted. She said she blamed herself: I should have never drank. I should have never allowed myself to let my guard down.

Instead of planning her career, she couldnt wait for her time in the military to be over. Challenging the status quo wasnt an option, she said.

Many active duty women face pressure not to report incidents of sexual harassment or assault because of retaliation and ostracism. An estimated 66% of service members who reported retaliation after filing a sexual assault complaint were women, according to data compiled by Protect Our Defenders.

Less than half of women perceived their leaders as acting in a fully supportive manner after they reported sexual harassment, according to the latest Defense Department report. About 7% of men and 21% of women said filing a sexual harassment complaint would be too risky.

After experiencing military sexual trauma, Gattas was diagnosed with moderate-to-severe PTSD and moderate-to-severe major depressive disorder.

She contemplated suicide.

Youre never the same when you leave the military, said Gattas, who is now 47. You have a traumatic experience and then you just dont feel whole again.

Military sexual trauma is compounded by the fact that the targets and the aggressors are supposed to protect one another and they are working toward a common goal.

The military is a culture  it has ideals, it has a history behind it, said Dr. Lewis Jeffery Lee, a retired Navy SEAL, licensed therapist and mental health chaplain based in San Diego, Calif. So when folks come into the military, generally they are trusting because of the high standards of discipline and ethical behaviors expected.

Soldiers and sailors are taught to rely on one another, to work as a team, to foster an environment of protection and respect. These fundamental principles define military life.

What happens when thats violated? Lee said. Its very devastating.

Survivors are at a higher risk of dying by suicide. Many survivors may also experience receptive moral injury, which occurs when ones morals or values are violated by the actions of someone they trust or look up to.

Military sexual trauma is more likely to result in PTSD than going into combat, according to the Office of the Inspector General.

A holistic path

The Pink Berets program helps women identify what triggered their PTSD, anxiety, depression or other mental health issues, whether it be related to combat or surviving a sexual assault.

The organization uses holistic approaches to help women find a path to heal. Equine, culinary and art therapies allow women to explore new skills and build confidence. Through offering a range of activities, the women are able to choose what tools help them heal best.

If you build an infrastructure that allows them to define what those building blocks look like, then you can help somebody with a fractured psyche become normal again, Gattas said.

Women can participate in the therapies for as long as they need. Veterans and volunteers oversee most of these activities, which are funded through private donors and sponsors. Some therapies take place with a private clinician, while culinary and art therapy take place at the Endeavors Veteran Wellness Center in San Antonio.

Clients can be referred from the VA, private therapists, social media and word of mouth. The Pink Berets group has ambassadors across the nation who spread awareness about the organization, which has served over 3,600 women through online and in-person programs.

The organizations programs are not one-size-fits-all, Gattas said. Some women evaluate the goals and actions of the organization for months before signing up.

When your moral code is violated, it can be hard to seek help from trusted family members, friends or colleagues, Lee said.

Those who need help have to show up and allow us to provide the tools necessary for them to grow, Gattas said. Trusting us to provide the environment is key.

Ayana Brown, a Navy veteran in San Antonio, said The Pink Berets program was very unique because of its emphasis on women with military sexual trauma symptoms.

Before, I had never heard of such a thing, I was just doing everything on my own, trying to figure it out, said Brown, who found The Pink Berets in 2017 after 12 years of coping with paranoia, hypervigilance, anxiety, depression and anger.

Brown said she was sexually assaulted twice while serving in the Navy. The first time, the assault was by her recruiter, before she got to boot camp.

Culinary therapy

Brown is a foodie, and the culinary classes are her favorite therapy. In her kitchen, you can find recipe cards for dishes like pear and goat cheese crostini, honey tamarind glazed baby-back ribs and boursin mashed potatoes.

She is eager to learn from the chefs, who are usually veterans using cooking as their therapy, too. Taking the time to prepare ingredients and learn different ways to cut vegetables gets her outside of her comfort zone and teaches her life lessons: the importance of stepping back and taking the time to prepare.

It was amazing to be in the room with that, to learn from that, to just be exposed to different things that I can do for myself to make me feel good, Brown said.

A few times, Browns husband joined her for the class. Gattas is intentional about hosting activities that include the womens families, because the issues that are affecting the women often impact the entire family.

Gattas introduced culinary therapy to The Pink Berets because it was something that helped her heal. To me, cooking was something that was very therapeutic, and it still is, she said.

Rebuilding trust

Brown still has physical pains that stem from the sexual assaults. She cant be in a room with the door closed with a male colleague  its one of her triggers. Shes still mending relationships that became collateral damage over years of living without support. But she no longer feels alone in her journey to heal, and shes rebuilding trust.

Gaining peoples trust is vital for healing, but its one of the biggest challenges the organization faces, Gattas said.

We have to give grace, she said. We have to understand that sometimes they can feel ready, theyre going to have that leap of faith that they can do this, and then theyll succumb to depression or theyll succumb to anxiety. Ive been there.

The Pink Berets program, she said, helps them understand that theyre not in this fight alone, but they have sisters that want to come alongside them and fight with them.

Suicide prevention resources

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 24-hour crisis hotline at 988. Confidential online chat is available at suicidepreventionlifeline.org .

Crisis Text Line: 24-hour support by texting HOME to 741741. More information at crisistextline.org .

2023 The Dallas Morning News.

Visit dallasnews.com .
Vasile Muntean used his company debit card to buy thousands of euro of items, including One4All cards, at 23 supermarkets in Dublin and Kildare

A man who carried out hundreds of thefts from his supermarket app employer in the course of a month, stealing about 29,000, has been given a two year suspended sentence.

Vasile Muntean was working for grocery shopping company Buymie when he took his company debit card and bought thousands of euro of items, including One4All cards, at 23 supermarkets in Dublin and Kildare.

Muntean (28) with an address at Kilcronan Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 32 sample counts of theft from his employer on dates between February 1 and February 25, 2021.

Vasile Muntean (28)   Collins Courts

Garda Sarah Barry told Jane Horgan-Jones BL, prosecuting, that Muntean carried out 204 thefts on the dates in question, stealing a total of 29,000. About 15,000 of this was spent on One4All gift vouchers, which the court heard Muntean sold for cash to fund his drug habit.

The court heard Muntean worked as a shopper for Buymie, a supermarket app which allows customers to purchase groceries online and have them delivered. As part of his work, Muntean had an assigned debit card which he used to carry out the grocery shopping for customers.

However, in February 2021, he started using the card in supermarkets for his own purposes. The thefts soon came to light when the company discovered his expenditure was not tallying with the orders placed.

One4All was able to reimburse Buymie almost all of the money Muntean spent on vouchers, but the company remains at a loss of 14,000.

A victim impact statement from Buymie's CEO was handed into court but not read out.

When arrested, Muntean was genuinely embarrassed and remorseful, Gda Barry said. He told gardai he had been struggling with a drug habit. He carried out the thefts in a period of madness, the court heard. He has no previous convictions.

Muntean has since undergone drug counselling and is trying to reconcile with his partner, with whom he has three children. He now works as a food delivery driver and has saved 6,000 to give to his former employer, defence counsel said.

Sentencing him on Tuesday, Judge Martin Nolan said the theft had a big impact on the company, which was a fledgling business.

He noted Muntean has made efforts to deal with his drug issues and wishes to repay his former employer in full.

The judge handed down a two year sentence which he suspended on a number of conditions, including that Muntean hand over the 6,000 to Buymie and save a further 8,000 to repay to the company within two years.
Wearing a navy jacket, grey hat, and hoody, he was remanded on bail with conditions including no contact with witnesses

Derek Moore, aka Derek "del Boy" Hutch pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice   Paddy Cummins - PCPhoto.ie

Derek 'Del Boy' Hutch and the aftermath of the incident

A man charged with dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to a Ukrainian woman in Dublin has been sent forward for trial.

Derek Moore (39) aka Del Boy, with an address at Champions Avenue, Dublin 1, was charged in October with driving under the influence of an intoxicant and dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to a woman in an incident on May 27 last year.

He was also charged with six counts of dangerous driving at Summerhill on the same date.

Following an adjournment, he appeared again on bail at Dublin District Court.

Derek Moore, aka Derek "del Boy" Hutch pictured at the Criminal Courts of Justice   Paddy Cummins - PCPhoto.ie

Judge Bryan Smyth noted the Director of Public Prosecutions directed trial on indictment on the dangerous driving causing serious harm charge.

Garda Shane Noone served a book of evidence on the accused in court.

In his trial order, Judge Smyth told Mr Moore his case would go before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, where he will face his next hearing on January 27.

He was granted legal aid and warned to inform gardai if he intended to use an alibi in his defence.

Defence solicitor John Feaheny was given an order for copies of garda interview videos to be handed over.

Mr Moore is yet to indicate a plea. Wearing a navy jacket, grey hat, and hoody, he was remanded on bail with conditions including no contact with witnesses.

Earlier, the court was told gardai had taken over 100 statements, which allowed the State to get a time extension to complete the book of evidence.

At the defendants first hearing, Garda Noone said the accused made no reply to any of the counts after caution.

The remaining district court charges were adjourned until a date in July.
Bryan Kennedy (35) will not begin his sentence immediately to allow time for Tusla to put in place supports for his children

A man who tried to hire a hitman to kill a couple who were exchanging intimate online messages with his now ex-wife has been jailed for four-and-a-half years by the Central Criminal Court.

Bryan Kennedy (35) will not begin his sentence immediately because Ms Justice Caroline Biggs said she wants to allow time for the child and family agency Tusla to put in place supports for his children.

She adjourned the matter until April 17 next when Kennedy is expected to be taken into custody once the court has been satisfied that his children will not be disadvantaged by his prison sentence.

The court has previously heard that Kennedy is the primary carer for his children and that his former wife, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair, is unable to provide the care they need.

Bryan Kennedy (35) of Mount Tallant Avenue, Dublin 6W. Picture: Collins Courts

Kennedy also has a conviction at District Court level for possession of child pornography but Ms Justice Biggs noted that the images were "few in number and of some antiquity".

Ms Justice Biggs said that Kennedy "hatched the plan" to kill his wife's online friends with a man he knew to be "unhinged" and who had previous convictions.

She said the man he attempted to get to carry out the killings, named as AL because he cannot be identified for legal reasons, warned Kennedy that he was embarking on a "dangerous road" but Kennedy proceeded nonetheless.

"His decision to engage in this grotesque plan is not under duress but was voluntary," Ms Justice Biggs said.

Kennedy then paid 8,000 to the would-be assassin by taking loans from family and friends. He engaged, the judge said, in a plan to kill two people and engaged in a discussion as to whether it would be cheaper to kill one but then elected to kill both.

He provided personal details of the two women and accessed his wife's Facebook page in pursuit of his plan. Ms Justice Biggs added:

"This is not a plan that is spontaneous, it is initiated by him and he takes time to think about it and having done so he decides to pursue it. It is not a spontaneous plan borne out of rage or bravado, it is planned and meant to be executed."

She said his later decision to pull out was not because he didn't want to have the two women killed but because he came to have doubts about AL's bona fides and started considering whether he could carry out the plan himself.

The judge said the backfiring of the plan is not a mitigating factor but she did note that Kennedy had been threatened and intimidated by AL.

The evidence of one witness was that Kennedy came to be terrified of AL.

Ms Justice Biggs said mitigation from that is limited because Kennedy "must have known that if he engages with someone who agrees to be a conduit to kill two people or to himself kill two people, that person is dangerous and unhinged.

Among the mitigating factors, the judge said, are that Kennedy is a good father who has lived through difficult life circumstances.

He cooperated with gardai, made full admissions immediately on being questioned and pleaded guilty.

Ms Justice Biggs added: "I do not think that the fact his wife was having an online affair is an excuse for engaging in this grotesque plan.

There is no difference to all manner of people in this country who suffer from pain and grief and difficult life circumstances. But I do acknowledge he has been a good father in difficult circumstances."

The judge also noted Kennedy's remorse and his history of depression which had been largely untreated at the time of the offences. She set the headline sentence at eight years but having considered all mitigating factors she reduced it to five years with the final six months suspended for one year.

ll   Collins Dublin

Ms Justice Biggs said it is the duty of Tusla to put in place structures to provide for Kennedy's children so that they will not be disadvantaged by their father going into prison.

Kennedy, with an address at Mount Tallant Avenue, Harold's Cross, Dublin 6W, pleaded guilty in July last year to soliciting a man to murder the two women who were communicating with his wife online, on a date unknown between October 1, 2019, and January 11, 2020, both dates inclusive, within the State.

During a sentencing hearing last year Detective Sergeant Ronan O'Malley told James Dwyer SC, prosecuting, that Kennedy's partner had made contact with the couple, who live in rural Canada, via an online game.

Det Sgt O'Malley said that Kennedy had become aware of Facebook messages of an intimate nature between his then-wife and the couple, which included an invitation from the couple to join them in Canada.

Det Sgt O'Malley said that Kennedy told a neighbour he felt "betrayed" and that his wife had told him that she no longer loved him and had stopped wearing her wedding ring.

The detective said that Kennedy confided in AL, who told him that he could "get it sorted".

Det Sgt O'Malley said AL told Kennedy that he could "sort" either the Canadians or Kennedy's wife but "if you [Kennedy] go down this road it's a dangerous road".

The neighbour told gardai that he did not believe that 'AL' had the capacity to carry out the threat and that Kennedy was being treated like a "gilly" and a "suck" and that AL was "trying to suck every penny" out of Kennedy.

The detective said Kennedy had given 8,000 to AL, who was becoming "pushy" about money and demanded a further 2,000 for his associates.

The neighbour said Kennedy was "petrified, crying and terrified" by threats made over phone calls and WhatsApp messages against him, his three children and his then-wife by AL as he demanded money, Det Sgt O'Malley said.

Det Sgt O'Malley said the neighbour and Kennedy went to a bank to withdraw money. Afterwards, Kennedy gave the neighbour his phone and a lockbox to give to Kennedy's sister and departed without telling the neighbour where he was going.

AL later approached Kennedy's wife at home, saying the defendant wanted a 10,000 "hit" and demanding that she come up with 1,500 inside 20 minutes and that she could pay off the remaining 500 in a week's time.

AL told Kennedy's wife that he himself had been beaten over Kennedy's debt to AL's associates and that if the money was not found she would be "kneecapped".

AL then took a picture of the Kennedys' front door and left. On January 10, 2020, Kennedy's ex-wife called gardai when she heard banging and kicking at her front door and told them her back door mat had been lifted up as if someone was looking for a key.

She told gardai that on January 13, 2020, AL was kicking the front door of the Kennedys' home shouting "hand over Bryan or there'll be trouble".

Det Sgt O'Malley told Mr Dwyer that Kennedy had already gotten on a ferry to England after borrowing money from neighbours to pay 8,000 to AL.

The witness said that Kennedy eventually returned and on February 11, 2020, he was approached by AL at Nutgrove Shopping Centre when with his wife and children. The detective said that AL became aggressive and was removed by security staff.

After a search warrant of Kennedy's sister's house, gardai arrested Kennedy and took him to Terenure Garda Station where he admitted to engaging AL to hurt or kill the Canadian couple.

Kennedy told gardai he backtracked on the deal, telling AL that 10K was too much money. Kennedy further admitted to gardai that he hacked his wife's Facebook messages in order to have the Canadian couple "painted". In interviews with gardai, Kennedy was asked what was meant by the word "painted" and said the two were "to be killed".

Kennedy told gardai that he conspired to have the couple killed but never discussed the manner of the killing, later backing out and telling AL to keep the money and that the job no longer needed to be done.

Kennedy said AL had now become "incessant" about the 2,000 and that the defendant began thinking of doing the hit himself.

Det Sgt O'Malley said Kennedy, when admitting engaging a third party - AL - to kill the couple, said he was acting out of "love and heart-break". Kennedy told gardai he wanted to be "open and honest" about the matter, about which he was "sorry and remorseful".

Det Sgt O'Malley told the court that, when contacted, the couple, who live in rural Quebec, expressed no concern for their wellbeing after being told of the situation.

Defending barrister Dominic McGinn SC said Kennedy was the sole carer for his three children and that his ex-wife was in a wheelchair. Mr McGinn said AL did not have the capability to carry out his threat to the couple and that the two were never in danger.

Det Sgt O'Malley told Mr McGinn that Kennedy had been "extremely" co-operative with investigating gardai.

Mr McGinn said his client had admitted both his "culpability and criminal intent" in soliciting AL to kill the couple but that there was "no credible threat" in the matter except to Kennedy himself and his family.

Mr McGinn said Kennedy was "forthright" with gardai in his admissions and was "completely out of his depth in circumstances out of his control".

The barrister said Kennedy's way of dealing with the situation was "entirely wrong, and criminally wrong" and that his inability to cope with the situation led to his client "trying to disappear".

Mr McGinn said there was "no tangible reality of harm" being caused to the Canadian couple and that AL had tried to "take advantage" of Kennedy.

The barrister said Kennedy had been "unproblematic" when dealing with the probation services and was "inherently unlikely to be before the court again".
The principal had to set up a workstation on the corridor to keep an eye on Mr Burke

The High Court has reserved judgment on an application for the sequestration of the assets or the fining of suspended teacher Enoch Burke over his continued defiance of a court order restraining him from attending his school premises.

Mr Justice OMoore said he would give his ruling by the end of next week following a hearing that was marked by testy exchanges between Mr Burke and the judge.

At one point, Mr Burke told Mr Justice OMoore he would appreciate it if the judge would look at him.

The teacher also refused to answer questions from the judge about his salary or income from grinds and whether he had an objection on procedural grounds to the suggestion he could be fined.

Wilsons Hospital School did not seek the fining of the teacher in its notice of motion, but the option was floated by its counsel Rosemary Mallon during a hearing today.

Mr Burke, who represented himself, said the court did not have the power to order the sequestration of his assets as to do so would be repugnant to constitutional protections to the expression of religious beliefs.

The history and German teacher, who is an evangelical Christian, has been suspended since last August after clashing with school management over a request from then principal Niamh McShane that staff address a transgender student by a new name and that they/their pronouns be used.

However, Mr Burke continued to turn up for work, even after the school in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath, secured a court order restraining him from doing so.

He went on to spend 108 days in prison for contempt of court but was released just before Christmas despite not purging his contempt.

Enoch Burke

Ms Mallon told the court today that Mr Burke had resumed attending the school, in defiance of his suspension and a court order, on January 5, when it reopened following the Christmas holidays.

He continued to attend in subsequent days, the court heard.

Ms Mallon said he was asked to leave a number of times but refused.

The court heard Mr Burke was confined to a corridor which had to be sectioned off.

The principal had to set up a workstation on the corridor to keep an eye on Mr Burke.

Ms Mallon said the school did not want to have Mr Burke committed to prison again in circumstances where is wants to proceed with a disciplinary meeting on January 19. She said his incarceration could delay this.

The barrister said the criminal burden required for the granting of an order of sequestration had been reached. Mr Burkes actions had been wilful as he was knowingly breaching the order.

Sequestration is an enforcement process available against property owned by a person who is in contempt of court.

If the school is successful, it would hold possession of Mr Burkes assets until the court orders what is to be done with them. T

he process is designed to compel compliance with a court order.

Although Mr Burke refused to divulge his earnings, Ms Mallon told the court the school believed he earned in the region of 48,000 before tax.

Mr Burke opposed the application and addressed the court for around 40 minutes.

This is the first time known in the history of the State that sequestration would be brought against an individual, and it is against an individual for professing their religious belief, he said.

Mr Burke told the judge he should not be in court today but instead teaching his classes.

He claimed the court had no jurisdiction, no right to be considering this application.

The teacher claimed the proceedings were at odds with a plain reading of Article 44 of the Constitution which states: The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold his name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion.

Mr Burke claimed the application did not respect religion.

It is criminalising it. It is intimidating it, he said.

The teacher claimed that orders made against him last August and September by Ms Justice Siobhan Stack and Mr Justice Max Barrett were orders the judges had no right to make as, he claimed, they sought to coerce him into doing something that was against his religious beliefs.

They are null and void and repugnant to the Constitution, he said.

Mr Burke said he took exception to Mr Justice Barretts assertion last year that the case not about transgenderism but rather his refusal to obey the terms of the suspension and a court-ordered injunction.

He went on to claim he had been depicted by Ms Mallon as some sort of base criminal who goes out of his way to disrespect law and order, to shake his fist at High Court judges.

Mr Burke said this was preposterous.

I was raised to respect law and order, he said.

I have never been in trouble with the law. I am an upright citizen. I keep the law, I always will. But I will not where it is manifestly unconstitutional.

He also described the suggestion that the court could opt to fine him as an abomination and a base, ignorant and despicable suggestion to be made about a teacher.

When he had finished his submissions, Mr Justice OMoore asked if he wanted to say anything about his assets.

The judge said he was obliged to consider all of the evidence before making a decision.

However, Mr Burke said: I am making no comment on the question.

He also declined to comment when the judge asked him if he would have an objection on procedural grounds to the suggestion that he be fined.

I consider the questions offensive, Mr Burke said.

When the judge said he would given a ruling by Friday of next week, Mr Burke asked him why it would take so long and said he had expected the judge to be able to rule there and then.

Mr Justice OMoore said parties often expected quick rulings but very deep issues had been raised and he needed time to consider them.

Another judge is expected to rule today on a separate application from Mr Burke for orders restraining the disciplinary process from going ahead.
The offences committed against the victims, all of whom watched proceedings by videolink, represented a gross breach of trust

A convicted pervert who raped a young girl and sexually abused two others was handed an 18 year sentence today.

Jailing the 67-year-old at Newry Crown Court, Judge Gordon Kerr KC said he was satisfied that given the facts and nature of the abuse, the offences can properly be described as a campaign of rape against the young girl.

He said the offences committed against the victims, all of whom watched proceedings by videolink, had multiple aggravating factors adding that given the defendants continued protests of innocence, there was little by way of mitigation.

At the end of his trial last year the pensioner, who cannot be identified in order to protect the victims, was convicted on 19 sex offences including 12 counts of indecent assault, three each of rape and buggery and one of attempted rape, all committed on various dates between 6 April 1971 and 8 October 1999.

Judge Kerr recounted how the two other girls were both around 10-years-old when he began to sexually abuse them.

The abuse they endured amounted to inappropriate touching.

The most serious abuse, said the judge, was committed against the first young girl who he began to rape and bugger when she was just five-years-old.

Other abuse, including forced sex acts and inappropriate touching, all occurred in her own home where she was entitled to have felt safe.

While the offending had caused a high degree of harm to each of the victims, the young girl had been affected the worst and has been left suffering from chronic PTSD and a diagnosis of emotionally unstable personality disorder.

Judge Kerr said that in addition to the rape and abuse at the hands of the man, an ordeal she had to relive during the trial, she had had also suffered emotional neglect from her mother so a cocktail for disorder was created.

He revealed that despite the jury verdicts and the evidence from three separate victims the pervert pensioner maintains his innocence and intends to appeal the verdicts

The judge told the defendant, who appeared at court by videolink from prison, that if he had admitted his guilt even at this late stage, he would have reduced the sentence but outside of the fact the last offence was more than 20 years ago, there was little credit in the perverts favour.

Imposing the 18 year sentence, Judge Kerr said he had been asked to also consider a Sexual Offences Prevention Order but he said given the length of sentence which means that the pensioner will either be in jail or under supervision for the next 18 years, in addition to him having to be on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life, I do not think such an order is necessary.
In the course of the searches quantities of heroin and crack cocaine worth in excess of 40k, and 10k in cash were seized

Two of the seven men arrested last Friday as part of ongoing investigations into organised crime and anti-social behaviour in West Tallaght have been charged.

The men appeared before the Criminal Courts of Justice last Friday over the seizure of 40,000 worth of heroin and crack cocaine as well as 10,000 in cash.

One male teenager, who was also arrested, was released pending a referral to the Garda Youth Diversion Bureau and another man in his 40s was taken to Mountjoy Prison on foot of committal warrants.

A total of six residential properties in the West Tallaght area were searched by gardai from the Tallaght District at 7am on Friday as part of the ongoing investigations.

In the course of the searches controlled drugs, including quantities of heroin and crack cocaine worth in excess of 40,000, and 10,000 in cash were also seized, gardai said.

A fifth man, aged in his 40s, was charged and station-bailed to appear before Tallaght District Court on February 9.

A sixth and seventh man, both aged in their 40s, have been released without charge.

The two males who appeared before the Criminal Courts of Justice last Friday were court-bailed to appear before Tallaght District Court March 10, at 10.30am.
Judge Baxter observed that he seemed to develop health issues around proceedings in court

A judge yesterday described the actions of a 52-year-old man who terrorised his former partner in a 19-hour ordeal after he broke into her home as a planned and premediated criminal endeavour.

Judge Martina Baxters comments came at a sentencing hearing at Wicklow Circuit Court sitting in Bray where she imposed a sentence of nine years in prison with two years suspended on multiple strict conditions on Alan McEvoy of Carricacurra, Valleymount, Co Wicklow.

McEvoy has been in custody since last March when he pleaded guilty to charges of harassment, assault causing harm and burglary.

The burglary and assault offences occurred on May 21 and May 22, 2016, at the home of Anna Oberska, a dental nurse, who had been in a three year relationship with McEvoy which ended 16 months earlier.

The harassment charge related to his criminal conduct towards his now 40-year-old victim between April 27 and July 27, 2016.

Evidence was previously given of 73 unsolicited e-mails that McEvoy sent the mother-of-one and of a number of phone calls that he made to her employers and people known to her employment in which he either impersonated a garda or private detective while falsely claiming that an European Arrest Warrant was in place for her arrest for welfare fraud offences.

McEvoy was given a nine year sentence with the final two years suspended for burglary at his former partners home at Tulfarris village near Blessington, Co Wicklow.

Twenty four months were suspended from the nine year term on multiple strict conditions including that McEvoy remain under the direction of the Probation Service, reside at an agreed address and has no contact with Ms Oberska or her family.

He also has to disclose any new intimate relationship to a probation officer and undergo any recommended therapeutic programme as well as co-operate with any safeguarding measures.

Two jail terms of three years each for harassment and assault of Ms Oberska are to run concurrently with the sentence imposed for burglary.

The judge said McEvoys victim who is a Polish national had made it clear that their relationship was over but he would not take no for an answer.

Judge Baxter described Ms Oberska as a very brave woman and commended the garda investigation into the case which she said was highly detailed and very thorough.

The garda investigation was led by Detective Garda Patrick Twomey who previously gave evidence in the case including that throughout the attack,

McEvoy told his former partner that she was under threat from the IRA and that she needed to stay with him to protect her as well as her ex-husband and the child they had together.

Among other threats issued by McEvoy were that a crew were ready and had located and were ready to kill her mother in Poland.

As the ordeal continued the court heard that McEvoy who knew Ms Oberska had a phobia of needles produced syringes and threatened that he would inject acid into her.

In attempt to pacify the situation, the victim agreed to go back into a relationship with him and he eventually untied her hands and lay beside her in bed but not before taping duct tape to the handles of the door in the room.

Evidence was also given that McEvoy had went through her mobile phone and demanded explanations of who she had been contacting as well as taking command of the phone and sending texts to another male who Ms Oberska had been in contact with.

He also cut the dental uniform that she had been wearing off her with a knife and then burnt it in a stove.

McEvoy who has eight previous convictions is currently housed in Cloverhill Prison where the court heard that he has an enhanced prisoner status and works in the west Dublin jails laundry.

The court heard that McEvoy suffered a heart attack last week in prison and was hospitalised for three days after this but no medical report was furnished to the court in relation to this.

Judge Baxter observed that he seemed to develop health issues around proceedings in court after he previously failed to appear at another hearing because of ill health.

The judge was scathing of the defendants criminal conduct which she described as a gross invasion of Ms Oberskas bodily integrity and freedom of movement.

She said McEvoys behaviour was degrading and grossly humiliating in which he exploited her vulnerability as a single woman living alone with a young child who was not in the property at the time.

The judge criticised the level of deceit which McEvoy embarked on in his crimes which displayed sinister surveillance and control.

Judge Baxter said probation and psychological reports showed McEvoy had tried to minimise and rationalise his behaviour while claiming numerous wrong doings by his victim and showing no remorse. She noted he was also deemed a high-risk of re-offending in relation to domestic violence.
Tom McHugh, who owns a hardware shop in Kiltevna outside Dunmore explained that thieves stole a safe, a Mitsubishi truck, cash, and goods from the shop floor shortly after midnight on Wednesday, 11 January.

The Garda logo on a lamp at the entrance to Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park, Dublin.   PA

A Galway businessman has spoken out after two premises were targeted in a series of brazen burglaries this week.

Tom McHugh, who owns a hardware shop in Kiltevna outside Dunmore explained that thieves stole a safe, a Mitsubishi truck, cash, and goods from the shop floor shortly after midnight on Wednesday, 11 January.

It was broken into on Wednesday morning. The people who broke in started by cutting the lock on the main gate at the entrance, he told Galway Bay FM.

They then proceeded to pick the lock and get into the store. They got through there and had to get through another door to get into the shop. They took out that lock; it didnt damage the door but they got into the shop and the office.

It was very clear what their modus operandi was - it was money and cashable items.

The keys for our two trucks and forklifts were in a filing cabinet there. They proceeded to remove the safe, which was in another location under the stairs. I didnt think anyone would be able to find it and remove it, but they did.

They took a truck and the safe plus any loose cigarettes or change that was in a tin, and some items in the shop like washing powder and sledgehammers.

How long they were there, we dont know, but the truck was captured on CCTV going in a northerly direction at 2.38am. So they were early and did what they wanted to do.

They had a lot of hours of darkness to travel after doing what they did. They were brazen and very professional in what they were doing.

Mr McHugh said that the same gang are suspected of breaking into a local pub where they took cigarettes and money, adding that they knew what they were doing.

The devastated business owner admitted that he doesnt think that his property will be recovered even though gardai have launched an investigation into the robberies.

Obviously the gardai were out there and fingerprints were taken, but we havent heard back.

As each day goes by, I think the chances are probably less and less of us getting any information.

A garda spokesperson confirmed that they were investigating the two burglaries as they confirmed that no one had been arrested in relation to the incidents.

"Gardai are investigating two separate incidents of burglary at business premises in Dunmore, Co. Galway on the 10th of January 2023.

"No arrests have been made at this time. Investigations are ongoing."
Matt ONeill (29) was described by his father, Pat, as the body and soul of his family who have been left absolutely heartbroken by his death

A young man who died eleven days after suffering stab injuries in a Christmas incident in Cork was hailed as a devoted son who bravely helped save the lives of six people during a water rescue in Kerry, when he was just 13 years old.

Matt ONeill (29) was described by his father, Pat, as the body and soul of his family who have been left absolutely heartbroken by his death.

Pat ONeill fought back tears as he recalled the happiness his son had brought to their entire family.

His name was in my phone as Body & Soul  that's what came up every time he rang me. And that is what he was  our body and soul, he said.

During the week, one of Matts lovely friends sent us a message and it really said it (all) about Matt. She said Matt was a real sweetheart, he was kind and caring. He was gentle.

Matt was born to Eileen and I in Brisbane (Australia) in 1993...the three of us, almost from the minute he was born, we had a life of so many adventures.

Swimming, surfing, kayaking, camping  (being) in the water was Matts favourite place.

He ended up saving someones life. One afternoon we were surfing in Derrynane in Kerry and six people were in serious trouble in the water.

Together, Eileen, myself and Matt, we pulled the six of them out. But there was one who was in a particularly bad way and Matt took specific action going to him in the middle of the panic. Matt was 13 years old.

Fr James McSweeney told mourners at Mr ONeills Requiem Mass at the Church of the Real Presence in Curraheen that the young mans loss had deeply impacted the community.

I dont need to tell you our gathering here today is dreadfully sad  we have no words today, he said.

To Pat and Eileen, we offer you our deepest and sincerest sympathies. Even though our gathering here today is very sad, we take comfort from the many happy memories that his family have of Matt.

Mr ONeills removal took place yesterday evening from OConnor Brothers funeral home in Wilton to the Church of the Real Presence in Curraheen.

The mourners were led by Mr ONeills parents, Pat and Eileen, his grandmother, Josephine, and his extended family.

His family had requested that mourners not bring flowers but rather make a donation to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

Mr ONeill was on a life support machine at CUH for eleven days after undergoing emergency surgery following an incident in Carrigaline shortly before 6pm on December 28.

He was pronounced dead at CUH early on January 8 after failing to regain consciousness following surgery.

Mr ONeill was found by gardai and paramedics lying badly injured on a roadway in the Glenwood estate in Carrigaline.

Locals had raised the alarm on the afternoon of December 28 after spotting a young man staggering onto the roadway where he immediately collapsed.

Mr ONeill had suffered a serious stab injury to his head.

Detectives fear that he may have been struck in the head and neck with a broken bottle.

He had suffered a profound loss of blood and was treated at the scene by paramedics before he was rushed to CUH to undergo emergency surgery.

Mr ONeill was in a critical condition for eleven days until he passed away.

Two teens have since appeared before Cork District Court in relation to the alleged incident on December 28.

Both have been charged with assault causing harm to Mr ONeill.

Gardai have again appealed for public assistance for their ongoing investigation.

Anyone who was in the vicinity of Glenwood Estate in Carrigaline between 5pm and 5.45pm on Wednesday, December 28 last, particularly any road users who may have camera footage (including dash cam) of the incident, is asked to contact Togher Garda Station on (021) 494 7120, the Garda Confidential Line on (1800) 666111 or any garda station.

Gardai have also conducted door-to-door inquiries in the Glenwood area as well as carrying out a detailed forensic examination of the scene.
Around 9.25pm, two men armed with a knife arrived at a business near Harolds Cross and demanded cash from the staff

Two men in their 30s have been arrested following an attempted robbery in Dublin last night.

Around 9.25pm, two men armed with a knife arrived at a business near Harolds Cross and demanded cash from the staff.

They left the scene after being unable to access the tills and were arrested in the area shortly after.

Both men are in their 30s and were taken to Rathmines Garda Station upon their arrest.

A garda spokesperson said there were no injuries as a result of the attempted robbery.

"Gardai carried out a number of enquiries and shortly after, two suspects were identified, they said.

"They were arrested nearby on the Lower Kimmage Road. The men, both aged in their 30s, were later taken to Rathmines Garda Station.

"Investigations ongoing.
A corrupt Hague official who was exposed for providing false passports to underworld figures when gardai raided a Kinahan safehouse in Dublin has avoided prison.

The 50-year-old woman identified only as Mildred Van D. was given a one year suspended sentence and 240 hours community service at a Dutch court in December after she admitted supplying 19 passports for underworld figures including Ridouan Taghi and Naoufal Fassih  two leading figures of a Dutch-Moroccan crime gang with ties to the Kinahan cartel.

The woman, who had significant financial problems, received thousands of euros from a criminal identified as Faysal N, who has been linked to large scale cocaine smuggling and violent kidnapping, for providing the passports.

Faysal was handed down a two year sentence for his role in the operation.

The passports contained real photos of the criminals but contained names and information of other people and were issued between 2009 and 2014.

One of Taghi's fake passports

The passports played a key role in helping the Kinahan-linked criminals move freely between countries without alerting authorities.

Authorities became aware of the scheme after gardai raided a Kinahan safe house on Baggot Street in Dublin in 2016.

They arrested gangland assassin Naoufal Fassih at the property and found two false passports at the property. The passports were traced back to Mildred Van D.

An investigation revealed she had provided more passports to criminals including two for Taghi.

The District Court of Amsterdam heard the woman was in debt due to her husbands gambling and drink problems and there were also issues with domestic violence, Dutch media reported.

It was pure survival at that time. I was happy if I could pay for the children's school trip or prevent the water from being shut off, she told the court.

She was approached by criminal figure Faysal N who acted at the intermediary in the operation.

Kinahan cartel boss Daniel Kinahan

Faysal arranged for vulnerable men including those with financial problems, addictions or low IQs and got them to apply for passports.

They were instructed to go the the dark lady at the first desk (Mildred Van D.) who had also been notified in advance of their arrival.

Everything was legitimate about the passport except the photos would be of criminal figures.

Several of the people who received the passports have since been killed.

Several recipients of false passports are now either serving lengthy sentences or have been killed.

Mildred Van D said she didnt think about who would receive the passport.

Of course, I know how important a passport is for people. But I thought it was about people who wanted to work in the Netherlands. Not that they would be these types of criminals. That is really over my head. I've really never really thought about that.

She said she was in dire straits at the time she was approached.

My children were small and I had to take care of the children. There were many problems. Domestic violence and child abuse. We had money problems and the police were regularly at our door. It was incalculable. Not for me.

"Every woman says she has to do everything in the house by herself, but I really had to do it alone. If at some point you have to borrow money from your colleagues to do your shopping, then something is really wrong. And that's how I came to this decision. Unfortunately.

She stopped providing the passports in 2014 after the Leidschenveen-Ypenburg district office where she worked closed and she moved to the Hague town hall.

Another Hague civil servant was arrested last September on suspicion of providing forged IDs leading to local politician Richard de Mos saying: It is bizarre that the municipality is the passport printing press of mafia bosses.

Forged passports are not confined to the Netherlands and are worth their weight in gold in the underworld.

Christy Kinahan Snr is facing charges in Spain in relation to a false British and a false Irish passport.

Naoufal Fassih   Collins

Prosecutors say he travelled on the British passport in the name Michael Leslie Swift to board flight Iberia IB6205 bound for Rio de Janeiro on April 29th, 2010.

Police in Spain also seized an Irish passport near Marbella on June 15, 2010 in the name of a man who had died in Ireland on March 23rd, 2002 which they say was to be used by Kinahan.

The indictment says: In that passport the photograph of Christopher Kinahan Snr had been inserted after he allegedly provided his own photo for the confection of this falsified passport.

Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of up to four years for Kinahan.
The toddler was killed by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables in a gruesome attack in Liverpool in February 1993.

The mum of James Bulger  the tragic two-year-old killed by two ten-year-old boys  has celebrated new laws that may see one of his murderers never walk free again.

The toddler was abducted, tortured and killed by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables in a gruesome attack in February 1993.

Jon Venables has twice since been returned to jail for possessing images of child sex abuse  and plans for criminal justice reform by the British government may now see him locked up for good.

James mum Denise (54) has said the news has made her feel hopeful for the first time in 30 years.

"What we have been promised has made the last 30 years of pushing for James worth it, she told the Mirror, revealing the details of a meeting she had with Justice Secretary Dominic Raab last summer.

Under a complete parole overhaul, there are plans to introduce a two strikes and you stay in prison system, Denise said.

That would apply to the three most serious types of criminals paedophiles, child killers and terrorists. There would not be endless chances at rehabilitating anyone who had committed this type of crime.

And that meant, under Raabs planned new law, Venables would never see the light of day.

The grieving mum has called the plan historic, admitting she couldnt believe it might finally happen.

"In that meeting I was hearing words Id always wanted to hear. His lips were moving, but I couldnt hear it all because I never believed I would hear those words.

The words that under his plans, Venables would never walk free again.

I didnt think this day would ever come. I froze.

She revealed this Christmas was the first where she has not had to worry that the new year will bring the release of one of her sons killers.

"I feel that after a rollercoaster 30 years, this year could be our best yet thanks to promises we have been made.

I was nervous. I suppose thats what 30 years of being ignored will do to you.

"The pressure of finally getting to that room and seeing the thick folders piled up on his desk, my sons case notes there in front of me with handwritten annotation alongside pictures of Raabs children, suddenly all got too much, she told the Mirror.

But when he told me that Venables would not be going free under his plans, a weight lifted. I havent wanted to share that until now. He knew all about James and the subsequent twists and turns of my fight.

The mum admitted she will never forgive Venables and Thompson for what they did to her young son.

"I know theyll ask me, will you forgive me? And I know my answer will be never.

The only time I think about those two now is if Ive really got to. Otherwise, I dont.

February 12 will be the 30th anniversary of James murder, when the two ten-year-old boys lured him from a shopping centre in Liverpool.

The pair were convicted of James murder in November 1993, jailed indefinitely at the age of 10.

They were given new identities at the age of 18, being released after eight years in young offender institutions.

Thompson has not reoffended, though Venables has been returned to prison in 2010 and 2017 for possessing child sex abuse materials.

He was refused parole in 2020, but has since made a new bid for release.
Local councillors and the schools have been scrambling to fight the misinformation

Schools, a convent and a community centre in Ballyfermot are among the properties that have become the target of far right gangs who say they are being used to house asylum seekers. Above, conspiracy theorist Dee Wall aka Dolores Webster

In a breathless report, far-right conspiracy theorist Dee Wall made herself out as quite the intrepid investigator as she crept towards St Louises convent in Ballyfermot under the cover of darkness on Wednesday night.

Live-streaming a video to her social media account, she claimed to be searching for two busloads of unvetted, illegal migrants who she believed were being covertly accommodated in a number of local buildings.

Wall, aka Dolores Webster, is one of a number of campaigners who have become convinced that asylum seekers are secretly sleeping in Ballyfermots schools and community centres at night, before slipping out in the morning.

We think we found out where they put them, she said triumphantly, behind her phones camera.

Along with a male friend, Wall stood outside the old convent which they claimed had been abandoned a long time. At one point, to the audible delight of Wall and her accomplice, a silhouette of a person appears in one of the windows of the convent.

There yez are lads, Ballyfermot is riddled, the man says.There yez are, theyre in Ballyfermot now, Wall agrees.

There is no way of knowing from the grainy, shaky video who the person standing in the window is.

Common sense might suggest it is one of the half a dozen or so elderly and now quite distressed Daughters of Charity nuns who live in the convent, which is neither abandoned nor being used as emergency accommodation for asylum seekers.

After Wall posted her video, the convent became one of a number of buildings and homes which were targeted by a mob of demonstrators on Thursday night, who stood outside shouting Ballyfermot says No.

It is understood the angry crowd told those in the convent that it was now officially under surveillance".

It is also believed this vigilante scrutiny led to incorrect claims that a mattress, which was being delivered for one of the nuns, was evidence that the convent was now a secret state-run emergency accommodation centre.

The Sisters who live at St Louises did not want to talk to the press, but it is believed the demonstrations have caused huge upset and concern  particularly for the children attending St. Louise de Marillac Primary School next door, which has also been the subject of the same misinformation and surveillance. One nun was heard denouncing the protests as evil, just evil.

The convent has joined at least four local schools and a community centre which have become embroiled in a frenzied witch hunt for military-aged men who are invading both Ballyfermot and Ireland.

A small but obsessive minority of people have this week been standing outside Ballyfermots schools in the middle of the night watching for lights being turned on and shadows in the windows, which is understood to have led to at least one school stopping an overnight food delivery for fear the driver would be attacked.

Local councillors and the schools have been scrambling to fight the misinformation, with one school sending letters to parents confirming it is not housing asylum seekers.

Rather than being sheepish about the misinformation she helped spread, Wall instead suggested that Ballyfermot had staged a powerful pre-emptive demonstration against what she regularly describes as the asylum industry.

OK lots on Instagram comments shooting the messenger, she said on her social network.

Wall, who also spread conspiracy theories during the pandemic, did not respond to a request for comment.

The misinformation which has seized Ballyfermot seems to have evolved from an accurate report last year that the local De La Salle national school was being considered as accommodation for Ukrainian refugees.

Then Our Lady of Mercy Secondary School in Drimnagh was used to accommodate refugees over the Christmas break, but this ended before pupils returned to school.

But these two truths have been exploited to create a giant lie, which many community leaders now fear has some local people believing a vicious false reality that completely lacks either sense or proportion.

Independent councillor Vincent Jackson, a well-regarded local advocate, has been trying to quell the fears and misinformation within the community.

On Thursday night, he returned to his family home to find his wife in tears. A mob of angry demonstrators had shown up outside his house, while his wife and two of his children were inside.

Cllr Jackson said his children had been extremely upset", as were the staff of the local schools which had also been targeted. He says he is now is fearful for the safety of newer communities in Ballyfermot.

"Some of them are rent-a-crowd, some are parents who have been whipped up into believing that there are people staying in the school overnight, Cllr Jackson said.

Experts believe that elements of the misinformation spread in the west Dublin suburb match the rhetoric used in anti-asylum seeker demonstrations currently being held across Dublin and countrywide.

Aoife Gallagher and Ciaran OConnor, analysts and researchers of extremism, disinformation and hate online with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), said analysis of social media has found clear evidence Irish far-right activists are using a specific kind of rhetoric to foster anger and hostility against asylum seekers".

The rhetoric identified exactly matches language used in Ballyfermot  where social media posts suggested that military-aged and unvetted men were being bussed into localities.

Mr OConnor told theIrish Independent that the ISD had found evidence that this online activity was spilling offline, with a number of far-right activists either being involved in or helping to organise anti-immigration rallies in Dublins Ballymun and East Wall.

Yesterday, Justice Minister Simon Harris and Garda Commissioner Drew Harris admitted they believe a small group of far-right individuals with international support are involved in a sinister, organised campaign to intimidate and sow dissent within Irish communities for their own political benefit.

Commissioner Harris said gardai were now investigating recent far-right protests amid concerns they have been supported by far-right and neo-Nazi groups in Europe and North America.
Further revelations about the Pubic Expenditure minister would erode trust

Croatian Minister of Finance Marko Primorac and President of the Eurogroup Paschal Donohoe look at the Croatian Euro coins as they attend the Eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, January 16, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman   REUTERS

Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe is in the eye of a storm that dates back to 2016. Photo: Damien Storan/PA   PA

Fianna Fail will back Paschal Donohoe over his failure to declare election donations, as long as there are no further revelations about the Public Expenditure minister.

Mr Donohoe has been engulfed in controversy since it emerged he failed to declare services which were paid for by his friend and engineering firm chief executive, Michael Stone.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin weighed in behind the minister, saying he had given a thorough explanation for not declaring that Mr Stone paid for posters to be erected and taken down during the 2016 general election campaign.

However, there are concerns within Fianna Fail over the revelations which have resulted in Mr Donohoe recusing himself from any work related to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) while the watchdog investigates him.

It comes as it can be revealed Fianna Fail senator Mary Fitzpatrick declared she spent 5,000 having posters erected and taken down during the 2016 election. Mr Donohoe said Mr Stone paid 1,100 for six people to work across four nights to put up and take down posters.

When asked about the difference in cost, the ministers spokesperson said the vast majority of Mr Donohoes postering was done free of charge by volunteers.

She said volunteers were also used to hang his posters for the 2020 general election.

It also emerged Mr Stone was appointed to the powerful Land Development Agency (LDA), three years after he paid for Mr Donohoes posters to be put up.

Unlike some members of the board, Mr Stone was directly appointed to the agency by then Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy, who is a former Fine Gael colleague of Mr Donohoe.

Other members of the LDA board are appointed through the Public Appointment Services system, but the Housing Minister can appoint four.

Board members are paid fees of 15,759 plus expenses but Mr Stone has waived his fee and not claimed expenses. Mr Donohoes spokesperson said he played no role in Mr Stones appointment to the LDA.

Meanwhile, despite the Tanaiste giving his full support to Mr Donohoe, some of his party colleagues are less than convinced.

Last week, Paschal wanted to oversee the updating of Sipo powers following the resignation of a colleague after disclosure failure, and now he cant do this because of his disclosure failures, one senior Fianna Fail TD said.

Another Fianna Fail TD said the Dublin Central TD would be goosed if it gets worse.

Cant say hes safe until after a Dail debate on the issue, said another.

Another Fianna Fail TD said: When youre explaining, youre losing. Isnt that it? Paschal is well-liked. Nobody wants to see him go. One oversight is embarrassing for him. If there was another, it would be tough and hard to hang on.

Another warned about a drip feed of information over the coming days when the minister is out of the country.

I think there will be a Dail debate, maybe a motion against him, or a vote. He will have Fianna Fail support, as long as it stays a storm in a teacup, the source said.

Fine Gael didnt do a lot to shore things up when Fianna Failers were in trouble, so they cant really depend on us. If he loses the confidence of the other two leaders in the Coalition, thats when he would have to go, they added.

Sinn Fein TD Mairead Farrell, who marks Mr Donohoe on Public Expenditure and Reform, said his attempt to explain doesnt wash.

She added: The attempt by Paschal Donohoe to suggest that services provided to his campaign by his friends company do not constitute a political donation to him stretches all credibility.
Newspapers and food products in the property - while severely degraded - have indicated the man may have been dead in the property since around 2001/2002

It is believed the mans remains may have lain undiscovered in the boarded-up house on Mallows Beecher St (above) for up to 20-years

GardaI are now hopeful that forensic analysis and medical records will help confirm the identity of a middle-aged man whose body lay undiscovered in a Cork house for around 20 years.

Detectives believe they know the identity of the man whose skeletal remains were discovered in a derelict and boarded up house on Beecher Street in Mallow on Friday.

The death is not being treated as suspicious.

Newspapers and food products in the property - while severely degraded - have indicated the man may have been dead in the property since around 2001/2002.

Neighbours have been questioned by gardai and the individual involved is believed to have lived at the property for around a decade.

Locals believed the man - who was described as polite, quiet but reclusive - had left Ireland to travel to the UK.

The property involved was later treated as derelict and eventually boarded up.

Cork Co Council workers made the grim discovery when they were working at the property at lunchtime last Friday.

Gardai are now hopeful that forensic analysis, dental and medical records as well as potentially DNA sampling will confirm the identity of the individual involved.

However, identification efforts may take some time.

Efforts are ongoing to trace suspected relatives of the man to assist with DNA sampling if required.

Detectives have again appealed for anyone with information on the individual involved to help them with their inquiries.

"Gardai are investigating all the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a body in a house in Mallow, Co Cork at approximately 12pm on January 13, a garda spokesperson said.

The scene has been preserved. Enquiries are ongoing.

The body was removed to Cork University Hospital (CUH) morgue where a post-mortem examination has taken place.

Gardai were shocked by the suspected length of time the man's remains lay undiscovered at the property.

While the length of the time involved is unique, the recovery of human remains undiscovered in houses for some time is not unusual.

In 2009, the body of a man was discovered partially mummified in a Cork flat after he had died almost two months before.

In 2022, Gardai dealt with two cases of remains discovered in properties some time after the death of the individuals.

A man discovered in a property in Sallynoggin, in Dublin, is believed to have lain undiscovered for over a year.

In Tipperary, an elderly couple were discovered dead in their rural cottage last June an estimated 18 months after they had passed away.

In their case, locals thought they had travelled to visit relatives overseas when one of the Covid-19 lockdowns were eased.

The alarm was raised by a local who became suspicious of the fact that a car parked at the property had not been moved for months.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said gardai were now liaising with police forces in other European and North American countries to learn lessons about how to handle such far-right agitation

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said gardai had received a huge amount of information from the public. Photo: Gareth Chaney

Gardai are gathering intelligence from social-media platforms about how recent anti-asylum-seeker protests have been organised.

The inquiry comes amid indications of input from overseas extremist groups, including far-right groups in Britain and neo-Nazi groups in Europe and North America.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris admitted that recent protests across Ireland had been sinister.

He said gardai were now liaising with police forces in other European and North American countries to learn lessons about how to handle such far-right agitation.

Detectives are probing links between recent Irish protests and extremist groups overseas. It is believed the Irish protests have been organised according to an agitation playbook devised by far-right, ultra-nationalist and neo-Nazi groups in Europe and North America.

The aim is to stoke fears within local populations over migration, promote social division for political benefit and to personally target members of community groups, political parties, the media and even security forces who attempt to highlight what is happening.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said gardai had received a huge amount of information from the public. Photo: Gareth Chaney

Social-media propaganda is a core element of the campaign  with gardai saying information is now being weaponised in a bid to stoke fear over migration issues at a local level.

However, gardai have said they believe the number of people involved in organising the protests targeting refugees has been quite small.

You have to look to the character of what is happening, Commissioner Harris said.

It surrounds individuals and even to call them groups is probably not a description that applies.

They are individuals that coalesce around others with similar outlooks.

They find each other on social media  they then create a platform with which they communicate with each other.

We are not unique in facing this problem.

It is right across Europe and we have learned a lot of lessons from our colleagues across Europe on how to investigate these matters.

It is our duty to investigate  and it is our duty then to use all means to gather intelligence and information and that is what we are doing.

Commissioner Harris stressed that if gardai needed the help of social-media companies to facilitate inquiries into such far-right activities, the firms involved would be contacted.

(If it is) to further our inquiries then obviously we will do so, he said.

Gardai said they were not surprised by the suspected overseas elements behind the protests.

A character of these events is that there is always an international element. There is always an element where they connect with each other through social media.

It is then very easy to talk to someone on the other side of the globe, be it in Europe or the USA or wherever they might be.

That is the character of a connected world through social media. That is just the reality of what we are investigating.

The garda chief stressed that the force had monitored all the protests which, to date, had complied with all garda directions.

We are very, very aware of what is happening on the ground, Commissioner Harris said.

We have received a huge amount of information from the public. We do police all of these protests and events.

We police them in a manner which preserves the peace in the first place. But we also make sure that laws are not broken and that public safety is maintained.

Up until now these protests have been peaceful and they have complied with garda direction and we have policed them in a manner which we believe is commensurate with the behaviour that we see.

Commissioner Harris stressed that gardai were also fully aware of the local background to the protests and the sinister agenda involved.

He said officers would be consulting with a local councillor whose Dublin home was picketed by protesters, and whose family were left terrified as a result.

Justice Minister Simon Harris warned it was now clear that a small but sinister element (was) attempting to sow division within communities across our country.

It is a small, sinister and far-right element  we need to call that out for what it is.

The Dublin protest was part of an apparently broader plan to intimidate all those who have spoken out against anti-asylum-seeker demonstrations.

In some instances, protesters appear to have deliberately tried to provoke a reaction to their demonstrations  and to link their protests with existing social issues such as housing and healthcare resources.

Some protests have been organised with the apparent aim of causing chaos at a local community level.

In Dublin and Cork, members of the media covering protests have been followed to their cars, with vehicles being photographed and licence plate numbers noted.
The system does work in that regard so dont point it at people that arent to blame for the issues youre facing

Protests against asylum seekers wont work and will not change Government policy, says Junior Minister Joe OBrien.

He warned the protesters that what youre calling for wont happen while speaking on Newstalks The Hard Shoulder yesterday.

Justice Minister Simon Harris has already said there is a small but sinister element involved in the protests against housing refugees across the country.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said gardai are gathering information on individuals whose motives could be described as far right.

Minister OBrien echoed this, telling Newstalk listeners that gardai are monitoring people who are trying to mobilise and spread hate and spread racism.

He acknowledged that people were attending the protests for a whole variety of reasons but that regardless, their actions wont work.

It is tricky to give them all one message except to say that what you did wont work and what youre calling for wont happen.

"Some of you will have legitimate gripes; you may be legitimately angry about other things that have nothing to do with the people living in the buildings that you are protesting outside but there are better and more productive ways to bring your dissatisfaction through the political system as well.

It can be very frustrating, he added.

"A lot of the issues people face have been ingrained for a long time but it does work. The system does work in that regard so dont point it at people that arent to blame for the issues youre facing.

The Minister said there is no doubt that some of the people attending the protests are racist.

You only need to see what they say.

Protesters have been gathering outside hotels and other locations accommodating asylum seekers in Ballymun, Fermoy and other spots across the country.

A refugee fleeing homophobic persecution in his home country has described the feeling of intimidation felt by asylum seekers staying in a Travelodge hotel in Ballymun.

He told Independent.ie that aggressive protesters are confining people to their rooms due to threats.

They came here at night and they tried to get into the hotel and they tried to break the door, he said, adding that the group left when security staff intervened.

He said during the protests the refugee children are taken upstairs and attempts are made to distract them.

All the mothers keep the children upstairs in their rooms, they dont go downstairs, but they can see everything through the window and they are afraid, he said.
Fr Sean McManus said that Irish people who reject the idea of immigration are denying their own experience and history.

A Catholic priest based in America has said that Irish people protesting against asylum seekers is no different to Black Americans supporting slavery.

Fr Sean Mc Manus, who was born in Co Fermanagh but now lives in the US, was responding to an Irish Times article about far-right groups and the spread of anti-immigration ideologies following a slew of protests over the housing of refugees across Dublin and other towns.

He said that Irish people who reject the idea of immigration are denying their own experience and history coming from a country that has seen millions of its natives move abroad.

Mother of God!  Who, by the way, gave birth to Jesus Christ in a stable because there was no room in the innhow could this be happening in Ireland? the priest wrote.

Irish people in Irelandor America or any place in the worldopposing immigrants would appallingly be like Black Americans supporting slavery; or Jewish-Americans supporting historic, worldwide anti-Semitism. In other words, a total betrayal of their own experience and history, indeed, the denial of their very soul.

Fr McManus said the far right Irish patriotism mentioned in the Irish Times article flagrantly and shamefully renounces not only the Gospel-based social justice teaching of the Catholic Church on the rights of immigrants, but also the basic human decency, humanity, and solidarity of people of no faith but of goodwill.

Love of neighborand, therefore, love of Godmeans doing social justice for all Gods daughters and sons on this earth, he continued, before adding that racism disguised as Irish patriotism is inspired by the likes of Oliver Cromwell and Margaret Thatcher rather than Wolfe Tone, James Connolly, and Padraig Pearse.

It comes after Junior Minister Joe OBrien said protests against asylum seekers wont work and will not change Government policy.

He told Newstalk listeners that gardai are monitoring people who are trying to mobilise and spread hate and spread racism.

It is tricky to give them all one message except to say that what you did wont work and what youre calling for wont happen, he said.

"Some of you will have legitimate gripes; you may be legitimately angry about other things that have nothing to do with the people living in the buildings that you are protesting outside but there are better and more productive ways to bring your dissatisfaction through the political system as well.
The controversial tome now is Irelands best-selling non-fiction book since records began

PRINCE Harrys book Spare has broken Irish publishing records with over 20,000 copies sold in this country since its release early last week.

The controversial tome now is Irelands best-selling non-fiction book since records began, with first week sales of 20,584 copies across the hardback format in the Irish market.

The sales of 20,584 hardback copies of Spare by Prince Harry in Ireland last week would be exceptional at any time, but in January they are unprecedented. It is the largest ever one-week sale of any non-fiction book in the last 20 years, said Michael McLoughlin, MD of Penguin Random House Ireland.

We are grateful for the tremendous efforts bookshops have made to bring the book to readers,

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Prince Harry is believed to have got an advance of 17 million (19 million) for the book, with 1.4 million copies shifted in the US, UK and Canada combined on its first day of release.

It also set a record in the UK for 400,000 copies sold on its first day of release alone last Tuesday.

The previous record from the same publishing company was Barack Obamas A Promised Land, which sold mover than 887,000 copies in the US and Canada November 2020.

The Prince maintains he wishes to support British charities with donations from his proceeds from Spare, which details several headline grabbing aspects of his private life and interactions with the British royal family.

The Duke of Sussex has donated $1,500,000 to Sentebale, an organisation he founded with Prince Seeiso in their mothers' legacies, which supports vulnerable children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana affected by HIV/AIDS.

Prince Harry will also donate to the non-profit organisation WellChild in the amount of 300,000. WellChild, which he has been Royal patron of for 15 years, makes it possible for children and young people with complex health
Brad was quizzed about possibly owning a property on the Emerald Isle by Dermot and Dave on Today FM.

Brad Pitt has admitted that hed love to own a home in Ireland in the future.

The Hollywood superstar joined Dermot and Dave on Today FM to chat about his new film, Babylon, with co-star Margot Robbie.

During the interview, Brad was quizzed about possibly owning a property on the Emerald Isle.

Back in 1998, various media outlets reported that he had expressed interest in splurging 2.35m on the Pouldrew House estate in Waterford, but he never finalised the deal.

Brad told Dermot and Dave that while he doesnt own a home in Ireland at the moment, he "actually would love to purchase a property here.

I wish I had all the properties that they say Im responsible for, he laughed.

But I do love it there (Ireland), its so beautiful. I actually would love to have a spot there one day.

The 59-year-old was also full of praise for Irishman Bono as he explained that he went to see the U2 frontman on his stage tour where he promoted his autobiography, Surrender.

I saw it in LA, Brad said.

"It's extraordinary, and I wish it would've gone on for another three hours. It's really moving and really joyful and beautifully reflective.

You know, it's Bono, there's no other man like him.

In the same interview, Brads co-star Margot revealed that she has a debilitating fear of public speaking.

I get very scared doing public speaking. The idea of doing a speech live, and everyones like But youre an actor? and I can do anything on set, but live scares me so much, the Australian actor explained.

Learning lines, I dont have trouble with that. When I worked on Neighbours, sometimes Id have sixty pages on my lap to learn that day and Id just zoom, zoom, zoom.

So, I could do that pretty quickly, but the idea of public speaking scares me.
An opportunity to work in New Zealand fast turned sour for a group of workers from Papua New Guinea, who arrived to long hours and little pay, a jury has heard.

One worker allegedly received $106 for a six-day week in an alleged rort that involved members of the group working at a Hawkes Bay vineyard and Cambridge nursery in 2016.

Waikato couple Antony Swarbrick and Christina Kewa-Swarbrick have pleaded not guilty to 99 charges of aiding and abetting people to unlawfully enter New Zealand, aiding them to breach their visa conditions, and giving false information to immigration.

And Martha Fretton, the owner of a company who contracted the workers out, pleaded not guilty to 12 charges of aiding people to breach visa conditions.

The trios trial, which is set down for five weeks, began in Hamilton District Court on Monday before Judge Robert Spear.

Crown prosecutor Kaleb Whyte said, in his opening statement, the Swarbricks ran a scheme that took advantage of 16 vulnerable workers for financial gain.

Together the [Swarbricks] organised for 16 Papua New Guinea nationals to travel here where they would work long hours for very little payment.

The defendants were all better off, but the Papua New Guinea workers were not.

What began as excitement about the once in a lifetime opportunity quickly turned to disappointment, Whyte said.

One person earnt only $106 for a six-day weeks worth of work.

The workers were told they were coming to New Zealand as part of a Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, and would be paid NZ$15 an hour.

Whyte said name of the programme changed before they left Papua New Guinea, but the workers had the same expectations.

Frettons business provided workers for a vineyard in Hawkes Bay and she became involved with 12 of the Papua New Guinea workers.

She invoiced and received money from the company, but the workers didn't get all their earnings.

[The defendants used] these vulnerable hardworking people to enrich themselves, Whyte said.

Some also worked at a nursery in Cambridge.

Antony Swarbrick is charged with aiding and abetting 16 people to complete a visa application knowing the information to be false and misleading between April 26 and May 6 in 2016 in Papua New Guinea.

He faces another 16 charges of supplying false and misleading information to an immigration officer between April 4 and May 6 in 2016 in Hamilton.

Swarbrick is also charged with aiding and abetting 16 people to unlawfully enter New Zealand and then to breach the conditions of their visa between June 8 and August 10 in 2016.

His wife Christina Kewa-Swarbrick pleaded not guilty to 35 charges. She is accused of aiding three people to complete a visa application knowing the information was false or misleading on or about April 27 in 2016.

She also faces 16 charges of aiding and abetting people to unlawfully enter New Zealand between April 25 and June 10 in 2016, and 16 charges of aiding people to breach the conditions of their visa between June 8 and August 10 in 2016.

Martha Fretton faces 12 charges of aiding people to breach the conditions of their visa between July 24 and August 10 in 2016.

-Rachel Moore/Stuff.
People are having to wait over an hour for tests because of significant staff shortages at pathology services in Tauranga.

The Greerton, Mount Maunganui and Otumoetai Pathlab clinics have closed and the Te Puke and Katikati sites have reduced hours because of the shortages.

Paula Bilbe has needed weekly blood tests since June last year and says the delays have increased during that time.

It's nothing unusual to wait up to 1 hour 20 mins for a test that takes less than 10 minutes, says Bilbe.

She lives two minutes away from the Otumoetai clinic that closed in November 2021, which was much easier to fit into her busy schedule.

Bilbe now has to choose between the clinic on 2nd Ave, Bethlehem or at the Tauranga Hospital.

Regardless of which branch I choose, the wait is never less than 20 mins.

The max time I have had to wait was 1 hour 20 mins, believe me I wasn't the only annoyed and frustrated person wasting my valuable time.

She has tried going to the branches at different times of the day but says it makes little if any difference on time spent waiting.

It's not ok, for a city the size of Tauranga, we need more locations. It's time to staff the Otumoetai and Greerton branches again.

Bilbe applauds the staff at the clinics who were always busy rushing about trying to get the numbers through and apologising for the wait.

Larissa Allen has had weekly blood tests for the past 13 weeks because she in undergoing chemotherapy.

She agrees the staff work really hard and do an amazing job.

A regular user of the Papamoa Pathlab, Allen says the wait times range from 20 minutes to an hour and her longest wait was just over an hour.

I notice a lot of people get frustrated, but it is what it is. People just have to have patience.

Asked if she was worried about being a busy wait room whilst being immunocompromised Allen replied: No, that didn't even cross my mind.

When you're in Pathlab, you have to wear a mask anyway. So everyone's wearing their masks.

For a Te Puke resident, who wanted to remain anonymous, it wasnt just time but the extra cost of having to travel to Papamoa for tests because the Te Puke clinic was only open on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The woman needed tests two to three times a week for most of last year.

I live on a Supported Living benefit due to physical disabilities and the extra petrol costs to travel further for blood tests meant that sometimes I didnt go as often as I was supposed to as I couldnt afford the extra petrol.

[As] a regular user of Pathlab services I have been very distressed with the service and lack of communication clients have received over the last 2 years.

In the last 12 months Pathlab had 29 staff transfer, retire or leave for other positions. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

Pathlab chief executive officer Dianne McQueen says laboratories have experienced workforce shortages in recent times and there was both a national and global shortage of phlebotomists, (those trained to take blood).

The Covid-19 pandemic further impacted our business through employee sickness and resignations, primarily due to fatigue, which has meant we have had to redistribute our team to the more densely populated areas we service.

Currently, there are 19 phlebotomists and 10 receptionists or assistants at the six Pathlabs in the Western Bay of Plenty, she says.

In the last 12 months, we have had 29 staff transfer, retire or leave for other positions, McQueen says.

Nine fully trained phlebotomists were needed to reopen the closed collection sites, she says.

Recruitment of staff for these positions has been a key focus for over two years.

We have broadened our advertising to include Facebook, word of mouth via PHOs

(primary health organisations) and our staff, which has yielded good responses.

Pathlab have recruited 26 staff and have another 4 starting this week and each month thereafter, says McQueen.

Staff require a minimum of three months training and Pathlab made changes to its training programmes to ensure new staff are ready to work without supervision after three months, she says.

The hope is to have the closed clinics open within the next two to three months, says the CEO.

We are truly sorry for those that are experiencing the excessive wait times, as seen across all healthcare in New Zealand.

Unfortunately, patient numbers day-to day vary hugely, so it is very difficult to plan ahead for those extra busy days.

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A hot potato: For the second time this week, Stability AI, creator of the art generation tool Stable Diffusion, is being sued over alleged copyright violation for scraping content to train its systems. This time, stock images/video/music provider Getty Images has "commenced legal proceedings in the High Court of Justice in London" against Stability AI.

Getty Images said in a statement that Stability AI unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright "absent a license to benefit Stability AI's commercial interests and to the detriment of the content creators."

Getty Images CEO Craig Peters told The Verge that the company had notified Stability AI of its upcoming litigation in the UK. There's no word on whether a US case will follow.

"The company [Stability AI] made no outreach to Getty Images to utilize our or our contributors' material so we're taking an action to protect our and our contributors' intellectual property rights," said Peters.

Check out How to Run Stable Diffusion on Your PC to Generate AI Images

It looks like Stability AI's lawyers will have a busy few months, or years, ahead. We heard yesterday that three artists had launched a class action against the company, Midjourney (another AI art generator), and portfolio site DeviantArt for allegedly violating copyright laws. Lawyer Matthew Butterick, who filed the case alongside antitrust and class action specialist Joseph Saveri Law Firm, said creators are concerned about AI systems being trained on copyrighted work without consent, credit, or compensation.

Questions over what material generative AIs are trained on sit alongside fears that they will replace human jobs. It's proving to be a murky area, legally, with most creators of the systems arguing that such training falls under the fair use doctrine in the US, or fair dealing in the UK. Peters says Getty Images doesn't think this is an accurate assumption, unsurprisingly.

Something that could support Getty Images' case is an independent analysis of Stability AI's dataset that found a large portion came from Getty Images and other stock image sites. Moreover, the AI often recreates Getty Images' watermark in its generated images.

Peters told The Verge that Getty Images isn't interested in financial compensation or stopping the development of these AIs but finding ways of building a model that respects intellectual property. Stability AI says the next version of Stable Diffusion will allow artists to opt out of having their work included in training datasets, but that might not be enough to placate original creators and companies like Getty Images.

My face is in the #LAION dataset. In 2013 a doctor photographed my face as part of clinical documentation. He died in 2018 and somehow that image ended up somewhere online and then ended up in the dataset- the image that I signed a consent form for my doctor- not for a dataset. pic.twitter.com/TrvjdZtyjD --- Lapine (@LapineDeLaTerre) September 16, 2022

Adding to the controversy is the recent news that a California-based AI artist discovered private medical record photos taken by her doctor in 2013 were part of the LAION-5B image set. The dataset, a collection of 5 billion images and associated descriptive captions created by a German-based research non-profit, is used to train Stable Diffusion and other generative AIs. Artists can check if their work is part of LAION-5B at Have I Been Trained.
Chinese authorities lifted the 18-month ban on new user registrations for the transportation company and ride-hailing application Didi Chuxing. The company vowed to the authorities on taking effective measures to secure the platform's facilities and big data.

(Photo : GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images)

A taxi driver uses the Didi Chuxing app while driving along a street in Guilin, in China's southern Guangxi region on May 13, 2016. - Apple has invested 1 billion USD in Chinese ride hailing app Didi Chuxing, the Beijing company said on May 13, as it vies with bitter US-based rival Uber for market share in China.

Lifting the 18-Month Ban

Didi Chuxing is set to resume new user registrations after the authorities gave the company the green light to operate. Based on a report from Reuters, this will be the end of the 1 and 1/2 years of halting customer enrollment and new downloads.

"Our company has earnestly cooperated with the country's cybersecurity review, seriously dealt with the security problems found in the review and carried out comprehensive rectifications for more than one year," the company said in a statement.

Didi added that effective measures will be implemented to ensure customers of platform safety and data security. At the same time, national cyberspace security will be safeguarded.

This will make the company restore its confidence and continue operating to help spur economic activity that has been affecting the country and the world.

University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Law Associate Professor Angela Zhang described this news for the company as the mark of a course correction for the government that is long overdue.

She added, "We are now seeing a mobilization of bureaucratic efforts to revive the Chinese tech sector from various fronts."

Halting New Registrations and Downloads

Didi Chuxing has been known as one of the world's largest ride-hailing companies in the market. In 2021, the company raised $4.4 billion from its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the name Didi Global.

Just days after the filing, South China Morning Post reported that the Cyber Security Review Office investigated the company on the grounds of national security. During this time the authorities were triggered by the sell-off in Chinese tech stocks in New York and Hong Kong.

For 18 months, Didi Chuxing's new user registrations have been halted due to an investigation. The company's application also remained unavailable for download.

25 mobile applications were ordered by the Cyberspace Administration of China to be taken down from app stores, registration of new accounts was suspended, and received a $1.2 billion fine over data-security breaches.

The fine was paid last year and was known as the largest regulatory penalty imposed on a Chinese tech company since tech giants like Alibaba and Meituan were fined billions of dollars.

Also Read: DiDi, China's Version of Uber, Set for One of the Biggest IPOs of the Year: What You Should Know

As per Financial times, the lifting of the ban comes as Beijing revamps its efforts on boosting the economy of the country after three years of restrictions because of the splurging cases of COVID-19.

The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission stated that only minor issues were left to be resolved.

He added, "the government would help its internet groups fully display their capabilities in bolstering growth, job creation and global competitiveness."

Related Article: China Reduces Fines for Ride-Hailing Violations, Aims to Push New Legal Framework

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Asian human resources technology services provider DarwinBox has been funded by Microsoft Corp., as a part of the company's investment to retain employees. The company received funding last quarter from Microsoft and the State Bank of India, without revealing the exact amount.

(Photo : PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

Attendees walk past the logo of US multinational technology company Microsoft during the Web Summit in Lisbon on November 6, 2019. - Europe's largest tech event Web Summit is held at Parque das Nacoes in Lisbon from November 4 to November 7.

Investing in DarwinBox

In an undisclosed amount, Microsoft became a strategic investor as they invested in Asia-Based human resources software company DarwinBox. Through this collaboration, Bloomberg reported that both companies will be integrating their ecosystems and co-innovating solutions to enhance employee experience.

This will include integrations with different platforms like LinkedIn, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Viva, Azure Active Directory, and more.

Through DarwinBox's AI-based predictive engine, several visual analytics dashboards will be built, employees across customer organizations will more effectively use data, and business decisions will be faster.

DarwinBox Co-Founder Jayant Paletti stated, "We have a customer base of close to 750 and almost 80-85 percent of these customers are already using Microsoft ecosystem. This integration will further elevate that. This will also further add muscle to our global expansion plans."

He added that this partnership took some time to architect as he did not describe this as "not just as an investment" but more of like an integration of their products.

This will be Microsoft's first partnership in the HRMS space in Asia, which will be a unique and interesting experience for DarwinBox to see such a product platform coming from India.

Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari stated, "Across the country, organizations big and small are making possible new ways of doing business and we are pleased to work closely with leaders like Darwinbox, who are completely reimagining the frontiers of employee experience with the power of technology."

The collaboration between the two companies was one of the focused partnerships of Microsoft as the company creates deeper partnerships.

Also Read: Microsoft CEO Nadella Sees More Growth with Cloud Business Amid Economic Downturn

Business Standard reported that the human resources software is based in Asia, meaning that it has a large customer base in India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

Over 750 enterprises and two million employees around the world are using DarwinBox as their cloud-based platform. Additionally, the company garnered two times revenue growth in early 2022 for its Series D unicorn funding.

Previous DarwinBox Fundings

DarwinBox raised $72 million in a financing round led by Technology Crossover Ventures, backed by Netflix, Meta Platforms, and Spotify. Salesforce's venture arm Sequoia Capital India and Lightspeed India are also participants. This will include customers like HDFC Bank, Aviva Single, and Tokopedia.

Economic Times reported that the company's clients are notable brands like Nivea, Starbucks, Dominos, T-Systems, AXA, Cigna, JSW, Adani, Vedanta, Mahindra, SBI General, Shoppers Stop, Kotak, NSE, Makemytrip, and Swiggy.

Related Article: Microsoft To Invest $10 Billion in OpenAI Startup For Office Software

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South Korean researchers have developed a new "Smart Lens" technology that centers on neuroscience, particularly in detecting Alzheimer's disease at an early stage. This is via the intraocular smart lens that goes through a person's eye and makes its way to searching for indications regarding any progression of this illness.

The Smart Lens is also capable of detecting other degenerative brain illnesses and neurological conditions apart from Alzheimer's, with different applications for patients.

South Korea's Smart Lens Technology

(Photo : Pexels/Pixabay)

KIMM and Yonsei University developed the Smart Lens technology, an intraocular instrument to detect Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.

A paper recently published in the Bioactive Materials journal (via Science Direct) centers on a South Korean technology that can accurately use biomarkers to detect early signs of Alzheimer's disease. It will look into the patient's brain to determine if there is a developing case of this progressive memory loss disease, one that is notorious for the senior members of society.

KIMM (Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials), in collaboration with the country's Yonsei University, worked together to develop this Smart Lens.

It presents a more sensible detection of the target proteins that indicate any signs of the disease, using the so-called moire patterns. Jaejong Lee and Geehong Kim, from the KIMM Nano-Manufacturing Technology Department, led the research.

Read Also: Alzheimer's CURE Close To Being Made? New Drugs Are Showing Promise

Neurological Disease Instrument

The intraocular instrument needs to pass through one's eye for its detection of Alzheimer's or other neurological diseases. The researchers claimed that they would continue to develop this Smart Lens technology for further use, and possibly, its availability commercially for many professionals around the world to utilize for their diagnosis.

Brain Conditions Detection

There are countless brain conditions in the world, and it develops from genes or other traumatic experiences, and some may be born to them. One of the most common is Alzheimer's disease, and there is plenty of research centering on its detection, with biomarkers tests that could detect it using blood samples from patients.

There are also several systems available now to help detect dementia and Alzheimer's using artificial intelligence, and research suggests that they are more effective. In the study, it was claimed that AI is better than medical experts in detecting signs of Alzheimer's, and it was proven that the program delivers a more accurate diagnosis.

Humans develop technology that was made to help the world get better and faster results, and of course, medical professionals aim to develop ones that center on prevention over cure. This new smart lens from South Korea's KIMM researchers center on detecting Alzheimer's at an early stage, one that would help in treating the condition before it progresses.

Related Article: Experimental Gene Therapy Changes the Life of Polish Schoolgirl With Unusual Brain Condition

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Stability AI, makers of the widely used AI artwork tool Stable Diffusion, is being sued by Getty Images for allegedly infringing upon copyrighted materials.

A press release from Getty Images sent to The Verge claims that the stock picture agency has commenced legal action in the High Court of Justice in London against Stability AI for unlawfully copying and processing millions of images covered by copyright to train its software.

Lawsuit Against Stability AI

In an interview with The Verge, Getty Images CEO Craig Peters said the company has formally notified Stability AI of an anticipated lawsuit in the UK by issuing a letter before action. He did not specify whether or not any lawsuits would be filed in American courts.

Peters said that the motivation for the letter was Stability AI's exploitation of other parties' intellectual property without compensation or authorization to create a commercial solution for the company's own gain.

He added that Stability AI made no attempts to contact Getty Images about using their content, including the contributors'. Thus, they decided to act to safeguard their intellectual property.

According to Angela Pontarolo, Stability AI's media agent, the company has not received information concerning this complaint. Therefore they cannot comment.

See Also: Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, DreamUp Face Copyright Lawsuit from Three Artists, Allegedly Copying their Works

Escalating Legal Conflict

There has been a growing legal dispute between AI companies and content producers about attribution, compensation, and the future of the creative industries. This case is only one indication of an increase in that conflict.

Diffusion and similar AI art techniques depend on training data comprised of pictures made by humans, which firms allegedly scrape from the web, often without the owner's knowledge or permission.

AI businesses say 'fair use' protects this approach, while rights holders say it violates the copyright. Even while legal specialists are split on the matter, they agree that such problems should be settled in the courts.

The first big lawsuit against AI companies, including Stability AI, was filed by three artists this past weekend.

CEO Peters tries to link the present legal scenario in the generative AI field to the early days of digital music when services like Napster provided popular but unlawful downloads until new arrangements were negotiated with license holders like music labels.

"We're taking this action to get clarity," he stated.

An independent review of the dataset discovered that Getty Images and other stock picture sites make up a significant part of its contents. The AI program reportedly tends to duplicate the company's watermark.

Stability AI and similar businesses have denied posing any kind of legal or ethical risk with their algorithms, but they have started providing accommodations for content producers anyway. For example, Stability AI claims that in the future iteration of Stable Diffusion, creators will have the option not to use the algorithm at all.

See Also: Stable Diffusion from Stability AI is Now Used to Generate Porn Through AI

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Microsoft wants to commercialize OpenAI's tools. CEO Satya Nadella shared this plan during the World Economic Forum's annual event.

(Photo : Photo by Eva HAMBACH / AFP) (Photo by EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images)

A Microsoft logo adorns a building in Chevy Chase, Maryland on May 19, 2021. - Microsoft said it is retiring Internet Explorer, the browser it created more than 25 years and which is now largely abandoned as people instead use competitors like Google's Chrome or Apple's Safari.

He said they plan to integrate OpenAI capabilities into all their products.

It is not surprising for Microsoft to greatly support the growth of OpenAI since it is an early investor in the startup.

Previously, Microsoft said that it would increase its investment in OpenAI. This shows that the software giant is interested in the rising AI industry.

Microsoft to Commercialize OpenAI's Tools

According to the Wall Street Journal's latest report, Microsoft's plan with OpenAI tools will make the company's products available as platforms for other businesses and users.

(Photo : Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, speaks with Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen AG, (not pictured) at a "fireside chat" to the media about a joint project between the two companies called the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud on February 27, 2019 in Berlin, Germany. Microsoft is working with several automakers to advance the carmakers' digitalization.

Also Read: OpenAI's ChatGPT is Developing an iOS App - Demo Version Shared on LinkedIn

"Every product of Microsoft will have some of the same AI capabilities to completely transform the product," said Nadella.

The tech CEO said that artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, could greatly help people across the globe.

Nadella claims that these tools could enhance human productivity, allowing the economy to grow, leading to better wages for lower-income jobs.

He added that the world needs technologies that can really change the "productivity growth" to achieve economic growth.

Microsoft Azure to Make It Happen

Via its official Azure blog post, Microsoft said that it would use its cloud-computing platform to expand the accessibility of OpenAI's tools.

The tech giant firm announced that its Azure OpenAI Service is generally available.

This means that other companies and businesses can request access to Codex, DALL-E 2, GPT, and other advanced artificial intelligence.

If you want to learn more about Microsoft's OpenAI commercialization effort, you can click this link.

Aside from investing in artificial intelligence, Microsoft is also busy with its other products.

Recently, the software giant claimed that the new Microsoft Surface Duo 3 could compete with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold.

We also reported that Microsoft rolled out Windows 7's secure boot.

For more news updates about Microsoft and its other business activities, keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Microsoft's New AI Can Mimic Anyone's Voice! Here's Why VALL-E Concerns Experts

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A dough artist demonstrates craftsmanship during a folk arts and cultural festival in Flushing, New York, the United States, on Jan. 15, 2023. A folk arts and cultural festival was held in New York City, the most populous city in the United States, on Sunday in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Liu Yanan) NEW YORK, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A folk arts and cultural festival was held in New York City, the most populous city in the United States, on Sunday in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. As the 6th annual event, the festival held in Flushing, the city's Queens Borough, featured interactive programs on Chinese calligraphy, paper cutting, paper folding, Chinese zodiac, traditional riddles, sugar painting, traditional Chinese painting, dough art and others as well as an hours-long cultural performance. The cultural performance highlighted Tai-Chi, martial arts, Peking Opera, Chinese traditional instrument Jinghu as well as a number of folk songs. The festival, with around 40 stands, served as an opportunity for visitors to immerse in Chinese culture and drew the participation of around 2,000 people this year. The number was in line with that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to estimate by Chen Mei, executive chairman of the New York Council of Chinese-American Associations. "I'm surprised by the participants' enthusiasm," although a few programs were cancelled due to the pandemic, Chen told Xinhua. The yearly festival started in 2015 but was cancelled in the previous two years due to the pandemic, said Chen. The Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, is the most important holiday for Chinese around the world. The Spring Festival for 2023 falls on Jan. 22 and the Chinese lunar year for 2023 is the Year of the Rabbit, according to the Chinese zodiac. With a large number of Chinese Americans and sound business facilities, downtown Flushing is seen as the second largest Chinatown in New York City. An artist writes Spring Festival couplets for participants during a folk arts and cultural festival in Flushing, New York, the United States, on Jan. 15, 2023. A folk arts and cultural festival was held in New York City, the most populous city in the United States, on Sunday in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Liu Yanan) A child learns how to tie a traditional Chinese knot during a folk arts and cultural festival in Flushing, New York, the United States, on Jan. 15, 2023. A folk arts and cultural festival was held in New York City, the most populous city in the United States, on Sunday in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Liu Yanan) An artist makes a sugar painting during a folk arts and cultural festival in Flushing, New York, the United States, on Jan. 15, 2023. A folk arts and cultural festival was held in New York City, the most populous city in the United States, on Sunday in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Liu Yanan) A child tries to fetch a traditional Chinese riddle after he figured out the answer during a folk arts and cultural festival in Flushing, New York, the United States, on Jan. 15, 2023. A folk arts and cultural festival was held in New York City, the most populous city in the United States, on Sunday in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Liu Yanan) Children in traditional Chinese costumes perform during a folk arts and cultural festival in Flushing, New York, the United States, on Jan. 15, 2023. A folk arts and cultural festival was held in New York City, the most populous city in the United States, on Sunday in celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year. (Xinhua/Liu Yanan)
Foxconn Technology Group, a major supplier to Apple, has a new head of its iPhone assembly division after a turbulent year in China.

This now underlines the company's attempts to prepare a new generation of executives to help it succeed in the post-Covid period, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Foxconn's Newest Member of the Exec Group

Taiwan-based Foxconn announced Michael Chiang as their new division director on Sunday, Jan. 15, at their annual year-end celebration. Chiang will be taking over for Wang Charng-yang, who has been with the company for a long time and was in charge of iPhone assembly.

Persons knowledgeable on the subject said that Chiang was recently appointed to head of the A business group, while Wang stepped down to concentrate on a job on the board.

Chiang is reportedly a long-time Foxconn manager who has helped the business reach the high standards Apple expects.

According to SCMP's sources, Wang's retirement from his post overseeing iPhone operations has nothing to do with the Covid-related production problems that Foxconn experienced last year. Wang was selected to the board for Foxconn's flagship business Hon Hai Precision in the summer of 2022 and still serves in that role.

Based on a comprehensive interview with an insurance consulting firm that was put online in June 2021, found by Bloomberg, Chiang has a master's degree in human resources development from California's Claremont Graduate University. He has been with Foxconn since 1999.

Foxconn's major iPhone facility in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou had extraordinary worker unrest late last year. Apparently, Chiang played a crucial role in negotiating with the local authorities and ensuring Apple's requests would be granted.

Related Story: Foxconn is Reportedly Nearing Full Production of iPhones in China

One Strategy for Keeping up With the Competition

Young Liu, chairman of Hon Hai Precision, made the appointment as part of an attempt to promote younger executives inside the firm to ensure the continued success of the company's supply chain in the face of increasing competition from Chinese rivals.

This decision reportedly aids the company in navigating persistent tensions between Washington and Beijing, diversifying its manufacturing bases outside of China, and fending off Chinese competition, too.

As Apple strives to diversify its manufacturing base in the wake of supply bottlenecks and stringent regulations that have plagued device manufacture in China due to the pandemic, Foxconn may encounter new competitors in India.

Chiang mentioned making three trips to India to establish Foxconn's manufacturing operations there, according to the 2021 interview.

"The biggest challenge we face in India is cultural shock, including its caste system. It's brand new to us," Chiang stated.

In the interview, Chiang also shared some insights into how the iPhone is put together.

Chiang remarked, "For Chinese Android phones, we only have to assign 100 workers per production line, but we need 1,200 for the iPhone." This statistic highlights Apple's stringent requirements.

See Also: NVIDIA, Foxconn Join Hands to Create an Autonomous Drive Platform for EVs

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Samsung has just introduced a new sensor to transform premium smartphone photography. The ISOCELL HP2 is a 200-megapixel sensor with a Type 1/1.3 sensor and a pixel pitch of 0.6 micrometers, making it significantly larger than the average smartphone sensor.

The new sensor captures more light than previous sensors and includes new HDR features that will most likely be employed in Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone. Read more for more information.

The ISOCELL HP2

The HP2 sensor utilizes Dual Vertical Transfer Gate (D-VTG) technology, which effectively doubles the number of electrons available from each photodiode and increases the pixel's full-well capacity by more than 33%. By binding four or 16 neighboring pixels, Samsung notes that this technology allows the HP2 to transform into a 1.2mm 50MP or 2.4mm 12.5MP sensor.

Furthermore, Engadget reports that the HP2 sensor can capture 8K 30 fps video in 50MP mode and 12.5MP HDR images, and 4K HDR at up to 60 fps using Smart-ISO Pro. This upgrade means the sensor can capture incredibly detailed photos and videos and minimize cropping while allowing for a sharp video.

Read Also: Apple iPhones, MacBooks, iPads Might Soon Get MicroLED In-House Displays - Like the Apple Watch?

One of the most impressive aspects of the HP2 sensor is that each pixel functions as a focusing agent, allowing for quick autofocus even in low-light conditions. The HP2 sensor can capture sharp, clear images without additional light sources, even in low-light conditions.

The Super QPD technology recognizes horizontal and vertical patterns, providing quick and accurate AF even in low-light environments.

According to a Samsung insider, the HP2 achieves an unprecedented 15 frames per second at 200 MP pixels. Compared to other sensors, the HP1 and HP3 200MP at 7.5 frames per second and the HM3 100MP at ten frames per second. The HP2 is Samsung's most powerful sensor and the embodiment of cutting-edge technology.

The Galaxy S23 will be unveiled in just two weeks, and it is expected that the new ISOCELL HP2 sensor will be included in this new flagship handset. The ISOCELL HP2 sensor is a game changer in the smartphone photography industry, and many believe that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone will set a new standard.

The smartphone maker confirms that the ISOCELL HP2 center has already entered mass production.

In Other News

In other news, GSM Arena reports that Samsung will hold a large launch conference on February 1, where the Galaxy S23 series will be unveiled. A new line of Galaxy Book laptops will join the new phones.

With the Book3, Book3 360, Book3 Pro, Book3 Pro 360, and Book3 Ultra, Samsung will launch a five-model Galaxy Book3 lineup.

According to the same report, Galaxy Book3 and Book3 360 will have 15-inch screens, while Book3 Pro will have 14" and 16" screens. The high-end Book3 Pro 360 and Book3 Ultra will only have 16" screens. Meanwhile, the Book3 Pro 360 has Intel Iris Xe graphics, 16GB DDR5 RAM, and up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD with Core i5-1340P and Core i7-1360P processors.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5: 'Droplet' Hinge Design Centers on Less Crease, Waterproofing System

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Internet safety advocates expect the UK parliament will discuss the online safety bill on Tuesday, Jan. 17, before it goes to the House of Lords.

After months of changes, here is the breakdown of the bill's present structure, as summarized by The Guardian.

Child Safety

The bill mandates that Facebook, TikTok, and search engines safeguard youngsters from hazardous information and activities, including child sexual abuse material. Firms must also guarantee that non-illegal information, such as self-harm content, is age-appropriate for minors.

Age assurance, the technical word for online age verification, will be complex for the leading platforms since they must also enforce age limitations, generally 13 years for social media sites. They worry that severe screening, such as asking for ID or facial scanning, would deter users and lower advertising income.

Campaigners believe digital companies do not verify ages or protect teens from harmful content. In this reform, firms must provide age assurance methods in their terms of service.

In November 2022, tech companies were required to submit risk evaluations of their child-hazardous sites. The legislation requires platforms to evaluate the dangers their services pose to minors and explain how they will mitigate those risks in their terms of service, which the Office of Communications or Ofcom will review.

Companies will also have to post child safety enforcement notifications from the regulator. Ofcom may punish firms up to 18 million ($22 million) or 10% of global sales or prohibit sites in exceptional situations under the statute.

An amendment supported by Conservative rebels that criminalizes tech leaders for severe kid online safety violations is the most significant change. The administration agreed to criminally punish executives who repeatedly violate their duty of care to children.

Related Story: Social Media Execs Who Violate Child Safety Laws Might Be Jailed in the UK

Harmful, Legal Material

The law no longer requires big digital companies like Instagram and YouTube to protect adult users from "legal but harmful" content like various sorts of racist or sexist abuse. The "censor's charter" criticism centered on that clause.

Ofcom will enforce platform terms of service. Thus, if a digital platform promises to ban lawful but damaging information like eating disorder promotion, it must do so or be fined.

Content removal and account bans may be appealed. The government claims this would prevent firms from unilaterally deleting information or banning users and ensure due process.

Tech companies must also allow adults to hide lawful but disturbing content from their feeds. The government will designate abusive or hateful information based on race, ethnicity, religion, handicap, sex, gender reassignment, or sexual orientation.

New Crimes

The England and Wales law criminalizes social media messages that promote self-harm.

Pornographic "deepfakes," or images or movies made to resemble a person, will likewise be illegal. The capturing and sharing of "downblousing," or images-photos shot down a woman's top, will also be addressed. Cyberflashing will be banned, too.

One damaging communications offense was eliminated. This would have targeted persons who send messages or posts that cause severe anguish.

The measure requires all organizations to protect adult users from child sexual abuse photos, revenge pornography, threats of murder, weapon sales, and terrorist propaganda. Tech platforms must aggressively block such content.

See Also: UK Government Comes Under Fire For Supposedly Failing to Safeguard Children from Online Harm

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According to a Bloomberg report, regional internet giants Grab Holdings Ltd. and GoTo Group faced difficulties in 2022 as spending on food delivery in Southeast Asia grew at its slowest rate in at least four years.

The available data point to the resumption of offline dining and the reduction of government subsidies for deliveries as the causes of this stabilization.

Food Delivery Platforms in Southeast Asia

Based on the latest report by Singapore-based consulting firm Momentum Works, the food delivery industry in Southeast Asia has declined in the three largest markets: Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore.

The report highlights that the decline can be attributed to various factors, including the reopening of Singapore and the withdrawal of government subsidies and floods in Thailand in the second half of the year.

Despite the decline in the larger markets, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam have experienced significant growth. This growth can be attributed to the expansion of Grab and ShopeeFood, which have increased their market share.

Grab has successfully displaced Foodpanda and ShopeeFood as market leaders in Malaysia and Vietnam. The company now accounts for 54% of the total platform GMV in the region, or US$8.8 billion, of Southeast Asia's food delivery GMV in 2022-a 16% jump from 2021.

ShopeeFood, on the other hand, has reduced market-share acquisition incentives, and Foodpanda/DeliveryHero is rumored to be exiting a few markets in the region.

A Competitive Industry

Southeast Asia's food delivery market has been growing quickly over the past few years, and many companies are trying to get a piece of it. But the recent drop in the three biggest markets shows that there are still issues in the market. Government regulations, competition, and the region's infrastructure can all significantly affect how well e-commerce companies do in the region.

To remain competitive in the Southeast Asian food delivery market, enterprises must adapt to the changing landscape. This could entail entering new markets, devising new strategies, and investing in technology and infrastructure. They will be well-positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunities in this exciting and rapidly evolving market.

Read Also: Microsoft Invests in Asian HR Software DarwinBox to Collaborate, Integrate Product Ecosystem

According to the same report from Momentum Works, Grab, a leading food delivery company in Southeast Asia, has a GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) of $8.8 billion in the region. The company's market share has increased significantly, cementing its position as the dominant player in Southeast Asia's food delivery industry.

Foodpanda, another leading food delivery company in the region, had a GMV of 3.1 million dollars. This is a significant difference between the two companies, with Grab's GMV nearly three times that of Foodpanda. GoTo's Gojek and Line Man follow the two.

Momentum Works predicts that this trend will persist in 2023 due to DeliveryHero's potential exit from some SEA markets and Shopee's plans to concentrate on e-commerce.

Additionally, established players have been developing advertising-related products to draw in merchant investments and broaden their income streams. Businesses are also considering subscription models to increase consumer orders of larger basket sizes.

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: China-Based Didi Chuxing Resumes User Registrations, Concluding Cybersecurity Review

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Elon Musk, the richest person and CEO of Tesla and Twitter, is set to be the star witness in a jury trial in a federal court in San Francisco over tweets he made four and a half years ago about a plan to take Tesla private with "funding secured." The trial begins Tuesday, Jan. 18, and will last three weeks.

Bloomberg reports that the trial results from a class-action lawsuit filed by shareholders who claim Musk lied in his statement, causing them significant losses due to wild stock price swings over ten days before the plan was scrapped.

Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2018

Lawyers for the shareholders will attempt to demonstrate that Musk's tweets were false and reckless, causing significant financial harm to the plaintiffs.

A Potential Blow for Musk

Experts say potential damages, in this case, could be in the billions of dollars, which would be a significant blow to Musk, whose fortune has plummeted from a peak of $340 billion in November 2021 to recently suffering a record-breaking $200 billion loss.

Musk has already been hampered by a pretrial ruling by US District Judge Edward Chen that the tweets were reckless and false.

Musk has said in court filings that he may call on others who can vouch for the take-private plan. Musk plans to include friend and confidant Larry Ellison, executives at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and private equity firm Silver Lake Management to counter allegations of deception.

These individuals may be able to provide testimony that will help clear Musk's name and demonstrate that the take-private plan was a viable option at the time.

Further Ramifications

This trial will be a major litmus test for Musk and Tesla, with significant financial and reputational ramifications. The outcome of this case will almost certainly be closely followed by investors, shareholders, and the general public.

Read Also: Microsoft to Commercialize OpenAI's Tools; All Products to Have AI Features Like ChatGPT

If the plaintiffs' lawsuit is successful, it could lead to increased scrutiny of Musk's statements and actions in the future and set a precedent for similar cases involving public statements made by CEOs.

Tesla Ad Fake

In a stunning revelation, a senior engineer at Tesla has testified that a 2016 video used to promote the company's self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities that the system did not have.

The video, which came out in October 2016 and was promoted on Twitter by CEO Elon Musk as proof that "Tesla drives itself," is still on the company's website.

As first reported by Reuters, Ashik Elluswamy, the director of Autopilot software at Tesla, stated that the Model X featured in the video was not driving itself with the technology that Tesla had deployed at the time.

Elluswamy confirmed and explained how the video was made in a transcript of a deposition that was used as proof in a lawsuit against Tesla over the death of a former Apple engineer in a crash in 2018.

The video carries a tagline claiming, "The person in the driver's seat is only there for legal reasons."

Stay posted here at Tech Times.

Related Article: Elon Musk Claims That 90% of Comments on His Twitter Account Are Bots

 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Russian cosmonauts were trained to work in outer space on the US ISS segment

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"A person can withstand a lot": cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky - about the modern status of the profession and preparation for flights

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Democracy Prep Baton Rouge Charter School, seen Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. It opened in 2015, and last week voted to surrender its charter, meaning it will close its doors in May. The school has 516 students in grades preK-8, and occupies the facility of the former Prescott Middle, which was taken over by the state in 2008.
At a press conference in February 1974, on the eve of his second Australian tour, Elton John was asked to predict the longevity of his career. You ask an artist that, and they would say forever, Elton replied. I havent got any illusions that Im going to stay at the top forever. Every year, I think this is it. You cant predict it.

Well, if youd bet that Elton would still be at the top of his game in January 2023, almost five decades after that exchange, youd be on a winner. The bittersweet footnote? Unlike Cher or Barbra, who turned farewell concerns into annual engagements, Elton is taking his final stroll down Australias yellow brick road.

Elton John says goodbye to Melbourne in an emotional stop on his farewell tour. Credit: Rick Clifford

In any other scenario, this would be as simple as Australia farewelling a much-loved international artist. From Shirley Bassey to ABBA, Michael Buble to Pink, there is a long list of artists who have been embraced by our fair nation. But Elton John is something different. He may be Middlesex-born, but he is an Australian son.

Elton first performed in Australia on October 17, 1971 at Subiaco Oval, Perth. That was the first of 18 tours and more than 200 shows. Outside the UK and the US, Australia has hosted more Elton John concerts than any other country in the world. The Down Under tour followed in 1979. World Tour 2 in 1980. Jump Up Down Under in 1982. Too Low For Zero in 1984. All the way to Farewell Yellow Brick Road, which brought him here first in 2020 and now, finally, in 2023.
People come to La Mama and they dont want to leave, says Liz Jones. Thats putting it lightly  the 76-year-old came to Melbournes beloved independent theatre company in 1973 and has worked there ever since. But now, approaching her 50th anniversary, Jones is hanging up her hat as artistic director. It was a hard decision because after 50 years, your identity becomes tied to the organisation, she says. But I feel fine about it  a little bit heavy-hearted, but that really becomes lighter and lighter.

Dr Liz Jones AO, pictured at La Mama theatre. Credit: Justin McManus

Jones met the late La Mama founder Betty Burstall in 1971, and came on board at the company as co-artistic director two years later before taking the reins solo in the 1980s. Under Jones, La Mama has become known as one of Australias finest purveyors of innovative, artist-led stage work, and launched the careers of actors such as Cate Blanchett and Judith Lucy.

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Reflecting on half a century at La Mama, what stands out to Jones is a strong sense of community. In 2008, locals rallied to help purchase the Carlton building, with a price tag of $1.7 million. It seemed a gargantuan ask  a Herculean task, she remembers. I felt deeply touched that La Mama was so treasured by the community That was very, very precious to me. The community mobilised again when the theatre was ravaged in a blaze in 2018  donations for the rebuild totalled over $3 million.
When COVID-19 jumped from animals to humans, it encountered an essentially defenceless host. Our immune systems had never seen it before and had no library of antibodies to call on. That meant the virus was essentially under no pressure to get better. It just needed to find new hosts. The first globally dominant variants  such as D614G and Alpha  got there simply because their mutations allowed them to spread more quickly. Loading Three years into the pandemic and were in a very different position. By the end of 2021, almost half the global population had been infected at least once. Almost 70 per cent of the worlds population has now received at least one dose of a vaccine. This puts the virus under new pressure. A mutation that allows a virus to better evade antibodies, infect a human cell and replicate will help it dominate its cousins. As we get reinfected with variants, our antibody arsenal expands, meaning the next successful variant has to be even more immune-evasive to survive and thrive. Each new variant or subvariant must be more transmissible than its predecessor, or it would die out, writes Helen Branswell on the STAT medical news website.

If you think about the variant story from an evolutionary perspective, what were really seeing is a parade of new variants, each more immune-evasive than the last. Kraken wont be the last Kraken, as it were. When does it matter? Viral evolution is scientifically interesting. The question for journalists and the general public is: when do mutations in the virus actually matter enough for us to report on them? The colloquial naming of these variants, like Kraken, is creating a misconception about how important they are, says University of Queensland virologist Dr Kirsty Short.

At the moment, a lot of focus is given to how antibody evasive a new variant is in lab testing. But we have a very poor handle on how antibody-evasion in a lab actually translates in the real world, says Short. Loading Instead, we need to look at severity, she and other virologists told me. Is there any evidence, from hospitalisation data, that the new variant causes more severe disease? Theres no evidence yet that Kraken fits this bill. We dont cover new flu variants every time they arise  although they do every year. It is not clear why we need to cover each new COVID-19 variant unless there were evidence they are more severe, another leading virologist tells me on background. Small shifts in a virus mutation profile are called antigenic drift. Big jumps, such as the emergence of Omicron, are called antigenic shifts and are definitely worth covering.

But were yet to see such a shift with any of Omicrons offspring, says the Kirby Institutes Dr Deborah Cromer. Many of the variants only differ by a single amino acid. There have been incremental changes that avoid some existing immunity, but not fundamental changes to the virus, she says. Lastly, we must be careful when looking at dominant variants. Unlike early in the pandemic, each country now has a very different immunological profile  different vaccines, different infections, different dominant variants. A variant becoming dominant in one country is no longer a sign it will come to global dominance, says Dr Norelle Sherry, a variant researcher at the Doherty Institute. I often report on things that are interesting but ultimately probably dont matter terribly much. But focusing on every new variant may have two important effects, I suspect. By giving the variant narrative power, it diminishes our role in the story. We can change the course of the pandemic if we choose.
The support for fascism seems to be ever-present in human behaviour (Were not immune from fascism, January 17) and can be seen as an expression of our primitive tribal nature where we look to a strong individual or movement. This is about total control of the many by the few who seize control of the state mechanism to further their power and turn the state mechanism against its own citizens. We are then in trouble and even individual fascist adherents are not safe. Peter Hartcher is correct to see education from an early age is vital for us to see documented proof of the cataclysmic results of these political movements and their roots. Richard Hambly, Potts Point A resistible rise? Credit: AP Hartcher warns against the global revival of fascism. The extreme right is no less of a threat to world peace than the extreme left. Rather its a question of whether you wish to die by exposure to cyanide or by ingesting strychnine? George Fishman, Vaucluse I was shocked to read Hartchers piece on the extent of fascism among Australias youth. Its one thing to have your opinions and to express them. Its quite another to insist that your view prevail over everyone elses and to enforce it by thuggery and bloodshed. That is the essence of totalitarianism, of which fascism is just one form, and is the ultimate manifestation of selfishness. That such intolerance has not only peppered our past but is now taking a strong hold among those barely into puberty is surely a serious neglect of their education and upbringing and tells us weve truly lost the plot. Adrian Connelly, Springwood The useful analysis of fascism in Australia by Peter Hartcher suggests the solution is partly in the state governments schools. However, the power of the news media and of social media, as demonstrated in the rise of Trump and other recent would-be dictators off the shoulders of electronic media, is far more of a worry. The normalisation of hate speech and anti-government conspiracy theories in very profitable right-wing media and the socials is an incredibly strong negative dynamic in democracies. Politicians need to turn their minds to how to control these billionaires playthings to help stop the threat of fascism. Barry Laing, Castle Cove

Fascism also means racism. Every fascist organisation has held some minority group responsible for their countrys and their own woes, whether it be an ethnic or religious class. That is why any hint of racism should be deplored loudly and clearly by all our political and community leaders as any hint including dog whistling that its OK will lead to a dangerous schism in our society. Con Vaitsas, Ashbury Demand for details a distraction It is pretty tiring reading so many letters (Letters, January 17) claiming we need more information on the proposed referendum for the Voice. The earliest this referendum could occur is about August. I am confident we will be receiving suitable information in a number of forms well before then, so perhaps a thing called patience is needed and confidence in clear information much closer to the referendum. I think certain people want to put us in some kind of panic mode. Ken Pares, Forster Peddling away Credit: James Brickwood Peter Dutton and like-minded political reactionaries have a choice to say no to an Indigenous Voice to parliament. The Indigenous people had no choice at the time of the invasion and takeover of their country, and apparently more than 200 years later they dont have real choice, according to the likes of the Dutton mob, to determine their lives in todays Australia. What a crying shame. Rajend Naidu, Glenfield

Peter Dutton knows full well that when people feel uncertain about issues most become risk averse. The opposition leader is peddling the fear of that age-old adage the devil is in the detail. Peddling fear was something he and his colleagues were expert at when they were in government. Time to call his bluff. Donna Wiemann, Balmain In May 1961, President Kennedy stood before Congress and said: I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. Not a lot of detail there, but abundant inspiration. And heres the thing: many nitpickers are not actually interested in detail, their purpose is to undermine and sow enough discord and doubt that the big picture gets buried for another generation. Kristina Vingis. Church Point Rent out empty homes The loss of lifelong residents of their homes in the inner city (The suburbs where no ones home, January 17) is a sad comment on our modern society. The pursuit of the almighty dollar trumps the needs of ordinary people. That much of the accommodation in these suburbs is empty just for the benefit of elite trippers is an almighty disgrace. Unfortunately, governments of either persuasion should shoulder the blame and make an effort to address the problem. Derrick Mason, Boorowa All the empty houses Credit: Wolter Peeters

Some years ago, I met a visitor from Germany. She was heading back because, in her city, units unoccupied for six months were compulsorily rented by the city council at market rates and given to refugee families due to their housing crisis. The criteria for occupation related to water usage.

I have often thought this policy could be applied in Sydney where one regularly hears of buyers purchasing only for future capital gain or as tax deductions for negatively geared properties. Fiona Verge, Glebe Property tax loophole Contrary to popular belief (Letters, January 17), it would seem that the property tax option only flows through to subsequent first home buyers. But first home owners can turn their home into an investment property after six months and pay annual property tax, which is deductible. A smoke and mirrors tactic from a premier desperate to keep the wealth and tax dream alive. Michael Blissenden, Dural Let us help Iranians I was disturbed to hear about the risks to Iranians living in Iran who are related to Australian citizens opposed to the current Iranian government (Action needed to guard democracy from Irans thugs, January 17). I was very fortunate to travel across Iran in 1981 (on the back of a truck). It was a brilliant experience. The Iranian people were warm, friendly, genuine and hospitable. Those I have met since in Australia (members of the diaspora) have been equally gracious. Persian culture, history and cuisine are amazing. Usually, reportage from Iran does not give an accurate picture of the nature of the average Iranian, as it is focused on reports of atrocities perpetrated on Iranians by their own people. We should encourage our government to respond in forceful terms to these criminals. David McDonald, Port Macquarie

A good shepherd Alan Walker was a courageous churchman and pacifist who never wavered in his beliefs (Letters, January 16). I remember him standing on Bondi Beach in a suit and tie on Sunday afternoons answering questions from the bathers. Im sure he was respected for it. I suggest the Catholic prelate who did most for Australia was Archbishop Daniel Mannix, who was a fierce opponent of conscription during World War I, when the Protestant churches and some Catholic bishops were all in with Britain. Ian Adair, Hunters Hill I nominate Reverend John Flynn as the most influential clergyman that Australia has produced. Marie McInnes, Springwood War never changes My husband and I attended an Anzac Day ceremony several years ago organised by the Australian embassy in Berlin at the 1939-1945 Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery (Letters, January 17). Many of these Australian airmen from the RAF Bomber Command were buried here, all young and of all religions, including Judaism. The cemetery is beautifully maintained. The service was most impressive and dignified, attended by ambassadors of the relevant countries, including Turkey. German Army personnel provided the official escort and assisted in laying the wreaths. The ceremony demonstrated the futility of war. Maureen Casey, Breakfast Point
Hang up

Why are so many people hung up about pronunciation? Its a natural phenomenon associated with the variations in accents and inflections from different populations who speak the same language.

Russell Brims, Bentleigh East Sign of the times

When I visited my sister in London I was flattered when her English friends said I didnt speak with an Australian accent. Then I bought a newspaper and the seller asked me what a pound was worth in Australia these days. I asked him how he knew I was Australian, he said it was how I pronounced The Toymes.

Susan Munday, Bentleigh East For more reader letters on language, see And another thing below. THE FORUM Fascism echoes

My heartfelt appreciation for Peter Hartchers latest piece (Were not immune from fascism, 17/1). I was a child in Britain in the 1930s and 1940s and his article sent shivers down my spine. Hartchers incisive analyses and clearly understood prose are examples of excellent Australian journalism and do great credit to your newspaper.

Ros Collins, Elwood

Understanding needed

Peter Hartcher presented the case that far-right extremism and aggressive nationalism is on the rise and needs to be countered. This is agreed but what was missing was an analysis of the fundamental reasons why some people are receptive to the violent and hate-fuelled ideologies of far-right extremism and why others are not. It is not just a simple case of a difference in education. A society cannot look at people who fall into these rabbit holes with sniggering disdain and simplistic solutions. The how and why must be fully understood and for those who value democracy to not only be active participants in fixing the problem, but to understand that they may need to look inward and change some personal self-interests as well.

Paul Miller, Box Hill South Including everyone

Peter Hartchers article is timely, but fascist memorabilia is only part of the problem. An excellent academic experiment interviewing extremist fascist cohorts or disrupters of democracy revealed a major reason was expressed as I did not belong (to anyone or anything). It behoves a community, parental and political alert to minimise and stop at the source the people who do not belong.

Shirley Videion, Hampton The real scandal

A silly young man who was already moving towards a political future wearing a uniform at his 21st birthday that he should have known was an unacceptably stupid act is not a scandal. It was a warning of the mindset of a politician who yearned to represent the Coalition and their economic policies that have brought Australia to where we are now. A scandal is people who are part of, and contribute to, a strong economy, but who are forced to sleep in their cars. A scandal is people in aged care who are underfed and chronically under-serviced. A scandal is the ever increasing transfer of wealth to the wealthy.

Gary Sayer, Warrnambool

Wealth gap a loop

The increasing gap between the rich and the poor to the extent that Oxfam reports just 42 Australian billionaires have increased their combined wealth to $236 billion (Super-rich cash in as others struggle, 17/1) is part of a feedback loop of our capitalist system. The rich have surplus money to invest so their capital increases. In contrast, the poor spend all their earnings on living costs and cannot afford investments. The rich can afford to pay more than the poor for items such as housing, which pushes up prices to levels that the poor cannot afford. It is not surprising that the wealth gap is growing so fast.

Leigh Ackland, Deepdene Police problems

The two reports yesterday, on the Victoria Police union protesting moves to abolish public drunkenness following the coronial inquiry into the preventable death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day (17/1), and police going unpunished for pepper-spraying and arresting news photographers doing their job (17/1) go to the heart of the underlying cultural problems in this workforce. That Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt is vociferously opposed to the governments approach to repealing the law on the basis that it is negligent and reckless is breathtaking in the context of the failure in duty of care by police officers, who should have contacted an Aboriginal liaison officer to safely escort Day home to her family (rather than putting her in a jail cell) and a lack of accountability by police officers for the excessive force they use against photographic journalists and the general public alike.

Jelena Rosic, Mornington Dealing with drunks

Decriminalisation of public drunkenness proposals to use ambulances to ferry home drunks is just absurd. It will simply divert resources from those in medical need and keep paramedics from more important tasks. Put drunks in a taxi and send them off at their own expense.

Martin Newington, Aspendale Library solution overdue

As a regular and avid user of the Libraries Victoria network, which allows users to borrow books and other media from libraries all over Victoria, I am disappointed that the renewal of the Victorian state government courier service contract is taking so long. Since October last year, library users have been unable to access books from other libraries  except by travelling to the said library, which is sometimes not feasible.

I am just wondering why it is that the tender for this contract was not put out and renegotiated before the old one ended?

Judith Crotty, Dandenong North Why we dont split bills

Your correspondent (Letters, 17/01) was shocked to learn that a restaurant they dined at did not split bills. They assert patrons deserve the convenience of splitting bills. But has your corespondent considered the inconvenience to others? Splitting bills is time-consuming for the staff who need to process multiple payments for various different items on the invoice (many of which are invariably not paid at the end of the process). It can be a source of longer wait times for patrons. Yes, it is 2023. It is a year when staff shortages are high during a pandemic recovery. It is also a year when there are many convenient alternative means of splitting payments among diners. Try electronic funds transfer, splitting apps or good old-fashioned cash, for a start.

Thomas Eardley, Fitzroy Dead dont come back

How wonderful that the Murray-Darling Basin is roaring back to life under La Nina (The Age, 16/1). But UNSW surveys show that while some waterbirds are flourishing, the game ducks  those shot for hunting in Victoria  suffered further decline last year. So much for sustainable hunting. Victorias hunting agency focuses on the abundance of all waterbirds  a category that masks the demise of game species. It reports breeding for all waterbirds but fails to report the minimal breeding of game ducks. Shooters hope late breeding will bolster duck numbers. Too bad about the ducklings orphaned by shotgun blasts. Duck shooting is neither sustainable nor humane.

Joan Reilly, Surrey Hills

Progressive challenge

Your correspondents claim that it is much easier to be progressive than it is to live a truly Christian life does not hold. Rather than being easy, progressive thought requires a regular review of ones own values, attitudes and often long-held prejudices. It involves listening to and learning from the experiences of others who are experiencing damage from the status quo, then supporting needed changes. Also, Im not sure where unconditional love and forgiveness, honesty and discernment fit in with discrimination against millions of people, let alone turning a blind eye to child sexual abuse.

Vivienne Bond, Warburton Louder voices

Labor deserves credit for initiating the move towards a referendum, but once it opened the discussion it left a void rapidly filled by opposition voices. Mark Dreyfus seems now to be addressing this (Labor challenges Dutton to be upfront on Voice, 16/1). Mark Dreyfus is right to question Peter Duttons motives in demanding more detail on the proposed Voice to Parliament. Peter Dutton will understand the nature of constitutional reform: it is a question of accepting a principle, not debating a detailed plan. He seems to be placating those who support the Voice while simultaneously creating uncertainty to appease those on the right who oppose it. Either way he can sense an opportunity for a political win. The government can strengthen the yes case by providing clear guidance to what is already proposed. It must do this to re-establish its leadership on this critical issue.

Chris Young, Surrey Hills

Mushrooms not needed

Your story on actor Sam Corletts new role in Vikings: Valhalla (17/1) states that the Viking berserkers ate hallucinogenic mushrooms before battle. There is not any clear evidence for this theory, and anyone who ingested these mushrooms would probably have run the other way. Many modern historians theorise that they were probably fanatical warriors who worked themselves into a psychological frenzy before the battle.

Jeff McCormack, Javoricko, Czech Republic Nations lifeblood

At the close of 2022, Lifeblood issued a call for Australians to roll up their sleeves and donate blood and plasma for patients who needed it during the festive season. Your response was extraordinary.

Sixty thousand of you from cities, regions, and towns across Australia answered our call and gave up an hour of your time to give the gift of life to someone you will never know. You smashed records: The largest number of donations in over a decade in a single day, and in a week. And you became part of a very special group, the biggest number of donors weve had in Australia in nine years. In 2022, 528,000 of you rolled up your sleeves. We look forward to seeing you in our centres again this year to help us meet the ever-increasing need for blood and plasma. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to every single blood donor across Australia. Not just from me and the teams at our Victorian Donor Centres, but on behalf of every patient who has received your very precious gift of life.

Stephen Cornelissen, chief executive, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood And another thing

Words, words, words

Various correspondents have shared their frustrations about language and words. My particular bugbears are somethink and anythink.

Tim Douglas, Blairgowrie Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding Has anyone noticed that Australia has now become Australiaar?

Leigh Ackland, Deepdene While we are on the subject, one of my biggest gripes is mowen, knowen, growen etc. I used to be known to have mown the grass before it had grown too long!

Vicki Jordan, Lower Plenty I wonder if I should be eating more on Chewsdays.

Heather Barker, Albert Park

To the list of irritating mispro-noun-ciations, we could add nuc-u-lar, twe-nn-y and reco-nise.

Judy Wilkinson, Toorak A lot of your correspondents seem to be getting their knickers in knots about spelling and pronunciation. Surely, the important thing is that you know and understand what people are saying.

Brian Morley, Donvale Like your correspondent, I am annoyed by the use of impact. Even more annoying is the wordy in this space, not to mention the use of incredible to mean worthy or surprising, not unbelievable.

Juliet Flesch, Kew Not only has died passed away (Letters, 17/1) but passed away has passed.

Liz Dawson, Ringwood North How lucky are people who have time to worry about being called mate.

Malcolm McDonald, Burwood
Overseas travel has surged over the holidays and the travel industry expects international holidays to rebound to pre-COVID levels by the middle of the year.

There were more than 1.5 million flights out of the country in December, preliminary Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows. Thats up from nearly 1.2 million departures in November, but still about two-thirds of the December 2019 travel peak of 2.24 million before the pandemic.

Rochelle Power and her children Parker and Lily Crabb were headed to Bali for a holiday. Credit: Scott McNaughton

Flight Centre chief executive Graham Turner said there was huge pent-up demand for overseas travel, particularly to the US and Europe, but pricey airfares and a shortage of seats has so far kept a lid on travel numbers.

People cant find seats, were still only back to 70 per cent of our pre-COVID capacity outbound, he said.
Melbourne Waters inquiry into floods that devastated hundreds of homes in the citys west last October will deliberately exclude analysis of early warning systems, urban planning and government policies that might be made in response to the event.

Residents and former senior Melbourne Water staff said the water authoritys decision to limit the scope of the Maribyrnong River flood review was a serious error and would result in crucial factors that led to the inundation being ignored.

A person paddles through a street in Maribyrnong on October 14, 2022. Credit: Chris Hopkins

Melbourne Waters terms of reference for the flood inquiry were released on Tuesday. They specifically exclude five items: policy responses, building future flood walls or dams to reduce the Maribyrnongs capacity, emergency responses including warnings and evacuation procedures, flood recovery, and planning matters.

Im wondering what they will do with their time  what on earth they are going to look at in this inquiry? said Ron Sutherland, a civil engineer who was Melbourne Waters manager of land development for more than a decade. He left the water authority in 2003.
Health Integra said it maintained a strict donations policy independent of its project timelines. As a local business the company attends a variety of stakeholder and fundraising events each year as part of a broader program to reach relevant audiences and maintain current links with community representatives, a spokeswoman said. Our business is all about moving hospital services out into the community and improving access for both sectors so it makes sense to be active in this space. A spokesman for the state government said the sales process for the Midland workshops was public and the evaluation process was overseen by an independent probity auditor. Health Integras submission was assessed as being the offer which provided the most suitable development outcome, best met the assessment criteria and was substantially the highest of the offers received  delivering the best outcomes for the state, he said.

Loading RAT kings splash cash Basywater-based AM Diagnostics first appearance on the donations returns list was a big one. The medical products importer made the biggest single donation to a WA party in 2021-22  twice. It donated $100,000 on two separate occasions to the WA Liberals. At the beginning of 2022, states were screaming for rapid antigen tests to improve testing rates for COVID-19 as the virus entered the country and overwhelmed PCR testing capacity.

AM Diagnostics was the first Australian company to receive approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration to supply RATs domestically, and reportedly by January 2022 had imported 30 million tests through 30 charter flights from China. The company was also one of the largest suppliers of RATs to the WA government, which procured about $640 million worth of tests by January last year. A TGA spokeswoman said it was not aware of any donations or other activities by AM Diagnostics. Our assessment was based on the technical data supplied. The AM Diagnostics test was the first self-test RAT application that following assessment, met all the regulatory requirements, she said. The spokeswoman said at the time all COVID-19 tests were being assessed as a priority because of the pandemic, and the process and guidance relating to regulatory requirements were published on their website. She said decisions on medical devices were made by independent delegates.

Miners many relationships The donor with one of the most multi-faceted relationships with governments was Mineral Resources, which paid $34,000 to WA Labor and a total of $64,000 to the WA Liberals. It also donated $20,000 to the WA Nationals. In 2021-22 it gave $92,400 to WA Labor. Like the rest of the mining and resources sector, Mineral Resources is highly reliant on favourable federal government workplace, migration and environmental policies for its success. At a state level, the company has plenty to gain from a good relationship with the government.

In February 2022, Mineral Resources, in a joint venture with Hancock Prospecting, received WA government approval to develop a new iron ore export facility at Port Hedland. It also continues to benefit from tens of millions of dollars in operating subsidies and hundreds of millions in iron ore royalty exemptions for ore mined at its Koolyanobbing mine in the Goldfields and exported through Esperance Port. Those subsidies are set to finish this financial year, but in May last year, the government flagged it was developing an iron ore strategy for Esperance Port, which would contemplate further financial subsidies. A Mineral Resources spokesman said donations were declared in line with the Australian Electoral Commission reporting obligations.

Both the WA Liberals and Labor continued to run cash-for-access events for MPs and ministers, which are not explicitly attributed in annual returns but are hinted at under uniform payments noted as other receipts. WA Labor continued to run its successful Labor Business Roundtable money-spinner, helping the associated entity that runs it, Perth Trades Hall, declare $510,000 in 2021-22. Members of the roundtable include Perdaman, which secured ministerial approval for its $6 billion urea project in the Pilbara in January 2022. The state government already plans to spend $300 million to build common user infrastructure around the plant. Get cash out of politics, critics say Centre for Public Integrity executive director Han Aulby said the above cases were good examples of why money should be taken out of politics.

Loading Theres a risk that political donations can help give companies better access and influence, Aulby said. Money shouldnt be able to buy power, it should be about public interest, and everyone should have equal access in a democracy. We need to limit the disclosure threshold to $1000 and cap both political donations and campaign spending, so the public can be trusting that moneys not getting in the way of good decision-making. The federal government is considering changes to donations laws including real-time declaration of donations above $1000. It will also consider caps on election spending.

The state government is yet to reintroduce legislation to improve donation transparency in WA and bring down the disclosure threshold to $1000. The government spokesman said McGowan government ministers always acted in the public interest and directed questions about donations to Labor. WA Labor state secretary Ellie Whiteaker said the party received donations from organisations in accordance with the Electoral Act. WA Labor does not accept donations subject to any conditions, she said. A WA Liberal Party spokesman said contributions to the party were disclosed in accordance with the law.
The cost of rent is at an all-time high while vacancies are at an all-time low. Let us help you make sense of it all.

Tenants are struggling to find a home in Australias competitive rental market, and experts say the only way to succeed is to be fast and efficient during the application process.

Vacancy rates across the country are at near-record lows and mostly were stagnant or barely improved in the December quarter, which has led to long lines at open inspections and some tenants submitting dozens of applications.

In most cases, rentals in tight markets are being leased immediately after the first open, Ray White property management business development executive Nancy Navarrete said.

You want to be the first one at the first inspection, she said. [Property managers] want to approve one immediately because they dont want to do another inspection.
Singapore: An Australian man who was facing a possible death sentence in Indonesia for bringing heroin into Bali will instead spend eight months in a rehabilitation facility after a judge on the island accepted that he was an addict and not a drug trafficker.

Jeffrey Welton, a 52-year-old surfing and diving instructor from Western Australia, was arrested in Bali in September after being discovered smuggling eight grams of heroin and 0.34 grams of methamphetamine on a flight from Vietnam.

Jeffrey Welton has been in custody in Bali since September. Credit: Amilia Rosa

The amount of drugs he was found transporting into the country was enough for him to be handed a penalty of anywhere between five years in prison and a death sentence under Indonesias narcotics laws.

There was relief for Welton in a court on Tuesday, however, when he was instead ordered to spend eight months at Balis Anargya Sober House.
Rudd was speaking at an event hosted by Chinese news website Caixin Media at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Asked to describe in a single word Chinas next chapter, the theme of his panel discussion, Rudd responded: Still uncertain. He said he planned to flip up to Beijing before taking on the post as Australias US ambassador in March. All I can say is that after three years, China, weve missed you, Rudd told the packed out event. I do love the place but three years since Ive been there.

Loading So your question is, when am I going back? Maybe before I take up the new position in Washington, maybe next month. Ive got to do an Asia Society event in Hong Kong, so I may flip up to Beijing. Rudd was speaking alongside Weng Jieming, Chinas vice-chairman of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). Weng said his countrys reopening was high quality and would be good for building stable supply chains and the development of high-level technology between Chinese and foreign companies as well as the continuous refinement of a fair and equitable order.

China will definitely maintain high-level growth, but we need reciprocity in our degrees of openness in order to make sure that our cooperation keeps moving forward on a stable footing, Weng said. He added the enormous Chinese market provided mutual benefits to all. Rudd, a fluent Mandarin speaker and former foreign minister, said he had visited China up to 150 times. He was a senior diplomat for Australia in Beijing in the 80s before entering parliament in 1998 and becoming prime minister in 2007. He said if China and the US could keep geopolitics within a certain equilibrium then we should see reasonable [economic] growth. He said it was vital the US and China managed their five-year strategic competition in a way that didnt allow to it to escalate into war. But there would remain a high level of technological decoupling as the US and allies shunned or actively blocked the use of Chinese technology infrastructure suppliers such as Huawei.

The challenge for geopolitics is can we find a stabilising mechanism to prevent it from escalating into some future crisis or war? he said. But he said he was encouraged by the recent meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinas Xi Jinping saying the pair had taken some tentative steps in that direction. There is a predisposition to try and put some guard rails around this relationship ... a new security safety net. So I think this is encouraging, he said.
Moscow: A former commander of Russias Wagner mercenary group who fought in Ukraine said he has fled to Norway and is seeking asylum in fear for his life after witnessing the killing and mistreatment of Russian prisoners brought to front lines.

Andrei Medvedev, who joined Wagner on July 6, 2022 on a four-month contract, said in a video posted by the Gulagu.net rights group that he had crossed the northern Arctic border into Norway before being detained by Norwegian police.

Andrei Medvedev, a former commander of Russias Wagner mercenary group. Credit: Gulag.net

Medvedev, an orphan who joined the Russian army and served time in prison before moving on to Wagner, said he had slipped away from the group after witnessing the killing of captured deserters from Wagner.

I am afraid of dying in agony, Medvedev told Vladimir Osechkin, founder of the Gulagu.net rights group, which said it had helped Medvedev leave Russia after he approached the group in fear for his life.
Luetzerath:Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was detained alongside other activists on Tuesday during protests against the demolition of a village to make way for a coal mine expansion but was released after an identity check, according to police.

Thunberg was held while protesting at the open cast coal mine of Garzweiler 2, some 9 kilometres from the village of Luetzerath, after police warned that the group would be removed by force if they did not move away from the edge of the mine.

Police officers carry Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg away. Credit: AP

The village in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia is being cleared to allow for the expansion of the mine. The mines owner, RWE, agreed with the government that it could demolish Luetzerath in exchange for its faster exit from coal and the saving of five villages originally slated for destruction.

Activists have said Germany should not be mining any more lignite, or brown coal, and should focus on expanding renewable energy instead.
Albuquerque: A failed Republican candidate paid $US500 ($715) to four men to shoot at the homes of Democratic politicians, but was so unsatisfied with the shooters work that he went along for the final drive-by, his gun jamming as bullets ripped into the bedroom of a sleeping 10-year-old girl, police said.

The criminal complaint against Solomon Pena, a 39-year-old felon and self-proclaimed MAGA king, describes how anger over his landslide defeat in November led to attacks at the homes of four Democratic legislators in New Mexicos largest city. A SWAT team arrested him on Monday evening (local time), police said.

Solomon Pena, a former Republican candidate for New Mexico House District 14, is taken into custody by Albuquerque police officers, Credit: AP

Pena spent nine years behind bars after his arrest in April 2007 for stealing electronics and other goods from several retail stores as part of what authorities described as a burglary crew. He was released from prison in March 2016, and had his voting rights restored after completing five years of probation in April 2021, corrections officials said.

He ran unsuccessfully in November against incumbent state representative Miguel Garcia, the longtime Democrat representing House District 14 in the South Valley. Pena got 26 per cent of the vote.
Prince Harry has been accused of war crimes by the Iranian regime

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Brasilia: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has removed 40 troops guarding the presidential residence after expressing distrust in the military for failing to act against demonstrators that ransacked government buildings on January 8.

His decision was published in the governments official gazette and came as Brazils prosecutor general charged 39 people who were among the thousands who stormed government buildings in an effort to overturn former president Jair Bolsonaros loss in the October election.

Protesters, supporters of Brazils former President Jair Bolsonaro, clash with police as they storm the Planalto Palace in Brasilia. Credit: AP

Prosecutors have also requested that the defendants who ransacked Congress be imprisoned as a preventive measure, and that 40 million reais ($11.2 million) of their assets be frozen to help cover damages.

Most of the troops guarding the Alvorada palace, as the presidential residence is called, are from the army, but some are also members of the Navy, Air Force and a militarised police force.
Cheyenne, WY (82001)

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Windy and becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High around 70F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

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Cloudy. Low 32F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
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Mostly sunny and windy. High near 75F. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph..

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Mainly clear. Low near 55F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.
11th Circuit Asks Florida Supreme Court to Define Terms of Anti-Riot Law

Protesters attempt to pull down the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square near the White House in Washington on June 22, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Before it can decide whether a 2021 anti-riot law in Florida violates the U.S. Constitution, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is asking the Florida Supreme Court to define public disturbance.

The Combatting Violence, Disorder, and Looting, and Law Enforcement Protection Act (pdf), also known as HB 1, was signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on April 19, 2021. The measure was drafted in response to the riots that erupted in 140 cities across 20 states following the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis in 2020.

Property Claim Services, a company that calculates property losses caused by catastrophes in the United States, estimated the damage from the riots at $1 billion to $2 billion between April and July 2020, making it the most expensive insurance payout in U.S. history, Axios reported.

DeSantis introduced the legislation on Sept. 21, 2020.

Our right to peacefully assemble is one of our most cherished as Americans, but throughout the country, weve seen that right being taken advantage of by professional agitators, bent on sowing disorder and causing mayhem in our cities, DeSantis said.

I will not allow this kind of violence to occur here in Florida, DeSantis asserted. The legislation announced today will not only combat rioting and looting but also protect the men and women in law enforcement that wake up every day to keep us safe. I look forward to working with the Florida Legislature next session to sign this proposal into law.

What the Law Means for Floridians

Among other things, the law makes it a third-degree felony to cause physical harm to others and to obstruct traffic during an unpermitted protest, demonstration, or violent or disorderly assembly that consists of seven or more people, and provides civil immunity from liability for drivers who cause injury or death in an effort to flee for safety from a mob, according to a fact sheet released by the governors office.

Under the new law, harassing or intimidating people in public places, like restaurants, carries a first-degree misdemeanor charge. Those who destroy public property or monuments will be charged with a second-degree felony. Those found guilty of striking a police officer, either physically or with a projectile, will serve a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail.

The law also dictates that people arrested for such violations must be held in custody until their first court appearance.

On Sept. 9, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida issued a preliminary injunction against the law (pdf).

Now the 11th Circuit is asking the Florida Supreme Court to interpret the new meaning of public disturbance as amended in the state law.

In her Jan. 10 opinion (pdf), Circuit Judge Jill Pryor said the proper interpretation of the statutory definition is a novel issue of state law that the Florida Supreme Court has yet to address. After careful consideration, we exercise our discretion to certify a question to that court to determine precisely what conduct the definition prohibits.

The 11th Circuit in Atlanta is therefore asking the Florida Supreme Court to clarify the meaning of willfully participate in a violent public disturbance involving an assembly of three or more persons.

Is it something more than three or more persons acting with a common intent to assist each other in violent and disorderly conduct resulting in injury to another person, damage to property, or imminent danger of injury to another person or damage to property? Pryor asked.

Pryor also wants to know what conduct is required for a person to willfully participate in a violent public disturbance.'

Can a person willfully participate in a violent public disturbance without personally engaging in violence and disorderly conduct or advocating for violence and disorderly conduct? she asked. If so, what level of participat[ion] is required?

To obtain a conviction, does the State have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended to engage or assist two or more other persons in violent and disorderly conduct? Pryor asked additionally. If not, what must the State prove regarding intent?

Lastly, Pryor wants Floridas high court to clarify whether a person can be guilty of the crime of riot if the person attends a protest that eventually turns into a violent public disturbance in which three or more people assist each other in the destruction of property.

Stopping Traffic, Beating Bystanders

During the 2020 riots, people blocked traffic and threatened drivers, including a disabled man in Kentucky.

After forcing a man to crash his truck in Oregon, rioters from Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa, a far-left extremist group, dragged him from his vehicle to beat him unconscious. In Minneapolis, a truck driver who was trying to escape a violent mob drove his rig through the crowd in an effort to escape. They surrounded his rig, dragged him out, and beat him. He was arrested and charged with felony threats of violence and given a gross misdemeanor charge for criminal vehicular operation. The charges were eventually dropped.

There have been several instances of BLM protesters surrounding and threatening people sitting in outdoor dining areas in Florida, New York, and Texas, and historic monuments and statues across the nation were defaced, toppled, and destroyed.

Over 2,000 police officers were injured during the protests and riots in 2020, according to the Major Cities Chiefs Association.

Hundreds of rioters were released or had their charges dismissed.

Citizen and Taxpayer Protection

The new law contains measures that ensure the protection of Floridas citizens and their tax dollars.

The laws prohibition of Defund the Police efforts forbids any local government bodies from receiving state grants or aid if they strip law enforcement services from their budgets.

The law waives sovereign immunity, allowing the victims of a crime related to a violent protest to sue the local government for damages in cases where that local government is found to be grossly negligent in protecting citizens and property.

It also terminates the state benefits of anyone convicted of participating in a violent protest as well as making them ineligible to hold state or local government jobs, and prohibits bond or bail until their first appearance in court.
22 Attorneys General Call FDAs New Abortion Pill Rules Illegal and Dangerous

The agency now allows remote prescriptions for mifepristone

Mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in a chemical abortion, can be dispensed by brick-and-mortar pharmacies via online prescriptions if permitted under state law. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Attorneys general from 22 states are calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reverse a rule change allowing for remote prescriptions of abortion-inducing pills through the mail.

In the Jan. 13 letter (pdf), the attorneys general slammed the FDA, saying the agencys decision to abandon commonsense restrictions on remotely prescribing and administering abortion-inducing drugs is both illegal and dangerous.

In direct contravention of longstanding FDA practice and congressional mandate, the FDAs rollback of important safety restrictions ignores both womens health and straightforward federal statutes. We urge you to reverse your decision, the letter states, adding that the authority to regulate abortion lies with the voters and their elected representatives.

The attorneys general are from Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Dangers of Mifepristone

In early January, the FDA made a regulatory change that allowed retail pharmacies to offer the drug mifepristone to people either in-store or by mail order, provided they obtain a prescription from a certified health care provider.

Mifepristone is one of two drugs commonly used for medication abortions.

When the FDA first approved mifepristone back in 2000, it recognized that the drug carried serious risks for women, including infection and bleeding, the letter pointed out. To minimize risks, the FDA instituted several restrictions as part of a Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategy (REMS) in 2007.

According to REMS, mifepristone can only be prescribed by a qualified physician and administered in a hospital, clinic, or medical office and only by or under the supervision of such a physician, the attorneys general said.

Until recently, the FDA had stuck with these requirements.

The agencys rule change in the prescription and administration of mifepristone is not the result of an analysis on how to help promote womens health, the attorneys general claimed. Instead, the FDA justifies the move by citing a reduction of burden on the health care delivery system while asserting that the benefits of the product outweigh the risks, the letter states.

Though the drug poses risks to women at any point in pregnancy, the risks are highest in later pregnancy, the letter noted. An accurate determination of pregnancy can only be done in-person via ultrasound. As such, by permitting the remote use of abortion drugs, the FDA is endangering the lives of women, the letter insisted.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the agency for comment.

State Laws

The FDA updates will likely face challenges in 18 states that have laws mandating a medical professional be present when abortion drugs are administered. The laws of these states effectively ban prescribing abortion drugs via telemedicine.

In the letter, the attorneys general point out that several states have already recognized that drugs like mifepristone can be dangerous when prescribed or administered remotely.

The Alabama Legislature has passed the Womens Health and Safety Act, which insists that only a physician can prescribe or administer abortion drugs after an in-person examination. Such laws are lawful and necessary to protect womens health, the attorneys general stated.

Though the FDA has abdicated its responsibility to protect womens health, we have not. To be crystal clear, you have not negated any of our laws that forbid the remote prescription, administration, and use of abortion-inducing drugs, the letter said.

The health and safety of our citizenswomen and children includedis of paramount concern. Nothing in the FDAs recent changes affects how we will protect our people.
3 Injured, Including Infant, in 101 Freeway Crash in Valley Village Area

An LAFD paramedic responds to an emergency on the Venice Boardwalk, in Venice Beach, Calif., on Jan. 27, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

VALLEY VILLAGE, Calif.Three people were injured Jan. 16including a young child, possibly an infant, who was reported in grave conditionafter a three-vehicle crash on the westbound Ventura (101) Freeway in the Valley Village area, authorities said.

Firefighters were sent to the freeway at Tujunga Avenue about 1:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Fire Department, which said one person was extricated from the wreckage.

The fire authority said one of the three people rushed to the hospital was a young child in grave condition who was ejected from one of the vehicles. The age and gender of the child were not immediately known.

The two other patients were a man who was listed in fair condition and a woman in serious condition.

During the crash, one of the vehicles was overturned, authorities said. The authority reported that one of the vehicles was an SUV and the other was a semi-truck, but it was not immediately clear which car was overturned.

A SigAlert was issued at 1:46 p.m. for lanes 3, 4, and 5 and the on-ramp of the westbound Ventura (101) Freeway at Tujunga Avenue. It was initially for one hour, but was extended an additional hour. The California Highway Patrol said the alert was expected to be lifted around 4:15 p.m. Monday.

No further information was immediately available on the cause of the crash.
331 Law Enforcement Officers Shot in 2022, 62 Killed: Police Union

New York police officers salute during the funeral for officer Wilbert Mora in New York, on Feb. 2, 2022. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

A total of 331 police officers were shot last year while on duty, a 13 percent increase from 2019, according to the latest figures released by a police union, which also included a state-by-state data breakdown.

The National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) announced in a report that of the law enforcement officials who were shot, 62 were killed, a 32 percent increase from 2020. The total number killed in 2021 was 63, an increase of roughly 34 percent from 2020 when 47 officers were killed in the line of duty.

With more than 364,000 members, the fraternal organization that consists of sworn law enforcement officers is considered the largest police union in the country, as well as the world, according to the foundations website.

According to the report, Texas, with 29, tops the list for the most officers shot in the line of duty last year. Arizona followed with 21, then Georgia with 18, followed by California, Kentucky, and North Carolina, with 16 each.

The states where no police officer was injured by gunfire last year are Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont, as well as the U.S. territories of American Samoa and Guam.

NEW REPORT: 2022 Was One of the Most Dangerous Years for Law Enforcement  331 Officers Shot in 2022  62 Officers Killed by Gunfire  126 Officers Were Shot in 89 Ambush-Style Attacks The American Police Officer is Facing a Heightened Level of Danger. #EnoughIsEnough pic.twitter.com/W5xZBTu0Oe  National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) January 3, 2023

Many law enforcement officials were shot in ambush-style attacks, the foundation revealed. There were 89 different ambush-style attacks in 2022. A total of 126 officers were shot in these types of attacks, 32 of whom were killed by gunfire.

The FOP also noted that the listed statistics do not include the countless incidents where a police officer was shot at but did not get injured.

Authorities have described ambush-style attacks as one of the worst kinds of attacks. Premeditated ambushes are perpetrated without any warnings and intended to deprive officers of their ability to defend themselves.

Premeditated ambush-style attacks are particularly disturbing and pernicious, the FOP stated, noting that these types of attacks have been attributed to a desensitization to evil acts that were once considered to be taboo.

FOP Blames Cynical Politicians and Pandering Prosecutors

Responding to the latest figures in a message on Twitter, FOP President Patrick Yoes labeled 2022 as one of the most dangerous years for law enforcement in recent history.

Yoes said the recent uptick in violence against law enforcement, as well as the crime crisis in general nationwide, is a result of criminals feeling emboldened by the failed policies of pandering prosecutors and cynical politicians.

In another statement, Yoes said last year that the number of attacks on police officers is the worst I have seen in my 36 years in law enforcement.

When police are viewed as the bad guys, criminals feel emboldened, Yoes said. When rogue prosecutors hand out slaps on the wrist to serious offenders, criminals understand they will face no significant consequences for their actions.

Police officers should be more engaged in their communities, not less, he continued. Enforcing the law for minor or nuisance crimes also shows these communities that the police are invested in keeping the neighborhoods safe for them and their children. It sends a message that criminal behavior of any kind will not be tolerated.

The worst year for attacks on law enforcement since the FOP started recording data in 2015 was two years ago.

In 2021, of the 346 officers that were injured by gunfire in the line of duty, 63 were killed, according to the report. These figures are significantly worse than in 2019, when 50 officers died and 243 got injured.

From NTD News
Searchers for Missing Oklahoma Girl Find Remains of Child

Authorities searching for the body of a missing 4-year-old Oklahoma girl have found the remains of a child, but have not yet identified them as Athena Brownfield, who authorities say was beaten to death Christmas night, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said Tuesday.

The remains will be transported to the Medical Examiners Office in Oklahoma City for positive identification, according to an OSBI statement. This is a active homicide investigation and until the remains are positively identified, the OSBI will not be commenting further.

An OSBI spokesperson has not returned messages from The Associated Press for comment.

The remains were found near Rush Springs, about 15 miles from the Oklahoma community of Cyril, where Athena Brownfield was reported missing.

The child was allegedly beaten to death and buried by one of her caregivers, Ivon Adams, according to court documents released earlier Tuesday.

A postal carrier discovered the girls 5-year-old sister alone on Jan. 10 outside the home where they lived with Adams and his wife, Alysia Adams, in Cyril, about 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

Alysia Adams later told investigators that Ivon Adams beat the child at about midnight Dec. 25, according to an affidavit for the arrest of Ivon Adams.

Athena was not moving and her eyes were barely open Alysia Adams said, according to the affidavit by OSBI Lt. Brenna Alvarez. Ivon Adams then laid her on the ground and punched her at least three more times in the chest and the child never moved after that.

The document does not reveal why Ivon Adams was beating the girl.

Ivon Adams left the home with Athena at about 1 a.m. Dec. 26 and later returned, saying he buried her body on land the Adams once owned near Rush Springs, marking the site with a large broken branch.

Ivon Adams has been charged with murder and child neglect and Alysia Adams has been charged with two counts of child neglect in the case.

Court documents do not list attorneys who could speak for either of the Adams.

Ivon Adams (L) and Alysia Adams. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)

The search for the child turned to a recovery operation, the OSBI said Monday.

Ivon Adams, 36, was arrested last week in Arizona on murder and child neglect charges and awaits extradition. Alysia Adams, 31, is jailed in Oklahoma on child neglect charges after also being arrested last week.

Ivon Adams has waived extradition to Oklahoma and remains jailed in Maricopa County, Arizona, pending extradition.

I want to get there and take care of it, Adams told a judge during a hearing Friday in Maricopa County court. I need to get there and fight this.

Brandon Bryant, who said he and his wife were once neighbors of the Adams, said Tuesday that he had little interaction with the couple, but saw nothing unusual from them.

Didnt see anything out of the normal. We talked to Alysia a few times, Ivon never, Bryant said. We never went into their house. Alysia came over to our house a few times  we gave her a car seat.

Bryant, whose children are 5 and 10 years old, said he still considers Cyril, with a population of about 800, a safe place.

Its a small town. Its probably one of the few places on earth I would consider leaving my doors unlocked at night  its still a good place to live, Bryant said.

The OSBI has said the girls and the Adams are related. The affidavit said the childrens biological mother had left them with the couple 1.5 to 2 years ago, and that the girls called Alysia mom or Aly and Ivon dad or Uncle Ivon.

The childrens biological mother and father are cooperating with investigators, according to the OSBI.

By Ken Miller
Affordable Rental Housing Needed to Solve Australias Rental Crisis, Expert Says

An advertising board for an upcoming house auction in Sydney, Australia, on Dec. 6, 2016. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

An expert says that affordable rental housing and increased funding for homelessness services are necessary to solve Australias rental crisis as the countrys rental market continues to face unprecedented pressure.

Professor Nicole Gurran, University of Sydney chair of urbanism and housing expert, on Jan. 17 said housing is an issue that needs to be tackled by all three levels of government, but the state authorities are hindering the attempts by local councils to have affordable housing outcomes, for instance, through their local planning through their local planning powers.

When we talk about supply, we know that actually, we dont have a fundamental shortage of houses in Australia. We need a very particular type of supply, and that is affordable rental housing thats really earmarked for people on low and moderate-income, she told Sydneys radio 2GB.

Professor Nicole Gurran, University of Sydney chair of urbanism and housing expert, on Jan. 17 said housing is an issue that needs to be tackled by all three levels of government, but the state authorities are hindering the attempts by local councils to have affordable housing outcomes. A general view of homes in McMahons Point in Sydney, Australia, on May 5, 2022. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

If were really concerned about rental housing supply, then you know, number one on the agenda has got to be protecting the existing source of homes that weve got,

Whats really needed is an increased amount of funding for crisis and homelessness services as well as access to long-term rental stock, and that can involve banding the communities social housing agencies to be able to have leased properties, particularly in regional towns where theres an absolute mental crisis.

But in the long term . were going to need to increase subsidies and outright production of dedicated social and affordable housing.

Long-Term Renting Under Threat

She further noted that the introduction of housing online platforms such as Airbnb discouraged almost anybody particularly property investors, from taking long-term rental properties and instead shift them into the short-term rental market.

People look at a signboard of a property for sale in Sydney, Australia, on May 5, 2022. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Its all too apparent that weve got a regional housing crisis we have had it predated COVID. But the COVID period, which saw so many people able to relocate to a regional area, is now that suburban area combined with domestic tourism and increase in domestic tourism really brought home to many people that net with neglected housing problems in the regions as well, she said.

NSW Overhauls Stamp Duty

The comment comes as thousands of first-home buyers are expected to opt out of paying stamp duty in New South Wales following a major overhaul of tax settings.

This big, bold policy is a game changer, Premier Dominic Perrottet declared Monday.

We want Australians here in our state to be able to get their keys to their very first home faster, he told reporters.

Thats why this new policy will make a real difference.

The governments First Home Buyers Choice scheme gives those purchasing a property for less than $1.5 million the option of paying stamp duty one-off as a lump sum or an annual land tax.

An auctioneer counts down a bid during an auction of a residential property in Sydney, Australia, on May 8, 2021. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Some 2,500 people whove already bought homes since Nov. 11 are also expected to transfer to the land tax deal and receive a refund on stamp duty, the premier said Monday.

The Labor Partys shared equity scheme has been criticised as a poor government housing policy that fails to tackle the fundamental cause of Australias affordability problem.

Housing affordability has been at the forefront of Australian public policy for years. Studies show that the deposit is the single biggest hurdle for prospective homebuyers. According to the Grattan Institute, in the early 1990s, it took six years to save a 20 percent deposit on an average hometoday, it takes 10 years.

In response, the federal government has consistently intervened to try to help first-home buyers get their foot in the door of the market. Recent research from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute showed that Australian governments had spent more than $20.5 billion (US$14 billion) on first-home buyer schemes in the past decade.

AAP and Sebastian Tofts-Len contributed to this article.
Analysis: Southwest Airlines Flightmare Foreseen, but Company Bosses Ignored Staff Warnings

Pilots association report blames mass cancellations on lack of investment in computer systems, management inaction

Stranded travellers search for their luggage at the Southwest Airlines baggage claim at Midway Airport, in Chicago, Illinois, on Dec. 27, 2022. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Southwest Airlines is accustomed to soaring above its competitors.

For many of its 51 years in operation, the Dallas-based airline has earned superior ratings for customer satisfaction, on-time flights, and accurate baggage handlingall delivered with a fun-loving attitude.

The maverick airline clawed its way to the top, becoming the nations largest domestic carrier in 2003.

But suddenly, Southwest is standing out in unenviable ways.

A traveler looks at an information board showing flight cancellations and delays at Reagan National airport during a winter storm ahead of the Christmas holiday in Arlington, Va., on Dec. 23, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

A powerful winter storm began sweeping the nation on Dec. 21. It knocked all airlines off-kilter for a few days. But Southwest alone suffered a staggering blow. It hobbled for a week.

Plane & Pilot magazine called Southwests meltdown the single biggest disruption in the history of American air travel, except for a two-day full-stop after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

During the last 10 days of 2022, Southwest canceled more than 16,700 flights, about 37 percent of its schedule. Residual troubles continued into early January, with abnormally high numbers of delayed flights.

By all accounts, outdated computer systems and processes played a significant role in the December debacle. But theres much more to the story.

Hidden Underlying Factors

Employees paint a picture of a company that lost its mojo by forsaking many principles that made it great.

Some spoke publicly in online posts; others granted interviews to The Epoch Times on condition of anonymity, fearing professional repercussions.

They say Southwests employee-empowering atmosphere suffocated under the weight of a bloated, insular corporate structure. Higher-ups dismissed or discounted employees concernsan underlying cause of the meltdown.

Some workers worry that the fallout could be long-lasting, possibly threatening Southwests existence.

Bob Jordan, CEO of Southwest Airlines, speaks about efforts to assist customers following a widespread service disruption, in a photo posted on Jan. 5, 2023. (Southwest Airlines)

Southwest, asked to respond to workers criticisms, stated that the company had nothing to offer besides statements on its website.

On Jan. 17, the airline posted an update from CEO Bob Jordan, telling customers about the airlines efforts to make sure no future meltdowns occur.

Emerging from some of the most challenging days in our companys history, we are highly focused on our customers, our recovery, and our plan going forward, he wrote, adding that the company had restored its reliable performance.

The company has taken some immediate steps to shore up its operations and to make longer-term improvements, Jordan said.

Southwest declined to comment on a report, Dissecting The Flightmare. That analysis was compiled by the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), which represents about 10,000 pilots.

It tells how an internal chain reaction culminated in massive operational failures. Employee interviews and online records reveal the context.

Flightmare Was Foretold

SWAPAs president, Capt. Casey Murray, foretold the holiday meltdown several weeks before it happened.

I fear that we are one thunderstorm, one ATC [air traffic controller] event, one router brownout from a complete meltdown, Murray said in early November 2022, according to a SWAPA post. Whether thats Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or New Years, thats the precarious situation were in.

He made that prediction after seeing systems failures dating to at least 2014. Thats when The Midway Meltdown struck at Chicagos Midway Airport.

That year, 16 Southwest planes sat parked, with passengers aboard, for hours on Jan. 23. News reports said the airline blamed bitterly cold temperatures and aircraft de-icing problems.

Members of Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) protest the companys investment decisions while their labor contract remained unsettled outside the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 7, 2022. (SWAPA)

Afterward, flight crew scheduling processes remained bogged down for days. According to an internal memo dated Jan. 6, 2014, schedulers phone lines had been overloaded despite being fully manned.

Lengthy discussions followed The Midway Meltdown, enough to fill reams of paper.

You could take everything that was said, and you could put it over the other meltdowns leading up to the Christmas Flightmare of 2022. And its the exact same statements, Murray said in a Jan. 9 video. And there has been little action but lots of words.

For years, he said, the company has neglected four areas: people, processes, infrastructure, and information technology.

In a post-meltdown statement, Southwest said its top executives had already targeted those areas for investment.

Ex-CEO Blamed

Just two years after The Midway Meltdown, another notable technology failure hit.

A burned-out computer router touched off 2,300 flight cancellations and 8,000 delays. After that five-day disruption in the summer of 2016, two labor unions called for Gary Kelly, then CEO, to be fired.

Kelly had been at the helm for a dozen years at that time.

Union leaders claimed that Kelly, an accountant and former CFO, obsessed over profits at the exclusion of almost everything else. The companys computer system was held together with piecemeal repairs when it needed a full-scale overhaul, SWAPA said.

After a series of systems flare-ups, the company moved on without addressing the root causes, pilots said.

A 35-year Southwest pilot, Larry Lonero, describes that pattern in a recent Facebook post entitled, What happened to Southwest Airlines?

It has been shared more than 104,000 times since Lonero posted it on Dec. 28.

He and other pilots lay much of the blame for the meltdown at Kellys feet.

Then-Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly speaks during an event on Sept. 28, 2015, (Cliff Owen/AP)

Kelly was a friend of the airlines co-founder, Herb Kelleher, a company video says, casting him as an acolyte.

But Lonero and others say Kellys number-cruncher style contrasted with Kellehers folksy, in-the-trenches approach.

Kelleher was CEO from 1981-2001. His successor, Jim Parker, served only three years, followed by Kelly in 2004.

Kelly, who stepped aside last year but remains chairman, spent little time with frontline employees, Lonero and others say; Kellys lieutenants followed suit.

They all disengaged the operation, disengaged the employees and focused more on Return on Investment, stock buybacks and Wall Street, Lonero wrote.

That approach worked for the first eight years of Kellys tenure, Lonero wrote, because we were still riding the strong wave that Herb had built.

Workers pleas for computer upgrades turned to dire warnings, Lonero said. Those were ignored, he said. The companys attitude seemed to be: Stock prices were up, so what could be wrong?

Pandemic Masked Issues

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-21 badly hurt all airlines. It also delayed the inevitable meltdown at Southwest, according to Lonero.

Because all U.S. airline traffic slowed to a crawl, this helped conceal the serious problems in technology, infrastructure, and staffing that were occurring and being ignored at Southwest, he wrote.

A Southwest tribute video credits Kelly for his part in upholding a streak of 47 consecutive years of profitability, a record unmatched in commercial aviation, until the pandemic hit.

And, despite COVID, Kelly was proud that Southwest never laid off a single employee in 50 years, the video says.

Southwest Airlines Chairman Herb Kelleher at Philadelphia International Airport May 10, 2004. (William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

However, some workers still resent Kelly for notifying 7,000 employees that they could be laid off in December 2020. The pandemic was raging then. The airline industry was hemorrhaging money as it flew near-empty airplanes.

But workers believe the company had enough government help to avoid layoffs. Southwest received $7.2 billion in federal subsidies and contracts since 2020, openthebooks.com reported.

Employees wonder where that money went. They also viewed the layoff announcement as another nail in the culture coffin, as one interviewed pilot put it because that went against Kellehers employees first principle.

Another COVID issue that wounded employees morale was the companys announcement that it would enforce the governments vaccine mandates in late 2021.

Leaders said the government forced that upon the company, but employees say Kelleher would have told the government: go pound sand.

Ultimately, the company granted religious exemptions to many workers. Employees doubt anyone was fired over the jab mandate. Still, a pilot said that by going along with the vaccine requirement, the company violated the special trust and confidence that workers placed in Southwest.

Adding to employee frustrations: labor contracts representing about 40,000 of the airlines 66,000 workers remained unsettled long after their amendable dates, SWAPA said.

Although the company recently reached agreements with three other unions, SWAPA is moving toward a strike-authorization vote.

Because of this recent history, employee morale has tanked so badly, nobody wants to bend over backward for this company any more, a flight attendant said. But some of us still will do it for our customers.

Lack of Investment Denied

As the pandemic waned and air travel ramped up again in 2021-22, the lack of attention to the operation was waiting to show its ugly head at Southwest, Lonero wrote.

In June 2021, a pair of technology problems touched off thousands of Southwest flight delays. A week later, the company announced that Kelly would step aside as CEO. At that time, his successor-to-be, Bob Jordan, told The Associated Press that the airlines tech troubles were not because of a lack of investment.

That October, another operational meltdown hit. The public widely assumed it happened because pilots and others were staying home to protest against the mandated COVID shots.

But Murray, the SWAPA president, declared there were no work slowdowns or sickouts. Instead, the airlines computer system was ailing again, he said.

Capt. Casey Murray, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) in a photo provided in January 2023. (SWAPA.org)

A minor temporary event for other carriers devastated Southwest Airlines, Murray wrote in a statement on Oct. 10, 2021, because our operation has become brittle and subject to massive failures under the slightest pressure.

He said disruptions had been unending since early June 2021 because of widespread IT failures.

Our pilots are tired and frustrated because our operation is running on empty due to a lack of support from the company, Murray said.

He demanded accountability for those responsible for this months-long debacle. He said immediate actions were needed to protect the airline, its employees, and its customers.

Months later, in early 2022, Jordan became CEO.

Aware that Jordan started with the company in information technology, Murray and many others were hopeful that the new CEO would make the necessary IT upgrades.

But correcting two decades of neglect would take time, Lonero wrote. It ran out.

As Lonero wrote on Facebook: Unfortunately, to our horror, our house of cards came tumbling down.

Conditions Lined Up

In late December 2022, a cyclone bomb set off a cascade of failures inside Southwest, the SWAPA report says, explaining how this single bad winter storm buckled the companys vintage 1990s crew-scheduling system.

Bitter cold, blizzard conditions, and power outages swept much of the United States.

Still, pilots such as Lonero believe that if Southwests internal systems had been up to snuff, the weather-related disruptions would have been limited to a day or so.

Southwest executives also planned poorly for the weather event, union leaders claim.

When youre dealing with sub-zero temperatures, driving winds, and ice storms, you cant expect to schedule planes as if every day is a sunny day with moderate temperatures and a gentle breeze, Randy Barnes, president of the union representing 17,000 ground crew workers, said in a statement.

In advance of the storm, Southwest management pre-canceled flights at only one airport, Denver, SWAPA said.

Barnes thinks Southwest should have considered curtailing the entire schedule. Weather forecasts predicted inhospitable conditions for many critical cities in Southwests network.

SWAPA was asked to meet just once with managers about the storm, on Dec. 20.

We were reassured that they were ahead of the weather event and would have enough time to process cancellations, SWAPAs report says.

The Turning Point

When the storm hit Denver on Dec. 21, conditions turned out worse than expected.

A freezing whiteout whipped through. Winds gusted up to 37 mph. Visibility dropped to a quarter mile. Temperatures dipped to minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit.

Under those conditions, flights were significantly delayed getting in and out, which caused a back-breaking strain on Ground Operations, SWAPA said. One pilot questioned whether the company has enough good de-icing trucks.

Travelers search for their suitcases in a baggage holding area for Southwest Airlines at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colo., on Dec. 28, 2022. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

Because of the delays, flight attendants and pilots were disqualified from working past federally set time limits. That led to more cancellations.

Meanwhile, Denver ground crews were told they would be fired if they refused to work overtime or called off sick without presenting a doctors note.

Chris Johnson, a vice president of ground operations, sent this state of operational emergency declaration to tamp down absenteeism.

But such an order violates employees contractual rights and places unreasonable demands on workers, Barnes said.

In a union podcast, Barnes said there is no truth to rumors that Johnsons memo angered grounds crews into walking off the job. Still, employees say that memo exemplifies tensions that simmer internally while Southwest projects an image of the LUV airline with a heart-shaped logo.

Ground crew members include ramp agents, who do hard physical labor. With hourly pay starting at $20-$30, these rampers are responsible for tasks such as loading and unloading luggage and cargo in all types of weather.

When blistering heat or frigid weather strikes, outdoor workers cannot move as fast as an efficiency expert says they should, according to an ex-ramper. He said that, even though the experts have never done our jobs, the company seems to rely upon their word as gospel.

Schedules need to allow time for employees to take breaks and cycle in and out during extreme weather, Barnes said. The airline needs to do more to protect its ground crews, he said, pointing out that some workers suffered frostbite during the meltdown.

The ex-employee said that management understood these realities of the job in years past. But they just dont go to frontline workers anymore to try to solve problems, the former ramper said. Its just changed  all they do is think about numbers, numbers, numbers.

Implosion Begins

On Dec. 22, waves of flights were canceled just before their scheduled departure timesor afterward. The network was struggling to recover from the events of the night before, the SWAPA report says.

Each delay or cancellation is processed through the companys dispatch center, where a worker inputs flight changes into The Baker. That system is supposed to optimize changes to aircraft and passenger routings, SWAPA said.

New flight details from The Baker are forwarded to a crew-scheduling department. Workers use a computerized system to assign pilots and flight attendants to aircraft. SWAPAs report refers to this system as SkySolver.

SkySolver cannot handle more than 200-300 cancellations at once, SWAPA said. During the meltdown, the system was overloaded repeatedly. At times, cancellations reached 500-600 per hour, SWAPAs data shows.

Amid escalating pressures, The Baker and SkySolver ate each other on Dec. 23, SWAPA said. The Bakers aircraft-and-passenger assignments do not integrate with SkySolvers crew availability. Thus, SWAPA said, you end up with a recovery plan that looks pretty but is doomed.

Phone Lines Jammed

Schedulers had to put together rescheduling solutions manually.

Chaos erupted. The airline lost track of its pilots and flight attendants. Some employees describe making valiant efforts to cobble together enough crew members to staff flights. As holiday travelers pleaded, these workers hoped to prevent the trips from canceling.

But their efforts were thwarted, even at airports where the weather was not causing problems.

Thats because crew schedulers phone lines were jammed, just as they had been at The Midway Meltdown in 2014except worse.

Employees phone calls to schedulers waited on hold for many hours, sometimes into the double digits. Some crew members who called the companys headquarters were told that no one could help.

Some flight attendants, afraid they would be written up if they left after their flights were canceled, remained overnight at airports.

An off-duty flight attendant said she was willing to report for work during the meltdown. But she discovered that things were such a mess, I couldnt have helped even if I wanted to.

She said that a canceled flight stranded a co-worker in Sacramento, California. But that employee got a call the next day from a scheduler who said: We need you at the gate in Philadelphia  youre supposed to be in Philadelphia.

Jordan, in the update posted on Jan. 17, said steps had been taken to prevent a recurrence of such situations. He said the company has established supplemental operational staffing, worked on enhancing our crew engagement technology and updated its crew recovery system.

Getting Back On Track

During the meltdown, about 1,000 pilots endured duty days longer than 15 hours, SWAPA said, with many put on continuous duty overnight awaiting a schedule change.

Pilots began reporting that they received wildly inaccurate information about personnel assignments, resulting in needless confusion and delay as pilots tried to reconcile their crew lists.

The airline resorted to flying more than 500 trips with no passengers, just crew, SWAPA said. This was done to ferry pilots and flight attendants to other destinations and re-align them with aircraft. Sadly, stranded passengers watched these empty flights depart while their own flights were canceled, SWAPA said.

On Dec. 26, Southwest slashed its schedule by more than half to get crew back on track.

That day, the airline publicly admitted fault in a statement on its website: We recognize falling short and sincerely apologize.

Previous company statements focused on the weather and said Southwest was uniquely affected because of its size and structure. The airline is the nations largest domestic carrier.

Some employees suggested that structure refers to Southwests flights running from point-to-point rather than out of hubs.

In theory, this configuration could make the airline more vulnerable to cascading disruptions, some say. Yet, in reality, Southwest does rely on hub-like centers, aviation expert Michael Boyd points out on LinkedIn.

He cited data showing large percentages of Southwest connecting flights in places such as Houston, Denver, and Chicago. Boyd concedes that, at some of Southwests airports, its traffic is mainly point-to-point. But without the revenue flows generated at their hubs  Southwest would not be in business.

What Happens Next?

By Dec. 30, Southwest had worked its way back to near-normal numbers of flights while still struggling with cancellations and massive numbers of customer requests for refunds, rebookings, and mishandled luggage retrieval.

Since then, the post-mortems have begun, aside from SWAPAs Jan. 6 report. Southwest has enlisted outside help.

Airline systems have so many moving parts, theyre like an intricate clock, a pilot said. Keeping track of all the aircraft, gates, bags, customers, employees, and equipment presents a monumental challenge.

But instead of having a finely tuned system to do so, Southwest has operated under a tech deficit, pilots and others say.

They say similar issues could be smoldering at other airlines and the agency overseeing them, Federal Aviation Administration.

Case in point: An FAA computer issue forced the grounding of all U.S. airlines for several hours on Jan. 11.

As Southwest tries to move forward, it is suffering greatly. Meltdown losses could reach $825 million. Millions of people are mad over ruined holiday plans. But customers have been known to flock back to businesses despite vows to never patronize them again. Brand loyalty can endure while memories fade.

Still, employees fear that, if no one is held accountable for the meltdown, Southwests customer base and talent pool will dry up, sending the airline into a deeper nosedive.

A Southwest Airlines airplane comes in for a landing at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, on May 12, 2020. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Workers say that Southwest must repair its reputational damage to attract the best and the brightest to work on its technology, fly its planes, and interact with its customers.

But knives are out. A pair of federal investigations and two separate lawsuits from shareholders and customers could pry loose more underlying deficiencies, employees fear.

From their viewpoint, the meltdown was primarily a product of the companys skewed priorities, including focusing on stock prices while ignoring workers concerns about IT and other issues.

But, they say, all of that is intertwined with the companys hot pursuit of high scores for ESG: environmental, social and governance.

That complex rating system can influence how investors, lenders, and government agencies deal with a company. Its like a complicated version of the individual credit scores that affect consumers.

ESG engenders woke policies such as punishing employees for using the wrong pronoun when talking about a transgender person, one pilot said. Such priorities distract from the airlines mission: Get people and their bags from one place to another, safely, and have some fun along the way.

And that, the pilot said, is where the airline needs to direct its focus.

He thinks Southwest will survive only if meaningful changes are made. For him, that includes unleashing its core group of employees, imbued with Kelleher-ian Warrior Spirit, to help Southwest soar once again.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Anthony Furey: The Importance of Semiconductors for Global Stability

Commentary

It was only six days before the 2016 American presidential election that the Obama administration finally had a public aha moment on the vital importance of semiconductors to the way we live now.

The moment came when then-commerce secretary Penny Pritzker gave a speech in Washington in which she declared it was imperative that semiconductor technology remains a central feature of American ingenuity and a driver of our economic growth. She went on to explain the seriousness of the battle over semiconductors with China.

For the tech-minded, especially Silicon Valley veterans, the speech was long overdue. But, in the White Houses defence, the vast majority of policy analysts had failed to appreciate the issue.

The Obama administration moved slowly on semiconductors, one person involved in the effort recalled, because many senior officials simply didnt see chips as an important issue, explains Chris Miller in his new book Chip War: The Fight for the Worlds Most Critical Technology.

But to whatever degree policy circles have increased their attentiveness to the issue, the general publics knowledge of it remains slim to zero.

Hopefully Millers finely researched bookwhich has already won accolades and become a bestsellerwill steer the conversation in that direction. Because after reading Chip War, youll never look at a piece of technology the same way again.

The key message in this important read is that our modern way of life is made possible by the production of extremely complex chips used in computers and electronicssemiconductorsthat are produced at a select few locations around the world and whoever controls access to these facilities controls modern society.

The fact that Russia faced shortages of guided cruise missiles within several weeks of attacking Ukraine is also partly due to the sorry state of its semiconductor industry, Miller explains. Meanwhile, Ukraine has received huge stockpiles of guided munitions from the West, such as Javelin anti-tank missiles that rely on over 200 semiconductors each as they home in on enemy tanks.

If you have access to an ongoing supply of the most advanced chips, you have a leg up on your competitionwhether youre a producer of consumer electronics or a country at war. If you dont, things start to fall apart.

As the war in Ukraine continues, Russian factories have had to reallocate chips otherwise meant for dishwashers to their military procurement needs. This sort of scarcity both slows down their efforts on the front lines, but also causes scarcity of goods and price increases for Russian consumers at home.

But the role of semiconductors in the ongoing war in Eastern Europe is just a footnote in Chip War. The main event is China.

The regime in Beijing is well aware of the strategic importance of semiconductors. Despite the fact that the bulk of advanced chips are produced in their part of the world, Chinas own domestic production is woefully behind.

Both the research and development costs and the machinery costs to produce the chips are so expensive that theres a major barrier to entry to the industry. It would take years and many billions of dollars of investment to begin carving out the smallest market share in chip production.

Thats why many analysts fear China may just try to exert its power over the most important semiconductor producer in the world, which just happens to reside within a territory that the Chinese Communist Party has long mused about invading.

Over the past few decades, Taiwan has wisely made itself the most important hub in the world for the production of advanced chips. They are the indispensable nation when it comes to the requirements of our technology-based society.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) is the most important such facility in the world. Most advanced electronics and computer companies dont produce their own chips. While they may design them, they get them built at TSMC and then shipped to their assembly facilities.

Computers, phones, data centres, and most other electronic devices simply cant work without them, so if Taiwans [facilities] were knocked offline, wed produce 37 per cent less computing power during the following year, Miller writes. The same goes for military equipment.

While Western companies rely upon TSMC to build their goods, the island of Taiwan hugs up against mainland China. There is real concern that Chinas aggressive posture towards Taiwanthey see it as a renegade province that must be reabsorbed into the mainlandextends towards controlling TSMC.

If so, wed find ourselves not only reliant on China to assemble our iPhones. Beijing could conceivably gain influence or control over the only [factories] with the technological capability and production capacity to churn out the chips we depend on, writes Miller. Such a scenario would be disastrous for Americas economic and geopolitical position.

Once you have the aha moment over semiconductors, youll never look at geopolitics the same way again.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Anti-Strike Legislation Passes 1st Hurdle in UK Parliament

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union on the picket line outside Birmingham Airport in England on Dec. 23, 2022. (Jacob King/PA Media)

The UK governments anti-strike legislation has cleared its first hurdle in Parliament, as the country suffers from continuing disruptions amid a wave of industrial action in the public sector.

On Monday evening, MPs voted 309 to 249 to give the bill a second reading.

It came just hours after the National Education Union (NEU) announced plans to hold seven days of walkouts in February and March in a dispute over teachers pay.

Meanwhile, members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England are due to walk out again on Wednesday and Thursday, and have announced two more strikes in England and Wales on Feb. 6 and 7.

Train drivers are also set to strike on Feb. 1 and 3 after the Aslef union rejected a pay offer from rail companies.

The government announced the legislation on Jan. 5, saying it will ensure minimum safety levels in the most crucial sectors when industrial action takes place.

The government said it will always protect the ability to strike, but it also has a duty to the public to ensure their safety, protect their access to vital public services, and help them go about their daily lives.

Trade unions will be bound to follow this legislation and will risk the employer bringing an injunction to prevent the strike from taking place or seeking damages afterwards if they do not comply with their obligations.

The legislation has provoked an angry response from the unions. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) described it as undemocratic, unworkable, and almost certainly illegal.

The main opposition Labour Party said it opposes the bill and will repeal the law if it comes into power after the next general election.

Business Secretary Grant Shapps arriving for a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London, on Dec. 20, 2022. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Media)

Public Has Had Enough

Ahead of the vote in the House of Commons, Business Secretary Grant Shapps told MPs the public has had enough of the constant, most unwelcome, frankly dangerous, disruption to their lives.

He said: There comes a time when we cant let this continue and that is why we need minimum safety and service levelsto keep livelihoods and lives safe, and its frankly irresponsible, even surprising, for the opposition opposite to suggest otherwise.

But former Home Secretary Priti Patel, a Conservative, said the legislation does not go far enough and ministers should widen the list of sectors which should be legally required to have minimum service levels during strikes.

She urged ministers to ensure that they always look to keep legislation and measures open and under review so that we can continue to uphold standards to protect the public when it comes to them going about their daily lives.

Indefensible and Foolish

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner criticised the bill as one of the most indefensible and foolish pieces of legislation to come before this House in modern times.

She added: It threatens teachers and nurses with the sack during a recruitment and retention crisis. It mounts an outright assault on the fundamental freedom of working people while doing nothing  to actually resolve the crisis at hand.

But a prominent union leader suggested that Labour should do more to back workers rights.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), said Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer should avoid trying to be a vanilla politician.

Speaking outside Downing Street at the protest against the bill, Lynch pointed out that the Labour front bench was missing from the protests.

He urged the shadow cabinet to support unions and said the Labour leader should not try to be a vanilla politician in a vanilla suit, adding, Come and stand with us  stand up for socialism, stand up for workers and lets change this going forward.

International Precedents

Under the new legislation, minimum safety levels will be set for fire, ambulance, and rail services and the government will consult on the adequate level of coverage for these sectors.

For the other sectors covered in the bill, which include health services, education, nuclear decommissioning, other transport services, and border security, the government said it will aim to reach voluntary agreements, and would only look to consult on minimum safety levels should these voluntary positions not be agreed.

The government said the proposed measures will see the UK align with many countries across the world such as France and Spain that already have minimum service agreements in place.

Talking to broadcasters following the announcement last week, Shapps rejected the suggestion that the planned new law would impact on the human rights of trade union members.

He said, First of all, civilised European nations, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, they all have some form of minimum safety levels.

He added that the International Labour Organisation also has said that there is nothing wrong with such a scheme when its a question of life and death.

The idea that there may not be an ambulance coming because theres a strike on, I think, is unacceptable.

Were not proposing to go the full hog. Other countries, parts of America, Canada, Australia, they have legislation which bans those blue lights entirely from going on strike.

Were not proposing that. I think its very reasonable what were suggesting but I think the time has come and it brings us into line with other European nations.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Arizona Court Strikes Down Challenge to Mail-In Voting

A worker at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department works on tabulating the Vote by Mail ballots that have been returned in Doral, Fla. on Nov. 3, 2020. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

An Arizona Appellate Court upheld a lower courts decision to reject a lawsuit from the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) filed against election officials for alleging Arizonas mail-in voting law violated the Arizona Constitutions secrecy clause.

The secrecy clause states All elections by the people shall be by ballot, or by such other method as may be prescribed by law; Provided that secrecy in voting shall be preserved, according to the court memo announcing the decision.

The superior court in their ruling found Arizonas mail-in voting laws adequately preserve secrecy in voting and denied the AZGOP and its Chairwoman Kelli Wards lawsuit from moving forward. The appellate court upheld the lower courts decision on Tuesday.

The earlier ruling by a superior court came to a separate conclusion, with the appellate court affirming the lower courts decision. Judge Cynthia J. Bailey delivered the decision of the court where the two other judges also joined.

AZ GOP Claimed Law Violates Secrecy

The party appealed the lower courts ruling in June and oral arguments were heard in December before this weeks ruling. They originally filed a special action petition with the Arizona Supreme Court in February 2022, but the court declined special jurisdiction and recommended filing in the superior court.

They named the secretary of state and all of the top election officials in each of Arizonas 15 counties in their original lawsuit.

The party argued in its first lawsuit that in-person voting at the polls on a fixed date in a secret matter is the only constitutional manner of voting in Arizona. They also argued in their appeal the Arizona Constitution explicitly requires voting in person.

In their reply brief on appeal, they refined their argument. The court said the party conced[ed] that voting in person before election day may be constitutional, and argued instead that mail-in voting violates the Secrecy Clause only because it takes place without the [laws] requirements, according to the court memo.

Those requirements stem from mail-in ballot language in place when mail-in voting first came to Arizona, where an official was required to be present and watch the voter seal their ballot in an envelope.

Were not challenging mail-in voting overall, what were challenging is the current system of mail-in voting where a restricted zone is not secured around the voter, the plaintiffs wrote.

The court judged whether the Arizona Constitution required a secure restricted zone around a voter who fills out a mail-in ballot and found the law preserves secrecy.

The court wrote while interpreting the Constitution they did so in a lens when the original wording was written and the meaning at the time.

The Secrecy Clauses meaning is clear: when providing for voting by ballot or any other method, the legislature must uphold voters ability to conceal their choices, the opinion said. The constitution does not mandate any particular method for preserving secrecy in voting.

History of Voting by Mail in Arizona

Prior to 1991, voters in Arizona filling out absentee ballots had to do so in the presence of an officer authorized to administer oaths, mark the ballot in a manner so that the officer could not see how the person voted, and then seal the ballot, according to the opinion (pdf).

In 1991, the state legislature amended those laws to allow any voter in the state to vote by mail and removed the requirement of filling out the absentee ballot in the presence of an officer.

A woman holding her ballot walks past a Vote by Mail Drop Box for the 2020 U.S. Elections in Monterey Park, Calif., on Oct. 5, 2020. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

Mojave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen ruled against the Arizona GOP and its chair in their first lawsuit filing, in support of a 1991 law that permits no-excuse mail-in ballots.

Defendants for the past thirty years have applied the laws of Arizona as written, Jantzen wrote in his ruling (pdf). The laws are far from perfect and nobody anticipated thirty years ago that approximately 90 percent of Arizona voters would vote by mail-in ballot during a pandemic, but these laws are NOT in violation of the Arizona Constitution.

No-excuse mail-in ballots are not inapposite of the intentions of the framers of the Constitution, he added.

Election integrity in Arizona has been a pressing issue since the 2020 general elections, the results of which have been vigorously disputed. In 2020, around 89 percent of voters voted by mail before election day.

The Republican Party of Arizona, under Chairwoman Dr. Kelli Ward, is concerned that if this ruling stands, Arizonas most vulnerable voters will be deprived of the protections to which they are constitutionally entitled, the Arizona GOP said after the superior court blocked their initial lawsuit.

The Arizona GOP said it seeks to restore mail-in ballots for the sick, elderly, and other absentee voters to ensure they have the constitutionally guaranteed protection of election officials safeguarding their votes from ballot traffickers.

We are sorry that the most vulnerable voters of Arizona will not receive the protections to which they are constitutionally entitled if this ruling standspeople who truly cannot make it to the polls versus those who find convenience voting in the comfort of their homes, said Alex Kolodin, the attorney representing the case.
Aussie Troops En Route to Train Ukrainians

An Australian soldier from 7 Brigade operates a machine gun through the turret of a truck as part of exercise Talisman Sabre in Rockhampton, Australia, on July 9, 2015. (Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

Australian soldiers will depart Darwin to help train Ukrainian troops as Kyiv continues to repel Russias invasion, which began a year ago.

Up to 70 Australian personnel will join partner nations in Britain to help boost the infantry tactics and military skills of Ukrainians.

No Australian troops will enter Ukraine.

The United Kingdom-led program is aiming to train up to 20,000 Ukrainian soldiers this year.

Deputy Prime Minister and defence minister Richard Marles said Australia continues to stand with the embattled nation after Russias clear violation of the rules-based order.

Operation KUDU builds on Australias military support for Ukraine, with the previously gifted Australian-produced Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles proving their worth as highly valuable military vehicles, he said.

Defence Personnel Minister Matt Keogh said military personnel were our greatest defence capability.

Thats why its so important that our soldiers, alongside a number of partner nations, will provide essential skills to the armed forces of Ukraine, supporting Ukraine to end the conflict on its own terms.

The personnel will primarily be drawn from the armys first brigade and will be formally farewelled in Darwin on Wednesday.

Marles, who will send a personal video message to the departing Australians, said the international community needs to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

It is a really important deployment because the Ukrainian army now is very much a reservist army; it is a citizen army, he told Sevens Sunrise program on Wednesday.

The skills that are going to be provided by these Australian trainers are going to help equip the Ukrainian army for the battlefield; it will make them safer, itll save lives and it will keep Ukraine in the fight.

Asked if he was concerned about blowback from Russia, Marles said Australia could not be clearer in its condemnation of the invasion.

All our security agencies monitor Russian state activity, and we will continue to be vigilant about that, he added.

Australia has provided about $655 million in support for Ukraine, including $475 million in military assistance. It includes a total of 90 Bushmasters.
Australian Gas Retailers Unable to Secure Supply Due to Governments Gas Price Cap

Several Australian gas retailers have reported supply issues following the governments implementation of the gas price cap, which prompts the consumer watchdog to keep a close eye on gas producers.

In a recent gas market development, AGLthe second-largest energy retailer in Australia, confirmed that the company has been unable to secure an incremental contract supply of gas for 2023.

As a result, the energy giant has to stop taking in new commercial and industrial customers.

AGL understands the importance of securing long-term affordable gas supplies for its commercial and industrial customers, an AGL spokesperson told The Epoch Times.

AGLs commercial and industrial customers who are not contracted for the period from Jan. 1, 2023 have been placed onto default tariffs (or remain on default tariffs).

The default tariffs are default prices that retailers offer to customers who have not signed up for any specific energy plan or market contract.

Due to market price fluctuation, these customers generally have to pay higher prices for energy than those locked in a contract.

While AGL currently has to turn down new businesses and manufacturers looking for gas supply, new residential customers can still sign up with the company.

A general view of Coal Seam Gas wells in the Pilliga Forest in Narrabri, Australia, on Feb. 6, 2021. (Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, The Australian reported that smaller energy retailers, including Discover Energy and Powershop, had also stopped offering gas to new customers.

In addition, OVO Energy, a new market entrant from the UK, said it had postponed the launch of a gas retail offer after the Labor government intervened in the market.

We were aiming to launch early this year, but now we are sitting back and waiting to see what happens with the proposed reforms before moving forward with gas, Australian CEO Mark Yemm said.

No counterparty is currently willing to sell at the proposed $12 (US$8.36) rate, and were not even sure how itll work in practice when the reforms come into place since theres very little that seems to be actual concrete around it right now.

The Gas Price Cap

This comes after the Australian Labor government introduced a gas price cap on Dec. 23, 2022, to tackle soaring domestic energy prices.

Under the measure, the government limits wholesale gas prices produced by east coast gas companies to a maximum of $12 per gigajoule for 12 months.

The temporary policy will be reviewed six months after its implementation.

The government expected the price cap to reduce gas price increases by 16 percent in the 2023-2024 financial year.

However, gas companies and energy experts have raised concerns that the price cap will hurt domestic energy supplies on the countrys east coast.

Credit Suisse energy analysis Saul Kavonic said the price cap policy was a mistake from the get-go as it left the gas market in a state of paralysis.

No one is really able to do anything. Producers are trying to get simple answers to basic questions about how the policy works, he said.

They are not able to actually deliver any contracts to the market.

Kavonic said the situation would lead to small retailers exiting the market as they could not get any gas or had to pay much higher prices than before.

Itll concentrate the power in the hands of the like of AGL and Origin, and theyll pump up the prices, and the end users will be suffering, he said.

Governments Response

While Treasurer Jim Chalmers acknowledged that gas retailers had difficulty negotiating new supply contracts with gas suppliers, he stood firm on the governments policy.

We expect the gas producers to act promptly to implement the temporary price cap, he told reporters in Canberra.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on July 20, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

The treasurer also noted that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission was monitoring gas producers to ensure that they acted consistently with the price cap policy and other relevant regulations.

Speaking about retailers gas supply issue, Liberal MP Dan Tehan said there were always consequences for intervening in the energy market.

Meanwhile, independent Senator Jacqui Lambie said the governments plan was never going to work.

Go back to the drawing board, PM. You got it wrong, she told Sky News.

She also said that the government should come up with a solution that would not restrict the gas supply.

Nevertheless, Chalmers said it was too early to conclude that the price cap was not producing the desired outcome.
People walk on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov 23, 2021. [PhotoXinhua]

The XBB.1.5 subvariant of Omicron strain of the novel coronavirus has been spreading so quickly in the United States that infections caused by it now account for 43 percent of the fatal infections nationwide.

According to the statistics of the Global Influenza Shared Database (GISAID), a publicly accessible database designed to improve the sharing of influenza data, almost all the variants of the virus have been prevalent in the US. Why is the US so attractive to the virus variants? How could XBB.1.5 spread so quickly? The US needs to share information and data about its epidemic situation timely and transparently with the world.

It takes global efforts to fight the pandemic and every nation is responsible for sharing the information of any new variant they find. According to GISAID, the first reported XBB.1.5 infections can be traced back to New York and Connecticut in October, and now it has spread to at least 74 countries and regions. CNN quoted experts as saying that the variant highly possibly originated in the US.

For three years, there have been countless blames against the US for its lack of transparency, even data fabrication. As early as July 2020, the British Medical Journal published an essay that said the novel coronavirus infections in the US neared 4 million, higher than the 2.67 million in the US government report. In March 2021, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control Tom Friedan said that lack of timely, accurate information is one of the US' biggest failures in coping with the pandemic. In May 2022, the NBC said that the number of COVID-19 infections might have been underestimated in the US.

For three years, the US has always been insincere, irresponsible in publishing its pandemic information. For which, not only has it paid a huge price, but also the rest of the world.

The World Health Organization has confirmed XBB.1.5 as being the most infectious among all Omicron subvariants and has warned about the danger of more people being infected. The US should stop concealing information and make everything transparent. The world has the right to know the truth.
Australian Man Killed in Deadly Nepalese Plane Crash

A rescue team recovers the body of a victim from the site of the plane crash of a Yeti Airlines operated aircraft on Jan. 15, 2023, in Pokhara, Nepal, on Jan. 16, 2023. (Bijay Neupane/Reuters)

An Australian man has been identified among those who were killed in a fatal plane crash in Nepal.

Tributes are flowing for 29-year-old Myron William Love from Sydney, whos a casual teacher from Bronte and an avid surfer, cyclist, photographer and traveller.

Nepalese airline Yeti Airlines plane crashed on Sunday en route to Pokhara, Nepals second-largest city from the capital Kathmandu, killing at least 68 people.

The cause for the crash remains unknown, with clear weather reported, but the planes black boxes have been located.

The accident is the nations deadliest since 1992 when a Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A300 crashed into a hillside, killing 167 people.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Monday confirmed that one Australian was among the 68 passengers and four crew members on board and it was urgently seeking to confirm the welfare of the Australian.

The family of Love described him as a rock who always lived life to the fullest, saying he has put so much into his short life that most of us couldnt fit into our lifetime.

We would like to express our deep gratitude for the amazing support shown to us by our family and friends in this time of need, the family said in a statement.

The family requests outsiders to offer them peace and privacy for us to grieve, and deal with this tragedy.

Loves friend said Love was a truly kind, fun, energetic man we will forever love.

It is with extreme sadness to say we have lost one of the best humans I have ever known, a Sydney-based artist lesjak_atton posted on Instagram.

Myron was one of the loves of my life. I send all my love to those who need it right now.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday tweeted that the crash was incredibly sad news.

Incredibly sad news out of Nepal of a plane crashing with many passengers on board. The government is aware an Australian was on board and is urgently seeking information from Nepalese officials on the welfare of that passenger.  Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) January 16, 2023

Two Bodies Yet To Be Recovered

The Nepalese authorities continued rescue efforts in Pokhara on Tuesday morning, with two bodies out of 72 people on board yet to be found. As of early Tuesday morning Australian time, 70 bodies from the plane had been identified.

This is very tragic and my heart goes to all the victims and their families, Nepals ambassador to Australia Kailash Pokharel told ABC Radio National.

A police official in Pokhara told Reuters rescue personnel were using ropes to descend into the gorge where parts of the plane fell and were in flames.

Flights were resuming to normal service across Nepal on Tuesday.

The fateful Yeti flight also carried other foreign passengers on board including five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and solo passengers from Argentina, the United Kingdom and France.

Nepal: One of The Most Dangerous Places To Fly

While the Himalayan nation is a favourite destination for adventurous tourists and mountaineers, its harsh weather, low visibility, and mountainous topography make flying riskier than in many other regions. Since 2000, almost 350 people have been killed in plane or helicopter accidents in Nepal.

Aviation Safety Network data showed that there had been 27 deadly plane crashes in Nepal within three decades, which equals almost one per year on average. A fatal crash took place in May last year when a plane by major Nepalese airline Tara Air from Pokhara was about to land in Jomsom, killing 22 people.

Australias Smartraveller website noted a number of small aeroplanes had crashed in recent years, especially in monsoon season, and warned travellers of aircraft safety concerns.

Due to safety concerns, all airlines certified by Nepali regulatory authorities are banned from operating in Europe, it noted.

AAP contributed to this article.
Biden Administration Urges Judges to Lift Stay on CDCs Airplane Mask Mandate

President Joe Bidens administration in a court hearing on Jan. 17 urged judges on a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling from a lower court that struck down the administrations airplane mask mandate.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had good cause to impose the mandate and bypass the notice- and comment period required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Brian Springer, an attorney for the government, told judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

At the time the mandate was imposed, in early 2021, there were variants that had just been detected that showed signs of increased transmissibility, and people were starting to travel again, Springer said. In those circumstances, the CDC had good cause to issue this order, particularly when the CDC detailed the reasons why in this particular environment, namely in the transportation sector and in transportation settings, COVID had a specific tendency to spread among people who are traveling together because theyre standing together in lines and sitting together on conveyances.

One of the judges expressed skepticism with the line of thinking, accusing the CDC of issuing boilerplate language to impose the mandate without a notice and comment period. Under a ruling in a separate case, boilerplate statements that COVID-19 exists and that theres a public emergency arent sufficient to satisfy the good cause exception to the APA. Springer disagreed, saying the CDCs statement provided rationale that met the standard.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump appointee, said in her 2022 ruling that the CDC violated the APA by only issuing a single conclusory sentence to support ducking the notice requirements.

She noted that at the time the order was issued, around a year had passed since the beginning of the pandemic, and COVID-19 cases in America were on the decline.

Brent Hardaway, arguing for Health Freedom Defense Fund, which brought the case, said that the mandate was very strange given that airplanes and many airports already had mandates in place, in addition to the decline in cases.

Does the CDC Have Authority to Mandate Masks?

Other portions of the hearing went over arguments as to whether the CDC has the authority to mandate masks.

U.S. code gives the federal government the power to enforce regulations judged as necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the States or possessions, or from one State or possession into any other State or possession.

The government, to enforce such measures, may provide for such inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest extermination, destruction of animals or articles found to be so infected or contaminated as to be sources of dangerous infection to human beings, and other measures, as in his judgment may be necessary, the statute says.

In striking down the CDCs moratorium on evictions, the Supreme Court found that the agency overstepped the authority outlined in the law. But the court also said the law empowered the CDC to impose measures that directly relate to preventing the interstate spread of disease by identifying, isolating, and destroying the disease itself.

The decision recognized that conventional measures to identify, isolate and destroy communicable diseases fall within the statute, Springer said. The CDCs mask order was a very modest way to, and a traditional way to, prevent this interstate spread of disease that falls directly within the heartland of what the Supreme Court told us that this statute covers.

Springer asked the court to narrow the district courts decision from applying to all travelers to just the five individuals that brought the case. If the court agrees, it would enable the mask mandate to take effect again for virtually all Americans inside airports, airplanes, and some other transportation settings.

Mizelle has ruled that mask mandates dont fall under sanitation and that the other measures were limited, based on a reading of the history of the law and court rulings.

The mask mandate is best understood not as sanitation, but as an exercise of the CDCs power to conditionally release individuals to travel despite concerns that they may spread a communicable disease (and to detain or partially quarantine those who refuse). But the power to conditionally release and detain is ordinarily limited to individuals entering the United States from a foreign country, Mizelle wrote, noting that a part of the law only allows for the detention of a person traveling between the states if that person is reasonably believed to be infected and is actually found upon examination to be infected.

That means the CDC exceeded its authority in issuing the mandate, the judge said.

Hardaway, in court on Tuesday, said that the law does not give the CDC the ability to impose mask mandates, though one of the judges questioned whether that was true.

It just seems strange to me that an agency like the Center for Disease Control doesnt have the authority to require travelers to wear a mask when they travel as a way to prevent the spread of communicable disease in the context of a global pandemic, the judge said. If they dont have that authority, what authority do they have?

Hardaway said the eviction ruling showed why it was not odd and urged the judges to look at the law, which has been used by the government to impose various measures.

Their reading of sanitation is basically any measure that may promote sanitation, he said. Its basically going to have the same kind of sweeping implications of the rule that the Supreme Court rejected.
Biden Hosts Netherlands Prime Minister for Talks on Tech Chips, Ukraine

President Joe Biden meets with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte (L) in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 17, 2023. (Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo)

WASHINGTONPresident Joe Biden praised the Netherlands for stepping up assistance to Ukraine as he hosted Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Tuesday for wide-ranging talks at the White House. Biden is also looking to nudge the Netherlands to further limit Chinas access to advanced semiconductors with export restrictions.

The Biden administration has been trying to get the Netherlands on the same page since the U.S. Commerce Department announced in October new export controls aimed at China. The restrictions are intended to limit Chinas ability to access advanced computing chips, develop and maintain supercomputers, and make advanced semiconductors.

Together were working on how to keep a free and open Indo Pacific, and quite frankly the challenges of China, Biden said at the start of their meeting.

Administration officials have reasoned that the export restrictions are necessary because China can use semiconductors to create advanced military systems including weapons of mass destruction; commit human rights abuses; and improve the speed and accuracy of its military decision making, planning and logistics.

Slowing Beijings access, however, will take plenty of help from allies for the U.S. export controls to have maximum impact. The Netherlands-based tech giant ASML is a major manufacturer of lithography machines that design and produce semiconductors. China is one of ASMLs biggest clients.

CEO Peter Wennink played down the impact of the U.S. export control regulations soon after the administration unveiled them last fall.

Based on our initial assessment, the new restrictions do not amend the rules governing lithography equipment shipped by ASML out of the Netherlands and we expect the direct impact on ASMLs overall 2023 shipment plan to be limited, he said.

ASML said last year that it expected company-wide 2022 sales to be around 21 billion euros.

The United States has also been in talks with Japan on tougher export restrictions to limit the sale of semiconductor manufacturing technology to China. Ruttes visit comes after Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week for talks.

The United States and Japan, in a joint statement following the Oval Office meeting, said the two sides agreed to sharpen our shared edge on economic security, including protection and promotion of critical and emerging technologies.

Chinas foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin last week called on Japan and the Netherlands to resist U.S. pressure.

Rutte spoke by phone on Monday with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about Saturdays Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Dniproone of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the nearly 11-month-old war. Authorities said the death toll from the strike rose to 40 and that 30 people remained missing Monday.

These are horrible pictures and I think it strengthens even more our resolve to stay with Ukraine, Rutte told reporters at the start of his meeting with Biden.

Biden praised Netherlands as one of the United States strongest allies, one thats proven very, very stalwart in its support for Ukraine since Russia launched in its invasion in February. The Netherlands has committed about $2.7 billion (2.5 billion euros) in support for Ukraine this year. The money will be spent on military equipment, humanitarian, and diplomatic efforts.

The Dutch prime minister, for his part, praised Biden for leading the international effort to back Ukraine.

History will judge in 2022 if the United States had not stepped up like you did things would have been very different, Rutte said.

The two leaders were also to discuss plans for the Summit for Democracy, which they are co-hosting with Costa Rica, South Korea, and Zambia in late March.

Biden hosted the inaugural democracy summit in December 2021, which the administration billed as the start of a global conversation about how best to halt the backsliding of democracy.

Biden is the third U.S. president visited by Rutte, the Netherlands longest-serving prime minister. He earlier met with Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Biden Says Americans Would Need Some F-15s to Fight Government

The president vowed to ban 'assault weapons'

President Joe Biden speaks at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on Jan. 15, 2023, the eve of the national holiday honoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden said on Monday that AR-15 rifles wouldnt help Americans in an armed conflict with the federal government.

Biden made the comments during the National Action Networks (NAN) annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast in Washington, where he vowed to ban what he called assault weapons, referring to semiautomatic sporting rifles in the style of an AR-15.

I love my right-wing friends who talk about the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots,' he said. If you need to worry about taking on the federal government, you need some F-15s. You dont need an AR-15.

Bidens comment was a reference to a Thomas Jefferson quote.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants, Jefferson wrote in a 1787 letter to William Stephens Smith, the son-in-law of John Adams.

An AR-15 at FT3 tactical shooting range in Stanton, Calif., on May 3, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Firearm Industry Blasts Biden

This is not the first time Biden has said that Americans need more powerful weapons if they want to take on the federal government, and that they should therefore not object to giving up their semiautomatic sporting rifles.

If you wanted or if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons, he said during a June 2021 speech outlining his plan to tackle gun violence.

The president also claimed incorrectly that the bullet out of an AR-15 travels five times as rapidly as a bullet shot out of any other gun during a speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in August 2022.

At the time, the Firearm Industry Trade Association responded to what it said was Bidens loose grasp of facts, willful ignorance of Constitutional rights, veiled threats and explicit insults, which the association said were a recipe for failure.

Instead of pledging to ban commonly-owned firearms, President Biden should be focused on locking up criminals, instead of winking-and-nodding at progressive prosecutors releasing them onto Americas streets, the association said in its statement.

The president has long pushed for Congress to pass tighter gun-control legislation, and vowed again on Monday to get assault rifles banned, telling the audience: I did it once and Im going to do it again.

Theres no social redeeming value. Deer arent wearing Kevlar vests out there. What the hell do you need an assaultno, Im serious, Biden said, before pledging to also ban the number of bullets that go in a magazine.

Reggie Daniels pays his respects at a memorial for the shooting victims at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on June 9, 2022. (Eric Gay/AP Photo)

The AR-15 rifle was the type of gun used by the shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022. The shooter killed 19 children and two teachers.

Gun control advocates and Democrat lawmakers have said the type of firearm used was partly responsible for the carnage.

According to the Firearm Industry Trade Association, AR-15 rifles are among the most popular firearms sold in the Unites States and are typically used for hunting, home defense, range shooting, and competitive shooting. They are not assault weapons or assault rifles, according to the association.

Following Bidens remarks on Monday, the National Rifle Association responded.

Mr. President, Law-abiding Americans defend themselves from criminals with semi-automatic firearms every week. Dangerous criminals who you and your political allies set free with your soft-on-criminals policies prey upon innocent Americans, the NRA posted on Twitter. Do better, Joe.
Bidens Lawyers Likely Witnesses in Criminal Probe of Mishandling of Classified Docs: Jonathan Turley

President Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 13, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley believes President Joe Bidens personal attorneys are likely witnesses in a criminal investigation following their discovery of multiple caches of classified documents at unsecured locations associated with the president.

The revelation last week that classified documents from Bidens time as vice president had been discovered at the presidents former office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington and his Wilmington, Delaware, residence has engulfed the president in a firestorm that continues to roil the administration.

Discussing the situation in an interview with Fox News, Turley advised that, for the president, the most serious discovery would be evidence that Biden worked off their documents or removed them from their classification folders.

That would not only destroy the inadvertence defense but make his public comments potentially deceitful of both the public and investigators, Turley said on Jan. 16. While gross mishandling does not require evil intent, unintentional violations are often addressed outside of the criminal justice system. The most serious violations have been prosecuted where material was intentionally removed.

Intent can be established not only at the time of the removal but during the storage of the documents, he added. If these documents were used or knowingly possessed over the six years, it would qualify as an intentional act to unlawfully possess the material.

After news broke last week of the first batch of documents found at the Biden Penn Center in early November, Biden responded that he was surprised by the documents discovery and that he has no knowledge of the information they contain.

As for the lawyers who found the documents, Turley noted that they were not only likely to be witnesses in the investigation but that their involvement could also make things more serious for Biden and his legal team, as use of private counsel without [security] clearances following the first discovery on Nov. 2 could itself be viewed as reckless and gross mishandling.

In a Jan. 14 statement, Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, noted that the attorneys who have been conducting additional searches for classified information over the last week do not possess active security clearances, which are required for an individual to view classified materials.

In a separate interview on Fox News America Reports, Turley noted the shocking nature of that fact.

That means that almost two months later, you were still using uncleared attorneys looking for documents that you know have contained highly classified documents, he said.

Investigations Underway

On Jan. 12, at the urging of U.S. Attorney John Lausch, who had been probing the matter, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur as special counsel to lead the Justice Departments investigation into Bidens mishandling of classified documents.

This appointment underscores for the public the departments commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters and to making decisions indisputably guided only by facts and the law, Garland said in a statement.

Hur, a Trump appointee, served as U.S. attorney to the District of Maryland from April 2018 to February 2021, when he left the Justice Department to return to private practice.

In addition to the Justice Departments probe, House Republicans have launched their own investigation into the matter, requesting via a Jan. 12 letter all classified documents retrieved by Biden aides or lawyers at any location, as well as lists of all aides and lawyers involved in the documents search, their security clearances, the locations searched, and all documents and communications between the White House and the Justice Department or National Archives regarding the materials found.

In his letter to the White House, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, also stressed that some of the documents had been discovered at Bidens Wilmington homethe same address that Hunter Biden listed on his drivers license as recently as 2018.

The Committee is concerned President Biden stored classified documents at the same location his son resided while engaging in international business deals with adversaries of the United States, Comer wrote.

In a subsequent letter to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Comer also requested that Biden release the visitor logs for his Wilmington home, writing: President Bidens mishandling of classified materials raises the issue of whether he has jeopardized our national security. Without a list of individuals who have visited his residence, the American people will never know who had access to these highly sensitive documents.

However, according the White House, no such visitor logs exist.

Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal, White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement to media outlets.

The U.S. Secret Service has corroborated that claim, telling The Epoch Times that the agency screens visitors but keeps no records of who those visitors are.

But Turley, in his interview with America Reports, said that the absence of those records could prove more damaging than helpful to Biden going forward.

The House of Representatives has legitimate interest in who was in that house, Turley noted. The minute you store classified evidence in your house, there is interest in whether there [were] security violations or the possibility of being compromised. So, they can get that information from another source, and that source would be staff and family. They can start to interview them, and I think courts will support that because courts are not going to buy this argument that this is just one more private domicile on a quiet little street.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House and Justice Department for comment.
Big Vaccine Makers Pressured Twitter to Censor Activists Pushing for Generic Vaccines: Twitter Files

The Twitter sign at its headquarters in San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2022. (Constanza hevia/AFP via Getty Images)

Big Pharma companies, which reaped billions of dollars in COVID vaccine sales, allegedly pressured Twitter to censor activists who pushed for the sharing of knowledge needed to make generic vaccines, according to the latest addition to the Twitter Files.

In 2020, there was an international push to force the drug industry to make its COVID vaccine recipes publicly accessible so that low-income countries could make generic, low-cost vaccines on their own, independent journalist Lee Fang explained in a Twitter thread.

Seeing the pandemic as an opportunity for unprecedented profit, however, vaccine-making giants responded to the call with a massive lobbying blitz to crush any effort to share intellectual properties related to COVID therapeutics and vaccines, he said.

BioNTech, which developed Pfizers COVID vaccine, directly pressured Twitter to censor accounts asking for generic, low-cost vaccines, Fang wrote, citing internal email exchanges that were released to him by Elon Musk, Twitters new billionaire owner.

In one email dated Dec. 12, 2020, Twitter lobbyist Nina Morschhaeuser told the platforms moderation team that BioNTech, along with the German federal government, had alerted her about an upcoming online campaign targeting the pharmaceutical companies developing the COVID-19 vaccine.

The authorities are warning about serious consequences of the action, i.e. posts and a flood of comments that may violate TOS as well as the takeover of user accounts are to be expected, wrote Morschhaeuser, who is in Europe. Especially the personal accounts of the management of the vaccine manufacturers are said to be targeted. Accordingly, fake accounts could also be set up.

Morschhaeuser also forwarded an email from a BioNTech representative, who apparently asked Twitter to hide activist posts calling for fair COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

As part of the online campaigns, for example, there are calls to contact BioNTech and our managing directors via social media, wrote BioNTechs Jasmina Alatovic in the German-language email. Could you help us to hide our biotech Twitter account for two days on Sunday so that comments, etc. are no longer possible?

In her email to Twitter, Morschhaeuser specifically named the corporate accounts of Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, which she said Twitter should have an eye on amid the activist campaign.

She also asked Twitter to monitor the hashtags #PeoplesVaccine and #JoinCTAP, which apparently refer to the Peoples Vaccine Alliance, a left-wing activist group demanding equitable access to vaccines for less-developed countries; and the World Health Organizations COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), an initiative aimed to accelerate the development of COVID vaccines through voluntary and transparent sharing of ideas, data, and technologies.

Its not clear what actions Twitter ultimately took on this particular request, Fang said. Several Twitter employees noted in subsequent messages that none of this activism constituted abuse. But the company continued monitoring tweets.

In an article detailing the new Twitter Files, published in the online magazine The Intercept, Fang wrote, Ultimately, the campaign to share COVID vaccine recipes around the world failed.

As of 2023, while Pfizer and Moderna are considering charging as high as $130 per dose for their branded two-dose COVID vaccines, the campaign for generic vaccines remains an obscure topic. The Peoples Vaccine Alliance and activist movements alike received little mainstream media coverage in the United States, while updates to the C-TAP were mostly reported by a handful of outlets dedicated to foreign policy or intellectual property news.

The Epoch Times has reached out to BioNTech for comments and will update this report accordingly.
Bipartisan Bill to Abolish Death Penalty Is Filed in Kentucky

The gurney in Huntsville, Texas, where Texas's condemned are strapped down to receive a lethal dose of drugs in this May 27, 2008 file photo. (Pat Sullivan/AP Photo)

A bipartisan bill proposed in the Kentucky legislature would eliminate the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole for inmates sentenced to capital punishment.

The bill was filed in the Kentucky Senate in January by Democrat Sen. Gerald Neal and Republican Sens. Julie Raque Adams and Stephen Meredith.

The bill would abolish the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment without parole for inmates presently sentenced to death.

Currently, 24 states have the death penalty, three have moratoriums imposed to stop them, and 23 plus the District of Columbia have outlawed the death penalty, according to The Death Penalty Information Center.

According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections website, 26 people are currently on death row in the state, including seven who were sentenced in the 1980s. A stay of execution in Kentucky was put into place in 2010.

Kentucky Leaders React

Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said the punishment has a place in society in limited circumstances, according to a Louisville ABC affiliate.

I believe that there are some crimes that are so horrific, and some people that are so dangerous, that merit the existence of the death penalty, he said, according to the outlet. So I look forward to hearing that discussion. And the grounds on, on which its, its based, he said.

The governor also told the outlet there are potential discussions to be had about the cost of the death penalty versus life in prison.

Every year, you find one or two cases where someone is exonerated because someone took the time to put their attention on a specific case and found out that it was wrongfully convicted, said Neal, reported Spectrum News. Its not like I have sympathy for those who find themselves in situations who disregard someone elses life. Thats completely out of the order, but for us to do the same, to me, I think creates duplicity.

In 2022, lawmakers passed into law an end to the death penalty for those with a documented diagnosis and active symptoms of mental illness at the time of their offense.

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told CityBeat when last years law passed that there has been a slow shift toward considering a different approach in sentencing people who are severely mentally ill.

I think theres a growing awareness around the world that it is not appropriate to subject people who are seriously mentally ill to capital punishment, Dunham said. And thats a view thats been growing within the United States as well.

Republican lawmakers at the time called it a slippery slope that would end capital punishment entirely.

Kentucky is surrounded by states with and without the death penalty, while the South as a whole contains the majority of states that still have the death penalty in the United States.

Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Tennessee all have the death penalty and surround Kentuckywhile Illinois, Virginia, and West Virginia all do not. If passed and signed into law, Kentucky would become one of 24 states with no death penalty of any kind.
Boat Captain Indicted in Human Smuggling Operation That Resulted in Death of a Minor

Dominican national could face life in prison or death penalty in incident off coast of Puerto Rico

A seal reading "Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation" is displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, on Aug. 9, 2022. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

A grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico has indicted a Dominican national for multiple crimes related to human smuggling that resulted in the death of a minor child.

The Dominican national was charged with smuggling aliens into the United States, a crime that resulted in the death of a minor, aiding and abetting, and improper entry of an alien, according to the Department of Justices statement.

Alcibades De Paz was the captain of a boat that carried about 39 non-American citizens in an attempt to enter Puerto Rico illegally. The plan to smuggle people from the Dominican Republic to the United States involved using Puerto Ricos west coast, according to court records. While law enforcement, including the Puerto Rico Police Bureau marine unit (Fuerzas Unidas de Rapida Accion, FURA), attempted to intercept the suspected vessel, De Paz is said to have been the engine operator. The boat capsized before it could reach the coast.

Transnational human smuggling and trafficking networks pose a serious criminal threat, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico W. Stephen Muldrow said, according to the Department of Justice. Our office will prosecute those who illegally smuggle individuals into the United States and routinely place these migrants lives in danger. We will continue efforts to disrupt and dismantle smuggling networks that abuse, exploit, or endanger migrants, and pose serious national security threats.

One of the 39 passengers was a 3-year-old who was found unconscious in the water. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, but after failed attempts at resuscitation, he was pronounced dead. Also on the boat was the childs mother, who claimed to be of Haitian descent.

The others on board were Dominican, Haitian, and Afghan nationals. They were detained and taken to the Ramey Border Patrol Station for additional processing, investigation, and removal procedures, but one of the illegal immigrants, a Dominican citizen, escaped in the underbrush.

De Paz was ordered held in custody while awaiting trial by U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce McGiverin of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico during yesterdays arraignment and bail hearing. He might receive the death penalty or a life sentence in prison if found guilty. After taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal considerations, a federal district court judge will decide.

Purpose of the Grand Jury Trial

A grand jury is empaneled by a court when prosecutors deem it necessary to investigate potential criminal conduct and determine whether there is probable cause to believe that a person or entity has committed a crime. The jury members will hear evidence from a variety of sources, including witnesses, law enforcement officials, and experts in the field.

The use of a grand jury in the indictment process is rooted in the Fifth and Sixth Amendments of the United States Constitution, which provide for the right to a grand jury and the right to a fair trial. The use of grand juries is not mandatory, some states do not use grand juries, and federal criminal proceedings also have the option of using a different process known as a probable cause hearing instead.

The statement was made by Acting Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Rebecca Gonzalez, Acting Chief Patrol Agent, U.S. Border Patrol, Ramey Sector Desi Deleon, and U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow of the District of Puerto Rico.

Other Human Smuggling Indictments

Puerto Rico isnt alone in its fight against human trafficking as Immigration and Customs Enforcement reporting on Jan. 17 that a smuggler admits to a conspiracy that resulted in two deaths.

ICE issued a statement saying that following an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Laredo, Texas, U.S. Border Patrol, and the U.S. Marshals Service, a 34-year-old Dominican Republic citizen pleaded guilty to transporting noncitizens within the United States, resulting in two deaths. Wilkin Perez-Perez entered a guilty plea in front of a federal judge for his role in a human smuggling incident.

A Border Patrol agent checks an illegal immigrant wearing two wristbands that Mexican cartels have been using to control human smuggling into the United States, near Penitas, Texas, on March 15. 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Melvin L. Barahona-Godoy, 27, of Guatemala, and Yoryi Alexis Perez, 33, of the Dominican Republic, led several people to the Rio Grande river on Sept. 21, 2017, according to court documents. Two noncitizens drowned while attempting to cross into the United States, and their bodies were discovered along the riverbank.

Perez-Perez, who had returned to the Dominican Republic, was the subject of the investigation. He oversaw the organizations U.S. branch of the operation and was in charge of noncitizens transportation into the country, harboring them in Laredo. He was eventually apprehended by authorities and extradited to the United States.

Perez-Perez will be held in jail pending a hearing. Godoy and Yoryi Alexis Perez were also charged in connection with the mens transportation and harboring, among other allegations.
Body of Man Missing Since Hurricane Ian Found on Sunken Boat

Members of Virginia Task Force 2 Urban Search and Rescue receive a briefing before combing through the wreckage on Fort Myers Beach looking for victims of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Oct. 4, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

FORT MYERS, Fla.The remains of a man who was reported missing after Hurricane Ian hit Floridas Gulf Coast last year have been recovered from a sunken sailboat, sheriffs officials said.

The Lee County Sheriffs Office said Sunday that the remains were identified as James Denny Hurst, 72, who was last known to be aboard the sailboat Good Girl as the category 4 storm hit the region in late September.

The boat was recovered Friday afternoon in the Matanzas Pass area of Fort Myers Beach, Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a social media post.

Hurst had told his family he planned to ride out the storm on the boat, officials said.

Earlier Friday, the sheriff announced that a crew clearing debris in the mangroves found the remains of 82-year-old Ilonka Knes. She had been reported missing in early October.

Officials identified Knes through dental records, the sheriff said. The body of her husband, 81-year-old Robert Knes, was found shortly after the storm struck.

Hurst and Knes were the two remaining people who had been reported as missing in Lee County after the hurricane, Marceno said. He added that he hopes their families will now have some closure.

Before the discovery, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission on Tuesday reported 145 confirmed deaths in the state from Hurricane Ian. This would add to that total.

There were also five people killed in North Carolina, one in Virginia, and three in Cuba, authorities have said.
California Teen Begs City Council to Protect Women After Encountering Naked Man in YMCA Locker Room

Facility later apologizes for not providing 'support,' but affirms commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion

A sign for restrooms in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Jan. 13, 2023, indicates that women and men should use separate facilities. (Jackson Elliott/The Epoch Times)

Teenager Rebecca Phillips stepped out from her post-workout shower in the YMCA locker room and gasped.

A naked man was standing in the womens dressing area of the Cameron Family YMCA in Santee, California.

I immediately went back into the shower, terrified, and hid behind their flimsy excuse for a curtain until he was gone, Phillips said during the public comment period of a Santee City Council meeting on Jan. 11.

I ran into a bathroom stall to change as quickly as I could, organizing my thoughts to share with the people at the front desk.

Phillips, 17, has a job at a local restaurant, and often works out by swimming after finishing her shift, she said.

Activists show support for transgender people on the steps of City Hall in New York on Oct. 24, 2018. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

When she raised concerns about the locker room incident, she said the YMCAs employees were quick to defend the man, who claims to be a woman.

I was made to feel as though I had done something wrong when I talked to people at the YMCA, Phillips told city council members in a video reviewed by The Epoch Times. Somehow, the indecent exposure of a male to a female minor was an inconvenience to them.

She said the YMCA told her that, in California, any man who is not a registered sex offender can shower naked with women.

As long as you are not a red flag on Megans Law, the California sex offender registry, a grown male can shower alongside a teenage girl at your YMCA location in Santee, she said.

According to Section 51 of the California Civil Code, naked men have a right to the womens locker room, if they claim womanhood.

All persons within the jurisdiction of this state are free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, or immigration status, are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever, the law reads.

Protecting the Public

During her exchange with YMCA employees, Phillips said her thoughts kept turning to her 5-year-old sister.

This is the YMCA, where hundreds of children spend their summer afternoons in child-care camps, she said. This is the YMCA, where my little sister took gymnastics lessons. The locker room was supposed to be her safe haven to gossip with her friends, and shower, and change.

When I asked the YMCA management what their policy was regarding transgenders, they confirmed that the man I saw was, indeed, allowed to shower wherever he pleased.

Phillips father called the Santee Sheriffs Station, she said, and an official there advised that she should never shower at the YMCA again.

Then, her father called the YMCA, but wasnt allowed to speak to the manager, she said. He eventually received a call from an official with the YMCA of San Diego County, she added.

She informed my dad that I was not in any danger at the time of the incidentthat I was safe, Phillips said.

Phillips asked the city council whether an underage girl could ever be safe in a room with a naked man.

Im assuming all of you either have a wife, a sister, daughters, or granddaughters, or are a woman yourself, she said.

Could you knowingly send an underage girl into a room where there was a naked male and say that she was not in danger? That she was safe? Or more importantly, that this was right?

Two days after Phillips testimony, a spokesman for the YMCA told the local KUSI News that the YMCA is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion. The YMCA did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

Pro-LGBT marchers stroll through Orlando, Fla., during a Pride Parade on October 15, 2022. (Giorgio Viera/Getty Images)

On Jan. 16, the YMCA issued a press release that included an apology to Phillips, KUSI News reported.

The YMCA of San Diego County is a cornerstone of our community, positively impacting the lives of thousands of youths, adults, seniors, and families that rely on us daily, the statement read. It added that staffers want to ensure everyone feels both welcome and safe at our Y.

We understand that the minor involved felt hurt and frustrated, and we wholeheartedly apologize for not providing her with the level of support she deserves. We take great care in fostering a safe, respectful, and supportive atmosphere so everyone can feel comfortable. We are committed to treating every member with dignity and protection and will continue striving towards that goal.

The organization touted a stellar reputation and proven record of protecting and safeguarding children throughout our 150+ years of history, and said, every YMCA member and employee goes through the National Sex Offender Registry daily, and each location and program operates above and beyond California and national Child Protection laws.

The prepared statement went on to say that people of all ages, races, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, gender expression, abilities, sexual orientation, or financial circumstances are welcomed and valued at the YMCA.

The facility operates in accordance with California law, which gives people the right to access the locker rooms, changing rooms, and bathrooms that align with their gender identity, the statement read.

Also, the facility, the statement continued, provides a private, gender-neutral restroom/shower for members who prefer a private space. And as part of our commitment to continuously improve, we are reviewing locker room floorplans across all facilities, to help ensure access to additional privacy if desired and needed.

Privacys Future

Both Republicans and Democrats told her they were disgusted that a naked man could tour a womens locker room, proving that the issue is not a partisan one, Phillips said.

The fact that we are now tailoring our privacy policies and bathroom laws around transgenders, ignoring the blatant threat to safety that this poses, is obscene, she said. The safety of children and girls is on the chopping block.

According to a June 2022 survey by the Pew Research Center, about 5 percent of young adults say they are transgender or nonbinary.

A transgender pride flag is held aloft at a rally to support LBGT rights in New York on June 28, 2019. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

American businesses should accommodate men in womens locker rooms and vice versa, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an LGBT activist group, asserts on its website.

Keep in mind that any decision to require transgender employees to use a certain restroom could be discriminatory and could lead to liability risks for the employer, the site notes.

However, it suggests businesses take action to make it easier to get privacy.

Consider upgrading bathrooms with upgraded privacy features, like more solid toilet stalls or curtains for a private changing area, the HRCs site recommends.

Phillips begged the city council to take action to protect women. As she was suggesting that transgender people shouldnt use opposite-sex bathrooms, her time to speak expired.

Whether its requiring transgenders to use the single-stall family restrooms, or making them use the bathroom which aligns with their biological  she said, as the microphone switched off.

The Epoch Times was unable to reach Phillips for comment. The Epoch Times also contacted the YMCA and the City of Santee requesting comment but received no reply.
President Joe Biden gave a speech Monday while ignoring questions about the latest discovery of classified documents. Republicans are now demanding the White House turn over certain information.

Carol Swain joins us on Martin Luther King Day to discuss his legacy. How has the civil rights movement of today evolved from that of Martin Luther Kings era?

We visit the MLK memorial in the nations capital and take a look at how tourists and DC residents celebrate the life of the civil rights leader.

The mayor of New York City comments on illegal immigration while visiting a border town. He says there is no more room in the Big Apple and called on the federal government for assistance.

An energy industry expert joins us to discuss the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The House recently passed an important bill banning the sale of those reserves to China.

The U.S. Postal Service is set to raise prices at the end of January. Thats the second time in six months. What does that mean for your unused Forever Stamps? Find out how much theyll be worth.
Cartel Linked to Execution-Style Killings of 6, Including Teen Mother and Baby in California: Sheriff

In this image released by Tulare County Sheriff's Office, detectives investigate a shooting in Goshen near Visalia, Calif., on Jan. 16, 2023. (Tulare County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Six people including a six-month-old baby cradled in the arms of her 17-year-old mother were shot dead at a home in Californias main agricultural valley on Monday in what authorities called a cartel-style execution with a link to gangs and illegal drugs.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said the killings were connected to the illicit drug trade, saying at a press briefing that, last week, deputies executed narcotic search warrants at the same home, located in the town of Goshen.

We do believe that this is a targeted act of violence, not a random act of violence, Boudreaux told reporters at the scene, adding that this was a horrific massacre.

Cartel-Style Execution

Boudreaux said deputies responded to reports of multiple shots fired at the property at around 4 a.m. on Jan. 17. When they arrived, deputies found a total of six victims. One man who was still alive was taken to the hospital but later pronounced dead.

The sheriff said the infant and 17-year-old mother both had gunshot wounds to the head, with ABC citing Boudreaux as saying that it was like a cartel-style execution.

We believe that this was a targeted family. We believe that there are gang associations involved in this scene, as well as potential narcotics investigations, he told reporters on the scene.

Several others were shot in the head, including an elderly woman, Boudreaux later told the Los Angeles Times. There were two female survivors of the massacre who hid in a trailer on the property.

I think its specifically connected to the cartel. The level of violence  this was not your run-of-the-mill low-end gang member, Boudreaux told the newspaper.

If (they) are specifically shooting everyone in the head, they know what they are doing  (and) they are comfortable with what they are doing, he added.

The sheriff said two suspects have been identified and that there could be more as the investigation progresses.

War on Cartels

Mexican drug cartels have long been a source of violence and crime in the United States. These powerful criminal organizations, which control much of the drug trade in Mexico, have been known to engage in a range of criminal activities, including drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and murder.

A group led by former Trump officials has proposed a formal declaration of war against Mexican cartels, as outlined in a recent policy paper by the Center for Renewing America.

This proposal asks Congress to pass a measure that would close legal ports of entry at the border if a certain number of migrants and asylum seekers are crossing illegally. It also calls for the Navy to intercept drug smuggling vessels and for the Treasury to impose sanctions on specific cartel leaders.

Narco-Terrorist Networks

Ken Cuccinelli, who held the second-highest position at the Department of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump, wrote in the proposal that past efforts to address cartel violence have been ineffective, and the government of Mexico has been unable or unwilling to eliminate these narco-terrorist networks.

The southern border of the United States remains mired in chaos, disaster, and death. Contrary to claims by the Biden administrationin particular Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkasthe border is not secure, Cuccinelli wrote.

This proposal dovetails with a recent pledge made by Trump, who said that, if elected president in 2024, he would order the U.S. military to crush Mexican drug cartels and show them no mercy.

In a video statement on Jan. 5, Trump blamed Bidens open border policies, which he called a deadly betrayal of our nation, for fueling drug-related deaths among Americans.

Illegal immigration has soared under President Joe Biden, with unauthorized crossings exceeding 2.3 million in fiscal year 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection data. That figure topped the previous record by around 1 million and was more than twice the highest level recorded under Trump.

Trump, who previously suggested using U.S. military force against drug cartels operating south of the border, including by reportedly launching missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs, said in Thursdays video that deadly narcotics like fentanyl are pouring across our wide open border and are stealing hundreds of thousands of beautiful American lives.

Since Biden took office, 200,000 Americans have died from drug overdoses, Trump said.

Drug cartels are waging war on America, Trump continued, adding that the time has now come for America to wage war on cartels.

Trump said he would designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and block their access to the global financial system, while asking Congress to pass laws that would punish drug smugglers and human traffickers with the death penalty.

The former president also said he would deploy all necessary military assets, including the U.S. Navy, to impose a naval embargo on cartels and make sure they cant use regional waters to smuggle drugs into the country.

Trumps remarks came ahead of Bidens visit to the southern border and as the president announced steps that he said would improve border security and help stem the flow of illegal immigration.

Do not just show up at the border, Biden said at a Jan. 5 White House briefing. Stay where you are and apply legally from there.

Biden said he was expanding a parole program that would open a legal pathway for tens of thousands of people a month to enter the United States lawfully but that the administration would start turning away Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans who cross illegally.

Most of the people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in recent times are from those countries.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Officials Report Chinas 1st Annual Population Fall in Decades, Economic Crisis Accompanied by COVID-19

A patient with COVID-19 lays on a bed in a hallway at Tangshan Gongren Hospital in China's northeastern city of Tangshan on Dec. 30, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinas population fell last year for the first time since the 1960s, according to Chinese officials, because of fewer births and an increase in deaths, strengthening fears about a long-term economic decline.

The decline, by roughly 850,000 people to a total of 1.41175 billion in 2022, according to the countrys National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), is the first drop officially reported by China since 1961the last year of the countrys Great Famine.

The number of Chinese women classified as being of childbearing agebetween 25 and 35 declined by roughly 4 million.

The NBS also reported that there were 9.56 million births in 2022, down from 10.62 million a year earlier. Births last year came in at the lowest rate on record, falling to 6.77 per 1,000 individuals from 7.52 per 1,000 in 2021.

Meanwhile, deaths rose from 10.14 million in 2021 to 10.41 in 2022, data show. The rate, which rose to the highest since 1974, hit 7.37 per 1,000 people in 2022. China recorded 9.93 million deaths in pre-pandemic 2018.

The gender ratio remained skewed in 2022, with 722.06 million males and 689.69 million females, meaning that there were 1.05 men for each woman in the country.

The number of the working-age population which includes 16- to 59-year-old individualscame in at 875.56 million, or 62 percent of the national population. Those older than 65 are 14.9 percent of the total. The population data doesnt include people from Hong Kong, Macao, or foreign residents.

Demographic and Economic Crises

A falling, aging population can negatively affect a countrys economy. Some experts expect Chinas economic crisis to be worse than what occurred in Japan in the 1990s. Japans shrinking population has been blamed for years of low growth.

Chinas population data release came as Beijing announced that the countrys gross domestic product grew just 3 percent in 2022, down from 8.1 percent in 2021.

The blame for the declining population falls mainly on the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) decadeslong one-child policy that was imposed in 1979. The Chinese regime resorted to forced sterilization and abortion to enforce the rule, which was lifted in 2016.

In recent years, Chinas Total Fertility Rate (TFR), which is defined as the rate at which the population exactly replaces itself, is estimated to have fallen below 1.3, while in 1992, the rate fell below 2.1. The TFR must be above 2.1 for population growth to remain constant.

The low birth rate is an indication that younger Chinese citizens are now unwilling to have children, Frank Tian Xie, a professor in business and an associate professor of marketing at the University of South CarolinaAiken, told The Epoch Times in an interview last year.

Housing, education, child care, and medical costs all add up to an absolutely prohibitive cost of having  children, he said. Young people simply do not want to get married or have children as a result of the high costs.

COVID-19 Impact

Its unclear how much the 2022 population figures were affected by COVID-19 deaths. While China officially has declared a small number of deaths, the regime has been accused of furnishing false data and underreporting such numbers.

China has reported less than 5,300 COVID-19 deaths in total, according to Worldometer, which tracks such data. The World Health Organization (WHO), which says Chinese authorities have underreported deaths, puts total cumulative COVID-19 deaths in China at 34,028 as of Jan. 16.

In response to international pressure, Chinese officials on Jan. 14 acknowledged that 59,938 COVID-related deaths had occurred between Dec. 8, 2022, and Jan. 12. However, many question the official figure, and remain in the dark about Chinas COVID death toll.

In recent months, the virus has been spreading with greater intensity in China, with funeral homes across the country seeing higher activity than normal.

We now have 400 to 500 [cremated corpses] per day. Originally 90 [corpses] per day is already capped, an employee of a funeral home in Shanghai told The Epoch Times on Dec. 28, 2022. The staff are already working overtime.

Based on estimates cited by the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times, the COVID-19 pandemic and the CCPs zero-COVID measures have brought about hundreds of millions of deaths in China. The CCP is hiding the actual extent of the human cost of the pandemic from the international community and also is likely to be misrepresenting the population decline, the report said.

UPDATE: This article has been updated to make clear that the findings are based on the CCPs official data.
Chinas Solar Energy Tycoon Detained by Authorities: Reports

BEIJING, CHINA - FEBRUARY 02: (CHINA OUT) Li Hejun, Chairman of Hanergy Holding Group, speaks at a launch event for Hanergy's new energy strategies on February 2, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Visual China Group via Getty Images/Visual China Group via Getty Images)

Li Hejun, the founder of Chinas solar energy giant Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, was taken away by police in Chinas northeastern Liaoning Province on Dec. 17, according to Caixin, a major Chinese financial news portal.

Li was detained by police to assist investigators and hadnt been seen as of the time of reporting, Caixin reported on Jan. 11. Caixin says that the reason for Lis detention is still unknown.

Lis arrest could be related to a loan granted by Jinzhou Bank, a city commercial bank in Liaoning Province, to Hanergy Group, according to Securities Times, a Chinese state-run financial portal.

The balance of the loan was 9.461 billion yuan (about $1.396 billion), with a net credit risk exposure of 2.77 billion yuan (roughly $408.8 million), as of 2015, as disclosed in the prospectus of Jinzhou Bank, which sought a public listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2015.

A former employee of Hanergy claimed that Li and the company still owe him and some other 190 employees approximately 3 million yuan ($443,000) in wages and reimbursements. The employee told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Jan. 11 that Li and his family were arrested by Jinzhou police at Jinzhou Airport. The employee wanted to stay anonymous for safety reasons.

The Epoch Times multiple calls to the Jinzhou police bureau on Jan. 11 were not answered.

The Epoch Times wasnt able to verify the authenticity of the claim.

Rise to Wealth

Li was the richest man in China for the first half of 2015 with an estimated $26 billion in assets, according to Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Report, the leading wealth research firm in China.

According to the official website of Hanergy, Li was born in 1967 in Heyuan, a small city in Chinas southern Guangdong Province, and started his business empire with 50,000 yuan ($7,380) borrowed from his teacher in 1989.

Reports by multiple Chinese media portals say that Li earned his first pot of gold investing in hydropower stations, including Jinanqiao Hydropower Station on Jinsha River located in Chinas southwestern Yunnan Provincethe largest hydropower station backed by private enterprise in China. The hydropower station became Lis cash cow after it became operational, on top of several other smaller stations in various parts of China.

Water flows out from a gate of the Shuikou Hydropower Station in southeastern Chinas Fujian Province on June 13, 2022. (Lin Shanchuan/Xinhua via AP)

With strong cash flow, Li expanded into the solar energy market in 2009 and grew quicklyperhaps too quickly. He later had to seek various channels of capital for his growth, such as a $1.396 billion bank loan in the name of the beneficial interest transfer plans issued by Jinzhou Bank.

In 2012, Li acquired thin-film solar company Solibro from QCells of Germany and the U.S.-based Miasole, and in 2013, Li acquired Global Solar Energy, Inc., a leading copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar company based in Tucson, Arizona. In 2014, Li acquired Alta Devices Inc., a California-based thin-film solar cell manufacturer.

Spectacular Fall

Li met his Waterloo in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) began to probe Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of Hanergy Group Holdings, over market manipulation in 2015. Hanergys shares plunged nearly 50 percent on May 20, 2015, after which the company suspended trading. Li lost $19 billion in market value in one day due to the share price drop.

Four years later, in 2019, Hanergy was delisted from Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Li was disqualified in 2017 from management of any corporation in Hong Kong for eight years by a Hong Kong court over an undisclosed loan by a subsidiary to Hanergy Holding, the unlisted parent company in China, which was a clear conflict of interests situation, reported London-based Financial Times.

Since 2019, Hanergy has been reportedly involved in wage arrears and loan defaults, including with Jinzhou Bank.

Lis experience is similar to that of Xu Jiayin, the founder of Chinas real estate giant Evergrande, who had a humble start and rapid expansion thanks to the support of local governments, followed by capital chain rupture and a collapse of their business empire.

More than 80 domestically-listed Chinese companies were probed by Chinas stock watchdog in 2022 over breaches of information disclosure, short-term trading, insider trading, and market manipulation, among others, according to China Economy, a state-run economics website.

There has been no official accusation made against Li by Jinzhou police as of the time of publication.

The Epoch Times reached out to Hanergy for comment via email on Jan. 11, but the emails to Hanergy were rejected.

Li Jing, Gu Xiaohua, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Chinese Regime Hiding Real COVID Death Toll; Figure Far Higher Than Official Tally: Experts

Patients on stretchers are seen at Tongren hospital in Shanghai on January 3, 2023. (Hector Retamal /AFP via Getty Images)

The Chinese regime is still covering up the true COVID-19 death toll in China, experts said in response to Chinese authorities recent admission of tens of thousands of deaths in the latest wave. The true figure is likely exponentially higher, they say.

Studies and official statements revealing high infection numbers, as well as accounts from residents and mortuary workers, suggest the country is harboring a significant death count, according to analysts.

Chinas top health regulator on Jan. 14 acknowledged nearly 60,000 COVID-19-related deaths in the first five weeks after the regimes abrupt retreat from its zero-COVID policy in December 2022.

While the figure is an increase from the absurdly low official tallies37 deathspreviously reported by Chinese officials that prompted widespread skepticism, experts remain unconvinced by the disclosure.

The newly reported death figures are still suspicious, said Song Guo-cheng, a researcher at National Chengchi Universitys Institute of International Relations in Taiwan.

The rate of COVID-19 infection suggests a far higher death toll, according to Song.

Massive Outbreak

A study by Chinas Peking University estimated that up to 64 percent of the countrys population, or 900 million people, had already contracted COVID-19 by mid-January. The researchers model is based on online search data of COVID-19 symptoms, such as fever and cough.

As explosive outbreaks ripple across the country, health experts both at home and abroad have turned to proxy data, such as online surveys and anecdotal accounts, to gauge the scale of the outbreak in the absence of reliable COVID statistics.

Chinas top health body, the National Health Commission (NHC), stopped publishing daily infections and acknowledged only dozens of deaths prior to the latest disclosure. But scenes of overwhelmed hospitals and crematoria have stoked distrust of the official tallies among Chinese residents and outside observers.

Patients on wheelchairs and people in the emergency department of a hospital in Beijing on Jan. 3, 2023. (Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images)

Even regional data pointed to an outbreak far more severe than what the nations top health authorities disclosed.

An official in Chinas central Henan Province, home to 99.4 million people, said in a press conference that the COVID-19 infection rate may have hit 89 percent by Jan. 6. In the northern city of Hohhot, which has a population of 3 million, authorities said on Jan. 14 that between 74 to 81 percent have caught the virus.

The NHC estimated that 250 million people had contracted the virus from Dec. 1 to Dec. 20, 2022, according to leaked minutes from a meeting last month.

With the roughly 70 percent infection rate and a large elderly population, the death toll, based on a 1 percent mortality rate, should be much higher than the official tally of 60,000 COVID-19-related deaths, according to Song.

The information obtained from various sources and online reports is in sharp contrast with the [COVID] figures disclosed by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. This underscores that the CCP is still playing with the data, covering up [the true scale of the outbreak], Song said.

Dr. Scott Atlas, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford and a COVID-19 adviser during the Trump administration, expressed a similar viewpoint.

We cannot trust the numbers coming out of China. They didnt make sense in the beginning, Atlas said of Chinas COVID data in a recent interview with NTD, a sister media outlet of The Epoch Times.

While Chinese authorities may have made revisions to the death toll, Atlas suggested that the true situation remains concealed.

Its very difficult to figure out whats going on when theres no transparency, said Atlas, whos also a contributor to The Epoch Times.

He noted that the Chinese regime apparently prefers to save face rather than tell the truth and cooperate fully with the international community.

Hearse vans carrying bodies to be cremated are queued up at a crematorium in Chinas southwestern city of Chongqing on Dec. 22, 2022. (Noel Celis / AFP via Getty Images)

Death Toll Concealed

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the regime has drawn widespread criticism for its covering up of COVID-related information in a bid to downplay news that it deems harmful to its image. As the virus first emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, the regime concealed the scale of the outbreak and silenced whistleblowers, allowing regional outbreaks to develop into a pandemic.

Now, with the virus spreading like a wildfire through the nations vast population, who have weakened immune systems after three years of harsh lockdowns, theres a widening gap between official figures and accounts from crematorium workers, frontline staff, and residents on the ground.

Related Coverage Partially Cremated Remains Left on Road Trigger Alarm Amid Chinas Spiraling COVID Outbreak

A worker at Baoxing funeral home in Shanghai told The Epoch Times in December 2022 that they were burning 400 to 500 bodies a day, up from the maximum of 90 before the pandemic restrictions were lifted.

Another resident in the nearby city of Suzhou described the crowded condition at Suzhou Funeral Home as akin to the citys most famous shopping street, which is always packed.

Its such a miserable scene, she said in a recent interview with The Epoch Times. The woman, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals, joined the long lines outside the building on Jan. 6, waiting for the cremation of her late mother, who died of COVID two days earlier. That same day, the woman lost two other relatives who died from COVID, she added.

A woman holds a picture frame of a loved one at a crematorium in Beijing on Dec. 20, 2022. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

Sean Lin, a virologist and former lab director at the viral disease branch of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, gave a conservative estimate that about 6 million bodies could have been burned over the past month, assuming that Chinas crematoriums are running 24/7. But that figure is likely only about half of all deaths, as people in the countryside may not have access to such services and are buried rather than cremated. After subtracting non-COVID-19-related deaths, the death toll could have reached 10 million, Lin said.

The government is certainly completely lying on this, he told The Epoch Times.

Lin noted that his rough estimate is still probably far lower than the real situation, but its already much higher than that governments lie.

Rural Communities Struggle

The COVID-19 crisis appears to be more acute in rural communities, where medical resources lag behind the large cities.

A villager at Chisha, home to 14,000 in southwest China, said people aged over 70, especially those with underlying diseases, were dying in high numbers. There were so many catching the virus [in the village]. Around a dozen [of the elderly] have died, she told The Epoch Times on Jan. 16.

The woman, who only gave her surname Yang for fear of reprisals, noted that the explosive outbreak starting in December 2022 had drained the medical resources of the village in Shaanxi Province.

The village doctors went home to give an injection as people tested positive for the first time. Soon after, they ran out of medicine. Many elderly people werent able to make it through and passed away, she said.

But those villagers dying at home likely arent included in the recent update of the fatalities linked to COVID-19. The NHC said that the 59,938 COVID-19-related deaths between Dec. 8, 2022, and Jan. 12, only referred to people who died in hospitals, implying the latest acknowledgment is still likely to be a vast undercount.

Elderly people sitting in front of a house in a rural area in Taian in Chinas eastern Shandong Province on Jan. 7, 2023. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the regimes disclosure but appealed to Chinese authorities to continue monitoring excess mortality. Chinas narrow definition of COVID-19 mortality, which is limited to patients who died from respiratory failure after contracting COVID-19, has led to global criticism, with the WHO saying the criteria will very much underestimate the true death toll associated with COVID. No other country uses this narrow definition of a COVID-19 death.

There are already indications that the CCP is pressuring doctors and funeral workers to cover up the fatalities. In December 2022, a funeral parlor leader in Anhui Province said they were instructed to avoid writing COVID-19 pneumonia as the primary cause of death on certificates and use words like lung infection instead.

Outside observers worry that the regimes cover-up of the countrys current outbreaks poses a fresh risk to global health.

Without reliable data, its impossible for international health experts to build mathematical modeling, assess the transmission and fatality rate, and determine whether there are new variants, not to mention develop vaccines to combat it, according to Song.

Such practices by the CCP will basically create chaos in public health across the globe, he said.

Workers wearing protective masks and suits help Chinese travelers leaving the arrival hall after being tested for the COVID-19 virus at Rome Fiumicino International Airport, near Rome, on Dec. 29, 2022. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images)

Global Concern

The lack of reliable public health data has sparked international concern, particularly regarding a new, more deadly variant emerging from the country. The United States and more than a dozen countries now require visitors traveling from China to present negative COVID-19 test results, a border curb that China itself has in place.

Gordon Chang, an author and senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a conservative think tank, suggested that all countries should shut down their borders as the CCP is once again concealing the true scale of the COVID-19 crisis.

China is too dangerous to deal with, whether were talking about COVID or talking about something else. We can not have relations with China, as long as its ruled by the Communist Party, because the Communist Party, just by its inherent nature, is malicious, Chang said in a previous interview.

Weve got to defend ourselves.

Eva Fu, Hong Ning, and Luo Ya contributed to this report.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misspelt Gordon Changs name. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Chinese Regime Is Greatest Threat Facing the Democratic World: UKs Lord Alton

Once the youngest member of Parliament in the House of Commons, the UKs Lord Alton of Liverpool has spent much of his adult life fighting for freedoms around the world.

In an interview with NTDs British Thought Leaders published on Jan. 10, the crossbench peer said the suppression of religious freedom, liberty, and democracy by authoritarian regimes has real implications here for the West, and it will in the end be a battle between democracy and dictatorship.

Born to Christian parents and shaped in his teens by world events such as the expansion of the Communist Bloc and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy, David Alton went into politics as a young liberal at the age of 21.

He served as a local councillor for seven years, before spending more than 40 years in Westminster18 years in the House of Commons and more than 25 years in the House of Lords.

He also founded and patronised a number of charities, including the Jubilee Campaign which he said was specifically around groups of people who have been forgotten in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by Amnesty [International] and some of the big NGOs, particularly those being persecuted because of their religious beliefs.

Dependency on Genocidal Regime

Besides his effort to advocate for the rights of the unborn and on other domestic and foreign affairs issues, much of Altons focus is currently on Chinas ruling Communist Party (CCP), both the regimes human rights violations and its threat to the world.

He currently sits on the International Relations and Defence Committee, which has been examining the UKs security and trade relationship with China.

It was during that inquiry that I was able to point to the lack of resilience in the UK and the increasing dependency which has left usnow we have a 40 billion  trade deficit with the Peoples Republic of China [PRC], he said.

The UK must not become dependent on a country like China, Alton argued, saying one of the most crucial things the West should have learned from Russias invasion of Ukraine is not to be dependent, like Germany is on Russian oil and gas.

Lord Alton speaks on the genocide amendment in the House of Lords, Westminster, London, on Feb. 23, 2021. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

One of the reasons its dangerous to be dependent on the CCP relates to the legal determination of genocide, such as human rights abuses in Chinas Xinjiang region, another issue Alton has been doggedly pursuing in recent years.

He has made a number of attempts to give British courts the power to make preliminary determinations on genocides, including a Genocide Determination Bill that passed the second reading in the Lords last October.

If the bill becomes law, the High Court of England and Wales will have the power to make preliminary findings on cases of alleged genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes.

In December 2021, the independent Uyghur tribunal in London, led by Sir Geoffrey Nice, KC, ruled that the Chinese regime had committed genocide against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.

U.S. government, UK Parliament, and a number of other legislatures around the globe have also declared whats happening in Xinjiang is genocide, but the UK government has so far resisted pressure to use the label.

Successive UK governments have maintained the position that the determination of genocide should be made by a competent court such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice. However, the two routes are effectively blocked owing to the Chinas veto power in the United Nations Security Council, and because it isnt a signatory to the Rome statute, which establishes the ICCs functions, jurisdiction, and structure.

Former Foreign Secretary Liz Truss acknowledged the reality during her campaign to become prime minister in August last year, saying she had been actively looking at ways for the UK to deal with genocidal regimes.

Alton said its important to keep up the pressure because the UK has a duty under the 1948 Genocide Convention to prevent genocide, protect those affected, and to punish those who have been responsible.

His bill, if it becomes law, would affect many other parts of the world too, he added.

When you think about whats happened to the Rohingya Muslims, you think about the Christians in northern Nigeria, the numbers are  stretching all the way back to the Armenian genocide, Alton said. We have failed in the duty to uphold the Genocide Convention, and to protect and to prevent and to punish, and weve got to do better in the future.

More than a dozen Hong Kong people holding LED luminaires and electronic candles to display the words Free HK political prisoners atop Lion Rock in Hong Kong on Dec. 31, 2022. (Hui Tat /The Epoch Times)

Have Our Eyes Wide Open

As a patron of Hong Kong Watch and vice chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong, Alton observed what now turned out to be the last fair and free elections in Hong Kongthe 2019 district council elections.

Looking back at the one country, two systems strategy that was proposed by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and agreed by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Alton said that it appeared to be an act of genius that many believed if its made to work could be a way of resolving the issues around Taiwan in the future.

By crushing democracy, Alton said the CCP has destroyed two systems, one country in Hong Kong, and the worlds democracies need to recognize that there are real implications here for the West.

He said its absurd to talk about the re-absorption of Taiwan, as the de facto sovereign island has never been a part of communist-ruled China.

And yet, [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping regularly says its their intention, if necessary by force, to invade Taiwan and to take away the freedoms and liberties that the 23 million people of Taiwan enjoy.

Citing the CCPs blackmail of Lithuania over the setting up of a Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius and the regimes debt-trapping of developing countries using its Belt and Road initiative, Alton said Britons have to have our eyes wide open and do what we can to prevent those things.

This in the end will be a battle between democracy and dictatorship, he said.

We must hope for justice in Iran. The ordinary Iranian people have challenged the autocracy of Iran. We must hope it in China that the people themselves as well will change things in China for the better, he added.

I dont hate China. I love China. I love Chinese people. But I dont love the Chinese Communist Party. I dont love the things that they have done to their own people. And I want for them what I enjoy for myself and that is freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, and human rights.

The Greatest Threat

Commenting on Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks softening of rhetoric by calling China a systemic challenge rather than a threat, Alton said the CCP is more than a challenge.

Some scholars say as many as 50 million people lost their lives. No organization, political body, set of leaders have been responsible for more deathseven Stalin, even Hitlerthan the depredations committed by the CCP. So weve got to be wise about this, he said.

Alton, along with Nice, academic Joanne Nicola Smith Finley, eight Conservative and Labour parliamentarians, and four British entities, were sanctioned by the Chinese regime in March 2021 for their vocal criticism of human rights atrocities in the country.

Alton said he and his family members, like others who have been sanctioned, are wearing it as a badge of honour and will not be deterred.

Theyre not going to silence us, not by trying to impose sanctions, he said.

Alton said the CCP cant push people around in this way and expect them to do nothing about it, and referred to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international alliance of parliamentarians of all political stripes who agree that the greatest threat facing the democratic world at the moment is the Peoples Republic of China, and along with the PRC, some of the other autocracies with whom they are connectedthe Taliban in Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia.
CNN Leaving CNN Center Building in Downtown Atlanta

People walk by the world headquarters for the Cable News Network (CNN) in Atlanta on March 15, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

ATLANTACNN is moving out of the CNN Center, its longtime downtown Atlanta home by the end of this year.

The cable channels weekday anchors are all already in New York or Washington, but CNN still has digital and CNN International operations in Atlanta. Spokesperson Bridget Leininger confirmed in an email that the remaining CNN staff and operations in Atlanta would move to the Techwood Turner Broadcasting campus in Midtown.

The move will happen in stages and will finish by the end of this year, Leininger said.

CNNs previous parent company, AT&T, sold the CNN Center for nearly $164 million to two Florida-based real estate firms, CP Group and Rialto Capital, in 2021, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. It was not immediately clear what would happen to the buildings other tenants.
Congo Church Attack Kills at Least 14, ISIS Claims Responsibility

A map that shows the location of a terrorist attack at a church in eastern Congo on Jan. 15, 2023. (AP)

BENI, Democratic Republic of CongoThe atmosphere at the Pentecostal church in the city of Kasindi in eastern Congo was upbeat on Sunday as hundreds gathered for a series of baptisms. The congregation swelled beyond capacity, forcing organizers to move the service outside.

Then, about 10 minutes in, a blast rocked the courtyard where worshippers had gathered, three witnesses told Reuters on Monday. Dozens were wounded with burns and cuts from flying debris. Fourteen died, army spokesman Anthony Mwalushayi said on Monday.

We were listening to the preacher when we heard a loud blast, it threw us to the ground, Aline Pauni told Reuters from the bed of a nearby clinic where her burned feet were wrapped in bandages.

The attack was the latest against civilians by Islamist terrorists that roam eastern Congo and have killed thousands of villagers since 2014.

The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility on Sunday. The army blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan militant group that pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2019. The militant group could not be reached for comment and did not claim responsibility for the bombing.

Cleanup efforts were underway on Monday. A small crater marked the centre of the blast site. A charred pair of trainers and pieces of ripped tin roof were scattered amid mangled plastic chairs and wooden pews. Health workers took away the dead in coffins that they placed in the bed of a pick-up truck.

Kasindi is in a province where Congolese and Ugandan forces have launched a campaign against the ADF, which began as an uprising in Uganda but has been based in Congo since the late 1990s.

We beg the authorities to bring us security so such acts do not happen again, Paluku Kivugha, a relative of one of the dead, told Reuters. Every time there are large groups of people there are risks.
Cut Russias Oil Income, but Keep the Pumps Flowing

Commentary

So far, the Russian oil cap is having the desired effect. Russias economy is hurting, and the European Union has access to cheap oil. But maintaining the status quo will be a delicate game of financial carrot and stick.

Since the war in Ukraine began, the United States, the G-7, the EU, and other allies began imposing economic sanctions on Russia. The sanctions are meant to have two effects: punish Russia for violating the accepted rules and norms of the global community by invading and occupying a sovereign nation unprovoked, and reduce Russias income.

Fighting a war is expensive. And if the sanctions can cut off Russias access to cash, Moscow will run out of money and be unable to continue the fight. The United States used a similar strategy during the Cold War when it sucked the USSR into an arms race that eventually broke the Kremlins banks. But this time, the United States doesnt have to spend much to inflict financial damage on Russia.

Last year, the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) came up with a plan to cut Russias oil income by imposing a price cap of $60 per barrel. It took a lot of finagling from the United States to convince its allies to go along with the cap. The EU and the United Kingdom were concerned about facing an energy crisis if Russian President Vladimir Putin should choose to cut off the taps completely. Greece and other countries with significant maritime interests did not want to give up the income they earned from transportation.

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell arrives for the second day of a European Union leaders summit as EU leaders attempt to agree on Russian oil sanctions in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium, on May 31, 2022. (Johanna Geron/Reuters)

By December, a price cap coalition was formed consisting of the G-7 nations (the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom) along with the EU and Australia. These countries agreed only to finance, insure, transport, or broker vessels carrying Russian oil if that oil was priced below the $60 cap. If countries want to pay a higher price for Russian oil, they have to make their own arrangements outside of the coalition. Finding an insurer is hard because the largest maritime insurance companies are British, European, or American.

Ukraine and some EU members, such as Poland and the Baltic states, wanted to deal an even harsher blow to Russian income and set a much lower price cap, possibly as low as $30. But the danger is that Russia could cut production to compensate, decreasing the global supply and increasing global oil prices.

In that scenario, the EU would suffer the most as it depends on Russia for its energy. At the same time, Russia would benefit by being able to sell oil to other buyers at higher prices. Luckily, this has not happened mainly because the cap price was right in the sweet spot, and Russia is better off selling at $60 than cutting production.

Russias oil revenues are in decline, and Moscow is experiencing a record budget deficit, which shows the cap is working. Part of the reason for the caps success is that the world price of oil is dropping in response to slowing demand caused by a sluggish global economy. However, Russian oil prices have decreased more than the global average. During the first days of the new year, crude oil shipments out of Russias two largest western ports had averaged just under $40 a barrel, a 35 percent decrease compared to November and a 50 percent decrease compared to June 2022.

By contrast, the world price of Brent crude is down 15 percent since November and 37 percent since June. This means that Russian oil is dropping in price faster than the global average. More importantly, it means that decreased supply has not pushed global oil prices back up.

Looking for other options to sell its oil, Russia has turned to China, India, and Turkey, which agreed to buy, but at a discount. And not only is Russia forced to sell them the oil cheaply, but it must also bear the increased cost of shipping the oil all the way to Asia rather than sending it the much shorter distance to Europe. Some experts say that the lack of access to the European markets and the forced additional transport cost hurt Russia even more than the price cap.

As world oil prices are in decline, it is possible that the United States and its allies will agree to reduce the cap even further. Under the terms of the coalition, members will meet every two months to discuss any price adjustments. All of the other sanctions against Russia were undermined by the fact that Russia could continue to earn money on energy sales. Tightening the screws on oil will help Moscow feel the burden of its war in Ukraine.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Death Toll From Strike on Ukraine Apartment Building Rises to 40

A Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighter carries a wounded woman out of the rubble from a building after a Russian rocket attack on Jan. 14, 2023, in Dnipro, Ukraine, on Jan. 15, 2023. (Pavel Petrov, SESU via AP)

DNIPRO, UkraineThe death toll from a weekend Russian missile strike on an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to 40, authorities said Monday,

About 1,700 people lived in the multistory building, and search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since the missile strike to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued and at least 75 were wounded.

Residents said the apartment tower did not house any military facilities.

Asked about the strike Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military doesnt target residential buildings and suggested the Dnipro building was hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense actions.

The strike on the building came amid a wider barrage of Russian cruise missiles across Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that it did not have the means to intercept the type of Russian missile that hit the residential building in Dnipro.

Rescue workers clear rubble from an apartment building which was destroyed by a Russian rocket attack at residential neighborhood in the southeastern city of Dnipro, Ukraine, on Jan. 15, 2023. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo)

Fierce fighting continued to rage Monday in Ukraines eastern Donetsk province.

Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province make up the Donbas, an expansive industrial region bordering Russia that Russian President Vladimir Putin identified as a focus from the wars outset. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Kyivs forces there since 2014.

The Russian and Belarusian air forces began a joint exercise Monday in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and served as a staging ground for Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.The drills are set to run through Feb. 1, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said. Russia has sent its warplanes to Belarus for the drills.

NATO member nations have sought in recent days to reassure Ukraine that they will stay the course. The United Kingdom has pledged tanks and the U.S. militarys new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday.

Polands prime minister urged the German government to supply a wide range of weapons to Kyiv and voiced hope that Berlin would soon approve a transfer of battle tanks.

Other developments on Monday:

Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson and the Kherson region, killing three people and wounding 14 others over the last 24 hours, regional Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevych said. In the city of Kherson, the shelling damaged a hospital, a children disability center, a shipyard, critical infrastructure, and apartment buildings.

Russian forces struck the city of Zaporizhzhia, damaging industrial infrastructure and wounding five people, two of them children, the deputy head of Ukraines presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported.

Russian air defenses downed 10 drones Monday over the Black Sea near the port of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed head of Sevastopol, reported.
Defence Industry Worried About Canadas Absence From American-British-Australian Pact

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hold a press conference at the G20 summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia Nov. 16, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Leon Neal)

An association representing Canadian defence firms is adding its voice to those concerned that Canada is not included in a security pact between Australia, Britain and the United States.

Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries president Christyn Cianfarani says one worry is that Canada wont have access to the same technology as its closest allies.

There are also fears the arrangement will hurt Canadian defence companies by making it easier for competitors from Australia and Britain to sell to the U.S.

The Canadian Press reported this week that the Canadian Armed Forces has similar concerns about the agreement, which is known as AUKUS.

The Trudeau government has not said why Canada is not part of the deal but it has downplayed that fact by pointing to Canadas security and defence arrangements with Australia, Britain and the U.S.

Cianfarani says she would feel more comfortable if those other arrangements were actually dealing with the same issues as AUKUS.
DeSantis Admin Threatens to Suspend Licenses of Businesses Not Checking For Illegal Alien Employees

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), an office led by an appointee of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, sent letters to six Florida businesses, warning that their business licenses could be suspended for failing to verify that their employees are legally residing and working within the United States.

The DEO letters specifically flagged the businesses for failing to comply with E-Verify reporting requirements. E-Verify is a federal system established by the Department of Homeland Security that enables businesses to check that their employees are U.S. citizens or can otherwise legally work within the United States.

No federal law requires that businesses use E-Verif;, but on Jan. 1, 2021, a new law went into effect requiring Florida businesses to verify that their employees are eligible to work in the United States.

On Dec. 16, 2022, the DEO sent letters to M.D.L. Property Maintenance, Inc.; American National Red Cross; Intelycare, Inc.; Prestige Cruise Services, LLC; Upperline Health, Inc.; and Scribe America, LLC, giving them a 30-day notice to comply with the E-Verify law.

The letters to the six businesses state:

You are receiving this letter due to your companys repeat non-responsiveness to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). If you persist and fail to respond to the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), there will be significant consequences.

In other words, this letter serves as your final opportunity to respond before consequences are initiated.

The letters also said that the businesses must submit an affidavit that they will comply with the E-Verify law, that they have terminated the employment of any unauthorized alien employees and that they will not intentionally or knowingly employ an unauthorized alien going forward.

This affidavit must be provided to DEO within 30 days of the date of receipt of this letter, the warning letters said. That 30-day compliance opportunity ended on Monday, Jan. 16.

The letters further warned that failure to submit the requested affidavit would result in the suspension of all business licenses specific to where any unauthorized alien worked, or any licenses the businesses have if they did not have a specific license for the location where any unauthorized aliens worked.

The suspension of the applicable licenses will continue until your company provides the requested affidavit to DEO, the letter warned.

Business records indicate M.D.L. Property Maintenance, Inc.; Prestige Cruise Services, LLC; and ScribeAmerica, LLC are all based in Florida.

Intelycare, Inc. is registered to operate in Florida but was originally formed in Massachusetts. Upperline Health, Inc. is also registered to operate in Florida but was originally formed in Tennessee. American National Red Cross is a national charitable organization.

NTD News reached out to each of the six business entities for comment but did not receive a reply before press time.

From NTD News
DeSantis Nominee to Oversee Florida Highway Patrol Despite Vocal Opposition

Critics complain David Kerner was too aggressive with COVID-19 response when Palm Beach County mayor

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks with David Kerner, then-mayor of Palm Beach County, Fla., during a national Fraternal Order of Police leadership gathering in Atlantic Beach, Fla., in September 2020. (Courtesy of Palm Beach County)

A former Democrat mayor of Palm Beach County, Floridaknown for his controversial local response to COVID-19was confirmed on Jan. 17 to lead the Florida Department of Highways and Motor Safety.

David Kerner was nominated for the post by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. And he was unanimously confirmed by the Florida Cabinet, including DeSantis, newly elected Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, and Attorney General Ashley Moody.

But the appointment has raised questions from some conservatives about whether Kerner was a good choice to run the state agency that includes the Florida Highway Patrol.

As a mayor, Kerners response to COVID-19 differed vastly from DeSantiss approach. And some conservatives expressed anger over the Jan. 17 appointment.

Signs encouraging people to report businesses and people violating rules related to COVID-19 were posted around Palm Beach County, Florida while David Kerner was mayor. (Courtesy of Chris Nelson)

On June 19, 2020, then-Mayor Kerner announced the creation of a Covid Education and Compliance Team (CECT) in Palm Beach County.

Relying on a hotline for citizens to report businesses, Kerner organized and dispatched a squad of police and code enforcement officers to close businesses not enforcing mask mandates or those that were open though deemed non-essential.

There will be an enforcement aspect, a compliance aspect, to this, said Kerner when he announced the effort.

We will utilize the full force of the law, from beyond education and compliance, but also notices to appear, regulatory restrictions, pulling relevant licenses, and, in the most rare circumstances, criminal prosecution.

Justin Thomas worked at one of the businesses Kerners team visited.

I really thought we had entered some parallel universe where communism prevailed in the cold war, said Thomas, a bartender at Smoke Inn Cigar Bar.

I was 37 at the time and doing well to support three kids, a house, and two cars. Right when Im getting back financially from six weeks off due to COVID, an officer of some task force walks right in during peak hours, and upon a quick inspection, determined that we had no right to serve anyone.

Mask-Mandate Enforcement

Kerners Covid Education and Compliance Team demanded that small businesses post signs on their door with the number for a hotline taking calls about companies violating mask mandates and other COVID-related orders.

I was actually fired yesterday at my job, Palm Beach resident Beth Bohon complained during the public comment period of a meeting of the Palm Beach County Commission on Sept. 1, 2020.

I was at work, and the gentleman came in. He did not introduce himself. He demanded that I put a mask on. He wanted to know if I had paperwork and if he could see that paperwork. I showed up to work on Monday and was told I had to wear a mask because they had been pressured by Palm Beach County.

Other area residents lined up to share stories about the local enforcement tactics they described as heavy-handed.

In May 2021, DeSantis issued an executive order that should have ended Kerners Covid Education and Compliance Team, critics of Kerners strict enforcement program say.

Then DeSantis signed SB 2006, which went into effect on June 1, 2021, and included language giving the governor power to strip local governments of their authority to enforce local COVID regulations, such as mask mandates.

However, Palm Beach County, Broward County, and some other Democrat-controlled counties across Florida continued to ignore the law, enforcing mask mandates in schools and in government buildings. And that raised the ire of conservatives in those counties, who wanted the mandates halted.

Over the last year, weve avoided protracted lockdowns and school closures in Florida, because I have refused to take the same approach as other lockdown governors, DeSantis said in a written statement.

This legislation ensures that legal safeguards are in place so that local governments cannot arbitrarily close our schools and businesses.

Also on Jan. 17, DeSantis announced a proposal for legislation that would permanently remove the ability for local jurisdictions in the state to enforce mask and vaccine mandates.

Support For DeSantis

Though a Democrat, Kerner publicly endorsed DeSantiss reelection campaign.

He praised DeSantiss leadership and lamented on Twitter about friends hed lost by making this endorsement.

I lost a lot, if not most, of my Dem friends and colleagues when I endorsed Gov. @RonDeSantisFL. They and the party failed to see the true value of a great governor, regardless of party. Fortunately, the people of Florida did not, Kerner wrote on Twitter.

Kerner now will be in charge of the Florida Highway Patrol and three other divisions: Motorist Services, Administrative Services, and Information Systems Administration.

I would note that Kerner has a former [Law Enforcement] background and is appointed for a law enforcement position under the authority of the governor and cabinetwhere politics does not come into play, said Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis.

During the time Kerner endorsed the Governor for reelection, he admitted the governors handling of COVID was the right one.

A petition with almost 1,000 signatures from Floridians calls for DeSantis to rescind his nomination of Kerner.

The Epoch Times requested comment from Kerners office but did not receive a response before publication.
Elon Musk Changes His Twitter Bio to State-Affiliated Media

Elon Musk on a smartphone placed on printed Twitter logos in an illustration on April 28, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

CEO Elon Musk updated his Twitter bio to read: State-affiliated media on Jan. 16 after he alluded that it was more of an appropriate label for the social media network.

In response to questions from reporters over the weekend, Musk tweeted, Technically, Twitter should have that label.

Musks comment follows the release of details made public about Twitter colluding with certain sectors of the U.S. government prior to his buying the platform, which was finalized in October last year

His updated Twitter bio also came after he was asked whether specific media accounts should have a state-affiliated media label like China Global Television Network on Twitter.

A photograph shows part of Elon Musks Twitter page as seen on Jan. 17, 2023. (The Epoch Times)

This also follows as Musk has been criticizing corporate journalism for hypocritically defending the state instead of the people.

Twitters online help center includes a definition for state-affiliated media.

State-affiliated media is defined as outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution, according to the center.

Accounts belonging to state-affiliated media entities, their editors-in-chief, and/or their prominent staff may be labeled, it said.

State-financed media organizations with editorial independence, like the BBC in the UK or NPR in the US for example, are not defined as state-affiliated media for the purposes of this policy.

Despite the above, Musk said via Twitter, Kudos to the BBC for self-labelling its state affiliation, on Jan. 16.

Government and Big Tech Collusion

This has all occurred as Musk has been releasing the Twitter Files, which have revealed collusion between U.S. government intelligence agencies, federal law enforcement, and Twitter management, often on behalf of the Democrat party in its attempt to undermine former President Donald Trump and his supporters.

Several government entities were involved in censoring and influencing social media content with the support of Twitters staff, according to the files published by journalists Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss, who received them from Musk.

The released files mostly involve internal communications among Twitter executives and employees, who were assisting government agencies and key powerful figures in Washington before Musk bought the company.

It was also disclosed that prominent political figures tried to control what was posted on the platform before the change in Twitters ownership.

Some of the internal Twitter emails showed that Joe Bidens 2020 presidential campaign asked the company to remove certain posts involving his son, Hunter.

The Twitter splash page on a digital device in San Diego on April 25, 2022. (Gregory Bull/AP Photo)

On Jan. 13, Taibbi announced an additional file dump, which disclosed that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) was attempting to pressure the social media platform to censor critics while he was head of the House Intelligence Committee

As alluded to in its state-affiliated media policy, Twitter had an unwritten exemption for U.S. government-funded and controlled media accounts.

According to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Twitter was boosting such pro-government accounts as authoritative sources of news while suppressing those accounts deemed hostile by the Biden administration.

No Special Treatment

As an absolute believer in free speech, Musk has said that he totally opposed government intervention in the media.

However, he briefly suspended several reporters at some mainstream publications for releasing information about the whereabouts of his private jet, stating, No special treatment for corpo journalists anymore, he said via Twitter.

Since he acquired Twitter last October, Musk has laid off over half of the workforce in his attempt to reform the social media platform.

In late December, he announced that he would step down as Twitter CEO if he could find someone foolish enough to take over his job.

Over the past three months, he has changed or added new features to the platform, including the $8 Twitter Blue subscription, which forced users to pay a fee to receive a blue checkmark.

Government institutions and government officials, as well as international organizations, now get a gray checkmark, while businesses use a gold checkmark, which labels it as an official business account.
Ex-intel Officer Who Discredited Hunter Biden Laptop as Disinformation Makes New Admission

A former CIA officer who signed an open letter attempting to discredit reports about Hunter Bidens laptop ahead of the 2020 election admitted that most of what was discovered on the laptop is real.

Douglas Wise, a former CIA officer and Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, signed an open letter in 2020 that the New York Posts October 2020 report had all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation. About 50 other former U.S. intelligence officials, including former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, signed the document.

Over the past weekend, however, Wise conceded that most of what was found on the infamous laptop was real. Last year, the New York Times and Washington Post published articles making similar admissions.

All of us figured that a significant portion of that content had to be real to make any Russian disinformation credible, Wise told The Australian newspaper on Sunday. But Wise told the paper that he doesnt regret signing the letter and said it is no surprise the emails were real.

The letter said it had the earmarks of Russian deceit and we should consider that as a possibility, Wise said. It did not say Hunter Biden was a good guy, it didnt say what he did was right and it wasnt exculpatory, it was just a cautionary letter.

Wise, who has not responded to an Epoch Times request for comment, added that former New York Mayor and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani had just been in Ukraine trying to dig up evidence on the Bidens and he met with a known Russian intelligence official. Russians or even ill-intended conservative elements could have planted stuff in there.

In the Oct. 19, 2020, letter, the 51 former officials wrote that they do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement. Making an appeal to authority, they wrote that their experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.

President Joe Biden (L) waves alongside his son Hunter Biden after attending mass at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Johns Island, S.C., on Aug. 13, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

The officials then explained that such an operation would be consistent with some of the key methods Russia has used in its now multi-year operation to interfere in our democracythe hacking (via cyber operations) and the dumping of accurate information or the distribution of inaccurate or misinformation. Others who signed the letter include former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and CIA chief of staff Jeremy Bash.

Background

The letter was heavily referenced by corporate news outlets in the lead-up to the November 2020 election between then-President Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Before their second debate, a former Hunter Biden associate, Tony Bobulinski, told news outlets that materials found on the younger Bidens laptop were real and corroborated one now-infamous message about Joe Biden being the big guy while referencing an alleged payout to Biden in connection to a Chinese energy conglomerate.

Biden, meanwhile, used the letter to deflect criticism about his sons business dealings during the second debate. Around the same time, Twitter and Facebook also moved to suppress the New York Posts initial Hunter Biden laptop story, and Twitter locked the paper out of its account for more than two weeks.

Two years after the laptop story was published, a poll found that 79 percent of people who have been following the Hunter Biden reports said that truthful media coverage of the story would have changed the outcome of the 2020 election. In September last year, a poll from Rasmussen Reports found that 63 percent of likely American voters believe the Hunter Biden laptop story is important.

Hunter Biden, in an ABC News interview in 2019, said that he engaged in no illegal activity and that his overseas business deals were proper.

I gave a hook to some very unethical people to act in illegal ways to try to do some harm to my father. Thats where I made the mistake, the younger Biden said at the time. So I take full responsibility for that. Did I do anything improper? No, not in any way. Not in any way whatsoever.

Wises comments to The Australian come as House GOP lawmakers have signaled investigations into Bidens family. Last week, the GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee launched a probe into the Biden family dealings, requesting suspicious activity reports from the Treasury Department regarding the Bidens finances.

They also wanted to determine whether Hunter Biden is connected to classified documents that were found, according to White House lawyers, at the presidents office and home in recent weeks.
Federal Employees Owe Treasury Nearly $560 Million After Overpayment Error: Report

The Canadian Parliament in Ottawa in a file photo. (Saffron Blaze via Mackenzie.co)

A number of federal employees who were mistakenly overpaid due to a glitch in a failed payroll software system owe the treasury a total of $559 million, say updated figures from the Department of Public Works, according to a report.

As of October approximately 120,000 employees have an outstanding overpayment balance. The outstanding salary overpayments stand at approximately $559 million, says a briefing note from the department, titled Phoenix Salary Overpayments, which was obtained by Blacklocks Reporter.

The government has an obligation to recover outstanding overpayments, it said, adding that both current and former employees are now in debt to the treasury.

The briefing note gave no repayment deadlines nor estimated how much of the overpaid salaries the federal government would be able to recover because of employee deaths and resignations since the mistake, among other factors.

The government launched the Phoenix Pay System in 2016 in an effort to consolidate a number of outdated payroll systems that were still being used at the time. The move was also meant to save the federal government millions of dollars annually.

However, the Phoenix systems rollout resulted in thousands of federal employees either being overpaid, underpaid, or receiving no payment at all.

The Public Works Department briefing note said that the number of employees overpaid by the system was capped at 372,000, who owed a total of $3.02 billion as a result.

It added that thousands of current and former federal employees have reimbursed overpayments or made arrangements to do so.

Overpayments

Auditor General Karen Hogan said in an October 2022 report that over a quarter of federal employees continue to experience problems because of the Phoenix system.

Hogan said that 28 percent of civil servants sampled by her office reported ongoing errors with their payment.

The auditor general also said that about $500 million in overpayments were made by the system to over 100,000 federal employees.

Despite the pay centres significant efforts since 2016, the level of outstanding requests has started to rise, Hogan wrote in her Commentary on the 20212022 Financial Audits.

This indicates that more efforts are needed, particularly to process requests that have remained outstanding for several years.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which is Canadas biggest civil-service union, said in 2020 that federal employees affected by the Phoenix systems errors could receive $2,500 each for the pain and suffering caused by former payment mistakes.

After four years of stress, uncertainty, and financial hardships because their employer couldnt pay them correctly or on time, our members will finally be compensated for the Phoenix pay disaster, PSAC national president Chris Aylward said in a statement at the time.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Federal Prosecutors Drop Case Against NYPD Officer Accused of Spying for China

Federal prosecutors in New York dropped their case against an NYPD officer indicted for allegedly spying on behalf of Chinas communist regime.

Baimadajie Angwang was charged in 2020 with acting as an illegal agent of Chinas communist regime.

Angwang was an officer with the NYPDs 111th Precinct in Queens and a U.S. Army reservist. Born in Tibet, he was a naturalized U.S. citizen who previously served in the U.S. Marine Corps and joined the Army Reserve

He was accused of reporting on the activities of Tibetan residents in New York City at the request of the Chinese Consulate there. The efforts allegedly began in 2014.

The motion to dismiss filed by prosecutors on Jan. 13 doesnt give a clear reason for the decision to drop the charges.

As a result of our continued investigation, the government obtained additional information bearing on the charges, the filing read. Having assessed the evidence as a whole in light of that information  the government hereby moves, in the interests of justice, to dismiss the indictment without prejudice.

The move to drop the case follows several similar incidents in 2022 in which federal officers arrested and accused people of spying for China only to suddenly drop the cases without providing clear reasons.

The reports Angwang had been accused of passing to China included potential intelligence sources within New Yorks Tibetan community and involved working in close consultation with the China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture, a division of the regimes propaganda-oriented United Front Work Department, which is also involved in neutralizing potential opponents of the regime.

The defendant allegedly violated the trust of his community and the New York City Police Department on behalf of a foreign power, the Peoples Republic of China. This type of conduct simply cannot be tolerated, the FBI counterintelligence divisions assistant director, Alan E. Kohler Jr., said at the time.

This case serves as yet another reminder that China represents the biggest counterintelligence threat to the United States and that the FBI and our partners will be aggressive in investigating and stopping such activities within our nation.

Its unclear why the charges against Angwan were dropped. Prosecutors previously asserted they had audio recordings of Angwangs meetings with his handlers from China, and that he suggested to them that he use his position as a police officer to build credentials for himself in China.

Let them know, you have recruited one in the police department, Angwang allegedly said in one such conversation.

The Trump-era China Initiative, a counter-espionage program was intended to root out and counter malign influence from the Chinese Communist Party, which rules China as a single-party state.

The program and its alleged failures led critics to accuse officials of racism and racial profiling. The Department of Justice in turn carried out an internal investigation, which found no evidence of racial bias.

The department terminated the program anyway, saying that it wanted to avoid the harmful perception of bias.
Feds Say Total Amount of McKinsey Contracts is Over $100M

A sign of U.S.-based McKinsey & Company management consulting firm in Geneva on April 12, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

The amount of money the federal government spent on consulting firm McKinsey is much higher than what was reported in the media in recent days, with officials indicating this week it has topped $100 million.

Public broadcaster CBC had reported the Trudeau government awarded the U.S. multinational McKinsey $66 million in contracts since taking power in 2015, a dramatic increase over previous years under the Harper government.

Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) indicated the exact amount is $101.4 million in a statement on Jan. 17.

It says that 23 contracts were awarded to the firm since 2015, three of which through open competition for a value of $55.8 million.

Another 18 contracts valued at $45.6 million were undertaken under a National Master Standing Offer [NMSO] designed to provide access to proprietary benchmarking methodologies offered by the private sector.

PSPC says only McKinsey provides this type of benchmarking service which aims to measure the performance of federal entities against similar Canadian and international organizations.

PSPC noted only two sole-source contracts awarded outside the NMSO, one for $24,860 and the other for zero dollars, since no task authorization has been issued yet against the contract.

The revelation comes just prior to a Jan. 18 meeting of the House of Commons government operations committee related to the matter.

The contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company consulting firm over the past seven years demand this committees immediate attention, wrote opposition MPs on the committee in a letter requesting the meeting.

A study will likely ensue following a vote, with the committee being composed of five Liberals and six opposition MPs.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said on Jan. 10 he wants the study to find out what influence McKinsey has had in our government.

He was echoed on the same day by Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois who said he was concerned about McKinsey having influence on policy decisions, notably in the field of immigration.

Neither called for a public inquiry at this stage.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Jan. 11 that he asked the responsible ministers to look into the contracts and that rules would be changed if needed.

McKinsey, which employs 35,000 people in 67 countries, has defended its track record in two statements released in recent days and says it doesnt influence government policy.

While our work for Canadian government departments has increased in recent years, along with a growth in consulting outsourcing more generally, there have been inaccuracies expressed related to how we were contracted and the nature of our work, the firm said in a Jan. 10 statement, adding that all relevant procurement laws were followed.

Our government work in Canada is entirely non-partisan in nature and focuses on core management topics, such as digitization and operations improvement. Our firm does not make policy recommendations on immigration or any other topic.

A statement provided by the firm via email on Jan. 17 also says McKinsey is a minor player in the business of consulting services for the federal government when compared to other similar companies.
Former National Intelligence Director: UFO Report Raises Concerns About US Defense Capabilities

When former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe was asked about an increased number of UFO sightings during an interview with Fox & Friends on Sunday, he emphasized how significant such phenomena are to national defense.

The recently released Office of the DNI Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (pdf) reported a record increase in Unidentified Aerial Phenomena sightings (UAPs). UAP events continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity, the report stated.

I know everyone gets caught up on alien life and all of that, Ratcliffe said, but my concern as Director of National Intelligence was, if a foreign adversaryregardless of how you define foreign adversaryhas technologies that the United States dont have, we need to find out more about that.

Radcliffe was the first to publicly acknowledge that there was a UAP task force in place under the National Defense Authorization Act. I wanted there to be greater transparency to the American people about the number of sightings of things that are unexplained, he said.

As Director of National Intelligence, Ratcliffe found that Navy and Air Force pilots were discouraged from reporting UFO sightings. They thought it would impact their careers  But it gives us more information.

The new DNI report mentions a reduced stigma surrounding the phenomenon.

Since March 2021, 366 new UAP sightings have been reported, a noticeable jump from the 144 cases documented over the previous 17 years. The majority of these 510 cases was reported by Navy and Air Force personnel.

There very clearly are now hundreds of unexplained sightings, meaning that theres no natural phenomenon involved, theres no visual disturbance, its not clutter, or debris, or birds ,or anything else, but objects that demonstrate technologies that seem to defy the law of physics, and capabilities that we dont have as the worlds superpower, Ratcliffe stated. Our role in the Federal Government is to provide for common defense. And we cant do that if someone else has technologies that are better than what we have.

The DNI report stated that the Department of Defenses (DoD) newly founded All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) will facilitate UAP detection and identification through close cooperation with all of the DoDs relevant interagency partners, as well as the Intelligence Community and the National Intelligence Manager for Aviation. One priority is investigating evidence of possible foreign government involvement with UAP events.

All of this is a very good development from my perspective, Ratcliffe said. Im glad that theyre pursuing some of the things that I was pushing as DNI.

When one Fox host asked, Youve seen the intel. Are aliens real? Ratcliffe replied: Well, I cant talk to you about any potential alien life, so Ill just leave it at that.

From NTD News
Half of British Universities Push Radical Progressive Ideas: Report

Top universities also criticised for decrying colonialism while taking money from CCP

A student on graduation day at Coventry University in Coventry, United Kingdom, in an undated file photo. (Alamy/PA)

Half of British universities are pushing radical progressive ideas and practices that have roots in Marxist ideology, according to a new report.

All top universities have adopted wholesale, a mutation, and splicing of past radicalisms that include Marxism, postmodernism, feminism, Freudianism, and Maoism, fomented largely through public subsidies, according to a new report by the think tank Civitas.

In the Radical Progressive University Guide (pdf) report author Richard Norrie also criticised universities for decrying colonialism while taking money from the Chinese Communist Party, which he described as mired in modern colonial controversy and accusations of genocide.

Norrie compiled a radical progressive league table of Britains 140 universities, with Oxford, Cambridge, and Bristol universities at the top of the table.

He used evidence from media reports and university websites to look at how prevalent measures such as the of use of trigger warnings were. Some academics have taken to putting warnings on their syllabuses, or at the beginning of their lectures, warning students that content may be disturbing.

Such warnings have been used by the University of Greenwich for Samuel Taylor Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner as it contains scenes of animal death and supernatural possession.

Critics such as the sociologist Frank Furedi have described such warnings as part of a process of turning students into patients.

Norrie also looked into the promotion of controversial concepts such as white privilege, as well as the requirement for students to demonstrate they are anti-racist.

Trigger Warnings

The report found that out of 140 universities, 87 had references to trigger warnings, content warnings, or content notes.

Seventy-nine universities had mentions of white privilege in guidance offered to staff and students or on their websites.

And 82 universities offered materials, training, or resources on anti-racism on their websites.

Chinas Vice President Xi Jinping unveils the plaque at the opening of Australias first Chinese Medicine Confucius Institute at the RMIT University in Melbourne on June 20, 2010. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

The report also found that 117 universities have significant ties to China, which include research partnerships with Chinese universities and corporations; campuses and offices in mainland China; and Chinese regime-sponsored doctorate programmes.

Norrie added that a strong correlation is evidenced whereby the more elite a university is, the more radical progressive it is. He also found that to a lesser extent where students report being less satisfied, universities tend to be more radical progressive.

The analysis noted that among the top 20 most radical progressive universities, six have so-called Confucius Institutes, which have been accused of being Chinese state propaganda tools.

During his unsuccessful bid to become prime minister in July, now Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a number of hawkish China policies, including closing all 30 Confucius Institutes in the UK.

Norrie calculated the University of Cambridge to be the most radical progressive university and noted that it has received millions of pounds in donations and research grants from Chinese sources, including Huawei.

In 2019, Cambridge also commissioned a report into its historic ties with slavery and found the university received benefactions based on income derived from the slave trade and a role in educating wealthy slave estate owners sons.

At the same time, it decries itself for any money that might have been taken in the past derived from the slave trade and rushes to remove artifacts, however tangentially related, said Norrie.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Leading researcher into cancel culture in the world of academia Professor Eric Kaufmann told The Epoch Times by email that Norries work is solid.

Hes found corroborating evidence that [diversity, equity, and inclusion] (cultural socialist) ideology is widespread in our universities. Especially the elite ones, he said.

Last November, Kaufmann wrote a report for the conservative think tank Policy Exchange, arguing that UK education is almost as captured by ideologies as those in America.

He found that a majority, or 59 percent, of British school leavers say they have either been taught, or heard from an adult at school, about white privilege, unconscious bias, or systemic racism, three concepts associated with critical race theory.

In December, Kaufmann and other free-speech advocates warned that The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, legislation to safeguard free speech at university campuses, risked being watered down after it tabled amendments that would require academics and students to only seek compensation in the courts as a last resort.

The final form of the higher education bill is not set, so the statutory tort (right to sue) is still on the table, said Kaufmann.

All Souls College after university students have been sent home and tourists are staying away from Oxfords streets, and colleges of learning are deserted during the coronavirus lockdown, in Oxford, United Kingdom, on April 3, 2020. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Some publications have reported that Cambridge professor Arif Ahmed is tipped as the countrys free speech tsar, a role will in which he will oversee, monitor, and combat censorship and cancel culture across campuses.

I think the appointment of Arif Ahmed as academic freedom tsar will also be important in cracking down on non-compliant speech codes, Kaufmann said.

My worry is that the bill does not clearly outlaw political partiality, only speech suppression. So it is not clear they have a comeback to creeping race identitarianism, added Kaufmann.

Therapeutic Culture of Radical Progressivism

Dennis Hayes, president of Academics for Academics Freedom (AFAF), told The Epoch Times by email that the Civitas report acknowledges that by only reviewing public documents it may actually understate the problem of radical progressivism.

They do understate the problem and a more in-depth analysis of curriculum documents would show this. As a result of the training the report highlights many programmes are required to incorporate anti-racist elements from decolonisation to critical race theory, he said.

Hayes said that the report does not cover the requirement for academics to undertake unconscious bias training before their involvement with the recent Research Excellence Framework.

He said that this meant every academic researcher had to be trained in case they were unconsciously biased about race, sex, or anything the trainers thought of.

He said that there are many other examples of radical progressivism such as intersectional theory, which he described as a form of competition to see which group is claimed to be most victimised.

This appears in many initiatives, such as the Athena Swan Charter, an initiative by the universities professional body, Advance HE, to transform gender inequality in universities and in University and College Union initiatives.

Hayes had a simple answer as to why top universities seem to promote the therapeutic culture of radical progressivism.

In a culture where being a victim gives you status the most privileged students have to cast around for issues that can enable them to wear the badge of victimhood, or the defenders of victims.

That is why privileged students in privileged environments take up such silly campaigns to put trigger warnings on the classics, change the names of buildings, and try to take down statues. It is an expression of their guilt at their own privilege, he added.

As AFAF has argued, the way forward is not just to attack this progressive training, which universities are sometimes required to do, but to ensure that when the training involves a controversial issue it is approached through debate and discussion. Arguments for and against intersectionality or whatever, said Hayes.

The Epoch Times contacted the University of Cambridge for comment.

Lily Zhou contributed to this report.
Hardliner With Past Suppression Records Appointed Director of Hong Kong Liaison Office

Zheng Yanxiong delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the National Security Education Day held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, on Apr. 15, 2021. (Anthony Wallace/AFP)

On. Jan. 14, China appointed Zheng Yanxiong, the former director of the National Security Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Hong Kong, to replace Luo Huining as the director of the Liaison Office in Hong Kong.

Zheng is the first head of the Liaison Office with a national security background, and the Liaison Office represents the central government in Hong Kong and implements Beijings orders locally.

China experts point out that the promotion of a hardliner like Zheng shows that the CCP will continue to tighten its control over Hong Kong. Some experts also believe this is in complete contrast to the CCPs recent strategy of restoring the economy.

Record of Suppression

The CCP implemented the Hong Kong National Security Law in Hong Kong on June 30, 2020, and established the local National Security Office in July of the same year, with Zheng as the director. This agency has overriding powers in Hong Kong, and one of its main responsibilities is to direct Hong Kongs national security affairs. In the past two years, the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police has actively cracked down on dissidents. State security police have purged political dissidents through mass arrests and shut down media critical of the government.

In August 2020, the U.S. Treasury Department announced sanctions on 11 Hong Kong and Mainland officials and former officials, and Zheng was one of them. These people are accused of undermining Hong Kongs autonomy and restricting the freedom of speech and assembly of Hong Kong citizens.

According to public information, 59-year-old Zheng is from Chaonan District, Shantou City, Guangdong Province. His past official titles include all major positions in Shanwei city.

Zheng is well known for issuing orders to suppress locals with an iron fist during his tenure as Shanwei party secretary.

At the end of 2011, people in Wukan Village, Lufeng, Shanwei City staged a protest because their land had been sold in private deals by members of the village committee. However, the matter was eventually suppressed by the CCP officials, and nine villagers in Wukan Village who participated in the defense of their rights were given prison sentences ranging from two to 10 years.

Zheng, the then-party secretary of Shanwei City, criticized the villagers for disclosing the incident to foreign media, saying, If the foreign media is trustworthy, female pigs can climb the tree, a Chinese saying that pigs can fly. This remark was praised by the CCP state-run media.

During his tenure as director of the National Security Office in Hong Kong, Zheng publicly emphasized that Hong Kong belongs to China once it is returned, claiming that we must never indulge the return as just in name, and still think that the U.S. and the U.K. remain the bosses.

Surprise Appointment

The Epoch Timess political commentator Zhou Xiaohui believes that Zheng knows exactly why he was sent to Hong Kong. That is to let both local Hong Kong officials and Hong Kong people know they must follow the CCPs instructions and stop engaging in the pursuit of freedom and democracy.

Carole J. Petersen, a law professor at the University of Hawaii, told the Wall Street Journal that Zhengs appointment shows that China still prioritizes ensuring Hong Kongs national security over addressing the citys slowing economy.

The Wall Street Journal quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Zhengs promotion surprised even some staff members of the Liaison Office. They first thought that Chen Dong, deputy director of the Liaison Office with a background in economics, would become the new director. All previous leaders of the Liaison Office were people with backgrounds in the provincial government, foreign affairs, or Hong Kong policy bureau.

It is understood that in the past, the director of the Liaison Office was a full member or alternate member of the Central Committee of the CCP. But Zheng is neither a member of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP nor on the alternate members list.

On Jan. 15, Shi Shan, an expert on China affairs, told The Epoch Times that Zheng could only be a transitional figure. The director of the Liaison Office should be a full member or alternate member of the Central Committee, but he (Zheng) is nothing at all. His rank is a bit too low.

As for Luo Huining, who is 68 years old, has served in more senior posts, such as party secretary of the Qinghai, and Shanxi Provincial Party Committees. In June 2019, after the large-scale anti-extradition movement broke out in Hong Kong, Luo became the director of the Liaison Office of the Central Peoples Government in Jan. 2020 and the deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office in February of the same year. He was also the National Security Advisor of the National Security Council.

Commentary: Hardliners Should Not be Appointed to Engage in the Economy

Shi also believes, The CCP should now find someone who can establish the relationship and compromise with all parties. Because the CCP wants to revitalize the economy in the future, and if it wants to do that as soon as possible, it must make full use of Hong Kong. I think that after the two plenary meetings of the CCP later this year, there will still be changes in Zhengs status, plus certain other changes in the short term too.

China hopes to recover from the economic impact of the COVID-19 outbreak. For the time being, at least 21 provinces in China have set growth targets between 5 and 6.5 percent for 2023. Many provinces said they aimed to boost consumption, revitalize the private sector, and stimulate investment in manufacturing.

At the Central Economic Work Conference of the CCP held on Dec. 15-16, 2022, stabilizing growth became the highest priority, a change from the previous stabilizing employment as the number one, and it no longer mentioned the zero-COVID policy.

The CCP admits that Chinas economy is under tremendous pressure, claims that it will devote all efforts to restoring and expanding consumption in 2023, and responds indirectly to comments from the general public about suppressing the private economy.
Cannabis is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. While there are only a few countries where cannabis is legal for recreational use, many more countries have legalised the use of cannabis for medical reasons.

Reducing pain is one of the most common reasons people report using medical cannabis. According to a US national survey, 17% of respondents who had reported using cannabis in the past year had been prescribed medical cannabis. When it comes to self-medication, the numbers are even higher  with estimates that between 17-30% of adults in North America, Europe and Australia reporting they use it to manage pain.

Although cannabis (and cannabis-derived products, such as CBD) may be widely used for reducing pain, how effective it really is in doing this is still unclear. This is what our recent systematic review and meta-analysis sought to uncover. Our study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests cannabis is no better at relieving pain than a placebo.

To conduct our study, we looked at the results of randomised controlled trials in which cannabis was compared with a placebo for the treatment of clinical pain. We specifically included studies that compared the change in pain intensity before and after treatment. In total, we looked at 20 studies involving almost 1,500 people altogether.

The studies we included looked at a variety of different pain conditions (such as neuropathic pain, which is caused by damage to the nerves, and multiple sclerosis) and types of cannabis products  including THC, CBD and synthetic cannabis (such as nabilone). These treatments were administered in a variety of ways, including via pill, spray, oil and smoked.

The majority of the studys participants were female (62%) and aged between 33 and 62. Most of the studies were conducted in the US, UK or Canada  though we also included studies from Brazil, Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Israel, the Czech Republic and Spain.

Our meta-analysis showed that pain was rated as being significantly less intense after treatment with a placebo, with a moderate to large effect depending on each person. Our team also observed no significant difference between cannabis and a placebo for reducing pain.

This corroborates the results of a 2021 meta-analysis. In fact, this 2021 meta-analysis also found that higher-quality studies with better blinding procedures (where both participants and researchers are unaware of who is receiving the active substance) actually had higher placebo responses. This suggests that some placebo-controlled cannabis trials fail to ensure correct blinding, which may have led to an overestimation of the effectiveness of medical cannabis.

Our study also revealed many participants can distinguish between a placebo and active cannabis, despite having the same odour, taste and appearance. If they are aware that they are receiving or not receiving cannabinoids, they are more likely to provide a biased assessment of the effectiveness of the intervention. So to ensure researchers are observing the actual effect of cannabis, participants cant know what they receive.

Media Coverage

Our study also examined the way the studies were covered by the media and academic journals to see whether it related to the therapeutic effect participants reported. We did this because research has shown media coverage and information on the internet can affect the expectations that a person has of a treatment.

Media presence was measured through Altmetric, which is a method of evaluating mentions of a study in the media, blogs and on social media. Academic impact was measured in terms of citations by other researchers. We found a total of 136 news items in the media and blogs.

We categorised coverage as positive, negative or neutral depending on how the results were presenting concerning the effectiveness of cannabis for treating pain. The overwhelming majority of news items reported that cannabis had a positive effect for treating pain. This means that media coverage towards cannabis tends to be positive, regardless of what a studys outcomes actually were.

There are numerous examples of the relationship between treatment expectations and placebo responses. If a person thinks they will experience relief from their pain by using a certain product or treatment, this can change the way they end up perceiving incoming pain signals  making them think their pain is less severe. Recent evidence suggests that the placebo effect may work even if were presented with evidence that contradicts our initial expectations.

We cannot say with 100% certainty that media coverage is responsible for the high placebo response observed in our review. But given placebos were shown to be just as good as cannabis for managing pain, our results show just how important it is to think about the placebo effect and how it can be influenced by external factors  such as media coverage. For treatments, such as cannabinoids, that receive a lot of media attention, we need to be extra rigorous in our clinical trials.

Filip Gedin, Postdoctoral Researcher, Pain research, Karolinska Institutet This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
If you visit chapels and cathedrals, glowing haloes are often seen around divine beings and saints in murals. Such imagery is used to indicate the holiness or greatness of these individuals. In reality though, as long as a being is alive and metabolizing, it will emit faint light. While a human bodys luminescence is usually not well distributed, its highlights are almost identical to the meridians, or energy channels, described in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

In the 1980s, scientists used a highly sensitive photomultiplier tube as a detector to measure a faint but visible glow emitted by organisms. Studies have found that the levels of the human bodys luminescence correlate to physical and psychological health. Therefore, the study of luminescence may serve as a detection method for such conditions.

Human Bioluminescence Is Emitted When Metabolism Is Active

Scientists have discovered that the body gives off a glow during daily metabolic activities. To test their hypothesis, researchers measured the luminescence of blank paper against that of both a piece of pork and a human hand under the same dark conditions. While the paper glowed 10 to 1,000 times brighter than a human hand when exposed to sunlight, the glow faded before long. By contrast, the luminosity of the human hand remained at the same level in the dark. The fingertips were the most luminous, followed by the palm and the junction between the thumb and the index finger, respectively. The weakest part was the back of the hand. The piece of pork, however, gave off no light.

Scientists believe that the stronger the human bodys metabolism, the higher the level of luminosity. A research team led by Chinese scientist Yen-Chih Chiang measured the luminosity of 158 peoples bodies in complete darkness. The researchers found that 14 high-luminescence lines cover the body, and these align with the 14 meridian lines, or energy channels, mentioned in The Medical Classic of the Yellow Emperor by Dr. Maoshing Ni. There were 1,934 acupoints on these high-luminescence lines. The acupoints completely identical to the energy meridians accounted for about 93 percent, while those partially identical accounted for about 7 percent. The research team was convinced that luminescence is the embodiment of energy and that meridians indicate how dynamic a persons metabolism is.

These findings have suggested that the TCM theory that meridians serve as the bodys energy passages may be accurate.

Although the anatomical structure of meridians has not yet been discovered, researchers have found many distinguishable acoustic-optical and electromagnetic phenomena related to these energy channels. A meridian transmits sound, light, and heat faster than the skin outside the meridian, and the electrical resistance at the meridian or acupuncture point is also lower than in other parts of the body.

Some scientists propose that an organisms body has various electromagnetic waves transmitting biological information, and acupuncture points are junctions where interference waves of the electromagnetic field intersect.

Accordingly, electromagnetic energy will become aberrant when one falls ill. Acupuncture can effectively curb and rectify this kind of aberration.

Scientists assert that electromagnetic waves are important communication passages in the body, partly because they can influence physiological processes, such as the functioning of nerves and hormones. Just as we need telecommunication services to connect our internet, television, and mobile phones, we need electromagnetic waves to send messages throughout our bodies.

Photography That Makes Human Energy Visible to the Naked Eye

Kirlian photography was invented by the Russian electrician Semyon Kirlian and his wife, Valentina, in 1939. This technology uses a temporary high-voltage, high-frequency electric field to make the electromagnetic field of the human body visible. Photos taken using this method demonstrate that the electromagnetic field is not evenly distributed and thus could be affected by mood and health conditions.

German naturopath and acupuncturist Peter Mandel once used this technology to photograph his right hand. He saw complete, bright rings around most of his fingers, and incomplete rings around his index finger and pinky finger. At the time, he was suffering from stomachache and diarrhea. According to the practice of Chinese acupuncture and the TCM therapy of moxibustion, the places where the haloes were missing on his fingers aligned with two meridian lines related to the digestive system: meridians of the large and small intestines.

After Mandel acupunctured his Heku or Hegu point on the large intestine meridian, his diarrhea symptoms went away. Mandel photographed his fingers again and found all rings around his 10 fingers were bright and complete this time.

This experience sparked Mandel to continue his experiments. He took photos of many patients fingers and toes using Kirlian photography to develop a diagnostic method, which he called Energy Emission Analysis, to detect energy variation in the body and treat any conditions caused by these disturbances.

Electromagnetic Waves Emitted by the Body Can Reflect General Health

In recent years, the Russian scholar Konstantin Korotkov and his team have been improving Kirlian photography. They updated the photographic technology and developed a method called Gas Discharge Visualization (GDV) to observe biophotons. Korotkovs research has further confirmed that electromagnetic waves can reflect a persons underlying health conditions. His studies found that GDV images of the fingers of patients with carcinoma of the large intestine are saliently distinguishable from those of people in good health.

Korotkovs findings also revealed that the brightness of the rings around fingers is closely related to ones moods. Rings will be brighter if one is happy, while they will be shrunken, imperfect, or even missing when one is in a negative mood such as anger, jealousy, or hate. Energy fields can also influence one another. For instance, fields can be immediately strengthened when family members or couples approach each other.

Zhang Changlin, a physics professor at Temple University, introduced the exploration of electromagnetic fields and energy meridians in the human body in his book Invisible Rainbow: a Physicists Introduction to the Science Behind Classical Chinese Medicine. He calls the electromagnetic field around the human body an invisible rainbow because, although the electromagnetic spectrum is colorful, human beings can only see a tiny part of it.

People with color blindness cannot differentiate between red and green, as the electromagnetic spectrum they can see is narrower. If this is the case, then are there people who can see a broader electromagnetic spectrum than others? Could they see the energy emitted by meridians and the glow around the human body?

Zhang believes that one becomes more sensitive to sound and electromagnetic waves when he or she is in a state of meditation. In the days of antiquity, noise levels were much lower than those in modern society, as there were no vehicles, airplanes, televisions, or radios. Moreover, ancient peoples hearts and minds could be said to have been more at peace without all the stimulation modern humans face. This could mean that ancient people were more sensitive, and possibly able to perceive things that modern people cannot.

Li Shih-Chen, a renowned medical scientist of the Ming Dynasty of ancient China, wrote that the inside of a human body contains tunnels, and one who mentally looks within the self can illuminate them. This means the true nature of organs and meridians can only be observed by a cultivator of self who can look internally with his minds eye.
Youre going to want to put on the kettle after learning this good news. Just one cup of green tea a day can not only help you fight cancer, but can reduce insulin resistance, lower blood pressure, and reduce belly fat.

Tea leaves are one of the richest sources of polyphenols known to man, and they are a natural source of anti-oxidants that work hard to mop up harmful free radicals in your body. Certain compounds in green tea known as Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) are particularly powerful cancer inhibitors. Why? EGCG works at the cellular level to intervene against various cancers and suppress tumor growth. Green teas EGCG benefits are part of the Rath Protocol, which I wrote about it in my book, I Used to Have Cancer.

Of the more than 10 catechin compounds found in tea, EGCG is the most abundant and it accounts for more than 40% of the catechins in green tea leaves. EGCG has also been proven to have the most suppressive effect on cancer. Studies like the one published August 2016 in Nutrients entitled Suppressive Effects of Tea Catechins on Breast Cancer, back it up.

Teas are typically classified into three categories based upon the way they are processed:

Unfermented green tea

Semi-fermented Oolong tea

Fully-fermented black tea

According to the aforementioned study, this classification is based on the degree of fermentation, during which catechins are oxidized.

Green Tea and Insulin Resistance

Dr. Eric Berg highlights the connection between cortisol (the bodys main stress hormone) and insulin resistance in this short video. He explains that when youre exposed to cortisol over a long period of time, its like being exposed to a high level of insulin over a long period of time. Your body starts developing whats commonly called insulin resistance. The bodys adrenals are forced to pump more and more cortisol. Unfortunately, that only compounds the problem.

Cortisol is an important hormone and enables us to move quickly to the fight or flight reaction needed in emergency situations. However, when were expressing excess stress, whether real or imagined, too much cortisol in the body can result in increased depression, anxiety, increased blood pressure, and increased risk of cancer. An increase in belly fat can be an early warning sign that your cortisol levels are too high, for too long.

Its EGCG, the compound found in green tea, that works to inhibit the enzyme that converts the inactive to the active form of cortisol to the active form of cortisol.

By consistently drinking this inexpensive green tea every day, studies show that you can significantly lower your cortisol levels, decrease your risk of cancer, reduce your levels of depression, lose the belly fat and improve your overall health.

A Word of Caution

Its important to select organically grown green tea. Nutritionists such as Ann Louise Gittleman, PhD, CNS, have warned about the importance of finding a quality tea, one that is not contaminated. Gittleman explains that teas from China and India tend to be the most contaminated, as China is the worlds top pesticide user. Japanese teas tend to be better, but since the Fukushima disaster, we must keep radioactive contamination in mind. In general, organic teas will have fewer pesticides, but may be high in fluoride.

One of her top picks includes Pique Tea that delivers up to 12x the antioxidant polyphenols of regular tea. No wonder its more potent and powerful than any other tea on the market! Pique Tea is made from the highest quality tea leaves and natural ingredients that are organic, sugar-free, and free of additives. Another reassurance: the company triple screens for pesticides, mycotoxins, and heavy metals.

Republished from TempletonWellness.com

References:

Zhang, Y. Miura, K. Yagasaki, Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in cancer cells by in vivo metabolites of teas, Nutr Cancer (2000); 38(2): 265273.

Ahmad, P. Cheng, H. Mukhtar, Cell cycle dysregulation by green tea polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate, Biochem Biophys Res Commun (Aug 28, 2000); 275(2):328-34. doi: 10.1006/bbrc.2000.3297.

Li-Ping Xiang,1,2 Ao Wang,2 Jian-Hui Ye, et al., Suppressive Effects of Tea Catechins on Breast Cancer, Nutrients (Aug 2016); 8(8): 458. doi: 10.3390/nu8080458.

Sun, M. Yin, D. Hao, Y. Shen, Anti-Cancer Activity of Catechin against A549 Lung Carcinoma Cells by Induction of Cyclin Kinase Inhibitor p21 and Suppression of Cyclin E1 and PAKT, Applied Sciences (2020); 10(6), 2065.

Chacko, P. Thambi, R, Kuttan, I. Nishigaki, Beneficial Effects of Green tea: A Literature Review, Chinese Medicine (2010); 5: 13. doi: 10.1186/1749-8546-5-13.
House Oversight Committee Probes GAS Administrator Over Telework Allegations

Robin Carnahan, the then-nominee to be the General Services Administration administrator, testifies via video teleconference, during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee in Washington on June 10, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) is seeking answers from a Biden administration official for allegedly spending most of her work hours somewhere else, not in her Washington office.

It was one of several investigative moves the panel is pushing forward after GOP took control of the House, pledging tougher oversight of the Biden administration.

In a Jan. 11 letter (pdf) addressed to General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Robin Carnahan, Comer asked about whistleblower reports alleging she worked remotely for most of her nearly two-year tenure.

We have received whistleblower reports you have spent most of your time working in a location other than Washington D.C during your tenure as GSA administrator, Comer wrote in a Jan. 11 letter, without detailing the allegations levied. We are writing to determine whether these reports are accurate, and if so, understand the reason behind routine absences and whether they are in compliance with relevant regulations.

Before being sworn into the agency that is responsible for managing federal office space, Carnahan vowed in 2021 to modernize government digital infrastructure and deemed it a very big deal for federal agencies to rethink their long-term office needs.

Comer requested Carnahan provide work-related records no later than Jan. 25, including her daily calendar, the number of days physically presenting in Washington, and travel reimbursement requests she has submitted to date as the GSA administrator.

Comer noted that Committee Republicans have expressed concerns that the broader federal workers have been slow to return to in-person work since President Joe Biden took office, despite the commander-in-chief claiming last March that the vast majority of them would work in person in the post-pandemic era.

The federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said in a 2022 survey that among 550,000 federal correspondents, 25 percent of employees said at that time they teleworked at least three days per week, while less than a third said they either preferred to or had to physically present on worksite, such as law enforcement officers, Transport Security Administration agents, border patrol agents, and security personnel.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) speaks during a House Oversight Committee hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Dec. 14, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

If the intent of President Bidens statement was to encourage Americans to return to the office by leading by example, agency leadership must work in-person as well, Comer said to Carnahan in his letter.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the GSA for comment.

SHOW UP Act

Comer also introduced a bill on Wednesday, called the SHOW UP Act, to prevent the Biden administration from cementing pandemic-era remote work policies for federal employees.

For years, Americans have suffered from the federal governments detrimental pandemic-era telework policies for federal bureaucrats. President Bidens unnecessary expansion of telework crippled the ability of departments and agencies to fulfil their responsibilities and created cumbersome backlogs, Comer said in a Wednesday press release.

The federal government exists to serve the American people and these substantial delays for basic services are unacceptable, the congressman added. He argued that expanding telework during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to massive backlogs and delayed critical assistance to veterans, tax refunds, passport applications, and other basic services.

If enacted, each federal agency will be forced to reinstate telework policies that were in place pre-pandemic within 30 days. It also calls for agency heads to submit individual studies in six months on the impacts on the agency and its mission of expanding telework and how such a move has affected performance.

Original co-sponsors of the bill include Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), and Michael Cloud (R-Texas).

Even if the measure is passed in the House, prospects of its passage in the Democratic-controlled Senate remain uncertain, given some Democrats enthusiasm for expanding telework for federal employees, arguing that the policy leads to higher productivity and employee satisfaction with less traffic and air pollution.

Last June, Reps. Gerald Connolly (D-Va.) and John Sarbanes (D-Md.) reintroduced the Telework Metrics and Cost Savings Act, seeking to strengthen and expand the federal governments telework programs. This bill will help attract top talent to federal serviceregardless of their location, Connolly said that the time.

The proposed legislation would require the OPM to create data collection standards and report cost savings achieved through teleworking, regarding reduced absences, continuity of operations, reduced real estate and utility costs, and reduced community costs, among other cost savings measures.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Carnahans office for comment.
Houses New China-Competition Committee Marks Important Step in Confronting CCPs Threats

Commentary

The establishment of a new China Committee by the House in the U.S. Congress is being widely seen as the first victory of the new Republican

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. But most people have failed to realize that this committee should have been established a long time ago.

The new committee is called the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party. The committee will be focused on the continually escalating threats from Chinas ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

A total of 365 members of the 118th U.S. House of Representatives voted to support the formation of the new Select Committee with the support of all Republicans and 146 Democrats. Capitol Hill has not seen such overwhelming bipartisan support for almost anything for years.

Why is it necessary to establish a new committee specifically dealing with issues related to the CCP?

The answer to this question is clear: Americans need to take immediate action if they dont want to see their future generations become slaves to the CCP.

Chinas economy has grown tenfold since it joined the WTO in 2001. A simple comparison of the following five aspects between the CCP today and any regimes of the past clearly shows that the CCP now represents the biggest threat to peace and humanity in human history:

Total Economic Power

The CCP now has the worlds second-largest economy, behind the United States, if measured by GDP. If you compare these two nations GDP by purchase price parity (PPP), Chinas GDP (PPP) is $27.31 trillion, which is about 18.7 percent more than the United States $23 trillion, according to statistics from the World Bank 2021 report.

The CCP now has the worlds second-largest economy, behind the United States, if measured by GDP. If you compare these two nations GDP by purchase price parity (PPP), Chinas GDP (PPP) is $27.31 trillion, which is about 18.7 percent more than the United States $23 trillion, according to statistics from the World Bank 2021 report. Total Military Power

The CCP now possesses the worlds second-largest military. The 2022 Congressional Research Service report indicates that the Chinese navy has surpassed the U.S. Navy in its number of battle force ships.

The CCP now possesses the worlds second-largest military. The 2022 Congressional Research Service report indicates that the Chinese navy has surpassed the U.S. Navy in its number of battle force ships. Modern Technology

The CCP is quickly catching up to the Western world in technology, thanks to U.S. corporations that are heavily invested in China.

The CCP is quickly catching up to the Western world in technology, thanks to U.S. corporations that are heavily invested in China. Total Population Under Central Control

China today has a total population of 1.4 billion, the largest of any nation in history.

China today has a total population of 1.4 billion, the largest of any nation in history. A History of Domestic Genocide

Research has shown that the CCP has killed as many as 80 million Chinese people since it took control of the nation in 1949.

Looking back over the past century, the United States has had two very different strategies for dealing with communist regimes. One succeeded, and the other failed.

The successful one was the Cold War strategy, which effectively drove the Soviet Union into its economic collapse, which later resulted in regime change.

The failed one was the China policy that was based on the wishful thinking that the CCP would eventually make political reform in China after the population became richer, with a larger middle-class population. The West allowed China to join the WTO in 2001. By 2021, total direct investment from the United States alone in China was up close to $120 billion. The direct investment from the entire Western World totals many hundreds of billions of dollars.

While the United States continuously lost jobs and industries to China in the past two decades, unfortunately no one even bothered to ask a simple question: During the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the free world, if the West had invested hundreds of billions of dollars in its enemy, would the Soviet Union have ever collapsed? Would it have even been possible for the Soviet Unions political system to come up with a political reform leader like Mikhail Gorbachev?

What happened after the CCP regime eventually became richer and more powerful?

During U.S.-China Alaska summit in March 2021, Chinas top diplomat Yang Jiechi looked straight into the eyes of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and said: The United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength.

The Chinese regime started building artificial islands in the South China Sea in 2013. By 2022, three out of the seven man-made islands have been occupied by the Chinese military. In June 2021, Beijings authority officially claimed that China has full sovereignty over the Taiwan Strait.

On the Europe-Asia continent, an anti-US alliance is quickly forming around the regimes ruling China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and Afghanistan. As Chinas GDP is more than ten times Russias, it is clear that Beijing has taken the leading role in this alliance.

The Chinese regime has become the biggest threat to the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region.

U.S. legislators used to only have to deal with China on issues related to human rights, trade, and intellectual property rights. But now, as the threat from the CCP is quickly escalating, the congressional members will have to consider a much wider range of complicated issues.

In the decades to come, the newly established U.S. House China Committee will need to be a very effective tool when it comes to dealing with the Chinese communist regime.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
How MLK Embodied Our Founding Principles

Commentary

Nearly 60 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Kings powerful plea for equal rights has resonated with Americans ever since, in no small part because his message was wrapped in an enlightened patriotism. He understood that the best way to fight bigotry was by returning to the vision of universal human dignity the American Founders articulated in our nations founding documents.

In 1963, African Americans faced intense oppression. Segregation laws and widespread racial prejudice denied them equal opportunity. America clearly wasnt living up to the Founders ideal of human equality, so its easy to understand why many black Americans felt alienated from their country and wanted revolutionary change.

King, however, did not repudiate his American heritage. If anything, he clung more closely to it.

At the Lincoln Memorial, he said:

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all menyes, black men as well as white menwould be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (emphasis added).

In Kings mind, the solution to the injustices of American life could be discovered right in the very documents that birthed our country. King wanted to extend the same benefits of citizenship to African Americans who had been excluded from them for so long. He refuse[d] to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

King fought so that all Americans would be treated fairly and given equal opportunities for success. His faith was that we could fight racial injustice in our role as patriotic citizens. Rather than the extremes of revolutionary violence or defeatist retreat, he argued that We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.

King believed that by respecting one another as equals in citizenship, both white and black Americans could work together to fulfill the promises of the founding.

There is a lot that divides Americans today. But there is so much more that unites us. By laying claim to our nations founding principles, King showed Americans today how we can reinvigorate citizenship by living up to the promises at the heart of the American Founding.

From RealClearWire

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Husband of Missing Massachusetts Woman Faces Murder Charge

Brian Walshe stands during his arraignment in Quincy District Court in Quincy, Mass., on Jan. 9, 2023. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

COHASSET, Mass.A Massachusetts man already facing a charge of misleading investigators in the search for his missing wife has now been charged with murder in her disappearance, a top prosecutor said Tuesday.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a video statement that Brian Walshe, 47, who is being held on $500,000 bail after pleading not guilty to the misleading charge, will be arraigned on the more serious charge on Wednesday.

He did not say what additional evidence led to the murder charge.

Additional details of the investigation and the evidence that supported those charges are likely to be presented at arraignment, but will not be disclosed at this time, Morrissey said.

A person who answered the phone at the office of Walshes attorney, Tracy Miner, said Miner would have no comment. An email seeking comment was left with Miner. She has previously said that her client has cooperated with the investigation.

Walshes wife, Ana Walshe, 39, was reportedly last seen leaving their home in the affluent coastal community of Cohasset south of Boston in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, purportedly to take a ride-hailing vehicle to Logan International Airport for a flight to Washington, police and prosecutors said.

Ana Walshe. (Cohasset Police)

But police have found no indication that she either took a vehicle or boarded any flight out of Logan recently.

Ana Walshe was reported missing several days later by her employer in Washington, where the couple has a home and to which she often commutes during the week for work at a real estate company, authorities said.

Her cellphone has not been used and there has been no activity on her credit or debit cards, police have said.

Authorities have searched the familys home as well as a wooded area near the home. The couple has three young children.

Prosecutors said in court that Brian Walshe was seen on surveillance video buying $450 worth of cleaning supplies at a home improvement store the day after his wife was last seen. Police also found a broken knife and blood in the basement of the couples home, prosecutors said, although they did not say whose blood it was.

Brian Walshe stands during his arraignment in Quincy District Court in Quincy, Mass., on Jan. 9, 2023. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Investigators also spent time last week searching a trash processing facility and a condo complex north of Boston where Brian Walshes mother lives where they found items that may be related to the investigation.

Brian Walshe had been on home confinement while awaiting sentencing in a fraud case involving the sale of fake Andy Warhol paintings, according to federal court records. Cohasset police said Ana Walshes disappearance and her husbands case appear to be unrelated.
Indonesia Deploys Security Forces After Protest at China-Owned Nickel Smelter Turns Deadly

Mobile brigade police stand guard as they check security at the Immanuel church ahead of Christmas eve in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Dec. 24, 2022. (Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images)

JAKARTATwo workers were killed in clashes and rioting at a China-owned nickel smelter in Indonesian on the weekend, officials said on Jan. 16, as hundreds of security personnel were deployed to maintain order after a protest over pay and safety spiraled out of control.

An Indonesian and a Chinese worker were killed during the clashes at the PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI) smelter, owned by Chinas Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry, which involved protesters, workers, and security guards, said Didik Supranoto, a spokesperson for Central Sulawesi police.

Several company vehicles were torched and about 100 dormitory rooms were damaged, Didik said.

National police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said 17 people were suspected of vandalism among 71 detained over the incident, and more than 500 members of the security forces had been deployed to secure the area, with more reinforcements coming.

The smelter will resume operation tomorrow morning. I ask that community and employees not be easily provoked, he said at a news briefing.

There were about 11,000 Indonesian workers at GNIs plant and 1,300 foreign personnel, Listyo said.

GNI launched the smelter in late 2021 with an annual capacity of 1.8 million tons and estimated total investment of $2.7 billion.

Protester Minggu Bulu, a member of the labor group and former GNI employee, said there had been fatal safety lapses at the facility in the past year, including a motorcycle crashing into heavy machinery and an explosion at the smelter.

GNI could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegation and police were unable to confirm whether deadly accidents had taken place.

Work health and safety implementation is very poor, so we asked the company to implement it according to the law, Minggu said, adding that workers also lacked proper safety gear.

GNI in a statement said it was conducting an in-depth and thorough investigation with police.

Violent protests have broken out sporadically in the mineral-rich region of Sulawesi, which has seen a recent investment boom in nickel that is used in electric vehicle batteries.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Jan. 16 said the Chinese embassy in Indonesia has been in contact with Indonesian authorities about the incident.

China will continue to maintain close communication with the Indonesian side and promote a lawful and appropriate resolution to this incident, he said.

By Bernadette Christina and Ananda Teresia
INFOGRAPHIC: Key Revelations of the Twitter Files

Files reveal how the government pressured the social media giant into censoring a large number of accounts

Documents revealed by Twitters new owner, tech billionaire Elon Musk, show the social media company has been intertwined with a governmentprivate censorship apparatus.

Twitter suppressed or removed content on various subjects, including irregularities in the 2020 elections, mail-in voting issues, and various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company was under government pressure to purge such content and its purveyors from the platform, though most of the time it was cooperating with the censorship requests willingly, the documents indicate.

INFOGRAPHIC (Click on image to enlarge, or click here to download)

Click on infographic to enlarge.

Musk took over Twitter in October, taking the company private. He then fired around half of the staff and much of the upper management, vowing to take Twitter in a new direction. The #TwitterFiles releases have been part of his promised focus on transparency for the company.

He allowed several independent journalists to submit search queries that were then used by Twitter staff to search through the companys internal documents, sometimes under the condition that the resulting stories would be first published on the platform itself.

The two journalists primarily responsible for the releases have been journalists Matt Taibbi, a former contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine, and Bari Weiss, a former editor at both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Both are liberals who have expressed disillusionment with the more extreme currents of progressivism and neoliberalism.

Others involved in the releases have been independent journalists Lee Fang and David Zweig, former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson, and author and environmentalist Michael Shellenberger.

The journalists have only released a fraction of the documents they reviewed. Theyve also redacted the names of employees involved, aside from some high-level executives.

The documents show that the FBI and other state, local, and federal agencies have been scrutinizing the political speech of Americans on a significant scale, and trying to get lawful speech suppressed or removed online. Many conservative and traditionally liberal commentators have deemed that a violation of the First Amendment.

Twitter, a major hub of political speech, has been among the main targets of censorship. Many news stories have broken on Twitter in recent years, and a significant portion of the nations political debate takes place on the platform, as it allows an efficient way for direct and public interaction between users, from the most prominent to the least.

Twitter resisted some censorship requests, but there was little sign the company did so as a matter of principle. Rather, executives sometimes couldnt find a policy they could use as a justification. Prior Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was under pressure from his lieutenants to expand the policies to allow more thorough censorship, the documents show.

The hypothesis underlying much of what weve implemented is that if exposure, e.g., misinformation directly causes harm, we should use remediations that reduce exposure, and limiting the spread/virality of content is a good way to do that (by just reducing prevalence overall), said Yoel Roth, then Twitters head of trust and safety, which governs content policy, in a 2021 internal message published by Weiss.

We got Jack on board with implementing this for civic integrity in the near term, but were going to need to make a more robust case to get this into our repertoire of policy remediationsespecially for other policy domains.

Jack Dorsey, creator, co-founder, and chairman of Twitter and co-founder and CEO of Square, in Miami on June 4, 2021. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

In many cases, Twitter leaders de facto allowed the government to silence its critics on the platform.

Many censorship requests came in with an imperious attitude, particularly those from the Biden White House, but also some from the office of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who at the time headed the powerful House Intelligence Committee.

Around November 2020, Schiffs office sent a list of demands to Twitter, including for the removal of any and all content about the committees staff and the suspension of many accounts, including that of Paul Sperry, a journalist with RealClearInvestigations.

Schiffs office accused Sperry of harassment and promoting false QAnon conspiracies.

Sperry rejected the allegation, asking Schiff to show evidence for his claims, and announced that he was considering legal action.

Schiffs demands were apparently a response to Sperrys articles that speculated on the identity of the White House whistleblower that alleged a quid pro quo between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Sperry reported, using anonymous sources, that the whistleblower was likely then-CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella, who was overheard talking in the White House with Sean Misko, a holdover staffer from the Obama administration. Misko later joined Schiffs committee.

Morning sunlight strikes the flag flying above the White House in Washington, on March 18, 2015. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Twitter rejected Schiffs demands, save for reviewing again Sperrys account activity. Sperrys account was suspended months later. Taibbi said he wasnt able to find out why.

Under Pressure

The many censorship requests Twitter received via the FBI were phrased as merely bringing information to its attention, leaving it up to the company to decide what to do with them. But Twitter executives clearly felt compelled to accommodate these requests, even in cases where they internally struggled to justify doing so, the documents show.

The government pressure took several forms. The FBI would follow up on its requests, and if they werent fulfilled, Twitter had to explain itself to the bureau. If Twitters position on an issue differed from the one expected by the government, company executives would be questioned and made aware that the bureau, and even the broader intelligence community, wasnt happy. That would send the executives into triage mode, rushing to salvage the relationship, which they apparently considered essential.

A seal reading Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation is displayed on the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building in Washington, on Aug. 9, 2022. (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Corporate media served as another pressure point. If Twitter wouldnt do what it was told fast enough, the media would be provided with information portraying Twitter as ignoring some problem of paramount importance, such as possible foreign influence operations on its platform.

One censorship request, for instance, targeted an account allegedly run by Russian intelligence, though Twitter wasnt given any evidence of it.

Due to a lack of technical evidence on our end, Ive generally left it be, waiting for more evidence, said one Twitter executive, who Taibbi says previously worked for the CIA.

Our window on that is closing, given that government partners are becoming more aggressive on attribution and reporting on it.

The internal email suggests that Twitter, despite having no concrete evidence to back it, wouldnt dare to disobey the request because of the media fallout of the government publicly labeling the account as being run by Russian intelligence.

Congress was perhaps the heaviest sword of Damocles hanging over Twitters head. Lawmakers could not only spur negative media coverage, but also tie up the company in hearings and investigations, or even introduce legislation that could hurt Twitters bottom line.

For instance, just as Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) was pushing Twitter to produce more evidence of Russian influence operations on its platform in 2017, he also teamed up with Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) to propose a bill that would have required extensive disclosures of online political advertising.

In the meantime, Twitter managers were convinced that lawmakers were leaking information that Twitter had provided to them and seeding negative news stories, even as the company was trying to placate them with increasingly stringent actions toward actual and alleged Russia-linked accounts.

Even though the FBI was officially only alerting Twitter to the activities of malign foreign actors, many of the censorship requests were simply lists of accounts with little to no evidence of malign foreign links. At times, Twitter tried to ask for more information, noting that it couldnt find any evidence on its end, but often it simply complied. It was impossible for Twitter to do its due diligence on each requestthere were simply too many, according to Taibbi.

One request revealed by Taibbi claimed that the attached email accounts were created possibly for use in influence operations, social media collection, or social engineering.

Without further explanation, Twitter would be forwarded an excel doc, Taibbi said.

Censorship requests were lopsided against the political right. Some researchers said that the right was much more involved in spreading misinformation, but the documents indicate that the censorship wasnt so much a matter of a rightleft dichotomy, but rather a pro- and anti-establishment one. Even some left-leaning accounts were targeted if they strayed too far from the official government narrative.

Moreover, the right didnt appear too keen on demanding censorship to begin with. Taibbi couldnt find a single censorship request from the Trump campaign, Trump White House, or even any Republican, though he was told there were some.

On the other hand, there seemed to be no appetite across the board for targeting misinformation coming from the establishment itself.

An exterior view of The Mac Shop, where Hunter Biden allegedly brought his laptop for repair but never picked it up, in Wilmington, Del., on Oct. 21, 2020. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Hunter Bidens Laptop

Twitters suppression of the 2020 New York Post expose on Hunter Biden, son of then-candidate Joe Biden, was dissected in the Twitter release in particular detail. Apparently, some Twitter executives, particularly Roth, head of trust and safety, were regularly invited to meetings with the FBI and other intelligence agencies to receive briefings on the online activities of foreign regimes. In the several months prior to the 2020 election, Roth had been conditioned to expect a hack-and-leak Russian operation, possibly in October and involving Hunter Biden.

The FBI alleged there was some evidence of a Russian influence operation related to Hunter Bidens dealings in Ukraine. But the bureau was also aware that Hunter Biden left his laptop with a trove of explosive information in a Delaware computer repair shop and that a copy of it was handed to Trumps then-lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The FBI picked up the laptop from the repair shop in December 2019 and had Giuliani under surveillance in August 2020, when the repairman gave him the copy. As the FBI knew, the laptop information was neither hacked nor a figment of a Russian plot.

When the Post broke the story, Twitter executives were left with no doubt it was exactly what the FBI had been warning about.

This feels a lot like a somewhat subtle leak operation, Roth commented in an internal email, despite acknowledging he had no evidence for such a claim, save for the questionable origins of the laptop.

Hunter Biden arrives for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Jan. 20, 2021. (Jonathan Ernst-Pool/Getty Images)

Roth noted that the story didnt actually violate any of Twitters rules. Nevertheless, it was marked unsafe and blocked on the platform under its policy against hacked materials, despite there being no evidence the materials were hacked.

Twitters then-Deputy General Counsel James Baker backed the censorship move, saying it was reasonable to assume the Hunter Biden information had been obtained through hacking.

Baker was the general counsel of the FBI until May 2018. He joined Twitter in June 2020. At the FBI, Baker was closely involved in the Russia investigation scandal, in which the FBI embroiled the Trump campaign and later the Trump administration in exhaustive investigations based on paper-thin and fabricated allegations that Trump colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election. The allegations were produced by operatives funded by the campaign of Trumps opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The FBI was in fact aware of no intelligence suggesting a hack-and-leak operation ahead of the 2020 election, as testified in November 2022 by Elvis Chan, head of the cyber branch at the FBIs San Francisco Field Office, which was responsible for communications with Twitter and other tech companies with headquarters in its jurisdiction.

Twitter itself found very little Russian activity ahead of the 2020 election, Shellenberger reported, citing internal communications.

Shadowbanning

Twitter has long denied the practice of shadowbanningsuppressing the reach of an account without informing the user. The denial, however, specifically defined shadowbanning as making the persons content invisible to others. What people have been complaining about is that Twitter seemingly suppresses how many people see their content, without making it invisible altogether. Internal materials show that Twitter has been doing that a lot, in fact.

One Twitter engineer told Weiss: We control visibility quite a bit. And we control the amplification of your content quite a bit. And normal people do not know how much we do.

Among those whose accounts were surreptitiously throttled was Jay Bhattacharya, Stanford University professor of medicine and one of the early critics of the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Others included Dan Bongino, a conservative podcaster and former Secret Service agent, and Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, the countrys largest conservative youth group.

COVID-19

Twitter has extensively suppressed information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Anything about the origins of the virus, its treatment, the vaccines developed for it, and public policies to mitigate its spread had to align with the official position of the federal government, as promulgated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Zweig said he found countless instances of tweets labeled as misleading or taken down entirely, sometimes triggering account suspensions, simply because they veered from CDC guidance or differed from establishment views.

Twitter user @KelleyKga, a self-described fact-checker, criticized a tweet that falsely claimed that COVID-19 was the leading cause of death by disease in children. @KelleyKga pointed out that such a claim would require cherry-picking data, backing that argument with data from the CDC. @KelleyKgas criticism, however, was labeled as misleading and suppressed. On the other hand, the tweet that contained the false claim was not suppressed.

All physician Euzebiusz Jamrozik did was write on Twitter an accurate summary of study results on COVID-19 vaccine side effects. The tweet was labeled misleading and suppressed.

Sometimes, it appears, Twitter suppressed the information on its own, but many of the COVID-19-related requests came from the government and even directly from the Biden White House, internal files show.

In one email, White House Digital Director Rob Flaherty accused Twitter of bending over backwards to resist one of his censorship requests, calling it total Calvinballa game where rules are made up along the way. The email, which wasnt part of the Twitter files, came out during an ongoing lawsuit against the Biden administration filed by the attorneys general of Missouri and Louisiana.

Another White House staffer wanted Twitter to censor a tweet by Robert Kennedy, Jr., a long-time critic of vaccination. The staffer wondered whether Twitter could get moving on the process for having it removed ASAP.

And then if we can keep an eye out for tweets that fall in this same genre that would be great, he said in the Jan. 23, 2021, email.

The administration wasnt always trying to get such content removed. People who merely expressed hesitancy about the vaccines were supposed to only have their content suppressed from reaching any significant audience, the documents indicate.

The Biden administration had a lot at stake, as the vaccine rollout was one of its first and most high-profile tasks. There were other stakeholders as well.

Joe Biden delivers remarks on the Covid-19 response and the vaccination program at the White House in Washington, on Aug. 23, 2021. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Several censorship requests came from Scott Gottlieb, board member and head of the regulatory and compliance committee at Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant that made the most popular COVID-19 vaccine and raked in tens of billions of dollars on sales of it over the past two years.

Gottlieb sent Twitter at least three requests. One targeted a doctor who argued on the platform that naturally acquired immunity to COVID-19 was superior to vaccination. Twitter suppressed the tweet, even though the doctor was correct.

Another request targeted author Justin Hart, who argued on Twitter against school closures, pointing out that COVID-19 fatalities among children were extremely rare. Gottlieb sent the request shortly before Pfizer received approval for the use of its vaccine on children. Twitter didnt comply with the request.

Yet another request targeted former NY Times reporter Berenson. Gottlieb claimed that Berensons criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of COVID-19 response in the Biden administration, was causing threats of physical violence toward Fauci. Twitter suspended Berensons account shortly after.

Gottlieb sent his requests to the same Twitter official who served as a contact person for censorship requests coming from the White House.

The suspended Twitter account of Donald Trump appears on a laptop screen on Jan. 8, 2021. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Trump Deplatforming

Trump was particularly effective on Twitter. His soundbites, honed over decades of dealing with the New York press, played well on the brevity-oriented Twitter, earning the president some 90 million followers and lending him the power to bypass media filters and instantly grab national attention. Trumps Twitter presidency, however, brewed scorn inside the Beltway, especially among the foreign policy crowd that was used to diplomatic subtlety.

Twitters removal of Trump a few days after the Jan. 6, 2021, protest and riot at the U.S. Capitol appears to be one of those instances where Twitter executives acted on their own, breaking the platforms content policies in suppressing the voice of a sitting American president, internal documents indicate.

Twitter suspended Trumps account on Jan. 8, 2021, after the president made two posts.

The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!! said one of Trumps tweets.

To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th, read the other.

Twitter moderators and supervisors agreed that the tweets didnt violate any rules.

I think wed have a hard time saying this is incitement, wrote one staffer. Its pretty clear hes saying the American Patriots are the ones who voted for him and not the terrorists (we can call them that, right?) from Wednesday.

Higher executives, under pressure from their many anti-Trump employees, wouldnt accept that conclusion and continued to push for construing Trumps comments as malicious.

The biggest question is whether a tweet like the one this morning from Trump, which isnt a rule violation on its face, is being used as coded incitement to further violence, Vijaya Gadde, Twitters head of legal, policy, and trust, wrote in an internal message.

Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office before signing an executive order related to regulating social media, in Washington, on May 28, 2020. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images)

Another Twitter moderation team quickly furnished Gaddes argument with a narrative. Trump was a leader of a violent extremist group who is glorifying the group and its recent actions, the team concluded, according to internal messages.

Undermining the Nunes Memo

In January 2018, then-Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) submitted his memo detailing FBI surveillance abuses in pursuit of the TrumpRussia investigation. The memo was correct on virtually all points of substance, as later confirmed by DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz.

The memo was dismissed by the corporate media as a joke, but gained significant traction on social media nonetheless. Legacy media and several lawmakers then came out claiming the memo was boosted online by accounts linked to Russian influence operations.

However, Twitter found no evidence of Russian influence behind the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Nov. 21, 2019. (Andrew Harrer/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

The claims were all sourced to the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), a group set up in 2017 under the German Marshall Fund, a think tank funded by the American, German, and Swedish governments.

The ASD is closely linked to the U.S. foreign policy and national security establishment. It was headed at the time by Laura Rosenberger, a former Clinton campaign adviser who held various roles at the State Department and the National Security Council. Its advisory council includes former Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, former CIA head Michael Morell, and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) head Mike Chertoff.

Twitter officials were at a loss as to how the ASD came to its conclusions.

We investigated, found that engagement was overwhelmingly organic and driven by strong VIT [Very Important Tweeters] engagement (including Wikileaks, [Donald Trump Jr.], Rep. Steve King, and others), Roth wrote in an internal message.

In fact, the dashboard ASD used to make its claims had already been reverse-engineered by Twittera fact Roth didnt want to disclose to the media.

Twitter tried debunking the story behind the scenes without giving out such details, but to no avail. Initially, reporters ran with the story without even reaching out to Twitter, Roth wrote.

The initial letter on the matter from Schiff and Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee at the time, also came out before Twitter was given a chance to respond, internal messages say.

Twitter tried to stop Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) from piling on with his own letter, but again failed.

Blumenthal isnt always looking for real and nuanced solutions. He wants to get credit for pushing us further. And he may move on only when the press moves on, commented Carlos Monje, Twitters then-public policy director, in an internal message. Formerly a Department of Transportation official, Monje returned to the department under the Biden administration.

In the end, Twitter never publicly challenged the Russia narrative.

The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Nov. 29, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Aiding Pentagon Psyops

In 2017, a Pentagon official asked Twitter to whitelist several accounts the Defense Department was using to spread its message in the Middle East. Twitter obliged, giving the accounts similar privileges it was reserving for verified accounts.

Later, however, the Pentagon removed any apparent connections between the accounts and the U.S. government, making them de facto surreptitious. Even though the accounts should have been removed under Twitters inauthentic activity policy, the company left them up for several years, independent journalist Fang reported.

Federal Belly Button of Investigation

The FBI served as a conduit for other government agencies to pass information to Twitter and ask for favors, according to Taibbi.

In one exchange, FBI cyber head Chan explained that the bureau would funnel to Twitter communications from the U.S. intelligence community (USIC), but other election-related communications would come from the DHSs Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

We can give you everything were seeing from the FBI and USIC agencies, Chan said. CISA will know whats going on in each state.

He then asked if Twitter would like to communicate with CISA separately or if it would prefer to rely on the FBI to be the belly button of the [U.S. government].

Twitter executives were surprised to learn that the FBI had agents specifically dedicated to searching Twitter and flagging content policy violations.

Since 2017, Twitter has employed at least 15 former FBI agents, further entangling the agency with the platform. The practice is so common that there was an internal discussion group at Twitter for former agents.

The FBI responded to the Twitter files disclosures in a statement that labeled the reporting misinformation spread by conspiracy theorists and others  with the sole purpose of attempting to discredit the agency.

Department of Homeland Censorship

The DHS has managed to shoehorn speech policing into its mandate to protect critical infrastructure. In January 2017, shortly before leaving the White House, President Barack Obama designated elections as critical infrastructure. The DHSs CISA then made it its job not only to protect elections from hackers, but also from misinformation and disinformation.

The US Department of Homeland Security building in Washington, on July 22, 2019. (ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images)

In July 2020, CISA partnered with several private research entities to look for, study, and counter election threats. They called themselves the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP) and included the Stanford Internet Observatory, the University of Washingtons Center for an Informed Public, the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab, and Graphika, a social media analytics firm.

The Atlantic Council acts as a semi-official NATO think tank. It enjoys a tight relationship with the government, particularly the foreign policy and intelligence community. Its roughly 200-strong board of directors includes seven former CIA heads and a plethora of other high-level national security figures.

In practice, the EIP searched social media for anything it deemed a threat to elections, including opinions casting doubt on election results or processes in a misleading way. Such content would then be submitted to social media companies for removal or suppression.

EIP leader Alex Stamos said the group was set up to fill the gap in countering election disinformation that the government wasnt authorized to address.

The government isnt allowed to interfere with the lawful speech of Americans, which is protected under the First Amendment.

Its not clear how many pieces of content were removed or suppressed by social media at EIPs behest. The group stated that it identified links to over 4,800 individual pieces of content. Almost 3,000 of those were on Twitter. Social media overall either labeled, removed, or soft blocked 35 percent of the reported links, its final report said (pdf).

The impact, however, was likely much broader. Fist of all, the flagged social media posts were often the key, influential ones. On Twitter, the flagged posts were retweeted, quote tweeted, or commented on nearly 6 million times.

Also, EIP made clear that the lists of flagged content often pertained to broader incidents or narratives and these lists were typically not comprehensive, but intended to highlight a few examples should the platforms decide to investigate further.

Information leaked from social media or released through the Twitter Files indicate that the platforms operate both content and keyword blacklists and at least some of them incorporated election-related issues into these blacklists. Its not known if some such blacklisting was spurred by EIPs efforts and what was the impact of it.

EIP identified nearly 15 million tweets that, based on keywords and time frame, were related to the thousands of pieces of content it flagged. Its not clear how many of these 15 million were removed or suppressed.

Furthermore, it appears some of the flagged posts pertained to external content, such as online articles or videos. If social media flagged such external content, all posts containing it would get removed or suppressed and any user trying to later post or link to it would get penalized. For instance, Twitter accounts of the New York Post and even then-White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany were locked for posting the blacklisted link to the Posts Hunter Biden laptop story.

On Twitter alone, EIP identified over a million tweets and retweets of the URLs it flagged. But again, its not clear how many of these tweets and retweets were removed or suppressed.

Generally, the same actors participating in the EIP have also been involved in the suppression of information related to COVID-19 and the 2022 elections.

CISA tried to distance itself from the EIPs censorship role, saying it never sent the EIP any examples of potential misinformation.

CISA does not censor speech, period. CISAs mission is to build resilience to disinformation and foreign malign influence activities that threaten critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure, a CISA spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

We work in a non-partisan manner with state and local election officials to equip the American public with accurate information about the conduct and security of their elections. Online content platform operators, as always, make their own decisions regarding the content on their platforms.

A CISA official told The Epoch Times that the agency doesnt send content removal requests to social media.

This assertion seems to clash with other publicly available information.

The DHS-funded Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) encouraged local election officials to inform it about misinformation or disinformation. The information would then be forwarded to CISA, which would submit it to the relevant social media platform(s) for review, an online EI-ISAC document says.

When asked about the discrepancy, the official clarified that CISA was transmitting information identified by state and local election officials as potential election security-related disinformation to social media platforms in the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, but not in the 2022 one.

A Shift in Priorities

Mike Benz, a former State Department official who handled the cyber portfolio in the Trump administration, traced the governmentprivate censorship apparatus to the foreign policy regime change infrastructure.

Mike Benz, during an interview on EpochTVs Over the Target. (The Epoch Times)

The growth of social media in the 2000s was perceived by the establishment as positive because it proved invaluable in accelerating insurgencies. The United States has a long history of supporting local opposition to rogue regimes and dictators, and social media allowed such groups to quickly organize mass protests, as demonstrated by the Arab Spring uprisings, Benz argued.

To that end, free expression online was backed by the U.S. foreign policy establishment.

After the 2016 upsets of Brexit and the election of Trump, however, the establishment soured on free speech. Both events were seen as undermining NATO, and both were blamed on foreign influence on social mediaspecifically Russia. The U.S. and UK governments in particular saw the need to identify and purge Russian influence operations online and set up a governmentprivate apparatus to do so.

Yet, as the TrumpRussia investigation turned out to be a dud, the establishment crowd had to acknowledge that it was primarily domestic forces driving the populist message, Benz noted.

From that point on, the apparatus set up to root out foreign influence appears to have expanded its focus to target domestic speech instead.

The government, however, cannot target lawful domestic speech openly, since the Constitution prohibits government interference with the political speech of Americans.

Despite this obstacle, the government found ways to support the domestic censorship ecosystem indirectly, Benz argued.

One method Benz identified is the issuing of grants to academic institutions to research misinformation and develop methods to counter it.

The National Science Foundation, a federal agency that funds nonmedical research, has given nearly $40 million to 42 U.S. universities to counter disinformation or misinformation since the start of the Biden administration, Benz discovered.

A $3 million grant went to two members of the EIP, the University of Washingtons Center for an Informed Public, and the Stanford Internet Observatory.

A $300,000 grant went to George Washington University specifically to counter the populist messaging of politicians in the United States and several other countries.

Benz became so perturbed by the encroaching censorship that he founded a group called Foundation for Freedom Online dedicated to restoring freedom of expression on the internet.

And there are signs that public exposure of the censorship machinery has had an effect.

The Biden administration was forced last year to put on hold the DHSs planned Disinformation Governance Board. Its freshly nominated head, Nina Jankowicz, resigned.

Right now, the main source of support I ask is, be passionate zealots for this, Benz said during his interview on EpochTVs Over the Target in December.

Tell your parents, tell your wife and the kids at the dinner table, tell your friends. If youre taking rests in between ping pong games, play these YouTube videos for people. All of this starts at the guerilla level.

This stuff speaks for itself. It will be a cult classic just by virtue of the fact that it exists now. Because once you see this, Ill guarantee you, you will see this everywhere. This stuff is like a secret decoder ring that will help you slice through the daily news items you see in the censorship space.

The Twitter files, he said, serve as the one hole  that is breaking this Titanic ship of censorship.

Correction: The computer shop that obtained Hunter Bidens laptop is in Delaware. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the number of pieces of online content removed or suppressed based on EIPs efforts. Its not clear how many pieces of content were affected. The Epoch Times regrets the errors.
Japanese Photographer Denied Entry into Hong Kong After Exhibition on 2019 Pro-Democracy Movement

The photographer said on her FaceBook, Hong Kong has lost its freedom.

Screenshot of Michiko Kiseki's Facebook post describing her experience of being denied entry into Hong Kong, posted on Jan. 5, 2023. (Courtesy of Michiko Kiseki/Facebook)

A Japanese photographer was refused entry into Hong Kong after she displayed her photos at an exhibition in Japan documenting the 2019 pro-democracy movement activities in Hong Kong.

According to her Facebook post on Jan. 5, Michiko Kiseki, a Japanese photographer, who had planned to celebrate the New Year in Hong Kong, was refused entry into the city when she arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport on Dec. 30, 2022.

She was repatriated to Japan the next day.

Kiseki was surprised by the incident and said this might be her last time visiting Hong Kong as she felt that Hong Kong has lost its freedom.

In her post, she said she cried on the flight back to Japan, for she could never return to her beloved Hong Kong. Kiseki knew the refusal would happen at a particular time, but this was way earlier than she expected, and she did not regret what she had done.

Kiseki lived in Hong Kong with her father when she was a child. She often took photos in Hong Kong after growing up.

She took photos and documented the front line of the Hong Kong demonstrations from 2019 to 2020 and displayed them at an exhibition in February 2021 before publishing the images into a photobook, VOICE Hong Kong 2019.

Photobook cover for VOICE Hong Kong 2019 by Michiko Kiseki, which documented the protests of the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement in Hong Kong in 2019. (Courtesy of Michiko Kiseki)

On Jan. 5, 2023, Kiseki posted some photos taken from the air over Hong Kong through social media. While in detention, I was reminded of what it must have been like for young people in 2019, said Kiseki, Hong Kong is crazy now, but I still love Hong Kong.

When she was detained at the Hong Kong airport, she was questioned by a Hong Kong police officer from National Security Department, referring to her exhibition held in Japan about the protests. She was just surprised that it was mentioned several times about a photo exhibition in Japan, not a photo collection in another room. She now understands that Japan also has a lot of Chinese secret police. Well, its not a surprise, she said.

The Japanese Economic Newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the worlds largest financial newspaper (by circulation), reported on Jan. 11 that it requested Hong Kong Immigration Department (HKID) to comment on the incident. HKID refused to comment on the particular incident but emphasized that it has worked according to the laws and policies.
John Robson: Beware the Governmental Word Continue

Royal Australian Navy submarine HMAS Rankin during a maritime exercise in Darwin, Australia, on Sept. 5, 2021. The latest salvo in a barrage of stories about Canadian military unpreparedness is that because were not in the tripartite Australia-UK-U.S. AUKUS treaty we are missing out on vital discussions of cyberwarfare, writes John Robson. (POIS Yuri Ramsey/Australian Defence Force via Getty Images)

Commentary

The latest salvo in a barrage of stories about Canadian military unpreparedness is that because were not in the tripartite Australia-UK-U.S. AUKUS treaty we are missing out on vital discussions of cyberwarfare. Its a serious matter indeed. But in discussing it I want to focus on spin rather than substance.

No, Im not angling for a job with the government, ideally one of those cushy consulting gigs that are all the rage these days, and when Canadians see the cost, I do mean rage. On the contrary, Im applying the principle that to understand what people are thinking, you should listen to what they are saying.

It even works on yourself, as in How can I know what I think until I hear what I say? And it certainly works on politicians. In this case the key point is that, confronted with a senior Canadian vice-admirals lament that were missing vital AUKUS discussions of advanced technology in terms of the artificial-intelligence domain, machine learning, quantum, all of these things that really matter moving forward, the defence ministers office burbled, Through the Five Eyes and our bilateral partnerships, we will continue to work with our closest allies to keep Canadians safe.

Now it is obvious that this response attempts to change the subject, which was not the Five Eyes. But I want to draw your attention instead to a standard rhetorical trope of the Canadian government when confronted with some obvious, nay contemptible, lapse in performance of its core duties: that weasel word continue.

It appears remarkably often nowadays. For instance, when confronted over multiple lucrative contracts to the tyrant-friendly consulting firm McKinsey, whose former head became our ambassador to China, a Treasury Board spokesperson said, We continue to maintain the highest standards of openness, transparency and fiscal responsibility.

After wiping up your coffee you may be tempted to retort that this government is notorious for its refusal to disclose even basic information. Including, speaking of China, being held in contempt of Parliament for withholding unredacted documents on the mysterious firing of two scientists from our top infectious diseases lab. As for fiscal responsibility, it is to laugh given the Liberals accumulated debt. But here I want to caution against thinking they are lying.

People are widely disposed to regard themselves as well-meaning, ethical, and misunderstood. Especially if they adopt a victim mentality, they also feel justified in resorting to otherwise improper tactics. Indeed, one reason for discovering what you yourself think by listening attentively to what you say is to make sure you dont hear excuses from your mouth you would reject from someone elses. And if you do, it is wise to probe deeply not into your rhetorical strategy but your ideas.

The same is true of people in public life. We have learned repeatedly and painfully to take tyrants pronouncements about intentions seriously. Yet we so often say no, its just a cover for their real intention to accumulate power or something. Its not. People want power to accomplish goals, they dont want goals to accomplish power.

Thus, to continue continuing, when Canadian politicians declare that they will continue to do something they are not doing and would have no idea how to do if they tried, they are not lying. Far from it. They are conveying their sublime sense of their own excellence, due to which they must be performing their jobs superbly and only lying partisan enemies or mentally-defective ideologues could claim otherwise.

As so often, what you see is what you get. Including, for instance, the Heritage Department responding to an outcry over funnelling money to a virulent antisemite by insisting they did a comprehensive assessment first. To an outside observer it can only mean they deliberately funded hate or have no clue what comprehensive or assessment even mean. But to them it was an assurance that if mistakes were made, they naturally did not make them.

Such babblers are not unaware that, on the face of it, this or that particular file looks suspicious. But they are convinced that, despite their occasional PR or administrative missteps, they really are as great as they claim when campaigning for office. So the fact that Canada has no functioning national security apparatus, including we now learn no air defence system for our troops since 2012, does not signal failure to them, let alone negligence, just a prudent approach to procurement.

If this assessment seems improbable, consider that millions of your fellows vote for them election after election. If so many voters do not see those in power or their job performance the way we do, why should they themselves not yield to vanity and continue to grade their own work highly?

So beware this governmental word continue. Not because it means theyre fooling you. Because it means theyre fooling themselves.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Josh Shapiro Inaugurated as Governor of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's 48th governor, Josh Shapiro, is sworn into office. His wife Lori holds a stack of three Bibles as their four children stand in support in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 17, 2023 (Courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services)

Pennsylvania gets four more years of Democrat leadership with the inauguration of Gov. Josh Shapiro, the states former attorney general, on Tuesday. At 49 years old, he is Pennsylvanias youngest governor.

Also sworn in was Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, 32. Davis won both this office and his reelection bid in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Shortly after the election, Davis vacated his seat in the state House. He is the first black lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania.

A February special election will be held to fill that seat.

The swearing-in of Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 17, 2023. (Courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services)

Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf leaves the office after meeting the two-term limit, amounting to eight years. Pennsylvanias last Republican governor was Tom Corbett, who served from 2011 to 2015.

Outgoing Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (R) unveils his portrait that will hang in the governors office at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg on Jan. 10, 2023. (Courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services)

By tradition, Pennsylvania inaugurates the governor outside, on a chilly day, in front of the statehouse.

In attendance were newly elected U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, both Democrats, plus other members of Congress. Former Govs. Tom Ridge, Tom Corbett, Mark Schweiker, and Wolf attended. Shapiro shared breakfast with them Tuesday at the governors mansion. Former Gov. Ed Rendell was invited but was not well enough to travel.

The inauguration ceremony started with the singing of the national anthem, followed by Lift Every Voice, sometimes called the Black National Anthem. That was followed by the rarely heard Pennsylvania state song, titled Pennsylvania.

Government a Productive Force for Good

Shapiro is a gifted orator sometimes compared to former President Barack Obama. His first speech as governor lasted about 20 minutes. He got a little choked up while thanking his family, Pennsylvania First Lady Lori Shapiro and their four children Sophia, Jonah, Max, and Reuben.

I just want you to know how much I love you, Shapiro said, looking at his family before turning to the audience. And I want all of you to know just how hard I will work for your children.

Gov. Josh Shapiro and his wife, Lori Shapiro, on Inauguration Day at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 17, 2023. (Courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services)

He invited people who benefited from his work as attorney general to attend, and mentioned them in his remarks.

Your problems have become my priorities. Your causes, my concerns. Together weve taken on the power, and weve empowered the people. People like Alexis, who was ripped off by a predatory student lender, and whose story inspired a fight to take on that powerful entity and bring real relief to thousands of Pennsylvanians, Shapiro said. People like Tim, who did the backbreaking work on our roadways for decades, just to have company executives steal his hard-earned benefits, but whose courage led to accountability and change. Like the families who have lost loved ones to the opioid crisis. They shared their grief with me, but also their resolve to keep up the fight to protect others from the dangers of addiction, made worse by corporate greed.

He did not reveal many specifics about his agenda but he was clear on his stance on abortion.

Shapiro pledged to work for people like Danielle, who bravely told us her own story about her decision to have an abortion to save her life. And were honored to have her on the stage with us today. Because of his supporters, he said, Pennsylvania will not go back to what it was like before Roe v. Wade. We wont! We wont! Shapiro almost shouted, as the crowd erupted in applause.

Im mindful of the fact that youve shared those stories with me because you believe that I can make a difference for you, Shapiro said, adding that he also heard those who didnt vote for him.

I will do my best every day to be a governor for all Pennsylvanians. But right now is the time to join together behind the unifying strength of three simple truths that have sustained our nation over the past two and a half centuries. That above all else, beyond any momentary political differences, we value our freedom. We cherish our democracy. And we love this country.

Shapiro then called those who question election results extremists.

We didnt allow the extremists who peddle lies to drown out the truth. We showed that our system works. Our elections are free and fair, safe and secure, he said.

Shapiros words were met with applause.

Only by setting the table of opportunity and inviting all to come and sit and partake, can we advance the cause of real freedom  the kind of real freedom that comes when you live in a Commonwealth that respects you for who you are, no matter what you look like, where you come from, who you love, or who you pray to or choose not to pray to. Real freedom, freedom that makes government a productive force for good that allows us to tackle the challenges.

National Connections

Shapiros well-funded campaign spent more than $70 million to win the seat. He was backed by wealthy Democrats across the country, with donations from George Soros son, Jonathan Soros, who lives in New York, along with the younger Soros wife, Jennifer Soros, and Andrea Soros, George Soros daughter.

Shapiro flew around the country in private jets during his campaign, fundraising and campaigning to people in Atlanta, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Connecticut.

His name has been thrown around as a future Democrat presidential contender. This possible aspiration was alluded to in the banter Tuesday among lawmakers in Harrisburg and has been the subject of news articles for several years. His platform mirrors that of Washington Democrats. He is supportive of gun control measures, broad access to abortion, and has the support of teachers and labor unions.

Cabinet

Rick Stiger (Courtesy of Josh Shapiro Transition Team)

Shapiro is keeping some cabinet members from Wolfs administration and nominating new members. Some have connections to Washington, such as former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt, a Republican nominated for Pennsylvania Secretary of Statethe position that oversees elections.

On Jan. 6, 2023, Schmidt received a Presidential Citizens Medal from President Joe Biden for his role in administering the 2020 presidential election in Philadelphia.

Rick Stiger is nominated for Secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development.

Stiger is currently chief of staff to the president at Carnegie Mellon University, and he served in the Obama administration for more than seven years as chief of staff at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and as deputy chief of staff at the Department of Commerce.

Major Christopher Paris is nominated for State Police Commissioner. He has risen in the ranks of the Pennsylvania State Police since he enlisted in 1999. Paris is a graduate of the FBI National Academy Session 267.

Christopher Paris (Courtesy of Josh Shapiro Transition Team)

Joseph Lee, Shapiros new deputy chief of staff for administration and opportunity, is a former political analyst at the CIA and helped prepare the presidents daily briefing as a member of Obamas analytic support staff.

Election staff and supporters will gather Tuesday night for a celebration at Rock Lititz, a stage production facility in Lititz, Pennsylvania.

Entertainers performing at Shapiros inauguration celebration include Motown recording artist Smokey Robinson, who does business and owns property in Pittsburgh, and rapper Wiz Khalifa, whose 2009 debut single Black and Yellow was a tribute to his hometown, Pittsburgh.
Kari Lake Responds to Reports Shell Run for US Senate

Arizona GOP candidate Kari Lake on Tuesday brushed aside speculation she might be running for Arizonas Senate seat in 2024, following anonymously sourced reports that she might.

A CNN reporter, Kate Sullivan, wrote on Twitter Monday, Im told Kari Lake is considering running for the US Senate seat held by Kyrsten Sinema in 2024. Sullivan did not divulge more information about where she got that information.

But in a statement on Tuesday, Lakes campaign disputed the report and noted that she is still challenging the midterm election results in court. Earlier this month, Arizonas Court of Appeals agreed to expedite her challenge against Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs and Maricopa County officials that argued there were enough Election Day problems that swung the race out of her favor on Nov. 8.

Her campaign told The Gateway Pundit that Kari is hyper-focused on winning her court case as she is the duly-elected Governor and her Election Case proves that, adding that hundreds of thousands of invalid ballots were counted in Maricopa County alone and there were lines of 4 hours or more at some locations on Election Day. Maricopa County officials on Nov. 8 confirmed there were ballot printing problems and told voters to place their ballots in separate drop-boxes for later counting.

That is just a BIT of what went wrong in Arizona, the statement said. Kari Lake is fighting to protect the sacred vote of the People of Arizona.

The statement noted that dozens of people have contacted Lake to suggest that she run for the seat currently held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.), who recently changed her party affiliation from Democrat to Independent.

There have been several polls showing she is the strongest candidate and could win, it said. The corruption in DC is as bad as it is in AZ and we need to root out that corruption, but Karis focus is on her election case and saving the good people of Arizona from [Hobbs].

Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, then a Democrat and now an Independent, is seen during a hearing in Washington on July 16, 2019. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)

Earlier this month, Hobbswho in her previous position as Arizonas secretary of state was in charge of running the electionwas sworn in as governor, has already signed four executive orders, and has proposed a budget. She delivered her first address to the state Legislature last week.

Chasing conspiracy theories, pushing agendas for special interests, attacking the rights of your fellow Arizonans or seeking to further undermine our democracy will lead nowhere, said Hobbs.

Appeal Expedited

On Jan. 9, the Arizona Court of Appeals ordered that Lakes case could go to conference on Feb. 1, agreeing that the challenge should be handled as a special action petition. Lawyers for Hobbs have until Tuesday to respond and argue why Lakes petition should be rejected.

The Arizona Supreme Court denied Lakes petition to transfer her lawsuit earlier in January. It wrote that the case would be heard before the Appeals Court first.

That Maricopa County judge, Peter Thompson, tossed Lakes lawsuit on Dec. 24 after a two-day trial and wrote she did not produce enough evidence. Lake had filed a challenge days after the statewide canvass was completed, arguing that she should be installed as governor or that a re-do of Maricopas gubernatorial election is warranted.

Data shows that Lake lost to Hobbs by about 17,000 votes, but Lake contended in her suit that she would have either won or had a good chance of winning if ballot printing machines in Maricopa, the states most populous county, worked properly on Nov. 8. Expert testimony that was given in court from pollster Rich Baris found that Election Day voters trended Republican.

Baris said that he believes 25,00040,000 people who would normally have voted actually didnt cast ballots as a result of the printer errors. That estimate, he said, was based on the number of voters who started answering his exit polls but didnt finish the process amid the tabulator problems in Maricopa County.

Officials for Maricopa County, however, wrote in late November that voters were not disenfranchised on Nov. 8.

Thomas Liddy, the division chief for the Civil Services Division of the Maricopa County Attorneys Office, wrote in a letter that no voter was disenfranchised because of the difficulty the county experienced with some of its printers. He was responding to a letter issued by then-Attorney General Mark Brnovichs office that demanded answers after voters complained to his office.

The Epoch Times has contacted Lakes team for comment.
Kentucky Parents Fear for Childrens Safety After Student Who Wrote Kill List Is Allowed to Return to School: Reports

Parents of children at a Kentucky school where a 14-year-old student allegedly wrote a kill list last year have voiced concerns for their childrens safety after the student was reportedly allowed to return this month.

The student at Conner High School in Hebron, who has not been identified, allegedly threatened several eighth-grade students in 2021 and suggested he would carry out a mass shooting. Some of the students named on his alleged kill list include the school principals son, according to local reports.

He was later expelled by the Boone County School Board and Superintendent Matthew Turner and charged with second-degree terroristic threats, WLWT reported.

However, the student was reportedly welcomed back to the school this month, a year after being expelled, prompting outrage and concern among parents.

During the Boone County School Board of Education meeting Thursday night, one concerned parent, Deanne Corbin, said she feared for the safety of her children.

Whatever help he has gotten, he is still a threat to be in an environment which fostered him to want to do a mass shooting and make a list of our students of Conner Middle School that are now at Conner High School, Corbin said, according to WLWT.

Principals Own Son Could Be in Danger

It is unfair to the children, the victims as I call them, that were on this list for him to be in that school whether or not hes in their classroom, they have to know hes in their building. They know he walks down the hallway and they have to pass him, Corbin added.

As a father of a child on the active kill list, my statements will reflect my opinions based on the information I received from Conner High School. When I received a call from the principal, it was emotionally devastating. All I could think about was my child in danger when they did nothing wrong, another parent, Rob Bidleman said, according to the news outlet.

Another parent, Jenny Murray, noted that the principals own son was on the students alleged kill list.

As dedicated and hard-working as he ishow is he not distracted by stress and anxiety, knowing that his son could be in danger? Murray said, according to WXIX.

According to local reports, the 14-year-old student at the center of the concerns was enrolled at Conner Middle School when the allegations surfaced in November 2021.

The school resource officer (SRO) was informed of a notebook that contained specific acts of violence, identified individuals, and described how the student who owned the notebook would have the students locate them or have them respond to an area where he would encounter them, WXIX reported, citing the sheriffs office.

According to the report, the student admitted to the SRO that he had written the contents of the notebook but claimed that he was merely writing the thoughts down that were in his head and was not planning to carry out any of the acts stated in the notebook.

He was later expelled, in line with state statute (pdf) which says that the threat of force or violence, among other things, constitutes cause for suspension or expulsion from school.

Student Has Right to Education, School Says

In a statement on Facebook on Monday, newly-elected state Rep. Steve Rawlings, a Republican, said he had attended Thursdays school board meeting when the very serious issue of the student came up.

A student, who had been suspended for one year, was permitted to return to school in Boone County, Rawlings wrote. I want to clarify that although I was in attendance at this past weeks meeting, I was not involved with the decision, nor have I been informed of all the details of the facts and circumstances surrounding the original disciplinary action or the students return to school. Those decisions are solely the responsibility of local authorities.

Elsewhere, school Superintendent Matthew Turner wrote in a letter to parents and community members that the safety of students and staff is the schools greatest priority, according to WLWT.

We also partner in decision-making with experienced legal counsel. With the assistance of the Boone County Sheriffs Department, our School Resource Officers, as well as the District Safety team, I can assure you all appropriate safety measures have been taken and are in place. Conner High School remains a safe school, Turner wrote.

With that being said, the superintendent noted that each child has the right to an education, without prejudice, under the Kentucky state Constitution, and that the school is obligated to follow state law.

We will continue to be vigilant regarding these matters and we appreciate the communitys support, he noted.

The Epoch Times has contacted Conner High School and the Boone County School Board for comment.
An angel food cake with a mouth-watering salted caramel pecan frosting has won first place and a grand prize at a Pennsylvania cake contest, wowing judges and netizens alike, but none more so than the baker herself.

Sheila Suhan of Scottsdale, Westmoreland County, had entered the Pennsylvania Farm Shows Incredible Angel Food Cake Contest before and on Jan. 8 at the 107th annual fair her creation beat 66 entries to secure the top spot in a live taste test that was based on creativity, taste, smell, texture, lightness, topping, and decoration.

Sheila Suhans winning cake. (Courtesy of the PA Dept. of Agriculture)

(Courtesy of the PA Dept. of Agriculture)

Contest entrants were required to be first-place winners of angel food cake contests from their respective local fairs in 2022. Suhan, who was representing Fayette County Fair, told Lancaster Farming that she had, in fact, been placed fifth with her same cake recipe at the PA Farm Show several years prior. However, it seems like 2023 was her year to win.

Judges Nathan ByDely, Harry Reffner, Martha Ebersole, Gailen Hausman, and Deb Grubera carefully reviewed the top 25 semi-finalists and awarded Suhan the blue ribbon and a check for $500. Suhan, who also competes with apple pies and chocolate cakes at local fairs, had attended the contest with two friends and her sisterwho was also a contest competitor representing the Wolfs Corners Fairon their way to Atlantic City and planned to keep her check locked safely in the car to avoid the temptation to gamble her winnings away.

Cakes lined up on table four out of five at the Incredible Angel Food Cake Contest 2023. (Courtesy of the PA Dept. of Agriculture)

Laura Pert won third place. (Courtesy of the PA Dept. of Agriculture)

Angel food cakes are famously light and fluffy since they contain neither egg yolks nor butter. As such, they require a skilled baker and plenty of innovative additions to make them stand out from the competition.

Some of these actually look like wedding cakes, contest coordinator Kevin Bieber told The Sentinel. Its not the decorations that count, its the taste and texture. This year, we have a lot of angel food cakes with fruit, especially strawberries. We also have blueberries, oranges, and pineapple.

PA Farm Show has Suhans angel food cake recipe on Facebook writing: Life is what you BAKE it, and these angel food cakes make the #PAFarmShow life a sweet one  Shelia baked a tasty looking angel food cake with salted caramel pecan frosting. Want to take a WHISK and try the cake yourself.

Gravity-defying candy decoration. (Courtesy of the PA Dept. of Agriculture)

The first slice of a strawberry-decorated angel food cake. (Courtesy of the PA Dept. of Agriculture)

The runners-up of the 2023 Incredible Angel Food Cake Contest were Ann Krug of Loretto, who won second place and received $300. Laura Pert of Hallstead earned third place, winning $200 for a cake embellished with raspberry jam and decorative bees. Abigail Mehalic of Latrobe got fourth place, and Robert Wenger of Reinholds was placed fifth, both earning ribbons.

At the end of the show, all cakes were cut and given away to lucky audience members as free samples.

Extravagantly decorated angel food cake with candies, waffle cup, and edible glitter at the Incredible Angel Food Cake Contest at the 107th PA Farm Show. (Courtesy of the PA Dept. of Agriculture)

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London Man Committed 2nd Murder After Confessing to Killing Girlfriend, Jury Told

During police interview Lee Peacock said he wanted to kill four other people

An undated police mugshot of Lee Peacock, who is accused of murdering two people in central London in August 2021. (Metropolitan Police)

LONDONA man committed a second murder after visiting his estranged father and confessing to having killed his girlfriend, a trial at the Old Bailey in London has been told.

Prosecutor Ed Brown, KC, told the jury Lee Peacock, 50, was tracked down to a houseboat on the Grand Union Canal in Greenford, west London, on Aug. 25, 2021, where he was overpowered by police.

After Peacock was arrested he told detectives he had planned to kill four other people, the jury heard.

Peacock denies murdering his girlfriend Sharon Pickles, 45, and an associate, Clinton Ashmore, 59, at their homes on the Lisson Grove estate, close to Marylebone station in central London in August 2021. Both died from neck injuries.

Opening the case for the prosecution on Tuesday, Brown said when police officers found Peacock on the houseboat they shouted, Keep your hands out and, Put the knife down, put the knife down.

But he had already stabbed himself with the knife.

Brown said: Blood was pouring from his neck. As officers tried to stem the flow of blood, he kicked out and fought them, saying such things as Leave me, I know what I have done.'

A police officer patrolling the towpath close to where Lee Peacock was arrested, on a barge on the Grand Union Canal in Greenford, west London, on Aug. 25, 2021. (Chris Summers/The Epoch Times)

Brown said Peacock underwent surgery to save his life and repair the wound and was then taken to a police station, where he refused to be interviewed in the usual fashion.

Instead he was interviewed by detectives in the doorway of his cell.

Brown said Peacockwho had been released from prison for an unrelated matter in June 2021said he killed Pickles after arguing with her about a drug dealer called Scuilla who, he suspected, she had been sleeping with in exchange for drugs while he was in jail.

Defendant Said He Killed Girlfriend After She Laughed at Him

The prosecutor said: When he said he was going to kill Scuilla, Sharon started laughing at him, saying that he couldnt kill him. It really upset him that she was laughing at him.

Brown said Peacock sent a number of text messages to relatives on Aug. 18, 2021 in which he said he was in serious trouble and said, My hand has been forced after what I did last night.

In other text messages he said, My time on this earth is very limited and added: After this conversation you will never hear from me again. I will never be released from prison.

After killing Pickles, Peacock travelled to his parents home in northwest London, from whom he was estranged and had not seen for three years, said Brown.

Whenever he was questioned more closely, all he would do was play with a kitten he had brought with him in a rucksack, said Brown, who said Peacock went on to describe killing Pickles and drew a hand across his throat.

The prosecutor said his father tried to persuade him to give himself up and, after Peacock left, he called the police and told them what his son had said.

Peacock then phoned his father while police officers were at the house and one of them tried to persuade him to give himself up.

But Brown said that instead of surrendering to police, Peacock returned to the Lisson Grove area and murdered Ashmore.

Police tape seals off the towpath close to where Lee Peacock was arrested in Greenford, west London, on Aug. 25, 2021. (Chris Summers/The Epoch Times)

Accused Named 4 Others He Had Wanted to Kill

Brown said during the police interview Peacock said he wished that he had finished the job and named four people he wanted to killScuilla, Marcia Jones, and two other people, identified as Dana and Frank Smiley, all of whom he said had taken advantage of Pickles.

The prosecutor said Peacock called Scuilla and Dana black [expletives].

Peacock told police he had planned to killed Jones but he said he saw her with a 12-year-old girl and he did not want to kill her in front of the child.

Peacock told police: Its just Clint, hes unlucky  Marcia is very, very, very, very [expletive] lucky.

Brown said the defendant told police: I wanted Scuilla badly, I wanted Marcia badly, more I wanted Dana badly  they do not deserve to be on this earth, they are evil.

Referring to the police interviews, Brown said: What was not suggested by the defendant at any point, and will not be suggested on the defendants behalf here in this trial, is that he was in any way insane, or an automaton at the time, incapable of being mentally responsible for his actions, or in any way diminished in law in his intention or his responsibility for his actions on each occasion.

The prosecutor said it would be unrealistic to accept the murders were acts of self-defence.

Brown added: You will understand that some explanations for his actions do not amount to any kind of defence, explanations such as anger and revenge do not amount to any kind of defence to the crime of murder.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.
Lots of Work Needed Before Ottawa Can Finalize Provincial Health-Care Funding Deal, Says Minister

Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos rises during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Oct. 31, 2022. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says theres lots of work to be done yet before the federal government can finalize its potential health-care funding increase to the provinces, which has been in the works for months.

[We need to] keep working very hard in the weeks to come because lots of work still needs to be done before we come to an agreement, Duclos told reporters on Jan. 17 in Cornwall, P.E.I.

Yes, were all looking forward to a final agreement at some point, but we are all very mindful that there is still lots of work to do before we get there.

Duclos added that one of the barriers to the federal government increasing health-care funding to the provinces is the damage caused by COVID-19 to the public system.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said previously that Ottawa would like to see certain reforms made to the health-care system before putting more federal investments into it.

Theres no point just putting more money into a broken system, Trudeau said on Nov. 7, 2022. We need to make sure that people can have access to a family doctor, that they have access to mental health services.

We will be there with more money, but we need to make sure that more investments in health care ends up supporting folks on the front lines; the nurses and doctors delivering that health care to Canadians.

Trudeaus previous comments came shortly before Duclos outlined some of the federal governments conditions for increasing health-care funding to the provinces.

Duclos said on Nov. 9 that Ottawa would increase the funding if provinces and territories would commit to a meaningful expansion in the sharing and use of common key health indicators and the use of a world-class health data system.

Conditions

Some of the conditions that Duclos outlined on Jan. 17 for increased federal health-care funding to the provinces included creating easier access to family health teams and investing more in mental health services.

Reducing backlogs in surgeries and diagnostics was another condition, along with retaining  recruiting, and recognizing the credentials of health care workers.

Another requirement is making sure we have a modern health-care system in Canada, Duclos said, adding that medical records must be made available in electronic forms so that health-care workers can work collaboratively.

He also said the electronic medical records would help experts and leaders improve medical care quality through the use of the data.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on Jan. 10 that her province will be reforming its health-care system whether or not the federal government increases funding.

I cant stop doing reform because the federal government doesnt want to partner with us, Smith said. Its great if [the government] comes to the table with more funding support, but were not going to stop with the reforms that were doing.

Some premiers, including Smith, have maintained calls for federal funding without conditions.
Luxury Giant LVMH Hits 400 Billion Euro in Market Value

A logo of LVMH at its exhibition space, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris on June 15, 2022. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)

MILANLVMH shares rose to a fresh record high on Tuesday, giving the luxury goods group a market capitalization of 400 billion euros ($434 billion) for the first time and cementing its lead as Europes most valuable company.

Like other luxury companies which are heavily exposed to China, LVMH has benefited this year from the fast reopening of the worlds second-biggest economy. However, some analysts said further gains in the share price could become harder to achieve.

Lets say Im waiting for 500 billion to mark it down as a milestone, said Angelo Meda, head of equities and portfolio manager at Banor SIM in Milan.

They are firing their last cartridge which is the Chinese reopening, going forward things will get tougher: tough comparisons, dollar going down, he added.

The shares rose as much as 0.4 percent to a lifetime high of 795.7 euros, which gave the group a market value slightly above 400 billion euros, according to Reuters calculations based on Refintiv data. They had reversed course to stand 0.5 percent lower by 0846 GMT.

Earlier this month, LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault reshuffled top management at the group, tightening his familys grip with the appointment of his daughter Delphine to lead Christian Dior, and naming a new boss for Louis Vuitton.

($1 = 0.9236 euros)
Made in China Continues to Lose Momentum as Pandemic Disrupts Supply Chain

Manufacturers look to reduce sourcing from China

A delivery driver organizes packages outside a depot in Beijing, China, on Dec. 21, 2022. The current outbreak of COVID-19 in China has caused disruptions in the supply chain as workers fall ill. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

An analysis released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) on Jan. 6 suggests that Chinas current COVID-19 outbreak is slowing the global supply chains return to a normal range and negatively impacting neighboring trade partners.

The FRBNY first released its Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (GSCPI), a measure of global supply chain conditions, in January 2021.

The GSCPI integrates transportation cost data with manufacturing industry indicators, such as Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data on supplier delivery times, backlogs, and raw material inventories. It focuses on manufacturing in seven economies: China, the United States, the UK, the Eurozone, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan.

The more the GSCPI value deviates positively from the multi-year average, the greater the pressure on the global supply chain.

The Jan. 6 report, entitled Global Supply Chain Pressure Index: The China Factor, analyzes GSCSI readings through December 2022 and looks at Chinas impact on the global supply chain.

According to the report, in the past, when supply chain conditions in China tightened, the rest of the worlds supply chain also tightened. Over the past three years of the pandemic, the GSCPI standard deviation reached a positive peak of 4.3 at the end of 2021 and then dropped sharply; in March 2022, the GSCPI standard deviation dropped to a positive 2.8 but rose again in April due to the impact of Chinas zero-COVID policy and the RussiaUkraine war.

The report aims to examine the impact of Chinas response to the current outbreak on the global supply chain. It notes a novel development in recent months: namely, that conditions in China are apparently impacting global supply conditions less than in the past. It suggests that this could be attributed to higher herd immunization rates in developed countries as well as less restrictive pandemic control measures.

However, the analysis points out, Chinas National Bureau of Statistics publishes its own, alternative PMI index, which shows a very large worsening of supplier delivery times. The discrepancy between the two indices raises an important watchpoint for Chinas impact on the global supply chain in the coming months.

Chinas Manufacturing PMI Continues to Weaken

On Jan. 1, Chinas Bureau of Statistics released the December operating conditions of Chinas PMI.

Of the five sub-indices of Chinas manufacturing PMI, its seasonally adjusted Supplier Delivery Time Index showed the longest period of decline, starting in July of 2022 and continuing for six months. It fell below the critical point of 50 percent in August, dropped further to 46.7 percent in November, and then plunged 6.6 percent to 40.1 percent in December. Decembers number was 20 percent lower than Julys.

These indicators all point to lengthening delivery times for suppliers of raw materials to the manufacturing industry.

The official explanation from the CCP was that a shortage of logistics and transportation manpower caused by the pandemic resulted in longer delivery times.

Since early December, when the Chinese regime suddenly reversed its pandemic policies, China has been crippled by an outbreak of COVID-19 that has nearly collapsed hospitals and funeral homes.

The pandemic has left many workers unable to go to work. For example, according to the official website of Cixi, an industrial center in eastern Chinas Zhejiang Province, on Jan. 6 only 30 percent of the employees at a large tech company in the city were able to go to work, while 70 percent were unable to work because of COVID-19. The company said that it will strive to resume full production capacity by the end of February.

Impact of Current Chinese Outbreak on Australia

Australias Treasury Minister Jim Chalmers said in an interview with Sydneys 2GB radio station on Jan. 3 that Chinas current pandemic policy will affect Australia and its supply chain. Chalmers listed China as one of the top five factors that will affect Australias economic situation in 2023, along with the United States, the UK, the EU, and the RussiaUkraine war.

On the issue of adjusting Australias supply chain, Chalmers said Australia has made a good start on making its supply chain more flexible, but it will not happen overnight. Dr. Richard Dennis, economist and executive director of The Australian Institute, told the ABC (Australia) that as the global supply chain is threatened by the worsening pandemic in China, it is foreseeable that Australia will experience a supply chain shortfall.

Current affairs commentator Ma Xianghong told The Epoch Times on Jan. 9: Australias dependence on the Chinese economy makes it difficult to sustain a loss or disruption in the supply chain. Still, if the Australian government can resolve to break away from that dependence and gradually diversify supply from the Chinese market, it will benefit the country and the people in the long run.

Ma further explained: On the surface, the losses will be greater in China than in Australia. China is not as strong as it seemsthe regime is unstable, the food crisis, the unpredictable policies, and so on. So with the world moving away from the Chinese economy and creating new supply chains or building their own, it should not be difficult for Australia to source supplies from other countries.

However, David Bassanese, chief economist at Australian company BetaShares, told The Australian on Jan. 5 that Australia could face a shortage of chemicals and machinery but is likely to avoid a widespread supply chain disruption caused by the Chinese pandemic. According to Bassanese, it is an overreaction to say that the Chinese pandemic will lead to shortages of some of Australias key commodities, as the imports that could be affected are a relatively small part of the Australian economy.

Chinas Role in Global Marketplace Declines

The new export order index for Chinese manufacturing fell to 41.6 percent in April 2022, its lowest number since June 2020; it subsequently rebounded but fell again to 44.2 percent at the end of the year, reaching its second lowest level since June 2020.

According to Ma: Chinas foreign trade exports have fallen, mainly due to the difficulty in delivering domestic orders on time and the shift of international orders to Southeast Asia, which has had a greater impact on Chinese exporters. At the same time, the return of the U.S.-led manufacturing industry has led to a structural decline in Chinas exports to the United States, and as countries come to see what the CCP is doing, mutual trust is becoming difficult to repair, which will affect the global supply chain.

Jeffrey Gundlach, founder of the U.S. investment firm DoubleLine Capital, told Nikkei Asia in a recent interview that post-pandemic, the new normal will include an increase of nationalism among the worlds economies. Although the trend has been to rely on China for cheap imports, that reliance may change.

In mid-November of 2022, Nikkei Asia surveyed 100 major Japanese manufacturing companies about the Chinese supply chain, receiving responses from 79 companies. Among them, 78 percent believed that the risk of sourcing parts and components from China had increased over the prior six months. Fifty-three percent said they would reduce their sourcing from China, with the main candidates to replace Chinas industrial chain being Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Kenneth Rogoff, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and professor at Harvard University, said in a recent interview with Nikkei Asia, Chinas role will decline, and the influence of other Asian countries such as Indonesia, South Korea, and Japan will increase.
Although legend attributes its origins to hearty soldier's fare, this traditional Uzbek dish of rice, meat, and spices can be put to better use

Plov is a hearty and meaty rice-based meal from Central Asia. The dish is widely considered the progenitor of rice pilaf and a cousin to paella. Native to present-day Uzbekistan, plov has spread throughout the former Soviet republic, where it varies by region. Some renditions include chickpeas. Azerbaijani plov contains dried fruit. Ukrainian plov often is made with chicken.

But every plov will include carrots, onions, garlic, and some kind of meat. Its traditionally prepared in a large, shallow pan called a kazan. A heavy wok, large frying pan, or Dutch oven is probably the closest approximation that most of us have in the kitchen.

Legend has it that Alexander the Great commissioned the worlds first batch of plov as a way to feed his soldiers once in the morning, and keep them nourished and strong all day. Like many myths, it contains elements of truth. Plov does fill you up and keep you satisfied, and can be made in batches large enough to feed an army. But I believe plov has potential for peacemaking instead.

I first learned how to make plov at a dinner party hosted by a group of Uzbek businessmen who were visiting my hometown. They drank tea and murmured peacefully in the kitchen as they slowly prepared their dish, filling the house with the aroma of cumin, coriander, bay leaves, garlic, and meat.

The plov-makers made it clear that its preparation is mans work. I asked why women cant make it.

If a woman wants to eat plov, one of them explained patiently, she must order her husband or her brother to make it. That way, she can eat with pleasure. If you want to eat something that is prepared perfectly, you must have the master prepare it. Man is the master of plov.

The party was full of nationals from many former Soviet countries with names ending in -stan, such as Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. These folks had strong opinions on plov. One guest from Tajikistan told me she thought women wouldnt add enough meat if they were in charge of the plov.

If were going to mess with gender stereotypes, its worth pointing out that most wars are planned and orchestrated by men. Given that reality, getting the menfolk to drink tea and make plov, rather than war, might not be the worst idea. If only Russian and Ukrainian diplomats could hang out together around a simmering kazan of plov, talking quietly as the rice, meat, and spices work their way toward a balance, they could find a way toward a peaceful end to their conflict.

If men can make plov together, they can make peace together.

Plov varies from region to region, and welcomes adaptations in your own kitchen, too. (Dzmitry Held/Shutterstock)

Plov

This recipe makes a basic plov. Consider it a point of departure for the creation of your own personal version. Feel free to im-plov-ise.

Lamb or mutton are the traditional meats of choice for plov, because their strong flavors can stand up to the cumin, coriander, and other spices. For this reason, I often use deer meat, which is similarly flavorful. Beef and chicken can make decent plovs, but the flavors of these renditions are more subtle, less bold.

Serves 6

1 to 2 pounds of lamb, as fatty as possible, diced

3 tablespoons olive oil (unless the lamb is really, really fatty)

2 cups long-grain rice, preferably jasmine or basmati

1 tablespoon crushed or powdered cumin

1 tablespoon crushed or powdered coriander

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons salt, or more to taste

3 large carrots, cut into chunks

1 large onion, halved and sliced

2 heads garlic, left whole with the tops lopped off

4 bay leaves

1 cup red wine

Brown the lamb in the olive oil in a wok, Dutch oven, or large frying pan. While the meat browns, wash the rice in a bowl by filling it with water, stirring, and dumping the water. Rinse and repeat until the water runs clear.

When the meat has browned, mix in the cumin, coriander, black pepper, and salt. Add the carrots, onions, garlic heads, bay leaves, and wine, and stir them together. Saute slowly, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and the carrots are soft. Add the rice and mix it all together. Add about 2 cups of water, until there is about a half-inch or so covering the rice.

Cover the plov and simmer over medium heat until the rice is soft. Be ready to add more water if the pan dries out before the rice is fully cooked.

Let the plov sit, or rest, for about 30 minutes with the lid on before serving. This lets the flavors settle and come to balance with one another, and allows for the moisture to distribute itself evenly. As you serve it, break apart the garlic heads and distribute the soft cloves, so every serving includes a couple.
Man Who Rescued 24 People During Buffalo Blizzard Gifted Super Bowl Tickets

Screenshot of Jay Withey from surveillance video from Pine Hill School in Cheektowaga, New York, on Dec. 24, 2022. (Courtesy of Cheektowaga Police Department)

Jay Withey, who helped save 24 people last month during a snowstorm in Buffalo, New York, was rewarded for his actions on Friday with tickets to the upcoming Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

Retired Bills running back Thurman Thomas and his wife, Patricia Thomas, surprised Withey at work with two tickets to Super Bowl LVII on behalf of the Buffalo Bills and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York.

He rescued 24 people from their cars during the Buffalo blizzard and sheltered them in a nearby school.@ThurmanThomas, @PThomas3434, and @BCBSWNY thanked Jay Withey for his acts of heroism with two tickets to Super Bowl LVII!  pic.twitter.com/ftHmXcRkzZ  Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 13, 2023

We love you. We know what you did on Christmas Eve was very heroic and you are our hero, Thurman Thomas said. The Bills and Highmark want to present you with these tickets to go watch the Super Bowl.

We just want to say thank you for all you did and we love you. Buffalo loves you, buddy, Patti Thomas said. Youre a hero to us and to everyone else.

The local hero was shocked at the number of people who reached out to him after he was identified as the man behind Merry Christmas Joe.

I cant believe the amount of reach out I got, Withey said. I got thank you letters from AustraliaI cant believe how far it got but it was wild.

Im speechless, honestly. This is wild, he added of the Super Bowl surprise.

Withey was among a group of people trapped in their cars during the blizzard. On Christmas Eve, he broke into a school building to find shelter and gathered two dozen others who were stranded outside.

The 27-year-old mechanic left a note of apology in the school for damaging school property and explained that he had to take drastic action to keep everyone safe.

A letter signed Jay posted on Cheektowaga Police Departments Facebook page. (Courtesy of Cheektowaga Police Department)

Im terribly sorry about breaking the school window [and] for breaking in the kitchen, Withey wrote.

Got stuck at 8 p.m. Friday and slept in my truck with two strangers. Just trying not to die. There were 7 elderly people also stuck and out of fuel. I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter and food and a bathroom.

Police later found Withey and thank him. He definitely saved some lives that day, Cheektowaga police chief Brian Gould said.

Withey told CNN, You get into to that kind of situation, you have to think about yourself, think about others.

Its just a matter of survival and just doing the right thing and being respectful.

Buffalo is a city of good neighbors, great neighbors actually, he added. Were all just a big family. Everyone just sticks together and were resilient. You cant put us down.
Martin Luther King Jr. Would Be Appalled by Modern US Race Relations: Carol Swain

As Americans observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, retired Vanderbilt University professor and author Carol Swain expressed concern over the current state of U.S. race relations and civil rights.

In an interview with NTD News, Swain said that Kings approach and message on civil rights was diametrically opposed to the views and behaviors of modern-day civil rights activists.

King was known for his support of civil disobedience and non-violent activism as a means of winning over support. King famously helped organize boycotts and sit-ins, as well as the 1963 March on Washington D.C., in which he delivered his I Have a Dream speech. Less than a year after that march on Washington D.C., Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, and sex, and religion.

The beauty of the civil rights movement was that it brought people together across racial, ethnic national lines. It was a moment that America should be that America should be proud of, because we did come together. And we made a decision about what type of nation we wanted to become. And we passed three major civil rights acts, and all of that was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, which you cannot separate from Dr. King, Swain said.

In spite of the advances in civil rights and race relations that took place as a result of Kings activism, Swain said the United States has moved backward on these issues since.

Related Coverage Using Racial Justice to Destroy the Nation Will Not Raise Black Communities From Poverty: Bob Woodson

I believe that [King] would be appalled at the behaviors of some in the black community, not just the leaders, you know, that have become so radical. But the black-on-black violence, the abortion rate thats really genocidal, Swain said.

Advocates Now Promote Ideas of White Elites

Swain described a number of the criticisms she has with the modern civil rights movement. The author said that activists today have begun to move away from the values and ideas that King promoted.

What happened was that out of the civil rights movementyou know, of course, activists became involvedthe Republican Party itself pushed for racial quotas, Swain said. But that was never Dr. Kings request.

It was never the request of the black civil rights leadersthat came from white elites. And so gradually, our race relations in America has just declined and deteriorated to the point that were moving backwards, not forward.

Swain added that the demands of the Black Lives Matter movement and Antifa have nothing in common with Dr. Martin Luther King and his vision.

Kings Vision Not About Wokeness and Marxism

Swain said that modern civil rights activism is being dominated by a certain style of wokeness that King would not have favored.

Its counter-American. I mean, its not just Dr. King. Its not what America is about, she said.

Swain said that by deconstructing wokeness, you get to cultural Marxism. And you deconstruct cultural Marxism, you get to economic Marxism.

She said that Marxism and communism have throughout their history, only offered a false promise of utopia. Instead of a utopia, its always brought death and degradation, degradation of people.

Throughout his writings, King did describe reading about communism and provided his criticisms of the political theory. King also shared criticisms of the rival theory of capitalism.

In a 1967 speech for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King said, Communism forgets that life is individual. Capitalism forgets that life is social. And the kingdom of brotherhood is found neither in the thesis of communism nor the antithesis of capitalism, but in a higher synthesis.

Swain said she believes that King was sincere and he believed in that humanity and innate goodness.

She also compared King to the founding fathers of the United States.

Dr. King, like every human being in America  and I, claim the founding fathers as my Founding Fathers too. I mean, these were not perfect men but these were people [who] had a vision. And they were bigger than their vision. And what they accomplished was much bigger than the individual, Swain said.

Swain also called on young people to be wary of the ideas underpinning much of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

These are failed theories. They will not bring about racial reconciliation and healing. Theyre very destructive to race relations and the best that we can do is to respect each other as human beings in the image of God and the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,' Swain said.

And so what were doing out there, were destroying peoples lives. All the marching, all the complaining, all the pushing for socialism; thats not going to help people live better lives.

And so for the young people, wake up. Youre not woke, youre being deceived.

From NTD News
McCarthySchumer Working Relationship Already Strained

US House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (L) attends a meeting with US President Joe Biden (R) and other Congressional Leaders to discuss legislative priorities through the end of 2022, at the White House in Washington on Nov. 29, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

News Analysis

Working relations between Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are already strained as the two leaders are set to take on key issues that will require bipartisan efforts, including upcoming negotiations on how to handle the U.S. national debt and the impending debt ceiling.

Both leaders have raised challenges on how the other branch of congress handles its agenda.

In a Jan. 12 op-ed, McCarthy touted several of the bills and resolutions that have already passed in the Republican-majority House since he was elected as its speaker. McCarthy wrote about how the House passed a bill to repeal funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, and passed a rules package that included the formation of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government.

In his op-ed, McCarthy said that the House also promised the Senate that the days of last-minute, trillion-dollar omnibus packages are over, appearing to reference the $1.7 trillion omnibus Congress voted on mere hours after the bill was introduced, and passed largely along partisan lines in the House when it was controlled by Democrats in December.

A group of about 20 Republicans opposed McCarthys bid for the speakership until he made several concessions, many of which related to how the Republican-majority body will handle debt and spending. Among those provisions is a rule that sets up a separate vote for any time Congress wants to raise the debt ceiling, and a cut-as-you-go measure that prohibits the House from considering legislation that increases mandatory spending within a five-year or ten-year budget window. The rules package also imposes a 72-hour wait period before the House can vote on a new bill.

In his Jan. 13 Dear Colleague letter, Schumer wrote that the Senate will look for opportunities to reach across the aisle and work in a bipartisan way but shared doubts about the current direction of the House under McCarthys leadership.

Unfortunately, what weve seen this week from House Republicans is more chaos and ultra MAGA proposals, Schumer wrote. I want to work with Speaker McCarthy to get things done, but so far, House Republicans have been focused on delivering for wealthy special interests and the extreme wing of their party.

Schumer Accuses House GOP of Creating Conspiracy Committee

In his letter, Schumer appeared to describe the new House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government as a conspiracy committee to undermine and threaten law enforcement.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the new chair of the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the new select subcommittee, has defended its formation by citing the Department of Justice launching investigations against parents protesting at school board meetings, and the FBI paying Twitter in excess of $3 million as the agency referred Twitter to user content that the social media website censored.

Schumer said this conspiracy committee is showing that the Republican House majority is more interested in defending January 6th insurrectionists and carrying water for the disgraced former president than protecting democracy.

Schumer also criticized recent Republican House bills on abortion. Last week, the House passed a bill requiring healthcare practitioners to provide medical care to newborns that survive an attempted abortion and a resolution condemning arson and violence against pro-life organizations.

House Republicans continued their all-out assault on womens health, proposing legislation that once again shows they are hell-bent on enacting a nationwide abortion ban, Schumer wrote. Their extreme views are dangerously out of touch with mainstream America, and Senate Democrats will ensure women will have their health care strengthened, not undermined.

McCarthy, Schumer Dont Have Much of a Relationship

Congressional aides and strategists who spoke with The Hill recently, have said Schumer and McCarthy dont have much of a working relationship. While he has been a House minority leader, McCarthy is new to the speakership and thus has never lead the House opposite Schumers Senate leadership.

Theres been no reason up until now for them to have a relationship, Rodell Mollineau, a Democratic strategist and former aide to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told The Hill.

McCarthy, who had to go through 15 rounds of votes to win enough support from Republican holdouts for his speakership, may not want to be seen turning around to form a strong positive relationship with Schumer.

Openly and publicly having a good relationship with Schumer doesnt help him, Mollineau said.

While McCarthy doesnt appear to have much communication with Schumer, Republican congressional aides have told The Hill that McCarthy does meet regularly with Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Debt Ceiling Could Test Their Ties

The U.S. debt ceiling could be the first major test of McCarthys working relationship with Schumer and whether the Republican-controlled House can work with the Democrat-led Senate.

On Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States could hit its debt ceiling this week, forcing Congress to either raise that limit or take extraordinary measures (pdf) to avoid defaulting on the governments obligations. If the government cant meet its obligations it may see its credit rating downgraded.

From NTD News
Midwives Sue Iowa Over Law Allowing Hospitals to Veto New Childbirth Facilities

Emily Zambrano-Andrews (left) and Caitlin Hainley (right) of the Des Moines Midwife Collective in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Pacific Legal Foundation)

Two longtime midwives are suing Iowa over a state law that they say unconstitutionally discriminates against their profession, preventing them from opening a freestanding birth center that would compete against local hospitals.

The midwives claim that the states certificate of need (CON) process is unconstitutional and gives established businesses, particularly hospitals, a so-called competitors veto preventing them from opening a proper care facility. At present, they use their clients own homes or other locations pre-arranged by clients, including hotel rooms, short-term rentals, or friends houses for childbirths.

Critics point out that midwives are ill-suited to handle high-risk pregnancies or serious complications that may take place during childbirth. If things go wrong, the patient will have to seek emergency care from a health care provider with whom she may not be familiar.

But birth centers are popular among women with low-risk pregnancies. Theyre generally small businesses or nonprofits run by certified nurse midwives, providing pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and postpartum care. The centers compete with hospitals and have lower costs, greater autonomy, and a home-like atmosphere; are compatible with personal or religious values; and are a safe option for both mother and child, according to Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a national public interest law firm thats representing the midwives.

Home birth is a lawful option in all 50 states, but in Iowa, anyone wishing to open a birth center must first go through a complex, lengthy, and expensive CON process to demonstrate that its needed in the community.

Prospective birth centers also require permission from their direct competitors, the most important of which are hospitals.

Certified nurse midwives Emily Zambrano-Andrews and Caitlin Hainley run a home birth practice called the Des Moines Midwife Collective that allows women to give birth safely and comfortably outside of a hospital setting. Both attended Frontier Nursing University, became doctors of nursing practice, and attained full licensure as certified nurse midwives.

The Midwife Collective is Des Moiness only home birth service thats insured and accepts insurance, including Medicaid, which allows it to charge out-of-pocket rates as low as $1,500. By contrast, the only physical birth center in the state charges upward of $10,000, according to PLF.

Several studies have shown that CON laws dont increase the quality of patient care or the availability of health services and simply force the public to pay more for childbirth services than they would in a state without a CON law, according to the petition filed with the court.

The two women have been delivering babies as certified nurse midwives for almost 10 years together and want to open a modest two- to five-bed center, PLF attorney Jim Manley told The Epoch Times.

But the state of Iowas CON process is very expensive and takes many months, he said.

What has happened in the past is hospitals who feel like birth centers are potential competitors have opposed certificates of need for birth centers and prevented pretty much anyone from opening, Manley said.

There has only been one freestanding birth center in Iowa, and it recently closed. So currently, Iowa has no freestanding birth centers, in large part because of this certificate of need requirement that allows competitors to veto new entrants into the market.

The law violates the U.S. Constitution and the Iowa Constitution, which is very protective of the right to pursue ones lawful calling, according to the lawyer.

The petition (pdf) in Des Moines Midwife Collective v. Iowa Health Facilities Council was filed on Jan. 12 in the Iowa District Court for Polk County. The council is a five-member body appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Iowa Senate. Members serve six-year terms. The state provides administrative support for the council.

Right now, if someone wants to have a home birth but doesnt live in the Des Moines area, what they do is they rent an Airbnb [residence] or a hotel room and give birth there and thats perfectly legal under Iowa law, but its not ideal, Manley said.

What would be ideal is for these expectant mothers to have the option to go to a birth center, which will ultimately just be a house that has been converted to have the very few amenities that a midwife needs to facilitate natural childbirth. But the state prohibits that in order to protect Iowa hospitals from competition.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services for comment. Spokesperson Sarah Ekstrand wrote in an emailed response that the department does not comment on pending litigation.
Milley Confirms Ukrainian Forces Begin Expanded US Military Training

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 3, 2022. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. militarys new combat training of Ukrainian forces started in Germany this week, according to Gen. Mark Milley, who said that the goal is to get a battalion of 500 soldiers back in Ukraine to fight Russian troops.

Milley, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the training and new weapons will be key to helping the countrys forces take back territory that has been captured by Russia in the nearly 11-month-old war. And on Monday, Milley visited Ukrainians training with American troops in Germany, according to videos and photos.

This support is really important for Ukraine to be able to defend itself, Milley said. And were hoping to be able to pull this together here in short order.

While in Germany, he told the Washington Post that the training is not a run-of-the-mill rotation. He added, This is one of those moments in time where if you want to make a difference, this is it.

Elaborating, Milley said that it would take a bit of time to have the newly trained Ukrainian soldiers be combat-ready and on the battlefield. It will take five, six, seven, eight weeks, who knows, he said.

The goal, he said, is for all the incoming weapons and equipment to be delivered to Ukraine so that the newly trained forces will be able to use it sometime before the spring rains show up. That would be ideal.

A spokesperson for Milley said the training is an extension of a 2014 training regimen that the United States provided to Ukrainian troops. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula that year following a protest-turned-revolution that toppled a Russia-friendly government in Kyiv.

The urgency was clear, Col. David Butler told the Washington Post. These soldiers are going off to defend their country in combat.

The program will include classroom instruction and fieldwork that will begin with small squads and gradually grow to involve larger units. It will culminate with a more complex combat exercise bringing an entire battalion and a headquarters unit together.

Until now, the U.S. focus has been on providing Ukrainian forces with more immediate battlefield needs, particularly on how to use the wide array of Western weapons systems pouring into the country.

Ukrainian servicemen fire a 130 mm towed field gun M-46 on a front line near Soledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, in this handout image released on Nov. 10, 2022. (Iryna Rybakova/Press Service of the 93rd Independent Kholodnyi Yar Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)

The United States has already trained more than 3,100 Ukrainian troops on how to use and maintain certain weapons and other equipment, including howitzers, armored vehicles, and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS. Other nations are also conducting training on the weapons they provide.

Milley said the United States was doing this type of training prior to the Russian invasion last February. But once the war began, U.S. National Guard and special operations forces that were doing training inside Ukraine all left the country. This new effort, which is being done by U.S. Army Europe Africas 7th Army Training Command, will be a continuation of what they had been doing prior to the invasion. Other European allies are also providing training.

More Fighting

The new instruction comes as Ukrainian forces face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where the Russian military has claimed it has control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting in the area, but if Moscows troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.

Theyre getting hit every few weeks with really significant attacks, and theyre attacks on the civilian infrastructure, Milley told the Post. The Russians are consciously, as a matter of policy, attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure. That in of itself is a war crime.

Russia also launched a widespread barrage of missile strikes, including in Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the reported death toll in one apartment building rose to 30.

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told German news outlet Handelsblatt on Sunday that its likely more heavy warfare equipment will be sent by Western nations to Ukraine in the near future.

We are in a decisive phase of the war, Stoltenberg added, according to a translation. Therefore, it is important that we provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Moderna and regulatory agencies did not present clinical data on bivalent shots at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) committee meetings in June and September 2022, respectively.

Presentations to the FDA and CDC advisory committee excluded data from Modernas own clinical study that showed bivalent boosters may be no better at preventing infections than previous booster shots.

The data showed that among people who were never infected, 3.2 percent who took the bivalent booster got infected afterward, while 1.9 percent who took the monovalent booster were later infected.

Advisors to the FDA and CDC expressed concerns of lack of transparency.

Dr. William Schaffner from Vanderbilt University, a nonvoting member of the CDC advisory committee, said that he was disappointed that the data were not presented.

I think in the interests of transparency, those data should have been presented, Schaffner said, though they were very limited, and early data.

FDA advisor and a professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of California San Diego, Dr. Mark Sawyer, said that he understands peoples concern with the data being excluded, but not all information can be presented.

The committee has limited time, so the information presented must be relevant to the big picture.

Seeing that data would not have changed my opinion about the outcome, said Sawyer, and it would certainly have distracted from the discussion.

The four advisors for the FDA and CDC who were contacted by The Epoch Times agreed that if the data were presented, it may have prolonged the discussion, but would not have changed the voting outcomes.

Both the FDAs Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) meeting and the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meeting approved Moderna bivalent boosters.

The excluded data come out of a Moderna study with 772 participants. The study compared bivalent boosters containing mRNA components of the original and the BA.1 Omicron strain against the original Wuhan-strain booster.

The study primarily investigated the safety and immunogenicity of boosters, but also looked into the infection and reactogenicity of the subjects.

Immunogenicity, the focus of the study, is defined as the ability of the vaccine to trigger an immune response. Though the study authors reiterated that the trial does not examine vaccine efficacy, the authors acknowledged that immunogenicity has been used to infer efficacy.

Three days before the FDA VRBPAC meeting on June 28, 2022, Moderna published the study as a preprint, and in September, published the study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

Both the preprint and peer-reviewed study included data on immunogenicity, safety, reactogenicity, as well as infection.

Modernas spokesman Christopher Ridley also told CNN that the company shared the infection data with the FDA and published the study before the FDA panel meeting.

At the VRBPAC meeting, Moderna president Stephen Hoge made several references to the studys immunogenicity data, which showed that people who took the bivalent shots had a higher antibody level than those who took the monovalent booster, as an argument for the bivalent boosters superiority.

Hoge also made references to the same studys data on safety and reactogenicity, but infection rates were excluded.

The FDAs documents provided to the committee panel on the same day, also referenced the studys data on immunogenicity, safety, and reactogenicity, yet the infection data were similarly excluded.

According to CNN, the FDA spokesman explained in an email that the data on infection were not included, as the FDA received the preprint less than a day prior to the advisory committee meeting, and generally the FDA only discusses data at advisory committee meetings that the agency has had the opportunity to substantively review.

This means that the FDA could review the studys data on immunogenicity, safety, and reactogenicity, but had no opportunity to examine infection data.

VRBPAC member and professor of microbiology and immunology from the University of Iowa, Dr. Stanley Perlman, said that with the absence of these data, there is always the concern that the public will lose trust in the health care system.

At the end of the meeting, the VRBPAC committee ruled in favor of using the Omicron variants mRNA in boosters to produce the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines in a 19-2 motion.

It is worth noting that by the time of the FDA committee meeting, the BA.1 strain of the Omicron variant was no longer dominant.

Though the presentations referenced data on bivalent boosters composed of the BA.1 and Wuhan mRNA components, the boosters that were later FDA-emergency authorized contained BA.4 and BA.5 components rather than BA.1.

None of the presentations on Moderna boosters contained clinical data on participants who were inoculated with BA.4/BA.5 bivalent boosters.

The CDCs meeting with members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on Sep. 1, 2022, presented by Moderna staff Dr. Jacqueline Miller, also excluded data on infection rates in the presentation (pdf).

Hours into the CDC meeting, voting member of the ACIP Dr. Sybil Cineas asked whether there were any data on breakthrough infections between two experimental groups.

Miller said that between the overall cohort of people who received the bivalent vaccine, the infection rate was 2.5 percent, and for the monovalent group, the rate of 2.4 percent.

However, she failed to mention that for people who never had a previous infection, 3.2 percent of those who took the bivalent vaccine became infected, while 1.9 percent of subjects who took the monovalent developed an infection.

The ACIP members approved Moderna bivalent boosters being made available to people aged 18 and over in a 13-1 vote.

Signage outside of the FDA headquarters in White Oak, Md., on Aug. 29, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Limitations of Study

Dr. Cody Meissner, a VRBPAC member and a professor in the division of infectious diseases and international health from Dartmouth Health Childrens, also pointed out that the infection data came out of a non-randomized and non-blinded study.

This introduces the risk of bias into the study, as those assigned to bivalent or monovalent boosters were not based on random chance, and trial administrators would know what booster participants received.

While this possibly discounts the significance of the data on infection rates, it can also affect the validity of the findings on immunogenicity, safety, and reactogenicity.

Biochemist and mRNA platform inventor Dr. Robert Malone raised the point that immunogenicity data that only look at antibody levels are not good surrogate measures for vaccine efficacy.

Antibody levels are also not a good measure of immunity, as antibodies will and should wane with time. The long-term immunity they provide is therefore unknown.

It is also unconfirmed if the antibodies produced are neutralizing antibodies that can block the virus and spike proteins, or if they may actually prevent the immune system from killing and controlling the virus, a scenario known as antibody-dependent enhancement.

Moderna vaccine syringes lay on a table at a COVID-19 vaccine drive-through clinic at Richardson Stadium in Kingston, Ont., Canada, on May 28, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Lars Hagberg)

Increasing Scrutiny of Bivalent Boosters

Bivalent boosters have come under increasing scrutiny for their rapidly declining effectiveness.

A December 2022 preprint study on bivalent vaccines, authored by the Cleveland Clinic, found that the higher the number of previous vaccinations, the greater the risk of contracting COVID-19.

In a letter to the editor (pdf) published in the NEJM, researchers from Columbia University compared antibody serum responses among people who received bivalent boosters, monovalent boosters, and those who were infected.

The authors found that there was no significant difference in neutralizing abilities among these groups when tested against Omicron and other variants.

Dr. Paul Offit, an advisor on the VRBPAC committee who voted against bivalent boosters at the meeting, also published a commentary, saying that young and healthy people shouldnt get the latest boosters.

I believe we should stop trying to prevent all symptomatic infections in healthy, young people by boosting them with vaccines containing mRNA from strains that might disappear a few months later, wrote Offit, also an FDA vaccine panel adviser and professor of pediatrics at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, in the NEJM on Jan. 11, 2023.

In his article, Offit cited two studies suggesting that bivalent boosters, which target the original COVID-19 strain and two Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA. 5, do not elicit superior immune responses.

Why did the strategy for significantly increasing BA.4 and BA.5 neutralizing antibodies using a bivalent vaccine fail? he asked.

The most likely explanation is imprinting. The immune systems of people immunized with the bivalent vaccine, all of whom had previously been vaccinated, were primed to respond to the ancestral strain of SARS-CoV-2. They therefore probably responded to epitopes shared by BA.4 and BA.5 and the ancestral strain, rather than to new epitopes on BA.4 and BA.5.

Meissner, likewise, expressed that healthy people younger than 65 years of age may not need bivalent boosters.

We dont know  how many or how often boosters are necessary. And could there be consequences from giving multiple vaccine doses that we dont fully understand at this time?

A peer-reviewed study published on Jan. 12 in Germany also showed that people who received higher numbers of mRNA vaccines had a higher IgG4 antibody response. The authors did not further discuss what these antibody levels may indicate, but studies have associated IgG4 antibodies with immune tolerance, which is when the body reduces its immune response to fight off an infection.

People who had a previous infection or vaccination with the adenovirus COVID-19 vaccine had zero or low IgG4 antibody responses, respectively.

The Timing of Discovery of Excluded Data Is Dubious: Physicians

Retired clinical trialist and epidemiologist Dr. Andrew Bostom was skeptical of the timing of the discovery of the withheld data.

Why did it take so long to follow up on these findings? Bostom asked.

Bostom himself noticed the infection data signals when the study was published in the NEJM on Sep. 16, 2022, and posted his findings on his now-reactivated Twitter account.

Even before the FDAs announcement of emergency-use authorizations of the bivalent vaccines on Aug. 31, 2022, pharmacies and health centers were already being encouraged to take preorders for the bivalent boosters.

In many ways, the U.S. government was already committed. They already bought these before they knew the results, board-certified internist and cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough said.

McCullough argued that it is far too late to discuss the nuances of withheld data and immunogenicity, with increasing reports of vaccine injury and adverse events.

Meissner and Sawyer said that the VRBPAC committee is following the rapidly emerging research on the boosters and that there would be further discussion of all available data at the meeting on Jan. 26.

The FDA, CDC, and Moderna did not respond to requests for comment.
Moving in the Dead of Winter? A New Study Finds Its the Best Time for Bargains

An abandoned vehicle is left under heavy snow along a street in Buffalo, New York, on Dec. 25, 2022. (Joe Viera/AFP via Getty Images)

If you live in the Northeast or Midwest, the last thing you might want to do is head out in the freezing cold to hunt for a new apartment. However, a new study by Dwellsy indicates January and February are actually the best months of the year to secure discounts on rentals as well as moving expensesno matter where you live.

Ive been a landlord and a renter for much of my life, and I can tell you that in the wintertime, landlords are desperate to get their places rented, since there are way fewer people looking then, Jonas Bordo, the CEO and co-founder of national rental platform Dwellsy, told The Epoch Times. Sometimes, you can save as much as 10 percent on the monthly rents if you agree to move in during the winter.

Dwellsy, which says its the largest and most inclusive rental marketplace in the country, has more than 13 million residential listings for apartments, condominiums, or single-family homes

According to Bordo, vacancy is the biggest expense for landlords, and instead of allowing a property to sit, most are open to negotiating with renters, especially the smaller property owners or management firms. In addition to lower monthly costs, renters can also negotiate for things such as parking spaces, amenity fees, utility costs, or longer leases.

Dwellsys recent study found that rents typically peak in August and September, when most people start looking for a new place to live.

People tend to start looking in the spring, summer, and fall, but they forget about the winter, Bordo added.

Because winter is one of the least popular times to move, rents typically hit their lowest price point, before returning to the peak rates for summer and early fall.

One of the biggest secrets in the apartment rental industry is that rent levels are seasonal, Bordo said. In many markets, an apartment thats $1,000 in August might go for $900 in January. That will save you $1,200 over a year.

As a result of receiving that lower rent, Bordo said, renters can benefit year after year.

Chances are, youll be signing a 12-month lease, which means, when its time to renew, youll be starting the process in January. If you stick to this pattern, youll be lowering the big expense of rent for the long term.

Another advantage of winter relocation is less competition from other renters. Even in the warmer climates in the South and West, renters typically tend to avoid relocating just after the holidays.

Landlords also tend to be less busy during the winter and will have more time to show you the rental, so you dont have to rush through it, Bordo said.

Bordo noted that moving companies are generally less expensive in the winter, when business typically slows.

I know no one wants to carry boxes in icy weather, but movers can be dramatically cheaper in the winter, he said. During the winter months, movers also seem to have more openings on their calendars.

A moving van at work in New York City in the snow. (Courtesy of Piece of Cake Moving & Storage, NY)

Piece of Cake Moving & Storage, based in New York City, provides services throughout the greater New York metropolitan area, as well as nationwide. CEO Voyo Popovic told The Epoch Times that winter moves offer not only reduced rates but more booking availability as well.

Professional movers have plenty of experience moving safely in winters inclement weather and know how to navigate through colder conditions safely for you and your items, he said. However, you will need to anticipate the probability of travel delays due to traffic, road closures, and even serious winter weather.

Popovic said clients are also responsible for ensuring that the pickup and drop-off locations are safe.

During a winter move, the most pressing safety threats are snow and ice. Navigating a wide, heavy piece of furniture on a moving trolley down a narrow driveway is challenging enough in summer conditions, let alone when its covered in ice and narrowed by thick snow.

For larger moves, Popovic recommends using a professional mover, all of which are required to have a federal identification number from the U.S. Department of Transportation, which can be verified online. Customers should also check the moving firms insurance, including certificates of insurance, which are mandatory for many apartment or condo buildings, he added.

A recent U.S. Census Bureau report shows that rental vacancy rates in 40 states experienced a tighter rental market in 2021 with less rental housing available. In New Jersey, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, vacancy rates were 4 percent or lower at the end of 2021. However, 10 states in the Midwest and South had vacancy rates of 8.2 percent or higher. North Dakota had the highest vacancy rate, with 13.3 percent, and Alabama came in second, at 11.7 percent. The fast-growing areas in states such as Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and South Carolina showed declines of 8 percent or more in vacancy rates.

The National Mutli-Family Housing Council, part of the National Apartment Association (NAA), reports there are 21.3 million apartment homes nationwide occupied by 36.8 million residents. The organization estimates a need for 266,000 new apartments annually.

Apartment demand is growing, and the industry needs to keep up, the report states. However, producing enough new apartments to meet demand requires new development approaches, more incentives and fewer restrictions.

Every rental market experiences unique fluctuations and intricacies that shape conditions, including housing availability and demand, Nicole Ryan, NAA director of public affairs, told The Epoch Times. Whenever renters or potential renters begin the search for their new home, market conditions should be considered alongside budget, desired location, amenities, and other housing preferences.

No matter what time of year someone decides to move, Bordo recommends asking landlords a few simple questions such as: Who is responsible for apartment maintenance? What additional fees are involved? What, if any, utilities or parking spaces are included? Can I bring my pets? And are there quiet hours that need to be observed?

Potential renters also need to review the condition of the apartment, the age of the appliances, water pressure, locks, and sound from nearby apartments.

Remember, rentals can look very different from what model units or listing photos would have you believe, Bordo said.

Heading into 2023, Bordo said people will continue to relocate from the larger, higher-priced metro areas across the country.

I think were going to continue to see a trend of moves to resort-like small cities along the coast where the weather is warm, but the cost of living is still affordable, he said. With the persistence of remote work, a lot of people are now finding they can live anywhere in the country and theyll keep looking for their most affordable options.
N.S. Rally to Push for Health Care Reform Following ER Deaths of Two Women

A Nova Scotia woman is organizing a rally to call on the provincial government to improve the health-care system in response to the recent deaths of two women, who passed away after extensive wait times at local emergency departments.

Jennifer MacDonald, a resident of Sydney on Cape Breton Island, said she is organizing the rally out of fear that the tragedy that befell the two deceased women, Charlene Snow and Allison Holthoff, could happen to more Nova Scotians.

Im doing it because Im scared. Im scared for myself, scared for my family, my friends, and people on my island and my province, she told Global News.

(Nova Scotia Health Minister) Michelle Thompson has said that ER deaths are unacceptable, so I dont understand why were still accepting them, MacDonald added.

The rally, dubbed the March of Concern, is slated for Jan. 21 at 11 a.m., outside the Cape Breton city hall. Long Wait Times Snow, a 67-year-old woman, arrived at the emergency department of the Cape Breton Regional Hospital on Dec. 30, 2022, seeking treatment for jaw pain and flu-like symptoms. After waiting for seven hours, she was then told that the doctor couldnt see her until the next morning. Snow then called her husband to pick her up at the hospital to go home, but died within the hour.

This experience is shared by other Nova Scotians, said MacDonald, who recently took her mother-in-law to the ER at Cape Breton Regional Hospital due to some heart problems, reported Global News. After waiting roughly seven hours, MacDonald said her mother-in-law gave up and left. While waiting, she said they had encountered someone they knew, who had been waiting about eight hours. Another woman that was there  was trying to get some attention to use the washroom because she was not able to get there herself. And after asking four times, this woman urinated herself, MacDonald said. Holthoff, the 37-year-old woman who passed away on New Years Eve, waited for more than six hours to get receive medical attention after arriving at the emergency room of the Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre (CHRCC) in Amherst, Nova Scotia. Suffering from severe stomach pain, Holthoff had curled up in the fetal position on a blanket on the hospital floor at one point, but still didnt receive much response from medical staff, according to her husband, Grunter Holthoff. Families Call for Change

The families of the two deceased women have launched separate actions to push for changes to the provincial health-care system.

Eric McIntyre, Holthoffs cousin, launched a petition on Change.org, seeking public support to push Premier Tim Houston to take immediate action to improve the health-care system. Her petition suggested several actions, including adding health-care staff to the temporary waiting room in the ER at CRHCC to monitor and provide ongoing medical assessments of people waiting to be seen.

The petition also asks the provincial government to communicate with families that have lost a loved one in the ER department while awaiting care, and ensure an investigation is completed.

Katherine Snow, the daughter-in-law of Charlene Snow, launched a website called Nova Scotia Healthcare Crisis, through which she is gathering stories of similar cases of ER-related deaths to push for a change in the provinces health-care system.

As of Jan. 16, the website says it has 7,300 subscribers, with over 900 stories being shared.
New Mexico Police Arrest Former GOP Candidate Solomon Pena In Connection With Shootings at Democrats Homes

Solomon Pena, a former Republican candidate who lost his bid for a State House seat in November, was arrested by police for being behind a series of recent shootings that targeted the homes of Democratic elected officials.

According to the Albuquerque journal, Pena allegedly paid men to shoot up the homes after he lost his 2022 election bid. Pena has repeatedly claimed that the election was rigged.

Albuquerque police (APD) arrested Pena on the evening of Jan. 16, several hours after the APDs SWAT team served search warrants at his home. Police Chief Harold Medina of the APD said that Pena was the mastermind behind the conspiracy.

Pena, an unsuccessful legislative candidate in the 2022 election, is accused of conspiring with and paying, four other men to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators, said Police Chief Medina.

Additionally, the police sent out a statement that said Pena had paid the men in cash and sent them text messages with the addresses he wanted them to shoot at.

The shootings started on Dec. 4, 2022, when eight rounds were fired at the home of Adriann Barboa, a Bernalillo County commissioner. Four days later, on Dec. 8, shots were fired at the home of Javier Martinez, a state representative. Then, on Dec. 11, shots were fired at the home of Debbie OMalley, another Bernalillo County commissioner.

The final shooting took place in early January 2023 when the house of State Senator Linda Lopez was targeted. After the shooting at Lopezs house the police caught a break in the case. They received a ShotSpotter notification after more than a dozen shots were fired after midnight on Jan. 3. Responding officers found shell casings on the scene.

Twenty-one-year-old Jose Trujillo was pulled over 40 minutes after the shootings driving a car registered to Pena. Trujillo was arrested on an unrelated warrant, and weapons found in his car matched the shell casings found outside the Lopez home.

Kyle Hartsock, APD acting Commander with the Investigative Enhancement Division, says Pena was present for the shooting at the Lopez home. He says electronic records, cellphone records, surveillance footage, and witnesses, have helped police weave together what occurred. The shooters are still under investigation, and Hartsock says charges are likely to be filed against more people.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, in 2008 Pena began serving nearly 7-years in prison for theft, which was a topic of debate during his political campaign. His opponent, Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, unsuccessfully tried to have Pena disqualified due to his past conviction. Garcia won the election by a margin of 3,600 votes.

The New Mexico Republican Party sent out a statement on Monday night following Penas arrest: If Pena is found guilty, he must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
New York GOP Rep. Calls for DOJ, FEC to Freeze George Santos Campaign Funds Amid Probe Into Finances

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) looks on as the U.S. House of Representatives convenes for the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 3, 2023. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

Rep. Nicholas LaLota (R-N.Y.) has urged the Department of Justice and the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to freeze fellow New York Republican Rep. George Santoss campaign accounts amid an investigation into claims he made about his past, including his work and education history and finances.

In a statement on Twitter, LaLota said on Sunday that the DOJ and FEC need to act quickly to freeze any funds in the campaign account belonging to Santos, adding that he was happy to help if the agencies required more authority to do so.

To the extent there is actually any real money in the campaign account of Congressman George Santos, the funds should be immediately frozen by the United States Department of Justice or Federal Election Commission, LaLota said.

Congressman Santos fraudulently solicited these funds and Santos shouldnt be allowed to drain his campaign account while multiple authorities investigate the very fraud that induced these contributions, the statement continued. After Congressman Santos receives the proper Due Process  such as a House Ethics investigation or criminal proceedings or both  the funds should be returned to the contributors he duped. The DOJ or FEC must act now to ensure there is something to actually return to the victims of Santos financial scam.

This undated photo shows Nicholas J. LaLota, Republican candidate for New Yorks First Congressional District. (Lalota for Congress 2022 via AP)

Republicans Call for Santos to Resign

Earlier this month, a number of other GOP lawmakersincluding New York GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy and Joseph Cairo, the chairman of the Nassau County GOPcalled for Santos to step down, stating that doing so would be in the best interest of taxpayers.

Cairo pointed to Santoss campaign last year which he said was one of deceit, lies, and fabrication.

Santos defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman in November 2022 with 54 percent of the vote after former Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-N.Y.) opted instead to run for governor rather than reelection. He was sworn into office on Jan. 7.

However, reports soon emerged that Santos had fabricated large parts of his resume and biography, which was posted on the National Republican Congressional Committee website.

The biography states that Santos obtained degrees in finance and economics at Baruch College and New York University, and had worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.

But in December, The New York Times reported that Santoss claims were in fact false, as were many regarding his work and personal history, including that he falsely claimed he was Jewish.

Previously, Santos referred to himself as a proud American Jew, and recounted how his Jewish grandparents had fled Europe during World War II.

Republican candidate for New Yorks 3rd Congressional District George Santos campaigns outside a Stop and Shop store, in Glen Cove, N.Y., on Nov. 5, 2022. (Mary Altaffer/AP Photo)

Never Claimed to Be Jewish

In an interview with the New York Post in December, Santos said that he had never claimed to be Jewish and admitted to lying about his education and previous employment, but remained adamant that he was not a criminal.

This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good, Santos said, adding that he was sorry for what he called embellishing my resume.

Along with his work history, Santoss finances have also come under the spotlight. The Republican loaned $705,000 from his company to his successful 2022 campaign but had reported no assets (pdf) and a $55,000 salary during his earlier unsuccessful run for Congress in 2020.

On Jan. 9, the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan ethics watchdog, filed a complaint with the FEC urging the agency to investigate Santos for allegedly violating federal campaign finance laws.

Elsewhere, former GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger has launched an online petition to get Santos to step down. Santos previously said that he will resign if more than 142,000 peoplewhich is the same number of people who voted to elect him during the 2022 midtermscall for him to do so.

The petition has so far received 52,618 signatures.
House Republicans on Jan. 17 assigned Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), and Gary Palmer (R-Ala.) to the Oversight Committee, which is demanding visitor logs of President Joe Bidens home.

Douglas Wise, a former Defense Intelligence Agency deputy director, reportedly told The Australian that parts of the Hunter Biden laptop story had to be true after signing off a public statement in 2020, discrediting the story as Russian disinformation.

The latest drop of the Twitter Files focuses on how large pharmaceutical companies lobbied social media platforms to shape content around vaccine policy.
NR | 3 episodes | Drama, True Crime | Jan. 17, 2023

Apparently, we live at a time when politicians regularly mishandle classified information and inflate their resumes, but it is hard to top the reckless, unethical, and illegal behavior demonstrated by former UK Labour Party cabinet minister John Stonehouse in the 1960s.

To escape mounting debts and pending investigations, Stonehouse notoriously tried to fake his own death. Obviously, it did not work, or we would not have the second two episodes of the three-part drama Stonehouse.

As portrayed by Matthew Macfadyen, Stonehouse certainly comes across like a pompous phony. However, compared to rumpled, middle-aged Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Stonehouse looks much more vigorous, so maybe he could broaden Labours appeal to young voters.

Minor cabinet member John Stonehouses unethical and illegal handling of classified documents is featured in Stonehouse. (Britbox)

At least that was Wilsons justification for appointing him a junior cabinet member in his 1960s government. The ambitious Stonehouse was determined to make the most of it but, allegedly, ran into trouble during an official visit to communist-era Czechoslovakia.

According to screenwriter John Prestons screenplay, Stonehouse was blackmailed by the regime to act as a spy, after he foolishly fell into the seduction trap set by his translator. It should be noted that the real-life Stonehouse denied this allegation to his dying day. Nevertheless, this is not a slander created out of whole cloth by Preston, but a widely held suspicion repeatedly aired in public.

Regardless, the Stonehouse of Preston and Macfadyen quickly makes peace with the arrangement, thanks to the regular cash payments that the Czechoslovakian intelligence service offers to support his services. To launder the money, Stonehouse creates a network of interlocking shell companies, through which he invests in several legitimate businesses.

Unfortunately, the Labour MPs investment instincts were appallingly bad. He was also so inept at spycraft that his Czechoslovakian masters eventually broke off all contact and ceased all payments. Unable to maintain his artificially high standard of living and facing police inquiries for his financial improprieties, Stonehouse hatched his notorious scheme to disappear, assuming the identity of a deceased constituent.

Even though Stonehouse acts like a complete sociopath who displays no loyalty to his country, his PM, or his family (whom he tried to abandon), the series maintains a roguishly upbeat vibe, not unlike Steven Spielbergs imposter caper Catch Me If You Can. The series even has a similarly groovy late-1960s look and texture.

Comedic Performance

Arguably, Preston and series director Jon S. Baird try to present Stonehouse as a Frasier Crane-like character, who is supposed to inspire sympathetic cringes for the trouble he gets himself into.

John Stonehouse (Matthew Macfadyen) and his wife, Barbara (Keeley Hawes), are embroiled in a wild political drama, in Stonehouse. (Britbox)

However, most viewers will feel only for his long-suffering wife, Barbara (played by Macfadyens real-life wife, Keeley Hawes), and Harold Wilson, whose government is held hostage by Stonehouse when their majority drops to a single seat.

Frankly, Macfadyens performance should be considered comedic rather than dramatic, but it is quite entertaining. He makes viewers groan and grimace, but deliberately so.

On the other side of the spectrum, Hawes elevates Barbara Stonehouse above a mere scorned wife through the grounded dignity of her portrayal. It is not that she was completely fooled by her husband, but most of her suspicions were focused on his office assistant, accomplice, and mistress, Sheila Buckley, clearly for good reason.

Yet Kevin McNally is the cast member most likely to get awards consideration for his humanizing work as Wilson. More than any supportive biographer, Stonehouse burnishes Wilsons image as a pragmatic leader of Labours Soft Left, a faction ideologically and strategically wedged between the partys moderates and the hardline Trotskyite Hard Left.

Arguably, Stonehouse is not much of an espionage thriller, entirely due to Stonehouses own incompetence. However, it is a highly amusing true crime yarn and a wild political melodrama.

Watching Wilson cling to a majority resting entirely on the unstable Stonehouse becomes an absurdist farce worthy of the classic satirical sitcom Yes Minister. Compared to Wilsons attempts to wrangle Stonehouse, Kevin McCarthy had a relatively easy time securing his Speakership election.

The craziest thing about the three episodes of Stonehouse is how closely they follow the documented record. The series is highly entertaining, but it is also a timely reminder that no matter how messy contemporary political scandals get, there are always precedents from past history.

Recommended with a fair degree of enthusiasm for political junkies and true crime binge-watchers, Stonehouse started streaming on Jan. 17 on BritBox.

John Stonehouse mishandled classified information in Stonehouse. (Britbox)

Stonehouse

Director: Jon S. Baird

Stars: Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, Kevin McNally

Running Time: 3 episodes

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Rating: 4 out of 5
Orange County, New York, District Attorney Decries Low Bail for Shooting Suspect

Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler told The Epoch Times that the bail set on a recent shooting suspect was woefully low and could have endangered public safety.

The defendant, 21-year-old John DiCaprio, was able to post bail and then failed twice to appear in court before turning himself in on Jan 16.

On Dec. 13, DiCaprio was arrested by Newburgh police for illegally possessing a revolver and a semiautomatic pistol.

Both handguns were loaded; one had its serial number scraped.

At the following arraignment hearing, prosecutors recommended that bail be set at $100,000 cash, $500,000 secured bond, or $750,000 partially secured bond.

DiCaprio could choose to pay any of the above three forms of bail.

The judge ordered a bail at $5,000 cash, $50,000 secured bond, or $50,000 partially secured bond.

DiCaprio posted bail and was released from jail.

Just days later, on Dec. 17, DiCaprio was arrested again for allegedly shooting an adult in one leg, with part of the bullet striking a nearby child.

The shooting incident allegedly took place on Dec. 10.

At the arraignment hearing, prosecutors requested the same bail as last time in front of a different judge.

The judge doubled the cash bail to $10,000 while setting a $50,000 secured bond and a $75,000 partially secured bond.

DiCaprio posted bail again and left jail.

Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler. (Courtesy of Orange County District Attorneys Office)

It is just inadequate bail. And in the shooting case, it is just reckless with public safety. The judges need to be re-educated on what is reasonable bail under the circumstances, Hoovler said.

Judges said at the arraignment hearings that they set the bail following the least restrictive requirement under the bail law, according to Hoovler.

The 2019 bail law requires that judges consider a defendants ability to pay and set the least restrictive bail condition to ensure future court appearances.

Judges said they are following the law and that their hands are tied, but I disagree, Hoovler said. I get many judges who would not have issued 5,000 or $10,000 bail. They would have issued much more.

He added that the low bail was an outlier instead of a typical occurrence at the county courthouse.

Within a month of release, a grand jury indicted DiCaprio with Attempted Assault in the First Degree, three counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, and Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree.

He was scheduled to appear in court to be arraigned on Jan. 11, but he did not show up.

Under the bail reform law, after failing to show up in court, a suspect has 48 hours to make it right; within that grace period, a judge may not issue an arrest warrant.

DiCaprio did not return to court, and a warrant was issued on Jan. 13.

Hoovler put out a release seeking public help locating DiCaprio, who turned himself in on Jan. 14.
More than 1,600 children aged 5 to 11 experienced a systemic reaction such as fever or diarrhea after receiving one of the new COVID-19 vaccines, according to a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Of 3,259 children in the age group who received an updated Pfizer or Moderna vaccine and were registered in the v-safe system, nearly half experienced a systemic reaction, CDC researchers found.

Systemic reactions, defined as usually mild and lasting for multiple days, include fatigue, chills, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, joint pain, and diarrhea. On a severity scale, the category of reactions is between local reactions and severe reactions.

According to responses to v-safe, a smartphone survey system started by the CDC during the COVID-19 pandemic to monitor vaccine safety, 48.9 percent, or 1,594 children, in the 5 to 11 population who got a new booster between Oct. 12, 2022, and Jan. 1, 2023, experienced one or more systemic reactions.

The most common was fatigue, followed by headache, fever, myalgiamuscle painand chills. The least common was rash.

Sixty-four of the children sought medical care but none were hospitalized, according to the CDC, which published the study in its quasi-journal on Jan. 13. Most reports of needing medical care indicated that the case was not related to vaccination, according to the CDC.

Seven hundred and two children experienced a health impact, such as being unable to attend school or being unable to perform normal daily activities.

Researchers also reported the number of reported adverse events among the population to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), another safety monitoring system. Between Oct. 12, 2022, and Nov. 20, 2022, there were 920 reports that were processed by CDC researchers, most of which were for vaccination errors such as an incorrect dosage administered. Some, including 21 for fever, were for systemic events.

The reports do not prove causality with a vaccine but are an undercount of the true number of post-vaccination events, according to studies and U.S. health officials.

Two of the reports, both after Pfizer vaccination, were for serious events, including a child who developed symptoms of a rare illness called Miller Fisher syndrome.

There were no reports of death in either system.

The public-facing VAERS site does not allow a breakdown for ages 5 to 11. Between Nov. 1, 2022, and Jan. 6, 2023, there were 46 events for children aged 3 to 5. During the same time, 235 events were reported for children aged 6 to 17, including two hospitalizations, seven emergency room visits, and a permanent disability.

Between Oct. 12, 2022, and Jan. 1, 2023, some 953,000 children aged 5 to 11 received one of the new bivalent boosters, after they were cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sans clinical data. The CDC recommends the new shots for all individuals down to 6 months of age.

Even though more than a third of a year has passed since the authorization, no clinical data is available yet. The CDC cited a different CDC study, which estimated effectiveness from real-world data, in the new paper in asserting that the bivalent vaccines provide significant additional protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. SARS-CoV-2 causes COVID-19. The cited paper suggested the new boosters increase protection, but that the protection is substandard.

Limitations of the new study include v-safe being voluntary and VAERS being a passive surveillance system.

The CDC researchers said the preliminary safety findings are reassuring. They also said that, in comparison with the low risk of serious health effects after vaccination with the Pfizer or Moderna shots, the effects of COVID-19 infection include death and serious long-term sequalae.

Pfizer and Moderna did not respond to requests for comment.

Invalid

The CDC did not report the events that happened on the day of vaccination for v-safe registrants, and only published data for one through seven days after vaccination.

That time period is not nearly long enough to characterize safety, Dr. Harvey Risch, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Epoch Times via email.

He also took issue with the comparison of adverse events following vaccination with the effects of infection, noting the CDC cited a 2022 study it published that included all ages above 5. That study dealt only with cardiac adverse events, and presented conclusionsthat the risk of heart inflammation is higher among all age groups following infection than vaccinationthat have been challenged by other papers.

The present study is of 5-11 year olds, who have an infection fatality risk of well less than 3 per million, whereas the cited reference is of all ages, mostly adults, who have increasingly greater risks with age. The stated comparison of children with adults is thus invalid, Risch said.

While the study is being represented by CDC as showing vaccine safety in this age group, no comparison to actual quantitative risks of Omicron infection serious adverse events has been performed, he added.

Children are the least likely age group to die from COVID-19, studies and data show. The infection fatality ratethe ratio of mortality for confirmed and inferred infectionswas just 0.0003 percent for those aged 0 to 19, a recent study found. Some 1,433 deaths in the United States among children involved COVID-19, according to the CDCs analysis of death certificates, though the number is adjusted from time to time as accurate death counts remain difficult to determine, despite there being years since the first COIVD death was recorded.
Pastor Story Hours Not Getting Same Welcome From Public Libraries as Drag Queen Readings

Massachusetts Pastor Kendall Lankford reads to a crowd at the Chelmsford Public Library for the first "pastor story hour" held in New England. (Courtesy of The Shepherd's Church, Chelmsford, Ma.)

The first pastor story hour to take place in one of the most liberal regions of the United States drew the expected group of protesters, but it also drew an equally large crowd of supporters.

The Chelmsford Public Library, which has in the past fully embraced and promoted drag queen story hours, played the unwanted host to the event on Jan. 14 with public library officials already vowing to change their policy to bar future pastor story hours.

The Massachusetts library approved, then canceled, thensaying openlythat only under legal threat did it restore the event.

A barrage of hateful social media posts linked to LGBT supporters preceded the event, the first of its kind in New England.

Support For and Against

Then about 50 protesters with some bearing combative signs calling supporters of the event homophobes showed up on the morning of the event.

But so did a crowd of about 50, which showed up in support of Pastor Kendall Lankford and his pastor story hour.

This is not as unwanted in the community as some of these people would have you believe, Lankford told The Epoch Times.

The same scenario played out at similar pastor story hours that took place in other parts of the country over the weekend, including in Ohio and Arkansas, which drew whole families.

By 9 a.m., a line formed out the door at the Indianapolis Public Library on Dec. 29 where Christian Minister Kirk Cameron held what is believed to be the first pastor story hour in the United States.

The event was protested against by a crowd made up of what appeared to be pro-LGBTers.

In total, the Indiana pastor story hour drew an audience of more than 700, by the librarys own count. It is believed to be a record crowd for any event held at the massive six-story library.

Initially Banned

Like the Chelmsford library, Indianapolis library officials, begrudgingly lifted an initial ban against Camerons story hour.

Following the story hour, Cameron posted on Facebook that despite the crowd, the library never offered the use of its auditorium and instead confined the event to a library reading room.

Sadly, this beautiful library has a large auditorium that seats more people but leadership never offered it to us or even told us about it! wrote Cameron.

Lankford, a pastor at the Shepherds Church in Chelmsford, said he does not understand the hatefulness shown towards pastor story hours when there is not a single mention of anything anti at them.

He admits the idea for them was in direct answer to drag queen story hours, but says they are based on beliefs, just like the beliefs spread at drag queen story hours.

Among the books Lankford read at the Chelmsford public library include God Made Boys and Girls: Helping Children Understand the Gift of Gender and Jesus And My Gender.

Cameron, an actor known for his days as a teenager in the 1980s through the early 1990s TV sitcom Growing Pains read from his book As You Grow, a faith-based childrens book filled with biblical metaphors based on the journey of an acorn that grows into a tree.

The books are in stark contrast to the titles read at drag queen story hours, which include The Gender Wheel, Bye Bye, Binary, and The Hips On the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swisha takeoff of the class childrens book The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round.

Religious Freedom Debate

Lankford said books selected for pastor story hour are based on Christian beliefs.

According to the nonprofit called Drag Story Hour, the books selected for drag queen story hour are about capturing the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood.

It gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models, the group wrote in its mission statement.

The group says it anticipates drag queen story hours to grow in popularity in 2023 with many libraries showing drag queen story hour as a planned recurring monthly event.

In the meantime, the same libraries that continue to warmly embrace drag queen story hours have been quick to publicly forsake pastor story hours.

According to Cameron, he has so far been barred by all but two of the 54 libraries he requested to rent space from for his faith-based story hours. Of those two, both drew huge crowds in support of the religious readings.

As more pastor story hours and drag queen story hours are planned at taxpayer-funded libraries across the United States, government-based resistance to pastor story hours at the same facilities appears to be fast shaping into yet another national religious freedom debate that has in times of late centered on religious exemptions denied from COVID vaccine mandates.

Landmark Court Rulings

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Michael King, president of Massachusetts Family Institute, which assisted Lankford in reinstituting his story hour event at the Chelmsford Public Library, points to landmark court rulings that government exclusions of religious groups violate constitutionally-protected religious rights.

In June, for example, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Maine in its refusal to include religious schools in a state program that provides tuition assistance to families to send their children to private schools.

The state pays for tuition for certain students at private schoolsso long as the schools are not religious. That is discrimination against religion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the SCOTUS opinion.

King told The Epoch Times that he sees public libraries resistance to pastor story hours as viewpoint discrimination and it wont hold up in a legal challenge.

You can continue to violate peoples rights until theres a challenge. They have been counting on the religious groups not to have the resources to challenge their discrimination, but we are proving them wrong, he said.
Prosecutors Drop Charges Against NYPD Officer Accused of Spying for China

NYPD officer Baimadajie Angwang speaks at a press conference in New York on Feb. 7, 2019. (The Epoch Times)

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have dropped their case against a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer who had been accused of acting as a foreign agent on behalf of the Chinese regime.

Baimadajie Angwang, a 33-year-old ethnic Tibetan and naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested in September 2020 on charges of allegedly acting as an illegal agent of Beijing as well as committing wire fraud, making false statements, and obstructing an official proceeding.

Angwang, who served as a U.S. Army reservist and was granted a SECRET-level security clearance, had faced up to 55 years in jail if found guilty.

However, prosecutors for the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Eastern District of New York on Friday filed a motion asking federal Judge Eric R. Komitee to dismiss the indictment against Angwang, stating that an investigation had led to additional information bearing on the charges.

Having assessed the evidence as a whole in light of that information  the government hereby moves, in the interests of justice, to dismiss the indictment without prejudice, prosecutors said, according to CNN.

The indictment can only be dismissed once a federal judge signs the court order.

Angwangs lawyer, John Carman, told CNN that the federal prosecutors move to dismiss the case against his client, who was suspended with pay, was appreciated but long overdue.

The anguish and expense that this police officer and Marine Corps veteran has endured are not easily described, Carman said. We are optimistic that the Court will grant the motion and that this great American will have the opportunity to repair untold damage to his life.

The Epoch Times has contacted the U.S. Attorneys Office of the Eastern District of New York for comment.

NYPD officer Baimadajie Angwang in a file photo. (The Epoch Times)

Prosecutors Say Angwang Acted at Direction and Control of China

Angwang was arrested in Williston Park, New York, on Sept. 21, 2020.

At the time, prosecutors said Angwangwho was assigned to NYPDs community affairs unit where, among other things, he served as a liaison to the community served by the 111th Precincthad acted at the direction and control of officials of the Chinese Consulate in New York since at least 2014.

According to prosecutors, Angwang reported on the activities of Chinese citizens in the New York area and helped assessed potential intelligence sources within the Tibetan community in New York and elsewhere. He also provided Chinese officials with access to senior NYPD officials through invitations to official events, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, Angwang was explicit about his motivations, telling his PRC [Peoples Republic of China] official handler that was wanted to get promoted within the NYPD so that he could assist the PRC and bring glory to China. In addition, Angwang told his handler that the handlers superiors in Beijing should be happy . . . because you have stretched your reach into the police, a release from the Department of Justice said at the time.

A criminal complaint also stated that Angwangs family has extensive ties to both the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese military, the Peoples Liberation Army.

Additionally, he was charged with committing wire fraud, making material false statements relating to information he provided on a background check form, and obstructing an official proceeding.

In a separate statement to the New York Post, attorney Carman accused the government of launching an illegitimate prosecution against his client.

Mr. Angwang is a great American who served his country in combat in Afghanistan and our government repaid him by treating him like he was the leader of the Taliban, Carman said.
Public Drunkenness Decriminalised After Indigenous Death, Police Warn Results Wont Be Pretty

Australians protesting against government-mandated health restrictions, increasing powers, and the Pandemic Bill in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 6, 2021. (Supplied)

Ambulance and health workers will shoulder the burden of dealing with rowdy drunks as the Victorian Labor government looks set to sideline police officers from handling intoxicated individuals.

The move from the Andrews government comes in response to the death of Indigenous woman Tanya Day in the state of Victoria in Australia.

The Yorta Yorta woman was removed from a train heading to Melbourne on Dec. 5, 2017, she was deemed unruly by the ticket inspector and was later removed and arrested by police for public drunkenness.

Day was taken to Castlemaine Police Station where she was supposed to be physically checked every 30 minutes, but this did not occur, according to the Human Rights Law Centre.

At 5:00 p.m., Day was seen on CCTV footage falling and hitting her head on the wall of her cell. She was later pronounced dead.

Family Fights to Decriminalise Public Drunkenness

Our mother would still be here with us today if Victoria police had treated her condition seriously and cared for her with a public health response, but they chose to criminalise her at her most vulnerable time, Days family said in response to the Victorian governments decision to decriminalise public drunkenness and not give law enforcement any new powers.

They said public drunkenness was outdated and discriminatory citing the Royal Commission inquiry into Aboriginal deaths in custody that recommended it be decriminalised.

A homeless person sits on the pavement in Melbournes CBD in Victoria, Australia on June 4, 2021. (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

We welcome the Andrews governments decision to hear our familys concerns and not to add or replace already excessive police powers and laws. This is the first time across the nation that a jurisdiction has made a commitment to true decriminalisation.

Under the new laws set to come in in November 2023, the government will instead task ambulance and health workers with bringing intoxicated individuals to locations such as homes, their friends or families, or centres for sobering upwith the persons permission, according to the Herald Sun newspaper.

Further, extra outreach and places of safety services will be set up for Aboriginal communities across Melbourne.

Police Forced to Sit Back and Wait, Says Union

The proposal has drawn a stinging response from the Police Association of Victoria warning that while some intoxicated individuals were easy to deal with, there was always a segment of society that pose a risk to the public.

Of itself, the reform doesnt compromise community safety. It simply means there is no prospect of any penalty being handed to a person after the event, said Wayne Gatt, secretary of the police union.

From here on, if a person is found drunk in public and causing a nuisance, or compromising the safety of those around them, police cant deal with them. Our members have been stripped of the power to remove these people from the situation they are in, and the potential danger that emanates, he added.

Gatt warned that if health workerswithout adequate equipment to protect themselveswere forced to deal with violent drunks then the result wont be pretty.

Victoria Ambulances are seen at the St. Vincent Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 11, 2022. (Diego Fedele/Getty Images)

He further warned that police could only sit back and deal with an unruly individual once they had committed a crime.

That is, when its too late. Lets think about that, Gatt said.

If your son, daughter, mother, father or friend is injured or assaulted by a drunk person and ends up injured or worse, youll rightly want to know what the authorities did to prevent it. The answer will be that my members did nothing. Not because they didnt want to, but because the government forbade them.

Governments Stance Unlikely to Shift

Victorias Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes stood by her governments stance saying there would be no additional powers given to police, but noted a trial was still underway.

We have learnt from other jurisdictions that have brought in backup coercive powers that it undermines the whole purpose of decriminalisation, she said in a statement obtained by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Police will still have the option of stepping in when someone is disturbing the peace, causing a scene, concerns about violent behaviour and the like, she said.

These laws are about decriminalising public intoxication, they are not about diluting any further police powers.
Private Criminal Prosecution Filed Against Trudeau Over Illegal Roxham Road Border Crossings

The end of Roxham Road, where thousands of asylum seekers have crossed, seen in Hemmingford, Que., on March 20, 2020. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

A well-known historian and head of a Quebec-based activist group is launching a private criminal prosecution against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who he says violated the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act by encouraging refugees to come to Canada, which has resulted in an increased inflow of illegal immigrants.

Frederic Bastien, chair of Justice pour le Quebec, said past remarks made by the prime minister prompted many asylum seekers to illegally cross into Canada through the Roxham Road border point that connects Quebec and New York state.

In a legal document posted on the website of Justice pour le Quebec, the group points to a 2017 Twitter post in which Trudeau said: To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength. The tweet was made after then-U.S. president Donald Trump issued a temporary travel ban for seven Muslim-majority countries and suspended entry of all Syrian refugees into the country.

The document then cited an article published by Radio-Canada on Dec. 17, 2021, saying that subsequent to the messages of openness sent by Justin Trudeau, a wave of thousands of migrants flocked to Canada via this route [Roxham Road] since 2017.

The Quebec group also cited the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which says in article 117 that [no] person shall organize, induce, aid or abet the coming into Canada of one or more persons knowing that, or being reckless as to whether, their coming into Canada is or would be in contravention of this Act.

In Canada, an individual has the right to initiate a private prosecution against another person. The person who applies to have charges laid by a court, known as the informant, must have reasonable grounds to believe that the person they are accusing has committed a crime or has violated a Canadian law that can be prosecuted privately. The application must be reviewed by a Justice of the Peace.

In an interview with the National Post, Bastien said that he believes he has reasonable grounds to launch the prosecution, which if successful, could result in the prime minister being subject to a fine or even imprisonment.

Aside from Trudeaus 2017 tweet, Bastien also pointed to Trudeaus more recent comments, which suggest that closing the irregular crossing at Roxham Road would not stop the arrival of asylum-seekers and that migrants would simply cross elsewhere.

He noted that the prime minister is not a normal citizen who is voicing a personal opinion; instead, Trudeaus public declarations have had real-life consequences, such as encouraging people to cross into Canada unofficially at Roxham Road.

Surging Number of Illegal Crossings

The recent death of a Montreal man who was allegedly trying to cross into the United States drew attention to the dangers of irregular border crossings, which appear to be on the rise on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border.

The man, identified as 44-year-old Fritznel Richard, had been trying to reach his family in the United States, Quebec provincial police said. His body was found on Jan. 4 in a wooded area in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, near Roxham Road.

The irregular border crossing of Roxham Road has been used by asylum-seekers who try to dodge the Safe Third Country agreement, which prevents Canada from accepting refugee claims of those who had first entered the United States.

Between January and November 2022, the RCMP intercepted roughly 34,800 people who tried to cross into Canada from the United States at unofficial ports of entry. In contrast, the total number of interceptions in 2021 was 4,246, when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the closure of Roxham Road, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

In a recent report, the Journal de Montreal compiled data showing that a record number of 150,000 asylum seekers have entered Canada since Trudeaus 2017 tweet. Of that number, 91,000 entered through Roxham Road.

A majority of Quebecers want Roxham Road closed, according to a 2022 Leger poll, which showed that 60 percent of respondents are in favour of the government stopping asylum-seekers crossing at the irregular point.

A poll commissioned by Bastiens organization had a similar finding, showing that 68 percent of Quebecers strongly or moderately agree with that position, reported the National Post.

I think that people are actually very frustrated because this process is bypassing the law, Bastien said. Theres a way to actually migrate to Canada  if youre a refugee, if you want to seek refugee status in Canada, we have some laws, we have some rules in this country.

What is going on now is that basically the government is helping people to violate the rules to bypass the law, he added. The more that goes on, the more frustrated people get.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Remains of Missing Illinois Woman Cheyann Klus Found 5 Years Later: Officials

The remains of a missing Illinois woman were discovered more than five years after she was last seen, her family and local officials confirmed this week..

Cheyann Klus, 22, was last seen leaving her home on Nov. 27, 2017, according to officials with the DuPage County Sheriffs Office. She went to Chicago on the night of Dec. 1 and was never seen again, authorities said.

But in a Facebook post on Monday, the womans family confirmed her remains were located. Other details, including where the remains were found, were not provided. Her cause of death was also not disclosed.

As her immediate family [father, sisters, brothers, nephews] in mourning, we ask for privacy as we grieve the unbearable loss of a daughter, sister, aunt, and a human being, the family said in a statement. We plan to hold a private memorial service for Cheyann amongst us, but we hope that everyone can find solace in knowing that she has been found and respectfully laid to rest. Please be mindful of the sensitive nature of these circumstances and the affects this can have for our family and other families who are dealing with missing loved ones.

The Cook County Sheriffs Office told news outlets that an investigation is ongoing.

The Sheriffs Office will continue to work with Chicago Police to investigate the circumstances of her death, but we are grateful to help bring some measure of closure to Klus family, the sheriffs office said.

The office said it worked with the FBI and DuPage County Sheriffs Office to identify her remains via dental records earlier in January.

Cases like this show the importance of initiatives like the Sheriffs Offices Missing Persons Project, and we will continue to try to bring closure and justice to the families of missing individuals, the statement said.
Rep. Jim Banks Running for US Senate Seat Representing Indiana

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) speaks to the media with members of the Republican Study Committee about Iran in Washington on April 21, 2021. (Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)

Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) on Jan. 17 said hes running for U.S. Senate, seeking to succeed Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.).

Radical, socialist Democrats are trying to change America, but I wont let them, Banks, 43, said in a campaign video. Ive been on the front lines fighting for America first policies in Congress.

Banks, a military veteran, has sponsored or backed legislation aiming to secure the border, hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for stealing jobs, prevent biological males from participating in youth female sports, and prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in schools and the military.

In a preview of a possible break from Senate GOP leadership, which has drawn growing opposition from newer senators, Banks said that some Republicans would oppose his bid.

Indiana deserves a conservative fighter in the United States Senate, but the radical Democrats and the spineless Republicans are going to do everything they can to stop me, Banks said.

Banks was among the House Republicans who were critical of the Senate GOP for agreeing to pass a mammoth spending bill in late 2022 instead of fighting to delay negotiations until January, when Republicans took control of the lower chamber.

The supporter of former President Donald Trump is the first candidate to enter the 2024 race, which is wide open after Braun launched a campaign for governor. Incumbent Gov. Eric Holcomb, a Republican, cannot run for another term due to term limits.

Braun, a businessman who flipped the seat from Democrat control in the 2018 midterm elections, supported Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) over Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in the first challenge McConnell faced in years.

Banks for years was the leader of the Republican Study Committee, described as the conservative caucus of House Republicans. He lost a bid for House majority whip to Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).

Banks was picked to be on the House of Representatives panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol, but then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) rejected the choice, prompting House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to pull all of his picks. The committee ended up being dominated by Democrats as a result, with the only Republicans being anti-Trump Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). Cheney in August 2022 lost the Republican primary to candidate Harriet Hageman, while Kinzinger announced in 2021 he would not seek another term. Banks supported McCarthy in the contested speaker race, which saw McCarthy ultimately prevail.

Banks was first elected to the House in 2016, after serving for six years in the Indiana Senate. He represents Indianas 3rd Congressional District.

Banks won the 2022 election with 59 percent of the vote, down from 67.8 percent in 2020 and 64.7 percent in 2018.
Rep. Jordan Threatens to Issue Subpoenas If Biden Officials Fail to Comply With Document Requests

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) speaks during an on-camera interview near the House Chambers during a series of votes in the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Jan. 9, 2023. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the new House Judiciary Committee chairman, resent several requests for outstanding documents and information to Biden administration officials Tuesday with a warning.

This stonewalling must stop, Jordan wrote in a letter (pdf) addressed to FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Noting that the Jan. 17 letter would be the final time the committee requested the information, Jordan added, The Committee is prepared to resort to compulsory process, if necessary, to obtain this material.

Similar letters were sent to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Attorney General Merrick Garland; Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Director Steven Dettelbach; and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram.

Each letter, referencing the Judiciary Committees outstanding requests, asked that the officials immediately comply in full.

#BREAKING: @Jim_Jordan just sent letters to numerous Biden Administration officials renewing outstanding requests for communications and documents. House Judiciary Republicans will use compulsory processes, if necessary, to get answers for the American people.  House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) January 17, 2023

For two years, the Biden Administration has stonewalled Congress, refused to comply with basic document requests, and avoided transparency and accountability for its failures, the Judiciary Committee noted in a Jan. 13 statement. House Judiciary Republicans are committed to holding each agency accountable under the new majority and will use compulsory processes, if necessary, to get answers for the American people.

Letters and Leaks

In the previous Congress, Jordan served as the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, spearheading Republican efforts to probe into the actions of Biden administration officials, including attempts to regulate firearms, the alleged political bias of FBI employees, the Justice Departments investigation of parents who expressed their frustrations at school board meetings, and other matters.

But while the committee sent several letters requesting documents, information, and in-person testimony on those topics, Jordans Jan. 17 letters establish that, as of yet, the administration has been uncooperative with those oversight attempts.

For instance, in his letter (pdf) to Klain, Jordan noted that the White House had not only ignored the committees requests for information but also leaked a flippant Dec. 29 response to the press before sending it on to the committee.

[T]he Biden White House provided a perfunctory letter that discounted Congresss constitutional oversight authorities, failed to produce any documents or information requested, and declined to address any matters of substance, Jordan recounted. The White House leaked this letter to the media, and briefed at least one reporter on it, before transmitting the letter to the Committee at 4:34 a.m.severely undercutting the White Houses purported commitment to working with us in good faith.

The White Houses letter, written by White House Special Counsel Richard Sauber, was obtained exclusively by Politico and published at 5 a.m. on Dec. 29, just 26 minutes after the committee had received it.

Congress has not delegated such [oversight] authority to individual members of Congress who are not committee chairmen, and the House has not done so under its current Rules, Sauber wrote in the missive, stating that the previous requests would need to be resubmitted after Jordan became committee chairman.

That reasoning, however, did not hold water with Jordan.

Setting aside the constitutional and legal fallacies inherent in the White Houses argument, nothing in federal law prevented the White House from voluntarily complying with our requests, the congressman noted.

In addition, to the extent the White House believed it was bound only to comply with requests from committee chairmen, the White House has had notice since at least November 16, 2022, that a returning Republican Member would lead the Judiciary Committee in the 118th Congress and has taken no steps to comply with our outstanding requests in that time, Jordan continued.

In fact, as of today, we have seen no evidence that the White House has taken any steps to comply with our requests.

Investigations

Last week, the Republican-controlled House approved the formation of a new investigative subcommittee to probe into the weaponization of the federal government.

The panel, a subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee, will have access to sensitive intelligence information that is typically only available to the House Intelligence Committee as well as the authority to inquire into the federal governments methods for investigating American citizens, including ongoing criminal investigations.

The panel is reportedly being modeled after the 1975 Senate Church Committee that investigated the abuses of U.S. intelligence agencies.

But while Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) has described the subcommittee as dangerous and a violation of the separation of powers, Jordan, who is expected to chair the panel, said it was necessary to eliminate the appearance of a double standard between how conservative and liberal Americans are treated by the federal government.

This idea that if youre a pro-life activist, youre going to get your door kicked in, youre going to get arrested and handcuffed in front of your seven kids and your spouse for simply praying in front of an abortion clinic and telling the guy who was harassing your son to knock it off, Jordan said Jan. 10 on the House floor, apparently referencing the FBIs arrest of a Tennessee pro-life advocate in October.

Americans are sick and tired of it, he added. And what we wantwe dont want to go after anyone. We just want it to stop, and we want to respect the First Amendment to the Constitution that the greatest country in the world has.

Other matters the House has pledged to investigate include the origins of COVID-19, the Biden familys foreign business dealings, and most recently, the presidents mishandling of classified documents.

A spokesperson for ATF said the agency responds to all Congressional correspondence and will likewise be responding to Chairman Jordans letter. The DEA declined to comment. The White House and the other letter recipients did not return inquiries from The Epoch Times.
San Francisco Committee Proposes Payouts of $5 Million Each, Debt Forgiveness as Reparations for African Americans

Total debt forgiveness and $5 million payouts are among the reparations the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee is proposing that the city grant to longtime Black residents who have been a victim of the citys systematic repression and exclusion of the Black community.

The committee, tasked with developing a reparations plan for the city, released its 60-page draft plan at its Dec. 12 meeting.

While neither San Francisco, nor California, formally adopted the institution of chattel slavery, the tenets of segregation, white supremacy and systematic repression and exclusion of Black people were codified through legal and extralegal actions, social codes, and judicial enforcement, the committees draft reparations plan (pdf) notes.

At the top of its long list of recommended reparations, the committee proposes that the City of San Francisco issue a one-time, lump sum payment of $5 million to every eligible individual.

A lump sum payment would compensate the affected population for the decades of harms that they have experienced, and will redress the economic and opportunity losses that Black San Franciscans have endured, collectively, as the result of both intentional decisions and unintended harms perpetuated by City policy, the draft plan reads.

Additional proposed means of financial restitution include financing a comprehensive debt forgiveness program that clears all educational, personal, credit card, payday loans, etc., and supplementing the incomes of lower-income Black households to reflect the Area Median Income (AMI)$97,000 in 2022for at least 250 years ($97,000 in 2022).

Racial disparities across all metrics have led to a significant racial wealth gap in the City of San Francisco, the draft states. By elevating income to match AMI, Black people can better afford housing and achieve a better quality of life.

Reparations in the areas of education, health, and state policy were also proposed by the committee, including the establishment of an Afrocentric K-12 school in San Francisco built intentionally for African-American student enrollment, and the repeal of Article 34 of the California Constitution, which requires voter approval for all low-rent public housing projects.

[Article 34] has been attributed to slowing down efforts to integrate suburbs across the state, the plan states. California is the only state whose constitution explicitly prevents public housing.

Eligibility Requirements

According to the committees eligibility checklist (pdf), residents would have to meet several requirements to qualify for reparations, including being at least 18 years of age and having identified as Black/African American on public documents for at least 10 years.

Eligible individuals must also provide documentation showing that they meet a certain number of criteria on a list of other qualifications, which include having been born in or migrated to San Francisco between 1940 and 1996 with proof of residency in the city for at least 13 years, and/or having been personally or the direct descendant of someone incarcerated by the failed War on Drugs, among other groups.

At its December meeting, the committee also adopted a resolution urging the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to approve the draft report.

The committee will submit its final recommendations to San Francisco Mayor London Breed in June.

Other Efforts

While the San Francisco committee has been working on its reparations plan, additional groups across the country have been deliberating on the same, including California at the state level, the City of Boston, and the federal government.

Last month, the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans began discussions of financial compensation at a meeting in Oakland.

During the Dec. 14 meeting, Max Fennell, a 35-year-old coffee company owner, said he felt every person should get $350,000 in compensation and Black-owned businesses should receive $250,000 to help them flourish.

Its a debt thats owed, we worked for free, he said. Were not asking; were telling you.

As of yet, the task force has not settled on any dollar amounts or what form reparations should take, according to its chairperson, Kamilah Moore.

That same day, the Boston City Council voted unanimously to form its own task force on reparations for Black residents.

This ordinance is only the start of a long-awaited yet necessary conversation, City Councilor Julia Mejia said. The City of Boston, like many areas around the United States, has profited from the labor of enslaved African Americans and has further disadvantaged them by barring them from participating in the same economic mobility opportunities as their white counterparts.

Likewise, Democrats in Congress, led by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), have recently pushed for national reparations and an apology for slavery, introducing legislation on the matter last week.

But despite the recent flurry of activity on the matter, not everyone is on board with the concept of reparations.

According to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, 68 percent of Americans oppose the idea of reparations for the descendants of slaves, though support for the idea varies widely by demographic group.

While 77 percent of black Americans say they support reparations, only 18 percent of white Americans say the same. Meanwhile, Hispanic and Asian Americans fall in the middle, supporting the idea at 39 percent and 33 percent, respectively.

Historically, legislation on reparations has received little support in Congress. With Republicans now in control of the House, it is unlikely the Democrats bill will be taken up.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Santa Monica Is Not Safe Banner Returns; More to Come

'Santa Monica is Not Safe' sign at the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Calif. (Courtesy of John Alle)

A large Santa Monica is Not Safe sign that first appeared in December returned on Jan. 15 to the Third Street Promenade, a popular shopping and dining area in downtown Santa Monica.

The group of about 400 property and business owners behind the signthe Santa Monica Coalitionfinanced the display after the groups initial funding expired and the sign was removed a few weeks ago.

The coalition is seeking to place similar signs on 24 apartment buildings around the city, which would read, Santa Monica is not safeCrime, Depravity, Outdoor Mental Asylum.

A large sign reading Santa Monica is Not Safe is displayed at the Third Street Promenade shopping area in Santa Monica, Calif. (Courtesy of The Santa Monica Coalition)

Santa Monica, a beach city in Los Angeles County, is known for its tourism, shopping, restaurants, and world-renowned pier that features a roller coaster, games, and a Ferris wheel. But some residents and business owners are sounding the alarm on an increase in crime and homelessness.

Restaurants, which are the main anchor tenants of Santa Monicatheyre having to let their employees go because 90 percent of residents in Santa Monica will not come to the Promenade anymore, resident John Alle, with the Santa Monica Coalition, told The Epoch Times. Theyre afraid, and they feel the promenade garages are full of feces, urine, people camped out doing drugs, syringesso theyre going to other cities.

Alle said its expensive for businesses to stay afloat in the city because employees are afraid to park in the parking garages. Some business owners are trying to help by paying for their workers Uber drive to work, which adds up to be a pricey bill, he said.

Last week, Alle said his car was broken into in one of the parking garages.

Its a big problem, he said.

The coalition points to homelessness as the primary problem deterring tourists and causing businesses to suffer.

A homeless man lays on the sidewalk across from a sign saying Welcome to Santa Monica in Santa Monica, Calif. (Courtesy of The Santa Monica Coalition)

According to the 2022 point-in-time count recorded by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority last February, Santa Monicas had 807 homeless people, down 11 percent from 907 recorded in January 2020. The count was canceled in 2021 because of the pandemic.

The reason for the decrease is that local shelter capacity was significantly reduced to comply with COVID-19 public health guidance, Santa Monica officials said in a statement last May. There was, however, a 1 percent rise in unsheltered homelessness, officials said.

While the Santa Monica Police Department has beefed up its presence in the downtown area, the coalition wants to see even more patrols to address the criminal activity they say is growing out of control.

Last year, Santa Monica ranked No. 6 on home safety and security research site Safewises Californias 50 Safest Cities of 2022 list, next to Compton, Oakland, and San Bernardino.

Earlier this month, a smash-and-grab robbery took place as suspects got away with luxury merchandise after crashing a vehicle into the citys Louis Vuitton store at 110 Santa Monica Place, according to police reports.

In another instance, a 49-year-old woman was stabbed to death in her Santa Monica apartment in August. The suspect was arrested at a nearby Jack in the Box fast-food location about an hour later.

People walk by boarded-up shops destroyed by riots days later in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 6, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

In November, two victims were hospitalized after being stabbed and robbed by a homeless man on Ocean Front Walk.

These people are suffering, Alle said of the homeless. Were seeing people die in the alleys and in downtown from drug overdose, stabbings, or hypothermia.

But not all agree with the message. Santa Monica Councilwoman Caroline Torosis said in a statement in December that she disavows the hateful, classist, and quite frankly, racist rhetoric from a single business owner on the Santa Monica Promenade.

This is counterproductive, dehumanizing, and dangerous, Torosis wrote on Facebook on Dec. 22. Post-pandemic Santa Monica is working to recover and I am fully committed to supporting our businesses [to] thrive while supporting solutions for our houseless neighbors.
Scientists Guide Lightning Strikes Using Lasers for 1st Time

Lightning discharges from a thundercloud over trees in Montlouis-sur-Loire, France, on May 22, 2022. (Guillaume Souvant/AFP via Getty Images)

Scientists have found a way to potentially prevent lightning strikes from damaging infrastructure or causing injuries and deaths, according to a report published Monday.

During a storm in the Swiss Alps, a group of researchers successfully guided bolts of lightning to the ground using laser technology, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Photonics.

Here we present the first demonstration that laser-induced filamentsformed in the sky by short and intense laser pulsescan guide lightning discharges over considerable distances, researchers said in the papers abstract. We believe that this experimental breakthrough will lead to progress in lightning protection and lightning physics.

While metal rods are commonly used to protect from lighting, their scope is limited to a few meters or tens of meters, and researchers hope to extend that protection to a few hundred meters if we have enough energy in the laser, Aurelien Houard, a physicist at Ecole Polytechnique who is the corresponding author of the paper, told The Guardian.

Metal lightning rods provide a path for the lightnings energy to be dispersed safely into the ground. Lightning rods are installed near large buildings and outdoor spaces to divert strikes away from them.

Virtual Lightning Rod

A laser system is intended to function like a virtual lightning rod, Houard told SWNS.

A powerful laser aimed at the sky can create a virtual lightning rod and divert the path of lightning strikes, he said. The findings may pave the way for better lightning protection methods for critical infrastructuresuch as power stations, airports and launchpads.

The researchers set up a high-repetition-rate terawatt laser at the Santis mountain in northeastern Switzerland, near a telecommunication tower that is struck by lightning about 100 times a year.

The laser system, which is about the size of a large car and weighs five tons, can fire up to a thousand pulses per second, according to Study Finds. As such, it is the first of its kind and is one of the most powerful in its class.

Between July 21 and Sept. 30, 2021, researchers used the system to fire intense laser pulses at thunderclouds for a total of 6.3 hours of thunderstorm activity that occurred within 3 km of the telecommunication tower.

The tower was hit by at least 16 lightning flashes, four of which  occurred during laser activity, the report reads.

The lasers were able to guide the four lighting strikes, but the two high-speed cameras set up by the researchers were only able to capture one of the events due to poorer weather in the other three events. The cameras showed that the lighting strike followed the laser path for most of the 50 meters.

Although this research field has been very active for more than 20 years, this is the first field-result that experimentally demonstrates lightning guided by lasers, researchers noted. This work paves the way for new atmospheric applications of ultrashort lasers and represents an important step forward in the development of a laser based lightning protection for airports, launchpads or large infrastructures.

Americas National Weather Service reported that 19 people died in the United States due to having been struck by lightning in 2022.

Vaisala, a company headquartered in Finland that provides weather and environmental measurements, said in its annual lightning report for 2022 (pdf) that there were about 198 million total lightning events in the United States that year.
Scottsdale, Arizona Cuts Off Neighborhoods Water Supply, Citing Extreme Drought

The water level at Lake Mead has dropped by about 150 feet since a regional drought began in 2000. Here, a structure lies exposed beyond the lake's Hemenway Harbor Launch Ramp in Boulder, Nev., on Sept. 22, 2022. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

Residents of the Rio Verde Foothills in Arizona have been frantically hoarding water since the start of the year after nearby Scottsdale cut off their water supply, citing an extreme drought.

In an announcement at the end of last year, the Scottsdale Office of Communication said that residents of Maricopa County had been warned multiple times that the water supply was set to be turned off as it needed to focus on providing water to its own residents.

As Scottsdale prioritizes water for its residents under the citys Drought Management Plan, it will cease allowing city water to be purchased and hauled to Maricopa County residents in the Rio Verde Foothills area on Jan. 1, the announcement read. Maricopa County officials and county residents living in the Rio Verde Foothills area were informed of this eventuality in 2015/16, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.

The Rio Verde Foothills is home to around 1,000 residents, according to reports. The community had previously received its water supply from Scottsdale as it does not own a reservoir of its own.

The decision to stop the supply has meant residents of the roughly 500 to 700 homes in the area are now being forced to purchase water from other suppliers, often at much higher prices, The New York Times reported.

Water flows down the Colorado River downriver from Hoover Dam in northwest Ariz. on Aug. 14, 2022. (John Locher/AP Photo)

Residents Forced to Preserve Water

According to local reports, residents are having to fork out up to $330 for 3,000 gallons of water.

In an effort to preserve water, residents have turned to flushing their toilets with rainwater, washing laundry at neighbors homes, and skipping showers, according to the publication. Theyve also begun eating off paper plates to save having to use water to wash dishes.

Meanwhile, residents are faced with the possibility that the value of their homes may now sink.

Residents Bruce Smith and his wife Patty told Scottsdale.org that they purchased an acre in the Rio Verde Foothills community around five years ago and built a home on it around three years later.

The couple claimed that they were never informed about the water issue stating, Even when you get your building permit, they dont.

Smith and his wife said they are now forced to haul water to their home and fear what the situation will do to the value of their property, adding, Without water, your property is basically worthless.

According to Scottsdale.org, some Rio Verde Foothills residents turned up at the City Hall ahead of a council meeting on Jan. 10 to protest the cut-off and have since filed an injunction request against the move.

The request cites ARS Section 9-516 C, which states that a city or town acquiring the facilities of a public service corporation rendering utility service without the boundaries of such city or town, or which renders utility service without its boundaries, shall not discontinue such service, once established, as long as such city or town owns or controls such utility.

A view of the Colorado River from the Navajo Bridge in Marble Canyon, Arizona, on Aug. 31, 2022. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)

Water Is Not a Compassion Game

Meanwhile, private utility company EPCOR reportedly offered to provide water into the system if Scottsdale would treat it and allow it to be distributed through its standpipe until a long-term solution could be found.

However, David Ortega, the mayor of Scottsdale, reportedly rejected the offer, writing in a statement on Dec. 9: There is no Santa Claus. The mega-drought tells us all  water is not a compassion game.

The Epoch Times has contacted Ortegas office for comment.

Despite stormy weather and snow hitting California in recent weeks, a 20-year drought has led to Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, which provides water to Arizona, California, and Nevada, all but drying out, while levels in Lake Powell have been called dangerously low.

Meanwhile, restrictions have been put in place for water usage along the Colorado River, upon which 40 million are dependent for water.

Sarah Porter, the director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, told The New York Times that the events in Rio Verde should serve as a cautionary tale for home buyers in other unincorporated areas in Arizona that depend on water from larger nearby cities.

We cant just protect every single person who buys a parcel and builds a home. There isnt enough money or water, Porter said.
Search for Oklahoma Girl, 4, Turns to Looking for Her Body

CYRIL, OklahomaAn effort to locate a missing 4-year-old Oklahoma girl who authorities believe was killed by a caretaker has become a search for her remains, officials said Monday.

The search for Athena Brownfield, missing since last week, is now considered a recovery operation, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said in a news release.

Authorities determined Athena was missing after a postal carrier found her 5-year-old sister wandering alone on Jan. 10 outside of the home of the couple who had been caring for the sisters in Cyril, a city of around 800 people located about 70 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

Ivon Adams, 36, was arrested Thursday in Phoenix and is awaiting extradition to Oklahoma. He faces charges of first-degree murder and child neglect, according to the OSBI.

Alysia Adams, 31, was arrested in Oklahoma and faces two counts of child neglect. The OSBI said she is related to the sisters.

Ivon Adams (L) and Alysia Adams. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)

Jail records do not list attorneys for either who could comment on the accusations against them.

Areas of Caddo County, where Cyril is located, are being searched for Athenas remains, the OSBI said Monday. The agency asked the the public not to search for Athenas remains, saying that people could end up trespassing or contaminating potential evidence.

The sisters biological parents have been interviewed by authorities and are cooperating with the investigation, the OSBI said. Athenas sister was taken into protective custody.
Treasury Secretary Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier Liu to Meet Amid Competition for African Influence

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen presides over the unveiling of the first U.S. banknotes printed with two women's signatures at an event in Fort Worth, Texas on Dec. 8, 2022. (Shelby Tauber/Reuters)

Officials from the United States and communist China will meet in Switzerland this week to discuss economic development and work to increase communication between the two nations on economic issues.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in Zurich on Jan. 18 as part of an attempt to ease tensions between the two nations. The move follows a November pledge by U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping to work to improve ties amid heightened tensions.

The meeting also highlights a growing competition for influence between the United States and the CCP regime in Africa. Yellen is to visit three African nations immediately after the meeting, and the CCPs foreign minister, Qin Gang, is just coming off of his own tour of Africa.

The CCP has been ramping up investments into the development of Africa for the last several decades and China has been Africas largest trading partner for over 10 years, though African leaders still desire better trade relations with the United States.

Yellen is the first member of the Biden administration to commit to an African tour, and her visit follows a December pledge by Biden that the United States would invest $15 billion in two-way trade and investment deals in the continent.

Yellen said during an NPR interview last week that China had played a leading role in lending to and trading with African nations, but that African leaders had made clear that they were seeking more U.S. engagement.

Its clear that they want to expand trade and investment with many parts of the world and see the United States as a critical partner in that growth, Yellen said. And thats something thats important to us as well.

Communist China is now the worlds largest creditor and Chinese trade with Africa is about four times that of the United States. The regime has become an important creditor in Africa by offering cheaper loans than Western nations, albeit with opaque terms and collateral requirements.

Yellen has repeatedly criticized the CCP for its failure or delay in restructuring the debt of poor countries in Africa.

The situation has resulted in many countries in Africa, including Zambia, which Yellen is set to visit, having soured on Chinese lending and looking for alternatives.

To that end, the United States appears more than ready to offer just such an alternative, and the $15 billion promised by Biden will include significant investments and trade partnerships in addition to the more typical humanitarian and security assistance.

We believe that Africas growth will be a key driver of global growth over the coming decades, a senior Treasury official said.

U.S. companies investing in Africa means jobs and opportunities for a growing middle class, and new markets and customers for American firms.

Yellens meeting with Liu is expected to touch on the debt issue and other significant differences between the two nations.

Liu is in Switzerland for the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos, which Yellen does not plan to attend, though other senior U.S. officials will be there.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Senator Reveals Main Reason Why She Left Democratic Party

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) revealed why she left the Democratic Party late last year during a Tuesday discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Sinema said that she considered herself to be an independent lawmaker long before she switched her party affiliation in December. Because of heightened political polarization in recent years, she felt the need to break away from the party.

Those who know me know that I was always an independent voice and always have been for the things that I believe in and for my state and for my country, said Sinema during the event, claiming that the Jan. 6 Capitol breach created, I think, concern and fear for every patriotic American across the country.

But in the resulting two years, the Democratic Party shared a narrative that said, We would not have any more free and fair elections in this country if the United States Congress didnt eliminate the filibuster and pass a massive voting rights package, Sinema added. As we all know, the filibuster was not eliminated.  that massive voting rights bill was not passed through Congress. And then we had a free and fair election all across the country during the 2022 midterms, she added.

Sinema was making reference to the voting rights bill and move to eliminate the filibuster that were both backed by Democrats when they controlled both chambers of Congress over the past two years.

Individuals of both political parties, some extreme, some moderate, won. So we had a free and fair election, she added. One could posit that the push by one political party to eliminate an important guardrail in an institution of our country may have been premature or overreaching in order to get the short-term victories they wanted.

World Economic Forum Meeting

According to reports, Sinema was among a handful of U.S. lawmakers and officials who flew to the Davos event hosted by the World Economic Forum. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and several members of the House of Representatives will attend, while Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) are two Republicans who are scheduled to attend the America (Un)Bound event at the meeting.

World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab delivers a speech during the Crystal Award ceremony at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, on Jan. 16, 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

Governor Kemp looks forward to traveling to Davos to share with leaders who the State of Georgias long record of conservative governance, protecting individual liberty, and championing opportunity can serve as a model for economic success across the country and around the world, a spokesperson from Kemps office told news outlets about the visit.

The World Economic Forum, founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, gathers the worlds ultra-wealthy and other elites at a several-day-long event in Davos, Switzerland. In recent years, the group has generated controversy for its promotion of left-wing policies and its great reset, while Schwab himself has courted criticism for praising the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party as a role model for some countries.

Earlier this week, Schwab announced the World Economic Forums meeting, which runs from Jan. 16 to 20, will focus on an agenda to promote progressive climate-related and social-justice policies.

The theme of our meeting in Davos is cooperation in a fragmented world, Klaus stated, adding that economic, environmental, social, and geopolitical crises are converging and conflating, creating an extremely versatile and uncertain future.

We are all stuck in a crisis mindset, he warned, but he said his annual meeting at Davos shall try to make sure that leaders do not remain trapped in this crisis mindset but develop a longer-term, constructive perspective to shape the future in more sustainable, more inclusive, and more resilient way.

Around 379 public officials will be attending. That includes 30 heads of state, 19 central bank governors, 1,500 company executives, 600 CEOs from the worlds largest corporations, and more.
Siemens Signs 3 Billion Euro Train Deal in India

The logo of German industrial group Siemens at an office building in Zug, Switzerland, on Dec. 1, 2021. (Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

ZURICHSiemens has signed a 3 billion euro ($3.25 billion) contract to supply and service freight trains in India, the German engineering company said on Monday, the biggest locomotive deal in its history.

Siemens will deliver 1,200 electric locomotives and provide servicing for 35 years under the agreement, also its biggest ever in India.

The Siemens-designed, 9,000-horsepower trains with a top speed of 120 kilometers (75 miles)/hr will be assembled in India over the next 11 years, with deliveries starting in 24 months.

These new locomotives  can replace between 500,000 to 800,000 trucks over their lifecycle, said Siemens Mobility CEO Michael Peter.

The order was a big step for Siemens in India, Peter told Reuters, saying the company had previously mainly provided components and infrastructure there.

India is looking for technology, better efficiency, and longer lifespan for its trains, he said in an interview. In the past India built their own trains, but they want to increase reliability and average speeds.

The deal is the latest bumper contract won by Siemens after it signed a 900 million euro deal for a new metro line in Sydney, Australia in December.

Peter was confident about reaching Siemenss goal of increasing revenue at the mobility business by 69 percent this year, although this contract would mainly appear as orders in 2023. He said profit margins were in line with what he expected for rolling stock, declining to comment further.

He said Siemens was also looking at other train contracts in India, the worlds largest rail market with 24 million passengers traveling daily on more than 22,000 trains.

The government in New Delhi wants to increase the rail network share of freight transport to 4045 percent from the current 27 percent, said Siemens, whose first contact in Indiaa London to Calcutta telegraph linedates back to 1867.

($1 = 0.9237 euros)

By John Revill
Southern California Sees Record Rainfall, State Assesses Damage

People watch the high volume of storm rain water flowing downstream at the Los Angeles River in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, 2023. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

Record rainfall in Southern California Jan. 14 led to flooded streets and mud-covered houseswith emergencies ranging from the rescue of a woman hanging onto a tree in a Laguna Hills creek to houses being crushed by fallen trees in San Diego.

The rain began falling again over Los Angeles County late Saturday morning with more hitting in the late afternoon through evening. Downtown Los Angeles received 1.82 inches of rain, breaking the old record of 1.56 inches set in 1978, according to the National Weather Service.

People cross a bridge over a swollen Los Angeles River in Los Angeles on Jan. 14, 2023. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

In Orange County, the rain eased off Saturday night until a smaller storm moved in later Sunday afternoon. It continued into the morning of Mondays Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Almost all of the state has received 4 to 6 times more rain than average since Christmas, with some areas receiving as much as 30 inches, causing massive flooding. The series of storms has killed at least 19 Californians since late December.

Floods

Flooding was reported in the Long Beach Peninsula community at about 2 p.m. Saturday, affecting residences along 67th Place. A little farther to the northwest, all lanes of the 710 Freeway were flooded between Anaheim and Willow streets.

In Laguna Hills, a woman was airlifted from a tree above rising water at Aliso Creek near the 24400 block of Christina Court at around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA).

In a video posted on Twitter by the agency, a helicopter lowered a rescuer to the woman, who picked her up, and took her to a safe area.

As the weather continues to fill up waterways, we strongly urge everyone to stay away from the water, OCFA Capt. Thanh Nguyen told City News Service.

Laguna Hills  Our emergency command center received a call at 3:28 pm for a person hanging on to a tree in a creek with rapid moving water. Multiple swift water rescue teams, including a 16 member team formed up for the rain at the request of @cal_oes responded. >>> pic.twitter.com/RklkuXYOJO  OCFA PIO (@OCFireAuthority) January 15, 2023

The California Highway Patrol rescued three people whose car slid off a rain-slicked road and teetered on the edge of a cliff in the Santa Cruz Mountains earlier on Friday.

The occupants of the car were scared for their lives and were in disbelief when they were pulled safely from the car as the vehicles front end hung precariously over the cliffs edge, the highway patrol said in a statement.

We cannot stress this enough. Please ONLY drive if its necessary, officials said.

A winter weather advisory remains in effect until 3 a.m. Jan. 17 for the Los Angeles County mountains. Forecasters said for Sunday night through Monday, snow could accumulate 5 to 10 inches above 5,500 feet, and 3 to 6 inches at higher points.

A high surf advisory was in effect until 10 p.m. Tuesday at Orange County beaches, where huge waves have been seen in the last few days.

Landslides and Mudslides

The series of storms saturated the bald mountains and hillsidewhere vegetation is still recovering from previous wildfirescausing hundreds of landslides this month.

Since New Years Eve, the California Department of Conservations landslide mapping team has documented more than 300 slides.

Just north of Los Angeles near Ojai, major storms damage the road into Matilija Canyon, which the Ventura County Sheriff has evacuated over 70 people via helicopter.

Members of the VCSO Tactical Response Team were airlifted into Matilija Canyon after flooding cut off the access roads leaving the residents unable to evacuate. The deputies were able help the residents and airlift the evacuees to safety. pic.twitter.com/f8yvc1cPYx  Ventura County Sheriff (@VENTURASHERIFF) January 12, 2023

The slides have mostly blocked highways and washed away some sections of roads making them inoperable. Fortunately, no communities have been majorly harmed as in 2018 when mudslides roared through Montecito, killing 23 people and wiping out 130 homes.

The slides closed portions of the Golden State (5) Freeway near Stadium Way. Part of the southbound I-5 from state Route 110 and the southbound I-5 connector to southbound state Route 110 is also closed due to mudslides, according to the California Department of Transportation.

Aftermath

New waves of rain brought bad news for crews still working to clean up after last weeks storms.

A sinkhole that developed on a Calabasas roadway and swallowed two vehicles continued growing. The sinkhole on Iverson Road was estimated Jan. 13 to have grown to about 45 feet deep while spanning the entire roadway.

The Los Angeles City Council approved $500,000 in emergency funding on Tuesday for its expedited repairs.

In this image taken with a drone, a vehicle is stuck in a sinkhole in the Chatsworth section of Los Angeles on Jan. 10, 2023. (Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)

Another $450,000 was approved for storm repairs to Mulholland Drive between Summit Circle and Bowmont Drive, which remained closed to all non-residents on Sunday.

Additionally, the storms knocked down trees which led to more property damage in both commercial and residential areas.

In the Hollywood Hills, a tree collapsed, damaging a home, rupturing a gas line, and downing power lines at 10:15 p.m. Sunday. The home at 3084 N. Belden Drive sustained minor damage and no one was hurt.

In Woodland Hills, a tree toppled at 8:13 p.m. Saturday in the 23300 block of Mulholland Drive, crushing multiple cars in a parking lot.

The rain also created dangerous conditions for hikers.

The Montrose Search and Rescue Teama nonprofit, volunteer rescue group affiliated with the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departmentreported Sunday that there have been numerous slip and fall incidents in the Angeles National Forest in the last few weeks. Some have resulted in fatalities.

Debris is seen on the beach in Newport Beach, Calif., after a rainstorm on Jan. 16, 2023. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Some local events also came to a halt due to the storm.

Santa Anita Park canceled all scheduled horse races on Saturday and Monday. Los Alamitos Race Course scrubbed all races planned for Saturday night.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Friday declared a local state of emergency due to the weather change. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors have also declared a state of emergency over the storms earlier this month to speed up the process of disaster relief.

Conditions should dry out by Jan. 17, beginning a mostly sunny week, but some Santa Ana winds could develop later in the week.

City News Service and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Supreme Court Hears Transgender Migrants Claim of Procedural Unfairness

Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett stands during a group photo of the Justices at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021. (Erin Schaff/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court seemed resistant to Biden administration arguments on Jan. 17 that could lead to the deportation of a transgender illegal alien from Guatemala seeking asylum.

The issue is whether noncitizens have to petition the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider its alleged errors before they ask federal courts of appeals for review. Those courts of appeals are split on the issue and the Supreme Courts answer could significantly impact noncitizens facing deportation and the immigration courts tasked with hearing their pleas for relief, according to a SCOTUSblog summary.

The case is Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, court file 21-1436.

The U.S. government tried to deport Leon Santos-Zacaria, 34, a Guatemalan citizen who was born male but identifies as a woman and uses the first name Estrella in everyday life. Santos-Zacaria entered the United States illegally at least twice and was removed to Guatemala in 2008 and 2012. He came back to the United States in 2018 and, after being detained, applied for something called withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and for sanctuary under the Convention Against Torture.

The INA states that an alien unlawfully present in the country may be deported after the U.S. Department of Justice issues a final order of removal, but Congress restricts the deportation destination. An alien may not be removed to a country where his or her life or freedom would be threatened  because of the aliens race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. LGBT individuals are included in the particular social group category.

Individuals who have been previously deported and then reentered the country, or who have failed to seek asylum within one year of arriving in the United States, may not apply for asylum. Those individuals are generally allowed to apply for withholding of removal.

This means that at the end of the adjudication process, an immigration judge signs a deportation order and then advises the government that it may not carry it out. The removal of the person is said to be withheld. The person may still be removed if the destination country agrees to accept the individual.

At the withholding hearing, Santos-Zacaria told the immigration judge he experienced persecution in Guatemala for being a gay and transgender person. He said he had been raped at age 12 because he was homosexual, ridiculed for behaving like a woman, and threatened with death if he didnt move away from the community. He didnt report these incidents to authorities because he didnt believe they would help him, according to the summary.

In court, he appeared to admit that there may be places in Guatemala where he might be better accepted than in his hometown.

The immigration judge acknowledged the rape but ruled Santos-Zacaria didnt suffer past persecution.

On appeal, the Board of Immigration Appeals reversed, accepting that the rape constituted past persecution. But instead of remanding the case to the immigration judge, the board then [embarked] on new factfinding of its own, concluding that Santos-Zacaria had not shown she would be persecuted in the future. The boards factfinding on the question of the possibility of future persecution was impermissible, according to the petition (pdf) filed with the Supreme Court.

At the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, the government failed to invoke the exhaustion doctrine, which holds that a plaintiff must exhaust all possible administrative remedies before seeking judicial review. Despite that, the 5th Circuit found that Santos-Zacarias impermissible-factfinding argument was unexhausted and that if the board committed an error, he must return to the same board for a remedy before moving on to a federal court, the petition stated.

During oral arguments at the Supreme Court, neither the petitioners sexual orientation nor gender identity was discussed. Instead, the hearing focused on issues related to procedural law.

U.S. Department of Justice attorney Yaira Dubin urged the court to reject the petitioners appeal.

The INA creates an adversarial scheme that authorizes judicial review only after agency procedures are exhausted. That reflects Congresss judgment on how best to manage the high volume of immigration cases to achieve uniformity, efficiency, and fairness in an overburdened system, she said.

Santos-Zacarias arguments conflict with that judgment, Dubin added.

But the justices didnt appear to accept the Biden administrations position that Santos-Zacaria must exhaust all available administrative remedies before the 5th Circuit could hear the case.

Justice Elena Kagan said the high court has consistently said that when the key thing is what the party has to do, thats non-jurisdictional.

Kagan was referring to jurisdictional rules, which take away the authority of courts to entertain a case, as opposed to the more flexible claims processing rules.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked Dubin if it would be better for us for clarity purposes to say exhaustion requirements are not jurisdictional unless the word jurisdiction is used, just so the lower courts dont thrash around in this unnecessarily for years on end?

Dubin said the court has been pursuing clarity  in this area, and I do think that this provision comes as close as you can to saying this is a limitation on a court authority without using the word jurisdiction. So, if you disagree with that, I do think it would be very helpful.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked Dubin how the court should proceed.

Lets say that we disagree with you about jurisdiction  shouldnt we just remand to the 5th Circuit for it to address the impermissible fact-finding claim? the justice asked.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor appeared skeptical that the court would deal with both the issue of jurisdiction and impermissible fact-finding.

Is there any way we reach both? she asked Paul Hughes, attorney for Santos-Zacaria.

Well, if the court were to disagree with us on one, I think it would have to reach the other, he said.

Justice Neil Gorsuch suggested to Dubin the court should rule on jurisdiction and stop there.

Gorsuch asked the government lawyer if the court should deal with the factfinding issue now so that everybody has clarity on the playing field. The issue seems to me pretty important and likely to impact a very, very large number of immigration appeals.

Dubin said, yes, so the  courts of appeal all agree that  issue exhaustion  is required under the INA.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case by June.
Supreme Court Turns Away Appeal About States Using COVID-19 Relief Funds for Tax Cuts

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington on Oct. 3, 2022. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court refused on Jan. 17 to take up an appeal by Missouri challenging a ban on states using federal pandemic-relief funds to offset state revenue reductions, such as those attributed to tax cuts or other policy changes.

The decision is a victory for the Biden administration, which had urged the court to deny the petition.

The $1.7 trillion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, was a response to the economic downturn associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. ARPA provided $195 billion in aid to state governments, along with $130 billion in aid to local governments.

The Supreme Court ruling leaves undisturbed a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit that held that Missouri lacked legal standing to pursue a lawsuit challenging federal conditions imposed on ARPA funding.

Missouri said in its petition that it interprets the law as prohibiting only the deliberate use of ARPA funds to pay for a tax cut, and argued the federal governments policy on how the money was to be spent was unconstitutional.

The state said the federal governments interpretation of the law would preclude any new state tax policy that leads to revenue reduction without providing offsets.

But Missouri failed to identify a specific state policy that could conflict with the funding conditions, the 8th Circuit found. The state was pursuing a quintessentially advisory opinion, which federal courts dont issue, that court stated.

The denial of the petition in Missouri v. Yellen (court file 22-352), came in an unsigned order. The justices didnt explain their decision. Janet Yellen is the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

The statute provided Missouri with about $2.7 billion with strings attached. A state is not allowed to use the ARPA funding it receives to either directly or indirectly offset a reduction in the net tax revenue of  [a] state or territory resulting from a change in law, regulation, or administrative interpretation, Missouri stated in its petition.

U.S. Department of Justice officials didnt respond by press time to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Madeline Sieren of the Missouri Attorney Generals Office said her office was not going to offer comment at this time.

Attorney Joseph Bishop-Henchman of the National Taxpayers Union, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Missouri, took the denial of the petition in stride.

Asked if he was disappointed, the lawyer wrote, Not at all.

This issue will reach the court eventually, [its] just a question of whether its sooner or later. The idea that a state cannot challenge a federal funding condition placed on it is nuts, he wrote in an email.

Missouri v. Yellen is the first of the six current ARPA cases to be appealed to the Supreme Court, Bishop-Henchman wrote.

In most of them, the feds have lost and Treasury has been enjoined from enforcing the provision. The Missouri case got stuck on a procedural question, whether Missouri had suffered sufficient harm to have standing to bring the case at all. Thats what was appealed and what the court today declined to review, he wrote.

There is a good chance the Supreme Court will take up the issue of funding conditions in the future, the attorney wrote.

We had written a brief asking the court to take the case, but Im not surprised they didnt. They probably want to wait until several of these cases going different ways are in front of them, not just this first one that didnt reach the merits.
Tennessee Congressman Alleges Government Coverup of Craft Not of This World

Maj. Jesse Marcel from the Roswell Army Air Field with debris found 75 miles northwest of Roswell, N.M., in June 1947. The debris has been identified as that of a radar target. The Air Force released a report on June 24, 2022, debunking reports of a UFO crash near Roswell, N.M., in 1947. (United States Air Force/AFP/Getty Images)

A Tennessee congressman known for advocating for UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena) disclosure has alleged that the government is still hiding what it knows about unknown craft following an intelligence report.

Weve been covering this thing up since the 40ssince Roswell or before then, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told NewsNation on Saturday. I dont trust the government. Theres an arrogance about it. And I think the American public can handle it, and they need to release everything, and that includes if they in fact do have a craft, which I believe at some point, we have obtained some materials that are not of this world that are being studied by different members of industry, Ive been told.

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in a report (pdf) published on Jan. 12, there has been an increase in sightings.

The U.S. government collected a total of 510 UAP reports as of Aug. 30, 2022, an increase of 366 reports in the 17 months since DNIs preliminary assessment when, in June 2021, it reported 144 UAP sightings between 2004 and 2021.

The DNI said there have been 247 new reports and another 119 that were either since discovered or reported after the preliminary assessments time period.

According to Burchett, when it comes to topics addressing classified material, there are two reports: the one made public and the one that is classified.

So, if a congressperson is briefed on the classified briefing, then basically, theyre not allowed by law to even talk on the issue of whats in that, even if its something they already know, Burchett said.

Burchett said UAP footage such as the Tic Tac videos showing speeds and maneuvers not known to be achievable by mankind reveal something else out of this world that is defying any of our capabilities at all.

If you were a human and make the turns that have been seen in some of this footage, you would literally turn into a ketchup package, he said. I mean, you would be gone.

Possible UAPs in Biblical and American History

Burchett alluded to the first chapter of Ezekiel in the Old Testament of the Bible that some scholars have theorized describes the prophets encounter with extraterrestrial crafts and beings.

As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them, Ezekiel writes in chapter one, verse 15.

According to Burchett, the chapter is clearly describing a UAP sighting.

Burchett mentioned the Roswell, New Mexico, incident, where, in 1947, there was an unidentified aircraft crash that was initially reported as a recovered flying saucer by the U.S. Army Air Forces before it was quickly retracted and reported as a fallen weather balloon.

In 1997, the late Col. Philip Corso alleged in his autobiography The Day After Roswell that when he was a member of President Dwight D. Eisenhowers National Security Council and head of the Foreign Technological desk at the U.S. Armys Research and Development department, he headed the Armys reverse-engineering project that took recovered technology from the 1947 Roswell crash and seeded the information out to major corporate firms.

Using the provided information, these firms were able to manufacture integrated circuit chips, fiber optics, laser technology, and super-tenacity fibers.

Burchett said hes talked with Navy pilots who admitted the UAPs are neither of terrestrial origin nor under any government control.

So, theres a lot of things going on within this, he said. Theres a lot, I think, that has transpired since the 40s.

Mimi Nguyen Ly contributed to this report.
Texas Attorney General Petitions Supreme Court to Hear Case to Limit Power of Unelected Bureaucrats

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has joined an amicus brief requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court hear a case that could restrict the actions of the unelected Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Paxton is urging the action because of concerns that the bureau is not adequately governed by the people, as the CFPB is both unelected and funded outside the approval of Congress.

The brief was submitted by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, where the attorney general asked that the court hear the case CFPB v. CFSAA (Case No. 22-448). The question presented in the brief was whether the court of appeals was incorrect in its assertion that the current configuration of how the CFPB is funded violates the Appropriation Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The CFPB is a largely autonomous entity that has imposed a number of damaging regulations on American businesses, Paxtons office said in a statement about the brief. While the CFPBs constitutionality has been challenged on several fronts, the nature of this case revolves around the entitys funding mechanism. CFPB is not funded through the congressional appropriations process. Instead, it derives its funding from the Federal Reserve and may receive up to 12 percent of the Federal Reserves annual operating expenses, which amounts to several billion dollars.

This funding structure allows the CFPB to act as an unaccountable regulator, in violation of the Appropriations Clause of the Constitution.

Constitutional Argument

The Appropriations Clause referenced in the brief is found in Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution and states that No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.

This clause establishes a system of legislative control over government spending by requiring that all federal government expenditures must be authorized by Congress through the appropriations process. In other words, the Appropriations Clause gives Congress the power of the purse, and it serves as a check on the executive branchs ability to spend money without the approval of the legislature. The clause also serves as a check on the power of the judiciary, as it prevents the courts from ordering the expenditure of funds without a specific appropriation.

In laymans terms, the appropriations clause is a provision in the Constitution that provides Congress with the authority to approve and authorize the spending of government funds. This is an important power that allows Congress to ensure that the government is spending money in an appropriate and responsible manner, and that the executive branch is not overstepping its bounds.

The brief states: [T]he country needs a fast answer to a question of this importance. On issues like these, worrying costs arise from letting uncertainty fester. And like the Bureau and private actors, the States need clarity, too. States, after all, have traditionally stood as protectors of the consumer financial markets. They need to know what role federal regulators will playor notin this critical area. . . . The Court . . . should reinvigorate the protections of the Appropriations Clause, not weaken them.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

In the amicusor friend of the courtbrief, the attorney general cites 21 cases with similar precedents brought by a range of plaintiffs including individuals, states, and the U.S. government, in their table of authorities to attempt to convince the court to hear the case. This not only allows the court to see how other judges have ruled on similar issues, but also points out how heavily litigated cases on this and similar subject matter are.

Split Decisions by Judges

Another issue addressed in the brief is that The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, recently ruled in this direction, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia disagreed, resulting in a circuit split.

The U.S. Supreme Court should hear this case not only to resolve the split and give clear guidance to Congress, the courts, and the states, but also to affirm the Fifth Circuits decision and defend the American people from unelected Washington bureaucrats, the attorney generals office went on to say.

A split between circuit court judges means that the judges have reached different conclusions on a legal issue that has been brought before them. This can occur when a panel of judges is hearing a case and they are unable to reach a unanimous decision, or when different judges issue conflicting opinions on the same case or type of case.

This can lead to confusion and uncertainty in the law due to the doctrine of stare decisis, which requires that judges honor previously decided decisions in the absence of compelling evidence to overturn another ruling. It can also lead to an appeal to the next level of court, as Texas and West Virginia attorneys general have requested.
Texas Brewery Cancels Kyle Rittenhouse Fundraiser Against Censorship

Kyle Rittenhouse waits for the jury to enter the room to continue testifying during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Nov. 10, 2021. (Sean Krajacic-Pool/Getty Images)

A Texas-based brewery recently decided to cancel a fundraising event featuring Kyle Rittenhouse, a man who rose to national media attention after he shot and killed two people during a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020, and who was found not guilty of murder after he argued he acted in self-defense.

The Southern Star Brewing Company in Conroe, Texas, had previously planned to host a fundraising event on Jan. 26. Rittenhouse was set to be the featured speaker at the planned event, a Rally Against Censorship.

Rittenhouse was present at a riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020 with an AR-15-style rifle. During the riot, the then-17-year-old Rittenhouse was with a group of other armed individuals protecting business properties in the area. At one point in the evening, Rittenhouse was separated from the rest of the group and was shot at and chased by people in the crowd. In the initial chase, Rittenhouse fled and then turned and fatally shot the man chasing him. As Rittenhouse then ran toward police, additional individuals continued to chase him. During the chase, Rittenhouse fell to the ground and fatally shot a second individual who swung a skateboard at his head and grabbed at his gun. Rittenhouse also shot a man who pointed a handgun at him, striking that individual in the same limb with which the individual held his gun.

Prosecutors charged Rittenhouse with murder but a jury found him not guilty after he testified that he had acted in self-defense.

Defiance Press & Publishing, the organizers of the Rally Against Censorship, promoted Rittenhouses headline appearance.

Kyle Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges in a trial where he received sharply negative coverage from mainstream media; he was called a white supremacist, and numerous outlets repeated the falsehood that he illegally transported the rifle he used in the fatal shootings across state lines, the publishing company said. With the support of countless patriotic and freedom-loving Americans, Kyle beat the odds, won his freedom, and proved to a nation that justice is possible, even in the face of overwhelming political and societal pressures.

Despite renting out the venue, Southern Star Brewing Company announced its decision to cancel the event in a post on Twitter on Friday.

No more, the brewerys statement began. Southern Star Brewery is an apolitical organization, but we feel that this event doesnt reflect our own values and we could not in good faith continue to rent our space for the event on 1/26. We dont do rallies, we make beer for people who like beer.

A message from us at Southern Star: pic.twitter.com/v10pHCai2l  Southern Star Brewing Co. (@SouthernStarBC) January 13, 2023

While the brewery did not directly specify which event it canceled, Defiance Press & Publishing stated directly that the Rally Against Censorship was the event the brewery had canceled.

Rittenhouse Responds

Following the brewing companys decision to pull out of the event, Rittenhouse wrote in a Twitter post: Its really disappointing to see that places continue to censor me and not allow my voice and many other voices to be heard because they bend to the woke crowd. Ill keep you guys updated on the event on the 26th that I was supposed to speak at.

Its really disappointing to see that places continue to censor me and not allow my voice and many other voices to be heard because they bend to the woke crowd. Ill keep you guys updated on the event on the 26th that I was supposed to speak at. https://t.co/bKOyvZQyb2  Kyle Rittenhouse (@ThisIsKyleR) January 13, 2023

Defiance Press & Publishing said it is working to find a new venue to host its rally with Rittenhouse.

Grocery Store Allegedly Pressured Brewery to Cancel

Defiance Press & Publishing alleged the brewery pulled out of the event under pressure from a Texas grocery store chain, H-E-B.

This sudden decision is nothing other than an outrageous display of censorship. Up until now, Southern Star Brewery had agreed to host this event with full knowledge that Kyle Rittenhouse would be invited and had no problem whatsoever. It was not until H-E-B threatened to end their business with them that they decided to pull our event. Clearly, money talks and values walk for Southern Star, Defiance Press founder David Roberts said.

NTD News reached out to Southern Star Brewing Company and H-E-B for comment.

From NTD News
Texas Sees Nearly 100 Percent Drop in Abortions Following Roe Reversal

Protesters gather for A Texas Rally for Abortion Rights in Houston, Texas, on May 7, 2022. (Mark Felix/AFP /AFP via Getty Images)

Abortions in Texas fell significantly during the initial months following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, with the red state implementing resolute anti-abortion laws while Republican lawmakers are pushing forward more pro-life policies nationwide.

Only three abortions took place in Texas in August 2022, down from 2,596 in June, when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, according to data from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. This represents a 99.88 percent drop in abortions in a span of two months.

Official report shows there were only three abortions reported in Texas in August 2022, all due to medical emergencies. We still have work to do to stop illegal abortions, especially pills trafficked over the border and online, but this shows life-saving progress, Texas Right to Life, a pro-life organization, stated in a tweet on Jan. 3.

After the Roe v. Wade judgment, a Texas trigger law banning abortions came into effect in late August. The law prohibits all abortions except when the mothers life is in danger.

Back in September 2021, the state enacted the Texas Heartbeat Act that prohibits abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. In the first month of the law, abortions in the state had fallen to 2,251 compared to 5,706 abortions in August 2021.

Pro-Life Push

Meanwhile, House Republicans pushed ahead two pro-life measures on Jan. 11. The first was the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, passed with a vote of 220210. The bill mandates that a child born alive after an abortion attempt be given the same degree of care that other children born prematurely receive.

A health care practitioner who fails to provide the required degree of care, or a health care practitioner or other employee who fails to report such failure, is subject to criminal penaltiesa fine, up to five years in prison, or both, the bill states.

An individual who intentionally kills or attempts to kill a child born alive is subject to prosecution for murder.

The second measure is a resolution passed by a vote of 222209 that condemns the rise in attacks against crisis pregnancy centers (CPC), which are nonprofits that provide support, counseling, and resources to persuade women against abortions.

Since the day that the Dobbs decision was illegally leaked, attacks against pregnancy centers, centers of worship, and other pro-life institutions have skyrocketed, Rep. Harriett Hageman (R-Wyo.), one of the newest members of the House of Representatives, said in a speech on the House floor, referring the leak of the Roe v. Wade decision.

The congressman referred to the leaked draft of the majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization, which showed the U.S. Supreme Courts intent to overturn the right to abortion as decided in Roe v. Wade.

State Abortion Laws

As of Jan. 9, 12 U.S. states have enforced a near-total ban on abortion with very few exceptions: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy advocate for better sexual health and reproductive rights.

In Wisconsin and North Dakota, abortion is unavailable, even though no ban has been enforced. In Arizona, Georgia, Utah, and Florida, laws prohibit abortion after a certain number of weeks.

Abortion laws in Ohio, Wyoming, and Indiana are currently blocked by courts. Iowa, Montana, and Nebraska have indicated that they want to ban abortions.

In Nebraska, lawmakers proposed a bill that would prohibit abortions six weeks after pregnancy, which is roughly the time when a fetal heartbeat is detected. The Nebraska Heartbeat Act was introduced by Republican state senator Joni Albrecht together with other lawmakers.

In Virginia, Republican lawmakers have proposed banning abortion 15 weeks after pregnancy. Doctors who perform or assist in such abortion operations would have to face felony charges.
Texas Supreme Court Clears the Way for Education Agency Takeover in Houston

School children wearing masks walk outside Condit Elementary School in Bellaire, outside Houston, Texas, on Dec. 16, 2020. (Francois Picard/AFP via Getty Images)

The Supreme Court of Texas has cleared the way for state-appointed managers to replace school board members in the states largest school district.

On Friday, the states highest court reversed a temporary injunction that blocked the Texas Education Agency (TEA) from taking over the Houston Independent School District (HISD), according to a decision released by the Texas Supreme Court. (pdf)

A yearslong battle between the TEA and the school district stems from allegations of misconduct by school board trustees and years of low academic performance at Phillis Wheatley High School.

The case, related to the authority of the TEA to take over the district under the Texas Education Code, was ordered back to the trial court for further proceedings.

Under the governing law, the Districts claims do not support a temporary injunction against the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency and his appointed conservator, wrote Justice Jane Bland, who authored the opinion. We therefore reverse the court of appeals judgment, vacate the temporary injunction, and direct the trial court to consider the Commissioners plea to the jurisdiction.

The TEA first attempted to take over the district in November 2019, citing findings of the agencys Special Accreditation Investigation and the districts lowered accreditation status to Accredited-Warned. (pdf)

HISD argued that the TEA did not have the authority to impose power over the district.

In 2020, a Travis County judge granted HISDs temporary injunction, halting TEA Commissioner Mike Morath from appointing a board of managers to oversee the district. The next year, the Texas Legislature passed SB 1365, which the TEA lawyers argued provided authority for the agency to proceed with the takeover. (pdf)

After the court of appeals issued its decision, Senate Bill 1365 substantially changed the statutes that govern this case, Bland wrote.

We remand the case to the trial court, however, to permit the parties to fully develop the record in light of intervening legal and factual changes, the opinion continued. Accordingly, we reverse the court of appeals judgment, vacate the temporary injunction, and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The TEA did not respond to a request for comment.

HISD Superintendent Millard House II said on Friday in a press release that the districts legal team was reviewing the high courts opinion.

He said that HISD had worked with the community to develop and implement an improvement plan since he took the helm in 2021.

As Superintendent for the last 18 months, my team has been laser-focused on giving each one of our students the academic experience they deserve, House said. Guided by community input, the district developed and is executing on its five-year strategic plan. There is still much more work to be done, but we are excited about the progress we have made as a district and are looking forward to the work ahead.

House also noted the districts recent accomplishments, including academic progress and increased teacher salaries.

We have raised teacher salaries by an average of 11 percent, improved college, career, and military readiness outcomes, and celebrated strong accountability improvements across our district, he continued.

It is not immediately clear what action the TEA will take following the latest ruling.
The COVID Death Toll Myth in China

Commentary

George Bernard Shaw once said that assassination is the extreme form of censorship; he wasnt exaggerating a bit. The swift end of Beijings zero-COVID policy brought the reported COVID-19 numbers in China closer to reality, but theyre still far from commonsensical.

Even Hu Xijin, a pro-Beijing propagandist often mocked for his undecorated fawning, conceded via his Twitter account on Jan. 16 that the actual COVID-19 death toll in China since early December is definitely more than 60,000 because the official data only counted deaths at hospitals.

Perhaps not coincidentally, on the same day, Bloomberg published a story titled Chinas Hospital COVID Death Data Just a Tenth of Total Toll. With an abrupt ending of the zero-COVID policy in early December 2022, China saw an immediate outbreak of Omicron infections throughout the country, infecting at least some 900 million people80 percent of which had severe symptomsaccording to a recent study at Beijing University.

Unsurprisingly, this study was censored by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities and was later deleted from all social media platforms.

A report by UK-based analytics company Airfinity estimated 3.7 million COVID-19 infections and 25,000 COVID-19 deaths in a single day on Jan. 13, bringing the total death toll to 584,000 since Dec. 7, 2022.

That data, experts fear, is just the tip of the iceberg. Some estimated that the death toll could reach 200 million to 400 million people, given the growing infection rate. Zeng Guang, former chief scientist of Chinas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on Jan. 12 that this pandemic rippled in Beijing, followed by Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Chongqing, but its deadliest peak hasnt yet arrived. A search of China COVID cases on Twitter yields images of hospitals overcrowded with COVID-19 patients and funeral homes packed with coffins. Zeng predicts that the pandemic will continue for at least two to three months.

Given that China narrowed the definition of COVID-19 mortality to those who died from respiratory failure after contracting the virus, the actual death toll remains a mystery. Reuters reported on Jan. 17 that its reporter had seen a printed government notice at a Beijing hospital emergency department that stated that doctors should try not to write COVID-induced respiratory failure on death certificates.

The same Reuters report cited a doctor at a large public hospital in Shanghai as saying, We have stopped classifying COVID-19 deaths since the reopening in December.  It is pointless to do that because almost everyone is positive.

According to Pew Research Center, Chinas population has suffered a decline in recent years, ceding the title of the most populous country in the world to India. The low birth rate, in addition to the massive death tolls from the SARS and COVID-19 pandemics, has brought down Chinas population.

A woman holds a framed picture of a loved one at a crematorium in Beijing on Dec. 20, 2022. Workers at Beijing crematoriums said on Dec. 16, 2022, that theyre overwhelmed as China faces a surge in COVID-19 cases. (Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

To make up for this sharp population decline, Beijing has, in recent years, been pushing for a two-child policy and now even a three-child policy in an effort to boost its population growth. The once-endorsed one-child policy was officially abandoned in late 2015. Beijing acknowledged on Jan. 17 that 9.56 million people were born in China in 2022, while 10.41 million people died. In other words, the authorities acknowledged that China had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than the previous yearthe first reported reduction in six decades.

Historians have noted that a massive, deadly pandemic like COVID-19 isnt new nor unique in light of Chinas long history. Oftentimes, pandemics occurred along with dynastic changes. Some 290 serious epidemics were recorded between 243 B.C. and 1911. At least 700 cases of widespread infectious diseases have been identified from the 7th century B.C. to the end of the 20th century in China.

From a cultural perspective, both Buddhism and Taoism tend to offer the spiritual interpretation of catastrophic pandemics as karmic retribution. Traditionally, people in China have always treated natural disasters as a form of heavenly punishment and warning for societys ills. Its much in the vein of Christian belief: You reap what you sow.

The recent White Paper Revolution in China has shown that the masses are fed up with the CCPs coverup and lies, as well as with its inhumane zero-COVID policy, which some say has brought about more deaths than the pandemic itself.

On Jan. 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) reiterated that China should be more transparent about its COVID-19 situation.

There are some very important information gaps that we are working with China to fill, said Maria Van Kerkhove, the technical lead for WHOs COVID-19 response.

But WHOs appeal is feeble at best in the eye of Beijing.

Whats the big deal with a few million deaths? Jiang Yunzhong, the Chinese Communist Party secretary for the library of the prestigious Qinghua University, wrote on his social media platform, as reported by Radio Free Asia. In 2021, China had 10 million deaths; another 5 million deaths is merely a 50 percent death number.

His indifference to the COVID-19 victims has led to public outrage on Chinese social media. Such a naked, heartless attitude has, in many ways, reflected that of the CCP leadership toward the value of human life.

What matters to the CCP is to hold onto its political powerat all costs. Chairman Mao Zedong once put it blatantly, Communism is not love.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Oklahoma and Indian Territories were among the last frontiers of the wild and woolly American West. Hordes of legal fugitives and an assortment of unsavory characters flocked to the region when it was thrown open for settlement during a series of land runs. Col. D.F. MacMartin describes it best in his book Thirty Years in Hell: Or, the Confessions of a Drug Fiend:

History has never recorded an opening of government land whereon there was assembled such a rash and motley colony of gamblers, cut-throats, refugees, demimondaines, bootleggers and high hat and low pressure crooks.

With this population came an unprecedented wave of crime, which afforded criminal lawyers like Temple Houston ample opportunities for a steady clientele.

Houston was the youngest son of Sam Houstonthe famous general, senator, and first president of the Republic of Texas. The young man distinguished himself as a cadet at what is now Texas A&M University, graduating at 17 as a second lieutenant. He moved on to Baylor University, where he completed a bachelors in philosophy in 1880, at the age of 19. He was admitted to the Texas bar soon after, two years before the required age of 21. Then, he embarked on a legal career in Brazoria County, Texas, served as district attorney, and was elected to the Texas State Senate in 1884, serving four years. He moved from his native Texas to Woodward, Oklahoma Territory, in 1893, shortly following the Cherokee Strip Land Run.

Finding His Place in the Oklahoma Sun

Temple grew restless and possibly felt that as long as he remained in Texas, he would labor in the shadow of his famous father. In Oklahoma Territory, he could carve out his own reputation, based on his own accomplishments.

In the courtroom, he soon did. There, Houston cut an imposing figure. Western writer Glenn Shirley describes his appearance:

His auburn hair now swept his shoulders  his dress was a mixture of legal dignity and western informality, a white Stetson, a black frock coat [that] tended to accentuate his slender height, and shop-made boots with square toes and riding heels that made his feet look sizes smaller. He wore a black cravat and a miniature gold saber tiepin that had belonged to his father.

He soon developed a reputation as one of the regions most brilliant, popular, and eccentric lawyers. He defended some of the worst criminals in the territory, including murderers, stock thieves, and gunfighters. But it was Houstons extemporaneous defense of Minnie Stacey that enshrined him forever as one of the great orators in American jurisprudence.

One of the finest examples of American oration, the Soiled Dove Plea, delivered by attorney Temple Houston, left few dry eyes in the Oklahoma courtroom. (Biba Kayewich for American Essence)

Minnies Plight

Like most frontier towns, Woodward had its share of bordellos. To clean up the town in 1889, the civic-minded citizens of Woodard saw that charges were brought against Minnie Stacey for prostitution and operating a brothel; the good citizens further sought to confiscate her property and drive her out of town penniless. Minnie couldnt afford a lawyer, and she prepared for the worst. On the morning of May 26, 1899, Houston knew that Minnies case was to be heard that day. After knocking back a couple of shots of whiskey in a Woodward saloon, Houston informed his drinking companion of poor Minnies plight. He concluded, She doesnt have any money to hire a lawyer, but I am going to defend her, and Im going to raise the roof!

When the judge called Minnies case, he learned that she had no lawyer and informed her that he would appoint one for her. Temple rose from his seat and announced, Please your Honor, and Ill defend the lady if she will allow me. Minnie accepted Houstons offer without hesitation. Houston bowed dramatically. The judge allowed a 10-minute recess for Houston to confer with his client and prepare his case. After a few minutes, he declared himself ready. The prosecution quickly outlined the case against Minnie. Houston offered no defense, which seemed out of character for him. The prosecution then moved for a conviction; to everyone there, it looked like an open and shut case.

But then Temple rose for his closing argument.

Sermon on the Bench

Houston briefly reviewed the legal aspects of the case and the evidence presented. Then, as a reporter for the Kansas City Star, who happened to be in the courtroom, and a court stenographer transcribed his words, Houston delivered a masterpiece:

Gentlemen of the jury: You heard with what cold cruelty the prosecution referred to the sins of this woman, as if her condition were of her own preference. The evidence has painted you a picture of her life and surroundings. Do you think that they were embraced of her own choosing? Do you think that she willingly embraced a life so revolting and horrible? Ah, no! Gentlemen, one of our own sex was the author of her ruin, more to blame than she.

Houston surveyed the jurors, seeing that he had their full attention before he continued.

Then let us judge her gently. What could be more pathetic than the spectacle she presents? An immortal soul in ruin! Where the star of purity once glittered on her girlish brow, burning shame has set its seal and forever. And only a moment ago, they reproached her for the depths to which she had sunk, the company she kept, the life she led. Now, what else is left her? Where can she go and her sin not pursue her? Gentlemen, the very promises of God are denied her. He said, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. She has indeed labored, and is heavily laden, but if, at this instant she were to kneel down before us and confess to her Redeemer and beseech His tender mercies, where is the church that would receive her? And even if they accepted her, when she passed the portals to worship and to claim her rest, scorn and mockery would greet her; those she met would gather around them their spirits the more closely to avoid the pollution of her touch. And would you tell me a single employment where she can realize Give us our daily bread? Our sex ruined her once pure life. Her own sex shrinks from her as they would the pestilence. Society has reared its relentless walls against her, and only in the friendly shelter of the grave can her betrayed and broke heart ever find the Redeemers promised rest. Temple, son of the famous Sam Houston, was one of the most eccentric lawyers in Oklahoma Territory. (Public domain)

Some of the jurors were shifting uncomfortably in their chairs, hoping that Houston was about finished. But he was just warming up.

They told you of her assumed names, as fleeting as the shadows on the walls, of her sins, her habits, but they never told you of her sorrows, and who shall tell what her heart, sinful though it may be, now feels? When the remembered voices of mother and sisters, whom she must see no more on this earth, fall again like music on her erring soul, and she prays to God that she could only return, and must notnonot in this life, for the seducer has destroyed the soul. You know the story of the prodigal son, but he was a son. He was one of us, like her destroyers; but for the prodigal daughter there is no return. Were she with her wasted form and bleeding feet to drag herself back home, she, the fallen and the lost, which would be her welcome? Oh, consider this when you come to decide her guilt, for she is before us and we must judge her. They sneer and scoff at her. One should respect her grief, and I tell you that there reigns over her penitent and chastened spirit a desolation now that none, no, none but the Searcher of all hearts can ever know. None of us are utterly evil, and I remember that when the Saffron Scourge [yellow fever] swept over the city of Memphis in 1878, a courtesan there opened wide the doors of her gilded palace of sin to admit the sufferers, and when the scythe of the Reaper swung fast and pitiless, she was angelic in her ministering. Death called her in the midst of her mercies, and she went to join those she tried to save. She, like the Lord forgave, was a sinner, and yet I believe that in the day of reckoning her judgement will be lighter than those who would prosecute and seek to drive off the earth such poor unfortunates as her whom you are to judge.

Houston slowly walked over to where Minnie sat, her head down, tears streaming down her face. He paused for a moment and continued:

They wish to fine this woman and make her leave. They wish to wring from the wages of her shame the price of this mediated injustice; to take from her the little money she might haveand God knows, gentlemen, it came hard enough. The old Jewish law told you that the price of a dog, not the bite of such as she, should not come within the house of the Lord, and I say unto you that our justice, fitly symbolized by this womans form, does not ask that you add ought to the woes of this unhappy one, one only asks at your hands the pitiful privilege of being left alone. Street scene of Woodward, Okla., 1910. (Public domain)

Handkerchiefs appeared throughout the courtroom as the sniffling sounds gradually increased. Houston sensed that the moment was right to conclude his summation.

The Master, while on earth, while He spake in wrath and rebuke to the kings and rulers, never reproached one of these. One He forgave. Another he acquitted. You remember bothand now looking upon this friendless outcast, if any of you can say to her, I am holier than thou in the respect which she is charged with sinning, who is he? The Jews who brought the woman before the Savior have been held up to execration of the world for two thousand years. I always respected them. A man who will yield to the reproaches of the conscience as they did has the element of good in him, but the modern hypocrite has no such compunctions. If the prosecutors of the woman whom you are trying had brought her before the Savior, they would have accepted His challenge and each one gathered a rock and stoned her, in the twinkling of an eye. No, Gentlemen, do as your Master did twice under the same circumstances that surround you. Tell her to go in peace.

When Houston took his seat, there were few dry eyes in the courtroom. Tears ran unashamedly down the cheeks of old Judge John H. Burford. Everyone in the courtroom was spellbound, aware that they had just witnessed an inspired delivery by Temple Houston that was nothing short of miraculous. Needless to say, the jury acquitted Minnie Stacey in a matter of minutes.

A friend of Houstons, Logan Coffee, later stated that Houstons speech had such a profound impact on Minnie that she moved to Canadian, Texas, joined the Methodist Church, took in washing for a living, and remained a Christian for the rest of her life.

The public response to Houstons extemporaneous plea was overwhelming. Thanks to the Kansas City Star reporter who took down every word, thousands of copies were printed and distributed. Ultimately, a framed copy found its way to the Library of Congress, where it was displayed with the simple explanation, One of the finest examples of American oratory ever uttered.

Houston continued to practice law until he died suddenly from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1905. He was at the peak of his career and only 45 years old. One of the most colorful lawyers of the Old West had passed from the scene, but he lives on through his masterful oration defending Minnie Stacey.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.
Thousands of Cases of Abuse, Neglect of Disabled Australians Found in Report

The National Disability Insurance Scheme NDIS logo is seen at its head office in Canberra, Australia, on June 22, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Advocates are calling on the federal government to take immediate action on disability care homes after a watchdog report found thousands of reportable incidents in the past four years.

The report (pdf) released on Jan. 16, by the National Disability Insurance Scheme Quality and Safeguards Commission investigated seven NDIS-registered facilities.

It found that since 2019, there had been up to 7,000 incidents and complaints from disabled Australians living in supported accommodations known as group homes. Of those, 1,700 incidents involved a serious injury to a resident.

Additionally, 1,700 of the incidents included abuse, and more than 1,200 involved neglect, while there were 960 cases of unlawful physical contact, and 112 of unlawful sexual contact.

The homes are established to provide people living with disabilities the opportunity to live independently in the community with support. Residents often have profound intellectual, physical, or sensory disabilities.

People with Disability Australia President Nicole Lee said the figures were disturbing and said she was worried it was only the tip of the iceberg.

Its not a surprise at all  there are issues with reporting pathways for people with a disability to reach out for help to make reports to access police  this is potentially just the tip of the iceberg, she said.

Immediate action and funding to address this needs to be looked at as soon as possible but also done in collaboration with other areas  the womens sector, the family violence sector as well.

According to the NDIS, at the end of 2022, there were 29,812 Australians with Supported Independent Living (SIL) support in their NDIS plan and 22,069 participants with Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA).

Minister Wants Findings to Guide Sector Reform

Minister for the NDIS Bill Shorten told Sky News Australia on Jan. 16 that the report revealed a far too high-risk rate involving people with disability.

Calling the revelations unacceptable, Shorten noted he had called on the Safeguard Commission to provide changes so that people with disability have greater choice and control than in some of the cases cited in the report.

I believe that having safe home living arrangements are fundamental to the quality of life for every Australian, Shorten said. People with a disability have the right to a safe living arrangement, even when it is challenging.

The minister said the government was looking to initiate three immediate steps to address the Safeguard Commissions findings.

The first was increasing communication pathways for residents in these homes to understand their rights and to communicate with authorities; the second would be to establish a new code of practice for how the group homes run; while the third is to set better standards of care across the industry.

Private Care Facilities to Be Put Under Spotlight

Shorten also said given the Safeguards Commissions findings on government-run facilities, it would be prudent to also investigate privately run non-NDIS facilities.

 I think also this reviews done on not-for-profit providers who are registered under the NDIS so at least we can have a line of sight into their conduct, but theres also unregistered providers providing accommodation and care support for people who are profoundly disabled. We need to extend some measure of regulation because we dont have the same ability to look through and see whats happening in some of those, Shorten said.

The minister also signalled the government would also look into improving the training and professionalism of the disability care workforce and provide increased support for them.

Theres a lot of great people working in these facilities, but there are some who the report shows are not doing the right thing. So we need to absolutely improve the training and professionalisation of the workforce, he said.

Opposition Calls for Immediate Action

Meanwhile, the opposition has called for the federal government to take immediate action.

I think a very troubling aspect of the report and the statistics were that theyre getting worse, and in fact, the three months to December were the highest number of reportable incidents, which means, sadly under the watch of the new government, this is getting worse, not better, the Shadow NDIS Minister Michael Sukkar told Sky News on Jan. 17.

People, particularly those who are vulnerable need to feel safe and secure in their home, whether thats in group accommodation or independent livingregardless of their circumstances.

 I would just say to the governmenttime is of the essence, they cant be asleep at the wheel, the number of incidents are getting worse and has got worse at an alarming rate since their election.
Tributes Flow for Warrior Jim Molan

Senator Jim Molan delivers his first speech in the Australian Senate in Canberra, Australia on February 14, 2018. (Michael Masters/Getty Images)

Decorated soldier and Liberal senator Jim Molan has been praised for his life of service to Australia following his death aged 72.

Senator Molan died on Monday surrounded by family, following a sudden and rapid decline in his health after Christmas.

Prominent in his later years spearheading Operation Sovereign Borders before joining the Senate, perhaps his greatest honour came in the Iraq invasion, where he served as chief of operations for the coalition forces.

Senator Molan, who represented New South Wales (NSW), was a major general in the army, serving across a 40-year period in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, East Timor, Malaysia, Germany and the United States, along with Iraq.

Former RSL president and army veteran James Brown said Senator Molan was a generals general and a blunt instrument.

He was someone you sent to get the mission done  there was a view he was the general you wanted in the glass cabinet to break in time of war, he told Sky News.

He was focused absolutely on Australian security, on the security of our allies, on doing what he could do in the positions he held to make sure that Australians could live safely.

He was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross by Australia and the Legion of Merit by the US, along with an Order of Australia.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott said Senator Molan was critical to the crackdown on asylum seekers arriving by boat.

Jim having been involved in so many complicated military operations, could see immediately this was one of the reasons that had bedevilled the former Labor governments approach to border protection and was determined we wouldnt make the same mistake, he told Nine Radio.

Vale, Major General Jim Molan, AO, DSC pic.twitter.com/YLPLBLLezu  Tony Abbott (@HonTonyAbbott) January 16, 2023

Senator Molan first joined the Senate in 2017 and was re-elected in the 2022 federal election.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton described his colleague as a soldiers soldier.

Whether it was on the battlefield, in the political arena or on the media stage, Jim was admired for his discernment, leadership and unfailingly courteous manner, he said.

Our nation has lost a patriot, a decent and honourable man, and  above all and most importantly  an incredible family man. Rest in peace, Jim Molan. pic.twitter.com/e5N7yHzzJb  Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) January 16, 2023

He was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, taking leave from the Senate for treatment.

His family thanked people for their thoughts.

Our loss is immeasurable, but we are comforted in our memories of a full life courageously lived, devoted to family and in service of the country he loved, they said in a statement.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sent condolences to his family and friends.

Jim Molan lived his life in service of our country  he was a man of principle and a politician of conviction, he tweeted.

Jim Molan lived his life in service of our country. He was a man of principle and a politician of conviction. My condolences to his loved ones, colleagues and friends.  Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) January 16, 2023

Senator Molan was also a champion of education and research into stillbirth.

His replacement in the Senate is likely to be held up by the NSW state election in March, as it requires the selection of a nominee by the Liberal party and the endorsement of a joint sitting of the state parliament.
UK Government Blocks Scottish Gender Reform Bill

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during a press conference on winter pressures in the NHS, at St. Andrews House in Edinburgh on Jan. 16, 2023. (Lesley Martin/PA Media)

The UK Parliament has triggered a constitutional row by blocking radical gender reforms passed by the Scottish Government, with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon describing the move as a full-frontal attack.

Scotland became the UKs first country to back a self-ID process for legally changing gender when it passed the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill in December.

The bill allows anyone over the age of 16 to self-ID via a statutory declaration to obtain a new birth certificate, which changes the recording of their registered sex at birth to their chosen gender.

There is also no requirement for an applicant to undergo surgery or hormone therapy, and the process to change sex on birth certificates has been simplified.

The time period applicants need to live in the acquired gender will also be reduced from two years to three months, with the requirement for a medical diagnosis and evidence removed.

Secretary of State for Scotland Alister Jack arrives in Downing Street for the weekly cabinet meeting to be held in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, on Sept. 30, 2020. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

On Monday evening, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said that the UK government is making a section 35 order prohibiting the bill from gaining royal assent in its current form, and is urging the Scottish Government to bring back an amended version of the bill for consideration.

This is the first time the UK government has sought such an order. Jack has previously said that he has concerns that the bill has safety issues for women and children.

In a statement, Jack said that after thorough and careful consideration of all the relevant advice and the policy implications, I am concerned that this legislation would have an adverse impact on the operation of Great Britain-wide equalities legislation.

Equality legislation is not a devolved matter and cannot be decided by the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government is a devolved government, meaning issues that have a UK or international impact remain the responsibility of the UK Parliament alone.

Transgender people who are going through the process to change their legal sex deserve our respect, support and understanding. My decision today is about the legislations consequences for the operation of GB-wide equalities protections and other reserved matters, Jack added.

He said that he had not taken this decision lightly.

The Bill would have a significant impact on, amongst other things, GB-wide equalities matters in Scotland, England and Wales. I have concluded, therefore, that this is the necessary and correct course of action, he said.

If the Scottish Government chooses to bring an amended Bill back for reconsideration in the Scottish Parliament, I hope we can work together to find a constructive way forward that both respects devolution and the operation of UK Parliament legislation, added Jack.

The Scottish Saltire (L) and the Union Flag flutter above Stirling Castle in the historic town of Stirling, central Scotland, on Aug. 7, 2019. (Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)

Full-Frontal Attack

Writing on Twitter, Sturgeon said that this is a full-frontal attack on our democratically elected Scottish Parliament and its ability to make its own decisions on devolved matters.

She added that the Scottish Government will defend the legislation and stand up for Scotlands Parliament. If this Westminster veto succeeds, it will be first of many.

Holyrood Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison said the UK governments move to block the bill was a dark day for trans rights.

The use of Section 35 of the Scotland Act to stop the GRR Bill from proceeding to Royal Assent is an outrageous decision, said Robison.

This is a procedure that has never been used under nearly 25 years of devolution and is contrary to a Bill that was overwhelmingly passed by the Scottish Parliament by members of all parties.

This is a dark day for trans rights and a dark day for democracy in the UK.

As the First Minister said, this is a political decision that is more in keeping with UK Governments contempt for devolution and the Scottish Parliament, she added.

Single-Sex Services

Critics of the legislation say that a self-identification system could be exploited.

Womens groups as well as the U.N. Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, have raised grave concerns that it will open up womens services and private spaces to abuse.

On Monday, writing for the Conservative think tank Policy Exchange, lecturer in public law Michael Foran said the bill will fundamentally change the nature of the Equality Act in Scotland and across the United Kingdom.

Foran noted that there are six ways in which the Scottish Gender Bill will change how UK law works.

It will change the operation of the law in relation to single-sex services, making it potentially more difficult for women-only spaces to exclude biological males, wrote Foran.

It will change the operation of the law in relation to single-sex associations which cannot discriminate on the basis of gender reassignment in their membership admissions, he added.

The report found that single-sex girls schools in England will have to admit biologically-male pupils under the bill.

It will change the law relating to single-sex schools. The law as it stands provides that 1618-year-old biological males who hold a Gender Recognition Certificate cannot be excluded from single-sex girls schools, he said.

There is no exception for gender reassignment discrimination in relation to schools. This Bill will confer on certain biological males a legal right of admission to girls schools, a right which otherwise does not exist, he added.

PA Media contributed to this report.
UK Government to Include Transgender People in Conversion Therapy Ban

Britain's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Michelle Donelan leaves after attending the first cabinet meeting under the new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in 10 Downing Street, in central London, on Oct. 26, 2022. (Niklas Halle'n/AFP via Getty Images)

The government is set to publish draft legislation setting out how it will ban conversion therapy for gay and also transgender people.

On Tuesday the government said that it will shortly publish a draft bill detailing its proposed approach to ban conversion practices on the basis of sexuality and gender identity in England and Wales. The government previously said its plans would not cover trans people.

Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said that the Bill will protect everyone, including those targeted on the basis of their sexuality, or being transgender.

However, some campaigners are concerned that the legislation could leave the door open for psychotherapists to be criminalised when treating patients with gender dysphoria.

Tailored Legislative Approach

We recognise the strength of feeling on the issue of harmful conversion practices and remain committed to protecting people from these practices and making sure they can live their lives free from the threat of harm or abuse, said Donelan.

She said that it is right that this issue is tackled through a dedicated and tailored legislative approach.

This is a complex area, and pre-legislative scrutiny exists to help ensure that any Bill introduced to parliament does not cause unintended consequences, she added.

Donelan added that the legislation must not, through a lack of clarity, harm the growing number of children and young adults experiencing gender-related distress, through inadvertently criminalising or chilling legitimate conversations parents or clinicians may have with their children.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on holiday in Greece. (Oli Scarff/PA)

Late last March, Boris Johnson dropped plans for legislation, with a government spokesman saying it would look at how the existing law could be applied more effectively and explore other measures.

At the time, Johnson described conversion therapy as utterly abhorrent but stressed there are issues that still need to be worked out on the matter of banning the practice on trans people.

We will have a ban on gay conversion therapy, which to me is utterly abhorrent, Johnson said.

But there are complexities and sensitivities when you move from the area of sexuality to the question of gender, he added.

Im afraid there are things that I think still need to be worked out.

Some of the proposed legislation then included the introduction of a new criminal offence alongside sentence uplifts for existing ones.

This included a new potential offence that will target talking conversion therapy for under-18s and the vulnerable, as well making sure that violent acts will be considered by judges as a potential aggravating factor upon sentencing.

Other measures included Conversion Therapy Protection Orders, support for victims, restricting its promotion, removing profit streams, and disqualifying people from holding a senior role in a charity.

Seriously Negative Impact

James Esses is the co-founder of Thoughtful Therapists, a group of psychotherapists and counsellors working in the area of gender dysphoria.

In 2021, Esses was ejected from his psychotherapist training course, three years in, for openly discussing his fears that young children expressing discomfort in their bodies were being actively encouraged to transition.

He told The Epoch Times that the announcement is a complete U-turn.

Its very clear that they want to give much deeper consideration to the issue of gender identity,' said Esses.

So its disappointing to see that, but at the same time, I welcome the fact that its going to undergo this process of pre-legislative scrutiny, he added.

Esses said that he hoped that once the concerns and the arguments are aired in parliament and if legislation was to go through, it will contain proper safeguards for explorative therapy for children.

Because theres a real risk that if this legislation is badly worded, that it could seriously negatively impact on the independence of clinicians and also the well-being of children, he said.

He added that legislation could also leave therapists open to allegations of malpractice or even criminalisation, simply by doing talking therapies such as psychotherapy and counseling.

Next General Election

Downing Street indicated the legislation could be passed before the next general election.

We want to do it in this Parliament, thats my understanding, the prime ministers official spokesman said.

We want it to go through pre-legislative scrutiny in this parliamentary session because we think thats important because some of the issues we know are not fully resolved.

Thats the process that will get underway in the first instance, he added.

Tory MP Alicia Kearns, who has long campaigned on the issue, said she was glad the ban is finally happening.

We have a timeline, we know its going to be a fully inclusive ban and I am really delighted, because it is right that we end this heinous crime that allows charlatans and quacks to prey on some of the most vulnerable members of our society, she said in a video posted on Twitter.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Unacceptable: Youngkin Outraged Over Delays in Notifying Student Recipients of Their National Merit Award

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin was outraged over delays by high schools in notifying commended students of their National Merit Award, as four more schools reported the same issue on Friday, increasing the school count in Fairfax County to seven in total.

What started off as allegations of one of our most prominent schools has revealed a systematic problem, Youngkin said in a tweet on Jan. 14. Now, there are news reports that seven schools in NOVA [northern Virginia] have delayed notifying Virginia students of their academic achievements. This is unacceptable.

Students who score among the top 3 percent in Preliminary SAT (PSAT) tests obtain the Commended Student accolade, which for some may open doors to special scholarship programs provided by corporate and business sponsors. However, high schools are charged by the National Merit Scholarship Corp. program, which runs the test, with relaying the news to award recipients.

The issue was first discovered at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST), which is ranked No. 1 nationwide. Soon after, two more high schools, including Virginias No. 2 Langley High School, reported the same issue. Then, on Friday, four more joined the group.

At an interview with ABC7 on Sunday, Youngkin connected the delay issue with the overarching equity approach of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

The reality is that we have a superintendent in Fairfax schools who has explicitly stated that her top objective is equal outcomes for all students, regardless of the price, Youngkin told ABC7. Now we know the price includes paying $450,000 to a liberal consultant to come in and teach the administrators in Fairfax County how to do this.

What it appears happened is that principals in schools decided that they were going to systematically withhold accolades and a path to college admission and scholarships from high-performing students.

The Fairfax County Public Schools building in Merrifield, Va., on March 4, 2019. (Matthew Barakat/AP Photo)

Equity and Equal Outcomes

In November, FCPS hired Performance Fact Inc., an Oakland, California-based contractor, to develop an equity-centered strategic plan (pdf) emphasizing the equity imperative: equitable access and equal outcomes. The contract was for $455,000.

The goal is equal outcomes, Performance Fact president Mutiu Fagbayi said at a meeting with another school board promoting his companys ideas. And what we need to be equitable about is the access. In a very real sense, many districts struggle with this. To have true equity, you have to be purposefully unequal when it comes to resources. I want to say that again because most districts struggle with that. To have an equity-centered organization, we have to have the courage and the willingness to be purposefully unequal when it comes to opportunities and access.

In response to a Langley High School parents question about a contract with Performance Fact, FCPS Superintendent Michelle Reid replied during a Jan. 10 meeting: The contract youre referring to was not about equity work, it was about strategic planning work, obviously, justice-centered strategic planning work. But its also the development of the work with the community, as well as the implementation of the plan next year.

At the same meeting, Reid circumvented a question from a father seeking clarification on whether equity meant equal outcomes.

I think that the [term] equal outcomes has been misunderstood, and I think what were really talking about is that each and every student has the ability to achieve their unique potential. And there are many, many students who are not able to do that without equitable resources and access, the superintendent said.

Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent Michelle Reid (R) listens as Glenn Miller (L), a father of a Langley High School student, asks a question at the school cafeteria in McLean, Va., on Jan. 10, 2023. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

Reid also denied that equity goals lowered standards. Equity is not lowering expectations. Its about maintaining high expectations and providing high support, she told parents at Langley. [E]quity has nothing to do with delaying or not getting [award] certificates on time.

Many parents at TJHSST and Langley, whose childrens college applications went in before the award notification was received, said that equity belonged in the conversation. So did Youngkin.

They [the schools] have a maniacal focus on equal outcomes for all students at all costs. And at the heart of the American dream is excelling, is advancing, is stretching and recognizing that we have students that have different capabilities, the governor said in an ABC7 interview. Some students have the ability to perform at one level, others need more help, and we have to allow students to run as fast as they can to dream the biggest dreams they can possibly dream and then go get them.

Youngkin had asked Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares to investigate TJHSST over the delay. Later on Jan. 9, Miyares expanded the probe to FCPSs entire system. FCPS has also launched its own investigation with a Richmond law firm. However, parents question whether the law firm would write any report against its clients interests.

At the Langley meeting, Reid said FCPS was responding to the issue with all hands on deck and had pulled central office staffers to call the college admissions office to inform them of students national merit awards. However, she didnt comment on parents request that colleges confirm their addition of award information in recipients applications.

Parents Want to Make Decisions for Their Children

Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax County) said in a tweet on Jan. 16 that the PSAT commendation was not considered a high-merit achievement among most students in TJHSST and that media had unnecessarily dramatized the delay.

Of the 50,000 annual award recipients, 34,000 receive commendations but do not continue in the competition for National Merit Scholarships, the award website explains.

A Langley mother whose son was affected by the delay had a rebuttal to those who said the merit notification delay was not a big deal during her meeting with Reid on Jan. 10.

She said the core issue was that parents were denied the right to make decisions regarding their childs future.

I think what were all sad about is that somebody put that [award letter] in a drawer and shut it because they didnt think it was a big deal. Thats not their call to make. Im tired of them [deciding] for us, she said.

Thats really the issue here. Its not whether or not [the award would make a difference in college applications]; its that I want to be the one making a decision for my childs future, she added. The fact that we were denied the right to know that we have this award: thats a big deal.
Uproar Ensues as Floridas DeSantis Engineers Conservative Overhaul of Progressive College

White student facing discrimination on New York university campus applauds Governor's move

A journalism student attending a Florida university said students were forced to affirm the professor's anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-American views in their writings, or receive failing grades. (Courtesy of unnamed student)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announcement that he intends to turn a flailing liberal public university into the Sunshine States answer to Hillsdale College has drawn fierce criticism from progressives.

A plethora of headlines shows that the Republican governor has struck a nerve.

Ron DeSantiss New College Coup is Doomed to Fail, wrote the Chronicle of Higher Education, and A Florida College Goes to War With Ron DeSantis reads another from The New Republic, a left-wing online publication.

This month, DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for president in 2024, overhauled the foundering New College of Florida by appointing six new conservatives to its board of trustees.

The liberal arts college has been plagued by low student enrollment and financial problems. The college, located in Sarasota, fell far short of its stated goal to reach 1,200 enrolled students, declining recently from 800 to about 660.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrates his reelection with his wife, Casey, and their children at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 8, 2022. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

The governor also mandated that public universities report their expenditures for critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. The move immediately drew a legal challenge, which was dismissed.

The Dec. 28 order from DeSantis came four days after The Epoch Times documented the experiences of six conservative students attending a major Florida university. The students described difficulties in seeking an education in what they described as an anti-white, anti-Christian, and anti-American culture.

Meanwhile, the Florida Legislature appears to want to take the accounting even further.

Florida House Speaker Paul Renner requested emails, text messages, and social media posts from Florida university DEI offices sent between Jan. 1, 2021, to Jan. 12 of this year.

Stopping Woke

The problem with New College of Florida and many other institutions of higher learning is they are no longer focused on academics, DeSantis press secretary, Bryan Griffin, told The Epoch Times.

Florida universities actively promote the Marxist-based CRT, according to the Critical Race Training in Education database maintained by the Legal Insurrection Foundation.

The database lists CRT programs at universities and schools nationwide.

New students attending orientation at the University of Florida stroll past a metal sculpture on campus unofficially known as The French Fries on June 6, 2022. (Nanette Holt/The Epoch Times)

The Florida students spoke anonymously to The Epoch Times and described their frustration with a hostile environment for conservatives on campus and in classrooms.

They described feeling uncomfortable, at best, and threatened, at worst.

Their accounts described a campus culture focused on race and social justice, with open hostility for conservative or Christian views. They asked to use pseudonyms to protect their identity, fearing retaliation for speaking publicly, they said.

One law student was reported as an extremist to the FBI and was visited by agents for questioning. He assumed it was because someone overheard him express his Christian beliefs and his support for the Second Amendment.

The experiences the students described happened even after DeSantis signed into law Floridas Stop WOKE Act in April 2022. Among other things, the law bans colleges from promoting CRT.

Students and professors sued over the ban, and federal judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction against enforcing the law.

The same federal judge sided with DeSantis on Jan. 12, though, over his request for information about university expenditures on CRT and DEI programs. Walker ruled that the administrations move was not in violation of the injunction against enforcement of the Stop WOKE Act.

A statue of Karl Marx is seen in the building of the Corvinus University in Budapest on Sept. 4, 2014. The Corvinus was renamed in 1953 as Karl Marx University and it was a base of the countrys Marxist intellectual elite in the socialist era. (Attila Kisbenedek/AFP/Getty Images)

Public universities arent alone in pushing CRT, which divides people into oppressors and victims based on skin color or gender identity.

Its a trend thats swept across the nation, experts and students have told The Epoch Times.

A student at an elite private university in New York, who spoke with The Epoch Times on the condition of anonymity, described a racially discriminatory and segregated educational environment for white students.

Most of all, I felt really shocked, especially at my classmates going along with the discrimination and bullying, as if it was OK to treat other human beings like that, said the student, who is being identified as Beth, an alias.

In one class, her black professor segregated white students from brown and black classmates, Beth said. Meanwhile, Beth said, white students were told to reflect on their whiteness, while minority students were given instructions on assignments.

She said the curriculum was mainly about anti-black racism, which had little to do with the class on social services.

People hold up signs objecting to critical race theory (CRT) being taught in area schools during a protest outside the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

In a required presentation to the class, a fellow white student spoke about black stereotypes, which was part of an assignment, Beth said. The professor abruptly shut down the students presentation for being offensive.

The girl became distraught and began to cry in front of the class, apparently shocked and confused about what shed done wrong, Beth said. The professor didnt immediately explain and did nothing to console her.

Another young white student shared in class how much she now hates herself for being white, Beth said.

And Beth said she was ridiculed by a Hispanic student when asking a question about an assignment involving a racial topic. The Hispanic student said it was important to speak very simply to white people to explain things about culture and race.

The Hispanic student appeared to belittle and fault white students for not knowing enough about different races and ethnicities, and implied they were just taking up space, Beth said.

The minority students in the class seemed to enjoy the attention of being oppressed, Beth said. That status seemed to give them a sense of power over white students, she said.

The hate they have in their hearts towards whites is also shocking, she said.

Trendy Concepts Above Learning

Beth said she would welcome the chance to attend a college like the one DeSantis hopes to reinvent in Florida.

DeSantis announced on Jan. 6 the appointment of a whos who of conservatives to the New College board of trustees. They are Christopher Rufo, a Manhattan Institute fellow who has exposed CRT in schools nationwide; Matthew Spalding, a dean and professor at Hillsdale College; Charles R. Kesler, editor of the Claremont Review of Books; Mark Bauerlein, a professor and author; Debra Jenks, a New College alumna and Florida securities mediation lawyer; and Jason Eddie Speir, founder of the Inspiration Academy in Florida.

New College of Floridas focus had strayed far from its purpose of providing an education, Griffin said.

Like so many colleges and universities in America, New College of Florida has been completely captured by a political ideology that puts trendy, truth-relative concepts above learning, he said.

New College of Florida has publicly committed to eliminating outcome disparities for underrepresented and underserved groups, Griffin said.

Christopher Rufo, filmmaker, policy researcher, and writer. (Courtesy of Christopher Rufo)

So the college is admitting that it will adjust outcomes based on non-academic factors of their choosing, Griffin said.

The new trustees, which the Florida Senate must approve, are committed to refocusing the institution on academics and truth, so that students can receive a quality education, he said.

The campus will become a place for learning and discourse, as it was designed to be.

Battling Socialism

The most important story in the last half-century has been socialisms long march through the institutions, Rufo wrote in a Jan. 12 article in City Journal.

Intellectuals were inspired by Italian communist Antonio Gramsci and New Left philosopher Herbert Marcuse and sought to embed their ideas in education, government, philanthropy, media, and other vital sectors of society, Rufo wrote.

Now, the long march is complete, and reversing it will take a lot of work, Rufo continued.

This process came to spectacular fruition following the 2020 death of George Floyd, when it seemed that every prestige institution in the United States got busy advancing the same ideological line on race, gender, and culture, Rufo wrote.

Demonstrators jump on a secret service police car outside the White House in Washington during a protest over the death of George Floyd on May 30, 2020. (Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images)

DeSantis took the step last week of reversing the long march through the institutions, beginning with the cradle of revolutionthe university, Rufo wrote.

Historian Daniel Boorstin observed in 1968 that the activists of the New Left, or what conservatives would consider woke ideology today, were the new barbarians, who rejected the ideals of the American Founding Fathers, and sought to tear down society, Rufo wrote.

In his role at New College of Florida, Rufo hopes to build a classical curriculum. He also hopes to abolish DEI programs and replace them with equality, merit, and colorblindness principles.

And hed like the school to adopt the Kalven statement on institutional neutrality, which honors freedom of expression in higher education.

Rufo would advocate for restructuring the administration and academic departments, recruiting new faculty with expertise in the classical liberal arts tradition, and establishing a graduate school for training teachers in classical education.

He hopes the changes will serve as a model that can be followed to reshape universities around the country.

The Lefts permanent bureaucracy will be dead-set against this gambit, Rufo wrote, but if it succeeds, a new era for higher educationand the countryis possible.
US Murders Concentrated in Handful of Counties, Urban Areas: Report

Police tape secures a crime scene outside a club after a shooting in New York City in a file photo. (Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)

A small number of counties account for a vast majority of murders committed in the United States, whereas a major portion of counties have very few murders, according to a recent report, which also noted that urban areas had much higher murder rates despite lower gun ownership.

Murders were found to be very concentrated in some counties, with just 2 percent of counties accounting for 56 percent of murders, and 1 percent of the counties accounting for 42 percent of murders in 2020, said a Jan. 17 report (pdf) by Crime Prevention Research Center. In contrast, 52 percent of counties had zero murders. Sixty-eight percent of counties, accounting for 18 percent of the population, had no more than a single murder. They made up only 2.6 percent of all murders in the country.

The worst 1 percent of counties (the worst 31 counties) have 21 percent of the population and 42 percent of the murders. The worst 2 percent of counties (62 counties) contain 31 percent of the population and 56 percent of the murders, the report states.

The worst 5 percent of counties contain 47 percent of the population and account for 73 percent of murders. But even within those counties, the murders are very heavily concentrated in small areas.

The concentration of murders was found to be the highest in over a decade. Between 2010 and 2014, the worst 5 percent of counties saw their share of murders decline from 71 to 69 percent.

But between 2014 and 2020, this climbed by four percentage points to 73 percent. The increase was driven by the 1 percent of the worst counties, the report found.

The 2020 murder rate in the United States was 5.84 per 100,000 people. Removing the worst 5 percent of counties would reduce the murder rate to 2.99 per 100,000.

Murder Rate by County, Gun Ownership and Murder Rate

Cook County recorded the highest number of murders in the country in 2020, with 775. Los Angeles came in second with 691 murders, followed by Harris County with 537, Philadelphia with 495, New York City with 465, Wayne County with 379, and Shelby County with 311 murders. The next eight counties all registered more than 200 murders.

Travis County had the fewest murders at 57, followed by Richmond and Orange Counties at 63, Erie at 65, Lake County at 66, and Caddo and Genesee counties at 67.

The report cites a 2021 Pew Research study on gun ownership. In rural areas, gun ownership was found to be 79 percent higher than in urban areas.

Suburban households had a 37.9 percent higher chance of owning a gun than households in the urban regions. Despite lower gun ownership, urban areas experience much higher murder rates, the report said.

Though it added that one should not put much weight in this observation since many factors determine murder rates, the report admitted that it is still interesting to note that so much of the country has both very high gun ownership rates and zero murders.

Risk of Murder, Cities With High Murder Rates

According to an analysis by Just Facts Daily in November, if the murder rate remains at the 2021 level, one out of every 179 people in the United States would eventually become a murder victim.

The analysis found that there were 24,493 people murdered across America in 2021, which is 1,000 more murders than in 2020 and 6,000 more murders than in 2019.

There also seems to be a political angle to cities with high murder rates. A November report (pdf) by The Heritage Foundation found that, as of June 2022, 27 out of the 30 top U.S. cities with the highest homicide rate per 100,000 people had Democrat mayors.

Only two citiesJacksonville and Lexingtonhad Republican mayors. The remaining city had a mayor who was an Independent.
USC Removes the Word Field in Class Because of Implied Connotations to Racism and Slavery

A student walks at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, Calif., on Mar. 11, 2020 (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

The University of Southern Californias (USC) Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work will no longer use the word field in its curriculum, as it may have racist connotations related to slavery.

The word may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign, according to a letter from the department on Jan. 9.

It was addressed to the staff and students from the Practicum Education Department, which until recently was called the Field Education Department.

Administrators said that the change was made to promote anti-racism in social work and inclusivity by ensuring the use of inclusive language and practice.

Social Work School Alters Language in the Name of Inclusivity

The letter, which was shared on Twitter by pharmaceutical entrepreneur Dr. Houman David Hemmati, stated that the department specifically decided to remove the term field from its curriculum and practice and replace it with practicum, which means a practical section of a course of study.

Hemmati questioned the changes in his tweet by asking, Is this with merit, or empty virtue signaling?

The social work department at USC claims they are part of a wider movement of universities across the nation whose goal is compel change in order to honor and acknowledge inclusion and reject white supremacy, anti-immigrant, and anti-blackness ideologies.

The move at USC comes after Michigans Department of Health and Human Services said that it would forbid the use of field and field worker and replace them with terms such as local office and community staff.

This change supports anti-racist social work practice by replacing language that would be considered anti-black or anti-immigrant in favor of inclusive language.

The social work department declared that the bedrock of its values and principles is to work together to train social work students today who understand and embody social and racial justice.

Language can be powerful, and phrases such as going into the field or field work maybe have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign.

We are committing to further align our actions, behaviors, and practices with anti-racism and anti-oppression, which requires taking a close and critical look at our professionour history, our biases, and our complicity in past and current injustices, the letter continued.

USC Faces Scorn for the Word Changes

Critics and former USC alumni, however, ridiculed the universitys attempt to enforce inclusive language on social media.

Important stuff. Making the world better one canceled phrase at a time, mocked a commentator on Twitter.

Others were more outraged and concerned by the woke-generated changes to the language.

For someone who spent more than seven years at  with two graduate degrees from this institution, I am so embarrassed at whats happening there. I wonder how much of my money they spent on coming up with this amazingly useful change, one former alum wrote in a tweet in reaction to the letter.

I understand that this decision was made by the Office of Practicum Education out of a desire to more accurately describe its work, Vassilios Papadopoulos, interim dean of USCs school of social work, told Fox News Digital.

Because the office is not an academic department, its name change was not subject to a formal review process, Papadopoulos claimed.

The university does not maintain a list of banned or discouraged words. As an institution of higher education, we will continue to use wordsincluding the word fieldthat accurately encompass and describes our work and research while also continuing our efforts to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment for all, said the dean.

This is just a fancy way of revealing that the organization is overstaffed, another commentator dryly noted.
Watchdog Files Ethics Complaint Over White House Lawyers in Bidens Classified Documents Fallout

President Joe Biden at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House in Washington on Jan. 12, 2023. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

A government watchdog group on Tuesday filed an ethics complaint, claiming that President Joe Biden misused taxpayer-funded resources by using White House lawyers to address his own legal crisis.

In the complaint sent to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Protect the Publics Trust (PPT) took issue with the involvement of the White House Counsels Office in the ongoing fallout from Bidens alleged improper handling of classified documents.

The White House Counsels Office is not the Presidents personal law firm. It does not represent the President in purely personal matters that are separate from his role as President, argued the PPT, which describes itself as a group of former public servants dedicated to monitoring conflicts of interests and illegal behavior across the government.

Yet, the White House Counsels Office appears to be acting as lawyers to Joe Biden, private citizen, rather than President Biden in this matter.

Federal law prohibits employees from using their official position for personal gain, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal employees also have an obligation to protect and conserve government property and resources, and to make an honest effort to only use official time and government property for government business.

Specifically, we believe taxpayer resources may have been inappropriately used by senior White House lawyers, including Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber, to personally benefit Joe Biden, the PPT stated in the complaint.

We further believe that the apparent representation of Mr. Biden by the White House Counsels Office in this matter creates an untenable conflict of interest for that office, the group added. The result, intended or not, could be to reduce transparency into the mishandling of state secrets and foreclose disclosure of communications between White House Counsel staff while acting on behalf of Joe Biden in his capacity as a citizen facing the prospect of criminal prosecution.

The complaint, calling for an independent and thorough investigation into the matter, is also addressed to the Justice Departments chief of the Public Integrity Section and the White House Counsel.

News broke earlier this month that classified material dating from Bidens vice presidency had been found in the Washington office of the Penn Biden Center, a think tank affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, in the days leading up to the 2022 midterm elections. The White House later admitted that more pages of classified documents were discovered in the presidents home in Wilmington, Delaware.

In response to the controversy, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur, a former Maryland U.S. attorney, as special counsel to investigate whether Biden improperly handled classified material.

Hur, who was appointed to the Maryland court by President Donald Trump and currently works at a Washington law firm, said in a statement he would conduct the investigation swiftly and thoroughly with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment.

Meanwhile, the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have started their own probe into the matter. In a letter to Garland, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mike Johnson (R-La.) gave his department until Jan. 27 to provide information about Bidens mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material.

The Republicans also specifically asked for records related to the appointment of Hur as special counsel. The circumstances of this appointment raise fundamental oversight questions that the Committee routinely examines, the congressmen wrote.
Western Allies Gearing Up to Send Tanks to Kyiv Following Russian Battlefield Gains

A Leopard tank (in the foreground) and a Puma fighting vehicle are seen at the Munster military base, in Germany, on Feb. 7, 2022. (Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)

Leading Western allies of Ukraine are preparing to send tanks to Kyiv following recent Russian battlefield victories in the eastern Donetsk region.

Representatives of Ukraines chief Western backers will meet on Jan. 20 at Germanys Ramstein Air Base, where theyre likely to reiterate support for Kyiv and pledge continued assistance. The air base serves as a command center for both the U.S. Air Force and NATO Allied Air Command.

Last week, the UK pledged to provide Ukraine with 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks and a range of other advanced offensive equipment.

The first British Challenger 2 main battle tanks roll off of their transport ship after arriving from Germany at Camp Commando, Kuwait, in February 2003. (WO2 Giles Penfound/MOD/Getty Images)

If fulfilled, it would be the first delivery of Western-made tanks to Kyiv since Moscow began its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A Kremlin spokesman responded on Jan. 16 by saying that UK-supplied tanks would burn on the field and fail to turn the tide of the battle.

In Germany, the issue of sending tanks to Ukraine has proven to be a contentious one. Berlin has been slow to approve the move amid concern that it might be perceived as an escalation.

On Jan. 16, German Defense Secretary Christine Lambrecht tendered her resignation amid mounting pressure on her and her government to provide Kyiv with German-made Leopard tanks.

The following day, top German officials said the issue would top the agenda of the countrys incoming defense minister.

When the [new] minister of defense is declared, this is the first question to be decided concretely, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told a German radio broadcaster on Jan. 17.

Berlin Under Pressure

The UK has urged Germany to approve the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, saying this would allow other countries to follow suit.

It has been reported that  Poland is very keen to donate some Leopards, as is Finland, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace said on Jan. 16.

Poland and Finland have already both pledged to send Leopards, which are used by several European armies, as soon as Berlin approves the move.

All this relies on the German governments decisions, Wallace said. Not only whether the Germans will supply their own Leopards, but whether or not theyll give permissions to others.

Ukrainian soldiers on their positions in the frontline near Soledar, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, on Jan. 11, 2023. (Libkos/AP Photo)

On Jan. 17, Polish President Andrzej Duda, speaking at the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, called for a coalition of countries that will  hand over Leopard tanks to Ukraine.

There are several European countries that have these tanks, he was cited as saying by Russias TASS news agency. We will be able to form at least a tank brigade for Ukraine.

Ukraine insists that a fleet of advanced combat tanks would allow it to drive Russian troops from what it sees as occupied territory.

Moscow formally incorporated four regions of Ukraine into the Russian Federation in September 2022 after holding farce referendums. Ukraine and its Western backers staunchly reject the legitimacy of the move, which they say amounts to the illegal annexation of territory by Russia.

Encouraged by its powerful allies, Kyiv has vowed to recover the four lost territories and the Black Sea region of Crimea, which Russia incorporated in 2014.

Russian Gains in Donetsk

The debate over sending tanks to Ukraine comes amid Russian battlefield gains, especially in the eastern Donetsk region.

Late last week, Russian forces overran Donetsks town of Soledar and now hope to surround the nearby town of Bakhmut, a key transport hub for Ukrainian forces.

According to military experts, the fall of Bakhmut would disrupt Ukrainian supply lines and pave the way for a Russian advance on key Ukrainian positions to the northwest.

On Jan. 12, the Kremlin declared that Soledar had been liberated by Russian forces. Ukrainian officials still insist the towns fate remains undecided.

Russian forces deployed in the area include elements of the Donetsk Peoples Militia and the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organization thats directed by the Kremlin.

On Jan. 17, Denis Pushilin, head of the Moscow-backed Donetsk Peoples Republic, claimed that mopping-up operations were underway in Soledar, which is known for its expansive salt mines.

As for the Bakhmut [Artyomovsk in Russian] and Soledar frontlines, Wagner  is continuing the mop-up operation in the city of Soledar, Pushilin said in televised remarks.

According to Pushilin, Russian forces arent advancing that fast because of the need to consolidate their positions and repel sporadic counterattacks by Ukrainian forces.

The Epoch Times was unable to confirm his assertions.

Reuters contributed to this report.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, takes part in an annual gathering with non-CPC members ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 16, 2023. Wang Yang, Wang Huning and Ding Xuexiang also attended the gathering. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Monday called on non-CPC members to perform their duties with greater effort and determination and play a better role in pooling the strength and serving the overall interests of the country. Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when he took part in an annual gathering with non-CPC members at the Great Hall of the People ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year. On behalf of the CPC Central Committee, Xi extended congratulations to the newly-elected leaderships of the central committees of eight non-CPC political parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC), and sent greetings to people from non-CPC political parties and the ACFIC, personages without party affiliation, and members of the united front. The year 2023 is the first full year for studying and implementing the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress, with hopes and challenges alongside each other, Xi said, calling for concerted efforts to advance Chinese modernization. Wang Yang, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, attended the gathering. Wang Huning and Ding Xuexiang, who are both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, were also present. Xi delivered an important speech at the gathering. He said the year 2022 was extremely significant in the development history of the Party and the country. The year also marked the centenary of the CPC's clear identification of its united front policy. Central committees of non-CPC political parties and personages without party affiliation carried out in-depth surveys and democratic oversight on important issues concerning reform, development, and stability, said Xi, adding their efforts had helped the CPC Central Committee make sound decisions and effectively implement them. The ACFIC boosted the implementation of the "10,000 Enterprises Helping 10,000 Villages" campaign, guiding private enterprises in actively fulfilling their social responsibilities and pursuing high-quality development, Xi said. Xi stressed that upholding the leadership of the CPC and consistently uniting and working as one with the CPC is the fundamental political foundation of multiparty cooperation. He expressed the hope that the newly-elected leaderships of non-CPC political parties shall take implementing the guiding principles of the 20th CPC National Congress as a major task to enhance political transition. Xi said building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts demands the united efforts of all people in the country. Xi called on non-CPC political parties to function as good advisors, assistants, and colleagues of the CPC. Xi asked non-CPC political parties to deepen their research and study and actively offer advice for the country's major endeavors. They should include establishing a new development paradigm, implementing the principle of unswervingly consolidating and developing the public sector while unswervingly encouraging, supporting, and guiding the development of the non-public sector, and promoting common prosperity with solid progress. Relevant forms and channels should expand to make democratic oversight more targeted and effective, said Xi. Xi called on non-CPC political parties to guide their members and the general public they are connected with in building confidence and morale, and overcoming difficulties and obstacles ahead. The ACFIC should facilitate the sound implementation of favorable policies to ease difficulties for enterprises and boost the private sector's confidence in development, Xi noted. To better leverage the political strength of China's new model of political party system, non-CPC political parties should improve themselves and enhance their political understanding and capability to participate in the deliberation and administration of state affairs, fulfill major organizational roles, cooperate with others, and solve their own issues, Xi said. Xi called on non-CPC political parties to strive to be participants in socialism with Chinese characteristics that are firm in political conviction, well-organized, competent, with good conduct, and have a solid institutional basis. Noting that this year marks the 70th founding anniversary of the ACFIC, Xi urged efforts to carry forward its fine traditions, maintain its resolve in reform and innovation, provide guidance for representative figures, and better fulfill its bridging and assisting role.
Western Hypocrisy: We Are Failing Our Children

Supporters of activist Chris Elston demonstrate against gender affirmation treatments and surgeries on minors, outside of Boston Childrens Hospital in Boston, Mass., on Sept. 18, 2022. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

Adults can do what they wish when it comes to surgically altering their bodies, but Western society has long considered the genital mutilation of childrenparticularly young girlsto be a heinous crime.

Cutting and destroying the sexual reproductive organs of young girls to satisfy the religious and ideological marital demands of controlling men caused a scandal when it began appearing in the streets of first-world nations following mass migration from majority Muslim nations and those with rural tribal cultures.

FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) remains classified by the World Health Organisation as a violation of human rights for women and girls. They state:

The practice also violates a persons rights to health, security, and physical integrity; the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; and the right to life, in instances when the procedure results in death.

Aid organisations and child protection authorities have been fighting to protect these young girls, only to find their efforts hobbled by progressive politicians and law enforcement agencies preaching cultural toleranceallowing the perpetrators off with very soft wrist slaps.

In Australia, there are estimated to be over 50,000 girls and women living with FGM. As far as authorities can tell, Australian girls born to refugee families, particularly from Somalia and Sudan, are still taken on holidays, where they are mutilated by relatives before being brought back into the country (pdf).

Sudanese women walk in the capital Khartoums district of Jureif Ghar on May 5, 2020. (Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images)

Authorities are getting nowhere when it comes to protecting girls from FGM, and on the rare occasion that charges are brought against abusers, they are subsequently overturned.

One stomach-turning example involved a mother and nurse from Sydneys Islamic sect who were originally convicted for cutting two children, aged six and seven, in Sydneys north-west. The New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal let them go despite there being no doubt that the illegal procedure happened.

Today, the subject is rarelyif everbrought up by politicians. From the beginning, avoiding offence has been more important to our elected leaders, who are scrambling for the migrant vote, than the protection of migrant children who (wrongly) thought Australia would be a place of safety.

The Same Thing Is Pushed in Our Progressive Western Society

The real crime of the so-called Woke philosophy is that it has abandoned objective morality and instead sacrificed the health and safety of innocent children to placate the feelings of politically useful voting blocks.

It is within this environment that progressive politics found another way to normalise the surgical mutilation of healthy children.

Disguised by the feel-good rhetoric of gender affirmation, minors are put under the knife or chemically castrated in medical interventions that permanently and catastrophically alter their reproductive organs.

The World Health Organisation hypocritically supports gender-affirming care, including interventions designed to support and affirm an individuals gender identity.

While it is widely acknowledged that a child cannot consent to sex, the medical community in Australia is happy for a child to consent to life-altering damage to their sexual organs, even if that child has been under the influence of a gender-confusing environment or held in the care of adults with a conflict of interest related to the outcome.

This includes, but is not limited to, parents seeking money and attention by publicising their childs progress stories on social media platforms such as TikTok.

In the same way that radical religion is used to convince little girls to embrace their role as the victims of male sexual preferencestaught to be thankful that they were spared the sin of pleasurechildren of both sexes are being radicalised into an ideology that encourages them to treat gender as a hermit crab views its shell, sometimes changing hourly, in defiance of the original premise of true gender dysphoria.

Neither parents nor children can consent to the genital mutilation of a minor. Any irreversible medical intervention should be postponed until adulthood.

Lars Griffin, a college student who graduated from a Fairfax County high school last year, protests the new malicious misgendering policya new requirement that punishes students for not using preferred pronouns to address transgender studentsoutside of the school board meeting by Gallows Road outside of the Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., on June 16, 2022. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

Prior to 2017, the vast majority of all gender dysphoria resolved on its own as children grew out of their confusion, with many realising that they were homosexual, not trapped in the wrong body. Putting children in the express lane toward surgery defies both logic and available data.

The idea that gender is fluid and can be changed readily through drugs and surgery is, at best, misleading and, at worst, the foundation of a profitable medical industry that pressures children into a lifelong subscription to expensive medical intervention for commercial benefit.

No one can change their gender, just as no one can change their species.

Imitationwhich is what the gender transition industry operates onused to be seen solely as a treatment for those suffering a rare and extreme version of gender dysphoria.

Sadly, even for adults who have a genuine debilitating condition, gender-affirming surgery has mixed results that include a high level of suicide. It is not a mindset that should be encouraged or artificially induced in otherwise healthy children during vulnerable parts of their life.

Instead of a cautious society that tries everything possible before putting a young adult under the knife, we have a rapidly growing medical industry of surgeons, therapists, activists, and educators with thriving careers based upon leading toddlers on the path of genital mutilation as soon as legally viablewith state legislators across the world racing to lower the age of gender affirmation.

There is currently a legal debate in America where progressive states are offering sanctuary to medical professionals who performed gender-affirming surgery on children.

Protecting Children Is Our Responsibility

While there is a fringe layer of morally reprehensible individuals happy to argue in favour of both Islamic genital mutilation and gender affirmation surgery for minors, the bulk of society fights against the former but supports the latter. Both have the same result for childrena life of sexual dysfunction.

Gender affirmation, through clever language that hides the glint of its scalpel, has pushed itself into our primary schools.

How many parents would have allowed this to happen if puberty blockers had been referred to by their real name of chemical castration?

Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old woman who regrets surgically removing her breasts, holds testosterone medication used for transgender patients in Northern California on Aug. 26, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

How many parents would allow schools to have absolute legal authority over the gender development of their children if they were forced to sit down and watch disturbing videos of bottom surgery and its horrific side effects?

We pretend to revile at the archaic practice of creating eunuchs and yet that is exactly what happens to little boys caught playing with Barbie dolls.

Gender affirmation is an ideological movement that took a serious and tragic mental condition and turned it into a gimmicka fad that kids adopt en masse in order to feel virtuous and popular.

In the UK, those children are growing up and taking medical practitioners to court. It wont be long before the same happens in Australia, the United States, or other parts of the world.

While most childhood obsessions wear off, gender ideology has permanent consequences and severe physical repercussions. Exposing children to this ideology as though it were normal and desirable may be one of the most monstrous failures in our duty of care seen since children were sent to work in the cotton factories.

But who will challenge Woke culture? Who has the courage to stand up to politicians as they pass laws designed to silence opposition to gender affirmation as hate speech and prevent parents from protecting their children from the clutches of activist educators?

We are treating our children just as badly as radical religious sects, leaving them with permanent scars and emotional damage they may never recover from.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Wheels Within Wheels in the Case of Bidens Docudrama

President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at the Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., on Jan. 15, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Commentary

The problem with stories like Joe Bidens docudrama is that the punditocracy acts like a school of piranha gobbling up a Bond villain.

Theres a lot of commotion. Its hard to see clearly.

I, myself, have written about the classified documents uncovered in Bidens office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, then in the garage at his Delaware home, then, in at least two places, in his Delaware house proper.

Thats as of Jan. 15. Who knows how many more documents will be found?

But heres the oddity. The entire episode, though under the klieg lights of publicity, is wrapped in a shroud of several mysteries.

For example, who leaked the news to CBS that classified documents had been found in Bidens office at the Washington office of a University of Pennsylvania think tank named for Biden?

We dontanyway, I dontknow the answer to that question.

The CBS report that broke the story last week was carefully, and almost comically, orchestrated to be pro-Biden. Every other line, it seemed, stressed the differences between the case of Biden harboring classified documents and that of former President Donald Trump.

Bidens case was unfortunate, yes, but not to worry. There were only a few documents.

In their original report, CBS stressed that there were only about 10 documents found in Bidens office.

The FBI hoovered up more than 300 documents in their raid of Trumps Mar-a-Lago in August 2022.

Biden was surprised by the news that there were classified documents in his office: He said he didnt even know they were there.

The case of Trump, on the other hand (note the grimaces passing over the faces of the newscasters), was completely different.

Team Biden instantly turned over the docs they found to the National Archives or the Department of Justice.

Trump stonewalled the National Archives for many months. And (bottom line) it was Trump!

At first, it was unclearat least CBS said they didnt knowwhat level of classification the documents had been assigned.

According to some reports, at least some of the documents were marked sensitive compartmented information, i.e., beyond top secret.

The flurry of news reports and commentary that followed might make it seem as if the story was out and that, in a news cycle or two, we should just move on.

But then the unexpected happened.

First, the garage docs. Then, the two separate caches of classified docs in his home.

Interviewed about the documents found at Mar-a-Lago by a sycophantic reporter back in September 2022, Biden said with (for him) great solemnity, he didnt know how that could possibly happen. How anyone could be that irresponsible.

Theres a nice splice of that exchange with one from the current imbroglio on YouTube.

In September 2022 it was How could anyone be that irresponsible. Now, its visibly impatient reporters wondering whats going on.

And heres another mystery.

What was the motivation of the person or persons (in its original report, CBS mentioned three sources) who leaked information about the documents to CBS?

Was it a hostile act, designed to get the ball rolling on Bidens ejection from office?

Several people, myself included, have suggested that.

But perhaps the leak was defensive in nature.

Perhaps, that is to say, leaking to a sympathetic outlet was calculated to limit the political fallout that was sure to follow the revelation.

But then the initial story grew wings as additional caches of classified documents were found about the Biden homestead.

Attorney General Merrick Garland had appointed a special counsel to investigate Trump a couple of weeks after the DOJ had been informed about the Biden documents but nearly two months before the public knew about it.

After it was revealed that Biden was housesitting not one, not two, but three (and later four) separate caches of classified documents, he felt constrained to appoint a special counsel to look into the case against Biden as well.

But the person he appointed was Robert Hur, a U.S. attorney for Maryland who had reportedly helped stifle the Republican Party probe into the mishandling of the TrumpRussia investigation.

Devin Nunes, who headed the House Intelligence Committee under Trump, noted that Hur had shown himself to be a fixer for the Democrats.

What does it all mean?

I dont know.

Part of me thinks that Powerline commentator Scott Johnson is right and that Biden is toast.

I certainly agree with Johnson that every day [that Biden] remains in office he does incalculable damage to the country.

He has, Johnson writes, dissolved our southern border, prioritized the climate madness, furthered the woke insanity, weakened our military, promoted a gusher of federal spending, and so on.

Granted. What we dont quite know is how the case of the classified documents will play out.

The Democrats have shown themselves to be far more adept than Republicans at exploiting crises for their own political benefit.

Im confident that the recent revelations about Bidens mishandling of classified documents will impede his chances of nabbing the 2024 Democratic nomination, let alone winning the election.

But who knows? I also sense that there are wheels within wheels here.

Maybe its team Biden pulling the strings and seeding the ponds with unpleasant, sharp-toothed fish.

But maybe were dealing with a drama boasting a far larger, if mostly anonymous, cast.

Anyway, the situation is far more complex than we might have assumed when lawyers or whoever it was discovered those classified documents in Bidens Washington office.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
White House Says House GOPs Probe Into Biden Documents Has No Credibility

House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) maintains his 'SHOW UP Act does not prevent federal agencies from allowing staff to telework, but requires they must first ensure constituent services are either sustained or improved. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The White House said on Jan. 16 that Republicans investigations into President Joe Bidens handling of classified records should be met with skepticism, criticizing the probes as shamelessly hypocritical.

The comments came after House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) vowed to keep pressing the Biden administration for answers over classified documents that were found in unsecured locations connected with President Joe Biden, including in a garage and a room at his Wilmington, Delaware home. The oversight committee earlier demanded the administration release records of who had visited the residence, but the White House said no visitor logs are available.

Comer told The Epoch Times on Monday that the president refuses to be transparent when it matters most. The lawmaker added that the committee would seek answers from the administration, including why Biden aides were permitted to search through the Wilmington residence after the Justice Department appointed a special counsel to investigate the findings.

White House spokesman Ian Sams accused the committee head and his colleagues of having no credibility. In a statement to media outlets, he said: Their demands should be met with skepticism and they should face questions themselves about why they are politicizing this issue and admitting they actually do not care about the underlying classified material.

President Biden is doing the right thing and is cooperating fully with a thorough review, he added, accusing House Republicans of playing politics in a shamelessly hypocritical attempt to attack the Democratic president.

U.S. President Joe Biden attends a worship service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on Jan. 15, 2023. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

The Epoch Times has reached out to Comers office for comment.

The Kentucky Republican has been contrasting the Biden probe with the case of former President Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago home was the focal point of an unprecedented FBI raid last summer.

Comer, in a Sunday interview with CNN, said he felt the discrepancy in how former President Trump was treated matters more than the contents of those mishandled documents. Speaking to Fox News on Monday, he took issue with the White Houses statement that it wasnt standard practice to keep visitor logs of the presidents personal residence because his personal residence is personal.

What amazes me is what the White House said about the fact that they didnt keep records of who went to and from the presidents personal residence because that was personal, Comer said. But yet the Democrats released Trumps personal tax returns for years prior to him even being president.

The White House hit back at Comer, alleging double standards in the Republicans treatment of the two cases. A spokesperson told Fox News that the congressman had downplayed Trumps possession of classified records, but now finds it troubling when the same scenario applied to Biden.

Comer said on CNN that he wouldnt ask for visitor logs from Mar-a-Lago or otherwise probe Trump. Democrats have done that for the past six years, the lawmaker said. So no ones been investigated more than Donald Trump. Who hasnt been investigated is Joe Biden. And thats why were finally launching an investigation of Joe Biden, the House Oversight Committee  and I hope to have it wrapped up as soon as possible.

Both classified documents cases are currently being investigated by separate special counsels.

Trump has sought to distinguish his case from Bidens, claiming he had declassified the documents before leaving office, while Biden did not have such authority as vice president at the time.

A police car sits outside former President Donald Trumps residence at Mar-A-Lago, in Palm Beach, Fla. on Aug. 8, 2022, as the FBI searches his home for classified documents. (Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images)

Sams said Biden takes classified information seriously, which is why he immediately directed his team to ensure the documents were sent back to the government.

The White House has faced escalating scrutiny over its two-month-long delay in informing the public about the case. The first set of documents was found on Nov. 2, days before the midterm elections, but the White House didnt confirm the matter until Jan. 9, only after media outlets reported on the development.

GOP lawmakers and observers said the delay was an attempt to protect the Democrats in the midterms.

They were not going to announce it before the election, because it would have undermined the Democrats and substantially hurt their ability to survive the election. I think that was pretty straightforward, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told The Epoch Times last week.
Xi Jinpings Concessions to Recent Protests May Signal Coming Regime Collapse

News Analysis

From the White Paper Revolution to the Fireworks Movement, from the workers protests at a pharmaceutical factory in Chongqing to the workers protest march at a biotech company in Hangzhou, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has uncharacteristically backed down and made concessions.

Analysts have suggested that the Chinese have begun to shake off their fear of the CCP and that the regime is likely to collapse in 2023.

On Jan. 7, thousands of employees staged a protest at Zybio, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in the Dadukou District in Chongqing City. The protest was a result of the sudden layoff of nearly 8,000 employees, who hadnt been paid their wages since being dismissed.

The company is a manufacturer of COVID-19 antigen test kits.

Videos posted online show angry workers demolishing boxes of COVID-19 test kits, vandalizing the companys offices, and clashing with police carrying riot shields. Protesters threw plastic boxes, water bottles, and cones at police, who ran from protestersa rare occurrence in China.

  

 pic.twitter.com/Liw6lYedJb   (@whyyoutouzhele) January 7, 2023

In the end, the authorities were forced to compromise, and the head of Dadukou District came forward and promised that workers would receive their unpaid wages, bonuses, and severance pay. It was a total victory for the protesters.

On Jan. 6, a similar protest erupted in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, as ACON Biotech Corporation suddenly announced the suspension of its business and laid off 2,800 employees. The company forced employees to sign a resignation agreement and only gave them a subsidy of 1,600 yuan (about $237). Moreover, some temporary workers were unable to get their wages.

The protesters confronted the police and shouted, Pay back our money. In the end, the local government negotiated with them and promised to subsidize each worker with 3,000 yuan (about $444).

Fireworks Revolution

In Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, thousands of people broke through a police barrier and gathered by the statue of Sun Yat-sen, a former president of the Republic of China, on New Years Eve.

The crowd presented flowers and released balloons in front of the statue to express their discontent with the current ruling CCP, as well as their yearning for freedom and democracy.

In Luyi County, Henan Province, people ignored the regimes ban on fireworks on the night of Jan. 2, leading to clashes between the police and the citizens.

Videos circulating on social media showed that as police were arresting violators, a large crowd of people surrounded police vehicles, demanding the release of those arrested. They pushed and shoved the police. Some young people then began to smash the police cars and front windshields. One police vehicle was overturned.

The Fireworks Revolution also broke out in Chongqing City and several other cities in the provinces of Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Jiangsu, and Guangxi.

This kind of confrontation between the public and law enforcement was unimaginable in the past. It appears that the Chinese people are no longer afraid and have begun to use various opportunities to challenge the CCPs authority.



After this series of defiant events, the CCP didnt retaliate as it had in the past but chose to back down.

Many regions, such as Beijing, Shandong Province, and Liaoning Province, relaxed the fireworks ban to varying degrees. In particular, the Xian City Municipal Police Bureau issued a notice requiring the police to enforce the law flexibly and refrain from confrontation with the public or to cause negative police-related public opinion when dealing with people who set off fireworks and firecrackers.

Current Situation May Rapidly Change

China expert Heng He told The Epoch Times on Jan. 9 that the results of the White Paper Revolution and the Fireworks Movement have helped the public to see the weakness of the ruling regime. That is to say, the CCP can be defeated, or at least people are able to force it to give in, Heng said.

This is what the CCP has been trying hard to avoid for so many years, but this time, it finally failed to do so.

Deng Haiyan, a freelance commentator, said in an interview with The Epoch Times on Jan. 10 that the outbreak of these protests at the beginning of the new year reflects a change in the mentality of the Chinese people after theyve reached a critical point. That is, theyre no longer afraid.

More and more people are coming forward to express their discontent and resistance in various ways, he said. When more people realize that many share this same mentality, it will not be easily extinguished.

Speaking of the CCPs concession, independent writer Zhuge Mingyang told The Epoch Times on Jan. 13 that the CCP is facing questions about its legitimacy as never before.

From the perspective of the international environment, the CCP is no longer in the same situation as during the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. In fact, the global anti-communist alliance has already formed for some time, Zhuge said.

The CCP has never been isolated like it is now. Domestically, the complete failure of the anti-pandemic policy, coupled with the fact that Xi Jinping hasnt accomplished a single thing since he came to power, has brought the legitimacy of the CCPs governance into unprecedented question.

Zhuge further explained that in such a climate, the regime doesnt dare to kill the people, and in order to survive, it can only back down.

This concession will, in turn, stimulate peoples spirit of resistance. As the pandemic worsens, more and more protests will likely break out around the country. In the face of multiple pressures from home and abroad, the CCP is likely to collapse this year and completely withdraw from the stage of history.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
That release could not be found.
An invitation for a speaking appearance at Chatham House, London has become a rite of passage for anyone desirous of becoming President of Nigeria. On January 16, 2023, it was the turn of Peter Obi, Presidential Candidate of the Labor Party at next months Presidential elections, to shoot his shot.

I and Is objective assessment of his performance is that he acquitted himself very well with respect to presidential aura, focus,intent, substance, and vision, but not so well in oratorical fluency or speech delivery, where he scored a weak pass.

Peter Obi may not be the most eloquent of men or the most charismatic of politicians butunderestimate him and the Divine driving force propelling him to the Presidency of Nigeria at your peril.

I and I believe that a national consensus hasemerged and coalesced around the idea that Nigeria cannot continue in the way and manner it is currently being mismanaged and maliciously maladministered.

There is a growing unity of purpose, and concentration of intention among Nigeria's best and brightest, from all walks of life, and all segments of society, both at home and in the diaspora, that the time for fundamental change has come.

Peter Obi has unequivocally emerged as the anchor and fulcrum to implement, supervise, and administer that change.

For his part, he has risen stoutly to accept that generational challenge by boldly presenting himself for national service as President of Nigeria.

Provided Peter Obi successfully navigates the often contradictory yet inescapable demands of merit, and the inevitable exigencies of diversityin a multiethnic country. Provided he maintains his sincerity of purpose, and ironclad will to deliver verifiable administrative achievements to all Nigerians without discrimination, let or hindrance, I and I cannot see any way he willeither fail or falter.

Nigeria is too well endowed with diverse human capital and its people too well seized withvibrant human energy to falter under a President who harnesses and puts to work the very best Nigeria has to offer without traces of nepotism and sectionalism.

Back in his home state, Anambra State of Nigeria, they do not call him Okwute (Stone) for nothing. Forget his amiable mien, the man Peter Obi is not an easy ride-over as the hopelessly uninformed may think. He is as tough as flint. You do not become a billionaire from trading for nothing. He is a living exemplification of Jah Jesus Christus admonition to his followers to be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. You cannot become a billionaire without being crooked ifyou are not as innocent as a dove.

By electing Peter Obi as President, Nigerians will experience an iron-willed leadership, utterly devoid of greed or malicious mischief, and resolutely determined to drag them out of poverty and insecurity. He will make mistakes no doubt, but he has a track record of fine-tuning and fixing things that are not working, as well as turning policies around if he determines that he is barking up the wrong tree.

Peter Obi has boldly and courageously given Nigerians annual milestones with which to judge his performance, starting from 2023.

The ball is now in the court of Nigerians if they can dare to take up his challenge.

While he is still available, Nigerians should seize and throw this stone a.k.a. Okwute at poverty and insecurity, ravaging and plaguing their country.

One of the greatest tragedies one can behold is having to witness, when the prison gates are opened, the shackles removed, the chains released, yet the human prisoners, conditioned by unjust captivity, being terrified to walk out freely into liberty.

Will this human tragedy be repeated in Nigeria? Or will Nigerians vote wisely for Peter Obi as President? The world is watching. We too are watching !

Peter Obi a.k.a. Okwute (Stone) is telling Nigerians, here am I, send me, fling me at your irresolvable problems. I will solve it by the Grace of the Most High.

Will Nigerians take up Peter Obi's challenge, try him and put him to the test?

Or will they, as a result of decades-long conditioning to suffering, refuse to seize their chance like the freed prisoners , referred to earlier, who out of conditioning, cannot walk out to liberty and freedom, choosing instead to remain in the captivity of poverty, backwardness, and insecurity?

Or is that obstinate Nigerians are afraid that Peter Obi might succeed and shame them fordoubting in the first place, his honest intentions and resolute capabilities to put Nigeria back to work for the betterment of all?

Only Time will tell, but we are watching .

2

Anthony Chuka Konwea, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE, MNSE, FNIStructE, MNICE.
Without insisting on getting the right answers, the upcoming general elections stand a great risk of being technically compromised.

From outright snatching of ballot boxes, to attempting to snatch same ballot boxes through the courts, Nigeria has made substantial progress in election management and electoral law reforms since 1999. Yet, our politicians have never shed even an ounce of their desperation.

At every turn of improvement, they quickly find a way to gain the system and confer undue advantages on themselves. Today, anyone who intends to tamper with the wishes of ordinary Nigerians need not the services of thugs, but the services of ICT experts. This is because, as the opportunity for manual rigging gets increasingly bleak, a new window of opportunity has opened up for technical rigging of the elections.

That is why Nigerians must interrogate all the systems and processes that INEC relies on to process the voting decisions of Nigerians. So that such avenues for technical manipulation of the system are mitigated. Without further ado, these are the questions Nigerians must ask before casting the first ballot;

Question 1: Compromised Voter Register

1) Even after INEC announced cleaning up of 53,000 additional fake, double, multiple and underaged registrants from the voter register, there is evidence that several of those fake and underaged registrants are still on the final list of voters released to political parties a few days ago.

Can INEC conduct a sufficiently free fair and credible elections with a compromised voter register?

Question 2: Fake/underaged registrants: Can we withdraw access from the backend?

The PVCs of some of these double, multiple, fake and underaged registrants have been printed and issued. Given the number of days we have before the elections, it will be unrealistic for INEC to attempt recall those PVCs.

Given also the hostile nature of some polling units, especially those in the rural areas and volatile areas, it is practically difficult, if not impossible, to expect INEC staff deployed on election-day duty or agents of political parties to contest eligibility of prospective voters on the election day. They can successfully do this in urban and semi urban areas. But the weakest link is in the rural areas, especially in the strongholds of establishment figures.

Given these considerations, is it possible for INEC to do another round of internal auditing of the voter register so it can take away the registration details of these fake and underaged registrants from the back-end? So that even if they show up on the election day with the PVCs they managed to beat INEC's systems to obtain, those prospective under-aged and fake registrants will not be authenticated by BIVAS. As long as their details remain on the system, the coming elections stand a great risk of being decided by fake and underaged registrants.

Question 3: Can we subject these systems and processes to multi-stakeholder audit and integrity tests?

INEC, through its Commissioner of Voter Education, Festus Okoye, initially told Nigerians that the new data capturing protocol deployed during the last continuous voter register makes it difficult to manipulate. Yet, desperate politicians, working hand-in-hand with a few compromised INEC staff found a way to beat the system and on-board fake registrants. This is evidenced by the displayed voter register and what is now referred to as Omuma Magic.

INEC again told Nigerians that the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) will be deployed to detect and weed out those fake, double, multiple and underaged registrants. Yet, those registrants found a way to evade the prying eyes of the ABIS and made it successfully to the voter register. The only ones that were cleaned after the display of the register were those that were successfully reported by Nigerians. Those who couldn't be reported, given the limited window of redress, are still on the register and may possibly decide Nigeria's future.

Since these irrefutable proofs suggest that these systems can either be compromised or not as efficient as advertised, is INEC willing to subject these systems and processes to a third party multi-stakeholder audit and integrity tests so as to really ascertain the fitness of these systems and processes, and as a way to mobilise the highest level of stakeholder confidence on the systems?

Question 4: Can we look at the geographic distribution of the data enrolment devices during the last CVR exercise?

Is INEC able to publish the exact number of data capturing devices it deployed for the June 2021 - July 2022 CVR exercise, and is it able to publish a detailed breakdown (preferably local government breakdown) of how those devices were deployed and the justification for such deployments?

This is important because deploying more devices in some regions allows them to complete more registrations and thus on-board more prospective voters than other regions. Given the enthusiasm of many young Nigerians to register, especially after the presidential candidates emerged, there is now a suspicion of foul play in the geographic distribution of data capture devices. How soon can INEC release that data, and will INEC commit to making such data publicly available during the next continuous voter registration exercise?

Question 5: Lopsided Invalidation of Registrants: What happened?

After INEC concluded the June 2021  July 2022 Continuous Voter Registration Exercise, the data released by INEC presented an interesting scenario. 49.3% of the 2.78 million invalidated registrations were coming from the South-East and South-south regions. A critical analysis of INEC data reveals that there is a national invalidation rate of 22%. A regional invalidation rate of 17% for the three northern regions and the south-west. Interestingly, that rejection rate spiked to 35.2% for the South-South and the South-East.

Mr. INEC Chairman Sir, why, in your own analysis, do you think these two regions presented such anomalies? Some are already claiming a possible compromise of the elections through a technical suppression of votes of people from certain regions. How does INEC respond to that?

As you answer the question, please be mindful that this lopsided invalidations were done using the ABIS software that curiously on-boarded a lot of double, multiple, underaged and outrightly fake registrants.

Also be mindful that the regions with the highest prevalence of under-aged registrations had the least percentage invalidations while the regions with the least prevalence of these things had the highest percentage invalidations.

Question 6: Detailed explanation of how the ABIS works

Mr. INEC Chairman, could you provide a 12-year old a detailed explanation of how the Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) works? Does it run the facials and fingerprints supplied to it through an artificial intelligence system to determine the age of the owners of those biometrics? Does it also run those unique IDs to ensure that they meet parameters already set up by INEC. For instance, INEC says all pictures on-boarded must be captured in real-time by field agents of INEC deployed on CVR duties. But we saw passport and scanned photographs on the system. Is ABIS equipped to automatically detect those flaws? Is the system also equipped to detect multiple iterations of the same fingerprints as was used by politicians to on-board fake registrants?

If the answers to these questions are in the positive, why then did the system fail to flag the multiple incidences of these things when the data was ran through the ABIS? If the answers are in the negative, what then are the features of ABIS that pre-qualified it to be deployed for such a sensitive assignment as auditing voter registration information?

Question 7: Are we measuring the success or fail rate of the BIVAS?

The BIVAS was first deployed in Issoko - Delta State, and afterwards in Anambra, Ekiti and Osun off-season elections. Using empirical data, do you know what the voter validation rate of the BIVAS are in those elections?

I ask that question because there were a lot of voters who presented their duly issued PVCs on election day, saw their names on the register displayed at the polling units, yet the BIVAS refused to accredit them using the two authentication modalities. If INEC does not have the exact number of failed authentications, can it at least do a minor software update on the BIVAS so it captures the number of unique voter authentication requests? This is important so that Nigerians can see the voter authentication success or fail rate of the BIVAS after the elections. Then they can subject that data to local government, state, regional and national analysis, to be doubly sure that no state or region had an irregular failed voter authentication rate. By having a failed voter authentication rate higher than the national average, the votes of a region or regions or even local government areas can be technically suppressed.

Question 8: How can political parties and their agents confirm data pre-loaded on the BIVAS?

Because of internet access considerations, the BIVAS relies on the information pre-loaded on it to process voter authentication requests. It only needs the internet to upload captured results. This is quite helpful because of Nigeria's internet penetration rate, especially in rural areas.

The question now is, how can political parties and their agents be sure that the data of all eligible voters in any given polling unit were all pre-loaded on the BIVAS before voting commences in that unit? Secondly, even if the total number of loaded voter records matches the number on the physical voter register, how can political parties and their agents ascertain that ALL the loaded bio-data of prospective voters belong to actual voters in that given unit?

This is to avoid the issue of partially loading correct details of voters, and filling up the quota with bio-data from voters who are not eligible voters in that particular polling unit. In which case there will be high failed authentication rates. Also some of these failed authentications may not necessarily be as a result of compromise. It may also be because of honest mistakes. So, how can political parties track and make sure those mistakes are not made because the consequences of such mistakes are enormous?

There are concerns about security, PVC distribution challenges including lopsided PVC distributions where PVCs of people who bear certain names are witheld. There are issues of PVCs that were burnt or dumped in the gutters while they were still in the custody of INEC. Nobody knows what becomes of these voters who, by no fault of theirs, have now been disenfranchised, except INEC provides a remedy which may include authentications with the VIN on the temporary voter's card. Nigerians, it is now left for us to add to the list of these questions if need be, and also demand answers before the first ballot is cast.

We also have to compel our favourite candidates and their campaign councils, especially those who stand to hurt the most from such irregularities whether they are aware of these issues, and how they can add their voices to those of ordinary Nigerians to draw attention to these issues and insist that they be resolved satisfactorily.

The price for liberty is eternal vigilance. Fellow Nigerians, the ball is now in our court.

Africa's morning will come.

*Chima Christian is a good governance advocate and a public policy analyst.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission has warned that Nigeria cannot afford not to conduct peaceful and credible elections in 2023 as a lot is at stake even within the sub-region should the country fail.

This is even as the Independent National Electoral Commission, hailed the Commission over its dialogue with leaders of political parties towards peaceful 2023 general elections, describing it as very commendable

The ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Amb. Abdel-Fatau Musah, who was represented by ECOWAS Commission Programme Officer on Mediation, Directorate of Political Affairs, Dr. Brown Odigie, stated this on Tuesday at the ongoing Dialogue and Mediation Training for political actors as Tools for Preventing and/or Mitigating Election Related Disputes and Violence, in Jos, Plateau State.

The 4-day training and interactive workshop, which is the third in the series is geared towards violent-free 2023 general elections in Nigeria with the enhancement of participants dialogue and mediation tools and platforms for addressing contentious issues, thus contributing to the prevention and mitigation of election-related conflicts and violence before, during, and after the polls. It had participants from the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) cutting across the North-Central and North-East geopolitical zones of the country.

Musa advised that Nigeria must create space for inclusiveness in the electoral processes and ensure a peaceful election because of its very strategic position in the region. He noted that Nigerias enormous population is working tirelessly to ensure that the electoral processes are done peacefully to avoid anything that can lead to conflict, warning that the region cannot contain potential refugees

According to the Commission, the interactive engagements by political actors and stakeholders are critical in electoral processes and the ECOWAS commission prioritizes creating opportunities for such interactions to be held as well as equipping stakeholders with the necessary skills and competence for dialogue and mediation.

To this end, he called on all candidates and political parties, including IPAC to always uphold the contents of the signed peace Accord and the electoral guidelines which are imperative to ensuring a peaceful and credible general election.

He said: "With the hope of ensuring that all stakeholders play their role, including the police and INEC in ensuring a peaceful, free, fair, and credible election that will be acceptable to all Nigerians. Creating space for dialogue and inclusivity in the electoral process is key; because once you deny that inclusivity factor; it creates an opportunity for people to resort to violence. Grievances can be brought out and collectively, we look at the contentious issues and find common ground. We are doing it specifically for Nigeria because Nigeria is strategic in ECOWAS.

Nigeria has an enormous population; elections are a period that can generate conflict and if not effectively managed, have the potential of snowballing into violence. And when violence occurs, with the enormous population of Nigeria, it can spill over to other neighboring countries. And I can assure you, no member country within ECOWAS will have the capacity to accommodate refugees from Nigeria.

That is why, we do all we can, to encourage stakeholders to dialogue, by looking at contentious issues and seeking ways to amicably resolve them to have a peaceful outcome. It is in this regard that the ECOWAS Commission developed a Dialogue and Mediation handbook, elements of which will be used in the course of this training workshops, and with this, participants are expected to acquire practical techniques and skills for dialogue and mediation as important tools for the management of electoral disputes and conflicts through role-plays and simulation exercises," he stressed.

He added that the specific goals for the engagements include creating the opportunity for participants to appreciate the ECOWAS normative principles and frameworks for transparent and peaceful elections as espoused by the 2001 supplementary protocol on democracy and good governance; sustaining and enhancing ECOWAS' strategic engagement with the political process in Nigeria and also as an indication of our commitment and preference towards using dialogue and mediation in resolving electoral disputes and violence.

On his part, the states Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Oliver Agundu said that the ECOWAS commission has taken a very unique and very commendable step that will no doubt help to strengthen channels of information and deepen relations amongst the stakeholders and promote widespread collaborations on common issues faced during elections.

Represented by the commissions Head of Voters Education, Mr. Otokpa Egwurube, the REC said, We also urge stakeholders to act and behave responsibly even in the face of defeat or when the victor is victorious because in an electoral contest, there must be a loser and there must be a winner.

In the same vein, the representative of the United Nations Office in West Africa and Sahel (UNOWAS) Liaison Office in Nigeria, Mrs. Sa'adatu Shuaibu noted that the training falls within the framework of UNOWAS joint efforts with ECOWAS to support member states in their efforts to conduct peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections and entrench democracy.

As part of its efforts to ensure peaceful, credible, and inclusive elections in Nigeria, UNOWAS has conducted various engagements with national stakeholders to the formal special representative of the secretary-general (SRSG), Mr. Mahamat Annadif, who used his good offices last year to engage with Nigeria authorities, school parties, some presidential candidates, civil society organizations, the Independent national electoral commission (INEC), the inter-party advisory council (IPAC) and members of the diplomatic corps on the need to strengthen peace, democracy, development and good governance in Nigeria.

Also speaking, Plateau State Commissioner of Police, CP Bartholomew Onyeka said that the nation's recent history of pre and post-electoral violence is the reason many Nigerians are very apprehensive.

But allaying the fears of citizens, Onyeka, who was represented by ACP Ejike Ochiabotor, said, Plateau state police command under my watch as the prime law enforcement agency in the state has involved various workable strategic measures to ensure that the forthcoming general elections are conducted peacefully without any hitch all over the state, adding that the command has carried out effective sensitization of its officers and critical stakeholders in the state to virtually all rules guiding the conduct of the elections.

"We have made golden plans on how best to make deployments, protect the integrity of the electoral process, and make sure elections are credible to all, taking past elections as a case study. All prisoners have been properly educated on how to secure the electorates, INEC officials, and materials, and escort INEC staff and materials to the polling units and back to the collation centers.

In the same vein, the National Secretary of IPAC, Alhaji Yusuf Dantalle, in his remark, said the free, fair, credible, transparent, inclusive, peaceful, and acceptable election is the beauty and bedrock of democracy, noting that the forthcoming general election is critical for sustainable democracy in Nigeria.

The success of the elections will be a defining moment for our fellow compatriots who desire and yearn for transformational, visionary, progressive, purposeful, and resourceful leaders who will restore Nigeria as the great arsenal of democracy in Africa, he observed.
Foreigners must follow visa rules

BANGKOK: The Royal Thai Police has instructed all relevant authorities, including the Immigration Bureau (IB) and Tourist Police, to ensure all foreign residents do not violate their visa conditions during their stay in the country.

Chinesecrimeimmigrationpolicetourism

By Bangkok Post

Tuesday 17 January 2023, 09:11AM

Atchayon: Warns of tough penalties. Photo: Bangkok Post

The instruction followed a complaint made by a food vendor along Bangkoks Yaowarat Road about Chinese tourists running businesses using local nominees, which is a violation of the kingdoms laws, reports the Bangkok Post.

Under current rules, foreign citizens on a tourist visa are not allowed to work in Thailand. Furthermore, there are certain jobs which expatriates are barred from taking up, which include tour guides and street food vendors.

RTP spokesman Pol Maj Gen Atchayon Kraithong said Chinese citizens can get a tourist visa on arrival, which allows them to stay in the country for no longer than 30 days. Those who are found to be violating the conditions of their stay will be deported and barred from re-entering the country, he said.

The RTP and other relevant agencies will work to ensure these [visa] conditions are followed, Pol Maj Gen Atchayon said.

Separately, deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said the government will continue to monitor and crack down on foreign residents using Thai nominees to run businesses in Thailand.

Foreigners who wish to run a food and beverage business in the country must acquire the required permit from the Department of Business Development. Any Thai co-investor in the business is also required to show proof that they have the means to invest in such a business.

Thai citizens who are foreigners nominees face up to three years imprisonment and/or a fine between B100,000-1 million, said Ms Ratchada.

She added that officials from DBD and the Labour Ministry regularly inspect foreign-owned businesses to ensure their compliance.
Phuket staff urged to get booster jabs

PHUKET: The Phuket Communicable Disease Committee has issued a statement urging all business operators to get their staff to have booster vaccinations to protect them from COVID-19.

tourismChineseCOVID-19

By The Phuket News

Tuesday 17 January 2023, 01:23PM

The call came at the first meeting of the committee for the year, held at Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Jan 16), and chaired by Phuket Vice Governor Danai Sunantarod.

Vice Governor Danai said that the meeting was held to monitor the situation of COVID-19 in Phuket and the level and preventive vaccination across the island.

It has been found that at this time the number of infection sites is very small, but the agencies under the Ministry of Public Health have been continually monitoring the situation, he said.

At this time Phuket has a number of tourists who are now starting to travel more, and especially at the end of this month during the Chinese New Year we will have more tourists coming into the province, Vice Governor Danai said.

Therefore we have to put in place various measures to support [sic], he added, without making any specific mention of the anticipated influx of visitors from Mainland China.

For the part of the public, we ask for their cooperation in getting booster vaccinations by visiting any government hospitals for injections, where in the past few people have received booster vaccinations, he said.

In addition, we also ask for cooperation from various [business] establishments to promote employees to get booster vaccination to prevent disease, V/Gov Danai noted.

Booster vaccination injections are available every day at Vachira Phuket Hospital (at the Luang Por Chaem building), on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Patong Hospital, and on Tuesdays at Thalang and Chalong Hospitals.

We therefore invite people who have not yet received a booster vaccination to get one at a hospital near their homes, V/Gov Danai said.
In Their Opinion: Editorial: No, the feds arent coming for your gas stove. But these unhealthful appliances still need to go
SEAN BERGEL, Wheeler, Baseball, Junior; Bergel struck out eight and allowed only five hits as Wheeler defeated Griswold in its season opener. Bergel walked just one batter and allowed two earned runs.

CAMI BROWN, Stonington, Softball, Junior; Brown finished 11 for 16 in four games for the Bears. Brown doubled four times, tripled twice and drove in nine runs.

CASEY MACERA, Westerly, Girls Lacrosse, Freshman, Macera scored five goals in a Division III win against Rocky Hill. Westerly ended a 15-game losing streak with the victory.

ADAM CARPENTER, Chariho, Baseball, Junior; Carpenter pitched a two-hitter in his varsity debut as the Chargers beat East Providence. Carpenter carried a no-hitter into the sixth. He struck out 10 and did not walk a batter.

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The U.S. militarys new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday, with a goal of getting a battalion of about 500 troops back on the battlefield to fight the Russians in the next five to eight weeks, said Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley, who plans to visit the Grafenwoehr training area on Monday to get a first-hand look at the program, said the troops being trained left Ukraine a few days ago. In Germany is a full set of weapons and equipment for them to use.

Until now the Pentagon had declined to say exactly when the training would start.

The so-called combined arms training is aimed at honing the skills of the Ukrainian forces so they will be better prepared to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks. They will learn how to better move and coordinate their company- and battalion-size units in battle, using combined artillery, armor and ground forces.

Speaking to two reporters traveling with him to Europe on Sunday, Milley said the complex training  combined with an array of new weapons, artillery, tanks and other vehicles heading to Ukraine  will be key to helping the countrys forces take back territory that has been captured by Russia in the nearly 11-month-old war.

This support is really important for Ukraine to be able to defend itself, Milley said. And were hoping to be able to pull this together here in short order.

The goal, he said, is for all the incoming weapons and equipment to be delivered to Ukraine so that the newly trained forces will be able to use it sometime before the spring rains show up. That would be ideal.

The new instruction comes as Ukrainian forces face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where the Russian military has claimed it has control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting, but if Moscows troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.

Russia also launched a widespread barrage of missile strikes, including in Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 30.

Milley said he wants to make sure the training is on track and whether anything else is needed, and also ensure that it will line up well with the equipment deliveries.

The program will include classroom instruction and field work that will begin with small squads and gradually grow to involve larger units. It would culminate with a more complex combat exercise bringing an entire battalion and a headquarters unit together.

Until now, the U.S. focus has been on providing Ukrainian forces with more immediate battlefield needs, particularly on how to use the wide array of Western weapons systems pouring into the country.

The U.S. has already trained more than 3,100 Ukrainian troops on how to use and maintain certain weapons and other equipment, including howitzers, armored vehicles and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, known as HIMARS. Other nations are also conducting training on the weapons they provide.

In announcing the new program last month, Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the idea is to be able to give them this advanced level of collective training that enables them to conduct effective combined arms operations and maneuver on the battlefield.

Milley said the U.S. was doing this type of training prior to the Russian invasion last February. But once the war began, U.S. National Guard and special operations forces that were doing training inside Ukraine all left the country. This new effort, which is being done by U.S. Army Europe Africas 7th Army Training Command, will be a continuation of what they had been doing prior to the invasion. Other European allies are also providing training.

(AP)




Israels Health Ministry on Sunday ended a 24-year ban on blood donations from many UK immigrants.

In 1999, Israels Health Ministry ordered a ban on blood donations from anyone who lived in the UK for over six months between 1980 and 1996 due to fears of Mad Cow Disease. A similar ban was later implemented on anyone who had resided in France, Ireland and Portugal.

The ban was implemented after 178 people in the UK died after eating beef infected with Mad Cow Disease.

According to a statement by Magen David Adom, which operates Israels national blood bank, the Health Ministry adopted the US Federal Drug Administrations new directives on blood donations from people who had lived in the UK.

The FDA made a decision last year to remove the ban since the risk is now negligible. The decision was based on data from the UK showing that the risk of contraction of Mad Cow Disease from blood donations is only one or two cases every 50 years.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




A Chareidi resident of Modiin Illit was slightly injured after being stabbed in the Palestinian village of Deir Qaddis on Monday.

According to the 25-year-old man, he entered the village with his friend in order to buy eggs and several Arabs began to attack them at the entrance to the store in an attempt to rob them of their cell phones. During the confrontation, one of the Arabs pulled out a screwdriver and stabbed him.

The wounded man was transported by IDF soldiers to the Nili Crossing, where he was treated by MDA and Hatzalah paramedics and evacuated to Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in light condition for further treatment.

The incident is believed to have been criminal in nature rather than nationalistic but the police investigation is ongoing.

In the past, Deir Qaddis was a popular village for shopping among Israelis but in recent times, Israeli security officials have warned Israelis to refrain from entering Palestinian villages for shopping due to security concerns.

In October, Shalom Sofer, hyd, was stabbed in the Arab village of Al-Funduq in the Shomron and later was niftar of his injuries. Earlier in October, a Chareidi resident of Beitar Illit was wounded after he entered the nearby village of Husan.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




A Chareidi resident of Elad was on vacation in Jerusalem two weeks ago with his family when he was attacked without any provocation by two Arabs.

Attorney Chaim Bleicher of the Honenu legal aid organization wrote a letter to the Jerusalem District police requesting the arrest of the perpetrators.

My client is a Jewish resident of Elad who was staying in a hotel with his wife and two sons and went to bring his suitcase from his car to the hotel, he wrote. Suddenly, and without any reason, two Arabs who spotted my client  who was dressed in traditional Jewish clothing  decided to attack and humiliate him.

When they passed him, one of them pushed him on his shoulder and the second hit him on his head with a strong blow from which he collapsed and fell to the ground. The attackers laughed and called out something unclear from which my client only understood the words Al-Yahud. The attackers continued on their way to Rechov Yaffo, while my client got up and sat down in order to recover.

As a result of the attack, my client suffered from dizziness and pain in his head for several days. My client filed a complaint at the Rosh HaAyin station which was transferred to your station.

My client has a video of the incident that was recorded on a camera of the nearby building and it was transferred to the police when the complaint was filed.

This is a serious and shocking case in which a Jew is humiliated and beaten in the center of the city of Jerusalem solely because of his Jewish identity for ugly anti-Semitic motives. Due to the great importance of the war on terror, Im requesting that you treat the attack in an appropriate manner and focus your intelligence and investigative efforts in order to locate the perpetrators.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




Search teams retrieved the flight data and cockpit voice recorders Monday of a passenger plane that plummeted into a gorge on approach to a new airport in the foothills of the Himalayas, officials said, as investigators looked for the cause of Nepals deadliest plane crash in 30 years.

At least 69 of the 72 people aboard were killed, and officials believe the three missing are also dead. Rescuers combed through the debris, scattered down a 300-meter-deep (984-foot-deep) gorge, for them.

Many of the passengers on Sundays flight were returning home to Pokhara, though the city is also popular with tourists since its the gateway to the Annapurna Circuit hiking trail. On Monday evening, relatives and friends were still gathered outside a local hospital, some shouting at officials to speed up the post mortems so they could hold funerals for their loved ones. Later, some did receive the bodies of relatives.

Its still not clear what caused the crash, which took place less than a minutes flight from the airport on a mild day with little wind.

In footage taken by a passenger out of a window as the plane came in for a landing, buildings, roads and greenery are visible below. The video, by Sonu Jaiswal and verified by The Associated Press, then shows a violent jolt and a series of jerky images accompanied by yelling before flames fill the screen.

Nepals Civil Aviation Authority said the aircraft last made contact with the airport, which began operations only two weeks ago, from near Seti Gorge. A witness who recorded footage of the planes descent said it looked like a normal landing until the plane suddenly veered to the left.

I saw that, and I was shocked, said Diwas Bohora. I thought that today everything will be finished here after it crashes, I will also be dead.

After it crashed, red flames erupted and the ground shook violently, Bohora said. Seeing that scene, I was scared, he added.

Amit Singh, an experienced pilot and founder of Indias Safety Matters Foundation, said Bohoras video appears to show a stall, a situation in which a plane loses lift, especially likely at low airspeeds.

The twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft, operated by Nepals Yeti Airlines, was completing the 27-minute flight from the capital, Kathmandu, to Pokhara, 200 kilometers (125 miles) west. It was carrying 68 passengers, including 15 foreign nationals, as well as four crew members, Nepals Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement. The foreigners included five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, and one each from Ireland, Australia, Argentina and France.

Jagannath Niraula, a spokesman for the authority, said the flight recorders will be handed over to investigators. Pemba Sherpa, spokesperson for Yeti Airlines, confirmed that both the flight data and the cockpit voice recorders were found.

Nepal is home to eight of the worlds 14 highest mountains including Mount Everest. A pilot who routinely flies an ATR 72-500 plane from India to Nepal said the regions topography, with its mountain peaks and narrow valleys, raises the risk of accidents and sometimes requires pilots to fly by sight rather than relying on instruments.

The pilot, who works for a private Indian airline and insisted on anonymity due to company policy, called the ATR 72-500 an unforgiving aircraft if the pilot isnt highly skilled and familiar with the regions terrain and wind speeds.

Hundreds of people have gathered outside the Pokhara Academy of Health and Science, Western Hospital, where the bodies are being kept.

Bimala Bhenderi said was planning to meet her friend, Tribhuban Paudel, on Tuesday when she heard that his flight had crashed. Im so sad, I cant believe it still, she said in tears.

Bikash Jaiswal said he could only identify his wifes brother only by the ring he wore, and that he had yet to tell his wife, who just gave birth to their daughter. Sanjay Jaiswal, who worked as a marketing agent for a private pharmaceutical company in Kathmandu, was flying to Pokhara for the birth. More than 24 hours after the crash, his body lay in the same hospital where his niece was born.

He was a hardworking person, and now theres no one left in his family to earn, Bikash said.

Park Dae-seong, a minister and spokesperson of the Won Buddhist order, confirmed on Monday the deaths of Arun Paudel and his daughter, Prasiddi.

Arun Paudel, 47, had worked as a police officer in Nepal before being introduced into the religion by his brother. He studied the religion for years at a South Korean university before becoming a minister in 2009. He then returned to Nepal and established a school in the Lumbini province in 2013 where children received English, Korean and information technology instruction. Park said Paudel was returning to Nepal for work related to the school, called the Vishow Ekata Academy.

The Civil Aviation Authority said that 41 people have been identified. Gyan Khadka, a police spokesperson in the district, said the bodies would be handed over to family after officials finish post mortem reports.

The type of plane involved, the ATR 72, has been used by airlines around the world for short regional flights since the late 1980s. In Taiwan, two accidents involving ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 aircrafts in 2014 and 2015 led to the planes being grounded for a period.

ATR identified the plane involved in Sundays crash as an ATR 72-500 in a tweet. According to plane tracking data from flightradar24.com, the aircraft was 15 years old and equipped with an old transponder with unreliable data. It was previously flown by Indias Kingfisher Airlines and Thailands Nok Air before Yeti took it over in 2019, according to records on Airfleets.net. ATR has not responded to a request for comment.

According to the Safety Matters Foundations data, there have been 42 fatal plane crashes in Nepal since 1946.

Sundays crash is the countrys deadliest since 1992, when all 167 people aboard a Pakistan International Airlines plane were killed when it plowed into a hill as it tried to land in Kathmandu.

The European Union has banned airlines from Nepal from flying into the 27-nation bloc since 2013, citing weak safety standards. In 2017, the International Civil Aviation Organization cited improvements in Nepals aviation sector, but the EU continues to demand administrative reforms.

(AP)




Ukrainian emergency crews on Monday sifted through what was left of a Dnipro apartment building destroyed by a Russian missile, placing bodies from one of the wars deadliest single attacks in months in black bags and gingerly carrying them across steep piles of rubble.

Authorities said the death toll fromSaturdays strike rose to 40 and that 30 people remained missing Monday. Tall cranes swung across the jagged gaps in a row of residential towers, the engines growling as residents of one of Ukraines largest cities watched largely in silence under a gray sky.

About 1,700 people lived in the multistory building, and search and rescue crews have worked nonstop since the missile strike to locate victims and survivors in the wreckage. The regional administration said 39 people have been rescued and at least 75 were wounded.

The reported death toll put it among the deadliest attacks on Ukrainian civilians since before the summer, according to The Associated Press-Frontline War Crimes Watch project. Residents said the apartment tower did not house any military facilities.

Oleksander Anyskevych said he was in his apartment when the missile struck.

Boom  and thats it. We saw that we were alive and thats all, Anyskevych said Monday as he went to the site to see his wrecked apartment.

He told The Associated Press that he knew people who died under the rubble. One of his sons classmates lost her parents.

Dnipro residents took flowers, candles and toys to the ruins.

All of us could be in that place, local resident Iryna Skrypnyk said.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, called the strike, and others like it, inhumane aggression because it directly targeted civilians. There will be no impunity for these crimes, he said in a tweet Sunday.

Asked about the strike Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian military doesnt target residential buildings and suggested the Dnipro building was hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense actions.

The strike on the building came amid a wider barrage of Russian cruise missiles across Ukraine. The Ukrainian military said Sunday that it did not have the means to intercept the type of Russian missile that hit the residential building in Dnipro.

Fierce fighting continued to rage Monday in Ukraines eastern Donetsk province, where military analysts have said both sides are likely suffering heavy troop casualties. No independent verification of developments was possible.

Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk province make up the Donbas, an expansive industrial region bordering Russia that Russian President Vladimir Putin identified as a focus from the wars outset. Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Kyivs forces there since 2014.

The Russian and Belarusian air forces began a joint exercise Monday in Belarus, which borders Ukraine and served as a staging ground for Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.The drills are set to run through Feb. 1, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said. Russia has sent its warplanes to Belarus for the drills.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, reported signs of the Kremlin taking steps to turn its Ukraine invasion into a major conventional war after months of embarrassing military reversals.

What Moscow calls a special military operation aimed to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, within weeks and to install a Kremlin-friendly regime there, but Russian forces ultimately withdrew from around Kyiv, the think tank said. Then came a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent months before the onset of winter slowed military advances.

The Kremlin is likely preparing to conduct a decisive strategic action in the next six months intended to regain the initiative and end Ukraines current string of operational successes, the Institute for the Study of War said in a report late Sunday.

It noted reports indicating the Russian military command was in serious preparations for an expanded mobilization effort, conserving mobilized personnel for future use, while seeking to boost military industrial production and reshuffling its command structure.

That means Ukraines Western allies will need to continue supporting Ukraine in the long run, the think tank said.

NATO member nations have sought in recent days to reassure Ukraine that they will stay the course. The United Kingdom has pledged tanks and the U.S. militarys new, expanded combat training of Ukrainian forces began in Germany on Sunday.

Polands prime minister urged the German government to supply a wide range of weapons to Kyiv and voiced hope that Berlin would soon approve a transfer of battle tanks.

Other developments on Monday:

 Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson and the Kherson region, killing three people and wounding 14 others over the last 24 hours, regional Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevych said. In the city of Kherson, the shelling damaged a hospital, a children disability center, a shipyard, critical infrastructure and apartment buildings.

 Russian forces struck the city of Zaporizhzhia, damaging industrial infrastructure and wounding five people, two of them children, the deputy head of Ukraines presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported.

 Russian air defenses downed 10 drones Monday over the Black Sea near the port of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed head of Sevastopol, reported.

(AP)




Two Orthodox Jewish youngsters were violently attacked by a gang of four in Crown Heights on Sunday night in an incident being investigated as a hate crime.

The 10 and 12 year old victims, who are brothers, were walking on Albany Avenue and Eastern Parkway at around 6 pm Sunday when they were approached by the quad squad of delinquents, who punched them multiple times in the face. No words were exchanged prior to the attack.

Crown Heights Shomrim was made aware of the incident by the boys father, and surveillance footage of one of the incidents was obtained  including an image of one of the perps faces.

The same group was later seen harassing other Orthodox Jews in Crown Heights, including a husband and wife and a woman walking alone, though those incidents did not include physical assault.

The NYPDs Hate Crimes Task Force and Shomrim are now investigating the incidents and attempting to identify the suspects.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)




Agudath Israel is welcoming the Supreme Courts decision to hear Groff v. DeJoy, a case involving accommodation of a Sabbath observer in the workplace.

Last year, Agudath Israel and other Orthodox groups joined a National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COLPA) brief urging the Supreme Court to hear the case and provide more meaningful accommodation of religious practices  including Sabbath observance  for American workers. The COLPA brief was authored by renowned constitutional attorney Nathan Lewin.

Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian, was a Pennsylvania mailman. When Amazon contracted with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to deliver packages on Sundays, Mr. Groff, who observes Sunday as his Sabbath, was faced with a religious dilemma. Mr. Groff attempted to make arrangements with the USPS to avoid working Sundays by offering to work multiple make-up shifts and even by switching postal offices, but the Postal Service deemed this insufficient and multiple disciplinary actions were taken against him. Facing termination Mr. Groff chose, instead, to resign from the USPS.

Following his resignation, Mr. Groff sued the USPS for failing to accommodate his sincerely-held religious beliefs. However, he was unsuccessful as both the district court and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against him. They did so on the basis that his absence on Sunday caused an undue burden to the USPS. The courts ruling is based on an earlier Supreme Court ruling in Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, in which the Court weakly defined undue burden as only more than de minimis cost, meaning more than a trivial burden.

Mr. Lewins brief requested the Court overturn its previous ruling in the Hardison case, stating that changes in American society and in the understanding of the Establishment Clause justify rejection and repudiation today of a legal rule that perpetrates great injustice and harm on Sunday observing Christians like petitioner and on Jewish, Moslem, and Seventh-Day Adventist members of Americas work force. The brief also notes that because of Hardison, religious employees have a harder time receiving legal accommodation than those who need accommodation on the basis of age, gender, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy, and paternity.

The history of American Jewry cannot be told without marking the struggle for Sabbath observance, said Rabbi David Zwiebel, Agudahs executive vice president. Due to Hardison, countless people have given up or even lost employment opportunities for jobs for which they were eminently qualified. Most of these cases were not even litigated because of the high bar set by Hardison. By agreeing to hear this case the Supreme Court has taken one step forward to rectifying this and protecting the religious liberties of Americans in the workforce.

Rabbi Zwiebel continued: We are especially pleased to add Agudath Israels name to an amicus brief authored by the great champion of Orthodox Jewish legal rights, Nathan Lewin. For many decades, Mr. Lewin has been in the forefront of the battle to have the Supreme Court undo the harmful Hardison de minimus standard and ensure broad legal protections for Sabbath observers in the workplace. By agreeing to review the Groff case, the Supreme Court gives us hope that Mr. Lewins tireless efforts will finally be rewarded.




Germanys much-criticized defense minister announced her resignation Monday following a series of missteps while her department steers the massive project of modernizing the countrys military and oversees expanding weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

Christine Lambrecht said in a written statement that she had submitted her resignation to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, adding that months of media focus on my person had stood in the way of a factual debate about the military and Germanys security policy.

The valuable work of the soldiers and many people in my department must stand in the foreground, she said.

Scholz thanked Lambrecht for her work in difficult times, saying he had great respect for her decision.

He declined immediately to say who would replace her but indicated that this would happen soon.

The new minister will quickly be thrown into the deep end in their new job. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is scheduled to visit Berlin this week and then host a meeting of allies at the Ramstein Air Base in western Germany. On Sunday, the German and French governments will hold bilateral talks that include a meeting of the countries joint security council.

I know from my perspective how things should proceed and we will announce that in due time too, said Scholz.

A government spokesperson, Christiane Hoffmann, said earlier Monday that it was important to Scholz to ensure gender parity among ministers, but declined to comment on a possibility of a wider Cabinet reshuffle.

The 57-year-old Lambrecht had been defense minister since Scholz became chancellor in December 2021. Critics had long portrayed her as out of her depth. But Scholz stood by her, describing her last month as a first-class defense minister. Pressure on her mounted recently after an ill-judged New Years video message.

Lambrechts resignation comes at a sensitive moment, as Scholz faces mounting pressure to make another significant step forward in German military aid to Ukraine by agreeing to deliver Leopard 2 battle tanks. Earlier this month, Germany agreed to provide 40 Marder armored personnel carriers and a Patriot air defense missile battery to Kyiv.

Germany has given Ukraine substantial support in recent months, including howitzers, Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns and the first of four IRIS-T surface-to-air missile systems. But critics, some inside Germanys governing coalition, have long complained of Scholzs perceived hesitancy to step up aid. Lambrecht was overshadowed on the issue by the chancellor, who made most major announcements.

Lambrecht was then-Finance Minister Scholzs deputy before being appointed justice minister in 2019. She also was minister for families and women in the closing months of then-Chancellor Angela Merkels government.

She was respected in those roles but was widely viewed as one of the Scholz governments weakest links at the Defense Ministry.

The notoriously unwieldy department has a history of diminishing ministers reputations.

Its importance increased with Russias invasion of Ukraine. That prompted Scholz to announce a special 100 billion-euro ($108 billion) fund to upgrade the German military, the Bundeswehr, which has suffered for years from neglect and in particular from aging, poorly functioning equipment.

Last month, Lambrecht dismissed suggestions that the government had been too slow to get going on its spending drive. She said officials have moved fast but that such projects must be carefully negotiated  this is tax money.

The minister also drew criticism for hapless communication, starting with a January 2022 announcement that Germany would deliver 5,000 military helmets to Ukraine as a very clear signal that we stand by your side.

In April, she took her 21-year-old son along on a military helicopter flight, which became public when he posted a photo on Instagram that it turned out the minister had taken herself. Her ministry said she had applied for permission and paid the costs herself, but critics said it showed poor judgment.

An amateurish New Years video message on her own private Instagram account prompted new opposition calls for Lambrechts departure and strained political allies patience.

It showed a barely audible Lambrecht speaking against a backdrop of loud New Years Eve fireworks in a Berlin street.

A war is raging in the middle of Europe, she said. And connected with that for me were a lot of special impressions that I was able to gain  many, many meetings with interesting, great people.

(AP)




A Palestinian terrorist on Tuesday opened fire at IDF forces at the Halhul intersection near Chevron.

The soldiers returned fire and neutralized the terrorist, who was later identified as Hamdi Abu Daih, an officer in the Palestinian police with the rank of sub-lieutenant. He had fired at the soldiers with a Carlo-type submachine gun.

BChasdei Hashem, there were no injuries among Israeli security forces.

:                 . pic.twitter.com/MNWIWcjtpA  Jmedia (@Jmediaps) January 17, 2023

The IDF is investigating whether Abu Daih is the same terrorist who shot at a bus in the same area two days ago.

An IDF spokesperson said: A report was received a short time ago about a shooting at IDF forces that were engaged in operational activity near the town of Halhul in the Etzion Brigade area. The terrorist fired at the forces who responded with fire and neutralized him. There are no casualties to our forces.

Shortly before the attempted attack at Halhul, a bus driver reported that his bus had come under fire north of Etniel in Har Chevron.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)




For the first time in decades, China has fewer people than it did at the start of last year, according to official figures released Tuesday.

The worlds most populous country has worried for years about an aging citizenrys effect on its economy and society, but its population was not expected to go into decline for almost a decade.

The National Bureau of Statistics reported that the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than the previous year. The tally includes only the population of mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macao as well as foreign residents.

Over one million fewer babies were born than the previous year amid a slowing economy and widespread pandemic lockdowns, according to official figures. The bureau reported 9.56 million births in 2022, compared to 10.62 million in 2021. Deaths rose from 10.14 million to 10.41 million.

It wasnt immediately clear if the population figures were affected by the COVID-19 outbreak that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan before spreading around the world. China has been accused by some specialists of underreporting deaths from the virus by blaming them on underlying conditions, but no estimates of the actual number have been published.

Chinas population has begun to decline 9-10 years earlier than Chinese officials predicted and the United Nation projected, said Yi Fuxian, a demographer and expert on Chinese population trends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

China has become older before it has become rich, Yi said.

China has sought to bolster its population since officially ending its one-child policy in 2016. Since abandoning the policy, China has sought to encourage families to have second or even third children, with little success, reflecting attitudes in much of east Asia where birth rates have fallen precipitously. In China, the expense of raising children in cities is often cited as a cause.

Men outnumbered women by 722.06 million to 689.69 million, the bureau reported, a result of the one-child policy and a traditional preference for male offspring to carry on the family name.

China has long been the worlds most populous nation, but is expected to soon be overtaken by India, if it has not already. Estimates put Indias population at more than 1.4 billion and continuing to grow.

The last time China is believed to have experienced a population decline was during the Great Leap Forward, a disastrous drive for collective farming and industrialization launched by by then-leader Mao Zedong at the end of the 1950s that produced a massive famine that killed tens of millions of people.

Yi said that, based on his own research, Chinas population has actually been declining since 2018, showing the population crisis is much more severe than previously thought. China now has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, comparable only to Taiwan and South Korea, he said.

That means Chinas real demographic crisis is beyond imagination and that all of Chinas past economic, social, defense and foreign policies were based on faulty demographic data, Yi told The Associated Press.

Chinas looming economic crisis will be worse than Japans, where years of low growth have been blamed in part on a shrinking population, Yi said.

Chinas statistics bureau said the working-age population between 16 and 59 years old totaled 875.56 million, accounting for 62.0% of the national population, while those aged 65 and older totaled 209.78 million, accounting for 14.9% of the total.

If handled correctly, a declining population does not necessarily predict a weaker economy, said Stuart Gietel-Basten, professor of social science at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi.

Its a big psychological issue. Probably the biggest, Gietel-Basten said.

The statistics also showed increasing urbanization in a country that traditionally had been largely rural. Over 2022, the permanent urban population increased by 6.46 million to reach 920.71 million, or 65.22%, while the rural population fell by 7.31 million.

The United Nations estimated last year that the worlds population reached 8 billion on Nov. 15 and that India will replace China as the worlds most populous nation in 2023. Indias last census was scheduled for 2022 but was postponed amid the pandemic.

In a report released on World Population Day, the U.N. also said global population growth fell below 1% in 2020 for the first time since 1950.

Also Tuesday, the statistics bureau released data showing Chinas economic growth fell to its second-lowest level in at least four decades last year under pressure from anti-virus controls and a real estate slump.

The worlds No. 2 economy grew by 3% in 2022, less than half of the previous years 8.1%, the data showed.

That was the second-lowest annual rate since at least the 1970s, after the drop to 2.4% in 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, although activity is reviving after the lifting of restrictions that kept millions of people at home and sparked protests.

Gietel-Basten said China has been adapting to demographic change for years by devising policies to move its economic activities up the value chain of innovation, pointing to the development of semiconductor manufacturing and the financial services industry.

The population of India is much younger and is growing. But there are many reasons why you wouldnt necessarily automatically bet your entire fortune on India surpassing China economically in the very near future, he said.

Among Indias many challenges is a level of female participation in the work force that is much lower than Chinas, Gietel-Basten said.

Whatever the population you have, its not what youve got but its what you do with it  to a degree, he said.

(AP)
The blockbuster takeover of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard by Microsoft is in fresh doubt as yet more regulators scrutinise the 56billion tie-up.

The European Commission will hand the tech giant a charge sheet in the coming weeks listing competition concerns over the largest video game acquisition of all time, Reuters reported.

The main concern from regulators is that Microsoft  which makes the Xbox games console  could damage the video games market by restricting access to Activision games such as Crash Bandicoot and Guitar Hero and give unfavourable terms to its rivals.

Competition fears: Regulators are concerned Microsoft could damage the video games market by restricting access to Activision games such as Call of Duty (pictured)

The UK competition watchdog is also probing the takeover, which was agreed by Microsoft last January as it tries to keep up with video game big shots Sony and Tencent.

Earlier this month, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) delayed its decision on whether to block the deal, pushing the deadline from February to the end of April. The CMA blamed the complexity of the investigation and the large volume of evidence.

US competition regulators said they will go to court to block the deal.

The Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition said: Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals.

A Microsoft spokesman said: Were continuing to work with the European Commission to address any marketplace concerns. Our goal is to bring more games to more people, and this deal will further that goal.
Lex Greensill has broken his silence over a bitter planning dispute that threatens his plan to establish a sustainable farm near his Cheshire home.

As liquidators continue to pick over the wreckage of his business empire, the disgraced Australian financier has been bogged down in a three-year battle with Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The row revolves around Shotwick Park, 502 acres of lush English countryside bordering his country pile in the village of Saughall.

Back to nature: Lex Greensill wants to convert land bordering his home in the village of Saughall into a regenerative farm

Greensill wants to convert the land into a regenerative farm, planting a mixture of crops including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and kale.

Having grown up on his familys sugar cane and melon farm near Bundaberg in Queensland, he has described his desire to give his children a similar experience.

He has also said he is motivated by a desire to give something back to the local community and do his bit to tackle climate change.

Some 25 years after leaving the family farm to seek his fortune, his dream of tending the land has been threatened.

The implosion of his murky supply chain finance firm Greensill Capital has fuelled distrust among villagers and councillors.

At an emergency meeting last month, the local parish council withdrew its support for his plans while it seeks fresh guarantees.

Doubts are being raised about Greensills intentions, with some locals fearful that he may be plotting to sell some of the land to property developers. In an interview with the Australian Financial Review the 46-year-old said he has been hurt by the speculation.

I live here, he said. If I wanted to build houses on it, I dont think Id be living right next to it.

The local parish council in Saughall attempted to allay the concerns of residents late last year by demanding the sale contract include a clause which prevents the land from being developed.

But even this guarantee has failed to satisfy everyone, with the parish council split between those who back Greensills plans, and those who oppose them.

There is a question in the village that because Greensill Capital went bust, can I be trusted to do what I said? he said, nearly two years on from the collapse of his firm.

It hurts that people would think that, but thats what is worrying people and thats why I agreed to a covenant immediately.

Row: Lex Greensill wants to convert the ex-vicarage in Saughall, Cheshire (pictured), into a regenerative farm

There are also nagging concerns about how he can afford the estimated 5million-plus purchase price  let alone the money that will then have to be ploughed into the farm and conservation project  given his business went bust owing creditors billions.

In its annual report last summer, liquidators Grant Thornton revealed more than 2.6billion of financial claims were outstanding against London-based Greensill Capitals parent company, based in Bundaberg.

The report also revealed the Australian parent company had just 1.5million in the bank at the end of April last year. Lawsuits and fraud allegations from creditors  denied by Greensill himself  continue to hang over his failed business.

Meanwhile, he has assured locals in Saughall that the money for the farm and conservation project will come from his family farm in Bundaberg, which has gained a stranglehold on the local sweet potato business.

But this raises questions too. For years, locals have suspected the farms expansion was funded by Greensill Capital.

Greensill has been accused of shielding money from creditors by funnelling cash from his failed financial business into the farming operation, run by his brother Peter. Again, the Greensill family has denied this, maintaining the two businesses are separate.

Greensills initial interest in the land stemmed from a desire to preserve the view from his family home in Saughall he shares with his English doctor wife Vicky and two sons. Shotwick Park had been leased by Cheshire West and Chester Council to local farmers.

When it emerged the council wanted to sell, Greensill was anxious the land did not fall into the hands of property developers.

He wanted to buy the fields across the lane from his house to make sure his family continued to enjoy an unimpeded view of the Welsh mountains.

But the council was not prepared to sell such a small area of land, so Greensill decided to buy all of it as a conservation project.

There may be some who wish Greensill well with his latest venture. Others may believe a lengthy planning dispute with the district council is the very least he deserves.
Royal Mail faces losses of nearly 750million as the crisis engulfing the company deepens.

With bosses due to be grilled by MPs today over the worsening state of the service, analysts said the business was on course to rack up a 745million loss for the 12 months to the end of March.

That represents more than 2million a day and follows a 416million profit last year.

Analysts believe that Royal Mail was on course to rack up a 745m loss for the 12 months to the end of March

Royal Mail has been battered by strikes, the end of the pandemic parcel boom and a recent Russian cyber-attack that has stopped it sending post overseas.

So large are Royal Mails projected losses that it would push its parent company, International Distributions Services (IDS), to a 290million loss for the year from a 662million profit in 2022.

The eye-watering sum also stands in stark contrast to IDSs international delivery business GLS, which is predicted to rake in a profit this year of 317million.

Royal Mail, which was set up 507 years ago by Henry VIII, is facing a threat to its existence as it tries to boost its competitiveness with a series of changes to working conditions and the automation of sorting offices around the country.

The plans have been opposed by the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents around 115,000 postal workers.

In a bitter industrial dispute, staff walked out over the crucial Christmas period, leaving cards and presents piled up in post rooms across Britain.

Matters were made worse last week when Royal Mail warned a cyber-attack has caused serious disruption to its overseas postal service, leaving it unable to send parcels and letters abroad.

The attack has mainly affected the firms massive Worldwide Distribution Centre near Heathrow airport.

A Russia-linked hacking firm called Lockbit claimed responsibility. More than 100 Royal Mail engineers are working to find a solution and get the service back up and running. But the company has not yet provided a date for when overseas post will resume.

The incident adds another headache for IDS boss Simon Thompson, who is due to appear before the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy committee today to answer questions about the state of the firm.

Appearing alongside him will be Nick Read, the boss of the Post Office, a separate state-owned company, as well as CWU heads Dave Ward and Andy Furey.

The seemingly endless stream of problems at Royal Mail has dented IDS shares, which have tumbled 55 per cent over the last 12 months and are languishing well below the 2013 330p float price.

Thompson warned in a letter to staff last month that they were fighting for the life of this business.

IDS has previously said it could split the company in two to separate troublesome Royal Mail from the much more successful GLS branch.
Blue Monday struck the UK hydrogen industry as ITM Power issued its third profit warning in just eight months.

The green energy firm was seen as a trailblazer when it listed in London in 2004, becoming the first ever hydrogen company to take the step.

It quickly became a stock market darling with shares at a record high of 682p in January 2021  a 1264 per cent rise on its 50p float price.

Profit warning: ITM Power was seen as a trailblazer when it listed in London in 2004, becoming the first ever hydrogen company to take the step

But the past two years havent been kind and yesterday investors sold the stock afresh as chief executive Dennis Schulz said expected earnings for the current year would not be met  the third warning since June. Shares slumped 12 per cent, or 12.5p, to 91.3p.

The company makes electrolysers that separate hydrogen from water, a key technology in the green revolution.

However, manufacturing problems at its factory in Sheffield mean it has failed to deliver to major customers, including German gas giant Linde and chemical firm Yara, who together are building a green hydrogen plant in Norway.

Analysts say the problem has been ITMs transition from research and development to full scale manufacturing.

Nick Walker at Peel Hunt said: ITM knows how to make the products but now it has to deliver them. These are two very different skill sets and require the right people, machinery and set-up.

Investors are fast running out of patience but more worryingly so are the customers. If they go elsewhere, then its trouble.

Schulz joined from Linde in December but he wont have long to turn the problems around.

He said: For the company to develop from a research and development entity to a mature delivery organisation, we require firmer foundations.

Stock Watch - Amigo Amigo shares fell nearly 25 per cent as it struggles to convince investors to help pay what it owes to customers missold loans they could not afford. The high-interest lender said it has not managed to find a so-called cornerstone investor to help it raise 15million for customers, blaming the economic backdrop. Amigo has been on the ropes for several years after receiving an onslaught of complaints over how it sold loans to customers. Shares dropped 24.6 per cent, or 0.96p, to 2.94p.

The stock is followed closely by retail investors but backers also include JCB grandee Lord Bamford and financier Peter Hargreaves, who hold stakes worth 7 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively.

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey rose 2.3 per cent, or 2.6p, to 117.35p after broker upgrades by UBS and JP Morgan.

Barratt Developments also added 1.8 per cent, or 8.2p, to 463.2p and student housing firm Unite climbed 2.1 per cent, or 21p, to 1004p.

Investors remained on tenterhooks to see if the FTSE 100 index would break its record closing high of 7877.45.

But with the US markets closed for Martin Luther King Day, the index lacked impetus and ended the session gaining 0.2 per cent, or 16 points, to 7860.07.

Miners and oilers were also weighing progress down, as Brent Crude and copper and zinc on the London Metal Exchange all fell.

BP slid 0.7 per cent, or 3.35p, to 481p, Shell lost 0.6 per cent, or 15p, to 2425.5p and Rio Tinto declined by 2 per cent, or 123p, to 6096p.

There was more action on the domestically-focused FTSE 250 which was up 0.7 per cent, or 129.49 points, to 20082.33, as clothes retailer Asos and events firm Ascential gained.

Brokers have watched Ascential (up 7.9 per cent, or 16.4p, to 224p) closely ever since it told investors in April it was looking to demerge.

The idea is to create more value for shareholders by listing its digital operations in the US where tech businesses have had better valuations.

The rest of the business  such as the Cannes Lions and World Retail Congress events  would remain listed in London.

The plans were never given formal approval by the board but investors expect more details at the full-year results next month.

Asos continued its turnaround, adding 5.2 per cent, or 38.5p, to 783.5p.

The fast fashion retailer is back in the Citys good books after last weeks trading update buoyed investors.

And news that mini skirt sales have risen by more than a third in the past four months also set pulses racing.
Savers are facing delays when transferring their cash Isa accounts for a better rate.

Poor administration and shoddy customer service means some transfers are taking over a month to complete.

That's despite industry rules  set out by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)  that state transfers should be done within 15 working days. Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman about cash Isas are also on the rise.

- Check out the best cash Isa rates here.

Delays: Some cash Isa transfers are taking over a month to complete despite industry rules that state they should be done within 15 working days

In the three months to the end of September 2022, it received 230 complaints, 46 per cent up on the 157 in the previous quarter.

The figures for the three months to December are not available yet but the Ombudsman has confirmed to Money Mail another leap in complaints.

The big advantage of cash Isas over ordinary accounts is that all your interest is tax free. You have the right to transfer your cash Isa between providers at any time.

These transfers, which typically involve more paperwork than other accounts due to extra regulation, take longer to carry out than switching an ordinary account.

As well as the 15-day rules, a voluntary agreement between industry bodies UK Finance for the banks, the Building Societies Association and The Investing and Saving Alliance aims to complete 85 per cent of requests within seven working days.

A month to switch Isa deal

It took one Money Mail reader from Ripon, North Yorkshire, who does not want to be named, more than a month to transfer his cash Isa from an easy-access account with Marcus by Goldman Sachs paying 2.25 per cent to a two-year fixed-rate deal from Charter Savings Bank paying nearly double at 4.38 per cent.

He asked for the transfer on November 16. Marcus finally sent the cheque on December 7  21 days after the request. His account with Charter was opened 12 days later.

A spokesman for Marcus says: 'We are sorry for the delays in this transfer which was also affected by the postal strikes.'

Paul Attersoll from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, was in danger of losing the tax relief on his money because of bungling administration by Santander.

He filled in the form to transfer his matured fixed-rate cash Isa with Nationwide to Santander's one-year fixed-rate Isa at 3.7 per cent on October 24.

Two days later, Nationwide offered him a better rate of 4 per cent so he decided to stick with it.

He cancelled the transfer with Santander, but it went through on November 7 even though the cancellation request had appeared on its system.

He phoned to point out the mistake. Four days later he received a cheque from Santander for the money in his Isa. It was only when he sent the cheque to Nationwide that his new Isa was opened.

A spokesman for Santander says: 'We made a number of errors in the handling of Mr Attersoll's application and subsequent closure. To apologise, we have offered a 200 gesture of goodwill on top of the 50 we gave him in November.'

The big advantage of cash Isas over ordinary accounts is that all your interest is tax free. You have the right to transfer your cash Isa between providers at any time

Others have had problems with Virgin Money.

Among them is Claire Atkinson from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, who asked to move her maturing fixed-rate Isa into a two-year fixed deal at 4.25 per cent on October 24.

At the same time, she wanted to transfer money sitting in her Virgin Easy Access Isa paying just 0.25 per cent into the new account.

But all her money ended up sitting in the poor-paying account until the beginning of December.

A spokesman for Virgin Money says: 'Due to the popularity of our Isas, unfortunately some requests have taken longer to process in recent months. We are sorry for the delays.'

Two key rules to follow

There are rules you need to follow to move your cash Isa. The first is don't do it yourself. You could lose the tax advantages on your money.

Instead, choose a new provider and fill in its Isa transfer form. Here you give details of your existing Isa along with your name, address and how much you want to transfer.

The new provider sends your transfer form to your current provider, and they arrange the transfer between them.

HMRC rules say if you are transferring money which you have put into a cash Isa in the current tax year you must transfer all of it along with the interest.

For money you have deposited in previous years, you can transfer all or some of it.

If you arrange to switch your fixed-rate cash Isa just before it comes to maturity, make sure you stipulate that you don't want the transfer to take place until after the maturity date.

If not you will pay the early withdrawal charge, often the equivalent of 90 days' interest on a one-year fixed-rate cash Isa  with higher penalties for longer- term Isas.

Your money is normally moved between the banks and building societies electronically, but some smaller providers still use cheques through the post.

sy.morris@dailymail.co.uk
BEIJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen will meet in Zurich, Switzerland, on Wednesday to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state in Bali island and strengthen macroeconomic and financial policy coordination, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Commerce said Monday.

The economic and trade teams of China and the United States have maintained good communication, the spokesperson said in response to a media query.
The death toll from a Russian missile strike in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro rose to 40 on Monday, with dozens more missing, making it the deadliest civilian incident of Moscows campaign of firing missiles at cities far from the wars front lines.

Kyiv says the mass civilian deaths, which it describes as terrorism, demonstrate why it needs more weapons to defeat Russian forces 11 months after they invaded. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians.

German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday as her government came under rising pressure to let allies send Ukraine heavy tanks, at the start of what is likely to be a pivotal week for Western plans to further arm Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials acknowledged little hope of finding anyone else alive in the rubble of Saturdays attack in Dnipro, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the rescue in the central Ukrainian city would go on as long as there is even the slightest chance to save lives.

Dozens of people were rescued from the rubble, including six children. We are fighting for every person! Zelenskiy said in an overnight televised address.

Dnipro was in mourning on Monday.

A serviceman in uniform laid flowers and sobbed, clutching his head in grief next to an impromptu shrine to the dead at a bus stop across the street from a gaping hole where the apartment block had stood.

The missile flattened all nine storeys in a section of the long concrete housing unit. Rescue workers shovelled through debris more than 48 hours after the attack.

We all live in buildings like this one and we all imagine what if it happened to us. It is awful, said Polina, 28, a resident of the neighbourhood.

Moscow, which for three months has been conducting large scale strikes on Ukrainian cities mainly targeting power generation infrastructure, said it was not to blame for the destruction in Dnipro as it was caused by Ukrainian air defences. Kyiv says the apartment building was hit by a Russian ship-to-ship missile, a type that Ukraine does not have the capability to shoot down.

At least 40 people were killed in the attack with 30 still unaccounted for, city official Gennadiy Korban said. He said 75 people were wounded, including 14 children.

TANK TALK

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, and about a quarter of the population have fled their homes.

Ukrainian forces recaptured swathes of eastern and southern territory during the second half of 2022. But front lines have largely been frozen in place for the past two months, despite intense fighting in which both sides have taken heavy losses.

Kyiv says a key to breaking the stalemate would be Western battle tanks and armoured vehicles as these would give its forces the capability to break through Russian lines.

Western countries have so far stopped short of sending tanks, loath to provoke the Kremlin which claims Ukraine is fighting on behalf of a broader Western plot to destroy Russia.

The tank taboo was finally broken at the weekend by Britain pledging a first squadron of Challengers to Kyiv.

But the far more commonly used German-made Leopards are widely seen as the most likely workhorses of a future Ukrainian armoured force, though that would require permits which Berlin has yet to grant.

With U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin due to host allies at an air base in Germany on Friday discussing further aid for Ukraine, the German government said Chancellor Olaf Scholz had accepted the resignation of Lambrecht, his defence minister.

Lambrecht had been criticised of late for tone deafness after an upbeat New Years message filmed in front of fireworks, in which she spoke of the opportunities shed had to meet interesting, great people as a result of the Ukraine war.

DECISIVE ACTIONS

Germanys allies  especially eastern European states that were once Soviet satellites under Moscows thumb  have been increasingly direct in their demands that Berlin provide Leopards, or at least grant export permits to let them do so.

I call for decisive actions by the German government, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday during a visit to Berlin, to applause from a group of lawmakers gathered in the citys Jewish Museum for a gala.

The battle for freedom and our future is raging as we speak, Morawiecki said. Tanks must not be left in storehouses, but placed in their hands.

Russia calls the war a special military operation triggered by Kyivs increasingly close ties with the West, which Moscow says imperil its security. Ukraine and Western allies call it an unprovoked invasion to erase the independence of a fellow ex-Soviet republic that Moscow sees as a fake country.

The Kremlin has accused the West of escalating the conflict, although Moscow also says the supply of tanks will not affect the course of the war. The British Challenger 2 tanks will burn like the rest, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

Moscow claimed last week to have captured the eastern Ukrainian salt mining town of Soledar, in what would be its biggest battlefield success since last August. Kyiv says it still has some presence in the town and fighting continues.

Ukraines Western allies say the fight for Soledar, whose pre-war population was barely 10,000, is unlikely to have much wider impact, except insofar as the huge losses there could sap manpower both sides need for decisive battles that lie ahead.

Ukraine has been warning that Russia could be planning a new assault in coming weeks, including from close ally Belarus, which has allowed Russia to use its territory as a staging ground but has so far resisted joining the war directly.

Russia and Belarus began joint military aviation exercises on Monday. Minsk said the drills are defensive and it will not enter the war.

SOURCE:- REUTERS
Ryanair has announced record bookings driven by UK consumers planning foreign trips for Easter and summer.

Chief executive Michael OLeary said the airline received 2.03 million flight bookings last weekend.

This beat the carriers previous record weekend of 1.6 million in early 2019 when seats were heavily discounted.

Mr OLeary told reporters at a press conference in the City of London: Yes, theres lots of cheap seats out there, but its not on the back of a seat sale.

There just seems to be very strong demand out there.

People are worrying that prices are going to rise in the summer  which I think they will.

People are getting in early and booking their Easter and summer travel.

Mr OLeary said he expects average fares to rise this year by the high single digits in percentage terms compared with 2022.

The veteran airline boss does not believe fares as low as 9.99 will return for the next year or two due to high oil prices.

He attributed the strong booking performance despite the cost-of-living crisis to people deciding to scrimp and save elsewhere to protect their holiday.

One of the things that has emerged out of Covid is the annual holiday, or the second holiday, or the week in the sun, is no longer being considered by many to be a luxury that we can drop, he said.

Mr OLeary added that the pandemic has accelerated the consolidation process in the airline sector.

He believes that eventually easyJet is going to finish up being bought by either British Airways or Air France, or both jointly.

Earlier this month Ryanair increased its profit forecast.

A strong Christmas season meant the airline now expects profit after tax to reach between a little over 1.3 billion euros (1.1 billion) and 1.4 billion euros (1.2 billion) during the financial year.

That is an increase from the 1 billion euros (880 million) to 1.2 billion euros (1.06 billion) range that the company had previously supplied to shareholders.
The Government has tabled amendments to controversial legislation to deal with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles in an attempt to address concerns raised by victims.

One of the changes proposed by the Government would see a proposed new truth recovery body able to conduct criminal investigations where it judges that to be appropriate.

The move comes ahead of the committee stage of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, scheduled to proceed in the House of Lords next week.

The Government has said the legislation aims to deliver better outcomes for those most impacted by the Troubles, including victims, survivors and veterans.

But the proposed legislation has proven to be deeply unpopular since it was first unveiled, drawing opposition from all of the major political parties in Northern Ireland, the Irish government and victims groups.

The draft legislation had proposed a new approach to dealing with the legacy of the conflict in the region, with more focus on truth recovery rather than criminal justice outcomes.

The most controversial aspects of the legislation were the promise of immunity from prosecution for perpetrators who agreed to provide information to a new truth body, the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), and a move to end conflict-related civil cases and inquests.

The Government said its amendments would seek to address some of the principal concerns raised since the Bills introduction.

The amendments include:

 Confirmation that the ICRIR established by the legislation will be able to conduct criminal investigations where it judges that to be appropriate;

 Ensuring that individuals who knowingly or recklessly provide false information to the ICRIR can be prosecuted and have their immunity revoked;

 Disapplying the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998 for individuals who choose not to tell the commission what they know and are then convicted of an offence so that they face a full, rather than reduced, sentence.

 Increasing the fine for non-compliance with the commission.

 Strengthening the commissions independence by making clear that the Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris should consult individuals before appointing the chief commissioner.

The UK Government has today formally tabled amendments to legislation seeking to address the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.https://t.co/IxWngGGpuH  Northern Ireland Office (@NIOgov) January 17, 2023

Mr Heaton-Harris said: These amendments reflect the extensive engagement that has taken place, and demonstrates the Governments commitment to working with all interested parties regarding their concerns, and how these might be addressed.

The Government remains absolutely committed to delivering better outcomes for those most impacted by the Troubles.
January 17, 2023





As technology evolves and advances, so does the risk of cybercrime and fraud. Experts like Carlos Urbaneja in Miami, FL, say cybercrime is a serious threat to businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large corporations. Business owners must understand the risks associated with cybercrime and take steps to protect their businesses from these threats. This article will discuss the types of cybercrime and fraud, how to detect them, and how to protect your business from them.







Types of Cyber Crime & Fraud

Cybercriminals use various tools and techniques to steal data or money from unsuspecting victims. Some of the most common types of cyber crimes include phishing attacks, ransomware attacks, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, identity theft, credit card fraud, account hijacking, and malware infections.

Carlos Urbaneja says phishing attacks involve sending fake emails that appear legitimate to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information such as passwords or financial data. Ransomware attacks involve malicious software that encrypts data on a computer or network until the victim pays a ransom.

DDoS attacks are massively distributed network assaults used by hackers to overwhelm websites or networks with junk traffic to cause disruption. Identity theft involves stealing someones personal information, such as social security numbers or bank accounts, to gain access to funds or accounts belonging to others.

Credit card fraud involves using stolen credit cards for purchases online or in person without the cardholder's consent. Account hijacking consists of taking control of an email account or other online account using stolen credentials such as usernames and passwords.

Malware infections occur when malicious software is installed on a computer without the users knowledge to steal data or disrupt operations on the machine.

How To Detect Cyber Crime & Fraud

There are several steps business owners can take to identify and prevent cybercrime and fraud. Its essential to be aware of the common types of cybercrime and fraud listed above and any other potential threats in your industry or region.

Monitoring for suspicious activity is also key to preventing cybercrime and fraud. Business owners should regularly check their credit card statements and bank accounts for any unusual activity and monitor employee emails and company websites for suspicious links or content.

Carlos Urbaneja says installing and regularly updating antivirus software can also help protect businesses from malicious software infections and back up important data regularly to minimize the risk of data loss due to a ransomware attack.

You can also enlist the help of a cyber security expert to identify vulnerabilities in your network and provide recommendations on how to protect it.

When To Act

If signs of cybercrime or fraud are detected, its essential to act quickly. Immediately contact the relevant authorities, such as your local police department, and report any suspicious activity. Depending on the situation, you may also need to notify third-party service providers (e.g., banks) or credit card companies if unauthorized charges have been made. Additionally, you should limit the damage as much as possible by shutting down systems, changing passwords, and restoring backups if necessary.

How To Protect Your Business From Cyber Crime & Fraud

The best way to protect your business from cybercrime and fraud is to implement security measures proactively. This means having a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that includes regular system scans, patch management, two-factor authentication, and general employee training. You should also ensure that your systems are regularly backed up, and that data is encrypted for extra security.

Finally, its crucial to have a plan of action if an incident does occur. This should include steps for notification, containment, investigation, and recovery. With these steps in place, you will be better equipped to protect your business from cybercrime and fraud. By staying vigilant and taking the necessary precautions, companies can significantly reduce the risk of becoming victims of cybercrime or fraud. The key is to stay informed and be prepared to act quickly if an incident occurs.

Cybercrime and fraud have spread far and wide on the internet lately, presenting many substantial risks to businesses. With these threats looming, it is of utmost importance for companies to take appropriate measures to protect their data, customers, and reputation from harm. Robust cyber safety strategies can help minimize the destructive implications of illegal online activities, allowing businesses to consolidate their stance in the digital marketplace.

Furthermore, effective watchdogs must be in place, along with robust tools to monitor network security 24/7. Relief may be temporary in due time if suitable plans are not upheld, so swift action must be taken by all modern organizations to guard against cyber criminals getting access to businesses' precious personal data.

Final Thoughts

Carlos Urbaneja says cybercriminals can often be one step ahead regarding technologyso businesses must stay informed about new threats and ensure their security protocols are always up-to-date. By deploying firewalls, scanning networks regularly for suspicious activity, installing anti-virus software, enforcing two-factor authentication methods, encrypting sensitive data, etc., businesses can proactively defend against potential cybercrimes while increasing overall security posture across their organizationultimately protecting company assets in the process! With these efforts combinedbusinesses can rest assured knowing they have taken all necessary precautions against potential cybercrime threats!
[January 16, 2023] The Worldwide Enterprise Software Industry is Expected to Reach $84.4 Billion by 2027 at a 6.42% CAGR

DUBLIN, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Enterprise Software Market (2022-2027) by Types, Organization Size, Vertical, Development Type, Application, and Geography, Competitive Analysis and the Impact of Covid-19 with Ansoff Analysis." report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Enterprise Software Market is estimated to be USD 61.86 Bn in 2022 and is expected to reach USD 84.44 Bn by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 6.42%.



Market Dynamics



Market dynamics are forces that impact the prices and behaviors of the Global Enterprise Software 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 Blue Hexagon, ClickUp, Cresta, Deskera, Drift.com, Inc., Salesforce, SAP SE, Symantec, SYSPRO, Workday, 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 etailed Ansoff matrix analysis for the Global Enterprise Software 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 Enterprise Software 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 Enterprise Software Market. The report includes in-depth qualitative analysis, verifiable data from authentic sources, and projections about market size. The projections are calculated using proven research methodologies.

The report has been compiled through extensive primary and secondary research. The primary research is done through interviews, surveys, and observation of renowned personnel in the industry.

The report includes an in-depth market analysis using Porter's 5 forces model and the Ansoff Matrix. In addition, the impact of Covid-19 on the market is also featured in the report.

The report also includes the regulatory scenario in the industry, which will help you make a well-informed decision. The report discusses major regulatory bodies and major rules and regulations imposed on this sector across various geographies.

The report also contains the competitive analysis using Positioning Quadrants, the analyst's competitive positioning tool. Key Topics Covered:



1 Report Description 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary



4 Market Dynamics

4.1 Drivers

4.1.1 Rising Need for Enterprise Software in Recording and Managing Customer Experience

4.1.2 Increasing Demand from E-Commerce Across Various Industries

4.1.3 Proliferation In Technology-Based and IT Budgets in Organization

4.2 Restraints

4.2.1 Relatively High Cost of Deployment

4.3 Opportunities

4.3.1 Growing Adoption of Cloud-Based Enterprise Software to Escalate Businesses

4.3.2 Rising Research and Development Funding from Organizations

4.4 Challenges

4.4.1 Concerns Over Security and Safety with Software



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 Enterprise Software Market, By Types

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Application Software

6.3 Business Intelligence (BI)

6.4 Cloud Computing

6.5 Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

6.6 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

6.7 Enterprise Software

6.8 iOS, Linux

6.9 Microsoft Windows

6.10 Software as a Service(SAS)

6.11 Supply Chain Management (SCM)

6.12 System Soft



7 Global Enterprise Software Market, By Organization Size

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Large Enterprises

7.3 SMEs



8 Global Enterprise Software Market, By Vertical

8.1 Introduction

8.2 BFSI

8.3 Healthcare

8.4 IT & Telecommunication

8.5 Retail



9 Global Enterprise Software Market, By Development Type

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Application Service Providers (ASP)

9.3 Outsourcing Software

9.4 Proprietary Software



10 Global Enterprise Software Market, By Application

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Customer Information Management

10.3 Energy Management

10.4 Government

10.5 Sales Accounting

10.6 Supply Chain

10.7 Web Services



11 Americas' Enterprise Software Market

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Argentina

11.3 Brazil

11.4 Canada

11.5 Chile

11.6 Colombia

11.7 Mexico

11.8 Peru

11.9 United States

11.10 Rest of Americas



12 Europe's Enterprise Software Market

12.1 Introduction

12.2 Austria

12.3 Belgium

12.4 Denmark

12.5 Finland

12.6 France

12.7 Germany

12.8 Italy

12.9 Netherlands

12.10 Norway

12.11 Poland

12.12 Russia

12.13 Spain

12.14 Sweden

12.15 Switzerland

12.16 United Kingdom

12.17 Rest of Europe



13 Middle East and Africa's Enterprise Software Market

13.1 Introduction

13.2 Egypt

13.3 Israel

13.4 Qatar

13.5 Saudi Arabia

13.6 South Africa

13.7 United Arab Emirates

13.8 Rest of MEA



14 APAC's Enterprise Software Market

14.1 Introduction

14.2 Australia

14.3 Bangladesh

14.4 China

14.5 India

14.6 Indonesia

14.7 Japan

14.8 Malaysia

14.9 Philippines

14.10 Singapore

14.11 South Korea

14.12 Sri Lanka

14.13 Thailand

14.14 Taiwan

14.15 Rest of Asia-Pacific



15 Competitive Landscape

15.1 Competitive Quadrant

15.2 Market Share Analysis

15.3 Strategic Initiatives

15.3.1 M&A and Investments

15.3.2 Partnerships and Collaborations

15.3.3 Product Developments and Improvements



16 Company Profiles

16.1 Blue Hexagon

16.2 ClickUp

16.3 Cresta

16.4 Deskera

16.5 Drift.com, Inc.

16.6 Epicor Software Corp.

16.7 IBM

16.8 IFS Ab

16.9 Infor

16.10 Mentor Graphics

16.11 Microsoft Corp.

16.12 Oracle Corp.

16.13 Red Hat

16.14 Sage Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

16.15 Salesforce

16.16 SAP SE

16.17 Symantec

16.18 SYSPRO

16.19 Workday, Inc.



17 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/vug3ki Media Contact: Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/539438/Research_and_Markets_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-worldwide-enterprise-software-industry-is-expected-to-reach-84-4-billion-by-2027-at-a-6-42-cagr-301720646.html SOURCE Research and Markets

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[January 16, 2023] Aleees has released its latest progress in customers' certification

Winner takes it all in Europe Clients began to expand the scale of mass production TAIPEI, Jan. 16, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery materials manufacturer and lithium IP licensor Aleees-KY (TWSE:5227) has updated its progress in customers' certification on its website today. As of now, Aleees has 39 customers, the effect of the winner takes it all has been shown in the European market, and the mass production scale of some customers began to expand. Compared with May 2022, Aleees gained 3 European customers, 3 US customers, and 1 customer from other regions; terminal applications covering energy storage, electric vehicles, electric trucks, and solid-state batteries. Most of the customers are well-known international companies. Under the condition of compliance with the confidentiality agreement, Aleees plans to release the progress in product development and certification updates to shareholders on the official website every January and July. Since the cycle of product development and certification is around 3 to 5 years for the clients of energy storage and EV, in order to increase the transparency of the progress, the company discloses promptly the status of product development certification to shareholders in compliance with the confidentiality agreement. As Aleees stated, a total of 12 customers have entered the 3rd phase of continuous trial production and supplier certification andthe 4th phase of formal mass production. Among manufacturers whose certification progress is advanced, one European customer has rapidly advanced from the 2nd phase to the 4th phase, and one Japanese customer has also jumped from the 1st phase to the 3rd phase.



The company explained that although 9 clients were removed from the client list due to economic impacts or operational policy adjustments, compared with May 2022, there are still 3 new European clients, 3 US clients, and 1 client from other regions. Most of the clients are well-known international companies, and the end customers and sales markets are all over the world. To comply with the European and American laws and encouraged by the incentive policies for subsidies, Aleees will continue to expand in various market areas in 2022. The global energy storage battery has fully confirmed that it will be using lithium iron phosphate batteries as the core development, and its application to electric vehicles is rising gradually. The shipping area of Aleees' certified clients will not be limited to energy storage before 2028, but will also step into the supply chain of EV field including electric vehicles and electric trucks.

Aleees has transformed into a lithium IP supplier in 2022. The company will license technology transfer clients for mass production and supply to the 4th phase of customers. Aleees will continue to focus on product development and serve clients in the 1st to 3rd phases, and adopt the mode of teamwork to reduce the concentration percentage of customer supply chains. About Aleees: Aleees (TWSE: 5227), founded in 2005 with main office and factory located in Taiwan, is a lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery material manufacturer with longest history as well as an IP licensor in the world, and is also one of the few companies outside China with complete LFP battery material manufacturing technology and patents. Aleees Taiwan owns more than 120 exclusive patents worldwide, with customers including world-renowned energy storage battery and EV battery customers across Europe, U.S., Japan, Korea, and Asia. At present Aleees co-develops various types of LFP?LFMP products with more than 40 global customers, and produces high-quality, low-cost, and long-life-cycle LFP cathode materials. In the 17 years since its establishment, it has accumulated more than 15,000 tons of LFP product shipments totally from Taiwan facility. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aleees-has-released-its-latest-progress-in-customers-certification-301722938.html SOURCE Aleees

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[January 17, 2023] Kinarus Therapeutics Reports Preclinical Data in Lung Fibrosis and Discloses Clinical Development Plan

KIN001 reduced fibrotic damage of the lung in a preclinical fibrosis model

P otential as an effective oral therapy for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF)

Phase 2 clinical trial in IPF patients in preparation



Basel, Switzerland, January 17, 2023. Kinarus Therapeutics AG (SIX:KNRS) Kinarus, a Swiss clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company announced today preclinical data supporting the potential effectiveness of its lead clinical candidate, KIN001, as an oral treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Kinarus has developed a protocol for a Phase 2 clinical trial in patients with IPF in consultation with key experts, including PD Dr. Katrin Hostettler, Senior Physician in Pulmonology, at the University Hospital of Basel. In a mouse model of lung injury, KIN001 significantly reduced lung weights and tissue fibrosis score vs. controls. KIN001 was more effective in direct comparison to pirfenidone, a marketed IPF therapy. The combination of KIN001 with pirfenidone demonstrated greater reduction in lung fibrosis, indicating the potential for additional benefit of KIN001 in combination with the current standard of care. In order to understand the mechanisms of action of KIN001, global gene expression changes in lung tissue were measured by the RNAseq method. KIN001 significantly reduced the upregulation of multiple key inflammatory cytokines and chemokines implicated in the pathology of lung fibrosis. These preclinical data strongly support the potential of KIN001 to be an effective treatment for IPF and fibrotic disorders of the lung and other organs, both in single or combination therapy. said Thierry Fumeaux, Chief Medical Officer of Kinarus. Many patients stop therapy with the currently available drugs, due to side effects and lack of efficacy. Our data demonstrate that KIN001 possesses broad anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic properties which increase the probability that a patient may respond t KIN001. Together with our superior safety profile, demonstrated in clinical testing to date, this indicates that KIN001 may be more effective and better tolerated than available drugs. These data also support the potential of KIN001 to reduce severity and long-term organ damage in COVID-19.



The Phase 2 study in IPF will be a 52-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the effect of oral KIN001 on Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) in 80 patients with IPF. This study will enroll patients on current standard of care including Ofev and Esbriet. Patients not currently treated with either drug will also be included since a substantial number of patients end treatment with these two drugs due to safety concerns. Kinarus is currently conducting a Phase 2 trial of KIN001 to treat ambulatory COVID-19 patients (KINFAST) with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, which is actively recruiting in Switzerland and Germany. The primary endpoint of the study is the reduction in the severity and duration of Covid-19 symptoms.

About Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating, progressive, irreversible, and usually lethal age-related lung disease of unknown cause. Recent evidence suggests that repeated injury to the alveolar epithelial cells plays a central role in the pathophysiology of the disease. The standard of care consists of pirfenidone (Esbriet- Roche) or nintedanib (Ofev- Boehringer-Ingelheim). Tolerability concerns result in a significant number of patients ending treatment despite high medical need. Notably, KIN001 is predicted to have no potential adverse drug-drug interactions with either Esbriet or Ofev. About KIN001 KIN001 is an orally administered combination of pamapimod and pioglitazone. Pamapimod is a potent inhibitor of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), central for the cellular response in many diseases. Pioglitazone is an activator of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma marketed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Kinarus has discovered, and patent-protected correspondingly, that the drug combination increases the efficacy and durability of therapeutic response in preclinical models reflecting various diseases with substantial unmet medical need. KIN001 is currently being developed in COVID-19, Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration. About Kinarus Kinarus AG is a Swiss clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focused on bringing differentiated treatments to patients suffering from viral, respiratory, and ophthalmic diseases. Kinarus differentiated therapeutic candidate, KIN001, has broad potential in numerous therapeutic areas. For more information, please visit the companys website at www.kinarus.com. Contacts Kinarus Therapeutics Holding AG

Hochbergerstrasse 60C

4057 Basel, Switzerland

+41 61 633 29 71

[email protected] Investors & Media

Chris Maggos

Cohesion Bureau

+41 79 367 6254

[email protected] Legal disclaimer THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL NOR AN INTIMATION TO SUBMIT A PROPOSAL FOR THE ACQUISITION OF SECURITIES OF KINARUS THERAPEUTICS HOLDING AG. THIS PRESS RELEASE IS NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, INTO OR WITHIN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO BE DISTRIBUTED. Attachment Kinarus Preclinical IPF data (PDF)



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[January 17, 2023] Surfindia.com: One-Stop Online Destination to Find Reliable & Affordable Service Experts

NEW DELHI, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Surfindia.com is one of the leading websites supporting reliable local service experts in India, fulfilling the customized needs of the users. The portal uses advanced technology to understand the users' needs in detail and provide references to the best-matched verified service experts. Surfindia offers business expansion opportunities to local service businesses in times of high competition and gives them appropriate options to connect with the right customers. All daily needs under one roof, only at Surfindia.com There is always a persistent need for different services in an Indian home. Whether it's about shifting homes with the best packers and movers for home relocation, controlling pest infestation, finding the best beauticians nearby, or getting ones' new home interiors designed. The service businesses listed on this website will meet ones all requirements. People can find trustworthy and verified service providers near their location with genuine reviews and updated ratings to make well-informed and wise decisions. When hiring professionals for any service, people always want to consider the ones with relevant years of experience in the respective industries. People look for only the best service providers, from affordable prices to top-notch past performance records and a strong base of satisfied customers. The site performs stringent verification procedures before listing any local service business to ensure they meet the highest level of customer satisfaction. Surfindia associates with them only when a business satisfies all these needs. Currently, the company is operational in 100+ cities in India. Speaking of how Surfindia connects service providers and customers, Mukesh Kumar, Sr. Manager, Surfindia, stated, "Surfindia is a unique platform. It allows trained and experienced service professionals to connect with users searching for certain services.



When such service experts get listed on this website, we identify the best professionals based on customer needs and location. It is ensured that these professionals match the best with the user requirements and are available at the requested date and time to provide their services." He said, "Our website helps people book the best-quality and professional services. These services promise a never-before experience and can be booked conveniently from anywhere across India.

Surfindia.com: Delivering services and fulfilling goals At Surfindia, more than 1lakh+ service experts are registered on the digital online platform, happily serving in different service industry sectors for many years. The mission is to deliver the best of services to the people who trust the portal to hire service professionals. Some of the best services offered by the top service experts registered with this website include packers and movers, hotels and resorts, pest control, banquet halls, bakeries, dry cleaners, interior designers, and beauty parlors. The directory portal takes up requests across the country and provides equal services in every state. Whether one is looking for Pest control in Bangalore or an interior designer in any corner of India, call and get the best quotations from the service providers of respective fields. With Surfindia as the bridge between the customer and service providers,best services at reasonable rates is guaranteed, and only genuine companies reach out to the customers. No hassle, No fuss. Only top-quality work by the best professionals at reasonable rates. About Surfindia Surfindia.com is one of India's leading online service booking platforms, currently serving more than 100 cities in India, including Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, and more through its partnered reliable and professional service companies. The company aims to join hands with more and more businesses from various fields across the country. This will make it a much wider space to look for various services in India and cover the masses by providing their required facilities. In the upcoming year, Surfindia is set to achieve bigger targets, providing facilities to more and more people and making its booking services smoother for all. Contact:

Mukesh Kumar

Mob: +91-9711068981

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://www.surfindia.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/surfindiacom-one-stop-online-destination-to-find-reliable--affordable-service-experts-301723059.html

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[January 17, 2023] Health supplement information app Pillwork set for launch in the first-half year

SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pillwork releases its app Pillwork that allows people to easily compare and purchase health supplements in the first-half year. The app is designed to help consumers gain a highly reliable information of health supplements for purchase. Users can check information and reviews of health supplements in need after signing up. Plus, they can receive advice on products through chat with experts and AI curation. Currently, the app carries information of about 20,000 products worldwide. It can also scan a pill bottle off the shelf and search the information of pill, shortening te time of purchase dramatically.



Pillwork is furnished with an objective ranking system. Users can share their opinion on the effect and flavor, as well as general information such as brand, place of origin, and instruction for use. The app also provides options for reading blogs, articles and encyclopedias. Users can gain more information using these options in their free time. For users who have difficulties in searching products, the app provides product categories such as probiotics, vitamin, omega, iron, and ginseng. On top of that, it can identify a risk of taking a particular vitamin for a specific disease. For example, it enables users to spot a tiny label instruction of a pill bottle that may be unnoticed.

COO Young Cho of Pillwork said, "our motto is 'to eat smart and live smart'. We expect the app, Pillwork to be the primary choice for consumers who purchase vitamins and other health supplements. The aim of the app is to allow users to obtain medical supplies without a prescription or needless bother, not substituting a qualified medical expert." For details of the app, Pillwork, please visit the website (www.aboutpillwork.com) or download the app on an Android or iOS device. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/health-supplement-information-app-pillwork-set-for-launch-in-the-first-half-year-301723073.html SOURCE PillWork

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[January 17, 2023] Infra.Market certified as a Great Place To Work

MUMBAI, India, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Infra.Market, which runs India's largest platform for construction materials, is proud to be awarded the Great Place To Work (GPTW). With its people-first approach and policies, Infra.Market is setting a new benchmark by being one of the most coveted in the construction and infrastructure industry, the Great Place to Work Certification reinforces the organization's standing as one of the leading companies. More than 80% of their employees actively participated in the survey and gave the workplace a wholesome 4 or 5-star rating. The Great Place to Work Certification is awarded for delivering excellent employee experiences and demonstrating best-in-class people practices based on a rigorous assessment process. GPTW, a global research and consulting firm evaluates companies based on their workplace culture, leadership, and employee satisfaction. Sheetal Bhanot Shetty, CHRO at Infra.Market said, "We are constantly striving to build an organization that prioritizes culture, engagement, and growth, as our people are the foundation of our company. This recognition is a testament to our inclusie culture that empowers all employees by providing an environment that supports ideas, innovation, and the well-being of our people. Through our people-first approach, which encourages and celebrates progress for all, we remain committed to cultivating a culture of trust and enhancing work life for all."



Infra.Market has proven its mettle by being a successful company with strong leadership, a positive work environment, and financial stability. The leaders and team create a positive work environment for all and serve as role models for inclusivity. It thrives to establish credibility, display integrity, and provide career opportunities. Infra.Market increased its employee benefit expenses by 275% to INR 140.4 Cr from INR 37.4 Cr in FY21. This comprised employee salaries, PF contributions, gratuity, and other employee welfare benefits.

About Infra.Market Infra.Market is India's leading tech-enabled construction solutions company. It is the fastest-growing unicorn in the construction solutions space, with best-in-class economics and profitability metrics. Infra.Market has been profitable for six consecutive years since its inception; it is currently valued at $2.5 billion. Infra.Market is working towards solving complex issues in the Construction & Infrastructure sector via the smart use of technology by creating a community of Manufacturers, Dealers and Architects across India. It is disrupting the opaque nature of this sector by bringing in transparency and efficiency. Website: www.infra.market Twitter: @InfraMarket_ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inframarket/ View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/inframarket-certified-as-a-great-place-to-work-301723074.html

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[January 17, 2023] STOREDOT EXTREME FAST CHARGING HIGH ENERGY BATTERY CELLS NOW IN TESTING BY OVER 15 GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE BRANDS

Leading OEMS from Europe , Asia and the US are now testing StoreDot's XFC battery cells in real-world conditions

, and the US are now testing StoreDot's XFC battery cells in real-world conditions A plethora of potential manufacturing partners are in line for testing this year

Results confirm the extreme fast charging capability of StoreDot's advanced battery cells and the ability to integrate into next generation electric vehicles

StoreDot remains on target for mass production of '100in5' cells by 2024 delivering at least 100 miles of range in just five minutes of charging HERZLIYA, Israel, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- StoreDot, the pioneer of extreme fast charging high energy battery solution for electric vehicles, has revealed today that its groundbreaking XFC batteries and systems are now being tested by over 15 global automotive brand manufacturers, and that it has additional potential manufacturing partnerships in the pipeline for this year.

Automotive makers are now conducting real-world testing of StoreDot's XFC battery technology. These OEMs encompass leading companies headquartered in Europe, Asia and the US. Initial test results confirm that StoreDot's battery cells that can deliver 100 miles of charge in just five minutes, are on track for mass production readiness for passenger cars by 2024. StoreDot's 300 Wh/kg EV form factor pouch cells achieve over 1,000 consecutive extreme-fast cycles while exclusively guaranteeing auto makers no battery degradation due to extreme fast charging.



Dr Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot CEO "This announcement is yet another important milestone for StoreDot. We're delighted that so many of the world's leading automotive manufacturers are testing both our XFC cells and their integration into next generation electric vehicle architectures, and we are receiving positive feedback about the real-world viability of our technologies. This is an extremely encouraging endorsement from companies that are now vying to become the first to use our leading 100in5 battery cells in their production vehicles. We are now certain that the first mass produced StoreDot cell will be commercially available in 2024." Last year StoreDot revealed its '100inX' strategic technology roadmap. This featured 100in5, 100in3 and 100in2 of miles per minute of charging - three generations of StoreDot technologies of silicon-dominant XFC, semi solid state and post-lithium architecture. The roadmap reaffirms that the timings for these will be delivered over the coming decade with 100in5 by 2024, 100in3 by 2028 and 100in2 by 2032.

The company now has a growing network of strategic global partnerships and investors, spanning the entire battery ecosystem. To date it has received investments from global automotive manufacturers including Daimler, Ola Electric, Polestar, VinFast and Volvo Cars. About StoreDot: StoreDot is the pioneer and global leader of extreme fast charging (XFC) electric vehicle batteries that overcome the critical barriers to mainstream EV adoption  range and charging anxiety. The company has revolutionized the conventional Li-ion battery by designing and synthesizing proprietary organic and inorganic compounds, optimized by Artificial Intelligence algorithms, to make it possible to charge an EV in under ten minutes  the same experience as refuelling a conventional combustion engine car. Through its '100inX' product roadmap, StoreDot's battery technology aims to deliver 'Range on Demand': 100 miles charged in 5 minutes in 2024, 100 miles charged in 3 minutes by 2028, and extreme energy density solution enabling 100 miles to be charged in 2 minutes by 2032. StoreDot's strategic investors and partners include Daimler, BP, VinFast, Volvo Cars, Polestar, Ola Electric, Samsung, TDK, and its manufacturing partner EVE Energy. StoreDot's agnostic technology is designed to utilize existing standard production lines with no changes to process or equipment. In 2022, the company achieved a world first by demonstrating a live extreme fast charging of an EV battery cell in 10 minutes capable of over 1000 consecutive XFC cycles. StoreDot is on target for mass production readiness of 100in5 technology by 2024. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984013/StoreDot_s_100_in_5_battery_cells.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/storedot-extreme-fast-charging-high-energy-battery-cells-now-in-testing-by-over-15-global-automotive-brands-301722552.html

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[January 17, 2023] LeaseWorks Expands Product Advisory Board

As the global aviation finance community once again gathers in Dublin, Ireland, for the industry's flagship conferences, LeaseWorks, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions and services, is excited to unveil new appointments to its Advisory Board and a series of enhancements to its market-leading suite of software solutions. As part of the firm's continuing focus on advancing aircraft lessors' agility and innovation, four well-regarded experts have joined to make industry-leading insights available to the LeaseWorks community. The most recent additions to the Product Advisory Board include: Andy Mansell, Partner at Split Rock Aviation

Jonathan Lang, Merritt Brook Inc.

Karen Curtis, Karen Curtis, Principal, Sinoia Group LLC

Paul Mason, Principal Advisor, Archway Aviation "At LeaseWorks, we firmly believe in the power of giving lessors access to the innovations and best practices so they can stay competitive, responsive, and fast-to-market," said Haseem Vazhayil, CEO, LeaseWorks. "Our Product Advisory Board has been a core element of that strategy, and we're pleased to welcome these distinguished advisory board members, whose stellar expertise and insights will help us bring to market simple, ground-breaking solutions, delivering the unmatched value our clients can't find anywhere else when it comes to digital transformation." Andy Mansell is accomplished chief commercial officer with extensive experience in developing, implementing and executing strategies for aircraft trading and leasing, with a focus on both yield and residual value management. Prior to joining Split Rock and advising lessors, airlines and investors, Andy had thirty years of experience in the aircraft leasing industry, most of which he spent at Aviation Capital Group ("ACG") in senior positions. Andy is well regarded as a strategic thinker and has extensive experience in all facets of the aircraft leasing business, including the development of corporate strategy, origination of transactions and execution, management of OEM and airline relationships, the development and implementation of aircraft pricing, placement, and residual asset value management strategies. Jonathan Lang is known for developing and executing transformative technology strategies that are key business enablers while maintaining stable core technology operations with robust operating controls and risk management functions. Throughout a career that has spanned firms from large hedge funds with a range of investments to both pre-IPO and publicly listed firms that include Colony Capital, Aircastle Limited and Paloma Partners, he has developed technology and managed teas to help drive business value while maintaining a robust operating platform.



Karen Curtis has served in a variety of entrepreneurial, senior managerial and consulting capacities responsible for defining the vision for Enterprise Architecture (EA) and managing its capabilities at large and mid-sized companies in the aviation finance, publishing and telecommunications sectors. With deep expertise in post-merger integrations, building EA teams from the ground up, and aligning IT and business strategy, her strength lies in enhancing efficiency and productivity through improving existing systems and developing enterprise-wide software solutions. Karen has also founded multiple start-up ventures, including technology consulting and the production, marketing and distribution of Hawaiian coffee. Paul Mason has served in several senior and executive roles spanning many specialties, from engineering and technical developments, commercial and airline and airport operations to aircraft leasing and financial services. Currently, he serves as Principal Advisor at Archway Aviation, a private equity funded global aircraft lessor, leading initiatives to significantly increase the value of the firm's aviation portfolio. Previously, he was Deputy to the Head of Commercial Worldwide and VP Commercial Operations at Airbus SAS and eventually led Airbus' North American operations. Paul was involved in the evolution of analog to fly-by-wire aircraft developed by Airbus, the digitalization of all-cockpit displays and flight controls, as well as the early development of autopilot enabling aircraft's autonomous operation from ground-to-altitude and altitude-to-ground.

In addition to the new board appointments, LeaseWorks announced the roll-out of a series of enhancements to its product suite, including: Subsequent Events Projection: Lessors can obtain further insights by projecting subsequent maintenance events up to the end-of-life of the asset.

Lessors can obtain further insights by projecting subsequent maintenance events up to the end-of-life of the asset. Letter of Credit History of Updates: Lessors can track the detailed history of Letter of Credit drawdowns and adjustments, improving the results of their audits.

Lessors can track the detailed history of Letter of Credit drawdowns and adjustments, improving the results of their audits. Forecasting Performance Enhancements: A faster forecast calculation engine enhances lessors' decision-making processes.

A faster forecast calculation engine enhances lessors' decision-making processes. Flexible and Brandable Portal : Lessors can create a self-service experience for airline customers, customizing the portal's interface to be in line with their brand and needs.

: Lessors can create a self-service experience for airline customers, customizing the portal's interface to be in line with their brand and needs. Tableau and Power BI Embedded Dashboards: Lessors now have a one-stop shop for all their data needs, with the ability to dissect data and visualize it with customized dashboards using the Salesforce reports, Microsoft Power BI and Tableau CRM.

Lessors now have a one-stop shop for all their data needs, with the ability to dissect data and visualize it with customized dashboards using the Salesforce reports, Microsoft Power BI and Tableau CRM. Journal Entry Export to ERP with API Functionality : Lessors can integrate the LeaseWorks software with their ERP using API, which eliminates manual upload and reconciliations between separate lessor management and ERP systems, significantly reducing data processing times and eliminating human error.

: Lessors can integrate the LeaseWorks software with their ERP using API, which eliminates manual upload and reconciliations between separate lessor management and ERP systems, significantly reducing data processing times and eliminating human error. Airline Bulk Invoicing: Lessors can filter and fetch rent slips for bulk invoice creation, select invoices for bulk approval, generate PDF documents for the selected invoices, review the generated documents and send the approved invoices to airline customers. "With the goal of helping lessors to stay ahead of technological and industry disruptions, the LeaseWorks team is continually collaborating with members or our Advisory Board in conjunction with ongoing input from existing and prospective customers to enhance the functionalities and user experience our best-in-breed product provides," added Vazhayil. Join LeaseWorks for the next edition of Product Release Webcast on February 23, 2023, 11 a.m. U.S. Eastern / 16:00 Dublin time, to preview new product developments and module enhancements within our existing product portfolio, including CRM, Technical, Contracts and Finance. Sign up for the webcast by emailing: [email protected]. About LeaseWorks LeaseWorks provides cloud-based products and services to the aviation leasing community, with solutions for both lessors and airlines. Aeris MATCH helps lessors more quickly and effectively deploy their aviation assets with airlines around the globe. Aeris ASSET allows both lessors and airlines to manage the intricate details of aviation leases. These are the first two of a suite of products that will constitute a full-life-cycle portal for managing leased aviation assets. www.lease-works.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005282/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Horizon Media's Night Market Launches Neon; an eCommerce Predictive AI Platform to Plan and Optimize Media Investments to Revenue Outcomes

Designed to increase advertisers' revenue, the proprietary platform advances integration of retail into the overall media funnel NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As advertisers shift a significant portion of their digital media investments to retail media networks and marketplaces, they often lack the IP necessary to make proper investment decisions to increase revenue. Driving technology innovation to address this industry need, Night Market  Horizon Media's eCommerce company  is launching Neon, a proprietary AI platform designed to increase advertisers' revenue by 20+% when planning and buying retail media to achieve their maximum revenue outcomes. Neon starts with the sale in mind using automated predictive analytics to make investment decisions across retailers. Neon allows advertisers to understand the impact of their media across multiple retailers. "Media and commerce data have been analyzed extensively independent of each other, and at Night Market, we saw an opportunity to combine these datasets in order to optimize media spending with the goal of driving revenue outcomes," said Randy Browning, President of Night Market. "Neon allows advertisers to understand the impact of their media across multiple retailers, moving media investments from a cost center to a revenue driver. Individual retail networks can do this within their own boundaries, but advertisers want to understand their investment across retailers. To address this issue, we recognized that a truly innovative solution was necessary. As a result, we decided tocreate and build the capability. Our highly-skilled data and technology team successfully developed our patent-pending platform."



Neon's computing power forecasts to the tactical level and optimizes in-market spend in real time at the SKU level. Here are some of its planning and activation capabilities: Normalizes relationship between historical MMM ROI, client sales data, and retailer-reported campaign performance data (ROAS) to predict quarterly true ROI

Predicts optimal media investment across retailers and 3P channels such as Amazon and Walmart, down to the tactical level to deliver a revenue goal

Optimizes in market spend in real time by auto predicting thousands of micro optimizations across retailers or by tactic with a specific retailer to improve true ROI

Evolves merchandising of Product Display Pages (PDPs) to predict the conversion the prospect media is sending to the page  this directs media to the client's best performing PDPs across retailers and compared to competitor PDPs within a retailer "At Hershey, we have been thoroughly impressed by Night Market's Neon suite of tools and the potential to accelerate our business in retail media measurement and product merchandising," said Eric Bowers, Senior Director Omnichannel Marketing, The Hershey Company.

About Night Market Night Market , a Horizon Media company, creates commerce products that run commerce media and experiences on top with data and technology at its core. As a dedicated full-service agency, it specializes in building end-to-end performance driven strategies, marketing programs, and shopping experiences both online and in-store. The company optimizes the modern path to purchase in pursuit of increasing revenue starting at the sale. Founded in January 2020, Night Market has offices in New York and Los Angeles and brings forward a wealth of deep institutional experience from both media and consulting backgrounds. About Horizon Media Horizon Media, Inc, the largest U.S. media agency according to AdAge Data Center 2022, delivers data-driven business outcomes for some of the most innovative and ambitious brands. Founded in 1989, headquartered in New York, and with offices in Los Angeles and Toronto, the company employs 2,400 people and has media investments of more than $9 billion. Horizon Media's fundamental belief is that business is personal, which drives its approach to connecting brands with their customers and engaging with its own employees resulting in industry-leading workplace satisfaction levels (Glassdoor). The company is consistently recognized by independent media outlets for its client excellence and has earned several "Best Workplaces" awards reflecting its commitment to DEI and the life and well-being of everyone at Horizon Media. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/horizon-medias-night-market-launches-neon-an-ecommerce-predictive-ai-platform-to-plan-and-optimize-media-investments-to-revenue-outcomes-301723235.html SOURCE Horizon Media

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[January 17, 2023] The MarTech Summit back in Singapore, gathered over 200 attendees from multiple industries

We were Back in Singapore! SINGAPORE, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The MarTech Summit landed in Singapore on 27 October 2022 (the 2nd time in a year!) and gathered over 200 attendees across multiple industries from Singapore and beyond. The summit took place at the PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay and comprised an inciting agenda filled with networking opportunities. This summit offered 14 live sessions from 30+ speakers that included keynote presentations, fireside chats, and panel discussions. After Singapore opened up post COVID-19, every marketer is getting back on the right track to boost their marketing performance, which resonates with the theme of this edition of MarTech Summit  Envisioning Marketing and Technology into Performance. Let's have a quick look into what this summit has covered! Summit Highlights Of course, the first question  What do you think MarTech is (in one word)? Digital, data and effectiveness and so on  all the keywords here are leading to an effective MarTech stack idea and execution. "It's important to demonstrate the value of what an end-to-end MarTech stack can bring to your organization, how you can turn data into insights throughout the customer journey and how this helps in achieving your business goals."  June Goh, Associate Marketing Director, Ostomy Care, Convatec Global Emerging Markets. The second question, as everyone is now moving towards a data-driven approach in marketing, but what are the barriers? POLL: If your organisation is struggling to adopt a data-driven approach  what is the biggest barrier to entry that you are facing? (43%)Processes, reporting & KPIs are siloed, making it hard to connect the customer journey (24%)There's so much data we're not sure where to get started (19%)Marketing technology is used in pockets without a strong governance framework in place (10%)Data is siloed and we are unable to create a single customer profile (5%)Lack of leadership advocacy and sponsorship



"An optimized tech-stack can be complex, start with existing technology and squeeze value from it first before investing in new solutions; and Develop a multichannel decision engine to prevent conflicting messages and drive maximum value per touchpoint"  Neha Dadbhawala , Director of Digital Marketing Operations, McAfee. When it comes to the customer journey and customer experience (CX), it's closely related to data but yet another independent realm that requires marketers to tackle every day.

WORD CLOUD: Describe "Customer Experience" in One Word from Your Experience Seamless, Journey, Personalised, Happy, Smooth, Authenticity, Engaging, Important, Data, Humancentric, Non-intuitive, Bridge, Neglected It is insightful to see how our audience described CX in one word. What caught our eyes would be "seamless" and "authenticity"! "Marketers need to focus on the customer experience outcome first rather than technology, build a new capability top down with external support at the start but with a clear plan on how and when to in-source key areas, and exhibit value and impact regularly, even on a small scale."  Saurabh Patel, Group Head of Marketing, IHH Healthcare. Stepping into our customers' shoes, we might find out how we as marketers engage and curate effective customer experiences and journeys. WORD CLOUD: As a consumer yourself, which was the channel you last engaged on with a brand? Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, TikTok, Telegram, Email, YouTube, Face to Face All the channels listed above would be common, but it does give us a glimpse to consider new customer engagement methods and platforms. "It's important to start with the consumer insights on where your consumer is at and what content are they consuming in that channel then figure out the role of your brand in that journey."  Lianne Mui, Digital Marketing Director, Asia Pacific, McCormick & Company. Key Takeaways Lastly, some key takeaways from our team from this Singapore edition: "Success depends on creative quality". Finding the right balance between humans and machines is important. Consider it as NOT HUMAN VS MACHINE but working hand in hand to ensure the ultimate goal is customer satisfaction and company/brand growth.

It needs to be authentic to ensure you connect your brand and company purpose to your customers and build trust  finding the right balance between human and automation.

While it's tempting to acquire all the marketing and technology, defining the right KPIs and process is key to defining the right MarTech stack. Don't let your tech stack outgrow your capabilities. A huge thank you to all our partners and MarTech enthusiasts who joined us in networking and learning at the summit. Future Engagement And this year, we will have our 2023 Flagship 2-Day event: The MarTech Summit Singapore on 25 and 26 April 2023 with 50+ speakers in 30+ sessions over the two days! Our Super Early Bird Sale ends on 1 February, act now to get the best pass price! Check out the event page to find out more: https://themartechsummit.com/singapore The MarTech Summit Team is delighted to have hosted an elite and engaging community once again. Stay tuned for more to come by following our social media accounts and joining The MarTech Community on Slack! Last but not least, we are running the Global Virtual MarTech Summit, APAC/EMEA on 22 February! It's free to sign up and you can learn 2023 exploration and strategies from over 50 speakers over the two tracks. After the Livestream sessions, the summit is also available On-Demand! More information please visit APAC: https://themartechsummit.com/global-virtual-apac and EMEA: https://themartechsummit.com/global-virtual-emea To see our full 2023 Calendar, please check out: https://themartechsummit.com/events/ Also, check out our Hong Kong, Bangkok, and London Post-Summit Reports! Media Contact:

Jabin Wang

[email protected] SOURCE The MarTech Summit

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[January 17, 2023] Blaylock Van, LLC Shares 2022 Year-End Report

Wall Street's oldest continually operating Black-owned firm celebrates another year of diversity, deals, partnerships, and success. NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In its year-end report spanning financials, deals, and community investment, Blaylock Van, LLC, the nation's longest continuously operating Black-owned investment banking firm, reported 23 percent growth in notional deal volume year-over-year, with 67 debt capital markets new issues representing nearly $186 billion notional. From 2018 to 2022, Blaylock Van's closed transactions increased by a CAGR of 23 percent and dealt notional value by 50%. In addition, the firm's municipal team participated in 69 new issue municipal deals approaching $34 billion in debt as of Dec. 1. The team was selected to serve as co-manager on a $3.2 billion Texas Public Finance Authority issuancethe largest the agency has ever issued and served as co-senior on the $409.7 million City of Atlanta General Obligation Public Improvement Bonds, of which one tranche was classified as Social Bonds. "Our global team continues to capture new business, report remarkable growth, and showcase the strength of diversity from year to year," said Blaylock Van CEO and President Eric Standifer. "Our 2022 results speak for themselves, and we know we have powerful positive momentum to build on in 2023 and beyond." Notable debt capital market deals included serving as co-manager on Magallanes' $30 billion transaction, a mega-transaction that opened the new issuance market to issuance in Q1 2022. This was the fifth-largest corporate bond in industry history and the largest deal in 2022. Blaylock Van also served as co-manager on PG&E Wildlife Recovery Funding LLE Series 2022-B $3.9 billion Rate Reduction Bond Securitization. Furthermore, Blaylock Van served as co-manager for the two largest IPOs in 2022, including TPG's offering, which raised $1.1 billion across 37.2 million shares and was the largest IPO of the year, and Mobileye's IPO, which raised $820 million across 47.15 million shares. Other key 2022 highlights for Blaylock Van include: The firm partnered with Cowen, Inc. to conduct a webinar on Navigating the ESG Path, which centered on bridgingthe gap between sustainable strategies and financial performance and the intersection of ESG strategy and financial performance.

Blaylock Van participated in several notable sustainable bond transactions, including a $2 billion Bank of America Sustainability Bond, serving as joint lead; Bank of America used six minority- and women-owned broker dealers as joint lead managers with proceeds to advance racial gender equity, economic opportunity and environmental sustainability. Additionally, the firm participated in the $2.5 billion Citi Inaugural Social Bond for Housing, serving as senior co-manager on the social bond. This was the largest social bond issued by the private sector in 2022 and it won Social Bond of the Year at the Environmental Finance Bond Awards. Bond proceeds will finance construction, rehabilitation and preservation of quality affordable housing for low- and moderate-income populations.

participated in several notable sustainable bond transactions, including a Bank of America Sustainability Bond, serving as joint lead; Bank of America used six minority- and women-owned broker dealers as joint lead managers with proceeds to advance racial gender equity, economic opportunity and environmental sustainability. Additionally, the firm participated in the Citi Inaugural Social Bond for Housing, serving as senior co-manager on the social bond. This was the largest social bond issued by the private sector in 2022 and it won Social Bond of the Year at the Environmental Finance Bond Awards. Bond proceeds will finance construction, rehabilitation and preservation of quality affordable housing for low- and moderate-income populations. In February, the company launched an African team based in Nairobi to support U.S. clients in their financial activities throughout the continent. The team, which boasts broad experience across banking, corporate finance, and treasury, leads on a general assessment of and market intelligence on key economics in Africa , focusing on foreign exchange and working capital.

to support U.S. clients in their financial activities throughout the continent. The team, which boasts broad experience across banking, corporate finance, and treasury, leads on a general assessment of and market intelligence on key economics in , focusing on foreign exchange and working capital. Blaylock Van expanded its sales and investment banking teams by hiring senior talent across credit sales, syndicate, and capital markets, adding significant experience and expertise in these sectors.

expanded its sales and investment banking teams by hiring senior talent across credit sales, syndicate, and capital markets, adding significant experience and expertise in these sectors. The global BV team supports nonprofits such as buildOn, which delivers service-learning programs in underserved U.S. high schools and builds schools in some of the world's poorest countries to break the cycle of poverty; CEO Standifer also joined the organization's California Board of Directors. The team also gives time, support, and donations to nonprofits, including the Millionaire Mastermind Academy, which helps create entrepreneurship opportunities for diverse women across the United States , as well as Cancer Care, the leading national organization dedicated to providing free professional supports services to anyone affected by cancer, and San Francisco Achievers, which supports African-American young men in the San Francisco Unified School District to lead and thrive in higher education, among others.

Board of Directors. The team also gives time, support, and donations to nonprofits, including the Millionaire Mastermind Academy, which helps create entrepreneurship opportunities for diverse women across , as well as Cancer Care, the leading national organization dedicated to providing free professional supports services to anyone affected by cancer, and San Francisco Achievers, which supports African-American young men in the San Francisco Unified School District to lead and thrive in higher education, among others. Blaylock Van was a partner for the 2nd annual United Diversity Business Summit, with Standifer serving as a keynote speaker, where he shared "The Importance of Diverse and Inclusive Decision-Making."



State of New York , Wisconsin , the City of New York , and the National Minority Supplier Development Council, Blaylock Van is 89 percent Black-owned. Blaylock Van serves corporations, municipalities, investment managers and pension funds with a diverse employee base committed to work beyond financial services. About Blaylock Van , LLC

Blaylock Van, LLC (BV) is the oldest and continuously operating Black-owned banking firm in the United States, providing personalized services for clients across the country. Clients include corporations, municipalities, investment managers, pension funds, and family offices. The firm's headquarters are in New York City, with offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Miami, and Oakland, Calif. For more information, please visit https://brv-llc.com/ MEDIA CONTACT:

Thinkzilla PR & Consulting Group

Nancy Davis

[email protected]

888-509-1145 This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blaylock-van-llc-shares-2022-year-end-report-301722765.html SOURCE Blaylock Van, LLC

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[January 17, 2023] Invert partners with MOSS to advance critical conservation projects in Brazil

Invert's investment will finance projects to protect more than 110,000 hectares in the Amazon rainforest - representing more than 60 million trees OTTAWA, ON and SAO PAULO , Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - Invert Inc. ("Invert" or "the Company") , a carbon credit project financier-developer and the future of personalized climate action, today announced a strategic partnership with MOSS, a Brazilian climate tech leader, to advance forest conservation efforts in the state of Amazonas. Invert's investment of US$1.5 million will go towards the development and certification of two projects in the state of Amazonas, Project Seringueira and Project Jatoba, leading to the protection of more than 110,000 hectares - currently under threat of deforestation - and the conservation of invaluable regional biodiversity. The terms of the partnership entitle Invert to a percentage of the total carbon credits generated over the 30-year period of the agreement. Beginning in late 2023, these carbon credits will be available to businesses through enterprise agreements and to individuals through Invert's Climat Action Platform.



In addition to the two existing projects, the partnership provides Invert with a right of first refusal on investment in future projects, opening the door for the ongoing, scalable creation of critical conservation projects in the region. "We're excited to be announcing this partnership with MOSS," said Invert's co-CEO, Andre Fernandez. "The continued conservation of the Amazon rainforest has long been recognized as an important tool in mitigating climate change and protecting global biodiversity, and in MOSS we have found a partner that shares our goals and values in investing in credible, regional projects with international impact. The Invert team was impressed by the diligence of the MOSS project team and believes these projects, and all future opportunities, will provide our clients - both businesses and individuals - with access to an unrivaled carbon credit project portfolio."

The CEO and founder of MOSS, Luis Adaime, said: "We are very happy and honored to have the support and expertise of Invert, a company with an internationally renowned technical team, which has developed important innovations in the field of credit certification protocols. We were also very impressed with the expertise of Invert's technical team, who audited our projects under development and already contributed a number of important suggestions for our work." Both Project Seringueira and Project Jatoba are expected to qualify for certification under Verra's CCB (Climate, Community & Biodiversity) Standards Program in 2023, which provides an industry-leading framework for assessing land management projects that create net positive benefits for climate change mitigation, local communities, and biodiversity. About Invert Invert invests in and creates carbon credit projects that produce high-quality, meaningful carbon reduction and removal credits that will help on our path to a carbon neutral world. By selling these credits to individuals or businesses, the Company generates revenue that can be reinvested towards further projects that reduce or remove CO2 from the atmosphere. In addition, Invert works directly with businesses to help them understand and reduce their carbon footprint. Invert is creating a place where individuals can go to learn about what they can do themselves to address the pressing issue of climate change. The Company helps individuals understand their own impact on the world and gives them a chance to support projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The goal is for every individual to become carbon neutral through their own journey of education, engagement, and action. Please visit our website for more information: invert.world. About Moss Moss is a climate tech that uses technology to simplify and democratize access to sustainable solutions. Since March 2020, Moss and its clients have transacted more than 4 million carbon credits that helped conserve approximately 650 million trees in the Amazon in internationally certified and audited projects. The company is developing several of the largest conservation projects in the Amazon, and is a member of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS). SOURCE INVERT INC.

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[January 17, 2023] PAVE Recognized for Innovations in Automated Vehicle Inspection with Three Award Wins

PAVE, the world's best automated vehicle inspection platform, today announced it is a winner in the 2023 BIG Innovation Awards presented by the Business Intelligence Group. PAVE also received two Merit Awards in the automotive and transportation category. PAVE leverages artificial intelligence for vehicle inspections, providing retailers, wholesalers, and fleet managers with detailed and accurate condition reports, including images highlighting any damages and anticipated costs for repair, in just a few minutes. "These awards valdate our innovative technology and also reinforce the value PAVE is bringing to those that sell, resell, and manage vehicles and fleets," said Brian Steinhauser, co-founder and co-CEO of PAVE.



The annual BIG Innovation Awards program recognizes organizations, products, and people that are bringing new ideas to life in innovative ways. Organizations from across the globe submitted their recent innovations for consideration in the awards. Nominations were then judged by a select group of business leaders and executives who volunteer their time and expertise to score submissions. "Innovation is 'business critical' in today's society," said Maria Jimenez, chief operating officer of the Business Intelligence Group. "We are thrilled to be honoring PAVE as they are leading by example and enhancing the automotive industry."

Merit Awards, an independent awards program that recognizes global industries and the markets they serve, selected PAVE as a winner of the Merit Awards for Automotive and Transportation in two categories: AutoTech and Innovations. The Merit Awards for Automotive and Transportation were judged based on submissions that represent the best in current and next-generation automotive and transportation solutions, innovations and technologies. "We congratulate all winners of the Automotive and Transportation Merit Awards," said Marie Zander, executive director, Merit Awards. "It's going to be an exciting year as this year's submissions clearly demonstrate the advancements in today's automotive and transportation industries." About PAVE

PAVE is an automotive technology company that is reimagining how the world inspects vehicles. PAVE is powered by Intelligent Damage Detection capabilities, enabling anyone with a smartphone to complete a guided vehicle inspection by simply taking photos of their vehicle. Headquartered in Toronto, the team brings deep expertise from the automotive and technology industries, blending the best of both artificial and automotive intelligence. For more information, visit pave.ai. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005356/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Epoch Concepts Receives DoD ESI Contract Award to Participate in DevSecOps Agency Catalog

Epoch Concepts, LLC - a trusted supplier of IT solutions and services to the U.S. government - is pleased to announce its participation in the Department of Defense (DoD) Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI)'s DevSecOps Agency Catalog, provided through NASA SEWP. The DevSecOps Agency Catalog provides the DoD, Intelligence Community (IC) and U.S Coast Guard with access to discounted subscriptions, services and professional training related to commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) Elastic, GitLab, Palo Alto and DevSecOps products and services. Epoch Concepts is a NAICS-certified, Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) offering a wide range of IT solutions, including storage and infrastructure, cybersecurity, cloud and hyperconverged infrastructure solutions. When asked about the DoD ESI contract, CEO Marcus Smiley stated, "We're proud to bring the Epoch Difference to the DoD and larger Intelligence Community. Participating in the DevSecOps Agency Catalog will enable us to serve national security throughour world-class technology services, and provide greater opportunities to the veterans, cybersecurity and software experts who make up our company."



The contract award - which has an estimated value of $216.8 million - will expire on April 30th, 2025, at the end of the SEWP V contract, in which Epoch Concepts is already participating. NASA SEWP V is a multi-award Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) vehicle utilized by all federal agencies to access IT products and product-based services from vendors and participants. Through its other contract vehicles, Epoch also serves the U.S Army, Navy, Department of Energy (DOE), General Services Administration (GSA), and more. With years of experience at the cutting edge of IT, it is proud to serve both its government and private industry partners with superior customizability and customer support.

About Epoch Concepts Epoch Concepts LLC is a value-added reseller (VAR) serving the government, commercial organizations, and systems integrators. From storage and infrastructure, to cybersecurity, cloud, and hyperconverged infrastructure solutions, Epoch Concepts designs, sources, and integrates solutions that empower its customers to do even more-to reinvent, reimagine, and redefine what they do and how they do it. Learn more at www.epochconcepts.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005045/en/

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[January 17, 2023] LenderClose Announces Rebrand as Coviance to Support Accelerated Growth and Strategic Vision for the Lending Experience

LenderClose, a fintech company that is making the home equity lending process simpler, faster, and more scalable through its cloud-based platform, today announced a rebrand to Coviance. The new brand reflects the company's next phase of growth; as a technology partner providing process automation powered by data-driven decisioning intelligence. The transformative technology empowers community lenders to deliver a superior borrowing experience, efficiently scale home equity volume, and go from clear-to-close in hours versus weeks. "The evolution of our technology has advanced us into a new era on our mission to perfect the lending experience," says Omar Jordan, Founder & CEO of Coviance. "Our technology empowers Credit Unions and Community Banks to compete with fintechs, delivering the best borrower experience with a more humanized touch." Home equity lending is experiencing rapid growth but continues to be a friction-filled process, driving accelerated demand for a solution. Founded in 2015 by Omar Jordan, a lending industry vet, Coviance offers community lenders a user-friendly technology solution to lend more efficiently, faster, and at scale. Coviance has over 425 credit unions and community banks nationwide on its platform. With a tremendous track record of 1,117% 3-year growth. In 2022, nearly $8B in home equity lending transaction volume was processed utilizing Coviance's technology. Alongside the rebrand, Coviance's proprietary technology, Home Equity Express (HEx), automates the home equity loan process through configurable workflows with data-driven decisioning intelligence giving borrowers and lenders the speed and efficiency to go from clear-to-close in hours. The cloud-based platform uses real-time data, best-in-class vendors with pre-built integrations, and intelligent communications that deliver a fluid, elevated experience. HEx offers these core features:



Process Automation - A no-code/low-code workflow automation delivered in the push of a button. Drag and drop workflow configuration process makes automation simple, configurable, and flexible to adjust to lending needs. An API-led technology solution comes with pre-built vendor integrations.

- A no-code/low-code workflow automation delivered in the push of a button. Drag and drop workflow configuration process makes automation simple, configurable, and flexible to adjust to lending needs. An API-led technology solution comes with pre-built vendor integrations. Communication Automation - An out-of-the-box or configurable intelligent communication hub for borrowers and lenders. Workflow triggered communication and/or notifications based on real-time property data, providing visibility throughout the lending cycle. Mobile-first secure file sharing capabilities providing borrowers the ability to remain informed and deliver lender requirements via the white-labled communication hub.

- An out-of-the-box or configurable intelligent communication hub for borrowers and lenders. Workflow triggered communication and/or notifications based on real-time property data, providing visibility throughout the lending cycle. Mobile-first secure file sharing capabilities providing borrowers the ability to remain informed and deliver lender requirements via the white-labled communication hub. Vendor Services - Coviance's marketplace leverages the buying power of over 425 financial institutions with best-in-class vendors and pre-built integrations. One user interface, login or Single-sign-on (SSO), and a single invoice. As a result, training, managing change, and vendor management becomes drastically simplified.

- Coviance's marketplace leverages the buying power of over 425 financial institutions with best-in-class vendors and pre-built integrations. One user interface, login or Single-sign-on (SSO), and a single invoice. As a result, training, managing change, and vendor management becomes drastically simplified. Customer Support - A highly rated customer support team is in place offering consultative onboarding assists with custom workflow automations and communications to fit lending process requirements. With access to real-time chat support within the platform, email or via phone, Coviance's customer success team offers best-in-class hands-on support. "We are emerging as the category leader and are committed to advancing technology across the lending journey so that community lenders can focus on what matters most - their borrower's experience," says Jordan. "We're putting valuable time back in the hands of the lender and borrower." ABOUT COVIANCE

Founded in 2015, Coviance (formerly LenderClose) is a fintech company on a mission to perfect the lending experience for community lenders and borrowers through automation and intelligence. A cloud-based platform, Home Equity Express (HEx), automates the home equity lending process through configurable workflows with data-driven decisioning intelligence elevating the lending experience for borrowers and lenders. For Credit Unions and Community Banks, Coviance is an out-of-the-box solution that is easy to implement and deploy and allows them to focus on what matters most - "the borrower's experience". Coviance was selected as the National Association of Credit Union Service Organizations' 2022 CUSO of the Year and earned a spot on the Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S. in 2022. For more information visit Coviance.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005148/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Element Critical Earns Key Compliance Certifications for Data Centers Across National Platform

ISO/IEC 27001, PCI DSS, SOC 2 Type II, and HIPAA compliance ensures client information within any of Element Critical's data centers are protected at the highest standards

VIENNA, Va., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Element Critical, a data center colocation and interconnection provider, today announced it has successfully completed comprehensive annual assessments of its rigorous engineering and reliability standards. Achieving compliance certifications demonstrates Element Critical's ongoing commitment to customers, ensuring its facilities meet regulatory requirements with accredited standards of security and transparency. Achieving compliance certifications demonstrates Element Critical's ongoing security commitment to our customers. Based on its proven experience and superior data center methods and procedures, Element Critical facilities adhere to these industry standards: ISO/IEC 27001: Among the most important compliance standards for a data center, this certificate demonstrates that the facility's policies and procedures have been tested and satisfy standards that ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. PCI DSS - Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard:Element Critical attained compliance in recognition of its data centers' alignment to the standards that protect customers' financial data and safeguard credit and debit card transactions.



SOC 2 Type II - Service Organization Control 2: Confirmed by audit across all facilities, Element Critical meets security compliance requirements for controls and safeguards when hosting customer data. The SOC 2 report is intended to meet the needs of a broad range of users that need to understand internal control at a service organization as it relates to security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act: HIPAA compliance ensures standards for protecting sensitive patient health data and personal identification information.

"Our facilities meet a wide variety of regulatory requirements because this enables our customers to meet industry compliance standards and reflects the quality of our security, operations, engineering excellence and energy efficiency of our data centers," said Shane Menking, Chief Operating Officer. Data centers are the engine for many companies and organizations  where vital data is processed and stored. Colocation is also an interconnection hub and gateway to both cloud and edge applications. Businesses depend on their data center providers to adhere to stringent levels of security protocols reinforced by continually updated practices. "Element Critical data centers are run by highly trained security and engineering personnel, executing daily standard operating procedures (SOP) and site operations methods (MOP) to ensure our customers receive a secure and safe environment for their sensitive and mission-critical applications." Menking continues, "Earning third-party validation across all our data center facilities affirms our commitments to customer satisfaction and our dedication to meet evolving data security standards." About Element Critical Element Critical is among the fastest-growing data center service providers in the United States, with locations in Chicago, Austin, Houston, Silicon Valley, and Virginia. Led by an executive team comprised of industry veterans, the company boasts an expanding portfolio of hybrid-ready facilities in strategic markets across the country and a steadfast commitment to meeting the diverse needs of today's business and technology leaders. For more information, visit www.elementcritical.com . Media Contacts:

Nisa Hunt

[email protected] Maya Lindsay

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/element-critical-earns-key-compliance-certifications-for-data-centers-across-national-platform-301722905.html SOURCE Element Critical

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[January 17, 2023] Greybull Stewardship Announces New Capital Commitments Totaling $140 Million

Greybull Stewardship ("Greybull"), a private investment firm comprised of experienced operators, dedicated to helping small, growing businesses realize their full potential, today announced it has closed $140 million in new capital commitments across its evergreen fund and a new closed-end fund. The firm's evergreen fund, Greybull Stewardship LP, closed an additional $40 million, bringing its total lifetime commitments since its launch to $70 million. Greybull Stewardship II LP, the firm's first closed-end fund, closed with $100 million in capital commitments at its hard cap. The funding comes from both new and existing investors across foundations, family offices, and funds of funds. "Since Greybull's founding in 2010, we have remained committed to investing in small, growing businesses, a corner of the market where we believe our team's operational expertise can have the greatest impact and create value for our investments and our investors," said Mason Myers, Founder and CEO of Greybull. "Our commitment to providing patient capital has resulted in tremendous long-term success for our portfolio companies and our investors, and we look forward to continuing to deepen our capital partnerships and supporting the growth of additional businesses." Greybull is focused on making majrity investments in small businesses based in the U.S. with proven business models, revenues of $5 to $50 million, EBITDA under $5 million, and significant growth opportunities. The firm's strategy is underpinned by its commitment to providing patient capital, combined with an unparalleled level of value creation resources to this segment of the market, which the firm believes has historically been overlooked by traditional private equity and venture capital investors, as well as other lenders.



To date, Greybull has focused primarily on investing in companies within business services, franchising, education, and SaaS, though the firm also has a successful track record applying its strategy of adding operational expertise to small businesses across other sectors. Myers added, "In our view, small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, and we see a tremendous opportunity to continue to fuel their growth, particularly as they demonstrate resiliency in the face of economic headwinds. We are grateful for the support of new and long-time investors, and we are excited about the opportunities ahead to continue to generate attractive returns."

About Greybull Stewardship Greybull Stewardship is a private investment firm comprised of experienced operators, dedicated to helping small, growing businesses realize their full potential. Decades of operational experience and financial acumen enable Greybull to empower entrepreneurs with the expertise, resources, and patient capital they require to elevate their businesses from small to scalable. Founded in 2010, Greybull is headquartered in Jackson, Wyoming, with team members located throughout the U.S. in order to effectively support their investments and uncover opportunities within local market dynamics. To learn more about Greybull, visit www.greybullstewardship.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005306/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Dalrada Appoints Harvey Hershkowitz as Chairman and CEO of Genefic

Dalrada Financial Corporation (OTCQB: DFCO, "Dalrada"), a problem-solving innovator that takes on complex, multi-disciplinary challenges in health care, clean energy, precision manufacturing, and technology, today announced the appointment of Harvey Hershkowitz as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Genefic (formerly Dalrada Health). Mr. Hershkowitz has served as a board member of Dalrada Financial Corporation since July 2020, where his extensive track record in business and the health care industry has furthered Dalrada's global vision and business expansion strategy. Genefic will focus on improving health outcomes for people around the world through reimagined patient care, and Brian Bonar, Dalrada's Founder and Chief Executive Officer, affirms that Hershkowitz is the ideal candidate for the position. "As Genefic focuses on meeting the fast-paced requirements of quality health care through disruptive technologies, products, and services, we are extremely pleased that Mr. Hershkowitz has accepted the position as Genefic's Chairman and CEO," said Bonar. "Harvey has a deep understanding of the industry - and a clear, strategic vision to continue to drive growth and innovation." Mr. Hershkowitz brings more than 35 years of health care experience to Genefic, including leading top Fortune 10 companies. He has served as the President and a member of the Board of Directors for a number of health care companies and hospitals, boasting a notable track record of spring-boarding start-ups, securing funding for a variety of organizations, raising capital for 501C3 organizations, and positioning corporations in the global market. Additionally, he has successfully spearheaded efforts to grow companies specializing in bioscience, pharmacy, and health care construction, and has facilitated the expansion of acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and major physician groups. "I'm excited to help Genefic meet the fast-paced requirements of quality health care by driving disruptive technologies and developing advanced products and services," said Hershkowitz. Genefic looks forward to continually expanding its portfolio of companies and global footprint with the diligent and enhusiastic leadership of Mr. Hershkowitz.



For additional information on Dalrada and its subsidiaries, please visit www.dalrada.com. To learn more about Genefic, please visit www.genefic.com. About Dalrada Financial Corporation

Dalrada Financial Corporation (OTCQB: DFCO) is a forward-facing organization that continually produces disruptive products and services that accelerate positive change for current and future generations. Since 1982, Dalrada has redefined possibilities while boldly addressing global challenges with transformative innovations that drive targeted advances in emerging markets for a new era of human behavior and interaction, ensuring a bright future for the world around us. Dalrada Financial Corporation is committed to positively impacting people, businesses, and the planet through sustainable solutions. For more information, please visit www.dalrada.com, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. About Genefic With a dedicated commitment to health and wellness and improved patient care, Genefic delivers with bold ingenuity. Genefic creates key products and services and builds comprehensive solutions that provide better outcomes through reimagined health care systems. From virus and disease screening capabilities to pharmaceutical goods and holistic wellness clinics, Genefic creates health innovations that make positive impacts around the world. To learn more, visit www.genefic.com. Disclaimer Statements in this press release are not historical facts. The statements are forward-looking, including statements regarding future revenues and sales projections, plans for future financing, the ability to meet operational milestones, marketing arrangements and plans, and shipments to and regulatory approvals in international markets. Such statements reflect management's current views, are based on certain assumptions, and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results, events, or performance may differ materially from the above forward-looking statements due to a number of important factors and will be dependent upon a variety of factors including, but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional financing that will allow us to continue our current and future operations and whether demand for our products and services in domestic and international markets will continue to expand. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof or to reflect any change in the Company's expectations regarding these forward-looking statements or the occurrence of unanticipated events. Factors that may impact the Company's success are more fully disclosed in the Company's most recent public filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including its annual report on Form 10-K. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005178/en/

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[January 17, 2023] MakerSights Expands Footprint in the European Market with the Addition of GANT, ODLO, and Orlebar Brown to Customer Roster

MakerSights, the only Voice of Consumer platform purpose-built for apparel, footwear, and accessories brands, continues to grow its customer base in Europe with the addition of GANT, ODLO, and Orlebar Brown. This news comes on the heels of Garmont International choosing MakerSights to inform its product strategy and optimize assortments. "Shifting to a strategy that is centered around the consumer is about more than just increasing revenue - it's about growth and sustainability," says MakerSights Co-founder and CEO Dan Leahy. "Our customers in Europe are leading the market when it comes to embracing new technology, digitizing processes, and leveraging consumer data to deliver tight, highly-productive assortments that drive more revenue while reducing waste. We're excited to be working with these forward-thinking brands and for the opportunity to demonstrate the value that the MakerSights platform's unprecedented speed and accuracy deliver when developing a clear consumer strategy, creating products people will love, and successfully bringing them to market - all while keeping the health of our planet in mind." New MakerSights Customers GANT, the Sweden-based premium lifestyle brand known for pioneering the "preppy" American sportswear style since 1949, has engaged MakerSights to test products for both its men's and women's lines throughout the concept-to-consumer process. GANT will gather feedback from target consumers in its largest markets including China, Germany, and the UK to inform its produt strategy and decisions regarding product details from colors, prints, and patterns to logo placement and size.



"At GANT we are driven by a simple idea: Never stop learning," said GANT Global Planning and Merchandising Director Joanna Sjoberg. "Working with MakerSights allows us to do just that. Rather than just a few people in a room deciding which direction to take the line in next, we can now easily survey hundreds of target consumers and quickly understand what they'd like to see from GANT next so we can factor the voice of our consumers into decisions. From there, we can quickly focus our efforts, which will save us valuable time, energy, and resources." ODLO, the Norwegian-born, Swiss-based performance apparel brand that has won the ISPO Award for outstanding innovation eleven times, has turned to MakerSights as a foundational component of their new Voice of Consumer initiative. In the past, the ODLO team leaned heavily on historical data and internal expertise to guide new product decisions, but now recognizes the importance of consumer data and predictive analytics to gain a competitive advantage and remain agile, especially during times of economic uncertainty.

"We're excited to have MakerSights take a lot of the guesswork out of our product creation process," said ODLO Product Director Timo Pape. "Instead of merely relying on opinions and some historical sales data to plan our ranges and inform new products, we are looking forward to adding actual consumer insights and feedback into the decision-making process with the MakerSights platform. Being able to see product-specific feedback from hundreds of target consumers almost instantly will be instrumental in the evolution of our product and merchandising strategies, and driving alignment and buy-in with cross-functional stakeholders." Orlebar Brown, a London-based luxury swimwear and lifestyle brand, selected MakerSights to test their largest men's categories, including shirts, swim, and polos, to ensure resonance with target consumers in the UK and the US before investment. The consumer testing program will kick off a review of existing products. The results from this test will be leveraged to rationalize and refine its current range across e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores. "OB was built around the voice of our customers," said Orlebar Brown Merchandising and Trading Director Michael Weatherley. "MakerSights gives us the means to scale that practice well beyond the confines of one-to-one or even one-to-few conversations. Now we can hear from thousands of current and aspirational consumers in just a couple of days so we can quickly determine which styles will have the biggest impact on consumers and drive the most value for OB. That's great for our brand and business, but it's even better for our consumers." About MakerSights MakerSights is the leading Voice of Consumer platform purpose-built for consumer insights and testing apparel, footwear, and accessories. Throughout the concept-to-consumer process - from driving category strategies to increasing SKU productivity and identifying new category investment opportunities - MakerSights empowers brands to make consumer data-informed decisions that improve margins, increase profitability, and reduce waste - wasted time, money, and valuable natural resources. The world's most iconic brands, including Champion, GANT, and New Balance, use MakerSights to enable product creation, merchandising, and consumer insights teams to understand target consumers via easy-to-use dashboards and data analytics so they can create more products that people will love - and less of what they don't. www.MakerSights.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005046/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Stride, Inc. and SNHU Partner to Increase Access to Higher Education

With a recession looming and national student debt topping $1.7 trillion, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) has partnered with Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN), a leading provider of innovative, high-quality, and tech-enabled education solutions, to offer graduates of K12-powered schools with a path to continue their education after high school at an affordable rate. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005009/en/ Through this partnership, eligible high school graduates can enroll in SNHU's course-based online programs at 20 percent off the cost of tuition. A private, nonprofit, accredited higher education institution serving more than 170,000 students on-campus and online, SNHU already features some of the lowest tuition rates for online programs in the nation. "At Stride, we help all learners prepare for their futures whether that means college or career, and we are thrilled to continue to build on our relationship with SNHU in support of lifelong learning," said Janice Gruneberg, Superintendent of Schools at Stride. "Our graduates put in the work, and together with SNHU we will help them continue their education in a setting designed with their success in mind." SNHU offers over 200 higher learning programs, including business, education, liberal arts, social sciences, and STEM. The discounted tuition agreement is a part of a long-standing relationship with the university and Stride. In 2017, the organizations launched a partnership to advance excellence in online teaching through a uniquely specialized Master's in Online Teaching program.



"SNHU is committed to providing affordable and accessible higher education to everyone," said Jeremy Owens, Associate Vice President of University Partnerships. "We are proud to partner with Stride to offer more students every opportunity to get out from under burden of student loan debt, ensuring that they are achieving their personal and professional goals." For more information about the SNHU tuition discount for graduates of K12-powered schools, visit K12.com/parent-student-resources/alumni-services.

About Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private, nonprofit institution with a 90-year history of educating traditional-aged students and working adults. Now serving more than 165,000 learners worldwide, SNHU offers approximately 200 accredited undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs, available online and on its 300-acre campus in Manchester, NH. Recognized as one of the "Most Innovative" regional universities by U.S. News & World Report and one of the fastest-growing universities in the country, SNHU is committed to expanding access to high quality, affordable pathways that meet the needs of each learner. Learn more at www.snhu.edu. About Stride, Inc. At Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN) we are reimagining learning - where learning is lifelong, deeply personal, and prepares learners for tomorrow. The company has transformed the teaching and learning experience for millions of people by providing innovative, high-quality, tech-enabled education solutions, curriculum, and programs directly to students, schools, the military, and enterprises in primary, secondary, and post-secondary settings. Stride is a premier provider of K-12 education for students, schools, and districts, including career learning services through middle and high school curriculum. For adult learners, Stride delivers professional skills training in healthcare and technology, as well as staffing and talent development for Fortune 500 companies. Stride has delivered millions of courses over the past decade and serves learners in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. More information can be found at stridelearning.com, K12.com, galvanize.com, techelevator.com, and medcerts.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005009/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Optimove Launches OptiText, Adds Personalized SMS to its Customer-Led Marketing Platform

New capabilities empower marketers to activate customer data and create deeper relationships with customers by deploying native, hyper-personalized SMS campaigns via Optimove's multichannel hub NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Optimove, the first Customer-Led Marketing Platform, today announced the launch of OptiText, a native, personalized SMS tool, empowering marketers to utilize rich customer data to create, orchestrate, and measure hyper-personalized SMS campaigns, at scale. OptiText, complements Optimove's all-in-one suite of marketing channels, which already covers web, social, mobile, and email, empowering marketers to execute sophisticated customer-led marketing journeys without leaving the platform. Customer-led marketing, which starts with the customer rather than a product or campaign, increases Customer Lifetime Value by 33%. According to recent research by Deloitte true 1:1 personalization in customer journeys can significantly increase brand satisfaction; however, more than 50% of consumers say brands' personalization efforts feel off-target. With OptiText natively integrated into Optimove's multichannel solution, marketers can confidently deliver personalized SMS messages, in harmony with the other marketing channels, without the risk of overwhelming consumers or sending conflicting messages. In addition, with OptiText, marketrs gain key benefits, including:



Leveraging first-party customer data: deliver hyper-personalized SMS campaigns powered by rich and unified customer data: purchase history, demographic, and predictive behavior attributes.

deliver hyper-personalized SMS campaigns powered by rich and unified customer data: purchase history, demographic, and predictive behavior attributes. Keeping customers updated in real-time: marketers can send in-the-moment messages that contextualize promotions and drive results with real-time promotional and transactional SMS messages.

marketers can send in-the-moment messages that contextualize promotions and drive results with real-time promotional and transactional SMS messages. Increasing workflow efficiency: create, orchestrate, and measure SMS campaigns in combination with other channels, and save considerable time by doing it all directly from Optimove's unified platform. "This is a huge step forward in our quest to become a one-stop shop marketing platform," said Shai Frank, VP of Product at Optimove. "Data shows 98% of text messages are read within the first two minutes. With OptiText, marketers can utilize yet another impactful, immediate, and measurable channel to communicate with their consumers. Marketers can now serve hyper-personalized SMS campaigns while ensuring journeys are orchestrated, harmonious, and complementary to other marketing channels. The bottom line is a more impactful, effective, and enjoyable customer experience that strengthens customer loyalty." OptiText is the latest addition to Optimove's Customer-Led Marketing Platform. Following its acquisition of Kumulos in March 2022, Optimove released OptiMobile, a personalized mobile marketing solution. In July 2022, the company acquired Graphyte, a Digital Experience Platform focused on creating personalized experiences across digital channels in real-time.

About Optimove Optimove is the first Customer-Led Marketing Platform. Its solutions ensure that marketing always starts with the customer instead of a campaign or product. Customer-led marketing has been proven to deliver brands an average increase of 33% in customer lifetime value. It is the only customer-led marketing platform powered by the combination of 1) rich historical, real-time, and predictive customer data, 2) AI-led multichannel journey orchestration, and 3) statistically credible multitouch attribution of every marketing action. Optimove provides industry-specific and use-case solutions for hundreds of leading brands, including BetMGM, SodaStream, Pennsylvania Lottery, Papa John's, bet365, and Staples. For more information, go to Optimove.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/optimove-launches-optitext-adds-personalized-sms-to-its-customer-led-marketing-platform-301723225.html SOURCE Mobius Solutions LTD

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[January 17, 2023] Masdar Partners with Azerbaijan's SOCAR to Develop Renewable Energy Projects with 4 GW Capacity

Agreements cover onshore wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, and integrated offshore wind and green hydrogen projects

Agreements follow signing of implementation agreements with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy to develop a renewable energy program with a total capacity of 10 GW

Projects support Azerbaijan's goal of meeting 30 percent of domestic power needs from renewable energy sources by 2030 ABU DHABI, UAE, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ -- Masdar, one of the world's leading clean energy companies, has signed joint development agreements with the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), for onshore wind and solar projects, and integrated offshore wind and green hydrogen projects, with a total combined capacity of 4 gigawatts (GW). The agreements were signed by Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, and Rovshan Najaf, President of SOCAR, on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, the global platform for accelerating sustainable development hosted by Masdar. HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and Chairman of Masdar, and HE Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy for Azerbaijan, witnessed the signing. HE Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, COP28 President-Designate, and Chairman of Masdar, said, "These agreements will serve to strengthen the already powerful relationship between the United Arab Emirates and the Republic of Azerbaijan,and are a testament to our shared commitment to diversifying our energy mix and developing low- and zero-carbon solutions. As global leaders gather here in the UAE for Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, we are demonstrating the power of partnership and cooperation in advancing the inclusive energy transition and I look forward to seeing more announcements being made at ADSW. "



Mohammed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, said, "Masdar sees Azerbaijan as a key strategic partner, one we are proud to support in its clean energy journey. This signing marks a milestone on the development and delivery of a significant collaboration that will advance Azerbaijan's renewable energy goals and support its ongoing sustainable economic development." In June last year, Masdar signed implementation agreements with Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy to develop a renewable energy program on a bilateral basis, with a total capacity of 10 GW across multiple technologies, one of the largest such signings in Azerbaijan's history. The joint development agreements set out the collaboration and partnership principles between the parties for the development of the first phase of the program, with a total capacity of 4 GW.

SOCAR is an integrated national oil and gas company supporting the energy security of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is pursuing a national target of producing 30 percent of its domestic power needs from renewable energy sources by 2030, as the Central Asian nation looks to diversify its economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Masdar is also developing the 230-megawatt Garadagh Solar PV Plant in Azerbaijan. The plant will help to generate half a billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to meet the needs of more than 110,000 homes and will reduce emissions by more than 200,000 tonnes a year, while also creating valuable jobs. Masdar recently announced a new shareholding structure and additional focus on green hydrogen, making it one of the largest clean energy companies of its kind. With a goal of achieving 100 GW renewable energy capacity and green hydrogen production of 1 million tonnes per annum annually by 2030, the new Masdar is a clean energy powerhouse that will spearhead the UAE's Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative and drive the global energy transition. About Masdar Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) is the UAE's clean energy champion and one of the largest companies of its kind in the world, advancing the development and deployment of renewable energy and green hydrogen technologies to address global sustainability challenges. Established in 2006, Masdar is today active in over 40 countries, helping them to achieve their clean energy objectives and advance sustainable development. Masdar is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), and under this ownership the company is targeting a renewable energy portfolio capacity of at least 100 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and an annual green hydrogen production capacity of up to 1 million tonnes by the same year. For more information please visit: http://www.masdar.ae and connect: facebook.com/masdar.ae and twitter.com/masdar Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984898/Masdar_Partners_SOCAR.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/masdar-partners-with-azerbaijans-socar-to-develop-renewable-energy-projects-with-4-gw-capacity-301723451.html SOURCE Masdar

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[January 17, 2023] Cedarwood Financial Partners Breaks Away to Join Commonwealth

Commonwealth Financial Network, a national firm dedicated to providing financial advisors with holistic, integrated business solutions, announces the addition of Cedarwood Financial Partners of Temple, Texas, with offices throughout Texas and New York, to its network of financial advisors. Managing partners and advisors Dylan Ripley and Todd Vincent-formally of Edward Jones-along with senior partner and director of technology, Angel Santiago, and their team of financial planners Jeremy Self, vice president of marketing; Alex Murphy, COO; Frank Shultz, vice president of investment solutions; Tim Hall, director of investment models; Troy Vincent; and David Boothby, vice president of business development, currently service nearly $1 billion in client assets. Cedarwood provides advanced financial planning services to individuals and businesses. The firm focuses on retirement income and planning strategies, executive benefits and 401(k) plans, and managing the intricacies of trusts, estate transfers, and other complex situations. A motto of "Know, Serve, Live" guides its service approach, which centers around getting to know clients well, understanding what matters most to them, and putting a strategy in place that enables them to reap and enjoy the benefits. To learn more, visit www.cedarwoodfinancialpartners.com. The team recognized that independence was the path most aligned with its values and vision for the future. When it came to selecting the right partner, Commonwealth was a clear standout. "We knew we wanted to own our own business. Once we saw that we could have the freedom and the exceptional back-office support in one, we couldn't unsee it," said Ripley. "From access to moreinvestment options and integrated technology to control over how we serve our clients and charge for those services, Commonwealth was the obvious choice."



The culture also held strong appeal, explained Vincent, who is a driving force behind the synergy and sense of personal connection that characterizes the Cedarwood team. "From our first visit to Commonwealth's home office, we experienced a family-like feel and witnessed servant leadership firsthand," he said. With the move, the team has an eye on growth and development. "We're building out a Diamond Team structure-something we intend to do in every market we're in," said Ripley. By leveraging alternative investments, options, and other capabilities they previously were unable to offer, they're looking to broaden their services, elevate the client experience, attract new clients, and deepen their bench of talent.

As part of its growth plan, the firm is eager to gain momentum by taking advantage of the wider marketing opportunities independence affords them. "The added flexibility, particularly with social media, is key to effectively promoting our brand and reaching and engaging with our target prospects," said Self. Becca Hajjar, managing principal and chief business development officer at Commonwealth, sees a natural symbiosis with the newly joined firm. "Cedarwood has a clear vision for deliberate, purposeful growth that we share and a conscious commitment to fostering culture and connectedness that we're very much in sync with, too," she said. "We're delighted to support their evolution and look forward to helping them shine in the independent space." About Commonwealth Financial Network Commonwealth Financial Network, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser, provides financial advisors with holistic, integrated solutions that support business evolution, growth acceleration, and operational efficiency. J.D. Power ranks Commonwealth Financial Network "#1 in Independent Advisor Satisfaction Among Financial Investment Firms, Nine Times in a Row." Privately held since 1979, the firm has headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California. Learn more about how Commonwealth partners with more than 2,000 independent financial advisors overseeing more than $272.9 billion* in assets nationwide by visiting www.commonwealth.com. Commonwealth received the highest score among independent advisors in the J.D. Power 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018?2022 U.S. Financial Advisor Satisfaction Studies. Presented on July 6, 2022, for January to May 2022, it is based on responses from 3,039 advisors employed by or affiliated with the firms included in the study. Not indicative of the firm's future performance. Your experience may vary. Use of study results in promotional materials is subject to a license fee. Visit jdpower.com/awards for more details. *As of 12/31/2021 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005124/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Axcel - Alpine's Professional Education Business - Announces Partnership with Accelebrate

Axcel, a professional education business backed by Alpine Investors that is focused on buying, building and operating world-class education companies, today announced its partnership with Accelebrate (the "Company"), an industry leading IT training company that provides hands-on, live, technical training on-site and online. Accelebrate will partner with Axcel's IT training company, Web Age Solutions ("Web Age"), and work with Tim Toomey, CEO of Web Age. Effective with this partnership, Accelebrate's Founder Steve Heckler will continue to support the Company full time by advising on Accelebrate's growth plans and future objectives, as well as supporting Accelebrate's work with its largest clients. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005039/en/ Founded in 2002 and incorporated in 2003 by Steve, Accelebrate is an Atlanta, Georgia-based IT training firm that provides live on-site and online technical training to businesses on topics including, but not limited to, web development, data science and visualization, cloud computing, IT leadership, and software development. Accelebrate provides training solutions to financial services, government, and technology companies across the globe. "We are thrilled to start our next chapter and partner with Axcel's family of companies," said Steve Heckler, Founder of Accelebrate. "I'm even more honored that I will be able to continue to be part of the Company and learn from and wor with Axcel and Web Age as we continue to build out our instructor-led-training strategy."



"Steve has created an incredibly successful company and I am excited to partner with him and his entire team," said Tim Toomey, CEO of Web Age. "Accelebrate's differentiated business model helps corporate clients and partners gain new skills and knowledge while simultaneously achieving their day-to-day work-related assignments. We eagerly anticipate the success driven by the union of these two professional education businesses and are grateful for Axcel's support." "Over the past two years we have gotten to know Accelebrate business well and were extremely impressed with the global business Steve created," said Jonathan (Jono) Zeidan, CEO of Axcel. "We are honored Steve chose Axcel to lead Accelebrate's next phase of growth."

Accelebrate is Axcel's fifth acquisition and joins Axcel's suite of professional education companies, including EduMind, a global education and training provider specializing in professional exam preparation, Michael Management Corporation, a leading provider of SAP training, Interskill Learning, a leading independent supplier of online mainframe training, and Web Age, a leading IT training company. Axcel sits within AlpineX, an Alpine-backed investment platform focused on market-leading services businesses. Bravaldo Capital Advisors represented Accelebrate in the transaction. About Accelebrate Since 2002, Accelebrate has delivered online and on-site, customized application & web development training. Accelebrate offers training on a wide variety of technologies, including Data Science, Machine Learning, Python, RPA, Tableau, Power BI, Microsoft Official Courses, Azure, Agile, AWS, .NET, Java, JavaScript, and much more. To learn more about Accelebrate visit www.accelebrate.com. About Axcel Axcel is a professional education business backed by Alpine Investors that is focused on buying, building and operating world-class education companies. Axcel is passionate about people, focused on training the modern workforce and obsessed with delivering for customers and learners. Axcel sits within AlpineX, an Alpine investment platform focused on lower middle-market services businesses that have durable customer value propositions, high-quality revenue, and attractive markets. For more information, visit www.axcel-learning.com. About Alpine Investors Alpine Investors is a people-driven private equity firm that is committed to building enduring companies by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine specializes in investments in companies in the software and services industries. Its PeopleFirst strategy includes a talent program which allows Alpine to bring leadership to situations where additional or new management is needed post-transaction. Alpine has over $8b in assets under management and has three offices in San Francisco, New York, and Salt Lake City. For more information, visit www.alpineinvestors.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005039/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Avenu Acquires Government Payment Solution Provider, Interware Development Company Inc. (Interware )

Avenu Insights & Analytics ("Avenu"), the global leader in revenue enhancement and administration solutions for state and local governments, today announced the acquisition of Interware Development Company Inc. ("Interware"), a leading provider of cloud-based payment solutions for local governments. Interware's industry leading payment processing solutions will provide a new, centralized payment platform for Avenu's existing clients. Together, Avenu and Interware will provide a premier software and services offering that improves the citizen experience and enhances government capabilities. The combined platform will allow state & local governments to more efficiently collect permitting & licensing, utilities and tax revenue. The integration of Interware's dynamic payment solutions and Avenu's mature sales & marketing framework enables the consolidation of current third-party payment processing providers. The result is a streamlined level of service that transforms the way in which the government can address the rapid growth in workflow processes that limits staff productivity and resources, which ultimately impact efficiency. Shared resources and an integrated strategy will enable the combined company to provide additional services and greater technical expertise to its client base. "Governments are seeing an increasing need for an integrated payment solution software offering to streamline their administrative and budget activities and automate workflow processes," shared Avenu CEO, Paul Colangelo. "The combination of Avenu and Interware will provide governments with a centralized solution to maximize their efficiency while shaping a more robust citizen experience." "We are very excited to join the Avenu family," stated Interware Vice President, Nichole Sperry. "Our cmbined GovTech platform will deliver positive outcomes and an elevated experience for all of our clients."



About Avenu Insights & Analytics Over 3,000 state and local governments have partnered with Avenu to drive positive results for their communities through software administration and revenue enhancement solutions. Avenu's comprehensive software solutions digitally transform government by modernizing processes, providing online access to records, and reducing costs. Avenu also provides a robust ecosystem of revenue management services that identify and recover untapped revenue. State and local governments work closely with Avenu to increase revenue without raising taxes, streamline internal operations, and improve services by enhancing connectivity for constituents. Avenu is a portfolio company of Mill Point Capital. To learn more, visit www.avenuinsights.com.

About Interware Development Company Inc. (Interware) Interware provides a leading-edge government technology platform designed to help state and local governments increase efficiency, improve engagement with citizens, and simplify the most complex aspects of the payments ecosystem. Interware's core product is EB2Gov, a payment platform that offers numerous services and solutions, such as vehicle registration, dog licensing, vital record requests, property taxes and utility billing to citizens. Interware serves 485+ total customers across the Northeast, California, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Minnesota. To learn more, visit www.interwaredev.com. About Mill Point Capital Mill Point Capital LLC is a private equity firm focused on control investments in lower-middle market companies across the IT services, business services and industrials sectors in North America. Mill Point's experienced team of investors and Executive Partners seek portfolio company value enhancement through rigorous implementation of transformative strategic initiatives and operational improvements. Mill Point is based in New York, NY. For more information, please visit www.millpoint.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005780/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Built In Honors Flieber in Its Esteemed 2023 Best Places To Work Awards

NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Built In today announced that Flieber was honored in its 2023 Best Places To Work Awards. Specifically, Flieber earned a place on the New York City Best Startups to Work For. The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in large tech markets across the U.S.

I am extremely proud that Flieber has been recognized by Built In as one of the top places to work in 2023. This is a testament to our amazing team and the collaborative culture that each of us contribute to every single day, says Fabricio Miranda, Co-Founder & CEO of Flieber. Our customers hold us accountable to always deliver outstanding value. The success of our product and company are a direct result of our team of smart, diverse, and dedicated people. Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation and benefits. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings. Its my honor to congratulate this years Best Placs to Work winners, says Sheridan Orr, Chief Marketing Officer, Built In. These exemplary companies understand their people are their most valuable asset, and theyve stepped up to meet the modern professionals new expectations, including the desire to work for companies that deliver purpose, growth and inclusion. These winners set the stage for a human-centered future of work, and we cant wait to see that future unfold.



ABOUT BUILT IN

Built In is creating the largest platform for technology professionals globally. Monthly, millions of the industrys most in-demand professionals visit the site from across the world. They rely on our platform to stay ahead of tech trends and news, learn skills to accelerate their careers and find opportunities at companies whose values they share. Built In also serves 2,000 customers, innovative companies ranging from startups to those in the Fortune 500. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach tech professionals. www.builtin.com ABOUT BUILT INS BEST PLACES TO WORK

Built Ins esteemed Best Places to Work Awards, now in its fifth year, honor companies across numerous categories: 100 Best Places to Work, 50 Best Startup Places to Work, 100 Best Midsize Places to Work, 100 Best Large Places to Work and Editors Choice: 100 Best Hybrid Places to Work. The program honors companies  remote, hybrid and in-office  with the best total rewards packages across the U.S. and in the following tech hubs: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC.

ABOUT FLIEBER

Flieber is a Series A supply-chain tech startup solving stockouts and overstock in global retail, a problem that generates over $1.8 trillion in annual losses. Modern commerce brands benefit of Flieber's multichannel inventory planning platform to increase data visibility, improve inventory decisions and drastically reduce the time needed to operate their supply chain. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in New York, Flieber has raised $20M from GGV, Monashees, Cherubic, AME (Jerry Yang, founder of Yahoo!), Propel and other investors. To learn more about Flieber, visit https://flieber.com.

Contacts: Marissa Rosenzweig Head of Sales & Marketing +1 (650) 399-0405 [email protected]

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[January 17, 2023] Transportation Management System (TMS) Market Size to Reach USD 44.96 Billion in 2030 | Emergen Research

VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The global transportation management system market size reached USD 9.26 Billion in 2021 and is expected to register a CAGR of 19.1% during the forecast period, according to latest analysis by Emergen Research. A major factor driving the revenue growth of the TMS market is the need to replace and update the existing conventional transportation management systems. A modern TMS improves visibility in everyday operations, which ensures on-time delivery regardless of the mode of transportation in addition to speeding shipping processes and optimizing transport operations. A transport management system can be used by anyone, including third-party logistics companies and manufacturers. A strong TMS becomes a crucial component of a successful supply chain now that same-day shipment and real-time tracking are no longer a luxury but rather necessary to fulfill consumer expectations. More repeat clients translate into a flourishing company with more consumer satisfaction. An automated updated system, improved security, and quicker deployments are all benefits of modern TMS such as a cloud-based transport management system. Request Free Sample Copy (To Understand the Complete Structure of this Report [Summary + TOC]) @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-sample/1470 A TMS sometimes referred to as a transportation management system or transportation management software, offers insight into daily transportation operations, documentation and information regarding trade compliance, and assurances regarding the prompt delivery of freight and goods. In addition to streamlining the shipping process, transportation management systems help companies manage and optimize all aspects of their transportation operations, whether they involve land, air, or sea transportation. Drivers: TMS' steady market revenue growth can be attributed to technological advancements in the transportation and logistics industry. One such advancement is the increasing adoption of electric vehicles. Electric vehicles, which are becoming more and more ubiquitous on city streets throughout the globe, have caught the attention of both customers and logistics companies for transportation. Industry leaders such as Amazon, which collaborated with automaker Rivian to create electric prime vans for last-mile delivery, General Motors, which unveiled its BrightDrop electric vehicle spinoff business in early 2021, and FedEx, which promised to replace 100% of its fleet with battery-powered vehicles by 2040, have all embraced electric vehicles widely. Another factor driving market revenue growth is the exponential growth in the e-Commerce industry. Over the past 15 or so years, as the internet has grown in popularity and influence across many facets of daily life, parcel delivery has also seen an increase in its reach and impact. More individuals are making online purchases as opposed to going to physical stores to make purchases due to the popularity of e-commerce. Shippers are being forced to adjust their supply chains to new technology and new ways that customers are completing online purchases as a result of the market's tremendous move toward e-commerce. In the past, most businesses distanced themselves from the parcel delivery difficulty and handled it separately from other modes and types of freight. Restraints: Growing concerns about data security are a major factor that is expected to restrain market revenue growth. Digitalization has increased T&L companies' vulnerability to assaults by revealing a variety of internal weaknesses. Including shipping, rail, transportation, logistics companies, and package delivery services, every aspect of the sector is affected. It is expensive, a hindrance to business operations, and perhaps increases liability, especially when private customer information is breached. Operational Technology (OT) is becoming more widely used, which makes it a target for hackers since it opens up new wireless and communication channels that are directly connected to the digital ecologies of T&L companies. The T&L industry is also troubled by a lack of talent in cyber defense, out-of-date cyber laws, and insufficient cybersecurity awareness. Emergen Research is Offering Limited Time Discount (Grab a Copy at Discounted Price Now) @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-discount/1470 Growth Projections: The transportation management system Market is expected to register a CAGR of 19.1% over the forecast period and revenue is projected to increase from USD 9.26 Billion in 2021 to USD 44.96 Billion in 2030. Increased adoption of Cloud-based SaaS solutions is expected to drive revenue growth of the market. Current Trends and Innovations: Fuel alternatives is a current commercial trend. For the time being, at least, electric cars are not really an option for shippers of the ocean and air freight. Businesses will probably keep looking into fuel alternatives such as sustainable aviation fuel and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for maritime freight until battery-powered ships and aircraft become a practical choice. For instance, in the fall of 2020, CMA CGM launched the Jacques Saade. It was the largest LNG-powered container ship in the world with a capacity of 23,000 TEU and was to be the first of nine such vessels for the French shipping business. After Jacques Saade's inaugural trip, which was a resounding success, CMA CGM decided to proceed with its plans to build a fleet of six LNG-powered ships for the United States market, each having a capacity of 15,000 TEUs. Strategic Initiatives: Major companies included in the market report are Oracle, SAP, Manhattan Associates, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc., e2open, LLC., Trimble Inc., WiseTech Global, The Descartes Systems Group Inc., MercuryGate, Blue Yonder Group, Inc. On 25 August 2020 , the company's one, global multimodal transportation management system, Navisphere, will now be connected to an unprecedented 19 TMS and ERP systems, according to C.H. Robinson's announcement, setting new standards for the industry. This integration makes it possible to receive real-time pricing and capacity assurance, and it substantially eliminates the time needed to obtain market quotes and reserve loads. In practice, each shipment saves clients an hour on average. Additionally, this automation gives shippers more flexibility and efficiency at a crucial time when businesses are dealing with shifting consumer purchasing patterns and supply chain disruptions brought on by COVID-19. The increase in digital transactions at C.H. Robinson over the previous year by 55% confirms that customers want to automate more processes. Browse Full Report Description + Research Methodology + Table of Content + [email protected] https://www.emergenresearch.com/industry-report/transportation-management-system-market Scope of Research







Report Details Outcome Market size in 2021 USD 9.26 Billion CAGR (2022-2030) 19.1 % Revenue forecast to 2030 USD 44.96 Billion Base year for estimation 2021 Historical data 2021-2030 Forecast period 2022-2030 Quantitative units Revenue in USD Million and CAGR in % from 2022 to 2030 Report coverage Revenue forecast, company ranking, competitive landscape, growth factors, and trends Segments covered Component, transportation mode, deployment type, vertical, and region Regional scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Country scope U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, U.K., France, Spain, BENELUX, Rest of Europe, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Rest of APAC, Brazil, Rest of LATAM, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Israel, and Rest of MEA Key companies profiled Oracle Corporation, SAP, Manhattan Associates, C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc., e2open, LLC., Trimble Inc., WiseTech Global, The Descartes Systems Group Inc., MercuryGate, Blue Yonder Group, Inc., and others Customization scope 10 hours of free customization and expert consultation

Custom Requirements can be requested for this Report [Customization Available] @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-for-customization/1470 For the purpose of this report, Emergen Research has segmented global transportation management system market on the basis of component, transportation mode, deployment type, vertical, and region: Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 20192030)

Solutions

a. Planning & Execution

b. Order Management

c. Audit, Payment, and Claims

d. Analytics & Reporting

e. Routing & Tracking

a. Planning & Execution b. Order Management c. Audit, Payment, and Claims d. Analytics & Reporting e. Routing & Tracking

Services

a. Consulting

b. Integration & Implementation

c. Support & Maintenance

a. Consulting b. Integration & Implementation c. Support & Maintenance Transportation Mode Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 20192030)

Roadways



Railways



Airways



Maritime

Deployment Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 20192030)

On-Premises



Cloud

Vertical Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 20192030)

Retail



Healthcare & Pharmaceutical



Manufacturing



Transportation & Logistics



Energy & Utilities



Government



Other Verticals

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2019 - 2030)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



Germany





U.K.





France





Italy





Spain





Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China





Japan





South Korea





India





Australia





Rest of APAC



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico





Rest of LATAM



Middle East & Africa

&

UAE





Saudi Arabia





Africa





Rest of Middle East Latest Research Reports Published by Emergen Research: Aircraft Landing Gear Market By Type (Main Landing Gear and Nose Landing Gear), By Sub-System, By Aircraft Type (Fixed Wing and Rotary Wing), By End-Use (Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) and Aftermarket), and By Region Forecast to 2030 Aircraft Filters Market, By Application (Engine, Cabin Air Filtration System, Avionics Cooling System, Hydraulic System, Pneumatic System, and Fuel System), By Type, By Platform, By Sales Channel, and By Region Forecast to 2030 Aircraft Electric Motors Market, By Application (Propulsion System, Flight Control System, Environmental Control System, Engine Control System, and Avionics System), By Type, By Aircraft Type, By End-Use, and By Region Forecast to 2030 Aircraft Braking System Market By Component (Wheels, Brake Discs, Brake Housing, Valves, Actuators, Accumulators, and Electronics), By Actuation, By Aircraft Type, By End-Use, and By Region Forecast to 2030 Veterinary Electrosurgery Market By Product (Bipolar, Monopolar, Consumables & Accessories), By Application (General Surgery, Gynecological, and Urological Surgery, Dental Surgery, Ophthalmic Surgery, Orthopedic Surgery), By Animal Type, By End-use, By Region, Forecast to 2030 Tissue Diagnostics Market, By Product (Consumables and Instruments), By Technology (Immunohistochemistry, In Situ Hybridization, Digital Pathology & Workflow Management, and Others), By Disease, By End-Use, and By Region Forecast to 2030 Dermatology Devices Market, By Product (Diagnostic Devices and Treatment Devices), By Application (Diagnostic Devices and Treatment Devices), By End-Use, and By Region Forecast to 2030 Bone Densitometer Market By Technology (Axial Bone Densitometry and Peripheral Bone Densitometry), By Application (Osteoporosis & Osteopenia Diagnosis and Cystic Fibrosis Diagnosis), By End-Use, and By Region Forecast to 2030 About Emergen Research Emergen Research is a market research and consulting company that provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. Our solutions purely focus on your purpose to locate, target, and analyze consumer behavior shifts across demographics, across industries, and help clients make smarter business decisions. We offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across multiple industries, including Healthcare, Touch Points, Chemicals, Types, and Energy. We consistently update our research offerings to ensure our clients are aware of the latest trend's existent in the market. Emergen Research has a strong base of experienced analysts from varied areas of expertise. Our industry experience and ability to develop a concrete solution to any research problems provides our clients with the ability to secure an edge over their respective competitors. Contact Us: Eric Lee

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[January 17, 2023] Mad Street Den raises $30M in Series C as it establishes itself as a leader ushering in AI transformation for Large Enterprises

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mad Street Den, a leader in Enterprise AI, today announced a fresh round of Series C funding led by Avatar Growth Capital , with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital and Falcon Edge. The investment will enable Mad Street Den to expand its artificial intelligence offerings across industries. Mad Street Den has seen strong demand for its AI platform over the past 24 months. New growth has been powered by both the retail segment ( Vue.ai ) as well as its foray into new verticals like finance, insurance, healthcare, pharma, and logistics ( getblox.ai ). The funding allows the company to double down on scaling the business across a wide range of verticals while holding firm as the Leader in Retail AI. Enterprises are buying the company's AI stack, Blox , across these industries to solve three very complex problems with a single platform. Large scale enterprises have been using Blox to create clean & enriched data, power rich-personalized customer experiences and automate complex workflows dealing with a wide range of documents needing digitization and processing. Blox is fast becoming known for its 10x improvement over competitors in the mrket, thanks to both the efficacy of its AI capabilities and the wide range of use cases it powers.



Blox's data-centric approach vs. a model-centric approach has exhibited strong operating leverage for its enterprise customers. Blox bridges the gap of short supply of skilled data scientists and data engineers with its automated platform and in the process adds scale of operation, speed, accuracy, and significant cost savings. Blox shows an order of magnitude quicker ROI to customers allowing rapid growth across departments inside large organizations, as opposed to the typical enterprise deployment cycles predominant in the market. The company also recently acquired INTURN , a New York-based enterprise solution that helps retailers monetize slow-moving and excess inventory, faster.

"At MSD, we've gone step by step in this vision we've had from day 0, of building a truly general AI platform, taking a vertical-first approach into Retail and then scaling that horizontally across several industries. What we needed at this stage of the company was partners that would help us bring discipline to the scaling and a very strong understanding of the GTM levers that get unlocked with building a horizontal AI platform for large scale enterprises. Abhay Havaldar & Vishal Bakshi from Avatar Growth Capital were everything Anand and I could have asked for, at this stage of the company's growth. We're very excited to have such veterans from the industry give us a strong guiding hand", says Ashwini Asokan, CEO & Founder. "Enterprises today need to not only do things faster, automate processes and workflows but also make decisions faster. Rule-based automation is not enough for tomorrow. Blox's ability to solve business problems across industries, use cases while maintaining efficacy at scale and low cost is highly differentiated. Further, its 30-60-90 days framework ensures customers do not need to wait for months to see results. We are very excited to partner with Ashwini, Anand, Costa and the entire MSD team," said Abhay Havaldar, Founder and Managing Partner, Avatar Growth Capital. About Avatar Growth Capital Avatar Growth Capital is a specialist and thematic private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are leveraging India to drive global digital transformation. Our team has over four decades of investing experience including 30 years at General Atlantic Partners and Goldman Sachs, further augmented by technology operations and investment banking advisory & consulting experience. Avatar's mission is to identify, invest and work with visionary tech entrepreneurs and executives to build engines for growth and scale for long-term success. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mad-street-den-raises-30m-in-series-c-as-it-establishes-itself-as-a-leader-ushering-in-ai-transformation-for-large-enterprises-301721778.html SOURCE Mad Street Den

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[January 17, 2023] Osage Venture Partners Promotes Sean Dowling to Managing Partner and Emily Foote to Partner

Osage Venture Partners (OVP), a leading venture capital firm investing in the next generation of early stage, post-revenue business-to-business software companies, with a focus on the future of work and future of education, is pleased to announce that Sean Dowling was promoted to Managing Partner from Partner and Emily Foote was promoted to Partner from Principal. Both promotions were effective January 1, 2023. "I am excited to announce the promotions of Sean to Managing Partner and Emily to Partner at Osage Venture Partners," said Nate Lentz, Managing Partner. "Sean has been a valued member of our team for years, consistently demonstrating his ability to drive results and build strong relationships with our portfolio companies. Emily has also been a key contributor, bringing a wealth of operating experience and strategic thinking to the table. Together, Sean and Emily have done a remarkable job building our franchise, distinguishing OVP's investment value-add, and expanding our network. We are confident that both Sean and Emily will excel in their new roles, drive OVP's success, and serve as the foundation for the next generation of our firm's leadership." Sean joined OVP in 2011, and since that time has played a leading or supporting role in nearly all of the fund's investments. Sean serves as a board member of BoodleAI, BookKeeping Express, Brazen, Dina, Connectbase, ExecOnline, MarginEdge, Ostendio, and Returnalyze. He was a board member of TimelinePI through the company's acquisition by ABBYY Sofware, served as board observer for GoCanvas until its growth investment from K1 Investment Management, Phone2Action until its growth investment from Frontier Capital, and Sidecar until its merger with Quartile. Sean holds several leadership positions in and has been a speaker for organizations supporting the venture ecosystem, including the Philadelphia Alliance of Capital and Technology (PACT), Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern PA, and the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA).



Before business school, Sean worked as a strategy consultant at the Monitor Group in London and Boston. Sean received his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University with a degree in Economics. Emily joined OVP in March 2020 and has successfully brought to bear her future of education and future of work expertise over the past three years. She currently serves as a board member of TeachFX and Transeo, and is a board observer at DeepHow, DrayNow, Fount, Hued, Malbek, Ostendio, SoWork, and Trinsic. As a former founder with a successful exit, Emily brings valuable operational experience to OVP's portfolio companies in addition to a deep network that bolsters OVP deal flow and portfolio support. Prior to OVP, Emily served as VP of Corporate Strategy and Customer Success at Instructure, a leading global education technology company, which Emily joined in 2017 after the acquisition of Practice. Emily co-founded Practice in 2011 and guided the company from a video platform in the education market to a corporate learning solution, managing growth across offices in Philadelphia and San Francisco. Preceding her role as a founder, Emily practiced education law and was a Teach For America corps member and KIPP teacher.

Emily also plays an active role in Philadelphia's startup community, most recently serving on the Steering Committee for PACT's Capital Conference and on the board of Philly Startup Leaders. She is a frequent industry speaker, including appearances at Chief Learning Officer Exchange, ASU GSV Summit, Future Workplace Summit, and CLO Symposium. Emily completed her JD at Drexel University Kline School of Law, her Master of Education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, and graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in History. About Osage Venture Partners Osage Venture Partners (OVP) is a leading venture capital firm located just outside Philadelphia, PA. For nearly two decades, OVP has partnered with exceptional entrepreneurs building the next generation of leading early stage, B2B software companies. OVP applies a deep understanding of how to drive success in B2B software with a focus on companies innovating in the Future of Work the Future of Education. For more information, visit osageventurepartners.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117005859/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Earnscliffe Strategies Enhances its Public Relations Offering with the Acquisition of Switchboard Public Relations

OTTAWA, ON, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - Earnscliffe Strategies (Earnscliffe) is proud to announce the acquisition of Switchboard Public Relations (Switchboard), a full-service agency based in Vancouver, Canada. The acquisition combines the world-class experience, expertise and resources of Earnscliffe, a national leader in strategic communications, government relations and opinion research, with Switchboard's trailblazing team of connectors, problem-solvers and storytellers. In doing so, it maximizes Earnscliffe's impact on every stage of client development and growth, and represents an expansion of the firm's strategic communications offerings across a variety of sectors and industries. Switchboard's custom-tailored solutions range from public, stakeholder and media relations to issues management and community intelligence outreach. Much of the agency's success has been in supporting emerging, fast-scaling and publicly-traded clients in technology and innovation ecosystems spanning cleantech, life sciences/biotech, quantum computing, agtech, fintech, and SAAS (software-as-a-service solutions). "The Switchboard team is known for first-class execution nd a savvy understanding of the technology ecosystem. The addition of Switchboard enables Earnscliffe to strengthen our marketplace position, expand our solution offerings, and accelerate our growth," said Earnscliffe CEO Craig Robinson.



Switchboard Founder Kathleen Reid and her team of experts will support expanded and integrated public relations services into the overall Earnscliffe approach. "Earnscliffe's dual focus on client service and team support aligns with Switchboard's core values and culture," said Reid. "By joining forces, we are giving our clients access to enhanced national offerings and capabilities that will exceed their expectations and surpass their goals." About Earnscliffe Strategies

Earnscliffe Strategies is a national leader in strategic communications, government relations and opinion research. Founded in 1989 and independently owned by our principals, Earnscliffe is a forward-thinking, multi-disciplinary team that delivers best-in-class, innovative and winning solutions backed by experience, expertise and research. Earnscliffe operates from offices in Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatoon and Vancouver, and is a member of FIPRA International Ltd. For more information, please visit www.earnscliffe.ca About Switchboard Public Relations Switchboard is a full-service strategic communications agency working with tech-enabled companies and organizations of all sizes, types, and growth stages. We help innovators, technologists and change-makers create positive change by driving communication strategies that get results. Our media relations, issues management, content creation, and stakeholder relations services leverage the communication tactics needed to meet and exceed agreed-upon KPIs. We're connectors, problem-solvers and storytellers. Quite simply, we know how to get the job done. For more information, please visit www.switchboardpr.com SOURCE Earnscliffe Strategies

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[January 17, 2023] AXIM Biotechnologies Files Patent on Fentanyl Neutralizing Antibody Test, Applies for DEA License to Work With Controlled Substance

Diagnostic Healthcare Solutions Company Developing New Test Designed to Measure Neutralizing Antibodies of Deadly Opioid Fentanyl

SAN DIEGO, CA, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc . (OTCQB: AXIM) (AXIM Biotech, AXIM or the Company), an international healthcare diagnostic solutions development company, announced today that it has filed a provisional patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on an innovative new test designed to measure the neutralizing antibodies against fentanyl, a synthetic opioid responsible for the worlds leading cause of overdose. Additionally, the Company has filed for a license to handle the controlled substance with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as required for research. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine and has a strong addiction profile and associated overdose risk. Prevention of fentanyl addiction and overdose within the current healthcare landscape is difficult. However, new research is being conducted on potential immunotherapies (source) and vaccines (source) that prevent fentanyl from breaching blood-brain barrier to preemptively circumvent its overdose effects. (source) Recent research suggests that fentanyl neutralizing antibodies may prevent overdose deaths, but scientists will need to quantitatively measure a patients neutralizing antibodies throughout clinical studies and for relapse prevention from boosters, and such a test does not curently exist on the market. As a result and leveraging its experience in diagnostics and working with neutralizing antibodies, AXIM is developing a rapid point-of-care diagnostic assay that will detect and measure levels of fentanyl neutralizing antibodies. This breakthrough in diagnostic solutions will enable therapeutic and vaccine scientists to expedite transition of their research from lab to clinic using AXIMs new test given the tests quick time to result at clinical settings.



AXIMs ongoing discussions with various academic and research groups on potential collaboration on the new test signal broad enthusiasm among the scientific community for its development and commercialization. This test is another example of the broad applications of AXIMs diagnostic platform, said John Huemoeller II, CEO of AXIM Biotechnologies. We continue to be able to leverage our processes and scientific expertise in developing rapid diagnostic assays of commercial significance. As most know, the fentanyl crisis continues to plague the US as well as many other countries and scientists from a myriad of fields continue to research ways to combat the devastation this lethal drug is causing. The commercial applications of this test are far and wide and represent a massive opportunity for AXIM. Once we receive our DEA license, we plan to begin clinical studies on the assay immediately, with the hopes of commercialization in the second quarter of 2023.

Fentanyl addiction and overdose has skyrocketed in recent years amid the widely covered opioid crisis. According to the CDC, over 150 people die every day in the US from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl and the drug is the primary driver of overdose deaths in the United States. (source) For this reason, the US and other government and regulatory bodies are incentivizing organizations through grants and licenses to conduct research on potential therapeutics or vaccines that may prevent overdose or addiction. AXIM plans to market its newly developed test to these research institutions as a leading way to measure neutralizing antibodies in clinical trial patients. About AXIM Biotechnologies Founded in 2014, AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. (AXIM) is a vertically integrated research and development company focused on improving the landscape for diagnosis of ophthalmological conditions such as Dry Eye Disease (DED) through rapid diagnostic tests. Additionally, it owns IP and has conducted research on SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) rapid neutralizing antibody tests to detect levels of functional neutralizing antibodies that are believed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering the host cells, as well as for oncological indications. For more information, please visit www.AXIMBiotech.com. Forward-Looking Statements The statements made by Axim Biotechnologies Inc., in this press release may be forward-looking in nature within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe Axims future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to there being no assurance that our diagnostic candidate will ever be approved for use by the U.S. FDA or any equivalent foreign regulatory agency. Further, Axims eye care diagnostic products that are FDA cleared may not be manufactured in large enough quantities or that third parties with established eye care physicians will enter into agreements or purchase from the Company, and even if the Companys diagnostic candidates are successful, they may generate only limited revenue and profits for the Company. Various other factors are detailed from time to time in Axims SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on April 15, 2022, and other reports we file with the SEC, which are available at www.sec.gov. Axim Biotechnologies, Inc., undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law. CONTACT Kyle Porter

CMW Media

P. 858-221-8001

[email protected] AXIM Corporate

6191 Cornerstone Ct., Ste. 114

San Diego, CA 92121, USA

P. 858-923-4422 Investor Relations

[email protected]

888-759-0844



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[January 17, 2023] New Screenings of RIGGED to be Held at New Mexico State University and Local Community Colleges January 25 & 26

We are pleased to announce upcoming screenings of RIGGED-the new and award-winning documentary that explains the dynamics behind the chase for "prestige" in American higher education and how this outmoded value system subverts social mobility and undermines the American Dream. RIGGED features compelling footage from educators who are dedicated to redefining "prestige" by advancing all capable students regardless of their economic background. RIGGED will screen on January 25 and 26 at three local campuses: New Mexico State University, Dona Ana Community College, and El Paso Community College-Valle Verde Campus. Each screening will be followed by a live question-and-answer discussion with RIGGED Executive Producer and Narrator, Jim Wolfston. All screenings are free to the public. Find screening times, locations, and other information here. Meeting Students Where They Are; Focusing on Learning According to New Mexico State University Interim Provost, Dr. Dorothy Campbell, "We have more economic and racial diversity than ever before and universities are not prepared for it. We're going to have to meet students where they are and focus on learning, not just teaching," Dr. Campbell continued. "It is not wise to repeat our past mistakes. We welcome Jim Wolfston to our three area campuses (New Mexico State, Dona Aa Community College, and El Paso Community College). We are so glad that he is visiting to help us enhance our practice as we serve diverse students. The future of society will be only as good as the students we educate. This is critical for our country and our world. Thank you, Mr. Wolfston, for exposing-and addressing-some of the injustices through your documentary, RIGGED. We welcome you and urge everyone to come view your award-winning film."



Transforming Colleges and Universities into Pathways for Social Mobility RIGGED examines how the outmoded value system in U.S. higher education-a system that encourages schools to cravenly chase "prestige" and wealth-drives erosion of individual opportunity and undermines the American Dream. RIGGED builds on the historical premise that growing economic imbalance ultimately leads to social unrest, political upheaval, and war. Through interviews with authors, historians, educators, and students, RIGGED shows how the prevailing ethos in U.S. higher education constitutes a risk factor for triggering these consequences. RIGGED showcases the efforts of innovative and courageous educators who are pioneering the new movement toward models that select students not for their wealth, but for their drive and grit-a movement that will ultimately transform colleges and universities into viable pathways for student engagement, social mobility, and stronger citizenship.

"We're pleased to engage with New Mexico State University, Dona Ana Community College, and El Paso Community College-leading campuses that provide access and educational opportunity to all people who are ready to study hard, learn, and apply their new skills and ideas towards creating a better world," said Executive Producer Jim Wolfston. Higher Education - The Most Vital Asset in the Learning Age "Higher education is the most important asset in the Learning Age," Mr. Wolfston continued. "If we can distribute this vital asset across the economic spectrum, we can optimize our nation's human capital development, prepare the next generation for citizenship, and ensure social and economic opportunity. Most importantly, by rejecting the current trend toward on-campus economic homogeneity, higher education institutions can offer their students the chance to encounter a more challenging mix of people with diverse ideas, perspectives and backgrounds. Collisions with the unexpected and unfamiliar are what best sharpen and prepare innovative minds. Thus, while economic inclusion advances social justice and equality of opportunity, it also forms an optimizing strategy for educating tomorrow's innovators." Read more about RIGGED. Watch RIGGED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230117006060/en/

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[January 17, 2023] Building electric vehicles in Canada to create jobs and a cleaner future for everyone

WINDSOR, ON, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - From mining, to manufacturing, to charging, Canadian businesses and workers are attracting historic investments in the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain. When electric vehicles are made from Canadian minerals, assembled by Canadian auto workers, and powered at Canadian-made chargers, we secure and create jobs, grow our economy, and keep our air clean now and into the future. The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today visited the facilities of automaker Stellantis N.V. in Windsor, Ontario. Last year, the Government of Canada announced an investment of up to $529 million in project funding for Stellantis, securing thousands of good-paying jobs, by funding the modernization of its assembly plants and producing EVs. These collaborative investments in the Canadian auto sector are strengthening global EV supply chains and positioning Canada as a global leader in EV innovation. While in Windsor, the Prime Minister also visited the Centre for Hybrid Automotive Research and Green Energy (CHARGE) Lab at the University of Windsor to discuss their research and development centre for EV batteries, which further supports the development of made-in-Canada EV batteries. Canadian workers and businesses are already leading on clean energy and technology, and the components that go into it. As demand continues to grow, positioning Canada as a reliable supplier will create even more Canadian jobs, grow our economy, and cut pollution to help fight climate change. Quotes

"For decades, Canadian autoworkers have been part of building a strong Canadian economy  now, they're leading the way to make sure that stays true for decades more to come. We'll stand with workers every step of the way. By making Canada a global leader on electric vehicles, including manufacturing, we secure jobs, grow our economy, and keep our air clean for our kids."

 The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada "As more and more Canadians move to electric vehicles, we're working hard to make sure they're built right here in Canada. Thanks to our strong partnership with Stellantis, Canada is cementing its position as a global leader in the EV supply chain. This means good jobs for Canadian workers, a cleaner future, and a stronger and more resilient economy."

 The Hon. Francois-Philippe Chamagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry



Quick Facts Today's visit comes on the second day of the Prime Minister's tour to highlight Canada's strong electric vehicle supply chain, from mining to manufacturing. Yesterday, the Prime Minister met with workers at the Saskatoon facility of Vital Metals, Canada's first rare earths producer, to highlight Canadian leadership in the building blocks  critical minerals  of clean technology.

strong electric vehicle supply chain, from mining to manufacturing. Yesterday, the Prime Minister met with workers at the facility of Vital Metals, first rare earths producer, to highlight Canadian leadership in the building blocks  critical minerals  of clean technology. Last year, the Government of Canada welcomed a major investment of over $5 billion from Stellantis and LG Energy Solution, one of the leading battery manufacturing companies in the world, to create a joint venture for the manufacturing of EV batteries in Canada . Through this joint venture, a new facility would be built in Windsor, Ontario to supply Stellantis plants in Windsor and across North America . The facility aims to be operational by 2025.

welcomed a major investment of over $5 billion from Stellantis and LG Energy Solution, one of the leading battery manufacturing companies in the world, to create a joint venture for the manufacturing of EV batteries in . Through this joint venture, a new facility would be built in to supply Stellantis plants in and across . The facility aims to be operational by 2025. Last month, the Government of Canada published proposed regulations that set zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) sales targets for manufacturers and importers of new passenger cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks. The regulations will require that at least 20 per cent of new vehicles sold in Canada will be zero emission by 2026, at least 60 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035. These targets will help increase supply for more Canadians to be able to buy ZEVs.

published proposed regulations that set zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) sales targets for manufacturers and importers of new passenger cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks. The regulations will require that at least 20 per cent of new vehicles sold in will be zero emission by 2026, at least 60 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035. These targets will help increase supply for more Canadians to be able to buy ZEVs. To help more Canadians purchase a ZEV, the government is investing $1 .7 billion to extend the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) Program until March 2025 , and expand the types of vehicles eligible under the program, to include more vans, trucks, and SUVs. The program provides up to $5,000 off the purchase or lease of a ZEV. To date, over 185,160 incentives have been provided to Canadians and businesses.

.7 billion to extend the Incentives for Zero-Emission Vehicles (iZEV) Program until , and expand the types of vehicles eligible under the program, to include more vans, trucks, and SUVs. The program provides up to off the purchase or lease of a ZEV. To date, over 185,160 incentives have been provided to Canadians and businesses. The auto sector in Canada supports nearly 500,000 workers, contributes $16 billion annually to our gross domestic product, and is one of the country's largest export industries. Associated Links

Strengthening global electric vehicle supply chains with Canadian resources

Investing in Canada's auto sector, its workers, and our clean future

auto sector, its workers, and our clean future Government of Canada welcomes largest investment in Canada's auto industry with the first large-scale domestic EV battery manufacturing facilityhttps://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/canadian-critical-minerals-strategy.html

welcomes largest investment in auto industry with the first large-scale domestic EV battery manufacturing facilityhttps://www.canada.ca/en/campaign/critical-minerals-in-canada/canadian-critical-minerals-strategy.html Stellantis N.V.

CHARGE Lab This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca SOURCE Prime Minister's Office

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MLK inspires this local leader to offer a glimpse at the future . . .

During her tenure she mostly championed push back on police funding and the current effort for slavery reparations.



Here's her latest power move . . .



The seven-part plan includes things like using the city land bank to put people in homes and partnering with local trade groups, companies and schools to make sure students have a variety of career paths after high school.



The goal, create a level economic playing field.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
A horrific story reminds us that anger seems to be rising in the Heartland and a dearth of impulse control seem to be hitting rural areas.



Here's the aftermath reporting on yet another gun tragedy . . .



Jesse Huy told police investigators that his wife's parents had come to help her recover from back surgery. As the visit dragged on, Huy began to grow tired and impatient with having them in the house.



"I felt intruded on, I felt disrespected," Huy allegedly told detectives, the Associated Press reports. "I went outside, got my gun, and shot all three victims in under a minute."



All three victims were shot in the head as they sat at the kitchen table.



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
Andrew Palamarchuk is a reporter with Metroland Media Toronto and toronto.com. He has been covering the crime beat since 2002 and has a passion for giving a voice to those affected by tragedy and looking at societal issues that may have contributed to it.


Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : DUBAI TOURIST PLACES - FIND 10 FAMOUS PLACES OF DUBAI WITH JOSHTOUR.COM Industry: Travel Guides

Book Dubai Tour Packages with joshtour.com. High rating and More Reviews.



(TRAVPR.COM) INDIA - January 17th, 2023 - Dubai is one of the dream destinations around the world that global citizens want to visit at least once in their lifetime. Some say it is famous for its beautiful cityscape but what makes Dubai well-revered around the world it is the diversity of people and culture. There are various tourist places all over Dubai. Time to know the top 10 places to visit when in Dubai with Josh Tour, the platform that offers exclusive travel blogs on various countries and regions around the world.



The 10 places in Dubai include Dubai Dolphinarium Tourist Place where people can interact with intelligent water mammals, Dubai Marina Tourist Place which looks straight out of a movie; similarly, Dubai Aquaventure Water Park, Dubai Mall, Dubai Fountain, and many others. Luxurious places like Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo and Beach, Burj Khalifa, etc fill the wish list. For adventure lovers, there is Ski and Xline Dubai and Dubai Safari which offers a taste of urban heights and the mighty desert. In a nutshell, the place is versatile enough to fulfill every travelers needs. Find out more about these places from Josh Tours travel blogs at https://joshtour.com/dubai-tourist-places-10-famous-places-of-dubai/ Interested global travelers can know everything about these tourist places from the platform, starting from timings to locations.

About us: Josh Tour is a reliable platform that encourages travelers with more vital knowledge of tourist destinations around the globe. Along with tips, trips, and offers; the platform offers everything that a traveler must know before visiting a place. Starting from European countries to Japan, London to California; the users are able to know about every corner of the world. Get to know more details at https://joshtour.com/dubai-tourist-places-10-famous-places-of-dubai/ ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release :



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In this Episode of Morning Edition, for most of this week the major topic of discussion has 
By Alex Gamblin, January 17, 2023



The University of Central Missouris dining services provider, Sodexo, is introducing UCM to its partner and national nonprofit, Swipe Out Hunger. In collaboration with the universitys Campus Cupboard, they have implemented a plan to assist UCM students battling food insecurity. Students can now apply to receive 10 free meal swipes to use at university dining halls.



Swipe Out Hunger is a national nonprofit organization fighting to end college hunger one campus at a time. Through advocacy and policy, community building and on-campus programs, Swipe Out Hunger has built a network of 450-plus colleges and universities. According to founder, Rachel Sumekh, the Swipe Community has provided an astonishing 4.8 million meals nationwide to students with food insecurity. UCM is one of 10 universities in Missouri joining the initiative.



Justin Dreslinski, Sodexos resident district manager, championed the effort. After noticing the programs great success at other universities, Dreslinski called upon UCMs Beth Rutt, director of student activities. Head of UCMs Campus Cupboard, Rutt has seen the impact of anti-hunger programs firsthand. She was thrilled to join the initiative and aid the many students who utilize UCMs pantry in accessing additional resources.



This semester, Fall 2022, we have averaged 637 visits a month, said Rutt in December.



In the new year, Rutt, along with partners that include Sodexo marketing specialist, Diane Wirthwein and the dedicated Cupboard volunteers, is thrilled to continue making quality meals accessible to the entire university population. As of Jan. 12, Sodexo has donated nearly 3,000 meals to be distributed to UCM students with food insecurity. This exciting anti-hunger advancement at UCM comes as the pantry celebrates its tenth year of operations in October 2023.



Dedicated to feeding students' minds with both knowledge and nourishment, UCM is proud to implement further anti-hunger programs thanks to the guidance of Swipe Out Hunger. By partnering with the nonprofit organization, UCM aims to further alleviate hunger and financial burdens in the entire university community by expanding upon the Campus Cupboards weekly offering of 10 pantry items to any UCM faculty, staff members or students who present a valid UCM ID.



The Campus Cupboard urges other individuals to learn about food insecurity and its marginalized effects on traditional college-aged students as one in three college students face food insecurity nationally. Cognitive, academic and psychological development can all be hindered if the mind is not properly nourished.



Ten free meal swipes will now be offered for the fall and spring semesters of the academic year. Students in need can fill out the electronic form to start the process.



For more information on volunteering or donating to Campus Cupboard, contact Beth Rutt via email at brutt@ucmo.edu.
The United States expects a deepening of Russia's relations with Iran and North Korea, to which Moscow continues to appeal due to a shortage of its own missiles and UAVs.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said this while speaking with journalists at the Media Center UkraineUkrinform.

The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy emphasized that Russia continues to appeal to Iran and North Korea because it is experiencing a real shortage of its own missile capabilities and UAVs.

"Frankly speaking, the fact that Russia appeals to Iran and North Korea signals its desperation. In terms of aircraft, I think we should expect Iran and Russia to deepen their relationship, again, because Russia will increasingly rely on assistance from other nations to get the weapons they lack," Kahl said.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman added that the US is concerned about RussiaIran relations, will monitor Russias domestic missile production, and impose sanctions.

Deputy National Security Adviser to the U.S. President Jonathan Feiner noted that the U.S. approach is based not only on sanctions but also on export control measures, which they imposed on the Russian economy and the Russian defense industry precisely in order to limit and restrain Russia's ability to threaten not only Ukraine but also other neighbors.

As reported, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is on a visit to Ukraine.

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Ukrainian flag will return to the Donetsk airport, Donetsk, and other cities and villages of Ukrainian Donbas.

I am confident that the Ukrainian flag will return to the Donetsk airport, Donetsk and other cities and villages of our Donbas and other temporarily occupied territories. Temporarily is the key word, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in his latest address.

He noted that Ukraine will commemorate the defenders of the Donetsk airport this week.

Today we have already started to recall that defense, that heroism of our people. The fighting started in May 2014. The last defender left the DAP on January 23, 2015. And it was such a defense that the whole world should have seen back then already what Ukrainian invincibility means, the President said.

In January, Ukraine marks the Day of Remembrance of Donetsk Airport Defenders, established on the initiative of Ukrainian soldiers who defended the Donetsk International Airport for 242 days. The Donetsk airport defenders were called "cyborgs" for their resilience, fearlessness, and invincibility.

The defense of the Donetsk airport from the Russian invaders lasted from May 26, 2014, to January 22, 2015.

January 2015 saw the bloodiest and fiercest battles. On January 13, as a result of constant massive enemy attacks, the control tower collapsed. Its image became a symbol of the airport defense.

Then the fighting took place on the floors of the new terminal. On January 18-20, the Ukrainian military held the ground floor, and the basement and upper floors were controlled by the enemy.

The occupiers used the truce to evacuate their killed and wounded, mined the ceiling of the building and blasted it. Those days, 58 defenders-"cyborgs" were killed in the blast. In total, according to official data, about 100 servicemen were killed while defending the Donetsk airport.

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Sending tanks and artillery guns to Ukraine will significantly bolster the country's war effort, but temporary weaken the British Army.

This was stated by Commander of the British Army, General Patrick Sanders, on Monday, who also emphasized the need for restoring the combat capability of the British troops as soon as possible, Ukrinform reports with reference to the BBC.

Gen Sir Patrick Sanders said that Ukraine would put British donations to "good use" in the fight with Russia,

The head of the British Army also said that ensuring Russia's defeat in Ukraine "makes us safer".

At the same time, according to him, the transfer of a significant military aid package for the Armed Forces of Ukraine would also leave the British Army "temporarily weaker". Thus, he said it was vital the Army's "warfighting capability" was restored at pace.

"There is no doubt that our choice will impact our ability to mobilise the army against the acute and enduring threat Russia presents and meet our Nato obligations," he added.

As reported by Ukrinform, Defense Minister of the United Kingdom Ben Wallace on Monday announced the most significant military aid package for Ukraine to accelerate its success in the war with Russia. At the same time, he told British MPs about the need to reinvest in the military.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis has said that the only way to end the Russian war against Ukraine is for Western allies to send more weapons to counter Russian attacks.

He said this in an interview with CNN on Monday, Ukrinform reports.

The discussion in the West is still about the end of the war, and there are those who believe that maybe a frozen conflict would be suited better, which I completely disagree with that notion," Gabrielius Landsbergis said. "This thinking I think is the main obstacle for some countries to send the weapons that Ukrainians need.

Asked whether the Germans should be doing more for Ukraine, Landsbergis agreed. And he also noted that many countries had procured German-made tanks.

"They are willing to send the tanks to Ukraine. So far, they have not got a greenlight from Berlin, and I truly truly hope that this might change  and that will reduce the pressure on Germany itself, he added.

As reported by Ukrinform, the United States and Germany stated they would send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.

On Monday, Defense Minister of the United Kingdom Ben Wallace announced the most significant military aid package for Ukraine to accelerate its success in the war with Russia. At the same time, he told British MPs about the need to reinvest in the military.

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The Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated about 116,950 Russian troops in Ukraine from February 24, 2022 to January 17, 2023, including 870 invaders over the past day alone.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said this in a post on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.

The enemys total combat losses include also 3,121 tanks (+3 over the past day), 6,215 armored combat vehicles (+11), 2,104 artillery systems (+5), 441 multiple launch rocket systems (+3), 220 air defense systems, 286 aircraft, 276 helicopters, 4,877 motor vehicles (+7), 17 warships/cutters, 1,872 unmanned aerial vehicles, 190 special equipment units. A total of 749 enemy cruise missiles were shot down.

The data is being verified, the General Staff noted.

As reported by Ukrinform, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on January 16 repelled Russian attacks near more than 20 settlements in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

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The dysfunction of Russia's long-range strike capability is more profound, as evidenced by the use of the Kh-22 anti-ship missile on the city of Dnipro.

This is stated in an update by British intelligence published on Tuesday by the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain on Twitter, Ukrinform reports.

As noted in the summary, on January 14, Russia resumed long-range missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure  for the first time in about 15 days  launching dozens of missiles. As with the previous eight waves of strikes since October 11, 2022, Russia primarily targeted the Ukrainian power grid.

British intelligence believes that a large AS-4 KITCHEN anti-ship missile (NATO classification, Soviet name - Kh-22 - ed.), fired from a Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE medium bomber, highly likely hit residential building in the city of Dnipro, resulting in the death at least 40 people.

Russia falsely claimed that a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile was to blame for the hit, according to British intelligence. KITCHEN is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas, the report notes.

Similar weapons have been used in other incidents involving mass civilian casualties, including the shelling of a shopping center in Kremenchuk on June 27, 2022.

While some missiles such as KITCHEN are unsuitable for precision strike, evidence from the Ukraine war suggests that the dysfunction of Russia's long-range strike capability is more profound. It highly likely struggles to dynamically identify targets, and to access rapid and accurate battle damage assessment," the report says.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, British intelligence previously analyzed the situation in the east of Ukraine, naming the key operational task of the two sides  the creation of new formations, combat-ready troops that would be able to exploit tactical successes to ensure operational breakthroughs.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley met in Poland.

"Today, there was my first personal meeting with Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley in Poland," Zaluzhnyi said in a Telegram post.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces thanked Milley for the unwavering support and assistance provided by the United States and its allies to Ukraine.

In addition, Zaluzhnyi outlined the urgent needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine meeting which will accelerate Ukraines victory.

As reported by Ukrinform, in early January, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi discussed with Chairman of U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley the needs of the Armed Force of Ukraine to continue the fight against the enemy.

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Ukraine has offered partner countries to implement a project on establishing a special tribunal that will allow for bringing the Russian political and military leadership to justice.

The relevant statement was made by Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Smyrnov during the round table meeting The Black Book of Russian War Crimes: Facts of Genocide, held as part of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to Smyrnov, the Special International Tribunal will make it possible to put on trial the Russian political and military leadership by preparing appropriate indictments and arrest warrants for the Russian senior officials and other members of Russias Security Council, i.e. those who gave and continue giving criminal orders to wage an aggressive war against Ukraine.

In order to protect civilians and global security standards, Smyrnov urged the partner countries to establish the special international tribunal to investigate Russias crime of aggression against Ukraine.

It is a separate international judicial body that must judge the Russian political and military leadership for committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine, Smyrnov stressed.

According to Smyrnov, Russia has repeatedly proven to be an aggressor state. In particular, there is photo and video evidence of tortures used against civilians and Russian attacks on critical infrastructure and cities. Neither international conventions nor the customs of war matter to the aggressor, Smyrnov added.

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The world hears Ukraine in Davos  they know what Russia has done to Dnipro, they know what terrorists are doing to Kherson, Kharkiv, Ukraines Donbas and other territories that Russia brought death to.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his video address, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The full text of the speech is provided below:

Fellow Ukrainians!

Today the rescue operation in Dnipro has been completed.

79 people were wounded or injured by this Russian strike.

The list of the dead includes 45 Ukrainians, including 6 children, including a boy who was only 11 months old

Children and civilians are enemies for Russia. Obviously, this could only happen because Russia has turned into an enemy of all mankind.

I thank each and every person in the world who helps us to defend ourselves against terror!

Today we heard very important news from Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte. The news is actually a continuation of our recent negotiations with him.

Ukraine will be provided with another Patriot battery. Thank you, Mark! That is, we already have three guaranteed batteries. But this is only the beginning. We are working on new decisions to strengthen our air defense.

Today, I discussed defense cooperation with Federal President of Germany Steinmeier. We are actively preparing for a new meeting in the Ramstein format. We are preparing new important diplomatic steps - we also discussed them today.

The annual forum in Davos, traditionally a powerful global political and economic platform, has started today.

The world hears Ukraine in Davos - they know what Russia has done to Dnipro, they know what terrorists are doing to Kherson, Kharkiv, our Donbas and other territories Russia brought death to.

And we are lobbying for increased global pressure on the terrorist state.

I am confident that following this week, the world will see more active and influential supporters of the establishment of a Tribunal for Russian aggression and a special mechanism to compensate for the losses from the war at the expense of Russian assets.

It is very important that the First Lady of Ukraine presented all the elements of our Peace Formula in Davos today, including the fundamental clause on justice, which envisages full liability of Russian terrorists for everything they have done.

And the world's support for our diplomatic initiative is very much felt.

We are doing everything to ensure that this support becomes truly global and that steps to end Russian aggression and return security are taken by all influential actors in international relations.

Today, I held a meeting with the participation of the Prosecutor General and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to identify the culprits of the attack on Dnipro.

Every day there is more and more factual information and legal steps of our state. And all this will end with sentences for all these Russian murderers.

I want to thank all the employees of the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and all our partners, our intelligence, all special services that are working on the necessary materials for trials against rashists.

I would like to thank all volunteers, public figures, especially journalists who are helping the investigation.

And, of course, I thank all our warriors, each and every one of them who defends the state as part of all our defense and security forces, who is doing everything to oust the Russian army from Ukraine.

First of all, I thank the warriors who are now at the front, who are fighting for our freedom, who are true heroes!

When we oust the occupiers from our land, it will be a matter of time when justice will return, when sentences for Russian murderers will be pronounced.

Glory to all our heroes!

Eternal memory to all those whose lives were taken by Russian aggression.

Glory to Ukraine!

Video: Office of the President of Ukraine
Finland is ready to participate in the transfer of tanks and other heavy weapons to Ukraine.

"We in Finland have provided 12 military packages to Ukraine and we are talking about what else we can do as the European Union as a whole and as Scandinavian countries to help Ukraine today. I know that today there is a discussion about the transfer of tanks and other heavy weapons. We in Finland are ready to participate as much as we can," Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Pekka Haavisto said during the presentation of UKRAINE IS YOU project during the World Economic Forum in Davos, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Haavisto also noted that the war against Ukraine harms not only people but also the environment and creates risks for nuclear safety, which he discussed with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.

"We should support Ukraine and think about what is happening, focus on what President Zelensky said in his ten-point peace plan and work together to implement it," the minister added.

As reported, on January 11, President of Poland Andrzej Duda announced that Poland would hand over a company of German Leopard heavy tanks to Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, Poland has sent Ukraine weapons and equipment worth about PLN 10 billion (over $2.2 billion).

On January 12, President of Finland Sauli Niinisto said that Finland could send Leopard tanks to Ukraine under certain conditions.

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The Matros Pozynich bulk carrier continues to export grain highly likely stolen in Ukraine to Syrias Tartus.

This was reported by Yoruk Isik, an observer of traffic along the Bosphorus Strait, Ukrinform reports.

"Russia double downs on grain plundering while conducting missile terrorism on Ukraine: Russian flag bulker Matros Pozynich transited Bosphorus toward Med en route from occupied Sevastopol to #Tartus #Syria carrying 27000t of stolen wheat," the report reads.

The uploaded video shows the ship moving through the Bosphorus.

Yoruk Isik points to Russia's sophisticated smuggling that has used falsified manifests and seaborne subterfuge to steal Ukrainian grain worth billions of dollars.

Read also: Six ships carrying grain leave Ukrainian ports over past two days

The expert sees the action as war crime, committed by state-owned enterprises.

As Yoruk Isik reported earlier, in addition to grain, Russia transports through the Bosphorus sanctioned military goods, including aviation fuel for the Air Force, technical cargo for its army, and defense exports to Asia disguised as civilian cargo.
Starting from January 18, JSC Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraines railway operator, is resuming another rail route with Romania: Rakhiv - Valea-Viseului - Rakhiv.

Thats according to the press service of Ukraines Infrastructure Ministry, Ukrinform reports.

"We are resuming the passenger railway routes to Romania. Trains #755/756 and #753/754 Rakhiv  Valea-Viseului  Rakhiv will start running on January 18. Daily departure from Rakhiv at 06:10 and 14:10, arrival in Valea-Viseului at 07:45 and 15:45, respectively. Trains will depart from Valea-Viseului at 11:45 and 18:15 and arrive in Rakhv at 12:20 and 18:50, respectively," the report reads.

It is noted that Ukrzaliznytsia also launches train #810/809 Lviv  Rakhiv  Lviv. It will depart from Lviv at 7:00 and arrive in Rakhiv at 13:20. From Rakhiv, the train will depart at 14:34 and arrive in Lviv at 20:50.

The arrival and departure schedule is adapted to that of Romanian trains. Passengers arriving at the Valea-Viseului station will be able to transfer to other trains bound for Bucharest and Cluj.

Also, repair works have been completed at another station on the border with Romania: Teresva-State Border. It had not been operational since 2007.

"After completing these projects, we are actually relaunching the key railway routes between Ukraine and Romania because today there are only two international crossings: Vadul-Siret - Dornesti and Diakove - Halmeu. Only cargo shipments are being carried out there," the ministry added.

As reported, during 2022, Ukrzaliznytsia repaired 19.2 kilometers of tracks and 12 bridges on the Rakhiv  Dilove  Valea Viseului section (Romania), and also renovated the Rakhiv railway station. In fact, the station had not operated since 2011.
Most of the companies from Austria, represented on the Russian market before the war, continue to work there without any self-limitations.

This is stated in the press release by the Kyiv School of Economics, Ukrinform reports.

"Some 160 companies with foreign capital have completed their withdrawal from the Russian Federation. Another 1,163 international companies have announced their withdrawal and ceased operations. At the same time, about 2/3 of the companies from Austria, represented on the Russian market before the war, continue to work there without any self-limitations," the report says.

It is noted that as of January 15, a total of 160 foreign companies (5.3%) have completely pulled out of the Russian market. Over the last week, their number increased by another two businesses. Another 1,163 foreign enterprises (38.5%) have shut down Russian operations and are in the process of exiting the market. At the same time, 493 international companies have suspended new investments, but remain in the Russian Federation. And another 1,202 continue their activities on the Russian market without changes.

As noted, in the last pre-war year, Austrian investments in the Russian Federation amounted to about $6 billion, while Russian investments in Austria  to $29 billion.

According to the KSE Institute, 69% of 63 Austrian companies continue to work in Russia. 14% of enterprises from Austria received the "pending" status from the KSE. Another 14% are in the process of exiting the market. And only 3% of companies with Austrian capital have completed the withdrawal.

Among the Austrian companies that left the Russian Federation are MM Packaging, which has sold factories in Pskov and St. Petersburg, and Petro Welt Technologies, which provides services in the field of natural gas and oil production. Swarovski has suspended all sales in the Russian Federation and is in the process of winding down its operations.

At the same time, Raiffeisen Bank, which is seen as important for the Russian banking system, is currently ignoring calls to leave the Russian market. Also, the Austrian company Rotax, whose engines were found on Iranian drones that attacked critical infrastructure in Ukraine, is not planning to go.

As reported by Ukrinform, 11 companies left the Russian market in the first week of 2023, while another 1,161 companies are in the process of exiting the market.
The European Union announced the allocation of the first 3 billion tranche within the framework of the macro-financial assistance to Ukraine worth a total of 18 billion euros.

Today, three billion euros is paid out to Ukraine which makes me very proud and also shows what we can do when we are united, Elisabeth Svantesson, Minister for Finance of Sweden, said ahead of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting.

On January 1, 2023, Sweden took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson mentioned support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression among the priorities of his country's presidency.

On December 10, the Council of the European Union supported the European Commission's proposal to allocate additional financial support to Ukraine in 2023. The new macro-financial assistance program for Ukraine will total EUR 18 billion. It is expected that preferential loan funds will be transferred to the state budget throughout 2023 in equal parts, taking into account Ukraine's fulfillment of the conditions agreed on by the parties. On Monday, Ukraine and the EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the provision of EUR 18 billion in macro-financial assistance.

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with incumbent OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani. A number of important issues, including the need to raise attention to the forced deportation of Ukrainians by Russia and the detention of prisoners of war, were discussed.

"We need increased attention of the OSCE to two key problems: the forced deportation of women and children to the territory of the Russian Federation and the conditions of detention of Ukrainian prisoners of war. These are crucial things for us," Zelensky said, the Presidents Office informs.

He paid particular attention to the importance of implementing the Ukrainian peace formula and invited North Macedonia's chairmanship to participate in this process. "We want the world order to be restored and stability to be returned to our region. I rely on the involvement of the OSCE and North Macedonia in the implementation of the peace formula," the President stressed.

The President thanked the government and people of North Macedonia for the humanitarian and security assistance provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.

He congratulated North Macedonia on the start of OSCE chairmanship and noted the importance of the minister's first foreign visit to Ukraine as the incumbent OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

"It is very important for us. We are grateful to the OSCE for consistently supporting our country since the temporary occupation of some parts of our territory in 2014. Today, support for the Organization's mission is more important than ever," Zelensky said.

For his part, the incumbent OSCE Chairman-in-Office emphasized solidarity with Ukraine and its people and noted that the security of our country is a priority of his chairmanship. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, Buyar Osmani assured that his country will support Ukraine until its victory over the aggressor.

As reported, incumbent OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani arrived in Ukraine on Monday. This is the first official visit of Minister Osmani as the incumbent OSCE Chairman-in-Office.

Photo: Presidents Office

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French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Catherine Colonna and Austrian Federal Minister for European and International Affairs Alexander Schallenberg discussed the need to step up European support for Ukraine.

This is said in a statement released by the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ukrinform reports.

The ministers discussed the latest developments in the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and stressed the need to step up European support for that country, in every sphere. In this respect, France welcomed Austrias contribution to the solidarity effort for Ukraine, the statement says.

The ministers also talked about the need to strengthen Europes strategic autonomy, particularly in the areas of industry, trade and energy. They also shared their approaches on the best way of supporting the EUs enlargement to include the Western Balkans countries.

As earlier reported, Austria did not support a full ban on issuing Schengen visas to Russians.

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German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen says both Ukraine and Germany currently need victory in the war with Russia, expressing her conviction that this victory will be achieved.

The statement came in a joint video address with the Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, Oleksiy Makeiev, on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, Ukrinform reports.

"Victory is currently needed by both Ukraine and Germany, which not only provides humanitarian, military and economic support to, but is always with Ukraine with its heart and soul. We thank the Ukrainian people, who every day choose their freedom and stand in defense of freedom and democracy in Europe. We believe that diplomacy is among the driving forces that will bring these hopes closer together. Together we will achieve these goals, together we will win," said the German diplomat.

For his part, Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany, Oleksiy Makeiev, noted that 31 years ago, the two countries aimed to expand and deepen bilateral partnership.

"The goal of our partnership today is to restore peace in Europe. Therefore, we must win this war together," the diplomat emphasized.

He also expressed confidence that Ukraine and Germany will achieve this goal together, and thanked Germany for its support.

According to the German government, over the past year, Germany provided assistance to Ukraine totaling EUR 12 billion.
Latvian Defense Minister Inara Murniece arrived on her first visit to Ukraine after being appointed to the position.

Thats according to Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, who reported the news on Facebook, as seen by Ukrinform.

"I am glad to congratulate Inara Murniece on her first visit to Ukraine after her appointment as Minister of Defense of the Republic of Latvia. Inara Murniece made a lot of efforts to support Ukraine in the position of Speaker of the Saeima of Latvia. I hope for further decisive assistance to Ukraine on the part of Latvias new Government as well," said Stefanchuk.

The head of the Verkhovna Rada noted that the parties discussed the "peace formula" put forward by President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also expressed hope for Latvia's active support for the formulas key points.

Stefanchuk emphasized the importance of consolidating international support and creating mechanisms to bring Russian criminals to accountability for their crimes in Ukraine.

"I thanked Latvia for providing Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, and military gear because Latvia is among the world leaders in the amount of military aid provided to us in relation to GDP," Stefanchuk emphasized.

He also enlisted the support of Ukraine's defense capability, having discussed in detail the types of weapons required for further fighting.

The front line in Ukraine is our front line, said Inara Murniece. Thank you for these important words," said Stefanchuk.

As reported by Ukrinform, Latvian Defense Minister Inara Murniece said that the possibility of sending a new batch of military aid to Ukraine, including Stinger air defense systems, is being considered.
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba has called on the European Parliament to support the creation of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine by passing a relevant resolution this week.

I call on members of the European Parliament to support the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine by passing a relevant resolution this week. No impunity for Russias political and military leadership. They must be held accountable, Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

As reported, Ukraine took the initiative to create an international special tribunal to prosecute the leadership of Russia for committing the crime of aggression against Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky formed a working group led by Head of the Presidents Office Andriy Yermak to deal with the issue of creating a special tribunal.

The creation of such a tribunal was supported by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Kyiv considers several options for creating the special tribunal, one of which is based on an agreement between Ukraine and the UN that can adopt a relevant resolution.

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President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the need to increase security assistance to Ukraine and implement the Ukrainian peace formula with President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Ukraine appreciates the important new defense decisions taken by the German leadership at the beginning of this year, as well as the significant support in the humanitarian, financial and defense spheres since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. During the meeting in the format of a video conference with Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, we discussed the situation on the frontline, the necessity of increasing defense support for Ukraine, the diplomatic process on the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula, Zelensky posted on Telegram.

He thanked Germany for comprehensive assistance to Ukrainians, in particular, for financial and security assistance and for sheltering Ukrainians in this difficult period.

As the President's Office informs, the talks took place on the day of the 31st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries.

The leaders strongly condemned Russian missile and drone terror against the civilian population and the destruction of critical infrastructure in Ukraine. In this regard, Zelensky praised Germany's help in strengthening Ukrainian air defense with the IRIS-T system, which has proven itself very well in protecting the sky and saving people, as well as the decision to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems and Marder infantry fighting vehicles.

The President of Ukraine pointed out the utmost importance of help from partners to stabilize the work of the Ukrainian energy system, and also highly appreciated the assistance of Germany in the area of interregional and intercity cooperation.

Zelensky also thanked the German side for the Bundestag's decision to recognize the Holodomor as the genocide against the Ukrainian people.

The leaders expressed hope for the speedy restoration of peace on the Ukrainian land.

"We have to bring this moment closer together. And I think that this year we have every chance to get the long-awaited peace and the victory of common sense over aggression," the President of Ukraine emphasized.

As reported, Germany and Great Britain will continue to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, in particular with weapons, constantly adapting the aid to Kyiv's needs.

Photo: President's Office

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Some European politicians have been viewing relations with Ukraine through the Russian optics for too long. This page of history will be turned forever, when Ukraine will be able to liberate its cities and villages from Russian terrorists with the help of German Leopards, Marders and Gepards.

The relevant statement was made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during an online meeting with German students, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Unfortunately, relations with Russias neighbors have been viewed by some European politicians through the Russian optics for too long. For many years, the policy of European states  not all, but those with the greatest influence  has been based on the principle of caution towards Russian ambitions and dialogue with Russia - no matter what. This became political fertilizer for the audacity of Russian imperialism. For the confidence of the current master of the Kremlin that Europeans are allegedly weak. And that the missile legacy of the Soviet authorities allegedly outweighs international law, democracy, the strategic goal to unite Europe, namely the need to guarantee peace on our continent, Zelensky said.

In his words, Russia was wrong in its assessment of Ukraine and the whole of Europe.

We havent been taken aback. We have united. We have shown that Russia will never again control the European space and dictate to people how to live and what to value, the President of Ukraine stressed.

Zelensky thanked Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz for his determination to admit that the past is over and the fact that Germany is becoming one of the leaders in supporting Ukraine.

We appreciate the fact that German policy is being freed from Russian optics in relation to Ukraine and other countries-neighbors of Russia. But the page of European history, on which the Russian belief in the weakness of Europe is based, has not yet been turned. There is still a feeling in Moscow that it is possible to use threats or bribery to persuade European states to take the decisions Russia expects. I am sure that this page of history will be turned forever when we will be able to liberate our cities and villages from Russian terrorists with the help of German Leopards, Marders, Gepards, Zelensky noted.

The President of Ukraine believes this will be the time when Europe will be finally liberated from imperialism.

It will be one decision  and how much fidelity to principles will be in it! Perhaps it will be the greatest in the history of Europe after the fall of the Soviet empire, Zelensky added.

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A boat that carried Rohingya refugees across the Andaman Sea remains anchored offshore after the refugees disembarked at a beach in Aceh, Indonesia on 8 January, 2023.  UNHCR/Kenzie Eagan

More than 3,500 desperate Rohingya attempted deadly sea crossings in 39 boats in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal in 2022, according to the latest data from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. This represents a 360 per cent increase on the year before when some 700 people made similar journeys.

In the absence of a comprehensive regional response to address these perilous maritime movements, UNHCR warns that more people will die on the high seas, under the watch of many coastal States.

UNHCR has recorded an alarming rise in the death toll. At least 348 individuals died or went missing at sea in 2022, making it one of the deadliest years since 2014.

Some 3,040 individuals who undertook the sea journey disembarked in 2022, primarily in Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. Nearly 45 per cent of those who disembarked were women and children.

In the last two months of 2022, four boats carrying over 450 Rohingya disembarked in Aceh, Indonesia. One boat carrying over 100 Rohingya disembarked in Sri Lanka. One boat is feared to have sunk in early December with approximately 180 individuals on board. Several boats that departed in December remained at sea as of the end of the year.

Calls by UNHCR to maritime authorities in the region to rescue and disembark people in distress have gone unheeded with many boats adrift for weeks.

Most boats departed from Myanmar and Bangladesh, highlighting the growing sense of desperation amongst Rohingya in those two countries. Those who have disembarked report that they undertook these dangerous sea journeys in an effort to find protection, security, family reunification, and livelihoods in other countries. Among them are victims of trafficking, unaccompanied and separated children, and survivors of sexual- and gender-based violence.

The current crisis in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea is a crisis of solidarity. The Bali Process, a forum for policy dialogue, information sharing and cooperation to address people smuggling, human trafficking and related transnational crime, will hold its 8th Ministerial meeting in February. UNHCR repeats its call for prompt search and rescue and timely disembarkation in a place of safety, and for support to countries where Rohingya refugees are disembarked. We call on countries to redouble efforts to prevent human smuggling and trafficking.

There is also a need for humanitarian responsibility to be more evenly distributed among countries in the region to ensure protection responses are predictable, equitable, and sustainable.

The region and the international community need to support efforts to address the root causes of displacement in Myanmar. Until these are resolved, refugees will continue to undertake dangerous journeys in search of safety.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
A child holds an anti-war sign during a rally at Times Square in New York, the United States, Jan. 14, 2023.(Photo by Ziyu Julian Zhu/Xinhua) Instead of escalating the war and sending more weapons to Ukraine, the United States should go back to the negotiating table and recognize that Russia has legitimate security concerns, saysBrian Becker. NEW YORK, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of protesters from New York City and nearby regions held a rally and a march against U.S. involvement in overseas wars at Times Square on Saturday. The participants spoke against NATO's expansion and called for peace in Ukraine, criticizing U.S. hefty spending on the Ukraine crisis and the White House's announcement to provide Kiev with another Patriot surface-to-air missile battery. "We're here today because we oppose the endless expansion of NATO, which is not only unnecessary but reckless and proactive," said Brian Becker, national director of the ANSWER Coalition, a major anti-war coalition in the United States. A man delivers a speech during a rally at Times Square in New York, the United States, Jan. 14, 2023.(Xinhua/Liu Yanan) Instead of escalating the war and sending more weapons to Ukraine, the United States should go back to the negotiating table and recognize that Russia has legitimate security concerns, Becker told Xinhua on the sidelines of the rally. "We're also here today because the United States is spending extra 65 billion U.S. dollars to fund war in Ukraine while there are a million homeless people in America, while our schools are underfunded and many people are going into bankruptcy because they can't pay doctors' bills," said Becker, who urged his country to spend that money to help Americans in need rather than funding war and militarism. Initiated by the ANSWER Coalition and The People's Forum, a movement incubator for working class and marginalized communities, the rally is expected to be followed by similar protests in other U.S. cities ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.
January 17 2023

Real estate investors Goodstone Living have shared updated plans to develop a build-to-rent community on a brownfield peninsula off Ocean Drive in Leith.

Working with 3DReid Architects on the land between Albert and Victoria Docks, a proposal of application notice calls for a five-storey jump in the height of the tallest western tower to increase the number of apartments 338 to 383 and create a private amenity space at roof level.

Further changes to the development include a reduction in the number of car parking spaces to increase amenities and an increase in the provision of cycle storage.

Previously known as Skyliner and now known as Dockside Leith a formal planning application is expected in March.

A separate application has been made by Hawkins/Brown for a further two towers on adjoining land.
As Pakistan has been confronted with economic challenges especially after the massive countryside floods, with the shrinking foreign exchange reserves, the country's various imports are putting additional financial strain

BEIJING (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ):As Pakistan has been confronted with economic challenges especially after the massive countryside floods, with the shrinking foreign exchange reserves, the country's various imports are putting additional financial strain.

Statistics from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) show that in FY2021, Pakistan's imports of soya beans, whether or not broken, reached about $1.145 billion, strong growth of about 50% year-on-year, exhibiting the country's urgent demand for soybeans. However, in the first quarter of FY2023, Pakistan's soybean imports were $269 million, down about 18% year-on-year, which may have been affected by the decline of its foreign exchange reserves.

Soybean production should be adequately considered by Pakistan because of its over dependence on imports of soybeans, China Economic Net (CEN) reported.

"We are dependent on imports. It is very expensive which causes increase in the price of feed, oil etc. day by day. It is our need to plant it in our country," Hafiz Saad Bin Mustafa, Oilseed Scientist at the Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, said.

According to him, all crops in Pakistan were non-GMO except cotton. "Most foreign varieties that we import are of mild areas and GMO. They can neither be planted here nor can they survive here. So seeds of local varieties should be multiplied and should be promoted in the potential areas that we have identified by our trials and adaptability studies," Hafiz said.

He said since soybean was mostly cultivated in such countries as America, Brazil and Argentina where there was mild climate, Pakistan needed to develop its own non-GMO soybean verities that could perform well in high temperatures.

"We do not produce good quality seeds, and the total seed production is twenty percent in different crops. There is a huge gap. At present we are dependent on imported seeds for different crops even for wheat, rice, cotton, and vegetables, and the same is with soybeans. We should produce it locally," Dr. Zahir Ahmad, In-charge Soybean Breading Lab, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), said.

He said the farmer needed specific planters, harvesters, and threshers. "Mechanization is one of the best approaches by which we can increase soybean production. In this way, we need less labour, less time, and less storage time." Talking about the latest progress of soybean production in Pakistan, Dr Zahir Ahmad emphasized that now their focus was intercropping-specific soybean promotion, which was a high-yielding technology from China.

"Dr Muhammad Ali Raza of the Islamia University of Bahawalpur has recently graduated from Sichuan Agricultural University of China, and has expertise in intercropping, especially soybean intercropping with different crops, and he has efficiently introduced this technology in different areas of Pakistan. We have been collaborating with China at different stages and in different technologies," Dr Zahir Ahmad said.

Hafiz Saad Bin Mustafa, he said, was also working on promoting maize-soybean intercropping technology brought by Dr Ali and had achieved promising results.

"Many people thought soybean can't be cultivated in Pakistan but I didn't think that way. Dr Ali supported my point. People were not shifting to soybean because they thought it's a competition with maize. However, with intercropping, people can grow maize and soybean at the same place. Then we identified intercropping specific lines or varieties. We provide those lines to Dr Ali for evaluation for the last two years. The yield advantage is double or 2.5 times higher than the conventional varieties" he added.

Hafiz said,"Soybean intercropping technology fits Pakistan's conditions well and hopefully to be applied in more areas. Traditional rice areas or cotton areas lie uncultivated for a specific time period as no crop fits it at that time period. We roughly made a calculation and estimated that if we use 60% of that kind of land, we can make a profit of at least $3 billion annually. This is from the area that is uncultivated, free, and on which farmers are unable to earn anything. We have grown soybean in those areas.

"Secondly, soybean is a leguminous plant. It fixes atmospheric nitrogen as it contains nitrogen-fixing root nodules. By this, the fertility level of free soil will also increase and farmers will need less nitrogen for the next crop. So, you are making economic gains and getting soybean crops plus soil fertility is also improved. So we are doing this," Hafiz analyzed.

"As we know, Pakistan's oilseed import bill is increasing. We are importing in billions of dollars. If we locally produce soybean, we can cope with the challenge of importing oilseeds. In addition, China is the largest importer of soybean from the USA. If we produce soybean locally in our country, we can have the chance to export soybean to China instead of importing it," Muqadas Saleem, Scientist Soybean Breeding at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad said.
Goldman Sachs reported a steep decline in fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday on much lower merger activity in results that missed analyst expectations and weighed on shares

New York, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ):Goldman Sachs reported a steep decline in fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday on much lower merger activity in results that missed analyst expectations and weighed on shares.

The big investment bank pointed to a "significant decline" in completed mergers and acquisitions as fewer big companies bought rivals and the number of initial public offerings fell sharply compared with recent years.

Goldman Sachs also cited a fall in equity and debt underwriting as a factor in the profit decline.

Net income was $1.2 billion, down 69 percent following a 16 percent fall in revenues to $10.6 billion.

Goldman's profit drop comes on the heels of a trove of mixed results last week from other financial giants, with some large banks pointing to a "mild recession" as a likely scenario.

Goldman's asset and wealth management business was dented by lower revenues in equity and debt investments.

Other headwinds were due to much higher provisions tied to its consumer credit card business, as well as elevated expenses for employee compensation.

In October, Goldman announced it was streamlining businesses to three operating segments from four, a move that reorganizes its "Marcus" consumer business, which had hit obstacles.

Chief Executive David Solomon pointed to a "challenging economic backdrop," saying the firm's "focus is realizing the benefits of our strategic realignment, which will strengthen our core businesses, scale our growth platforms and improve efficiency."Shares fell 2.5 percent to $364.67 in pre-market trading.
Swiss physicist Karl Alex Muller, who won the Nobel Physics Prize in 1987 along with his German colleague Georg Bednorz for their discovery of the first high-temperature superconductor, has died

Geneva, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ) :Swiss physicist Karl Alex Muller, who won the Nobel Physics Prize in 1987 along with his German colleague Georg Bednorz for their discovery of the first high-temperature superconductor, has died.

Zurich University, where Muller long worked as a professor, said on Tuesday that the Nobel laureate died aged 95, giving no further details.

Muller and Bednorz were researchers at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory when they jointly won the world's top physics prize more than 35 years ago.

They were honoured "for their important breakthrough in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials." Their findings made superconductivity more accessible and opened the way to a broad range of applications, from levitating trains to MRI imaging.

Superconductivity -- the phenomenon by which electricity flows through a material without experiencing any resistance or losing energy as heat -- was discovered in 1911, when Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes cooled mercury to minus 270 degrees Celsius (minus 454 degrees Fahrenheit) and saw electric resistance disappear.

After that, superconductivity for decades appeared possible only in metallic compounds at similarly super-low temperatures.

While small advances were made in 1973 when an alloy was produced that could become a superconductor at slightly higher temperatures, it still required cooling to -250C.

But in 1986, Muller and Bednorz ditched the traditional alloys and instead sought superconductivity in oxide materials -- lanthan-barium-copper oxides -- which brought the required temperature up to -238C.

Their discovery of a new class of superconductors, so-called high-temperature superconductors (HTS), earned them the Nobel nod the following year.

Zurich University described Muller as "swimming against the current", adding: "1986 was an exciting year for science in Zurich. It all began with a seemingly far-fetched idea".

The fact that they found a higher critical temperature made it possible for superconductivity to be achieved by cooling with liquid nitrogen rather than far more expensive liquid helium, making it simpler and cheaper to use.

Since Muller and Bednorz's discovery in 1986, scientists have searched for even higher temperature superconductors. Today, the highest critical temperature discovered for copper oxide superconductors is -140C.
(@FahadShabbir)

San Francisco, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ) :US President Joe Biden will travel to flood-hit areas of California on Thursday, the White House said, as the country's most populous state cleans up from a devastating and lethal series of storms.

Biden will tour storm-hit communities, "survey recovery efforts, and assess what additional Federal support is needed," the White House said in a statement on Monday.

Nine successive storms have rolled in from the Pacific Ocean, slamming California and other western regions in three weeks of extreme weather that has cost 20 lives.

Biden declared a major disaster in California over the weekend, allowing the federal government to expedite aid, including help with temporary housing and repairs.

The storms have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes, according to an executive order signed on Monday by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Damage estimates from the series of storms already top $1 billion.

Even as scattered sunny skies were predicted for Tuesday, there would not be much of a respite for relief workers in California hustling to clear landslides, shovel mud from roads and remove fallen trees.

About 15,300 homes in the state remained without power early Tuesday, according to PowerOutage.us.

Sodden cities in northern California reported staggering accumulated quantities of rain.

A report from the National Weather Service (NWS) for the Bay Area said more than 18 inches (45 cm) of rain have fallen on San Francisco since December 26.

"It's the wettest 22-day period since January 14, 1862," the NWS office said in a tweet.

In the Central Valley, the fertile region that produces 40 percent of US fruits, Modesto reported more than an inch of rain Monday, beating an old record set in 1950, and Stockton had 1.2 inches of rain, surpassing a record set there in 1973, the NWS office in Sacramento tweeted.

The relentless winter storms have largely passed over the state and are now hitting Rocky Mountain and Great Plains states.

An NWS short-range forecast said "heavy snowfall" was expected in mountainous parts of Colorado, New Mexico and Utah "through Tuesday before advancing east into the Central Plains on Wednesday." While California is seeing some relief, a new storm system looms off Washington state to the north.

"There will be a new storm system arriving across the Pacific Northwest by Tuesday night and advancing inland by Wednesday," the NWS forecast said.

"This will bring a new surge of Pacific moisture and a round of heavy rainfall for especially the coastal ranges and the foothills of the Cascades," it added.
BEIJING, Jan. 17 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ) :China's State Council announced the appointment of officials on Tuesday.

Chen Chunjiang was appointed assistant minister of commerce.

Sun Yeli was appointed director of the State Council Information Office.

Zu Leiming was appointed director of the Yellow River Conservancy Commission.
Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi on Tuesday stressed the need for introducing global warming and climate change into school curricula to create awareness among the youth about the problems faced on the environmental front. He was presiding over a capacity-building seminar for members of the Senate on climate change

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ) :Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi on Tuesday stressed the need for introducing global warming and climate change into school curricula to create awareness among the youth about the problems faced on the environmental front. He was presiding over a capacity-building seminar for members of the Senate on climate change. The seminar jointly organized by the Parliamentary Development Unit (PDU) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) here at the Parliament House, aimed to enlighten the parliamentarians about the impacts of climate change and remedies as well as planning to control its density and safeguard people from its negative effects.

Mirza Afridi said it was crucial to ensure that every citizen was aware of the immense climatic threat and able to play a role in averting it.

Each and every individual had a crucial role to play and they must be prepared to overcome issues and challenges posed by climate change, he added. The youth, being the agents of change, entrepreneurs, and innovators, were valuable contributors to climate action, he said.

Earlier, Chairperson of the Senate's Standing Committee on Climate Change Senator Seemee Ezdi stressed the need for accountability of the Global North, since the underdeveloped world currently faced the consequences of its environmental excesses that formulated 92 percent of total world Green House emissions. She asserted that it was crucial that those countries kept the commitments made on various global forums. Pakistan, she said, had faced the worst consequences of global warming and was in need of global justice. WWF Director of Policy and Governance Dr Imran Khalid stressed the need for the implementation of policies so that Pakistan could play a role in reducing the immense environmental threat it faced.

He said Pakistan called for global justice and the developed world kept its commitments yet, it was essential that "we should be self-reliant and make decisions to control the damage at our own end". WWF Director General DrHammad Naqi Khan viewed that Pakistan must make a crucial shift towards alternate energy resources in order to protect the environment on an urgent basis. He stressed the need for Pakistan to negotiate the latest technology in that context from China which was the world leader in renewable energy resources. He said it was crucial that "we take the reins of survival in our hands, and ensure that we will make and adhere to policies on hospital waste management, forest degradation, and renewable energy". He said stringent measures must be taken to ensure daylight conservation in order to restore the ailing environment to health. He said China and the United States contributed 50 percentof the total Green House emissions of the world. Pakistan in comparison contributed just one percent, yet it was important that the same was rectified with sound policies to "ensure our survival", he added.

The seminar, which commenced with a welcome message from Secretary Senate Mohammad Qasim Samad Khan, was attended by senators Asad Ali Junejo, Syed Ali Zafar, Muhammad Akram, Tahir Bizenjo, Professor Dr Meher Taj Roghani, Fauzia Arshad, Faisal Saleem Rehman, Danesh Kumar, Rubina Khalid, Naseema Ehsan,Gurdeep Singh, Faisal Javed, Zeeshan Khanzada, Keshu Bai, Abida Muhammad Azeem, Sardar Muhammad Shafeeq Tarin, Seemi Ezdi, Khalida Sikander Mandhero, Engr Rukhsana Zuberi and Syed Sabir Shah.
(@FahadShabbir)

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday met the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum Professor Klaus Schwab, on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Forum being held in Davos, Switzerland

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ) :Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday met the Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum Professor Klaus Schwab, on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Forum being held in Davos, Switzerland.

The foreign minister thanked Klaus Schwab for Pakistan's long-standing relationship with the World Economic Forum.

He also discussed invigorating Pakistan's economy and promoting international cooperation.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ) :Minister for National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination, Abdul Qadir Patel on Tuesday said that the government was striving to utilize all available resources for ensuring Primary health care and achieving universal health coverage (UHC) in the country.

The minister said in a statement on the occasion of a national event jointly organized by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and Agha Khan University (AKU), which was held to share the experience of developing the national Universal Health Coverage-Benefit Package (UHC-BP) in Pakistan, its provincial localization and to review future challenges and opportunities.

The minister said that Universal Health Coverage was the only way to guarantee the socio-economic well-being of our communities in the context of health. He added that maintaining progress toward UHC was challenging and was first and foremost a political choice.

He appreciated the provincial and federating area health departments and health development partners for their extensive support and contribution towards UHC.

Minister of State for Health, Dr. Mahesh Kumar Malani said that the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination was committed to helping the people in maintaining and improving their health to bring the population of the country among the healthier nations in the region.

He said that the development of national and provincial and federating area Essential Packages of Health Services (EPHS) was an important milestone in the healthcare reforms journey for Pakistan as it was a stepping stone to building a resilient and responsive healthcare system that would inevitably contribute to improving the health of the people.

On the occasion, WHO Representative, Dr. Awad Mataria congratulated the Government of Pakistan for its consistent effort toward the development of a national package of essential health services and its localization at the provincial and federating area level.

He stressed that as the EPHS had been developed, its implementation was more important and for which multi-sectoral collaboration is crucial. He added that the health security agenda should be enhanced along with the programmatic monitoring.

Dr Ala Alwan from Disease Control Priorities (DCP3) Secretariat appreciated the Government of Pakistan for their hard and dedicated work.

He stressed the role of the Ministry of Planning and Finance towards the implementation of EPHS as their engagement was required for sustainable financing of EPHS.

He added that the private sector should be involved in the implementation phase as the primary healthcare services were majorly delivered by the private sector in Pakistan.

He mentioned that retaining the capacity in the Ministry of National Health Services and partner institutes was necessary for the sustainability of the UHC-BP.

Special Secretary of Health, Mirza Nasir ud din Mashood said that the Ministry of National Health Services was committed to working closely with the provincial and federating areas and other stakeholders, not only for effective coordination but also to ensuring the provision of required technical support in health.

"Our common objective is to achieve universal health coverage through efficient, equitable, accessible, and affordable essential health services and fulfill international obligations and commitments." He requested all partners to work together and ensure the implementation of different UHC reforms in the country.

He said that the international community could help Pakistan in accelerating progress toward UHC in rebuilding the health architecture and more effective responses to health.

The event was attended by representatives from Federal and provincial health departments, AKU, DCP3 Secretariat, UN agencies, health development Partners, and other stakeholders.
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Deputy Chairman Senate Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi Tuesday underscored the importance of making climate change and global warming a part of the educational curriculum to sensitize the youth about fallouts of the changing weather pattern

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ) :Deputy Chairman Senate Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi Tuesday underscored the importance of making climate change and global warming a part of the educational curriculum to sensitize the youth about fallouts of the changing weather pattern.

Mirza Afridi was presiding a seminar on the climate change where he said "it is imperative to add climate change at the grassroot of educational system to avert the looming threats of this phenomenon by educating the younger generations." The seminar, organized by the Parliamentary Development Unit (PDU) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), was aimed at enlightening the parliamentarians about impacts of climate change and remedies to keep the global challenge at bay.

The deputy chairman said that every individual of the society had a role to play in his/her capacity to help mitigate the challenge of climate change.

The role of youth which was the agent of change and innovation was crucial in that regard, he added.

Dr. Imran Khalid, Director Policy and Governance, WWF stressed the need for implementation of climate policies so that Pakistan could play a role in reducing the immense environmental threat it faced.

Dr Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General WWF was of the view that Pakistan must drift towards alternate energy resources in order to protect the environment on war footing. He underlined the need for Pakistan to negotiate with China for transfer of the latest technology for the purpose.

"It is crucial that we take the reins of our survival in our hands and ensure that we make and adhere to policies on Hospital waste management, forest degradation and renewable energy."The seminar was presided by Deputy Chairman Senate, Senator Mirza Muhammad Afridi. Members who attended included Senator Asad Ali Junejo, Senator Syed Ali Zafar, SenatorMuhammad Akram, Senator Tahir Bizenjo, Senator Professor Dr. Meher Taj Roghani, Senator Fauzia Arshad, Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman, Senator Danesh Kumar, Senator Rubina Khalid, Senator Naseema Ehsan, Senator Gurdeep Singh, Senator Faisal Javed, Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, Senator Keshu Bai, Senator Abida Muhammad Azeem, Senator Sardar Muhammad Shafeeq Tarin, Senator Seemi Ezdi, Senator Khalida Sikander Mandhero, Senator Engr. Rukhsana Zuberi and Senator Syed Sabir Shah.
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The Prime Minister has stressed the need to alleviate poverty and provide education, health facilities and employment to people, instead of wasting resources on weapons and wars.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-Jan 17th, 2023) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday called for serious and sincere talks between Pakistan and India to resolve their burning issues like Kashmir for progress and prosperity of both nations.

In an interview with Al Arabiya news channel, he stressed the need to alleviate poverty and provide education, health facilities and employment to people, instead of wasting resources on weapons and wars.

The Prime Minister said his message to Indian leadership and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks.

He said Pakistan and India have fought three wars which only brought more misery, poverty and unemployment to people of both countries.

Shehbaz Sharif said both countries are nuclear powers and armed to the teeth and if God forbid a war breaks out, there will be no one to tell what happened.

The Prime Minister regretted that flagrant human rights violations are taking place in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir on daily basis.

He said New Delhi has even usurped the autonomy given to Kashmiris under Article 370 of Indian Constitution, since August 2019.

Speaking about Pakistan's relations with Gulf countries, the Prime Minister said they are working together as strategic partners.

He said leadership of Pakistan and Gulf countries have resolved to cooperate with each other in the realm of trade and culture, besides projecting islam as a religion of peace and shunning all forms of terrorism.

Shehbaz Sharif said the brotherly Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia are reliable and trustworthy partners of Pakistan, and they have always extended tangible and substantial support to it to overcome its woes and difficulties.
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Sindh Labour Minister and Divisional President PPP Karachi Saeed Ghani, on Tuesday, said that PPP respects the mandate given by the people of Karachi and was ready to hold talks with Jamaat-e-Islami in the best interest of the metropolis

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ):Sindh Labour Minister and Divisional President PPP Karachi Saeed Ghani, on Tuesday, said that PPP respects the mandate given by the people of Karachi and was ready to hold talks with Jamaat-e-Islami in the best interest of the metropolis.

In the second phase of local government elections particularly in Karachi results of Jamaat-e-Islami, not the People's Party, were surprising, he said while addressing a press conference here at Sindh Assembly building.

General Secretary of PPP Karachi Division Javed Naguri, Najmi Alam, Salman Murad and others were also present at the occasion.

Saeed Ghani said that PPP and Jamaat-e-Islami have been given the mandate by the citizens of Karachi so it would be appropriate and in the best interest of citizens that PPP and JI openly accept each other's mandate.

"Just as we are recognizing your mandate, you should also recognize our mandate," he urged adding that every contesting party including Jamaat-e-Islami could try to bring mayor while PPP was ready to hold talks and find a way out.

He said that if Pervaiz Elahi with 10 seats can become the chief minister, then anything could happen in Karachi. "There is no truth in the news that People's Party is going to give mayor to the JI," he clarified on a query.

Saeed Ghani argued that results of the Jamaat-e-Islami, not the People's Party, were surprising in LG polls as 'Hafiz Sahib' has only one MPA from the metropolis and even that one was not on a ticket of his own party JI but of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

He said that Pakistan People's Party in Karachi worked very hard for LG elections and its victory must not be termed as surprising. PPPP had 5 National Assembly and 7 Provincial Assembly members in Karachi and it had achieved success in Karachi in 1977, 1979 and 1984 as well.

If PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami had any objections on results of LG elections, they should take action according to the law and challenge them, he advised and informed that PPP have also submitted several requests for recounting.

PPP had filed 6 recounting requests in District West, 4 in Malir, 3 in South and 4 in East, he added.

Ghani said PPP is the party of the entire federation of Pakistan and a bouquet of people of all colors, races and creeds. He added that among the winners of his party were people of all languages, colors and races.

To a question, he said that a total number of seats in Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) was 367 while elections were held on 235 seats. The house is not complete until the members on special and reserved seats are sworn in, he added.

Replying to a question on the selection of chairmen of Town Municipal Corporations, Saeed Ghani said that there were recounting requests filed by PPP and JI and decision regarding the TMC chairmen would be taken only after disposal of those requests.
Chief Executive of US-based non-profit, Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network (RAIN), Caroline Cummings visited the Business Incubation Center facility at COMSATS University Islamabad on Tuesday to further extend cooperation on women entrepreneurship

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2023 ) :Chief Executive of US-based non-profit, Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network (RAIN), Caroline Cummings visited the Business Incubation Center facility at COMSATS University Islamabad on Tuesday to further extend cooperation on women entrepreneurship.

During the visit, Ms. Cummings had one-on-one interactions with female students and faculty of COMSATS University Islamabad and discussed ways to promote women-led enterprises under a US-funded project for Pakistani women entrepreneurs.

As part of the program, Ms. Cummings also delivered a talk on "Women-Led Entrepreneurship" and informed participants about the opportunities of securing funding from the US State Department under the aegis of the Higher education Commission, Pakistan.

The delegates later called on Prof. Dr. Muhammad T. Afzal, Rector CUI, and briefed about their engagements in Pakistan. Prof. Afzal appreciated the efforts of RAIN and encouraged to take the program to remote campuses of Sahiwal, Vehari and Attock.

He said that the female students in these campuses were quite enthusiastic about such activities.

Prof. Afzal also said that it was the need of the hour to encourage women to contribute towards the national economy through export focused business in local as well as foreign markets. Present in the meeting were Prof. Shamsul Qamar, Head, Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization, Aqsa Khan, Project Director RAIN, Ehtisham Bokhari, Incharge BIC and Rashid Irfan, Manager Cubator.

COMSATS University Islamabad along with the US-based non-profit Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network had earlier secured a project worth 500,000 US Dollars for supporting Women-Led Startups in Pakistan.

This project will offer the opportunity to help Pakistani women to get seed money, a monthly stipend, and a fully sponsored one-week networking visit to the U.S later this year for qualifying female entrepreneurs.
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2023) A meeting of the G7 justice ministers is scheduled for the first half of July and will take place in Tokyo alongside the justice ministers' summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Japanese Justice Ministry said on Tuesday.

"MOJ will hold a G7 Justice Ministers' meeting in Tokyo in early July on the sidelines of an ASEAN - Japan Special Meeting of Justice Ministers. Japan will serve as a bridge between the G7 and ASEAN member states to promote the rule of law in the international community," the ministry wrote on a twitter page devoted to the upcoming ASEAN-Japan special meeting of the justice ministers.

Japan will chair the G7 multilateral platform in 2023. The top-level G7 summit will be held in the city of Hiroshima from May 19-21.

A meeting of the G7 foreign ministers is scheduled to take place in Karuizawa  a famous resort in the Japanese prefecture of Nagano  from April 16-18.

The G7 finance ministers and heads of central banks will, in turn, meet in the city of Niigata from May 11-13. The G7 ministers for climate, energy and environment will hold a meeting in the city of Sapporo from April 15-16.

In addition, Tokyo has already confirmed meetings of the G7 health ministers in the city of Nagasaki, the labor ministers in the city of Kurashiki, and the agriculture ministers in the city of Miyazaki. The dates of the events will be announced later.

The G7 group of seven largest economies includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
La presidenta @DinaErcilia, junto a la ministra de Salud, Rosa Gutierrez, visito el Instituto Nacional de Oftalmologia (@INO_Peru), para anunciar el inicio del programa de desembalse quirurgico oftalmologico que se realizara a nivel nacional. pic.twitter.com/IF1eO31ULF
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2023) Greece's imports of goods from Russia increased 2.25 times from January to November 2022 compared to the same period last year despite Western sanctions against Moscow, the Greek statistical office Elstat said Tuesday.

"During the period January-November 2022 the value of imports of Greece from Russia was 8,465.7 million Euros ($9.1 million) recording an increase of 125.3% in comparison with the period January  November 2021 when it was 3,757.4 million euros," the statistical office said.

The value of exports from January to November 2022 was 148.1 million euros, down 18.8% compared to the same period last year, when the figure stood at 182.4 million euros.

The balance of bilateral trade from January to November 2022 was negative and reached 8.317 billion euros, while the bilateral trade deficit amounted to 3.

574 billion euros in the same period last year, according to the statistical office.

In November 2022, Greece imported Russian goods worth 715.7 million euros, up 29.2% compared to November 2021, when the figure stood at 554.1 million euros. The value of Greek exports to Russia in November 2022 was 10.9 million euros, down 52.0% from 22.7 million euros in November 2021. The trade deficit between Greece and Russia in November 2022 stood at 704.8 million euros.

For all of 2021, the total value of Greek imports from Russia was 4.302 billion euros, about half as much as in the first 11 months of 2022.

Earlier in January, Elstat reported that Greece's 11-months foreign trade deficit of 2022 exceeded 35 billion euros, increasing by 13 billion compared to the same period last year.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2023) Tehran and Ankara intend to implement a comprehensive strategic cooperation plan as soon as possible, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Tuesday.

"One of the main topics of our conversation was the focus on the speedy implementation of a comprehensive plan of strategic cooperation between Iran and Turkey," Amirabdollahian said during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The Iranian diplomat also noted that during the hour-and-a-half-long conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, they discussed bilateral cooperation in the fields of security and counter-terrorism, as well as the preparations for the upcoming visit of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Ankara.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2023) - Maj. Gen. Oleg Yegorov, deputy head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, said at a briefing that the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group (banned in Russia) shelled Syria's Idlib de-escalation zone twice over the past 24 hours.

"Two shelling attacks from the positions of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group were registered in the Idlib de-escalation zone over the past day," Maj.

Gen. Yegorov said.

"One attack (was recorded) in Idlib province, one in Latakia," he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry's Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides and Control over the Movement of Refugees in the Syrian Arab Republic was established in February 2016.

Its tasks include the signing of agreements on illegal armed groups and individual settlements joining the regime of cessation of hostilities, as well as coordinating the delivery of humanitarian aid.
GENEVA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2023) The Russian Permanent Mission in Geneva demanded that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan pay "very close attention" to the situation with the arrest of Sputnik Lithuania editor Marat Kasem, Russian Permanent Representative Gennady Gatilov said.

The diplomat called the actions of the Latvian authorities, who arrested the journalist, a rough fight against alternative points of view and an attempt to intimidate "dissident" media.

"We have sent official notes to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and the Special Rapporteur of the HRC on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan urging them to pay the closest attention to this incident," Gatilov said in a statement.

The permanent mission expects to receive a reaction to the political persecution of representatives of the Russian-speaking journalistic community in Latvia, he added.

Kasem is a citizen of Latvia and has been living and working in Moscow for several years in the Rossiya Segodnya media group, which also includes Sputnik Lithuania.

On December 30, the journalist arrived in Latvia for family reasons. According to Sputnik Lithuania, he was detained, and on January 5, the Riga court took him into custody, the journalist has already been transferred to the Riga Central Prison.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that the detention of Kasem in Latvia is the revenge of the dictatorial regimes for his adherence to principles and constitutes terror against dissent. Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova called the detention of the editor-in-chief of Sputnik Lithuania an attack on freedom of speech and appealed to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The head of the Union of Journalists of Russia, Vladimir Solovyov, commenting on the situation, told RIA Novosti that the UJR considers this one of the most serious violations and will send information about what is happening to all international journalistic human rights organizations.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier that Kasem's detention is a revenge of dictatorial regimes. Rossiya Segodnya Director General Dmitry Kiselev said that the detention of Kasem was an act of revenge against Russian media.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry downplayed President Yoon Suk Yeol's remarks implying difficult relations between the United Arab Emirates and Iran, saying they had nothing to do with ties between Seoul and Tehran, the Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2023) The South Korean Foreign Ministry downplayed President Yoon Suk Yeol's remarks implying difficult relations between the United Arab Emirates and Iran, saying they had nothing to do with ties between Seoul and Tehran, the Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.

On Monday, while addressing South Korean troops in the UAE, Yoon called Iran the "enemy and biggest threat" of the Arab monarchy and compared relations between the two states with those of Seoul and Pyongyang. Tehran requested an explanation of those remarks from Seoul.

The South Korean Foreign Ministry communicated a message saying the president was simply encouraging troops. Seoul also added that there was no need for "unnecessary overinterpretation" since Yoon's remarks were "irrelevant" to the country's relations with Iran, the news agency reported.

"Since forging diplomatic ties with Iran in 1962, our country has long maintained friendly and cooperative ties with Iran, and our commitment to continue developing the friendly bilateral relations with Iran remains firm," the ministry said in a statement cited by the agency.

Later in the day, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lim Soo-suk said that the message had been conveyed to Tehran through diplomatic channels. He also expressed Seoul's hope that Iran "well understands the intention" of Yoon's remarks.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2023) Ukraine is now one step away from a religious catastrophe and can face the worst inter-confessional conflict in the history of Europe, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said.

"Mr.

President, the latest area of Kiev's repressive policy is its war against canonical orthodoxy," Nebenzia said during a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday. "Ukraine has been brought to the brink of a large scale inter-religious conflict, which the history of modern Europe has not yet seen... Ukraine is now literally a step away from a fratricidal domestic religious catastrophe. However, the regime (of Volodymyr Zelenskyy) is simply pouring fuel into the fire."
(@FahadShabbir)

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2023) US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman has traveled to Kiev to meet with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the State Department said in a statement on Monday.

"Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, and Under Secretary of Defense Dr. Colin H. Kahl traveled to Kyiv today to meet with President Zelenskyy, members of the Office of the President, and senior Ukrainian officials to reaffirm the United States' strong and steadfast commitment to Ukraine," the State Department said.

It said that prior to the visit, the delegation made stops in Germany and Poland to review US security assistance to Ukraine.

"While in Kyiv, Deputy Secretary Sherman, Principal Deputy NSA Finer, and Under Secretary Kahl met with Prime Minister Shmyhal to discuss how U.

S. and international assistance has helped stabilize Ukraine's economy and how we can develop an enduring U.S.-Ukraine trade and investment partnership as Ukraine rebuilds," the State Department said.

Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 in response to calls by the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics for protection from Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the operation, which targets Ukrainian military infrastructure, aims to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine, and to completely liberate Donbas.

Western nations have imposed numerous sanctions on Russia and have been supplying weapons to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said any cargo that contains weaponry for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia.
The United States and Taiwan held a four-day negotiating round in Taipei to discuss trade facilitation and good regulatory practices, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th January, 2023) The United States and Taiwan held a four-day negotiating round in Taipei to discuss trade facilitation and good regulatory practices, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said on Tuesday.

The negotiating round for the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade took place from January 14-17.

"The two sides exchanged views on proposed texts covering trade facilitation, anticorruption, small and medium-sized enterprises, good regulatory practices, and services domestic regulation. Officials also reached consensus in a number of areas and pledged to maintain an ambitious negotiating schedule in the months ahead to continue this momentum," the USTR said in a statement.

The USTR and Assistant US Trade Representative Terry McCartin led the US delegation.

The delegation also included officials from the Department of State, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, the food and Drug Administration, and the US Agency for International Development.

The meeting was held under the auspices of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States (TECRO).

In August 2022, China suspended negotiations with the United States in a number of areas after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. China condemned Pelosi's trip in the strongest terms, saying it was a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of Taiwan.
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Malawis Catholic Diocese of Dedza is training children to plant more trees and take care of their environment.

Sam Kalimba  Dedza, Malawi.

The Diocese of Dedzas Pontifical Mission Society (PMS) through its tree planting activity of the Holy Childhood project with support from Holy Childhood Society of Slovakia (Missio Slovakia) planted over 10,000 trees on 7th January around Tsangano Parish.

Teaching children to love nature

PMS Director in the Diocese Fr. Peter Madeya says the Diocese of Dedza through PMS are implementing the project of planting trees in the Diocese so that children will grow with love for nature.

Amplifying Pope Francis' call

We are amplifying the call by Pope Francis in his encyclical of May 2015, Laudato Si by putting it in the lives of those that define the future Church, the children. We believe that if we implement together with children the concept of planting and nurturing trees, they will remain focused in praising the Lord God through their acts of caring nature, said Madeya

Some of the children involved in the tree planting exercise.

Fr. Madeya explained that the tree planting exercise took place on the eve of this years Epiphany Sunday to let children realise that God reveals Himself through the natural environment and that whenever they are planning for liturgical activities, they should mainstream the activities of taking care of the environment.

Tsangano Parish in the Diocese engaged Holy childhood animators to guide the children in carrying out the activity.

90% tree survival rate

Two hundred and thirty-five children participated in the exercise from three different locations of Tsangano Parish. We have a woodlot of 4,000 trees that we planted last year at Bayani church where 47 children this year were led to take care of them. We registered a positive tree survival rate of about 90% at Bayani. At Muuso Church, 78 children were assisted to plant 3000 trees and at Tsangano Church 110 children were helped to plant 8000 trees, said Fr. Madeya.

He said that the trees have since been handed over to church councils which will be using small Christian communities and members from different church groups through Holy childhood to nurture the woodlots.

Apart from the council structures we will hire three attendants per centre who will be guarding the trees against domestic animals and people from encroachment, he said.

(Amecea News)
In the aftermath of the attack on a parish residence in the Catholic Diocese of Minna, which claimed the life of Fr. Isaac Achi, the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, reacts to the ongoing violence and expresses sorrow for all the victims.

By Antonella Palermo and Deborah Castellano Lubov



"The proximity of elections, terrorism, ethnic clashes, and organised crime are some of the factors that make the country particularly unstable."

Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi, the Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria, made this obsevation about Nigeria's volatile context in an interview with Vatican News Antonella Palermo.

Their conversation came in the aftermath of an attack early Sunday on a parish residence in the Catholic Diocese of Minna, in which Father Isaac Achi brutally lost his life. Bandits targeted the priests' residence of the Church of Sts Peter and Paul, in Kafin-Koro, in the Paikoro region.

Fr. Achi was burnt alive, while assistant parish priest, Fr. Collins Omeh, was shot and injured while trying to escape. He remains in hospital and is responding to treatment.

Archbishop Filipazzi reflected on the violence, noting that many details are still unknown and still need to be better understood. However, he did shed light on the situation in the country as a whole.

Read also 15/01/2023 Nigeria: Catholic priest killed and another injured after attack by bandits A Catholic priest was killed in Nigeria when his house was set on fire by bandits, who also shot and injured another priest as he attempted to flee.



Factors leading to violence

"First of all," said the Apostolic Nuncio, "we are just a few weeks away from important elections that will call a new president to lead this great country, and so elections always bring instability."

"The country being so large," he said, "there are various factors that lead to violence: terrorism, ethnic clashes, organised crime... All this, also in an economic context that certainly is not flourishing. If we put all these aspects together, we can see how serious the situation really is."

The most vulnerable



"Obviously," Archbishop Filipazzi added, "those who suffer most are the people who are most exposed: both because they have no possibility of protecting themselves and because they live in areas that are more deprived, less protected."

"But I would say that, because violence is blind," he continued, "when violence breaks out, sometimes it does not look anyone in the face and strikes in all sectors of society."

The Nuncio acknowledged it strikes in all areas and leaves victims of all faiths.

Responsibilities of the State

The Apostolic Nuncio also shared his hopes for Nigeria during this difficult time.

I believe that we must hope and pray that, first of all, Nigerians are aware that they are the first to respond to this situation, that their State must be a State that is able to protect the rights and property of all citizens, without distinction.

"This must be everyone's aim," concluded Archbishop Filipazzi, "to create such a State, a State that is capable of fulfilling this mission. And this is certainly everyone's task, starting with those who have responsibility for government and administration."
The Archbishop of Colombo welcomes the Supreme Courts verdict condemning former President Maithripala Sirisena to pay compensation to the families of the victims of the bombing attacks of 21 April 2019.

By Lisa Zengarini

The former president of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, and four top officials have been sentenced by the Sri Lankan Supreme Court to pay 100 million rupees (273,000 USD) in compensation to the families of the victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

The ruling was issued on 12 January, following a lawsuit filed by 13 families, and local Church leaders and activists.

The Islamist suicide attacks, which hit three churches and three hotels in Colombo on 21 April 2019, killed over 270 people and injured about 500.

Sirisena and 4 officials resposible for failing to prevent the attacks

According to the courts verdict, Sirisena failed to prevent the massacre despite detailed intelligence reports suggesting such attacks were imminent. The main perpetrator of the attacks, Zaharan Hashim, had been on the states watch list for several years.

Along with Sirisena, former Sri Lankan police, intelligence and defense chiefs have been held accountable for not adopting preventive measures and ordered to pay compensation to the relatives of the victims.

This is the first time a Sri Lankan head of state has been found guilty for failing to prevent a terrorist attack. Sirisena had already been held responsible over the massacre by a special presidential probe on the case, but had never faced trial.

Read also 07/07/2022 Cardinal Ranjith reiterates call for Sri Lankan president's resignation The leading prelate of the Sri Lankas Catholic Church asks for the immediate formation of an interim government leading to general elections to overcome the ongoing economic and ...

Ranjith: An historic breakthrough

The Supreme Courts verdict is a major breakthrough after nearly four years of deadlock in the investigation, in which the Church and families of the victims have insistently accused Sri Lankan authorities of having neglected intelligence reports on the impending terrorist attacks, and then of covering up the real culprits for political gain.

These accusations have been voiced repeatedly and vehemently by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, who in a press conference on Friday, 13 January, hailed the Supreme Courts ruling as historic.
Sunday's bombing took place where worshipers were gathered for a service

Pope Francis expresses his condolences for the victims of an attack on a Pentecostal church in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

By Devin Watkins

As Pope Francis prepares to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo on 31 January to 3 February, violent attacks continue to leave many civilians dead or wounded, especially in the east of the Central African nation.

In the most recent attack, suspected terrorists bombed the Pentecostal church in the eastern city of Kasindi on Sunday.

Hundreds of worshipers had gathered to welcome new members to the community in baptism. A blast rocked the churchs courtyard, killing at least 14 people and wounding more than 40 others.

The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, and the Congolese army blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is allied to ISIS.

Read also 17/01/2023 People of DR Congo await 'healing' from Pope's upcoming visit The Apostolic Nuncio to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, says the country is hoping to receive a word of consolation from Pope Francis during his ...

Popes sorrow for attack

Pope Francis expressed his grief for the terrorist bombing in a telegram sent on Tuesday.

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin signed the telegram, which was addressed to Rev. Andre Bokundoa-Bo-Likabe, President of the Church of Christ in Congo.

The Pope said he was saddened to learn of the attack on a Pentecostal church in Kasindi, which caused the death of innocent people.

He also expressed his compassion and closeness to all the families affected by the tragedy.

The Holy Father entrusted the victims to the mercy of God.

Pope Francis concluded his telegram by praying to Christ, the Lord of life, that those affected might find consolation and trust in God and invoking upon them the gift of peace.

Decades of violence

Violence has claimed many lives in eastern Congo for decades, with over 120 armed groups and militias active in the region.

At least 6 million people have been internally displaced by the violence, many of whom are facing extreme food insecurity, according to the United Nations.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan has to re-open the Lachin corridor, ensure freedom and security of movement without any preconditions, Czech Member of Parliament Marek Benda said in a statement reacting to the Azeri blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

Deeply concerned about the continuing blockade of Lachin corridor. The periodic violations and provocations of the ceasefire regime, now the deprivation of 120.000 people from the primary source of livelihood products risk severe humanitarian consequences.

Azerbaijan has to re-open the corridor, ensure freedom and security of movement without any preconditions. The way forward is the continuation of negotiations on the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, restoration of territorial integrity of Armenia after Azerbaijani aggression in September [2022], and the establishment of lasting peace and stability in the region, Marek Benda, the Head of the Czech Republic-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group and head of the ruling faction in the Chamber of Deputies said in the statement.
Al-Shabab launched a deadly attack on a Somali military base on Tuesday, just a day after the government claimed a "historic victory" over the jihadists with the capture of a strategic coastal town.

There were conflicting reports about the death toll after the Islamist fighters stormed the camp in the town of Hawadley north of the capital Mogadishu.

Army chief Odowaa Yusuf Rage said on national radio that five soldiers including a senior officer had died in the attack claimed by the al-Qaida-allied militant group.

A clan militia commander near Hawadley, which lies in the central Hirshabelle state, said 11 soldiers had died.

The Islamists detonated a car packed with explosives outside the camp 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Mogadishu before gunmen stormed the compound, witnesses and security officials said.

Al-Shabab, which controls swathes of countryside in Somalia, claimed responsibility for the attack via its communication channels.

In recent months, the army and local clan militias have retaken chunks of territory from the militants in Galmudug and Hirshabelle states in an operation backed by US air strikes and an African Union force.

But despite the gains, al-Shabab has demonstrated the ability to strike back with lethal force against civilian and military targets.

The Hawadley base had only been recaptured from al-Shabab in October last year by the Somali National Army (SNA) and allied militias.

Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre on Monday proclaimed a "historic victory" over Al-Shabaab after the army took control of the strategic city of Haradhere in central Galmudug state without a fight.

"The brave members of the national armed forces... have destroyed the enemy of the nation and liberated the strategic port town of Haradhere," he said in a statement.

Haradhere had been a key supply route for Al-Shabaab for both people and goods after it seized the port in 2010, dislodging local militias and pirates.

'Attempt to distract'

Tuesday's attack "demonstrates al-Shabab's continued ability to produce explosive devices and deploy them within Hirshabelle state, where the offensive originally began", said International Crisis Group's senior analyst for eastern Africa, Omar Mahmood.

"The group has mounted a number of similar assaults recently, likely an attempt to distract the government by attacking multiple locations," he told AFP in a message.

On Saturday, eight people were killed in a roadside bombing claimed by al-Shabab in central Somalia, police said. Earlier this month, 19 people were killed in twin car bombings in Mahas, a town in Hiran district in Hirshabelle.

Rage said the army had repelled the assault in Hawadley and was pursuing the militants who got away.

"Five members of the army were martyred, including a senior military officer," he said, adding that the army had killed 21 al-Shabab fighters.

Ahmed Mohamud, an SNA military commander in the nearby town of Balcad, said more than 10 people had died, but added that it was not clear how many were soldiers and that the toll was provisional.

He said the army was "in full control" of the area.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had declared "all-out war" on the jihadists after taking office in May last year.

Last week, he called on ordinary Somalis to help flush out members of the jihadist group he described as "bedbugs".

Although forced out of Mogadishu and other main urban centers more than a decade ago, al-Shabab remains entrenched in parts of rural central and southern Somalia.
Somalis are hailing the capture of the port town of Haradhere as a major victory in the fight against the Islamist militant group al-Shabab. The port, once a base for Somali pirates, was a key revenue source for the militants. But analysts say holding onto Harahere and other territories seized from the militants while winning over locals will be a challenge.

The capture of Harardhere is perhaps the single biggest trophy for the Somali army and clan militia who have been waging a ground offensive against al-Shabab since July.

At the height of piracy in Somalia in 2011, Harardhere was the main operating port for pirates hijacking ships at seas for ransom. But it was seized by al-Shabab, which has used it since then to generate revenue by taxing imported goods.

Somalias Defense Minister Abdulkadir Nur lauded the capture of Harardhere which adds to a growing list of towns and villages falling into government hands.

He said, we want to thank all the armed forces, particularly the Somali army which made it possible to dislodge the enemy from the two districts which are Gal'ad and Harardhere districts.

Shoki Hayir, a lecturer at SIMAD University and a conflict researcher, told VOA the capture of Harardhere was a significant step for the military campaign which has been running for close to eight months.

He said it is a historic victory achieved by Somali and the local forces. It is a victory that boosts the morale of the troops and a significant achievement registered by the government led by Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and this will speed up operations to liberate the country.

Despite this series of victories by the Somali army, Hayir says government will need to build the confidence of the local communities and quickly establish a presence to ensure these newly liberated areas do not fall back into al-Shabab hands.

He said it is good for the top government leaders to visit the liberated areas urgently to boost the morale of the locals and engage with them as the areas were under al-Shabaab control for a long time. He said, it is also important for the armed forces and the local militias to establish bases in the liberated areas to avoid the loss of those areas once again.

Ahmed Hadi, the director of Somali Civic House, a policy and governance think tank in Mogadishu, says the capture of Harardhere is not only a victory for the military but for the locals.

He said, the recapture of Harardhere is an important move as it is part of a plan to decentralize the administration. The town is also crucial for the movement of people and goods because those areas had been locked off from the rest of the country for a long time.

Hadi also said the government will need to be ready for possible local conflicts over resources.

Last year, President Mohamud declared an all-out war against al-Shabab, which has been fighting Somali governments for the past 15 years.

The government says it is also waging financial warfare against the group. President Mohamud told a gathering in Mogadishu last week that the government has closed 250 bank accounts and 7 mobile money accounts suspected to be linked to al-Shabab.

This move, he said, is denying the militant group money to fund its operations.
Belarus on Monday began the trial in absentia of opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the countrys state-run Belta news agency said.

Tsikhanouskaya fled Belarus after facing President Alexander Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential elections that drew mass protests over allegations of electoral fraud that gave Lukashenko a new term.

Speaking to news agencies in Switzerland, Tsikhanouskaya called her trial a farce and said she was not given access to court documents.

The charges against her include treason, conspiracy to seize power and leading an extremist organization.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
British Foreign Minister James Cleverly will seek to bolster support for Ukraine on a trip to the United States and Canada which begins on Tuesday, ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion by Russia.

Britain has been a steadfast supporter of Kyiv since Russia's invasion last February, and at the weekend pledged to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks and other heavy weaponry to Ukraine.

Germany is under pressure to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but its government says such tanks should be supplied to Ukraine only if there is agreement among Kyiv's main allies, particularly the United States.

Cleverly will tell U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly that it is the right time to go "further and faster" to give Ukraine military support.

"Today we stand united against Putin's illegal war, and we will continue to use our uniquely strong defense and security ties to ensure that, in the end, the Ukrainian people will win," Cleverly said in a statement ahead of the trip.

The British foreign ministry also said Cleverly would raise the topic of Iran while on the trip after Britain temporarily recalled its ambassador following the execution of British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari on Saturday.
Activists in Cameroon are urging more women candidates to enter races for Senate seats before a January 28 deadline. Only 26 members of Cameroon's 100-member senate are women, a number advocates want to see doubled. But patriarchal beliefs and a lack of political support are preventing more women from contesting the March election.

Female activists have been visiting political party leaders in northern Cameroon to push for greater representation for women in Cameroons upper house of parliament, the Senate.

Cameroons president, Paul Biya, announced last week that senate elections will be held March 12 with a registration deadline of January 28.

The announcement prompted activists to push for more women candidates.

Aissa Doumara Ngatansou is with the Association for the Fight Against Violence on Women and Girls.

She says only 2 of the 10 former senate members from Cameroon's Far North region, where Maroua is located, are women. Ngatansou says she is visiting political parties that will contest the elections to tell them activists want gender parity among their candidates - half women and half men. She says its delightful that many women who were quiet in the past now want to take part in politics.

Cameroonian women have long raised complaints of low participation in politics ahead of elections.

Activists say patriarchal attitudes still prevail in many parts of Cameroon, where women are expected to get their husbands permission before running for office.

Funding campaigns is also a challenge, as many women candidates cannot afford the $1,650 deposit required to run for the Senate.

Justine Diffo is coordinator of the group More Women in Politics.

She says womens associations, wealthy donors, and political parties should assist women candidates with such campaign fees.

Diffo says it is the wish of Cameroonian women to see political leaders including President Paul Biya respect promises they made on several occasions to give equal chances (in politics) to men and women. She says the March 12 Senate elections provide an opportunity for Cameroon to prove to the world that parity is not just a slogan.

Political leaders have not responded to calls by rights groups for political parties to pay the deposit for women candidates.

The ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) party said in a press release it is examining issues raised by women activists and will do all it takes to have more women run for the Senate.

The CPDM says four out of every ten candidates for the elections are expected to be women.

Marie Theres Abena Ondoua is Cameroon's minister of women's empowerment and the family.

Speaking on Cameroons state broadcaster CRTV Tuesday, she says government training for women who register as candidates has made progress in gender parity.

Ondoua says from just one female lawmaker 30 years ago, Cameroon today counts 61 in the National Assembly out of 180 members. She says 30 years ago, Cameroon had fewer than three female mayors but today there are 39 out of 360 in the country. Ondoua says Cameroon is determined to assist women who are hard working to gain political positions.

About 15,000 councilors in 60 divisions across Cameroon make up the electoral college that will vote for 70 of the senator seats.

The remaining 30 are directly appointed by President Biya.
Colombia's national police said Monday they confiscated an arsenal of weapons, including guns, grenades and a machine gun belonging to dissidents from the now-disbanded FARC rebel group.

Though the Estado Mayor Central dissidents have rejected the 2016 peace deal signed by the FARC, they agreed to a recent cease-fire with the government of leftist President Gustavo Petro, who has promised to make peace or surrender deals with Colombia's armed groups.

The arsenal of 33 guns, a M-60 machine gun, grenades, more than 30,000 bullets and uniforms, was being transported in two vehicles found abandoned in Narino province, in southwestern Colombia.

"The confiscated arsenal constitutes one of the most important blows in recent years," National Police Director-General Henry Armando Sanabria told journalists. "With this we avoid the strengthening of an armed group."

The guns, made in the United States, Israel and Russia, were used and it remained to be established if they had been purchased on the black market or stolen from the military during attacks, Sanabria said.

It was up to the government to decide if the movement of the arsenal constitutes a violation of the dissidents' cease-fire with the government, he added.

Colombia's police seized 15,572 weapons during 2022. A Reuters investigation last year showed that Mexican drug cartels that buy cocaine from Colombia's varied armed groups sometimes trade high-powered weapons for shipments of drugs.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said Tuesday the M23 rebel group had not fully withdrawn from areas it seized in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing the militia of faking an agreed pullback of its forces.

Regional leaders brokered an agreement in November under which the Tutsi-led group was meant to withdraw from recently seized positions by January 15 as part of efforts to end a conflict that has displaced at least 450,000 people and sparked a diplomatic crisis between Congo and neighboring Rwanda.

"Despite the international pressure, the group is still there," Tshisekedi said during a panel session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"They pretend to move, they act like they are moving, but they're not. They're simply moving around, redeploying elsewhere, and they stay in the towns that they have captured," he said. His comments were the most outspoken from the Congolese authorities so far on how they view the implementation of the peace deal.

"President Tshisekedi has only this to say. It is the government that does not respect the cease-fire, it also continues to arm armed groups," said Lawrence Kanyaka, a spokesman for the M23.

Earlier in January, an internal United Nations intelligence report said it was not possible to confirm the M23's purported withdrawal from some areas due to continued signs of troop movement, and its analysis indicated the group had seized new territory elsewhere.

Tshisekedi again accused Rwanda of fueling the conflict by supporting the rebels  an accusation also leveled by Western powers and U.N. experts. Rwanda firmly denies this.

Several civil society organizations have called for a demonstration on Wednesday in the provincial capital, Goma, to protest delays implementing the M23 withdrawal, although the city authorities have not authorized the march.


European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday she backed listing Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organization to respond to the "trampling" of "fundamental human rights" in the country.

Ties between the EU member states and Tehran have deteriorated in recent months as efforts to revive nuclear talks have stalled. Tehran has detained several European nationals and the bloc has become increasingly critical of a continuing violent crackdown on protesters, including executions.

"The reaction of Iran regime is atrocious and horrible and they are trampling over fundamental human rights," she told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

The European Union is discussing a fourth round of sanctions against Tehran over the crackdown and Iran's supply of weapons to Russia. Diplomatic sources have said members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will be added to the sanctions list next week.

But some member states have called for the bloc to go further and classify the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. Britain is expected to make the decision in the coming weeks.

"We are looking indeed at a new round of sanctions and I would support also listing the Revolutionary Guards. I have heard several ministers asking for that and I think they are right," Von der Leyen said.

Widespread anti-government demonstrations erupted in Iran in September after the death of young Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by morality police for allegedly flouting the strict dress code imposed on women.

Iranian leaders vowed tough action against protesters they have described as rioters, accusing enemies including the United States of fomenting the unrest.

Designating the IRGC as a terrorist group would mean that it would become a criminal offense to belong to the group, attend its meetings, and carry its logo in public.

Set up after Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution to protect the Shiite clerical ruling system, the Guards have great sway in Iran, controlling swathes of the economy and armed forces and put in charge of Irans ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

Speaking in an interview with Reuters, Finland's Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said the "appalling" capital punishment, stalling of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) and supply of drones and weapons from Iran to Russia needed a firm reaction.

"All these components: human rights, delivering arms to Russia and blocking the final agreement on JCPOA have been negative factors and I think the EU is more and more reacting. It's important we react strongly," he said, adding that there was still debate among EU members on sanctions and the listing of the IRGC.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom, whose country currently holds the EU presidency, cautioned that the IRGC was already listed on the tougher human rights sanctions regime, but that the debate was open among EU states.

"It's a tougher regime. I understand the word terror raises a lot of emotions but from a legal point of view the other sanctions regime which has entities and individuals being sanctioned is tougher," he told Reuters in an interview.
The Afghan Talibans ban on women attending universities has been devastating for foreign students who had been studying medicine in Afghanistan.

Last week, 105 female students at Afghan universities  all of whom are from Pakistans western Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan  staged a protest in Pakistans capital, Islamabad, appealing for international help.

The demonstrators Tuesday pleaded with the United Nations for help and asked the Pakistani government to provide special scholarships for students in public sector medical colleges.

We went to the United Nations organization in Islamabad, we appealed to them to arrange scholarships for us. We are 105 students; we are requesting them to provide us with the opportunity to continue our education, said Sana Gul, a third-year medicine student from a private university in the eastern Afghan city Nangarhar.

Kali Akbar, a female student who was preparing for her last exam when the ban was announced, says the Talibans restriction has been crushing on a personal level.

More than 20 female students that I know are dealing with depression and anxiety. They are currently under medical treatment," she said. "For a student, it is a very tough situation to deal with.

Spogmai Gul, another student from a private university in Nangarhar province, recalled waking up to the news that female students had been banned from private and public universities in Afghanistan. She said finishing school and getting her medical degree were her only dreams.

For the last three years we were studying medical in Afghanistan. We went through a lot of struggles; we paid private university fees. Everything will be wasted if we are not given a chance. We are calling on Pakistani government and the world to help us and provide us special scholarships, Gul said.

The Taliban have defended the restrictions on women and other hardline policies as based on Islamic jurisprudence. Many majority Muslim countries and Islamic scholars have rejected that reasoning.

There are signs that the Talibans radical ideology and hardline policies are having a broader cultural impact in the region. Syed Irfan Ashraf, assistant professor in the department of journalism at the University of Peshawar in Pakistan, said the Talibans ban on womens education and increased restrictions on how women dress have affected attitudes in Pakistan.

The Taliban brought an extremist ideology in Afghanistan with their power, which has affected all the border areas from Baluchistan to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said.

This is bringing change in youths behavior in Pakistan because Taliban claim they have defeated United States in the region and say they are ready to defeat other non-believers. So, this has created an ideological encouragement for people in Pakistan.

The Taliban have imposed wide-ranging restrictions on women since returning to power in August 2021. The Islamist group has closed girls secondary schools and universities, banned women from public parks, gyms, and baths, imposed mandatory face coverings for women, restricted work and imposed executions and harsh public punishments such as flogging.

No government has recognized the Talibans administration, mainly over human rights concerns and the treatment of Afghan women.

This story originated in VOAs Deewa service.
U.S. Army General Mark Milley and his Ukrainian counterpart met at a military base in southeastern Poland on Tuesday in their first face-to-face talks, a sign of the two countries' growing coordination supporting Ukraine's defense against Russia's 11-month invasion.

Milley, chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ukrainian General Valerii Zaluzhnyi talked for two hours at the undisclosed site near the Ukraine-Poland border. The two top military chiefs had never met but have talked often since Russian forces stormed into Ukraine last February.

The meeting came as the United States and its Western allies continue to ship billions of dollars or armaments to Ukraine to fend off Russian airstrikes, even as the ground battles in eastern Ukrainian territories have resulted in something of a stalemate, with neither side able to take full control.

While the U.S. has maintained its stance of not sending troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces, it has become more strategically involved in the war, recently agreeing to send a Patriot air defense missile battery to Ukraine and train Ukrainian soldiers at a military base in the U.S. on how to use it.

Army Colonel Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, told two reporters traveling with Milley that he and the Ukrainian military leader felt it was important to meet in person.

"These guys have been talking on a very regular basis for about a year now, and they've gotten to know each other," Butler said. "They've talked in detail about the defense that Ukraine is trying to do against Russia's aggression. And it's important  when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, there's a difference."

Butler said the meeting would allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyi's concerns and information to the other military leaders during a NATO chiefs' meeting later this week. Milley, he said, will be able to "describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that. And the way he does that is one, by understanding it himself, but by also talking to Zaluzhnyi on a regular basis."

In addition, Milley also will be able to describe the new training of Ukrainian forces that the U.S. has started at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany, Butler said.

Milley saw arms instruction for 600 Ukrainian troops during a nearly two-hour visit there on Monday, which the U.S. hopes will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks.

Milley and other allied defense chiefs are meeting in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group includes about 50 top defense officials, including U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.

On the battlefield, Russia in recent days claimed it took control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar, although Ukraine said that its troops are still fighting there. In a barrage of airstrikes last weekend, Russia hit Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 45.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Monday that the attack in Dnipro highlights the need for faster and more coordinated decisions on arms supplies to Ukraine.

"What happened in Dnipro  only underscores how important it is to coordinate all the efforts of the coalition defending Ukraine and freedom," Zelenskyy said. "And to speed up decision-making."

Russian officials have repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine, including again Monday as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces "do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure. They strike military targets." Peskov said what happened in Dnipro was caused by Ukrainian air defenses.

Meanwhile, a man claiming to be a former commander in the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group who fought in Ukraine is seeking asylum in Norway after fleeing there last week.

Authorities in Norway said border guards detained a man near the Russia-Norway border early Friday.

A lawyer for Andrey Medvedev told news agencies that Medvedev was in Norway and seeking asylum.

"He has declared that he is willing to speak about his experiences in the Wagner Group to people who are investigating war crimes," lawyer Brynjulf Risnes said.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, Reuters and The Associated Press.

Anna Chernikova contributed to this report.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. State Minister and head of the Operational Headquarters in charge of responding to the blockade Ruben Vardanyan convened an emergency consultation regarding the disruption of gas supply by Azerbaijan.

Issues related to ensuring the uninterrupted functioning of essential facilities were discussed. State Minister Ruben Vardanyan tasked officials in charge of infrastructures to take measures and ensure the functioning of the essential facilities and the minimum demand of the population through alternative methods.

Electrical-energy supply also remains disrupted since January 9. Azerbaijan keeps barring repair crews from accessing the site of the damage for inspection. 120,000 people in Artsakh dont have access to energy and gas supply in freezing weather conditions.

Energy supply is currently carried out at the expense of highly limited domestic resources in Artsakh.
Indonesia is under increasing pressure to use its new one-year role as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to isolate Myanmars junta in a bid to end its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy opponents, analysts say.

But experts say reaching a consensus among the regional bloc remains a challenge in an area where Myanmars military still draws diplomatic cover from neighboring nations, as violence shows no signs of abating nearly two years after the February 2021 coup.

In its annual World Report released Thursday, Human Rights Watch flagged human rights abuses in Myanmar, also known as Burma, as one of Asias worst flashpoints.

Report authors say 16,000 people have been arbitrarily jailed for demonstrating in favor of a return to democracy, which ended when the military junta toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

An estimated 2,300 civilians have been killed in clashes with the military or airstrikes as the junta seeks to squash a sprawling rebellion, while the junta has also returned to the use of the death penalty after three decades.

We urge Indonesia to use its ASEAN chairmanship effectively to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, Elaine Pearson, director of Human Rights Watchs Asia Division, told reporters in Jakarta Thursday.

The worlds response to Russias invasion of Ukraine shows what is possible when the world acts in unison.

In 2021, Myanmar, an ASEAN member since 1997, agreed to a five-point plan to end the crisis, including ending the violence immediately, establishing a peaceful dialogue with opponents and allowing the ASEAN chair to appoint a special envoy.

But Myanmars junta, whose representatives have been barred from the blocs high-level meetings since the coup, has failed to abide by the agreement made with its regional counterparts.

Analysts say that has left a conundrum for the new ASEAN chair, Indonesia: Continue to let Myanmar dictate its terms of engagement with the region or pressure the junta into ending its campaign of violence.

Were looking to Indonesia to rise to that challenge  will it be easy? Of course not, knowing principles of non-interference, Pearson said.

ASEAN operates on a principle of cross-border non-interferencea value reflecting a politically complex region that spans communist dictatorships (Laos, Vietnam), military-steered quasi-democracies (Thailand, Cambodia) and Muslim-majority democracies (Malaysia, Indonesia).

So, to do this will require a lot of attention from [Indonesian Foreign Minister] Retno Marsudi and I really hope for the sake of the people of Myanmar that Indonesia does rise to that challenge.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has repeatedly called for an end to bloodshed, leading the most vocal criticism of Myanmars junta within a regional bloc more prone to tepid statements on the internal affairs of member states.

Reputation on the line

Experts say the rebellion against Myanmars junta is fast lurching toward an outright civil war, which will have ramifications for all of Southeast Asia, possibly marring ASEANs credibility and threatening a dangerous spillover of instability.

As its biggest and most consequential member, Indonesia's chairmanship is ASEAN's best hope to rein in Myanmar's bloody spiral from military coup to civil war, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, professor of International Relations at Chulalongkorn University.

But it will be a daunting task because the Myanmar junta has been intransigent, so far taking ASEAN for a ride.

Political fragmentation within the ASEAN bloc makes it difficult to achieve a firm position on Myanmar.

Thailands military-backed rulerswho last seized power from an elected government in their country in 2014share a long-established relationship with Myanmars junta and its leader, Min Aung Hlaing, complicating any moves to pressure the army into ending the violence.

Even as efforts to isolate Myanmar diplomatically gathered pace late last year, Thailand hosted Myanmars foreign minister.

It was very disconcerting and kind of undermined the effort to put more pressure on Myanmar, said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Asia Division. It sent the wrong signal.

Some analysts say Thailands position is nuanced, subject to instability and refugee flows along its border with Myanmar.

Thailand does not want to see the collapse of Myanmar, said Bangkok-based Kavi Chongkittavorn, an ASEAN expert. Thailand would be the most affected by the ongoing quagmire. Bangkok has been using quiet diplomacynot silent diplomacyto engage the junta.

Yet without a strong line by ASEAN, the violence will continue weakening the regional bloc, says Thitinan, suggesting actionable threats of suspension are among the tools Indonesia must consider using as ASEAN chair.

If the Myanmar crisis does not improve, ASEAN will be further marginalized in the eyes of the international community, he said.
For full coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, visit Flashpoint Ukraine.

The latest developments in Russias war on Ukraine. All times EST.

11 p.m.: Russian and Belarusian flags have been banned from the Melbourne Park precinct during the Australian Open after a complaint from the Ukraine ambassador to the country, a move that the Russian embassy described as "regrettable," Reuters reported.

Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ukraine's ambassador to Australia and New Zealand, posted a picture showing a Russian flag hanging from a bush beside the court where his compatriot Kateryna Baindl was playing her first-round match on Monday.

"I strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during the game of the Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Baindl at the Australian Open today," he wrote on Twitter. "I call on Tennis Australia to immediately enforce its 'neutral flag' policy."

Tennis Australia responded on Tuesday by banning the flags of the two countries. "Flags from Russia and Belarus are banned onsite at the Australian Open," Tennis Australia said in a statement.

10:25 p.m.:

9:30 p.m.: Russian navy's newest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine Generalissimo Suvorov is on its way to a temporary base for the Northern Fleet in the Arctic, Reuters reported Tuesday citing the TASS news agency, which quoted an unidentified defense source.

"Recently, the submarine cruiser Generalissimo Suvorov has started moving from Severodvinsk, where it was located at the Sevmash shipyard, to a temporary base for the Northern Fleet," the state agency cited its source as saying.

The strategic submarine was officially included into the Russian navy at the end of 2022 by President Vladimir Putin.

It is set to eventually join and bolster the Russian Pacific Fleet's force of nuclear-powered submarines and to be moved to the Rybachiy submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the summer.

The submarine is the sixth vessel of the Russian Borei-class smaller and stealthier submarines, Russian agencies have reported, a class of submarines that is replacing the country's previous generations of ballistic missiles submarines.

It carries up to 16 nuclear-tipped Russian Bulava missiles that each is capable of carrying more than one nuclear warhead.

8:50 p.m.:

7:00 p.m.: The Norwegian police unit that investigates war crimes said Tuesday that it wants to talk to a Russian asylum-seeker who reportedly is a former high-ranking member of the private Russian military contractor Wagner Group, The Associated Press reported.



Norways National Criminal Investigation Service, which takes part in the investigation of war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court, said it was in contact with Andrey Medvedev and his Norwegian lawyer and would like to conduct an interrogation of him in the near future. Medvedev has the status of a witness.



Last week, Medvedev, who says hes fears for his life, fled to Norway where he sought asylum. In a video posted by the Russian dissident group Gulagu.net, Medvedev said he came under Russian gunfire before he crossed into the Scandinavian country. In the video interview with France-based Gulagu, the ex-fighter says he feared experiencing the same fate as another recruit whose head was reportedly smashed in by a sledgehammer by the Wagner Group in a public execution.



Medvedev explained he had left the Wagner after his contract, initially from July to November, was extended without his consent, and was willing to testify about any war crimes he witnessed and denied he had participated in any.



The Wagner Group, owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with ties to Putin, includes a large number of convicts recruited in Russian prisons who have spearheaded attacks in the war with Ukraine.



5:30 p.m.: Current Time correspondent Andriy Kuzakov spent a day with a Ukrainian air reconnaissance unit along the front line between Bakhmut and Soledar, where brutal fighting continues to rage. Ukrainian military officials reported that Russian forces launched more than 70 attacks on January 16 around Bakhmut. Some 15 settlements were shelled, including Soledar, a town that Russian forces have claimed to control. Current Time, a co-production of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and VOA, has this report.

4:11 p.m.: The death toll in a Russian missile strike on an apartment complex in Dnipro, Ukraine, on January 14 has risen to 45, the Kyiv Independent reported late Tuesday, quoting Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko.

3:27 p.m.: VOA Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb reports that Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Tuesday at press briefing that the training of Ukrainian forces on the Patriot missile defense system has started at Fort Sill.

2:30 p.m.:

2:10 p.m.: The White House press office said in a statement that U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany on Tuesday.



The leaders discussed their steadfast support to Ukraine and condemned Russias aggression, according to the statement.



President Biden and Chancellor Scholz discussed their ongoing assistance to Ukraine, it added.



2:00 p.m.: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday he was convinced Europe's largest economy would not fall into a recession despite soaring energy and food prices in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.



German economic output stagnated in the final quarter of 2022 but grew 1.9% over the full year, data showed last week, coming in slightly higher than expectations.



"I'm absolutely convinced that this will not happen that we are going into a recession," he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. "We showed that we are able to react to a very difficult situation."



1:50 p.m.: Despite constant power cuts, attacks on infrastructure and fears that they could turn deadly at any time, locals in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, say they are trying to build their businesses and live as normally as possible. VOAs Heather Murdock reports.





1:35 p.m.: Turkey and the United States will aim to smooth out a series of disagreements between the NATO allies when the Turkish foreign minister visits Washington this week. But expectations that outstanding issues can be resolved are low, The Associated Press reported.



Mevlut Cavusoglu departs on Tuesday for a meeting on Wednesday with U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken on a rare visit by a top Turkish official. U.S. President Joe Biden s administration has kept its distance from Turkey because of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan s increasingly authoritarian direction and policies curbing rights and freedoms.



Positioned at the crossroads between East and West, Turkey remains strategically important for Washington. Last year, the Turkish government helped broker a crucial agreement between Russia and Ukraine that allowed millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to be transported to world markets, averting a food crisis amid the war.



NATO allies, however, frequently find themselves at odds over a number of issues, with the biggest disputes centering on Turkeys purchase of Russian-made missiles and American support for Kurdish militants in Syria.



1:20 p.m.: Russia's war against Ukraine is increasingly targeting the civilian population and the country's electricity infrastructure, in a bid analysts say seeks to break the will of the people. But huge power ships from Turkey could help to thwart Russia's goal, as VOAs Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.

1:05 p.m.: Kazakhstan will no longer allow Russian citizens to stay in the Central Asian country indefinitely by doing so-called visa runs every three months, according to a government directive published this week, Reuters reported.



The Astana government will disallow the practice from January 26, requiring Russians and citizens of other members of the Eurasian Economic Union, a post-Soviet bloc, to leave the country for at least 90 days after the permitted three-month stay.



The Interior Ministry, which proposed the reform, has said it would give the state greater control over immigration.



Tens of thousands of Russians, mostly young and middle-aged men, relocated to Kazakhstan last year as Moscow, embroiled in the Ukraine conflict, launched its first conscription campaign since World War II.



The Russian language is widely spoken in Kazakhstan and the two countries share the world's longest continuous land border, making Kazakhstan a popular choice among Russians fleeing the draft.



12:55 p.m.:



12:40 p.m.: The Netherlands will send a Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine, Dutch news agency ANP reported on Tuesday, citing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.



Rutte is currently in Washington D.C. meeting U.S. President Joe Biden.



ANP, citing a fireside chat between the two leaders, quoted Rutte as saying they would participate in a U.S.-German initiative to send the defense systems to Ukraine.



Rutte said he had earlier spoken by telephone with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss the decision.



12:30 p.m.:

12:15 p.m.: Ukraine's first lady told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday she would deliver a letter to China's delegation setting out President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's proposals for ending Russia's war against his country, Reuters reported.



China, like Russia a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is an important partner for Moscow and has refused to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.



In a speech urging delegates to do more to help end the war, Olena Zelenska said she planned to hand the letter to Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He  who spoke after her  for passing on to President Xi Jinping.



She said she also had letters for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss President Alain Berset.



"Today I will give the colleagues participating in this part (of the forum) 'formula letters' from the president of Ukraine," she said in Ukrainian.



Urging her audience in the Swiss resort of Davos to make greater use of their influence to end the fighting, she said global cooperation was needed to prevent the collapse of the lives to which people across the world have become accustomed.



11:55 a.m.:



11:40 a.m.: A NATO surveillance plane arrived in Romania on Tuesday to bolster the military alliance's eastern flank and help monitor Russian military activity, Reuters reports.



The plane, the first to be deployed, landed at an air base near Bucharest and two more are expected to land later in the day and on Wednesday. They are due to stay for several weeks.



NATO announced last week it would deploy the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance planes to Bucharest, where they will start reconnaissance flights solely over NATO territory.



"In the context of Russia's illegal war against Ukraine, NATO will monitor military activity on the eastern flank with the help of AWACS aircraft," Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said on Facebook.



NATO has boosted its air presence in eastern Europe and the Baltics since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, using fighter jets, surveillance planes and tankers.

11:20 a.m.: Oleksiy Yukov spent years trawling the sprawling Ukrainian countryside for the remains of fallen soldiers from World War I and II. In 2014, he began searching for the bodies of soldiers killed in a new conflict between Ukraine and Kremlin-backed separatists. Since February 2022, he has been busier than ever. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this report. (Warning: This video contains scenes some may find disturbing.)

11:05 a.m.: Germany's allies on Tuesday ramped up pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to allow the supply of German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine for deployment against Russia's invasion, ahead of a crunch defence ministers meeting on Friday, Reuters reported.

Berlin has so far resisted providing the modern tanks or allowing partners which have them to do so, saying Western tanks should only be supplied to Ukraine if there is agreement among Kyiv's main allies, particularly the United States.

Leopard battle tanks - the workhorse of armies across Europe - are widely seen as the only plausible choice to supply Ukraine with the large-scale tank force it needs. But they cannot be delivered without German re-export approval, so far withheld.

Western officials want to strike a balance between ensuring Ukraine can defend itself and not supplying arms that could encourage Kyiv to attack Russia itself or draw NATO into conflict with Moscow.

10:40 a.m.: Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, saying that the European Union and allies should have acted sooner and imposed stronger sanctions in 2014 when Russia took over the Ukrainian province of Crimea, and that had they done so, circumstances may have been different now in Ukraine. She said Europe was also too dependent upon Russian energy, which is causing a lot of problems everywhere in Europe right now. Speaking of Finlands NATO application, she said Finland and Turkey have spoken and agreed on the steps needed, Finland has now taken those steps, and it is waiting for Turkey to ratify the applications from Finland and Sweden.



10:25 a.m.: Ukraines first lady warned world leaders and corporate executives at the World Economic Forums annual gathering in the Swiss town of Davos that not all of them were using their influence at a time when Russias invasion leaves children dying and a world struggling with food insecurity, The Associated Press reported.



As the anniversary of the war nears, Olena Zelenska said Tuesday that parents are in tears watching doctors trying to save their children, farmers are afraid to go back to their fields filled with explosive mines and we cannot allow a new Chernobyl to happen, referring to the 1986 nuclear disaster as Russian missiles have pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure for months.



What you all have in common is that you are genuinely influential, Zelenska told attendees. But there is something that separates you, namely that not all of you use this influence, or sometimes use it in a way that separates you even more.



She spoke as hundreds of government officials, corporate titans, academics and activists from around the world who descended on the town billed as Europes highest. The weeklong talkfest of big ideas and backroom deal-making prioritizes global problems such as hunger, climate change and the slowing economy, but its never clear how much concrete action emerges to help reach the forums stated ambition of improving the state of the world.

10:10 a.m.:

10:00 a.m.: Russia expects Western sanctions to have a significant impact on its oil products exports and therefore its production, but that will likely leave more crude oil to sell, a senior Russian source with detailed knowledge of the outlook told Reuters.

In what the West casts as unprecedented sanctions and President Vladimir Putin deems a declaration of economic war, the United States and its allies are trying to constrict the economy of Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia.

In an attempt to punish Russia for the conflict in Ukraine, the European Union banned seaborne Russian crude imports from December 5 and will ban Russian oil products from February 5.

"The oil products' embargo will have a greater impact than the restrictions on crude oil," said the senior Russian source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity the situation.

The source said the sanctions will lead to more crude oil supplies from Russia, which lacks storage capacity for oil products.

9:50 a.m.: At one of Ukraines main hospitals for the war-wounded in Lviv, medical workers and patients say they are preparing for long-term and sustained violence by Russia against their country. VOA correspondent Heather Murdock and cameraman Yan Boechat visited the hospital January 16 to report on conditions there.

9:35 a.m.: President Joe Biden is set to host Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for talks as the U.S. administration looks to persuade the Netherlands to further limit Chinas access to advanced semiconductors with export restrictions, The Associated Press reported. Tuesdays wide-ranging talks are also expected to cover the countries efforts to thwart Russias ongoing invasion of Ukraine and an upcoming democracy summit, according to the White House.



Rutte said in a Twitter posting on Monday that he had spoken by phone with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about Saturdays Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro  one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in the nearly 11-month-old war. Authorities said the death toll from the strike rose to 40 and that 30 people remained missing Monday.



The horrific attack on an apartment block in Dnipro underscores just why Russia cannot be allowed to win this war, Rutte said in the posting. The coordination of international military support remains essential in the months ahead.



Ahead of Tuesdays meeting, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby praised the Netherlands as as a key supporter of security assistance in Ukraine. The Netherlands has committed about $2.7 billion (2.5 billion euros) in support for Ukraine this year. The money will be spent on military equipment, humanitarian and diplomatic efforts.

9:20 a.m.:



9:00 a.m.: The European Union has given Finland 242 million euros ($262 million) to set up for the first time a reserve against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats for use by all member states, the Finnish government said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.



"Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine has confirmed the need to strengthen the EU CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) preparedness," European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said in a statement.



The reserve will consist of rescue equipment and medical supplies, such as antidotes and radiation metres, that are intended to protect first responders and the civilian population, Finland's interior ministry said.



8:45 a.m.:



8:30 a.m.: The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in its daily report on Tuesday that Russians launched more than 70 attacks the previous day, shelling 15 settlements near the disputed city of Bakhmut in Donetsk, including the strategic town of Soledar, which has been all but razed to the ground by Russian shelling, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.



"The enemy does not abandon its intentions to seize the entire Donetsk region. It is conducting offensive actions in the Bakhmut and Avdiyivka directions," the General Staff said, adding that Russian forces also continued to press in the direction of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson.



Oleskiy Danylov, Secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, said on January 16 that Ukraine urgently needs more and better weapons as it expects Russia "to attempt to make a so-called final push," which could occur on the invasion's anniversary or in March.



"We must prepare for such events every day. And we are preparing," Danylov told Ukrainian television. "The first and last question is always about weapons, aid to help us defeat this aggressor that invaded our country," Danylov said.



The calls come as U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin prepares to visit Berlin on January 19 and then host a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group the following day at the U.S. military base in Ramstein to discuss further support -- including military aid -- for Ukraine with allies.

8:15 a.m.:



7:50 a.m.: Ukraine called off search and rescue operations on Tuesday at the rubble of an apartment building in the eastern city of Dnipro where at least 44 people were killed in a Russian missile attack, Reuters reported.



The State Emergency Service said 20 people were still unaccounted for after Saturday's attack and that the 44 confirmed dead included five children. Thirty-nine people had been rescued from the rubble and a total of 79 had been hurt, it said.



"At 1:00 p.m. on January 17, search and rescue operations in the city of Dnipro at the site of the rocket attack were completed," the emergency service wrote on the Telegram messaging app under a photograph from the scene.



The attack was the deadliest for civilians since the start a three-month Russian missile bombardment campaign. Regional authorities said on Tuesday the body of a child was among the last pulled out of the rubble.

7:35 a.m.:



7:05 a.m.: President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the Russian economy was likely to have shrunk by 2.5% in 2022, but that it was performing better than most experts had predicted, Reuters reported.



Putin, who was speaking at a meeting with top officials including the finance minister and central bank chief, said real wage growth needed to be stimulated.



"The actual dynamics turned out to be better than many expert forecasts. According to the Ministry of Economic Development, Russia's GDP in January-November 2022 declined, but only by 2.1%," Putin said.



"Some experts in our country, not to mention foreign ones, predicted a decline of 10% and 15% or even 20%. For the year as a whole, it is expected to fall by 2.5%," he added.



The war in Ukraine and ensuing barrage of Western sanctions have upended some sectors of Russia's economy, cutting its biggest banks off from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, or SWIFT, network, curbing its access to technology and restricting its ability to export oil and gas.



6:40 a.m.:

6:15 a.m.: NATO surveillance planes were due to arrive in Romania on Tuesday to bolster the military alliance's eastern flank and help monitor Russian military activity, Reuters reported.

NATO announced last week it would deploy the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance planes to Bucharest, where they will start reconnaissance flights solely over NATO territory.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, NATO has boosted its air presence in eastern Europe and the Baltics, including fighter jets, surveillance planes and tankers.

The aircraft deploying to Romania belong to a fleet of 14 NATO surveillance aircraft usually based in Germany. Around 180 military personnel will be deployed in support of the planes.

"As Russias illegal war in Ukraine continues to threaten peace and security in Europe, there must be no doubt about NATOs resolve to protect and defend every inch of Allied territory," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in a January 12 statement.

"Our AWACS can detect aircraft hundreds of kilometers away, making them a key capability for NATOs deterrence and defense posture."

6 a.m.:

5:30 a.m.: Russia's foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said on Tuesday that another meeting with U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns was possible, Reuters cited the state-run TASS news agency as reporting.

Naryshkin, head of Russia's SVR Foreign Intelligence Service, met Burns in Ankara in November.

U.S. officials said at the time that Burns had cautioned Naryshkin about the consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and raised the issue of U.S. prisoners in Russia.

When asked if there would be another such meeting, Naryshkin told TASS: "It's possible."

He said the meeting with Burns had been meaningful and had allowed Russia to clarify its position, TASS reported.

Burns is a former U.S. ambassador to Russia who was sent to Moscow in late 2021 by President Joe Biden to caution Putin about the troop build-up around Ukraine.

Naryshkin said Russia had "unprecedented" cooperation with China, including exchanges of large quantities of operational and signals intelligence, TASS said.

He said Russia was building up broad intelligence connections with its ally Iran, saying that "some special services are our partners."

Naryshkin also said he spoke at intervals to unidentified heads of European spy agencies about the situation in Ukraine, TASS reported.

Reuters also reported that the Kremlin said on Tuesday that any possible meeting between Naryshkin and Burns would "make sense."

"It can't be ruled out, and of course this kind of dialog makes sense," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. But he said he was not aware of any concrete date for such a meeting.

4:55 a.m.: Reuters reported that Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych tendered his resignation on Tuesday after a public outcry over comments he made suggesting a Russian missile that killed at least 41 people in the city of Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine.

Arestovych announced his resignation on Facebook after publicly apologizing and rowing back on his comments in a post on the Telegram messaging app. The Ukrainian Air Force says the apartment complex was hit by a Russian Kh-22 missile, which Kyiv does not have the equipment to shoot down.

"I offer my sincere apologies to the victims and their relatives, the residents of Dnipro and everyone who was deeply hurt by my prematurely erroneous version of the reason for the Russian missile striking a residential building," he wrote.

4:25 a.m.: Social Democrat (SPD) interior minister of the state of Lower Saxony Boris Pistorius is to serve as Germany's next defense minister, a party source told Reuters on Tuesday.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday as her government came under rising pressure to let allies send Ukraine heavy tanks, at the start of what is likely to be a pivotal week for Western plans to further arm Kyiv.

The Pioneer news portal and other local media also reported the planned appointment.

4:10 a.m.: The first item on the agenda of Germany's next defense minister will be whether to deliver main battle tanks to Ukraine, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told Deutschlandfunk radio broadcaster on Tuesday, according to Reuters.

"When the person, when the minister of defense, is declared, this is the first question to be decided concretely," he said on the sides of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday as her government came under rising pressure to let allies send Ukraine heavy tanks, at the start of what is likely to be a pivotal week for Western plans to further arm Kyiv.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday that he would act fast to replace Lambrecht. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, citing government sources, said a successor would be announced on Tuesday.

3:30 a.m.:

3:10 a.m.: Reuters reported Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region as saying on Tuesday they were in control of Soledar, repeating their earlier claim about the salt-mining town where intense fighting has taken place.

"On the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic, Russian troops liberated Soledar," they said in a post on Telegram.

Russia said on Friday its forces had taken control of Soledar, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said later that fighting for Soledar and other eastern towns and cities was continuing.

2:53 a.m.:

2:25 a.m.: According to Reuters, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said late on Monday that British Foreign Minister James Cleverly, who has been sanctioned by Moscow over Ukraine, is yet to answer for his support of Kyiv.

Cleverly said on Monday he had been sanctioned by the Russian government and added that if that were the price for supporting Ukraine  he was happy to be sanctioned.

"Dear James, you don't understand," Zakharova wrote on her Telegram messaging app. "This is for the anti-Russian course and personal sanctions. But you still have to answer for the support of the Kyiv regime and neo-Nazism."

Russia framed its invasion of Ukraine as a battle against Nazism but Kyiv and its allies say this is a lie used to justify an unprovoked, imperialist land grab.

Britain said on Saturday it would send 14 of its Challenger 2 main battle tanks as well as other advanced artillery support in the coming weeks in what could be the first shipment of Western-made tanks to Ukraine.

1:55 a.m.:

1:32 a.m.: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) on Monday to do more about Ukrainians that Kyiv says have been forcefully deported to Russia and their fate once inside the country, Reuters reported.

Bujar Osmani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia and the 2023 OSCE Chairman-in-Office, visited Kyiv on Monday, with Zelenskiy saying the two talked about how to "make the OSCE effective."

Ukraine and its allies have accused Russia of large-scale deportation of Ukrainians since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022.

The U.S. State Department estimated last year that between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, have been forcibly deported into Russian territory.

Russia denies deportations and says those arriving are war refugees. In November, the country's emergency ministry said that some 4.8 million Ukrainians, including 712,000 children, had arrived in Russia since February.

"The OSCE can significantly increase attention and act accordingly regarding the deportation of our people from the occupied territory to Russia," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

"No international organization has found the strength to gain access to the places of detention of our prisoners in Russia yet. This must be corrected."

Ukraine's National Information Bureau, which tracks missing and displaced children, says that as of January 16 nearly 14,000 children had been deported.

The OSCE, the world's largest regional security organization of 57 states, brings on equal footing the United States, all European states, including Russia and all states of the former Soviet Union, among others.

Russia has tried to undermine the organization, saying in December that the body is losing its meaning and not focusing on matters closely related to security. It has been blocking the adoption of the OSCE budget.

The OSCE was also forced to close its monitoring mission in Ukraine after Moscow refused to extend the mandates of the organization's field operations in the country.

1:05 a.m.:

12:30 a.m.:

12:01 a.m.: According to Reuters, British Foreign Minister James Cleverly will seek to bolster support for Ukraine on a trip to the United States and Canada which begins on Tuesday, ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion by Russia.

Britain has been a steadfast supporter of Kyiv since Russia's invasion last February, and at the weekend pledged to send 14 Challenger 2 tanks and other heavy weaponry to Ukraine.

Germany is under pressure to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, but its government says such tanks should be supplied to Ukraine only if there is agreement among Kyiv's main allies, particularly the United States.

Cleverly will tell U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly that it is the right time to go "further and faster" to give Ukraine military support.

"Today we stand united against Putin's illegal war, and we will continue to use our uniquely strong defense and security ties to ensure that, in the end, the Ukrainian people will win," Cleverly said in a statement ahead of the trip.

Some information in this report came from Reuters and The Associated Press.
Lima was bracing for a new rally against Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Monday as thousands of demonstrators began mobilizing in the capital following weeks of deadly unrest.

Protesters from all over the country began heading to Lima over the weekend in a bid to maintain the pressure on authorities, even as a state of emergency war declared in a bid to maintain order.

At least 42 people have died in five weeks of clashes between protesters and security forces, according to Peru's human rights ombudsman.

Supporters of ousted president Pedro Castillo  who was arrested and charged with rebellion amongst other offenses after trying last month to dissolve parliament and rule by decree  have set up burning roadblocks, attempted to storm airports and staged mass rallies.

They are demanding Boluarte's resignation, the closure of Congress and fresh elections.

"We're going to be in the capital to make our protest voice heard," Jimmy Mamani, an Aymara indigenous leader from Puno region, told AFP.

Mamani, the mayor of a small village near the border with Bolivia, said peasants from all over Peru had arranged to meet up in Lima for a "peaceful" demonstration.

Protesters are set to defy a state of emergency in the capital.

"It's not right that the executive cannot listen to our demands, they turn a deaf ear," added Mamani, who ruled out dialogue with authorities.

At least 3,000 protesters from Andahuaylas in southeastern Peru were heading for Lima on Monday in a caravan of trucks and buses.

In Cusco province, dozens of peasants were organizing themselves to leave for the capital.

The government extended by 30 days a state of emergency from midnight Saturday for Lima, Cusco, Callao and Puno, authorizing the military to back up police actions to restore public order.

The order also suspended constitutional rights such as freedom of movement and assembly, according to a decree published in the official gazette.

In protest epicenter Puno, the government declared a new night-time curfew for 10 days, from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.

Almost 100 stretches of road remained blockaded Sunday in 10 of Peru's 25 regions  a record, according to a senior land transport official.

Castillo, a former rural school teacher and union leader, faced vehement opposition from Congress during his 18 months in office and is the subject of numerous criminal investigations into allegations of widespread graft.

His December 7 ouster sparked immediate nationwide protests, mainly among the rural poor.

'Terrible cruelties'

In the run-up to Monday's demonstrations, attitudes among both protesters and government officials appeared to harden.

"We ask that Dina Boluarte resign as president and that Congress be shut down. We don't want any more deaths," Jasmin Reinoso, a 25-year-old nurse from Ayacucho, told AFP.

Prime Minister Alberto Otarola called for protesters to "radically change" their tactics and opt for dialogue.

"There is a small group organized and paid for by drug trafficking and illegal mining that wants to take power by force," Otarola said on local television.

Defense Minister Jorge Chavez said the government would do everything in its power "to avoid a violent situation" in Lima.

But he also pleaded with protesters to demonstrate "peacefully without generating violence."

An Ipsos poll published Sunday said Boluarte had a 71 percent disapproval rating.

The unrest has been largely concentrated in the southern Andes, where Quechua and Aymara communities live.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has said that in order to end the crisis, these groups need to be better integrated into Peruvian society.

Radical groups?

Peru has been politically unstable for years, with 60-year-old Boluarte the country's sixth president in five years.

Castillo has been remanded in custody for 18 months, charged with rebellion and other crimes.

Authorities insist radical groups are behind the protests, including remnants of the Shining Path communist guerrilla group.

As proof, they have presented the capture this week of a former member of that organization, Rocio Leandro, whom the police accuse of having financed some of the unrest.


Alina Kapatsyna often dreams about getting a phone call from her mother. In those visions, her mother tells her that she's coming home.

Men in military uniforms took 45-year-old Vita Hannych away from her house in eastern Ukraine in April. She never returned.

Her family later learned that Hannych, who has long suffered from seizures because of a brain cyst, is in custody in the Russian-occupied part of the Donetsk region.

Kapatsyna told The Associated Press that it remains unclear why her mother  "a peaceful, civilian and sick person" who has never held a weapon  was detained.

Hannych is one of many Ukrainian noncombatants being held by Russian forces for months following their invasion.

Some are deemed to be prisoners of war, even though they never took part in the fighting. Others are in a sort of legal limbo  not facing any criminal charges or considered to be POWs. Ukrainian estimates of how many there are range from hundreds to many thousands.

Hannych was wearing only a sweatsuit and slippers when she was seized by Russian forces occupying her village of Volodymyrivka several weeks into the Feb. 24 invasion. It is still under Moscow's control.

Her family initially thought she would come home shortly. Russian forces were known to detain people for two or three days for "filtration" and then release them, Kapatsyna said, and Hannych had no military or law enforcement connections.

When she wasn't released, Kapatsyna and her 64-year-old grandmother started a search. At first, letters and visits to various Russian-installed officials and government bodies in the Donetsk region yielded no results.

"The answers from everywhere were the same: 'We did not take her away.' Who took her then, if no one took her?" said Kapatsyna, who left the village in March for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Dnipro.

Then, they finally got some clarity: Hannych was jailed in Olenivka, another Russian-controlled city, according to a letter from the Moscow-installed prosecutor's office in the Donetsk region.

The jail staff told Kapatsyna's grandmother that Hannych was a sniper, allegations her family deems absurd, given her condition. Medical records seen by the AP confirmed that she had a brain cyst, as well as "residual encephalopathy" and "general convulsive attacks."

Anna Vorosheva, who spent 100 days in the same facility as Hannych, recounted squalid, inhumane conditions: putrid drinking water, no heat or showers, having to sleep in shifts and hearing new prisoners screaming from being beaten.

Vorosheva, 46, said she wasn't told why she was detained, aside from "smirks and jokes about Nazis"  a reference to Russia's false claims that what it calls its "special military operation" was a campaign to "denazify" Ukraine. She also said the staff told her: "Be happy we're not beating you."

Donetsk authorities labeled Hannych a POW and recently told the family she is imprisoned in the occupied city of Mariupol. It remains unclear when, if at all, she could be released.

Ukraine's top human rights organization, Center for Civil Liberties, has requests concerning around 900 civilians captured by Russia since the war began, with more than half still in custody.

Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's human rights envoy, put the number even higher and said Friday that his office received inquiries concerning more than 20,000 "civilian hostages" detained by Russia.

Russian lawyer Leonid Solovyov told the AP he has amassed more than 100 requests concerning Ukrainian civilians. He said he was able to help 30-40 confirm the person they looked for was in Russian custody without any legal status  just like his client, Mykyta Shkriabin.

The student from northeastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region was detained by Russia's military in March and has been held ever since without charges or any legal proceedings.

Shkriabin, then 19, was sheltering from the fighting in a basement with his family, according to his mother, Tetiana. During a break, he went out for supplies  and never returned.

Tetiana Shkriabina told the AP that she learned from witnesses that Russian soldiers seized him.

Months later, Solovyov got confirmation from Russia's Defense Ministry that Shkriabin was detained for "resisting the special military operation." There is no such offense on the books in Russia, Solovyov said, and even if there was, Shkriabin would have been formally charged and investigated, but that hasn't happened. The ministry refused to disclose his whereabouts.

Moreover, when Solovyov filed a complaint to Russia's Investigative Committee contesting the detention, it confirmed that there are no criminal probes opened against Shkriabin, that he is neither a suspect, nor an accused.

Shkriabin, who turned 20 in captivity, hasn't been labeled a POW, the lawyer said, adding: "His legal status is simply a hostage."

Russia's Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry didn't respond to requests for comment.

Other cases are eerily similar to those of Shkriabin and Hannych.

In May, Russian forces detained information technology specialist Iryna Horobtsova in the southern city of Kherson when it was occupied by Moscow. They raided her apartment, seizing a laptop, two cellphones and several flash drives, and then took her away, according to her sister, Elena Kornii. They promised her parents that she would be home that evening  but it didn't happen.

Horobtsova remained in the city and spoke out against the war on social media before she was detained, Kornii said. She had attended anti-Russia protests and also helped residents by driving them to work or finding scarce medications.

"She hasn't violated any Ukrainian laws," Kornii said, noting that her sister had nothing to do with the military.

Horobtsova's lawyer, Emil Kurbedinov, said he believed that Russian security forces were carrying out "purges of the disloyal" in Kherson.

He learned from Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, that she was still in custody. The Interior Ministry in Moscow-annexed Crimea told him that Horobtsova was in a detention center there. When Kurbedinov tried to visit her, officials refused to acknowledge having any such prisoner.

As for why she was held, the lawyer said authorities told him that "she resisted the special military operation, and a decision regarding her will be made when the special military operation is over."

He described her as "unlawfully imprisoned."

Dmytro Orlov, mayor of the occupied city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, describes the fate of his deputy the same way  "an absolutely arbitrary detention."

Ivan Samoydyuk was picked up by Russian soldiers shortly after they seized the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in March, and no charges have been filed against him, Orlov said.

"We're not even sure if he's alive!" the mayor said. "If we can't get clarity from the Russians about the fate of a deputy mayor, imagine the fate of ordinary Ukrainian civilians."

Mykhailo Savva of the Expert Council of the Center for Civil Liberties said the Geneva Conventions allow a state to detain civilians temporarily in occupied areas, but "as soon as the reason that caused the detention of this civilian disappears, then this person must be released."

"No special conditions, no trades, just release," Savva said, noting that civilians can't be declared POWs under international law.

International law prohibits a warring party from forcibly moving a civilian to its own territory or territory it occupies, and doing so could be deemed a war crime, said Yulia Gorbunova, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch.

POWs can be exchanged, but there is no legal mechanism for swapping noncombatants, Gorbunova said, complicating efforts to free civilians from captivity.

Since the war began, however, Kyiv has been able to bring some home. Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential office, said on Jan. 8 that 132 civilians were brought back from Russian captivity in 2022.

Lubinets, the Ukrainian human rights ombudsman, met this month with his Russian counterpart, Tatyana Moskalkova.

He said he gave Moskalkova lists of some of the 20,000 Ukrainian civilians he said were held by Russia, and "the Russian side agreed to find out where they are, in what condition and why they are being held."

After getting such information, the question "of the procedure for their return" will be raised, Lubinets said.
UNICEF warns some 4 million children living near contaminated and stagnant waters in flood-affected districts of Pakistan are fighting for survival.

The U.N. childrens fund reports about 1.6 million children already were suffering from severe acute malnutrition and another 6 million from stunting before last years disastrous floods struck Pakistan.

The UNICEF representative in Pakistan, Abdullah Fadil, said the situation has likely worsened since then, putting many children at risk of dying. Speaking from the capital, Islamabad, he said 4 million children are facing a bitterly cold winter without heat and warm protective clothing.

Fadil notes families still are living under scraps of plastic in freezing conditions. He said children also are at risk of deadly diseases such as malaria and cholera in flooded areas.

We feared initially malaria to be the biggest cause of death because of the stagnant water, Fadil said. Because we were able to provide bed nets and malaria medicines the crisis was averted. We estimate the mortality rates to be about three times higher than in normal times.

Pakistan faces some of the worlds highest neo-natal deaths. The World Health Organization reports sub-Saharan Africa has the highest newborn mortality rate, followed by central and southern Asia.

Fadil said UNICEF also helped avert a cholera epidemic by providing clean drinking water and lifesaving treatment. Beyond health, he said education is a major area of concern. He noted 24,000 schools were washed away by the floods.

We have established close to 1,000 temporary learning centers where we have about 90,000 children, a third of whom are actually first-time students, Fadil said. Pakistan has about 23 million children who are already out of school. We estimate due to the floods, an additional 2 million would have left and been out of school.

Despite the ongoing situation, Fadil said UNICEF has received less than half the $173 million it needs to help millions of children recover from this climate-induced catastrophe. He said vulnerable communities require reliable access to health care, nutrition, education, protection and other essential services.
A high-level delegation from the United States is in Taiwan this week to resume negotiations on a new trade initiative between Washington and the self-ruled island.

The delegation, led by Terry McCartin, the assistant trade representative for China in the U.S. Trade Representatives office, arrived in Taipei last Friday to begin four days of talks over the U.S.-Taiwan 21st Century Trade Initiative. The initiative will cover 11 areas, including anti-corruption, agriculture, digital trade, environmental and labor practices.

The bilateral initiative was announced last June after the United States launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a new economic cooperation agreement with a dozen Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Taiwan was not invited to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework out of concerns from some nations that the self-governed islands participation might anger China.

Beijing considers the democratically-ruled island part of its territory, even though it has been self-governing since the end of Chinas civil war in 1949, when Chiang Kai-sheks Nationalist forces were driven off the mainland by Mao Zedongs Communists. China has vowed to bring the island under its control by any means necessary, including a military takeover.
Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc resigned Tuesday, becoming the most senior member of the government to step down after a series of high-profile corruption scandals for which he was held responsible.

The state Vietnam News Agency reported that he had resigned at a session of the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee that was held "to consider and give opinions on Comrade Nguyen Xuan Phuc's wish to stop holding positions, quit work and retire." The language of the announcement strongly suggested that he was forced to step down.

Phuc, 68, began serving in government at the provincial level in 1979 and took his first position in national government in 2006. He joined the Politburo, the highest-ranking party body, in 2011, and was prime minister from 2016 to 2021, when he was elected president by the National Assembly.

The post of president in Vietnam is largely ceremonial. The most powerful position, Communist Party general secretary, is currently held by Nguyen Phu Trong, who in 2021 won a rare third five-year term in office. His hallmark has been a long-running anti-corruption campaign, which in his second term targeted two former Cabinet ministers and Hanoi's former mayor.

An official statement published in state media praised Phuc for his efforts as prime minister in battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

It added, however, that he bore political responsibility as the country's top executive for serious scandals involving his subordinates, including two deputy prime ministers and three other ministers. The statement noted that the two deputy prime ministers had resigned from their positions and criminal proceedings had been launched against two other ministers and many other officials. Several of the scandals involved corruption related to pandemic control measures.

The positions from which Phuc resigned also included Politburo membership, the executive committee of the Central Committee and chairman of the National Defense and Security Council.

As prime minister, Phuc led Vietnam as it became further integrated in the global economy and sustained 7% economic growth until COVID-19 hit the world.

With strict measures including a nationwide lockdown, Vietnam managed to contain the spread of the virus in the first year of the pandemic and quickly resumed business and manufacturing. It was among a handful of countries in 2020 that recorded positive economic growth.

However, as in several other Asian nations that initially staved off serious outbreaks, cases shot up after mid-2021 with the spread of more highly transmissible variants.
Columbus Mavhunga

HARARE, ZIMBABWE  Twenty-five members of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change, appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court on Monday on charges of holding an illegal meeting Saturday that police broke up with tear gas.

Among those arrested is Amos Chibaya, a member of parliament, who talked briefly to journalists before going into the court. He called the action harassment, and said it will come to an end. The dictator will go, he added, and the people of Zimbabwe will free themselves.

Fadzayi Mahere, spokesperson for Citizens' Coalition for Change, or triple C, said party members were treated badly by police during the arrests.

She said a girl, younger than 18, was among those arrested, and there also were complaints that some women were molested by police. She added there were rumors that the arresting police were drunk and threw alcohol at people. Police actions were not about arresting people who were committing a crime, Mahere said, but about inflicting pain on people because the ruling ZANU-PF party is afraid of losing the upcoming elections.

Zimbabwe is supposed to hold general elections this year, though the exact date has yet to be announced.

The ZANU-PF party and police refused to comment on the accusations when VOA reached out, saying the matter was now before the courts.

Magistrate Yeukai Dzuda has ordered prosecutors Pardon Dziva and Zebediah Bofu to investigate the complaints which triple C members raised against the police.

Meanwhile, the 25 opposition members will be back in court Tuesday to apply for bail, which the state is opposed to granting.
The Southern African Development Community Lawyers Association (SADC-LA) has condemned the Zimbabwean government following a police attack on a lawyer, who was representing 25 opposition supporters that were arrested in Harare while attending a meeting at a party members house.

In a statement, the SADC-LA urged the government to investigate the attack, saying it violated the lawyer and his clients constitutional rights.

SADC-LA deeply and strongly condemns the attack on lawyer Mr. Kudzai Kadzere in Harare, Zimbabwe, by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) on the 14th of January 2023. On the said date, Mr. Kadzere was representing his clients who are members of a political party in Zimbabwe and he was acting within the scope of his mandate as a licensed legal practitioner of the courts of Zimbabwe. The right to legal representation is guaranteed in the constitution of Zimbabwe.

The SADC-LA said the perpetration of violence by police on an unarmed civilian acting in a profession capacity to uphold the constitutional rights of other citizens presents the highest disregard for the rule of law.

SADC-LA implores the government of Zimbabwe and the responsible Ministers to swiftly ensure protection of lawyers and other key stakeholders such as journalists in the discharge of their mandate. Further, to hold to account those responsible for the unsanctioned violation of Mr. Kadzere and and his clients constitutionally enshrined rights.

The acute escalation of violence in a period shortly preceeding a crucial election for Zimbabwe warrants deep concern. SADC-LA calls on SADC and AU (African Union) to provide swift and adequate support to the Government of Zimbabwe, and relevant stakeholders to ensure a neutral environment for enforcement and enjoyment of all human rights.

SADC-LA said this is in accordance with the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers as well as Zimbabwes own constitution.

At the same time, the Law Society of Zimbabwe Council met on Monday afternoon following the brutal assault on Kadzere.

In a tweet, the LSZ said, Council was unanimous in condemning the attack.

The LSZ president Wellington Magaya on Monday lead a delegation that visited Kadzere in hospital.

Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, and Information Secretary Nick Mangwana were unreachable for comment as they were not responding to calls on their mobile phones.
U.S. Army General Mark Milley and his Ukrainian counterpart met at a military base in southeastern Poland on Tuesday in their first face-to-face talks, a sign of the two countries' growing coordination supporting Ukraine's defense against Russia's 11-month invasion.

Milley, chairman of the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Ukrainian General Valerii Zaluzhnyi talked for two hours at the undisclosed site near the Ukraine-Poland border. The two top military chiefs had never met but have talked often since Russian forces stormed into Ukraine last February.

The meeting came as the United States and its Western allies continue to ship billions of dollars or armaments to Ukraine to fend off Russian airstrikes, even as the ground battles in eastern Ukrainian territories have resulted in something of a stalemate, with neither side able to take full control.

While the U.S. has maintained its stance of not sending troops to fight alongside Ukrainian forces, it has become more strategically involved in the war, recently agreeing to send a Patriot air defense missile battery to Ukraine and train Ukrainian soldiers at a military base in the U.S. on how to use it.

Army Colonel Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, told two reporters traveling with Milley that he and the Ukrainian military leader felt it was important to meet in person.

"These guys have been talking on a very regular basis for about a year now, and they've gotten to know each other," Butler said. "They've talked in detail about the defense that Ukraine is trying to do against Russia's aggression. And it's important  when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, there's a difference."

Butler said the meeting would allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyi's concerns and information to the other military leaders during a NATO chiefs' meeting later this week. Milley, he said, will be able to "describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that. And the way he does that is one, by understanding it himself, but by also talking to Zaluzhnyi on a regular basis."

In addition, Milley also will be able to describe the new training of Ukrainian forces that the U.S. has started at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany, Butler said.

Milley saw arms instruction for 600 Ukrainian troops during a nearly two-hour visit there on Monday, which the U.S. hopes will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks.

SEE ALSO:

Milley and other allied defense chiefs are meeting in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group includes about 50 top defense officials, including U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.

On the battlefield, Russia in recent days claimed it took control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar, although Ukraine said that its troops are still fighting there. In a barrage of airstrikes last weekend, Russia hit Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 45.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Monday that the attack in Dnipro highlights the need for faster and more coordinated decisions on arms supplies to Ukraine.

"What happened in Dnipro  only underscores how important it is to coordinate all the efforts of the coalition defending Ukraine and freedom," Zelenskyy said. "And to speed up decision-making."

Russian officials have repeatedly denied targeting civilians in Ukraine, including again Monday as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces "do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure. They strike military targets." Peskov said what happened in Dnipro was caused by Ukrainian air defenses.

Meanwhile, a man claiming to be a former commander in the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group who fought in Ukraine is seeking asylum in Norway after fleeing there last week.

Authorities in Norway said border guards detained a man near the Russia-Norway border early Friday.

A lawyer for Andrey Medvedev told news agencies that Medvedev was in Norway and seeking asylum.

"He has declared that he is willing to speak about his experiences in the Wagner Group to people who are investigating war crimes," lawyer Brynjulf Risnes said.

Some information for this report came from Agence France-Presse, Reuters and The Associated Press.

Anna Chernikova contributed to this report.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The United States is gravely concerned that the Lachin corridor has now been obstructed for more than 30 days, creating critical shortages of food, medicine, and other supplies in Nagorno-Karabakh, these facts are indisputable, the United States Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter said at the Special Permanent Council in Vienna in response to Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyans remarks.

Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan is in Vienna participating in the Special Meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council initiated by Armenia.

Thank you, Foreign Minister Mirzoyan. Welcome to the Permanent Council and thank you for sharing your assessment of the grave security situation in the region.

The United States, too, is gravely concerned that the Lachin corridor has now been obstructed for more than 30 days, creating critical shortages of food, medicine, and other supplies in Nagorno-Karabakh. These facts are indisputable. We call on Azerbaijan and Russia to restore unhindered transit immediately in keeping with prior commitments, which clearly include guarantees, as you have quoted, for the security of persons, vehicles and cargo moving along the Lachin Corridor in both directions. The ongoing disrupted passage of private and commercial traffic on the Lachin road could have severe humanitarian consequences for the people living in Nagorno-Karabakh. We thank the ICRC for providing critical aid, and call on Azerbaijan to ensure the individual rights, safety, and well-being of the population living in this area are respected. All OSCE participating States have an obligation to protect the safety of persons on their territory without regard to ethnicity.

I also look forward to a substantive discussion on the recommendations of the Polish Chairs Needs Assessment Team under the stewardship of North Macedonia. The OSCE and its various institutions are well placed to assist Armenia and Azerbaijan based on our comprehensive approach to security and anchored in our values, principles, and commitments. We have an extensive toolkit that could be utilized in this conflict and we should discuss how we can do so. The United States calls on Azerbaijan and Armenia to reengage in meaningful negotiations to resolve their disputes. A comprehensive peace agreement is the only true path to long-lasting peace based on normalization of relations and mutual recognition. We also call on Azerbaijan and Armenia to investigate alleged atrocities and to hold perpetrators accountable.

Mr. Chair, the United States looks forward to working with North Macedonia and the OSCE to improve security for all people in this region. We will continue to work with Azerbaijan and Armenia bilaterally, multilaterally through partners such as the European Union, and through international organizations like the OSCE to reach a comprehensive and sustainable settlement for this conflict, Ambassador Carpenter said in his remarks.
Many more violent incidents linked to extremist groups occurred in Benins north last year than the government has officially acknowledged, a recent report found, as the country has become the new front line in the Sahel conflict. In northern Benin, reporter Henry Wilkins meets witnesses to attacks.
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The 1872 restored home of Knute and Nicoline Nelson and the current location of the Douglas County Historical Society. The house was home to the longtime Minnesota politician and governor and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the West has used international courts and the U.S. justice system to impose its law. They convict those they fight and never try their own criminals. This conception of justice has become the absolute example of their double standards. Yet the weakening of Western domination since Russias victory in Syria and even more so since the war in Ukraine is beginning to have an impact on this system.

The end of Western dominance began in 2016

On May 5, 2016, President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the victory of civilization over barbarism, i.e., of Syria and Russia over the jihadists armed and supported by the West. He organized a televised symphony concert in the ruins of Palmyra, the ancient city where Queen Zenobia had made all religions live together in harmony. Symbolically, this concert of the Mariinsky orchestra of St. Petersburg was titled: "Prayer for peace". Mr. Putin spoke via video conference.

Westerners did not understand what was happening because they were not aware that the jihadists were only puppets of their secret services. In their eyes, and especially since the September 11 attacks, they were their enemies. They did not understand that the damage done by jihadis at home and in the rest of the world was not at all the same. For example, the 9/11 attacks -attributed against all logic to jihadis- killed 2,977 people, while Daesh killed hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Africans.

The end of the instrumentation of international justice

The trial that began in The Hague in 2011 of an African leader overthrown by the West saw a change in atmosphere after the Palmyra concert. Lets recall the facts: in 2000, Laurent Gbagbo was elected president of Cote dIvoire. The man was the candidate of the United States. He first established an authoritarian regime that favored certain ethnic groups to the detriment of others. Then, he realized that he was only getting richer thanks to his ally and decided to serve his country. Immediately, the United States and France encouraged a rebellion against him, arguing that they had made mistakes. Eventually, after intervention by the United Nations, the French army overthrew President Gbagbo in 2011 and installed President Alassane Ouattara, a personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The deposed Gbagbo was arrested to be tried by the International Criminal Court for "genocide. However, the Court, seeing the international tide turning, never succeeded in establishing the facts. It acquitted Laurent Gbagbo, in 2019, then on appeal in 2020. Since then, we saw the French presence in Africa inexorably receding.

The International Criminal Court, contrary to the project of its founders, had become an instrument of domination condemning only African nationalists. It has never investigated the crimes of US presidents, British prime ministers, or French presidents. Its bias in the service of imperialism was evident when its prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, falsely claimed to be holding Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in order to discourage Libyans from resisting NATOs illegal war.

The Beginning of Equal International Justice for All

Similarly, on December 30, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution asking the International Court of Justice, the UNs internal court, to judge the Israeli occupation of Palestine. This is a spectacular reversal of the majority since this occupation has lasted for... 75 years. There is no doubt that the Court will condemn Israel, forcing the 195 member states of the United Nations to draw the consequences.

The Western states are now trying to set up a new tribunal, since the existing ones are failing them. Its promoters intend to "condemn Vladimir Putin for Russian crimes in Ukraine". The aim is to make people forget the responsibility of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande who co-signed the Minsk Agreements, without ever having the intention of applying them, and who allowed 20,000 Ukrainians to be murdered. It is also a question of denying that, by virtue of the responsibility to protect, Russian President Vladimir Putin intervened militarily to enforce these Agreements, validated by Security Council Resolution 2202.

Any military operation causes victims. Often unjustly. This is the nature of wars, which differentiates them from police actions. The problem is not to judge those who wage wars, but to prevent the use of war.

International criminal justice should not punish those who have to kill to defend their homeland, but those who artificially create conflicts and those who kill without reason. This is not the same thing at all.

The end of the instrumentation of Western Justice

The United States and the European Union have invented an extra-territoriality of their local laws. In total contradiction with the United Nations Charter, they violate the sovereignty of other States in the name of their national law.

Since 1942, the United States has adopted numerous extraterritorial laws: Trading with the Enemy Act (1942), Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (1977), Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act (known as Helms-Burton) (1996), Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (known as Amato-Kennedy) (1996), USA PATRIOT Act (2001), Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act (known as Sarbanes-Oxley or SarbOx) (2002), Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) (2010), CLOUD Act (2018).

This system permanently associates the US Justice and the US secret services. According to the DGSI (French counter-intelligence): "Extraterritoriality translates into a wide variety of laws and legal mechanisms that give the US authorities the ability to subject foreign companies to their standards, but also to capture their know-how, to hinder the development efforts of competitors of US companies, to control or monitor troublesome or coveted foreign companies, and in doing so to generate significant financial revenues" [1].

It discourages foreign companies working in the US or using US dollars anywhere from contravening Washingtons policies. It also legalizes economic warfare, falsely called "sanctions", even though these provisions violate the UN Charter because they are not approved by the Security Council. It is strong enough to, for example, totally isolate a state and starve its population, as was the case in Iraq with Bill Clinton, and is now the case in Syria with Joe Biden.

Following the American example, the European Union is gradually adopting its own extraterritorial laws. In 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (known as the Luxembourg Court) found the overseas parent company of a Spanish search engine guilty of violating European laws by its subsidiary.

This Western model is also being shattered. The economic war waged by the West against Iran, on the occasion of the Western aggression in Syria by proxy jihadists, and against Russia, on the occasion of Moscows implementation of resolution 2202, is too broad to be applied.

Oil tankers no longer hesitate to load Iranian or Russian oil at sea by transshipment. Everyone knows this, but pretends to ignore it. If the Pentagon does not hesitate to sink ships off the coast of Syria, it does not dare to do so off the coast of the European Union after sabotaging the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. This time, the offenders are no longer "enemies", but "allies". These economic wars are only unpopular in the West when Westerners start paying the exorbitant price.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. The Head of the Civil Contract faction in parliament Hayk Konjoryan sent letters to United States lawmakers and parliamentarians of Greece and Cyprus, calling for increased international pressure against Azerbaijan to open the Lachin Corridor and fulfill its obligations.

As head of the Armenia-United States parliamentary friendship group, today I sent letters to United States Congressmen, members of the Congressional Armenian Caucus Gus Bilirakis, Frank Pallone, David Valadao, as well as the Co-Chair of the Caucus Adam Schiff. As head of the Armenia-Greece parliamentary friendship group, I sent a letter to the Greece-Armenia parliamentary friendship group leader Dimitrios Markopoulos, as Chairman of the Inter-parliamentary commission for cooperation between the Armenian parliament and the Cypriot parliament I sent a letter to my counterpart Haris Georgiades. I presented details over Azerbaijans criminal policy of unlawfully blockading the Lachin Corridor and causing a humanitarian crisis in Artsakh. I called on my colleagues to utilize all necessary efforts and increase international pressure on Azerbaijan to open the Lachin Corridor as soon as possible and fulfill its international obligations, Konjoryan said in a statement.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. On January 17, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan delivered remarks at the special session of the OSCE Permanent Council initiated by Armenia. As ARMENPESS was informed from the MFA Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan particularly said,

Mr. Chairperson,

Distinguished Ambassadors,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to start by congratulating you, Mr. Chairperson, and through you my dear colleague, Minister Bujar Osmani, on assuming by North Macedonia of the Chairmanship of the OSCE and wish you all the success in your challenging endeavour of leading this largest security organization in times of unprecedented set-backs and crises in our common security area.

We welcome the human-centric concept of security which will be the guiding approach of the North Macedonian Chairmanship under the motto Its about people. One cannot say better, since this organization has been established first and foremost to serve the interest of people and ensure their rights and security.

I assure you of Armenias support in all your efforts contributing to creating conditions for the people in the OSCE area to live in a more secure and safe environment.

I also would like to thank you, Mr. Chairperson, for convening this special PC meeting and giving me the opportunity to speak about the situation in our region and, particularly, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

Mr. Chairperson,

I wish I could have come here to the PC to talk about the achievements of Armenia in strengthening its democracy, human rights and the rule of law and the process of successfully implementing large-scale reforms from judiciary to police, from fighting corruption to improving social cohesion and justice. And believe me, I would have many things to say.

Unfortunately, the security crisis and challenges following the war of aggression by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and the subsequent aggression and occupation by Azerbaijan of the sovereign territory of Armenia threaten the Armenian democracy undermining the efforts of the Armenian government towards bringing peace, stability and security to the South Caucasus region.

Since this is the first time that the Foreign Minister of Armenia addresses the Permanent Council following the 44-day war of aggression and occupation of Armenias territory I would like to briefly reflect on the impact that this large-scale unprecedented use of force for the settlement of conflict have had in terms of perception of the OSCE, its principles and commitments, and its concept of comprehensive and indivisible security.

The 44-day war of aggression was accompanied by war crimes and widespread violations of international humanitarian law, targeting of civilian population and infrastructure, destruction of cultural heritage, which were not properly investigated and no one has been held accountable.

Throughout decades, the OSCE has been developing a set of tools, or the toolbox, aimed at early warning and conflict prevention. Unfortunately, it pains me to say this, but we have to recognize that the OSCE failed to apply this toolkit effectively and in a timely manner.

Furthermore, the absence of proper and robust reaction resulted in the impunity for the use of force as means of conflict settlement, in violation of the OSCE principles, commitments enshrined in its basic documents, leading to the legitimation of violence in the interstate and intrastate relations.

Following the signing on the 9 November 2020 of a trilateral statement on the cessation of armed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia spared no efforts to achieve a normalization of relations with Azerbaijan and address the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Unfortunately, the Azerbaijani side, instead of engaging in good faith into the negotiations, continues its destructive policy. Immediately after signing the Trilateral statement the Azerbaijani side violated the commitment on complete ceasefire and cessation of all military operations and launched an attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted in capturing of two more villages and the captivity of the Armenian servicemen. In May and November 2021 as well as in September last year the Azerbaijani side launched an aggression against the Republic of Armenia occupying around 150 sq km of the sovereign territories of Armenia. Today, with the blockade of the Lachin corridor the Azerbaijani side created a humanitarian crisis with far going intentions.

On 12 December 2022, a group of Azerbaijanis claiming to be environmental activists blocked the Lachin Corridor, the lifeline, the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world, thus effectively isolating the 120 thousand people in Nagorno-Karabakh, 30 thousands of which are children. Over 1000 people, including 270 children, are unable to return home to Nagorno-Karabakh. Some of those children are separated from their parents and were temporarily sheltered in Armenia.

From the very beginning, it was obvious that this blockade was a preplanned action directed and financed by the Azerbaijani authorities, using the cover of so-called eco-activists for plausible deniability.

These actions of Azerbaijan constitute an overt breach of paragraph 6 of the 9 November trilateral statement, which clearly indicates and I quote: The Lachin Corridor shall remain under the control of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation; the Republic of Azerbaijan shall guarantee safe movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions along the Lachin Corridor.

For more than a month now, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh remain under factual siege. Food, medical and energy supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh are almost completely halted. About 400 tons of essential goods, including grain, flour, rice, vegetables, fruits, medicines, and baby formula, were imported to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia daily. After around five weeks of the blockade, there is a severe shortage of all essential goods.

Moreover, the deliberate 3-day interruption of the gas supply in freezing winter conditions, followed by ongoing disruptions of the electricity grid and telecommunication lines in the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh are another evidence of preplanned actions of the Azerbaijani authorities. This severely impacts the daily life of the people and leads to a number of adverse humanitarian consequences, such as lack of electricity, disruption of the educational process at the schools; disruption of the work of state agencies and of the heating of vitally important institutions such as hospitals, disruption of businesses. People are deprived of heating and hot water. The authorities introduced the rationing of fuel, and now of food and essential goods.

The humanitarian crisis is worsening with each passing day and requires the immediate and targeted intervention of the international community. We cannot stand by and watch how people are slowly starving to death, because of political games and perhaps geopolitical considerations. The time to act is now.

At the request of Armenia, this issue has been discussed at the UN Security Council. We have briefed the members of the Security Council and also the Secretary-General about the dire situation and urged our partners to step in and stop the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

Of course, I could not but welcome the unambiguous statements and positions of our partner countries calling Azerbaijan to immediately and without preconditions lift the blockade and ensure the free and unimpeded movement through the Lachin Corridor. I believe that we should increase the pressure on Azerbaijan for it to comply with its own commitments. Azerbaijan should face consequences for its actions.



The blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh is not an isolated episode but must be seen as part of a widespread and systematic policy of Azerbaijan aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh: through creating unbearable living conditions, Azerbaijan aims to coerce the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to leave their native land, leave their homes. The recent statement of the President of Azerbaijan suggesting the deportation of those Armenians who do not want to become citizens of Azerbaijan comes to prove their intention of ethnic cleansing.

It is imperative to send an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground, as well as to ensure unhindered humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh for relevant UN bodies.

Excellences,

Having the political will to normalize relations with Azerbaijan, the Armenian government engaged in good faith in talks with Azerbaijan in three separate tracks, namely, the opening of all transport communications in the region, delimitation and border security, and the agreement on normalization of relations or peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In the first track  the resumption of economic and transport links in the region  we have established a trilateral working group headed from our side by the Deputy Prime Minister. There have been several meetings in this format and issues of possible roads and railway connections, as well as other details related to unblocking regional communications were discussed.

Unfortunately, Azerbaijans approach in this process was non-constructive from the very beginning. Despite its clear commitment taken under the 9 November 2020 and 11 January 2021 trilateral statements, Azerbaijan put forward the unsubstantiated demand for the extraterritorial corridor through the sovereign territory of Armenia. I want to clearly state that Armenia never took any commitment or agreed in any manner to any extraterritorial corridor through its territory, and all the claims by the Azerbaijani side are clear distortions and manipulation of the substance of the trilateral statements.

Recently the president of Azerbaijan acknowledged that it was himself who introduced the term of so-called Zangezur Corridor in the international agenda and threatened to establish it sooner or later, regardless of whether Armenia wants it or not. And he said that he introduced this term after the signing of the November 9 Trilateral Statement.

I would like to once again make it clear: we rule out any exterritorial corridor on the territory of the Republic of Armenia and will not provide any corridor to anyone. This is a principled and irrevocable position, fully in line with the relevant provision of the 9 November statement. Moreover, the decision on providing a link between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhijevan can be adopted swiftly, as soon as Azerbaijan admits that all communications should operate under the jurisdiction and legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

In this context, I would like to inform that recently another attempt to find a final agreement on the opening of railway communications didnt succeed, as the Azerbaijani side put forward new conditions that were in contradiction with the primary understanding of the sides on the modalities. In fact, this was the second time that Azerbaijans actions derailed the progress on this issue. The first time preliminary agreement to solve the issues of railway connection was reached back in December 2021. This fact has even found its place in the statement of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, from 14 December 2021.

The second track of the normalization talks is the work of the Commissions of delimitation and border security. The Commissions were created after the armed incursion of the Azerbaijani armed forces into the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia on 12 May 2021 and the subsequent occupation of Armenias lands.

The Commissions held meetings to discuss the parameters of the delimitation of the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We firmly believe that without clearly agreed parameters of the delimitation of the border, it will be impossible to achieve sustainable peace. In this regard, the agreements reached in Prague and Sochi, in particular, the reference to the Almaty protocol and subsequent documents are of utmost importance. Though, in subsequent interpretations the President of Azerbaijan, while claiming that Armenia thus recognized Azerbaijans territorial integrity, failed to affirm the respect for the territorial integrity of Armenia.

The work of the Commissions was hampered by Azerbaijan. First, despite the agreements that the commission should have a double mandate and work on delimitation and stable security situation along, and in the vicinity of, the borderline reached in Sochi on 26 November 2021 and during the second trilateral meeting of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan hosted by the President of the European Council it refused to include the term border security in the title of the Commissions, which was rather indicative of its true intentions. Then, on 13 September 2022, the armed forces of Azerbaijan launched an unprovoked and unjustified large-scale military attack in the southern and southeastern directions of the Republic of Armenia resulting in the invasion into and occupation of other swathes of the sovereign territory of Armenia. More than 200 servicemen were killed. The towns and villages in border provinces were indiscriminately shelled. During this aggression Azerbaijani armed forces committed war crimes, extrajudicial killings, subjected Armenian military personnel, including women to the most shocking and horrific humiliation and torture. These facts were documented by the Azerbaijani servicemen themselves and were uploaded to various social media outlets, clearly aiming to intimidate the Armenian side. In fact, the 44-days war of aggression was also accompanied by large-scale violations of international humanitarian law.

In this context, taking this opportunity, I would like to express our gratitude to the Polish Chairmanship, the Secretary-General, the OSCE Troika and the FSC Chairmanship for dispatching the OSCE needs assessment mission to Armenia to assess the situation on the ground, as well as all appreciation of efforts of those who supported the mission. The report of the mission clearly revealed the scale and magnitude of destruction, and we took note of the Conclusions and Recommendations contained therein, which we believe should serve as a reference point for the follow-up and further engagement of the OSCE executive structures with Armenia.

I also would like to thank the European Union for dispatching the monitoring mission to Armenia. We stand ready for further cooperation in this regard.

The September aggression, as well as previous attacks and provocations by Azerbaijan, should be considered against the broader background of ever-expanding territorial claims against Armenia, including the capital city Yerevan, constantly voiced by the President of Azerbaijan and echoed by other high-ranking political personalities, which are accompanied manifestly by threats of use of force. This tactic of coercive foreign policy is deployed by Azerbaijan to extract endless one-sided concessions.

For the moment we see no indication of change in this policy pattern, that is of Azerbaijans willingness to abandon its territorial claims, its bellicose rhetoric and to commit to peace. Under these circumstances, we have all grounds to believe that even after the signing of an agreement on the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan, it will continue to raise these absurd territorial claims against Armenia.

The third track of talks is related to the text of the possible agreement on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan or peace treaty, which should comprehensively address all the issues and create a conducive security environment for the continuation of discussions in various directions.

The Armenian side suggested several fundamental proposals, in particular, on clarification of parameters of delimitation of the international border, on distancing of forces from the state border and creation of a demilitarized zone, as well as the creation of the Institute of Guarantors of the peace agreement. It is regrettable that all the proposals of the Armenian side were rejected by Azerbaijan.

Along with this, we believe that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - the issue of guarantees of rights and securities of people living in Nagorno-Karabakh - also has to be addressed. However, taking into account the Azerbaijani suggestion to discuss this issue separately from the peace agreement, the Armenian side suggested creating an international mechanism for dialogue between Stepanakert and Baku.

We have to recognize the enormity of this task, considering that for more than 30 years there were effectively no relations between the two countries. But we firmly believe that the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations is crucial for the security and stability of the region and its perspectives. However, and this should also be recognized, this normalization could not be achieved without addressing the root causes of the conflict, the issue of fundamental human rights and the political will to work towards reconciliation.

The blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which goes exactly in the opposite direction and makes the perspective of any progress in all these tracks even more distant, proves once again the absolute necessity of international engagement to address the issues of rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Excellencies,

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains a significant challenge to regional and international peace and stability. The aggressive posturing, anti-Armenian rhetoric directed against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor comes to confirm this fact.



More than two years after the signing of the Trilateral Statement on 9 November 2020, Azerbaijan still refuses to repatriate all Armenian Prisoners of War, captives, and other detained persons, in violation of obligations under the Geneva Conventions, the Trilateral Statement itself and the constant calls of the international community. Currently, according to the data confirmed by Azerbaijan, 33 people are still kept hostage in Baku. I must also highlight two dozen well-documented cases of enforced disappearances, where we are in possession of indisputable, recorded facts of the capture of Armenian Prisoners of War, yet Azerbaijan rejects their captivity.



Armenia is also extremely concerned about the state of the Armenian cultural heritage in the territories that fell under Azerbaijani control in the aftermath of the 2020 war. Dispatching of a UNESCO fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories, talks on which have been ongoing since November 2020, are still rejected by the Azerbaijani side.



We understand that nowadays the OSCE is not having the best of days and the situation in the South Caucasus is not the only crisis that the Organization is facing. At the same time, we believe that all conflicts in the area of OSCE responsibility should have the adequate attention of the organization and its structures. The OSCE with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group has been involved in the political resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the very beginning. Despite all the challenges the Group still has a responsibility as the political resolution of the conflict is yet to be achieved.

We believe that OSCE can play an instrumental role not merely in achieving but also sustaining peace through the involvement of its structures.



I thank you.
Italy bakes 2.7 billion pizzas a year.

Pizza is a Made in Italy treasure, according to Italian agricultural lobby Coldiretti, however its production is hampered by the negative effects of climate change.

Coldiretti published the warning on its website - in time for World Pizza Day - stating that crop damage from drought and floods in Italy has led to a reduction of essential pizza ingredients including olive oil, tomatoes and flour.

With an estimated annual turnover of 15 billion, pizza is big business in Italy where 2.7 billion pizzas are baked every year - according to Coldirettti - requiring 200 million kg of flour, 225 million kg of mozzarella, 30 million kg of olive oil and 260 million kg of tomato sauce.

Coldiretti also notes that the popularity of pizza in other countries has led to the "development of recipes that have nothing to do with the original" whose "imaginative" ingredients range from pineapple and bananas to marshmellows, haggis and kangaroo meat.

Separately, a new survey commissioned by Findus for World Pizza Day 2023 showed that eight of of 10 Italians eat frozen pizza at home, with Margherita the pizza of choice, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

World Pizza Day, known in Italy as Giornata Mondiale della Pizza, is held on the feast day of Anthony Abbot - or S. Antonio Abate - the patron saint of pizzaioli, pizza makers, as well as the protector of animals.
YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Artur Tovmasyan, the President of the National Assembly of Artsakh, issued a statement in which he stated that it is necessary to make a joint efforts to force the international community to give a correct assessment of Azerbaijan's policy of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh, and to take appropriate measures to prevent it, which are already overdue.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh, the statement reads as follows,

"The unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Artsakh, besieged by Azerbaijan, is deepening.

Today, Azerbaijan also closed the gas pipeline to Artsakh, as a result of which

120,000 people have been deprived of the opportunity of heating, among other vital problems, in these days of severe winter.

For 30,000 children, the risk of malnutrition and frostbite increases.

Welcoming and emphasizing today's official letter of President of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan to the leaders of the parliaments of more than 30 states, I want to emphasize that in this matter all the political forces of the parliaments of the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh must put aside their political views and have the issue of Artsakh, which is in a catastrophic situation, at the top of all agendas, and draw the world's attention with a joint effort to the humanitarian disaster that is worsening day by day with unpredictable developments.

This should be unacceptable to the civilized world.

We must force the international community with joint efforts to make a correct assessment of Azerbaijan's policy of ethnic cleansing in Artsakh and to take appropriate measures to prevent it, which are already overdue."
Mafia boss had been on the run for 30 years.

Police in Sicily located the hideout of Italy's most wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro on Monday night following his arrest in Palermo after 30 years on the run.

The lair of Messina Denaro, a boss of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia, was discovered in Campobello di Mazara, a small town in the Trapani province of western Sicily.

Messina Denaro, 60, was arrested on Monday morning at a private clinic in Palermo where he had been undergoing treatment for cancer under the false name of Andrea Bonafede.

Police found "perfumes and designer clothes" but no weapons in his secret den, reportedly located between a bar and a shop for household items, according to state broadcaster RAI News.

Footage of #MatteoMessinaDenaro, Italys most wanted #mafia boss, arrested in Palermo today after 30 years on the run.pic.twitter.com/jAEUf3jqGY  Wanted in Rome (@wantedinrome) January 16, 2023

The hideout is located in an anonymous yellow three-storey building in a semi-central area of the town, which is about 80 km south-west of Palermo, according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Campobello is the town of Giovanni Luppino, the man who accompanied Messina Denaro to the Maddalena clinic on Monday morning where the mafia boss was arrested, RAI reports.

The town is located just eight kilometres from Castelvetrano, where Messina Denaro is from originally.

The street where Messina Denaro was hiding. Photo Corriere della Sera.

Nicknamed Diabolik, Messina Denaro was tried and sentenced to life in jail in absentia in 2002 over numerous murders including the 1992 killing of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

Hours after the fugitive's arrest, Italian premier Giorgia Meloni flew to Palermo where she visited the site of the Capaci bombing which claimed the lives of Falcone along with his wife and three police bodyguards in 1992.

Meloni hailed the arrest of Messina Denaro as "a big blow to organised crime" but stressed "we have not won the war" against the mafia.

She told reporters that she would propose 16 January as a national day dedicated to those who combat organised crime, describing it as "a day of celebration for us to tell our children that the mafia can be beaten".

Italy's Carabinieri police are due to give a news conference on Tuesday morning to provide further updates on the arrest of Messina Denaro, a case that has gripped the nation, reports RAI.
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Just as Walt Disney Co. announced last week that Chairman Susan Arnold would step off the board after a 15-year run as a director, activist investor Nelson Peltz made public his all-out war against the company. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Queue the palace intrigue. Was Arnold leaving as a concession to Peltz? Or because she wants no part in the nasty proxy battle thats likely brewing? Its possible that a bit of both is true. But the overriding factor, and the one Disney has publicly pointed to, is much more boring: term limits. Disneys board tenure policy caps director service at 15 years, and Arnolds time simply was up.

Term limits might be dull, but theyre a good thing. They keep directors from becoming complacent or overly aligned with the CEO. They force a refresh that injects new ways of thinking into the boardroom. That matters when 48% of directors say they want to see at least one of their fellow board members replaced, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPs most recent annual corporate directors survey. But term limits are also exceedingly rare; Disney is among only 7% of companies in the S&P 500 that have them for non-executive directors.

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This picture of Disney as responsible corporate citizen, dutifully implementing its board tenure policy, is in stark contrast to the one painted by Peltzs Trian Partners LP. The firms proxy filings argue that Disney has generally underperformed, spent too much on its 21st Century Fox acquisition, has struggled to make its streaming service profitable, and overpaid its executives. (Peltz makes a point to note that he was told a virtual board meeting wouldnt happen before Jan. 6 because CEO Bob Iger had plans to sail his yacht off the coast of New Zealand).

These critiques are not particularly new, revelatory, or controversial. Trian, however, doesnt offer up many ideas for how the company can make things better  other than to add Peltz to the board, of course. Many of Disneys problems can be chalked up to its corporate governance practices, most notably its botched CEO succession, Peltz says. He seems to think he can do it better. This position often makes the filings read more like a case for Nelson Peltz as a Disney director than a case against the company itself.

Succession ranks high on the list of a boards most important jobs, and Disney put a target on its back after botching it up so visibly. For years, the companys directors let Iger set  and then adjust  his own timeline for retirement. They let him hand pick his successor, Bob Chapek. They allowed him to stay on as chairman for two years, which ended up undermining his successor. And when the board decided Chapek needed to go, it brought Iger back after deciding he was the only person who could possibly run the company.

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Admittedly, its not a great look for a board. And it bolsters Peltzs argument that the company is lacking in the governance department. But policies like term limits signal that Disney is not only doing something right when it comes to board operations but even ahead of the curve on some practices that other companies should emulate.

Thanks in part to term limits, several Disney directors werent even involved in a number of the flawed business decisions Trian criticizes most harshly. Seven of the 12 directors hadnt yet joined the board when Disney announced it was buying Fox in 2017, and three of the companys current board members have joined since Iger stepped down as CEO in 2020. Today its a much younger board, both in terms of age and tenure, and a more diverse one, too  better reflective of the kinds of customers it wants to serve.

Excluding Arnold, who will step off after Disneys annual meeting, the companys current average independent director tenure is 4.1 years versus 7.8 for what executive search firm Spencer Stuart reports is the average for S&P 500 boards; the average age for an independent Disney director is 58 versus 63 for the S&P 500. Other than Arnold and Iger, who rejoined the board when he rebooted as CEO, the board roster is completely new since 2015. You can argue the pros and cons of this kind of a turnover  a much-needed refresh versus an inexperienced cohort  but, either way, it does take some of the wind out of Peltzs attempted portrayal of the board as a deeply entrenched group beholden to Iger.

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Last time Iger was on the board as CEO, he was also chairman  a title he held onto until 2021 when Arnold took over. This time, the company has separated the positions, with Nikes Executive Chairman Mark Parker stepping into the role as Arnold departs. Splitting the chairman and CEO jobs is increasingly acknowledged as good governance and is the direction most companies are moving toward: In its most recent board survey, Spencer Stuart found that 57% of S&P 500 boards split their CEO and chairman roles compared to 43% a decade prior. Parker also has experience replacing long-tenured CEOs synonymous with their companys brand. He was once one of them. In 2020, he stepped down as Nike CEO after a nearly 15-year run.

One of Parkers first acts as Disney chairman will be running a newly formed succession planning committee with a mandate of finding a replacement for Iger, who has signed on for a two-year term. Most companies dont have a dedicated committee designed to address succession, instead tackling the issue as a full board or as part of their compensation or governance and nominating committees. But having a group focused solely on succession seems obvious for Disney when it has struggled so miserably with its chief executive handoff before. Its probably not a bad idea for most companies to consider a similar structure, as weve recently watched both a number of failed CEO transitions as well as companies scrambling when a CEO departs with no ready replacement in the wings.

Disney has managed to engineer a rare do-over of its CEO handoff  now with new and improved corporate governance practices. It may lead to a smoother transition, but this time around theres really no room for error. Peltz, who is girding for a fight, will make sure of it.

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Beth Kowitt is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering corporate America. She was previously a senior writer and editor at Fortune Magazine.

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Hunter Biden, the second-born son of the US president, has a way of staying in the news. His work in Ukraine was a topic of the 2019 phone call that led to the first impeachment of then-President Donald Trump. E-mails and photos taken from his abandoned laptop computer spurred a dispute over whether social media companies censor legitimate news. An investigation of his finances could wind up with him facing criminal charges. If the new Republican majority in the US House of Representatives has its way, the public will be hearing Hunter Bidens name much more in coming months.

1. What do Republicans want to investigate?

The new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Republican James Comer of Kentucky, alleges that the Biden family sold access for profit around the world to the detriment of American interests. He has requested any suspicious activity reports connected to Hunter Biden; US banks submit SARs to flag irregular transactions to the Treasury Departments Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Comer has also raised questions about Hunter Bidens latest career turn  as a painter. Biden has offered prints and paintings for sale, some listed for hundreds of thousands of dollars, raising questions about whether buying his art could be seen as a way to curry favor with his father.

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2. What does President Biden say?

Joe Biden denies knowledge or involvement in his sons business dealings. During a CBS News interview in 2022, Biden said his son suffered from an addiction problem but expressed pride in his recovery efforts. I love him and hes on the straight and narrow, and he has been for a couple of years now. Im just so proud of him, Biden told CNN in October.

3. Why so much attention to a presidents son?

By his own account, 52-year-old Hunter Biden has led a troubled life. Ive bought crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, DC, and cooked up my own inside a hotel bungalow in Los Angeles, he wrote in his 2021 memoir, Beautiful Things. Ive been so desperate for a drink that I couldnt make the one-block walk between a liquor store and my apartment without uncapping the bottle to take a swig. In the last five years alone, my two-decades-long marriage has dissolved, guns have been put in my face, and at one point I dropped clean off the grid, living in $59-a-night Super 8 motels off I-95 while scaring my family even more than myself. Other presidents, of course, have endured unflattering headlines about family members. But Hunter Biden, a lawyer by training, also pursued business opportunities with foreign parties after his father became vice president in 2009, often in ways that intersected with his fathers work.

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4. What sort of work did Hunter Biden do?

Much of it involved corporate deal-making and consulting. In 2013, for instance, after flying to China with his father aboard Air Force Two, Biden joined the board of an investment fund, BHR Partners, co-founded by a Chinese private-equity investor trying to raise $1.5 billion. Entities controlled by him and his uncle, James Biden, who ran a consultancy called the Lion Hall Group, were paid $4.8 million in 2017 and 2018 by Chinese conglomerate CEFC China Energy in relation to energy projects that never came to fruition, the Washington Post reported. During discussions of an earlier prospective deal, CEFCs founder and chairman, Ye Jianming, sent Biden a 2.8-carat diamond, the New Yorker reported in 2019. Bidens venture with CEFC fell apart after an associate of Ye was arrested and sentenced in the United States for an international money-laundering scheme.

5. What did Hunter Biden do in Ukraine?

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Burisma Holdings, one of the largest private natural gas companies in Ukraine, named Biden to its board in 2014. He served until 2020, and records suggest he earned at least $50,000 a month. In 2016, his father, as the Obama administrations point person on Ukraine, pressed successfully for the ouster of Viktor Shokin as prosecutor general. US allies, the International Monetary Fund and many Ukrainians had called for Shokin to be replaced on the grounds that he had failed to pursue corruption cases. But Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, alleged that Biden had targeted Shokin to derail an investigation into Burisma. Burisma issued a statement in 2017 saying that the investigation had been closed and that it had paid an extra 180 million hryvnias ($7 million) in taxes. In hindsight, Hunter Biden said, serving on Burismas board may have been poor judgment.

6. Did Hunter Biden do wrong in his business dealings?

When he was president, Donald Trump said the Biden family was paid off, pure and simple and accused the family of corruption, extortion and pillaging foreign countries. Without offering evidence, he called them stone-cold crooked and publicly urged Ukraine and China to open criminal investigations. The notion that Hunter Biden and his father could be complicit in Ukrainian corruption was first aired in a 2018 book by Peter Schweizer, an editor at Breitbart News and president of the Government Accountability Institute, a nonprofit group founded by former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon. But even Schweizers book didnt allege that any laws were broken. A September 2020 report released by Republican members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee concluded that Hunter Bidens foreign work had created a potential conflict of interest for his father but didnt allege that any laws had been broken. That was just one in a series of voluminous reports by Republican senators suggesting wrongdoing by the presidents son, in some cases with thin evidence.

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7. What was the connection to Trumps impeachment?

In a July 2019 phone call, Trump asked Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to look into Hunter Biden and whether Joe Biden as vice president had shut down the investigation of Burisma. That call came just days after Trump announced he was withholding hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine  prompting Democrats to allege that Trump was using the assistance as leverage to pressure Zelenskiy into releasing damaging information about the Bidens. Trump denied extorting the Ukrainian leader, describing the call as perfect. Democrats in the US House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. In the Senate, Democrats fell well short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to convict Trump and remove him from office.

8. What happened with Hunter Bidens laptop?

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The owner of a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Delaware, says Biden dropped off but never reclaimed a damaged MacBook Pro that included explicit photos and videos of Biden taking drugs and engaging in sex acts. The owner says he turned the laptop over to the FBI and a copy of the hard drive to Giuliani, who shared it with the New York Post during the final weeks of the 2020 presidential election. The Posts front-page article focused on emails suggesting that Biden may have arranged for Ukrainian business associates to meet his father when he was vice president; the Post also published several unflattering photos taken from the hard drive. Citing concerns over the private nature of the material and whether it had been hacked, Twitter Inc. and Facebook (now part of Meta Platforms Inc.) restricted the ability of users to share the Post story. Subsequent reporting by other news organizations backed the authenticity of the material cited by the Post, fueling criticism that social media platforms and mainstream media had suppressed legitimate news. In one of his early moves as Twitters new owner, Elon Musk released internal emails showing there was dissension within the company over restricting access to the Post article.

9. Why is Hunter Biden under criminal investigation?

Since 2018, US law enforcement has been looking into his overseas work and whether he properly reported his income for tax purposes. Biden confirmed in 2020 that he was under federal criminal investigation, saying he was confident it would find he handled his affairs legally and appropriately. Also under investigation is whether he lied when filling out a federal form before purchasing a handgun in 2018. The Washington Post reported in October that, at a time when he has admitted using illicit drugs, Biden answered no on the form to a question about whether he was an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.

--With assistance from Billy House.

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European politics got a huge burst of kinetic energy this week, thanks to the realization in places like Berlin that the war in Ukraine will become kinetic again come spring. Thats when the Russians are expected to launch a new offensive  and the Ukrainians their own counter-attacks to retake occupied territories.

For the Ukrainians to succeed in that next phase  which think tankers describe as maneuver warfare  theyll need super-mobile Western weapons such as battle tanks. But for Kyiv to get those, Western leaders such as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz must first become unblocked. With a new German defense minister and a new stance toward arms shipments, he finally seems to be getting close.

About time, too. On the Sunday after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine last February, Scholz gave a speech in which he proclaimed a Zeitenwende, a world-historical turning point. Germany, he said, had to wake up from decades of naively coddling Putin and instead had to invest in its army and become a good NATO ally. And it had to help Ukraine defend itself.

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That rhetorical flourish, however, was followed by the usual German foot dragging. Germany has given Ukraine a lot of money, kit and weapons, but only when others  notably the US  have taken the lead. Allies including the UK, Estonia and Poland have demanded much bolder support for Ukraine, while Scholz has been the one urging caution. More than Balts, Poles, Finns and others, he fears provoking Putin into nuclear escalation. Thats also why hes so far refused to send the Ukrainians German-made Leopard 2 tanks.

Nor did it help that Scholzs defense minister, Christine Lambrecht, was the most feckless and bumbling member of his cabinet, with a tin ear for diplomacy and little clue about military matters. Allies who met her often came out of meetings rolling their eyes. Zeitenwende, it became obvious, needs a different emissary.

So this week, Lambrecht herself had the good idea of resigning. Her replacement is Boris Pistorius, a relatively obscure regional politician from Lower Saxony, who nonetheless appears to have Scholzs trust.

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Pistorius first big job is to host the so-called Ramstein format later this week. Named after an American airbase in western Germany, this is a gathering of defense ministers and top brass from some 50 countries who support Kyiv. And the main item on the to-do list is sending battle tanks to Ukraine  notably including those Leopard 2s that Scholz has been so coy about.

Earlier this month, Germany already signaled a shift, when it announced it would give Kyiv armored fighting vehicles called Marders (German for martens). As ever, Scholz moved only after the French said theyd send similar vehicles, and the Americans pledged their own Bradleys. By bringing infantry soldiers where theyre needed while under fire, these AFVs are one prerequisite for maneuver warfare. But theyre meant to work in choreography with battle tanks.

The next ally to move was Britain, which announced it would give Ukraine 14 of its battle tanks, called Challenger 2s. Simultaneously, Poland said it wants to send some of its own German-made Leopard 2s  for which Germany would have to grant re-export licenses. Finland made similar noises. Together London, Warsaw, Helsinki and others thereby upped the pressure on Berlin enough to shift the German debate too.

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In this newly fluid discussion, a good idea has resurfaced. Why not arrange for a consortium of countries to send Leopard 2s to Ukraine? Some 16 nations  15 in Europe plus Canada  have about 2,000 of the big cats in their own stocks. Letting some combination of these countries supply Ukraine as a club would solve several problems at once.

First, some armies have too few Leopards in working order to pass them on without weakening their own fighting ability. But a consortium could easily find enough tanks, spare parts and ammunition to give the Ukrainians whatever they need  at least 100, for starters.

Second, such a show of unity would vastly complicate any attempt by Putin to retaliate against any individual member of the alliance  with more sabotage and hybrid warfare or even full force. Hed in effect be facing the West as a whole. With his bully mentality, hed be more likely to shrink from such might and resolve than to escalate.

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Even then, battle tanks cannot be the Wests last move. The Leopards and Challengers will complement the armored fighting vehicles and artillery already pledged. However, proper maneuver warfare means Ukrainian ground troops will eventually require support from their own skies as well. For them to win the war  and therefore for any prospect of peace  Ukraine will therefore need Western helicopters and fighter jets.

All along in this war, it has been wrong for Western leaders such as Scholz to let Putin cow them into guessing where his red lines may or may not be. Putin attacked a smaller neighbor without provocation, shattering all norms of human decency and international order. He must be defeated. In this struggle, destiny has chosen Ukraine as Thermopylae and the Ukrainians as Spartans. The rest of us cannot let them fail.

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Frederick the Greats Advice for Ukraine Negotiations: Andreas Kluth



Big Lesson of the Ukraine War: Theres Only One Superpower: Hal Brands



Drone Strikes Show Putin His Homeland Isnt Safe: James Stavridis

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andreas Kluth is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering European politics. A former editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist, he is author of Hannibal and Me.

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Embarking on his sixth term in office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear his determination to confront the threat posed by Iran, in part by deepening ties with Israels Arab neighbors. A strong and united regional coalition against Iran would benefit Israels security. Unfortunately, the actions of Netanyahus own government are making that goal harder to achieve.

Netanyahus governing coalition depends on backing from several pugnacious far-right figures. The prime minister has reportedly assured US officials that he will keep the hard-liners in check, so far with little evident success. Shortly after the new government assumed office, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir paid a highly publicized visit to the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary  causing an uproar among Arab governments, who accuse Israel of attempting to change the long-standing status quo at the site, where only Muslims are allowed to pray.

Far from shrinking from controversy, Netanyahus partners have continued to court it. In retaliation for the Palestinian Authoritys bid to haul Israel before the International Court of Justice, the government has stripped top Palestinian officials of travel privileges, banned Palestinian construction in parts of the West Bank, and redirected roughly $40 million in Palestinian Authority tax revenues to the families of Jewish terrorism victims. For good measure, Ben-Gvir has ordered police to remove Palestinian flags from public places.

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Such moves would be provocative at any time. Now, they are especially shortsighted. Events have brought the US and Israel into closer alignment than at any point in President Joe Bidens tenure  and certainly closer than under former President Barack Obama, whose efforts to forge a nuclear agreement with Iran were furiously opposed by Netanyahu. With negotiations to revive that deal stalled, Biden has rightly focused on forging a coalition that includes Israel and the Gulf Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, to thwart Irans malign activities in the region.

The Netanyahu government has an interest in limiting conflict with the Palestinians in order to focus on threats and opportunities abroad. Palestinian leaders certainly deserve their share of criticism for grandstanding moves such as the International Court of Justice case and for continuing payments to the families of martyrs implicated in attacks on Israelis. But the antics of Israeli officials such as Ben-Gvir are making tensions worse. They risk sparking violence, if not a third intifada, and distracting from the effort to counter Iran. By weakening already fragile prospects for a two-state solution, they undermine US policy and jeopardize support for Israel within Bidens Democratic coalition.

Inflammatory actions by government hard-liners also harm prospects for expanded cooperation with the Saudis, who want to see progress on the Palestinian issue before recognizing Israel. Gulf states that have established formal ties with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords may pull back as well. They know their publics have soured on the deal; Netanyahu had to postpone an anticipated visit to the United Arab Emirates after Ben-Gvirs visit to the Temple Mount.

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Israel is scheduled to play host to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Jan. 19 and Secretary of State Antony Blinken later in the month, ahead of Netanyahus anticipated visit to Washington in February. Both Sullivan and Blinken should emphasize that the shared interests of the US and Israel require Netanyahu to restrain his coalition members. Theres little incentive for Biden to expend political capital leaning on the Saudis, for instance, if Netanyahus own government is making the job harder.

Netanyahu has long chided US leaders not to let other issues distract from the Iranian threat. The least he can do is heed his own words.

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The Editors are members of the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.

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We still dont know a lot of important facts about President Joe Bidens retention of classified documents at his Penn-Biden center office and Delaware home. For that matter, theres a lot we still dont know about former president Donald Trumps retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. What is certain is the legal concept that prosecutors will have to use to determine whether to prosecute either president: intent.

The relevant provision of the Espionage Act is fairly clear. Its a crime if you both willfully retain classified documents and also fail to deliver them on demand to the government official entitled to receive them.

The adverb willfully is standard legal language, a close cousin to knowingly. To act willfully, in the legal sense, is to act intentionally, consciously and voluntarily. As the Department of Justice has put it, relying on judicial interpretation of statutes, An act is done willfully if done voluntarily and intentionally and with the specific intent to do something the law forbids.

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In practice, this requirement of willfulness could very well mean that Trump committed a crime with respect to the classified material he retained, while Biden did not. Consider that Trump, through representatives, allegedly refused for months to return more than 30 boxes of documents sought by the National Archives  a refusal that eventually prompted the FBI to show up at Mar-a-Lago and seize the material. That refusal sounds very much like it matches the language of the Espionage Act, which requires both unauthorized retention of classified documents and the refusal to hand them over.

In contrast, according to what we know so far, Biden retained  perhaps by accident  whats been described as a small number of classified documents after leaving the vice presidency. When the documents were found, his lawyers appear to have promptly handed them over without even having to be asked. If true, that would not violate the relevant Espionage Act provision.

To a trained lawyer, or a devout watcher of Law & Order, this distinction, which could be determinative for prosecution, is intuitive. Almost all crimes come with a definitional requirement of willful or voluntary behavior.

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To non-lawyers, this legal focus on intent might seem strange. How do you prove anyone willfully does anything? And why bother?

The deep answer to these questions begins with the moral theory of crime. We generally think the law should criminalize conduct that is morally wrongful, not just socially undesirable. And if you arent voluntarily and consciously doing something, then we tend to think you arent as morally culpable for doing it as you would be if you knew what you were doing.

From this moral foundation springs our mechanism of proof. Investigators look at the circumstances of an action to determine if it was done consciously and voluntarily.

Those circumstances are often much clearer than you might think. Did Trump know he was retaining boxes of documents and refusing to hand them over? We may not be able to read Trumps mind. But we can still answer that legal and moral question by considering what Trump did when the National Archives asked for its documents.

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And we can make a solid determination of Bidens willfulness, or lack of it, by examining what he did when his lawyers found the classified documents in his office and home.

At this point, you may notice that the two special prosecutors in the Trump and Biden situations are being called on to make moral judgments before they make legal ones. In effect, theyre being asked to figure out whether the two men did anything morally wrong. The answer to that will shape the legal answer of whether to prosecute.

Thats how its supposed to work.

Intent is fundamental to the criminal law because its fundamental to our sense of right and wrong. If our legal system works, Trump and Bidens conduct will each get the appropriate level of fact-specific moral and legal scrutiny.

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Noah Feldman is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. A professor of law at Harvard University, he is author, most recently, of The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery and the Refounding of America.

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The saying goes that our eyes are the window to the soul. Perhaps over time theyll serve a less romantic purpose, as windows to making money. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, one of the leading institutions for artificial-intelligence research, have embarked on a study using facial-recognition algorithms to track the expressions of traders. Their goal: finding correlations between mood swings and market swings. If the traders look enthusiastic, it might be time to buy. Are there more furrowed brows than usual? Could be time to sell. The provisional US patent application was filed on Sept. 13th, 2022.

The market is driven by human emotions, says Mario Savvides, the projects lead scientist. What came to us is, can we abstract things like expression or movements as early indications of volatility? Everyone is getting excited, or everyone is shrugging their shoulders or scratching their head or leaning forward... Did everyone have a reaction within a five-second time frame?

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The main phase of the study will take place over 12 months beginning in the third quarter of 2023, and involve about 70 traders at investment firms mostly located in the US. Theyll all have cameras mounted on their computers to record their faces and gestures throughout the day, according to Savvides. The cameras will be linked to software from Oosto, an Israeli company formerly known as AnyVision Interactive Technologies Ltd., which hopes to develop an alert system for trends in traders faces, or a volatility index it can sell to investment firms.

Oosto, which makes facial-recognition scanners for airports and workplaces, declined to name the firms in the study but said those companies would get early access to any new tool that is spun out of the research. Footage of each individual will stay on their own computer or their physical premises; only data and numbers representing their expressions and gestures will be uploaded to the researchers.

A persons face is made up of 68 different points that frequently change position, according to Savvides, who co-authored a study on facial landmarks in 2017.

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His system will also track a traders gaze to see if theyre talking to a colleague or looking at their screen, and note if their peers are doing the same thing. We have a whole toolbox of searching algorithms that well be testing to see if they correlate to a market signal, said Savvides. We are searching for needles in a haystack.

Advertisers already use facial analysis to study how exciting an ad is, while retailers use it to see how bored customers are and hiring managers to determine, rather creepily, if a job candidate is enthusiastic enough.

The stock market study at first glance seems more dystopian. Trading algorithms have for years tried to harness information from the weather, social media or satellites, but theres something a little demeaning about the traders themselves being exploited for data. The researchers are also arguably putting traders into a never-ending feedback loop where their actions and decisions become derivative and their notoriously lemming-like behavior amplified. If you thought the market was already driven by a herd-like mentality, this will probably make it worse  but thats also how the market works.

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Everyone on the street talks, says one trader in London (not part of the study) who said theyd find such alerts about their peers sentiment useful. The whole part of doing what we do is discuss ideas and share information... Non-verbal communication is massive. Years back, trading floors were loud places where people would often talk on three or four phone lines at the same time; now many communicate over chat rooms and talking is minimal.

But the study also points to another uncomfortable phenomenon: Facial recognition is here to stay and its more controversial cousin, facial analysis, might be as well. For all the concern that has bubbled up around facial recognition, including over the mistakes it can make as a surveillance tool, tens of millions of us still use it unhesitatingly to unlock our phones.

Facial analysis like the kind being used by Carnegie Mellon, opens a bigger can of worms. Last summer, Microsoft Corp. vowed to eliminate its facial-analysis tools, which estimated a persons gender age and emotional state, admitting that the system could be unreliable and invasive.(1) That might not matter too much for traders, eager to lap up whatever data they can for an edge. But this study  if successful  could embolden research into analyzing faces for other purposes, like assessing ones emotional state during a work meeting.

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If youre doing a business deal over Zoom, can you have an AI read the face to tell if someone is calling your bluff, or being a hard negotiator? asks Savvides. Its possible. Why not?

Zoom Video Communications Inc. introduced a feature last year that tracks sentiment in a recorded work meeting. Called Zoom IQ, the software targeted at sales professionals gives meeting participants a score of between 0 and 100, with anything over 50 indicating greater engagement in the conversation. The system doesnt use facial analysis but tracks speakers engagement, or how long one waits to respond, and offers its score at the end of the meeting.

More than two dozen rights groups have called on Zoom to stop working on the feature, arguing that sentiment analysis is underpinned by pseudoscience and is inherently biased. A spokesperson for Zoom said the company still sells the software, and that it turns customer interactions into meaningful insights.

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You can argue that Carnegies researchers shouldnt care what their facial-analysis tool tells them about traders emotions; they just need to spot the patterns that point to correlations, and pivot those figures into a searching algorithm. But the downside of turning emotions into a number is just that: It risks devaluing one of the most fundamental features of being a human. It might be better if it doesnt catch on.

More From Bloomberg Opinion:

 Why Casinos Are Spying on Their Ultra-Rich Clients: Parmy Olson

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(1) Amazon continues to sell facial analysis software that estimates someones gender and also guesses whether they are happy, confused, disgusted or more.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Parmy Olson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology. A former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, she is author of We Are Anonymous.

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Please have more babies. Thats Chinas message for couples after decades of limiting most families to just one child. Why the turnabout? The reason is that births have now fallen for six years in a row, leading to a population drop last year for the first time since the 1960s. Even before the historic overall decline, the working-age population had been shrinking for years, and projections show that one quarter of the population will be 60 or older by 2030. This threatens economic growth, which has been predicated on a vast labor supply  not to mention there may not be enough able-bodied people to take care of all those seniors. The upshot is that Chinas economy may struggle to overtake the US in size and the country could lose its status as the worlds most populous to India this year.

1. Whats being done?

The Politburo decided in 2021 to allow all couples to have a third child, five years after changing its one-child policy to allow women to have two. (Family-planning policies were totally stricken from a new Civil Code, leaving room for the government to scrap birth limits altogether.) The change to allow two kids worked at first: The number of newborns in 2016 was 17.9 million, a jump of more than 1 million from the year before. However, births dropped each year after that, to 9.56 million in 2022, the lowest since at least 1950. Some regions have started offering incentives for couples to have kids, from extending parental leave to offering subsidies and providing baby loans. Shenzhen, which neighbors Hong Kong, is working on plans to subsidize parents until their children turn three.

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2. How much did the population shrink

The fall in births and tick-up in deaths resulted in 850,000 fewer Chinese people living in mainland China in 2022 compared with 2021, according to official data released in January. The head of the statistics bureau predicted the trend would continue, pointing to a drop in peoples willingness to have babies, the delay in marriage and pregnancy, as well as a fall in number of women of child-bearing age. The Covid-19 outbreak that began sweeping across the country late last year will likely boost deaths in the short-term, which will come on top of the increase in deaths expected as the nation ages. In addition:

 The share of the working-age population  those ages 15 to 59  slumped to 62% from more than 70% a decade ago. Bloomberg Economics predicts the group will slump to about 650 million people in 2050, a drop of about 260 million from 2020.

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 The fertility rate, or average number of lifetime births per woman, fell to 1.3 in 2020, far below the 2.1 needed for a steady population, excluding migration.

 As recently as 2019, the United Nations was forecasting that Chinas population would peak in 2031; by last year it had revised that estimate to 2022. It now expects China to lose 110 million people by 2050 and fall to about half its current size by the end of the century.

 The UN projects that India will surpass China as the worlds most populous country this year, four years ahead of an earlier estimate.

3. Whats the impact?

If the decline in the number of people of working age leads to a drop in how many people are actually working, that may raise the cost of labor in China, adding to the price of manufactured goods. With fewer people starting families, there would also likely be hit to long-term demand for houses, which would have an impact on demand for commodities such as iron ore. The government may also struggle to pay for its underfunded national pension system. All that could cut into the long-term growth potential of the economy unless government policies to promote having children become effective. There could be ripple effects outside the country. For example, fewer children may reduce the number of Chinese students seeking education in the US, Australia and elsewhere. The decline will be hard to reverse, even after the government ended its one-child policy. A traditional preference for sons caused many Chinese parents to abort female fetuses; the male-to-female ratio reached 120-to-100 in some provinces. The sex ratio for births has stabilized at around 105 in recent years, but in some regions such as Guangdong and the tropical island of Hainan, the ratio remains elevated at above 110. One result is fewer women of child-bearing age.

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4. Where did the one-child policy come from?

After the creation of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949 and the end of the civil war, the government trained tens of thousands of barefoot doctors to bring health care to poor and rural areas. The mortality rate plummeted and the population growth rate rose from 16 per thousand in 1949 to 25 per thousand just five years later. This prompted the first attempts to encourage family planning in 1953. Still, total population expanded to over 800 million in the late 1960s. By the 1970s, China was facing food and housing shortages. In 1979, its leader, Deng Xiaoping, decided to limit most couples to just one child. (There were exceptions for rural farmers, ethnic minorities and certain situations, like when a first child was handicapped.) To enforce it, according to Human Rights Watch, women were pushed to have abortions. Children born outside the state plan werent allowed to have their hukou  a government registration needed to access some benefits.

5. Whats the solution?

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A change to the retirement age may address some of the issues. The country has kept it at 60 for men and 55 for women white-collar workers for more than four decades, even as life-expectancy has risen. Theres discussion again about raising the age, but as in other countries, such a move is very unpopular policy and there was a backlash when it was considered a decade ago. On top of ending restrictions on the number of children, officials will need to build up support for families, including pre-schools and schools, as well as financial incentives or tax breaks. Time and financial concerns mean that many couples feel they can only afford to have one child  if any. The central government has tried to relieve that burden, such as by wiping out the for-profit, after-school tutoring industry to lower education costs. It also issued a guideline to reduce abortions while providing more support to women to raise children. However, if the experience of Japan, South Korea and other developed nations is any guide, its incredibly difficult if not impossible to radically raise birth rates, even with measures such as subsidies, free childcare and generous parental leave allowances. Theres no reason to think the situation in China will be different.

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For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic began, people in China can travel freely for Lunar New Year, the countrys most important holiday. The annual ritual of family reunion usually involves billions of trips, but those were sharply curtailed over the past three years as the government urged people to celebrate where you are to avoid spreading the virus. The abrupt lifting of the countrys strict Covid Zero policy at the end of 2022 has already led to a huge wave of new infections. The question now is how much of an impact the massive migration will have on the outbreak  as well as the already fragile economy.

1. Whats Lunar New Year?

Also known as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival, it marks the beginning of the Chinese lunar calendar, and is seen as celebrating values like unity and family ties. By law people in China get seven days off beginning New Years Eve, which falls on Jan. 21 this year. Traditionally, the celebrations span 16 days, from a family feast on New Years Eve through the Lantern Festival on Day 15. Many migrant workers seize whats often their only chance in the year to return home, and many of the countrys urban elites also make their way back to small towns and villages. Before the pandemic the annual event was considered the worlds biggest human migration.

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2. What will travel look like this year?

Its expected to be no-holds barred as the government has jettisoned travel curbs: No more testing to board trains, planes, ferries or shuttle buses for domestic travel; no more quarantine for inbound travelers. Officials estimate the number of trips over the holiday period will hit 2.1 billion  double that of last year, but still just 70% of the level seen in 2019. (The travel rush  known as Chunyun in Chinese, or spring transport  covers 40 days around the Lunar New Year; some 34.7 million domestic trips were made on the first day this year, Jan. 7.) Previously, when travel was officially discouraged, many people stayed put, which created tremendous pent-up demand for homecomings. This year is expected to see not only people swarming out of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, but also the Chinese diaspora rushing in from near and far. Hong Kong set a daily quota of 60,000 people to travel to the mainland, which was then raised for land crossings. (In comparison, AAA estimated 113 million people in the US traveled from Dec. 23 to Jan. 2, closing in on pre-pandemic numbers.)

3. How will this impact Covid spread in China?

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Xu Chengguang, the vice transport minister, put it bluntly: this will be a New Years travel rush fraught with uncertainty, complexity and challenges. Chinas abrupt ditching of strict Covid controls in December fueled a surge of infections in major cities, prompting people to stay home as they fell ill or feared becoming infected. Almost 60,000 people died from Covid-related causes between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12, according to the National Health Commission. While thats an exponential jump from the previous official tally, experts estimate the true figure is likely in the hundreds of thousands. As many as 248 million people, or nearly 18% of the population, likely contracted the virus in the first 20 days of December, Bloomberg News has reported. The frenetic travel will give the highly contagious omicron variant another boost across the vast country of 1.4 billion. Rural China is bracing for a tsunami of infections at its understaffed and under-resourced hospitals and clinics. Many are already struggling with a sudden spike in febrile patients and pneumonia cases among the elderly.

4. What is the government doing?

Transport authorities are adding more flights and transport options to ferry not just people but also medical supplies, grains and fuel to handle expected higher demand ahead. The countrys vast rail network has boosted its passenger capacity by 11% from 2019 levels. The government also has made a plea to migrant workers and students to delay their trip back home if they are infected. It also asked villagers and farmers to reduce gatherings and wear masks when visiting elderly relatives and to practice good hygiene. Neighbors should also look after each other in this difficult time, sharing medicines and antiseptics or helping with groceries and sending the sick to hospitals. Chinas National Health Commission has also asked larger hospitals in cities to help out rural clinics and called for strengthening the mechanisms to transfer severely ill patients in rural areas to intensive care at higher-level medical institutions. It also pledged to redirect more medical supplies to rural areas and urged people to get vaccinated.

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5. What does this mean for tourism?

Domestic leisure travel is first in line to get a boost, as people recovering from a bout of Covid are looking to ski down snow-capped mountains in northern China and bathe in the sunshine down south in Hainan, known as Chinas Hawaii, and shop at the islands duty-free stores. The Lunar New Year has traditionally been a peak season for outbound travel as well, but the flow of Chinese tourists  previously a $280 billion spending force in hotspots from Paris to Tokyo  will take months if not years to recover to pre-pandemic levels. Numerous countries have implemented testing requirements on travelers from China after infections surged, and airlines have been reluctant to immediately make major changes to their flight schedules, meaning capacity remains tight and prices high.

6. And the broader economy?

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Consumption was a main drag on the economy last year as shops and restaurants were shut repeatedly and travel was restricted due to Covid outbreaks and lockdowns. Chinese households also cut back on spending to save more amid soaring unemployment and a gloomy income outlook. Now that the country has abruptly dropped the Covid-Zero strategy and started reopening its borders, economists broadly expect consumption to rebound robustly later this year after infections peak, helped by a low comparison base but also as pent-up demand is unleashed and economic activity picks up. Chinese leaders have made boosting domestic demand a top priority this year, as geopolitical tensions remain while concerns rise that the global economy could enter recession. Some government-linked analysts have called on the authorities to provide cash handouts to consumers like what the US and other countries did to spur spending, while others argue more favorable policies should be given to small businesses and the property sector to preserve jobs.

7. Whats this years animal sign?

Its the year of the rabbit. While normally considered a tame and tender animal, this years commemorative stamp issued by China Post has stirred up controversy, with some people saying the rabbit looks crazed or worse.

--With assistance from Michelle Fay Cortez.

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The UK government is about to do something that will make Silicon Valley shudder, or at least make social media executives think twice about flying over British airspace. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks all but certain to strengthen the UKs Online Safety Bill with criminal sanctions for social media bosses, after fierce lobbying from the countrys ruling Conservative party. The bill aims to protect under-18s from harmful content; so if regulators find that Instagram has been steering British kids toward material encouraging suicide, Mark Zuckerberg could face up to two years behind bars.

Harsh as it sounds, politicians across the main parties are eager for the stricter rules. The amendment will likely go in when the bill goes to the House of Lords, probably this spring. Barring any major events  like the prime minister being replaced again  the Online Safety Bill should pass before November 2023, when the UKs current session of Parliament ends.

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Naturally, none of this has gone down well with some tech leaders. Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, called the move a form of tyranny, while others suspect a Silicon Valley vendetta by British politicians.

But it is actually a prudent move. Tyrannical criminal sanctions have been part of regulatory life in Britains banking and construction industries for years, and their existence has helped keep lines of accountability clear and the process of regulation easier. In the last six months, jail sentences have been handed out to at least four people from the building trade because of fatal accidents, including the deadly fall of a 69-year-old builder who was working on a house extension last year; the manager overseeing the builders work was jailed for nine months after inspectors found the scaffold hed been working on had no guardrails.

Convictions have been more rare for financial rules that were introduced after the 2008 credit crisis to deter misconduct,(1)but they have created a clearer chain of accountability for banks, which have been forced to draw maps of executives roles and responsibilities to give to the countrys financial watchdog.

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Social media companies by contrast arent required to divulge who is in charge of what, even though they have entire divisions devoted to critical jobs such as stopping incitement to violence, harassment and misinformation on their networks.

In fact, we only know that Facebooks head of safety reports to its chief lobbyist Joel Kaplan because a British MP asked the executive multiple times during a hearing in late 2021.(2)That chain of command doesnt inspire huge confidence in the companys concerns for user safety, since Kaplan is charged with improving Facebooks political standing.

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that Instagram knew its app made body image issues worse for young women, and that Metas engagement-based ranking systems steered more people toward outrage to keep them on Facebook. For years, the company has prioritized profit over and safety, but it has mostly received slaps on the wrist from regulators  multimillion-dollar fines that are rounding errors for the companys gargantuan revenue.

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Frustrated that tech firms havent delivered on promises to stop harming kids mental health, British child-protection groups like the NSPCC are rightly behind the push for more daunting personal outcomes for social media executives.

And the idea is not so outlandish from a legal perspective. Stephen Bainbridge, a professor of law at UCLA, points out that punishing an entire company for the bad behavior of its directors  like most regulatory action against Meta and other Big Tech companies until now  unfairly penalizes innocent parties. Shareholders lose money and employees might suffer job cuts.

Personal sanctions against company leadership are a more effective deterrent to bad behavior, he argues. Corporations after all, arent moral actors. The corporation is simply a nexus of contracts between factors of production, Bainbridge says. There is no moral basis for applying retributive justice to a corporation. There is nothing there to be punished.

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Will an amendment threatening jail actually see Zuckerberg spend two years eating beans on toast with other British prisoners? Meta and its peers will likely do whatever they can to prevent such a scenario, but the threat itself will almost certainly push firms to cooperate with greater enthusiasm when they are audited by Ofcom, the UKs new online regulator, and the rules come into force. That would be a big improvement on the status quo.

Its also apt that the law comes just when Big Tech leaders are cutting thousands of jobs, reining back their culture of expensive perks and telling staff they need to work harder. Thats a culture shift that Big Tech has needed for some time.

Now its time the people in charge lose some luxuries too, including the legal protections they have enjoyed for years.

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 Henry VIII Powers Wont Resolve the UKs Strikes: Therese Raphael

(1) The Senior Managers and Certification Regime.

(2) In a testimony to the British MPs on Oct 29, 2021, Facebooks head of safety Antigone Davis, admitted that she reported into Joel Kaplan, Facebooks top lobbyist, and not the companys audit and risk oversight committee. Watch the video here.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Parmy Olson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering technology. A former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Forbes, she is author of We Are Anonymous.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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YEREVAN, JANUARY 17, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on Azerbaijan to unblock the movement of the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the outside world, the Lachin Corridor, as soon as possible, ARMENPRESS reports the Russian FM spoke about this, as well as about the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations, during a telephone conversation with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov on January 17.

"The ministers discussed a number of topical issues of bilateral relations and the regional agenda.

The Russian side emphasized the need to fully unblock movement through the Lachin Corridor as soon as possible, in accordance with the requirments set by the high-level Trilateral Declaration of November 9, 2020. The importance of reaching mutually acceptable solutions on all related issues was also emphasized, with the aim of resuming the systemic work in the key directions of the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement, based on the agreements of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
(Simoul Alva for The Post)

Lenient remote work policies and a spate of layoffs have fueled an exodus of Silicon Valley workers, clearing the way for rising investment in other tech hubs.
On January 16, Foreign Minister of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a phone conversation with Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General.

January 17, 2023, 09:06 Armenia FM briefs UN Secretary-General on blockade-induced humanitarian crisis in Artsakh

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 17, ARTSAKHPRESS: During the phone conversation, the recent developments in the region were discussed.

Ararat Mirzoyan briefed his interlocutor on the details of the humanitarian crisis unfolded in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blockade of Lachin Corridor, particularly stressing the need for a targeted response and efficient steps by international institutions, particularly, the United Nations, the foreign ministry said in a read-out.

Minister Mirzoyan underlined that Azerbaijan grossly violates the provisions of the November 9 Trilateral Statement and the principles of international humanitarian law.

Under these circumstances, the Armenian side highlighted the importance of sending a fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and Lachin Corridor, as well as ensuring unhindered humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh for relevant UN bodies.
Andrew James Molan was born in Melbourne on April 11, 1950, son of a World War II veteran, Andrew Molan and Noni (nee Harnetty). He dreamt of being a soldier from his early days and in July, 1968, was admitted into the Royal Military Academy, Duntroon. He completed university degrees in arts and economics and learnt Indonesian. In 1972, he was posted to the 1st Battalion, Pacific Islands Regiment (Papua New Guinea), returning a few months later to marry Anne Williams, whom he had met as an officer cadet. Both of them returned to Papua New Guinea where Molan completed what was to be a three-year stint, in which he helped the country move towards the democratic system that was instituted in 1975.

But in the ensuing four decades, Molan, reaching the rank of major-general, carved a most distinguished career, at one stage commanding more troops than any Australian since World War II. He fought some brutal battles, put his life on the line and helped Iraq onto the road to democracy. There were no massed armies, aerial combat and sea battles. The wars he fought were more like most military campaigns of the old Roman Empire, skirmishes in a protracted campaign to maintain global stability. As chief of staff for the coalition forces in Iraq in 2004-05, Molan was in the hot seat in a period of world history marked by terrorism, mass dislocation and chronic instability.

Jim Molan almost got to Vietnam. He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in December 1971 and, after training with his infantry battalion, was due to go. But Australias commitment was coming to an end, following the Gorton governments decision to scale down from late 1970. The end of that commitment ushered in what some servicemen termed The Great Peace.

Molan then served in the 9th Battalion, Royal Queensland Regiment, and in the 3rd and 6th Battalions Royal Australian Regiment. He was at one point dispatched to the then Trade Union Training Authority College to learn how to become an industry advocate, which he found to be an extraordinary experience. His first child, Sarah, was born in 1981, followed by Erin in 1983, Felicity in 1984 and Michael in 1989. In 1992, as a colonel, Molan was posted to Jakarta as the Australian Defence Force attache, where he served until 1994. In 1998, as a brigadier, he returned as defence attache for another two years, where he saw first-hand Indonesias chaos following the fall of president Suharto, the Asian financial crisis and East Timors vote for independence. In 1999, when the Australian Army was deployed to East Timor, he was sent there.

Major General Andrew James Jim Molan, AO, 2007.

Made an Officer of the Order of Australia, Molan became commander of the Australian Defence College. The United States was keen to bring commanders of allied nations into the command structure and Molan was offered a job, which the then Chief of the Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove, urged him to take. In April 2004, Molan was posted to Baghdad as deputy chief of staff for operations for the new Multinational Force. Then he became chief of staff, effectively putting him in command of a force of 270,000, including more than 130,000 Americans, the rest drawn from dozens of coalition nations, plus Iraq itself.

Molan set out to create new mechanisms to co-ordinate and improve the security of vital infrastructure, monitoring, security, repair, ministerial liaison, contracting and command. He was in command during the brutal battles for Fallujah, Najar, Talafar, Samarra and Mosul. Molan survived a 23 mm anti-aircraft gun attack on a Blackhawk helicopter. On his count, he was involved in 15 attacks, including rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. The Iraqi elections scheduled for January 2005 represented a huge challenge. In the seven days before election day, coalition and Iraqi security forces were attacked about 800 times and on election day 260 times. On the night before the election, a rocket hit a room next to where Molan was, killing two Americans. It failed to detonate, which probably saved Molans life.

Molan, awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the US Legion of Merit, retired from the Army in 2008 and published a book, Baghdad, Running the War in Iraq. He settled on a property near Queanbeyan and became busy as a member of the local bush fire brigade. Owner of a light plane, he flew a civilian helicopter in rescue operations as well as police and firefighting operations and became director of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre. He gave evidence on crisis management to the 2009 Victorian royal commission on bushfires.
But the New Guard was the biggest, with a peak membership of about 50,000 men, many of them  like Campbell  returned World War I servicemen. At the time, NSW Police had fewer than 2000 men. The New Guard planned to install machine gun nests around the NSW Parliament to hold the captured building against an anticipated counterattack by the police, as set out by historian Andrew Moore, an associate professor at Western Sydney University, in his contribution to a new book, Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia, published last month. Leader of the New Guard fascist group Eric Campbell making what looks like a Nazi salute in Sydney in December, 1931. Credit: One senior New Guardsman later recounted that we were definitely prepared for civil war. The police and New Guard knew each other well; theyd clashed in a series of skirmishes and street fights as the paramilitary gangs in their hundreds attacked unionists, broke up strikes and disrupted meetings of the Communist Party. The police had infiltrated the group and were prepared for its attempted coup. They planned to defend the parliament with howitzers at the ready, no less. The acting superintendent of the Metropolitan Police, the notoriously violent Big Bill Mackay, issued orders to his force to go out there and belt their bloody heads off, as Moore describes.

The coup attempt never came. The New Guards biggest target, the Labor premier of NSW, Jack Lang, was sacked by Governor Philip Game over the states fiscal crisis. The New Guard lost its momentum and many of its members. If this is news to you, youre not alone. Most Australians probably wouldnt know about the 1930s and the local fascist movement, says the co-editor of the new book, Evan Smith, lecturer in history at Flinders University. Its always just seen as cranks, fringe, and thats just ignorance. The arrest of Francis De Groot, a member of the fascist New Guard, after he upstaged NSW premier Jack Lang at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in March, 1932. Credit: SMH Archives The only well-known scene from Australias fascist history is the moment that a New Guard member  Captain Francis de Groot  charged on horseback at the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932. He upstaged Jack Lang by using his sword to cut the ceremonial ribbon before the premier could. The New Guard considered Lang unworthy of the honour. Smith says this is seen as Australias fascist moment, a tiny surviving fragment of an overlooked history. Even if the fascists in Australia werent challenging for power themselves, their violence and intimidation of unionists and communists was very real. The New Guard kidnapped communists. What they were doing was akin to what the Ku Klux Klan was doing during Reconstruction in the US.

Yet for all its fascination, despite its potential as an object lesson  and in spite of the good work of many historians to tell our story  its almost as if Australias secret armies are kept a secret history. My copy of the weighty Oxford Companion to Australian Politics, for instance, contains no entries on fascism or anti-fascism, or the New Guard, or even far-right or extremist movements. Loading Moore says its an inconvenient reality for the preferred historical narrative of Australia as a relaxed and comfortable country that avoided political extremism. The young Perrottet had no excuse for making light of Nazism, but he got one thing right this week. He says hes committed to better education about the atrocities of the past. That must include education about anti-Semitism, but should also teach the broader history of fascism, at home and abroad. Because we cant leave the struggle against fascism to ASIO and the Federal Police. ASIO chief Mike Burgess last year said that right-wing extremists had accounted for 16 per cent of the agencys investigative caseload three years ago but reached 40 per cent last year.

Its the extent of what were seeing thats the difference: more people interested in it, more activity. Most of ASIOs priority counter-terrorism cases at the end of last year were investigations of people under the age of 18, he said. Loading As a nation, we need to reflect on why some teenagers are hanging Nazi flags and portraits of the Christchurch killer on their bedroom walls and why others are sharing beheading videos, said Burgess. The task of preventing radicalisation was one for parents, schools and community leaders, he said, not ASIO: We do not belong in the classroom. But with state governments responsible for schools, Dominic Perrottet, you do. The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own. Sign up here.
Australian farmers must boost environmental credentials and cut greenhouse emissions if they want to maintain access to the $72 billion export market, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt warns as he jets off for crucial trade talks with the United Kingdom and the European Union.

The EU last year introduced tough new land-clearing protections that could be applied to block access to Australian beef and grains into the lucrative, premium market, just as Trade Minister Don Farrell finalises negotiations with the bloc for a free-trade deal.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Australian agricultures ability to continue exporting to the world is really tied to our performance on sustainability, Watt told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

He said agriculture must play its part in meeting the Australias climate target of 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2050, but confirmed no specific targets would be imposed on the sector.
Aware of their position as outsiders, foreign judges tend to focus on interpreting the text of a countrys constitution based on what they see as the authors original intent, which makes them less likely to make decisions that create social change, Dziedzic said. Their presence is also part of a broader challenge that Pacific nations face as they consider how to calibrate legal systems that draw on both Indigenous customs and Western legal traditions that were imported during colonisation. In recent years, Samoa, for example, has enacted sometimes contentious constitutional changes to put more Indigenous customary Samoan values into the constitution to balance what they saw as a kind of Western influence, Dziedzic said. Patrick Fepuleai, a Samoan lawyer, said that although local judges were sometimes less experienced than foreign ones, they were better equipped to handle issues involving local customs and traditions. Samoas district courts and Supreme Court are now fully staffed by local judges, he said, a shift that has been broadly welcomed by the public. The next step, he said, will be to localise the highest bench, the Court of Appeal, whose three current judges are from New Zealand.

Thats what, I suppose, any country like ours is aspiring to: that one day, all our courts will be manned by local judges, he said. Those foreign judges who remain in Pacific nations can face political vulnerabilities and questions of allegiance that local judges do not have to contend with. Kiribati is just one of the countries that have tried to remove foreign judges. In 2014, Nauru deported its only magistrate and cancelled the visa of its chief justice. The same year, the island nation of Timor-Leste dismissed all foreign judicial staff members and ordered five judges, two prosecutors and one adviser to immediately leave the country. Critics in both instances said the governments actions were politically motivated. Former Kiribati High Court Justice David Lambourne (right) in 2019 with Sir John Baptist Muri, former chief justice of the High Court of Kiribati. Credit: Pacific Islands Legal Information Institute As to Kiribati, the president suspended the five high-level foreign judges after they either challenged the government or made rulings against it over actions they deemed unlawful. In response, the president, Taneti Maamau, accused them of being neocolonial actors trying to undermine Kiribatis sovereignty.

At the centre of the crisis is David Lambourne, an Australian who became a High Court judge in the island nation in 2018. Lambourne said the appointment had been uncontroversial until his wife, Tessie Lambourne, a native of Kiribati, became the countrys opposition leader in 2020. After that, the government tried to limit the length of his appointment, which he said had carried no fixed term. Loading In 2021, the government informed him that he would not be granted another work visa unless he signed a new contract limiting his appointment to three years, according to court documents. He lodged a court appeal, calling the move unconstitutional. The chief justice at the time, William Hastings, a current New Zealand judge seconded to Kiribati ruled in Lambournes favour  and was then suspended by the government over allegations of misconduct, along with Lambourne. Lambourne was locked out of Kiribati during the pandemic but was able to return on a visitors visa in August 2022. After he arrived, the government twice tried to deport him, once accusing him of posing an unspecified security threat. In both instances, the deportation was stopped by the Court of Appeal, staffed by three judges from New Zealand.

In September, the government suspended all three appeals court judges, leaving the nation of 120,000 people with no judges above the magistrate level. Maamau has accused the suspended judges, in numerous public statements, of trying to consolidate their own power by helping to secure a lifetime appointment for Lambourne. It is disheartening to see neocolonial forces weaponising the laws that have been enacted to protect a Kiribati person to pursue their own interest, and suppress the will of the people, he said in a statement. Semilotas appointment to acting chief justice meets the judiciarys aspiration over the past few years to localise this important position, a spokesperson for Maamau said in an emailed statement. Lambourne said the governments actions were politically motivated and aimed at his wife, who has been a vocal critic of Maamaus moves to align Kiribati with China and withdraw from key regional bodies.

I believe that this is an attempt by the government to force me out of the office and force me out of Kiribati in the very misguided belief that if I wasnt here, Tessie would have to leave politics, Lambourne said in a telephone interview. Loading He added that all five foreign judges had been appointed by Maamau, 62, who has been president for six years. For him to turn around now and say Its all these white people trying to protect each other is nothing more than blatant racism on his part, Lambourne said. Tess Newton Cain, project leader of the Pacific Hub at the Australia-based Griffith Asia Institute, said the crisis raised concerns about the state of democracy in Kiribati.
The former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh and political analyst David Babayan describes the Baku pogrom as one of the bloodiest manifestations of Azerbaijans genocidal policy.

January 17, 2023, 09:49 Baku pogrom is one of bloodiest manifestations of Azerbaijans genocidal policy against Armenians  David Babayan

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 17, ARTSAKHPRESS: On the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the Baku pogrom, Babayan told ARMENPRESS that January 13th, 1990 is one of the most tragic and black chapters in the history of the Armenian people.

The Baku pogrom in 1990 was a seven-day pogrom against the Armenian population in Baku, Soviet Azerbaijan during which Armenians were beaten, murdered, and expelled from the city by Azerbaijanis. There were also many raids on apartments, robberies and arsons. Eyewitness accounts and independent reports prove that the anti-Armenian violence in Baku and Sumgait were premeditated and state-sanctioned, and attackers had lists and addresses of Armenians.

On that day, the mass massacres of the Armenians began in the Azerbaijani capital city Baku. We must be united, we must engage in the right policy and form an educated and patriotic society. Only in this case it will be possible to avoid a severe trial such as the Baku pogrom, Babayan said.

Babayan said that for decades Azerbaijan has implemented its programs on achieving exodus of Armenians, and the Baku pogrom was one of the bloodiest events of Azerbaijans genocidal policy.

For us this is one of the most painful topics and regrettably it hasnt received any proper assessment by the international community, and thats why today Azerbaijan still continues its policy. And the blockade of Artsakh today is a manifestation of that same genocidal policy, Babayan said.

The ex-foreign minister said there are numerous problems and the Armenian people are facing four highly important pan-national objectives and issues: the fate of Artsakh, the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, the preservation of the Armenian national identity in the Diaspora and the conservation of Lake Sevan. And now, given that now Artsakh is the most endangered one, and if Artsakh falls then definitely the Armenian statehood will fall, therefore it is imperative for the main foreign policy to be Artsakh-oriented, at least for a short-term period, so that well be able to overcome this crisis, Babayan said.

Babayan emphasized that ignoring any crime is further encouraging the aggressor, and this is a fact, be it an ordinary street gangster or a government.

Hitler for example, one of the most notorious criminals in history, when he was perpetrating the genocide of the Jews he was saying: Who remembers the genocide of the Armenians? And this led to millions of people, various nations go through genocide. But if the Armenian Genocide were to be condemned in time and Turkey were to be held to account, perhaps what we went through since 1988 would never have happened. Unfortunately, today everyone is talking about their interests and expediency, and if expediency is replacing justice then we should expect new tragedies everywhere. The same Turkey today is threatening Greece, Europe, and the seeds of this genocidal policy have been planted in various places and unfortunately they will grow, Babayan said.

Asked what steps must be taken in terms of restoring the rights of the citizens who were affected as a result of the Baku pogrom, Babayan said first of all Azerbaijan must be held to political accountability and sanctioned, however Babayan noted that at this moment the international community is unlikely to take that steps due to its interests.

But at least we must realize whom we are dealing with: what is the state of Azerbaijan? Because there are no good or bad nations, there are rogue and dangerous states. Thats why we must not live in illusions: Azerbaijan and Turkey are not our friends, to say the least. This doesnt mean that we ought to not deal with them in any way, but that must be done by understanding the red lines, David Babayan said.
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced on Monday that the UK would supply Ukraine with Bulldog personnel carriers, as well as additional drones and Starstreak air defense systems as part of the military aid package, Tass informs.

January 17, 2023, 12:34 UK outlines further military aid to Ukraine

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 17, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Hundreds more armored and protective vehicles including Bulldog personnel carriers will be sent," he said to parliament. Besides, the UK will send "dozens more uncrewed aerial systems to support artillery," the defense minister said. "Hundreds more sophisticated missiles including Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS), Starstreak air defense, medium range air defense missiles" will be referred to Ukraine, he added.

According to Ben Wallace, these supplies can "accelerate Ukrainian success" and help oust Russian troops from its territory.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh issued a statement on the 33rd anniversary of the Baku pogrom.

January 17, 2023, 15:05 Baku, Sumgait pogroms marked beginning of another monstrous stage in Azeri genocidal policy towards Armenians - Artsakh MFA

STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 17, ARTSAKHPRESS: Below is the full statement:

On these days, we pay tribute to the memory of the innocent victims of the mass pogroms of Armenians in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, carried out 33 years ago. Murders, robberies, violence and atrocities committed with exceptional cruelty continued for a whole week - from 13 to 20 January 1990. People who escaped death were subjected to organized deportation. According to various sources, between 150 and 300 people were killed as a result of this inhuman crime.



Baku pogroms, along with the 1988 massacre of Armenians in Sumgait, marked the beginning of another monstrous stage in Azerbaijan's genocidal policy towards Armenians. Pogroms and mass killings, widespread and systematic deportation of the Armenian population of the former Azerbaijan SSR, including operation Ring on the deportation of Armenians from the border villages of Artsakh in 1991, waging aggressive wars against the Republic of Artsakh in 1991-1994, in April 2016 and in September-November 2020, accompanied by war crimes committed by Azerbaijani armed forces, became manifestations of this policy. As a result of these criminal acts, thousands of people were killed, hundreds of thousands became victims of ethnic cleansing.



Widespread and consistent propaganda of xenophobia against Armenians, accompanied by their dehumanization, encouragement of war crimes and crimes motivated by ethnic intolerance, became an integral part of Azerbaijan's policy to exterminate Armenians in their historical homeland. Specialized international organizations regularly noted the extreme manifestations of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, no effective steps have been taken to combat them. As a result, a fertile ground has developed in Azerbaijan for the commission and justification of crimes against humanity.



Impunity for both the Baku pogroms and the previous and subsequent mass crimes led to a situation where Azerbaijan considers it acceptable to blockade the 120,000 population of Artsakh and create conditions for a humanitarian catastrophe.



Lasting peace in the region cannot be achieved on the basis of the results of Baku's genocidal policy. Such policy must be resolutely condemned and rejected by the international community, and the immediate lifting of the blockade of Artsakh, which has been going on for over a month, should become the first step to this end.
By Joe Gale, Montgomery County commissioner

January 17th marked Valerie Arkooshs last day as Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Her next stop is Harrisburg after having recently been appointed Secretary of Human Services by Pennsylvanias new Governor, Josh Shapiro. To say the least, this is not good.

As the sole Republican Montgomery County Commissioner, I had a front row seat to Commissioner Arkooshs incompetence, arrogance and elitism.

Val Arkoosh never saw a money grab she didnt like. During her seven years in office, she and her Democrat colleague voted to raise property taxes five times. Under her reign of fiscal insanity, residents saw their county tax bill increase by a whopping 46.8%.

In addition to growing the size of government on the backs of working families, Dr. Arkoosh will long be remembered for her totalitarian response to the coronavirus pandemic. She was one of nations most ardent defenders of business lockdowns, school shutdowns, and mask and vaccine mandates. And, regrettably, her prescribed cures were worse than the disease itself, as many of our children and grandchildren continue to suffer emotionally, socially and academically.

There was no better example of Val Arkooshs Covid lunacy than in May of 2020 when she refused to release American flags to veterans organizations to display on the graves of military men and women for Memorial Day. Montgomery County had already purchased over 50,000 flags, but Commissioner Arkoosh held them hostage claiming that volunteers placing flags in the open air of cemeteries would lead to an outbreak of the virus. Outraged by such nonsense and disrespect, I worked with the VFW to raise private funds to buy flags and helped arrange them on the headstones of our heroes.

Too often, big-government bureaucrats dont just get it wrong, they get promoted. And, sadly, Valerie Arkoosh is the latest politician to fail forward. Be prepared for more of the same as she joins Democrat Josh Shapiros administration in Harrisburg. God help us.
EXETER TWP., Pa.  It has been about two weeks since Jennifer Brown of Limerick Township, Montgomery County, was last seen. The Montgomery County district attorney said also missing is her personal cellphone, which has not been communicating since Jan. 4.

"Having the device itself, probably the most important evidence would be the content of text messages where she was directly communicating with somebody that way," said Scott Curtis, retired FBI agent.

Curtis says once a phone is disabled, it cannot be tracked anymore. He said on top of finding it, investigators could be looking at Brown's work and personal cellphone data and internet history. "Was she searching certain names, locations?" Curtis said. "You know, that could be important leads there to pursue and following up with interviews as relevant of why she was engaging in that activity." Eric Robuck, CEO of cyber security company the Valander Group, said a cellphone can be tracked until it's turned off or dies. "It writes to a file saying, 'This is what I have, this is who you are, this is where you are, this is what you're doing,'" said Robuck. He said his guess is the value of finding a phone is determining its exact location. "A lot of information is not stored on your phone," Robuck added. "A lot of information is stored at Google or stored out at the cellphone providers." Sources told our partners at WPVI that investigators searched the Pioneer Crossing Landfill in Exeter Township related to the case of a missing Montgomery County woman. However, on Monday, it appeared the search at the landfill had stopped or paused. The district attorney said Brown, a 43-year-old mother, was last seen by a friend and business associate on Jan. 3. Investigators say her car was parked outside her home in Limerick Township, and her keys, wallet, work phone and purse were found inside. A dumpster was towed away, and Philadelphia Police could be seen at her complex on Jan. 6.

Brown's family and friends have put up fliers and held a vigil, praying for her safe return.

They're offering a $15,000 reward for information on her whereabouts.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police or the Montgomery County detectives.
BETHLEHEM TWP., Pa.  The Bethlehem Township Board of Commissioners on Monday night approved a security release involving Traditions of America at Green Pond.

The applicant's successful completion of improvements was verified by the township's assistant and geotechnical engineers. The amount released was roughly $450,000. The project's remaining security amount is roughly $2.5 million.

The approved amount was nearly $1.1 million less than what was originally scheduled to be released Monday night, according to the agenda. That amount was $1.54 million.

The development, approved in 2018, includes 229 units in a 55-plus community located on 120 acres north of Green Pond Country Club.

In other business, the legislative body approved an agreement with MKSD Architects to provide architectural and engineering services for the design and construction phase for three township-owned structures.

The work includes roof replacements at the municipal building and two park pavilions at the Bethlehem Township Municipal Park and on Meyer Lane. The replacement at the municipal building  located at 4225 Easton Ave.  excludes the roof over the public meeting room and a portion which was replaced recently.

Commissioners OK'd also general provisions, technical specifications and standard construction details governing construction and improvements in the township. In addition, they approved a purchase order for a dump truck chassis and upfit with dump body, snow plow, salt spreader and emergency lights to replace a 2003 small dump truck. The deal is worth $58,247.

During their review of various purchase orders, commissioners tabled the purchase of a 2023 Ford Explorer to be used by the home inspector in the construction department. The amount was $38,845.

"It seems to me we are constantly buying new vehicles all the time," Commissioner John Gallagher said.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - It's something 30 million Americans deal with, according to the American Medical Association: obstructive sleep apnea can cause you to stop breathing while you sleep, and lead to even greater health problems, if not treated.

Doctors at St. Luke's have had success with a procedure that can help you breathe, and sleep, easier, without the CPAP machine.

"Sleep apnea is a problem with your body not being able to adequately breathe while you're sleeping," Dr. Jarrod Keeler said.

Keeler serves as Chief of Surgery at St. Luke's in Allentown and Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in Bethlehem.

Keeler says CPAPs, commonly used to treat obstructive sleep apnea, have come a long way since the 80s.

"They're far more comfortable and far easier to wear," he said.

Even so: "They're still fairly uncomfortable for a certain percentage of patients."

Enter Inspire, a nerve stimulator. It uses the nerve that moves your tongue to keep the tongue out of the airway every time you take a breath.

"And so it senses your breathing, each time that you take a breath, then the device moves the tongue out of the airway," Keeler said.

Dr. Keeler says it's minimally invasive.

"Go home the same day, two small incisions, one underneath the chin here, and another in the chest."

You turn it on before you go to sleep with a remote. You'll feel a small tug on the tongue and hear a beep.

"A small little muscle spasm very, very brief," Keeler said.

It's been FDA approved since 2014. But recently off their 100th implant, the doctors submitted an article to a peer-reviewed medical journal, to tout its effectiveness.

"We've had excellent results, both with the patient's sleep apnea improving," Keeler said. "We've also had great results with both their blood pressure, and even some patients improving their diabetes along with this."

Dr. Keeler says of the 30,000 procedures done since 2016, just a handful of devices - less than 0.02 - had to be removed because of infection.

The doctor adds insurances make fairly stringent requirements, but most insurances within the Lehigh Valley do accept it. And once it's recommended, a second referral from the sleep team is required.

If you think you may struggle with sleep apnea, Keeler says the first step would be to reach out to your primary care provider. You can also reach out to St. Luke's Sleep Centers, where you can be evalauated with a sleep study, or to Specialty Physician Associates.
READING, Pa. - From Reading to Easton and areas in between, communities commemorated the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on MLK Day Monday, January 16.

King was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement and was assassinated in 1968. On the third Monday in January, the nation honors his legacy by reflecting on his mission.

More than half a century after his iconic "I have a Dream Speech," we continue to honor his life's work.

"Eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all," Chief Executive Officer for the YWCA Tri-County Area Stacey Woodland said. "That's what Dr. King stood for."

Cities across the nation paid respect to the man that was a hero to so many, including here at home. In Allentown the dedication started early at the Art Museum on Sunday.

An interfaith celebration was held at First Presbyterian Church in Pottstown. But the borough didn't stop there.

"One thing we always want to make sure that we're in service of our community," Advocacy and Volunteer Manager for the YWCA Tri-County Area Ashley Faison said.

The YWCA Tri-County Area held an afternoon of service by giving food to those in need.

"Our mission of eliminating racism, empower women, and promotion of peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all, it's something that I don't clock out of," Faison said.

There was a dedication of artwork for Bethlehem, Easton and Allentown before Bethlehem's Dr. King Civil Rights Movement March. Surely there were no shortage of ceremonies and events across the Greater Lehigh Valley. But some say more needs to be done.

"What needs to be done? All colors should be the same," activist Frankie West said.

West organized an MLK Day event because he says even after 60 years, more needs to change.

"We don't have any more segregations," West said. "But we still have some little things that we still have to fix."

He encourages parents to be more active in children's lives to show them the way for peace and equality.
EASTON, Pa. - Dozens of music teachers and hundreds of students are preparing to bring their tunes to the Lehigh Valley Mall. The Playathon is the Lehigh Valley Music Teacher Association's biggest fundraiser of the year.

"I'm gonna go to Moravian University and study music education and music performance," said Lindsay Detwiler, a senior at Souderton Area High School.

Detwiler is applying for a scholarship with the Lehigh Valley Music Teacher Association, which is funded by the nonprofit's Playathon.

"Jacob's Music donates, for the weekend, three high-end grand pianos," said Liz Zemanek, the Playathon's co-chair and publicity chair and a piano teacher.

Lehigh Valley Mall shoppers swing and sway to a weekend of free, wide-ranging performances.

The Playathon was Detwiler's first gig over a decade ago, and it's been a highlight for her teacher Keren Ligowski for more than 35 years.

"When I was a kid, I was a student in the LVMTA. I did the Playathon myself," said Ligowski. "I was the first recipient of the college scholarship, and now my student is going to be applying this year for it, so it's this kind of beautiful full circle."

Ligowski runs Milford Square Music Studio with her mother, who was one of the original chairs of the Playathon. Detwiler's mom and aunt both studied piano under Ligowski's mother, making being involved in the association a multi-generational family tradition.

"I have students that are four and five-year-olds that just love to come out, hold that microphone, sing their songs and belt out material and get that overwhelming applause," said Rosemary Haber, a voice, piano and harp teacher and the director of the choirs at Bethlehem Catholic High School and Northampton Community College.

Haber teaches Sydney Bennett, who is the lead in Bethlehem Catholic High School's musical Cinderella this year.

"Music has really let me build my own confidence and public speaking abilities," said Bennett. "This past year, I've done a lot of interviews with colleges and just other avenues just to set up the next part of my life."

The fundraiser also supports the association's various other efforts.

"I think one of the greatest things about our organization is we host so many performance opportunities for our students," said Zemanek. "They have to share their talents, their gifts, and their hard work with the community."

"We offer adjudicated events where students are actually judged by other professional teachers," said Haber.

"They actually give me a good avenue for just enhancing my performance abilities, and I always look forward to getting comments back from the judges of what I can improve and what I can do better, because I'm always striving to be the best performer and best person I can possibly be," said Bennett.

"Music helps them have like an outlet to express their emotions and their feelings," said Detwiler. "That's definitely helped me to express myself through the piano during hard times and then good times. I get to share my feelings."

Teachers say it's a joy to watch young musicians blossom over the years.

"Many of them are recipients of Freddy Awards that are offered at the State Theatre, and many of them just love the art of singing in their school or in their church, and same way with the piano," said Haber.

"The gift of music lives on and forever."

"I just think that music and LVMTA Association has definitely allowed me to grow in my music skills throughout all the different auditions that we do, and especially the Playathon to perform and have the confidence to perform and then also to just grow my skills to get to a higher level to compete in different competitions and then study in college," said Detwiler.

The association organizes field trips, including one each year to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

It also allows music teachers to continue their education.

"This organization is a wonderful way to meet and network with other teachers," said Zemanek. "We have monthly meetings. We bring in guest lecturers. We have master classes for our students, where we have like a top musician come in, and basically teach them, and then we teachers watch that. We're teaching. We're also constantly learning ourselves."

This year's Playathon is February 25 and 26.

"Sometimes they'll sit down," said Ligowski. "Sometimes they'll lean against the railing and just kind of enjoy. Sometimes it's just ten seconds. Oftentimes, kids will come over...It just really brings people together."
N. WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. - Young teens interested in police work can once again attend an overnight camp this summer.

Pennsylvania State Police's Troop M will host Camp Cadet in Lehigh County from June 11-16.

It's open to ages 12-15, and is held at Camp Fowler at 5851 Horseshoe Road in North Whitehall Township.

Registration is available online from Feb. 1-28. Camp is limited to the number of applicants in that time, police said.

During their stay, campers will live similarly to an actual state police academy, and will get a taste of what it takes to be a police officer.
HARRISBURG, Pa. - We're just hours away from a major "changing of the guard" in Harrisburg.

The era of Josh Shapiro begins Tuesday. He'll be saddled with the challenges of running the fifth most populated state in the country once he is sworn in as governor Tuesday.

As last-minute details for Shapiro's gubernatorial inauguration are prepared, the Democrat comes into office with a $5.4-billion budget surplus.

"If you're not having to deal with an economic emergency, the moment you walk through the door, it makes your job easier. It allows you to focus on potentially other things," said DeSales University Assistant Professor of Political Science Ted Masthay.

One of those issues he can focus on is education. There's a statewide teacher shortage, an impending court decision on funding public education, and Republican pressure to increase school choice funds.

"In some ways, state politics will mirror national politics. So, you know, sort of generic things about the economy," Masthay added.

Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is 4%, a half point higher than the national average. The state has never ranked higher than 20th in job growth.

As Shapiro said, the heroin and opioid epidemic is the number-one public health and public safety challenge facing Pennsylvania. Other challenges include infrastructure, crime, and bringing a divided state together.

"Josh has been in the legislature; he knows what it's like," said Democratic strategist TJ Rooney.

He adds unlike the administrative-type governors like Tom Wolf and Tom Corbett, who tended to delegate more, Shapiro is in the very hands-on realm of Ed Rendell, Bob Casey Sr. and Tom Ridge.

"I think Josh is a better version of the executive-type governor, the better version at this moment in time," Rooney went on to say.

Republican strategist Sam Chen says the moment can be capitalized on if Shapiro has a future higher office in mind.

"There's a huge political upside for Shapiro. This is a purple state," Chen said.
His arrest on Dec. 30 sent shockwaves.

28-year-old Byran Kohberger was arrested in Monroe County for the murders of four Idaho college students. The Dr. Phil show, which aired on WFMZ-TV, devoted two shows to the subject, with a panel of experts dissecting the crime and Kohberger himself.

"This has all the earmarkings of being premeditated, and there being some stalking," Dr. Phil said.

The panel agreed, and all feel the evidence against Kohberger is striking.

"He was there so many times before, and he doesn't live in that neighborhood, and then that night the vehicle that is the exact description of the vehicle he drives, was in that neighborhood," said former FBI Agent Johnathan Gilliam.

Kohberger has maintained his innocence, but the panel felt there were red flags related to the statement his parents put out shortly after his arrest, in short saying they wanted privacy as the they let the legal process unfold.

"Is anyone else surprised that these parents do not come out passionately and fervently and say, 'I stand by my son and I can tell you he is not capable of doing this,'" Dr. Phil said.

But what was probably most surprising was the panel's answer to the question - do you think this is the first time Kohberger committed a serious crime?

"I think he's potentially stalked and killed females before," Gilliam said.

"I think that it would be wise for the authorities in Pennsylvania to look anywhere that this guy has been, wherever he hung his hat, whether it was his parent's home near the Poconos, whether it was at DeSales when he was doing his undergraduate and his master's degree, because if there was anything going on along that continuum, if there is any way they can correlate cases that are back there in the past, what's the harm?" said forensic expert Joseph Morgan.
Gov. Kathy Hochul didnt spend much time talking about the SUNY system in this year's State of the State address, but she did include a passel of SUNY proposals in the accompanying 277-page book of 147 initiatives for a better New York.

Here are four key takeaways:

Steps to bolster the workforce

Hochul will invest $10 million over two years in competitive funding for school districts, Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), and community colleges  working in collaboration with local industry  to develop strategic workforce plans that promote job readiness in their local economies.

Awards will be made in every Regional Economic Development Council region of the state, and winning plans will receive multiyear seed funding to align industry needs with high school and college programs.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. said there are opportunities for community colleges to dual-enroll more high school students in community college classes and help them matriculate and pursue careers in needed fields including health care and education.

As we move to green jobs and renewable energy, one of the tasks is to electrify everything, every building, every house, every car, and that means were going to need a lot more electricians, King said during a meeting with Buffalo News reporters and editors.

We will need wind technicians and people to do solar installation," he said. "Those are all opportunities to grow jobs and that we can do that through our community colleges.

Ensure every student has a place at SUNY

All New York high school seniors will receive acceptance letters to their local community college as well as information about federal Pell Grants, the states Tuition Assistance Program and other opportunities to attend college tuition-free. King said the initiative will help boost enrollment, increase diversity and educate more low-income students.

SUNY will also launch a pilot project to link admissions among different campuses so students who are not accepted at a specific school are automatically considered for admission at other institutions with similar programs.

This will increase opportunities for students to attend a SUNY school and ensure that all New York students have access to a local and affordable higher education option. New York already offers most students free tuition to SUNY schools through the income-based Excelsior scholarship program.

Some of our SUNY schools are less well-known, but we should be able to say, If you dont get into the University at Buffalo, theres a program at SUNY Fredonia that would serve you well, King said.

Provide tuition flexibility in CUNY and SUNY

To ensure that SUNY and CUNY schools can invest in their long-term futures as costs rise while prioritizing the evolving needs of students and keeping tuition affordable, Hochul proposed allowing modest annual tuition increases for SUNY and CUNY indexed to the lesser of the Higher Education Price Index or 3%.

The state would also help SUNYs four University Centers (Buffalo, Albany, Stony Brook and Binghamton) to realize their potential as leading research institutions by allowing tuition at those campuses to rise 6% above SUNYs base tuition rate each year for the next five years (capped at 30% above the base rate) for in-state students.

More funding for University Centers and flagships

To help its University Centers compete with the nations leading research institutions, Hochul will create a New York State matching fund for contributions made to the endowments of UB, Stony Brook, Binghamton and Albany. The fund will provide $1 in state funds for every $2 contributed to university endowments, up to $500 million in state funds.

Research and scholarship are vital, and our University Centers are doing important work that is driving the state forward, King said. I think UB and Stony Brook should be mentioned in the same breath as UC Berkeley and UNC Chapel Hill, and that means weve got to continue to grow research at our Flagship institutions.

Find the whole State of the State book at governor.ny.gov/programs/2023-state-state.
NWS Weather Alert NOTE: This information is provided by the National Weather Service. Forecast may differ from local information provided by our own 69News Meteorologists

...ELEVATED RISK OF WILDFIRE SPREAD THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING... A combination of low relative humidity, westerly breezes, and dry fine fuels will lead to an elevated risk for fire spread with any potential fire starts Thursday afternoon and evening across eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the eastern shores of Maryland. Minimum relative humidity values this afternoon will range from 22 to 26 percent across the region. Winds will be somewhat lighter and not as gusty as the past couple of days. However, this afternoon into early evening west winds will still be sustained 8 to 12 mph, and a brief gust to 20 mph cannot be ruled out. Fine fuels in the form of dry or dead vegetation will be quite dry as well, and conducive to fire starts and fairly quick fire spread. This is particularly true in areas that have not received hardly any rainfall in the last 10 days, across much of Pennsylvania to northern and central New Jersey. Residents are urged to exercise caution if handling any potential ignition source, including machinery, cigarettes, and matches. Be sure to properly discard all smoking materials. Any dry grasses, dead leaves, and other tree litter that ignite will have the potential to spread fire quickly. For more information about wildfire danger, burn restrictions, and wildfire prevention and eduction, please visit your state's forestry or environmental protection website.
Jack Thorne's celebrated adaptation of A Christmas Carol will officially return to the Old Vic in 2023, marking its seventh consecutive year at the Waterloo venue.

The production will once again be helmed by artistic director Matthew Warchus (Matilda The Musical, Groundhog Day), who commented: "It makes me very happy to announce that the Old Vic's A Christmas Carol will be back again later this year. Originally intended as a one-off Christmas production, this joyful and unique version by Jack Thorne has connected with audiences, in London and beyond, in the most phenomenal way, with each successive return proving evermore popular.

"I know I speak for the whole creative team and the Old Vic staff when I say the show is very close to our hearts  a huge amount of love, effort and skill is poured into it every year and it represents so much of what we want this theatre to be. It is a wonderful thing to see A Christmas Carol embraced as a festive tradition for families and individuals of all ages. As for the extraordinary audience generosity we see every year in the charity bucket collections at the end of every performance over 1 million from all productions to date I find that incredibly moving."

The piece also features set and costumes by Rob Howell, music and arrangements by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Hugh Vanstone, sound by Simon Baker and movement by Lizzi Gee, with Jessica Ronane CDG as casting director.

Since its 2017 debut, the production has been attended by approx 500,000 people in London, Australia, on Broadway and across America. It was even live-streamed in 2020 during the national lockdown. Over the years, the coveted role of Ebenezer Scrooge has been performed at the Old Vic by the likes of Rhys Ifans, Stephen Tompkinson, Patterson Joseph, Andrew Lincoln, Stephen Mangan and Owen Teale.

Casting for this year's production will be announced in due course.

A Christmas Carol will run from 11 November 2023 to 6 January 2024, with a press night set for 22 November.
Beijing (Gasgoo)- ROX, the auto startup project founded by Chang Jing, the founder and CEO of Chinas intelligent cleaning robot company Roborock, is said to launch its first vehicle model in the third quarter of 2023, according to a local media outlet.

Photo credit: ROX

Similar to the Chinese tech giant Huaweis Huawei Smart Selection automaking pattern, it is possible that ROX will also cooperate with automakers, providing them with product definition, marketing, and core intelligence technologies, instead of producing vehicles independently. The most likely automaking partner to ROX is Beijing Automobile Works (BAW), said the local media channel.

The source disclosed that ROX and BAWs first cooperative model may be a rugged-looking off-roader riding on a range extension system with an estimated price of roughly 400,000 yuan. In view of the industry's current average battery-powered range of about 200km, the intelligent range extension system of ROX is likely to carry a battery with higher energy capacity, to improve the overall range of the vehicle to more than 1,000km.

Photo credit: BAW

Founded in 1951, BAW is one of the oldest carmakers in China. The company relocated from Beijing to Qingdao, the coastal city in Shandong Province, in 2020. At present, the company has four production bases in Qingdao, Dezhou, Linyi, and Huanghua, as well as an office in Beijing. BAW is licensed to produce conventional and new energy SUVs, sedans, trucks, buses, military vehicles, and modified vehicles with an annual output capacity of 450,000 vehicles.
The redevelopment of the Lebanon Outlets is expected to kick off this spring with the construction of a residential development and other changes to the site as businesses continue to exit the mall.

Last year, the Lebanon Planning Commission approved plans submitted by Lebanon Ventures LLC for a 93-lot subdivision on about 10 acres of the 40-acre Lebanon Outlets site.

The first of six phases will include townhomes and live-work buildings, according to the projects master plan.

Amenities, multifamily homes and townhomes make up the second and third phases. Construction of offices, retail space, multifamily homes, and townhomes make up the fourth and fifth phases.

The final phase will include retail space and convenient stores.

Construction of the entire development is expected to take four to five years.

Businesses have continued to close at the mall site since the approval about four months ago, including Gap and Kian Toys. Others, such as Rue 21, announced plans for their future closure.

As of Monday, 13 businesses remained in operation at the outlet mall while more than 35 potential suites sit empty, including the entire eastern portion that formerly housed Gap and Reebok.

The final business in the malls food court, Seafood Sacs, had its lease terminated last year six months before the lease ended.

Lynn Ealey with Nashville-based Land Solutions and an owner of Lebanon Ventures said the condition of some of the buildings factored into the determination to add residential components to the project, dubbed One Lebanon Place.

Weve been evaluating these buildings as they exist today and were finding a lot of age and issue with those buildings. So, the short-term goal is to infuse some residential into the project, Ealey said.

One Lebanon Place includes 88 units positioned south of the current 227,958 square-foot Lebanon Outlets, aligning with plans announced last year when Land Solutions purchased the property for $9.2 million.

The project will cover a portion of the propertys southern parking lot, but no mall buildings would be immediately impacted, according to Ealey. However, Ealey said the company would analyze buildings moving forward and make decisions if it is necessary.

Other changes to the site will include an extended Outlet Village Boulevard that will run from Murfreesboro Road to Old Murfreesboro Road and connect at the Bellvue Drive.

The Lebanon Outlets is in the Hartmann Overlay Corridor, meaning the potential townhomes property will have to meet new design standards.

Land Solutions will be required to submit a final plat plan, which will have more details about the specifics of the development.

Lebanon Mayor Rick Bell said the city has not received additional submissions from Land Solutions as of Friday, Jan. 13.

The Lebanon Planning Commission will likely give a recommendation to the Lebanon City Council following the final plat submission, which will need council approval before construction begins.
With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

BMW Brilliance recalls 171,828 BMW 5 Series vehicles in China

BMW Brilliance filed a recall plan for a total of 171,828 BMW 5 Series vehicles made in China from September 2, 2019 to December 26, 2020. Due to software problems, the dashboard on the vehicles may encounter a black screen and the inability to display necessary vehicle information (such as speed, etc.).

Photo credit: BMW Brilliance

Geelys new energy vehicle sales subsidiary in Changsha deregistered

The operating status of Changsha Geely New Energy Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. was changed from existence to deregistration, according to Chinas corporate database, Tianyancha. Founded in August 2017, the company was wholly-owned by Zhejiang Geely Automobile Co., Ltd.

Three Chinese societies release coordinated development framework on C-V2X

On January 16, China Highway and Transportation Society, China Society of Automotive Engineers, and China Institute of Communications jointly released a coordinated development framework on C-V2X autonomous driving system. The framework is formulated to accelerate the scientific research and industrial technological innovation of C-V2X autonomous driving, and promote the development of intelligent highways, intelligent transportation, intelligent connected vehicles, and modern communications industries in China.

XPeng announces price drop on most EV models

On January 17, Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup, XPeng, issued an official price drop on its entire product lineup, except for the G9, with a discount of up to 36,000 yuan ($5,310).

SGMWs annual auto export volume jumps 33% in 2022

SAIC-GM-Wuling (SGMW), General Motors' joint venture with Chinese partners SAIC Motor and Guangxi Automobile Group, today announced via its WeChat account that its annual auto sales amounted to 1,600,007 units in 2022. Notably, its full-year new energy vehicle (NEV) sales jumped 33% year on year to over 600,000 units.

HOZON Auto sets up Haozhi tech subsidiary working on auto parts, software R&D, production

HOZON Auto, the owner of the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) brand NETA, recently set up a technology subsidiary, which is likely to operate businesses under its fresh technology brand "Haozhi".

Roborock founders auto startup ROX said to launch first vehicle in Q3 2023

ROX, the auto startup project founded by Chang Jing, the founder and CEO of Chinas intelligent cleaning robot company Roborock, is said to launch its first vehicle model in the third quarter of 2023, according to a local media outlet.

Dongfeng Nissan Venucia partners with Freetech for ADAS deployment

Chinas intelligent driving solution provider Freetech announced on January 16 the further cooperation with Dongfeng Nissans Venucia brand regarding mass production of intelligent driving products.

Chinas Changsha city aims to deploy over 163,000 charging piles by 2025

Changsha, the capital of China's Hunan province, aims to build over 163,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging piles across the city by 2025, more than 38,000 of which are planned for public services, according to a document recently issued by the Changsha City Development and Reform Commission.
Kathryn Witzel was honored as the recipient of the 2022 Wisconsin 4-H Key Award in the Dodge County 4-H program, according to a Dec. 22, 2022, press release.

The Key Award, one of the highest recognitions a 4-H member can receive, honors a select group of 4-H participants annually. The youth receiving this award are among those who have demonstrated consistent growth in their 4-H involvement, developed and applied their leadership skills, and actively participated in their club and community.

Kathryn Witzel, daughter of Mark and Marie Witzel, is in her 13th year as a Dodge County 4-H member.

She completed her CDL this fall at the Diesel Driving School in Sun Prairie and currently drives for Caine Transport. She is involved in the Astico Perseverance 4-H Club and has been involved in the horse, swine, sheep, dogs, archery, leathercraft and youth leadership projects.

Award candidates must have passed their 14th birthday on Jan. 1 of the year in which the recognition is given, and must have completed at least three years of 4-H and one year of youth leadership. Selection is based on an evaluation of the candidates total 4-H record. Each Key Award recipient receives a framed certificate and a Key Award pin.

For more information, visit https://dodge.extension.wisc.edu or contact the Extension Dodge County office at 920-386-3790.
The residents who live at 508 Stone Street have been displaced following a house fire that occurred to the single-family home on Tuesday.

According to a press release from Beaver Dam Fire Chief Michael Wesle, the Dodge County Sheriffs Office received the report of a fire on the second floor of 508 Stone Street around 8:45 a.m. The Beaver Dam Fire Department responded to find light smoke venting from the roof of a single-family residence. Occupants of the home had evacuated by the time fire crews arrived.

Firefighters encountered moderate smoke conditions on the second floor. Crews located and extinguished a fire in a second-floor bedroom but the fire had already spread into the attic of the residence. Firefighters had to cut several holes in the roof to extinguish the fire.

Residents of the home were displaced due to smoke and water damage. St. Vincent De Paul is assisting the residents with housing and essential needs. No injuries were reported.

The Beaver Dam Fire Department was assisted on the scene by the Beaver Dam Police Department, Beaver Dam Department of Public Works, and Alliant Energy.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Beaver Dam Fire Department would like to take this time to remind our citizens that working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in home fires nearly in half, Wesle said in the press release.

If you or someone you know needs a working smoke detector, contact the Beaver Dam Fire Department at 920-887-4609.

GALLERY: BDFD badge pinning and promotion ceremony
As early as March, Juneau County residents could be able to request a ride through two major rideshare apps with the help of federal dollars.

Uber and Lyft services will be government subsidized temporarily within the county; approximately $300,000 of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds will be expended over the course of two years to bring drivers, and passengers, together.

A lot of us have apps on our phone that we use in other communities and theyre ready to go. You request a ride and then a driver comes, said Health Officer Amanda Dederich. Now whenever I pull my app up, theres not a driver available in our area because they think the demand isnt there.

For every ride begun or completed in Juneau through the Uber or Lyft apps, drivers will receive an extra $5. Residents and visitors could request rides 24/7. A fare will still be paid by the rider to the driver, with the additional compensation made between the county and the driver on top of that cost.

The Juneau County Health Department believe that the extra cash will attract more drivers to the area and create new opportunities for residents.

Were hoping that by the time this pilot project is over, itll be a sustainable model, Dederich added.

The program was proposed by the Transportation Community Action Team, which was formed by the health department in response to a county-wide resident survey. When asked what determines community health, over 12,000 residents identified a strong economy and accessible transportation as top priorities.

The health department estimates that up to 30,000 residents could make use of the service per year if enough drivers were attracted by the offer. The county board was presented with research done by the city of Mauston in December that showed 40% of its residents would definitely or probably use Uber or Lyft if it was available. Another 40% would consider using ride-share if they had more information.

Mauston discussed creating its own rideshare subsidy, but the city ultimately couldnt afford it with last years budget.

Juneau Countys new program isnt unique by any means. Public transportation agencies from New Jersey to Florida have turned to subsidizing Uber rides where bus routes are too costly or difficult to maintain.

Rural communities have gotten in on the action, too. In Innisfil, Ontario, a program to subsidize Uber rides was launched in 2017. The cost began as a flat rate between $4 to $6 for passengers in an area serving 36,000. By 2020, the price tag for subsidizing Uber overtook what it would have cost for the municipality to buy and operate its own public buses.

Tara Ennis, a supervisor with the health department, stated that while $300,000 might sound like enough money to buy the county a bus or a fleet of taxis, the pay for a driver would only be going toward a handful of individuals.

Instead, the pilot project could create a gig employment opportunity for dozens of county residents.

Were not just putting money into a private company; were putting the money into our residents as employment opportunities, she said. If we can invest this, and have multiple vehicles available at peak times, were serving more people in the long run.

Ennis added that the county is already aware of residents who work for Lyft and Uber but commute to the Wisconsin Dells and other neighboring cities where demand for rideshare is higher. The subsidy program, and assistance from the county to raise awareness for it, could help bring those drivers home.

Juneau County Finance Director Lori Chipman noted at the county boards last meeting that the subsidy program will likely dissolve in late 2024 as ARPA funds must be fully obligated in the next two years and spent by 2026. If the program is unsuccessful, the county will find another use for the remaining funds.

Best case scenario, the money is eaten up in the first year. That means theres a market for it and its sustainable, stated Dederich, who has since left the health department.

The county board has already voted to support the program, but there are still kinks to work out. Initially, only residents with smartphones will be able to access the app to request Uber or Lyft services. Ennis believes that community outreach and education efforts, such as events held at local libraries, could breach the divide.

We know that it wont be the program that fixes everything for everyone, Ennis said. But we know that if you arent over 60, have a documented disability or live outside of Mauston, you literally have no access to transport right now.

Were hoping this will fill that major gap.
A Dane County judge has removed Wisconsin Elections Commission member Robert Spindell from a lawsuit seeking public records related to the 10 Republicans, including Spindell, who falsely attested Donald Trump won Wisconsins 2020 presidential election in an effort to hand the states 10 electoral votes to the former president.

Circuit Court Judge Jacob Frost on Tuesday said the elections commission, not Spindell, is the legal custodian of the requested documents. Frost allowed the case to continue against the commission.

The case relates to a complaint Law Forward filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2021 against the slate of 10 Republicans who signed the official-looking documents. The commission unanimously denied the complaint seeking sanctions against the 10 Republicans, including Spindell.

Law Forward later sued the commission seeking public records related to the commissions consideration of that complaint, alleging that both the agency and Spindell did not produce all responsive records. The law firm has also sued the commission alleging that Spindell should have recused himself from discussion on the complaint, as he was one of the 10 individuals to sign the documents.

In May, a handful of Democrats, represented by Law Forward, filed a lawsuit alleging that the 10 Republicans and the two attorneys who advised them broke several criminal and civil laws  including counterfeiting public records, illegally interfering with official procedures, defrauding the public and engaging in conspiracy  when they met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign documents asserting that Trump won the state.

The lawsuit seeks more than $2.4 million in damages, including $2,000 fines for the Republicans and their attorneys, and up to $200,000 in punitive damages for each plaintiff. Plaintiffs in the case include lawfully elected Wisconsin electors Khary Penebaker and Mary Arnold, as well as Bonnie Joseph, who is listed in court documents as someone who objects to Defendants unlawful interference in Wisconsins participation in the Electoral College.

The meeting of Republicans occurred following advice from attorneys with close ties to Trump. Documents have underscored efforts by those in Trumps inner circle to circumvent the Electoral College process in several states, including Wisconsin, following the 2020 election, despite recounts and court decisions affirming that Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes.

The Republicans have said the meeting was to preserve their legal options amid litigation surrounding the election. The meeting took place on the same day the states Democratic slate of electors convened, also at the Capitol, to deliver the states 10 electoral votes to Biden. It also occurred after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Biden had won the election and a month after Wisconsin county clerks canvassed the presidential election results.
Fave 5: Reporter Kimberly Wethal shares her favorite stories of 2022

In the weeks before I joined the Wisconsin State Journal in September, I was told this: Remember that a higher education institution is like their own city. It has its own character and struggles, defined by the students who learn there and the faculty who teach them.

I have seen this over and over again, and it was particularly clear when I visited UW-Platteville at Richland a week after the University of Wisconsin System ordered degree-fulfilling classes to cease because of low enrollment. During my visit, I found many of the devastated students to be emotionally invested in their campus community  and committed to saving it.

It's why Richland Center grieving the loss of its once-vibrant campus is my top story of 2022.

UW-Madison has its own slate of issues. There, a growing population is pitted against on- and off-campus housing availability. I wrote about the tactics used to clear returning students out of the dorms to make room for freshmen, and the frenzy that ensued as students put their lives on hold to secure housing for next fall.

At Madison Area Technical College, a key issue is how to alleviate barriers their students face just to get into the classroom. Finding adequate child care is one of them  I wrote about the efforts to expand future access at the Goodman South Campus and its four rural campuses.

Much of my beat is hard news, but some of my favorite stories are features of students who make up the character of campus. I wrote about Kirstan Gimse, the student commencement speaker who's achieving her dream of being a scientist that she saw as unattainable.

I'm looking forward to diving deeper into the beat in 2023 and am so grateful for the support of State Journal subscribers that allows me to be one of the few reporters in the state dedicated solely to covering higher education.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- HOZON Auto, the owner of the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) brand NETA, recently set up a technology subsidiary, which is likely to operate businesses under its fresh technology brand "Haozhi".

According to the corporate information inquiry platform Tianyancha, the newborn company, named Haozhi Range Extension Technology (Anhui) Co., Ltd., ("Haozhi Technology") was incorporated on Jan. 15, 2023 with a registered capital of 40 million yuan ($5.907 million). It is wholly-owned by Hozon New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd. (namely, the aforesaid HOZON Auto).

Information from Tianyancha shows that Haozhi Technology features a line of businesses that includes the R&D of automotive components, development of AI-enabled application software, as well as the manufacturing of electronic components, electromechanical modules, gears, gearboxes, micro special electric motors, etc.

As the new company's name includes "Haozhi", it is surmised that Haozhi Technology was set up to boost NETA's technology development under the "Haozhi" technology brand the company launched on Nov. 21, 2022.

The Haozhi brand has three sub-brands pivoting around intelligent super computing platform, electric drive system, and range extension system.

The Haozhi super computing platform rides on a centralized computing architecture which can synergize four zone controllers and an SOA (service-oriented architecture). Compatible with the models built on different vehicle platforms, the new super computing platform is expected for installation into complete vehicles in 2024.

Under the Haozhi Electric Drive sub-brand, HOZON Auto launched an 800V SiC high-performance electric drive system which is composed of three parts: a SiC electric control unit, an oil cooling flat wire electric motor, and a high-tooth gear reducer.

In addition, the Haozhi three-in-one range extender features four technical traits, namely, compact design, lower cost, higher efficiency, and lower loudness. It comes with four powertrain solutions: all-electric, driven by range extender plus battery charging, driven by both range extender and batteries, and the "Safety Guardian".
The Cold War began almost immediately following World War II. Lacking Nazi Germany as a common enemy, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) struggled to reconcile their diametrically opposed ideologiesfree-market capitalism and communism. With both powerful countries possessing nuclear weapons, tensions were inevitable. Furthermore, due to this entrenched ideological opposition, the notion of tensions ever lessening seemed unlikely. Nonetheless, the Cold War did end in the late 1980s to early 1990s.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

The exhibition of the Soviet weapon in memory of the Cuban missile crisis. Image credit KKulikov via Shutterstock

Despite both countries having nuclear weapons, the US still possessed a strategic advantage. Allies in Western Europe and Turkey meant that the Americans could place nuclear missiles close to the USSR. However, when Cuba turned communist in 1959, this gave the Soviets an opportunity to station nuclear weapons close to the US for the first time. Not wanting this to occur, American president John F. Kennedy (JFK) ordered a blockade of the island. Known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, this event almost led to war, with intense nuclear posturing on both sides.

The crisis ended with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev taking the missiles out of Cuba and JKF removing missiles from Turkey. Agreeing it was in both their interests to prevent nuclear annihilation, they also created a hotline between the US and USSR. Therefore, while the Cuban Missile Crisis is often understood as the height of the Cold War, it also marked the first step towards lessening tensions.

Read MoreCuban- Mssile Crisis

Detente

Radio station of NATO, abandoned in the 70s, used during the Cold War, Italy. Image credit Marti Bug Catcher via Shutterstock

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, both the United States and USSR were trying to change their relations. The arms race of the previous 25 years was a serious economic burden for the Soviets. Moreover, the Americans felt comfortable with their geopolitical situation and thus sought to perpetuate the status quomeaning that continuing to increase their nuclear arsenal made no sense. This desire to lessen tensions became known as detente (thawing) and resulted in one notable treaty.

The Helsinki Accords in 1975 established the basis for future cooperation through academic co-opts, cultural exchanges, and increased trade. Furthermore, the West gave formal recognition of the Polish borders established following World War II. Finally, the Soviets promised to improve their human rights record. While many of these agreements were either symbolic or did not materialize, they nonetheless signified a willingness from both parties to decrease Cold War hostilities.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022). Image credit Achim Wagner via Shutterstock

By the late 1970s, detente had failed. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan made it clear that promises to respect human rights were empty. Tensions increased again under American president Ronald Reagan, as he supported anti-communist insurgencies in non-allied countries and labeled the USSR an evil empire.

However, change was on the horizon in the Soviet Union. Following a series of very old and sickly leaders, Mikhail Gorbachev became General Secretary in 1985. Desperate to help the USSR's ailing economy, Gorbachev aimed to tone down the arms race with the West and redirect that money elsewhere. A series of summits between the US and USSR dedicated to decreasing each country's nuclear arsenal thus occurred over the next five years. Finally, at the Malta Summit in December 1989, Gorbachev and President George H.W. Bush declared the Cold War over, although the truth of this statement was questionable. Indeed, one final piece of the puzzle had yet to fall into place.

Read MoreMikhail Gorbachev

The Collapse of the Soviet Union

End of the USSR. Image credit Sphototop via Shutterstock

By the time Gorbachev became General Secretary, the Soviet Union was struggling. A stagnant economy and blatant corruption had created a largely apathetic and cynical population. This attitude was further compounded by the 1986 Chornobyl Disaster, which prompted widespread protests across the USSR. By 1989, these demonstrations had spread throughout the Eastern Bloc and transformed into full-on revolutionary movements.

In November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, marking the end of the Iron Curtain. In 1990, declarations of independence occurred throughout the empire, from the Baltics to the Caucasus. The loss of Russian support was the final nail in the USSR's coffin with the election of anti-Soviet Russian nationalist Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1991. The Soviet Union ceased to exist on December 26th, 1991, signifying the unambiguous end of the Cold War.

Read MoreThe Fall of the Soviet Union

In conclusion, efforts to relieve US-Soviet tensions go back to the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the 1970s they made progress towards peace, only to disregard agreements due to broken promises and changing leadership. However, a series of summits throughout the 1980s then resulted in the formal conclusion of the Cold War. Finally, the subsequent collapse of the USSR ended the conflict.
BEIJING, Jan. 17 -- Pilots of the PLA Air Force's Wang Hai Group shared in a recent interview how they flew the J-20s to drive away foreign military aircraft in China's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). "I don't care what position he is in. I need to hold my position and keep him from entering our airspace,"said Yang Juncheng, head of the Wang Hai Group.
The first joint exercise between the Japanese and Indian air forces is underway. The training scenario is located in Ibaraki Prefecture, located northeast of the capital Tokyo. The maneuvers in the skies will simulate combat actions which will continue, as scheduled, until 26 January 2023.

The operations "arise from the common desire to strengthen cooperation in the military field as a deterrent towards those countries that threaten stability and peace in the Indo-Pacific region", reported in a statement the Japanese defense ministry led by Yasukazu Hamada.

India is the fifth country with which Japan conducts joint military exercises (the United States, Australia, Great Britain and Germany). Among the ranks of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force are involved 4 Mitsubishi F-2 fighters and 4 Boeing F-15 Eagle aircraft; while for the Indian Air Force are participating 4 Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighters, as well as 2 Boeing C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft and an Ilyushin IL-78 aerial refuelling aircraft.
A sound you can't hear but may one day change your life
Failed GOP candidate arrested on suspicion of orchestrating shootings at homes of Democrats in New Mexico
A Bellevue man was driving drunk when he let his 5-year-old son take over the wheel and crash their car into a neighbors yard, according to a court affidavit.
Republican ex-state House candidate arrested for allegedly orchestrating shootings at homes of Democrats in New Mexico, police say
Traffic signal cabinets are designed to sit at intersections, housing the electrical equipment that keeps traffic lights flashing red, yellow and green. But the City of Flagstaff discovered in 2020 that those little industrial boxes can do more, be more.

In 2020 two of those boxes became public art. In 2023, more will transform from industrial mainstays to mini-murals throughout the city.

Initially, the city launched a call-out to artists (specifically in Flagstaff and northern Arizona, although designers from all over the country were eligible to apply), asking for design submissions. Each artist produced a mural design, in digital form. The winning designs were printed on vinyl wraps that were installed on traffic cabinets in two locations. Then three.

Now, the city is asking artists to submit designs again  to give makeovers to five more of the utilitarian electrical cabinets. The new sites are at the intersections of North West Street and East Dortha Avenue, South Foxglenn and East Butler Avenue, South Beulah Boulevard and South Woodlands Village Boulevard, South Beulah Boulevard and Forest Meadows Street, and South Beulah Boulevard and Lumberjack/McConnell Drive.

Jana Weldon of the City of Flagstaff will be assembling a panel stocked with community members, business owners, artists, and educators to comb through applications and pick a piece of art that will fit naturally in a given Flagstaff neighborhood.

Theres a magic to Flagstaff. Its very important to us that people who live in and are connected with and have a strong interest in the region, that they are a part of choosing the art. Thats how we make sure it fits into the local atmosphere, fits into the community, by making these selection panels of people who have really strong interests in their own neighborhoods, Weldon said.

Kayley Quick, an artist and educator, was on the first selection panel. At the time, they met over Zoom.

A vinyl wraps project was going to be a cool aesthetic for Flagstaff. I could see that picking up and being a nice enhancement in general, making it look less industrial, Quick said. My engagement in the arts wasnt what it was previous to COVID. So that just sounded really exciting, and I had a couple of friends who were on the panels too that encouraged me to want to participate. Getting to sit there and critique and discuss and hear people say things I hadnt considered from their variety of backgrounds was pretty cool.

The first box was wrapped in November 2020, at the corner of Gemini and Cedar, near the entrance of Buffalo Park and Moonshot. It featured the work of an artist from the Phoenix area  a bold, graphic depiction of the face of a sun goddess. Her expression is neutral, to reflect the presence of the sun itself. Shes crowned by coral, turquoise and gold geometric shapes and sunbeams.

The second traffic-cabinet mural, also installed that November, went in at the intersection of Butler and San Francisco. Inspired by tile art, the piece looks more like a mosaic than a vinyl wrap. It features bright blues and golds  a design dominated by sunflowers. To protect and enhance the quality of life for all. Flagstaff, AZ, it reads.

This project has done everything public art is supposed to do. Bring public art to everyone, thats accessible, Weldon said. Wrapping traffic signal boxes in art was her first project as the program manager for the Beautification, Arts and Sciences Program. Its not in a museum. A museum can feel intimidating, and yet art and beauty belong to everybody. This to me is a canvas. Its an outdoor canvas.

Lightning strikes twice

When it comes to the successes and challenges the project has faced, Weldon will be the first to tell you that lightning strikes twice.

When the first vinyl wraps were installed, city planners would have never expected the bright public art pieces would be struck by lightning once, much less twice.

In the summer of 2021, both the sun goddess and sunflower boxes were struck by lightning.

The vinyl does nothing to attract, and in fact, the vinyl should deter lightning. We dont really know what the sky gods and goddesses meant by this. Maybe they just liked them too much, Weldon said.

By September of that year new vinyl wraps were printed, and the pieces were restored  one of the reasons why the city chose the medium, instead of having artists paint directly on the boxes.

If somebody grafittis it, we dont have to worry about the paint job. I think looking at the ones that are painted versus the ones that are vinyl, you do go for a more graphic design when you dont paint. You dont quite have the swishy ability of a paintbrush. I just think the medium is much more durable, much more sustainable, much more reliable, Weldon said.

The vinyl is designed both to last and be replaceable.

They are holding up so well, Weldon said. We might someday redo a design. We were thinking around every 5 years for each site, and then we would go back and have it be a changing gallery. We could keep reprinting the same design, too.

Another benefit is the relatively low price of installation. The city pays artists for their submissions, a benefit Quick listed in describing the project.

The total cost per cabinet, according to Weldon, is $3,500 at most.

Weldon said, Some sites have three cabinets, some have two cabinets and some only have one cabinet. So the artist fee does vary. Right now I think were paying $2,200 for the artist fee and then its about another thousand for the vinyl wrap. Again that varies, just depending on how complicated the cabinets are. A single cabinet is about $1,500-$1,800, so I say they range between $2,400 and $3,500 a site.

Re-installing the sun goddess and sunflowers on their respective corners, in the end, cost much less than the cabinets functional repair. The art, if not the original vinyl, weathered the electrical storm.

The community response to the pieces even led the city to install another two pieces. This time, one winning design was submitted by one of the original selection panelists.

The art teacher and the mountain lion

Quicks vinyl wrap mural sits brightly at the corner of Mall and Marketplace, behind the eastside Safeway. A mountain lion peers out from a stand of aspen trees at the traffic passing by, pink and yellow wildflowers climbing up to her chest. She almost wears a smile, as if she can smell the meaty scents of the nearby Purina plant and is plotting some mischief to score a snack.

The lion is inspired by a vacation Quick took with her husband. The two stayed at an Airbnb, but were warned by their host that there was a big cat on the prowl. A big cat, who had once before been a menace to a teacher  like Quick.

The people who owned the Airbnb told me a story about a mountain lion chasing a teacher into their dwelling on their property. I was like, A mountain lion chased a teacher? so of course I was terrified while we were staying there, Quick said.

After the initial fright wore off, Quick was inspired to draw a mountain lion -- one that would ultimately be seen by hundreds of people.

Quick drew the lion digitally and manipulated a vector file to achieve the right dimensions and resolution for a vinyl wrap. As a graphic design teacher at Flag high, who also moonlights as a fine artist and painter, this project sat at the intersection of her personal skills and talents.

While the graphic design element might make the project simple for some creators  its a barrier to entry for others.

Anybody who is a fine artist and anybody who is not in the graphic design realm, connect with an illustrator of someone who is in the graphic design realm. Because the translation from physical art to the panel, getting the correct resolution can be a little bit tricky, Quick said.

The city has already received 30 submissions, but the applicant pool can still grow  and Quick encourages artists to apply.

For the town and for people driving by its just making the world a little bit more playful. Especially if youre doing a commute every single day and youre seeing the same stuff. Its a little creativity injected into those moments, Weldon said. I would absolutely encourage more local artists to jump into this process and get more diversity within the applicants.

Being on the panel inspired Quick to submit her piece in the first place. Its also the recommendation Weldon gives for artists whose designs have not been selected because it offers greater insight into the process.

The good news is we will be going next year and the year after that for sure. Those are already in the budget, and well keep going as long as we can find cabinets. Well keep going, Weldon said.

Beautification in action

The traffic cabinet project is only one avenue the city is taking on its journey to making the streets more colorful. Theyre also encouraging artists to imagine their own public art, and apply for "Beautification in Action" grants.

Artists are encouraged to strike out on their own, and search independently for utility boxes and traffic cabinets theyd like to work on transforming. Currently, traffic cabinets along Route 66 are off-limits  they're controlled by ADOT rather than the city.

Once a creator identifies their canvas, crafts a design, and obtains permission from the property owner and utility company, they are eligible for Beautification in Action Funding.

Beautification in Action grants are less competitive than the traffic cabinet submissions, and they still come with a payout for artists.

You come up with a design, its up to $4,500 for a beautification in action grant, which is plenty to do a project like this, said Weldon.

Weldon said, the deadlines to apply for Beautification in Action funding are March 15 and September 15 of 2023.

Submissions for traffic cabinet designs are being accepted now through Feb. 1 at www.flagstaff.az.gov.
New Zealands third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, with dozens of deaths and hundreds of people being hospitalised each week due to the virus.

Medical staff test shoppers who volunteered at a pop-up community COVID-19 testing station at a supermarket carpark in Christchurch, New Zealand, 2022. [AP Photo/Mark Baker]

In the week ending January 15, another 57 people were reported to have died within 28 days of contracting the coronavirus, and 333 people were in hospital due to the virus at the end of the week. A total of 19,215 new cases were recorded, but the real toll is undoubtedly far higher. The Labour Party-led government is deliberately limiting testing in order to keep people at work, if they have COVID but no symptoms.

Since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced an end to New Zealands elimination strategy in October 2021, and her government proceeded to abandon lockdowns and other public health measures, the countrys COVID death toll has shot up from around 30 to more than 3,000. In fact, the health ministry reports that 3,766 people have died within 28 days of contracting COVID, but claims that 699 of these deaths were not COVID-related, providing no further details.

More than 2.1 million infections have been recorded for the whole pandemic, in a population of 5 million, and 25,427 people have been hospitalised for COVID, including over 3,000 children.

With no steps taken to stop or even slow the spread, the toll of illness and death will continue to rise sharply in the coming months. The new Omicron variant XBB.1.5, also known as Kraken, was detected in New Zealand during the first week of January. This variant, the most transmissible and immune-evasive so far, is fuelling a surge in several countries, including the United States where it is estimated to account for over 40 percent of COVID cases.

In the face of this new threat, the government is promoting maximum complacency. A ministry of health statement on January 9 declared: The detection of XBB.1.5 is not unexpected. Despite clear evidence of Krakens heightened transmissibility, it said: It remains unknown how XBB.1.5 will compete against other variants in a New Zealand context, and whether this could affect the level of COVID-19 circulating in the community in the coming months.

Portraying the mass infection of the population as a positive, the ministry said: New Zealand currently has a high level of immunity based on high vaccine uptake, combined with a recent wave of infections (so-called hybrid immunity).

This is totally misleading. In fact, more than a third of COVID cases reported in recent weeks are repeat infections. Every time someone gets the virus, it increases the risks that they will become seriously ill and develop long-term conditions, or Long COVID.

Vaccines provide some protection against serious illness but their efficacy is limited. Nearly half the population has still not received a third dose (or first booster) of the vaccine, and only 14 percent have received a fourth dose (second booster), which is needed to remain up-to-date.

In contrast to the government, experts issued blunt warnings about the new variant.

Speaking to NewstalkZB, epidemiologist Michael Baker warned that XBB.1.5 is better at infecting people and quite likely to cause a new wave of infections. He added: People often say we have to wait and see if its more severe or less than other sub-variants ... but actually sub-variants that affect a lot more people is much worse in some ways because it just means a lot more people will get sick, in some cases dying.

Microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles wrote in Stuff that the proliferation of new variants including XBB.1.5 was really worrying, adding that it looks like monoclonal antibody treatments are no longer able to protect immunosuppressed people from some of the Omicron sub-variants. She expressed concern that we are no longer working collectively to reduce the spread of Covid.

On January 8, epidemiologist Amanda Kvalsvig wrote on Twitter: Unless the NZ Govt changes their Covid strategy in 2023, this is the certainty we now have: of ongoing, cumulative, inequitable damage to population health and wellbeing, including (unforgivably) our children.

The corporate media, meanwhile, continues to report as little as possible on the pandemic. Writing in the New Zealand Herald on January 14, former opposition National Party MP Steven Joyce noted, approvingly, that politicians have quickly moved on to playing down the virus and normalising it. News bulletins, he said, are now reporting COVID deaths in just a thirty-second summary before the weather report.

Joyce, a former transport minister, complained that the Ardern government didnt remove public health measures earlier, and that the shutdown of transport projects during lockdowns had likely cost billions of dollars and years in delays.

He called for the cost to business to be investigated by the royal commission into the governments pandemic response. This inquiry, announced by Ardern last month, will start in February and is expected to finish its work in mid-2024.

The commissions terms of reference say it will investigate the overall response, including the economic response, identify what we can learn from it and how that can be applied to any future pandemic. The purpose of the inquiry is to ensure that there is no return to any policy of elimination, or even mitigation measures, which are deemed an unacceptable impost on big business profits.

The inquiry will be chaired by University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely, a prominent minimiser of COVID-19. When Omicron emerged, Blakely echoed false claims that the variant was mild and advocated a policy of mass infection in Australia and New Zealand. In February 2022, he told Radio NZ that New Zealand was being too cautious, and urged the Ardern government to work faster at dismantling public health measures in order to let Omicron wash through in a timely manner.

Assisting Blakely with the inquiry are two seasoned representatives of the capitalist state: former National Party education minister Hekia Parata and ex-Treasury secretary John Whitehead.

To fight for a scientific COVID-19 elimination policy that puts lives ahead of corporate profits, workers have to take matters into their own hands. What is required is a political struggle against the Labour government and the whole political establishment, and the building of rank-and-file workplace committees, independent and opposed to the trade unions which have enforced the let it rip agenda.

We urge readers to contact us to discuss the way forward, and to participate in the Global Workers Inquest into the Pandemic, which is being conducted by the International Committee of the Fourth International to expose the homicidal policies of governments and elaborate the political strategy for ending the pandemic once and for all.
A Memphis, Tennessee, man became one of the latest victims of police violence last week, following a simple traffic stop on January 7.

Tyre Nichols, 29, was stopped for alleged reckless driving, after which police report Nichols attempted to flee, leading to a foot chase. According to a cryptic initial police statement, after being apprehended, Nichols complained of having a shortness of breath. He was then transported in critical condition to a hospital, where he ultimately succumbed to his injuries on January 10. Nichols death sparked a number of protests and demonstrations over the weekend.

Tyre Nichols in the hospital after his arrest. [Photo: Family of Tyre Nichols]

Protesters on Saturday demanded the release of body camera footage, which city officials have so far refused to do. Speaking to WREG-TV, Rodney Wells, the victims stepfather, stated that Nichols died from cardiac arrest and kidney failure. Wells added, When we got to the hospital, it was devastating. All of that still should not occur because of a traffic stop. You shouldn't be on a dialysis machine looking like this because of a traffic stop. Thats inhumane.

Toni Carter, Nichols aunt, also speaking to WREG-TV, stated, We wouldnt be so mad if it was a car accident or something, but you beat somebody to death and we aint gone never be right.

Nichols sister, Kenyana Dixon, told the local news station, Im gone see this in my brain for the rest of my life to the day I die. If he did run, like I said, he was scared. He was scared. He had nothing on him. A traffic stop is supposed to be a traffic stop for anybody. Dixon added that Nichols likely panicked due to the fact that the officers who stopped him were in unmarked vehicles and wearing hoodies.

Due to the severity of Nichols injuries, the Shelby County District Attorneys Office was contacted immediately following his hospitalization. The DAs office then requested the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to carry out a use-of-force investigation. That investigation is still pending.

Five days after Nichols death, the Memphis Police Department (MPD) announced an administrative investigation concerning policy violations, no doubt in an effort to try to buy time for officials to work out a strategy for covering up the incident and absolve the officers of any criminal or procedural wrongdoing.

In a statement released by the mayors office on Sunday, Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis said, After reviewing various sources of information involving this incident, I have found that it is necessary to take immediate and appropriate action. Today, the department is serving notice to the officers involved of the impending administrative actions.

Tyre Nichols [Photo: Kris Volker]

In the same statement, two-term Democratic Mayor Jim Strickland tritely stated, Make no doubt, we take departmental violations very seriously and, while we must complete the investigation process, it is our top priority to ensure that swift justice is served. We want citizens to know that we are prepared to take immediate and appropriate actions based on what the findings determine.

Throughout his time in office, Strickland has made clear his staunch support for the police. During his first term, his 2017-2018 budget provided a $5.9 million increase to the MPDs budget, some of which was to be spent on hiring 50 more officers and 70 more civilian police service technicians. The budget also incorporated another $6 million for officer overtime.

Stricklands latest budget proposal for fiscal year 2023 includes a 10 percent pay increase for police officers. For comparison, firefighters would receive 6 percent, general employees would receive 2 percent, and retirees would receive 1 percent.

The death of Nichols bears a striking similarity to the January 3 death of Keenan Anderson after a violent assault by police in Los Angeles. Anderson, a Washington DC high school English teacher, was in LA visiting his family when he was restrained by police, who suspected his involvement in a hit-and-run accident. Anderson, who was unarmed and appeared to be having a mental breakdown, eventually attempted to flee on foot but was quickly apprehended. Officers then tased Anderson a total of five times. Four-and-a-half hours later Anderson died at a hospital from cardiac arrest.

Following the 2020 police slaying of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which sparked mass multiracial, multi-ethnic and international protests against police violence, police in the US continue to kill and maim with impunity on a practically daily basis. As the World Socialist Web Site reported at the beginning of the year, police killed 1,176 people in 2022, with only 12 days of the year on which the police did not kill someone.

Meanwhile, the Democrats and Republicans try and outdo one another in providing even more money and resources to the police and covering up their criminality. President Biden has routinely hailed the police throughout his time in office, most recently during a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the January 6, 2021 fascist coup attempt, in which current and former police officers participated.

In the final analysis, police violence is rooted in the capitalist system. Therefore, the struggle against police violence is intimately bound up with the struggle for international socialism. This in turn underscores the need for the development of a Marxist leadership in the working class. The International Committee of the Fourth International and its national sections are the only political tendency committed to the building of a mass global movement of workers against police violence, war, fascism and dictatorship, as well as the pandemic and all the crises produced by the decay of capitalism.
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the United States government has been at the forefront of downplaying the seriousness of the deadly disease and allowing the virus to spread, initially by promoting the pseudo-science of herd immunity and the back-to-school/work campaign, and currently by touting the absurd lie that the pandemic is over. As a result of these bipartisan policies, COVID-19 has been permitted to mutate into more virulent, infectious and vaccine-resistant strains over the last three years.

In this Jan. 7, 2021, file photo, registered nurses Kyanna Barboza, right, tends to a COVID-19 patient as Kobie Walsh puts on her PPE at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. [AP Photo/Jae C. Hong]

The latest strain, Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5, accounts for at least 43 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the United States, according to Reuters. In the United States, the region hit hardest, outside densely populated areas such as the California capital of Sacramento and New York City, is the southeastern United States.

The state of Louisiana is facing a surge in COVID cases and hospitalizations following the holidays. We certainly have seen a bump coming out of the holidays, Dr. Joe Kanter, an officer with the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), reported Thursday. Its not something overly dramatic, but no question, transmission has increased from the holidays.

Hospitalizations have increased almost 60 percent over the last month, from 289 about a month ago to 456 last week. More than 60 deaths were recorded over the last seven days, compared to 14 one month prior. However, this has not swayed the state government to take action to close non-essential production and schools, or any attempt to slow or stop transmission.

According to the LDH website, between January 2 and 8, 6,849 new infections and 42 deaths occurred. Total cases recorded currently stands at more than 1.5 million out of a population of 4.6 million, and total deaths in the state are 18,436. According to Kanter, geographically, coronavirus infections are spread fairly and evenly. Such language, even if it is a poor choice of words, indeed shows the intention of the ruling financial and corporate oligarchy to implement a policy of mass death via its back-to-work/school campaigns and vaccine-only strategy. The latter has been endorsed by Kanter and Louisianas Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards.

Currently the XBB.1.5 subvariant accounts for 17 percent of infections in the region, which includes Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. In the Northeast United States, the variant is dominating, with more than 70 percent of cases attributed to it. I would totally expect it to be the dominant strand here within two to three weeks, said Kanter.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned XBB.1.5 is the most transmissible variant to date.

The international database of viruses, known as GISAID, presents data that 10 of 612 viruses sequenced from Louisiana over the last two months are XBB.1.5. The first case of the new variant in Louisiana was submitted by Ochsner Health from Orleans Parish on November 11. Cases have popped up in Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes since.

At Childrens Hospital New Orleans (CHNO), the share of child patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-like symptoms has doubled, rising from 1 in 20 to 1 in 10 over the last two weeks, according to Physician-in-Chief Dr. Mark Kline. Just last month, CHNO emergency rooms were recording far higher numbers of influenza than COVID-19 among children, where, at that time, adolescents testing positive for COVID-19 were about 1 in 50. Its been a steady increase over the past three or four weeks, Kline told the Times-Picayune. I think the question mark is: Where does it peak?

In neighboring Mississippi, the death of a one-year-old child from COVID-19 was announced last week. Parents are forced to return to work, and children to school, amid wave after wave of COVID-19. No matter how many workers and youth get infected and die, production must continue and profits must flow.

According to Kanter, families should conduct their own assessment of the risk of gathering in large groupsall while national COVID-19 data statistics are purposefully stuntedand get a COVID-19 booster shot if they have yet to receive one. Were in Mardi Gras season, said Kanter It would not be unexpected to see increases throughout.

There is no attempt by the Democratic Party leadership to prevent super-spreader events, at the state or federal level, as is also true of their colleagues in the Republican Party.

In Alabama, in July of 2021, Republican Governor Kay Ivey stated emphatically that it is time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks for the diseases continued spread. I want folks to get vaccinated. Thats the cure. That prevents everything. That was a lie aimed at turning the global pandemic into a problem of personal responsibility.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data from August 2022, approximately 64 percent (3.15 million people) in the state had received one dose of the vaccine, 52 percent (2.55 million people) had received two doses and were considered fully vaccinated, and 20 percent (970,000 people) had received a booster. Over the course of the pandemic more than 1.6 million Alabamians have contracted the disease, resulting in more than 21,300 deaths, according to the New York Times.

In Alabama, XBB.1.5 accounts for nearly 20 percent of all new cases, according to the CDC. The state is facing an expected rise in COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths. The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) reported there were 659 people infected with COVID-19 in Alabama hospitals as of Thursday. Last week marks the first time Alabama has seen more than 600 COVID hospitalizations since September 10 last year. Thursdays number represents a 322 percent increase since just before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Approximately 16.3 percent of those tested for coronavirus test positive for the disease. State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris told Alabama Live that Alabamians are at higher risk for Long COVID due to myriad pre-existing health conditions and low vaccination rates. At baseline Alabama has a big burden of chronic disease, observed Harris.

According to the CDC, Alabama has the second-highest rate of Long COVID in the country, at 12.1 percent of COVID-19 cases, following Kentucky at 12.7 percent. As more resources have been put into studying the effects of Long COVID, it has been broken down into four types.

A study published last month in Nature Medicine identified the most prevalent subtype of Long COVID. Experienced by approximately 34 percent of patients, cardio-vascular and urinary system problems were prevalent among older males. The second-most common amalgam of post-COVID symptoms, impacting nearly 33 percent of people studied with Long COVID, included respiratory complications, chest pains, anxiety, headache and myriad sleeping disorders. Victims of this second subtype had lower hospitalization rates than the first, but were more likely to test positive for COVID-19 during future surges of the pandemic, as recorded between November 2020 and November 2021.

For the third subtype, 23 percent of patients experienced musculoskeletal symptoms. The fourth subtype of those studied was the 10 percent who showed digestive and respiratory symptoms. These [subtypes] can inform effective hypotheses generation for biological mechanistic studies of Long COVID, as well as treatment development strategies for long COVID, said study author Dr. Fei Wang of Cornell University.
With extraordinary speed, the political and media establishment has buried last Thursdays admission by New South Wales (NSW) Liberal-National Coalition Premier Dominic Perrottet that he wore a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party in 2003.

Dominic Perrottet [Photo: CEBIT Australia, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic]

In an age of manufactured scandals, including of the #MeToo variety, political careers have been ended for far less. One need only recall the fate of former Coalition Premier Barry OFarrell, compelled to resign over failing to declare his receipt of a bottle of wine, or that of Perrottets predecessor Gladys Berejiklian. She was forced out over conduct that amounted to pork barrelling, including providing funding for a regional hospital.

But less than a week after Perrottet made what was a politically-disturbing and unprecedented revelation, his position as premier and leader of the Liberal Party until the March 25 state election appears secure. It is back to business as usual. The official media has largely stopped publishing on the uniform incident.

The Labor Party has functioned as the linchpin of this political rescue operation. Almost as soon as Perrottet had concluded his Thursday press conference admission, his nominal opponent in the state election, NSW Labor leader Chris Minns, hailed the premiers sincere and heartfelt apology.

Over the weekend, Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made similar comments. Perrottets decision to wear a Nazi uniform had not been the wisest thing, Albanese stated, but he was staying clear of that. The NSW election would centre on whos best to lead the state on policy issues.

Both Minns and Albanese, together with the media, have accepted Perrottets explanation. Despite being the president of the Young Liberals at the University of Sydney in 2003, Perrottet has claimed that he was so historically ignorant as to have no idea whatsoever of the significance of identifying himself with the Nazis. It was all a youthful mistake.

Labor is not only promoting this line, it is also seeking to prevent any inquiries that might point to other explanations of Perrottets actions. Together with the Greens, it is blocking a bid by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party to refer the uniform incident to a public conduct committee of the NSW parliament.

There are several interrelated reasons for Labors reaction. Firstly, together with the ruling elite, Labors leaders are fearful that if the Perrottet scandal develops, it could deepen the crisis of the entire political establishment.

Amid widespread discontent among workers and young people, all the official parties are in a deep-going crisis, reflected in last Mays federal election, where Labor and the Coalition received their worst results in more than half a century. They are all, moreover, riven by factional conflicts that could lead to a bust-up of the two-party system.

Secondly, Perrottet has played a key role in national politics, collaborating closely with Labor. Together with then Coalition Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Victorian Labor Premier Daniel Andrews, he spearheaded the profit-driven reopening of the economy in December 2021, which led to as many as 25,000 deaths last year. Since Labors victory in the federal election, Perrottet and Albanese have worked together with Andrews and other premiers, most of them from Labor, to dismantle any public health response to the pandemic.

In an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning, Minns outlined the bipartisanship on COVID and every other plank of ruling class policy.

From my first day as opposition leader, I have not hesitated to back good ideas from the NSW Liberal government, Minns wrote. Whether it was dealing with COVID, or the national energy package, when they got it right, I backed them in. Thats the way I practice politics, and its the right thing to do.

Finally, there are undoubtedly fears that too great a scrutiny of the uniform incident could shed light on the ever-greater role of extreme right-wing forces in official politics, under conditions where the whole political establishment is hurtling to the right.

In its initial article on the revelations, the WSWS noted that in 2003 Perrottet was already a political figure, having become president of the University of Sydney Liberal club that year, one of the most important feeders for state and federal politics.

We also pointed out that Within the NSW Liberal Party, moreover, fascism and Nazism were not merely distant historical questions. This was true in a general sense, but it had a particularly direct relevance to Perrottets political career, as an examination into Liberal Party history makes clear. The following makes use of an informative Reddit thread by user Jagtom83.

Perrottet and the Uglies faction

In the 1970s, Ljenko Urbancic, a Slovenian migrant, came to prominence in NSW Liberal circles, becoming president of the Liberal Ethnic Council in 1977. Urbancic was an unrepentant Nazi and a war criminal.

As documented in Mark Aarons book War Criminals Welcome: Australia, a Sanctuary for Fugitive War Criminals Since 1945, Urbancic was a close confidant of President Rupnik, head of Slovenias Nazi-aligned government.

Aarons wrote: Urbancic earned his title of little Goebbels from the Yugoslav War Crimes Commission precisely because he was one of the most proficient and fanatical propagandists in German-occupied Europe. Urbancic legitimised the Holocaust, as it was underway, with foul anti-Semitic tirades, and was complicit in the mass murder of European Jewry.

After his record was exposed, Urbancics colleagues in the NSW Liberals prevented his expulsion. The war criminal had assembled an informal faction, dubbed the Uglies, that would continue, in all but name, for several decades.

A 2016 article in the Australian Financial Review noted: Despite official moves to expel him from the party, Urbanchich survived and worked hard with David Clarke, a conservative Catholic solicitor, and a Liberal member of the NSW Upper House, to recruit new members to the Uglies faction.

In 2004, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that NSW Liberal moderates are claiming that right-wing Catholics, including members of the secretive Opus Dei organisation, have helped stack branches, taking control of the Young Liberals from the moderates for the first time in decades.

A significant number of the 125 male students at Warrane College, affiliated with the University of NSWwhere Opus Dei is entrusted with pastoral carehave been signed up to the Randwick-Coogee Young Liberal branch, according to a membership list seen by the Herald.

The article cited NSW Young Liberal President Alex Hawke who refused to comment on allegations of branch stacking, but declared: We had large membership growth and Im very proud of that. Hawke was then a staffer for Clarke and was described in the press as his protege.

Among those from Warrane College, who entered the Liberal Party at this time, was none other than Mr Perrottet.

As the Daily Telegraph reported last week, in discussing Perrottets birthday party: The guests included Mr Perrottets close-knit group of friends, ex-students from Redfield College in Dural, where he had attended high school, Sydney University where he was studying law, and Warrane College, the Opus Dei residential college attached to the University of NSW where he resided.

The Telegraph continued: Guests recalled other predominantly right-wing members of the Young Liberals being in attendance, including federal MP Alex Hawke, who told media on Friday night he had attended events with Mr Perrottet but did not recall being at his 21st.

The source remembered the mood on the night to be particularly jovial given the faction had just taken control of the organisation from the moderates. It was the year after we had taken over the Young Liberals, the source recalled. (Upper House MP) Nat Smith was trying to take over Ryde. Alex Hawke was Young Liberal president. We were feeling on top of the world.

Clarkes son-in-law Kyle Kutasi was president of the University of Sydney Liberal Club for the two years before the position was handed to Perrottet. After he became premier, a 2021 Sydney Morning Herald profile of Perrottet noted that one of his first positions within the Liberal Party had been to work as a staffer for David Clarke.

In other words, Perrottets party not only marked his 21st birthday. It was a celebration of the factional triumph of the Uglies.

Given its origins in Urbancics activities, some may see Perrottets decision to wear a Nazi uniform in a different light to those presented by explanations of historical ignorance. Was it, they may ask, at the very best, an ironic nod to the forces who had set the ambitious young politicians career in motion?

In a further possible irony, there are suggestions that these same far-right forces may be behind Perrottets present predicament.

In December, the Liberal Party expelled six members for branch stacking, with Perrottets apparent blessing. As per the Sydney Morning Herald, A seventh party member, Kyle Kutasi was expelled from the party a day later in relation to a separate incident.

It was in the same month that an anonymous Twitter account began referencing the fact that Perrottet had worn a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday, with the fallout eventually compelling the premier to make an admission 20 years after the fact.

There are no doubt frustrations, within the Liberal right, that Perrottets ascension to premier, viewed as their victory, has not been accompanied by the implementation of their full program for a routing of their factional opponents. Instead, Perrottet has worked closely with a centre-right faction, including supposed moderates who acknowledge the reality of climate change, support same-sex marriage and take other positions that raise the ire of the religious right.

Meanwhile, however, Perrottet, together with Labor and the rest of the political establishment, has implemented a COVID policy that has unmistakably eugenicist and fascist implications in its total disregard for mass illness and death on the altar of profit.

The intensity of the factional and intra-factional conflicts is inseparably connected to the crisis of the two-party set-up. As the ruling elite pursues a policy of reaction all down the line, and figures associated with the fascistic far-right are elevated ever-more prominently into the corridors of power, workers and young people are moving to the left. The divergent trajectories set the stage, not only for explosive conflicts within the political establishment, but far more importantly, explosive struggles by the working class against the entire official set-up.
President Ranil Wickremesinghes trip last Sunday to Jaffna in Sri Lankas north during the Thai Pongal religious festival, provoked a protest by hundreds of Tamils. Demonstrators chanted slogans including Give back our missing people,Release all Tamil political prisoners and Return military-occupied land.

Relatives of the "disappeared" preparing to protest during President Wickremesinghe's visit to Jaffna on 15 January 2023. [Photo by Mayurapriyan]

Wickremesinghes visit during the Hindu festival, which is celebrated by Tamils in India, Sri Lanka and Tamil communities around the world, was a crude and cynical attempt to feign concern about the democratic and social rights of Sri Lankas Tamil minority.

Wickremesinghe concerns are part of his ongoing attempts to secure the support of the Tamil elite parties to impose the countrys financial crisis via the International Monetary Fund austerity measures onto the working class and the rural masses.

The disappeared or missing people are Tamil youth who were abducted by, or surrendered to, the military during Colombos 26-year bloody war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). According to the UN, around 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed by the army during the final months of the war which ended in May 2009.

Sri Lankan Tamils are outraged over Wickremesinghes announcement last month that his government would issue death certificates for the missing and pay 100,000 rupees ($US270) compensation to each family who lost loved ones.

For those who were killed by the military and its death squads, it provides no justice to their families. For any who might be still alive, it means their continued incarceration and torture in unknown locations.

Thirteen years after the end of the war, dozens of Tamil political prisoners are known to be still languishing in jail and thousands of acres in the North are still held by the Sri Lankan military which continues to rule the area.

On Sunday Wickremesinghes plane landed at Palaly Airport, where he was greeted by Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) leader Douglas Devanada, who is a minister in the Colombo government. The president travelled under heavy police guard, including its Special Task Force (STF) and commandos, to venerate the chief monk at Sri Naga Viharaya Buddhist temple. He met with Jaffna Bishop Dr. Justin Gnanapragasam then went to the Thai Pongal celebrations at Nallur Kovil in Jaffna.

Family members of the disappeared travelled from Mullaithivu, Kilinochchi and Vavuniya, prior to the protests, defying state forces who attempted to block them. They later converged with students at Jaffna University and, numbering about 400, marched towards Nallur Kovil where Wickremesinghe was attending the Thai Pongal religious events. STF officers and the police erected barricades to try to block the marchers. Protestors removed the barricades and attempted to continue their march but were violently attacked with police with water cannons and dispersed.

Following the Nallur Kovil event, Wickremesinghe went to the Jaffna Durga Hall where he addressed government supporters. He told the audience that he hoped to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the constitution.

Police use water cannon against protesting relatives of the "disappeared" at Arasadi Junction in Jaffna on 15 January 2023. [Photo by Tamilnews1-Mayurapriyan]

Next month, he said, the government would announce new reconciliation measures and insisted that he had appealed to all parliamentary party leaders to work to unite this country and restore harmony.

On December 13, Wickremesinghe held an all-party conference, which included the Tamil National Alliance and the Tamil Peoples National Forum, where he declared his readiness to fully implement the 13th Amendment. The amendment was part of the 1987 July Indo-Lanka Accord which saw Indian military forces sent into northern Sri Lanka to disarm the LTTE and suppress working-class opposition against the then government.

The 13th Amendment had nothing to do with the defence of the democratic and political rights of the oppressed Tamil people but was to provide certain powers to the Tamil elite in the merged North and East provinces. The Tamil parties are insisting on full implementation of the amendment, granting police and land powers to the merged provincial councils.

Successive Colombo governments, based on Sinhala communal politics, were hostile to granting these powers. The Supreme Court, acting on an application by the Sinhala chauvinist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), ruled that the merged northeast council was unlawful and it was split in two in 2007.

Wickremesinghe is taking up this issue once again in order to reach a deal with a section of the Tamil bourgeoisie and privileged upper-middle class in order to prop up his politically fragile government amid widespread opposition to his austerity measures.

As we all have to live in one country, we must return to the Sri Lankan identity and build the economy that late Mr. D. S. Senanayake [Sri Lankas first prime minister and United National Party (UNP) leader] created 75 years ago, Wickremesinghe told the Durga Hall audience. Thirty years of war and insurgency, he added, has seen us divided by divisive, racist, sectarian and bankrupt politics.

Wickremesinghe has turned history upside down. Senanayakes first government in 1948 abolished the citizenship rights of Tamil-speaking plantation workers and initiated vicious communal discrimination to divide the working class along ethnic lines. These communal provocations culminated in 1983 with the war against the LTTE, under the then UNP regime. Wickremesinghe, who was a minister of that UNP government, shares direct responsibility for the bloody atrocities unleashed against Sri Lankan Tamils.

Soldiers mobilised to stop protest relatives of the "disappeared" during President Ranil Wickremesinghe's visit to Jaffna on Thai Pongal festival day, 15 January 2023. [Photo by Mayurapriyan]

Last Sundays protest against President Wickremesinghe is not an isolated event. It is an expression of the deep-going nationwide opposition to the suppression of democratic rights and the impact of the economic crisis that has devastated lives of workers and the poor across the island.

The unity of the working class and the poor across ethnic and religious lines was powerfully seen when millions of people rose up against the government between last April and July compelling then President Gotabhaya Rajapakse to flee the country and resign.

Last Sundays protest, which was organised by the Missing Persons Organisation and the Jaffna University Students Union, was based on Tamil nationalism. The appeals to Colombo are aimed at diverting the genuine outrage over the war crimes and ongoing state discrimination against the Tamil masses into securing a better deal for the Tamil elite.

The Tamil political parties, moreover, are appealing to US imperialism and India to assist in securing a power-sharing deal for the Tamil elite. Washington and New Delhi, which fully supported Colombos communalist war against the LTTE, have no genuine concern about the rights of Tamils or, for that matter, other oppressed minorities elsewhere in the world. Their concern is to ensure Sri Lanka is maintained and expanded as a vital strategic military location in their war preparations against China.

The ending of Tamil and other racial and religious discrimination in Sri Lanka can only be won through a united struggle of the working class and rallying the rural poorSinhala, Tamil and Muslim aliketo establish a United Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Eelam as part of the broader struggle for socialism in South Asia and internationally. This is the perspective that the Socialist Equality Party fights for.
In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation aired Friday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said that Ukraine is a member of NATO de facto.

Reznikovs statement is an effective admission that the Ukrainian military has been functioning as a proxy of the NATO alliance, refuting false claims by the White House that the United States is not a party to the conflict.

Ukraine is a member of NATO de facto, Ukrainian defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Friday.

We have a lot of modern, NATO, standard weaponry, Reznikov said. It means that Ukraine as a country, and the armed forces of Ukraine, or our sector of security and defense became the member of NATO de facto, not de jure, because we have the weaponry, because we have the interoperability level of the communication with our partners, and Im sure that in the next future we will become a member of NATO de jure.

The BBC interviewer commented, Well, thats a controversial statement. Youre saying that Ukraine is de facto a NATO member.

To this, Reznikov replied, Why controversial? Its true. Its a fact. Im a lawyer, you know, Im operating with the facts.

Reznikovs assertion is indeed a fact, and is only controversial because the United States government and media have been lying about this fact for close to a year.

In May 2022, White House press spokesperson Jen Psaki was asked by a reporter, Eight in 10 Americans are expressing worries about a wider war and the possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia. And given that Russia has made it clear that they believe NATO hashas engaged in a proxy war, whats the White Houses message to worried Americans right now?

Psaki replied, I know that is the Russian talking point on this, but it is not a proxy war.

She added, This is a war between Russia and Ukraine. NATO is not involved. She added that its important and vital for all of us to not repeat the Kremlin talking points on this front.

Russian talking point is a euphemism in Washington for a true statement that the White House wishes to lie about.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, left, shakes hand with Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov at NATO headquarters in Brussels on October 12, 2022. [AP Photo/Stephanie Lecocq]

Reznikovs assertion exposes the White Houses denial that it is a party to the conflict as a lie, whose aim was to deceive the American population while the US government instigates a war that threatens their lives.

The context of Psakis denial that NATO is a party to the conflict explains her motivation in making this false statement. She was addressing widespread fears that the escalation of the war threatens to escalate into a nuclear conflict. To placate these legitimate public concerns, she lied to the public.

Since Psaki made these claims, the United States has increased its involvement in the war by an order of magnitude. The United States spent more than $50 billion on the war last year, and has pledged a further $50 billion in a bill signed by Biden in December.

Following Psakis declaration, the United States massively expanded its involvement in the Ukraine war, sending Ukraine the HIMARS long-range missile, the Patriot missile and tracked infantry fighting vehicles. The United States played a central role in sinking the Moskva, the flagship of the Black Sea fleet, and in targeting Russian generals for assassination. And the United States has confirmed that Pentagon personnel are deployed in Ukraine overseeing the use of US-supplied weapons.

Another aspect of Reznikovs statement is significant. He said that Ukraine is a member of NATO not because of actions taken by Russia in February 2022, but because Ukraines military is interoperable with NATO standards.

In fact, integrating the Ukrainian military with NATO has been a longstanding goal of the United States for years ahead of the invasion. In July 2021, the US State Department fact sheet on US military aid to Ukraine proclaimed:

Ukraine is a key regional strategic partner that has undertaken significant efforts to reform its military and increase its interoperability with NATO. Ukraine has undertaken significant efforts to reform and modernize its defense sector in line with NATO principles and standards. The United States and its Allies have established a Multinational Joint Commission and Joint Multinational Training Group to coordinate international efforts and help build Ukraines defense capacity.

Reznikovs declaration comes ahead of an expected inflection point in US-NATO involvement in the war with the January 20 summit at Ramstein Air Force base in Germany, a key US military base, where Germany, Poland and other NATO members are expected to announce that they will send as many as 100 main battle tanks to Ukraine.

Ahead of the meeting, the UK formally announced that it would send 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks, in an effort to set a precedent that would be followed by Germany and other NATO members.

UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace said the decision to send the Challenger 2 tanks was the UKs most significant package of combat power to date and will allow those countries holding Leopard tanks to donate as well.

Wallace also announced that the UK would seek to train 20,000 Ukrainian troops this year.

On Monday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki reiterated that he is seeking to send Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine, but that this would require permission from Germany, the original supplier. I cannot imagine a situation where this consent would not be granted quickly, he said.

There are indications that Russia is likewise significantly expanding the scope of its involvement in the war. A report published by the Institute for Strategic Studies Monday concludes, The Kremlin is belatedly taking personnel mobilization, reorganization, and industrial actions steps to conduct the special military operation as a major conventional war.

In response to the proposed deployment of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, the retired Lieutenant General Andrei Gurulev, a deputy to the State Duma (legislature), declared, The appearance of German tanks on Russian territory is the cornerstone of any war.

He continued, Should we use nuclear weapons? Why should we be embarrassed if we are talking about our determination in the event of a threat to the territory of the Russian Federation, and Leopard tanks will drive around Russia, in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, occupied by the Nazis. Whos stopping you from doing it?

Such statements testify to the extreme danger to all of humanity posed by the escalation of the war, which is rapidly spiraling out of control.

In his concluding remarks to the December 10 rally, For a Mass Movement of Youth and Students to Stop the War in Ukraine! WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North explained: The outcome of this process, unless stopped by the working class, will be a global cataclysm on a scale that dwarfs the violence of the past. Since the outbreak of the war, the potential use of nuclear weapons has been normalized in political discourse.

The rapid escalation of the conflict in the weeks since these statements were made confirms this warning and underscores the urgent necessity of building a global anti-war movement based on the working class.
Under this capacity-building programme, partner institutions receive financial and technical support from the WTO for trade-related research, curriculum development and outreach activities. The Programme helps to develop the capacity of academic institutions to advise governments and key stakeholders on trade policy issues.

A total of 17 institutions were chosen to join the Chairs Programme under the latest phase launched in December 2021, making the Programme more geographically diversified. It now comprises 36 universities and has generated strong links with government policy makers, businesses and research institutions through its network of universities across the world.

Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: I thank Austria for its ongoing support to the Chairs Programme. The funding will help academic institutions develop trade-related research and outreach activities in developing countries and LDCs, with the aim of enhancing the role of trade in improving the livelihoods of people around the world.

Austria's Federal Minister for Labour and the Economy, Martin Kocher, said: Austrias contribution is of utmost importance for strengthening the understanding of trade issues in developing countries and LDCs. Keeping markets open and promoting a level playing field in multilateral trade  especially during these challenging times  can strongly contribute to boosting economic growth and creating jobs in these countries, for the benefit of all.
China's overall population declined by 850,000 people year-on-year to 1.4118 billion in 2022, putting the natural growth rate at negative 0.6 per 1,000 people, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

The country registered about 9.56 million newborns last year, down from 10.62 million in 2021.

Its birthrate stood at 6.77 births per 1,000 people in 2022, down from 7.52 in 2021.

The death rate nationwide was 7.37 per 1,000 people last year, putting the natural growth rate at negative 0.6 per 1,000 people.

What kind of far-fetching impact will it have on China's economic and social development?

Yuan Xin, director and a professor of the Research Center for Strategic Studies on Aging and Development at Nankai University, said China is still seeing zero population growth, rather than negative growth. This is also because the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly suppressed childbirth in the past three years.

Lu Jiehua, a professor of demography at Institute of Sociology and Anthropology, Peking University, said it is extremely difficult to reverse the declining trend. 'To promote childbirths, China should build a pro-childbirth system covering not just childbirth policies, but also love marriages, employment, housing, medical care and elderly care. Only by building an all-around pro-humanity system and environment, can we help boost willingness among couples to have babies."

Li Jia, deputy head of the Aging Society Research Center at the Pangoal Institution, said there is no need to be overly pessimistic. First, the negative population growth can be attributed more to a shrinking fertility rate, rather than a slightly increasing mortality rate, both caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the last three years. Second, the negative population growth in 2022 does not mean the situation will last. From a global perspective, a country has to first enter a period of zero-population growth before it moves toward a negative population growth. Third, the country may see birth rates peaking in the coming years, which will be significant to the aging society.

It's China's first population decline in decades. What kind of far-fetching impact will it have on China's economic and social development? Share your views.




The Nebraska Supreme Court is considering a case that will determine whether tenants have a constitutional right to a jury trial when they're being evicted.

Legal Aid of Nebraska and Nebraska Appleseed call NP Dodge Management v. Teresa Holcomb a landmark case.

In it, they are jointly representing Holcomb, an Omaha tenant fighting eviction, and asking the state Supreme Court to find unconstitutional state statute 76-1446, which outlines the procedure for trials in such cases.

Holcomb asked for, but was denied, a jury trial when NP Dodge sought to evict her. She appealed.

Kasey Ogle, a senior staff attorney for Collective Impact Lincoln, a partnership between Nebraska Appleseed and Civic Nebraska, said eviction court proceedings are a legal process unlike any other in the state.

"Its an extremely fast process that deprives tenants of a legitimate opportunity to raise a defense, she said.

Ogle said ensuring jury trials in Nebraska eviction courts would create a fair chance for tenants in the courtroom to present a meaningful defense before potentially losing their homes.

In criminal cases, the court now looks to the seriousness of the offense to determine whether a defendant is entitled to a trial by jury, she and her counterpart at Legal Aid of Nebraska, Caitlin Cedfeldt, wrote in a brief to the court.

Orders in eviction cases could result in the removal of a family from its home, or a business losing its operating space, or a farmer losing access to their crops, they said.

"If someone was being evicted in 1875, they were entitled to a trial by jury. The Nebraska Constitution mandates that the same must be true today," the two argued.

The Nebraska Attorney General's Office, though not a party to the case, filed a brief asking the high court to affirm the denial of a jury trial, saying the right to a jury trial doesn't attach to landlord-tenant actions.

Solicitor General James Campbell said Nebraska courts never have directly addressed whether special or summary proceedings, like an eviction, fall within the constitutional right to a jury trial.

"But many other states' Supreme Courts have, and they widely accept that the right to a jury trial does not attach to special or summary proceedings. This Court should follow suit," he wrote in his brief.

Campbell said the kind of proceeding in this case didn't exit in 1875, when the state constitution was adopted.

It was not created until 1974, when the legislature modernized landlord-tenant law.

The case brought a number of so-called friend-of-the-court briefs by groups not party to the case but potentially affected by the outcome. Among them, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Law School Civil Clinic, the National Housing Law Project, the ACLU of Nebraska and the NAACP.

The state Supreme Court took the case under advisement after arguments Wednesday.

Top Journal Star photos for January 2023
NorthWestern Energy will increase its share of Colstrip Power Plant in 2026 under an agreement with Spokane-based Avista Corp, the two utilities announced Monday night.

The transaction is timed with Avistas state deadline to stop delivering coal power to its Washington customers by the end of 2025. The handoff resembles one announced last August between another Washington utility with a Colstrip stake, Puget Sound Energy, and power plant co-owner Talen Energy.

Avistas 222-megawatt share of Colstrip is divided between the powerplants surviving generators, Units 3 and 4. Dan Vermillion, Avista CEO, told an audience gathered for a lobbying event at the Great Northern Hotel in Helena that the terms are still being set, but that the company will keep its environmental cleanup liability, as well as its share of the Colstrip transmission line.

When we exit the facility, we will continue to honor our commitments to the Colstrip plant and community. The transaction recognizes our commitment to fund our share of the plant decommissioning costs, Vermillion said.

And we anticipate that there will be other opportunities for us to partner with parties in the state of Montana that were mentioned, the transmission will be staying with the Avista. We intend to make good use of that transition by continuing to do business in the state of Montana, he added.

John Hines, NorthWestern Energy vice president of supply, told the room that Colstrip would remain open through the end of the decade. The end date was a break from the utilitys repeated assertion the power plant would run through 2042. NortWestern currently owns a 222 MW share of Unit 4.

This provides a mechanism for both Units 3 and 4 to stay open through the rest of this decade, which is absolutely critical for the community, for the state, and for allowing us to have sufficient adequate power in Montana, Hines said.

Hines drew applause from legislators in the room when he said no legislation would be a required to facilitate the share transfer. The states utility regulator, the Montana Public Service Commission, wont have to act until closer to the transaction date.

The acquisition doubles the coal power in NorthWestern's Montana portfolio as pressure builds for the utility to decarbonize. Three of the Montana's largest cities, Bozeman, Helena and Missoula previously signed memorandums of understandings with NorthWestern about decarbonizing their supplied energy. Electric meters in those communities represent a third of the utility's Montana electric customer base. All three communities want to dump fossil fuel energy by 2030.

NorthWestern's plan is to retire its four coal-fired power plants sometime in the 2040s, or as they become uneconomical, a horizon far enough away to allow the 51% increase in its coal power lineup. In a press release NorthWestern CEO Brian Bird asserted that owning more coal power would help NorthWestern's "Net-Zero by 2050" goal.

More resources that can generate power on-demand, 24/7, located in Montana and dedicated to serve Montanans, are needed to meet our responsibility to provide our customers with reliable energy service, keep them safe in all weather conditions and avoid an energy crisis, said NorthWestern Energy President and CEO Brian Bird. This agreement addresses that risk and saves our Montana customers the significant cost of acquiring new generation. It solidifies NorthWestern Energys path to achieve our Net Zero Emissions by 2050 commitment, ensuring we can continue to provide reliable energy service at the most affordable rates until other technology for on-demand, clean generation is cost effective.

There was already a debate before Monday night's Colstrip announcement about whether NorthWestern Energy needed more coal power in its portfolio. The utility intends to cut ties with the a third-party owned coal power plant known as CELP, or Colstrip Energy Limited Partnership. It told regulators last fall that CELP's 41 MW of baseload power wasn't needed, that the utility didn't need increase capacity until 2032.

In a separate regulatory state, once in which NorthWestern is seeks to recover an additional $192 million in through rates paid by Montana customers, environmentalists argue that NorthWestern wouldn't need to boost its fossil fuel power supply if it scrapped plans to retire contracts with energy providers in the next couple years.

The 135 MW Judith Gap Farm's contract with NorthWestern Expires in 2026, but the project is still spinning. There's another 160 MW of power retiring this year, as well. Analyst Michael Goggin, of Grid Strategies, tells state regulators in filed testimony that it would most affordable for NorthWestern customers if the utility extended contracts rather than continue building a 170 MW gas-fired power plant in Laurel.

"Testimony in its rate case shows that NorthWesterns own analysis says it has plenty of energy and capacity for many years to come. But NorthWestern is more concerned about making its executives and shareholders rich off the backs of its customers, said Anne Hedges, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for the Montana Environmental Information Center.

Goggins is MEIC's expert witness in NorthWestern's rate case.

Hedges said Montanans should be concerned about the NorthWestern's Colstrip plans given power plant's age and reliability. The power plant has experienced several extensive outages for maintenance, or pollution violations in recent years.

"Not only is this rogue company trying to increase customers' electricity rates by a whopping 25%, it also wants to force its customers to pay for an old, incredibly expensive, unreliable coal plant. While virtually every other utility in the country is transitioning from coal to a modern energy system, NorthWestern is doubling down on last centurys dirty, unreliable, and unaffordable technology," Hedges said in a press release.

This is the second time a Washington utility has attempted to transfer Colstrip ownership to NorthWestern Energy. Washington utilities must stop servicing customers with coal power by Dec 31, 2025 under the Clean Energy Transformation Act. That deadline, coupled with coal power losing the affordability war to natural gas and renewable energy, has resulted in desperate deal making. Regulators in Washington have become resistant to passing on Colstrip costs to ratepayers, including $21 million stemming from a more than 70-day breakdown in summer 2018.

Puget Sound Energy attempted to transfer its 200 MW share in Unit 4 to NorthWestern in 2020 for the aggregate price of $1. That deal fell apart as concerns arose in Washington over millions of dollars that analysts said Puget customers would have to pay. Similarly, in Montana there were concerns that not enough was known about future plant-related costs to be paid, with interest, by NorthWestern ratepayers.

An Oregon ban on coal power, is pushing Colstrip owners Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp toward the exits, as well. The agreement between NorthWestern and Avista, filed Montana with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, hints a NorthWestern engaging in a future share transfer to obtain majority ownership of Unit 4. The only shares in the unit that aren't currently part of a trade out belong to the Oregon utilities.

Colstrip owners Talen Energy and NorthWestern are poised to be the last two companies with power plant ownership.

Talen, which is currently in bankruptcy, agreed in August to acquire Puget's ownership in Colstrip Units 3 and 4. In its bankruptcy filings, Talen indicates that it plans to close the coal-fired power plants it owns outright.

A Texas-based merchant generator, Talen lead the announcement of its share trade with Puget by emphasizing plans to build a wind farm near Hysham, with Puget as a future customer.
Editor's note: Valley Credit Union and The Billings Gazette are featuring 16 seniors throughout the 2022-2023 school year. We want to help students who are not typically eligible for scholarships and financial aid awarded to those attending a 4-year program. At the end of the year, Valley will award one $5,000 grant to a deserving student.

To be considered for the grant, students must show a clear career path for their future after high school in the form of an industry certification, technical associates degree, City College, trade school or apprenticeship. Students are nominated by a teacher, counselor, or principal from their high school.

Kymberlie Tracy

Billings West High School

What are your plans after high school?

I have been lucky enough to get the opportunity to graduate early. I am graduating in January, instead of May and I am so excited about what will happen. After high school, I plan to go down to Torrington, Wyoming, and attend college there. They have a fantastic Cosmetology program that I got accepted into. After I complete my degree, I would love to rent a booth in a salon and do my business. My goal is to own my own salon one day. I would love to do hair, makeup, skin, and nails. But, my main focus would be hair. Owning my own salon, or booth is my biggest goal after college.

What is your favorite class in school and why?

My favorite classes are Jewelry and band. I love jewelry because I love creating art, and in this class, I use metals to make things like rings, bracelets, little figurines, etc. I have this class first thing in the morning and it is such a fantastic way to start my day. My next favorite class is band, I have been in a band since 5 grade, and I love playing my instrument. I also really enjoy my band teacher; we always poke fun at him during class, which is always so funny. I enjoy going to Pep Band games and cheering on my school.

Who inspires you and why?

My biggest inspiration is my best friend Andy Redwine. Throughout our friendship, she has taught me many important lessons. She is my inspiration because she is the most empathetic, kind, and non-judgmental person. You can go to her for anything, and she will always listen and offer advice. She is always there for me and others. She also has an amazing sense of fashion, and I always love seeing what she decides to wear that day. Andy and I have been through a lot together, but no matter what she is always by my side, even when I am being a big pain in her side. She also makes a mean pumpkin pie. She is my inspiration for being a more kind and more thoughtful person. She is just all around an amazing person, and I am so lucky to have her as my friend.

What are some things you enjoy outside of school?

Some activities that I enjoy after school are reading, painting, poetry, and photography. I love reading books, and I even have my own mini library. My favorite genre to read is Thriller and Horror. My favorite authors are Stephen King, Natalie Preston, and Kate Alice Marshall. I thoroughly enjoy getting lost in the stories I read. I am a pretty decent painter, and I have a ton of canvases of every size. I enjoy creating art, which is how I started writing poetry. I have also recently thought about starting up a blog for my poetry. And finally, I love capturing moments with my camera, I took a class on photography my junior year, and I learned so much from that class. It definitely made my pictures and editing 100 times better. I also am the designated hairstylist for my friends. Anytime anyone wants their hair dyed, or cut, they come to me and I always try my best to make sure the results are what they wanted. It is always fun hanging out with your friends and dying their hair.

What would make you feel successful in your career/work after school?

Renting a booth in a salon, building a clientele, and doing what I love would be my personal definition of my success. Going to college and getting my associate's degree is one step I'm taking to accomplish this goal. I have always been interested in hair, makeup, beauty, etc. I am super excited to take my education further to accomplish my biggest life goal. Another way that I would feel successful with my work after school, is by making people feel better about themselves. Hair, skincare, and getting your nails done, are ways that help improve self-esteem and make people feel better about themselves. If I can help just one individual feel better about themselves, I would consider that to be successful.

If you win the $5,000 grant, how will you use the money to help you reach your goals?

If I win this grant, I will use the money to help fund my schooling. I would put it towards my tuition, and it would be immensely helpful in taking a chunk off my tuition.

Where do you imagine yourself in 10 years?

I imagine being successful with my career, living life with my friends, and just enjoying my time here on Earth. I see myself having my own salon by then, being successful with my blog, and being successful with myself and my career. Having my own little apartment with a cat, I see my future very clearly and I am so excited to start taking the steps to make it happen.

Do you have personal motto or inspirational saying that motivates you that you would like to share?

I don't have a personal motto, but a quote that plays in my mind a lot is: You can make it. I tell myself this a lot, especially when things in my life go sideways. I know that I am strong enough to get through whatever life throws at me. Just keep thinking about the future you have planned for yourself, and you can get through anything.

Any other information about yourself that you would like to share?

I am extremely grateful for this opportunity for my schooling. I am also grateful for all the teachers that sent in a nomination for me as well. Thank you everyone so much.
Story at a glance

Dee Harkrider, 61, left her wallet behind in a shopping cart at a Forrest City, Arkansas, Walmart.

Delivontae Johnson, 19, found the wallet and got in touch with Harkrider, driving miles out of his way to bring it to her in another town.

He could have just taken it into the store, but he took it upon himself to bring it to me, said Harkrider.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG)  An Arkansas woman is praising a teenager who drove miles out of his way to return a wallet he found in the parking lot of a Walmart on Thursday.

Dee Harkrider, 61, said she had no idea she had left her wallet behind in a shopping cart at the Forrest City, Arkansas, store, and was amazed when she learned a young man had found the wallet and was headed her way.

Anybody could have picked that up, said Harkrider. He could have just taken it into the store, but he took it upon himself to bring it to me. Im just overwhelmed.

Nineteen-year-old Delivontae Johnson said he went to Walmart to replace a tire. He said he parked in a pharmacy spot and immediately noticed the wallet.

I wasnt supposed to be parking in that spot but thank God I did, said Johnson.

Fans mourning Lisa Marie Presleys death at age 54

Johnson said he found Harkriders drivers license, started driving to her home in Wynne, and was able to get in touch with her through Facebook.

I live in Wynne, but I was in Palestine. So, that young man detoured and came to Palestine and brought me my wallet, said Harkrider.

The two met up in the parking lot of a restaurant. Harkrider said she hugged Johnson and asked him to take a picture with her to post on Facebook because she was grateful for what he had done.

I wanted people to know what this young man had done for me. I had to share it, Harkrider said.

Harkrider also gave Johnson a $20 bill tucked inside her wallet and said she wished she could have done more.

No, maam. It was more than I expected, said Johnson.

Virginia woman tracks down long lost twin after three decades

Story continues

Johnson, an East Arkansas Community College student, said he was glad to have the gas money. He also said his mom was proud of him.

She said I did a good job. Im glad she raised me to be the man I am today, Johnson said.

Johnson and Harkrider are now Facebook friends and even found out they have a friend in common. Johnson said she wants people to know there are still good people out there who want to help each other.

God watched over me. He brought this angel into my life, she said. God sends people for a reason into each others lives.

Johnson said that a week earlier, he had blown out his tire after hitting a pothole on his way to church. He said he was happy things worked out the way they did.

I once heard in church from a pastor the devil will strike before God begins to bless, Johnson said.

Harkrider said she has no doubt God will bless Johnson for his act of kindness and hopes they stay in touch for years to come.

Youre stuck with me now, joked Harkrider.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may have waned in certain sectors, but Vermont's children continue to feel increasing impacts upon mental health and homelessness.

The homelessness and mental health trends alarmed those compiling the data for the 2022 "State of Vermont's Children" report by Building Bright Futures, which serves as the state's early childhood advisory council.

Some of the data were specific to 2022 and others compared recent readings to those before the pandemic as a way to understand the effects of the public health emergency on Vermont families and children.

Steep rise in preschool and elementary-age mental health issues

Between 2018 and 2021, Vermont saw a 60% increase in children ages 3 to 8 years old with a mental, emotional or behavioral health condition. These conditions may have presented as anxiety, depression or behavioral and conduct problems.

Among all youth of this age range, 8.7% needed services in 2018, compared to 13.8% through the end of the 2020-2021 school year. The nation maintained an 8% figure between 2016 and 2021, making the Vermont statistics even more striking.

Vermont saw a significant increase in children's behavioral and mental health needs compared to before the pandemic, with the increase particularly notable compared to the nation as a whole. This graph was part of the 2022 "The State of Vermont's Children" report by Building Bright Futures.

Dora Levinson, the research and data director for Building Bright Futures, said in a briefing about the report that there is ample anecdotal evidence showing more children are requiring mental health services than before. The acuity of their needs is also increasing.

Additional data in the report showed a link between areas where fewer children received routine mental health services and an increase in the number of the calls for crisis care. Levinson also said prevention care could go a long way in helping, however, federal programs like Medicaid and the Mental Health Services Block Grant only pay for services in which a diagnosis has been established.

"The lack of federal funding for upstream prevention and promotion services is impeding Vermont's ability to turn the curve on wellness," Levinson said.

Vermont currently has the lowest number of out-of-home treatment beds it has had in more than two decades, the report said, therefore, many children end up in emergency departments. Of the 1,500 children who received emergency mental health services in 2019, 16% had to wait at least two days before being placed.

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"We are in a critical moment of the public health emergency of early childhood mental health. A moment which will have long-term consequences based on our action or inaction," Levinson said.

Dramatic increase in kids experiencing homelessness

More Vermont children do not have a stable place to rest their head at night, the report showed. A January 2022 point-in-time measurement showed a 130% increase in homeless households that included children, compared to before the pandemic.

The federal McKinney-Vento Homelessness Act defines housing insecurity as lacking a fixed and adequate nighttime residence, which includes sharing temporary housing with others and staying in a place not designed for regular sleeping accommodations.

During the 2019-2020 school year, around 250 students under the age of 9 were in those housing insecure situations, but by the 2021-2022 school year the number had increased to around 400.

A graph about children's housing needs from the 2022 "The State of Vermont's Children" report released by Building Bright Futures.

"The trauma of any period of homelessness, even short-term, can have a major effect on future development," Levinson said, adding that these children experience higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems as well as immediate and long term health problems.

Issues contributing to the rise in homelessness among Vermont families, the report concluded, were a lack of housing and a disparity between wages earned and the cost of living.

Rental vacancies were at 2.4% in 2021, the lowest rate in the country, according to the report. And, homeowner vacancy rates in 2021 were at 0.6%, leaving many families without enough available housing options. Healthy rental and homeowner vacancy rates are around 8% and 2%, respectively.

What could be done?Vermont's emergency housing is facing a crisis point. Here's the state's plan.

A family of four with two working adults in Vermont would need to make $107,960 in 2022 to meet the most basic needs of the family, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology living wage calculator. However, the median wage earned by a family of four  at $90,556  means that many are not meeting that threshold.

Building Bright Future's report said at least 32% of households were spending more than 30% of the monthly budget on housing alone, and for renters that rate was even higher at 50% of households.

"Finding any rental, much less an affordable, desirable rental can be extremely challenging for families," Levinson said. Low homeowner vacancy rates and soaring interest rates have made homeownership out of reach for many families, she said.

Inflation has also contributed to Vermont families having less money available at the end of the month. Between January 2021 and September 2022, Vermont households paid, on average, 11% more for goods, shelter, transportation and energy, Levinson said.

Contact reporter April Barton at abarton@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1854. Follow her on Twitter @aprildbarton.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont children: Increase in mental health issues, homelessness
President Vladimir Putin speaks in a recording of his annual televised New Year's message on New Year's Eve after an awarding ceremony during his visit to the headquarters of the Southern Military District, at an unknown location in Russia, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putins flailing decision this week to name a new leader for his invasion of Ukraine reflects a growing sense of desperation for the Kremlin, U.S. experts say.

The appointment of Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the former chief of Russias general staff, as overall commander of the countrys so-called special military operation has global watchers increasingly dubious of Putins wartime strategy following a series of embarrassing battlefield losses since summer.

But the switch-up, which included the demotion of Gen. Sergey Surovikin, head of the invasion since October, could also indicate a coming escalation of Russias brutal war tactics.

My sense is that Putin is flailing because hes not getting what he wants, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor told The Hill.

His military is failing. Hes trying to shake things up in order to get a better outcome, and thats not the problem.  His military is not capable of doing what he wants for all kinds of institutional, historical, corruption, competence reasons, and shaking up the command structure, I dont think it is going to get him what he wants.

That line of thinking was shared by the Pentagons top spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, who said Putins decisions point to ongoing logistical, leadership and manpower challenges for Russia in the fight, now nearly in its second year.

Gerasimovs promotion reflects some of the systemic challenges that the Russian military has faced since the beginning of this invasion, Ryder told reporters Thursday.

Weve talked about some of those things in terms of its logistics problems, command and control problems, sustainment problems, morale and the large failure to obtain the strategic objectives that theyve set for themselves, he added.

The view also was voiced by Richard Dannatt, the United Kingdoms former chief of the general staff, who last week told Sky News that Putins decision to replace Surovikin with Gerasimov  just three months after the former took charge  can be seen as a sign of desperation.

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Russia is trying to turn the tide of the war after months of struggling to make advances in the face of a strong Ukrainian counteroffensive that has clawed back thousands of square kilometers from Kremlin control.

Moscow for weeks has struggled to take over the eastern salt-mining town of Soledar, a fight that was still being contested as of Monday. While not expected to turn the tide of the war, a Russian win could allow for further advances in the Donetsk region as well as give Putin a symbolic victory.

Amid the on-the-ground battle, Russia on Saturday also renewed missile attacks on several Ukrainian cities for the first time in nearly two weeks, a barrage that continued into Monday.

Among the worst hit was Ukraines fourth largest city Dnipro, with at least 40 people, including three children, dead after a Russian cruise missile struck an apartment block, one of the deadliest single attacks of the war, according to Ukrainian officials. Another 75 individuals were injured in the attack, and 46 are still reported missing.

The new missile strikes, when viewed with Gerasimovs new role, seem to indicate Russia is stepping up its tactics against Ukraine in a bid to shift the conflict in Moscows favor.

Gerasimov needs some kind of win or a career ends in ignominy. This may well suggest some kinds of escalation, tweeted Mark Galeotti of the London consultancy firm Mayak Intelligence. Not the nuclear option, but more mobilization or, arguably more militarily logical but politically dangerous, also deploying conscripts.

Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraines military intelligence directorate, said Gerasimovs new position was part of a goal to seize the Donbas region by early spring.

Putin does not pay attention to reality.  And the next timeline he defines already for Gerasimov as, lets say, the new leader of the war against Ukraine.  This goal is to seize Donbas and form a security zone there but already by March, Yusov told Ukrainian news outlet FREEDOM TV.

Though not viewed as promising for Russias battlefield outcome, Moscows setbacks and leadership shuffle do not make the country any less dangerous, warned John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine now with the Atlantic Council.

The incompetence of the Russian military has now been thoroughly demonstrated, Herbst told The Hill. I dont want to overstate that because they still have significant assets. They have a hell of a lot more ammunition and delivery systems than Ukrainians do and they have more men than the Ukrainians do, and theyre willing to let them die to try and get marginal pieces of territory.

Herbst compared the leadership switch to political theater for Putin to deal with the criticisms for his military failures.

Putin has a problem [and] hes happy to see others receive blame for the failures of his operation.  As long as hes kept away from the criticism, its fine with him, Herbst said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
He called himself General Miller, a U.S. four-star general stationed abroad.

He befriended a Rhode Island widow and said he needed her help shipping his personal belongings back to the United States.

She sent him a check, made payable to "Full Circle Import Exports" for $60,000.

She was ready to send him a lot more when her bank and the Westerly Police Department figured out it was all a scam.

On Monday, Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha announced that Folayemi "Fola" Alabi, 52, of Richmond, Texas, had pleaded guilty in federal court in Providence to scamming the widow  and others in at least 11 states.

His total take was more than $1.6 million, according to a news release from Cunha's office.

In pleading to conspiracy and money-laundering charges, Alabi told a federal judge that he had created companies and opened bank accounts that were used to launder the money, the release said.

Under terms of a plea agreement, Alabi will forfeit assets he derived from the scheme, including his Texas residence and $31,773 in a bank account.

He is scheduled to be sentenced April 25.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: 'General Miller' pleads to million-dollar online scam in US court in Providence
During its primetime on the air, Glee was one of the most popular shows around  but even before it went off the air, its cast faced a serious tragedy with Cory Monteiths death in 2013. Since the series ended, the stars have survived other tragedies and even more controversies, such as the troubling allegations against Lea Michele. Multiple cast members have come forward with claims that the Broadway star bullied them on the set of the musical comedy show. In November 2022, Kevin McHale and Jenna Ushkowitz, who portrayed Artie and Tina in the series, respectively, opened up to Us Weekly about the Glee curse and the deaths of [their] friends and some of the on-set drama that you hear. We all come from different backgrounds and different experiences, and there were definitely moments of, like, Is that normal? McHale said, referring to Leas work ethic on the set. But we didnt necessarily know any better and we were all learning together. The accusations against Michele first began in June 2020 by Samantha Marie Ware, who played Jane Hayward on the hit show. She tweeted that the Funny Girl star made her life at work a living hell in response to Micheles retweet of a Black Lives Matter post. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF YOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY, YOU WOULD ST IN MY WIG! Ware wrote via Twitter at the time. AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD. Although Michele apologized for her behavior, she also claimed she didnt recall the past allegations. Shortly afterward, several other actors later joined the online conversation to accuse her of similar behavior. Aside from the drama between Michele and her former costars, Glee also suffered several deaths among its cast. In addition to Monteiths passing, Naya Riveras death shocked the world in July 2020. That month, Rivera went on a boating excursion in Lake Piru, California, with son Josey Dorsey, whom she shared with ex-husband Ryan Dorsey. The Ventura County Sheriffs Office told In Touch at the time that authorities discovered her son after being adrift for several hours, and then conducted a search for Rivera. On the seventh anniversary of Monteiths death, Riveras body was recovered on July 13, 2020, and her death was ruled as an accidental drowning. Riveras former castmates took to social media to share their love and messages of hope at the time. Scroll through the gallery to look back at Glees tragedies and controversies.
Hailma Harris needed to find a way to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. on his birthday despite some recent tough times, including living in a Detroit housing shelter.

"I was taught that this is a day on, not a day off," Harris said on the steps of the St. Matthew's & St. Joseph's Episcopal Church Monday afternoon.

That commitment to congregrate and rally for social justice drew Harris and more than 200 to the Woodward Avenue church in the city's North End to listen to a variety of speakers and watch a number of cultural pieces to honor the slain civil rights leader on his federal holiday before a scheduled mass march through Detroit. The 90-minute presentation included poetry readings, a trumpet solo and dance performances.

The majority Black city holds a special place in King's lifelong crusade for racial and social justice as the host of an earlier version of the "I Have a Dream" speech in a downtown rally in June 1963, just months before a similar speech during the historic March on Washington.

Speakers on Monday afternoon sought to tie King's life, work and teachings to current problems plaguing the city today. Among the dignitaries in attendance were Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and former Detroit City Councilmember JoAnn Watson.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day events in metro Detroit: Marches, service and performances

Detroit man, 89, says Movement led by Martin Luther King still alive

Attorney Tonya Phillips with the Right To Counsel Coalition addressed the crowd about the need to fully fund the city's effort to provide legal representation to those who may not be able to afford a lawyer for dealing with a number of issues, including eviction proceedings.

Failing to fund the city's mandate to provide such services, Phillips said, would be an "indifference to human suffering that Dr. King renounced."

People march south on Woodward Avenue as part of the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration at St. Matthew's-St. Joseph's Episcopal Church in Detroit on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. The event's theme was "Six Decades of Mass Movements, The Struggle Continues," in honor of the 94th birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.

King's commitment to end discrimination in housing was part of the mantle taken up by Steve Rimmer of the Detroit Tenants Association, he said in his speech Monday. "It's important that we still remember the work that needs to be done. ... Renters deserve the right to be in a stabilizing home."

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Tenants raise concerns about Detroit rentals, push for landlord accountability

Other speakers implored the crowd to work on behalf of pushing for a more livable wage, securing reproductive rights and preventing water shutoffs in Detroit where tens of thousands could be at risk this year. Two presenters invoked King's opposition to the war in Vietnam as a way to continue the struggle against wayward militarism by the government that oppress people in the U.S. and abroad.

In the pews Monday was Theo Pride, a 43-year-old Detroiter who works with the Detroit People's Platform, a community action organization devoted to racial and economic justice.

"I'm here today because I believe in community solidarity," Pride said.

Contact Matthew Dolan: 313-223-4743 or msdolan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @matthewsdolan

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Honor MLK by heeding calls to action, Detroit activitsts say
When Tony Stelter stepped into his role overseeing the Oklahoma City call center for the statewide 988 mental health line, he brought years of experience working in the states mental health system.

He also brings the experience of someone whos been there before  who knows what its like to struggle with mental illness and substance abuse, and to find hope in recovery.

From a young age, Stelter dealt with severe depression and anxiety and eventually turned to substance use to cope. At one point, he attempted to overdose.

Today, he uses his experience and recovery to keep Oklahomans who call 988 top of mind.

I've been there, too, Stelter said. I understand how important it is what we're doing, how big of an impact it makes on the people that are calling in.

More:Q&A: How has 988 line worked in first month in Oklahoma?

Tony Stelter, Oklahoma's 988 director, poses for a photo Jan. 5 inside the Solari office in Oklahoma City.

Since 988 launched in Oklahoma this summer, the call center has answered more than 15,000 calls and dispatched hundreds of mobile teams to people in crisis. It operates with a no wrong door approach  anyone in need of mental health support, whether theyre in crisis or calling for a loved one, can get connected to resources by dialing or texting the three-digit code.

The Oklahoma State Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services selected Solari Crisis and Human Services to operate the call center, which has been running crisis call lines in Arizona for years.

988 arrived last summer at a critical time: Recent statistics showed about 4% of adults in Oklahoma had serious thoughts of suicide, and one in 10 students attempted suicide in the last year.

In Oklahoma, calls are answered by Oklahomans.

Theyre going to talk to somebody thats glad they called, somebody thats trained, Stelter said. They're going to have somebody that's empathetic, cares about them, and that tries to get them to that next step to help give them the resources they need.

In his role, Stelter practices servant-leadership, answering calls to the center when he can or when he needs to fill in for a team member. It keeps him grounded to the centers purpose  Solaris mission is simply inspiring hope  and keeps him connected with what his team deals with daily.

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It's not always comfortable being on those conversations with folks, but our staff are willing to do that and be there with those people when they need them most, he said. It's an honor to be a part of it.

What to know about the 988 hotline

988, which launched in Oklahoma in July 2022, fits into the states comprehensive crisis response system as an entry point for people in need.

According to recent data, about 92% of calls to 988 in Oklahoma were resolved over the phone, so they didnt require an in-person response.

Mental health professionals on the line can dispatch a mobile crisis team if necessary. Theyre not law enforcement, they cover all 77 counties and their goal is to reach the person in need within an hour, Stelter said.

How to get help

988 is available 24/7 by call or text.

When you call, youll be asked for your name and date of birth, but you can stay anonymous if you choose to. Then, the person on the line will ask questions about whether youre safe and what support you need.

Calls are routed by area code, not by location, so callers with Oklahoma area codes will be routed to the Oklahoma City call center operated by Solari Crisis and Human Services. If you have an out-of-state area code, your call will be routed based on that state.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma's 988 director brings own mental health experience to the job
Slowly but surely, the lights are coming back on across the Tri-City area, and by 11 p.m. Christmas Eve, just about everyone should be back on the power grid.

According to Dominion Energy's interactive outage map, 137 of the region's 52,138 Dominion households and businesses were still in the dark as of 3 p.m. Saturday. That includes practically all of Dinwiddie County and Colonial Heights  one Dominion customer in each locality had yet to be turned back on.

Friday's Arctic wind blasts knocked out electricity to roughly 7,600 households and businesses across central Virginia by Friday night, Dominion estimated. Statewide, almost 224,000 customers were affected, and by Saturday morning, 93% of them had been restored.

"Our crews will continue working around the clock today. Nearly all customers affected by Friday's windstorm will have their power restored by 11:00 p.m. this evening," Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton said in an email. "If a restoration project extends past 11:00 p.m. Saturday, we will proactively contact those customers."

In Petersburg, 108 Dominion customers remained disconnected as of 3 p.m. Saturday, Dominion said. In Prince George County and Hopewell, 13 and 14 customers respectively were still without power.

The National Weather Service office in Wakefield reported early morning wind-chills Saturday well below zero, including Hopewell at -12 degrees around 6:45 a.m. and Petersburg at -8 degrees less than an hour later.

Scramble to get warmth

The bone-chilling conditions prompted several Good Samaritans in Petersburg to scramble to establish pop-up warming shelters since none had been set up in the city prior to the cold snap.

In Ward 1, incoming Councilor Marlow Jones wrote on his Facebook page that Vybez Studios on North Crater Road opened its doors from 10 p.m Friday to 10 a.m. Saturday for those who had no other options to escape the cold.

"One of the business owners have stepped up for me, for us and for those in need of warmth in this cold weather!" Jones wrote. "You heard the call and you Answered it!!"

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Jones said he was challenging other businesses across the city to step up and open their doors.

Pastor Belinda Baugh said her church, New Divine Worship Center, put several people up in hotels for the night to escape the cold.

With the low temperatures Saturday night expected to drop well into the teens, warm places to sleep still were going to be needed. The high temperature on Christmas Day will struggle to get out of the mid-30s, but it will be a bit warmer than Saturday's highs in the mid- to upper-20s.

By the end of the week, however, NWS Wakefield predicted daytime highs to be back into the low 60s.

Elsewhere across the country, an Arctic-like weather system hammered most of the U.S. over the weekend. At least 17 deaths have been attributed to the system.

USA TODAY reported that only a few regions in the United States  parts of California, Oregon, Arizona and Florida  were not expected to have wind chills below freezing on or before Christmas Day.

More:Live winter storm updates: 17 deaths reported; widespread power outages amid severe weather

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Utility says nearly all electricity will be restored by Christmas Eve
Memphis police

Today (Jan. 17), Memphis officials said they will release footage related to the confrontational traffic stop that led to motorist Tyre Nichols death, WREG reports. Mayor Jim Strickland and Memphis Police Department Chief CJ Davis said they will make the video public after they conclude their own examination of the incident.

The video will be released publicly after the completion of the internal investigation into the actions of the officers and after the family of Mr. Nichols has had the opportunity to review the video privately, they said in a joint statement.

Police took Nichols, 29, to the hospital in critical condition after they stopped him for reckless driving on Jan. 7. The victim died three days later on Jan. 10. Details about the injuries suffered or his cause of death are still unknown. The family of Nichols told multiple news outlets the officers who pulled him over were in an unmarked vehicle and that he suffered cardiac arrest and kidney failure due to police brutality. The incident sparked a use-of-force investigation from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is underway. Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy is also reviewing the case.

According to a separate statement released on Sunday (Jan. 15), the MPD relieved the officers involved in policy violation until the investigation is over.

After reviewing various sources of information involving this incident, I have found that it is necessary to take immediate and appropriation action, Davis said in a statement.

Strickland added, Make no doubt, we take departmental violations very seriously and, while we must complete the investigation process, it is our top priority to ensure that swift justice is served. We want citizens to know that we are prepared to take immediate and appropriate actions based on what the findings determine.

The statement did not name the officers or mention how many were involved. It is also unclear what type of footage from the incident exists and what it will reveal, but Mulroy said on Tuesday morning that his team is working rapidly to get the surveillance out.

Our office is committed to transparency and understands the reasonable request from the public to view the video footage. However, we must ensure we abide by applicable laws and ethical rules so that we do not jeopardize an ongoing investigation or prosecution. Were working with the appropriate agencies to determine how quickly we can release the video and will do so as soon as we can, Mulroy said.
SERIES

Sky has revealed a four-part documentary series that will explore the rise and fall of former Spanish King Juan Carlos I, who for years was celebrated as a progressive icon, until scandal and allegations surrounding his financial arrangements led to his abdication in 2014.

Told from the perspective of his close friends and confidants, palace insiders, former intelligence officials and critics, the series looks at the former Kings personal life including affairs, allegations of corruption, and alleged abuse of power  leading up to and including the events and circumstances of his abdication.

More from Variety

It is produced by Emmy nominated Christian Beetz, who created the series with Anne von Petersdorff and Georg Tschurtschenthaler from Gebruder Beetz Filmproduktion, and author Pedro Barbadillo. Executive producers at Sky Deutschland are Christian Asanger and Felix Kempter, and for Sky Studios, Barnaby Shingleton. It is being produced by Gebruder Beetz Filmproduktion in association with Sky Studios.

The series will receive a teaser showcase in February as part of the Berlinale Series Market session Up Next: Germany. It will be available in all Sky markets including U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland later this year. NBCUniversal Global Distribution is handling international sales.

Meanwhile, Foxtels 10-episode original series The Twelve, starring Sam Neill, will get its exclusive U.K. debut on streamer ITVX on Feb. 16.

The courtroom drama tells the story of 12 ordinary Australians who are selected for jury duty in a murder trial in which a woman stands accused of killing her teenage niece. Behind the facade of their anonymity, these twelve ordinary people bring with them their own histories  lives that are as complex as the trial, full of fractured dreams, shameful secrets, hope, fears, personal trauma, and prejudice.

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The series also stars Marta Dusseldorp (Wentworth) and Kate Mulvany (Fighting Season). It is produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia in partnership with Easy Tiger Productions with major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Foxtel and financed with support from Screen NSW. It is distributed globally by Fifth Season. Executive producers for the Foxtel group are Brian Walsh and Penny Win.

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Click here to read the full article.
The post Sudan Archives Performs Homesick on Fallon: Watch appeared first on Consequence.

Sudan Archives swung by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday to perform Homesick, a cut from her 2022 record Natural Brown Prom Queen  one of the best albums of the year. Watch her musical guest appearance on the show below.

Putting her albums title tot he test, Sudan Archives looked royal, indeed, draped in a pink floor-length gown topped off with an elaborate headpiece full of roses. Behind her was a four-piece backing band, complete with guitar, horns, electronic drum pads, and even a half-full wine glass. Though each member of the band stood on elevated platforms, Sudan was the obvious focal point, as if she were standing in the middle of a cathedral surrounded by statues of divine gods.

As per usual, the musician was armed with her violin. She plucked its strings in the songs introduction before whipping out her bow and dropping to her knees to play the songs powerful final moments. Watch Sudan Archives performance of Homesick on Fallon below.

Consequence caught up with Sudan Archives back in September for our Artist of the Month interview, where she discussed learning violin by ear and the musical progression that precipitated the making of Natural Brown Prom Queen.

Sudan Archives Performs Homesick on Fallon: Watch

Carys Anderson

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Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley

Danielle Del Valle/Getty Images Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley

Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley have reported to their respective prisons to begin serving their sentences for fraud and tax evasion.

Todd Chrisley reported to Federal Prison Camp, Pensacola in Florida on Tuesday, where he's set to serve 12 years. His wife, who was initially set to report to Federal Correctional Institution Marianna in Jackson County, reportedly went to Federal Medical Center Lexington in Kentucky, where she is to serve seven years behind bars.

The embattled stars of Chrisley Knows Best were found guilty of conspiracy to defraud banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans, as well as several other federal charges of tax evasion, in June. Their sentencing was handed down in November, including 16 months of probation each following their incarceration and a court order to pay restitution.

The couple have maintained their innocence. Bruce Morris, an attorney for Todd Chrisley, told EW after the verdict last year that the Chrisleys were "disappointed," and they are currently in the process of appealing their convictions.

The Chrisleys are best known for their eponymous reality show, which concluded its ninth season on USA Network in August. Chrisley Knows Best was previously renewed for a 10th season, and a source familiar with the situation told EW in the fall that the network had some episodes of season 10 shot prior to the trial that would air this year, but no official decision had been made yet about the future of the show.

EW has reached out to representatives for the Chrisleys and USA for comment.

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ABC News

Alexander Hoehn-Saric, chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, sent letters Wednesday to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and Mattel, the maker of the Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play sleeper, calling on the companies to do more to make sure the sleeper, recalled since 2019, is not used by consumers. In the letters, Hoehn-Saric said his agency has found that hundreds of recalled Rock 'n Play sleepers are sold every month on Facebook Marketplace and other secondhand sites. The CPSC issued an initial recall of Rock 'n Play sleepers in 2019 after 30 children were reported to have died after they were placed in a sleeper and "rolled from their back to their stomach or side while unrestrained, or under other circumstances," according to the agency.
A Russian flag is displayed by spectators at the Australian Open (EPA)

Russian flags have been banned at the Australian Open after one was displayed at a match between Russian and Ukrainian players.

The display drew a sharp rebuke for organisers from the Ukrainian ambassador to Australia, and Tennis Australia has now announced that Russian and Belarusian flags will not be allowed at Melbourne Park for the rest of the tournament.

Players from those two countries are playing under a neutral flag at the tournament amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Somewhat bizarrely, organisers initially decided spectators could bring the two nations flags in, but displaying one has been deemed causing disruption.

A statement read: Flags from Russia and Belarus are banned onsite at the Australian Open.

Our initial policy was that fans could bring them in but could not use them to cause disruption. Yesterday we had an incident where a flag was placed courtside.

The ban will be effective immediately. We will continue to work with the players and our fans to ensure that this is the best possible environment to enjoy the tennis.

The flag was on show at Mondays first-round match between Russian Kamilla Rakhimova and Kateryna Baindl of Ukraine.

Ukrainian ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko reacted furiously, writing on Twitter: I strongly condemn the public display of the Russian flag during the game of the Ukrainian tennis player Kateryna Baindl at the Australian Open today. I call on Tennis Australia to immediately enforce its neutral flag policy.
JEFFERSON CITY  Gov. Mike Parson asked lawmakers Wednesday to move quickly to increase wages for state government employees and child care staff working overnight.

In a budget request submitted to the legislature, Parson called for an 8.7% cost of living increase for all state government workers and for staffers working evening and overnight shifts in congregate care facilities to be paid $2 more per hour. The request comes as Missouri government continues to struggle recruiting and retaining state workers in critical departments  with 7,000 positions vacant across the state.

"If we allow state government to fall behind, we allow Missourians to fall behind," Parson said in a statement. "This is not something we are willing to accept, and we ask the General Assembly not to either."

Parson made a similar request last year, asking for a 7.5% pay raise that the legislature passed in the early weeks of their session  along with money to fund Medicaid for the remainder of the year and send federal dollars to schools. He said this year's pay increase was "not state government attempting to set the market. This is merely an attempt by stat government to stay competitive with the market."

Missouri legislature:Lawmakers return to the Capitol with eyes on schools, crime and state budget

"This recommendation will not only help us retain our dedicated team members, but will also help Missouri be a competitive and desirable employer as a whole, ultimately allowing us to attract the additional help we need," said Robert Knodell, acting director of the Department of Social Services, which oversees the state's congregate care facilities and many of its safety net programs.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat, said in a statement that the governor's request had merit "as a starting point," but should go further.

"A couple years of modest improvement simply isn't enough to overcome decades of shortchanging state workers with annual raises that ranged from the miniscule to the non-existent," Quade said. "We are hopeful the House Budget Committee will build on the governors proposal to craft a more robust pay plan for our dedicated state workforce."

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Parson's request last year set a minimum of $15 per hour for all state workers; Republicans in the House reduced that baseline to $12 across state government, with those working in "direct care" positions increased to $15 per hour.

The state budget director told lawmakers last year that the state was seeing "quite a bit of turnover in all areas," particularly in residential care facilities, prisons and mental health providers. In some divisions, turnover was as high as "30 to 40%," compared to an industry standard of around 10%.

The 2023 request from Parson would cost the state $151.2 million, $82.4 million of which is general revenue, according to the governor's office. He is asking lawmakers to approve the spending request by March 1 so state workers can see an increase in their paychecks on March 31.

More: Sen. Lincoln Hough explains his plans as chair of influential state budget committee

Galen Bacharier covers Missouri politics & government for the News-Leader. Contact him at gbacharier@news-leader.com, (573) 219-7440 or on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Gov. Mike Parson calls for Missouri state worker raises in 2023
High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk (AFP via Getty Images)

History has proven that offshoring asylum seekers can lead to deeply inhumane treatment, the UNs new human rights chief has warned.

UNs High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk urged the government to rethink its controversial Rwanda scheme.

He said the British government should absolutely reconsider its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda after a High Court ruling on Monday deemed the controversial scheme lawful.

The decision shocked refugee and human rights organisations, who claimed the Rwanda scheme will not end small boat crossings and wont keep refugees safe.

The government cannot offshore responsibilities to another state in the way that is envisaged, Mr Turk told told the Guardian, two months after taking office.

Speaking from Geneva, Mr Turk said certainlyits not common sense and called for the government to tone down its rhetoric surrounding illegal migration.

He said he doubts very much the Rwanda plan would provide protection for asylum seekers while deterring those who do not need it.

Mr Turk pointed to human rights atrocities at Australias offshore processing centres on Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. The centre at Manus Island was closed after Australias supreme court ruled it illegal.

The way that asylum seekers were treated in Nauru and Manus was deeply, deeply inhumane, Turk told the Guardian.

The Home Office rejects any comparison with Australias scheme.

A spokesperson said the partnership with Rwanda will provide asylum seekers with support to build new lives there, while disrupting the business model of people smuggling gangs.

It was found to be lawful by the High Court on Monday and the Home Secretary is committed to making it work to help prevent dangerous, illegal and unnecessary journeys.

Comparing this policy and the Australian model is fundamentally wrong and inaccurate; under our approach people sent to Rwanda are not detained but relocated, and are free to leave if they wish.

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Rwanda will process claims in accordance with national and international human rights law. Under the model, asylum seekers are not detained or placed in indefinite detention, and it is not the UK that would consider their claims.

The government has repeatedly claimed that Rwanda is a safe and secure country with a track record of supporting asylum seekers.

The first deportation flight  due to take off on June 14  was grounded amid a series of challenges against individual removals and the policy as a whole.

It is expected Mondays ruling will be challenged in the Court of Appeal, with a Supreme Court battle also possible, blocking flights until next year at the earliest.

On Wednesday Home Secretary Suella Braverman did not rule out using disused cruise ships to house asylum seekers, saying everything is on the table.
On a sunny Monday in Casper, ART 321 was full of people chatting and laughing. There was Starbucks coffee and Girl Scout cookies on a table by the entrance station.

There were also two other plastic tables: one with a banner pledging nonviolence and cups of Sharpie markers for people to sign it, another with coloring markers and white paper for kids to make signs with.

ART 321 isn't usually opened on Mondays, but on the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it was. ServeWyoming, along with three religious communities in Casper  Unitarian Universalist Community of Casper, First United Methodist Church and the United Church of Christ in Casper  Casper College, AmeriCorps and the City of Casper held the annual MLK Day of Service.

ART 321 was the starting point and gathering place for those who wished to attend. From there, they would migrate to First United Methodist with intentions to go by the James Reeb mural downtown. After a "celebration" with songs and a keynote speaker, participants would have the chance to participate in a service project: donating and organizing items to help those without housing. (The donations would then be delivered to Casper Housing Authority for distribution with Project Homeless Connect on Jan. 27, Alexis Grieve, volunteer program coordinator with ServeWyoming, told the Star-Tribune.)

Were really proud to work on that aspect of it (the service project), because thats what I think Dr. Kings legacy was  to continue to serve our communities," she said.

As attendees mingled and chatted between the displays at ART 321, ServeWyoming handed out route cards showing where the march was supposed to go and signs with chants on them. Some of the youngest attendees worked on art projects of their own at the table with paper and markers. Already made works were hung above that station with messages like, "Be Brave! Be Bold! And be equal" and "VOTE." MLK Day pins adorned sweatshirts and jackets.

A little after 10 a.m., Rev. Dee Lundberg of the United Church of Christ stood up to speak. The room gradually hushed until it was nearly silent. A reverence hung in the air.

Lundberg stressed that no matter what each person there believed in  spiritually speaking  they were all called to a common good: fighting injustice and pursuing peace.

"I know not all of us here are into God things, so, fine. Especially the traditional version, or the version that excludes some of us. But I know we are all gathered here for the good," she said. "We are all gathered here for justice and equality and acceptance and equal access. We are all into good. So, good, God, I dont see a difference.

"Your presence here is your calling. Called to carry the message of hope, love, justice, equality. So as we celebrate this day, may we not only celebrate the man, but do him a greater honor by remembering that the torch has been passed to us," she said. "There is so much more work to be done."

And then it was time to march. As people trickled out of ART 321 and onto Midwest Avenue, the sun haloed around them. There was chatting and laughter and a lightness. Community officers kept pace with the crowd before and behind. Traffic stopped. In the window of Metro Coffee Company, a woman paused her work to stare at the line of people walking by.

At First United, attendees were greeted with more coffee and hot chocolate. After grabbing and downing drinks, they headed into the sanctuary. A slideshow of pictures of Martin Luther King Jr. and his quotes played over the TVs on either side of the stage.

Debra Bulluck, who hails from Alabama originally but lived in Wyoming and went to law school at UW before moving to Minneapolis to be a practicing attorney and adjunct professor at University of St. Thomas School of Law, gave the keynote message.

She spoke about her experience living and working in the state with ServeWyoming and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming as a Black woman. It could be tough, she said.

Showing up wasnt easy, and enduring the course  honestly, it came from my faith. Knowing that I am living for a greater purpose. Leaning into a community that would allow me to exist and just be, without explanation and without feeling like I had to protect my emotional and mental well-being for what unexpected things folks will do  or say  because of your ignorance, prejudice, silence or inaction and flat-out racism.

"Even though what I experienced then, and even some of what I experienced coming back into this space the last few days, I know that I stand on the shoulders of giants, such as Dr. King, for whom we are gathered here today," she said.

The light coming through the green stained-glass window shone behind her. Bulluck then stood up with Jimmy Simmons, former president of the Casper NAACP and current vice president of the Pikes Peak Southern Christian Leadership Conference, along with the staff of ServeWyoming, and led the room in a pledge of nonviolence in honor of King and his efforts towards equality, peace and freedom.

To close, members of Opera Wyoming sang a hymn called "Let There Be Peace on Earth." They invited attendees to sing along since the song was printed in the hymnals. Thirty-some voices rang out: "Let there be peace on Earth / And let it begin with me. / Let there be peace on earth / the peace that was meant to be."
(Handouts)

When Alanna Zabel first heard that four young students had been viciously murdered in their rental home after a night out, she didnt want to think about it.

When she then heard that one of the surviving roommates was coming under attack for how she handled the unimaginable experience, she realised she had to speak out.

I can understand every aspect of what she went through. Being 19 years old, having fun, you dont know any reality where a man breaks into your house and attacks your friends, she tells The Independent.

I get it, I get it when people say why didnt she call 911? But those people are just used to watching these things happen in movies. This is a very unique and traumatic experience.

Three decades before University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were attacked in an off-campus home in Moscow, Ms Zabels college home in Buffalo, New York, was broken into by a man who raped and violently attacked her roommate with a hammer, leaving her for dead.

It was 1992 and Ms Zabel, now 50, was living in a three-storey home with five of her Chi Omega sorority sisters at the University of Buffalo.

One night in September  in the excitement of the fall semester  the roommates had gone to a party at the Sigma Chi fraternity nearby.

The victim was first to head home in the early hours of the morning.

When Ms Zabel arrived home some time later, the door was locked and she couldnt get hold of her roommate to let her into the house.

In typically comic student fashion, she clambered carefree through the bathroom window.

Once inside, she noticed that it smelled weird. She called out to her roommate, but after hearing heavy breathing coming from her bedroom she left her alone  simply assuming that her roommate and roommates boyfriend were inside.

I was drunk and didnt understand why it smelled weird and I just kind of crashed in my room, she says.

Alanna Zabel is speaking out after surviving a similar experience in 1992 (Alanna Zabel)

It was beyond all comprehension that her friend was being brutally attacked at that very moment.

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Her friend thankfully survived the attack but only just, with doctors saying she was just minutes from death. She spent months in a coma and her recovery was long.

Four years later, a serial rapist, whose name Ms Zabel does not want to repeat to protect her former housemate, was convicted of rape and attempted murder.

Though years apart, the horrific 1992 attack shares chilling similarities with the slayings of the four students in Idaho today.

When news first broke about the November murders, it hit close to home for Ms Zabel.

It was really hard at first seeing this story pop up. I love true crime and always try to figure out what happened, she tells The Independent from her home Santa Monica, California.

But people would send me this story in the beginning and it hit home too much. I didnt want to open the link and when I did I was like wow.

Ms Zabel says that she and her sorority sisters from their 1992 house all messaged each other about the case.

It brought back a lot. The similarities were chilling, she says.

In both cases, a three-storey house was known as home to a group of sorority sisters enjoying college life.

The night of the attack was just a typical night out drinking with fellow students (Kernodle and Chapin had also spent their last night at a Sigma Chi party).

Both times, several hours passed between the attacks and the alarm being raised.

And the 911 calls both alerted police to an unconscious individual  only for officials to arrive to discover a violent, bloody scene.

Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, took this photo together hours before they died (Instagram/Kaylee Goncalves)

But, perhaps the most harrowing similarity is in the experiences of Ms Zabel and Dylan Mortensen  one of the two roommates who survived the Idaho attack.

When the affidavit for suspected Idaho killer Bryan Kohberger was released earlier this month, it revealed for the first time that Ms Mortensen came face to face with a masked man inside the student home moments after her four friends were slaughtered.

At the time of the attack, the 19-year-old was in her bedroom on the second floor  the same floor where Kernodle and Chapin were killed.

She told investigators that she had been woken at around 4am by what sounded like Goncalves playing with her dog on the third floor. A short time later, she heard a womans voice saying theres someone here before a man said shortly after its ok, Im going to help you.

Opening her door three times to see what was going on, on the last time she saw a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the persons mouth and nose walking towards her.

As she stood in a frozen shock phase, the man walked past her and out of the back sliding glass door of the home, the affidavit reveals. The 19-year-old then locked herself in her room, with no 911 call placed for a further eight hours.

Since the release of the affidavit, Ms Mortensen has faced pointed questions as to why she did not call police as soon as she saw an unidentified masked man inside her home. Some online critics have even gone as far as to baselessly accuse the student of being involved in her friends murders.

But, much like the 19-year-old student today, Ms Zabel explains she also had a delayed response to the traumatic experience in her student home  as well as a terrifying close call with the attacker.

When she got home that night in September 1992, she went to bed none the wiser as to what had taken place mere feet away from her.

Some time later, she says she heard someone come into her room before they quickly left and she heard the front door close.

At the time, Ms Zabel simply assumed it was one of her roommates. It was only later that she learned that it was the attacker.

The home on King Road, Moscow, where four students were killed in November (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The next morning, she discovered her sorority sister in a pool of blood.

Except even then, she explains that she didnt even realise it was blood.

I had really unique experience as I found my housemate and I didnt see the blood, she says.

I just saw liquid. My friend was taking her pulse and I thought that she had choked on her own vomit. Right away I said it was vomit.

Then when the paramedics arrived, they stepped into the room and said the word blood.

And in that millisecond the entire room was red.

Ms Zabel says she has since learned that her mind leaped into a defence mechanism to help her deal with the trauma of what she was seeing and experiencing.

Its a way of dealing with trauma that she says  decades on  she still cant fully put into words.

Its still a phenomenon to me that, in our experiences as humans, we can see the same light and colour or if I see a dog on the street, you will also see that dog on the street, she says.

But then when we are in a state of trauma, the mind will protect us. If we cant experience something without damage, the mind will block it out.

She adds: That blows my mind to this day and humbles me.

While something still somewhat incomprehensible, her own vivid recollection of how her mind responded to the trauma that day gives her a clear understanding of Ms Mortensens reaction to that violent night in November.

You feel a tsunami of chaos and horror so I can understand why she froze and why you dont know what to do, says Ms Zabel.

You second check yourself. If theres even a one percent chance that something trauamatic isnt true then you lean in and believe its not true.

She also knows only too well the guilt that the 19-year-old may feel for not calling 911 earlier as she has spent a long time wondering if things could have been different.

In my situation, my housemate survived but with a lot of brain damage, she says.

I carry the guilt wondering if I had called earlier would she have had as much damage.

Ms Zabel says that she didnt want to rehash what she went through back in 1992, but she felt a responsibility to speak out in defence of Ms Mortensen  who she sees her younger self in.

I understand the anguish when you read the affidavit. I also thought oh god, you saw him. But you have to look beyond that as a human and see that this 19-year-old girl has experienced something atypical, horrific and traumatic, she says.

So to accuse her without evidence and diminish her experience and assume she should have done something different when youve never experienced anything similar is unacceptable.

She adds: It changed all our lives very quickly and its something you cant ever change or take away and it will always be with you. Thats the reason I wanted to stand up for Dylan as she is being chastised online by so many people.

She urges the critics to stand down, emphasising that without having gone through a similar experience they cant possibly understand the way trauma can take hold.

Alanna Zabel reveals how her mind leaped into a defence mechanism to help her deal with the trauma (Alanna Zabel)

You have to change your perception and perspective and you have to moderate how you speak on this. She will look and live with this for the rest of her life and just one comment has the ability to crush someones spirit, she says.

Instead of facing a barrage of suspicion and criticism, Ms Zabel says Ms Mortensen and the second surviving roommate Bethany Funke both need support in dealing with the trauma they have endured.

I am 100 per cent in support of them. They have a long road ahead and Im sure they will find their way, she says.

Back in 1992, she says that she and her roommates didnt get any offers of counselling from their college. But social media also wasnt around, she adds.

No one got counseling so I packed it all away in a file and moved on in my life but the file and the pain and the fear was still there, she says.

As well of the guilt over her reaction to her own experience, she has also struggled to come to terms with the knowledge of just how close she came to the attacker.

The attacker was standing over my bed as I slept. I didnt sleep for about a year after that because as soon as l closed my eyes I felt someone chasing me, she says.

Every single time I think of it Im on the verge of tears. It never leaves you.

She adds: I wish I had done more work to process it all back then so I hope they get the support and are able to process every aspect and feeling of this experience.

From one survivor to another, she has a poignant message for the two roommates who lived through the attack: Make sure you know youre not responsible in any way, celebrate the lives of your friends and honour them in the way that you live your lives.
Studiocanal has launched a legal battle against producer-distributor Wild Bunch and sales agent Wild Bunch International over a deal they struck with Netflix for Studio Ghibli streaming rights.

Studiocanal alleges Wild Bunch Internationals license of the Ghibli catalogue to Netflix in 2019 breached an agreement between Studiocanal and Wild Bunch relating to VOD rights.

More from Variety

At the time of the Netflix deal, Wild Bunch International was a subsidiary of Wild Bunch, having been spun out of its international sales department into a standalone company. It is now a separate company.

Neither Netflix nor Studio Ghibli are parties to the lawsuit.

Netflix announced in Jan. 2020 it had secured worldwide streaming rights (excluding U.S., Canada and Japan) to 21 Studio Ghibli films including My Neighbor Totoro (pictured above). The deal was considered a huge coup at the time given the Japanese animation companys reluctance to release its films on digital platforms.

In a press release, Netflix credited its distribution partner Wild Bunch International for brokering the deal.

However, in court documents seen by Variety, Studiocanal alleges the Netflix deal breached its own agreement with Wild Bunch relating to the license of 15 Studio Ghibli movies throughout the U.K. and Ireland, which was signed in 2015 and renewed in 2017 for a term of four years.

Studiocanal says its agreement with Wild Bunch included exclusive non-internet VOD rights, and the Netflix deal caused Studiocanal to suffer loss and damage via diminished sales as well as the inability to secure Studio Ghibli internet streaming rights for itself.

Studiocanal has not specified the amount of money it believes it has lost due to the competing Netflix deal and is instead asking for a sum to be determined by the court.

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However, in their strongly-worded defense filings, Wild Bunch and Wild Bunch International point out that non-internet VOD rights effectively dont exist in the U.K. or Ireland given there arent any streaming services that dont use the internet and its therefore unclear what rights Studiocanal are saying have been infringed.

They add that Studio Ghibli were never interested in licensing the streaming rights to their films piecemeal, territory by territory, and had only ever assigned them to Wild Bunch International with a view to doing a near-worldwide deal with Netflix.

The defense documents also say that, if anything, the Netflix deal raised the profile and interest in the Ghibli films, which would have had a positive knock-on effect on Studiocanals receipts and that Studiocanals failure to quantify the sum it is claiming in its lawsuit is an abuse of process.

Wild Bunch have also launched a 1.3 million (approximately $1.5 million) counter-suit against Studiocanal over its accounting of the Ghibli films receipts. The distributor says Studiocanal has wrongly been recouping distribution expenses against all forms of distribution rather than specifically theatrical distribution as set out in the contract.

Wild Bunch claims in its counter-suit that Studiocanals royalty statements misleadingly set out these expenses under the heading Theatrical Revenue despite the fact they have also been applied to non-theatrical distribution methods including video and television.

Wild Bunch says the wrongful deductions amount to a breach of its contract with Studiocanal and have resulted in loss and damage to the distributor.

Studiocanal have yet to file a response to the claims.

Wild Bunch, Wild Bunch International and Studiocanal did not respond to Varietys requests for comment.

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By Alexander Ratz

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on Monday for the establishment of a special international tribunal to prosecute Russian leaders over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

What is needed is "a tribunal that can investigate the Russian leadership and put them on trial", said Baerbock in a keynote speech at the Academy of International Law in The Hague, where the International Criminal Court is based.

The Ukrainian government is understandably concerned that Russia cannot be prosecuted for its aggression before the ICC, she said, as it can deal only with cases in which the plaintiff and the defendant are members of the court, or a case is referred by the U.N. Security Council.

Russia is not a member of the ICC, and, as one of the five world power who are veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, would probably block any referral to the ICC.

"We talked about working with Ukraine and our partners on the idea of setting up a special tribunal for crimes of aggression against Ukraine," said Baerbock, adding that such a body could derive its jurisdiction from Ukrainian criminal law.

It could be supplemented with international elements - "at a location outside Ukraine, with financial support from partners and with international prosecutors and judges, so that impartiality and legitimacy are guaranteed", she said.

Ukraine, the European Union and the Netherlands have publicly backed the idea of a special tribunal. Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation", has denied accusations of war crimes including deliberate targeting of Ukrainian civilians, thousands of whom have been killed.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, however, has warned of the potential for legal fragmentation and said his court was in fact best placed for trials involving crimes of aggression, as member states could fix "gaps that are said to exist".

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During a news conference later in the day, Baerbock addressed Ukrainian reports of children being deported to Russia and given up for adoption there.

"Russia must account for the whereabouts of these children," the minister said, while her Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra said the children must be brought home and Russia's practise of deporting them ended.

(Reporting by Alexander Ratz, writing by Miranda Murray, Matthias Williams and Sarah Marsh, editing by Mark Heinrich)
By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) - The husband of a Massachusetts woman who has been missing since New Year's Day was charged on Tuesday with her murder after authorities earlier said they had found a knife and blood in the basement of their home, a prosecutor said on Tuesday.

Brian Walshe, 47, was already being held on $500,000 bail after being arrested on Jan. 8 on a charge of misleading a police investigation into the disappearance of Ana Walshe in a case that has garnered national headlines.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said a murder warrant has now been issued against Brian Walshe in the death of Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old mother of three who has been missing from Cohasset since about Jan. 1.

Walshe will be arraigned Wednesday in Quincy District Court. An assistant for his lawyer, Tracy Miner, declined to comment on the charge, saying her "focus is on defending Mr. Walshe in court."

Ana Walshe, who worked in real estate company Tishman Speyer's Washington office, was reported missing on Jan. 4 by her employer and husband.

At the time, Brian Walshe was on house arrest awaiting sentencing in Boston federal court after admitting in 2021 he sold forgeries of Andy Warhol art based on paintings he had taken from a former college classmate and never returned.

Brian Walshe initially said she had taken a ride-hailing service to the airport for a flight to Washington for work, authorities have said.

But during a Jan. 9 court hearing, Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Lynn Beland said authorities found no evidence she actually took such a ride and that a plane ticket for Jan. 3 went unused.

Beland said investigators later discovered that Brian Walshe on Jan. 2 bought $450 of cleaning supplies at a Home Depot. When police obtained a warrant to search his home, they found blood in the basement and a bloody knife, she said.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Mexico now bans smoking in hotels, beaches, parks and all other public spaces  one of the worlds strictest laws of its kind.

The General Law for Tobacco Control reform, which took effect on Sunday, also prohibits businesses from promoting, advertising or sponsoring tobacco products, including putting them on display for sale. The law expands a 2008 ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and workplaces. Similar restrictions will fall on e-cigarettes and vaping.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus applauded the policy.

Bravo Mexico! he said on Twitter. WHO welcomes such a bold move on tobacco control. We call on all countries to strengthen No Tobacco policies and help us prevent 8 million deaths every year!

An estimated 142 million people use tobacco products in the Americas. Of those, 122 million are smokers, with 1 million dying per year  one death every 34 seconds, a WHO website notes.

In Mexico, 10% of deaths  63,000 per year  are attributable to use of tobacco and exposure to its smoke, according to the WHOs Pan American Health Organization.

This amendment represents a historic step forward for Mexico in its anti-smoking policies and reaffirms its role as one of the leaders in the fight against tobacco in the world, Dr. Cristian Morales Fuhrimann, PAHOs representative in Mexico, said in a statement when the law was passed last month.

Ireland, Greece, Hungary and Malta have similarly strict restrictions in place.

Not everyone in Mexico was happy. Some called the law draconian, given that it basically relegates smoking to private homes, while others questioned whether it would be enforceable at all.
An escaped New Mexico inmate believed to be involved in a rash of burglaries in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico has been captured, the Plainview Police Department announced Monday.

Plainview police believe the man is responsible for a string of commercial burglaries in Plainview, Levelland, Brownfield, Snyder and Big Spring from March to October 2022. Police say the suspect allegedly broke into a number of Plainview businesses, including Legacy Farms, Leal's Restaurant, Panhandle Popcorn and Bill Wells Chevrolet twice.

The suspect apparently pried open doors and broke windows to gain entry into the businesses, damaging and stealing property, police said at the time.

Plainview police say this man is suspected in a series of burglaries around the area in spring and summer 2022.

Plainview police were able to recover DNA from a burglarized car dealership and sent the sample to the Texas Department of Public Safety crime lab. DPS notified PPD of a DNA match to an inmate at the New Mexico Department of Corrections, the department said.

The man had reportedly been convicted for similar burglaries in the Hobbs, New Mexico area he committed in 2018 and was sentenced to several years in NMDC. While serving the sentence, the man reportedly escaped, and police believe he committed the burglaries in Plainview and the surrounding areas while he was at large.

Though police have not yet released the name of the suspect, PPD said the man was apprehended in Oklahoma and is currently back in the custody of the New Mexico Department of Corrections in Santa Fe. A spokesperson for the department said the investigation is ongoing and the name of the suspect will be released once charges have been filed.

The Plainview Police Department is asking any law enforcement agencies who have seen similar burglaries in their jurisdiction to contact Lieutenant Cody Ward at (806) 296-1196 or Detective Jesse Ortiz at (806) 296-1192.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Plainview police say escaped N.M. inmate suspected in burglaries captured
Qatar Investment Authority CEO Mansoor Al-Mahmoud endorsed Elon Musk's leadership of Twitter. Business Wire, Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images

Qatar Investment Authority's CEO told Bloomberg TV it hasn't asked Elon Musk to tweet less.

QIA's CEO said the fund trusts Musk's leadership to turn the company around.

The sovereign wealth fund pumped $375 million into Musk's $44 billion Twitter acquisition.

The head of the Qatari sovereign wealth fund  which pumped $375 million into Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter  said it hasn't asked the social media company's new CEO to tweet less.

"Have you asked him to tweet less in the last eight months? There was so much volatility. Do you get involved in those calls?" Bloomberg TV's Francine Lacqua asked Mansoor Al Mahmoud, the CEO of Qatar Investment Authority, or QIA, in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"Not really, I mean we do not really involved to that extent in term of, again, he has our trust and we are sure that he would manage it very professionally," Al Mahmoud responded, indicating the fund isn't involved in Twitter's day-to-day operations.

"We engage with the management, with Elon in terms of the plan that he has for the company, and we believe in this, and we trust his leadership in terms of turning around the company," he further said.

Al Mahmoud told Insider in a separate statement on Wednesday that QIA is among a consortium of financial investors in Twitter, and that it places "very much trust in the leadership" of the social media company.

Since acquiring Twitter for $44 billion in late October, Musk has instituted sweeping changes at the company, including mass layoffs  which he said was necessary as the company was losing $4 million a day  and reinstating the account of former President Donald Trump after taking a poll.

Musk has also been commenting more about political issues since acquiring the platform, adding to controversies surrounding the company which have spilled over to Tesla, where Musk is also the CEO.

The Qatar Investment Fund is one of a group of high-profile investors who have provided funding for Musk's Twitter deal. The list also including Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Binance, according to a regulatory filing.

Story continues

In December, Musk was seen at the Football World Cup final in Qatar with Al-Mahmoud, just hours before the Twitter CEO tweeted a poll asking if he should step down as head of the social media platform. This fueled speculation over whether Musk had met and discussed his leadership of Twitter with investors from Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Musk's business deals with foreign countries have raised questions over national security risks. In November, President Joe Biden said at a White House press conference that Musk's business ties with foreign nations were "worthy of being looked at." White House officials had earlier denied reports that it was planning a security review of Musk's deals, including the purchase of Twitter.

Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Like an increasing number of Bozeman residents, Belinda and Steven Ankney live out of a vehicle.

The couple of 13 years has been living in a trailer parked in a series of spots around Bozeman for two and a half years and has been working to get into a more permanent home that entire time.

I always tell myself this paycheck will be the one, Belinda Ankney said through tears. Its never the one.

Their vehicle doesnt provide everything they need. Frigid temperatures can make life dangerous, and they worry about their vehicle being towed as the number of cars and trailers functioning as homes grows in Bozeman and overtakes some streets.

And people can be cruel to those living on the street. The couple has had their trailer egged and its windows broken. As they stood in the snow and cold speaking to a reporter recently, the windows of their neighbors car had also been smashed.

When Steven ventures out to ask strangers for money, he said, he is often harassed.

We all work. We all try to survive, and I dont deserve to be called names because Im asking for help, he said. Belinda works as a housekeeper at a local hotel. Steven works at a car parts store.

Living out of a trailer or a car in the winter isnt cheap. Many people rely on generators, which can use large amounts of gas, to stay warm.

Its expensive being homeless, Steven said.

Whats more, the couple has three kids, ages 12, 14 and 16.

One potential solution is the Warming Center, a facility run by the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) and Bozemans only emergency homeless shelter.

But when the Ankneys stopped by the center for showers recently, they said, they saw a guest smoking what they thought was methamphetamine in a bathroom stall. As recovering addicts, they sympathized with the person but said it was tough for us to be around that.

It makes it tougher on people trying to stay sober, Steven said.

The Ankneys plight  on the street and in the Warming Center  reveals much of what has made life so hard for the homeless and urban campers of Bozeman, and highlights that homelessness is among the most difficult problems facing the city as its population balloons.

According to Montanas Continuum of Care Coalition and a nonprofit organization called Pathways MISI, the rate of homelessness in Bozeman increased by 35% from 2019 to 2021, and the number of people seeking out the Warming Center increased by 47%.

Recent numbers are even more drastic: In December of 2021, an average of 43 people a night utilized the Warming Center. In November 2022 the average was 77, according to Penny Johnson, communications manager for the HRDC. Thats a 79% increase.

That trend is in part connected to Bozemans lack of affordable housing. According to Zillow, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Bozeman is currently $2,049, and the citys rental vacancy rate is consistently under 2%. With the median price of a single-family home in Bozeman hovering near $900,000, the idea of buying a house is an unattainable pipedream for many.

Jasper, who fears backlash and asked that his real name not be used for this story, lives out of his RV in an urban encampment on Flora Lane, just west of Murdochs Ranch and Home Supply on North Seventh Avenue. Its a tough way to live, he said.

The attitude against us  thats the problem with Bozeman, said Jasper, who said he has been homeless or lived in a vehicle in several cities. People tell me, Go get a job. Im working 60 hours a week.

Jaspers friend, Eric Gritzinger Sr., said his belongings were set on fire while he was staying in Lindley Park on the citys east side. He believes the culprit was someone harassing the homeless community.

Nick Acker, who worked at the Warming Center for five years and has lived in Bozeman since 2009, said theres a gaping discrepancy between what Bozeman says it is and what it actually is.

Its lauded as this idyllic mountain college town, Acker said. Thats far from the reality.

The removal of homeless people from various Bozeman parks and recreation areas started last summer after the Warming Center expanded its availability to 365 days a year. With a shelter open all year and beds available, the city can now force homeless people to leave public spaces. That authority follows a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit homeless people filed against the city of Boise, Idaho.

Bozeman police and the city attorney appear to be interpreting the decision at face value.

As long as theres a shelter space we can remove them from the park, Bozeman Police Capt. Joseph Swanson told Montana Free Press.

Over the course of the summer, the city conducted three sweeps of encampments  one at Bozeman Pond and one at the East Gallatin Recreation Area, followed by another at the recreation area later in the summer. City parks were also checked weekly following the first sweep by a community resource officer and a member of HRDC, said Bozeman Assistant City Attorney Anna Saverud. Homeless people were warned that if they didnt leave within a few days, authorities would remove their belongings, Saverud and Swanson said.

Gritzinger did not comply in time and said his Lindley Park campsite and belongings were put in a dumpster. (Saverud said everyones belongings are stored in a downtown facility.)

Those sweeps changed Bozemans homeless landscape.

Before a couple months ago it seemed like everyone was piled everywhere in the parks, Gritzinger said.

As Bozemans housing crisis grows, it appears to be manifesting as people living out of their vehicles, rows and rows of cars and RVs parked along numerous city streets.

Theres more vans on the streets than ever before, Acker said.

Limited options

One of the few alternatives to the street is the Warming Center.

The Warming Center is open from 7 p.m. to 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., with Friday and Saturday being overnight-only. But in a couple months, these hours could look different, depending on funding.

Last year was the first year the center was open through the summer, which cost nearly an additional $242,000. Gallatin County contributed $50,000, and $75,000 came from the COVID-19 CARES Act. The rest is from the citys community housing fund.

But fundraising is constant for the center. The city has pledged money for the 2023 summer, but not enough to keep it open the whole season, said Brian Guyer, director of housing for HRDC. HRDC is still working on securing donations to keep the facility open through this winter, he added.

Bozemans former Warming Center on Industrial Drive, which operated from 2012 to 2020, held only 40 guests. The current one, housed in an old roller skating rink at 2015 Wheat Dr., can hold about 100 guests and 120 in a pinch, Guyer said. During the winter, the center will house 80 to 90 guests  who are never charged for their stay  on a normal night.

The center typically has one staff person working for every 50 guests. At night, during the intense part of the shift, there will be three to four staffers on duty, Guyer said.

But those ratios often dont keep altercations and arguments from boiling over, multiple guests of the center told MTFP.

The whole week theres been nonstop fights, Ame Michel-Barbeier said in late October, around the time temperatures started to drop and Bozeman saw its first dump of snow. Im not getting much sleep.

Nearly every homeless person or urban camper interviewed told MTFP that the center is the scene of frequent verbal and physical fights, but most acknowledged that its the only shelter available to them.

People are getting beat to shit in the Warming Center, said Dawn Campbell, who works at a Super 8 hotel, has been homeless for 14 years and has witnessed a number of fights. But I think that the Warming Center really helps people out.

Guyer denied those characterizations.

Behavior maintenance isnt a huge issue for us, he said. Calling this chaotic would be a gross misrepresentation of whats happening here.

Some of the incidents are par for the course at homeless shelters, especially as an emergency shelter that doesnt require guests to be sober in a county with large gaps in mental health services, Guyer said.

All of this adds up to situations that may seem chaotic, but our staff is trained in crisis de-escalation and addressing tensions before a crisis occurs, Guyer added in an email. Unfortunately, there are times when we have to ask someone to leave due to their behavior and inability to follow our behavior agreement, which is reviewed and signed by every guest.

During Ackers time at the shelter from 2014 to 2019, he said, he saw both aggressive and violent behavior.

If someone says they feel unsafe, thats the reality, Acker said. We could have a perfectly peaceful shelter, and, if a quarter of the people say they feel unsafe, you cant ignore that.

That said, many of the homeless people using the shelter believe that the center staff are doing the best they can.

Im just happy to have a place to sleep, said 43-year-old Nick Faulkner, who came to Bozeman last spring and has stayed at the center almost every night since. [Staff] can only do so much.

Calls to police

From Jan. 3, 2021, to Oct. 9, 2022, there were 842 calls to 911 from the center  more than one a day, according to city call logs reviewed by MTFP.

Weve seen an increase in calls over there because weve seen an increase of people utilizing the center, Police Capt. Swanson said.

Not all of the calls, however, were for violence or arguments. Many were for medical issues. But because of how the calls are logged, its difficult to glean what happened in each incident, Swanson said.

What can be known is that during that same time, there were 64 calls to the centers address related to incidents including sexual crimes, assault, possession of weapons, criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct that were substantial enough for city police to open a case.

You take addiction issues, you take mental health issues, take the stress of living on the streets  and you have a very tense environment, Acker said. Im not saying that excuses certain behavior.

Numerous other calls were reported but often resulted in warnings with no formal case being filed, according to city records.

The cops ought to just park their cars here, said Christie Banderob, a long-time Warming Center guest who now lives in a tiny home village next to the center. Same thing with the ambulance.

Supposed to be safe zone

Some issues from the Warming Center also spill over into the HRDC-run tiny homes  150-to-300-square-foot homes with a kitchenette and a bathroom where tenants are required to pay 30% of their income toward rent  directly next to the center, Banderob said.

After decades of homelessness, Banderob finally got a roof over her head when she was placed in one of the HRDC-controlled homes. But the relief didnt last long for the 59-year-old disabled single woman.

Banderob was falling asleep in her home in late October when a man started banging on her door. When Banderob cracked the door to see what the commotion was about, he pushed his way in and choked, beat and sexually assaulted her, according to charging documents filed against the accused assailant and what Banderob told MTFP.

It only stopped when Banderob managed to get her foot in the cracked door and open it enough to yell for help, she said. The police came and arrested the man, but she had already suffered a broken finger, four broken ribs, and a forehead gash that required six stitches. The assailant, Banderob told MTFP, smeared butter and sprayed Lysol in her hair.

When officers entered her home, they found butter all over the kitchen floor, blood in the entryway  which remains on her carpet today  and Banderob sitting on her bed, struggling to breathe with blood on her head and face, according to charging documents.

From her hospital bed on the night of the incident, Banderob told officers she thought the man was going to kill her.

This was supposed to be my safe zone. Im 100 pounds soaking wet, she told MTFP.

Banderob said she no longer feels safe in her home and believes the incident was preventable because, according to the affidavit, the assailant was loudly going from door to door before he reached her.

I like having a roof over my head, but all of the time I was homeless I never had any of this shit happen, she said.

The accused assailant, William Perez, has been charged with two felony counts of aggravated burglary and pleaded not guilty. He is being held in the Gallatin County jail on $100,000 bail.

HRDCs Guyer told MTFP that following the assault additional cameras were installed by the tiny homes and patrols by center staff were increased.

Guyer also said that at community meetings an increased police presence at the village has been brought up, but its something that residents have rebuffed. Banderob, however, said shes been asking for more security for months.

Guyer added that security issues are to be expected.

This is absolutely part and parcel with offering up this kind of housing approach, he said. Youre going to have security issues.

The housing approach Guyer referenced is a housing first model that aims to alleviate chronic homelessness and is based on the idea that once people have stable housing they can then obtain mental health and addiction services.

Now, Banderob is talking about finding somewhere new to live because she struggles to stay in the space where she was brutally assaulted.

I dont want to live here anymore, she said. Theres fights all the time. They cant control it.

There are plans for a new Warming Center on Griffin Drive, which Guyer says will mitigate some of the issues that exist at the current facility.

The new center will have more space, family rooms for people with children, and walls  as opposed to curtains  to separate the men and the women.

Construction of the new shelter will not start until HRDC hits its fundraising goal of $15 million, said Johnson, the agencys communications manager. So far, HRDC has raised roughly $11.5 million in two years, Johnson added in mid-November. HRDC had a goal of opening the new center by the end of 2023, but its unclear if that will pan out.

The Griffin Drive location will also include the Fork and Spoon (a pay-what-you-can restaurant) and other services offered by HRDC.

Bozeman is also home to Family Promise, a nonprofit that, according to its website, can shelter up to about 18 families at a time at various locations, but requires guests to keep a job or be in school and has a zero tolerance for alcohol and drugs, among other requirements that make it inaccessible for some homeless people or urban campers.

Following large donations, Family Promises annual budget increased from roughly $400,000 to $2.2 million from 2019 to 2022, said Christel Chvilicek, executive director of the local organization. That cash spurred a 600% increase in families served, uncovering a large swath of Bozemans homeless population that wasnt being helped. Still, the facility has an average of 30 families on the waiting list at all times, Chvilicek estimated.

In addition, seven more tiny homes are under construction in the village behind the current Warming Center, an expansion that makes Banderob more nervous about living in the community.

This place is a disaster, she said. But I dont want this place taken away from anybody. We need it.

Where else is anybody gonna go?
Disgraced reality TV star Julie Chrisley will serve her prison time in Lexington, Kentucky, following her conviction in a federal tax-evasion case.

Julie Chrisley, 50, was scheduled to self-report to the Federal Medical Center in Lexington by noon Tuesday, according to records filed in the Northern District of Georgia. FMC Lexington is an administrative security federal medical center with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp," the prison's website says.

She was originally slated to serve her time in the federal prison camp in Marianna about two and a half hours away from Pensacola, where her husband, Todd Chrisley, 54, begun serving his 12-year sentence Tuesday afternoon, court records say. It is not clear why she was instead rerouted to the Kentucky facility.

Back story:Reality TV couple, Todd and Julie Chrisley, to report to Florida prisons next week

Previous reporting:Federal judge recommends reality TV couple, Todd and Julie Chrisley, serve prison time in Florida

"Cushy" Florida prison:Pensacola Federal Prison Camp, home of Todd Chrisley, deemed 2nd cushiest U.S. prison. What we know.

The "Chrisley Knows Best" stars, who portrayed themselves as real estate tycoons, were found guilty in June of tax evasion and defrauding community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans, which funded their luxurious lifestyle. Julie Chrisley was additionally convicted of obstruction of justice and wire fraud.

The Chrisleys spent millions on designer brand clothes, luxury cars and real estate, including two mansions in Nashville, Tennessee, reportedly worth about $9 million.

They are appealing their conviction.

Notorious inmate in Tallahassee:Ghislaine Maxwell teaches 'etiquette' class in Tallahassee prison, reports say

From Russia with love: Maria Butina, Russian woman who admitted being secret agent, released from Tallahassee prison

Contact Christopher Cann at ccann@tallahassee.com and follow @ChrisCannFL on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Julie Chrisley serves prison time in Lexington, Ky. instead of Florida
A Ukrainian soldier stands guard in a trench in Kherson, which is close to Crimea

A Ukrainian soldier stands guard in a trench in Kherson, which is close to Crimea

A former commander of US Army Europe has suggested that Ukraine will retake the Crimean peninsula from Russia within the next year.

Crimea is the large area off the southern coast of Ukraine which Moscow seized in 2014, giving Russia access to its European neighbour via by the south and the east.

Although Russia did not officially invade the rest of Ukraine until February 2022, for many, the annexation of Crimea is now perceived as the start of the war.

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges also told TalkTV that Crimea could end up being the decisive piece of the puzzle to help Ukraine win.

Kyiv has long emphasised its plan to retake all of the Ukrainian land Russia has claimed for itself but without the timeframe Hodges suggested.

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Russian invasion of Ukraine

He explained: Theyre [the Russian Forces] able to launch missiles with impunity from Crimea as well as from inside Russia.

He compared this with the artillery the West has given Ukraine so far, claiming: We have in effect created sanctuary by limiting what we give to Ukraine to a range of about 90km.

The West has been reluctant to offer up long-range missiles out of fear that it could provoke Russia and widen the conflit.

TalkTV host Julia Hartley-Brewer then asked: So for you, this is about Crimea? This is no longer about the Donbas region, thats a given that the Ukrainians need to retake that land, and, you think, at some point, will retake that land, maybe this year?

The Donbas region is the eastern Ukrainian area where much of the fighting has taken place in recent months.

Hodges said that he did think Crimea could be under Ukrainian control within a year, adding: Look, as long as Russia sits on Crimea, Ukraine will never be safe.

He pointed out that Crimea was a strategic strongpoint for Russia.

He said:It will use Crimea, as it has done, as a launching pad for the next round of aggression once they wait for us [the West] to lose interest in the region.

Story continues

So, theyll never be safe as long as Russia sits there.

And also it will be impossible for Ukraine to rebuild its economy, as long as Russia sits there and is able to block or disrupt access in and out of Odessa, and of course, the sea of Azov, the two big ports, Mariupol and Berdyansk.

There has been an ongoing dispute over grain exports leaving Ukraine since the war began, with Russia blocking ships as they attempt to exit.

Ukraine will never regain economic viability as long as Russia sits in Crimea  its got to be the main effort, Hodges said.

He also explained this is why the West needs to provide Ukraine with long-range precision weapons, to strike into the heart of Russia. This would supposedly rebalance the advantage Moscow currently has with Crimea.

Most of the war has taken place on Ukrainian soil, with Ukraine acting in self-defence to push Russia out.

In recent months though, Kyiv has shifted its stance and sent the odd drone deep into Russian land, targeting air bases.

Another strike, launched on New Years Eve, hit the Russian-held town of Makiivka, part of one of the Ukrainian regions Moscow illegally annexed back in September.

This attack even led Moscow to admit that 89 of its soldiers were killed, although Kyiv said it killed or wounded as many as 400 Russian troops in the same strike.

Lt Gen. Ben Hodges, former US Army commander, predicts Ukraine will retake Crimea by the end of the year.



"Ukraine will never regain economic viability as long as Russia sits in Crimea - it's got to be the main effort."@JuliaHB1 | @general_benpic.twitter.com/QEIIRJJvi7  TalkTV (@TalkTV) January 16, 2023

The Kerch Bridge, which connects Russia to Crimea, was struck back in October, in an attack president Vladimir Putin dubbed a terrorist act by Ukraine at the time.

Random explosions did also erupt in Crimea back in August, the first known attacks in the Russian-controlled land.

At the time, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy also revealed in his address that Ukraine still planned to retake the peninsula  although he stopped short of taking responsibility for that particular attack.

This Russian war against Ukraine and against all of free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea  its liberation, he said.

Related...
STORY: Lazar, 49, was arrested in Bucharest in December and was handed to Romania's border police on Monday (January 16).

He faces charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, and complicity in attempted murder, according to police.

He was met on Monday by U.S. Marshals with face coverings as he was led to a plane, according to a Reuters witness.
Traces of blood and a knife were found in the basement of missing Massachusetts woman Ana Walshe (Cohasset police)

Massachusetts mother of three Ana Walshe was supposed to have commuted back to Washington DC on New Years Day where she works for a high-end real estate company.

But police say that there is no evidence she ever took a ride-share to Bostons Logan Airport as planned and she has not been seen since the early hours of 1 January.

When her husband and bosses reported her missing on 4 January, a police search was launched in and around the familys property in Cohasset, Massachusetts, as well as their home in Washingtons Chevy Chase neighbourhood.

Her husband, convicted art fraudster Brian Walshe, was arrested on 8 January on charges for hindering the police investigation after prosecutors say that traces of blood and a knife were found in the basement of her family home.

It later emerged that Mr Walshe searched the internet for how to dispose of a 115-pound womans body, two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation told CNN, and bought $450 of items that included cleaning supplies, mops and tape from a nearby Home Depot store on 2 January.

The case took an even darker turn after Mr Walshes arrest as investigators began searching a trash transfer station - and reportedly recovered blood, a hatchet and a hacksaw.

And on 17 January he was charged with her murder.

Heres what we know about the case so far:

Who is Ana Walshe?

Ana Walshe, 39, is a mother of three who is married to Brian Walshe. She has a home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, but works in real estate in Washington DC during the week.

Ms Walshe was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and was working at the Wheatleigh Hotel in Lenox when she met Mr Walshe in 2008. After their 2015 marriage, they had three sons between two and six years old.

The couples three young boys were placed in the care of the Department of Children and Families following Mr Walshes arrest.

Search gets underway in Massachusetts

Police in Cohasset first announced that Ana Walshe was missing in a statement on Thursday 5 January and asked for the publics help in finding her.

Story continues

Authorities say that she was last seen at her home shortly after midnight on New Years Day, and describe her as being 5 feet 2 inches tall, 115 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes and an olive complexion. They state that she speaks with an eastern European accent.

Investigators say that she had been due to take a ride-share car from her home to Bostons Logan Airport to take a flight to Washington DC, where she works in real estate. Her husband and her employer, Tishman Speyer, both reported her missing on Wednesday.

Her husband was said to be cooperating with law enforcement on Friday 6 January.

Police search woodland near the family home

The search for Ana Walshe continued in wooded areas near the familys home over the weekend.

Officials say that 20 troopers from a specialised search and rescue were joined by three police K9 teams and a police helicopter in the search. State police divers also searched a small stream and drained the homes swimming pool.

Massachusetts State Police and Cohasset police said on Saturday 8 January that their ground search will not resume unless police develop new information that so warrants it.

But officials say that they were still involved in various investigative actions to find Ana Walshe.

Husband arrested for allegedly hindering the investigation

On Sunday 9, Cohasset police announced that Ana Walshes husband, Brian Walshe, had been arrested for allegedly hindering the investigation.

According to the Norfolk County District Attorneys Office, Massachusetts State Police and Cohasset police investigating Ana Walshes disappearance developed probable cause to believe that her husband had committed the crime of misleading police investigators.

Prosecutors tell judge that blood and knife found in basement of family home

Brian Walshe, 46, appeared in Quincy District Court on Monday following his arrest.

Prosecutors told the judge that police had found blood and a damaged bloody knife in the basement of the family home.

Brian Walshe (NBC Boston)

They also claim that Brian Walshe allegedly bought $450 of items that included cleaning supplies, mops and tape from a nearby Home Depot store on 2 January.

A criminal affidavit in the case states that Mr Walshe told police that he last saw his wife at their home early on January 1 when she took an Uber or Lyft to the airport.

He also told authorities that he went to a Whole Foods and CVS in Swampscott, Massachusetts, 40-miles away, on 1 January and took his child to get ice cream the following day.

The affidavit states that police did not find that any Uber or Lift ride had taken place on New Years Day, and she never took a flight to DC or arrived in the city by any other means of transport.

Prosecutors also say they reviewed video footage of Whole Foods and CVS and did not see Mr Walshe at either location when he said he was there.

These various statements caused a delay in the investigation to the point that during the time frame when he didnt report his wife and gave various statements, that allowed him time to either clean up evidence, dispose of evidence, and causing a delay, prosecutor Lynn Beland said.

A not-guilty plea was entered for Mr Walshe and he was released on $500,000 bail. The next hearing in the case was due to take place on 9 February.

Trash transfer site searched

The same day of Mr Walshes arraignment, investigators were seen launching a search of a trash transfer site north of Boston.

The search allegedly yielded the discovery of blood, a hatchet, a hacksaw, a rug, and cleaning supplies in trash bags, according to WBZ-TV.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrisseys office released a statement about the search on Tuesday but would not confirm what had been found.

Search activity conducted north of Boston yesterday resulted in a number of items being collected which will now be subject to processing and testing to determine if they are of evidentiary value to this investigation. No detail on those items will be disclosed at this time, spokesperson David Traub said.

Brian Walshes history of art fraud

Brian Walshe, 46, pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in 2021 over allegations he took authentic Andy Warhol paintings from a friend in South Korea and used photographs and their documentation to sell fakes on eBay.

An FBI investigation was launched after a buyer agreed to purchase two paintings from Warhols Shadows series for $80,000 in 2016. After sending an assistant to collect the artwork, the paintings were found to have no authentication stamps and the canvas appeared to be new.

The owner of the paintings told agents that Brian Walshe had offered to sell the pictures for him, but after taking them with him he was then unable to contact the suspect.

Ana and Brian Walshe were married in Serbia in 2015 and have three children together (Facebook)

Ana Walshe asked for mothers help a week before disappearance

A week before her disappearance, Ms Walshe asked her mother to come visit her from Serbia. Milanka Ljubicic, 69, told Fox News Digital that she just said, Please, Mama. Come tomorrow.

Which means that clearly, there must have been some problems, she added. She told Fox that Ms Walshe asked on 25 December for her mother to come to the US the following day.

Ms Ljubicic suggested she come a bit later but her daughter said she didnt have to.

And now I cant forgive myself for not just letting things fall where they may, and just go, and whatever happens to me, happens, the mother said. She added that she missed two phone calls from Ms Walshe around midnight on New Years Eve. Shes also reported to have called her older sister and her maid of honour, both of whom also missed her calls.

And now, I regret not getting the phone, because shes disappeared, Ms Ljubicic told Fox.

That anything happened, I cant believe it, she added. In total, I spent 16 months with my son-in-law and I never noticed anything bad about my son-in-law.

I cannot believe that hed ever have done anything to her, she told the outlet. He said to the police that everything with Ana was fine.

I just have just one wish, and that is that my daughter is alive, she added.

Mystery over big surprise for New Year

Three days before Ana Walshe was reported missing, she and her husband Brian told their longterm tenants they were abruptly selling their rental property.

Mike Silva told CBS Boston it felt like a personal betrayal as he had been led to believe the Walshes would eventually sell the apartment they had lived in for four years in Revere, Massachusetts, to him and his fiancee Mandi.

Friends told NBC Washington that she had been rushing to get rid of assets including an apartment and her car in late-December and had promised a big surprise in the New Year.

Mandi Silva said that Ms Walshe seemed off in the months leading up to her disappearance.

Nothing is adding up, she told NBC Washington.

Mike Silva said he later sent Brian Walshe a text wishing him a happy new year.

Mr Silva received a reply on 2 January. It said happy new year, sorry for the delay. I misplaced my phone and my son just found it.

There was no mention that his wife was missing, he told CBS Boston.

Its unclear why Ms Walshe began selling off her assets, and police are yet to comment on the mystery.

Harrowing final note to husband revealed

Ana Walshe reportedly left a note to her conman husband on a bottle of champagne wishing him love, compassion and joy in 2023.

The message was written in bright red letters on a Lanson Noble Cuvee champagne box that appears to have been left unopened after a New Years Eve party at the familys home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, the New York Post reported.

Wow! 2022  What a year! And yet, we are still here and together! Lets make 2023 the best one yet! We are the authors of our lives  courage, love, perseverance, compassion, and joy. Love, Ana, the note reads, according to the Post.

A note on another side of the box reads: Gem Ana Brian 2023!

Gem Mutlu, a family friend, previously told CBS Boston he attended a party at the Walshes home. Mr Mutlu said Mr Walshe had cooked an elaborate meal for guests and described the mood as festive.

There was a lot of looking forward to the new year, he told CBS Boston. There was no indication of anything other than celebrating the new year, problems on hold.

He said they hugged goodbye and he left at around 1.30am.

Prayer vigil held

On 12 January, a few dozen Cohasset residents gather for an interfaith prayer vigil at the town common.

Residents say they are desperate for answers about what happened to Ms Walshe.

I feel like everyone in the community just feels like they want to do something and need to something, but everyone is feeling a little bit hopeless right now, Alison Sheerin tells CBS Boston.

A threat to kill

On 14 January, Washington DC police release an incident report showing Ana Walshe filed a complaint in 2014 stating that her husband had threatened to kill her and a friend.

Ms Walshe, who was then known by her maiden name Ana Knipp, reported the death threat in August, about a year before she and Brian Walshe married in Serbia.

The case was closed after she refused to cooperate with the police investigation, a spokesperson told The Independent.

Brian Walshe did not report wife missing, call logs claim

Call logs from the Cohasset Police show that it was the head of security at Ms Walshes Washington DC real estate firm who first alerted authorities about her disappearance.

Police received a call from her employer Tishman Speyer at 11.44am on 4 January to request a well-being check.

The caller tells police that the company has contacted the husband  he has not filed a missing person report.

The logs appear to contradict comments made by the lawyer representing Ms Walshes husband Brian Walshe when he appeared in court last week to be arraigned on charges of misleading police.

Husband charged with murder

On 17 January, Michael Morrissey, the Norfolk District Attorney, said in a video statement on Tuesday that his office has been involved in an intensive investigation into the fate of Anna Walshe since she was reported missing on 4 January.

The DA added that earlier in the probe, police found sufficient evidence to believe that her husband Brian Walshe, age 47, had misled police investigators on material matters important to the search for Anna Walshe.

He has pled not guilty to those charges and is currently being held at the Norfolk County House of Corrections, Mr Morrissey said. The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with the murder of his wife.

Mr Morrissey added that Mr Walshe will be transported to the Quincy District Court for arraignment [on] the charge of murder.
Matt Schlapp, Chairman of the American Conservative Union, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference 2020 (CPAC) hosted by the American Conservative Union on February 28, 2020 in National Harbor, MD. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Prominent conservative leader Matt Schlapp has denied claims in a new lawsuit that he groped a male Republican strategist working for Herschel Walkers failed US Senate campaign in Georgia.

Mr Schlapp, who is a close ally of Donald Trump and the chairman of the American Conservative Union, has been accused of fondling the man as they drove in his car towards an Atlanta-area hotel in October.

Charlie Spies, a lawyer for Mr Schlapp and his wife, former Trump administration aide Mercedes Schlapp, issued a denial on their behalf on Tuesday.

This anonymous complaint demonstrates the accusers real agenda, working in concert with the Daily Beast to attack and harm the Schlapp family, read the statement, which Mr Schlapp tweeted out.

The complaint is false, and the Schlapp family is suffering unbearable pain and stress due to the false allegation from an anonymous individual.

No family should ever go through this, and the Schlapps and their legal team are assessing counter-lawsuit options.

The lawsuit, filed in the Virginia Circuit Court in Alexandria on Tuesday, accuses Mr Schlapp of aggressively fondling the mans genital area in a sustained fashion while the two were alone in the car.

The lawsuit, which was filed anonymously, is seeking at least $9.4m in damages, according to The New York Times.

The accusers lawyer, Timothy Hyland says that it was filed because Mr Schlapp had not apologised for his despicable actions.

Because Mr Schlapp has refused to own up to his misbehaviour this suit aims to make Mr Schlapp, and those who lie for him, accountable for their actions and statements, he stated.

Mr Schlapp is a 55-year-old former aide in the George W Bush administration, where he met his 50-year-old wife. The couple has five daughters.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) admitted Monday he always had a few questions about the resume of Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), the newly elected congressman who was found to have lied extensively about his credentials.

I never knew all about his resume or not, but I always had a few questions about it, McCarthy said, after a reporter asked if he had any inkling about the allegations against Santos before they became public.

The reporter also asked about how a Santos staffer was caught impersonating McCarthys chief of staff to make fundraising calls during Santos 2020 and 2022 House campaigns.

You know, I didnt know about that. It happened  I know they corrected it, but I was not notified about that until a later date, he said, noting that he had spoken to Santos about it.

McCarthy: I never knew all about his resume or not but I always had a few questions

Question: What about pretending to be your chief of staff? pic.twitter.com/QNh1ywXwDs  Acyn (@Acyn) January 16, 2023

After winning his election in November, and following bombshell media reports, Santos admitted that he lied about elements of his work experience, heritage and education. Recent reports in The New York Times and New York Post indicated that GOP leadership and some top Republican aides were aware of the fabrications prior to his election.

McCarthy, who endorsed Santos and supported his campaign, has downplayed Santos fabrications and refused calls to try to boot him from the House, as the speaker navigates his leadership of an extremely narrow majority.

Santos voted for McCarthy in all 15 speaker ballots. Should he be forced out, McCarthy has no guarantees the seat would be filled with an ally (or even a Republican).

New York Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres on Sunday demanded that House GOP leaders disclose what they knew about the extent of Santos dishonesty and cooperate with current and future investigations into Santos.

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It is one thing for a candidate such as Mr. Santos to induce voters to support him based on a web of lies, the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which was addressed to McCarthy; Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), chair of the House Republican Conference; and Dan Conston, who heads the Congressional Leadership Fund PAC. But it is altogether something else if the top levels of Republican leadership knew about Mr. Santoss lies during the campaign and chose to be complicit.

Related...
Tyre Deandre Nichols, 29, died Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, in Memphis, three days being stopped and detained by Memphis Police. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death.

The city of Memphis said Tuesday that it would release footage related to the death of Tyre Nichols after the Memphis Police Department finishes its own internal investigation related to Nichols' death, which occurred after multiple "confrontations" with officers.

"The video will be released publicly after the completion of the internal investigation into the actions of the officers and after the family of Mr. Nichols has had the opportunity to review the video privately," Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and MPD Chief CJ Davis said in a joint statement.

Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10 after two "confrontations" with police on Jan. 7, which left him hospitalized. The incident prompted an investigation from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is ongoing. Shelby County District Attorney General Steve Mulroy is reviewing the case.

The city said the internal investigation could finish late this week and the family could view the video early next week.

The city said Sunday that the officers involved in the incident will be going through internal disciplinary proceedings. The city has not named the officers involved or said how many were involved in the incident. It is not clear what type of footage from the incident exists or what it shows.

The city of Memphis did not immediately return a request for clarification about the footage. The city and MPD do not often release camera footage when MPD personnel uses force against someone.

MPD has not released footage from four fatal officer-involved shootings that happened late last year. Such footage has typically become public when the attorney general's office makes a decision about whether to charge the officers involved.

The city said Tuesday that it is seeking permission from Mulroy and TBI to release the footage. Mulroy said in a statement Tuesday morning that his office was working to quickly release the video footage.

"Our office is committed to transparency and understands the reasonable request from the public to view the video footage. However, we must ensure we abide by applicable laws and ethical rules so that we do not jeopardize an ongoing investigation or prosecution. Were working with the appropriate agencies to determine how quickly we can release the video and will do so as soon as we can," Mulroy said.

Lucas Finton contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tyre Nichols: Memphis to release footage related to 29-year-olds death
Missouri lawmakers on Wednesday adopted a new dress code for women in the state House, requiring them to cover their shoulders. The stricter dress code was part of a larger new rules package, and passed with a vote of 105-51.

The dress code immediately drew criticism from local Missouri politicians, who took to Twitter to express their frustrations. The new dress code even has its own hashtag: #Sweatergate.

"I never thought my first national interview would be about what I can and cannot wear as a female lawmaker," said Democratic Missouri Representative Ashley Aune.

Aune gave an impassioned statement against the bill on the House floor, asking her fellow lawmakers, "Do you know what it feels like to have a bunch of men in this room looking at your top, trying to decide whether it's appropriate or not?"

The Missouri House has 116 men and 43 women. The House majority is held by Republicans, with 111 Republicans to 52 Democrats.

As long as Democrats are in the super minority in MO, Republicans will continue to exert control over every aspect of our livesfrom what we wear to how we start a family. Next up on the agenda: hurting trans kids & banning CRT

You can help: https://t.co/TaI3ItNOg1 #moleg https://t.co/F0FI8EcsxV  Rep. Ashley Aune (@Ashley4MO) January 15, 2023

In response, Rep. Ann Kelly, the Republican Congresswoman who sponsored the bill, said, "You would think that all you would have to do is say, 'dress professionally' and women could handle it."

In the Missouri state Senate, there is no rule requiring women to wear blazers or jackets.

Story continues

In a statement on Facebook, Kelly wrote, "How is encouraging professionalism wrong? If there is ever a time to honor traditions and be professional it is on the House Chamber Floor in the Missouri House of Representatives; I will not apologize for standing up for these things."

"Maybe trust that womenwho were in the crosshairs of your latest piece of insanitycan dress professionally on their own volition without your feeble effort of control and stripping women of their rights," read a comment from Monday on Kelly's post.

"Absolutely disgusting that as a grown woman, in a position of power in a country of people struggling you are more concerned about shoulders than real problems facing your constituents," read another.

A third Facebook user made a comparison between the new regulation and the dystopian drama "The Handmaid's Tale."

While Kelly's initial amendment said that women would be required to wear a "jacket," which could also include "blazers and knit blazers," a revised version was later adopted to clarify that a cardigan could be worn as well.

Under the prior existing dress code, women were required to wear "dresses or skirts or slacks worn with a blazer or sweater and appropriate dress shoes or boots" without a required second layer, reported the Associated Press.

Aune was not the only member of Congress who commented on the new restrictions.

Maggie Nurrenbern, a Democratic state Representative from Missouri, posted photos of her bare arms, writing in a separate tweet that it was "mind-boggling that members of the Missouri House have the right to bear arms on the floor of the chamber, but women legislators are forbidden from showing the same."

"Just finished floor debate explaining why knit blazers do not include cardigans on an amendment restricting what women can wear in the House," said another Missouri Democrat, Rep. Jamie Johnson, on Twitter. "Why would we need additional class barriers to the idea that anyone could represent the people?"

Even out-of-state politicians responded, with California Congressman Eric Swalwell tweeting, "Republicans continue to codify their brand of sexism and misogyny but let's hear more about that gas stove outrage," in response to an article about the passing of the Missouri dress code.

U.S. to reach debt limit on Thursday

Washington police searching for man who allegedly tried to abduct barista in drive-thru

IRS says tax refunds may be smaller this year
As the trial date for the first of three suspects charged with murder nears, family members of beating victim Michael "Mikey" Benedict said they have mixed feelings.

"I'm ready for justice; I'm ready .... I can't say I'm ready for it to be over, because it's never going to be over," said Benedict's older sister, Phyllis Bensley of Tennessee. "My mom's going to be hurting; we're all going to be hurting. They took a big piece of our family."

Knowing three trials are coming up is "very stressful," said Taszia Waaland, Benedict's longtime girlfriend and mother of six  ages 23, 20, 17, 16, 10 and 8. "It gives me anxiety just thinking about it."

Benedict, a 40-year-old Crawford County native, was found unconscious by Crestline police investigating a 911 report of a beating shortly after 2:20 a.m. Oct. 10, 2021. The beating followed an incident at Just Jokin' Bar and Grill. He died on Nov. 4, 2021.

In November 2021, three Crestline residents were indicted by a Crawford County grand jury on a charge of aggravated murder and two different murder counts in connection with Benedict's death. Each charge is an unclassified felony.

The trial of Timothy W. Montgomery, 50, is scheduled to begin on Feb. 6, according to records from the Crawford County Court of Common Pleas clerk's website. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Jan. 30.

Jacqueline Dawn Montgomery, 44, will be tried beginning March 6, and Cameron Everett Davis, 32, on April 3.

Immediately after the beating, the three were charged with felonious assault and two were released on bail, angering Benedict's family, who staged multiple protests in Crestline and Bucyrus, demanding "Justice for Mikey."

Michael "Mikey" Benedict

There will be no more protests as the trials near, said Sherry Denue, Benedict's cousin.

"We were asked not to do any more rallies or protests, because it was hard for them to find juries, because there were three trials," she said.

'We all want justice for Mikey'

Since Benedict's death, Denue has moved to Virginia, so she's not sure if she'll be able to attend any of the trials.

Story continues

"I just know we all want justice for Mikey," she said. "What they did was ridiculous, and they need to pay for what they did. ... He didn't deserve what happened and we hope that the justice system's on Mikey's side."

Bensley said she's ready for the process to be over for the sake of their mother, Karen Murr, who lost two sons in a little more than a year. Another brother, Sam, died of natural causes in August 2020, and then Mikey, who had been living with Murr at the time of his death, died in November 2021.

"I want justice for my baby brother," Bensley said. "I'm ready for it to be over for my mom. I don't know where this lady found the strength."

Waaland spoke about her concerns for her children; the three trials will bring back a lot of hurt and trauma for them, she said. She worries about the things they might see or hear.

The children want to attend the trials, she said. "I don't know if it's probably a good thing for them, so I haven't really decided if we're going to go yet or not," she said. "... It kind of feels like we have to be there for Michael, but also I don't want the kids to see something and remember that."

Healing is a long process, Waaland said.

"We get by every day," she said. "Lots of struggles. My kids, they really do go through a lot of pain and all that. ... Nothing's going to heal our pain, but I guess it will be a little bit better knowing that they are in prison, I guess."

Family members worry about hearing evidence three times

The family members said they have mixed feelings about the state's decision to try the three suspects separately.

In October, Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall said the state believed having three trials would be a "more accurate way to get justice on behalf of Mikey Benedict."

"I, myself, I think that's better; I think they're all being tried for what part they had taken in the act," Denue said. From her understanding, each played a different role in the fatal assault  and each should pay for his or her actions. "Every one had their parts in it and I think every one of them deserve what they're going to get."

The friends and family of Michael "Mikey" Benedict march near Just Jokin' Bar and Grill chanting "Justice for Mikey" in October 2021.

Bensley said she has mixed feeling about the decision to have three trials.

"I've been told that it can be good and then I've been told that it really doesn't matter. I can't honestly answer that ... I don't know how I feel," she said. "I don't know if my mom's going to be able to go through the evidence three times  because she's going to be there; I can guarantee that. That's her baby that they killed."

She predicted the courthouse will be full when the trials start, "because Mike touched a lot of people."

"There's been so many stories," Bensley said. "My brother would have gave you the shirt off his back. And I'm not just saying that because he was my baby brother; he would give anybody the shirt off his back. If you needed something and he had it, Mike would help.

"I don't know what happened  we'll never know, you know. Nobody will ever know the truth, the reason. Just pure meanness. ... It took three of them to kill him."

ggoble@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Beating death of Mikey Benedict: Family anxious as trial dates near
This is a locator map for Iran with its capital, Tehran. (AP Photo) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  A German national has been arrested in Iran after photographing an oil facility, two semi-official news agencies reported on Tuesday.

The Tasnim news agency and the Student News Network, both close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said the individual was taking photographs at the Omidiyeh oil facility in the southwestern Khuzestan province. They did not provide further details.

Iran's security forces have been on high alert amid four months of anti-government protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was being held by the morality police for allegedly violating the country's strict Islamic dress code.

The protests quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the theocracy and mark one of the biggest challenges it has faced in more than four decades.

Iran has blamed the unrest on the U.S. and other foreign powers, without providing evidence. The protesters say they are fed up with social and political repression, corruption and an economy weighed down by Western sanctions and mismanagement.

Iran has arrested a number of foreigners in recent years, accusing them of undermining state security and trying them in secretive Revolutionary Courts that have been condemned by rights groups. Critics accuse Iran of using the foreigners as hostages to wring concessions from the West, allegations denied by Tehran.

U.N. rights experts on Tuesday condemned Iran's detention of 41-year-old Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, who was sentenced last week to more than a decade in prison and 74 lashes over charges of espionage and money laundering.

We believe Mr Vandecasteele has been arbitrarily deprived of his liberty and is a victim of enforced disappearance for periods of detention, they said in a statement. His right to a fair trial before an independent and impartial tribunal has been violated. These are flagrant violations of Irans obligations under international law."

They said Vandecasteele, who was arrested last February, has been held in solitary confinement and suffers from serious health problems.
Ronald Britt spent 19 of the last 22 years going through the revolving door of the prison system  using methamphetamine, racking up drug-related criminal charges, returning to the mens prison in Deer Lodge  until relatively recently. Last February, he said, he decided to do something different when he was released on parole. Instead of returning to Billings, where many of his friends and family were also using, he took the advice of his therapist and applied to a residential sober living home in Ronan operated by Never Alone Recovery Support Services.

I kept putting it off for years. And finally, I didnt have any other options. I was like, Ive got to do something different, Britt, 46, said in a recent phone interview. And to be honest, my lifes been great. Everything isnt rainbows and unicorns, Ive had my bad days and good days, but, wow, my life has improved tremendously from, you know, sitting in a cell.

Since leaving prison, Britt said, hes earned an associates degree in business management, completed a Native cultural wellness and recovery White Bison program, and is working to become a peer support specialist to help other people going through recovery. He said December marked his tenth month clean and sober.

I couldnt have done it without the recovery residence over here  the recovery community, Britt said. The only thing that made a difference was having some place to go to.

For Britt and others, recovery residences occupy a unique position in the spectrum of addiction services, helping people transition out of prison, jail or inpatient treatment. But unlike clinical treatment settings, the recovery industry is largely free from state and federal oversight, opening the door for unethical conduct and business practices in Montana and nationwide. Even the number of homes currently operating in Montana, let alone what type of recovery support they offer, is not tracked at a statewide level.

Against that backdrop, addiction recovery experts in Montana have started pooling their expertise to create a certification process for recovery homes. Their goal is to help residences meet national best-practice standards, protect residents and set more people on the path to long-term recovery.

Montana has really been dropping the ball on treatment for years. Theyve been trying the same thing for 30 years and expecting different results, said Don Roberts, a licensed addiction counselor and founder and executive director of Never Alone Recovery Support Services. Theyre just sending people to treatment for 30 days and then telling them to go to outpatient [treatment] when they get released. Theres a whole chunk in there thats been missed. And so now were trying to address that.

'To protect the residents'

Nationwide, addiction recovery experts have spent more than a decade consolidating recommendations for recovery homes under one umbrella organization, the National Alliance of Recovery Residences, and creating standards for a long-unregulated industry. As of December, the organization has affiliates in 30 states, with nine more in development.

Montana is one such state with an emerging affiliate called the Recovery Residence Alliance of Montana. The accrediting body, funded through a contract from the state health department awarded in January 2022, operates under the leadership of the Native American Development Corporation.

RRAM representatives are clear that the affiliate is still working out kinks in its operations. It doesnt yet have a website, and some judges, attorneys and behavioral health workers who refer clients and defendants to recovery programs arent yet familiar with the organizations acronym or purpose. But Roberts and others say that having a group overseeing best practices in Montanas recovery industry is the start of something important.

We want to meet certain standards. We want to make sure that the people that are running these programs really have an environment that is recovery-focused, said Roberts, whos part of a RRAM subgroup in charge of certifying residences. We dont want people just coming in and charging these people all this money and using them and burning them and then kicking them out with no recovery stuff involved.

Absent state licensure, regulation or third-party certification, the extent of unethical and exploitative sober living practices in Montana is undocumented, though complaints nationally have included allegations of unsafe living conditions, work without pay, false advertising and financial gain for patient referrals, with a patchwork of state and federal enforcement to rein in bad actors.

As previously reported by Montana Free Press, one of the states largest addiction recovery programs, Hope Center Ministries, accepts residents charged with drug-related crimes into residences where Bible study and vocational training is mandatory. The program doesnt allow residents to keep their wages for the majority of the year-long program, a business model that has sparked class-action lawsuits against recovery residences in other states. The Hope Center Ministry program in Montana, the organizations national office, and two Montana businesses that contract with the ministry did not respond to Montana Free Press questions about the resident work program.

Peter Maney, program director for RRAM, would not directly comment on any recovery programs in Montana other than the three organizations that have already gained certification, a cohort that does not include either of the Hope Center Ministries residences in Clancy or Butte. Asked whether the practice of using residents wages as revenue aligns with RRAMs certification standards, Maney said it would depend on several factors, including whether residents have a choice in their work location and hours, as well as whether they can leave the program at any time.

If its involuntary for me to be there and its involuntary for me where I have to work, and its involuntary of how much Im working, that doesnt sound like a social model [of recovery] to me, Maney said.

When considering whether to certify a residence, Maney said, RRAM staff will look at a recovery homes finances, program offerings and physical housing infrastructure, conduct interviews with staff and residents, and go through rounds of written program evaluations to help determine how an organization operates. Maney said organizations will pay a $350 fee when they apply for certification to help offset the staffing and resource costs for RRAMs evaluation. Once a residence is accredited, residents in the home will have an established avenue for reporting any complaints about program requirements and living conditions, a component Maney said is critical for resident safety and empowerment. Accredited operators will have to reapply annually to keep RRAMs stamp of approval, Maney said, ensuring that homes have long-term financial and programmatic oversight. Most importantly, Maney said, the process is meant to create better programs for addicts working through recovery.

There are too many stories where residents get taken advantage of because theyre in a position where theyre vulnerable, Maney said. For many people coming out of prison, jail or court-ordered treatment, affordable housing is already hard to find, he said. Add a history of substance use and possibly criminal charges, he said, and the deck just keeps getting stacked higher and higher against them.

As of December, RRAM has certified three organizations operating 10 residences in Montana, including the Never Alone Recovery Support Services homes run by Roberts in Ronan, Crosswinds Recovery in Missoula and STEP in Billings. Maney said certification ensures that programs practices are aligned with a common code of ethics, but doesnt try to make residences into carbon copies. Programs can be faith-based or culturally informed, have more or less integration with clinical treatment providers, employ licensed staff or be run primarily by residents.

Theres freedom in what weve adopted as the RRAM standards  because people develop addiction in all different ways, Maney said. People recover in all different ways. And so what works for me doesnt necessarily work for somebody else.

As recommended by the National Alliance for Recovery Residences, Montanas fledgling certification process for sober living homes is voluntary. The hope, Maney said, is that operators will willingly seek certification in order to keep their programs competitive in the growing recovery business and make sure treatment providers, therapists and others who can refer clients to sober living homes are confident theyre operating with ethical standards. If certified recovery residences start to take up a larger share of the market, he said, uncertified operators may eventually shutter.

The legislative arena

As RRAM continues to certify residences  aiming for 20 more homes by the end of 2023  reform advocates in state government are considering additional ways to increase oversight of the sober living home industry.

A bill drafted by the Criminal Justice Oversight Council, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers and law enforcement professionals, would require qualified health care providers, judges and justices of the peace to refer patients and defendants only to certified recovery residences, and suggests the Department of Corrections do the same. The bill would also require the department to issue parolee rental vouchers only to certified residences, and adds reporting requirements to prevent the state from overpaying residences after someone moves out.

If passed, the bill would raise standards for uncertified residences as well. It instructs the state health department to create the first statewide database of recovery residences, both certified and uncertified. All residences would also have to meet building and safety codes and train participants and staff how to use opioid-overdose medication. Under threat of violating the Montana Consumer Protection Act, the law would also prohibit residences from making materially false or misleading statement[s] about the identity of their program and the services it offers, as well as bar kickbacks between health care providers and recovery residence operators for referring or accepting participants.

Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito, a member of the council, said the legislation is designed to set a higher bar for safety and ethics among home operators and help law enforcement recognize different practices between residences.

Nobody understood truly what a sober living establishment is supposed to be, Twito said. Judges, prosecutors and defenders, he said, could think that they would provide all these services when in actuality they probably dont provide those services, or at least dont provide those services appropriately. Thats the whole purpose for why we brought this up to the council.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Barry Usher, R-Billings, is scheduled for its first hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 10. Like most bills, the new proposal will be debated and probably amended through the 90-day Legislature. Other treatment providers, people who have stayed in recovery residences and addiction experts will have the chance to weigh in with recommendations.

Logan Cook, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Montana School of Social Work, said the legislation is a start to reining in the currently unregulated industry. But he said the current bill language doesnt place any requirements on the state health department to regulate residences after certification. RRAM would continue to be the sole entity with oversight powers.

I get that theyre trying to avoid red tape and farm that out to someone else, Cook said of the state health department. At the same time, he continued, This is working with a vulnerable population. Regulation exists for a reason.

Finding the 'middle ground' of regulation

Twito, Maney and other advocates hope that RRAMs approach to certifying recovery residences, coupled with the guardrails suggested by the oversight council, will move the needle for standards and consistency at Montanas sober living homes. But current strategies for increasing oversight dont include requiring homes to be licensed, as is required for clinical residential treatment programs such as Rimrock in Billings or Recovery Centers of Montana in Columbia Falls. With licensure comes a list of best-practice responsibilities for treatment providers, the ability to bill insurance for services, and monitoring by state inspectors. As of 2020, only six states required sober living residences to be licensed by a state department or agency, while a few more were considering licensure legislation.

In a December interview, Department of Public Health and Human Services Medicaid Director Mike Randol and state opioid response grant manager Ki-Ai McBride spoke favorably about the RRAM certification process as an alternative to licensure. While they said the state is interested in promoting quality standards in the industry, as with any health care sector, McBride added that recovery residences dont provide the same level of medical services as licensed treatment providers.

Recovery homes are sort of an informal step down for people who have been in residential treatment or people who are going through other sorts of systems, McBride said.

Maney, the program director for RRAM, said he doesnt see state licensure as being particularly efficient or effective for recovery home operators and their residents. Overcoming addiction, he said, is highly personal and might require a range of approaches that dont fit neatly into rules set by the Legislature or a state agency.

I think that would be messy. If the point is to produce more quality outcomes, in my opinion, getting the government involved in licensure isnt the way to do that, Maney said. We cant just let people do whatever they want to, either. I think there needs to be this middle ground, and thats what certification, accreditation, tries its best to do.

A few Montana recovery residences are currently providing a level of addiction therapy and counseling to merit licensure from the state. Butte SPIRIT, which runs an eight-bed residence for men and is working to open another for women, is a residential substance use disorder facility subject to state inspection because it meets a 3.1 level of care as defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine. Founder and Director Demetrius Fassas said that if RRAM had been operating when the Butte organization opened its doors in 2020, his team might have decided to pursue certification instead of licensure to help distinguish the program from other sober living settings.

As a licensed facility, Fassas said, the SPIRIT home has to stay in compliance with state regulations for staffing levels, available therapeutic services and other administrative requirements. Being a state-approved facility also means Fassas and his team can bill Medicaid for some of the services they offer. But, Fassas said, most of the licensure requirements seem secondary to the core mission of the recovery residence, which is premised on peer support and skill building for long-term recovery.

From across the country, what we can tell is that transitional housing thats in a home, not in an institution, but in a home, is what works best for transitioning people into independent living in homes or apartments or wherever they go, Fassas said.

On the other hand, he added, employing licensed clinical staff and offering required group therapy sessions also provides beneficial services for residents. The residence provides six hours of mandated recovery-related programming a week, Fassas said, which exceeds the state requirement by an hour and gives residents an opportunity to process whats going on in their personal lives, whats going on in the home, hold each other accountable, learn to set boundaries. Fassas said those sessions, facilitated by trained counselors or social workers, can help residents develop tools they can take with them when they leave the home.

How do I manage my emotions, my reactions, without turning to a drink or a drug? Being licensed gives us the staff to be able to, in real time, help people come to those answers for themselves of how to cope with life on lifes terms, he said.

Cook, from the University of Montana, said one potential response to Montanas growing industry of unregulated sober living facilities would be to encourage the development of more 3.1 level homes like Butte SPIRIT. The standards applied to those residences still require a non-institutional environment, but pair the home-like setting with licensed clinical staff and therapeutic programming, allowing residences to bill Medicaid for some services. If facilities had more reliable financing, including insurance revenue, Cook said homes with lesser standards might not have found such a foothold in the state.

Whatever happens, I think the priority has to be protecting the community and protecting vulnerable populations. Is it something formal within the treatment continuum of care, where youre opening up access to 3.1 level programs? Cook said. Or are you really going to regulate these recovery residences?

Next chapters

Fassas, Roberts and Maney talk about the future of Montanas recovery residence industry with high hopes  they envision the homes as a critical bridge between phases of an addicts journey toward long-term sobriety. Without that infrastructure, its hard to imagine traversing the space between a hospital and independent living, prison and a full-time job, inpatient treatment and sustained recovery.

Even with the support a recovery residence can provide, overcoming addiction for years and decades is far from guaranteed. Some programs, including Roberts, continue to check in with participants years after they leave the program, in acknowledgement that time spent in treatment or a peer-support residence is often just one chapter of a persons recovery story.

It doesnt go anywhere. Its not a fix-it issue, Roberts said of addiction. This is going to be with people for a long time.

Fassas said the rise of recovery residences, premised on peer support and resident empowerment, gives him a reason to be optimistic about the direction Montana, and the recovery industry, is moving.

The value of one addict helping another is unparalleled. And its only just starting to be recognized in the broader treatment community, Fassas said. Its changing the clinical model into more of a social model. Into more of a community-based, connection-driven program of recovery.

This is the second article in a two-part series about Montanas recovery residence industry. The first story, about the pathways into recovery residences from the criminal legal system, can be found here.
Authorities are searching for a man who appears to have been pulled overboard by a large tuna while fishing Sunday off South Kona, Hawaii.

Mark Knittle, 63, was fishing with a friend about four miles beyond the Honaunau Boat Ramp when the pre-dawn incident occurred, according to Hawaii News Now.

Knittle, from the community of Captain Cook, had just hooked the tuna and told his friend, The fish is huge, moments before going over the rail.

Mark Knittle image courtesy of Hawaii Fire Department

It was not clear whether Knittle was harnessed to his rod and reel and fishing with a super-tight drag, which could explain how he could be pulled overboard.

ALSO: Florida motorist encounters massive python on highway; video

The friend tried to grab the line and also jumped overboard to try to reach Knittle before he vanished underwater.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported that Hawaii Island police have opened a missing person case involving Knittle, who is 5 feet 10, weighs 185 pounds, and has curly brown hair and a white mustache and beard.

The search, involving the U.S. Coast Guard and Hawaii Fire Department, was scheduled to continue Tuesday.

Yellowfin tuna image is generic

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The 50 best movies streaming on Netflix (January 2023)

Story originally appeared on For The Win
hi-res-image-Wilco-by-Peter-Crosby - Credit: Peter Crosby*

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The CD and vinyl versions of Wilcos 2022 album, Cruel Country, are finally arriving this week, and to celebrate, the band has announced a new run of spring tour dates and shared a video chronicling a recent series of pop-up shows in Chicago.

More from Rolling Stone

The bands upcoming tour will kick off with a pair of three-night residencies, the first at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago (March 23, 25, and 26) and the second at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York (March 30, 31, and April 1). Following a previously-announced run of shows in Iceland, Wilco will return to the States for a trek that kicks off April 16 at the High Water Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and wraps April 30 at the Ohio University Templeton Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium in Athens, Ohio.

Horsegirl will provide support during Wilcos residencies in Chicago and Port Chester (the band is also promising no repeats during those gigs). And the As will open for Wilco during the rest of their North American run. Tickets for all newly-announced dates will go on sale this Friday, Jan. 20, at 10 a.m. local time. Full info is available on Wilcos website.

Along with announcing their spring tour itinerary, Wilco shared a 15-minute video documenting the three pop-up shows they played at Carols Pub, a famous late-night honky tonk in Chicago, last October. The video includes performances of A Story To Tell, I Am My Mother, Cruel Country, and Falling Apart (Right Now).

Wilco also announced the return of Wilcoworld Radio, which will be streaming online today through Jan. 24. The digital station will feature DJ hours from each member of Wilco, rare and unheard recordings of recent live shows, Wilco cover sets, a deep dive into Cruel Country with Jeff Tweedy, and a behind-the-scenes look at the recent 20th-anniversary reissue of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

Story continues

Wilco 2023 Tour Dates

March 23  Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre (with Horsegirl)

March 25  Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre (with Horsegirl)

March 26  Chicago, IL @ The Riviera Theatre(with Horsegirl)

March 30  Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre (with Horsegirl)

March 31  Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre (with Horsegirl)

April 1  Port Chester, NY @ The Capitol Theatre (with Horsegirl)

April 16  Charleston, SC @ High Water Festival

April 18  Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock (with the As)

April 19  St. Augustine, FL @ St Augustine Amphitheater (with the As)

April 20  Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall (with the As)

April 22  Birmingham, AL @ Avondale Brewing (with the As)

April 23  Athens, GA @ Classic Center (with the As)

April 24  Huntsville, AL @ Mark C. Smith Concert Hall (with the As)

April 25  Nashville, TN @ The Ryman (with the As)

April 27  Knoxville, TN @ Tennessee Theatre (with the As)

April 28  Asheville, NC @ Thomas Wolfe (with the As)

April 29  Greensboro, NC @ White Oak Amphitheater (with the As)

April 30  Athens, OH @ Ohio University Templeton Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium

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A group of Republican Wyoming lawmakers want to phase out the sale of electric vehicles in the Cowboy State by 2035, saying the move will help safeguard oil and gas industries.

The bill, introduced into the state legislature on Friday, claims electric vehicles will hinder Wyomings ability to trade with other states.

"Wyoming's vast stretches of highway, coupled with a lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state," the bill, sponsored by Senator Jim Anderson and co-sponsored by five other GOP legislators, reads.

Among the reasons cited in the legislation

Batteries used in electric vehicles could contain critical minerals whose "domestic supply is limited and at risk for disruption."

Minerals used in electric batteries are not easily recyclable or disposable, meaning that municipal landfills in the state could be required to develop practices to dispose of these minerals in a safe and responsible manner.

The bill also notes the oil industry has employed thousands of people in the state: The proliferation of electric vehicles at the expense of gas-powered vehicles will have deleterious impacts on Wyomings communities and will be detrimental to Wyomings economy and the ability for the country to efficiently engage in commerce.

Bill would phase out electric vehicle sales in Wyoming

The bill's language was clear but Anderson told the Washington Post on Monday that he does not actually want electric vehicle sales phased out.

I dont have a problem with electric vehicles at all, Anderson told the Washington Post.

"Anyone who wants to buy an electric vehicle should have the freedom to," he said, adding that his friends and family members have them.

His office could not immediately be reached by comment by USA TODAY.

More states requiring electric or hydrogen powered vehicles by 2035

Meanwhile in more than a dozen other states with vehicle emission standards tied to rules established in California, leaders are facing weighty decisions on whether to follow the Golden State's strictest-in-the nation new rules that require all new cars, pickups and SUVs to be electric or hydrogen powered by 2035.

Story continues

Under the Clean Air Act, states must abide by the federal government's standard vehicle emissions standards unless they at least partially opt to follow California's stricter requirements.

Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Vermont are expected to adopt Californias ban on new gasoline-fueled vehicles.

Colorado and Pennsylvania are among the states where lawmakers have signalled they will likely not follow California's lead.

The legal ground is a bit murkier in Minnesota, where the states Clean Cars rule has been a political minefield and the subject of a legal fight.

Republicans in Virginia have rejected rules adopted when Democrats controlled the state that would have moved Virginia on a path toward adopting California's model.



Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wyoming ban on electric cars by 2035 pushed by lawmakers
Business Reporter

Joel Donofrio is the business reporter for the Yakima Herald. He was born and raised in the Chicago area, but he and his wife, Cathy, fell in love with the beauty (and low humidity) of the West and moved here in 2009, eventually relocating to Yakima in September 2021. They have two young adult children, Anthony and Joanna, and a dog, Molly. When he is not taking photos of construction sites, tracking down new and relocating businesses or catching up on agricultural trends, Joel enjoys playing guitar, singing, listening to music and playing and watching sports.
Features/The Vanished Editor

Tammy Ayer has worked at the Yakima Herald-Republic since 2015. This is her fourth newspaper gig. Alongside general assignment reporting and profiles, she writes about the centuries-long crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People, focusing on those who have gone missing, been murdered and have died mysteriously on and around the Yakama Reservation. Ayer grew up in Indiana, lived in Florida for 13 years and has a masters degree in history.
President Joe Biden takes questions from reporters on classified documents Thursday as he delivers remarks on the economy and inflation in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on in Washington, D.C.
A bill to name a 2-mile stretch of highway after Chief Earl Old Person, the longest-serving elected tribal official in the country's history, advanced past a major vote in the Senate on Monday after it was stalled out in committee.

After being voted down in the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee last week and blasted back into consideration on the Senate floor the following day, the bill cleared a second reading in the Senate on Monday by a 36-14 vote. It faces a final vote before moving to the House.

The committee voted down the bill over cost concerns and an unwritten rule from 2019 that highways only be named for law enforcement officers that die in the line of duty. Those critical of the bill being initially voted down had pointed out many memorial highways in the state are named for people who weren't law enforcement.

The bill, carried by Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, would have the Department of Transportation put in two signs on Highway 89 and include the memorial highway name on state maps.

After telling the Senate about Old Person's nearly 60-year political career in which he met U.S. presidents and foreign leaders and advocated for the economic advancement of the Blackfeet Nation, Webber asked senators to advance the bill.

Sen. Wendy McKamey, R-Great Falls, said she had met Old Person and that she felt he deserved the highway designation in his honor. She said the unwritten rule limiting who a highway can be named after might be too tightly restrictive in this case.

"This individual was a leader in our state," McKamey said.

But Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, said though she agreed Old Person deserved a memorial, she said she wanted to see a fund to build a monument in the Capitol instead.

Sen. Jason Small, R-Busby, said Old Person's contributions to tribal members and beyond as an ambassador and bridge-builder between cultures should be honored with a highway near his community.

Sen. Bob Brown, R-Trout Creek, said while he thought Old Person was an "exemplary man," he thought a highway memorial, which Webber said came at the request of the tribe, was the wrong idea. Brown suggested tribal land be named for him.

"That would be up to the tribe to choose," Brown said. " ... It would be there for eternity."

Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton, said that while Old Person made "significant" contributions, she still would vote no.

"My objection is strictly based on fiscal conservancy, conservatism," Manzella said.

A fiscal note puts the cost of the bill at $4,437 for having the signs made and installed.

Manzella said she'd be more than happy to take money out of her own pocket for a memorial or an educational scholarship.

"I simply do not have the authority to appropriate funds form the public trust for this reason," Manzella said.

Webber countered that she didn't think the price take would "break Montana's bank." Lawmakers this session are deciding how to spend a $2.4 billion surplus.

"Right now the only thing that we have to honor someone of this stature is road, is a 2-mile (stretch) of highway," Webber said.
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The number of lorries entering Hungary from Serbia at the Roszke border station was up 23% between 2019 and 2022, while Tompa station saw an increase of 55%, the customs and border control authority said in a statement.

According to the statement, a daily 459 vehicles crossed into Hungary at Roszke in 2022, and 344 at Tompa.



Leaders of the authority met their Serbian counterparts last week to review a 2020 agreement, aimed at increasing border traffic between the two countries.



They reinforced both countries commitment to further increase the capacity of border stations through bilateral cooperation.



They also decided to set up a team of experts, scheduled to meet in Budapest in April.



MTI Photo
Hungary is providing 3,000 US dollars in emergency humanitarian assistance to the Nigerian Catholic Church through the Hungary Helps scheme after last weekends attack on a church in north-west Nigeria, the foreign ministry said.

On Sunday, a group of bandits attacked a church in Kafin-Koro, killing Father Isaac Achi by burning him alive in his home.



Another priest was hospitalised with gunshot wounds.



The emergency aid is meant to help with the treatment of the surviving priest and the reconstruction of the torched parish, the ministry said.



The Hungary Helps Programme has supported African Christian communities threatened by violence since 2017.



In recent years, Hungary Helps has been cooperating with Nigerias Christian churches in aiding victims of terrorism and internal refugees, the reconstruction of destroyed churches, schools and homes and offering scholarships to young people from persecuted Christian communities.
The National Museum of Forest Service History's long awaited "flagship facility" is one step closer to reality, as are its planned exhibits, with a grant the project was awarded this week.

The nonprofit museum announced Wednesday that it received $400,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The museum was one of 16 recipients of NEH Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grants this year. NEH awarded $28.1 million to 204 projects nationwide across a variety of grant types.

The museum, founded in 1988, sits on a 31-acre campus that currently features a small visitor center, an interpretive trail and an amphitheater about a mile west of the Missoula International Airport. The museum is a nonprofit and not part of the U.S. Forest Service. Executive Director Lisa Tate said in a phone call Friday that the museum is nearing completion of a $14.5 million capital campaign to construct the museum's "flagship facility": the National Conservation Legacy Center. The museum envisions "a world-class exhibition for the center when it opens," she said.

"This $400,000 challenge grant will go specifically for the exhibition portion of that overall capital campaign," she said. "And we're trying to raise $2 million towards the exhibition piece."

The building and its exhibits have already been designed. Tate hopes to break ground later this year, with opening planned for late 2024 or early 2025. The structure will be a "mass-timber building," she said, built from "a number of timber products that are produced using engineered wood that is very sustainable as well as extremely strong  it's kind of the way of the future."

She said the building will be "an exhibit in itself."

The $400,000 grant will go specifically toward the building's marquee exhibit, "The Greatest Good: Our Countrys Conservation Legacy," according to a statement from the museum. The exhibit will trace the history of the U.S.'s "radical new idea" of public lands, drawing inspiration from original Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot.

"Pinchots philosophy has guided the vision for the U.S. Forest Service and challenged its leaders, collaborators, and detractors for more than 100 years," a museum statement noted. "If a conflict arose over the intended use or benefit of our natural resources, Pinchot declared that 'the question shall always be answered from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run.'"

The grant and accompanying 3-to-1 match will be used for"physical exhibit components including lighting, artifact cases, video monitors and exhibition equipment.

Tate said on Friday that fundraising for the facility began in earnest around 2008, galvanized by an expected federal appropriation that never materialized. The effort experienced a "major breakthrough" more than a decade later, she said, when retired longtime Forest Service employee Bill Cannon gave the nonprofit about $2 million upon his November 2019 death at age 86.

"That really opened the doors for fundraising for us," Tate said. "It no longer became a question of if this center is built, it just became a question of when."
HAMILTON COUNTY  Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol have arrested two Arizona men after locating approximately 50,000 suspected fentanyl pills during a traffic stop on Interstate 80 near Aurora.

The incident occurred Thursday, Jan. 12, at approximately 8:30 a.m., when a trooper observed an eastbound Toyota Tacoma improperly pass a semi, according to Cody Thomas, the NSPs public relations director. The traffic stop occurred at mile marker 326 on I-80, near Aurora, Thomas said.

During the traffic stop, the trooper became suspicious of criminal activity. A search of the vehicle then revealed several bags of suspected Fentanyl pills located inside the tailgate of the pickup. The total number of pills was approximately 50,000, weighing more than 11 pounds. Troopers also found small amounts of suspected cocaine and methamphetamine.

The driver, Jesus Quinones, 27, and passenger, Daniel Alvillar, 44, both of Phoenix, Arizona, were arrested for possession of controlled substances and possession with intent to deliver. Both were lodged in Hamilton County Jail.
Nebraska has a rich heritage of military service. Over the years, thousands of Nebraskans have answered the call and served our country heroically.

I am proud that many young Nebraskans want to continue this important tradition of service to our country. Each year, my staff and I review applications from high school students across Nebraska who are interested in attending one or more of the countrys five distinguished military academies. The five academies are the U.S. Military Academy (West Point, New York), the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis, Maryland), the U.S. Air Force Academy (Colorado Springs, Colorado), the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (New London, Connecticut), and the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, New York). All of the military academies, except the Coast Guard Academy, require a nomination from a U.S. Senator or a member of the U.S. House of Representatives to accept a students application.

This year, I am honored to nominate 18 young men and women to one or more of the service academies for the Class of 2027. Each of these students has an excellent academic record, proven leadership skills, and a desire to serve our country. I am confident that they would be exemplary officers in the United States military.

As Nebraskas senior senator, I have nominated hundreds of men and women to the service academies since 2013, many of whom were accepted and serve our country in incredible ways. My nomination is only the beginning of the journey for these outstanding candidates. Students also submit applications to the academies themselves, which will conduct a rigorous review of their credentials. The academies have high standards for acceptance to ensure they continue to produce quality military officers. It is my hope that the highly selective admissions staff at these schools recognize our young Nebraskans as some of the best and brightest in our country.

Students at the academies receive an education equal to our countrys most respected universities, coupled with training that molds Americas young people into tomorrows leaders. Eager men and women are transformed into informed, courageous officers, ready and able to serve. Academy graduates serve for a minimum of five years, after which some remain in military service and some move on to civilian leadership positions. The military training and classroom instruction provided to academy cadets and midshipmen shape their characters as officers and as civilians.

Reading the applications of our young leaders fills me with optimism for our state and our country at large. We are headed toward a bright future forged by these Nebraskans. It is my pleasure and privilege to nominate 18 exceptional young men and women to the five military academies this year. I know these students will represent both the United States and Nebraska with dignity during their service.

I hope to hear from more future leaders during the nomination process for next year. To learn more about the academies, visit their websites:

To apply for a nomination, please contact my Omaha office at (402) 391-3411 or email AcademyNom_Fischer@fischer.senate.gov.

Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
Incidents of unruly passengers on flights are on the rise and such passengers often become a danger to themselves and everyone else on the plane. In one such incident, a passenger on an Indigo flight on December 10, 2022, caused chaos after he opened the emergency door of the plane. The incident took place on an Indigo 6E-7339 flight while it was flying from Chennai to Thiruvananthapuram. The plane could only take off again from the airport after it went through a pressurisation check after the airport. Taking cognizance of the incident, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered an investigation into the incident. As per various reports, the IndiGo flyer was BJP MP from Bengaluru Tejasvi Surya

A senior official of the DGCA said that they are looking into the incident. "The incident happened on December 10 on Indigo flight 6E-7339 from Chennai to Trivandrum. On Dec 10, 2022, a passenger opened an emergency door in IndiGo 6E flight 6E-7339 from Chennai to Trivandrum. The flight took off after pressurization checks soon after. The incident created panic among passengers, and the flight took off after a safety check," the official said.

Also read: 'Insisted her not to go to work': Father of flight attendant in Nepal plane crash

The incident follows multiple incidents of bad behaviour on flights in India. This includes one of the most highlighted incidents of a passenger peeing on his co-passenger on an Air India flight. A man named Shankar Mishra had allegedly urinated on a 70-year-old woman in an intoxicated condition in the business class of an Air India flight on November 26 last year.

Delhi Police registered a case against him on January 4 on a complaint given by the woman to Air India under sections 354, 509, and 510 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and Section 23 of the Indian Aircraft Act. Both the accused and the victim are from outside Delhi.

US-based financial services company Wells Fargo also terminated Shankar Mishra as its employee. In the bail plea, the accused stated that he will continue to be cooperative with the police in the future as well and cooperate in the investigation in any manner or form required.
New Delhi: Yash Raj Films upcoming Pathaan remains the most anticipated Hindi film to release worldwide this year. Producer Aditya Chopra and director Siddharth Anand have not left any stone unturned to ensure that Pathaan is the grandest theatrical experience for audiences globally by filming never seen before action sequences that will blow our minds. We now have confirmed information that Pathaan is the first Indian film to be shot at the frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia!



Siddharth says, We have ensured that we take the action in Pathaan several notches above what Indian audiences have seen in theatres. In fact, we have only shot action sequences that have never been attempted by any Indian film so far. Pathaan promises to deliver the best visual spectacle for people and we have shot a high-speed bike chase sequence on the stunning frozen Lake Baikal in Siberia!





He adds, Every equipment needed to shoot this high risk sequence had to be shipped from Moscow which is almost about 2000 kilometres away from where we were shooting! So, this was a huge task which the production very smoothly handled. We ended up shooting the most visually stunning chase sequence on frozen ice and biting cold and I hope this sequence will make people jump off their seats because we are truly very happy with how it has shaped up.



Pathaan is part of Aditya Chopras ambitious spy universe and has the biggest superstars of the country Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham in it. YRFs adrenaline pumping film, Pathaan, is set to release on Jan 25, 2023 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.



All the assets of the film that YRF has released so far have turned out to be super-hits right from the teaser, the two songs - Besharam Rang & Jhoome Jo Pathaan - and the recently dropped trailer that has caused an internet meltdown!
New Delhi: Global investment firm Goldman Sachs sacked more than 3,000 employees in disguise of business meetings as early as 7.30 a.m. and the meetings with senior managers were put on Google calendar under "false pretenses", the media reported. The New York Post reported that Goldman Sachs' CEO David Solomon "e-mailed calendar invites that called targeted employees to phony 'business meetings' at its New York headquarters" last week. Once the employees arrived at the conference room -- some as early as 7.30 a.m. -- they were told by their managers that they were being fired.

"Managers were sorry to do this but their hand was forced and they wished him the best of luck," the report said, citing inside sources. Another employee was told to arrive at 7:30 am for a call with Goldman counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region. The impacted employee "didn't question the early meeting since those with other regions are typically during off-hours".

Those sacked were given the choice to leave the office immediately or wait for colleagues to arrive so they could say goodbye. A Goldman Sachs spokesperson said that "this is a difficult time for people leaving the firm".

"We're grateful for all our people's contributions, and we're providing support to ease their transitions," the spokesperson said. The layoffs at Goldman Sachs were dubbed as "David's Demolition Day". The layoffs at the global financial services also hit Indian workers hard and some of the impacted IITians and IIM graduates shared their plight on various social media platforms.
New Delhi: India is considering lowering rates under its voluntary income tax framework and could introduce revised slabs in the upcoming federal budget due on February 1, two government sources told Reuters on Tuesday. A final decision would be taken by the Prime Minister's Office, both the sources, who did not want to be named because the talks are private, said. The finance ministry did not respond to a Reuters email seeking comment.

ALSO READ | Anand Mahindra impresses with workout clip of athlete Neeraj Chopra | Watch

While the new optional income tax scheme - announced in 2020 to make tax compliance simpler - offers lower headline taxation rates on annual income, experts say it is unattractive to many as it does not allow exemptions on housing rentals and insurance among other things.

"Allowing exemptions and tax deductions in the new income tax regime would make it complex and this wasn't the intention while introducing the scheme," said one of the government sources.

Individuals can currently decide which set of rates they want to be taxed under. The government has not made data on the number of individuals availing the new tax system public. Income tax in the country is levied from a minimum individual earning of 500,000 rupees per year. Those making between 500,000 rupees-750,000 rupees per year($6,135.72-$9,203.58) pay 10% tax under the new scheme against a 20% rate applicable under the old set of rules, while annual income above 1.5 million rupees is taxed at 30%.
New Delhi: When the need to survive is high, emotions run rife and all rationality is corrupted; where even the slightest trigger can lead to a lapse in judgment or even a crime! Joining the elite academy of students who have the world in the palm of their hands, are three scholarship students, from the other side of the track, with nothing to lose. What happens when these two stark worlds collide? Conflicts brew in the school, secrets deepen and everyone is a suspect. This February, its time to bring out your pen and paper to start taking notes, as Class is FINALLY in session!



The unmissable trailer of Netflix Indias young adult series is a classic example of the mishaps and mayhem that will unravel when everyone is under the same roof, paths intertwine, ideologies clash and sentiments run high at Hampton International. Like any emotional upheaval, chaos is right around the corner. But when theres a murder in the mix, betrayals are rampant and no ones who they say they are. After all, with clandestine relationships, come clandestine betrayals.

Adapted from the global hit Spanish series, Elite, Netflixs Class gives all the feels of an engaging, edgy, coming-of-age thriller - a whodunnit like no other.



Class features a dynamic, young ensemble cast that includes Gurfateh Pirzada, Anjali Sivaraman, Ayesha Kanga, Chayan Chopra, Chintan Rachchh, Cwaayal Singh, Madhyama Segal, Moses Koul, Naina Bhan, Piyush Khati and Zeyn Shaw.

Talking about Netflixs vision behind bringing Class to audiences in India, Tanya Bami, Series Head, Netflix India, said, Class, the Indian adaptation of our popular Spanish series Elite, was a perfect reflection of a relevant and powerful story about a class divide. So we decided to adapt the story to the Indian nuance, where a diverse set of characters from different backgrounds, grappling with an unexpected turn of events - a journey that will keep audiences at the edge of their seats. The series takes an unfiltered look at the everyday dilemmas, emotions and conflicts the youth goes through. We can't wait for our members to catch this thrilling series."



Excited about the launch of the trailer, director Ashim Ahluwalia said, It was quite a task to adapt a show that has had enormous love globally, particularly because I wanted to rework its cinematic language and set it in New Delhi. I was keen to make something real and intense, something that charts the heightened emotions of teenage life. I also wanted to explore class, something we engage with daily but rarely see authentically depicted on screen. 



He further added, Set in a world where the elite have all that they could wish for, besides a clear conscience, and those less fortunate dangerously navigate their way through, Class is a wild and volatile affair between the two. Im thankful to Netflix for supporting my particular vision for this show, and keeping the faith that we could make something truly unique and special. Weve had a crew thats worked tirelessly and an amazing fresh young cast - almost all new discoveries that are absolutely incredible on screen. I think its safe to say that we have a series here thats unlike any other seen before in India.



Even with words being spoken and vows being taken, promises are broken, friendships are forsaken and the students of this elite school seem to be in for a real spin!



Move over, high school dramas - Netflixs Class is all-set to turn up the heat this February!
New Delhi: Zee Studios neo-noir web series 'Brown' starring Karisma Kapoor, Surya Sharma and Soni Razdan in pivotal roles and directed by Abhinay Deo has been announced as a part of the notable Berlinale Series Market Selects.

The Berlinale Series Market (February 20-22, 2023) has returned to Potsdamer Platz for its ninth edition. The third edition of the curated series with high market potential under the label Berlinale Series Market Selects includes a total of 16 titles from five continents, among them Chile, South Africa, Israel, Belgium, Lithuania and India, as well as two German productions.

Shariq Patel, CBO, Zee Studios, added, "Shariq Patel, CBO, Zee Studios, added, " As a studio we have been making a conscious effort to create films and shows that can be presented at the World stage. 'Brown' is the studios first attempt at creating a show which is truly world class, and to be part of the eminent Berlinale Series Market Selects for 2023 is a matter of great pride for us. The brilliance of Abhinay Deo behind the camera and Karisma Kapoor in front of it, is surely going to excite audiences worldwide."

Abhinay Deo, the director of 'Brown' further stated, "Suspense and human vulnerabilities round out 'Brown's' artillery. To be precise, it also carries a time pressure element and a series of mysterious events that shall keep the audiences hooked on to their seats."

The series is based on Rita Brown, a suicidal alcoholic and Arjun Sinha, a widower with survivor's guilt. The protagonists need to deal with an unstoppable serial killer on the loose. The Neo-noir series captures the existential angst of these investigators who are on the precipice of an abyss, that's their life. The series encapsulates themes of depression, irrelevance, addiction, corruption and false appearances.

Ashima Awasthi, Creative Head, Zee Studios, shared, "'Brown' is a series with a powerful narrative that is a study in characters. Karishma has acting in her blood and along with a brilliant cast of Helen, Soni Razdan, Surya Sharma, KK Raina and Jishu Sen, she delivers a stellar performance in this compelling drama. Being selected as one amongst only 16 titles globally at Berlinale Series Market reiterates our focus on creating stories for global audiences."

Karisma Kapoor further stated, "I am extremely happy to be a part of 'Brown' and working with such a fantastic director Abhinay Deo, and Zee Studios who have backed such fabulous content. Playing the role of Rita Brown has been intriguing and creatively satisfying, to say the least. Super excited that 'Brown' has been chosen on an international platform, the Berlinale Series Market Select."

'Brown' also stars Helen, KK Raina and Jishu Sen alongside Karisma, Surya Sharma and Soni Razdan and shall be one of the first series to follow a police procedural in an emotionally twisting manner. The Berlinale Series Market is a joint initiative of the European Film Market, the Berlinale Co-Production Market and Berlinale Talents.
Kolkata: Days after Nobel laureate Amartya Sen asserted that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee "has the ability" to be the next prime minister of the country, the TMC supremo responded saying "his advice was an order" for her.

Speaking to a news channel here on Sunday, Banerjee said that the economist is a "world-famous intellectual" and his "insight shows us the path".

"His advice is an order for me. His insight and evaluation of the of the country's current situation should be taken seriously by all," Banerjee said.

In an exclusive interview with PTI last week, the 90-year-old economist had said, "It's not that she does not have the ability to do it. She clearly has the ability (to be the PM). On the other hand, it has not yet been established that Mamata can pull the forces of public dismay against the BJP in an integrated way to make it possible for her to have the leadership to put an end to the fractionalisation in India."

Sen has also asserted that it "would be a mistake" to think that the polls would be a one-horse race in favour of the BJP, underscoring the significance of parties such as the DMK, TMC and Samajwadi Party.

"If the BJP looks strong and powerful, it has a good deal of weaknesses too. I think other political parties will be able to come to a debate if they really try. I do not know enough to be able to dismiss the anti-BJP parties together," he said.
A University of Montana employee received an email indicating that "pipebombs" had been placed on campus and in a small number of federal field offices in Missoula, Helena and Billings around noon Monday.

The FBI is investigating and analyzing the message, which has indicators of being a hoax, according to a UM alert sent via the campus emergency notification system Monday. In addition, no such devices were found on campus after a search of campus by UM police and local law enforcement concluded Monday afternoon, an updated alert said, adding that UMPD will continue to monitor campus.

UM said it did not expect a disruption to the start of classes Tuesday.

If you see anything suspicious on campus, such as a incendiary device, law enforcement is asking people to call the UMPD emergency line at 406-243-4000 or call 911.

The story will be updated as new information is available.
New Delhi: World's most populous country China has reported its first overall population decline in the last six decades. Ageing society and a plunging birth rate are the factors behind the decline in China's population. The National Bureau of Statistics reported the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of 2022 than over the previous year. The last time China is believed to have recorded a population decline was during the Great Leap Forward at the end of the 1950s, Mao Zedong's disastrous drive for collective farming and industrialisation that produced a massive famine killing tens of millions of people.

According to United Nations' report in 2020, India is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous country in 2023. The population prospects report says that India's population stands at 1.412 billion in 2022, compared with China's 1.426 billion. India is projected to have a population of 1.668 billion in 2050, way ahead of China's 1.317 billion people by the middle of the century.

Also Read: China records population decline for the first time since 1950s

The median age of an Indian this year was 28.7 years, compared to 38.4 for China and 48.6 for Japan against a global value of 30.3 years, according to official data.

According to UNFPA estimates, around 68 per cent of India's population is between 15-64 years old in 2022, while people aged 65 and older were seven per cent of the population.

As per UN estimates, over 27 per cent of India's population is between the ages of 15-29 years. At 253 million, India is also home to the world's largest adolescent population (10-19 years).

According to UNFPA projections, India will continue to have one of the youngest populations in the world till 2030 and India is experiencing a demographic window of opportunity, a 'youth bulge' that will last till 2025.

India, formerly a powerful driver of the number of people on the planet, however, is experiencing a marked slowdown. India's annual population growth has averaged 1.2% since 2011, compared with 1.7% in the 10 years previously, government figures show.



Further slowing can be expected. India's total fertility rate (TFR) - children per woman - fell to 2 in the latest assessment period, for 2019-2021, from 3.4 in 1992-93, according to a government report issued last month. It is estimated that the average must be 2.1 for the population to reproduce itself.
Hoshiarpur (PB): A man rushed towards Rahul Gandhi and tried to hug him as the Bharat Jodo Yatra traversed through the district on Tuesday but was stopped by Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring. Inspector General of Police G S Dhillon said Gandhi had himself called the man and there was no security breach. Warring also said there was no breach of security and that the man was an overenthusiastic supporter of Gandhi. In a video of the incident, the man wearing a jacket could be seen rushing towards the Congress MP and trying to embrace him. But Warring and other party workers accompanying Gandhi stopped him and pushed him away. "I have verified it. Rahul ji himself called him (the man) and then he tried to hug him (the Congress MP). After that (Amrinder Singh) Raja warring pushed him away as the yatra moves with a certain speed and it affects its movement," Dhillon said, adding there was nothing to suggest that it was a security breach.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra resumed from Tanda here Tuesday morning as part of its Punjab leg, amid biting cold conditions.The Yatra will halt for the night at Mukerian. The march, which started from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, will conclude in Srinagar by January 30, with Gandhi hoisting the national flag in the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

Also Read: Bhagwant Mann should not be 'anyone's remote control', says Rahul Gandhi; Punjab CM hits back

It has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

#WATCH | Punjab: A man tried to hug Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, during Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hoshiarpur, was later pulled away by workers.



(Source: Congress social media) pic.twitter.com/aybyojZ1ps  ANI (@ANI) January 17, 2023

On Saturday, the march was suspended for 24 hours in view of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary death. The MP had suffered a cardiac arrest during the yatra. The march had resumed on Sunday afternoon in Jalandhar. The Punjab leg of the march began on Wednesday from Sirhind in Fatehgarh Sahib.
Chandigarh: A 25-year-old woman in Chandigarh suffered serious injuries after a speeding car rammed into her, while she was feeding the stray dogs, police said.

The incident pertains to Saturday night, while the woman was feeding the stray dogs at Chandigarh's Sector 53's furniture market was hit by a speeding vehicle.

The woman was rushed to the hospital and is under treatment at Sector 16.

WATCH: Woman hit by a speeding car in Chandigarh while she was feeding street dogs

#WATCH | A woman was hit by a speeding car in Chandigarh while she was feeding street dogs.



Police says that FIR is being registered. The incident happened in Sector 53 and the woman is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital (16.01)



(CCTV Visuals) pic.twitter.com/dabBgAMY3I  ANI (@ANI) January 16, 2023

According to the police, primarily investigations suggested that the speeding four-wheeler was travelling on the wrong side.

"The main accused is absconding. A case has been registered into the matter," police said, adding that the condition of the woman is out of danger.



Police's investigation into this matter is underway.
Sagardighi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday alleged that the BJP-led Union government was discriminating against the state when it comes to disbursement of MGNREGA funds. She claimed that the Centre owes West Bengal Rs 6,000 crore for the scheme.

"The central government is not releasing MGNREGA funds for West Bengal. It owes us Rs 6,000 crore. BJP-ruled states, however, are getting funds for the 100 days' work scheme.

"Why is West Bengal facing such discrimination despite being number one in MGNREGA implementation? We are running the scheme without any central assistance," Banerjee said at an administrative review meeting at Sagardighi in Murshidabad district.

The chief minister alleged that funds for rural roads, too, are yet to be released.

"They are, however, collecting tax from here. Anyone who thinks the BJP can have its way is wrong. Duping people, killing their livelihood cannot continue. Ram, Bam (Left Front), Shyam (Congress) have become one.

"In a bid to defeat me, you are attempting to kill the livelihoods of workers and farmers. Are you trying to exhibit your power? Today, you are a hero, but tomorrow, when you are not in power, you will be a big zero. I'm not here to take any revenge but I'll bring about a change," she said.

Banerjee rued the lack of central funds for the Gangasagar Mela, despite the heavy footfall at the annual congregation.

Banerjee, who had been demanding the status of 'national fair' for Gangasagar Mela, noted that 70 lakh pilgrims have taken holy dip at the congregation this year.

"Whatever we could, we did for the Gangasagar Mela. There's nothing to be worried about; we will generate funds as per our capability... I will not impose tax on pilgrims, but I will definitely try to get funds for the fair.

"You (Centre) cannot just decide on not giving funds and then disallow us, too, from sourcing it from elsewhere," she said.

The TMC supremo, during the day, urged her party workers to be honest and humble.

"Don't be greedy. Apologise to people (for mistakes), and if you taken something from someone, give it back to them," she told her partymen.

On visits by central teams to West Bengal to oversee the implementation of various schemes, Banerjee alleged that they were being sent to "harass" the state government.

"A central team is sent to West Bengal even if a firefly enters a BJP leader's house. Why are such teams not sent to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi or Gujarat over any incident? The Union government is harassing West Bengal by sending central teams over trivial matters," she added.

Referring to the seizure of a large amount of money from properties linked to party MLA Jakir Hossain by Income Tax officials, Banerjee said the leader was targeted because he is from the TMC.

She also claimed that Hossain, the MLA of Jangipur in Murshidabad district, has been framed.

Cash amounting to around Rs 11 crore was seized from at least 20 properties linked to Hossain in Kolkata, New Delhi and Murshidabad during the I-T raids on January 11 and 12.

"Jakir is a 'bidi' industrialist. Around 20,000 people work for him. Will he be paying them through bank transactions? How many bidi workers have bank accounts? Central agencies are selectively targeting TMC leaders. There were attempts to kill Jakir. A conspiracy is being hatched against him," Banerjee said.

Hossain had earlier claimed that the seized money was meant for paying salaries of his employees.

In an apparent reference to BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari, who, earlier as a TMC member, had looked after party affairs in Murshidabad, she said, "It's my ill fate that someone who was entrusted with the responsibility of this district is now directing central agencies to the homes of TMC leaders."

The TMC supremo also criticised the "illegal" arrest of party spokesperson Saket Gokhale by Gujarat Police from Banga Bhavan in New Delhi last week.

Claiming that a team of the Gujarat Police, along with their Delhi counterparts, entered Banga Bhavan sans permission and seized the CCTV footage of the incident, Banerjee said she will ask Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi to be on guard and take legal action against anyone seen entering a state government-owned property without approval of authorities.

"You (cops) have seized the CCTV footage from Banga Bhavan, where governors, judges and journalists, too, put up. Even I stay there sometimes when I visit Delhi. Who gave you the right to seize the footage? Where did you get the audacity to do it?" Banerjee said.
Chaibasa: More than 60 adolescent girl students sneaked out of their residential school and walked for 17 km through deserted roads at night to reach the collectorate of Jhakhand's West Singhbhum district and complain to the deputy commissioner about "atrocities" committed by their hostel warden. The class 11 students of Kasturba Gandhi Residential Girls School at Khuntpani reached the collectorate in Chaibasa around 7 am on Monday to lodge a complaint with Deputy Commissioner Ananya Mittal.

The girl students' action created a stir among officials of the district education department. On the DC's directive, District Superintendent of Education (DSE) Abhay Kumar Shil reached the spot and heard the grievances of the students, before sending them back to the school in vehicles. He assured the girls that the matter will be investigated and action will be taken against the warden.

The students told the DSE that they were forced to eat stale food, clean toilets and students of lower classes were compelled to sleep on the floor on just mats in the prevailing cold, and they were beaten up by the warden if they protested. They also alleged that the warden compelled the students to lie to senior officials when they visited the school for inspection.

After reaching Chaibasa, the girls dialed local Congress MP Geeta Koda, who, in turn, informed the DC about the girls' action. The DC then asked the DSE to look into the matter. Shil said a team will be formed to probe the allegation.
New Delhi: A student was found dead at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ranchi on Tuesday (January 17). The student was found dead in his hostel room that was locked from inside. The deceased's hands were tied.

Speaking to ANI SP Ranchi-Rural informed that an SIT has been constituted to probe the case and the FSL team has seized a mobile phone found in the room.

The body of the deceased has been sent for postmortem and further details are awaited.
Joshimath is sinking: Describing the situation in calamity-hit Joshimath as 'very dangerous', West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the residents of the tiny hill town in Uttarakhand were not responsible for the disaster and the Centre must take steps on a war-footing to protect people. She said the government should have taken steps much earlier as there were already predictions of land subsidence. Banerjee said the Raniganj coal belt in West Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district might also face a fate similar to that of Joshimath as the area is also subsidence-prone.

"Why were necessary steps not taken when there were warnings of possible landslides? The situation in Joshimath is very dangerous. The residents of the hill town, however, are not responsible. It is the duty of the government to take care of the people if there is any disaster," Banerjee said at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata. "The government must take steps on a war-footing so that people do not suffer," she added.

Banerjee was leaving for Alipurduar where she is scheduled to meet party leaders and hold meetings with government officials before leaving for poll-bound Meghalaya. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that the people of poll-bound Meghalaya want a change in the government. Banerjee, who is scheduled to visit the northeastern state on Wednesday, said there should be a peaceful resolution of the Assam-Meghalaya border dispute. "People of Meghalaya want a change (in government). There have been issues between Assam and Meghalaya. There should be a peaceful resolution to the border dispute between the two states," Banerjee told reporters at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here before leaving for Alipurduar district in northern West Bengal.

The Trinamool Congress supremo, who will be accompanied by the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and MP Derek O'Brien, is scheduled to hold a public meeting in North Garo Hills district in Meghalaya ahead of the assembly polls due this year. Banerjee had addressed a TMC workers' convention in the northeastern state in December.

The TMC has been trying to expand its footprint in Meghalaya, along with Assam and Tripura. It became the main opposition party in Meghalaya after several Congress rebel MLAs led by former chief minister Mukul Sangma joined the Banerjee-led party. At least six people, including five tribals from Meghalaya and an Assam forest guard, were killed in a violent clash along the disputed inter-state boundary in November last year.
New Delhi: The Delhi Police has slapped murder charges against six people accused in the Kanjhawala accident in which a woman was killed after being dragged by a car, officials said on Tuesday (January 17). Six of the seven accused in the case were initially charged under section 304 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder), they said. A murder charge may attract the death penalty or imprisonment for life and a fine.

"In the Sultanpuri incident, after the collection of physical, oral, forensic and other scientific evidence, the police has added section 302 IPC in place of section 304 IPC. "Further investigation in the case is in progress," Sagar Preet Hooda, Special Commissioner of Police (Law and order) said.

The move comes a day after the Delhi Police told a sessions court that it will invoke section 302 of the Indian Penal Code in the case.

In a statement, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Outer) Harendra K Singh said the police has moved Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) for early grant of compensation to victim's family.

After examination of facts and circumstances, a case under sections 279 (Rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304A (Causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code was registered, he said.

During further investigation, section 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) were also added in the case on the same day the incident was reported, he said.

"The purpose of inducting section 304A IPC was to also ensure maximum benefit to the victim's family from the MACT since the victim was the only bread earner for the family."

"First Accident Report (FAR) was sent to MACT. Accident Claim Form No.54 has also been filled up. Delhi Police has been filling the compensation claim in the MACT, with best effort in order to get maximum amount as compensation for the deceased's family members so that the survivors are taken care of," the DCP said.

On Friday, police suspended 11 of its personnel who were on PCR and picket duty on the route at which the 20-year-old woman was killed after being dragged under a car from Sultanpuri to Kanjhawala.

The move was initiated a day after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed Delhi Police to suspend all its personnel deployed on the route following a report into the accident submitted by an inquiry committee headed by Special Commissioner Shalini Singh.

Anjali Singh was killed in the early hours of new year's day after her scooter was hit by a car, which dragged her for more than 12 kilometres.

The police had arrested Deepak Khanna (26), Amit Khanna (25), Krishan (27), Mithun (26), and Manoj Mittal in the case on January 2.

Later, they zeroed in on Ashutosh, who was arrested four days later. Another accused Ankush had surrendered on Friday and was released on bail the next day.

Anjali's parents and relatives had also staged a protest outside the Sultanpuri police station demanding justice for their daughter.

They had demanded that section 302 should be added to the FIR, alleging that the accused continued driving the car despite knowing that the woman was beneath their car.
Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena for tossing away the government's proposal to send government school teachers to Finland for training purposes. He accused him of the same while addressing the special assembly session. The tussle between the AAP government and the L-G office over the plan is going on for some time now.

Lashing out a VK Saxena, Arvind Kejriwal questioned LG's authority to have any stand over these decisions. "Who is L-G to stop them," Kejriwal asked.

He further questioned LG intentions considering he has objected to the plan twice. "Why is the LG sitting on our head? The LG is saying get the training done in India...Why get it done here... The LG does not have the power to do this, Who is he to decide how our children should be educated?," says Kejriwal.

He then calls out on VK Saxena for complaining about his handwriting and spelling, further saying even his teachers did not check his homework the way this LG is doing. "He is not my headmaster? I am an elected chief minister," he added.

A furious Kejriwal says that during British rule, Viceroys used to say that Indians don't know how to govern and now this LG is saying that Delhiwalas don't know how to govern.

Kejriwal, through his plan, wants to send 30 teachers to Finland for training aiming to increase the teachers efficiency and to motivate them. However, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has scrapped the plan twice saying that he wants a cost-benefit analysis.
New Delhi: Delhi Police are looking for a man who allegedly cheated the Leela Palace hotel in Delhi by posing as a member of the UAE royal family and staying there for more than three months. The individual, who is now missing, is said to have departed the star hotel without paying a bill totaling more than Rs. 23 lakhs. Mahamed Sharif has been recognised as a man. Sharif told hotel personnel that he worked for Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family. He booked into a hotel with a bogus business card impersonating an important government official in the UAE, as per media reports.

Sharif stayed at the hotel in the centre of Delhi from August 1 to November 20 and then abruptly left. Not only that, but he allegedly stole silverware and other stuff from his room, according to police. Sharif's total cost at The Leela Palace was roughly Rs.35 lakh, however, he only paid Rs 11.5 lakh before leaving.

According to the media reports, Police said that We are checking if he has done this before. He paid part of the bill in August-September last year and later gave the hotel a cheque for Rs 20 lakh. The cheque was submitted in November and it was found that it bounced due to insufficient funds," the report quoted a senior police officer as saying.

A man, Mahamed Sharif, ran off from Leela Palace hotel without settling outstanding bills of Rs 23.46 lakh after staying from Aug 1 to Nov 20,last yr. He checked into hotel with fake business card impersonating as important functionary of UAE govt; he's untraceable, said police as quoted by ANI. The hotel staff believes the man arranged this and told them he would make the remaining money on November 22. However, he had gone missing two days previously.
A Langdon man, and four ambulance workers and the patient they were tending were injured in a two-vehicle crash in northeastern North Dakota.

The Edmore Ambulance crew responded to a rollover crash around midday Monday on an ice-covered state Highway 1 northeast of Edmore, according to the North Dakota Highway Patrol. They were caring for 63-year-old Kathy Borgen, of St. Cloud, Florida, when the parked ambulance was rear-ended by a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Leonard Klein, 89, of Langdon. Klein suffered serious injuries and was taken by ambulance to Langdon Prairie Health for treatment.

Edmore Ambulance crew members Doug Loff, 62, Bruce Berg, 67, and Megan Diseth, 32, suffered minor injuries, and Taylor Trontvet, 32, was seriously injured, the Patrol said. All are from Edmore. Trontvet and Diseth were transported to Langdon Prairie Health.

Borgen suffered minor injuries and was taken to First Care Hospital in Park River for treatment.

The Patrol is still investigating. The Edmore Fire Department, Lakota Ambulance, Cavalier County Sheriffs Office and Ramsey County Sheriffs Office also responded.
Gwalior: In a bid to apologise for the bad condition of a road in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior, Energy Minister Pradhuman Singh Tomar on Monday washed the feet of a person. Talking to the news agency ANI, the minister said, "I apologised to people for the bad condition of the road & promised to repair the road which was dug for a sewer line work."

Tomar made headlines in December after he was offered a pair of slippers by Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. The minister had pledged to stay barefoot over demand for road construction and got to wear slippers three months later. He was walking barefoot over the bad condition of roads in Gwalior.

Also Read: WATCH: MP minister walking barefoot over road construction demand wears slippers again, courtesy Jyotiraditya Scindia

Tomar tweeted a video where Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia can be seen offering him a pair of slippers.

Madhya Pradesh Min Pradhuman Singh washed the feet of a person as the minister apologised for the bad condition of road in Gwalior



I apologised to people for the bad condition of the road & promised to repair the road which was dug for a sewer line work, said the minister (16.1) pic.twitter.com/nK8MzZBBto  ANI MP/CG/Rajasthan (@ANI_MP_CG_RJ) January 17, 2023

Pradhuman Singh Tomar is a BJP MLA from Gwalior. He had received complaints regarding bad roads in October this year from locals and had then vowed to stay barefoot until the construction of roads.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: A man from Uttar Pradesh, who was among the five Indians killed in a plane crash in Nepal on Sunday, had gone to pay obeisance at the famous Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu after his wish for a son was fulfilled.

32-year-old Sonu Jaiswal, a liquor store owner in Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur district, has two daughters and had taken a vow to visit the Pashupatinath Temple if he had a son, his relative and Chak Jainab village head Vijay Jaiswal told news agency PTI.

"Sonu, along with his three friends, had gone to Nepal on January 10. His main purpose was to pay obeisance to Lord Pashupatinath as his wish to have a son, now six months old, has been fulfilled. But fate had something else in store for him," Vijay Jaiswal said.

His friends were identified as Abhishek Kushwaha, 26, Vishal Sharma, 27, and Anil Kumar Rajbhar, 25.

Four Indians killed in Nepal plane crash were going for paragliding in Pokhara

According to villagers, the four friends killed in the Nepal plane crash were to return to Ghazipur on Tuesday after paragliding in the popular tourist hub of Pokhara.

While Abhishek Kushwaha belonged to Dharwa in the Nonhara area, Vishal Sharma was from Alawalpur Chatti village in the Badesar area, and Anil Kumar Rajbhar was a resident of Chak Jainab.

According to locals, Sharma worked as a computer operator in a two-wheeler showroom, Kushwaha was in the computer business and Rajbhar operated a "Jan Sewa Kendra" (public service centre).

Nepal plane crash: Rescue workers retrieve 69 bodies

Meanwhile, rescue workers have retrieved 69 bodies from the accident site in Nepal's Pokhara.

Officials said 41 bodies out of 69 recovered so far have been identified, while three missing persons are believed to be dead and rescuers will resume their operation on Tuesday to retrieve the bodies.

The Yeti Airlines' 9N-ANC ATR-72 aircraft crashed on the bank of the Seti River between the old airport and the new airport minutes before landing.

According to reports, the ill-fated aircraft was 15 years old and equipped with an 'old transponder with unreliable data'.

Pokhara plane crash is Nepal's third worst tragedy

According to Nepal's civil aviation body, 914 people have died in air crashes in the country since the first disaster was recorded in August 1955.

The tragedy in Pokhara on Sunday is the 104th crash in Nepali skies and the third biggest in terms of casualties.

The only incidents in which more people were killed took place in July and September 1992. Those crashes involved aircraft of Thai Airways and Pakistan International Airlines and left 113 and 167 people dead, respectively.

The last major air accident in Nepal happened on May 29 when all 22 people onboard, including four members of an Indian family, were killed as a Tara Air plane crashed in Nepal's mountainous Mustang district.

Nepal has had a fraught record of aviation accidents, partly due to its sudden weather changes and airstrips located in hard-to-access rocky terrains.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today made a big statement regarding cousin and BJP MP Varun Gandhi, who is speculated to leave his party and join Congress. Rahul Gandhi, who is constantly making headlines for his Bharat Jodo Yatra, says he can lovingly meet and hug cousin Varun Gandhi, however, does not agree with or support his ideology. Rahul Gandhi made it clear that the Congress party might be a problem for Varun Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi said that Varun Gandhi at some point accepted the ideology of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which he can never accept. Rahul Gandhi, who recently took a jibe at RSS and called them 'Kauravas' of the 21st century, said that would rather choose to be beheaded before stepping foot into the RSS office, an ideological source for ruling BJP. He said that his family has an ideology, a thought system.

Referring to an incident, Rahul Gandhi said that years ago Varun Gandhi had told him that RSS is doing very good work in the country. "I told him if you have read and seen what our family stood for, you wouldn't accept it," he said.

There has been a buzz of Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi who keeps a rebellious attitude and criticizes the policies of his own party and government from time to time to leave BJP and join Congress.
New Delhi: India on Tuesday welcomed the UN Security Council decision to declare Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba leader Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist and said threats from terrorism in the region remain high and sanctions by the UNSC are an effective tool to curb such threats. External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi also said India will continue to press the international community to take credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorism.

"We welcome the decision of the UN Security Council's ISIL and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee to list Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed," Bagchi said in response to questions.

Bagchi said Makki has occupied various leadership roles in LeT, including raising funds for the organisation.

"Threats from terrorist organisations in the region remain high and listings and sanctions by the UNSC, are an effective tool to curb such threats and dismantle terror infrastructure in the region," Bagchi said.

He said India remained committed to pursuing a zero-tolerance approach to terrorism and will continue to press the international community to take credible, verifiable and irreversible action against terrorism.

Makki was designated a global terrorist by the UN after China lifted its hold on a joint India-US proposal to blacklist the LeT's deputy chief, subjecting him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo, after years of efforts by India and its allies.

Makki's listing comes seven months after China, a close ally of Pakistan, had put a hold on a joint proposal by India and the US to designate the head of the political affairs wing of JuD/LeT.


New Delhi: During the first day of the two-day-long Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive meeting in New Delhi on Monday, attendees discussed a nine-point political resolution, moved by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, sources said. As per party sources, during the first day of the national executive meeting, Union Law Minister and party leader proposed a nine-point political resolution, which was seconded by Uttar Pradesh`s Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya along with Karnataka`s State Minister Govind Karjol.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju highlighted several instances in the resolution accusing the opposition parties of running a negative campaign against the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Addressing a press conference at NDMC Convention Centre, New Delhi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that various topics were discussed during the meeting today which included the discussion on the Opposition`s derogatory remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, G20, and Assembly elections.

"Today a briefing has been held on how the activities of the 4 states are progressing which include Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Karnataka," she said."There have been detailed discussions over 9 points introduced in the resolution for this year`s NEC.

The first discussion was on how opposition parties are using abusive language for attacking PM Modi ji," Sitharaman said. Accusing the Opposition of continuously running negative campaigns against the BJP and PM Modi, Nirmala Sitharaman said that the Supreme Court "crushed" their campaigns and "exposed them"."Opposition continuously ran negative campaigns against BJP and used abusive language to attack PM on many issues like Pegasus, Rafael deal, Enforcement Directorate money laundering, Central Vista, Economic basis-reservations, and Demonetization. All these cases were fought in court and judgement has been in favour of the central govt. SC crushed Opposition`s negative campaigns and exposed them through legal responses," she said.

9-point political resolution at BJP''s'' national executive meeting targets Opposition.BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday briefed the mediapersons about party president JP Nadda`s speech on the first day of the National Executive meeting. Addressing a press conference, Prasad said, "BJP chief JP Nadda said in the National Executive meeting that 2023 is very important and we have to fight and win nine state elections this year and then general elections in 2024."Prasad said Nadda called upon the entire executive to gear up for the elections to ensure victory in all nine States."BJP chief also discussed recently concluded polls and that Gujarat`s victory was historic and unprecedented. About Himachal polls, he said that we were supposed to change the tradition of changing government but we could not do that," Prasad said.

He said 72,000 booths were marked in 100 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country where BJP was weak and where the party had to reach. "But reached 1.30 lakh booths and make people aware of the policies of the party," Prasad said. He said in the BJP National Executive meeting, Nadda highlighted the Panch Pran given by PM Modi which includes freedom from traces of the colonial past, holding pride in Indian tradition, commitment to making a developed India, unity in diversity, and making citizens responsible towards the nation.Prasad said that on the occasion of the completion of 200 years of Dayanand Saraswati, birth, BJP will organise a grand programme in February.

He said the BJP chief also highlighted the work culture of New India citing the example of the COVID vaccination programme."Putting an end to the past of slavery, we changed the `Rajpath` which lasted for 75 years to `Kartavya Path`. Taking pride in our traditions, we built the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor, Mahakal Lok Corridor, restored the glory of Kedarnath and now the Ram Mandir," the BJP leader said. Quoting JP Nadda, Prasad said the BJP chief remarked that India has overtaken Britain to become the world`s fifth-largest economy. Not only that, India has become the second largest manufacturer of mobile phones and more than 95 per cent of mobile phones used in the country are made in India.

He said Nadda highlighted the fact that India is making semi-high-speed trains. India`s fintech movement now contributes to 40 per cent of digital transactions worldwide."This shows our resolve towards Make in India and making a developed India. Our resolution of a developed India seems to be coming true," he said. Quoting Nadda, Prasad said Defence deals during the BJP government are being done with complete honesty. "Border roads have been built up to 3,600 kms while the Defence Minister of Congress did not want to do so," Prasad said. Prasad said Nadda suggested that the BJP machinery learn from the Gujarat polls victory.

He said Nadda asserted that BJP workers are working hard in Telangana and the party is confident to register a victory in the southern State."During his address at the National Executive meeting, Nadda noted that it is for the first time that India`s President comes from a tribal community and the deprived class has been respected by our party," he said. Ravi Shankar Prasad also cleared the buzz about the extension of the BJP president Nadda`s tenure.

He said, "There was no discussion on Nadda`s tenure as BJP president which is scheduled to end this month."The two-day National Executive meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started on Monday at the NDMC Convention Centre in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda, Union Ministers including Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States and other senior party leaders also participated at the key meeting.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Monday, listed Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist under its ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki has sanctioned a global terrorist based on his links in the 2000 Red Fort attack and 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Makki is the brother-in-law of LeT leader and founder Hafiz Saeed who was the mastermind of 26/11 attack.

In 2022, India and the United States jointly proposed to list Makki under the UN Security Council's Al-Qaida and ISIL Sanctions Committee which is also known as the UMSC 1267 Committee, however, China blocked the proposal by placing a "technical hold" over it. China has previously used the same measure to block the sanction of Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar.

Welcoming Makki's listing, External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that such sanctions is an "effective tool" to counter terrorist threats and dismantle terror infrastructure in the region. We welcome the decision of the UN Security Councils ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee to list Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) terrorist Abdul Rehman Makki, who is also the brother-in-law of LeT leader Hafiz Saeed. Makki has occupied various leadership roles in LeT, including raising funds for the organisation," he said.
New Delhi: Katrina Kaif is a vibe, no matter what she wears, she looks like a diva. The actress was snapped yesterday at the airport looking stunning in a subtle mustard palazzo set BUT her fans noticed a little something that has now sparked the rumours of her being pregnant.

The 'Tiger 3' star has yet again sparked pregnancy rumours after she was spotted out and about in Mumbai. The gorgeous wife of Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal was returning from an undisclosed location and was surrounded by the paps all over.

Viral Bhayani shared the video of Katrina and the comment section was flooded with compliements for the actress. One fan wrote, 'Just love how elegantly she dresses and even Kangana their airport looks are my most favourite'. Another one wrote, 'God's most beautiful creation,' 'Struck by her Aura..glowing aura Her walk is powerful yet subtle..gorgeous,' added a third user.

However, a few also felt that she is pregnant, one netizen commented, 'She seems pregnant,' 'Pregnant?' asked another.

Katrina had the internet thinking she was pregnant last month as well. Her usual style never sparks rumours but the day she appears in baggy outfits, fans get curious.

On the work front, Katrina has a couple of movies in the pipeline. She will be soon seen in 'Merry Christmas' with Vijay Sethupathi, 'Tiger 3' with Salman Khan and also in 'Jee Le Zara' with Priyanka Chopra and Alia Bhatt.
NEW DELHI: Actress Evelyn Sharma, who welcomed her first child almost one-and-a-half year back, is all set to embrace motherhood again. The actress took to social media and announced that she is expecting her second child with her husband, an Indo-Australian dental surgeon Dr Tushaan Bhindi.

The photo shared by Evelyn showed her with a heavy baby bump. She was clad in a black crop top and flaunted her bump. Captioning the photos, she wrote, "Can't wait to hold you in my arms!! Baby 2 is on the way!"

Several Bollywood celebrities took to social media and commented on her photo with some adorable posts.

Neha Dhupia wrote, "Many congratulations twice the love and fun."

Neil Nitin Mukesh wrote, "Congratulations to you my dearest such great news

Lisa Haydon wrote, "Congrats Evelyn. Beautiful news"

Elnaaz Norouzi wrote, "wow"

Actress Evelyn Sharma got married to her long-term beau and fiance Tushaan Bhindi on May 15, 2021. In June, she had taken to Instagram to share gorgeous photos from her dreamy countryside wedding in Australia. She currently resides in Australia with her husband and daughter - Ava. The actress celebrated her daughter's first birthday in November last year and shared pics and videos from the celebrations with her fans.

While Tushaan Bhindi is an Australia-based surgeon and also entrepreneur, Evelyn is famous for playing side roles in various Bollywood films. She gained fame after she shared the screen space with Ranbir Kapoor in 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'. She has also been a part of films like 'Main Tera Hero', 'Jab Harry Met Sejal', 'Saaho', 'Nautanki Sala' among others.
New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is making headlines these days due to his upcoming release 'Pathaan.' The actor's clothes and looks are being praised by his fans and now his watch has taken over the internet. Netizens are surprised to know the cost of SRK's expensive watches.

Everyone is aware of the actor's nawabi hobbies of expensive watches but the one he wore recently has made headlines. SRK attended the opening ceremony of the International League T20 and at the event, he wore a stunning watch whose cost is now doing rounds on social media. SRK's watch is worth of Rs. 4 crores 74 lakh 47 thousand rupees.

The brand #AudemarsPiguet watch which @iamsrk is wearing is worth rupees 4,74,47,984.00

4Crore 74Laks 47Thounds Rupees. pic.twitter.com/lSgK8Ld5oO  Shahebaz (@Shahebaz4Srk) January 16, 2023

As beautiful as this watch is, its price is very surprising. Actually, a fan of Bollywood's 'Baadshah' found out the price of the actor's special watch. The watch is of Audemars Piguet brand, whose model is named Royal Oak Perchual Calendar. The market value of the watch is around 4 crore 74 lakh 47 thousand rupees.

Knowing the price of Shahrukhs watch, the fans are shocked, they have now taken it to social media and are expressing their views. One user wrote, 'I will buy its 40th copy from Sarojini, 400 rupees.' Another user wrote, 'Time looks the same, what is special?' Also, many of the actor's fans have praised Shah Rukh's beautiful watch.

'Pathaan' is about to release on January 25, its recently released trailer is making a splash on social media. Deepika Padukone and John Abraham are also a part of this film.
New Delhi: Sushant Singh Rajput, the actor who ruled millions of hearts passed away in 2020 and now, his beloved dog Fudge has gone to him too. Sushant's sister Priyanka Singh shared the heartbreaking news on Twitter and it has taken over the internet.

Sharing pictures of Fudge with SSR, Priyanka wrote, 'So long Fudge! You joined your friends Heavenly territory will follow soon! Till then so heart broken.'

So long Fudge! You joined your friends Heavenly territory will follow soon! Till then so heart broken pic.twitter.com/gtwqLoELYV  Priyanka Singh (@withoutthemind) January 16, 2023

Fans were heartbroken seeing the post and said that the pet has finally met his master in heaven. They flooded the comment section with sad emojis. Many even shared new posts honoring the pet dog. One fan wrote, "Im so sorry di, sending you to love Its absolutely heartbreaking for us. They are reunited now in heaven. And I knew, dogs dont last forever after their owner is gone. Fudge." "Di, cant explain how devastated Im. This news once again shattered my heart into million pieces. Anyone/ Anything related to Sushant is very close to my heart. All I can say my Sona Di, stay strong though this loss is inconsolable. Im speechless and heartbroken. Miss u Fudge" added another.

Fudge never left Sush's side and as a loyal friend and partner, he decides to follow him even to heavens.. such was their bond always.. May Fudge's soul rests in peace. Om Shanti    (@HeenaParnani) January 16, 2023

You were lived by divine soul on earth fudge . Hope you meet you friend in after life too. Hope you be together in next birth too but your friend need loyal ones be there in his next birth as besty in human form. Stay strong di @withoutthemind my only di pic.twitter.com/sftgGpOQ4V  Ishh (@Ishh90891527) January 16, 2023

Heaven has gained an Angel



God bless his soul with peace



Fudge

pic.twitter.com/9DZO09HKSN  Justice4SSR (@Justice132465) January 16, 2023

R.I.P. FUDGE

Nothing to say ..this is very heart breking news to us all...but he is a true friend of Sushant and went to his friend to live happily with him forever and ever...

Sushant Lived InDMoment pic.twitter.com/gUb925Zm0r  Madhumita Roy Chowdhury( SSRF) (@MadhumitaroyC) January 17, 2023

The news of Fudge's death comes a few days before Sushant Singh Rajput's birth anniversary. The actor passed away on June 14, 2020. SSR was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai and it shook the nation.
Amid rising prescription drug prices, a bipartisan group of legislators wants to establish a ceiling on the amount diabetic North Dakotans pay for insulin.

Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, is sponsoring Senate Bill 2140, which would cap the price of a 30-day supply of insulin at $25. Co-payments for related medical supplies, including blood glucose meters, insulin pen needles and syringes, would also be capped at $25 per 30 days.

The Senate in 2021 narrowly defeated a similar proposal that would have applied only to residents covered by a public employees' insurance plan.

A 2020 report prepared by nonprofit think tank RAND Corp. found that insulin prices had increased dramatically over the past decade in the United States. The average manufacturer price of the life-saving drug in the U.S. was about 10 times higher than in other developed countries as of 2018, according to the report.

But lawmakers across the nation have recently begun to tackle rising pharmaceutical prices with legislation. In just the last three years, nearly two dozen states have established insulin price caps.

Mathern told the Senate Human Service Committee last week that his bill is needed to save lives and prevent the economic destruction of family units.

Sen. Dick Dever, a Bismarck Republican who backed the failed bill in 2021, said Wednesday that North Dakotans who depend on insulin sometimes have to ration their doses of the drug due to cost considerations.

There is no reason that insulin needs to be priced as high as it is, Dever said.

Mathern argued that insulin costs are such a strain on diabetic residents that the Legislature should bypass a rule that requires drug price caps to undergo a two-year trial period in which the changes are applied only to public employees health care plans.

Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo, disagreed with Mathern, saying it frustrates me that we expect everybody else to follow the laws that we pass, but we dont follow our own.

The well-attended hearing at the state Capitol pitted mothers of diabetic children against lobbyists for insurance providers.

Angela Kritzberger said her teenage daughter with Type 1 diabetes nearly died as a young child due to complications from the auto-immune disease. The Hillsboro resident said an insulin price cap is critical to ensuring diabetic North Dakotans like her daughter can attain the drug.

Affordable access to necessary life-saving medicines and supplies should be the minimum standard of care, Kritzberger said.

Danelle Johnson, a Horace resident whose adult daughter is diabetic, said the inability to afford insulin is more daunting than having a family member diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Dylan Wheeler, a lobbyist for Sanford Health Plan, said the costs of a co-payment cap on insulin for insurance providers would have to be passed along to other customers covered by the companies. He added that the proposed price cap would eliminate certain rebates paid out by drug manufacturers that result in savings for customers.

Megan Houn, a lobbyist for Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, said some insurance providers including Blue Cross are establishing lower insulin prices without a government mandate. She added that lower-cost insulin is beginning to hit the market.

Committee Chairwoman Judy Lee, R-West Fargo, noted that any insulin price cap wouldnt affect residents on self-funded health care plans, which are common among employees of small businesses.

That is not a reason to blow this (bill) away but we cant fix it for everybody, Lee said.

Lee said the cause and effect of capping the price of insulin and potentially losing rebates from drug companies makes lawmakers task more complicated than just being humanitarian and trying to do the right thing.

The committee wont take action on the bill until after an employee benefits panel meets later this month, Lee said.
New Delhi: Employees Provident Fund organisation (EPFO) has announced to start some services for the ease of customers so they can avail those services at the comfort of their of homes. Pensioners don't need to visit any nearest physical branch to get those services now.

ALSO READ | Goldman Sachs calls employees at 7:30 am morning for meeting and fires them

The services provided by EPFO to pensioners online:

Online submission of pension claims (through EPFO member portal/ UMANG app). Online viewing of pension passbook. Downloading of pension payment order (PPO) from digi-locker. Submission of digital life certificate from home through mobile app.

What is UMANG App?

UMANG app, developed by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and National e-Governance Division (NeGD) is to drive Mobile Governance in India. UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services.

For the convenience of Aadhaar card users, UMANG App has added a new range of citizen-centric services.

"My #Aadhaar on the #UMANG App has added a new range of citizen-centric services! Get more information by downloading the UMANG App now; give a missed call to 97183-97183," tweeted UMANG App India.
New Delhi: The team of 'Ali Baba: Dastaan-e-Kabul' has returned to the original sets of the show and resumed shooting after the demise of Tunisha Sharma. Late actress' co-star Sayantani Ghosh confirmed in a new interview that the set was sealed for a month after Tunisha was found dead in the make-up room. Now, the team had shifted to a temporary new location and have finally resumed the shoot.

While talking to the Times of India, Sayantani said, "The production house has taken every measure possible to make us feel comfortable- and create an atmosphere of positivity. They have freshly painted the set in white, added more lights and hung new paintings. They opened the set yesterday and performed a puja."

"Though the producers tried to extend the stay as much as they could, the scenes now required us to be back here. Location mein hum ko bohot compromise karke chalna padd raha tha," she added.

20-year-old TV actress Tunisha Sharma committed suicide and it has shaken everyone. The actress was found dead in her co-actor and alleged boyfriend Sheezan Khan's make-up room on the sets of their show 'Dastaan-E-Kabul.'

Tunisha was said to be in a relationship with Sheezan, her co-actor. On the basis of a complaint filed by her mother, he has been arrested under Section 306 of the IPC.
Kolkata: Everyone who loves food and want to try new cuisines, explore new destinations here is a food destination list that can excite you. Eaters a popular food website which is known for covering food and dining culture around the globe has recently released a list of the eleven best food destinations in the world. If you want to eat delectable cuisine and savour your taste, read on to find out which nation you should put on your vacation itinerary next. Only one India city has made it to the list that is Kolkata . While judging the parameters, Eaters informed that they not only looked at the must-try dishes but "Also the aspects of meals that make them feel immersive: the people, environment, culture, and history behind foods that force us to pause and tempt us from preplanned paths."

In addition to its well-known rich culture and legacy, Kolkata is regarded as a culinary heaven. The place offers a wide range of flavours, and each dish will have you salivating. Even more people travel to Bengal to enjoy the indigenous cuisine. The food in Kolkata is now so well-liked and well-received that it has earned a spot among the world's top 11 culinary destination.

World's best food destinations 2023: Here's top 11 cities to enjoy food around the globe

1. Auckland, New Zeland

2. Asheville, North Carolina

3. Albuquerque, New Mexico

4. Guatemala City, Guatemala

5. Cambridge, England

6. Dakar, Senegal

7. Halland, Sweden

8. Sardinia, Italy

9. Kolkata, India

10. Manilla, Philippines

11. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Kolkata is ranked at number 9 in the list. The city is very well known for its delectable cuisine. Kolkata cuisine is to die for and includes paprichat, dum-aloo phuchkas, and dahi phuchkas, whether it be street-style or desi. The most well-liked dish in the state of Kolkata is macher jhol, which is available everywhere in the nation. Other delicious foods that you simply must try include Mishti Doi, Kosha Mangsho, Alur Torkari, Lucchi, Cholar Dal, Shukto, Chomchom, Sandesh, and Rasgullas.
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Delhi: Signal of terror received from Pakistan, trailer of 'Sir Tan Se Juda' in Jahangirpuri?

Yashwant Bhaskar | Updated: Jan 17, 2023, 05:18 PM IST

The suspected terrorists were detained by the Special Cell of Delhi Police from Jahangirpuri. During the interrogation of the terrorists, it was revealed that the Hindu leaders of Punjab were the target of the terrorists, now there is big news in this matter that the special cell is looking for four more suspects.
Pokhra: A scheduled domestic passenger flight operated by Yeti Airlines connected Kathmandu with Pokhara in Nepal crashed. The route's operating aircraft, an ATR 72 operated by Yeti Airlines, crashed while attempting to land in Pokhara on January 15, 2023, killing all 72 people on board. It is one of the most fatal ATR 72 accident ever. A shocking mobile video captured the final seconds befwore the plane crashed into a canyon about 1.6 kilometres (miles) from the new airport. The ATR-72 was developed in the late 1980s as a joint venture between France and Italy. Despite being involved in a number of fatal incidents over the years, many of which were caused by icing problems, the ATR-72 had a pretty solid track record.

There were 72 passengers on board, including four crew members. 57 Nepalis, five Indians, four Russians, two South Koreans, one each from Argentina, Ireland, Australia, and France were among the passengers.

Who was Elena Banduro?

One of the Russians in the Nepal crash was Elena Banduro a 33 year old vlogger and traveller. As luck would have it, Elena had uploaded a picture of herself to Instagram with the caption, "GO TO NEPAL!" just moments prior to the collision. Condolence posts flooded Elena's social media after she passed away. She was known for jolly nature and was described as "the brightest, kindest soul."

Elena's sister revealed that the Elena was expecting a child and was on her way to Nepal to visit her partner at the time of her death. According to her Facebook bio she was the manager of social media marketing at a business with headquarters in Russia.

She had previously worked in public relations for a different business, posting updates about her travels on social media. Elena had visited the Caucasus Nature Reserve in October 2022, a Russian nature preserve including a rugged region of the Northwest Caucasus mountains. She was on another adventurous trip to Nepal.

A day before the catastrophe, she last spoke to her sister. Elena told Elena's sister Ksenia about boarding the Yeti jet, according to Ksenia. "She wrote to me at 4:59 a.m. (Moscow time), 'Good morning, in Nepal, 7.44 a.m. I head to the airport because I have a flight to Pokhara right now.

She continued by saying that Elena had only recently told her family about her pregnancy. Her final Instagram post was published on January 5. The caption, which is translated from Russian, reads, "Turn up the sound."

She was a frequent traveller and used to post photos and videos on Instagram from her trips to different places including the Crimea, Kazakhstan, the Iturup island, and Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka.
BULL HOLLOW, Okla.  Ryan Mackey quietly sang a sacred Cherokee verse as he pulled a handful of tobacco out of a zip-close bag. Reaching over a barbed wire fence, he scattered the leaves onto the pasture where a growing herd of bison  popularly known as American buffalo  grazed in northeastern Oklahoma.

The offering represented a reverent act of thanksgiving, the 45-year-old explained, and a desire to forge a divine connection with the animals, his ancestors and the Creator.

When tobacco is used in the right way, its almost like a contract is made between you and the spirit  the spirit of our Creator, the spirit of these bison, Mackey said as a strong wind rumbled across the grassy field. Everything, they say, has a spiritual aspect. Just like this wind, we can feel it in our hands, but we cant see it.

Decades after the last bison vanished from their tribal lands, the Cherokee Nation is part of a nationwide resurgence of Indigenous people seeking to reconnect with the humpbacked, shaggy-haired animals that occupy a crucial place in centuries-old tradition and belief.

Since 1992 the federally chartered InterTribal Buffalo Council has helped relocate surplus bison from locations such as Badlands National Park in South Dakota, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona to 82 member tribes in 20 states.

Collectively those tribes manage over 20,000 buffalo on tribal lands, said Troy Heinert, a Rosebud Sioux Tribe member who serves as executive director of the InterTribal Buffalo Council, based in Rapid City, South Dakota. Our goal and mission is to restore buffalo back to Indian country for that cultural and spiritual connection that Indigenous people have with the buffalo.

Centuries ago, an estimated 30 million to 60 million bison roamed the vast Great Plains of North America, from Canada to Texas. But by 1900, European settlers had driven the species to near extinction, hunting them en masse for their prized skins and often leaving the carcasses to rot on the prairie.

Its important to recognize the history that Native people had with buffalo and how buffalo were nearly decimated.  Now with the resurgence of the buffalo, often led by Native nations, were seeing that spiritual and cultural awakening as well that comes with it, said Heinert, who is a South Dakota state senator.

Historically, Indigenous people hunted and used every part of the bison: for food, clothing, shelter, tools and ceremonial purposes. They did not regard the bison as a mere commodity, however, but rather as beings closely linked to people.

Many tribes viewed them as a relative, Heinert said. Youll find that in the ceremonies and language and songs.

Rosalyn LaPier, an Indigenous writer and scholar who grew up on the Blackfeet Nations reservation in Montana, said there are different mythological origin stories for bison among the various peoples of the Great Plains.

Depending on what Indigenous group youre talking to, the bison originated in the supernatural realm and ended up on Earth for humans to use, said LaPier, an environmental historian and ethnobotanist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. And theres usually some sort of story of how humans were taught to hunt bison and kill bison and harvest them.

Her Blackfeet tribe, for example, believes there are three realms: the sky world, the below world  that is, Earth  and the underwater world. Tribal lore, LaPier says, holds that the Blackfeet were vegetarians until an orphaned bison slipped out of the underwater world in human form and was taken in by two caring humans. As a result, the underwater bisons divine leader allowed more to come to Earth to be hunted and eaten.

In Oklahoma, the Cherokee Nation, one of the largest Native American tribes with 437,000 registered members, had a few bison on its land in the 1970s. But they disappeared.

It wasnt until 40 years later that the tribes contemporary herd was begun, when a large cattle trailer  driven by Heinert  arrived in fall 2014 with 38 bison from Badlands National Park. It was greeted by emotional songs and prayers from tribes people.

I can still remember the dew that was on the grass and the songs of the birds that were in the trees. ... I could feel the hope and the pride in the Cherokee people that day, Heinert said.

Since then, births and additional bison transplants from various locations have boosted the population to about 215. The herd roams a 500-acre pasture in Bull Hollow, an unincorporated area of Delaware County about 70 miles northeast of Tulsa, near the small town of Kenwood.

For now, the Cherokee are not harvesting the animals, whose bulls can weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand 6 feet tall, as leaders focus on growing the herd. But bison, a lean protein, could serve in the future as a food source for Cherokee schools and nutrition centers, said Bryan Warner, the tribes deputy principal chief.

Our hope is really not just for food sovereigntys sake but to really reconnect our citizens back in a spiritual way, said Warner, a member of a United Methodist church.

That reconnection in turn leads to discussions about other fauna, he added, from rabbits and turtles to quail and doves.

All these different animals  it puts you more in tune with nature, he said as bison sauntered through a nearby pond. And then essentially it puts you more in tune with yourself, because we all come from the same dirt that these animals are formed from  from our Creator.

Originally from the southeastern United States, the Cherokee were forced to relocate to present-day Oklahoma in 1838 after gold was discovered in their ancestral lands. The 1,000-mile removal, known as the Trail of Tears, claimed nearly 4,000 lives through sickness and harsh travel conditions.

While bison are more associated with Great Plains tribes than those with roots on the East Coast, the newly arrived Cherokee had connections with a slightly smaller subspecies, according to Mackey. The animals on the tribes lands today are not direct descendants, he explained, but close cousins with which the tribe is able to have a spiritual bond.

We dont speak the same language as the bison, Mackey said. But when you sit with them and spend time with them, relationships can be built on  other means than just language alone: sharing experiences, sharing that same space and just having a feeling of respect. Your body language changes when you have respect for someone or something.

Mackey grew up with Pentecostal roots on his fathers side and Baptist on his mothers. He still occasionally attends church, but finds more meaning in Cherokee ceremonial practices.

Even if (tribal members) are raised in church or in synagogue or wherever they choose to worship, their elders are Cherokee elders, he said. And this idea of relationship and respect and guardianship  with the land, with the Earth, with all those things that reside on it  its passed down. It still pervades our identity as Cherokee people.

Thats why he believes the bisons return to Cherokee lands is so important.

The bison arent just meat, he said. They represent abundance and health and strength.
Physicians are urging changes to a bill touted by supporters as clarifying North Dakota's abortion laws in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the constitutional right to an abortion last year.

Suggested changes include making it easier for pregnant women in dire medical situations to seek abortions.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday heard Senate Bill 2150, brought by Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, who said it is to "figure out how do we make the language that was already on the books concise and not ambiguous" in the state's 2007 abortion trigger ban and 2013 "heartbeat bill." The latter bans abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected -- as early as six weeks -- except when a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance with the law.

"This bill is not about whether you support or oppose abortion. This bill is about cleaning up some language," Myrdal told the Senate panel.

The Red River Women's Clinic, North Dakota's sole abortion provider, moved from Fargo to Moorhead, Minnesota, in the wake of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in June that triggered North Dakota's 2007 law to take effect. The clinic is challenging the state law, which would ban virtually all abortions but for cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. The state Supreme Court will rule soon on a judge's temporary block of the trigger ban.

Under the ban, doctors could be charged with a Class C felony for performing an abortion during medical emergencies and in cases of rape or incest, but they could argue in court that the affirmative defenses for rape, incest and protection of the life of a mother outlined in the law protect them from criminal liability.

The bill would change the ban's affirmative defenses into exceptions, which supporters say would take the legal burden off medical providers.

The bill would allow for abortions for rape and incest only before six weeks gestation. It also would allow for treatment of ectopic pregnancies, a dangerous, nonviable scenario in which a fertilized egg implants outside the uterus.

"These revisions might not be perfect," said North Dakota Catholic Conference Executive Director Christopher Dodson, who reviewed the bill for the panel. "We might find other sections or statutes that should be revised. ... The bill, however, provides a better way than the existing statutes of implementing what the Legislature has already enacted and removes unnecessary and confusing language."

Proposed changes

Physicians told the Senate panel of devastating pregnancy complications, and requested amendments they'd like to see for broader exceptions.

Those include changing "and" to "or" in language in the definition of a medical emergency, of "substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function."

"I cannot in good conscience sit and watch my patient deteriorate to the point of substantial and irreversible harm prior to intervention," Grand Forks obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Brendan Boe said.

Another request included extending the limit on six weeks gestation for abortions in cases of rape and incest. Many women don't know they're pregnant at that point in time.

"Proof of rape and incest will be difficult to obtain and the law does not make it clear when documentation will be required as proof," Bismarck maternal fetal medicine specialist Dr. Ana Tobiasz said. "Additionally, limiting this exception to six weeks gestation effectively makes it impossible for the majority of these individuals in horrific circumstances to seek abortion care."

She also raised concerns about the bill not allowing an exception for abortions "for lethal anomalies," such as anencephaly, or a fetus's absence of a skull.

"My ask is that these families not be forced to carry to term with these types of uniformly lethal diagnoses," Tobiasz told the Senate panel. "The majority of families who receive these types of diagnoses will opt for termination, and 100% of them currently travel out of state to receive the same compassionate care that they should be able to receive close to home."

Dickinson obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Erica Hofland said, "We give women these kind of dire diagnoses, we want to be able to let them be in the driver's seat. It's not you, it's not me, it is them and their family, and that is what I think is lacking in this."

The committee did not take immediate action on the bill, but will "consider it at a later time," Chair Diane Larson, R-Bismarck, told the panel.

Last year, 532 abortions took place in North Dakota, according to provisional data from the state Division of Vital Records. None occurred after August 2022.
Republican North Dakota lawmakers have introduced a bill that says "a qualified elector shall provide satisfactory proof of citizenship" before receiving a ballot to vote.

The question of proving citizenship arose in the June primary election in Cass County, when people of color reported being turned away from the West Acres polling station in Fargo after they could not immediately prove their citizenship.

Subsequently, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley released an opinion about a week before Election Day in November upholding an earlier opinion by then Cass County State's Attorney Birch Burdick, who maintained state law has no statutory requirement or constitutionally permissible method by which to require proof of citizenship from voters.

The upshot of those opinions was that current law does not permit an election official to require a voter to prove citizenship in order to vote.

State Sen. Judy Lee, R-West Fargo, one of the lawmakers sponsoring the new bill, Senate Bill 2157, said the legislation would amend and expand current law to make it clear voters must provide proof of citizenship before being allowed to vote.

Lee's bill would make an unexpired U.S. passport a valid form of identification showing that someone is an eligible voter as well as a citizen. The bill spells out other satisfactory proof-of-citizenship documentation as well, including:

a driver's license or nondriver's identification issued by the Department of Transportation that indicates a cardholder is a citizen.

a legible copy of the voter's birth certificate that verifies citizenship.

naturalization documents or the number of the certificate of naturalization.

Under current law, if someone believes they are an eligible voter but they do not have identification verifying that status when they arrive at a polling site they can ask election officials to provide them with what is known as a "provisional ballot," which they can fill out and leave with election officials.

If the voter can later show election officials identification that verifies them as an eligible voter, the ballot can be counted, as long as the verification is made prior to the meeting of the election canvassing board.

Lee said the proposed bill would preserve the provisional ballot process when it comes to identification issues. She said the legislation would also come into play if someone is a U.S. citizen but doesn't have proof of citizenship when they show up at a polling site, meaning someone in that situation may fill out a provisional ballot and leave it with election workers.

Lee noted that one reason she's proposing the legislation is because she's aware there are situations in which long-term residents of North Dakota believe they are qualified to vote, even though they are not citizens. The bill aims to make clear that proof of citizenship is required to vote, she said.

Election watchers have reported that some people who were trying to vote in recent elections left the polls without voting after being asked to provide proof of citizenship.

Mary Tintes, a member of the board of directors of the League of Women Voters of the Red River Valley and vice president of the North Dakota League of Women Voters, recently volunteered as an election observer at the West Acres community room.

Tintes said in one case she saw election workers turn away a man after he was asked if he was a U.S. citizen and he replied no.

"The election worker said, 'Then you cannot vote' and the man left peacefully," Tintes said, adding that in another situation a woman was turned away because she did not have identification, though the woman returned later with identification and was allowed to cast her vote.

Tintes noted, however, that in that situation the woman was not offered a provisional ballot when she was initially turned away for not having identification.

Tintes and other election watchers said they were reserving comment on the new bill pending future hearings in the Legislature.

Lee's bill is to be discussed in a legislative hearing on Thursday.

Another bill filed this session, House Bill 1299, proposes changes similar to those in Lee's bill. A hearing for that bill has not yet been scheduled.
Two bills seek to ban sexual content in public libraries in North Dakota, legislation opponents say is censorship.

The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday heard House Bill 1205, brought by House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson. The bill would ban libraries from maintaining or promoting books with visual depictions of "explicit sexual material," including intercourse, masturbation and other acts.

People could request libraries remove materials in violation, and libraries would have to take out the items within 30 days. Libraries also would have to develop a policy for ensuring age-appropriate book collections, for evaluating requests for removing materials, and for periodically reviewing collections to ensure there is no sexually explicit material.

Lefor cited visual nudity in drawings in the graphic novel "Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human," for why he brought the bill. The book recently was the subject of a public hearing by the Valley City Barnes County Public Library.

"I think the content of it is disgusting, that at the very least public libraries should put it in a restricted area where (children) need to get permission from their parents to take a book out like this, but they're offering it to junior high school kids ... and when we grew up, we didn't need things like this," Lefor told the Tribune. "This is not a way to raise our kids, and we have to do everything we can to make sure that this doesn't get into the hands of children, especially without their parents' knowledge."

The bill does make exceptions for "works of art that, when taken as a whole, have serious artistic significance, or works of anthropological significance, or materials used in science courses, including materials used in biology, anatomy, physiology, or sexual education classes."

Former Kensal School Superintendent Tom Tracy described "Let's Talk About It" as "legally obscene" and equated it to pornography. He said he sent a copy of the book to North Dakota's attorney general, but didn't elaborate.

Other supporters said the bill enhances parental rights and enables parents to gradually introduce children to mature topics.

Lefor's bill and a similar one, Senate Bill 2123 introduced by Sen. Todd Beard, R-Williston, "promote censorship and book bans" and have "been drafted with vague and open-ended language, which leaves the door open for unintended consequences and room for interpretation," Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library Director Christine Kujawa said.

She questioned how the library -- with more than 470,000 print and digital items, 20,000 items added annually, and an average 187,000 visitors annually -- could monitor access to objectionable content.

"The answer is, we cant and shouldnt. Citizens should have the freedom to choose the information they want to access. In the case of minors, parents are responsible for this, not the government. Not in North Dakota, in the United States, a state and country so rightfully proud of a representative democracy," Kujawa said.

Trained librarians with master's degrees in literature choose materials for the library's collection, which go by the library's collection development policy approved by its board of trustees per state law, she told the House panel. Community members also make suggestions for books.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota denounced Lefor's bill as "a blatant attempt at censorship, pure and simple."

The North Dakota Library Association in a statement said, "We stand opposed to censorship and any effort to coerce belief, suppress opinion, or punish those whose expression does not conform to what is deemed to be orthodox in history, politics, or belief. The unfettered exchange of ideas is essential to the preservation of a free and democratic society."

"Let's Talk About It" was in the Valley City Barnes County Public Library's young adult section for nearly two years and was checked out twice before controversy arose recently, Library Board Member Allen Blume said. The board voted 4-1 last week to relocate the book to the regular collection. He was the lone no vote.

"This is not about the book. This is not about protecting our children. It's about censorship," Blume told lawmakers.

Lefor told the Tribune he's open to discussion of an amendment for allowing sexually explicit material in a restricted area of a public library. He said the internet is available for people who want to find the content or subjects his bill would ban.

The top House Republican acknowledged that book bans are "a slippery slope ... but at the end of the day, if we don't stand up for our kids, who will?"

The House panel did not immediately act on Lefor's bill.

A hearing has not been set on Senate Bill 2123. The bill would impose a Class B misdemeanor for displaying materials with depictions or written descriptions of nudity "in a manner to exploit sex, lust, or perversion" in places frequented by minors. The charge carries a maximum punishment of thirty days in jail and a $1,500 fine.

The bill also strikes out an exception in the state's obscenity control law for schools, colleges, universities, museums, public libraries and art galleries.

Beard twice turned down Tribune questions about the bill.
Our family recently met a new neighbor we have jokingly and affectionately dubbed the most interesting man in the world. Our affinity for him began when he most generously welcomed himself to the neighborhood by bringing us the best homemade pie any of our taste buds have had the joy of experiencing. Intrigue grew as he shared that he had been a professional chef in the past and continued to regale us with stories about working and living on tropical islands, experiences as an entrepreneur, and current growing interest and passion for North Dakota, especially the rich history and tradition of our local Native American tribes. Once we discovered he knows more than just a bit about seemingly everything from tile installation, woodworking, and general construction to executive leadership and professional mountain climbing, which of course he had completed, we started to wonder what our new friend had not attempted or accomplished. Certainly, he embodies the definition of a lifelong learner and is quite lovely to spend time with.

Meeting the most interesting man in the world reminded me of a story popularly shared by iconic American author Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut shares that he was once asked as a teenager about what he liked to do, and he replied that he was involved with many activities, including theater, choir, violin, piano, and art class but that he was not good at ANY of them. He writes that the person whom he was talking to replied, I dont think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think youve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them. He continued to write that this feedback changed his opinion of himself from a failure, someone who hadnt been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because [he] enjoyed them.

I dont need to educate any American audience on the myriad of ways our culture values achievement over enjoyment in daily life. Our culture places such emphasis on achievement starting at very young ages. Parents cant help but compare their childs early developmental milestones (e.g., crawling, walking, talking) with those of their peers. When children grow older, school testing and tryouts for sporting and arts activities clearly highlight who is smartest, fastest, strongest, and shows leadership potential. Growth, hard work, and achievement do matter, and our culture does a great job offering our youth opportunities to compete and achieve. Our culture unfortunately offers too few opportunities for our youth to learn how to do things for the sake of doing them, or should I say too few opportunities to learn that doing something merely because its fun, interesting, or enjoyable is also good. Its a different kind of good than doing something to gain mastery or achieve a goal but thoroughly good just the same.

Getting to know our new neighbor reminded me that interesting people are interested people. Curiosity about the world and the courage to jump into new experiences creates a wonderful life story. As a parent, I hope above all else that my children grow up to be kind people who care for others and the communities they live in. I also hope that they do achieve and succeed at many endeavors they pursue. Ultimately, I hope that as the end of their lives approach, they too have a wellspring of stories about adventures they said yes to simply for the joy of learning and experiencing life.
A new book on Christian nationalism has touched a chord with many who feel alienated from a culture increasingly hostile to religious faith. Its prescriptions, however, may prove as deadly as the disease it wishes to cure.

It is not a point of dispute that the Christian faith, both in influence and number of adherents, is declining in the Western world. Every month, new books, articles, podcasts, surveys, and sermons analyze, diagnose, and strategize about the waves of secularism pounding through churches, synagogues, homes, marriages, workplaces, universities, primary and secondary schoolsindeed, what feels like every square inch of our society. As a college Presbyterian pastor at a state university, I feel this as acutely as anyone. The statistics of opposition for campus ministry are overwhelming; I often tell friends that my job is as a rear guard for the faith in the West. I now look to the Global South and the East for the future of institutional Christian faith.

So when I first encountered fellow Presbyterian Stephen Wolfes articles in 2020, I was excited. But my excitement shifted to dismay as his book, The Case for Christian Nationalism, swept through bestseller lists in 2022. Although he makes some helpful observations, Wolfes manifesto is an ultimately unhelpful response for American Christians facing the reality of an aggressive secularism.

Wolfe argues that the Christian religion is not merely a spiritual truth but also the best and only solution to societys quest for civil justice and equity. His hope for America is the establishment of a Christian nation, or a nation whose totality of action, both legal and social, is directed by the Christian faith and toward Christian goods, both earthly and heavenly. He defines nationalism as civil actions and social commitments that protect and further ones ownparticularly ones own nation.

Wolfe comes to this conclusion not as a theologian but as a political philosopher observing natural principles, or natural law. He is emphatic that grace (Gods redemptive interaction with his creation) does not replace nature but rather perfects and completes it. Thus, the rational man is capable of deducing true justice independent of special revelation. The fall into sin had only minimal effect on a Christians capacity to discern, and hopefully apply, Christian nationalism to a given polis.

First, some praise. Wolfe sets himself a colossal task: He tackles nothing less than the major philosophical and political questions that have animated us social animals since Aristotle. What is justice? What is the political good? What is peace? How do religious claims interact with human social life? And Wolfes ambition is matched by his breadth of reading. He earnestly consults the theological and political voices of the Protestant Reformation, especially the Magisterial Reformation, which sought an interdependence of church and state. He writes with admirable zeal. It is clear that he cherishes his country, his family, and his faith. Lastly, he rightly sees the threats posed by radical progressivism and secularism against not only spiritual order but earthly order as well.

Wolfe also correctly understands government pre-exists the Fall and is a creational good from God. Therefore, government deserves Christian prayer for peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness (1 Tim. 2), and to punish evil and praise good (Rom. 13). Christians must pursue civil order that protects justice and punishes evil, even with political office. Second, Wolfe rightly studies the Reformers desire to integrate Christian faith with government, even in ways that raise our separation of church and state eyebrows. Government exists for our common good, and somehow that common good must be inferred from Christian faith.

However, there are major problems with The Case for Christian Nationalism. First, regarding style, Wolfe is far from accessible. This book is slow going. Wolfe claims to resurrect the style of the Magisterial Reformers and to counteract tweetable sound bites with the force of logic. At times, though, it seems as if Wolfes strategy is to employ a verbal barrage as a tidal wave to obscure just how debatable some of his contentions are, whether condoning Christian violent revolution or warning against the perils of seed oil.

Second, Wolfe is hardly charitable to any challenge or disagreement. Wolfe dismisses any criticism of Christian nationalism as lacking logical coherence, being critically beholden to leftist sociology, or just not in his domain (like theology.) He simply cannot entertain a world where he might be wrong.

For more substantial political, historical, and philosophical criticism, others have written long critiques, most notably Kevin DeYoung, Neil Shenvi, Brian Mattson, and Susannah Black Roberts. I, however, wish to address several ways that Wolfe betrays his own traditiona betrayal that ought to make us wary of his approach to scholarship in general.

Wolfe writes explicitly as a Presbyterian and endorses a Presbyterian Christian nationalism. Reformed Presbyterians are compelled by conscience, tradition, and confession to found any theological and theological-political program upon scripture first. Yet Wolfe does not even make a passing effort to consult scripture to bolster his arguments; instead, he says, I make little effort to exegete biblical text. He attempts instead to validate his arguments by appealing to the Magisterial Reformers (including John Calvin), Puritans, and others. Throughout his argument, scripture is decorative, not foundational. In the most theological chapters, the first and second, Wolfe writes dozens of pages with hardly one proof text, let alone serious explication or exegesis.

Within the tradition Wolfe claims as his own, this move is inexcusable. Any reader of the Westminster Divines, Calvin, and the Puritans knows this: Do not start an argument by saying I will ignore scripture. The Reformed tradition long admits that it stands or falls on privileging scripture when interpreting human experience and obligations, and that more systematically than any other Christian tradition. In dismissing scripture, Wolfe betrays his confession and the theological giants whose shoulders he claims to stand upon. With that betrayal, he casts a shadow on all his many invocations of past thinkers, for he makes little effort to understand these theological traditions, which themselves are rooted in biblical reflection. Instead, he merely exploits them.

Second, Wolfe minimizes the effect of sin on human society and civil life. For Wolfe, the Falls main effect was spiritual: It compromised mans relationship with God and merited divine wrath but did not substantially damage mans natural, earthly (civil) relationships. Thus, humans may consult their natural gifts or instincts for guidance in civil order. Again, Wolfe claims that grace does not abrogate nature but perfects it. This theology of sin is nowhere close to the Augustinian, Protestant, Presbyterian traditions. As Wolfe downplays human sin and overemphasizes natural human instincts and impulses, he ironically arrives in the same philosophical zip code as a Rousseau or a Schleiermacherhardly champions of traditional Christian thought.

This leads Wolfe to some dangerous places. For example, natural pre-Fall man, Wolfe argues, only associated with ones own. Christian nationalism seeks to harness what he claims is a natural impulse for civic purposes. Exclusivity is not a product of sin, Wolfe contends. Contrary to the biblical ethic of love and fraternity with the other, contrary to the Churchs call to break down social divides, and contrary to the reality that the impulse to exclude and alienate is sinful, Wolfe would have Christian nationalists associate and seek the good only for the people like them, whether racially, socioeconomically, or geographically.

Lastly, Wolfe misses the major theme of the true biblical position of the people of God in society: that of exiles, foreigners, and outcasts. Wolfe presents an overrealized eschatology of heaven on earth, brought about by a Christian prince compelling the Kingdom to come. Biblically, true peace and justice will come only when the Prince of Peace returns. Until then, the default position of the Christian community is not to yearn for earthly power and influence but to bring faithful witness through simple (foolish is the apostle Pauls word) means of worship, evangelism, and family.

Wolfe has no conception of this witness-in-opposition. For Wolfe, the future is a strong nation, and a strong nation happens to be the Christian one. The churchs witness of a future Kingdom, the faithfulness of God, and the weak things of the world shaming the strong barely register. Wolfes only response to opposition is a Nietzschean-like challenge: Does a Christian man (yes, male) have the strength of will to impose his vision of Christian life and law onto a vacuum of secularist life? There is only one answer he will accept. And anyone who disagrees with him has submitted to the contradictions of an Enlightenment-infused liberal agenda and is close to embracing the progressive excesses of the left.

Wolfes work could function all too well as a theological and philosophical foundation for some of the worst impulses in our all-too-human hearts. It lays the foundation for Caesaropapism, a renewing of racial divisions within society and church, blurred lines of church and state authorities, overly ambitious civil laws, and brute power politics. Wolfe is himself careful to avoid invoking the nationalism of the 1930s and 40s, content to defend a phenomenological nationalism, or, the lived experience of associating with ones own. Nonetheless, Wolfe writes a manifesto that in the wrong hands could do great harm.

As I read The Case for Christian Nationalism, I admit to empathizing in places. Often I even agreed. To the average college student, I am the bad guy: white, straight, male, upper-middle class, a Christian pastor. I know that the Gender Studies department on my campus teaches a vision of humanity that is, by my Christian lights, anti-human. Wolfe correctly senses these errors. But he goes the wrong way in search of a solution. He dignifies sinful natural impulses to generate a will to power, and he tries to match a leftist power narrative with a Christian nationalist onean eye for an eye, or rather, a blow for a blow. For Wolfe, the meek not only cannot inherit the earththey ought not. They simply dont deserve it.

This is no way forward for Christians. Our faith depends on the power of weakness. The meek shall inherit the earth. God will use the weak to shame the strong. I trust this, not because I deduce or intuit it or even because my tradition confesses it, but because Gods Word tells me. That is enough for my familyand for my nation.
It's Martin Luther King, Jr. day in the United States. And Marc Lamont Hill took to his twitter to make sure we keep it real. He tweeted: "Today, let us remember Martin Luther King as he was: A Black radical anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, revolutionary Christian internationalist who was deemed an enemy of the State and assassinated for his radical work. Just about everything else is a lie." Marc Lamont Hill has also suggested (see the video, below) that MLK Day should be a "day of radical action" focused on how to restructure our economic system so that we can eliminate the huge disparities of wealth that plague the United States, and how to reimagine an American democratic experiment that doesn't rely on war as a primary instrument of foreign policy.

And in response to Hill's tweet, Professor Peter Cole also reminds us that "in support of his radical economic agenda, he regularly advocated Black and all workers to join a union!!!" Cole also linked to a great article highlighting MLK's union activism.
Listen, we all love Keanu Reeves. Outside of being a genuine sweetheartas far as we knowthe guy has attached himself to enough classic films to be considered a cinema legend. Who doesn't love The Matrix movies? Or how about Speed and Point Break? They're all classic films, and with his new genre-defining action franchise in the John Wick films, Reeves has only broadened his appeal to a new generation. However, even though everyone loves Reeves now, there was a period when the media wasn't too favorable to his brand of acting.

In the late 90s to mid-2000s, Keanu Reeves and Matthew McConaughey's names became quick punchlines synonymous with bad acting. And while both men have since proven their detractors wrong with their current career achievements, we have to acknowledge that each man has turned in a lackluster performance or two. That's not a knock, by the way. It's just something that happens to everyone with enough times at bat. To quote Groucho Marx, " Well, all the jokes can't be good. You gotta expect that once in a while."

In the video linked above, you can check out Reeves' hilariously bad British accent from Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's an oldie, but, boy, is it a goodie.
Baimadajie Angwang was charged with spying for China, wire fraud, lying to and obstructing investigators. But the charges were dropped this week, reports CNN, after they "obtained additional information."

The 2020 arrest was one of a number of federal cases brought against Chinese Americans connected to the Trump Administration's "China Initiative," a Department of Justice program focused on "countering Chinese national security threats." The program was scrapped in February 2022 under the Biden Administration after a string of case dismissals and criticisms it fueled suspicion and bias against innocent Chinese Americans.

Sounds rather like the prosecutors went too far editing the evidence for the court's appreciation:
Donald Trump has been as quiet as a church mouse since he announced his 2024 White House bid in November. But this week, the withering one-term president got some of his old squeak back, ratting out his most devoted voting bloc, the evangelicals, for their "great disloyalty"  aka his losing streak.

"It's a sign of disloyalty. There's great disloyalty in the world of politics," he griped to Water Cooler host David Brody when asked why prominent evangelicals don't yet seem committed to Trump's candidacy (listen to full clip below, via Meidas Touch).

Trump also claimed he didn't actually care about the evangelical vote, but reminded them who instigated the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

"Nobody has ever done more for right to life than Donald Trump," he said, speaking about himself in the third person as if there was, God forbid, another "Donald Trump" out there.

And then he came right out and blamed evangelicals for his humiliating 2022 hand-picked candidate failures. "I thought they could've fought much harder during the election, the '22 election  A lot of them didn't fight or weren't really around to fight, and it did energize the Democrats."

Nothing like a guilt trip to energize your base.

Trump just slammed evangelical leaders who haven't yet pledged support for his 2024 presidential campaign as 'disloyal.' That'll surely win them over. pic.twitter.com/PgzsnWYziq  MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) January 16, 2023

Via Mediaite

Image: Evan El-Amin / shutterstock.com
Kari Lake and Mark Finchem aren't the only GOP losers spouting lies about election fraud. Meet Solomon Pena, who lost to Democratic state Rep. Miguel Garcia for the New Mexico state House by 26% to 74%. Like Finchem and Lake, Pena insisted the election was rigged against him and petitioned state officials to overturn the results in his favor.

But when the angry man baby, a convicted felon who served 7 years in prison for 19 felonies, didn't get his way, he allegedly hired people to fire guns into the homes of four Albuquerque Democrats. He even participated in the shootings at one of the homes, say police.

A SWAT team arrested the GOP darling and he is facing multiple charges.

From CNN:

Pena will face charges related to four shootings: a December 4 incident at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa; a December 8 shooting at the home of incoming state House Speaker Javier Martinez; a December 11 shooting at the home of then-Bernalillo Commissioner Debbie O'Malley; and a January 3 shooting at the home of state Sen. Linda Lop ez, police said in a news release. In the latest shooting, police found evidence "Pena himself went on this shooting and actually pulled the trigger on at least one of the firearms that was used," Albuquerque police Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock said.
In the countless clothing shops of Kabul, Afghanistan, mannequins are hooded, masked, or entirely beheaded. Shortly after the Taliban swept into power in August 2021, one of the many mandates of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue was that mannequin heads must not be visible in accordance with "a strict interpretation of Islamic law that forbids statues and images of the human form since they could be worshipped as idols," according to the Associated Press. The law applies to male mannequins as well as female. From the AP:

In one shop, the mannequins' heads were cloaked in tailored sacks made out of the same material as the traditional dresses they modeled. One, in a purple dress beaded with cowrie shells, had a matching purple hood. Another, in a red gown elaborately embroidered in gold, was almost elegant in a mask of red velvet with a gold crown on her head.

"I can't cover the mannequins' heads with plastic or ugly things because it would make my window and shop look ugly," said Bashir, the owner. Like other owners, he spoke to The Associated Press on condition he be identified only by his first name for fear of reprisals[]

In one shop, the mannequins in sleeveless gowns all had black plastic sacks over their heads. The owner said he couldn't afford more.

Another shop owner, Aziz, said agents of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue regularly patrol shops and malls to make sure the mannequins are beheaded or covered. He was dismissive of the Taliban's justification for the rules. "Everyone knows mannequins aren't idols, and no one's going to worship them. In all Muslim countries, mannequins are used to display clothes."
Larry Eugene Price Jr of Arkansas walked into the Fort Smith Police Department in August 2020 and threatened police by making a gun shape with his hand. Cops arrested him on the spot, charging him with making terroristic threats. Homeless and developmentally disabled, Price could not pay the $1,000 bai and he remained in jail for over a year. He refused to take psychiatric medication while in prison and was sent to solitary confinement. He stopped eating and drinking, and his weight dropped from 185 pounds to 90 pounds.

According to Reason, "In August 2021, Price died from dehydration and malnutrition. He was found dead in a pool of standing water and urine."

Price's family is suing Sebastian County, and its jail medical provider, Turn Key Health Clinics for fai;sure to provide adequate care. The complaint says Price had paranoid schizophrenia and an IQ below 55. "It was not uncommon for him to suffer from bouts of psychosis and to completely lose touch with reality," says the complaint.

From Reason:
Wyoming's legislature is considering a bill wherein they'd ask the people of Wyoming not to buy EV cars because they want to support oil and gas companies. Most importantly, if the state lawmakers pass this bill, they will send a copy to California's Gov. Newsom and President Biden, ensuring that someone in their respective offices is aware that Wyoming is still there.

Essentially, Wyoming wants California to know it has a big truck that rolls coal

Engadget:
4 SUNY takeaways from Hochuls State of the State book for 2023

Gov. Kathy Hochul didnt spend much time talking about the SUNY system in this year's State of the State address, but she did include a passel of SUNY proposals in the accompanying 277-page book of 147 initiatives for a better New York.

Here are four key takeaways:

Steps to bolster the workforce

Hochul will invest $10 million over two years in competitive funding for school districts, Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), and community colleges  working in collaboration with local industry  to develop strategic workforce plans that promote job readiness in their local economies.

Awards will be made in every Regional Economic Development Council region of the state, and winning plans will receive multiyear seed funding to align industry needs with high school and college programs.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. said there are opportunities for community colleges to dual-enroll more high school students in community college classes and help them matriculate and pursue careers in needed fields including health care and education.

As we move to green jobs and renewable energy, one of the tasks is to electrify everything, every building, every house, every car, and that means were going to need a lot more electricians, King said during a meeting with Buffalo News reporters and editors.

We will need wind technicians and people to do solar installation," he said. "Those are all opportunities to grow jobs and that we can do that through our community colleges.

Ensure every student has a place at SUNY

All New York high school seniors will receive acceptance letters to their local community college as well as information about federal Pell Grants, the states Tuition Assistance Program and other opportunities to attend college tuition-free. King said the initiative will help boost enrollment, increase diversity and educate more low-income students.

SUNY will also launch a pilot project to link admissions among different campuses so students who are not accepted at a specific school are automatically considered for admission at other institutions with similar programs.

This will increase opportunities for students to attend a SUNY school and ensure that all New York students have access to a local and affordable higher education option. New York already offers most students free tuition to SUNY schools through the income-based Excelsior scholarship program.

Some of our SUNY schools are less well-known, but we should be able to say, If you dont get into the University at Buffalo, theres a program at SUNY Fredonia that would serve you well, King said.

Provide tuition flexibility in CUNY and SUNY

To ensure that SUNY and CUNY schools can invest in their long-term futures as costs rise while prioritizing the evolving needs of students and keeping tuition affordable, Hochul proposed allowing modest annual tuition increases for SUNY and CUNY indexed to the lesser of the Higher Education Price Index or 3%.

The state would also help SUNYs four University Centers (Buffalo, Albany, Stony Brook and Binghamton) to realize their potential as leading research institutions by allowing tuition at those campuses to rise 6% above SUNYs base tuition rate each year for the next five years (capped at 30% above the base rate) for in-state students.

More funding for University Centers and flagships

To help its University Centers compete with the nations leading research institutions, Hochul will create a New York State matching fund for contributions made to the endowments of UB, Stony Brook, Binghamton and Albany. The fund will provide $1 in state funds for every $2 contributed to university endowments, up to $500 million in state funds.

Research and scholarship are vital, and our University Centers are doing important work that is driving the state forward, King said. I think UB and Stony Brook should be mentioned in the same breath as UC Berkeley and UNC Chapel Hill, and that means weve got to continue to grow research at our Flagship institutions.

Find the whole State of the State book at governor.ny.gov/programs/2023-state-state.

UB named 25th best affordable university in the U.S. by Credit Summit

Credit Summit, a website dedicated to financial products that can help individuals get out of poverty, named UB 25th on its list of best affordable universities in the U.S.

Its study factored in accommodation costs, college fees, loan availability and expenses like average rent and food costs to produce a ranking that puts the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse as the best school to rack up the least student debt.

Rounding out the top five are the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology in Harrisburg, Pa., Florida State University in Tallahassee and the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

UB placed 25th with an estimated monthly cost of $4,551.58. See the full report at mycreditsummit.com/most-affordable-universities-study.

Want to know more? Three stories to catch you up:

Welcome to Buffalo Next. This newsletter from The Buffalo News will bring you the latest coverage on the changing Buffalo Niagara economy  from real estate to health care to startups. Read more at BuffaloNext.com.

THE LATEST

Catch up on the latest news from the Buffalo Niagara economy:

The A&W restaurant planned for Niagara Falls is getting tax breaks.

What would Gov. Kathy Hochul's plan to spur housing developments across the state mean for the Buffalo Niagara region?

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership is laying out its priorities for this year.

Edwards Vacuum is seeking $17 million in tax breaks for its big plant in the Town of Alabama.

Frequentem Brewing Co., a Canandaigua-based brewery, will open in the former Barcalounger factory in the Old First Ward.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing a $1 billion initiative to improve access to mental health services across the state.

Opponents are taking a stand against a proposed apartment complex on Maple Road in Amherst.

Neighbors are criticizing Douglas Jemal's plans for a five-story building at Elmwood and Bidwell avenues in Buffalo.

West-Herr Automotive Group is buying some dealerships from Towne Automotive Group.

Nurses at the Veterans Administration hospital in Buffalo say management there needs to do better planning for disasters, like last month's blizzard, and to boost staffing.

People Inc. named a new CEO.

Delaware North bought a hotel near the Grand Canyon.

ICYMI

Five reads from Buffalo Next:

1. Damar Hamlin's Chasing M's Foundation isn't so little anymore. With donations flowing in since the Buffalo Bills safety suffered cardiac arrest during a Jan. 2 game, the foundation now needs to make fundamental changes to manage and distribute its assets and to ensure the proper oversight, experts said.

2. For looted stores, a costly recovery: Stores looted during the December blizzard have been scrambling to reopen. But the process is involved and insurance doesn't always cover the costs.

3. Bounce back for Buffalo Niagara economy: The value of all the goods and services produced in the region, which dropped by 3.4% during the pandemic, came roaring back last year, with a 5.3% gain.

4. The Bills make me want to shop: How Buffalo Bills merchandise is flying off shelves this season.

5. How will Western New York's higher education institutions recover from Covid-19? Enrollment at some local schools is holding up, but others are struggling to attract students.

The Buffalo Next team gives you the big picture on the regions economic revitalization. Email tips to buffalonext@buffnews.com or reach Deputy Business Editor David Robinson at 716-849-4435.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to get the latest in your inbox five days a week.
A Western New York homebuilder has donated a total of $300,000 to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital.

That's the largest amount Marrano Homes has donated through its Raising the Roof fundraising campaign, which began in 2010.

Marrano Homes collects contributions from its subcontractors, suppliers, vendors, customers, employees, family and friends and then matches the donations, according to a press release from the company.

Over the past 12 years, Marrano Homes has raised more than $1 million for Roswell Park.

Marrano starts work on last 37 new home sites at Colvin Estates This puts Marrano Homes in position to complete the first new subdivision within the city in decades after a three-year effort and 12 years of planning.

In 2022, Marrano expanded the program to include the Kaleida Health Foundation, specifically benefitting Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, and established its highest fundraising goal of $300,000.

Marrano Homes donated $200,000 to Roswell and $100,000 to Millard Fillmore Suburban.

"Im very proud to say that we achieved our goal," Marrano Homes president Patrick Marrano said. "The remarkable work of the professionals at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital is so critical to this community. With all we have been through over the last few years, we have seen more clearly than ever just how critical their work is."
Twice in six months, early morning fires that ripped through homes in Buffalo left those families and the larger community mourning a terrible loss of life.

The first, on the Fourth of July, killed a widely admired local physician and two of his daughters. The second, on New Years Eve, left five children, all 10 years old or younger, dead.

In both cases, Buffalo fire investigators have determined the fires were accidental.

But they have not determined precisely why the fires began.

"Investigators put in a lot of hours, a lot of time," Fire Commissioner William Renaldo said in a recent interview about the July 4 fire. "It's a very tragic event and we want to get some closure. We want to get closure for his family, want to get closure for the public."

Its often more straightforward to confirm, or rule out, whether a fire was intentionally set, experts said.

But it can be more difficult to pin down the specific cause of an accidental fire, particularly one so damaging.

This leaves those who knew and cared about the fire victims searching for answers.

"A lot of people were hurting," Kathy Diina, who lived across the street from the family of Dr. Jonathan Daniels for about 25 years, said of their neighborhood.

The two devastating fires struck homes located about 1 miles apart.

The July 4, 2022, fire was reported just after 3:30 a.m. at 194 Huntington Ave., between Parker and Voorhees avenues, in the Central Park neighborhood.

Dr. Jonathan D. Daniels, Jordan A. and Jensen A. Daniels: Pediatrician and two daughters perished in house fire Dr. Jonathan D. Daniels: Nov. 18, 1968  July 4, 2022, Jordan A. Daniels: Jan. 26, 1995  July 4, 2022, Jensen A. Daniels: June 16, 1999  July 4, 2022

Dr. Jonathan Daniels, one of three Black male pediatricians practicing in Buffalo, died along with his daughters Jordan, 27, and Jensen, 23.

His wife, Janessa Givens Daniels, was able to get out of the home on her own and was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment of smoke inhalation.

Another daughter, Jillian, wasn't home at the time. A dog also died in the fire.

News of the deaths of Daniels and his daughters brought an outpouring of grief from the local medical community.

Daniels, 53, practiced at Main Pediatrics for 19 years before he was recruited in 2021 to start the pediatric clinic at Urban Family Practice on Jefferson Avenue.

He also served as associate dean of admissions at the University at Buffalo Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, where he recruited students from underrepresented backgrounds.

A tribute to Daniels, published in November by UB, highlighted his dedication to diversifying the medical field and to supporting students of color.

This is my 42nd year in pastoral ministries, and Im telling you I dont meet a lot of Jonathan Danielses. They just dont exist, the Rev. Kinzer M. Pointer, pastor of Liberty Missionary Baptist Church and a leader of the African American Health Equity Task Force, told UB. And that is not an indictment of us as much as it is an acknowledgement of who Dr. Daniels was.

Initially, officials said they believed the blaze started on the second floor of the Daniels' home before spreading to the attic.

At one point or another, the homeowners' insurance company, the city and the Daniels family all had their own investigators looking into the cause.

Buffalo fire investigators were able to rule out arson, Renaldo said recently. Investigators are looking at malfunctioning electrical, mechanical or heating and cooling systems as a potential cause, he said, including window air-conditioning units in use in the home.

There were smoke detectors and they were in working order, Renaldo said.

He was asked whether, given the amount of time that's passed, it's possible the precise cause won't ever be known.

"We're hoping that's not the case here," Renaldo said. "But there are fires like this, similar to this, that are very difficult to determine."

The intensity of the fire is one reason, the fire commissioner said.

"A lot of physical evidence was destroyed, which made it even more difficult to come to the exact cause," he said.

The investigation into the fire on Dartmouth Avenue, off Bailey Avenue in the University Heights neighborhood, is at an earlier stage.

Clarence and Lisa Liggans lived in the home with two of their adult children and six grandchildren, all siblings.

2 more children die from Dartmouth Avenue fire injuries, bringing death toll to 5 Two children died at Oishei Children's Hospital from injuries sustained in a weekend fire on Dartmouth Avenue, bringing the death toll in the devastating fire to five, a city official announced just before noon Monday.

The fire was reported around 7:30 a.m. Dec. 31, when Clarence Liggans was delivering newspapers for The Buffalo News. The two adult children were able to escape and Lisa Liggans managed to carry out her youngest grandchild, 8-month-old Ziyah Robinson.

The baby suffered minor smoke inhalation while Lisa Liggans was seriously burned and, as of late last week, remained at ECMCs burn unit.

Firefighters got to the other children. Three of them died at the scene: Aniyah Green, 10; Joelle Liggans, 8; and Jalissa Liggans, 7.

Two others were taken to Oishei Childrens Hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries: Denise Keith, 4, and Nehemiah Robinson, 2.

There are no words, Patricia Montgomery, great aunt to the five children, recently told The News.

The probe into the fire continues as officials wait to interview other witnesses, Renaldo said at a news conference last week.

Were not 100% (sure) what caused the fire. We know its accidental because we ruled out all the other causes," he said. "But we dont know actually what was ignited at this time yet.

Over the course of investigating fires like these, officials will examine evidence and conduct interviews with neighbors and fire survivors to rule out as many potential causes as they can, said Sal Colangelo, former chief of the city's fire marshal's office, who now performs this work in the private sector.

Cigarettes, burning candles, malfunctioning hot water tanks or furnaces, lightning strikes and electrical failures all can spark a house fire, he said, and all leave telltale signs.

"So you start eliminating all that stuff. And then you narrow it down to the area of origin. Where you determine, 'The fire started here,' and then you see what's in that area that would cause it," Colangelo said.

Unfortunately, he said, sometimes investigations do reach the point where the fire's cause must be listed as "undetermined."

Givens Daniels, a UB administrator, and her surviving daughter, Jillian Daniels, did not respond to messages seeking comment. Their attorney, John Elmore, declined comment on their behalf.

The Daniels' fire-damaged home was torn down around October. Neighbors had expressed safety concerns about its continued presence, but Renaldo said Buffalo fire investigators wanted to collect as much evidence as possible before it was demolished.

The empty lot where the home once stood is now covered with straw. On a recent visit, a small, solar-powered cross stood along the sidewalk and bouquets of flowers rested at the base of a tree.

"They were wonderful neighbors," said Diina, the Daniels' neighbor.

"All summer long, my porch was open for counseling," she said of the informal gatherings that replaced typical neighborhood parties. "Nobody celebrated the whole summer. It was that disturbing."
When Philip Reeds son visited the dentist this fall, Reed and his wife were surprised to learn that Jonas, 7, had five cavities in his teeth.

He was brushing everyday, Reed said, but he wasnt getting any fluoride.

Thats because unbeknownst to Reed and probably most of the more than 200,000 other customers of Buffalos water system, the Buffalo Water Board stopped adding fluoride to the water in 2015, citing a need for upgrades and "ongoing capital improvements" to its system.

The change was mentioned briefly on the last page of a government water quality report, printed in small type.

Buffalo's water system now contains far lower measurements of fluoride, which boosts dental health and guards against tooth decay, than what public health experts recommend. That puts Buffalo in the minority both nationally and in New York State. Experts say the change could have serious implications for dental health, particularly in children.

Buffalo Water Board officials say they were in the process of upgrading an outdated fluoride system when the lead water crisis in Flint, Mich., caused them to pause in 2016 and study whether the new type of fluoride system would have a corrosive effect on Buffalo's many lead pipes. They say studies showed the system is safe and city will begin adding fluoride to its water again sometime in 2023.

Buffalo Water Board Chairman Oluwole A. McFoy said the Water Board mailed the city's annual water quality report containing the fluoride stoppage news to residents until 2018, when it began sending a mailer directing residents to read the water quality report online on its website. The fluoridation change was not listed prominently in that online report, either.

Mayor Byron W. Brown's administration does not appear to have issued a news release about the city's fluoride situation. The city's website does not include any news releases on water fluoridation.

Asked whether the Brown administration took any steps  such as sending out a news release  to notify the public about the change, a spokesman for the mayor, Michael J. DeGeorge, just reiterated that the city mailed out the annual water quality report to all residential customers. Brown declined to comment.

The News could find no mention of a change in Buffalo's water fluoridation in media reports during the last seven years.

My wife and I were just completely shocked, Reed said. We just assumed that he was getting fluoride from the water. That was what surprised us.

Dr. Courtney Peterson, a pediatric dentist on Elmwood Avenue, said she was caught off guard, too.

"It's something that we werent aware of," Peterson said. "We just assumed that Buffalo was like most other towns and cities that did fluoridate the water."

Public health benefits

Community water fluoridation began in 1945 and "is a major factor responsible for the decline in occurrence and severity of tooth decay during the second half of the 20th century," according to a 2015 report from the U.S. Public Health Service.

In adolescents, tooth decay in at least one permanent tooth decreased from 90% in the 1960s to 60% in the early 2000s, the report stated, adding that fluoridation also contained benefits for adults.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists community water fluoridation as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century, along with vaccines and the recognition of tobacco as a health hazard.

Nearly 70% of American water systems contain added fluoride, according to the CDC.

Local governments, though, have the ultimate say on whether to fluoridate water. Those in Western New York and across the state have overwhelmingly said yes.

Of New York States 10 most populous cities, only Buffalo and Albany do not add fluoride to their water systems.

In Erie County, 21 of the 48 community water systems, or 43%, don't add fluoride to the water they provide their customers. But the City of Buffalo, which supplies water to more than 228,000 residents, is an outlier.

Most of those 21 water systems that don't add fluoride are servicing a single apartment complex or mobile home park, and affect fewer than 100 residents. The villages of Akron and Alden and the towns of North Collins and Holland are among the few municipal water providers in Erie County that don't add fluoride.

According to the CDC, all 24 community water systems in Niagara County, including the City of Niagara Falls, add fluoride to their water.

Buffalo stopped in 2015

Buffalo Water officials stopped adding fluoride to their system in June 2015, according to the agencys annual water quality report for that year.

Fluoridation was expected to be restored sometime after March 2016, the report stated. The next year, that estimate was pushed back to December 2017, before being extended to 2018 and 2019.

Starting in 2019, Buffalo Water stopped giving a time estimate in its annual reports. Instead it stated that its water has not contained added fluoride since 2015 and "we do not expect fluoride addition to be restored until completion of various capital projects."

Water Board Chairman McFoy said the city in 2015 began replacing its "archaic" dry sodium fluoride system  which required city workers to physically dump bags of chemicals into the water  to a more effective wet fluoride system.

The agency received a $300,000 grant in 2015 to make the conversion but put the project on hold after the water crisis in Flint, Mich., led to greater awareness nationwide about the dangers of making sudden changes to public water systems.

Buffalo's water system is managed by the same private company, Veolia, that was involved in the Flint water crisis. Families in Flint are still suing Veolia, which has denied any wrongdoing.

Out of an abundance of caution, we placed this project on hold, while we further studied this treatment change," McFoy said. "We're very methodical. We don't want to screw anything up. We wanted to make sure nothing like that happened in Buffalo."

McFoy, who has chaired the Buffalo Water Board since 2007, said the city partnered with the University at Buffalo to develop a "state-of-the-art" pipe laboratory to test the new fluoride system. He said the wet fluoride system has proven safe and should be installed next year.

Since 2015, the CDC has recommended an optimal fluoride concentration of 0.7 parts per million in community water systems. Buffalos fluoride concentration in its 2021 water quality report was 0.13 parts per million, more than five times lower than the recommended level. The report lists natural deposits, discharge from fertilizer and aluminum factories as possible sources of fluoride in the water.

Since June 22, 2015, fluoride has not been added to your drinking water, and we do not expect fluoride addition to be restored until completion of various capital projects, Buffalos water quality report states. You may want to discuss this with your family dentist to see if some other form of fluoride supplement should be considered for your dental protection.

Peterson, who has an office in Getzville and another in Buffalo, said she "definitely" thinks Buffalo's lack of water fluoridation has played a role in the uptick in cavities.

"The past five years or so, there has been a huge epidemic, especially with kids," Peterson said. "Weve seen a rise in everything. Not having fluoride in the water I think is a true disservice to the people of Buffalo, especially the children of Buffalo."

Peterson recommended city parents buy fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash as an alternative way to strengthen their children's teeth.

Jonas Reed was not using fluoride toothpaste because the 7-year-old had trouble spitting after he brushed, his father said.

I find it kind of frustrating that they would do this, apparently indefinitely, and it seems like something the public should know, Philip Reed said.

Reed said he could not recall any mailers or other notification sent out by the city or the Buffalo Water Board warning parents about the change.

We did not get anything like that, or we would have taken steps, Reed said. Certainly we would have been switching the younger son to fluoride toothpaste earlier. Its expensive to treat cavities. We had to pay a significant amount out of pocket for this.

The Reed family has since moved to North Tonawanda. Reed said he made a phone call soon after purchasing a home.

I called North Tonawanda water and confirmed we were getting fluoride, he said.
Opponents of wind turbines in Lake Erie have put flyers in mailboxes from Lackawanna to Dunkirk and taken to social media to voice their concerns about the idea  work, that for now at least, has paid off.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority has determined this isn't the right time to put the turbines in Lake Erie or Lake Ontario.

NYSERDA concluded the turbines would cost more than other renewable energy options, and wouldn't offer a feasible contribution to state climate goals.

"Now is not the right time to prioritize Great Lakes wind projects in Lake Erie or Lake Ontario," the agency recommended in a white paper summary of its feasibility study, which started last February by order of the state Public Service Commission.

"Great Lakes wind currently does not offer a unique, critical, or cost-effective contribution toward the achievement of New York States Climate Act goals beyond what existing, more cost-competitive programs are currently expected to deliver," according to the report.

The announcement came Dec. 30, before New Year's Eve weekend. A member of Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie stumbled across the feasibility report that afternoon.

"We were surprised," said Sharen Trembath, of Angola, who has led Lake Erie cleanups and beach sweeps for 40 years and opposed wind turbine projects in the lake the last 13 years. "I thought, 'They're just going to keep kicking the can down the road until we lose interest or die.'"

The issue of turbines in the lake has split the environmental community between those in favor of renewable energy and those concerned about the impact of wind turbines on the lake environment, Trembath said.

"Green energy at the cost of the environment is really not the goal of anybody," said Dave Adrian, an aquatic biologist and member of the Citizens Against Wind Turbines in Lake Erie.

Trembath is worried migrating birds could get swept into the turbines. The future of the fresh water in the lake also is a concern, if the motors in the turbines should leak, she said. She and others also fear toxic sediments on the lake bottom would stir up during construction, and that maritime history, with its many shipwrecks, could be lost. There also were questions about the impact on the fishing industry.

"My whole life, I've tried to save the fish in the lake," Trembath said.

Opponents also are concerned that the turbines would block radar used by border security and that the sight of dozens of turbines would wreck the view of the lake.

New York State's Climate Act passed in 2019. It requires 70% of electricity to come from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, by 2030. That buoyed hopes for some in the renewable energy industry that turbines could one day be placed in the lakes.

Diamond Offshore Wind closely watched events surrounding Lake Erie wind turbines. Although the company did not have a specific project in mind, CEO Chris Wissemann said wind power in the Great Lakes becomes an important part of the renewable energy mix, particularly when Great Lakes states are trying to reach their carbon emissions goals.

The NYSERDA decision takes away the immediate prospect of New York proceeding with a project, Wissemann said.

He said he hopes NYSERDA looks at Great Lakes wind in the context of the recently released scoping plan of the Climate Action Council, which includes recommendations on how to meet the state's climate goals.

"We think there is a role for offshore wind to provide critical winter power production and certainly production at night," Wissemann said.

Adrian said members were pleased that NYSERDA came to the same conclusions they had, including that the power grid was not ready to receive this kind of power.

"They used a lot of the same criteria that we were using to scrutinize any such move," Adrian said.

State Sen. George Borrello, R-Jamestown, has introduced legislation to ban industrial wind turbines in freshwater lakes. The proposal has yet to get out of a Senate committee.

I am encouraged that after nearly two years of intense study and stakeholder engagement on the environmental, economic and social issues surrounding the potential siting of wind turbines in Lakes Erie and Ontario, the commission members came to essentially the same assessment that opponents of this effort have advanced all along: the risks, costs and uncertainties are too great and the possible benefits too little to make a compelling case for these projects," Borrello said in a statement.

He also praised the citizens group.

"The voices of an educated, determined group of citizens can make a difference," he said.

Opponents remain vigilant.

"It mentions 'for now,'" Trembath said of the study. "When you see 'for now,' you know what that means."

The group wants to work on getting the State Legislature to issue a moratorium on any future plans to install wind turbines in the lake, Adrian said, "so this doesn't have to keep being shot down every 10 years."
Things were getting a bit loud at Metro Rail's Utica Station right around 3:05 p.m.

A couple of dozen teenagers had gathered at the station entrance after school was dismissed. Others were passing through the gates to and from the subway below. Many were shouting, some jostled each other  a scene that might have been intimidating to a commuter entering the system.

But no teens crossed the line between real mischief and adolescent behavior that afternoon, possibly because of the phalanx of Transit Authority Police Department officers spread through the station. A least six patrolled for the key time surrounding dismissal from nearby schools. They talked and joked with the loudest teens, referring to some by name. And when the students eventually dispersed, it appeared the proactive approach defused the possibility of any reactive response.

A special new detail of four transit officers called the Transit School Resource Unit now roams the Metro Rail system, as well as key bus stops when school lets out each day, calming the effect of approximately 10,000 students flooding into public transit. According to Brian Patterson, new chief of the Transit Authority Police Department, the aim is to tone down the high-energy afternoons so that current and prospective riders feel comfortable and less intimidated.

"The unit's job is to make connections with the schools, get to know the students and create an expectation of the kind of behavior we want during the commute," Patterson said, acknowledging that the daily swarm of students can be "disconcerting."

"Imagine the challenge of several hundred kids converging on one place," he said of school dismissal time, but noting his officers' adaptations.

"We need officers who understand the difference between kids just letting loose and the group seeking trouble," he said. "They're very good at using discretion. You can't arrest your way out of everything."

The new transit police unit mirrors similar efforts enacted as far back as the department's 1984 debut. But now, it serves as centerpiece of a new initiative called Ride Nice, about to be rolled out by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.

It aims to showcase the school unit's work, reassure regular and occasional riders' concerns about safety, and eliminate any fears as a reason for shunning buses and trains. James Morrell, the NFTA's director of public transit, said the initiative stems from new efforts to regain commuters who left the system during the pandemic, as well as occasional riders attending downtown events.

"We're starting to get reaction to that message: We're here. We're changing the system. Come on back. We're safe," he said.

The effort seems to be working. NFTA officials say that since the new unit began its work on Oct. 25:

 Police presence on trains increased by six hours per day.

 Weekly rider complaints decreased 40% (from five to two per week).

 Robbery, assault and larceny fell by more than 40%.

Riding Metro Rail between the Utica and University stations a few days ago, Patterson pointed to Officers Colin Griffiths and Mason Jones as the department's "front line" in maintaining order in the subway. They represent what commuters have been asking for  a "presence" on trains and in stations. After taking over as the new transit chief in March, Patterson said his department began preparing for the return of commuters who left the system during Covid-19 restrictions.

"I said we need to immediately put our money where our mouth is with a message that says 'let's make sure our people feel safe,' " he said. "And the first thing was improving that 'presence.' "

Now the special detail rides the rails and patrols the stations at peak commuting times, with a special emphasis on the hours between 3 and 5 p.m. after school. Serious crimes in the subway are rare, he said, but transit officers must create a feeling of safety and security for the benefit of the system's other riders.

"If there is any mischief or student-related issue, they follow up on it and notify the school  'This student was observed doing this or that,' " he said of the detail's responsibilities. "The idea is to create accountability."

The Ride Nice program will re-enforce those concepts with the public, he said.

"We'll coordinate our message with the schools about what is expected of students," Patterson said. "We are letting students know that their behavior on their commute is just as important as their behavior in school."

Griffiths, a five-year transit veteran after an eight-year stint as a police officer in Virginia, said making commuters feel safer by responding to complaints about panhandlers or smoking makes them feel better about using the system, especially after constantly handling complaints about marijuana use on trains or in stations. Marijuana may be legal, he notes, but smoking in the system is not.

For the most part, he says, the idea is to be "seen."

"We do know that when folks see a police officer, they love it," Griffiths said. "We just try to be visible."

That seems to be working for Metro Rail riders like Idris Abdel Alim at the Utica Station last month. He said the system seems safer than before.

"Six months ago, there were guys in here who would rob you," he said. "Now, it's safe."

Jim Shelton, aboard an outbound train from his downtown office, said he is never bothered by rowdy kids, but acknowledges he likes the presence of transit police.

"It's nice to have them in the stations," he said.

And Shana McBride is glad for their presence when teens start roughhousing on trains or in stations. She calls that "unsettling."

The NFTA is also working with the Peacemakers, a group of adult volunteers who have long acted as intermediaries on the streets and youth gathering places. Wearing distinctive black jackets, as many as four Peacemakers also roam through stations each afternoon to supervise students  many of whom they know from their own neighborhoods.

"We try to keep order as best we can, often by just listening, and try to intervene," said Jackie Sagere, who has been working the Utica Station for 12 years. "I guess I have a gift for it."

Morrell of the NFTA staff notes the Peacemakers can prove especially effective because they are often known to the commuting students.

"They're not there in place of transit police, but they provide this other layer that's like: 'Johnny, what are you doing? I know your parents.' It's more community-based. In this case, the Peacemakers are providing an essential service for us," he said.

Morrell says more is slated as part of the Ride Nice campaign. Schools will be involved, and a major campaign is planned to let riders know that the NFTA and Buffalo Public Schools both expect their student riders to adhere to a code of conduct as part of the transit passes they receive from the district.

In addition, ticket inspectors who will soon be rendered unnecessary by Metro's new turnstile fare collection system will now act as "transit ambassadors" to assist riders and report bad behavior to police. They combine with cameras on trains and in stations that are constantly monitored.

Morrell thinks the results are already encouraging, especially because of Patterson's new patrols.

"Brian had a huge challenge. We told him we have to get the trains under control, and with all our collective efforts, he's done that," Morrell said. "It's definitely working."
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And now its too late. Thats whats being said about two historic Cobblestone District structures at 110 and 118 South Park Ave. that have been allowed to crumble and decay for more than a decade under the bad stewardship of an indifferent owner.

The brick and cast iron structures  which housed 19th century blacksmith and bakery operations, among other uses  are among the few original Erie Canal-era buildings that remain in the district, which was designated a local Historic Preservation District in 1994 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

As the city of Buffalo enters the early stages of eminent domain proceedings and owner Darryl Carr requests an emergency demolition in Housing Court, the buildings remain in limbo. Eight (at least) previous court appearances since 2010 have not been able to force remedial action.

There has got to be a better way to address preservation in Buffalo. The strategy shouldnt always be waiting until somebody with deep pockets comes along. And even if that is the only solution, at the least, the buildings have to be sustained until such a benefactor materializes.

Its been more than two years since Mayor Byron Brown vowed that his administration would crack down hard on owners not maintaining their buildings.

That was after the partial collapse and successive demolition of a neglected Civil War-era building on Ellicott Street. While the citys eminent domain action against Carr  initiated in December  is certainly a viable legal tool to take away neglected buildings, there have been earlier opportunities to protect the Cobblestone buildings for future, responsible owners.

Last year, Preservation Buffalo Niagara hired an engineer, came up with a feasible stabilization plan and offered to do the work. It also  as it did successfully with a residence on Cottage Street  offered to take receivership of the properties, make emergency repairs and then sell the property.

Thats not such an unusual strategy. In other cities, nongovernmental agencies have played significant roles in redeveloping urban cores, even taking on the implementation of policy. This needs to happen more in Buffalo, but the proposal was not accepted for the Cobblestone properties. Its possible that the large parcel made this option too unwieldly; the presence of an active owner demanding demolition could also have been a factor.

Now, the choice is between two different types of litigation  over eminent domain or over emergency demolition. Both will be met with resistance. Both are reactive, last-ditch scenarios.

The Cobblestone structures have been called textbook examples of demolition by neglect. If they are, theyre part of a thick textbook that goes back to the 1950 demolition of Frank Lloyd Wrights Larkin Administration Building and includes far too many structures to list here. Often, the demolition requests are accompanied by ambitious plans to build anew once the old buildings are gone.

Usually, though, the lots remain empty, as happened with the Vernor and Schmidt buildings at 736 and 756 Main St. Torn down in 2004 and 2007, respectively, these structures were the textbook examples of that decade, and had been deteriorating since the mid-1980s, despite their distinguished historic architecture  Vernor was originally a spectacular Pierce-Arrow showroom  and location in a preservation district.

The triangle of land occupied by the Schmidt and Vernor buildings was then viewed as a prime site for downtown redevelopment efforts. Its still empty.

With the permission to do so improbable and the ability to do so unsubstantiated, Carr claims hell build a 55-story tower on the Cobblestone site. Experienced observers see another parking lot as the likely reality.

In 2001, Jessie Fisher  former director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, now director of the Martin House Campus  suggested a three-step policy for avoiding situations like this: first, survey and catalog historic properties, noting especially those on or eligible for the National Historic Register and those in imminent danger; then look at the citys current demolition practices and laws and survey best practices from cities around the country; and finally, make recommendations for preservation/demolition policies and mechanisms.

In some cities, a solution has been a declaration of permanent landmark status, which would force emergency stabilization of such buildings rather than emergency demolitions. Prospective buyers of such buildings would be told in no uncertain terms of their indemnity.

There are doubtless many examples throughout the United States of more effective ways to manage historic preservation. For Buffalo, their message can be summarized in one sentence: It doesnt have to be this way.

  

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.
My husband and I just returned from a holiday trip visiting a relative and friend in the south. We missed the blizzard. We saw some of the blizzard news reports including the one in which the county executive was criticizing the city for being the last municipality to clear their streets. That helps how? Now that we are home, I am reading the news articles profiling some of the people who died in the blizzard as well as a recent Another Voice essay with suggestions for better combatting future blizzards. I suggest a few more. We are in this together is a rather over-used expression lately, but it is true, especially in blizzard conditions.

When I read of victims running out of their vital oxygen supplies or being found in snowbanks, I think of what could have prevented their deaths. I believe the area had four or five days notice of the blizzard. As a community and as individuals, this time could have been used to warn and prepare people. Medical offices, community centers, churches could have assisted in getting the word out to their most vulnerable patients and members. A warning to make sure oxygen and necessary medical supplies were stockpiled might have saved lives. Those individuals who depend on electricity to provide needed medical assistance and cannot afford generators could have been helped by going to a warming center. As family members and neighbors, reaching out to those we know are vulnerable to help prepare them doesnt seem like a hard task. The days leading up to the blizzard could have been filled with emails, texts, phone calls or personal visits to people plus public announcements on television and radio. The message in all of these would have been that the blizzard coming is a killer. Do not drive in it; do not go outside. Stay home or go to a warming center before the blizzard arrives.
This Christmas was a mixed bag for our family. On the plus side, the younger daughter arrived from Oregon a few days before that blizzard barreled into town. A large minus was that we missed seeing our older girl, son-in-law and their two furry friends. After making a valiant effort, they were turned back from Buffalo by a closed Thruway and a positive Covid test  on Christmas morning, no less. And so, as was true for many folks, ours was a pretty subdued holiday.

Yet could we really complain? We had plentiful food and drink, a warm house and no reason to challenge the deadly storm. Our daughter brightened those dim days, adding ornaments to our humble artificial trees and cooking some delicious things. Kindly, she also helped us to rid the house of wine.

On the 29th, we were finally able to gather with our local extended family. A fine meal, some gifts and delightful company helped us enjoy a bit of Christmas cheer (and my mother-in-laws 87th birthday). All were grateful for that.

Christmastime begets memories, and those from this year will certainly differ from what anyone expected. For us, one in particular stands out.

It was a few days before the storm, before everything went white and weird. Our daughter had arrived and settled herself, and we three decided that a bracing afternoon walk might help to banish her jet lag. Though chilly and gray, the day was dry and waiting for us.

We walked along briskly at a beautiful nearby cemetery. Alone in that quiet and special place, we shared easy conversation and our hopes for a wonderful Christmas. Eventually, the weak winter daylight began to morph into early evening. We discussed heading back to the car.

All at once the quiet was pierced by a deep, resonant sound emanating from somewhere a short distance behind us and off to our right.

HooooHOOhoo. Thrilled, speechless, we scanned the darkening sky.

Our daughter conjured past outings and discoveries when she quietly asked: Great horned owl?

Indeed it was, calling as daylight continued to fade. We stood stock-still, hoping for more. From the opposite direction, movement caught my eye. A silent shadow was gliding through the air about 20 feet above the road. Pointing, I hoarsely stage-whispered LOOK! The ladies turned and saw a bird fly up the ridge to a tall treetop. Enough light remained that we could see its ear tufts, silhouetted against the sky. It was a second great horned!

This new beauty began to hoot, slightly higher in pitch than the first birds call. So this one was likely a female. As if on cue, the owl wed first heard (the male) flew in to a tree not far away. He offered more hoots, lower in pitch and more urgent than those before.

The birds briefly serenaded each other from their perches. And then the piece de resistance: the male flew to the tall tree and landed atop the female for a brief moment. Enchanted, we watched the male disengage and fly back to his nearby perch. The two birds briefly hooted and trilled before flying off in the gathering murk.

We gathered in a spontaneous group hug, acutely aware of how lucky we had been to witness what had just occurred. The coming blizzard would soon dash hopes and kindle fears. But we three would always have this moment, this memory, to treasure.
By Jody Godoy

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -A jury of nine people in San Francisco was chosen on Tuesday to hear a case brought by Tesla Inc shareholders over CEO Elon Musk's 2018 tweets that he had secured funding to take the electric care maker private.

None of the jury members expressed strong views about the billionaire, as U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen attempted to select an impartial group to decide whether Musk's statement that funding was "secured" amounted to fraud and cost investors "billions."

Chen homed in on a handful of panelists who said in questionnaires that they viewed Musk as "crazy" and "arrogant."

"I think he's a little off his rocker, on a personal level," said one juror, referring to Musk's management of Twitter, which he took over in October.

That potential juror and others said they could set their views aside and judge the case impartially if selected, but they were not included on the jury, nor was another potential juror who described Musk as a "smart, successful pioneer."

Since rising to prominence as head of Tesla, Musk has gained a reputation for unpredictable behavior, from anointing himself Tesla's "technoking" to naming one of his children with a symbol to his stated dream of colonizing Mars.

Investors sued in August 2018, shortly after Musk posted on Twitter that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share. "Funding secured," he said.

In another tweet the same day, he wrote, "Investor support is confirmed," adding, "only reason why this is not certain is that it's contingent on a shareholder vote."

Chen has ruled that those statements were untrue and reckless. The jury will decide if Musk's words mattered to investors, whether he acted knowingly and whether to award damages and in what amount.

The defendants, who also include seven current and former Tesla directors, have denied wrongdoing.

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They have said in court papers that they will argue that Musk had good reason to believe funding for the deal was secured.

The billionaire had met Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the managing director of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, on multiple occasions, according to the court filing, which also said Al-Rumayyan had urged Musk to take Tesla private and offered up to $60 billion in backing.

Musk may take the stand in the case, according to court documents, along with Oracle Corp co-founder Larry Ellison and James Murdoch, son of Fox Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

The trial is scheduled to continue with opening statements on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy in San FranciscoAdditional reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Del.Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)
B.C. Premier David Eby speaks at the B.C. Natural Resources Forum in Prince George. (Betsy Trumpener/CBC - image credit)

B.C. has created a $90 million fund to create manufacturing jobs in B.C.'s forest industry following last week's announcement that up to 300 people will lose their positions at a Prince George pulp and paper mill.

The new B.C. Manufacturing Jobs Fund is aimed at supporting investment and innovation in the industry, which has seen several hundred people put out of work due to cuts and curtailments across the province in recent months.

Examples of projects that could get funding include a forestry company's purchase of equipment in order to create new timber products or a company exploring paper-based alternatives to plastics packaging.

"We need to get more good-paying jobs from our forests and every resource in our province," Eby said.

The investments will be rolled out over the course of three years.

Industry facing a 'reckoning,' premier says

Eby announced the new fund at the B.C. Natural Resources Forum, an annual gathering of industry and political leaders held in Prince George.

It comes the week after Canfor said it is eliminating its pulp line at a local mill, putting 300 people out of work by the end of the year.

Eby said he is meeting with affected workers and facing questions from people directly impacted by the downturn in the forest industry.

In an interview on CBC Daybreak North Monday, the premier addressed remarks made by union representative Chuck LeBlanc blaming the cuts in part on the provincial government's decision to temporarily defer logging in about one million hectares of forest while it comes up with an old-growth management plan.

Hytest Timber

"That had a real [bearing] on Canfor's decision to close our mill," said LeBlanc, a millwright and president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada Local 9.

"It's all great and beautiful to say we're going to protect these areas, but it comes at a real cost."

So far, no deferrals have been approved in the Prince George timber supply region.

On a provincial level, Eby countered by saying the deferrals are just a small part of two decades of challenges which include massive forest fires and the rise of the mountain pine beetle in the late 1990s.

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"This reckoning in the forest sector has been coming for a long time," he said.

Eby said his goal is to develop a long-term plan that recognizes the challenges facing the industry and the communities that rely on the jobs it creates.

"Sustainability doesn't mean looking to the remaining old growth and saying that that's how we're going to fuel the industry going forward."

Industry accountability

Old growth protection, pine beetles and forest fires aren't the only culprits being blamed for the industry downturn, as companies, conservation groups and politicians all share their own narratives on why jobs are disappearing.

In a written statement released last week, Canfor president Kevin Edgson kept things simple, pointing to the lack of timber available for harvest without assigning responsibility.

"In recent years, several sawmills have permanently closed in the Prince George region due to deductions in the allowable annual cut and challenges accessing cost-competitive fibre," he said.

In his remarks, LeBlanc also said the export of raw logs is an issue as manufacturing jobs are shipped elsewhere rather than staying in-province.

Meanwhile, Michelle Connolly, director of the Prince George-based advocacy group Conservation North, said the real issue is 40 years of industry consolidation, allowing a handful of multinational corporations like Canfor to take control of most of B.C.'s timber supply, reducing jobs and community accountability in the process.

Andrew Kurjata/CBC

Connolly pointed out there have been no old-growth deferrals in the Prince George region from which Canfor would supply its pulp and sawmills.

She said it was also disingenuous for companies and government to point to pine beetles and wildfires for job losses, saying their impacts could and had been predicted for decades.

"They're blaming their bad planning on nature," she said.

B.C. Ministry of Forests

Adam Olsen of the B.C. Green Party echoed that sentiment, saying that for years industry and the province have been focused on maximizing short-term profits rather than long-term ecosystem management and more secure, community-based jobs.

"Canfor is a company that in 2021 profited $1.5 billion," he said as part of a panel discussion on CBC's The Early Edition. "It's still profitable."

Mo Sihota, a former NDP cabinet minister and a current lobbyist whose clients include pulp and paper manufacturer Paper Excellence agreed to an extent, saying he was disappointed the company wasn't taking a "home team discount" to try to preserve jobs in B.C. while seeking new markets for its paper products.

CBC

But he said it was too simple to blame corporate greed for the problems, pointing out demand for B.C. forest products has declined, making it difficult to operate.

Dianne Watts, a member of the B.C. Liberal Party executive and a Canfor board director said the company had, in fact, done "everything it could possibly do" to try to avoid job losses.

Instead, she argued the cost of doing business in B.C. is too high, pointing out other companies have been making cuts in recent months.

Calls for community control

In Prince George Tuesday, a rally organized by conservation and labour groups is planned for outside the Natural Resources Forum while Eby is speaking inside.

Among the demands is more community control over forests, something Eby said "resonates with me."

Asked if he was worried taking control away from major corporations might lead to pushback, Eby acknowledged the tension between industry leaders and the province.

"You know, the big forestry companies are beholden to their shareholders getting maximum return on their investment, which may mean processing trees in other places.

"For our province, our goal is making sure that we're getting as many jobs as possible out of the woods."
Six relatives were gunned down at a central California home in what the sheriff called a targeted and likely gang-related attack.

Among those killed in the "horrific massacre" Monday morning were a 16-year-old mom and a 10-month-old baby, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters. Both were shot in the head, he said.

Authorities believe the shooters stood on top of the teenager and fired rounds into her head, Boudreaux said at a news conference Tuesday. Her murder was "assassination-style" and "egregious," the sheriff said.

The other slain victims were ages 19, 49 and 52, as well as a 72-year-old grandmother, who was sleeping in her bed, Boudreaux said at the news conference.

PHOTO: Tulare County Sheriff crime unit removes the body of one of the victims at the scene where six people were killed in a Central Valley farming community, Jan. 16, 2023, in Goshen, Calif. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Three people survived the mass shooting in the farming community of Goshen, the sheriff said. The 911 call around 4 a.m. came from one of the survivors who was hiding as the gunfire erupted inside the home, the sheriff said.

"He put his feet up against the door and laid as flat as he could hoping no one would come in," the sheriff said. The gunmen "rattled the doorknob" but didn't come in, he said.

Police are searching for two known suspects, and possibly a third, the sheriff said. No arrests have been made.

"We believe that this was a targeted family," the sheriff said.

PHOTO: Tulare County Sheriff crime unit investigates the scene where six people were killed in a Central Valley farming community, Jan. 16, 2023 in Goshen, Calif. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

MORE: 14-year-old girl shoots, kills 11-year-old boy after allegedly aiming at someone else: Police

"This was very personal," Boudreaux said. "We also believe that it was a message being sent."

"These people were clearly shot in the head and they were also shot in places that the shooter would know that quick death would occur," the sheriff said.

"What took place is very much like what we've seen in the past when it comes to execution by cartel," he added.

GOSHEN SHOOTING: It looks like CSI is starting to take pictures of scene. I cant see what house it is, but its on the north side of Harvest Ave. Still waiting to get updated by TCSO. pic.twitter.com/JiwndZK4KS  Amanda Aguilar ABC30 (@AAguilarTV) January 16, 2023

MORE: Arrests made in New Year's Day shootout where nearly 600 rounds were fired: Police

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Authorities "believe there are gang associations involved in this scene, as well as potential narcotics investigations," Boudreaux said.

One week ago, the sheriff's office conducted narcotics search warrants at the house, he said.

The sheriff added, "Not all the people in this home were gang members" and not all were drug dealers.

PHOTO: Six people have been gunned down at a Central California home in what the sheriff is calling a targeted attack. (Tulare County Sheriff's Office)

Authorities are asking the public for help, though the sheriff said, "I know a lot ... a lot I can't tell you."

He said he was being careful with what he released so he will not alert the suspects.

A $10,000 reward is available for information that moves the case forward, according to authorities.

6 family members, including baby, shot dead at home in targeted 'massacre': Sheriff originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
MPs implored federal government to bring former Afghan politician to Canada before she was killed

Canadian politicians were working to bring Mursal Nabizada, a woman who used to serve as a Member of Parliament in Afghanistan before the Taliban's takeover in August 2021, to this country before she was killed this weekend.

The exact circumstances of Nabizada's death are unclear, but police in Kabul said she and her bodyguard were killed by unknown gunmen, and her brother injured, all in an attack that took place at her home overnight on Saturday.

"It was devastating news and very tragic," said Alex Ruff, the Conservative MP for Bruce-Grey-Owen-Sound, Ont., one of six Canadian MPs who have been collaborating behind the scenes since last October to fast-track immigration for Nabizada and eight other female Afghan MPs who remained in Afghanistan after the Taliban's takeover of the country nearly two years ago.

"We came together as an all-party group to advocate for their really urgent movement to safety and to come to Canada," said Ruff, a military veteran who served in Afghanistan himself.

The group also includes Green Party of Canada co-leader Elizabeth May, the Bloc Quebecois' Alexis-Brunelle Duceppe, the NDP's Heather McPherson, and Liberals Marcus Powlowski and Leah Taylor Roy.

"We cannot lose another woman that is on that list. We cannot afford that. We have a responsibility," said Brunelle-Duceppe. "This government is supposedly a feminist government. Well, it has to prove it."

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Slain MP had 'bright spark,' activist says

Corey Levine, a human-rights activist who met Nabizada while posted in Afghanistan with the United Nations from November 2020 to June 2021, said she had a "bright spark to her."

Levine was in Afghanistan in June 2022 as well. She said she had managed to convince the Canadian MPs of different political stripes to work together to bring Nabizada and the eight other female politicians to Canada from Afghanistan.

"Their lives had gone from being top of Afghan society as being public figures representing their constituents in Parliament to going into hiding."

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WATCH | Afghan women struggle to cope under Taliban restrictions:

She said that initially, Nabizada had wanted to stay in Afghanistan, but Levine convinced the former MP that moving to Canada was safer.

"She was ready to leave," said Levine, who found out about Nabizada's killing Saturday night through a group chat with the other female MPs.

"I ended up staying up all night texting with the women," she said. "We were just trying to process the loss, what it meant for them  just trying to be there for each other."

Government willing to work with all parties

CBC reached out to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser for an interview, but the federal government did not make him available.

In a statement issued jointly by his office and that of Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Ottawa condemned Nabizada's murder, and called for "the perpetrators of this horrific crime to be brought to justice."

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

The federal government also said it will continue to do everything it can to welcome Afghans.

"This includes working with Members of Parliament from all parties to advance our nation's efforts, and specifically, bring more women leaders to Canada," said the statement, which was short on particulars about this group of female Afghan MPs.

But Taylor Roy, one of the two governing caucus Liberals among the Canadian Parliamentarians trying to bring the women to Canada, suggested there are a number of challenges and that it's not a simple matter of putting the women on a plane leaving Afghanistan.

"There's so many people applying through these [immigration] programs, and one of the problems is that these women are still in Afghanistan," Taylor Roy said. "And of course there's great danger in moving them to another country."

"They have to have assurance that they have somewhere to go because we know neighbouring countries have been returning refugees back to Afghanistan. If this were to happen to any of them, obviously they would be in the hands of the Taliban."

In late December, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada told CBC News it had received word from the government of Pakistan that it would not force paperless Afghan migrants to return to Afghanistan.

The federal government has pledged to bring 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada. Since August 2021, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says that 27,345 Afghans have arrived here under various programs.

WATCH | Afghan-Canadian journalist on dismantling of women's rights in Afghanistan:
Sheriff's officials remove the body of a victim Monday in Goshen. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)

Six people, including a 6-month old baby, her teenage mother and an elderly woman, were killed Monday in a Central Valley farming community in what the local sheriff said was likely a targeted attack by a drug cartel.

The massacre occurred around 3:30 a.m. in and around a residence in the Tulare County town of Goshen, near Visalia. Authorities said they were searching for two suspects and that the killings may have been related to a search warrant carried out last week at the property that resulted in one arrest and the seizure of guns, marijuana and methamphetamine.

I think its specifically connected to the cartel, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told The Times without specifying a particular criminal organization. The level of violence  this was not your run-of-the-mill, low-end gang member.

Officials with the Tulare County sheriff investigate the scene of Monday's shooting in Goshen, Calif. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Authorities did not release the names or ages of all the victims but said it appeared that some were from the same family.

Several were shot in the head, including the baby, Boudreaux said. A sheriffs deputy responding to reports of gunfire found the infant cradled in the arms of her 17-year-old mother, who also had a gunshot wound to the head, in a ditch outside the home.

An elderly woman discovered dead in a bed also was shot in the head.

It appeared she was shot in her sleep, Boudreaux said.

Three men were also killed. One was alive when deputies arrived. He was given CPR and taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries.

It was unclear whether the man arrested last week during the search by a gang and narcotics unit of the county Sheriff's Office was one of the victims, Boudreaux said. DNA testing will be required to identify at least one of the male victims because of damage done to his face by the gun or guns used, the sheriff said.

Two women survived the attack by hiding in a trailer on the property. Boudreaux said they told investigators that people on the property saw intruders approaching on surveillance cameras.

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They could see two men sneaking onto the property  but by the time they came on [the video feed], it was too late to do anything, he said.

The door of the home had been kicked or pushed in, and one man was shot in the doorway. It appeared the teenage mother was trying to run away with her child when they were killed, Boudreaux said.

The "manner and swiftness" of the attacks suggested experienced killers, the sheriff said. (Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

Investigators did not release names or descriptions of the suspects.

The "manner and swiftness" of the attacks suggested experienced killers, Boudreaux said.

"If [they] are specifically shooting everyone in the head, they know what they are doing ... [and] they are comfortable with what they are doing," the sheriff said.

The first indication that something was wrong on the property on Harvest Road just east of Highway 99 came about 3:38 a.m.

A woman who said she was in a trailer next to the main residence reported that a male  Larry  shot her boyfriend, according to a recording of a Sheriffs Office dispatch.

She believes somebody may be inside the house, a dispatcher told responding deputies. Shes scared.

Additional 911 calls were coming in from neighbors across the street advising theyre hearing gunshots, the dispatcher said.

Deputies arrived and began assessing the carnage.

How many total ambulances do you need out there? the dispatcher asked.

Four, a deputy said. Later, he told her they had found more victims and needed two more ambulances.

The last one, he said, Itll be [for] a child.

The slayings stunned the quiet community of Goshen, a mostly Latino community of about 5,000.

One man, who asked not to be identified because he feared retribution, said he was awakened by a volley of gunfire. That gave way to on and off shots and the sound of a car speeding away, he said.

After learning from the news that six people had been killed, some apparently as they tried to escape, he concluded that those final sporadic gun blasts were the killers "chasing people."

Basically hunting, the man said.

Tulare County Supervisor Eddie Valero, who represents the town, called the deaths "everyone's worst nightmare."

"These senseless acts of violence, especially with infants, children and young adults, have no place in our communities," Valero said in a statement.

For a small agricultural area of less than half a million people, Tulare County has long played an outsize role in the transnational business of moving drugs from Mexico to markets around the United States.

Tulare County Sheriff crime unit investigates the scene in Goshen. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)

Bisected by Highway 99, with a sparse law enforcement presence, acres of wide open land and a highly mobile population of farmworkers, the area has served as a smugglers' paradise since at least the 1970s.



In more recent decades, the area has been home to the production of meth and the cultivation of both legal and illegal marijuana.

Some of the most prominent  and most violent  figures of Mexicos recent drug wars have ties to Tulare, including Jose Maria Guizar Valencia, a former leader of the brutal Zetas cartel, who was born there.

Times staff writer Patrick McDonnell and special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez contributed to this report from Mexico City.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A mother carries her son run past a burning barricade during a protest against the government in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Nov. 18, 2022. (Odelyn Joseph/The Associated Press - image credit)

As Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince continues to be rocked by gang violence, one key adviser to the Canadian federal government says this country doesn't favour the idea of putting boots on the ground to help address unrest.

"I don't want to speculate about that because I don't think that's really the step that we're taking," said Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations Bob Rae, who last visited Haiti in December.

Speaking to CBC Radio's The House, Rae said Canada is looking at how to provide assistance that will "create order" in Haiti  where, he said, the state is "holding together by a thread."

Rae visited the country twice last year and is advising the Canadian government on a path forward. He said many outside Haiti don't fully appreciate the great fear and anxiety experienced by ordinary Haitians, who are dealing with civil disorder, widespread threats of kidnapping and sexual violence, and a food crisis.

"The prime minister is wrestling with a very tough question and that is, 'What is the most effective form of assistance that we can provide?'" said Rae.

Earlier this week, Canada airlifted a second shipment of Haitian-purchased armoured vehicles to the country to help the national police. On Friday, Canada also announced new sanctions against two more members of the Haitian elite.

"We're leading the way on sanctions and frankly we'd like other governments to play a stronger role, including the United States," said Rae, noting Canada is also providing food aid and help with public health as the country deals with a resurgence of cholera.

The sensitive question of whether military involvement might be in the cards landed in the spotlight earlier this week in the lead-up to the North American leaders summit, after comments by a senior U.S. official.

"Canada itself has expressed interest in taking on a leadership role" in offering some sort of multinational security support to the Haitian National Police, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Monday.

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That could involve boots on the ground or other forms of support, said Sullivan. He said that U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau would discuss the matter, adding he didn't want to "jam anybody" by anticipating the outcome of the conversation.

Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

But no public commitment to any specific action in Haiti emerged after those private discussions on Tuesday.

Trudeau did not directly answer the question about the possibility of a Canadian military presence in Haiti when asked by a reporter  though he did talk about the importance of Haitian national police being empowered to solve the situation themselves.

He added that Canada and other countries are preparing various scenarios to respond in the event the situation in Haiti gets worse.

Ariel Henry, Haiti's de facto prime minister, has asked for help from a foreign military, but many citizens of Haiti see Henry's government as illegitimate.

Still, the United Nations has urged countries to consider Henry's request.

Odelyn Joseph/The Associated Press

It's not clear how many Haitians would reject such a military presence. Haiti's history is littered with episodes of foreign powers intervening and leaving a trail of damage.

Marjorie Villefranche, director of Montreal's Maison d'Haiti, said the country has dealt with years of foreign soldiers on the ground and many Haitians do not want to see that era return.

"The situation could be deteriorating, but the solution is not the occupation of Haiti," she said

Rae insisted that no such suggestion is under consideration.

Jean Saint-Vil of Solidarite Quebec-Haiti agreed that such an armed intervention would be unwelcome.

"The only reason that this kind of reflex shows up is because we are dealing in a colonial paradigm where white nations, white-dominated nations, see themselves as the national policemen of the planet," he said. "This is not acceptable in 2023."

"Nobody's contemplating a huge military intervention," said Rae. "I think that idea, which may have been around in some quarters, certainly was never one that was embraced by us."

The focus now is on upgrading the capacity of the Haitian security services, he said, and looking at what additional assistance Canada can provide.

Rae also pointed out that there is no United Nations Security Council resolution to authorize such an intervention. Whatever is done must be based on "a stronger consensus than we're currently seeing from all of the elements in Haitian society," he added.

"We are not interested in repeating the mistakes of the past."
Andrew Corless developed what he describes as 'severe urticaria' shortly after receiving a COVID booster shot in January 2022. (Submitted by Andrew Corless - image credit)

The story of a Gatineau, Que., man who developed a debilitating skin condition after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine has struck a chord with many Canadians, dozens of whom reached out to share their own similar experiences.

Shortly after Tisir Otahbachi received his second dose of the Moderna vaccine in August 2021, a burning rash that had started on his hand spread to his limbs and back, forcing him to quit his jobs and seek medical treatment in Ontario. Otahbachi is now seeking redress through Quebec's vaccine injury compensation program.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, only a tiny fraction  0.011 per cent  of the more than 95 million vaccine doses administered in this country as of Dec. 9 resulted in serious adverse reactions. But that's still more than 10,000 reported cases.

Otahbachi, who had never experienced any skin problems before, told CBC that throughout his ordeal, most of the doctors who examined him dismissed the possibility of any link between the vaccine and the sudden onset of his painful condition.

"I told [them] I'm not against the vaccine, but the vaccine damaged my body," he said. "The doctors that I've been to, all of them were scared."

Jean Delisle/CBC

Health units monitoring reactions

According to Earl Brown, a professor emeritus of virology at the University of Ottawa, certain elements of these vaccines can trigger an autoimmune response that targets our own tissues.

"You've got a lot of people who have developed antibodies to these vaccine components because they're used elsewhere in medicine or in cosmetics or in food," Brown told CBC last week.

"Most of us do very well, but some of us are getting adverse reactions."

While many of those who reached out after reading Otahbachi's story said they'd also had a difficult time convincing doctors that a COVID vaccine may have caused their skin condition, Ottawa's medical officer of health Vera Etches told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning last week that medical professionals are encouraged to report all suspected cases.

Story continues

"We want to understand the full range of what can happen with vaccines," Etches said. "We know these kinds of things are extremely rare, but we have a system for reporting so that we can find rare things and assist people."

Local health units then report those reactions to Public Health Ontario, which compiles and examines the data to spot wider trends, Etches said.

"Overall of course we know vaccines are providing a great benefit in protecting people from severe outcomes [of COVID-19]."

Here's a small sample of some of the adverse reactions described to CBC.

Submitted by Andrew Corless

Andrew

Andrew Corless, 52, first developed hives on his torso and neck after his second shot of the Moderna vaccine, but didn't think too much of it at the time.

It wasn't until about two weeks after his first Moderna booster last January that his symptoms "really blew up," Corless told CBC.

I think we're just kind of all left stranded. - Andrew Corless

"My skin erupted in pretty severe urticaria and my breathing became restricted, similar to asthma attacks, occurring every few hours but unresponsive to asthma inhalers and even prednisone," he said.

Corless, a writer and dual citizen who now lives near Montreal after spending years in the U.S., has been to a series of specialists including one doctor who convinced him to give up the family dog over allergy concerns.

"None of that moved the needle," Corless said. "I think they just don't know enough about it."

Corless has joined a Facebook group with thousands of members who have been dealing with similar symptoms since receiving a COVID vaccine. He said he's also reached out to Moderna, but got nowhere.

"I am absolutely pro-vaccine, I want to be vaccinated," Corless said. "But now what? Where's the backup and help with this? I think we're just kind of all left stranded. That's the difficult part. It's like, we played along  now what?"

Submitted by Sandra Ashby

Sandra

Sandra Ashby spent New Year's Eve in the emergency room of a hospital in Haliburton, Ont., her skin burning to the point that she could no longer stand it.

"I was there because I didn't know where to go," Ashby told CBC. "This is where it's so painful, because there is no help in dealing with this."

Eight months earlier, Ashby, a retired teacher in her mid-60s who resides in Toronto, had received her second booster shot of the Moderna vaccine before travelling to England. Small spots resembling insect bites soon appeared on her legs, forming an itchy rash that eventually covered three-quarters of her body.

I'm not looking for money. I just want some relief. - Sandra Ashby

Ashby, who had experienced mild eczema in the past, was prescribed a series of topical corticosteroids, but worried about the long-term effects on her skin, tried to wean herself off the powerful medication. She now suspects she's experiencing steroid withdrawal, compounding her discomfort.

"What I've got now is unbelievably painful. I mean, sleeping is just awful. I'm lucky if I get some sleep," she said.

Still, none of the many doctors she's seen have been willing to draw a direct link between the vaccine and her condition.

"They don't have time to address it, they don't want to make the connection, they're concerned about the anti-vaxxers, they're concerned about the politics of it, and I understand all of that. But what I'm upset about is, I'm in this situation and I don't know how to get out," she said.

"I'm not looking for money. I just want some relief."

Daniel

Daniel, 41, was eager to share his story, but asked CBC to withhold his surname because some of his family members work in the medical field.

"I wouldn't want any sort of stigma being placed on them, or any sort of association with the anti-vaccine movement or anything like that," said the engineer, who lives with his wife and their young daughter in Edmonton.

They kind of just brushed it off or ignored it. - Daniel

"I'm not anti-vaccine by any means  I've had every vaccine under the sun. It's just that I've had this adverse reaction that can't be explained through normal, typical medical history."

Daniel, who had never experienced any sort of skin ailment before, first developed itchy, acne-like blisters on his fingers about three weeks after receiving his second dose of the Moderna vaccine in June 2021. His condition soon worsened, leaving him with painful open sores.

"If you look around my home, you'll see blood smeared on the light switches and door handles because my hands are just constantly bleeding," he said.

Submitted

Daniel was eventually diagnosed with dyshidrotic eczema and was prescribed a series of increasingly powerful steroid creams. He also undergoes ultraviolet light therapy three times a week.

While his symptoms have improved somewhat, Daniel worries he's "chasing his tail" instead of addressing the root cause of his condition.

"I started bringing it up with the medical professionals and saying hey, there seems to be this temporal link between developing my symptoms and when I was vaccinated, but none of [them] really addressed that or even acknowledged that statement. They kind of just brushed it off or ignored it," he said.

"If there is something in this vaccine that's triggering this event, that could change the course of treatment for people and maybe lead to a successful treatment outcome.

"That's why I think it's really critical to start maybe getting less of the stigma there and not treating people as anti-vaccine, just realizing that hey, these people might be the unlucky ones."
Chalice of Mercy hosted its 16th annual Ukrainian Christmas Dinner on Saturday at Lilydale Dance Hall and Event Venue in Chippewa Falls.

The dinner, which was attended by 250 people, offered nearly three hours of speakers and videos on the situation in Ukraine and the outreach efforts happening here which benefit Ukrainians. Some of those honored at the event had traveled to Wisconsin recently from Ukraine.

The menu included authentic Ukrainian food, and clothing and souvenirs were displayed. The dining tables showcased hand cross-stitched runners that were created by Ukrainian women overseas, sewing by candlelight because Russian bombs and missiles have knocked out Ukrainians electricity.

Chalice of Mercy founder and CEO Valentyna Pavsyukova, whos originally from Zaporizhya, Ukraine, started the nonprofit in Chippewa Falls more than a decade and a half ago to benefit the people of her homeland.

She spoke at length about the hardships of war in her home country during Saturdays program.

Last spring, my heart was restless, Pavsyukova said. I wanted to do more. I see that many of our soldiers were losing limbs. How many of them came back home crippled from the fields?

Pavsyukova said she began to look for ways to help and stumbled onto the work being done by Protez Foundation. Shes now one of the organizations advisers.

An Oakdale, Minnesota-based outreach program, Protez Foundation has undertaken a project to provide prosthetics for Ukrainians. The goal of the project is to help Ukrainian children, soldiers and civilians who have lost their limbs during the war to get free, quality prosthetics in the U.S.

Yury Aroshidze, Protez president and CEO, and Yakov Jacob Gradinar, chief medical officer and prosthetic doctor, were present at the dinner along with other foundation staff. Aroshidze and Gradinar addressed the crowd speaking about their outreach to Ukraine.

Four Ukrainian soldiers were also honored. They were all wounded in battle and are now in the U.S. to benefit from the Protez Foundation outreach to those who have lost limbs.

Pavsyukova introduced the soldiers to the crowd, calling them heroes who had the hearts of lions.

After the event she said giving locals the chance to meet Ukrainian soldiers was the most important part of the night.

It was so important that they came to be with us, really allowing us to spend that time with them ... to shake their hands, and for people to be able to see right straight in their eyes, she said. This is what freedom is and this is what democracy looks like. These people were ready to give their lives for it. They lost their limbs, but they were ready for more.

Genia Samborska was keynote speaker at the event. Shes the president of a nonprofit in Ukraine called For the Dignity of the People.

Pavsyukova translated for Samborska, who addressed the crowd in Ukrainian.

The Russian Federation has done many terrible things throughout the world, Samborska said. But theyve always remained unpunished.

Samborska said on Feb. 24, the people of Kiev woke up from the burning of their city.

We did not want to believe it, but the rockets that were falling on us completely changed our lives, she said. My apartment building was shaking so much and my family insisted that I be evacuated.

It was a difficult road to escape to the border of Poland, she said. She spent three days waiting to cross the border, surrounded by women, children, the elderly and disabled who were also trying to flee.

Samborska said her friends and neighbors in Kiev have now suffered more than 325 days of war. They recently reported to Samborska that theyve gone 50 hours without heat, electricity or water in the dead of winter.

But they are willing to suffer for the sake of victory, she said. This is not a war between two countries. We are fighting for freedom and against dictatorship. Were fighting for a true democracy.

Since September 2007, Chalice of Mercy has helped tens of thousands of Ukrainians.

In the last 11 months, Chalice of Mercy has sent nearly 500 pallets of supplies to Ukraine, weighing over 200 tons and valued at more than $25 million, Pavsyukova said. In that time theyve received $1.5 million in donations alone.

The shipments include medical supplies and equipment, over-the-counter medicines, hygiene items, clothing, baby supplies and toys, Pavsyukova said.

Samborska said, You are supporting us and really helping us, so thank you.
Hurrying to put the question before voters this spring, the state Senate on Tuesday and the Assembly on Thursday are scheduled to vote on a constitutional amendment that would require courts to factor in defendants past charges and public safety risk in setting cash bail amounts for those accused of violent crimes.

Under the state Constitution, judges cant currently impose cash bail to prevent future crimes, only to ensure defendants appear in court. Judges may, however, add conditions to a persons bail that seek to address public safety concerns.

The measure, SJR 2, comes as states across the country reconsider bail laws, often in a move away from cash bail, though some of those states have since reversed those changes.

Having passed both chambers last session, the proposed amendment in Wisconsin would need second approval from the Assembly and Senate before going before voters. The governor cannot veto a proposed constitutional amendment. If approved, the measure could appear on the April 4 ballot, when many local races and referendums will be decided.

Calling Wisconsins current bail system broken, proposal author Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said in a statement that the measure would give judges the flexibility to consider the totality of the circumstances when setting bail which is common sense, and a good start.

Criminal defense attorneys and other opponents of the amendment have argued the changes will result in more people presumed to be innocent held behind bars longer because of higher bail amounts while they await trial.

In a statement ahead of a hearing on the resolution last week, the ACLU of Wisconsin said the measure would exacerbate disparities in the states cash bail system between those who can afford to buy their way out of jail and those who cant and raises significant concerns under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the excessive bail prohibition under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The due process clause states nobody may be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, something that amendment opponents argue could occur with prolonged pretrial stays in jail.

Noting that bill opponents brought up potential due process violations, proposal author Rep. Cindi Duchow, R-Delafield, said the measure was based on other states bail systems.

And Wanggaard said the measure would not change the excessive bail prohibition, noting that judges would have to put on the record why they believe the amount of bail is appropriate.

Instead of bolstering cash bail, Wisconsin State Public Defender legislative liaison Adam Plotkin instead called for a system that significantly disincentivizes the role that money plays in this system by using a risk assessment tool and judicial discretion to determine a defendants pretrial release on a case-by-case basis.

Other states

The proposed measure will come before the Assembly as other states rework their bail systems.

In 2021, Illinois lawmakers voted to completely do away with cash bail. But just before the law was poised to take effect this January, which would have made Illinois the first state to do away with the system, the Illinois Supreme Court stepped in and put the law on hold as prosecutors challenge the measures constitutionality.

California did away with cash bail for people who couldnt afford it in March 2021 after the California Supreme Court concluded that conditioning freedom solely on whether an arrestee can afford bail is unconstitutional.

New Jersey overhauled its bail system in 2017, allowing more people to remain free while awaiting trial by doing away with cash bail in most instances.

Marginally fewer people attended their court dates after the reforms, but a New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts report stated that was a matter of compiling data differently.

Concerns about a possible spike in crime and failures to appear did not materialize, the report concluded.

New York implemented a law decreasing cash bail use in January 2020 before reversing many of the changes in April 2020 after the New York Police Department presented statistics showing that crime rose after the January changes.

Attorneys, including public defenders, pushed back, saying the New York City police officers were bail reform opponents who were arresting more people to create a false narrative.

Advocates have for years pushed for the elimination of cash bail, saying that cash bail particularly affects people of color.

In a 2019 report, left-leaning Prison Policy Initiative research director Wendy Sawyer found that nonwhite defendants are 10% to 25% more likely than white defendants to be detained before trial or have to pay cash bail.

Black and brown defendants receive bail amounts that are twice as high as bail set for white defendants  and they are less likely to be able to afford it, she said.
The Senate on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment to toughen the state's bail system by requiring courts to consider the criminal histories of people charged with violent crimes and whether they present a risk to public safety if released.

The measure, which passed 23-9, heads to the Assembly on Thursday. If approved there, it will go before voters April 4, when a Wisconsin Supreme Court race and local races and referendums will also be on the ballot.

Two Democrats  Sen. Brad Pfaff, of Onalaska, and Sen. Bob Wirch, of Somers  joined all Republicans in voting in favor of the measure.

Under the state Constitution, judges can't impose cash bail to keep defendants from engaging in criminal activity by keeping them locked up. It can only be used to ensure defendants appear in court. Judges may, however, add conditions to a person's bail that seek to address public safety concerns.

The Constitution also states defendants shall be eligible for release under reasonable conditions aimed at protecting community members from "serious bodily harm." The proposal changes that standard to "serious harm."

The measure, SJR 2, passed both chambers with bipartisan support last year. State law requires the Legislature to approve proposed constitutional amendments in two consecutive sessions before Wisconsinites can vote on them. The governor cannot veto a proposed constitutional amendment.

Calling Wisconsin's current bail system broken, proposal author Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said Tuesday that the measure would give judges the ability to look at the whole picture when considering bail for people accused of violent crimes.

"Nothing else can happen until we pass and ratify this amendment," Wanggaard said. "This is the first step, and this has to be the first step."

Criminal defense attorneys and other opponents of the amendment have argued the changes will result in more people presumed to be innocent held behind bars longer because they can't make bail while awaiting trial.

"This is wasteful," Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, said about the proposal. "It's likely unconstitutional."

Opponents have argued that if the proposal results in keeping people in jail for long periods of time before trial, it could violate the U.S. Constitution's due process clause, which states nobody may be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law."

Supporters say that's not realistic since the proposal was modeled on other states' bail systems.

Opponents have also said the proposed amendment could violate the excessive bail prohibition under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Wanggaard said the measure would not change the excessive bail prohibition, noting that judges would have to put on the record why they believe bail amounts are appropriate.

Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, criticized the proposed switch from "serious bodily harm" to "serious harm," saying there was no clear definition of the latter.

The amendment wouldn't have much practical effect, according to Michael O'Hear, a professor of criminal law at Marquette Law School.

That's because violent crime already constitutes a small percentage of criminal cases, O'Hear said. Additionally, factors that make a defendant a public safety risk tend to be the same kinds of factors judges consider when determining whether a defendant is a flight risk, he said.

But even the small number of case affected by the bail changes could worsen jail overcrowding, he said, because some defendants would be unable to pay significantly higher bail amounts under the new system.

Keeping people in jail longer before trial could also raise constitutional issues, he said.
Catch these local artists live : Saturday January 21. 2023 Steve Stacey & The Stump Splitters live at The Barley Mow, 79 Little Bridge, Almonte Ontario 8 - 11 pm Thursday February 9, 2023 Lynne Hanson Ottawa Ice Dragonboat Festival The Rainbow Bistro Ottawa 9:30 pm Saturday, February 25th, 2023 Amos The Transparent 10 year release of Good Night My Dear...I'm Falling Apart - whole album performance show Neat Coffee Shop Burnstown, Ontario 8:00 pm

Mar's Local Connection Theme Song

Still Winter Hills - unreleased - unreleased

Tangier

Selina Martin - Time Spent Swimming - Independent - Time Spent Swimming -

If You Were A River

Selina Martin - Time Spent Swimming - Independent - Time Spent Swimming -

Age of Unease

Eamon MCGrath - Bells of Hope - Saved By Vinyl - Bells of Hope -

Water Towers + Transistor Radios

Eamon MCGrath - Bells of Hope - Saved by Vinyl - Bells of Hope -

Hollands Hill

Steve Stacey & The Stump Splitters - Tall Tales, Fibs & Outright Lies - Independent - Tall Tales, Fibs & Outright Lies -

Whiskey

Steve Stacey & The Stump Splitters - Tall Tales, Fibs & Outright Lies - Independent - Tall Tales, Fibs & Outright Lies -

Pause The Tape

Tin Constellations - A Cosmanaut's Lament - Independent - A Cosmanaut's Lament -

Foghorn

Tin Constellations - A Cosmanaut's Lament - Independent - A Cosmanaut's Lament -

Birds Without a Feather

Lynne Hanson - Ice Cream In November - Ice Cream In November

This Heart of Mine

Lynne Hanson - Ice Cream in November - Ice Cream in November

Greater Than Consequence

Amos The Transparent - Goodnight My Dear...I'm Falling Apart - Goodnight My Dear...I'm Falling Apart
The Platte Center Volunteer Fire and Rescue annual soup supper is nothing new to the community. Typically, the funds raised go to the fire department itself, but this year, they have a different purpose.

In October of 2022, shortly after the birth of Riggs Coble's younger siblings and his checkup, 4-year-old Riggs Coble's parents noticed he was losing weight, according to his aunt, Nicolette Coble.

"They had just had twins premature in the newborn infant care unit (NICU) about a month themselves, then a few weeks after they were home they learned Riggs had lost 8 pounds and was just pale," Coble said. "They took him to the doctor, the doctor noticed he was pale and had lost the 8 pounds and took him in for testing."

Within 48 hours, Coble said, Riggs' results came back positive for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Mitch and Jessica, Riggs' parents, went with him to Omaha to Children's Hospital for treatment, something that would become a routine.

"He's on a two-and-a-half-year treatment plan which includes chemo (therapy). He was diagnosed in October, was in the hospital for three weeks and then dismissed, but they have to drive up to Omaha twice a week for treatment," Coble said.

Mitch and Jessica are well-involved in the community according to Assistant Fire Chief Jesse Barber. Mitch is on the volunteer fire department and Jessica is a teacher at Lakeview Community Schools in Platte Center. When the department heard about the Cobles' situation, they decided to use the soup supper to help.

"We brought it up for this year and being as Mitch is on the fire department with us, weve got to do something since hes part of the department, so we decided to turn it into a benefit," Barber said.

The Rallying for Riggs soup supper benefit and silent auction will start at 5 p.m. on Jan. 21. The silent auction started when Nicolette Coble wanted to do a benefit and heard the fire department was planning on donating the funds from the soup supper.

"I called the assistant chief (Barber) and said 'Can we turn this into a full benefit, turn it into a silent auction?' He said we absolutely could, we got the silent auction going, residents of Platte Center decided to donate," Coble said. "When that came about it became a live auction for the tractor and it's been building and snowballing from there."

The live auction will be called by a young man named Owen Johnson, Barber said. They were also able to secure music from Lee Phillips to follow the auction. The items donated, especially the antique tractor, Barber said, are sure to be interesting.

"All the sudden, Brad Andreason, a farmer in the area, had this antique John Deere tractor, said 'Here, Im donating this, auction it off,' we were like 'holy cow!' The firemen from Humphrey are building something for the live auction as well," Barber said.

Columbus Motor Company donated a $1,000 Hy-Vee gift card for the family and the fire department raised $800 from an earlier event this year, which will also be presented at the event.

"We've known them quite a while, they just had twins not too long ago then this happened. They had to drive to Omaha every day then twice a week," Barber said. "That kid is strong, he's got a long road ahead of him, he's in remission, but it's still a lot of trips. They took off a lot of work for it, thats why we're doing this."

The soup supper will start at 5 p.m. at the Platte Center Fire Hall and run until they run out of soup, Barber said. Chicken noodle soup, chili, cheeseburger soup, taco soup and loaded baked potato soup will be available for a free will donation.
Brazils Nubank Remains Bullish on Crypto with New Token Listings

Source: AlfRibeiro/Adobe

The Brazilian neobank Nubanks decision to list polygon (MATIC) and uniswap (UNI) on its banking app has been met with enthusiasm from the crypto community.

Nubank first began its crypto pivot in mid-2022, when it announced it would buy bitcoin (BTC) using its balance sheet. The company claimed it would invest 1% of its portfolio in bitcoin via its holding company.

The firm also updated its app with functions that allowed its users to hold, buy, and sell bitcoin and ethereum (ETH).

And the MATIC move may have been in the pipelines for some time. In October last year, the company announced that it was working with Polygon on a plan that will see the company launch its own coin  dubbed Nucoin.

MATIC 24-hour prices. (Source: CoinMarketCap)

The banking company stated that it wants to airdrop its token to customers in the first half of 2023  and will use it as part of its loyalty programs.

Speaking to Time on January 15, David Velez, Nubanks founder and CEO, stated:

My biggest push as a leader will be to increase pace and quality of execution across the organization while increasing motivation and engagement.

UNI 24-hour prices. (Source: CoinMarketCap)

This pace of execution appears to have accelerated rapidly in the crypto field. The company has gone from a zero base to becoming a significant domestic crypto player in the space of mere months.

More Crypto Adoption to Follow in Brazil as Nubank Eyes Market

While it may take some time to see whether Nubank customers take to this new selection of altcoins, it is perhaps significant that the bank is continuing its adoption drive while many other crypto-only firms are scaling back their operations.

As things stand, major Latin American crypto players such as Mexicos Bitso and Brazils Mercado Bitcoin continue to dominate the regional crypto markets.





14-day trading volumes at Bitso, one of Latin Americas largest crypto exchanges. (Source: CoinGecko)

But Nubanks backers include the likes of Warren Buffet, whose investment firm bought a $500 million stake in the firm in June 2021. Per The Chainsaw, NuBank is currently valued at a whopping US$45 billion, making it the second-most valuable virtual bank in the world.

The bank reportedly has more than 65 million users  and is eyeing more overseas expansion in the near future.

Late last year, the outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro signed a key crypto bill, which originated in the Senate. Among other things, the law effectively legalizes crypto as a form of payment in the country  paving the way for further private-sector adoption.
HARRISBURG  Mary Miller doesnt like to brag  but if she did, she would say Mother knows best after winning first prize and $200 in the Jelly/Jam Bar Contest at the 107th Pennsylvania Farm Show.

Miller, of Strongstown in Cambria County, competed against her daughter and 13 other bakers to win the contest in which participants were required to bring eight bar cookies and a typed recipe.

Bar cookies can be a little bit of a challenge to make, said Christina Masser of Christina Masser Pantry of Lancaster, which sponsored the competition. We had 15 entries this year. I didnt know what to expect in a year coming out of the pandemic.

Other prizes went to Sally Reinoehl of Valley View, second place and $100; Marie Miller of Mechanicsburg, third place and $50; Terri Stewart of Altoona, fourth place and a ribbon; and Scott Felix of Alum Bank, fifth place and a ribbon. Marie Miller and Stewart both have won awards in this contest in past years.

The contest was open to any Pennsylvanian of any age, requiring bakers to use jelly, jam or preserves in their bar cookies and not use a commercial mix. Many bakers who lack the time to make cookies that require individual forming turn to bar cookies  and jelly is a familiar filling.

Mary Miller used cherry jam in her Yummy Jam Bars plus shredded coconut and pecans.

Its a good bar cookie, she said. But my daughter (Amanda Harry of Hampden Township) entered her raspberry shortcake bars, and I liked them even better.

The mother and daughter team have competed against each other for years in Farm Show baking contests, each cheering on the other. Last year, Mary Miller won the top award in Pennsylvanias Greatest Whoopie Pie Contest while Harry won fifth prize.

Here is Mary Millers winning recipe:

Yummy Jam Bars





 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

 teaspoon baking powder

1 1//3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

 cup ground pecans

1 jar (10 to 12 ounces) cherry jam or preserves

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and almond extract.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Gradually add to creamed mixture mixing well. Fold in coconut and pecans.

Press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of a greased 13 by 9 inch baking pan. Spread with jam or preserves then crumble remaining dough over preserves or jam. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
When I moved to Carlisle in July 2021, I asked a local friend for her restaurant recommendations.

She provided me a lengthy list of options, spanning from grilles, ethnic cuisine to breweries. But at the top of her list was North Hanover Grille, located at 37 N. Hanover St., in Carlisle, and she emphasized the need for me to try their wings.

Boy, am I glad I took her advice.

North Hanover Grille, which recently celebrated its 22nd year in business, serves the Carlisle community an array of food choices and a beer selection that includes 16 options on tap. Even its website alludes to its variety: Hungry for wings? Burgers? Wraps? Steak, seafood or pasta? How about a fresh salad? Are you a beer lover? We take pride in preparing and serving the Carlisle, PA areas best food.

The grille is open Monday to Saturday with hours of 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. the first four days of the week, and hours of 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. North Hanover presents the atmosphere of a family eatery but carries the vibe of a college hang-out, and a spot to catch a game, with three TVs lining the right wall as you walk in the door.

Various seating options accommodate all restaurant goers. Fifteen to 20 tables scatter the restaurant while a collection of high-tops encompass the bar area. A banquet room sits in the back of the restaurant, which is used for events and larger parties.

The walls of the restaurant possess pictures and bar-type decor, including vintage signs of breweries like Yuengling. Strands of twinkle lights give the grille and at-home feel and snowflakes dangling in the windows of either side of the entrance preview the chilling temperatures that await customers entry and exit.

Like my previous trips, my latest consisted of diving into the wing menu. North Hanover offers 18 different sauce and rub choices, and you can choose between bone-in or boneless, and have the choice of eight, 12 or 18 wing baskets.

I decided to venture outside my traditional hot sauce order and rolled the dice on an eight-piece, bone-in order of bourbon hot wings ($11.99). The wings come with a side of celery sticks and blue cheese, and the basket had a fair mix of drums and flats. North Hanover didnt short any sauce as each wing was covered evenly. Every bite left my beard coated in a sheet of red sauce and no napkin went unused.

The sauce itself provided a balance of kick and sweetness. The tang tickles the tastebuds first before the soothing wave of bourbon flavor comforts the initial punch. The wings were cooked to perfection  with a slight crisp on the outside skin while the meat peeled off the bone  and absorbed the sauce.

Aside from the wings, I also ordered a buffalo quesadilla ($9.99), which is one of five quesadilla options on the menu. The quesadilla came with a healthy serving of salsa and sour cream, and the tortilla itself was brimming with cheese, chicken and blue cheese. The sauce, which is a honey hot sauce, lacked much of a kick. While still delicious  I scarfed down all eight slices  the sweetness from the honey and blue cheese quieted the buffalo component.

If youre not craving wings or quesadillas, the menu has something for every palette. The shareables span from cheese curds to nachos and fries, and healthier options of salads and soups round out the front side of the menu. On the back, dinners of crab cakes, steak and chicken pop off the top of the page, while rows of wraps and handhelds conglomerate the bottom portion.

Despite appearing to be short staffed, the service is excellent and waitresses welcome all with a smile. The food is served hot and ready and in reasonable time. And if youre in a rush, takeout is a phone call away from you sinking your teeth into the scrumptious food this Carlisle staple has to offer.

Photos: Food selections at the 2023 Pennsylvania Farm Show
Information is from police reports and may be incomplete depending on the status of an investigation. Phone numbers are nonemergency.
Felony charges against an area driver accused of hitting a 12-year-old child with his vehicle earlier this year have been bound over to circuit court for trial in Washington County.

Authorities allege the man was captured on video hitting the juvenile at a crosswalk in Potosi and leaving the scene in September. The 12-year-old child reportedly sustained serious injuries in the collision.

Joseph William Doss, 57, of Potosi, is now charged in circuit court with second-degree assault, armed criminal action, leaving the scene of an accident, and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

The Washington County Prosecuting Attorneys Office issued a press release Monday stating that, on Wednesday, an evidentiary hearing was held to determine if there is probable cause for the case against Doss to proceed to trial in circuit court. After the hearing, the court found probable cause for the charges and ordered the case to be bound over to the circuit court level.

The prosecutors office said the evidence presented at Wednesdays hearing showed Doss was the driver and sole occupant of a red 2005 Ford Ranger that hit a 12-year-old cross-country team runner at an intersection on Sept. 16.

The man was reportedly seen on video failing to stop at a crosswalk at the intersection of South Mine and West Jefferson streets, where he allegedly struck the juvenile.

The initial police report states Doss struck the 12-year-old child with the front of his truck, causing the child to be thrown into a ditch. In the video, the report states Doss is seen looking in front of his vehicle toward the juvenile as he struck him. After the man reportedly hit the 12-year-old child, he allegedly failed to stop and check on the child and proceeded to drive south on Mine Street to his address about a mile away.

When Doss arrived at his home, the report states he hid his truck behind the house so it could not be seen from the road. It was later discovered that the vehicle was displaying plates belonging to another, according to police.

During an interview, Doss reportedly told police that at about noon on Sept. 16, he was at a friends house where he consumed two 12-ounce Bud Light beers. The man told police that after leaving his friends house, he went to Mineral Point to pick up tools from another friends house before going home, according to the report.

Doss reportedly explained that the route he took home was Highway 8 to Mine Street, where he made a left turn by the sheriffs office and proceeded toward Jefferson Street. The man allegedly said that at the intersection of Mine and Jefferson streets, he saw that he struck an orange or yellow colored object, what he described as a shirt or a bag, and noticed it fly up over the passenger side of his truck, but did not stop to check what it was.

Throughout the interview, the report states Doss kept saying he did not mean or intend to strike the juvenile. Doss was arrested at 6:32 p.m. on Sept. 16, and an officer noted in the report that the man had a strong odor of alcohol emitting from his breath.

Doss was booked at the Washington County Jail, and a $60,000 bond has been set in the case. Court records show that he was released from custody after posting his bond on Oct. 24.

While free on bail, the court ordered that Doss be prohibited from possessing or consuming alcohol. The bond conditions state the man is not to go into any businesses where the primary sales are from alcohol while awaiting trial.

According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, Doss has two previous convictions for DWI and a third conviction for excessive blood alcohol content (BAC).

The case is being prosecuted by newly-elected Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John I. Jones IV, and First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Caleb J. Aponte. The Potosi Police Department investigated the case.
As the tax season begins, East Missouri Action Agency (EMAA) has snagged Neighborhood Assistance Program (NAP) tax credits to help its homeless shelter, the Uplift Overnight Shelter for Better Living.

EMAA is a clearinghouse of services to more than 18,000 low-income individuals every year in St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, Washington, Madison, Iron, Perry, Bollinger and Cape Girardeau counties.

The program is run through the Missouri Department of Economic Development and helps fund projects in the categories of job training, education, crime prevention, community services, and physical revitalization.

EMAA has about $200,000 worth of NAP tax credits for those who pay business income tax. Its for corporations, company owners, partners in firms and those who have sole proprietorship over their businesses, and it gives them a chance to direct a major chunk of their tax money to charitable and civic efforts like the Uplift Center.

The homeless shelter located in Farmington near the senior center has operated since June 2020, when EMAA began offering daytime relief to homeless who needed a place to do their laundry, check messages and mail, take showers, look for jobs and apartments, and enjoy a microwaveable meal. In July 2021, the shelter expanded its services to include 10 beds for overnight stays. In January 2022, they expanded the Uplift Center to 62 more beds. This past summer, they renovated the second floor and made it a safe rest and recreational space for residents, appropriate to all ages thanks to a grant from the Centene Charitable Foundation.

Money directed to the Uplift Shelter would support its daily operations. The shelter provides multiple services and supports to its clients, successfully putting six to nine clients each month in more permanent housing of their own.

Nicolle Hahn, EMAA community services program director, said the tax credits are a good deal.

Youll receive 50% of your donation amount as a tax credit to be utilized on your yearly tax returns and tax credits are eligible to be saved for up to five years, she said. Its meant for businesses and individuals who operate a sole proprietorship  like they operate a farm, have rental property or have royalty income, theyre also eligible, or they could be a shareholder in an S-corporation, a partner in a partnership or a member of a Limited Liability Corporation, or LLC.

The donor can even carry the credits forward five years, for any tax credit remaining after taxes each year. NAP tax credits are not saleable, transferable or refundable. A gift of appreciated securities would provide additional tax benefits related to avoiding capital gains.

Its a great way to help EMAA change the lives of those who are homeless, Hahn said.

She emphasized, tax specialists can provide more specifics about their donor-clients tax savings, but optimally, a $25,000 gift would amount to only $8,750 out of pocket for the donor; a $15,000 gift would amount to only $5,250 out of pocket, and; a $5,000 gift would amount to only $1,750 out of the donors pocket, assuming a 30% combined federal and state tax bracket, please consult your tax advisor to learn how tax credits will benefit you specifically.
Albemarle County School Board Member Katrina Callsen formally announced her campaign as a Democratic candidate for the 54th District in the Virginia House of Delegates on Monday.

A crowd of about 50 people at Cville Coffee and Wineincluding fellow school board members Kate Acuff, Jonno Alcaro, Judy Le, Ellen Osborne and Graham Paigegathered for the launch of Callsens campaign. Charlottesville mayor Lloyd Snook was also in attendance.

I wasnt planning on running for office, it wasnt an ultimate ambition of mine, Callsen said. But I felt like the timing was right to have someone step into that seat and really focus on advocacy for these children and families.

Callsen, who works for the City of Charlottesville as an attorney in the Department of Social Services, said she would prioritize public education if she receives her partys nomination and wins the Nov. 7 election.

Theres a movement underway to not just defund  but also devalue public education in a way that I think is a problem for democracy, Callsen said.

Earlier this month, Republican Delegate Glenn Davis proposed a bill that would establish a school voucher program, allowing families to use state money to homeschool their children or send them to private schools.

Callsen also said she would work hard to protect abortion rights. Virginia Republicans have also introduced a bill that would ban abortion at 15 weeks and expose doctors to criminal charges if they perform emergency abortions.

Politicians should not be making health decisions for women. I say this as a woman. I say this as a mother, Callsen said.

Callsen fielded questions from the audience after a speech, responding to concerns about everything from criminal justice reform to climate change. She pointed to a Virginia law that expunges peoples criminal records for particular crimes after a certain period.

In many other states, that process happens automatically, Callsen said. In Virginia, it does notThere are efficiencies to be had there.

For Callsen, climate change is a social justice issue. She brought up her work on the school board to make the divisions schools more environmentally sustainable. Albemarle County Public Schools, for example, can fight to have solar panels installed in part because it is a well-funded division.

Those are limited, so we snapped up a bunch of them in the county. But our wins are another divisions losses, Callsen said.

During a Jan. 12 school board meeting, Callsen was elected board chair for the year. Between that and her job at the Department of Social Services.

It really truly is just becoming hyper-efficient and having good staff, Callsen said.

The Democratic primary field is already crowded, with two other candidates having filed paperwork and more rumored to hop in the race. Still, Callsen won at least one vote.

Ill support her, all right, said Paul Boggs.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) lifted its ban on operator Grameenphone, which was forbidden from selling new SIM cards since June for poor quality of service.

Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman confirmed the lifting of the ban by the regulator after decreeing the operator had improved its service, local media outlet The Financial Express reported.

Azman initially called the ban inappropriate in regards to improving the quality of service issues for operators. Grameenphone was the only operator to be issued with such a ban.

The Financial Express reported, Grameenphone lost millions of subscribers since the sales ban. As of November 2022, Grameenphone had a customer base of 80.34 million, down from 84.08 million in June.

The BTRC apparently allowed the operator to sell 1.3 million old unused SIM cards in November after petitioning various branches of government, but this was backtracked on in October.

Media outlets have reported the ban stems from a political spat between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, and Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, which has a stake in the operator through subsidiary Grameen Telecom (Telenor has the majority stake).

BTRC officials have noted publicly poor mobile signal around Bangladeshs new US$3.6 billion bridge.

"We look forward to receiving continued support and cooperation from the authorities as connectivity plays a pivotal role in the digitalisation and economic growth of the country," said Azman.
Ghanas National Communications Authority (NCA) gave Vodafone Group the green light to sell its majority 70% stake in its Ghana unit to Telecom Group, a move that progresses the European operators divestment strategy to focus on core markets.

Vodafone and Telecel submitted their proposed sale in January 2022 which did not meet the regulatory threshold for approval at the time to be granted, the NCA said in a statement.

Telecel resubmitted a revised financial and technical proposal in December which fulfilled the demand for proof of ability to invest in the expansion of 4G networks and launch fintech solutions.

The proposal also provided more clarity and certainty in detailing the funding needed for the shares buy and other firm commitments from Vodafone and Telecel, which were not detailed. The NCA also detailed Telecel had strengthened the overall governance and management team

The NCA confirms that the revised proposal from the Buyer now meets the regulatory threshold and hence has granted a conditional approval for the transfer of shares to the Buyer including submission of strategies for employee retention, said the regulator.
FORT RUCKER  Enterprise High School students visited the home of Army Aviation during a Meet Your Army event recently held here.

Twenty-six Army JROTC cadets, primarily seniors, experienced a busy day engaged with Army aviation soldiers, trying their hands at flight simulators, an MRE lunch, an Army Aviation Museum scavenger hunt, and a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flight.

It exposes cadets to all the job opportunities and different careers in the aviation field, said Sgt. Maj. (ret.) Gary T. Price, Enterprise High School Army JROTC instructor, including civilian opportunities.

Between 15-20 percent of Enterprise JROTC senior cadets join the military, and senior Amelia Ruhle hopes to be one of them.

I definitely want to join, said Ruhle, whose father is an Army pilot at Fort Rucker.

Everyone seems to enjoy their visit, Ruhle said. Being able to come on base...is a new experience for some students. It can be a turning point, and post-high school plans can change after seeing this.

Capt. Fernando Rincon, an aviation proponent officer in the Organization and Personnel Force Development Directorate (OPFD), coordinated the event for the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence.

We are introducing them to Army aviation, increasing awareness of our branch and what we do for the Army and the nation, Rincon said. We do that by introducing them and exposing them to role models, experiences, and equipment.

While OPFD hosts annual JROTC events, also available to Civil Air Patrol and Boy Scout programs, other area youth civic programs can request a Meet Your Army event through the community engagement section of the Fort Rucker public affairs website at https://home.army.mil/rucker/index.php/publicaffairs.
As farmers prepare for the upcoming growing seasons, the dawning of a new year is a reminder of the new things to come.

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System is planning two precision agriculture workshops in February. These workshops are designed to provide support to farmers as they implement precision agriculture technologies to strengthen pre-planting, in-season and harvest management strategies.

Brenda Ortiz, an Alabama Extension precision agriculture specialist, said the topics for each workshop were identified in collaboration with precision agriculture service providers in Alabama, as well as regional Extension agents that frequently interact with farmers and consultants.

The precision agriculture workshops will be held Feb. 8 at Athens State University in Athens, and Feb. 28 at Eastgate Park in Dothan. Each workshop is free and lunch is included, but registration is required. Continuing education units (CEUs) will also be available for attendees.

While there will be some topic overlap at both workshops, Ortiz said each precision agriculture workshop is tailored to the farmers in the area.

Ortiz said in addition to the topics listed above, equipment companies will have booths set up to showcase their latest technology and answer producer questions.

Register for these events via the Alabama Extension website, www.aces.edu. For more information, contact Ortiz directly at bortiz@auburn.edu. Regional Extension agents and county Extension offices can also help interested producers find and complete registration information.
Hundreds attended the Celebration 2023, hosted by the Community Awareness Organization in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. held at the Enterprise Civic Center Sunday.

Organizers of the annual event are members of the Community Awareness Organization: Gloria Wheeler, president; Essie DuBose, program chairman; Anne Bridgette, member; Loria Britt, youth program chairman; Mary Wiley, member; Margrete Marge Simmons, publicity chairman; Maxine Florence, in memory; and Dr. Henry H. Terry, honorary member.

Terry, who founded the Community Awareness Organization which sponsors the annual MLK Celebration and founded the Enterprise King Mass Choir some 35 years ago, was honored at the ceremony. The Elba native and 1982 graduate of Elba High School earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music, and a Master of Music Education from Alabama State University and an Educational Specialist Degree and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Music Education from Auburn University.

In Enterprise, you allowed me to grow and to learn and to know and trust God, Terry told the crowd. What I gained in Enterprise has served well in 33 years in education.

The celebration included music by the 2023 Enterprise King Mass Choir and a solo by Felicia Darby of Luverne who was accompanied by her son Isaiah Darby.

When we understand the value of what we are celebrating we are more excited because we can see the hand of God moving, said keynote speaker Archbishop Carl McComb from the Daleville Christian Fellowship Worship Center. Dr. Kings dream was that we would come together and encourage and empower one another. We are equally created in the eyes of God.

McComb founded and serves as Presiding Prelate of the Archdioceses United Christian Fellowship International, which is the parent organization of many churches in several countries. In addition to his pastoral duties, McComb volunteers as chaplain for the Dothan Police Department and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. He is past president of the Dale County NAACP and is currently assisting in the reformation of that chapter.

It is an honor to greet you and welcome you to the city of Enterprise, said Enterprise City Councilwoman Sonya Rich. This is a day to honor, a day to reflect, and a day to rejoice.

We honor Dr. King for his powerful teachings, his impact on the nation and his advocacy for social change, Rich said. We reflect on his vision and rejoice because he left us a legacy so great that we will never forget our charge which is to recommit ourselves to the standard that he set. Though a good man may perish, his great dream lives on. To God be the glory.

Coffee County Commissioner Jimmy Jones brought greetings on behalf of the commission but first asked for prayers for the people of Dallas County who were recently hit by a devastating tornado. Selma was a special place for Dr. King. Now a tornado has gone through it and the people of Enterprise know first-hand the devastation that can cause.

Here in America, a nation that is so blessed, we are still confused and divided, Jones said. Dr. Kings message about love for all humanity remains true today; his message was both divine and spiritual.

As we celebrate his memory, let us celebrate with love and service towards one another. We are one in God. Celebrate unity, Jones said. We are all made in the image and likeness of God. This is our greatest strength. Hate withers in the presence of love.
Each year at the Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration in Enterprise a student is awarded a scholarship from the Community Awareness Organization for academic excellence.

Honored at the Celebration 2023 at the Enterprise Civic Center Sunday was Alijyana Sanders, a 2022 graduate of Enterprise High School.

The daughter of Kalandria and Arthur Riggs is attending college at the University of Alabama and was unable to attend the celebration. Her parents accepted the award on her behalf.

According to CAO Publicity Chairman and scholarship presenter Marge Simmons, Sanders is majoring in microbiology and maintains a 4.0 grade point average. Her career goal is to be a cardiothoracic surgeon.

Sanders graduated EHS with a grade point average of 4.32. Her extracurricular activities included membership in Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA), EHS Big Blue Band, and Girls Supporting Girls, Simmons said. She likes to read and was on the EHS softball team.

Sanders extracurricular activities in college include membership in the Rural Minority Health Scholars Program, Minority Association for Pre-Medical Students, and the American Association for Microbiology

Simmons said Sanders gives back to the community through her involvement in Therapeutic Riding of Tuscaloosa, and the West Alabama Food Bank. While living in Tuscaloosa, Sanders attends the Adams Street Church of Christ.

We are so grateful to have students in the school system who are achievers, Simmons said. Through the donations over the years, we have been blessed to award substantial scholarships to deserving students as we honor Dr. Kings legacy through this tribute to academic excellence, said Simmons. Consistent investment in our children -financially and otherwiseis a treasure that blesses others for generations to come.
The Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and the Jackson County Tourist Development Council have teamed up to organize a Sunday, Feb. 12 event destination expo, where participants can take a scenic drive to explore potential wedding destinations or places for other meaningful events in their lives.

It begins at 1 p.m. and concludes at 5 p.m.

Moving at their own pace, theyll be able to visit with the destination hosts and learn more about some of the vendors that offer services commonly needed at weddings and other social events.

The JaCo Social Circle is a brand-new traveling Wedding & Event Expo concept, the organizers said in a press release. This event is designed to feature the beautiful and unique wedding and event venues that can be found across Jackson County. Our goal is to help individuals in the planning process of their event experience everything that Jackson County has to offer, it continued.

Prior to my role with the Chamber I helped facilitate the Southern Charm Wedding & Event Expo that was held at the National Guard Armory, said Chamber President/CEO Tiffany Garling.

We are taking that concept and transforming it to really highlight the number of venues we now have available in Jackson County. Besides making sure our residents are connecting with local businesses, we also want to send a message to the rest of the region that Jackson County is a wedding and event destination.

In a world that is constantly in fast-forward mode, it is important slow down on the day of your event and bask in every moment. Jackson County can provide you with the venues, the vendors, and the connections to ensure that you take time on the day of your event to experience it all, says Kelsi Williams, Executive Director, Jackson County Tourist Development Council.

Featured venues are The Silos in Graceville, Southern Fields Brewing, Oake Haven Lodge, Raylene Reserve, Bar R Ranch and The Farms at Two Egg. Participants can start at any venue and move around the county as they so choose.

Each venue will have a variety of event vendors from the traditional caterers, florist, photographers, DJs and hair-and-makeup artists to mobile bar services, birthday party characters, balloon decor, custom wedding invitations and more. For more information follow The JaCo Social Circle Facebook Event or call the Chamber at 850-482-8060.
ELBAMy job is to earn the respect of all these men right here, said Scott Byrd after being sworn in as Coffee County Sheriff by Coffee County District Judge Josh Wilson here Monday. These men are willing to lay down their lives for what they believe in, he said pointing to the formation of deputies standing to his left. They are soldiers in this county.

Byrds first order of business after swearing in the CCSO deputies was to promote Capt. Michael Hines to chief deputy, Jace Holley to CCSO captain, and Mike Marler to captain of the reserve officers.

Byrd has served with the Coffee County Sheriffs Office since 1999 and as captain of the reserves since 2010. A veteran, he served in the United States Coast Guard and the Alabama National Guard. In addition to his 23-year sheriffs office tenure in Coffee County, Byrd is a local business owner since 1992, owning Southern Electrical as a certified Alabama electrician.

After serving the Coffee County residents for the past 23 years as a reserve deputy and captain, the time has come for me to step forward to serve as sheriff, Byrd said. This ever-changing world needs a solid leader to guide, protect, assist, and serve Coffee County residents.

My goal is to be a community sheriff, one that not only works just for the deputies but also for every one of the citizens of Coffee County, he said. Youll find that my commitment to protecting the members of this wonderful community is unwavering and my word is my bond.

Born and raised in Enterprise to Roy and Judy Byrd, the new sheriff currently resides in the New Hope Community with his wife K.D. and two daughters. I was raised by Godly parents who have made me what I am today, he said.

Please dont hesitate to reach out to me about your concerns, Byrd said. With my law enforcement experience, as well as being a local business owner, Im constantly seeking methods to improve leadership, personal responsibility and accountability for myself and the department.

Were here to serve the citizens of Coffee County so just know that you are getting a bang for your buck, Byrd said. Were going to be out here in the community keeping yall safe. Ill keep an open office.

I believe in hard work and believe that when you give your word, it is your bond. You say what youre going to do and you stand behind what you say.

Byrd defeated incumbent Sheriff Dave Sutton in the Republican primary with 65.2 percent of the votes to Suttons 34.7 percent.
Diageo to acquire Don Papa rum

Diageo has agreed to buy Philippines-based rum brand Don Papa.

The multinational drinks company will pay EUR260 million with a further potential consideration of EUR177.5 million through to 2028, subject to the brand's performance.

John Kennedy, president, Diageo Europe and India, said: We are excited by the opportunity to bring Don Papa into the Diageo portfolio to complement our existing rums. This acquisition is in line with our strategy to acquire high growth brands with attractive margins that support premiumisation, and enables us to participate in the fast growing super-premium plus segment.

Citing IWSR, Diageo said the super-premium plus segment of the rum category is in the early stages of premiumisation, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% in Europe and 27% in the US between 2016-2021.

Through the same period, Don Papa rum consistently outperformed the market in Europe, delivering a 29% CAGR, the company said.

Don Papa was launched in 2012 by Stephen Carroll and Andrew John Garcia, and it is currently available in 30 countries.

It joins a Diageo rum portfolio that includes Captain Morgan, Zacapa, Pampero and Bundaberg.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2023.

Related articles:
Staff are seen inside a branch of Eximbank. Photo courtesy of Eximbank

Japanese giant Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation has sold a 10.8% stake in Vietnams Eximbank, reducing its ownership to 4.27%.

It sold 132.8 million EIB shares at VND27,750 ($1.18) on January 13, according to a release by the Vietnamese bank.

The value of the deal is estimated at around VND3.4 trillion.

SMBC became a strategic shareholder in Eximbank in 2007, but withdrew its representative in 2019 due to some disagreements.

Eximbank pulled the plug on its strategic partnership with SMBC in February last year.

On Monday it attempted to organize an extraordinary shareholders meeting to appoint three new directors, but could not get the quorum of 65%.

It is planning for another meeting on February 14.
An artist's impression of Da Nang's overpass to be built by Japanese company Mikazuki. Photo courtesy of Mikazuki

Construction of a Japanese-funded pedestrian walkway over Nguyen Tat Thanh Street in Da Nang City began Sunday.

The overpass, to cost VND42 billion (US$1.78 million), is being built by Japanese company Mikazuki.

Built in Japanese style with curve sections made of wood to symbolize sea waves, it will be 140m long and have elevators for disabled people.

It is scheduled to be completed in May this year, and the company and city authorities will then decide on a name for it.

Japanese consul general in Da Nang, Yakabe Yoshinori, said the bridge would be a gift to Da Nang to celebrate 50 years of Vietnam  Japan diplomatic relations.

"The bridge will be a symbol of the two nations' friendship."

Da Nang deputy chairman Le Quang Nam said the bridge would contribute to the city's development.
Press Release

January 17, 2023 Tulfo proposes amendment to Holiday Economics Law Senator Idol Raffy Tulfo filed a measure seeking to rationalize the celebration of national holidays to allow for long weekends during the year, which could boost domestic tourism in the country and promote work-life balance for both employees and students. Tulfo filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 1651 amending Republic Act (RA) No. 9492 which permits certain holidays to be observed on a Monday. "Holidays are integral in order to honor and commemorate special events or traditions with cultural or religious significance. The Philippines celebrates 18 national holidays annually, four of which are considered 'special non-working holidays.' These aforementioned days may at times fall on a weekend making them feel less celebratory for individuals. "Additionally, the increase in the number of long weekends can help reduce stress, prevent burnout, and promote work-life balance for both employees and students by allowing them to decompress and spend time with their family and friends," the bill's explanatory note read. Under SB No. 1651, if the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it will be observed on the following Monday. Tulfo proposed that the President shall issue a proclamation on the first Monday of December on the specific dates that shall be declared as a non-working day for the following year. It can be noted that Holiday Economics was made into law by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo under Republic Act 9492, which moved regular and special holidays to the nearest Monday to boost domestic tourism. However, the term of the late President Benigno Aquino III saw the end of the Arroyo administration's practice of moving holidays to the nearest Monday with the release of Proclamation 84. ### Tulfo iminungkahi ang pagamyenda sa Holiday Economics Law Naghain si Senator Idol Raffy Tulfo ng panukalang batas na naglalayong mapalakas ang domestic tourism at maisulong ang work-life-balance para sa mga estudyante at empleyado. Inihain ni Tulfo ang Senate Bill (SB) No. 1651 na nag-aamyenda sa Republic Act (RA) No. 9492 na nagpapahintulot sa ilang mga holidays na gunitain tuwing Lunes kapag ito ay pumatak ng weekends. "Holidays are integral in order to honor and commemorate special events or traditions with cultural or religious significance. The Philippines celebrates 18 national holidays annually, four of which are considered 'special non-working holidays.' These aforementioned days may at times fall on a weekend making them feel less celebratory for individuals. "Additionally, the increase in the number of long weekends can help reduce stress, prevent burnout, and promote work-life balance for both employees and students by allowing them to decompress and spend time with their family and friends," ayos sa explanatory note ng SB Mo. 1651. Sa ilalim ng nasabing bill, kung ang holiday ay pumatak ng Sabado o Linggo, ito ay gugunitain sa susunod na Lunes. Iminungkahi ni Tulfo na sa ilalim ng panukalang batas, dapat maglabas ang Pangulo ng proklamasyon sa unang Lunes ng Disyembre ng mga petsa na idedeklara bilang non-working holidays para sa susunod na taon. Matatandaan na ang "Holiday Economics" ay ginawang batas ni dating Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo sa ilalim ng Republic Act 9492, na naglipat ng regular at special holidays sa pinakamalapit na Lunes upang palakasin ang domestic tourism. Nakansela ang naturang practice noong term ni late President Benigno Aquino III sa pamamagitan ng Proclamation 84.
Nguyen Tien Son, political head of Zone 7 Military School, speaks at a press conference to dismiss information spread on social media that a student was raped at the school's Center for National Defense and Security Training, January 12, 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Dinh Van

The Criminal Investigation Agency of Zone 7 Military has opened a criminal investigation into the distribution of false information that a female student had been raped while attending military classes.

Suspects will be probed for charges of "Illegal provision or use of information on computer networks or telecommunications networks" under the Penal Code, the agency said Saturday.

The move came after social media was ablaze Wednesday night with posts saying that a female student from Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology (HUFLIT) had been raped while undergoing military training at the Center for National Defense and Security Training at the Zone 7 Military School.

A video circulated online captured the sounds of people screaming in the night, to which various rumors became attached. The most resilient rumor was that the screams were the sound of a woman being raped in the barracks, which at that time were occupied by students from the university on a school-mandated retreat for the fundamentals of military training, which is common practice at Vietnamese colleges.

At around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, the center issued a statement declaring that the information online about the video was untrue, stating that the images and sounds had been "distorted with bad intentions."

The investigation agency has identified the suspects who edited, posted, and distributed the clips on social media, adding that this action has damaged the reputation of Zone 7 Military School and Vietnam military.

The Department of Cybersecurity and Crime Prevention of HCMC Police has collaborated with the agency to determine the motivations and purposes of those who spread the information.

Tran Hoai Trung, a political commissar of the school, said Friday that "Initial investigations revealed that fake news is frequently posted on Confession fan pages, which are Facebook pages where people can share their "confessions" about things anonymously. The owners of these fan pages use them to post false info, without oversight or verification, causing them to spread fast and trigger unrest."

At a Thursday press conference, Nguyen Tien Son, the political head of Zone 7 Military School, said that on Tuesday night a student had discovered that they had lost VND1.4 million ($60).

Son said other students accused a particular female member of their group of stealing the money. The accused student then rushed outside before she began screaming and crying because she believed she'd been falsely accused, he said.

Another female student in the opposite building began to record the incident with her camera phone and posted the video online without specifying exactly what had happened, he added.

According to the student who filmed the video, she heard screaming in the opposite building at 10:30 p.m. on January 10, so she filmed it with her phone and texted the video to three friends.

She asked herself in the video: "Seems like rape, huh?" Later she was told by a male teacher that the student in the video suffered from depression and attempted to jump from a high floor after being accused of stealing money, but she was stopped by other students.

She said she shared what the teacher told her to the three friends that she sent the video to, "but I did not think that things would go too far, that information would be distorted."
Former head of the Vietnam Register Tran Ky Hinh was arrested Tuesday for allegedly accepting bribes from several vehicle registration centers.

The arrest of Hinh, 62, is the latest development in an ongoing investigation into officials across the country associated with vehicle registration centers that accepted bribes to ignore violations.

On Wednesday last week, four others were also arrested for accepting bribes: current Vietnam Register director Dang Viet Ha, acting head of the motor vehicle inspection department Tran Anh Quan, Vietnam Register deputy head Dang Tran Khanh, and registrar Pham Duc Ngoc.

Tran Ky Hinh (R), former director of the Vietnam Register, and employees at HCMC registration centers Hoang Huu Thinh, Truong Duy Duc, Ho Ngoc Nam and Tran The Khanh Ho, are summoned by the HCMC police, January 17, 2023. Photo courtesy of HCMC police

From 2014 to August 2021, Hinh, as chief of the Vietnam Register, allowed Quan to receive bribes from directors of vehicle registration centers to overlook violations, according to the allegations.

During his time as chief, Hinh has also neglected to manage and monitor the Register properly, and also received bribes himself to overlook violations, investigators have charged.

Also related to the case, Hoang Huu Thinh, 31, Truong Duy Duc, 41, Ho Ngoc Nam, 34 and Tran The Khanh Ho, 34  all employees at vehicle registration centers  were arrested for "manufacturing, trading, exchanging and providing instruments, equipment and software for illegal purposes."

After a raid of several vehicle registration centers, Ho Chi Minh City police found that Thinh, Duc, Nam and Ho had collaborated to create software to access the centers database to change values required to approve the registration of vehicles. They then sold that software to other vehicle registration centers for illegal purposes.

So far, 89 people, including officials and registrars, have been arrested on charges of bribery and forgery of documents. Over 20 vehicle registration centers across the country have been suspended for the investigation.

Authorities said that around 70,000 vehicles with overlooked violations have been registered illegally. The centers have issued 52,300 emissions control certificates without properly inspecting vehicles, investigators said, adding that those involved have pocketed tens of billions of dong in bribes (VND1 billion = US$43,000).

Before 2019 all vehicle registration centers were state agencies. Then the government allowed private operators to set them up if they met certain conditions issued by the Ministry of Transport.
Miss Dominican Republic Andreina Martinez wore a sexy sheer sequin brown evening gown by Nguyen Minh Tuan to a Miss Universe rehearsal on January 13 before becoming the event's 2nd runner-up.

It was not the first time she used a creation by the Vietnamese fashion designer to show off her figure.

Before this years Miss Universe pageant, she donned another dress by Tuan to an event in the Dominican Republic after she had been crowned Miss Dominican Republic 2021.

Miss Universe runner-up chooses dresses by Vietnamese designer A hau Hoan vu 2022 chuong am cua nha thiet ke Viet Andreina Martinez wears a gown by Nguyen Minh Tuan at a Miss Universe rehearsal. Video courtesy of Tuan

One side of the asymmetrical red dress has 3D flower-petal-like motifs from hip to shoulder and then slides into a fishtail at the bottom.

Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova wore the same dress as a judge for Miss Universe Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City last June.

Tuan said Martinez 's crew had asked him for an evening dress for Miss Universe 2022 and he sent six designs to choose from.

"I'm glad many contestants have chosen outfits made by Vietnamese designers to wear at major beauty contests," Tuan said. "This helps bring creations by local designers to more international audiences."

Andreina Martinez (L) and Natalie Glebova in a dress by designer Nguyen Minh Tuan. Photo courtesy of Tuan

Martinez, born in 1997, is a Dominican-American model.

She speaks English and Spanish fluently and has a bachelor's degree from New York University in psychology and Latin American studies.

After she graduated from high school, Andrena Martnez tried out many different roles. She worked for Senators Jose Serrano and Kirsten E. Gillibrand as a law intern. She also works with many non-profit groups in the U.S., including SEEK Program and Women's Equality Center, to give back to the community.

Nguyen Minh Tuan was born in 1992. He graduated as one of the top students in Fashion Design at a local university in 2016. His creations have been worn by many Vietnamese celebrities and beauty queens. He often makes sexy, tight dresses that help men show off their bodies.
Thailand most searched Asia-Pacific destination for Lunar New Year

Fireworks explode over Wat Arun of the Temple of the Dawn during the New Year celebrations, in Bangkok, Thailand, on January 1, 2023. Photo by Reuters

Thailand, known for its open visa policy, will be the most popular Asia-Pacific destination for this Lunar New Year holiday, according to an survey of online flight searches.

Thailand accounted for 27% of all flight searches in the region, followed by Japan (19%) and Singapore (18%), according to China-based company Sojern, which focuses on digital marketing for the travel industry.

In terms of cities, Bangkok topped the list with 22% of all searches, followed by Tokyo (15%), Manila (9%), Phuket (7%) and Taipei (7%), according to Sojern.

The Lunar New Year, known as Tet in Vietnam, is one of the most important holidays in Asian culture. It begins on January 22 this year.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has instructed all relevant government agencies to prepare to welcome foreign tourists during the holiday and ensure their safety.

Also according to data from Chinese-language travel service platform Ctrip, Thailand will be a top destination for Chinese tourists during the Chinese New Year holiday.

Between December 27 and January 1, inbound travel bookings from Thailand to mainland China increased by 101% year-on-year, according to Ctrip.

Thailand received 11 million foreign visitors last year, making its tourism industry among the fastest to recover in Southeast Asia following the pandemic.

The Thai government is targeting 25 million foreign arrivals this year.
A group of illegal migrants return home on January 9. They come from different localities in Vietnam and most of them had gone to China to work without a labor contract in Guangxi.

Some of them had been in China for 10 years, while others had been stuck for almost three years after China closed the border following its zero-Covid policy.

Illegal Vietnamese workers often choose to repatriate through illegal channels as they don't have legal work papers. Sneaking back into Vietnam via Daxin's network of illegal trails also allows them to save on travel costs. In most cases, they connect with human smuggling rings to get back into Vietnam.

From early 2020 to January 9 this year, border guards in Cao Bang have received almost 46,900 Vietnamese citizens entering Vietnam from China, including more than 21,000 at the Ly Van station.
Russias devastating war of aggression against Ukraine continues to exact a human toll on the Ukrainian people.

There are now 5.9 million internally displaced people in Ukraine who have been driven from their homes this year, noted Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya in a recent briefing. More than 7.8 million have fled the country as refugees.

As the harshness of winter descends, millions of Ukrainians have been without power, water, or heat because of Russias unrelenting attacks on civilian infrastructure.

In addition, Russias filtration operations and forced deportations of Ukrainians continue to create horrifying consequences, including the transnational kidnapping and forced adoption of as many as 11,000 Ukrainian children.

Its hard to overstate the fear and suffering of more than a million civilians subjected to the Kremlins horrific filtration operations, said Under Secretary Zeya. Filtration survivors recount threats, harassments, and incidents of torture by Russias security forces and their proxies in southern and eastern Ukraine. Theyve had their biometric data captured, identification documents confiscated, and means of communication cut off.

The United States is taking steps to hold Russia to account for the atrocities and abuses they continue to perpetrate in Ukraine. Weve deployed teams of international investigators and prosecutors to assist Ukraines Prosecutor Generals Office in documenting, preserving, and preparing war crimes cases for prosecution, noted Under Secretary Zeya.

The State Department-supported Conflict Observatory program independently captures, analyzes, and makes public evidence of war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine committed by Russia and Russian-backed forces. Recently, the Conflict Observatory published analysis of Russias unrelenting targeting of the energy infrastructure in Ukraine, which aims to deprive civilians of heat and electricity during this frigid winter.

The Conflict Observatory has also detailed the experiences of hundreds of individuals who describe being victims, survivors, or witnesses of torture or other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. Tragically, these are only illustrative examples of the immense and catastrophic scale of damage wrought, said Under Secretary Zeya.

The United States and its allies and partners in Europe and around the world will continue to stand with Ukraine and its people. As Secretary Blinken declared, Our collective resolve to support Ukraine is and will continue to be ironclad, now, throughout the [war], and for as long as it takes for Ukraine to succeed.
The United States and a growing number of African nations are expanding their cooperation in outer space. As we enter this new era in space development, its important to remember the tangible benefits that space partnership can deliver for our citizens, said Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Monica Medina.

Assistant Secretary Medina welcomed Nigeria and Rwanda as the first two African nations to sign the Artemis Accords.

The 23 Artemis Accords signatories represent a diverse set of nations with a wide range of space capabilities and interests, she explained. The Accords support our activities in NASAs Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, among other objectives. Through the Artemis program, the United States is building the broadest and most diverse international human space effort in human history.

Space-based Earth observation satellites can provide tangible benefits to those living on Earth, noted Assistant Secretary Medina:

For example, in the U.S. we use this to help us understand our fire-prone regions and how to contain damage, and save lives and minimize economic losses. Just last month, Uganda and Zimbabwe launched their first Earth observation satellites, which will perform analyses of water quality, land use cover, and soil fertility. . . .We look forward to partnering with African nations on future applications for space-based Earth-observation.

At their core, said Assistant Secretary Medina, our efforts in outer space serve to improve the lives of people in the United States, on the African continent, and indeed throughout the world.

The United States also welcomed support from members of the African Group on a UN resolution calling on all States to commit not to conduct destructive direct ascent, anti-satellite missile tests:

These tests jeopardize the long-term sustainability of outer space by damaging the space environment, and they endanger the use of space by all nations. We very much appreciate the strong support of the Africa Group at the nations in the UN General Assembly when we, the U.S., sponsored a resolution, which underscores this peaceful commitment to not using these types of satellite missile tests that would be so destructive. When we commit to safe, peaceful, and sustainable exploration and use of space, we can unlock its limitless potential.
ELKO  Elko County School District has spent $7.7 million of its $10.1 million in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Funds, with $2.4 million left to spend, according to the Nevada Department of Education.

The department has launched a website called NevadaESSER.org that allows the public to look at how all 17 school districts in the state are spending the federal grant dollars. The state received more than $1.5 billion in the relief funds.

It is our desire at the Nevada Department of Education to provide fiscal transparency and accountability so Nevadans can see that our districts and charter schools are being responsible stewards of the publics investment in education, said Jhone Ebert, the state superintendent of instruction.

The Elko district can be found on the website, breaking down how the ESSER grant money has been spent, such as spending nearly $1.05 million on retention and incentives for staff during the pandemic and transition back to a normal routine. Each employee received $1,000, with the general fund picking up any remaining balance.

ECSD also spent a little more than $1 million on COVID-related insurance expenses, vaccines and testing, and $694,057 for four 84-passenger school buses because the district had to add additional routes in Elko and Spring Creek to deal with reduced capacities on the buses.

The breakdown additionally states that an amount not to exceed $550,000 would be used for bonuses to recruit and retain teachers because of a teacher shortage. The school district wrote that due to COVID and the uneasiness of staff to return to the schools, the bonus was needed.

Another grant expense not to exceed $505,560 was for 1,500 Chromebooks for students, and $488,000 was to fill in lost revenue from the districts lunch service during the shutdown for the pandemic. The district also budgeted $400,000 for the Elevate K12 program to provide live-streaming instructions for certain classes due to the teacher shortage.

ESCD also spent $375,000 for the online tutoring program called Paper for students in the district and budgeted 47 stipends totaling $258,500 for elementary school staff for summer school, and $240,000 for Wi-Fi hot spots through T-Mobile for students without internet access during the pandemic.

The list on the website includes more expenditures for Elko for specific positions related to COVID, including a virtual academy administrator and other job slots, and other smaller expenses.

The state department received rounds of ESSER funding from March 2020 through March 2021, to support response, recovery and renewal from the COVID-19 pandemic, and in each round 90% of funds were distributed to school districts and the charter authority using a federal formula.

The remaining 10% was reserved for statewide activities.

The State Public Charter School Authority received $82.6 million in grant money, according to the website.

The goal of this new tool is to increase transparency and accountability into education spending in Nevada, said the new Nevada governor, Joe Lombardo. Nevadans deserve to see how federal relief dollars are being spent within our states education system.

Felicia Ortiz, president of the Nevada Board of Education, said in the announcement that she encouraged community members to go over the data and give our districts your feedback or submit questions on the website.
The year 2022 was the International Year of Glass, and Albert Chen, managing director of Schott in China, one of the leading specialty glass companies in the world from Germany, shared with People's Daily a story about glass.

Over the past 30 years, the German manufacturer has always been committed to improving its manufacturing and processing technologies of ultra-thin glass. However, it lacked an opportunity to massively launch its products in the market, till it learned from negotiations with its Chinese partners that many Chinese tech firms were seeking solutions for producing curved screens.

"The success of our technologies and products came from not only the demand of Chinese tech firms for new technologies but also the strong industrial chain of the Chinese electronics industry and its vital consumption market," Chen said.

He noted that the potential of the Chinese market is obvious to all, and expanding investment in China is an important strategy adopted by many multinational companies, including Schott.

Schott started its business in China in 2002. So far, its total sales volume in the country has hit 2.55 billion yuan ($377 million).

Chen told People's Daily that Schott has enjoyed prosperous development in China over the past two decades, and with the general expectation of the Chinese economy picking up in 2023, it is believed that the investment environment for foreign companies in the country will keep being optimized.

Over the recent years, Schott has continuously expanded its investment in China, introducing high-end production lines and establishing an Asia-Pacific R&D center.

Many new outcomes were delivered in China by the German manufacturer, including mobile phone screens made of curved ultra-thin glass, a transistor outline header for 5G fronthaul, and an encapsulation design for the light engines of augmented reality glasses.

Besides, the company has also inked agreements about optical communication with Chinese corporations at the China International Import Expo for three consecutive years, contributing its part to the development of the Chinese 5G market.

"China is Schott's fastest-growing consumption market. The Chinese market enjoys advantages in its size and also in its vitality for innovation," Chen said.

In 2021, Schott set up an Asia-Pacific R&D center in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu province, to offer frontier technical support for its ultra-thin glass, 5G communication, virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as energy storage businesses.

So far, the company has invested 20 million yuan in the construction of an application center in China. It plans to invest 8 million to 10 million yuan each year to promote the development of the center.

"We'll keep contributing to the innovation and R&D of Chinese brands, to make full use of our technical advantages and benefit the country through close cooperation on the application of technologies," Chen noted.

According to him, China has always been the fastest-growing market of Schott in the past five years. He told People's Daily that China's business environment is conducive to the development of innovative enterprises. The Chinese government has constantly widened access for foreign capital, handed down the power to approve administrative items, and streamlined administrative approvals, which relieves the burden of enterprises and creates a market featuring efficiency, equity, convenience, and freedom for foreign enterprises.

"As a high-tech firm, Schott has benefited from the reduced enterprise income tax rate of 15 percent and the policy on granting additional tax deductions for R&D costs. It is also facilitated by the streamlined customs procedures and optimized customs approvals," Chen told People's Daily.

China is the world's second largest economy, largest trading country in goods, and the top destination of foreign investment. Its economic development draws global attention.

Chen said that as China takes solid steps towards high-quality economic development, foreign enterprises still enjoy huge development potential in the country.

"China, as a source of stable growth for global economy, will make more contributions to building an open world economy and a better future for mankind in the post-pandemic era," Chen said.
The meeting between the high-ranking delegation from the Korean National Assembly and Ninh Binh provinces leaders (Photo: NDO)

On January 15, a high-ranking delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea led by Chairman Kim Jin Pyo visited and worked in Ninh Binh.

Welcoming the delegation, Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, informed them of the provinces Party building and socio-economic development.

According to Ms Ha, currently, Ninh Binh has 41 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects from Korean investors, accounting for 27.08 % of the total number of FDI projects in the province, with a total registered capital of over USD413 million.

She added that Korean FDI projects have operated effectively, making great contributions to economic growth and bringing great revenue to the state budget, as well as creating many jobs for local workers.

Provincial agencies and units have signed 13 cooperation agreements with Korean partners, of which 11 are still valid.

Korean partners have helped promote and introduce the image of Ninh Binh province to a large number of Korean people, thereby promoting exchanges and friendship between the two countries.

Korean National Assembly Chairman Kim Jin Pyo said that the RoK thanks the Vietnamese community in the RoK for not only making great contributions to Korea's economic prosperity and cultural richness, but also for playing an important role as a bridge for the future of the two countries.

He noted that the RoK has organized many activities to provide diverse services, including orientation education in the host country, 228 multicultural family support centers and a 24-hour counseling call center nationwide, and support of Vietnamese language teaching for children of multicultural families.

The Korean National Assembly has always looked for ways to protect the rights and interests of foreigners, including Vietnamese, while strengthening support for multicultural families, especially married migrant women and their children.

He emphasized that over the past 30 years, the cooperative relationship between the two countries has developed rapidly. Currently, the RoK is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam with more than 8,000 Korean enterprises investing in Vietnam. Vietnam is also the RoK's third largest trading partner.

He highly appreciated the development of Ninh Binh province in the past year and affirmed that this visit is an opportunity for the Korean National Assembly to directly discuss with the highest leaders of Vietnam the development orientation of the two countries' relations in the next 30 years.

He also suggested that in the coming time, Ninh Binh province will continue to support and create favorable conditions for Korean businesses operating in the area; ensure the safety of Korean tourists to Ninh Binh; establish a hotline with the Korean embassy to actively and proactively support Korean citizens in urgent cases; and strengthen and pay attention to the cooperation relationship to promote the development between the two sides./.
NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue presents gifts to social policy beneficiaries, poor households, and disadvantaged labourers and soldiers in Bat Xat district in the northern border province of Lao Cai. (Photo: VNA)

The leader used this occasion to brief on the countrys economic development, state budget collection and external affairs, and recalled the official visit to China by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong from October 30 to November 1, 2022.

Citing the joint statement issued during the Party chiefs visit, Chairman Hue said the document mentioned the acceleration of the opening of border gates and the building of border infrastructure.

The two sides also discussed the connection of a railway between Lao Cai station of Vietnam and Hekou North station of China, he added.

The NA Chairman lauded Lao Cais contributions to the nation's achievements, saying its budget collection surpassed 10 trillion VND (426.65 million USD) last year, tripling the figure recorded 10 years ago and marking the highest amount so far.

He also attributed Lao Cais achievements to contributions by armed forces in the locality, especially border guards who have overcome all difficulties to fulfill their assigned tasks.

The leader also commended the provincial Party Organisation, administration, political system and peoples armed forces for their care for social policy beneficiaries, poor and near-poor households, ethnic minority groups and labourers in difficult circumstances.

He asked leaders of Lao Cai in general and Bat Xat district in particular to maintain guard against the COVID-19 pandemic, ensure the balance of goods supply and demand, and work to bring a happy Tet festival to all, while stepping up the fight against smuggling and other crimes.

The same day, Chairman Hue and his entourage attended a programme held in the border commune of Trinh Tuong by the provincial Red Cross Society in coordination with the Peoples Committee of Bat Xat district.

Apart from gifts for underprivileged residents and students, the leader handed over 300 million VND from the Vietnam Red Cross Society Central Committee to a semi-boarding ethnic minority elementary school in Trinh Tuong where ethnic minorities account for 85% of the local population.

On January 15, the top legislator also visited the public security force in Lao Cai, and the family of Nguyen Van Hoa, a Hero of the Armed Forces, in Kim Tan ward, Lao Cai city./.
According to Ukrinform, Polish President Andrzej Duda announced this during the World Economic Forum in Davos.

He noted that Warsaw provides significant military assistance to Kyiv.

According to him, the value of support for Ukraine reached $2 billion, and these are substantial funds for Poland.

Duda mentioned that in the initial phase of the war, Poland handed over to Ukraine all of its Piorun man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems, which at that time were in service with the Polish military.

Polish President Andrzej Duda together with the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskii

In addition, Warsaw handed over a significant number of Krab self-propelled guns and over 260 -72 tanks in various modifications to Ukraine.

The President of Poland stated that the decision to transfer tanks in March last year was made urgently, since at the beginning of the war, Ukraine really needed them.

For Poland, this was a very difficult process, since those tanks were not in storage, but were actually in service with the Polish army, Andrzej Duda emphasized.

Photo for illustration / Polish T-72M1

He stressed that the military assistance to Ukraine is a key element in countering the Russian invasion.

If we continue sending large numbers of modern weapons for the defenders of Ukraine, the Ukrainians will have the potential to stop the Russian Federation, the Polish president said.

He pointed out that a few days ago, he announced the decision to transfer a company of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.

However, we are trying to organize a lot of support for Ukraine. Therefore, we hope that there will be several allies who will transfer Leopard 2, and Challenger tanks from the UK to Ukraine, said Duda.
NANJING, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The imports and exports of east China's Jiangsu Province, one of the country's major foreign trade hubs, rose by 4.8 percent year on year to 5.45 trillion yuan (about 811.79 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, Nanjing Customs said on Monday.

Exports soared 7.5 percent year on year to 3.48 trillion yuan, and imports reached 1.97 trillion yuan, up 0.4 percent year on year.

In 2022, Jiangsu's foreign trade value with the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the province's top two trading partners, topped 800 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 832.43 billion yuan and 830.14 billion yuan, respectively.

The province's trade with countries along the Belt and Road climbed 13.1 percent to account for 27.4 percent of its total foreign trade, registering the increase for seven consecutive years.

Editor: WJH
SHANGHAI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- In an "almost-out-of-service" period in 2021, China's Tianwen-1 orbiter, along with Mars Express of the European Space Agency, helped solar scientists know more about what happens near the sun.

During the late September to mid-October stretch in 2021, China's Mars orbiter experienced its first sun transit, when its communication with Earth was significantly disturbed by solar radiation.

The Mars Sun Transit is a phenomenon in which Earth and Mars move to opposite sides of the sun, and the three are almost in a straight line.

During the transit, Tianwen-1 and Mars Express sent out frequent signals, allowing radio telescopes on Earth to examine how those signals were affected.

A paper published recently in Astrophysical Journal Letters revealed that on Oct. 9, 2021 -- when the red planet's projection point near the sun was 2.6 times solar radius away from the sun's center -- a violent solar burst event called a coronal mass ejection (CME) caused noticeable disturbances for a period of 10 minutes.

Also, coronal waves were detected near the projection point, a phenomenon reflecting how magnetic fields constrain solar winds, according to the study led by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The scientists also identified the high-speed primary solar wind when the CME was winding down. The high-speed solar wind was detected much closer to the sun than expected, according to the study.

China's Tianwen-1 Mars mission, comprising an orbiter, lander and rover, was launched on July 23, 2020.

Editor: WXY
People visit a shopping mall in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 16, 2023.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

People take selfies in front of a shopping mall in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 16, 2023.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

People shop for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year at street stalls in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 16, 2023.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

Workers distribute snacks at a store in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 16, 2023. As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

People shop for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year at street stalls in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 16, 2023.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

A street performer holds a lion head for lion dance in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 16, 2023.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This photo taken on Jan. 16, 2023 shows a decoration for the Year of the Rabbit at a shopping mall in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This photo taken on Jan. 16, 2023 shows a decoration for the Year of the Rabbit at a shopping mall in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

This photo taken on Jan. 16, 2023 shows decorations for the Chinese Lunar New Year at a street stall in Glodok Chinatown of Jakarta, Indonesia.

As the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Rabbit approaches, people came to the Chinatown to buy New Year's goods and new clothes while enjoying the festive atmosphere. (Xinhua/Xu Qin)

Editor: JYZ
At 7:00 a.m., Xie Yanjie and her colleagues arrived at the Chunhua Street site of the Tianjin Emergency Treatment Center. For the next nearly 15 hours, she worked with three colleagues on the same shift, shuttling through the streets and alleys of the city to transfer every patient with acute and critical conditions to the hospital.

An ambulance must be dispatched within 90 seconds after receiving the call. ED doctors would also call the patients family to understand the situation better. Id instruct the family on the phone to briefly handle the situation, and the anxiety on the other end of the phone only urged us to go faster. Xie Yanjie said. When on emergency duty, doctor Xie and nurse Chen Yan would bring the first aid kit and rush to the patients home after arriving at the scene.

Out of a days tasks, there are always several old residential buildings without elevators, members of the team work together to carry the patient on the stretcher and then into the ambulance. While the vehicle is driving at full speed, Xie monitors the patient, asking and recording the patients information in detail, and also comforting the patient and family from time to time. After arriving at the hospital, Xie would jog all the way to the emergency department, explain the patients condition to the doctors there, and guide the family to register for treatment.

In the peak period, the ambulance would be kept busy throughout the day. Normally we can take a break and quickly refresh after a mission, but these days its one patient after another, running nonstop.

In the past few days, the number of ambulances dispatched by the Tianjin Emergency Treatment Center has been kept at a high level. To ensure the normal operation of pre-hospital emergency, the Center has optimized the dispatching process, supplemented vehicles, analyzed the 24-hour dispatch data, and adjusted the schedule during peak and off hours. At the busiest hour, a total of 291 ambulances were dispatched across the city of Tianjin, giving prioritized care to patients with acute and critical conditions.

Photo taken on December 29, 2022 shows ED doctor Xie Yanjie working on an ambulance. (Xinhua)

Photo taken on December 29, 2022 shows ED doctor Xie Yanjie carring a patient to bed.(Xinhua)

Photo taken on December 29, 2022 shows an ambulance on duty in north China's Tianjing. (Xinhua)

Editor: WJH
National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom has information about 650 cases of signing contracts by employees of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia NPP with the so-called "Operating Organization of the ZNPP" of the Rosatom concern, Energoatom President Petro Kotin has said.

"We know about 650 ZNPP workers who signed contracts with the fake plant operation organization. Most of them are working personnel who received the lowest wages. But there are also cases of betrayal of the management personnel, on whose position it actually depended whether anything would work for Rosatom. For example, the person acting as the chief engineer betrayed Ukraine and continues illegitimately performing the duties of the head of the plant there," he said at a briefing at the Pivdennoukrainska nuclear power plant on Monday.

In general, according to him, the ZNPP has a very difficult situation with personnel.

"Slightly more than 6,000 ZNPP workers are in Enerhodar. Not everyone works at the plant, many remain at their homes. Approximately 2,400-3,000 people go to the plant. Before the occupation, over 11,000 people worked at it," Kotin said.

At the same time, he said that the Russian invaders cannot replace the Ukrainian personnel with their people, therefore they are forced to leave them at work, despite refusals to go to work in Rosatom.

"The situation for the ruscists is also difficult. They cannot launch the plant. They cannot operate it normally, because this requires personnel trained to work on the equipment installed at the ZNPP. They are trying to bring their personnel, but it is illegitimate, it is not can perform the functions that Ukrainian personnel perform. Ukrainians refuse to sign contracts, but they are forced to leave them at work," the head of Energoatom said, describing the situation.

At the same time, he said that part of the ZNPP employees who left the ZNPP satellite city Enerhodar was transferred to work at other NPPs in Ukraine.
Nine blocks of thermal power plants, three main substations, one overhead line damaged in Russian missile attack on Jan 14  PM

In the Russian missile attack on January 14, nine units of thermal power plants, three main substations and one overhead line have been damaged, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.

"The last heavy attack had devastating consequences for the Ukrainian energy sector as well. Generation facilities were damaged: one block of a thermal power plant in the east and eight blocks of thermal power plants in the west of the country. Three main substations and one overhead line have been damaged. This led to an increase in power shortages in the grids. it forces us every day, starting from January 15, apply emergency outages," Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Tuesday.

At the same time, according to the prime minister, the country's power system survived, remained intact and manageable.

"Repair work continues around the clock. Every day we work to ensure that more generators, transformers and other equipment arrive in Ukraine to repair damage," he added.

Shmyhal said that Ukraine feels the continued support of foreign partners in the energy industry. In particular, it is planned to purchase power equipment worth more than EUR 100 million taken from the Ukraine Energy Support Fund.

"Of the latest receipts, these are 45 backup power plants from Azerbaijan and powerful generators for Chernihiv region, provided by Japan," he said.
Deputy Speaker of the Polish Sejm, Malgorzata Gosiewska said she was threatened with being banned from entering Georgia if she continues to talk about the situation of Georgia and Mikheil Saakashvili, allegedly in an official conversation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia.As she specified, the ambassador was told that Gosiewska's "statements harm the relations between Georgia and Poland.""I want to say that I am not afraid of the threats directed at me. If I continue to talk about the life of the president and the situation in Georgia, they threaten me that I will no longer have the opportunity to enter Georgia. Such threats were heard by our ambassador, who was directly informed about this. I, for example, don't have the opportunity to enter Russia and Belarus due to my work, and if Georgia is added to these countries, everything will be clear here.Such a threat was made in a formal conversation held with the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Maszkiewicz. This threat was heard in the official conversation. I hope it will not come to that. I want Georgia to return to a normal circle and to be able to visit political prisoners. For years, I visited the former prime minister, Mr. Vano Merabishvili, in prison. I had the opportunity then, now I don't have the opportunity, and several times I was refused to see Saakashvili, and I was also refused to visit Gvaramia." Gosiewska said.Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the Georgian Dream, told Imedi TV reporter that the key to Georgia abolishing polarization is "the weakening of the radical opposition.""Today, in fact, the radical opposition is essentially weakened, if this process continues (and I think it will definitely continue), in this case, the country can finally get rid of the closed circle that we call polarization.Decreasing the degree of radicalism is important, and the main key to this lies in weakening the radical part of the opposition, which should be supported by everyone who is interested in the development of our country," Kobakhidze said.
As of Tuesday morning, the number of wounded has increased to 79 as a result of a missile attack on a multi-storey building in Dnipro, wreckage has been dismantled by 90%, according to Head of the regional military administration Valentyn Reznichenko said.

"Some 39 people were rescued, 40 died. Some 79 were injured, including 16 children. There are now 28 injured in hospitals, ten are severely injured. Some 25 residents of the house are being searched," the administration's head said in the Telegram channel.
The Ukrainian banner will return to Donetsk airport, Donetsk and other cities of Donbas, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky believes.

"January 20 will be the Day of Remembrance for the defenders of Donetsk airport. Today we have already begun to remember that defense, this heroism of our people," he said in a video statement on Monday.

"Fighting has been going on since May 14. The last defender left Donetsk airport on January 23, 2015. And the defense was such that even then the whole world should see what Ukrainian invincibility means," the president also said.

"I am sure that the Ukrainian banner will return to Donetsk airport, and to Donetsk, and to other cities and villages of our Donbas and other temporarily occupied territory," he said.
In Dnipro, body of another killed child pulled out from under rubble, number of victims after missile attack reached 41

The body of a dead child was recovered on Tuesday morning from under the rubble of a multi-storey building destroyed by a Russian missile attack in the city of Dnipro, Deputy Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko has said.

"At 09:46, the body of another dead child was removed from under the rubble of a destroyed residential building on the fourth floor. In total, 41 people killed (of which four were children), some 79 people were injured (of which 16 were children) and 39 people were rescued (of which six were children)," Tymoshenko said in Telegram.

Earlier it was reported that as a result of a missile attack on a multi-storey building in Dnipro on January 14, the death of 40 people was confirmed, including three children. Some 79 victims were injured, including 16 children. There were 28 victims in hospitals, ten of them were in serious condition. Some 25 residents of the house were wanted.

Some 72 apartments in the house were completely destroyed, some 236 were damaged, and 25 cars were also destroyed.

The State Security Service of Ukraine has established the identity of the Russian invaders involved in the missile attack on a residential building in Dnipro.
The attack on a multi-storey residential building in the city of Dnipro on January 14 was most likely carried out by a Kh-22 Burya long-range supersonic anti-ship cruise missile (NATO classification an AS-4 KITCHEN), which has low accuracy when used against ground targets, according to a defense intelligence report by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland's Department of Defense on Twitter on Tuesday morning.

"On January 14, 2023, Russia resumed long-range missile strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure, the first in approximately 15 days, launching tens of missiles. As with the previous eight waves of strikes since 11 October 2022, Russia primarily targeted the Ukrainian electricity grid. An AS-4 KITCHEN large anti-ship missile, launched from a Tu-22M3 BACKFIRE medium bomber, highly likely struck a block of flats in Dnipro city which resulted in the death of at least 40 people," according to the statement.

In this regard, as emphasized by British intelligence, the statements of the Russian side that the Ukrainian air defense missile was to blame for the strike are unfounded. "Russia falsely implied a Ukrainian air defence missile was responsible. KITCHEN is notoriously inaccurate when used against ground targets as its radar guidance system is poor at differentiating targets in urban areas," the UK Department of Defense said.

According to the statement, similar weapons were the cause of other incidents with mass casualties among the civilian population, including an attack on a shopping center in the city of Kremenchuk, Poltava region on June 27, 2022.

British intelligence said the use of such missiles for strikes on Ukrainian territory indicates the inability of Russia to deliver long-range precision strikes. "While some missiles such as KITCHEN are unsuitable for precision strike, evidence from the Ukraine war suggests that dysfunction in Russia's long-range strike capabilities is more profound. It highly likely have struggles to dynamically identify target and to access rapid and accurate battle damage assessment," according to the statement.
A missile attack on Dnipro, like other similar strikes, falls under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video on Monday.

"This strike on Dnipro, like other similar strikes, falls, in particular, under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. And we are using all available opportunities, both national and international, to ensure that all Russian killers, that everyone who gives and carries out orders for missile terror against our people, receive legal sentences," he said.

According to the president, as of Monday evening, some 39 people, including six children, have been rescued from the rubble. "A total of 47 reports were received about those who could be in the house at the time of the strike and whose fate was unknown. It was possible to find out information about 22 people. It is known about 40 dead, including three children," he said.

According to him, the State Security Service of Ukraine has already begun to establish information about those Russian military who prepared and delivered this strike. "There is no doubt: everyone who is guilty of this war crime will be identified and held accountable," Zelensky said.
There are 44 killed in Dnipro due to missile attack on high-rise building  mayor

The bodies of 44 dead have been recovered from the rubble of a multi-storey building destroyed by a Russian missile attack in the city of Dnipro, city mayor Borys Filatov has said.

"There are already 44 killed," Filatov said on Facebook on Tuesday at 10:54.

Earlier on Tuesday, Deputy Head of the President's Office of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said the body of a dead child was found under the rubble of the house and the number of victims reached 41.

Earlier it was reported that as a result of a missile attack on a multi-storey building in Dnipro on January 14, the death of 40 people was confirmed, including three children. Some 79 victims were injured, including 16 children. There were 28 victims in hospitals, ten of them were in serious condition. Soem 25 residents of the house were wanted.

Some s72 apartments in the house were completely destroyed, some 236 were damaged, and 25 cars were also destroyed.

The State Security Service of Ukraine has established the identity of the Russian invaders involved in the missile attack on a residential building in Dnipro.
Polish President Andrzej Duda called on Western allies to continue military support for Ukraine, because then the Ukrainian defenders will be able to stop the Russian Federation.

"there has been one message from Ukraine at the beginning of the war. This is what Volodymyr Zelensky told us at the beginning of the war over the phone. I talked to him every day, sometimes even several times a day. And there has been one: weapons, weapons and once again weapons - we need military support," Duda said at the panel discussion "In Defence of Europe" in Davos on Tuesday

He stressed that weapons are the most important element.

"If we still send a lot of military equipment for the defenders of Ukraine, advanced equipment, they will be potential to stop the Russians," Duda said.

The Polish president said the United States has a critical role to play in supporting Ukraine, but "do not underestimate other NATO members, as it is much easier for the Biden administration to send military hardware."
Prime Minister of Sweden, which presides over the EU Council, Ulf Kristersson, declared the priority of supporting Ukraine for the EU countries and suggested discussing the possibility of using Russian assets frozen in the West to restore the Ukrainian economy.

Presenting the program of the Swedish presidency at the European Parliament session in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Kristersson said the key task is to continue to support Ukraine.

According to him, everything possible must be done to help Ukraine connect its future with the European Union.

Kristersson said their role as chairman of the council means that they must ensure that the union maintains its economic, political, humanitarian and military support for Ukraine. In particular, they must ensure that reforms continue in Ukraine on the path to its accession to the EU. It also means that they must work on a solution to the resumption of economic life and the reconstruction of Ukraine together with all our international partners.

In this regard, he recalled the U.S. "Marshall Plan" of rebuilding Europe after the Second World War.

The Swedish Prime Minister said the frozen Russian assets should be part of the problem, but also the solution. He looks forward to a very in-depth analysis of how the democratic world can come together to use this money to restore some of the destroyed.
Polish President Andrzej Duda hopes that Poland's decision to transfer a company of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine will open a new chapter in military assistance.

We hope that the manufacturer of German tanks will also take part in this, in my opinion, a very good idea, Duda said at the panel discussion in Defense of Europe in Davos on Tuesday

Duda stressed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had asked him several times for modern tanks, since only with their help can the Russian invasion be stopped.

"We are assembling a coalition, a community of countries that I hope will donate Leopard tanks. Here we are counting on our Finnish partners who have these tanks. There are a number of European countries. I hope that the allies will hand over a few or a dozen of these tanks, thanks to which at least an armored brigade will be formed for Ukraine," the President of Poland said.

He added that of course, they count on the participation of Germany, but this process would take time.

Duda also noted that Poland handed over 260 old tanks from the times of the USSR to Ukraine at the beginning of 2022, which was the beginning of a huge support for Ukraine.
The Special Tribunal to hold the Russian Federation accountable for war crimes in Ukraine and the mechanism to pay compensation for damages are the most realistic ways to punish the aggressor and prevent the recurrence of such wars in the world, but their practical implementation requires greater and speedy consolidation of the civilized world, Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak has said.

"Now more than ever, we need the consolidated international support for the adoption of the UN General Assembly resolution to establish the tribunal," he said at the opening of the UKRAINE IS YOU project by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and the PinchukArtCentre in Davos on Tuesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Yermak recalled that Russia was recognized by the General Assembly as an aggressor state, at the same time, an international tribunal is required, since the International Criminal Court does not have such jurisdiction, and the tribunal will be able to work much faster and more efficiently, bringing charges of a crime against humanity in two or three month.

"Ukraine, together with partner states, is doing everything possible to create this special tribunal," Yermak said, pointing out that all 80,000 crimes of Russians should receive an appropriate assessment.

The head of the President's Office also said that the issue of compensating for the enormous damage caused by Russia is no less important.

According to him, the UN General Assembly has already agreed on the concept of compensation mechanism, which provides for the creation of the international registry of losses and damage and the International Compensation Commission and the Compensation Fund, which will be financed from Russian assets, including gold and FX reserves.

"We call on our partners to adopt changes to the national legislations to confiscate assets and to transfer them to the Compensation Fund," Yermak said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda also noted at the opening of the project that the people responsible for what happened in Bucha and many other Ukrainian cities should be held criminally liable, so that everyone who only has the thought of doing something like this knows that he will be punished.

Duda said that we must do everything to protect future generations from such a danger.

Duda said that the opening of this project in Davos is very important so that all participants understand what kind of war is going on in Ukraine now: not some imaginary war of the 21st century on monitors, but destructive and brutal with numerous civilian casualties, similar to the Second World War.

As the President of Poland stated, there is only one way to end this war  the Russians must be expelled from Ukraine and punished.

Victor Pinchuk during the opening of the project explained: its goal is for the Davos participants to feel like a Ukrainian for a moment and feel all the horrors of the war. He added that the tragedy in Dnipro, his hometown, where his daughter is now, should once again force partners to give Ukraine the necessary weapons to shoot down such missiles.

"We need urgent and strong support," the Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist said.

Pinchuk also said that the war has many fronts, and the cultural front is also a powerful weapon that is important for victory.
PEOPLES UNION FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES

332, Patpar Ganj, Opposite Anand Lok Apartments, Mayur Vihar I, Delhi 110 091

Founder: Jayaprakash Narayan; Founding President: V M Tarkunde

General Secretary: Dr. V. Suresh

E.mail: puclnat[at]gmail.com& pucl.natgensec[at]gmail.com

17th January, 2023

Judicial Independence: FOR WHOM THE BELLS TOLL!!

Resist the Executives Attempt to Discredit & Undermine Independence of the Judiciary.

As the Modi government reaches the final stretch of its second five-year term, one can see the beginnings of its new priorities. The drumbeats against the judiciary, the lone institution which is not totally within its control, have become louder. Right from the Law Minister to the Vice President, questions are being raised about the judiciary and its way of functioning. The first salvo was against the collegium system and the mode of appointment of judges. Then the courts were excoriated (rightly so) for not being representative institutions in terms of caste background. The Vice President opened a fresh line of attack, criticizing the Supreme Courts decision in `Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala as being against democracy. The Law Minister has now again upped the ante, by writing on 16th January, 2023 to the Chief Justice, asserting that the executive should be represented on Search  cum  Evaluation Committee (SEC) for appointment of judges to the Supreme Court. This latest demand flies in the face of the law laid down by the Supreme Court on how judges are to be appointed, keeping in mind the question of the independence of the judiciary.

It is vital that civil society responds to this attempt to delegitimize the judiciary using various stratagems. PUCL will in this statement respond to the attack on the collegium system and then follow up with a 2nd statement on the criticism of the `Basic Structure Doctrine evolved in Kesavananda Bharati case, by the Vice President of India.

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At the very outset, the PUCL deplores the concerted, systematic and relentless attack on the collegium system of appointment of the judges of the High Courts and the Supreme Court, led by the Union Law Minister, Kiren Rijiju and other high constitutional functionaries. The statements made by the Law Minister over the last few months barely disguise the threat held out to the independent functioning of the highest judiciary; his retort on undue delay in appointment of judges saying, Never say that the government is sitting on files, then dont send the files to the government, you appoint yourself, you run the show is a warning of what is coming and ominous.

The government has made clear that it views PILs seeking accountability from the Government as well as bail petitions as irritants and has gratuitously advised the Supreme Court not to hear bail petitions or frivolous PILs. The Law Minister has made no secret of the governments desire to control judicial appointments stating, unless the procedure of appointment of judges changes, the issue of high judicial vacancies will keep cropping up. The Law Minister is also being disingenuous by disowning the responsibility of the Central Government in delayed judicial appointments by sitting on recommended elevations reiterated by the Collegium. The statement of the Vice-President, Jagdeep Dhankar, criticising the Supreme Court striking down in 2015 the NJAC as undoing the will of the people and stating that the world does not know any such instance, has only added to atmosphere of concern.

The strident attacks on the judiciary by the Union Law Minister is clearly part of the Central Governments strategy to undermine and discredit the judiciary and to accept the primacy of the Central Governments role, not just in appointment of judges but verily in influencing the way the judiciary functions. The aim is to neutralize and subvert the independent role envisaged by the Constitution for the Constitutional Courts.

An independent judiciary is the cornerstone of a constitutional democracy because it upholds the Constitution - its basic structure and system of checks and balances; protects the Fundamental Rights of citizens; and ensures through judicial review that the laws passed by the Parliament and the actions and policies of the Executive are in harmony with Constitutional principles. An independent judiciary is all the more critical in the present period, when the ruling party has used its brute majority in Parliament to ram through critical laws with hardly any discussion, within or outside Parliament, many of which have been constitutionally challenged before the Supreme Court. One cannot ignore the reality of `majoritarianism posing a serious threat to the Constitutional values of secularism, federalism, social justice and socialism in our polity and society. What is to be noted is that the attack on the judiciary follows on the heels of a systematic subversion of other important constitutional institutions which are meant to play an independent role as monitors of democracy such as the Election Commission, NHRC, CBI, ED, IT Department, and other bodies.

There is no doubt that the Collegium system is far from perfect. Its lack of transparency and accountability have resulted in the preservation of caste, class, gender and community privileges, nepotism and favouritism, and the lack of capability, fairness, efficiency and integrity among sitting judges. Many High Court Bar Associations have had to repeatedly protest inappropriate appointments, elevation and transfers. In terms of social origins, the Judiciary remains a bastion of the privileged, and this is bound to reflect in the nature of judicial pronouncements. The current Collegium system urgently requires reform by bringing in more transparency, accountability and evolving a fact-based, objective, and verifiable system of selection.

However, the intention of the Law Minister, who is merely echoing the thinking of the Modi-led government, doesnt appear to be to streamline the process of judicial appointments pending creating a broader consensus on creating an independent judicial appointments body. The Union Law Ministry would not have been criticised if they had taken the lead to initiate public discussion and build consensus on a clear, objective, rule-based criteria for selection of candidates and appointment of judges, transparency, accountability, and inclusion of diverse communities in India. Rather, it is clear that the aim of the Central government is to rein in what appears to be a less  submissive Supreme Court, which under CJIs Ramana, UU Lalit and now YV Chandrachud is comparatively more liberty sensitive, fundamental rights affirming and constitutionally responsive court than the previous courts under CJIs Dipak Misra, Ranjan Gogoi and SA Bobde.

It is important to point out that the Collegium system was the product of historical circumstances when the Supreme Court had to confront brazen attempts by the Executive to hijack the judicial appointment process by packing the Court with its nominees. The Collegium system, first evolved in the `Advocates-On-Record Association case (1993) subsequently expanded through a series of judgments, to free judges and justice from the clutches of the politicians in power. Despite the serious shortcomings of the Collegium system, there are judges in both the High Courts and the Supreme Court, who have a sense of fidelity to the values of the Constitution and to their oath to maintain true faith and allegiance to the Constitution. Be it with respect to matters concerning bail in UAPA cases, or the hijab ban matter in the Supreme Court, some judges have stood in defence of the Constitution even if it meant opposing the governments will.

When the Modi Government came to power in 2014, it inaugurated its rule by sending back the recommendation of the Collegium with respect to the elevation of Gopal Subramaniam as a judge of the Supreme Court. Gopal Subramaniam had been the Amicus Curiae in the Sohrabuddin case involving the current Home Minister as the accused. The reason for this decision required no further explanation.

The Union Government has also consciously demonstrated that it was not averse to penalising those judges who have shown independent thinking or whose values are not aligned with the government. Amongst the controversial issues was the transfer of Justice Rajiv Shakder from Delhi HC to Madras HC, (2016), Justice Abhay Thipsay from Bombay HC to Allahabad HC (2016), denial of elevation of Justice Jayant Patel, first by abruptly transferring to Karnataka HC and thereafter to Allahabad HC (2017) to deny him elevation as CJ, leading to his resignation; and the 2019 controversy over returning Collegium recommendation of appointment of Justice Akhil Kureshi as CJ of MP and subsequent transfer to Meghalaya HC. In most of these cases, the will of the Government prevailed over the then existing Collegium.

In recent times, since 28th September, 2022, the Central Government has remained mute about the Collegiums resolution to transfer Orissa High Court Chief Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar as Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. Justice Muralidhar was earlier transferred to the Punjab HC from Delhi HC, immediately after he had directed the Delhi Police to take a decision on filing a FIR against Union Minister Anurag Thakur, and BJP leaders - Parvesh Verma, Kapil Mishra and Abhay Verma - for making allegedly inflammatory speeches. As on date, the Centre has remained silent on its response.

Since 28th November 2022, the Union Government has been sitting on files of most of the 20 names proposed (some of whose names were reiterated, thus becoming binding) for elevation to various High Courts. Clearly these files have crossed the 4-month rule as laid down by a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court. One of the names is Saurabh Kripal, who would be the first openly gay judge in India if elevated.

As recently as 10 January, 2022, the SC Collegium reiterated for the third time, its decision to elevate advocate Nagendra Ramachandra Naik as a Karnataka High Court judge. The Collegium had made the decision on October 3, 2019 with the decision being reiterated twice  once on March 2, 2021, and then on September 1, 2021. The Centre has once again remained non-responsive.

While the collegium system has been attacked as being opaque in its working, it is important to point out that there is little public understanding as to why the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014 was struck down by the SC as unworkable and violative of the basic structure of the Constitution. All the counsels who argued against the 99th Amendment before the Supreme Court, including Senior Advocates - Fali Nariman, Arvind Datar, (late) Anil Divan and (late) Ram Jethmalani repeatedly submitted before the Supreme Court that they had no objection to the NJAC replacing the Collegium and pointed out that the selection Committee under the NJAC, was made of 6 members, with a majority of 4 who could be controlled by the Central Government, with little possibility of the views of Committee members from the judiciary, being considered. But since the Union of India refused to concede this point the 99th amendment was finally struck down as being violative of the basic structure. Besides, the proposed NJAC did not have any mechanisms to ensure greater citizen participation, greater independence from the executive, greater adherence to constitutional integrity, greater social inclusivity or even simply better performance.

What the current accelerated attacks on the judiciary reveal is that even the sliver of independent thinking or adherence to constitutional values that still remains in the judiciary, is proving to be intolerable to the Executive. The Executive in its pursuit of absolute power is seeking to delegitimize and pave the way for the destruction of the Collegium system. It is no coincidence that these attacks are taking place during the tenure of Chief Justice YV Chandrachud who is expected to fulfil his oath to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, even at the cost of going against the will of the executive.

If the Executive succeeds in its aims, then even the sporadic reassertion of constitutional values by the judiciary will become a thing of the past. We will have before us an authoritarian regime which will be totally unchecked by any constitutional restraints. Such a situation cannot but be viewed with deep foreboding by anyone who cares about the future of Indias constitutional democracy. It is important for citizens to understand, that at its very heart, the issue of appointment of judges is not a private affair between judges and the Executive but an issue with grave consequences to the common citizen in terms of preserving and protecting the Indian Constitution, promoting its ethos and values and ensuring the survival of constitutional democracy.

It is under these circumstances that the PUCL is issuing this public call to We, the People of India, with the reminder that what is at stake is the autonomy and independence of the judiciary. We the People, especially constitutionally minded citizens and civil society groups need to stand up to collectively raise their voices and demand that the Central Government and its functionaries stop the public attacks on the Collegium and the judiciary, abide by the spirit of the Constitution and respect its values, ethos and proprieties.

17th January, 2023

Dr. V. Suresh, General Secretary, PUCL
Zelenska in Davos hands over to leaders of Switzerland, China, head of European Commission letters from Ukrainian President on cooperation for implementation of Peace Formula

During her stay at the World Economic Forum in Davos, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska conveyed to the leaders of Switzerland, China and head of the European Commission letters from President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on cooperation for the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

"Today I am handing over to my colleagues participating in this part of the forum letters from the President of Ukraine to President of the Swiss Confederation Mr. Alain Berset, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping through Vice Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Liu He," Zelenska said.

According to her, Ukraine has already received positive responses from many leaders of the world about their willingness to cooperate for the sake of implementing the Peace Formula.

"We believe that the world will unite for peace. And this year may not be the year of the crisis if it becomes the year of the Ukrainian Formula of Peace, which will be implemented," she said.
During the day, the Ukrainian military eliminated 870 people pf military personnel of the Russian Army, as well as three tanks, 11 armored combat vehicles, five artillery systems, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports.

"The total combat losses of the enemy from February 24, 22 to January 17, 2023 approximately amounted to: about 11,6950 (plus 870) people of military personnel, 3,121 (plus three) units, 6,215 armored combat vehicles (plus 11) units, 2,104 artillery (plus five) units, 441 units of MLRS (plus three) units, 220 units of air defense equipment, 286 units of aircraft, 276 helicopters, 1,872 operational-tactical level UAVs, 749 cruise missiles, 17 ships/boats, 4,877 units of motor vehicles and tankers/vehicles and fuel tanks (plus seven), and 190 units of special equipment," a message posted on Facebook says.

The data is being updated.
The Ukrainian Red Cross Society is implementing a program to support the life of modular homes in Kyiv region.

"The Kyiv regional organization of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) has launched a program to help pay utility bills, in particular, for electricity and water supply, to residents of modular homes. This will help support the functioning of modular houses and comfort living for temporarily displaced persons," the URCS said on its official Facebook page.

The program will be available in Bucha, Vyshgorod and Brovary districts of Kyiv region.

The URCS reminded that nine areas with modular houses are only in Bucha district: in the cities of Irpin, Bucha, Borodianka, Makariv and Dmytrivka. The organization explained that due to the load on the power supply system of the region, not all modular towns can fully function, since they are not able to ensure the operation of powerful generators. As an example, the URCS said that for heating of modular homes with 88 living rooms in Borodianka for 12 hours, 300 liters of fuel is required.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/RedCrossUkraine
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has held a meeting in the format of a video conference with President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday.

"During the meeting in the format of a video conference with Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, we discussed the situation on the frontline, the necessity of increasing defense support for Ukraine, the diplomatic process on the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula," Zelensky said on the Telegram channel.

The head of state emphasized that Ukraine appreciates the important new defense decisions taken by the German leadership at the beginning of this year, as well as the significant support in the humanitarian, financial and defense spheres since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.

"Thank you for the comprehensive assistance of Germany to Ukrainians. For the assistance that made our army stronger, for the financial support. I would like to express particular gratitude to the citizens of Germany for sheltering Ukrainians in this difficult period," Zelensky said.
Odesa (Ukraine)  Dubai (UAE) Argentem Creek Partners (ACP), a U. S. hedge fund, announced on January 16, 2023, that the High Court of Justice of England ordered the garnishment of assets to the tune of $118 million held by Serhii Hroza and Volodymyr Naumenko, co-owners of GNT Group and Olimpex Coupe grain terminal in Odesa. Before that, Argentem Creek Partners initiated a replacement of executives in companies shipping grain for export via Odesa Commercial Sea Port.

GNT Group states that the action taken by Argentem Creek Partners to block operations of the Ukrainian grain terminal can disrupt grain shipments under the grain corridor, which is critically important for Ukraine and the whole world. Currently, the terminals operations are under control by the company, with all contracts being performed.

At the same time, the company is challenging currently available ACP-initiated unlawful decisions by registrars and Ukrainian and foreign courts before courts of law to prevent the grain terminals operations from being blocked.

GNT Group denies all allegations hurled at it and is prepared to meet its obligations to creditors in any civilized manner. This conflict has been provoked artificially by Argentem Creek Partners and Innovatus Capital Partners to ensure a rapid takeover of the stevedoring business in Ukraine because of the operation of the grain corridor. The steps they made were unnecessary to solving the issue of debt repayment.

GNT Group believes that by doing so, the creditors are trying to devalue the business for the subsequent non-transparent resale of the companys assets to an interested third party.

GNT Groups stance and conclusions are supported by the following arguments.

1. In 2019, G. N. Terminal Enterprises LTD (Dubai, UAE) managing company, a member of GNT Group, took out two loans  $75 million from ACP and $20 million from Innovatus. However, GNT Groups faced challenges with repaying the loan principal due to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020-21 and an all-out war against russia in 2022.

The company negotiated restructuring and time extension for repayments with the creditors in writing till December 2022. With the grain corridor in operation, GNT Group had guaranteed prospects of repaying the debt both at the expense of its ongoing commercial operations and by refinancing the debt and raising business development investments from large international funds. The creditors were informed accordingly. They were also offered an option of selling a part of the company transparently to repay the debt.

The Groups business has been audited by international audit firms regularly. However, in the summer of 2022, the Board of Directors consisting of ACPs appointees only invited Ziff-Ivin Associates Ltd  a company that has already analyzed GNT Groups commercial operations  to conduct the audit.

Because of that, GNT Group did not expect Argentem Creek Partners to take hostile steps to enforce the debt collection, for instance, by suing and blocking operations of the Ukrainian companies, such as Olimpex Coupe International LLC, Metalsukraine Corp Ltd LLC, and Inzernoexport Grain Transhipment Facility LLC. The companies listed above are managed by G.N. Terminal Enterprises LTD; they directly own and operate grain transshipment terminals in the seaport.

2. The creditors actions are indicative of an attempted hostile takeover (raiding) of GNT Groups stevedoring business. The terminals operate in Odesa, but representatives of the creditor (Madison Pacific Trust Limited) changed the legal domiciles of the companies from Odesa to Lviv. They appointed lawyers from Hillmont Partners law firm, who have no work experience in the logistical services market, as Directors of these companies. The Directors were appointed contrary to the Corporate Agreement, under which a creditors representative is only permitted to appoint Commercial Directors with signing powers without replacing companies Directors.

With its 1500-strong employee team, the Group has always discharged its debt obligations meticulously over 25 years of doing business. In addition, GNT Group has demonstrated its transparency and trust of high-profile lenders in practice many times, having received $59 million of business development financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Over six months of the operation of the so-called grain agreement, also known as the Initiative on the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports, GNT Group shipped about 1.5 million tonnes of agricultural products via its terminals or 8.5% of the total of 17.5 million tonnes.

These high commercial performance indicators may have provoked Argentem Creek Partners to take a hostile action. However, it will give rise to further problems for agrarian exports during the war against russia, when it is critically important to ensure food security and cause Ukraines commitments to the UN and international partners to be met. In their statement, Argentem Creek Partners even admit that the conflict they initiated can give rise to grain corridor disruptions.

GNT Groups employee team has already sent a letter to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, to inform him about the threats to the operation of the grain corridor, the potential loss of jobs and reputational risks for Ukraine.

GNT Group started developing its business in 1993 by establishing Olimpex Coupe International, a company that started its operations based on PPK-7 of the Odesa Commercial Seaport State-owned Enterprise. Currently, GNT Groups core business includes the transshipment of grain crops and oilseeds with ancillary services (freight forwarding, ship agency services) based on the modern grain terminal owned by the company at the back of berths 3 and 4 of Odesa Commercial Seaport and the Dry Port site that accommodates a grain and oilseeds treatment facility. Olimpex Coupe Internationals grain terminal ranks among Ukraines Top 10 grain terminals. Investments in its development exceeded $80 million.
By Wang Qing,

Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone

From January 9 to 162023, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang visited Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin, Egypt, the African Union Headquarters and the League of Arab States Headquarters upon invitation. This is his first overseas trip as the Chinese Foreign Minister. It is also the 33rd consecutive year that the Chinese Foreign Minister visits Africa on the first overseas trip of the new year.

During the visit, Foreign Minister Qin Gang made a four-point proposal on the development of China-Africa Relations: First, intensify in-person interactions and connectivity of ideas between China and Africa. Second, further deepen friendly relations between China and the AU. Third, do more to upgrade and elevate China-Africa cooperation. Fourth, stand firm in defending the unity and cooperation of developing countries. Foreign Minister Qin Gang also reiterated that strengthening solidarity and cooperation with African countries will always be a diplomatic priority for China. No matter how the international environment changes, China and Africa will always be a community with a shared future.

This visit clearly stated that carrying forward and advancing the China-Africa friendship has been a noble tradition and a defining feature of China's diplomacy. Even mountains and seas cannot distance people with common aspirations. China is the largest developing country in the world, and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries. Shared past experiences and similar aims and goals have brought China and Africa close together. Since the 1950s and the 1960s, the first generation of leaders of China including Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai joined hands with their African counterparts to usher in a new era of China-Africa friendship. From then on, the Chinese and African people have supported and cooperated with each other and forged a brotherly bond sharing weal and woe. The Chinese people will not forget that it was the African brothers who carried the New China into the United Nations. African people will also never forget that China extended a helping hand to support Africa's development in its own very difficult times. The Chinese and African people share good feelings with each other, which have become the unbreakable foundation of China-Africa friendship.

This visit vividly demonstrated China's firm will and practical actions to build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future. Entering the new era, President Xi Jinping put forward the principles of Chinas Africa policy  sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and pursuing the greater good and shared interests, and advocated building a closer China-Africa community with a shared future, which has been unanimously endorsed by African leaders and has pointed out the way forward and provided a fundamental guideline for China-Africa cooperation in the new era. Under the joint leadership and impetus of the Chinese and African leaders, China-Africa cooperation has continued to make new progress and reached unprecedented heights. The "Ten Major Plans", "Eight Major Initiatives" and "Nine Programs" proposed on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) are progressing smoothly. China has been Africa's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years, and the trade volume between China and Africa is expected to exceed $260 billion by 2022. During his visit to Africa, Foreign Minister Qin Gang attended the completion ceremony of the headquarter of the African Center for Disease Control, adding a new landmark project to China-Africa cooperation. At present, 52 African countries and the African Union Commission have signed Belt and Road Initiative Cooperation Documents with China, and cooperation projects on roads, electricity, communications and ports have spread across Africa, enhancing Africa's capacity for autonomous and sustainable development. China will continue to respect the will of the African people, and bring tangible benefit to the African people under the actual situation to achieve better common development.

China and Sierra Leone are time-bonded friends. During the past 52 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China-Sierra Leone relations have developed smoothly and become a model of China-Africa friendship and cooperation. In recent years, under the strategic leadership of the two Heads of State, political trust between China and Sierra Leone has continued to grow, practical cooperation has been steadily promoted, international collaboration has become closer, and solidarity in the fight against COVID-19 has been effective, giving new energy to the traditional friendship between the two countries. Although I have only been in office for a short time, I can already feel the fruitfulness of the practical cooperation between the two countries. On the second day after I presented my credentials, I attended the handover ceremony of the China-aided Foreign Service Academy, where President Bio said "thank you" in Chinese, drawing a warm response. I have visited Youyi Building a number of times. It is one of the landmarks of China-Sierra Leone friendship. Chinese Military Medical Expert Group, China CDC Expert Team and Chinese Medical Team in Sierra Leone fought with the Sierra Leonean people against Ebola and COVID-19, vividly illustrating the China-Africa friendship of mutual help and common destiny. The Chinese language courses offered by the Confucius Institute at the University of Sierra Leone are attracting more and more people and have become a bridge between the two countries to strengthen people-to-people exchange.

China-Sierra Leone relations are facing new opportunities for development in the new era. As the new Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, I will work with my colleagues and the Sierra Leonean friends to implement the important consensus reached by the two Heads of State to enhance the relations between our two countries, deepen political mutual trust, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, promote the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new level, and jointly build the high-level China-Africa community with a shared future in the New Era.




Women of God in UNITY Working Together Conference Launches in Daytona Beach





NEWS PROVIDED BY

Women of God in UNITY Working Together

Jan. 16, 2023



DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 16, 2023 /Standard Newswire/ -- Pastor Sammy and Minister Annette Jackson announce the launch of the Women of God in UNITY Working Together Conference with the first one to be held in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Master's Domain Church of God in Christ on Fremont Avenue as the conference location.



On January 28, 2023, women from across the nation will gather together, on-site and online, for a half-day in "an environment in which inspiration is birthed through the Word of God helping women nurture enthusiasm for their Godgiven purposes."



With a diverse roster of speakers, the conference promises to be one in which women will want to unleash the power of the Kingdom within them.

Speakers

Apostle Sherilyn Fletcher

Pastor Jean M. Brissey

Minister Annette Jackson

Ms. Susanne Wiggins

Ms. Sandra Durham

Pastor Tiffany Ware

Evangelist Sarah Howard

Minister Pauletta Singleton

Women from all walks of life are invited to register for this free conference.



What: Women of God in UNITY Working Together Conference

Date: January 28, 2023

Time: 3:00 - 7:00 PM

Location: Master's Domain Church of God in Christ (COGIC)

511 Fremont Avenue, Daytona Beach, Florida

Cost: FREE



Connect and Register Today!

www.WomenofGodIUWT.com

Email: WomenofGodinUNITY@gmail.com

FB & IG: Women of God in UNITY Working Together (WomenofGodinUNITY)

YouTube: WomenofGodinUNITY



SOURCE Women of God in UNITY Working Together



CONTACT: WomenofGodinUNITY@gmail.com


By Azernews

Laman Ismayilova

President of International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation President Gunay Afandiyeva has met with renowned photographer Reza Deghati, Azernews reports.

For over the past 40 years, photographer Reza Deghati has captured thousands of powerful images that tell impressive human stories. Along with his powerful and weighty pictures, the photographer has always drawn the attention of the world community to the Azerbaijani realities.

Speaking with famous photographer Gunay Afandiyeva recalled his photo exhibition "Pearl of Azerbaijan - Shusha" held by the foundation in Bursa within "Days of Shusha" last year.

She emphasized that Reza Deghati's photo works received wide acclaim among the Turkish public.

The president of the foundation stressed the importance of the wider promotion of the centuries-old rich heritage of the Turkic world.

Gunay Afandiyeva also highlighted the foundation's projects related to the city of Shusha, which was declared the Cultural Capital of the Turkic World 2023.

Reza Deghati highly appreciated the foundation's activities aimed at studying the history, scientific and cultural heritage of the Turkic-speaking peoples and promoting national and spiritual values.

Gunay Afandiyeva and Reza Deghati also discussed the photographer's participation in future projects.

Initiated in 2012, Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation focuses on the preservation of Turkic heritage in member countries as well as conducting projects in collaboration with partners in third nations.

The foundation provides assistance in the protection, study, and promotion of the Turkic culture and heritage through supporting and funding various activities, projects, and programs.

The organization carries out its activities in cooperation with TURKSOY and the Turkic Academy.
The government says that the spike in people reporting that they have moved overseas is merely due to new regulations that allow them to receive their national pension in a lump sum since May of 2018. But there are other signs that an exodus is underway.

The amount of money spent on real estate overseas is also on the rise. According to Bank of Korea data released Friday, Koreans spent US$625 million last year on real estate overseas, and that does not include the money businesses wired abroad for investment or to set up operations.

A growing number of Koreans are emigrating, citing the sputtering economy and poor education. According to the Foreign Ministry, 2,200 people emigrated last year, up around five times from 2016 and the most since the financial crisis in 2008. The wealthy blame political and economic woes at home, while middle-class Koreans cited difficulties educating children here.

One builder advertising luxury apartments in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam costing between W500 million to W1 billion says he had lively interest from Koreans (US$1=W1,179). According to global realtor CBRE, 22 percent of all luxury apartment buyers in Ho Chi Minh City last year were Koreans, ranking second among foreigners after the Chinese (30 percent).

Purchases soared in the second quarter of 2017, just after President Moon Jae-in took office in May. Until the first quarter 2017, the amount of money Koreans wired overseas stood at around $10 million a quarter for seven straight quarters. But it suddenly surged to $131.4 million in the second quarter and has remained above $100 million every quarter since then.

One owner of a large hospital in Korea said, "I own two buildings in Gangnam, but I decided to stop investing in Korea, because I have no idea how much more the government intends to raise taxes."

For the rich, investing in real estate overseas offers the benefit of drastically slashing inheritance and gift taxes they have to pay on property at home. The U.S. raised the limit on inheritance tax exemptions from $5.49 million to $11.2 million last year. But in Korea, a person who inherits W23 billion has to pay more than W12 billion in taxes.

Middle-class Koreans are also packing up and leaving. The most popular destination is Southeast Asia. One family who moved to Cebu in the Philippines decided to settle down there to escape worsening air pollution here. On a weeklong holiday in Cebu three years ago, they found that their two daughters no longer suffered from chronic nasal inflammation.

The country where Koreans spent the most money on real estate last year was Vietnam with 1,347 money transfers. Next were the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.

One staffer at an overseas real estate company said, "Just W100 million to W300 million can get you a very decent house in a major city in Southeast Asia. It's very cheap to transfer money to Vietnam, so a growing number of middle-class Koreans are buying homes there, not for speculative purposes but to rent it out and save the money to fund their retirement after emigrating there."
Nearly US$50 billion worth of capital fled Korean shores for greener pastures last year, triple the amount of money that was invested in the country (US$1=W1,166). But the number of Koreans who emigrated declined, while more foreigners came to live here.

 Capital Flight

According to a report by KEB Hana Bank's in-house research institute, Korean companies invested $49.7 billion abroad in 2018, 2.9 times more than the $17.2 billion in foreign direct investment in Korea over the same period.

Korean companies' investment overseas has been surging over the last five years. This year, their combined overseas investment surged 30 percent in the first half to $30 billion. The report said it mainly went to Vietnam, China and other Asian regions, but Korean businesses also invested $7.7 billion in the U.S., while $5.6 billion was squirreled away in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven.

Investment in China doubled to $3.7 billion, 89 percent in the manufacturing sector mainly due to cheaper labor costs there. Some 69.7 percent of Korean investment into Vietnam also went into manufacturing for the same reason, and 5.9 percent into real estate.

A whopping 859 new businesses were established in Vietnam over the past year by Korean companies, far more than in the U.S. (544) and China (485), suggesting they are mostly smaller enterprises.


Strains between the world's two leading economies have been growing despite their trade ties. The Biden administration has blocked the sale of advanced computer chips to China and is considering a ban on investment in some Chinese tech companies, possibly undermining a key economic goal that Xi set for his country. Statements by the Democratic president that the U.S. will defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion have increased tensions.

The Zurich talks will be a follow-up to the November meeting between President Joe Biden and China's Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. The two world leaders agreed to empower key senior officials to maintain communication.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will meet with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, in Switzerland on Wednesday to discuss economic developments between the two nations.

The meeting comes ahead of Yellen's travel to Senegal, Zambia and South Africa this week in what will be the first in a string of visits by Biden administration officials to sub-Saharan Africa during the year.

Africa is crucial to the global economy due to its rapidly growing population and significant natural resources. China's deepening economic entrenchment in African nations, surpassing the U.S. in trade with the continent to become one of the world's largest creditors, is also a motivator for the U.S. to deepen ties with African nations.

Yellen has spoken at length publicly about China's financing practices on the continent, calling them "economic practices that have disadvantaged all of us."

She has also called on China explicitly to end its relationship with Russia as the Kremlin continues its invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. and its European and Asian allies have imposed sanctions and an oil price cap on Russia in retaliation for the war, putting China in a difficult spot as it had promised a "no limits" friendship with Russia before the invasion began.

It will be Yellen's first in-person meeting with Liu since taking office and follows three virtual meetings between them.
Russian officials have often denied doing so, including again Monday as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian forces "do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure, they strike military targets." Peskov said what happened in Dnipro was caused by Ukrainian air defenses.

European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the Russian strike and others like it on civilian targets "inhumane aggression." "There will be no impunity for these crimes," he said in a tweet on Sunday. Russian forces have repeatedly hit civilian targets since invading Ukraine in February.

The missile strike took place Saturday with what Ukraine's air force command said was a Kh-22 missile launched from Russia's Kursk region. Military officials said Ukrainian forces shot down 21 of 33 total missiles Russia fired that day, but that Ukraine does not have a system capable of intercepting the Kh-22.

Dnipropetrovsk regional Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said on social media said the attack had injured 75 people and that the fate of 30 others was unknown. Thirty-nine have been rescued.

Ukrainian officials said Monday the death toll from a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro had risen to at least 40, with rescue crews still searching the rubble for any survivors.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday that he was thankful for words of support from around the world after the attack, adding that it is "very important that normal people unite in response to terror." He faulted those in Russia "who even now could not utter even a few words of condemnation."

"Evil is very sensitive to cowardice," Zelenskyy said. "Evil always remembers those who fear it or try to bargain with it. And when it comes after you, there will be no one to protect you."

On Monday, fierce fighting continued to rage in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province, where military analysts have said both sides are likely suffering heavy troop casualties in a standoff.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said it believes the Kremlin is taking steps to turn its Ukraine invasion into "a major conventional war" after months of embarrassing military reversals. "The Kremlin is likely preparing to conduct a decisive strategic action in the next six months intended to regain the initiative and end Ukraine's current string of operational successes," the institute's report said.

It noted reports indicating the Russian military command was in "serious preparations" for an expanded mobilization effort, conserving mobilized personnel for future use, while seeking to boost military industrial production and reshuffling its command structure. That means Ukraine's Western allies "will need to continue supporting Ukraine in the long run," the think tank said.

 Belarus-Russian Drills

Ukraine's neighbor to the north, Belarus, began joint military exercises with Russia on Monday. The Belarusian Defense Ministry said the drills would run until Feb. 1 and utilize all of the country's military airfields. Areas of training include aerial reconnaissance, border patrols, tactical air assault landing and evacuation of the wounded, the ministry said.

Belarus has participated in numerous military exercises with Russia since the conflict began, increasing fears in Ukraine and among its allies that Russia is hoping Belarus will enter the war on its side, despite assurances from Minsk it won't join the fight.

Pavel Muraveyko, first deputy state secretary of the Security Council of Belarus, said in a post on the social media platform Telegram that "the exercise is purely defensive in nature."

Russia held military exercises in Belarus just before sending tens of thousands of those troops across the border into Ukraine at the start of its invasion.
Hanwha and LG Energy Solution will join hands to consolidate their positions in the U.S. energy and battery market.

Hanwha and LGES signed a memorandum of understanding on joint battery projects on Monday.

The two conglomerates will build new battery production facilities for energy storage systems either in Michigan, where LGES already has a plant, or Arizona, where it will build a new one.

They will also develop batteries for urban air mobility vehicles.

A Hanwha executive said, "Details on how much, when and where to invest will be discussed by a joint task force that will be launched by the two business groups."
KYODO NEWS - Jan 17, 2023 - 13:07 | All, Japan

A 13-year-old girl is suspected of involvement in the death of her mother after she was found dead with stab wounds in the central Japan city of Makinohara, an investigative source said Tuesday.

Police said the woman in her 40s was attacked at home on Monday night, adding that an emergency call came from a family member living at her residence at about 11:50 p.m.

The woman was later confirmed dead, and the cause of her death will be determined by an autopsy. According to the source, she had multiple stab wounds including to her neck.

Police would not disclose the child's sex or school year, but the source said she is the victim's eldest daughter. In Japan, children under 14 years of age cannot be held criminally responsible for their actions.

The Shizuoka prefectural government's central child consultation center confirmed that the police have notified one of its facilities of the case.

Police said the victim had not consulted with them regarding children.

Related coverage:

Woman fatally stabbed on Fukuoka street, armed suspect still at large

Girl arrested after mother, daughter stabbed in Tokyo's Shibuya

14-year-old who stabbed schoolmate in Japan held "grudge" against victim
KYODO NEWS - Jan 17, 2023 - 15:51 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

The western Japan city of Kobe on Tuesday marked the 28th anniversary of the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that took 6,434 lives, with its first ceremony in three years at a pre-pandemic scale.

Residents and victims' families observed a moment of silence at 5:46 a.m., the same time the Great Hanshin Earthquake struck the port city in Hyogo Prefecture and neighboring areas on Jan. 17, 1995.

The ceremony, which came after memorials were reduced in scale or canceled in 2021 and 2022, saw participants light thousands of candles forming "1.17, 1995," the date of the disaster, and this year's message, "musubu," meaning to be bound together.

Under pandemic limits, commemorations at Higashi Yuenchi, a park in Kobe's Chuo Ward, had used around half the number of candles at a normal-scale event. This year's pre-dawn event saw some 10,000 bamboo and paper lanterns lit to mark the anniversary.

Masashi Ueno, who lost his 20-year-old daughter Shino in the quake, spoke at the park on behalf of the victims' relatives. Reflecting on the pain of Shino's death at the very start of her adult life and the shock of finding her body, Ueno said, "We must make use of the lessons learned from the disaster."

Others like Noriko Morisaki, 55, attended local events such as a memorial event held by residents in Kobe's Nagata district, where more than 900 people died in the disaster. "I've been waiting for today because, with the coronavirus, there weren't any memorial events," she said.

Elsewhere, Kiyoko Takeuchi, 50, whose parents' home in Kobe's Kita district was affected by the disaster, said she had come to pray "with feelings of admiration for how people here have rebuilt their lives."

With nearly 30 years passed since the quake struck and the scaling down of memorial activities in recent years, the city and residents face increasing challenges in passing on the memory and lessons learned from the disaster to future generations.

Noting that an increasing number of residents were not born when the earthquake struck, Kobe Mayor Kizo Hisamoto said the city will work to "ensure the experiences and lessons of the quake do not fade" and that they are passed on to the next generation.

During a memorial event hosted by organizations such as the Hyogo prefectural government, Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito stressed the importance of vigilance in his remarks, saying, "We must at all times work to prepare for the next natural disaster."

At a press conference in Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the knowledge and experience from the Great Hanshin Earthquake would be "faithfully carried on and used to ensure a full response when disaster strikes in the future."

The earthquake was the first in the country to measure at the maximum of 7 on Japan's seismic intensity scale, which the country's weather agency says would make it impossible to remain standing or move without crawling.

The powerful quake damaged around 640,000 homes, including about 104,000 that were destroyed. The extent of the damage from the earthquake spurred changes to the country's disaster response and earthquake resistance measures for construction.

In addition to the 6,434 killed in the disaster, the quake injured around 44,000 others and forced as many as 310,000 people to evacuate to emergency shelters.

Related coverage:

Old photos showing Tokyo's recovery after 1923 quake recently found

Japan gov't holds disaster drill, scaled back due to COVID-19

Fukushima nuclear plant town sheds evacuation order after 11 yrs
KYODO NEWS - Jan 17, 2023 - 19:45 | All, Japan, World

Renault SA is in the final-stage of talks with Nissan Motor Co. to lower its stake in its Japanese partner to 15 percent from the current 43 percent, sources close to the matter said Tuesday, in a major overhaul of their decades-old capital alliance.

Renault Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo plans to meet with Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida in Japan as early as Jan. 26, aiming to reach an agreement on the review of their capital alliance dating back to 1999, the sources said.

The two automakers plan to reshape their alliance structure to bring their reciprocal stakes to an equal level at 15 percent, according to the sources. Nissan, which has a 15 percent stake without voting rights in the smaller French partner, has been seeking a more balanced capital relationship for years.

Nissan has been considering taking a stake in Renault's electric vehicle business Ampere. U.S. chip giant Qualcomm Technologies Inc. said in November it would invest in Ampere, while Google LLC said it would team up with the EV company.

Negotiations on reforming the capital structure between Renault and Nissan have made scant progress, as the Japanese carmaker has been concerned that its intellectual property related to EV technology could be shared with others outside the alliance through Ampere.

But Renault apparently offered some concessions to Nissan, clearing the way for an agreement on the overhaul of their capital tie-up.

When French President Emmanuel Macron met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week in Paris, the president said the French government, largest shareholder of Renault, supports the review talks on capital partnership, helping advance the discussions, the sources said.

Renault became the top shareholder of Nissan in 1999 when the Japanese firm was on the cusp of bankruptcy, sending Carlos Ghosn to lead the overhaul.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. joined the alliance after Nissan acquired a 34 percent stake in it in 2016.

Related coverage:

Nissan, Mitsubishi mull stakes in Renault EV unit amid alliance talks

Renault in talks to reduce stake in Nissan to 15%: source
KYODO NEWS - Jan 17, 2023 - 13:35 | All, Japan

The woman fatally stabbed on a street in the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka had told police several times before the incident that she had issues with her ex-boyfriend, police said Tuesday.

The police identified the woman who died Monday in hospital after being stabbed near JR Hakata Station as Miki Kawano, 38.

Kawano told the police a few months ago that she had been harassed by her ex-boyfriend, investigative sources said. Police said they cannot contact him.

The man involved in the stabbing is believed to be in his 30s to 50s and was wearing a black jacket.

According to the investigative sources, Kawano, who lived in the neighboring city of Nakagawa, was seen walking and then quarreling with a man in an area about 200 meters west of the station where a number of office buildings and hotels are located.

Related coverage:

Woman fatally stabbed on Fukuoka street, armed suspect still at large
*With Spring Festival around the corner, China's vast rural areas are making all-out efforts to counter potential challenges in COVID-19 control as people return to their hometowns.

*An optimized COVID response has brought about the busiest travel rush in three years, with 2.1 billion passenger trips expected to be made from Jan. 7 to Feb. 15, according to the Ministry of Transport.

*A slew of measures has been implemented and resources have been mobilized to ensure that long-awaited family reunions are joyful and safe.

HEFEI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- With Spring Festival around the corner, China's vast rural areas are making all-out efforts to counter potential challenges in COVID-19 control as people return to their hometowns.

A slew of measures has been implemented and resources have been mobilized to prevent infections and strengthen medical capacities across the countryside to ensure that long-awaited family reunions are joyful and safe.

CURBING VIRUS SPREAD

This year's Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, falls on Jan. 22. An optimized COVID response has brought about the busiest travel rush in three years, with 2.1 billion passenger trips expected to be made from Jan. 7 to Feb. 15, according to the Ministry of Transport.

With regards to COVID containment amid mass migration, a rural response task force under the State Council issued a letter to rural residents in early January, calling for improved health and hygiene awareness, reduced gatherings, among others, during the holiday.

Doctor Dong Xiuqin (R) hands over a health kit to villagers in Lingzishang Village of Fengnan District, Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province, Jan. 11, 2023. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

Shouxian County in east China's Anhui Province expects to see approximately 220,000 people return home, many from densely populated regions such as Shanghai and Zhejiang, where infections have already peaked.

In order to keep the virus away from high-risk groups, "we suggest that people returning home take personal protection measures on their journeys, reduce contact with the elderly and children, and avoid crowds in rural areas," said Ma Keyi, an official with the county's health commission.

The county government has also advised people to register with their villages or communities after their arrival, so that local doctors are able to provide timely medical services if needed.

BOOSTING RURAL MEDICAL SUPPLIES

China has made rural areas a focal point in the country's current COVID response, with priority given to the supply of medicines.

The State Council inter-agency task force for COVID-19 response has established a system for coordinating the supply of drugs and other key medical supplies on a daily basis, said Nie Chunlei, an official from the National Health Commission (NHC).

He also noted that competent government departments have rolled out policies to help relevant enterprises expand their capacities, accelerate drug production, and better coordinate supply and demand.

"We are working at full steam to guarantee the medicine demand of primary-level medical institutions, especially township health centers," said Zhao Tianshan from Longxi Efong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, which specializes in producing TCM formula granules in northwest China's Gansu Province.

At a press conference on Saturday, NHC official Jiao Yahui said that monitoring has shown that supplies of drugs in township health centers have seen continuous improvement.

Employees pack medicines at a pharmaceutical company in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Jan. 4, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Xiao)

Grassroots medical institutions are now also better equipped. A total of 1.17 million finger pulse oximeters have been distributed to village clinics across the country, according to Jiao.

In Shouxian County in Anhui, every village clinic has received two finger pulse oximeters, which help doctors identify severe COVID-19 cases at an early stage. And 56 oxygen generators and 243 oxygen tanks have been distributed to the county's 25 township health centers.

STRENGTHENING GRASSROOTS MEDICAL CAPACITY

In the COVID fight, grassroots health workers and institutions have played vital roles in providing timely, convenient and tiered medical services in rural areas.

Village doctor Tao Junhong, 26, has won the hearts and trust of residents of Dadi Village in Puding County, southwest China's Guizhou Province. He is often affectionately referred to as the village's "Little Doctor."

"Our 'Little Doctor' often pays home visits to resolve our health problems, and he helps me take care of my husband, who suffered a stroke years ago," said Wang Jingzhen, whose 71-year-old husband has just recovered from a fever and coughing.

Ambulances and transfer vehicles park outside a health service center in Shouchun Town of Shouxian County, Huainan, east China's Anhui Province, Jan. 14, 2023. (Xinhua/Liu Fangqiang)

For over a month, the Puding County People's Hospital has been sending a four-person roving medical team to visit township health centers and village clinics, where they determine local medical treatment needs and offer support.

Central health authorities have ordered counties and townships to prepare standby vehicles to transport severe patients to upper-level hospitals as quickly as possible.

In Anhui's Shouxian County, about 50 standby vehicles have been mobilized. "I have a van, so I help transport patients when all the ambulances are busy. I have made over 50 trips since mid-December," said Zhang Wu, who signed a contract with the local government that will last until May.

To brace for a potential wave of infections, Shouxian has recently added 1,055 hospital beds to its medical system. About 61 percent of the county's approximately 4,000 hospital beds are currently occupied, according to the Shouxian health commission.

Nationwide, tier-three hospitals in urban areas have been directed to establish 24-hour telemedicine service connections with county hospitals.

Tier-three hospitals rank at the top of China's hospital grading system.

These hospitals have also been ordered to dispatch medical personnel to county hospitals to assist during special periods, including the Spring Festival holiday, according to Jiao from the NHC.

(Video reporters: Guo Gang, Zhang Wenjing, Wang Zhiying, Qu Yan; Video editors: Liang Wanshan, Zhu Jianhui, Zhang Zhihuan, Lin Lin) 
By Azernews

Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijani Health Minister Teymur Musayev and Swedish Ambassador to Baku Tobias Lorentzson discussed prospects for expanding cooperation in the healthcare and medicine sector, Azernews reports per the ministry.

During the meeting, the Azerbaijani minister stressed that regular meetings of the leaders of the two countries and mutual visits of government members play an important role in the development of Azerbaijani-Swedish relations in various areas.

Noting the extensive potential for the development of cooperation in the healthcare sector, Musayev added that there are all the necessary conditions for the exchange of modern methodological and scientific-practical information in the continuous professional education of medical specialists.

Sweden has created one of the most universal healthcare models. Many states use it as a model for creating their own public health system. Additionally, the Swedish company Molnlycke is one of the world's leading companies in the production of high-quality medical equipment, he stated.

Musayev pointed out that Swedens pharmaceutical industry with a developed research base is one of the best in the world. Furthermore, he expressed hope for further fruitful cooperation.

In turn, Lorentzson underlined Swedens interest in strengthening bilateral relations with Azerbaijan.

"Diplomatic relations between our countries were established in 1992, and during this period, cooperation between Sweden and Azerbaijan has been developing steadily," the ambassador noted.

He then stressed that special attention is paid to the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Sweden.

During the meeting, the parties also discussed the technical issues of holding an information and educational round-table in Baku this spring on the topic of Providing high-quality care to patients with gene dermatosis. Azerbaijan-Sweden-CIS: exchange of experience in providing comprehensive care to patients with epidermolysis bullosa and ichthyosis.

Finally, the sides mulled new prospects for the development and strengthening of cooperation in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as exchanged experiences between national public health institutions.
A koala is seen at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The total of 66 koalas from a family in seven generations living at the park made a public appearance to greet their fans before the Spring Festival. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Breeders pose for a group photo with koalas from a family with seven generations at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The total of 66 koalas from a family in seven generations living at the park made a public appearance to greet their fans before the Spring Festival. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Breeders pose for a group photo with koalas from a family with seven generations at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The total of 66 koalas from a family in seven generations living at the park made a public appearance to greet their fans before the Spring Festival. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Koalas are seen at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The total of 66 koalas from a family in seven generations living at the park made a public appearance to greet their fans before the Spring Festival. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

A breeder (C) holds baby koala "Baobao", the newborn seventh generation in a koala family, and its mother at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The total of 66 koalas from a family in seven generations living at the park made a public appearance to greet their fans before the Spring Festival. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Breeders pose for a group photo with koalas from a family with seven generations at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The total of 66 koalas from a family in seven generations living at the park made a public appearance to greet their fans before the Spring Festival. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

This photo taken on Jan. 17, 2023 shows koala "Taotao", a member of the first generation in a koala family at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. The total of 66 koalas from a family in seven generations living at the park made a public appearance to greet their fans before the Spring Festival. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)
by Martina Fuchs and Guo Shuang

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China plays a crucial role in improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide and in sharing data for development information, said Natalia Kanem, executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Monday.

Kanem made such statement during an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting that opened here on Monday. The meeting, themed "Cooperation in a Fragmented World," lasts until Friday.

Commenting on the role China has played in helping the world to improve reproductive and maternal health, Kanem said, "China has been a very important partner to the United Nations (UN) and to us at the Sexual and Reproductive Health Fund in particular, especially for South-South cooperation."

"We've launched marvelous programs that's helping some African countries to broaden their ability to have better maternity hospitals, midwives and clinics."

Praising China's contribution in sharing data on development information, Kanem said: "It's quite a crucial partnership and we really think that it benefits a huge number of countries outside China now that the world's population has exceeded eight billion people."

Commenting on China's role in boosting economic and social development, Kanem said China "has helped us examine questions that are very important, for example, gender bias ... (which) hampers world productivity, the dignity and rights of women."

"We have worked with some of the provinces in China and looked at their success stories in terms of reaching gender balance and equality, which can also be used in countries that are struggling with boy preference that exists in many, many parts around the world."

"China supports our core funding, and also targeted interventions that we collaborate on, which are crucial for women's health."

The UN agency head also commended China's victory over poverty.

Two years ago, China announced that it had secured a "complete victory" in its fight against poverty, she said, adding that, over the past decade, the country has lifted 98.99 million impoverished rural residents above the poverty line.

China's achievement to end absolute poverty meant that the country had met the poverty eradication target set out in the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development ten years ahead of schedule, she said. 
BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a message of condolence to Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari over a plane crash in the country.

In his message, Xi said that upon learning of the plane crash in Nepal, which caused heavy casualties, he would like to express deep condolences over the fatalities and offer sincere sympathies to the bereaved families on behalf of the Chinese government and people.

Also on Monday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a message of condolence to Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. 
A Ghanaian economist has said China's anti-COVID-19 policies are boosting global economic recovery in many respects.



Paul Frimpong, executive director of the Africa-China Center for Policy and Advisory, a Ghana-based think tank, told Xinhua in a recent interview that China's recent lifting of some restrictive measures against the virus has sent positive signals to the world and boosted investors' confidence in the world's second-largest economy.

"China is an integral part of the global economy, and tourism is one of the sectors to experience a boom. Not just tourists traveling to China but the Chinese traveling outside as the Chinese are one of the largest groups of tourists in the world," Frimpong said.

He believed the new stage of China's COVID-19 prevention and control would also reignite momentum in the global supply chain and support what the rest of the world has been doing to rebuild the global economy. "The measures have marked economic consequences for the world due to China's role in the global economy."

Frimpong described China's dynamic zero-COVID policy during much of the past three years as a necessary measure to curtail the spread of the virus and protect human lives.

"The wisdom behind it was to eliminate any sign of major shock that we have seen in other parts of the world. Clearly, China wanted to avoid seeing such large numbers of deaths from COVID-19 that have taken place in some other countries," Frimpong told Xinhua. "China needed to reduce the risk of a widespread virus outbreak because, if you look at the dynamics of China, not just the size of the population of about 1.4 billion, but the age demographics of China is also different from Africa's youthful population."

The economist also commented that the lifting of the restrictions by China recently was well-grounded in scientific data, therefore China's shift in its anti-COVID policy would not pose any risk of spreading COVID-19 any further in the world.

He expressed full confidence in China's efforts to handle the breakout, saying "after almost three years in lockdown, they have the experience and expertise, coupled with a strong structure and capacity, with new drugs and new medical solutions. They are now also dealing with a weaker version of the virus, so they have the opportunity to open up and rebuild the economy."

The Ghanaian scholar dismissed some adverse commentaries in western media about the lifting of restrictions in China, describing them as double standards borne out of a quest to demonize China.

"They complained that China had locked down, claiming it would affect global growth, accusing China of intentionally seeking to hijack recovery. China has lifted the restrictions, and they are still complaining," Frimpong observed. "The most important thing is that China has opened up again, meaning the rest of the world can access the Chinese market, and the Chinese can also access the other markets. It is a real boost that will go a long way to help to push the efforts to rebuild the global economy."





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
A visitor looks at exhibits at Changsha Museum in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The event focusing on Hunan's local auspicious art designs kicked off here Tuesday in the run-up to the Spring Festival. About 200 exhibits are displayed during this exhibition lasting until June. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ge)

A visitor looks at an exhibit at Changsha Museum in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The event focusing on Hunan's local auspicious art designs kicked off here Tuesday in the run-up to the Spring Festival. About 200 exhibits are displayed during this exhibition lasting until June. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ge)

People visit an art exhibition at Changsha Museum in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The event focusing on Hunan's local auspicious art designs kicked off here Tuesday in the run-up to the Spring Festival. About 200 exhibits are displayed during this exhibition lasting until June. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ge)

A man visits an art exhibition at Changsha Museum in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The event focusing on Hunan's local auspicious art designs kicked off here Tuesday in the run-up to the Spring Festival. About 200 exhibits are displayed during this exhibition lasting until June. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ge)

A visitor looks at an artwork at Changsha Museum in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The event focusing on Hunan's local auspicious art designs kicked off here Tuesday in the run-up to the Spring Festival. About 200 exhibits are displayed during this exhibition lasting until June. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ge)

A visitor looks at an exhibit at Changsha Museum in Changsha, capital of central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 17, 2023. The event focusing on Hunan's local auspicious art designs kicked off here Tuesday in the run-up to the Spring Festival. About 200 exhibits are displayed during this exhibition lasting until June. 25, 2023. (Xinhua/Zhang Ge)
BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's optimized COVID response policies have garnered widespread praise from media and observers worldwide, who are bullish on China's economic prospects.

In a recent Bloomberg article, Hao Hong, chief economist at Grow Investment Group, was quoted as saying that China's recent changes are "breathtaking," and there were "policy pivots in just about every single sector."

"China's economy is now forecast to expand by 4.8 percent this year, compared with little growth in the United States and a potential contraction in the eurozone, according to data compiled by Bloomberg," said the article, adding that some institutions such as Morgan Stanley, which has raised China's 2023 GDP growth target by another 0.3 percentage point to 5.7 percent, are more optimistic.

"We believe the market is under-appreciating the far-reaching ramifications of reopening (of China) and the possibility that a robust cyclical recovery can occur ..." the article cited a note recently written by economists at Morgan Stanley as saying.

Describing the Chinese stock market as "taking off," The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that UBS Global Wealth Management has upgraded Chinese equities to "most preferred" in Asia.

UBS analysts said in the Chinese market, "select companies in the consumer, internet, pharmaceutical, medical equipment, transportation, capital goods and materials sectors are likely to see more front-loaded returns," according to the report.

"Global asset managers are starting the year with a stronger foothold in China's 26 trillion yuan (3.8 trillion dollars) mutual fund industry" as China's COVID response shift and focus on the economy have brightened prospects for investors, wrote Bloomberg on its website Wednesday.

"By summer and into the second half of the year expect China to be a top priority," said the report, quoting Peter Alexander, managing director at Shanghai-based Z-Ben Advisors, as saying.

According to the report, asset managers, including Van Eck Associates Corporation, Schroders plc, etc., have submitted applications to set up fund units in China, with more on the way, while JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are awaiting regulatory approval for their deals to buy out local partners.

"Within a week, our phones and emails were bombarded with dozens of primarily U.S.-based firms wanting to know how they could aggressively move on China," Alexander was quoted as saying. "Global groups know too well that the China market is one, if done correctly, that can honestly move the needle on a firm's top and bottom-line performance."

According to a Bain & Co survey released on Jan. 10, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have strong expectations for the region's economy and plan to invest there in the long term, said an opinion piece Wednesday published by the South China Morning Post.

The article noted that the survey quizzed some 460 SMEs in the area and found that more than two-thirds of companies expect long-term economic growth to be on par with or stronger than its historical growth.

"Most of the SMEs expressed enthusiasm about the government's interconnectedness programmes and would like them to be implemented faster," the survey was cited as saying. "About half of the mainland-based firms said they are likely to expand into Hong Kong or Macao, and nearly 75 percent of Hong Kong-based SMEs expect to expand into mainland China."

On Jan. 8, regular travel between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong resumed as various control points linking Shenzhen and Hong Kong reopened.

"As restrictions ease, (SMEs') expansion plans could increase," said the Post article, quoting Zhao Wenting, an associate partner at Bain & Co in Shanghai, as saying.

By 2027, the bay area's economy could hit 2.8 trillion dollars, based on Bain & Co's analysis of forecast data, said the article. 
Turkish tourism industry players are eager to welcome back Chinese travelers. "We expect the return of the Chinese visitors to be in a gradual manner, especially with a dynamic after the first half of this year, thus we can reach pre-pandemic levels," said Irfan Karsli, head of the Istanbul-based Ligarba Travel Agency.



Produced by Xinhua Global Service 


NANJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- East China's economic powerhouse, Jiangsu Province, will invest 200 billion yuan (about 29.6 billion U.S. dollars) in transportation infrastructure in 2023, the provincial transportation department said.

With a year-on-year increase of 10.7 percent in investment, Jiangsu will further promote its transportation network, including boosting the airport capacity of Yancheng airport, Sunan Shuofang International Airport, and Xuzhou Guanyin International Airport.

In 2023, the province will strive to complete the renovation and expansion project at Lianyungang Port to handle 400,000-tonne ore carriers and advance the building of a terminal for 300,000-tonne crude oil carriers at Xuwei Port.

Jiangsu plans to build and renovate 2,800 km of rural roads in 2023. Efforts will also be made to enhance the operation efficiency of China-Europe freight train services, as the province aims to handle 2,000 trips this year. 
*China's economy grew 3 percent year on year to a record high of 121.0207 trillion yuan (about 18 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022. Compared with major economies across the world, the growth rate is relatively fast.

*The economy is bound to recover as the fundamentals of the Chinese economy -- its strong resilience, enormous potential, great vitality and long-term sustainability -- remain unchanged.



*Shoring up confidence is crucial for economic recovery. In 2023, the worsening global economic situation needs China's steady growth as a stabilizer.

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's economy posted steady growth in 2022 despite pressures including epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment, with its gross domestic product (GDP) reaching a new level.

The economy grew 3 percent year on year to a record high of 121.0207 trillion yuan (about 18 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

Workers are on duty at the construction site of the Huafu mega bridge at the Sichuan-Chongqing section of the Chongqing-Kunming high-speed railway in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Nov. 28, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

This marks a new and higher level in terms of economic aggregate, after the Chinese economy topped the thresholds of 100 trillion yuan and 110 trillion yuan in 2020 and 2021, respectively -- maintaining its position well as the world's second-largest economy, Kang Yi, head of the NBS, told a press conference.

But this is "still a small step forward," Kang said. The country needs to more than double the current per capita GDP of about 12,700 U.S. dollars to reach its goal that its per capita GDP will be on par with that of mid-level developed countries in 2035.

Compared with major economies across the world, however, the 3-percent growth rate is relatively fast, he said, attributing the economy's rebound from stronger-than-expected shocks to the timely support of pro-growth policies.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

When asked to comment on the overall performance of the Chinese economy in 2022, Dominik Peschel, head of the Economics Unit of the Asian Development Bank Resident Mission in China, noted several headwinds the country had to deal with, including COVID-19, a property market downturn and softening export growth.

To stabilize economic growth, the Chinese government mobilized additional funds for infrastructure investment and gradually loosened monetary policy. Infrastructure investment supported economic growth, as did solid growth in manufacturing investment. As a result, industry grew faster than services, while household consumption was weak, he noted.

In breakdown, China's industrial output went up 3.6 percent year on year in 2022, while fixed-asset investment rose 5.1 percent year on year.

Retail sales contracted 0.2 percent year on year in 2022. A total of 12.06 million new urban jobs were created last year, exceeding the annual target of 11 million.

The Chinese people became more affluent in 2022, with per capita disposable income reaching 36,883 yuan, up 5 percent year on year in nominal terms.

China's consumer prices posted a mild growth of 2 percent in 2022, in sharp contrast to the global spike.

Tourists visit Nanqiang Street in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Oct. 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)

So far, China has built the world's largest and most technologically advanced network infrastructure, and the industrial Internet has been widely integrated into 45 national economic categories.

Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that innovation has been a bright spot in China's economy in recent years, despite headwinds due to COVID-19. New energy and digital industries have helped stabilize overall economic development.

"The national economy continued to develop despite downward pressure, economic output reached a higher level, employment levels and prices were generally stable, people's lives had been continuously improved, new achievements were secured in high-quality development, while overall economic and social development was stable and healthy," said Kang.

HOPES AHEAD

When asked about China's economic outlook in 2023, Kang said the economy is bound to recover as the fundamentals of the Chinese economy -- its strong resilience, enormous potential, great vitality and long-term sustainability -- remained unchanged.

Robots conduct welding work at the workshop of an automobile manufacturing factory in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 14, 2023. (Photo by Zhang Jingang/Xinhua)

Citing a solid material foundation, vast market potential, strengthened new drivers of growth, the release of dividends of reform and opening-up, as well as rich experience in macro regulation, Kang said the Chinese economy is certain to see an overall improvement this year.

Given the country's optimized epidemic response, Kang believed that consumption will revive this year. Final consumption contributed 32.8 percent to the GDP expansion in 2022.

As for the property industry, Kang said it will have less drag on the economy in 2023 than in 2022.

There is still room for China's property sector to grow, as the country's urbanization rate reached 65.22 percent in 2022 -- still much lower than the 80 percent found in developed countries, he said, while also pledging measures to support the demand of urban residents for home ownership and improved housing conditions.

However, Kang also warned of possible risks in 2023, as the foundation of domestic economic recovery is not yet solid, while the domestic triple pressures of demand contraction, supply shock and weakening expectations, are still concerns.

China will make economic stability its top priority and pursue progress, while ensuring stability this year, he said.

"Shoring up confidence is crucial for economic recovery. In 2023, the worsening global economic situation needs China's steady growth as a stabilizer," Zhang Yansheng noted.

(Video reporters: Sun Qing, You Zhixin, Jiang Tingting, Wei Yukun, Cheng Yunjie; Video editors: Zhou Yang, Zhang Yuhong, Wang Haiyan, Liu Ruoshi)
A staff member tests equipment on the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ at a maintenance station of China Railway Harbin Bureau Group Co., Ltd. in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 16, 2023. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

Staff members communicate in a carriage of the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 16, 2023. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

Staff members prepare to check on the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ at a maintenance station of China Railway Harbin Bureau Group Co., Ltd. in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 16, 2023. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

A staff member checks on the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ at a maintenance station of China Railway Harbin Bureau Group Co., Ltd. in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 16, 2023. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

This photo taken on Jan. 16, 2023 shows an interior view of the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

A staff member works in a specially-set barrier-free carriage of the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 16, 2023. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

A staff member tests and adjusts equipment in the cockpit of the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 16, 2023. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

This photo taken on Jan. 16, 2023 shows the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ at a maintenance station of China Railway Harbin Bureau Group Co., Ltd. in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)

A staff member works in a carriage of the Fuxing Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) CR400BF-GZ in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Jan. 16, 2023. The most frost-resistant and most intelligent member of China's Fuxing bullet train family, the Fuxing EMU CR400BF-GZ, settled on Monday in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. This is the region of the highest latitude and the lowest temperature that the EMU, with an operating speed of 350 km per hour, has ever reached by far. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)
By Azernews

Sabina Mammadli

Azerbaijani Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva has urged Human Rights Watch (HRW) to a fair, impartial position by avoiding double standards, a biased approach or statement that may put the efforts for sustainable peace in danger and delay the restoration of normal life in the region, Azernews reports.

In a statement addressed to Human Rights Watchs annual report for 2022, the ombudsperson emphasized that such reports should be impartial, fair, and free from double standards.

But unfortunately, as always HRW continues to be biased towards Azerbaijan by sharing baseless and biased information on social media and reflecting such baseless information in its annual reports, she stated.

The statement noted that the report indicated the resolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan as an unresolved one, which shows the real approach of the HRW to this issue. It further pointed out that HRW shows disrespect for Azerbaijans territorial integrity by ignoring the generally-recognized principles of international law and if the organization could take an effort and make an objective investigation, it would have seen the rapid restoration and construction activities carried out after the liberation of occupied lands.

The ombudswoman emphasized that there have been no cases of threatening Armenian lives in Azerbaijans Karabakh region since the Trilateral Statement of November 10, 2020. In this vein, she stated that Armenia has occupied 20 percent of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan for almost 30 years, as a result of which nearly 1m people became IDPs and about 4,000 Azerbaijanis went missing. Aliyeva added that Armenia has yet to provide information on the fate of the missing people, hence questioning HRWs motive for its lack of initiative to bring this gross violation of human rights to the attention of the world community.

She also mentioned Armenias planting of thousands of landmines since the second Karabakh war, noting that 274 people were hit by the land mines and 46 people were killed, of whom 36 were civilians.

It is strange that the HRW never mentions the leadership of Armenia, who was directly involved in the planting of these land with mines during the occupation of these territories and refuses to provide an accurate map of unmarked land mines, Aliyeva stressed.

The ombudswoman underlined that Azerbaijan has numerously appealed to the relevant international human rights organizations on violations of the norms and principles of international law during and after the war. In her ad-hoc report on the land mine problem, the ombudsperson provided detailed information about the threat of land mines and stressed the need for rapid resolution of this problem which undermines the peace-building process in the region.

The HRWs approach to the issue of land mines creates such an impression as if continuous civil casualties due to these land mines are not a serious issue for this organization, she said.

Regarding videos showing the alleged execution of Armenian military servants, Aliyeva noted that investigations have been started into the case, although there are some suspicions about the trustfulness of these videos.

However, there are many videos, which demonstrate the torture and ill-treatment committed against Azerbaijani military servants by Armenian military servants, and some of them were spread on social media. But we never witnessed any case of investigation on the facts demonstrated in these videos by Armenian authorities and any reaction of HRW in this regard, the official added.

The statement added that all Armenian POWs have already been returned to their homes just after the end of the Second Karabakh War and an impartial approach from the HRW in respect of investigation the cases of POWs is expected.

According to the statement, during her visits to the places which persons cannot leave of their own will, Azerbaijani Ombudsperson has determined that they were provided with medical treatment, a translator, and contact via video call with their relatives.

In this regard, Aliyeva advised the HRW to take a look at and use the ad-hoc reports of Azerbaijani Ombudsperson concerning her visits to monitor the human rights situation of the detainees of Armenian nationality while preparing its reports.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg briefs the Security Council meeting via video link at the UN headquarters in New York, Jan. 16, 2023. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's warring parties should take advantage of the current absence of major fighting to advance peace talks, the top UN official in Yemen told the Security Council on Monday.

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg reported via video link on his ongoing mediation efforts with the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels, also known as Ansar Allah, following their failure last October to extend a landmark truce that lasted six months.

There has also been an intensification of regional and international efforts to end their eight-year war, which may lead to "a potential step change" in the conflict's trajectory, said the envoy.

"Yemen needs an agreement that includes a shared vision for the way forward, in order to avoid a return to full-blown conflict. I therefore urge the parties to make the most of the space for dialogue provided by the absence of large-scale fighting," he said.

The situation on the ground has remained stable, with no major escalation or changes in frontline positions, Grundberg told the council.

However, some limited military activity continues along frontlines as well as along the border with Saudi Arabia, which has resulted in civilian casualties.

Regarding his mediation efforts, the UN envoy said he has maintained contact with both sides and countries in the region.

Discussions have focused on options to secure agreement on military de-escalation, as well as measures to prevent further economic deterioration, and mitigating the conflict's impact on civilians, he said.

Grundberg cautioned against "short-term measures and a piecemeal approach that focuses on individual issues."

With this in mind, he has been engaging around a more comprehensive vision and pushing for a ceasefire and the resumption of a political process.

While working towards a shared vision for ending the conflict, it is also essential to break it down into concrete, actionable steps in order to avert potential challenges and delays in implementation, he said.

"Ultimately any set of steps should be geared towards facilitating an inclusive Yemeni-led process under UN auspices for sustainably resolving the conflict," he added. 
College students attend a lamp lighting ceremony in remembrance of the victims of a plane crash in Kathmandu, Nepal, Jan. 16, 2023. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

KATHMANDU, Jan. 17, 2023 (Xinhua) -- A lamp lighting ceremony in remembrance of the victims of a plane crash was attended by college students in Kathmandu, Nepal Monday evening.

The plane operated by Nepal's Yeti Airlines was flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara with 68 passengers and four crew members on board, when it went down into the Seti River gorge on Sunday.

Monday has been declared a national mourning day to commemorate those killed in the plane crash.

Among the passengers aboard the flight, there were three children and three infants.

A total of 69 bodies had been recovered from the crash site by Monday evening, and 41 victims had been identified.

A lamp lighting ceremony in remembrance of the victims of a plane crash is attended by college students in Kathmandu, Nepal, Jan. 16, 2023. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

College students light lamps in remembrance of the victims of a plane crash in Kathmandu, Nepal, Jan. 16, 2023. (Photo by Hari Maharjan/Xinhua)

Rescuers work at the site where an ATR-72 aircraft of Nepal's Yeti Airlines crashed in Pokhara, Nepal, Jan. 16, 2023. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

The wreckage of an ATR-72 aircraft of Nepal's Yeti Airlines is pictured at the crash site in Pokhara, Nepal, Jan. 16, 2023. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

Rescuers work at the site where an ATR-72 aircraft of Nepal's Yeti Airlines crashed in Pokhara, Nepal, Jan. 16, 2023. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)
Stamps and a commemorative coin marking the Year of the Rabbit are seen at a post office in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 17, 2023. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

SYDNEY, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- As the Chinese Lunar New Year is drawing near, Australia has merged multiple bunny elements into its newly-released stamps, birth certificates and urban landscapes to observe the Chinese New Year of Rabbit which begins on Jan. 22.

Designed by award-winning Chinese illustrator Chrissy Lau, the "Year of Rabbit 2023" stamp pack was rolled out on Tuesday by national postal service provider Australia Post.

The stamps featured the Fortune Rabbit, the Prosperity Rabbit, and the Longevity Rabbit - three cartoon characters dressed in ancient Chinese costumes.

"The three lucky rabbits are inspired by the three Chinese gods, Shouxing, Luxing and Fuxing, that are displayed throughout Asia, and which are considered to have the three attributes for a good life, longevity, prosperity, and happiness," Australia Post Philatelic Manager Michael Zsolt told Xinhua.

In Zsolt's eyes, rabbits are reflective of luck and are much adored by children and adults alike. "They are definitely an animal that brings a smile to many," he said.

"Each year we look to create an inspiring collection of Lunar New Year stamps that reflect happiness, joy and good fortune and I think this year's collection captures these sentiments perfectly," Zsolt added.

Also on Tuesday, the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) unveiled a special Chinese Zodiac birth certificate to ring in the Year of Rabbit.

According to a statement from the NSW Department of Customer Service and the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, the design was crafted by Australian-Chinese brush painter Lucy Wang.

On the certificate, a brown lop-eared rabbit and a smaller hare immerse themselves in the majestic waterfalls of the Blue Mountains, the iconic Three Sisters in Katoomba and the Pool of Siloam in Leura.

Wang said that the design incorporates a blend of modern and traditional color palettes and techniques through the meticulous Gongbi style of oriental brush painting.

"In Chinese culture, the rabbit is known to be the luckiest of the 12 zodiac animals and symbolizes peace and longevity which is reminiscent of the tranquil environment of the Blue Mountains and the lush Australian golden wattle and native bush ferns featured in this design," she noted.

In addition to those professionals, young aspiring artists were also invited to join the celebration with their paint brushes. The Sydney City Council selected 36 rabbit artworks created by children aged six to 12 to embellish the pedestrianized George Street.

Ten illuminated plinths on the street are expected to showcase paintings, adding a festive atmosphere to the city center, while the malls and windows of some businesses on the nearby Dixon Street will also put the artworks on display.

Besides, major cities across Australia will stage a series of traditional events, including lion dancing, Chinese zodiac lantern exhibitions, and dragon boat races. 

Stamps marking the Year of the Rabbit are seen at a post office in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 17, 2023. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

Stamps marking the Year of the Rabbit are seen at a post office in Melbourne, Australia, Jan. 17, 2023. (Photo by Hu Jingchen/Xinhua)
At a provincial hospital in Hefei, central China's Anhui Province, a 101-year-old COVID patient kissed the doctor's hand to express her gratitude before being discharged.







Produced by Xinhua Global Service
This photo taken on Jan. 16, 2023 shows a first-day cover with the stamps marking the Year of the Rabbit at Hungary's Stamp Museum in Budapest, Hungary. A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

Against a red and white background, the stamps depict two pairs of rabbits in blue and white porcelain colors. The text over the image says "Year of the Rabbit" in Chinese and Hungarian. The stamp also features the Chinese symbols of Yin and Yang.

BUDAPEST, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday.

The stamp was issued by Hungary's Stamp Museum in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, the country's Ministry of Economic Development, the China Cultural Center in Budapest and the Hungarian Post Office.

The sheet of four stamps was designed by graphic artist Krisztina Maros. It will be printed in 20,000 copies.

Against a red and white background, the stamps depict two pairs of rabbits in blue and white porcelain colors. The text over the image says "Year of the Rabbit" in Chinese and Hungarian. The stamp also features the Chinese symbols of Yin and Yang.

Yang Chao, interim charge d'affaires at the Chinese Embassy in Hungary (L), shakes hands with Marton Nagy, Hungary's minister for economic development, at the launch ceremony of the Year of the Rabbit stamp at Hungary's Stamp Museum in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2023. A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

The launch ceremony was addressed by Yang Chao, interim charge d'affaires at the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, Marton Nagy, Hungary's minister for economic development, Barnabas Balczo, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Hungarian Post Office, and Jin Hao, director of the China Cultural Center in Budapest.

According to Yang Chao, the issuance of Chinese Lunar Zodiac stamps is a significant element of the cultural and people-to-people exchanges between China and Hungary. It also symbolizes the strong friendship between the two peoples.

"The government of Hungary believes that it is extremely important to continue to strengthen the existing good relationships with China, and we are open to further cooperation," Nagy said.

Balczo recalled that the rabbit is the luckiest of the 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac, and said he wished this would prove true for both countries in 2023.

Jin Hao, director of the China Cultural Center in Budapest, addresses the launch ceremony of the Year of the Rabbit stamp at Hungary's Stamp Museum in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 16, 2023. A commemorative postage stamp marking the Chinese Lunar New Year (2023, Year of the Rabbit) was issued here on Monday. (Photo by Attila Volgyi/Xinhua)

The Year of the Rabbit stamp is the 10th Chinese Lunar Zodiac stamp issued by the Hungarian Post Office. 
BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's job market remained generally stable in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

A total of 12.06 million new urban jobs were created last year, exceeding the annual target of 11 million, the NBS said.

Faced with challenges in ensuring employment, China has stuck to an employment-first policy and rolled out a raft of effective measures, with emphasis put on the key groups, said Kang Yi, head of the NBS.

"Due to the epidemic resurgence, small and medium-sized enterprises faced greater difficulties in 2022, making it harder for key groups, especially young people, to land jobs," Kang said.

Kang noted that the job market had perked up recently, with pro-growth policies and follow-up measures gradually taking effect.

NBS data showed that China's surveyed urban unemployment rate came in at 5.5 percent in December last year -- easing 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.

Specifically, the surveyed unemployment rate among those aged between 16 and 24 dropped by 0.4 percentage points from November to 16.7 percent in December, while the rate among those aged between 25 and 59, the majority of the labor market, stood at 4.8 percent, the data revealed.

The surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities stood at 6.1 percent in December 2022, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous month.

In 2022, the number of rural migrant workers totaled 295.62 million, an increase of 3.11 million, or 1.1 percent compared to the previous year. This figure was higher than the pre-pandemic level registered in 2019, according to the NBS.

Kang estimated China's number of college graduates to top 11.5 million this year, placing pressure on the country's job market, but he expressed confidence in overcoming this challenge.

"As the economy recovers and hiring demand rises, job openings are also expected to increase. China's job market will see an overall improvement this year," Kang said.

Factors including work and production resumption, the revival of the services sector, and the rapid development of new growth drivers, are among favorable factors that help create job opportunities, Kang said. 
File photo of a Su-27 fighter (Russian Defense Ministry)

The Russian crew escorted the German plane until it flew away from the Russian state border.

MOSCOW, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Russian fighter jet was scrambled on Monday to accompany a German patrol plane over the Baltic Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Russian airspace control detected a target approaching the Russian state border over the Baltic Sea and a Su-27 fighter took off in response, the ministry said in a statement.

After identifying the object as a P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft of the German Navy, the Russian crew escorted the plane until it flew away from the Russian state border, the statement said.

The escort mission was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace over neutral waters, the statement added. 
Tourists visit the Nanqiang Street in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Jan. 11, 2023. The street, located in downtown Kunming, has seen a robust recovery of the nighttime economy. Tourists here can experience local food culture and nightlife of Kunming. (Xinhua/Chen Xinbo)

SHANGHAI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China is expected to see a Spring Festival holiday with the largest number of travellers in three years, with soaring domestic tourism and recovering outbound tourism, data from online travel platforms show.

As people head home for family reunions, trans-provincial travel is on the rise during the Spring Festival holiday season. Many people have also planned to make long-distance trips, which have become much easier and more convenient after China downgraded its management of COVID-19.

Data from Trip.com Group showed that long-distance travel orders during the Spring Festival holiday accounted for 70 percent of the holiday's total travel orders of the company, up 72 percent year on year.

Tourists prefer to enjoy warmth and sunshine in the country's south or embrace ice and snow in the north. According to the online tourism platform TravelGo, tourist destinations like Xishuangbanna, Sanya and Xiamen in the country's south and Changbai Mountains in northeastern Jilin Province are among the most popular during the holiday.

Short-distance travel, more preferred during the pandemic, continues to be popular among tourists during this Spring Festival holiday. As people return to their hometowns, short-distance tours to scenic spots around small cities are gaining popularity.

Likewise, outbound travel is receiving increasing attention on various travel platforms, as the country's adjusted COVID-19 response has lifted restrictions on overseas trips and promoted cross-border personnel exchanges.

Data from Trip.com Group showed that the demand for flight tickets to Macao during the Spring Festival holiday grew by 97 percent from last holiday, and that for hotels by 57 percent. The number of orders for flight tickets from the mainland to Hong Kong increased over 31-fold year on year.

According to Lvmama, a domestic online travel agency, many tourists still have a wait-and-see approach for outbound travel during the Spring Festival due to limited flights and high travel costs.

As more people are expected to travel abroad later this year, travel operators and investment institutions will shore up confidence in the recovery of the sector, said Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy. 
TRIPOLI, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Libya Abdoulaye Bathily on Monday stressed the need for holding credible and inclusive elections to restore the legitimacy of the Libyan institutions.

Bathily made the remarks during a meeting in the Libyan city of Sirte with a delegation of social leaders, dignitaries, civil society representatives and the city's mayor.

"The SRSG listened and expressed empathy for their challenges, including infrastructure destroyed by war and inadequate healthcare. He (Bathily) pledged to relay their requests for support to national authorities," the UN Support Mission in Libya said in a statement.

"Noting the conflict's multi-faceted impact on Sirte, SRSG Bathily emphasized the urgency of convening credible and inclusive elections to restore legitimacy to Libyan institutions and establish the stability needed to rebuild the state, the social fabric and the country," it said.

Sirte, located some 450 km east of the Libyan capital of Tripoli, used to be controlled by Islamic State militants before they were defeated and expelled from the city in 2016 by the former UN-backed Government of National Accord.

Libya failed to hold general elections in December 2021 as previously scheduled due to disagreements over election laws among Libyan parties.

Ever since the fall of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the country has struggled to make a democratic transition amid escalating violence and political division. 
BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese police launched a national campaign against driving under the influence of alcohol on Tuesday as the Spring Festival approaches.

A tough stance against drunk driving will be maintained, said the traffic management division of the Ministry of Public Security, adding that traffic police nationwide will step up checks particularly in the rural areas.

The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important traditional Chinese festival for family reunions. It falls on Jan. 22 this year. 
'Salt and Light' Video Series Challenges Church to Leave the Building to Enter Public Life Christians Engaged Enlists 30 Real-Life Public Servants, including Rev. Rafael Cruz (pictured below) and Former U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling, to Transform Believers' Faith into Action







NEWS PROVIDED BY

Christians Engaged

Jan. 17, 2023



GARLAND, Texas, Jan. 17, 2023 /



For such a time as this, "



"Every Christian should leave the building," said Bunni Pounds, founder and president of



"The church should leave the building and go into our businesses, schools, and communities to energize people and carry Jesus wherever we go. How are they going to know Him if they don't see Him in us?" Pounds said.



"Some of you are feeling a pull, saying 'Maybe I should run for office?'" continued Pounds. "We have to discover if there is someone to fill the leadership vacuum."



The Servant's Journey

In 2018, Pounds answered God's call to "step out" into a congressional race because there was no one else. "I never saw it coming," she recalls.



Pounds was a political consultant managing campaigns for 32 candidates throughout Texas including that of U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling in Texas' 5th district, whose campaign she had run for over a decade.



"My boss retired and three other people who were supposed to run from our state district decided against it." When each potential candidate declined, Pounds realized she needed to throw her name in the hat.



Though Pounds barely lost that race during the 2018 primary season, she raised more money than any GOP open seat candidate in the State of Texas, became the only person in the entire United States who gained the endorsement of Vice President Mike Pence, and out of 46 candidates became the only Texas Republican woman to make the runoff election.



Similarly, Susan Wright, who teaches the session "County Government Explained," ran for Congress and was thrust into a 23-person special election primary followed by a two-person run-off after her husband unexpectedly died of COVID-19 during the pandemic. Like Pounds, she came up just short of winning her congressional seat.



Still active in her local community, Wright encourages viewers, "This is the only nation on the earth today where freedom is entirely our own. We are completely in charge of who governs us, no other nation is like that. We've had it so long we don't understand how valuable it is  but we are just one election, one generation away from losing it."



"Salt and Light" also introduces viewers to Texas Judge George Flint. Prior to the recent SCOTUS ruling on Roe v. Wade, his Christian faith informed his decision in a judicial bypass case involving an adolescent girl who requested permission to have an abortion without her parents' consent. While Judge Flint believes "life begins in God's mind and at conception," he had planned to rule in accordance with the law and grant the abortionuntil God intervened. At the last minute, the young girl confided in her parents and decided to carry her baby to term.



"I pray every morning that I bring grace and truth to whatever situation I am facing," said Judge Flint. "That I really am an ambassador for Christ here at the courthouse, particularly where I have a difficult decision," he said.



Including more than eight hours of video instruction, personal testimonies, and interviews along with companion worksheets, "Salt and Light" features the topics: Theology of Being Salt and Light, Liberty Begins Locally, County Government Explained, City Government Explained, School Boards and Public Education, Modes of Engagement, Running a Campaign for Local Government, and Other Powerful Ways to Engage Our Communities. It also includes special interviews by Rev. Rafael Cruz, father of U.S Senator Ted Cruz, and former U.S. Congressman Hensarling.



MEDIA: Arrange Your Interview with Bunni Pounds, Founder of Christians Engaged



Media Contact: Gregg Wooding, I AM PR, (972) 567-7660,



About Christians Engaged

Christians Engaged, a 501(C)(3), was founded by Bunni Pounds, a Bible teacher and political consultant who ran for Congress in 2018. Its mission is to motivate Christians to pray for the nation, vote in every election, and engage in civic education. Since 2020, Christians Engaged has served over 125 churches, activated more than 76,000 people to vote in midterm elections (through its non-partisan communication system), and has educated more than 1,500 people through in-person, Zoom, and on-demand video classes. It has produced a myriad of free content, including articles, prayer calls and podcasts, to educate the Body of Christ on the importance of their biblical call to America. For information, visit



SOURCE Christians Engaged



CONTACT: Gregg Wooding, I AM PR, 972-567-7660,



Share Tweet NEWS PROVIDED BYJan. 17, 2023GARLAND, Texas, Jan. 17, 2023 / Christian Newswire / -- "You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world" is the rallying cry surrounding a timely new resource, designed to empower the Church "to raise up a new vanguard of civil servants in the area where you live."For such a time as this, " Salt and Light: How to Impact Our Local Communities " -- an eight-session video curriculum based on Jesus' most famous sermon and taught by more than 30 present and former civic leaders representing almost every level of local government  launches with a singular goal: to activate people of faith of all ages and walks of life into public service."Every Christian should leave the building," said Bunni Pounds, founder and president of Christians Engaged , a Texas-based discipleship ministry on a "get out the vote" and civic engagement mission for the entire body of Christ, throughout the entire country."The church should leave the building and go into our businesses, schools, and communities to energize people and carry Jesus wherever we go. How are they going to know Him if they don't see Him in us?" Pounds said."Some of you are feeling a pull, saying 'Maybe I should run for office?'" continued Pounds. "We have to discover if there is someone to fill the leadership vacuum."In 2018, Pounds answered God's call to "step out" into a congressional race because there was no one else. "I never saw it coming," she recalls.Pounds was a political consultant managing campaigns for 32 candidates throughout Texas including that of U.S. Congressman Jeb Hensarling in Texas' 5th district, whose campaign she had run for over a decade."My boss retired and three other people who were supposed to run from our state district decided against it." When each potential candidate declined, Pounds realized she needed to throw her name in the hat.Though Pounds barely lost that race during the 2018 primary season, she raised more money than any GOP open seat candidate in the State of Texas, became the only person in the entire United States who gained the endorsement of Vice President Mike Pence, and out of 46 candidates became the only Texas Republican woman to make the runoff election.Similarly, Susan Wright, who teaches the session "County Government Explained," ran for Congress and was thrust into a 23-person special election primary followed by a two-person run-off after her husband unexpectedly died of COVID-19 during the pandemic. Like Pounds, she came up just short of winning her congressional seat.Still active in her local community, Wright encourages viewers, "This is the only nation on the earth today where freedom is entirely our own. We are completely in charge of who governs us, no other nation is like that. We've had it so long we don't understand how valuable it is  but we are just one election, one generation away from losing it.""Salt and Light" also introduces viewers to Texas Judge George Flint. Prior to the recent SCOTUS ruling on Roe v. Wade, his Christian faith informed his decision in a judicial bypass case involving an adolescent girl who requested permission to have an abortion without her parents' consent. While Judge Flint believes "life begins in God's mind and at conception," he had planned to rule in accordance with the law and grant the abortionuntil God intervened. At the last minute, the young girl confided in her parents and decided to carry her baby to term."I pray every morning that I bring grace and truth to whatever situation I am facing," said Judge Flint. "That I really am an ambassador for Christ here at the courthouse, particularly where I have a difficult decision," he said.Including more than eight hours of video instruction, personal testimonies, and interviews along with companion worksheets, "Salt and Light" features the topics: Theology of Being Salt and Light, Liberty Begins Locally, County Government Explained, City Government Explained, School Boards and Public Education, Modes of Engagement, Running a Campaign for Local Government, and Other Powerful Ways to Engage Our Communities. It also includes special interviews by Rev. Rafael Cruz, father of U.S Senator Ted Cruz, and former U.S. Congressman Hensarling.MEDIA: Arrange Your Interview with Bunni Pounds, Founder of Christians EngagedMedia Contact: Gregg Wooding, I AM PR, (972) 567-7660, Gregg@iampronline.com Christians Engaged, a 501(C)(3), was founded by Bunni Pounds, a Bible teacher and political consultant who ran for Congress in 2018. Its mission is to motivate Christians to pray for the nation, vote in every election, and engage in civic education. Since 2020, Christians Engaged has served over 125 churches, activated more than 76,000 people to vote in midterm elections (through its non-partisan communication system), and has educated more than 1,500 people through in-person, Zoom, and on-demand video classes. It has produced a myriad of free content, including articles, prayer calls and podcasts, to educate the Body of Christ on the importance of their biblical call to America. For information, visit www.Christiansengaged.org SOURCE Christians EngagedCONTACT: Gregg Wooding, I AM PR, 972-567-7660, Gregg@iampronline.com
By Azernews

Sabina Mammadli

A total of 13 former presidents, six former prime ministers, and over 10 former foreign ministers from 22 foreign countries participated in a high-level meeting between the Nizami Ganjavi International Center and the UN Geneva Office, Azernews reports.

The meeting was held on the topic "Collecting the pieces: difficulties in restoring a divided world".

During the event, a special edition of the "Magic of the Pen" book - selected manuscripts from Nizami Ganjavi's "Khamsa", which were published by the Center within the framework of the "Year of Nizami", was presented to Director-General of the International Organization for Migration Antonio Vitorino and Former Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey.

Further, the fourth meeting of the organizing committee was held to discuss the final preparations for the X Global Baku Forum. As part of the forum, it was decided to organize an international conference on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Azerbaijani National Leader Heydar Aliyev.

The Nizami Ganjavi International Center was established at a special meeting held in Nizami Ganjavi's hometown of Ganja as part of the 870th anniversary of the birth of the great Azerbaijani poet on 30 September 2012.

Functioning under the patronage of the Azerbaijani president, this international non-governmental organization brings together former heads of state and government, foreign ministers, and prominent international scholars from over 50 foreign countries.

The main governing body is the Board of Trustees, which consists of influential public and political figures from around the world. The board includes 18 former leaders. The center also includes 53 prominent members from 25 countries in Europe, six from three countries in the Americas, 15 from 12 countries in Asia, and five from four countries in Africa.

The co-chairs of the Center are the former President of Latvia (19992007), Vaira Vike-Freiberga, and the former Vice-President of the World Bank (19922000), Dr. Ismail Serageldin.

The NGIC hosts the Global Baku Forum each year, which has already established itself as the premier event in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Middle East, bringing together distinguished leaders and thinkers to discuss the ways and means to address some of the world's most pressing challenges.
Philippine officials send their best wishes for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year and call for the promotion of ties with China.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
A worker inspects a vehicle before it rolls off the production line at an automobile manufacturing factory in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 14, 2023.

China's economy posted steady growth in 2022 despite pressures including epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3 percent year on year to a record high of 121.0207 trillion yuan (about 17.95 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday. (Photo by Zhang Jingang/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- China's economy posted steady growth in 2022 despite pressures including epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment, with its gross domestic product (GDP) reaching a new level.

The economy grew 3 percent year on year to a record high of 121.0207 trillion yuan (about 18 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

This marks a new and higher level in terms of economic aggregate, after the Chinese economy topped the thresholds of 100 trillion yuan and 110 trillion yuan in 2020 and 2021, respectively -- maintaining its position well as the world's second-largest economy, Kang Yi, head of the NBS, told a press conference.

But this is "still a small step forward," Kang said. The country needs to more than double the current per capita GDP of about 12,700 U.S. dollars to reach its goal that its per capita GDP will be on par with that of mid-level developed countries in 2035.

Compared with major economies across the world, however, the 3-percent growth rate is relatively fast, he said, attributing the economy's rebound from stronger-than-expected shocks to the timely support of pro-growth policies.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

When asked to comment on the overall performance of the Chinese economy in 2022, Dominik Peschel, head of the Economics Unit of the Asian Development Bank Resident Mission in China, noted several headwinds the country had to deal with, including COVID-19, a property market downturn and softening export growth.

To stabilize economic growth, the Chinese government mobilized additional funds for infrastructure investment and gradually loosened monetary policy. Infrastructure investment supported economic growth, as did solid growth in manufacturing investment. As a result, industry grew faster than services, while household consumption was weak, he noted.

In breakdown, China's industrial output went up 3.6 percent year on year in 2022, while fixed-asset investment rose 5.1 percent year on year.

Retail sales contracted 0.2 percent year on year in 2022. A total of 12.06 million new urban jobs were created last year, exceeding the annual target of 11 million.

The Chinese people became more affluent in 2022, with per capita disposable income reaching 36,883 yuan, up 5 percent year on year in nominal terms.

China's consumer prices posted a mild growth of 2 percent in 2022, in sharp contrast to the global spike.

So far, China has built the world's largest and most technologically advanced network infrastructure, and the industrial Internet has been widely integrated into 45 national economic categories.

Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that innovation has been a bright spot in China's economy in recent years, despite headwinds due to COVID-19. New energy and digital industries have helped stabilize overall economic development.

"The national economy continued to develop despite downward pressure, economic output reached a higher level, employment levels and prices were generally stable, people's lives were continuously improved, new achievements were secured in high-quality development, while overall economic and social development was stable and healthy," said Kang.

HOPES AHEAD

When asked about China's economic outlook in 2023, Kang said the economy is bound to recover as the fundamentals of the Chinese economy -- its strong resilience, enormous potential, great vitality and long-term sustainability -- remained unchanged.

Citing a solid material foundation, vast market potential, strengthened new drivers of growth, the release of dividends of reform and opening-up, as well as rich experience in macro regulation, Kang said the Chinese economy is certain to see an overall improvement this year.

Given the country's optimized epidemic response, Kang believed that consumption will revive this year. Final consumption contributed 32.8 percent to the GDP expansion in 2022.

As for the property industry, Kang said it will have less drag on the economy in 2023 than in 2022.

There is still room for China's property sector to grow, as the country's urbanization rate reached 65.22 percent in 2022 -- still much lower than the 80 percent found in developed countries, he said, while also pledging measures to support the demand of urban residents for home ownership and improved housing conditions.

However, Kang also warned of possible risks in 2023, as the foundation of domestic economic recovery is not yet solid, while the domestic triple pressures of demand contraction, supply shock and weakening expectations, are still concerns.

China will make economic stability its top priority and pursue progress, while ensuring stability this year, he said.

"Shoring up confidence is crucial for economic recovery. In 2023, the worsening global economic situation needs China's steady growth as a stabilizer," Zhang Yansheng noted. 

Trucks transport containers at the international container terminal of Taizhou Port in Taizhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Jan. 17, 2023.

China's economy posted steady growth in 2022 despite pressures including epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3 percent year on year to a record high of 121.0207 trillion yuan (about 17.95 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday. (Photo by Tang Dehong/Xinhua)

Workers are busy at a workshop producing new-energy electric sweepers in Fanchang Economic Development Zone in Wuhu, east China's Anhui province, Jan. 12, 2023.

China's economy posted steady growth in 2022 despite pressures including epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3 percent year on year to a record high of 121.0207 trillion yuan (about 17.95 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday. (Photo by Xiao Benxiang/Xinhua)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 17, 2023 shows export vehicles waiting for shipment at Yantai Port, east China's Shandong Province.

China's economy posted steady growth in 2022 despite pressures including epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3 percent year on year to a record high of 121.0207 trillion yuan (about 17.95 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday. (Photo by Tang Ke/Xinhua)

This aerial photo taken on Jan. 17, 2023 shows a morning view of Jingtang Port Area at Tangshan Port in Tangshan, north China's Hebei Province.

China's economy posted steady growth in 2022 despite pressures including epidemic resurgences and a complicated external environment.

China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3 percent year on year to a record high of 121.0207 trillion yuan (about 17.95 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday. (Photo by Liu Mancang/Xinhua)
HARBIN, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province saw its foreign trade in goods grow by 33 percent year on year to 265.15 billion yuan (about 39.44 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, customs data showed.

The province's exports rose by 22 percent year on year to 54.56 billion yuan, while its imports saw an increase of 36.2 percent to 210.59 billion yuan last year, according to Harbin Customs in the provincial capital.

In 2022, Heilongjiang's imports and exports involving countries along the Belt and Road reached 208.74 billion yuan, up 39 percent, accounting for 78.7 percent of the province's total foreign trade value. Trade with members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership rose 32.3 percent to reach 24.03 billion yuan in 2022.

The export of goods such as mechanical, electronic, labor-intensive and agricultural products, saw an increase during this period. The province also saw growth in the import of agricultural products, iron ore, and mechanical and electronic products. 
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Only 16 percent of public education funding goes to the poorest 20 percent of learners, while 28 percent goes to the richest 20 percent, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a report published Tuesday, highlighting global educational inequality.

Children from the poorest households benefit the least from national public education funding, UNICEF said in the report titled "Transforming Education with Equitable Financing," which looks at government spending from pre-primary through tertiary education in 102 countries.

"We are failing children. Too many education systems around the world are investing the least in those children who need it the most," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

The gap is most pronounced among low-income countries, as children from the wealthiest households benefit from over six times the amount of public education funding compared to the poorest learners, UNICEF said.

In middle-income countries like Cote d'Ivoire and Senegal, the richest learners receive around four times more public education spending than the poorest.

In high-income countries, the richest usually benefit from 1.1 to 1.6 times as much public education spending as the poorest, with countries like France and Uruguay at the higher end of the gap.

UNICEF called for equitable financing to combat "learning poverty." The report found that just a one percentage point increase in the allocation of public education resources to the poorest quintile of learners could potentially lift 35 million primary school-aged children out of learning poverty.

"Investing in the education of the poorest children is the most cost-effective way to ensure the future for children, communities and countries. True progress can only come when we invest in every child, everywhere," said Russell.

The report also found that children living in poverty are less likely to attend school, drop out sooner, and are less represented in higher education, which receives much higher public education spending per capita.

"Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, education systems across the world were largely failing children, with hundreds of millions of students attending school but not grasping basic reading and mathematics skills," it said, citing recent estimates that two-thirds of all 10-year-olds worldwide cannot read or understand a simple story. 
BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday held phone talks with his Mongolian counterpart, Batmunkh Battsetseg, with both sides pledging to enhance pragmatic cooperation.

In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the heads of state of both countries and joint efforts of both sides, China-Mongolia relations have maintained a sound development momentum, with pragmatic cooperation yielding fruitful outcomes and two-way trade registering a record high, Qin said, adding both peoples have also joined hands in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

To maintain, consolidate and further develop China-Mongolia relations is the strategic choice of both sides, Qin said.

China is willing to strengthen exchanges with Mongolia at all levels and deepen cooperation in various fields so as to make new progress in jointly building a community with a shared future, he said.

Recently, China has optimized and adjusted its prevention and control measures in light of the changing situation of the epidemic, including introducing new policies aimed at facilitating cross-border travel, Qin said.

China appreciates Mongolia's scientific-based and objective stand and its support for normal people-to-people exchange between the two countries, Qin said.

For her part, Battsetseg said as neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, Mongolia and China are exemplary partners of cooperation in the region and good brothers who work together in fighting the pandemic.

Mongolia will as always stick to the one-China principle and is willing to further enhance high-level exchanges and deepen pragmatic cooperation with China, so as to make contributions to regional and international peace and stability and to push the Mongolia-China comprehensive strategic partnership to new levels, she said. 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at a square in Konya, Turkiye, on Nov. 26, 2022. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)

ANKARA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish foreign minister on Tuesday slammed as "absurd" a Swedish prosecutor's decision not to investigate a protest in Stockholm in which Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's puppet was hung.



"The decision by the (Swedish) prosecutor's office not to probe the incident is extremely absurd, and we all know what the rule of law means," Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a press conference with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in the capital Ankara.

The incident was a "racist, hateful, hate crime act" and therefore is also against universal values and is a crime according to international law, the Turkish foreign minister added.

Sweden should not try to fool Turkiye by calling the incident a freedom of speech, Cavusoglu noted.

Either the Nordic country will "fall victim to these mines laid by terrorists" or will walk forward by meeting the requirements of the deal reached with Turkiye, the Turkish foreign minister warned.

Last week, a group of protesters hung a puppet likened to Erdogan by its feet in Stockholm and shared its video footage on social media. Ankara says the protesters were supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Sweden, together with Finland, applied to join NATO in mid-May last year. But Turkiye, a NATO member, objected to the bids by the two Nordic countries, citing their ties with the PKK.

On June 28 last year, Turkiye, Sweden and Finland reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) before Ankara lifted its veto ahead of the NATO Madrid summit.

The Turkish parliament has not ratified the Nordic countries' NATO bids yet, citing that they have not met Turkiye's requests.

The PKK, listed as a terror organization by Turkiye, the United States and the EU, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades. 
UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Tuesday called for the immediate release of 50 women and girls who were abducted in Burkina Faso last week while looking for food.

Unidentified armed groups reportedly kidnapped the women and girls on Thursday and Friday near the town of Arbinda, located in the north.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned the incident.

"The secretary-general calls for the immediate and unconditional release of the abducted women and girls and for their safe return to their families," UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a statement.

Guterres urged the authorities to "spare no efforts in bringing those responsible for this crime to justice."

In addition, he pledged the UN's commitment to continue working with the West African country and international partners, including improving civilian protection and supporting efforts to achieve lasting peace.

The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, has also called for the perpetrators to be held to account.

West African and Sahel countries continue to face multiple challenges, including "unprecedented" levels of insecurity, the UN Security Council heard earlier this month.

Giovanie Biha, officer-in-charge of the UN office for the region, UNOWAS, said activities by armed groups, violent extremists and criminal networks have forced the closure of thousands of schools and health centres, and displaced millions. 
MOGADISHU, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Somali National Army (SNA) killed 21 al-Shabab militants and injured several others after al-Shabab militants raided a military base in central Somalia early Tuesday.

Chief of Defense Forces Odowaa Yusuf Rage told the Somali National News Agency that the militants attacked the base with two car bombs, causing destruction.

Five SNA soldiers were killed in the attack, Rage said, commending the soldiers for their swift response in repulsing the attackers.

Al-Shabab has lost ground to the Somali government and African Union troops in recent months but still controls some territory in southern and central Somalia. 
NAIROBI, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- TikTok, a short video-sharing platform owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, awarded last weekend TikTok creators from across sub-Saharan Africa for the immense talent and creativity they brought to the platform in the past year.

TikTok's inaugural award ceremony took place in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, following a highly competitive eight-day-long public voting process on the app across Southern, West, and East Africa.

Boniswa Sidwaba, TikTok's Content Programing Lead, Sub-Saharan Africa, said that the award ceremony is TikTok's way of recognizing storytellers, creativity, and the positive impact all creators bring to the TikTok community.

"We are thrilled to be celebrating our creators who have been a driving force behind some of the exciting trends for 2022. With these inaugural awards, TikTok aims to give creators in sub-Saharan Africa the recognition they deserve and to encourage them to tell the African story while spreading joy at all times," Sidwaba said.

Sidwaba revealed that the winner of the Top Creator 2022 Sub-Saharan Africa was Dennis Ombachi, popularly known as @theroamingchef from Kenya, while the runner-up was Charity Ekezie, popularly known as @charityekezie from Nigeria.

She added that the winners of the Top Creator Awards for West, Southern, and East Africa were @e4ma from Nigeria, @Pilot_onthegram from South Africa, and @natasha_gwal from Kenya, respectively. 
SUVA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Fijian government will aim to reduce its debt which stood at 91.1 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) on Tuesday, Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Biman Prasad said that Fiji's debt level is already high, and its fiscal strategy is that putting the island nation on a trajectory of reducing debt and ensuring that there is a balance that is always maintained in terms of the expenditure and priority areas.

This is part of a broader strategy where all government ministries will be re-examining their various policies and programs, he said, adding that this strategy will mean changes to budget allocations.

Prasad said that as a government, they want to make sure that they avoid wastage, and avoid expenditure that may not be a priority at the current point in time for the people and for the country.

According to Fiji's annual debt report, the Fijian government's total outstanding debt stood at 91.1 percent of its GDP at the end of the fiscal year 2021-2022. Total domestic debt accounted for 57.6 percent (about 2.6 billion U.S. dollars) while total external debt accounted for 33.6 percent (about 1.6 billion dollars).

Over the past few years, the COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted Fijian economy. 
By Azernews

Fatima Hasanova

A court in Baku has sentenced Jafar Mirzoyev, a member of the People's Front of Azerbaijani Party (PFAP), to six years in prison, Azernews reports.

The court, presided over by judge Javid Huseynov, issued a verdict on January 16.

On November 25, 2021, Jafar Mirzoyev was deported from Germany to Azerbaijan. He was taken into custody on January 27, 2017. A total of 12 grams of heroin and four tablets containing narcotic substances were found on him during the detention and search by officers of the Main Directorate for Combating Drugs under the Interior Ministry.
COLOMBO, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe invited the opposition parties on Tuesday to join hands through a new political system to provide relief to the people and work towards their betterment.

The president's media division said in a statement that the president made this remarks addressing the parliament.

The president said the government is committed to providing relief to the people and he will take steps to allocate 30 to 40 billion rupees (83 to 110 million U.S. dollars) for medicines this year.

The government plans to introduce several new institutions, among which are an institution on economics and trade, a university to train government officials on state policy formulation, and a university on climate change, the president added.

Sri Lanka has been facing one of its worst-ever economic crises since last year and also witnessed a shortage of essential supplies such as fuel and medicines during 2022. 
MOSCOW/KIEV, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments in the Ukraine crisis:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) established the support and assistance mission at the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant (NPP) in southern Ukraine, IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said on Monday.

"We are here to stay to help ensure nuclear safety and security during ongoing conflict," Grossi tweeted after the flag-raising ceremony at the plant.

Soon, the IAEA will be permanently present at all Ukrainian NPPs, Grossi said.

- - - -

The Russian Armed Forces do not strike residential buildings or civilian infrastructure but military targets in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a daily briefing on Monday.

He denied that the Russian forces caused the deadly collapse of a residential building in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro last week, saying that it was destroyed by Kiev's interceptor missile.

- - - -

Supplies of Western heavy armored vehicles, including Britain's Challenger 2 tanks, to Ukraine are not likely to change the situation on the battlefield, Peskov told a daily briefing on Monday.

The arms supplies will only prolong the crisis and the Western countries simply use Ukraine as a tool to achieve their anti-Russian goals, he stressed.

- - - -

Visiting chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Bujar Osmani on Monday called for the immediate return of the organization's field mission to Ukraine.

"The mission would make a big difference on the ground promoting stability, security and human rights for all citizens," Osmani tweeted after his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 
MOSCOW, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the country's oil production increased by 2 percent over the past year despite Western sanctions, according to the Kremlin.

"I would especially like to talk about the oil and gas sector. Despite the previously mentioned sanctions pressure, oil production in Russia increased by about two percent in 2022," Putin said.

"The volume of production amounted to 535 million tons," he added.

The president also noted that while natural gas production decreased by 11.8 percent, global gas prices have grown significantly following the actions of Western countries.

As a result of these processes, Russian gas producers and exporters contributed bigger revenues to the federal budget, he added. 
ANKARA, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Turkish foreign minister on Tuesday slammed as "absurd" a Swedish prosecutor's decision not to investigate a protest in Stockholm in which Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's puppet was hung.

"The decision by the (Swedish) prosecutor's office not to probe the incident is extremely absurd, and we all know what the rule of law means," Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a press conference with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in the capital Ankara.

The incident was a "racist, hateful, hate crime act" and therefore is also against universal values and is a crime according to international law, the Turkish foreign minister added.

Sweden should not try to fool Turkiye by calling the incident a freedom of speech, Cavusoglu noted.

Either the Nordic country will "fall victim to these mines laid by terrorists" or will walk forward by meeting the requirements of the deal reached with Turkiye, the Turkish foreign minister warned.

Last week, a group of protesters hung a puppet likened to Erdogan by its feet in Stockholm and shared its video footage on social media. Ankara says the protesters were supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Sweden, together with Finland, applied to join NATO in mid-May last year. But Turkiye, a NATO member, objected to the bids by the two Nordic countries, citing their ties with the PKK.

On June 28 last year, Turkiye, Sweden and Finland reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) before Ankara lifted its veto ahead of the NATO Madrid summit.

The Turkish parliament has not ratified the Nordic countries' NATO bids yet, citing that they have not met Turkiye's requests.

The PKK, listed as a terror organization by Turkiye, the United States and the EU, has been rebelling against the Turkish government for more than three decades. 
WARSAW, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The European Parliament (EP) should stop criticizing Poland for alleged rule-of-law problems when it has been unable to stop corruption in its own ranks, Poland's President Andrzej Duda said on Tuesday.

According to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Duda made the comment at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. He referred to a corruption scandal in which senior EP officials, including the institution's vice president, have been accused of accepting bribes in return for lobbying for the interests of Qatar and Morocco.

"First of all, representatives of the EU and the European institutions should finally stop throwing around the rule-of-law platitudes which, as one can see, do not have much to do with their own actions," Duda said.

Poland has been embroiled in a protracted rule-of-law conflict with the EU institutions since the ruling conservative camp made a number of changes to the country's judicial system that alarmed the EU. The European Commission has locked Poland out of the much-needed post-pandemic recovery fund until Warsaw reverses some of the changes.

Duda also said that the EP scandal had not been revealed by the EU institutions but by Belgian and French prosecutors. "Instead of lecturing others, they should start dealing with the rule of law in their own ranks."

Eva Kaili, a Greek politician and EP vice president, was one of the people arrested in the scandal in December. Her family members are also being investigated. A former Italian Member of the Parliament (MEP), Antonio Panzeri, has also been arrested. Two other MEPs are facing the prospect of having their immunity stripped. 
NEW YORK, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a New York law limiting the concealed carry of handguns in public areas, there has been an increasing lack of clarity on gun restrictions, reported ABC News on Friday.

"The decision really opens up a whole new way of analyzing the legality of firearm regulation and so there is no experience really to go by, so it's essentially a free for all," Michael Siegel, a faculty member at Tufts School of Medicine who studies firearm violence, was quoted as saying.

Siegel said the decision created a new system for how the constitutionality of firearm laws are to be judged where "nothing is really clear" and it is a trial and error situation.

The decision was "monumental" for gun rights and gave them a lot of key victories in the last few months, Alan Gottlieb, the executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation, was quoted as saying.

"We've knocked out some laws in California, we've got restraining orders against some of the ones in New York, we just got the temporary restraining order against the one in New Jersey," added Gottlieb.

There are currently close to 50 cases in federal court challenging gun control laws across the country, Gottlieb said. 
ATLANTA: Although the United States has recognized Martin Luther King Jr. with a federal holiday for nearly 40 years, his youngest daughter said Monday that the country has not fully embraced and treated the lessons he taught.

The Rev. Bernice King, who is in charge of The King Center in Atlanta, claimed that officials, especially politicians, often devalue his father's legacy by turning him into a "comfortable and convenient king" who delivers simple platitudes.

"We enjoy quoting King during and after the holiday. At the memorial service held at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her father once served as pastor, she said, For days the king refuses to stay.

Also Read: Former woman lawmaker stabbed to death in her home

The annual service at Ebenezer, sponsored by the center, was the highlight of the 38th Federal King's Holiday celebration. King would have turned 94 on Sunday. He was assassinated in Memphis in 1968 while fighting for better pay and working conditions for the city's sanitation workers.

Bernice King spoke on institutional and personal racism, economic and health care disparities, police violence, a militarized international system, rigid immigration structures, and the climate crisis in a tone that was reminiscent of her father's.

She expressed her "weariness, frustration and, frankly, despair" at hearing her father's words about justice so often and seeing "so little progress" in solving the most pressing issues facing society.

Bernice King said, "A prophetic word invokes a discomfort because it challenges us to change our hearts, our minds, and our behavior.

He was a prophet of God sent to guide and warn us in this country and even the world. Dr. King, the uneasy king, makes certain demands of us to change our behavior.

The National Action Network, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, was hosting an MLK breakfast in Washington on Monday, and President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak there.

As the youth director of the King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Anti-Poverty Project, Sharpton began his career as a civil rights activist when he was in his teens.

It's time to make a decision, Biden said Sunday, repeating themes from a speech he gave in Ebenezer at the invitation of Sen. Raphael Warnock. Sen. Warnock is the senior pastor in Ebenezer and the first black US senator from Georgia.

Shall we take the side of community over anarchy or democracy over autocracy? Victory of love over hate? Biden inquired on Monday. "These are the issues of our time, and I ran for president to try to address them.... In my opinion, Dr. King's life and legacy point the way forward."

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Other commemorations echoed Bernice King's warning and Vice President Biden's references that the "beloved community," which was Martin Luther King's term for a society devoid of fear, discrimination, hunger and violence, is still elusive.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu spoke about the need to stand up for the truth in a time of extreme bias and misinformation.

"We are fighting a growing movement of hate, abuse, extremism, and white supremacy fueled by misinformation, fueled by conspiracy theories that are taking root at every level," she said. "We are not just fighting two sides or left or right and there is a shield in the middle that has to be compromised somehow."

According to Wu, the first woman and person of color to be elected mayor of Boston, education restores trust. She cited King when she urged overcoming "the fatigue of despair" to bring about change.

Wu told attendees at a memorial breakfast that "It is sometimes in those moments when we feel most worn out, most hopeless, that we are just about to break."

Philadelphia volunteers held a "day of service" with the goal of preventing gun violence. Murders in the city have increased dramatically, with 516 people killed in 2017 and 562 the year before  the highest number in at least 60 years.

Some participants worked to put together gun safety kits for public distribution as part of the effort's centerpiece project, which was directed by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

According to the organizers, the kits come with "gun cable locks and additional security tools for childproofing." They also include details on how to store firearms, social and health services, and how to cope after gun violence.

Other kits being put together, according to organizers, featured Temple University Hospital's "Fighting Chance" program and supplies to provide quick aid to victims.

He said recipients will receive training on how to use the supplies, which include tourniquets, gauze, chest seals and other equipment for treating serious wounds.

Residents of Selma, Alabama, a crucial location in the civil rights movement, remembered King as they recovered from a deadly storm system that passed through the South last week.

When Alabama state troopers attacked and beat marchers on "Bloody Sunday" in March 1965, King was not present at Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed by Congress and signed by President Lyndon Johnson as a result of efforts that he joined later in a procession that successfully crossed the bridge leading to the Capitol in Montgomery.

The storm on Thursday had no effect on the Pettus Bridge.

Monday, the first Black House speaker in Maine urged citizens to participate in charitable deeds in King's memory.

His unwavering faith, effective nonviolent activism, and vision for peace and justice in the world, according to a statement from Rachel Talbot Ross, "alternated the course of history." Talbot Ross is a former president of the Portland NAACP and the daughter of Maine's first black lawmaker.

She continued, "We must recommit ourselves to creating a more compassionate, just, and equal community and follow his example of leading with light and love.

Warnock, who has been the pastor of Ebenezer for 17 years, praised his predecessor's accomplishments in securing voting rights for Black Americans. However, like Bernice King, the senator cautioned against having a narrow perspective on King.

Do not simply refer to him as a civil rights leader. He was a figure of faith, according to Warnock. "Faith served as the cornerstone of everything he did.

Because you've read Nietzsche or Niebuhr, you won't have to deal with dogs and water hoses. When someone threatened to bomb his home and kill his family in Montgomery, he claimed he had a new encounter with God.

In order to transform faith into "the creative weapon of love and nonviolence," King, according to Warnock, "left the comfort of a filter that made the whole world his parish."

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Warnock acknowledged some advancements during his lifetime while reiterating Bernice King's call for more daring public policy. Warnock, who has run for the Senate twice, pointed out that he was born in a time when both Georgia senators were ardent supporters of segregation, including one who loved "the Negro" as long as he was "in his place at the back door." However, Warnock added, "I now sit in his seat because of what Dr. King and you did.
Lasts week virtual summit organised by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to gather input from members of the Global South, Thailand has reached out to the worlds developing and less developing countries with a holistic approach focusing on human security and balanced development.



Currently, India has the president of this year's G20 summit, pledged to consult not just the member countries but also with other members of the Global South, whose voices often go unheard.

From the success of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2022 summit, Bangkok is using the G20 platform to promote its development models and ideas, known as the Bio-Circular Green (BCG) Economic model that aims to construct a better global environment for sustainable growth and prosperity.

Thailand too has proposed a three-pronged approach to create so-called Global Human-centric Development, echoing the theme that has been used as a rallying point for the current G20 chair with an agenda focused on human security and resilience. It has also been said that the global community needs to come up with a better and more comprehensive approach that can effectively tackle three major global crises: climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

Thailand also urged all developing countries to maintain the momentum of the successful outcomes of the recent COP27 meeting in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, in December. Thailand has among those few countries who have vowed to tackle climate change with the aim to reach carbon neutrality in 2050 and net emissions by 2060. Thailand is also committed to implementing Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

The first focus is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the second is focused on the critical issue of loss and damage. They will also mobilize climate finance and invest in the development and deployment of low-carbon emissions. Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also launched an official campaign to bid to host EXPO 2028 in Phuket.

Thailand is currently serving as the chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), where India is the key driver. Thailand will work with India and will strengthen the infrastructure, maritime security, energy, and digital connectivity in the Bay of Bengal region; these will also get addressed at the G20 summit.

Thailand's chosen theme, "Future of Life: Living in Harmony, Sharing Prosperity", aims to showcase the new Thailand that is filled with innovative and collective solutions. The theme also goes well with the BCG Economy Model and the countrys national development strategy.



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Paris: In support of Iran's anti-government protesters, up to 12,000 people marched on Monday to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg in eastern France as the Eiffel Tower illuminated the night with the slogan "Woman. Life. Freedom," which embodies the protest movement spreading outside of Iran.

"Stop executions in Iran," was another message projected on the Eiffel Tower display, emphasising a protesters' demand. Both messages pay homage to Mahsa Amini, whose passing in September sparked protests, arrests, and executions in Iran.

Amani was made an honorary citizen of Paris posthumously in October, and according to Paris City Hall, the displays on Monday at the Eiffel Tower were a tribute to both Amini and "those who are bravely fighting for their freedom as the (Iranian) regime is continuing executions of protesters."

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On the 44th anniversary of the day Iran's last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, left the country for good due to illness and mounting pressure, Iranians in Europe organised a march in Strasbourg.

The Islamic revolution that gave Iran its theocracy swept the monarchy aside the following month. On Monday, some of the protesters carried pictures of the former king.

According to police and local media, 12,000 people participated. One banner proclaimed, "Your silence is violence," reflecting the call of Iranian protesters abroad for support in spreading their message and making sure Tehran is aware of it. Protesters want the European Union to declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organisation and take a stronger stance against Iran.

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This week, the EU's response to the demonstrations and executions in the Islamic Republic will be discussed during the plenary session of the European Parliament. Thursday's vote on a non-binding resolution is seen by protesters and other participants as an opportunity to add the Revolutionary Guard to the EU's list of terrorist organisations.

More than 100 MEPs urged the EU to label the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps "in its entirety as a terrorist organisation" in a letter sent to Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, last week. In 2019, the US classified the IRGC as a foreign terrorist group.

Following a meeting with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Monday in The Hague, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra declared that the two had summoned Iran's ambassadors in their respective nations to protest the execution of protesters and British-Iranian former defence ministry official Ali Reza Akbari.

"To go further with EU sanctions against those responsible, against all those responsible for these grave human rights violations in Iran," Hoekstra stated that the ministers support.

Also Read: The top 1% of Indians own 40% of the country's wealth

Since the death of 22-year-old Amini on September 16, who passed away after being arrested by the morality police, Iran has been shaken by protests. Since then, the demonstrations have evolved into one of Iran's most significant challenges.
By Trend

Ruben Vardanyan, a fugitive Russian billionaire of Armenian origin, who recently took over separatists in Karabakh, in one of his interviews, has called on the US, the EU, and Russia to impose sanctions on Azerbaijan for the alleged "blockade" and "humanitarian crisis" that Azerbaijan "created" for the residents of Khankendi.

Meanwhile, the peaceful protest of Azerbaijanis on the Lachin-Khankendi road against the illicit exploitation of Azerbaijan's mineral resources in the area of Russian peacekeepers' temporary deployment has been going on for over a month. And over this time, the road, which is basically the only way for the residents of Khankendi to go back and forth to Armenia, has been open to any humanitarian purposes needed.

And, nevertheless, countless proofs of dozens of cars of Russian peacekeepers and Red Cross vehicles driving from Lachin to Khankendi and back do not stop separatists from making up bizarre stories about cruel Azerbaijanis mistreating poor starving Armenians.

Moreover, Armenians keep falling into the same trap over and over again. Deliberately distributing footage of staged empty stalls in the markets and stores of Khankendi, they forget to "clean up" their profiles on social networks, which prove anything but them "starving".

In one of his interviews, Vardanyan begged the international community to force Azerbaijan to open an air corridor from Khankendi to Armenia. Little does he know, that the same international community, some 10 years ago, has already expressed its opinion on this issue. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the European Civil Aviation Conference (ICAC) have supported the position of Azerbaijan on the Khankendi airport to remain closed and, if any provocations happen, all legal measures, including physical elimination, would be taken against any aircraft flying to Khankendi without Bakus permission.

The most interesting thing is that a person with such a reputation as Vardanyan, should not make such bold, statements about sanctions against the whole country. Back in 2019, more than twenty members of the European Parliament demanded sanctions against him for an alleged conspiracy to launder money from Russia through offshore companies and transfer abroad.

Moreover, Ukraine has also sanctioned Vardanyan for his company providing logistic support to the Russian army.

At the same time, a number of foreign governments became interested in Vardanyans business in Karabakh. In particular, authorities in EU countries are interested in where the proceeds from the sale of illegally mined metals go.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has published an extensive investigation into his illegal operations. Apparently, he has been laundering money of Russian oligarchs to the West. According to OCCRP, from 2006-2013, more than $4.5 billion passed through various accounts. During this time, about $9 billion was laundered and withdrawn from Russia.

At that time, journalists had about 60,000 financial documents in their hands, which "leaked" from the Lithuanian Ukio bank, which was closed in 2013. The study of these documents has shed light on numerous schemes and financial ploys. Thus, the network created by "Troika Dialog" included at least 75 interconnected offshore firms, some of which opened accounts with Ukio. The "directors" of many of these firms turned out to be ordinary seasonal workers from Armenia. The authors of the investigation found one of them in Vanadzor. The signature of 34-year-old Armen Ustyan, who lives in extreme poverty, is on the financial documents of one of Troika's offshore companies for $50 million. The authors of the investigation found several citizens of Armenia, whose passport data ended up in the hands of the organizers of the laundromat, and their signatures were simply falsified.

In 2022, Vardanyan escaped Western sanctions by demonstratively renouncing Russian citizenship and moving to Karabakh. Still, both Vardanyan, and the entire Armenian community, continue to convey their pleas for some kind of sanctions against Azerbaijan.

Vardanyan's criminal business activities both in Azerbaijan and beyond should be closely investigated by the international legal forces and law enforcement agencies. Moreover, sanctions should be applied to him.
Ramallah: Israeli policies involving nighttime raids against Palestinian children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have drawn criticism. According to the Israeli human rights group HaMoked, hundreds of children are detained by Israeli security forces each year during planned raids that are upsetting for everyone involved.

The group claimed that the practise was frequently used as a first option, even when a child was only detained for a brief period of time and released without being charged, in "On Flimsy Grounds: Israel's Pervasive Night Arrests of Palestinian Children," which was published on January 16. The group found that in the 125 cases it looked at last year, not a single Palestinian family had received a summons before Israeli forces stormed their homes.

According to the report, Israel's continued use of the tactic suggests that it is being done so on purpose to intimidate the Palestinian populace.

Also Read: Erdogan aide: Turkish offensive in Syria "possible at any time"

The most recent allegations against Israeli forces came as the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that Israeli soldiers shot and killed 14-year-old Omar Lotfi Khumour on Monday in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem.

Outside the hospital where the teen was taken, large groups of Palestinians gathered and chanted protests against Israel.

With this death, Israel has now killed 14 Palestinians since the year's beginning, including four children.

HaMoked's report was based on details provided by 294 families who contacted it after their child was detained in order to find them. Out of these, 125 had to do with a midnight arrest operation.

Also Read: Palestinians claim Israeli soldiers killed a man in the West Bank

The report stated that Israel had violated its obligations under international law severely in the way it treated Palestinian children who were wanted for questioning.

The group had compelled the Israeli military to implement a "procedure for summoning suspected minors before planned arrest" in a High Court petition in 2021.

HaMoked has submitted an appeal to renew its challenge. In March, the hearing is scheduled. According to the research, even children suspected of committing minor offences are subjected to night arrests.

The majority of the cases, according to the group, had no charges filed and the subjects were returned to their families' homes within weeks of their arrest. Many of them spent a few days or even just a few hours in detention.

According to Jessica Montell, executive director of HaMoked, "night arrests should be the last option, and Israel should use all other options before they reach the point of a large group of soldiers bounding on a family home in the middle of the night." Both the boy being arrested and his experience are extremely traumatic.

Despite Israel's new policy of issuing summonses rather than nighttime arrests, research from the previous year by HaMoked indicates that nothing has changed. "Last year, we recorded 125 nighttime arrests, and not a single case was summoned,"

Director of the Accountability Program at Defense for Children International Ayed Abu Qtaish told Arab News that it was obvious that Israeli forces were disobeying earlier court orders prohibiting the use of surprise arrests.

Additionally, according to Abu Qtaish, the majority of the arrests take place at nighttime when the kids are sleeping and are accompanied by a violent home invasion by heavily armed forces that wakes them up and transports them to interrogation facilities, which results in psychological trauma.

Also Read: LGBTQ students' class-action discrimination lawsuit is dismissed by a federal court

If the police do not discover the child to be taken into custody at the home, they only give the family a summons request for an investigation, he claimed.

Amani Saraneh of the Palestinian Prisoners Club told Arab News that during such raids last year, Israeli security forces detained 882 kids. 150 people were still incarcerated, he added.
18 billion from the EU, joint RU/BY aviation exercises, 95% confidence in victory 17 January, 02:40 PM

Your slice of the top headlines in Ukraine. Daily. Tuesday, January 17th, 2023.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted that Ukraine expects to receive the first tranche of EUR 3 billion this week. This will help maintain macroeconomic stability going forward, he said.

Video of day

His action allegedly caused ammunition to detonate, ultimately killing at least three Russian conscripts and injuring a further 10. According to Baza, the explosion occurred in the building of the village hall. According to early reports, the soldier picked up the grenade initially "to win authority in the eyes of subordinates.

The official is believed to have been working on a request from the Russian authorities, who claimed the children needed to be sent to Moscow for a family reunion. However, this transfer was done without the consent of the Ukrainian government, and the consent of the children was also not recorded. The official has been suspending pending an investigation.

Minsk claims that the goal of the maneuvers is to increase interoperability during the joint execution of training and combat missions. During the exercises, Russian and Belarusian aviation plans to practice aerial reconnaissance, joint patrolling of airspace along the border, and aviation support of military groups. The Ukrainian military does not believe that these exercises pose an immediate threat to the capital.

IAEA director Rafael Grossi said he is proud to head this mission to Ukraine, that will be deployed "in all of the countrys NPPs to provide assistance in nuclear safety and security. This expanded presence will be in addition to the IAEA presence already in the country, including a monitor stationed at the occupied Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.

A rescue operation is underway, Turkish news agency Anadolu reported. No casualties or pollution is said to have occurred as a result of the accident. The vessel was en route from Ukraine to Istanbul under the flag of Palau, and is believed to have run aground due to a failure of the vessels rudder.

Thats according to a new poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Additionally, almost 50% of respondents are sure that the end of hostilities will take place within six months to a year. More than 13% of respondents say that it will take several months.

According to NABU, in his electronic income declaration for 2020, the legislator omitted information about a two-story duplex apartment and a parking space in the province of Alicante, Spain for EUR 190,000 (approximately $252,700 at the 2013 time of purchase). SAPO, in turn, reported that the lawmaker had failed to declare almost UAH 6.3 million in total assets (about $773,000 at the average 2013 exchange rate, or $172,279 on Jan. 16, 2023) in total. His whereabouts are currently unknown.

According to the Ukrainian military, Ukrainian forces in and around the town are trying to bleed the enemy dry, as well as preventing a breakthrough of Ukrainian defense lines. Russian forces continue to insist that the town is captured, though footage of Ukrainian defenders in the area continues to appear on social media.

The days long read: Six dangerous illusions about Russia

Former Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko lays out the six biggest misconceptions Western policymakers still hold about the Russian state, and warns against building policy mired in illusion.

Oleksiy Melnyk, director of foreign policy at the Razumkov Center, writes about the outlines of what a true victory would look like for Ukraine, and notes the possible conflicts that may occur between the Western and Ukrainian conceptions of peace.

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Description

"Best of the Big Screen

THE GODFATHER PART II

Introduction by Philip Harwood

Tuesday, January 17th at 7:00 PM

Members $10 | Public $15

Part II of the Godfather trilogy continues the saga of the Corleone Family, serving as both a prologue and a sequel, extending over a period of 60 years and three generations. Chronicling both the rise of youthful Don Vito Corleone (Robert DeNiro replacing Marlon Brando) to Mafia chief in the early 1900s in the Little Italy section of New York City, as well as the career of Corleone's son Michael (Al Pacino) from his patriarchal prime to his decline a year later. Winner of six Academy Awards. (US, 1974, 202min., English, R | Dir. Francis Ford Coppola)"
(Corrects typographical error in date in headline)

BERLIN, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Germany probably will not need the full 200 billion euros ($217.26 billion) earmarked for the government's response to protect households and companies from the impact of soaring energy prices, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said on Tuesday.

Germany's spending on its gas and electricity price caps could be lower than expected due to falling energy prices on futures markets, the finance ministry said Tuesday.

Inflation this year is expected to be lower than the German government's current forecast of 7%, Lindner added at a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Updated forecasts will be published at the end of January.

He expects a higher inflation level in 2024 and 2025 than in the past due to Russia's war in Ukraine, despite the foreseen easing in prices from their current levels.

Lindner added that countries need to work in the causes of inflation, which he identifies as energy prices in the case of Germany and the lack of competitiveness at the European level. ($1 = 0.9206 euro) (Reporting by Maria Martinez, editing by Rachel More)
Facts & Factors

The global Green Hydrogen market size was valued at USD 0.8 billion in 2021 and is expected to surpass USD 10.2 billion by 2028, registering a CAGR of 55.2% during the forecast period (2021- 2028), as highlighted in a report published by Facts & Factors. The increasing popularity of green globe projects are driving the markets growth.

SAN FRANCISCO, U.S., Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Facts and Factors has published a new research report titled  Green Hydrogen Market Size , Share, Trend Analysis Report By Type (Solid Oxide Electrolyzer, Alkaline Electrolyzer, and Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer), By Use (Transport, Power Generation, and Others) By Customer (Petrochemicals, Glass, Food & Beverages, Chemical, Medical, and Others), and By Region - Global and Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, and Forecast 20222028 in its research database.

The report analyzes the Green Hydrogen 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 global Green Hydrogen market.

Green Hydrogen Industry Market Synopsis:

Green hydrogen is created by electrolyzing water with regenerative energy sources. Water is separated into hydrogen and oxygen in an electrolyzer using an electric current, and grey hydrogen generated from fossil fuels (like natural gas) is separated. The physicochemical characteristics of hydrogen are unappreciated. Hydrogen is environmentally safe and may be stored and transformed into power or heat as needed.

Green hydrogen is an important component of the energy equation, and hydrogen is viewed as a major potential renewable energy supply. It is one of the most significant circular carbon economy (CCE) ideas because it is produced using solar energy. It is produced by utilizing renewable energy sources as opposed to the carbon-based energy present in natural gas and other fossil fuels.

Story continues

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Key Insights from Primary Research

As per the analysis, the green hydrogen market is likely to grow above a CAGR of around 55.2% between 2022 and 2028.

The Green Hydrogen market size was worth around US$ 0.8 billion in 2021 and is estimated to hit approximately US$ 10.2 billion by 2028 . Due to a variety of driving factors, the market is predicted to rise at a significant rate.

Green hydrogen's numerous and cost-effective applications are propelling global revenue growth.

The alkaline electrolyze segment has the largest market share by technology because of its higher operational time capacity and low capital cost on the basis of type segment analysis.

The chemical segment dominates the market because the chemical industry is a significant producer of hydrogen which is used both internally and externally on the basis of customer segment analysis.

On the basis of region, the Europe is found to be dominating the green hydrogen market





Green Hydrogen Market: Growth Drivers

The growing popularity of Green Globe Projects are boost the markets growth

Green hydrogen is produced using an electrolysis process in which water is split into oxygen and hydrogen using power supplied from renewable sources. The decreasing cost of reusable power and electrolysis technology will result in increased demand for green hydrogen, boosting global green hydrogen market sales growth.

Several industries, including oil & gas, steel, utilities, and fertilizers, are turning to green hydrogen to balance the intermittent nature of reusable resources. Furthermore, this sort of hydrogen is widely employed as an energy alternative for decarbonizing the industrial, transportation, and chemical domains. Aside from these industrial applications, the advantage of keeping green hydrogen in existing gas pipes to power domestic appliances would result in a gradual growth in household demand for green hydrogen. It turns renewable energy into a carrier like ammonia, which may then be used in fuel cells to power anything that runs on electricity, like electronic devices and electric vehicles. Green hydrogen's numerous and cost-effective applications are propelling global revenue growth.

Restraints

Relatively high operational expenses may limit the markets growth

Green hydrogen is extremely difficult and costly to preserve and transport. Because it is highly combustible and has a poor volumetric density, it necessitates significant investment in pipelines and carriers. Furthermore, a lack of skilled personnel is a problem limiting the global green hydrogen market's expansion and growth.

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Competitive Players

The report contains qualitative and quantitative research on the global Green Hydrogen Market, as well as detailed insights and development strategies employed by the leading competitors. The report also provides an in-depth analysis of the market's main competitors, as well as information on their competitiveness.

The research also identifies and analyses important business strategies used by these main market players, such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), affiliations, collaborations, and contracts.

Some of the main players in the global Green Hydrogen market include;

Green Hydrogen

Uniper SE

Nel ASA

Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

Engie

Hydrogenics

Air Liquide

Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corp

Linde

Siemens

Browse the full Green Hydrogen Market By Type (Solid Oxide Electrolyzer, Alkaline Electrolyzer, and Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer), By Use (Transport, Power Generation, and Others) By Customer (Petrochemicals, Glass, Food & Beverages, Chemical, Medical, and Others), and By Region - Global and Regional Industry Overview, Market Intelligence, Comprehensive Analysis, Historical Data, and Forecast 20222028 Report at https://www.fnfresearch.com/green-hydrogen-market



Green Hydrogen Market: Segmentation Analysis

The global green hydrogen market is segregated on the basis of type, use, customer, and region.

By Type Segment Analysis

Solid Oxide Electrolyzer

Alkaline Electrolyzer

Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer

By type, the market is divided into solid oxide electrolyzer, alkaline electrolyzer, and proton exchange membrane electrolyzer. The alkaline electrolyze segment has the largest market share by technology because of its higher operational time capacity and low capital cost. Furthermore, the category is predicted to develop at a faster rate throughout the projection period.

By Use Segment Analysis

Transport

Power Generation

Others

By use, the market is divided into transport, power generation, and others. Among these, the power generation category dominates the market by the application due to demand from the manufacturing industry for on-site electrolyze setup.

By Customer Segment Analysis

Petrochemicals

Glass

Food & Beverages

Chemical

Medical

Others

By customer, the market is segmented into petrochemicals, glass, food & beverages, chemical, medical, and others. The chemical segment dominates the market because the chemical industry is a significant producer of hydrogen which is used both internally and externally.

Regional Insights:

The European region has the biggest share of the global green hydrogen market. During the forecast period, the European region is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace. This is due to the industry's solid, lengthy infrastructure and a wide range of possibilities. Furthermore, the cost of renewable generation is falling, which is yet another factor pushing its growth.

The European Clean Hydrogen Alliance was reported in March 2020 as part of Europe's new industrial strategy, and it was inaugurated on July 8, 2020, at the very same time as the EU hydrogen strategy. Major European automotive manufacturers such as Ducati, Porsche, Audi, and BMW are concentrating on the downsizing idea of car engines and creating fuel-efficient and lightweight engines, which will promote the expansion of the green hydrogen market.

Asia Pacific region is the green hydrogen market's fastest-expanding region. Due to its potential to create vast facilities for storing green hydrogen, Asia Pacific will be the fastest-expanding region in the global market. China may play a vital role in this region's economic progress.

By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

The Middle East & Africa

Latin America

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Recent Industry Developments:

March 2020: The Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field has been completed, according to the Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (Toshiba ESS), New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Iwatani Corporation (FH2R), and Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. The plant has a 10 MW class production capacity and reusable power. It is thought to be the world's largest category. It would aid in the development of reasonable green hydrogen generation technology by maximizing the use of environmental assets.

April 2020: Uniper SE and Siemens Gas & Power have established a collaboration to develop and implement green hydrogen production and usage projects based on renewable energy sources.

Report Scope:

Report Attribute Details Market Size in 2021 USD 0.8 Billion Projected Market Size in 2028 USD 10.2 Billion CAGR Growth Rate 55.2% CAGR Base Year 2021 Forecast Years 2022-2028 Key Market Players Green Hydrogen, Uniper SE, Nel ASA, Air Products and Chemicals Inc., Engie, Hydrogenics, Air Liquide, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corp, Linde, and Siemens. Key Segments Type, Use, Customer, and Region Major Regions Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Purchase Options Request customized purchase options to meet your research needs.

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(We tailor your report to meet your specific research requirements. Inquire with our sales team about customising your report.)

Key Offerings:

Market Size, Trends, & Forecast by Revenue | 20222028

Market Dynamics  Leading Trends, Growth Drivers, Restraints, and Investment Opportunities

Market Segmentation  A detailed analysis by Type, Use, Customer, and Region

Competitive Landscape  Top Key Vendors and Other Prominent Vendors

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NEW YORK, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As per Facts and Factors study, The global chlorinated polyethylene market size was worth around USD 645 million in 2021 and is predicted to grow to around USD 1177.45 million by 2030 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of roughly 7.83% between 2022 and 2030.

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Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Overview

Chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) is created by substituting hydrogen atoms with chlorine atoms in high density polyethylene or HDPE. CPE does not exhibit any taste and is a non-toxic chemical. It is first created in white powder form before being used with other chemicals. CPE produced using low pressure showcases higher temperature thermal resistance as compared to CPE produced using high pressure polyethylene. The most common density range for CPE is between 0.93 to 0.96 gram per centimeter cube. The properties of CPE are highly influenced by the degree and intensity of chlorination.

For instance, it is in plastic form when chlorine content is below 15%, while it acts as a thermoplastic elastomer in case the chlorine content ranges between 165 to 24%. It exhibits the properties of rubber-like elastomer when the content percentage is increased to 25% unto 48% and if the quantity is increased above 73% it turns into a brittle resin. Few advantages offered by chlorinated polyethylene include high resistance to ozone aging, thermal oxygen aging, and resistance to alkali & acid substances. The two main categories of CPE include elastomer-type and resin-type. It can be used as a standalone product or with a mixture of a wide array of chemicals including polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyurethane amongst few others.

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Includes an Updated List of tables & figures

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Facts and Factors methodology

Story continues

Facts and Factors published the latest report titled "Chlorinated Polyethylene Market Size, Share, Growth Analysis Report By Application (Impact Modifier, Wire & Cable Jacketing, Magnetics, Adhesives, Ignition Resistant Abs, Tubing, and Others), By Type (135A, 135B, and Others), and By Region - Global and Regional Industry Insights, Overview, Comprehensive Analysis, Trends, Statistical Research, Market Intelligence, Historical Data and Forecast 2022  2030" into their research database.

Industry Dynamics:

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Growth Drivers

Growing applications in the rubber industry to propel market demand.

The global chlorinated polyethylene market is projected to grow owing to the high applications of chlorinated polyethylene in the rubber industry. CPE when crosslinked with peroxides, a group of compounds showing an R-O-O-R structure, becomes highly valuable for the rubber sector. This is due to the CPE offering various chemical properties that are of importance in the sector.

For instance, it provides higher flexibility, is extremely resistant to chemicals & ignition, it restricts abrasion alongside limiting the impact of weathering conditions. Because of the high tensile strength and filler acceptance offered by CPE, the demand for the compound has grown immensely in the last few years. Using CPE helps to reduce the cost of processes associated with the use of polyethylene (PE) since it is a cheaper substitute for PE. The rubber industry is one of the fastest-growing industries due to the growing product penetration across engineering segments. The compressibility and strength offered by rubber have made them an essential part of segments dealing with products that work around drive couplings, anti-vibration mounts, bearings, adhesives, springs, and others.

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Restraints

Harmful impact above melting temperature to restrict market expansion.

Chlorinated polyethylene does not have toxic compounds and is generally considered safe for use. But some of the known emissions during the combustion of the compound include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen chloride. At temperatures above melting value, polymer fragments of these substances can be released into the environment and the associated fumes are known to be irritating to the skin or other human body organs. When the compound decomposes, it can leave behind chemicals like organic acids, aldehydes, hydrogen chloride, and alcohol that could negatively impact the environment.

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Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Opportunities

Growing automobile industry to provide growth opportunities.

The demand for chlorinated polyethylene may further be propelled by the increasing adoption of the chemical in the automobile industry which is designated to increase at a high CAGR due to factors like a growing number of players, increasing disposable income alongside per capita spending capacity and availability of financial assistance. For instance, the northern and southern states of India are known to have a high number of families owning 2-wheelers. In the Karnataka state of India, around 61.15% of the state population is known to use some form of 2-wheeler for personal use.

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Challenges

Disruptions in the supply chain to act as a major challenge during the forecast period.

The global market players will have to forecast the impact of the growing political tension across the world on business revenue as there may be a large number of cases that could potentially disrupt the smooth supply chain of CPE in the coming years. Asian countries including China currently dominate the production of the compound and the growing tension between the west and east could affect the supply of CPE.

Global Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: Segmentation

The global chlorinated polyethylene market is segmented based on application, type, and region.

Based on application, the global market divisions are impact modifier, wire & cable jacketing, magnetics, adhesives, ignition resistance abs, tubing, and others. The global market is anticipated to be dominated by the wire & cable jacketing segment during the forecast years due to growing infrastructural development activities. Since they exhibit excellent thermal properties along with resistance to other chemicals and oils, they are widely used for jacketing wires and cables which acts as a fire retardant. Growing applications in automotive tuning may drive the demand in the tubing segment. The cable industry currently is valued at over USD 91 billion.

Based on type, the global market segments are 135A, 135B, and others. In 2021, the global market was dominated by chlorinated polyethylene 135A which is an elastomer with applications related to rigid polyvinyl chloride (RPV). The segmental growth was driven by the growing demand to manufacture vinyl sidings as well as impact modifiers that are used in microwaves, refrigerators, window profiles, and other consumer goods. CPE135A offers superior ductility making it desirable in electrical conduits using specialty polyvinyl chloride. The growing demand for 135A in the rubber industry could further fuel the demand for CPE.

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List of Key Players in Chlorinated Polyethylene Market:

Weifang Yaxing Chemical Co. Ltd.

Polycast Industries Inc.

Shin-Etsu Chemical Company Ltd.

Wacker Chemie AG

Evonik Industries AG

Key questions answered in this report:

What are the growth rate forecast and market size for Chlorinated Polyethylene Market?

What are the key driving factors propelling the Chlorinated Polyethylene Market forward?

What are the most important companies in the Chlorinated Polyethylene Market Industry?

What segments does the Chlorinated Polyethylene Market cover?

How can I receive a free copy of the Chlorinated Polyethylene Market sample report and company profiles?

Report Scope:

Report Attribute Details Market size value in 2021 USD 645 Million Revenue forecast in 2030 USD 1177.45 Million Growth Rate CAGR of almost 7.83 % 2022-2030 Base Year 2020 Historic Years 2016  2021 Forecast Years 2022  2030 Segments Covered By Type, By Application, By Payload and By Propulsion System Forecast Units Value (USD Billion), and Volume (Units) Quantitative Units Revenue in USD million/billion and CAGR from 2022 to 2030 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 Weifang Yaxing Chemical Co. Ltd., Polycast Industries Inc., Shin-Etsu Chemical Company Ltd., Wacker Chemie AG, Evonik Industries AG, and others. 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.fnfresearch.com/customization/chlorinated-polyethylene-market

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Recent Developments

In April 2022, Nokian Tyres announced that the company intends to increase its production capacity in Europe due to disruption in the Russian production line

In November 2022, the US Department of Agriculture granted USD 35 million to Bridgestone Americas for encouraging the production of natural rubber in the country

Regional Dominance:

Asia-Pacific to dominate with the highest CAGR.

The global chlorinated polyethylene market is anticipated to be dominated by Asia-Pacific in the coming years due to the presence of highly dominated chemical producers in the region, especially in China and India as well as a growing number of end-user verticals. For instance, as per estimates, China's revenue from the synthetic rubber production market may grow by USD 35 billion in 2022. The country has already marked a steady growth in the last 5 years at a yearly average of 2.76%. The demand for rubber in China reached 739 billion yuan in 2017 due to various factors like the growing construction industry, and high demand in the automobile sector. Growth in Europe may be driven by the growing demand for magnetic rubber used during the vehicle production process. The European automotive segment is responsible for more than 13.5 million direct and indirect jobs representing 6.05% of the region's employment rate.

Global Chlorinated Polyethylene Market is segmented as follows:

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: By Application Outlook (2022-2030)

Impact Modifier

Wire & Cable Jacketing

Magnetics, Adhesives

Ignition Resistant Abs

Tubing

Others

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: By Type Outlook (2022-2030)

135A

135B

Others

Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: By Region Outlook (2022-2030)

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 Chlorinated Polyethylene Market: https://www.fnfresearch.com/news/global-chlorinated-polyethylene-market

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SOURCE FnF Research
Aegon N.V.

The Hague, January 17, 2023 - Aegon N.V.'s Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) has today approved the strategic decision to combine Aegons Dutch pension, life and non-life insurance, banking, and mortgage origination operations with a.s.r. to create a leading player in the Dutch market.

As announced on October 27, 2022, the transaction with a.s.r. is expected to lead to a EUR 3.3 billion reduction in IFRS shareholders equity. The majority thereof will be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2022, in accordance with the applicable accounting rules. The reduction in IFRS shareholders equity will not impact Aegons solvency ratios or capacity to pay targeted dividends.

In addition to the shareholders approval obtained today, the closing of this transaction is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory and antitrust approvals. The works council of Aegon has rendered a positive advice in relation to the proposed transaction.

The full details of the resolution approved during the EGM can be found here.

About Aegon

Aegon is an integrated, diversified, international financial services group. The company offers investment, protection, and retirement solutions, with a strategic focus on three core markets (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands), three growth markets (Spain & Portugal, Brazil, and China), and one global asset manager. Aegon's purpose of Helping people live their best lives runs through all its activities. As a leading global investor and employer, the company seeks to have a positive impact by addressing critical environmental and societal issues, with a focus on climate change and inclusion & diversity. Aegon is headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, and listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the New York Stock Exchange. More information can be found at aegon.com.

Contacts Media relations Investor relations Carolien van der Giessen Jan Willem Weidema



+31(0) 6 11953367 +31(0) 70 344 8028 carolien.vandergiessen@aegon.com janwillem.weidema@aegon.com

Forward-looking statements

The statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The following are words that identify such forward-looking statements: aim, believe, estimate, target, intend, may, expect, anticipate, predict, project, counting on, plan, continue, want, forecast, goal, should, would, could, is confident, will, and similar expressions as they relate to Aegon. These statements may contain information about financial prospects, economic conditions and trends and involve risks and uncertainties. In addition, any statements that refer to sustainability, environmental and social targets, commitments, goals, efforts and expectations and other events or circumstances that are partially dependent on future events are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Aegon undertakes no obligation, and expressly disclaims any duty, to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which merely reflect company expectations at the time of writing. Actual results may differ materially and adversely from expectations conveyed in forward-looking statements due to changes caused by various risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the following:

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Unexpected delays, difficulties, and expenses in executing against our environmental, climate, diversity and inclusion or other ESG targets, goals and commitments, and changes in laws or regulations affecting us, such as changes in data privacy, environmental, safety and health laws;

Changes in general economic and/or governmental conditions, particularly in the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom;

Civil unrest, (geo-) political tensions, military action or other instability in a country or geographic region;

Changes in the performance of financial markets, including emerging markets, such as with regard to: The frequency and severity of defaults by issuers in Aegons fixed income investment portfolios; The effects of corporate bankruptcies and/or accounting restatements on the financial markets and the resulting decline in the value of equity and debt securities Aegon holds; The effects of declining creditworthiness of certain public sector securities and the resulting decline in the value of government exposure that Aegon holds;

Changes in the performance of Aegons investment portfolio and decline in ratings of Aegons counterparties;

Lowering of one or more of Aegons debt ratings issued by recognized rating organizations and the adverse impact such action may have on Aegons ability to raise capital and on its liquidity and financial condition;

Lowering of one or more of insurer financial strength ratings of Aegons insurance subsidiaries and the adverse impact such action may have on the written premium, policy retention, profitability and liquidity of its insurance subsidiaries;

The effect of the European Unions Solvency II requirements and other regulations in other jurisdictions affecting the capital Aegon is required to maintain;

Changes affecting interest rate levels and continuing low or rapidly changing interest rate levels;

Changes affecting currency exchange rates, in particular the EUR/USD and EUR/GBP exchange rates;

Changes in the availability of, and costs associated with, liquidity sources such as bank and capital markets funding, as well as conditions in the credit markets in general such as changes in borrower and counterparty creditworthiness;

Increasing levels of competition in the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and emerging markets;

Catastrophic events, either manmade or by nature, including by way of example acts of God, acts of terrorism, acts of war and pandemics, could result in material losses and significantly interrupt Aegons business;

The frequency and severity of insured loss events;

Changes affecting longevity, mortality, morbidity, persistence and other factors that may impact the profitability of Aegons insurance products;

Aegons projected results are highly sensitive to complex mathematical models of financial markets, mortality, longevity, and other dynamic systems subject to shocks and unpredictable volatility. Should assumptions to these models later prove incorrect, or should errors in those models escape the controls in place to detect them, future performance will vary from projected results;

Reinsurers to whom Aegon has ceded significant underwriting risks may fail to meet their obligations;

Changes in customer behavior and public opinion in general related to, among other things, the type of products Aegon sells, including legal, regulatory or commercial necessity to meet changing customer expectations;

Customer responsiveness to both new products and distribution channels;

As Aegons operations support complex transactions and are highly dependent on the proper functioning of information technology, operational risks such as system disruptions or failures, security or data privacy breaches, cyberattacks, human error, failure to safeguard personally identifiable information, changes in operational practices or inadequate controls including with respect to third parties with which we do business may disrupt Aegons business, damage its reputation and adversely affect its results of operations, financial condition and cash flows;

The impact of acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings, product withdrawals and other unusual items, including Aegons ability to integrate acquisitions and to obtain the anticipated results and synergies from acquisitions;

Aegons failure to achieve anticipated levels of earnings or operational efficiencies, as well as other management initiatives related to cost savings, Cash Capital at Holding, gross financial leverage and free cash flow;

Changes in the policies of central banks and/or governments;

Litigation or regulatory action that could require Aegon to pay significant damages or change the way Aegon does business;

Competitive, legal, regulatory, or tax changes that affect profitability, the distribution cost of or demand for Aegons products;

Consequences of an actual or potential break-up of the European monetary union in whole or in part, or the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union and potential consequences if other European Union countries leave the European Union;

Changes in laws and regulations, particularly those affecting Aegons operations ability to hire and retain key personnel, taxation of Aegon companies, the products Aegon sells, and the attractiveness of certain products to its consumers;

Regulatory changes relating to the pensions, investment, and insurance industries in the jurisdictions in which Aegon operates;

Standard setting initiatives of supranational standard setting bodies such as the Financial Stability Board and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors or changes to such standards that may have an impact on regional (such as EU), national or US federal or state level financial regulation or the application thereof to Aegon, including the designation of Aegon by the Financial Stability Board as a Global Systemically Important Insurer (G-SII); and

Changes in accounting regulations and policies or a change by Aegon in applying such regulations and policies, voluntarily or otherwise, which may affect Aegons reported results, shareholders equity or regulatory capital adequacy levels.





Further details of potential risks and uncertainties affecting Aegon are described in its filings with the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets and the US Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this document. Except as required by any applicable law or regulation, Aegon expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Aegons expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.





Attachment




NEWARK, DE / ACCESSWIRE / January 16, 2023 / As per the reports published by FMI, the global air brake system market is estimated at US$ 2,108.8 Million. The market value of the air brake system is anticipated to surpass a valuation of US$ 3,003.5 Billion by the year 2033, advancing at a CAGR of 3.6%. A historical market valuation of US$ 2,025.7 Million has been recorded by the Experts of Future Market Insights for the concerned market during the base year.

Future Market Insights, Inc., Monday, January 16, 2023, Press release picture

Future Market Insights, Inc has analyzed that there is a high demand for air-pressing piston applications, which is leading to rising in market share for air brake systems. Stringent regulations have been imposed by the government of developing economies to stop the vehicles that are serving as a major cause to boost the adoption of air brake systems across the globe.

To Get Sample Copy of Report Visit @

https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-16112

It is identified that the production of high-speed trains and developments made in the railway sector is key demand drivers for air brake systems in the current year. However, after an in-depth analysis of the market, it is witnessed that the high capital expenditure involved in the application of air brakes is still a burden on the industry. Furthermore, increased attention paid to electric vehicles is likely to impede the growth of the market during the projection period.

Key Takeaways from the Air Brake System Market

The market valuation of the air brake systems is projected to surpass US$ 3,003.5 million by the end of 2033.

An approximate surge of US$ 83.1 Million has been witnessed from the base year to the current in the air brake systems market.

The air drum brake segment by type category is identified to advance at a moderate pace, registering a CAGR of 4.4% through 2033. This segment is currently accountable for 67.5% of 2023.

The compressors by component type segment are expected to advance at a CAGR of 5.5% during 2023-2033.

The U.S. air brake systems market is accountable for 18.5% of market shares in the current year.

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"With surging demand for speed in vehicles, lucrative growth avenues are getting unraveled for the air brake system manufacturers across the globe." - Says an FMI Analyst.

Request Methodology @

https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/request-report-methodology/rep-gb-16112

Competitive Landscape in the Air Brake System Market

The air brake systems market is fragmented, and the key players are deploying organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market. The biggies are heavily investing in research and development activities to create advanced air brake systems for efficiently stopping vehicles and strengthening their foothold in the market.

Anand Group, Minda Nabtesco Automotive (P) LTD., WABCO, Airmaster Brake Systems, and Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC are some of the key players proliferating in the market.

Recent Developments

In February 2022, Knorr-Bremse AG initiated a long-term framework of a contract with Alstom for delivering braking systems, entrance, and climate control solutions for major projects of transportation. The company is estimated to deliver electro-pneumatic braking systems that include PistonSupply eco oil-free compressors, SysControl electronic brake control systems, and the FlexControl flexible brake control unit, sanding systems, and track brakes.

In June 2022, ZF Friedrichshafen AG launched an expanded facility across India. The facility is identified to be the largest hub of software for the ZF Group, which is anticipated to create extensive opportunities for jobs within the state of Hyderabad.

Ask An Analyst @

https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-16112

Key Segments in the Air Brake Systems Market

By Product Type:

Disc Brake

Drum Brake

By Vehicle Type:

Passenger Cars

Light Commercial Vehicle

Heavy Commercial Vehicle

By End Use Industry:

Aerospace

Automotive

Industrial & Manufacturing

Healthcare

Consumer Electronics

Others

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Asia Pacific

MEA

Europe

By Component:

Compressor

Governor

Tank

Air Dryer

Foot Valve

Brake Chamber

Slack Adjuster

Others

By Technology:

Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)

Traction Control System (TCS)

Electronic Stability Program or Electronic Stability Control (ESC)

Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD)

By Application:

On-Road

Off-road Vehicle)

Rolling Stock and Locomotive Electro-Pneumatic(EP)

Electronically Controlled Pneumatic (ECP)

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand-side Trends

1.3. Supply-side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap Analysis

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

Read Full Report @

https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/air-brake-systems-market

Explore FMI's Extensive Coverage On Automotive Domain:

Automotive Plastic Interior Trims Market Size : The market for vehicle plastic interior trimmings would surpass US$ 26 billion in 2022. The market for automotive plastic interior trimmings is anticipated to exceed US$ 44 billion, growing at a CAGR of 6% to 8% over the course of the forecast period, according to Future Market Insights 2022-2032.

Skid Steer Loader Market Demand : The skid steer loader market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 2.3% over the course of the forecast period, from US$ 2.35 billion in 2022 to US$ 2.95 billion in 2032.

Traffic Sign Recognition System Market Share : The global traffic sign recognition system market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 3.5%, from US$ 37.81 Million in 2022 to US$ 53.34 Million in 2032.

Automotive MEMS Sensor Market Analysis : The global automotive MEMS sensors is expected to garner a market value of US$ 2.41 Billion in 2022 and is expected to register a CAGR of 15% by accumulating a market value of US$ 9.75 Billion by the end of the assessment period 2022-2032.

Automotive Proportioning Valves Market Growth : In 2032, the market for automobile proportioning valves is expected to be worth US$ 285.4 Million. The need for automotive proportioning valves is expected to increase in the next years due to the high demand for passenger automobiles and rising automotive manufacturing.

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

LinkedIn | Twitter | Blogs | YouTube

For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com

SOURCE: Future Market Insights, Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/735352/Air-Brake-System-Market-is-Anticipated-to-Surpass-US-30035-Million-by-the-Year-2033-Advancing-at-a-CAGR-of-36--Future-Market-Insights-Inc




AP Finance

U.S. applications for jobless benefits rose to their highest level in more than a year, but remain at relatively low levels despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool the economy and job market in its battle against inflation. Jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending April 8 rose by 11,000 to 239,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. Last week, the Labor Department unveiled revised estimates of the number of weekly applications for jobless benefits under a new formula it is using to reflect seasonal adjustments.
ReportLinker

The Asia-Pacific Fertilizers Market is projected to register a CAGR of 5.74%. Key Highlights. Fastest growing segment by Product - Iron : The alkaline soils with high pH and degrading health and quality of soils are making them deficient in Iron thus increasing the demand for high-yield crop production.

New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Asia-Pacific Fertilizers Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381456/?utm_source=GNW



Largest Segment by Crop Type - Field Crops : Cultivation of field crops accounts for more than 90% of the total agricultural land in the region and accounts for consumption of 82.76% of the total fertilizes.

Fastest growing by Speciality Type - SRF : The SRF are safe to the soil and environment as they precisely release the nutrients in to the soil throughout the cropping season and thus reduce the leaching of nutrients.

Largest segment by Country - China : China is the most populous country in the world and has large cultivable land in the region, with high fertilizer aplication rate per hectare to maximize the crop yields.



APAC Fertilizers Market Trends



Field Crops is the largest segment by Crop Type.



The Asia-Pacific fertilizer market is dominated by field crops, which make up around 84.3% of the overall fertilizer market. Field crop production accounts for more than 90.0% of the regions total agricultural land.



In 2021, 7.07% of the regions overall fertilizer market value was accounted for by horticultural crops. Over 70.0% of the regions total horticultural crop production area is spread throughout China and India. The demand for horticultural crops has increased mainly after the pandemic.

China and India are major agricultural producers in the Asia-Pacific region, mainly due to the large availability of arable land and the vast population leading to increasing food demand. With substantial government financial assistance to encourage mechanization and productivity in agriculture, this growth trend is expected to continue.

Less than 2.0% of the fertilizer market in Asia-Pacific is estimated to be accounted for by turfs and ornamental plants. However, the primary beneficiaries of specialized fertilizers are turf and ornamental plants, as they require year-round maintenance and a continual supply of nutrients to preserve their green color.



There is an increasing trend in the overall cultivation area in the region. In 2021, there was a 6.64 million ha increase in the cultivation area compared to 2020. A fifth of the regions people are employed in agriculture, and the industry occupies more than half of the regions land area, contributing significantly to the Asia-Pacific economy. Therefore, the fertilizer market in the region is anticipated increase during the forecast period.



China is the largest segment by Country.



China is the largest producer and exporter of fertilizers in the region and the world and contributes 25% of global fertilizer production, as per the USDA. Chinas fertilizer market is estimated to be valued at USD 55.8 billion in 2022, with a volume consumption of 110 million tons.

India is the worlds second-largest consumer of fertilizers, with a consumption volume of 70 million metric tons in 2021. Despite being the third-largest producer of fertilizers globally, India is still import-dependent for 25% of urea, 55% of phosphorous, and 100% of potash annually.

Japan is the third-largest fertilizer market in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for 10% of the market, with a value of USD 10.2 billion in 2021. However, the country accounted for just 1% of the volume consumption, i.e., 2.03 million metric tons. This huge difference in the contribution of volume and value is attributed to the high price of fertilizers in the country compared to other countries in the region.

Indonesia is the fourth-largest consumer in terms of market value and third-largest in terms of volume consumption, accounting for 5% of the value and 6% of volume in the region. The arable land in the country has been increasing over the years. In 2017, the total arable land in the country accounted for 52 million hectares, which increased to 57.0 million hectares in 2019, as per the FAO. This trend may further increase the usage of fertilizers in the country.

Other Asia-Pacific countries like Vietnam, Australia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, etc., together accounted for 18% of the total consumption volume in the country. The region is the fastest-growing in terms of fertilizer usage, and the growth trend is anticipated to continue in the future.



APAC Fertilizers Market Competitive Analysis



The Asia-Pacific Fertilizers Market is fragmented, with the top five companies occupying 8.74%. The major players in this market are Coromandel International Ltd., Israel Chemicals Ltd, Sinofert Holdings Limited, Xinyangfeng Agricultural Science and Technology Co., Ltd. and Yara International Limited (sorted alphabetically).



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

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ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




By Trend

Within the framework of the visit of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the UAEs Abu Dhabi on January 15, the two countries took another very important step towards strengthening cooperation in the field of alternative energy.

The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and the UAEs Masdar company signed an Agreement on the joint development of offshore wind energy and hydrogen projects with a capacity of 2 GW, as well as joint development of 1 GW solar photovoltaic energy, and 1 GW onshore wind energy projects.

These agreements will further strengthen cooperation between Azerbaijan and the UAE, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Azerbaijan, increase use of renewable energy sources and contribute to the sustainable economic development of the country.

As President Ilham Aliyev said on January 16 at the official opening ceremony of the Abu Dhabi Sustainable Development Week, this is only a short-term project.

Mid-term projects will increase the volume up to 10 gigawatts. This is absolutely doable. We have a roadmap for that. This project, only this project, our cooperation with MASDAR will transform Azerbaijan into a very important source of green energy exports, President Ilham Aliyev said.

Meanwhile, Masdar, being the largest company in the UAE in the field of renewable energy, is currently implementing the Garadagh solar power plant project with a capacity of 230 MW in Azerbaijan.

Last year the "Strategy of socio-economic development of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2022-2026" was approved by the order of President Ilham Aliyev, and, according to this strategy, great attention is paid to the development of alternative energy in the country.

As President Ilham Aliyev said in his speech in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Azerbaijan has not been developing renewable energy sources in order to ensure only its own energy security.

"We did it many years ago. Today, Azerbaijan not only satisfies its all needs with energy, but also is exporting crude oil, oil products, natural gas, petrochemicals and electricity. Our program with respect to renewables has completely different agenda. First, because its an enormous potential. Second, because it will help us to diversify our export and, of course, it will create a new ecologically-friendly sector of our economy," President Ilham Aliyev said.

Energy is traditionally one of the most essential sectors of Azerbaijan's economy. This sector is expected to have great changes in 2023: Azerbaijan is intensively developing a new and highly promising field - renewable energy. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev pays close attention to the mentioned field, and foreign investors have already invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the Azerbaijani economy.

The potential of Azerbaijan in the field of alternative energy is great, and is the highest in the region. The potential of wind and solar energy on land is 27 GW. In the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, this indicator is 10 GW. In addition, the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea has a potential of 157 GW of wind power.

Moreover, the abovementioned strategy envisages sufficiently ambitious plans for green energy, such as the development of the energy hub Azerbaijan (Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic) - Turkiye - Europe by 2026. As part of the project, a HVDC (high voltage direct current) transformer substation and a two-chain power line (400 kV) of 230 km will also be built. This will allow the direct export of electricity to Turkiye.

In addition, during this period, alternative energy infrastructure will be expanded through public-private partnerships. The involvement of the private sector in this energy infrastructure will be encouraged. The construction and commissioning of an approved number of renewable energy power plants will also be ensured. Thus, it is planned to increase the share of renewable energy in the total electricity generation.

If only a couple of years ago energy specialists were disputing the necessity to invest huge funds in a field that didn't seem so important, today the significance of renewable sources of energy is obvious. Thus, Azerbaijan as well, despite having large oil and gas reserves, is investing in the development of alternative energy, relying not only on traditional sources, but also on advanced fields.

The development costs in the alternative energy sector will decrease as the time goes on - due not only to global trend of reducing costs for this field, but also because of the work that is being carried out and will be carried out in Azerbaijan in the field of establishing the production of key equipment and technologies.

The most crucial factor in Azerbaijan's future development of renewable energy is the policy pursued under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev. Owing to the attention and efforts of the President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan has achieved significant success in development of the business environment. This resulted in a huge flow of the world's biggest corporations ready to invest huge amounts of funds in promising projects not only in the field of energy, but also in other economic sectors of Azerbaijan. Stability, an excellent business and investment climate, and the serious political will demonstrated by the country's leadership are the keys to the success of the Azerbaijani economy.
Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - January 16, 2023) - Braveheart Resources Inc. (TSXV: BHT) (OTCQB: RIINF) (FSE: 2ZR) ("Braveheart" or the "Company") hereby announces a change in name to Canadian Critical Minerals Inc. The Company has received approval from shareholders, its board and the TSX Venture Exchange to enact the change. As part of the name change, effective at the start of trading on or about January 19, 2023, Canadian Critical Minerals Inc. will commence trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the new symbol "CCMI."

Ian Berzins, President and CEO, commented, "We initiated the name change to better reflect the Company's current focus on developing its past-producing mining assets in Canada in the battery and critical minerals space. The Bull River Mine project is our most advanced asset and we continue to work with regulatory authorities to restart the mine. The Thierry Mine project is one of the largest known copper deposits in Ontario and is in close proximity to existing infrastructure such as roads, grid power and mining communities. In addition to copper, the Thierry Mine project has other critical minerals including nickel, palladium and platinum."

No further action is required by existing shareholders with respect to the name change. There is no change in the share capital of the Company. The Company's new CUSIP number is 13561D105 and its new ISIN number is CA13561D1050. Certificates representing common shares of the Company will not be affected by the name and symbol change and will not need to be exchanged.

About Braveheart Resources Inc.

Braveheart is a mining company primarily focused on two near-term copper production assets in Canada. Braveheart's main asset is the 100% owned Bull River Mine project (>135MM lbs of copper) near Cranbrook, British Columbia which has a Mineral Resource containing copper, gold and silver. Braveheart's latest acquisition is the 100% owned Thierry Mine project (>1,300MM lbs of copper) near Pickle Lake, Ontario which has a Mineral Resource containing copper, nickel, silver, palladium, platinum and gold.

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Contact Information

Braveheart Resources Inc.

Ian Berzins

President & Chief Executive Officer

M: +1-403-512-8202

E: iberzins@braveheartresources.com

Website: www.braveheartresources.com

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release includes certain information that may constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements about strategic plans, future work programs and objectives and expected results from such work programs. Forward-looking information necessarily involve known and unknown risks, including, without limitation, risks associated with general economic conditions; inability to access sufficient capital from internal and external sources, and/or inability to access sufficient capital on favourable terms; and other risks.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information and the risks identified in the Company's continuous disclosure record. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this news release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof. The Company 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 law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this new release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151487
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, India, Shri Eknath Shinde, has lined up 21 Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with leading foreign investors and global companies, worth over $17 billion, at the World Economic Forum (WEF). The investments are estimated to create more than 66,500 jobs over the next few years. These investments are aimed at jumpstarting Maharashtra on its ambitious $ 1-trillion economy goal journey.

Of these, the majority are greenfield projects in Data Centres, pharmaceuticals, logistics, chemicals, automobiles, electric vehicles, renewable energy and ESDM, which will foster inclusive growth, job creation and sustainable development. Shri Shinde is on a two-day visit to Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde stated: "Maharashtra has been a key driver and contributor to India's economic growth. We are leading the way in delivering ground-breaking investment opportunities and building confidence for the investing community. These MOUs demonstrate the heightened interest in the state and are a testament to Maharashtra's progressive policies and investor-friendly initiatives under our new government. I have presented the progressive policy reforms of my government, making the state a part of the global conversation, to reiterate to political leaders and global investors why Maharashtra is a premier investment destination."

Maharashtra also signed the prestigious three-year Platform Partnership with the WEF, a commercial contract for continuous engagements on subjects of strategic importance to the State. The subjects focus on Shaping the Future of Urban Transformation - smart and connected cities, urban resilience, governance, infrastructure & services and resource management  and New Economies and Societies, focusing on entrepreneurship, education & skills, economic growth and job creation.

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During his visit, Shri Shinde also will be presenting Maharashtra's progressive policies and investor-friendly outlook to key political and government representatives from Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore, among others.

About Maharashtra:

Maharashtra is one of the most industrialised states in India, contributing 16% to the country's industrial output and 15% to its GDP. The service sector contributes the most to the state's economy, accounting for 62% of its GDP, while the manufacturing sector is the second-largest contributor to the state's economy, accounting for 20% of its GDP. Major industries in Maharashtra include automobiles, engineering, textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, food processing and IT/ITeS.

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SOURCE The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC)
China's top diplomat Wang Yi and his French counterpart discussed an "important bilateral agenda" for the two nations on Monday ahead of an expected visit by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Wang's phone call with Emmanuel Bonne, Macron's diplomatic counsellor, was his first public diplomatic task since being promoted to the 24-member Politburo as well as the role of director of the Central Committee's Foreign Affairs Commission Office following his 10-year stint as foreign minister.

"The current world situation is full of turbulence and change, and the healthy and stable development of Sino-French relations is of special significance," Wang said.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

"As permanent members of the UN Security Council and independent major countries, China and France should strengthen strategic communication and play an important role in coping with global chaos and changes.

"China is willing to, together with France, intensify high-level exchanges, deepen strategic mutual trust, and open up new prospects for China-France comprehensive strategic partnership."

Macron signalled his plan to visit China sometime early this year when he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in Indonesia in November, but no details of a trip have been released.

Macron was among a few European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who were invited to visit China after the 20th Communist Party congress. Macron had reportedly offered to travel with Scholz to China in November to show "unity" of the European Union, but Scholz turned down the offer.

Macron, who has positioned himself as a mediator in the war in Ukraine, is expected to seek China's support to help end the conflict during his visit, despite clashes between China and the European Union over their positions on Ukraine.

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Ties between Beijing and the bloc have been strained by a range of issues including Taiwan and human rights, and calls have recently grown within the EU to reduce economic dependence on China.

Macron, who has often defended the EU's "strategic autonomy", has openly criticised Germany's Hamburg port deal, which allowed the state-owned Cosco to become a shareholder in a firm that operates terminals at the port. Macron said the EU had made "strategic errors" in infrastructure-related sales to China over the years.

China called on France and the US to stop making an issue of China after Macron and US President Joe Biden agreed to "coordinate" on "China's challenges" over human rights and Taiwan during the French president's December visit to Washington.

Wang said "mutual trust" would be the key between China and the EU, with 2023 marking the 20th anniversary of their comprehensive strategic partnership.

Bonne said France had resisted a "cold-war mindset and bloc politics" and was willing to play a positive role in expanding dialogue between China and Europe, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.

France is one of several European countries to have imposed restrictions on travellers from China over concerns about the country's surge in Covid-19 cases.

The Chinese statement did not refer to the restrictions, saying only that Bonne told Wang that France "understands and supports" China's Covid-19 measures.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright  2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
World-class Advertising Displays Light-Up Newark Airport's $2.7 Billion Terminal A as it Opens to Passenger Travel

Locally-based Global NJ Brands Including Audible, Rutgers University and Atlantic Health System are First to Debut Ad Campaigns in the New Terminal

NEWARK, N.J., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Clear Channel Airports (CCA), the Americas-based airports business of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO), activated another cutting-edge, digital media program at the much-anticipated grand opening of the Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) Terminal A. Created in partnership with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), the digital media transformation features nearly 6,000 square feet of the latest state-of-the-art premium advertising media. Global brands, based in NJ, including Audible, Rutgers University and Atlantic Health System are the first advertisers to enter this new airport media space where they will reach millions of airport customers annually leveraging the latest in digital and printed display technology.

EWR's Terminal A is the largest design-build project in New Jerseys history.

Clear Channel Airports, the nation's leading airport media provider, designed this advertising space as an integration to the $2.7 billion terminal's stunning renovation. The approximately one million square foot terminal provides attractive advertising, sponsorship, brand partnerships and experiential opportunities for brands and businesses looking to reach millions of flyers throughout the greater metropolitan region. This latest transformation at EWR is just one program that coincides with CCA's 12-year deal with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to modernize its coveted airports including John F. Kennedy International (JFK), LaGuardia (LGA), and New York Stewart International (SWF) Airports. The partnership, announced in October 2020, is the largest airport advertising and sponsorship in the U.S.

"We are excited for passengers to finally be part of this highly anticipated advertising journey while traveling through the new Terminal A at Newark airport," said Morten Gotterup, president, Clear Channel Airports. "Our partnership with PANYNJ has allowed us to create an environment that revolutionizes the airport experience for travelers from all around the world. Our media network brings to life the transformation we have envisioned with our partners over the last two years, and as a result, we created a unique, immersive and opulent program that will engage and inspire millions of people passing through the new magnificent terminal."

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CCA's new digital media program showcases over 70 high-impact and innovative displays throughout the 33-gate terminal, including an iconic 24-foot seamless digital "umbrella"  a suspended, first-of-its-kind airport advertising screen hanging above the terminal's largest concourse where not only do you view the massive installation head-on in both directions, but the advertising is also viewable above you as you walk under it. Additionally, a network of 54 ultra-high-definition LCD screens, two unique 42-foot curved LED soffits and 16 dynamic digital columns light up Terminal A's new ultramodern interior, creating an impactful, audience-oriented advertising experience. CCA revealed that a 75-foot external head-on digital welcome display attached to the new consolidated car rental facility (CONRAC) is also in the works.

"As a company proudly headquartered in Newark, NJ, we are really excited to be part of the launch of the new Terminal A at Newark Airport, said Tom McKenna, SVP, Marketing & Media Ops, Audible. "Our work with Clear Channel Airports and the PANYNJ showcases Audible's audiobook, podcast and originals content on unique digital screens, elevator wraps, and large format displays. As millions of passengers travel this season, we're excited for Audible to ignite their imaginations along the way."

Terminal A is the largest design-build project in New Jersey's history and is expected to generate more than $4.6 billion of regional economic activity. The airport transformation has also focused efforts on securing sub-contracts to minority and women-owned business enterprises, which as of June 2022, totaled more than $686 million and $213 million for 92 sub-contracts to New Jersey firms. It is estimated that EWR Terminal A will efficiently handle 13.6 million passengers each year.

**********************************************

About Clear Channel Airports

Dedicated to airport advertising for close to 45 years, Clear Channel Airports is the leading airport advertising, sponsorship specialist and innovator in the U.S. Clear Channel Airports (CCA), the Americas-based airports business of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO), is one of the world's largest outdoor advertising companies and operates more than 260 airport media programs across the globe and has a presence in 28 of the top 50 U.S. markets with major airports. More information can be found on Clear Channel Airports and Clear Channel Outdoor Americas by visiting www.clearchannelairports.com and www.clearchanneloutdoor.com

Follow & Like: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Read our award-winning blog: http://blog.clearchanneloutdoor.com/

New digital media program showcases over 70 high-impact and innovative displays throughout the terminal.

Locally-based global NJ brands, like Audible, are first to debut ad campaigns in EWR's Terminal A.

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (PRNewsfoto/Clear Channel Outdoor)

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SOURCE Clear Channel Outdoor
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Colombia is looking to supplement a global deal setting minimum tax levels for multinationals with an additional accord among its fellow Latin American countries, finance minister Jose Antonio Ocampo said on Tuesday.

Paris-based think tank Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in 2021 rallied some 140 countries to support a revamp of cross-border tax rules to take better account of the emergence of big digital companies, such as Apple and Amazon that can book profits in low-tax countries.

Ocampo said the OECD-brokered deal, which is expected to take effect in 2024, did not adequately reflect the interests of many developing economies.

"The idea is to have a mechanism of real cooperation that will go over what we consider the frustrating results of the OECD negotiations of a couple of years ago," Ocampo told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

"Only very large multinationals were captured by that regulation, which is too limited. And there is still a bias in favour of (countries that host) the headquarters of multinationals," he said in Davos.

Ocampo said he was approaching Brazil and Chile initially with the proposal, and planned to discuss it with Mexico. The goal was to have a finance minister-level meeting of interested countries in July.

(Reporting by Mark John in Davos; Editing by Alexander Smith)
NEWARK, DE / ACCESSWIRE / January 16, 2023 / As per Future Market Insights (FMI), sales in the global twist caps market are likely to surpass US$ 4.2 Bn by 2033. The market is projected to be valued at US$ 2.6 Bn by the end of 2023 and exhibit a steady CAGR of 4.9% throughout the estimated time frame (2023-2033).

Future Market Insights, Inc., Monday, January 16, 2023, Press release picture

The cosmetics market has been significantly growing in recent times, and many new brands are coming into the market & capturing the beauty products sector. Increased consumption and application of cosmetic products is helping the twist caps market to grow.

Beauty brands are also designing new types of packaging as aesthetics has become one of the most important parts of product marketing. Also, manufacturers need to assure that the packaged cosmetic product is well preserved and in a good condition so they are majorly focusing on their packaging. Booming Cosmetics Industry Spurs Adoption of Aesthetically Pleasing Packaging, Positioning Twist Caps Market to US$ 4.2 Bn by 2033.

Request Sample Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-16387

Along with aesthetics, convenience to open and close the container is of utmost importance for successful packaging solutions. Twist caps provide the convenience to handle cosmetics products so that they are majorly accepted by consumers.

In the past few years, cosmetics and personal care products have gained immense popularity due to social media. Numerous brands are focusing on product quality, as well as the packaging of their products to generate high shares.

Twist caps application in the cosmetics and personal care industry is currently limited to a few products. But the industry is set to showcase a lot of potentials to explore the twist caps market. Owing to these aforementioned factors, the cosmetic industry is expected to boost twist caps sales.

Key Takeaways from the Twist Caps Market

Based on end use, the food category is anticipated to dominate the global twist caps market in the next ten years.

Top 3 countries in the global twist caps market are estimated to hold a share of nearly 30% to 35% in 2023.

Top 5 twist caps manufacturers captured a market share of approximately 15%-20% in 2022.

During the historical period from 2018 to 2022, the global twist caps market showcased a CAGR of 4.5% .

The U.S. twist caps market is likely to capture nearly 4/5th portion of North America till 2023.

Story continues

"Growing demand for well-preserved and safe product packaging along with the convenience to use and aesthetic appeal is instigating sales of twist caps among various brands. Also, recyclability feature offered by metal twist caps would create new growth opportunities due to rising sustainability concerns." - says an FMI analyst.

Ask an Analyst @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-16387

Rising Number of New Drink Brands and Preference for Sustainable Packaging to Boost Sales of Twist Caps

Twist caps have a huge application in the beverage industry and these caps are used for sealing water bottles, soft drink bottles, as well as alcoholic drinks. Many brands are coming up with new alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, which would create various growth opportunities for companies present in the twist caps market.

These drinks are packaged in glass bottles, metal cans, or plastic bottles. Thus, they need a vacuum sealing for preserving the drink and maintaining their temperature. Along with the quality of the product, packaging of these drinks is very important.

Various types of twist caps are available in the market such as regular with step, deep step open, medium twist open, and twist with safety button to suit the application as per changing needs. Consumer demand is also changing and due to these factors, various brands are adopting twist open caps as a closure for drink containers.

Moreover, twist caps made from steel, tin, and any other PVC-free materials are gaining traction in the market due to their recycling ability and eco-friendly nature as consumers are preferring sustainable packaging. Properly sealed cap is required for containers to package the product and thus twist caps are creating new growth opportunities for manufacturers.

Competition Landscape: Twist Caps Market

Silgan Closures GmbH, TOKK Company, Nippon Closures Co., Ltd., Massilly Holding S.A.S, Tecnocap S.p.A., D PLAST a.s, Gebruder Leonhardt GmbH & Co. KG, and Blema Kircheis are the major players operating in the global twist caps market. Also, some of the other noticeable players in the market include Samhwa Crown & Closure, Elmoris, Jsc, Indo Cap Closures, Caps & Closures, AAPL Solutions, and Xuzhou Xinyu Glass Products Co., Ltd. among others.

Report Customization available @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-16387

Twist Caps Market Outlook by Category

By Material:

Plastic

Metal

By Diameter:

Less than 30 mm

30 to 45 mm

45 to 60 mm

60 to 85 mm

More than 85 mm

By End Use:

Food

Beverage

Chemical & Fertilizer

Pharmaceutical

Cosmetics & Personal Care

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

South Asia

East Asia

Middle East & Africa

Oceania

Table of Content

1. Executive Summary

1.1. Global Market Outlook

1.2. Demand-side Trends

1.3. Supply-side Trends

1.4. Technology Roadmap Analysis

1.5. Analysis and Recommendations

2. Market Overview

2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy

2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Market Background

3.1. Market Dynamics

3.1.1. Drivers

3.1.2. Restraints

3.1.3. Opportunity

3.1.4. Trends

3.2. Impact of Covid-19

3.2.1. Demand in Optimistic Scenario

3.2.2. Demand in Likely Scenario

3.2.3. Demand in Conservative Scenario

3.3. Macro Factors and Forecast Factors

View Full Reports @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/twist-caps-market

Have a Look at Related Research Reports of Packaging

Twist Open - Twist Close Caps Market Size: The twist open - twist close caps market is expected to be worth US$ 65 billion in 2022. The market is expanding at a 5.5% CAGR and is likely to be worth US$ 117 billion by 2032



IV Infusion Bottle Seals and Caps Market Share: The global IV infusion bottle seals and caps market is expected to be worth US$ 231.1 Mn by the year 2029 at a CAGR of 5.3 % between 2022 and 2029



Ribbed Phenolic Caps Market Trends: Ribbed phenolic caps are threaded closure with an uninterrupted spiral mechanism and are known as premier closure in the packaging industry



Plastic Caps & Closures Market Analysis: The global plastic caps & closures market is estimated at US$ 44 Bn in 2022 and is projected to reach US$ 61 Bn by 2029



Twist Tube Market Outlook: According to Future Market Insights research, during the projected period, twist tube market is predicted to reach a US$ 237.0 Mn in 2023

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

LinkedIn | Twitter | Blogs | YouTube

For Sales Enquiries: sales@futuremarketinsights.com

SOURCE: Future Market Insights, Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/735353/During-the-Forecast-Period-the-Global-Twist-Caps-Industry-is-Anticipated-to-Expand-at-a-CAGR-of-49-Future-Market-Insights-Inc




CALGARY, AB, Jan. 16, 2023 /CNW/ - In 2023, FortisAlberta is preparing for an increased demand of Electric Vehicles (EVs) on the road by asking an important question  how will an upswing in EVs impact the province's electricity distribution grid? To help answer this question, FortisAlberta is inviting EV owners across Alberta to participate in its Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Pilot. The program monitors EV owners' charging habits  data that is essential to understanding and managing increased electricity demands. The pilot project is the first of its kind in rural Alberta, as approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission.

In support of the federal government's target that all new light-duty cars and passenger trucks be one-hundred per cent zero emission by 2035  with mandatory interim targets in 2026 and 2030  we expect to see an increasing number of Albertans driving EVs. The latest numbers indicated there are approximately 5,600 EVs registered in Alberta.

As the electricity distributor to more than 240 Alberta communities, this pilot affirms FortisAlberta's commitment to a resilient grid and to long-term, prudent investment into Alberta's distribution infrastructure.

Participants of the pilot will receive incentives to take part. Charging data will be implemented and analyzed over the course of 2023 to understand the impacts of charging on system demand, including how managed charging can limit cost and optimize the grid.

"The data gathered will help us understand vehicle charging requirements of our customers," says Curtis Eck, Vice President of Engineering. "It will also demonstrate the opportunity for active managed charging to mitigate grid impacts, reduce carbon impacts, and save customers money; costs that directly impact the transmission and distribution fees on Albertan's utility bills".

FortisAlberta, in collaboration with EV smart charging app developer, Optiwatt, is looking for up to 600 customers who drive an EV and live within FortisAlberta's service area to participate in the study. Participants can enrol by downloading the free Optiwatt app from the Google Play and Apple App stores.

Visit https://www.fortisalberta.com/evpilotproject to learn more.

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About FortisAlberta

As owner and operator of more than 60 per cent of Alberta's total electricity distribution network, FortisAlberta's focus is delivering safe and reliable electricity to more than half a million residential, farm and business customers. The Company serves more than 240 communities with 127,000 kilometres of distribution power lines across Alberta.

SOURCE FORTISALBERTA INC

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View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2023/16/c6154.html
After upgrading its features, the FullChinese App seeks its use by language educators, Chinese teachers, and heritage speakers.

Boston, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - Today, FullChinese App ("FullChinese App" or the "Company"), a Chinese language app that combines all critical learning language features into a one single highly optimized app, declared the app now has an option - for importing Youtube videos with Close Caption inside the app, such that they become engaging study material completely in tune with students' interest.

To reach more students, the company upgraded its features to allow educators, whether Chinese university teachers, high school teachers or tutors, to add their own content. Teachers can import their own text into the app, anything of interest on the internet, such as YouTube videos, or student generated content. This allows students to access content tailored to both their level and interest.





To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8896/151534_54f260601498884f_001full.jpg

The new upgraded feature received positive feedback from language educators, as it became possible to retain some students who would have given up otherwise.

By being aware of the challenges faced by Chinese teachers, the Company provides free technical support for their students. Teachers only have to choose which content they wish their student to study, and the company handles every other technical aspect. The FullChinese app is available on iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Emmanuel Roche, founder of the FullChinese App, said, "The FullChinese App is designed to help language educators like governmental committees in charge of higher education, and school districts, Chinese teachers in universities, and all teachers of the Chinese language make their job less tedious and more exciting for both them and their learners."

"We also created a helpful resource center they can freely access, since we are all together in the business of promoting the Chinese language," he continued. Since its founding, the FullChinese App has embraced AI technology to simplify the learning of the Chinese, making it fun to use for both potential investors and their students.

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Its use of AI technology has allowed the Company to identify other audiences, except its original audience; students, expanding their audience base. This is just another way FullChinese App is reshaping the language learning industry, especially Chinese.

About FullChinese App

Founded in 2012 by Emmanuel Roche, a researcher in Natural Language Processing and Computational Linguistics, and an entrepreneur who co-founded the main NLP Company of the time (Teragram Corporation), with a lifelong interest in Chinese language and how to learn it efficiently.

The FullChinese App is a comprehensive software solution designed to help students reach full fluency in Chinese. The Company now has a worldwide team of linguists, educators who are native speakers, engineers, including a team in Ukraine, who are counted as colleagues.

Media Contact

Company name: FullChinese App

Contact Person: Emmanuel Roche

Email: roche@gammakite.com

Country: United States

Website: https://www.fullchinese.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151534
ReportLinker

The Global Alfalfa Seed Market is projected to register a CAGR of 4.71%. Key Highlights. Largest Segment by Breeding Technology - Hybrids : The large share of hybrids is associated with the development and adoption of transgenic hybrids, increased area under hybrids, high palatability, and disease resistance.

New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Alfalfa Seed Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381362/?utm_source=GNW



Largest Segment by Country - Canada : It is due to the increased area under cultivation as a result of government initiatives, high profitability, and an increase in the demand for feed from livestock industry.

Fastest-growing Segment by Breeding Technology - Hybrids : The fastest growth of hybrids is expected due to the increasing area under transgenic alfalfa. Also, major companies are developing new hybrids with improved traits.

Fastest-growing Segment by Country - United Kingdom : The fastest growth of the segment is due to the high demand for better-quality meat, increasing livestock population, and awareness about quality feed among farmers.



Alfalfa Seed Market Trends



Hybrids is the largest segment by Breeding Technology.



The livestock population is increasing across the regions. The increase in livestock population needs an expansion of the area under forages. These are some of the major factors leading to the growth of the hybrid and open-pollinated seed market.

The hybrid segment tops the alfalfa seed market due to the increase in adoption of hybrid varieties because of increasing awareness about its benefits. The hybrid seed market share value is expected to increase by 36% from 2022 to 2028 due to the rise in the seed replacement rate and the availability of improved varieties in the market.

Increasing acceptance of advanced hybrid technology, such as drought tolerance and disease resistance by growers, are expected to help in the hybrid alfalfa seed market growth in the coming years. For instance, the cultivated area of transgenic alfalfa in North America has increased by 24% during the 2016-2021 period due to high-quality production and higher protection from weeds and diseases than open-pollinated varieties.

Europe is forecasted to be the fastest growing market in the OPVs segment at a CAGR of 5% because a small group of farmers in the country is expected to use OPVs over hybrids as they require fewer inputs, such as fertilizer and pesticides, and are less expensive and more affordable for small holding and low-income farmers.

Therefore, an increase in the cultivation area under commercial seeds and the demand from cattle growers for quality forage with more protein and digestible fiber content is expected to boost the market for hybrid seeds across the region during the forecast period.



North America is the largest segment by Region.



In 2021, North America was the largest market in the global alfalfa seed market, with a share of about 44% of the global market due to the highest production, globally, weather conditions, and increased demand by dairy farmers. Canada has the greatest demand in the region because of the increase in demand for crops as feed, the increase in cultivation area, and high profitability.



In Asia-Pacific, alfalfa is an important forage crop as the weather is favorable and demand for high protein feed is more from the livestock and cattle rearers in the region. The market share of the region was 19% of the global alfalfa seed market in 2021, which is expected to increase in the forecast period as the adoption of alfalfa is increasing among farmers.

Europe is the second largest producer of alfalfa globally. Europes share in the global alfalfa seed market value was 26% in 2021, with an area of nearly 3.6 million ha under cultivation.?? Italy was the largest producer and occupied a large area of alfalfa production in Europe. As there is a significant demand for better-quality meat, increased livestock production is likely to create a demand for better forage crops such as alfalfa, driving the market for alfalfa forage seeds in the region.

In South America, the area cultivated has increased by about 19% from 2016 to 2022 due to high profitability and an increase in the demand for feed for livestock as well as the meat industry.

Therefore, the above factors, such as the increasing area under cultivation and rising demand for forage, are anticipated to help in the growth of the alfalfa seed market.



Alfalfa Seed Market Competitive Analysis



The Global Alfalfa Seed Market is moderately consolidated, with the top five companies occupying 55.78%. The major players in this market are Bayer AG, Corteva Agriscience, DLF, RAGT Semences and Royal Barenbrug Group (sorted alphabetically).



Additional Benefits:



The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format

3 months of analyst support

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381362/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




By Trend

Matteo Carnieletto, a reporter for the Italian InsideOver news website, covered the peaceful protest of Azerbaijani eco-activists on Azerbaijan's Lachin-Khankendi road, Trend reports.

The article says that Azerbaijani ecologists have been protesting on the Lachin-Khankendi road for over 30 days, chanting slogans such as "Stop the pollution!", "Protect the environment - protect ourselves!".

"They have been holding a peaceful rally on the Lachin-Khankendi road for more than 30 days, and Armenia accuses them of blocking the road for political reasons. Activists reject the accusations and prefer to focus on ecology and the environment," the article says.

"For decades, the Armenian occupiers have been plundering these lands and polluting the environment. They continue this activity, and now is the time to put a stop to it," the reporter quotes protesters, drawing attention to the illegal transportation of weapons along the Lachin-Khankendi road.

Carnieletto notes that immediately after the signing of the trilateral declaration in 2020, the road was used by Armenians for the illegal trafficking of weapons, and mines, as well as for the export of minerals looted from Azerbaijan's gold and copper mines. "Moreover, cases of illegal entry of undesirable persons through this road from other countries, in particular, from Iran, have been repeatedly recorded," he adds.

The Italian reporter also noted the liberation of Shusha, mentioning that the operation to liberate the city by Azerbaijani special forces was the subject of study by military specialists from the US and Singapore. He also notes an agreement in the defense sphere recently signed between Italy and Azerbaijan.

Carnieletto rejects the accusations of the Armenians, noting that the road is open, and the participants of the peaceful protest do not hinder the movement of cars and humanitarian convoys in any direction.

"Approximately every forty minutes, the Russian vehicles pass along the road, and the participants of the protest create conditions for their passage. Therefore, a blockade or a humanitarian catastrophe is out of the question. The Russian cars, ambulances, humanitarian aid, and vehicles of the International Society of the Red Cross freely pass through the territory where the rally is taking place," says Carnieletto in his article.
Agreement between DevvStream and Global Green establishes a Carbon Program in the United States to help local and federal government organizations, corporations, and academic institutions execute their climate plans through carbon markets.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 17, 2023) - DevvStream Holdings Inc. (NEO: DESG) ("DevvStream" or the "Company"), a leading carbon credit investment firm specializing in technology solutions, and Global Green, the American affiliate of Green Cross International (GCI), a global non-governmental organization founded by President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993, are pleased to announce the launch of a U.S. Carbon Program (the "Program"). The Program is designed to introduce advanced emissions-reducing technologies to Global Green's extensive network of local and federal government organizations, Fortune 100 companies, academic institutions, and private foundations, while providing funding for sustainability initiatives, programs and projects through the use of carbon offset credits.

Carbon market investments have become a vital component of forward-thinking climate plans for both the public and private sector. The global voluntary carbon market was valued at ~US $2B, in 2021 and is expected to grow 50x by 20301, while the compliance market grew from $305B in 2020 to $806B in 2021. Carbon credits created via nature-based solutions (e.g., tree planting, agricultural projects, forestry protection) can only provide up to 20% of carbon emission reductions necessary to meet the world's goals, while the other 80% will need to come from technology-based solutions2 (e.g., carbon removal, artificial carbon sequestration, and the replacement of current inefficient technologies). As such, the Program relies exclusively on the generation of technology-based carbon credits, leveraging DevvStream's expertise in compliance and voluntary markets, its advanced blockchain-based digital asset platform, and its curated ecosystem of technology partners.

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"Federal and local governments, organizations in the private sector, and educational institutions can now leverage the financial power of global carbon markets as they work with Global Green to achieve their broader sustainability goals," said Sunny Trinh, CEO of DevvStream. "Our partnership with Global Green broadens our reach, while providing our affiliate network with new deployment opportunities for their world-changing technologies."

"As the CEO of Global Green and the hopes for a brighter and greener future, I am thrilled to announce our partnership with DevvStream-a leading carbon credit investment firm specializing in technology solutions," said William Bridge, CEO of Global Green. "With the climate crisis at its breaking point and the need for a crucial and profound impact to change the direction in which it's heading, partnering with DevvStream, who provides upfront capital for organizations such as ours in exchange for carbon credit rights, this couldn't be more exciting. As a non-profit organization approaching our 30-year anniversary, Global Green are honored to be partnering with a groundbreaking organization like DevvStream, and we look forward to our future collaboration."

Global Green is the American affiliate of Green Cross International (GCI), an international non- governmental organization founded by President Gorbachev in 1993 to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future. Green Cross International operates in over 30 countries and enjoys consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. GCI is an NGO, holding observer status with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. It also cooperates directly with the UNEP/OCHA Environmental Emergencies Section, UN-HABITAT and other international organizations.

For nearly 30 years, Global Green has served as a recognized national leader in advancing smart solutions to climate change that improve lives and protect the planet. Programmatically, Global Green works to create green cities, neighborhoods, affordable housing, and schools to protect environmental health, improve livability, create sustainable communities, and support the planet's natural systems. In service of its mission, Global Green has partnered with over 50 organizations including local and federal governments, Fortune 100 companies, academic institutions, international groups and private foundations. The Program will be an integral component of Global Green's suite of offerings to its partners.

About Global Green

Global Green is the American affiliate of Green Cross International (GCI), an international non- governmental organization founded by President Gorbachev in 1993. For nearly 30 years, Global Green has served as a recognized national leader in advancing smart solutions to climate change that improve lives and protect the planet, with the mission to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future. Programmatically, Global Green works to create green cities, neighborhoods, affordable housing, and schools to protect environmental health, improve livability, create sustainable communities, and support the planet's natural systems. In service of its mission, Global Green has partnered with over 50 organizations including local and federal governments, Fortune 100 companies, academic institutions, international groups and private foundations.

About DevvStream

DevvStream is a technology-based ESG company that advances the development and monetization of environmental assets, with an initial focus on carbon markets. We work with governments and corporations worldwide to achieve their sustainability goals through the implementation of curated green technology projects that generate renewable energy, improve energy efficiencies, eliminate or reduce emissions, and sequester carbon directly from the air-creating carbon credits in the process. This enables us to provide non-dilutive capital directly to our clients while empowering them with field-proven, technology-based solutions to improve their climate impact quickly and simply. To address common issues such as greenwashing and double-counting, all environmental assets created through our projects are managed via a proprietary blockchain-based ESG software platform, designed explicitly to ensure transparency and auditability, with full data provenance, which significantly increases asset value. DevvStream's business model includes mutual collaboration and partnership with Devvio, a leading ESG-focused blockchain company, and United Cities North America, an affiliate of the United Nations with a focus on building sustainable and net-zero smart cities and communities. For more information about DevvStream, please visit www.devvstream.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

Sunny Trinh, CEO

For further information please contact:

Focus Communications

Tel: +1 647 689 6041

Email: info@fcir.ca

Disclaimer

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements that are not historical facts. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, and which are described in the Company's public filings available under its profile at www.sedar.com. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company does not intend to update any of the included forward-looking statements except as required by Canadian securities laws.

Source List

1 Ecosystem Marketplace, Refinitiv, The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets

2 American University School of International Service, "Fact Sheet: Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change"

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/151516
ReportLinker

The Global Potash Fertilizer Market is projected to register a CAGR of 5.60%. Key Highlights. Fastest growing segment by Type - MoP : Muriate of potash (MoP) is a potassic fertilizer with the highest potash content of 60.0%, with a comparatively less price making it most used potassic fertilizer.

New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Potash Fertilizer Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381432/?utm_source=GNW



Largest Segment by Crop Type - Field Crops : Field crops are widely cultivated worldwide and are a staple food in many parts of the world. They account for a maximum share by area in most agricultural countries.

Largest Segment by Application Mode - Soil : Soil application is a convenient way of applying fertilizers without any equipment. This method of application helps in improving both plant health and soil fertility.

Largest segment by Country - Brazil : The soils of Brazil are mostly acidic in nature, thus limiting the availability of K. Brazil has around 74.61 million ha of cropland, requiring a large amount of potassium.



Key Market Trends



MoP is the largest segment by Product.



Muriate of potash (MoP) is a potassic fertilizer with the highest potash content of 60.0%. The global market for Muriate of Potash is valued at USD 13.56 billion in the year 2021 with a volume consumption of 34.6 million metric tons in the same year. Moreover, it accounts for 90.6% of the total potassium fertilizer consumption globally.

Sulphate of potash with 50.0% of potassium content, is the second most preferred potassium fertilizer globally. The global SoP fertilizer market is valued at USD 1.20 billion in the year 2021. with a volume consumption of 1.8 million metric tons.

South America is the largest market for potassic fertilizer, and it accounts for a market share of 41.0% in the year 2022. This is attributed to the higher production of potassic fertilizers in the South American countries like Brazil, along with high demand for Potassic fertilizers by the crops grown in the region.

Other important potassic fertilizers include Langbeinite and Carnallite. These fertilizers account for 1.7% of the total potassic fertilizer consumption in the world. In the year 2021, the other fertilizer segment is valued at USD 261.8 million, with a volume consumption of 514.6 thousand metric tons.

Moreover, the price of Sulphate of Potash is higher compared to MoP and other potassic fertilizers. For instance, the price of SoP has been close to double the price of Muriate of Potash since 2017 and it was more than double in the year 2021. The high price of SoP fertilizer has given it the less market share over MoP despite of the higher quality.

The market for potassic fertilizers is anticipated to grow during the forecast period, owing tot the factors like the increased need for higher crop productivity.



South America is the largest segment by Region.



South America dominates the global potash fertilizers market, accounting for 34.2% of the market value in 2021. According to the analysis, the South American potash fertilizer market was valued at USD 5.10 billion in 2021. By fertilizer type, conventional potash fertilizers dominate the fertilizer market accounting for about 71.1% followed by specialty potash fertilizers contributing to 28.8% in 2021.

Owing to the high demand for potash for South American crops, the potassic fertilizer, occupies the largest share of the domestic market. South America imports fertilizers extensively, in between 2017-2018, it imported 7.0 million metric ton of potash fertilizes (FAO).

Europe accounts for the second largest market share globally accounting for 23.0% market share in 2021. in europe, the rest of European countries that consume the majority of fertilizers include Poland, Belgium, and South-eastern European countries and it accounts for 70.5 % of the value of Europe fertilizer market and anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 3.6% during the forecast period.

North America is the third largest potash fertilizer market accounted for 21.3%, the United States dominates the market, and it accounts for about 84.3% of the total North America potassic fertilizer market value, valued at about USD 2.70 billion in 2021. This is because it occupied about 69.0% of total agricultural land in North America.

Potassium deficiency is commonly noticed in most soils across developing markets; Therefore, farmers are using potash fertilizers to minimize potassium deficiencies and increase their productivity, which is further driving the growth of the market.



Competitive Landscape



The Global Potash Fertilizer Market is fairly consolidated, with the top five companies occupying 67.38%. The major players in this market are Eurochem, K+S AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, Nutrien Limited, Petrokemija DD Fertilizer Factory and The Mosaic Co. (sorted alphabetically).



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CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI, Jan. 17, 2023 /CNW/ - Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada has taken a comprehensive and prudent approach to managing the virus, with measures and actions informed by available data, operational considerations, scientific evidence, and monitoring of the epidemiological situation and best practices both in Canada and internationally.

Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, visited the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, which will receive $1.5 million from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to enhance COVID-19 wastewater testing capacity for the Atlantic provinces.

This project supports the National Wastewater Surveillance Program by increasing the reach of monitoring and allows COVID-19 testing to be completed quickly in the region, without the need to ship the samples to Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Wastewater data is an important early warning sign for public health action and decisions for the benefit of communities in Atlantic Canada.

Wastewater monitoring has been essential in COVID-19 monitoring and is one of the key tools guiding the future of public health surveillance. People infected with COVID-19 can shed the virus through their stool, even if they do not have any symptoms. Testing a community's sewage (wastewater) can help determine if COVID-19 is increasing or decreasing in a community and provides information on the variants circulating within a community. People can also use wastewater trend data to make decisions about personal health measures when going out into their community.

PHAC scientists, along with their Canadian academic and provincial/territorial partners, are leading the way on wastewater surveillance based on its growing use during the COVID-19 pandemic. This knowledge, combined with PHAC's work with provincial, territorial, municipal, and Indigenous governments to establish a strong network of wastewater testing sites across Canada, has also helped scientists study the presence of other diseases in wastewater, including antimicrobial resistant organisms, mpox (monkeypox), and poliovirus.

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The Government of Canada has committed $28.1 million since May 2020 to establish, expand and enhance the pan-Canadian wastewater surveillance program. It provides an innovative and straightforward approach that enables efficient monitoring of a population (or community) for early detection and trending of pathogen activity.

Quotes

"Wastewater monitoring is the future of public health surveillance for infectious diseases in Canada. It is an innovative tool that currently assists in determining the levels of COVID-19 in communities and provides an early warning to public health authorities of

COVID-19 variants. The funding announced today will increase the range and speed of wastewater testing results for Atlantic Canadians resulting in a rapid and cost-effective approach for early detection of outbreaks and surges."

The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos

Minister of Health

"The University of Prince Edward Island is pleased that expertise at the Atlantic Veterinary College's Diagnostic Services department will be harnessed to aid in the monitoring of COVID-19 and other pathogens of public health significance in the Atlantic region. We are grateful for this funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada, allowing us to be part of this important pan-Canadian wastewater surveillance network."

Dr. Greg Keefe

President and Vice-Chancellor (Interim)

University of Prince Edward Island

"The health of Atlantic Canadians is always a priority. With the state-of-the-art equipment and expertise at UPEI and AVC, this funding will help PHAC quickly identify and react to current and future abnormalities in the wastewater system. This investment also underscores the value and significance of these great PEI institutions and the depth of talent that distinguishes them."

Sean Casey

Member of Parliament for Charlottetown

Quick Facts

The Public Health Agency of Canada is continuing to collaborate with other federal departments, provincial, territorial, municipal and Indigenous governments and academia across Canada to compile wastewater data into the COVID-19 wastewater surveillance dashboard. The dashboard will continue to be expanded to provide additional data to people in Canada, including additional cities.

Since wastewater testing is different than clinical testing to diagnose active COVID-19 infections, it provides an additional, independent measure of community transmission.

For information about how scientists from Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory are advancing the science of wastewater testing please read: Harnessing the power of wastewater testing to detect COVID-19 outbreaks and Community-led wastewater testing in northern, remote and isolated communities.

SOURCE Public Health Agency of Canada

Cision

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2023/17/c3614.html
GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Guatemala has called its ambassador in Colombia for consultations, Guatemala's foreign ministry said in a statement Tuesday, condemning what it called the abrupt decision by the Colombian government against Guatemala's justice system.

On Monday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro defended his defense minister, who led a UN anti-corruption unit in Guatemala and who is accused of illegal acts by the Central American country. (Reporting by Sofia Menchu; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Steven Grattan)
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --Infinium Spirits Inc., a global premium spirits company based in San Diego, California; announces the appointment of Jan Tharp as President. Tharp is a highly experienced, inspirational leader in the CPG industry who has led and developed teams for over 20 years, achieving significant business transformation.

Infinium Spirits Logo

Tharp most recently served as President and CEO of the 123-year-old, iconic branded seafood company, Bumble Bee Seafoods with over $1.0 billion in global revenues. During her tenure in this role, she led the team through the development of a transformational corporate strategy with a focus on growth and innovation and successfully expanded the presence of its international portfolio of brands. Prior to being named President and CEO, she held the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Jan has an extensive background in relationship management, supply chain and international business, holding several executive leadership positions in the food and beverage sector throughout her career.

Tharp is also a Board member and past co-chair of the Packaging and Processing Women's Leadership Network, and currently sits on the Advisory Committee for Michigan State University's School of Packaging.

"I am thrilled Jan is joining Infinium Spirits as President. She is a strategic, transformational, and a purpose-driven leader. Jan brings invaluable experience scaling and growing businesses, developing successful go-to-market strategies, improving operational efficiencies, and fostering a people-forward and inclusive workplace culture," said Chris Underwood, Chief Executive Officer for Young's Holdings Inc., parent company of Infinium Spirits. "I am excited to welcome Jan as Infinium's next President. I believe her experience, leadership, and enthusiasm are exactly what we need as we drive the company forward."

"I am honored and privileged to lead the incredibly talented Infinium Spirits team as President," said Tharp. "This is an amazing company, with a deep history of quality brands, and I look forward to building on that great foundation."

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About Infinium Spirits

Established in 2005 and based out of San Diego, California, Infinium Spirits is a family-owned global premium spirits supplier. Infinium specializes in building a diverse and distinctive portfolio of award-winning spirit brands including Templeton Rye; Skrewball Whiskey; Seagram's Vodka; Corralejo Tequila; Crystal Head Vodka; Zaya Rum; Highway Vodka; Torres Brandy; Tears of Llorona Tequila; Los Arango Tequila; Magdala Orange Liqueur; Rives Gin; Perro San Juan Mezcal and El Gobernador Pisco. For more information, visit www.infiniumspirits.com .

Jan Tharp

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/infinium-spirits-announces-new-president--jan-tharp-301723533.html

SOURCE Infinium Spirits
Eight Hong Kong influencer groups share their Japan travel experience in 19 Prefectures

HONG KONG, January 17, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Hong Kong Office has launched two new websites in Traditional Chinese: A video website "Discover the new sense of Japan," where influencers representing different travel styles, document their unique travels in videos to introduce the destinations they visited, and a travel blog website "Hand-in-Hand Tour of Japan," where influencers introduce various themed destinations for couples in travel blog articles. A total number of eight influencer groups are featured on the two websites, to introduce Japanese uniqueness through gastronomy, nature, traditional culture & history, etc., in 19 prefectures and 20 itineraries. New video and travel blog content will be released regularly until March 2023.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230104006042/en/

Discover the new sense of Japan

On October 11, 2022, Japan significantly eased entry restrictions, allowing individual travelers from Hong Kong to visit Japan again. The number of Hong Kong travelers visiting Japan had reached a record high of approximately 2.3 million in 2019 but declined to just 1,200 visitors in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since the relaxation of border measures, there has been an increase in travelers from Hong Kong, from 2,800 in September 2022 to 83,000 in November 2022.

For the Hongkongers who have been eagerly awaiting the easing of entry restrictions, the JNTO Hong Kong office is providing information on tourist attractions, including areas off the beaten path.

In this campaign, four famous Hong Kong influencer groups will introduce four areas by different travel styles which are "Girls Trip," "Family Journey," "Solo Travel," and "Couple Vacation" through videos. Moreover, 16 destinations for couples will be introduced by five influencer couples in travel blog articles under themes such as "Hot Springs," "Nature," "Anniversary Travel," and "Pre-wedding photoshoot" etc..

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Brand new video website "Discover the new sense of Japan"

In the video website "Discover the new sense of Japan," each influencer group, representing one of the four travel styles mentioned above, will introduce a 3 days 2 nights itinerary through a promotional video and a travel vlog they produced. The inaugural itinerary features female influencer group " JAPAN GoGoGo" introducing their trip to Kyoto Prefecture with a "Girls Trip" themed promotional video and a vlog.

Latest Travel blog website for couples "Hand-in-Hand Tour of Japan"

The travel blog website "Hand-in-Hand Tour of Japan" focuses on "Couple Travel" and will introduce 16 remarkable 2 days 1 night itineraries through the eyes of couple influencers.

Travel vlogs produced by the influencers will also be shown in four of the itineraries.

The first four entries released are "Nature" themed trips to Oita and Nagano Prefectures by couple influencer " (Kazenobuko and her husband)", "Luxury Travel" themed trip to Okayama Prefecture and "Hot Spring" themed trip to Shiga Prefecture which also features a travel vlog, by another couple influencer "Elsie & Alfred".

The remaining 15 contents will be released regularly until March 2023.

Video website: https://www.japan.travel/hk/hk/vlog/

Travel blog articles website: https://www.japan.travel/hk/hk/couple/

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230104006042/en/

Contacts

Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO)

Hong Kong Office

Unit 807-809, 8/F., Prosperity Millennia Plaza, 663 King's Road, North Point, Hong Kong

URL: https://www.japan.travel/hk/hk/ (Traditional Chinese)

Phone: +852-2968-5688

Email: info_hkg@jnto.go.jp
ARLINGTON, Mass., Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Leader Bank, N.A. is excited to announce the launch of its new subsidiary, Leader Insurance LLC, in an effort to streamline the home buying process for its clients by providing property, auto, and umbrella insurance policies.

Leader Insurance has partnered with the top-rated insurance carriers in the region to offer its clients great rates and service for their home, car, or investment property policies all with an easy-to-use digital experience.

Leader Insurance has partnered with the top-rated insurance carriers in the region to offer its clients great rates and service for their home, car, or investment property policies all with an easy-to-use digital experience.

"We are constantly striving to expand our products and services to offer our clients a holistic banking and lending experience," said Jay Tuli, President of Leader Bank. "Introducing Leader Insurance allows us to expand our client-centric culture to an adjacent business in property and auto insurance."

Leader Bank is currently offering insurance to clients in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and plans to expand operations throughout most of New England in 2023.

"We are excited to offer our clients a streamlined, digital process for obtaining an insurance quote when they receive a loan through Leader Bank," said Sean Valiton, Leader Bank's Senior Vice President of Sales and New Business. "This offering helps simplify the often-complicated loan application process."

ABOUT LEADER INSURANCE, LLC

Leader Insurance, LLC, a subsidiary of Leader Bank, N.A., is a digital insurance agency with a streamlined quote process offering clients a range of personal and commercial insurance products. By partnering with the premier insurance carriers in the region, Leader Insurance offers top tier rates and services on personal insurance policies for homes, cars, boats, and more as well as for commercial properties like condos, apartments, and mixed-use buildings. You can contact Leader Insurance directly for more information at 781-896-2050.

ABOUT LEADER BANK, N.A.

Founded in 2002, Leader Bank, N.A. is a Massachusetts-based entrepreneurial financial institution that approaches banking differently. The core tenets of Leader Bank include world-class client service, exemplary products, and innovation to meet the needs of its clients. At its founding, Leader Bank had $6.5 million in assets  in the two decades since, the Bank has grown into one of the most successful financial institutions in the Commonwealth with $4 billion in assets. Leader Bank's team members have been at the forefront of supporting the Bank's rapid growth and client-oriented solutions over the last two decades as the Bank has expanded its commercial and retail products and solutions. Leader Bank is a committed corporate citizen and prides itself on partnering with and supporting philanthropic organizations. More information on Leader Bank can be found at www.LeaderBank.com.

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SOURCE Leader Bank
Global Market Insights Inc.

Major metal molds market for plastic injection molding participants include Rodon Group, ERMO S.A., Enko AS, Bunty LLC, Michiana Global Mold, Inc., MSI Mold Builders Inc., Colonial Machine, Bericap GmbH & Co. KG, GENSINI S.R.L., and more.

Selbyville, Delaware,, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



The metal molds market for plastic injection molding valuation is predicted to cross USD 6.5 billion by 2032, as reported in a research study by Global Market Insights Inc . The booming healthcare industry and increasing demand for automobiles as the chief drivers of the metal molds industry for plastic injection molding. In addition, an upsurge in efforts by the government towards infrastructural development has propelled the demand for metal molds for plastic injection molding in the construction industry.



The steel injection mold segment size is poised to reach USD 5 billion by 2032. The steel molds offer a balance of machinability, cost, and strength, which is speculated to fuel the demand for steel molds for plastic injection molding. Additionally, pre-alloyed or elementally blended stainless steel including austenitic, ferritic, and precipitation hardening grades is bolstering steel metal injection molding.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/4904

The electric discharge machining segment is slated to observe 3.5% growth rate through 2032. The surging demand for lightweight automotive vehicles is anticipated to boost the utilization of electric discharge machining for manufacturing metal molds market for plastic injection molding and propel industry growth. Furthermore, limited contact between the tool and the workpiece in the process is encouraging the preference for electric discharge machining for plastic injection molding.





The deployment of metal molds for the formation of plastic injection molding in the construction industry is set to remain high from 2023 to 2032. The construction application segment is foreseen to garner more than USD 1 billion by 2032. The soaring production of windows and door parts, fasteners, heating, and air-conditioning components, anchors, and anchor and plumbing parts is projected to push product adoption. The segment growth is driven by positive efforts by the government to augment infrastructural development in emerging nations.

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The Middle East & Africa metal molds market for plastic injection molding is estimated to depict around 4% CAGR between 2023 and 2030. The region may emerge as a major hub for this industry owing to the growing demand for beauty products as a result of shifting trends in beauty standards. Moreover, changing consumer choices have pushed the growth of the construction industry in the MEA region, thereby propelling regional statistics.

The strategic landscape of the market is expected to witness a series of rigorous R&D initiatives and growth partnerships, coupled with the expansion of the portfolio by industry players to fuel their market position. Some of the key metal molds market for plastic injection molding players profiled in the report include The Rodon Group, ERMO S.A., Enko AS, Bunty LLC, Michiana Global Mold, Inc., MSI Mold Builders Inc., Colonial Machine, Bericap GmbH & Co. KG, GENSINI S.R.L., and more.

To cite an instance, in January 2021, Wayken Rapid Manufacturing Limited, a CNC molding specialist firm, announced to continue its efforts towards the improvement of WayKen custom machining due to the growing demand in low-volume production.

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Partial chapters of report table of contents (TOC):

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

2.1 Metal molds market for plastic injection molding market 360 synopsis, 2018 - 2032

2.1.1 Business trends

2.1.2 Material trends

2.1.3 Manufacturing process trends

2.1.4 Application trends

2.1.5 Regional trends

Chapter 3 Metal Molds Market for Plastic Injection Molding Industry Insights

3.1 Industry segmentation

3.2 Industry ecosystem analysis

3.3 Raw material analysis

3.4 Industry impact forces

3.4.1 Growth drivers

3.4.2 Industry pitfalls and challenges

3.5 Growth potential analysis, 2022

3.6 Innovation & sustainability

3.7 Regulatory landscape

3.8 Porter's analysis

3.9 Competitive landscape

3.10 Regional price trends

3.11 Cost structure analysis

3.12 PESTEL analysis

3.13 Covid-19 impact on Metal molds market for plastic injection molding, by application

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About Global Market Insights Inc.

Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology.

CONTACT: Contact Us: Aashit Tiwari Corporate Sales, USA Global Market Insights Inc. Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688 USA: +1-302-846-7766 Europe: +44-742-759-8484 APAC: +65-3129-7718 Email: sales@gminsights.com




(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. said it will add OpenAIs viral artificial intelligence bot ChatGPT to its cloud-based Azure service soon, building on an existing relationship between the two companies as Microsoft mulls taking a far larger stake in OpenAI.

Most Read from Bloomberg

The software giant announced the broad availability of its Azure OpenAI Service, which has been available to a limited set of customers since it was unveiled in 2021. The service gives Microsoft's cloud customers access to various OpenAI tools like the GPT-3.5 language system that ChatGPT is based on, as well as the Dall-E model for generating images from text prompts, the company said in a blog post. That enables Azure customers to use the OpenAI products in their own applications running in the cloud.

Microsoft is in discussions to invest as much as $10 billion in OpenAI, people familiar with its plans said last week. That proposal calls for the Redmond, Washington-based software maker to put money in over multiple years, though the final terms may change, the people said, asking not to be named discussing a private matter. Semafor last week reported that the potential investment could value OpenAI at about $29 billion, citing people familiar with the negotiations. Microsoft and OpenAI representatives have declined to comment on the talks.Read More: Microsoft Mulls $10 Billion Investment in ChatGPT Creator

Microsoft, already an OpenAI partner thanks to a $1 billion investment in 2019, is looking to get an inside edge on the most popular and advanced AI systems in order to boost its own products in competition with Alphabet Inc.s Google, Amazon.com Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.

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ChatGPT has lit up the internet since launching at the end of November, gathering its first million users in less than a week. Its imitation of human conversation sparked speculation about its potential to supplant professional writers and even threaten Googles core search business. The organization behind it, co-founded by Elon Musk and Silicon Valley investor Sam Altman, makes money by charging developers to license its technology.

The new technology comes at the end of a year of headline-grabbing advances in AI. The companys Dall-E  which accepts written prompts to synthesize art and other images  also gave rise to a broad debate about the infusion of AI into creative industries. OpenAI is already working on a successor GPT-4 model for its natural language processing.

Still, concern about its accuracy  which Altman himself has said is not good enough for the bot to be relied on  has prompted caution about its premature use, and New York City schools have banned its students from accessing ChatGPT.

Microsoft is currently using OpenAIs Codex to add automation to its GitHub units Copilot programming tool, and its adding that feature to Azure along with the other OpenAI tools. The company wants to adopt even more OpenAI technology in its Bing search engine, Office productivity applications, Teams chat program and security software.

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The North America Electric Bus Market is projected to register a CAGR of 5.50%. Key Highlights. Largest Segment by Fuel Type - FCEV : Hybrid propulsion buses type is largely used in North America.

New York, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "North America Electric Bus Market - SIZE, SHARE, COVID-19 IMPACT & FORECASTS UP TO 2028" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06381507/?utm_source=GNW

Government support in the form of subsidies in the past years and stringent emission norms makes Hybrid buses the largest fuel type.

Fastest-growing Segment by Fuel Type - PHEV : The government practices and private programs to cut carbon emission, and development in charging infrastructure is making BEV the fastest growing fuel type in buses in the North America.

Largest Segment by Country - US : Canada was the largest electric bus market in 2021. The governments focus on zero-emission commercial usage encouraged many companies to manufacture E- buses in Canada.



North America Electric Bus Market Trends



FCEV is the largest segment by Fuel Type.



By 2027, the market share for electric buses in North America is expected to be worth more than USD 850 million. Plans are being developed by the governments of the United States and Canada to build sophisticated charging infrastructure throughout the region. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), a division of the US Department of Transportation, distributed awards totaling about USD 182 million in June 2021. Around 49 electric bus projects across 46 states are expected to use these incentives.

Electric bus manufacturers in North America include Daimler, Volvo, Scania AB, BYD Company Limited, and GreenPower Motor Company Inc. In order to improve the performance of batteries of various capacities, including those below 100 kWh, 100-300 kWh, and above 300 kWh, innovative technologies are being used. Applications for intercity and intracity travel will be valid for buses with seating capacities of less than 40, between 40 and 70, and greater than 70 seats.

Around 386,000 electric buses are currently deployed worldwide, with 99% of them in China and fewer than 0.1% (only 350 buses) in the United States. By 2030, 84% of all new municipal buses sold may be electric, and by 2025, half of the worlds fleet of municipal buses will be electric. In addition to the 33% of all cars on the planet, 80% of metropolitan bus fleets may be electric by 2040. City buses, as opposed to intercity or charter buses, travel over shorter distances and are frequently returned to a central depot where they may be recharged. This makes them particularly well-suited for electric power. Battery-charged vehicles typically have a driving range of 70-100 miles, and some can go up to 265 miles before needing to be recharged (diesel buses have an average range of 690 miles).



US is the largest segment by Country.



Since being first introduced in 2010, electric vehicles have undergone significant technological advancements. Some technological breakthroughs in the electric vehicle market in recent years include increased battery capacity, improved performance and efficiency, designs and aesthetics, IoT-connected buses, fleet systems, etc. In the near future, electric vehicles are expected to undergo a massive technological transformation that could lead to positive changes in the technology of electric buses.

The electric bus market was negatively impacted by COVID-19, which also completely shut down the transportation sector. The production of electric buses was fully halted due to a number of problems, including a labor shortage, a lack of resources, a disturbance in the supply chain, and the abrupt end of government subsidies. The global supply chain breakdown that caused a severe scarcity of necessary raw materials and accessories and halted all manufacture was the most detrimental effect.



By 2027, the market share for electric buses in North America is expected to be worth more than USD 850 million. Plans are being developed by the governments of the United States and Canada to build sophisticated charging infrastructure throughout the region. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA), a division of the US Department of Transportation, distributed award totaling about USD 182 million in June 2021. Around 49 electric bus projects across 46 states are expected to use these incentives. The FTAs Low-No Program will assist transportation organizations in renting or buying electric and hydrogen buses and other vehicles that utilize green technologies and fuels.



North America Electric Bus Market Competitive Analysis



The North America Electric Bus Market is fairly consolidated, with the top five companies occupying 79.90%. The major players in this market are BYD Co. Ltd., Gillig LLC, Lion Electric Company, NFI Group Inc. and Proterra Inc. (sorted alphabetically).



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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




By Trend

The social reforms implemented in Azerbaijan are sustainable. On January 13, 2023, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed numerous orders and decrees to increase social benefits, salaries, and pensions of citizens, as part of a new social reform that will span over 800,000 people.

Member of Azerbaijani Parliament Mushfig Jafarov told Trend that the welfare principle is at the heart of the country's social and economic policy, and the fourth package of social reforms has been approved over the past five years.

"Social reforms carried out under President Aliyev's leadership are aimed at protecting the welfare of citizens, as well as improving their living standards. The decree signed recently by the head of state ensures the continuation of reforms on raising social benefits for a significant part of the population. The fact of taking all these steps in the post-second Karabakh war and COVID-19 period, as well as at a time when the global economy is close to falling into recession, gives grounds to declare that increasing the social package is the focal point of Azerbaijan," the MP added.

According to him, four packages of social reforms have been adopted so far, since 2019. The primary objective of Azerbaijan is to become one of the top countries in the world on social and economic indicators.

In turn, analyst Elchin Mirzabayli told Trend that promoting people's social welfare is the underlying foundation of Azerbaijan's social and economic policy. As he noted, the approval of the countrys fourth social reform package in five years, amidst the global economic crisis, geopolitical cataclysms, COVID-19 pandemic, issues in the food, energy, and financial markets, proves once again that taking care of citizens is of paramount significance for the Azerbaijani state.

Considering the major reconstruction activities in liberated lands, the preparatory process for the 'Great Return', as well as steps taken to improve the security and defense capability of our state, which requires huge financial resources, we can see how important it is for Azerbaijan to improve the social well-being of citizens," he said.

Mirzabayli outlined that the social reforms are an integral part of the country's major reforms carried out in all aspects of the state's life under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev. A number of measures aimed to increase economic activity ultimately create the basis for further growth in government revenues. And this is a crucial factor continuing ongoing social activities, further improving the welfare of citizens.
QUEBEC, QC / ACCESSWIRE / January 17, 2023 / NuRAN Wireless Inc. ("NuRAN" or the "Company") (CSE:NUR)(OTC PINK:NRRWF)(FSE:1RN), a leading supplier of mobile and broadband wireless infrastructure solutions, is pleased to announce the entry into a Network-as-a-Service ("NaaS") agreement with Orange Madagascar for the deployment of up to 500 rural networking telecommunication sites under the NaaS business model in the east coast of Madagascar.

The agreement was signed today at a virtual ceremony with the attendance of Frederic Debord, CEO at Orange Madagascar, Francis Letourneau, CEO at NuRAN Wireless and with the presence of Mr. Tahina Razafindramalo, Minister of Digital Development, Digital Transformation, Posts and Telecommunications of Madagascar.

"We are pleased with the materialization of this partnership which aims to bring mobile telephony services to the Malagasy people who were previously excluded from digital connectivity. Mobile telephony has become an essential need in everyday life and essential for economic and social development because it makes it possible to open up and connect Madagascar to the rest of the world and as importantly have access to financial services through mobile money" stated Frederic Debord, CEO of Orange Madagascar.

"We are extremely pleased to add Madagascar to our growing portfolio of African countries. We are also thankful to Orange for this third contract as we continue to build and grow this strong relationship with them. With the addition of these 500 sites, we have now reached 4,642 sites under contract in less than 2 years from receiving our first NaaS contract. We are approaching 50% of our goal of 10,000 sites under contract within five years. NuRAN is proud to be at the forefront of our mission to bring essential mobile connectivity to those that need it most in a cost effective, profitable and an environmentally friendly manner." stated Francis Letourneau, CEO of NuRAN.

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The 10-year agreement with Orange Madagascar is the Company's third contract with Orange with over US$90 million in potential gross revenue at an approximate rate of US$1,500 per site per month with an estimated gross margin of 70%. The estimated gross revenues are subject to among other things, associated project expenses including expenses associated with satellite bandwidth, site lease, network operations center expenses, curative and preventative maintenance fees, project management and monitoring fees, the Company completing all financing necessary for the build out of the sites and insurance and collection of applicable fees from network operators. Fees for the NaaS services provided by NuRAN under the agreement are paid on a revenue sharing basis. The project is expected to support 2G and 3G networks with variety of site categories to cover different population densities and coverage areas. NuRAN expects to retain the ownership of the infrastructure after completion of the contract which increases the overall value of the agreement.

About Orange:

Orange is one of the world's leading telecommunications carriers with a turnover of 42 billion in 2019 and 143,000 employees as of 30 September 2020, of which 83,000 are in France. The Group has a total customer base of 257 million customers worldwide on 30 September 2020, including 212 million mobile customers and 21 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 26 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In December 2019, the Group presented its new "Engage 2025" strategic plan, which, guided by social and environmental accountability, aims to reinvent its operator model. While accelerating in growth areas and placing data and AI at the heart of its innovation model, the Group will be an attractive and responsible employer, adapted to emerging professions. Orange is listed on Euronext Paris (symbol ORA) and on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol ORAN).

About NuRAN Wireless:

NuRAN Wireless is a leading rural telecommunications company that meets the growing demand for wireless network coverage in remote and rural regions around the globe. With its affordable and innovative scalable solutions of 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies, NuRAN Wireless offers a new possibility for more than one billion people to communicate effectively over long distances efficiently and affordably. "Bridging the Digital Divide, One Connection at a Time."

Additional Information:

For further information about NuRAN Wireless: www.nuranwireless.com.

Francis Letourneau,

Director and CEO

Francis.letourneau@nuranwireless.com

Tel: (418) 264-1337

Frank Candido

Investor relations

Frank.candido@nuranwireless.com

Tel: (514) 969-5530

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as, "expects", "is expected", "anticipates", "intends", "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements include those relating to the Orange Madagascar definitive agreement terms and conditions and the proposed sites and revenues from the sites in Madagascar. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results projected, expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, such as the uncertainties regarding include risks such as the uncertainties regarding the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, and measures to prevent its spread, risks relating to NuRAN's business and the economy generally; NuRAN's ability to refinance its long term debt that is currently in default; NuRAN's ability to adequately restructure its operations with respect to its new model of NaaS service contracts; our ability to collect fees from our telecommunication providers and reliance on the network of our telecommunications providers, the capacity of the Company to deliver in a technical capacity and to import inventory to Africa at a reasonable cost; NuRAN's ability to obtain project financing for the proposed site build out under its NaaS agreements with Orange, MTN and other telecommunication providers, the loss of one or more significant suppliers or a reduction in significant volume from such suppliers; NuRAN's ability to meet or exceed customers' demand and expectations; significant current competition and the introduction of new competitors or other disruptive entrants in the Company's industry; effects of the global supply shortage affecting parts needed for NuRAN's sites and site installations; NuRAN's ability to retain key employees and protect its intellectual property; compliance with local laws and regulations and ability to obtain all required permits for our operations, access to the credit and capital markets, changes in applicable telecommunications laws or regulations or changes in license and regulatory fees, downturns in customers' business cycles; and insurance prices and insurance coverage availability, the Company's ability to effectively maintain or update information and technology systems; our ability to implement and maintain measures to protect against cyberattacks and comply with applicable privacy and data security requirements; the Company's ability to successfully implement its business strategies or realize expected cost savings and revenue enhancements; business development activities, including acquisitions and integration of acquired businesses; the Company's expansion into markets outside of Canada and the operational, competitive and regulatory risks facing the Company's non-Canadian based operations. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis that is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The estimates included in this news release relating to the calculation of the gross revenue of the agreements with Orange are based on multiplying an average population per site by the expected penetration rate which yields the number of mobile customers. This is then multiplied by the average revenue per customer per month (ARPU) to derive total revenue. Orange's direct costs associated with this revenue are deducted and the resulting amount is shared by both parties. The revenue share only applies to revenue in excess of a guaranteed amount which is the minimum paid to NuRAN. A penetration rate reduction factor has been used to mitigate risk. The base data used to calculate the total potential revenue of this agreement was provided by Orange based on average population, penetration rate and ARPU. Management of the Company believes that the estimates have been prepared on a reasonable basis, reflecting best estimates and judgments, and based on a number of assumptions management believes are reasonable as well as information provided to the Company by Orange. However, because this information is highly subjective and subject to numerous risks, including the risks discussed above, it should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future results. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the estimates prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

SOURCE: NuRAN Wireless Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/735512/NuRAN-Signs-NaaS-Agreement-with-Orange-Madagascar-for-up-to-US90M




Pervasip Corp.

SEATTLE, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pervasip Corp. (OTCPK: PVSP) (Pervasip and the Company) today announced that it will spin-off 100% of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Artizen Corporation (Artizen), as a separate public company, with an anticipated record date between July 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023. As a result of the spin-off, all Pervasip shareholders of record as of the designated record date shall receive shares in the newly public Artizen in proportion to their ownership in Pervasip. Artizen conducts 100% of Pervasips cannabis business segment operations through its Zen Asset Management LLC subsidiary ("Zen).

Positioning for Expansion

Spinning out Artizen will allow us to properly capitalize the business to take advantage of multiple expansion opportunities to build on our existing foundation, said German Burtscher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pervasip and Artizen.

Pervasip previously announced its identification of a series of exciting expansion opportunities, including potential acquisitions involving licensed wholesale and retail operations that would offer Artizen the potential to establish itself as a vertically integrated multi-state operator (MSO).

While the local Washington market presents compelling opportunities for the acquisition and roll-up of wholesale flower, concentrate, and other related production assets by Zens independent cultivators, the regulatory environment in Washington prevents vertical integration into retail assets. That limitation is a significant constraint on growth since Zens independent cultivators cannot acquire dispensary assets to internalize retail revenues that are typically about three times wholesale receipts. Stated differently, Artizen could be generating about three times its current revenues, or about $46 to $52 million, if Zens existing footprint was in another state. Thus, diversification has been and remains a key strategic focus  both within Washington by expanding Zens offerings and exploiting compliant acquisition opportunities, and in valuable emerging cannabis markets by replicating Artizens proven formula for success in new U.S. and Canadian geographies.

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Burtscher added, Timing is important. The valuations and fates of MSOs and other participants in the cannabis industry have vacillated in several waves since state legalization commenced. We believe that increased legalization is inevitable in time, both at the federal level and in the form of improved regulatory environments in Washington. Preparing ourselves for that day is an important aspect of our long-term plans, including by expanding our brands and building on our footprint in valuable new geographies, and accessing long term equity capital to do so with shareholder friendly structures. Critically, the Artizen capital structure after the spin-out is completed has been specifically designed to allow us to raise equity financing on terms that vastly exceed anything that we can accomplish with Pervasips current capital structure.

Improved Capital Structure

Pervasip currently has about 5,000,000,000 shares of common stock issued and outstanding, corresponding to about 15% of Pervasips fully diluted issued and outstanding common stock. Pervasip additionally has 850,000 shares of Series K convertible preferred stock issued and outstanding, corresponding to 85% of Pervasips fully diluted issued and outstanding common stock, as well as various other convertible securities.

Holders of Pervasips issued and outstanding common shares as of the record date will receive an aggregate of 15,000,000 shares of Artizen common stock, corresponding to 15% of Artizens fully diluted issued and outstanding common shares upon completion of the transaction (in addition to retaining their shares in Pervasip). Likewise, holders of Pervasips Series K and other convertible securities will receive an aggregate of 85,000,000 shares of Artizen common stock, the vast majority of which will be subject to lock-up restrictions prohibiting sales prior to Artizens realization of material growth and other performance objectives. Artizen will have 100,000,000 common shares outstanding on a fully diluted basis upon completion of the transaction, with no convertible debt or other securities.

The Company is working with its auditors to complete the required financial audits, including one for Pervasip on a consolidated basis and another for Artizen on a consolidated basis (without Pervasip). Once complete, a Form 10 Registration Statement will be filed with the SEC for Artizen to initiate the spin-off process. Additional information regarding the status and timing of the transaction and the various required regulatory and other approvals will be provided as it becomes available. Pervasip has commenced evaluation of potential targets for acquisition upon completion of the Artizen spin-off.

Pervasip Corporation

Pervasip Corp., a developer of companies and technologies in high value emerging markets, owns Artizen Corporation and its subsidiary, Zen Asset Management LLC, a diversified asset management company founded to acquire, develop, and support companies and technologies in the cannabis industry. ZAMs existing clients operate four licensed cannabis cultivation and one processing facility in Washington. Most of the biomass produced by these independent cultivators has been sold historically under the Artizen brand, including all-time top selling products in flower in Washington state. Additional information on Artizen-branded products is available online at www.artizencannabis.com. Pervasip additionally owns 5% of KRTL Biotech, Inc., a developer of biotechnologies with a focus on pharmaceutical applications of cannabinol and psilocybin. Additional information on KRTL is available online at www.krtlbiotech.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains statements and information that, to the extent that they are not historical fact, may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information may include financial and other projections, as well as statements regarding future plans, objectives, or economic performance, or the assumption underlying any of the foregoing. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as may, would, could, will, likely, except, anticipate, believe, intend, plan, forecast, project, estimate, outlook, or the negative thereof or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the objectives and business plans of the Company; ability to realize benefits from its recent corporate appointments; ability to retain its key personnel; the intention to grow the Companys business and operations; the competitive conditions of the industries in which the Company operates; and laws and any amendments thereto applicable to the Company. Forward-looking information is based on the assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information contained in this news release include, but are not limited to, key personnel and qualified employees continuing their involvement with the Company; and the Companys ability to secure financing on reasonable terms. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, risks relating to the future business plans of the Company; risks that the Company will not be able to retain its key personnel; risks that the Company will not be able to attain SEC approval, risk to secure financing on reasonable terms or at all, as well as all of the other risks as described in the Companys periodic disclosure statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking information. Further, any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Companys management to predict all of such factors and to assess in advance the impact of each such factor on the Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking information to reflect information or events after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law, including securities laws.

For further information, please contact:

T: (206) 590-2408 Ext 102

E: info@pervasip.net




PIMCO Account Management

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States

TORONTO, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PIMCO Canada Corp. (PIMCO Canada) today announced the 2023 January cash distributions for the ETF series (ETF Series) of the PIMCO Canada mutual funds that distribute monthly (Funds). Unitholders of record of the ETF Series, at the close of business on January 24, 2023, will receive per-unit cash distribution payable on or about January 31, 2023.

Details of the per-unit cash distribution amount are as follow:

Fund Name Ticker Cash Distribution per Unit PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada) PMIF $0.04171 PIMCO Monthly Income Fund (Canada) US$ PMIF.U US $0.04364 PIMCO Investment Grade Credit Fund (Canada) IGCF $0.03088 PIMCO Global Short Maturity Fund (Canada) PMNT $0.03353 PIMCO Low Duration Monthly Income Fund (Canada) PLDI $0.05011

The Manager, PIMCO Canada administers and manages the PIMCO Canada ETFs, and retains Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC (PIMCO), to provide sub-advisory services to the Funds.

About PIMCO

PIMCO was founded in 1971 in Newport Beach, California and is one of the worlds premier fixed income investment managers. Today we have offices across the globe and 3,000+ professionals united by a single purpose: creating opportunities for investors in every environment. PIMCO is owned by Allianz S.E., a leading global diversified financial services provider.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions expect, intend, will and similar expressions to the extent they relate to the Funds. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect the Funds, PIMCO Canadas and/or PIMCOs current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, market factors. Although the Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. The Funds, PIMCO Canada and/or PIMCO undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other factors which affect this information, except as required by law.

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No offering is being made by this material. Interested investors should obtain a copy of the prospectus, which is available from your Financial Advisor.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated.

All investments contain risk and can lose value. For a summary of the risks of an investment in a specific fund, please see the risks of mutual funds section of the prospectus.

Investments made by a Fund and the results achieved by a Fund are not expected to be the same as those made by any other PIMCO-advised Fund, including those with a similar name, investment objective or policies. A new or smaller Funds performance may not represent how the Fund is expected to or may perform in the long-term. New Funds have limited operating histories for investors to evaluate and new and smaller Funds may not attract sufficient assets to achieve investment and trading efficiencies. A Fund may be forced to sell a comparatively large portion of its portfolio to meet significant shareholder redemptions for cash, or hold a comparatively large portion of its portfolio in cash due to significant share purchases for cash, in each case when the Fund otherwise would not seek to do so, which may adversely affect performance.

Funds can offer different series, which are subject to different fees and expenses (which may affect performance), having different minimum investment requirements and are entitled to different services.

The products and services provided by PIMCO Canada may only be available in certain provinces or territories of Canada and only through dealers authorized for that purpose.

PIMCO Canada has retained PIMCO LLC as sub-adviser. PIMCO Canada will remain responsible for any loss that arises out of the failure of its sub-adviser.

PIMCO as a general matter provides services to qualified institutions, financial intermediaries and institutional investors. Individual investors should contact their own financial professional to determine the most appropriate investment options for their financial situation. This material contains the current opinions of the manager and such opinions are subject to change without notice. This material has been distributed for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form, or referred to in any other publication, without express written permission. PIMCO is a trademark of Allianz Asset Management of America L.P. in the United States and throughout the world. 2023, PIMCO

PIMCO Canada Corp. 199 Bay Street, Suite 2050, Commerce Court Station, P.O. Box 363, Toronto, ON, M5L 1G2, 416-368-3350

Contact:

Agnes Crane

PIMCO  Media Relations

Phone: +212 597.1054




An award-winning journalist and one of the most recognized voices in radio, Michele Norris engages audiences in candid discussion about race, culture and communication in America.

From the radio airwaves of NPR and primetime television to leading news publications such as The Washington Post, Norris is one of the most trusted voices in American journalism. On stage, she inspires open and honest dialogue, with memorable stories and fascinating perspectives drawn from her personal journey, investigative research, and interviews with world leaders, Nobel Laureates and influential newsmakers.

For a decade, as host of National Public Radio's longest-running program, All Things Considered, she captivated audiences nationwide while earning some of journalism's highest honors. As a Washington Post Opinions Columnist, Norris sparks important dialogue on current events, social issues and the power to make change as she breaks down commonly held beliefs and attitudes on race, diversity and bias. She makes complex and taboo issues remarkably accessible. Her audiences walk away empowered to stimulate discussion around challenging topics within their communities.

Throughout Norris' accomplished career, her efforts to promote conversation about race have resulted in her critically acclaimed book, The Grace of Silence: A Memoir. She received accolades for a Peabody Award-winning initiative, "The Race Card Project," which fosters conversation among individuals about their differences. Norris was previously the director of "The Bridge"-the Aspen Institute's program on race, cultural identity and inclusion-which addresses some of America's most complex issues by encouraging people to explore and engage with differing perspectives.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 16, 2023 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews with Danavation, Psyence Group and Mullen Group discussing their latest news.

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

Danavation (CSE:DVN) signs contracts for 5 new digital smart label installations

The Market Herald, Monday, January 16, 2023, Press release picture

Danavation (DVN) is advancing its platform-as-a-service and operations. The company has secured five new contracts for the installation of its digital smart label in two additional locations under the ACE Hardware banner. The total contracted value of these five installations is expected to represent one-time revenue of $800,000 with ongoing recurring revenue for the life of the contract. Danavation Technologies' CEO John Ricci joined Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss this news.

For the full interview with John Ricci and to learn about Danavation, click here.

Psyence (CSE:PSYG) announces business combination and signs LOI with Australian CRO iNGENu

The Market Herald, Monday, January 16, 2023, Press release picture

Psyence Group (PSYG) and Newcourt Acquisition Corp (NCAC) have announced a business combination agreement with Psyence Biomed Corp.. Psyence has signed a Letter of Intent with Contract Research Organisation iNGENu CRO Pty Ltd. iNGENu will be responsible for jointly designing the Phase IIb clinical trial to be conducted in Australia. Dr. Neil Maresky, Chief Executive Officer of Psyence, met with Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Dr. Neil Maresky and to learn about Psyence Group, click here.

Mullen Group (TSX:MTL) shares approved budget and business plan for 2023

The Market Herald, Monday, January 16, 2023, Press release picture

Mullen Group announced that the company's board has approved the budget and business plan for 2023. Priorities include investing in the business, pursuing acquisitions and driving process improvements. Senior Operating Officer Richard Maloney met with Sabrina Cuthbert to discuss the news.

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For the full interview with Richard Maloney and to learn about Mullen Group, click here.

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit The Power Play by The Market Herald.

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The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

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Drilling Identifies Oblique Mineralised Trend in North of Tankoro Deposit

PERTH, AUSTRALIA and VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / January 16, 2023 / Sarama Resources Ltd. ("Sarama" or the "Company") (ASX:SRR)(TSXV:SWA) is pleased to announce that exploration drilling at its 100%-owned (4) , multi-million-ounce Sanutura Project (the " Project ") has discovered a new mineralised trend extending for 700m in the north of the Tankoro Mineralised Corridor.

The reported drilling totals approximately 2,000m and was primarily focussed on testing for new mineralisation within the Phantom, Phantom East and Phantom West Prospects, which are located in the north of the Tankoro Deposit (refer Figure 1). The results represent the seventh discovery of additional and extensional mineralisation since the commencement of the Company's ongoing +50,000m drill program and continue to demonstrate the strong potential to grow the oxide component of the Project's 0.6Moz Au (Indicated) plus 2.3Moz Au (Inferred)(1) mining shape constrained Mineral Resource.

Highlights

New, near-surface mineralisation intersected in the north of the Tankoro Mineralised Corridor

Highlighted downhole intersections from new assays include: 20m @ 1.68g/t Au from 16m in TAA405 (ended in mineralisation); 13m @ 1.79g/t Au from 7m in TAA403 (incl. 2m @ 8.88g/t Au); 9m @ 2.14g/t Au from 7m in TAA404; 6m @ 2.91g/t Au from 31m in TAA422 (incl. 1m @ 12.10g/t Au); 7m @ 2.18g/t Au from 22m in TAA389; 5m @ 3.01g/t Au from 43m in TAA429 (incl. 2m @ 6.70g/t Au); and 10m @ 1.13g/t Au from 7m in TAA420.

New mineralised trend has strike length of 700m and remains open in all directions

Mineralisation is oblique with potential to link Phantom and Phantom West Trends over a 1,200m strike length

Intersections of new mineralisation are in shallow, oxide material with high potential to add to the oxide and transition component of the Mineral Resource, currently standing at 0.2Moz Au (Indicated) plus 0.8Moz Au (Inferred)(2)

Story continues

Sarama's President, CEO & MD, Andrew Dinning commented:

"We are excited that new, near-surface discoveries continue to be made throughout the Tankoro Mineralised Corridor with the most recent results representing the seventh successive area where new mineralisation has been intersected outside the Mineral Resource. This bodes well for the many other targets that have been identified and are yet to be drilled and continues to support our view that significant exploration potential remains. The identification of new cross-linking mineralisation is expected to add to the current Mineral Resource which we plan to update after the completion and follow up of the current +50,000m program, a majority of which is cost effective aircore drilling."

Figure 1 - Tankoro Deposit Location Plan - Drilling in Northern Group of Phantom Prospects

A Growth-Oriented Drill Program in Oxide Material

Drilling Identifies New Oblique Mineralised Trend over 700m Strike Length and Remains Open

Results are being reported (refer Appendix A) for approximately 2,000m (43 holes) of aircore (" AC ") drilling undertaken in Q2/Q3 2022 at the Phantom, Phantom West and Phantom East Prospects in the northern extent of the Tankoro Mineralised Corridor (refer Figures 1 & 2). The drilling targeted the near-surface oxide horizon to a vertical depth of approximately 50m and highlighted downhole intersections from these holes include:

20m @ 1.68g/t Au from 16m in TAA405 (ended in mineralisation);

13m @ 1.79g/t Au from 7m in TAA403 (incl. 2m @ 8.88g/t Au);

9m @ 2.14g/t Au from 7m in TAA404;

6m @ 2.91g/t Au from 31m in TAA422 (incl. 1m @ 12.10g/t Au);

7m @ 2.18g/t Au from 22m in TAA389;

5m @ 3.01g/t Au from 43m in TAA429 (incl. 2m @ 6.70g/t Au); and

10m @ 1.13g/t Au from 7m in TAA420.

Figure 2 - Plan of Drilling in Northern Extremity of Tankoro Mineralised Corridor

Phantom and Phantom West Prospects

The new drilling in the Phantom and Phantom West Prospects primarily targeted areas with potential for discovery of additional mineralisation and/or extensions to existing mineralised lodes. These prospects are located to the north of the Tankoro Deposit and historical drilling has been relatively constrained, focussing on the delineation and extension of the dominant north-north-east (" NNE ") oriented trends of steeply dipping lode packages which extend over a strike length up to 2.5km (refer Figure 2). A lateral distance of approximately 360m separates the two trends and historical soil geochemical surveys have returned elevated gold-in-soil values in between, suggesting potential for obliquely oriented mineralisation to link the two main mineralised trends. This cross-linking type of mineralisation has been delineated extensively in the better drilled parts of the Tankoro Deposit and adds significantly to the economic potential for the Project.

Previous reconnaissance drilling along the targeted trend in the Phantom Prospect returned encouraging results and included downhole intersections of 6m @ 3.33g/t Au , 6m @ 3.85g/t Au and 6m @ 1.40g/t Au . The recent drilling reported in this news release followed up on these isolated intersections and stepped out along the projected trend of the elevated gold-in-soil values and returned results including 6m @ 2.91g/t Au (incl. 1m @ 12.10g/t Au), 6m @ 1.40g/t Au and 2m @ 6.70g/t Au (incl. 1m @ 11.75g/t Au) which support the interpretation of a new mineralised trend extending for approximately 700m along strike (refer Figure 3).

Figure 3 - New Oblique Mineralised Trend Discovered with Upside Potential - Phantom Prospect

The mineralisation remains open in all directions and importantly, potential exists for it to be extended further to the south-west where it may intersect the main mineralised trend in the Phantom West Prospect. This hypothesis is supported by the elevated gold-in-soil values and would bring the total length of this oblique mineralisation to approximately 1.2km. The intersection areas of lodes of different orientations within the Tankoro Deposit is known to produce enrichment of mineralisation, in terms of volume and grade. In this respect, recent drilling in the projected intersection zone in the Phantom West Prospect has confirmed the presence of higher grades and localised thickening of the mineralisation with downhole intersections of 10m @ 5.25g/t Au (previously reported), 9m @ 2.14g/t Au and 13m @ 1.79g/t Au (incl. 2m @ 8.88g/t Au) being returned.

Further higher-grade zones are present along strike in the current Mineral Resource of the Phantom West Prospect which may be associated with additional instances of cross-linking mineralisation. A recently returned downhole intersection of 20m @ 1.68g/t Au (ending in mineralisation) returned thicker than expected mineralisation and also ended in mineralisation (Figures 3 and 4). This enhances the current interpretation but also offers a near-field target for follow-up in the zone, which also contains historical intersections of 10m @ 3.39g/t Au , 12m @ 2.25g/t Au and 6m @ 2.75g/t Au .

Figure 4 - Drilling in High-Grade Zone Exceeds Thickness Expectations - Phantom West Prospect (Section A-A')

Phantom East Prospect

The drill program included two 50m-long holes at the Phantom East Prospect to follow-up previously reported, near-surface intersections of 4m @ 2.63g/t Au and 3m @ 2.60g/t Au (refer Figure 5). These downhole intersections are very close to the current Mineral Resource but were not incorporated due to lack of supporting data. The new drilling stepped-out to the south, targeting intersections to support the interpretation of mineralisation over a 50-60m strike length. Recently returned downhole intersections of 4m @ 1.61g/t Au , 2m @ 1.09g/t Au and 2m @ 0.93g/t Au within the same hole potentially suggest the presence of a package of three parallel mineralised lodes striking NNE, linking up with the unmodelled intersections approximately 50m to the north.

Mineralisation at the Phantom East Prospect is generally high-grade and consists of several relatively short-scale lodes of differing strike orientations and dips. Several targets with potential to extend the strike of the current Mineral Resource remain, which are planned to be pursued in upcoming drill programs.

Figure 5 - Plan View of Phantom East Prospect (South) - Recent Drilling Identifies New Mineralisation

Exploration in Tankoro Mineralised Corridor Set to Continue in 2023

The reported results within group of Phantom Prospects are highly encouraging and highlight the potential for growth with further exploration drilling within the Tankoro Mineralised Corridor. The program has also successfully identified potential strike extensions to currently modelled lodes in near-surface oxide material which have the potential to add to the Mineral Resource .

Drilling is currently paused and with all assays from the Q2/Q3 2022 program now returned, the Company is currently compiling results and incorporating these in its planning for further drilling of its highest priority targets around the Mineral Resource at both the Tankoro and Bondi Deposits which comprise the Sanutura Project. A number of regional exploration targets will also be tested in the upcoming programs.

Appendices

To access the appendices referred to in this announcement please click on the links below

Appendix A: Summary of Recently Drilled Results

https://saramaresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/230117-appendix-a-summary-of-recently-returned-drill-results.pdf

Appendix B: References to Previous ASX Disclosure

https://saramaresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/230117-appendix-b-references-to-previous-asx-disclosure.pdf

Appendix C: JORC Code (2012 Edition) - Table 1 Information

https://saramaresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/230117-appendix-c-jorc-code-2012-edition-table-1-information.pdf

For further information, please contact:

Company Activities

Andrew Dinning or Paul Schmiede

Sarama Resources Ltd

e: info@saramaresources.com

t: +61 8 9363 7600

Media Enquiries

Angela East

Media & Capital Partners

e: Angela.east@mcpartners.com.au

t: +61 428 432 025

ABOUT SARAMA RESOURCES LTD

Sarama Resources Ltd (ASX: SRR, TSX-V: SWA) is a West African focused gold explorer/developer with substantial landholdings in south-west Burkina Faso. Sarama is focused on maximising the value of its strategic assets and advancing its key projects towards development.

Sarama's 100%-owned(4) Sanutura Project is principally located within the prolific Hounde Greenstone Belt in south-west Burkina Faso and is the exploration and development focus of the Company. The Project hosts the Tankoro and Bondi Deposits which have a combined Mineral Resource of 0.6Moz gold (Indicated) plus 2.3Moz gold (Inferred)(1).

Together, the deposits present a potential mine development opportunity featuring an initial, long-life CIL project which may be established and paid for by the significant oxide Mineral Resource base.

Sarama has built further optionality into its portfolio including an approximate 470km exploration position in the highly prospective Banfora Belt in south-western Burkina Faso. The Koumandara Project hosts several regional-scale structural features and trends of gold-in-soil anomalism extending for over 25km along strike.

Sarama also holds an approximate 18% participating interest in the Karankasso Project Joint Venture ("JV") which is situated adjacent to the Company's Sanutura Project in Burkina Faso and is a JV between Sarama and Endeavour Mining Corp ("Endeavour") in which Endeavour is the operator of the JV. In February 2020, an updated Mineral Resource estimate of 709koz gold(3) was declared for the Karankasso Project JV.

The Company's Board and management team have a proven track record in Africa and a strong history in the discovery and development of large-scale gold deposits. Sarama is well positioned to build on its current success with a sound strategy to surface and maximise the value of its property portfolio.

Sarama Resources Ltd., Monday, January 16, 2023, Press release picture

Sanutura Project - An Already Large Mineral Resource with Potential to Grow

The Company's primary focus is its 100%-owned(4) Sanutura Project, which hosts a large Mineral Resource of 0.6Moz Au (Indicated) plus 2.3Moz Au (Inferred)(1) and covers an area of 1,420km2. The Project occupies a commanding position along 70km of strike in the prolific Hounde Belt (refer Figure 6), Burkina Faso's pre-eminent gold belt.

The Project lies 60km south of Endeavour Mining's Hounde Mine (5Moz Au); 120km south of Fortuna Silver's high-grade Yaramoko Mine (1Moz Au), and 140km south of Endeavour Mining's Mana Mine (5Moz Au), highlighting the significant gold endowment of the Hounde Belt (refer Appendix B). Endeavour Mining's Bantou Project (1.5Moz Au Inferred Mineral Resource(5)) is located only 6km from the bulk of the Sanutura Project's main deposit, which illustrates the gold camp scale of endowment of the immediate area.

The Project has significant growth potential and the primary objective of the current +50,000m drill program is to increase the existing 0.2Moz Au (Indicated) plus 0.8Moz Au (Inferred)(2) pit shell constrained oxide and transition component of the Project's Mineral Resource to further underwrite and enhance the economics of mine development.

The recent drill program has generally focused on shallow additional and extensional targets throughout the well-mineralised corridor, where mineralisation has been drill-defined for a semi-continuous strike length of 16km and where potential exists to expand the Mineral Resource at shallow depths in oxide material.

Figure 6 - Sanutura Project Location Plan

FOOTNOTES

Mineral Resource estimate for Sanutura Project - 9.4Mt @ 1.9g/t Au for 0.6Moz Au (Indicated) plus 52.7Mt @ 1.4g/t Au for 2.3Moz (Inferred), reported at cut-off grades ranging 0.2-1.6g/t Au, reflecting the mining methods and processing flowsheets assumed to assess the likelihood of the Mineral Resources to have reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. The effective date of the Company's Mineral Resource estimate is 16 November 2021. For further information regarding the Mineral Resource estimate refer to the technical report titled "NI 43-101 Independent Technical Report Sanutura Project, South-West Burkina Faso", dated 7 February 2022 and prepared by Paul Schmiede, Rindra Le Grange and Fred Kock, and the Company's ASX Prospectus dated 11 March 2022. Paul Schmiede is an employee of Sarama. Ms Le Grange and Mr Kock are employees of Cube Consulting Pty Ltd and Orway Mineral Consultants Pty Ltd respectivley and are considered to be independent of Sarama. The technical report is available under Sarama's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and the ASX Prospectus is available under Sarama's profile on ASX at www.asx.com.au. Oxide & transition component of the Mineral Resource for Sanutura Project - 3.2Mt @ 1.6g/t Au for 0.2Moz Au (Indicated) plus 23.4Mt @ 1.1g/t Au for 0.8Moz Au (Inferred), reported above cut-off grades of 0.2g/t Au and 0.3g/t Au for oxide and transition material respectively. Mineral Resource estimate for Karankasso Project - 12.74Mt @ 1.73g/t Au for 709koz Au (effective date of December 31, 2019), disclosed on 24 February 2020 by Semafo Inc ("Semafo", since acquired by Endeavour Mining Corp. "Endeavour"). For further information regarding that Mineral Resource estimate, refer to the news release "Semafo: Bantou Project Inferred Resources Increase to 2.2Moz" dated 24 February 2020 and Semafo: Bantou Project NI43-101 Technical Report - Mineral Resource Estimate" dated 3 April 2020 and the Company's ASX Prospectus dated 11 March 2022. The news release and technical report are available under Semafo's and Endeavour's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and the ASX Prospectus is available under Sarama's profile on ASX at www.asx.com.au. The Mineral Resource estimate was fully prepared by, or under the supervision of Semafo. Sarama has not independently verified Semafo's mineral Resource Estimate and takes no responsibility for its accuracy. Semafo, and now Endeavour, is the operator of the Karankasso Project JV and Sarama is relying on their Qualified Persons' assurance of the validity of the Mineral Resource estimate. Additional technical work has been undertaken on the Karankasso Project since the effective date but Sarama is not in a position to quantify the impact of this additional work on the Mineral Resource estimate referred to above. The Government of Burkina Faso has processed the requisite documents to facilitate the grant of the new, full-term Tankoro 2 and Djarkadougou 2 Exploration Permits (the "Permits") and subsequently issued the invitation to pay the permit issuance fees (the "Fees") and the Fees were paid within the requisite 10-day timeline. Following the payment of the Fee, the issuance of the Permit's arrete and related paperwork becomes an administrative process during which time the Company may undertake work on the Tankoro 2 and Djarkadougou 2 Properties. The Company has received the arrete for the Djarkadougou 2 Exploration Permit and anticipates the issuance of the same for the Tankoro 2 Exploration Permit in due course. The properties, hosting the Tankoro and Bondi Deposits respectively, were formerly known as Tankoro and Djarkadougou, but have been renamed as part of the process of re-issuing the respective Permits. Endeavour Mining's Bantou Project Mineral Resource - 38.4Mt @ 1.2g/t Au for 1.5Moz Au (Inferred). This is the aggregate of the Mineral Resource listing for the Bantou and Bantou Nord Deposits which are located within the Bantou Project. Data is sourced from Semafo: Bantou Project NI43-101 Technical Report - Mineral Resource Estimate" dated 3 April 2020. The technical report are available under Endeavour's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

CAUTION REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

Information in this news release that is not a statement of historical fact constitutes forward-looking information. Such forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding the Company's future exploration and development plans, the potential for the Sanutura and Karankasso Projects to host economic mineralisation, the potential to expand the existing estimated Mineral Resources at the Sanutura Project (including the present oxide and transition component), the potential to extend and add to existing mineralisation at the Phantom, Phantom East and Phantom West Prospects, , the potential for development of a mine at the Sanutura Project, the potential for the receipt of regulatory approvals and the timing and prospects for the issuance of the arrete for the Tankoro 2 Exploration Permit by the Government of Burkina Faso. Actual results, performance or achievements of the Company may vary from the results suggested by such forward-looking statements due to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such factors include, among others, that the business of exploration for gold and other precious minerals involves a high degree of risk and is highly speculative in nature; Mineral Resources are not mineral reserves, they do not have demonstrated economic viability, and there is no certainty that they can be upgraded to mineral reserves through continued exploration; few properties that are explored are ultimately developed into producing mines; geological factors; the actual results of current and future exploration; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents.

There can be no assurance that any mineralisation that is discovered will be proven to be economic, or that future required regulatory licensing or approvals will be obtained. However, the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the Company's ability to carry on its exploration activities, the sufficiency of funding, the timely receipt of required approvals, the price of gold and other precious metals, that the Company will not be affected by adverse political and security-related events, the ability of the Company to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner and the ability of the Company to obtain further financing as and when required and on reasonable terms. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Sarama does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except as required by applicable laws.

QUALIFIED PERSONS' STATEMENT

Scientific or technical information in this disclosure that relates to the preparation of the Mineral Resource estimate for the Sanutura Project is based on information compiled or approved by Paul Schmiede. Paul Schmiede is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a Fellow in good standing of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Paul Schmiede has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Paul Schmiede consents to the inclusion in this news release of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.

Scientific or technical information in this disclosure that relates to exploration activities at the Sanutura Project is based on information compiled or approved by Guy Scherrer. Guy Scherrer is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a member in good standing of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Guy Scherrer consents to the inclusion in this disclosure of the information, in the form and context in which it appears.

Scientific or technical information in this disclosure that relates to the quotation of the Karankasso Project's Mineral Resource estimate and exploration activities is based on information compiled by Paul Schmiede. Paul Schmiede is an employee of Sarama Resources Ltd and is a Fellow in good standing of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Paul Schmiede has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralisation under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Paul Schmiede consents to the inclusion in this disclosure of the information, in the form and context in which it appears. Paul Schmiede and Sarama have not independently verified Semafo's (now Endeavour's) Mineral Resource estimate and take no responsibility for its accuracy.

COMPETENT PERSONS' STATEMENT

The Mineral Resource estimates referred to in this disclosure were first disclosed in accordance with ASX Listing Rule 5.8 in the Company's ASX Prospectus dated 11 March 2022. The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the ASX Prospectus and that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the estimates in the ASX Prospectus continue to apply and have not materially changed.

The new Exploration Results reported in this disclosure are based on, and fairly represent, information and supporting documentation prepared by Guy Scherrer. Guy Scherrer is an employee of Sarama Resources and a member of the Ordre des Geologues du Quebec. Guy Scherrer has provided his prior written consent as to the form and context in which the new Exploration Results and the supporting information are presented in this disclosure.

The previously reported Exploration Results referred to in this disclosure were first disclosed in accordance with ASX Listing Rule 5.7 in the Company's ASX disclosure listed in Appendix B. The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in those previous items of disclosure.

This announcement has been authorised by the Board of Sarama Resources.

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: Sarama Resources Ltd.





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The Singapore High Court has extended the creditor protection period for crypto lender Vauld to Feb. 28, as the firm has yet to come up with a revival plan, two persons familiar with the matter told The Block.

See related article: Creditors take hostile action as crypto firm Vauld seeks bankruptcy

Fast facts

This gives Vauld until Feb. 28 to explore options to ease its financial troubles, despite having sought protection until Apr. 21.

Vauld froze customer withdrawals in July before starting to explore restructuring plans, including offers from two crypto fund managers to take over the tokens stuck on its platform.

Vaulds court affidavit stated that the discussions with the fund managers are at an advanced stage, according to the unnamed sources.

The affidavit also stated that Vauld will not enter any agreements with Nexo Capital, which is attempting to acquire the company.

Court documents from July showed that Vauld owed creditors US$402 million, with 90% of the debt owed to individual investors.

See related article: Singapore court gives Vauld parent three-month protection from creditors
DAVOS, Switzerland  Solana Foundation and Ripple are partnering with Eqo Networks, industry group Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC), and blockchain-climate collective BxCi to accelerate the use of crypto-based solutions for climate change.

The newly founded non-profit organization, called Blockchain x Climate Leadership Network (BxC), aims to be the "single largest common gathering of climate action innovators, leaders and builders under one global umbrella," according to a press statement shared with CoinDesk.

BxC's launch was announced at GBBC's gathering on the sidelines of the 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland. The event, which gathers world leaders and top businesses in the Swiss Alps, attracted a slew of crypto entities to last year's meeting just ahead of the series of high-profile company collapses that left the industry scrambling to pick up the pieces.

This year, crypto's presence on the promenade outside the main forum center is comparatively muted, and the industry is making a concerted effort to attract attention to projects that have real-world applications and social benefit.

"I think the climate use case makes the most sense in terms of real world utility beyond, let's say, speculative retail involvement," BxC strategic adviser Daniel Hwang told CoinDesk during an interview in Davos.

Hwang, who works on supporting the infrastructure ecosystem for the initiative, including carbon credit measurements, which calculates the reduced amount of greenhouse gases generated by human actions, said his team has been meeting every week for the last two and a half years hosting workshops and forums focused on education. The initiative looks to come up with principles of cooperation and best practices for climate-related blockchain efforts in different sectors, as well as business cases for climate-crypto projects.

Efforts of using crypto to support climate change mitigation efforts largely revolve around creating new economies that don't harm the environment.

Story continues

The Solana Foundation and Ripple are two of the founding partners, whereas environmentally-oriented layer 1 blockchain Regen Network and association Climate Collective are supporting partners. GBBC, Eqo Networks, which specializes in creating such climate-minded leadership networks, and BxCi, formerly known as Blockchain Infrastructure Carbon Offset Working Group, will lead the initiative.

After BxCs summer 2022 inception in Greenland, BxCi gathered representatives of major crypto and environmental organizations (including CoinDesk) in Colombia in autumn 2022. Some of the working groups that were formed in that meeting  working on carbon market registries, standards and auditability, policy development, regenerative finance and emerging markets in the global south  are still active today and will form the foundation of BxC.

Read more: In the Colombian Andes, Figuring Out How Crypto Can Save the Climate

UPDATE (Jan. 17, 16:58 UTC): Clarifies the roles of the different stakeholders.
Mexico, Hawaii, Pacific Coast and Panama Canal cruises set sail from San Diego

SEATTLE, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego, California, has been a West Coast homeport for Holland America Line since the 1990s, and for the 2023-2024 season the cruise line is featuring a robust schedule from the Golden State. Highlighting the San Diego cruise season are two solar eclipse cruises that place Koningsdam and Zaandam in Mexico for total viewing during the April 8, 2024, eclipse. Also, a special Mexico departure in December 2023 explores unique ports in the Sea of Cortez.

Holland America Line is now booking travelers for the 2023-2024 season to explore Mexico, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast and Panama Canal on six ships across 39 departures. Voyages are roundtrip from San Diego or begin or end in the popular California port.

"Our West Coast itineraries have been meticulously designed to showcase the best of each region..."

Now open for booking, travelers can set out to explore Mexico, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast and Panama Canal on six ships across 39 departures. Voyages are roundtrip from San Diego or begin or end in the popular California port. San Diego sailings are part of Holland America Line's homeport initiative that allows guests to see the world from their doorstep, without international air or by taking an easy flight from Canada.

"San Diego is an important homeport for Holland America Line, both from a drive-to market and for guests who fly in, and it's important for us to be able to offer cruises to a variety of destinations," said Beth Bodensteiner, chief commercial officer, Holland America Line. "Our West Coast itineraries have been meticulously designed to showcase the best of each region, and we took extra time crafting the solar eclipse cruises so they are perfectly aligned to give our guests a total view. We expect them to book up quickly, so those who are interested shouldn't delay."

Two Solar Eclipse Cruises Offer Total Viewing

Zaandam's 14-day Solar Eclipse Cruise departs March 30, 2024, and is positioned for a total view of the solar eclipse as it tracks over Mexico. Roundtrip from San Diego, the ship is at Mazatlan April 8, giving guests a front-row seat.

Koningsdam's 22-day Solar Eclipse Cruise positions the ship along the coast of Mexico for a total view before crossing the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii. The San Diego to Vancouver itinerary departs April 5 and heads south to Cabo San Lucas before spending the day at sea April 8 for the total eclipse. Koningsdam then makes way to Puerto Vallarta before crossing over to Hawaii.

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Historical Baja Peninsula & Sea of Cortez Explores Unique Ports

Volendam's 12-day "Historic Baja & Sea of Cortez" cruise departing Dec. 10, 2023, explores the sun-kissed jewels along the Baha Peninsula on a roundtrip from San Diego cruise to Mexico that features charming La Paz, tranquil Loreto and vibrant Puerto Vallarta. The journey follows in the footsteps of ports visited by author John Steinbeck and biologist Ed Ricketts in 1951, when they collected marine specimens on an expedition that eventually resulted in two books about their experiences.

Highlights of the 2023-24 Mexico Cruise Season:

All Mexico cruises are roundtrip from San Diego.

Three ships offer Mexico itineraries: Koningsdam, Volendam, Zaandam.

All seven-day "Mexican Riviera" cruises feature Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.

The 10-, 11- and 12-day itineraries include the ports on the seven-day cruise, plus a combination of Guaymas. Loreto, Manzanillo, Pichilingue (La Paz), Santa Rosalia, Topolobampo and Zihuatanejo,

One five-day cruise calls at Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Highlights of the 2023-24 Hawaii Cruise Season:

Cruises to Hawaii are aboard Koningsdam and Volendam.

Itineraries are roundtrip from San Diego, roundtrip from Vancouver, or between Vancouver and San Diego.

"Circle Hawaii" cruises range from 16 to 18 days:

Highlights of the 2023-24 Pacific Northwest and Coast Cruise Season:

Six ships will cruise along the West Coast of the United States: Eurodam, Koningsdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam, Volendam and Zaandam.

Itineraries are roundtrip from San Diego, roundtrip from Vancouver, or between Vancouver and San Diego.

Two one-day "Pacific Northwest" getaways in October 2023 and May 2024 between Vancouver and Seattle offer a quick taste of Holland America Line aboard Eurodam.

"Pacific Coast" itineraries are four and five days. The four-day offers a call at Avalon, California; Astoria, Oregon; or three days at sea. The five-day cruises visit a combination of Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Francisco, California; and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

"Classic California Coast" and "Wine Country and Pacific Northwest" are six or seven days. Ports include a combination of Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Victoria and Ensenada,

A special five-day itinerary roundtrip from Vancouver April 30 calls at Ketchikan, Alaska, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada.

Highlights of the 2023-24 Panama Canal Cruise Season:

Four ships transit the Panama Canal: Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Volendam and Zaandam.

Cruises sail between Vancouver, Seattle or San Diego and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Transits range from 14 to 22 days and include calls in Aruba, California, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Turks and Caicos.

Most Panama Canal cruises include a call at Half Moon Cay, Holland America Line's award-winning private island in the Bahamas.

Guests enjoy a daylight transit of the man-made marvel, with commentary on the open decks detailing the amazing feat of the canal.

Collectors' Voyages Craft Longer Journeys

Many of the cruises can be extended into Collectors' Voyages, which offer the ultimate exploration. By combining two itineraries and longer non-repeating voyages, these artfully crafted journeys up to 32 days combine back-to-back sailings, enabling guests to visit more ports and spend extra time discovering the regions.

Have It All Premium Fare

Holland America Line's "Have It All" premium fare adds four popular perks to the booking: shore excursions, specialty dining, a beverage package and Wi-Fi. The number of tours and specialty dining experiences depends on length of voyage. Have It All is available for cruises six days or longer.

For more information about Holland America Line, consult a travel advisor, call 1-877-SAIL HAL (877-724-5425) or visit hollandamerica.com.

Find Holland America Line on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the Holland America Blog. You can also access all social media outlets via the home page at hollandamerica.com.

About Holland America Line [a division of Carnival Corporation and plc (NYSE: CCL and CUK)]

Holland America Line has been exploring the world for 150 years with expertly crafted itineraries, extraordinary service and genuine connections to the destinations. Offering an ideal mid-sized ship experience, its fleet visits nearly 400 ports in 114 countries around the world and has shared the thrill of Alaska for 75 years  longer than any other cruise line. Holland America Line's 11 vessels feature a diverse range of enriching activities and amenities focused on destination immersion and personalized travel. The best live music at sea fills each evening at Music Walk, and dining venues feature exclusive selections from a Culinary Council of world-famous chefs.

CONTACT: Bill Zucker, Erik Elvejord PHONE: 800-637-5029, 206-626-9890 EMAIL: pr@hollandamerica.com

Holland America Line is now booking travelers for the 2023-2024 season to explore Mexico, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast and Panama Canal on six ships across 39 departures. Voyages are roundtrip from San Diego or begin or end in the popular California port.

Holland America Line Standard Photo/Logo

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SOURCE Holland America Line
(Revises arrival dates of Minerva Chios, Flex Aurora, Mol Hestia, Soyo, Seapeak Bahrain, Ribero Duero Knutsen and Megara; shows arrival of LNG Enterprise, adds Global Sealine and Santander Knutsen) Jan 17 (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 (). Those likely to perform ship-to-ship transfers are indicated with (STS). Tankers that have docked are indicated with (A). Floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) terminals are added to the table when they near deployment. As of Dec. 27 2022, this includes the Eemshaven terminal in the Netherlands, the Wilhelmshaven and Lubmin terminals in Germany. For the Reuters LNG guide, click here: LNG TANKER CAPACITY in EXPECTED ARRIVAL FROM PORT cubic metres BRITAIN Soyo 158,000 Jan. 17 Angola Isle of Grain LNG Enterprise 174,000 Jan. 17 (A) United States South Hook SM Albatross 171,000 Jan. 17 United States Dragon Castillo de Caldelas 178,000 Jan. 17 United States South Hook LNG Sakura 177,000 Jan. 18 United States South Hook Fuwairit 138,000 Jan. 18 Qatar Milford Haven Mol Hestia 177,000 Jan. 19 United States South Hook Minerva Chios 173,000 Jan. 19 United States Dragon Flex Aurora 174,000 Jan. 20 United States South Hook Megara 173,000 Jan. 21 Peru Dragon Magdala 173,000 Jan. 21 United States Dragon Seapeak Bahrain 170,000 Jan. 22 United States Isle of Grain BW Paris 159,000 Jan. 23 United States South Hook British Achiever 174,000 Jan. 25 United States South Hook SM Bluebird 170,000 Jan. 25 Peru Isle of Grain Global Jan. 27 United Sealine 170,000 States Milford Haven BW Pavilion Aranda 171,000 Jan. 28 United States Isle of Grain Stena Crystal Sky 173,000 Jan. 28 United States Isle of Grain Ribero Duero Knutsen 173,000 Jan. 31 United States Isle of Grain Minerva Amorgos 170,000 Feb. 3 United States South Hook Santander Feb. 13 Peru Knutsen 170,000 Milford Haven BELGIUM Al Deebel 143,000 Jan. 17 Qatar Zeebrugge Fuji LNG 145,000 Jan. 19 Qatar Zeebrugge LNG Merak 174,000 Jan. 20 (L) N/A Zeebrugge Georgiy Brusilov 173,000 Jan. 20 (STS) (L) Russia Zeebrugge Al Daayen 150,000 Jan. 22 Qatar Zeebrugge Georgiy Ushakov 172,000 Jan. 23 Russia Zeebrugge Flex Rainbow 174,000 Jan. 24 (L) N/A Zeebrugge Yari LNG 158,000 Jan. 26 (L) N/A Zeebrugge Al Zubarah 138,000 Jan. 27 Qatar Zeebrugge Adamastos 174,000 Jan. 31 United States Zeebrugge NETHERLANDS Transgas Force 174,000 Jan. 15 (A) United States Gate Nikolay Zubov 173,000 Jan. 15 (A) Russia Gate Maran Gas Agamemnon 172,000 Jan. 17 United States Gate Magdala 173,000 Jan. 18 United States Eemshaven La Mancha Knutsen 174,000 Jan. 24 United States Gate LNG Rosenrot 177,000 Jan. 27 United States Gate GERMANY Maran Gas Ithaca 170,000 Jan. 15 (A) United States Wilhelmshaven Melanje 161,000 Jan. 30 Angola Wilhelmshaven Sources: Ports, AIS Live ship tracking, Refinitiv Eikon data. (^) Partial unload (*) Arrival date estimated based on flows data (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin)
By Trend

The bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic revived over the past after a previous slowdown, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the cooperation developed in many directions, Jaroslav Kurfurst, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, told Trend.

"Trade and economic cooperation is among the top priorities of our bilateral relations. The trade statistics of 2022, which was significantly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, have shown gradual recovery and impressive year-on-year growth. According to the data of the Czech Statistical Office, the trade turnover in the period from January through November 2022 has increased by 116 percent, which is really promising," he said.

According to the deputy minister, a gradual return of Czech companies to the Azerbaijani market has been observed from the second half of 2022, with the revival of these business activities supported by the resumption of the direct Prague-Baku air route.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic has also been talking about activities promoting economic and trade cooperation with relevant Azerbaijani institutions, Kurfurst noted.

"Several projects are in the initial stage of discussion. We believe that the upcoming 5th Session of the Joint Commission on Economic, Scientific-Technical and Cultural Cooperation and accompanying business forum in Prague in early March will provide further momentum," he concluded.
Benzinga

Add up the market valuation of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), all the cryptos in the world and entrepreneur Jeff Bezoss fortune, and you get to over $3 trillion. But one 80-year-old man has created something bigger than all three of these combined. These days, he shuns the spotlight and lives on a modest farm in rural Pennsylvania. You would never guess the farms owner set in motion a $5 trillion force that grows each fortnight. Dont Miss: This Startup Built the World's First AI Marketing Platfor
UC Asset LP

Atlanta, Jan. 17, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UC Asset LP (OTCQB: UCASU) announced last week that the company entered a MOU to acquire a 10,000 square foot cannabis cultivation property in the State of Oklahoma, through a non-cash acquisition deal. Upon closing of the acquisition, UCASU will invest $1 million to build extra 5,000 square feet of cannabis cultivation facility at the same site.

After acquisition, the current operator on the property, Fire Ranch Farm, will continue to rent the property from UC Asset. UC Asset expects to receive monthly rents representing a 14.4% cash on cash annual return. The lease is locked for 3 years, and monthly rent will increase by 5% every 24 months after the first 3 years.

The non-cash acquisition will be closed through the issuance of 2.5 million preferred shares of UC Asset to the current property owner. Those preferred shares will have a fixed conversion rate of 1:1, which means that one preferred share may be converted into one common share, and one common share only, when conversion will be allowed in the future.

Holder of the preferred shares will receive no dividends from UC Asset, unless those preferred shares are converted into common shares. Meanwhile, common shareholders will continue to receive cash dividends from the company, shall the company decide to distribute any.

However, if preferred shareholder converts his holdings into common shares, he will be entitled to receive dividend. This additional dividend obligation raises the concern that whether the conversion of said preferred shares will dilute the interests of existing shareholders.

Greg Bankston, managing general partner of UC Asset, confirms that the conversion terms include strong protection for exist shareholders.

There exists a three-party agreement, that for any preferred shares converted, the monthly rent on the property will be increased proportionally, so that the company will generate more income from the property, explains Bankston.

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Bankston adds that, according to the estimate by the management, the increase of rent may outweigh the additional dividend allocated to newly converted shares.

Bankston also confirms that the company are working with concerned parties to reach definitive agreements and close the transfer of the property as soon as possible.

This 10,000 square foot cannabis property, according to Bankston, is built to the state-of-art standard, with computerized and automatized environment control, and has the capacity to host full cycle cannabis production from creating clones/genetics to extracting cannabinoids.

This will be our first cannabis property, and it is our one and only selection after screening numerous opportunities in the past 15 months, says Larry Wu, founder of UC Asset. Since we announced our intention to invest in cannabis property in October 2021, our team have made hundreds of phone calls to potential sellers, screened tens of opportunities, and conducted research in 5 different states, including Colorado, California and New York. That is why we are so confident in our final choice. We believe Oklahoma is the future for cannabis cultivation, and our investment in the Sooner State will lead us to great success, sooner than later, asserts Wu.

About UC Asset LP

UC Asset LP is a limited partnership formed for the purpose of investing in real estate with innovative strategies. For more information about UC Asset, please visit: www.ucasset.com

Disclaimer:

This News Release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to differ materially from any these statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any those forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date of this news release. None of such forward-looking statements should be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the objectives and plans set forth in this News Release will be achieved or be executed.

For More Information Contact: IR@UCasset.com




The Speaker Bureau is available on www.wcfaglobal.com and gathers some of the top communications specialists and business leaders worldwide

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WCFA Speaker Bureau is the newest global platform gathering influential PR business leaders, launched by the World Communications Forum Association (WCFA) in Davos. The platform intends to create unique collaborations and makes the process easier. It presents expert speakers who can bring impact to any live, hybrid and virtual event on a broad range of topics. The Speaker Bureau is available on www.wcfaglobal.com. All members of WCFA can join the platform for free.

WCFA Global Speaker Bureau - Join Now

"WCFA marks a new milestone in its development with the launch of the Speaker Bureau. The excellent response we have received in short time indicates the need for professional guidance and support in organizing events that matter. It is a fantastic opportunity to attract more diverse talent in the industry, make them more visible and inspire others. At the same time, event organisers will have the perfect tool to engage their guests.", said Maxim Behar, President of the World Communications Forum Association.

This important initiative will also support the creation of a more exceptional and reliable partnerships so that audiences can benefit from a range of perspectives that come from industry thought leaders.

The WCFA Speaker Bureau has already gathered some of the most wanted keynote speakers in the industry from Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Ghana, Hungary, Iran, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam. The speakers directory includes Amanda Coleman, Founder and Managing Director of Amanda Coleman Communications; Danijel Koletic, CEO at Apriori World; Dorcas Aba Annan, Managing Director & Global Chief Operating Officer at Abjel Communications; Edgar Amirkhanyan, Head of Public Relations and Marketing department at Eurasia International University and Public Radio of Armenia; Gregory Galant, Co-founder and CEO of Muck Rack; Hesham Mesbah, Associate Professor at the Communication Department at Rollins College; Mai Anh Le, Regional Country Manager at Global PR Hub; Mina Nazari, PR and communication expert at Tabriz Power Distribution Company; Natan Edelsburg, Chief Partnerships Officer, Muck Rack; Pelin Kocaalp, General Manager at Hill+Knowlton Istanbul; Sherine Zaklama, CEO and Managing Director at RADA Public Relations; Tatevik Simonyan, Co-founder and Director Communications & International Relations at SPRING PR; Zsofia Lakatos, CEO of Emerald PR.

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Representing some of the most influential PR leaders worldwide, the World Communications Forum Association welcomes professionals to join the platform and showcase their expertise and speak for a wider audience.

All industry experts, speakers and event organizers can contact WCFA Head Office for further inquiries at mainoffice@wcfaglobal.com

About Speaker Bureau:

The World Communications Forum Association represents some of the most influential business leaders and PR experts across all sectors and all continents. The WCFA Speaker Bureau connects you with global key opinion leaders who deliver a powerful message and will inspire, engage, and create a lasting impact on your audience.

About World Communications Forum Association:

The World Communications Forum was founded in 2010 in Davos, Switzerland, where the Association was registered in 2014. The WCFA is a n organization committed to active global discussions and exchanges focused on the development of communications expertise of its members and be an active voice in its key role in business, society, and politics. Every year the forum gathers prominent representatives of the communication and public relations sector from around the world, who, through dialogue and discussion, exchange experiences and ideas to shape the art of global communications. In 2021, the WCFA organized its 'Global Communications Summit' on Zoom, bringing together more than 450 top communications experts globally.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1984962/WCFA_Speaker_Bureau.jpg

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SOURCE World Communications Forum Association
Lake Anna has been plagued by harmful algae blooms the past five summers, resulting in no-swim advisories for certain areas of the lake.

The persistent algae bloom problem resulted in the lake, along with six other bodies of water, being added to the Virginias impaired waterways list in 2022.

After years of frustration with the algae blooms, efforts were launched last year to treat parts of the 13,000-acre, man-made lake, a popular recreational destination that also cools the Dominion Energy North Anna nuclear power plant.

At last weeks Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors meeting, Lake Anna Civic Association board of directors President Greg Baker gave an update on the treatment efforts, saying there were some promising results.

LACA was able to perform the treatment on the lake because of a robust fundraising campaign last year, adding that they are pursuing more proactive efforts to battle the algae blooms in 2023.

People were willing to put their money where their mouth was, he said of the 2022 fundraising efforts that totaled $135,000  well over their goal.

LACA used the money to test a new hydrogen peroxide-based treatment aimed at fighting the algae blooms, which appear when nitrogen and phosphorus pollution combine with warm water temperatures, leading to toxins that threaten the health of people, pets, fish and shellfish. Some harmful algae blooms are caused by cyanobacteria that can cause skin rashes, stomach illness, vomiting and diarrhea.

Baker said the first site they tested, on the Upper Pamunkey branch, was very, very successful. We hit it before the algae blooms occurred. Then we hit it again in July. Then we hit it again in August.

While that area was under a no-swim advisory, DEQ doesnt test in there, Baker said. But LACA does test that area, and he said the treatment eradicated the algae blooms.

Baker said they got mixed results in other areas they treated, possibly because they couldnt start treating those spots until the algae blooms had already appeared. He said they stopped treating those areas, which allowed them to save around $50,000.

LACA decided to use the remaining funds to hire a legislative organization to work with state lawmakers to help request funding to actually do something about harmful algae blooms at the lake, Baker said. No more testing. No more studies. But actually do some remediation and mitigation.

Baker added that they have been working with state lawmakers and Gov. Glenn Youngkin. He said the governors office was responsive and willing to help, but it was too late to make it on the governors budget.

Yet, he said area delegates and senators have agreed to apply a budget amendment for $1 million specifically to treat harmful algae blooms on Lake Anna.

That effort will still need legislative approval, Baker said. He asked the board to put the issue on its next meeting agenda showing support for the funding.

Its a bipartisan effort  nothing particularly Republican or Democrat about clean water, he said.

Baker added that LACA will launch another fundraising campaign this year.

They hope to raise $50,000 to use an ultrasonic technology  basically, equipment that sends sound waves out, he said. It causes the algae to not be able to go up and down in the water. Therefore it cant get sun, dies and floats to the bottom. So were really excited about the various efforts.
Fresh from a dominant performance in the November elections, Gov. Jared Polis outlined his agenda for the 2023 legislative session this morning. Follow along for what you missed at the State of the State.

12 p.m.: Governor closes with focus on public safety

.@GovofCO #SOTS speech now more than an hour, I believe this is the longest one he has ever given. @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

"Right now, Colorado falls in the middle of the pack on crime rates, but thats not good enough. We can and we must do better," Polis says.

Thanking law enforcement officers, local leaders and state legislators who passed a public saftey package last session, Polis adds he's "proposing an additional package that will provide even more resources for local law enforcement officers and community organizations doing work on the ground."

.@GovofCO #SOTS now onto public safety: proposes a package to provide more resources to local law enforcement, cracking down on auto theft, support for DAs on prosecuting car thieves. @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

Polis also takes a moment to offer remembrance for the victims of the Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, before calling for a strengthening of Colorado's red flag law.

Loudest & longest applause of the #SOTS speech is for the two heroes of ClubQ shooting: Richard Fierro and Thomas James. @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

.@govofco is now onto gun control: beefing up ERPO (red flag law) but doesn't address any of the other legislation we're hearing about, such as bans on assault weapons or increasing the age for purchasing guns. @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

"Right now, loved ones and local law enforcement have the ability to pursue an extreme risk protection order. But why not expand this to include additional petitioners, like district attorneys?"

11:48 a.m.: Polis touts free preschool as address turns to education

Touting recently passed initiatives that created free preschool and full-day kindergarten, Polis says "access to a quality education is a fundamental right and critical for our economic prosperity."

Polis also calls for direct action from the legislature on education.

"Im calling for the legislature to refer a ballot measure that would allow Colorado to utilize excess Prop EE funds for preschool, just as the legislature did on a bipartisan basis for excess marijuana funds in 2015. This would give voters the choice to support more services for more children, and help lower-income families enroll their child in full-day preschool."

Polis also notes his supplemental budget package calls for a $925 raise in per pupil spending, and announces a a proposal to buy down, and eventually eliminate, the Budget Stabilization Factor.

.@GovofCO just did a Yoda impersonation. "Two available jobs fo every unemployed person, Colorado has." #SOTS @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

11:40 a.m.: Polis focuses on cost of health care

.@GovofCO #SOTS themes: affordable housing, climate & clean energy, property taxes, wildfire mitigation, education, health care (and he's going after hospital profits in this speech, stay tuned) @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

.@GovofCO also going after health insurers, some of which he says have not held up their end of the bargain on lowering costs. @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

.@GovofCO says large hospital systems making record profits, paying zero taxes and sitting on "enormous" reserves. "It's time that we hold them accountable." There's the gauntlet. #SOTS @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

Framing through the lens of Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera, Polis notes that "too many Coloradans are forced to choose between the care they desperately need, paying their rent or mortgage, or putting food on the table."

Polis touches on Primavera's breast cancer diagnosis, the governor says his second-in-command was forced to many of those same choices. But Polis said Primavera "didnt just survive, she has thrived," going to to head up several agencies focus on reducing health care costs.

"But we have a lot more work to do. The United States spends far more on healthcare than our peers around the world, and our results are no better," he says.

To improve, Polis calls for cutting costs of prescription drugs, penalizing health insurers for overcharging patients.

11:29 a.m.: Governor pledges to protect Colorado's water and climate

Noting that "water is life" in the West, Polis says "the most important thing we can do for water security is protect our waterways and rights."

"Hotter, drier conditions have strained our resources in a time when demand continues to grow. Our rivers and streams arent just life sources for Colorado, but for the entire American West. We must continue to fight for our rights and lead the way to a sustainable future," he said.

.@GovofCO reference to "unbreakable" Will Toor (who heads state energy office) is because he & his wife took a 1,000-foot fall rock-climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park last July. Not quite unbreakable as he suffered a broken leg, but they survived it. @colo_politics #SOTS  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

The same goes for the state's approach to climate, according to the governor.

"We have already secured more than 80% renewable energy by 2030," he says. "We look forward to having a clear path to 100% renewable energy by 2040."

But recognizing climate and water challenged ahead, Polis called for continued investment in fire prevention and mitigation.

" Getting this right is critical for the health of our communities and the future of our state," Polis says.

The minority party didn't seem too fond of @GovofCO comments on statewide climate goals....@colo_politics #SOTS  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

11:17 a.m.: Polis turns to taxes

Polis next turns to taxes, calling for a property tax cut.

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"We must also work together to pass a long-term property tax relief package that reduces residential and commercial property taxes and creates a long-term mechanism to protect homeowners from being priced out of their homes, while protecting school funding," Polis says.

He also touches on on tax relief, calling for continued progress on eliminating state income taxes as well as an expansion of senior homestead tax exemption.

11:12 a.m.: Focus turns to state action on housing

.@govofco is now on to the big topic of the day: affordable housing and land use changes, which is likely to be one of the big fights in 2023 #coleg @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

#SOTS backgrounder: affordable housing appears to be the major policy topic of the speech, four pages devoted to that. @colo_politics  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

Polis pitches Colorado's housing shortage as not a local problem, but one that must be addressed by the state.

"We need an approach that creates more housing now, protects Colorado's resources and reduces sprawl. Its clear that the actions of one jurisdiction impact others, especially when it comes to housing, our environment, transportation systems, roads and transit, water and sewer infrastructure, and indeed our economic prosperity and growth."

Noting Colorado has not made changes to its land use policy since 1974, Polis calls for lawmakers to "bring our land use policy into the 21st century."

"We need more flexible zoning to allow more housing, streamlined regulations that cut through red tape, expedited approval processes for projects like modular housing, sustainable development, and more building in transit oriented communities."

11:10 a.m.: Polis calls for federal immigration action

.@GovofCO call for immigration reform gets both sides of the aisle to their feet. #SOTS @colo_polit  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

The governor turns his address toward the uptick in migrants from South and Central America passing through Colorado in recent months. He notes that while "people have always come to America in search of freedom, safety and economic opportunity ... we as a country haven't always lived up to those values."

Polis praises Denver, Larimer County and a number of nonprofit agencies for "being great partners in ensuring every migrant coming to our state is treated in the most humane way possible."

Recognizing members of Colorado's federal House delegation, Polis calls for action.

"The time is now."

11:02 a.m.: Polis kicks off address

Polis kicks off his address with a nod to the adversity the state faced over his first four years in office, followed by a call for unity.

"Our state might be shaped like a square but the political pundits cant put us in a box, so they label us whatever one color they see - red, blue, purple. I see a harmonious rainbow of colorful opinions that make up our state of pragmatic westerners. So as we start this new session let's not forget who we are, let's not get lost in zero-sum politics, and let's focus on working together for good results."

11 a.m.: Polis enters the House chamber

Flanked by a committee of lawmakers, Polis takes his place at the front of the chamber for the address.

10:15 a.m.: House chamber opens after security sweep

After a security sweep, the House chamber where Polis will deliver his address is open and guests are slowly filing in.

Reporter Marianne Goodland highlights a number of the governor's notable guests:

2/2 Includes Adam Paul/Lakewood, John Suthers/CSprings, Nick Gradisar/Pueblo, Mike Coffman/Aurora, Eric Mamula/Breck, Jonathan Godes/Glenwood, Aaron Brockett/Boulder.  Marianne Goodland  (@MGoodland) January 17, 2023

9 a.m.: Legislators to convene at 11 a.m.

Legislators will convene at 11 a.m. today at the state Capitol in Denver for the first State of the State address of Polis' second term in office.

The governor has already delivered one speech so far this year, kicking off his second term by pledging to "lead the Colorado way" amid growing concerns around affordable housing, public safety, rising cost of living and a state budget with little room for additional spending in the upcoming fiscal year.

The Colorado's General Assembly gaveled itself into its 120-day session last week to swear in new members. The House alone boasts 32 new members.

This brand new legislature will need to resolve  or at least try  some of the biggest problems facing Colorado.

And by and large, women will lead the charge to tackle those problems.

The state's legislative body is currently comprised of a majority of women, and Rep. Julie McCluskie is the first Western Slope woman to secure the speaker's gavel. As of opening day, the General Assembly is 50 women and 49 men, with one vacancy due to Rep. Tracey Bernett's resignation on the eve of session.

With that resignation, the General Assembly is already set to have four members elected by vacancy committee for the 2023 session.

Vacancy committees have also chosen new lawmakers for House District 51, prompted by the death of House Minority Leader Hugh McKean on Oct. 30; for House District 35, following the resignation of then-Speaker Pro Tem Adrienne Benavidez of Adams County; and, for Senate District 5, where Bob Rankin, R-Carbondale, resigned his seat.

A week in, the Democratic majority that controls both chambers of the legislature has already made legislative waves, including a bill seeking to ask voters this November to divert TABOR refunds to primarily help pay, attract and retain teachers.
Cross-country skiers in western Colorado are celebrating a new place to play.

They were at a ribbon-cutting this month for a Nordic trail system spanning 8-plus miles through pine and aspen outside Montrose. That was after the U.S. Forest Service authorized the network situated near 9,000 feet on the Uncompahgre Plateau.

The trails offer a much-needed recreation opportunity to experience the forest during the winter months, Ouray district ranger Dana Gardunio said in a news release. The Uncompahgre Nordic Trails will expand the connection between the national forest and the Montrose community.

Gardunio credited the agencys relationship with the Uncompahgre Nordic Association, a grassroots group of volunteers whove been busy grooming the trails while seeking nonprofit status.

The groups Facebook page has provided regular updates on conditions and includes a link to a GoFundMe page seeking funds to continue the effort. Donations exceed $4,000.

The trail network is near the intersection of Dave Wood and Divide roads, about 20 miles southwest of Montrose. For more information, go to the Uncompahgre Nordic Associations Facebook page or email UNAxski@gmail.com.
After two criminal defendants with convictions more than a decade old filed challenges implicating a pair of recent Colorado Supreme Court rulings, the state's Court of Appeals has now filled in the gaps on the process for ordering restitution to victims and for reclaiming property seized by law enforcement.

Two separate appellate panels took the Supreme Court's recent directives and attempted to apply them to circumstances not raised explicitly in the high court's decisions. In each instance, the panels sided against the defendants.

In the first case out of El Paso County, Audrey Lee Tennyson pleaded guilty in 2008 to aggravated robbery. He received a sentence of 26 years in prison and agreed to pay restitution to his victims.

Under Colorado law, most convictions require judges to consider whether a defendant should pay monetary restitution. At the time of Tennyson's conviction, the law gave prosecutors 90 days (now 91) after sentencing to request a specific amount, and trial judges likewise had 90 days to impose the restitution amount. The law also enables judges to extend either deadline.

At sentencing, the judge presiding over Tennyson's case agreed to restitution, but the prosecutor asked to "reserve" the determination of the amount. Ultimately, the judge imposed restitution in excess of $12,000 far beyond the 90-day deadline.

In November 2021, the Supreme Court issued a decision to clarify the process for ordering restitution. The "longstanding practice" used by prosecutors and trial courts did not follow the law, observed Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr., who authored the ruling in People v. Weeks.

Typically, prosecutors were asking trial judges to postpone restitution decisions for 91 days, with judges ordering a specific amount sometime after the prosecution provided a number and the defendant had a chance to object. In reality, the Supreme Court pointed out, prosecutors need to ask for restitution by the sentencing hearing, and the judge needs to make a decision at that time about whether there will be restitution. Afterward, the 91-day deadline applies for determining the specific amount, unless a judge finds "good cause" to extend it.

Tennyson argued on appeal that his restitution order, imposed beyond the then-90-day window, amounted to an illegal sentence.

"In this case, the trial court lacked authority to order restitution beyond the 90-day deadline," wrote public defender Andrea R. Gammell. "Therefore, Tennysons sentence was not authorized by law because it failed to comply with the statutory restitution requirement."

The prosecution, however, believed Tennyson's challenge did not implicate an illegal sentence, but a sentence allegedly imposed in an "illegal manner," which must be challenged within 120 days. The difference, according to Assistant Attorney General Frank R. Lawson, was that the trial judge had the authority to order Tennyson to pay restitution as part of his sentence. That the order came too late was simply a "procedural" deviation.

"Challenges that fall within this latter category do not go to the legality of the sentence, but to the legality of the manner in which it was imposed," Lawson argued.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals acknowledged the Supreme Court's decision in Weeks did not address Tennyson's circumstances. In Weeks, the trial judge did not initially determine whether there would be restitution at the time of sentencing, whereas for Tennyson, the judge had. The amount of restitution was the only thing left open.

"Based on our analysis," wrote Judge Sueanna P. Johnson in the Jan. 12 opinion, "a challenge to the timing of the court fixing the amount of restitution is an illegal manner claim. And because Tennysons postconviction challenge is to the order determining the amount of restitution, it is time barred."

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She added that a "procedural deficiency" in imposing a specific restitution amount would not nullify a trial judge's decision that a defendant is responsible for restitution in the first place.

The case is People v. Tennyson.

The second case, out of Park County, implicated a Supreme Court decision from December governing the ability of criminal defendants to seek return of property that police have seized in connection with their investigation.

Prior to the justices' decision in Woo v. El Paso County Sheriff's Office, the Court of Appeals was split over whether a trial judge presiding over a defendant's criminal case retains the ability to order the return of personal property after sentencing. The Supreme Court clarified that trial judges do have authority to hear such requests whenever they have jurisdiction over the underlying criminal case  meaning, broadly, anytime the case is not pending before an appellate court.

Law enforcement seized several items from Craig S. Robledo in 2008, including a cell phone, MP3 player and portable speaker. Robledo estimated they were worth $700. He subsequently pleaded guilty in 2009 to attempted witness tampering and violating a protection order.

Soon after, Robledo requested the return of his possessions and a judge directed law enforcement to give the items to Robledo's mother if they were not relevant to the criminal case. But Robledo continued to ask for his property, filing another motion in 2014 and a third motion in 2021.

In February 2021, then-District Court Judge Stephen A. Groome denied the motion with one sentence: "Too much time has elapsed to consider request."

Robledo then appealed, but while the case was pending, the Supreme Court decided Woo. Unlike Robledo's situation, Woo involved a motion filed shortly after the defendant's conviction. Therefore, the Supreme Court did not address whether some requests for property could be too late to act upon.

The appellate panel reviewing Robledo's case declined to recognize a firm deadline, but acknowledged the interest in resolving defendants' requests for property "wanes over time."

"Without deciding where the outer boundaries of timeliness might lie, we have no trouble agreeing with the district court that, under the circumstances of this case, twelve years lies on the 'unreasonably untimely' side of that line," wrote Judge Karl L. Schock in the panel's Dec. 29 opinion.

The panel also relied on two other reasons for turning away the appeal: Robledo had already raised the issue in previous motions and he had agreed to forfeit any seized items in his plea deal. The panel's decision was designated as unpublished, meaning it is not meant to set a precedent.

The case is People v. Robledo-Valdez.
A Douglas County judge did not follow state law during divorce proceedings when he placed restrictions on a father's ability to travel abroad with his children, Colorado's second-highest court decided last week.

In finalizing the divorce between Basil Badawiyeh and Michelle Mary Badawiyeh, District Court Judge Andrew Baum ordered that the passports of Basil Badawiyeh and his minor children be held by a third party and required Basil Badawiyeh to put up $50,000 as bond whenever he wanted to continue the longstanding family trips to the Middle East.

Baum characterized the conditions as "abduction prevention" measures to deter Basil Badawiyeh from fleeing the country with the couple's children.

But a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeals overturned the travel restrictions, noting there are more than a dozen factors judges must consider under state law in deciding whether a "credible risk" of child abduction is present. Baum had not cited any of the factors other than Basil Badawiyeh's likelihood of taking his children to the United Arab Emirates.

"The district court here not only failed to make a specific finding that father posed a credible risk of abducting the children, but it also relied on little more than the UAEs status as a nonsignatory to the Hague Convention," wrote Judge Matthew D. Grove, referring to the treaty that addresses child abduction across international borders.

More than 100 parties have signed on to the Hague Convention, including the United States. The treaty commits countries to returning children to their country of origin who are wrongfully removed.

In 2007, Colorado lawmakers also enacted the Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act, which allows the participants in child custody cases or judges themselves to pursue abduction prevention measures. The list of factors judges are required to consider includes whether somebody has already threatened to flee with a child, has sold their home, or has strong ties to another state or country.

The likelihood of taking a child to a country that has not signed the Hague Convention is another factor.

Basil and Michelle Badawiyeh were married for 22 years when he filed for divorce. The couple had four children, and the entire family  except for Michelle Badawiyeh  had dual American and Jordanian citizenship.

The divorce was acrimonious, with Basil Badawiyeh alleging his wife had mental health issues and Michelle Badawiyeh alleging her husband was physically abusive. One issue for Baum to sort out was the annual trips the family had taken to the United Arab Emirates, and specifically to Dubai to see Basil Badawiyeh's family.

"These trips were incredibly important to the family because many members of fathers family reside in Dubai, and the trips allowed for the parties children see their extended family and to explore their Arabic heritage, including by practicing Islam and developing their ability to read religious texts," wrote Basil Badawiyeh's attorneys.

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Michelle Badawiyeh was concerned her husband would remain in the United Arab Emirates with the children, where the Hague Convention would not facilitate their return. She told Baum that the "fear is definitely in me." Basil Badawiyeh testified in response that he would never flee the country, as it would be against his "character, culture and religion."

In an order issued in September 2021, Baum addressed many financial and parenting aspects of the divorce, but also imposed the anti-abduction restrictions. He required the passports of Basil Badawiyeh and his children to be in the custody of a neutral third party, and for Basil Badawiyeh to post $50,000 bond before traveling to any country with his children, including those that have joined the Hague Convention. The money would be used to help Michelle Badawiyeh get her children back in the event they did not return as planned.

Basil Badawiyeh asked Baum to reconsider the conditions, but Baum stood by his decision. He wrote that he agreed with Michelle Badawiyeh and the parental evaluators who testified that there was a "risk of husband absconding with the children if he was allowed unrestricted international travel and access to their passports."

Baum added that the conditions were less restrictive than the other idea of requiring Michelle Badawiyeh's permission for the children to travel with their father.

Basil Badawiyeh turned to the Court of Appeals, arguing there was never a credible risk that he would flee with his children, and Baum had only imposed the restrictions to assuage his ex-wife's fears. His lawyers also argued the restrictions infringed on his "constitutional right to exercise his religion and control the religious upbringing of his children," given that a purpose of the trips was to allow the children to learn about Islam in the Middle East.

The Court of Appeals did not decide whether the abduction prevention measures amounted to a constitutional violation because Baum had never found under state law that there was a credible risk of abduction in the first place.

"And aside from observing that fathers plans would  as they had in the past  include travel to a country that is not party to the Hague Convention, the court did not address any of the remaining statutory factors," Grove wrote in the Jan. 12 opinion.

Grove also pointed out that while Baum's written order stated he agreed with Michelle Badawiyeh about the risk to her children, Baum had previously acknowledged he did "not necessarily share" the concern about international abduction.

The appellate panel ordered the reconsideration of whether a credible risk of abduction exists for the Badawiyehs' two children who remain under 18.

The case is In re the Marriage of Badawiyeh.
Police took three suspects into custody Monday while executing a search warrant in northeast Colorado Springs.

Officers were in the 4100 block of Meadowland Boulevard around 10:30 a.m. attempting to locate a wanted party, police said, when they found a stolen vehicle in the driveway. The suspect, Adam Van Meter, exited the house and was arrested. He told police he was alone at the house.

After transporting Van Meter to the criminal justice center, officers obtained a search warrant and found two additional people hiding inside the house with outstanding warrants, which police also took into custody, according to Gazette media partner KKTV.

Authorities then recovered two stolen excavators, a stolen truck and a second stolen trailer, totaling more than $50,000. Evidence of potential fraud was also found at the scene, all according to the KKTV report.

Update: Van Meter was released Monday night after his bond was posted.

He said in an interview with KKTV that he thought the charges brought against him were preposterous.

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He said although he knew of the items on his property, they werent his and he wasnt aware they were stolen, according to the KKTV interview.

Reporter Abbey Soukup contributed to this report.
By Trend

Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and his British counterpart Ben Wallace discussed bilateral, regional defense and security developments and cooperation on Monday, Trend reports citing Daily Sabah.

The defense minister met with the U.K.'s secretary of defense in London for discussions on security.

He was welcomed with an official military ceremony at the U.K. Defense Ministry building by Ben Wallace.

The top defense officials met "to discuss strengthening our defense ties and issues of regional security," the U.K. Defense Ministry said on Twitter.

Turkiye and the U.K. "enjoy a close relationship as NATO allies with a history of shared responsibilities," it further said.
The case of the missing hogs, stolen before they could even get to the National Western Stock Show, has had over two thousand shares on Facebook and a network of internet sleuths mobilized  posting alerts from Oklahoma to Texas.

It's unclear if the thieves knew what they were towing when they made off with Doug and Roger, a couple of 280 lb. prize hogs, who were being housed in the owners' livestock trailer, which was attached to a shiny white and tan Ford F-350 truck.

The entire caravan disappeared in the dark of night, either late Saturday or early Sunday, from the parking lot of a Comfort Inn on Tower Road hotel near Denver International Airport.

People tell us that is a bad area, said Tania Lee. In years past we have stayed in that area and never had a problem. How would we know that?

The Lee family hauled their beloved swine down a ribbon of highways from Washington state to the outskirts of Denver in hopes of selling them at the National Western Stock Show.

One of the hogs is white with black spots and the other is brown.

We are in a waiting game at the moment. I would hope that someone would dump the trailer and give us our pigs, said Lee, who has been crying for days. "These people not only took our truck and our possessions, they took a piece of our hearts."

The family had to borrow a cousins extra car for transportation, but her biggest concern is the hogs, who were raised with the utmost care from piglets by her three sons; Blaine, Chance and Miles.

For Lee the worries are piling up with the hours.

The trailer contains a bucket or two of food but the swine have certain needs only a hog farmer can understand.

The Lee family parked their Ford 350 and hog-pulling trailer with the two animals inside on Saturday. That night, after a short trip for ice cream, they returned around 8 pm and moved the truck and trailer from a dark side of the building to a place under lights in front of the hotel.

That was the last time they saw their animals.

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The next morning, Lees sons called her in a panic. They had gone down for the morning feeding but the truck and trailer were gone.

I thought, them being boys, that they were playing a joke on me. But pretty soon, I saw it was for real," she said.

No one heard a squeal or saw head nor tail, but Denver Police are working with the hotel to gather surveillance footage.

Ford trucks are one of the most frequently stolen vehicles, police Spokesman Doug Schepman said. Officers filed an incident report on the missing property and live animals and a detective has been assigned to the case.

Besides auto theft, according to FindLaw.com, anyone who steals and transports cattle, horses, goats, mules, swine or donkeys could be charged with a class 4 felony under Colorado law.

The police told me that they were probably after the generator we kept in the trailer, Lee said.

Conspiracy theories swirling on the family's missing pig Facebook page include comments about possible agri-terrorism and warnings of Denver's huge auto theft problem. One poster said she also had her Ford 350 stolen from the National Western two years ago. In another post, a man noticed that on the same day Doug and Roger went missing, a woman on a separate page was looking for someone to slaughter two pigs, but as the investigation unfolded, the suspicious post turned out to be a coincidence.

Monday, the Lees planned to move Doug and Roger from the hotel to a National Western Stock Show holding pen. Tuesday and Wednesday, they were prepared to show them.

In a statement, President and CEO Paul Andrews said event officials are upset by the news, but since the crime happened off Stock Show property, they could only alert police and will help in any way that they can. Andrews said the National Western Center Complex grounds have 24 hour security and police to protect peoples valuables as we try to fight crime in Denver.

The Colorado State Patrol said they take auto theft seriously, but that it hasnt had a report on the license plates of the truck or trailer as of Monday.

The white and tan Ford F-350 truck has "JAMNJON 2000" on Washington state license plate. The trailer plates are 0239US.

Look for two possibly bewildered pigs inside.

Anyone with information is asked to call the police non-emergency number at 720-913-2000, or call Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867 or visit metrodenvercrimestoppers.com. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward of up to $2,000.
Crime Stoppers has organized a town hall in which public safety experts will discuss how Colorado Springs citizens can help fight and prevent crime in the community.

The free and public event will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, 1775 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd. It will also be livestreamed at gazette.com.

Panelists include Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez, El Paso County Sheriff Joe Roybal, District Attorney Michael Allen, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs criminology professor Jon Caudill and School District 11 Superintendent Michael Gaal. The Gazette is co-sponsoring the event.

Crime Stoppers, the primary sponsor, offers an anonymous platform for citizens to report information about crimes or suspects.

Thats all based on the (principle) that someone other than the criminal has information about a crime thats been committed, Crime Stoppers chairman Don Addy said. This is really an extension of our mission, and that is to help give people tips and ideas on how they can help.

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The town hall is an effort to reduce crime levels in the community following a local uptick in recent years. Colorado Springs saw a record number of homicides last year with 54, marking the third straight year of record highs. Police investigated 44 homicides in 2021 and 39 homicides in 2020.

Colorado Springs violent crime rate rose 35% between 2015 and 2020 as the national rate remained steady, according to data released in September by Pikes Peak United Way. Hate crimes also saw a sharp increase during that time, and as property crime rates have decreased by a fifth nationwide, such crimes have held steady in Colorado Springs.

Panelists will discuss how they fight crime in their respective roles and how the community can assist them. Topics will include causes of crime, the citys high recidivism rate and how the school system works to keep kids on the right path, among other subjects. Citizens can submit additional questions to the panel at gazette.com/crime.

Crimes oftentimes are crimes of opportunity. A person is on drugs, and they need money to feed their habit. Theyll walk by a vehicle that has the keys in the ignition and is unlocked, and theyll get in and steal it. Well, that doesnt have to happen, Addy said. These are the kinds of things that were trying to share with the community. You can help by just taking care of your things and taking care of yourself.
The historic ghost town of Dearfield, located roughly 24 miles east of Greeley and 70 miles northeast from Denver, could become Colorado's next national park if the U.S. Department of the Interior can prove its national significance.

Founded in 1910, the homestead was once the largest Black homesteading settlement in Colorado, attracting African-Americans from across Jim Crow-era America. It's estimated that at its peak, the town was home to around 700 people from 35 states.

The community was devastated by the Dust Bowl, which was ultimately the catalyst to its current ghost town status.

Late last year, U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper introduced the Dearfield Study Act. The act calls for the Department of the Interior to conduct a special resource study, in order to determine if it is eligible to become a national park.

Dearfield is a testament to Black Americans who shaped Colorados history, said Hickenlooper in a news release regarding the act.

We must honor their legacy and educate future generations by protecting the Dearfield Homestead.

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The act passed in December 2022 as apart of the omnibus bill that was signed by President Biden. It requires the U.S. Department of the Interior to:

Evaluate the national significance of the site.

Determine the suitability and feasibility of designating the site as a unit of the National Park Service.

Consider other alternatives for preservation and protection, if applicable.

Consult with relevant federal agencies, state/local governments, nonprofits, and private organizations.

Identify cost estimates.

A report to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee with recommendations must be summited within three years.

Our national parks are sacred spaces that hold the power of interpreting, interrogating, and honoring our past and present. Preserving Dearfield for current and future generations is integral to a better understanding of the unique and relatively unknown African American experience on Colorados eastern plains, and this work is also a bridge that can connect us toward a fuller, more representative story of our nation," said Tracy Coppola, Colorado Senior Program Manager, National Parks Conservation Association.

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A picture of the "beloved community" envisioned by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was on display in downtown Colorado Springs Monday, as hundreds of community members participated in a Unity March to honor the legacy of the late civil rights leader.

People of all ages walking as individuals or representing a vast variety of local businesses, churches and other organizations, heralded by the Fountain-Fort Carson High School drumline, made the short trek from Colorado College to Acacia Park for the college's yearly celebration  held in-person for the first time in three years  with a theme of It Starts With Me: Cultivating a Beloved Community Mindset to Transform Unjust Systems.

With the crowd congregated in the park, a roll call of historically Black fraternities and sororities ensued, and guest speaker Sharon Tunson, Colorado Springs native and assistant dean of high school programs at Pikes Peak State College, took the stage.

Echoing King's insistence that social justice must be pursued with "fierce urgency," Tunson said each individual bears the responsibility of showing empathy  a difficult but doable task in a political climate rife with animosity.

We may not be able to bridge the divide in Washington, D.C., but we can confront those divisions in our own community right here in Colorado Springs," she said. "We cannot wait. Tomorrow is today.

Tunson harkened back to the days of the city's 1871 founding by Gen. William Palmer, a Quaker who intentionally sought what King defined as a "beloved community": one where "everyone has equal access to education, to economic opportunity, where there's not one who is higher than the other," Tunson said.

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Tunson said that while the city has failed in many ways to uphold those ideals  her parents could only swim at the Monument Valley Pool on Wednesdays and watched the Ku Klux Klan burn crosses on a nearby hill  its diversity is its strength.

As a community of diverse people, we cannot continue to deny that there are problems in our community," she said. "We cannot continue to deny all students the opportunity to learn about and acknowledge the contributions of citizens of all colors, ethnicities and racial backgrounds who have made and continue to make important contributions to our city and our nation."

Sean Martinez, a Colorado Springs resident sporting a blue and white Phi Beta Sigma letterman, said he believes the community's resiliency and connection has made recent strides.

(I see) how the community has come together, especially after Club Q (shooting) last year, I see it as an inclusive town for everybody. Its a good feeling being here, doesnt matter where your background is from.

Eric Graham, donning the black and gold of Alpha Phi Alpha and who was first stationed at NORAD in 2013, said Monday's march and program were emblematic of a multicultural understanding  "something Colorado Springs needs."

He said he's involved in a social action committee that is in the works to bring relief and attention not only to the Black community in the city, but to those of low socioeconomic status and the hungry: "All the stuff that (King) was about as well," he said.

Graham said the city is full of do-gooders, like food pantries, church ministries and others, who have difficulty communicating and coordinating efforts. He said he hopes his action community can serve as the glue to make the pursuit of that beloved community all the more effective.

Just imagine how big of an impact that could be once we all come together," Graham said. "Theres a lot of things that need to be done around here, and not just for the Black community.
One person is hospitalized following an assault with a blunt object early Tuesday morning, Colorado Springs police said.

Colorado Springs police arrived on the scene of an active assault on the 2800 block of South Circle Drive near Harrison High School at approximately 2 a.m., according to police.

Police found an individual who had been assaulted and struck with a blunt force object to the head. The suspect fled the scene upon the arrival of authorities.

The victim was transported to a nearby hospital. The suspect is currently unidentified, police said.

This is an ongoing investigation. This article will be updated as more information is received.
Two suspects were arrested in Colorado Springs Monday after allegedly stealing catalytic converters.

Police responded just before noon to the 1500 block of North Walnut Street, where a man and woman were parked in an RV, according to police. Both had felony warrants for their arrests.

The woman was identified as Darlene Griffith and had warrants for her arrest after allegedly discharging a firearm illegally last week. Griffith fled in a white SUV to 19th and Uintah streets, where detectives took her into custody without incident, police say.

The second suspect, identified as Aaron Miller, is believed to be Griffiths boyfriend. His existing warrants were related to allegedly fleeing from El Paso County sheriffs deputies recently, according to police.

Miller remained inside the RV despite officers orders to exit. After obtaining a warrant to search the RV, officers used chemical munitions to force Miller to evacuate. He was then taken into custody.
Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has unveiled its Business Plan for 2023-24, encapsulated within four strategic themes developed to foster an enabling environment for firms as Dubai and the UAE continue to grow.



The new two-year plan outlines an ambitious roadmap to meet the DFSAs statutory objectives for the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) including establishing and maintaining the DIFCs reputation as a leading global financial centre.



Fadel Al Ali, Chairman of the DFSA said: The DFSAs 2023-2024 Business Plan builds upon our commitment to international standards, high quality regulation and best practices to foster an enabling environment to support the DIFCs continued growth and that of Dubai and UAE economies.



The nations leadership continues to demonstrate a future-focused vision for the prosperity of the country and this clarity of vision and purpose continues to guide our role and understanding of the part we play as the DFSA moves towards its 20th anniversary.



As part of the Business Plan, the DFSA will be pursuing several key projects that cut across multiple strategic themes. The DFSA will further enhance its policy framework through the implementation of international standards, ongoing development of its support for trading venues and markets and strengthening its regime for the protection of client assets to maintain the integrity of the DIFC financial services industry.



Fighting financial crime remains a key priority for the DFSA as it continues to support the federal authorities to implement the recommendations arising from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Mutual Evaluation of the UAE in 2020.



The DFSA will remain actively engaged with the regulated community as well as its peer regulators locally, regionally and internationally. To strengthen the global response required to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, the DFSA will work at a national level to deliver approaches on corporate governance, disclosure and taxonomy and continue to work with DIFC firms to improve engagement and understanding of ESG issues.



The DFSA will strengthen utilisation of technology to address regulatory obligations and challenges, as well as to enable development and use of new technology by the regulated community within the DIFC. In addition, the DFSA will continue to update the broader regulatory regime within the DIFC so that it addresses market developments  both risks and innovations - and remains in line with its vision to be an internationally respected regulator, leading the development of financial services through strong and fair regulation.



High quality regulation and supervision, as well as increasing our use of technology and automation will allow us to align further with the visions of Dubai and the UAE, Fadel Al Ali added.



The themes in this Business Plan reflect the context in which we operate: the continuing evolution of the DIFC as a financial centre and the DFSA as a regulator, placing continuing reliance on international standards as the basis of our approach. The population of the Centre continues to grow, as does the depth and breadth of activities conducted. This continues to demand a finely tuned risk-based approach to regulation, to maintain the integrity of the DIFC financial services industry, while also continuing our efforts to facilitate innovation in the industry,



Internal capabilities will play a key role in achieving all the projects under the business plan and setting the foundation for further developments.  TradeArabia News Service
During the third week of January, schools across the country commemorate National School Choice Week, a celebration of the vibrancy of schools nationwide. This week, Im reminded of what makes the school where I teach, Mountain Song Community School, so unique, and why school choice is a vital part of our community.

Growing up, my wife was able to attend a school out-of-district. Unfortunately, she was not very happy with the result. Yes, the school she attended had high test scores, and a large percentage of students went on to attend competitive colleges. But she never felt that her school was able to address her own personal needs and provide a child-centered curriculum. Searching for another option for our children, she was attracted to the Waldorf educational model created by Rudolph Steiner.

The first Waldorf school opened in Hamburg, Germany in 1915 and has now spread to almost every country in the world. In the United States, however, most Waldorf schools are private, and when we moved to Colorado thirteen years ago, only two of these schools existed in the state. Both were more than sixty miles away from our home.

Like other school choice states, Colorado allows families to choose among public district schools, public charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling. In the city where I live and teach, there are many public charter schools available, but most of them are a variation of the college prep academy model which is also offered in district schools. Our family was frustrated by the lack of diversity within the public school system and started our search for a less mainstream form of education such as Waldorf.

By perhaps an amazing stroke of luck, soon after moving to Colorado Springs, we discovered a group of parents who were asking the very same questions and had formed a planning committee to create a public Waldorf charter school in the city. As a special education teacher, I became involved early on in writing the special education section of the charter application.

Since most of the parents in the group lived in a specific district, the decision was made to apply for a charter and select a building that was located in that district. After a long process, a state agency instead agreed to authorize us, and soon Mountain Song Community School opened its doors to children from kindergarten through eighth grade as a Waldorf-inspired public charter school. While private Waldorf schools often begin with a single kindergarten class and then add additional grades year by year, Mountain Song was actually able to offer more families the opportunity to attend by starting as a K-8.

Our daughter enrolled in the first grade the year the school opened, but I would not become a teacher at Mountain Song until our son entered kindergarten seven years later. In the meantime I became a member of the board of directors where I joined other parents in helping the school through its early growing pains. And the success Mountain Song has achieved has not been without its challenges.

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Mountain Song is required to meet the same requirements as other public schools in Colorado in terms of state assessments, standards, and enrollment.

As a result of its reputation for supporting the growth of all children, a large number of identified and unidentified special education students enroll. In fact, when other charter schools in the region made the news for their low percentage of special education students, Mountain Song stood out as an opposite example, inviting a large population of special education students through its doors.

Unfortunately, while the school strives to meet the needs of all of its students, we only receive a percentage of the funding available to district schools.

Nevertheless, we have worked hard as a community to improve the school and we even managed to purchase the historical building we had been leasing from the district.

Now as a teacher, I see how Mountain Song Community School represents the fullest potential of school choice. Created, supported, and at times run by parents, it offers a form of child-centered learning that is unique in this part of the state. The benefits of the child-centered and age-appropriate curriculum have spread by word of mouth and parents who had previously given up on public education and made the decision to home school have found another option for their children.

My hope is that someday we can bring even more educational diversity to Colorado families looking for another option.

Michael Katzenberg resides in Colorado Springs. He began his teaching career more than 20 years ago and has taught both general and special education students in Chicago, Hawaii, Florida, and Colorado. He is passionate about working with at-risk, special needs students and advocating for school choice.
Preserving historic neighborhoods

If you live in one of the dozens of neighborhoods in Colorado Springs that are 50 years old or older, than you will want to know that preserving the very best parts of what you have come to love about your neighborhoods are about to change. Today our current zoning code only has one specific zoning overlay for Historic Preservation, its called a Historic Preservation Overlay.

Since our founding there has been only one Preservation Overlay created and thats in the Historic Old North End. Only one! The purpose of the overlay is to preserve the architectural legacy of the neighborhood through the review of any proposed construction requiring a building permit to submit those plans to the Citys Historic Preservation Board for a Report of Acceptability.

So why is there only one neighborhood that wants to preserve its unique character? There must be others? Because its hard to do. It requires tireless volunteers doing the heavy lifting of meeting and advocating with their neighbors.

Is that the only reason? Well perhaps not. But all of our citys zoning rules are being updated through ReToolCOS which is before City Council this month. If one drills down into what remains of Historic Preservation, the good news is that the HP Overlay remains. There is now a new possibility called an Area Design Overlay. It may become the next best tool for preserving our historic neighborhoods.

Tim Boddington

Colorado Springs

Small businesses and insurance

I own one of the 690,000 small businesses in Colorado that have remained resilient despite the challenges of the last two years. As I worked to keep my doors open, concerns about rising healthcare costs remained top of mind.

Two major small-market health insurance companies will leave the Colorado marketplace this year. In just one year, the number of insurers in the state will be reduced from eight to six. Theres already a strain on our states healthcare marketplace, especially for smaller firms. These retreats leave tens of thousands to find new coverage during this open enrollment season.

I know that a big part of supporting the small business workforce is the ability to offer quality and affordable healthcare. Ive made this my goal for years.

However, healthcare is typically small business owners biggest cost outside payroll.

Small businesses like mine want to offer health insurance to their employees but struggle to afford it in the face of tight margins. Limiting insurance provider options only creates barriers to small business growth.

Additionally, closures could have a domino effect that leads to monopolization in our statereversing positive trends in making healthcare more affordable for small businesses.

Through the Colorado Option, the state can drive down healthcare costs and help small businesses like mine offer our employees an array of plans.

I strongly support policies that will help to maintain a healthy workforce, which is why I encourage policymakers to pursue additional programs that promote competition and address rising costs.

Michelle Talarico

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Colorado Springs

School boards open forum

Before last Thursdays D49 Board meeting people were in line to sign up to speak during Open Forum. My husband had never spoken at a meeting before so he wrote a short speech, put on a jacket and his best boots.

He was early and signed up first. But my husband did not speak first; he did not speak at all. His name was called after 11 p.m.

In October, Rick VanWeiren and Lori Thompson co-wrote and introduced  for the 5th time  revisions to Policy BEDH which regulates public speaking. It passed 3-2. Speakers sign up on an iPad which has an algorithm that picks the order of who speaks and when they speak depending on what they want to say.

Open forum is split into two speaking times; a half an hour early in the meeting and a half an hour late. The first session is limited to those speaking about agenda or discussion items. Priority is given to students, then teachers and staff, then active committee members, and then all others.

My husband said this about the process, They are screening to find out who is going to talk and what they want to say. There are no good options if you want to speak about something that is not on the agenda.

Why is late a problem for my husband? He is on cancer medications  something the entire board is aware of  and he physically cant make it to the second session.

Debra Schmidt

Falcon

Tradition of Democrats serving

There seems to be some uncertainty about Democratic representation in the Colorado State Senate. Your-story about legislative priorities calls Tony Exum either the fourth (Gazette) or the fifth (Colorado Politics) Democrat to represent our county in the state senate.

I can add one more to either list: Senator Bill Comer, who represented us with energy and intelligence in the 1970s. Bill, who died in 2008, was a long-time junior-high social studies teacher and a leader in the Colorado Education Association.

He was elected during a time of greater partisan forbearance here: we also had a long tradition of Democrats serving as county clerks and commissioners (I think of Charlie Ozias, Harriet Beals, Fred Bland and Charlie Bickley).

Interestingly, the Gazettes short list of four previous Dems forgets the most contentious: John Morse recalled in 2013 for pushing through modest gun control and cannabis-tax legislation.

Owen Cramer

Colorado Springs
No list should determine satisfaction in Colorados outdoors. That should be more so determined by spontaneity, by those unexpected moments around the turn of any trail we might take.

But goals are good, along with ideas. Consider these for your new year:

Grand escape

Grand Lake gets lots of love in the summer; its a beachy getaway surrounding Colorados biggest natural body of water. In the winter, attention turns south to Winter Park. So its easy to miss the place that calls itself the snowmobiling capital of Colorado. Local caretaking enthusiasts count more than 300 miles of snowmobile trails in the Grand Lake area, with about half of those groomed. On the Trail Rentals and Grand Adventures can point you in the right direction for pretty, powder-packed meadows and forests.

When to go: Winter, spring.

Ski the Grand Mesa

For being the only ski area that can claim a place on the worlds largest flat-top mountain, its perhaps surprising how little buzz Powderhorn Mountain Resort gets. But when Mother Nature blesses the desert region with snow, the slopes on the Grand Mesa are no secret to locals.

For more than five decades, Powderhorn has built its reputation as family-friendly hub. The resort rates 70% of its terrain for beginners and intermediate types. There are plenty of moguls as well and fun in the trees of Svens Bend. And for your unique overnight consideration: ski-in, ski-out tiny homes at the base.

When to go: Spring.

Base for soaking

For a vacation taking advantage of Colorados renowned hot springs, its hard to beat Pagosa Springs. The allure is in the name: pah and gosa derive from Indigenous language meaning hot water. Or, as some like to translate: healing water.

Pagosa is home to the Mother Spring, regarded as the worlds deepest geothermal aquifer. Its found on the grounds of The Springs Resort, the most luxurious option boasting the widest array of pools and tubs. More options are in walking distance: Healing Waters Resort and Spa and the Overlook Hot Springs.

And, of course, there are the hippie dips along the river running right through town.

When to go: Year-round.

Royal rafting

Nothing says bucket list quite like the Royal Gorge. And nothing compares with an adventure through its rocky, rowdy heart.

Want to earn your Colorado badge of honor? Book a guide to take you through the choppy, most iconic stretch of the Arkansas River. Rapids range from Class III to the most fearsome Class V, with names like Sledge Hammer and Boat Eater.

When to go: Late spring, summer.

Mountain bike glory

The Lenawee Trail put Arapahoe Basin  yes, the Summit County ski area  on the map as a mountain biking destination. The technical, 3-mile descent is considered one of the best alpine rides in reach of Denver. Now comes the expansion of A-Basins offseason dream thats been years in the making.

Just before snows in the fall, the Beavers Loop was finished. Its another 3-mile descent near the top, dropping an opposite ridge and skirting some of A-Basins steepest terrain. Take it from an expert at singletracks.com: its chock full of never-ending, spectacular views and fun.

Builders hope to finish a more suitable climbing trail to the summit in 2023. That would complete the 10-plus-mile-loop long envisioned.

When to go: Summer, early fall.

Live on the edge

Accomplished alpinist Harry Kent has been on the front lines of the latest rock climbing trend around the West. Hes the name behind Estes Park-based Kent Mountain Adventure Center, which in recent years has established routes of iron hand- and footholds on sheer rock faces. Those are called via ferratas. Kent thinks of one of his designs as representing a new bar for whats possible.

Thats Cloud Ladder  the result of 40 years of climbing passion and philosophy, added Kent. I wanted to create an experience that rivaled the thrill of actual rock climbing, but without the need for extensive training and gear.

Guides lead clipped-in guests up the rock. A mellower option is Peregrine Ridge.

When to go: Summer.

Night at the Dunes

You havent experienced the majesty and mystery of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve until youve stayed the night.

Thanks to its remote place in southern Colorado lacking artificial, obstructive light, the park is a designated International Dark Sky Place. What that means is the stars, galaxies and nebulas shine bright over the dune field framed by soaring peaks. When the creek runs, it reflects the cosmic glow. Its a dreamscape that must be seen to be believed.

Try to snag a reservation at Pinon Flats Campground, situated an easy walk away from the dunefield. Backcountry permits also available for camping at certain spots on the sand.

When to go: Pinon Flats open April through October.

A summit unlocked

If you havent checked out the 11 miles of new trail, theyre worth the trip to Fishers Peak State Park. But in 2023, the focus will be on another trail  the most desired of all.

The expectation is for the summit path to open in the fall. That will mark a dream come true for Trinidad locals whove waited generations to reach the top of Fishers Peak, the chimney-like promontory seen from a distance on Interstate 25.

Itll be a long, hard journey. So youll want to think about camping or staying in town, which might feel different if you havent been in a while. With the state park and the growing gravel bike scene, the outdoor revolution is on.

When to go: Be on the lookout for a trail announcement later in summer or fall.

Contact the writer: seth.boster@gazette.com
After two criminal defendants with convictions more than a decade old filed challenges implicating a pair of recent Colorado Supreme Court rulings, the state's Court of Appeals has now filled in the gaps on the process for ordering restitution to victims and for reclaiming property seized by law enforcement.

Two separate appellate panels took the Supreme Court's recent directives and attempted to apply them to circumstances not raised explicitly in the high court's decisions. In each instance, the panels sided against the defendants.

In the first case out of El Paso County, Audrey Lee Tennyson pleaded guilty in 2008 to aggravated robbery. He received a sentence of 26 years in prison and agreed to pay restitution to his victims.

Under Colorado law, most convictions require judges to consider whether a defendant should pay monetary restitution. At the time of Tennyson's conviction, the law gave prosecutors 90 days (now 91) after sentencing to request a specific amount, and trial judges likewise had 90 days to impose the restitution amount. The law also enables judges to extend either deadline.

At sentencing, the judge presiding over Tennyson's case agreed to restitution, but the prosecutor asked to "reserve" the determination of the amount. Ultimately, the judge imposed restitution in excess of $12,000 far beyond the 90-day deadline.

In November 2021, the Supreme Court issued a decision to clarify the process for ordering restitution. The "longstanding practice" used by prosecutors and trial courts did not follow the law, observed Justice Carlos A. Samour Jr., who authored the ruling in People v. Weeks.

Typically, prosecutors were asking trial judges to postpone restitution decisions for 91 days, with judges ordering a specific amount sometime after the prosecution provided a number and the defendant had a chance to object. In reality, the Supreme Court pointed out, prosecutors need to ask for restitution by the sentencing hearing, and the judge needs to make a decision at that time about whether there will be restitution. Afterward, the 91-day deadline applies for determining the specific amount, unless a judge finds "good cause" to extend it.

Tennyson argued on appeal that his restitution order, imposed beyond the then-90-day window, amounted to an illegal sentence.

"In this case, the trial court lacked authority to order restitution beyond the 90-day deadline," wrote public defender Andrea R. Gammell. "Therefore, Tennysons sentence was not authorized by law because it failed to comply with the statutory restitution requirement."

The prosecution, however, believed Tennyson's challenge did not implicate an illegal sentence, but a sentence allegedly imposed in an "illegal manner," which must be challenged within 120 days. The difference, according to Assistant Attorney General Frank R. Lawson, was that the trial judge had the authority to order Tennyson to pay restitution as part of his sentence. That the order came too late was simply a "procedural" deviation.

"Challenges that fall within this latter category do not go to the legality of the sentence, but to the legality of the manner in which it was imposed," Lawson argued.

A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals acknowledged the Supreme Court's decision in Weeks did not address Tennyson's circumstances. In Weeks, the trial judge did not initially determine whether there would be restitution at the time of sentencing, whereas for Tennyson, the judge had. The amount of restitution was the only thing left open.

"Based on our analysis," wrote Judge Sueanna P. Johnson in the Jan. 12 opinion, "a challenge to the timing of the court fixing the amount of restitution is an illegal manner claim. And because Tennysons postconviction challenge is to the order determining the amount of restitution, it is time barred."

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She added that a "procedural deficiency" in imposing a specific restitution amount would not nullify a trial judge's decision that a defendant is responsible for restitution in the first place.

The case is People v. Tennyson.

The second case, out of Park County, implicated a Supreme Court decision from December governing the ability of criminal defendants to seek return of property that police have seized in connection with their investigation.

Prior to the justices' decision in Woo v. El Paso County Sheriff's Office, the Court of Appeals was split over whether a trial judge presiding over a defendant's criminal case retains the ability to order the return of personal property after sentencing. The Supreme Court clarified that trial judges do have authority to hear such requests whenever they have jurisdiction over the underlying criminal case  meaning, broadly, anytime the case is not pending before an appellate court.

Law enforcement seized several items from Craig S. Robledo in 2008, including a cell phone, MP3 player and portable speaker. Robledo estimated they were worth $700. He subsequently pleaded guilty in 2009 to attempted witness tampering and violating a protection order.

Soon after, Robledo requested the return of his possessions and a judge directed law enforcement to give the items to Robledo's mother if they were not relevant to the criminal case. But Robledo continued to ask for his property, filing another motion in 2014 and a third motion in 2021.

In February 2021, then-District Court Judge Stephen A. Groome denied the motion with one sentence: "Too much time has elapsed to consider request."

Robledo then appealed, but while the case was pending, the Supreme Court decided Woo. Unlike Robledo's situation, Woo involved a motion filed shortly after the defendant's conviction. Therefore, the Supreme Court did not address whether some requests for property could be too late to act upon.

The appellate panel reviewing Robledo's case declined to recognize a firm deadline, but acknowledged the interest in resolving defendants' requests for property "wanes over time."

"Without deciding where the outer boundaries of timeliness might lie, we have no trouble agreeing with the district court that, under the circumstances of this case, twelve years lies on the 'unreasonably untimely' side of that line," wrote Judge Karl L. Schock in the panel's Dec. 29 opinion.

The panel also relied on two other reasons for turning away the appeal: Robledo had already raised the issue in previous motions and he had agreed to forfeit any seized items in his plea deal. The panel's decision was designated as unpublished, meaning it is not meant to set a precedent.

The case is People v. Robledo-Valdez.
Bahrain's leading E-commerce platform Homiez, has signed an agreement with the Origin Training Centre to train 100 Bahrainis in digital commerce.

This initiative was developed with the goal of ensuring that Bahrainis are provided with the knowledge and skills that will help them to excel in modern corporate settings. Both Homeiz and Origin are determined to increase the abilities of Bahrainis in this important field, while continuing to support digital transformation within Bahrain.

Dr Ahmed Al Banna, Chairman of the Origin Training Centre, said: This will provide qualitative training to Bahraini professionals; increase their competitiveness in the labour market, enhance their ability to find rewarding job opportunities as well as meet the needs of the current and future labour market.

This collaboration follows a model wherein the best training courses offered by the Origin Training Centre are combined with the digital commerce expertise of the Homiez team. This combination of knowledge ensures the swift intellectual and professional development of course attendees who will enter the labour market directly or launch their own projects. This programme of professional development will lead to an increase in the kingdoms economic growth, continued Al Banna.

Latest practices

The Origin chairman explained that this comprehensive training programme will consist of theoretical and practical sessions, taught in person and remotely. It will be followed by a six-month work placement, ensuring that graduates fully master the principles and skills of digital commerce and develop their knowledge of the latest global data and practices.

Sadeq Abdulrasool, the Chief Digital Officer of Homiez, said: This agreement with the Origin Centre will build partnerships with various entities as we begin implementing our digital commerce training programme for 100 Bahrainis. This programme will support efforts to develop what will come to be known as the digital generation of Bahrain. We are working to increase the number of Bahrainis who are not just consumers of development tools and systems  but who will contribute effectively to the development of these tools and systems.

Homiez's programming, design, research, marketing and communications teams, will train the programmes participants, providing them with theoretical and practical experiences as well as knowledge. Our teams will ensure that they master all the requirements of digital commerce and prepare them for entrance into the labour market, concluded Abdulrasool.-- TradeArabia News Service
The Governor's Office this month outright rejected the label "sanctuary state" for Colorado.

"Colorado is not and has never been a sanctuary state and the governor is not focused on buzzwords but on ensuring our law enforcement resources go toward fighting actual crimes to help make Coloradans safer," a spokesperson for Gov. Jared Polis told Colorado Politics.

So, is Colorado a sanctuary state or not?

Several groups, in fact, identify Colorado as a "sanctuary" state.

The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service listed Colorado among 11 "sanctuary" states. Also on its list are California, New Mexico and New York.

The Center for Immigration Studies also included Colorado in its map of "sanctuary" jurisdictions. Under Colorado, the group listed 14 areas as also sanctuary places, notably the city of Denver and Boulder County.

And the state adopted a 2019 law whose provisions fall under the broad outlines of what constitutes a "sanctuary" state.

No legal definition of a "sanctuary" city or state exists, but, broadly speaking, it refers to a community that expressly refuses to cooperate with federal authorities on enforcing immigration laws.

In May 2019, Polis signed into law a bill that prohibits in specific instances cooperation with federal authorities on enforcing immigration laws.

Specifically, the 2019 law  sponsored by Reps. Adrienne Benavidez and Susan Lontine, and Sens. Mike Foote and Julie Gonzales  expressly forbids a law enforcement officer from arresting or detaining an individual based upon a "detainer request."

The law also prohibits a probation officer from providing information about an individual to federal immigration authorities.

An immigration "detainer" is a notice issued to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies informing the latter that ICE intends to assume custody of an individual who is no longer subject to the former's detention.

ICE said a detainer serves several functions, including requesting information from a local enforcement agency about a person's impending release and asking the local enforcement agency to maintain custody of the person for a period not to exceed 48 hours  excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays  to provide ICE time to assume custody.

The 2019 law outlined the rationale for rejecting cooperation with federal authorities.

Under its legislative declaration, the law cited the 10th Amendment, which defines the powers of the the federal government vis-a-vis the states, and argued that the federal government does not have the authority to command states to administer a federal program.

The law also said any requirement that public safety agencies play a role in enforcing civil federal immigration laws can "undermine public trust" and added that Coloradans possess constitutional rights to due process.

The law said detention under an immigration detainer constitutes a "new arrest under state law and a seizure under Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution."

The law also said immigration detainers are not warrants under Colorado law.

"The continued detention of an inmate at the request of federal immigration authorities beyond when he or she would otherwise be released constitutes a warrantless arrest, which is unconstitutional," the law says.

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The law, however, does not preclude law enforcement officers from cooperating or assisting federal immigration authorities in executing a warrant issued by a federal judge.

It also does not preclude law enforcement officers from investigating, enforcing criminal laws or participating in coordinated actions with federal law authorities in enforcing local, state or federal laws.

Finally, if a law enforcement officer coordinates a telephone or video interview between federal immigration authorities and an individual in jail, the latter must be advised that federal immigration authorities are the ones seeking the interview, that the individual can decline the interview and the person also has the right to speak to an attorney before agreeing to be interviewed.

Jurisdictions have both embraced and repudiated the term "sanctuary" city or state to refer to them.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock has said Denver is not a sanctuary city, but the Denver City Council in 2017 passed an ordinance that prohibits city employees from collecting information on immigration or citizenship status; prohibits the sharing of any other information about individuals for purposes of immigration enforcement; and, memorializes predominant practices by prohibiting use of city resources or City cooperation with civil immigration enforcement.

Boulder voted to declare itself a sanctuary city, while Aurora has voted to reject such a label.

Though Polis says Colorado is not a sanctuary state, Colorado's 2019 law shares some distinct similarities with the City and County of San Francisco, which does describe itself as a sanctuary city.

"Since 1989, San Francisco has proudly been a Sanctuary City," the California mayor's office declares on its website. "We will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our immigrant communities and fight for the progress weve achieved in this City. We are a sanctuary city, now, tomorrow and forever."

San Francisco adopted ordinances through the decades, notably the 1989 "City and County of Refuge" ordinance, which prohibits city employees from using the city's resources to assist federal authorities, specifically the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in enforcing federal immigration law  unless that assistance is required by federal or state law.

In 2013, the city passed the Due Process for All ordinance, which limits when law enforcement officers can give ICE advance notice of a persons release from a local jail. The ordinance also prohibits cooperation over ICE detainer requests or ICE holds.

The city amended the ordinances in 2016. Currently, the city prohibits employees from using city resources to assist or cooperate with any ICE investigation, detention, or arrest when it comes to alleged violations of the civil provisions of federal immigration laws. City workers may also not ask about people's immigration status on any application for benefits or services, except when required by federal or state law or regulation, or by court decision.

Colorado lawmakers similarly expanded the states criminal extortion law to include a prohibition on threatening to report someone to immigration officials to take advantage of them. Colorado lawmakers in recent years also have passed laws allowing immigrants who are in the state illegally to receive in-state tuition, get access to financial aid and obtain drivers licenses and state ID cards.

By contrast, Arizona passed a law in 2010 that, by all accounts, served as the antithesis of a "sanctuary" city or state.

Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, prohibited any local government or political subdivision from adopting a policy that limited or restricted enforcement of federal immigration laws "to less than the full extent permitted by federal law."

The law required law enforcement officers to determine during "any lawful contact"  which applies to routine stops  the immigration status of a person if a "reasonable suspicion exists" the latter is in the country unlawfully.

Also, under the law, if a person who is unlawfully staying in the U.S. is convicted of violating a state or local law, upon discharge from jail, that person must be immediately transferred to federal immigration authorities.

The law also said local governments may not be prohibited from receiving or maintaining immigration data for the purpose of determining eligibility for public benefits, services or licenses; verifying residency; or confirming identity.

Also, the law created the crime of trespassing if a person is in the country illegally.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of the law's provisions, except the requirement that police inquire about people's immigrations status during routine stops.
Colorado Springs is bracing for several rounds of snowfall this week that could lead to as much as 4 inches of snow.

The first  and strongest  snow of the week is expected to fall Tuesday afternoon and continue into Wednesday before picking back up on Friday, according to the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

The local snowfall joins a flurry of storms across the state that forecasters say could dump more than 2 feet of snow in some areas before the week is through.

CDOT web cam indicates heavy snow, poor visibility and snow packed roads along Colorado Highway 17 near Cumbres Pass. Expect difficult travel to persist for the remainder of the day and into tonight as snow continues. #cowx pic.twitter.com/U6Wd0z0ngk  NWS Pueblo (@NWSPueblo) January 17, 2023

The mountains, they tend to get snow from almost any level system that comes by. This ones just a little better, so itll give them some higher amounts of snow totals, said National Weather Service meteorologist Cameron Simcoe. With Springs, it really is a difficult area because of the terrain.

The system moving through Colorado will leave a heavy trail of snowfall in its wake as it blows north up the Palmer Divide, or the ridge separating the mountains from the plains. Given these northerly winds and Colorado Springs location on the southern end of the divide, the city will see less snowfall than others, according to the weather service.

Weather doesnt like sinking air. If you go on the southern part there of the Palmer Divide, youve got sinking air, Simcoe said.

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Chances of snow begin after 1 p.m. Tuesday with a 50% chance of precipitation in Colorado Springs, accumulating less than a half inch. Snow showers will pick back up at night with a 70% chance of precipitation resulting in 2 to 4 inches of snow.

Wednesday will see patchier snowfall throughout the day before calming down around 9 p.m., according to the weather service. Theres a 50% chance snow will pick back up on Friday.

Northeast portions of the state considered to be in a moderate to extreme drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor, and portions in the southwest considered abnormally dry, are among those expecting the highest accumulations of half an inch to several feet. Simcoe said the expected moisture is more of a short-term coincidence than a sign of good fortune ahead.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center is also warning of a moderate danger level stretching west from Cheyenne Mountain to Mount Pisgah, encapsulating Cripple Creek and Victor within its boundaries.

Avalanches are possible whenever you find snow on a slope steeper than about 30 degrees. Watch for signs of unstable snow such as recent avalanches, cracking in the snow, and audible collapsing, according to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources website. Avoid traveling on or under similar slopes.

A winter weather storm warning is in effect for much of northern El Paso County. No warning or advisory has been issued for the immediate Colorado Springs area, although Simcoe said that could change since systems sometimes overperform.

Thats that shadow effect, Simcoe said.
Photo exhibition on Paris Peace Accords underway in Hanoi

A photo exhibition, themed Paris Peace Accords  A Door to Peace, opened at Ho Chi Minh Museum in the capital city of Hanoi on January 16, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the agreement (January 27, 1973-2023).









At the event (Photo: VNA)

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Director of the museum Dr. Vu Manh Ha said the display will offer the public an insight into the context, process and significance of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, thus manifesting the brainpower and sound leadership of President Ho Chi Minh and the Party Central Committee in the fight against invading American imperialists.



On display are nearly 300 photos, materials and artefacts, many of them are showcased for the first time.



On January 27, 1973, the Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam (Paris Peace Accords for short) was signed between the four governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam, and the US.



It was the result of the longest and most difficult struggle in the history of Vietnam's diplomacy, with 202 public meetings held over four years, eight months and 14 days.



The exhibition will run until early May./.
Quris-AI and Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) have signed an agreement to develop a world-class Bio-AI centre in Abu Dhabi.

The state-of-the-art facility will support the development of personalised medications, tailored specifically to the diverse populations of the MENA region.

The agreement was signed during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW).

The collaboration will establish a centre of excellence in Bio-AI in Abu Dhabi, which will accelerate the development of safer, and highly personalised medications. MBZUAI provides expertise in the development of predictive AI models, while incentivising sought-after AI graduates to stay in the UAE as they begin their careers, said a statement.

Quris-AI, a pioneer in AI drug safety, developed the worlds first Bio-AI clinical prediction platform, which makes drug development faster and more efficient, and promises to save hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development costs. With this collaboration Quris, which has operations in Boston and Tel-Aviv, is now establishing its subsidiary, Quris-UAE in Abu Dhabi.

Targeted drug development

Currently, around 90% of clinical trials for new medications end in failure, but Quris proprietary patient-on-a-chip technology promises to reduce failure by predicting which drugs are most likely to work in humans. The Quris system rapidly performs test interactions using predictive AI technologies that simulate genetically diverse patients, eliminating the need for animal testing and avoiding the risk and cost associated with failed clinical trials, said the statement.

We are delighted to be collaborating with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi, given its strong commitment to advancing AI and significant opportunities for synergy, said Isaac Bentwich MD, founder and CEO of Quris. We salute the vision of HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, championing the UAE to become a center of excellence in AI as a strong pillar of the economy, and we are honored to contribute to realizing this vision.

Quris research operations are led by Nobel laureate, Professor Aaron Ciechanover, and by Moderna co-founder and former FDA Science Board Chair, Professor Robert Langer. Former Pfizer CEO Henry McKinnell now chairs the Quris Advisory Board alongside Dr. Kobi Richter, founder of world-leading companies Medinol and Orbotech. The MBZUAI team is led by Professor Eric Xing, MBZUAI President and University Professor, and co-principal investigator in the Quris-MBZUAI collaboration.

One compelling aspect of my discussions with Professor Ciechanover and the Quris team have been about solving UAE-specific health problems faster and more cost-effectively, Dr Xing said. The organelle systems being developed at Quris are a revolutionary platform for high-throughput drug testing, which can be best served by a similarly high-throughput drug design pipeline using AI. Our unique capacities in computational biology and machine learning at MBZUAI will enhance Quris efforts to accelerate the development of new personalized and potentially life-saving medicines.

As part of the collaboration, MBZUAI Deputy Department Chair and Associate Professor of Machine Learning Kun Zhang will drive a project titled: Disrupting Personalized Medicine using Patient-on-a-Chip and Causal Discovery.

The project, which will draw on both organisations resources and personnel, will accelerate discovery of personal, actionable causal effects on drug pharmacokinetics; genetic parameters with causal effect on drug metabolism; organ functional parameters relating to drug metabolism (e.g., liver/kidney/heart functional tests/assays); and ethnic-specific parameters affecting drug metabolism and safety. Additionally, the research will also support development of personalized (patient specific) drug administration protocol, as well as patient-on-a-chip method for causal discovery of patient specific treatments, it said.  TradeArabia News Service
Homeowners in Clear Lake may see their insurance rates go down after a review by the Insurance Services Office improved the city's safety score.

Clear Lake Fire Department Chief Doug Meyers told the City Council on Monday the city's ISO score had improved from four to three. The score reflects a community's ability to respond to a number of emergencies, particularly fires.

Meyers said 10% of the score is a result of the effectiveness of the emergency communication center, 50% is in regard to the fire department and 40% reflects the efficiency of the water system. He said insurance providers use the ISO score as a reference when setting rates.

"Depending on the company people have their insurance through, they may have a stable price or up to a 5% reduction in their home insurance," Meyer said.

Meyers said other factors can influence the ISO score. Things such as training standards, response time, the number of emergency response staff, along with the distribution and maintenance of hydrants can all factor in. City ordinances like burn bans or site review for new construction also can make a difference.

Clear Lake's communications center scored 9.4, while the statewide average is 6.6. The CLFD came in at 29.54 compared with the statewide average of 18.6. The water supply average of 32.38 was much above the state average of 16.98.

Meyers said Clear Lake is now one of 41 Iowa cities with a ranking of class 3 or better. A total of 22 towns have a class 2 designation and just two Iowa cities are considered class 1.

Meyers told the council the reviews happen about every five years, with the last taking place in December 2017.

Clear Lake City Administrator Scott Flory commended the council on its forward thinking.

"Over the years the council has invested so heavily into that, so I think it's important for (Meyers) to be able to tell the council about this positive report, because over the years you have invested millions and millions and millions upon millions into these things," Flory said.

Council member Bennett Smith also praised local emergency responders and the council.

"I really appreciate the volunteer hours you guys make and your team," he said. "To boil it down, by making all of these investments, we're saving homeowners money on their insurance."

Mason City Fire Chief Erik Bullinger said Mason City is currently at a class 3 level as well. The last review was in 2017 and he hopes a review sometime this year will move the city to a class 2 ranking.

Close Mason City 1907 Mason City 1907 Britt 1908 Britt 1908 Hampton 1907 Hampton 1907 Forest City 1908 Forest City 1908 Lake Mills 1907 Lake Mills 1907 Algona 1907 Algona 1907 Garner 1907 Garner 1907 Clarion 1907 Clarion 1907 Cresco 1908 Cresco 1908 Iowa Falls 1907 Iowa Falls 1907 Spencer 1907 Spencer 1907 Webster City 1907 Webster City 1907 Fort Dodge 1907 Fort Dodge 1907 New Hampton 1908 New Hampton 1908 Eagle Grove 1907 Eagle Grove 1907 North Iowa history in photos: Downtown panoramic scenes from the early 1900s Mason City 1907 Mason City 1907 Britt 1908 Britt 1908 Hampton 1907 Hampton 1907 Forest City 1908 Forest City 1908 Lake Mills 1907 Lake Mills 1907 Algona 1907 Algona 1907 Garner 1907 Garner 1907 Clarion 1907 Clarion 1907 Cresco 1908 Cresco 1908 Iowa Falls 1907 Iowa Falls 1907 Spencer 1907 Spencer 1907 Webster City 1907 Webster City 1907 Fort Dodge 1907 Fort Dodge 1907 New Hampton 1908 New Hampton 1908 Eagle Grove 1907 Eagle Grove 1907
The North Iowa Long Term Disaster Recovery Committee aims to spread awareness of its services for disaster victims.

The NILTDRC activates as a last resort when disaster strikes to serve the unmet needs of the victims within Worth, Floyd, Cerro Gordo and Mitchell counties.

This is an opportunity for anyone in the community to be able to contribute and to help in the time of disaster, said Steve ONeil, former Cerro Gordo Emergency Management Agency Coordinator. You dont have to belong to any special organization or have any unique skill. This is for anyone who has a desire to help.

The group hopes to build a contact list of those willing to assist in these emergencies so that it can act immediately when activated. It also accepts monetary donations that will be used for building materials and other necessities to help those impacted. To donate, visit the FAQ page at niltdrc.com.

The committees next meeting is Wednesday, Jan. 18, and its next open house date will be Feb. 16 at Worth County Emergency Management in Northwood. All are welcome to attend.

Linda Tjaden, former committee chair, said, The committee is really helping to organize and get a process and procedures in place, so when that time occurs, were ready to activate.

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Formed officially with articles of incorporation in January 2015, the BRITT Group is continuing work on its first major project, which is saving and preserving the former First State Bank building in Britt.

Headed by former Britt Mayor Jim Nelson, the BRITT Group has also consisted of original board member Garry Kerns, Gary Gelner, Carolyn DeKruif, Laurie Eden, Allen Eden, and Skip Miller, of Britt, and Betty Moylan, who recently moved to Myrtle Beach.

The organizations mission is to beautify, restore, and invest today and tomorrow.

Attorney Earl Hill helped the group set up its nonprofit status, volunteering his time to get it established legally and file its first years tax returns. The groups first project is a doozy  the 1916 building that was designed by well-known architect John Henry Jeffers for Commercial State Bank. It is best known as the former First State Bank but housed numerous other things over the years.

Jeffers also designed the State of Wisconsins Exhibition Building for the 1904 St. Louis World Fair, the Carnegie Library in Clear Lake, and a 1919 prairie-style home at on First Avenue Southwest in Britt. Many of his buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, a listing the BRITT Group was originally seeking for the former bank building.

We talked to some people and an official with the State of Iowa about the Register of Historic Places, Nelson said. Unfortunately, the prior owner gutted too much of the original work out of the middle of the building. Its such a beautiful building that we dont want to let it go."

The BRITT Group has already invested an estimated $50,000 in saving the building since purchasing it from the city for $35 in 2014.

Funds have come from Laurie Eden, grants, and a couple of spaghetti-dinner fundraisers that collected approximately $1,500. One of the grants was from the W. David Ley Foundation, associated with the original owners of Farmers Trust and Savings Banks in Britt, Buffalo Center, Lakota, Lake Mills, and Bricelyn, Minnesota.

The goal is to get the building to the point we can sell it, said Nelson, noting that the west half of the original building had to be torn off due to deterioration, although the basement portion of that half is still there. Maybe it could be a hotel with businesses down below or just a hotel. Were open to whatever idea someone comes up with.

So, the group put together drawings and pictures of what the building may look like restored as a hotel. They were assisted by four Iowa State University architectural students, who assisted as part of a class project. Nelson said the restored building could be named Center and Main whether housing a hotel, motel, apartments, mini-mall, or some combination. He cited the communitys need of additional motel rooms and apartments, saying that retail space could also be added.

Wed still like to do more and add on to it, but money talks, Nelson said. Were certainly open to most anything.

Nelson said upper-level floor boards are in pretty good condition. The main floor is almost entirely solid concrete and metal. It is built well with I-beam construction. In addition to windows, repairing some water damage to a portion of the tall first floor ceiling is also on the list of repairs, as is some re-plumbing and electrical rewiring.

The portion of the building that remains is approximately 80 feet long and 40 feet wide. The whole basement that remains is about 120-130 feet long. One-fourth of the full, original building never had a basement underneath. The basement has been used for apartments, living quarters, storage, and a barber shop in the past.

Its salvageable because of that and the good concrete floor, Nelson said. It would be nice if someone would say I could use a building like that. That is why we put a new roof on it.

The storied history of the building includes housing many other businesses after First State Bank relocated across the street by 1980. That list includes a beauty shop, commodities and brokerage firm, boutique, and photography studio.

It was kind of a mini-mall for a while because two or three businesses were in there at the same time, Nelson said.

The BRITT Group also has plans beyond the old bank building restoration.

Its not just a one-time project that the BRITT Group is undertaking, Nelson said. The idea is to keep going indefinitely. We picked a big one to start with.
At any day at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, the large, glassed building on Slayton Avenue, will be full of people  teenagers attending Governors School, people and organizations meeting for a conference in the large conference room, scientists working on plants and polymers, older students honing their precision machinery skills and people enjoying lunch in the small cafe.

IALR was founded in 2002 as a higher education center. It was funded by state and local sources, as well as the tobacco settlement funds disbursed by the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission. Established to diversify, transform and grow the economy of Southern Virginia, IALR engages the resources of Virginia Tech, Danville Community College, Averett University and other partners, according to its website.

IALRs current campus began with the 2002 groundbreaking of the 90,000-square-foot main building. The building became fully operational in 2005. The campus now includes five existing buildings.

IALRs goal has always been to drive the economic transformation of the region through applied research, advanced learning, economic development, advanced manufacturing and conference services.

IALR accomplishes this through a variety of programs, partnerships and collaborations.

We are one of five higher education centers in Virginia and the president reports to the Virginia Secretary of Education, said Julie Brown, vice president of advanced learning. We dont confer degrees because we are fortunate to live in a place with place-based higher education institutions  Averett University and Danville Community College. We dont supplant what they offer but augment and fill any gaps.

Brown leads a team that focuses on the talent pipeline in the region, making sure that local manufacturers now and in the future have the educated and trained workforce they need.

The advanced learning department provides educational and talent development initiatives whose goal is to meet the needs of the regions employers. This is done through collaborations and partnerships across the region and beyond.

We work in all areas from pre-K to gray, she said. We build STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] opportunities, and if they need a degree, we direct them to the appropriate place.

GO TEC

An example of preparing a pipeline full of educated and trained employees is the program GO TEC, or Great Opportunities in Technology.

This is a talent pipeline starting at middle school with hands-on training to make sure workers are exposed to their career opportunities and are academically prepared, Brown said.

Todd Yeatts is the executive vice president for manufacturing advancement at the Institute.

He heads the manufacturing advancement training programs, as well as the operation and strategic direction of the new Center for Manufacturing Advancement on the Institute campus.

He declared GO TEC a success.

It started with a mobile van that went around to the schools, and now it is in 25 middle schools, he said. Its success continues to write itself.

A GO TEC state-of-the-art training lab opened at the Institutes main facility in October 2020. The renovated lab provides training opportunities in skillsets within five areas: precision machining; welding; IT/cybersecurity; robotics, automation and mechatronics; and advanced materials.

The lab also provides training and support to middle school teachers on the same equipment they use in their classrooms.

GO TEC develops a pipeline on present jobs and those jobs that are coming in the future, focusing on both academic and skilled positions, Brown said. The program provides employment engagement and exposure.

Brown said the manufacturing base in the region has diversified from what used to be only the mill and Goodyear. She estimated there are now 50 different manufacturing businesses looking for workers to fill their jobs.

We have a lot of explaining to do to these kids that there is a job here for them in Southern Virginia. There are also internships and apprenticeships. We have done a ton of things to help employers connect to talent, such as funding, workshops, research and seminars, she explained. We address connection and exposure and rely on our partners to provide education.

Yeatts said that most people think of manufacturing jobs as hot and work clothes.

But if you see the Center for Manufacturing Advancement, it is spotless, and people are sometimes in lab coats, he said. We are also not talking minimum-wage jobs, but six-figure salaries.

ATDM program

An example of another Institute training program that translates into workforce development is the ATDM, or accelerated training in defense manufacturing, which the IALR describes as a prototype training platform for rapidly training skilled workers in key trades such as CNC machining and welding for employment in the defense industry.

CNC machining, or computer numerical control, is a method of automating control of machines through software embedded in a microcomputer attached to the tool.

The multi-year pilot project will test and evaluate ATDM as a training platform for regional training centers that support the defense industrial base, according to atdm.org.

Yeatts explained it is a 16-week federally funded program in partnership with the Navy where students train to work in advanced manufacturing jobs, such as in submarines and military supply chain. It targets transitioning military, industry and other pools of mature leaders.

Partnership with DCC

Still another example of the link between education and workforce training is the optional third-year integrated machining and technology program offered at IALR after students finish the two-year machining technology program at Danville Community College.

IALR finances and houses the program that is set up like a real-life manufacturing plant, and DCC provides the instruction, said Allison Moore, director of public relations and communications.

Yeatts said that every single person at IALR is involved in workforce training.

There are so many good things happening at IALR that its a good place to be, he said.

He noted that even the conferences held at IALR bring in business to the city, requiring hotel rooms and restaurants.

We are now at the point where this Institute is truly a catalyst for transformation, Yeatts said. The challenges now are supply and demand. We have new manufacturers, and we are adding jobs to the old ones. We need more people.

For information on the many other workforce education and development opportunities offered at IALR, visit ialr.org.
A Senate subcommittee has defeated an initiative supported by Gov. Glenn Youngkin calling for Virginia colleges to report the salaries of employees working toward diversity, equity and inclusion.

The committee voted down Senate Bill 1197, which called for public colleges to publish the number of DEI officers they employ and their wages. Sen. Bryce Reeves, R-Spotsylvania, who sponsored the bill, said the combined salaries could pay for more than 1,000 full scholarships for students.

"The bottom line is, there are some things not being disclosed," Reeves said.

According to a group called the Virginia Association of Scholars, DEI officers at the state's public colleges earned a combined $15 million in 2020. Conservatives argue DEI initiatives limit free speech on campus and prevent merit-based achievement.

The University of Virginia spent the most, employing 38 officers who collectively earned $4 million. The university's vice president for diversity, equity, inclusion and community partnerships made $340,000.

James Madison University spent more than $2 million employing 31 DEI administrators. Both UVa and JMU spent more in 2021 than they did in 2020.

Virginia Commonwealth University was not included in the report because its data was not available, the authors said.

Two schools had no DEI officers in 2020, according to the report  Virginia State University and Virginia Military Institute. VMI later hired a chief diversity officer in 2021.

The bill had the support of the governor's administration, Reeves said, and highlights items Youngkin believes colleges should disclose.

Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax City, questioned why colleges should be required to publish this information, which is already publicly available. Petersen called the bill "overly confrontational."

The report from the Virginia Association of Scholars said it's impossible to tell how much a college really spends on diversity, equity and inclusion , because not every employee who works on the issues has DEI in their job title.

The bill also called for universities to report the percentage of their expenditures on DEI, government relations, lobbying and compensation for presidents.
Wheezing, sputtering and gasping for air, but we made it. Happy Friday.

A friend, a hand-on banker-turned-septic-tank company owner, had this to say about his unorthodox, abrupt career change: For sure theres money in it, he said. But you have to reach in to get it.

Why, you might be wondering, would that come up? Solid question.

The answer can be found in  community COVID-19 transmission rates.

Make no mistake, COVID remains a big problem. But instead of daily death counts and hospitalizations, it seems that the focus has shifted to lost work days as scientists have learned more about the virus and vaccination rates have leveled off.

(As of Thursday afternoon, per the state Department of Health and Human Services, 20 percent of adults in North Carolina have the full regimen including an updated booster; 59 percent have at least one of the original boosters; 78 percent had the first vaccinations; and 30 percent of kids and teens have had their shots. Not great, but better than bupkis.)

Anyhow, we started thinking about COVID-19 again after the neighbors and several friends were laid low by it.

That in turn led us to the state Department of Health and Human Services to look for data. There, we stumbled across information which shows that one of the leading indicators/predictors about an uptick in the spread of COVID-19 can be found in what actual adults call wastewater.

The thought train naturally led to friend Daves sloshing truck osewage and a wide range of joke possibilities that were trying to resist in the giddy first light of the weekend.

So here we are.

Were not sure who first thought to mine those depths for clues - and maybe we dont want to know - but, as the science says, it works.

Samples are collected at various municipal wastewater plants and rushed to state labs to test. (We imagine collections involve multiple layers of latex, a ladle with a very long handle and a topshelf set of nose plugs. Note to the state: whatever youre paying those people, its not enough.)

In wastewater, according to state scientists who would know, virus particles in the wastewater are no longer infectious - perhaps they gagged - and that allows them to be tracked.

The research suggests that the virus particles appear in wastewater 4-6 days before cases are identified, data which should set off alarms.

Virus particles, we learned while fooling around on the DHHS website, had increased this week to 82.4 million per person. Thats up from 49.1 million parts per person Dec. 28 and way up from 1.6 million parts per person recorded July 7.

So it seems to check out that more people we know have been felled by COVID-19 in recent days.

Weird. The more you know, though.

Now, Two Things.

Back to school already?

GREENSBORO - To the collective relief of countless parents, the kiddies have recently returned to school after the sugar-fueled, high-adrenaline holiday break.

And yet Guilford County parents awakened today to the news that its already time to think about next year.

The application period for the Guilford County Schools 47 magnet-school options opens today and runs through Feb. 20. Parents (or grandparents for that matter) interested in magnet options ranging from arts to STEM should begin exploring them.

To help, a magnet school showcase is scheduled for Feb. 1 at the Greensboro Coliseum complex.

A new honor for an old honor, your honor

WINSTON-SALEM - Old Salem, per a notice from city government, has been awarded a state Highway Historical Marker to celebrate its designation as the states first local historic district in 1948.

Were not quite sure exactly what that means. It seems as if were getting a new sign to celebrate being the first locality to get a  historic district sign.

It seems odd, but looked at another way, the new marker will underscore the fact that by extension, Winston-Salem and Forsyth County are being honored for being among the first to try and preserve key parts of its history.

Always nice to be recognized for forward thinking  by looking back. Old Salem, too, is a nice day trip tourist attraction that injects cash into the local economy.

The more you know.
The seventh edition of Breakbulk Middle East (BBME), held under the patronage of the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, is returning to Dubai to promote digitalisation in the sector.

Renowned as the regions first and only event dedicated to the breakbulk and project cargo industry, the event is scheduled to take place on February 13-14 2023, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

During the two-day exhibition and conference, attendees will learn about the benefits of using the latest and most advanced digital solutions developed by some of the leading tech-solution providers in the industry. BBME 2023 aims to highlight how digitalisation can positively impact the efficiency of the sector, catalyse its growth, and can make the whole channel of transportation and supply chain more sustainable, safe, and viable.

Building resilience through technology

Emphasising the importance of digital innovation in making the industry more sustainable, David Christopher Piel, Senior Manager of Special Cargo, Hapag-Lloyd AG said: "As stakeholders of the industry, we must capitalise on the capabilities of advanced digital solutions to reduce carbon emissions, improve safety, and increase the efficiency of our operations. At Hapag-Lloyd, we have utilised technology extensively to catalyse our progress. Through our partnership with Logimatic to implement the SERTICA system on 70 of our container ships, we were able to create a common technical fleet management system for our vessels in Hamburg and Dubai. We believe that BBME 2023 will serve as an ideal platform for us to learn from other industry players, while also showcasing our solutions to them.

Dharmendra Gangrade, Head of Logistics Management Centre, Larsen & Toubro Limited emphasised: "Since the outbreak of the pandemic, technology has played a vital role in enabling the sector to streamline and optimise its operations. Whether it's through advanced scheduling and routing software, real-time tracking and monitoring systems, or innovative cargo handling equipment; digital solutions have facilitated the industrys progress despite unprecedented challenges. It is necessary that we continue to invest efforts into enhancing the capabilities of our existing technology, and develop newer and more sophisticated versions, in order to reduce manual labour, minimise errors, and increase efficiency by automating cargo handling tasks. By bringing together cargo owners at various stages of technology deployment to share their experiences and advice, BBME 2023 will help us understand what modifications are needed to ensure that our solutions cater to the specific needs of the sector.

Enhancing visibility and traceability

Highlighting the importance of technology in improving the industrys operations and efficiency, Dr. Dennis Dreier, IT Director, HPC Hamburg Port Consulting GmbH said: As part of an industry that facilitates over 90 per cent of global trade, it is crucial to be uninterruptedly informed about the current location as well as even more importantly, the condition of goods that are being carried along the supply chain. In this regard, ICT-technology provides the capability of real-time tracking and monitoring of the cargo. We refer to this as business intelligence, a data-driven solution that enables us to respond quickly to delays or other issues. As a result of greater transparency, business intelligence also provides more service to customers and supports their operations. Moreover, advanced digital solutions facilitate communication and coordination among different stakeholders, such as carriers, shippers, and ports, by providing, for instance, a single platform for exchanging information and issuing instructions. This enables more robust planning and an efficient execution of operations. Consequently, potential risks are prevented or occurring issues can be mitigated.

Ben Blamire, Event Director, Breakbulk Middle East stated: "During the 2023 edition of BBME, we look forward to bringing together some of the leading tech-companies in the breakbulk and project cargo sector. Over the years, through the implementation of cutting-edge logistics solutions, these organisations have achieved significant results in terms of increasing operational efficiency and reducing transportation costs. We believe that by providing a platform for these thought leaders to share their expertise and insights, we can facilitate continued development and advancement of the breakbulk industry."

Additionally, BBMEs forthcoming edition will provide newbies and developing firms with an unparalleled platform to discover new project cargo business opportunities across maritime, logistics, transportation, and other key sectors.--TradeArabia News Service
MADISON, Wis.  North Carolina and Wisconsin have joined at least 22 other states in banning the popular social media app TikTok on state-owned devices, including Mississippi, Indiana, Louisiana and South Dakota.

Congress also recently banned TikTok from most U.S. government-issued devices over bipartisan concerns about security.

TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company that moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2020. It has been targeted by critics who say the Chinese government could access user data, such as browsing history and location. U.S. armed forces also have prohibited the app on military devices.

TikTok is consumed by two-thirds of American teens and has become the second-most popular domain in the world. But theres long been bipartisan concern in Washington that Beijing would use legal and regulatory power to seize American user data or try to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.

Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers cited concerns about privacy, safety and security, after consulting with the FBI and emergency management officials about the app. Evers order applies to most state agencies, with some exceptions like criminal investigators who may be using the app to track certain people.

The University of Wisconsin System, which employs 40,000 faculty and staff, is also exempt. But a UW System spokesperson said despite the exemption, the university was conducting a review and moving toward placing restrictions on the app being used on devices in order to protect against serious cybersecurity risks.

Both Evers and Gov. Roy Cooper also prohibited the use of WeChat, a Chinese instant messaging app, on state devices.

Its important for us to protect state information technology from foreign countries that have actively participated in cyberattacks against the United States, Cooper said. Protecting North Carolina from cyber threats is vital to ensuring the safety, security, privacy, and success of our state and its people.

Both the FBI and the Federal Communications Commission have warned that TikTok user data could be shared by owner ByteDance Ltd. with Chinas authoritarian government. U.S. officials also worry that the Chinese government might use TikTok to push pro-China narratives or misinformation.

Fears were stoked by news reports last year that a China-based team improperly accessed data of U.S. TikTok users, including two journalists, as part of a covert surveillance program to ferret out the source of leaks to the press.

There are also concerns that the company is sending masses of user data to China, in breach of stringent European privacy rules.

Additionally, theres been concern about TikToks content and whether it harms teenagers mental health.

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump and his administration sought to ban dealings with TikToks owner, force it to sell off its U.S. assets and remove it from app stores. Courts blocked Trumps efforts to ban TikTok, and President Joe Biden rescinded Trumps orders after taking office but ordered an in-depth study of the issue. A planned sale of TikToks U.S. assets was shelved.

In Congress, concern about the app has been bipartisan. Congress last month banned TikTok from most U.S. government-issued devices over bipartisan concerns about security.

The Senate in December approved a version of the TikTok ban authored by conservative Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a vocal critic of big tech companies.

But Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, of Illinois has co-sponsored legislation to prohibit TikTok from operating in the U.S. altogether, and the measure approved by Congress in December had the support of Democratic U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Were disappointed that so many states are jumping on the political bandwagon to enact policies that will do nothing to advance cybersecurity in their states and are based on unfounded falsehoods about TikTok, Jamal Brown, a spokesperson for TikTok, said in an emailed statement.

TikTok is developing security and data privacy plans as part of an ongoing national security review by President Joe Bidens administration.
GREENSBORO  Two men armed with handguns robbed a pizza restaurant late Monday, according to a news release from Greensboro police.

At 9:49 p.m., officers responded to Papa Johns Pizza at 1015 E. Cone Boulevard after the robbery was reported.

The two men took an undisclosed amount of cash and then left on foot, according to the release.

No additional information was available and the investigation is continuing.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Greensboro/Guilford Crime Stoppers at 336-373-1000. Citizens can also download the mobile P3tips app to submit a mobile tip, or go to P3tips.com to submit a web tip. All tips to Crime Stoppers are anonymous.
RALEIGH  As state lawmakers convened on Wednesday for the first day of the 2023 legislative session, activists gathered outside the nearby State Capitol to protest anticipated efforts by Republicans to curtail abortion laws this year.

Behind the scenes, efforts are underway to build consensus among GOP lawmakers on what exactly they should propose.

Having won greater majorities in both the House and Senate in November, Republicans have promised to change the current abortion law, which restricts the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy. GOP leaders of both chambers have said there is a range of opinions in their caucuses on how many weeks the law should be rolled back.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Speaker Tim Moore said that House Republicans had put together a working group in their caucus that represented a diverse set of opinions, to try to agree on a proposal with a similar group in the Senate Republican caucus.

Senate leader Phil Berger of Eden told reporters that lawmakers should provide exceptions for rape and incest. State law currently allows an exception after 20 weeks only for medical emergencies, which critics say is too narrowly defined.

Our law does not allow an exception for rape, does not allow an exception for incest, and I think we need to change that, Berger told reporters. I also think that 20 weeks is, in essence, five months into a pregnancy. I think if you look at where the people of the state of North Carolina are, they think that thats too long.

House Democratic Leader Robert Reives rejected the notion that North Carolinians support a more restrictive abortion law, as Republicans have suggested.

Theres no issue in my mind, where the citizens would fall on this, because of what youve seen in other states. Youve seen states like Kansas and Kentucky, states that I think you would not normally expect to jump up and protect the right to (abortion), Reives said.

Protests for and against abortion rights were common in downtown Raleigh last year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. Protests will likely continue as activists on both sides of the issue await the GOPs proposed restrictions. The annual March for Life takes place this weekend.

Absolutely nobody should have to jump through so many hoops just to obtain basic health care, said Sage Smith, an activist with Triangle Democratic Socialists of America. Each and every last one of us deserves to make our very own reproductive decisions. Each barrier, restriction and delay adds cost to an already difficult process, and these costs are hardships that fall hardest on the people who are already struggling to pay for an unexpected abortion.

Simran Singh Jain, a Durham-based activist and doula, said that more restrictive bans on abortion would hurt poor people and other vulnerable people the most.

We fight until all our people get what they need, because abortions have happened since the beginning of time, she said. And they will always, always happen, no matter what.

Republicans won a supermajority in the Senate, allowing them to pass bills through that chamber over a veto from Gov. Roy Cooper, while House Republicans fell one seat short of that threshold.

Berger said last year he supported a ban at around 13 weeks of gestation, or the end of the first trimester, while Moore expressed support for a so-called heartbeat bill, which would prohibit abortions at around six weeks.

Moore didnt say Wednesday if his own opinion had changed, but when asked if he was worried that passing further restrictions could hurt Republicans politically, he said GOP lawmakers would approach the issue as they do any other issue: by adopting a reasonable common-sense position and not taking an extreme position.

He also said that GOP leaders hadnt determined when the House would consider an abortion bill, and that any bill would work through the normal legislative process.

Berger appeared to express support for his earlier position  a ban at the end of the first trimester.

Where my caucus is, we still have not had an opportunity to try to work through that, he said.
Theres a reason Democrats struggle to win statewide elections in North Carolina, and theres a way they can do better.

Thats the upshot of an analysis of voter turnout in North Carolinas 2022 Senate race by Michael Bitzer, a Catawba College political scientist, something Democrats should consider as they approach the 2024 race for governor.

In the Senate race, Democrats nominated former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and Republicans chose U.S. Rep. Ted Budd, a backer of gun rights and opponent of abortion and LGBTQ rights who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The contest looked promising for the Democrats: a respected jurist against a reactionary congressman, yet Budd won with 50.5% of the vote to Beasleys 47.2%.

Democrats blamed their defeat on a lack of national funding that resulted in Beasley being heavily outspent by outside groups supporting Budd. That was part of it, but Bitzers analysis shows the main reason: Poor turnout among core Democratic groups.

For Black/African Americans, their turnout rate was nearly 10 points below the states turnout rate, while white turnout was 7 points ahead, Bitzer said in his analysis. He added that participation by voters under 40  a key to Democrats successes in other states  was abysmally below the states turnout rate.

In part, the shortfall reflected historic midterm patterns, but Bitzer notes that Democratic turnout has not matched Republican turnout in any midterm or presidential election since 2008.

That trend matters as Democrats look ahead to 2024. The early favorites to face off for governor are Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. If thats the case, its something of a replay of the Senate race: A prominent and politically cautious legal veteran vs. a very conservative firebrand.

The result could be the same, too, unless Democrats address the voting intensity gap they have with Republicans. Democrats who water-down their progressive positions in hopes of cutting their rural and suburban losses also diminish their support among core Democratic groups.

Pope Mac McCorkle, a professor at Dukes Sanford School of Public Policy and a veteran North Carolina political consultant, thinks Stein should stay the middle course. While Democrats havent won a statewide federal race since 2008, he said, they have won seven of the last eight gubernatorial elections, and Stein has won two statewide elections for attorney general.

Thats nothing to sneeze at, McCorkle said. He didnt win big, but he still won.

David McLennan, a Meredith College political science professor, thinks Stein will have trouble repeating Democratic Gov. Roy Coopers feat of winning twice despite Donald Trump carrying the state.

Recent history suggests that Gov. Roy Cooper may be one of the few Democrats that can win statewide elections by any comfortable margin, he said. Stein, for example, ran almost four points behind Cooper in 2020.

A Democratic strategy of trying to reduce losses in Republican areas is also questioned by Chris Cooper, a Western Carolina University political scientist. He said Stein wont be able to pull the Roy Cooper magic trick of drawing votes from rural counties. Steins path, he said, will be to double down on urban counties.

Thats good advice for Stein or any Democrat trying to overcome their partys troubles with winning statewide. Sure, Cooper succeeded twice, but he got a big assist in 2016 from Republican Gov. Pat McCrorys disastrous decision to support the bathroom bill. In 2020, he had the advantage of incumbency as he faced Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Forest.

A key message for Democratic candidates is that trying to reach unreachable rural and conservative-leaning voters invites failing to inspire core Democratic voters. In short, to win as a Democrat, run as one.
RALEIGH  I have two favorite quotes from Ronald Reagan about the world of work. The first one illustrates his mastery of an indispensable political tool: self-deprecating humor. Its true hard work never killed anybody, he quipped, but I figure, why take the chance?

My other favorite Reagan quote makes a serious point: I believe the best social program is a job. He was right, as mountains of empirical evidence have subsequently demonstrated. Government actors can boost the real incomes of low-income people with a variety of means, including cash welfare and non-cash benefits such as housing assistance and Medicaid. American governments have done this to a massive extent over the past five decades, helping to reduce the real poverty rate from 31% in 1960 to less than 2% in 2021.

Yet many people who now live above the poverty line  when the government benefits they receive are properly counted as income  certainly feel poor, appear to others to be poor and are often bitterly disenchanted or deeply unhappy. Thats because ones material condition, while obviously important, isnt as critical in determining ones sense of well-being as what Harvard University scholar Arthur Brooks calls earned success.

Although our unemployment rates remain relatively low  3.9% in North Carolina in November and a statistically indistinguishable 3.7% for the nation as a whole  far too many people are without the dignity and stability that comes from having a job. And many more are employed but lack the opportunity to advance in their chosen profession, enter a new and more promising profession or start a business of their own.

Elected officials often proclaim themselves to be champions of labor. But the policies they propose, be they progressives advocating giveaways or national populists advocating trade restrictions, will do little to help average workers. Youll find a better set of policies in a new Cato Institute book entitled Empowering the New American Worker.

In a section on occupational licensing, for example, Cato analyst Chris Edwards points out that places with freer labor markets tend to have higher levels of employment, economic mobility and entrepreneurship. Policymakers can make workers better off, while maintaining or even improving the quality of services for consumers, with such commonsense reforms as replacing mandatory licensure with voluntary certification and allowing workers licensed in other states to be automatically licensed in a new one.

One of the strongest chapters, co-written by the books editor, Scott Lincicome, explains the potential for remote work to smash barriers to worker advancement. While some jobs clearly cant be done from home, many employers and employees learned during the pandemic that shifting to remote or hybrid models can be mutually advantageous. The broader effects on, say, traffic congestion and affordable housing are also significant. Unfortunately, public policy has yet to adapt to these new realities. Governments need to change how they tax individuals who earn income from multiple states, for instance, and how they tax businesses that employ large numbers of remote employees. Theyll also need to rethink how employee benefits are regulated.

From educational services and child care to transportation, housing and health care, the Cato team offers sensible reforms.

As Lincicome observes in the books conclusion, our political debate is filled with supposedly pro-worker proposals that are based on faulty assumptions about the past, present and future of the American workplace. Far too many politicians think of workers as helpless and in need of government protection from cradle to grave, despite the long-term harms that such policies inflict on these very same workers and the economy more broadly, he writes. By contrast, pro-market policies that respect the individual agency and ability of all workers would allow them to pursue their unique hopes and dreams in a more dynamic, diverse, and high-wage economy  and to adjust to whatever comes next.
A bill providing tax exemptions for tribal members who own fee land and are in the process of converting that land to trust went before the Legislature on Tuesday.

Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, called Senate Bill 119 a clean-up bill, slightly revising a law passed last session, which said that property owned in fee by a tribe is temporarily exempt from taxation when that land is being transferred to trust, and under certain other conditions.

Thats all this bill does is to include the tribal member, Webber explained to the Senate Taxation Committee.

Fee vs. trust land

Webbers bill concerns fee land, which refers to property that an individual owns outright. Trust land refers to property held in trust by the U.S. government for the benefit of Native American tribes or for the benefit of individual tribal members.

Fee land is taxed and can be sold to anyone, where trust land is not taxed and can only be sold to a tribe or tribal member.

Whats this bill about?

In her address to the Senate Taxation Committee, Webber explained that there are tribal members who have fee land and want to put it into trust.

She noted that the process of transferring fee land to trust can take years, as it must go through the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of Interior. As the law is currently written, tribal members must pay taxes on fee land even as they are waiting for that land to become trust. But, Webber explained, SB 119 will change that by adding tax exemptions for individual tribal members entering this process.

Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, asked Webber whether its better for tribal members to have land in fee or trust, and Webber said its often best to have a combination of the two. She said she herself owns fee land and has relatives who put trust land into fee so they could expand their ranches and grow their cattle herds.

First of all, as an Indian, its very hard for me to go into a bank, Webber explained, adding that reservations have historically been redlined and Native people have been excluded from financial systems.

The reason my husband and I put our land into fee was to get a house, Webber continued. Otherwise, we could not get a house, buy our own home.  (Tribes) set aside fee property for the same purpose  to get loans, to support their functions. Otherwise, they prefer (land) in trust status. But we use a combination of both of them.

What do people think about it?

Patrick Yawakie-Peltier, who is representing the Blackfeet Nation during the session, called the bill an important step forward in the state-tribal government-to-government relationship.

The Blackfeet Tribe and tribal members, like many other tribal nations, are in the process of acquiring lands lost during the Dawes Act  and the property tax exemption provides temporary relief during the process, he said.

The General Allotment Act of 1887, also known as the Dawes Act, authorized the president to allot portions of reservation land to individual tribal members. Individual allotments were to remain in trust for 25 years, and after that, the land would become fee, which is taxed. The law also authorized the Interior Secretary to negotiate with tribes to dispossess all excess land remaining after allotments  for the purpose of non-Native settlement.

The government ultimately sold more than 90 million acres of tribal land to non-Native citizens. Many who spoke in support of the bill alluded to the devastation of the Allotment Era and argued that SB 119 would help tribes and tribal members who are working to reclaim their land.

Mark Baker, who spoke on behalf of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, called the bill a welcome piece of legislation.

Keegan Medrano, policy director for the ACLU Montana, said SB 119 will empower tribal nations.

We are still here, Medrano said. Our nations are still here, left to pick up the pieces of this failed big government policy.  SB 119 could begin to restore the land in our communities  We can empower our nations as we stitch ourselves back together from the damage of the federal governments policy.

Jade Bahr, a state-tribal policy analyst with the Montana Budget and Policy Center, advocated for the bill to pass and said that land in trust not only helps restore tribal sovereignty but it can also open access to federal programs and services, like housing, economic development and cultural resource protection.

No one spoke in opposition of the bill.

Webber concluded by saying she hoped she educated the committee. The committee did not yet take executive action on the bill.
DECATUR  Angela Grant had a reason to march.

Grant, who is a triplet, lost her sister at the end of December. Her sisters memory is part of what moved her to march in honor of the late Martin Luther King Jr. and to keep on letting the dream live.

United we stand, divided we fall, said Grant, of Decatur. And I believe that God wants us to be united as one because we are one nation.

Grant was one of dozens of citizens who turned out to march from Mueller Park to the Decatur Civic Center, despite the rain, along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Monday morning. The march was part of the citys 37th annual Freedom March, the first full program since the start of the COVID pandemic.

For this year's program organizers focused on the importance of educating young people about the past to improve the future, according to officials with the citys Human Relations Commission.

We need to not forget our past and keep the legacy of Dr. King alive, and remember (that) this is not just a day off from school or work, said Penny Rogers, human resources manager for the city of Decatur. You know, we need to remember the real meaning of today.

The ages of the marchers spanned decades and included a large group of students from the Boys & Girls Club of Decatur. Some of those students said they were inspired by Kings legacy.

He was the reason why we got freedom today, said Jakaila Currie, 13, a student at Hope Academy in Decatur.

He was our fighter and he was our believer, added Phaith Cook, 8, also a Hope Academy student.

Once at the Civic Center, marchers heard from Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe and featured speaker Richard Hansen, a longtime history teacher at Mount Zion High School whose African-American Experience students have been creating exhibits for Decaturs African-American Cultural and Genealogy Society and Museum for many years.

Hansen spoke about his class, about King and about historical racial tensions between Decatur and Mount Zion dating back to the lynching of Samuel J. Bush in June of 1893.

For the longest time, Mount Zion had a reputation as the city that lynched a Black man from Decatur, Hansen said.

Hansens students learn about Bushs lynching and about other significant events in Black American history often ignored or simplified in many history curricula.

Though almost 60 years after King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, Hansen acknowledged his class might still prove controversial in some parts of the country.

He said hes thankful to have the backing of administration at Mount Zion High School. But in other states, he said, he might be fired for teaching a class so focused on race, referencing bans on critical race theory and other race-related concepts in states like Florida and Arkansas.

Im not going to say that everythings rosy in the halls of Mount Zion High School, Hansen said.

His African-American history course usually has about 25 to 30 students per class, out of approximately 800 students in the school. In a perfect world, all students would take the elective, he said.

Still, Hansen said his current students give him reason to believe a better future lies ahead.

I dont know if these problems are going to be solved in my lifetime, or even in the lifetime of most everybody in here, he told the crowd. But as long as we have these kinds of kids, it gives me hope.

This year, Hansens African-American Experience students were joined by students at Eisenhower, MacArthur and Taylorville high schools in creating what Hansen said is his largest exhibit yet  an exploration into race in the criminal justice system hes calling Law and Order: Mass Incarceration and the New Jim Crow.

The exhibit will be officially introduced at the African-American Cultural and Genealogy Society and Museum on May 8. In fact, all student exhibits from the last three years, which didnt have proper unveilings due to the pandemic, will be introduced at that time. Exhibits added since 2020 cover topics including the Obama years, Emmett Till, the Black Power movement, the Tulsa Race Massacre and more.

As for Martin Luther King Jr., Hansen told the Herald & Review that while King didnt really ask to be put on a pedestal, people can still find solace in his words.

His message of inclusivity and non violence is timeless, Hansen said. And that is something that it doesn't matter whether he said those words in 1963, or now 60 years later in 2023. It still resonates with people. He envisioned a world that was better than what he saw at the time. And we are better than we were back in 1963. But we have a long way to go."

From the Archives: The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Wake of King's Slaying MLK was popular with many people This painting hangs in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Barack Obama and others look up at the MLK memorial Bush speaks to mark the holiday honoring MLK Martin Luther King Jr. and Sr. Dr. King's Work Lives On Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" A woman weeps at bier of Dr. King Martin Luther King Jr. in front of his birthplace Martin Luther King III speaks at Mason Temple Rev. Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III The turbulent pursuit of a cause Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers Actor and veteran Civil Rights leaders Ossie Davis Laura English Robinson leads in singing 'We Shall Overcome' Eastern hosts march in honor of King
Wilo Middle East, a leading German pumps and systems manufacturer, is raising awareness of sustainable solutions and advance energy efficiency through the use of innovative pumps and systems at the World Future Energy Summit.

In addition to addressing critical topics such as water and energy shortages and climate change, Yasser Nagi, Managing Director of Wilo Middle East, is also highlighting the companys advanced smart pump solutions designed to conserve energy and drive sustainability.

The 17th WFES is being held from January 16 to 18, 2023, at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec) in Abu Dhabi.

Cutting-edge building services

Wilo is showcasing its cutting-edge building services, as well as water management solutions and systems in order to underline their crucial role in developing a safe and sustainable water infrastructure, in light of the rising climate change issues.

Through this participation, the company also hopes to increase the visibility and awareness of Wilo's energy solutions in Abu Dhabi, build stronger partnerships, and broaden its service offerings to the public and private sectors.

Nagi said: Climate change is an issue that the entire world is currently confronting, and we are conscious of how crucial it is to work together to find solutions, in order to tackle new challenges. WFES is an ideal venue for showcasing our latest technological developments, which are designed to address these escalating problems and elevate the global state of affairs. Additionally, taking part in such an event would enable us to form new relationships and explore more viable solutions that accelerate the pace of industrial growth in critical areas such as energy, water, waste, smart cities, and climate and environment. At Wilo, we reaffirm our commitment to advancing sustainable smart solutions in the sector, in order to promote sustainability in the region and assist in the fight against climate change.

Fouad Ahmed, Wilos Regional Marketing and Government Affairs Manager Mena, said: This is a crucial opportunity for us, as it is vital to connect the public and private sectors in order to address the challenges posed by the energy, water, and food shortages. Moreover, these efforts are made with a focus on larger issues like climate change, water scarcity, and food insecurity, all of which are of concern to most countries today.-- TradeArabia News Service
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MORGANTON  The Exploring Joara Foundation is inviting all interested persons to join its new docent program. Participants will be provided docent training and education so they can confidently share the story of the Berry site, Joara, and Fort San Juan through programs for school groups and the public. No previous background or experience is necessary.

Exploring Joara Foundation is looking for enthusiastic lifelong learners interested in ensuring the organization delivers the best possible programs and experiences.

David Moore, archeologist at Warren Wilson College, will lead the program, preparing docents through several educational sessions beginning in February and ending in April. Information is posted on the website, exploringjoara.org or by email request to: ed@exploringjoara.org.

Becoming an Exploring Joara Foundation docent is an opportunity to work with a diverse community, teaching about a rich historic past through hands-on archaeological experiences, guided tours, and educational programs.

More than 30 years of archaeological research at the Berry site has brought to light a poorly known part of Native American history and the history of the early American colonial frontier.

The Berry site is the location of the previously undiscovered 16th-century Native American town of Joara and the location of Fort San Juan.

Established in 1567 by Spanish colonizers under Capt. Juan Pardo, Fort San Juan represents the earliest European settlement in the interior of the United States, 18 years before the English landed at Roanoke and 40 years before the founding of Jamestown. Exploring Joara Foundation is dedicated to telling the story of regional Native Americans as well as that of Fort San Juan.

The Exploring Joara Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 2009 to promote regional archaeology and history through public education and active volunteer archaeological experiences.

The founding of Exploring Joara Foundation was inspired by the archaeological excavations at the Berry site led by archaeologists from Warren Wilson College, Tulane University, the University of Michigan, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Since 2009, Exploring Joara Foundation volunteers and staff have presented public programs to nearly 30,000 people, met with school groups and visitors at the Berry site, at the Living History Village at Catawba Meadows Park, in classrooms, and at the Wall Center for Archaeological Research in Morganton. Programs range from hands-on activities for kids and adults to actual excavation experiences, as well as many other public programs.

ln 2017, Exploring Joara Foundation created a museum exhibit about Joara and Fort San Juan.

The exhibit was hosted at the History Museum of Burke County for two years and has since traveled to the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, The Swannanoa Valley Museum in Black Mountain, the Smith-McDowell House in Asheville, and the Rural Heritage Museum at Mars Hill College. The exhibit is currently showcased at the Native American Studies Center at USC-Lancaster in Lancaster, S.C.

Exploring Joara Foundation hopes to partner with the Burke County History Museum to develop a new permanent exhibit in Morganton which will create an additional opportunity and venue for future docents to share the story of Joara and Fort San Juan.
Community leaders reflected on the progress, and lack thereof, during a panel discussion at Lenoir-Rhyne University on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.

The panel was part of the inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. Day Prayer Breakfast hosted by the Lenoir-Rhyne Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Hickory NAACP President Ida Clough, Centro Latino Executive Director Gianello Romero, Lenoir-Rhyne campus pastor the Rev. Todd Cutter and North Carolina Community Health Worker Association President Honey Estrada, who represented the Hmong community, were the four panelists.

The four were asked their perspective on developments in modern America, including decisions that would make King proud and things that would leave him disappointed.

Romero pointed to the people of diverse backgrounds assembled at the prayer breakfast as something that King would have heralded. Clough said there had been progress, saying that she would not have been allowed to attend Lenoir-Rhyne or to teach there when she was younger.

At the same time, she lamented that the progress that we have made has been so long, so slow and it takes too many steps back.

Cutter referenced a portion of Kings Letter from a Birmingham Jail, in which King criticizes white pastors for their silence during the civil rights movement.

The church has continued to fail to find ways to be more deeply connected with one another, and I also think that the way we responded to the pandemic, Cutter said. I mean, the pandemic revealed how loosely connected we all really are and even the church, how loosely connected we are.

In response to questions regarding diversity and inclusion initiatives, Estrada was critical of some efforts.

So many times I see diversity, equity and inclusion used as, its very performative some times, Estrada said. We say those things to check a box. Ive seen so many organizations in my career tout diversity and equity and inclusion only to use that as a cover to say, Were doing the right things, when were not really doing the right things.

Estrada recalled being asked to serve on a diversity and inclusion committee for an organization that only met at noon and charged members $1,000. She did not name the organization.

Balking at the barriers set up by the committee, Estrada said: Im not going to give you $1,000 to join your diversity, equity and inclusion committee just so you can plaster my face on whatever poster it is. Sorry, not doing it.

On the holiday celebrating one of the nations most heralded civil rights leaders, Clough spoke about how civil rights leaders had impacted her notions of community.

She explained she had grown up seeing Hickory as a city divided by railroad tracks which marked a barrier between two communities. Clough herself grew up on the north side of that boundary, where few people looked like her while she attended school to the south.

Clough left Hickory and then returned. She now simply describes the whole of Hickory as her community.

That is what civil rights leaders have done for me, Clough said. They have given me an opportunity to think about how big my community can be or how limited my community can be. When I was growing up, someone else identified my community. I identify my community now and I claim it.

In addition to the panel, the breakfast also included music and dance performances as well as remarks from university leaders.

Following the breakfast, the Hickory NAACP held its annual march from the university to the Ridgeview Recreation Center. Another program involving music, speeches and performances was held at the recreation center.
" " These British medieval pilgrim badges featured the bust of Thomas Becket. Ashmolean Museum/Heritage Images/Getty Images

In the Middle Ages, religious pilgrimages were all the rage in Europe. In spite of plagues and famines that ravaged the population in the 13th and 14th centuries, tens of thousands of people would walk for months to end up at the Santiago de Compostela cathedral in northwest Spain each year to pay their respects, receive absolution or pray for healing at the tomb of the apostle James. There were many more holy sites of varying popularity  the Seven Pilgrimage Churches of Rome and the Holy Land route (Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth) were the big time, but the church also encouraged pilgrimages to smaller shrines, like the tomb of Thomas Becket in the English county of Kent, the destination of the ragtag band of pilgrims depicted in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

No matter the distance, it was an accomplishment, hoofing it over hundreds or thousands of miles to arrive at a holy site, so naturally medieval pilgrims would want a souvenir to prove they had made the trek, to signal they belonged to a specific religious community and to serve as a sort of protective talisman.

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" " A medieval British or French lead and tin alloy pilgrim badge featuring St. Leonard, 15th century (size: 2 3/16 x 1 3/16 inches (5.6 x 3 centimeters). Sepia Times/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

As a result, an industry emerged to satisfy the pilgrims: Badges made out of a tin-lead alloy that they could pin to their hat or cloak were mass-produced and became wildly popular. Most of these badges depicted what you're probably imagining: saints being martyred, angels, animals with religious significance, pilgrims emerging victorious and spiritually cleansed from the pilgrimage site, etc. But some of them were a little more ... secular.

Take, for instance, the badge depicting a giant vulva with arms and legs and a hat, holding a staff adorned with an erect phallus. Or the three phalluses manning a sailboat, or the winged, crowned phallus wearing a bell around its "neck" or the vulva on horseback, hunting with a bow and arrow. Honestly, there are so many different sexual motifs, and they're so bizarre and fascinating that it's easy to just ogle them without questioning why they were made in the first place.

But most scholars studying medieval pilgrimage badges have a surprising theory for the purpose of such bawdy images: These badges were specifically made to ward off plague. The Black Death, which killed 25 million Europeans during this period, was terrifying in part because this was long before the germ theory of disease revolutionized the way we kept diseases from spreading. Nobody really knew how everyone was getting the plague  it was just as feasible that bad air or an imbalance in somebody's humours was the culprit as it was that sick people were passing it along to their friends just by looking at them. It was probably this last one  the sickly looks  that the lewd badges were trying to fend off.

Although it's impossible to say exactly what the medieval pilgrims were thinking with these ridiculous and obscene pins, many scholars suggest that they were almost certainly not intended to be erotic. At the time, a virulent illness and an evil spirit were considered extremely close relatives, if not one and the same. Protective talismans like the Evil Eye have been used since ancient times to ward off the unwelcome and ill-intentioned stares of others, and images of genitalia have similarly been thought to have potent protective powers in cultures all over the world.

Regardless of whether medieval pilgrims were correct or not about the method of disease transmission, the image of a lion with a giant phallus in its jaws pinned to somebody's lapel would probably make you look away from that person pretty quickly.

Now That's Interesting "Apotropaic" is a word describing the ability of an image to turn away bad spirits.
Royal Mail has asked customers to not post international mail. Photo: Shutterstock

Massive amounts of international shipping in the UK has been grounded after a leading mail delivery service, Royal Mail, suffered a "severe service disruption" due to a cyber incident.

More than half a million parcels and letters have been left in limbo after a purported ransom attack drove Royal Mail to suspend its international postal deliveries.

The company said its UK domestic mail remains unaffected, but has encouraged customers to hold off on exports for the time being.

"Royal Mail is experiencing severe service disruption to our international export services following a cyber incident," said the company.

"We are temporarily unable to despatch items to overseas destinations. To support faster recovery when our service is restored and to prevent a build-up of export items in our network, were asking customers not to post international items until further notice."

Royal Mail also warned items which have already been despatched "may be subject to delays" as its teams work around the clock to resolve the disruption.

"We immediately launched an investigation into the incident and we are working with external experts," said Royal Mail.

"We have reported the incident to our regulators and the relevant security authorities," it added.

The BBC reports the incident has impacted a backoffice system which is used by Royal Mail to prepare mail for despatch abroad, as well as track and trace overseas items.

The system is reportedly used at six sites, including the companies' sizeable Heathrow distribution centre in Slough.

Russia-linked ransom gang claims the attack

While Royal Mail failed to provide much information regarding the nature of the incident, details eventually surfaced confirming a ransomware attack had taken place.

First reported by The Telegraph, the attack is said to involve Russia-linked ransomware group called Lockbit.

Lockbit gained notoriety for a rampant string of attacks starting in 2019, and is said to have extorted around $144 million dollars (US$100 million) from its victims over the past few years.

Lockbit's main brand of ransomware, Lockbit Black, works by infecting files on computers, then displaying a message demanding cryptocurrency payment in exchange for "unscrambling" impacted files.

The Telegraph reports Royal Mail suffered a Lockbit Black infection on machines used to print its custom parcel labels for overseas deliveries.

Similar to the recent ransom incident at Queensland University of Technology, the ransom note was reportedly delivered via printers in Royal Mail's Northern Ireland sorting centre, where the attack is said to have stymied all operations.

The ransom note in question reads "Lockbit Black Ransomware. Your data are stolen and encrypted.

It goes on to threaten the release of stolen data on specified dark web sites unless a ransom payment is made.

"You can contact us and decrypt one file for free," read the note.

Initially, a public-facing representative of LockBit denied involvement in the attack, opting to place the blame on "other threat actors" who were deceptively using its "leaked builder".

Later, a ransomware operator known as LockBitSupp confirmed the ransom gang was indeed behind the attack against Royal Mail, stating they would provide a decryptor and delete the stolen data after a ransom payment is made.

As online debate ran rampart and subsequently flared back down regarding the true culprits of the attack, Royal Mail has maintained near silence on its investigation, and countless international shipping orders remain undelivered.

Customers and cyber security experts have made several requests for an update on online platforms, but to little avail.

"In my view, the lack of official updates from Royal Mail is appalling," said Reddit user simonjh84.

"Critical national infrastructure has been impacted, along with key services important to the economy.

"The regulator should be obligating Royal Mail to provide regular updates at set intervals," they added.

A spokesperson at UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said, We are aware of an incident affecting Royal Mail Ltd and are working with the company, alongside the National Crime Agency, to fully understand the impact.
CHARLOTTE  Construction of the long-awaited medical school near Uptown Charlotte is officially underway. The Queen City is the nations largest city without a 4-year medical school.

The first shovels of dirt were turned today at a ceremony near the intersection of Baxter and South McDowell streets, commemorating groundbreaking on Wake Forest University School of Medicine Charlotte and the surrounding innovation district, known as The Pearl.

The school of medicine will anchor the Howard R. Levine Center for Education in the heart of The Pearl. It will be joined by Carolinas College of Health Sciences, which has announced plans to locate there, along with connections to Wake Forests School of Professional Studies and School of Business and other educational opportunities. Wake Forest University School of Medicine Charlotte  the second campus of the school of medicine, based in Winston-Salem  is expected to seat its first class in 2024 and open the following year.

The Pearl will be Wexford Science & Technology, LLCs, latest Knowledge Community and will help reshape and diversify the economy of the Charlotte region, integrating research, clinical expertise, entrepreneurial activity, corporate engagement and community inclusion. In addition to the Levine Center and a 331,000-square-foot research building, The Pearl will also feature STEM education, retail, apartments, a hotel and open community spaces.

Not only will The Pearl serve as a major engine of economic opportunity, but it will also house game-changing academic programs for learners of all degree levels and set the stage for innovative health science businesses to grow into the core companies of Charlottes future, said Eugene A. Woods, CEO of Charlotte-based Advocate Health, the fifth-largest nonprofit health system in the U.S., of which Atrium Health is a part. We are creating a city within a city, where excellence lives and excellence is learned. And as we begin this new chapter on these storied grounds, we are deeply committed to partnering with the communities around it and honoring its rich history.

I am honored to be a partner in Atrium Healths endeavor to bring innovation to the Center City and establish Wake Forest University School of Medicine Charlotte, said local businessman and philanthropist Howard Levine, founder of the Howard R. Levine Foundation. Our family looks forward to the opportunities that will unfold for all who wish to pursue higher education and positively impact the health of our community.

The foundation provided a $25 million gift to name The Pearls signature academic building. It was the first major gift of the Atrium Health Foundations Giving Hope Campaign, launched in 2021, to support the school of medicine and other key Atrium Health programs and initiatives.

We are proud that Wake Forest University School of Medicine is among the top 50 research institutions in the U.S., said Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag, executive vice president and chief academic officer for Advocate Health, who previously served as dean of the school of medicine. Adding this second campus will allow us to expand our health technology, research and education capabilities at both campuses, and allow us to enhance the educational experience for our students who will shape the future of medicine as the next generation of health care leaders.

Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the academic core of Advocate Health.

Today is an incredibly exciting day for Wake Forest, said Wake Forest University President Susan R. Wente. The addition of a second Wake Forest University School of Medicine campus will increase our capacity to educate the next generation of physicians and health care professionals to address pressing health care needs in our communities. With novel, cutting-edge programs from our School of Professional Studies, as well as the School of Business MBA programs based in Charlotte, we will be positioned to create further connections and enhance access to Wake Forests exceptional professional education for students in the region.

Wexford is excited to build upon the catalytic steps taken by Atrium Health, Wake Forest University and its school of medicine, the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and so many community members and supporters to create a world-class Knowledge Community for Charlotte, said Thomas Osha, Wexfords executive vice president. We believe combining Wake Forests academics and research excellence and Atrium Healths human-centered clinical approach, with the development and programming expertise of Wexford, delivers key ingredients for the creation of an environment of innovation and collaboration that can amplify start-up activity, expand university-corporate relationships, attract new talent and ideas, create community engagement and workforce opportunities, while honoring the history of the site and creating public spaces and amenities for all.

The Pearl innovation district will be constructed in an area of Charlotte formerly known as Brooklyn which, for years, was a city within a city where thriving African American businesses, faith communities and families lived, worked and played. Brooklyn was also nestled near Good Samaritan Hospital in Charlottes Third Ward  an African American hospital with roots to Atrium Health that was comprised of hundreds of doctors, nurses and health care workers who took great pride in caring for their community. In the 1950s and 60s, urban renewal overtook this area, displacing families, business and churches. One landmark that remains is Pearl Street Park, the first African American park in Charlotte, that continues to be a well-loved gathering place to this day and after which The Pearl is named.

The creation of The Pearl reflects a strong public-private partnership between Wexford, Atrium Health, the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Both the city and county have extended significant public investments into the project, which will be magnified by an additional $1.5 billion in private investments. The shared goal is to create an innovation ecosystem that is grounded in research and academics. It will include corporate innovators, incubate new ideas and businesses, attract venture funding and scale growth businesses  particularly minority-owned ventures  into a geography where innovation, community and economic impact can be optimized.

Last year, it was announced The Pearl would become home to the exclusive North American headquarters of IRCAD, a France-based, global, surgical training center. Over the next 15 years, The Pearl and its tenants are projected to create more than 5,500 onsite jobs and more than 11,500 jobs, in total, in the Charlotte community.

Winston-Salems Innovation Quarter (IQ) is also one of 17 Wexford Knowledge Communities across the country. The IQ also has deep ties with Atrium Health and Wake Forest University School of Medicine. With both school of medicine campuses located in the innovation districts, the goal is to develop the region into one of the leading areas for innovation in the nation, working in tandem to advance life-sciences research and development, as well as incubate new businesses in both locations.
A new tradition started for Cabarrus County last weekend in the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Planning Committee Concord rolled out a new way for the community to come together and honor Kings message and memory, in addition to some old traditions.

In addition to the annual family march and wreath laying in Concord, the weekend of events kicked off Saturday, Jan. 14, with the new MLK Parade in Kannapolis. The parade was filled with dance teams, cheerleaders, local bands, school marching bands, local officials and even businesses in the area.

Gerald Lundy, part of the planning committee, said it was a blessing to be able to work with the city of Kannapolis to bring the first annual MLK Dream Day Parade in Cabarrus County.

Kannapolis Mayor Darrell Hinnant said the city was honored to host.

They wanted to get the youth involved in recognizing and celebrating Dr. Kings memory and they achieved that goal, Hinnant said. We were excited to have the first annual MLK parade in the county.

Following the theme of engaging the youth, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Keeper of the Dream Award banquet was hosted by local high schoolers and even featured a speech from an elementary schooler. Lundy had worked with the eight-year-old to prepare the speech.

It was incredible. They did so well and knocked it out of the park, he said. I was so proud. The night was just wonderful.

The banquet sold out quickly, Lundy said.

If we had more tickets available, Im sure we could have sold more, he said. We had 250 people there, and I know we could go even bigger next year.

The Dream Keeper Award is given to those who are active in the community, punching for the fulfillment of Kings dream.

The honorees were:

Amos McClorey

Concord Councilmember Betty Stocks

Rev. Donald Anthony

Azeala Macon-Howie

Judge Johnnie Blakeney Rawlinson

Darrell Allison

Stocks told the Independent Tribune that the award was a kind recognition of her mission to reach into the community and unite people.

It was awesome. It was definitely humbling to be recognized. I have enjoyed community service work to keep Dr. Kings dream alive and to embrace others, she said.

Anthony explained some of the important work honorees have been doing in the community.

The Dream Keeper award was an honor, he said. It is awarded to individuals on the front lines working on ideals of Dr. King. There is a big emphasis on affordable housing. While we have made some wonderful strides, we still have work to do. We still dont have an African American presence in the DAs office. That is an important goal.

Following the family march from Barber Scotia College to the MLK memorial Monday, Jan. 16, the wreath laying began.

The memorials open space was packed with people.

Robert Neal, a veteran and long-time member of the Logan Community, told the Independent Tribune that seeing the community out in force during the weekend was wonderful. But he wanted that same push to continue throughout the year.

Neal was one of the first students in the county to go to an integrated school and even volunteered to be a part of the program at the time. Neal said he was proud to be a part of that history.

I stand tall to know. That when Dr. King died, his dream didnt die. From the bottom of the river to the top of the mountain, we keep his dream alive by pushing for equality for everybody. Im a dream maker. That is my story, he said. The community is here today to let people know we will not stop.

Norman McCullough, a local historian and author, spoke during the wreath laying, reminding the community of its African American history makers.

Black history is American history, he said. Many of the people that have made that history, many of them are in our Old Campground Cemetery. Many of them laid down the foundation for us and we will never forget them.

Several local elected officials attended the events over the weekend, including Concord Mayor Bill Dusch, Chairman Steve Morris, and several Concord and Kannapolis council members.

Dusch spoke with the Independent Tribune ahead of the wreath laying.

Today is to celebrate what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did. All of us know the line I have a dream. But he did so much more than that. He pushed for equity in health care, economic development and education. He worked hard to move it forward, Dusch said.

Stocks spoke to the crowd Monday, encouraging them to keep Kings dream alive every day.

Hold fast to the dream of equality, equity and fairness for everyone, she said, regardless of what the demographics say and what the geographics say.
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> The Centers for Disease Control reported a massive outbreak of bird flu in the United States has left forty seven million chickens dead or dying resulting in shortages. You can't believe the price of breakfast in Los Angeles. Last Saturday I bought a dozen eggs, and the salesman threw in a Rolls Royce.

 The Weather Channel reported tornadoes slammed into the Deep South Thursday. The sight of a tornado is mesmerizing. If you have visitors from up North who never saw one, you'll often see them with their faces pressed against the living room window, and after a good scare, you let them back inside.

 Attorney General Merrick Garland named a Special Counsel to investigate classified documents stored in Biden's garage and his China funded policy center. Some of Biden's stuff apparently got mixed up with other Chinese stuff. On the paper's back side of my fortune cookie are our nuclear codes.

 The White House stonewalled classified document questions Thursday drawing glee from House Republicans. Three House committee chairmen vowed to investigate. On a side note, Congressman George Santos says he does NOT think his Golden Globes monologue was as bad as everyone says it was.

 President Biden's documents scandal was first revealed by CNN and NBC News last week, not by conservative outlets. I sense a woke purge of old white men. I don't want to say his own party wants to take him down but if President Biden were a statue, he'd be sitting on a horse in a Confederate uniform.

 ABC's Women of the View on Thursday hypothesized that the classified documents found in Joe Biden's garage had been planted there by Trump supporters. There were funnier reactions than that. Kamala Harris may have jumped the gun by announcing she'll run for re-election as president in 2024.

 President Biden told reporters he had no idea that classified documents were stored in his garage, met by a chorus of partisan disbelief. He can't catch a break. For fifty years everyone in Washington said Biden doesn't know anything, but now that he admits he didn't know anything, nobody believes him.

 President Biden admitted Thursday there were classified documents at his house in Delaware. It follows the classified documents found at Trump's house. We should have known we'd start seeing a flood of classified documents in this country after Kamala Harris was named Classified Documents Czar.

 The White House denied that President Biden's private storage of classified secrets made it easy for Chinese spies. They already know almost everything there is to know in America. If China ever finally gets ahold of The Colonel's secret blend of eleven herbs and spices, their work will be done here.

 ABC's Women of the View speculated Thursday that Republicans or Trump supporters may have planted the classified documents in Biden's home. What on earth is the big deal? The Chinese have known for two years that Joe Biden's secret code numbers to launch a nuclear attack are 1967-Corvette.

 President Biden went under investigation beginning Tuesday after it was revealed that Top Secret classified papers were found inside Joe's think tank office. It's located at the Penn-Biden Center in Washington, D.C. It's a six-story building, but in Joe's honor the elevator doesn't go all the way to the top.

 The White House sent Patriot missiles to Ukraine, turning a ground war into a missile duel. We're escalating someone else's war, thinking it won't backfire, as it does every time. It should be drilled into the heads of U.S. foreign policymakers that Boomerangs and Attention Deficit Disorder do not mix.

 Prince Harry followed up on his Oprah interview Sunday with an interview on CBS 60 Minutes in which he spilled Royal Family business to try to sell his memoir. To look after your car, try Prince Harry Car Insurance. Your no-claims bonus will be guaranteed because it's always someone else's fault.

 Ukraine President Zelinsky made a video appearance at the Golden Globes Awards Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton. It was a plea for emergency repairs. Host Jerrod Carmichael's opening monologue bombed so badly they had to get Zelinsky to make an appeal to Congress to help rebuild the Beverly Hilton.

 The Golden Globes aired live from the Beverly Hills Tuesday and from start to finish was the worst and most classless awards show ever televised. It was the only awards show I ever heckled from my living room. This year's Golden Globes did not air an In Memoriam segment out of respect for the de

 ad. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimond took back his last fall recession prediction for 2023, saying people have lots of spendable cash stored up right now. There are a lot of cash-saving ideas out there. They're selling Harvard t-shirts at WalMart, which sounds like a great way to save four hundred thousand bucks.

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 House Republicans called for a Special Counsel to investigate Biden's classified documents found in his think tank office in D.C. The next day, even more classified documents were reportedly found in two of Biden's offices. They're mostly kids' menus from Denny's where he was unable to complete the maze.

 The White House Press Secretary said President Biden had no idea classified secret documents were stored hidden in his two private offices. We learn more each day. Apparently one of the secret documents that Biden kept hidden was the instructions on how to run the Department of Transportation.

 Kevin McCarthy kicked Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff off the House Intelligence Committee. It won't be easy for House Democrats to adjust to minority status. Nancy Pelosi turned down the post of Minority Whip in the House, saying it sounds like something her husband would enjoy more than her.

 Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg faced more travel chaos Wednesday as every airline flight in America had to be canceled due to a computer shutdown. Hundreds of thousands of travelers were stuck in airport lounges. It gave CNN their most number of viewers since the 1991 Bombing of Baghdad.

 Pete Buttiegieg struggled to explain the third major air travel shutdown on his watch going back to last Memorial Day. He denied any blame. It seems pointless for Americans to blame the air travel shutdown on the FAA when the cause was so obviously trans-phobia, climate change and racist runways.

 Kevin McCarthy said he won't force compulsive liar GOP Member George Santos to resign. This illustrates the circus Washington has become. Senator Al Franken was forced to resign for a photo that was obviously a joke as George Santos is being allowed to stay despite the fact that he's obviously a joke.

 The House Oversight Committee began investigating Hunter Biden for overseas family graft and his self-admitted foreign money kickbacks to the Big Guy. The same day, Trump's accountant went to prison for five months. Richard Nixon once said I am not a crook, and he wasn't by today's standards.

(COMMENT, BELOW)
include_once "/home/jwreview/public_html/$theme/includes/sidebar.php"; ?> I support a woman's right to choose whether or not to cook on a gas stove.

Too bad allegedly "pro-choice" Democrats disagree.

Preventing women (and men) from using natural gas has become all the rage among today's totalitarian Democrats. Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Richard Trumka, Jr. just proposed to ban gas stoves. Governor Kathy "The Hack" Hochul (D  New York) wants to prohibit gas stoves, heaters, and hookups to small buildings by 2025, with larger structures to follow. Leftist autocrats are killing pipelines and otherwise restricting gas in some 77 cities across America.

President Joe Biden lept from this speeding bandwagon on Wednesday  for now.

Such unlimited government is unnecessary, boneheaded, and none of these Democrats' bloody business.

Moreover, this is dangerous.

Mandated electric stoves and heaters are merely tyrannical -- until the power dies. Then stomachs growl while people shiver or schvitz inside blackened homes.

Natural gas is a second energy source during outages.

I learned this lesson during October 2012's Hurricane Sandy.

A blackout plagued Manhattan from 40th Street to the Battery from Monday night, October 29, until Friday evening, November 2. Blessed with natural gas, I made tea and soup and heated take-out food.

When temperatures plunged that Thursday, I boiled a large pot of water. Within 10 minutes, my apartment was steamy and comfortable.

If Trumka, Hochul, and the other gasophobic monsters had their way, I would have been hungry and then very cold.

Why?

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These Leftists don't give a damn about everyday Americans. We are not sentient human beings worthy of their respect. Rather, we are revenue-generating blobs of protoplasm that they can boss around, as if we were pets. Barking orders is their favorite indoor activity. And if total control buys them a holier spot in Climatarian Heaven, even better.

My mild discomfort paled beside the victims of Christmas' bomb cyclone. In Buffalo, at least nine of Hochul's constituents without electricity froze to death in their homes. In February 2021, icy windmills stopped spinning. The Lone Star State became the No Voltage State. One 11-year-old boy froze to death in bed. Hypothermia killed up to 145 other Texans who lacked electricity.

This is Trumka, Hochul, and their comrades' sadistic vision for America.

Their shiny new argument is that gas stoves are a health hazard.

Consumers have used gas stoves since 1826. Yet they started causing illness this week?

Hardly.

The authors of a 2013 peer-reviewed study in Lancet Respiratory Medicine examined data collected from 1999 through 2004. The subjects were 512,707 elementary and secondary school students in 47 countries. These researchers reported "no evidence of an association between the use of gas as a cooking fuel and either asthma symptoms or asthma diagnosis."

I have had asthma since about age 10. No doctor has mentioned gas stoves as a contributor to my condition. Not a single time. Never. My superb pulmonologist has yet to utter the words "natural gas" in my presence.

Also, hundreds of millions of Americans have no kids or at least no small ones. Government should not oppress the childless on behalf of "the children."

Finally, where are the gas companies? Where are their ads denouncing these idiotic, deadly policies? Why are they not organizing citizens to surround Left-wing city halls, Trumka's office, and Hochul's headquarters to scream: "Bloody murder!"

The American Gas Association should be driving chefs to these places so they can holler: "Get your filthy hands off of our gas ranges!"

The chairmen of gas-stove companies should be on the air screaming two words, and they are not "Good morning!"

Even cattle display more resistance as they are steered into slaughterhouses.

Instead, executives from gas-companies and gas-appliance manufacturers need to grow some vocal cords, stiffen their spines, and rush to the front lines. They loudly and forcefully should rally the American people to tell each of these officious, intrusive, know-it-all despots: "Take your gas ban and shove it!"
Nissan has launched the All-New 2023 Nissan X-Trail in the Middle East as a Premium Urban Crossover.

The 2023 Nissan X-Trail furthers the brands commitment to introduce innovative mobility solutions, and offers customers class-leading versatility, elevated exterior and interior designs, advanced safety, and improved levels of capability.

Held yesterday at King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) in Saudi Arabia, the two-day launch event began with an official unveiling of the all-new X-Trail hosted by Thierry Sabbagh, President of Nissan and INFINITI in the Middle East, alongside Adib Takieddine, Managing Director of Nissan Saudi Arabia. Attendees then embarked on an adventure-filled journey and made pitstops along a thrilling route to discover more about the All-New 2023 Nissan X-Trail.

Defy Ordinary

Reflecting the Nissan SUVs role to Defy Ordinary, the key themes echoed across the event were eXpand, eXpress, eXplore, and eXhale, pushing guests to eXist beyond the everyday. A segment-leader on several fronts, the all-new model features the latest Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologies, including ProPILOT Assist for the very first time on the X-Trail line-up, and offers heightened connectivity with up to a collective 35.4-inches of cabin screens.

Sabbagh said: For over twenty years, the X-Trail has been an integral part of our SUV line-up in the region and has continually catered to the needs of families and adventure enthusiasts across the Middle East. Brought about by a deep understanding of our customers, the All-New 2023 Nissan X-Trail, which is one of our most technologically advanced SUVs to date, addresses customer desires in the rapidly growing mid-size SUV segment and is in line with our global Nissan NEXT transformation plan.

Marking the brands first regional launch to take place in the Kingdom, the event served as a testament of Nissans commitment to Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East, a key region of opportunity for Nissan since 1956.

Exciting trajectory

Takieddine commented: Saudi Arabias automotive industry is set on an exciting trajectory, with further development planned under the Vision 2030 program, and we are here today as a partner to contribute to the kingdoms ongoing transformative shift in the automotive sector. Todays regional launch of the All-New 2023 Nissan X-Trail marks a major milestone for us at Nissan, as we solidify our commitment to the region and continue to deliver innovation that excites.

The latest addition to Nissans impressive SUV lineup, the All-New 2023 Nissan X-Trail features a striking exterior design, with distinctive Nissan elements including a signature V-motion grille and floating roof design. Accentuating the X-Trails appeal to families are its bigger-opening rear door apertures, that open up to 85 degrees for easier rear access and egress. The interior receive a premium upgrade, underlined by Nappa leather-accented seating with 3D diamond quilting available on the top-of-the-range SL grade.

The 2023 Nissan X-Trail is powered by an all-new 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that, compared to its predecessor, raises power output by 12hp to 181hp, and boosts torque by 11Nm to 244Nm, for more effortless acceleration and confident overtaking. Power is pushed through an advanced Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) with paddle-shift controls on the steering wheel for manual over-ride of the new shift-by-wire transmission interface.

Intelligent 4x4 system

Making its debut in the 2023 Nissan X-Trail is an Intelligent 4x4 system with direct coupling that reacts faster than ever before, allowing for the seamless transfer of power between axles for ultimate stability and traction. A twist-dial Drive Mode Selector provides five driving modes to choose from: Off-Road, Snow, Auto, Eco and Sports, with the added benefit of Hill Descent Control for carefully modulated downhill off-road driving.

Nissan Intelligent Mobility suite of active safety features is provided with greater capability, making it the safest X-Trail ever, with Nissan Safety Shield 360 that includes Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, Blind Spot Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning and High Beam Assist. Supporting this is the first-ever introduction of Nissans semi-autonomous ProPILOT Assist on X-Trail, which can accelerate, brake, and cruise at a set speed within a single lane.

Offering customers the choice to select the grade that best suits their lifestyle, the all-new model is available in four grades, with 2WD or 4WD options. This is in addition to 15 different color combinations including five dual-tone options and 5-seater or 7-seater configurations.

The Nissan X-Trail 2023, which is the fourth SUV model to sport the brands latest design language and insignia, following the Patrol, Pathfinder, and KICKS, is available for booking at Nissans partner network across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region.-- TradeArabia News Service
"Whataboutism," a term much in fashion in political circles these days, is a pejorative reference to a very old and familiar argument: A's bad behavior can't be condemned because B engaged in bad behavior too. The term dates back to the Cold War. It was the label given to a tactic perfected by Soviet propagandists. If Western critics blasted Moscow's crimes in Afghanistan, the persecution of dissidents, or the horrors of the Gulag, trained Soviet flacks would respond with knee-jerk "whataboutism": What about racism in America? What about Watergate? What about riots in US cities? Soviet-style whataboutism outlasted the Soviet Union. "In 2001, my Murray Hill neighbor was the comedian 'Professor' Irwin Corey, then an 87-year-old unreconstructed Marxist," recounted William Voegeli, the editor of the Claremont Review of Books. "On the afternoon of 9/11, after both towers of the World Trade Center had collapsed, I walked past Corey, outside his townhouse in mid-harangue: 'Well, what about what our country did to the Indians?'" Whataboutism goes by many labels. The classic Latin term is "tu quoque," meaning "you also," but English has more colorful ways of expressing the idea: "The pot calling the kettle black." "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." "So's your old man." In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turned whataboutism into an ethical reproach: "First cast the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to pluck the speck out of your brother's eye." Those who engage in whataboutism in order to deflect legitimate criticism from themselves or their party deserve to be scorned. But so do those who cry "Whataboutism!" when their own double standard is being highlighted. Consider an example of each.

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George Santos, a new Republican congressman from New York, was exposed last month as a thoroughgoing fraud whose campaign for office was built on an edifice of deceit. He lied to voters about his work experience, his high school and college education, his religion, his real estate holdings, and his supposed animal charity. He falsely claimed that his grandparents were Ukrainian Jews who fled the Holocaust, that four of his employees were killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting, and even that the 9/11 attacks claimed his mother's life.

Not surprisingly, Santos has been widely excoriated as unfit to serve in Congress. On Wednesday, dozens of leading New York Republicans called for Santos to resign. Among them were four US House members and the chairmen of the Republican committees in Nassau County and Suffolk County. When Santos refused to quit, he was backed up by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resorted to whataboutism. "When pressed on the fact that Santos had admitted to fabricating parts of his resume," CBS reported, McCarthy said, "Yeah, so did a lot of people here, in the Senate and others."

Several conservative commentators struck the same note, implicitly minimizing Santos's flood of mendacity by listing some Democrats who got caught twisting the truth. Paul Gottfried, the editor of the right-wing journal Chronicles, cited Senator Elizabeth Warren's "fake Native American ancestry" and the "bogus Vietnam veteran" status of Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Roger Kimball, a noted conservative intellectual, recited a litany of Joe Biden's absurd exaggerations  among them, that he graduated in the top half of his law school class, that he "used to drive an 18-wheeler," and that he was arrested in South Africa when he went to visit Nelson Mandela in prison.

This is whataboutism at its worst. Of course, many politicians have told brazen lies about themselves, but Santos fabricated virtually his entire biography in the course of a single congressional campaign. Practically everything he said to get himself elected was fraudulent. His comprehensive record of duplicity is in a class of its own.

Now consider a contrasting case.

When critics point out that election denial didn't start with Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters, those who holler "whataboutism!" are not standing up for the truth but trying to evade it.



Trump's lies about the 2020 election were appalling. They ultimately led to a violent mob storming the Capitol. But long before then, prominent Democrats were campaigning against the legitimacy of elections whose results they didn't like. An array of leading voices on the left, including members of Congress, declared the election of George W. Bush in 2000 to be fraudulent, stolen, and a coup d'etat. Both the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and former president Jimmy Carter repeatedly insisted that Al Gore won the election and the Republicans stole it. There was a fresh torrent of such claims after the 2004 and 2016 elections, when Democrats raised charges of faulty voting machines, dirty tricks, "deliberate voter suppression," and "all kinds of irregularities" in how votes were counted.

The Democrats' election denialism wasn't limited to presidential elections. Stacey Abrams denied the legitimacy of the Georgia gubernatorial election that she lost in 2018 and claimed again and again that she had been robbed of victory. Far from being shunned by her party for undermining basic democratic norms, she was embraced as a hero. Like Trump after the 2020 election, Abrams pursued her claims in court. Like Trump, her claims were found to be wholly without merit.

It is hardly unfair whataboutism to call attention to this pre-Trump history of election denialism on the left. It clearly is not a false equivalency or an out-of-context comparison. If refusing to accept election results was intolerable when Trump did it, it was just as intolerable when Democrats did it. Trump compounded his offense by inciting the Jan. 6 riot. But well before that terrible episode, he was being condemned for spewing subversive antidemocratic lies by critics who never seemed to mind when the opposing party did the same thing.

Whataboutism is pernicious when it is intended to shut down discussion; it's appropriate when its purpose is to uphold the truth and resist selective outrage. At times all of us are guilty of focusing on the speck in another's eye while ignoring the beam in our own. But when A's wrongdoing is equivalent to B's, there is no reason not to ask: Well, what about it?

Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe, from which this is reprinted with permission."
The new year is traditionally a time when many people feel a renewed commitment to create healthy habits, such as exercising regularly, drinking more water or eating more healthfully.

It turns out that when it comes to health, married people have an edge, especially married men.

In relationships, women tend to take the lead in promoting healthy behaviors. Peter Dazeley/The Image Bank via Getty Images

But surely the act of walking down the aisle is not what provides this health advantage.

So what exactly is at play?

As a team, we study how relationships affect health. One of us is a nursing professor who studies how social support influences health behaviors. One is a social health psychologist who explores how stress affects couples relationships and health, and one is a social psychologist who researches how relationships influence health behavior changes. Together, we examine how partners influence each others health, taking gender into account in this equation.

Health benefits of marriage, for men and women

Its important to note that most marriage and health studies have been limited to married men and women. But more recent studies are examining these relationships in partners who have the same gender identity, the same biological sex and who are gender diverse.

One theory that seeks to explain the link between marriage and health is the act of self-selection. Simply put, people who are wealthier and healthier than average are more likely not only to get married but also to find a partner who is wealthier and healthier than average. Men and women with poorer health and wealth than average are less likely to marry at all.

A spouses healthy habits, like eating well and exercising, tend to improve a partners health too. adamkaz/E+ via Getty Images

When you dig deeper, gender seems to play a role as well. One study related to marital quality, gender and inflammation found a connection between lower levels of spousal support and higher levels of inflammation for women, but not men. In another study, if couples used negative communication patterns, such as one partner making demands while the other partner withdraws, women but not men experienced heightened inflammation.

Marriage and longevity

For example, female spouses may be looking out for their male partners, reinforcing healthy behaviors and providing more opportunities for healthy choices. On the flip side, married men are less likely to attempt to influence their wives health behaviors.

Women tend to take the lead in promoting healthy behaviors, benefiting their husbands. Data suggests that men and women in same-gender relationships tend to engage in teamwork to mutually promote positive health behaviors. Further, married men and women are more likely to want to change their partners health behaviors, such as exercise, especially if the spouses habits are worse than their own. These findings suggest that both the person and the partners gender matter.

Data suggests that people in same-gender relationships engage in teamwork when it comes to health. NicolasMcComber/E+ via Getty Images

Relationship quality can also influence health behaviors. For example, in the context of exercise, both men and women who reported higher levels of marital support were more likely to walk for exercise. However, as men aged, the association between marital support and walking became even stronger for them, but the same was not true for married women.

Cultural norms and caregiving

To further understand how mens health benefits from their wives, consider cultural norms that foster expectations that women will be the primary caretaker in committed relationships.

Women also take on more responsibilities in terms of coordinating doctors appointments and promoting adherence to medical advice for their husbands than husbands do for their wives. However, men often increase their time spent caregiving when their wives are ill.

Of course, not all marriages are created equal

Relationship quality and relationship conflict also play important roles when it comes to marriage and health. Gendered socialization and power differences often lead to womens thinking and caring about their relationships more than men, causing women to take primary responsibility for managing relationship issues, while men take on less of the burden.

Does this mean that all men should get married to protect their health or that unmarried people cant enjoy the same health benefits as those who have said I do?

Not at all. Unmarried people can, of course, enjoy good health and longevity. Creating and maintaining strong social ties and engaging with ones community go a long way when it comes to health. Further, making the best lifestyle choices available, seeking preventive health care and reducing stress can help everyone live a longer, healthier life.

Libby Richards, associate professor of nursing, Purdue University, has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, The American Nurses Foundation, and is currently funded through the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. She is affiliated with the American Public Health Association and the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Melissa Franks, associate professor of human development and family studies, Purdue University, receives funding from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.

Rosie Shrout, assistant professor of human development and family studies, Purdue University, receives funding from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. She is affiliated with several organizations, including the International Association for Relationships Research, National Council on Family Relations, American Psychosomatic Society, Gerontological Society of America, and Society for Personality and Social Psychology.
CHARLESTON  Eastern Illinois University classes were closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but more than 200 students still gathered on campus to honor the civil rights leader's legacy through community service.

The students took part in Eastern's annual MLK Jr. Day of Service by making knotted fleece blankets that will be distributed in December at One Stop Community Christmas, an event that serves families in financial need from Coles County and the adjacent six counties each year.

"What you are doing is helping keep those families warm during the cold winter months," Crystal Brown, associate director for Civic Engagement and Volunteerism, told the students attending the first of two volunteer sessions that day in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. She said One Stop served approximately 1,100 families, including 2,900 children, last year.

Eastern students Sydney Dominguez, a senior, and Josi Miller, a junior, worked together there to cut long sections from a bolt of dark pink fleece and then cut fringes into each section for knotting together. The two friends said they have previous experience making these soft, warm blankets at past service days and with their sorority, Alpha Sigma Tau.

"It's an easy thing we all can make and you know you are helping the community," Dominguez said, adding that she received such help when she was young and appreciates the opportunity to return the favor. She also noted that Alpha Sigma Tau uses scraps from its blanket making to create pet beds for the Coles County Animal Shelter as part of its community service.

Eastern student Danielle Frank worked with several of her friends to turn a piece of pastel fabric with unicorns on it into a blanket. Frank said she has made knotted fleece blankets on her own before, but not as part of a team project until Monday's MLK Jr. Day of Service.

"I just want to give back to the community, especially since I didn't have anything to do today, why not," Frank said while cutting fringes.

Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Josh Norman brought his daughter, 11-year-old Miah, to the service day to help out with the project and to spend time with her on a day when she was out of school. Norman said he needed to get a quick tutorial there before making his first knotted fleece blanket, with the unicorn fabric that Miah selected.

Norman said his daughter loves working on community service projects, so this was a great experience for her. Miah added that this work always fills her heart with joy.

"It makes you feel really good helping out and it's fun," Miah said.

Taylor Comer, a graduate assistant in the Civic Engagement and Volunteerism department, welcomed the volunteers by saying that Martin Luther King Jr. was a brilliant man and brave advocate who fought tirelessly for civil rights for all people. She said King was a beacon for all Americans and for all of humanity.

"It is up to us to continue to inspire those around us, to speak out, to advocate and to take care of each other. By being here today, we are doing just that," Comer said.

5 films to watch for MLK Day Brother John, 1971 Sidney Poitier, arguably American cinemas most-influential Black actor, died Jan. 6 at 94. Even after his death, "Brother John" is Poitiers most-overlooked film. The story of John Kane returning to his little hometown in rural Alabama is a tale of pain, suppressed rage and a fate all of us may face because of our inhumanity to one another. Poitiers pivotal scene with co-star Will Geer is one of the best in all of cinema. 13th, 2016 Want to feel a tad uncomfortable? Want to explore how some rights can be used as a way to disenfranchise people? Watch Ava DuVernays documentary "13th" about our prison system and the 13th Amendment. MLK/FBI, 2020 Everyone claims the cuddly, generic legacy of MLK these days, but there was a time when powerful forces in this country believed he was a dangerous radical. Others claimed he was under Soviet influence. The documentary "MLK/FBI" captures an overlooked, important part of history. I am Not Your Negro, 2016 Based on an unfinished manuscript from writer and activist James Baldwin, the documentary "I am Not Your Negro" offers us the voices of the people who fought for civil rights and paid dearly in the effort to stand for others. In the Heat of the Night, 1967 A must-watch. "In the Heat of the Night" was not played in many theaters throughout the South. Why? Because Sidney Poitiers Virgil Tibbs raised his voice to the Sparta police chief played by Rod Steiger. An incredible score from Quincy Jones, as well as strong supporting performances from Warren Oates and Lee Grant.
MATTOON  Mattoon High School is partnering with Illinois Student Assistance Commission to provide seniors and their guardians with guidance in filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

FAFSA Night will take place from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, in the MHS cafe. Complete the form at calendly.com/dedalby/fafsa-completion-night-january to RSVP for the event.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a form completed by current and prospective college students to determine their eligibility for student financial aid. Completion of the FAFSA is a graduation requirement. Students who aren't planning to attend college after high school can complete a non-participation form to satisfy the graduation requirement.

For more information, contact Kallie Pullen, director of communications at Mattoon High School at 217-932-3279 or at kalliepullen@mcusd2.com.
Winston-Salem police are investigating six separate weekend shootings, including one that claimed the life of a 12-year-old girl. The shooting involving the 12-year-old happened Sunday night. Many of the shooting victims were young people.

No arrests have been made in any of the shootings.

According to a news release, police officers were called to a reported shooting just after 3 p.m. Sunday in the 3900 block of Southdale Avenue. Officers found evidence suggesting that gunshots had been fired, and a short time later, the 12-year-old girl arrived at a local hospital with a gunshot wound. A second victim, 24-year-old Jonathan Quitero Colon, also showed up at the emergency room with a non-life threatening gunshot wound.

At 10:07 p.m. on Sunday, the girl died, and the Winston-Salem Police Departments Criminal Investigations Division assumed the investigation. Investigators determined that a group of people were fighting in the park and some of the people started firing guns. Colon and the girl were struck by bullets.

Winston-Salem police did not identify the girl but said that her next-of-kin had been notified of her death.

This is the citys third homicide in Winston-Salem this year. There were two homicides at this point in 2022.

The girls death was the culmination of a rash of shootings that started Saturday, and most of the victims were young people.

The first happened at 4:10 a.m. Saturday. Winston-Salem police were called to a reported shooting at the intersection of Waughtown and Norton streets. Officers found a young person suffering from a gunshot wound inside a vehicle. The victim was taken to a local hospital and is listed in stable condition. Police later determined that the shooting happened in the 800 block of Tara Court and the victim ran away to call the police. The police did not provide an age for the young person who was shot.

Then at 3:27 p.m. on Saturday, Winston-Salem police officers got multiple calls about shootings in the 800 block of Rich Avenue and the 1600 block of Mount Zion Place. When they got to the 800 block of Rich Avenue, they found a 55-year-old woman who had been shot in the back while she was standing on the sidewalk.

Police said the suspected shooters then drove around the corner and fired at an 18-year-old man, hitting him in the left upper leg while he was walking in the 1600 block of Mount Zion Place. Winston-Salem police found the vehicle the suspected shooters were driving but it was empty.

Both victims were taken to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center to be treated for injuries not believed to be life-threatening.

About an hour and a half after the 12-year-old girl died on Sunday, Winston-Salem police officers were called to the 1300 block of Gholson Street, where they found a 15-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound inside a residence. Winston-Salem police said they were told the victim was walking along Gholson Street when the victim was shot. The 15-year-old was taken to a local hospital and is in stable condition.

While canvassing the area, police officers found damage consistent with gunfire at a house in the 1400 block of Gholson Street. Frederick and Gwendolyn Stout lived in the house and were not injured.

A little more than an hour after that shooting, at 12:50 a.m. Monday, Winston-Salem police got another call about a shooting, this time in the 2800 block of Thomasville Road. They also got a report of a vehicle striking a house. When they arrived at the scene, they found that a car had struck a residence on Thomasville Road. They found four people inside the vehicle  two were adults  Isiah Malik Patterson of Hart Street in Durham and Cheyenne Angelica Brinkley, 20, of Ludgate Drive in Durham. Officers also found a 17-year-old and a 3-month-old infant.

Brinkley and the 17-year-old had been shot. The victims told police that they had been driving in the area and had attempted to pass a vehicle that was stopped on Thomasville Road. Thats when their vehicle was struck by gunfire. The driver then lost control and ran into the house.

EMS transported both to a local hospital, where they are getting treated for non-life threatening injuries. No one inside the residence was injured.

Finally, at 7:03 a.m. Monday, Winston-Salem police officers were called to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center about a gunshot victim who had been dropped off at the hospital. They found Bud Junior Hill, 38, of Luzelle Drive, with multiple gunshot wounds. His injuries are life threatening, police said.

Winston-Salem police said they do not know where Hill was shot.
Winston-Salem police are urging people in the community to come forward with information that could lead to the arrest of whoever shot a 12-year-old girl to death on Sunday.

Enedy Penaloza Morales, a sixth-grade student at Philo-Hill Middle School, died late Sunday after she and another person were shot after a fight broke out at Weston Park on Southdale Avenue earlier that day.

Unfortunately, we havent had much cooperation from the community, Capt. Amy Gauldin of the Winston-Salem Police Deparmtent said at a brief news conference Tuesday. We know there are several people that saw what happened and potentially (have) evidence or have knowledge of what occurred and why it happened and can help solve that crime. We need those people to come forward.

Gauldin said at least 25 to 30 people were at the park on Sunday.

Winston-Salem police responded to a report of a shooting just after 3 p.m. Sunday in the 3900 block of Southdale Avenue. Officers found evidence of a shooting, and a short time later, Morales arrived at a local hospital with a gunshot wound. Police have not said how many times she was shot or where she was shot.

A second victim, 24-year-old Jonathan Quitero Colon, also showed up at the emergency room with a gunshot wound that was non-life threatening. Gauldin said Colon and Morales did not know each other.

At 10:07 p.m. on Sunday, Morales died. The Winston-Salem Police Departments Criminal Investigations Division took over the investigation. Gauldin said not much is known about what transpired. Located on the the citys southeastern side, Southdale Avenue is a residential street off Clemmonsville Road with a dead end that marks the entrance to Weston Park. Its a small park with a basketball court, picnic shelter, playground and open field with a cricket pitch.

On a gray and dreary Tuesday afternoon, pools of rainwater collected on the basketball court, and random bits of trash  a McDonalds takeout bag and an empty can of Coors Light  were strewn about the grounds. Torn bits of yellow police tape still clung to a few poles, the only sign of Sundays violence.

Gauldin said witnesses have not cooperated with police. Investigators dont know yet whether Morales knew any of the people who were involved in the fight. Investigators also arent sure whether Morales was caught in a crossfire or was an intended target.

Gauldin said police investigators are working around the clock to find answers.

Partnership (with the community) is going to be critical to getting that case solved, she said.

Morales was a casualty of one of six separate shootings that took place over the past weekend. Morales death marked the third homicide this year, as compared to two at the same time in 2022.

Gauldin said police have found no connection between Morales fatal shooting and the other five shootings.

Brent Campbell, a spokesman for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, said the school systems crisis team is on campus at Philo-Hill Middle School with extra counselors to provide support to students and staff.

WS/FCS is deeply saddened to learn of the death of a student, Campbell said in a statement. Our thoughts go out to the family, our students and staff members.

Gauldin urged people to contact the Winston-Salem Police Department if they have information about the shooting. People can contact the police department at 336-773-7700 or Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800. Spanish speakers can contact Crime Stoppers at 336-728-3904.

People can also go to Facebook and contact Crime Stoppers at Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem Forsyth County. The Text-A-Tip program can be reached at 336-276-1717.

Near the end of the news conference, Gauldin broke down in tears when asked how this was affecting her. Gauldin said she has two children, one 12 and one 15, who attend school.

You dont know when or where this is going to happen. Its too much, she said. Its just not acceptable to our community.
Too many people are silent and need to shine their light into the world to fight injustice, Denise Hartsfield, a retired district court judge for Forsyth County, told about 400 people gathered Monday at Union Baptist Church for the 43rd Noon Hour Commemoration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We need to be reminded that we are here today to celebrate this man, this man a King, not in the Biblical sense or the royal sense, but a man dedicated to change and mobility and advancement for the disadvantaged, the disenfranchised, the lonely and depressed and those who are the least of them, Hartsfield said.

Hartsfield, 68, said she was an eighth-grader in Winston-Salem when King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents typically didnt pick her up from school.

But on that day, they did.

I remember the tears in my mamas (eyes), and the glassy look in my fathers eyes when they told me that this King had been assassinated, she said.

Four years later, in 1972, she was a 17-year-old freshman at Spelman College in Atlanta, where King was born. Kings sister, Christine King Farris, taught reading and other English-related subjects at Spelman, and Kings wife, Coretta Scott King, also taught classes at the school.

The theme of Mondays Noon Hour event was taken from a quote from King: The silence of the good people is more dangerous than the brutality of the bad people.

Hartsfield continued with that theme in her speech.

We got some Black moderates now, she said. We even got some conservative Republicans. We even got some folk going on the side of the Donald (former president Donald Trump). We still have to hope they will understand and hear that they cant be silent. We cant be silent.

She said one of the most devastating days was when Tim Scott, a Black U.S. senator from South Carolina, voted against Ketanji Brown Jackson, who became the first Black woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

(He) wouldnt vote for this sister, who Im sure had to remind him of his momma or his aunt, Hartsfield said.

When Hartsfield was first elected in 2002, she became the second Black female elected district court judge in Forsyth Countys history.

Too many people, Hartsfield said, stay silent and make all kinds of excuses why they cant support this initiative or that candidate.

Well, you know I cant come out and support that  because were nonpartisan, Hartsfield said.

Hartsfield said she learned first-hand what happens when people, like her, refuse to be silent. Last year, she ran as a Democrat to be Forsyth Countys top prosecutor. She ultimately lost by 3,320 votes to Republican incumbent Jim ONeill.

She brought up Monday a major issue in the campaign  what she alleged were misleading and sometimes false campaign ads and mailers.

Hartsfield held a news conference in which she criticized ONeill for a mailer that falsely implied she was disciplined for the Wake Forest incident and removed from office. She was never disciplined for the Wake Forest University incident and she was not removed from office. She was suspended for a period of time for the ticket-fixing scandal and returned to the bench.

Hate Out of Winston-Salem accused ONeill of racism for an ad put out by Defend US, a political action committee that had supported ONeill in his AG race. That ad called Hartsfield dangerous and showed a darkened campaign photo of Hartsfield, who is Black. ONeill defended the ads that his campaign authorized as accurate and declined to comment on any ads or mailers that his campaign didnt put out.

Hartsfield said the local campaign mirrored what was happening to other Black female candidates across the country, including Cheri Beasley, who unsuccessfully ran for a U.S. Senate seat in North Carolina.

It was the villanization of Black women, Hartsfield said, mentioning other Black female candidates such as Stacey Abrams, who ran for governor in Georgia. They made us look 10 shades darker than we could ever look. Its not our darkness that scares us and its not our darkness that scares them either. Its our light.

PHOTOS: 43rd annual Martin Luther King Jr. Noon Hour Commemoraton
The number of cases and hospitalizations because of COVID-19 remained relatively low in Nebraska last week and declined slightly in the nation as a whole, but health officials continue to urge boosting.

Regional differences in both cases and hospitalizations continued in the U.S., with COVID cases and hospitalizations remaining elevated in parts of the East and South.

Nebraska tallied 1,486 cases for the week ending Jan. 11, close to the 1,420 cases tallied the week before, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was down from a peak above 3,600 in early December. The states per-capita case count remained in the lower third among states.

A new subvariant of the coronavirus that has become dominant in the East also gained slightly in Nebraska, according to preliminary data from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. XBB.1.5 made up an estimated 9% of positive samples to undergo genomic sequencing, up slightly from the week before.

Nationally, XBB.1.5, which is more transmissible than other recent versions of the virus and can more effectively infect cells, now appears to dominate in the U.S. According to CDC projections, it made up 43% of positive samples to undergo genomic sequencing last week. The subvariant topped 80% of positive samples sequenced in the Northeast.

Amid uncertainty about what kind of wave the new subvariant will produce, health officials have urged people to get up to date on vaccines. Specifically, that means getting the updated bivalent booster, which targets the original strains as well as more recent omicron subvariants.

Early findings from a study measuring the effectiveness of the bivalent boosters indicate that the shot provides vulnerable people over 65 with significant protection against the worst outcomes.

Published by the CDC in late December, the study indicated that people over age 65 who had received the updated bivalent booster were 84% less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with unvaccinated people.

Bivalent-boosted older adults also were 73% less likely to be hospitalized with COVID than those who had received monovalent or original vaccines but not the new booster.

This pandemic has gone on for a long time, said Dr. Nicholas Mohr, a University of Iowa professor of emergency medicine, anesthesia and epidemiology who participated in the study. Everybody wants this to be done. But we continue to have more variants, the virus continues to evolve and immunity doesnt last forever.

One way that we can protect not only ourselves but also our friends and family members, especially those high-risk groups, is to be boosted, he said. And the bivalent vaccine is a really an important tool to improve outcomes in our communities.

Uptake of the updated shots has been low, even among seniors. In Nebraska, only 43% of the vulnerable 65-and-over population had received the latest booster as of early January. That was above the U.S. average of 38%. Iowa ranked in the top 10 nationally, with 51% of its 65-and-over population having received the latest booster.

Looking at all adults, only 19% in Nebraska, 22% in Iowa and 18% nationally are up to date on all their shots.

And booster shots are almost nonexistent among children. Among those 17 and under, only roughly 5% in Nebraska, Iowa or nationally have received the latest booster.

The analysis was conducted when other omicron subvariants, namely BA.5, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, were predominant. But lab studies suggest the bivalent booster still is effective against severe disease with XBB.1.5, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.

The CDC recommends updated bivalent boosters for everyone 5 and older, if it has been at least two months since their last dose. Children ages 6 months to 4 years who completed the Moderna primary series also can get the booster if it has been at least two months since their last dose. There is no booster recommendation for children 6 months to 4 years who got the Pfizer primary vaccine series.

In a bit of good news, both influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, continue to decline in Nebraska as well as in the country as a whole. Nebraskas influenza-like illness activity was high last week, down from the very high category, where it had been for weeks.

Nebraska now has tallied more than 558,000 cases of COVID-19. The seven additional deaths reported last week bring the states total count to 4,730.

Charts that track COVID-19 variants, vaccination rates and hospitalizations in Nebraska
The UAE continues to lead on important global initiatives at the heart of its mission to create a better future for all, said UAE President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Presenting awards to the 10 winners of the 2023 Zayed Sustainability Prize, Sheikh Mohamed said: The bold ambition of the Zayed Sustainability Prize remains at the forefront of these efforts. It creates a pathway for delivering life-changing humanitarian aid and solutions to communities around the world.

The $3 million Prize is the UAEs pioneering global award in sustainability that recognises and rewards small and medium-sized enterprises, nonprofit organisations and high schools around the world that are delivering impactful, innovative and inspiring solutions in health, food, energy and water.

Transforming lives

Through its 96 former winners, the Prize has transformed the lives of more than 378 million people around the world since 2008, including in Vietnam, Nepal, Sudan, Ethiopia, Maldives and Tuvalu. In the Health, Food, Energy, and Water categories, each winner receives $600,000, while the Global High Schools category has six winners, representing six world regions, with each winner receiving up to $100,000.

The Prizes Awards Ceremony coincided with the beginning of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW).

The ceremony was also attended by Lt General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior; Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Presidential Court; Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of Abu Dhabi Executive Council; Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Tahnoun Al Nahyan, Advisor for Special Affairs at the Ministry of Presidential Court; Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence; along with a number of Sheikhs and senior officials.

Also, present were various heads of state, ministers, and other senior-level dignitaries from the UAE and abroad, in addition to past winners, and the 2023 finalists.

Global catalyst

HH Sheikh Mohamed congratulated winners across the five categories, reasserting the Prizes role as a global catalyst for sustainability and humanitarian action.

Sheikh Mohamed underscored how this year, which marks 15 years of the Prize, will also be a historic year for the UAE as it prepares to host the 28th session of the Conference of Parties (COP 28) to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Against this backdrop, this years awards serve as an important reminder of the need for greater international collaboration to mobilise climate action and create sustainable economic and social development opportunities across all nations, including the global south.

He continued: Over the last 15 years, the Zayed Sustainability Prize has successfully built upon the legacy of the UAEs Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed, and carried forward his bold humanitarian vision, ensuring that the resources of our great nation are fully used to the benefit of all people. Today, the Zayed Sustainability Prize stands an internationally recognised award that mobilises innovators, social entrepreneurs and young people to accelerate positive change for our planet and all people.

He also emphasised the need to develop bright young people into the critical thinkers and sustainability leaders of tomorrow, and praised the Prizes Global High Schools category, which empowers youth to play an active role in supporting their communities socio-economic development.

Health category

In the Health category, Brazils Associacao Expedicionarios da Saude (EDS) was awarded the Prize for its Mobile Hospital Complex, which provides specialised medical and surgical care for indigenous communities geographically isolated within the Amazon.

The objective of the Mobile Hospital Complex is to reach the most difficult areas in the Amazon, guaranteeing the safety and comfort of patients and excellence in the quality of services provided. Over the course of six expeditions from 2015 - 2022, the nonprofit organisation performed more than 1,900 surgeries that improved health outcomes, including improved vision after cataract surgery.

Ynsect from France was the Food category winner for its important work in insect-based protein and natural fertilisers. The SME produces insect protein and natural insect fertilisers at Europes first-of-its-kind insect factory equipped with innovative vertical farming and integrated biorefining setup. Ynsect processes two insect species (molitor and buffalo mealworms) into high-end, high-value ingredients for the entire food chainplants, fish, farmed animals, pets, and humans. Ynsect is currently building a new factory in France and operates two other sites in France and the Netherlands. By 2025, Ynsect will be able to produce more than 1,500 tonnes of protein per month.

In the past five years, Ynsect has improved the lives of 30 million people by delivering sustainable, natural, premium nutrition products for fish farming (as an alternative fish feed to meet aquacultures food supply needs) and human nutrition. The demo plant currently operated by the company produces 30 tonnes of protein production per month.

Energy category

In the Energy category, the Jordan-based NeuroTech developed Al-based algorithms with a blockchain-based transaction system to bring reliable energy access to refugee camps. The SME employs the concept of energy sharing by separating electrical loads into low- and high-priority streams. Thus, beneficiaries are guaranteed to receive their lifesaving energy, and extra energy goes to low-priority feeders, according to energy availability. Sophisticated energy management and control reduces electricity stress and increases consumer awareness about electricity.

During its pilot phase, NeuroTech helped deliver electrical power to more than 10,000 Syrian refugees in Azraq. By optimising energy usage and distribution, NeuroTech has helped reduce the pressure on the camps main hospital respiratory section by making electricity available 24/7. Patients now can use a personal nebuliser, a medical device used during the Covid-19 pandemic, and for people with a chronic breathing illness.

LEDARS (Local Environment Development and Agricultural Research Society), an NPO from Bangladesh, secured the Water category win for its integrated water resource management model that solves water scarcity issues in disaster-prone areas. Their combination of technologies help transforms communities in Bangladesh so people can have access to safe drinking water and climate smart livelihoods.

With the support of LEDARS, 5,250 bio-sands-filters, 65 pond-sand-filters, 185 rainwater harvesting systems, and 69 protective ponds were installed in communities in Bangladesh, supporting cultivation of paddies and vegetables throughout the year on lands that were previously barren. LEDARS initiatives created access to safe drinking water for at least 15,881 families. As a result of this solution, more than 12 million gallons of water have been saved.

New level of creativity

The Chair of the Jury and former President of the Republic of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, said: This years winners have demonstrated a new level of creativity and ambition in their solutions to tackle pressing global challenges. We are confident that these winners will provide meaningful and scalable impact in communities across the world, and in turn accelerate important climate action goals to help secure a sustainable future for all.

Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and Director General of the Zayed Sustainability Prize, said: Since our nations wise leadership established the Zayed Sustainability Prize 15 years ago, the Prize has become a key supporter of the UAE's vision to drive inclusive climate action and international sustainable development. By providing real-world solutions in sustainability to vulnerable communities around the world, the Prize honours Sheikh Zayeds contribution towards social good, and elevates humanity on a global scale.

Our 106 winners are driving action to solve the worlds most pressing challenges. Through their commitment to championing positive action, millions of people who were living without access to energy, water, healthcare, or food in the developing world, now have sustainable economic and social development opportunities, including access to quality education, decent work, economic growth and improved livelihoods.

Critical reminder

Dr Al Jaber added: As the UAE prepares to host COP28 later this year, the Zayed Sustainability Prize stands as a critical reminder of the UAEs commitment to accelerating practical solutions needed to help societies mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Since 2013, the Prize has awarded 46 high schools under its Global High Schools category from countries around the world. Students at these schools won for their self-led project proposals that have since been implemented by the youth. Collectively, they have generated 7.2 million kWh of electricity, saved 5,700 tonnes of CO2 and positively impacted 427,408 people in their communities.

The recipients of the 2023 Global High School awards are Fundacion Bios Terrae - ICAM Ubate (Colombia), representing The Americas; Romain-Rolland-Gymnasium (Germany), representing Europe & Central Asia; Gifted Students School (Iraq), representing the Middle East & North Africa region; UWC East Africa - Arusha Campus (Tanzania), representing Sub-Saharan Africa; Dhaka Residential Model College (Bangladesh), representing South Asia, and finally, Kamil Muslim College (Fiji) from the East Asia & Pacific region.

The winners were selected from a pool 4,538  a record number of submissions  chosen by a panel of more than 40 experts. The Jury members include Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Former President of the Republic of Iceland, UAE ministers, Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, Dr Andreas Jacobs, Chairman of INSEAD, Jacobs Family Council, among others.-- TradeArabia News Service
Lincolns second water source should come from new wellfields along the Missouri River somewhere between Omaha and Nebraska City, and treated water should be piped directly to Lincoln, an advisory council recommended Monday.

The council decided that was by far the best of seven options evaluated by the 27-member group appointed in June by Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird in the official launch of a process that will likely take 15-20 years to complete.

That preferred option is one of the most expensive  updated estimates put the construction, operation and maintenance costs over time at $1.39 billion  but because it would operate separately from the city's existing Platte River water source, it could continue to provide water to Lincoln if Ashlands site were threatened for any reason, as it was with the 2019 floods.

Brian Chaffin, a Nebraska regional leader at Olsson who helped lead the advisory council meetings, likened other alternatives to buying the cheapest car available, which might save money but isnt reliable and wont meet the owners needs.

Another plus: The water supply on the Missouri River is plentiful and capable of supplying sufficient water for Lincoln users well beyond 2075, the group concluded. Also, because water would be treated at a facility on the Missouri theres the potential of serving at least nine smaller communities in the area, including Greenwood, Ashland and Waverly. The combined population of those communities is currently 12,600 and is likely to grow.

State Sen. Eliot Bostar, who co-chaired the mayor's advisory council, said if Lincoln is put in a position where its current water source is threatened, it could put what's known as a "call" on the Platte River, affecting irrigators upstream.

This is bigger than Lincoln, he said. This is about the whole state.

Once the group landed on its preferred water source, Bostar encouraged members to include a potential new reservoir between Lincoln and Omaha being considered by state senators in their recommendation, which the group agreed to do.

One of the things thats come up recently is a renewed interest on the state side for the construction of a large reservoir, a lake, and there are a number of legislators where thats their priority, he said. Theyre gonna work on accomplishing that, and there's a decent chance that they'll succeed.

He said he wasnt asking the mayor's advisory council to support building a lake, just to encourage the mayor to explore the impacts and possible benefits it could provide  in addition to pursuing the city's second water source along the Missouri River. That will help ensure Lincoln is at the table during those discussions and show the advisory group considered every option, he said.

Although moving forward on developing a second source is important, Liz Elliott, director of Lincoln Transportation and Utilities, said looking at the potential for even more water sources is always a good idea.

Last session, Bostar introduced a legislative bill requesting $200 million in federal stimulus funds to help Lincoln develop a new water source. That was shaved down to $20 million, which was used to hire Olsson, a civil engineering firm.

Olsson led the advisory council meetings and helped analyze the options. The group's recommendation now goes to the mayor, and assuming she agrees, Olsson will spend the next one to two years finding the best spot to dig wells based on factors such as flooding data, water quality and environmental impacts. Money currently available also could be used for initial permitting and easements.

Water is now pumped about 27 miles from Ashland to Lincoln. If the city pumps water from the Missouri it will travel 45-50 miles.

The existing piping system and pumping station in Ashland was built in 1932 and will provide enough water for Lincoln for another 25 years, but Gaylor Baird said in June that it was important to begin planning now.

Although the official launch of what the city is calling Water 2.0 happened last year, Lincoln has been saving about $2 million annually for identifying a second water source and has about $15 million set aside.

Elliott said those who built the Ashland system thought 50 years into the future, and its important to look at least that far ahead now, which was a priority of the advisory council.

The second source would accommodate population growth of up to 400,000 people by 2048, as well as additional commercial and industrial growth.

Lincoln now uses an average of 35 million gallons per day, which is projected to increase to 58 million gallons per day in 2048.

But summer demand really drives the need for a second source, Elliott said. Average use on summer days approaches 58 million gallons now. That summer usage is expected to climb to 105 million gallons per day in 2048.

Other alternatives considered by the advisory council included expanding the existing wellfield on the Platte, which was the cheapest of the options at $710 million, but offered no redundancy  the ability to offer a second source independent of Lincolns existing source. It also didnt have sufficient supply to last beyond 2075.

The council also considered building an off-channel reservoir or interconnecting with the Metropolitan Utilities District serving the Omaha metro area. The latter choice presented a number of governance issues. The group explored contracting with MUD or creating a joint public agency, but that would have given Lincoln much less control over rates and water restrictions during emergencies.

The group also looked at using surface water from the Missouri River, which would have required a different treatment process than the one used for groundwater.

The options included treating both surface water or groundwater at the new facility along the Missouri River and piping it directly to Lincoln; or sending the surface or groundwater to Ashland to be treated before it went to Lincoln.

Among the downsides of sending untreated water to Ashland is that the city would still be dependent on the Ashland site, nor would it have the ability to serve surrounding communities.

The group had a scoring system to evaluate each option based on seven factors: reliability, governance, life cycle costs, environmental stewardship, implementation and operations.

The lowest scoring option was the off-channel reservoir. Digging wells on the Missouri and sending raw water to Ashland for treatment scored second-highest.

Close Col. Shane Martin on planks that were damaged by floodwaters at Memorial Hall at Camp Ashland, the Nebraska National Guards training site. Col. Shane M. Martin, construction and facilities management officer at the Nebraska National Guard, shows the erosion caused by flooding at Camp Ashland. Robert Diaz of Lincoln, with New Horizons Enterprises, removes water in a classroom and barracks area at the training site. Cleanup is underway using $4 million in emergency funds. A request had been submitted to rebuild; the funds would come from federal tax dollars. Col. Shane M. Martin, construction and facilities management officer at the Nebraska National Guard, gives a tour of the flood damage at the Guards Camp Ashland training site. On the right is a new body of water created by the flooding. Sand is left after waters receded. Crews fill the area around Camp Ashland's breached levee with dirt on Wednesday. Flood debris along the shore of the Platte River near Camp Ashland. Josh Gropp, left, and Robert Diaz of New Horizons Enterprises remove water that was used in flood cleanup in a building at Camp Ashland. Col. Shane Martin surveys the damage. At top, sand is left after waters receded. At right, Martin and Maj. Scott Ingalsbe near erosion along the Platte River. Training has continued at facilities in Hastings and Mead, but they are too small or not configured properly to work long term. Col. Shane Martin surveys the damage. The flood swept away a running trail at Camp Ashland along the Platte River. The Salt Creek also overflowed during last month's record flooding, so water poured into the base from multiple directions. A caution sign is displayed above a floor in Memorial Hall at Camp Ashland that was damaged in the flooding. Two feet of water inundated the 90-year-old building, causing $400,000 in damage. Larry Vrtiska, environmental program manager at the Nebraska Army National, uses an Argo ATV to get through deep sand at Camp Ashland that the floodwaters left behind. Col. Shane M. Martin, left, and Maj. Scott Ingalsbe during a tour of flood damage at Camp Ashland. Workers hope to remove drywall and insulation at Camp Ashland before mold grows. Camp Ashlands concrete arena. A plan to rebuild Camp Ashland includes constructing buildings on stilts. Buildings now on stilts stayed dry, even during the March flooding, Col. Shane Martin said. Col. Shane M. Martin, left, and Maj. Scott Ingalsbe of the Nebraska National Guard in an outdoor arena at flooded Camp Ashland that seats 3,000 people. Camp Ashland begins to recover after flood The Nebraska National Guard has submitted a bill for the reconstruction of the flood-prone Camp Ashland training site on the Platte River, in Ashland, Nebraska. Col. Shane Martin on planks that were damaged by floodwaters at Memorial Hall at Camp Ashland, the Nebraska National Guards training site. Col. Shane M. Martin, construction and facilities management officer at the Nebraska National Guard, shows the erosion caused by flooding at Camp Ashland. Robert Diaz of Lincoln, with New Horizons Enterprises, removes water in a classroom and barracks area at the training site. Cleanup is underway using $4 million in emergency funds. A request had been submitted to rebuild; the funds would come from federal tax dollars. Col. Shane M. Martin, construction and facilities management officer at the Nebraska National Guard, gives a tour of the flood damage at the Guards Camp Ashland training site. On the right is a new body of water created by the flooding. Sand is left after waters receded. Crews fill the area around Camp Ashland's breached levee with dirt on Wednesday. Flood debris along the shore of the Platte River near Camp Ashland. Josh Gropp, left, and Robert Diaz of New Horizons Enterprises remove water that was used in flood cleanup in a building at Camp Ashland. Col. Shane Martin surveys the damage. At top, sand is left after waters receded. At right, Martin and Maj. Scott Ingalsbe near erosion along the Platte River. Training has continued at facilities in Hastings and Mead, but they are too small or not configured properly to work long term. Col. Shane Martin surveys the damage. The flood swept away a running trail at Camp Ashland along the Platte River. The Salt Creek also overflowed during last month's record flooding, so water poured into the base from multiple directions. A caution sign is displayed above a floor in Memorial Hall at Camp Ashland that was damaged in the flooding. Two feet of water inundated the 90-year-old building, causing $400,000 in damage. Larry Vrtiska, environmental program manager at the Nebraska Army National, uses an Argo ATV to get through deep sand at Camp Ashland that the floodwaters left behind. Col. Shane M. Martin, left, and Maj. Scott Ingalsbe during a tour of flood damage at Camp Ashland. Workers hope to remove drywall and insulation at Camp Ashland before mold grows. Camp Ashlands concrete arena. A plan to rebuild Camp Ashland includes constructing buildings on stilts. Buildings now on stilts stayed dry, even during the March flooding, Col. Shane Martin said. Col. Shane M. Martin, left, and Maj. Scott Ingalsbe of the Nebraska National Guard in an outdoor arena at flooded Camp Ashland that seats 3,000 people.
LOS ANGELES  A World War II-era weapons bunker in Irvine has a new mission  sheltering preserved insect specimens.

When a collection of bugs floating in specimen bottles outgrew his laboratory, Robert Fisher moved them into an abandoned weapons bunker at the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in Irvine, California.

Now, the fortification protects 6,000 invertebrates suspended in ethanol alcohol. Fisher, a research biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, began collecting the specimens 25 years ago, when far fewer wild populations in California were in danger of extinction.

For years, I couldnt find anybody who cared about this stuff, Fisher said with obvious pleasure as he led a group of visitors into the bunker recently. That was before DNA barcoding became a popular research technique.

Advances in DNA barcoding have made all those soggy centipedes, millipedes, snails, spiders, weevils, earwigs, bees, flies, wasps, beetles and ants very valuable for much more than what meets the eye.

Testing just a drop of ethanol can reveal bits of genetic data from other organisms that shared the landscape with the specimen when it was alive: fungi, bacteria, mites, even the parasites in its gut. It could also detect all that remains of species that no longer exist.

Scientists say that amid global warming and rapid die-offs of species, such genetic findings are vital in protecting biodiversity and improving ecosystem management.

The search for clues has spawned a new field that Scott E. Miller, chief scientist of the Smithsonian Institution, calls museomics: determining the DNA in old public and private natural history collections vulnerable to loss from degradation, disasters, and becoming orphaned by the retirement or deaths of their owners and caretakers.

Wags in scientific communities refer to the latter unfortunate occurrence as Collect, preserve, and then chuck it.

Daniel Gluesenkamp, executive director of the nonprofit California Institute for Biodiversity, is wasting no time in helping organize collection rescues and DNA testing campaigns with $10 million made available under Californias new Biorepository Upgrades and Orphaned Collections program.

This is biological sampling on a Herculean scale  and in a bit of a rush.

We believe there are at least 10,000 specimen bottles in Californias museums alone, Gluesenkamp said. So, were starting with just insects  specifically those preserved in ethanol, not formalin, which degrades DNA.

We hope to complete this phase of the campaign within three years, he added.

Just a few years ago, it wasnt easy for museums, research institutions and scientists to fit DNA barcoding into what investment consultants call the elevator speech  the pithy hook deliverable during an elevator ride that is needed to recruit big donors.

That began to change after scientists determined that the rate of extinction in the last century was about 22 times faster than the historical baseline rate.

In 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that made California the first state in the nation to pledge to conserve 30% of its land and coastal water by 2030.

A year later, the state budgeted $10 million to pull DNA out of historic insect collections, as well as to launch ambitious new field studies to better understand the extent of Californias invertebrate biodiversity.

Researchers estimate that as much as 75% of Californias insects have still not been described by science, Gluesenkamp said.

An additional $10 million was made available to upgrade infrastructure of existing collections, and to lay the groundwork for a system of new permanent homes for natural history collections as they become available.

California is ideal for such efforts, scientists say, because it harbors extremely high levels of biodiversity, as well as high numbers of declining and endangered plants and animals.

Beyond that, research on the genetics of natural populations and conservation biology has come a long way in California over the past half-century.

Samples of ethanol taken from specimen bottles housed at locations including the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, UC Berkeley and Fishers leased WWII-era weapons bunker are being sent to UC Santa Cruz for DNA work.

Our job is to sequence DNA in these samples and report back on what we could determine and what findings may require more analysis, said Rachel Meyer, an adjunct assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.

On a recent morning, Fisher and USGS biologist Jared Heath pulled on pairs of latex gloves as they approached shelves that sagged under the weight of bottled specimens. Then they began the tedious task of using droppers to extract samples of the ethanol soup in each jar.

One bottle at a time; most of them tagged with faded labels indicating that they hadnt been opened in more than a decade.

Many years from now, researchers will be able to read the results of our efforts like chapters in a book," Fisher said. "They will tell a story about whether our attempts to protect Californias wild populations were successful or not.
SAN FRANCISCO  Monica Clayton was standing in line at a Burger King on Market Street in downtown San Francisco just before 7 a.m. when a frantic man ran into the restaurant.

"Somebody call 911, my girlfriend is overdosing," he yelled.

Outside, the woman lay on the ground unresponsive. Her lips were turning blue. Paramedics arrived and administered a nasal spray, two or three times, Clayton recalled. After a minute, the woman regained consciousness.

Awed, Clayton  who is 36 and in recovery from meth addiction  approached a first responder and asked, "What is that stuff?"

It's naloxone, also known as Narcan, a lifesaving medication that can reduce or reverse the effects of an opioid drug overdose, the medic told her that morning in 2012. In California, nonprofits and public health agencies distribute it as an easy-to-use nasal spray that anyone can carry to help someone in distress.

"I don't want to watch somebody die," Clayton said. "So I started carrying it after that, and I used it. I probably went through at least two bottles a month."

Emergency personnel and public health staff throughout California are required to carry Narcan in their medical kits. But ordinary citizens? That's a different story, but one that's happening more often as the fentanyl crisis shows no sign of abating.

Like Clayton, more ordinary people in the city are starting to seek out the medication due to the high number of opioid overdoses happening around them. According to the San Francisco Department of Public Health, 625 people died from drug overdoses in 2021. That's a 41% increase in deaths compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Nationwide, about 100,000 people die each year of a drug overdose, with about 80,000 of those deaths connected to opioids, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

"Whether it's the place you live in or if you have some perceived risk at the workplace or at school  you should carry this," said Dr. Dan Ciccarone, a professor of family and community medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Naloxone can be expensive, intimidating or difficult for the average person to obtain, but it is worth getting, he said, although packing the medication is still a "relatively rare thing."

California has long been a leader in the fight against opioid overdoses, passing laws that make naloxone easier for ordinary people to access. Most recently, state officials proposed legislation that would require K-12 schools to provide Narcan due to a rising number of overdoses among children.

Last year, Narcan became available without a prescription in pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS. Prices range from $30 to $200, depending on insurance. In addition, California residents can order free Narcan online through the nonprofit End Overdose, which has student-led outreach via universities throughout the state.

In the Bay Area, where opioid overdoses reached historic highs during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reasons people carry Narcan are varied, some heartbreaking.

Carly Stevenson, 30, of San Francisco, saw her mother overdose on synthetic opioids more than once when she was a child. In 2009, her friend died of an overdose just three days before his 16th birthday.

"Watching all that happen when I was a kid really changed things," she said.

Since then, Stevenson keeps Narcan on hand. Though her mom has been sober for years, Stevenson still carries the antidote when she goes downtown and has it stocked at home "just in case."

"I feel like I've jumped over a barrier," she said. "Suddenly I'm not so worried about my friends and family all the time. ... I keep it around as a reminder that it can happen anywhere."

In communities of color and queer spaces, people have taken it upon themselves to provide resources and education related to harm reduction in opioid use.

Cary Escovedo, 32, works in public health during the day, but he has dedicated his nightlife career to teaching people how to help someone experiencing an overdose.

Escovedo transforms every Saturday night into drag queen MC Kochina Rude at Oasis, a popular nightclub. During every appearance, he makes sure to reserve at least five minutes for a crash course on Naloxone, which he then hands out for free.

"I want people to be prepared and ready to use it," Escovedo said. "Narcan is not just a symbolic thing that you carry around to feel good about yourself. Nightlife community members are around drug users, so that's why I'm putting it in their hands."

Escovedo is a certified overdose prevention trainer and outreach volunteer through the Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project  a naloxone distribution program under the National Harm Reduction Coalition in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

The San Francisco project has trained more than 13,000 people how to administer naloxone to reverse an overdose.

"The beauty of Narcan is that it's a convenient little nasal spray," Ciccarone said. "It's small packaging that fits in your bag or purse. It is easy to carry around and could save a life."

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A celebrity bowhunting couple have been sentenced in federal court in Omaha for conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, which prohibits the trafficking of wildlife.

The case against Josh Bowmar, 32, Sarah Bowmar, 33, and Bowmar Bowhunting LLC of Ankeny, Iowa, was related to the largest known case of poaching in Nebraska.

The Bowmars pleaded guilty Oct. 19 in the U.S. District Court of Nebraska to a misdemeanor conspiracy charge. In exchange, four other more serious charges, mostly involving allegations of illegally baited hunting sites, were dropped.

On Thursday, United States Magistrate Judge Michael D. Nelson sentenced them each to three years of probation and 40 hours of community service.

Nelson also ordered the Bowmars to pay a $75,000 fine ($25,000 each for each of the Bowmars and the business), a $44,000 money judgment in lieu of forfeiting certain property, and $13,000 restitution.

As part of probation, the Bowmars are banned from hunting or engaging in any activities associated with hunting within Nebraska during the period of probation.

In a press release, United States Attorney Steven Russell said beginning in September 2015 and continuing through November 2017, the Bowmars conducted about five hunts per year at Hidden Hills Outfitters, a commercial big game guiding and outfitting business near Broken Bow.

During commercially guided hunting activity, the Bowmars conspired to transport wildlife, or parts of it, from Nebraska to Ohio, when they should have known it was against state law, Russell said.

The Bowmars, using the internet and social media platforms including their Bowmar Bowhunting website, Instagram page and YouTube channel, broadcasted hunting activities that occurred at Hidden Hills.

"This sentencing hearing marks the completion of all foreseen prosecutions of numerous defendants related to violations committed by owners, guides, and clients of Hidden Hills Outfitters," Russell said in a press release.

In all, 39 people were convicted and more than $750,000 in fines, restitution and forfeitures have been collected in the yearslong case involving Hidden Hills Outfitters.

An additional 13 individuals resolved their cases through administrative abandonment of various wildlife trophies originating from unlawful hunts at Hidden Hills Outfitters.

The underlying violations related to at least 97 unlawfully-taken big game animals or wild turkey, including deer taken within baited areas; deer, pronghorn, and wild turkeys taken with weapons or firearms prohibited during their respective hunting seasons; deer taken during closed season hours from the road, or without a valid permit; and mule deer taken within the Mule Deer Conservation Area.

The operation was a joint investigation by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement and the Law Enforcement Division of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

Photos: Hunters show off their harvest in Nebraska Katie Marie Sparks Easton Moore Garrett Rech Gail Loxterkamp Hunting Ashley Elizabeth Peterson Johnson County First deer hunt 2020 Deer Buck Commander Deer Double harvest Archery buck Shot with 10 minutes left on opening day Jackson Wichman, Sprague Deshler on Nov. 14 First buck in Boyd County 11-year-old 9X7 Boyd County Deer Rick Payeur Hunting Five-point buck Awesome hunt in Nebraska First buck First bucks Twins Opening morning buck Hunting Hunting Button buck Hunting crew
Gov. Jim Pillen and several state senators announced sweeping legislation on Tuesday that would change how the state funds public education in Nebraska.

The legislative package, announced at a news conference in the Governors Hearing Room, would provide school districts $1,500 for every student they enrolled, boost special education funding and create a special fund to make those programs sustainable into the future.

The suite of bills also included a measure that would limit school districts revenue growth from property taxes.

The bills, which in all reflect a $2.5 billion investment in public education through the end of the decade, emerged from a trio of meetings conducted by the School Finance Reform Committee convened by Pillen after he won the governors seat last November.

Pillen, who called the state's existing Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act outdated and unfair, said the group included senators, school administrators, school board members and representatives of farm advocacy groups.

At its most basic, the existing state aid formula considers a districts needs against its resources. Schools where the needs exceed the resources that can be generated through local property taxes receive additional funding from the state known as equalization aid.

Only about 90 of the states 244 school districts currently receive equalization aid, with those districts typically being the largest in terms of student enrollment: Omaha, Lincoln, Millard and Grand Island.

That has drawn criticism from Republicans and rural lawmakers, who allege the state aid formula is unfair, and has led to legislation seeking to provide state aid to smaller schools in order to reduce their reliance on local property taxes.

On Tuesday, Pillen said bills put forward on his behalf would accomplish both goals.

Im really excited about the package of bills everybody has been working on, Pillen said. Were addressing the needs of kids and property taxes which was promised over three decades ago. This is what will deliver it.

Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue introduced the main component (LB583) of the package which provides $1,500 in per-student aid  known more commonly as foundation aid  to school districts each year from the Education Future Fund.

The $113 million in foundation aid would be considered a local resource as part of the school funding formula, meaning it would reduce the amount of state aid equalized school districts now receive, but it would boost the amount of state funding to 180 districts across the state.

Both Sanders and Pillen said no school districts would receive less state aid than they do now. Pillen said the bill includes a hold harmless provision which would prevent school districts from sliding backward in state aid funding.

Sanders bill also boosts the amount of funding for special education services to Nebraska schools, bringing the total amount funded by the state and federal governments up to 80% -- an investment of $157 million.

We heard there was a desire to lift all boats, Sanders said. The policy will help both equalized schools and un-equalized schools.

To pay for the increase in state money to public schools, Sen. Rob Clements of Elmwood will introduce the Education Future Fund, which will be the subject of a $1 billion appropriation in 2023-24, and $250 million in each of the next six years following.

The proposed $2.5 billion fund, in addition to providing more state aid per student and to special education services, could be used for teacher retention programs or to establish mentorship opportunities in schools.

Clements, the Appropriations Committee chairman, said the fund will provide dollar-for-dollar property tax relief to Nebraskans: Thats why I was willing to spend $1 billion as being one of the more conservative senators.

The final piece of the package, (LB589) from Sen. Tom Briese of Albion, would limit the total amount in additional property taxes schools could request to 3% based on their total revenue. Briese referred to it as a soft cap that would fluctuate based on a schools needs.

It really is critical to the success of what were trying to do here, he added. Its imperative we put some sort of a cap or mechanism in place to ensure that occurs.

Fast-growing school districts, or those with large special education or English language learner populations could ask for more in property taxes with a supermajority vote of a school board, or of a school districts voters, Briese said.

Pillen and members of the working group he put together to come up with the education finance proposals said they were optimistic the bills could navigate the legislative process and end up on the governors desk this year.

Senators and other groups outside of the governors committee said they looked forward to studying the proposals and their anticipated outcomes.

We have funds to set aside for this now, which, we didnt have all the revenue for that in the past, said Sen. Mike Moser of Columbus, who appeared alongside nine other lawmakers at Pillens news conference. I think the formula looks like everyones going to wind up whole when its all said and done.

Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont, who introduced a bill last year that would have created an education trust fund, said she wanted to see modeling for how much state aid each school district would receive under the proposal before throwing her support behind the bill.

Walz added she generally supports establishing a trust fund for public education, calling it a good idea to protect schools against future economic downturns.

If we dont have some type of reserve that we can rely on in a down time, were just going to be going back to the property taxpayers and asking them to increase their property tax, Walz said. Ive always felt a trust fund is a good, solid idea for Nebraska.

Other groups said they were also waiting to hear more details about the project.

Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Paul Gausman said the district supported Pillens announced desire to increase support for public education, including special education, mentoring and recruiting and retaining teachers.

We are still analyzing how the proposed bills released today will impact Lincoln Public Schools and the community of Lincoln, Gausman said in a statement. We look forward to the continued collaboration with Gov. Pillen and state senators.

The OpenSky Policy Institute said it planned to explore the impact of the proposals, adding it believed the best way to address property taxes in Nebraska was to boost state support for K-12 education.

We look forward to modeling the components of his plan to better understand its long-term sustainability, as well as what impact the proposed revenue cap would have on public schools and the students they educate, Executive Director Rebecca Firestone said in an email.

Pillen, who campaigned for governor as a fiscal conservative, said he viewed the bill with a billion dollar price tag as a long-term investment in Nebraska.

Theres a big difference between spending and an investment, Pillen said. These are investments into the future of our kids. These are investments that will also allow us to have a great impact on cutting property taxes across the state.
A crowd of about 70 activists, elected officials and people of faith gathered at Festival Hall, 5 fifth St., to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The event included speeches and performances as well as a dramatic reenactment of Dr. King's "I've been on the mountaintop" speech.
The suspect in a vehicle pursuit and subsequent officer-involved shooting near the Great Lakes Dragaway in the Town of Paris Monday has died, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justices Division of Criminal Investigation.

The incident, which remains under investigation, began just after 3:30 p.m. Monday, when a Racine County Sheriffs deputy initiated a vehicle pursuit in Racine County, according to information released on the state departments website.

The vehicle crossed into Kenosha County and the pursuit continued with State Patrol and Kenosha County Sheriffs deputies involved. The vehicle eventually crashed in the 18000 block of First Street, in the Town of Paris.

According to the state department, the driver exited the vehicle and fled and was eventually located in a nearby field. Deputies from Kenosha County Sheriffs Department, Racine County Sheriffs Office and troopers from State Patrol approached the individual and gave commands to drop a firearm in the individuals possession, according to the release issued late Monday night.

Law enforcement discharged their weapons striking the suspect. State authorities said first aid was rendered at the scene.

The suspect was transported to a local hospital where they later died, the release stated.

The individual who died has not yet been identified by investigators.

No law enforcement personnel were injured during the incident.

The involved deputies from the Kenosha County Sheriffs Department, Racine County Sheriffs Office and troopers from Wisconsin State Patrol have been placed on administrative assignment, per department policy.

The Wisconsin Department of Justices Division of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation and is being assisted by the Kenosha Police Department, Wisconsin State Patrol, and DCI Crime Response Specialist.

All involved law enforcement are fully cooperating with DCI during the investigation, the Wisconsin DOJ indicated.

The state agency is continuing to review evidence and determine the facts of the incident and will turn over investigative reports to the Racine County District Attorney when the investigation concludes, according to a DOJ release.

The incident is the second such officer-involved shooting in the Kenosha area in less than one month. At 8:19 p.m., on Dec. 19, officers with the Kenosha Police Department and the Kenosha County Sheriffs Department responded to a call of an active shooter in the 1300 block of 56th Street.

Upon arrival, police were fired upon by Matthew C. Lopez, age 32, and officers returned gunfire with Lopez, who died at the scene, according to an update of the states investigation into the incident earlier this month.

Preliminary evidence indicated Lopez shot at other bystanders who were injured and transported to area hospitals. Two of those individuals have since been treated and released; one remained hospitalized, the department said. No law enforcement personnel were injured during the Dec. 19 incident
The jury retrial of Mark Jensen, accused of poisoning and suffocating his wife to death in 1998, entered its second week in Kenosha County Circuit Court Tuesday with testimony from the woman he was having an affair with and later married.

Kelly Brooks told the jury she first had an affair with Mark Jensen in the months before the death of his wife. Brooks said she met Mark Jensen in 1998 while he was working to expand a St. Louis, Mo.-based financial firm into Racine County in Wisconsin.

Mark Jensen, who was convicted in February 2008 for the murder of 40-year-old Julie Jensen inside their Carol Beach home in Pleasant Prairie, is standing trial again after years of appeals and battles in state and federal courts.

Mark Jensen, according to prosecutors, killed his wife over three days in early December 1998 by poisoning her with ethylene glycol, more commonly known as antifreeze, and then suffocating her while she lay in bed dying and gasping for air in order to be with a mistress. They allege he killed Julie Jensen out of anger over a previous affair she had with a co-worker, along with other marriage issues.

They also allege the former stock broker searched the internet for ways to make Julie Jensens death look like a suicide and terrorized her for years with strategically placed pornography, emails and phone calls.

Mark Jensen, however, has maintained his innocence for decades. His attorneys have argued Julie Jensen was deeply depressed and died by suicide after framing her husband for her death.

The original prosecutor, Robert Jambois, a former Kenosha County District attorney, is serving as special prosecutor before Judge Anthony Milisauskas, now the third Kenosha County Circuit Court judge to preside over the matter.

Mark Jensen is represented by a team of defense attorneys led by Bridget Krause.

Tuesday testimony

Brooks, who eventually divorced Mark Jensen after their marriage in 2002, testified Tuesday afternoon that she knew Mark Jensen was married and had children when she began having a relationship with him in the summer of 1998.

She said the two would discuss their marriage troubles together. Brooks was also questioned at length about intimate emails the two had sent each other during their affair, including ones showing a strong emotional attachment between them.

Brooks said she spoke with Mark Jensen on or about the day she died. She visited Mark Jensen at their home in January of 1999, she said.

She is expected to continue testifying Wednesday morning and be cross-examined by the defense.

In other testimony Tuesday, David Nehring, a former colleague and friend, testified that Mark Jensen had not recovered from his wifes brief affair with a former co-worker in 1991 before her untimely death. He said Mark Jensen was seriously hurt and angered and never got over it.

Nehring, who also testified in the first trial of Mark Jensen, said he had known Mark Jensen for years and first began working with him in 1990 or 1991 at a financial firm in Milwaukee. Nehring said he spoke to Mark Jensen very often and their families even vacationed together.

We became friends, he said. We did things socially.

Nehring said Julie Jensen came across to him as a caring and loving mother.

Nehring testified about a notebook he said he found in Mark Jensens office in 1990 or 1991 that was filled with Mark Jensens alleged drawings of mens genitalia.

Jambois said the notebook shows that Mark Jensen had a very bizarre and strange preoccupation with them after his wifes affair. Jambois said thousands of such images were later found on his home computer, and they also reflect some of the pornography placed around Julie Jensen from 1991 to 1998 at their home.

Mr. Jensens preoccupation with penises is a major part of the states case, Jambois said. It demonstrates why the defendant was so upset about this one affair that Julie had had ... that it occupied him throughout the course of his entire relationship with her.

Years later in 1998, Nehring said Mark Jensen used Julie Jensens previous affair as justification for his own affair with a co-worker in Racine County when he joined a new company.

I suggested to him it wasnt a good idea, Nehring said.

He also said Mark Jensen would tell him of how Julie Jensen was deeply depressed in the days before her death and how he wouldnt recognize her because she had lost so much weight.

Nehring also told the jury about what Mark Jensen had told him about Dec. 3, the day he found her dead body.

He said Mark Jensen told him he had asked his two young sons to wait behind (outside the home) while he went to check on mom in the house because he felt as though something wasnt right.

Trial continues

Last week numerous witnesses testified for the state, including a former co-worker of Mark Jensen who said Mark Jensen told him he had researched how to kill his wife on the internet during a night of drinking.

Edward Klug testified about their conversation on Friday. Klug said Mark Jensen told him about how to get rid of the problem while the two were enjoying drinks together near the end of a business conference about a month before the death of Julie Jensen.

I couldnt believe that someone would talk about killing their wife, Edward Klug said. It was kind of out of the blue."

Klug said both he and Mark Jensen were facing marital troubles in 1998, and that they began discussing their wives after dinner and drinks in a hotel lobby in St. Louis, Mo.

Klug said Mark Jensen would talk about the strangest things and I had never heard anybody talk like that.

It was really weird, he added. He was looking up poison. ... He said you could put it in drinks, have them drink it.

Klug, who testified during the first trial of Mark Jensen some 15 years ago, said Mark Jensen told him he researched poisons and items that would be non-detectable in a normal autopsy.

Forensic pathologist

The doctor and medical expert who conducted the autopsy of Julie Jensen the day after her death in 1998 testified last Thursday.

Dr. Michael Chambliss, a forensic pathologist, testified about the state of Julie Jensens corpse. Hes conducted thousands of autopsies during his career throughout Wisconsin and other states.

Chambliss, who conducted the autopsy the afternoon of Dec. 4, 1998, said the manner of death was homicide. Chambliss said the cause of death was asphyxiation with the ethylene glycol found in her system as a contributing factor.

Although she had no broken bones in her nose or head, the cartilage of Julie Jensens nose was pushed off to one side of her face. Chambliss called her nose distorted as if had been positioning into something long enough.

The examination into Julie Jensens internal organs and rib cage also showed evidence of hemorrhages, he testified. Photos of such reported things were shown on three television screens to the jury.

Neighbor testified

The first witness questioned after opening statements last Wednesday was Ruth Vorwald, a friend of Julie Jensen who lived near the Jensen family.

On the day of her death Vorwald said she wondered how is this possible? and believed that Julie Jensen was not suicidal.

When she spoke with Mark Jensen that day and asked what happened to her close friend, Vorwald said Mark Jensen had no emotion.

Vorwald also said Mark Jensen acted as if he was at a cocktail party during his wifes wake because he was laughing and chatting with people during the visitation.

I was watching him to see how he was behaving, she said.

A Kenosha County judge vacated Mark Jensens his conviction in April 2021 after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Jensen deserved a new trial. The court found that a letter his wife wrote incriminating him in the event something should happen to her could not be used by the prosecution as it was in the first trial. In early 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court helped pave the way for the new trial when it declined to hear an appeal of the Wisconsin Supreme Courts ruling.

The so-called letter from the grave in which Julie Jensen wrote that if anything happens to me that her husband would be my first suspect will not be allowed into evidence during this lengthy trial. The high-profile case has sparked headlines across the nation.

Mark Jensen, who is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in his wifes death, remains in custody on a $1.2 million cash bond in Kenosha County. He faces life in prison.

IN PHOTOS AND VIDEO: Mark Jensen retrial for 1998 death of his then-wife in Pleasant Prairie MARK JENSEN DAY 2 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 MARK JENSEN TRIAL DAY 5 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 JENSEN DAY 4 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 3 MARK JENSEN DAY 2 MARK JENSEN DAY 2 MARK JENSEN DAY 2 MARK JENSEN DAY 2 MARK JENSEN DAY 2 MARK JENSEN DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 2 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 JENSEN TRIAL DAY 1 Mark Jensen retrial begins with jury selection Mark Jensen Kenosha murder trial, jury seated Prosecution opening statement in Mark Jensen trial (part 1) Prosecution opening statement in Mark Jensen trial (part 2) Prosecution opening statement in Mark Jensen trial (part 3) Defense opening statement in Mark Jensen murder trial Mark Jensen Kenosha murder trial; opening statements, testimony begin Mark Jensen Kenosha murder trial: Childhood friend of Jensen's son takes stand
Hundreds of area residents, community leaders and guests turned out for the 29th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration Monday afternoon at Gateway Technical College.

It was the first in-person event honoring the iconic civil rights leader on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day since the COVID-19 pandemic began. This years theme was Recapturing The Dream to Make It a Reality.

Elizabeth Rosiles-Zavala, director of Hispanic student programming at Gateway Technical College, offered the keynote address.

This is a big day for us, said Rosiles-Zavala, who has served in leadership positions at the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, McHenry County College and the College of Lake County.

This is a very special day for all of us. Are we ready to recapture the dream and make it a reality, she asked. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor, a leader, a social activist who wanted change for all of us. He wanted everyone to be treated equally, and to have equal opportunities for all of us. All of us.

My question for you is, what it your dream today, what are you doing to make it reality, and how are you contributing to our community?

Rosiles-Zavala said 2023 is the year to recapture the dream and make it a reality.

We all know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, she added. I will say to you that, if you have a dream, make it a reality. Your future is yours. Be creative, lets build a safe and healthy community together.

The ceremony opened with a lively step team performance by some members of The Mitchell Steppers, a group of young women from the Mitchell Middle School in the Racine Unified School District.

Humanitarian Awards

Three individuals were honored with 2023 Humanitarian Awards Monday for exemplifying the principles of King and serving the causes of equality, justice, freedom and peace.

Each honoree spoke about their impactful efforts during a short video presentation before accepting their plaques on stage.

Tamarra Coleman, executive director of the Shalom Center, was honored for her years of work helping to serve some of the countys most vulnerable and her guidance on numerous local boards.

Its pretty amazing I get to get up everyday and make an impact on someones life, whether its feeding them and helping with food insecurity issues in our community, or sheltering those who have found themselves un-housed , Coleman said. I just believe in a life of service. I do believe that its continuing today. The sad fact is that we are still working on the dream and that it has not become a reality.

James Kinchen, a professor of music at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and the universitys director of choral activities, was also honored.

One of the things thats permeated my choral work, my teaching has been the idea that I want to have as many who are different in all the ways they might be as possible and help those people to be the best that they can be, Kinchen said. I remember Dr. King, which means that I was alive and aware of his work during the time that he was alive.

Kinchen said Kings work remains very relevant to us today and his work will continue, particularly so to the extent that we understand the full range of things that he addressed and how he spoke very profoundly.

Scott Terry, owner of the Mahogany Gallery and Black Arts Culture Center in Racine County, was honored for his efforts. It is a commercial fine arts gallery and the culture center is Racine Countys first African-American history museum.

Terry said the culture center help to educate the community as a whole about the long history of African-American contributions to southeastern Wisconsin communities.

We felt that it was important to have a vehicle to get this information out there, Terry said.

Zina Haywood, who has been involved with the annual celebration since its inception in 1995, was also honored on Monday.

New Gateway Technical College president and CEO Ritu Raju spoke of her lifelong admiration for Dr. King.

As a servant leader there are many of his quotes that resonate with me and I really had a hard time picking my top one, Raju said. I think the one I would like to offer here is, Lifes most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others? As a servant leader, that question has always been the North Star for my work.

Love, family and self-respect, said Jacqueline Morris, the colleges vice-president of human resources. I believe that everyone showed up today because you believe in these as well. I thank you for attending today and showing your support.

The event lasted about an hour and ended with a united performance of Lift Every Voice and Sing.

Among those in attendance were U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, Kenosha County Executive Samantha Kerkman and Kenosha County Sheriff David Zoerner, among other local and state elected officials.

PHOTOS: 29th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at Gateway MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION MLK CELEBRATION
Ethiopian Airlines, the leading airline in Africa, said that the frequency of its flights to Chinese cities will increase as of February 06, ultimately returning to the pre-Covid levels on March 1, following the lifting of restrictions by China.



As of February 6, Ethiopian Airlines will operate daily flights to Guangzhou while increasing its weekly flights to Beijing and Shanghai to four each and maintains the trice weekly operation to Chengdu.



Starting from March 1, the flights will surge back to the pre-Covid levels with daily flights to Beijing and Shanghai as well as ten and four weekly flights to Guangzhou and Chengdu respectively. Accordingly, Ethiopian will operate a total of 28 weekly passenger flights to China when the services are fully restored.



Ethiopian Group CEO Mesfin Tasew said: We are glad that we are ramping up the frequencies of our flights to Chinese cities thanks to the easing of flight restrictions by the Government of China. China is one of the largest markets for Ethiopian Airlines outside Africa, and the increase in flight frequencies will help revive the trade, investment, cultural and bilateral cooperation between Africa and China in the post-Covid era.



Thanks to our large network across Africa, the increase in the number of flights to Chinese cities will bring Africa and China closer. We are keen to further expand our service to China going forward.



In addition to its passenger flights to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu, Ethiopian is also operating freighter flights to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Changsha and Wuhan.  TradeArabia News Service
RACINE Wisconsin State Sen. Van Wanggaard was in Racine County Circuit Court on Friday, not because he was in trouble, but to get a better sense of the mechanics of the judicial system.

Wanggaard retired from the Racine Police Department, so he spent a fair amount of time in court during his working days, but always from the same perspective of an investigator.

He joked that in those days the job of a judge looked pretty easy, sitting at the bench, and relying on the work product of the investigators.

He now has a better sense of the complexities of the judges duties.

Weve got some pretty phenomenal judges who really do go the extra mile, he said. Theyre not just passing a sentence or getting the offender to be compliant. Theyre getting them back into a position where their life could be a positive experience.

His time in Judge Robert Repischak and Eugene Gasiorkiewiczs courtroom also gave him a view into how things have changed since he retired from the RPD in 2001.

Wanggaard was surprised to see that in almost every case, in both courts, the root cause of the offenders problem was drugs or alcohol. When he was in courtrooms, that number was closer to 50%.

I think its really surprising that number continues to climb, he said.

Resources

Wanggaard said he was quite impressed with the quality of the attorneys arguing their cases in circuit court and was pretty impressed that (Racine County) has individuals with that level of experience.

The shortage of attorneys willing to work in the criminal justice system has meant understaffed offices for both the prosecution side and the public defender side.

Wanggaard said the need to increase compensation for the public defenders and assistant district attorneys has been on his mind.

Its problematic because were losing our young talent, he said adding they can easily make more money in the private sector.

As the Wisconsin Assembly approaches the start of the 2023-2025 budget session, there has begun to be talk about committing some funds to the criminal justice system so local counties will be able to keep their prosecutors and defense attorneys.

Wanggaard joked, Everyone has spent that surplus two or three times.

The states budget surplus is expected to increase this year to approximately $7 billion, which is due in large part to funds the state has received through ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act). Generally, the Republicans are urging a tax cut, and the Democrats are advocating additional funding for municipalities.

I just wanted to look at the mechanics of the courtroom and get a feeling of what that need is, Wanggaard said. Its something we definitely have to look at, not just in the courtroom, but the entire criminal justice system.

Not only is there a shortage of attorneys, but as Wanggaard noted, the prison system is desperately short of corrections officers. The veterans homes are short of resources, as well.

Noting the challenges, he said, There are a lot of pulls and tugs on the surplus, but if we commit to doing some type of increase in compensation, its not just for one session, it has to be maintained in the future.
Before a rapturous crowd at the state Capitols Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration, Pardeep Singh Kalekas message was the need to listen.

Kalekas father was killed in the 2012 Oak Creek Sikh Temple shooting, and that experience drove him to dedicate his life to bringing those of different cultures and creeds together. He also drew a line between the violence of that day and the 1964 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, another deadly attack perpetrated by white supremacists.

What we had to choose at the time was the choice to listen, Kaleka said of the 2012 shooting. When I think about the legacy of Dr. King ... I think about our ability to listen as what connects us all.

A former Milwaukee police officer, Kaleka now leads the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, with his work there garnering him Wisconsins MLK Heritage Award at Mondays ceremony.

Were not just here celebrating the legacy of a man, but were celebrating the legacy of a great spirit and this spirit connects us all, he said.

But Wisconsins 42nd annual Martin Luther King Day celebration was not only a look back at the darkness of the past, but a forward-looking affair complete with impassioned speeches, cross-cultural musical acts and the beauty of the Capitol dome.

Marking another proceeding of the longest-running official MLK Day celebration in the U.S., Gov. Tony Evers made clear that work to combat racism and injustice remains.

As we reflect on Dr. Kings life and lasting legacy, we remember that there is still so much work left to be done, Evers said.

As Wisconsinites we must work to bridge this divide between where we are today and the sort of future we want to build for our state, the governor said.

Interspersing Mondays speeches was the thump of gospel music from The Brown Sisters of Chicago and civil rights-inspired pieces from the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Keeping true to the events multicultural message, dancers with the Kalaanjali Indian Dance Company performed at the edge of the rotundas balcony.

Alongside Kaleka, Carola A. Gaines also received the heritage award for her efforts to curb health care inequities for communities of color during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A driving force behind testing and vaccination sites for Madisons Black community, Gaines used her speech to honor Jonathan verby, a renowned ethnomusicologist who is the executive producer of the annual event.

We stand on your shoulders of service, Gaines said of verby.

I feel a purpose on earth to be a servant, Gaines said. I try every day to persevere, to be dedicated, passionate, uplift our people and committed to be a part of transformational change.
Returning home along a snow-lined road last month, 73-year-old Mary Frahm had just dropped off her son for work when her car started acting bizarrely  the dashboard lights were flashing, the windshield wipers started up on their own, the speedometer was "going crazy" and the vehicle was losing power.

After pulling over on Highway AB in the town of Dunn, the McFarland resident phoned her fiance to report that her 2009 Dodge Journey was "acting up" again, an occasional electrical problem with the vehicle she'd owned the past four years. This time, though, she couldn't unlock the doors, even with her key fob, and the windows wouldn't roll down, according to a Dane County sheriff's report.

En route to help her, Frahm's fiance got another call from Frahm, this one more urgent. Smoke was now seeping out of the dashboard, and she could smell burning, the report stated.

He told her to call 911, which she did. But before first responders had arrived at the scene, flames had engulfed the vehicle, with Frahm still locked inside.

The Dane County medical examiner declared Frahm dead at the scene but has not released a cause of death in the Dec. 9 incident.

Frahm "babied" her car, including staying on top of its standard maintenance, her fiance told a sheriff's officer on the scene.

An investigation revealed that the vehicle had a Totally Integrated Power Module, or TIPM, a part installed in some older Chrysler vehicles that has been in the crosshairs of an auto safety group and litigation but deemed safe by federal authorities.

A sort of command center for a vehicle's electrical system, TIPMs can sometimes go on the blink, causing windshield wipers and windows to malfunction or forcing a vehicle to shut down altogether, according to a class-action lawsuit against Chrysler.

In 2009, Chrysler recalled nearly 17,000 Dodge Journeys from that year over concerns that parts of the TIPM could "become contaminated, potentially causing the connector to melt and/or catch fire."

But Frahm's vehicle was not subject to that recall or any other, according to a search of her vehicle identification number.

To avoid compromising any possible civil legal proceedings, Dane County Sheriff's Detective William Hendrickson said he did not move or touch any vehicle parts in an attempt to find a cause of the fire, according to the sheriff's report. He said his investigation revealed that the vehicle had a TIPM, which had a documented history of possibly shorting out or causing some sort of an electrical or mechanical abnormality with the vehicles.

Hendrickson said in the report that witness statements, the vehicle condition and comments from Frahm before her death certainly suggested some sort of issue with the vehicle and not the involvement of a third party.

Eric Mayne, a spokesperson for Stellantis, which owns Chrysler, said the company was not aware of other incidents similar to what happened to Frahm.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Ms. Frahm," Mayne said. "We were unaware of this tragic event."

'A groundbreaker'

Frahm was well known to the area's autism and cognitive disability community. Her son, who is now in his 50s, has Down syndrome.

At the time of his birth, those with Down syndrome often didn't live past childhood, but Frahm was resolute that "this isn't going to happen to my son," her sister Jill Raschein said.

"Mary was really a groundbreaker for Down syndrome in the Madison area," Raschein said.

For decades, Frahm spent much of her time working with community organizations. Beyond the Special Olympics, she helped secure funding for a Gigi's Playhouse location in Madison and volunteered for the Shared Table Community Meal at McFarland Lutheran Church.

Frahm's family has hired a lawyer and experts to look into what happened to her car that day.

Eric Haag, the family's attorney, said the results of the investigation will determine whether the family has a lawsuit to bring against the vehicle manufacturer.

"Obviously, cars aren't supposed to catch on fire, and they're not supposed to exhibit the kinds of whacko behavior that's described in the report," Haag said.

Lawsuit settled

TIPMs in other Chrysler vehicles got the auto manufacturer hit with a class-action lawsuit in 2014 alleging that the car company misled vehicle owners about defects in the power system. The lawsuit was settled after Chrysler recalled Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango vehicles from 2011 to 2013.

According to court records, alleged TIPM defects in some 2011 and 2012 Jeep and Dodge models included vehicles stalling in traffic, and headlights and windshield wipers activating on their own.

The Center for Auto Safety, a consumer advocacy group, saw a more-pervasive issue with TIPMs at the time, and in 2014 petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to recall Chrysler SUVs, trucks and vans from 2007 to 2014. TIPM issues with other Chrysler vehicles included lights, windshield wipers and windows activating and doors locking on their own.

"These owners remain at the mercy of a defect which many have likened to the vehicle being possessed and uncontrollable," the center said in its petition.

About 4.7 million vehicles, including about 157,000 2009 Dodge Journeys, had a TIPM-7, the part subject to the class-action suit.

In addition, the center unsuccessfully tried to unseal documents from the class-action suit against Chrysler.

Agency's finding

The NHTSA ultimately found that a further probe of TIPMs was "not warranted" and that allegations of TIPMs causing airbag non-deployment, unintended acceleration or fire were "wholly without merit based on review of the field data and design of the relevant systems and components."

The specific issue with TIPMs stemming from the class-action suit impacted only 11% of the 4.7 million vehicles with TIPM-7s and "has been addressed by safety recalls," the NHTSA said.

In an interview, Michael Brooks, the Center for Auto Safety's executive director, said that during the group's battles over TIPMs, the center never found a case like Frahm's. He called her incident something "inevitable that we thought would happen."

"It's harder to track fires and fatalities that occur if they're not collision-related," Brooks said, noting that fires rarely prevent electrical systems from being able to open a vehicle's doors.

A lack of federal standards on the quality of electronics that go into vehicles makes it harder to regulate the auto industry, Brooks said, particularly at a time when vehicle software and electronics are becoming ubiquitous.

Search for recalls Drivers can search if their vehicle has been recalled by entering their vehicle identification number (VIN) at vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin.
1. Yes. Having a community member interview panel is an excellent opportunity for input.

2. Yes. Its good that the city will allow residents to meet the finalist at a reception.

3. No. The city should have conducted a public survey early in the process, as KISD is doing.

4. No. Residents should be able to meet candidates before a lone finalist is chosen.

5. Unsure. Its hard to know how to gauge the proper level of public involvement.

Vote

View Results
Bahrains Ministry of Transportation and Communications has announced the installation of a new simulation system for the air traffic control tower at Bahrain International Airport.



The new system provides an integrated simulation platform for air traffic controllers at the air traffic control tower, using the latest digital technology, reported Bahrain News Agency (BNA).



The hitech system allows the simulation of air traffic control tower operations in various weather conditions with a panoramic view of the surroundings of Bahrain International Airport covering 360 degrees.



The new system is supported by virtual systems to represent radio communications, ground traffic radar, meteorological information and other advanced equipment used to manage air traffic on the airport grounds.



This is part of efforts made by Civil Aviation to enhance air navigation services at the highest levels of safety and quality and hone the skills of national cadres in accordance with the standards and requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization.



Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Mohammed bin Thamer Al Kaabi said he was delighted that air controllers have started training on the new simulation system.



He stressed the importance of the new system in providing an environment similar to the reality of the operations of the actual air traffic control tower at Bahrain International Airport.



The new system enables the simulation of multiple scenarios, emergency training, and provides practical experience of best practices in air traffic management at the airport, in addition to reducing expenses related to external training for air traffic controllers.
FAVE 5: Kearney Hub's Ashley Bebensee shares her memorable stories from 2022

The most memorable stories from any year are the tales of people, or animals, who leave a positive impact on those around them. In 2022, it was heartwarming when volunteers from across the country came to Pioneer Village in Minden to breathe life back into the small-town museum. Also memorable was when the residents of Bertrand rallied behind a local family after a tragic car accident critically injured their son.

Animals will always make it to the top of any of my lists, so I couldn't help but include the story of a senior dog who was reunited with her owners after 10 years apart and a mini therapy horse who is making a difference for people of all ages.

These are the five stories I enjoyed the most in 2022.

ashley.bebensee@kearneyhub.com
HOLDREGE  Its all about the future.

Thats how two key executives of south-central Nebraska irrigation and power districts sum up whats driving the merger of Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District and Dawson Public Power District.

Centrals General Manager Devin Brundage and Dawsons General Manager Gwen Kautz say the merger is necessary to ensure stable electrical rates and to protect and capitalize on the regions critical water and power resources. However, Brundage and Kautz worry about a group of Holdrege area irrigators efforts to derail the consolidation.

Work on the proposed merger began two years ago, and on Oct. 24 directors of the two districts voted to approve the merger.

As of last week, Citizens Opposed to the Merger had 75 members and $225,000 in the bank. Also, the Power Review Board has granted standing to the opposition group. That means Citizens Opposed to the Merger can officially register objections when the state review board meets on Feb. 15 in Lincoln.

Why didnt they come sooner so we could address their concerns? We wanted to know if there were negatives so we could address them, Kautz said during an interview with The Hub last week.

She and Brundage said in the interview that Central and Dawson boards each conducted 22 regular meetings during the past two years. Those meetings, along with informational sessions in communities affected by the merger, were opportunities for stakeholders and community members to learn more and share their concerns.

Brundage and Kautz said both of their organizations agreed that the merger must be advantageous to Centrals irrigators and Dawsons electrical customers. Both entities also agreed that the merger should do no harm to stakeholders or to employees of the two districts.

Discussions were open to the public so that people who could be affected by the consolidation knew what was happening. However, the Citizens Opposed to the Merger group contends that the joint board meeting and merger vote on Oct. 24 came at the height of fall harvest so many farmers and ranchers were unable to attend the meeting. Citizens Opposed to the Merger also complained about the proposed governance of the consolidated districts.

Merger goals The merger of Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District and Dawson Public Power District into the Platte River Public Power and Irrigation District has seven primary goals:  Deliver surface water irrigation.  Distribute electrical power.  Operate generation facilities.  Recharge groundwater.  Provide recreational activities.  Facilitate economic development.  Enhance the environment.

Today, Central and Dawson have combined board membership of 23. Six years and three election cycles after the merger is complete, the Platte River Public Power and Irrigation District Board will shrink to 14 members. Citizens Opposed to the Merger complain that just six of the 14 board members will represent irrigators, while the remainder will represent power consumers and counties where major assets such as Lake McConaughy, Kingsley Dam and other hydroelectric facilities are located.

Kautz said a governance steering committee will evaluate the representation issue and that changes to the board structure could occur.

Brundage and Kautz said they foresee a shifting landscape of contested and shrinking water resources. They also believe a 30% increase in electrical demand will occur in the future. They say that such a dramatic change could result in power grid instability.

Central Nebraskans experienced grid instability during the deep freeze of 2021 during forced power rationing across the central U.S. The blackouts prevented the collapse of electrical infrastructure in the plains region, but left many people wondering why the electrical grid was in such peril.

Economic development in south-central Nebraska could account for a major share of the 30% increase in Dawsons electrical demand. Kautz pointed out that Kearney Area Ag Producers Alliance has grown into Dawsons largest power consumer and that KAAPAs continued success will require a reliable, low cost power supply.

The future could bring multiple changes in how the regions water resources are used and protected.

Brundage said recently announced long-term agreements will enhance groundwater recharge from Centrals canals and laterals in Phelps, Kearney and Gosper counties. Through the years, water carried in Central canals has percolated into the local aquifer, creating a mound of groundwater. Protecting the mound is among the issues of concern for the Citizens Opposed to the Merger.

Last week, Central announced major agreements that could soften merger opponents worries about the groundwater mound.

Under last weeks agreements, the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program will provide $9.15 million for groundwater aquifer recharge services associated with the Phelps Canal and Elwood Reservoir for up to 20 years. The PRIPP also is providing Central $2 million to assist with the $2.3 million Elwood Dam seepage mitigation project to help support those recharge activities. In addition, the state of Nebraska  through the Department of Natural Resources and partnerships with Tri-Basin and Central Platte natural resources districts  will provide up to $19.1 million to divert water into the E65 Canal, Phelps Canal, Elwood Reservoir and several Waterfowl Production Areas to provide groundwater recharge during the next 15 years.

Brundage and Kautz say that pooling Central and Dawson resources is the best way to thrive and survive in the future.

Exercising political clout will be important, Brundage said, if the state of Nebraska proceeds with the Perkins County Canal proposal. Last year then-Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed building a canal to carry South Platte River water from northeast Colorado into southwest Nebraska.

In that proposal, Nebraska would utilize a century-old water right to the South Platte water. If Nebraska fails to build the canal, it risks losing the water to Colorado.

Brundage said the canal could supply water for important uses in Nebraska, such as cooling the coal-fired Gerald Gentleman power plant at Sutherland. Without South Platte water, Lake McConaughy must supply water for the Platte River.

***

Kautz and Brundage said the merger of their power and irrigation districts is a complicated topic, especially from a fiscal perspective.

Both districts bring assets to the proposed merger. According to Brundage, the merged Central and Dawson districts would produce $1 billion annually in economic activity.

Dawson has 24,000 customers and in 2022 logged power sales of $71 million. Dawson has $56 million in bonded debt, but it has 5,700 miles of powerlines and $247 million in plant assets.

Central has a $90 million cash reserve and no debt. Among annual revenues, irrigation deliveries brought in $4 million in 2022, lot fees paid by homeowners at Centrals lakes amounted to $1.5 million, and recharge agreements were $700,000. Hydroelectric generation earned Central about $10 million, but revenues from power sales vary widely depending upon the climates effect on electrical demand.

Currently, Central has a limited ability to incur debt, but that would be less of an issue for the consolidated Platte River Public Power and Irrigation District.

Its estimated the cost savings resulting from the merger will be about $11.4 million during the first seven years.

Kautz said informational meetings at locations in the counties affected by the proposed merger were sparsely attended. Although she wishes the crowds would have been larger, Kautz said support for the merger was strong among people with decades of experience: managers, administrators and board members of the two districts.

There were 23 board members, 12 department managers, a consultant with an excellent background and two general managers who felt this merger was good for their customers and stakeholders, Kautz said. Granted, five board members were not in favor of it  as is their right  but you cant dismiss that many years of service dedicated to their industry and label them as not knowing what they are doing.

Brundage said its been exciting to plow through details of the proposed merger. He said the consulting firm Power System Engineering helped boil the complex topics into understandable terms for staff, administration and board members.

Brundage said as he watched the pieces of the merger fall into place he couldnt avoid reflecting upon the events and the visionaries who made it possible to build Lake McConaughy, the Central canal system and other facilities.

***

As early as 1887 south-central Nebraskans were debating the benefits of irrigation and hydroelectric power if they could bring water to their region. Holdrege mayor and grain merchant C.W. McConaughy suggested in 1913 that crop yields could be improved with supplemental irrigation. It was an interesting idea, but farmers suffered through a number of droughts before McConaughys idea caught on.

Central was organized in 1933, but farmers were struggling with another drought in 1934 at the height of the Great Depression. Thats when the federal Public Works Administration allotted funds for the Tri-County Project to build canals, reservoirs and hydroelectric plants. Support and leadership came from Nebraskas legendary U.S. Sen. George Norris  the architect of the Tennessee Valley Authority  and from George Johnson, Centrals first general manager.

According to Centrals history, the Tri-County Project accomplished all that its supporters said it would and more. It helped develop a successful and productive agricultural region, and the projects lakes and the canal that links them have greatly benefited wildlife and water-based recreation.

Today, the irrigation project provides multiple benefits: hydroelectric generation, groundwater recharge, fish and wildlife habitat and recreation, according to the history.

I cant believe how parallel we are, Brundage said about comparing todays opportunities and challenges with those that Central faced and overcame in the 1930s.

He said he believes the consolidated Platte River Public Power and Irrigation District can become a leader in integrated water resource management while protecting precious resources and providing the energy and water for regional economic development.

Were not doing our customers favors if were not looking into these things, Brundage said.

FAVE 5: Kearney Hub's Mike Konz shares his memorable stories from 2022 My selections for this years Fave 5 are a reflection of what I enjoy most about journalism in Kearney, and thats the variety of assignments I am able to pursue. During 2022 I was able to report several times on one of my favorite topics  cars  and the Fave 5 pick is an example of why I am interested in reporting on cars. I also enjoy reporting about people, and I feel I was extremely fortunate to interview heart transplant patient Roger Petersen and his family. They were open and honest about the experience, and they said it was humbling to think that the donor had lost their life in order for the organ transplant to occur. While reporting on the consolidation of power and irrigation districts, it was challenging to distill into simple terms what was happening so that readers could understand the significance of the transaction. In reporting improvements at Ravenna Lake, my goal was to expose a shiny jewel for camping enthusiasts, and in reporting the book ban debate, I wanted readers to know about one facet of a controversial topic. Here are the five stories I enjoyed the most in 2022. mike.konz@kearneyhub.com Classic Mustang auctioned for $442K I enjoyed meeting the people behind this story, especially the family of Butch Siebenaler, the late owner of the rare Ford Mustang that fetc Roger Petersen humbled by 7-year journey to a new heart I suppose you never feel more humbled than after receiving a second chance at life. Roger Petersen opened up to describe his seven-year journe Consolidation vote draws a crowd Remember that old saying, "Whiskeys for drinkin and waters for fightin?" Not much has changed in that regard. Scarcity of water is making  Ravenna Lake keeps getting better I genuinely enjoy exposing new ways for people to enjoy their recreational time. When an opportunity arose to tell about improvements to a cou KPS board denies 2 book ban requests Journalists are responsible for telling the public about the happenings of their government. An opportunity to inform and educate arose when t
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.  Richard Blodgett, a single father, was jailed on a drug charge when a worker from Arizona's child welfare agency delivered the news: His son was brain dead and on life support  just days after being taken into state custody.

Blodgett screamed, cried and screamed some more. Jakob was his only son, a "darn cute," curious 9-year-old who loved remote control cars and video games.

Blodgett is now struggling to understand how it happened.

A medical examiner listed Jakob's death in late December as natural with complications from diabetes, a condition he was diagnosed with as a toddler. Specifically, Type 1 diabetes, which means his body was unable to produce enough insulin to survive.

Blodgett said he suspects the Arizona Department of Child Safety failed in its duty to protect his son, either by not monitoring his blood sugar levels or not ensuring that Jakob had enough insulin to prevent a serious, life-threatening complication known as ketoacidosis.

"They couldn't keep him alive for two weeks, two weeks," the father told The Associated Press while on a recent furlough from jail. "That's absolutely insane. That was my pride and joy. I'm lost. I'm completely lost. My family is completely lost."

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office is investigating Jakob's death. The office declined a request for an interview with Sheriff Paul Penzone, citing the ongoing investigation.

The Department of Child Safety also declined to comment specifically on the case, citing confidentiality laws. But spokesperson Darren DaRonco said, in general, that foster parents are required to receive training from a medical provider before taking in a child with any medical condition.

DaRonco did not respond to further inquiries, including whether Jakob's insulin pump was removed and if the boy's regular doctor was consulted about his care  questions raised by Blodgett and his mother, Cheryl Doenges. They said Jakob could not manage the insulin on his own.

In the fiscal year that ended last June, about 26 children died while in the agency's custody, including from overdoses, medical conditions, natural and still undetermined causes. In the previous fiscal year, that number was 14.

The figures amount to a fatality rate of about 97 per 100,000 children during that period, the most recent for which data is available.

That rate is higher than overall deaths of children in Arizona. Nationally, about 55 children died per 100,000 children in the general population of all causes in 2020  similar to Arizona's number.

Karin Kline, director of child welfare initiatives at the Family Involvement Center in Phoenix, said the death of a child is a concern, especially if it happens under the custody of the state.

"Rest assured, somebody is going to look into it if there's an inkling that the death was a result of negligence or abuse," she said.

Jakob and his father were living at a motel when Blodgett was arrested in December. Blodgett, who already had a drug case pending and has spent time in prison, said was operating a backhoe much of the day and pulled over at a gas station to take a nap. The report from the Show Low Police Department corroborated as much, but officers wrote that they suspected Blodgett nodded off as a result of drug use.

Authorities ultimately found more than 4,000 fentanyl pills in Blodgett's possession, according to the report. Blodgett was booked into jail in Holbrook and charged with one count of drug possession, Navajo County Superior Court documents show.

Blodgett told the AP he had been using fentanyl for pain management after he dropped 300 pounds with weight loss surgery.

"I wasn't getting high. I wasn't abusing them. I was using them to be able to work and provide for my son," Blodgett said. "Unfortunately, they are illegal. I can't get around that. But they were stronger than my meds, and they were working."

Jakob was alone in the motel room when an officer picked him up and alerted the Department of Child Safety, according to the police report. Blodgett said someone at the motel always checked on his son, whom he called as police confronted him.

He told Jakob he got into trouble, and the boy asked if his father was going to be OK, Blodgett said. The two often traveled together in vast expanses of Arizona  taking selfies, stopping at gas stations to get snacks and playing with Nerf guns.

"The last time I got to see my son, he was already dead," Blodgett said.

Doenges couldn't make the trip to see Jakob at the hospital from Washington state where she lives because of bad weather. But she asked a friend in Arizona to sit with Jakob, pray with him and play music for him so he wasn't alone  even if he didn't know she was there.

Furloughed from jail, Blodgett arranged for a ride to Phoenix, more than three hours away, to see his son unresponsive in a hospital bed. Hospital staff had placed a teddy bear next to the boy and a heart-shaped pendant  Blodgett kept one half and the other half will be cremated with Jakob, Doenges said.




Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) CEO Cheong Seung-il, left, and Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp., pose for a photo after signing a memorandum of understanding at the UAE presidential office in Abu Dhabi, Sunday (local time). Courtesy of KEPCO
HAVRE, Mont.  The Big Bud 16V-747, the worlds largest tractor with 1,100 horsepower, is parked outside the Big Equipment Co. building in Havre.

Only one 747 was ever built, but from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, some 500 Big Buds were built. Many of those Big Buds are still being repaired at Big Equipment Co., so they can still be counted on to work on farms today.

But many farmers have wondered, would Big Buds would ever be built again? The answer is yes.

Ron Harmon, owner of Big Equipment Co. LLC and the builder of the Big Bud 747, said he will be displaying designs of the new Big Bud tractors at an industry show this week.

We at Big Equipment, along with our partners, Rome Industries in Cedartown, Ga., are going to be building the first new Big Bud tractor since 1991, Harmon said.

Rome Industries, a builder of agriculture and construction equipment, has been well known as a leader in setting rugged quality standards for large tillage equipment for more than 80 years.

Big Equipment Co. has led the agriculture industry in rebuilding and custom-building older tractors for farmers, many of them Big Buds. Without computerized systems, these tractors worked the fields, pulled drills, and seeded acres of farmland for decades after they were manufactured.

The two partners had previously agreed to begin building new Big Bud tractors before a fire on Christmas Eve 2017 destroyed Big Equipments large shop.

After the devastating fire, Harmon needed to focus on rebuilding right away, and his employees never missed a paycheck.

When our shop burned down, it destroyed all of our parts, all of our records, and everything that wasnt digitalized was gone, he said. But I knew we needed to take care of our customers  some we have had since 1969. We have a lot of customers, of course, regionally, but also nationally and a little bit internationally.

When Harmon rebuilt, he separated the dealer and office portion of business from the rest of the business where custom tractors and rebuilt tractors were worked on.

Today, Big Equipment is fully back, and the new building has the Big Bud 747 parked out front. Anyone passing by cant miss it.

Its highly skilled staff custom builds and rebuilds non-computerized tractors for farmers, and they have a large parts department. They also service and upgrade tractors.

Big Equipment Co. is also a Versatile dealer and sells used equipment, as well.

Here at Big Equipment, we build big equipment for farms. We custom-build tractors and rebuild tractors that keep ordinary farmers in business, the kind of tractors people liked to buy 30 years ago, Harmon said.

Brand new Big Bud tractors

The new Big Buds that Big Equipment Co. and Rome Industries will be building for farmers and contractors will have a 1.5-inch steel frame, stronger than any tractor on the market. The frame is built first and the components slide in, not the other way around.

Farm machinery manufacturers often plan what axels they would use in a new tractor, as well as what engine, transmission, and other components.

The last thing they do is build a frame around those particular selected components. After they build that tractor, they only test it for 2,400 hours a year, a limited amount of time before producing it, Harmon said. By the time a tractor has 10,000 hours on it, most tractors today are considered on their last legs in the ag industry.

When Harmon built the Big Bud 747, he was told the tractor should weigh a hundred pounds per horsepower, so you might as well build the weight into it, he said, noting that the 747 has approximately 20,000 hours on it, and it is still very usable today.

In building the minimum basic weight into the tractor when we make it, it gives us more options to build it better, he added.

They are using the Big Bud 747 as inspiration for the new Big Buds, but the new Big Buds will go beyond that.

At present, the 747 has LSW 1400 tires that are approximately 50 inches wide on 46-inch wheels that are mounted on the same axles found in a mining industrys loader  85,000-pound Clark axels.

The new Big Buds will have those mining industry truck components.

The new Big Bud is going to have a Cat (Caterpillar) engine, Cat transmission, Cat axle, and we are going to use the heaviest axles used in the farm industry ever, including heavier than the 747. They are axles out of a 688K loader. Just the base unit will weigh between 170,000 and 200,000 pounds, so were using really heavy components, Harmon explained.

Rome Industries wants to build Big Buds for the same reasons Harmon at Big Equipment does.

Rome is involved for the same reasons I am involved  were going to finally go back and build an ag tractor with parts available worldwide, because if you take an 18-liter Cat engine today, there are a lot of suppliers that make parts for that 18-liter engine, he said. The control systems used by Caterpillar are accessible to everyone, not just the manufacturers and dealers like it is presently. Who else is doing that in the ag industry? Absolutely nobody.

Harmon wants farmers to have tractors with the same type of powerful transmissions and other components that the mining industry uses in its big machinery. He had visited mines and learned the mining trucks might be decades old, but they were built with hardy components that kept the trucks running.

When I built the 747 for a farmer in California, I used components that were brand new and never seen before in the ag industry, he said. But these components were already old hat in the mining industry.

As a result, these new Big Buds will have sturdy components and a strong frame to last a long time.

Were using old technology in the mining industry, but its going to be brand new for the ag industry, he said.

Harmon found the components he used in the Big Bud 747 from the components in the mining trucks.

Im going to buy a 16v92 engine and a twin 2610 transmission and 85,000-pound Clark axles because I dont have to be a rocket scientist nor an engineer to know that theyre going to work just fine for many thousands of hours, he said. These were all the components that are in these mining trucks that keep lasting forever, so were going to take the same components and put them in a tractor and its going to last forever because all the components are readily rebuildable.

Harmon also wants to spread the weight of the tractor, which can be upwards of 70,000 pounds, from the back to the front of the tractor, distributing it evenly. It works like an equalizer trailer hitch, and this will primarily be for scrapers and construction. Most tractors have the weight just in the back.

Its something that weve been aware of for a long time but have never really been put on a tractor. But we want to put it on our new Big Buds, Harmon said.

The new Big Buds will have about 640-750 horsepower, but they can be custom built to any horsepower.

In the future, we hope to have tracks or tires as an option, he said.

Easy access to repair

Harmon believes that farmers should be able to repair their own tractors themselves and be able to access the tractors components easily to take to the repair shop if they need to.

To get a transmission out or to work on a new tractor today, you really have to crane the cab away and you have to take the front end off to work on the tractor, Harmon said. You dont have to do that on a Big Bud. The cab folds back.

The Christmas Eve fire in 2017 did not keep Big Equipment Co. down. They knew they had to continue serving faithful customers, and they are still working hard for farmers.

When Harmon decided to go into the tractor business many years ago, he went over his philosophy about what he wanted to do for his customer/farmers.

I remember how the tractors were built  they were built to be rebuildable, and they were built to last an awfully long time. So my thought was, I want to go in the rebuild business of Big Buds. And Ive been doing that ever since, he said.

So now, Big Equipment Co. primarily rebuilds Big Buds.

Sometimes we put different engines in. For the most part, we just rebuild whats there, and we made that a fairly successful business over the many years, he said.

Harmon became a Versatile dealer because they were the only ones left to build a standard component tractor.

I think the end of the story is the beginning of a brand-new story here, he said.

The story is Big Equipment Co. and Rome Industries will be fulfilling some farmers dreams. They will be building some very special Big Buds that will offer components that no other tractors do today, and they will last a long time.

With the new Big Bud tractors, farmers that need a heavy machine with strong mining industry components will be able to own one of the big white tractors for themselves.

And that is a pretty big new story.

One-third of food produced in the US goes to wastehere's how that impacts the environment How food waste impacts the environment Most food is wasted when it reaches consumers The annual environmental footprint of food loss and waste per person adds up 90% of food wasted in the supply chain is edible The US far outpaces other countries when it comes to food waste Fruits and vegetables make up the largest share of food loss and waste globally
Local attorney and Westby resident Angela Palmer-Fisher is running for Vernon County Circuit Court Judge.

Born and raised in Crawford County, Wisconsin, she has called Vernon County home since she first started practicing law, nearly 20 years ago. She has gained valuable experience in her years of private practice handling a wide variety of cases, including criminal, family, juvenile and probate law  which includes mental health commitments and guardianships. She is currently a court commissioner for retiring Vernon County Judge Darcy Rood. In this role, she was appointed by Judge Rood to act as an official judicial officer and perform judicial functions such as conducting hearings and making findings. Palmer-Fisher also serves as a Guardian ad Litem in Vernon and surrounding counties for family law, child protective services and guardianship cases, where she makes recommendations to the court regarding best interests of children and adults whom she represents in these various legal actions.

I want to build on the great work of Judge Rood by continuing to expand on the drug court program she has started. I also want to continue implementation of the increased oversight in child support and juvenile cases, Palmer-Fisher said. I believe everyone deserves an impartial judge who will decide a case fairly, exercise patience and courtesy, give everyone the opportunity to be heard, and recognize that we are all human.

Palmer-Fisher has never run for elected office before. Im not a politician, she says. I am grounded by my commitment to justice for all individuals, and pledge to follow the law as it is written, regardless of my personal or political views. Everyone deserves the same treatment under the law, regardless of who their parents are, and if elected, I will make sure that everyone receives the dignity and respect they deserve in court.

Palmer-Fisher and her husband of 20 years, Michael Fisher, have four boys who all attend Westby public schools. They are also active members of St. Marys Church in Viroqua.

Palmer-Fisher welcomes anyone interested in knowing more about her background or meeting with her to email her at contact@palmerfisher4judge.com. I would be honored to serve the residents of Vernon County as their next Circuit Court Judge, and would appreciate your vote on April 4, 2023.
Dubais Paramount Hotel Midtown has appointed Iryna Simanko as its new Food and Beverage Producer to oversee all five venues at the hotel, as well as being responsible for the recruitment, training, and development of her team.



In her new role, Iryna will oversee the production of some of the finest A-list inspired restaurants and bars, from its all-day dining restaurant CineScope, Signature Italian restaurant Paparazzi, Pool Bar and Lounge Malibu Sky Lounge, Melrose Bar and Lounge, L Cafe, as well as private dining and events.



Nicholas Chalmers, Director of Paramount Hotel Midtown said: We are delighted to welcome Iryna to our leadership cast, working closely with our Culinary Producer to deliver exceptional, cinematic experiences in our elegant bars and restaurants. Her appointment, knowledge and passion reinforce our commitment to continuously enhancing our guest offerings and developing our talented cast. With Irynas drive and creativity, it will be an exciting time for Paramount Hotel Midtowns restaurants to star in the competitive Dubai market.



Iryna brings over 13 years of diverse hospitality experience, both in the region and internationally. With an extensive background across luxury brands in beverage management, F&B operations, event planning and customer relations, she is due to make Paramount Hotel Midtowns F&B concepts sit among recognizable favourites in Dubai.



Talking about her new position, Iryna said: I am excited to join Paramount Hotel Midtown a brand with unique concept and superlative F&B portfolio. I look forward to working on new concepts and projects continuing the brands promise of delivering outstanding service in Paramount style.  TradeArabia News Service
January is National Mentoring Month. The word mentor often means a wise and responsible tutor, or an experienced person who advises, guides, teaches, inspires, challenges, and serves as a model. All this and more can be said about Foster Grandparent volunteers.

More than half a million American adults serve as volunteers in the AmeriCorps Seniors volunteer programs. Engaging Americans to strengthen their communities through volunteer service is the primary role of AmeriCorps, a federal agency, which encourages Americans to give back. Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program (SWCAP) sponsors the Foster Grandparents Program (FGP) in Green, Grant, Iowa, Lafayette, Richland, Sauk, Vernon and Crawford counties. FGP taps into the skills, talents and experience of adults age 55 and older.

FGPs assist their communities by volunteering at approved host sites such as schools, after-school programs, family enhancement programs, not-for-profit daycare agencies and other qualified youth programs. Unlike foster care, children are not placed in a volunteers home. Foster Grandparents provide supervised supportive student activities, such as assisting with reading, math skills, and social skills. To off-set the cost of volunteering, qualified FGPs who meet income and program guidelines receive a tax free hourly payment, which does not affect income sensitive programs such as housing and SSI, along with a meal and travel allowance. Most volunteers agree the best benefit is the satisfaction of interacting with and helping children and youth of the community.

Is your new years resolution to help others in your community? Want to learn more about volunteering for as a Foster Grandparent? Contact Cindy at SWCAP, 149 North Iowa St., Dodgeville, WI 53533. You may also email c.deckert@swcap.org or call 1-800-704-8555, extension 209. Additional information on the Foster Grandparent Program is available at www.swcap.org or www.americorps.gov.
In 2016, Laquita Becker took the helm of the Boys and Girls Club mental health partnership, the sole staff member working to meet the emotional needs of area youth.

Now, the program, a partnership with Mayo Clinic Health System, has expanded to include additional staff from Mayo's Psychology and Psychiatry Department, with one each located at the Boys and Girls Club Amie L. Mathy Center and Erickson Club and, in 2022, at the Holmen and West Salem club site.

Becker is serving as Youth and Family Service director after a leave to work on the Mayo campus as a behavioral health specialist.

"Coming back to see it continue to grow is very exciting to me," Becker says. "... I started this alone and did the best I could, and I'm so excited to have a team so that we can have more organized and standardized programming."

Through the program, youth can meet with specialists one-on-one or in small groups and participate in programming suiting their individual needs to help foster strength and develop life skills. Parents and families can become involved as well to help formulate and encourage the best outcomes.

"Mental health is critically important for the success and well-being of youth, which is why addressing mental health is one of our priorities for improving the health of our community," says Dr. Paul Mueller, regional vice president for Mayo Clinic Health System in southwest Wisconsin. "We continue to be inspired by the Boys & Girls Clubs' unique commitment and ability to serve youth in our community."

The Boys and Girls Club of Greater La Crosse, says club CEO Jake Erickson: "Is extremely fortunate to have such a strong partnership with Mayo Clinic Health System. This partnership provides services to kids far beyond what we could offer on our own. It really sets us apart from other (Boys & Girls) Clubs across the state."

The program expansion comes at a crucial time, with COVID-19 disrupting everyone's lives.

"The past few years have been difficult for all of us but especially our youth who are experiencing life development milestones," says Becker. "I think now more than ever they need all the support they can get."

The location allows for youth to access services at a familiar place, truly meeting them where they are at.

"We've seen the kids who are really struggling to function access our wonderful supports here, (and they) are thriving and are able to better communicate their needs and cope with their emotions," says Becker. "I've had some kids tell me this is the first time they've opened up about what they're struggling with."

Becker praises the community and donors for their commitment to the mission of youth mental health.

"I really believe it's important to remember kids are our future, and we need to invest in them now to set them up for success later in life," says Becker. "... The limit is the sky at this point  how can we keep growing and how can we provide more services? That's the goal we are setting out to do today."

IN PHOTOS: Mayo hospital construction in La Crosse
Andre Johnson, an associate professor at the University of Memphis and an award-winning author and pastor, delivered the 2023 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration keynote address Monday night to a packed Viterbo University Fine Arts Center and over 100 online viewers.

At the University of Memphis, Johnson teaches classes such as African American Public Address, Rhetoric Race and Religion, Media Studies, Interracial Communication, Rhetoric and Popular Culture and Hip Hop Studies. He is renown for his books on Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, an influential Black religious leader and orator, along with other articles on the relationship between rhetoric, religion and social movements, including Black Lives Matter.

In the address titled "Searching for the Beloved Community," Johnson drew on his published research exploring King's use of prophetic rhetoric during the last year of his life.

"For King, the Beloved Community was a sense of community where all lives are interconnected and respected. A place of transformative love," Johnson said. "For King, within the Beloved Community there was still a place for both oppressed and oppressor to live harmoniously together. However, as King neared the end of his life and as he continued to fight for human and civil rights, he quickly began to see that the stumbling block to many of his proposals, projects and programs that would have helped ushered in the beloved community stall because of the seeded, deeply embedded racism in America."

The community celebration included the presentation of the Lynda Blackmon Lowery Youth Leadership Award to Logan High School sophomore Na'Ziah McLaurin and the Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. 2023 Leadership Award to Bridget Todd-Robbins, concluding a day of service and learning hosted by Viterbo University.

Earlier in the day, Viterbo hosted three workshops led by La Crosse nonprofit organization Hope Restores co-directors Shy Jackson and Shamawyah Curtis, La Crosse School District cultural liaison Quartell Roberson and four high school students, including McLaurin, and Viterbo professor Keith Knutson.

This year marks a decade since Johnson's last community celebration address at Viterbo. The La Crosse Community Area Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee, which organizes the celebration event, started its search for a speaker last summer.

"A large number of us were comfortable with bringing him back based on his last appearance," said Shaundel Spivey, committee member and executive director of Black Leaders Acquiring Collective Knowledge, a nonprofit dedicated to La Crosse's Black community.

Spivey said that Johnson's address demonstrated how many often "whitewash and bastardize" King, who was reviled for confronting systemic racism.

"When I get an opportunity to give these King Day talks, I like to ask the question: What did you come to hear about this man?" Johnson said in his address. "This man. Not the figment, not the image but this man, who while living was called the most dangerous man in America by the head of the FBI."

"Everything he did was about dismantling systems of oppression," Spivey said. "In our city, as we think about what side of history we're on, it's important for us to realize how we can dismantle systems of oppression for all walks of life."

Johnson was eager to return to La Crosse. "I was more of a professor," Johnson said of his 2013 address in an interview after the event. "I didn't want to do that this time. I wanted to really engage." Johnson said he wanted to ground the current racial justice projects many in the audience work on in the overarching civil rights struggle.

Much of Johnson's address detailed the efforts of Jude Huetteman, a member of Grosse Pointe Human Relations Council, to bring King to deliver a speech at the Detroit suburb's high school in 1967 after a summer marked by prolonged protests responding to poverty and police violence across American cities.

What should have been a simple speaking event was instead marred by what King called "white backlash," Johnson said. White residents' attempted to intimidate the school board to deny the meeting space, and police requested insurance and cooperation to prevent riots. Members of the committee were threatened and surveilled, and King's visit required high levels of security to protect him from attacks from protesters.

"If King was anything, he was a prophet, a prophet to America. A voice that needed to be heard. King started out optimistic visionary," Johnson said during the keynote address. "However, as time went on, and as King saw the massive resistance in the south and in the north, as the economic plight of the poor did not change, even though we declared a war on poverty, King began to become more pessimistic prophet. One who abandoned an absolute belief in the inherent goodness in the country to one who began to question the very fabric of America.

"However, this deep questioning and reflection did not make King run away or hide. He did not take up arms. He did not call to overthrow the government. He did not storm the Capitol, but he moved in the search of the dream for the beloved community. And it was that search that kept him going."

Johnson explored the revived potential to create the "Beloved Community" in 2020, when protests in the streets were backed by a broader consensus on confronting racism than in 1967, but also noted the revived "white backlash" to Black Americans' progress as in 1968.

"What I find baffling today, is that mentioning King calling America racist or saying racism is a problem in America can land you into some trouble," Johnson said. "Talking about the conditions that King talked about that gave us those beautiful words can land you into some trouble."

Johnson concluded his speech telling the crowd to still dream, and dedicate action, to creating King's vision of a beloved community.

"With this dream I need for you to hear this charge, with this dream, take it back into your homes, take it back around the dinner table, take this dream back to your family and friends and relatives. Take this dream back to your work places and spaces," Johnson said. "Do the work that you've been doing, keep doing the work, keep standing on the right side of history, because we are all dreaming of the day when the beloved community can be ushered in."

A recording of the Community Celebration, which includes Johnson's address and speeches by McLaurin and Todd-Robbins, can be found at www.facebook.com/viterboethics. Recordings of this year's three workshops, along with workshops from 2022 and other resources, can be found at www.viterbo.edu/mlk.

Then and now: Photos show how Washington has changed in 50 years since MLK death MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery
When Nick Dobbs earned his bachelors degree in accountancy in 2017, it could have been the final chapter of a remarkable story.

Dobbs, who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident in 2011, had overcome tremendous challenges to graduate from UW-La Crosse.

As it turned out, his story was only beginning.

Dobbs recently completed his second semester as an adjunct instructor in UW-Ls Accountancy Department, where he teaches courses on individual income tax and accounting principles.

For Dobbs, teaching is no small feat. Seemingly mundane tasks, such as returning emails or preparing notes for class, require more time and more energy for him to accomplish.

But its worth it, he says, if he can make a positive difference for students.

My primary motivation for getting myself back out in society was my own mental health, he says. I didnt know what I wanted to do or how I would do it, but I knew I needed to be doing something, or I wasnt going to be happy. I have received a lot of support from others, and I couldnt let it go to waste. Thats what brought me to UW-L. I wanted to get a degree where I could help others.

While taking classes at UW-L, Dobbs felt drawn to accounting. Here was a subject that interested him, and that offered plenty of opportunities to give back.

His professors encouraged those dreams.

In Dobbs third year on campus, now-retired professor Joseph Kastantin suggested he try tutoring. When Dobbs found he enjoyed it, Kastantin suggested teaching.

Finding a job proved difficult. To make himself more desirable to employers, Dobbs joined and completed an online Master of Accountancy program through Auburn University.

Soon, he was working as a tax preparer for H&R Block. He passed the Enrolled Agent Exam, allowing him to start his own tax prep business.

The idea of teaching remained in the back of his mind.

In December 2021, UW-L professor William Maas, whom Dobbs knew from his time as a student, reached out to offer him an adjunct position for the 2022 spring semester.

Needless to say, I was incredibly nervous, Dobbs notes. But friends, family and my former professors provided support, encouragement and tips to tackle this new endeavor.

For Dobbs, the challenges of teaching begin long before he enters the classroom.

Getting ready in the morning can take two or three hours, he says. Then his mother, Julie, drives him the 45-plus minutes from their home in Melrose. Together, they make sure Dobbs has everything he needs for a successful day, including double-checking the classroom technology.

It was a new experience becoming an instructor, Dobbs explains. No longer would I be sitting quietly in the back taking notes. Now, Im up front talking to 30 students for an hour and a half, and everything I say could help or hinder them in their future. It adds a lot of stress, but when I see the students succeeding, understanding and even smiling sometimes, it gives me a great sense of pride and accomplishment. Theres really no better feeling.

Maas says Dobbs made a strong first impression as a student and continues to impress. The pair stayed in touch after Dobbs finished his bachelors degree, and Maas knew he would be a good fit in the department.

He was a good communicator, and he was smart, and he had a sunny disposition, Maas says. Oftentimes, he was in a better mood than others who didnt have the challenges that he has. Having him back on campus has been a win-win for our students, our department, and I hope for Nick, too. Im really proud of him.

Dobbs says he is fortunate to have such a strong support system  family, friends and colleagues  to help his life run smoothly. But none of that would make much difference if Dobbs werent so motivated, so resilient.

He may teach students accounting. But he also hopes to teach them something about life, simply by showing up.

Most of all, teaching allows me to show others that even the most difficult obstacles can be overcome, Dobbs says. It allows me to inspire others to chase their goals. This has made all my effort worth it to me, and it continues to drive me forward.
A MILITARY BASE IN SOUTHEASTERN POLAND  The top U.S. military officer, Army Gen. Mark Milley, traveled to a site near the Ukraine-Poland border Tuesday and talked with his Ukrainian counterpart face to face for the first time  a meeting underscoring the growing ties between the two militaries and coming at a critical time as Russia's war with Ukraine nears the one-year mark.

Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a couple of hours with Ukraine's chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in southeastern Poland. The two leaders talked frequently about Ukraine's military needs and the state of the war over the past year but had never met.

The meeting came as the international community ramps up the military assistance to Ukraine, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the U.S. and the provision of weapons systems by the U.S. and a coalition of European and other nations.

Army Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, told two reporters traveling with the chairman that the two generals felt it was important to meet in person. The reporters did not accompany Milley to the meeting and, under conditions set by the military, agreed to not identify the military base where they were located.

"These guys have been talking on a very regular basis for about a year now, and they've gotten to know each other," Butler said. "They've talked in detail about the defense that Ukraine is trying to do against Russia's aggression. And it's important  when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, there's a difference."

Butler said there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi would travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defense chiefs this week but, when it became clear on Monday that it would not happen, they quickly decided to meet in Poland, near the border.

While a number of U.S. civilian leaders have gone into Ukraine, the Biden administration has made it clear that no uniformed military service members will go into Ukraine other than those connected to the embassy in Kyiv.

He said the meeting will allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyi's concerns and information to the other military leaders during the NATO chiefs' meeting. Milley, he said, will be able to "describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that, and the way he does that is one by understanding it himself but by also talking to Zaluzhnyi on a regular basis."

Milley also will be able to describe the new training of Ukrainian forces that the U.S. is doing at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. The chairman, who got his first look at the new, so-called combined arms instruction during a nearly two-hour visit there on Monday, has said it will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge in Russian attacks.

More than 600 Ukrainian troops began the expanded training program at the camp just a day before Milley arrived.

Milley and Zaluzhnyi's meeting kicks off a series of high-level gatherings of military and defense leaders this week. Milley and other chiefs of defense will meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group consists of about 50 top defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and they work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.

The meetings are expected to focus on Ukraine's ongoing and future military needs.

Meanwhile, two of three NATO surveillance planes deployed temporarily to Romania arrived at an air base near Bucharest, from where they will fly missions to monitor Russian military activity near the borders of the 30-nation military alliance.

After several months of losing territory it had captured, Russia in recent days claimed it took control of the small salt-mining town of Soledar. Ukraine asserts that its troops are still fighting but if Moscow's troops take control of Soledar, it would allow them to inch closer to the bigger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.

Western analysts point to signs that the Kremlin is digging in for a drawn-out war, and say the Russian military command is preparing for an expanded mobilization effort.

The death toll from the wars deadliest attack on civilians at one location since last spring, a weekend Russian missile strike on a southeastern apartment building, reached 45, officials said Tuesday.

Those killed in the Saturday afternoon strike in Dnipro included six children, with 79 people injured, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The toll included two dozen people initially listed as missing at the multistory building, which housed about 1,700, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidents office.

Emergency crews cleared some 9.9 tons of rubble during a nonstop search and rescue operation, the Dnipro City Council said. About 400 people lost their homes, with 72 apartments completely ruined and another 236 damaged beyond repair, it added.

People converged at the site Tuesday to lay flowers, light candles and bring plush toys.
The suspect in a vehicle pursuit and subsequent officer-involved shooting near the Great Lakes Dragaway in the Town of Paris Monday has died, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation.

The incident, which remains under investigation, began just after 3:30 p.m. Monday, when a sheriffs deputy initiated a vehicle pursuit in Racine County, according to information released on the state department's website.

The vehicle crossed into Kenosha County, and the pursuit continued with State Patrol and Kenosha County sheriffs deputies involved. The vehicle eventually crashed in the 18000 block of First Street in the Town of Paris.

According to the state department, the driver exited the vehicle, fled and was eventually located in a nearby field. Deputies from Kenosha County Sheriffs Department, Racine County Sheriffs Office and troopers from the State Patrol approached the individual and gave commands to drop a firearm in the individuals possession, according to the release issued late Monday night.

Law enforcement discharged their weapons, striking the suspect. State authorities said first aid was rendered at the scene.

The suspect was transported to a local hospital "where they later died," the release stated.

The individual who died has not yet been identified by investigators.

No law enforcement personnel were injured during the incident.

The involved deputies from the Kenosha County Sheriffs Department, Racine County Sheriffs Office and troopers from Wisconsin State Patrol have been placed on administrative assignment, per department policy.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation and is being assisted by the Kenosha Police Department, Wisconsin State Patrol and DCI Crime Response Specialist.

The state agency is continuing to review evidence and determine the facts of the incident and will turn over investigative reports to the Racine County district attorney when the investigation concludes, according to a DOJ release.

The incident is the second such officer-involved shooting in the Kenosha area in less than one month. At 8:19 p.m., on Dec. 19, officers with the Kenosha Police Department and the Kenosha County Sheriffs Department responded to a call of an active shooter in the 1300 block of 56th Street.

Upon arrival, police were fired upon by Matthew C. Lopez, age 32, and officers returned gunfire with Lopez, who died at the scene, according to an update of the states investigation into the incident earlier this month.

Preliminary evidence indicated Lopez shot at other bystanders who were injured and transported to area hospitals. Two of those individuals have since been treated and released; one remained hospitalized, the department said. No law enforcement personnel were injured during the Dec. 19 incident.
The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Hamra Beach, has announced the appointment of industry veteran John Halliday as Director of Operations.



With more than 28 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Halliday will bring a focused, proactive and committed approach to the role, along with a wealth of expertise in working across a host of luxury hotel groups.



Halliday has worked across a variety of resorts including Qasr Al Sarab Desert Resort by Anantara and Desert Palm Dubai, as well as across a variety of other luxury hotel and resort brands in UAE, Oman and the UK. In his new role, Halliday will take responsibility of overall operations focused on implementing new initiatives and driving operational excellence.



We are proud to welcome John Halliday to the role of Director of Operations at The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Hamra Beach and seek to benefit from his extensive knowledge of luxury hotel operations. Johns vast array of relevant experience and committed approach will strengthen the hotel team and bring fresh direction and innovation as we welcome in a new year. said Tracey Oliver, General Manager of The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Hamra Beach.  TradeArabia News Service
On Jan. 22, 2023, more than a billion people globally will welcome the Year of the Rabbit  or the Year of Cat, depending on which cultural traditions they follow  as the start of the Lunar New Year. In the New York City public school district, Lunar New Year has been observed as a school holiday since 2015.

The Lunar New Year is sometimes called the Chinese New Year, because it follows a calendar that was developed in China; but it is also celebrated in various parts of Asia, such as Korea and Vietnam. Tibetan and Mongolian cultures follow a similar calendar that will start the Year of the Rabbit about a month later, on Feb. 20.

While this calendar is sometimes just called lunar, it adds an extra month every few years to stay in sync with the solar cycle, so its technically lunar and solar, or lunisolar. This means that the date of the Lunar New Year in the Gregorian calendar changes from year to year but always falls in January or February. The Gregorian calendar is the solar calendar used today in most parts of the world, including the United States.

As a scholar of East Asian religions, I am familiar with the wide range of lunar and lunisolar calendars used in different religions and cultures, and especially with the religious significance of the East Asian lunisolar calendar.

The lunisolar calendar that developed in China combines two categories: 12 earthly branches, each of which corresponds to an animal, and 10 heavenly stems, each of which corresponds to one of the five elements  fire, water, wood, metal and earth  and either the feminine yin or masculine yang force.

While this lunisolar calendar brings people together, different countries and cultures have their own legends and customs surrounding the New Year. Even the animal associated with the year can vary.

Year of the Rabbit or Year of the Cat?

In most parts of East Asia, the new year that begins on Jan. 22 corresponds to the rabbit, and also to the element of water and the feminine yin force. The cycle takes 60 years to complete, so 60th birthdays across East Asia are times for special celebrations.

However, the animal associations of the zodiac can vary: In Vietnam, Jan. 22 will usher in the Year of the Cat instead. The most recent Year of the Cat, in 2011, saw a baby boom in Vietnam because of the good luck associated with that zodiac sign.

One explanation among scholars for why Vietnamese culture celebrates it as the Year of the Cat is that the earthly branch corresponding to rabbit is pronounced mao in Mandarin and meo in Vietnamese, which sounds similar to the Vietnamese word for cat.

Another explanation comes from two variations of a popular legend about how the 12 zodiac animals were chosen. According to that legend, either the Buddha or the Jade Emperor, head of the Chinese pantheon, organized a race across a river to choose the zodiac animals and their order.

In the Chinese version, the cat and rat were riding across a river on an ox when the rat, in its drive to be first, pushed the cat into the water so that the cat arrived last and was disqualified. The rabbit was crossing the river by hopping on stones sticking out of the water, but with one lucky leap it landed on a floating log that swiftly carried it to shore, so that the rabbit finished fourth. However, in the Vietnamese version  which lacks a rabbit  the cat could swim and ended up arriving fourth.

Rabbits in Chinese culture

In the Chinese tradition, people born in particular zodiac years have some of their animals characteristics. Since the late 20th century, Chinese regions have seen birth rates spike during Years of the Dragon because dragons are powerful symbols of good fortune and success.

Some animals carry strongly gendered meanings: the Year of the Tiger is widely seen as a good year for male births, but female tigers are stereotyped as overly aggressive. In Korea, the Year of the Horse is similarly perceived as a bad time for girls to be born.

The Rabbit God is not always understood as a god of male same-sex love. He can also be a symbol of longevity. Chinese lore holds that a rabbit and toad on the Moon work with the moon goddess Change to refine the elixir of immortality.

Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit

The Year of the Rabbit will feature rabbit decorations, rabbit-themed marketing, and an abundance of new pet rabbits. However, the celebration will remain the same as in other years.

Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations emphasize family togetherness as well as good luck and prosperity for the coming year. In China, the Lunar New Year marks the worlds largest annual human migration, as people who work in big cities travel home to see their families for the two-week holiday.

The new year officially ushers in the spring, so it is also called Spring Festival, or Chunjie in Mandarin. To start the New Year on the right foot, people get haircuts, clean their houses and wear new clothes. These new clothes, like most New Years decorations, are red, which symbolizes good fortune.

New Years foods also aim to bring good fortune. Among the dishes commonly eaten at New Years are fish, because in Mandarin having fish, you yu, is a homophone for having a surplus. Eating a dessert of glutinous rice balls in sweet soup, known as tangyuan, represents the family being complete, because the word for round, yuan, also means complete.

Family is the focus of New Year celebrations, which traditionally take place in the home of the husbands family. Adults generally give gifts of money in red envelopes to younger relatives who are still in school. On the second or third day of the new year, families often travel to the wifes family home to see the in-laws.

The Lantern Festival, Yuanxiao jie, wraps up the festivities two weeks after the New Year begins with the first full moon of the year. As the name suggests, people celebrate with decorated lanterns, which often have riddles attached. In addition to guessing the answers to these riddles, people celebrate by eating tangyuan or similar round dumplings called yuanxiao, and watching dragon and lion dances.

The global Asian diaspora means that Lunar New Year is now celebrated around the world, including in the United States. Chinese American, Korean American, and Vietnamese American communities will mark the beginning of the Lunar New Year with a variety of celebrations, some welcoming the Year of the Rabbit and others welcoming the Year of the Cat.

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Megan Bryson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Chinese New Year in 30 stunning images
A British historian, an Italian archaeologist and an American teacher all have something in common.

The three women are credited with describing and naming the condition known as long COVID in early 2020.

Almost three years into the pandemic, scientists are still trying to figure out why some people get long COVID and why a small percentage  including the three women  have lasting symptoms.

Background

Rachel Pope, the historian, is from the British city of Liverpool. She posted on Twitter about her symptoms in late March 2020, after a coronavirus infection. A few months later, in Italy, Elisa Perego tweeted about her sickness also and used the term long COVID in the post. And, that same year, Amy Watson of Portland, Oregon, founded a Facebook support group for people, like her, who were suffering from long COVID. She identified them as long haulers, a term used in the trucking industry. The name stuck.

Millions of people worldwide report having long COVID. The symptoms include lung damage, difficulty thinking and remembering, extreme tiredness, and other problems. Evidence suggests most people get better within a year. But recent data show that long COVID has played a part in more than 3,500 U.S. deaths.

Women more likely to suffer from long COVID

Many studies suggest that women are more likely than men to develop long COVID.

There could be biological reasons.

Womens immune systems generally have stronger reactions to viruses, bacteria, and other germs, said Sabra Klein, an immune system expert at Johns Hopkins University.

Women are also much more likely than men to have autoimmune diseases, where the body mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissue. Some scientists believe long COVID can result from an autoimmune response caused by the virus.

Womens bodies are also more likely to have more fat tissue. New research suggests the coronavirus may hide in fat after infection. Scientists also are studying whether womens changing hormone levels may increase the risks.

Yet there are other possible issues at work. Women are more likely than men to seek health care, Klein said. She added that often women are more sensitive to changes in their bodies.

I dont think we should ignore that, she said, adding that biology and behavior are probably both at play.

Other viruses

Several studies suggest the Epstein-Barr virus could play a part in some cases of long COVID.

Epstein-Barr is a very common virus. It has infected an estimated 90 percent of the U.S. population. The virus effects can differ greatly among those infected. Some patients might develop the disease mononucleosis, for example. Others, however, may not be sickened at all by an Epstein-Barr infection.

Inflammation caused by coronavirus infection can activate or reactivate some viruses in the body, said Dr. Timothy Henrich. He is an expert with the University of California, San Francisco.

Henrich is among researchers who have found immune markers pointing to Epstein-Barr reactivation in the blood of long COVID patients.

Not all long COVID patients have these markers. But its possible that Epstein-Barr is causing symptoms in those who do, although scientists say more study is needed.

Obesity

Obesity is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 infections and scientists are trying to understand why.

Stanford University researchers are among those who have found evidence that the coronavirus can infect fat cells. In a recent study, they found the virus and signs of inflammation in fat tissue taken from people who had died from COVID-19.

Lab tests showed that the virus can reproduce in fat tissue. That raises the possibility that fat tissue could serve as a storage area, possibly fueling long COVID.

Hope and concerns

Dr. Lawrence Purpura is an infectious disease expert at Columbia University in New York. He said about patients with long COVID, The majority of patients will eventually recover...Its important for people to know that.

Still, the women who helped the world recognize the condition of long COVID remain concerned about recovery.

Perego developed heart, lung and other problems and remains seriously sick.

The 44-year-old says she knows that scientists have learned a lot in a short time. But, there is a gap, she said, between long COVID research and medical care.

Watson, who is 59, says she has never had any kind of recovery. She experiences severe headaches, digestive trouble and nerve and foot problems. Recently she developed anemia.

She wishes the medical community had a more organized process for treating long COVID. Doctors say not knowing the underlying cause or causes makes that difficult.

I just want my life back, Watson said, and its not looking like thats all that possible.

Im Ashley Thompson. And Im John Russell.

Lindsey Tanner reported on this study for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

Quiz - Researchers Explore Causes of Long COVID Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz

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Words in This Story

symptom -- n. a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease is present

immune -- adj. of or relating to the body's immune system

autoimmune  adj. of, relating to antibodies or T cells that attack molecules, cells, or tissues of the organism producing them

hormone  n. a natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops

anemia  n. medical: a condition in which a person has fewer red blood cells than normal and feels very weak and tired
The Ascott Limited, a leading international lodging owner-operator, is offering special rates both business and leisure guests when staying at its flagship property in Kazakhstan, the majestic Somerset City Centre Atyrau.



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Boasting stylish and spacious studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom hotel apartments, and penthouses with terraces, Somerset City Centre Atyrau welcomes guests to explore a world of exclusivity. Designed to inspire holistic living, each apartment encapsulates a contemporary architectural design and exudes a sense of European architecture, blended seamlessly with the authentic cultural embellishments, patterns and colour hues of Kazakhstan.



Guests can enjoy the broad range of comprehensive amenities available to both short- and long-stay travellers. These include a sophisticated meeting room, an expansive indoor swimming pool, a fully-equipped gymnasium, an outdoor childrens play area, the rejuvenating Royal Beauty & Spa, Ace of Spades Lounge, and the Nomad Banquet Hall. Guests can also indulge in appetizing meals, served at the in-house restaurant  Manzara, which offers a flavourful global culinary experience with a touch of local hospitality



Standing tall at the centre of the picturesque European side of the country, the 12-storeyed Somerset property is conveniently located on the calm Baqtygerey Qulmanov Street with the scenically stretched Zhayik River that runs across the country in proximity. A 15-minute drive from the Atyrau International Airport, the stunning property is surrounded by several business and leisure opportunities, including international and local business giants, restaurants, the bustling Satpayey Street, and the popular Baizaar Mall.



Ascott Star Rewards (ASR) invites guests to a complimentary membership where they can easily manage their reservations, perform self-check-ins and check-outs, reclaim e-vouchers, and earn and redeem points during their stay through the Discover ASR mobile application.  TradeArabia News Service
A new study has found that a lizard that once lived in forests has gone through genetic changes to survive in city environments.

Researchers studied a lizard called the crested anole. The lizards official name is Anolis cristatellus. It is commonly found in the American territory of Puerto Rico.

The team said it discovered the lizard had grown special scales that helped it climb more easily on smooth surfaces like walls and windows. It also grew longer legs in order to run faster across open areas.

Kristin Winchell is a biology professor at New York University and the main writer of the study. She told The Associated Press, We are watching evolution as its unfolding.

Research results were recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Winchell said as city development spreads out around the world, it is important to understand how organisms adapt to new environments. That way, she added, humans can design cities in ways that can support all kinds of animals.

The study examined 96 Anolis cristatellus lizards. Researchers compared the genetic makeup of lizards in forests to those living in Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan, as well as two other cities. Scientists found that 33 genes were repeatedly linked to city spread.

Wouter Halfwerk is an evolutionary ecologist and professor at Vrije University Amsterdam. He was not involved in the study. He told the AP, You can hardly get closer to a smoking gun, meaning evidence or proof of something.

Halfwerk said he was excited that the researchers were able to identify such rich evidence that the lizards had changed genetically to adapt to a different environment.

Winchell said the research demonstrated that scientists might be able to predict how populations will react to city environments just by looking at genetic signs.

The study found that larger legs permitted the lizards to run more quickly across open city areas. And the special scales they developed permit them to hold onto surfaces that are much smoother than trees.

The scientists followed many lizards for the study, using their hands or fishing poles to catch them. It takes some practice, Winchell said.

Among Winchells favorite findings was a rare albino lizard. She also found a nearly 20-centimeter-long one, a rather large individual for that species of lizard. She decided to call that one Godzilla.

The study centered on adult male lizards, so it is unclear if females are changing in the same way or at the same rate as males. The researchers said it is also not clear at which point in a lizards life the changes happen.

Halfwerks own research showed how one frog species changed its reproducing call in city areas. He said scientists should look next for possible limitations on evolutionary changes and how genetic adaptations relate to reproductive behavior.

Halfwerk added that for the adaptive changes to be lasting, they need to lead to higher reproduction.

Im Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English.

___________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

scale - n. a flat piece of hard material that covers the skin of some animals

evolution  n. the way in which living things change and develop over millions of years

adapt  v. to change something so that it is suitable for a different use or situation

smoking gun  n. information that proves something is true

practice  n. the act of doing something regularly in order to improve ones skills

species  n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants

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HOLDREGE  Its all about the future.

Thats how two key executives of south-central Nebraska irrigation and power districts sum up whats driving the merger of Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District and Dawson Public Power District.

Centrals General Manager Devin Brundage and Dawsons General Manager Gwen Kautz say the merger is necessary to ensure stable electrical rates and to protect and capitalize on the regions critical water and power resources. However, Brundage and Kautz worry about a group of Holdrege area irrigators efforts to derail the consolidation.

Work on the proposed merger began two years ago, and on Oct. 24 directors of the two districts voted to approve the merger.

As of last week, Citizens Opposed to the Merger had 75 members and $225,000 in the bank. Also, the Power Review Board has granted standing to the opposition group. That means Citizens Opposed to the Merger can officially register objections when the state review board meets on Feb. 15 in Lincoln.

Why didnt they come sooner so we could address their concerns? We wanted to know if there were negatives so we could address them, Kautz said during an interview with The Hub last week.

She and Brundage said in the interview that Central and Dawson boards each conducted 22 regular meetings during the past two years. Those meetings, along with informational sessions in communities affected by the merger, were opportunities for stakeholders and community members to learn more and share their concerns.

Brundage and Kautz said both of their organizations agreed that the merger must be advantageous to Centrals irrigators and Dawsons electrical customers. Both entities also agreed that the merger should do no harm to stakeholders or to employees of the two districts.

Discussions were open to the public so that people who could be affected by the consolidation knew what was happening. However, the Citizens Opposed to the Merger group contends that the joint board meeting and merger vote on Oct. 24 came at the height of fall harvest so many farmers and ranchers were unable to attend the meeting. Citizens Opposed to the Merger also complained about the proposed governance of the consolidated districts.

Today, Central and Dawson have combined board membership of 23. Six years and three election cycles after the merger is complete, the Platte River Public Power and Irrigation District Board will shrink to 14 members. Citizens Opposed to the Merger complain that just six of the 14 board members will represent irrigators, while the remainder will represent power consumers and counties where major assets such as Lake McConaughy, Kingsley Dam and other hydroelectric facilities are located.

Kautz said a governance steering committee will evaluate the representation issue and that changes to the board structure could occur.

Brundage and Kautz said they foresee a shifting landscape of contested and shrinking water resources. They also believe a 30% increase in electrical demand will occur in the future. They say that such a dramatic change could result in power grid instability.

Central Nebraskans experienced grid instability during the deep freeze of 2021 during forced power rationing across the central U.S. The blackouts prevented the collapse of electrical infrastructure in the plains region, but left many people wondering why the electrical grid was in such peril.

Economic development in south-central Nebraska could account for a major share of the 30% increase in Dawsons electrical demand. Kautz pointed out that Kearney Area Ag Producers Alliance has grown into Dawsons largest power consumer and that KAAPAs continued success will require a reliable, low cost power supply.

The future could bring multiple changes in how the regions water resources are used and protected.

Brundage said recently announced long-term agreements will enhance groundwater recharge from Centrals canals and laterals in Phelps, Kearney and Gosper counties. Through the years, water carried in Central canals has percolated into the local aquifer, creating a mound of groundwater. Protecting the mound is among the issues of concern for the Citizens Opposed to the Merger.

Last week, Central announced major agreements that could soften merger opponents worries about the groundwater mound.

Under last weeks agreements, the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program will provide $9.15 million for groundwater aquifer recharge services associated with the Phelps Canal and Elwood Reservoir for up to 20 years. The PRIPP also is providing Central $2 million to assist with the $2.3 million Elwood Dam seepage mitigation project to help support those recharge activities.

In addition, the state of Nebraska  through the Department of Natural Resources and partnerships with Tri-Basin and Central Platte natural resources districts  will provide up to $19.1 million to divert water into the E65 Canal, Phelps Canal, Elwood Reservoir and several Waterfowl Production Areas to provide groundwater recharge during the next 15 years.

Brundage and Kautz say that pooling Central and Dawson resources is the best way to thrive and survive in the future.

Exercising political clout will be important, Brundage said, if the state of Nebraska proceeds with the Perkins County Canal proposal. Last year then-Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed building a canal to carry South Platte River water from northeast Colorado into southwest Nebraska.

In that proposal, Nebraska would utilize a century-old water right to the South Platte water. If Nebraska fails to build the canal, it risks losing the water to Colorado.

Brundage said the canal could supply water for important uses in Nebraska, such as cooling the coal-fired Gerald Gentleman power plant at Sutherland. Without South Platte water, Lake McConaughy must supply water for the Platte River.

Kautz and Brundage said the merger of their power and irrigation districts is a complicated topic, especially from a fiscal perspective.

Both districts bring assets to the proposed merger. According to Brundage, the merged Central and Dawson districts would produce $1 billion annually in economic activity.

Dawson has 24,000 customers and in 2022 logged power sales of $71 million. Dawson has $56 million in bonded debt, but it has 5,700 miles of powerlines and $247 million in plant assets.

Central has a $90 million cash reserve and no debt. Among annual revenues, irrigation deliveries brought in $4 million in 2022, lot fees paid by homeowners at Centrals lakes amounted to $1.5 million, and recharge agreements were $700,000. Hydroelectric generation earned Central about $10 million, but revenues from power sales vary widely depending upon the climates effect on electrical demand.

Currently, Central has a limited ability to incur debt, but that would be less of an issue for the consolidated Platte River Public Power and Irrigation District.

Its estimated the cost savings resulting from the merger will be about $11.4 million during the first seven years.

Kautz said informational meetings at locations in the counties affected by the proposed merger were sparsely attended. Although she wishes the crowds would have been larger, Kautz said support for the merger was strong among people with decades of experience: managers, administrators and board members of the two districts.

There were 23 board members, 12 department managers, a consultant with an excellent background and two general managers who felt this merger was good for their customers and stakeholders, Kautz said. Granted, five board members were not in favor of it  as is their right  but you cant dismiss that many years of service dedicated to their industry and label them as not knowing what they are doing.

Brundage said its been exciting to plow through details of the proposed merger. He said the consulting firm Power System Engineering helped boil the complex topics into understandable terms for staff, administration and board members.

Brundage said as he watched the pieces of the merger fall into place he couldnt avoid reflecting upon the events and the visionaries who made it possible to build Lake McConaughy, the Central canal system and other facilities.
Paris Peace Accords a success of Viet Nam's diplomacy: symposium

On January 27, 1973, history was made as the Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam, also known as the Paris Peace Accords, was signed, proving Vietnam's aspirations for peace and the nation's tradition of amicable diplomacy.









A local resident visits an exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Paris Peace Accords open on Monday in Hanoi.  VNA/VNS Photo Tuan uc



The accord also marked an important turning point in the foreign policies of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification in the period of oi moi (Renewal) and extensive international integration over the past 35 years.



Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son made the statement at a symposium highlighting the historical significance and lessons learned from the agreement, held in Hanoi on Monday.



The valuable lessons from this historic negotiation are still valid and need to be effectively applied in implementing the foreign policy of the 13th National Party Congress, stated Son.



Participants agreed that the negotiation's success on the agreement resulted from the skilful and thorough application of President Ho Chi Minh's thoughts on diplomacy and the coordination between Party and State diplomacy with people-to-people diplomacy.



Under the sound and ingenious leadership of the Party Central Committee and President Ho Chi Minh, the agreement created a turning point in the situation and the balance of power, which was beneficial for the Vietnamese revolution towards the complete reunification of the country in 1975.



Deputy head of the Party Central Committees Commission for Information and Education, Le Hai Binh, said that communication work at home and abroad contributed importantly to the achievement of the Paris Peace Accords, as it helped clarify the justice of the resistance war for national salvation, gather the support for Vietnams struggle of people around the world, and encourage American people's movement against the war.



The Paris Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam was signed on January 27, 1973, by the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam, and the US, after 201 open sessions, 45 high-level private talks, 24 secret meetings, 500 press conferences, 1,000 interviews and hundreds of get-togethers in support of Vietnam.



The agreement ended the longest and most difficult struggle in the history of Vietnams diplomacy.



A special publication on the 50th anniversary of the Paris Agreement was made public by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hanoi on the same day.



The Vietnamese-language, 200-page edition includes articles by people who directly participated in the historical negotiations and scholars, diplomatic researchers, journalists and international friends who wholeheartedly supported the struggle for the independence of the Vietnamese people.



Nguyen Truong Son, Editor-in-Chief of the World and Vietnam newspaper, said the publication is not only gratitude and respect for the contributions of previous generations to national independence, unification, peace, prosperity and happiness but also a collection of lessons and experiences learnt from the negotiations, helping generations of diplomats better fulfil the tasks assigned by the Party and State.



It includes an article by Nguyen Thi Binh, head of the negotiation delegation of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam at the Paris Peace Conference, and former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan.


Most residents of Brahmpuri expressed displeasure against the appearance of such posters while some supported it.

Shruti Sharma | TwoCircles.net

NEW DELHI  Early last week, posters emerged in some parts of Brahmpuri in the Shahdara area of northeast New Delhi asking Hindus not to sell their properties to Muslims with a threat that any registration of such a property would be opposed.

The posters were issued in the name of one Pradeep Sharma, a lawyer from Lane no 13, Brahmpuri. It directed that all future transactions in the Brahmpuri area would be between Hindus alone.

Photos of the posters had gone viral on social media, sparking outrage.

Written in Hindi, one of the posters said, All the land owners of Brahmpuri area are informed that no one will sell their house to Muslims. And if they do so, then the residents of the area will not allow the registry to take place. And for this action, he will be held responsible. Any deal in the future should be done with Hindu parties only.

Requested by Pradeep Sharma, advocate, Gali Number 13, Brahmpuri, the poster read.

Brahmpuri is one of the localities in northeast Delhis Shahdara district that witnessed the horror of the 2020 Delhi riots leaving 53 dead and nearly 600 injured. The riots happened around the time anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests were going on across India, including Jafrabad, the Muslim-majority area near Brahmpuri.

This reporter visited Gali numbers 13 and 6 of the Brahmpuri area, where the posters were allegedly put up. Residents of Gali number 13 showed the spots where posters were allegedly put. Most of the posters have now been torn.

In Gali number 6, one poster was still pasted on a wall.

Similar posters were also put up outside of a hair salon run by one Gautam Saxena, a Hindu.

Gautam told TwoCircles.net that he saw the poster on the morning of January 10.

This [posting of such posters] is quite wrong and this might lead to communal distress in the locality. I have witnessed the 2020 riots and its horrors still haunt the people of Brahmpuri, Gautam said.

He admitted that the 2020 riots have a role in putting up such posters.

Mohammad Iqbal, who works at the hair salon, said that people in the area live in harmony and blamed outsiders for the appearance of such posters.

I saw it for the first time on January 10. Whatever is written on the poster is completely wrong. A locality where people from different communities live together, it is disgusting to write such a thing, Iqbal said.

Locals said they are not sure whether the said person [who is named in the poster] put up those posters or not.

This reporter reached out to the lawyer Pradeep Sharma of Gali number 13, who denied his involvement.

The said posters are not in violation of any article of the Indian Constitution, he said.

Tensions between Hindus and Muslims since riots

A 50-year-old man told TwoCircles.net on the condition of anonymity that there is a constant rift between Hindus and Muslims in the area. This [appearance of posters] is inevitable. Things have changed since 2020. So if people want people of their religion to live in their area, it is not wrong.

Another Brahmpuri local Mahesh Goel, the owner of a paint shop, had a different opinion on the matter. If the Muslims are ready to pay us good money then why would we not sell our houses to them? he said.

Deepak Gupta, who lives in Gali number 6, said that the property belongs to them [Hindus] and they can sell it to anyone they want. After the 2020 riots, many people moved from Jaffrabad to live in Brahmpuri. They came only because we sold our property to them, he said, adding, What is written on the poster is useless. After the riots of 2020, communal bitterness has arisen in everyones mind. Even the children of the area know who is a Hindu and who is a Muslim. So such things are going to spoil the atmosphere further, he said.

While most residents of the area expressed displeasure against the appearance of such posters, some supported it.

Jitendra Rastogi, a resident of Gali number 6, supported the appearance of such posters.

The population of Muslims is increasing very rapidly. These people are everywhere. Because of them the road also remains jammed. These people eat meat and throw the leftovers everywhere. We are Brahmins, and we have a problem with that. Muslims are also not ashamed to do any work. They drive rickshaws and do all kinds of work. So if their population increases in our area, then we will have problems, Rastogi said.

Shruti Sharma is a freelance journalist based out of New Delhi. She tweets @imsshruti77

[Edited by Irfan Mehraj. Tweets at @IrfanMeraj]
Also, former letter writers , do you have an update for us? Where are you now? Tell us whether our advice helped. Email [email protected] with "update" in the subject line.

I am kind of worried about what my friends will think, especially the women. They somehow are just not OK with a younger woman. And I am worried what her friends will think of the old guy. We have discussed it and decided that true friends will be accepting. But do you have any thoughts or wisdom for couples with a big age difference? I feel like I'm on the SNL skit " Meet Your Second Wife ". Thanks.

I'm a divorced 48-year-old straight dad. Long story short, I have met a women almost 16 years younger than I am, and we are feeling it big time. We only really hang out just the two of us and the age difference is not an issue besides the occasional pop culture reference.

Listen, it's your life, and if the two of you are happy, that's great. Assuming there aren't other issues (she's awful around your community, she makes you awful, she's bad for your kids, you were her boss, etc.), friends should celebrate your joy.

But please give people in your world room for temporary discomfort. That might preserve your close relationships. You can say to the friends who might eye-roll this, "This age difference might be a red flag to you, and I understand that. Before you turn on it, I ask that you give it time and see how it works  and what this brings to my life."

I say this as someone who's met a lot of friends' significant others; sometimes it's a gift to be told, "Im not asking for immediate wild excitement or an endorsement, just love and support as I try something new."

Let people have their reactions. The "Saturday Night Live" bit got laughs for a reason  because it's a familiar tale, and it's OK if some friends are frustrated. Over time, people will see what's really there, beyond that age difference.

Also know that this relationship is about more than age. You could be very compatible  or not  for so many other reasons. Don't assume that all problems are about the 16 years. You need time to figure out if you share priorities and values. If this continues to work, you'll be more confident about the rest of it.

 Meredith

Readers? How would you advise dealing with friends? What else is happening here?
Wisconsins child care industry continues to face a critical staffing crisis  one that is expected to get worse if federal COVID relief funding isnt replaced once it runs out.

Thats according to a recent national survey of early childhood educators, which found 63.3% of Wisconsin centers are experiencing staffing shortages and that 79.8% of workers are facing burnout and exhaustion. The survey, conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, included responses from 1,173 Wisconsin child care providers.

The survey, the results of which were released last month through the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, also indicated that 32.1% of child care center owners would consider leaving their job or closing their program in the future if economic conditions dont improve.

Dane County child care providers echoed the sentiments expressed in the survey and said the money they receive from the state is merely keeping their businesses afloat.

The U.S. economy loses more than $50 billion per year in revenue, wages and productivity due to persistent child care problems, according to a 2021 Brookings Institution report.

Fueling the states child care staffing crisis are wages that havent kept up with the rising cost of living, as well as financial burdens and closures brought on by COVID-19, WECA said. The state was already seeing child care deserts before the pandemic, or regions where a center cant be found for miles despite major need.

The average wage that child care workers make in the state is $7.50 to $13 an hour, which for a 40-hour work week puts a family of four at or below the 2022 federal poverty rate.

We need to start understanding that child care is a public good, said Ruth Schmidt, WECA executive director, adding that the reports results were striking but not surprising.

Moreover, 45.6% of Wisconsin survey respondents said they are serving fewer children than they would like, with 51.5% reporting longer waitlists of parents needing their facilities.

Government funding

The backlogs are a consequence of staffing shortages, respondents said.

Meanwhile, 27.1% of state providers said their program would close without current financial supports. More than $700 million in federal pandemic relief funding has been given to providers by the state since the start of the health crisis, but it expires in 2024, Schmidt said.

In Wisconsin, a majority of that funding has supported the Child Care Counts program, which provides payments to child care facilities to increase wages and offset other operating costs. WECA said it is advocating for a $300 million investment to continue the program in the states 2023-25 biennial budget.

That money would keep the status quo, Schmidt said, adding that much more is needed from both the public and private sectors to help child care providers flourish, not just remain stable. It will keep (the child care industry) from further receding in our state, she said.

There are some glimmers of hope: Efforts within the last year to financially stabilize the beleaguered child care industry have come from other state organizations, too, as awareness of the problem has grown.

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families in 2022 implemented a program called Project Growth, which included $10 million to help businesses purchase slots for employees at regulated child care facilities, as well as $8.1 million to encourage communities across the state to address local child care workforce and resource needs over the next few years.

Madison Area Technical College received a $2.9 million grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. to help build capacity for child care on Madisons South Side and near other MATC campuses in the region.

Ongoing struggles

Brenda Fritz, owner and administrator of Academy of Little Vikings, a child care center in Mount Horeb, said she hasnt seen a resume come across her desk in months.

The business opened in 2013 and has about 42 employees, Fritz said, and shes looking to hire at least five more. And because of a waitlist of 75 children and growing, Fritz said the center is eyeing an expansion.

But thats not economically viable right now, she said, because of her staffing shortage. The academys waitlist extends into 2024 and includes babies that havent even been born yet, she said. The center currently cares for 165 children ages 0-12.

The academy has been a recipient of Child Care Counts funding of $25,000 a month since May 2021, of which $15,000 boosts employee wages  which average between $15 and $17 an hour  by $500 a month.

The center also gets a separate monthly Child Care Counts stipend of $10,000 to go toward operational costs, and Fritz said that money has been a good retention and stabilization tool.

Fritz said she tells her staff to think of the grant money as bonuses rather than wage increases to drive home the fact that the money may soon go away. Without the grants, she said, she would have to raise tuition for families that use her center.

A lot of lip service

Jen Bailey, executive director of child care program Reach Dane, also receives Child Care Counts funding  roughly $112,000 a month since spring 2021.

The program serves 1,000 children ages 0-5 from mostly low-income families across several Dane County locations, and has 280 employees. It needs to hire 40 more, Bailey said.

Currently, we have 10 classrooms that are closed due to lack of staff, Bailey said.

Both providers said theyve also helped their employees get child care with Project Growth money.

We pay a lot of lip service, but we dont put our money where our mouth is, Bailey said. We need to treat it like the profession it is. We are asking people to care for (children) that are in this critical development stage.
HeatherEllen Archer started the new year with one of the biggest gifts she could ever receive: a roof over her head.

Just a few months prior, Heather had been living in a tent at Houska Park.

Now, she spends every day getting her life back on track with her 2-month-old son in their blue and white cottage.

Heather and her son, Jayce, moved into the bungalow in mid-December.

Her cozy home still has a Christmas tree lighting up the living room  courtesy of her landlord, Jessica Olson.

Due to her past experience of homelessness, Heather is considered a high-risk tenant. Many landlords avoid high-risk tenants and use background checks to weed out potential renters who have past evictions, criminal histories or bad credit.

Olson, who works with her family to manage properties around town, is able to comfortably rent to Heather because of a city program called the Landlord Mitigation Program.

Its refreshing to see the city take a positive note towards landlords here and say, Yes, were going to support you, were going to empathize with you. We dont want bad things to happen to you if youre willing to take these risks, Olson said.

The program helps support landlords who want to rent to high-risk tenants by offering payments of up to $5,000 to the landlord if their unit is damaged or arrears in rent or fees were accumulated. The program also includes a social worker component to help the tenant with the transition.

It basically takes the high risk tenants and puts them on an elevated platform to say, Look, I might have made a mistake in my past, I might have done something I shouldnt have in my past rental situation. But if you take a chance on me, Im going to do my best, Olson said.

Went off the deep end

In 2015, Heather had been living a stable life. She was happily married, lived in Virginia with her kids and managed a business with her spouse. But after the death of her son that year, her life flipped upside-down.

Just a couple years later, in 2018, she and her husband decided to separate.

After my marriage fell apart, I couldnt stay there. I was not getting grief therapy. I was not working on my problems. I self-sabotaged to the point where I lost my home, my employment, Heather said. Even though I had worked for years getting away from that childhood stuff, all of those bad habits were waiting for me the minute that I had something like my son passing away, and I just went right off the deep end.

As a child, Heather experienced abuse and other traumas that led to struggles with her mental health, self-sabotaging and coping abilities. After her divorce, she struggled to maintain stable housing, experienced some substance abuse and eventually found her way to Houska Park.

Its ultimately my fault. I should have gone for grief therapy. I should have not isolated myself, she said. But taking that kind of loss, I didnt want to feel better. I didnt want to be loved. And thats sad because I do have other children and a lot of people that care about me.

Heather attributes part of her success today to the Econo Lodge winter shelter situation in 2021. It was the first time in years that people were trying to help her.

When she first entered the Econo Lodge, Heather was experiencing night terrors and suicidal thoughts, and she would physically run away when things got difficult. The social and program workers who managed the hotel during that time noticed Heathers struggles and helped her.

When she wanted to run out at night, they stopped her, not with force but with compassion.

They started being able to relate to what I was struggling with, Heather said. Many of the social workers had experienced homelessness or substance abuse themselves. They just gained my trust and then they worked with me. A lot of them told me their story first and I became friends and family with all of them.

A couple months later, back in Houska Park, Heather  now pregnant with her son  made the decision to take her life back. She recalled a moment when she was at Houska, watching the social workers try to help and listening to her neighbors have the same argument over and over again.

I just finally reached that place where I felt strong enough to say, I cant do this anymore. I cant live like this, I cant breathe like this, and I want to be able to do better, Heather said. I want to be able to make people proud; when I look in the mirror I want to feel better about myself again.

It is the moment where the change happens. But its the hundred little moments before that. It is everybody in my head, changing that inner voice, she said.

Heather applied for Wisconsin Emergency Rental Assistance and started living at the Norwood Inn, a transitional space, before she found her home. Julie McDermid, a social worker who Heather met while at the Econo Lodge, sponsored her in the Landlord Mitigation Program and helped her find her new home.

That really impressed me, as someone whos really ready to take the huge step of going from living in a tent down by the river to now having a house of their own, its going to feel big, Olson said. Somebody has to be really ready for that step themselves and to have people help them stay on that path. And Heather was ready.

Back on her feet

Heather and Olson are the first pair to utilize the citys Landlord Mitigation Program.

The program has enough funding for up to 10 tenant-landlord pairs. The city received $50,000 of funding for the program from the Johns Flaherty Collins Michael Stoke Memorial, June Kjome Justice & Peace and Community Giving funds of the La Crosse Community Foundation.

The funds only need to be accessed if the landlord experiences damage to the property or unpaid bills. Each landlord is eligible for a payment of up to $5,000.

Brian Sampson, the citys homeless coordinator, worked with a group of landlords, community members and city staff to create the program. It also has a case management program in which a social worker sponsors the tenant and meets with them regularly. Each tenant is eligible to be in the program for two years.

Its got to be a marriage of support. So the landlord takes care of the structure, the physical sticks and bricks, but the case manager needs to take care of the tenant and whats going on in the tenants life. Thats the formula to keep somebody housed long term, Olson said. In the case of Heather, she was a wonderful candidate because she had spent months assembling the support team.

Since Heather and her son are the first tenants, there is room for more people to benefit. Sampson said that he has received interest from both landlords and tenants, but said the city needs to recruit more social workers for the program.

It has potential to be a really good program for our community, Sampson said. Its not going to solve homelessness on its own. Im not even saying its going to be a major piece to the puzzle, but it can be a piece of the puzzle.

Since Heather moved into her new home just about a month ago, she has been going to therapy, support groups and has regular visits from an abundance of program workers who offer her help.

Heather attributes much of her success today to the people of the La Crosse community.

Its not just the city programs. Everybody in this community is playing their part and its actually pretty amazing, she said. I am determined not to let (Olson) down, to not let myself down or let down all of the people that have helped me and really went to bat for me to help me get here.

Throwback from Tribune files: Life in the La Crosse area in the 1950s 1951: La Crosse Central High School 1951: YMCA at Seventh and Main streets 1954: Triangle Cafe 1954: Estell Tall Fashions 1954: Howards Clothes 1954: Crescent Jewelers 1954: Tom's Speedometer Shop 1954: YMCA basketball 1954: 5 and 10-cent Store fire 1955: La Crosse Beauty School 1956: Christmas shoppers in downtown La Crosse 1956: Central High School Memorial Day assembly 1957: Kroger 1957: Jackson Plaza 1957: Old Style newspaper advertisement 1958: 1st National Bank 1958: State Bank of La Crosse 1958: Heat exchanger plant 1958: American Legion parade
A Dane County judge has removed Wisconsin Elections Commission member Robert Spindell from a lawsuit seeking public records related to the 10 Republicans, including Spindell, who falsely attested Donald Trump won Wisconsins 2020 presidential election in an effort to hand the states 10 electoral votes to the former president.

Circuit Court Judge Jacob Frost on Tuesday said the elections commission, not Spindell, is the legal custodian of the requested documents. Frost allowed the case to continue against the commission.

The case relates to a complaint Law Forward filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission in 2021 against the slate of 10 Republicans who signed the official-looking documents. The commission unanimously denied the complaint seeking sanctions against the 10 Republicans, including Spindell.

Law Forward later sued the commission seeking public records related to the commissions consideration of that complaint, alleging that both the agency and Spindell did not produce all responsive records. The law firm has also sued the commission alleging that Spindell should have recused himself from discussion on the complaint, as he was one of the 10 individuals to sign the documents.

In May, a handful of Democrats, represented by Law Forward, filed a lawsuit alleging that the 10 Republicans and the two attorneys who advised them broke several criminal and civil laws  including counterfeiting public records, illegally interfering with official procedures, defrauding the public and engaging in conspiracy  when they met at the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign documents asserting that Trump won the state.

The lawsuit seeks more than $2.4 million in damages, including $2,000 fines for the Republicans and their attorneys, and up to $200,000 in punitive damages for each plaintiff. Plaintiffs in the case include lawfully elected Wisconsin electors Khary Penebaker and Mary Arnold, as well as Bonnie Joseph, who is listed in court documents as someone who objects to Defendants unlawful interference in Wisconsins participation in the Electoral College.

The meeting of Republicans occurred following advice from attorneys with close ties to Trump. Documents have underscored efforts by those in Trumps inner circle to circumvent the Electoral College process in several states, including Wisconsin, following the 2020 election, despite recounts and court decisions affirming that Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes.

The Republicans have said the meeting was to preserve their legal options amid litigation surrounding the election. The meeting took place on the same day the states Democratic slate of electors convened, also at the Capitol, to deliver the states 10 electoral votes to Biden. It also occurred after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Biden had won the election and a month after Wisconsin county clerks canvassed the presidential election results.

5 takeaways from the Jan. 6 report 5. Record for history 1. Eight chapters 2. New details, pressures 4. Safeguarding democracy 3. Behind the scenes
CHERNIHIV, Ukraine  In a Ukrainian hospital ward for wounded soldiers, where daylight barely penetrates, a father talks to his injured son for hours. Serhii Shumei, 64, never scolded Vitalii for choosing to go to war. Even now, despite the damage done to his son's brain by an exploding artillery shell, Serhii feels pride, not pity.

"I've been constantly with him in the last five months, beside him, beside him, beside him," said Serhii, a retired soldier himself. "I'm not going anywhere.  except for a smoke."

Vitalii, a 34-year-old long-range anti-aircraft missile commander, was wounded in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine that has become synonymous with horrific losses in ongoing fighting for both Ukraine and Russia.

Quite how deadly isn't known  because neither side is saying. From the stream of wounded soldiers that are coming off front lines to hospitals like the one where Vitalii lies, it's evident the costs are severe.

Both sides have poured troops and resources to capture or defend Donbas strongholds, fighting over months of grinding, attritional combat to what has largely become a bloody stalemate.

After setbacks elsewhere in Ukraine for President Vladimir Putin's nearly 11-month invasion, Russia is looking for some sort of localized success in the Donbas, even if that just means taking control of a town or two pounded into rubble. Ukraine wants to make Russia's advances as costly as possible.

The Donbas towns of Bakhmut and Soledar have been turned into hellscapes as a result. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described them as "completely destroyed," strewn with corpses and craters, and with "almost no life left."

"This is what madness looks like," Zelenskyy says.

Vitalii was wounded Aug. 25 on another section of the Donbas frontline, in Adviivka, about 45 miles south of Bakhmut. The shell that struck his dugout set off other explosives. The blast tore a crater in Vitalii's skull that is as deep and broad as half a melon. His brain injuries were so severe that doctors doubted he'd show signs of consciousness again.

Now, Vitalii sometimes seems aware of his surroundings. He blinks. He can swallow. But he's largely immobile. Serhii refuses to give up on him.

"We are seeing some progress, getting back on our feet. This is my opinion," he said.

He spends hours at Vitalii's bedside, sharing news from the battlefields, reciting from books, and reading out messages of support.

They're sent by grateful Ukrainians who urge Vitalii to "Hold on to life! We really need you!" and say "You are strong! You will manage!"

Serhii says tears roll down Vitalii's cheeks when he reads them to him. Other signs of improvement appeared in late December, when Vitalii started wiggling his toes, Serhii says. Vitalii also has started to frown, which Serhii interprets as meaning that his son is interested in what he's reading to him.

Recently, Serhii said, another breakthrough: audible responses from Vitalii.

"I've started asking him 'Do you know who I am?' And he answered 'Dad'."

Another of Vitalii's frequent visitors is Iryna Timofeyeva, a volunteer whose brainchild it was to collect messages of support.

"The love of the family, the attention of other people, very often helps the positive dynamics of the patient," she said. "It is very important for the wounded that he is not alone. That is how he understands that he has to fight."

Vitalii is, for now, alone in his ward, after other patients were transferred for rehabilitation elsewhere. But the beds around him are unlikely to stay empty for long, given the ferocity of the fighting in the Donbas.

Vitalii's hospital in Chernihiv, north of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, is among those where soldiers get long-term follow-up care after their wounds have been stabilized closer to the fronts.

Serhii feels that caring for his son is his contribution to the war effort.

"I will put him back on his feet. This is my dream," he said.

Inclining to his son's ear, he asks: "Ukraine will win, we will win, right?"

The answer is silence.
TWIN FALLS  Standing on one of the college campuses he sees as pivotal to Idahos future, Gov. Brad Little on Monday brushed off criticism from hard-right Republicans opposed to his vision for education and emphasized his confidence in educators if the state provides more resources.

A week after detailing his educational initiatives during the 2023 State of the State address in Boise  including pay raises for all teachers regardless of experience and a scholarship fund for all graduating Idaho high school seniors beginning next year  Little also pushed the idea of inspiring students to become teachers during a stop at the College of Southern Idaho.

I want to send a signal to the best and the brightest in our high schools that they need to get into the teaching profession, Little told reporters. And we need to be supportive of them and not discount the professionalism and the sacrifices they make each day.

Additionally, Little highlighted his infrastructure recommendations to the Idaho Legislature  a list of projects that would include maintenance on two bridges in Jerome County, three in Blaine County and eight in Gooding County  and called for more help from our federal partners as states including Idaho wrestle with an ongoing fentanyl epidemic.

Nobodys ever seen anything like fentanyl before, Little said. It is unbelievable how much  is going across the (southern) border.  The organized crime in Mexico, theyre controlling the flow of fentanyl and we need to do all we can to stop that.

But, as in the State of the State, Little put education at the forefront during a news conference inside the Presidents Board Room at CSI.

Our systems not perfect, but our system does comport with our constitutional obligation to provide a free, uniform, thorough system of public common schools. And thats in our Constitution, he said.

I dont think our system is broken at all, and he added, I have a high level of confidence in our educators that if we give them the tools and the support they need that well continue to give our kids in Idaho a great education.

The Republican governors approach to bolstering education funding drew almost immediate, and harsh, pushback last week from his own state party and the Idaho Freedom Caucus, a 12-member group of Republican legislators that includes District 24 Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld of Twin Falls

While Republican Party Chair Dorothy Moon  a retired teacher  agreed on the importance of emphasizing education, she said the party was deeply disappointed in Littles embrace of teachers union policy objectives and likened the governors vision to that of Colorados incumbent progressive Democrat governor, Jared Polis.

Its worth noting that, all across the Union, Republican governors are boldly reshaping education: expanding parental authority over spending and curricula; enhancing teacher training; modernizing facilities; and reining in abuses among regents, superintendents, school boards, and unions, Moon said in a statement. If Republican governors can push bold reforms in Florida or Virginia or Missouri, the same can be done in Idaho, as well.

The Freedom Caucus, meanwhile, described Littles proposal to increase teacher pay by 10% regardless of how good or bad a teacher may be as a nod to socialism and blasted the proposed $8,500 Idaho Launch scholarships as something we expect from the Biden administration, not from conservative Idaho.

What Idaho needs is more Ron DeSantis, less Gavin Newsom, the caucus said in a statement, referencing the Republican governor from Florida and the Democratic governor from California.

Of such criticism, Little said Monday, I guess if you dont care about people having jobs and kids, you might have a problem with it.

To overcome competing political ideologies, Little said he, his allies and parents across the state must explain to them the importance of further funding in education and push past these ideas, concepts, theories (that) come from other states that are way different than Idaho.

Like I said, our schools arent perfect, but they are doing a remarkable job, the governor said.

Little pointed to Idaho Launch as a tool to address the states growing need for a skilled workforce  specifically health care workers, teachers and other on-demand professionals.

Twin Falls, for example, has faced enormous workforce challenges in recent years, Little said, adding, And just think how big the challenges would be if you didnt have this institution here. Over and over and over, the businesses that are growing here rely on CSI.

The $8,500 scholarships would cover both years here, he said, while also helping alleviate a workforce shortage that he called probably the biggest throttle on continued prosperity in Idaho.
All schools within Gooding School District were closed Monday due to a threat late Sunday night.

Late that night, a middle school principal alerted school district officials that she had seen a post possibly linked to a student at the school, Superintendent Spencer Larsen said.

Because of the seriousness of the matter, all three schools were closed due to their close proximity.

The districts Facebook page didnt elaborate on the nature of the threat.

The Gooding Police Department and Gooding County Sheriffs Office investigated.

The matter has been resolved and a juvenile will be referred to the prosecutors office, Police Chief Dave Fisher said Monday in a statement.

As a result of the schools being closed for safety reasons, a second threat emerged and was investigated as well with numerous tips being received, Fisher said. The second threat was unfounded, a direct result of sharing of a screenshot over various social media platforms, such as Snap Chat.

The school plans to hold classes as usual on Tuesday.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on Monday that Henry County is getting more than $22 million to grade an additional 93 acres at Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre, to create a new 150-acre pad.

The money is part of $90 million in grants Youngkin said would go to develop industrial sites across Virginia.

Henry County Administrator Dale Wagoner talked about it at an event in Sandy Level on Monday: "It will be the only one like it in the state, and will attract a billion-dollar company, not one in the millions."

Wagoner described the site as capable of creating "generational change" in Henry County in the near future.

In addition to Henry County, 20 other sites were awarded development grants under the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program (VBRSP), a discretionary program designed to increase the number of competitive project-ready sites in Virginia.

"The leading priority of the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program is to increase our project-ready sites portfolio across the Commonwealth, and this unprecedented site development funding is an important step forward in strengthening Virginia's infrastructure," said Youngkin in a release. "Prepared sites drive economic growth, and we have to move faster to attract new businesses. We are hitting the accelerator to build a best-in-class business environment so the Commonwealth can compete to win, and I have included the necessary additional funding for the VBRSP in my proposed budget."

Wagoner said that once complete, the new site on Lot #2 will be greater than 100 acres and include rail access with all utilities in place, making it the only site like it in Virginia.

"This grant is spectacular news for our community," said Henry County Board of Supervisors Chair Jim Adams in a release. "I'd like to thank the Governor, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, County staff and the team at the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation. We've had tremendous success attracting industries to Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre and the funds from this grant will help us build on that momentum."

The grant to Henry County was second only to $25 million awarded to Chesterfield County, and neighboring Pittsylvania County will receive $1.5 million for further development at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill.

Speed to market is an increasingly crucial factor in site selection decisions for economic development projects, and we are making strategic infrastructure investments to ensure a robust portfolio of sites, said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick in the release. These Virginia Business Ready Sites Program grant awards will enhance 21 sites around the Commonwealth, helping to ensure that site demands across a wide spectrum of project parameters can be met and that all regions participate in Virginias economic growth.

The VBRSP was developed by a team of state, regional and local stakeholders including the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), Virginia Department of Environment Quality, railroad representatives, utility representatives, civil engineers, and other government, business and industry representatives. Grants are considered on a competitive basis and made at the discretion of an investment committee composed of VEDP and administration leaders, the release stated.

It is critical for Virginia to create a diverse portfolio of sites that are attractive to different industry sectors and meet varying location and infrastructure needs, and these grants are a major step in the right direction to help the Commonwealth catch up on site development, said VEDP President and CEO Jason El Koubi in the release. Additional funding for the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program will allow VEDP to expand the program and invest in more sites, enhancing the Commonwealths infrastructure and accelerating economic development in Virginia.
McDowell authorities located a fugitive from Ohio wanted for rape, the Sheriffs Office said in a Tuesday news release.

Detective David Jones with the McDowell County Sheriffs Office Community Impact Team charged 24-year-old Colin Douglas Rivera for being a fugitive. Rivera had outstanding warrants in Ohio for rape/sexual battery.

On Jan. 9, an anonymous tip led Detective Jones to a Nebo residence where Rivera was located and subsequently arrested. He is being held pending an extradition hearing.

A check of the N.C. Department of Public Safetys offender database shows Rivera has previous convictions in Burke County for stalking and violation of a protective order.
The Prime minister of Sao Tome said on Monday that the use of the social fund of workers of the Port of Sao Tome by the Safebond group management is very serious and that the government will take care of the matter, after protests of the employees.

From what they said and what we know, it is a serious situation when a management that claims to be a large international group, that is going to invest millions in the country, that has great capacities and great works done, uses the workers social fund. This is very serious, and the workers were right to be extremely worried about the situation, said the Prime Minister, Patrice Trovoada, who received a group of workers on Friday.

Now, we are going to take care of the matterone more matterbecause in reality there are many matters connected with the installation of this Safebond group in our country, the prime minister added.

On Thursday, a group of workers at the port of So Tome suspended activities and accused the new administration of the company managed by the Safebond consortium of misusing 40.7 million euros from the workers social fund, an accusation rejected by the company.

Worker Elcio Barros said that Safebond has been using the monies from the workers social fund to do the day-to-day management of the port. Basically, they are stealing from us here. Even when they took the company, they took money from Enaport that was in the account; they ate all the money. Now they are eating money from the workers social fund. This is unacceptable. If the company came, it was to invest, not to use workers money to do the day-to-day management, said Elcio Barros.

For his part, the CEO of Safebond Consortium STP, Samuel Ntow-Kummi, said on Thursday, When we took over the port there were a lot of difficulties. Speaking of the fund, there was a lot of debt and liabilities that we are dealing with [] This morning we had a meeting and we saw the total debts that we found in Enaport and that debt was 118,965,182 dobras [4.85 million euros] and for the social fund debt we found 5,762,415 dobras [235 thousand euros].

The CEO assured that he would settle the workers social fund amounts on Friday. The Prime Minister stressed on Monday that the port of Ana Chaves is the only one where all goods enter and all exports leave the country.
The European Union (EU) delegation in Angola signed yesterday financing contracts for four projects in the area of human rights, which will receive a total of 850 thousand euros.

The four projects, with duration of two to three years, were selected following a call for proposals to strengthen the protection and respect for human rights, democracy and fundamental freedoms in Angola, in the areas of greatest risk.

Specifically, the projects were intended to contribute to the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights, combat gender-based violence, and strengthen the right to information and freedom of expression.

The projects For the Girls and Women of Cabinda of the organizations World Vision and Salesians Don Bosco of Angola, which aim to strengthen civil society organizations and create a network of activists for the elimination of gender violence, and Expanding Rights, Building the Future of ADRA (Action for Rural Development and Environment), aimed at respect for sexual and reproductive rights of adolescents and youth and reducing vulnerability in rural areas of the provinces of Huambo and Malanje, were selected.

The projects Change, from the Support League for the Integration of the Disabled (Lardef), aimed at the social and economic inclusion of people with disabilities in Angola, and The Journalists VoicePhase II, implemented by Radio Ecclesia and the Union of Angolan Journalists, to strengthen the role of journalists in terms of ensuring human rights and freedom of the press and information, were also chosen.

Speaking at the end of the ceremony, the head of the EU embassy, Jeannete Seppen, said that the European Union maintains an annual dialogue with the Angolan government on these issues.

It is not an evaluation of Angola or the EU; each party presents its vision and says how it has been working; there are points that are more critical for us and others that are more critical for the EU; it is a dialogue to exchange information and experiences, and it is on this basis that we work. Celeste Januario told the media.
Malis ambassador to Gabon Mamadou Mandjou Berthe has been found dead in his room in the capital of the central African country, Gabonese news agency AGP announced.

The agency said Berthe passed away Saturday, in the Gabonese capital of Libreville. The diplomat was whisked to the military hospital of Akanda for treatment but was later pronounced dead.

The mission did not provide further details about the loss. Berthe was Malis ambassador to Belgium from 2019 to 2022.

Malis Foreign ministry confirmed the death but did not provide the cause. In this painful circumstance, the Ministry, on behalf of His Excellency Colonel Assimi GOITA, President of the Transition, Head of State, presents its most saddened condolences to the entire Malian nation, to the entire family of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as to the family of the deceased, who are grieving, the ministry said.
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Gradient-weighted class activation maps of representative chest radiographs in (A) an 85-year-old man with acute coronary syndrome (ACS), (B) a 77-year-old man with aortic dissection (AD), (C) a 39-year-old healthy man, and (D) a 27-year-old healthy woman. The maps show which parts of the images influenced deep learning (DL) model predictions for the composite outcome. The color gradient shows the level of activation from that given area, where red indicates the highest activation, blue indicates the lowest activation, and no color indicates no activation. Areas of the heart and lungs contributed most model predictions. Fine-tuning improved the diagnostic accuracy of our DL model and resulted in more relevant areas contributing to predictions. ACS = acute coronary syndrome, CTA = coronary CT angiography, ICA = invasive coronary angiography, SPECT = single-photon emission CT. Credit: Radiological Society of North America

Artificial intelligence (AI) may help improve care for patients who show up at the hospital with acute chest pain, according to a study published in Radiology.

"To the best of our knowledge, our deep learning AI model is the first to utilize chest X-rays to identify individuals among acute chest pain patients who need immediate medical attention," said the study's lead author, Marton Kolossvary, M.D., Ph.D., radiology research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston.

Acute chest pain syndrome may consist of tightness, burning or other discomfort in the chest or a severe pain that spreads to your back, neck, shoulders, arms, or jaw. It may be accompanied by shortness of breath.

Acute chest pain syndrome accounts for over 7 million emergency department visits annually in the United States, making it one of the most common complaints.

Fewer than 8% of these patients are diagnosed with the three major cardiovascular causes of acute chest pain syndrome, which are acute coronary syndrome, pulmonary embolism or aortic dissection. However, the life-threatening nature of these conditions and low specificity of clinical tests, such as electrocardiograms and blood tests, lead to substantial use of cardiovascular and pulmonary diagnostic imaging, often yielding negative results.

As emergency departments struggle with high patient numbers and shortage of hospital beds, effectively triaging patients at very low risk of these serious conditions is important.

Deep learning is an advanced type of artificial intelligence (AI) that can be trained to search X-ray images to find patterns associated with disease.

For the study, Dr. Kolossvary and colleagues developed an open-source deep learning model to identify patients with acute chest pain syndrome who were at risk for 30-day acute coronary syndrome, pulmonary embolism, aortic dissection or all-cause mortality, based on a chest X-ray.

The study used electronic health records of patients presenting with acute chest pain syndrome who had a chest X-ray and additional cardiovascular or pulmonary imaging and/or stress tests at MGH or Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston between January 2005 and December 2015. For the study, 5,750 patients (mean age 59, including 3,329 men) were evaluated.

The deep-learning model was trained on 23,005 patients from MGH to predict a 30-day composite endpoint of acute coronary syndrome, pulmonary embolism or aortic dissection and all-cause mortality based on chest X-ray images.

The deep-learning tool significantly improved prediction of these adverse outcomes beyond age, sex and conventional clinical markers, such as d-dimer blood tests. The model maintained its diagnostic accuracy across age, sex, ethnicity and race. Using a 99% sensitivity threshold, the model was able to defer additional testing in 14% of patients as compared to 2% when using a model only incorporating age, sex, and biomarker data.

"Analyzing the initial chest X-ray of these patients using our automated deep learning model, we were able to provide more accurate predictions regarding patient outcomes as compared to a model that uses age, sex, troponin or d-dimer information," Dr. Kolossvary said. "Our results show that chest X-rays could be used to help triage chest pain patients in the emergency department."

According to Dr. Kolossvary, in the future such an automated model could analyze chest X-rays in the background and help select those who would benefit most from immediate medical attention and may help identify patients who may be discharged safely from the emergency department.

More information: Marton Kolossvary et al, Deep Learning Analysis of Chest Radiographs to Triage Patients with Acute Chest Pain Syndrome, Radiology (2023). DOI: 10.1148/radiol.221926 dx.doi.org/Jin Mo Goo, Triaging: Another Vital Application of the Deep Learning Technique on Chest Radiographs at the Emergency Department, Radiology (2023). dx.doi.org/10.1148/radiol.223112 Journal information: Radiology
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(A) Encoding modeling of semantic brain representations. (B) Network analysis of semantic brain representations. Credit: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, TMDU

In a study published last month in Schizophrenia Bulletin, researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) revealed that the semantic networks in the brains of schizophrenia patients are very different from those in healthy humans.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness that usually presents with delusions, hallucinations, and incoherent speech and behavior. The fundamental feature of the disease is "loosening of associations" between ideas, which disrupts patients' thought processes. Now, researchers from Japan have tried to study the structural characteristics of the semantic networks in the brain that reflect thought disorder in schizophrenia.

(A) Group comparison of small-worldness. (B) Correlation between the Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI) scores and small-worldness. r, correlation coefficient; p, p-value. Credit: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, TMDU

Semantic processing seems to be impaired in patients with schizophrenia because of the functional disconnection between neurons. To characterize this pathology, researchers from TMDU investigated the brain activity of 14 patients with schizophrenia and 17 healthy individuals. All of the participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while watching soundless color movies.

"It is now possible to quantitatively evaluate the semantic representations of individual words in the brain, thanks to fMRI showing brain activity and language processing techniques," says Hidehiko Takahashi, senior author. To understand the difference in brain characteristics, the team analyzed a large-scale connectivity structure of neuronal representations, or a "semantic brain network," using network analysis or graph theory, which deals with the mathematical characteristics of such graphs.

Different colors represent different categories that serve as predefined modules. Credit: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, TMDU

The team found that the semantic networks in the brains of healthy individuals have small-world properties similar to natural languages, meaning that concepts are organized into specific semantic domains and are globally connected, enabling coherent thought and speech. In contrast, the semantic networks of schizophrenia patients were highly modular with distinct categories, and the structure within each category was disorganized and randomized. These impairments in semantics and associations contribute to thought disorder, including delusion.

This study provided evidence for the "loosening of associations" observed in patients with schizophrenia. This new approach can help us understand how the brains of patients with schizophrenia or any other thought disorder perceive the world. It can even help to inform the development of new treatments for psychiatric diseases.

More information: Yukiko Matsumoto et al, Disorganization of Semantic Brain Networks in Schizophrenia Revealed by fMRI, Schizophrenia Bulletin (2022). DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbac157

Provided by Tokyo Medical and Dental University
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Credit: Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock

Adverse menstruation-related symptoms are common during menstrual cycles, which occur about once a month in healthy women. Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) and premenstrual syndrome (PMS) are especially prevalent and problematic, causing cramps, body pain, and numerous other disruptive physical and emotional symptoms. Now, a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted in Japan has found commonalities in risk factors for the prevalence and severity of PD and PMS, and has shown that some symptoms can be successfully self-managed.

Previous studies investigating PD and PMS symptoms have found a range of risk factors with no clear conclusions. Many studies have limited their scope to PD during menstruation and PMS before menstruation. Professor Nakata's research group, however, found symptoms to be prevalent and similar both before and during menstruation. Their review, therefore, included symptoms at both stages. The researchers, led by Professor Yoshio Nakata, examined English and Japanese studies on menstrual-related symptoms, focusing on PD and PMS.

Professor Nakata's team first performed a search of English and Japanese biomedical literature. They sought observational studies of healthy women, and that targeted PD and PMS. Further review refined the list from 1,479 to 77 studies that met the exacting criteria. From these, they extracted data on physical characteristics, menstrual characteristics, and lifestyle factors.

The results showed that physical characteristics, like age and BMI; menstrual characteristics, such as longer periods and irregular cycles; and lifestyle factors, including sleeping duration and smoking, all affected the prevalence and severity of menstrual-related symptoms. Some of the identified risk factors were beyond the individual's control, such as age and family history. Other characteristics, however, offer hope for alleviating symptoms.

"Among our findings, BMI, stress, sleep duration, and bedtime were associated with PD prevalence, while smoking was associated with PMS prevalence," Professor Nakata says. "The good news is that women can do a lot to manage these risk factors for themselves."

The research is published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

To the best of the researchers' knowledge, this is the first study to comprehensively examine how much all these factors affect PD and PMS prevalence and severity. Intervention and management addressing the most significant factors may improve symptoms and thereby improve quality of life for many women.

More information: Risa Mitsuhashi et al, Factors Associated with the Prevalence and Severity of Menstrual-Related Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2022). DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20010569 Journal information: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
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Transmission electron micrograph of RSV. Credit: CDC/ Dr. Erskine Palmer / Public Domain

US biotech company Moderna on Tuesday announced positive interim trial results for its vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in adults over the age of 60.

There are no jabs currently available for the virus, which is a top cause of lower respiratory diseases, commonly leading to bronchiolitis in children and pneumonia in the elderly.

However numerous vaccines and treatments are under development, most notably by Moderna's rival COVID-19 vaccine maker Pfizer.

Moderna's vaccine was found to be nearly 84 percent effective against RSV-linked diseases in Phase III trialsthe final stage of human testingthe firm said in a statement.

The trial of the vaccine, which uses the new mRNA technology from Moderna's COVID jab, involves some 37,000 adults over 60 in 22 countries including the United States.

The company released the findings of an interim analysis, which has not been peer-reviewed.

In the placebo group, there were 55 cases of RSV-linked lower respiratory tract disease with at least two symptoms, compared to nine in the group that received the vaccine, it said.

The vaccine had no serious side effects, the company added.

Moderna plans to apply for regulatory approval for the vaccine in the US, Europe and other regions in the coming months.

This could make it available for the RSV season in the Northern Hemisphere's winter this year, Moderna's chief medical officer Paul Burton told AFP.

The company is also testing the vaccine for use in children, but those trials are still at the first phase.

'Good news'

In high-income countries, RSV caused 5.2 million cases of severe disease among adults over 60 in 2019, Moderna said.

Up to 30,000 elderly patients die every year in G7 countries due to the virus, Burton added.

He said that the number of doses required for Moderna's vaccine was yet to determined.

The positive results come after Pfizer announced in December that its own RSV vaccine for over-60s was granted priority review status by the US Food and Drug Administration.

The previous month, Pfizer said another of its RSV vaccines, which is given to pregnant mothers, was effective at protecting newborns.

Also in November, the European Union approved a preventative treatment which works similarly to a vaccine made by AstraZeneca and Sanofi which has been shown to prevent severe illness from RSV in infants.

When asked about other RSV vaccines being developed by Moderna's rivals, Burton said "it's good news".

"The public has gone seven decades with nothing" to fight the virus, and soon could have multiple options, he said.

Moderna is also looking at whether the RSV jab can be combined with COVID and even influenza vaccines, after soaring cases of all three in recent months was dubbed a "tripledemic".

 2023 AFP
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The global epidemic innovations fund said Tuesday it was working with a vaccine manufacturer to create a patch using mRNA technology, which would be easier to use against COVID.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) said it would provide up to $4.3 million to biotechnology company Vaxxas to advance development of a patch for mRNA vaccines.

Messenger ribonucleic acid vaccinessuch as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID jabshave been among the most heavily used during the pandemic.

However, they have the disadvantage of needing ultracold storage before use. Pfizer's jab must be stored at minus 60 to minus 90 degrees Celsius (minus 76 to minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit).

Vaxxas' vaccine delivery platform could improve access to mRNA vaccines by removing the need for frozen storage, enabling easier distribution and offering accurate and safe dosing with minimal waste, CEPI said.

The fund's investment will go towards laboratory testing of a patch "to assess its stability, safety and immunogenicity and to evaluate its potential as a rapid-response technology for heat-stable, dried-formulation mRNA vaccines", CEPI said in a statement.

High-density microarray patches (HD-MAPs) are made up of thousands of microscopic points attached to a small patch.

Each point contains a tiny dose of vaccine in a dried format. When put on the skin, the patch delivers vaccine to the immune cells immediately below the skin surface.

Besides the dried form of the vaccine being more stable at higher temperatures than liquid vaccines, patches are easier to administer than needle- and syringe-injectable vaccines.

"Ultimately, HD-MAP patches... could be mailed directly to peoples' homes, workplaces and schools," CEPI said.

CEPI chief executive Richard Hatchett said the advances in mRNA vaccine technology were critical to the global COVID-19 response, and adapting it to patches could improve access.

He called it "particularly promising as a platform for rapid delivery of vaccines in an outbreak situation, particularly in harder to reach regions".

Next generation COVID vaccines

CEPI, along with the Gavi vaccine alliance and the World Health Organization, co-led the Covax effort to deploy donor-funded COVID-19 vaccines to poorer nations.

CEPI was an early investor in the Novavax jab, one of only nine COVID-19 vaccines which have been given the WHO stamp of approval.

More than 13.1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far, according to the WHO.

The race is on to develop the next generation of COVID-19 vaccines, which could offer longer-lasting protection, be more specific to dominant variants, or use a different method of delivery other than jabs.

The WHO is aware of 176 potential COVID-19 vaccines in clinical development and being tested on humans, as well as a further 199 that are being worked on in the labs.

Of those in the clinical phase, 159 are injectable and five are oral, with no data on the remaining 12.

The WHO has spoken in the past of hopes for a nasal vaccine that can be inhaled.

 2023 AFP
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Credit: Shutterstock

Group A streptococci, also known as strep A, were the first organisms ever identified to be the cause of a disease.

In the mid-1800s, Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis first noted the link between a lack of hygienic practicessuch as handwashingamong medical staff and puerperal (or childbirth) fever. Louis Pasteur subsequently demonstrated that it was caused by the microbe we now refer to as strep A.

Puerperal fever, a life-threatening condition, is much less common now, but strep A has not gone away. In fact, it is known to cause more types of disease than any other single micro-organism.

And infections appear to be on the rise.

A common organism that can cause everyday and rare illnesses

Strep A organisms commonly live on people and, while they don't usually cause disease, they can become virulent. Their propensity to cause illness depends on the strain of the organism, the simultaneous presence of other microbes (often viruses), and the level of immunity the person may already have.

The most common diseases caused by strep A are tonsillitis (also called "strep throat") and impetigo (also known as "school sores").

These conditions are relatively benign, but if untreated can give rise in some individuals to deadly complications, including "invasive" strep A disease and rheumatic heart disease, which is the most commonly acquired heart disease in people younger than 25.

Other conditions caused by strep A include erysipelas and cellulitis (infections of the skin), glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the kidneys), scarlet fever (named for the red rash it causes) and toxic shock syndrome (which can cause organ failure and death).

Rising cases in children

Recently, there is concern because case numbers of invasive streptococcal disease (now a notifiable disease in Australia) are rising, particularly among children.

Invasive disease occurs when an otherwise simple infection of the tonsils or skin spreads beyond the local tissue and invades deep tissue. From there it can spread to distant sites in the body, leading to shock, potential loss of limbs, and death.

Although cases are on the rise in multiple countries, the chances of an individual case of strep throat progressing to invasive disease are low. Worldwide there is an estimated incidence of around 700 million cases of tonsillitis or school sores every year, of which about 1 in 1,000 lead to invasive disease.

The reason for the recent jump in case numbers of invasive disease is unclear.

A new strain may be responsible but this needs more investigation. We know there are hundreds of strains of strep A.

In the United Kingdom, which has also seen a significant rise in cases, a few strains seem to dominate. But these same strains have been circulating in the community for several years.

Is it because of lockdowns?

It seems likely, both in the UK and here, that the main reason we are seeing more cases now is because we are experiencing more respiratory infections across the board as we come out of COVID-imposed isolation, especially from influenza.

Co-infection with influenza and strep A can render both infections significantly more dangerous and difficult to control.

I am not aware of data showing invasive strep A cases are occurring more in people also infected with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID), but this requires investigation also.

Should we be alarmed? We are rightly nervous when we see a sudden jump in any serious infectious disease, but early indications are that the rates of invasive disease are similar to pre-pandemic rates.

Old lessons and future protections

The population groups most at risk are those under ten years or over 65 years of age. People with chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer or who are immunosuppressed are also less able to fight off infection. These groups and those who care for them need to be more vigilant.

Warning signs are a sore throat and high fever, especially if combined with a skin rash (scarlet fever), severe pain from an infected skin sore, and any difficulties with breathing. Prompt medical attention is required for any of these symptoms.

Hygiene practices are also important for prevention. Strep A is highly contagious and as such we should adhere to the habits we all learnt during the pandemicwashing hands frequently, coughing or sneezing into a tissue and staying home if symptomatic. These measures will limit spread and are no less important now than they were when Semmelweis first proposed them in 1847.

In the long term, a vaccine to prevent strep A infection would completely prevent invasive strep A disease and rheumatic heart disease.

A few groups worldwide are developing strep A vaccines. Our group has one that is undergoing a clinical trial in Alberta, Canada. The vaccine was developed at Griffith University and is aimed at preventing infection of the throat or skin from all strains of strep A.

If it does this, it will also prevent invasive strep A disease and rheumatic heart disease. Globally, that could save as many as 500,000 lives each year.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Credit: iScience (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105901

A novel peptide designed by University of California, Irvine researchers has been found to suppress the damaging lung inflammation seen in acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS. The study, which appears in iScience, describes the first specific treatment designed to prevent the deadly disease, which can appear in patients with severe lung injury from infections with bacteria and viruses, like pneumonia, flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19.

The mouse study revealed how the C6 peptide blocks voltage-gated Hv1 proton channels in white blood cells called neutrophils, suppressing the production of damaging reactive oxygen species, proteases and cytokines. This inhibits infiltration of the lung tissue by these cells that trigger uncontrolled inflammation and fluid buildup seen in severely damaged lungs.

The study was led by Dr. Steven A. N. Goldstein, distinguished professor of pediatrics, physiology & biophysics and pharmaceutical sciences at UC Irvine; Ruiming Zhao, assistant project scientist at UC Irvine; and Dr. Andreas Schwingshackl, associate professor of pediatrics at UCLA.

ARDS occurs when the lungs become inflamed following injury or infections. Inflammation and fluid buildup damage the lung tissue, decreasing how much oxygen can reach the bloodstream. People with ARDS have shortness of breath and failure of oxygenation that is so severe that they often require support from a ventilator.

Numerous studies over the past decade show that ARDS affects approximately 200,000 adults and 8,000 children each year in the U.S., causing 75,000 and 1,500 deaths, respectively. ARDS survivors often have long-lasting adverse outcomes, including cognitive dysfunction, mental health issues and physical impairments. In fact, only 50 percent of ARDS patients discharged from the hospital return to their jobs in the first two years.

"Despite five decades of effort, there are no disease-modifying drugs that can treat patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome," said Goldstein, who is also the vice chancellor of health affairs at UC Irvine. "The C6 peptide shows promise as a therapy for this damaging lung disease, giving hope to patients where so little exists now."

In an established mouse model, the researchers administered the C6 peptide in a clinically relevant manner to mice to suppress disease. In addition, they showed that C6 inhibits Hv1 in human neutrophilsthe predominant inflammatory cell type accumulating in the lungs of ARDS patientsshutting down the same inflammatory signaling pathways that it did in mice. The absence of apparent toxic side effects in the mice suggests that targeting Hv1 will be tolerated in humans as a therapeutic approach to ARDS, and that C6 may also be useful in treating other inflammatory diseases.

The UC Irvine researchers first created the novel C6 peptide in 2018 and found in 2022 that it could become a more potent therapeutic when linking together two of the peptides.

Peptides are small chains of amino acids and are becoming more widely used as drugs in recent years. They constitute a subset of medications called biologics that are proving desirable for drug discovery. They differ from proteins like antibodies, which are made from longer, more complex amino acid chains.

Goldstein said the next steps include further study of C6, C6 derivatives, and small molecule mimetics his team has isolated to treat inflammatory diseases of the lungs and other tissues, including assessment of how long the peptide stays in the body and how it gets eliminated.

Benjamin Lopez of UCLA was also a crucial contributor to the design and execution of the experiments.

More information: Ruiming Zhao et al, Protection from acute lung injury by a peptide designed to inhibit the voltage-gated proton channel, iScience (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105901 Journal information: iScience
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:

An illustration and microscopic images show the relationship between motion-sensing vestibular hair cells (blue) of the innermost ear and the cup-shaped calyx (green) structures of adjoining nerves that connect directly to the brain. The rapid flow of information through the synapses helps stabilize balance and vision in humans and many other animals. Researchers from Rice University, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois Chicago created the first quantitative model that shows how potassium ions (K+) and electrical signals are transmitted across the synapses to rapidly deliver information to the brain. Credit: Aravind Chenrayan Govindaraju/Rice University

The sensory organs that allow us to walk, dance and turn our heads without dizziness or loss of balance contain specialized synapses that process signals faster than any other in the human body.

In a discovery more than 15 years in the making, a small group of neuroscientists, physicists and engineers from several institutions has unlocked the mechanism of the synapses, paving the way for research that could improve treatments for vertigo and balance disorders that affect as many as 1 in 3 Americans over age 40.

The new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes the workings of "vestibular hair cell-calyx synapses," which are found in organs of the innermost ear that sense head position and movements in different directions.

"Nobody fully understood how this synapse can be so fast, but we have shed light on the mystery," said Rob Raphael, a Rice University bioengineer who co-authored the study with the University of Chicago's Ruth Anne Eatock, the University of Illinois Chicago's Anna Lysakowski, current Rice graduate student Aravind Chenrayan Govindaraju and former Rice graduate student Imran Quraishi, now an assistant professor at Yale University.

Synapses are biological junctions where neurons can relay information to one another and other parts of the body. The human body contains hundreds of trillions of synapses, and almost all of them share information via quantal transmission, a form of chemical signaling via neurotransmitters that requires at least 0.5 milliseconds to send information across a synapse.

Prior experiments had shown a faster, "nonquantal" form of transmission occurs in vestibular hair cell-calyx synapses, the points where motion-sensing vestibular hair cells meet afferent neurons that connect directly to the brain. The new research explains how these synapses operate so quickly.

In each, a signal-receiving neuron surrounds the end of its partner hair cell with a large cuplike structure called a calyx. The calyx and hair cell remain separated by a tiny gap, or cleft, measuring just a few billionths of a meter.

"The vestibular calyx is a wonder of nature," Lysakowski said. "Its large cup-shaped structure is the only one of its kind in the entire nervous system. Structure and function are intimately related, and nature obviously devoted a great deal of energy to produce this structure. We've been trying to figure out its special purpose for a long time."

From the ion channels expressed in hair cells and their associated calyces, the authors created the first computational model capable of quantitatively describing the nonquantal transmission of signals across this nanoscale gap. Simulating nonquantal transmission allowed the team to investigate what happens throughout the synaptic cleft, which is more extensive in vestibular synapses than other synapses.

"The mechanism turns out to be quite subtle, with dynamic interactions giving rise to fast and slow forms of nonquantal transmission," Raphael said. "To understand all this, we made a biophysical model of the synapse based on its detailed anatomy and physiology."

The model simulates the voltage response of the calyx to mechanical and electrical stimuli, tracking the flow of potassium ions through low-voltage-activated ion channels from pre-synaptic hair cells to the post-synaptic calyx.

Raphael said the model accurately predicted changes in potassium in the synaptic cleft, providing key new insights about changes in electrical potential that are responsible for the fast component of nonquantal transmission; explained how nonquantal transmission alone could trigger action potentials in the post-synaptic neuron; and showed how both fast and slow transmission depend on the close and extensive cup formed by the calyx on the hair cell.

Eatock said, "The key capability was the ability to predict the potassium level and electrical potential at every location within the cleft. This allowed the team to illustrate that the size and speed of nonquantal transmission depend on the novel structure of the calyx. The study demonstrates the power of engineering approaches to elucidate fundamental biological mechanisms, one of the important but sometimes overlooked goals of bioengineering research."

Quraishi began constructing the model and collaborating with Eatock in the mid-2000s when he was a graduate student in Raphael's research group and she was on the faculty of Baylor College of Medicine, just a few blocks from Rice in Houston's Texas Medical Center.

His first version of the model captured important features of the synapse, but he said gaps in "our knowledge of the specific potassium channels and other components that make up the model was too limited to claim it was entirely accurate."

Since then, Eatock, Lysakowski and others discovered ion channels in the calyx that transformed scientists' understanding of how ionic currents flow across hair cell and calyx membranes.

Qurashi said, "The unfinished work had weighed on me," and he was both relieved and excited when Govindaraju, a Ph.D. student in applied physics, joined Raphael's lab and resumed work on the model in 2018.

"By the time I started on the project, more data supported nonquantal transmission," Govindaraju said. "But the mechanism, especially that of fast transmission, was unclear. Building the model has given us a better understanding of the interplay and purpose of different ion channels, the calyx structure and dynamic changes in potassium and electric potential in the synaptic cleft."

Raphael said, "One of my very first grants was to develop a model of ion transport in the inner ear. It is always satisfying to achieve a unified mathematical model of a complex physiological process. For the past 30 yearssince the original observation of nonquantal transmissionscientists have wondered, 'Why is this synapse so fast?' and, 'Is the transmission speed related to the unique calyx structure?' We have provided answers to both questions."

He said the link between the structure and function of the calyx "is an example of how evolution drives morphological specialization. A compelling argument can be made that once animals emerged from the sea and began to move on land, swing in trees and fly, there were increased demands on the vestibular system to rapidly inform the brain about the position of the head in space. And at this point the calyx appeared."

Raphael said the model opens the door for a deeper exploration of information processing in vestibular synapses, including research into the unique interactions between quantal and nonquantal transmission.

He said the model could also be a powerful tool for researchers who study electrical transmission in other parts of the nervous system, and he hopes it will aid those who design vestibular implants, neuroprosthetic devices that can restore function to those who have lost their balance.

More information: Aravind Chenrayan Govindaraju et al, Nonquantal transmission at the vestibular hair cellcalyx synapse: K LV currents modulate fast electrical and slow K + potentials, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2207466120 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
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Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

As the United States enters a fourth year of COVID-19, there is a new variant called XBB.1.5.

The variant quickly grew in December, from about 1% of cases nationwide to 43% as of Jan. 13, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Natascha Tuznik, associate clinical professor of infectious diseases at UC Davis Health, explains what you need to know about XBB.1.5, including symptoms and vaccine efficacy.

How is the XBB.1.5 variant different than previous COVID-19 variants?

XBB.1.5., now dubbed "the Kraken" is the result of two BA.2 omicron variants. Research from John Hopkins shows that this variant has stronger binding capabilities to the target host receptor. That makes it more efficient at spreading and infectious. It has been named the most contagious strain of any COVID-19 variant by the World Health Organization (WHO) thus far.

What are the symptoms of the XBB.1.5 variant? Are they different?

With current available data, the symptoms are similar to the prior strains with no evidence of more severe infection. Recent mutations of COVID-19 have led to less severe disease. This is because the virus must give up something, in this case its ability to do harm, to survive.

How might the recent bivalent vaccine booster work against XBB.1.5?

A perspective from Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, showed that the updated bivalent booster may not be more effective as compared the original, monovalent vaccine. This included the new booster not showing an appreciably greater antibody response against the newer omicron variants including BQ.1, BQ1.1, XBB, and XBB.1.5.

This is NOT to say that the vaccine is not effective, just that the bivalent boosters may not be more effective than the original monovalent vaccine. That said, the bivalent booster would still be important for people at highest risk of getting severe disease. This includes those ages 65 and older and those who are immunocompromised. Even small, additional increases in antibody production are critically important for them.

Lastly, boosters will continue to help as our antibody production from both natural infection and vaccination decreases over time.

How can people avoid COVID infection?

These things remain important for people to avoid COVID-19:

Get vaccinated

Avoid crowded spaces, especially indoor venues

Wash your hands frequently

Consider wearing a mask, especially for people at high risk (for example, immunocompromised)

Why is it better to avoid getting infected with COVID-19?

There are several reasons it's important to avoid getting COVID-19. Getting infected puts you at risk of severe illness, potential hospitalization, and death, especially if you are high-risk and unvaccinated. The likelihood of an unvaccinated person dying from COVID-19 has been reported as being between 10-20 times higher than that of a vaccinated person.

In addition, if more people get seriously ill, it could place an unnecessary strain on an already overwhelmed hospital system. Current strains are also better at evading our immune defenses as compared to prior strains. Therefore, your risk of reinfection is higher. Getting infected also puts vulnerable populations at unnecessary risk of infection including severe illness, hospitalization and death.

Last, you could end up with long COVID. There are currently too many unknowns regarding who is more likely to get long COVID, but the risk of developing this chronic condition after infection is very real. Millions of people have developed this and suffer for many months, including time and money lost by the inability to work.

Could we be nearing the end of COVID?

COVID-19 is unlikely to go away completely. There are still many unknown variables. Virologists wonder whether it will behave like other coronavirusesmany of which cause the common cold. It may end up reappearing seasonally, like most of our viruses do.

In prior epidemics, viruses eventually reach a saturation threshold, meaning most of the population will be or has already been infected. At this point, when the virus has fewer people to infect, the epidemic will decrease naturally.

Hopefully, this will equate to an endemic instead of a pandemic. Endemic is a disease that is still around but at a more manageable level, without causing spikes in deaths, for example. Instead, the disease is more manageable in terms of not overwhelming the system. The hope is that if COVID-19 is not eliminated, it would become more like the common cold.
Ambassador of Belarus N.Ovsyanko meets the Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development of Colombia

On January 16, 2022, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Colombia, Nikolai Ovsyanko, met with the Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development of Colombia, Maria Constanta.

The parties discussed a wide range of topics, including the prospects for interdepartmental cooperation, the participation of Belarusian enterprises in the implementation of infrastructure projects in Colombia.

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A large development of 146 loft-style rental townhomes under way in Missoula illustrates both the explosive growth in the area between Mullan Road and West Broadway and the bullishness developers feel about the housing market here.

Miramonte Communities, an Arizona-based company specializing in built-to-rent multifamily properties, hired local contractor Edgell Building to construct the new Missoula Lofts neighborhood of homes near the intersection of West Broadway and Mary Jane Boulevard east of the airport. The project has been under construction for the past year, and the first four units got their certificates of occupancy on Dec. 30. Between now and July, the rest of the units will be finished and will be rentable, and a commercial building with commercial tenant spaces on the ground floor will also be constructed.

The developers chose Missoula for the project because they agree with local housing experts that there is a huge unmet demand for all types of housing, especially since the pandemic led to an influx of remote workers making high wages.

"As home buyers continue to face challenges including supply and affordability, the market for rental homes has exploded," said Eric Entringer, president of Miramonte Communities. "Housing is significantly under-supplied nationally. Miramonte is focused on developing housing in markets that are severely under-supplied throughout the Mountain West."

The 146 units are all loft-style townhomes with open floorplans, high ceilings, polished concrete floors, storage and communal outdoor barbecue areas. Pets will be allowed for an extra deposit and there'll be an on-site property manager.

Chris Kemmerly, the founder and CEO of Miramonte Communities (a subsidiary of Miramonte Homes), said he visits Missoula often and knows there's a dire need for more housing to increase vacancy rates in the tight rental market.

"I've been coming to Missoula for a long time," he said. "The hunting and fishing is fantastic and I've always loved Missoula. We determined a number of years ago that there was a housing shortage, and we really wanted to focus on the rental market."

In fact, he said his company has conducted studies of the market in Missoula and other places and they've got 1,400 units planned in Arizona and Montana.

"Miramonte has been building quality homes for more than 30 years," he said. "We understand and adapt to shifting market trends to meet the needs of our customers. Given the current housing market, we know our townhomes are the right product at the right time helping fill the gap in housing needs."

There's already been strong interest in the development, which offers one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom rentals ranging in price from a little over $1,700 to $2,461 per month, depending on the number of bedrooms and whether they are exterior units or not. About 60% of the units are two-bedroom, and the rest are split between one-bedroom and three-bedroom.

Joe Tredik, the on-site property manager, said the one-bedroom units have been extremely popular so far, but they've gotten interest in all types.

Kemmerer said they're planning on building a similar-sized housing project on a vacant plot of land near the Wye just west of Missoula in the coming years.

"There's a strong demand," Kemmerly said. "A lot of mountain towns in the West are having problems with housing."

He said he sees a lot of similarities between Missoula and Flagstaff, Arizona, where he lives.

"There's a severe deficit of housing in both places," he said. "They're both university towns, they're both major employment hubs, major regional health care hubs, major government hubs. There's a lot of Forest Service and BLM workers in both places. They have a similar population and access to outdoor recreation. The only difference is Missoula has a Costco and we don't."

The area between Mullan and West Broadway has been eyed by city and county planners as the place where much of the future housing construction in Missoula needs to happen. In 2019, the city and county won a $13 million federal grant to build out the roads, sewer mains, water pipes and other infrastructure to accommodate all the growth. Developers have been furiously building houses in the area for the last few years.

Kemmerly said he spoke with city planners when deciding where to put the project.

"I listened to what the city wanted," he said. "That's where they want the growth. With the new VA clinic going in and a fully signalized intersection going in eventually on Broadway, it was just a real logical place. There's just a lot of growth going out toward the airport."

The same goes for the area near the Wye where the second phase will be built.

"The county's looking at the Wye and area planners want a majority of growth to happen out there," Kemmerly said. "Also, Hellgate (School District) is a really good school."

Sterling Commercial Real Estate in Missoula supported the land deal for the site, Kemmerly said.

He believes Missoula, with booming economic activity and quickly escalating housing prices, needs more rentals that put more competition among landlords in the market. That's because there's not going to be a stop anytime soon on people moving here looking to get away from cities.

"Really, a lot of people are looking at quality of life, and I can't think of a better place to live," he said.
The Rotary Club of Morganton is asking for the communitys help again to find its Distinguished Person of the Year for 2022.

The club will accept nominations for the award through Friday, Feb. 10. Nominees must be citizens of Burke County, at least 18 years old and of impeccable character who have made a significant positive impact on the community. They cannot be previous recipients of the award.

Morganton has always been a community made up of compassionate, generous people, devoted to making the place we live in better, said Kathy Smith, club president. However, some distinguish themselves by putting service to others above self, and they should be recognized for their exceptional acts. Since 1948, that has been the purpose of Rotarys Distinguished Person of the Year award.

A website honoring previous recipients, morgantonrotary.org/person-of-the-year, elaborates on what the award stands for.

Each year, the Rotary Club of Morganton singles out one person who has contributed significantly to the betterment of the community, club officials wrote on the site. It is a special honor that transcends politics and personalities, and it is reserved only for those individuals whose leadership and service extend far beyond the reach of the average citizen, exemplifying Service Above Self (the Rotary motto).

The tradition of the award goes back to 1948, started by former president J.D. Fitz, who received it in 1972.

Each recipient has been welcomed into an exclusive fellowship of men and women whose deeds and vision have helped enhance the quality of life in this community for more than 70 years, club officials said.

The former Man of the Year award was changed in 2016 to the Distinguished Person of the Year to allow for women to be nominated. Whoever receives the award will be honored at a special Distinguished Person of the Year banquet.

Those wishing to nominate someone should send a letter that includes the nominees name and information about his/her background, especially details about achievements that have improved the lives of area residents that would qualify the person to receive the award.

Letters should be sent to Deborah Jones, secretary, Rotary Club of Morganton, PO Box 294, Morganton, NC, 28680. Nominations also can be emailed to deborah5357@att.net.
According to a complaint filed Dec. 27, 2022, a bitcoin mining operation in Butte is suing an equipment supplier for over $11 million.

Atlas Power alleges that the supplier, BlockFills, sold equipment to Atlas that did not function at the level advertised and thus a breach in the $11.83 million contract has occurred.

Among the facts common to all counts in the lawsuit, the complaint alleges that "BlockFills failure to furnish equipment that performs consistent with the terms of the contract is so fundamental to the transaction, that the failure defeats the essential purpose of the contract.

The law firm representing Atlas, Datsopoulos, MacDonald & Lind, P.C., issued the following statement: The company is not providing any comment on this matter as the parties utilize their best efforts to reach a resolution.

The cryptocurrency mining equipment or rigs  which a layperson might refer to as a server  purchased by Atlas were various models of Terahash miners.

According to coinmarketcap.com, completing a hash at the rate promised or expected is critical to bitcoin mining because companies must be able to trust that the efficiency of their equipment can keep up with all transactions in a block in order to verify transactions on a public ledger known as the blockchain.

Located in Butte's Industrial Park and operating since 2018, Atlas Power brands itself as one of Montanas largest Datacenters focusing on cutting edge technology and efficiency.
Prosecutors have dismissed a felony embezzlement charge against former Butte Rescue Mission director Rocky Lyons but can refile the case if she doesnt meet terms of an agreement.

If she does fulfil its terms, the case will be permanently dismissed as if charges were never brought in the first place. Prosecutors reduced the severity of the felony charge first before filing a motion last month to dismiss the case.

As part of the agreement, Lyons must abide by all laws for five years and cannot be employed by a nonprofit organization during that time, said prosecutor Sean Peterson. She must also do 200 hours of community service.

Lyons won a wrongful termination suit against the Rescue Mission in August and a jury awarded her $104,673 in damages, saying the Mission board violated its own manual when it fired Lyons in January 2020.

The jury also said the Mission did not prove she intentionally misused Mission funds when she was executive director and ruled that Lyons didnt owe any money for excess vacation and sick time.

State prosecutors filed a charge of felony theft by embezzlement against Lyons in June 2021 and the Missions defense in the civil trial referenced the allegations, saying she used Mission accounts to make personal purchases for things like clothes and food.

Prosecutors said Lyons embezzled or attempted to embezzle more than $16,000. On Dec. 14, they amended the charge to an amount less than $5,000. That reduced possible prison time from 10 years to three years. Lyons pleaded not guilty to the charge.

But under the deferred prosecution agreement, even the reduced charge would be permanently dismissed if Lyons meets its terms. District Judge Robert Whelan signed off on the motion, exonerated bond and lifted any pretrial conditions Lyons was under.

Peterson said in his dismissal motion that the interests of justice will be served by dismissal of this case without prejudice, meaning prosecution can resume if Lyons violates the agreement.

Deferred prosecution agreements typically include probationary-like terms such as violating no laws, possible restitution and not engaging in certain activities for a designated period of time, among other things.

The Standard called the Butte law office of David Vicevich, who represented Lyons in the criminal case, but was told he was unavailable for comment Tuesday and was probably booked up the rest of the week.
Corn production in 2022 dropped in Iowa but rose in Illinois with the drought west of the Mississippi being blamed for a drop in total U.S. corn production.

Soybean production was down in both Iowa and Illinois as well as nationally.

Nationally, U.S. corn growers produced approximately 13.730 billion bushels of corn for 2022, down from 15.074 billion bushels in 2021.

Iowa farmers produced 2.48 billion bushels of corn, down from 2.54 billion bushels in 2021, while Illinois farmers produced 2.27 billion bushels of corn, up from 2.2 billion bushels in 2021, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Taylor Ridge, Illinois, farmer Tom Mueller said, Illinois had better weather than Iowa.

There were times when some parts of the central, western and southern portions of Illinois got very dry, he said, but they got some timely rains that really helped them avert disaster.

Mueller said he had a very respectable corn crop. However, it could have been higher.

Usually in June he adds a little nitrogen to the corp. However: I couldnt get the fertilizer, and even if I could have it would likely have been prohibitively expensive. That probably cost me about 30 bushels an acre.

Scott County farmer Robb Ewoldt said his corn crop this year was the best weve ever grown.

Last year was the biggest corn crop weve ever grown, and we bested that this year by 20 bushels an acre, he said. It was big.

Ewoldt said the overall drop in corn production nationally likely was due to drought conditions.

In Iowa, however, the drop in the state corn production likely occurred south of Des Moines, and that was because the crops were used as feed for cattle, he said.

Its tough to farm down there anyway, Ewoldt said. I know some folks who chopped more acres for feed for cows. Because of the drought, they had to find the feed for the cattle somewhere. So if Iowa did lose acres, it likely was in the southern part where they used the corn to feed the cattle and get them through the drought.

Still, the further west one got, the harder the drought became.

Nebraska, produced approximately 1.455 billion bushels in 2022, but that was down from 1.855 billion bushels in 2021.

But corn production dropped in many states. Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, South Dakota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio and Pennsylvania all saw lower numbers.

Corn production rose in Minnesota from 1.39 billion bushels in 2021 to 1.46 billion bushels in 2022.

Nationally, soybean production dropped from 4.45 billion bushels in 2021 to 4.27 billion bushels in 2022.

Iowa farmers produced about 587 million bushels in 2022, down from 632 million bushels in 2021. Illinois farmers produced 677 million bushels in 2022, down from 683 million bushels in 2021.

Still, Mueller said this years soybean crop was the best Ive ever had. They didnt need that extra shot of fertilizer, and the weather was very good for them. I got them planted early, and thats proven to be the thing to do.

Ewoldt said his soybean crop, was the biggest average crop weve ever had. We bested last years crop by about 3 bushels an acre.

I know we are blessed in this area, Ewoldt said. The drought in the east-central portion of the state was not that bad.

As of Jan. 10, the U.S. Drought Monitor is showing that Scott, Clinton, Jackson, Jones and Dubuque counties in Iowa are all free from drought, as are Rock Island and Mercer counties in Illinois.

Corn and soybean futures remain strong.

Corn for March delivery settled Friday at $6.75 per bushel on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, up 4 cents a bushel.

Soybeans for January delivery settled Friday at $15.38  per bushel, up 8  cents.

Most valuable crops grown in Iowa Most valuable crops grown in Iowa #4. Oats #3. Hay & haylage #2. Soybeans #1. Corn
What do a little penguin, a baby rabbit, a black rat and a Kreffts glider have in common? Theyve all been presented to me (when dead) by my animal companions. Chances are, if you live with a cat or dog, youve also been brought something similar.

So, is it a gift, are they showing off, or is something else going on?

Is it meant for you?

The first thing to consider is whether your canine or feline companion is actually bringing you the dead animal, or are you just in the space they have also come to?

As people, we tend to like putting ourselves into the middle of every story (the fancy term to describe this mindset is anthropocentric). But sometimes its not about us. Maybe your dog was planning to munch away at that half-rotten critter on their comfortable bed in a known safe place, which coincidentally is near where you are.

Perhaps your cat has entered the room, truly parading the find in their mouth to you. This might include them loudly exclaiming they hit their version of the jackpot with a direct approach: walking towards you, holding eye contact with you and making a distinctive cry (most cat meows are designed to get your attention).

If this is the case, then yes, they probably are intentionally sharing this dead animal with you. But why?

Understanding animal motivations

Did they kill this animal themselves?

They can be very cute, but cats are also highly effective killers of native wildlife. Fatih Turan/Pexels, CC BY

Are they bringing you something that was already dead?

In some situations, our animals may just be opportunistic and have found something that was already dead. Perhaps it was dropped in a paddock by an owl, or washed up on the beach, or hit by a vehicle and found on the side of a road. What are we to make of these offerings?

In 2015, Queensland biologists described a number of individual wild bottlenose dolphins apparently gift-giving wild-caught fish (usually already dead) or cephalopods (such as squid and octopus) to the people who fed them fish as part of a regulated feeding program at Tangalooma in Australia.

The researchers thought the gifting was consistent with play, prey-sharing and teaching behaviors observed in dolphins, whales and many other mammals historically considered as big thinkers.

Ultimately, with these dolphins, and with our own animal companions, we can think of this sharing as an expression of the particular relationship between the animal and the human. In some cases, where the behavior is regular (even if infrequent), we can describe it as part of the animals culture, as the dolphin biologists did in their scientific paper.

Dolphins used to being fed by people at Tangalooma, Queensland, have been known to present fish in return. S. Newrick/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

What should you do?

If you ever find yourself in the position where your animal companions bring you a dead animal, there are a couple of things to remember.

Regular parasite control will ensure you dont all share more than intended. Mites responsible for mange, lice and worms can all spread readily between dead wildlife, animal companions and people. Talk to your veterinarian if youre unsure about what parasite control your four-legged friend should routinely have. Stopping cats and dogs from preying on wildlife is a really important part of looking out for everyones wellbeing. If you know your animal companion is killing wild animals, you should take action to prevent it.

Effective measures might include safely limiting when and where they go outdoors, a bell on their collar, keeping them on a lead when outside, and redirecting their energy through regular walks, play and fun training activities. Keeping cats inside the home can also limit the spread of diseases to humans and other animals.

Read more: Cats that are allowed to roam can spread diseases to humans and wildlife

So, when your cat or dog presents you with a dead animal, it is normal behavior and can indicate their attachment to you. Its also a reminder, though, of how much damage they can do to wildlife and of our responsibility to limit that harm.

Mia Cobb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

5 common dog myths and the facts behind them Sniffing out the truth There are countless myths about our pets  some so old they have become facts in the eyes of many people. While some of these myths are harmless, many are filled with misinformation about a dogs care, temperament, behavior and intelligence. Pet owners who act on this misinformation may not be meeting the needs of their dog. To separate fact from fiction, the American Kennel Club clears up some well-known myths about dogs. Myth No. 1: A wagging tail means a happy dog The truth: A wagging tail does not always mean the dog is happy. While a natural, midlevel wagging tail does indicate the dog is content, most other wags indicate the opposite. A high, stiff wagging tail can be a sign of agitation in the dog, suggesting they are ready to protect something, while a low and quick wag may express the dog is scared and submissive. Myth No. 2: Dogs age seven years for every human year The truth: This myth has been around for so long most people see it as a fact. Although dogs do age quicker than humans, the 7:1 ratio is not perfectly accurate. Dogs age faster when they are younger, and then the aging process slows down as they get older. The size of the dog also plays a role in the aging process  larger dogs age faster than small dogs. Myth No. 3: A warm nose indicates sickness The truth: The idea that a dog in good health should have a cold, wet nose is nothing more than another myth. The temperature of a dogs nose does not represent health or sickness. Using a thermometer is the only way to accurately measure your dogs temperature. Myth No. 4: Old dogs cant learn new tricks The truth: You can absolutely teach an older dog new tricks, like how to shake hands, speak or roll over. Keeping the training sessions short and fun while using plenty of positive reinforcement like treats and praise can help make the training process easier. Myth No. 5: Dogs cant see in color The truth: At one point in time, it was believed dogs could only see in black, white and shades of gray. This myth is still believed by many people today. Dogs have fewer color-sensitive cones in their eyes than humans do. However, it has been discovered that although its not in the same way as humans, dogs can in fact see color. They can see blue, green-ish yellow and yellow along with various shades of gray.
WAPELLO  Louisa Countys new comprehensive plan, Plan 2040, included an objective to boost commercial opportunities along a relocated U.S. Highway 61. The Louisa County Planning & Zoning Commission took the first step toward implementing that objective during its meeting last Tuesday.

The commission agreed to hold a public hearing on rezoning several parcels in the Newport and Wapello area, which could be impacted by the planned relocation.

The comprehensive plan had identified the potential economic benefit of rezoning in both areas for additional commercial/business use, but currently the parcels are agricultural, which would prevent any type of business development.

Zoning administrator Brian Thye presented nine parcels for rezoning.

After reviewing the list, the commission agreed to move forward and scheduled a March 7 public hearing to receive public comments on the proposal.

The decision to move forward was subject to a review of the action by County Attorney Adam Parsons.

Thye said he would contact Parsons and also send notification letters to the parcels owners.

Commission chair Michael Vance pointed out commission members had previously discussed the rezoning and had agreed to complete the rezoning before the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) actually began right-of-way acquisitions.

Vance recalled that decision had been made with the idea it could mean a higher price being paid by the DOT because the land was now more commercially valuable.

Thye also pointed out the rezoning would not affect any landowners property taxes or use of the land. He emphasized farming operations could continue under any new zoning classification.
2022 was among the 10 hottest years in the global record and each of the last eight years has been one of the eight warmest. This week's episode dives into the details.

Nadya Vinogradova-Shiffer, an ocean physicist with NASA, talks about the warming climates impact on the oceans and what that means for people living both near and far away from the water.

After their conversation with Vinogradova-Shiffer, the team discusses our changing climate further and what can be done to limit the impacts.

About the Across the Sky podcast

The weekly weather podcast is hosted on a rotation by the Lee Weather team:

Matt Holiner of Lee Enterprises' Midwest group in Chicago, Kirsten Lang of the Tulsa World in Oklahoma, Joe Martucci of the Press of Atlantic City, N.J., and Sean Sublette of the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia.

More episodes
ELMA  An Elma man has been charged after the remains of a missing New Hampton resident were found at his home.

On Friday, Howard County sheriffs deputies announced they charged Sayvonne Eugene Jordan, 26, formerly of Waterloo and Charles City, on a charge of first-degree murder. Bond was set at $1 million.

Jordan was arrested in connection with a Nov. 20 search at his home at 808 Main St. where authorities found human remains.

The Iowa State Medical Examiners Office later identified the remains to be those of Jonathan Esparza, 30, of New Hampton.

Esparza was last seen leaving his home to go to a friends house Oct. 20, according to investigators. His vehicle was located Nov. 11.

Court records show that following the November search, authorities arrested Jordan in connection with drugs found at the home. They found a bag containing 23 grams of marijuana, a second bag with 233 grams and a small electric scale.

He was initially charged with possession with intent to deliver and violation of the drug tax stamp act.

He posted bond pending trial on the drug charges and allegedly moved from the Elma Street address to Marion, court records state.

At the time of the search, Jordan was on probation for a November 2021 eluding charge in Chickasaw County where he allegedly gave police a fake name and was found with THC vape cartridges.

He also has a prior assault conviction in a 2016 incident in which he and two others attacked a man in a Charles City Caseys parking lot. The victim suffered a broken eye socket.
South Africa generates 80% of its electricity by burning coal, more than any other industrialized nation. Some 200,000 people are directly employed by the coal mines, coal transports and coal-fired power plants that dot the flatlands east of Johannesburg, but the prosperity of the rest of the nation also rests on a foundation of black rock.

Now, the South African government, with the help of the United States and European nations, is embarking on an audacious plan to quit coal without undermining economic growth. If it works, the proposed transition to solar and wind power could fuel faster growth and create a template for coal-dependent nations to confront climate change. This is a significant opportunity, and it deserves support and attention.

The United States has committed more than $1 billion as part of an $8.5 billion international aid package to catalyze South Africas shift to renewable energy, and, after two years of talks about the details, the government in Pretoria is to deliver a plan in February for carrying it out.

The proposed aid package is part of a broader shift in the international response to climate change. Windy talk about the necessity for wealthy countries to help less wealthy countries is finally turning tangible. In November, a group of nations, including the United States, committed $20 billion for a similar partnership with Indonesia, then made a $15.5 million commitment to Vietnam in December. Talks are underway with other nations, including Senegal and India.

Americas own response to climate change remains inadequate, and Americans are suffering as a result. But even if the United States stopped burning fossil fuels tomorrow  magically and completely  it wouldnt much impede the march of climate change. The country needs to help the rest of the world burn less fossil fuel, too. South Africa is a promising place to start.

South Africa needs more electricity. The countrys coal-fired power plants are regularly overwhelmed by demand, forcing the national power company, Eskom, to impose rolling blackouts. The blackouts were worse than ever last year, leaving millions of customers in major cities without power for hours at a time, disrupting the economy and slowing growth. To generate more electricity, Eskom is completing two coal-burning power plants that will be among the worlds largest, projects that have been financed in part by billions of dollars in World Bank loans.

Most leaders in South Africas government regard those plants as the end of an era. Climate change is taking a growing toll on the country. Like many countries that are far from the equator, South Africa is experiencing drastic changes in temperature, and it has been plagued by both droughts and flooding.

Many of the countrys existing coal-fired power plants need to be replaced in the coming years, and the rapid decline in the cost of wind and solar power generation means that renewable energy can be substituted for coal at relatively little additional cost. Last year, the country shut down the first of those older power stations. It plans to build a solar and wind farm on the site  once again with financing provided by the World Bank. ...

The international aid package now under discussion with the United States and European partners is intended to accelerate the energy transition. Under the South African governments current plans, which seek to ease the price of electricity during the transition, the countrys power plants still would produce 3.9 gigatons of carbon between now and 2050. A South African consultancy, Meridian Economics, estimated in a 2020 report that a faster transition could prevent roughly half of those emissions.

The South African government has estimated that it will require about $98 billion over the next five years to start a faster transition  and several times more to finish the work. The $8.5 billion in aid, which represents only a small fraction of that total, is meant to help South Africa raise the rest.

Foreign aid can support investments in infrastructure that are less attractive to private investors. For example, South Africa needs to build transmission lines to connect the best sites for generating renewable energy with the people who need electricity. A study of a similar effort in Chile, completed in 2019, found new transmission lines led to an increase of 51% in solar generation, while sharply reducing prices for urban households.

The workers who are likely to lose their jobs also will need help  and easing the impact on their lives and communities is necessary to maintain political support.

The scale of the aid represents a significant political breakthrough. But there is a very real danger that its not enough. Only 4% of the aid for South Africa is in the form of grants. The rest basically amounts to helping South Africa borrow money from foreign lenders to whom it already is heavily indebted. Even without any borrowing for energy transition, the national debt is equal to more than two-thirds of gross domestic product.

For South Africa, there also will be a temptation to treat solar and wind as supplements rather than replacements for coal power. Political leaders have made clear that they are not willing to sacrifice growth, and even as the government pursues its plans, some have openly argued that coal remains the countrys best option.

The hardest work, in other words, remains ahead. Given the urgency of addressing climate change, and the momentum to extend similar aid to other nations, it will be crucial to learn, and to adjust, quickly.
Should anyone wonder if there is an appetite for high-quality, fast casual food in Napa, the answer was evident in the people lining up amidst wild rainstorms to try out two new dining spots in Napa, Mothers Tacos and Super Duper Burgers.

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Mothers Tacos opens on Friday at 3150 Jefferson St. in the Grape Yard shopping center, but soft openings last week had people dashing in through downpours to see what the team there is cooking up.

The creative team of Benedict "Ben" and Ali Koenig and business partner Charles Whittaker has already demonstrated its flair for coming up with popular Napa dining options such as Heritage Eats (global street foods), Napa Valley Lobster Co., and The Best Food Truck Ever. During the COVID-19 shutdowns, they also operated Heritage at Home, using their access to the supply chain to provide local residents with suddenly hard-to-find items like flour, yeast and toilet paper.

"We have had such an outpouring of community support," said Ben Koenig, "but we're still young and have a lot of energy and we wanted to create something different  it's part of the fun of it all."

So when they began planning for something new, Koenig said, they decided on tacos.

Koenig, Whittaker and Mothers Tacos' general manager, Ednha Landin, met with the Napa Valley Register last week to discuss the new project.

"We love tacos," he added. "My wife Ali is half-Mexican on her mother's side. Tacos for Ali and me have always been a comfort food, the thing for us from a celebration to a casual meal."

For Whittaker, who grew up on the East Coast, tacos were ground beef with a packet of seasonings and packaged Old El Paso taco shells, "but still is true comfort food."

They embarked on a research trip to Mexico City, home of Ali's mother's family. "Mexico City is the New York of Mexico," said Whittaker. "It's where everything comes together. We probably visited 38-40 taquerias in three days."

They were particularly inspired by the Mexican women they observed working in the taquerias, "with their babies on their backs, making the tortillas, chopping tomatoes, making fresh salsa."

Their idea firmed up for Mothers Tacos de la Ciudad, honoring not only these women but everyone's mothers, including their own. "My wife and I both learned cooking at home from our mothers," Koenig said. "My mother did all of the cooking and inspired me to get into this line of work. The same can be said of Ali."

Whittaker, who joined Heritage Eats four years ago and attended culinary school before moving to Napa, said he grew up baking with his mother and grandmother.

"We have great Mexican food in this valley but we felt like we had an opportunity to try something different, a genuine Mexican-style taqueria, where the focus is tacos," Koenig said.

"What distinguishes Mothers is really sticking to tradition," Landin said. "As a Mexican, a mom and a person to cooks at home, it is important to me that we are making things as you would make them at home. This is me telling my my mother, my friends, 'Hey, this is like visiting a home."

The Mothers menu includes the more familiar tacos, al pastor (spicy pork), carne asada (steak) and pollo (chicken), as well as tacos that are unusual for Napa but often found in Mexico City, Landin said. Chilorio is a Sinaloa-style, slow-cooked spiced pork, she explained. Suadero, popular in Mexico City, is a slow-cooked beef from a specific cut of the cow, "soft fatty meat that we cook in lard until it shreds. We chop it fine, sear it before it goes on the taco. Traditionally it's cooked on what we call a sombrero with other meats and their juices flavor it," Landin said.

Koenig added that based on the popularity of vegan and vegetarian options at Heritage  "knowing we're in California"  the team added these to the menu as well, including fish tacos, purple potato, mushroom quesabirria, and jamaica, a blend of hibiscus flowers and carrots with or without queso fresco.

The emphasis as well is on high-quality ingredients, Landin said: heirloom-quality masa, salsas made fresh daily.

They also wanted to recreate the atmosphere of the Mexican taqueria  from the simple design with white tiled walls and tables topped with vintage Coke signs to the busy activity, the women making the masa and balling the tortillas, the pastor spinning on its trompo topped by pineapple, and the sounds of the chopping board mingling with lively conversation and Mexican music.

Wittaker said "We wanted to create an environment where if you picked up (Mothers) and dropped it into Mexico it would fit in. It's not precious; it's tacos."

In the works are plans to add a parklet on the side of the building, which formerly was a Pizza Hut. The location in the Grape Yard center on Jefferson Street, off the regular tourist routes, signals their goal to serve locals.

"We have a real strong respect for the Mexican community in Napa and are thinking about how we can best serve this community," said Koenig. "We've tried at every decision to keep our north star, from the ingredients, the techniques, we want to be sure what we put out has soul."

The reaction from the soft opening was "something that was really good," Landin said. "We saw we have the love and support of the community. It was fun, talking to the the community about what Mothers is going to be. We're ready to serve."

"It brings back memories for people who have migrated here and have not been back at home in 15, 20, 25 years," Landin said. "One man told me, tasting a Mothers taco took him back 18 years to when he was last at home in Mexico. "

The tacos average $4 each. Beverages and a few other dishes, such as the popular crispy waffles fries with cilantro, cheese, pickled onion and salsa, are also available.

After their Friday opening hours will be from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday through Sunday. "We're pacing ourselves, putting our best foot forward, and expand in response to the demand."

Super Duper Burgers

Before its Monday opening, Super Duper Burgers in the Bel Aire Plaza invited guests in for a lunchtime preview of their fare.

The Bay Area chain originally opened in the Castro district of San Francisco with a mission, according to its website, "to make fast food better."

It's an idealistic burger joint. "Our burgers taste better because our ingredients are better: Organic, locally-sourced, humanely raised, never frozen, always made fresh from scratch everyday," the website reads.

In addition, Super Duper is trying to keep a low carbon footprint "with 100% compostable packaging and no trash waste whatsoever  a principle that we've held since day one."

And as they succeeded, more locations have opened, but according to the website, "we chose to only expand in the Bay Area for a reason: We believe in the superior quality that comes from working with the small, local, organic farmers and independent artisans around here, and we love supporting our neighborhood in any way we can. We're going all-in on the place where we started."

Super Duper's star is the burger (including a vegetarian version) but it has other options. The Super Burger ($10) includes two 4-ounce patties in a tasty soft bun, but you can order a mini ($7) with one patty, a veggie burger with hummus ($8), a chicken sandwich with chipotle aoli ($10), and fried egg on ciabatta ($5). Fries, regular or garlic, milkshakes and malts and soft-serve ice cream are also available. A strawberry lemonade is made fresh daily.

"I had one in Emeryville," said Napa resident Lori Narlock, opting to stand under the awning in the rain to order her Super Duper Burger. "It was so good. We're excited."

Like Narlock, we opted to for the burger, smashed fresh on order, served with special sauce, lettuce and tomato. I have to say I went in wondering if Napa needed another place selling hamburgers, but these were pretty good. In fact, in a valley where restaurants routinely charge $20 and up for a burger, the Super Dupers can hold their own with the priciest.

Mothers Tacos, Super Duper Burgers, new fast, casual options open in Napa Mothers Tacos Mothers Tacos Mothers Tacos Mothers Tacos Mothers Tacos
Various groups supporting abortion rights are staging a rally Sunday afternoon in downtown Napa as part of Bigger than Roe, a series of demonstrations and marches this weekend marking the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Courts Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

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The Napa rally will run from 2 to 3 p.m. on the steps of the Napa County Courthouse at 1111 Third St. Participants will include members of Indivisible Napa, Physicians for National Health Program, Rise Up Napa and Progressive Women of Napa Valley, organizers said in a statement.

Organizers have not applied to the city of Napa to close any streets to vehicles during the rally, Napa Police Chief Jennifer Gonzales said Tuesday.

Bigger than Roe demonstrations announced in Napa and elsewhere in the country are a response to the Supreme Courts Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling last June, which overturned the federal right to abortion that Roe had established and turned the legality of the procedure over to the states. In the seven months since, 13 states have outlawed abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with various exceptions.

The national Womens March group is spearheading about 180 Bigger than Roe events in various states through Sunday, according to the groups website.

We are taking our fight to every state house and every state legislator in this country, Womens March said of the rallies on its website. We are putting all politicians at every level of government on notice: If you come for our families, our freedoms, or our future  we are coming for your seat.

The movement includes a National March on Madison outside the Wisconsin state capitol on Sunday, ahead of an April 4 election for a state Supreme Court justice who could change the courts 4-3 conservative majority and potentially overturn a state abortion ban.

Photos: Napans react to Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade
A day of decision is fast approaching for Napa County to choose rural multi-family housing sites, be it a piece of Skyline Wilderness Park or amid country living areas near the Silverado Trail.

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California is demanding that more housing be built in all of its communities. Napa County must find room in its unincorporated areas outside of cities for 106 homes from 2023 to 2031, 61 of which must be affordable for low-income residents.

A county dedicated to preserving farmland for its world-famous wine country must find rural land for apartments that meet affordability requirements. Such factors as being able to hook up to sewer and water services come into play.

California has imposed a Jan. 31 deadline and the Napa County Board of Supervisors is to choose the sites on Jan. 24. The county Planning Commission and a board-appointed housing committee are giving advice.

The county identified six sites of 5 to 10 acres, but one property on Big Ranch Road is off the table at the owners request. That leaves a flat section of Skyline Park, the Bishop and Altumura sites near Silverado, a site near Foster Road next to the city of Napa, and a site at Spanish Flat near Lake Berryessa.

Theres nothing here thats ideal in every aspect, Planning Commission Chairperson Megan Dameron said. Its not easy.

Taking up the matter Wednesday, the Planning Commission recommended removing the Bishop site on Hedgeside Avenue near Silverado from the list.

Hedgeside Avenue-area residents said building apartments there could cause flooding and traffic problems. They pointed out the site isnt near stores or bus lines, and mentioned the uncertainty that water and sewer services could be provided.

I have faith in those reasons, Commissioner Andrew Mazotti said after hearing such remarks during public comments. Whether it gets submitted to the state or not, I dont think its a viable site.

Napa County saves money to buy Skyline Wilderness Park Napa County set aside $7 million for a hope-for purchase of Skyline Wilderness Park.

Mazotti, who is a real estate developer, spoke of the difficulties of building affordable housing projects in general. The cost in San Francisco is $1 million a unit and in Napa County might be $550,000 to $600,000 a unit. To make a market-rate project work, rent would have to be $4,200 a month, he said.

Mazotti asked if the county could choose just one site that could hold all of the mandated units. County Supervising Planner Trevor Hawkes replied that the state wants a buffer in case some sites arent developed or fully developed by the private sector.

Hawkes also talked about how the proposed sites help Napa County meet various state criteria. For example, the state wants some affordable housing be built in areas of opportunity and racially concentrated areas of affluence.

The countys Housing Element Advisory Committee in December made a different recommendation. It kept the Bishop site on the list, but removed the Skyline Park site.

California owns the 850-acre Skyline Park and has already said it might put apartments on 5 acres in a flat section along Imola Avenue. It could do so without county approval.

Meanwhile, the county is trying to buy all 850 acres of Skyline from the state to preserve it as parkland. But the state could refuse to sell the section targeted for housing.

The question is whether the county would encourage Skyline housing by putting the site on the housing list. Or would it simply ensure it gets credit toward the state-mandated housing numbers if the state puts in apartments against its wishes?

The housing committee also recommended creating a master plan for Spanish Flat near Lake Berryessa before apartments are built there. That plan would focus on bringing stores, medical clinics, schools and other services into a remote area.

Napa County is working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to redevelop Lake Berryessa resorts. The thought is that Spanish Flat multi-family units could provide housing for workers at the rejuvenated getaways.

In another twist, the city of Napa in a Jan. 10 letter asked the county to remove from the list the Foster Road site within the citys growth boundary. City Manager Steve Potter said a complex agreement would be needed to allow Napa County to receive state housing credits while also allowing the land to be annexed to the city.

County officials didnt see the objection as insurmountable. Hawkes said this is mostly a procedural issue that can be clarified as things move forward.

Whatever housing site list the county eventually chooses must be submitted to the state Department of Housing and Community Development for approval.

Napa County originally had a housing mandate for 1,014 homes in the unincorporated area. It used previous agreements to transfer 90% of its allocation to the cities of Napa, American Canyon and St. Helena.

The housing list is part of a larger, state-required task of updating the housing element to the county general plan. That effort includes an environmental impact report.

Go to https://bit.ly/3kg8zta to see details of the general plan housing element update.

Napa County housing sites Napa County is looking at these potential rural sites for housing:  Spanish Flat: 10 acres at Spanish Flat at Lake Berryessa with room for 100 to 125 units.  Bishop site: 5 acres on Hedgeside Avenue with room for 100 to 125 dwelling units.  Altamura site: 6 acres near Atlas Peak Road and Monticello Road with room for 58 units.  Skyline Wilderness Park: 5 acres in a flat area of the park near Imola Avenue and the Napa County Office of Education with room for 100 units.  Foster Road: 5 acres south of the city of Napa with room for 100 to 125 units.
Despite desperate pleas from Gov. Gavin Newsom about the dangers of extreme weather, and weeks of advance warnings from meteorologists, the relentless series of storms drenching California has already claimed more lives than the death toll from the past two years of wildfires.

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So how do people still get caught in the crosshairs of megastorms that have proven their ability to flood cars, ravage homes and claim lives?

Have Californiansonce roundly ridiculed as weather wimpsalready become jaded to atmospheric rivers and overconfident that they can handle the hazards?

Meteorologists only really started digging into complicated questions about weather psychology like these around 20 years ago, according to Rebecca Morss, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Theres a long list of reasons why people either cant stay home in this extreme weather, or simply choose not to, so researchers are focusing on the best ways to help people recognize the risks. They want to avoid normalizing extreme events, or making people so afraid of weather reports that they shut down and reject the information entirely.

Different people are going respond to different information in totally different wayssome people really trust authorities and science, some people dont, Morss said, explaining how political and cultural views complicate weather warnings. Theres no one-size-fits-all solution. I think if this were an easy problem, we probably would have solved it by now.

Missing boy's mom: 'I could feel his fingers slipping' away The mother of a 5-year-old boy missing in floodwaters from Californias epic winter storms says she thought it was safe to drive across a creek flowing over the road.

While scientific knowledge and forecast technology has improved by leaps and bounds over the last 30 years, Morss said crafting messaging that encourages emergency preparation without overstating the risksa sure way to lose the publics trustis still a challenge, especially as extreme weather events become more frequent across the country due to climate change.

This messagingand the collective response to ithas shifted significantly over the last few decades.

A lack of official warnings was partially to blame for hundreds of deaths during a 1976 flash flood in Colorados Big Thompson Canyon. But by 2011, after one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history ripped through Missouri, researchers concluded that many residents had become desensitized to sirens and warnings.

Morss work focuses not only on the social science of how people make decisions when hazardous weather is on the horizon, butmaybe more importantlywhat kind of information can help them make better choices.

At a basic level, she said its important to avoid meteorologist jargon, steer clear of complex information, and repeat messaging to help people avoid finding themselves in a tragic situation.

A lot of people have seen extreme weather on TV or been close to it, but how many of us have really experienced a truly life-threatening situation due to weather? Morss pointed out. Its really hard to know exactly where (flooding) is going to happen, and its also just really hard for a person to imagine the place that they know and see every day suddenly being under all this water.

Storms are unpredictable, she said, and it can be hard for someone to reliably judge when a normally safe roadway or other location has become an unsafe oneuntil its too late.

Weve all done things that we look back on afterwards and say, Wow, I was so lucky, Morss said.

Significant storm systems in California are a routine occurrence, but Warren Blier, a meteorologist and science officer with the National Weather Service in Monterey, immediately knew the current set of storms was different.

One day in late December, I was looking at computer model output through the extended portion of the forecast, and I remember thinking, I just dont see an end to this, Blier said. What was so extraordinary was that even early on, it was starting to look to me like the possibility of just system after system after system.

It was the first time he remembers seeing that kind of forecast since the El Nino winter of 1997-98.

Astonished, that would be too strong, Blier said of his reaction, but it was more of a wow momenta series of wow moments.

While these weather conditions might generate more of a shrug for people in other parts of the countryfrom the Rockies and the Great Plains to the East Coasttheres more potential for extreme impacts in a more vulnerable state like California.

He said its all about what people have learned and prepared for over time.

I think people from other parts of the country who dont routinely experience significant earthquakes find it a little mind-boggling that it doesnt discomfort people here more, and the reverse is true when it comes to the weather stuff, Blier said. In Minnesota, you kind of know what weather youre going to have, and things are designed around that. But for a generally reasonable, pleasant climate in California, when you suddenly throw in all these winds and all this water, (the state) is not really designed to accommodate all that because its not what routinely occurs.

One of the most important developments in recent years is more collaboration between meteorologists and local emergency management workerssharing weather expertise and predictions, and seeking out the best ways to disseminate that information to the community.

Daily weather briefings from the National Weather Service are sent to people like Kia Xiong, Santa Clara Countys emergency risk communications officer, who helps coordinate resources when those forecasts trigger the countys inclement weather plans.

She said those plans activate outreach teams to reach unsheltered communities, especially along the creeks and waterways, while other public information officers blast messaging over Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, NextDoor and the countys website.

Xiong said they stick to static posts with text and a photoavoiding videos and GIFs that relay information too slowlyto share what is happening, what people need to do and a URL or phone number to access resources. These posts are translated into English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog, and include accessibility features like alt-text.

Thats how we made sure that were reaching a broad audience and that no one is missed, Xiong said. The pandemic certainly changed the way we push out messaging, because now we have to make sure that all of our documentation, all of our social media posts, all of our graphics are accessible to everyone.

But at the end of the day, community members are left to assess risks for themselves.

Sometimes people do look out the window and see that its not raining as hard as the weather service or public government is saying, Xiong said. So it really is up to community members themselves to make those decisions.

We can only say, Hey, stay off the road so many times.

Photos: Scenes from around Napa Valley as storms continue to batter the area Storm Coverage 2 Storm Coverage 1 Storm Coverage 3 Storm Coverage 4 Storm Coverage 5 Storm Coverage 6 Storm Coverage 7 Storm Coverage 8 Storm Coverage 11 Storm Coverage 10 Storm 1 Storm 2 Storm 4 Storm 3 Storm 5 Storm 6 Napa Storm 1 Napa Storm 2 Napa Storm 3 Napa Storm 4 Napa Storm 5 Napa Storm 6 Napa Storm 9 Storm Storm Kennedy Park encampment Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm Storm
California residents arent the same  in appearance or education, among other things  as when Sen. Dianne Feinstein was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992.

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Over the past three decades, the Latino, Asian and multiracial populations in California together saw a near twofold increase while the share of the population that is white declined more than 20%. In 2020, the Hispanic population  the designation used by the U.S. Census Bureau  became the single most populous group, surpassing the share of White residents for the first time in state history.

More than four in 10 Californians (who are at least 5 years old) speak a language other than English at home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And more Californians have at least a bachelors degree now: nearly 40% compared nearly 30% two decades ago.

So as speculation over Feinsteins future in Washington, D.C., continues  especially as some lawmakers begin to make moves for the seat  it begs the question: What would a candidate representative of California look like?

California is not a state that exists in black and white. California is a multiracial, multiethnic, modern state, said Sara Sadhwani, a Pomona College politics professor who sat on Californias independent redistricting commission in 2020.

While anyone of any one race could never perfectly be the descriptive representative of all Californians, its a question of does she or any other candidate represent the values of California. Will she be able to connect with these different voters of color and voters of different backgrounds from her own?

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, has already officially launched a 2024 Senate bid. Porter, 49, is a white single mother who taught bankruptcy law at UC Irvines School of Law. She is a Harvard Law alumna who has gone toe-to-toe against powerful executives, mostly men, in Congress.

Sadhwani said Porters reputation in the Democratic Party  especially as shes well-liked among the more progressive wing  and her relationships with formidable women such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren will be a benefit.

But Porters Orange County roots might not be.

Being from Orange County, being from a relatively affluent area, that will make it a little bit harder for her to connect with some of the communities of color, some of the lower-income working class and working poor that are living here in California who are also voters, Sadhwani said.

Residents of Orange County are wealthier, whiter and more educated in aggregate than the rest of California. The median household earns a six-figure income, and more than 4 in 10 residents held at least a bachelors degree in 2021. The share of people who live below the poverty line is about 80% of the rate statewide.

Aside from Porter, Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland is also reportedly planning a run. She is the highest-ranking Black woman in Democratic congressional leadership, serving as the co-chair of the House Policy and Steering Committee. She has served in Congress since 1998 where she is a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee.

After moving to Los Angeles County as a teenager, Lee worked with the local NAACP to successfully integrate her high school cheerleading squad. Lee, 76, attended Mills College as a single mother, later receiving a masters degree in social work from UC Berkeley.

Rep. Adam Schiff is another who will likely vie for Feinsteins seat. The 12-term congressman has led the impeachment trial against former President Donald Trump and sat on the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. In Congress, Schiff, 62, represents a district that includes parts of Los Angeles, one of the most diverse cities in the country.

Hes also one of the 33 Jewish members in the 118th Congress. California is home to over 1 million people of Jewish faith  about 3% of the states total population  putting the state in the top 10 in terms of the percentage of Jewish population.

And then theres Rep. Ro Khanna of the Bay Area. The son of Indian immigrants, he was first elected to serve Silicon Valley in 2016.

Khanna, 46, is an attorney and a former deputy assistant secretary of commerce in the Obama administration. He credits his grandfather  who participated in Gandhis independence movement and worked with Indian freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai  for inspiring him to become a public servant. As a member of Congress, Khanna advocates for immigration reform, including protecting the legal rights and status of undocumented immigrants.

His background as the son of immigrants may give him an edge, Sadhwani said: Maybe that is something that could connect to a broader array of voters.

Roughly 1 in 6 California residents are Asian American and Pacific Islander, making the state home to the largest AAPI population and the second-largest in terms of the share of the overall population after Hawaii.

Matthew Beckmann, a UC Irvine political science professor, predicted Feinsteins successor will almost surely be more progressive and more partisan, a reflection of modern times and Californias electorate.

Aside from representation, name ID will matter in what could be a volatile primary to replace Feinstein  possibly giving Porter and Schiff an early edge, Beckmann said.

California is a large and diverse state  physically, politically and socially, Beckmann said. It takes a ton of time, a ton of people and a ton of money to campaign statewide. That makes it hard for anyone without widespread name recognition and a strong donor base.

I think ultimately a candidates political biography carries more weight with voters than their personal history, said Dan Schnur, a former campaign consultant who teaches at the University of Southern California and UC Berkeley. (Gov.) Gavin Newsom and Dianne Feinstein both came from very comfortable economic circumstances, so its not like it cant be done.

Porter has already demonstrated her fundraising power; she received $1.3 million in online donations in the first 24 hours since announcing her campaign. According to OpenSecrets, the Irvine Democrat raised more than $25 million in the midterm election cycle and ended her campaign with more than $7 million still in reserves.

When it comes to electoral politics, money talks, Sadhwani said. So for anyone trying to run for that Senate seat, theyll need a war chest in order to do the outreach necessary in a state as large as California.

Then and now: Photos show how Washington has changed in 50 years since MLK death MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery MLK50 Washington Unrest Photo Gallery
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Karabakh President convenes working consultation, security challenges discussed

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Armenia FM: Replacing army with guards on Azerbaijan border should be part of final settlement

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2nd Azerbaijan soldier found, detained in Armenia

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Kev Orkian speaks about latest Azerbaijan military aggression against Armenia

Premier: Armenia ready for reopening of transport links, delimitation of borders

Pashinyan: We are ready to withdraw troops to safe distance along Armenia-Azerbaijan 1991 border

Azerbaijan MFA accuses France foreign ministry of smear campaign and unfair position

Armenia PM: It failed to deploy border guards without escalation of tension

Newly elected Armenia ombudsperson announces her priority objective in this capacity

Armenia deputy PM, US Deputy Secretary of Treasury acknowledge high level of cooperation between both countries

NHL: Stanley Cup playoff participants are decided

Newspaper: Karabakh soldiers who showed necessary resistance to Azerbaijan military are rewarded

Armenia FM, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office tete-a-tete kicks off (PHOTOS)

Armenia deputy PM, USAID official discuss opportunities for deepening cooperation

Mher Grigoryan, Todd Robinson exchange views on ongoing democratic reforms in Armenia

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Armenia FM to Derek Hogan: Provocation near Tegh village was another manifestation of Azerbaijan aggressive policy

shamshyan.com: Murder in Armenias Syunik Province, 6 gunshot wounds found on body of security guard, 57

US State Department on Armenias Tegh village incident: Use of force to resolve disputes is unacceptable

MFA: France deeply concerned about violence that took place near Tegh village of Armenia

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Russia MOD: 4 ceasefire violations recorded in Karabakh

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EU monitoring mission in Armenia not present in the area when Azerbaijan attacked

Armenia National Security Service Border Guard Troops commander dismissed

Armenia MOD: Tegh village incident that led to undesirable consequences was due to deployment adjustment

Mayor of Frances Lyon expresses unconditional support to people of Karabakh

Pashinyan: Armenian side had recognized Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan

Criminal proceedings launched into Armenia soldiers being killed, wounded by Azerbaijan near Tegh village

Chairman-in-Office: OSCE supports continuation of Armenia-Azerbaijan direct contacts

MFA: Russia asked Armenia to explain information about participating in joint military exercises with NATO

Zakharova does not disclose details of Russian, Turkish FMs talks on Armenia-Turkey relations

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Russia MFA spox: CSTO mission deployment details can be talked about when Armenia is ready

Zakharova: Russia favors complete unblocking of Lachin corridor

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Russia MFA: Other players engagement will lead to Armenia-Azerbaijan relations destabilization

EU calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to intensify border delimitation talks, until then to respect 1991 line

Russia MFA spox: Yerevan, Baku accepted proposal to hold another bilateral talks

Pallone: This is another senseless provocation from Azerbaijani forces against Armenia

Zakharova: Russia Border Guard Service, army took measures to de-escalate situation near Armenias Tegh village

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Armenia MP: Azerbaijanis demanded not to do engineering work, our soldiers responded, battle started from that

Marukyan: This is continuation of attacks carried out against Armenia in May and November 2021, in September 2022

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The Russian side doesn't want to use force. They want to solve the issue through negotiations, Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan said on Monday after a meeting with his Estonian counterpart Alar Karis, touching on what role peacekeepers play in the situation in the Lachin corridor.

"As part of the November 9, 2020 agreements, the peacekeepers began their work and were supposed to provide a direct link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia. We are talking about a 90 km long route. There are two people responsible there - the peacekeepers, who should ensure security, and Azerbaijan, which should not create obstacles. Now, Azerbaijan is not fulfilling its obligations and has created an artificial obstacle, and since December 12, this road has been closed. To understand what kind of problems this causes, I would say that 300-400 vehicles were passing by this road every day which were carrying everything necessary for the livelihood of the people of Nagorno Karabakh - food, construction materials, etc. In 40 days only 400 cars passed through, mainly for humanitarian purposes. The most necessary products are given on vouchers, there is nothing for sale in the stores, the state provides them from the state reserves, many schools and kindergartens are closed, blackouts have begun, etc," the President said.

According to Khachaturyan, the Russian peacekeepers were clearly carrying out their duties before this case. "During these two years there were one or two cases that were resolved very quickly. Last year, the Azerbaijanis cut off the gas, and with their mediation they were able to quickly restore the gas supply. We can say that until December 12, the corridor was clearly working. Now I understand that the Russian side does not want to use force, they are trying to resolve the issue through negotiations. But now we have demands on them. Of course we have demands to Azerbaijan as well, but Azerbaijan, as always, ignores or does not react in any way, but we hope that the Russian side will react and somehow take measures to ensure this corridor".

Vahagn Khachaturyan said he is not aware of the details of the talks between the leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh and the Russian peacekeepers. The President added that the issue of the Lachin corridor will be discussed in the European Parliament in two days.
In 2022, Turkish arms exports exceeded $4 billion, which is about 36 percent more than a year ago. Moreover, 98 percent of the exports were the sale of Bayraktar drones. Turkish political scientist Irfan Kaya Ulger told Haqqin.az of Azerbaijan about this.

According to him, the military industry of Turkey has the potential to increase the production of combat drones and other weapons with geometrical progression.

The use of Bayraktar drones during the military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 was important for the development of the Turkish military industry.

"On the one hand, Ankara provided strong assistance to fraternal Azerbaijan, on the other hand, tested [these drones] in combat conditions and demonstrated its military technology to the whole world," said Ulger. "Until recently, Turkey had certain difficulties in acquiring drones in the NATO arsenal. Those drones were delivered to Ankara either with many preconditions, or they were not delivered at all. But now the picture has changed dramatically, and Turkey has become one of the world's leading suppliers of combat and reconnaissance drones. The main buyers of Bayraktar are the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, Sudan, Libya, etc."

According to the political scientist, the success of these Turkish drones in the world arms market has played the role of a catalyst in the development of other sectors of Turkeys military industry.

"And as for the export of arms, Turkey conducts a completely independent policy in that domain," Ulger said. Turkey remains an important part of the North Atlantic Alliance, from which it unequivocally follows that Ankara will in no case sell weapons to those countries that threaten the security of NATO. First of all, it refers to the sale of arms to the CSTO member statesRussia, Belarus, Armeniaas well as to those countries that can pose a threat to the members of the North Atlantic Alliance to one degree or another. And, of course, to Iran."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) has issued a statement on the 33rd anniversary of the Armenian pogroms in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. The statement reads as follows:

On these days, we pay tribute to the memory of the innocent victims of the mass pogroms of Armenians in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, carried out 33 years ago. Murders, robberies, violence and atrocities committed with exceptional cruelty continued for a whole week - from 13 to 20 January 1990. People who escaped death were subjected to organized deportation. According to various sources, between 150 and 300 people were killed as a result of this inhuman crime.

Baku pogroms, along with the 1988 massacre of Armenians in Sumgait, marked the beginning of another monstrous stage in Azerbaijan's genocidal policy towards Armenians. Pogroms and mass killings, widespread and systematic deportation of the Armenian population of the former Azerbaijan SSR, including operation Ring on the deportation of Armenians from the border villages of Artsakh in 1991, waging aggressive wars against the Republic of Artsakh in 1991-1994, in April 2016 and in September-November 2020, accompanied by war crimes committed by Azerbaijani armed forces, became manifestations of this policy. As a result of these criminal acts, thousands of people were killed, hundreds of thousands became victims of ethnic cleansing.

Widespread and consistent propaganda of xenophobia against Armenians, accompanied by their dehumanization, encouragement of war crimes and crimes motivated by ethnic intolerance, became an integral part of Azerbaijan's policy to exterminate Armenians in their historical homeland. Specialized international organizations regularly noted the extreme manifestations of Armenophobia in Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, no effective steps have been taken to combat them. As a result, a fertile ground has developed in Azerbaijan for the commission and justification of crimes against humanity. Impunity for both the Baku pogroms and the previous and subsequent mass crimes led to a situation where Azerbaijan considers it acceptable to blockade the 120,000 population of Artsakh and create conditions for a humanitarian catastrophe.

Lasting peace in the region cannot be achieved on the basis of the results of Baku's genocidal policy. Such policy must be resolutely condemned and rejected by the international community, and the immediate lifting of the blockade of Artsakh, which has been going on for over a month, should become the first step to this end.
Bulgaria intends to revive the Trans-Balkan oil pipeline project in order to provide supplies of non-Russian crude oil for its only refinery on the Black Sea, controlled by the Russian Lukoil company, said Bulgarian President Rumen Radev.

Sofia is negotiating with Athens to build a 300-kilometer oil pipeline to transport crude oil from the Greek port of Alexandroupolis on the Aegean Sea to the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Burgas, Radev said. Bulgaria received a two-year exemption from the European Union's ban on Russian oil imports imposed in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the country needs to secure enough non-Russian oil to keep the 196,000-barrel-per-day Black Sea oil refinery running until the exemption expires in 2024. The refinery provides more than 75 percent of the fuel for the local market.

In 2011, Bulgaria abandoned the pipeline project, then aimed at pumping up to 50 million tons of Russian oil a year through its territory to Greece, for economic and environmental reasons. Its estimated cost at the time was 1 billion euros.

Supplies of non-Russian oil to Bulgaria's Black Sea refinery could be hampered by congestion in the Bosphorus Strait, making the pipeline project with Greece an attractive and more cost-effective option, officials said.

Bulgarian Energy Minister Rossen Hristov expressed hope that a memorandum of understanding will be signed with Greece in the next couple of weeks so that the two countries can begin working on the structure of the pipeline project.
The EU should pass a new law to accelerate investment in clean technology and increase funding for the energy transition in response to the U.S. climate law, which the bloc fears unfairly subsidizes U.S. companies, Bloomberg reported.

To keep European industry attractive, there is a need to be competitive with offers and incentives that are currently available outside the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, of the European Commission, said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday. To avoid fragmenting of the single market and to support the clean tech transition across the whole union, we must also step up EU funding.

As part of the new Green Deal industrial plan, she said, the EU must temporarily adapt its state aid rules to make them faster and easier, from calculations to approvals.

Her plan opens the door to funding the production of specific clean-tech projects through a "Net-Zero Industry Act," similar to the EU's Chip Act last year, and to simplifying and speeding up approvals.

Von der Leyen also called for a stronger response to China's efforts to stimulate innovation and clean-tech production, as well as measures including large domestic subsidies and market access restrictions for EU firms.

We still need to work and trade with China, especially when it comes to this transition, von der Leyen noted, saying that we need to refocus our approach on de-risking rather than decoupling. She added: We will not hesitate to open investigations if we consider that our procurement, or other markets, are being distorted by such subsidies.

EU officials are increasingly skeptical that the U.S. is offering any major concessions on its climate law to benefit European companies. Some are still hopeful about the March changes, but officials have acknowledged that the amount of subsidies will be difficult to offset, no matter what changes are made.
Armenia FM Ararat Mirzoyan delivered Tuesday remarks at the special session of the OSCE Permanent Council initiated by Armenia.

The full text comes as follows

Mr. Chairperson,

Distinguished Ambassadors,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to start by congratulating you, Mr. Chairperson, and through you my dear colleague, Minister Bujar Osmani, on assuming by North Macedonia of the Chairmanship of the OSCE and wish you all the success in your challenging endeavour of leading this largest security organization in times of unprecedented set-backs and crises in our common security area.

We welcome the human-centric concept of security which will be the guiding approach of the North Macedonian Chairmanship under the motto Its about people. One cannot say better, since this organization has been established first and foremost to serve the interest of people and ensure their rights and security.

I assure you of Armenias support in all your efforts contributing to creating conditions for the people in the OSCE area to live in a more secure and safe environment.

I also would like to thank you, Mr. Chairperson, for convening this special PC meeting and giving me the opportunity to speak about the situation in our region and, particularly, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor.

Mr. Chairperson,

I wish I could have come here to the PC to talk about the achievements of Armenia in strengthening its democracy, human rights and the rule of law and the process of successfully implementing large-scale reforms from judiciary to police, from fighting corruption to improving social cohesion and justice. And believe me, I would have many things to say.

Unfortunately, the security crisis and challenges following the war of aggression by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020 and the subsequent aggression and occupation by Azerbaijan of the sovereign territory of Armenia threaten the Armenian democracy undermining the efforts of the Armenian government towards bringing peace, stability and security to the South Caucasus region.

Since this is the first time that the Foreign Minister of Armenia addresses the Permanent Council following the 44-day war of aggression and occupation of Armenias territory I would like to briefly reflect on the impact that this large-scale unprecedented use of force for the settlement of conflict have had in terms of perception of the OSCE, its principles and commitments, and its concept of comprehensive and indivisible security.

The 44-day war of aggression was accompanied by war crimes and widespread violations of international humanitarian law, targeting of civilian population and infrastructure, destruction of cultural heritage, which were not properly investigated and no one has been held accountable.

Throughout decades, the OSCE has been developing a set of tools, or the toolbox, aimed at early warning and conflict prevention. Unfortunately, it pains me to say this, but we have to recognize that the OSCE failed to apply this toolkit effectively and in a timely manner.

Furthermore, the absence of proper and robust reaction resulted in the impunity for the use of force as means of conflict settlement, in violation of the OSCE principles, commitments enshrined in its basic documents, leading to the legitimation of violence in the interstate and intrastate relations.

Following the signing on the 9 November 2020 of a trilateral statement on the cessation of armed hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh Armenia spared no efforts to achieve a normalization of relations with Azerbaijan and address the rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Unfortunately, the Azerbaijani side, instead of engaging in good faith into the negotiations, continues its destructive policy. Immediately after signing the Trilateral statement the Azerbaijani side violated the commitment on complete ceasefire and cessation of all military operations and launched an attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, which resulted in capturing of two more villages and the captivity of the Armenian servicemen. In May and November 2021 as well as in September last year the Azerbaijani side launched an aggression against the Republic of Armenia occupying around 150 sq km of the sovereign territories of Armenia. Today, with the blockade of the Lachin corridor the Azerbaijani side created a humanitarian crisis with far going intentions.

On 12 December 2022, a group of Azerbaijanis claiming to be environmental activists blocked the Lachin Corridor, the lifeline, the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world, thus effectively isolating the 120 thousand people in Nagorno-Karabakh, 30 thousands of which are children. Over 1000 people, including 270 children, are unable to return home to Nagorno-Karabakh. Some of those children are separated from their parents and were temporarily sheltered in Armenia.

From the very beginning, it was obvious that this blockade was a preplanned action directed and financed by the Azerbaijani authorities, using the cover of so-called eco-activists for plausible deniability.

These actions of Azerbaijan constitute an overt breach of paragraph 6 of the 9 November trilateral statement, which clearly indicates and I quote: The Lachin Corridor shall remain under the control of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation; the Republic of Azerbaijan shall guarantee safe movement of citizens, vehicles and cargo in both directions along the Lachin Corridor.

For more than a month now, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh remain under factual siege. Food, medical and energy supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh are almost completely halted. About 400 tons of essential goods, including grain, flour, rice, vegetables, fruits, medicines, and baby formula, were imported to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia daily. After around five weeks of the blockade, there is a severe shortage of all essential goods.

Moreover, the deliberate 3-day interruption of the gas supply in freezing winter conditions, followed by ongoing disruptions of the electricity grid and telecommunication lines in the entire territory of Nagorno-Karabakh are another evidence of preplanned actions of the Azerbaijani authorities. This severely impacts the daily life of the people and leads to a number of adverse humanitarian consequences, such as lack of electricity, disruption of the educational process at the schools; disruption of the work of state agencies and of the heating of vitally important institutions such as hospitals, disruption of businesses. People are deprived of heating and hot water. The authorities introduced the rationing of fuel, and now of food and essential goods.

The humanitarian crisis is worsening with each passing day and requires the immediate and targeted intervention of the international community. We cannot stand by and watch how people are slowly starving to death, because of political games and perhaps geopolitical considerations. The time to act is now.

At the request of Armenia, this issue has been discussed at the UN Security Council. We have briefed the members of the Security Council and also the Secretary-General about the dire situation and urged our partners to step in and stop the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

Of course, I could not but welcome the unambiguous statements and positions of our partner countries calling Azerbaijan to immediately and without preconditions lift the blockade and ensure the free and unimpeded movement through the Lachin Corridor. I believe that we should increase the pressure on Azerbaijan for it to comply with its own commitments. Azerbaijan should face consequences for its actions.

The blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh is not an isolated episode but must be seen as part of a widespread and systematic policy of Azerbaijan aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh: through creating unbearable living conditions, Azerbaijan aims to coerce the people of Nagorno-Karabakh to leave their native land, leave their homes. The recent statement of the President of Azerbaijan suggesting the deportation of those Armenians who do not want to become citizens of Azerbaijan comes to prove their intention of ethnic cleansing.

It is imperative to send an international fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin Corridor to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground, as well as to ensure unhindered humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh for relevant UN bodies.

Excellences,

Having the political will to normalize relations with Azerbaijan, the Armenian government engaged in good faith in talks with Azerbaijan in three separate tracks, namely, the opening of all transport communications in the region, delimitation and border security, and the agreement on normalization of relations or peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In the first track  the resumption of economic and transport links in the region  we have established a trilateral working group headed from our side by the Deputy Prime Minister. There have been several meetings in this format and issues of possible roads and railway connections, as well as other details related to unblocking regional communications were discussed.

Unfortunately, Azerbaijans approach in this process was non-constructive from the very beginning. Despite its clear commitment taken under the 9 November 2020 and 11 January 2021 trilateral statements, Azerbaijan put forward the unsubstantiated demand for the extraterritorial corridor through the sovereign territory of Armenia. I want to clearly state that Armenia never took any commitment or agreed in any manner to any extraterritorial corridor through its territory, and all the claims by the Azerbaijani side are clear distortions and manipulation of the substance of the trilateral statements.

Recently the president of Azerbaijan acknowledged that it was himself who introduced the term of so-called Zangezur Corridor in the international agenda and threatened to establish it sooner or later, regardless of whether Armenia wants it or not. And he said that he introduced this term after the signing of the November 9 Trilateral Statement.

I would like to once again make it clear: we rule out any exterritorial corridor on the territory of the Republic of Armenia and will not provide any corridor to anyone. This is a principled and irrevocable position, fully in line with the relevant provision of the 9 November statement. Moreover, the decision on providing a link between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhijevan can be adopted swiftly, as soon as Azerbaijan admits that all communications should operate under the jurisdiction and legislation of the Republic of Armenia.

In this context, I would like to inform that recently another attempt to find a final agreement on the opening of railway communications didnt succeed, as the Azerbaijani side put forward new conditions that were in contradiction with the primary understanding of the sides on the modalities. In fact, this was the second time that Azerbaijans actions derailed the progress on this issue. The first time preliminary agreement to solve the issues of railway connection was reached back in December 2021. This fact has even found its place in the statement of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, from 14 December 2021.

The second track of the normalization talks is the work of the Commissions of delimitation and border security. The Commissions were created after the armed incursion of the Azerbaijani armed forces into the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia on 12 May 2021 and the subsequent occupation of Armenias lands.

The Commissions held meetings to discuss the parameters of the delimitation of the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We firmly believe that without clearly agreed parameters of the delimitation of the border, it will be impossible to achieve sustainable peace. In this regard, the agreements reached in Prague and Sochi, in particular, the reference to the Almaty protocol and subsequent documents are of utmost importance. Though, in subsequent interpretations the President of Azerbaijan, while claiming that Armenia thus recognized Azerbaijans territorial integrity, failed to affirm the respect for the territorial integrity of Armenia.

The work of the Commissions was hampered by Azerbaijan. First, despite the agreements that the commission should have a double mandate and work on delimitation and stable security situation along, and in the vicinity of, the borderline reached in Sochi on 26 November 2021 and during the second trilateral meeting of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan hosted by the President of the European Council it refused to include the term border security in the title of the Commissions, which was rather indicative of its true intentions. Then, on 13 September 2022, the armed forces of Azerbaijan launched an unprovoked and unjustified large-scale military attack in the southern and southeastern directions of the Republic of Armenia resulting in the invasion into and occupation of other swathes of the sovereign territory of Armenia. More than 200 servicemen were killed. The towns and villages in border provinces were indiscriminately shelled. During this aggression Azerbaijani armed forces committed war crimes, extrajudicial killings, subjected Armenian military personnel, including women to the most shocking and horrific humiliation and torture. These facts were documented by the Azerbaijani servicemen themselves and were uploaded to various social media outlets, clearly aiming to intimidate the Armenian side. In fact, the 44-days war of aggression was also accompanied by large-scale violations of international humanitarian law.

In this context, taking this opportunity, I would like to express our gratitude to the Polish Chairmanship, the Secretary-General, the OSCE Troika and the FSC Chairmanship for dispatching the OSCE needs assessment mission to Armenia to assess the situation on the ground, as well as all appreciation of efforts of those who supported the mission. The report of the mission clearly revealed the scale and magnitude of destruction, and we took note of the Conclusions and Recommendations contained therein, which we believe should serve as a reference point for the follow-up and further engagement of the OSCE executive structures with Armenia.

I also would like to thank the European Union for dispatching the monitoring mission to Armenia. We stand ready for further cooperation in this regard.

The September aggression, as well as previous attacks and provocations by Azerbaijan, should be considered against the broader background of ever-expanding territorial claims against Armenia, including the capital city Yerevan, constantly voiced by the President of Azerbaijan and echoed by other high-ranking political personalities, which are accompanied manifestly by threats of use of force. This tactic of coercive foreign policy is deployed by Azerbaijan to extract endless one-sided concessions.

For the moment we see no indication of change in this policy pattern, that is of Azerbaijans willingness to abandon its territorial claims, its bellicose rhetoric and to commit to peace. Under these circumstances, we have all grounds to believe that even after the signing of an agreement on the normalization of relations with Azerbaijan, it will continue to raise these absurd territorial claims against Armenia.

The third track of talks is related to the text of the possible agreement on the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan or peace treaty, which should comprehensively address all the issues and create a conducive security environment for the continuation of discussions in various directions.

The Armenian side suggested several fundamental proposals, in particular, on clarification of parameters of delimitation of the international border, on distancing of forces from the state border and creation of a demilitarized zone, as well as the creation of the Institute of Guarantors of the peace agreement. It is regrettable that all the proposals of the Armenian side were rejected by Azerbaijan.

Along with this, we believe that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict - the issue of guarantees of rights and securities of people living in Nagorno-Karabakh - also has to be addressed. However, taking into account the Azerbaijani suggestion to discuss this issue separately from the peace agreement, the Armenian side suggested creating an international mechanism for dialogue between Stepanakert and Baku.

We have to recognize the enormity of this task, considering that for more than 30 years there were effectively no relations between the two countries. But we firmly believe that the normalization of Armenia-Azerbaijan relations is crucial for the security and stability of the region and its perspectives. However, and this should also be recognized, this normalization could not be achieved without addressing the root causes of the conflict, the issue of fundamental human rights and the political will to work towards reconciliation.

The blockade of the Lachin Corridor, which goes exactly in the opposite direction and makes the perspective of any progress in all these tracks even more distant, proves once again the absolute necessity of international engagement to address the issues of rights and security of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Excellencies,

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains a significant challenge to regional and international peace and stability. The aggressive posturing, anti-Armenian rhetoric directed against Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, the blockade of the Lachin Corridor comes to confirm this fact.

More than two years after the signing of the Trilateral Statement on 9 November 2020, Azerbaijan still refuses to repatriate all Armenian Prisoners of War, captives, and other detained persons, in violation of obligations under the Geneva Conventions, the Trilateral Statement itself and the constant calls of the international community. Currently, according to the data confirmed by Azerbaijan, 33 people are still kept hostage in Baku. I must also highlight two dozen well-documented cases of enforced disappearances, where we are in possession of indisputable, recorded facts of the capture of Armenian Prisoners of War, yet Azerbaijan rejects their captivity.

Armenia is also extremely concerned about the state of the Armenian cultural heritage in the territories that fell under Azerbaijani control in the aftermath of the 2020 war. Dispatching of a UNESCO fact-finding mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding territories, talks on which have been ongoing since November 2020, are still rejected by the Azerbaijani side.

We understand that nowadays the OSCE is not having the best of days and the situation in the South Caucasus is not the only crisis that the Organization is facing. At the same time, we believe that all conflicts in the area of OSCE responsibility should have the adequate attention of the organization and its structures. The OSCE with the Co-Chairs of the Minsk Group has been involved in the political resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the very beginning. Despite all the challenges the Group still has a responsibility as the political resolution of the conflict is yet to be achieved.

We believe that OSCE can play an instrumental role not merely in achieving but also sustaining peace through the involvement of its structures.

I thank you.
Germany's allies have stepped up pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz to allow German-made Leopard tanks to be delivered to Ukraine ahead of a crucial defense ministerial meeting on Friday, Reuters wrote.

Berlin has so far resisted providing advanced tanks or allowing partners to export them, noting that Western tanks should only be supplied to Ukraine if there is agreement among Kiev's main allies, particularly the United States.

Western officials want to strike a balance between allowing Ukraine to defend itself and preventing shipments of weapons that might encourage Kyiv to attack Russia itself or draw NATO into conflict with Moscow.

The day before Scholz leaves for the World Economic Forum in Davos, some of Ukraine's closest allies were already at the WEF trying to get him to change his mind.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said he strongly believes Germany will provide Ukraine with Leopard tanks.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned Monday, and Berlin said Tuesday that a decision on tanks would be the first item on her successor, Boris Pistorius,'s agenda.

In an interview with Reuters, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Helsinki was ready to supply Leopards but was still waiting for the green light from Germany.

Some German officials said they softened their stance ahead of a meeting of Ukraine's allies in Ramstein on Friday, where governments will announce their latest pledges of military support to Kyiv.

Britain broke a taboo on sending heavy tanks to Ukraine last weekend by promising a squadron of its Challengers. But they are too few to form the backbone of the Ukrainian forces. U.S. Abrams battle tanks are also considered inappropriate in large numbers because they are powered by gas turbine engines, which burn too much fuel to be practical for energy-deficient Ukraine.

France has said it is considering transferring tanks to Ukraine, but defense sources say its Leclerc model is not the best for the situation in Ukraine.

Germany's new defense minister is expected to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, Thursday before Friday's big Allied meeting at Ramstein Air Base.
The blockade of Nagorno Karabakh is not an isolated episode and should be regarded as part of Azerbaijan's large-scale and systematic policy aimed at ethnic cleansing of the Nagorno Karabakh population through the creation of unbearable living conditions, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said during his speech at a special session of the OSCE Permanent Council.

According to him, Azerbaijan aims to force the population of Nagorno-Karabakh to leave their native lands and homes. The latest statement of the President of Azerbaijan, where it proposes to deport those Armenians who do not want to become citizens of Azerbaijan, proves their intention to carry out ethnic cleansing.

An international fact-finding mission should be sent to Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor to assess the humanitarian situation on the ground, as well as uninterrupted humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh for the relevant UN bodies, the FM added.

By blocking the Lachin corridor today, the Azerbaijani side created a humanitarian crisis with far-reaching goals.

According to him, from the very beginning it was obvious that this blockade was a pre-planned operation, directed and financed by the Azerbaijani authorities, under the guise of the so-called "eco-activists" for a credible denial of their actions.

Mirzoyan noted that these actions of Azerbaijan were a blatant violation of point 6 of the trilateral statement of November 9, which clearly states that the Lachin corridor remains under the control of the Russian peacekeeping forces. Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of movement of citizens, vehicles and cargoes in both directions along the Lachin corridor.

The humanitarian crisis is escalating day by day and requires an immediate and targeted intervention by the international community. We cannot stand by and watch as people slowly starve to death because of political games and perhaps geopolitical calculations. It's time to act, the Armenian FM said.

According to Mirzoyan, it is necessary to increase pressure on Azerbaijan to fulfill its obligations. Azerbaijan must bear responsibility for its actions.

It's clear that the OSCE is experiencing bad times, and the situation in the South Caucasus is not the only crisis facing the organization. However, we believe that all conflicts in the OSCE area of responsibility should be given due attention by the organization and its bodies. The OSCE, together with the co-chairmanship of the Minsk Group, has been involved in the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from the very beginning. Despite all the challenges the Minsk Group still bears responsibility because the political settlement of the conflict has not been achieved yet, said Mirzoyan.
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University of Miami former professor and administrator Andy Gomez has now become a childrens author and takes on the task of explaining Cubas politically charged history in a way that children and their families can easily explore. The book, Lessons from Abuelo, was inspired by his grandchildren and examines the history of Cuba in an accessible way.

My goal is to have parents and grandparents sit around with their kids and tell their own stories using my book as a guide, said Gomez, former director of the Universitys Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies. It is up to every family to interpret what I have writtenthat to me is the only thing I wanted to accomplish.

In responding to a few questions, Gomez shares his deep passion for teaching his grandchildren about Cubas history and the reason he encourages other families to explore their own histories.

What inspired you to write this book?

Well, some of my former students throughout the years have been asking me to write a book so that they can teach their children about Cuba. Ive spent all my life in academia. I don't know how to write a kid's book, I thought. And then, about three years ago, a very dear friend says to me, Youve got to write a book. Youve got write a book.

So, when I came back home, I began thinking more and more about it. This book has been a three-and-a-half-year process. I started jotting down notes about the history of Cuba. And then one day I asked my wife, who recently retired as a math teacher after 42 years, to read what I wrote. She took a couple of days to read it. And she came back to me and said, This is boring. Youve got to bring it to life. She had a very good point.

I wanted to design a book looking at specific points in Cuban history.

I remember the day I graduated with my Ph.D. from Harvard. My dad, who was a very simple man, said something that has stuck with me: Dont ever forget where you come from. And I think all of us, not just Cubans, all of us must keep that in perspective. We must protect our history and teach it to our children, to our grandchildren.

What was the process of writing this book like for you? Did it rekindle any feelings from your past?

Oh my! I shed a tear or two. I went back and pulled pictures of when we were in Cuba. And I still have some memories as a little boy that I can recall very vividlylike when [Fidel] Castro came into Havana, my school, my first communion. But then there are things that I have no memories of.

I think the book serves multiple purposes for the younger generations, and it will engage them to investigate Cubas history and try to understand what happened in 1959.

My illustrator, Herman Henriquez, grasped my concept. I explained what I was going for and he said he was going to take me and my four grandkids in a time tunnel back to colonial timesand thats what he did.

Its up to every family to interpret what I have written and to tell their own stories, where they lived, why they left.

Its been 64 years since Castro took over. We cannot forget about the past. Its time for Cuban American families to begin to preserve our history and our culture.

How did you consider which parts of Cubas history to address in the book and which to exclude? Was this a challenging task to do?

It took a while. I knew I wanted to start the book addressing exile, because I think I wanted to begin from the early arrival of the Cuban American community. But I heard in the back of my mind, the kids, the kids, the kids. So, I decided to start the book picturing the Freedom Tower right across from Baysidewhich represents a symbol of freedom in my community. If youve ever seen it, there are always doves flying around there. In the book, I made myself the old dove and the other four doves represent my grandchildren. The book starts with my oldest grandson, AJ, asking me why I left Cuba. It was the same question I had once asked my father.

Andy Gomez and his grandchildren, Luca, Henry, and AJ, front left to right, and Jack. Photo courtesy Andy Gomez

Barbara Gutierrez, associate director of communications and public relations for the office of University Communications, was outstanding as my editor. We went back and forth about what to include, what not to include. I thought some topics were not necessarily needed to be discussed in a childrens book, but Barbara was great about helping me explain things in a way that even children can understand. She was able to see things that I could not see because I had been working at it for so long.

Since this is your first time writing for children, how did the children in your own life respond to the book?

This is a book to be used as a guide for families to tell their own experiences, nothing more, nothing less. I think families need to put that into perspective. My only goal was to see if I can tweak the dialogue, which is always dominated by the politics on both sides. So, we try to talk about our history and our culture. I sit down with AJ and Henry, my older two grandchildren, and talk about it. I like for them to be inquisitive. The little ones love the pictures.

This book is very special to me. This has been one of my most rewarding experiences.

How can people purchase your book?

People can purchase a book directly from me, and Im going to tell you why. There is no intention to make money. But I spoke to several publishers and many of them wanted me to take this out, put this in, and I said no, no, no.

Subsequently, we decided to go with a little publishing printing company in Hialeah. They just finished printing some books that I will take with me to my Jan. 22 event at Books and Books.
Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc quits

Nguyen Xuan Phuc, a former prime minister, has held the largely ceremonial position for less than two years. File photo: AFP

Vietnam's President Nguyen Xuan Phuc has submitted his resignation after the ruling Communist Party found him responsible for violations and wrongdoing of numerous officials under him, the country's official news agency said on Tuesday.



Phuc, 68, a former prime minister, has held the largely ceremonial position for less than two years. It was not immediately clear who would replace him.



"Fully being aware of his responsibilities before the party and people, he submitted an application to resign from his assigned positions, quit his job and retire," the Vietnam News Agency reported, citing the party's Central Committee.



Two deputy prime ministers, who were working under him when he led the government, were dismissed earlier this month.



To become effective, Phuc's resignation requires approval from the National Assembly. Reuters on Monday reported the legislature would hold a rare extraordinary meeting this week.



The meeting of the National Assembly would come as the country pursues a "blazing furnace" anti-corruption crackdown. (Reuters)
The Supreme Court on Monday said it could consider sending the application filed by Google back to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) - on a condition. As the tech giant moved the apex court seeking stay on a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a Rs 1,337 crore penalty on it, a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud asked Google India counsel if it will follow the same regime in India as it does in Europe in connection with pre-installed apps in Android-based mobile smartphones. The bench, also comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala, asked senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Google, that "will Google practice the same regime in place in India as you have in Europe?" Singhvi contended before the bench that compliance in Europe pertained to Google's standard 'Mobile Application Distribution Agreement' (MADA) unbundling. The Chief Justice added: "Please reflect on this and come back." The bench made this observation following the submission from Additional Solicitor General N. Venkataraman, representing the CCI, that Google had complied with a similar order passed by the European Commission. Singhvi said when the matter came before the judge, he recorded that since there is a hearing in the matter in April, there is no need for an interim order. He added that Android is the world's best ecosystem and these directions are extraordinary. Singhvi said that directions were that his proprietary software which makes everything is to be shared and the second is side loading. Venkataraman alleged the company was discriminating against the Indian consumers. Singhvi added that the matter was filed in December and on January 3, it was mentioned before the NCLAT and the date of compliance is January 19. As the Chief Justice queried: "Are the directions consistent with steps taken by you?", Singhvi said no. The bench also added that it would send it back to NCLAT and ask them to deal with the application for stay. The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on Wednesday. On January 11, the Supreme Court agreed to examine an appeal by Google against a decision by the NCLAT, declining to stay a Rs 1,337.76 crore penalty imposed on it by the CCI in October for alleged anti-competitive practices. Google moved the apex court after the setback at NCLAT, which did not stay the CCI order on abuse of dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem case. Earlier this month, the NCLAT did not find any urgency to pass an interim order, after noting that Google filed the appeal in December last year, though the CCI passed the order in October. It directed Google to deposit 10 per cent of the fine amount. The tribunal had said that there was no urgency shown in the filing of the appeal, therefore Google could not be allowed to press for interim relief. The CCI also imposed a penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on the company for abusing its dominant position with respect to its Play Store policies. --IANS ss/vd ( 530 Words) 2023-01-16-23:12:04 (IANS)